Author's Notes:
Screw you cat! Three chapter update!

"Now."

Arthur lifted his legs up then slammed them down to get a good footing. As his feet landed Regis erupted from his back, tackling the first guard to the ground and ripping his throat out with his fangs before anyone could yell out. Meanwhile Arthur channeled aether into both of his arms and swung them forward, throwing both guards into Nico and knocking him down.

Arthur looked back and saw Regis quickly laying waste to the remaining four guards. By the time Arthur looked back forward both guards were thrown to the side with black metal spikes through their chests. Nico's face held a mixture of emotions, rage, shock, excitement. Nico threw his arm forward and unleashed a barrage of black metal spikes through the air. The runes on Arthur's body began glowing gold as he seemingly disappeared, causing the spikes to continue forward. Regis and Arthur were keeping a constant communication opened, so when Arthur used god step, Regis switched in an incorporeal wisp, and the spikes flew right through him and into the guard he was still fighting.

"HEY! I'M KILLING OVER HERE!" Regis yelled at Nico.

Nico however wasn't paying attention, as he was already spinning around, stopping as he faced the door, and was met with an aetheric claw thrusting into his abdomen and taking a hold of his mana core. He spat up a considerable amount of blood, but didn't let that distract him too much, as he was face to face with Arthur. He smirked as he grabbed Arthur's arm, and conjured a black metal spike that impaled Arthur, just barely missing his aether core. Arthur's eyes were wide as blood poured from his mouth.

"Thank you for finally resisting. With this I have the perfect excuse to kill you," Nico said, sounding very pleased with himself.

Arthur looked down at the spike, then back up at Nico, all the while not removing his hand from Nico's mana core. He then did something no one expected, he smiled.

"Hey Regis look, I've been impaled," Arthur announced with an amused tone.

Nico now looked confused by Arthur's response. His eyes then practically burst from his head, as Arthur ripped his mana core out, causing him to collapse to his knees. He looked up at Arthur, feeling at least satisfied that he would die from his injuries, while he himself would at least survive.

Nico watched as the golden runes on Arthur's body ignited, and he disappeared from the spike then reappeared up against the wall to his left. He smiled, the hole in Arthur's body was as big around as his head, allowing him to see the wall through it. Based on what he had heard about Arthur's healing abilities, he was confident that he would bleed out well before his body could heal from such a serious wound. But before he could truly revel in his victory, Arthur's gaping wound began glowing purple and healing at an astonishing rate.

"Oooo, pretty," Regis commented as he watched Arthur heal.

This was Arthur's first time using the healing branch of vivum, so even he was interested in what it looked like. Arthur's previous God Runes manifested to resemble his different magic affinities he had while he possessed a mana core, so he expected the same. However this time it was just a bright purple glow. He was confused at first, as he originally expected it to look like water. But as he watched and felt himself heal, he was reminded of all the times his mother used to heal him with her magic. Arthur smiled to himself as he remembered his mother, and how she influenced the manifestation of this god rune.

"That's impossible," Nico trembled.

"Nothing is impossible," Arthur said as he held out Nico's mana core. "Except maybe you defeating me." Arthur's hand then ignited in a purple aetheric flame, as he used destruction to destroy Nico's mana core right in front of his eyes.

Arthur smiled, not because of the swift and crushing defeat he dealt Nico, but that he was able to properly control destruction.

"I guess you were right about Vivum," Regis commented.

"I guess so. And now since I don't need you to use it, we can split up when needed."

Arthur's eyes then locked on Nico as he sat on his knees looking utterly defeated while bleeding out.

"Don't worry," Arthur said as he kicked him onto his back. "You won't be dying yet." He then placed his right hand over the hole he ripped Nico's mana core through, and began healing him.

"Why? Haven't I suffered enough?"

"You're kidding right?" Regis asked as he walked around beside him and bore his teeth. "For all the hell you've put us through, you're going to be brought to the brink of death and back so much."

