Dominion 20.1
I let out a long, slow breath as I sat in the House. "So."
Skitter was the one standing, leaning against the wall. She didn't reply.
Dragon stalked around the room, eyes glowing as she cradled a cocoon she claimed was Fou in one arm, and Bertie in the other. The small Shard-admin thing gave a quiet trill.
"Who's left?" Vid asked hollowly.
Skitter turned her mask to him. "The kid, you three, and those pets. Even Aster's under the psycho's control." She didn't shift so much as stand up. "For the Servants? Running a quick count against what the kid knows, I'm not seeing his Moon Cancer or Foreigner, Nero, the kid's new… mother…" Skitter paused. "Or your girl." Skitter slumped.
Weaver stood, not bothering to change costume. "I know you like the outfit, but this mask could use work," she said flatly. "Also, you need to tell them what you told me about… all this."
The control visibly changed back.
You could tell the difference between Skitter and Weaver by the posture. Weaver was more relaxed, as though she knew everything was a temporary annoyance at worst. It came from having me to rely on.
Skitter held herself like a wounded animal, wary and ready to strike at sudden movement. She tried to hide it under standing tall like an unaffected badass, but it was still there. Perils of not having a swarm to shunt her emotions into, I guess.
"Alright. Crash course on the Earth-Hive, then."
Dragon stopped walking. "What happened."
"Khepri was summoned. She used her power - my power - to hijack Doctor Mother and force her to say the words and perform the actions. The air was saturated enough that she could ape the motions and tear the divide long enough to come through. It won't work for things like proper magecraft, Magic, or the use of Noble Phantasms, but at this point that's details." Skitter spoke in a brisk, icy tone. Where Taylor had an affectation of being deadpan out of amusement, Skitter was genuinely emotionally stunted. Or so I gathered. "Your friends are all puppets, but she can't use them to full effect. Lucky you."
"How do we free them?" I asked. "I'm going to assume bodies will drop at the first sign of me spreading the Water out."
"Good guess," Skitter said tartly. "She literally plans to force them to snap their own necks if she sees any sign of that. They'll warn you first, in hopes of taking you alive and unharmed, but she won't hesitate." She shook her head. "Except for Aster and Yamada, she marshalled everyone to her side immediately after summoning. Perks of Doormaker's power on tap. The Servants got scattered and my connection to the summonings are thinner than yours. You'll need to find them yourself."
"What are the anchors Ta- Weaver mentioned?" Vid asked, catching himself.
Skitter gave him a long look. "There's four. Three that matter; the fourth will handle itself if the other three are dealt with. Two we can do by stealth, the last will be tricky."
I nodded at her as I fiddled with a globe of light in my hands.
"First is the Command Seals. They're both a possible weapon and an anchor. If we can get Doctor Mother on our side, she can use them up and that's one down. Better if she can get them to stick and free the Guild and company."
I blinked. "And company?"
"The Travelers were in town in case Noelle would be needed with her Mystic Eyes. Same with Canary. The local Protectorate made it into the Gardens, Wards and all. Faultline's crew came back. And then there's New Wave." Skitter folded her arms. "If we get them loose, that's a lot of Servants and Capes. Which leads into the next one."
Dragon juggled Bertie as he squirmed with another loud noise. "Prii!"
"Archimedes. The catalyst got jammed into his body and co-opted his Saint Graph. It's what made the summoning work despite the summoner not having any magic circuits to speak of or talent for formalcraft. He's basically braindead so we need to finish the job." Skitter rolled her shoulders. "Three guesses for the last big one, and the first two don't count."
"Khepri herself," I said with a gesture towards Skitter.
"Yeah. Her. And she has five Endbringers, a bevy of powerful capes, and a lot of personal power between her and us."
"So… what is this, anyways?" Vid asked, gesturing out of a window.
Outside was Brockton… and from what we could tell, it was everywhere.
"Strictly speaking, this is still Earth Bet. Khepri creates a sort of… are you familiar with the concept of a Lostbelt?"
Dragon and Vid were visibly confused. Dragon blinked as Bertie rolled into Fou's cocoon, and Vid slumped as his head tilted.
I, on the other hand…
"FUCK."
Understood all too well.
"Right. So, it's like that but not. Her power is a sort of excuse plot to create a timeline where a certain event turned everyone into bugs and she won, the end. But the thing is… these people? Have no will of their own. In strict terms, she's created a timeline populated only with projections and overlaid it on top of all the other ones. The actual area is about the size of Earth, but thanks to space-time fuckery it can be perceived as much larger. Like a terrarium the size of several astronomical units larger. I don't know if she knows they're false, but she can see through and control them just fine. And thanks to her being Khepri, she can control the survivors."
The girl shivered, then looked up. Weaver was back in charge.
"I managed to insulate the Temple, Gardens, and House from the changes. But Khepri had the power to get in, and get through everyone's Magic Resistance - even Jeanne's."
I raised my hand. "So… she can control Endbringers, and my resistance is on par with Jeanne. So why am I not a good little pawn right now?"
Weaver shook her head. "I don't know, and neither does Skitter. Something about you makes Master powers slide right off. It's not an Endbringer thing, so it might be a change you made to your soul a long time ago. What matters is that you're free to act, and right now I'm shielding us from being noticed. That won't last forever, so we need a plan."
Vid nodded. "Right. So… you provide the prana for Servants, right? Can you find them?" he asked me.
I narrowed my eyes and reached out along the threads that connected them to me. There were so many, now, but I managed to find them.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I passed over the connection between Cu and I.
I'll save you. Hold on.
First I tested ZZ, then Fortuna. Then I lightly touched the thinner threads - Tamamo, Nero, and BB.
