Ch-9, Part II: Love, Hate and 69

“Meow.”

“Woof!”

“Oink!”

“ROAR!”

“Tw-tweet!”

“YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS AN ANIMAL SOUND, BUT IT WAS ME, DIO!”

I was so elated that my unconsciousness made a Jojo reference that I started laughing and crying at the same time while doing the Jonathan pose with the hand on his face. Yes, Jesse, I’m a weeb and you know it - but I didn’t know that I was a Joestar at my very core.

Even Sherlock Holmes took several moments to recover from this culture shock. This was when I lost track of time - I have no clue how long I spent laughing, it could have been several minutes or several hours.

After a while, Sherlock said, “Pardon me, Mr. Nine, but I beseech you to stop.”

“I - HAHA - I - HO-HOHO - I am so - WRYYYYYYY - I am so sorry, HAAHAAHAAHAA…” I kept stuttering and laughing.

“Please,” Sherlock tried his best not to look outrageously embarrassed and disappointed, but I know a disappointed man when I see one - thanks to Eight.

“I am so - HA! - Alright, that was the last one, I am so sorry, Mr. Holmes - I couldn’t resist myself laughing out loud after my unconscious made a joke because you shot twelve bullets in my head.” I replied with wit, unknowingly.

Mr. Holmes sighed in relief (I have no idea how he was sighing in vacuum) before bowing and saying, “I apologise to you profusely for my inability to recognise you,” then he looked up at me before continuing, “However, would you please like to inform me about your alter ego?”

I blurted out, “My what?”

Sherlock replied, calmly, “Your other self, Mr. Nine - the third strangest thing that I have ever heard of, Non-Existence.”

“Hold up,” I was as startled as a stork on a stalagmite, “I have another self? What does that even mean? I don’t think I have Bipolar Disorder or anything like-”

“My apologies, sir, I did not mean to sound that way - I should have phrased it better,” Sherlock bowed once again, “Non-Existence is trying to incarnate into Existence within you, and thus has the same Field Signature as you.”

“Um, okay,” I scratched the back of my head, trying to understand the repercussions, “Start at the start, please, Mr. Holmes. This is what I understand so far - Death barged into the conference, attacked all of us; then One attacked the League of Life, transfigured the entire universe into a world of cards and invited in the 5D creatures. And currently, you have stopped time - am I right?”

Sherlock was taken aback a bit and smiled, as if reminiscing in nostalgia, before saying, “Yes, you are - partially. Did you deduce the time halt by the lack of Field activity?”

“Yes, I did - partially,” I replied honestly before asking, “Now, can you please fill in the details for me, Mr. Holmes - Why exactly did you stop time? What happened to Death? What happened to the 5D creatures that supposedly attacked this universe? I saw Two and Fury AKA Six fighting One but Six's glowing appearance has changed from the usual scarlet to emerald green, how did that happen? And yes, are you aware of a 5D cave that housed a 5D being? I was trapped inside it for a while, I don’t know how. Also, are there any casualties so far? I hope not.”

“I understand that you have several questions, sirrah - thus, instead of satisfying your queries one by one, let me tell you a tale,” Sherlock replied, “Then you can inquire about anything you like - do not worry,” He added when he saw me fretting about and about to ask something, “My control over time is absolute - in the weakened state that Non-Existence is in, It cannot interfere.”

Thus he began, “It all supposedly began in 1969, with Agent One being infuriated - Ah, Watson is much better at this than me - *Ahem ahem* - As far as it was known, due to some traumatic event that I do not possess complete knowledge of, Mrs. One was seething with hatred and despair. Fueled by this fury, she had spent an unknown amount of time - which was much greater than half a century, in my opinion - to reach completely absurd levels of Field Control more than all of League of Life - with the exclusion of its President and you -”

“Wait a minute - why me?” I understood the inclusion of Salai but was bamboozled by my inclusion.

“...And the entirety of Halcyon - excluding me, of course - combined,” He continued, ignoring my interruption.

“Please, Mr. Holmes, you are overestimating my Field Control abilities - the only thing I can do by manipulating the Field is to Drive and to create everyday objects. I am a novice at fighting and manipulating reality like y'all do nor can I-” I kept blabbering before Sherlock gave me the most startling compliment I have ever heard in my life.

Sherlock smiled with a mix of light joie de vivre and a tinge of disappointment, “You are the greatest being that I have ever known, Mr. Nine.”

“I beg your pardon, sir?” I replied, flabbergasted.

