Reunion

'How?' Alexander thought, what remained of his body floating aimlessly in the confines of space.

'How did he beat me? Was I not strong enough?' His remaining eyeball rolled around in its socket, resting upon his adversary, expecting to find smugness, pride, and satisfaction.

But none of those were evident on his face, merely pity, pity for the man Alexander once was, and pity for a dead world, what could have been magnificent reduced to rubble.

Alexander raised his only functioning arm, missing three of his fingers, he raised it in hope of reaching his adversary, reaching the level he had, then perhaps he could bring her back.

A futile attempt from a man without hope, a broken man who had regained some semblance of sanity.

Perhaps his was a lost cause, perhaps he was never meant to have happiness, to be with the one he loved.

His eyelids began growing heavy, a warning that the end was coming, and sleep tried to claim him, but in his last moments, Alexander fought. He fought with all he had, he could not give up, not when he had reached this far.

He grunted, forcing himself to move, and as an ice mirror formed in front of him, he saw the extent of his damage.

His heart beat freely and for all to see, below it lay his first core, a swirling mass of blue and black, eviscerating any foreign mana that came near it. His second core lay right below it, and an eldritch amalgamation of decay mana, aether, and stasis. Below that, nothing.

That was all that remained of him, one functioning hand, a half-melted face, his upper torso with his heart hanging out, and his two cores.

Maybe, if he absorbed the power of his adversary, maybe then he could do the undoable.

Stasis mana slowly coalesced behind Fayden, and Alexander tried violently to get closer to him, stretching his arm out in hopes it would reach him. But he never did, neither did he have to.

For in his carelessness, Fayden failed to notice the mana amalgamating behind him until it was too late, and the blade pierced through his chest, through his core.

The shield of nacht around the chaos that was his core sealed up almost instantly, but the damage had been done.

Fayden buckled forward, pressing his palm over his sternum, agonizing pain racked his entire being and his body spasmed.

Alexander grinned, he had succeeded, all he needed to do now was to devour his power. He pushed himself forward, using what remained of his mana to get closer. His goal was so close.

Fayden could not control his body, all he could do was hold back the screams, even as he saw Alexander approach.

'I have to get out of here!'

Space warped around him, and time seemed to slow down as Alexander approached, so close, so very close. Inches from contact.

And then, a hole ripped open in the universe and sucked Fayden in, leaving Alexander alone in his universe.

'So this is it then?' Alexander thought, his hand touching nothing. 'I'm sorry Claire, I failed you."

"You haven't failed yet Alexander." A voice reverberated across all of space-time, male, female, young old, one could find every property in it.

And a being materialized over him, his face completely wreathed in shadows. Alexander could barely make out a nose and a mouth, but nothing else, almost as if his mind was making up features for a being he couldn't comprehend.

Alexander felt nothing as his soul was ripped out of his body, not even a tug, it was like he had always been in that state.

"I have a proposition for you, Alexander."

.

.

.

Fayden Leywin was many things, a son, a brother, a defender. But now, Fayden Leywin was a meteor.

He could barely form a shell of protective mana around him before colliding with the ground and losing consciousness.

When he came to, he was still where he had fallen, in the middle of a forest, alone. Groaning, he got up from the floor, placing an arm over his throbbing core.

[That did a number on us, try not to use our more powerful spells until you heal.]

"And how long is that?" He said out aloud.

He didn't know how, but he could feel Phanes shrug, [Could be a few days, could be months. Who knows?]

"Great," He grumbled, "Stranded in who knows where, unable to use my full power, could this be any worse?"

[Yes, actually.] Phanes said, materializing in his astral form, [I moved around a bit, and, well we're in Alacrya.]

Fayden sighed, "Fucking great. What else?"

[There's no one nearby, so we're safe for now. Try to meditate before moving out.]

Nodding in agreement, Fayden sat down on the ground and took a look at his core. He winced when he saw the ugly scar Alexanders' parting gift had left, even now mana was leaking out of it. He had no doubts that if he didn't have the protective shell around his core, it would have shattered.

But there was a silver lining, even now the mana was trying to heal his core, it wouldn't be long before he healed. And once he did, he would go straight to Agrona's palace and make sure the bastard never got up.

"How much power can I exert right now?" He asked.

[I'd say enough to beat any Scythe, maybe a lesser asura if you exert yourself. I wouldn't recommend it though.]

"That's good enough for me." He said, getting up, "Any idea where the nearest city is?"

[I'd say the arena would be a better destination.]

"Huh?" Fayden stared at him, clueless until Phanes pointed behind him. And there it was, the biggest arena he had ever seen in his lives.

[Don't tell me you don't sense him.]

"I do." He said, his heartbeat increasing, "This Arthur, this world…it all feels so familiar."

A rare smile graced Phanes' face, [We're back.]

.

.

.

Fayden watched as Arthur wreathed his sword in dark violet flames, flaring with pure destructive power.

His brother had grown strong, scarily so, to be able to command flames of pure destruction with such ease. He needed no help from him, the Scythe might as well already be dead.

Moments later, Cadell was gone, all that remained of his existence were two jagged horns on the ground.

Fayden narrowed his eyes when a familiar Vritra started clapping, the one who had killed him in his world.

