79th Move | Those Were The Days

"Noir?"

The Black Primordial paused in his movement. With a tone of annoyance and sagging shoulders, "What is it, Violet? What could you possibly want right before we meet my Mistress?"

The Purple Primordial was taken a bit aback before bitting back, "Oh don't you sass me. Just why am I here? I already met your Mistress! In fact, she even gave me a name! It's Kathy."

Kathy's head held up high as she said that last part, much to Diablo's confused annoyance.

"What are you talking about? This will be the first time you'll be meeting her."

Kathy tilted her head as her face scrunched up in irritation. Well, Noir is the most whimsical out of all the Primordials, so who knows why he's doing this again. Maybe it's even a welcoming surprise.

"Ah, whatever, I'll play with your joke."

Like clockwork, Noir opened the door to present the Purple Primordial.

Feeling much more familiar than last time, Kathy decided to take a much more casual approach instead of the explosive one. Calmly walking in and doing a two-finger salute to her brother, "Yo, whaddup Scientia. Interesting design for the insides of your Ark, eh? You really liked that meeting room, huh?"

"K—Kathy?"

Kathy's hands fell down to her sides, "Yeah, I really don't get why are you going along with Noir's whimsical endeavors, but I think this joke has gone on long enough."

"Huh?"

"I mean, I was about to go on the Ark and all, but why this? Why this introduction party?"

Her brother's mouth was agape, looking at her as if the Purple Primordial is the crazy one.

"What are you talking about?" Her brother then turned to Noir, "Diablo?"

"I did say she is manipulative."

"I... see." A look of wariness materialized inside the Perfect Homunculus' eyes, causing a flash of anger to cross Kathy's mind.

"Oi, Noir! This prank is going a bit too far, using my brother against me, just who—"

"I'm sorry, but I don't know you." This time, Scientia spoke up before Noir could defend himself.

For some reason, those words hurt the Primordial Demon more than anything she's experienced in recent memory. It was so bad that Kathy stopped her movement and checked herself for any damages, only to come up with none.

Her attention returned to the Perfect Homunculus, her voice quivering like a sibling who's just been rejected for no reason, "S—Scientia! Now you're just being mean! I'm Kathy! Y—Y—You even named me Kathy!"

Instead of remembering, Scientia's eyes only further narrowed, prompting the demon to try and approach her reincarnated brother. Kathy's hands were shaking slightly as she tried to reach for him...

...Only for Arcueid to step in between her brother and her.

Her fingers wilted like flowers. The eyes that Arcueid bore possessed no love, as they saw Kathy as a stranger instead of a sister-in-law.

Kathy then looked around the room, finding most people being near the edge of the room while a select few wearing what's obviously military uniforms held the backs of their sidearms, all in preparation to draw it at a moment's notice. Kathy's eyes stopped at the hands belonging to a humanoid slime resting upon the handle of a sword.

That must be Rimuru, the 'slime'.

The Purple Primordial chewed on her lower lips, her eyes hardening. What the hell, bro? She wanted to scream but for some reason, Scientia still wants to play this foolish game. This isn't like her brother to be honest, so perhaps it's a trait she gained after reincarnating?

From her own personal experience, Kathy knows how death changes people, so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that her brother became playful.

Kathy ignored the obvious problem with that theory since in her state of confusion that was the only explanation she could come up with.

"You know what? I'm going to prove it." And so she tried to activate the [Soul Corridor] that exists between the namer and named.

.

.

.

"What." Her voice sounded like that of a frightened girl's.

There was no [Soul Corridor]. There was no [Soul Corridor] between her and Scientia. That fact caused the Primordial to shakily step back until her back hit the wall, her face a mask of utter shock and bewilderment.

"What?" She repeated the question like a broken doll.

Her mind went blank, she couldn't think, for it wasn't possible— Violet was sure that there was a [Soul Corridor] between her and her brother. So where the hell was it?

"Primordial Violet?" Violet? That's not her name, her name is Kathy!

Yet 'Kathy' felt foreign to the Purple Primordial, like being called a new nickname.

Her name is KATHY! Not Violet!

Violet traced her mind back, replaying that moment inside her mind perfectly using a bit of Mind Magic. Her skin tingled as she felt her brother's hug, the phantom caresses of his fingers and arm...

Wordlessly, the Archdemon used a bit of light magic to project a playback of her memory—

—Only to find herself back in that hallway again, when she was walking behind Diablo.

"What the fuck."

