1

“Kiyone. Kiyone. Kiyone!”

Unable to articulate himself, Izaya embraced his girl with all his might. Never mind the fact that he barely looked human anymore, with one draconic arm, wings, and other features he may have missed out on. All that matter was that a big part of his quest was complete.

Three years. Three long years he had waited. He had gathered the strongest allies who aligned with his worldview and mastered the parting gift given to him by Kiyone.

All for this. Finally, the Absolute Order was no more, and Kiyone was free. Kiyone, who wrongfully became a victim in all this mess, was finally saved.

And it would not have been possible without those allies on the ground. It would not have been possible without him learning the secrets to his Armament and managing to obtain the power of the Ascended Ones.

The god of this accursed realm had laid down a challenge, and he had overcome it.

With his draconic hand, he carefully brushed Kiyone’s long hair and gently caressed his love on the back of her head.

Kiyone blinked multiple times before tears welled up in her eyes as well.

“Oh, Guren…”

Her lips trembled as she was unable to say anything else. Instead, she leaned forward and responded in kind, putting her all in giving Izaya a hug.

Part of Izaya wished that time would stand still at this moment: his moment of utmost triumph. He stole a glance at the weary allies he had on the ground before turning his focus back to Kiyone.

After he offered his chest for Kiyone to cry on, he gently patted her on the back.

“It’s over. I did it. You’re finally free.”

Kiyone continued to cry on his chest while he looked skyward, at the ceiling and at the wreckage of the throne room. For this brief moment, at least, there was a calm that he had never felt the past three years. A feeling of bliss and warmth that he thought he had lost.

There was no feeling comparable, and Izaya intended to savor it.

He peered beyond Kiyone and fixated on the throne on the other side of the room. Inside it was the other object of his desire: The Akashic Records. He still remembered very clearly how the stone warriors surrounding the throne parted ways to reveal a sphere that contained a scroll.

It was a scroll that continued moving in a loop, being updated as he stared at it back then.

The Akashic Records, a powerful artifact that contained the world’s history. As it controlled the thoughts and memories of people in the real world, he would be able to enforce his will unto it and craft the “truth” that humanity knew according to his liking. It was a vessel for one to rewrite the rules of the real world from within this other dimension.

Now fully focused on his new quest, he gently loosened his hug on Kiyone. He floated over to the direction of the throne.

“Where are you going, Guren?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you my other purpose for coming here.”

They neared the location of the Akashic Records when Izaya felt a forceful tug, making him turn to Kiyone.

“Don’t tell me…”

“You catch on quick as always, Kiyone. Indeed, my other task is to fix the Akashic Records. Surely, your time being possessed by the Absolute Order would have taught you about it.”

He had a calm smile on his face, only to come across Kiyone’s worried expression.

“Now that we have defeated the Absolute Order and freed you, it is time for me to right the wrongs of the world. So that people like you won’t have to suffer anymore. My dearest allies down there would no longer have to have their hopes unjustly ripped apart by what people call fate. And the key to it lies in those scrolls.”

“You can’t.”

Izaya doubled, staring at Kiyone. It was only two words. How could they sting so much?

“Look, Kiyone, the—“

“I said you can’t, Guren!”

“Why?”

“Two things that you said were wrong. First, you cannot tamper with the Akashic Records in your bid to give everyone happiness.”

Kiyone then sighed, an expression that’s a mix of exasperation and surrender.

“I knew you’d try to do something like that. Oh, Guren, I just knew you’d go after that, especially after hearing what the Absolute Order had to say.”

“Of course I will!” replied Izaya, a hint of frustration in his voice. “You know how much I’ve seen of our corrupt world. You yourself agree with me, right? That our world is imperfect, a victim of the whims of the thing called fate and human nature. That scroll right there will allow me to change the rules of society. It will let me steer the world towards paradise.”

“I know. I know.”

“So, why?”

“Because these past three years, I have understood my role. You came to save me from the Absolute Order, but I never needed, no, wanted, to be saved.”

It was as if a knife had been twisted in Izaya’s heart.

“When the Absolute Order made contact with me, it was a mutual understanding. It needed to complete its evolution to claim sole rulership of this world that’s so intertwined with ours, and in order to do so, a Nullity needed to fully understand the human soul. That way, it can protect the balance of the worlds.”

