Chapter Text
Mogami put Shigeo through six months of torture in a world where no one remembered him. But to Shigeo Kageyama, that was the least of his crimes. And yet for the Esper, his troubles were only just beginning. Soon he would embark through a paradigm shift.
This is the story of that shift.
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Burning. Rage inside-no, not rage, not this time. Instead; courage, the determination to stand against fear: the fear of rejection, loneliness, of others who wish to hurt you… But even then, through all the hurt, through all the pain he keeps locked up-thrumming inside until it spills out and washes everything away, he has always been able to keep-
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Caring, that compassionate intensity inside of him. He needed to be reminded of everything he had in his life to finally wake up after long months of torture mentally and physically. A fake world coiling around his soul, a red crimson form of cruel cruel malice.
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But in that cruelty, courage shines the brightest!
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Courage!
Sparkling flickers danced in his gaze.
"I'm going to EXORCIZE THEM ALL!" His voice rasped, his white T-shirt flowing in the wind as he stood against an army of crimson red spirits uncurling from the very hell beneath his feet.
His name was Shigeo Kageyama! And he was an Esper. Never one to take pride in these powers of his, he thought them useless. After all, they could never give him what he truly wanted. But-
He would use these powers to save people!
Shigeo
"I'm going to save Minori and exorcize these guys before I go!" Levitating against the whirlwind of black forces and crimson lightning, Shigeo clenched his fists and didn't dare look back.
He could almost sense Dimple's reservation, "I'll come back, I promise! Don't worry."
The green spirit swallowed and glanced around for a rift, taking off as several dozens of spirits tried to catch him.
But Dimple was a slippier Spirit.
"SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE, SHIGE!" He heard the spirit call out as he left, leaving only him and the evil spirits.
'Dimple is safe, good.' That meant he could finally go all out. Shigeo watched him go into the tear in reality, shutting it with a snap of his fingers before glaring back towards the demons crawling at his feet from the waking world, two planes stacked on top of eachother as a mirror.
His t-shirt flourished in the wind as he stood his ground against the countless rising spirits, "Everything I can see, feel, hear. All spirits, every last entity." All encompassing evil.
"And I'm going to cast them all the way back to hell ."
Hand torn from his body, muscles and sinew stitched back together at his will from this ephemeral prison inside his mind. Anything could be reality here as long as will persited, and his will was unwavering. This dour place had no right existing, a cruel mockery of life and experience.
He was going to exorcize it all.
Explosions rocked his world as he traded blows with the spirits, each one larger than a mountain. He scaled along its body like a shooting star over the night's canvas, white over crimson red as he dispelled the spirits with a flick of his wrist. And yet still they came, pushing, pulling, tearing away at him from all sides.
"Don't you get it? No matter what you do, whatever hope and subliminal drive you call upon… You'll end up the same as me, the same as all who restrict themselves for the sake of others!"
Mogami roared in his ears, but Shigeo did not listen. His heart thumping as he soared across the skyline of this mirrored world, the wind washed over his skin as he tore through a building and out the other side.
Snapping his gaze to his side, Shigeo gasped as a Spirit larger than life beared down at him with its fist crackling with all the energy of the cosmos. He barely had time to put up his block before the fist slammed against his forearms, pushing him down even through his struggle to fight back!
Crash!
A burst of pearlescent psychokinesis dispelled the mighty spirit's hand only to reveal its true weapon, a gorging jaw wielding a supernova within its maw sucking in all matter and life around it. Shigeo could only stare, dazzled as the all encompassing fission pulled him towards its singularity.
And then, Armageddon.
An explosion of incomprehensible proportions erupted from the hell beneath like a geyser of flame and psychokinetic pyre, the shockwave liquidating everything and leaving only the flow of magma and burning spirits behind.
Shigeo's heart thrummed in his ears as the heat caressed his skin behind his psychokinetic barrier, gliding through the interstellar event as his hair whipped around in the heavy wind, like the inside of the nuclear core of a star. Burning, fading consciences. His infinitesimal form against the backdrop of infinity, a triad of spirits striking him from all sides.