Diablo stops, then looks back at her with a smug expression, "I know, such designs, such technology! Even I have never seen something like this before I was summoned! The technology and sciences my Mistress use rival that of..."

Violet stopped listening. Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, and thrice is enemy action. Something is causing the demon to loop back in time, and there's only one person who Violet knew has that capacity.

With a single casual swipe a person would use in swatting away a fly, Violet opened a portal in space that connected to Ruberios.

"Now enough of that," Diablo clenched his hands and forcefully closed the portal, "I need to introduce you to my Mistress and tell her of my only success. With Blanc missing and no other Primordials available, you're my only proof of competence."

Violet felt extremely annoyed, her left eye twitching as she spoke, "So what am I? A product you got to further ingratiate yourself with my brother?"

"Your brother? What are you talking about? Do you have a new brother now? After all, your old ones all died eons ago."

Violet felt old scars opening up and bleeding once again. Diablo wasn't exactly wrong. During a few thousand years of her existence, Violet entered a phase where she would force demons to become her brother. She worked through thousands, and it became something of a sore spot that she would much rather every other Primordial forgot.

If she was forced to describe it, Violet would say that it was her version of a 'teenage edgy phase', except it was out of a desperate need for familial love.

In retrospect, perhaps that's why she so readily became the sister to *******.

"Enough, I need to go. I will be back—"

In an authoritative tone that leaves no room for argument, Diablo interrupted, "No. You will come with me and we'll introduce you to my Mistress. Then you can go do whatever you want."

Violet glared at Diablo for a few moments. Just when it seemed like she might ignore his words, "fine," the Purple Primordial relented, and her mind became quickly fixated on redoing her relationship with Scientia.

Knocking on the door and waiting for a few moments, Diablo then pushed in and introduced Violet to the entire room.

"K—Kathy?"

The demon in question smiled and did a small curtsy, "I don't know who is this Kathy that you speak of, I am Primordial Violet.

No one could miss the disappointment that flashed across her brother's face. Quickly recovering, the Perfect Homunculus cleared his throat, "Very well then. I assume Diablo got you up to speed?"

"Indeed. I was intrigued, to be honest. An extraordinary individual, someone whom the Black Primordial finds worthy enough to be a permanent summoner? How interesting, I might say that this is the most interesting thing in this century."

Immediately after Violet had finished, Jaune stepped forward with her hands raised in such a way as though to tell Violet to stop, "Okay, what the hell is going on?"

The entire room turned to look at Jaune, the Yellow Primordial.

"You are NEVER so respectful," Jaune pointed at Violet accusingly, "In fact, you were the most sadistic and spiteful one out of all of us. What are you up to?"

Crap, her! If there's anyone more familiar to Violet then it would be another member of the Demoness Trio. Violet cursed inside her mind, her past actions and reputation is coming back to bite her really hard.

It took a few microseconds for the Purple Primordial to come up with an excuse.

"Oh, I'm just really curious about an individual who gained the genuine respect of you two," Violet then added with a sly tone, "especially you, Jaune. The Yellow Bloodline of the Demons is known for being unnegotiable after all, unlike mine, the Purple Bloodline."

It was common knowledge to banish any demons of the Red and Yellow lineage since it was unlikely for any contracts to be formed. Even if an agreement was formed, it was always a trap for the summoner. In fact, there was a cautionary tale spread amongst mages that warns them of the dangers present when summoning any demon belonging to those lineages, especially the Red's.

"Alright, enough. There's a risk to everything, and having three Primordial Demons on our side is a huge force equalizer that's probably only outpaced by Velgrynd."

During the first loop, her brother admitted that she had planned to dangle the prospect of escaping from a doomed system as a type of 'trump card' in the negotiation for the employment of a Primordial Demon.

In fact, her brother even drafted up a job contract reminiscence of those found in the private sector of Earth.

Even speaking from the perspective of a Primordial Demon, Violet had to admit that the contract had some generous perks and accommodations.

The Perfect Homunculus then adjourned the meeting. Everyone shuffled out of the room, leaving only the Primordial Demons, the Director, and her partner, the latter of which is currently holding onto her brother like a child holding onto their teddy bears.

Such a scene prevented any tension from truly building up.

Seeing an opportunity to see another side of her brother, Violet took it, "So you wanted more pawns then?"

Scientia blinked a few times, "Very interesting analogy, but no, you are worth far more than that. Pawns are stupid tools that are extremely specialized. You would be an employee: someone who work for me and I pay them, with money and benefits."

