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I'm pretty sure you played Spyral back in their day, so you're good in my book.

FINAL BATTLE SUBJECTS OF PHANTOM vs ENVY IZANAMI Origin Cosmos Summoning all four Keyblades, Aetos flew off towards IZANAMI, while Ariel began to fill the entire area with more water, concentrating it in a spiral around IZANAMI. They were finally ready to finish this. Meanwhile, Envy IZANAMI observed their approach as it came closer and closer, well aware of the current situation she was in. Even putting aside Aetos’s incoming assault and Ariel’s surrounding water, the overall situation was turning sour. The other six IZANAMIs had been cut off from Void Inclusion. Already, she could sense that multiple of the IZANAMIs had been defeated, even Sloth, who should’ve been unstoppable with the Yukari Inclusion they’d been granted. Not only that, but she’d even lost connection to the Key of Origin somehow, as if something had happened to it. In other words, her intended final backup plan had been negated. Her dreams had been negated. The situation was growing more dire by the second, and without the power of an Inclusion of her own to hold onto, the battle may already be lost. Countering this might just be impossible… "...IS WHAT YOU’D LIKE TO THINK, BUT!" As Aetos’s assault closed in on the Omnibound Immortal, what could only be described as a spatial, galactic-themed set of barriers burst from her body, pushing them back. Even if everything else had been lost, at least she still had access to Isamy’s own abilities. Manipulating distortions, tearing space apart, and actively generating dark matter enabled her to form this. Creating something of this size, at this speed, would rather harshly drain her of energy, but it couldn’t be helped. Together, the barriers quickly extended outwards, before finally combining into an orb to envelop her whole form, sealing shut before either Aetos or the torrent of water could harm her. With that, a spatial orb of dark matter had now formed around Envy IZANAMI. It remained suspended in midair, doing its best to absorb being assaulted.. Perhaps this was a last-ditch effort to protect herself, or perhaps their enemy was biding time to think of a counterattack. Aetos flew around Izanami, assessing her new barrier. One Keyblade launched a light Fire spell, but it was easily absorbed by the barrier. Trying to break through the barrier likely wasn’t going to work. Arthur had to admit, he was impressed. He was only beginning to learn Reflect magic himself, and yet Izanami had set up a magnificent barrier. At the very least, it meant she must have been desperate, but there was still no time to waste. "If we can’t get through the barrier," Sora said through Aetos, "We’ll just have to drag Izanami out of there!" Two Keyblades launched towards the barrier, one glowing lavender and the other silver. The Keyblades hovered on the left and right of Izanami, and began to unleash their magic. The lavender light released the intense force of Graviga, while the silver light created Magnega. The two spells twisted and pulled on the barrier, warping the dark matter. Wisps of light flowed from the Keyblades, slowly reaching towards each other. As the lights coallesced, the two spells melded into one: Transcendence. A shockwave resonated from Izanami’s barrier. Even Aetos had to start flying away to avoid the pull of Transcendence’s power. Soon, Izanami’s barrier was itself encased within the spell, threatening to unravel her last line of defense. "STOP THAT! HEY, STOP THAT!" Aetos heard a frustrated cry from within as the Magnega and Graviga worked in synchronization, and as, slowly but surely, that defense was indeed being unravelled. The dark matter of the barrier gradually warped, and despite being impenetrable, one thing it wasn’t was immune to magic. From within, they could feel an intense pull from IZANAMI, as she simultaneously attempted to maintain the barrier and prevent herself from being removed. As the seconds went by, and the magical tug of war advanced on, what finally gave way was a small gap, a breach in the barrier, widening more and more until finally- "THIS IS…!" The sight of her giant, distorted form was ultimately ripped out from the dark matter as a result of the mass Transcendance. By this point, the remaining warriors would see that her form was now beginning to break down for some reason, with little pieces and wisps breaking off from her body, even fading away. "YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN TO QUIT, DO YOU? DO YOU DO YOU DO YOU DO YOU?!" Now exposed back in the Origin Cosmos, IZANAMI’s eyes fixated itself directly on Aetos with a look of hatred. Aetos took their remaining two Keyblades - Arthur and Eria’s - and held them together. The Keyblades began to morph, melding together. The bodies of the Keyblades began to curve, and once they had settled, what was once two Keyblades was now a single gold and blue bow. Aetos pulled the bow’s string, and in Arthur’s voice said, "I’m a little stubborn that way. No matter how much my enemies try, I simply refuse to die. I have you to thank for that." As Aetos drew the string back, a golden arrow formed in their grip. With a light smirk, Arthur added, "This is goodbye, Izanami." And with that, IZANAMI’s eyes widened. "W- WAIT⸻" The arrow fired. A brilliant rainbow trail followed the arrow in its path, until the arrow finally pierced through Izanami, right between her eyes. And just like that… it connected. It was a simple, pure, and