His barrier groaned, getting weaker, cracks-not good. "No! I still have to save her!"
The spirits dispelled at the sign of a greater one, so large that its hands curled around the entire world, around him. He couldn't escape.
"I…"
"Get a clue."
"I can't go out like this."
…
Rage, hatred, revenge, destruction… Because whenever you let those feelings of malice take over-
That's when you're most human.
Static
…
???
A singularity appeared.
Darkness bending around like a blackhole burning through spacetime, jets of fire spurted from his being as he absorbed everything and all around him. A burst of energy left only a single dot, a black figure, so small, a singularity. The innermost demon of Shigeo Kageyama that came when its name was called.
??? had awakened.
And then everything else disappeared, leaving only the infinite backdrop of space as his sole comfort. The voice of Mogami echoing through eternity, "So, this is it… Once your vessel is broken-"
"This is what's inside."
Black flame flowing from his body, ??? looked towards the infinite expanse of space-the stars lighting up, every world, every object in the sky was another plane of existence. Another reality.
He heard the faintest sound of laughter, maniacal, laughter.
??? Hated that sound.
"What are you doing!"
He reached towards the infinity, space itself, it was calling to him. ??? Desired to purge whatever granted him discomfort.
"Stop! You fool!"
"Stop!"
Infinity in the palm of his hand, and eternity in an hour.
"Come, young Esper, come."
And come he would. To where the sky was golden and the clouds were sweet, the supple land of time and space between space and time where all stood still and yet, all flowered. The multi-frilled face of eternity staring back at him, ??? was engulfed by a flash of light.
Reigen
Okay- scratch that, okay was not a word he would be using right now. Not with Mob doing… Whatever he was doing right now, floating all weird. Gosh his head hurt after being slammed by that weird possessed girl, thankfully she'd woken up and ran back to her father safely.
But Mob… He was acting weird, levitating in mid air like that. Not that weird was bad or anything, but Mob didn't like to fly unless he absolutely had to-it hurt his stomach.
Dimple was trying to pretend he wasn't worried too, but Reigen knew better. "Say, you see anything weird going on that I can't?"
"Nope, I got nothing."
Reigen tsked, "Some real help you are…" He grumbled, shaking his head and strolling over to his protege.
"Stop! Don't come any closer unless you want to get sucked into this mess as well!"
Reigen blinked, frowning before cockily waving the evil spirit off. "Well if it isn't that evil spirit again. What? Got tired of possessing little girls?" He rolled his eyes and reached for Mob despite Mogami repeatedly telling him not to, seriously, did he think that he; the greatest psychic of the 21st century, would listen to him?
Fat chance pal.
Pulling the Esper down to ground level, Reigen patted him on the shoulder and smiled at the still unconscious Esper. "C'mon Mob, let's go home."
In another world, in another life, that would've been the end of it. Shigeo and Reigen would've headed home and gone on with their lives, but the infinite calculus of the cosmos permitted a different outcome this time.
"... Mob?"
Sixty degrees that come in threes.
Watches from within birch trees.
Saw his own dimension burn.
Misses home and can't return.
Says he's happy. He's a liar.
Blame the arson for the fire.
If he wants to shirk the blame,
He'll have to invoke my name.
One way to absolve his crime.
A different form, a different time.
In another world, another place. One where mystery and mayhem was just as common. Evil spirits did lurk within this world, yet something far more sinister did just as well…
After all? What could be more sinister than the daunting future ahead? The unknown. Man fears the unknown and what it brings, the most primal fear of all-
High school.
Mabel
Things didn't work out sometimes, that was fine, dandy even, she LIKED the unexpected because at least she could expect it, because she always expected the unexpected. But sometimes… She just wanted something normal, a normal birthday party and a normal life with her brother at her side. Not him going off with Grunkle Ford to be somebody, not him leaving her behind to face highschool alone.
That's what she didn't want most in the world, but what she wanted wasn't really important to anybody lately. Who was she kidding…
Things happen right? Nothing ever stays the same, right? Maybe Dipper was right. He was always the more mature of the two, always the one who knew what to do and when.
