Roleplay:Off with her Head!

This Roleplay is Closed! Sorry!

Overview
With the Death of Echo Radon, things have started to take a turn for the worse, starting with the infighting of the already unstable Mythic Knights. Saren doesn't seem to be taking to well to the team after Echo's death, Lexi seems so distracted by something it's like she's not even there and the physical manifestation of Masako's guilt soon comes running towards the team. All while Time Spinner takes on a litteral god and keeps the world from ending at the same time. This assassination attempt through time is going to be one hell of a ride...

Participants
NeoExlucky

Characters
Zero Evol (Neo)

Knave Veron (Neo)

Echo Radon (Neo)

Leah Dubio (Neo)

Trinity Moon (Neo)

Delta Radon (Neo)

Sedna the Rat (Neo)

Kala the Genie (Neo)

Time Spinner (Neo)

Era Tranquil (Neo)

Aero Facade (Neo)

Saren Arcturias (Saren)

Moros Nekrozia (Saren)

Ciel Mackenzie Fay (MHS)

Masako Haruno (MHS)

Natalie Alister (MHS)

Monica DeLouise (MHS)

Zapor the Hedgehog (Z88)

Lexi the Hedgehog (Z88)

"The Fallen Knight" (MHS)

Part 1: It's about time!
"What do you mean save Echo?" Zero asked, the runes being undone on everyone except Saren and Knave.

"As a meta of time I have a multitude of power," Time Spinner started. "One of these powers allows me to see every moment in all possible Time lines, and the thing about Echo is her right arm. In all timelines there is a clear cause and effect when it comes to her, that being that she will always lose the arm and whenever she does death always follows shortly afterwards."

"Skip to the parts that matter." Era chided the meta.

"Echo isn't supposed to die here. There isn't supposed to be any paradoxes created by Masako and Lexi, and Clemont should have already been found by now, but none of those things have happened. This isn't a timeline problem anymore there is something far greater than time being played wtih at this very moment and we need to fix it before anything else happens." Time Spinner explained.

"The only problem with that is that by traveling through time to an event that happened 2 hours ago with all of you involved is going to cause just as many paradoxes as we would be fixing, basically meaning that if we save Echo, we're going to destroy all of time and with it, everyone in existance ever." Aero reminded him.

"But as a meta, as long as I keep my focus, I can prevent Paradoxes from happening at all, I can use the Deja Vu effect to prevent anything like that from happening, as long as the paradoxes aren't too strong. So don't go touching any of the past versions of yourself." Time Spinner argued.

"So wait," Delta started.

"We don't have time to wait, we have literal demons coming after us, as well as monsters, paradoxes, soldiers, futures versions of yourselves, oh and possibly Destruction himself so we need to get moving!" Time Spinner noted. "Just so you know, I am not the Time Spinner from your time, I am a future Time Spinner coming back. Your Time Spinner is off doing something else, if you need a person to thank, look at Aero and thank him."

"None of this makes any sense." Delta shook her head, still looking at the blue hedgehog girl. "Who are you?"

"Monica DeLouise, the Aspect of Grace," she answered. "Yeah, I'm the idiot who tried to take on Neo alone... heh..."

Another tremor.

"Oh great, now that bitch is trying to bury us alive. Y'know, on top of all this timeline shit going straight to Hell!" Natalie ranted.

"I... don't think that's the case, here..." Ciel said.

"Yeah... Time Spinner, you said something about future versions of ourselves, right?" Masako inquired.

"Yes," Time Spinner noted. "Since the timelines are collapsing we've basically the got multiple versions of the end of the world running around able to jump through time now. Specifically there is a Neo who thinks he's king, and a destroyer of Mobius with the same name as you.."

"King Neo and The Fallen Knight." Aero muttered. "The good news is that they don't think they're on the same side for now. Give that a few minutes and we'll see where that goes."

"C'mon My Little Time Traveler, open the portals already!" Era chided.

"I'm working on it!" Time Spinner noted.

"Here's where things are going to get weird. With all these people following us, we're going to need everyone we can get to go through as many timelines as possible. If we can lose them somewhere else, the better." Aero explained giving everyone their weapons. "It's going to take a while, but we're going to save Echo. Saren, Knave, Trinity and Kala are going to save her." He looked at Saren. "Your goal is to save the girl, not kill the Queen. You'll have your moment once she's safe."

"Lexi, Era, Moros, Monica and Zero are going to try and take the hammer from The Queen. We need that hammer gone and Lexi is the only one who can pick it up right now." Aero continued.

"Masako," Time Spinner stated. "You and Delta are the only ones who can stop the Fallen Knight. You need to know that. I'm sending Ciel with you as well. In the end only you and Delta can kill the Fallen Knight."

"I can't believe we're doing this last one..." Aero shook his head. "Zapor. Leah, Sedna, and Natalie are going on a distraction team. You're job is to keep the demons away from the main three groups. Which means a lot of fighting and running."

"And death!" Leah protested. "You're sending us on a suicide mission!"

"I'm sending you four because I know you won't die." Aero said.

"More grunt work. Pathetic..." Natalie complained.

"Trust me, Natalie. What you'll be doing will be very important. If anything happens, if any of the three groups fail... this world is lost," Ciel said.

On the other side of the room, a huge darkened icicle crashed through the ceiling. There was a Conquest member painfully impaled on the end of it.

Masako observed it from her spot. "Are you sure the Fallen Knight can even be killed? And if so, is it worth the risk? For all I know, I might just be her only target."

(Basically, what I had in mind was that future Masako kills the Queen here, absorbing her power as she continues on her quest to... well, kill herself. It would be undone when the group travels back in time. -MHS)

"Yeah yeah, I'm more concerned about Echo than revenge.." Saren sighed.

Moros nodded. 'What can the hammer do anyways?' He asked, just because he's a voidling doesnt mean he knows everything.

"If we don't kill her she could wind up jumping through the tmelines even after we fix all ths. She could kill a lot of people if she isn't stopped here." Time Spinner said. "We have to at least try to kill her."

