Episode 22: No End to Our Meaning

The next group of heroes to be tested will be Adrian Bruce and her comrades. The next step forward towards the future will be with the only heroes who never stepped back into the past, for while Myra and Nero had origin stories, the origin of Adrian and her brother is still veiled in mystery. One very clear door was left open at the end of their tale…

...what is the red pill? Is it the gateway to another reality, or just another fantasy?

...It all matters what's on the inside…

Adrian, Felix, and the Dark Sky members found themselves standing in front of what appeared to be an amusement park. Unlike the world Myra ended up in, this world was not abandoned, as ponies could be seen inside the carnival enjoying its attractions. Growing accustomed to knowing of the existence of talking ponies, what astonished Adrian and Felix about this sight was not the carnival goers. It was the fact that every attraction from the Ferris Wheel to the bumper cars, to the roller coasters, and even the food stands...were all made of jelly.

"Jelly Rockets…" Adrian said in a puzzled tone of voice as she looked up at the sign. "Makes me wonder if they offer more than just regular rides here…"

"At least you'd get your money's worth…" Felix chimed in, bristling his neck, feeling awkward for saying that.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Ghost Rainbow Dash burst out laughing as she floated closer to the two and winked at them. "Trust me, you do get your money's worth here. Especially if you're lucky enough to find free quality entertainment…"

"Dash!" Dumb-bell proclaimed in protest. "You better not be thinking of trying anything funny like last time!"

"Relax," replied G.R.D. in a laidback tone, "I've learned my lesson. No touchies in the bathroom. Save it for where you can get away with it in the haunted hotel…"

"We were at a hotel when you touched me in my sleep!" Dumb-bell exclaimed, as G.R.D. laughed and flew into the park. "I knew you hadn't learned anything!"

The other Dark Sky members laughed as Dumb-bell chased G.R.D., while Adrian and Felix gave them a look of confusion.

"So...are you guys...friends?" Adrian asked. "Are any of you...more than friends?"

"..." Score silently answered their question by telling them about the magic of friendship, as well as the magic of having more than just friendship.

"Truly the answer to all of life's problems." Hoops commented, genuinely marveled.

"But what's Twilight Sparkle's horn for?" Derpy Hooves asked with curiosity.

Adrian and Felix just shrugged their shoulders, knowing that they weren't going to fully understand these characters overnight, especially considering how different their background was from theirs.

"But to be fair, we did just get out of high school…" Felix remarked in thought.

"So I guess we're going inside this place to investigate…" Adrian said in thought as the other Dark Sky members went in ahead of them. "Guess I don't know what to expect, other than this carnival not making us feel at home dicking around inside of it…"

Adrian was right to expect what she did, for the obvious reason as well as another unintended reason she didn't know of. No one knew at the time, but as part of the trick of Starcatch, this Jelly Rockets was not the same place where there were greater concerns than dicks being touched…

"FORESHADOWING!" Crazy Celes exclaimed loudly, revealing that she was at the park, riding on the Ferris Wheel.

"Huh?" Felix responded, hearing and recognizing Celes' voice, and looked to see her in the distance. "Hey, is that…"

"Oh no!" Celes reacted to noticing that Felix noticed her. "The foreshadowing was too obvious!"

Adrian and Felix made their way into the park and approached the Ferris Wheel.

"What are you doing here?" Adrian interrogated Celes.

"I'm on vacation!" Celes exclaimed as the wheel began to turn. "After I got fired from working at that school, I thought it was best for me give my gears a rest after such a hard ride!"

"Oh, don't even bother trying to cover your ass…" Adrian replied in bemusement. "We know about you being a demon god, so fess up about what you're actually planning before we beat it out of you."

"Why would I have to cover my ass when this seat does it well enough?!" Celes yelled as the Ferris Wheel reached the top and stopped. "And if you want to ride my ass that badly, you're going to have to wait till the ride's finished!"

"Wrong." Adrian said bluntly, wearing a smirk. "If I want to ride your ass that badly…"

Adrian then allowed light and dark aura to emit from her body, giving her the strength to leap up towards the top of the Ferris Wheel and land on the seat Celes was riding in.

"...I'm going to have to jump on top and take initiative." she finished.

The other passengers on the Ferris Wheel were shocked and gasped, as other carnival goers from below were looking up, having seen Adrian's dramatic leap.

"Who is that woman?" one of them asked as the Dark Sky members overheard. "Where did an ordinary human being get that kind of power?"