The thought chilled her even through her sweater, the cold wind biting at her ankles. "I just wanted summer to last longer, just a little longer…"
"M-maybe it can."
"Sweatertown is not accepting incoming calls right now." That voice seemed familiar, but she didn't care.
But the voice didn't go away, the crinkling of leaves only became louder. The wind was blowing heavily, "M-M-M-Mabel, it's me."
'Wait-'
"Wait what? Who?" She exited from her icey fortress and stared up at the shadowy figure, the crimson sky beating down against them both.
He smiled down at her, almost too happy to see her. Why was he so excited? Pressing his hands together like that, smiling ear to ear like she just told his favorite joke.
"I-I-I can help."
"The time travel guy? What are you doing here?" Mabel blinked, tilting her head.
The bespectacled man had his hands behind his back, why? Was he hiding something or was it just nerves? Probably the latter. But why here and why now? Was he still looking for reve-
He smiled even wider somehow, almost like his teeth were trying to escape his mouth. "You said you don't want summer to end, right? D-did-did I hear that right?"
Mabel nodded in response, confused. "Yeah…? Why are you asking?" She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.
The time traveling time travel guy told her about something called a time bubble, something that could make… Summer last for as long as she wanted? Was it really possible? The idea was so tantalizing, no highschool, no growing up, just her and Dipper and Grunkle Stan just like she wanted.
All she needed was one of Grunkle Stan's trinkets, one of his usual mystery shack props or something- She was sure that he wouldn't mind if it was just for this, he wanted her to be happy so it only made sense.
'Wait, I have Dipper's backpack!' Maybe what the time travel guy wanted was in here? She rummaged through his backpack to find anything noteworthy, he wouldn't be mad, she thought-Well, if summer didn't end then technically, Dipper could always just continue being Ford's apprentice after she wanted it to right? They had all the time-
Her hands wrapped around something cold, something ancient. "Ooooh… That's odd…" She brought out the weird looking item, cold to the touch.
"Is this it?" She held it into the air for the time patroller to see.
"Yes, that's it!" He cried, excitement in his voice. "Just hand it over and I'll do my thing. Unless you're ready to leave Gravity Falls."
She didn't want to.
Raising the odd construct into the air, Mabel saw all the memories she'd made throughout the summer. "Just a little longer… Before I have to go."
Just a little longer before everything changed, before she had to leave and Dipper had to leave. The desperation to keep these memories, to keep this world from leaving so soon…
It pushed her to give Bill Cipher the rift.
Shatter
Dipper
This was bad, real bad.
Mabel's meltdown was one thing, this … This was the apocalypse, "What's happening? What is that?" He asked the blistering wind brushing against him, Grunkle Ford coming up next to him with a worried expression.
The That in question was an X, a dimensional tear etched into the sky! 'Wait… Does this mean-'
Ford swallowed, putting a hand over him protectively. "We're too late." The dread lacing his words could only mean one thing, "Armageddon…"
"Is here."
The dark red sky unfurled over the world and lightning danced between the rift in spacetime and the planet all coiling around one being, Bill Cipher. The Lord of zaney, the one eyed demon was here in the flesh. His cackling laughter and rolling layered voice shook the very ground they stood on.
"It's happening! It's finally happening!"
Dipper looked up to see abject horror written across his grunkle's face, "It's the end of the world." And just like anything he said.
Dipper believed him.
"PHYSICAL FORM? DON'T MIND IF I DO!"
Bill Cipher had gained infinity.
Shigeo
Flashes of eternity, akin to sliding through the memories of a thousand other souls. Everything was dark, and then it was red. The wind was washing over his body, his eyes cracking open slightly only for him to squeeze them shut as he hit a branch of a tree, a scathing heat bit into his arm as he scraped against the branch and fell into the air, his breath picking up.
Crash!
His stomach contents exited into the air as he fell and hit more objects, more branches, more trees and shrubbery.
Crack!
'I need… To use-'
Bang!
He screamed as another sharp pain rippled through his shoulder, Shigeo couldn't move his arm.
