Tier story : A Butterfly Dancing Under The Rain

Prelude

T404, who at this time and until recently called himself 404 tier, has never been bullied in school. He had some friends and even good grades. But he wasn't happy.

His world seemed cold, really cold and no matter how many people were around him, he felt alone.

People have never been able to understand, even with the help of loved ones and friends, It was never helpful, he didn't feel sad, angry or hateful, he felt frustration , Once at the School his best friends were attacked, seeing his Frustration reached the limit, he unlocked Ignis and defeated the attackers, After this event, people considered him a monster, which cut him off from the world.

He felt too different from the others, for two distinct reasons : the first one was he never liked to think in the box, pushing away the others when they tried to "make him more normal".

The second one was his Ignis : rather than giving overwhelming power, it was destined to block others' Igniss, the special power everybody had in this world.

If it was weak, they would've probably overseen that, but his Ignis was one of the strongest inside his au, even able to go to another au using the cracks in the gate of fantasy to navigate in the multiverse.

One day, he would go and never come back, not supporting the other people staring at him with fear and disgust anymore.

Eventually he went far beyond the Horizon, fighting and discovering his reality, briefly meeting the god Dusk and even winning a fight against a demon.

He would eventually meet by sheer luck the other strong Ignis users and then stick with them. They were strong, weird, and funny, so exactly what he was too and what he asked for.

He wouldn't hesitate to fully use his power and have other people looking at him like a monster if it was to protect them.

But of course, he would never say it out loud.

Act 1

Out of them all, the first one he met was Darth No, the strongest of them all. 404 tier was randomly walking in a street in a classic universe, while some dumb thieves tried to rob him.

"Pffft, get lost you bugs" he said as he used Complaint to put them to sleep.

"Weakfucks" he added.

"Hey buddy, this is useless to talk to people who fainted because they, well, fainted" said a voice beside him. It was Darth no.

Tier looked at him, pissed off. He already had an horrible day, people tried robbing him, and now a strange bastard was mocking him ?

"Get lost" Tier said looking at the stranger.

"What ? I'm not gonna do this after all the time I wasted to find you, little Au traveler".

Act 2

Tier immediately attacked Darth after hearing it. Darth would avoid the hit, Tier fist destroying a wall instead.

"Your aim is not really terrible, I now get why you have glasses" said Darth.

Tier tried to hit him again, but Darth would avoid each and every hit, and send him flying away.

"Ouch" did Tier. The arm where he got hit was hurting, another hit and he would be broken.

He changed his tactic : he faked a hit with his right hand before using Complaint, distracting Darth. He then punched him with his left fist, sending him flying away, so they would be even.

"Nice punch" Darth said with a bit of blood flowing from his lips. Tier was already trying to attack him again, because he knew he maybe wouldn't have another chance of winning. But suddenly, Darth disappeared. Tier was confused, what happened ? He didn't have much time to think of it as he was sucker punched into the sky by Darth, from the same place he was when he disappeared. Was he always here. Tier thought about it as he fell back, being caught in-extremis by Darth. He then fainted from the pain.

Act 3

Tier woke up in a comfortable bed, stating the sun was rising. He fainted for this long ?

"Happy to see you up, friend." Said Darth, sitting on a chair close to him. Tier was gonna attack him but considering the strength gap, the current state of his body and the fact his former opponent didn't seem to mean any harm, he calmed down.

"I'm sorry for freaking you out, I seek for people who can travel across the Aus, so I couldn't stop myself from following you a bit" said Darth. "Also, my name is Darth no but you can call me Darth".

"Eh, no hard feeling, I attacked you first" said Tier. "My name is 404 Tier but you can call me Tier, 404 would be weird"

"Haha, you're a funny guy, what about you come with me to the Au where I have my GQ ? I know it's a kinda strange proposition to someone I met with less than a day ago, but it would be fun to see you meet my other friends. They're all strong Ignis users like you and…" but Tier interrupted him :

"I agree. It's always cool to meet strong Ignis users and I don't have anything else to do anyway."

"Really ? Neat. You can walk ?"

Tier left the bed and tried walking, confirming at the same time he didn't have any broken bones.

"Perfect, so let us go right now" Darth said as he used his Ignis to open a crack in the gate of fantasy, creating a portal beside him.

"Yeah, let's go" said Tier as he and Darth walked through the portal.

