After a short while of travelling around in the suburban area of the city, this time instead choosing to not appear in public whatsoever, being sober and mentally defeated enough to point at the mirror image of the monster that was herself, Anya slowly made her way towards the address given to her by Adam. Kikaro followed along, the morning soon turned into a calm evening, as she dared not get anywhere close to the main areas to move towards her destination faster, instead keeping her head down as she went with the more discrete, long way. A contrast in their mood, Kikaro was enjoying the walk, trying to make conversation while taking in the city sights as they went, with Anya instead choosing to ignore him or directly tell him to stop annoying her. As strange as it was for him to be on the receiving end of an Anya that was mostly silent, like Dante, as opposed to the bubbly Anya that was always trying to learn more and more about others, he didn't seem to mind.

Eventually, they finally reached their destination in a somewhat silent neighborhood. Connected with the main road but without much traffic thereafter, it was the average neighborhood, without any sort of clothing stores or entertainment, making Anya realize quickly why it was so ideal for those who had turned to be around there, as she started seeing more and more beast people as she walked by, albeit them hiding as much as they possibly could. A small minimarket next to a bar was the first thing she could see, two people wearing uniforms that appeared to be working on each one conversing with each other in front of their stores. Beast people passed them back and forth numerous times as they kept conversing, not paying any sort of attention to them as they went by, prompting Anya to go up ahead of them in need of directional information.

Anya stood at a bit of a distance, "Hey, can I ask you guys something?"

The minimarket employee turned at her, "Let me guess, Ana?"

Anya got a bit confused, "Ana as in like..?"

"The lawyer, Ana? Exactly two buildings down on the right from here." the store owner answered swiftly.

"Uh, thanks." Anya tried to get away as quickly as she could after.

"Hey, by the way, I keep telling folks this, no need for the hoodie around here." the bar employee said, "Listen to me or not with how hot the weather tends to get sometimes, but with fur on your body, plus the hoodie, I doubt that even the winter breeze will save you from overheating."

"You are kind of right, I suppose." Kikaro acknowledged, getting nudged by Anya to stop talking and move on, "Hey now, come on. They look pretty friendly to me."

"You can follow me, but stop being such an enormous pain in the ass," Anya whispered to him.

"Come on dude, don't bother the girl that much." the store employee said, "Suddenly becoming a Turned takes time to get used to."

"Doubt she will drop the hoodie as well, not before people can drop their aggressive act." the bar employee followed up.

"Wait, there are people here who are hunting them down still?" Anya's curiosity peaked.

"Not exactly. Over here, we now call it the Turned Boulevard. Folks who don't want to leave for Vardard started staying here. We had our fair share of violence, but the number of Turned people increased on top of the New Hope's Light becoming a thing, so no human, and demi-human or otherwise steps here to cause trouble anymore. We are both human, yes, but we simply don't care. Just another day and another customer, honestly. Yes, we gave the looks, but what did you expect at first? Like you, it takes time to get used to it."

The bar employee nodded, "You ask me, I kind of love the Turned. Their situation, though bad, caused some sort of humility to them, and they are by far some of the most humble and enjoyable customers I've had in years. Granted, newer ones do tent to get a lot tipsier and are more angry if anything, but once you see someone settle here, the regulars are conversable and everything. At least they drove off those horrid cops who made my bar a hellhole after the NHL sparked up, so problems started going away. Anyhow, I won't bother getting you to settle in or anything, Ana is normally who they seek once Adam sends them over to get them ready for Returned Boulevard down at Vardard. A piece of advice I'll give you for her is to keep it short, she's not that conversable. About what you'd expect with the 'illegal' things she does. Just get in, do your thing and she will tell you everything you need to know before sending you on your merry way."

"I see...thanks." Anya said.

"No problem. Hope you can find your way sooner than later, young lady." the store employee wished her.

Now knowing exactly where to go and what to do, Anya made a beam line for the building she was advised to head to, still keeping her head low as to avoid any further conversations. Numerous others Turned, as they were called, passed by her with the exact same attitude, avoiding as much eye contact as they could. Despite the only judge to her form being herself, for some reason, she couldn't help but avoid making anyone else a part of her total judgment. Kikaro, however, still acted oblivious to her feelings as he tried making casual conversation with her.