"Well, looking at it," Era started. "It seems like it can bend energy around it. Kinda like kinesis. Specifically lightning apparently..."

The four portals opened in front of Time Spinner, just as he was about to say something though, a being came from out of nowher a slammed Time Spinner into the back wall. He carried a large spear and was in a dark hood, hiding his face. Time Spinner quickly called out, "Go now!"

Aero started to lead people to their portals when the queen entered the room. "What is-"

(Do it MHS. -Neo)

Moros blinked, looking at the queen for a bit before inching towards his assigned portal.

Saren took the first portal.

Before the queen could finish her sentence, the Fallen Knight made her appearance, gripping her by the neck. The black blood -- the source of the Queen's power -- was being drained from her, her body being physically torn apart in the process. "Surrender now... to oblivion."

Masako watched in horror as Ciel dragged her into the portal with Delta.

"Hey, Monica! Don't die out there, alright?" Natalie shouted as she backed into her respective portal.

Zapor ran into his designated portal while Lexi ran into hers.

Part 2 (A): Blinded by Light, Corrupted by Shadow
Saren, Knave, Kala, and Trinity found themselves in Station Square again. Home, where everything was supposed to be safe.

Only it wasn't. While the city looked perfectly normal it didn't feel normal. Something in the air felt off, like they were in some sort of twisted land.

"Tranquil Manor is where the next portal is." Aero told them through some form of telekinesis. "If you find your way there you can get back home."

"Can you tell us anything about this place?" Knave asked.

"Yeah, this is a timeline where there is only light and shadow kinesis." Aero told them. "Hurry up, despite there being time travel, we don't actually have all the time in the world."

"Why would there be any difference with just light and shadow?" Knave asked.

"Light and Shadow are the two strongest forms of kinesis there is." Kala explained. "They mess with your head though. If you have one or the other they change your perspective in life, make you well, not you."

Trinity looked at Saren the entire time Kala explained that. "Huh." She said.

Saren looked back at Trinity. "Y'know, if you have something to say just say it instead of looking at me like a poece of meat."

Trinity pointed to the sign behind Saren. On it was an ad to vote Saren for Governer, a white suit and a smile that almost everyone in the group found creepy was plastered on this version of Saren.

"Guess you're trying to actually do something in this timeline." Trinity noted.

"5th term." Aero noted. "Apparently he's not bad. The people like him, at least."

"..... Holy shit I look like a f**kin f****t! God no! This shit isn't right damn it!!" Saren ranted. "God if I didnt care more about saving echo I'd be tempted to fix this mess up the old fashioned way!!"

"Wouldn't you die if you killed your..." Kala took a moment to ponder if that was Suicide or homoicide.

"Don't even worry about it, I'll kill Saren." Trinity said.

"Anyway," Knave tried to get them back on track. "We need to figure out where Tranquil Manor is."

"I know! We're two block south of...Hart's Coffee Shop! Which means we're about half a mile from Tranquil Manor!" Kala stated.

"The only one who kills me is me!" Saren retorted.

"Doing that creates a paradox that would kill you." Aero said. "If you want to save Echo, you need to keep moving, forget about him."

The shadowy figure who Saren had seen walk into the antique building stood in the distance, watching the four talk. Saren and Kala noticed him.

"Not this again.." Saren whispered under his breath, the last time he saw the shadowy figure he ended up being captured and echo ended up dying to the bitch queen.

More and more of them started to line up, not doing anything, simply watching.

"That doesn't feel right..." Kala noted.

"C'mon then..." Knave told them. "We need to go."

As they walked, with Kala leading them, the shadowy figures continued to follow, though they still did not do anything, at one point Knave had suggested they take refuge somewhere safe, and that safe space was right in Hart's Coffee Shop.

It looked the exact same as it had in the other timeline as well. It was empty, with Hart standing behind the counter, cleaning. Upon seeing Saren enter, he smiled, held a finger out as if to say 'Wait a moment' and began making him a cup. It seemed that Saren was a reguler here.

At least this Saren's taste was similar to Saren's. Hart presented Saren with an irish coffee, made using a whiskey that was very similar to the kind Echo had given Saren in Eclipse Manor earlier.

Saren downed the coffee with a few gulps. "Ah! That hit the spot..."

Hart nodded at Saren and went back behind the counter, he handed Saren an envelope containing what felt like cards.

Saren opened the envelope.

Inside the envelope was exactly what it felt like, a bunch of cards had been filled into the envelope, judging from the back of these cards, it was clear that these were Echo's. The fronts of the cards all lined up, it was the same circle that Echo had made back in Eclipse Manor, and two other cards and a note.

The first card looked almost burnt up, heat still radiated off of the cardstock. It had a 4 in each of the corners with a chibi picture of Time Spinner in the center, reading a book. It seemed Echo had used this card previously.

The next card was very similar with an 8 in each corner and a chibi picture of Saren in the center, drinking something. It was unclear what this card did.

The note was written in very fast, hardly legible handwriting, but after some time it could clearly be read,

"Saren, I drew a Time Spinner Card for the first time today. Turns out it gave me the power to see the future, and I really wish what I saw made me happy but it doesn't. By the time you have read this, I will be dead, that's what I saw. I know that Time Spinner will try to fix it, I know he'll try to turn back time and make everything right, but he can't. You can't bring me back from the dead, he doesn't know what will happen to people when they go through time like that, and he's letting his past judgements cloud his thinking. In the end, you need to know that you can't bring me back from the dead, I know what everyone will be thinking and wanting, but you're the only person who can make that decision to bring me back or not.

"You also need to get to work on saving your own life. You need to talk to Trinity and Kala, and I know that you'll need them both on their good side if you want both of their lights, but listen, you need to talk to Kala. Start asking questions, ask her about the shards of light and the Echo Project, she is where everything comes together. Kala is the reason Zero has no family, why Neo and Fey were captured, why Trinity was ripped from her home, why Zapor lost his parents, and why everything is going really badly all of a sudden. Kala is what brings everything together."