"Ordinary human being?" Dumb-bell responded, confused. "Have you forgotten Myra Michaels and Edward Miles? They were just ordinary human beings too before they got their powers."

"Well technically, Myra is half-demon, but to be fair, she only became infused with a demon after she was born an ordinary human…" Hoops interjected, being meticulous about details to the others' disgruntlement.

"Who the hell are those people?" another carnival goer asked, surprising the Dark Sky members.

"Uh...did you guys get hit with a Men in Black memory eraser while we were away?" G.R.D. half-jokingly asked. "How can you not at least remember Myra? She helped build this amusement park with Rarity and Discord by bringing them the jelly they needed!"

"Though the name still doesn't ring a bell…" another park attendee answered. "I do recall seeing another mysterious and powerful woman here earlier, who cast a creepy shadow behind her that looked like it was alive. Somehow, she was able to transport a large blob of jelly here all by herself and drop it off near where the restrooms are. After that, she went towards the haunted hotel."

This bit of information caused something to click in the Dark Sky members' heads.

"..." Score silently relayed to the others his theory of what was really going on.

"I agree…" Derpy concurred. "Something's fishy here and it ain't making me jelly!"

"I can't say I'm stunned or shocked though…" Hoops chimed in. "Not only were we warned about this being a tower of tricks, we've had firsthand experience inside of Starcatch. You know how crazy shit can get in here, like what happened with Twilight and her kids."

"Twilight and her kids…" Dumb-bell mused to himself, thinking about Adrian and Felix and coming to a realization. "If those two were able to defeat one of Twilight's kids, that's not just another reason to believe there's more to them than meets the eye...it's proof that both Fluttershy and Twilight had some kind of a plan for them…"

Meanwhile, on top of the Ferris Wheel, Adrian had proceeded to interrogate Celes.

"End of the line, whackjob." Adrian told her bluntly as she brought her hands together and cracked her knuckles. "Tell us what you're hiding before I get physical with you."

"Ooh la la!" Celes exclaimed, deliberately misconstruing what she said. "I'd love a good whacking at the end of my line!"

"Well, too bad." Adrian taunted as she put on her knuckle dusters. "Because it's going to be more of a pummeling against your face, not your fanny. This is your last warning to fess up before you get hurt..."

"Oh please, have mercy!" Celes cried, flinching and covering her face with her arms. "I swear, I can't remember where I buried the body!"

"Guess we're doing this the hard way then…" Adrian said with a sigh as she prepared to throw a right hook at Celes' face, only for Celes to stop the blow by catching it with her left hand despite not even looking at it, to Adrian's astonishment.

"But now that you mention it," interjected a suddenly composed Celes as she looked the other way, "I do recall disposing of a very nasty woman's remains not too long ago."

"You're still making fun of me?!" Adrian yelled angrily, thinking Celes was referring to her. "At least look at me if you're going to fight back!"

Frustrated at Celes pretending to ignore her, Adrian lifted Celes up with the hand she had caught and attempted to smash her against the safety bar, forgetting common sense in a fit of rage…

*WAPING*

Not only did the safety bar break off and fall, but the seat was sent spinning from the force of the impact, causing both Celes and Adrian to fall. Adrian quickly gripped a bar extending from the inner wheel of the Ferris Wheel as Celes grabbed onto her leg. Watching everything that was going on, Felix was alarmed.

"ADRIAN!" he yelled in a panicked tone of voice. "I'M GOING TO GET HELP! DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE ON YOUR OWN BEFORE I GET BACK!"

"Rrrggghhh…" Adrian grumbled as she watched her brother take off in search of the Dark Sky members. "I can't believe I'm going to have to get help to take care of you…"

"Come on," replied Celes nonchalantly, in spite of the position she was in, "it could be worse. Your brother could've just left you here hanging! Hee hee hee hee hee!"

"Just shut the fuck up!" Adrian shouted. "What is your problem?! What do you have to gain by meddling with us?!"

"Look who's calling the kettle black even though most kettles are actually gray!" Celes exclaimed, attempting to point out Adrian's hypocrisy. "You attacked me despite me doing nothing to harm you! And you're supposed to be a hero?!"

"When did I ever say I was a hero?!" Adrian retorted. "If you want to play that game with me, fine, I'm an asshole and you're a bigger asshole! Black and gray morality! What does it matter though?! What right do you have to throw that in my face when you're one of the biggest living proofs that you don't get anywhere in this world by being nice?!"

