Retrieve the Second Key

Let's take a step back in time to a few days ago before Kouro went on his [Job Change Quest] mission.

On a slightly cloudy day in the city of London, England.

Ashborn was sitting on a park chair looking at some small children playing soccer while licking a strawberry-flavoured ice cream in his hand with a serious expression.

Ashborn's current appearance had changed, he is now wearing a black suit without a tie and had the appearance of a Caucasian man in his forties with a thin beard and neatly combed hair like someone who is about to apply for a job.

If seen from afar, Ashborn actually looked very handsome now in addition to the impressive aura he gave off, making girls and even married women often glance at him.

Ashborn's image now resembled a lady's dream gentleman.

It's just that...when they saw him enjoying the strawberry-flavoured ice cream with a serious expression, somehow Ashborn's image was instantly broken from their minds.

This caused most of them to leave immediately and even if there were still those who approached him, Ashborn who was still enjoying the ice cream with a serious expression would chase them away coldly.

A few minutes later.

Ashborn who had finished eating the ice cream then stood up and went to the nearest water faucet to wash his hands.

*Swoosh!"

Coincidentally a ball shot towards him, it came from the children who were playing.

"Oh no! Uncle, watch out!" shouted one of the children.

When the ball was about to hit him, Ashborn immediately turned around and held the ball with his foot, there was a high friction sound from his foot before the ball finally stopped spinning.

"Woahhh..." All the children were stunned with open mouths when they saw this.

Ashborn then kicked the ball to one of the children before saying in a calm voice, "Next time, be more careful! Don't get into trouble with others."

"Ah... Oh! Yes, we're sorry uncle!" The children then came to their senses and immediately apologized.

Ashborn simply waved his hand before walking away.

His current mission was to retrieve the 'Second Key' in the pocket dimension above the Thames river.

But he was in no hurry to complete the mission, he just wanted to spend his time relaxing a little.

Moreover, he also wanted to meet someone.

Ashborn could not go out of Schicksal Headquarters for a long time because he could be immediately tracked by Mobius and even if he wanted to go out, he had to disguise himself and even his aura just to go out.

That was because his aura emitted some kind of unique signal that could be detected by Mobius using a certain technology.

Although he didn't care much about this, it was still a very inconvenient thing that he would avoid as much as possible.

That's why he borrowed Otto's 'Void Archive', he borrowed it to temporarily inhibit the unique signal on his body.

...

In an art museum.

Ashborn was walking while looking at some paintings before finally stopping when he saw a certain painting.

His calm expression shattered at the painting in front of him.

The painting depicted three boys with black hair and violet eyes who each had a different age, some were old around their twenties, some were teenagers, and some were children, the three children were separated by some kind of thin line.

On the left side was a man with black hair and violet eyes with a gloomy environment looking up at the moon.

In the centre was a boy with white hair and silver eyes with an environment filled with a sad atmosphere, the boy's eyes always looking up at the starry sky.

On the right side was a teenager with white hair and purple eyes with a plain environment like blank paper, the teenager's eyes were cheerful and turned his head to the side looking at the two people.

"This painting..." Ashborn muttered with a surprised expression.

"That painting is Kouro's True Self. No, should I call him Hanagami Kouro? Or... KOURO Nii-san?"

A little girl's voice with a soft tone mixed with confusion sounded from behind Ashborn.

Hearing that voice, Ashborn's pupils shrank slightly before finally looking back.

He was staring at a light blue-haired little girl with violet eyes wearing a thinking expression and was accompanied by a dark green-haired man who was currently staring at him with a calm expression.

"Griseo... Kosma..." he said with a calm expression.

"It's been a while since we've seen each other, Ashborn... Or should I address you as Sagaki?" asked Kosma.

Ashborn's expression didn't change at her question, he just looked at her before saying in a deep voice.

"I am Ashborn, Sagaki is dead."

Griseo who was still wearing a thinking expression finally raised her head and looked at Ashborn.

"What's wrong? You don't usually come to see us."

Ashborn turned to stare at the painting for a long time before saying, "It's fine. I originally wanted to meet you guys because there was something I wanted to confirm, but now... It's nothing... Oh? That's right! I'm here because I have a mission to retrieve the Second Key."

He didn't want Griseo and Kosma to misunderstand the purpose of his visit here.

After saying that, he then turned to leave the museum.

