Sakura, on the other hand, was having a hard time with Adrian, especially now that he
had Miki's soul in his hand. She brought down her scythe, but he easily blocked it with his
sword, not even budging an inch. This continued for some time until Sakura noticed that
Adrian wasn't really trying to attack her... was he not confident in his skills or was he
waiting for Eveon?
Suddenly, she stopped and stared at the man in front of her... his body posture, his
mannerisms... everything was correct, but when she stared into his eyes... "...who are
you?"
He cracked a smile as her played with the core in his hand. "Adrian, of course. The
man you wouldn't marry?"
Sakura shook her head. "Adrian couldn't have lived this long and you most certainly
aren't him."
His smile fell and instead he looked with a very soft, catlike expression. "How
perceptive..." he murmured. "I... borrowed Adrian's body, I guess you could say. The stupid
wretch was bumbling around soon after his exile from Heaven's Gate. The angel's weren't too
happy with what he did to your daughter."
Sakura continued to look and try to figure out who he really was as he kept talking.
"So, I decided to absorb him into my being and use his body - simple as that. He's not
dead, but he no longer exists except for a part of me." The man laughed quietly to himself.
"I'm sure I did everyone a favor... It was kind of fun to pretend to be him, maybe because
he's a lot like me."
"You use other people's bodies...?" Sakura asked. "Then is that what you plan to do
with Eveon?!"
Adrian stared blankly at her before laughing. "Of course not! I find Adrian's body
much more suited for my tasks and it would be impossible for me to control Eveon's body..."
He held up his sword. "Everyone has heard the Origin story about how we all came to be, but
have you ever wondered what life was before the people turned into humans, demons and
angels?"
Sakura readied her scythe as Adrian answered his own question. "I guess you could
call me your ancestor."
The being inside of Adrian was from... that long ago? She pushed it out of her mind,
knowing that she needed to eliminate Adrian if she wanted to help Eveon, Mina and Alice.
Speaking of which, Alice was getting to her hands and knees, grabbing her Demon Buster.
"Adrian..." she coughed out. "You can't do that to Miki!"
"I rather like the name 'Adrian' as well," he commented to Sakura. "So even though
I'm not really him, please refer to me as such."
Alice charged recklessly, ignoring Sakura's cries telling her to stop. The young girl
threw herself at Adrian, getting a nick from his sword, but she was able to grab the core
away from his hands and injure him. She dropped her sword without hesitation to cradle
Miki's core to her chest.
"You bitch!" Adrian yelled, looking at the cut in his side. Before he could even give
Alice retribution, Sakura started her own assault again, now on a much weaker Adrian. The
Living Inferno would have hurt him much more if it wasn't for the mysterious world inside
the gate... it was starting to warp and flex around them.
"Oh no," Adrian murmured, looking over at where Mina and Eveon. "She can't seriously
be...!"
Knowing he had no more time to waste, Adrian went to attack Alice first. Sakura had
been distracted by Eveon and didn't have enough time to stop him as he brought his sword
down on the cringing Alice.
However, a bright, bluish green light erupted from the girl, pushing Adrian away. "I
won't let him hurt you anymore, Alice!"
Standing in front of him was none other than Miki Uramoto. "This can't be
happening..." Adrian groaned out as the black haired girl with earthy eyes helped Alice to
stand up.
"Miki!" Alice exclaimed, hugging her sister. "You... how...?" Alice didn't notice,
but in the ensuing creation of Miki's body, her own hair had lost the dye and gone back to
its original dirty blonde color.
"My core was able to draw upon the latent power here... Mina's splitting the
Creator's power and drawing some of it from Eveon," Miki explained quickly, pointing over
to where Eveon was holding onto Mina. "Some of that power is leaking out here so I used
it."
Adrian gritted his teeth in frustration... it was now three on one and the Creator
was splitting. "How's that possible?" Alice asked.
"Because the spirit is attracted to whomever has the most desire... Mina really loves
her so she's causing a divide..." Miki said, looking back over at Adrian. "And you...! Your
plan has failed. With Eveon no longer having all of the power of the Creator, it will be a
lot harder to get her to do your dirty work."
The young man held up his sword. "Doesn't mean I can't try. I'm sure Eveon will agree
after I put some of her friends' lives in danger."