"Are you even being serious?!" Celes yelled. "It's a fact that you're a hero! You fight evil for good! That makes you a tool to be used by Marvel and DC! But more importantly, it makes you someone who has to act as a good role model! Didn't your parents ever teach you that?!"

Adrian didn't respond with an angry or incisive remark, but instead, looked at Celes despondently for a while before she finally told her in a sad tone of voice…

"Now that I look back on it, I don't really know what my parents taught me...or my brother…"

Celes also didn't respond by yelling, giving Adrian an emotionless stare for a while before she did something that Adrian would never have expected her to do...she pulled two purple pills out of her jacket pocket and handed them to Adrian.

"You and your brother both need to take one of these then." Celes solemnly told her.

"How do I know they're not poison?" Adrian asked suspiciously. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because I'm a bad parent myself…" Celes revealed. "And I know how much it hurts a child to grow up not knowing who they are and what to believe…"

Despite still feeling unsure, Adrian accepted the pills and took them in her hand. And with that, Celes let go of Adrian's leg. She began falling towards the ground looking like she was about to hit it, until suddenly, a mysterious force started dragging her up, and she began rising towards the sky. The ponies on the Ferris Wheel were more speechless than ever as they watched. Even Adrian wondered what was going on.

"Is it Yata?" she pondered. "Is he in this world too?"

"No…" Celes abruptly said. "I know what you're thinking, this is not the work of Yata. This is the work of my son, who exists in both the Immortal World and in the world of transcending…"

Sky…

This was the last word Celes spoke before she vanished into the sky, leaving Adrian to look at the pills she was given and figure out for herself what this all meant. Soon after, Felix, riding on Hoops' back, was coming towards her along with the other Dark Sky members, ready to help her down safely. Looking at them, Adrian thought to herself…

"I've never believed in destiny...but something tells me there's a divine purpose for Felix and I meeting these guys and coming to this world. I can't try ignoring this anymore like I did back when Akame was mentoring us. I need to start trying to actually understand things outside my world...and I'll start by working with these dudes who have seen more of the universe about what's beyond the sky…"

Score and Derpy grabbed Adrian and gently brought her down to the ground as the other Dark Sky members also descended.

"Are you feeling okay?" Dumb-bell asked in concern.

"For sure…" Adrian replied as she looked at the pills in her hand again. "You don't have to be concerned for me."

"Oh, but we do." Felix chimed in, frustrated about how Adrian had tried to handle things with Celes so recklessly. "I'm concerned for how rash you've become. If you had just controlled your temper, you wouldn't have been in that mess. Imagine if you had tried to fight Noimman with that same lack of consideration. We would be dead!"

"Yeah, you have every right to be pissed at me." Adrian said sincerely, surprising Felix and the others. "Just admitting I was in the wrong though isn't going to change anything...but I did get something from that maniac that might help us all change something for the better…"

Adrian was about to hold out the pills to them before Dumb-bell stopped her hand.

"Before you do anything else though," he intervened, "I think we should continue this conversation somewhere private…"

Adrian realized what he meant as she looked around and saw all the spectators giving them weird looks.

"Agreed…" she concurred. "Where should we go?"

"I hate to say it…" Dumb-bell answered. "But I think the haunted hotel is our best bet...Dash?"

"You got it!" G.R.D. exclaimed happily. "Take us to the chamber of love from the rested, Maud!"

After G.R.D. yelled that in her mind to be heard telepathically, they disappeared into mist and reappeared elsewhere inside of the haunted hotel. They were now with Myra Michaels, still in the form of Maud Pie, and Nero in a hotel room. Maud had teleported them there using a Body Mind Soul summoning.

"Hold on, this is an actual hotel?" Adrian asked. "As in, a place where people check in and lie down to sleep for the night?"

"That's how it's been since I've been around, heh." G.R.D. answered.

"I thought it would be like a haunted house, just a short ride." Felix interjected.

"Well, occasionally, the ride gets cut kind of short…" G.R.D. explained, blushing.

"Ahem." Myra intervened. "Don't ignore the elephants in the room."

"Who are you guys?" Adrian asked Myra and Nero.

"We're the other "heroes" those shitbags, Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord, brought into the Spiriting project to foster into worthless pawns." Nero answered with the most cynical explanation possible, frustrated with recent events. "Because of them, I lost my sister...and now, they're trying to turn us into their boss, The Reborn One's replacement pets!"