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Shigeo's falling speed kicked up, his breath leaving his lungs as the ground came closer and closer until-
Nothing.
Shigeo slowly opened his eyes, blinking while keeping his left closed, it was swelling purple. He was inches away from kissing a jagged rock face first, he stopped just in time, held up by a red aura.
"Huh…? How did I-" He plopped onto the ground suddenly, the red aura disappearing and letting gravity reclaim its hold.
Shigeo hissed in a rare show of emotion, his lips quivering as he pushed himself up and cupped his heavily bloodied arm and shoulder that took the brunt of his fall. He struggled to sit up with his left eye still unable to open from the pain. He didn't know where he was, where Reigen was, he couldn't remember-
Mogami.
Shigeo's eyes snapped open before shutting again, a flash of pain running through his eyelid as he remembered. 'Mogami… Am I still inside his world?' He couldn't remember anything after destroying his vessel for good, only the cold.
"This is no longer my world, no."
Swallowing and kicking against the ground in an attempt to stand, Shigeo began breathing rapidly before calming himself. "Mogami, you're still making a mess of everything?" He asked with a strain to his usual monotone voice.
He couldn't see the spirit, but he could sense him, who else could've saved him? But… 'Why did he save me? It didn't make any sense-'
"Like I said brat, this is no world of my creation, not even I could create something so…"
That's when he felt it, the crippling sense of dread and fear eliminating from the very sky itself. He couldn't see it through the thick forestry but to even the weakest Esper, it was like a wildfire of pain and despair rushing through his soul all at once. He did the only thing he could do, grasping himself with his telekinesis and hovering into the air slower than usual. Shigeo was still dressed in the clothes he wore to help Minori out but his pants and his yellow jacket were nothing but tatters now, hanging limply to his thin body.
Just like the tattered world around him.
Clearing the treeline, Shigeo gasped and landed on top of the tallest maplewood. "What… That looks like-" Eyes widening, he knew exactly what that was in the sky. A tear in reality just like the one Dimple escaped through but on a much larger scale, it was right above them and rippled through the sky.
Jerking as a bird landed on his shoulder, Shigeo grunted and tried to wave it off- "Calm yourself brat, it's me."
Shigeo blinked, restraining himself. "Mogami? But I thought…"
"You thought, you thought and you acted . And now we are in this place, foolish boy." The crow did not speak normally, but with its red eyes and oddly tinted feathers; Shigeo easily figured out this was really Mogami after all.
Frowning, Shigeo grunted and leaped down from the top of the tree. "Well in any case, whoever is causing that… Evil spirit or not, I have to talk to them." He nodded resolutely, whatever was causing this amount of pain and suffering was not okay.
Mogami flapped his wings as Shigeo fell, cawing before beaking the side of his neck. "Don't be foolish! You cannot reason with that yokai!"
"Yokai?" He titled his head, ignoring the pain burning in his arm. "What happened to you?
Mogami tilted his own avian head, "I've been relegated to this form by that damned Axolotl looking beast, it spoke to me in riddles and directed us to this place. In fact, it almost looked like the form you took when you entered Minori's mind scape." Humming thoughtfully, Shigeo frowned.
"But that is unimportant-"
Shigeo listened silently, digesting Mogami's explanation and quickly coming to his own simple conclusion. "If we were sent here by such a powerful creature, don't you think it was for a reason?" He questioned monotonously.
"I'm going to stop whoever is doing this, that must be why we were sent here." Unable to really wrap his head around what has happened, the young boy came to the most logical conclusion he could.
…
"Do you truly think you can reason with everyone? There are some in this world that cannot be changed by action and words alone, how else do you think-"
Hushing Mogami by pressing his fingers around his beak, Shigeo surveyed his surroundings semi-cautiously. "I'm sensing a great evil, Mogami do you think-"
"I can still speak, boy; look above you!"
Following the avian esper's command, Shigeo's muted expression curled into one of shock as a shadow covered his face.