effective strategy. The Omnibound Immortal’s head was penetrated clean through, before she could even make any attempt at a counter. The singular arrow not only penetrated through her body, but her very essence, her soul. After all, to assume one’s true form as an Omnibound Immortal was also to leave oneself at their most vulnerable, and Isamy Maximus had done just this, knowing all the risks. Her body started to become enveloped in energy, gradually disintegrating into light. Together with the other six, this was certainly her loss. And this would be her en "NO… NO, NO, NO, IF IZANAMI IS GOING, THEN SHE...WON’T GO ALONE!!!" Suddenly, just as it seemed the ever-stubborn Envy Izanami was about to meet her ultimate conclusion, her entire body burst into a singular, gigantic hand of shadows, SHOOTING OUT TOWARDS AETOS⸺ . . . . . . . . . . . Final World A space of infinite emptiness and serenity. A surface reflecting an infinite blue clear sky. A realm that did not feel as though it were part of Origin in any way. This was the place in which Arthur and Eria suddenly found themselves⸺alone. It didn’t feel like they’d been transported, or teleported, or forcefully moved, or even defused for that matter. But rather, it was more like the duo had naturally found themselves here. Just… what had happened? ~ The Final World ~ "Where are we?" Eria asked. "Where are the others?" Arthur and Eria drew their Keyblades. They were no longer a part of Aetos. If Izanami had yet another trick up her sleeve, it would have to come down to just the two of them. "MirageGaogamon! Sora!" Arthur called. "Gagagigo! Kairi!" Eria added more quietly, almost as a whisper, "Ariel." Nothing. They were answered only with silence. … ...until, a short distance away from them, another entity materialized. And yet, it wasn’t exactly one they recognised. Rather, it was a plain-looking young girl with dark brown hair and turquoise eyes, dressed in some kind of school uniform as she stood amidst the strange realm. She sipped from what appeared to be a coffee cup, as she watched the two with the most bored expression one could ever see on a human. "Sorry. It’s...just us, I’m afraid." The girl remarked at the two. Her eyes moved down to their Keyblades for a moment, before sipping from her cup again. "You should probably give up on calling them. They’re not gonna hear you. Nobody is, really." "Who are you?" Arthur asked. "Are you still Izanami, or something else?" He gripped his Keyblade, deciding whether to hear this girl out, or, if she was Izanami, make absolutely sure she was finally dead. Eria paced around the girl, keeping an eye on her, but also trying to understand this place. "There has to be a way out." "Hmmm… I mean, I guess escape isn’t impossible. I used to come and go all the time. It’s quite a nice place once you get used to it." She responded, both coldly and casually, her eyes moving up to the sky. There was a bizarre emptiness in her eyes. "But you guys? That’s a harder question. See, what that kid out there did was what you’d call ‘cheating’. She tried to take you all to the Shadow Realm, drag as many down as possible before her existence ceased to be. But instead, you ended up here. Origin’s funny like that." The girl briefly glanced here and there. "Looks like she only got you as well. Either the rest got lucky, or she was gunning real hard for you two. Either way, Arthur, Eria, I don’t exactly have good news." Then, the enigmatic, inexplicable female tossed her cup aside. It seemed to vanish into thin air… Just as their hopes when she said what she did next. "To put it another way… As far as the warriors up there are concerned, the both of you just died." Arthur and Eria froze. Arthur put his hand to his chest. "No. Didn’t you hear what I said? I refuse to die! Not now. Not like this..." Eria fell to her knees. She had to tell herself that this girl must be lying. This couldn’t be the afterlife. They couldn’t have simply… died. Not like that. It all felt so pointless. Eria burst into tears. Arthur screamed. "Do you know… if Izanami is dead?" Mustering what little she could say, Eria neeeded to know that they had succeeded, even if it had cost them their loves, but Eria wasn’t sure if she actually wanted to know the answer. If there was even the slightest chance that Izanami was still alive, what could Eria hope for? Perhaps the others could use the Door to wish Arthur and her back. Eria tried to feel her heartbeat, or feel any sensation that could convince her was she still alive. Unfortunately, there was no such heartbeat. Even though her mind and body were clearly there, functioning, conscious and aware, it was almost like she’d been reduced to a simple existence... "What, the kid? Yeah, don’t worry. They’re taken care of." The enigma responded simply, as matter-of-fact. "Izanami might’ve had a chance of persisting if they didn’t use their true form, but that risk just comes with being an Omni. You wanna play with space and time? You put your life on the line. Stuff like that. Meanwhile, Prometheus was too much of a coward to use it unless he absolutely had to… Oh well." She shrugged, before turning back to the duo. "Anyway, you’ll be fine. Looks like all seven of the kid’s aspects have successfully been eliminated. Plus, thanks to Alister, you won’t be getting any nasty last-minute reveals either. They took care of her core." Even though this girl resembled an ordinary highschooler in practically every way, there was just something about her that seemed somehow, inherently, intrinsically