"We need you kids to join us." Myra told them. "It's not just that we can't beat Rarity and Discord and The Reborn One without your help. Without us uniting together, there's no way we can conquer the challenge of this tower. This place is one big puzzle, and even if we know the answer to the puzzle, it makes no difference if we can't apply the answer."

"That's something I totally understand." Adrian replied, still thinking about the realization she had when she was with Celes. "But before Felix and I can join you, there's something we have to do, or else we'll just slow you down…"

It was then that Adrian showed the others the purple pills she had acquired.

"Hmm?" Nero went as he recognized what the pills contained.

"Celes gave these to me, telling Felix and I to take them before she took off." Adrian explained. "I hate to have to trust her, but these pills are our only lead so far to finding out more about this world...and ourselves…"

"Especially after what just happened," said Felix in an assertive tone, skeptical and still unhappy about Adrian's brash behavior from earlier, "there is no way I am taking one of those pills without some kind of proof that they're safe."

"I can prove that they're safe." Nero chimed in. "Noimman created pills like that back in her laboratory and she had Yata and I take a few. They're not toxic, not in the traditional sense at least. Their purpose is to speed up the process of learning how to mix Yin and Yang by making one more aware of their inner evil, what the darkness in their soul comes from…"

"Really?" Adrian and Felix replied as they looked at him and saw that his eyes were now emitting a purple haze. When they looked closer at the pills, they saw that same haze glowing...

"Are these the eyes of a liar?" Nero brashly joked about how the two would still be forced to take a leap of faith. Even Felix, however, became convinced that taking these pills was the only way for him and his sister to find out about what it was in the past that was preventing them from moving forward in the future.

"Like it would've been the kind of poison I could detect anyways…" Felix thought to himself, remembering what happened with Akame giving him and Adrian drinks filled with supernatural energy he couldn't identify. "No matter what, it's going to be a thing of trust. I don't mind that though, because I trust in Adrian. Everyone who's helped and is still helping us get by has no motive to hurt us with a lie. Only the truth can help all of us succeed…"

"And just so you know," interjected Myra reassuringly, "no matter what happens, we all have your backs…because we're in this together as a team…"

As everyone else nodded in agreement, Adrian and Felix finally had all the confidence they needed to take this shot in the dark. They each swallowed one of the pills, causing their bodies to have an uncanny reaction. They didn't physically feel anything course throughout their bodies besides an awkward buzz, but mentally, they started becoming more alert and aware. At first, it didn't seem like these pills were any different than ordinary drugs...until they realized what was causing the vibration inside of them. Unlike the drinks Akame had given them, which had merely made them subconsciously aware of the dark power inside of them, these pills allowed them to see and recognize the dark aura exuding from their bodies. It flowed out not just from their heads to their feet...but from their eyes too. Their eyes emitted a purple haze, just like Nero's, and he took note...along with both of the spirits that were inside of him…

"Yes...YES!" Noimman's ghost cried victoriously from inside her son. "This is what I've been waiting for!"

"No!" Spira's soul exclaimed in anguish. "I can't hold her in!"

Since Spira's spirit had merged with Nero, she had been keeping Noimman's spirit at bay, but nothing could keep Noimman under control upon watching such dark power emerge from the ones who killed her.

"EEE HEH HEH HEH HEE!" her ghost let out a terrifyingly wicked laugh as it emerged from Nero. "FINALLY! I KNEW YOU TWO COULDN'T RESIST THE PATH OF DARKNESS, JUST LIKE MY SON! AND NOW, I FINALLY HAVE THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW YOU THE WORLD OF HELL!"

"Not if we have something to-" the Dark Sky members were about to say something and step in before Myra stopped them, holding out her sword in front of them.

"No." she told them. "This was their challenge they set for themselves. If we rescue them from this situation now, we'll only hurt them in the long run."

"Not like we could help them right now anyways." Nero added. "What we need to do is wait for her to slip up after getting too cocky, then kick her when she's down before she has a chance to get back up…"

"DELUSIONAL FOOLS!" Noimman mocked them. "THIS IS MY BIG BREAK! YOU COULDN'T RUIN IT IN YOUR DREAMS! NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW!"

Nero just chuckled as Noimman began to manipulate the dark energy surrounding Adrian and Felix, wrapping it around all of them.