"And here we a… wait what !?" Screamed Darth as he saw where he and Tier were : a volcano, on a side of the lava crater, from where they were able to see the whole paysage below them : a dry and dark ground, and full cities of black obsidian filled with thousands of demons.

"I may be wrong, but I guess it's not the place you wanted to show me" said Tier.

"No, you're right, it seems that someone changed the destination of my portal. But who would be able to do that ?"

"Don't worry, you don't have to try to find out any longer" said a voice from the other side of the lava crater. "And this, because the person who tricked us here is me, the mighty Mael".

Act 4

"Do you happen to know who the hell this guy is ?" Asked Tier.

"Oh yeah, it's Mael. He refused to join my team and repeatedly mocked the name of my friend Ass. After it, he forced me into a fight and I ended beating him, even if it was really close" answered Darth

"Ok, I see better what kind of sickos he is, thank you" said Tier, using all his might to not laugh and prevent himself from making ass jokes.

"Yes, you tricked me and stole the victory from me, giving me my first loss. And I'm not really good at accepting defeat, so I thought I would get my revenge. But before…"

He destroyed Darth portal before snapping his fingers, creating a big trombone noise that echoed everywhere in a perimeter of Ten kilometers around. Demons started approaching.

"I thought I would make you play a little game : it's impossible to create a portal to escape into the 200 km perimeter around this volcano. Me, I can escape with a premade portal, but you, you can't do this anymore. Have fun surviving the demons" Mael said as he escaped by the said premade portal, who closed behind him.

"Well we're fucked" said Tier and Darth at the same time.

Act 5

They started to jump on the rock ledges of the volcano and, when they reached the bottom, they started to run toward the horizon with all their might. Some abominations tried to grab them, but they dodged it all, Tier using his Complaint to push away the enemies as Darth simply put some hits on them, which had the same effect. After a moment, they were practically at the end of the no-portals perimeter, and left their guard down. They immediately regretted it as a demon attacked them in the back. Darth succeeded in pushing Tier out of the way on time, but he got hit in the head and laid down unconscious. The demon tried to end Darth but Tier pushed him away with all his strength.

"Aww that's cute, you try to protect your friend, kiddo" mocked the demon, barely shaken.

Tier looked at him : he was relatively humanoid, but with so much muscles it seemed like he was gonna explode. From what he knew, these characteristics belonged to the Superdemons, a class of demon that was in their top 1%. Even if they weren't this powerful compared to other races, Tier still knew he was outclassed. But he couldn't let Darth die because of him.

"Hey, you big bastard, you like to hit the gym huh ? Well, try to hit my ass !" He said before starting to run away.

"HOW DARE YOU ! I'M GONNA RIP OFF YOUR HEAD AND USE IT TO WIPE MY ASS, YOU LITTLE BASTARD !" Screamed the superdemon.

T404 succeeded in putting distance between the monster and Darth, now he just had to stay alive too.

Act 6

Tier was now running for more than 10 minutes, and he knew that the superdemon was going to catch him, and that he would need to fight for his life. Since normal hits wouldn't do it, he tried to use his own strength against him. It worked out way better, sending the demon hundreds of meters away. But T404 knew that it wouldn't be enough : now that he estimated the global strength of the demon, he used Power Scaling to prevent him from using new abilities, and Complaint to make him lose his balance. The superdemon couldn't even stand, so Tier started mitrailling him with hits. Faster, stronger, more precise, without any pause : each second counted as each hit was potentially fatal for Tier. But suddenly, as he almost finished, he got headbutted by the demon, before getting hit so strong it sent him hundreds of meters away, like the superdemon before. He landed close to a giant pit, and at the last moment gripped the edge, as he looked below him to see bloody obsidian spikes at the bottom.

"Who is a bastard now kiddo ?" Chuckled the Superdemon with a grin. "I think it's the one who's gonna end in this pit" he said while lifting his leg, ready to crush Tier's hand to let him fall on the spike.

"Yeah, I think so. You too, Darth ?" Asked Tier as he looked behind the superdemon. This last looked behind himself too and Tier profited to grab his leg and take him in his fall. Tier then used him as a support to jump up, and successfully landed alive on the edge, as the superdemon died on the spike.

He thought it was finally finished, and hardly got up to come back to where he left Darth No, but a voice stopped him :

"Why are you so in a rush" asked Mael, a smile on his face.

Act 7

Tier barely tried to do anything when a pillar appeared from below him and crushed him away, practically one-shotting him : Mael was too strong and he was too tired.