“…”

“Guren, I am very grateful for you. I am very happy that you worked so hard just to see me again. However, I have to stay here. I have to protect both worlds, and I have to make sure that the flow of fate remains stable. It is in these three years that I have learned what’s important: to accept my ‘misfortune’ and use it to fuel my soul. To never give up on this world and ours.”

“Unbelievable. You’re… you’re… you’re just like Miyuko!” Izaya snapped.

“Guren, just how do you plan to usher in an era of happiness? With the thousands of people living in Shiroki City alone, changing history for the sake of a comrade, for the sake of his or her happiness will create a ripple effect. One’s happiness can be another’s undoing, and with thousands of these paradoxes…”

Kiyone’s voice shook, as if she’s in horror thinking of the consequences.

“It’s impossible, Guren. There’s no way to put everything together.”

Izaya turned his head away from her, refusing to look into her teary eyes.

He hated to admit it, but she was correct. Even now, he could sense that his happiness, to have her back in the human world, would be a cause of grief for her. She had completely bought into her supposed role.

But that’s something Izaya refused to accept. How could he when he had made this his life mission up to this point? All to be denied when he’s mere inches away from the finish line.

Ignoring her pleas, he continued approaching the area, raising his hands and causing the stone statues to part and reveal the floating scrolls.

However, he was stopped by a surprisingly powerful force coming from Kiyone.

“There’s also a second thing that you said that’s just wrong.”

Kiyone left an ominous pause after those words.

“You did not defeat the Absolute Order.”

“Come again?”

“I only managed to overpower its control over me. All for this moment so I can reunite with you and give you a proper farewell. I had to thank you and let you understand everything. Your fight allowed me the brief moment to suppress it, but…”

Without warning, Izaya was thrown back. A violent force, similar to a powerful shockwave, separated him from Kiyone.

“You won’t take another step closer to the Akashic Records!”

Her voice, once again hollow and echo-y, proved that the Absolute Order had regained control. The wispy wings sprang out from her back, several of them striking the unprepared Izaya.

“Lord Izaya!” Utara cried out from below as the Absolute Order resummoned its spear.

But Izaya barely heard any of those after the spear was driven through his chest.

 

2

Three years ago

“I-is this the end?”

Izaya’s coughs interrupted his train of thought as he struggled to focus on the Ascended One. His entire body trembled with each passing second despite his best efforts.

He had been locked in an inescapable deathmatch arena against the Ascended One that he had sought out. That he had been humbled would be an understatement. It was nothing short of a miracle that he had lasted this long, especially after getting knocked silly almost immediately upon encountering this monster.

Regardless, he pulled himself up and looked at the opponent – a being that’s far superior to anything he had faced so far and a true embodiment of fear.

Wings for arms, a practically naked body of a woman, and multiple eyes. That thing that came out of the shadow was practically angelic yet truly horrifying. It was as if one of the horrors that were the supposed true forms of angels had appeared in front of him.

Still holding onto his rapier, Izaya managed to parry a bunch of sharp feathers thrown at him.

“Haaah!”

He yelled, beginning his charge once more. He had barely closed the gap on the main body before a series of wings met him, stopping him in his tracks with a powerful parry. Even under pressure, his rapier glowed, seemingly resonating with his tense emotions.

It’s something that caught Izaya’s attention, and as he forcibly broke the deadlock and landed meters away from the opponent, he looked at the weapon he held.

“What is it that you’re telling me?” he asked, eyes fixated on the rapier. He then finished his own question with a whisper.

“What do I desire?”

In the heat of battle was not the time for such an introspective question. In Izaya’s mind, it even felt as if he had accepted his inevitable death.

He soldiered on, fighting off the incoming strikes from the wings and the feathers that shot out of them. Eventually, more projectiles slipped past his guard, slashing away at his body and staggering him once more.

One particularly hard strike caught him on the left hand, slashing right across it and creating a deep gash.

The world throbbed as he lost feeling in that arm. The next second, another wing shot straight at him, and this time, it pierced him through the chest.

Even his physical abilities, enhanced by the power he got, folded to the attack. Pain and numbness radiated from the impact site and spread all over his body just as the Ascended One slowly pulled him closer to it.

