"So that's how it is…" Ben Tennyson drawled, holding his chin.
After spending thousands of years as a main storyline Cartoon Character, encountering Kings, Queens, and Contestants of higher level, he had already become an existence that could vie for the top positions in the Graveyard.
Yet, even he felt a bit apprehensive, understanding the danger hidden within all this.
"So…" Ben held his beard, thoughtful, "… his True Initiation Mission was in Bleach Random World, where he received Soul King's Blessing. No wonder I am sensing Reiatsu and Reiryoku on him that surpasses even Ichigo of a Pillar timeline.
"Hmm… and the timeline to which your son went later for Initiation Mission, after gaining Glitch, didn't belong to Harry Potter Random World… ?"
Alan nodded. "It belonged to the Soul King — The Outer One. He manipulated the events therein, knowing Kai would go for the Tales of Beedle the Bard. That's why, He kept watching over Beedle, turning the wizard insane.
"How could merely stealing a Timeline Artifact would turn into an Item otherwise? The Tales of Beedle the Bard became an Item because He desired it so."
"You mean…" Ben's eyes glowed.
Alan let out a puff of smoke. "The Soul King hid a part of Himself inside the Book as it turned into an Item, becoming a parasite. The bastard didn't just want to resurrect into the Primordial Tower. He wanted to resurrect with a Glitch… by replacing my son's identity."
"And Chaos?" Ben asked.
Alan shrugged. "One way or another, Chaos would have had a Glitched Contestant…"
The Storm Pirates shook their heads.
This kind of planning, and that too hidden from the Old Ones of the Tower, just how long did the Soul King prepare it for?
…
"So you recognized the Ability your son possessed," Ben thought aloud, "and then proceeded to set up a trap that the Soul King's parasite wouldn't be able to sense?"
Alan and the gang were standing in a circle around the passed-out Black and the sealed Book.
The Captain of the Storm Pirates blew out the smoke and nodded. "I had no other choice," he declared. "When I came to know that a Half-Deep One was about to take over my son's identity, I had to move fast and in the most discreet manner possible, Ben."
Lord Meruem looked at the Book and frowned.
"From what I am sensing," the Buddha said, "it shouldn't have come to this, normally. Not this early."
Alan shared his crew member's frown but then smiled. "What can I say?" he said, swelling his chest. "My son's just awesome…"
Slap!
Princess Serenity slapped Alan's huge back. "Can you not be so shameless, please?"
"Cough!" Alan cleared his throat, feeling the burn where the Sailor Moon had touched him. "The thousands of years he spent in the Tournament of Worth ridiculously accelerated the process, I assume. But…"
Madara's eyes swirled as he picked up from where Alan left. "… But the final hammer on the nail seems to be the mindscape. If it reaches its peak, even I would face trouble entangling the secrets twisted in his mind. Ingenious!"
Alan's shameless smile returned.
He looked at Yhwach, demanding him to praise Kai now.
Yhwach opened his eyes. "Ingenious, indeed," he said, narrowing his eyes, "but foolish, too. As if creating such a mindscape wasn't enough, he brought another existence sharing his Source in the material world, who also possessed the same mindscape.
"No wonder the Hidden Tale, which your son had been guarding against for so long, suddenly reached its last sentences. If you hadn't intervened, Alan, your son would have barely lasted his current Main Mission."
Alan chewed the butt of the cigar in his mouth, not liking the shift from praises to pointing out mistakes.
Julius smiled, sensing his Captain's emotions.
"Still," he said, looking at Black, "you can't deny the boy's monstrous Instincts, Yhwach. The Yellow Sign on his forehead… it's a Seal."
"… Is that why he kept making himself forget about all this?" Ben asked.
Madara's eyes landed on Black's forehead. "The Yellow Sign must have eroded the Seal placed on his memories by the Soul King, letting a few secrets about the Old Ones, Deep Ones, and Outer Ones seep out.
"If he hadn't made himself forget about those memories frequently, he would have lost the will to move forward. Entirely. Imagine knowing that the future you are working so hard for… is for someone else'. With his personality, I wouldn't be surprised if Alan's son had just ended up killing himself."
Alan laughed. "Death is better than the life of a pawn…"
"I see," Ben ruminated, rubbing his beard. "So he used this Concept of Facelessness to forget some of the memories leaking out from the Soul King's seal, delaying the Hidden Tale's completion as long as possible."
"Or…" Acnologia spoke, surprising everyone, "… you can say he actively used forgetting these memories to completely comprehend the Concept of Facelessness."
"Haha!" Alan guffawed. "That's my son, alright. I…"
"I just don't understand one thing," Princess Serenity said, cutting Alan off before he could say something stupid again. "Poisoning of Soul King let him master a Concept. What did poisoning of Yellow Sign give him, then? Aren't both Seals on the same level?"
Yhwach stepped forward.
His dual pupils dilated as if he could see something… someone, hidden deep in Black. He smiled.
"Yellow Sign gave birth to… Her," Yhwach said, returning to his position. "That's why there's such a resonance between Alan's son and the Concept of Sealing."
