When Ren came to, he looked around and saw nothing but pitch black darkness. He called out to Steven and Aria, but there was no response. He used his hands to feel around the ground next to him and felt something, someone! He touched their head and felt a cold wetness. It was Lilith he was next to. After confirming that Lilith was with him, Ren continued to feel around the ground for his two companions, and there they were, unconscious.

“Steven!” Ren said loudly as he shook Steven. Steven slowly opened his eyes in the darkness and greeted Ren, then Ren went to Aria and woke her up as well. “Aria!” Aria woke up, and while she couldn’t see Ren in the darkness, she felt herself being held in Ren’s arms.

“What the hell!” Aria yelled as she managed to land a punch on Ren’s face in the darkness. Ren recoiled back through the darkness. “Where are we? Why’s it so dark?”

“Eh! The question should be: ‘What the hell was the punch for!’” Ren exclaimed as he felt the place on his face where he had been hit.

“Hmph! That’s what you get for being touchy.” she replied.

“So? Where are we?” Steven continued with Aria’s question.

“I don’t know.” Ren stated, “You’d think we’d have died after falling into that large hole in the ground, but…”

“Right, we’re still alive after that fall.” Steven continued, “In fact, I don’t even feel injured. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“Yeah,” Aria agreed, “before the ground collapsed I got a sight of the hole that was left when that island was lifted into the air. It looked like way more ground was removed than there actually was… and this ground, it’s completely flat.” Aria moved her hand across the ground; the ground was as smooth as paper, completely flat.

“Of course this situation’s strange.” Ren interjected. “If you expect anything in this world to make sense, you should stop now, because it was made by someone who’s lost all sense.” Ren picked up Lilith and stood up. “Come on, we need to find a way out. We were close to the edge when we fell so it should be close. We can use it to scale our way out if we have to.”

“But which way is it?” Aria questioned. Ren wanted to say he knew which way the nearest wall of the hole would be but he had no idea. Ren turned away from Aria and Steven and his pendant glowed a bright green light. Why had the pendant begun glowing? The only time it ever glows is when Ren uses his willpower. Was Mana somehow giving him a signal that he was facing the correct direction? Ren turned to his left slightly and the pendant stopped glowing; upon turning back, the pendant began to glow again. Ren thought that the only explanation was that Mana was somehow guiding him. What had she said? Something about “claiming his soul”? That must mean that she could have some effect on his pendant, so the most probable cause had to be Mana, right?

“It’s this way.” Ren said with confidence.

“How can you be sure?” Aria questioned.

“Well, heading one direction is better than waiting here for Finite to find us, isn’t it?” Ren replied as he began walking away.

“Ha! I doubt even that executioner can find us here in this darkness!” Aria exclaimed.

“I’d rather not stay here and find out.” Steven said as he began to follow Ren and his glowing green light.

“W-well… you have a point there…” Aria said with a broken smile as she chased after Ren. The three continued to walk in one singular direction for a very long time, to the point that they could safely say that if they had been close to any edge of the hole, they had not walked in the right direction to find it. In fact, they had been walking for so long that they began to question if they had actually walked in the complete opposite way of the nearest edge and if they were actually travelling along the diameter of the large circular hole. “Hey, Ren? Where the hell are we?” Aria questioned after a while.

“How am I supposed to know the answer to that?” Ren asked as he looked back at Aria judgingly. “It’s completely pitch black and there are no sensory indications to point us in the right direction. How am I supposed to know where to go?”

“Oho? I thought you said you knew the way?” Aria grinned.

“Listen here, you --” Ren had turned to talk to Aria, but as he turned he noticed something: there had been a wall next to them. Ren turned back and used his pendant’s light to reveal that there was a wall on their left. He looked to his right and saw the same thing, another flat wall. “This is a hallway,” Ren pointed out. “At some point we wandered into a hallway.”

“What!” Aria exclaimed. “But wasn’t this some hole in the ground? Why is there some underground hallway?”