He smiled before saying, “You will see, sirrah. Nevertheless, let us return to the topic at hand-”

For a moment, I felt an excruciating bolt of a twitch on my forehead and screamed out loud at the sudden pain. Then - it went away as soon as it came. However, Sherlock looked at me like nothing wrong had happened and started narrating once again. And you know this, Jesse, I am only an extrovert to Six, Two, and most probably Salai too, but I am a shy introvert when it comes to interacting with other people - thus I did not really think of telling Sherlock about my sudden pain and his lack of reaction to it.

“In short, Miss One is a powerful entity. However, her long-lasting hatred against Mr. Salai kept burning her since she knew that even if she were to go all out - President Zero would just trounce her with, and dare I say within, a blink of an eye. Thus, she hatched a plan,” Sherlock continued.

“Um, let me guess,” I interrupted him, “The plan was to fuel the irritation of the 5-D creatures to make them invade our 3-D world and then make a deal with Death to make It attack our universe simultaneously, right?”

“Capital!” Sherlock exclaimed before continuing, “However, it seems that the iteration of Death - or the Great Grim Reaper as It liked to fashion itself - whom she sold her soul to is different from the iteration that entered this universe, which has the form of a newborn girl. I have asked Sir Pythagoras if he has the predisposition of knowing what the treaty between his Master and One entailed - his reply was a stern negative. Sir Pythagoras -”

“Wait, what?” I couldn’t help blurt it out, “Pythagoras’ Master is… Death?”

“Why, yes,” He replied, slightly annoyed, “Sir Pythagoras is the Shadow Monarch of Mathematics, my dear. And knowing him, he would not accept working under anyone else, except me perhaps.”

I couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “How exactly did he become the Shadow Monarch of Mathematics?”

“Well,” Sherlock chuckled, “Almost every one who has passed primary school has heard of him, right?”

I couldn’t help but smirk at that remark, “Fair enough.”

“Now, if you permit me, young sir - let us once again return to the topic at hand,” Sherlock said with a cough, “Death is a Tertiary Infinite Being, therefore-”

“Excuse me, Mr. Holmes, I promise this is the last time I interrupt you,” I apologetically looked at Sherlock as I asked, “What is an Infinite Being? What do the terms ‘Unary’, ‘Binary’, ‘Tertiary’ and ‘Quadrilateral’ mean?”

“Well,” Sherlock finally foreclosed feigning a fain façade and placidly placed his palm on his forehead before foraying to say, “It is all well and fine, young sir - curiosity is not a sin.” He sighed (and murmured mutely - I am not certain but this is what I made out from his lips’ movements - “I should make Thena make a chart articulating all these terms whenever we go into another world.”) and said, “An Infinite Being is an entity capable of controlling and manipulating an object, idea, or concept without any limit or bounds - thus the name. For example - my secretary, Thena, is an infinite being able to turn any and all Field fluctuations in a straight line to zero with her fists. In simpler words-”

“I get it,” I interrupted him again, this time unconsciously, “She can erase everything that’s front of her with a punch - right?”

“Yes,” Sherlock smiled - somewhat irked yet glad, “And Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, along with his overwhelming physical strength and prowess, has infinite control over yin and yang, or in simple terms - Balance. For example, he can increase mass in one place by decreasing it in another; he can reduce space between two objects and increase it between another two; he can increase his good fortune in return for another’s misfortune and so and so forth.”

“So,” Once again, I couldn’t help but ask, “In short, his power is to exchange any thing, idea or concept?”

“Not exactly, but you can deem it that way if you please,” He replied after a second of thought, “Now, about the terms Unary, Binary and Tertiary - These are terms used by Halcyon to designate increasing levels of Infinite control. Specific measurements and qualifications do not exist for these terms since every Infinite Being has Infinite Field Signature levels whenever they wield the Field - thus the term Infinite Being. However, there are general patterns and trends that correlate to each Infinite Being’s potential and strength using which we classify them. Thena is a Unary Infinite Being, Sun Wukong is a Binary and-”

I snap in between his words again, “Can you tell me the specifics? Like, how exactly does Halcyon determine it? Are there categories? Or something like that? I am sorry to barge in once again but-”

“Fair enough, I shall satiate your curiosity,” Sherlock seemed to have caved in to my ever-curious nature, he continued without sighing, “We have five main categories that we use to designate the abilities of each Field Wielder - Energy Manipulation, Matter Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, Reality Manipulation and Physical Strength. Since being human has made me biased, the baseline for our ranking system is the average human being - graded as alpha-tier in each category.”

I said, “Makes sense. Does the grading go through all the letters of the Greek alphabet?”