After only about ten minutes there was a sizable pool of blood around Nico, from Regis repeatedly dismembering him followed by Arthur healing him before he could die.

"Ok that's enough," Arthur said as he bent down to heal Nico for the sixth time.

Regis dropped Nico's ripped out throat from his mouth.

"What? Already?" Regis whined. "Fine, I guess you deserve a turn too," he conceded, then sat down to watch.

"Thanks, but I have something else in mind," Arthur said as he finished healing Nico.

"You wont get out of here alive!" Nico spat.

Despite not having the same level of mental strength and resilience at Arthur, he remained defiant.

"Shut up, you Sith Lord reject," Regis said as he pressed one of his paws over his mouth."So what's your plan? Burn him with destruction, throw him off the edge of the castle, literally shove his head up his own ass?"

"As much fun as all those sound, no, we'll be here all day if all we do is physical torture, I'll be breaking his mind," Arthur replied, then looked deep in thought. "Now let me think, where is Cecilia right now?"

Nico went into a fit and managed to get Regis' paw off his mouth.

"YOU KEEP AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARD!" Nico yelled as he scrambled to his feet.

Without even looking Arthur just slapped him across his face, and sent him crashing back to the ground.

"Shut up, it's not like I'm going to hurt her. Well not physically. I'm going to reveal all the skeletons in your closet. Knowing Cecilia she's going to be pissed at you, she probably will throw that ring at you." A thought then entered Arthur's head. "Hey, what ever happened to the engagement ring I gave Tess?" Nico just looked away to avoid looking at him. "You seriously used my engagement ring for Tess? You cheap bastard." Arthur then kicked him in the ribs.

"Haha, you really have no shame," Regis laughed.

"Well thankfully you like to talk too much, so I'm pretty sure I know where to find her. Regis, hop in," Arthur said, gesturing to his core.

"You know that would be so hot if you were a girl when you say that," Regis commented, before disappearing back into Arthur's core.

Arthur then picked Nico up by his throat, and activated god step.

—————————————————————

"Very interesting," the lead Vritra scientist mused while standing behind Cecilia.

"I guess it's just because of everyone being so focused on magic. But the world around us holds so many possibilities," Cecilia replied.

"So this Hydrogen gas is actually all around us."

"That's right, but it's easier for me to reveal it when separating it from the water."

In her previous life Cecilia had enjoyed science, but due to her life ending so young, she was unable to pursue it like she had wanted. She had explained this to Agrona, and laced with some curiosity of his own, he had a lab built at the floating castle for her. There were several of the Vritra scientists that worked to teach her what they had learned, as well as learn more about the sciences she knew from her previous life. In the end, natural science and chemistry was something they had surprisingly lacked in, so her knowledge was considered invaluable to them.

The vritra then patted her shoulder. "Your mind in itself is a treasure. Hopefully after the war lord Agrona will allow you to continue working with us. With your knowledge from your previous life, we could usher in a whole new age of discovery."

Cecilia beamed from the praise.

"But we need to be careful. Hydrogen is very volatile. One spark and..." Cecilia started, but stopped mid sentence.

"One spark will what?" The scientist asked, then noticed it wasn't just her words that stopped, but her body was also frozen.

He then saw the flame from a burner had also frozen in place. With a sharp pain in his legs he came crashing down to the ground. Laying on his back he looked down to see both of his legs had been severed at his knees.

"Well what do you know," Arthur said, drawing attention to his presence. "Today must be my lucky day."

"How..?" He asked, his voice shaking. He then saw Nico on the ground helpless as Regis sat on his back holding him down.

"I did have other plans, but once I saw you I knew I couldn't leave without fulfilling my promise," Arthur said as he created an aether sword.

"No lesser can ever defeat me!" He yelled as he sent a stream of black fire at him.

Arthur simply god stepped beside him and severed his arm.

"Grahhhh," the Vritra cried out.

