Disclaimer: This chapter is dedicated to a certain someone, who has wanted to seen Mizuki get wrecked, ahaha. And so, my author delivered!

Yeah this is still the author's Monika speaking. I've become quite at home with these disclaimers, ahaha.

And no, DaMastah101 still doesn't own DDLC. He wishes that he did own it though. What else is new? Oh that's right, TWBTS is now in the same world as his other two DDLC fanfics, so that's a real whopper right there.

Enjoy the read, my good readers! It's been a while. My author hopes that this lengthy chapter makes up for an absence just as lengthy~

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Just Monika - Regular text

"Forever Sayori" - Spoken words/Dialogue

'Knife Wife Yuri' - Thoughts

{Buff Natsuki} - Text or audio displayed on-screen or by speaker, be it from a computer/smartphone/TV

"They can take your world. They can take your heart. Cut you loose from all you know. But if it's your fate... then every step forward will always be a step closer to home."

-Sora, the true Keyblade Master.

From the game, "Kingdom Hearts 3" of the Kingdom Hearts series.

[Chapter 22 - Izuna's Resolve, Part 3 - The Turning Point]

At the main hideout of the group known as the Society of Markov, only three figures were currently present within the society's throne room.

One of them having obvious authority amongst them, if the cowering disposition of the other two were to be based off on.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

The Master of the Society of Markov grunted angrily after hearing the report from his two ninjas. He sat on his throne, with piercing eyes cast towards the subjects of his wrath.

None of the other masked executives were present. A fact that did not comfort the pair of Markovian ninjas in the slightest. For they knew that hell hath no fury like their master scorned.

"Most of our men were unexpectedly bested in combat by the targets." the first ninja replied, fearing for his life as their master was visibly fuming with shaking fists.

"Pray, do tell, what should such failure by you and your partner possibly entail? Have I not been a competent leader of our society?" the Master asks in a sickeningly sweet tone. The way those words came out from the man carried a silky tone, almost a loving one.

However, the recepients of said question knew better.

"Y-you are a great l-leader sire!" the second ninja stutters out, before continuing. "It's just t-that we didn't anticipate the arrival of Natsuki's father, as well the Calamity of Nagoya himself, Osamu Taka-"

Before the second ninja could finish detailing the recent events, he was mercilessly lifted up from the ground by the Master, squeezing on his neck with his right hand as he flailed about in vain. The ninja's face was slowly being colored with a mean shade of blue due to lack of oxygen, desperately struggling to get any words out.

The first ninja's stature weakened at the sight of his partner being brutally choked to death, and he slowly sinked to the floor in fear, pissing himself. The stain of urine marred his lower clothing.

"Enough of these bumbling excuses! Failure is unacceptable, and the punishment of such utter insolence from you pawns is nothing short of death!" and with one final squeeze, the second ninja finally saw the light and died on the Master's hand from asphyixation.

Tossing aside the corpse to his right like a mere ragdoll, the furious Master then walked towards the other ninja, towering over him in his full height.

His eyes were that of a cold-blooded predator, callously flaring a metric ton of his killing intent upon the poor man's gradually weakening countenance. He had the aura of a demon, one who had long forsaken his humanity altogether.

The embodiment of despair itself, this was the Master of the Society of Markov.

"I am giving you one more chance, if you do not wish to suffer the same fate as that other fool. For despite your incompetence, I am a generous man."

Knowing better than to further incur the wrath of his lord, the ninja prostated himself onto the ground, pressing his head downwards onto the ground.

"T-thank you Master, for y-your kindness! I s-swear not to fail you anymore."

Leaving the ninja in his pathetic state, the Master went back to sit upon his throne, a contemplatory expression overtaking his masked face.

He supposed that the time was ripe, it was time to utilize his strongest forces to state a message.

A thorough message that spoke of the power wielded by his organization.

The Master surmised that if they had Elyssa Libitina, that false god Akami, and Blank the former avatar, he would respond in kind with powerful individuals of his own.

Said individuals acting as the trump card of the Society of Markov, embodiments of the collective might and anger of their master and group.

A select group of six prominent individuals, each of them possessing the strength to potentially level as much as even an entire city's area into the ground with just one attack.

It comprised of the following members, all with terrifying capabilities. None of them should technically be able to possess such otherworldly powers in Izuna's world, but certain things had made it possible for them to manifest their strength properly even in reality.

Mezzo, the Burning Flame.

The man who had utmost control over fire and heat. He had various attacks that allowed him to fully channel the flames of hell in order to reduce all of his enemies to ashes.

Tenor, the Heavy Downpour.

As his epithet suggests, his water-based abilities are akin to that of rain's heavy downpour. Tenor's power lies in his unrivaled command over the very depths of the subterranean element.

Baritone, the Violent Tempest.

In a similar fashion as with Tenor and Mezzo, Baritone also possesses the power of an element, with his being that of the air. He is able to conjure streaks of wind comparable to that of hurricanes and tornados, with a mere swipe of his hand.

Bass, the Technomancer.

Living up to his role as a technomancer, Bass is the foundation of virtually the entirety of the Society's technology. Machinery, supercomputers, robots, you name it. He has it all. His genius intellect, coupled with the caliber of equipment that he is able to create, make him just as deadly as his comrades, if not moreso.

Soprano, the Fist of Duality.

The sole female amongst the six promising individuals, as well as being one of the youngest, Soprano is that of a troubled past. Perhaps, her struggles were the catalyst for her to somehow develop one of the most fearsome abilities known to mankind, which happens to be power over light and darkness. Using a self-devised fighting style with its full details known only to her and their leader, Soprano is able to manifest the various abilities presented to her by the attributes of light and darkness. Despite being of young age, her strength is definitely not to be trifled with, as the second-in-command of the six.

She proudly stood by the side of their leader, who happened to a close friend of hers. Soprano had sworn to herself that she would never leave the side of her leader, for as long as she drew breath.

The leader and the strongest among the six of them: Alto, the Divine Blade.

To say that Alto was powerful... would've been a gross understatement. Hailing from the same troubled past as his childhood friend and comrade Soprano, Alto would go on to become one of the most powerful members of the Society of Markov, and some would even argue that his power was second only to that of the Master himself. And at such a young age as well, for both he and Soprano were among the youngest, being mere 21 year olds compared to the majority of those in their organization who were in their thirties or late twenties. However, their youth were not a hindrance for the power they possesed to be recognized, especially Alto.

Various rumors circulated around the boy, among those supposed feats being that he had once levelled an entire mountain, with a mere practice-swing of one of his blades. Thus, his epithet was quite fitting. For he had mastery over the art of the blade akin to that of divinity. Make no mistake however, for even unarmed without a sword, he likely had more aces hidden from public knowledge.

With such overwhelming strength, Alto was the fearsome leader of the six.

Together, they were the powerful Sides that formed the deadly group known throughout the Republic of Lightpoint's underworld as "The Hexagon".

"You are to go and summon one of the Sides, the one called Alto the Divine Blade. I require his presence immediately! And if the other Sides are with him, have them report to me as well at once! For I have a mission that awaits them." he boomed in a thunderous voice, instilling even more fear into the heart of the ninja who darted away immediately, desperate to complete his new task as quickly as possible.

"I-it shall be done quickly my Lord!" were his last panicked words before scurrying away like a targeted cockroach.

Once he was left alone, the Master took off his mask to reveal a strikingly young and sharp face, far younger than that of his actual age. And yet, the full extent of his facial features were obscured by the shadows of the dark that bathed his throne room.

He traces an aged scar on his left cheek using the tip of his finger, feeling the rough texture of the wound as he brooded about events that happened in the distant past.

"It isn't just you who had managed to escape from that wretched world, my dear Libitina..."

Indeed, it would appear that he was somehow linked to Elyssa...

Having enough of his contemplation, the Master of the Society wears his mask once more, covering up the scar and upper half of his face. He wasted no further time in preparing to head out for his own planned agendas. He had grand machinations in mind, and all he needed right now were the key ingredients of his plan to set things in motion.

A war was coming, one that would be taking not only Lightpoint, but the entirety of Izuna's world itself, by storm. A war unlike any other before.

"Soon, the Society of Markov shall stand above all, even if you oppose me, Libitina. For I am, the Alpha and the Omega. And once the pieces have been set, the world shall become mine for the taking!"

****The World Beyond The Screen*****

Fights are merely another form of conversation. They are a means to exchange ideals, beliefs, resolve, and will between two opposing sides of a battle.

It is a medium to be used when words were to prove ineffective in expressing your message, as it would be the bodies of those involved that convey their messages in place of mere platitudes and monologues.

And true enough, words were still quite useless right now for our group, as Blank and Erika were deadset in showing not even an inch of mercy towards Natsuki's father.

Together, their combined might proved a bit to much for the man to handle by himself. It was a doomed effort from the start.

A one-sided affair, so to speak. Like a poor little lamb led to the slaughter-house.

Mizuki was panting hard. With tattered clothing, audibly labored breathing, and sore limbs, he was pretty worse for wear and quite close to knocking on death's door itself.

These were the harsh conditions one would expect to have after going through a mauling, and the man just took it all in stride.

His face was contorted due to the lingering pain, and his entire posture slackened due to the damage he had sustained so far. Hand poised over his stomach, he coughed out a sizeable amount of blood.

"Heh, you fuckers sure got me good." he says in spite while wiping the stain of blood on lips, to which he was met with hateful glares in return.

In front of him, both the former avatar and Monika's mother stood tall, neither of them any worse for wear. Their expressions still that of anger and fury.