"So that's the terminology now, 'Turned'. Hmm...Sounds cool, though using it might offend those who actually did turn. Meh, it's cool either way, offending and going to the offensive on human-like creatures has always been easy. The least they can do is probably yell at me, but hey, I'm both used to it and can just erase them off the face of the earth if they annoy me hard enough. But nevertheless, there's a boring ongoing theme with these guys all the time. All these hoodies and the heads down, you'd think its students wearing backpacks that break their backs from weights." Kikaro got bored.

"I wonder why. It's not like they're being hunted down or anything." Anya walked in front of him.

"How is the hunted supposed to become the hunter with this though? They're just waiting to be beheaded the way they're all pinning their eyes on the ground. Heck, not to mention and trace back on what Adam told me happened to him, they're all so...weirdly lost and misled by themselves."

"You don't say? I can tell you from personal experience, a beheading is sometimes preferable to what they're probably going through."

"One of the only reasons I haven't outright erased the NHL. Helps these poor souls keep it low, in peace. One step out of line though and it's suddenly a different story." he shrugged, "Won't be the first or the last time anyway."

Anya returned her focus to the task at hand, "Let's just find this lawyer and get back. Convoy leaves at midnight and I want to be there." she stood in front of the entrance to a building, "This should be it. Ana, Ana..." she looked for the bell.

The building in front of her was nothing out of the ordinary if compared to others nearby. Just a tall standing apartment building, the third floor of it supporting a sign that indeed advertised the lawyer business of Ana, the one that was recommended. Upon entering the building premises, a small communal garden for the residents with bright green and well-maintained small trees, grass and some colorful flowers surrounded the main path towards the ground floor's door. Nothing too glamorous and nothing more than what could also be seen on some of the apartment buildings that were able to be seen on the sides, from the small, metal fence with straight, horizontal and flat metal beams. No spikes or anything to deter intruders, no run-down areas up until that point, but instead, just more casual and accessible areas to move around, without any major vandalism sights that one would expect from a community full of people whose fate turned ill without deserving so. The spite, hatred and outright violence that was portrayed where they stood outside of their community, they turned to respect, care and understanding for others that faced the same struggles as they, showing indeed the beauty of what unison based on what little humanity they had left.

A sight that in her eyes was grim but to her instincts ordinary, in the small garden in the apartment, two little Turned kids, one with the form of a dog and the other a cat, played in the garden. For some unknown, unexplained reason, it was then that Anya took off her hoodie to be able to better see them. Both holding on to a console system in their hands, toys scattered all over, fought an imaginary war, played games and laughed as other kids, with a bunch of other forms, Turned too, did the same on other sides of the fence, laughing and playing with each other before either very easily jumping over the fence from one building to another or simply going out on the sidewalk and running inside their friend's homes as they easily opened the unlocked doors. The kids that were in the building where Anya was, briefly turned around and greeted her quickly, hardly knowing who she was, but completely unafraid and kind as they seemed to be taught from their households, before returning to their games. A sight that made even Kikaro pause, it was enough to make even him sit and enjoy the sight of pure, daylight bliss in innocence, to reminisce moments that he too might have once had. Walking up to the apartment building's door, she looked around a number of bells, all with different names as not a single one of the floors seemed to be unoccupied, making her even more curious as to the extent of the calamity that had been caused to other people like her. Upon finding and ringing the bell, the typical buzzing sound was played, it was but a couple of seconds before the camera turned on and the voice system was activated.

"Who's this?" the voice asked.

"Adam sent me." Anya swiftly cut to the chase.

"Got it."

Within a couple of exchanges of a few words, the door buzzed as it opened to quickly give Anya and Kikaro access, no further questions asked. The inside of the building was about what you'd expect for its time, ceiling lights, some flowers here and there to give an inviting atmosphere, and an elevator placed right next to the stairs. As it is normal as it was, Anya spent no time looking, instead getting in the elevator to get things done, Kikaro following her as they both ascended to the 3rd floor. Coming out, she rang the bell on the first door to the left, out of three, as she came out of the elevator, the bell also had the same ad on top of it as it did on the balcony area, outside the building area. Going in, there was a simple, empty waiting area with three couches and a TV, with a few magazines that seemed to all be up to date, the TV itself being shut off as the door to a small office area remained open a tiny bit, with a few clicking sounds coming out of it.

"No need to wait, come in, both you and Kikaro." a voice said from the office.