"Normally you would be right, a lesser can't defeat you, but I'm a special case," Arthur said, then kicked him in the chest, forcing him back down. "Now why don't you just lie down and keep quiet. I have a very important experiment to run. I need to see how many pieces I can cut a Virtra into before they die."

—————————————————————

"...it could explode." Cecilia finally finished, when static void ended an hour later.

"Thanks for the heads up," Arthur replied.

Cecilia quickly spun around after hearing the new voice, to see Arthur staring into the fireplace, where she could swear she saw a horned skull burning.

"Who are you? Where's my teacher?" Cecilia demanded.

"Your teacher, he left us after he helped me with some scientific research," Arthur said as he turned to face her.

"Grey?" She questioned, having remembered only seeing him once in Alacrya.

"Good you remember me," Arthur said as he walked over to Regis and Nico. He didn't mind her calling him Grey, because it helped remind him that she wasn't Tess. "This will make things easier."

"Nico!" Cecilia cried out upon seeing him bound and gagged beneath Regis.

Arthur reached down, grabbed him from the back of his shirt, and lifted him up.

"Don't hurt him," she pleaded.

"A little late for that," Regis said under his breath.

Arthur then tossed him over to her. "He won't die, but his mana core has been shattered."

Cecilia quickly removed his gag.

"Are you ok?"

"You need to kill him, now before he kills you again," Nico pleaded.

"If I wanted to kill you I could have before you knew I was here." Arthur replied.

Cecilia stood up glaring at Arthur. "Are you really that confident that you can defeat me?" She asked as she thickly clad her body in mana.

"Oh no, not at all. I know in a head to head fight you'd overpower me pretty quickly," Arthur replied, knowing her power probably already surpassed the average Asura.

"Then why didn't you attack? Why are you even here doing all of this? You could have lived a quiet life away from us."

"For the same reason you didn't attack me in Alacrya, or even now. Doubt. Doubt in Agrona, in Nico. Doubt in the truth they've been feeding you."

"Don't listen to him! He's just trying to confuse you!" Nico yelled.

"You know I'm right. Even though you think they're right about everything, you can't ignore that voice in the back of your head telling you that they're lying to you."

Cecilia stood there silently as she contemplated his words.

"Can I ask you something? Why is it that you're ok with using her body?" Arthur asked, knowing that the Cecilia he used to know would never have been ok making someone suffer for herself.

"Because she lived such a hard life. The only people who ever loved her were her parents. And after they were killed in the war she had no one. I want her to experience love, like Nico and I share."

For the first time in a long time, Arthur snapped.

"What utter BULLSHIT!"

Cecilia stumbled back, caught completely off guard from his outburst.

"She was loved by so many! Truly loved! She had friends, she had her grandfather, she had me!"

"You?"

"Tess was the love of my life. She was my fiancé."

Cecilia's eyes widened in shock of this realization, then looked to Nico.

"You said..."

"He's lying! That's what he does! He never loved anyone in two lives! He's incapable of love!" Nico yelled, in a rage.

"Do you not have her memories?" Arthur asked.

She didn't reply. She quickly looked around the room and ran to a table full of test tubes filled with colorful liquids. She began frantically mixing them in another glass jar, forming a bright orange liquid. She then splashed it on her arm, and the runes looked as though they were washed away. She fell to the ground clenching her head, as Tess' screams rang in her head and her memories poured in.

"Art?" Cecilia said as she looked at him, tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Cecilia?" Arthur questioned.

She nodded. "She loved you so much, she felt so very loved by you."

Arthur balled his fists tightly and bit his lip as his eyes welled with tears. Knowing now at least part of Tess was still in there, he wanted so badly to embrace her, as he longed for so long.

She then looked to Nico. "Why? Why would you lie to me like this?"

"He stole you from me last time. He murdered you. I might not have chosen your vessel, but he deserved to suffer for what he put us through."

"For the last time I didn't murder her."

She then took Nico in her arms and held him as she rested her head on his.

"You've suffered so much. I don't know what's the truth or not, but I know you truly loved me, and suffered so much when I died. But this isn't right. Revenge isn't the answer." She said as her tears trailed into his hair. "But I also forgive you."

