Chapter 78 - Last Stand

A/N: Toru is the general name of the united personalities. If it is mentioned as Toru it means it is in the prespective of outsiders, since they know him only as Toru not his personalities.

"Well, I better get going to my position," The person known as Toru by his allies muttered, sensing the imminent danger. He instinctively shifted into the form of an androgynous man, Mirth, with colorful hair and began to run. Just as he neared a portal that had appeared before him, a large mass of energy was fired in his direction.

Luckily, his shadow suddenly moved to intercept the attack. A small, formless shadow appeared beside him, seemingly protecting Mirth. "Hollok! I didn't call for you, but... wait, did I? Oh was it Guardian?"

'Yeah I called for him to come out.'

As Mirth prepared to jump through the portal, a purple whip wrapped around his waist, yanking him away from his escape route. "We can't have you leave, not with all that soul fragment in you," Ultima grinned, pulling the long whip to drag the small child closer.

The four primordial demons had seen Toru's soul, which was saturated with fragments of Rimuru's soul. They believed that Toru might be a part of Rimuru, seeking to become whole again. Toru had gathered enough fragments to be nearly evenly matched with the current Rimuru in terms of amount of fragments. 'This was the person that has collected the soul fragments we couldn't find,' they all thought in unison.

"Well, we might be in trouble," Mirth laughed, "Take the reins old man Lumis!" transforming into the form of an old man with short white hair.

"Asterion, Chara, come out." Two hounds appeared out of nowhere, both roaring as bursts of light energy were fired at Ultima. "Hollok, keep guarding us. We need to escape from here fast." The formless shadow wrapped itself around Lumis like a cloak, shielding his body.

As Lumis' mind raced with conflicting thoughts and commands, he felt the intrusive voices grow louder and more insistent.

'Let's fight! Let me have control I'll do it!' (Aggre)

'We can't win here, let's just escape hahaha!' (Mirth)

'Die, let us all just die here.' (Void)

"Not now! Can't you see I'm busy?" Lumis argued with the voices in his head, scratching his head in frustration. "I make the plans, you all just keep quiet."

The whip around his body was severed, not by the summoned creatures, but by the weapon in Toru's hand—an extremely sharp katana with a dangerous aura. Using his arts and aura, Toru managed to cut the whip from his body.

Diablo's eyes gleamed with sinister delight as he addressed Toru. "Kufufufu, your soul is required. Surrender now, and perhaps we'll spare you undue pain." He was observing, not taking any action. Jahil, who had betrayed them, and Echidna were still in the area after all.

Quetzalcoatl was keeping Apophis busy with the help of Terra and Zegion. Apito stood beside Ein, who was desperately trying to help Lait, who was weakening by the second.

Ignoring Diablo's threats, Lumis shifted to Guardian, the brown haired form with a muscular build, he used gravity magic to create a defensive barrier. "This should help somewhat." he voiced at the voices as they clamored in his head, causing him visible discomfort. Testarossa watched the field and smirked at the futile magic.

Carrera, who jumped out of nowhere, prepared her fist as she dashed towards Guardian, seeing that Asterian and Chara were busy trying to keep Ultima at bay. He changed back to the red haired Aggre who took out another sword and blocked her fist with one sword in each hand. "Those swords are tough," Carrera commented as she continued her barrage of fists at Toru.

"Thanks," Toru beamed with a smile, then frowned.

'You like her? Cheating on Ala already hahaha!'

"Shut it Mirth! I didn't mean it like that.. whatever, ugh, can't you guys keep quiet right now?" He complained as he replaced the katana with Gungnir, planning to impale Carrera.

A large ball of flames was fired at him from behind. "Roc!" he shouted as a large bird appeared. Using its wings to cover his body while simultaneously enhancing Gungnir by breathing flames onto it, Carrera dodged the spear.

"Cute bird," Testarossa complimented, as the bird cried and flew into the sky, targeting the white primordial. Seeing the disadvantage he was in, surrounded by primordials, with his summons barely containing them, Aggre planned his escape.

Toru took the form of Mirth once again, the androgynous form had a grin on his face. "My Time, Vulpecula," he whispered, and a small fox creature appeared on his shoulder. With a grin on his face, Toru's body glitched, and more than a hundred copies of himself appeared, rushing in different directions but all planned to eventually reach the portal. "Leave it all to me."

Carrera began bashing through the illusions one at a time, before finding a solid one. She grinned, finding the real one. Guardian took charge of the body and removed Gungnir, taking his right foot behind him and raising his right hand that held his sword. "Gnaw: Kui Arasu," he incanted, and the sword began to change form, becoming a metal whip full of sharp blade-like thorns.