“Like I said, remember? Don’t expect anything else to make any sense.” Ren replied as he continued down the hallway, for his pendant was still glowing. They had been walking for approximately a minute before they saw it -- light, there was light at the end of the tunnel. What they found upon reaching the light was a large room that appeared to be made out of sandstone bricks. There wasn’t much to look at in the room because it was mostly empty besides one large monument placed against the wall opposite the entrance. The monument was made of a completely different material than the sandstone wall that appeared to be some kind of light gray metal in the shape of a large rectangular prism that was about five feet in length in width but about twenty feet tall, at least. There was a clear path leading to the pillar like an inviting red carpet. The path was of simple sandstone bricks aligned with some kind of pattern of hieroglyphics. The lighting of the room was peculiar because there seemed to be no light source in the room; nevertheless, the room was very well lit, as if it were being lit by the natural light of the sun. Ren began to walk across the path towards the monument. For some reason it drew him towards it, and as he drew closer his pendant’s light grew brighter.

“Ren, let’s turn back.” Aria said. “We should be looking for a way out of here, whatever that thing is doesn’t matter.”

“We’re here aren’t we?” Ren began, “This thing may be important to Tye and the executioners somehow. We should check it out.”

“But what if it’s a trap?” Steven interjected. Ren looked down at his pendant that was glowing brilliantly.

“I don’t believe it is.” Ren said as he approached the monument. Aria and Steven began to walk across the room as Ren stood in front of the monument. Blue text appeared on the front of the monument, most likely in response to Ren standing in front of it. “What the hell? It says something here. It says: ‘Here lies,’ some name that’s illegible. ‘For committing the heinous crime of murdering the hero,’ also illegible, ‘he has been sentenced to bear a curse for the rest of eternity. No matter what, he will suffer so long as this monument exists, and it will always exist -- no matter what form the world may take -- this monument will always exist. May he suffer a fate worse than death...’” Ren was speechless because of one part that had caught his eye: “No matter what form the world may take.” Had Tye created this monument, this curse, for someone? If not, the only other culprit could only be a god…

“What is this? A grave?” Aria questioned.

“Like Ren said,” Steven began, “it’s nonsensical and doesn’t seem to have any logical purpose behind it. I think we can just ignore it.” The three didn’t have any more time to take it in, because Finite had just waltzed into the room. Ren heard footsteps and quickly turned around to see Finite’s sharp red eyes glaring at him from the room’s entrance. Finite simply stood there at the entrance as he watched shock come over Ren’s face that was quickly overcome with an expression of anger and determination. Ren laid Lilith down in front of the monument, stood up, summoned his gear, and took his stance. Steven unsheathed his sword and Aria summoned her vortex sword and earth sword. No one breathed a word. They had all known just what direction this situation was heading and simply prepared themselves for it; thus, no words were needed.

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Ren was the first one to charge in. Steven quickly followed after Ren while Aria stayed in the back to use her ranged attacks. Finite remained completely still as Ren approached Finite from the right and Steven approached Finite from the left. Both of them swung at Finite at the same time with overhead strikes, but Finite blocked both attacks instantly as his arms appeared from underneath his hood. He had raised his arms up and blocked both attacks with the black metal armor he had on his arms. They were black steel gauntlets that covered his entire forearm and hand, also giving him sharp, black claws. Finite then took his right arm and punched Steven in the face, then turned lightning fast to punch Ren in the face as well. Both Ren and Steven were knocked over after being hit.

Finite was then hit in the back by one of Aria’s blasts of air, but he didn’t even flinch. The attack left Finite completely unfazed. Aria tried another one of her ranged attacks. She sent a stone spike hurling towards Finite from behind of which Finite promptly turned around and kicked the spike into pieces. He most likely wore the same type of steel armor all over his body, so kicking that stone spike into pieces was most likely nothing for him.

Finite then disappeared from Ren’s sight as he reappeared in front of Aria. Finite sent a punch straight to Aria’s stomach and sent her flying into the wall next to the monument. She fell to the floor unconscious.

