#a repeating darkness

[mewnia]

“I’m sorry. This is all I can do for you.”

[hyliansnacks]

Alisha from @mewnia‘s comic design! Her outfit is really nice and I love the short hair so much, I couldn’t help myself

[mewnia]

Zestiria's anniversary combined with my friend playing the game for the first time made me realize that I haven't drawn the characters in a long time!

Bonus (Err, should I tag spoilers for my Tainted Au???? Does that matter even though I made it like three years ago??):

[mewnia]

IM GUSHING YOUR TAINTED AU COMIC AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ITS SO GOOD 10/10

I LOVE THIS.

Sorry for my caps I got too excited ^^;;;

I look forward to your future work

Oh thank you! No worries, I don’t mind. It’s been a few years since I finished that, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Makes me happy that fans are still reading it 🥰 Even though that I look at it nowadays and find so many flaws in the pacing and writing, haha

Thank you so much for letting me know! You’ve helped start out my day on a good note~

[mewnia]

ARD Final Post!

Okay!! So!! I will tell you what I had planned for the rest of the story. Now, the last pages we ended on were these ones. I’ve said before we only have 1/3 of the story left. So yes, everything will end in this post.

From here on will be the last chapter!

So we find Tainted’s true motive with this update. You guys were getting too comfortable with him and were dismissing all that happened at the beginning :P And this update was supposed to pull you right back to the thought of “Oh right, Tainted’s still... Tainted.” 

Of course this motive upsets Mikleo. To destroy the timeline he lives in would destroy the Sorey he loves and all his friends, and even millions of innocent lives. All of the effort they went through in the game would be for naught, and he expresses all of this to Tainted very clearly. 

Tainted falters for a second before smiling that “I’m totally innocent” smile and brushes off all of Mikleo’s concerns. “Oh, you’ll be fine! You will still be alive! And I’ll have you in my life again! Now come on, let’s get to the capital and start some fires.”

Mikleo refuses Tainted a second time in this comic. This hurts Tainted and makes something snap inside him. Because like we saw when he first showed up and with Alisha, he hates being denied. Especially since he thinks he’s in the right and “why is no one seeming to understand that I’m trying to save them?!” 

From here Mikleo starts pointing out more reasons why he wouldn’t go with him. He repeats his scolding at the first refusal, his scolding when he woke up, and retelling his concerns. Tainted’s horns start growing back, his face starts cracking, and his hands are back to being claws. And he lunges like he did before.

But then Sorey suddenly drops out of the sky slamming directly into Tainted, stopping the charge (unintentionally). Because this is a sudden shock and blow to Tainted, he’s dizzy and unmoving on the ground. Sorey takes a second to take in his surroundings and registers that he’s pinning his other self down. And once he catches sight of Mikleo he smiles with relief “Mikleo!!” and immediately gets off to run over to him. 

While he’s swarming Mikleo with questions about his wellbeing and “you wouldn’t believe where I just went-” Lailah also drops out of the sky into Tainted. She’s beaming! She’s so happy! Mikleo points this out to her and asks why. To which she responds “I just feel so alive!” and we get a flashback of:

I was so looking forward to this scene you guys have no idea. It just helps to lighten the mood for a little bit. We can’t be all broody for too long!! It makes me smile when I think about how it must have looked for Wilt. Like, right after Lailah says “Abrada-cobra” she goes *poof!* which leaves behind a bewildered Wilt and it’s like Sorey and Lailah were never there at all.

But anyway, back on track the comic goes and Rose, Edna, and Zavied pop out of the bushes not too far away but still a fair distance. “Thank the gods you popped out of the sky at the right time! We suddenly felt the malevolence around your Tainted self thicken and ran as fast as we could into the domain!” 

“Thicken?” Sorey repeats back and everyone moves their attention to Tainted who’s pushing himself up from the ground. Dark mass is swirling him as he growls. Once he finally gets to his feet, his face is cracking apart and his horns are fully grown. He’s a pissed boy.

And here are some references I made with Tainted’s final form!

He’s a goat hellion :P Since goats are seen as the demon versions of sheep and all.

But anyway he’s pissed. 

Then I was planning a whole fight scene where Tainted is aiming to kill everyone except for Mikleo. Oh I would love to draw an official art piece where it’s the water armatus vs Tainted’s final form. Blue against red?? It would be so pretty!

But like all final battles, there’s always that one moment where the boss has the heroes pinned in the corner with no hope of winning. Everyone’s exhausted, Tainted’s smirking. “Let’s get rid of the one who started this mess.” And he grabs Sorey by the neck much like Heldalf does in the game. 

Hold for dramatic effect. Tainted starts channeling a very powerful Lion’s Howl and Mikleo, with little strength he has left, dashes up from the ground and wraps his arms around Tainted’s arm to prevent him from moving it into Sorey. 

This makes Tainted falter, the blue light emitting from his fist flickering as he pulls against Mikleo. “Why can’t you just let me do this for you?! For me?!”

“Because you know you’re wrong!”

Tainted’s guard goes down as he stares at Mikleo pulling on his arm. He’s wrong? Does he really know he’s wrong? 

And just as he goes to reply, a dagger suddenly shoots down from the sky into his arm holding Sorey. Tainted shouts in pain, letting go of Sorey and pulling away from Mikleo. Then two figures land next to them. And they’re very familiar!

Now the second half of the boss fight starts with the inclusion of Wilt and Alisha. And Tainted, now that Mikleo’s told him that he knows he’s wrong... Isn’t as focused as they fight. 

The fighting goes on until Tainted seems to be backing down, and Lailah looks to Sorey.

“There’s too much malevolence. He can’t be purified, Sorey...”

Wilt walks up and puts her hand on Sorey’s shoulder, “While he’s down..”

It becomes very quiet. Sorey’s eyes linger on Tainted’s crouched form before looking Wilt in the eyes.

And then Rose puts her hand on his other shoulder, joined by Mikleo and the others gathering behind him. Sorey grips his sword, holding Mikleo’s hand as he walks over to Tainted who’s crouched on the ground. 

He doesn’t bother to look up. Instead he sits back and rests his head against the tree, letting out a long sigh.

“Finally... I don’t have to start over, again...”

Sorey and Mikleo both take hold of Sorey’s sword and mutter their apologies before plunging it into Tainted’s chest. And the beast that was once sitting against the tree becomes human.

Tainted looks up to meet Mikleo’s gaze. He’s tired. He’s so so tired... But using the last of his conscious strength he smiles. And says “Thank you.” Before finally falling asleep for the first and last time in so long.

So the final battle ends. Wilt and Alisha walk up to Sorey, saying their apologies and thanks. Alisha giving a goodbye hug and Wilt patting Sorey on the back. “It felt good to do one final battle by your side.” And the two girls pick up Tainted’s body before being engulfed in wind and green light, disappearing for good.

Our team can finally relax. The malevolence Tainted brought slowly starts to disappear. The sun rises over the mountains behind them. It’s been a very long night.

Sorey picks up his sword and sheathes it, going back to holding Mikleo’s hand. Only Mikleo seems to hold tighter than he usually does. 

“Don’t ever knock me unconscious.”

Sorey laughs softly, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

And everything continues the way it should.

[mewnia]

“Besides, I already attempted.”

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[mewnia]

“...”

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[mewnia]

“Heh... You always were pretty observant.”

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