First World: The Monster Within I

No...I can't.

I refuse to let it happen.

Too many led astray.

Too many easily fall into the clutches of evil.

I will stop-

Drip...

Huh?

Wha...what just happened...?

Blood... is pouring out of my chest...but why?

Why is there a steel pole embedded into my chest cavity...

Why...

I'm... loosing...my-

What...what happened to you?

So many of them are...gone.

THUD!

I'm...dying...

Yet I want to know...

"Why..."

I try to look up with the remaining strength I had.

"Young...Midoriya..."

...

..

.

"Ahhh~ My romance, it has finally commenced! Long have I waited for this excruciatingly-beautifully-crafted event! The despair and suffering... so intoxicating and delicious~ Feeding on the crops that I have oh~ so painstakingly raised with my heart..."

BOOM!

"FILLS ME WITH UNENDING HAPPINESS!"

Amidst the chaos cast upon Paris, an unidentified man sat on a stool as he hovered hundreds of meters above ground level with a huge piece of rock supporting him.

He sat on the stool while peacefully playing ominous melodies on a grand piano, creating a symphony mixed in with the cries of people.

"I've always been inspired to be like these gentlemen from the rivers of time and history~"

Not an ounce of remorse could be felt emanating from that man as he continued to create sorrowful and horrendous sounds, ignoring the current affairs of his surroundings.

"Beethoven~... Liszt~... Mozart~... Chopin~... HAHAHAHAHA! With nothing more left other than legacies that have been tarnished by these disgusting pests, I shall rip the pages of history apart and start...anew!"

SPLAT!

The 'man' glanced at the huge bulking figure of pure muscular mass letting out a fountain of blood.

He angrily slammed on the keys of the piano while frantically yelling at the fallen hero drowning in his puddle of life force.

"No! No! NOOOO! You're supposed to scream, SCREAM FOR ME! Without it, this piece will remain incomplete forever... only the sounds of your cries will fill the empty hearts of us robbed composers! It is only through everyone's anguished screams will they finally realize..."

Ignoring the hero bleeding on the ground, he rapidly created numerous harmonic melodies. A perfect setting with the fall of a once-famous city.

Wildfires, huge pieces of land left afloat in the sky, craters the size of a football field, corpses of so many, and the constant fighting made the man never feel so alive and elated until the present day.

"Oh dear~... The euphoria of performing on such a large stage as the curtains are being held up... let the common man dance with me on this last performance as I GRAAACE this beautiful world with my masterpiece!"

BOOM!

Crazily looking up at the sky full of stars, he 'sorrowfully' choked on his words.

"I shall grant your dreadful existences a meaning, as your deaths become one... with my melody whilst the echoes of these last notes will be... your dying breaths..."

...

..

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"Is this the last of them?"

In a rundown building located in an abandoned area, hundreds of large speakers have been specifically placed in their spots, connected to a source of electricity.

"Yeah, let me get this one real quick... there we go."

Wiping off the sweat with a dirtied towel, Jared stood up from his knees and basked in the aftermath of finally finishing their tasks.

Several days have gone by since they started collecting every speaker in the country, going around places to connect them all to a single power source. Not a single day has been wasted, as they worked their asses off.

Now with the whole group here...

"Grrr..."

Jared looked at the woman who had been grunting and pouting in dissatisfaction for hours now, in tiredness.

He crossed his arms, sighing as he rubbed his forehead.

"It'll be fine. No need to worry... well I hope."

After he said that he quickly cleansed the dirt and sweat off of his body with magic.

"What about me?"

An old man sneakily came from behind him, lazily yawning as he nonchalantly scratched the back of his head, completely unaware of his rough appearance.

Kojiro's hair looked like a porcupine or someone who had just woken up from sleep, his back hunched like the old man he is, all the while shamelessly eating a rice ball from his other hand.

He kept munching on it while ignoring the twitching gaze of Jared and a certain crazed-hungry Saber who already appeared in front of him to try to snatch his snack away.

"Give! Give it! I'm starving! Urgh..."

He looked at the pair of hands greedily targeting his beloved snack, as he moved away with ease.

Smirking at Musashi, he gave off a shit-eating grin while waving his index finger from side to side.

"Nope, unless you lass behave yourself like the honorable swordswoman you are, then forget trying to get food from me, even the friendly street vendors won't give a single dime."

Kojiro scolded her like a grandfather, which in her response, said,

"Heh, old man, it seems to me like age is finally catching up to you, hahaha!"

Musashi gleefully laughed.

"I've never had this so-called honor, so suck it. Tee-hee!"

Cutely tilting her head, she felt relaxed to vent some of her accumulated stress ever since she came here in this world.

The same could be said for everyone else gathered at the moment.

However, if they went back to the topic beforehand...

"Hmmm, *munch* still not here huh... Edi-san sure does like his alone time, doesn't he?"

Kojiro absentmindedly muttered, swallowing the last bit of his rice ball. Of course, he didn't forget to lick off the rice from his fingers.

Back to what he said earlier, Edison would often disappear after setting up the speakers in specific locations. Reasons? They don't know, but it didn't seem that much of a big deal. That, however, did not diminish their growing concern.

"..."

"..."

"... It's been tough. For all of us."

As the sun rose from the darkness looming over the skies, Jared broke the silent but tense atmosphere. He straightened his back and spoke again.

"I'm sure Mr. Caddel... is trying to prepare for what is coming. Cause, for all we know... tomorrow could be our last. With each day nearing the end of the world, it seems like yesterday when it was all in order... but over time I've come to accept that... maybe not everything is supposed to go the way I wanted to."

Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Jared corrected himself.

"Maybe it's for the best... thoughtlessly wallowing in grief won't bring back the dead, instead I think... the least I could do is learn something from this experience, it goes for all of us."

Then, with a final smile.

"Hah, I've rambled too much. Well... this might be it."

He turned his head and looked at the glaring sun, and somehow it seemed a bit different today.

Shining brighter than ever, yet did that symbolize anything?

Not only Jared, but Kojiro, Musashi, and countless other survivors who gazed at the sun prayed.

On a rooftop of a high-rise building, Edison stood on the edge where one step would mean his death, though that didn't faze him.

His eyes which were closed for who knows how long, opened up to reveal a calm but deadly gaze staring at the star.

Everyone... hoped.

Prayed even, that this madness will end.

Happiness that had long been stripped away, never to return, yet what they yearn for was nothing more than freedom and salvation. To be free of the shackles of one who took everything away.

The one who turned everything upside down for the worst.

They prayed.

No matter if one was an atheist, if one was religious, it seems that only when humanity has fallen to the depth of the abyss would they once again, unite...

...to create a miracle.

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..

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The Marionette.

A pure white mask with only the black parts painting its cunning eyes and smile that showed nothing but pure disharmony.

Clothes that resembled a jester from medieval times.

The mannerism of a crazed psychotic and cold-blooded murderer.

With subordinates as scary and deadly as him.

The one who pulls the strings of every heart present, with a tune that shatters and corrupts the mind and soul alike.

He, who has unknowingly appeared, akin to The Black Death spread his ambitions to every corner of the planet, making it all more obvious what he desires and wishes for.

He, who is nowhere, but everywhere.

That is The Marionette, he who acts upon the arrival of his last encore, gracing his audience with a melody of blood and tears.

"Creative, are we now? Rejoice, I'll show you true creativity!"

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"Conceptual... Music..."