Interlude: The Fool's Point of View

At each second passing before my eyes, I can't help but wonder how many mistakes I would make again this time. I am not berating myself though. What I am just doing is the matter of acceptance.

Right before me was a towering pillar of swirling darkness that destroys everything that comes near on it. The center of that said pillar was none other than her, Tohka.

My words seemed to affect her much deeper than I thought. To be honest, such thing was already accounted in my mind but nevertheless, I still went on and did the things that led up to this.

"What...a fool I am"

Turning my gaze to the pillar once more, I groaned in response. Just by looking at it, I can feel the hostile intent emanating from it. And what's more, it was clearly focused only on me and me alone.

Settling things in a more 'peaceful' manner was a bleak option that one could apply in my situation. Judging from what I had observed, a fight between the two of us would be inevitable no matter what I do.

Do I want to fight her? Of course not, but the situation calls for it and I can't let myself be killed in the process—nor I could let her get killed well. There's no way I probably could let her get killed even in the direst states.

That's why I came up with a ridiculous solution. A solution as for where I will not let ourselves die in the process, yet, it would let us get hurt to some extent. It sounds ridiculously foolish in the first place but it was the most optimal solution that I came up with.

Taking that in mind, my eyes scanned throughout the perimeter.

Starting off, I tried to relocate where we are by using a [Gate] to transport us out in order to minimize the destruction that she—or we, would possibly cause. To my surprise however, it seems that the dark swirling torrent of energy rendered a formation of a [Gate] within a considerable distance around itself.

It was as if...

"...it was disrupting the fabrics of Space itself..." I uttered as my brows twitched in realization.

That was a 'big' problem in my opinion. If this space-disrupting property were to be retained as part of 'her' abilities as a Spirit, that almost makes her my natural enemy in its own right.

Though it's only based on mere speculations for now, it wasn't like it would be the cause of my end already. My abilities in fact was not limited on spatial manipulation itself.

Thinking for a moment, I then strengthened the potency of the barrier surrounding us to an incomparable degree compared to what it is before. The barrier would most likely contain the destruction caused to a certain degree...at least from the outside. The inside was a different case.

Some might say that putting up a barrier would be useless since the destruction that they may cause would just be easily put back by using [Realizers]. Yes, sure it would. The main purpose of this barrier though is to mainly 'conceal' what would wind up happening inside rather than keeping down the destruction to a minimum. The latter purpose was a given while the former is the priority.

Why conceal them? Of course, it was in order to at least minimize the data that outsiders—mainly Ratatoskr and DEM, that they would collect by observing the fight. Giving the former some show might still be passable to some extent but for the latter, it was a big no.

Given enough data, who knows what they might come up with? It's better to be cautious now and not when everything is too late.

That was the main reason, others that some would speculate out from it could be considered as minor details or maybe useless at all.

Waving my hand to a distance, I closed my fists as I place the final lock to this barrier. Simultaneously, I topped it off with several more barriers which was weaker than the first one but added it as 'layers' in terms of emergency.

"...It's all done...hm? Ah..."

Moments later, I can see two dark lilac orbs staring down upon me. The intent behind those were clear hostility as if it wants to rip and tear me into pieces apart.

A silhouette began to show itself as the pillar slowly dissipated. Her eyes seemingly cold and distant could be also described as dreary as it was as if she had just woke up from her deep slumber. Her Astral Dress was almost the same from earlier, but right now, it had a more darker complexion and even some modifications that wasn't present from the memories I had beforehand.

Registering that it wasn't the same Tohka who I had spent all this time, my resolve became clearer than ever.

"Come, <Raguel>..."

Particles of light soon began to engulf my body. Soon, the particles burst into purple flames gradually forming my Astral Dress around my body.

However, there is something I wanted to try. Unlike before where I had used my 'Complete' Astral Dress which however brought complications in the process, this time due to me being unable to control it's whole output for some reason, something came up which led me to have an...'optimized' and make different forms based on it.

"...[Alternative]..."

As soon as I uttered those words, the transformation suddenly slowed down as if waiting for more. Instinctively, I spoke.

"...The Seventh Degree; <Princes>"

The flames then slowly morphed as it modified the Astral Dress from what I donned from before.

Right now, I was donning a black body armor made from the components of my Original Astral Dress, which consisted of a black tight and sleeveless shirt with purple and gold accents which outlined my muscles and a dark purple plate on my collar, and black pants. Parts like a forearm and shin guards that rather weighed much for extra protection.