“Aria!” Ren cried out from the floor as Steven ran at Finite. Finite noticed Steven running at him from behind and turned to his left to give Steven a roundhouse kick. Steven dodged underneath Finite’s leg and went to slice the leg Finite was using to pivot, but Finite’s right leg denied physics. His momentum was canceled and he was no longer spinning. He simply brought his right leg down on top of Steven and crushed him into the ground beneath him. Then, Finite grabbed Steven by the leg and flung him into the wall next to the monument where Steven fell over unconscious. Finite turned his red eyes towards Ren, who was rising to his feet.

Ren looked over at his friends, covered in blood because of Finite’s ruthless attacks. They were powerless against him. Ren remembered the last encounter he had with Finite. He had stabbed Terra right in front of him, and then she had been blown apart in a storm of blood. He had to prevent another sight like that, and he could! He wasn’t powerless, he had the power of his will to guide him. He had gotten stronger over the past few days and even got strong enough to beat Executioner M, Murder, on his own! He was not weak. He could beat Finite, just like how he beat Lilith. He would rise to the challenge. It may have seemed impossible, but Ren thought he had a chance. Ren charged at Finite again. Finite turned towards Ren and began walking towards him.

“Is this all?” Finite thought to himself. “He’s going for the same strike.” Ren approached Finite from the front and once again swung his sword down for an overhead strike. The difference between this time and the last time was not only that Steven was not there to strike at the same time, but Ren let go of his sword during his downswing. This action was purposeful. Finite raised his right arm up to block the sword but it had hit with a very faint force. Finite lowered his arm to see Ren with his right hand stretched out in front of him, facing Finite.

“Fireblast!” Ren yelled, firing a fireblast straight into Finite’s face. Ren picked his sword up from off the ground and retook his stance as he waited for the smoke to clear. Finite had not moved an inch after being hit. The smoke cleared and Ren caught a glimpse of what Finite truly looked like. His fireblast had destroyed Finite’s hood, revealing a man with black hair that covered his face with a mask. The mask was like one that could be found at a masquerade. It was a white mask that only covered the area around Finite’s eyes. The mask was completely white. The left side was one plain and simple point but the right side had three points, all of which were curved edges and not straight, angular edges like the left side. Instead of having holes to show his eyes, those holes were replaced with the red light that Ren had perceived as Finite’s eyes.

“You’ll regret that…” Finite said, appearing to have a bit of anger in his deep voice. Ren tensed up as Finite drew his sword from underneath his cloak. “It’s time for you to meet… your end.” Finite disappeared. There was nothing Ren could do. There was no time for him to react. How could there have been? Finite had struck faster than a human’s reaction speed could perceive, so how could Ren have been able to protect himself from the strike that sent him flying through the air? Ren didn’t even feel the pain so he hadn’t known what happened until he saw his own legs as he flew through the air. He had been cut clean in half by Finite. Finite threw his hand onto Ren’s face and used the same ability he had used on Terra. Ren exploded into a storm of blood.

“How disappointing…” Finite said quietly as he looked down at the ground to see the only thing that remained of Ren: his glowing pendant. “What’s this? This pendant should’ve disintegrated along with him, so why does it remain?” Finite questioned with curiosity. Finite simply put his foot on the pendant with the intention to crush it beneath his weight, but the pendant wouldn’t break. Finite pressed down harder, but the pendant wouldn’t shatter. “What the hell is this?” Finite questioned as he slammed his foot down onto the pendant. Upon removing his foot, Finite saw that the pendant remained completely unharmed. The only idea Finite had left was to use his sword. His sword contained special properties that he thought would shatter the pendant for sure. He held the sword over the pendant and then thrust the sword down with all his might. Upon striking the pendant, the pendant shattered and blinded Finite with intense green light. Finite raised his hand in front of him to block the light. When the light had become less intense, Finite lowered his hand to see… Ren. Ren was standing in front of him again, but Ren didn’t appear to look exactly the same as he did before.