off. Was it the empty look on her face, or was it the casual manner in which she spoke of otherwise-groundbreaking information? Whatever the case, she gave them the answer they wanted to hear most. "In other words…Omnibound Immortal Izanami is out of the picture. For good." Arthur relaxed a little. Izanami was finally dead. But it only meant so much. He and Eria were still dead. There had to be a way he to change that. If there was any chance it wasn’t too late, maybe they could both get out of here. They had to get their lives back. Why were they here, in this specific realm? There was so much he didn’t understand about this girl, and what her presence her was supposed to mean. "Hang on. You keep calling Izanami a ‘kid’. You also seem to know some stuff about what it means to be an Omni." "Please, just tell us who you are," Eria asked. "At least so we know you’re not our enemy." "Still haven’t figured it out? That’s a pain." Then, with another bored shrug and a sigh, "Fine, I’ll play along." the enigma took a step closer to the duo. "Being real for a sec, I don’t really have a name to call my own. What I do have is a bunch of useless titles... though it doesn’t take a genius to give one you’d recognise." And smiled slightly. ~ ??? ~ "Hi.͞ I'́m the͞ ‘̴One Ma͜s̡t̕e̴r’." As if it were as simple as that. As if it were as obvious as that. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, the girl introduced herself as the One Master. A wave of cold washed over Arthur and Eria. The One Master. This girl could have been anyone else. Maybe some lingering remnant of Isamy, or even Protheus. Nearly anybody else would have been better. But this girl was behind everything. Neither Protheus nor Isamy would have even existed if it weren’t for her. Arthur raised his Keyblade. "So it’s you. All of this is your fault." "Yup." The apparent One Master herself didn’t even deny it. "If it’s really you, how are you still here? Chardonnay told me that Protheus killed you." "Huh? Oh yeah... I guess there was an incident where Prometheus took me out of the game." In response to that, the girl just shrugged. "Didn’t really die, it was more like...getting grounded, you know? Spent a few million years stuck in an orb. Once in a blue moon, I’d get visitors. I’d point people to the Key. Fun things would happen. You know, the usual." While rattling off such crazy facts like they were mundane things, she waved her hand, and another coffee cup suddenly materialized in it. "Prometheus’s friends were cool, but they weren’t that cool, you know? After all… the only one who can kill me is me." The girl proceeded to hold her left hand out. Two more coffee cups inexplicably appeared on it, one perfectly balanced above the other. "Anyway, want something to drink?" Before holding the balanced tower of cups to the couple. Arthur and Eria reluctantly took the cups. Both felt hot in their hands, as if they’d been filled with fresh coffee. A quick look would reveal they appear to contain simple black coffee, in fact, with gentle waves of steam emanating outwards. "Well, seeing as you’ll probably spend eternity here, slowly fade away in the Final World, all that… If you’ve got any other questions, ask away. I guess." "With all the power you have," said Eria, "There has to be some way you can bring us back to life." Arthur glared. "Eria, are you seriously asking her to help us?" "I don’t want to either, but what other choice do we have?" "Yup. I can do that." The One Master simply confirmed, responding to the inquiry. Once again, the One Master sipped from her own drink. Even though there was no aura of power surrounding her, there was a different kind of sensation her existence appeared to emanate⸻specifically, a pure, unadulterated sense of boredom. "But that would be boring. So I won’t." As those words left her mouth, she looked back at the duo with a bit of amusement... before her eyes reverted back to their usual, bored state. "Of course not," Arthur muttered. He set his drink on the floor. Eria pursed her lips. "Let’s be careful about this. I can understand if it’s boring to you. You resurrect us, we go back to our friends, and then what? Looking around here, we’re probably the first people to keep you company in… a long time, I assume. So of course you won’t want us to leave when we just got here." "Shoot. Looks like I’ve been figured out." At that, the girl, the source of absolutely everything that went wrong in the multiverse, just chucked slightly. "Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it’s fun to watch from time to time. I’m not really restrained to the orb anymore, got to possess a guardian body for a bit. But, like… you know that feeling when you just wanna sit back and chill? And watch what happens to reality? It’s kinda like that." Even now, she was still no more distinguishable than any other ordinary schoolgirl. For a moment, she swayed the liquid in her coffee to and fro, as if entertaining herself with its movement and sensation. "My essence got transferred from Prometheus to Izanami, so between this and that, I’d like to think I’ve had a nice view of what’s been going on. And uh, what did Chardonnay call it again? The End of Darkness? Fancy name. Yeah, that’s worked out pretty well. I got the short stick, but everything else went exactly according to plan." The unusually mundane One Master proceeded to sit down on the floor for a bit. "So instead of worrying about weird things like staying alive and paying bills and trusting others… why not sit back with me?" "Because we have