The Massacre.

Anthony and Aella got separated together. At first, they were puzzled, but upon scanning the surroundings, they nodded at each other. For some reason, everything was black. They advanced regardless.

"So," he looked down at her. "Why're you so loyal to the Crown? Aren't you a Displacement?"

She glanced at him. "I can't say. When I incarnated into this world, I don't know why, but I felt compelled to do it. The others must've been compelled to follow Atlas, I guess."

"I've been wanting to ask for a while, but I never got the opportunity. What are Displacements anyway? That 'Fate's Realm' place—were you born there?"

"No. We're human. Displacements are human souls who've been entrapped in that Realm and encompassed by Fate. Our anatomical structure became composed of it down to the very hearts we possess. That's what enhances our strength," she said.

"I see." He rubbed his chin. Then, he glanced down at her. "Okay, so, if you guys're all humans, what's Monstrum? Was he once human?"

Aella nodded. "It's unlikely he was one from the modern world like Apollo or myself. Instead, he was probably an ancient Violator, capable of defeating anyone who crossed his path. For a mere Fate user to become one known as the Disastrous Monster God…"

Tony grunted. Stopping in his tracks, he held his head.

"What's wrong?"

Monstrum appearing as a hallucination beside Tony snickered. He looked ahead, leaning closer with one hand on the vessel's shoulder.

"My soul and yours exist simultaneously. To any followers of mine, it wouldn't be hard to distinguish my signature from all the others."

Tony swatted the Disastrous away. "It's Monstrum. Apparently, some of the Displacements are his followers and they're gradually surrounding us," he said.

"That's what that is?" She sighed, stepping closer to Anthony and locking her arm in his.

A miniature barrier imbued with Raven's technique formed around them. Descending from above, the attacker's claws stung against the domain. She jumped back, staring at her resonating talons.

'What was..?' Her claws started disintegrating.

Tony snatched his arm back and smashed through the barrier, punching their enemy in the face after closing the distance. She flew back, catching herself in midair—digging her legs into the ground. Monstrous snake-shaped conjurations flew from her aura toward Monstrum's vessel. As once bit his previous position, he rolled away, continuously jumping back as more extensions followed him.

Aella appeared behind her comrade, holding a blade perfectly horizontally between her hands. The conjugations their female opponent was puppeteering abruptly halted following the appearance of fear. The abnormal pressure emanating from the center couldn't belong to anyone else other than her.

Apollo Moloch's twin sister, Aella Raven.

"Feel free to run if frightened. You Displacement trash aren't even on my level."

She slashed the air with the claymore, noticing Kara roll out of the way and punch up at her chin. Aella's weapon vanished. The woman caught her fist, pulling her closer to punch her in the cheek. Raven kicked Kara in the chest, sending her down the corridor. Sailing back in the air, she cackled, rearranging the shape of her aura to launch spiked tendrils at the assailants chasing her.

Aella covered her face with both arms while Anthony rushed ahead. Lunging upward, his pointer finger aimed, releasing numerous blasts from his 'Effect of Disgust' technique. Kara's neck was unnaturally contorted. Amplifying her speed, she caught the bolts in her mouth, spitting them back at the vessel.

Reappearing behind Kara with the collar of her attire in his hand, he threw her into the wall and vanished. The wall crumbled as he landed on the ground beside Aella.

"She's not that strong," he said.

She nodded. "Agreed. Monstrum said she was one of his followers, right? Is he kind enough to explain why this one's so weak?"

Monstrum's spiritual familiar, Veil, disconnected from Anthony's back—resembling the Disastrous. He looked down at Aella, smirking while she glared.

"It's surprising a wench like you managed to survive my attacks! Perhaps some part of you truly is capable. And so what? Why should I give you any sort of hint about her weakness?"

Anthony looked back at Malum. "Don't you die if I die? If you can survive with only two pieces of your soul scattered who knows where, you wouldn't have left me alive!"

"That's not true. I told you, I couldn't destroy your consciousness. It's not because I didn't want to—I couldn't. You were somehow strong enough to resist me, even subconsciously."

"That's interesting," commented Aella.

"Thanks?"

Monstrum hovering behind his host widened his eyes. Peeking his head however briefly, he stared at the ceiling, slowly bending down to hover beside Tony.

"A terrible calamity is about to occur!" He clutched Anthony's head. "I can't wait to make you drown in despair, brat!"