-Echo

Saren closed his eyes for a moment after reading the message, allowing himself a small moment to mutter an apology before neatly pressinh the card into his coat pocket and turning towards Kala.

"Hey.. Kala, mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"I...guess..." Kala said.

"We really need to keep moving..." Knave muttered.

"No one's there though." Trinity said. "We can wait a few minutes."

"What exactly are these shards of light really, and the Echo project... What's going on with all of that?"

"I mean, you already know everything that I know about it." Kala said.

"No, we don't." Trinity crossed her arms. "You said earlier your the reason we're here. You were around long enough to have been in the demon-spirit war, you're leaving information out, aren't you?"

Kala didn't answer for a while. "It's a long story..."

"We got all the time in the multiverse." Trinity gestured outside.

"When the multiverse was first formed," Kala started. "There was a single diety. Not all these 'gods' that are walking around now, there was only one. He or she eventually left us, all of the multiverse, for unknown reasons. All that we have left, are the 'gods' that we have now, and The Guardians."

"The Guardians are these strange stone-like objects that exist in the dimenion in between all of the universes. The home of the Meta. Their purpose was simple, find people with specific qualifications and moments after they are born, they are given incredible power. That's how meta are made. After the first meta came to be, they begin to find other universes for more meta to be found. One meta from each dimension, ten meta in total. Universe number 8 finally was found one day, our universe."

"Among them were three really important meta, Time Spinner, Diety, and Aselia. These meta came in during a war against demons and Destruction, one we were losing. The meta offered their help, but they needed a guide. So, the Elemental Spirits created a spirit, a spirit consisting of all the elements in existant, someone who could rival the Elemental Spirits in strength. She became known in war as the Elemental Spirit of All, Sihr. Of course she choose a different name for herself; Kala." The genie sighed.

"But what's all this got to do with the Shards of Light?" Trinity asked.

"Well," Kala began. "As time passed, I joined the meta and became a guide of sorts for them, I knew all of the planet's locations from the moment I came into existance. We scoured the land for everything we could use to turn the war around, and we found a small point in our universe, one that led to the center of the entire multiverse. There we found two of the most power items in existance, The Light and The Darkness. Two crystals with so much power that they could disintegrate a meta by merely touching them. Time Spinner had an idea, and with the help of the other two meta, he broke The Light, into seven fragments."

"Spirits could not use the shards, so it was up to seven meta to become the Shards of Light. Time Spinner and Diety were two of them. Suddenly we were winning and in one battle that could have led to Destruction's death, everything changed forever. I was caught in a fight away from the others, and I was going to die. I had accepted my fate when Time Spinner came to save me. Instead of going to the battlefield, he instead chose to rescue me, and that is what caused everything to happen in the first place."

"Destruction had killed Diety on the field of battle. Meta are not supposed to die while they are active. A meta can die only when they have given up their meta powers. Diety's death led to the destruction of the Shard of Conscience. We no longer had the power to kill Destruction. The sky darkened and in the chaos of Diety's powers we got the Chaos Emeralds, and the world was never the same. Suddenly now we couldn't kill Destruction, why hope for something that isn't going to happen, right? Time Spinner came up with an alternative, we could seal Destruction and his demons in the underworld, if all the shards worked together, and they did. We all knew though, that one day Destruction would come back, Time Spinner had to be ready."

"So he changed everything. He changed the lives of everyone, every member of the Mythic Knights, he was always behind the scenes causing everything to happen. Zapor's parents, Era's lonelieness, Masako's destiny, Zero's sister, the Mystic Magi, Leah's mentor, Delta's brothers, even your death, Saren, Time Spinner helped you wind up dead. He can whisper things into people's heads, change how everything plays out, influence people to do certain things, so that other people won't notice it."

"So you're the reason Destruction is still here and Time Spinner is just using us to clean up his mistake?" Trinity asked.

"Yes." Kala continued. "At one point I helped King Arthur and one of his knights, Balador. After sometime, Balador left the round table and established his own kingdom, along with a new form of fighting, with Black Blood. Balador was the first Black Blood user, and taught all in his kingdom how to use it. I helped him through everything, even when he wrote a theory about a possible war machine, it was all possible, but it needed technology that didn't exist. So he kept his writings along with the shards of a crystal he found and saved it for the future. I was imprisoned in a lamp for what I had done, unknowing that it was that small echo in time, that caused Dr. Radon to create the Echo Project. In his madness he didn't know what he was doing, but Dr. Radon eventually decided to use those two crystals in two of his last experiments. Project Delta, the shard of Deceit and Project Echo, the shard of Apathy, two of the Shards of Darkness."

"Echo and Delta...?" Trinity asked. "They're...shards of darkness?"

"Influenced by Destruction and made to one day kill the Shards of Light, yes." Kala nodded.

Saren took all this in, and his conclusion to this was unsurprisingly snarky. "So in essence, all the shit we've had to deal with was a result of Time Spinner's monumental retardation..?"

"That's what it sounds like..." Trinity growled.

"At the same time, by doing that humans and mobians came to exist as well." Kala tried to argue. "It's not his fault! I should have listened to him and Diety and not gone to that city, it's not his fault, it's mine, he's just been trying to stop Destruction, any way possible."

"So instead of it really being Time Spinner's fault, in all reality it's yours." Trinity said.

"Is everyone just going to ignore the fact that the girl we are trying to bring back to life is a shard of darkness?" Knave asked.

"Yeah.." Saren looked off to the distance, a rather forlorn look on his face.

"What would you have us do Knave?" Trinity asked.

"Gods, I don't know!" Knave shouted. "We can't be like Kala or Time Spinner or whoever. Destruction needs to die. The only way for him to die is with all seven shards of light and if they are meant to kill them..."

"Do you think they would do that?" Trinity argued.

"Do you think they have a choice in the matter? You're one of the people they're trying to kill! If they become anything like Neo did in that armor, then they won't even know what's going on!" Knave said.

".... As much as I really hate Knave, I'm afraid I'm going ti have ti agree with him.. Sides, something tells me Echo forsaw her death and what would happen if Timespinner's attempt to bring her back actually succeeded."