Doing as told, Anya stepped in and Kikaro did the same. It was another small office area that somewhat resembled what Adam had over in his house, without the same level of fortification and no visible weaponry to be found around. Behind the desk, a young lady, wearing the same office clothes that they saw on Adam, a shirt and jeans, her with high heels instead, sat in front of the computer. Wearing a set of preppy glasses as she lost herself in her work, dark circles seemed to form under her eyes, and her being somewhat visibly exhausted as she leaned heavily on her desk, her brunette hair leaning and dropping over her keyboard.

"Uh, hi. Ana, I suppose?" Anya asked.

"Yes. Please sit down and tell me what it is you want to take care of." Ana paused from her work.

Anya sat down, "I want you to write a will for me, pass everything I got onto the new identity I've got." she showed her the fake papers.

"Ok.", she opened some files on her computer, "Who am I looking for in the recently pronounced dead then?"

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Anya sighed, "Anya Amalia Golver."

Ana paused yet again, "Excuse me?" she was unable to believe it.

"Just...here." Anya pulled out her real documents from her wallet, ID and company-related information.

Ana passed the info through her computer, looking back and forth on the ID and company information of Anya before she eventually confirmed her identity, "Unexpected but...so be it."

"What, just like that? No questions or anything?"

"You showed me your ID, I was able to look up and confirm everything and further than that, it's none of my business. Real estate and everything transferred over to 'Ana Hartwell', I suppose? That'll be risky."

"Yes, I was thinking about that. Adam really isn't an expert when it comes to fraud or bank-related scams, so transferring everything to some unknown individual will be just a dead giveaway. But then again, what can we do to make it untraceable?" Anya asked.

"I have a charity, fake, that is for researching cures for the Turned. Give me a month's time to liquefy all sorts of real estate and everything else, and I'll transfer it to a bank account I'll give you the details of. I yield no fees for my actions, and much like Adam, it's simply charity work. Now, the company is indeed placed in Vardard, that's where the HQ is officially stated to be there, so Reingard's, as well as your father's control due to his company being embargoed in the entirety of Larussia. We only used local banks to address the company's economics as well and despite the Trifecta Pact and the Global Ceasefire Treaty, Larussia and Vardard, previously known as Glascow, foreign banks are forbidden from setting up there, without that meaning that the two major banks of the country don't allow for transactions via their systems. You can dismiss what I'm telling you as mere words of nonsense that are only aimed to get you 'ripped off', but what you choose to do after is none of my business and furthermore is irrelevant to me in the grand and personal scheme of things."

"Someone's still a bit on the mean side." Kikaro somewhat sadly said.

"No, she's as she should be. Professional. Had I been doing the same thing, I'd want to cut ties with my clients after I was done as well."

"Your experiences on similar matters seem to be seeping through when you get involved in a similar situation. Most admirable, Mrs Golver. But now, shall you wish for me to proceed, I will need to start immediately. If you do proceed, because not a lot of my clients are in the line since most denounce their previous life with all their belongings to avoid complications entirely, I will get you sorted in a month's time, have we got no complications like your father stepping in to question the will."

"That won't be a problem. He's probably licking his fingertips for when my previous real estate and everything get liquified back into the market for him to buy."

"I hope your wishes do end up coming true then. The session is over now, you are free to leave and I will contact you via a written letter delivered by the convoy within a week or two with all the contact information you will need from me. Safe travels."

Short, to the point and informative about what each and every move that was to happen thereafter, Ana send them both off, returning to her work as they closed the door behind them to leave her to it. Coming out of the building, Anya decided to put her hoodie back on again, avoiding being seen the same way as she did before, despite the same pleasant scenario of kids frolicking and playing around still being present, the same thing that made her stay in awe as she admired their blissful ignorance. Going back the way they came, the sun started to set as Anya looked at the time, 20:39, meaning that they were more than easily able to make it. Relaxed as he always was Kikaro decided to go right next to Anya this time around, instead of having her take the lead all the time, trying yet once again to strike a conversation with her.

"So, the Gate Of Knowledge, eh? Must be really unique to have!" Kikaro tried his best to start the conversation.

"Yes, the book that turned into a phone app. How unique, compared to the other badass weapons. Look, you're a professional stalker anyway, you probably already know my opinion on the matter in some really weird ass way, why bother?"

"I mean, I do, but I was trying to get you to repeat it anyway, makes for a good conversation starter. Not that I like mindless blabbering rather than finding out the deep side of a person's self, but still!" he chuckled.