“Yes, it does,” Sherlock replied, “Now, an entity must have beyond Ω-tier in at least one category to be considered as an Infinite Being. For example, Fakir has φ-tier Energy Manipulation, beyond Ω-tier Matter Manipulation, ß-tier Mind Manipulation, Ω-tier Reality Manipulation and ψ-tier Physical Strength. Therefore, Fakir is a Unary Infinite Being. Sir William Shakespeare, on the other hand, has γ-tier Energy Manipulation, beyond Ω-tier Matter Manipulation, φ-tier Mind Manipulation, beyond Ω-tier Reality Manipulation and α-tier Physical Strength - thus, Sir Shakespeare is a Binary Infinite Being. Uh, uh - I know what you are thinking, sirrah - After all of this is done, I will ask Thena to send you all the details for you to peruse whenever you want.”

“Hehe,” I smirked, “Thanks, Mr. Holmes.”

“However, Tertiary Infinite Beings are different,” Sherlock continued, “Whereas Unary Beings usually have control over specific physical objects or have a short range, like Fakir or Thena, and Binary Beings usually have control over higher ideas or concepts, like Sun Wukong or Pythagoras - Tertiary Infinite Beings are an entirely different type of entity. They control and directly represent higher concepts such as Time, Space, Dimensions, Birth, Life, Death and Logic among others - for example, I am Time. And fun fact - because of my human nature anr my elementary deductive skills, people often see things that were supposed to happen in the future before they occur. This often manifests in various forms - from predestination to déjà vu-”

“Wait, what?” I was as flabbergasted as a fairy in a Faustian Floccinaucinihilipilification, “What do you mean that you are Time? I can understand that you have infinite control over Time but isn’t that too much of an overexaggeratio-?”

“I am not overexaggerating, young sir,” Sherlock replied, sternly, “I am Time.”

“But-” I stuttered, “You look like a human to me, good sir.”

“This is how I looked before I somehow became Time,” Sherlock replied, shaking his head, “If I were to manifest myself as Time itself, I would dissolve into the fabric of spacetime and lose my human body - and that is the last thing I want.”

I asked, “Um, why is that?”

“I dunno, young sir,” Sherlock replied, self-dissatisfaction evident by ridges in his temple, “I myself became aware of this only in my recent fight with Death.”

“Oh, wait, you still haven't told me what happened with Death,” I remembered.

Sherlock replied grimly, “I do not want to extrapolate on that event - it was a nightmare.”

Then he took out a pocket watch and tapped it before saying, “This little thing will narrate it for me - or, to be more precise, show it to you as it happened.”

Listen, Jesse, I have got so much information and so many presentations in the last few days, it’s as if I am the protagonist of some stupid sci-fi novel and the author is feeling too lazy to write properly - so, he is just telling instead of showing.

A large screen appeared in front of me that looked like an early 20th-century projection screen used in an early Parisian movie theatre. The League of Life (LoL) [Wait a minute, why am I only realising that the acronym for the biggest organization in the universe is LOL?] appeared on the screen as Death’s cute descent played out once again. The baby Death appeared, there was commotion - and then everything went blank. I could see nothing but darkness on the screen. I enhanced my senses using the Field to check all frequencies of light - just to see nothing. I tried to watch it frame by frame, but I still saw nothing. I couldn’t help but ask, “What is this?”

Sherlock replied smugly, “This is Nothing.”

I blurted out, “What?”

Sherlock replied, “It is what I told you - this is Nothing.”

I said solemnly, “You know that I have no idea what that means, right?”

Sherlock said after chuckling, “This is the end of the original timeline for this universe - everything ceased to be. Only Nothing remained.”

“Then,” I said, “You reversed time?”

“Yes,” He replied as the nothingness on the screen reverted to the LoL HQ before plunging into darkness once again, “I have a fail-safe put in place in case my human form ceases to be - it is a tad more complicated, but in gist, it is as you said - time reverts itself when my human self stops being.”

“Alright then,” I said, “What’s the problem with that?”

“The problem is that,” Sherlock suddenly stared at me sternly, “You were not affected by it, young sir. You did not die.”

I blurted out, “What?!”

I swear, Jesse, I have never counted it - but I am pretty sure that the number of times I have yelled “WHAT?” in this entry exceeds every other record combined.

Sherlock continued, “You, sir, do not exist - and that’s the problem.”

Once again, I blurted out, “What…?”

He kept going, “Your existence - or rather, the lack of your non-existence has created a gaping hole in reality - and no matter how many times this world is erased, time is reverted, the world is erased and then time is reverted and so on and so forth - you still persist through it all, no matter what - you never cease to be, because you never were in the first place.”

It was as if I had only one word in my vocabulary, “WHAT?!”