He could spot with his peripheral vision the desperate attempts that his daughter, Natsuki, was doing in order to get his opponents to stop the fight from going on any further. He could barely make out what she was saying, most likely begging her protectors to spare his life. She didn't really need to go to such lengths for him, he thought.

It really pained the man. His heart, which at one point only held contempt for his daughter, now had nothing but the desire to reconnect with her.

Despite everything he had done to her, all the cruel words and actions he had callously lambasted her with over the years, and even though he knew that she had already forgiven him in spite of that...

Even though he knew that she still loved him with all of her heart...

Guilt permeated throughout his entire being. It made him feel quite horrible, even more than the physical pain that his body was sustaining at the moment. The remorse that flowed through him was enough for him to break.

Maybe that was why he allowed himself to fight a hopeless battle against Blank and Erika, even with the foresight to inwardly know that he would inevitable lose to their combined wrath anyway.

He wanted to atone for everything in full.

Each punch in the gut he took, each hateful string of words he received from the pair, he embraced it all. All of it. He would gladly take on as much pain as he was physically able to while barely putting up a losing fight.

Mizuki fully believed that this wasn't even close to half the suffering and despair that Natsuki had to endure from him. From countless playthroughs of the game, and so on. The moment Natsuki had embraced away all of his anger, all of his bitterness...

What remained was a tangible amount of self-loathing and regret. The man whom Natsuki had feared was gone, and the Mizuki of today was one that would curse the living heck out of his former self.

He really wanted to go back. To the very beginning. Just to ease the pain. And undo all of the mistakes that he had committed, both his own crappiness as a father, and the machinations of the second Act of Doki Doki Literature Club, all of which only served to intensify his already awful treatment of his precious child.

It was a miracle that Natsayurika, or really Natalie possessing the hybrid Doki's body, didn't kill him herself when they had met again.

He now understood his deceased wife's great love for their daughter. She was right, he could properly see that now.

'You always were right about this kind of stuff, Natalie. Even now... I miss you.'

And so, Mizuki swore that when he would get out of that ruby's pocket dimension, he would change in his own way.

Natsuki's unexpected forgiveness and loud declaration of her love only accelerated that. He would become a much better person, if only for his daughter's sake. Mizuki would finally honor his wife's wishes for their family, or what was left of it at least.

He was indeed, a man scorned by his tumultuous past with his daughter.

"Sixth Movement of the Cosmos: Titan's Leg!"

Another thunderous kick to the side of the head. This time, Mizuki didn't even try to dodge the furious avatar's energy-powered roundhouse kick and took the full burnt of the strike on his unguarded temple.

"This is for Natsuki! For being a horrible father to the poor child, take this!" yelled the fuming Erika as she darted forward, certainly empowered by her shared fury with the former avatar.

His opponents were brutally relentless with their physical assault, as while Mizuki had already been knocked back by Blank's kick, Erika swooped in and chased after the flailing body of Mizuki with a deftly-placed uppercut to his prone chin.

Mizuki crash-landed onto the cold, hard pavement. But he didn't really care anymore.

He had long since deactivated his protective glitch aura. The man didn't even have golden-colored irises anymore, they were instead in their normal coral pink hue. Blank and Erika were too focused in their rage however to notice the lack of resistance from Mizuki.

Right now, all they had on their mind was the desire to punish Mizuki with their own hands.

'These fuckers sure hit hard... and yet... why can I only laugh inside at this fucked up situation I'm in? Take a good look Natsuki, your Papa's finally starting to get rightfully punished for all that wicked crap he put you through.'

Those were the thoughts of the man as his world continued to get rocked violently, hit after hit from the avatar-mother duo.

How fitting, he figured, that the ones dishing out the pain were that pesky avatar, and the woman whom he quickly figured about to be the one that gave him powers in the first place way back when they were still stuck inside of the game.

As tough as Mizuki was though, his consciousness was beginning to fade, slowly but surely. One could only take so much abuse before their body began to give in, and like any other eventuality, Mizuki was starting to waver.

Natsuki was crying at the sight of her father getting mauled.

"Please... he isn't like that anymore! Just give him a chance to prove himself, I'm begging you two!" she shrieked, while finally rushing over to her fallen dad's side.

Naturally, Erika and Blank ceased their attacks upon seeing how Natsuki put herself in harm's way.

The girl in question kept sobbing, not making much noise otherwise, over her father's still form. She picked the man up to the best of her ability, gently scooping up his prone frame against her own. Soon enough, Yuri was by her side as well, and Natsuki was grateful for her support as they proceeded in bringing the now unconcious man into the Takaya household.

Monika and Sayori followed after them, with Monika sparing a concerned glance at the former avatar and at her mother. She could only sigh softly, before rejoining Natsuki and the others inside.

The aforementioned pair were the only ones left outside.

"Maybe... we went a bit too far with the punishment... ahahaha..." Erika awkwardly commented with a flick of her hair, along with Blank heaving a sigh as well after mulling over things. Eventually both of them ended up going back into the house to regroup with the others.

Neither of them were able to detect the presence of a boy not too far off from their location.

He stares at them with interest, instinctively placing a hand on the hilt of the sword strapped to his back. The young man doesn't draw out his weapon just yet, however, opting to remain undetected for the time being.

Seeing no more action in store for him to watch, he walks away while replaying the recent battle in his head.

"They should prove to be fun opponents, heh. Maybe I ought to spar with them one day."

After walking a bit for a while, the man is suddenly approached by a very distressed-looking ninja who looked weirdly elated upon seeing him.

Motioning for the ninja to speak up, he would then cringe shortly after. Just when he had thought he could take it easy for now, this happens.

"Alto, sir, the M-Master is requesting your presence a-at the headquarters, ASAP."

For him to be called in like that at random meant that there probably was a big issue going on with the Society. One that was potentially a huge threat.

It meant that he needed to do another tedious mission that required his power.

Scratching the back of his head, Alto heaved a weary sigh. He only had these words to say, as he merely complied and started following the ninja back to HQ in response to his master's seemingly urgent summons.

"Let's just get this over with already..."

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

Osamu Takaya watched on with keen interest, as Elyssa continued to oversee part of Izuna's current training. He had been watching the two go at it for quite some time now.

Today's agenda? Unlocking your true potential. Well... sorta. It's complicated.

Right now, they didn't appear to be doing much, and Izuna had his eyes closed as he continued to meditate in an indian-sitting position on the dojo's floor.

"Focus your inner ki and tear down the mental barriers you've unconsciously built up from within your mind. Continue doing so until you finally feel it." Elyssa sagely instructed.

Izuna's left eye was starting to twitch, before he forcefully reigned in his growing impulse to open it, and began refocusing himself. He found his center once more, and eliminated all worries and distractions.

Slowly but surely Izuna was immersing himself more and more into his meditation, until he finally achieved it.

Inner zen. His mind was now on an entirely different plane of existence.

Elyssa and Osamu shared a glance, and the lady grinned.

"This is it, grandfather of Izuna. Let's check first if he truly is in the zen concentration state, totally free from any hindrances."

She began to snap her fingers in front of Izuna and received no reaction at all. Not even the slightest flinch.

"Well then, looks like he finally got it down."

Osamu nods in reply. "I guess it's finally time for that cleansing ritual you mentioned.

"Indeed. Give me a moment." Elyssa closed her eyes as well, her body slowly being enveloped in a faint purple aura, signifying that she was about to use an ability.

"For this to properly work, I need to use the full incantation-empowered version of the Cosmic Movements. It may become a bit hectic here though. Will you be alright with that, grandfather of Izuna?"

"Oh don't worry about me, madam. Just do your thing to help the boy. I can take it." the elder reassured her and Elyssa continued, her voice now echoing as the power continued to flow through her. Izuna remained none the wiser regarding all of this, total unaware of his surroundings due to his self-imposed meditation and physical unconsciousness.

"The universe has a beginning point, but no definite end. - Infinity."

After the first line of the esoteric chant was uttered, wind began to pool at the feet of Elyssa. Her domimating presence could be felt throughout the entirety of the Takaya dojo.

She took a deep breath, and allowed the full extent of her cosmic energy to manifest within her, drawing even more power from her inner core.

"Stars, too, have their own beginnings, but their own power results in their destruction. - Finite."

"It is those who possess wisdom, who are the greatest fools. For they attempt to exceed their set limitations. - Conflict."

"History has shown us this. Countless of times. - Agreement."

"The temptations of power are sweet lies crafted by demons. - Chaos."

"You could say that this is the final warning from God to those who resist. - Cosmos."

After the final line, Osamu was definitely amazed at what was now presented in front of him. He could barely comprehend what he was seeing at all, for it all seemed like the stuff you'd only see in fiction to him.

Elyssa was now fully covered in purple sparkling flames, and a see-through raiment of the same color adorned the now empowered woman.

"T-truly remarkable... so this is your true power, Elyssa Libitina..." Osamu could only stutter out, as Elyssa spared him an affirmative glance before gradually floating towards the still-unconscious body of Izuna, the boy still locked in his sitting position even while out cold.

"Remove all doubts from one's self! Purify the path! Distort the laws of reality itself, and banish all deceit!" the Libitina chants, while rotating both of her hands in a circular motion.

She then thrusts her palms forward, and purple energy gathered rapidly towards her hands.

"Zeroth Movement of the Cosmos!"

The Zeroth Movement, was an ability outside of the hundred-named Movements present whenever the abilities of the Cosmic Movements was invoked. Differing in function from the other Movements such as the Sixth Movement which amplified the user's leg ability, or the Third Movement which grants the user the power to teleport, the Zeroth Movement primarily dealt with matters of inner energies and the mind. And to a limited extent, the soul. It had three main aspects or attribute types.