It doesn't surprise Violet that her brother took such a corporate approach to such matters.

A Doorway opened beside Scientia. Reaching in, her brother took out several sheets of paper— a proper contract and a geas.

"Now, before I give you a Name I should get rid of any ambiguity during your employment. I will now ask you several questions, please answer them correctly."

Violet could sense the other two Primordials leaning on the wall on the sides of the room.

Her brother doesn't trust her, so she probably asked them to stay in case things get out of hand.

That realization hurt Violet more than she could admit.

Damn it, Chronoa! Why did you send me back in time?! The Purple Primordial screamed inside of her head.

"Fine," Violet took a seat by one of the chairs currently tucked into the table right next to the Perfect Homunculus.

Unlike in a typical interview, there weren't any pieces of paper next to her brother. The whole desk was clean, the wood reflected Violet's passive expression. "Now, the first question: imagine that you are escorting a single very important personnel down a stretch of a forested road. Suddenly, arrows and magic bolts whiz by your VIP's head. What do you do in this situation?"

Recognition matures on Violet's face. So her brother is vetting her out for a bodyguard position? "Well, I would first ensure the VIP is safe before taking out the attackers."

Scientia merely nodded, her face not giving out any hints of whether Violet answered correctly.

"Question two: suppose I ask you to get information out of a prisoner of war, how would you go about doing it?"

Not a bodyguard position? "Well, I have many really powerful mind and hypnosis spells, so I'd just mind-control the prisoner."

Again, her brother nodded, "Question three: what drives you?"

Violet's expression must've said it all since Scientia further elaborated, "I mean, what motivates you to do the things you do? What's your reason to keep on living?"

The Primordial Demon frowned. The question, while seemingly innocent, was like a needle that pierces through everything to get to the most personal part of herself.

Psychological torture was one of Violet's favorite ways to express her sadism and spite. To see someone breaking down so utterly used to be ecstasy for the Primordial. Thus, she studied psychology and how the mind works to properly and efficiently break someone.

Through centuries of study, Violet concluded how eventually, an immortal's identity will boil away due to existential crises and nihilistic thoughts until there's only their reason to live left. An immortal's reason to live then becomes the core of their new identity, the very foundation from which they will build their new self.

She calls their reason to live their 'Drive', their deepest secret, which they only share with those they trust the most or none at all.

A rather interesting realization is that all other Primordials have this Drive whether they know it or not. Violet pieced together that Noir's Drive is to know the Truth of the World while Jaune's is to enjoy life as much as possible. Rouge's is to fight against strong opponents and Vert and Bleu's to serve Rouge. Violet isn't sure what Blanc's Drive is since it could be multiple.

As for hers?

...What is her Drive?

What drives the immortal demon known as Violet?

"I don't know." Originally, Violet wanted to say that it was to be with her brother, but realistically, she will drift away from him.

That's what being an immortal is. To be permanent in a transient world. Change is the only constant aside from other Primordials.

Before Violet could sink further into an abyss of nihilism, her brother spoke up again with another question. The interview finished with close to half a hundred questions asked and answered. During the whole of it, Violet never felt particularly nervous like she did for her first job interview. It was strange, but the demon just chalks it up to her brother trying but failing to put on a serious face.

Arcueid clinging onto her brother like a baby koala clinging onto their mother really defuses any attempt at being serious.

"Alright, the interview has been concluded, and well, I am in need of people like you."

Scientia reached out with her hand, empty in one, and a contract in the other.

Looks like she got the job.

A handshake and a signing of documents later, another portal opened next to Scientia as her brother pulled out a phone.

"Now this device is used for discreet communication. If I ever want to talk with you, I'll use that."

Violet stared at the phone. Since this time her brother saw her as another employee instead of his sister, Scientia decided to properly utilize the Purple Primordial.

For some reason, Violet's mouth tasted bitter.

"Now, for names, it is stipulated in our contract that you may choose your name. Do you have any you want in particular?" Scientia tilted his head.

Her brother acting so... so... indifferent is really breaking her heart.

"Before that, could... could you treat me like your little sister?" There was an undertone of desperation in Violet's voice. Instead of the most sadistic Primordial Demon, anyone who's looking at Violet right now would see her as a delicate construct that could break apart at the slightest touch.

Her brother's eyes wavered a bit, internally weighing whether or not to grant Violet's request.