Sherlock coughed sarcastically before saying, “Tertiary Infinite Beings, as I have told you previously, are beings that represent the very ideas or concepts that they control - or, in other words, they are intrinsic properties or characteristics of the Field itself. They are the different factors that make up the Quotient of Existence, as you call it - I presume.”

“Okay, new information,” I said, scratching my head, “But what does that have to do with anything in context? Are you telling me that I am a Tertiary Being or something?”

“No,” Sherlock replied nonchalantly, “You are beyond that.”

I said, “The Quadrilateral?”

Sherlock replied, “The Quadrilateral.”

I asked, “What is the Quadrilateral? I understand Unary, Binary and Tertiary Infinite Beings - somewhat, at least. Unary Beings are like overpowered anime protagonists, Binary Beings are like ancient sages from fiction, and Tertiary Beings sound like literal gods from myths - how much more stupidly overpowered are the Quadrilaterals?”

Sherlock replied, “I do not have any clue to that myself, young sir.”

I couldn’t help but say, “What do you mean by that?!”

“It is a bit hard to explain the Quadrilateral,” Sherlock explained, “They are - for the sake of conversational convenience, let us say they are - four entities that represent Existence, Non-Existence, Existence-and-Non-Existence, and Neither-Existence-Nor-Non-Existence.”

“WOT…?” I yelled, having heard the most nonsensical sentence in my life, “What does that even mean…?”

“At least,” Sherlock replied, as if trying to calm me down, “That is how Halcyon categorises them - we have no clue about them ourselves.”

Yes, Jesse, I know - this is the most stupid record I have ever written on you - and trust me it gets even stupider from here.

“Hold up, at least,” I said, “You must know something about them - like, why would you name them that if you didn't? I can somewhat understand Existence, the embodiment of all that exists and - it's less understandable but still - Non-Existence, the embodiment of everything that does not exist. But what are the other two? What do the names even mean…? Also, are you insinuating that I am Non-Existence?”

“I do not have any idea of that myself,” Sherlock replied, “And for the latter - yes, young sir, I am.”

I started, “Hold up, wait, I am NOT-”

Sherlock interrupted, “Don’t worry, sirrah - I understand that there is a chance that you are not aware of your true self, which is the sole reason we are even having this conversation.”

The screen in front of me suddenly started pulsating short bursts of light. I enhanced my senses to the extreme and saw that every frame of the projection alternated between light and darkness - and I could somewhat infer that the LoL HQ was projected in the illuminated frame. Then-

Jesse, you will not believe me but I swear, Sherlock said the following in one breath, “The world was destroyed and reverted 7,596,040,312,163,297,274,222,442,578,208,043,236,112,279,041,839,441,308,045,514,203,595,638,030,283,176,823,539,793,587,591,372,230,230,103,933,110,810,192,201,741,429 times before I could successfully manifest a pacifier and calm down Death.”

“W-Wow…” I couldn't help but be astonished, “Wait, isn't that the exponentia-?”

“Yes,” Sherlock interrupted, “A battle between Tertiary Beings is usually a battle of probability, tenacity and sheer willpower. In-” Sherlock took a deep breath (in literal vacuum) before rapping, “7,596,040,312,163,297,274,222,442,578,208,043,236,112,279,041,839,441,308,045,514,203,595,638,030,283,176,823,539,793,587,591,372,230,230,103,933,110,810,192,201,741,429 timelines, Death killed everything - except you - but, I reverted time again and again till I managed to win the infinitesimally-low-chance-lottery.”

“But,” I couldn’t help myself, “Why would you do that?”

Sherlock, taken aback once again, said, “What do you mean, dear?”

I replied, “Were you certain that you'd win?”

He replied, “I had to win.”

I blurted out, “Why would you die infinitely for us - some random people in the middle of nowhere - just to save a little corner of existence from ceasing to be?”

Sherlock replied with a snicker, “Because no one else could, my dear.”

I could feel my heart become heavier after hearing this.

I continued, “What happened to Death after that?”

“Oh,” He said before summoning a cradle, “Here she is, asleep.”

I do not have enough words to describe how adorable she looked.

“So,” I said, “What’s the deal with One? And what happened to the 5D army?”

“Signor Two and I are dealing with the 5D army,” Sherlock replied, “Its General is a Binary Infinite Being and all of its soldiers are either soon-to-be, or already are, Unary Beings. One attacked us and the League of Life Headquarters as soon as I dealt with Death alongside a coordinated attack with the 5-D beings. Speaking of 5-dimensional beings, did you not refer to a 5-D cave previously?”

“Yes, I did,” I affirmed, “Do you know-?”

