(Ch 53)Faithless Mask, Maskless Faith

"Reserve your pity, not for the fallen, but for those who are left behind"

Minutes earlier, in the grand hall.

Faith was pinned against the wall, his breathing increasing rapidly as he tried desperately to reach Luna, to find some way to help her.

Yet something was wrong, an infectious energy pervaded throughout his body causing him to spasm. The pain from that silver blade grew by the second, Faith struggling to move under the weight of Law. The orc adorned in armour shook his head staring down at the dying Rexel.

"You weren't a target, nor someone that needed to die" The orc, Crollen lamented looking down at the dying Rexel.

"l-lun..a" Faith muttered softly.

His mind was ablaze as the power of Law ravaged every part of his body, a reaction neither the Orc nor himself expected. He could feel the cold grasp of death coming closer by the second, the footsteps of the orc a symphony to his Inevitable end.

Faith tried to reach for Luna but his hands only grasp air, her bleeding body imprinting itself in his mind as the Orc's blade struck him again.

'It's going to happen again'

A cut was strewed along Faith's chest as he gasped for air. His attempt to dodge despite the pain had shallowed the blow so his guts weren't hanging out. But he was so dizzy he couldn't defend from the Crollen's kick to his side, slamming Faith back into the wall.

'You deserve this'

With every second Faith could literally feel Luna's life falling away, his connection to her making Faith more and more desperate.

"P-please stop" Faith begged.

'You did this'

"Your cursed self killed Fadil, I have no mercy for a murder" Crollen replied, plunging the silver blade into Faith's heart.

His world froze, Luna seconds away from death as Faith felt his life prematurely coming to an end. He didn't feel sad, or happy… he just felt empty.

'This is what you get for pretending to be something you're not'

In the void of death, all he could hear was a soft pounding his eyes given him a clear picture of the voids that surrounded him. The void that was his soul.

"So this is what became of me then" A voice resounded behind him.

Faith fell back in surprise, staring at a reflection of himself from another life. The boy wore his normal apathetic expression, though it was mixed with heavy amounts of disappointment.

"What are you doing?" Noah asked, staring at a mirror image of himself.

The darkness that surrounded him in the depths of their soul was slowly streaming towards them, its raging essence preparing to swallow Faith whole.

"I-I don't know what you mean" Faith replied, standing up only to fall down again.

He had a terrible headache as that soft beating sound kept his sense of self alive. The darkness around him was getting closer and closer by the second, eagerly waiting for its meal.

"I mean you keep pretending to be something you're not. Not to mention you haven't kept your promise." Noah replied, fed up with the version of himself that stood in front of him.

"I seriously have no idea what you're talking about," Faith said, avoiding the ever-increasing darkness festering in his soul.

Noah looked a little suprised, his eyes looking through Faith trying to figure out whether or not the little demon he'd become was lying.

"Oh… we forgot" Noah mumbled, realising a painful truth.

His gaze shifted to the two strange doors in the distance, present in this void of that space that was their soul. Those silver chains glowed in the same hue as the Orc's sword, restricting the bent and frightening door.

"So that's why you're like this, you don't remember her," Noah said, understanding how he'd turned into this.

"What are you even talking about, what's the point of insulting me and my choices when we're already dead," Faith asked.

The darkness was now barely metres away from him and Noah, its cold grasp beckoning Faith towards it. Noah just stared at him, the version of himself that taken in a sweet lie, unaware of the cold.

"I'm sorry," Noah said, his cold voice sounding a little sad. "But you're going to have to remember now, no matter how much you want to hide from it"

The grip of darkness as it coiled around Faith brought him no pain, just a deep-seated fear of what was about to happen. Faith felt as if the person he was, the kind little demon prince, was about to disappear.

"W-Whats going on," Faith asked, trying his best to get rid of the darkness that was swallowing him.

"I'm showing you the truth, no matter how painful it may be," Noah said signalling an influx of memories that reincarnation had hidden from Faith.