His body slowly neared the Ascended One, and he got a better look at its horrifying form. After what felt like so long, the fear of death crept back towards Izaya.

The creature eyed him closely with what he assumed was also curiosity before nearly breaking him apart with a world-shattering wail.

For just an inkling of a second, the thought of giving up crossed his mind. He was just too overmatched, too outclassed.

All of a sudden, an unexplainable force emanating from his rapier caused his grip on it to stiffen. Expression returned to the blank eyes as he coughed out blood and defiantly glared at the monster.

What the hell is wrong with me? This Ascended One just gave me an easy way to finally hit it!

His body continued to be drawn closer to the Ascended One, and just as he was within striking distance, he used the last of his strength to pull the rapier back.

“Show me what you got!” he shouted at his trusty weapon just as magical power resonated between him and the rapier. “Groooaaaaaahh!”

He pushed his rapier forward as his mind began registering the newly unlocked power in the weapon. The power he had sought and wanted.

The power of subjugating one’s… and other’s fate.

Yasakani.

 

3

Present Day

Blood sputtered out of Izaya’s mouth. His vision blurry and his energy leaving him, he can barely look at the Absolute Order – at Kiyone’s eyes – with any sort of emotion.

“I-is this the end?”

The same thoughts from three years ago ran through his head in this moment of stupor. Powerful as he may be, he was completely helpless against the power of the Absolute Order. He continued to struggle with his breath, a herculean task now that a spear had been driven through his chest and was the only thing keeping him in the air.

“Sleep. Eternally this time.”

Such was the merciless command of the Absolute Order, and it’s one that Izaya’s rapidly failing body was all too willing to obey.

The pained shouts of Utara and the rest of the chaotic sounds slowly faded away, and Izaya closed his eyes.

However, his heart remained beating.

And it pounded at him. Harder than before.

His body may have given in, but his heart, his will, had never called it quits. On and on it went until he remembered the event from three years ago.

Along with that memory came the feeble gathering of magical energy in his human arm.

Ah, I’ve been too focused on fighting an unwinnable battle that I forgot I had an ace up my sleeve all along. Sorry for doubting you, partner.

In one swift motion, he put the remainder of his strength in rebooting his entire body. His draconic fist clenched, and his eyes flung open just like his wings spread triumphantly.

A second was all it took for his Armament to materialize in his hand.

It’s a painful way to do it, but being skewered like this is ironically the easiest way to find your target!

“Yasakani!”

His rapier charged with magical energy, and he used the last of his wings’ energy to push his body further through the spear. His organs screamed as he felt more parts of his body rupturing, but he inched closer to the Absolute Order in a hurry.

Pushing with the last of his strength, he drove his rapier into his opponent’s heart. Yasakani activated, releasing a burst of magical energy that threatened to sap away the Absolute Order’s power much like it had done to numerous subjects in the past.

But could it do the same to the lord of all Nullities?

His teeth clenched along with his body as the tug-of-war begun. His rapier and Yasakani’s absorption ability, backed with the power of two Ascended Ones, against the Absolute Order’s sheer power and resistance.

Izaya’s body continued breaking down, and pain like he had never experienced before consumed him. Yet he pressed on. Having gone all-in and used his ultimate trump card, it was now or never.

“Gaaaaahh!” he grunted while power from the Absolute Order flooded into his rapier.

The battle had moved on to the mental plane, the realm of astral projection that he had entered numerous times.

“Guren, stop this already!”

“How arrogant, human!”

Both Kiyone’s pleading voice and the Absolute Order’s enraged shouts rattled his mind. This part of Yasakani’s ability was the ultimate sacrifice. Izaya had experienced all spectrum of emotions, even the especially powerful ones from the two youths that he had used it on not long ago.

Neither Sayaka Uehara nor Reijy Ishida’s mental worlds had pressure like this. The air in their worlds never burned him as much as Kiyone’s did. Still, he pressed on.

“Nononononono. Get out, both of you! Those of you who defy the tides of change, begone!”

Kiyone’s form appeared. Her teary, pleading face told the entire story.

“Guren, don’t destroy yourself over this!”

