51 Blessing

Luna's voice resonated throughout the whole area.

[EMERGENCY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN PROCESS ACTIVATED]

Hearing this, Diana's eyes went wide. Like a domino effect, every machine around her shut down one by one. This seemed to have an immediate effect on the nightmare, as most of her energy supplies were cut off. Already, the flow of large goo stopped expanding and even began to retract. Worse, since she had actually fused with Luna, her power dropped drastically. She looked at her 'father', he was staring at her with a silly grin on his face.

"What the hell did you do?" she asked.

Joshua just shrugged his shoulders in reply.

Nevermind, Luna, reboot the system!" Diana shouted.

[PASSWORD?]

Diana searched through Joshua's memories but didn't find anything.

"What's the password?" she asked him.

"Who knows…"

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"Swordfish!" she said randomly, it sounded like something Joshua would use.

[INCORRECT!]

"Forty-Two!"

[INCORRECT!]

"Catherine!"

[INCORRECT! You have entered too many failed attempts and have been blocked off from entering new ones for the next hour.]

"Damn it! This won't change anything. It's merely a setback. I'll force the password out of you one way or another. Even if by some miracle, you somehow defeat me today, I can sense your fear of me. As long as its present, I can come back infinitely."

Joshua nodded in reply.

"I suppose you're right about that. Well, I suppose it's time for me to overcome that absurd fear."

###

In the meantime, Catherine had continued to progress toward Joshua's direction. Her speed was picking up as the goo was slowly vanishing. Soon, the lab entered her field of vision and she passed the barrier, entered the island and dismissed the ice bubble she had traveled in. She had arrived through the backside and was about to join Joshua when she heard him talk about overcoming his fear. Curious, she decided to wait a moment to see what he would do, ready to intervene as soon as something went wrong.

###

Joshua had just spoken bold words, but it was easier said than done.

"I suppose I should start with the basics: what are you anyway? Initially, you were created via Delilah's magic and placed in a dream bubble of mine. Even though I destroyed that dream as well as got rid of Delilah, you left such a deep impact on me that you survived as a figment of my imagination. I managed to kick you out of my soul world, but by nourishing on my fear of you, you survived by becoming a full-on nightmare."

"Pretty much, I suppose I have to thank you for that. I would never have grown so fast had you dealt with me in a less extreme way."

"Well, as you might have guessed, I'm not only an incompetent father figure, I'm also my worst enemy. Anyway, don't you think the way I've been imagining you is way too absurd? It's overlooking too much stuff."

Diana's expression twitched for a second and she asked: "What do you mean?"

"It's simple really, you're supposed to be a representation of what a child of Catherine and I would look like. So, the question is: 'How in the world could I have thought for a single second that a child of Catherine could possibly be a monster?' The beings spawning from her should be angelic creatures. The simple thought that something like you exist is just… incorrect."

Diana began to tremble as a few cracks appeared on her form. Joshua could tell his plan was working. Diana was a creature whose appearance depended on how Joshua perceived it. If he somehow could prove her existence was impossible, it would vanish. At least, that's what he hoped.

"You fool!" Diana yelled, "No matter how much good you see in my dear 'mother', someone like you will always pervert it. Do you think I'm an incorrect existence? Ha, you should look into a mirror. Even in death, you're still a parasite leaching on someone. I wonder what she did to deserve a pathetic being like you to be her Soul Guardian."

"I can't blame you for trying to keep me down, but don't you see it's too late for that?"

"What? You're just bluffing. We both know what kind of individual you are."

"Indeed, there was a period in my life where I was probably the lowest piece of trash you could find. But that's all over. You showed Catherine everything there was about me, she experienced every low point of Joshua Lockman's life and instead of throwing me away, she embraced me with open arms. I don't care what the rest of the world thinks of me, I was personally blessed by my goddess. What else could a man hope for? She cleansed me of all that filth that inhabited me. I'm not sure what's left of me after being purified, but whatever remains must be wonderful."

At that moment, a bolt of lightning came out of the statue of Catherine and struck Joshua. It didn't hurt him at all and he smiled as it was coursing through his body.

"See, 'little girl', I don't know what you are at this point, but logically, your existence is simply impossible."

Diana wanted to retort Joshua's claims, but facing such denial, her form began to distort. Cracks appeared all over her body and she screamed in pain.

Joshua smiled, it was finally over. However, even he couldn't predict what followed.

Diana's screams kept coming as her body was distorted for about a minute before coming to an abrupt end. Joshua's eyes went wide as the area Diana used to be was suddenly covered in bright light. After a few seconds, the light died down as a beautiful winged figure walked out of it. The figure reminded him of Arianne, the angel that was Catherine's father Guardian. She effortlessly crossed the barrier and landed in front of Joshua. He noticed she was transparent and was slowly vanishing.

"Daddy, if only you had imagined me like this from the beginning, all of this could have been avoided, don't you think?"

"Diana? What the hell?"

"Have you forgotten your own words? 'A child of Catherine should look angelic'."

"Oh… I did say that."

"I'm about to vanish so let me give you a farewell gift," she said as a key appeared in her hand, "I found this when I was inspecting your memories. You should really have a look inside that locked cog."

She handed the key to Joshua. By now, her form was barely visible so she quickly said:

"Bye Daddy! Make a real version of me someday. I'm sure Mommy would like that."

And she was gone.

That last sentence made Joshua's face to become red as a tomato. He had long sensed that Catherine was hiding behind his lab and asked:

"So… How much of all that did you hear?"

"All of it..." Catherine replied. She came out of hiding, her face equally red.

'Darn it!' he thought.

Catherine coughed loudly and asked: "Anyway, can you reconnect to your body?"

"I think so, let me try."

###

Back in the real world, Joshua opened his eyes. Catherine was standing next to him and helped him get up.

"Well," she started, "I'm proud of you."

"Don't be, this whole fiasco should never have happened in the first place."

"I disagree, you came out of it much stronger. Even if it was painful, in the end, it was a positive experience for both of us."

"Maybe… but I still put you in danger needlessly. And I should never have doubted you would help me."

Remembering all the movies he saw, Joshua thought he should probably do something 'manly'. After all, with the help of the heroine, the main character had just defeated the antagonist of this story. But of course, this is Joshua we're talking about so instead he said:

"I just realized something… Luna's not active to monitor my energy status."

"…? And?"

"I'm all out!" he said as he collapsed onto Catherine.

Catherine grabbed his falling body and lifted him in her arms.

"You damn fool, why didn't you just dismiss your physical body?" she asked, sighting.