The street was completely silent as the last few wisps of black ash dissolved into the cobblestones.
"Okay," Maka said slowly, taking a cautious step forward and staring at the empty space. "What was that? Soul, did you do something weird to your wavelength?"
"Don't look at me," Soul's voice echoed in my head, sounding just as baffled. "I didn't do anything. I just followed his rhythm. But... actually..." He hesitated, the connection humming with a sudden, serious weight.
"When we resonated," Soul admitted, his voice dropping lower. "The void inside wasn't like it normally is with you, Maka. It was completely white. And there was this... thing in there. It looked like a tiny angel with twelve wings. It talked to me. It called itself a parasite, and it shoved a glowing white feather right into my chest before we snapped back."
Maka's eyes widened, her grip on her book tightening. "A tiny angel? A parasite?!"
I stood there, the heavy scythe still perfectly balanced in my hands, as my mind quickly pieced it together.
A parasite? That made perfect sense. Allen Walker's Innocence is a Parasite-type weapon. It's literally a living, divine entity bound to the host's body. I had already unlocked most forms including—the massive Sword of Exorcism ehich i forgot about—back in DxD world. It was only logical that when Soul dove directly into my inner void during a resonance, he would physically see the actual living parasite residing inside my soul.
I was just about to explain that to them, when the air in front of my face suddenly glitched.
The translucent blue interface of the system violently forced itself open without me swiping for it. The standard blue text wiped away, replaced by bold, bright golden letters that burned into my vision.
> [SYSTEM ALERT]
> [CONFIRMATION:The visual phenomenon is a direct resonance byproduct of the Parasite-Type 'Innocence' reacting to a Weapon's soul.]
I nodded slightly. Exactly what I thought. But before I could close the screen, the golden text began typing itself out again, catching me completely off guard.
> [REVELATION PROTOCOL INITIATED.]
> [Previous assumptions made by alternate identities regarding your power are INCORRECT.]
> [The Dimensional Self-Groupchat is NOT a passive, shared multiversal trait.]
> [The System itself is YOUR unique, individual power.]
> [You are the Core. The other identities (Scathach, Esdeath, Koneko, Lightning, Maka.) do possess the System; they are simply granted a tether through YOU. You are the sole anchor.]
My breath hitched.
My hands gripped the shaft of the scythe tightly. I stared blindly at the golden text, my brain stalling out.
Wait... what? Back on my first morning in Remnant, the others had explicitly told me the groupchat wasn't my power, that we all just had it automatically. The system itself had even chimed in and 'corrected' the error by giving me Allen Walker's Innocence as my power. But the system was lying? Or just hiding it until now? The chat, the inventory, the invites... it wasn't a shared network. It was entirely mine.
"Katsuya?"
A hand waved rapidly in front of my face, breaking my line of sight with the glowing text.
I blinked, the system screen fading slightly into the background. Maka was standing right in front of me, leaning forward with a concerned frown.
"Hello? Earth to Katsuya?" Maka asked, waving her hand again. "What are you thinking about? You went completely blank just now. Are you feeling soul-feedback?"
"I'm..." I started, shaking my head to clear the shock. "I'm fine. Just processing."
With a sudden flash of pale blue light, the heavy weight of the scythe vanished from my hands. The energy swirled and solidified on the cobblestones right next to me, reforming back into Soul. He had his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets, looking down at his own chest, clearly still wondering about the invisible feather.
"Man, that was wild," Soul muttered, rolling his shoulders. "I don't feel any different, but—"
SWOOSH.
Maka didn't waste a single second. The instant Soul was fully materialized and distracted, she swung her heavy hardcover book in a brutal, horizontal arc aimed directly at the back of his head.
But Soul ducked at the absolute last microsecond. The heavy spine of the book whistled harmlessly through the empty air where his skull had just been.
"Ha!" Soul laughed, popping back up and flashing his sharp teeth in a triumphant, mocking grin. "Not today, Maka! My reflexes are feeling way too sharp!"
"Get back here, you idiot!" Maka yelled, her face flushing with anger as she immediately wound up for a second swing, chasing him in a tight circle right in front of me.
I watched them bicker, the chaotic normalcy completely contrasting with the massive existential bomb that had just been dropped inside my head.
I stared blankly at the golden text still hovering in my peripheral vision.
System, I demanded mentally, my thoughts sharp and confused. What do you mean? If the System is my actual power, then what about the Innocence? I thought you turned my Innocence into my Semblance so I could use it in Remnant.
