Temptation

Ryu's POV

I coughed out blood as he pierced one of his blades into my shoulder. I held onto his arm trying to push him away but he was too strong. I already reached my limit in augmentation and I was getting weaker.

"You're not bad at fighting." growled the man

He pushed the blade in deeper and I grit my teeth in pain. I held onto his other arm to prevent him from stabbing me but the tip of that blade was grazing on my stomach.

"Hae In! Kill him!" yelled the man

"Hae In? You're Korean?" I asked while smiling

I coughed out blood and the blonde girl stabbed my stomach with her sword. I felt my arms slowly give up so the man took advantage of that and pushed the blade into my stomach so now I have two blades in my stomach.

"Who... who ordered you?" I asked

"None of your business." snapped the man

"Then do me a favor." I said

I let go of his arm and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"You have to get the Matrix, it's the only way for you to revive your world." I said

I coughed out more blood.

"The people I know, will lead you to it. But whatever you do, never ever give it to Oracle." I said

"Oracle was the one who promised me that he'll revive our world." said the girl name Hae In

"You probably won't believe me if I said he was lying." I commented

"Sir!"

I saw Aragorn and Aneko run up to me, Aneko looked desperate to save me and Aragorn looked horrified.

"Stop..." I called out

Aragorn was on the verge of shooting his arrow.

"Promise me you'll never give it to Oracle, nor Demon nor any of his fucking angels." I said

"Ryu what the hell are you saying?" asked Aneko

"Just stop." I said

I felt my heart beat slower and slower.

"So you're telling me, Oracle is only using the two of us for his benefit?" asked the man

I nodded and coughed out more blood but suddenly the two of them pulled out their swords and I collapsed onto the floor but Aneko caught me.

"Ryu..." whispered Aneko

"I'm... fine." I groaned

"Ryu hang on, Hikari can save you." said Aneko

Blood spilled out from my open cuts. Aneko and Aragorn helped me and brought me over to Hikari who began healing me.

"Ryu, take a break." said Aneko

"There's really no time for a break, if Oracle used this man to kill me he must be planning other shit." I said

"I'm going to kill him." said the man

"You can't, it's impossible if he still has his damn angels." I said, "You can't even go back to your earth."

"Who are these angels? I kill them all." he said

"There's no point, you'll never find them." I sighed, "They'll come to us."

The AI was busy translating but I looked at him.

"He'll erase you from existence. If you die I still have a chance to revive you but if you're erased there's nothing I could do." I said

"Fuck." groaned the man

Hae In comforted him as he gave me that pissed off look.

"I didn't get your name." I said

"Sung Jin Woo." he replied

"So, you are Korean." I said, "Names Ryu Kim but you can call me Kim Chin Hae."

"You're Korean as well? You look, Japanese." said Hae In

"Japanese..." I whispered

'Was my dad, Japanese?'

"You're pretty strong? What kind of powers are those?" asked Jin Woo

"Mine, it's hard to explain. At first I thought I was able to control the elements but I guess there's more to augmentation than just elements." I said

"Augmentation..." whispered Jin Woo

"You're strong as well. But, I'm not really interested in how you got them." I sighed, "Learning about things that disobey physics isn't my thing."

"Ryu, your wounds are all healed." said Hikari

"Thanks." I said, "Let's get going, we wasted a lot of time."

I slowly got up but once I did I felt something pull me and once again I was in the void.

"You're really dragging the fucking problem." I heard a familiar voice

"I'm only doing what I think is right." I replied as I turned around to see Demon

"Just fucking surrender and make life easier." said Demon

"And watch him control everything?" I asked, "Hell no, Oracle just destroyed Jin Woo's world just so he can convince Jin Woo to join his side."

"Ryu you're really, you're really going to continue on?" asked Demon

"You know me, but my question to you is are you going to stand in my way?" I asked

"No, I won't." said Demon

I was surprised by how quick she answered.

"Jin Woo nearly killed me." I said

"I know, he's one of the strongest in the multiverse but Oracle can literally just snap his finger and he'll be a forgotten history. You know that Oracle can't do anything to augmenters." said Demon, "If someone is able to resist hypnosis you know that an augmenter's hypnosis will work on them. It's just how it is, anything they may be resistant to only we can make it their weakness."

