..."John"'s PoV...

"Alright boys, it's time to bring this bastard down!" I say as I adjust the WW2 helmet I materialized on top of my head. "I know it's not usual for all of us to come out at once, but it seems like Original was in dire need of our assistance!"

"Why are you like this?" one of the Fragments of Original's soul asks.

"Don't ask too many questions!" I say as I cannot recall the number of this particular Fragment. It seems that there is a lot of us compared to the last time we got together, a sign that Original's growth has been tremendous.

"From what we know, the opponent is an amalgamation of Ferals, so shouldn't we attempt to subjugate it as we did before?" another Fragment asks.

"It's a good idea, however- You two in the back, stop playing with cards and get back in line!" I shout as I point towards two particularly unruly Fragments.

It is a problem of our fragmentation; sometimes certain Fragments only have one of the bad personality traits of Original.

"Why should we even listen to you?" one of the card-player shouts as he raises his middle finger towards me.

"I have the cool hat; therefore I am the one in charge!" I explain my flawless reasoning, and it seems to convince the card players as they nod and get up from their ethereal chairs.

"Okay, now everyone is listening!" I shout as my eyes glance over the hundreds of thousands of Fragments.

"What's the meaning of this?!" The confused Enemy shouts as his eyes survey a large number of Fragments.

"Shut up! Don't you know that it's rude to interrupt the protagonists when they have their strategy meetings?" one of the Fragment retorts.

"Yeah, shut up! I would be ashamed to even been seen if I were you, you look like a bad edgy CGI monster from the nineties!" another Fragment adds.

"HOW DARE YOU!" the Enemy roars and shoots a volley of bullets towards us.

However, it's quite ineffective as we all have access to the Rewinder, so the world goes backward while our numbers double.

"A message for the new arrivals, please get in line!" I shout, and thousands of portals appear in various directions.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I then shift my attention to the Enemy. In truth, he's quite a strong opponent. His soul strength is around half of what Original had, so we are outmatched. Furthermore, our weakness makes it impossible for us to use the Phases; even Phase 2 would consume us in an instant.

And that doesn't even take into account that he has the Rewinder at his disposal. While each Rewind cycle doubles our numbers, the Enemy becomes twice as strong.

A sigh escapes my mouth; I regret being the leader. Why wasn't I created to face some random ghost or something simple?

I shake my head; there's no need to mull over my bad fortune. Original wouldn't have called for our help if the situation wasn't dire.

"Do not worry, little ones! I, Prometheus, will save us all with my sheer awesomeness!" one of the Fragments shouts as it activates its robes.

Great, some Fragments were created from the tiny part of Original's psyche that was influenced by the Order's propaganda.

A bunch of megalomaniac idiots who think they are a god will be fun to handle...

I kind of regret putting on the fancy hat.

"Fret not, little ones!" another one shouts, "For it is I, the better Prometheus, who will lead us to victory!" a Fragment shouts, but this one is rapidly brought back to reality by another Fragment who hit the unruly pretender on the head.

"Could we not?" he says with a sigh. I recognize from his slouched posture and clenched fists that this particular Fragment was born out of Original's frustrations, so he and others like him should help to keep the most troublesome elements in line.

"Do not ignore me!" the Enemy says as he stomps the ground and shoots at us, but his attack is canceled with a Rewind cycle.

I see why Original was so frustrated. This battle has the potential to go on for quite some time since both camps have access to the Rewinder.

"Come on, let's think of something!" I shout to calm the unruly mob of Fragments. "And get out of the tank!" I cry towards a group which materialized an armored vehicle and were now doing donuts with the machine of war.

"No! This is too awesome!" the tank crew shouts in unison, while other Fragments goad them to continue while waving their fists in the air and shouting random gibberish.

"This is better!" another group shots as they are doing risky acrobatics with a helicopter.

"ENOUGH!" the Enemy shouts, and its voice is enough to knock a lot of us on our back, it even disturbed the ones in the helicopter so the flying machine disappeared and the pilots crashed onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"I am sick and tired of your bullshit!" the Enemy rants, "Why can't you take things seriously for once in your goddamn life!"

"We are serious! Seriously having fun!" a bunch of Fragments shout before exchanging high-fives and shouting.

I swear I saw a vein twitch on the Enemy's forehead.

The Enemy teleports above the group of offenders and tears through them with a shotgun before any one of us could Rewind. All the laughs die down at that moment, and the world goes gray before everyone pulls out their pistols.

"Alright boys, give this bastard a volley!" I shout as I fire towards the Enemy.

After all, what would be a better way to defeat a soul demon than using eighteenth-century tactics?

The sheer volume of projectiles heading towards the Enemy is enough to block the sun. Even the mighty Enemy is surprised by the sheer amount of firepower deployed.

But a Rewind is enough to reduce our efforts into nothingness.

"This is taking too long!" one of the newly created Fragments shouts and teleports behind the Enemy. Our target was about to Rewind when the Fragment grabbed the Enemy's fingers, thus stopping him from reaching the Quick Rewind button.

"Come on, shoot that bastard!" the struggling Fragment shouts.

We all nod in unison, and the loudest detonation I have ever heard echoes as we all fire at the same time. It feels like an almost solid chunk of metal is flying above my head as the bullets smash into the Enemy, who is screeching in pain as the projectiles keep piercing his shadowy body.

Alas, the brave Fragment who stopped the Enemy from Rewinding was not spared by the volley, and its figure has already dissipated.

His sacrifice will be remembered.

A collective shout echoes through the ranks of the Fragments, we finally dealt some damage!

However, the Enemy is still standing. The first volley considerably weakened it, and its struggling to get back up.

"CHARGE!" I shout as I teleport near the Enemy. I feel like we won't have another opportunity like this one, so I better lead the way to make the other Fragments move.

It seems that I am successful since a collective roar echoes in the Soul World, and hundreds of thousands of portals appear nearby.

For the first time, the Enemy seems scared.

I can't help but grin as I aim my weapon towards its head, and the others do the same.

"FIRE!" I roar as I pull the trigger, and the body of the Enemy is turned into Swiss cheese.