"You think those scare me?" Carrera launched her fist towards Toru, planning to knock him out. The whip then wrapped itself around her hand, glowing a bright green before she began to wobble and dropped to her knees, panting from exhaustion.

"A weapon that drains," Diablo commented with admiration. Truthfully, Diablo did not want to fight Toru, because in essence, it would be like fighting Rimuru himself. He did not want to insult his master that way. The others hadn't realized it, and he used this to his advantage by justifying keeping guard over Jahil and Echidna, who stared at him warily.

"Asterian! Chara! Roc! Let's go!" With his shout, the three summons, all heavily injured, disappeared. Toru began running towards the portal with the remaining illusions of himself.

As he reached the portal, Diablo blocked his path. "Kufufufu, we can't have that now, can we?" Guardian clicked his tongue, re-equipping Gungnir, and threw it at Diablo, who was blocking his path.

'Let me handle this, I have a plan' (Lumis)

As Diablo planned to stop the spear, the white haired Lumis began to take back control and two new hounds appeared beside Toru. "Skoll, Hati! Do it!" With his shout as a signal, a combination of flame and ice circulated between the two hounds and fired at Diablo.

Diablo internally praised Toru, as expected of a person with a lot of his master's soul. He dodged both attacks but instead of going to the side, he went forward, planning to capture Toru himself.

Toru grinned, unequipping Gungnir, and unsummoning Skoll and Hati. Toru began to pulsate. His form an indistinct figure with long, black hair and hollow, black eyes. Void's features are always partially obscured by darkness. Diablo frowned, turning back to see the portal closed, as if someone had passed through. "A clone?" he speculated. As he did, "We should all just quietly die here." Void created a large explosion using himself as fuel.

...

Mirth who was taking charge not to get caught shouted. "We're alive!" his voice boomed as he emerged through the portal, arms flung wide in a manic display of triumph. His eyes darted around feverishly, his expression a mix of exhilaration and inner turmoil.

"This did not go as planned. I told you guys this was a bad idea," he muttered to himself, scratching his head as he jokingly dodge responsibility. In a fluid motion, he transformed back to Aggre.

"What? I didn't say this was a good plan! You did," Aggre snapped back at the voices swirling in his mind, his tone oscillating between defiance and despair.

'It was because of some miscalculation! I had everything planned correct. The demons just did something unexpected, especially a betrayal from our side.' (Lumis)

'I personally think this was also a good plan, what is important is we are alive.' (Guardian)

'But we could have died today, and all our efforts and the things we have done would have been in vain.' (Mourn)

"Ah, just shut up," he muttered under his breath, stomping his foot as if to drown out the clamor inside his head. His gaze darkening as he watched the city below being besieged by swarms of flying Lunarians.

"Let's kill that creator and finish the job," Aggre declared suddenly, his voice tinged with a chilling blend of determination and madness. He licked his lips nervously, his eyes fixing on a familiar sight—a shimmering silver soul, potent and tantalizing.

Suddenly Mirth took over the body. "A fragment is there, potent as well. This should be tasty," he murmured to himself, a predatory glint flashing in his eyes as he readied himself to pursue the coveted prize amidst the chaos of battle.

.......

The army of Lunarians continued their fight. At first, it seemed as though they were at a disadvantage, with their numbers merely in the thousands against tens of thousands of warriors in the city filled with various strong subordinates of Rimuru. That was until a certain group of subordinates turned and began attacking their allies.

All of the high humans within the city started attacking the others, turning the tide of the battle. The high humans were one of the strongest guards they had to defend the city. Now that they began supporting the Lunarians, it was a losing battle.

The only silver lining was that Mitzrael, Abbas, Femina, and Lendys were standing guard in the city, protecting Veldanava and his family. "Damn it, where are Demon Lord Guy and Hero Rudra?" Lendys clicked his tongue as he pierced through another high human, simultaneously reflecting the flames from a Lunarian in the sky above.

"A barrier seems to be blocking everything outside. Not even the danger is being sensed." Femina explained as she stayed beside Lucia, who held the crying Milim.

Veldanava watched as the fight unfolded before him. 'Ah, so it really will happen.' He had a wry smile on his face. He turned to his wife Lucia, who looked at him with a melancholic smile. He had explained to her that eventually, the two of them were destined to die, not being able to watch their little girl grow up.

Veldanava shared the memories he had copied from Rimuru that showed how much Milim had grown and how happy she was.

The two hugged each other while holding Milim between them. 'Is this coincidence, or is this a way for reality to make sure my death occurs?' He knew why he needed to die. He broke his rules. He loved someone more than he should have, and he had to pay the price.

'Is this the world's will? Did all of this happen to make sure I die? Did reality compensate for Rimuru's appearance by creating an enemy that can hinder him in ways to maintain the timeline?'

