Chapter 25: The Key to Survival

Before we begin, there is great big SPOILER WARNING in effect. This chapter, while being set directly after the previous chapter, is also set several chapters down the line for The Equestrian Anti-Magic Knight. If you don’t want spoilers, please be patient and wait for The Equestrian Anti-Magic Knight to update to this point. If you don’t care, please enjoy this chapter!

Asta lay passed out on the ground before us, white, shining aether leaking from the wound on his side. Luckily for us, it was only a small amount, indicating that we could still save him.

“We need to get him to the Tower,” I said with a hint of anxiety. “I can’t do anything without Luna’s help.”

Asta’s Behemoth revved its motor a few times and pulled up next to me. It revved a bit louder this time around, indicating it was not only worried about its rider but that it wanted to get us where we needed to go and fast. I made a snap decision in that moment, picking up Asta and depositing him on the back of the bike, before boarding myself.

“Well, what are you all waiting for?” I called Sumire and Melissa. “Get on!”

With a nod, the phantom thief jumped on behind me, while Melissa shook her head. “I’ll just use the teleporter to get back. I need to get a room ready.”

“Good call,” I nodded. “Make sure it's got some stasis wards around it. They’ll slow the progress of corruption.”

Melissa nods once before touching one of the controls on her glove and vanishing back to the Tower. I turned back to Behemoth. “Take us back to the Tower. Quick as you can.”

Behemoth’s engine roared and the bike took off at extremely high speeds, nearly throwing us all off, and forcing Sumire to grab me around my waist, which brought a blush to my cheeks, as it blasted with black flames from its exhaust pipe and tore into the portal.

“Take all the time you need…” I heard a faint but familiar voice, “I’ll handle the clean-up of Ponyville for you this time, just focus on making sure Asta survives…”

I looked around but no one was there. Shaking it off I watched as the portal opened into a large room with three beds in the center of the room. I could feel the stasis wards activate, slowing Asta’s movements, and I could also see Melissa and Luna waiting for us. I quickly pick him up, and deposit him into one of the beds before turning back to Luna.

“Luna, I don’t have time to explain, but we need to go into Asta’s dreamscape.”

“But I can’t bring others with me!” Luna protested, eyes widened.

“That’s why I have this,” I replied, summoning the Baku Ed had given me. It was a twin scythe keyblade with two handles and a silver braided chain with a red crystal cross with cracks in it on one side. On the neck was a red metallic skull on either side. I had to repress a shudder just looking at it.

Luna frowned for a moment. “That’s obviously a Keyblade related to dreams, but there’s something… not quite right about it…” she trailed off, reaching forward to touch it. The Baku burst into light, blinding us all, before fading and revealing a brand new Keyblade. It retained the twin handles, but now they were side by side, rather than separate handles. The blade itself was straight with an elaborate web along it, one-half gold, the other black, ending with a heart and crown at the end. It almost looked like it could separate into two Keyblades.

Suddenly bright glowing blue lines cover Asta from head to toe along with a yin-yang symbol appearing on his forehead.

“You young ladies best hurry up,” we heard a woman’s voice coming from Asta's body, “Leibe and I are doing all we can to hold the spirit’s influence at bay that has embedded itself in Asta’s body.”

“What’s taking you slow asses so long?!” came a harsh and foul-mouthed male voice this time. “We’re not in top synchronization right now so we’re really pushing it in here! SO QUIT STANDING THERE GAWKING AT US AND GET TO WORK!!!!!”

“R-right,” I stutter, still in shock. I quickly move to one bed, Luna the other. “Grab hold Luna, and take us in.”

The blue filly nods. The last thing I see of the waking world is Luna grabbing hold of the other handle before I black out…

Asta was floating alone in the darkness. An empty, bleak, darkness that he wasn’t familiar with. This place was cold and held no life or light to speak of.

“What can you do?” came his voice.

“You really think you can hold a candle to him!?!”

“You can’t protect your girls! You can’t protect your daughter! YOU COULDN’T EVEN PROTECT YOURSELF!”

“Shut up,” Asta held his head. His own voice still continued to torment him.

“The BLACK KING! MORE LIKE THE BLACK JESTER!”

“IF YOU CAN’T EVEN SAVE YOURSELF THEN HOW CAN YOU RUN A COUNTRY?!? RAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!”

“You killed them you know,” it mocked. “You took the throne by bathing in the blood of those in power!”

“Shut up, Shut up, Shut up, Shut up, Shut up, Shut up, Shut up,” Asta repeated over and over.

“Just who will you kill next for more power and land?!” It jested. “How about those arrogant pony sisters!”

“SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Asta cried out as he tried his hardest to access his power to no avail.

He curled into a ball and clutched his legs tightly as he tried his best to drown out the voice that seemed to ring out from everywhere. He tightly clenched his fists, causing them to start to bleed, trying to hold back the tears steadily leaking from his eyes. He was doing all he could to hold onto himself and not give into the despair coming from much of the truth in the voices surrounding him.

I slowly came to, still grasping the Baku’s new form with Luna, who was groaning as she too started to awaken. There was really only one problem at the moment, though.

“Where the heck are we?” I grumbled.

“Inside of what should be the inner world of Asta’s soul,” came a familiar calm female voice. I looked up to see a beautiful flowing woman in a blue and white kimono. “We spoke on the outside. I am the light spirit who shares not only a bond of magic with Asta but also spirit through bending the elements. We guided you here to help him.”

“Bout time you two idiots showed up,” I turned to see the rude commenter. A demon heavily resembled Asta in a very twisted way, no doubt about it being the devil in the grimoire. “I’m Leibe, yada yada Anti-magic demon.”

“Ookaay…” I replied with an arched brow. “Then I assume you know who my sister and I are?”

“Do we look like idiots?” the demon raised an eyebrow.

“You most certainly do,” Raava hid her smirk.

“YOU WANNA GO FLASHY!?!” Liebe roared at her.

“Forgive him, he’s just always like that,” Raava ignored the fuming demon and looked at me. “To answer your question properly, yes. We know exactly who both of you are. We did fight alongside you in the town with Asta after all.”

“Good, I just didn’t want to waste too much time on explanations if I didn’t have to,” I nodded, eying Liebe. “Though I suppose that was a moot point with Mr. Temper over there.”

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING TEMPER RED!?!” Leibe roared. Raava cleared her throat causing him to stop and breathe, “Yea yea… Anyways back to where we are. Like shiny said earlier this is supposed to be Asta’s inner world not this….”

“Soul shattering darkness of an empty void,” Raava shamelessly said.

“What she said,” Leibe thumbed to the spirit.

“It's a shame really,” Raava sighed. “You’d have been able to see what his capital city looked like, or at least his interpretation of it. And before you ask, yes we intend to help you two as much as we can, but much of our power is dedicated to keeping Asta from falling so don’t expect a lot outside what you two can do. Luckily we don’t have to contend with the hollow.”

“Yea, if he didn’t like the fact that someone else was trying to eat Asta’s soul he’d be here already threatening to eat both of you,” Liebe scratched the back of his head.

“Um, excuse me? Hollow?” Luna asked quizzically with a tilt of her head.

“Do you know the anime Bleach lore?” Liebe points at me.