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A gigantic black pyramid appeared out of thin air right above them like a flash of lightning, a thunderous shockwave spreading throughout the forest. Shigeo covered his face and blocked the whirlwinds with his powers, grunting as wildlife of all kinds brushed past him in an attempt to escape.
Whistling seven uneven tunes, the pyramid began spinning and falling towards the earth. "Do not just stand there, go! Now!" Mogami yelled in his mind, snapping him out of his abject terror.
Using his training in the body improvement club, Shigeo booked it down the hill and towards the sound of screams and upside down roars. Bursting through shrubbery as the pyramid crashed to the ground and shook the Earth, Shigeo pumped his legs even while his lungs burned and sweat ran down his chin.
"Oh no, this is bad, real bad!"
Skidding to a stop and taking a breather, Shigeo watched a man dressed in white disappear into thin air just in front of him only to look up and see a spherical prison of chains and pink light. He squinted his one good eye and gasped, lips trembling.
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"There's a person in there!" He yelled, running over and observing the orb floating in the sky. A girl a year or two younger than him from the looks of it, she was unconscious and it looked like… Tears were running down her face?
Shigeo had to get her out.
Concentrating, he raised an arm towards the sky and crushed the sphere into shards like glass falling to the wind. The girl fell from the sky only to be caught by his pearlescent telekinetic grasp, slowly lowering her into his arms to which his muted gaze morphed into one of worry.
"Hey… Are you alright?" He prodded at her, shifting the small girl in his arms. She was even smaller than he was and that was saying something, a few inches shorter and even thinner than he was at the start of his bodybuilding routine, not that he wasn't still thin.
Even while asleep her face was colorful and expressive, his exact opposite. He wondered why she was trapped up there and if it had anything to do with the malice he sensed just now.
Mogami landed on his shoulder again, pecking at his ear. "You shouldn't waste your time on a person who'd not even look twice at you, stop trying to help others and wake up to reality!" He demanded, battering against his mental walls with feelings of animosity and incapability.
Mogami wasn't able to use his full strength if that was all he could do, strange.
"No, I have to help anyone I can. Why else was I born with these cursed powers of mine? I have to help." He stated resolutely, emotionlessly.
He could almost feel Mogami's malice towards that statement, as if he just spat in his metaphorical face. "You just don't get it, you think by helping others you'll change the world-"
"No, but it only takes one act of good will to spark another. We have to have faith in other people, or else we'll never get anywhere."
He finally looked towards Mogami, blank as ever and yet… A hint of expression. "And for that matter, Mogami, I have faith in you."
Mogami tsked underneath his breath, flapping his wings agitatedly, "... You are an interesting person, Shigeo Kageyama."
'Most people would disagree.'
Feeling the girl shift in his arms, Shigeo saw Mogami fly away and perch himself on a nearby tree. He stared worriedly at the girl resting in his arms, her cheeks were red from crying, or maybe they always were red.
He just hoped she was alright.
Mabel
When her eyes opened, she was expecting to be in another, better world. But instead… She was back inside her own lame world, much to her disappointment. But oddly, a pair of arms held her up from hitting the ground, he smelled like copper and bark.
Blinking a few times to clear away the blur in her vision, Mabel slowly began to hear his voice clearer and clearer, it was montone, the most monotone voice she'd ever heard but strangely intense. Like a teacher preparing to punish someone for disobedience.
His face was shadowed by the maroon colored sky, his long hair blowing in the wind and a blue glow covering his skin. It was almost mystical. But the pearlescent light faded away, and the winds died. Mabel rubbed her eyes.
And when she opened them, she expected to see the man of her dreams waiting for her, the one who rescued her from the trap Bill placed her in and held her in his arms so gently.
"Are you alright?" The boy asked her in some weird language, a foreigne-?
Blinking a few times after her vision fully returned, Mabel made a poker face at the boy and glanced around, looking for something or someone.
The boy holding her was the most plain person she's ever seen, a black eye and a scratched face aside. He had a mop top of hair and a perfectly round face, two piercing dull eyes that held… Something in them, she couldn't tell. Even as he continued to ask her something in that weird language of his, Mabel wouldn't have listened even if he spoke English.