Griseo also looked at the painting that was painted by her before finally turning to look at Ashborn's back and muttering.

"Goodbye... Ashborn-Nii san."

...

Ashborn who had left the Art Museum then muttered, "Well... It's time to complete the mission."

After that, he went to a fairly quiet place before finally teleporting near the Thames river.

Coming out of the shadows, he gazed at the clear Thames river with a pensive expression before saying.

"Your turn."

["Understood..."]

A childish voice similar to Otto's sounded inside Ashborn's mind.

He wasn't surprised by this because that voice came from the consciousness of the 'Void Archive' that Otto had held for over 500 years.

It was just that if you looked closely, the voice of the 'Void Archive' sounded anxious and scared as if it had faced something frightening.

Well....it's not surprising since Ashborn had made a 'deal' with the Void Archive.

["I found it, at 3 o'clock, about 100 meters away from your place."]

After hearing the Void Archive's words, Ashborn then stuck out his hand before a clone of the Oath of Judah appeared in his hand.

He then launched several chains from Judah following the direction said by Void Archive.

And sure enough...

The chains suddenly looked like they were piercing something before suddenly a pocket dimension in the shape of a geometry cube was seen floating on the surface of the water.

He then moved the chains to stab at certain points, the points he attacked were the weak points of the geometry.

He attacked the point to destabilize the dimensions of the pocket so that it would eventually release the Second Key.

The geometry cube began to fade slowly, revealing a large brown train with golden stripes.

That train was the Second Key.

Cosmic Juggernaut.

Looking at the train, Ashborn then clapped his hands together before saying, "Done. Well, it's time to call Otto."

"But before that..."

He looked at the Void Archive in his hand with a pensive expression, "What should I do to silence you?"

["No! I beg you, kind sir, you don't have to do that! I promise to keep my mouth tightly shut! Not even Otto himself will be able to force me! I swear!"]

"Oh? Really? Why should I believe you?" said Ashborn casually, he recalled his encounter with the Void Archive when he borrowed it from Otto.

...

Some time ago after Ashborn received the 'Void Archive'.

He was in a room that only had white as far as the eye could see.

Ashborn's face did not change in the face of this change, he just looked around before finally looking back at the humanoid creature that took the form of Otto as a child.

"Void Archive." Ashborn said calmly.

The Void Archive walked around him and looked him up and down as if staring at some kind of rare animal.

"Hmm... Weird... Really weird... You... Are you really Ashborn?" Asked Void Archive excitedly.

Ashborn simply looked at him with raised eyebrows before saying calmly, " What do you think?"

Void Archive seemed to stop and lowered his head with his hands looking as if he was thinking very hard.

"...Hmm... Although you have the same aura and soul as him, my intuition tells me that you are not Ashborn... Hmmm Ah! I know! You are Ashborn but at the same time not Ashborn!" he said in a loud voice.

And right after that, countless golden chains appeared out of thin air and restrained Ashborn.

The trapped Ashborn did not resist at all, he still stood straight and stared at the Void Archive before him with a calm expression.

Ashborn's violet eyes reflected the Void Archive who walked over to him leisurely before finally asking in a deep voice.

"Who are you?"

For the first time, Ashborn's eyes seemed to shine brightly.

"Who am I?"

As if fed up with his question, Ashborn then said, "... I am Ashborn, a clone of KOURO who was first successfully created by Mobius."

"I am Sagaki, a desperate, intelligent scientist who wants to save his son. And..."

Ashborn's appearance changed depending on the identity he said.

His gray hair and purple eyes started to turn black before finally... His eyes returned to a purple colour.

"I am KOURO, the Herrscher of Shadows who won against the Herrscher of the End."

After saying that, the dark shadow at Ashborn's feet widened like an abyss with no end in sight, and countless shadowy hands emerged from the depths of the dark shadow, breaking all the chains that bound him.

"What?!" Void Archive shouted with a shocked expression, he found that his control over this room had weakened.

When Void Archive was caught off guard, suddenly countless shadowy hands held him down.

Void Archive tried to break free, but it was useless, his control over his powers had weakened, and the one who controlled this room now was Ashborn!

"No! How is that possible?! KOURO is dead! Sagaki is dead too! Who the hell are you!?" He shouted in a frightened tone.

"Are you deaf?" Ashborn said with an annoyed expression.

"I am Ashborn."

(A/N: Scaramouche or Raiden or Ayato or Itto.)