I hear the doors of my palace swing open as M.S. enters the palace, walking briskly with powerful conviction.

"Hey," I greet, "how you doing?"

"Pretty good," she replies, "now, listien, you know how Reaper is always at the training grounds?"

"Yeah," I reply, "why do you ask?"

"I want you to make sure it gets caught in the barrier," she explains, "so I can get a chance to reason with him."

Well, ending the war quickly will be a lot easier without Reaper going around starting shit. Besides, I owe it to him to give him one last chance with M.S. After what I did and all.

"Consider it done," I reply.

"Also," M.S. continues, "I want to be stronger."

"How so?" R.C. inquires.

I take a deep breath. This is a difficult thing to ask. Sure it doesn't have any real risks to it, unless I overuse it, but asking this tends to look shady, but it's the only way I can stop Reaper if he gets out of control in the Void War.

"Train me to be a hollow," I demand, "like Reaper."

A hollow huh? Normally I'd see this as shady, but knowing M.S. she's not gonna go off like Reaper has so it'll be fine.

"Well," I explain, "that takes a while. I'm not one personally, but I know how to become one. We'll handle it off camera."

"Sounds good," M.S. smiles.

"About Reaper," I inquire, "why do you still care about him? Is he really worth all this?"

"Dude," M.S. glares, "he's like, your best friend. One of anyways."

"I know," I sigh, "but ending the war is what matters. Can't we just put him in a death loop until this is resolved and then try to help him?"

"You listen and you listen good," M.S.'s arm turns metal as she glares, wrath in her voice, "no one, EVER deserves to be put into a death loop intentionally. To awaken to pain and die again; I don't care WHO it is, nobody deserves that. Are we clear?"

"You threatening me?" I demand, "I could kill you and everyone you love."

"You wanna go?" M.S. turns metal completely, "I don't, but if you're backing down..."

"No," I sigh, "sorry. I shouldn't have suggested that. Let's pretend I didn't."

"Fine," M.S. lowers her guard, "I'm heading to the training ground. How long until this all starts?"

"An hour," I reply.

"Great. See you when this ends... unless you're gonna be in it."

"Eh, maybe."

"Alright. See you soon then."

M.S. runs off.

Nobody deserves death loops...

Hmmm...

Can I really justify them as means to an end?

No. It doesn't matter. I don't have much of a choice. I have to put all major threats into death loop cells when the war begins. It's the only way to end the arc, the final arc. If we can just end this arc, without anyone being erased, we can finally end this series.

And I don't care WHAT I have to do to end it...

I strike at the soulless automatons, training drones I use to test my skills. These drones are of a higher level, designed to be used against the weaker Classics, but I know I can take them.

Two automatons with swords for arms lunge at me. I melt into darkness and grab one's head, ripping it clean off and lighting it ablaze before throwing it at the other, melting through its torso and disabling it. 

I turn towards the third and final automaton, which has two enchanted flamethrowers that shoot arcane fire. The robotic being lets out a screech like the stereotypical computer breaking sound before shooting purple fire at me. I counter with a gust of wind, knowing this machine is a wee bit tougher than me, I've learned to fight smarter, not harder. I mean, I can fight harder than I used to, but I mostly focus on fighting smarter.

I use the winds to blow the flames back, melting the training dummy, it continues to fire as it slowly melts into a puddle of melted metals. I stretch as the smell of burning electronics fills the air. Today was fairly productive...

I didn't say I was stopping though, did I? I have to keep training. I have to protect them. First though, I'm gonna eat lunch.

I grab the bag with my blue flame cheeseburger and open it. The burger is covered in melted blue cheese and hot sauce. Mmmmmm, good stuff. I take it out of the bag, and notice something else in the bag. Fries? I didn't order fries. There's a note attached.

It reads, "you looked kinda thin. Put these in in case you haven't been eating. Please, for me, at least take care of yourself this time. With love, M.S."

This brings a smile to my face. She's so sweet, even after all I've done to her. I miss her, I really do. I miss her smile, and her hugs. I want this to stop. I want our happy ending back...

I'm tempted to skip lunch and continue training, but she's worried, even if she's not here, I guess I'll eat, if only to give her peace of mind.

I begin to chow down, knowing she deserves better than me, but trying my best to be good to her while focusing on my goal....