The Physical Aspect, The Energy Aspect, and the Mind Aspect. Each aspect differed in what part of the target would be affected, but all of them were very effective.

It is by far, the most costly of the Movements to use, and usage of the ability without being mentally nor physically prepared, could have dire consequences.

Elyssa was well aware of this fact, but she steeled herself and pressed on.

"Zeroth Movement - Zenith of the Outer Path... Rel-" before she could finish the invocation, Elyssa collapsed on one knee onto the floor, coughing up a little blood while doing so.

Her lips were now smudged with the color red. Despite this though, she would not completely succumb to the backlash.

This was the start of the recoil in using the Zeroth Cosmic Movement, hence why it was rarely if ever used at all.

"Elyssa! Are you alright?" Osamu rushed by her side, helping her stand up with a concerned look on his face. "You don't have to push yourself so hard!"

The Libitina flashed the elderly Takaya a grateful look for his concern by way of a gentle smile, before composing herself and taking a deep breath of stability, with the power of the Cosmic Movement still very much active.

"The concern is much appreciated, Osamu. I guess my body can't handle the stress of this particular ability, especially since I've been using the Movements of the Cosmos without much thought rather lately and in rapid succession... but I should be fine now. Let's continue. The boy needs to undergo the ritual so that he can fully embrace his latent ki ability much faster than he normally would have to."

Elyssa stepped forward, and repeated her invocation. This time with much more control in her tone. She levelled her entire body into an even posture, and spoke with a serene calmness in her voice.

As she was right now, Elyssa was a fully-fledged sage.

She had now entered a state known as, the Sage of the Cosmos.

"Zeroth Movement, Physical Aspect - Ritual of the Outer Path... Release Restraint! Drawing upon the ley lines of the world, I invoke the five tenets of the path as it is written by the fates!" she shouted as she gently placed her right hand on top of Izuna's forehead.

Violet-colored otherworldly lines of light and markings began to cover Elyssa, and they started to glow with power.

"First Tenet of the Outer Path - Courage, the Left Hand!"

A purple diamond-shaped mark branded itself on Izuna's left hand. It glowed as well, obviously resonating with the lines and markings on Elyssa's body.

"Second Tenet of the Outer Path - Acceptance, the Right Hand!"

In a similar fashion, a purple diamond-shaped mark manifested itself onto Izuna's right hand. Elyssa though, appeared to be struggling to proceed with the three remaining tenets, her breathing slowly becoming labored. Her voice was starting to crack as well.

The Zeroth Movement was taking its toll on her already exhausted body.

"T-Third Tenet of the Outer Path - Wisdom, the Left Leg!" she screamed in a high-pitched tone, barely able to chant out the sentence, only increasing Osamu's worry over the lady's condition.

"Elyssa, maybe we should take a break for a moment..."

Izuna's left leg now had a glowing purple-diamond mark on his thigh as well, the glow permeating through the hakama that he was wearing and was still quite visible despite the fabric of his attire.

"I can still do this, grandfather of Izuna! Fourth Tenet o-of the Outer P-Path - Balance, the Right Leg!" and once more, another part of Izuna's body was branded with a glowing diamond emblem, this time his right thigh.

Osamu could sense Elyssa gradually lose her footing, and so this time he took the initiative and supported her by letting the Libitina lean on his shoulder. "I'm here, Elyssa. Finish what you have to do, I believe in you."

"Final Tenet of... t-the Outer... Path..." Elyssa's right nostril began to bleed as the crimson liquid dripped downwards, and the feeling of great pain coursed through her body like a jolt of lightning. She winced, and cursed her body for being too weak to perform the Mind Aspect without suffering its recoil to this extent. Still, she had a ritual to finish.

Mustering up all of her remaining strength to stay conscious and complete the required incantations, she bellowed out in a loud voice.

"POTENTIAL, THE HEAD!" and with those words, the ritual had been successfully casted as she weakly removed her hand from the boy's forehead, and said area was now marked with the familiar purple-colored diamond sigil.

And with that, the purification ritual needed to unlock Izuna's hidden ki potential had been successfuly started. The aura and purple raiment surrounding the Libitina quickly dissipated, completely being exhausted thanks to her efforts.

Elyssa then collapsed into Osamu's arms with a smile of satisfaction, content that she had achieved her goal for the day. She would now take the time to rest for a while as she recovered from the backlash of using the Zeroth Movement. But not without some parting words for Osamu on what to do.

"It has been done. Now, Izuna will be facing a harsh set of trials within his very mindscape, and the ritual will take care of the rest. This is all to flush out any negative assimilation of energy or mental darkness, that may hinder him from fully mastering his ki-" she began before coughing up some more blood, and Osamu listened intently. He too was aware, that Elyssa would likely be out of commission for a bit.

"I see, and what else do I need to know?"

"Izuna will have to overcome the five t-trials, and once he passes the test, the ritual *cough* will end and he will wake up, renewed and potentially... he should be able to properly access his latent ki."

"Thank you for your help, Elyssa. You can rest easy now, and I'll take over his remaining training once he's done with the ritual. We only have today left after all, before both of you head back to Horizon City."

Elyssa grinned at that before finally passing out, fully drained in both mind and body. Osamu then stared at his grandson, and observed each of the diamond sigils on the boy's skin. The five of them glowed in perfect harmony, probably showing that the ritual was still active.

Osamu had no choice, but to hope for his grandson's success. For now, he had to take Elyssa back to his house, for her to be able to recuperate properly.

"I believe in you Izuna, hang in there for now. I'll be back soon. Your friend here needs to rest after her hard work, after all." he says while walking away with the unconscious Libitina for now. Osamu surmised that total silence would be better for Izuna at the moment anyway.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

When Izuna woke up inside of what appeared to be the vacant grounds of the gates that lead to an abandoned temple.

"That's weird... we were just at the old man's dojo moments ago before..."

Suddenly, the reality of his situation dawned unto him and he hummed in realization.

"Oh... that's right. Elyssa had probably casted that ritual she mentioned. That means I should be inside of my mind right now. This all feels so weird though, holy crap... this feels like some fanfic or random anime plot!" he exclaimed while pinching himself, only to find out that he couldn't wake himself up that way.

Izuna then surmised that he would only be able to escape his coma-like state once he completed the ritual.

It was for this reason why both Osamu and the Libitina had him clear his mind first, this was to ensure that his mindscape would remain pure from any outside blemish that could halt the entire ordeal.

"Now then, I'm supposed to be doing some sort of trial..." he wondered out aloud and began walking towards the wooden-like pillars that served as the gate, and before he could go through, a barrier blocked his path.

"Ouch. What the heck was that?" the Takaya whined while rubbing his forehead, only to stop when he read the words that appeared in front of him, courtesy of the aforementioned barrier.

The aerial inscription read, as follows:

[Qui transit tribulatio quinque autem prudentes constantis animo et corpore carentem. Deus vult.]

Izuna read the message aloud, and the barrier dissipated. Once he stepped through the gate though, he was surprised to see it completely dissapear from sight.

"I guess there's no going back from this, huh. It's weird to suddenly see some random latin gibberish in my head though. Whatever, probably the Cosmos at work..."

Seeing no other reasonable alternative, he kept trodding along in a carefree manner and eventually entered the only building that was at his current location, the makings of what appeared to be an abandoned temple.

From the boy's perspective, the building was situated to have five floors in total, and the segmented flights of stairs were all situated placed in a way that forced you to go through each floor individually, just to get to the topmost part.

Izuna made his way through the entrance, and eventually the first floor's entry point.

"What's this for?" he wondered aloud upon seeing a large character marking.

This was because the first floor had a door that had the word [Courage] marked on it. Instead of being written in Latin like the inscription on the barrier that he passed through, the word was inscribed in a huge-sized singular Japanese kanji.

Naturally, the Takaya wasted no time, and immediately went through the door. He couldn't afford to dilly-dally, especially since he only had the whole day left before going back home to Horizon City with Elyssa once this whole thing was over.

Inside, he saw a figure that had their back facing him. They appeared to have their arms crossed. It was too far for Izuna to see very clearly though.

"If there's supposed to be five challenges that are meant to test me... then this must be the first one. And this test has something to do with courage, apparently..."

Not really knowing what to do next, Izuna tried calling out to the figure.

"Um... so do we like, fight or something? Hello there, mystery dude...?"

The mysterious person then turned to face Izuna and approached him. With each step they took, the boy's mouth gaped more and more at their apparent identity.

It couldn't be who he thought it was.

"...?! Is that you?!"

The sudden reveal blew away all of his expectations, seeing Sayori out of all people inside the abandoned temple was completely out of left field for Izuna. Or at least it looked like Sayori to him.

Izuna had to make sure though.

"What are you doing here inside of my mind? How'd you get here?!" he exclaimed in utter shock that the strawberry blonde-haired girl of all people was to be his first opponent.

He only received complete silence from the girl as a response, and "Sayori" began to assume a fighting stance. Her hands were ready to attack at any moment.

Izuna was put on edge because of this. He figured that he'd eventually have to fight Sayori's doppleganger in order to advance to the next floor, but he didn't want to hurt her even though this wasn't the real Sayori. This wasn't his best friend.

It was a moral dilemma that the Takaya was currently facing.

He still held up his hands though, to shield his torso from any percievable incoming attack. Cautiousness never hurt anyone.

The boy also saw a locked door a couple of meters behind his opponent. So he knew that this fight had to happen, one way or another.

Soon enough, "Sayori" made her move by leaping towards Izuna's direction and aiming a left-handed straight punch at him.

The move was highly telegraphed, and so the Takaya didn't think much about it and casually dodged it to the side.

