Chapter 26

Jolting the two from their rest, the sound of something shattering inside the mansion rang out. Biji turned her head to look behind them.

“What was that?”

“Probably just someone dropping a vase; from what you guys told me, it sounds like Yama is gonna be pissed.” Jason chuckled, not bothering to look back behind him.

Then, from the entrance doors, a fireball threw the doors open before fading into the sky, blowing both Jason’s and Biji’s hair in the wind of the shockwave.

The two immediately leaped from the bench, Biji grabbing Jason’s hand and pulling him with her towards the hole of the blast.

They were greeted by a mountain of bodies.

Back to back, Loba, Uddi, and Panka stood together, fighting off the Raksha that had previously been partying in the mansion.

From atop the staircase, Yuzo, the other soldiers, and Yama watched on in apathy as carnage took place on the dance floor.

From inside the circle, Loba called out to the two, yelling with an obvious alarm.

“Biji, kid, they just started attacking us outta nowhere! Get out of here before they—”

Before Loba could finish, one of the Raksha lunged at him, making an attempt on his neck with its sharp fangs. He threw his lance in front of the Raksha’s mouth before flipping the handle, slamming its skull into the floor.

“That was barbaric,” Yama chuckled to himself. “I respect the technique, though.”

As their crests began to crackle with energy, Biji and Jason jumped into the fray, Jason putting his hand on Biji’s shoulder.

A spark appeared between the two, and in an instant, Biji seemed to be gone.

Then, within two blinks, a steaming crater had been ripped into the floor of Yama’s mansion as charred corpses lined the ground. A thunderbolt reformed in the air as Biji hung from a chandelier.

She smiled at her friends, who all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yuzo, deal with them please.” Yama put one of his hands on the boy’s shoulder. Nodding, Yuzo closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

After a few moments, everyone in the room had been teleported outside, onto the estate lawn.

“Alright, I will let the children deal with this now; it's their crusade after all. I, on the other hand, am going to sit on the sidelines. Have fun, kids!”

In a flash, Yama had teleported into the sky, standing over the proceedings with a massive smirk on his face.

“What the hell, Yuzo?”

Jason's crest flared more wildly than ever, shooting off blue sparks to the group, each of their crests briefly being covered in cosmic light from the sparks.

“Thanks for the boost, kid. We’ll deal with the fodder; you go after your brother.”

Loba patted Jason on the back briefly before jumping into the fight.

“It didn't seem like you were going to cooperate, so Yama decided to move things along.” Yuzo pulled his sword from its sheath, pointing it at Jason, before flying into the air.

Ayn and Nikolai looked directly up at him, in awe. “Know it didn't have to end this way for you all,” Ayn said, pointing up at Yuzo. “For what it’s worth, he really did want to save you.”

As Jason gritted his teeth, he felt his hand tingle, his body suddenly feeling lighter.

“Don’t think I’d let you give me a boost without returning the favor.”

Electrical sparks began to sing from Jason’s hand, where he still had Biji’s jacket strap wrapped around his hand.

“I told you, I take good care of my things.”

Patting him on the back, Biji flashed away to join the others in fighting the Raksha. He smiled, shaking his head, before turning over to Yuzo.

“So, are you going to stand there and let me kill you, or are you going to fight, Jason?”

Yuzo taunted as he looked down at his brother.

Sparks flew around Jason as he clenched his fists.

“You know, I've spent the whole time I've been in Naraka feeling bad for beating you up.” He looked up at Yuzo, the energy of his aura beginning to crack the ground. “But now I'm just excited for round 2.”

In a moment, he was in front of Ayn and Nikolai, slamming their faces into the ground to propel himself up to Yuzo.

…

Jason quickly gave chase to Yuzo in the air, electricity on his feet propelling him.

Into flight. As Yuzo began to swing his blade at Jason, he maneuvered his head to the side midair, grabbed Yuzo’s leg, and slammed him back into the ground.

A ringing began in his ears as the dust cleared, Yuzo grinning with a sadistic smile for a moment, meeting eyes with Jason.

“Sweetie?”

Jason’s throat went dry, his stomach sinking as Yuzo slammed a fist into his jaw, sending him flying off of Yuzo’s chest.