I shook my head. “Too long of an anime, plus the fact that the creator grew to hate his own creation, and, well…”

“Well… it’s not that he hated it, it's just he couldn’t put his ideas to paper,” Raava said, “But you’re not wrong about the anime in both regards. They changed too much… but to make a long story short, Hollows are soul-eating creatures from the world of Bleach that act as a counterbalance to Shinigami and help quell the soul population. They grew stronger with age and by eating souls. Some shinigami, or soul reapers, gained the ability to use hollow powers by an artifact as an experiment conducted on them by one of their own. They defeated their hollows and gained the ability to temporarily boost themselves with the hollows manifestation, their mask.”

“When a soul becomes a hollow their anchor or the part of their soul chain that was attached to their body above their heart is torn away and turns into a white skull-like mask that covers the face of the soul,” Liebe said. “The shinigami with hollow powers have more of a parasitic relationship. Think Venom from Spiderman. Plenty of benefits, but the drawback is if the soul reaper even wavers in instance a little the hollow will pounce and try to devour the soul reaper's essence and claim the body for their own.”

“Asta’s is a particularly nasty hollow,” Ravva eyed Liebe, “In the instance that is more of a natural hollow over an experiment.”

“What can I say I wasn’t always the kind demon I am now,” Leibe whistled to himself.

“If a skeletal-looking creature with wings shows up, don’t trust it, get away,” Raava heavily warns. “Cause it won’t hesitate to kill and eat you.”

“Gotcha,” I nodded. “So, do you happen to know where in this soul-sucking void Asta is?”

“‘Cause that’s probably where the manifestation of the Sin Eater is at,” Luna cut in.

“We’ve done all we can to keep this area from becoming the black void bluey,” Liebe crossed his arms. “If it wasn’t for shiny, you two wouldn't have even made it here.”

“It’s true,” Raava sighed, “I used what little magic I had left to put a protective aura on you light bearers. The only power I have left is over the elements themselves now.”

“Don’t look at me,” Leibe said as he threw up his hands. “I don’t have magic.”

“Your power over the elements will REALLY help us out later,” I nodded. “After we get rid of the infection, we’ll need you to rebalance his internal aether.”

Luna narrowed her eyes as her ear twitched. “Do you all hear that?”

“I can’t say I do little one,” Raava says.

“Little bit’s right,” Liebe put a hand to his ear, ignoring Luna’s pouting from his comment. “I’m picking up some nasty vibes from… well, everywhere out there,” he motioned to the darkness.

“There’s more to it though…” Luna murmurs, following her ears. “I can hear voices, screaming, crying, and… torment.”

I nodded with a grin. “I do believe we have a direction now.” I summoned the Baku back to my hand, before splitting it in half like I had seen it do in Dream Drop Distance, forming Mirage Split and Nightmare’s End. “Before we go though, take Mirage Split. I doubt you can use Oblivion here.”

Luna nodded as she took the shimmering Keyblade, before leading us into the darkness…

‘Be on guard at all times…’ I heard in my ear in the same voice from earlier.

We ran through the thick darkness following Luna and Liebe’s lead as they seemed to be the only ones who could hear these… dark noises.

Soon we came out into a vast kingdom modeled similar to an old eastern-styled city of some sort. In the distance there was a series of statues lining the base of the wall in sets of threes before repeating. The statues were of Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight along with three of Asta’s love interests from the anime and manga in that order in the distance.

“Something tells me this should be a lot more beautiful than this,” I said as a slight chill ran through my entire body.

“This is… horrible,” Raava scowled as she finally showed some form of true emotions.

“This city is supposed to have the moon and sun above it,” Leibe stepped back slightly as his gaze wavered. “Not this…. Darkness…”

I grimaced. “This is only the start of the corruption, I’m afraid. Actually, it's a good thing this construct is still here, otherwise, we would have run out of time. As soon as it's gone, it’ll be all over. We need to hurry!”

“We best get moving before Asta falls further into corruption,” Raava remarks as she pulled a fan from her obi. “If I still had mana I could use it to allow you two to fly,” she looked at me and Luna.

“Don’t be so hasty, old lady,” Leibe snickers as four swords of carrying size appeared behind him. “I bet you two know all kinds of deftly tricks to get around, don’t ya girls?”

“I certainly do,” I replied, mentally activating Angel of Black and White. “Huh, I guess I can use all my different Form Changes with Nightmare’s End. Luna on the other hand…”

“Zero Gravity!” Luna interrupts me, casting the spell on herself and allowing her to float. “Just pull or carry me along.”

I blinked for a moment, before grabbing her and putting her on my back. “That works.”

“To the palace and watch out for anything, especially if it's white,” Raava warns as she rose with a wave of her fan.

“What the old hag said,” Leibe said as he rockets off just by jumping.

With a nod, I leapt into the air, my black and white wings carrying Luna and I after the two spirits.

“There,” Raava points to the steps of the palace, which was emanating darkness.

I nodded, a frown on my face. “That’s definitely the source. Come on, we need to hurry!”

Today has officially become my worst day ever. First, I died and woke up in a fictional character’s body, though I did find out that I saved my brother, so that’s good. Second, I find out I can’t go back home, and finally, as the icing on the cake, I’m stuck out here while Kairi and Luna are trying to save our new friend.

“I feel so useless,” I sighed as I sat next to the redhead.

Melissa glanced over at me before turning back to the computer monitoring everyone’s conditions. “I know what you mean, but without some way to enter Asta’s dreams, we can’t do anything except wait, pray, and monitor the aftermath of the attack in town.” The techie narrowed her eyes. “Though, for some reason, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.”

“And exactly how bad did you expect it to be?” came an unknown voice from the very air itself.

We both looked around but even Melissa seemed put off by whoever or whatever was speaking.

“I recognize that voice,” Melissa muttered before addressing the voice properly. “Ed is that you?”

“Do you know anyone else who can travel in between universes at will as easily as me,” Ed said as he literally walked into the room from nothing. “So yes, it’s me,” the tall blonde-headed man with amber eyes in a redcoat smugly answered. “I answered yours now you do the same, my dear.”

It was quite clear from his tone that he was very annoyed. “Well, in all honesty, I saw a third of the town turned to Sin Eaters, and another third dead,” Melissa replied, crossing her arms. “Imagine my surprise when I found more than a third of the town in the bunker we evacuated them to.”

“My forces have already dealt with the sin eaters in town and I revived those that I could bring back from the other side so that brings the number up to just about 66.7,” Ed’s remark astounded both of us.

“Just who are you that you can bring back the dead like that?!” I stood up in a panic.

“Someone who’s been displaced for nearly fifteen thousand times longer than you, newborn,” He glared at me. “Luckily I had a number of souls that were more than willing to trade places with those that were lost in your Ponyville. I also set up a barrier around the town and Canterlot to prevent massive infestations like that from happening ever again, but it won’t keep them all out. You know how the grunts are.” He shrugs.

“Easy Sumire,” I turned to Melissa. “Ed is a friend, though it seems like he’s gotten a MASSIVE power boost since I last saw him.”

“I’m really here for them,” he pointed at Asta, but we both knew he was also referring to Kairi and Luna. “He was being stupid in his haste to come here and the girls were finally able to release the seal. So naturally, how could I not show up for the good news?”