“That was Fakir’s auditory canal - it was specially-” Sherlock was, once again, interrupted by…

“WHAT?! -” Another one of my blurting outs.

You know, Jesse, sometimes I am glad that I am a teen - if I were older, I probably would have had a cardiac arrest every hour.

“It was specially designed,” Sherlock continued, ignoring me, “To house the first 5-D creature that came in direct contact with Agent Two of the League of Life.”

I jumped in, “Wait, then the little boy in the cave was-”

“None other than the Filius Saurii that was taken down by Signor Two - it was protected at his behest after he pleaded the Halcyon Council to do so,” Sherlock completed my sentence before predicting my next thought, “Yes, it seems that you were caught in his ears as Fakir absorbed Miss One's mammoth of a blast with his ears - and it seems that the current rupture in his ears is easily explained by your escape from it.”

“Damn…” I was dumbstruck, “Even Unary Infinite Beings are no joke…”

Sherlock continued, “The 5-D being seems to have been reformed by Signor Two's efforts and ended up giving us valuable information about the 5-D Army and that its General was a Binary Infinite Being controlling colours. I think Sir Two shall tell you more about this later, sirrah.”

“Speaking of Two,” I asked, “What happened to the rest? Six seems a bit different too - and I have never seen Frocock fight like that.”

“It seems,” Sherlock said with a smile, “That One made an insulting remark about Mr Dampuss’ interest who works in the Gal Galaxy Bar - which led him to furiously attack her. And, ah - about Miss Six, she pleaded with me to train her with a teary face - and I could not refuse her. I trained her for several days in stopped time, honing her rather blunt Field Wielding abilities. Also, it seems that she quite enjoys my presence - for she gladly listened to my musings of auld lang syne with Watson.”

“Ah yes,” I smirked, remembering Six-chan's entire set of Sherlock Holmes merchandise. You know, Jesse, training with your fictional crush for days must have been a dream come true for her, “She is quite fond of you - your tales are famous here.”

“Speaking of fondness,” Sherlock smiled ever so slightly as he said, “Miss Six seems to adore you - for when I queried her about her sudden urge to train, she told me that she wanted to protect you from herself and the world - and thus, she needed to get better and control her Fury.”

I was mildly embarrassed.

“Now,” I said after a loud cough, “Rolling the carpet on this conversation - why were you chasing… Nothing… or as you call it, Non-Existence? How did - uh - It meet you?”

“That…” For the first time, Sherlock stuttered, “I-I d-do-do n-n-not re-remem-remember-er-”

It was as if reality started glitching in a trice - Sherlock's words seemed to overlap each other as dark spikes appeared in his green aura.

“I-I - T-That-That - Re-re-remem - Do-d-do-do - Th-That-That,” Sherlock started murmuring like a mad man, as darkness phased through his body, making him invisible every alternate ~8.3066 milliseconds. Suddenly, I could hear white noise - like somebody was trying to tune a radio.

I could feel the vibrations in the Field one more - which meant that time was flowing again. However, the patterns in the Field were strange - the crests and troughs were asymmetrical and the waves undulated back and forth rapidly - which my intuition assumed meant that time was going back and forth for some reason.

I could see One and the others often appear and disappear from my sight in this constant mess. The pain in my forehead exponentially increased in an instant and my head felt like it was going to burst - I had no idea what was going on.

Then, the music resumed with a grand harmony.

Yes, Jesse, it was worse than a fever dream.

“Nature naps in its afternoon glee,”

Now, One's nefariousness nibbled nastily away at the nebulous numen of time - as she seemed to be unfrozen in time after this neoteric development.

“Oleum oscillates among olive trees -”

Others, oblivious to the otherwise easily-observable occurrence, were one-by-one obliterated by One. Obsequious to her occluding, obstreperous, overtly ostracizing omen of outlandish odium - she obrogated the ossified 3-L Threes and LoL members from existence.

“Painting a cruiser jet.”

Purging the Pugnacious Monkey Sage, parting apart plethoras of phalanx-like palisade of the LoL polity, penetrating the pelvis of the Persiflage-Prone Poet, proceeding through the prefrontal cortex of Pythagoras - performing a pogrom of everyone in propinquity, poniarding and impaling in a paroxysm of hateful passion.

Yes, Jesse, I am fully aware of my pretentious and pompous prolixity of prosody - but I am enjoying this piquing proclivity of poetry, so don't protest.

“Queueing quietly among the queer,”

Quivering with a quintessential and Quixotic quarry of querulousness, One quitted quashing quiescent quadrupeds. In this quandary, I queried to myself if the Quadrilateral's Non-Existence qualified a quid pro quo in Death’s deal with One.

