PHASE 31 - THE NEED TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF MY HANDSOME FACE

In a world full of ice, two lovers have reunited from months of being separated.

It was a girl and a boy. The girl is an innocent maiden with sky-blue eyes, platinum dark long hair that reaches her thighs, pinkish snow-white skin, and an adorable puppy-like face. She is wearing her Demigoddess white robe with combusting flames on each of its tip. She is the only Brightmore Witch and the Frozen Soul at the very same person- Tiara Hikari.

A boy is a person who went through hell and back. He has abandoned his ideals and disregarded his morals, for all of the years he has been waiting for so long. He has this golden hair mixed with silver strands, crimson eyes with triangle sigil, and his body build is medium but tall. He is the one and only leader of the New Order, Aeternos- Alaric Eisenhower.

Alaric Eisenhower held hands with the woman he loved the most. For all of these years, he has endured, endured, and endured all of it. He had his first lover die, his best friend dies, his allies die, and his current lover sealed right in front of his eyes. He went to hell just to recover the Fragment of the Frozen Soul and the Curse of the Brightmore Witch just to revive his loved one, only to know that he will be betrayed by his future self. He went back to the past, did sinful and evil things in order to prevent a Time Paradox, became a prisoner in the Underworld Prison in Hell… and finally, he’s here.

“At long last, Tiara…” Alaric gently caressed the cheek of Tiara. “At long last. We’ve finally reunited again.”

“Rikkun…” Tiara muttered. Her eyes are on the verge of crying, but deep inside her irises are doubt. She could not believe that the Cursed Guardian right in front of her is the Alaric Eisenhower he loved the most. She could not believe that her Rikkun is Aeternos.

In the background are two blonde beauties. One of them is a tall well-endowed woman in a Valkyrie suit, with eight wings on her back. She has this red scarf running on her neck, which is a valid identification that she is the original Outsider- Erylle Fontaine. Beside her is another outsider of the universe, per se, as she is a familiar petite girl with adorable cheeks and tsundere attitude- Jeannette Amiella Fontaine von Noctis.

These two spectators of the romantic scene have this bittersweet expression on their faces. They are quite conflicted about the person they’re looking at, which is this Cursed Alaric Eisenhower. Inside their mind, they know that a Cursed Guardian can never be trusted. But it is a hundred percent sure that the person in front of them is the future Alaric Eisenhower. They could not decide whether they can trust this Aeternos or not.

“Let’s go home now,” Alaric said with an innocent smile. Then he lent out his hand.

“Mmm!” Tiara nodded like an obedient puppy. “I’m back, Rikkun!”

Just before Tiara could take Alaric’s hand…

That’s where I come in!

A nuclear explosion that destroys the time-space continuum created a Gate into this realm of the Frozen Soul. A Time Gate with rainbow colors immediately appeared right behind Alaric. And with the force of the blast, I boosted forward and prepared a superman punch straight to my future self’s right cheek!

“Pwahack!” Alaric cried out loud as he had his body spinning for twelve hundred degrees until finally landing on the icy ground with his feet. His reflexes are superb, so he did not take any fall damage.

“Rikkun!?” Tiara muttered in surprise. She looked at me, who is quite astounded on my new form. I’m fully coated with my Aether Armor, so there’s no way Tiara could realize that it’s me.

Both Erylle and Jeannette are confused about who the armored guy is, so I immediately deactivated the helmet part of my Aether Armor: revealing my beautiful blonde-haired, green-eyed handsome face.

“Alaric!” Erylle and Jeanne celebrated as they saw me back.

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“Hands-off my girlfriend, you ugly bastard!” I cried out loud. I soon found out that I’m roasting myself since this Alaric Eisenhower I’m facing is definitely my future self.

“Y-You!” Alaric muttered in surprise. He stood up and wiped the blood on his nose. “How the hell did you come back here!?”

“You wouldn’t know since you never came back in the first place!” I cried out loud as I presented a pendant with a missing pocket watch. “This is the future that you never made through!”

“How did you…” Alaric muttered as he pulled out the very same pendant in his pocket. However, the pocket watch on his pendant is still there.