Sakura frowned and stepped forward. "I'm going to destroy you so you can't harm
anyone, anymore!"
Adrian stifled a laugh as they continued to fight, him obviously losing. Miki started
to drag Alice to where Eveon and Mina were. "Can't we help them?" Alice asked, distraught.
"...I don't know," Miki replied. "It only took a little bit of energy to from my body
and repair the damage Adrian did to you after extracting your core, but this amount of
power is immense..." The hybrid thought quietly to herself, looking up. It seemed that Mina
shared the same pained expression as Eveon now that the power was flowing into her as well.
"Can't we divide it some more...? Or seal it away?" Alice asked, trying to come up
with a solution.
"If only we could get Eveon to expend a lot of energy at one time," Miki said. "Mina
has currently only absorbed a little bit of Eveon's power within her, so we need... I don't
know what we can do."
"I have an idea," came a jovial voice.
Both girls turned around and Miki suddenly exclaimed, "Daddy!" She gave Marx a huge
hug, startling the young man.
"How are you alive...?" he asked before looking around. Sakura was still caught
fighting with Adrian.
Alice was just confused until she saw Dark standing next to Marx. "We... we snuck
past Solomon," she murmured quietly, answering Alice's unasked question.
"I would love to catch up, but we need to take care of this," Marx stated. "This was
the real reason Purgatory sent me here... in case the Creator was summoned."
Alice stared at him in awe. "You've been preparing for this for a long time?"
"Of course... Dark, if you'll assist me?" Marx turned to the angel, who nodded and
held up her arms. Behind the mass being that was God in the making, Dark began to create a
glowing white seal.
Marx raised up his own hand towards it and it began to activate. "That makes sense,"
Miki told Alice. "Since Dark's light seal is originally what became the Key to God, she
should have the power to reverse it."
Alice still didn't understand it. "It's like a vacuum," Marx said. "It's going to
temporarily extract and seal up the Creator, who is trying to enter both Mina and Eveon's
bodies."
True to his word, the ethereal energy began to break down and get attracted to the
seal they created. The pace was rapid, startling Alice. Was this really going to fix
everything?
*****
Solomon couldn't help but feel anxious. His normally calm mood was quickly dissolving
into full blown panic. His moves were still sharp enough to keep everyone in the main
chamber... but he purposefully let Marx and Dark get past him.
The reason? ...he couldn't quite feel Pandora's presence anymore. She was going to
defeat Adrian to get the power they needed, but it hadn't worked. What if she was...? He
told himself that Pandora couldn't die... she wouldn't die.
If she died then he would be...
Alone.
He parried another of Tsuru's strikes, eyes darting around. Most of the Death Dolls
had been incapacitated and he knew it was hopeless for him to keep trying since he was so
concerned about Pandora.
"Can I establish that we both dislike Adrian?" He asked suddenly, halting all the
crazy fighting.
Every single one of Eveon's friends stared at him as though he were insane.
"...sure..." Tsuru said, cautiously. "He's kind of the big bad boss and all so..."
Solomon lowered his rapier. "Well, that's rather splendid. We were supposed to double
cross him, but the plan went awry..."
"He's going to try and team up with us, isn't he?" Abby asked dryly.
Solomon sheathed his sword and turned around. "I need to go check on Pandora. If you
all happen to slip past me in the time that I'm gone, so be it. We'll pick this up later."
*****
Adrian was livid as the power was extracted from the young girls. Sure, he didn't
have much time to survey what Marx and Dark were doing since Sakura was trying to
decapitate him, but he could still see it all.
His plan had failed... It wasn't anything new - every attempt he made to reach his
goal always failed at the last second. He barely noticed when the scythe ripped through his
shoulder, leaving a burning sensation.
"It's over," Sakura rasped out, preparing to off him.
The young man just smiled and laughed to himself. "I suppose it is... it's a good
thing I have a plan B."
When he took off running, Sakura prepared to chase him. Adrian was moving much faster
than she anticipated and as the world began to fluctuate again, she couldn't reach him...
Eveon and Mina were far more important to her now.
