Atop his momentous pedestal, overlooking the crowd of adoring, London citizens, Archard stood with a presence that was unmatched. His body was expressive and his eyes continued to reflect the sun. Truly a sight to remember. And for Vincent, it was something that was more confusing that anything else. All he could do is stand guard and listen.

“My fellow citizens,” Archard announced to the crowd, “this is the beginning of a new era!”

The crowd of thousands of gathered sheep erupted in applause. And even though the godfather continued his speech, the clapping never fully ceased. They were all enraptured by his voice and couldn’t help but cheer for every word, even if they didn't understand what he was saying.

“And so, we must charge into it headstrong!” Archard’s hand extended outward toward the crowd. “We are tired of the loss. Of the pain. Of the heathen in Aries!”

As Vincent heard those words, he couldn't help but feel a slight headache come on. The world around him shifted ever-so-slightly. The faces of the crowd started to blur and the words of the godfather began to make less sense to him. Something just didn't feel right.

The crowd roared and Archard pounded his fist against the podium. “The acts of atrocity that they’ve committed against us have gone on for too long!” he said. “You remember what happened not too long ago on the London train, right? That was all Aries. They hurt us. They murdered us. And they can do this because we are vulnerable.”

There was a slight shift in the crowd’s emotions. While there was still adoration for Archard, there was now an intense hatred that the crowd shared.

“We are vulnerable because we were abandoned,” Archard continued.” We were abandoned by the police, by the government, and by the world. But there is one person that hasn't abandoned you…me!”

The crowd continued to cheer and sing praises to Archard. Their mental waves all but confirmed their obvious adoration of the man. Even in Vincent’s slightly pained state, he could tell that much. He continued to try and look at his surroundings, searching for anything, but his attention was only at half of what it could be. His head continued to throb and annoy him.

The godfather continued. “And I will ensure that no harm comes to any of you again. Mark. My. Words! All I need you to do is trust in me and give your unwavering support!”

In response, the citizens of London exploded in overwhelming support. It was clear that there wasn’t a single person there that wasn’t behind the godfather of Libra. There were varying levels of dedication—some were barely won over and some were willing to give him their lives—but the support was undeniable.

Just then, Vincent sensed something. It was faint but it was clear. There was a presence that was unlike the crowd around. The mental waves were distant, but he could tell that they were not like any average person. Someone else was here. He snapped to attention.

“So will you give me everything you have?” Archard asked the crowd.

More mental waves popped up around the perimeter. It was hard to gauge an exact number, but it was at least four.

“Will you give me the power I need?”

Another presence emerged from somewhere in the middle of the crowd.

“Will you give me anything I need?”

The mental waves around the permitter suddenly spiked in power.

“Will you even give me your lives?!”

BOOM!! A building on the left side of the stage exploded, sending rubble and debris everywhere. Pieces landed near the stage and on some of the audience, hurting some and crushing others. Emerging from that building was the hulking form of the Terragong. There was an instant panic among the crowd.

Vincent looked up at Archard with bewilderment and a torn fear. However, the godfather only had a wide, devilish smile on his face. Vincent didn’t even have to read the man's mental waves to know how much he was enjoying the chaos behind them.

He then looked over at his friend, Fang, and saw them grabbing at their head while they looked in the other direction. For some reason, their attention was pulled toward the right side of the stage.

Which side do I focus on?

He couldn’t figure out where he should place his attention. Everything was confusing him. His mind and the chaos of the scene before him were beginning to be too much. If that wasn’t enough, Archard continued to preach out to everybody like a maddened pastor.

“This is war!” he yelled. “This is our enemy!”

Like a blur of shadows, three figures emerged from the smoke of the crumbling building. Two flanked the raging beast and one walked beneath it. As they walked forward, their details became clearer. They were the Treasures of Aries, surrounding their golden leader, Silo.

Multiple shots then rang out from the now-dispersing crowd. The bullets sparked off of the stage columns around, never once reaching Archard. And he stood resolutely still. It was as if he saw the shots coming, or at the very least, he knew they wouldn't hit him.

“Archard!” Vincent yelled. “What should I do?”

But the only response he got was a laugh. The leader of Libra roared with maniacal laughter. There was a twisted sense of joy that spewed out of his mouth. For once, Vincent saw him as something other than an idol. He was looking at a madman.

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“AGH!” Vincent heard someone screen in pain near him. Looking over to his right, he saw Fang almost kneeling over while grabbing at their head.

“Fang, what’s—” but before he could finish asking, the answer appeared right in front of him. A burst of mental energy, directly targeted at Fang, burst forth at them. As Vincent looked in the direction of its source, he saw a figure with platinum blonde hair emerging from one of the buildings to the right.

“You…” was all Vincent could say.

“John,” Fang groaned as they gripped their head harder, their nails digging into their skin, causing blood to trickle down. “Why are you here?”

Platinum John sauntered forward, their eyes dead-set on Fang. Their mental waves continued to thrum around them, large and controlled. Even the pebbles on the ground around them shook as they walked by. Those rocks vibrated by just being in their presence.

“To save you,” John replied. “You can still be free. But there isn’t much time left.”

