User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater:Universitas, chapter 63: The Final Stage (God Eater:Universitas final chapter)

“So… you’ve finally made it. Here, to the final stage at the end of time.”

Stepping through the portal, the members of the anti-Feldman task force beheld around them an entirely unfamiliar landscape. Certain familiar elements could be seen, but they were only “familiar” as far as a building or road were “familiar.”  Beneath a blackened sky, everything around them lay in a state of absolute desolation and destruction. Any formerly habitable structure was naught but a burnt-out shell, if it was fortunate enough to be standing at all, and craters of varying sizes dotted the landscape as if the land had been assailed by countless meteors from the heavens. Flames were everywhere, lending to the environment a sense of being in Hell itself.

And amidst all the destruction and devastation stood one man. His white hair, formerly black, and his tattered jacket worn across his shoulders now stood as a fitting match to the man’s brilliant, almost luminescent, pale green eyes.

This was the man whom, in order to destroy, the anti-Feldman task force had been created. And now he stood here before them, making no attempt to flee.

“I’ve no more tricks,” Feldman stated plainly and calmly, his hands held out to his sides. “No petty gimmicks, no Boundary Aragami waiting in the wings. No surprise attacks, no unexpected barriers, and no clichéd last-minute power-ups. I have assimilated the strength of all of my selves from across time, and now I stand here, ready to face you with the full brunt of my strength. Come at me one by one or all at once, and I will simply strike you down, like an Ouroboros crushing all in its path. There will be no pulled punches and no mercy. This, for you, is the end of the road.”

The Feldman before them was very, very different from the Feldman they had faced thus far. Completely gone from his speech and mannerisms were any traces of rage, of anger, and of conceit. Now, Feldman was nothing but purely calm and collected. In spite of his power, he exuded no aura of rage, and displayed no arrogance. Had they not known better, the Feldman before them now would have seemed like an ordinary human.

Had they not known better, of course.

They were about to find out for themselves just how far this statement was from the truth.

“Isaac,” Sigma stated, plainly and simply. “Before we begin, I must ask you… what is this place? Or rather, when?”

“This place… this time,” Feldman answered, keeping his calm, “is the ruins of an alternate future, hundreds of thousands of years from now. Perhaps millions, I know not. In this world, long, long ago, Humanity was brought to ruin by the advent of three omnipotent Aragami dubbed Hephaestus, Hydra, and Lucifer. Together, these three Aragami formed a perfect storm of destruction and death. A few humans and God Eaters survived at first, but no one is immortal, and the Aragami only kept evolving further. In the end… everybody died. Without exception. After that, well… it is as you see here. A world of desolation and hellish destruction befitting our final battle.”

“Hold on a moment,” came the words of Blake. “You said that this was an alternate future, of a completely different world?”

“I did.”  Feldman’s response was quick and to the point. “What of it?”

“So that means… that the results of our battle here mean nothing for the fate of this world… for my world?”

Feldman looked upon Blake with eyes displaying a mix of disappointment and sadness. “If you mean to say that you originally come from this world… then yes. Anything you do here will be futile to avert this world’s ultimate demise.”

Blake dropped to his knees, his face a picture of absolute despair. “Then… what have I been fighting for… all this time?”

At once, Blake was lifted by his collar by hands belonging to two different people, and the hands of both Jack and Nanako impacted his cheeks, leaving a stinging sensation and reddened flesh.

“YOU FOOL!” came the shouted words of Jack. “My grandson though you may be, I cannot believe that a descendant of mine would so easily give up like this! You lose sight of your initial goal and suddenly you cannot even lift a finger to help those in need!? What a disgrace!”

“Listen, kid,” spoke Nanako, her voice tinged with anger and disappointment. “And yeah, I’m calling you ‘kid,’ because right now you sure as hell ain’t a man. You’ve come all this way with us, you’ve been here longer than most of this group has, and I am not about to stand by and let you sit your mopey ass back while Feldman kills us all! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?”

Once more, Blake’s face was met with a slap from Nanako, as he stood shakily upon his own two feet, face pointed towards the ground.

“You… you’re right,” he began. “I may no longer have a personal stake in the outcome of this fight… but all of you do, and you’re all my friends.”

Blake wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to face Feldman, tightening his grip on his God Arc.

“And I won’t let you take away my friends’ future!”

At these words, Feldman smiled. For once, it was a genuine smile, free of arrogance, anger, or hysteria.

“Well spoken, Blake Johnson,” he spoke, softly and calmly. “It is that resolve that has carried you all through your journeys so far… and it is that resolve without which you will be unable to stand against me. Now, if there are no further questions…”

Feldman took a stance, his hands held close to his body in the manner of a martial artist.

“…are you ready?”

