Child

The world fell into grey as it froze in Ian's eyes. A single bullet had placed itself in front of his face. Assuming that death laid right before his eyes, he closed them, awaiting judgement. Letting a moment's time pass, he reopened his eyes. The bullet remained still in the middle of the air. Ian realized that the world he stood in had frozen in time.

"What… happened…?"

"˙ʇuǝƃᴉlᴉp ǝɹǝʍ sʇuǝɹɐd ɹnoʎ ʎʞɔnl ǝɹ,no⅄"

Ian was alarmed by the enigmatic voice that spoke into his head. The speech sounded intangible, yet he understood what was being said.

"Who is this? Who's speaking to me?"

"̴̱̞͔̬̯͍̳̫̫͖̱͔͎͗̄̐́∀̸̛͉͋̀̃͒͆̀̈́̈́̒̕Ņ̷̲͔̞͚͇̟͋̋͝O̸̧̨͖̫̝̬̺͕̰̳͎̝̝̼̾̈͝W"

The grey world bled in an instant. The skies were immediately painted red. The glimmering sun that floated up above was shattered into millions and millions of bloody shards. What was left of the glowing sphere was another sphere littered with craters. The formations on its surface almost resembled an angrily weeping face.

"˙plᴉɥɔ ɐ sɐ 'ƃuᴉssǝlq ʎɯ uǝʌᴉƃ uǝǝq ǝʌ,no⅄"

"Blessing?"

"˙ɥʇnɹʇ uǝppᴉɥ ɐ ɟo ʇɟǝl dɐɹɔs ʎluo ǝɥʇ sɐʍ ʇᴉ ʍouʞ ʎǝɥʇ pᴉp ǝlʇʇᴉ˥ ˙ʇlnɔ lɐɔᴉƃɹnǝɥʇ ɐ ƃuᴉuᴉoɾ uᴉ ʞsᴉɹ ǝɥʇ ʞooʇ sʇuǝɹɐd ɹno⅄"

Ian froze with the world. He was reminded of an unexpected hearing back at A.X.A.

~

"...His parents' killers weren't defenseless. They were a bloodstained cult, armed and ready to dirty their hands whenever they needed to."

"So the Sedia family's associated with a cult?"

"WAS associated. That cult is no more. They, and the mass sent in by Ian, are all dead. I told you, Ian's ability to authorize is like no other…"

~

Ian came back to his senses, still stuck in the limbo of his frozen world.

"¿ʇsɐd ɹnoʎ ɯoɹɟ sʇuǝɯoɯ ʎuɐ llɐɔǝɹ noʎ dlǝɥ ʇɐɥʇ sǝop 'plᴉɥƆ"

Ian shook his head. "No… I wasn't able to have my memories returned like the others…"

"˙ʇsʎlɐʇɐƆ ǝɥʇ ɥʇᴉʍ ʇɔɐʇuoɔ oʇuᴉ ǝɯoɔ ʇǝʎ ʇou ǝʌɐɥ noʎ ǝsnɐɔǝq sᴉ ʇɐɥ┴"

"The Catalyst?"

"˙lɐᴉʇuǝʇod puɐ ǝsodɹnd ǝnɹʇ sᴉɥ puɐʇsɹǝpun oʇ ʇǝʎ ǝʌɐɥ llᴉʇs no⅄ ˙ǝɹoɟǝq sǝɯᴉʇ ʎuɐɯ ɯᴉɥ ʇǝɯ ǝʌ,no⅄"

Ian scrunched his eyebrows. "I still have yet to understand what's happening right now! What happened to me? Why is the world frozen? Who really are you?!"

"¿ɟlǝsʎɯ ʇɐǝdǝɹ oʇ ǝɯ ʞsɐ ǝɹɐp no⅄" The world began to burn with boiling blood. Ian's view had been stained with unbearable heat.

"˙uǝɹplᴉɥɔ ʎɯ ɟo ǝuo ǝɹɐ noʎ ǝsnɐɔǝq ʎluo 'ǝɹoɯ ǝɔuo noʎ llǝʇ llɐɥs I"

Ian gulped.

"˙̵̰͑̕∀̸̩͙̮̐̏̍͠͠Ņ̸̮̤̝̻̭̼̲̪̬͔̱̙̺̓͌́̊̈́̄̏͜͝Ǫ̶̧̨̪̻̞͍͔̩̹̘̞̤̀ͅW ɯɐ I"

The skies cracked. Seeping through the fractures up above, blood poured down like rain. Ian covered his head in fear, breathing heavily through the horrifying aura of a being beyond his own comprehension.