Ren was the bright green light, or perhaps it is more correct to say that the bright green light was in the shape of Ren. Ren’s face appeared emotionless, as if he were unaware of the situation in front of him. His hair was long enough to stretch down to the back of his legs, and his legs weren’t even completely formed. His legs cut off at about the middle of his shins yet he was still standing -- no, floating! -- floating there as a being made of pure willpower!

“This… is this some kind of joke!” Finite yelled. “You should be dead!” Ren did not respond. His expression remained unfazed and emotionless. Finite began to lift his sword, but Ren didn’t let him. Ren disappeared and reappeared in front of Finite -- just as Finite had done to him -- and gave Finite a right hook to the face that sent him flying through the air. Finite recovered midair but Ren reappeared above Finite and kicked Finite down into the ground, smashing Finite into the floor. Ren went down to smash Finite into the ground even further with his fist but Finite dodged out of the way, causing Ren to smash his fist into just the ground alone. Ren turned his head towards Finite as he began to speak, “You… I didn’t expect to have to fight like this again, but this time… I’ll make sure to send you to the grave!” Finite yelled as he swung his sword at Ren. Ren blocked Finite’s attack by summoning a sword of his own. This time, instead of his normal sword, Ren created a long, 6 foot, katana out of pure willpower. Finite went to kick Ren with his left leg, but Finite’s kick swung through Ren’s body. Ren’s body did not actually physically exist.

Currently, Ren’s body exists as pure willpower. As was mentioned in his conversation with Mana, willpower does not exist physically, so Ren cannot be hurt by physical attacks in this state. The only thing that can touch willpower is an incorporeal force such as willpower or mana. Thus, using attacks of pure willpower would work against Ren or magic. Finite’s sword contains some magical properties that gives it the ability to touch Ren and therefore strike him. Finite’s problem is that this is his only method of harming Ren. On the other hand, Ren can strike Finite because -- as a being of pure willpower -- Ren is able to define his own properties with his will; thus, he is able to physically touch things if he wills it to be so.

Ren mirrored Finite’s attempt at a strike and kicked Finite in the side, sending Finite sliding across the floor. Ren then threw a flurry of sword strikes at Finite. Finite managed to keep up with Ren’s brutal pace and block each of Ren’s strikes. Upon Ren’s final strike, Ren teleported behind Finite and sliced through Finite’s back, but Finite had not been struck, himself. A bright green light spilled out of where Finite had been struck, as if it were blood that had exploded out. That green light was Finite’s willpower, and Ren was chopping away at it. Finite gasped as he suddenly felt weaker. He dodged forward to dodge any other possible strikes from behind and then turned back towards Ren.

Finite stood in his stance as he thought to himself, “This wasn’t part of the plan. Should I retreat? No! He needs to be put down! Now! I can’t back away from this! But… I’m at a huge disadvantage right now. I should fall back and regroup with Slum--” Ren had teleported once again as Finite was thinking. Finite thought he knew where Ren would appear so he turned around to block the incoming strike, but was hit from above. Ren had teleported above him and had been floating in the air. He threw his sword down and struck through Finite, once again causing willpower to explode from where his sword had sliced through Finite. Finite dodged backwards towards the tunnel. “This situation heavily favors Ren… could it be… that I was not informed that this… was part of the plan?” he questioned to himself. Finite turned to retreat but found himself unable to move. He looked down at his feet and saw himself held in place by Lilith’s hair. Finite looked over to Lilith who was smiling as she laid on the ground pretending to be unconscious. “You!” Finite exploded. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing! Does this not bother you!” Finite was given no time to hear a response from Lilith, not that she was going to give one anyways. Ren had sliced through Finite’s stomach just as Finite had done to him. There was no explosion of green light this time. Blood gushed from the wound as Finite began to fall into halves. Ren paid him the favor as he grabbed the back of Finite’s head... and disintegrated him. The being known as Finite had been killed.

Ren’s power had worn off as the green light became brighter and then disappeared as Ren fell over. He was once again a physical being.