Ren found himself in the same arena as before. The same arena over a black pit that he had fought Slumber over before -- and lost. Ren questioned where the black pit led to because there was certainly no hole at the bottom of the sky island that connected to the pit. Was the bottom death? Ren certainly didn’t plan on finding out.

Ren’s gaze then fixed itself on Slumber who stood the exact same way as last time. Slumber stood there with both hands placed on the hilt of his sword as it stood there, planted on the ground in front of him. His stance made him appear like a stone wall, but Ren wasn’t about to be intimidated this time.

“Tell me one thing,” Ren commanded, “why was I spared last time?” Ren gave Slumber a few seconds to answer but he remained silent, yet Ren asked another question, “How did I end up at that beach?” Slumber still remained silent. Ren stared at Slumber until he eventually gave in.

“As for your first question, recall that I am a knight. I only wish for a true duel. No magic -- just swords -- we give our all and whoever wins, wins. You did not provide a proper duel. You were overcome with anger and grief. You were not fighting with the sword, that was just your excuse to cry out in despair. That was not a proper duel. I want you to fight me as if this were a championship match in a SwordTour.”

“What the--” Ren was shocked by that statement. “SwordTour? So you remember the original world?”

“Of course. Each and every executioner remembers the original world. Hadn’t Murder explained that to you?” Ren recalled his conversation with Murder about her memories. She had told Ren that executioners couldn’t regain their memories.

“Then why? Why do you side with Tye?”

“Your time for questions is over. Pull out your sword.”

“No! It’s not too late! You can still help me to fight against Tye!”

“Ha! You just don’t get it!” Slumber burst out. “I just want to fight strong opponents! I don’t care what Tye does with this world so long as it means I can fight you! I want to fight you, no matter what!”

“What? Why is it so important to fight me! Why me!”

“Because you’re strong! I could see that from when we first fought! When your pendant exploded you became so full of power! How could I not be intrigued! That kind of power -- to fight an enemy of that caliber -- it’s what I live for!”

“Is that… really your answer?”

“Wh-what?” Slumber was taken aback by this question. What would lead Ren to believe that what he said wasn’t the case? “You think I would be lying about this!” Ren stared intently at Slumber. “Yes! This is who I really am! Don’t question it again!”

“Then, I guess we have nothing more to talk about.” Ren said as he summoned his gear. “But, I won’t be breaking my limit. I can’t afford to waste too much power on you.”

“Ha! That confidence will be your undoing!” Ren took his stance while Slumber continued to stand there. It was just like last time. Slumber was testing Ren to see if he could make Slumber move from that spot. Ren lunged forward without hesitation and threw a horizontal slice at Slumber of which Slumber blocked. He then followed up with two more of the same strike. Slumber blocked all of them easily. “Pathetic. Have you really grown so little?” Ren went for the same strike once again. The pattern was so predictable that Slumber took the initiative this time. Slumber lunged in, moving to block Ren’s strike with his left arm’s armor and thrusting his sword in to force Ren to dodge. This was the reaction Ren had been expecting from Slumber. Ren’s sword shattered and became a sword of pure willpower as it sliced through Slumber. Willpower shot out of Slumber along the path Ren struck, causing Slumber to recoil backwards. Slumber cried out as he suddenly felt weaker, but there was something about his cry that shocked Ren.

“You! That was magic, wasn’t it!” Slumber yelled at him as he stumbled backwards. Ren stood there with his eyes wide open in surprise.

“You’re… a girl?” Ren questioned. Slumber was taken aback.

“What? How’d you -- from that scream? It… didn’t sound familiar did it?”

“Why? Should it?” Ren went back through his mind and attempted to find a voice that was similar to the one he heard just then.

“No! It’s okay! Remembering would only hinder our duel! You don’t need to--” Slumber stopped as she realized that Ren remembered. Ren’s shocked face clearly showed this.

“You… you’re from back then.” Ren thought back to the last SwordTour he had been a part of -- the reason he had given up his sword. “You were the one… I lost to.” Ren pictured the beautiful girl with long blond hair and her elegant use of the sword. He also remembered the words she muttered after utterly destroying him.