"Honestly, I didn't think you would actually best him, even I would have been tired from fighting such a powerful foe" praised Mael.

"But at the end, you're just like Darthy, using tricks to beat people that deserved to win more than you. Because of it, you're gonna die today, fucktard." Said Mael as he prepared a new attack.

"I'm not really ok with this, so you'll have to cut it out, sorry"

It was Darth no who, in the meantime, woke up and ran to join them.

But he was tired and hurt, did he even stood a chance against the mighty Mael in this state ?

But he wasn't in the position to do anything else : demons were slowly approaching their localisation, he couldn't abandon Tier after he risked his life for him, and Mael wouldn't let him go anyways.

"Let's find out" thought Darth as he activated his Ignis and engaged the fight, enduring the pain.

Act 8

"Where am I ?" Thought Tier. Was he dead ? He remembered getting knocked out by Mael in the demon world, and was now in a place he didn't recognize… no, he definitely wasn't feeling like he was dead.

"I'll tell you this right now, you're not dead." Said a voice behind him. Tier turned around to see a tall man in front of him.

"In fact, your body is not even actually here, I asked my friend Kagami to let me use his Dream gate so I can meet you"

"And who are you ?" Tier asked.

"I'm Dusk, the god and guardian of the Soul gate, known to be the smarter being in the ten realities and after. All the pleasure is mine, would you like a cup of tea ?" said Dusk.

Tier was impressed by this presentation but currently, he had more important things to do than chatting with a god around a cup of tea :

"Listen, I'm honored by your interest into me, but my friend is currently fighting a strong foe while injured and he may die if I don't wake up to help him"

"I can't, I'd remember you you're knocked out. And even if you weren't, with your current power and state, you would be more of a dead weight than anything else." Dusk explained, not even trying to spare Tier ego.

"So why don't you stay a bit with me, reading Pierre Botero books and drinking tea, while I explain to you the important reason that pushed me to convoc you here ?" He added.

"Well I guess You're ri… wait did you said Pierre Botero ? It's my favorite adventure writer !" Clamed Tier.

"Really ? I only suggested it like this, but this is actually one of my favorite french writer too."

They talked a moment about which book he wrote was the best, taking a good time and  drinking the tea Dusk materialized for them, until Dusk finally got back to the main topic :

"So, the reason I called your mind here was because of this thing" he said while pointing something with his finger. It was a floating button where something was written : "A\*#$%%&@" ? Tier cannot properly read it.

"What does this thing have to do with me ?" He asked to Dusk.

"You may not know it but that "thing" was and is still profoundly entrusted in your soul, and even me, the god of Soul, can't read it or separate it from your soul" answered Dusk.

"Really ?!"

"Really, and that's why I made you come here, to tell you to be careful with it. Well it was really nice to talk with you, and I promise I'll contact you if I find anything about it but…"

"But what ?" Asked Tier as he felt his consciousness fade away.

"But now, your body is waking up. It seems like your friend successfully escaped his opponent by using the Fantasy gate, taking you with him. Goodbye, friend."

Act 9

Tier woke up, his whole body in pain.

"Are you ok ?" Asked Darth, who seemed in an even worse state.

"Compared to you I guess that yes. But what kind of trick did you use to take us out alive ?" Asked Tier.

"It's my Ignis, Proba manipulation. I can enhance my luck at the highest, guaranteeing myself to always come out by one way or another. It can also show my foe a possible outcome of any event, instead of the real one, that's the thing I used against you" answered Darth.

"Ok, i get it now, but is this really ok to reveal to me your Ignis like this ?" Tier questioned.

Maybe Darth thought he was too weak to beat him even while knowing his abilities ?

"Well, it's because we're friends now : you saved my life, I saved yours, we should give all our trust to each other now" declared Darth with a smile.

"You come ? I'm gonna present you all my weird buddies" he said, grabbing Tier hand and starting to walk toward a big house.

He presented him all of them :

Ass, the calm guy that everybody roasted because of his name, but that everyone actually likes. He was traumatized by Mael during their first meeting.

Misquif, the hyperactive and funny guy that was always running everywhere.

Elysia, the so-called detective. He wasn't really a member of the team, but he was often passing by.

And finally, Birb, the mysterious man of the group. At first, Tier was always feeling weird while being close to him, even if it stopped as the time passed.

As of now, they were a family.