so much more left to do," Arthur answered. "I have to make things right. I need to know that people can trust me." Eria looked at her hand. Megiddo’s mark was still there, but it had still hardened into a crystalline white. "Even if Izanami is dead, I know already that this won’t be the last crisis the multiverse has to endure. I still have a purpose in this. Megiddo chose me, but I have to stop him. I can’t bear to leave this fight to anyone else." "Oh yeah. Megiddo. He’s cool too." Hearing that name, the One Master sipped from her coffee cup again. "Got some ambitious plans. The power to follow through with it. Looking forward to what he’s gonna do. And sure, if you wanna take it upon yourself to fight him, that could be interesting… Shame you’re dead though." And proceeded to down the cup in one sudden, final gulp. The bizarre entity tossed it away and, once again, it vanished into nothingness. The One Master sat back. Swayed to and fro. She waited for the both of them to provide a response, glancing at them every now and again, but the situation didn’t really need to be said. Under any circumstances, these two were just that unlikely to change their minds. "Well, if you’re both gonna stay persistently boring about this for the next seven, seventy years or so, then I may as well make things interesting again…" After that, she started waving over the duo. "Mind coming a little closer, Arthur, Eria?" Arthur and Eria shared a look, but they both slowly approached the One Master together. "So. If you wanna live that badly, return to your friends, all that jazz..." "One of you… Volu̡nt́e̵eŕ t̛o̢ ̸b͘e̛ m̶y ne̛x̶t͢ ̢O͠m̧ni.̛" ~ Face My Fears ~ Thus, the One Master - the very source of the two beings who caused all this suffering - did give them such an offer. "You know the drill. Inherit my essence, my ‘Omni Principle’. Get your soul bound. Become immortal. Do fun things around the multiverse, and follow your desires for as long as you stubbornly exist… You’ll sacrifice your humanity, sure. Probably get to see all your friends grow old and die. Might even go off the deep end. I mean, you didn’t forget what happened to the others yet, right?" And reached out her hand. "But in exchange, you get the privilege of enjoying this reality firsthand. Together with your partner, you’ll return back to life, see out the conclusion of the Origin War, and then some. Meanwhile, I get to be entertained, through your eyes and experiences..." And smiled slightly. "The fact that I can’t even begin to predict what either of you would do with it… Yeah. That could be fun. How about it?" There was no need to keep any secrets behind what being an Omnibound Immortal meant, since more than anyone else, these two had learned enough information to understand exactly what it would mean to become one. They witnessed firsthand what the power had done to Protheus and Isamy, how it consumed them, and how they met their ends. But it might just be, precisely because they held such information, why these two entities were most qualified to answer it. With simple amusement and intrigue in her expression, the all-powerful schoolgirl sat back. Observing them, giving them time to absorb this offer, and of course, come to an ultimate decision. "All we want is to live," Arthur answered. "We can just sit here for a little, and wait for our friends to open the Door and wish us back to life. Your Omnis are dead, so that means your Principle is worthless now. Why should we take their place?" At that, the One Master’s amused expression didn’t cease for even a moment. "Yeah, you’re right. They’d certainly do that...if they remembered either of you ever existed." She simply continued to sit back, looking to wrack her brain a little as she gave them the answer they wanted. "Hmm… How should I put this… There’s a lot of things that come with being an existence. Your soul, your body, your mind. But the memories others have of you? That’s part of your existence too, you know. The way individuals persist long after death is by way of others remembering them. And by entering the Pathway to Origin, by coming all the way here and challenging IZANAMI, you opted to put all of those precious things at risk." … "Not to mention the Key still needs to be used. The Door still needs to be opened. I imagine Avatar Resolution will help smoothen the process along, but the decision that comes with it will be up to the survivors. So you know, you’ve got that to worry about too. Depending on the type of wish they make, they might just miss out on you guys." … "Ah… But that’s all complicated and that’s all uncertain. Maybe you wanna take the risk, right? I get it, I get it. You guys want a real answer to your question. Why you’d ought to take their place. It’s simple, really." Her smile dropped, and the empty-eyed dark god met both of their looks dead on. Relaying yet another unpleasant truth. "If one of you won’t entertain me, I’ll find someone who can. That’s just how it is." ~Don’t Think Twice~ Only two options stood before them. They could wait here, and take a chance that their allies could restore them. The One Master was warning them about the risks, but how likely was it that they would not be restored by the wish? It wasn’t an impossibility, but it also wasn’t an absolute guarantee. On the other hand, one of them could serve the One Master. Forever. Neither of them wanted to believe they could end up like Protheus or Izanami, but they had both experienced so much in just the past few days alone, and that had already done plenty to