Melissa nodded with a sigh. “No kidding. Seriously, Kairi even warned Asta about what happens when injured by the more powerful Sin Eaters, let alone the Lightwarden they ended up fighting.”

“Asta is physically strong than I maxed out human bodies are normally,” Ed crossed his arms, “At least when his mind, body, souls, and now heart are in sync with each other,” He threw up a hand.

“Okay, Melissa, who is this guy to just stroll in here from literally the dust in the air?!” I yelled at the tech wiz.

“Edward Elric,” the blonde replied. “He’s easily one of the most powerful Displaced that we’ve met.”

“But who is that?” I shot back. “Clearly most Displaced are fictional characters, but I’ve never seen him before in my life!”

“Hold on, you mean to tell me that you’ve never seen Fullmetal Alchemist?”

I hesitated a moment before shaking my head. Clearly, I’d seen some advertising for it before, but this guy didn’t quite look the same. Or sound like him, but that would probably be down to localizations. Characters always sound different in various regions.

“Originally I was based on the character known as an alchemist,” He explained. “They have the ability to manipulate, reshape and or destroy matter as long as you follow the rules of you get this and this to get this new thing,” He added. “Long story short, I’ve lived as a nye immortal, unkillable thing for the better part of fifteen thousand years in my Equestria. I’ve loved and lost while fathering many children and teaching the sisters till I left them to grow then came back, fell in love with Luna, and married her. Became a king of minotaurs, brought in a new age of peace tried to better my world was betrayed,” he hissed and I could feel pressure coming from him, “Went mad, saw Luna sealed away which drove me insane even more. I gradually pierced myself together and was freed not long after Discord. Then Displaced bull**** happens and I meet and have a new family spanning the void, though numb nuts there,” he pointed to Asta,” is from my family before displacement from my home earth.”

“Did you get all that girl?” He looked at me.

I blinked, somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of information dumped on me, but slowly nodded my head to show my understanding.

“My main reason for being here though is not for them but has to do with something one of my other selves found on our journey through a portion of the void where another kingdom hearts-based universe was totally consumed by darkness,” He stated, “Though it will still be some time for that version of me to get here with our cargo,” Melissa looked more than a little concerned with that notation. “And I’d rather not explain twice so put it on hold for now. You, what is your name?” he looked right at me.

“My name is Sumire,” I replied with a bow.

“Formerly Japanese, I take then,” He rubbed his chin. “My name is Edward Elric as most know, Ed for short obviously, formerly Allen Ferris of America, though I rarely use it now. As you no doubt have guessed, the dumbass on the floor is my younger brother. Back to your predicament of not being able to see inside Asta’s inner world. Would you both like to, cause I can show you, but just know I won’t allow you to interfere unless I deem it necessary?”

Melissa and I both nodded instantly, and without hesitation.

The silver fluid of some sort poured from Ed’s right hand before quickly solidifying into a screen that showed Luna and Kairi fighting heartless and other monsters I’d seen earlier today alongside what looked like a demon and a blue glowing lade in a kimono.

“I could use my magic but I rarely ever get to show off my nanotech,” Ed chuckled, a single word caught Melissa’s ear right away.

“Nanotech?” Melissa asked, a glint in her eyes.

“Nanites actually,” Ed held up his hand again and more silver poured out of it but this time formed into a chibi Ed. “Full sentient AI colonies. This chibi is one of many I leave with displaced I encounter. They’re a direct connection to my void network, meaning you can access just about anything within the permission given by me. They can create nearly any type of weapon as long as they have knowledge of it, reinforce the body of hosts they injected into to near perfection and peak levels and even act like a nervous system for amputees. I gave Yang a set during the reunion, but it wasn’t as big as the colony that Chibi is made of, just large enough to replace her arm should she need to detach the main prosthetic. They can also act as a bet of a printer system if need be. They can create raw materials from specific to ordinary wood. If you have enough material for them to convert it's easy, if not then it's done through dust collection. Want a set?”

Melissa nodded, a smirk on her face. “That should complement my One For All quirk quite nicely!”

“These little guys help now,” Ed stated as his hand morphed into a syringe gun field with shimmering metallic rainbow-like liquid. “They can’t totally stop damage and can repair it but it also heavily depends on your body. They're made of uru, beskar, and proto-adamantium over a vibranium weave while being infused with harmony magic. Meaning you’ll be immune to chaos magic while boosting any magic you already have.” he held out his hand, “They work even if the magic is dispelled. I can give a double dose if you want nano armor/weapons. So given me your shoulder if you set on this.”

“Go ahead and hit me with the double dose,” the techie replies, rolling up her sleeve.

“Alright,” Ed said as he injected Melissa with the silver slime. “You’ll also be a bit of a mild technopath. I’ll leave this chibi with you and he can plug it into your system and work on upgrading, refitting, and reformatting them. I trust you so you’ll be able to access a good portion of my network and have a teleporter for those long-distance jumps. For now, let's watch the screen,” he pointed at our friends on the display

Raava waved her fan, sending out a massive wave of fire, burning the enemies coming for us. I was amazed by not only the power but also the amount of control she was showing over the fire. What really caught my eye was how much more exhausted she looked with not only each passing second but with every use of her powers.

“Something is definitely wrong,” I said to myself. “Whatever’s happening in here is clearly draining you.”

“It’s Asta,” Raava said, “I am light itself, a literal representation of everything about it. I always kept balance with my other half Vaatu, and he did the same with me. When we were separated his power and influence grew and nearly consumed me, so the avatar became the balance of the dark for the light.”

“So in other words,” Leibe stomped a heartless to nothing, “The further our boy falls into the dark the more power you lose until poof,”

“Not entirely,” Raava said, “I don’t just disappear but wait inside the darkness till I am strong enough to be reborn but that after several thousand years.”

“But, that shouldn’t be what’s happening,” Luna exclaimed. “Asta was corrupted by a form of light aether. The different elements of the magic here, fire, wind, ice, water, earth, and lightning, each of which are aligned with either light or dark, are all equally beneficial in small quantities, corrupting at middling quantities, and lethal at high quantities.”

“Have you ever wondered why Asta is always smiling?” Raava asked. “Why even in the darkest of situations he never stops his wisecracks?’

“The dud isn’t totally without darkness,” Leibe added. “He’s done some pretty bad things in our world in order to keep his family and kingdom safe. He went through an entire city just to get Fluttershy back. Anyone who stood in his way or against him he killed without even batting an eye. He hides his darkness from all and that's what’s eating him up. If he’s consumed by darkness then what’s going to be left? When Asta’s balance is disrupted, so is Raava’s. If Asta is gone then she goes to.”

“But that’s just it, he isn’t being consumed by darkness, he’s being consumed by light!”

“You may see it that way but that’s not how he does,” Raava staggered. “We have to hurry. The longer we wait the further he falls…”

I nodded in agreement. “If he’s consumed, we’ll have a new, even stronger Lightwarden on our hands. We absolutely CAN NOT have that!”

Suddenly Raava hit her hands and knees, “There’s not much else I can do in my current state I’m afraid.”

“Can’t you just latch onto a temporary host?” Leibe pointed to Luna then Me.

“I have enough magic to make a temporary pact but I can only make it once,” Raava said, “But if they host me that means they’ll be an avatar, albeit it is temporary they’ll still gain a fraction of my power after I leave them.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Luna asked.