"Now that you're in my world, I can finally show you two why I was always so set on you…" Noimman spoke to the two in an ominous tone as they could only see pitch-black darkness. "You see, my father who created me from Twilight Sparkle's inner evil is one of The Eternal Three, along with Fluttershy and Twilight herself, the ones my son believes to be, "The Reborn One's pets". The reason Noava was able to control me as a puppet when you fought me is because I am a weapon meant to be used by Twilight and her children...just as you two are weapons meant to be used by me..."

"No, we are not!" Adrian and Felix proclaimed in protest. "We don't care how you manipulated our parents, that doesn't make us your tools!"

"Oh, but I'm afraid how I manipulated your parents does matter." Noimman retorted deviously. "For the story of your origin shows how you've been products of the darkness from the very start!"

It was then that the darkness in front of Adrian and Felix rolled back to show them a vision from the past. In it, they could see their father, Cristo, studying restlessly in his laboratory with Noimman by his side. Cristo was sitting at his desk sighing, slumping back in his chair before Noimman offered to give him a shoulder massage.

"Before you kids were born," said Noimman, narrating over the flashback, "your father was pouring all his time into his research. Spending day after day, looking into chemical studies and engineering, I was there to give him solace when things got too stressful. And believe it or not, I actually enjoyed helping the poor sod. Not just because I was also helping myself, but also because I enjoyed making his wife jealous…"

Krysta was then shown watching Noimman talk to Cristo coyly, leading her to storm off up to her bedroom in anger. Pregnant at the time, she was contemplating doing something to get her husband's attention back…

"Yes…" Noimman continued in a sinister tone of voice. "I knew it was going to drive her to do something crazy eventually. And there was no way I was going to miss the show…"

Noimman then began to insert her dark energy, part of her true form, inside of Cristo, as it could be seen that Krysta was clutching a red pill inside her right fist as she opened the bedroom door with her left hand and shut it behind her. She stayed on her bed all day, waiting for Cristo to come up to the room to turn in, only to get a nasty surprise…

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"That's what Cristo yelled when his wife had explained to him what she was going to do…" Noimman recounted. "She told him that she was going to take abortion pills to kill you two in the womb...that's right. Despite your differences in appearance, you two are actually twins. Your father and I gave your mother drugs to promote strong growth of your cells in the womb, drugs that also likely altered your physical structuring. Your mother must have used pills to try and abort you out of irony...but your father wouldn't have it...so you know what he did?"

Krysta actually swallowed the red abortion pill she showed her husband, only for her husband to charge towards her, his right fist exuding Noimman's dark energy…

*POW*

Cristo smacked his wife in the chest as hard as he could, causing her to cough up the red pill.

"..." Adrian and Felix were without words after seeing this.

"Now do you understand?" Noimman boasted evilly as the flashback ended and the darkness returned to its original form. She then stood before them in her "human form", having created herself another body from the darkness, and continued to gloat. "The only reason you kids exist is because of the evil your parents and I have done. You're the result of our vile experiment, the creation of a girl with superhuman strength and the creation of a boy with superhuman mental capacity. To defy me is to defy your existence. I am your god. You owe all to ME! MWA HA HA HA HA!"

"No, we don't." they immediately replied. "Fuck off."

"Like you can just make me go away…" Noimman taunted. "You can spend your whole lives ignoring me if you want, and you'll still be forever haunted-"

"By what?" Adrian interrupted her with a rejoinder. "Do you really think knowing this makes us any more afraid of you? Of course our past is beyond fucked up, but what difference does it make? We can't change our past...it's over now! Forever!"

"Wrong!" Noimman exclaimed. "Time is endless in this world! The past, present, and future are all intertwined! Once you're born from the darkness, you're with the darkness forever!"

"Then why do we have light?" Felix retorted. "All you are is darkness, thus why you cling so strongly to this shit, believing it's a source of strength even though it means nothing. But our strength comes from believing there's a light we can create in our darkness, accepting both the good and the bad so that we can let go of things like this. How can you call yourself our god when you've proven yourself weaker than us?"

"..." Noimman found herself to be the speechless one now, as those words were beyond her understanding.

"NO...NNNNNOOOOO!" she bellowed. "THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! THERE IS NO LIGHT, THERE IS NO GOOD! PEOPLE ARE JUST EVIL! EVERYTHING IS EVIL! MY CREATORS ARE EVILIT'SALLONLYEVIL-"

While Noimman was breaking down, Nero snuck up behind her and clamped his mouth down on her head, biting her neck.