He realized the grave error in this decision however, as the punch turned out to be a misleading feint from "Sayori", who quickly made a sharp twist of her body, in order to deliver a devastating right-handed uppercut onto Izuna's chin.

Posture fully set, she punches with her right fist in one quick motion.

Gusts of wind streaked from the point of impact, displaying an incredible amount of kinetic force in her uppercut. Izuna definitely did not want to get hit, but alas he was struck cleanly by the blow.

It was a direct hit onto his chin area. Luckily, no bones were broken.

The Takaya was catapulted away by the impact of her fist, and landed onto the ground with a sound thud. His lower jaw felt heavy due to the sudden pain that coursed through its sensory receptors.

Spitting to the side, Izuna attempted to recuperate a bit, taking advantage of the fact that the replica made no visible effort to pursuit him further for now, the fake Sayori not taking advantage of her momentum for some unknown reason.

"Damn, this is gonna be harder than I thought... and she packs quite the punch too, ugh."

Reeling a bit, Izuna carefully plotted his next few movements. For sure, he knew that he had to overcome Sayori's doppleganger to proceed, the boy also concluded that he wasn't allowed to retreat at least.

His mind flashed back to the [Courage] kanji marking that he read on the door.

'This means that I'm gonna have to at least be brave enough to beat her, ugh...'
Izuna was going to try something different this time.

Instead of his usual tactic of running headfirst into his opponent with a raised fist, he would wait for them to strike first. This way, a potential counterattack could be made. Maybe this was how he should be approaching it.

As such, he held up his upper limbs into a defensive stance, guarding his upper torso with the lengthy part of his arms. It was reminiscent of the stance used by professional boxers, with their gloved fists blocking the majority of their chest area.

While maintaining his blocking posture, he slowly made his way towards the girl, who seemed to be unresponsive at the moment.

Each step he took, every moment that closed the distance between him and the doppleganger, all of it made his heart beat faster. Like a car's engine roaring loudly with its pistons.

His teeth were clenched inside his mouth, and his lips were closed flat.

And then, it came.

The faux Sayori had decided that a swift kick to the side was required to stop Izuna's guarded advancement. Thus, the girl proceeded to do as much by using her right leg to perform a curved strike at the boy's hip.

Izuna, would naturally sidestep in the same direction to make her kick miss.

However, in a similar fashion to her earlier two-hit punch combo, the right kick was a feint attempt to mask her true attack, a traitorous left knee to Izuna's gut.

The Takaya learned from his mistakes though, as he lowered one of his arms to deflect the knee, and aimed for the girl's jaw with his other hand.

As if trying to one-up the boy from his counter, Sayori's doppleganger leaned back, with her entire upper-body bending backwards towards the ground. This action then gave her enough momentum to propel her legs upward into a vertical kick slice, her arms supporting her descent into a full-on backflip.

Izuna hurriedly blocks the sudden attack with his forearms, and staggers back but doesn't budge much.

He was making progress. Though minimal, it was still something at least.

Izuna then planted his feet onto the ground, and quickly contemplated his current state. 'Her hits really do sting, but I feel like I can do this!'

He was not scared of this foe, he was holding it together pretty well actually.

'Then why am I not already clearing this particular trial if it's about courage...' Izuna wondered as he readily jumped away from the faux Sayori, who suddenly began to attack aggressively.

Not being given much time to mull over things, as Izuna was forced to dodge and block a lot of the incoming punches and kicks that came his way, his eyes landed on a sword that hung on the nearby wall to his right.

The boy hadn't been able to notice said weapon being nearby at all, and so he would rectify that mistake by making a rapid sprint towards it.

That was, until the fake Sayori intercepted him with an axe kick.

At the very last moment, Izuna managed to pull his entire body weight back, and narrowly dodge the downward swipe of the girl's leg.

Small wooden splinters and dust flew out from the point of impact, with a sizeable cracked dent being made on the fighting area's flooring. Izuna sighed to himself in relief, clenched his fists once more.

"I'm getting the feeling that I'll be needing that goddamn sword to end this particular trial..."

Gee, you think so Izuna? Come on now dude.

Anyways, with Izuna arriving towards that conclusion, the next few minutes consisted of the Takaya trying time and again to retrieve the sword, but with Sayori's doppleganger managing to interrupt him every single time.

And they weren't mere interruptions either. Each of the attacks she used were very much on the bordering-lethal scale, with each strike possessing a deceptive amount of power, especially considering the physical attributes of the one delivering the attacks in the first place.

Soon enough, an estimated hour of time had passed, and Izuna was beginning to lose hope of even completing this trial.

"Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe... I should give up..." he somberly remarks, upon gazing at the form of the fake Sayori. The girl still looking as fresh as ever, with no signs of fatigue at all on her being.

And then... it hit him.

The way to finally end this trial, and proceed to the next one.

Izuna had the uncanny ability of thinking outside the box. This was his strength, so to speak. One recent example of this, was displayed during that wood chopping exercise that Osamu had him perform.

Right now, his mind has just cooked up an idea so brazen, so risky, that it just might be what he needed to suceed.

First off, this trial had to be linked to the concept of "Courage". That much was certain.

Second, the sword that he was trying to get was surely part of the completion of this challenge. It wouldn't have spawned otherwise. Izuna knew this rule from the various anime he had seen. There was always, a catch.

Third, the fake Sayori wasn't pursuing him, nor attacking first. She only attacked him head-on of her own volition during the very first encounter between them. Otherwise, it was Izuna who had initiated every succeeding point of contention between the two of them. For the girl to actually attempt to strike him, he had to be attempting to get the sword, or he had to be the one trying to attack her first. Therefore, her "offense" had the main purpose of acting as a deterrent, and not with actual winning or killing intent.

"Alright, here goes nothing, let's do this!" Izuna yells, catching his opponent's attention.

Unlike all his other attempts so far, he went straight towards the fake Sayori this time, both of his arms ready to punch the living daylight out of the girl.

His hesitation was finally gone.

"Eat this, RECHTER SCHLAG!"

With as much force as he could muster, Izuna delivers his signature right-handed punch, this time powered by adrenaline and the desire to inflict pain.

She naturally dodges the punch, and once again retaliated at the Takaya, with an upwards kick.

Izuna, banking on this type of response... flung himself into the kick's trajectory.

The boy willingly let himself get hit, with the girl's foot kicking him away full-force. He had to endure the pain for now, since his gambit managed to pay off.

He had been kicked towards the sword, since the kick's trajectory was an upward launch, therefore it sent him in the direction behind the fake Sayori.

"Bingo." he grinned in spite of the pain that his solar plexus felt, from receiving such a strong kick.

For the first time during the entire fight, the girl's facial expression changed from its neutral deadpan, to that of a smile.

A ghost of a smile, that is.

She ceased her movement, and allowed her body to be prone to attacking.

Izuna saw this as his chance, and with the sword in hand, he poised the blade's length at her chest, and was prepared to impale her at any moment.

However, seeing Sayori's face gave him much pause in his advancement.

"Should I... really be doing this?"

Despite the fake Sayori being just that, a fake, Izuna was conflicted.

The doppleganger had his friend's exact appearance, down to her hairstyle and facial features. Even their eyes were the same, that nice shade of blue.

A true clone that his mind had created for this trial. Completely faithful to the image of the cinnamon roll that had become a dear friend of his.

This... was a different kind of fear.

And yet, for the sake of moving on, he must overcome it. This wasn't his best friend, this was a mere machination of his mind!

With his mind made up, he ended up doing that which he dreaded yet had to be done in order to move forward.

...

...

...

He ran towards the fake Sayori, pushing the sword as quickly as possible through her torso in order to minimize the pain, and locked her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry... Sayori." he cried out, with an explicit frown gracing his features. What he had just done wasn't exactly the most elating thing in the world. Izuna had to stab through someone who looked exactly like one of his precious friends.

And said someone was a bright and cheery girl like Sayori no less. It was a bit too much to take in for Izuna, but he managed to calm himself out of necessity.

The fake Sayori then shakes her head, displaying more animated movement and emotions than she had through their entire battle.

"No hard feelings, ehehe! Go out that door Izuna, this test is over." she winked in a truly Sayori-like fashion before fading out.

In the blink of an eye, the sword dropped to the ground, and disappeared. Izuna was left alone, as the doppleganger had also vanished, leaving only glowing white and yellow particles of light in her wake.

Izuna closed his eyes in respect with a nod, before heading towards the now unlocked doorway.

The boy would not waver, anymore.

"Let's head to the next one."

He was greeted by another flight of stairs, similar to the one he went through before the fight with the fake Sayori. And with his ascension towards the next floor, then came the next trial door with a different kanji inscribed on it.

This time, it was the kanji for [Acceptance].

"I guess this is the place for the trial of the Second Tenet... since Sayori's clone called [Courage] the "First Tenet" before disappearing. Let's hope for the best." Izuna deduces, in anticipation of what awaited him for the second trial.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

As Izuna was doing his best in completing the five trials of the Five Tenets, things weren't as explosive on the other side.

Back in the real world, still inside the main area of the Takaya dojo, Osamu was still watching over Izuna's unconscious body.

So far, his grandson was still out of commission, with no obvious changes or anything happening to him. But still, he had to keep watch while silently praying for his success and safety.

"Hmmm... with Miss Elyssa currently recovering, I wonder how long will it take for the boy to finish this..."

Osamu had a lot to think about regarding recent events.

The small talk he had over dinner with Izuna during the previous night flashed through his mind. He had correctly assessed his grandson's desire to protect those that he held dear.

It was an honorable goal, and he decided to support the boy in whatever way he could.

