Surviving the Death Hunt

V recognized the deception now. Back when he was still trapped in Xadrez, a mysterious voice had promised escape and the fulfillment of his goals. Clearly dubious, but after countless years in that emptiness, he’d agreed. Not that he’d truly had a choice.

Then something shifted. He gained access to his Inheritance inside the prison, something that should have been impossible. Though his spells were limited, it was still a chance he couldn’t let pass.

The voice promised him something hopeful. A day was coming when he’d encounter souls of greater happiness and richness. Consuming those would give him the power to escape.

It continued appearing, feeding him information about the outside world, explaining its plans, and oddly enough, requesting his strategic input even though V wasn’t in a position to respond.

He saw through it all now, though he still didn’t know who, or what, the voice belonged to.

"That bastard... all this time, I’ve been nothing but their pawn."

V sighed.

"It matters little... time, like hope, is merely an illusion. And I alone may be fated to endure it."

His will remained his own. The circumstances of his freedom changed nothing. He was humanity’s savior, the only thing that mattered. But Theo, who claimed friendship while permitting human suffering, was an obstacle that needed to be removed.

V gazed into the cherry blossoms filling the space where Theo’s face ought to be, eyes narrowing as he readied himself for the coming clash.

"Stop feeding humanity lies disguised as hope. There is no escape, only the mercy of death. Do you despise us so deeply that you would deny us even that?"

Theo shifted into its combat stance. The pale blades it wielded radiated purity, and its presence alone purified everything nearby, cleansing violence and hatred from every heart, replacing them with peace and harmony. Even objects weren’t spared the transformation.

A single cut from either blade would fill any human with serenity so pure it would kill them in moments. V understood this and understood himself.

His heart contained no hatred or malice. Only love, kindness, and devotion to humanity’s salvation. Besides, even if caught by the purification, he could sacrifice other souls in his place. Theo’s blades held no terror for him.

"Theo, you are no savior. You’re nothing but a corrupted being determined to drown humanity in despair."

Theo’s fierce gaze spoke volumes. No words were needed. The look said it all: V was completely insane.

"In an insane world, those who remain sane are the ones deemed crazy."

V shook his head in disappointment, then bowed respectfully to Theo before descending. As his feet touched down, he felt the warmth radiating from Theo’s flowers blanketing the ground.

"Let’s end this, shall we?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Theo was there, impossibly fast. Its blade came straight for V’s head. For an instant, it seemed to connect, but souls swarmed the blade, negating its force completely.

But Theo didn’t stop. Another strike came instantly, blocked again. Then V countered with a devastating blow to Theo’s midsection that sent it crashing into the ground.

Theo sprang up immediately and attacked again, moving at twice its previous velocity.

Speed-wise, V was no match for Theo, but his defense was something even Theo had to acknowledge. The souls circling his body were nearly endless, and they moved in a bizarre pattern that made it impossible for Theo to land an attack. Worse, V could summon more whenever he wanted. But this didn’t stop Theo.

For a stretch, only Theo moved. Its strikes were flawless, making it seem V stood motionless, eyes vacant and unfocused. Yet somehow V countered occasionally, landing strikes, something even the Gate God hadn’t managed during their entire battle.

But Theo remained focused on its goal: overwhelming V. That strategy wasn’t working, though. The souls protecting V seemed endless.

After a beat, Theo backed off, creating distance. One option was destroying all V’s stolen souls, granting them release. But morning had arrived, V’s forces were still active, and that much energy unleashing at once would cause massive collateral damage.

For a second, Theo felt almost ashamed. It had never expected to use more than a fraction of its power against a mere human. Yet now it summoned over a dozen purifying blades to orbit its wings, and flowers bloomed so densely they transformed the landscape into an endless floral field.

V let out a soft chuckle.

"Interesting... I never realized you possessed such an ability. No matter. I will treat you as a worthy opponent from now on."

The souls distanced themselves from V for a brief moment.

"Protector State, the Will’s Warrior."

As the words left him, a runic mark like a crosshair appeared on his brow, signifying his underworld connection. The souls surrounding him merged, forming a colossal humanoid guardian.

