PHASE 1 - A WAY FOR THAT HAPPY ENDING

“E-Erylle Fontaine…” I repeated the woman’s name with my trembling mouth. Her appearance, voice, and name are all familiar to me.

It’s because she is once the Frozen Soul.

The blonde woman must have noticed that I’ll be materializing my crimson katana anytime soon, so she tried to explain herself in a hurry.

“Hey, I’m not what you think! Chill down, Alaric! Chill!” Erylle said worriedly. “I’m not an enemy!”

I recalled how she introduced it to me a few minutes earlier. I decided to settle down and hear her out.

“Erylle Fontaine… You’re the retired Frozen Soul, right? I destroyed you during the battle with The Outsider one month ago. How come that you are still alive?” I said in a high tone.

“I’m not the Frozen Soul. I do not possess the Fragment of the Frozen Soul nor the Curse of the Brightmore Witch. I’m just a Gate Guardian like you from another reality.” The woman named Erylle had her emerald eyes glowing with a cross sigil, a sign of giving out dominance in power. “In short… I am but an Outsider to this world.”

“The Outsider again…” I held my aching head. “Are you asking for a contract in exchange for a soul like THAT Outsider just to grant a wish? I had enough of you guys!”

“I’m not THAT Outsider you’re talking about,” Erylle said as she sermoned while holding her hips. “Geez, how dare you insult me and compare to that fake Outsider!”

“The last time I trusted a stranger from another world, I lost my friends, my best buddy, and my lover.” I stared at the woman with doubtful eyes. “And here you are, saying crap like you’ll grant my wish to revive Tiara. Hell should freeze over before I can listen to the likes of you.”

“I won’t charge you with anything, idiot. I’ll help you revive your lover out of pure gratuity.” The blonde woman smiled brightly.

“Gratuity my ass! And why would you help me?"

“It’s because I hate the ugly look of you crying. There’s even wet booger left on your nose~” Erylle teased.

I immediately wiped my nose with my arm. She’s right. I didn’t realize that I look so horrible with green goo hanging on my nose. Darn this girl, I want to punch her!

“We both know that when Frozen Soul wakes up, everything will cease to exist. I won’t fall for that trap again. You Outsiders just wanted to see the world blink out of existence, is it not?” I continued to insult the blonde maiden.

But her reply to me is a smile filled with words of hope.

“What if I tell you that there is a way to wake Tiara up without stopping the ?”

Hearing those words added some slight credibility to this woman. I can’t utter any word. Waking Tiara up without stopping her from singing the ? Is that even possible?

Seeing that I’m speechless, The Outsider named Erylle continued to explain.

“There is a way to wake the Frozen Soul. It is to find a person that possesses the Fragment of the Frozen Soul, the Curse of Eternal Love, God Cores that are as powerful as Twelve, and a Heavenly Blade. Once those conditions are met, the Frozen Soul shall wake up, and the new person shall replace her and continue singing the .”

“So you’re telling me to find a person who will substitute Tiara as the Frozen Soul?” I muttered.

“That’s away. You may need to find a substitute from another universe that has the same frequency as the voice. There are some people I know. Let’s see… uh…” Erylle scratched her head as she tried to remember something from her brain. “I think Yufa Haruna of Agartha and Serena Maizono of Elysia are great candidates. They both have beautiful voices, but I think you will have to work for a couple of hundred of timelines in order to baptize them as Gate Guardians and be able to handle the powers of a God Core.”

“Are you promoting the author’s other novels?” I made a doubtful stare at the blonde dumb woman.

“Ahahaha, not really…” Erylle scratched her cheek with a blush. “Anyway, that’s beside the point. You can have them as substitutes.”

I can’t do that. The Outsider did the very same thing in an attempt to revive his loved one. He searched for multiverses, forged fates, tried and failed endlessly, and sacrificed another person just to achieve his dreams. I can’t let any person suffer just for my selfish ambitions. I will be the same as him if I did the very same process. I’m sure Tiara won’t be happy if she found out that I did the very same method Yohan did.

“That is one of the options,” Erylle said as she continued to smile. “But there is a way where you won’t have to sacrifice somebody.”

“Is there really such a thing?” I asked.

“Yes,” Erylle said as if she knows what she is saying. “Do you remember the time where you fought the leader of the New Order, Aeternos?”

My battle against the ultimate evil, Aeternos, happened almost two years ago. I can never forget such a fight. That's the big bad boss of Book One. That is the time when I lost someone dear to me. That is the time when my childhood friend and my first love Jeannette Amiella Fontaine von Noctis sacrificed herself to sing the just to defeat that overpowered monster.

“Do you remember what Aeternos did to your dear Amy and Tiara back then?” Erylle continued to barrage me with questions.

I remember. During the battle, Aeternos snatched Tiara’s soul away, leaving her lifeless. That monster also absorbed something from Amy for several times but refused to kill her for some reason.

“Do you remember Aeternos’ powers?”

I remember. It really gave us a hard time fighting because he has the power to use fragments of God's Cores. He can summon the powers Poseidon, Neptune, Zeus, Mercury, and other mythological gods which makes him so overpowered. I have no idea how many God Fragments he had at his disposal.

“Do you remember what Aeternos muttered during the whole fight?” Erylle asked again.

I remember. Whenever we face each other, he would mutter something like “The is mine!” or something of that sort. He seemed so obsessed with such Heavenly Blade for some reason.

“Now, what are the requirements for the Frozen Soul?” It seems like this is the last of Erylle’s mind-cracking question to me.

She said the requirements of the Frozen Soul a while ago.

The Fragment of the Frozen Soul, which was once possessed by Amy.

The Curse of Eternal Love, or The Curse of the Brightmore Witch, which was possessed by Tiara.

The Heavenly Blade, which is the ; the crystallization of Tiara’s love for me on all the seven million timelines.

And twelve God Cores. A single Outer God Core such as Azathoth may also work as a substitute.

…

I get it.

The blonde woman smiled as soon as she realized that there is a light bulb on top of my head.

Piecing it all together, Aeternos has completed the requirements except the Heavenly Blade. He absorbed Tiara’s soul along with the Curse of the Brightmore Witch. He must have stolen a part of Amy’s soul, which is the Fragment of the Frozen Soul. He has a lot of God Fragments, which I suspect, has the power of Twelve God Cores when aggregated together. And he’s craving for the , telling me to give it to him.

“Aeternos’ goal is to create his own version of the so that he can become all-powerful,” Erylle said in a conclusion.

“So all I have to do…” I clenched my fist as hope filled my heart. “... Is to get those things from him and replace the Fragment and the Curse with the Frozen Soul.”

“And that will wake your lovable Tiara up without having the multiverses destroyed as a result,” Erylle said jollily.

“That sounds like a viable idea…” I smiled at the new Outsider. “...But there is one problem. I have killed Aeternos during that battle two years ago. How am I gonna retrieve the Fragment and the Curse from a dead guy whose existence has completely been erased?”

“Then chase him to the underworld and rob him what he has robbed your lovers,” Erylle said with an oblivious smile.

“H-Huh?” I tilted my head. I think she already lost me.

“If you want to meet the dead big bad guy, then there is only one way,” Erylle said.

...

There is a five-second silence. I’m wordless, and I’m just waiting for her to break the wind and spill the beans that have been stuck on her head.

…

She finally continued to speak, but it’s something so stupid.

“We have to meet him in Hell.”

Hell no.