Rimuru had often complained about an enemy group that he could never find and couldn't defeat fast enough before they could escape. Veldanava had long known about them—Ouroboros, the child of Ivarage, the first sentient cryptid before Zelanus.

Unlike Zelanus, who had his own desires and never saw Ivarage as his parent, Ouroboros was created from Ivarage's desire for revenge. That is why it had spatial abilities, mimicking the person who ultimately imprisoned it, Rimuru.

Ouroboros was smart enough to lay low and hide, making sure to be strong and surrounded by strong subordinates to fight Rimuru. His snakes were strong enough to match Rimuru's subordinates, or at least had the potential if he had only waited longer and not grown impatient due to Rimuru's rising strength.

Veldanava felt Lucia and Milim's warmth in his body. How he wished he had the power to eliminate all of them. How he wished to have killed Ouroboros back then and not have to experience all of this. But he couldn't. If he interfered, then reality and the world might create something that would then match his strength. Worse, it might release Ivarage while increasing its power to rival himself in his true dragon state.

"This is for the best..." He muttered to himself, as a tear dropped from his eye. A hand wiped it away and gave him a kiss on the lips. "It's fine. We have everything planned." Lucia gave him a smile. It helped calm Veldanava's conflicted mind.

While the others were too busy protecting them from the high humans and Lunarians, Veldanava and Lucia did something without the others' knowledge. A bright light emerged, and with it, a baby dragon appeared, being carried by Veldanava.

A bright glow came out of both him and his wife and went inside the baby dragon. "I'll leave it to you," he whispered to the baby dragon, snuggling it to Milim.

"Femina, Abbas, I leave Milim with you," Veldanava ordered the two Arcana members, who looked at him with confusion as they received the baby and the small dragon.

Suddenly, everyone was stricken with heavy dread as an individual ran towards them, killing every obstacle in his way with a sword in each hand and the summoned beasts that surrounded him.

"Mitzrael will take care of him." She flew, rushing towards Toru with her spear. As she got closer, a large bird flew towards her, aiming its claws at her body. As she dodged the beast, several Lunarians began encircling her, forcing her to redirect her attention to protect herself before being able to eliminate the threat.

"This is not good." She bit her lip, trying to escape and attack the person riding on a large hound's back.

Mirth, seeing an angel looming from the sky, gave a quick glance at his shoulder where Vulpecula was sitting. As Mitzrael fired holy magic at him, his body distorted and disappeared—an illusion created by the tiny fox. As she scanned the surroundings, looking for the enemy, she felt something pass through her chest.

Looking forward, a bloodied spear could be seen. And as she looked down, a large gaping hole was where her chest should be. She then fell to the ground as multiple Lunarians fired at her. "Imperial Flame!"

Abbas stared with rage, seeing the fall of a comrade in battle. He gave the baby dragon to Femina, who now held it and Milim together. "Spirit of Hunting and Nobility. I command thee... Be clad in my Body. Dwell in my Body. Change my body into a great Djinn. Barbatos!"

His hair lengthened and turned silver, his ears became pointy, and the sword in his hand morphed into something more akin to a trident. His legs looked like the feet of feline animals and were covered in armor.

"Oh, been a while since I last saw something like that," Mirth grinned, turning to Skoll and Hati, who ran forward to take on the wrathful Fanalis. The hounds, knowing their master's orders, began attacking Abbas, who with his speed fought the two in a stalemate.

Abbas formed platforms using his magicules and jumped through the sky, planning to target Toru, who simply looked at him with a mocking and amused grin. "Let's see you laugh at this," Abbas put strength into his feet as he pressed on the platform he created. "Bard Romh!" He sped up to Toru with his javelin in hand. As he got closer to Toru, he felt something was off.

And as he connected his attack, there was no contact—he passed through Toru and his beasts as if passing through an illusion. Which was to say, it was. Toru's laugh could be heard as he appeared on Roc's back, which was flying in the sky. Abbas gritted his teeth in anger, though he quickly jumped as Skoll and Hati fired their attack on him.

"I'll handle this Aggre, can't let you hog all the fun." Mirth stood up from Roc's back and then showed his right arm. Intricate marks, similar to tattoos, started to appear, covering his entire arm. "Baal." With his words, his arm started to transform, a metallic armor covering his right arm.

Abbas was wide-eyed—that was a djinn equip from his world. "H-how!" He rushed as he pierced through Hati. Skoll growled as it launched a large scorching flame at him. He threw Hati on the ground as he pointed at Toru, "What have you done to my world!" He roared, preparing to fire with all of his strength.

"Hm?" Mirth tilted his head, confused by his anger.