"I'm so sorry. I just wanted to be with you," Nico said as he also cried.

The two then parted and shared a loving kiss.

"I think I'm going to barf," Regis commented.

"Same. This is not at all how I thought things were going to go," Arthur replied, originally thinking she would get angry and hate him for his selfish actions.

"But we also can't do this to our friend. He's changed and deserves to be happy too."

"But," Nico started, but she placed a finger on his lips to silence him, then hugged him tightly again.

"We don't belong here either." A snap was then heard as his body became limp. "Maybe next time we will have our happily ever after," she said as the tears poured down her cheeks.

"Umm, I'm really feeling uncomfortable here," Regis commented.

"Tell me about it. This isn't how I envisioned things to go down. I expected her to at least scream at him."

"Cecilia," Arthur said as he took a step towards her.

Cecilia then lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Arthur and cried into his chest. Arthur stood there uncomfortably, fighting the urge to comfort her. Eventually he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back.

"Please don't. If you keep this up I might forget you're not her."

Cecilia's body shook as she nodded and looked at the ground. His words stung, but she couldn't quite tell why. She took a deep breath and wiped away her tears.

"I'll bring her back. Once these runes are gone my soul won't be bound to her body and I'll be gone," she said as she returned to the table of chemicals and started to work.

"Cecilia..."

"Don't worry, the mixture won't hurt her at all," she said as she continued.

"No, don't bring her back."

Cecilia froze. "I thought you loved her."

"I do. But she doesn't belong in this hell where everyone else is dead."

"As long as she has you she'll be fine. You're all she needs."

"Maybe so, but she deserves more, and I'll give it to her."

"I don't understand."

"You don't need to. But I do need your help. Tess' beast will came from a corrupted mana core, where the mutation hadn't been activated yet. Agrona used this, and offered her parents a cure in exchange for selling out the council."

"What does this have to do with things now?"

"Nothing, but also everything. I need that cure, do you think you can make it?"

"Of course. The scientists here taught me about nearly every potion there is."

"Make it for me then, please."

Cecilia nodded and got to work. She wasn't sure why he needed this now, but if she could make up for everything she and Nico did to him then she would do it.

Cecilia rushed through mixing chemicals together, using mana to heat, cool, and mix them together.

Arthur saw a hunk of grey rock on a table beside a white knife.

"What's with the rock?" He asked.

Cecilia glanced over then got back to work.

"It's called industructium, it's a super strong mineral they mine in the relic tombs here in Dicathen. Apparently it's stronger than even the ore they mine back in Alacrya. I was helping to research it. It might be extremely brittle now, but after it's been refined even a vritra can use it while at full power," she explained.

Seeing the value in this he took both the blade and ore and stored them in his dimensional storage rune.

"Oh my god YES!" Regis said excitedly as he walked around the lab.

"What is it?"

"Come over here, I found our ride."

"What are you walking about? We don't need a ride." Arthur replied as he walked around the table, and saw Regis sitting with his tail waving and eyes wide, beside a large blue box.

"Just write police on the top and we're ready to go."

Arthur just stared at him with a deadpan expression.

"So how long will I have to deal with time travel puns?"

Regis grinned. "I've got so much material to pull from. Just wait till you build your dream house, I hope there will be a hot tub."

Arthur facepalmed as he groaned.

"Done," Cecilia said proudly as she held up a large vile of a murky green liquid. "This here is plenty to cure anyone."

"Thank you," he replied and took and stored it. "Time to go Regis."

With that Regis jumped up and disappeared into Arthur's body.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked.

Arthur was about to say something, but suddenly felt multiple mana sources approaching the door. The door then burst into a black flame. The door didn't last but a few seconds before it was gone, and Cadell entered with several horned soldiers, followed by a Vritra with a pair of large regal looking black horns decorated with precious metals and jewels.

Arthur's eyes narrowed and his fists tightened.

"Agrona."