"...Fine, but there won't be any next time..." Scientia's jaw visibly clenched. She seemed to struggle with actually calling Violet 'sister' as her hands turned into tight fists. Then, finally, "...sister..."

An exorbitant amount of joy and elation echoes throughout Violet's body. Smiling brightly, "Thank you, big brother!" Violet went to give Scientia and Arcueid a hug.

*Bang*

"—Ah!"

That was until the Primordial Demon bumped into a forcefield. Rubbing her nose, Violet used her other hand to reach forward until she hit an invisible wall.

With a single touch, Violet was able to quickly deduce it was the result of a Skill that manipulates gravity. Knocking on it, the demon further deduced it was a sheet of extremely strong repulsive gravity.

"What are you doing?"

Pouting, "I want to give my big brother a hug."

Scientia took in a deep breath before letting it out, quietly remarking, "Oh dear god it's one of those. I thought I would never meet them again after quitting Warcraft." Scientia then clapped her hands, "Alright, I'll give you a hug after you choose a name."

"A name?" Right, she wasn't Kathy, and if by the fact that the other two Primordials are glaring at her. If Violet tried to get her brother to name her Kathy she'll undoubtedly object. "I want to be named... 'Kate'."

It was the name that resembles the closest to Kathy.

"Very well then, your name shall henceforth be Kate."

The familiar indescribable feeling of a name being engraved onto Violet's spirit temporarily overwhelmed the demon's senses. After everything was all said and done and hugs were given, her brother decided to give Kate the remaining day off.

Standing on top of one of the skyscrapers in the capital Metropolis, the newly named Kate took in the sight of a city much more advanced than any other on Earth.

"Wait, aren't these arcologies?" Kate said as she leaned over the edge. The sheer drop was enough to make any human wobble in fear, but not a demon. After all, Kate has been dropped from orbit before.

Slowly, Kate's feet hovered off the ground. Turning west, the Primordial Demon blasted off without a single sound and only stopped once she reached Ruberios. Kate recalled how Diablo during the first time loop made an offhanded remark brushing off the threat that is the Western Holy Church. It happened after the reconciliation with her brother. When Kathy asked for more information, Diablo elaborated by saying how it was formed after Chronoa helped Luminous seal away Veldora.

That was the last confirmed appearance of Chronoa, and while there have been second-handed claims of Chronoa reappearing over the ensuing decades and centuries, the Hero of Time became almost like this world's version of Big Foot or Locke Ness Monster.

Casting a stealth magic so strong it's outside the realm of humans, Kate carefully neared the Holy Mountain that secretly contained Demon Lord Valentine.

Answers, that's what the Purple Primordial craved. And her only lead on where Chronoa might be is with Luminous.

Stalking through the hallways of this mountain palace, Kate eventually found a little girl no more than nine years old leaning forward on the railings of a portion of the hallway that was exposed to the outside. Her face was turned to the outside.

"Violet."

Hearing her name being called, the Purple Primordial revealed herself to the young girl. "You're not a simple girl, are you?"

"Of course not, I'm as simple of a girl as you are."

The girl spoke in a casual tone and didn't even turn to face Kate, it was as though she was talking to someone that didn't matter.

"Who are you then?"

The girl smiled, causing Kate's skin to tingle in discomfort.

It was a horrible smile.

"I think you know very well who I am by the process of elimination alone." The girl said as if reading Kate's mind.

"You're Chronoa."

"Of course." The girl turned fully to face Kate.

Previously, Chronoa always wore a mask, so Kate never truly knew what the Hero looked like. So as Chronoa turned to fully face Kate without the mask on, the Purple Primordial felt consumed by those two ancient, cerulean abyss that Chronoa had for 'eyes'.

Kate felt herself suddenly standing on nothing above a void of pure blueness.

Then, she felt herself falling into that bottomless abyss. She was as powerless as a human, her hands swinging wildly as she grasped nothing, her screams were silenced as there was no air.

She felt herself being suffocated.

Bumping against something hard anchored Kate's mind to reality. Kate found herself back in that hallway, with her back hitting the wall.

It was completely silent save for the heavy breathing coming from Kate herself populating the length of the corridor.

"What the hell was that?" Kate whimpered out uncharacteristically for someone of her stature.

"Now here's what's going to happen." Kate's eyes snapped to Chronoa as the latter finally began to move towards the demon, "You see, every being that is causally connected to this world, I've set them up with a script. When a being breaks this script, I keep on resetting them until they start behaving again, as good actors should. The moment you break out of your script, you'll get sent back in time, again and again until you finally start behaving."