At once, everyone readied themselves for battle. This would be the strongest foe they had ever had to face, stronger than any of the Boundary Aragami thus far and likely stronger than all of them together. In the face of such overwhelming power, such things as strategy and tactics would be useless. All they could do was to face down Feldman with the full brunt of their strength.

However—

“Wait.”

Sigma’s words rang out across the echoless landscape, snapping everyone out of their focus.

“What’s the matter, Sigma?” Nanako inquired, dropping her stance and setting down her two God Arcs. “Why’d you stop us?”

“Because I won’t let you lose your lives here and now,” came Sigma’s response. “Unlike us, the lot of you have futures ahead of you, and I won’t let Feldman rob you of those futures.”

“Wait,” Idenn spoke, “what do you mean, ‘unlike us?’  What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What it means,” came the voice of Will, “is that the Horizon is somewhat special. For starters… haven’t you ever wondered what happens when someone touched by the Horizon dies?”

Idenn scratched her head. “I don’t see what you’re getting at…”

“Haven’t you ever wondered,” continued Will, his voice slow and grave, “what the Horizon IS?”

“What the Horizon ‘is’…” mused Idenn. “Wait, no… no…!”

“I’m afraid your suspicions are correct,” came Sigma’s words. “You see, when Nanako’s ability activated to overwrite our future with one in which we were still alive, it didn’t actually cancel our deaths, and for one simple reason: it could not, because at the time, we existed in a state outside space and time itself… in the Horizon. Rather, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that we ARE the Horizon itself.”

A gasp could be heard, coming from C.

“I’ve seen a lot of shit in my years,” she began, “but this? What the hell? You ARE the Horizon?”

“Yes,” responded Sigma. “Idenn and myself make up the dimension, the entity, the existence you all call the Horizon. When one who has been touched by the Horizon dies, their soul returns to the Horizon and becomes a part of it. Nanako’s ability did not cancel our deaths; rather, it created an abnormal world line where our souls could be ‘materialized’ from within the Horizon. That is how we are here now, aiding you… and that is how we will end Feldman once and for all.”

“That’s how… what?”  Ken spoke up, the weight of Sigma’s words escaping him. “What are you getting at, Sigma? What could you possibly…!!”

“If… if the Horizon is destroyed…” spoke Nanako, her voice shaking with the realization of what Sigma was about to do, “then everything related to the Horizon, all powers granted by it, will be erased. The cycle will finally be broken. But that would mean…!!”

“Yes, Nanako,” came the voice of the mechanical Idenn. “If we, if Sigma and I die… then the Horizon will be destroyed, and with it will vanish the powers Feldman commands. It should be a simple matter to end his life thereafter.”

“No.”  Idenn spoke that one simple word. “I can’t do it. No way. I am not going to let you two kill yourselves for our sake! There has to be another way! There… there has to…!”

“Feldman’s power now is far beyond anything even all of us are capable of together. If we… if you all attempt to fight him normally, your lives are forfeit. Therefore… this is all we can do to help you. Please, take our will and use it to propel yourselves forward towards tomorrow.”

At this point, Feldman rocketed forward, his battle intent suddenly visible as he sought with all his force to prevent the two of them from ending their own lives and robbing him of his power.

“If I can use my powers to imprison you in a stasis field,” Feldman exclaimed, his face finally displaying emotion, “I can have complete control of the Horizon itself! I won’t even need to kill you! This is great!”

But before he could reach them, there stood Nanako barring his path, swipes of her God Arcs forcing Feldman to dodge backwards.

“What are you doing, Nanako Kawashima?” came Feldman’s curious words. “You should know that you cannot possibly—”

“I’m buying them time.”

“What?”

“If you reach the two of them,” spoke Nanako, her voice still shaky but nonetheless colored with determination, “then all of our struggles will have been for naught. No matter what, I cannot let you reach them!”

And at that moment, the God Arcs of Baluar and Nia, and of Beo, Kaitlin, Blake, Jack, C, Maxwell, Axel, Lyrr, Arthur, and Ken were all trained on Feldman, the multitude of blades and guns all pointed directly at him from all sides. Everyone here was prepared to lay down their lives to prevent Feldman from achieving his ultimate goal.

“Thank you,” came the voice of the mechanical Idenn as she raised one of her bladed arms, the form of a God Arc’s devour form taking shape around the blade. “Everyone… thank you.”

As she spoke these words, Sigma formed his own God Arc, similarly preparing his own devour. The two devour form heads were trained on each other, like two great beasts preparing to strike each other down.

“It’s been a long run, my beloved,” spoke the mechanical Idenn, her towering mechanical body poised to strike. Not even someone like Sigma would be able to survive this.