“Look how big you’ve become… I’ve been worried sick!”

Their mother's voice caused Jason to vomit in his mouth as Yuzo began to start his assault, jumping to where Jason landed and slamming a dropkick into his chest.

‘This can't be real. It isn’t… real.’

Jason reassured himself, desperately trying to regain his bearings and mount a defense.

“I miss you, honey. Are you ready to come home yet?”

The flying attacks and spectacle had quickly turned into an on-the-ground brawl. Jason struck at Yuzo’s armor, his fists bouncing right off, as the armored strikes from Yuzo began to pierce through Jason’s clothing. His letterman and jersey were tearing with every strike.

“Yuzo… get… get her out of my head!” Jason screamed in anguish, unable to block as he gripped his ears. Yuzo, despite having been stone-faced for most of the fight, began to wince as he continued to project their mother’s voice into his brother’s head.

Suddenly, Yuzo was pushed away from Jason, a beam of light striking him in the side, shattering his armor, and carrying him over to the Raksha.

Enraged, Jason took the hammer from his pocket.

Picking himself up, Jason’s crest flared back to life waveringly as whispers of his mother rang in his head.

“Come home.”

Panka and Loba, in tandem with each other, sent frozen winds and a hail of icicles around the battlefield, spewing shards of ice at Yuzo as he slashed them away with his sword. Clapping her hands, a wave of snow blew into his face before Panka shot herself from the ground, torpedoing towards Yuzo as blood began to trickle down his head.

Nikolai, jumping in front of Yuzo, blocked the attack, his cloak becoming shredded in the process.

“I got you, my friend.”

Yuzo, focusing in, teleported behind Panka and sent an axe kick into her back, causing the winds to dissipate. With a crack, she fell to the ground.

But as he began to stand on the asuran’s back, raising his sword, her extra arms grabbed his leg.
“Biji!”

Out of nowhere, the beam of light appeared once more, slamming into Yuzo, tearing more of his armor away from him. As he winced in pain, he grabbed at Biji as she began to resolidify.

“... I have to hand it to you; that was a good trick.” He continued to lower his arm to stab Panka.

”It won't work, though.”

As he continued to thrust down, air rapidly caught in his lungs, causing him to lurch back. He was wrangled by the neck.

“W-what… now?” He coughed, attempting to wrangle the weight off his back.

“The fight’s between me and you. Did you forget what you said?” Jason whispered with venom in his ear from behind him.

“Did you really think putting Mom in my head was gonna stop me from beating some sense into you?”

Jason hung from behind him, the wire from the meteor hammer wrapped around his neck, as he grabbed the weight at the end in his palm before slamming it into the back of Yuzo’s skull, sending him to the ground.

“... you’re fighting like a coward, Jason… That's not like you.”

Yuzo grinned to himself as he licked the blood behind his teeth. Jason continued beating into his brother’s face before stopping for a moment.

The night they arrived in Naraka flashed in his head. His brother's bloody face.

As he hesitated, Nikolai, bloodied, appeared behind Jason.

“Game over, fool!”

Turning around with an unexpected speed, Jason grabbed Nikolai’s hand, his eyes wild.

“After all this, feeling the air in your lungs, you still think it's a game? Are you kidding?”

Nikolai, finally losing his disposition, screamed in Jason’s face. “This has always been a game, you fool! Eclipse, tell him!”

Yuzo remained silent.

For a moment, Nikolai’s face fell. He began to swing his hand down towards Jason, but he simply turned back to his brother.

Nikolai watched his whole arm fly from his body as Loba appeared beside him, slicing his arm clean through with a blade of ice. He began to wail in pain, clutching at the stump.

Loba pulled him up from the ground, meeting the man’s scared eyes.

“Still think this isn't real, runt?”

Face turning from fear to glee, Nikolai grimaced as sweat fell down his face. “... I barely feel it. Go ahead, do it. I'll just come back somewhere else. Yama has guaranteed it.”

“In a way, you’re right.” Loba pierced through Nikolai’s gut before throwing him through the air.

“Nikolai…!” Yuzo began to try to lift himself from the ground but was slammed in the face by Jason, causing him to growl in anger.