Chronoa spoke calmly like she was just having a normal conversation.

In a tone of defiance, "Oh, like hell I'm going to follow your script! Who do you think I am?!"

"A little demon out of her depth, who's currently struggling to stay afloat." Chronoa coolly replied, in contrast to the anger displayed by the Primordial who snarled and prepared to launch [Samael | Ultimate Poison].

"Here's a glimpse of how deep this abyss is."

_____________________________________________

Many loops later.

Opening her eyes, Violet found herself back in time once more, to the moment right before her meeting with her brother. It took exactly 10.921 seconds for Diablo to reach the door and open it, and another 3.041 for him to introduce Violet.

It'll take another 2.690 seconds for her brother to finally recognize the person that Diablo introduced.

"K—Kathy?"

Her head tilted to the left at an exact 29.4-degree angle. With a voice full of faux confusion that sounds real to any listener, Violet replied to her brother, "Who's Kathy?"

Her brother's disappointment will last exactly 4.357 seconds before her face became neutral once again.

Now let's see if this magic formula works... Violet secretly cast a spell she had perfected over the numerous timeloops she's been through.

"I... see. Then—" Before her brother could talk anymore, her body suddenly seized up. Muscle tensing like an animal who's about to bolt from a predator, Scientia's body started flinching as though she was having a mini-seizure.

Next, there's an 82% chance that it'll be Arcueid who'll ask what's wrong.

"My Lady?" This time, it was Diablo who spoke first.

Diablo was the third most likely, standing at 3.1%.

To the shock and horror of everyone except Violet, red lines crawled up Scientia's hands and the Perfect Homunculus forcefully pushed her right hand through her skull with a sickening crack and started to turn the grey matter inside to mush. The scarlet liquid seeped down from the hole made.

While everyone screamed in horror, the only two people who were calm were Scientia and Violet.

Looks like that mind-control magic formula couldn't get past her brother's Reactive Mental Countermeasures, Violet concluded. As it turns out, her brother had multiple countermeasures in place in the event of mind control. One of those countermeasures was to literally destroy her brain and have the Block-Form Singularity Mathematics take over.

Looking at the bloody scene before her, Violet didn't feel anything that someone normal might feel. Just like watching a horror movie multiple times dampens the scares until one gets bored, Violet at the current timeloop could only feel frustration at the failure once again.

This time, it took 26 seconds for the Perfect Homunculus to cease all movement and fall to the floor. It'll take another hour for her brother to fully regenerate.

As everyone looked shocked, Violet conjured up [Reset Poison] with [Samael] and hit herself with it.

That poison was self-euthanasia in poison form. Instant, painless death.

The next thing Violet knew she was walking again in that hallway, right behind Diablo.

The Purple Primordial made the poison after realizing whenever she died Chronoa would send her back in time to this exact moment.

Inside her mind, she added another timeloop to the count before turning ahead and deciding that for this timeloop, she'll work on and improve the mind control magic formula.

With mind control, Violet could force her brother to activate the Ark immediately and abandon everyone else. Really, her brother's love for family and her willingness to cling to her humanity is such an enormous obstacle that words alone cannot cross.

_____________________________________________

Many loops later.

The door to the meeting room burst open. Wooden shards that used to make up the door shotgunned across the room as a single purple figure zip through that cloud of debris. Some of those shards were fast enough to embed themselves into the walls.

Quicker than even Arcueid or Jeanne could react, Scientia was flung from her seat. The latter's back slammed into the wall behind her.

Had it not been for the enhanced physiology, Scientia would've at the very least had a concussion when her head smashed into the wall.

"...Run..." A weak voice rasps out.

Looking down, Scientia found a mop of purple hair pressing into her chest. The hands belonging to that mop of purple hair were currently squeezing the lab coat that the Perfect Homunculus had worn as if the owner's life depended on it.

"Wha?"

"You have to run, *******! Big brother, you have to run!" The mop of purple hair tilted up to fully face Scientia. The Director's heart skipped a beat at the feeling of an incredible deja vu.

The unknown being in front of her, the one that's holding onto her with enough desperation to dwarf what the Scientia felt from Arcueid just moments before.

Another thing that quickly dawned on Scientia's mind was somehow, the warp space that should reject any intrusion was pierced as though it doesn't exist.