"How even the hell do you know any of that, by the way? I really have to make that question."

"Oh, that's easy, your phone always records what you're saying to better optimize itself for personal use, and Omni is in there now, so I kind of have access to it since it's my Gate as well!"

"Excuse me?" Anya stopped walking.

"Hey, it's weird, isn't it? Passing down Gates from one person to another, although both Lass and Yuno have this thing where they both have access to it or something."

"Wait, wait, and wait. Lass and Yuno-No...No. No there is no way. No..." Anya facepalmed, "You can't be serious. You are not my Guardian, are you?"

Kikaro got weirded out, "Do I look like a parent or Guardian to you?" he chuckled, "Haha, you flatter me too much."

"Then what the hell kind of deal do you have with 'my' Gate?"

"No idea at all. But hey, I used to read a lot from that thing back in the day. What did the believers of this world call me, 'Kikaro The Judgmental'? Well, you can't really be a judge of a matter you have no knowledge of. Granted, some things you can pass judgement on even without knowing, using your heart or otherwise."

"Can you at least have the common decency to tell me why you, the guy I was after to eventually kill, is stuck with me? I've heard a lot of stories, I made my own stories of being the hero with no flaws when young too, saving others while being the most special of special in the world, but I can't be so special to the point where I'm playing tag along with god, right?"

"Ah, fine, fine. Look, god is just a title, so give that up already. Believe me, Overseers are easily mistaken as 'gods', so given my track record, I probably have a lot more 'gods' killed than I was praised as a god for. We go down that rabbit hole, Dante is also pretty much a god, so are you, and so will Tiki eventually be once she realizes her potential, not even taking Terna and her whole flute sword and space-controlling elements into account...truly, we live in quite the epic times. Despite unstable, this world is quite the interesting one."

"Hold up, why did you put me into the mix again? I'm nowhere near as strong as they are. And did you say something about space time control with Terna, what? She's like a rock star or something." Anya got dumbfounded.

"You want me to answer all of those questions now, or leave them for you to find out later?"

"At the very, very least, tell me why me? I can't be checking all the boxes of being born from someone important, strong as hell, likeable by everyone, even god with the list going on and on."

"Eh, in the grand scheme of things, Gado isn't as important when I can just off him at any second, you are strong, yes, and likeability...I mean, same with Dante right now, you're kind of too edgy and quite in the dark spot compared to where you were to be that likeable, not that being a lonely drunk with a bunch of inappropriate jokes made you any the better.", he shrugged.

"You are really just hammering down on the shit pile I'm already walking on, aren't you? Had Dante been here, your ass would be swept in an instant." she looked at him with a straight face.

"Hey, whether you respect it or not, you can't deny facts I'm laying on the table. If anything, I'd say that you're doing the same mistake you did while a kid too, that is the same thing you called out to be a mistake in the first place, which mimics Dante's personality. You're attaining the same stoicism, sarcasm and poker-face personality that was enforced on him, something quite idiotic if you ask me, much like what you tried to do when you thought of him as 'cool' and 'badass' as a kid too. Look, I'm not telling you who to look up to, but don't just go around injecting other's inside your head and letting them take over...well, 'you'."

"God dammit..." Anya struggled to accept the extremely harsh truth.

"I understand you're in a bad place, much like he's always been in, and you and Dante both find solace in experiences quite similar, but that's always wrong. Take the NHL and how they weaponized those experiences to recruit more 'Turned' as they call them. However, need I remind you, it's not identical? Dante for example, got his dream used as a motivation to get him to sustain all the training Cecilia put him through to attain it, while Gado used your dream to twist you into accepting another fate instead. Additionally, you know much more generally, than Dante has, because you studied it, but the one thing you will never know more than him is combat since you lost so many times versus him because that's what he trained for. The beauty of humanity always lies in diversity, like the plethora of colors on a canvas. Oh, speaking of which, despite the Obsulyte use, your sword skills are solely based on cartoons as well, so you might as well drop the sword entirely, guns too since you clearly don't know how to use them."

"I agree with the facts, sure, but then what makes me...me?"