"Is that what the note said?" Trinity asked. "How do you know this isn't Destruction messing with us? Even if it was Hart who gave it to us, that Hart is from another dimension and could have been tricked."

"Considering that Destruction seems to enjoy tricking Saren, the does sound plausible." Knave siad. "Of course, I don't really think that matters, since it was the real Kala that told us what Echo really is."

"Maybe we need to ask Echo." Kala suggested. "If we keep going with this, we can talk to Echo in the past."

"Wait, how the f**k did you know about that? I kept that shit in my pocket."

"You...read it." Knave noted. "We saw you read it..."

"..... God I miss the simpler times.." Saren sighed.

Saren has begun to notice that the room around him is starting to get darker. Not from the lights being taken out, but rather that his vision is beginning to fail him.

Saren started to rub his eyes. "Damn it, not now.." He muttered.

Suddenly everything went black, followed by a fall and the sound of flesh and bone meeting the ground.

Some time later Saren regained his sight, Kala looking over him. He was accompanied by a massive head ache, and the feeling that his left arm was missing. Of course, it was there, but it was still there, one could very easily see it, but it felt like it wasn't there at all.

Kala's worried face looked down over Saren, upon his eyes opening, Kala's expression quickly changed to sheer joy. "Oh, thank god you're alive!" She exclaimed. "I-I...saw your aura disappear, you were dead! I...I thought we..." The genie seemed very worried about Saren's condition, showing some sort of affection towards the lynx.

"Yeah, kiiinda dying.. Again; not as fun the second time." Saren chuckled, sitting up.

"Dying again?" Knave asked.

"Necromancy running out?" Trinity asked. "Spells can only last a certain amount of time..."

"I can't fix that..." Kala said sadly. "I...I need..." She looked around, flustered and confused, as if there was a tool around here somewhere that would suddenly cure death. "

"Considering the way he's acting he either has it figured out or he's okay with dying." Knave told Kala. "We've been here too long, we need to move. Can you walk fine?" Knave asked Saren.

"Jeez, ya act like i'm gonna croak any minute now; don't worry too much, I've cheated death before on numerous ocassions and I'm certainly going to do so again." Saren cracked a grin; hopping to his feet.

"Couldn't you?" Knave asked.

"You're aura is wavering really fast, I think when we entered the time portal it might have sped up the effects of the magic leaving your body!" Kala exclaimed. "You don't have long left!"

"If he says he's fine, he's probably fine." Trinity started. "Let's hurry and leave."

Upon exiting the coffee shop, Saren came to find that the Shadowy figure had been waiting for him, along with several other figures, formed like a mob, rallying behind one single man. The Deceiver.

"Why hello!" The Deceiver smiled at Saren.

Saren cracked his knuckles; giving the deceiver a deceptively kind smile. ".... Listen; you guys.. Don't revive Echo, and most importantly; go on ahead.. I have a feeling this guy's after me; So I figure I'll do something free of charge for once and handle this asshat to buy you guys some time.."

"But you can't!" Kala urged. "You could die again, what happen when your aura is completely gone!"

"Kala, we need to go." Trinity urged the genie. She gave a look back to Saren, and went on their way. As they began to leave, a small shimmer of light, almost like a tear, floated through the air. The Saren Card activated, trapping the light within. One of three ingredient needed for Celestial magic, of course it was useless without Zero and Leah, but it was there. It would also be useless if Saren did in fact die in this battle.

Knave however didn't leave, in fact, he stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with Saren. "I'm not going to leave you." His voice was concrete, there was no convincing him otherwise. He put his hand onto the runes that restricted him from fighting, the same runes Saren still had on him. No kinesis, no weapons, even the act of moving too fast would hurt them. There really wasn't a way to engage the Deciever in any battle, let alone defeat him. "That letter wasn't written by Echo. How did Echo know that Kala was involved with all of this, if that Time Spinner card let her see the future? Or that fact that whenever she uses a card, it disappears and goes back into her deck once it's been uses. There isn't a way that she was able to use the card and put it into the envelope. Not to mention that she managed to give it to someone in an alternate universe."

The Deceiver smiled, walked towards the two.

"You're going to turn this into a joke, or call me stupid, I know that you are, but I've seen this team long enough to know what really matters to them. You matter to them. They care about you, all of them. I've heard Trinity talk about you, Kala praising the influence you've had on Echo, Zero studying the way you fight, Leah was the one Echo and Delta went to when she realized you were dying and they both wanted to help you." Knave told the Lynx, revealing that he knew what all was happening. "She helped Echo with the theories, they have been working tirelessly to find a cure for you, because they care about you, Saren. They don't need some useless knave, they need a knight like you."

"........." Saren was gobsmacked, he honestly thought most of them didnt give a rats ass about him; so he acted the same... "Fine.. Just try not to end up dying.."

Knave gave a small chuckle. "No kinesis, no runes, no weapons...it'll be an easy fight."

The Deceiver stood roughly 20 feet away. "So, there you are. Ready to offer yourself up on a platter? You can't fight! You should have just kept running, like the rat you are. Honestly, Saren, I thought you would do better."

"Sure; whateeeever you say dude~" Saren shrugged, giving the Deceiver an aloof grin that suggested he didnt care what the deceiver had to say about him.

The deceiver smiled at Saren, walking closer to him. "Whatever you say, sir." He corrected Saren, his tentacle-claw grabbing the Lynx's shoulder. "And you brought some lackey along with you? This simply will not do, it is supposed to be about us, Saren, not some third party."

"I just wanted to see what all the fun was." Knave grunted.

"You share Saren's ill humor...interesting." The deceiever turned to Saren. "So then, are you ready to lose what little power you have left?"

Saren grabbed the tentacle-claw. "You sound so sure of yourself~" He said with a smirk.

"The fox and the Genie are gone by now, already through the portal to the next world. It has closed, and now you two are stuck here. What could you possibly do to stop me Saren? I have outsmarted you, you have no weapons, no kinesis, and even if you try hand-to-hand combat those runes will continue to restrict any movement you make. You are powerless." The Deciever told him.