“Raring up to reach rotten, relinquished rear,”

Rotating to a right angle, she reached out for her son before receding to a sudden reverie.

“Shaming the sinners for showering King Lear,”

Standing solemnly, she started saying, “Son sole mine, so-?”

No, I can't bend reality to whatever I want it to be for my own convenience, accurately portraying the real world is the first duty of a scientist!

Alright, Jesse, you know what - I will listen to you for once.

It's been six hours and nine minutes since I started writing and five of those hours have been spent just coming up with alliterative words that match the respective letter of each line in my song Alphabets. If it were not such a tiring day and if it were not 3 in the morning right now and if Six were not snoring so loud - I would have continued with the alliterative train, but I guess I will just return to normal prosody.

It seemed that One was trying to look for Two - and despite him standing right in front of her, she could not find him for some reason. I tried to move - and eventually succeeded, but my movements were painstakingly slow compared to One. I silently shook Sherlock, but he was still stuck stuttering, “I-I-I d-do-do n-not-t d-do-do-do n-n-not kn-kno-know.”

Wow, Jesse, I am good at alliteration when I am not forcing myself - who would have guessed?

I tried to manipulate the Field to resume time for everyone - despite knowing the near-impossibility of the task. I tried to balance the clunky and chunky patterns into something more cohesive - and well, well, well, guess what? A guy who spends all his day playing chess, writing poems and studying the latest theses in all sciences as a hobby CANNOT become a god at manipulating the Field after 3 days of practice - of course I failed miserably, what else did you expect? I am not an anime protagonist.

The more I tried, the more it felt like the clunkiness of the Field increased. It was as if someone was eating the Field - I don't even have any better metaphor or simile to make you understand it. It was as if you were stuck inside a spinning washing machine and you try to move the clothes around so that they don't strangle you in that soapy water - but every time you remove a shirt from your waist, a trouser clings to your neck and rotates you 180 degrees. Yes, Jesse, that’s a very specific reference - I know how it feels because I have been inside a washing machine.

“To trample over all hate.”

Suddenly, I started to discern some patterns in the Field as I tried to modulate it. The more I tried to regulate the Field, the clearer they became. The crests and troughs of the Field waves wrapped around themselves - forming tepid shapes and textures. Then, I noticed a peculiar thing in the Field - the letter D.

“Ululating ubermensches uniformly undulate,”

Another letter apparently appeared - O. Then there was a space. It was the word “DO”. I couldn’t help but talk aloud, “Do what?” The reply came in the form of another letter - N. Then another O, followed by a T. “DO NOT”.

In the meanwhile, the vibrato of the music gave way to a crescendo as One zapped around me and Two, still searching for her son who was frozen in time right in front of her. She had just gone by me, apparently not noticing me - somehow. She might have gone blind.

The last word appeared as I was observing One and her frantic search - the cannon blast of my music (still playing in the background for some reason) made me once again concentrate on the Field. Three hazy words constantly transforming into various fonts appeared in front of me - “DO NOT DISAPPOINT”.

“Vanquishing venomous vipers to vindicate-”

I had no idea about how to decipher the meaning of the cryptic code given to me by the Field itself. I tried brainstorming - it didn't work.

Apparently, the Field understood my bewilderment as three words spontaneously showed up amidst the Field waves - “I AM YOU”.

I blurted out, “What?”

Then a single word replaced the “YOU”.

“I AM NOTHING”

“Washed-up weapons of welded silicates’”

My intuition instantaneously told me that the entity talking to me was the second Quadrilateral, Non-Existence.

My throat felt dry. I gulped. I asked, “What do you want? Are you the cause of the Field becoming this messy? Did you aid One and the previous incarnation of Death in invading our world? And what do you mean by ‘I am you’?”

Only a single word was Its reply.

“YES”

“Xeroxed xylophones that xylems emasticate.”

I yelled in irritation, “What does that even mean?! Are you saying yes to every question? Or to a single one? And what about the first and the last question? You can't just answer them in a single word!”

The “YES” didn't change.

Then the final couplet of the song began.

“Yelling yet…”

Three new words appeared one by one.

“LET”

“...weeping set…”

“ME”

“...upon the gate…”

“FREE”

“Zeroing zest…”

Suddenly, all the Field perturbations stabilised and the words disappeared along with the constant pain upon my forehead.

“Nullifying fate…”

Time started flowing for everyone again as One flew straight into Two's arms. The music slowed down and an eerie calm resounded everywhere as blood flew around from the gaping wounds created by Hatred during stopped time. I could feel the pain in my forehead once again, burning with renewed and greater intensity. I could see some bits and pieces fade away from One's long hair as I saw her cradle Two in her arms, murmuring, “Mio caro… All I did… was for you…”

Her right hand detached from her body as blood started flowing from my forehead with the final crescendo of my first song playing in the background.