"So that'll give me a chance. He can't erase me from existence then I'll continue to stand in his way until I'm through this." I said

Demon groaned and slapped me.

"Ryu do you really want to die?!" she yelled

"Since when did you start caring about me dying?!" I yelled back

"I always did! You just can't seem to fucking get that through your fucking stubborn head!" she yelled

"Leave me alone! I don't need your fucking help!" I yelled

And with that I snapped back into my body and I gasped and started panting.

"Sir!" gasped Aragorn

"Shit..." I groaned as I clutched my head in pain

"What happened?" asked Aneko, "Were you in the void again?"

I nodded and sighed.

"Jin Woo, did you meet a girl with Oracle?" I asked

He nodded and I sighed.

"Who is she?" asked Hae In

"My ex." I replied

I stood up and grabbed my bag.

"Let's go, I have a bad feeling about what's going to happen." I said

"What did Demon tell you?" asked Aneko

"Shit I don't even know." I groaned, "She said I should just die so she can let me live in peace in hell."

"What if Oracle is using Demon for his own use?" asked Aragorn

"That's a possibility." I said, "But I don't know and don't care."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 hour later

Ryu's POV

"It's been an hour, are you sure the AI knows where it's going?" I asked

"AIs never make mistakes." replied Aneko

"We're here." said AI

We turned the corner and my eyes widened when we entered the valley and it was covered in mist but the mist was moving.

"Shit, I don't do well with mist." said Aragorn

Jin Woo was about to enter but I stopped him.

"Wait wait, something's not right." I said

"It's just mist." he replied

"Maybe for the blind eye." I replied, "If you slow down time, the fog is actually moving way faster than it is normally."

"How's that possible?" asked Hae In

The AI was translating so Aneko raised an eyebrow.

"It's like an after image, it's so fast that it looks like it's slow but it's moving at an extremely fast rate." I said

I picked up a rock and tossed it into the fog but once it made contact it exploded into dust.

"Damn." groaned Aragorn

"No wonder they said no one made it back." I sighed

I gathered all the wind and blew it as hard as I could towards the mist but the mist didn't even budge.

"Is this the bad omen?" asked Aneko

"No, in fact I think someone put this here." I said

"What why?" asked Aragorn

"Why would Aerin teleport the matrix here?" I questioned, "Because she thought it was the safest place."

I turned and looked at Aragorn and Aneko

"Because there's something protecting it." I sighed

I began walking towards it but Aneko grabbed my arm.

"You're just going to walk in it?" she asked

"She believed I can change the future." I said, "I think I know what I have to do."

"But if you die..." she whispered, "If you die all of this fails."

"I won't die." I replied, "Trust me."

She sighed and slowly let me go so I slowly approached the mist.

'Well here goes nothing.'

I took a deep breath and threw myself into the mist and I went straight through. I checked myself and sighed in relief but I couldn't see anything 3 feet in front of me. I tried to use my wind augmentation inside but nothing happened so I kept walking forward deeper into the mist. I didn't feel anything strange or anything that felt creepy.

"This isn't so bad." I commented

But just as I said that I felt something chilly run up my spine. I turned around but nothing was there and once I turned around my mom's face was in front of me and I screamed. I fell on my butt and looked up to see that my mom's eyes were plucked out and she was all bloody.

"Ryu?" called out my mom

'No, it's fake.'

I got up but just as I was going to walk away my mom started crying blood.

"It's all your fault." she cried

I looked at her and her expression went from sad to angry.

"You could have saved all of us!" she yelled, "It's your fault we all died!"

I shook my head in fear and ran away deeper into the mist but I began to see multiple familiar faces appear.

"Where are you going?!" yelled Lydia

"Running away?!" yelled Kishimoto

"You were never fit to be an augmenter!" yelled the queen

"Stop stop stop." I whispered to myself

I clutched my ears so that I didn't hear anything but everyone was circling around me, all of them, didn't have eyes and was crying blood.

"You're no savior you're a coward!" yelled Aragorn

I closed my eyes and clutched as everyone was yelling at me at the same time. I couldn't pick out what anyone was saying but it was making me feel darkness stir inside of me.

"Stop just shut the fuck up!" I yelled

And everyone shut up, it was completely silent. I slowly opened my eyes and I didn't see any shoes so I sighed and looked up to see my mom once again standing there.