Act 10

404 Tier never thought he needed family, friends, or even close people.

3 months after joining.

"You want a chocolate bar ?" Asked Darth no.

Tier now was starting to make up his mind.

8 months after joining.

"You forgot your jacket" Ass said as he gave it to him.

What was this warm feeling ?

1 and a half years after joining.

"Wanna go run with me ? I'm gonna reduce my speed for you to keep up to, let's say, mach 8 ? Hehe" joked Misquif.

Tier felt a big smile on his face, without knowing why, and started feeling good.

2 and a half years after joining.

"Hey tier, do you want me to humiliate you again ? Yes ? Well let's do it" said Elysia as he sat beside him to play Morio Kort with him.

It was his home. As he realized it, he was barely able to keep his tears in.

3 years after joining.

"You seem to have fully adapted to our group life, I'm happy for you" said Birb

He was right, Tier was one of them now, and was happy about it. He was happy. Finally.

But sadly for him, this story wasn't about happiness. It was about tears, blood and death.

Act 11

One day, they heard of cracks on the gates of Nightmare and of Fear, that created a place where the two places were merging. Intrigued, they came to see it with their own eyes. They couldn't believe what they saw there :

"What in the actual fuck it is" thought out loud Elysia, who decided to follow them this day.

In the place where the two gates should have touched each other, there only was a big hole, darker than the black and emptier than the void. How did something like this happen ?

"It's a pretty awesome view, right ?" Said a voice behind Birb.

This one looked down to see a sword piercing his stomach and started coughing blood.

"Did you miss me you bitches ?" Ironically asked Mael.

He probably knew they would come to see, and waited for them to stab them in the back.

"Goodbye, portal morphing guy" he said as he started raising the sword beyond his head to end Birb.

But at the last moment, Darth broke in and took the hit. Mael smiled :

"I knew you were going to step in, you're sooooooo boring and predictable with your heroic bullshit… and that's why you're having such a pathetic death" He said as he launched him into the gates black hole.

"NOOOOO !" They all screamed. But it was already too late. While Tier was applying bandages on Birb while crying, Misquif Elysia and Ass rushed Mael, who fought back with the smile.

"Why…" said Tier. His best friend just died, they needed to take revenge. But as he looked at the fight, he saw that Mael, still smiling, was dominating pretty easily.

So that was how the karma worked ? Tier's soul was burning and, as he finished helping Birb, he concentrated all his power on Mael. Even if Mael was really strong, from his viewpoint, he was only a bug who couldn't even scratch Darth without cheating, so as he used Power Scaling on him, he practically blocked all of his powers. The other would then start tabassing him and, eventually, Tier, with Ass help, ended up launching Mael in the Black hole.

"Don't talk about pathetic deaths, you bitch" said T404 as they all started crying the death of their beloved leader.

In the meantime, Mael body was slowly resurrecting, absorbing the power of the Absolute Void where he was resting.

Epilogue

5 years after Tier joined,

One year after the gates got repaired.

It has been two years since Darth died and on the outside, It seemed like everything came back to normal, but inside, it wasn't alright.

Nothing was alright : life was shit, the world was hell, humans were devils. They were all fighting to live, living to suffer, all of this to end up dying anyway. Even if he was the one that knew him during the shortest time, 404 Tier was as affected by Darth death as the others, maybe even more, though he didn't want to accept it. And one day, when he went to left flowers on his grave :

"It's ok, it's ok, it's not like I knew it this long. It's not like he was part of my family. It's ok, it's not… not…"

Tears started flowing.

"I'M OK ! I'M OK ! I'M NOT SAD AND EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT ! YES THAT'S IT, EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT ! EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT ! EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT !

… everything is alright".

He started crying on the ground, as he wasn't even able to stand anymore.

"Why ? WHY ? WHY DID YOU HAD TO DIE !"

A first drop of water landed on him. Then a second. Then a third. The rain was pouring on him. Tier started laughing and dancing under the rain, before he saw the button Dusk showed him 5 years ago pop up in front of him. Intrigued, he tried to read the button and succeed, laughing even harder than before :

"So that is what was written then ? Hehe, that's so fucking ridiculous" Tier said as he clicked on the button, before wings started growing in his back.

T!Butterfly404 would execute the last movement of his dance and leave his flowers on Darth's empty grave. He then slowly walked toward his home as he returned to his normal state. Home, sweet home

Prelude

T404, who at this time and until recently called himself 404 tier, has never been bullied in school. He had some friends and even good grades. But he wasn't happy.

