The Cult FINAL PART!

We found ourselves lost in an endless blue desert.

We were on the blue moon.

Above us, another moon hung in the sky, its pink light casting down on us.

“What the hell, if I had to be stuck on a moon, I’d rather be on the pink one…” I said, disappointed.

“Why? Is there any difference between them?” asked Tadashi.

“No… I just think pink makes my white bones stand out more.”

Once again as souls, Tadashi and I, bound by our chain, had lost our bodies — and with them, all the time we had invested.

Hours of exercise; the studies at school; the magic and combat lessons; the friendships we had built along the way. All our effort, in vain.

If I, who had mostly been watching, was pissed, imagine Tadashi, who actually had to do all of that.

My reward for trying to save everyone was an indefinite stay on the moon with an idiot.

Hey… what’s with the hostility?

I’m talking about the fallen angel, you jackass!

“You bastards! Look at what you’ve done… I… I’ll kill you…”

There was no oxygen here. The angel spoke by channeling his inner voice through mana alone. So much effort just to curse us.

“I was so close… I was finally… I-I…”

“What were you going to do? What was your goal?” asked Tadashi.

“My goal? I was one of the most powerful in the region. With the sword, I could reach the higher ranks and become a noble… after that, I…”

“And after that, what exactly? Change the world? Be Hokage? The greatest mage or cultist of them all? Spit it out, what’s your endgame?” I asked, playing along with Tadashi’s game.

“Mine’s more about the beginning. I wanted to know what it was like to be born. Tadashi’s about the journey, the adventures along the way. You claim to be about the ending… but what ending do you want for yourself?”

“I’LL DESTROY YOU!”

The angel rushed at us at full speed, and we barely dodged his attacks.

“The response of the ignorant is always aggression,” I said, rage baiting him.

“You’re just two souls — one hit and you’re dead!”

“Sure, you can kill us… but how will you get out of here?” As I said that, the angel froze mid-attack.

“You… can open… a portal?”

…

….

……..

Let’s say yes, Shi-nii.

He’ll notice, we’re terrible liars.

Then I had an idea:

“Do you know how to open a portal?” Tadashi asked.

“No… my specialty is controlling pure mana…”

IT WORKED! It's a good thing he's dumb too.

“If we combine our powers, we might manage it… if we make a contract, of course.”

“Then make a contract with me or die!” said the angel. Without his voice and costume, his threats had lost most of their weight.

“You can’t really negotiate with us. That rotten energy you’ve hoarded… how long can it last? Ten years, maybe?” I said, sitting down. Tadashi followed. “We’ve got ten percent of the entity of Death plus Tadashi’s soul. That makes about 101 human souls. If a human lives, say, 80 years… times 101… Yeah, that’s way more than ten years.”

“And you’re just going to wait here?”

“Yes.” we both answered together.

“We’ll wait for your energy to run out, then try to open the portal ourselves. Or you kill us — but then you die too.”

I pulled a deck of cards from my pocket and started dealing to Tadashi.

“Blackjack?”

“Sure…”

“HEY, HOW DID YOU DO THAT—” asked the angel.

“I have total control of my form when it comes to special effects and comic relief— Bust!I won, Tadashi.”

“WHAT IS THAT CARD… 22 ON ONE CARD?!” Tadashi complained.

“House rules. Start paying up.”

The angel just watched us; we didn't show any concern about the situation.

But from the tremor in his spherical form, it was clear the pressure was eating at him.

“We could just float back to Earth… might take a hundred years, but we’d get there eventually. You’re the one in need here,” I said, cornering the fallen angel.

No reply, no new attack. He just floated, eyes wide in disbelief.

I walked up to him and placed my hand on him.

“You’ve lost all that swagger and calm. Your intelligence, your smooth talk… What changed? You absorbed quite a lot of our energy, didn’t you?”

“Y-yes… I absorbed it, but this dead energy isn’t even enough to keep me going…”

“No, you're wrong. It did you good to consume the energy of someone cool like me... Don't you think, Tadashi?”

“Yep, he's less of a ball and more of a sphere now. He went from purple bruise to purple grape in no time!”

Hiding his laughter at the nervous little ball, Tadashi left the task of convincing me to me.

“You know what I think? You’re not even a real antagonist. You’re just a lost angel, stuffed with energy from the worst source possible — desperate humans craving power. Angels are made of pure energy. It’s not your fault you were corrupted, if all you had was rotten fuel.”

“N-no… I am the Oracle… the most powewfuw.… powerful—”

“Angels were made by my sister. So technically you’re my nephew. If you promise to stop trying to kill us and take over the world…” I opened my arms. “I’ll be happy to take you in, nephew.”

“I… I…”

The little ball fell into my arms, and his crying caused a massive explosion.

“Sniff…Ahhhhhh… I’m awways so scawed… I came hewe without knowin’ anyfing… my enewgy was wunning out… so I stawted offewing wowk to humans… sniff sniff”

Tadashi fell to the ground, dumbfounded.

SO THIS WAS OUR FINAL BOSS?

“Sniff…I knew how to contwol mana, and dey stawted wowshiping me… dey made a chuwch, den an owder, and aww deir contwacts… I just wanted to pwease dem, but dey aww wanted bad things… wittle by wittle, da thiwst fow powah consumed me… sniff sniff”

“It’s okay, little ball. Let it all out.”

A foul smoke began leaking from the sphere. Years of pent-up negative energy finally escaping.

Calmer now, the fallen angel — our new nephew — was a little cleaner, though still stained.

“It’s going to be fine. When we get back home, I’ll give you a full cleanse. But first, I want you to hand over all your contracts. They’re ours now.”

“You… you want my contwacts… why…?”

“I’ll buy your sins. Because they deserve resolution, not just erasure. Also because we need your corrupted energy…”

“Okei… my bwad…” said the angel, timidly.

Grabbing that chubby little hand, I felt a huge surge of power flood into us.

Our contract was made.

“Hey, Shi-nii… you okay?”

“I… AM EVIL!” I shifted into my ripper form.

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

“Just kidding, I’m fine…”

For a second, even though he was a soul, Tadashi almost shit his pants.

“Why do you do this to me…”

Yeah, it was a big kick of energy, but nothing worse than that bottle of wine…

“Before we try to leave, just one thing. Angel, tell me how you ended up here?” asked Tadashi.

Me? W-well… I worked security at da entry area of da crates back at da Life Complex… but every time anuddah angel twied to sneak something illegal, he’d throw me down to da human world… one day dey thwowed me, and I ended up hewe…”

“Grayer… that son of a bitch…” I muttered, the connections clicking.

“Yeah… and we’re back to square one…”

With no real conclusion, we decided to finally put our talents to the test.

“How do we cast this spell without a body? We trained Zero’s body…”

“I don’t know, but we have to try…”

We positioned ourselves, but in the ultimate twist, our antagonist stepped between us:

“Use me as the conduit. I’ll simulate a body and you’ll cast the spell!” said the angel, shifting his little ball form into that of a buff man — still with the same simple face of two dots and a line.

“I really don’t get it…” said Tadashi.

“Neither do I, but this is the last chapter, and we still haven’t explained the magic system of this universe. You really thought it was going to make sense now?”

“Fair point…” Tadashi conceded.

In one last exhausted effort, together we poured out all our strength.

An undefined light shone on the moon.

On Earth, everyone saw that light.

A small portal opened.