"Heck if I know! As Adam said, that's for you to decide. Count yourself lucky for getting an early wake-up call as well, most don't realize that early. I know it might be a tiny bit odd and uncomfortable, but wiggle through it and I promise it'll start getting better, kind of like your journey. A couple of months in, you sidetracked a lot of times, again and again, realized it, then did it yet again, because that's just how it is sometimes. You don't really get how life goes, but when it does, you always tend to look at the future, the end result, without caring about the now. That being said, I'd enjoy the journey you're having now if I were you since that's most of the joy you'll derive from it. The way there is almost always more fun than reaching the destination."

"Inspiring words, if I make it there in the first place. You're talking about enjoyment and everything, how I turned like Dante, stoic and all that shit but...how am I supposed to feel otherwise for what's happening? I'm even escaping from my home here, illegally migrating to another country to do so."

"I never said that at times of war, everyone should be happy and bright like sunshine. War always exists, clearly, or underneath. I was a spectator of humanity for quite a while to realize that when they weren't actively killing themselves, they did so passively. Survival of not the fittest, but the strongest, is where it's at. A clear war, killing each other, at least to me, is much nicer than what they're currently doing. Because this is war, just not labelled as one to not incite mass opposition."

"I said I'd fight in it, so there's that."

"Nah-ah-ah. You didn't. You were pressured by it."

"Excuse me? Ask everyone else, they will tell you."

"Oh, they will? Let's see...Tiki? What for? Luna? What for? Terna, maybe? Nope. Then there's Dante, who said the best example for me to hang on by to write it off as a mistake. Or rather, Mellistar did, the original Dante. 'Because he rejecting his powers as a curse was selfish and a gift given that was wasted.' Dante himself, who is nowhere near suitable where he's at now to be a leading figure, who you started to view as a pseudo leader compared to someone like Hikari who checks way more boxes to do so, has got no goal to fight for, other than being pressured to use his gift to save someone else, the world dare I say, simply because it's the 'right thing to do'. You are friends, you stand side by side and you chose to let someone who hasn't figured out what to do in his life, let alone have a realistic goal based on the situation, to lead. As mindless as the NHL seems to be, I can sense that even they have a goal behind what they're doing. You were shoved into this much too unripe to make the moves you're making, but you can't exactly pull the breaks on a running car, less you want it to topple over. That includes Hikari, who has no idea what she is doing. In the story she told you, I am the bad guy, in the story I told you, she's the confused girl. That's all because no matter how good of a person you are, you're always a villain in someone's story, so what's left for you to do, is to enjoy your role and at least be a memorable villain. And everyone has their own story they're a part of or the main character of, but to be intriguing, no story can follow surface-level normality, not enticing interest, without sacrificing its memorability. The most epic tales are the ones that are usually left behind as a landmark for something important to have happened, something worth noting and remembering as a moment that shifted something of equal memorable note around enough to change the future."

Anya briefly took the words Kikaro uttered, before losing it somewhere along the way, trying to understand what exactly it was that Kikaro was trying to say.

"Too many words all at once." she grabbed her head.

"Haha, I remember that confusion so well! Don't worry, you can retrace it when you understand it in a couple of years from now."

"I'm also starting to faintly lose understanding of what to call you anymore."

"Like I said, Kikaro is enough. The villain in your mind or not, I know one thing for sure, and that's that I have no enemies in my world that I live in."

"Right, now whether that makes you experienced or mentally ill, how am I supposed to find out?" Anya sarcastically said.

"Oh, you will, because we will be stuck together for a while. I've been getting all too excited not to inject myself into your little travels after watching for a while. I mean, a jackpot of some of the strongest Obsulyte users in the world, the young enough not to know what they're doing but doing it anyway. Sounds like chaotic fun. Oh, and as I said before, drop the sword and the guns, it'll make it twice better. With your skin being as rough as it is, impenetrable, it'll be quite more fun to do so."

"Right...because knives to a gunfight weren't bad enough already."

"At least you won't be looking like an idiot, trying to swing around and use a weapon you clearly don't know how to, anymore!"

Anya reluctantly threw her chainsaw sword in a nearby bin, "There. Will you now shut up about that subject?"

"It'll get more fun from here. Your story-"

"Don't. There, I said it. And I'll admit it, I copied Dante's story when we talked about the Silver Lance fanfiction with him being a part of them a self-insert. I wanted to save people but...not in that way, despite me now being stuck in this rock and hard place I self-drafted into."

Kikaro calmly nodded, being quite happy that Anya finally began to listen and take advice from others' words, "Alrighty then. Show me exactly who Ana was and who she will be then. After you get over this little phase here, that is. I'm all for it."