Fang clenched their teeth. Their body began to twitch. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” they said. “I am a lost cause. I already chose my path.”

“You’re not, my sibling, you’re not!” John cried out. “We have the potential to change. We have the potential to do great things and not be used simply as his weapons. Yoshin believed that and I believe it too!”

A group of at least twenty Libra mobsters surrounded the group. But before they could even raise their guns, John let out a controlled burst of mental energy, dropping every one of them in an instant. Vincent felt nothing.

Fang’s body convulsed and twitched with a worrying amount of force. “Don't say that name,” Fang said. “Don’t say that name! Don't make me go back there! Don’t make me free it!”

It was at that moment that John’s eyes went wide. They looked over to Vincent, seemingly acknowledging his presence.

“What’s going on?” Vincent yelled.

Vincent heard John’s voice in his head. “My sibling, Fang, is becoming unstable. I’ve only seen this once before. I didn’t think they were this close to breaking.”

“What do you mean?” Vincent shouted back. He did not know how to return his reply, mentally.

“I need your help, Vincent.”

“Help?” he said with a raised brow. “Why would I help—”

“Because I don’t want to lose them again!”

The fury and passion behind John’s words cut through the doubt and the clouds that plagued Vincent’s mind. There was raw sincerity behind everything they said., It was a refreshing sensation. He hadn’t heard such clear intentions in a long time. Maybe that’s what happens when you're surrounded by nothing but liars.

Vincent nodded his head with resolve. “What do we need to do?”

John directed their attention back at the suffering Fang, who was now kneeling on the ground and screaming out in pain. “We need to get them away from here,” John said. “We can't let them be stressed by anything—”

And that’s when a wall of fire erupted from the ground. It was almost instant and it cut off the three of them from the rest of the warring plaza. It stood nearly a hundred feet high, was hotter than hell, and was almost completely opaque. Only the vague shadow of the rampaging Terragong could be seen. Archard’s stage was something that could only be imagined.

“What the hell!?” Vincent said in confusion.

“Oh no!” yelled John.

Fang was as still as a statue, kneeling over with their head to the ground. Their mental waves were almost nonexistent. Even with the blazing inferno behind them; even with the sounds of a war-torn city; even with all of that, there was a hollow silence that invaded the space. Time stood still. Everything else in the world seemed to face away. But this wasn't a calmness—this wasn’t an ending.

All at once and without warning, Fang jolted back and screamed at the sky. Their lungs produced a sound that was more like metal scrapping on metal than that of a human cry. Their mental waves blasted out of them without an ounce of restraint. The sheer force of their power cracked the stone ground around them. It caused portions of their immediate surroundings to differ in level. And above all that, everything began to vibrate. It was an explosion of everything inside of Fang. Vincent could feel old and intentionally forgotten emotions carried on those devastating waves. Sorrow, loss, uncertainty, fear, doubt—these were all words that were the essence of those waved. However, one word stood above the rest. One word was always present. One word always accompanied every other word…

Pain.

Fang’s body sprung to its feet like a ragdoll. Everything about their movement was unnatural and forced. Their limbs contorted and twitched in ways that made it seem like they were possessed. It looked as though they were a puppet being forced to act by invisible strings.

Then they began to change. Their body extended and grew to a full height of over 8ft tall, and that was with a hunch in their back. As their entire body continued to shake with more violence, Vincent watched a single shred of consciousness briefly return to Fang.

“Help me,” was all they could say before the madness took over.

Their hair continued to grow and solidify, looking more like strands of orange, rusted steel than anything else. Where their face should have been, there was nothing but a blank, iron-like slate. There were no eyes, no ears, no nose, and no mouth. The rest of their body also took on a more metallic sheen. Where there was once skin, there was nothing but grey metal. Affixed to their metal body were familiar discs…Electronic Eyes. They were placed at major joints and muscles—like the elbow, knees, and chest—and they began to vibrate, just like the rest of that abomination.

The figure before Vincent was nothing short of a metallic monster. There was no shred of humanity left there. The only resemblance was in shape, and even that was a stretch. Whatever it was, and no matter how hard it was to admit, what stood there was Fang…or at least what was once Fang.

All Vincent could do was watch in horror as this transformation continued. If he even dared to approach, he would have been bombarded with unrestrained mental waves on a scale he had never seen before. It would be like walking into a blizzard naked. No, it would be more like jumping into lava. There would be an instant overpowering by the element.

“Vincent!” John yelled out.

Turning his attention toward them, Vincent asked, “What is this? What’s happening?”

“I’m afraid it’s been unleashed,” they replied with a surprisingly solemn, but darkened expression. “This was the last thing I wanted to happen. It looks like the only way to save them now is to render them unconscious.”

“Is this really Fang? Can we really save them?”

John’s eyes glazed over in remembrance. However, there was also a great pain that their voice conveyed. “It is still them, yeah,” they said. “And this thing in front of us is the physical embodiment of their pain. It is their trauma and fear of choice, incarnate. I've only seen it once before, many years ago.”

They then looked directly at Vincent. “I believe they called it…Painender.”