"What does that even mean?"

Rubbing between her eyes with her fingers, Olivia sighed.

"You are aware that the last bud of corruption is within me. Tetra knows it pretty well by now."

The pink-haired woman frowned heavily at his callout.

"Are you thinking of finally removing it?"

Orion nodded. Staring into Tetra's eyes, they conversed without a word leaving their mouths.

"Amelia..."

Tetra called her, the frown still very visible.

"What?"

"I know what is going to happen already. Of course, not in its entirety."

"What you and everyone need to understand is that what you're all preparing to face is Orion..."

Amelia shrugged, while the others smiled bashfully, as if Tetra had said something stupid.

"Well, that's a given."

"Let me finish."

The mood froze when Tetra's voice appeared colder than usual.

"You and Karteira, I don't have to remind you about Orion's madness."

"!"

The two women opened their eyes wide, while Orion closed them, removing himself from the conversation for now.

"You can't do that! Are you asking us to fight this monstrosity again?!"

Everyone else had only heard about this incident, but never actually saw him turn into a violent beast.

"That's what you will be against. No... even stronger."

"What?!"

Karteira sat back on the couch, feeling like fainting from the idea.

"You can't be serious?!"

"I am."

Answering Amelia with a serious expression, Tetra crossed her arms.

"..."

Then she looked at Orion.

"After discussing this a lot, we came to the conclusion that this berserk state was a creation of Orion's bloodline."

"Having the blood of an angel and a demon caused a predisposition to sudden bursts of energies."

"The problem is that his body is way more resilient than his mind. While it is possible to contain a tremendous amount of magic energy inside him, the instant it is released, his mind shuts down to avoid the resulting stress."

"Not only all of his released power merges into one, but Orion himself undergoes a change. The peak of both worlds merges into one."

They all listened to Tetra with interest.

"But this is way different."

"You're going to fight Orion in his berserk state, but not while the energies of dark and light clash into his body..."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

They gulped, already guessing her next words.

"This time, Orion is fully controlling those elements. The one that is being contained is the void element."

"Instead of being a state brought by his blood... We will have to fight Orion in a form close to the perfection of his being."

"Void magic is no joke."

She turned to Deveralna, who was sitting next to her.

"Even your Remnant power will be mostly ineffective. I suggest you get prepared to sacrifice every ounce of energy to contain him."

While she spoke to her directly, she also meant the last part for everyone else.

Tetra sighed as she turned to Orion.

"You're lucky I managed to finish my own training."

Orion suddenly opened his eyes with expectation.

"Is that right?"

"I did. We can try whenever you want."

Without hesitation, Orion stood up.

"Can I ask everyone to close their eyes?"

"Why?"

"To be certain Tetra's power actually works, I'll have to do something a little too violent. I would rather not shock you or make you panic."

They looked between each other.

"..."

Not a single one of them closed their eyes. Orion smiled dryly before a blade of darkness ripped his left forearm off his body.

"!"

His arm fell to the ground, and they all stood up from their seats.

"W-Why?!"

The pained expression on his face told them that this was not a joke. Tetra immediately left her seat and rushed toward him.

"Can't you wait?! You're making me panic! Damn it!"

A pink aura covered her body as she focused.

*TICK* *TOCK*

The sound of a clock echoed in the room. Her aura covered Orion as his time stopped.

Then, as if turning back, his arm floated back up and reattached itself where it was cut.

As if nothing had happened to him, Orion clenched his left hand.

"O-Oh..."

They all sat down, feeling their knees weaken.

"I can use this maybe once every day. The moment I use it, I can save an indefinite number of people, unless they have already passed."

"What a strange power."

Tetra shrugged at her own comment. She only managed to probe further into her Remnant power only thanks to Orion removing the limitation placed upon her.

"That is quite incredible."

With a smile, Orion placed his hand on her cheek and gently rubbed it.

"I'm just doing what I want."

After a few seconds of standing there, she then returned to her seat before crossing her legs.

Still astonished, Orion looked at his left arm. The pain he had felt was a phantom remnant, and the cut was nowhere to be seen.

"I told you to close your eyes. You can't say I didn't warn you."

With a faint smile, he sat down.

"Give us a moment..."

Silently waiting, Orion watched as, one by one, they recovered their composure in record time.