Saren only grinned wider, attempting to raise his free hand and using it to flip the Deceiver the bird before firing a beam of light at the sod; he still had his light kinesis and by god he was going to enjoy using it to blow this ugly bastard's head clean off.

The Deciever simply lifted his hand to catch his light. "Right now, you are in my land, your powers mean nothing here." His hand raised, almost covering Saren's face. "Goodbye, Saren."

A bright light shone out in the distance, as a red blade rushed through, cutting the arm off before it could come into contact with Saren.

Aero stood next to Knave now, quickly breaking the runes and giving Knave his blade back.

"Saren!" Aero threw Saren a strange white stone, the same stone that Fey had worn on her clothes before, upon coming into contact with Saren's hand, it changed into her scythe.

Knave quickly threw his sword into the ground, creating several boulders to be thrown at The Deceiver knocking him back.

(Time to Make History - Saren, Knave, and Aero vs Shard of Deceit)

Saren twirled the scythe. "Merry Christmas asshole!" He lunged at the Deceiver; twirling Fey's scythe in hand.

Part 2 (B): Tranquil Kingdom
Lexi, Era, Moros, Monica and Zero found themselves in a twisted form of Station Square. The biggest glaring issue was the giant castle that stood in the center of town. The buildings had changed, as had the layout of the city. This town was so strange, the people who flooded the streets looked tired and constantly in a state of what looked like Delirium.

"What the hell happened here?" Zero muttered.

"Remember when we mentioned King Neo?" Aero asked. "This is where he's from. This is a timeline where the Order of the Scythe never existed. Without it, there was no Fey, no wayward castle, and no previous kingdom established here, meaning some other family established it. Take a wild guess who's king here."

"Where's the portal?" Era asked.

"The only place with enough power to support it. The caslte gardens." Aero answered.

Moros blinked, looking around with a curious expression. 'owo?'

"So... how much danger are we in right now? I get the distinct feeling that we can't afford to stay here for very long..." Monica asked.

"Considering your all dead in this timeline and were previously wanted criminals?" Aero asked. "A large amount of danger."

"Great..." Zero muttered.

'Even me..?' Moros asked.

"Do not lose sight of our goal. We find the portal and make a swift exit -- that's our plan for now," Monica said. "If we're forced into a fight, there aren't any consequences to neutralizing anyone who might want to kill us... right?"

'Mouuu, I wanna get a cinnabun though... Era forgot them back home.' Moros pouted slightly.

"We'll get them later!" Era chided Moros. "Honestly, you're a child."

"How...did you two beat us again?" Zero asked rhetorically.

"Considering you all are dead, including you Moros, don't worry about coming into contact or killing anyone you need to." Aero told Monica. "You might want to hurry though, there is going to be a change in the guards here soon."

"Right... I'll try scouting for the safest route to the garden. I'm light on my feet," Monica said.

Moros nodded, still pouting a bit. "Mouuu, so mean.." He said, looking at Zero.

"We need to move somewhere safe." Zero noted quickly. "I think...we're being followed."

Monica tucked down as she proceeded forward.

Moros actually started hopping around, a bit of a spring in his steps. Clearly he doesn't get out much,

"That black blood got you all paranoid, huh?" Era asked. "I don't see anyone."

"Don't look, feel them." Zero told her. "I can feel other black blood users approaching."

"If the Order of the Scythe never existed how is there black blood?" Era asked. "They made it, it should only exist if they exist."

"Unless Destruction found some pawns here to." Zero noted coldly. "Hurry up."

Entering the crowd provided a sense of security, though as the group progressed they found that these people acted less like people and more like zombies, not really living but just...existing.

Moros gulped. 'Z-Z-Zombies...? q-q' He gulped, watching too many late night horror flicks in his free time kinda ended up giving him a classic case of unrealistic fear.. Kinda like scooby-doo.

As she was moving, Lexi got a bit nervous. The way the crowd was moving was a bit creepy.

Monica already moved to the end of the crowd. She waited for the others.

"I don't think they're actually zombies..." Era shook her head.

"I know where we can go." Zero said, taking the group through the city, to an alleyway with a dead end. Zero took a running start and quickly used his scythe to swing onto a pipe, where he continued to jump higher and higher.

Era watched as Zero climbed higher up, finally landing on a ledge in the side of an old building. "So can anyone else actually do that or am I just gonna need to fly us up there?"

Moros tried to open two small rifts, one right next to him and the other next to Zero.

"Can you fly me up there?" Lexi asked Era.

"Yeah, I'm... fine with climbing, don't mind me," Monica said. She looked a little tired, though. Her injuries hadn't fully healed.

Era gave a little sigh, creating a platform out of dark poison and hardening it to the point of it being a strong structure. It rose up from the ground, under Lexi, Era, and Monica.

Era truly was Neo's sister. A strong gust of wind formed under the platform, raising it to the floor of where Zero had gone. Once everyone had stepped off the platform, it returned to a liquid state and fell to the floor.

They had entered a very normal looking apartment. There was a couch, in front of a TV, a small kitchen area, a hall leading down to two simple bedroom. It looked so very normal, with the exception of part of the wall being gone.

"This is one of the outposts I used when I came to report to my partner about Echo's status." Zero noted. "This is an A.R.T.E outpost. I doubt they're around now."

Just as Zero had predicted a small group of roughly three or four different guards roamed the streets, looking up and down for the small team that had practically vanished from view. What was most interesting was who was with them. A familiar archer, and mage. Celia was in obsidian armor allowing her great movement while also giving her great defense. Leah wasn't in armor, instead she wore a black dress that many would find at a formal event. The black was moving however, and anyone who looked long enough would find that it was actually made out of Black Blood.

Moros closed the rifts he made before starting to look around his surroundings.

Lexi looked around at her surroundings, and noticed Leah's dress. "A black blood dress...?" She muttered.

'I don't even want to know how that's plausible.'