He meant if we destroyed it' (Lumis)

"Ah, no, I did nothing there. I didn't find any fragments there, so I just left. I did tour around since I was bored and had to make sure there were no fragments." He raised his hand up to the sky, dark clouds starting to appear above the city. Thunder roared, and lightning strikes could be seen getting closer and closer.

"Bard Longineus!" Abbas fired a large sword of light at Toru.

Mirth scoffed. As the attack reached him, he disappeared again. "Got you with illusion again," he laughed as he appeared beside him. Placing his hand on his back, "Bararaq." Lightning began to pass through Abbas' body, electrocuting him and sending his body flying to where the others were.

His body burned and steaming, Lendys looked at his friend, who was thankfully alive due to his armor. "Femina, take everyone and get out of here." Lendys ordered, knowing the hopelessness of the situation.

He took out his scale and sword, just in time as the large bird Roc breathed fire at them. "Law of Aequalitas." He returned fire with the exact same breath from his scale. Both attacks managed to cancel each other out. He then turned to a Lunarian that managed to get close to them, slashing it with his sword before blocking a lightning strike from Mirth and firing it back at him.

"Tch, everyone, let's go." Femina, with her hands full, told Veldanava and Lucia. As she stared at them, she noticed that Lucia had grown weaker and paler by the second. Veldanava looked at her with sorrowful eyes.

"You think I'll let a precious high-quality fragment like her escape?" Mirth appeared near them as he came out of the shadows. He still had Hollok covering his body, allowing him to travel through the shadows. He took out his katana and slashed at her. Veldanava pushed her away to receive the attack.

"Wha—" Femina could barely utter a word as she was pushed further away. Lucia, with her staff, stood in front of her. "We can't have you fight with our daughter in your hands." She gave a weak smile as she fired holy magic at Toru.

"We can't have you two dying here." Lendys shouted as he went beside them, his sword bloodied from the increasing numbers of enemies. They all could sense it—the allies in the area grew smaller and smaller. The ratio was now in the enemies' favor, with more Lunarians and high humans simply waiting for the time to strike. "Please escape. I'll deal with them all."

Veldanava laughed as he held his wounded shoulder, looking around him. Powerful beings surrounded him and his family, with nowhere to escape. "I don't think he'll let us anyway. I just want you to protect my daughter." He smiled as he gave one last look at Milim.

"You lot want my head, right!" He shouted, his voice echoing. He hadn't been just relaxing all this time as a human. He had managed to obtain an enlightened body and was on the brink of saint level. This moment was all he needed to destroy the last wall holding him back. Unfortunately, all of the enemies, even the weaker ones, could still take him out.

He carried Lucia on his back, who gave him a somber smile. "Let's see you try!"

He ran.

He jumped through houses, roofs, the rubble of the once-busy street, and the old houses where citizens once lived, now destroyed with their bodies lying on the street, smeared with blood.

They followed.

Both Lunarians and high humans began rushing towards them. Their orders were simple—eliminate the creator Veldanava. Lunarians flew in the sky, high humans ran on the ground. It was only a matter of time before they would be caught.

"Hey Lucia, don't cry. Our Milim is safe, and that is all we could ever ask for." Veldanava reassured as he felt his wife sniffling on his back as they ran. "She'll grow up to be strong and kind, just like her mother."

Lucia gave a light laugh as she wiped her tears. "Yes, let's hope she isn't as mischievous as her father," she teased. Veldanava stopped at their once house, and she climbed down from his back. They both paused, taking in the sight of their home, their hearts heavy with memories of their short life together in this house, this city with their baby girl.

"I would have given anything to see her grow," Veldanava muttered, tears welling up in his eyes. "I wish we could have been there to support her, to show her how proud we are of her future accomplishments. I—" Lucia held his hand tightly, her own tears flowing freely.

"She already has." she whispered, her smile sad but resolute. "Everyone will support her. Rimuru also promised to protect her, remember." They both turned, seeing themselves surrounded by the stares of hundreds of enemies, weapons and magic alike pointed at them. "Let's do this then...for her." Lucia pointed with her staff.

Veldanava smiled, wiping his tears, and grabbed a fallen sword from a nearby corpse. "Yeah, for her."

The battle lasted longer than anyone could have expected. They managed to eliminate a good number of enemies against all odds. Alas, they could not keep this up forever.

As Lucia was struck down, Veldanava's anguished cry filled the air. He fought on, desperation lending him strength, but soon he too was overwhelmed.

With his last breath, he reached out to her, their fingers brushing in one final, fleeting touch. "I love you, my love." He whispered, his voice fading.

Lucia, her vision blurring, nodded weakly. "I love you too." She echoed, her voice a soft, fading whisper.

And with that, the life of the Creator and his wife drew their final breath.

A/N: ....

See you next chapter.