“You’ll be benders of a single element a piece at first, but you’ll gradually gain access more as time goes on and you bend that element,” Raava staggered to her feet, “That also means… you’ll be reincarnated if you die.”

My eyes narrowed. “So you’re saying that it’ll start our own Avatar Cycle?”

“Something like that but you’ll still be you,” Raava continued, “You’ll still have your memories and personality from your first life and so on in the next but eventually you will lose your original self as the reincarnation cycle continues. You’d be the soul bender in this world unless you were gifted the abilities to others. You’d be very limited on candidates for new bodies, usually the child of someone very dear to you or in your bloodline if that’s the case. Asta’s Shinigami powers make him a bit of an exception as even though his physical form may die his soul can continue to live on for many thousands of years until he would die.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “What if I was always with her through the reincarnations? Wouldn’t she remain herself with me as an anchor?”

“No,” Raava shook her head, “You suffer the same, though your fates would be tied together always being reborn at the same time and destined to find each other.”

“Not quite what I meant, but I think I understand,” Luna nodded before turning back to me. “It's your choice, sis.”

I closed my eyes for a moment before turning back to Raava. “I’ll do it.”

Raava looked to Luna, “Do you wish to join her little Luna?”

The blue filly nodded. “Of course!”

“You better make this fast,” Liebe remarked as he turned to look at the sky as numerous flying enemies started to gather, “I’ll buy ya what time I can, so you do your thing, but make it snappy so I don’t kick it either!” He laughed as he took off with a shockwave and started to tear through the enemies as a black line.

“Quickly, join hands,” Raava said and we did as she instructed. A white bubble enveloped us as we rose into the air. Raava took on the form of what looked similar to an oriental kite. “Luna, Kairi, as avatars you will be in charge of managing the balance of this universe from this point to the end of its days! You will be the bridge to the spirits of this world and continuously reborn to help maintain balance! Do you both swear to uphold these oaths from this point till the end of days to come?!”

“We swear!” We cried in unison!

Raava turned pure white and spirit her form as she entered our bodies through our mouths. We gently landed and opened our eyes to reveal them to be glowing white as blue lines cover my body and white covered Luna.

“As long as I am with you both I will lend you my knowledge of martial arts and power to wield the elements respectively,” we heard Raava from inside our heads, “Be aware that the further away you two get from each other the weaker these powers will be. I can only do so much when I am split like this.”

We nodded, before turning back towards where Asta waited, along with the aether currently corrupting him. “Understood, but we should hurry now.”

“Want me to show you the way?” we hear in a ghastly voice from an alley. Out of the darkness stepped a creepy thing with a hole in its chest and a sword in its right hand while crossing his arms across its chest.

“Hello,” it hissed evilly. “I’m waiting for an answer or should I just eat you both here and now?” It cackled, but I knew all too well from its tone it meant every word.

“And why, pray tell, should we trust you?” I replied, summoning my half of the Reality Shift. “We were warned about you, Hollow!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!” The hollow laughed, “By all means, you should never trust a hollow, even the sweet-looking ones,” he hissed, “But my reason is they’re trying to take my prey away from me!” He roared, sending a buckling pressure out, “I’m the only one allowed to eat his soul! IT’S MINE AND I WON’T LET THEM HAVE IT WITHOUT KILLING ME FIRST!”

“The old ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ logic, huh?” I chuckled.

“When it puts it like that, I think we can trust it to take us to the root of the corruption,” Luna agreed. “But what’s to stop you from trying to kill us as soon as the aether has been banished?”

“Let’s take care of those knats in the sky first,” he licked his teeth as held up a finger, and power gathered there.

My eyes widened and quickly I grabbed Luna and jumped out of the way as it fired off a black and orange-edged cero into the Sky where Leibe was fighting.

“There, now Daddy can help,” He cackled as Leibe landed next us.

“Bastard!” Liebe shouted, “Are you two alright?” he asked as he turned and helped us up.

“Never better,” I replied. “Could have done without the black and orange death ray nearly clipping us though.”

“Nothing I can do about him,” Liebe added, “I wish I’d never have helped him form,” he sighed as he followed the hollow. “I was in a much worse mindset, let's leave it at that okay?”

We walked along in silence for a while.

“Don’t let your guard down around him at all,” Leibe warned.

“I am with my associate on this one girls,” Raava remarked, “He may be showing us the way but he won’t frit to try and devour either of you as soon as he gets the chance, even if you're in a fight.”

“Wasn’t planning to,” I nodded, eyes narrowing. “Hollows, or at least how you described them, remind me too much of demons in folklore. No way are we lowering our guard around it.”

After following the Hollow for a while, we eventually found ourselves within a throne room of sorts.

“There he is,” it salivated slightly as he pointed to a black ball hanging over the throne. “You do you and I’ll watch!” it shrugged but Liebe quickly had his largest sword black its path.

“You’re fighting with us,” The demon glared at his spawn.

I turned to Luna, as we both summoned our halves of Reality Shift before joining them together. We leapt into the air, slashing through the aether, while grabbing ahold of Asta’s consciousness and yanking him out onto the ground.

“Great, we got him now what?” Leibe asked. “Cause it doesn’t look like he’s waking up any time soon.”

The aether that was dispelled from our attack began to coalesce once again, forming first into an orb, before morphing into a vague approximation of Asta’s form in black and white armor. An orb of dark energy formed above its hand before it roared a challenge.

“We need to destroy that,” I explained, pointing at the monster with Nightmare’s End. “We take that out, Asta wakes up, and the aether corrupting him will vanish.”

Several nobodies then swarmed with several Creeper Nobodies. One made its way straight for Asta’s monster and shifted into its sword form.

The figure quickly wrapped its hand around the hilt of the weapon and slashed it around through the air as if it weighed nothing before pointing it at us.

Luna and I both took a stance, flames wrapping around Nightmare’s End, and frost forming on Mirage Split as we tried out our new bending. I then attempted to use my Music Magic as I always do, but unlike every other time I’ve used it, it's hijacked from my control.

“Voices in my head again
Trapped in a war inside my own skin
They're pulling me under
Go!”

The figure lunged at us with its weapon. With a powerful strike, it stopped Luna and me from moving at all. The ground under us immediately cracked from the force of the impact.

“Get back asshole!” Liebe roared as he and hollow delivered a double kick to the face of the creature and sent it flying across the throne room, “Not bad for a soul-eating monster.”

“Ditto, pops,” Hollow replied.

I was in shock, and could feel a constant drain on my magic. “What the heck?? It just hijacked my magic! How is that even possible?!?”

“I don’t know,” Luna grimaced. “But did you notice, our reactions have slowed down.”

My eyes widened. Now that she had mentioned it, we were slower. Much slower. On top of that, I could tell that I was much weaker than before. Going off a hunch, I tried using my Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic to sink into my shadow, but nothing happened.

“Kuso!” I cursed. “Imperil, slow, and a selective version of silence!”

“It has to be using ki alongside its form of Anita vice to drain you power and empower itself,” Liebe explained. “Asta has the ability to manipulate and use raw Magic, referred to as ancient magic. It’s incredibly powerful and able to perform near miracles but it’s also just as taxing mentality and physically on the user.”