The sky seemingly caved in on them. Kara, injured from the fight, was crushed by the debris and bled under the remnants as it hid her under the rubble. Aella warped herself and Tony atop the destruction, scanning the area with squinted eyes.

"Sense anything?"

Her pupils shrunk into pricks. Aella jumped back as Apollo crashed from the rubble, maniacally cackling, his eyes glowing from the power. Unraveling a whip from her aura, Aella wrapped it around her brother's wrist, yanking him back. Moloch snarled, slowly turning to glare back at his sibling and pull her into him—crashing her arm into her skull.

Launched across the platform of rubble, Raven bounced off the debris, falling into Talen's arms. He looked over her shoulder, grinning.

"Need some help?"

She rolled her eyes.

Jumping off the Unconquerable, Aella charged back at her sibling, striking him in the face and sending him into Anthony's roundhouse kick. Alora landed beside Talen watching the ongoing fight.

"They're doing pretty good," he said.

She squinted. "W-wait. Is that Tony?" Lora glanced but once at her brother before vanishing completely.

The lawyer groaned, reluctantly moving to join the fight. Apollo, currently being thrown between enemy attacks, finally screamed—especially at the sight of Tony. Apollo caught Raven's neck and snapped it, sending an unequivocal silence across her trio of comrades.

Talen's eyes widened while Alora continued attacking and Anthony stood idle. As her l her sword sunk toward the crown of his head, Apollo caught the blade, breaking it in one squeeze. A follow-up punch struck the Enforcer's gut, sending her into the ceiling while Talen arrived and punched their opponent—sending him onto the ground.

Moloch gradually turned around and glared at the Unconquerable. Grinning widely, Talen pocketed his hands, increasing the output of his aura—beckoning him simply from the glint of his eyes. Pouncing from the ground to smash his foe, Apollo growled, turning his head as Talen jumped away. Landing on his feet, the Unconquerable advanced in mere seconds, punching his foe twice in the gut and kicking him once across the face.

Flailing down the endless corridor, Apollo abruptly vanished—catching Amit's attention as he spun around to spot numerous projectiles soaring his way.

'Different techniques!' His head leaned back. He just barely managed to dodge what looked like a bullet. 'Each one of those bolts wields enough power to thoroughly damage the shape of my soul!'

Talen flipped around completely in mid-air and finished glancing back—looking ahead with widened eyes as Apollo's knuckles sunk into his skull. In the same instant he hit the Unconquerable, Moloch warped in front of Anthony and backhanded him into a wall.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me you were paralyzed by the mere sight of your ally's neck snapping! You have no cause for worry, she's not dead. Neither are the Unconquerable and his sister. I simply wanted to get them out of the way… so I could do this."

Moloch grabbed Tony by the cheeks, pinning him against the wall, and forcefully unhinged his jaw. None other than Monstrum's arm appeared in his hand.

Flashbacks of not only this exact incident occurred, but ones of weakness. Ones of powerlessness. Why was it he could fight so competently when it wasn't this? That fact was obvious. The second they decided to infiltrate this building, the option of death became available to them. That being said, witnessing it and knowing it was two entirely different things. All he could do was question his powerlessness, but when faced with something like this, he couldn't just question it.

His pointer finger pushed against the Displacement's temples. Summoning his aura's extent, Monstrum's vessel smirked and spoke.

"Bang."

After multiple bolts fired through Moloch's head, he stumbled back, giving Anthony enough of an opening to land a thunderous kick on his opponent's chest. After dispersing his technique and releasing from the wall, Tony interlocked his fingers.

"I'm not stupid, I know that didn't kill you. The second you regenerate—I'll use Area Empowerment to entrap you in my domain. My… d-d-domain. Domain? Barrier…?"

Tony's speech glitched. The one thing unaccounted for by the vessel was the fact that the Arm didn't need to be ingested for the Disastrous to dominate. Instead, he looked at the floor, where Apollo dropped the limb and faltered. His innate tolerance still managed to sustain despite Monstrum's overwhelming temptation.

However, that all changed when Apollo finished regenerating. Because he was preoccupied with the arm, Moloch's arm was able to roll out—extending his arm and therefore his hand, summoning yet another arm of the forsaken Disastrous. Once Anthony stepped back, his sole stepped into Malum's arm, inviting something unsightly within him.