change what they thought of themselves. Given a millennium or two, it was entirely possible they could start their own Origin War, if they were pushed to that point. In fact, the One Master was counting on it. "So there will always be an Omni," Arthur realized. "It was never going to end with either of them." Arthur tightened his grip on his Keyblade, but Eria could see his hand shaking. "I’ve already been chosen by Megiddo," Eria said. She put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, trying to help him relax. Or maybe she needed the assurance herself. Arthur put his free hand over hers, and looked at her. "That’s why you shouldn’t do it," he said. "I know. The power that comes with being an Omni… it could be enough to help me face him head-on, but that’s only thinking in the short term. After that? I’d still be bound to her. Either way, I’m a pawn, and I’d only be trading one master for another." "Which is why I-" "No," Eria said quickly. "Don’t you dare try to finish that thought. Listen to me, Arthur. You were right, earlier. I thought if one of us could become an Omni, we could stop Izanami. But it wouldn’t have made a difference. You keep telling me that you want to go back home and have a normal life. You’ve gone from wanting to erase your gods, to at least tolerating them. From everything you’ve told me, and all we’ve been through, accepting even that much is a sign of how much you’ve changed. And you say you still have more you want to do. If you become her Omni, you would just be giving up on your only chance to make everything right. Don’t take her deal, just because you think it means saving both of us." Arthur took a deep breath. "You’re right," he admitted. "And I’m sorry if I was judging you for it before. It would be stupid and reckless to think filling that just their role would mean another one can’t come along later." "Then what do you think we should do?" Arthur made a fist. "I think… I think you know what it is I’d really want to do. I just want to be sure you’re up for it." Eria nodded. "I know." She held her Keyblade next to Arthur’s. "And I am. One way or another, it all ends with her, right?" "Then I guess there’s only one thing left to do." Eria and Arthur raised the Keyblades side by side, pointing them towards the One Master. "Sorry," Arthur said. Eria smirked. "But our answer is no." And together, they fired a massive Blizzaga straight at the One Master⸺ . . . ~The Decisive Battle~ "It could’ve been so easy… ...b́u͡t͜ ̵you̕'͞ve ̨çh҉o̡se̸n͠ ỳou̷r̀ ͏f̧a͢t҉es.." For a brief moment, the feminine existence was wrapped in a cloak of light and shadows, chaos and entropy. When it emerged, her appearance didn’t appear to have changed much⸺her hair had been tied up into twintails, having turned a similar turquoise colour to that of Isamy, and there were mysterious bandages present on her body. Yet, more than the slight aesthetic change, was the utterly overwhelming aura they suddenly felt emanate from her body. It wasn’t an evil aura, nor an aura of darkness, but rather, an aura that permeated nothing but absolute, pure apathy, sweeping across the whole Final World. Apathy towards their lives. Apathy towards their existence. And apathy threatening to render their very existence null. If there were any doubts that this entity could be the One Master, those had long since been vanquished. The scale of this power was something else entirely. "Fine. Let’s play… Arthur. Eria." Then, in a flash of light, what appeared to be a second, pitch-black Blizzaga fired outwards from the sky, intercepting and negating their spell entirely. At the same time, the girl raised a single finger from her hand. "One hit. Land one hit on me... and you can get your ‘happy ending’. Your desired outcome. Your whatever. You know what? No more Omnis neither." With that absolute statement, the girl took one step closer. "But I’ll warn you⸺" And with a click of her fingers, the sky above them suddenly went black... "I don’t care enough about you guys to play nice." No. It hadn’t turned black. Instead, it had been blotted out by countless sudden spells, shooting closer, and closer, and closer, transforming into a trail of what could only be a hundred, maybe even a thousand shadow replicas of the very same Blizzaga spell they’d just cast. An endless number of black ice started to scatter and part ways, before proceeding to rain down against Arthur and Eria’s positions. Eria summoned a full glacier in an instant, blocking much of the black ice, but the seemingly endless ice kept coming. It began to wear through her glacier, and she needed to reinforce it. Arthur cast a Reflega to aid, but their defenses could only withstand so much. They couldn’t stay on the defensive for long. Even if the One Master was willing to accept just one hit, they knew it would not be easy. At best, they would only have one shot, and it would have to count. Standing not far away, the girl crossed her arms as she simply watched in boredom, observing as the thousand Shadow Blizzagas gradually pelted and wilted away at the defenses of the two lifeforms facing her. "I know your limits, you know? I know everything about you. For mid-tier guys like you, this is really a waste of time..." The One Master remarked with a casual sigh. Then, just as it seemed as though the glacier was finally going to endure the last of the black ice, she simply skipped forward a step, raised her hand and appeared to flick something towards the duo. Neither of them knew what she’d done until the remains of the Glacier