The golden text immediately deleted itself, rapidly typing out a new response.
> [SYSTEM RESPONSE]
> [NEGATIVE. The System did not convert your Innocence into a Semblance. The System merely ADAPTED the 'Innocence' to bypass Remnant's dimensional rejection, forcing it to mimic the localized laws of physics (Aura/Semblance) so you could wield it safely.]
> [You do not currently possess an active Semblance.]
> [NOTICE: If the Core Host ever wishes to actually awaken his true, native Remnant Semblance, he must first figure out his TRUE self.]
I stared at the glowing letters, a massive headache beginning to pulse right behind my eyes.
My true self? How the hell was I supposed to figure out my "true self" when my soul was currently fragmented across the multiverse?
"Will you stand still so I can hit you?!" Maka shouted, lunging forward with her book.
"Make me!" Soul cackled.
If the System was my own innate power, and it was capable of adapting a divine parasite like the Innocence into Remnant's physics, what were its actual limits.
I looked over at Soul, who was currently backpedaling away from Maka's relentless swinging. He was a Demon Weapon.
System, I asked mentally, a sudden, wild theory forming in my head. If my soul can wield a Demon weapon , and the System can adapt to local dimensional laws... could I essentially become a Demon Weapon like myself?
The golden text immediately flared back to life.
> [SYSTEM RESPONSE]
> [AFFIRMATIVE. As the Core Host, your soul matrix is highly malleable. You possess the theoretical capacity to manifest a Weapon form.]
My breath hitched.
If I could become a weapon, could I copy the ones that already existed here? My mind immediately went to the absolute pinnacle of power in this universe. The Holy Sword.
Excalibur.
I hated the guy's personality—he was a loud, obnoxious, cane-swinging headache—but his actual power was undeniably god-tier. If I could somehow analyze him, copy his structural wavelength, and manifest an Excalibur form myself without dealing with the actual creature... that would be the ultimate trump card.
System, I prompted, my heart beating a little faster. Could I copy Excalibur instead?
The instant the thought crossed my mind, the world around me violently flickered.
My vision completely blacked out for a fraction of a second. In that absolute darkness, a smile appeared. It was a wide, jagged, utterly unhinged grin. Then, another appeared. And another. Within a microsecond, the darkness was completely swallowed by millions and millions of those same eerie, chaotic smiles, overlapping and stretching endlessly into the void, staring directly back at me.
I violently flinched, physically stumbling back half a step on the cobblestones.
I blinked rapidly, my breathing suddenly shallow as the sunny, twisted street of Death City snapped back into view. The horrific, overwhelming flash of a million smiles was gone, but the phantom chill of it lingered heavily in my chest.
System? I called out mentally, trying to steady my racing pulse. What the hell was that?
Nothing.
The golden text had completely vanished. The translucent blue screen was blank, and the mechanical voice in my head was dead silent. The System was refusing to respond.
I swallowed hard, staring at the empty space where the interface had been. Based on the System's sudden silence and that terrifying flash of conceptual madness, I could only guess one thing: it was possible. The System could do it. But that vision... whatever that was, it was a severe warning that digging into the Holy Sword's existence was not going to be a simple copy-and-paste job.
THWACK.
"OW!"
A loud, painful smack ripped my attention away from my internal crisis.
I looked up just in time to see Soul drop to his knees on the sidewalk, clutching the back of his head with both hands. Maka stood over him, breathing heavily, a triumphant and incredibly vindictive smile on her face as she rested her heavy hardcover book on her shoulder.
"That's for the existential crisis!" Maka huffed, adjusting her trench coat. "And for using our guest as a human shield!"
"You almost cracked my skull, you psycho!" Soul groaned, rubbing the massive bump already forming under his white hair.
I let out a long, slow breath, running a gloved hand over my face to wipe away the lingering cold sweat from the vision. I looked at the two of them, my mind still completely fixated on the ridiculous, terrifying idea that had just planted itself in my brain.
"Hey, Maka," I spoke up, my voice cutting through their bickering.
Maka turned to me, her anger instantly evaporating back into the polite, welcoming host. "Yes? Is everything okay, Katsuya? Did Soul give you a headache with all that resonance nonsense?"
"No, I'm fine," I said, putting my hands back into my pockets. I paused, choosing my words carefully. "But... remember earlier in the chat? When you asked if I wanted to see Excalibur, and I said I wanted to stay as far away from him as physically possible?"