"You were a fucking mistake! You should have never been born! You ruined my life!" she yelled

"ENOUGH!" I yelled

I felt my augmentation inside me stir up ready to explode so I held it in, preventing it from exploding. I clutched my chest and fell on my knees and began crying.

"Stop, stop stop it's not real she didn't mean it." I cried

My augmentation calmed down and I looked around and noticed that there were destroyed wooden cabins. It looked like they were sitting here for ages.

"Where am I?" I questioned

The mist around me lifted a bit so I was able to see 10 feet in front of me.

"Is this the village?" I questioned

I looked around and then I saw someone, sitting on the floor in the middle of the village.

"Aerin?" I questioned

Aerin was sitting there and she looked up and me and smiled.

"Aerin! You're alive holy shit what the fuck I-"

"Please, lower your voice Ryu." she scolded

"Oh, sorry." I replied

I approached her and kneeled down in front of her.

"And I'm not alive." said Aerin, "This is just my soul."

"Oh I uhh see." I sighed a bit disappointed, "The Matrix, it's here isn't it?"

She removed her arm and sitting in front of her was a rock. She began to make it float and it began to open up and change in the Matrix. I slowly took it with both of my hands and she smiled at me.

"You're the only one who can save all of us." she said

And she slowly began to turn into dust and fly into the air.

"I'll get you back Aerin, no matter what." I promised

Aerin smiled and nodded before completely turning into dust and fly away into the air. The mist began to die out and sunlight began to shine through.

"Ryu!" called out Aneko

Everyone ran towards me and I slowly stood up and showed them the Matrix.

"I got it." I sighed in happiness

Aragorn and Aneko started smiling and started laughing in happiness but suddenly blood spurted everywhere. I gasped when I saw a sword impaled through Aneko's chest.

"So, you found the Matrix." I heard a familiar voice

I caught Aneko in my arms and saw Oracle and the remaining 5 angels.

"Aneko! Aneko!" I yelled

Jin Woo was about to attack but he was frozen in place with the others.

"Aneko!" I called out

"How the hell did you find us?" asked Aragorn

"Thanks to you Aragorn." said Oracle

"What?" I questioned

"When you were killed by Demon, we placed a new heart in you. A heart that I could track down." said Oracle

"You son of a bitch!" I yelled

"Bastard, you lying piece of shit." growled Jin Woo

"I'm going to take away your powers." said Oracle

Oracle just touched his forehead and Jin Woo passed out. Oracle did the same with the others leaving just me holding onto Aneko who was slowly losing life. Oracle teleported the others somewhere and I glared at Oracle.

"The Matrix." he said

"Never." I replied

"I'll let Aneko live." he replied

"I can't trust you." I replied

I looked at the Matrix in my hand then back at him.

"In fact, you can't have it at all." I said

I was about to slam the Matrix into my chest but Oracle did something and I went flying away. I stopped myself and blasted towards him and punched him but he caught my fist. Oracle grabbed the Matrix out of my grasp and examined it.

"With this, everything is done."

I couldn't let him get it, I just couldn't so without thinking twice I drew my sword and slowed down time. I sliced the cube in half and there was an explosion that blew me and Oracle away.

I groaned and sat up just in time to see a colorful light in the air fly straight towards me and it entered my chest and I screamed in pain and clutched my chest. My organs started twisting and I felt like they were being squeezed. Then I began to see symbols everywhere, I couldn't tell what kind of language the symbols were but they were flashing everywhere.

After a while the pain and the symbols went away and I looked up but my vision was a bit blurry. I saw Oracle pick up the cube that was still intact and he removed his mask and smiled at me.

"Thanks, Ryu." he said

Oracle raised his finger and pointed at me and shot a laser at me but then Aneko pushed me away and the laser went straight through her chest.

"Aneko!" I gasped

I caught her and wrapped my hands around her wounds.

"Fuck why? Why did you save me? I didn't ask you to save me!" I cried

Blood poured out of her wounds and she just smiled.

"Because... because I... I love you." she whispered

My eyes widened, tears streaming out of my eyes.

"Save the world, so you can see me again." she whispered

She handed me one of her hatchets and then the teleportation device and pressed a button.

"Wait wait Aneko! Aneko no!" I yelled

But I was sucked into hyperspace and I passed out.