"If only I could've done this for you as well, Masamune..."

Even now, the elderly Takaya's fallout with his own son regarding the succession of the Zenbu Fist weighed heavily on his shoulders.

How he wished that things hadn't ended that way between them. They were on good enough terms nowadays, but Masamune had become a bit distant from him. Osamu knew that he couldn't really force his son to embrace his martial arts, but still.

This is why he was elated when his grandson approached him for help in the art of combat.

What he had failed to do with his own son, Masamune, he would attempt to rectify with Izuna.

Osamu truly believed that there was something greater at play here concerning his grandson. The stuff he had seen with Elyssa and those assassins only cemented that fact to him. Thus, as the boy's grandpa, he would shape Izuna to be capable of protecting himself from harm's way at least.

Izuna's combat potential was already there, and he was going to be one of the instruments in cultivating it further.

His pondering came to an interrupted halt, when all of a sudden, Izuna's right hand started glowing very brightly. For a moment, it was so bright that Osamu had to actually shield his eyes a bit from the glowing luster.

It was the diamond marking on his backhand in particular that started to shimmer with light.

Thirty seconds later or so, the glowing stopped, and the diamond's color changed from purple to white. The four other diamond marks on his body though were still the same.

Osamu was guessing that Izuna had managed to clear the first among the five trials.

"I assume that's one of those five tenets Elyssa spoke of, probably. Hmmm..."

Without much to do but wait, the elderly Takaya decides to pull out something from his pocket. An item that normally wouldn't be seen in the hands of someone his age, more so with a martial arts expert such as himself.

A smartphone. The kind that was around 6 and a half inches in screen length.

Indeed, even the man known as "The Calamity of Nagoya", the man who conceptualized the art of the "Zenbu Fist"... wasn't above using a smartphone to pass the time.

"Bah, this might take forever anyway, and Elyssa's still asleep! Might as well watch some random videos on YouTube. These young whippersnappers always happen to create new entertaining content for this old man to enjoy."

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

Izuna was in quite the pickle. He couldn't really understand.

Saying that the boy was stumped beyond his comprehension, happened to be a gross understatement. 'Like seriously, what the hell am I supposed to do with this?!' he thought in annoyance.

The test given to him by the Second Tenet, [Acceptance], wasn't exactly what he had been picturing in his mind. Quite far from it, actually.

It wasn't a straightforward one-on-one battle like the fight he had to go through for [Courage] against the Sayori clone, nope, this was something a bit more... different.

Straight out of left field, to be honest.

Because the moment Izuna stepped through the door, he was immediately greeted by three things. It was literally just him and these seemingly random items in the vicinity.

First, was a wooden box about half his height, and thrice his width.

Secondly, there was what appeared to be a stone pillar that had markings of height on it. Like a measuring ruler of some sorts. It stood about half a meter away from the wooden box on its right side.

And finally, the third item. A sign placed on the left of the wooden box that had a message written on it.

"You must lift the box at least this high, in order to proceed." Izuna reads aloud, noticing that the message had an arrow pointing at the stone pillar, in particular it was pointing at the marking that was about 10 inches above the wooden box.

The Takaya hummed. These were the only three items aside from himself that were currently present. Izuna and the objects comprising his "test" were all in an all-white space, devoid of any walls or windows except for the locked door leading to the area for the next trial that awaited him after this one.

'So, I basically just have to lift the box above the ground for at least 10 inches... should be easy enough I guess?' he pondered, a bit weirded out that the second test he had to do today was a lot easier than the first one.

Cracking his knucles and shaking off his fingers afterwards, Izuna approaches the box, and tries to lift the square obstacle without breaking a sweat.

Keyword here being, *tries*. Because the Lord himself knew, that Izuna freaking tried the bejeezus out of lifting the box from its spot.

However, just as it was written in one of Natsuki's poems... "people can try, but that's about it". And thus, like an active volcano erupting with streaks of lava and brimstone...

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF DOKI DOKI, WHAT THE HELL DID THEY PUT INSIDE THIS GODDAMN BOX?! GODDAMN IT ALL!"

Izuna Takaya had enough. This right here was pure bullcrap to him, and he expressed his explicit dissatisfaction by grudgingly throwing a tantrum. He stomped his feet and angrily marched around in a circle, grinding his teeth and yelling out various curses and expletives.

Amidst this, he would suddenly charge at the box in a mad frenzy, attempt to hurl it upwards with his adrenaline-fueled rage, ultimately fail at doing so anyway, and repeat the cycle of anger with another tantrum that showed just how much mental stress the trial was giving him.

He was basically comparable to a raging Donald Duck right now, just without the duck gibberish noises.

The Takaya even tried applying the same strategy he did with his grandfather's test back then, ironically also involving a wooden item. He ended up punching the plank and passed Osamu's test, so Izuna found no reason not to try it here as well.

"GET LIFTED TO THE HEAVENS YOU STUPID BOX, RECHTER SCHLAG!"

And with a thunderous right-handed uppercut, Izuna's fist connected squarely with the box's surface.

It still did not budge. Normally, the boy would be feeling an immense amount of pain in his knuckle area, but he didn't really care about that right now. He just wanted to be able to finish this damned challenge already.

Dropping to his knees, mostly because he was losing the will to continue, Izuna started crying hysterically in an almost comical fashion.

"Why?! Why won't anything work on this piece of crap?!" he bawls out while sobbing in his palms and grinding his teeth.

It was mostly crocodile tears, but Izuna was now legitimately frustrated. Why was the Second Tenet's trial so unreasonable? The boy wanted to complete it as fast as he could already, but it felt like the more eager he went into this, the more he'd be reminded how hard it was to even lift the box for just 1 inch, let alone the required 10 inches.

He tried racking his brain for any more solutions. There were none that came to him though.

No previously unseen random items lying nearby like that sword in the previous challenge. No hidden message like trying to punch the box instead of lifting it. Nothing of the sort.

Izuna had no idea where to go from this point.

All he knew was that he had to somehow lift this godforsaken box, that was it. Nothing more, nothing less.

In his desperation, Izuna somberly walked towards the box, and started to slowly bang his forehead onto its surface. He did this repeatedly, while gradually losing the will to even stay awake.

"It's all futile anyway..." he whined while continuing to bump his head with the box.

After quite some time had passed, Izuna decided to just stop his attempts in doing anything to lift up or budge the box from its immovable state.

He merely sits in front of it, in an indian-sitting position, and begins to meditate.

And don't even start to question how Izuna could meditate inside his mind, even though the means that he took to be inside of his mind, was also meditation outside of it.

It's just one big inception party, don't question anything.

Anyways... he starts to meditate in front of the wooden obstacle and begins to calm down. Meditation helped to slow down the gears in Izuna's head, and it let him achieve a state of inner zen.

Thoughts of the universe filled his subconscious. Why are we here? What was our purpose in life.

He pondered over a great amount of things. Thought-provoking ideas such as the maximum amount of triangles one could fit in a square. How are cocoons involved in the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly? Which came first - the chicken, or the egg?

And so, Izuna was filled with the knowledge stemming from the great beyond. He was enlightened with the various truths of everything that existed.

Yes, all was well in the world right now. The boy had now found the meaning behind everything. His mind, was in a state of Zen.

...

...

...

"WHY WON'T THIS ANNOYANCE OF A BOX BUDGE ALREADY, SON OF A DISNEY, WRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

His calm facade shattered, and Izuna began the cycle of tantrums and lashing out at thin air again. He would try literally anything he could think of to make the damn thing move from its place, but nothing worked at all.

"Son of a Disney, I'm lifting your fatass self up 10 inches, and I won't rest until I bloody do it! You're just a stupid box, you stupid box! AAAAHHHHH!"

It's safe to say, that the trio of a mere sign, measuring pillar, and wooden box, were enough to make Izuna's sanity evaporate altogether. He was getting worked up really hard, and it pissed off the boy to no end.

He tried to think of happy thoughts. The good times back in the real world. The backlog of awaited anime and manga that he had. Monika's lovely smile.

None of it were effective and helping to calm down his nerves, not even the image of his girlfriend smiling at him, because Monika's head suddenly became replaced with a wooden box in his vision. He couldn't stop seeing a bunch of wooden boxes in his mind.

It was all filled with those square-shaped objects of doom and gloom.

Izuna then thought of something.

'Hmmmm... what if I tried to copy something...' and thus, he began to inhale alot of oxygen, before exhaling loudly and stepping back from the box until he was about several meters away. Then, he began running full speed.

"I dunno if this is gonna work since I don't have their fancy powers, but whatever!"

He then positions his right leg for a kick, and plants down his left leg onto the ground firmly to build his stability.

Without further ado, Izuna yells out the name of his borrowed move from a certain former avatar.

"Sixth Movement of the Cosmos - Titan's Le- OUCH, GODDAMMIT MAN THIS FREAKING HURTS! My foot, MY FOOT!"

As expected, the moment Izuna's lower limb connected with the immovable object, not only did it still not budge at all, but because of his lack of the cosmic energy that both Elyssa and Blank used during the proper version of the move, he had nothing to shield himself with from the full impact.

It was the equivalent of dropping a stack of eight encyclopedias onto your foot.

"Mother of God, why do I keep doing this to myself?!"

Basically... it hurt Izuna like hell.

After getting over the pain, Izuna once again exhausted himself with anger and grumbling. He then settled down and sat on top of the box. Essentially sick of trying anything further.

"Fuck this! I give up, you stupid box! I give up!"

Little did Izuna know though, that giving up should've been the thing to do all along.