His world seemed cold, really cold and no matter how many people were around him, he felt alone.

People have never been able to understand, even with the help of loved ones and friends, It was never helpful, he didn't feel sad, angry or hateful, he felt frustration , Once at the School his best friends were attacked, seeing his Frustration reached the limit, he unlocked Ignis and defeated the attackers, After this event, people considered him a monster, which cut him off from the world.

He felt too different from the others, for two distinct reasons : the first one was he never liked to think in the box, pushing away the others when they tried to "make him more normal".

The second one was his Ignis : rather than giving overwhelming power, it was destined to block others' Igniss, the special power everybody had in this world.

If it was weak, they would've probably overseen that, but his Ignis was one of the strongest inside his au, even able to go to another au using the cracks in the gate of fantasy to navigate in the multiverse.

One day, he would go and never come back, not supporting the other people staring at him with fear and disgust anymore.

Eventually he went far beyond the Horizon, fighting and discovering his reality, briefly meeting the god Dusk and even winning a fight against a demon.

He would eventually meet by sheer luck the other strong Ignis users and then stick with them. They were strong, weird, and funny, so exactly what he was too and what he asked for.

He wouldn't hesitate to fully use his power and have other people looking at him like a monster if it was to protect them.

But of course, he would never say it out loud.

Act 1

Out of them all, the first one he met was Darth No, the strongest of them all. 404 tier was randomly walking in a street in a classic universe, while some dumb thieves tried to rob him.

"Pffft, get lost you bugs" he said as he used Complaint to put them to sleep.

"Weakfucks" he added.

"Hey buddy, this is useless to talk to people who fainted because they, well, fainted" said a voice beside him. It was Darth no.

Tier looked at him, pissed off. He already had an horrible day, people tried robbing him, and now a strange bastard was mocking him ?

"Get lost" Tier said looking at the stranger.

"What ? I'm not gonna do this after all the time I wasted to find you, little Au traveler".

Act 2

Tier immediately attacked Darth after hearing it. Darth would avoid the hit, Tier fist destroying a wall instead.

"Your aim is not really terrible, I now get why you have glasses" said Darth.

Tier tried to hit him again, but Darth would avoid each and every hit, and send him flying away.

"Ouch" did Tier. The arm where he got hit was hurting, another hit and he would be broken.

He changed his tactic : he faked a hit with his right hand before using Complaint, distracting Darth. He then punched him with his left fist, sending him flying away, so they would be even.

"Nice punch" Darth said with a bit of blood flowing from his lips. Tier was already trying to attack him again, because he knew he maybe wouldn't have another chance of winning. But suddenly, Darth disappeared. Tier was confused, what happened ? He didn't have much time to think of it as he was sucker punched into the sky by Darth, from the same place he was when he disappeared. Was he always here. Tier thought about it as he fell back, being caught in-extremis by Darth. He then fainted from the pain.

Act 3

Tier woke up in a comfortable bed, stating the sun was rising. He fainted for this long ?

"Happy to see you up, friend." Said Darth, sitting on a chair close to him. Tier was gonna attack him but considering the strength gap, the current state of his body and the fact his former opponent didn't seem to mean any harm, he calmed down.

"I'm sorry for freaking you out, I seek for people who can travel across the Aus, so I couldn't stop myself from following you a bit" said Darth. "Also, my name is Darth no but you can call me Darth".

"Eh, no hard feeling, I attacked you first" said Tier. "My name is 404 Tier but you can call me Tier, 404 would be weird"

"Haha, you're a funny guy, what about you come with me to the Au where I have my GQ ? I know it's a kinda strange proposition to someone I met with less than a day ago, but it would be fun to see you meet my other friends. They're all strong Ignis users like you and…" but Tier interrupted him :

"I agree. It's always cool to meet strong Ignis users and I don't have anything else to do anyway."

"Really ? Neat. You can walk ?"

Tier left the bed and tried walking, confirming at the same time he didn't have any broken bones.

"Perfect, so let us go right now" Darth said as he used his Ignis to open a crack in the gate of fantasy, creating a portal beside him.

"Yeah, let's go" said Tier as he and Darth walked through the portal.

"And here we a… wait what !?" Screamed Darth as he saw where he and Tier were : a volcano, on a side of the lava crater, from where they were able to see the whole paysage below them : a dry and dark ground, and full cities of black obsidian filled with thousands of demons.