She grinned shakily at him, "Um, you can let me go now! Thanks!"
The boy didn't understand, tilting his head in an almost cute way, almost. Clearly they weren't getting anywhere like this. So, Mabel decided to do the one thing she knew always worked against bigger boys no matter how tough they tried to be.
She slapped him across the face and scampered off. After all, a strange foreign boy in a forest was definitely a red flag if she's ever seen one.
Now, she needed to find Dipper so they could fix this mess that she had caused.
Shigeo
Cupping his cheek, Shigeo pursed his lips and sighed. So much for helping her, was every girl so mean to guys they didn't know that well? Probably not, he just had bad luck. He heard a voracious laughter in his mind and shot his gaze towards Mogami, the Esper turned crow was cawing as he laughed in his mind.
"Like I said, oh Shigeo, you naive child."
He grumbled under his breath and shook his head, the red imprint of her hand burning against his cheek. "It doesn't matter anyways, I have a job to do." He stated determinedly, turning towards the shadowy figure in the sky and rushing ahead towards the sight of buildings in the distance.
...
It was like being devoured by one of Mogami's spirits, everywhere he looked someone was screaming, calling out for help as flames licked at every corner of his vision.
It was true Armageddon, everywhere was wrong . Buildings moved and chuffed like wild beasts, houses salivated as if starving, clocks ran backwards and animals sprouted several heads each. It was a cruel nightmare, far worse than anything the mind of Mogami could concoct. Even spending six months in that hell he created couldn't have prepared him for this.
Shigeo gasped as an elderly man without a shirt clawed at his leggings, almost begging to be put out of his misery with his eyes rolling to the back of his head, misery in his incomprehensible voice.
"Are you okay? W-what are you asking me?"
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Grunting, he trudged past the suffering old man and clenched his eyes shut. Why was this happening? Who could've done this to these people? Driven them mad, set their homes on fire, destroyed their town. For what? There had to be a reason, no one would do this just for the sake of it-
The world warped and Shigeo nearly vomited at the presence around him.
"Woah woah woah, buddy. You blow in from stupid town? You're supposed to run away from the danger, not towards it!"
Shigeo stopped, skidding and surveying his surroundings, that voice… That laugh was oddly familiar. "Who are you! Are you the one doing this to these people?" He couldn't see the originator of the high pitched squeal, a demonic chime like voice.
"I'm going to take it that you just asked your little hero question about whether or not I'm the bad guy who caused all of this."
Shigeo turned towards where the voice came from, furrowing his brows. He could understand the being perfectly yet the being couldn't understand him.
"And assuming that's what you're asking; so what if I am? The amount of kids with crappy mop tops who could stop me amounts to a whole lotta ZERO!"
In a flash, a yellow blazing entity appeared in front of him with a top hat and a single malicious eye. Its body formed a two dimensional triangle that hurt his eyes to look at. Shigeo instinctually took a step forward and prepared to fire his powers off, "So you're a spirit? I should have known, no human would do this to anyone else!" He growled, aura crackling to life.
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The triangular entity hummed, squinting its singular eye before sniffing him with his eyelids. "You smell different from the rest of these chumps! Tell me kid, what universe are you from? Macrocosm? Maybe even a higher dimension? C'mon, spill the beans!" It began to fly around him, hovering with a jolly tone in its voice.
Shigeo clenched his fists, of course an evil spirit was the one to blame. Even in a place like this, some other part of the world. Always speaking in riddles, nonsense that didn't help them in their past life that they tried to push onto other people!
It made him so angry.
"Well? Cat got your tongue? Anything going on up there in that empty head of yours? C'mon kid Bill Cipher doesn't have all day, I have a world to run!"
Snarling, Shigeo reached out and restrained the spirit with his pearlescent aura blazing to life around him. "What makes you think you get to tell other people how to live their lives? I've met a lot of spirits and none of them have been so callous!" He grinded out, his hair standing on end as his powers grew.