“For you, there’s no use becoming any stronger. Just give up.” Those are the words she had said. Ren gave up participating in SwordTours because of her words. He thought he was truly beyond her reach, but for her to suddenly appear in front of him. It was as if destiny was telling Ren to take revenge.

“Our duel won’t be stopped by something like this. I’m just pissed off now.” Ren said to Slumber. Slumber’s armor lit up like a white light and then disappeared, revealing the beautiful girl he remembered having fought. She had become even more beautiful over the years as she stood there in a Valenthia High uniform. “I felt like there was a reason you wanted to fight me specifically. So this is it? But why would you want to fight me? Shouldn’t I be the one who wants a rematch?”

“I told you. I witnessed your power firsthand and so I wanted to fight you. Isn’t that enough of a reason?”

“It’s good enough for me.” Ren said as he took his stance once again. “It just means I’ll get my revenge for what you said to me.”

“Ha! You have no chance of winning even if you use that attack again!” Slumber took her stance as well, the same stance as Ren. Neither of them said anything else. The silence did all the talking that needed to be done, for the history between the two all led up to this moment. The two stood there, staring at each other with confident smiles plastered on their faces -- until Slumber rushed in first. Slumber attacked Ren with the same elegance she had when they had fought before. Her strikes were quick and perfectly aimed. She made no mistakes and left no room for any openings, but Ren wasn’t just going to sit back and defend. Ren deflected each and every attack with the intention to follow up if the opportunity revealed itself, but it never did. The two engaged themselves in a flurry of strikes that left no opportunity for either to win. It was a complete stalemate, but neither wanted to admit defeat. The smile on Ren’s face widened as he began to feel the pressure that came with fighting such a strong opponent, but that smile wouldn’t last long. Slumber suddenly jumped away from Ren and began laughing.

“What the -- what’s so funny?” Ren questioned.

“Ah, I just never expected something like this to happen.” Slumber continued laughing, but what she said next confused Ren even more than her sudden laughter. “Go ahead, you pass.”

“What!” Ren was truly surprised. Didn’t she want a true duel?

“I said go on. You have somewhere to be don’t you?”

“We’re in the middle of a duel! Weren’t you the one who wanted to settle things?”

“Yeah, but that can wait until you return the world back to normal.” Ren was still confused by why Slumber had just suddenly stopped their duel like that. Ren turned around and began to run across the bridge to the staircase that led up to the top of the tower. That’s when he heard her words, “Just remember, I’ll be waiting for that duel.” Ren nodded as he ran across the bridge and up the stairs on the other side of the arena. Slumber then turned her eyes towards the door and the real reason she had stopped their duel. Finite had entered the arena.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” Slumber questioned. “You’ve already played your part in the plan. There’s no more need for you to interfere.”

“You expect me to just sit back while he still lives!” Finite yelled. “Not part of the plan! You took me out of the plan so that he could live! Do you just expect me to take that sitting down! He can’t be allowed to live!”

“Enough! I won’t let you kill him!” Slumber took her stance again.

“You need to take your personal feelings out of this and look at reality! You should never have let him up those stairs!”

“He’s going to stop Tye and return the world to normal. Things will go back to the way they’re supposed to be!”

“I won’t allow it! He needs to die!” Finite lunged at Slumber and their fight began…

----------------------------------------

Ren walked into the throne room where Tye was waiting patiently on his throne. The room was large and completely covered in the color white. The only thing that wasn’t white was the wall of windows on the opposite side of the room relative to Tye’s throne. Tye’s throne was up against the wall and sat on a rectangular platform that had three steps leading up to the large white throne. Ren walked over to the base of the platform and stood in front of Tye. Tye looked down upon him with a wicked smile on his face. Ren attempted to speak but Tye cut him off.

“There’s nothing to say, Ren.” Tye stated with his dead eyes focused on Ren.

“Nothing to say? Like hell there’s nothing to say! You’re a monster! You stole the lives of every single living person in the world! You caused the deaths of so many people! Terra and Steven were among those you killed! Two of your best friends! I thought you wanted to create a new world that was completely rid of monsters but all I see in front of me is a monster!” Tye’s smile disappeared.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Monster? I am no monster.” Tye’s wicked smile appeared on his face once again as he began laughing maniacally. “I am a god, Ren! A god!” he yelled as he continued his maniacal laughter. Ren gritted his teeth as he looked up at the monster he had once called his best friend.