"I may be wrong, but I guess it's not the place you wanted to show me" said Tier.

"No, you're right, it seems that someone changed the destination of my portal. But who would be able to do that ?"

"Don't worry, you don't have to try to find out any longer" said a voice from the other side of the lava crater. "And this, because the person who tricked us here is me, the mighty Mael".

Act 4

"Do you happen to know who the hell this guy is ?" Asked Tier.

"Oh yeah, it's Mael. He refused to join my team and repeatedly mocked the name of my friend Ass. After it, he forced me into a fight and I ended beating him, even if it was really close" answered Darth

"Ok, I see better what kind of sickos he is, thank you" said Tier, using all his might to not laugh and prevent himself from making ass jokes.

"Yes, you tricked me and stole the victory from me, giving me my first loss. And I'm not really good at accepting defeat, so I thought I would get my revenge. But before…"

He destroyed Darth portal before snapping his fingers, creating a big trombone noise that echoed everywhere in a perimeter of Ten kilometers around. Demons started approaching.

"I thought I would make you play a little game : it's impossible to create a portal to escape into the 200 km perimeter around this volcano. Me, I can escape with a premade portal, but you, you can't do this anymore. Have fun surviving the demons" Mael said as he escaped by the said premade portal, who closed behind him.

"Well we're fucked" said Tier and Darth at the same time.

Act 5

They started to jump on the rock ledges of the volcano and, when they reached the bottom, they started to run toward the horizon with all their might. Some abominations tried to grab them, but they dodged it all, Tier using his Complaint to push away the enemies as Darth simply put some hits on them, which had the same effect. After a moment, they were practically at the end of the no-portals perimeter, and left their guard down. They immediately regretted it as a demon attacked them in the back. Darth succeeded in pushing Tier out of the way on time, but he got hit in the head and laid down unconscious. The demon tried to end Darth but Tier pushed him away with all his strength.

"Aww that's cute, you try to protect your friend, kiddo" mocked the demon, barely shaken.

Tier looked at him : he was relatively humanoid, but with so much muscles it seemed like he was gonna explode. From what he knew, these characteristics belonged to the Superdemons, a class of demon that was in their top 1%. Even if they weren't this powerful compared to other races, Tier still knew he was outclassed. But he couldn't let Darth die because of him.

"Hey, you big bastard, you like to hit the gym huh ? Well, try to hit my ass !" He said before starting to run away.

"HOW DARE YOU ! I'M GONNA RIP OFF YOUR HEAD AND USE IT TO WIPE MY ASS, YOU LITTLE BASTARD !" Screamed the superdemon.

T404 succeeded in putting distance between the monster and Darth, now he just had to stay alive too.

Act 6

Tier was now running for more than 10 minutes, and he knew that the superdemon was going to catch him, and that he would need to fight for his life. Since normal hits wouldn't do it, he tried to use his own strength against him. It worked out way better, sending the demon hundreds of meters away. But T404 knew that it wouldn't be enough : now that he estimated the global strength of the demon, he used Power Scaling to prevent him from using new abilities, and Complaint to make him lose his balance. The superdemon couldn't even stand, so Tier started mitrailling him with hits. Faster, stronger, more precise, without any pause : each second counted as each hit was potentially fatal for Tier. But suddenly, as he almost finished, he got headbutted by the demon, before getting hit so strong it sent him hundreds of meters away, like the superdemon before. He landed close to a giant pit, and at the last moment gripped the edge, as he looked below him to see bloody obsidian spikes at the bottom.

"Who is a bastard now kiddo ?" Chuckled the Superdemon with a grin. "I think it's the one who's gonna end in this pit" he said while lifting his leg, ready to crush Tier's hand to let him fall on the spike.

"Yeah, I think so. You too, Darth ?" Asked Tier as he looked behind the superdemon. This last looked behind himself too and Tier profited to grab his leg and take him in his fall. Tier then used him as a support to jump up, and successfully landed alive on the edge, as the superdemon died on the spike.

He thought it was finally finished, and hardly got up to come back to where he left Darth No, but a voice stopped him :

"Why are you so in a rush" asked Mael, a smile on his face.

Act 7

Tier barely tried to do anything when a pillar appeared from below him and crushed him away, practically one-shotting him : Mael was too strong and he was too tired.

