WRESTLE FOR THE MIND

When Faux woke up he could see the towering figure of the Calamity thrashing his head about in the snow. 

"What the hell?!"

Faux groaned as he rose to his feet. He had barely managed to dodge that last attack, if it had hit him head-on, he would've woken up in an ICU. 

Luckily for him, it was the shock wave that had struck him so violently. 

After a bit, he rose to his feet to inspect the Calamity. The thing was vigorously shaking its head probably trying to drive off the influence of the girl Makima. 

"Damn it! If she's really in his head then she'll have him in a couple of hours tops."

Faux knew her very well, the ivory clan's prodigy. She wasn't particularly powerful but her Gifted ability let her control abominations also using their Will to empower herself. 

Her clan had weaponized her. Before she had turned twelve she was already being used to conquer Events. Then after their brief civil war, she vanished.

The government thought she had been in hiding one of the Events conquered by her clan or building strength for her clan in some desolate Event.

'Wait till I tell the commander that she's been hiding right under their noses.'

Faux chuckled.

It really wasn't that big a deal, but it'll be sure to piss her off. The thing was they were all aliens against the cruel man slaughtering machine known as Events. 

There has never really been a full-scale war between the great houses and the government– officially that is. 

In fact to keep the peace the government agreed to hold the ill-born belonging to each of the houses. There were seven altogether Diane– one of the missing students, was a Disaster that belonged to the Ivory clan. Caspian belonged to the government. The remaining five belong unevenly to the Sun keepers and the Oni. 

Makima was probably sent here to look after her clan's asset. Maybe somewhere along the line, they got greedy. 

Either way, it seems like they are getting hungry for more and getting their hands on the Calamity must be their only way.

'Still doesn't make sense.'

The Ivory clan was a proud one but their movements just don't seem like them. They rarely ever snuck around. Their leader was a regal and prideful lady, if she wanted something she'd go right for it. 

'With means, there has to be something larger at play.'

And it was worrying. Faux wasn't the type to worry but right now he didn't have any other option. 

Staring at the Calamity as it wreaked havoc on the terrain, Faux couldn't help but wonder what the sim of all this was. 

Was it to get the Calamity, the children, the other ill-borns? 

Based on what Sebas had said there was a saboteur in the orphanage. Fortunately, Sebas had captured her. Whether that would change the chaos cage had already stirred, he wasn't sure. 

Concerning Makima and the mind of the Calamity she was currently trying to overthrow. He didn't even know who would be worse in control. 

No matter who wins inside though, he would still end up having to face. 

So Faux looked around him soon finding his great sword buried in the snow. With a sigh, he grabbed onto its leather hilt and pulled it out of the snow. 

The Calamity whipped his head from side to side desperately trying to shake off the effects of Makima's dreadful Ability.

'Where is the child in that monster?'

Faux wondered as he peered at the rampaging beast. A Paladin has no business facing such a thing. 

Moments later he was leaping through the with his blade erupting with Celestial Will. The world darkened and then like lightning.

Boom!

The mountain shook vigorously as an invisible force struck the nozzle of the Calamity. 

"I'm not out of this fight yet."

***

Caspian was still submerged in the strange fluid, surrounded by Red rage-filled Will. Circling this Calamitous Will was an array made of purple Celestial Will. The Purple Will had taken the shape of strange runes which were tasked to subdue Caspian and his Will.

He hovered at its center fighting against the strange spell. As he did he could feel himself fighting against all sorts of forces he had no idea what they were. 

One was terribly calculated force formulaically brewed just to subdue him. The other was much more composed like an intricately inhuman dance fashioned to lull him to sleep. The last one was the most carnal, wild and filled with murderous rage and insanity. 

Why so many forces were fighting for control over his consciousness, he could only guess that it had something to do with his Calamitous side. 

Ahhhhhh

Caspian wailed as he felt the red Will pulse and scorch his figure. The pain was unlike anything he had experienced before it wasn't physical neither was it mental. The only way he could describe it was that his soul itself was under attack.

He fought back though trying to resist the rage full pull of the Calamitous red Will. The red Will was by far the most relentless, it mindlessly rampaged around Caspian's consciousness trying to completely eradicate any trace of Caspian's humanity, like some all-consuming flame. 

Caspian recognized the Will to be his, or at least it had been his. When the Calamitous Will he had been born with hadn't been taken out of him Caspian struggled to even keep his sanity. 

He would often go berserk hurting a couple of kids before getting held back by knights like Sir Julian. 

It caused him a great deal of depression.

When they had gotten obsidian charms to absorb his Will. It had failed terribly, multiple times the chants would shatter and his Will would go berserk. The government and orphanage were so scared they considered some unruly methods, which he was made aware of because they weren't trying to hide it. 

He was too dangerous to even exist. So the government had to take much more drastic measures to contain him.

That was just how dangerous his Will was, but fortunately, Celestial Will was still very capable of subduing its natural counterpart as instructed by nature itself.

Soon the purple Will circled around the Red Calamitous Will binding it. The rage quelled as the red Will slowly began to succumb.

As the red Will receded its Influence the lulling Will erupted in full force driving all the clashing parties into a deep subconscious slumber. 

***

Caspian rose in the middle of a battlefield, he held a golden sword in his hand adorned in glimmering gold armour. Strangely the hair that obstructed little of his vision was jet black, and he seemed to lack the foresight Spectral gaze offered him. 

As he clashed with red revolting creatures Caspian could see his reflection in his stainless blade. Golden eyes with black hair. They looked like different beings intact he shared little in common with the future self Caspian had seen in his coma yet the familiarity he shared with this strange man was uncanny. Deeper than just blood and facial structure. 

It was a soul-like bond.

He felt pure in this body, decimating the ranks of abominations with a bewitching smile. 

Soon he was standing before a cheering crowd like a king before his subjects when all of a sudden a man deceased from the heavens clad in heavy dark metal armour and a metal mask fashioned like a face stuck in a stoic frown. The mask ended in large horns that had a lustre brighter than any other metal that adorned his body.

They clashed.

And Caspian rose in a field of ash. With how the plane was structured and the decimated structure that lay beneath him Caspian could easily tell that he was kneeling in the remains of the manor. 

He didn't feel any particular emotion as he stared at the piles of ash even after knowing he was responsible. 

It wasn't like they treated him well enough to care.

Soon the air shifted and when Caspian turned he could a young boy dressed in plain white. The boy stood barefoot with his blonde hair fluttering in the wind. He had white bandages wrapped around his eyes, with a stuffed white dear held tightly in his hands

Caspian held the boy's shrouded eyes for a while before suddenly another boy rose from the rumble looking identical to the other boy. Then another popped up, then another, then another. 

Soon Caspian was surrounded by hundreds of young 'Hims'. He was already slowly backing away when they all let out a deafening shriek before lunging forward. 

"Shit shit shit!"

Caspian cursed as he ran in the other direction.