Belaphorde shared what knowledge he had with Heidi. Though the Skull Girl hated Bel’s guts, she believed his words. If the Kaiju was coming, it would explain why Kaleido and the Guardian Guild had been holding back in their assault against the Outskirt rebels. They had no reason to push to gain back territory that was likely to be trampled by the Kaiju. Instead, they established trenches and fell back if the rebels somehow pushed through their guns and screamers. Since the rebels were always scrambling to get by, she had not noticed the pattern earlier. Heidi understood that their opponents were really fighting them with the bare minimum; and that the people she cared about were in danger. Belaphorde told Hei that if she wished to help in the Kaiju fight, she should try and contact him. Then he slipped away before the other Skull Girls returned.

To avoid any unnecessary confrontations, Belaphorde went on a ride on his dirt bike. He enjoyed the rush of fast turns and jumping over mounds. The ice in his chest felt grounding. The crystal had not spread since he was barely doing any Guiding after he left Kaleido. Rifts were opening up more frequently, and it was the satellites job to protect the rebels and collect cores. Belaphorde was mad for the thrills. Testing his abilities. Driving fast. Taking on fights. In the reflection of the black cyrstal of the monsters he could see the mad grin of the Knave. Mocking him. Bel found a lone humanoid monster walking the woods. A straggler broken free from its hive and lost in a blind rampage.

A sudden rage built up in Belaphorde’s chest. His breath quickened. Here he was, alone, rejected to join the fight. He had turned his back on everything forced upon him and then could only barely make himself heard and unharmed by coaxing and offering way more than he had to gain. A being of black sludge crawled in his mind. Crying. Suffocating. His sins crawled on his back. Hatred burned in his chest. Something was dragging itself to his mind.

“Fuck this,” he said to himself. He had already turned his back to his senses. His religion.

The monster heard him and pounced on Belaphorde with its razor sharp arms. Bel shielded himself with the Aegis and did something he had never done before. He reached out his hand to the chest plate of the monster and began guiding. Pain. Cold. Ice. The monster chattered like a mirror before him. Crystals grew across his arms, welding the buckler to his body. Like a bud flowering the magic changed Belaphorde in a burst of metamorphosis. Belaphorde could not hear himself as he screamed. The black thing was covered under a blanket of powdered snow. For a moment he found himself standing with his bike at a rundown gas station. His own world flickering into reality.

***

His body was heavy. Bel propped himself up on his arms and wiped pine needles off his face. The forest was dark. There was not a sound to be heard. A sudden flash of light made Belaphorde jump. He saw lights dance across the tree trunks and realized they moved with him. The moonlight reflected off his new arm. What happened was not a dream. He moved his hand. His fingers had full flexibility, though the claws were indeed an odd sensation. There no longer was any pain. Belaphorde was energetic, light. His head a clear pond. His hunch was correct, he could Guide a monster to break, if that could even be called “Guiding”. Belaphorde let his flesh hand travel across his body. Hard ridges of crystals grew out from his heart and covered his right side all the way up to his chin.

“I look like a monster,” he thought. And right after he followed with “I don’t care.”

With a blank expression he walked the forest. He stumbled and fell as he was not used to his new weight and proportions. One foot after the other. Quicker and quicker. For hours he ran like a man possessed and driven mad by the moon. Then, a tingeling sensetion. Like a magnet he felt a force pulling on his arm. He followed the sensation until he saw a bright white sliver cutting through the forest. It was a gate and a handful of freshly spawned crystal beasts. Hungry, curious, and with no thought for safety Belaphorde made his way over. He felt their movements. The presence shifting the thickness of the air. He wanted to try out his newly discovered ability. He no longer needed the Needle as he consumed the beasts with his touch. Without thinking he took a core and crushed it in his hands, activating the Aegis and setting his whole body into a bloody frenzy. He knew he was insane and enjoyed every moment of it.

As the last beast fell the magnetic feeling disappeared. Then, a force was pushing him down. Pressure from all sides forced him down to the ground. Blocking out the light of the rift was the figure that haunted his dreams. Grinning it’s diamond grin. It’s head pointed like a star. The voice spoke right into Belaphorde’s head, rinning through his crystals.

“Look how far you have come, little Guide.”

“What do you want?” Belaphorde growled, fighting against the Knaves oppressive auora. “Why are you following me?”

The Knave cackled. “Beacuse you have become someone who understands our language, and because our interested align. I’m here to let you know of your most delicious options.”

Belaphorde remained silent. He was on his knees supported only by his crystal arm.

“The city is doomed. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop me now. But you see, little one, you see that we are the same. We are above S-rank Espers and Boss Monsters. We call out to the abyss, and the abyss answers us!” The Knave spread its arms and made a show of dancing around the rift. “Ah, but I get ahead of myself. Flesh creature as you are, there’s still steps to take. So listen up and listen well. In three days I will make my assault. Untill then you must consume enough cores to become a being capable of taking over a rift, and make that world in you heart a reality. You will then have to defend your world long enough for it to become that which has no equal. Fight me with your own Kaiju, if you can manage it. Or you can struggle in the dirt like you have until now. Be a fucking coward little shit if you want to!”

The Knave could not stop itself from laughing like a maniac. Belaphorde was fuming with rage. He wanted to crush it’s stupid face in. His mind was drawn to the idea of calling forth his own world like a moth to a flame. Like it was the missing peice he was searching for to become whole and make his life make sense. His heart screamed from it’s crystal prison that this was all madness, that he should go back.

He reached to his pocket and crushed a core, the power surging through him once more. He broke through the pressure like it was mist. He took a step towards the Knave and this time popped his last core into his mouth.

Their arms clashed like swords. Aegis absorbed the hit as Belaphorde moved feather light around the Knave. The magnetic force drew Bel towards the Knave as he hit it over and over but could not find enough force in his arm to make his punches affect the abyssal demon. Belaphorde put all he had into his swing and fell forward as the Knave side-stepped with ease. The Knave put it’s claws over Belaphorde’s head and he could feel all energy leave him until he fell unconscious to the ground.