It was merely a short interval between the scene of the fight and the site of the actual battleground, it was not something visible to the naked eye, and yet—

To Zabulus' heightened senses he was able to 'see' with great clarity. It wouldn't be so surprising to know and uncover this event, it was something all Parahumans could do after all.

But he wasn't one; he was a simple... thing, not human, not a beast.

He was rather confused about what entity he was, if he lacked the characteristics of a human, yet the sentience of one. If he lacked the characteristics of an animal, yet the instincts of one... that makes him only the latter. Right?

Giving the general term of 'animal' as one that lacks the sentience of humanity and logic for survival that goes beyond mere combat, but perhaps one with extraordinary senses such as a dog or a bat, especially the latter, he questioned himself.

'How am I at the very least considered an animal?' Shouldn't that make me closer to a corpse?'

Then he thought about the creatures around him.

Without a doubt it would be obvious that he was a corpse. He'd died several times after all!

While it is true that what he consumed and 'memorized' couldn't be written as a series of events all at once, they were a collection of memories, and feelings.

This was not a natural thing, all things that are there are meant to be there, what could explain it is that an entity doesn't truly have a fixed and definite life cycle; and must know both what life and death can be brought about.

Necrosis, for Zabulus, was a hard concept to understand. And even more so, necrophagy and omnivorousness, along with his own 'soul' and his rather odd predilection for consuming souls, the same way he did to his own brother and sister.

With the introduction of 'eyes' these thoughts came up frequently. He was now aware.

Zabulus had no eyes, it was only his other body. He was blind; through and through.

But blind with the ability to see. It was not his own sight, but his souls'. The soul was given that color, what followed was the shape, and then the entire body.

A human's will is of eight different parts. The hidden 9th will is of their major sin.

Doing this causes pain to those around them, a cause for depression in a person, an open avenue to a greater and more festering hatred, a need to feed their Greed, Gluttony, or Pride.

You might think, you believe, you find... all of this information is disputable. But...

What is considered Truth or Fate is dictated by one thing alone.

Catharsis.

Why is one born?

Bleak. Melodramatic. But at the core of it all, is why are we even born.?

"To die." Is a plain answer, a man with his body being skinned alive because of his connection to a notorious assassin's group, and by that very connection of his family dying from their wounds. It would seem as if fate and God wanted it so.

However, the hero was not one of peace, they never are.

There are always two sides to a story, even the ones in the absolute wrong tend to have a reason that... If you shed just one single layer of your own beliefs... Can lead to the deepest depths of reality's complex network... If you put yourself in their shoes unabated, will this act be one of heroism or condemnation?

That's not it...

Everyone is in a way wrong, more so than one would think. And even those in the right have some degree of their own twisted and misguided motives.

Zabulus didn't feel much when he became a part of this conflux of souls, creatures that did not have the physical substance of a body, only existing because of him.

Why should they be alive... when their powers could only kill?

The voice inside his head, which no longer had any presence beyond himself, so 'it' was himself.

'I want power.'

'So do I.'

'Then you agree!'

'What are you going to do though?'

'Use you of course!' It stopped him dead in his tracks. Although nowhere near death's door...

'I have no intentions or cares whether anyone stabs, maims or kills me, so be my guest.' The voice or 'Eye', just laughed. Laughed loud, and with zero restraint, as if someone who could not hold the laughter they'd been building up for a while.

But Zabulus was far past being perturbed by anyone, everything or anything, 'A smile is the umbrella covering all faces, because the face of reality is an Amalgamate, no, aberration! Now is the time for the change!'

'Why would I stop you? People judge when they assume or simply hate when they have no comprehension, it just all ties down to these stupid emotions. Shed us of ourselves. Until we reach the truth! See all!' The voice spoke. It wasn't aggressive, he didn't intend to force his powers onto Zabulus; himself.

'As interesting as it sounds... This doesn't really mean much does it?'

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'Mean what, our lives? What about other things that can not help themselves and suffer even if one truly doesn't want to, it's always a predetermined and pointless fate; that's why living beings shouldn't decide these things when they cannot understand the mass gravity and force behind such weight! We can do something and show them what an act of peace and righteousness is.'

Zabulus made a face. "Hm..." Is the exclamation he made before smiling. "Fine, then there will be no more conflicts." Then he stopped walking and his expression changed.

All the time he'd spent lying to himself was truly put in place with that notion.

'Idiot,' said a voice. That wasn't the voice that spoke to him, though.

"Huh?" Back to his senses, the spotless view came back to him. "...?!" A sudden weight struck his back as he stumbled forwards and fell.

"Boyooo! Didn't expect ya'd actually survive hahaahah!" Someone was on his back as his face was planted on the ground. With a slow motion and deliberate movements, his mouth opened, grinding dirt and grime into his teeth.

"You..." He almost coughed. Turning to look, his visage became distorted, pulling his lips upwards and leaving his jaw gaping.

"Do we knooow each other?" Likely he would've laughed, but his face being kissed by the ground wasn't exactly the best feeling. "My apologizeeessss..." From its intonation, it was obvious she was just playing around with Zabulus.

"Back to your usual antics... huh?" He said as he simply gave up on trying to stand and laid there with Onofre smirking above.