"Honestly, I didn't think you would actually best him, even I would have been tired from fighting such a powerful foe" praised Mael.

"But at the end, you're just like Darthy, using tricks to beat people that deserved to win more than you. Because of it, you're gonna die today, fucktard." Said Mael as he prepared a new attack.

"I'm not really ok with this, so you'll have to cut it out, sorry"

It was Darth no who, in the meantime, woke up and ran to join them.

But he was tired and hurt, did he even stood a chance against the mighty Mael in this state ?

But he wasn't in the position to do anything else : demons were slowly approaching their localisation, he couldn't abandon Tier after he risked his life for him, and Mael wouldn't let him go anyways.

"Let's find out" thought Darth as he activated his Ignis and engaged the fight, enduring the pain.

Act 8

"Where am I ?" Thought Tier. Was he dead ? He remembered getting knocked out by Mael in the demon world, and was now in a place he didn't recognize… no, he definitely wasn't feeling like he was dead.

"I'll tell you this right now, you're not dead." Said a voice behind him. Tier turned around to see a tall man in front of him.

"In fact, your body is not even actually here, I asked my friend Kagami to let me use his Dream gate so I can meet you"

"And who are you ?" Tier asked.

"I'm Dusk, the god and guardian of the Soul gate, known to be the smarter being in the ten realities and after. All the pleasure is mine, would you like a cup of tea ?" said Dusk.

Tier was impressed by this presentation but currently, he had more important things to do than chatting with a god around a cup of tea :

"Listen, I'm honored by your interest into me, but my friend is currently fighting a strong foe while injured and he may die if I don't wake up to help him"

"I can't, I'd remember you you're knocked out. And even if you weren't, with your current power and state, you would be more of a dead weight than anything else." Dusk explained, not even trying to spare Tier ego.

"So why don't you stay a bit with me, reading Pierre Botero books and drinking tea, while I explain to you the important reason that pushed me to convoc you here ?" He added.

"Well I guess You're ri… wait did you said Pierre Botero ? It's my favorite adventure writer !" Clamed Tier.

"Really ? I only suggested it like this, but this is actually one of my favorite french writer too."

They talked a moment about which book he wrote was the best, taking a good time and  drinking the tea Dusk materialized for them, until Dusk finally got back to the main topic :

"So, the reason I called your mind here was because of this thing" he said while pointing something with his finger. It was a floating button where something was written : "A\*#$%%&@" ? Tier cannot properly read it.

"What does this thing have to do with me ?" He asked to Dusk.

"You may not know it but that "thing" was and is still profoundly entrusted in your soul, and even me, the god of Soul, can't read it or separate it from your soul" answered Dusk.

"Really ?!"

"Really, and that's why I made you come here, to tell you to be careful with it. Well it was really nice to talk with you, and I promise I'll contact you if I find anything about it but…"

"But what ?" Asked Tier as he felt his consciousness fade away.

"But now, your body is waking up. It seems like your friend successfully escaped his opponent by using the Fantasy gate, taking you with him. Goodbye, friend."

Act 9

Tier woke up, his whole body in pain.

"Are you ok ?" Asked Darth, who seemed in an even worse state.

"Compared to you I guess that yes. But what kind of trick did you use to take us out alive ?" Asked Tier.

"It's my Ignis, Proba manipulation. I can enhance my luck at the highest, guaranteeing myself to always come out by one way or another. It can also show my foe a possible outcome of any event, instead of the real one, that's the thing I used against you" answered Darth.

"Ok, i get it now, but is this really ok to reveal to me your Ignis like this ?" Tier questioned.

Maybe Darth thought he was too weak to beat him even while knowing his abilities ?

"Well, it's because we're friends now : you saved my life, I saved yours, we should give all our trust to each other now" declared Darth with a smile.

"You come ? I'm gonna present you all my weird buddies" he said, grabbing Tier hand and starting to walk toward a big house.

He presented him all of them :

Ass, the calm guy that everybody roasted because of his name, but that everyone actually likes. He was traumatized by Mael during their first meeting.

Misquif, the hyperactive and funny guy that was always running everywhere.

Elysia, the so-called detective. He wasn't really a member of the team, but he was often passing by.

And finally, Birb, the mysterious man of the group. At first, Tier was always feeling weird while being close to him, even if it stopped as the time passed.

As of now, they were a family.

Act 10

404 Tier never thought he needed family, friends, or even close people.

3 months after joining.