Beneath the guardian’s chest, something coiled and tangled, forming a single thread that linked directly to V’s spine.

Unlike the dark souls before, this guardian was smooth white with crimson muscle tissue exposed across its torso. Long arms hung forward, each holding a blade, forming a protective barrier around V.

The sheer malevolence radiating from V’s guardian nearly sickened Theo. The darkness, the rage emanating from those souls, was overwhelming. Yet these feelings weren’t aimed at Theo. They were directed at their master. The souls simply wanted peace.

Something in that revelation altered Theo. For a heartbeat, it didn’t care about collateral damage, or about potentially destroying everything, yet it stayed its hand.

The floating blades multiplied to three times their number. With a finger’s twitch, Theo sent them hurtling at V. The soul guardian reacted with incredible speed, almost matching Theo’s blades, which moved too fast for human sight.

But Theo refused to relent. Just as V’s souls had been seemingly infinite before, now Theo’s blades multiplied endlessly too.

This drove V and his soul construct into retreat, scrambling across the terrain. The power and intent behind those blades were enough to disrupt their footing.

Theo refused to let V simply evade. Its purpose was to force V’s trump card into the open, which meant V needed to feel threatened, not comfortable.

Theo used the flowers carpeting the ground to hinder V’s movement. Wherever V stepped, blossoms wrapped around his legs. Though not strong enough to truly bind him, they disrupted his balance just enough. Within moments, dozens of blades had struck V.

Internally, Theo was breaking. It had never resorted to weaponizing its flowers before. They existed to bring peace, to prevent violence, not inflict it. Using them this way felt like a betrayal.

Sneering, V healed himself in the final moment before Theo’s blade could end him.

"What did I expect...? Things were never going to be as easy as I hoped."

He took a deep breath.

"Protector State, the Will’s Throne."

A violent gust forced Theo to retreat slightly. Souls poured from V’s body in massive numbers. Some contorted into a throne, while others hoisted it skyward with V seated upon it, rising twenty-five feet into the air.

The visual was grotesque, yet the sound was worse. Nearly a thousand souls screaming forced Theo to cover its ears. Its vision wavered, body trembling. For a moment, the screams felt powerful enough to twist its very essence.

Yet it knew this wasn’t V’s final gambit. The young lady had warned this wasn’t even V’s most powerful attack. If this wasn’t his strongest, how was it already so overwhelming?

V noticed Theo’s distorted appearance but didn’t let his guard down. This was the being standing between him and humanity’s peace. Something that powerful wouldn’t die easily.

But if the screams of tortured souls frightened it so badly, V would exploit that weakness. He’d let the souls devour Theo entirely.

In an instant, Theo found itself buried under countless souls. They clambered over it, pulling it down into their depths where screams and suffering were endless.

Less than a minute passed before Theo’s flowers started dying, its swords vanishing. V felt it clearly, Theo’s existence diminishing, becoming nothing more than a dying ember swallowed by his shadow.

Sighing in irritation, he settled back in his throne and directed his remaining energy toward his injuries, healing them completely.

He knew the work wasn’t finished. His possessed thralls were fighting, yes, but annihilating all of humanity would take more than that.

He wasn’t foolish, though. Theo was a Catastrophe-level threat, a creature considered unkillable. While Theo might not match Quagmire, V wouldn’t take chances. He’d stay put until Theo’s existence was completely extinguished.

Suddenly...

His head whipped toward the arena’s center. A cherry blossom tree was growing there, impossibly. Annoyance crossed his face, pulling his mouth into a smirk.

He’d witnessed this phenomenon before. When Theo first awakened hours ago, its flowers were blooming everywhere. The fact that it still possessed enough power to summon a tree, even with barely any essence remaining, was remarkable.

The cherry blossom tree shot upward until it matched V’s throne in height. Then, in the following instant, brilliant light erupted from within the souls.

The essence that had been nearly imperceptible moments ago now burned so powerfully that Theo’s simple existence within the souls threatened to purify every one of them.

Even worse, Theo’s essence continued expanding, the light growing ever larger. V felt true fear as his souls began purifying the moment the light washed over them.