"Heh heh." he thought as Noimman flailed around. "I don't need to eat souls anymore, but I still have the power to consume them. Not that you're worth it…"

Myra also came from behind to stab Noimman in the back and through her chest with her sword.

"I could've pierced your wicked soul with my blade any time I wanted…" Myra told Noimman with a smug grin on her face. "...but I knew those two would never fall to the likes of you…"

It was then that something came from behind Adrian and Felix. It was the combined form of the Dark Sky members, the holy dragon…

"So this is what we have in common…" the holy dragon remarked. "We're spawn of the darkness that believe in the light…"

The holy dragon then placed a claw around each of the two, filling them with their light energy. Adrian and Felix could now use Yin and Yang on Myra and Nero's level…

"Well Noimman…" Adrian and Felix said to her, looking at the pitiful state she was in. "It looks like you're the one who owes their existence to us, not the other way round. For what you've done, the only place you deserve to exist in…"

Nero then deliberately let Noimman free of the clutches of his jaws so she could see her doom. Noimman froze, knowing it was over for her as Adrian started preparing a punch, her right fist filled with light and dark energy, and Felix readied a potion filled with black fluid and mixed with light and light and dark energy to create something explosive…

*SHWOOM*

Myra pulled her blade out of Noimman's back, sending Noimman flying towards the two from the force of her blade's magical energy. Felix stuffed the potion inside of her wound from the sword and Adrian gave her an uppercut, sending her flying upwards. The energy from Adrian's fist made Felix's explosive mixture even more potent, and as it was about to explode, Adrian and Felix finished their sentence with…

"...is yourself. The darkness that you are."

"IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Noimman screamed. "HOW CAN SOMETHING THAT COMES FROM EVIL WANT TO BE GOOD?! DID MY SON ACTUALLY CHANGE?! COULD I HAVE ACTUALLY CHANGED?! WERE MY CREATORS ACTUALLY-"

Noimman was interrupted by the bomb inside of her going off, spreading highly corrosive acid all throughout the inside of her body. In almost an instant, she melted into nothing more than a mass of black goo that spilled on the ground and seeped into the darkness. Noimman's soul was bound by the black blob as it vanished into the dark, but she had no intent on escaping. All she wanted now was a long time to think…

"I thought that since the moment I was created, I was doomed to suffer forever, and I wanted my creations to suffer that same fate. But now they choose not to suffer, so where does that leave me? What about my creators? What will they do? Could I…"

Before long, the darkness surrounding the heroes faded away, and everyone was happy in congratulating Adrian and Felix for a job well done. Oddly enough, however, Adrian and Felix were the least excited amongst the heroes.

"Hold on guys," said Adrian, "we can't celebrate just yet. Not only do we still have to defeat the ones who put Noimman up to this, we have unresolved business in this world."

"You mentioned something about this place being a puzzle, right?" Felix reminded Myra, gesturing to her.

"Yeah, we already talked to her about the "mysterious and powerful woman casting a creepy shadow leaving jelly outside of the restrooms"..." the Dark Sky members intervened, chuckling as they felt weird quoting what the park goer told them.

"Yes, that was us." Myra smiled as she referred to herself and Nero. "We wanted to leave you guys a clue from the world we explored, and now that we're all here, I don't see the reason on holding off on this anymore…"

Myra then did a Body Mind Soul summoning to teleport all of them outside of the restrooms where the jelly was. When Adrian and Felix saw the blob of gum inside the jelly, they asked…

"What is that?"

"That's what the enemies we fought in the world Nero and I were in ended up as…" Myra explained.

"When we defeated Noimman, she was trapped the same way…" Adrian and Felix recognized the striking similarity. "And before we beat her, she showed us a flashback where we were in the womb…"

"!" the Dark Sky members got it. "That's it! We know where we actually are now! We're in the world of the Transcending project!"

"Huh?" the others went.

"This is the Awakening world mixed with the Transcending world!" they exclaimed.

"Just like the world we were just in was the Spiriting world mixed with the world of the original Dark Sky…" Myra and Nero interjected. "Now it's all coming together…"

It was then that the heroes finally discovered where the crazy gods were hiding… but will they be able to handle the craziness we've been hiding?

Ninja Time God Rarity said those words as Fantasy God Discord continued writing the story in the church of Maud Pies.

After all, we're a whole different game from Noimman. We aren't just insane, we are insanity intertwined with itself. An endless spiral swirling forever from both beginning to end and end to beginning...that is our nature…