******Chapter XIII: The End?"*****
Let's go back in time, in that safe house that stood alone in the chaos.
Zero said, "What did you do?" A horrendous explosion followed, echoing like a devastating earthquake shaking everything. Zero left the old man and opened the curtains, which had been closed over the windows. No light scraped through the house except for the weak bulb glowing faintly inside. He squinted, but the buildings blocked his view outside. The sound of the explosion stopped as suddenly as it had come.
"I don't know what's going on," Zero muttered.
K asked, "Do you really not know what's going on, or do you not want to listen?"
Zero hesitated, not understanding at first. Then he looked at K, starting to reply
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as K stepped closer,...one deliberate step at a time.... *E* dropped to his knees, and April immediately followed, giving a firm command: "Fall!"
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The old man looked confused and asked, "What's going on?"
K interrupted coldly, "Don't mind this man."
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Zero continued as Dawn stepped forward...."Welcome to my world,"......that brief instant, he found himself high in the air, no longer alone. The entire village...
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The old man, eyes wide with terror, stared at the floating village. "What the—how did you know?"
Zero turned back, looking almost indifferent. "I don't think I need to continue."
As the dust settled, they saw the carnage—the village crushed beneath the weight of collapsed buildings. Bodies lay scattered, remnants of what had once been homes now reduced to rubble. The old man, horror-stricken, looked out at the devastation and whispered, "She was right... you're all cursed. Look what your curse has done to my village."
Zero, without moving his eyes from the battlefield, replied coldly, "No, you were the one who cursed them. They didn't choose this. The curse always returns to its creator... makes sense to me."
K echoed in agreement, "Me too."
The old man, panic rising in his voice, pointed to the chaotic scene of those who were still fighting amidst the ruins. "What are you talking about? Look at them—cursed children fighting each other."
Zero let a quiet laugh escape his lips, his gaze never shifting from the battlefield. "No," he said softly, "it's a battle of broken souls."
The old man's face twisted with rage and fear. "Of course, you'd defend them. You and him—cursed! I thought maybe, just maybe, you weren't like the others. You didn't show any devilish abilities, so I had hope. But now I see it. She was right—you're cursed! You should've died with the rest of them!"
Zero laughed darkly, just as a massive impact shook the ground outside, sending gusts of wind crashing against the sealed windows. The chaos outside didn't faze him. He kept his focus on the old man, his voice sharp. "You know, I used to be afraid of you. But now, you're just a joke—more pathetic than I ever was. To think, I once believed you were somebody."
The old man shouted, "What? I am your father! You can't talk to me like this!"
"Father?" Zero's expression hardened, his voice cold as ice. "Now you're my father? You're nothing but a pitiful old man, deserving to rot in some forgotten hole until death comes for you."
The old man trembled, his voice breaking. "You too... I didn't do anything wrong. Your mother... she cheated on me!"
K, standing to the side, sneered. "Why is that thing start to cry now?"
The old man, voice cracking, continued, "And to defend your sisters... I ended my mother's life. And after that, I found out she was right... but I couldn't hurt them, so I kicked them out! And they... they told me the same thing. How could they... how could *you*—after everything I've done?
Zero's voice grew sharper, his patience eroding. "It's because of everything *you* did. You're not the victim here—you're guilty. And to think, you decided I was cursed just because they said so? You said my mom cheated on you, but you don't even know if that's true. You just believed it... because *they* said so."
The old man, trembling with anger and desperation, shouted, "What was I supposed to do?"
Zero's voice exploded with fury, his control slipping. "I needed you to be a *father*—someone who protects his family! But you... you were the one who dismantled it, piece by piece. And now look at you, alone with nothing." He paused, his eyes blazing with cold disdain. "You're cursed too. How do you even gonna live in a world when your world has been annihilated, erased from existence?"
As explosions erupted sporadically around them, the old man hissed, "Needed me? I'm not your father!"
Zero shot back, "Right. You don't have the qualifications to be one." He turned away from the old man, walking toward the remnants of the battle that was nearing its end. Minutes passed, and he focused on the chaos unfolding before him, trying to drown out the turmoil inside.
