User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater:Universitas, chapter 43: Unseen Fragments

“I suppose I’ll start, then,” came the voice of Kaitlin. “As you’re all well aware by now, I was entirely in on the plan to trick Feldman by having Nanako pretend to kill us. It was a risky gambit, sure—one false move and we really WOULD have died—but I had absolute faith in Nanako’s skills, so I knew she’d be able to pull it off.

“It hurt like hell, of course—I mean, imagine being stabbed right through your gut!—but in that moment, through all the hurt and pain, I realized. I realized that, in the moment where my life slipped out of me, the one thing I wanted more than else was to achieve my dream, my ultimate goal of saving God Eaters from futile battles, suicide missions that would guarantee their deaths. Such a thing, well… I knew I couldn’t allow it! I wanted more than anything in that moment to gain the power to save those who were within my power to save! And in that moment, the Horizon heard my call and brought me before it.

“I’ll spare you the boring details, but the power I received was essentially a lesser, modified form of causality manipulation—the power to move faster than the speed of light, so fast that I end up where I’m going before I actually leave. Remember when Feldman lost his arm before he escaped? That was me. I was testing out my powers and tried attacking Feldman as he fled… and even then, I wasn’t moving nearly as fast as I could. So… yeah. That’s what happened on my end.”

Beo stood up and placed his hand on Kaitlin’s shoulder. “It’s good to finally have you among our ranks in earnest,” he spoke. “I look forward to seeing what you can do in battle.”

Kaitlin smiled… before C stood and spoke up.

“Anyway,” she interjected, “I suppose it’s my turn, then.”

C paused for a moment… before sitting back down.

“Actually… I’d rather not stand if I don’t have to,” she continued. “Anyway, for the most part, what happened to me is pretty much what you heard from Kaitlin over there. At the moment Nanako stuck me with her scythe, my mind went into overdrive. I thought to myself, ‘God, C, all that and THIS is how you go out?’  I had too many regrets! And what’s more, that asshole Feldman! He wanted to bring the world under his grip by force, dominating the planet through control of Fenrir and rule through his Boundary Aragami? God, that’s just awful! So I thought to myself, ‘There’s no way you can go out like this! You’ve got to show Feldman how it’s REALLY done! If you’re going to unify humanity, don’t do it through fear and brute force! You do it with charisma, and kindness, and generally not being an enormous asshole!’

“And then, well,” C continued, “the Horizon heard my call, brought me before it, and, well… you know the rest.”

“I mean, that’s all well and good,” replied Beo, “but what power did you get?”

C merely clicked her tongue in a disapproving tone. “Hey, Beo… did you know I’m actually standing behind you right now?”

“…What?” came Beo’s response. “But… you’re right there…?”

“Try again, Beo,” C advised. “Look harder…”

And at that moment, Beo blinked, and C was gone. He whirled around, and sure enough, true to her word, there she was, standing behind him with a mischievous smile worn across her face.

“How did you…” Beo began. “Wait… illusions?”

“Bingo,” C spoke. I can jack directly into the mind of anyone I please and show then whatever I damn well want. It’s kind of fearsome when you think about it, isn’t it?”

Beo merely shivered. C’s power… it really didn’t mess around, did it?

“Anyway, I’m done here,” C continued, “so I’d like to turn the floor over to our good friend Idenn, the centerpiece of this whole war against Feldman. Idenn, if you please?”

With that, Idenn rose from her seat and began to speak.

“My struggle has been one entirely known to you,” Idenn began. “From the moment I arrived in this time, I have battled alongside you against the Boundary Aragami and against Isaac Feldman. In truth, I came here in preparation to do battle against Feldman himself, and in the struggles against him since, my determination to strike him down has only been strengthened… so it should come as no surprise that when Nanako pierced me with her buster blade, the only thought running through my head was my burning desire to kill Isaac Feldman. So, with that determination to guide me, the Horizon called to me in my final moments, responding to my resolve by granting me power.”

“And that is…?” interjected Baluar.

“The power granted to me by the Horizon was essentially a perfected version of my Lifespring technique. I sacrificed my God Arc to attain it, but what it lets me do is perform the Lifespring preparation and activation processes instantaneously by merely touching whatever I want to transport using my right hand. Furthermore, I can now use it on myself with no effort and transport matter solely through space if I choose, with no time displacement factor."

“That’s all well and good…” began C, “but there’s something I don’t get. You were stabbed with a BUSTER BLADE. How could Nanako have missed your vitals with something that big?”

“( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)” was Idenn’s only response.

“And what the hell is THAT supposed to mean, exactly?” C shot back. Idenn remained wordless.

“Basically,” spoke Nanako, “I didn’t. I only had my two God Arcs, so my only real option was to genuinely kill Idenn, as I couldn’t very well perform precise surgical operations with a blade that was taller and heavier than myself.”

“And what if it hadn’t worked?!” demanded Nia. “What if Idenn hadn’t reached the Horizon?!”

“Irrelevant,” came Nanako’s reply. “We all knew that Idenn’s resolve would be strong enough, and I’m sure YOU knew that as well.”

Nia stopped and scratched her head. “Well… you aren’t wrong,” Nia responded, “but hey, what about you? How did YOU reach the Horizon?”

Blake stepped in here. “She’s right, you know,” interjected Blake. “Even though I was in on the plan, I didn’t see anything that would have indicated that you reached the Horizon… so what exactly DID you do?”

At this, Nanako paused.

“This, well…” she began. “This is gonna require more than a bit of explanation. So make yourselves comfortable, and let me tell you…”

“…about the other me.”

-

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