She ran and tackled Izaya, embracing him and burying her head in his chest. She sobbed continuously. Her tears left his coat drenched as she continued begging.

As he looked down on himself, Izaya saw what he had become.

His body deteriorated, his arms and legs being smeared with dark, murky fluid. The appearance of his projected form barely resembled human already.

“Please. Stop this already, Guren.”

Kiyone’s voice had lost all fight in her. This was the first time he had seen his normally feisty girlfriend act like this. She had completely lost all will, resigned to just putting her all to stopping him and his road to self-destruction.

She maintained her embrace while his hands started crumbling to dust.

Behind her, a large skull towered over the both of them. It opened its mouth wide and moved to consume the couple with a dark core at dead center.

It was something that resembled a black hole. An abyss with no escape should anyone be sucked into it.

“So that’s your true form, Absolute Order,” Izaya sneered, facing the skull.

Parts of his face chipped away as the all-consuming skull approached and threatened to consume him.

“Guren, leave, and I’ll keep it under control. You cannot beat it!”

“That’s what you think.”

With force, he tossed the crying Kiyone aside. He let out a pained shout, and in an instant, his body reformed. On his hand was his rapier – Kiyone’s parting gift from three years ago, an item that had served him well since then, and an item that will fight its final battle now.

“Raaaaaggghhh!”

The rapier shone with energy, the culmination of everything Izaya gathered in Yasakani.

With a shout, he swung it overhead and brought it down, straight through the core that’s inside the gigantic skull.

Crunch.

The skull stopped in place. Cracks soon appeared on it before the entire skull started breaking apart. It shattered, and when it did, the whole mental plane started converging into the core, as if being sucked into it.

Except Izaya.

“It’s over,” declared Izaya.

A tearful Kiyone dragged herself onto him, clutching onto the ends of his coat.

“Guren… Y-you…”

Her words stopped there. However, when she looked up, she no longer saw the caring and sympathetic eyes of the man she loved.

“Begone.”

Her eyes widened in realization before Izaya violently grabbed her hand and threw her aside. With nothing to hold onto, she started being sucked into the black hole.

“Guren!” she called out desperately, reaching out her hand.

Izaya said nothing else. He ignored Kiyone’s last words before she was sucked into the black hole, her astral projection ripped apart and deleted from this world.

 

4

“Giyaaaaahhh!”

Kiyone’s body contorted in the air before exploding into shards of magical energy, leaving Izaya the lone person in the air. His limp body remained levitated with his head hung.

Just as he began falling, his wings came to life, spreading out majestically and lifting him in mid-air, all before he let out a triumphant roar.

“I-It’s over. Lord Izaya won!”

Despite lying on her back with little strength remaining, Utara managed a smile on her face. She looked around at her fallen comrades and saw that they all had the same relieved expression.

She thought she saw Dr. Kagami’s eyes gleam past the cracked visor Armament, and she noticed a pained smile on Satoru’s face. It seemed like an impossible battle to win, but it was indeed something that their leader made possible.

Now that the Absolute Order had been taken care of, Izaya once again flew to the direction of the scrolls. Stretching out the draconic hand, he touched the scrolls.

The strongest quake that she had ever felt rocked the entire room, and the scrolls started going haywire, emitting sparks and energy blasts at random. It stopped its usual motion

“Aaaaaahhh!” Izaya screamed as his arm started to be overwhelmed by the scrolls and the purple substance streaming out from it.

Slowly but surely, the Akashic Records were being dissolved and converted into that substance that seemed to corrode his arm.

“This is bad!”

Her body was too pained for her to get up, but she looked at Dr. Kagami, giving him a look to tell him to do something. The doctor merely shook his head in response, and Utara was left looking on in despair.

She had gotten an idea of Kiyone’s conversation with Izaya, and it was all sinking in to her now.

She was warning him of touching the Akashic Records. No one person can handle the power of transforming memories, the realities of a world. Couple that with Izaya’s promise of fulfilling everyone’s dreams, and it would be nothing short of a disaster.

How could she not realize that point until now?

As Izaya continued to reel in pain, his wings seemingly snapped, sending him straight into a free fall while the substance from the scroll continued to consume him.

His body, now half-covered by the corrupting substance, crashed onto the throne with a thud.