The notable part of my Astral Dress, which is my Three Pairs of Metallic wings as well as the floating blasters were nowhere to be seen.

That was expected as this was the result of...the optimization that I made.

Almost all Spirits tend to know their <Angel>'s abilities as soon as they acquire it. For me however, it's on the formers case. Despite that, it wasn't like I need to learn everything from scratch just what I thought from before.

In fact, it's a matter of time frame about whether an Spirit would learn about their <Angel> in its entirety or not. My general misconception of the matter would really bite me back in the future, so learning and discovering things like these this time is without doubt really beneficial for me.

The thing about my Space Manipulation as stated was not entirely involved within the scope of my Angel's abilities. In fact, this Angel—<Raguel> is focused on the element 'Fire' belonging to the Fifth Sephira just like those of Kotori's. Besides that, <Raguel> could be also classified as those of the First and Tenth Sephira as well, these two however could be described as branches.

The 'Seventh Degree; <Princes>' was one of the seven 'Alternatives' that I could modify on my Astral Dress. In terms of ranking, this form could be the considered to be on the bottom of the hierarchy—but that's only in overall terms. In specialization however, this form could be considered as one of the top yet one of the most easiest or simplest to utilize, which is more or less was suited for me.

Moreover, taking this form has a peculiar drawback. The said drawback affects or alters my personality slowly as time progresses.

Besides, it's not like I was underestimating Tohka by using the lowest one. It's because this form itself would be the most efficient and appropriate one that I could use against her.

It is inevitable to make mistakes in life. All who has it would subconsciously do one after another whether they want it or not.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do anything to deal with the said subject. After all, all we could do is struggle to prevent it. Yes, to struggle is to live.

"Therefore...ha... what a hypocrite I am," I sighed.

Despite my thoughts before this, I can't help but let out a mocking laugh. My actions states the actualization of 'not' doing what I was thinking. In short, I 'wasn't' doing anything about this matter before me until it reached the level where I deemed it as something warrant of immediate attention.

At the thought that a hypocrite would still stay as a hypocrite until the very end was a matter of fact that I can't possibly deny.

'Might as well act like one up to—'

Suddenly my body stiffened. My mind and body ceased functioning in that split second.

'[<F4@gm3ñ5 9f Çhā9ß: -#:2:@@((22@8$!3]'

Encrypted words which sounded none other than a mess echoed throughout my mind. The contents of the words it conveyed was indecipherable and it brought my thought process into a halt.

In the next second, my body turned limp, which I thankfully recovered quickly. Before I knew it, I was clutching my fist on top of my chest as an Aura of Reiryoku blasted out from my body out of vigilance, the voice rattled my composure more than what I expected.

An unknown variable...

'What...was that just now?' The point about the new problem that showed up did only burden my thoughts to a considerable degree. My expression turned of those who was filled with concern and agitation.

As I tried to immerse myself to ponder over the matter even further...

"Ah...so it was you"

...Her voice, sounding none other than cold and sharp broke me out from my stupor.

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: Fragment No. 969, [Mimic]-{Foundation}]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: Partial Breakthrough has been successful]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: [Immersion] has been implemented on <Anchor 1>]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: [Immersion] has failed; <Anchor 1> denies access]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: [Immersion] retrying——Error; Connection to <Anchor 1> has been temporarily severed]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: Error; Readjusting Sequence——Failed]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: Calculating possible actions----]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: [Result]—10% success rate; Probability Extremely Below Standards]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: Termination of Command—[Immersion] processing....]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: Termination of Command—[Immersion] successful]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: [Search]—Suitable Alternatives; Seeking in progress....]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: [Search] Failed; No Suitable Alternatives detected]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: <Quasi-Chaos Element>—{Qlipha Crystal} has been detected! [Resonance] will commence]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: [Resonance] successful! Speeding up attributes for unlocking [Authority] and [Divinity] extraction]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: Authority—1st Seal Unlocking in progress; 14.2% complete]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: [Divinity] extraction in progress; 28.3% complete]

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[<Fragment of Chaos>: Interference shall be postponed until the Host's next breakthrough]

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[A/N: An Interlude as you can see! I can't 'not' have them present in each arc after all. But surely, some would say that the chap felt shorter than usual, of course it would. It was titled as an 'Interlude' in the first place.

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But don't worry guyz, I'm going to have a double release! Well, this week that is. Also, gimme stones! Powa Stones~

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Expect another chapter tomorrow or 2 days after at best!

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- W_ryyyyyyy]