Zero looked over them before backing away from the side of the building. "Let's wait until they go away."

'Awwww, but I wanna have fun with theeeem qwq'

"That is arguably the worst tactical decision we could make in this situation. Zero's right, we wait," Monica said.

"Black Blood can be controlled in a lot of different ways, including the ability to harden it and make almost as dense as concrete. It's great for when you need to defend yourself." Era explained. "It works just like Dark Poison, makes sense since Dark Poison is based off of a specific school of Black Blood..."

"Eh, It's defensive properties are kinda moot when it comes to me anyways; Remember what Magic I use Era~?" Moros asked, an excited grin stretched across his face.

"When it comes to Dark Poison, your void magic is more than capable to pierce it, but Black Blood requires a bond with a demon in order to gain strength, that bond is what makes Black Blood far stronger than my Dark Poison. While your void magic would excel at killing the demon itself, it would be useless to even try against a Black Blood user. You would need to out smart them, or gain Black Blood yourself." Era stated very matter-of-fact-ly.

"You've been studying?" Zero asked,

"Despite what my brother would have you believe, I am not an idiot. Do not get this little alliance of ours mixed up, I have been promised all of your Chaos Emeralds in exchange for my services. Once we are done here, I will resume my attempt to murder all of you." Era sneered at Zero.

"Aye, she's the smartest one here I'd say.." Moros nodded in a  matter of fact way. "But try not to die before Era can kill you, I'll never hear the end of it qwq"

"Black blood can do all of that?" Lexi said to herself.

"At cost of selling your soul to a demon? Yes." Era jabbed at Zero.

"I was born with Black Blood. I did not do that." Zero retorted back.

"Sure you were." Era scoffed.

"Ehhh, what good is a soul..?" Moros asked, clearly he wasnt versed in soul theorem and all that stuff despite being a spirit many times older than everyone here.

"You clearly don't need one." Era said, a proud smirk on her face as she looked to her ghostly companion.

Moros rubbed the back of his head. 'True. ^^;'

Monica cleared her throat. "Well, now that I've been thoroughly disturbed..."

While they were waiting, Moros occupied himself by looking around the area they were in.

"May I ask what you're doing here?" A voice came from behind the group, standing behind them was Celia, her bow already drawn and pointed at Zero.

Moros conjured two floating ethereal blades pointed at Celia in response.

"Put those swords away or you will have a very shocking revelation, Moros." Celia told him.

Zero slowly turned around. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions..." Zero started.

"Yeah, considering I saw you all die." Celia told them. "None of you are supposed to be here, I watched 'his majesty' kill all of you." Celia lowered her bow, unstringing the arrow from it.

Moros dispelled the swords. '.... Eraaaa, she's mean and grumpyyy.. qwq'

"What even made him do it?" Lexi asked.

"He's always been like this." Celia told Lexi. "The Tranquil family was fairly kind for a time, before King Markus was born. His heir, Prince Ages suddenly wound up ill, and died shortly after. Some suggested fowl play, but no one knew for sure. After King Markus wound up in the same boat, everyone was sure who did it, but by then there was nothing they could do, King Neo was crowned shortly after. Princess Era wouldn't stand for it, and started a rebellion, taking talented warriors all across the country, and they were successful for a time, even managing to kill the former general Fury Robin, but things started to take an even darker turn after King Neo was married to Queen Leah. In a battle against the queen, you were all killed by both the queen and her royal guard-captain, Chelsea Takashi."

"So the bitch down there with Leah..." Era started.

"Is my sister, yes." Celia told them.

"Wait; How are their multiple versions of me that I don't know about?"

"Well, I'm going to guess that the void exists in a timeline, so there are probably multiple versions of the void and all who inhabit it." Era shrugged. "Or maybe you're not a voidling in this timeline or something. I don't know how spirits work in alternate timelines."

"The concept of the void is literally nothing; no age, no time,  no physical form, no cinnabuns; it's really booooring.. Which is why I left.. And yes; paradoxes can happen."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Era assured Moros. "If a mage can use the energy of the void for magic, than maybe it's just unused energy. 'Sides, can't be all bad if they can make badass ghosts like you!"

"Celia, our timeline isn't looking any better. We need to reach the courtyard. That is where our exit is... no telling how long it will stay open," Monica tried to get back on topic.

"The courtyard? You couldn't pick somewhere a little less harder to get to?" Celia asked.

"We didn't really have a choice." Zero noted. 'Also, you're taking this whole different timeline concept a lot easier than I thought."

"Honestly at this point, anything could happen and I doubt I would bat an eye." Celia sighed. "If we take my sisters armor, I can lead the rest of you in there under the impression of prisoners."

Part 2 (C): City that never sleeps
Zapor. Leah, Sedna, and Natalie found themselves not in Station Square for once, but rather some place much worse for wear. Giant glowing neon buildings layerd the skyline, there were so many bright lights that even though it was dark, it could easily be mistaken for day time. Many vendors called crowds over, people were gambling left and right. While the others may or may not know where they were, Zapor would know, since he had been here before.

"Huh," Aero noted. "So you're not in an alternate timeline here. It doesn't matter anyway, where you are right now will work just fine for trying to lose King Neo. You need to find the portal, it shouldn't be that far ahead. Oh and Zapor, welcome back to Reale City."

"Guh... this place is so damn bright, it's obnoxious," Natalie complained.

"This place again? It seems brighter than I last remembered." He muttered. "Where would the portal even be?"

"Big casino somewhere?" Leah asked.

"Really big casino." Aero corrected Leah. "Dreams Casino to be exact. That's where the mayor's office is."

"Doesn't the mayor of Reale City want Neo dead?" Leah asked.

"Not the real mayor, just the fake one." Aero said.

"Why is there a fake mayor?" Zapor asked.

"If you'll recall Millie Woodthorne was the mayor before you left, and was taken hostage afterwards. There is a fake mayor in place now; Fury." Aero noted. "So you may want to lay low."

"Or... we enact a hostile change in management," Natalie plotted. "Uhh, later anyway. Whatever, we've still got a job to do."