"Yeah," Maka nodded, her brow furrowing slightly. "We both agreed he was the worst."
"Right," I sighed, already regretting the massive headache this was going to cause me. "Well... I might have changed my mind. I think I need to find him."
Maka and Soul both completely froze.
Soul stopped rubbing his head, looking up at me from the pavement like I had just lost my mind. Maka's jaw physically dropped, her green eyes wide with sheer, unadulterated disbelief.
"Wait... what?!" Maka gasped, staring at me in utter confusion. "Why in the world would you actively want to see Excalibur?!"
"Wait a second," Soul interrupted, his red eyes narrowing suspiciously as he looked back and forth between us. He was still rubbing the bump on his head, but his Weapon instincts had clearly picked up on my slip of the tongue. "What do you mean, 'in the chat'? I thought you guys literally just met in person."
Maka completely stiffened. Her green eyes blew wide, a flash of pure panic crossing her face as she realized I had just casually outed our secret communication method.
"Phone!" Maka blurted out, her voice pitching up nervously. She waved her hands in the air, forcing a ridiculously loud, fake laugh. "We were chatting on the phone earlier! Texting! Just... regular, normal messaging! Nothing weird!"
I thought they only had phone booths and house phones?
Soul stared at her for a second, clearly not buying the exaggerated performance, but he shrugged it off with a lazy smirk. He turned his attention back to me, pulling his own cell phone out of his yellow jacket pocket.
"Oh, yeah? Cool," Soul grinned, tapping his screen. "Give me your number then, Katsuya. We can set up another resonance test sometime without her yelling at us."
"I actually don't have a—" I started, reaching into my pocket, about to explain that my Remnant scroll definitely wouldn't connect to a Death City cellular tower.
"NO!"
Maka's voice cracked like a whip.
A dark, terrifying, almost cold aura flared up around her. She stepped directly between me and Soul, raising her heavy hardcover book high into the air. Her eyes were completely shadowed by her bangs, save for a dangerous, lethal glint that promised absolute violence. She was clearly
completely terrified of Soul finding out about the multiversal system.
"Soul, you are absolutely not getting his number," Maka threatened, her voice a low, terrifying growl.
She slowly turned her head to glare at me, the threat extending to my side of the sidewalk. "And Katsuya, you are absolutely not giving it to him. Are we clear?"
I stared at the murderous Meister. I had fought a giant armored scorpion a few hours ago, but this was genuinely way more intimidating.
"Crystal clear," I nodded immediately, raising my hands in surrender.
"Yep. Totally clear. No numbers," Soul agreed instantly, taking a very smart step backward and putting his phone away.
Maka held her terrifying glare for another three seconds before the dark aura instantly vanished, replaced once again by a bright smile.
"Great!" Maka chirped, clapping her hands together. She grabbed Soul by the back of his jacket collar. "Anyway, if you're really serious about wanting to find Excalibur, Soul and I are going to head to the DWMA library right now to do some research and pinpoint the exact location of his cave! It's going to take a lot of cross-referencing, so it might take a bit!"
"Wait, I thought we were getting ramen—" Soul tried to protest.
"To the library!" Maka declared, easily dragging her partner down the cobblestone street. She looked over her shoulder, giving me a frantic, apologetic wave. "We'll message you when we find it! Just hang out and explore the city for a bit!"
"Maka, stop pulling my jacket—"
They disappeared around the corner of a leaning brick building, their bickering fading into the ambient noise of the city.
I stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, my hands shoved deep into my pockets. The manic, drooling sun continued to chuckle from the sky above.
"Well," I muttered to myself. "I'm alone."
I looked around the twisted, Halloween-themed streets. I had some free time to kill while Maka dug through the archives. I could go find that ramen stand myself, or maybe just wander around and people-watch.
But my gaze drifted upward, past the leaning rooftops, to the massive, sprawling structure towering over the very center of the city. The Death Weapon Meister Academy. It looked like a giant, gothic fortress made of burning candles, spikes, and impossible geometry.
I thought about the terrifying vision of a million overlapping smiles. I thought about my absurd, high-risk plan to copy the structural wavelength of the Holy Sword. If I was going to hang around this dimension and start poking at the fundamental soul mechanics of this world.
A sudden, blunt realization hit me.
I pulled my right hand out of my pocket and snapped my gloved fingers with a sharp, crisp crack.
"I know," I said aloud, a playful, smirk crossing my face. "I should go meet Death!!!"