“I guess you’re right. There was nothing to say.” Ren raised his sword and took his stance. Tye began to laugh even harder at the sight of a peasant such as Ren raising his sword to a god such as himself.

“It seems you don’t understand, Ren! I am a god! I can bend the world to my will! Begone!” Tye threw his left arm to the side, expecting Ren to disappear just as Jonathan had done that day, but Ren remained in existence. “What?” Tye questioned as he yelled, “Begone!” once again, louder this time, but Ren still did not disappear. “Why are you not gone? You should be erased from existence!”

“Too bad for you. Your powers won’t be working anymore.”

“What?” Tye attempted to alter the world in any way he could think of, but nothing he tried worked. He could no longer alter existence. “What? What’s going on? I’m supposed to be a god! How could this be?” His eyes shifted to Ren. “What have you done?”

“That’s right.” Ren said confidently. “I’ve stopped your ability to alter the world. You won’t be able to use it so long as I’m alive.” Although that was just the bluff Ren needed to sell to take Tye’s mind off the possibility that a god might be the one interfering with his powers. Ren was confident that it was over. He would end Tye then and there and then Mana would take things over from there. There was nothing Tye could do without his powers. Things were going to be easy… or so Ren thought.

Ren began walking towards Tye who was throwing a fit on his throne.

“No! It’s impossible! I--I can’t lose my powers! I’m a god! A god I said!”

“You’re no god. If anything, you’re closer to the devil.” Ren raised his sword as he prepared to strike Tye.

“No, No! NO!” Tye shouted at increasing intervals. The last no sent out a wave of pressure that sent Ren flying backwards through the air, landing on his back. The windows on the opposite side of the wall had shattered and the ceiling lights began to flicker. The walls had even cracked due to the force the wave of pressure had shot out. Tye stood up from his throne. Ren leaned forward to see Tye’s deranged face. It was not a face of despair anymore. His dead looking eyes and the creepy smile he had on his face were one he expected to find on a serial killer. Tye was far from just sitting down and allowing Ren to kill him. Something was about to happen.

Tye gave a lion-like roar and sent out another wave of pressure. Ren threw his sword down and pierced the ground to hold him in place. The wave of pressure struck him like a freight train, causing him to lose the grasp on his sword and fly backwards anyways. Ren despawned his sword and resummoned it into his hand as he flew backwards, stabbing it into the ground just before he flew off the edge of the tower. He had somehow managed to stop himself from flying over, but the position he was in was less than optimal. He was dangling off the tower and his sword felt like it was becoming loose. He didn’t hesitate at all and quickly began to grab the ledge climb back up. Tye had allowed him to climb back up without any interference, which was surprising. Ren was also surprised by what had happened to the throne room. Tye was standing where his throne had used to be, meaning that his throne no longer existed where he stood. The walls of the room all burst apart after being hit by the wave of pressure so that there were no longer any walls to the room. The room, or what had used to be a room, was now the roof of the tower. This wouldn’t have meant much if it were daytime, but it was nighttime. There were no longer any lights to light up the battlefield besides the moon shining light down upon them. Ren picked himself up and marched towards Tye. Tye remained still -- his face, body, even his mind seemed to be stopped in time.

“Don’t worry, Tye. I won’t make this quick.” Ren said as his left hand rose to point at Tye. Tye began to laugh hysterically. Even though Ren said he wouldn’t make it quick, after seeing Tye’s laughter he decided to end him as soon as possible in case he had something up his sleeve. “Fireblast!” Ren yelled as his pendant shattered. He had fired his most powerful, destructive magic spell in order to take Tye out in one shot, but something strange happened to the blast of fire as it approached Tye. It had appeared to shrink as it should’ve impacted Tye and created an explosion. Then its shrinking rapidly increased until the fireblast was no longer in sight and Tye remained unharmed, but there was something in Tye’s hand. Tye was holding some kind of sword but the color was such a dark black that it was hard to perceive. It was like the sword itself lacked an existence.