"I reccomend later." Aero noted.

"Dreams Casino..." Sedna noted. "That's in the center of the city, right? It's there." She pointed to a large building in the center of the town.

Natalie may have noticed that some of the members of the crowd have started to approach them.

Natalie observed them, her hands tucked into her cloak.

"Areo, while we didn't travel in time, what are the chances that something affected the people here?" Zapor asked.

"From the time travel itself? None whatsoever. From Destruction or the Meta of Destiny? Very high." Aero reported.

"Oh great..." Sedna noted.

"Just walk." Leah said quietly, turning to Dreams Casino. "Even if there is someone evil controlling the town that doens't mean the people here deserve to get caught in the crossfire we are having."

Zapor nodded and began to walk to the casino.

"If they're smart, they won't start a fight with us," Natalie grumbled.

"Except they aren't..." Sedna said.

"We can't kill them, they could be normal people under Destruction's influence." Leah told them.

"Does it really matter anyway? In a second we're going to go back in time 4 hours." Seda asked.

"I don't know if we're already back there or not." Leah looked back at the group following them. "If we're already back, then we can't save them with time travel."

"Wait, already back...4 hours..." Zapor was lost in the whole dialogue. "Uh, what's gonna happen when we get to the portal?"

"We figure out who's messing with the timeline, and we kill them! Simple as that," Natalie said. This was one twisted chick..

"I don't think that's going to happen." Leah told Natalie. "The person messing with the timeline is a meta, like Time Spinner and if he's just as strong, than we need to concerned. When we get back to the portal, Considering we spent roughly two hours being dragged and put in jail, we have about 2 hours to stall, while Saren stops the kill, and Lexi takes the hammer."

"Leah, he doesn't know..." Sedna reminded the mage.

Leah stopped walking. She contemplated something, then knelt down to Zapor's height to look the boy in the eyes, placing a hand on his shoulder. This wasn't the first time she had done this. "Zapor...we all failed our last mission and was captured by Conquest...Echo...was executed. She's dead."

Zapor made a face which look like a kid that had all of his hopes and dreams crushed, combined with the face of being stabbed in the gut. "...She's....dead...?"

"I mean technically not right now, we're already back 4 hours in the past and Saren is working on saving her from bring Executed! Everything is going ot be fine, Echo will be safe once all of this is over!" Leah assured him.

Zapor slowly smiled. "She will?"

"Sure, sure. But kid, we need you to be angry for when we deal with the Queen. I want her deader than dead, got it?" Natalie said.

"She'll get what's coming to her eventually, but right now we need to focus on getting out of here." Leah said.

Zapor nodded. "Right. To the portal thingie!"

Just as Leah was about to get back up, a man in a suit placed his hand on Zapor's shoulder. "Excuse me, what are you doing here?"

Zapor turned around, midwalk and looked up "???"

The man was not familiar, Zapor had never seen him before, but judging from his look, he was clearly a security guard of some sort. He knew who Zapor was, and that was not good.

Zapor looked away for a minute, and looked back up at the man. "Uh, do I know you?"

Natalie attempted to take Zapor by the hand. "C'mon, kid, we don't have time to waste."

"You know my boss, Mr. Fury, perhaps?" The man pulled a gun on the kid. It was tiny compared to the guns that Zapor had.

Leah didn't seem phased. "I think you are mistaken, sir." Her staff was in hand, and the slightest hint of a spell being cast was noticed on the end of her staff, as the mage's eyes shifted left and right, looking for something.

Zapor chuckled. "Oh my gosh, did he just...? He tried pulling a gun on me? Wow, that small thing is wthe only thing you have? My guns would literally wear that thing like a scarf." Zapor said, completely unphased.

"I'm the bait." The man said, several red dots appearing on the foreheads of every mythic knight there.

Zapor looked at the dots on their heads. "Oh. Didn't expect that. Well played."

Natalie just looked around at the lasers trained on their foreheads, and chuckled. "Boy...  YOU JUST MADE THE WORST MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE! " She didn't hesitate to unleash Orochi right then and there. The latent power left over from the incident in the palace burned and coursed through her veins. Everyone's worst fears would begin to surface.

"...However long it may be." Natalie lunged at the man, her knives coated in daemonic fire.

The sound of bullets firing filled the air as Leah also jumped into action, slamming her staff onto the ground, creating a barrier large enough to block the bullets from hitting their targets, as soon as they were done, the barrier shattered. "We really don't have time for this, we need to go!" Leah urged.

Part 2 (D): The Home of Time Spinner
Masako, Ciel, and Delta found themselves in a very strange place. Not even on Mobius at all but rather somewhere else entirely. Something told them it was the Meta of Destiny's doing that caused them to be here, but that was neither nor there. RIght now they were trapped somewhere very far away and couldn't even get Aero to contact them.

The city they were in was quite beautiful, the buildings were made out of some sort of stone that shimmered in the sunlight. The grass was a shining green color that reflected the sunlight, causing it to look an amazing gold color. The oxygen was rich and clean and far better to breath than that one Mobius. It felt like a beautiful spring morning here.

Delta pulled her screen up and was looking through it. "I have no earthly idea where we are." She said. "My screen really doesn't like this place for some reason..."

"What...are you?" Came a femine voice. Behind the trio was two girls who looked to be about the size of a teenage human. They were made entirely out of crystals. This shining, clear quartz that gave the slightest tint of white behind them. One had very long crystal hair, and wore a simple dress made from some teal colored fabric. Her eyes glowed blue as well, with a smile formed through the crystal as if someone had cut through the stone with a smooth knife. There was some strange marking on her forehead that indicated something.

The girl next to her was the same color of crystal but her hair was much shorter. She wore black pants and shoes with a studed leather belt. Fingerless gloves graced her crystaline fingers and her shirt was bright red with a grey skull on the chest. Her eyes matched the other crystal, possibly indicating that they were sisters, although the mark on her forehead was missing. Rather, there seemed to be some strange glowing marks on her back instead.