were suddenly struck by a vast, dark, mirror-like force⸺an offensive, fired Shadow Reflega, expanding out from the One Master’s body⸺threatening to slam their very own defensive structure into themselves. "Break!" Arthur called out, releasing his Reflega, and the two barriers collided with each other, both shattering in a shockwave, pushing Arthur and Eria back. Arthur stood up as quickly as he could. "I’ll go left, you go right." Eria nodded, and the two ran. However, the rain of Shadow Blizzagas seemed to follow their movements. Any false move would end with them impaled on an icicle. Arthur wished there was something he could do, but he could feel that the power that Itsu had given him before had faded. Even if he still had it, though, he wasn’t sure he would be able to pull off another attack like the beam of light he had hit Izanami with before. Other demigods would never be able to pull off something like that. Even the Keyblade didn’t seem capable of something like that, at least not in his hands. He was sure that his father had somehow helped him before, but this place seemed too far out of his reach, even for a god. The One Master had said that Izanami tried to drag and pull them into the Shadow Realm. The Shadow Realm was supposed to have been made from the One Master’s own body. Whether Izanami realized it or not, it started to make sense that she had brought them before the One Master herself. The One Master was right about the two of them being "mid-tier". There would be no Aetos. Even against the Madara, Protheus, or Izanami, each of them had extremely unique weaknesses that only Arthur and Eria could directly exploit. He could not count on being so lucky this time. Eria called forth a trail of ice to carry her through the air. If she tried any big attacks, the One Master would just repel her with something equally as powerful. Was there a chance they could catch her off guard? Possibly, but counting on that was not something she could build a plan around. Within the span of a few minutes, the utter overwhelming odds the duo were up against here must have become clear. At this rate, even getting close may well be a next-to-impossible challenge, let alone actually landing a single hit on the One Master. While the Water Charmer struggled to her utmost, being carried through the air by ice, the as-of-yet-untouched One Master just watched. Turning away from Arthur to observe Eria, and remarking something to themselves. "Dull. Do something more… fun." On the word fun, they synchronized it with a single wave from their arm, aimed at the escaping Charmer. Just like that, a wide array shadowy pellets of ice were unleashed, resembling the ones Eria herself had summoned…rushing to bombard the trail as she made her way through them! Eria needed to take a risk. Shadows or not, they were still a form of ice. She made a second trail just below hers, and jumped onto it. Continuing on her path, she looked back at the pellets, and attempted to extend her influence towards them, hoping to pull them away. And yet, even though it should’ve perfectly worked in theory, her powers failed to register them for some reason. It wasn’t like LERNA’s sea, or the Waters of Remembrance, where a formula still existed to be figured out, and where she could still discern how to manipulate them. It seemed like they were some kind of alternate existence altogether, only behaving like ice in every possible way. To put it another way, it was rather like they were shadow mimicries. Thus, a piece of Shadow Ice ended up rocketing her into the air as punishment, with others in quick pursuit. Meanwhile, Arthur tried to get close behind the One Master. No spells, he told himself. Even if she wasn’t the Madara, there was still one trick he remembered from their battle. The Madara replicated whatever spells or abilities they had thrown at it, and made them its own. Was the One Master doing something similar? It didn’t seem likely, but it was worth testing. He ran up to the One Master, and swung at her back. As he attempted this, the One Master turned around as if having expected this and⸺much to his surprise, proceeded to splash a cup of hot coffee in his face! Using the burning liquid as a distraction, letting the cup drop to the floor and disappear, the girl took a few simple, bored steps back. Thus far, she had shown no signs of abnormal reflexes, enhanced strength, or physically superhuman abilities. In addition, aside from the ever-replaceable coffee cup, it seemed like all she’d been doing was reproducing pitch-black, shadow versions of their spells… Arthur wiped the coffee from his face, but the heat still stung. Eria was standing up, recovering from being knocked down. They were both testing their limits, and it didn’t help that, despite the One Master’s threats, she still wasn’t even close to showing off their full power. "Too hot for you, huh?" Before either of them could perform another action, the seemingly-limitless One Master clicked her fingers. From there, just where the remaining hot coffee liquid had splashed onto the floor in front of Arthur, they promptly froze and coalesced into a miniature black trail of ice, mimicking the shape of Eria’s second trail exactly... before firing at the boy from his feet! Arthur stepped back and slice through the black ice. Everything they did was mixed with shadow. Even if he couldn’t use something overly powerful, there still had some other power he had inherited from his father that could help him. Something that couldn’t simply be duplicated with