It wasn't to hurt him but to help him. The process had been done in an effort to repair what was broken but it had given him a lie. All that was left of his original character was things ingrained so deep within him that reincarnation couldn't take them away.

Like his light, that gave form to the baseless darkness he'd once been.

The darkness devoured him Faith, every part of his being consumed by its unforgiving void.

Noah was thrust back to memories and moments he had suppressed within the deepest of his being.

*************

On the outside of his soul space, Luna was doing her best to cling to life. To her surprise and delight, the sword had seemingly missed Faith's heart.

Despite Luna sure she should've been dead minutes ago her body still clung to life, blood loss slowed down to a crawl of what it had once been.

'Child of Lurus, can you hear me' A deep voice asked.

'Who are you?' Luna asked light-headed.

'Think of me like a friend of a friend' Sloth replied.

'What do you want, if you can help me then help my bond instead' Luna replied, hurriedly.

'looks like he's doing fine to me' Sloth replied.

Luna bent her head up finding sight she'd seen once before. With her Moonsight she could see that all-encompassing void inside the Faith but now that void was spreading out. It had already devoured all expression on his face, leaving it a blank slate of darkness while it spread further along his body.

Faith's shadow was also quivering slightly as he moved unnaturally, reacting to the group of enemies surrounding him on nothing but instinct like his body was on autopilot.

'Faith?, FAITH?!? What's happening to him?!' Luna screamed to the deep voice that was preventing her death. She didn't care about herself anymore Luna just wanted the boy who had given her a reason to live to be alright.

'Not sure, I healed you but under no circumstances are you to interfere or make him aware of your safety' Sloth answered.

His words held no room for argument, Luna forced to watch on as Faith's body moved on its own without thought, a last-ditch effort it had put up to stay alive like a natural defence system.

'Old and New, I wonder which one will come out on top' Sloth wondered.

Faith's body moved without thought, a style of combat engraved into his very soul as he copied his opponent's styles, making nigh impossible for them to hit him.

************

Noah was thrust into a room he recognised as the classroom of his high school. He was a freshman, not interested in meeting or caring about anyone or anything around him.

'Well this is strange' Noah thought.

He remembered this place just fine though most of his time here blurred into one. In this world where he relived what had once been his boring and shallow life, Faith Exodus felt like a sweet dream. Something he could recall faintly but was positivity sure remained just an illusion. A sweet lie of a better life.

'One where I wasn't such a broken mess' Noah lamented.

'I must have fallen asleep during class… on the first day too, shit'

Worried he might be held back on the first day, forced to stay longer in a place he had absolutely no interest in being, Noah surveyed his surrounding hoping his teacher hadn't spotted the blunder.

His teacher, a middle-aged woman with ample amber hair thankfully was too invested in his classmate's introductions to notice.

"Alexander Grant, Kai Haner, Noah Hugh" She called out names one by one reaching his to which Noah promptly raised his hand.

Since it was the first day and many's first time inside the school strangers had become to talk among the class, dividing those of friend worthy quality and those of not. Noah unsurprising, did not join in.

He just looking down at his blank phone, scrolling through pieces of news he didn't really care about for something to do. From time to time he'd make sure his left sock was raised completely above his ankle.

The class continued, some excited to have another chance at making friends, some excited to learn, some ready to be thrust into what they imagined was their deserved popularity… and Noah, who was there so he could avoid certain people.

'Did I bring food? No, probably not… fuck, guess I'll check the cafeteria' Noah concluded, standing up the second the lunch bell rang.

The teacher was a bit incensed that Noah didn't seem to have any intention of staying a second longer than needed but more than anything she just felt bad for the boy.

'Poor thing didn't even talk to anyone' She thought, reminding her of a time in her own youth where she had felt alone like he surely did.

Noah got out of his seat and found his bag, pulling up his left sock once more as he exited the class.