“For life!”

The detached and dust-like pieces darted away from her right hand as blood dripped out of my forehead, slowly making me unconscious - and forming a pile of flesh and blood right in between One and me.

“And for death!”

I could hear Two weeping and yelling something in Italian as his mother slowly faded away in front of him saying, “All I did… was for you… I sold my soul to Death… who lended it to Nothing… for it to manifest… in Existence… We shared the same goal… to crush him… to defeat that damned Salai… and destroy Existence itself… Don’t worry… You will live, my son… My only beloved…”

By this point, I had lost my sense of vision and my entire body felt numb. I could barely hear One, “I don't want… you to breathe the same air… as that… monster… I am dying… for Nothing to incarnate and finish him… I am dying… Don’t cry, figlio mio, it’s okay… I am dying… for you…”

Then I went unconscious due to blood loss.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was in my bed with Six hugging me.

“Goodness gracious!” I could hear Sherlock exclaim, “Great job, Watson! I am glad that I did not have to be indebted to Sir Pythagoras.”

I opened my eyes to see Six - back to her normal scarlet hair - wailing her heart out and squeezing me.

“Yokattaaaaaaaaa!!” She sighed in relief, “Daijobu-deshou, ne? Kyu-kun?”

Jesse, I should not have to lecture you twice about the same thing - she's asking if I am okay.

“Um,” I said as I tried to sit, despite feeling numb and weak, “Daijobu desu, Roku-chan.”

I looked around to find a tall, thin man with a small moustache holding an old-fashioned doctor's briefcase sitting beside Sherlock, Pythagoras and Two holding little baby Death in his arms.

“Ma ton kuna, Sherlock!” Pythagoras cursed Sherlock for his earlier remark, making Sherlock and the man holding the doctor's bag chuckle.

“Do not take his words at face value, Sir Pythagoras,” The small-moustached man said, “He means no harm. Oh, Mr Nine, where are my manners? Let me introduce myself - I am John Watson, former assistant surgeon in the British Army.”

He went on to shake my hands and said, “Pleased to make your acquaintance, young sir.”

“Same,” I replied, before looking at Sherlock and barraging him with a bunch of questions, “What happened out there, Mr Holmes? Is everyone okay? What happened to One?”

Sherlock was about to say something when a certain Latin-loving person appeared on the other side of my bed with a loud swoop.

“Bene, bene, bene - look who’s awake,” I turned around to see Salai sitting on an L-shaped chair having a pizza, “It’s been a while, eh?”

I expected a loud retort from Six but was surprised when she said gladly, “Finally, where were you? And where is my diary, Salai?”

I couldn’t help but yelp, “Wait a minute, did I miss something? Since when were you two so friendly with each other?”

“Ah, ita,” Salai replied, “You did miss a lot of things - my dear Nine. In brevi, One sold her soul to Death's 68th Incarnation who transferred it to Non-Existence who used it to manifest itself in this world, resulting in all of this mess. I came in at the last moment and said ‘You don't exist’ to Non-Existence and sent It back to nothingness.”

I am a bit ashamed as a human, but not as a scientist, that these were my first words after I heard his story, “Wait, souls exist? Are they bosons, leptons, fermions or something else entirely?”

Everyone around me laughed for some reason. Six said, “This confirms it - you are as okay as ever, Nine.”

“Well,” said Dr Watson, “He needs bed-rest for a couple of days - and he should be fine. His metabolism is fine, thanks to Sherlock’s time reversal, but it would take a few days to fully recover from the mental trauma.”

“Alright, fine, I'm a nerd,” I said with broiling embarrassment, “But at least tell me if there are any casualties.”

Pythagoras replied, “None - I have resurrected them all, teknon.”

“Great,” I replied, “What happened with One?”

“Um,” Two spoke up all of a sudden, “She is dead.”

“Oh…” I said, “I am sorry, Ni-kun.”

“I did try to revive her,” Pythagoras chimed in, “But since her soul belongs to my Master - none but Master Death can revive her.”

“Boo-ah?” Baby Death said, recognizing her name.

“I mean,” Salai got in the conversation, “I can revive her if y'all really want her to be alive, scis tu?”

“Io…” Two stuttered, “Io am not sure, Io never really knew her to be honest, so I can’t really say much about her except that… well, she was the embodiment of Hatred and she still loved me till her last breath - so yeah, I don't really know what to think of her.”