Because the moment that he proclaimed his surrender, the box that he was sitting on disappeared.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimes while rubbing his butt, which was a bit sore from the sudden fall he had when the box vanished into thin air. He also noticed that both the measuring pillar and the sign were gone as well.

"That's it? That's all I had to fucking do? I spent all this time trying to lift up that godforsaken contraption for nothing?!"

Izuna was furious, to the point of blowing a fuse, but his outrage was halted when he heard a faint sound from behind him. Like the sound effect of something being summoned.

Soon enough, he came face to face... with Yuri of all people. It was a doppleganger of the purple-haired Doki, just like with Sayori in the trial of the First Tenet.

"Well done, Izuna. Here's the key to unlock that door. As you've probably realized by now, the trial for [Acceptance] has the purpose of making one realise their limits. The moral to be learned is essentially the need to accept when winning is no longer possible, and to know when to cut one's losses. There's always a next time, if you play your tactics right. Thus, the only viable option was to give up, as you've come to learn, Izuna. Such inevitability is ever-present in the world, and the acquisition of proper understanding in regards to the application of this type of perspective is crucial at times. Hence, the Tenet's name being that of [Acceptance]. Proceed with the next trial, and may you reap success in your future endeavors." She spoke eloquently before vanishing as quickly as she came, not even giving Izuna the chance to properly react and question the girl after her monologue.

The Takaya was understandably dumbfounded. And as he unlocked the door with the key he was given, said object also disappearing once it unlocked the door, he only had these words to say.

"I don't even know what the hell's going on anymore..."

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

The Third Tenet's door had the kanji for [Wisdom] greeted him in full effect, and Izuna gave himself pause before entering.

He considered what he had experienced so far during the first two trials. Maybe there was a clue hidden somewhere.

"Okay. The first challenge was a straight-up fight. And I had to be able to overcome the fake Sayori, without fearing what needed to be done." he pondered aloud, remembering his first trial.

Upon recalling the one he had just finished, the second trial, Izuna was agitated but tried his best to calmly go through it again in his head.

"And then, *sigh* I had to learn that... ugh... I need to know when to give up on something, after Yuri's clone put in that annoyance of a box!"

With that in mind, he literally had no idea what to expect for the Third Tenet, especially since [Wisdom] could be applied to alot of things in general. It wasn't something readily identified with just one concept. Wisdom had a broad range of suitable interpretations.

Izuna was tired of beating around the bush though, and with a steeled expression, entered through the door.

The first thing that appeared in his field of vision, was a long corridor. And at the very end of it, was another door. It also had the kanji for [Wisdom] written on it.

"Huh. There's another door?"

Seeing no other alternative, the Takaya went straight towards the second door and opened it.

This time, it led to a brightly-lit room.

Inside the area, a clone of his beloved Monika was waiting for him, though instead of her normal clothing, the girl was dressed in what could only be described as formal attire. She looked quite regal, clothed in a flowing green silk dress that hugged her body in all the right places.

Her hair was tied up in its usual ponytail, but with a bow that was made of black-colored material. She also donned her feet with two glass slippers, Cinderella-style.

This rendition of Monika looked like a princess. An unrivaled imagery of beauty and grace.

The dress she wore proudly showed off her curves, and Izuna was very much falling in love with the beauty all over again. He was wowed to the fullest.

She looked quite stunning. With a very light application of makeup, and a flattering shade of coral pink for her lipstick, topped off with a faint amount of pink blush on, this clone of Monika was quite the looker, and just as beautiful as the real thing would've looked in such attire!

"Took you long enough, my love! I'm supposed to be in charge of your third test, ahaha~. What took you so long?" and just like that, Izuna felt at ease. As he always did, whenever Monika was with him. And though this was a clone, she made him feel calm and safe.

'Well she definitely acts like my girlfriend...' Izuna inwardly thought with a grin before engaging in a conversation with the emerald-eyed girl.

"Sorry. The other two tests weren't exactly walks in the park you know. Still, I'm happy that the one in charge for this next test is as beautiful as you."

Monika smiled at his awkward yet earnest praise and gave him a hug.

So, what do I need to do?" Izuna asks after breaking off the warm embrace.

The faux Monika grinned at his question, before leading the boy towards yet another door.

It also had the kanji for [Wisdom] on it.

"Now, I know what you're going to say, but yeah we need to go through another door again, my love. It's pretty weird, I agree."

Seeing no harm in it, Izuna allowed himself to be pulled by Monika through what was now the third set of [Wisdom] doors that he had to enter.

Beyond it, was the inner setting of what appeared to be a fine-dining restaurant. The type people went to for formal dinners or sit-down meetups.

"...huh. I'm not sure I understand, Monika...?

Feeling a bit bold, the clone clung to Izuna's arm, and the two of them approached a reserved table. It had all the things you'd expect in a fancy restaurant. Dimly-lit candles, a group of violin players in the background, and dozens of finely-dressed people in the other tables, obviously part of the elites in society.

"This is a date, silly!" the fake Monika winked and Izuna was beyond speechless.

He had no idea how all of this correlated to the trial for [Wisdom]. A date with this Monika replica was just... he didn't know how to put it in words.

Izuna was also a bit scared that the real Monika back at home wouldn't exactly be pleased if she got wind of this. Did it count as cheating if it's literally a clone of your girlfriend?

But alas, as he had no immediate idea on what he was supposed to do in this situation, he merely went with the flow, and acted normally as he would've with his Monika.

After a waiter had taken their orders and each of them were given a glass of fine red wine to consume during the wait, Izuna knew that he had to speak up.

"So... Monika. When am I going to take the Third Tenet's trial?"

The girl looked at him with a smile that was dangerously close to melting his heart while flipping her hair. She looked really beautiful right now to the boy.

'I have to remain faithful to my Monika, damn it!' he worriedly thought, but the pretty girl in front of him was testing his waters quite a bit.

"This IS the third test, ahahahaha~!. You and me, going on a date! Just enjoy the night for now, Izuna darling."

He didn't know how to respond after that. Maybe he was just overthinking it after all...

And thus, Izuna decided to just go with it and enjoy himself. He needed a break anyway after being mentally and physically drained from the previous trials.

He had a great time dining with Monika, and afterwards, they passed the time for a bit, walking down the street's pavement, while getting some fresh air and such. Izuna was surprised that his mind and the tenet's trial even managed to replicate the scenery of a city block at night, but decided not to question it.

The boy realized that he needed to spend more time with Monika, once he went back home. Even though he was having a great time with her clone, he dearly missed the genuine article. Still, he enjoyed the clone's presence a lot. They even talked about the stuff that Izuna had to do in the previous trials, and the Takaya was elated that she was quite the good listener.

"I swear, trying to lift up that stupid box with all my might, only to find out from Yuri's doppleganger that I didn't need to anyway, really pissed me off!"

"Ahaha, I can see how that would've been infuriating, at least you've passed that test~"

Time went by really quickly, and soon, Izuna was walking alongside the fake Monika back to the area they were in before the simulated restaurant. Hand-in-hand, they knew that time to part ways with each other was nearing, as the boy still had two more trials to complete for the ritual.

"I really enjoyed that, Izuna. Thanks for spending some time with me. And thank you for keeping my real life counterpart happy." she says with a content smile that the boy happily reciprocated.

"My pleasure. You're good company, Monika."

They share a light kiss, which resulted in both of them blushing afterwards. What followed immediately after was the clone fishing for something out of a concealed pocket in her gown.

"Ahaha, there it is, you'll need this Izuna~" she beamed in a sing-song voice.

It was a key. Izuna was surprised, especially if that key was what he thought it was for.

"You see my love, not all tests need to be hard. The test for [Wisdom] was just that, me and you having a good time. Sometimes in life, the wisest thing one could do is to unwind, you know what I mean? And it's always a wise thing to be happy with your loved ones. The fact that the trial had me manifest here in this part of the test, is a testament to how much you value the love shared between you and the real Monika."

Izuna's heart was touched by the sentiment, and he couldn't help but shed a few tears of happiness upon hearing her words.

"Head over to your left, and go to the next trial. There should be a door marked with the kanji character for [Balance] over there. Natsuki's clone should be waiting inside, since she's the one in charge of the next trial. I'm not really allowed to say anything more, but a hint would be that the trial for Balance involves your inner psyche. Like two sides of the same coin. Now go, I believe in you, darling~" she says with approval, handing the key over to Izuna which he quickly took.

Izuna mulled over the hint for a bit. 'Two sides, huh. We'll see what this means I guess.'

"I'll make you proud, Monika." he declares while waving off the clone who started to disappear as well.

"I know you will, Izuna. I love you." she replies before fading into white and yellow particles, similar to how Sayori's clone did in the first trial.

And thus, with his mind made up thanks to Monika's reassurance, Izuna headed over to the door of the Fourth Tenet.

He had the gut feeling that these last two trials were going to be the hardest ones yet.

And if there's one thing that he'd recently learned, it was that his gut feeling was usually right on the money regarding the threat of imminent danger.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

"The boy must've cleared three of them now. He's doing pretty well I must say. For it's quite obvious that none of this would be easy." Osamu observed upon seeing the third purple diamond light up into a bright white shade of brilliance while switching its color.

It was now quite late in the afternoon. By the elderly Takaya's estimate, Izuna would probably finish all five of the trials in the evening, leaving no time for any additional training.

That would mean Izuna would have to wing it for now with whatever the ritual had him do.

"And I had so much more I wanted to teach him..."

He had long returned his smartphone back to his pocket, and instead was contemplating on the state of Izuna's training.

This was a rushed affair in all honesty, but still. He knew that Izuna still needed more help in growing as a fighter. Thus, he had decided.