“He must be using my Music Magic to channel it somehow,” I speculated, dodging away from another sword swipe.

“I think it's the other way around!” Hollow laugh. “He’s using his ki techniques to influence the mana around us and by extension the magic it’s connected to.”

“I've swallowed myself but the fever remains
I'm numb to the pleasure but still feel the pain
If I showed you my soul would you cover your eyes?
If I told you the truth would you dare me to lie?
(I keep it all inside because I know the man is everything but kind)”

I switched over to my Metal Chocobo Keyblade, jumping away and activating its Keyblade Transformation. My clothes shifted to a dark pink wide-brim stove hat with a matching cutoff long-sleeve jacket, a black Bressier with black boots, and a white midsection.

In my hand, the Metal Chocobo changed into a large rifle. “Chocobo’s Wrath!” I cried, aiming at the culmination of corrupted aether. “Split Shot!” I pulled the trigger of the rifle, firing directly at it and causing a roar of pain.

The boss held up its left hand and fire came to dance on it.

“That thing can even use bending?” the hollow said with a perturbed tone.

“Be…w-ware…” I heard Raava’s voice barely in the back of my mind. “C-can us-e a… all Asta’s bending… p-powers!”

“Voices in my head again
Beating me in a war I can't win
I can hear them now
Trapped in a game inside my own skin
And I don't know myself anymore
They're pulling me under
Voices
Voices”

I raise my gun to the sky. “Rook Autoturret!” I called, conjuring five flying turrets, about the size of my head. They quickly began a strafing run, firing on the monster, while attempting to stay out of its attack range. “Those won’t hold it long, we need to do something about that song!”

Jumping away while firing a fire spell, Luna landed on a knee. “Well, I’m open to suggestions!”

“Here’s one,” Leibe says as he cut through the nobodies as they spawned, “use bending idiots!”

“Worth a shot,” I reply, getting into a water-bending stance. I quickly sent a water whip at the monster, wrapping it up before freezing it solid. “Doesn’t really do anything about the song sapping our strength, but it does seem to be working well.”

“As I walk through this valley of shadows and death
I curse not the wicked, I praise not the blessed
If I told you the truth you'd beg me to change
If fear were a currency you'd own the bank”

Luna stomped the ground, drawing the earth up in front of the ground before slamming it towards the “trapped” monster. It roared in pain before flexing and breaking out of the icy tendrils binding it.

“Hmm, I wonder,” I muttered as I conjured an orb of water around its head. “Let’s try drowning it.”

“I think not,” It spoke to me, “Black Flame Dragon Fist!” it roared as it sent out a massive dragon made of a familiar black fire right at me.

“Move it, Princess,” I heard Liebe say as he threw me out of the way. “It’s getting stronger,” he said to me with gritted teeth as she knelt down.

“Very perceptive demon,” the boss said to him. “You have no one to thank but yourselves and the fool for not properly synchronizing his mind, body, and soul! Ahahahahaha!” In an instant it was in front of us and sent us both flying through the air with a single swipe of its sword. “Now,” it looked around, “where'd the little blue one get to?” it chuckled as it slowly walked towards Luna, “Come and play little filly! AHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Voices in my head again
Beating me in a war I can't win
I can hear them now
Trapped in a game inside my own skin
And I don't know myself anymore
They're pulling me under
Voices”

“Me first!” Hollow charged in but didn’t even stop it from moving, “WHAT?”

“Go away, trash!” it said as it grabbed hollow by the throat and effortlessly tossed it off to the side. “Oh I know,” it said as it pointed a single finger at Luna and power started to gather, for a cero. “HAVE PEACE IN HELL, MOON PRINCESS!” It laughed and fired.

“Stay down!” Leibe called out as he shielded my little sis, “BLACK DIVIDER!” He yelled as his demon slayer sword covered itself in his antimagic and formed a shield to save Luna but Lieb took the full force of the hit, “That really hurts,” he wheezed before falling to the side, “Sorry, I got nothing left…” he said as he passed out.

I stared wide-eyed, watching the battle for Asta’s soul, as my friends were slowly beginning to lose.

“Damn it!” Melissa shouts from where she’s monitoring their bodies. “The corruption is starting to accelerate!”

“There has to be something we can do,” I mutter, fear coloring my words as I turn to Ed. “Isn’t there something you can do? I’ve already lost my home, and my brother, I can’t lose them too.”

Ed just sat there in a chair, seeming to enjoy the spectacle unfolding before us, as if it was just a show to him, “Oh there's plenty I could do,” Ed said matter of factly, “Whether I want to is really what you should be asking me, girl.” he looked at me from the corner of his eye, “You forget I’m not here on a summon or contract so, therefore, I am not bound by the rules of Asta’s summoning. In fact, I can leave here just as quickly as I showed up.” He stood up and walked over before looking down at me, “The real question here is, ‘Are you willing to do what needs to be done in order to help them?’ Well,” his eyes looked as if they were judging my very soul as he spoke, “Are you, Sumire?”

I found myself briefly entranced by Ed’s eyes, before my face hardened into a look of determination as I gave a firm nod. “Whatever it takes.”

Melissa jerked her head towards us, I could see a small hint of fear in her eyes. “Whatever you’re gonna do, you need to do it quickly!”

“I’ll make this quick then,” Ed said as he put a glowing pink ball in the air in front of me, “By this point, you both know about Kairi’s unique, song magic,” we both nodded, “Well she gave me the ability when we first met and naturally, being quite the magic enthusiast, I experimented with it and created several new variants of it, the most powerful being Seith Song Magic thanks to my dear niece giving my all knowledge from the world of Fiore .”

Melissa’s eyes got wide.

“Yes, it’s exactly what you’re thinking girl,” he looked at her.

“So, Sumire’ll be able to directly influence Asta’s soul, along with any soul currently attached to it? With music no less?” the techie gasped.

“Yes,” Ed smiled, “And when a certain princess of heart joins in for a duet the effect will be amplified tenfold. Now you must note that this Magic is the only one of its kind and has never been wielded by someone other than a mage, let alone a newborn displaced. There could be unknown consequences later on, be they altering your body or giving other abilities, just know that it's one or the other will happen,” he warned me. “But if you’re steadfast in your convictions to save your friends and help protect your new home then touch the sphere and become the first Soul Songstress!”

I nodded with determination. “What do I need to do?”

“I just told you Sumire,” he said, “Take the magic and make it your own,” he poked me in the chest with his metal finger. “Then listen to your heart and what’s happening around you and to others, then sing to right the wrongs that are being done to the soul.”

I could feel a warmth, right where Ed had poked, spreading through my body, and suddenly I knew how to use this new magic. I turned back to where Kairi, Luna, and Asta were laid on the ground.

“I’ll provide the music then,” Ed smiled as he sat down at a gilded piano.

“Right then, here goes nothing…”

Things weren’t going so well. We were on our last legs, this monster, created from the corrupted aether that was invading Asta’s soul, smirked in apparent victory, until its song cut off.

“WHAT?”

Soft piano and guitar began to play, accompanied by a bright flash of light above us. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There floating above us all, was Sumire’s Persona, Cendrilon.