Tye’s smile widened as he laughed, “Hahaha! How do you like that! You underestimated me, Ren! Did you think that I wouldn’t have had a backup plan for if my powers didn’t work on you! I was called a genius you know! I wouldn’t go down that easily!” Ren could only laugh in response to such a ridiculous proclamation.

“A genius you say? The only person in front of me right now is someone who’s lost all rationality.” Ren gritted his teeth. “You’re not Tye! Tye’s been dead for a while now… that’s why I have no problem with ending you right now!” Ren’s sword shattered and became a sword of pure willpower. Ren knew exactly what that other sword was: the absence of existence. Anything that touched it would disappear out of existence, meaning the only way to combat that would be to attack with something that could infinitely regenerate: willpower. If Ren continued to sustain his sword with willpower then he could defeat Tye, but he had a limitation. If he took too long, he would run out of willpower and be forced to create more from nothing; thus, he would have broken one rule, but that wouldn’t be the end of the rule breaking. He couldn’t allow himself to fall into a coma because of his actions, meaning he would have to break the rule Mana told him to never forget. With the consequence of breaking that forbidden rule in the back of Ren’s mind, Ren rushed forward to stop Tye before he reached his time limit.

Ren knew Tye had some experience with SwordTours but he had never thought he was any good. That’s why he was so surprised when Tye had countered his first strike. Tye blocked Ren’s sword and then kicked Ren in the side, pushing Ren to the right and allowing Tye to deflect Ren’s sword and go in for a strike. Ren used the rightward momentum from Tye’s kick and jumped to the right to avoid the strike, then jumped right back at Tye as soon as he landed on the ground. He threw a horizontal strike at Tye with so much force that it sent Tye sliding backwards from defending against it. Ren then used a fullpower waterburst to attempt to blind Tye in any way but Tye’s sword wouldn’t allow for that. As if it were a black hole, Tye’s sword sucked in Ren’s magic attack as if it had never existed in the first place. The sword didn’t behave like a black hole at all times, but it did seem to become a black hole for any kind of magic attack. Ren even attempted a fullpower gust to knock Tye off balance but it too was absorbed into Tye’s sword as soon as Ren activated it. The only way he was stopping Tye was with his sword, so Ren lunged in once more and gave Tye one powerful downward strike. The two locked swords as Tye held his sword above him, blocking Ren’s strike from coming down upon him. Ren quickly retreated back to a few yards away from Tye. Staying locked like that would only cause Ren’s willpower to drain faster, and Ren was already beginning to feel drained. He needed to end the fight quickly, but how could he do that? Tye was much more proficient with the sword than Ren had expected, and Tye’s sword had the ability to negate any of his magic spells. Was there anything Ren could do to win?

Ren charged in once more but didn’t realize that something was wrong until it was too late. Tye had been standing completely still… and he was smiling wickedly. Ren threw his feet down and attempted to stop his forward momentum, but once he had become a certain distance away from Tye he had already fallen into the trap.

“Goodbye, Ren.” Were the words that came from Tye’s mouth as another wave of pressure blasted out from behind Ren. The thought of those pressure waves had completely left Ren’s mind until it was too late. He never even figured out what kind of power Tye had or how he was using it to create those waves of pressure. The blast originated from behind Ren this time and propelled him towards Tye where Tye succeeded in landing a blow on Ren. Tye’s sword had pierced through Ren’s heart. The strange thing was, as Ren recoiled from the blow, he felt no pain at all. In fact, he felt perfectly fine. No blood shot from the wound, only willpower. The sword had somehow struck Ren’s spiritual body instead of his physical body. Ren couldn’t comprehend the reason why, but as the ring on his right hand shattered, an image flashed through his mind. He himself had no idea what the image was. It was as if there was something deep inside of him that knew, and that something had reacted to the sight of that image. Ren fell unconscious in response.

Ren’s body fell limp as Tye stood there, confused as to why Ren had not been swallowed by his sword. That’s when a wave of pressure shot out, originating from Ren this time, sending Tye skidding backwards. When Tye recovered from the wave of pressure and looked back up at Ren, he saw that Ren’s body had become a body of pure willpower.