"Damn," Marx murmured, having trouble keeping the seal intact. Mina and Eveon were
starting to float slowly back to the ground, almost all the godly traits gone from Eveon's
body. "This is a lot tougher than I thought it would be...!"
Alice carefully helped both girls down to the ground as Miki watched her father
intently. "What happens if that seal breaks?"
"We're screwed and Eveon and Mina would become dual gods..." Marx groaned out. "Dark,
Miki, Alice, get them out of here while I hold it. If the power bursts now, we'll likely
all be destroyed in its attempt to reenter their bodies..."
Dark was reluctant to stop holding the seal, but did so as Sakura came over. Marx was
trying to pretend it was easy to hold the strongest being in the world prisoner, but it
really wasn't... "Let me do it," Sakura offered.
"Hell no! You got a child to bring back to Abby," Marx responded. "I've got nothing
better-"
"Yes, you do," Miki suddenly said, unceremoniously tripping Marx. He grabbed onto his
hat as he stumbled, watching in horror as the seal started to unravel.
"I can hold it better than you can," his hybrid daughter said, raising up a hand and
keeping it under control. "I want you all to leave."
"No!" Alice shouted, going over to her sister. "I just got you back and we're
supposed to... Don't you want to go out on picnics again and watch movies and... and...!"
"I can stay," Dark offered. "It's my duty to-"
Miki gave them a sad smile. "I... I can only physically exist in this world. Since
the Creator's power is being sealed up, by the time I get out that door, I will be nothing
more than a soul again. Without a God to actually make my body physical outside of the
gate... it's over."
Alice was crestfallen. "....but... but the power's already made your body!"
"This place is different - haven't you noticed how wounds heal faster and how strange
everything feels?" Miki explained softly. "I would... I would love to live inside of you
again, but I think it's better if I stay here, Alice."
"...right... I... Won't you be trapped here?" Alice asked, watching as Sakura picked
up Eveon and Marx did the same with Mina. Dark was watching awkwardly, fiddling with her
fingers.
Miki gave her a small smile. "I'll be fine."
Alice was shaking in frustration. "Just you... just you wait! I'm going to find a way
to reopen the gate and get you out, alright?"
Miki was still giving her that sad, unbelieving smile. "I'm sure you will. I'll be
waiting, Alice. You're the best sister, you know that?"
"I could say the same to you..." Alice murmured as Dark started to pull on her wrist.
"Miki... won't be able to hold it for long," she said, motioning to the wavering
seal. "We have to leave or else it'll be in vain."
Alice allowed herself to be dragged away, keeping eye contact with Miki until she
passed the threshold of the gate. This was nothing like the first time Miki died - her soul
wasn't in Alice's body...
What Miki said about the world became devastatingly true for Alice as pain assaulted
her right outside of the gate. She would have crumpled to her knees if Dark hadn't caught
her. Everyone else was there... and she wasn't sure why. Everything was spinning as the
empty feeling in her abdomen grew, almost as though it were a black hole.
"Adrian removed her core," Marx explained as Krystal tenderly cradled Alice towards
her.
"Are Eveon and Mina okay?" Abby asked, rushing over to see her daughter.
Lilith was unconscious on Josh's back as everyone started to survey wounds or listen
to explanations.
"Ah... Ah! It hurts so bad!"
The childish voice seemed to break the confusion as they all turned to see Solomon
carrying Pandora in his arms. "I'm sorry," he said to her.
"The gate," she muttered out to him. "We have to get that power."
"Are you insane?" Marx asked. "The gate is going to shut indefinitely once Miki can
no longer hold the seal... you'll cease to exist when that happens."
Pandora just looked at him and over at the gate. "Then me and Solomon will find a
different way to escape once the door has shut."
The regal young man smiled to himself as he and the Death Dolls proceeded towards
certain doom. Pandora peered over at Sakura and Abby, still in discomfort due to her
injury. "I do promise that once we get out, Eveon and Mina are going to be our first new
fiends!"
Marx sighed. "I think we should all leave now..."
As they all exited the chamber, Faye mused, "I know we should be glad that our
powerful enemies are committing definite suicide, but..."
"It's bittersweet," Bakra finished for her. "Damn, I hate people like that."
"I guess," Hoshi started. "If you believe in something that much, you would do
anything to get it."
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