In a fraction of a millisecond, the Perfect Homunculus checked the Noosphere for data and found the being— Violet, the Purple Primordial— was registered as 'family', a classification only reserved for people like Rimuru. Skimming through the change logs, Scientia found that addition happened in the microsecond after that door had exploded.

"Listen to me! You have to run! You—"

"How did you get into my system?" Scientia blurted out absentmindedly. How did this being in front of her hack the Noosphere? And so quickly at that?

Roughly, Violet shook Scientia, and then spoke with a tone of pure agony, "—listen to me damn it! You always never believe anyone other than yourself, just please, listen to me for this one time in your existence and run! Activate the damn Encyclopedia Universalis, activate one of your Hyperweapons, do something, and run! Do whatever it takes, abandon everyone else, and make sure you destroy this timeline— you have to run! She is coming! She is coming! SHE IS COMING! Huuuuuaaaaaaarghh!"

Slowly, the Purple Primordial's legs gave out as the demon's knees fell to the ground. Her hands still clung to the coat of the Perfect Homunculus.

"Please... run! You have to run!"

The sheer veritable ocean's worth of desperation that was rolling off of the person that was holding onto Scientia caused the room to stay speechless. It is a case of the Bystander Effect, where individuals are less likely to offer help when there are others nearby. This effect was further compounded when Violet wasn't harming Scientia.

"I'm..." Even the Director wasn't prepared for this. Looking around the room, Scientia confirmed that everyone else was shocked at this. "Listen, I don't know who you are—"

"I'm Kathy damn it! You named me this in so many different timeloops! But that fucking bitch just keeps on resetting! I can't take it anymore! Redoing things again, and again, and again! So many fucking times it's pure Sisyphean Torture! Do you have any idea what it's like to feel you've come far only for your efforts to have been for naught?"

Like a rubber stopper in a chemistry lab, Violet's words blocked any possible reply before they could be uttered.

"Please brother, even if it's pointless, please just run. Abandon me, abandon this world, abandon everything— escape the system—"

Once again, Violet found herself back in time, walking right behind Diablo.

*Thump*

Violet collapsed onto the floor in a quasi-fetal position, with her hands covering her face as if she was scared to face the world.

"It's... it's pointless. My last gamble failed..."

_____________________________________________

The Citadel, many more timeloops later.

"My Lady, I must again apologize. Primordial Violet was fine until we were a few steps away from the meeting door before she collapsed."

Diablo once again apologized. I didn't pay attention to him. Instead, my focus was completely on the individual lying in bed in front of me.

She looks so much like Kathy that it almost hurts to see how vulnerable she is right at this moment. Despite our strained relationship, I made sure to check her social media account every week to see what was up.

Opening her eyes, I pulled out a flashlight and tested to see whether or not she was conscious.

"The pupils have dilated," I said as the many specialties of [Inspired Inventor] got to work diagnosing the problem in front of me. "You are dismissed, Diablo."

"As you command, Lady Scientia."

A snap of air signaled his disappearance. Once again, I'm alone in this room with this demon. Of course, I have safety measures in place in case this is like one of those horror movie scenarios where the characters bring in a haunted object.

Touching the demon's hand, I activated [Unlimited Alchemy] to look through this being's spirit—

"What the hell?"

What I saw shocked me.

The being— this Primordial Demon's spirit was, to put it in familiar terms, cracking around the edges.

The way that the physical body and the spirit/soul are linked together is one of the details that helped me make my newest contender for the Theory of Everything: the Spirit Theory.

The Spirit Theory categorizes Essence— the smallest building block of the soul and spiritual lifeform— as a type of quark and Spiritrons— the 'organ' of the soul which attracts Magicule— as a boson, or a force carrier that interacts with Magicule, a type of particle so alien that I placed it under an entirely new branch of the standard model: Dimensionless. Essence interacts with photons, gravitons, and spiritrons.

Under Spirit Theory, a soul/spirit is seen as a complex arrangement of different shapes made out of different particles of Essence which works together to create a self-sustaining and regulating system. Certain patterns of Essence create distinctive shapes that in turn create spiritual 'atoms' and 'molecules'. These shapes then further bind together in more complex forms to create the 'cells' of the soul.

It's similar to how life could be made underneath the shell of a neutron star.

Just like how mass affects gravity when enough Essence are clumped together, they start to draw in Magicules. Through observation, it appears what the natives of this world think are 'Magicule count' is actually how much Spiritrons their soul radiates, and subsequently, how much Magicules a being can draw up from... somewhere outside of Realspace.