extra shadow flavoring. Blind them in a flash of light? No, that would be easy to turn back on him. "Well?" The One Master crossed her arms from a short distance away, tilting her head as she observed him take his time to think. Despite the sheer level of odds Arthur and Eria were up against, terrifyingly enough, the girl just looked like she was close to a yawn in comparison. Arthur just kept swinging, ducking and dodging in case they had something more to throw at him. There had to be a trick, he was sure of it. Something that he was missing. Eria ran in as well. With each swing of her Keyblade, its arc would have behind a trail of water. The water would act on its own, trying to splash against the One Master, though freezing at just the last moment before contact. Even just one hit was all either of them would need. Arthur’s eyes lit up. All he could do was swing without any real plan besides hit them. "What are you holding back?" he asked. "Copying our attacks, and throwing around coffee? You must have something more. Something that made the Omnis so powerful." In response, the One Master just tilted her head even more, her boredom only appearing to grow and grow. Almost as if the answer should’ve been obvious. "If you can’t see it with your own eyes… That’s your problem, not mine." She remained in place, watching as the arcs of water honed in on herself at first. Then, once they got close⸺all of a sudden, two exact replicas of Eria’s Leviathan Keyblade, both pitch-black, materialized in the One Master’s left and right hands respectively. She proceeded to casually swing them at the oncoming torrents, and far larger, superior arcs of ice were unleashed outwards. Each one smashed through Eria’s ice attacks, thrusting the shards back outwards through sheer force, and causing the remainders of black ice to come shooting back at the Charmer’s own position. The One Master swung back as many times as Eria did, though noticeably, she jumped out of the way for the last wave and turned her last swing towards Arthur. Just like that, a giant arc of water fired straight at him, freezing into a horde of smaller black icicles as they came close. Eria summoned a sheet of ice over Arthur, blocking the icicles just in time. Arthur moved past the ice. Meanwhile, the One Master wasn’t about to give them a break. She appeared to desummon her Keyblades, stretched her arm back, and a replicating sheet of black ice materialized above her hand. It proceeded to start spinning, taking advantage of its thin nature, before she finally launched it at the duo to cut them in half. As much as he hated to do it, fighting with magic was Arthur’s only option. He cast a small Fire spell, just enough to counter any more ice she would summon. As he did so, he could feel some power stirring in his Keyblade. He thought of the bow he had used against Izanami. If he could use something like that again, that might be enough. Eria summoned a wall of ice in front of herself, just thick enough to block the One Master’s own ice. Absorbing the flames, the spinning shadow sheet proceeded to slice into the wall before finally losing momentum, stopping just short of her. Her own Keyblade began to hum as well, and it began to glow turquoise. "Oh." Opposing them, the One Master seemed to pause a bit as she glanced at their faces, before simply shrugging and clicking her fingers again. Then⸺from the skies, both Arthur and Eria noticed as a horizontally-positioned black wall of ice began to crash down towards their positions, threatening to flatten them. Arthur and Eria ran away, looking at the shadow at their feet until they were sure they were out of the way. At the very last second, they each dodged and rolled out of the way, the ice shattering on the ground just behind them. Unable to fully prepare their own wards in time, many of the shards ended up cutting through their skin, leaving small lines of blood all over the duo. In just a short span of time, both of the warriors appear to have been reduced to a state of dishevelment, just trying to stay alive. "Okay," Eria said. "Copying everything I do has gotten really old." Arthur sighed. "To be fair, you’ve got the better powers to copy. I’m not sure this is going to really be a puzzle boss for us, though." "Puzzle boss, huh?" At that, the One Master scratched her head from across the Final World, now a great distance away again thanks to their running. "Well… You’re the ones who challenged me. If you wanna complain, that’s just too bad." Through a flick of her hand, black flames materialized above it. But this time, instead of being fired or launched, the Shadow Fire simply levitated by her side. With it next to her, the entity proceeded to advance, slowly walking over towards where Eria and Arthur had ran off, step by step. "Not my fault you’re so limited. Pener was. Isabel was, Amy was. All of you are, really." It would likely take a while for her to reach them, and she certainly didn’t appear to be in a rush. "Why is it so difficult to break free from your limitations?" Her aura of apathy followed her with every step she took. "Because you’re so limited, you’re cursed to live dull lives. Because you’re so limited, you’ll never lay a finger on me. And because you’re so limited, you’ve been forgotten by reality. That’s just the way it is, you know?" Finally, the One Master stopped, a mere ten meters away from the duo. The single ball of pitch-black flames continued to burn in her hands threateningly, as if demonstrating the fact that she could unleash it at