"W-Why do you keep calling me 'child'? Are you my mother?!"

"˙plᴉɥɔ ʎɯ 'ɥʇɹoɟ ǝnuᴉʇuoɔ oʇ uoᴉsɐʌǝ noʎ ʇuɐɹƃ llᴉʍ I 'ʎɐpoʇ ɥʇɐǝp noʎ uǝʌᴉƃ sɐɥ ǝʇɐɟ ɥƃnoɥʇl∀ ˙ɹoᴉʌɐs ɹnoʎ ɯɐ I"

Ian rubbed the blood off of his face. "B-But why? Why am I being saved?"

" ˙ǝɔuɐɯɹoɟɹǝd ɹnoʎ uᴉ ǝpᴉɹd ɹǝɥʇɐɹ ʇnq 'suoᴉsᴉɔǝp ɹnoʎ uᴉ ʇuǝɯʇuǝsǝɹ ou ǝʌɐɥ I ˙ƃuᴉuᴉɐɯǝɹ ǝuo ʎluo ǝɥʇ ɟlǝsɹnoʎ ǝpɐɯ ǝɹoɟǝɹǝɥʇ ǝʌɐɥ puɐ 'uǝɹplᴉɥɔ ɟo uoᴉʇɔǝlloɔ uoɯɯoɔ ʎɯ pǝsɐɹǝ no⅄ ˙oƃɐ ƃuol 'ɟlǝsɹnoʎ uǝʌoɹd ǝʌ,no⅄"

Ian could barely keep up with what was being said. He was too overwhelmed by everything that happened in the moment.

"˙ǝɹɐ noʎ ʇɐɥʇ ʇuǝdɹǝs ǝɥʇ ǝʞᴉl ǝsᴉɯǝp ɹnoʎ ʇsɐd ɹǝɥʇᴉlS ˙plᴉɥɔ 'ʇou ʇǝɹℲ"

Ian looked back up at the bullet that stood before him. He stared deeply into its gaze directed at his forehead. Ignoring the heavy drops of blood that splashed against the top of his head, he moved his head aside.

"̷̢̡̡͎̭̪͙͚͓͎͍̘̏̒̽̈́̚͜ͅͅΒ̴̧̪̬̭̳̦͙̾̍͋̏̏̅̃̅͐̕̚Ϊ̷̨̝̼͚̄͑̈́̄̀̒̉̃̊͋͠Ο̸̨̣̝̥͇̳̲̠͖̫̦͔̱͈̱̈́̎͆Γ̵̧̮̔͊̇ͅΡ̷̎͆̐̂̉̾͘̚̕ͅᾼ̵̧̧̖̱̱̣̠͖̜̟͆͌͌̀̾̈́̊͛̓͘͜Φ̸̘͌̾͛̏͊͒̈́͌͘Ι̵̻̩͆̆̈́́̈́̓Κ̸̡̤͉̗̤͓̫́̀̃́̽̓̈́̀̈́͐̿̏̕̕͜ͅͅὉ̷̡̹͇̣̮̞̻̬̘͔̬͊͛̕̕."

The world garnered speed back into the original space continuum. With this, Ian's bloody vision was erased of its grey-scale world, and the area regained its colors. Time had resumed.

—PTHOOM!

The bullet had whizzed right by his face, destroying the walls of a building right behind him. Ian's eyes widened at the execution he'd just avoided.

"What—?!?"

"How did you do that?!" Both Veronica and Gian-Luca were shocked to have just witnessed their comrade evade death.

Across from the Sins, Jarrett found himself speechless. "How did you just…?"

Ian steadied his footing. He smiled with realization. "I told you, you're at a disadvantage going against us Sins."

He stepped forward, instigating an unusual fear in both Jarrett and Suto. To them, his aura felt different than before. In just the last second, his presence had been amplified heavily by a horror of some sort. This made the Virtues' knees weak. They were immobile.

"What is this…?"

Suto tried to lift his lance, ready to attack, but he couldn't. His limbs were paralyzed with fear.

"Why can't I…?"

Eventually, Ian came face-to-face with the Virtues.

"Ian? What are you doing…?" The Sins observed the unusual behavior from behind.

Ian did not reply. Instead, he spoke one word from his growing grin. The syllable left his lips with ill grace.

"Die."