A/N: Sorry, short chapter, but hope you enjoy regardless!

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My heart ached. Before me stood Aiko. I tried desperately to reach her, yet she was always equidistant to me, no matter how I reached or ran. She was crying, I wanted to comfort her. Aiko turned away from me, falling to her knees in tears. I called out to her, but my voice would not come, only a stagnant silence. Suddenly a shadow rose in front of Aiko. It gave off a malignant aura and felt very wrong. It was formless, giving off a bottomless impression. it began to surround and shroud Aiko.

“Kage!” she turned and called out for me in alarm. However, this was no longer Aiko, but Obscura. I watched in horror as the lovely goddess was swallowed by the formless void and vanished with a shriek of terror.

“Hahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHA!” The void broke into a deep nearly hysterical laughter. Obscura was nowhere to be seen. An anger welled up in me, a Hatred. I split. Thousands of ‘myself’ spilled forth, and from them thousands more, forming a nearly endless consuming shroud of darkness. I barely registered an intense strain. My anger rivaled that of stories I had heard of berserkers. My mind was set on one goal. Kill.

“Kage? Kage!? KAGE!” I snapped back to myself and my surroundings. I was in the elemental tavern, thousands of ‘me’ crowding the massive structure, all wielding daggers of shadow. Beneath me was Mitis, struggling to keep my hand back, a steady hand that was ready to plunge my dagger right into his being.

Surprised at how I found ‘myselves’, I released all the daggers I had created. I still felt a massive strain on my existence, and reformed all ‘myselves’ back into one ‘me’. Many elementals were grumbling, but fortunately none seemed to be hurt. That was the last time I would allow ‘myself’ to experience sleep.

“What… What was that about!?” the elemental screamed at me, clearly angry at the previous situation.

“...Sorry.” Was all I could manage. Not even I am sure what that was about…

Mitis’ form fluctuated in rage, and he abruptly shifted away. I quickly followed suit and shifted this ‘me’ back to the Unseen Maze.

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Obscura’s POV

This meeting is as boring pointless as ever… Why the other gods insisted on such a thing is beyond me. Even Kage seemed to be getting upset over this situation, even though he is the one who insisted we come… Kage is too dutiful to his job. He has amazing ability and chooses to squander it for me… Why?

“Can I go now? I want to go already.” I finally lost the last dregs of my patience.

“You cannot, Obscura. You’re already here, just stay.” Luminus, God of Light immediately opposed me. He was always looking for a reason to put me down…

“No way, this is just too boring. I’ve missed meetings before, you guys can manage just fine without me!” I protested.

“Every time you missed a meeting the balance went further into chaos! We are approaching balance yet again, and you want to just throw it away!?” Luminus raised his voice.

“Just let me go home! It really isn’t that big of a deal!” I wasn’t about to give up on this. I wanted to lay back and relax, let the worries of godly duties fall on others.

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“You will stay, even if I have to force you!” When Luminus said that, the fidgety Kage finally snapped. Suddenly there were Kage doubles as far as the eye could see, all forming daggers as soon as they appeared. They abruptly lunged at everyone, with the exception of myself. Even Pluvia and Tranquil were targets.

“Kage! What are you doing? Stop! It’s nothing to fight over!” I tried to stop the Kage nearest me, but he shook me off with an uncharacteristically low growl like that of a beast. The gods and goddesses set immediately to protecting themselves. With every flick of a god’s wrist, thousands of Kage fell, but many more took their place, leaving almost no space for maneuvering.

“Reign in your dog, brat!” I heard Ignis call out.

“I-I don’t know what’s going on! This isn’t like him!” It was somewhat horrifying, seeing thousands of Kage being slain, only to be unsympathetically replaced by more of his doubles. The Kage were very swift and accurate with their daggers. All of the other secretaries were hard pressed to stay near their gods for protection. It gave me a certain amount of satisfaction to see how strong my Kage was compared to the other secretaries.

“Kage knows how to throw a party~!” I suddenly found Pluvia and Tranquil next to me. Pluvia actually seemed to be enjoying herself. That’s why I liked her. She had such an important role, but she was always a fun person. Her appearance and role completely belied her personality. “This must be how it feels to be facing an army!”

“Pluvia! Please! This isn’t the time!” Tranquil pleaded reason with Pluvia.

Just as suddenly as it had started, the Kage abruptly stopped splitting, and reformed into one. That single Kage was abruptly destroyed by Luminus, a flash of light incinerating him.

I would have been absolutely distraught at Kage’s loss if I didn’t know or feel many more of him still in other places. It still made me angry though.

“Obscura, you have your wish. Leave. Immediately. We have much to discuss about you and your… secretary.” Thuro, God of Earth rumbled out in a gravelly tone.

‘Good work Kage, You made things a bit more fun!’ Even if the other gods may look at me unfavorably now. Then again, they never really liked me to begin with, so no loss there. I happily shifted back to home.

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Impossible… This is an impossible task! Not only did the darkness elemental show terrifying shift control by shifting directly behind me, he was capable of making many thousands, no, millions of exact duplicates! I just watched the mad elemental attack every god in existence! For all their power, those gods could not kill the elemental as quickly as he could swarm them. Truly, a terrifying existence.

“Fuuuu… Is it truly wise to cross this one? Then again, Duval and…” I shudder at the thought of Duval’s master. I would face that man’s wrath if I cannot track this elemental correctly. I doubt he would take ‘all of them are real’ as an answer. This task seems impossible though… Perhaps the information of this attack would sate Duval and his master? After all, they could simply manipulate the other gods against the darkness elemental who just attacked them.

“Yes, that will have to do…” I shifted to find Duval.