I'm really tempted to describe Magicules as a Scalar Field like the Higgs Field but the same amounts of Magicule can result in drastically different phenomena. It's possible that 'will' is something more than electric signals coursing through the brain.

Before me, a book written by an Otherworlder with a Unique Skill specialized in 'souls' described the ego as this 'film' of energy that is wrapped around the Nucleic Heart of the soul. I prefer to see the ego as the 'nerves' that connects the soul to the physical body. Accordingly, the ego is also the thing that's most reactive to any electric signals from the brain, and for spiritual lifeforms, in particular, the memories are encoded through the ego to the Nucleic Heart.

As a side effect of the ego's sensitivity, should there be too much activity in the brain, it would actually harm the ego. For a human, this is commonly in the form of too much stimulus, or stress. It's a rather crude way of affecting the soul, and extremely inefficient against spirits like demons.

Even with my technology, I disregarded that avenue for weapons entirely.

Yet... That's exactly what's happening in front of me. Violet's spirit was breaking due to excess stimulus.

How much stress must Primordial Violet have gone through for her spirit to be experiencing what should only be possible for humans? Such damages shouldn't be possible for her yet that's what's happening.

"How much pain has she gone through?" I said to no one. A chill ran down my back like an ice cube sliding down a slope.

Something happened to cause this. What could cause so much pain that a Primordial's spirit was breaking?

I'm missing a single piece of the puzzle that's in front of me: the what.

What caused this?

What could possibly cause this?

These damages happened extremely quickly. If Diablo is telling the truth, something must've struck Violet without any detection causing these damages within a very short period of time.

Something caused so much pain so quickly...

Once again, [Contessa] is silent on the matter.

_____________________________________________

As Violet lay there on the bed, her mind was barely able to register the world around the Primordial Demon.

Her mind was trapped by a cage of despair built from trillions of years of reliving the same moment— the same failure— again, and again, and again without stopping.

Previously, during the fourth loop, or was it the second? Violet couldn't tell anymore, the constant timeloops blended every moment together. Either way, the Primordial had challenged Chronoa to say that she'll never break. Violet thought herself impervious to the effect of time, as she had lived for so long.

What delusions.

During the first few million years, Violet sought to help her brother. Afterward, she realized that her brother was too stubborn, so Violet decided to mind-control her to escape.

That failed. Just when the magic formula was about to succeed, she got sent back in time again.

After that, Violet decided to spend billions of years mapping out just how far she was allowed to roam, what decisions she was allowed to take, what words she was allowed to speak, and what information she was allowed to release— to effectively map out what she was allowed to do, like the robots inside that one TV Show about the wild west.

During her mapping, Violet began to become more and more like her past self as she pushed until she got sent back in time. While the Purple Primordial may have tortured others, she never once physically harmed her brother. Psychologically maybe, but that's merely the side effect of testing her limits until either her brother or that blonde vampire decided enough was enough and almost slain the Purple Primordial before she was sent back in time again.

It was interesting to see winds conjured up by the vampire being able to cut through everything as though it was the manifestation of the concept of severance.

Even after so long, she could never see her brother as a side character. Diablo was perhaps second to her brother but that's primarily because of how annoying he was.

When a familiar shadow covered Violet's tired eyes, it finally dragged her out of that depth of broken despair.

It was Chronoa.

Violet got up into a sitting position on the bed, her eyes a pair of wormholes to a purple abyss that reflected no light. She was thoroughly broken, there was no more fight left in the Primordial.

The pair stared at each other. Chronoa was unmasked, so the Demon could see the depth within the Hero's eyes dwarfed hers by an unfathomable amount.

"Will you now follow the script?"

"Yes," Violet said, sounding especially dry, "Ha, you win."

There were no tears coming from Violet's eyes as she spoke since the demon had cried out all of her emotions many loops ago.

"Ha, ha ha ha ha ha hahahaha."

She could only dryly laugh at the absurdity that is the World. How could such an entity as Chronoa possibly be born? It was just absurd.

"Ha ha ha hahahahahahahahahahahahaha."

Violet wanted to cry for her brother's fate, but she honestly couldn't. Her insides have been entirely voided.

"Hahahahahahahaahahahahaahahahahahahaha!"

The Purple Primordial looked at the passive observer beside her bed. Next, she then spoke in a tone a child would use with an abusive parent that can explode suddenly, "Can... can I have a final request?"

"Of course. It is granted."