“I know exactly what to think of her,” Six replied sternly and bluntly, “She was a psychopath hell-bent on destroying everything because a guy raped and tortured her.”

The room went silent for a solemn second. It seemed that Sherlock, Dr Watson and Pythagoras were not privy to this information from the way their eyebrows irked up.

“Wow, you do not pull any punches, do you, Sexta?” Salai said to break the silence.

I had a question pop up in my head, so I said it out loud, “Are you Existence, Salai?”

“Nah,” Salai replied nonchalantly, “Una seemed to have the premonition that I am Existence because she didn't know of anything else that I could be - making her believe that another guy trom the Quadrilateral could beat me if given the advantage.”

Two asked, “So, what are you exactly, padre?”

“Eh,” Salai smirked, “I am just an overpowered guy who loves Leonardo Da Vinci and procrastination.”

As if in reply, the window glasses broke to reveal Frocock jumping through it and then lunging at Salai.

The green-haired Greenhorn yelled as he ran up to him, “YOU BASTARD!”

Salai looked at him and blinked his eyes to freeze Frocock in his place and fix the window. Then he took a bite of his pizza before saying, “Nos were talking about Existence not Eksistens, Frocock Dampuss. Listen to the full context before ramming in like a raging bull.”

“Oh,” Frocock said, “I am sorry, then.”

“Who is Eksistens?” I wondered aloud.

Frocock replied, “How old are you?”

I was taken aback at the sudden out of line question, “Um, fifteen? Why?”

He replied, “Then, it's Elder Sister Eksistens for you - give her some respect!”

“Ha, what a joke!” Eight said as he walked into the room, “Do not fly so high, Mr. Frocock - it was just a peck on the lips. That doesn't make her your wife or something - that's just usual customer service in the Gal Galaxy Bar.”

Frocock shouted, flushed and embarrassed, “How did you know?!”

Eight replied with a shrug, “Just a hunch - thanks for confirmation!”

“Ah, c'mon!” Frocock exclaimed before saying, “Also, yeah, what was that about brin’ing that psycho back? She wanted to destroy all existence and what not?”

Six agreed, “Yeah.”

Frocock took his right hand to his chiseled chin to look like an Athenian philosopher and said, “Y’know what’s the craziest thing of all? The fact that stuff exists. Why does anything exist at all? Is there a reason behind everything?”

“That is indeed quite thoughtful of you, Sir Frocock,” Sherlock interrupted his line of esoteric thought, “I am afraid that we are not quite sure of that ourselves.”

“I mean, I am,” Salai barged in, “Because I was bored and I wanted pizza.”

Everyone except Frocock laughed.

“C'mon guys,” He complained, “I am trying to not just be the funny guy only existing for comedy relief!”

Once again, everyone but Frocock laughed.

Listen, Jesse, it’s 4:25 am - I am supposed to be asleep right now, so I am just going to give you a gist of what happened the rest of the day.

After a lot of banter and laughter, Sherlock, Pythagoras and Dr Watson went back to the Guest's Room in the Agents Mansion to rest and get ready for tomorrow's - well, technically it's today at the time I am writing this - re-reconvened 69th League of Life Conference to talk about future cooperation. Two will give a special demonstration on the usefulness of 5-D beings and it seems that Salai has gifted Six an ornately decorated diary - apparently Six wants to start writing a diary to record her feelings. Death is sleeping with Agent Zero - and all is well and good.

There's just one thing still bugging me - why did Salai tell me, “Great job, Nine, stage one of evolution finit” before leaving. What does he even mean by that? And I still don’t really understand the deal with Non-Existence.

Anyway, I am gonna leave you with the first page of Six's diary (I peeped an eye on it after she went to bed) before I go to sleep just because I find it wholesome and heartwarming (Ah, I am so proud of her! She is finally starting writing by herself!). See you tomorrow, Jesse!

“6th September, 2019

Hello, dear diary,

I am Agent Six or Fury, I am 17 years old, I was born on 3rd May 2002, my bestie is a little boy named Nine. He's 2 years younger than me - he has a small, scruffy, freckled face with large, wonder-filled eyes and long curly hair that reaches his knees. He is smart and adorable and he inspired me to write a diary. He calls his diary ‘Jesse’, I think I should give you a name too - what do you think?

That's all for today, I will come up with a name by tomorrow - Byeeeeee!~ ❤”

P.S.: I still have no idea how we were breathing in vacuum, I should have asked someone.

P.P.S.: I still don’t know why the first song that I ever wrote was playing in the background during the fight - maybe it was One's imaginary orchestra? Who knows?

P.P.P.S.: You thought there was more? But it was me, Dio! I know, Jesse, I am so funny.