“What the hell is--” Tye became entranced by the sight of Ren’s power and remained still. Ren disappeared and instantly reappeared in front of Tye. “Are you… a god?” Tye questioned as he looked up into the eyes that looked down upon him. Ren summoned his long katana and sent it through Tye’s heart. Tye hardly made any noise in response; blood simply began to trail down his chin. Tye’s eyes continued to stare at Ren and he began to shed tears as he reached for Ren’s hand. “Tell me… if you’re a god… why didn’t you save me that day?” Ren said nothing and his expression remained blank, as if Tye didn’t exist in front of him. Ren simply pulled the sword back out of Tye’s chest, leaving Tye sitting there on his knees until he slowly fell over, dead.

Ren’s physical body reappeared as his willpower dissipated and his pendant reformed. He fell to his knees and grasped his forehead with his right hand. What had just happened to him? Ren didn’t remember anything after Tye had stabbed him, but Tye was there on the ground in front of him -- dead -- so what had happened in between now and then? Ren looked down at his chest for any sign of being stabbed: there was none. Not even his uniform seemed to be harmed in any way. Had he really been stabbed?

All Ren could do was sit there in confusion. Just what had really happened? That was the question he asked himself until everything became white. Mana had taken control of the world and began to reset everything. When the white dissipated, Ren could see that he was back in Mana’s realm, and Mana was standing over him as he laid flat on the ground next to the reflection pool.

“Is it… over?” Ren asked as he looked up at her with a blank expression.

“Yeah. It is.” Mana smiled softly and Ren simply stared up at her, as if the simple answer she had given took a while to settle in his mind, then the tears came.

“Oh, I see.” Ren said as he raised his left arm over his eyes to hide his tears. He thought back on all of the events that had happened to him. First, Tye had gone insane and recreated the world as his own world right in front of Ren’s very own eyes. He met Mana briefly before he was sent into Tye’s first world. He lived a short, false life there with a friend named Sal before he was first introduced to Executioner E, Finite, as Tye reset his world. He then met Mana for real and trained to kill Tye. Upon entering Tye’s second world he quickly found Terra and Dr. Tirion in the city of Centiria, but that coincidence quickly became a disaster as he was introduced to the other executioners as Terra and Dr. Tirion had been killed in front of him. In a fit of rage he tried to storm Tye’s tower but was defeated by Slumber and somehow teleported to a southern beach where he found Steven. After defeating Steven in battle, they traveled north where they fought Dee and brought Aria to their side after the incident at the noble’s mansion. They returned to Centiria where Ren defeated Murder and Finite. A week later in Averaelia, Steven was killed by Illness and Illness was killed by Slumber. A girl named Kotori gave him a ring and gave him a way to reach the tower where he met the woman who caused him to give up SwordTours. Then, at the top… Ren killed his best friend.

“Don’t worry, Ren. You can leave everything to me now.” Mana said softly as she leaned over and put her hand on his head. Ren lowered his arm as he began to ask what she meant by those words but Ren fell unconscious in response. She had knocked Ren out with a sleep spell. As Ren laid there unconscious on the ground, she thanked him for helping her save the world and then did what needed to be done: Mana returned Ren’s soul to the empty world of souls, waiting in limbo for the world to be remade, and sealed his memories in the process. Mana then walked over to her reflection pool and sat down in front of it, prepared for the long time she was about to spend returning the world to normal. “Now then.” She held her hands out in front of her and began to reconstruct the world; at least, that’s what she thought was going to happen.

“What!” she cried out. “Why can’t I interact with the world?” She had been attempting to first and foremost recreate the world physically by first recreating the universe itself but some force had stopped her from doing this. Upon further inspection, some other force was doing this instead. Some other force? That could only mean one thing. Some other being still had control over her world, as she had expected. Originally, there had to have been someone or something in the world that gave Tye a powerful enough change in perception in order for him to have the ability to recreate the world. The question was, “Just what in the world was it that gave Tye his powers?” Mana couldn’t comprehend it. What entity could exist in her world with the ability to not only give Tye powers but also override Mana’s ability to control her own world? She only had one theory and it was not one she was fond of, for it meant that the problem itself… lied within the world of the gods itself and the rules imposed by the gods…