Suddenly, he felt something poke at his back. Instinctively, he turned around just in time to see the old man lunge at him with a sword. But before the blade could reach him, something intervened, catching the long sword mid-air. The old man didn't see who it was, but the blood dripping from the other side of the sword caught his attention.
K, standing nearby, exclaimed, "How did that thing stop the sword? You didn't even acknowledge its presence!"
For the first time, Zero turned to look at the figure—a woman with long hair, her eyes stitched shut. Her mouth and ears bore similar stitches, yet despite her sealed features, tears flowed down her cheeks.
"What do I care about that thing?" Zero muttered to himself. But as she hugged him tightly, he found himself crying without knowing why.
The warmth of her embrace ignited something deep within him. Then, from his left ear, he heard the sound of threads tearing. and she said "my.....on"
,suddenly, he was overwhelmed by a wave of emotion.
Imagining a thousand things—lost moments, pain, and unfulfilled desires—his tears transformed into devastating cries. He wept harder than he ever thought possible, gasping for breath, unable to stop. The anguish poured out of him, and he felt as if he were drowning in a sea of sorrow, with no way to escape the tide of his grief.
Zero continued grieving, hugging the woman tightly, though it made no sense to him. His heart felt hollow, but he clung to her regardless. Outside, the battle had ended. K stood silently beyond the house, and with a simple wave of his hand, the house began to disintegrate, piece by piece, into the sky. The walls vanished, leaving Zero exposed to the world, yet he didn't care. He was still holding the woman.
In a strained, broken voice, the woman spoke again. "Yo...u...r... no.t a... mistake... You're... your... father... and... mother's... son... I didn't do such a dishonorable thing."
Then, without warning, she collapsed in his arms, fading into nothingness. Zero reached out as if trying to grasp the air, hoping it would somehow bring her back. But she was gone. His hands grasped only emptiness.
As he finally noticed that the walls around him were gone, his eyes landed on K—the real K—standing behind him. Zero stood slowly, exhaustion painted across his face. "You're the real deal, not just the one in my head."
K raised his hand, and with a single flick, flames engulfed the old man, but he still clung to life. Zero, exhausted beyond words, muttered, "I'm ready."
K seemed confused. "Ready? For what?"
Zero continued, his voice a whisper of desperation. "You came here to take my life. Do it. Relieve me from my thoughts, from my misery, from my idiocy... from the K that's been tormenting my mind."
In perfect sync, the two Ks—real and imagined—began speaking at the same time. "Hallucination? Who, him? Or are you talking about... us?"
One K walked around Zero, and as he circled, they both spoke again, "Do you think we're in your head... or maybe you're in *our* head?"
K finished the circle, walking through his double, and they merged into one being. Zero's eyes darted between them, bewildered. When they became one, he asked, "What do you want?"
K, now singular, answered, "What I want? No... it's not about what *I* want. It's about what *you* want."
Zero hesitated, unsure how to answer. His gaze shifted to the sword that had been used to strike down the woman. Without thinking, he picked it up and moved toward K, preparing to attack. But as he did, he noticed the old man was still breathing, despite the earlier blow.
Zero raised his hand, ready to end it all. But just as he was about to swing, he felt resistance. Something was holding the sword back. He turned around and saw the woman again, now with a gaping hole in her chest, standing behind him. She was shaking her head, silently pleading for him not to go through with it.
Ignoring her, he pushed harder, determined to finish what he had started. With a final surge of strength, he successfully struck his father, delivering the fatal blow. The old man collapsed, dead at last.
Zero fell to his knees, utterly drained, too tired to stand. Looking at the lifeless body of his father, he whispered, "It reminds me... of our first meeting..."
Zero, still on his knees, stared at the ground, lost in thought. "I remember, K," he muttered, his voice hollow. "You raised your hands back then... just like you're doing now... and then you attacked me."
But this time, K didn't attack. Instead, he extended his hand, offering to help Zero stand.
Zero looked up, surprised by the gesture. For a moment, he hesitated, staring at K's outstretched hand.
Zero reached for K's hand, pulling himself up, but as soon as their hands touched, something strange happened. A memory flashed in his mind—vivid and unsettling. In the memory, he stood over a pool of water, its surface rippling as it reflected his own face. Yet he knew, without a doubt, that it wasn't *his* memory. It was his face, but the emotions, the surroundings—none of it belonged to him.