"Even if the boy decides not to continue the training after the ritual, I'll make him accept my help. We'll work out a schedule later. But Izuna needs to become stronger, especially if the threat that Miss Elyssa spoke of is as dangerous as it sounds."

It was fortunante that Osamu was preemptive in his thinking, for he already had some of his belongings packed up in case he would need to go travelling.

Perhaps it was fate itself that had decided, but the elderly Takaya found it best to go with Elyssa and Izuna back to Horizon City. He surmised that his son wouldn't mind either way, if he would be staying with his grandson for quite a while.

Little did Osamu know however, that he would be making the correct decision, in light of the coming struggles that Izuna and company would have to face in the nearing future.

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

When Izuna stepped through the fourth trial door, the one with the kanji for [Balance], he was immediately greeted by its "guardian".

Indeed, just as the Monika clone had told him, the Takaya was met face to face with a nigh-indistinguishable clone of Natsuki. The two of them were in an all-white room, very similar to the area of the second trial with Yuri's clone and the immovable box.

"Took you quite a while to get here, dummy." she states while deadpanning at Izuna with her hands on the hips.

The boy scratches his head in return. "Let's... just get this over with, Natsuki. I have one more trial to worry about after this."

"Fine, go step on that circle over there."

Izuna's eyes dart over to an illuminated circle that seemed to glow brighter the more he stepped closer to it. The boy figured out that it was obviously some sort of mini-portal linked to the Tenet's trial itself. It still didn't hurt him to ask the trial's proctor though, in this case being Natsuki's clone.

"Uh... what does this exactly do?"

Natsuki, even if it were a mere replica of the Doki, wasn't one to dilly-dally and went straight to the point. "Look, I dunno if those other three trials had too much fluff or whatever, but I'll tell it to you straight."

The boy was eagerly listening. Especially since Natsuki had a serious look on her face while explaining.

"Once you step on that circle thingy, it's gonna go 'Bam!' and 'Poof!' and all sorts of crap like that. You following me so far with this? Hmm?"

"Uh... huh."

"And then, you'll have to confront your inner bad side or whatever. That's what this trial means by 'Balance', it's basically spring cleaning on your ass. Look, it's like one of those damn portals in video games and some anime."

Nodding in understanding, Izuna found that simple enough. He was correct in his assumption that was indeed, a portal. And so, he stepped onto the illuminated circle.

"So I just step on it like this, right?"

The girl gives him a thumbs up. "Yep, that's pretty much it. Now then, I'll wait for you here until you're done with whatever the hell you need to do to finish this trial. Then, I'll give you the key for the next door. Sounds good?"

"Yep. Thanks for the help, Natsuki."

"No problem dude, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you asked me, I'd just give you the damn key right now to save us all the hassle, but your mind and the trial's magic would stop me, at least I think."

"Haha, that would've been pretty convenient, yeah."

"Right? We could get on with our lives quicker that way, but this fucking complicated ass trial design..." the clone Natsuki whines, making Izuna chuckle. She really did resemble the real deal quite accurately, both in appearance and general demanor.

And so soon enough, Izuna was transported to another plane of existence and was indeed greeted with someone that represented the darkness within himself.

It was another fight, just like the first trial. This made things much more easier for the boy in his opinion.

"This is more like it, none of that complicated stuff! Bring it on, bitches!" Izuna excitedly yells out like a madman. Finally, he reasoned. None of this complicated mental stuff and just a good old-fashioned session of fisticuffs with a powerful opponent

The one that stood before him had the exact same body structure as him, with the same attire and the same hair. But one major difference was that its face was a blank canvas of pure black, with the same shade of black covering the rest of its skin. His arms, legs, neck and so on, were all dyed in a deep shade of black. Like the darkness of the night sky.

Well, its face technically wasn't a hundred percent just a black canvas. It had a pair of "eyes" on it as well.

The word eyes being used very loosely here, since they were actually two eerie circles, that glowed a bloody red in color. They represented what would've been proper eyes on the otherwise totally black blank canvas of a face that it possessed. His face was that of the stuff from nightmares.

"Boy, you sure are creepy though. But whatever, let's do this!" and thus, Izuna runs straight ahead with a punch ready to be thrown at any moment.

The dark replica guards the blow directed at him with impeccable timing, almost as if it were on mere reflex and instinct, before shrugging Izuna off with relative ease.

Izuna could feel the darkness that emanated from this entity. The negative energy was thick, almost tangible and corporeal in its density. The amount of hatred and darkness that this guy possessed was quite frightening even, and an aura of malice washed over the creature.

'And this guy's supposed to represent the darkness within me, damn. Do I really have that much negativity on the inside?' the Takaya scowls at the thought.

It surprised him, that the trial even manifested such a dark creature.

He scratches his head. "Man, I guess Natsuki's clone was right. I really need to do some spring cleaning here. All this conflict within is jellying up my jam!"

And so, Izuna once again runs up and attempts to punch the entity, who we'll just refer to as "Dark" for simplicity's sake, but this time Dark counter-attacks with his own punch.

Seeing that his opponent was finally fighting back, Izuna realized that it the fight was now beginning in earnest and began trading blows with Dark.

"Take this!"

Izuna throws out a right-handed uppercut towards Dark's chin without much thought, however the dark entity seemingly anticipated this and quickly kicked the Takaya's left shin in retaliation, before the uppercut could connect.

*thwack*

Feeling the sudden pain coursing through the struck shin, Izuna's left leg bended and his stature slightly collapsed, which allowed Dark to capitalize and follow-up its attack with another kick to the now very much exposed head and upper torso of Izuna.

Dark's second kick launched the boy away, possessing enough strength behind it to actually lift Izuna's entire body from the ground without much resistance.

But the darkened entity wasn't finished with the assault, as it performed a quick dash that made it appear like he was teleporting, when in reality it was just that his movement speed was so quick that the naked eye was only seeing his afterimage.

It was speed beyond which the naked eye could percieve.

Reappearing behind the projected landing point of Izuna's still flailing body, Dark intercepts with an upward knee to Izuna's midsection, making the boy spit out a bit of blood upon the sudden impact.

"Urk...!" Izuna grunts out before being chucked away again, in an upward trajectory this time towards the never-ending height that the area they were fighting in seemed to possess.

And just when the Takaya thought that Dark was finished, the darkened entity appears above him once again, hitting him with one solid downward punch, brutally smacking him into the ground with twice the speed of the previous kick that launched him in the first place.

With a loud thud after quite the rapid descent, Izuna's body collapsed onto the surface beneath him with great impact.

A minor shockwave erupted, proof of the strength behind Dark's conclusive blow.

The entire sequence of attacks that Dark had just performed on Izuna all in all took around a mere eight seconds. It was an undeniable feat of not just strength, but speed as well.

Such was the overwhelming difference between the two.

And in spite of the pain, Izuna persisted, not allowing himself to give in. He had to control this darkness somehow, and find a proper balance within himself.

Unlike the previous three trials, the answer came quickly to Izuna, this time around.

He wasn't supposed to eradicate this darkness. But rather, the Takaya had to learn the art of control, and find a balance between his predominant alignment with the light, and the darkness that lurked within him.

"Geez, this is basically your basic shounen protagonist storyline where you have to use your inner darkness to fight for good. Are we freaking N*ruto right now, Elyssa?" Izuna joked to himself, after finally standing up from the very recent beating he received from Dark and clutching his gut a bit in pain.

Shaking off the strain of his body, Izuna stood confident and renewed.

He walked towards Dark, intent on closing the distance in such a slow pace. During each step he took, Izuna stared at the entity with nothing but calmness.

"We aren't supposed to be fighting, you and I." he states, now standing directly in front of Dark with barely a meter's length in between the two of them.

Neither of them spoke for a while, and it was Izuna once again who broke the tension. He extended a hand, with the intention of shaking hands with Dark.

Said entity merely stared at the hand blankly, not entirely sure on what it should be doing towards such a gesture.

Izuna sighed lightly. "Look, I know you just kicked my ass and all, but we're one and the same person. We just gotta get along I guess. You're a part of me, and I am you. Now, shake my hand, will ya?"

Dark tilts its head to the side, clearly unware of the concept of shaking hands.

For a moment, Izuna thought that he would be on the receiving end of yet another attack, but when he saw that the dark entity wasn't actually that hostile, he decided to take the initiative instead.

"Ugh. Fine, we'll do it this way. N*ruto-style." even though he was slightly annoyed, Izuna reaches for a hug, and embraces the dark entity, causing its body to tense a bit, before dispersing into white and yellow particles.

The boy had just become one with his shadow.

"See, easy enough. Now then, since I'm at peace with the darkness..."

Izuna tried to channel the aura of darkness within his body, and sure enough, due to Dark fully manifesting after they merged with each other, the skin color of Izuna's right arm darkned until it was fully black.

"Bingo. This should do. Thanks for the help, dark me." he confirms while reverting his limb to its normal appearance. He was sure that the power of controlled darkness would be handy in combat for the coming fights in the future.

Having finished the trial without a hitch, a glowing circle appeared in front of Izuna, the same type of portal that he used to enter the fighting space in the first place, and without further delay, the Takaya took the way out.

On the other side of the Fourth Tenet's domain, a bored Natsuki greeted him.

"Yo, I see you're finally done with that crap?"

Izuna laughed a bit, before demonstrating to the clone his newfound ability.

"Yep, got a pretty cool new powerup too. Thanks again for the help!"

"It's cool dude. Now then, here's the key for the final door, get going." she says approvingly, tossing a key towards Izuna's way.

With a nod of thanks, he departs for the final door, seeing the one with the kanji for [Potential] inscribed up ahead.