From behind the two, Ayn had limped over to both Nikolai and Yuzo, smiling as her crest began to glow, talking to Uddi, who stood over her.

“It's funny… You know, I don't believe I've ever believed in anyone but myself. But as I feel it slipping away, murdered by monsters in a world far from my own…”

The energy from Nikolai’s hand and Ayn’s crest began to flow out of her as her head dropped, flowing over to Yuzo.

“...I find myself wanting someone else to succeed more than myself. Foolish of me, surely.”

Despite the bitterness in her tone, Ayn smiled as Uddi turned away from her.

Spiked wood came up from the ground, leaving Ayn still.

As Jason raised the weight once more, he was sent flying off Yuzo unexpectedly, being caught by Loba out of the air.

“What just happened, kid?”

“I don't know—” Jason then coughed blood violently into his hand.

Yuzo’s armor began to reform as he yelled over to his brother. For the first time a genuine anger had appeared on his face.

“Are you satisfied, Jason? Look what you’ve done to my comrades, real people, all because you chose a fantasy of these creatures over real lives! Does that make you feel good?”

Jason’s jaw was left agape.

“... A fantasy? You attacked them, you moron! What did you think was gonna happen? And for what? So you can play the protagonist and try to literally kill gods? If anyone here is living in a fantasy, it's you! Life isn't a video game!”

Yuzo’s hands began to shake as the energy around him began to warp into flames.

“I’m trying to do something good for everyone! Even out the denomination of power, recreate everything! If I do that, no one will suffer again; I'll end this whole cycle of reincarnation, of realms, all of it! Yama’s guaranteed it to me, Jason! So why… Why are you still trying to get in the way?! Is me doing something good, something worth anything that hard to watch?”

Jason’s shoulders slumped, his expression going from anger to a soft frown. Looking behind him, Biji and Panka had also arrived behind him. Tensely, the four’s crests glowed with the cosmic energy of his crest as they waited for his input.

At the group, he waved them away.

“I'll call you guys back later. Trust me, I can deal with him, no problem. Let me talk some sense into him.”

Relenting, Loba, Panka, and Uddi headed out, giving him a reassuring smile.
“You got this, Jae!”

Uddi gave him a reassuring look before grabbing both Panka and Loba’s hands as they flew off.

Biji, for a moment, stayed behind.

“You know what I'm going to say.”

“‘Don’t die’?”

“You’re starting to pick it up, Jae.”

Putting her fist against his back, she then ran off, following the rest.

“Remember our promise.”

Turning back to Yuzo, Jason looked over at his brother with a solemn expression.

"I know it's been hard to live the lives we have. I allowed training, glory, and revenge against Mom and Dad to be an escape for me instead of dealing with it.”

He began to walk towards Yuzo.

“I get what you meant now, about me being miserable, even though I didn't see it then. I allowed the things I forced on myself to make me lose sight of everything else, and I'm sorry. That wasn't fair to you.” Yuzo lowered his hands as he continued.

“Being in Naraka has helped me see that I should have spent more time with you, trying to understand you instead of thinking money would’ve been enough. You needed an older brother.”

He put his hand on Yuzo’s shoulder with a smile.

“Cmon, Yuzo, can we just try to get back home together? We’ll find a way to get Emma back, then get back to our normal lives. I know a goddess; maybe we can—”

Jason had the wind knocked out of him as he was sent flying back with a kick. The wound in his stomach, even with the accelerated healing, had reopened fully.

Yuzo, pulling his foot down, scoffed as he watched Jason struggle on the ground.

“You’ve got it all wrong, Jae. Why would I want to go back? Just to be ignored again? To be treated like a failure and a baby by everyone? Here, I'm somebody. Somebody worth something. I've been given a task by forces greater than myself, and it feels great.

Naraka has given me purpose, despite all my suffering here. I want to be the eclipse of this tired, shitty universe.”

‘If he had said this when I first got here, I think I would have gone along with it, honestly.’ Jason huffed, getting to his feet. “Fine, you want a fight that bad, Yuu? Let's see if Nightwing can beat Batman, then."

“Let's see whose suffering brought them further, Jae.” Yuzo threw away his cloak before balling his hands into fists.