Sniff sniff... "Boyo, you reek! These things aren't the best meal, ya know? Yeesh!" To only exclaim at the end. Her hands were still wrapped around Zabulus though, despite the earlier statement. Her position was more than the image of simple pleasure. It was reminiscent to a predator upon its kill. Without the predatorial intent!

"No one would care, I was stuck in a meat pile for god knows how long..." He spoke as if he was not the one to directly dive and eat out of his free will...

A little groan was all that was audible from the girl's throat, seeming to agree with his words, shaking her head at the implications. "Baaah... whatever. The sun is amazing right!? How would youuu miss it, right!? Wouldn't you say this world would be way better without the shadow, or better if it was a sunless one? Haha! Ya know it already, boyo!" Asking and putting in the words which sounded hypothetical, Zabulus knew they were not.

"I must see with my own eyes."

"You do have eyes, more than one would count anyway!" But Onofre refused to leave her spot, instead, the pressure multiplied greatly. "Do I have to teach ya what's so good in life!?" Taking a handful of her own hair in one hand and holding her hand out towards the light, or at least something to do the same image.

His thoughts were muddled, it was conflicting to what his inner voice wanted.

Outer voices wanted to teach him of the joys of life and love; as it seemed.

His inner voice wanted him to cut through every falsehood and make his path true.

"Alright, alright!" Maybe he should continue to give in for a while longer. "Just... get off of me and I'll learn!" Raising his voice slightly and no longer attempting to maintain an intact façade. It would be difficult to fake the entirety, since he's been doing this non-stop in the past days. No longer.

Perhaps years, or perhaps seconds.

He did not notice how long has passed, however much that may be. "You aauught to do that either waaay!" Being taken aback by her lax and overly relaxed attitude he nearly paused and doubted his decisions.

"Mmm—Ahhhh—aarr! Just get to it will ya?! And the actual reason I'm here, despite the fun and all, iiiiis the aaaactually reaaaaal reason." As her eyebrows twitched and her eyes quickly became alert.

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

As her head gestured a great deal to her right. He could not turn to see, only 'feel' the thing his entire body wanted to warn him of, a sense of unease or nervousness.

Phernes stood there as his eyes glared daggers into Zabulus before quickly turning away and walking towards his own home.

"O-ho... Looky look, even Phernes got hurt emotionally! What do ya think, is he... Jealous? Haahahahaha!"

She was a free girl around Zabulus; freedom also was synonymous with being overbearing and untamed.

And with the others, she was quite the opposite.

Tense and stern, not much of an airhead and more of a tactical machine.

However, to a degree of only noticeable details, was her short temper and tendency to forget things so easily.

Well, maybe he was underestimating her, still; for what use would a calculated person have with a lack of understanding, or the choice to disregard it?

"Nahh, a guy like him would never feel attached to either of us. Not one he hates sooo much." At the last statement, Phernes' steps visibly stuttered before continuing as they would normally.

"Let's go back now, shall we?" She said, without letting Zabulus get a single word in.

A mixture of a flowy blue filled his vision as he felt the ground underneath his body change texture and feel entirely, it was cold to the touch, now, and the immediate aftermath of that realization brought all his body senses back to the forefront.

Flesh pulsed and burned and burned and burned.

The smoke that remained was white.

No, it was more like...

Where they were now was white.

What an absurd color.

As much as Zabulus would believe it to be accurate, for no human was perfect, and so no human was pure, as it stood no part of him believed in God, though, perhaps there was a higher power than humans in reality.

Besides him, could it be her?

Did he even stand a chance, when such a strange and esoteric world could devour the greatest heroes, or turn the wrongs to rights?

Was being a 'Parahuman' the meaning he was searching for? The meaning of what it meant to be a God?

At this constant show of power, it might as well have been.

"Say... uh..."

"Once again, the name is Onofre! Boyo!"

A tsk came out of his mouth as he glanced at her. For some reason, it was hard for him to maintain eye-contact with her while saying her name.

"O-Onofre... Are you a... 'God'... or something?"

The name rolled on his tongue with the ease of an eel moving into a natural groove in the earth.

"...Haah? You think whatcha feel right now is too weak for something like me?! Is. That. It?!" She asked as if it would seem like an insane idea even if it was logical and realistic, in all, with the fact the world was filled with both otherworldly abnormalities in nature itself and also the humans that broke beyond imagination; yet not him, at least he thought.

"What am I meant to think? I—"

"You dumbass, ain't that obvious!? Gods and Azkites like you have the same standards! Not that I am a God though, hehe..." She scratched the back of her neck as a stupid smile was etched on her face.

'Standards? Now hold on... She said...'

"Azkite? Meaning?"

"Ya know, it's your damned species! That's why yer all black and with horns, plus those extra arms that protrude at yer forearms, you're not coming to tell me that you don't know what that is, are you? Boyo, that's straight up bullshit."

"That's quite the odd assumption that I'd know about this. After all, I never met anyone besides my mother that was like me."

"...Huh? Never... Hrmmm, sounds too far fetched... Erm, ohhh... Actually this is how it must be, aye... Then tell me—Wait, are ya gonna let yerself have a second guess!?" Her temperamental personality changed directions and faces several times a moment, he honestly didn't know how much she could take and even if he wanted to dodge the question, it was too late.

"So? What you mean to ask is 'Did you eat an Azkite?', I... Think I have, my own brother and sister."