As he turned the key into the slot and opened it however, everything seemed to fade into black, and Izuna lost consciousness.

He could faintly hear the blurred out screams of Natsuki's clone as his eyelids were slowly closing, and his consciousness slipping away. Her voice was gradually becoming muffled due to his lack of awareness.

"Hey, dummy! What's happening to you?!"

*****The World Beyond The Screen*****

As his eyes gently opened, a foreboding sense of longing like no other had suddenly gripped Izuna's heart due to reasons that he wasn't immediately made aware of.

It was unprecedented for the boy.

After blinking a bit as his eyesight cleared up, he found himself within his bedroom, and the familiar sight of his computer, his manga shelves, the walls of the room, and so on, gradually filled his vision.

"How... I was just in Everdawn City moments ago...?"

It didn't make any sense to the boy. He was literally just in the middle of completing the five trials within his mind. What happened to his grandfather? To Elyssa? Horizon City was quite the distance away, and he had no idea what had caused him to appear back at his home. Miles away from the Takaya dojo.

'Maybe Monika and the others would know the answer?' he thought.

As he stepped out of his bedroom door however, the appearance of his house was... quite off from what he had become used to seeing.

"But... how?"

His living room, kitchen, and the other rooms. As he went and checked on each of these areas, Izuna was discovering that they had reverted to their status before any of the events involving Monika's escape out of his computer happened.

It was like someone had pushed the reset button for Izuna.

Naturally, this caused the boy to panic, hurriedly fetching for his smartphone and going through his contact list.

This action would only cause his anxiety levels to increase, however.

"They're not here?! What is going on?!"

Izuna was beginning to grow desperate, upon seeing that none of his friends' phone numbers were there save for Val's. Monika's number wasn't listed. Neither were Blank's, Erika's, Elyssa's, Yuri's, Natsuki's, and Sayori's numbers. Yet another removed trace of their existence within the boy's reality.

He then tried calling Yumi, his sister, to confirm something.

After dialing the required digits for her phone number, and a couple of seconds later...

{"Yo, Izuna bro, what's up?"}

"Have you seen where Monika, Sayori and the others went?"

The phone then went silent for a bit, before the sound of chuckling was heard on the other end.

{"Aren't those the characters of that video game you're so hooked on? They should still be inside your computer, silly bro! Unless you're talking about some cosplayers or something?"}

Having heard his sister loud and clear, the color began to drain from Izuna's face.

"N-Never mind, I'll call you back later, something came up." and with that, he hung up from the call before Yumi could even reply.

To say that Izuna Takaya was shook, happened to be a gross understatement.

He was troubled by this development.

Following that train of thought, the boy also found no reason to double-check with his buddy Val, since he'd probably get a similar response anyway. But maybe, just to be sure, he dialed the familar number on his phone's dialpad anyway. After all, Val was still the one to introduce him towards DDLC in the first place.

Maybe he'd be more understanding.

After three rings, the phone on the other end picked up.

{"Hey Izuna, you called?"}

"Uhh, yeah... tell me, have you seen Monika and the other Dokis?" he tested, nervously awaiting his friend's response.

{"Hmmm... I'm not sure what you mean dude, but I'm glad you finally gave the game a chance. See, I told you that DDLC was a great game!"}

Izuna was about to cry, but he composed himself.

"Y-yeah, it's great... anyways, sorry for bothering you man, I'm hanging up now. Gotta go do an errand."

{"Any time man, see you at work in a few days!"}

"Bye dude, see you." and with a deep exhale, he hung up the phone. His worries had been confirmed.

There was no other way to put it. Everything that had happened to him in the past few months had somehow been undone. 'And if that's true, then that meant... Monika...'

Scrambling back to his bedroom and almost tripping on himself in the process, Izuna hurriedly went straight for his computer, which had somehow repaired itself completely from when he had last used the thing, and booted it up.

"Don't tell me... please, don't tell me..."

After signing-in with his user credentials and eventually reaching his desktop, he double-clicked on the DDLC icon, and started up the game.

The familiar warning screens and main menu greeted him, all appearing as they normal should during DDLC's Act 1 phase. In fact, it all appeared too normal for Izuna.

He then tried looking for a special folder on his computer where he saved Monika's chr file, the one he'd use to overwrite the file in the game whenever he'd start a new playthrough. But to his surprise, he couldn't find it.

Essentially, there were no traces of the stuff that happened with him and his Monika at all.

Izuna slumped in his chair, conceding defeat at the dawning realization.

It was all gone. Any trace of the Doki group's eascape into reality, had been totally wiped clean from his house. Like none of it even happened whatsoever.

"Everything has been reset to how it was before she..."

He choked on a sob while exiting the game and turning off his PC in dismay. Izuna felt like puking at his discomfort. After everything that he and Monika had went through, it was all gone just like that.

Izuna Takaya had once again, somehow lost his beloved Monika.

In a robotic manner, he lazily stood up from his computer chair and plopped his body down on his bed's mattress. Not sure what to do anymore, he stared at his bedroom ceiling.

Within his peripheral vision, his eye saw that it was dark outside, meaning it was already night time. He pulls out his phone once more and stares at the date and time.

It was the same day as the final day of his stay at Everdawn, with the time now being past 8 in the evening of a Sunday.

He had school tomorrow.

"I could care less about that, though."

But alas, Izuna had to deal with it. Maybe this was all just a nightmare, and tomorrow he'd be greeted by Monika and the others. He hoped this was the case at least, as he fell asleep without any dinner whatsoever due to lack of appetite.

The following day arrived, and Izuna woke up, frowning at the world.

Nothing special had happened. No Sayori, no Yuri, no Natsuki, no Blank, no Erika, no Elyssa... and no Monika in sight to greet him a good morning.

'What a great Monday today is, god damn it.' he frowned while still not over the fact that people he had grown quite close to literally got erased from existence.

"Ugh..."

Thus, he began the mundane routine of freshening himself up, changing into his school uniform, toasting a pair of bread for his breakfast, and heading out for the start of his day.

Soon enough, he arrived at the gates of Ironfist High, and minutes later, he found himself seated inside of classroom section 3-A with his classmates, just in time for homeroom to begin.

Though, he wasn't really paying attention at anything his homeroom teacher, Isabella Santos, was teaching. To him, life without Monika and the rest wasn't exactly that exciting anymore.

It was like his life was lacking substance, with nothing but the feeling of emptiness coursing through his veins.

But then, a fire inside him was lit up. As he went home that afternoon, and lied down on his bed once more after quite the boring and lifeless day at school. A burning desire to defy fate had taken ahold of him, perhaps brought about by his unwillingness to surrender to fate's whims. Izuna Takaya, wasn't going to just take this lying down like a helpless mouse caught by a trap.

He bolted up straight, sitting upwards on his bed as he clutched his fist with determination.

"I've been here before, haven't I?!"

Indeed, he had been there before. Back at the beginning of everything. When the desire to save his loved one, was the biggest driving force for him. It was the time that he was willing to go against even destiny itself... just to save Monika.

The game was still here. Even if Monika and the others weren't anymore... and even if it pained him quite so... what exactly was stopping him from doing so again?

Yes, the answer was revealed to him, in spite of the despair that threatened to consume him once more.

Even if he had to wait a lifetime, he'd gladly go through all of it again.

The sleepless nights he had to endure.

Those frantic searches on Google, Twitter, forums, Reddit, and the like. Desperate for answers. Holding on to that inkling of a chance.

A chance to defy the decree of fate itself.

To break free from the shackles of a predetermined destiny.

The way he'd play DDLC non-stop, and copy Monika's chr file over and over, just to somehow trigger a change and unlock the path to her happy ending.

Hell, he'd even do it on stormy days if he needed to, just to make sure the chances of his computer getting fried by a special lightning bolt would occur once more.

Cracking his fingers, he faced the computer once more.

"There's no going back. I will get you out of this computer, Monika. All of you. We'll be together once more, and I'll stop at nothing to succeed."

He plays through a normal session of DDLC, going through Acts 1 and 2, yet remaining unfazed. For he had already seen how the story went, multiple times.

And when he finally got to Act 3, his chest tightened.

There she was, with her soft gaze and her hands folded under her resting chin.

Monika, in all of her Act 3 glory. Just Monika.

...

...

...

Everything had a starting point. And for Izuna and Monika, that had come a long time ago. But now, with a new starting point in sight, the boy did what he could only do, after a reset like this had threatened his and her happiness.

He clicks his mouse and began reading her dialogue, just like old times.

And with bated breath, he begins his journey once more to save the girl that had changed his life forever with her smile.

"Ah shit, here we go again."

[To be concluded, FOR REAL THIS TIME, in Chapter 23 - Izuna's Resolve, Part 4]

-Chapter 22 END-

A/N: We are now finally entering the last stage before we begin the main plotline for the School Pandemonium Arc! Trust me, this time I mean it. For real this time, ahaha.

Yes, I know. I freaking know that it's weird for a story arc called "School Pandemonium" to not, well, have much school stuff in it. Aside from the scene with Principal Thompson and the Natsuki/Yuri/Yumi trio, we've yet to actually delve into more of Izuna's school. Thus, the next chapter will mark the "true" beginning of this arc, as well as finally drawing to a close the "Izuna's Resolve" gaiden.

Because yes, we had to make a Part 4 after this, ugh. I couldn't exactly end things with this chapter, or else we'd have another "TWBTS Chapter 12" situation where the damn thing's too long to be finished by you readers in one sitting. So I ended it here for now, and will resolve this plotline in the next update.

Stay tuned, and thank you all for reading, as always. This has been DaMastah101, peace!