This was Orion. They were used to his antics.

"The matter isn't necessarily settled, but that's the gist of it."

"I intend to remove the curse at last."

The curse that made every human slightly affected by the corruption an enemy, was about to be removed.

At last, the very last vestige of hatred would be removed.

"I will ask Elliott and Nylon to support you, too. The higher are your chances to fight back, the better it will be."

A few women in the group frowned at Elliott's name being spoken, but they kept silent.

Some sour feelings still existed between the group and him, but that was pretty normal. He didn't care the least how well he was perceived.

All that mattered to Elliott was his newly created friendship with Orion, and Layla, who he was getting attached to.

"I suppose I have no reason to complain..."

Amelia crossed her arms.

In front of her, May observed carefully before speaking out loud.

"Amelia, Karteira, Olivia, Deveralna, Senia, Mia, Nia, Tetra, and me..."

"Olivia's maids, Marie, Eden, and Alice..."

"And Elliott and Nylon."

They all nodded.

"I'll ask Titania to watch over the fight. If she needs to extract someone during the battle, I'd rather it is her."

Mia and Nia nodded at each other.

"Then, I should ask mom to be present, too."

Amelia thought that Henrietta would be perfect to watch over everything.

From Orion's side, a paw touched his leg. As he looked down, Orion noticed Sirius and Procyon.

"You two want to participate?"

"Awoof!"

"Grrrr."

The entire cast was almost complete. As Orion kneeled to pat his dogs, he noticed his daughter leaning against the wall near the door leading into the hallway.

"Count me in."

"Stella! When did you enter?"

Surprised as to why he was unable to sense her, he lifted his eyebrow.

"Since the beginning. I merely listened quietly. It's not difficult to make your presence substantially lessened."

She was wearing her white blouse, meaning she had just left the lab at the back of the house.

It also meant that his parents were most likely around here. Listening carefully, he heard his mother's voice from the dining room.

"I didn't mean to let everyone know about it..."

With a faint smile, he ruffled Sirius' fur. The large dog seemed to enjoy it as his tail wagged furiously.

"In that case... We'll do that next week."

He finally stood up.

"You all need to be in peak condition. There will be no second try..."

With a serious glare, he looked at everyone in the room.

"I trust you with my life."

...

A week went by at incredible speed.

Almost no one stayed inside the house during that time, preparing to face Orion at their fullest.

Typically, they were training. They went to their mentors, the Remnants, to perfect their magic even further in the small time they had to do so.

When the time came, one at a time, they went to the training area.

Orion, standing perfectly still, his back turned to them, glanced in the distance at the wide world that he created.

Titania and Henrietta stayed further away, watching the others' backs.

Elliott and Nylon arrived last and carried on past Orion's partners.

They both stood next to him and stared at the same landscape.

"Are you ready?"

Asking his friend, Elliott crossed his arms.

"Can I ask you to protect them in case I do something I would regret?"

With a faint smile, Orion glanced toward him.

"You have my word."

Satisfied, he nodded. Then he turned to Nylon.

"Sorry to force this on you."

His brother shook his head.

"I always wanted to have a serious fight against you. The only disappointing part is that you won't be conscious to enjoy it."

"Haha~ My bad."

Chuckling lightly, Orion extended his hand toward him in a fist.

"I leave this to you."

"Understood."

Nylon bumped his fist against Orion's before both men turned back and joined with the women of the Agathion faction.

The air grew silent as Orion stared at the wide sky.

Its blue hue eased his frustration as he pondered if this was the right thing to do.

'Alright.'

Slowly, Orion closed his eyes.

'My life is in your hands.'

As his consciousness sank into an endless bog, even the sounds began to vanish.

As a white hue covered his body, the corruption sealing his body rapidly devoured it.

The bridge that Tetra had created to help his use of magic raptured, returning to her in worrying echo.

"Be careful... It has begun."

Elliott didn't hesitate. He instantly entered a defensive state and drew Vanitas out of its scabbard.

"Already? But nothing's happening?"

The white hue vanished. Orion was still with his back turned toward them when the first changes appeared.

Orion's hair began to turn a pure white, whiter than the warm yellowish white his angel form displayed.

Then Orion disappeared.

Only to reappear behind the group.

*BOOM*