"No seriously, what are you?" Came the girl with short hair.

"They look tired Pocket Watch, maybe we should leave them alone..." The one in the dress told her.

"You don't even know what they look like normally, how are you supposed to know they're tired?" Pocket Watch said.

Delta looked up from her screen at the girls, then back down to her screen, and then repeated this several times. "Oh." She muttered. "Considering they have the same energies, wave lengths and vital signs as our time traveling friend, I am going to come to the conclusion that they are the same species." She swhispered to the two mobians. "This is where the Chronomancer is from..." She was obviously talking about Time Spinner but the way she said Time Traveling Friend and Chornomancer possibly indicated that she believed it best to not use Time Spinner's named.

"Are you tired?" The girl with long hair asked. "My name is Silver Chain, by the way, this is my sister, Pocket Watch."

"...Masako Haruno. I don't mean to be rude, but 'tired' doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now..." Masako answered.

Ciel paced around, taking in their surroundings. "This place is so surreal, I'm not even sure what plane of existence we're on..."

"We're in Emerald City." Pocket Watch told Ciel. "In the country of Glamour? On...Millennium? Aliens have never heard of us before?"

"We're not aliens, we're mobians and technically we're supposed to be time travelers." Delta defended, still scrolling through her screen.

"Mobians? What kind of dumb name is that?" Pocket Watch asked.

"Clear Quartz probably isn't any better to them." Silver Chain hushed her sister. "What are you...people doing here?"

"It's a really, really long story," Masako answered. "Our world is in danger, and we've been jumping through timelines to save it. And by some odd circumstance, we've been brought here. We have to find the portal back to our world."

"Well maybe we can-" Silver Chain started to say when she was quickly interrupted.

Neo appeared behind them. No, not Neo, he looked like him, but his clothes were more flashy, and his had a dark tint to them. "There you are~" He called out to Masako, pulling his claws out. They were just like Neo's claws, but darker, sharper, covered in a large amount of Warfarin poison, made to cause pain to others in the worst way possible. "Now, where are you going?"

"Dude's a creep!" Pocket Watch stated coldy.

"What sort of fool do you take me for?! I will not waste my time on you!" Masako barked. "Back to the void with you, whelp! You are not prepared!"

"The pasts, presents, and futures of every single timeline are starting to blur together! We have to stop this!" Ciel warned.

"This guy is botherin' you?" Pocket Watch asked.

King Neo shook his head. 'Tsk, tsk, tks, you know better to act like that." He walked calmly forward, using his aerokinesis to subtley shorten Masako's breath.

Masako growled, unsheathing her blade and letting loose a powerful gale around her to force him back.

King Neo grabbed the gale, holding it like a spear. "I am the true king of everything? Why would you even bother using the wind against-"

Silver Chain interrupted him, sending a large boulder of earth magic crashing against his side, and knocking him over. "I'm sorry!" She called to him.

"Uh..." Pocket Watch started. "What do we do?"

"We can...um..." Silver Chain thought while King Neo got up. "Castle of Green Glass! We can take them there!"

"You little bitch!" King Neo called out. "I will shatter you!"

"Run!" Silver Chain squaked, running towards the city.

Pocket Watch's hand shifted from their normal hands into large blades, she stared down Neo but begrudingly followed her sister.

"Once we enter the city we can't risk King Neo in combat, he could hurt the other crystal people." Delta told them. "But if there's a portal it's not going to last long and we need to find it."

"If there's a portal. If there isn't... well, we are in a world of Metas," Ciel said. She looked to Silver Chain. "Nice save, by the way."

"I was... trying to use his cockiness against him back there. As it turns out, I was the cocky one for thinking his aerokinesis was weak enough for me to pierce his chest with the gale he held in his hand," Masako said.

"Time Spinner told Neo once that there are only 10 metas in existance at one time." Delta said. "These aren't metas, these are the people Time Spinner was before he became a meta, which means that they could be incredibly less powerful."

"I don't think he likes rocks." Pocket Watch said. "Just keep hitting him with those."

Masako looked at Delta. "...Well, that's our best option so far."

As the entered the town, they could see why it was called Emerald City. The buildings had been decorated with strange green gems, all embezzeled into the walls. More crystal people roamed the city, besides the clear quartz that Pocket Watch and Silver Chain were, there were other colors as well. Orange tiger's eye, green malachite, white marble, and plenty of others. They had gathered in small groups, as if they had met in a forum. Many smaller crystals ran around playing what looked like was a game of tag. All in all, the town was quite clean and peaceful.

That is, until King Neo showed, throwing a tornado at the team, which Silver Chain defeated by created a large wall of rock.

"Oh, why do you have to be like that? I just want to talk to you!" King Neo told them, his voice getting much creepier than before.

"This way!" Pocket Watch ran.

Silver Chain knelt to the ground. "That...that tornado was really...really..." She fell to the ground, unconscious.

Masako saw Silver Chain drop. She barely knew her, and yet... her protective instincts kicked in. "...No one left behind."

"Warfarin is such an amazing toxin when thrown into the air." King Neo smirked.

"We can take her with us, let's just go!" Pocket Watch noted.

Masako hoisted Silver Chain onto a sort of ice surfboard, riding it alongside Pocket Watch and Delta.

King Neo dug one of his claws into surfboard, holding it in place. "I wonder how this one would fare..." His other claw raised into the air,forcing it down towards Silver Chain.

Pocket Watch quickly came in, her crystals, parrying the claw. "What is that smell?" She asked.

"Warfarin, my favorite toxin." King Neo's claws shined, litterally dripping with poison.

Delta's blade shined a brilliant red color as she struck King Neo's side, knocking him down, and forcing his claw to release from the surfboard. The red aura coming off the blade seemed almost familiar. A sudden thought came to the surface, what was Delta's blade called again?

"Queen Anne's Revenge... of course!" Masako muttered. "Delta, your blade! We can send King Neo straight to the void right here and now!"

"How do you want me to do that?" Delta asked, striking Neo's claws once more in an effort to land a blow on him.