“Indeed it has, my love,” came Sigma’s response, his God Arc’s devour form itching for prey. Nothing could survive a strike at full power from the one truly called “almighty.”

“Perhaps we’ll meet again, in the next life?” the mechanical Idenn continued.

“I, well…” answered Sigma. “You already know the answer to that question.”

“Haha… true enough, Sigma,” muttered the mechanical Idenn, as a single, improbable tear rolled down her cheek. “Well then… I guess this is goodbye?”

“Goodbye, my beloved.”  As Sigma spoke those words and tears rolled down his face for the first time in decades, since he was a small child, the two of them let loose the full power of their God Arcs, the devour forms flying forward.

In a single violent, brilliant spectacle, the mouths closed around each other’s owner, and retracted—

—leaving nothing behind, as Sigma’s God Arc and a fragment of the mechanical Idenn’s arm clattered to the ground.

“So…” Idenn began, looking down at her hands. “So that’s it? It’s all over?”

“No, not quite,” came Ken’s response. “I can still feel the Horizon power within me… but it’s faint. It’s fading, bit by bit.”

“And since Feldman had it the most,” continued Nanako, taking up her God Arcs once more, “he should have been hit the most. So now… what say you we fucking kill this son of a bitch?”

At these words, Feldman began to realize the situation he was now in. Since he was never a God Eater, he was now nearly powerless with his Horizon powers on the way out. And now…

“No…” he began, his voice trembling as he took step after shaky step backwards. “No—!!”

But he could not finish whatever he had to say. In the span of a single instant, over a dozen blades and a shower of bullets ran him through from all directions as his life left his body.

At last, at long last… the man called Isaac Feldman was dead.

At long last, they’d finally done it. It was finally over.

Everyone present dropped to their knees as a collective sigh of relief swept over the task force.

“So… so that’s it, huh?” spoke Bal, scanning the gathered God Eaters of the task force.

“I guess so…” replied Idenn, “…but there’s still one thing left to do.”

“One thing…?” Blake spoke up, shakily rising to his feet. “What do you mean…?”

“For those of you who’ve come from the future, or from other times…” announced Idenn, “I need to send you all back home while I still have some power left in me.”

Walking over to where Sigma and the mechanical Idenn once stood, she reached down and picked up Sigma’s fallen God Arc, hefting it in her hand.

“This blade has been through so much…” she spoke to herself, turning it over to truly take it in. “And now… it’ll be the key that makes everything right again.”

Focusing her power in the blade, she thrust it forward—and opened up a portal in the air, an all-too-familiar tear in the fabric of space and time that would take everyone where they needed to go.

“Idenn,” spoke Ken, as he approached the portal, “thank you. I know I said this already, but thank you. You gave me a second chance and an opportunity to fight again. I know I need to go back… but I wouldn’t give up my time with the team for the world.”

With a smile, Ken stepped forward, the portal swallowing him up as he vanished to places and times unknown.

Blake was next to come forth. He approached the portal with a worn expression on his face, yet one that still showed signs of hope.

“Idenn,” he began, “I know that our actions here won’t have affected anything back home… but I thank you for allowing me to fight alongside you all this time. Thank you… and farewell. Oh, and grandfather…”

Blake turned to face Jack, who wore a forlorn countenance.

“I’m going to miss you. Please, take care of things.”

Jack merely nodded, shedding a single tear as Blake turned to enter the portal, vanishing just as suddenly as he had arrived so long ago.

Idenn made a motion to shut the portal… but before she could, Nanako was there, holding C by her collar as she dangled there like a cat being carried by its mother.

“When did you find out I wasn’t this universe’s C?” the blue-haired woman asked, flailing about in the air.

“The C I know is way more caustic and confrontational, and just all-around a pain to be around,” came Nanako’s response, as she let go of C, the latter landing unceremoniously on the ground. “You were way too nice. If you were going to impersonate this world’s C, you could have done a better job.”

“Haha, fair enough.”  C spoke those words plainly and simply as she strode towards the portal… before being stopped by Idenn.

"I, well..." Idenn began, cutting herself off and looking down at the ground at her feet. "You'll keep in touch, won't you?"

“Seven hundred trillion fc."  C's response was short and to the point.

"I... what?!" Idenn was caught off-guard by the absurdly high amount. "For what?"

"For keeping in touch," came C's reply. "Sending messages across dimensions isn't exactly easy, you know~"

Idenn formulated a response, but merely sighed. There truly was no getting around her after all...

"I guess... I'll see you around, then." Idenn spoke her final words to C as she turned to step into the portal that would take her home.

“Some things never change, I guess,” remarked Nanako as the portal blinked out of existence. “But how’d she get here in the first place, anyway?”

Idenn merely shrugged.

Both of them knew the answer, of course.


 * THE END

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