As he let go of K's hand, the memory faded, and reality snapped back into focus. His heart raced, and confusion clouded his thoughts. He took a step back, staring at K.
"Who are you?" Zero asked, his voice shaken but determined.
K tilted his head slightly, a cryptic smile playing on his lips. "You mean... what are you?"
Zero, not willing to let the question slide, demanded, "Answer. Which one of them? Who are you really?"
Zero sighed, defeated. "You know what? I don't want to know anymore. I don't know anything. Just… leave me." His voice trembled as he sank back to the ground, staring up at the sky. "I'll just lay here, waiting until the pieces of this house fall from the sky. Oh, right... you control it. Just let it fall on me."
K didn't respond, simply watching him. Zero, exhausted from everything—physically, mentally, emotionally—closed his eyes, feeling the weight of the world press down on him. The sky above was open, exposed, as the house around him floated in disjointed pieces.
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Meanwhile, Dr. Pill, after receiving critical information about the chaotic battle on the battlefield, wasted no time. She immediately issued a command to the Milland soldiers: "Terminate K... and the Seven."
The soldiers moved swiftly, armed and prepared for an all-out assault, ready to take down what the government had come to see as threats.
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Back to Zero, lying on the ground, he muttered,
"I don't even care anymore. Just let it all end."
Zero lay on the ground, speaking nonsense as if lost in a dream
. "The Milland soldiers... they're close... The Milland soldiers saw the village from afar, now leveled to the ground, destruction everywhere. The scene made no sense to them. One of the soldiers, perplexed, said, "What happened there?"
He mumbled on, his words disconnected from reality.
he continued:.....Suddenly, Zero's body began to float, his eyes closed. In the stillness, a single thought hit him with startling clarity: *What if K is me? Or I am K?* His eyes shot open, and in an instant, he crashed to the ground, startled by his own revelation.
"Wait... I was flying," Zero muttered, standing up in confusion. His gaze locked onto K, who was now approaching him, sword in hand. The thought grew stronger in Zero's mind, a dangerous belief now forming: *K is me.*
Without hesitation, Zero leapt at the sword, fully expecting to confront K—but to his shock, he passed right through him. Spinning around, he watched as K began to fade, disappearing into thin air.
"I'm sorry..." Zero whispered, his voice cracking.
And then, memories flooded back into his mind, memories he had buried deep. He remembered the day he stopped crying—the day K was born. He remembered imagining a version of himself, one so powerful it could destroy everyone responsible for his pain. He remembered the anger, the burning desire to hurt them a thousand times over. And then, the memory of the ritual resurfaced, the moment they branded him. They used the letter *K* three times.
The realization hit him harder than anything before. K wasn't just a figment of his imagination—he was a part of him, born from his deepest anguish.
Suddenly, the remnants of the house, suspended in the sky, began to fall, crashing down with a deafening force. The debris raised a massive curtain of dust, obscuring everything. No one could see who—or what—remained inside as the dust settled.
Zero was nowhere to be found, but if you looked up, farther into the sky, you'd see him hiding in one of the cluds, spinning around.
"Shhh… no, it's my story, and I will tell it," .....
. Where am I? I don't know... I feel like the heavy feeling that was surrounding me isn't there anymore... I feel light. What are these? Memories... but they don't belong to me... They're K's memories.
I see when he fought them... they were invincible..... He didn't know about Linking or Unday's ability. ...But he was so close to winning before Juls destroyed that last piece of the rock they were linked to..... It was such a powerful ability, ....but wih one flaw: if you destroy the object that takes the damage for you, you're the one who gets hit. When Juls destroyed the rock, they all collapsed. like the Rock....
And then Winter faced K. Her ability was rain. Of course, K would feel fear. I could imagine a million ways to kill someone with rain. One of them? The sky raining lava—there's no running from that.....
...............................
I see that the 29 are up now, moving towards Paralyze. I remember Juls.... I saw her when K first appeared at the arena..... After seeing her power, I think she was the reason the six were frozen back then... anyway I need to intervene before they fight. I need to warn them about the Milland soldiers..
To be continued...