Then he spotted another tree sprouting, and the gravity of his situation hit him. Theo protected humanity, which meant it always held back, using only a fraction of its power to avoid human casualties. The scarcity of its flowers revealed exactly how much strength it was restraining.

At first, Theo had produced only flowers. Now it was creating trees, and their presence alone endangered V’s existence. With a second tree emerging, just two plants would be enough to purify every soul V possessed.

V couldn’t help wondering how powerful Theo would be if it manifested trees as prolifically as flowers. But he wouldn’t think about that now. He refused to leave his throne until every last soul was lost.

But suddenly, before the second tree could complete its growth, terror seized V. He fled upward on pure instinct, watching helplessly as Theo’s presence purified all his captured souls.

V gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"No one ever said eliminating evildoers would be easy. Maybe I was foolish to think it would be."

Theo felt profoundly disappointed in itself. The entire day had been one compromise after another—first using its flowers for violence, then exceeding its intended power output. Yet V’s next words brought Theo some small comfort.

"Protector State, the Will’s Judgment."

The words barely left V before Theo’s sight vanished. The next instant, V was there, right in front of it. The appearance was so sudden it looked impossible, but Theo recognized the reality.

V’s form swelled to immense proportions within that space of shadow and imprisoned souls. And before his overwhelming presence was the scales of justice.

Finally, what Theo had anticipated. V’s core power. As the Will of the Underworld, he possessed authority over death itself, deciding who crossed into the afterlife. The scales were where he rendered that judgment.

If Theo could kill V anywhere, it was here. In this realm, all souls had been judged and freed from V’s dominion, unlike the human world, where he could wield them as weapons and sacrifices.

One problem persisted, though. Whether Theo could kill V came down to V’s control over his own power.

But Theo had no intention of finding out. It relaxed, and an immense blade of pure light emerged from the darkness. The weapon’s brilliance swept across the entire space, driving wandering souls to flee and hide.

V grew increasingly agitated, but he wasn’t defeated yet. Using this power made him mortal, unable to sacrifice souls to save himself. However, that didn’t prevent him from wielding the souls as weapons.

Suddenly, the surrounding souls began screaming, distorted, agonized sounds even worse than what had nearly destroyed Theo earlier. The sonic assault was so overwhelming that Theo stumbled and fell to one knee.

The enormous blade’s light began to fade as V commenced his judgment of Theo’s soul. Worse still, souls swarmed closer, trying to immobilize Theo completely.

Theo’s form shuddered. Its consciousness reeled, essence draining away. Everything blurred into darkness. Yet Theo understood: if V completed that judgment, its soul would be imprisoned eternally. Death was preferable. This mustn’t happen.

Sheer determination drove Theo to its feet. The blade flared bright once more as flowers blossomed throughout the darkness. The next moment felt frozen in time, and Theo moved faster than even V, god-like in his own realm, could track.

Theo’s blade connected with V’s chest. The agonized sounds died instantly. Everything shattered around them, and suddenly they were back in reality.

There, beneath Theo’s cherry blossom tree, was V with the massive six-foot long blade impaled through his chest. He coughed blood, gaze fixed on the blossoms above.

Theo was shocked to find V still clinging to life, unable to heal yet refusing to die.

"So this is a happy ending... or maybe not. Everything is over now. Still, I managed to save a few souls."

Theo stood calmly, hoping V doesn’t survive this.

"It hurts... more than I imagined. Now, all that remains is me and the endless void. Even so, I hope humanity finds the peace it deserves."

Those were V’s final words. Then everything ended for him. Though his death meant humanity was safe for now, something still bothered Theo.

If V’s Inheritance were ordinary and Theo had killed him in the mortal world, the power would have died with its wielder.

Usually, Theo could arrange that. But V’s Inheritance was special, the Will of the Underworld was essential to the world’s function. The power would persist, seeking a new host. Theo simply hoped the next wielder would have a kinder heart.

Theo gazed at the destruction around it. Rebuilding fell to the humans themselves. Its work was done, nothing remained before it could finally leave this world.

The young woman who’d given Theo the key to defeating V had demanded payment. Now Theo had to seek her out and compensate her as promised.