them at any given moment. "Forgotten by reality?" Arthur repeated, watching the black flames. "What about you? How many people even know who are you anymore? Protheus and Izanami remembered you. So did Itsu. But now all of them are gone. All that’s left is Chardonnay. Maybe some of those Guardians from the Throne of Heroes, but how many of them would go around and spread your gospel?" "Are you sure you only need an Omni for entertainment?" Eria asked. "Whether they want to or not, it sounds like they serve to extend your influence on reality. Without them, the only thing you have is this place. You need them to do anything meaningful to make a difference, or else you’re irrelevant. You can kill us any time you want, but why take the risk? Or maybe… maybe you’re just as afraid of being forgotten yourself." ". . . . ." At those words, the One Master stared at the two of them for a moment. The level of her apathy was such that it was impossible to decipher what this entity could be thinking, and yet, something about what they’d said certainly gave her pause. "Not bad. You’re almost there…" Then, she smiled. Just a tiny bit, as if showing the faintest hint of amusement amidst this world-turned-battlefield. "Yup. Most of that’s not wrong. As long as I’ve got an Omnibound Immortal running around, you could say my ego continues to remain in existence. That’s how I get to stay entertained." "But Isamy and Protheus are both dead!" Eria said. "You don’t have an Immortal to keep you tethered!" Arthur’s eyes widened. "No. She does." He had kept thinking so much about just the two Omnis that had caused this whole war, that he had forgotten what Itsu had warned them about. "Protheus’s son," Arthur realized. "Minerva Clearstream. It’s him, isn’t it?" At the mention of that name, the One Master seemed to pause again, turning to stare blankly at the demigod…before her smile grew ever so slightly, as if bemused by this theory. "It’s just like I said. If you don’t entertain me, I’ll find someone who can. Unlike the two of you, Minerva’s desired this for quite some time… Sadly, the process did get interrupted with Izanami’s fall. Maybe I underestimated Alister." And with a shrug, she took one step closer. "Still, it’s because the kid gave up her Omni Principle that you had the privilege of being offered it." Then another step closer. "But let’s be real. You were never going to agree, simply because it’s not in your character to do so. I hoped for a miracle, and it did not happen." Then yet another step closer. "You wanna know the truth? I am an existence tethered by memories. That’s my true nature, and the only nature I have. Omnibound to nostalgia. Yes, I suppose being forgotten may threaten that⸺" And finally, held her ball of black fire high. "You’re simply under one mistake. I don’t really care if that happens." ~ ROLLING GIRL ~ "If I’m forgotten, if I cease to exist, if I die… Maybe that, too, would be entertaining." With a throw of her hand, the small Shadow Fire burst into a inferno of black flames. Taking the form of a colossal serpentine figure, it circled into the sky of the Final World briefly, before ultimately diving back at Arthur and Eria with relentless abandon. Their Keyblades continued to glow, until soon, the light began to overwhelm them. Arthur’s Keyblade transformed into a crossbow, while Eria’s became a trident. Eria threw her Keyblade, and a torrent of crystal-white water shot towards the One Master. Arthur pulled the trigger on his crossbow, and a golden arrow, much like the one he had shot at Izanami before, followed the path of the water. The arrow curved in its path, spiraling around the water, until finally the water, light, and flame all collided at once, exploding into the sky above Arthur and Eria. "Now, find your resolve. Unless you prove your journey was worth the hassle, unless you put absolutely everything on the line for your desires, this wouldn’t be very fun. Isn’t that right… Arthur? Eria?" As a brilliant explosion of energy filled the Final World, the One Master herself stepped forward. Was it their imagination, or were there more bandages around her body than before? Or perhaps more accurately, just how often were new injuries and bandages appearing on her? Even though they hadn’t laid a single scratch on her, even though they hadn’t even touched her once, her movements seemed to be in a bit of pain as she approached them. It only seemed to add to the number of questions surrounding this entity. Why she appeared so mundane and ordinary, why she possessed the seemingly-fathomless power she did, why she performed the actions she did, why she selected the Omnis she did, why she held such overwhelming boredom and even why she desired entertainment so much... Perhaps they were mysteries no one would ever know. Still, as the One Master advanced towards the two characters, characters whom she’d been granted the privilege of meeting firsthand… It almost looked like a light was finally beginning to shine in her otherwise-apathetic eyes⸺ … In this Final World, only one thing was for certain. Somehow… Her opponents just knew they would be in for the most important battle of their lives. "Now… surpass your limits or die. Just once more, let’s have fun⸺!" "You ready?" Arthur asked. Eria nodded. "Always." The battle would push them both, further than they could possibly imagine. But even now, beyond the literal end of absolutely everything, there was one truth that Arthur and Eria knew in their hearts. They would still live to see tomorrow. . . . . . . . . . .