“Don't try to make yourself remember, darling
Don’t look for me; I'm just a story you've been told
So let’s pretend a little longer
'Cause when we're gone, everything goes on”

There was no way, no POSSIBLE way for this to happen, after all, Music Magic doesn’t affect the soul, but that’s exactly what was happening. Somehow, Sumire had managed to make it affect the soul, and I could already feel the results as new strength surged through me, not to mention what I was seeing in everyone else.

Leibe was back on his feet, his burn completely healed, “Oh yeah, keep singing little lady, Rahaha!” he laughed as his swords flew to his side.

“This feels gross!” Hollow called out as he landed next to the demon, “But I’ll let it slide for now…”

“No, you can’t be getting up!” the boss called out, “YOU SHOULD ALL BE DYING!”

“Hello?” Luna and I heard Raava’s voice in our heads clear as day now. “Yes, I can speak to you with no interference now. Be warned girls, even with the effects of its song gone, this creature is still more than powerful enough to take any one of us down by itself.”

“Well, you were staring at the window
And I said, "I wanna take you to the sea
And when I'm better, we'll do everything"
I gotta stop makin' promises I can't keep”

“Roger that,” I replied, switching back to Way to Dawn, while activating Angel of Black and White. “I think this thing needs to have a taste of both light and shadow! Megidolaon!”

“Have some Black Divider!” Leibe laughed as he brought his sword down and held the monster in place

The orb of condensed light and shadow exploded against the monster before us, causing it to howl in pain.

“Double Form!” Luna cried, summoning both Oblivion and Oathkeeper, before unleashing a flurry of blows.

“But if I was gone tomorrow, won't the waves crash on?
Is it selfish that I’m happy as we pass the setting sun?
Someday I’ll bе overcast, but you won't have to cry
’Cause wе'll do the grieving, while I'm by your side, I said:”

“Uh oh…” I heard Raava, “Whatever you do, don’t drop your guard!”

We all jumped away. “What’s going on?”

I heard what sounded like breathing, “Eclipse breathing,” I heard the boss say as it stood and shrugged off our attacks as if it was just a bug bite. It then held up its broken sword and dropped it. “I’m going to skin you all alive and eat your hearts and let the little one watch!” he roared, sending out a shockwave.

“This is bad!” Leibe remarked, “If there is one thing Asta excels at its fighting, and he was trained in mixed martial arts long before even becoming a displaced.”

“So, we’re f*****,” The hollow added.

“Don't try to make yourself remember, darling
Don’t look for me; I'm just a story you've been told
So let's pretend a little longer
'Cause when we're gone, everything goes on”

‘Kairi, you need to stop holding back!’ My eyes widen as I hear a voice in my head. Sumire’s voice no less. ‘I’m doing all I can here to help, but unless you stop holding back, this will all be for nothing!’

I sighed, allowing Angel of Black and White to dissipate. “You’re right, it’s time to bring out the big guns, as it were.” I raised my empty hand to the sky, before summoning my X-Blade, the crossed Oathkeeper and Oblivion glinting in the spellfire’s light, as a blood red magic circle appeared below me. “Let’s end this! Zeta Flare!”

“I agree!” the monster laughed as he became enveloped in darkness and light, “TWILIGHT APOCALYPSE!”

“And I'm so scared of getting used to this
All the vines that keep you tethered in your room
Well, someday both of us are leaving here
But for now, I'll just bring the sea to you, oh-oh-oh”

Suddenly Asta flew into the sphere before it cracked open to reveal the monster and Asta had merged into a new armored form.

What was more unsettling was the weapon it was holding, a keyblade.

I scoffed. “Just because you have a Keyblade now, doesn’t mean you’re gonna win. It just means I’ll get to have a bit more fun before you die!” I charged forward, taking a swipe that’s easily blocked, and following up with a flurry of blows, also blocked.

“Don’t get cocky girl,” Raava called out to me, “You have a great deal more power now yes but as things stand that creature is still far above you in terms of strength, especially now that it’s possessed Asta’s body and taken his armor and keyblade.”

“Black Flash,” the monster says and instantly moved behind me. I was suddenly hit with hundreds of thousands of cuts all over my body.

“That thing doesn’t have Asta’s consciousness to hold it back but it does have his experiences and techniques as a fighter,” Raava told me as she did what she could to heal me. “Don’t fight Asta, fight the creature but you can’t do it alone!”

“Curaga!” Luna’s voice came from my left, and I instantly felt all the pain vanish. “Sis, you can’t fight this thing on your own! We need to work together to take it down!”

“Will you meet me in the daylight like we did before?
Then, I felt you on my shoulder, and you weren't suffering anymore
You said, "I'm sorry that you worried," but don't apologize
I told you to forget me, but you stayed by my side when I said:”

I nodded. “Alright, I’ll handle offense, you handle defense. Reflega and Curaga are gonna be your best friends.” My lips curled up into a smirk. “Besides, I’ve got a little surprise charging up right now, we just need to keep it busy for a little longer.”

“I won’t let you!” the monster rushed me but was blocked by both Lieb and Hollow,

“We’ll take on the heavy stuff,” Leibe told me. “We can handle Asta’s blows and counter his strikes from what we know but the attacks are on you!”

“I’ll help a little in the attack field though,” Hollow hissed as it blasted the monster king with a cero forcing it back.

“Insects!” the beast howled. “I will end you all!” He held his keyblade up and its form changed into a massive claymore similar to Liebe’s, “HEART DIVIDER!” he roared as the blade swelled in size to cleave the throne room’s ceiling into rubble before the monster swung the sword down.

“Reflega!” Luna cried, a dome of shining energy formed around us.

Lieb quickly covered us in an antimagic dome underneath Luna’s spell as the monster’s sword easily tore through the spell.

“Anti-magic keyblade remember,” Liebe said, “But I was able to leave some of the spell intact to damage his armor.”

The attack hit the dome, and the energy was reflected back tenfold, not only throwing the creature back, but also hurting it quite a bit. “Lightbloom!” The blue filly began to spin in place, shooting out beams of light, all converging on the creature, to devastating effect.

“You little!” The monster grabbed Luna by the throat and then moved its blade next to her jugular, “Stop or the throne room floor gets a new paint job!”

“Don't try to make yourself remember, darling
Don't look for me; I'm just a story you've been told
So let's pretend a little longer
And when we're gone, oh, oh-oh
Everything goes on”

My eyes narrowed, noticing that the armor was cracking, and just in time too, as my spell had just finished charging. I raised my X-Blade, pointing it at the monster, a smirk tugging at my lips. “Lunar Gorgeous Meditation!” An absolutely enormous beam of purification energy launched itself from the blade, ripping through the monster, armor and all. As the beam dissipated, so too did Cendrilon, with soft smile on its face.

Suddenly the monster dropped its weapon, “What no!” it called as it punched itself in the face, breaking off some of the helmet.” This is my form now!” It roared as it dropped Luna and it struggled with itself to start pulling itself apart.

“Get off!” I heard Asta “of ME!” He yelled as he ripped the armor off his body. Standing there was now our friend and not the monster that had taken over his form. “I hurt all over,” he said as he hit his hands and knees panting.

“You think just cause you ripped me off your body I’d just be defeated!” the monster howled as the armor fragments started to reform back together.