"Amazing!" Kiros said, his voice projecting effortlessly through the coliseum and silencing the weak applause. "A beautiful display of power. Such unexpected death! And delivered with—"

A pearlescent oval opened over the arena floor, twenty feet in front of the high box. Kiros frowned. Two figures stepped through.

The first person was someone Fayden had never seen but had conversed with. But the pale skin and jagged horns like antlers were enough to let him know who it was. The second, however, took him by surprise. Tessia Eralith, the princess of Elenoir stood beside him. She wore form-fitting battle robes with leaf-shaped emerald scales.

Although she looked the same—gunmetal gray hair draped down her back and over her shoulders, braids tucked behind her pointed ears, shining teal eyes—she was immediately and unequivocally not Tessia.

The graceful movements of a princess were replaced with aggressive confidence, much similar to someone from his past life.

[Don't, you can't fight Agrona.]

Fayden remained silent, prodding into Tessias mind and finding not one but two souls within. Two very familiar souls.

A growl left his throat, what had Agrona done?

But that was not it, no Cecilia's memories had missing parts, completely blank as if they were locked.

[Don't do it!]

Fayden was beyond reason, and he moved from his place high up in the clouds and took a single step.

Within a moment, he was behind Tessia, having restrained her in chains of pitch blackness, and grabbed her head.

Shadows pooled under Arthur's and Nico's legs as he was pulled away. Agrona didn't even have the time to respond before the three of them left his realm.

In Losvillion

"Release me," Cecilia demanded, as Fayden bound Nico in a similar fashion.

"Quiet," Fayden whispered, fashioning a muffle over her mouth as he entered her mind.

Agronas blocks were intricate, too intricate in fact. If anyone other than him tried to mess with them, they would simply destroy Cecilias' consciousness.

For any other Marchosias, it would be most difficult to safely remove the blocks. But Fayden was not any other Marchosias. Agrona was careful, but he hadn't considered anyone would have mastered Destruction to the degree Fayden had.

His core throbbed violently as the godrune alighted over his body, and within a moment, the blocks were gone.

Fayden fell to the ground, letting Cecilia go as she began spasming.

"What- What did you do?!" Nico yelled, looking at Cecilia in horror.

With a flick of his fingers, a muzzle formed over his mouth, silencing him. With tired eyes, he looked up at his brother, "So, uh, how've you been?"

"Pfft!" Arthur's mask cracked, and he fell into uncontrolled laughter.

A canine form shot out of his core, a purple wolf with black and violet flames acting as a mane.

"Sup, you're Fayden right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, and you are?"

"The one and only majestic one, the legendary weapon created by the asuras, the only-"

"His name is Regis." Arthur cut him off.

"Hey!"

Fayden cracked a grin, "Thank you for keeping him sane Regis."

"I wouldn't call him sane." He grumbled.

Fayden chuckled, "Were we ever truly sane?"

"No," Arthur smiled, "No I guess not."

"So, uh, what did you do to the possessed princess here?" Regis asked, flicking his snout towards the still-spasming Cecilia.

"Just removed the blocks in her memory," He said, "Everything relating to Arthur or me was removed."

"So that's why she was so cold." Arthur said, enlightenment dawning on him.

Nico's muffled voice reached him, his eyes holding unbridled rage.

"Aw, scared your crush won't agree with you after knowing the full picture?" Fayden mocked, standing up, "You're pathetic."

"Why did you bring him along?" Arthur asked, his mask slipping back on. "He would've probably died if you left him there."

Fayden shrugged, "I'll leave his fate to Cecilia, she deserves to decide it more than either of us."

Arthur sighed, "That's fair I suppose."

It took Cecilia no more than half an hour to recover. "Wha- I- That was-"

"Too much information in too little time?" Fayden suggested, releasing her.

"Yes." She said, before growing alert, and standing up, arms held in defense. She blinked upon seeing him, "Markus, and Grey?"

"You can recognize me with only a glance?" Fayden said eyebrow raised, "Impressive."

Cecilia narrowed her eyes, "What happened, the last thing I remember was you binding me in chains."

"I removed the blocks in your memory that Agrona placed and used to manipulate you. You should remember what truly happened now."

Her eyes widened, and her last memory in her last life resurfaced. "Grey, I-"

Arthur shook his head, "You don't need to apologize to me, I know now why you did it. And it was my fault for not listening to Nico back then."

Fayden scoffed, "Even if you did, there was nothing you could do to avoid it. One of you had to die."

She nodded, not entirely convinced, and looked down. "Uh, why is there a dog here?"

"Hey! I'm a wolf, not a mutt!"

"Same difference." Arthur retorted.

"Hey, if you don't remember, I'm part wolf too." Fayden said, feigning hurt.

Regis took his chance and hopped on Faydens shoulder, "No one listens to us wolf people, racism is real."

"Agreed Regis, agreed." Fayden nodded sadly.

Arthur sighed, "Alright, alright, sorry. But we need to address the other matter."

"Right," Fayden said, shrugging Regis off, who grumbled under his breath as he reached the ground.

"Cecilia, you know both sides of the story, by Tessia's memories, you know what Arthur and I went through in this world, and by your own memories, you know Nico's side of the story." Fayden began.

"His fate lies in your hands, whether we kill him, imprison him, or banish him, it's all upto you." Arthur continued.

"So, what is your decree, o wise one?" Regis finished, pointing towards the only other reincarnated soul in the world.