From that point on, Fate was written. Nobody could change the unchangeable. And so, the arms released two bindings, both ensnaring Tony's covered arms. The taint of Monstrum's hunger tortured him no longer. For some reason, there was now only one voice in his head.

'What's going on?!' He tried to struggle. 'I can't feel anything! This… this doesn't even feel like my body anymore.'

"I thank you, Anthony," said Monstrum's voice.

Surrounding Tony's vision was nothing more than a crimson field of nebula among millions of stars. But a prisoner in his mind, the poor man couldn't even register what was occurring in the real world. Appearing from the darkness was none other than his other self—the Disastrous incarnate.

"When I split myself into Fatebreakers, I implanted a failsafe in the final two should anyone capable ingest the other six. I'm sure you're curious as to why someone like you exists in this world. To be honest, I can't think of a reason. However, whoever made you only had one purpose, and that's my resurrection. Goodbye, Anthony Whitlock. Stay suppressed within my mind… forever."

Alora jumped down from the hole in the ceiling. Wiping the blood from her nose, she noticed Apollo on the ground and pulled him up, holding a conjured sword to his throat. She looked up, widening her eyes at the sight of Anthony.

"T-Tony? What… what happened to you?"

Raven's neck snapped back into place. Because only her physical shape was injured, she can use her Predestined Power to regenerate the shape of her soul and therefore, her body. Talen landed next to her once she started raising from the ground. The same tragedy unfolded before everyone.

Tony was bound from the front and back by unbreakable tendrils—eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"What the hell's going on here?! What happened… what happened to Tony!"

Apollo snickered. "ISN'T IT OBVIOUS, YOU BRATS?! The return of the Almighty is underway! You cannot stop it—it is FATE!"

Despite the Displacement's insanity, Talen believed his words. Nevertheless, he stepped forward anyway—challenged by the winds of the Disastrous incarnate. That disgusting glow irregular in the air was assuredly infested by evil, for even remaining within it seemed to tear away at his skin.

"Talen!" Alora cried.

"Shut up!" He pushed through, clenching his teeth. "Anthony isn't going to die here! No… it's not that. He… CAN'T! I won't ALLOW IT!"

The tenacity withheld inside the unwavering Amit; was it truly enough to reach his brother? The one who stood beside him no matter what, the one who was supposed to marry Alora. The vision of the past was so clear to him. As Talen's arm pushed forward, his physicality shape started dissipating, and instead, his body pushing through started resembling a soul.

To Raven's widened eyes, it was undeniable. If he continued going the way he was now—not only would the vessel die, but so would the Unconquerable.

Before the end of everything, Anthony's eyes widened, turning his head down in this endless void of the mind to see his trusty comrade. Despite his physical self's near demise, Talen pushed through the pain, existing as but a lone soul before his cousin.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Tony chuckled. "Looks I don't have much of a choice—"

"No!" Talen grabbed his arm. It was fruitless. Regardless, he continued trying, hoping for some kind of miracle to occur. "I won't let you die! All of us, together… that's our—"

"Future? Heh. I guess, from the looks of it, this was always their plan." Tony looked down at him. One last time, a smile spread across the young man's lips. "Talen."

His pupils' scarlet coloration didn't separate from the bundles of red surrounding the emptiness. Instead, Amit got lost in them, feeling the subtle sensation of a hand touching his shoulder. This was Fate. A curse. In this barren wasteland where Tony's brain dwelled, only these two remained, staring at each other with lights in their eyes.

"Thank you for saving me. See you!"

In the real world, the air surrounding Anthony's body imploded—throwing his trio of comrades away. Slapping away the smoke clouding his vision, Talen leaned forward, peering through the mist to spot his foot move and stomp into the rubble. Red eyes glowing brightly, the vessel's brown hair flowing calmly, lifting Monstrum's Arms from the floor and pulling up his sweater.

The demonic mouth etched into his gut opened, ingesting the limbs thrown inside; sending Anthony to his knees while clutching his skull. Talen couldn't believe his eyes.

The Disastrous snatched the sides of his head, digging sharpened nails into the flesh. Blood pouring down his pale face, Monstrum tore his features; ripping apart the brunt of the vessel's skin by his mouth and revealing the undeniable appearance of the white-haired Monster God incarnating into flesh.

Snowy locks swaying, Malum stepped forward. "Long time, Unconquerable!" He smirked, invoking his bloody aura and pointing at the man. "Time for a rematch."