“HEHE!” Asta chuckled as he stood back up, “Not really, but I did think I’d hang on to this!” He announced as he held up his keyblade, “It’s a nice blade,” he remarked as he swung it and cut a gash into the floor. “But you do still have my armor so you’re gonna have to die. Raava, Liebe, Hollow!”

“Sorry girls,” we heard Raava in our heads before her halves exited our bodies and entered Asta, causing the blue ornate lines to appear all over him.

“OH, YEA LET’S ICE THIS ASSHOLE!” Leibe laughed as his body turned into anti-magic and cover Asta’s body and then coalesced into Asta’s demonic anti-magic form but with his four anti-magic demon swords floating behind him.

“I’ll play along this one time,” Hollow growled as its body turned into a white substance then reformed into a mask on Asta’s face.

“Kairi,” he looked at me with blackened green eyes, “I have enough power to destroy him and force the other one out but we only have one shot! Are you and Luna up for this?” he said as he pulled his substitute soul reaper badge from his belt.

I grinned, hefting the X-Blade to a ready position, Luna right beside me. “Just tell us what to do!”

“Just don’t get in my way and kick some ass,” Asta smirked under his mask as he held up the badge, “Sacred Trease, RELEASE!” The badge vanished in a flash of light causing Asta’s power to soar to the point that the ground around him compressed from the pressure he was exerting over it.

That's when I realized, neither Luna nor I could move.

“I’ll link you to Raava so you two can move but I will not provide you two with power,” I heard the same voice from earlier in my head.

“Hello, girl?” Raava reached out to us and we could move again.

I quickly jumped into the air, using my new air-bending abilities to mimic the Dragoons of Final Fantasy, slamming into the monster at terminal velocity.

“You bitch,” it held its fractured gauntlet arm up, and fire shot from it at me.

Asta appeared in front of me, “Sun breathing Sunrise!” he yelled as he spun with his keyblade and redirected the fire back at the monster, “I won't act like I didn’t see that bending you just did Kairi,” he looked at me, “I appreciate what you did for Raava, so some advice. Benders manipulate the elements but that doesn’t mean we’re immune to them!”

He shot forward and collided with the red hot monster, sending out a shockwave that rattle the whole palace.

“Luna!” Asta called out, “Be ready!” he said as he and the monster exchanged blows, “You may have a lot of my strengths but you don’t know how to use it properly!”

“I use them a lot better than a novice like you!” the monster howled as it lunged forward but Asta jumped back.

Luna quickly jumps in front, using her bending to create a wall of ice, catching the monster’s claw in its icy embrace. She then quickly jumps over it and nails it with an overhead Keyblade strike to the head.

“Got you!” the monster’s arm shot off its body and grabbed a hold of Luna by the neck. I quickly rushed in but it tightened its grip on my little sister’s neck, “That’s right, stay back.”

“Enough,” Asta said with a deadly chill, “Light/Dark magic,” He held his keyblade with the tip pointed at the monster, “Dimensional Cross Slash!” he slashed and sent a slash of light and dark magic overlapping one another on the beast causing it to stop moving and drop Luna.

“H-How?”

“Because you never really understood my power,” Ast remarked as the monster crumbled away, “Three, two, one…” he counted.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! HOW DID YOU? RAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

I immediately recognized that voice.

“I forced him out,” Asta coughed and returned to his base form, “I used the last of my strength and magic to do it,” he said as he collapsed on the ground, “I’ll see you two in the real world….” he said as he faded away.

“Ugh, why do I hurt so much? That wasn’t even the real world?” I groaned as I slowly sat up, cradling my aching head and body.

“The body reflects the mind,” I heard Melissa explain on my right. “You’re lucky you didn’t die in there, since you would have died out here as well.”

“She’s right,” Luna croaked next to me. “Geez, I haven’t hurt this much since before everything happened.”

“Ya might prefer this to the future,” Asta chuckled lightly, “Ow…. my everything…”

“Well, that’s what you get for being reckless and a fool,” I heard the voice again. I turned to see Edward Elric sitting in the room with his head propped against his metal fist. “Coarse that’s just who you are,” he sighed as he stood up and walked over to Asta. “You’ll never change.”

“Ah…” Asta held up a finger.

“Nope,” Ed smirked as he cracked his knuckles, “BAKA!” He yelled as he nailed Asta dead center in the head with his metal fist several times causing just as many lumps to form on the mage's head while Ed’s hand was smoking. “Are you two okay?” he turned to us as he waved his hand then took out a handkerchief and wiped off Asta’s blood.

“Um, don’t you think that was a bit harsh?” I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Not at all,” Ed said matter of factly, “Of course, I had to cut him down so he'd spring back up all the stronger. The boy's extremely talented, if not a bit dense at times. There's no denying either of those facts…” He glared at Asta but with a lot of concern and warmth in his eyes, “but he's still a novice in the many worlds in which we all live in and venture in between. He has not yet learned how to be worthy of the various talents he has. He refuses to deny just about any challenge that comes to him no matter the terms. He does see the true values of competition. To a youth to whom everything comes easily, the pang of defeat can be a much-needed wake-up call, such as this. On the surface, the whole concept of a fight may seem arbitrary, but deep down, it's not about winning. It's about rising to the occasion. It's about tasting the rapture in triumph and the disgrace of failure. They go hand in hand, you see. One is meaningless without the other. To win, one must also lose. The difference between the novice and the master is that the master has failed more times than the novice has tried. Also, he’s my little brother after and it's my job to look after him and make sure he knows he screwed up even if he did win this fight in the end, he still lost in the beginning.”

I just looked at him then Asta then him and then Asta, “It’s the truth…” he hissed out in pain while holding his head.

I sighed with a chuckle. “Well, who am I to argue with the wisdom of the great Korosensei?”

“Indeed,” a familiar female voice chuckled. I quickly turned to the voice, finding myself face to face once more with Faust herself, though this time, she was in shining, gold and silver armor, wielding a giant spear.

“Faust, what’s with the getup?” I asked. “You almost look like you just came from a battle.”

“As a matter of fact, I did just come from a battle,” the deity replied. “While the Sin Eaters attacked Ponyville, a separate force of Voidsent was sent to attack Canterlot. Luckily, there were no casualties.”

“I have my questions about these creatures that I fully expect to be answered if you want my continued support in the coming battles and war, your highness,“ Ed looked right at Faust dead seriousness in his eyes and voice then sighed. “But first the fight here isn’t over just yet either,” He crossed his arms and turned to a distortion just behind Faust. “Come out you bastard!” he commanded.

A low growl of frustration emanated from the distortion. “My plan almost succeeded, and then we would have had a foothold on his world as well.” Out stepped Innocence, greatly diminished. “How the hell did you reverse the corruption of Light Aether?”

“It's obvious that my dumbass brother's whole schtick is balance, numbnuts,” Ed deadpanned, “He already had the ability to wield a keyblade from a past displaced. So once he broke free things kind of went back to how they’re supposed to. He literally has the embodiments of good and evil in his body as a demon and light spirit. Didn’t you wonder why even though he was sealed he still had three other entities in his soul fighting off your force?” he looked at Sumire, “Also she lent a hand with the new version of Song Magic I made. I call it Song Soul Magic.”

“Grrr, it doesn’t matter, I’ll take you all out, right here and now!” the Lightwarden yelled, beginning to glow. “SELF DESTRUC-!”