Bill actually groaned at the restrictive force around him, laughing after the initial crushing force weared off. "Wow, you are way stronger than any mortal ought to be. Tell me, are you time police? No no, you're too stupid looking, and that's saying something!" He laughed, distorting as he crushed him, becoming various shapes and shades of black to rainbow.
'Why isn't this working? I can't exorcize him!'
It was almost like he was resisting being exorcized, how was that possible? Not even Mogami could resist for that long! Sweat began to pour down his face as he concentrated more and more on bringing the demon to nothing but instead of being crushed into nothing, it was only growing larger .
It laughed, a high pitch whine more than a vocalization. "YOU THINK THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH TO DEFEAT BILL CIPHER ! THAT'S A FUNNY JOKE, BUT IS IT FUNNIER THAN THIS?" Bill snapped, and then causality followed.
His arms bent, his body contracted in unnatural ways as his bones broke and reformed to accommodate his new form. His legs and arms formed an X around his neck, locking him in place, Shigeo could only scream as his cuts reopened and his body transformed into something inhuman.
It hurt, it hurt so bad. Like when Mogami used his telekinetic powers to bend and break Minori's bones, the sound of his own cracking and mending before cracking again.
Shigeo cried, screaming as the Evil spirit crushed him into an inhuman form.
'I can't move…'
"Don't say I didn't warn you kid, somethings are just better left alone. Others may suffer, but not everything can be fixed by an Esper with a big heart."
He could hardly make out what Mogami was saying through the pain.
"You'll only end up suffering in the end, if you open your heart to other people."
He cracked one eye open and watched Mogami from the corner of his vision, his throat constricting as Bill puppeteered his body and appendages like a guillotine, constantly increasing the pressure around his neck before snapping again-Shigeo appeared at his side.
"Since you were on the verge of tears at the mere thought of my deeds, why not see them from a real view?" It laughed and brought them both higher into the sky, the true extent of his destruction unfurling right in front of his eyes. The roaring flames stretching as far as the eye can see, the inhuman monsters rampaging throughout the city with no end in sight to their numbers.
To Mob, it was his second deadly agony. A feeling so indescribably horrible, a vicarious emotion that he could FEEL himself… All their pain, their hurt. Mixing in with his phantom pain, of his body adjusting to being something else entirely.
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It spun him around on the tip of his finger like a child playing with a toy, "You know, at first I was just confused as to why a mortal would be running towards me! I mean come on, who does that? You do, and I respect it. But what I respect more than a truly courageous soul, is a truly courageous soul being torn to shreds by agony and despair! Ahahahahah!"
Of course, that's all an evil spirit like it cared about. A tortured soul who had no inhibitions, no restraints, just for the pleasure of causing as much destruction as possible. This wasn't the spirit family , no… This was the type of spirit that he-
His breathing amped up.
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That he… Could go all about against, just like Mogami. He was going to use these cursed powers that only brought harm to others to save people instead!
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All their suffering, all their pain! He could feel it as if it was his own, the people of this town were afraid! Afraid of this evil spirit. He could only imagine the pain he has inflicted on others if this was how much pain he could inflict onto an Esper like him.
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'I can't watch this…'
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His eyebrows curled into hooks, digging into his eyelids and keeping his eyes wide open. "Watch! You're only here to amuse me, so amuse!"
"I… I won't watch this-"
"What was that? You're gonna beg me to kill you? Well, just wait your turn! And stop speaking gibberish before I turn your mouth into a dimensional portal for more hellbats!"
The spirit growled, its eye turning black as night.
"Don't get in the way of my fun!"
…
'Fun?'
'Fun…'
'...'
His eyes snapped open, shadowed by an intense glare. "You ruined all these people's lives for fun ." A statement of fact more than a question, his voice was deathly quiet, almost a whisper. A lesser man would've run in terror upon hearing it.
The lines on his face became more pronounced as he caught Bill's one eyed gaze.
" You cannot be serious."
Bleeeeeeeeeeep
100%-
Vicarious
Vicarious-Adjective
Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person.
"I could glean vicarious pleasure from the struggles of my imaginary film friends"
Similar: Acting or done for another.
"a vicarious atonement"