They all looked at Black, marveling at the existence called Ayin; the Zanpakuto.
Ben Tennyson had one more doubt, though.
"It all started with you catching on the Ability — Twin-Saber Style, right?" he asked, looking at Alan. "But why did you create such an Ability in the first place? I have never seen you even holding the sabers before."
Alan sucked the cigar deep and blew out the smoke. "I received a Prophecy."
Everyone's brows rose. This was something none knew. Not even Princess Serenity who considered herself closest to the Captain. Of course, it was an arrogant, one-sided claim.
"Prophecy from whom?" Ben Tennyson asked curiously.
Alan's mouth twitched. He flicked the rim of the Sorting Hat and said, "Trelawney."
"Ah…"
"Ohh…"
"No wonder…"
"So, it was her, huh…"
"Yeah, that makes sense…"
…
After a moment of silence, Ben Tennyson uncurled his legs and stood up.
"Alright, Alan," he said, smiling. "I guess we all owe you this. You appeared in our timelines when we needed help the most and gave us another chance to walk on the path to the Peak once more. If…"
"Don't bore me, Ben," Alan said, smiling. "You know I have a soft heart."
They all shared a laugh, except Acnologia. Still, even the saddest crew member of the Storm Pirates didn't deny Ben's words.
They owed Alan Stormborn just too much.
But… even if they hadn't owned him anything, they still would have chosen to stand with him now. In these final moments, this realization struck them as odd, but also right, making them smile within their hearts.
"How you gonna do it?" Ben asked, looking at the boy. "He doesn't belong in this place. I can't guarantee…"
"I will send him back," Alan said. "I didn't need to bring him in the first place. But the brat was getting too cocky, you know. Needed to humble him."
The Princess' heart softened. "Won't you even say goodbye?"
"Goodbye?!" Alan roared, spitting. "For what?! You already consider me dead, woman?!"
The Wizard King laughed, holding his stomach. "Should I… Oh, my! Should I seal his memories, Captain? Of certain things…"
"Nah…" Alan shook his head. "Let it be. Once we kick Soul King's ass and send him flying, Kai will also lose the Blessing. He should get his original Luck and Worth back, then. He's already cocky enough. Let him remember how it felt meeting you guys, or he would start looking down on everyone. Sigh! I wish…"
Alan left the words unsaid, but they all understood him.
He stepped forward, leaned over Black's face, and kissed his forehead. "Look what they did to my son," he said, his gaze blurring. "I swear once I return to my world… I will…"
Alan lifted his hand, a yellow crystal bobbing up and down on his palm.
Inside the yellow crystal, he could see the moment of Kai's death during the 3rd Stage of the Tournament of Worth, and the apparition that came to get his son.
"Edith…" Alan looked at the white, blinding figure. "… is it you, my love?"
Princess Serenity came to stand by him and held his arm. "Let him go, Alan," she said. "You have already helped him enough. Destiny…"
"Fuck the Destiny!" Alan snapped, frowning. "We are Stormborns! We make our own Destiny!"
He squeezed his eyes between his fingers and sighed.
On the other side, Ben Tennyson waved his hand, opening a portal.
Alan grabbed the unconscious Black from the back of his neck and threw him into the portal. Standing by his side, Princess Serenity's mouth twitched.
Once the child was gone, Ben Tennyson let out a breath and asked, "How we gonna do it, Alan?"
Alan stared at the Book. "It already contains five tales that are sealed," he told them. "My son thinks that learning Ancient Magical Script would let him unseal them. But those tales are the embodiment of the parasite. Unsealing them is what the Soul King wants…
"Five of us will overwrite those tales. I, Ben, and Usagi will seal Spacetime, Past, Present, Future, and Destiny's flow, making sure that Soul King's parasite doesn't escape."
That left Julius, Yhwach, Madara, Acnologia, and Lord Meruem.
The Book couldn't hold Alan and Ben's tales anyway. And they knew why Usagi must remain outside as well.
Princess Serenity flicked her wrist, took out the Holy Grail, and nodded at Alan.
None asked what would happen after all this.
They already knew.
Even if they were at the peak of their Random Worlds, they would be fighting a Half-Deep One; an existence incomprehensibly powerful and utterly unfathomable.
Seeing the turmoil in their hearts, The Banished laughed, His mysteries overwhelming the nowhere.
"HAHAHA! Don't worry. I am here."
CRACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!
The nowhere trembled in fear under His feet.
Alan's hazel pupils burst out with the grandest light, bolts of lightning donning Him in a majestic cloak. As He raised the spear, there was such power around Him that it shuddered hearts beyond dimensions, old, dead enemies squirming deeper in their graves.
Because there was a myth known to all the residents of the Primordial Tower. The words had been passed down from generation to generation as stories, warnings, and whispers.
As Kai had never spent any significant time in the Primordial Tower, he didn't know of these old myths.
And the myth went something like this —
— When the Storm gathers, the Winds come from afar.
**************
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