“Be silent” Faust commanded, using a Silence spell on it before placing it in a dome of raw magic. “Edward, would you care to do the honors?”

“I was planning on it in every single outcome,” Ed said coldly. “There was no need for interference either your highness.” He held up his hand.

That’s when I noted his words, “Every single outcome…. Just what kind of power does he have access to now?”

I RELEASE YOU FROM YOU CHAIN. DEVOUR THE KNIGHTMARES TO BRING FORTH THE SWEETEST OF DREAMS TO MY FRIENDS. SHINE THE LIGHT IN THE DARK AND UNLOCK THE DOORS TO THE KINGDOM, THE KINGDOM HEARTS!

“That phrase,” I said.

“Yep,” Asta nodded, “He’s releasing its seal alright. I’ve never actually fought against my brother but just by going off your face, I can tell you faced that weapon of his before. It's just not right…”

Ed thrust his hand into the air and pulled back. It looked like the reality around him was made of fabric that was being torn away.

“Come forth my true keyblade,” Ed grunted as he pulled. That’s when it tore through to reveal a keyblade I had never seen before. It was black at the core with red edges. It was much simpler in ever all designs when compared to Ed's previous weapon, the Baku.

“Behold,” He said brandishing the weapon, “A keyblade forged from the hellfires of the purest of darkness that births the light and that also consumes it in the end,” he pointed at the Lightwarden who was now shaking with terror, “A DARKNESS THAT IS NEITHER GOOD NOR EVIL, IT SIMPLY IS WHAT IT IS! THE BEGINNING AND THE END, THE VOID OF ALL THINGS! This is my Crimson Void,” he started to walk across the room and before anyone knew it, he was behind the light warden, “And you are now nothing,” he said as the Lightwarden was simply engulfed in a red darkness. No sound not flailing, it was simply gone.

With the Lightwarden destroyed, Faust releases her hold on the barrier she had created, letting it dissipate. “Impressive.”

“Since when is that thing your keyblade?!” Asta pointed.

“Blame those two,” Ed pointed at me and Luna. “The Baku was never actually my keyblade after all. I was merely the delivery boy,” he smirked and then I thought back to the reunion. “Yes, I gave you the actual Baku, not its keychain,” he snickered, “It told me it was time for you two to awaken its true form, and so you have, allowing me to gain access to my own true keyblade.”

He turned to Faust then to me, “My other self we be here shortly with the issue I need you for,” he said to me, “In the meantime You’re,” he looked at Faust, “Going to do a lot of explaining. Then Asta, we leave before the train gets here.”

“I could just leave now,” Asta thumbed but then shrank away from the glare Ed sent him, “Got it, staying here for now…”

Faust nodded, conjuring an image in the air as she began to explain.

“For the most part, as any unicorn scholar could tell you, our world, and all living things are composed of aether of various different aspects. Fire, wind, ice, water, earth, and lightning.” The goddess pointed to each element on the image as she spoke. “In addition to these elements, there exist two poles in fundamental opposition: that of Darkness, the active, and that of Light, the passive.

“But when exposed to, for lack of a better term, a flood aligned to a specific type of aether, the aetheric harmony within is shattered, and the natural form of the victim breaks down. As you saw in Ponyville today, they either perish...or are warped into mindless abominations. And that is how the sin eaters came to be.”

The goddess banished the image before her with a sigh, eyes closing. “They were once living creatures - or people - that were caught in the path of what became known in the world they originate from, as the Flood of Light.” Her eyes opened, tears filling them. “Once the change is wrought, there is no going back. In that instant, they are gripped by an insatiable appetite for aether, and will happily gorge themselves on any living thing within reach. But even that is not the worst of it. The stronger sin eaters, and especially Tash himself, can plant Light in us like seeds in soil, corrupting our aether, and triggering the birth of new monstrosities. They are creatures of base instinct that exist only to feed and to multiply. They feel no pity, know no remorse, and are utterly deaf to reason. Which is why they must be destroyed. Every last one of them.” She turns back to us. “The Voidsent are much the same, though with them, their aetheric balance was shattered by dark aether.”

“So they’re nothing like Void Eaters in the slightest,” Ed rubbed his chain. “This could work to our advantage. Seeing as how the void eaters consume void energy they are creatures of primal darkness and couldn’t be corrupted as they of total beginning and end, but they are still the last resort that would be hesitant to use in the coming war…

“War?” Asta raised an eyebrow, “What war? I have an entire country to worry about running and now you’re talking about a war in another universe! Kairi,” he looked at me, “What aren’t you telling me?”

I look Asta straight in the eye. “My world is facing a threat from an entity of pure evil that devours worlds. His name is Tash, and he has an army of both Sin Eaters and Voidsent. If my world falls, then the next to face him would be Lex’s world.”

“Oh….” Asta said, “Lex is really the only other member of my extended family I’ve met. I owe her a lot for helping Fluttershy after she was… nearly raped.” He scratches his face, “Look… I can’t guarantee I’ll be available to fight, my own world comes first after all, but f you need another keyblade wielder and I can make you can count on me and as many of my knights and Shinigami that’ll answer the call,” he held up a clenched fist.

I nodded before turning back to Ed. “So, you said something about another you on the way?”

“Yes,” Ed nods, “But first,” he points at Asta.

“Yeah…. Shy, Twilight, Aj, and Rebecca are all going to murder me for leaving so can I go ahead and get it over with so I can just deal with the pain now and not later,” Asta shuttered. “So… can I just go home now?”

“It's up to your hostess,” Ed shrugs, “Everyone, Meet me out front of the Tower when you're done here,” he said before just fading away.

“Uh… so can I?” Asta looked at me while pointing at himself.

I shrugged. “Go right ahead, you did far more than you needed to when you stayed to help against the Sin Eaters.”

“Give me a call if you need some heavy-duty martial arts training then,” Asta smiled as a void portal opened up, “Oh yea before I go. Luna come here and stand next to your sister for me, please.”

With a shrug of her shoulders, Luna complies, standing next to me with a slightly confused look on her face.

Asta placed his pointer finger in the dead center of our forehead, “Teach,” he said with a smile and suddenly we both felt a rush of martial arts technique flow into our minds, “I’m giving you the basics. It’s all I can do, you’ll have to practice and level up on your own. They can be used to better your bend and help you create your own style. Now for the kicker, Teach,” he said once more and this time even more info flowed into your heads.

“All right,” he pulled back, “Be careful with those as you can’t really do the breath techniques back to back. Once you train some then you can. Whatever you do, don’t ever use total concentration breathing. These are techniques I developed on my own, only later did I find out about the Demon Slayer show. The difference is, mine are much stronger and more versatile. Good luck girls, I wish you the best!” he started running into the portal, “Hang on Arura, daddy’s on his way for feeding time!” he called out as the portal closed.

I sighed, turning back to Luna, Melissa, and Sumire. “Welp, let’s go see what Ed has for us.”

Aaaand that's another big, hefty chapter done! Lots of stuff happened, and now Kairi and co are far more prepared then they were before.

Thank you all once again for your patience as me and alvasa worked on this chapter. One more chapter, and this crossover will be complete. Until next time!

Songs used in this chapter:

Voices by Motionless In White

Everything Goes On by Porter Robinson, and covered by Chloe Breez