User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater:Universitas, chapter 28: Beoblade's Resolve, part 1

“So what are you gonna do, sir?”

A day had passed. Here, Beoblade was reminiscing in the lounge of the Liverpool Branch, when he was met by Kaitlin, who exited the elevator and walked towards him.

“Hm?” came Beo’s reply. “How do you mean?”

“Well…” answered Kaitlin, “Sigma showed us a bit of the Horizon’s power firsthand yesterday. Supposing we do succeed in obtaining that power for ourselves, well… what are you gonna do with it?”

Beo stood up and faced Kaitlin. “Isn’t it obvious? Feldman dies. As soon as we all obtain the power of the Horizon, we wait for Feldman to show up and we kick his ass!”

Kaitlin giggled. “That’s a given… I meant after that, though. What are your plans after Feldman’s gone?”

“You know the answer to that better than anyone,” Beo scoffed. “I’ll gather an army of followers and kill each and every last Aragami on this planet! That way…”

“‘That way’ what?”

“That way… no one will ever have to suffer again,” came Beo’s forlorn reply. “I… we’ve already lost so much, both individually and as a species. I don’t want anyone else to die as a result of Aragami attacks, Kaitlin. You know that.”

Kaitlin merely nodded, placing her hand on Beo’s shoulder. “I know… and I will stop at nothing to help you achieve your goals. That’s why I’m here, after all.”

Beo smiled, a slight grin displayed across his face. “It’s certainly reassuring to have you here by my side, Kaitlin. Together, there’s nothing we can’t—”

But Beo did not finish his sentence, as without Kaitlin seeing anything, he was gone, as if he simply ceased to exist. From before Kaitlin’s attentive gaze, Beo had completely vanished.

“Sir…?” murmured Kaitlin. “Beoblade… sir?  Where did you go…?”

-

“Where… am I?”

All around Beo, there was nothing but black. It was an all-permeating darkness, with not a single speck of light anywhere to be seen.

Beo held out his hands in front of him but saw nothing. He could still feel himself, however—

—and he could also tell that he was standing on solid ground. He could not see it, but he was upright.

“What the hell is going on…?”


 * Walk forward, Thomas Beoblade.

A voice cut through the darkness, as though it spoke directly into Beo’s head.

“Who was that!?”


 * You must advance, Thomas Beoblade.  If your resolve is true… then advance, and prove yourself.

Which way was “forward,” though? With nothing but darkness, Beo’s sense of direction was nonexistent.

All of a sudden, though, out of the corner of Beo’s periphery, a tiny speck of light lit up—an infinitesimally small yet infinitely brilliant point of pale blue light that gradually spread horizontally outwards, becoming a long blue line that stretched infinitely in either direction.

Almost like—

“The Horizon,” Beo muttered. “This must be it… the Horizon. Sigma never told us what it looked like… but I can tell. This is something the likes of humanity has never, ever seen before.”


 * Now, advance.

Beo didn’t need to be told twice. Placing one foot steadily in front of the other, Beo gradually took step after step towards the boundary line of the Horizon, until—

“And where do you think you’re going?”

A voice—a different voice, for Beo could actually hear this one— called out to him from behind. But this—

“That’s MY voice!”

Beo whirled around and came face-to-face with… himself?!

“Who are you?” demanded Beo, facing his doppelgänger. “No… WHAT are you?!”

“I am you, Thomas Beoblade,” came the reply of the alternate Beo. “I am everything you strive to be. I am the you who has achieved everything he has sought out to do, who has become the person he has truly wished to become… and unless you can prove that your current power is enough to achieve those dreams, you won’t be taking another step towards the Horizon.”

Beo stared at his alternate self, perplexed.

“Either you’re just my mind playing tricks on me, or—”

Beo’s words were cut off by a bullet grazing his cheek. From behind the alternate Beo, hundreds of God Eaters had appeared, each brandishing their God Arcs and ready for battle. The alternate Beo himself drew, or rather materialized, his own God Arc, a black version of Beo’s own…

…which was conspicuously absent.

“How am I supposed to prove my power to you if I don’t have my damn God Arc?” he demanded.

“Whatever do you mean?” came the reply of the alternate Beo. “It’s right there. You’ve had it with you ever since you arrived here. But the fact that you can’t see it, well… your resolve must be pretty pitiful.”

“The HELL do you mean by that?!” shouted Beo to his alternate self. “Where do you get off telling me that my resolve isn’t strong enough?!”

“It’s quite simple, really,” the alternate Beo responded. “The fact that you can’t perceive your own God Arc here in the Horizon means that you aren’t truly willing to do whatever it takes to actualize your goals. And if that’s the case, you might as well die right here, because you have no business existing if you can’t even do that much!”

With those words, the alternate Beo and his army of God Eaters charged at Beo, who stood there, looking pensive.

“You might be right,” he muttered. “Maybe my resolve isn’t strong enough… but like hell that means I’m going to sit back and do nothing and let that bastard Feldman destroy everyone precious to me with his Boundary Aragami! I came this far relying on my own strength, with my dreams to guide me… and that hasn’t changed one bit! Like hell I’ll stop here! You’re gonna get out of my way, and I’m going to walk towards my dreams—”

And as the alternate Beo closed in…

“—towards a future where no one else has to die!!!”

A resounding clash could be heard, as the alternate Beo’s God Arc was met with the cold steel of Beo’s own, which had materialized in his hands and parried the alternate Beo’s strike.

“My strength is my power,” proclaimed Beo. “And the lives of everyone precious to me… the lives of everyone on this planet… they’re my strength!!”

“Alright…” mused the alternate Beo, assuming a stance with his God Arc held at the ready. “Now we’re talking. Show me what you’ve got, me!”

-

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