Chronoa already knew about her request, which was to forget everything about her brother and that 400-year period.

"It... it was truly worthless wasn't it?"

"Indeed."

"Ha. Tell me, at least, how did I fare against others?"

"A Primordial, on average, takes a few hundred billion years. You are one of the most resilient ones."

Violet paused before recalling a single quote from a playwright from the human world. Then, she modified it for her own use.

"All the World's a stage, and you are its director."

_____________________________________________

Now.

(AN: Play: Those Were The Days (Remastered))

Memories of that hell of misery and agony returned like water from a faucet with its handle turned fully up, causing the Purple Primordial that was blasting poisons at Testarossa to freeze up as she was overwhelmed by trillions of years worth of memories coming back all at once.

What—? I had what——? ———Chronoa did——— WHAT?! Kathy screamed inside her mind as that was the only thing she could possibly focus on at the moment.

"Just— what?" Kathy mumbled. While her eyes were aimed at Testarossa, her mind wasn't there. It was entirely on trying to process that length of memory.

Using this gap within the barrage, Testarossa darted forward with her right hand pulled back, closing the gap between Kathy and her in milliseconds.

Just as the Purple Primordial noticed the sudden explosion of white inside her field of view and ceased her processing, Testarossa thrust her hand forward with enough force to punch all the way through Kathy's chest and out the other side.

"AAAaaaaaaaahhh..."

Time seemed to almost freeze. Instead of continuing to feel pain from the wound, Kathy felt only coldness from the wound in her chest.

As expected, she's going into shock.

For some odd reason, instead of being delirious or confused as one tends to be when one goes into shock, Kathy's mind was as clear as fresh drinking water.

It was a truly strange experience for the Purple Primordial. The last time when she had something driven into her chest, it was a tainted holy sword and she was howling in pain. However, now she's feeling oddly introspective.

Is this how Plato or Aristotle felt when they started pondering philosophy?

Kathy reflected upon the first moment when she met her brother with a sense of profound clarity. Thinking about it more, Kathy realized it made sense that she remembered the memories so late since a child only becomes sapient around the age of three to four. Before that, their brain physically can't process those memories. When she did finally process those memories after aging a few years, it would've been almost traumatic for a human child had she not been a demon beforehand.

Then, Kathy recalled the trillions of years of time spent looping, all blended into this one singular, all-encompassing awful feeling that she was struggling to digest. So she didn't.

In all honesty, when she was first introduced to the Perfect Homunculus in this timeloop, the Primordial Demon always felt there was something going on between her and Scientia. This... odd feeling within her spirit, something immune to the effect of time— acausal.

That's the primary reason why she acted the way she did— a sister to what should've been a total stranger. When Diablo had asked that question on top of that Arcology, Kathy had assumed he did it as a threat. Diablo always was the one who takes away her fun, so it was only expected for him to take away her feeling of safety.

Ah, her brother, her brother! When her sanity was at a low point, it was always her brother who took care of her. Even during those timeloops when her will was shattered when she was useless, her brother always made sure she was taken care of.

*******...

Blood flooded Kathy's lungs, causing her to reflectively cough.

"Herk!"

The alabaster arm that was protruding out of her chest was dyed a fresh coat of scarlet.

Her brother... who was already dead.

Chronoa had succeeded, and now, just before her own death, allowed Kathy to remember her erased memories just for one last twist of the figurative knife.

How cruel.

Still, Kathy decided to not let Chronoa have that last laugh.

Instead of despairing ever more, the Purple Primordial closed her eyes and imagined a much happier life with her brother, where she could return to that time of child-like innocence and familial love, where the most serious concern a preteen Kathy would have is whether or not she'll get those toys she's always wanted for Christmas.

Those were the days.

A much simpler time. One without the complications of her being a Primordial, her brother being a Perfect Homunculus, the end of the System, and most certainly without any of the time bullshit from Chronoa.

"[White Flare]"

The Purple Primordial died as her Conceptual Core, the thing that stands at the center of an immortal's Nucleic Heart was crushed. In her final moments, a small, almost imperceptible smile was budding on her lips. It was in reaction to that imagined dream.

It was a simple, longing, ephemeral dream, born out of nostalgia. Born out of a wish to return to the past. Born out of a desire for a true family.

Ah, how beautiful it was...

_____________________________________________

AN: Yeah, this is inspired by Re: Zero.

Listening to Arcueid's theme from the Tsukihime remake OST gave me the motivation to finally complete this chapter.