"You want a chocolate bar ?" Asked Darth no.

Tier now was starting to make up his mind.

8 months after joining.

"You forgot your jacket" Ass said as he gave it to him.

What was this warm feeling ?

1 and a half years after joining.

"Wanna go run with me ? I'm gonna reduce my speed for you to keep up to, let's say, mach 8 ? Hehe" joked Misquif.

Tier felt a big smile on his face, without knowing why, and started feeling good.

2 and a half years after joining.

"Hey tier, do you want me to humiliate you again ? Yes ? Well let's do it" said Elysia as he sat beside him to play Morio Kort with him.

It was his home. As he realized it, he was barely able to keep his tears in.

3 years after joining.

"You seem to have fully adapted to our group life, I'm happy for you" said Birb

He was right, Tier was one of them now, and was happy about it. He was happy. Finally.

But sadly for him, this story wasn't about happiness. It was about tears, blood and death.

Act 11

One day, they heard of cracks on the gates of Nightmare and of Fear, that created a place where the two places were merging. Intrigued, they came to see it with their own eyes. They couldn't believe what they saw there :

"What in the actual fuck it is" thought out loud Elysia, who decided to follow them this day.

In the place where the two gates should have touched each other, there only was a big hole, darker than the black and emptier than the void. How did something like this happen ?

"It's a pretty awesome view, right ?" Said a voice behind Birb.

This one looked down to see a sword piercing his stomach and started coughing blood.

"Did you miss me you bitches ?" Ironically asked Mael.

He probably knew they would come to see, and waited for them to stab them in the back.

"Goodbye, portal morphing guy" he said as he started raising the sword beyond his head to end Birb.

But at the last moment, Darth broke in and took the hit. Mael smiled :

"I knew you were going to step in, you're sooooooo boring and predictable with your heroic bullshit… and that's why you're having such a pathetic death" He said as he launched him into the gates black hole.

"NOOOOO !" They all screamed. But it was already too late. While Tier was applying bandages on Birb while crying, Misquif Elysia and Ass rushed Mael, who fought back with the smile.

"Why…" said Tier. His best friend just died, they needed to take revenge. But as he looked at the fight, he saw that Mael, still smiling, was dominating pretty easily.

So that was how the karma worked ? Tier's soul was burning and, as he finished helping Birb, he concentrated all his power on Mael. Even if Mael was really strong, from his viewpoint, he was only a bug who couldn't even scratch Darth without cheating, so as he used Power Scaling on him, he practically blocked all of his powers. The other would then start tabassing him and, eventually, Tier, with Ass help, ended up launching Mael in the Black hole.

"Don't talk about pathetic deaths, you bitch" said T404 as they all started crying the death of their beloved leader.

In the meantime, Mael body was slowly resurrecting, absorbing the power of the Absolute Void where he was resting.

Epilogue

5 years after Tier joined,

One year after the gates got repaired.

It has been two years since Darth died and on the outside, It seemed like everything came back to normal, but inside, it wasn't alright.

Nothing was alright : life was shit, the world was hell, humans were devils. They were all fighting to live, living to suffer, all of this to end up dying anyway. Even if he was the one that knew him during the shortest time, 404 Tier was as affected by Darth death as the others, maybe even more, though he didn't want to accept it. And one day, when he went to left flowers on his grave :

"It's ok, it's ok, it's not like I knew it this long. It's not like he was part of my family. It's ok, it's not… not…"

Tears started flowing.

"I'M OK ! I'M OK ! I'M NOT SAD AND EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT ! YES THAT'S IT, EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT ! EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT ! EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT !

… everything is alright".

He started crying on the ground, as he wasn't even able to stand anymore.

"Why ? WHY ? WHY DID YOU HAD TO DIE !"

A first drop of water landed on him. Then a second. Then a third. The rain was pouring on him. Tier started laughing and dancing under the rain, before he saw the button Dusk showed him 5 years ago pop up in front of him. Intrigued, he tried to read the button and succeed, laughing even harder than before :

"So that is what was written then ? Hehe, that's so fucking ridiculous" Tier said as he clicked on the button, before wings started growing in his back.

T!Butterfly404 would execute the last movement of his dance and leave his flowers on Darth's empty grave. He then slowly walked toward his home as he returned to his normal state. Home, sweet home.

Next : Tier Story Chapter 2 : The Anarchy and The Carp