The proof that his pendant is still intact means that he never met the Key on the Phoenix Incident. It also means that he is me and not me at the very same time. He is Alaric Eisenhower, but not me! I know it’s contradictory and brain-whacking, so don’t put much thought about it!

But seeing the proof makes me eager to punch my future self more. I clenched my fists and activated Diadem’s Weapon Gem; making me spawn a curved dark crimson blade.

“I don’t know how the hell did you come back from this time, but it will not matter!” Alaric roared out loud. “I will kick you out again with a Time Gate and let you continue from where you left off!”

“Rikkun!?” Tiara muttered my nickname once again. Right as of this moment, she is confused about whose side she’ll be taking up. I can see from her puppy-like eyes that she is willing to help me, but she doesn't know who. Will she side on the present me, or the future me?

“Tiara… step back.” I muttered. “This is a fight between me and myself only. Nobody should interfere.”

“R-Right!” Tiara pumped her fists with full determination even though she does not get what the hell is happening.

“Fuhahaha!” Alaric laughed. “You don’t know what you are doing, Alaric Eisenhower! I am the future you! If you defeat me, there will be nothing left on your future! You kill me, you become me!”

“No, you’re wrong,” I muttered. Then I gazed upon the cursed eyes of my future self, fully embracing the willpower I have build up. “You are not my future. This is not the future Key left me. With her sacrifice and my power, I will forge my own future without setting aside my morals and ideals!”

“You’re grinding my gears!” Alaric curled his eyebrows, telling me that he’s eternally pissed. I know how short my temper is, so I certainly know how to annoy myself off. “You will soon know that you’re just destroying yourself!”

In an instant, Alaric deployed his Weapon Gem which is similar to mine. It is still Diadem’s sword, albeit its color is dark platinum.

Everything was silent.

There’s no breeze in this Realm of the Frozen Soul. All we can hear are the breaths of Erylle and Jeanne at the audience's seat. Both of us can also hear Tiara’s nervous heartbeats. To silence the only noise off, Tiara held her chest. However…

Groaaaaaan!

Her stomach made the loudest noise.

And that noise became our signal to start.

“!!!” Alaric shouted out loud, and lightning from the heavens struck him. A wide flash of light was created, and when it faded, he revealed himself into a Hell version of Aeternos, with dark armor and red circuit linings on it.

“Hraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” I boosted forward, readying my sword to slash him in half. While dashing, I had my Aether Armor cover myself with a liger-looking helmet to protect me from any harm.

Aeternos blocked my first strike with his own sword. He immediately made a counterattack with a side thrust, but I also parried it with my weapon.

Our Guardian Ability does not work here. Since he’s my future self, it overlaps my sense to see his movements twelve seconds into the future. The same goes for him since my existence in this very time is a time paradox. Any disruption in time renders useless. That is why we have to rely on our own pure skill and willpower.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Our swords bite each other for every strike we make. I made a side sweep, cross slash, and a block, while Aeternos blocked, parried, and made a centered thrust. All our movements are in perfect synchrony as if my left and right arm are doing a hand wrestling.

“Haaah!"

I made a clean hit towards Aeternos’ stomach. However, it didn’t make any damage or dent as Aether Armor is invincible.

“Kraaah!”

Thrust. Aeternos stabbed my chest with his dark sword, but it didn’t go through. My Aether Armor is just as invincible just as him, so we’re both doing zero damage to another.

“!!!” I shouted out loud as I jump forward, buffed my left fist with the weight of the Mjolnir and the lighting of the Thunder God. With a charged attack, I smacked my future self’s head.

Boom! The godlike powerful attack was strong enough to shatter a part of the dimension and create a shockwave, but it did not have any effect against Aeternos. His helmet just sparked for a few seconds, and after that, it completely disappeared.

“You hit like a girl, you filthy weeb!” Aeternos laughed as he readied his fist and charged with lightning energy. “!!!”

Bang! The very same dimension-shattering punch was made, and I was directly hit in my stomach. I suffered no damage, but that damned future self of mine made me do a few steps back.

However, his attack does not stop there. With his dark blade, he charged another godly power that contains a time-splitting spell in it.

“!!!”

With a swift slash, he created a Time Gate to suck me in once again.