"ZZ and Fortuna are together. They have BB. The three of them are using Fortuna's copy of the Doormaker and Clairvoyant shards to pick up the other two, then they're coming here. Fortuna is also using the Champion for timing everything as ZZ is checking the future around them. I'd give them half an hour, tops." I sighed as I let the connection go.
Weaver's posture changed again.
"So we have our targets. The parahumans and Servants are potential assets. Do we have anything from your world?" Skitter asked.
I blinked and rubbed my forehead. "I… can step over there and check. Get things set. There's someone with Rin's Magic over there, and he can handle the transport. Now that I have a landing spot I can get there on my own."
It was true. I fully intended to drop in on Crowley and start screaming for help as loudly as possible. It might even work.
Skitter nodded sharply. "Good. Do that. I'll hold down the fort here until you return."
"You think you can convince them to help?" Vid said softly.
I gave him a savage grin as I stood up. "I mean, it's not like a Beast-class threat has a hold of a dimension-travelling Magician or anything, requiring all the preemptive punch the Clock Tower and friends can throw at it."
"...you do know she can't force Rin into using Kaleidoscope, right?" Skitter said after a moment.
"
I do."
Skitter stared at me for a long moment, then began to make soft huffing sounds.
It took me a moment to realize it was laughter.
"I can see why someone like you would get Lisa's attention. And Aisha's." Her voice was almost wistful. "What I wouldn't have given… well. You were there, in a way."
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Well. Yeah. I'll be back shortly." I raised my head. "We'll fix this mess."
Skitter retreated.
"Together," Weaver said firmly.
I grinned and pitched myself across universes with a Gate.
____________________________________________________________________________
But before I went to the Clock Tower, I made a pit stop.
Thankfully, there was only ever one space in that universe that looked a certain way.
<Query?>
<QUERY>
<Infestation.>
<INCOMPREHENSION>
<World-Death.>
<INCOMPREHENSION>
<Invasion.>
<COMPREHENSION>
<End.>
<ACKNOWLEDGEMENT>
<...Aid?>
<ACKNOWLEDGEMENT>
<Joy!>
<QUERY>
<Signal. Ownership> Pretty much everyone had been drenched in my aura or magic at some point or another, so it would know...
<ACKNOWLEDGEMENT/HUNT>
<Target.> Aaaand here's some Endbringer pictures…
<ANTICIPATION>
I had the mental sensation of someone patting my head.
<DISMISSAL>
Then I headed for the Clock Tower.
____________________________________________________________________________
Crowley blinked slowly at me as I appeared in his office. "What now?" he said plaintively.
"Tohsaka's been co-opted by Beast V-R. I have no idea why it hasn't started making moves here yet but it has a global aura that assumes complete physiological control," I said quickly.
Crowley stared at me. "And the unofficial version?"
"I'm in over my head and we need more than Barthomeloi, Edelfelt, and El-Melloi at our backs," I said flatly. "She is co-opted, but Khepri can't force people to use Magic, magecraft, or Phantasms."
Crowley sighed. "The best I can give you is marshalling those forces, which are not inconsiderate."
I opened my mouth in indignation.
"As well as my own personal aid. Zelretch will also likely help," he said coolly.
I closed my mouth. After I finished computing his answer, I continued. "We're working on the aura, so when I give the signal have Zelretch make two portals. One will be from your departure point to a deployment area."
Crowley stared at me. "And the other?"
"Mercury to the atmosphere of Earth-Bet."
The Director of the Clock Tower didn't speak for a moment. "You refer to the Crystal Spider. ORT."
"Yeah, it said it'd help. I just need to shut down Khepri's power to control anything but her projections and then it'll be able to take on one of her lieutenants."
He continued to stare. "
Just the one?"
"Yep."
The Director sat back in his chair. "By the Tree of Knowledge, you don't do things by halves do you?" he said in a tired voice. He gave a sharp nod. "I'll begin preparing the strike force at once. Go free your friends."
I sketched a quick salute. "Thanks, Director."
He waved me off as the Gate took me again.
____________________________________________________________________________
I stepped back into pandemonium.
Dragon was furiously meshing together materials in an attempt to tinker something, Vid was pacing a hole in the floor, Bertie looked seconds away from crying his little eyes out, and Taylor - Skitter was in control - had a hand placed against her forehead.
Nero was puffed up in indignation and in Tamamo's face, Fortuna was hugging herself in a corner, and ZZ floated in midair as BB savagely flailed in her grip.
"Eh?"
Oh, and Fou was still a ball of light because
of course he was.
"BB doesn't like me timesharing your sidekick's body," Skitter said shortly. "Unfortunately, my options are limited."
I raised a hand.
"Do you have time to make a fully functional body that can let me spy on Khepri without her noticing? Given we still have to get in and find a way to shut down the control aspect of her Master powers?"
I winced.
"Like I told you, she can control everyone naturally because they're projections. The people we're trying to free take up another power, so we should be able to convince Doctor Mother to use up her command seals to shut it down." Skitter dropped her hand and leaned back against the wall. "That kills two birds with one stone. We get people free,
and destroy an anchor."
BB growled. "So where would you be if Taylor hadn't decided to share her body with you?"
Skitter gazed at her for a moment. "In the back of Khepri's head, begging her ineffectually to not murder you all." She looked away.
BB puffed her cheeks out. "Ugh. Well, at least you're here where we can see you."
ZZ sighed. "Please stop. And she is Taylor, kind of. Just…"
"Not yours." Skitter put little emotion into it.
I shook my head. "And those two?"
"Nero," Tamamo said in a bitingly cold tone, "wants to go after Alice and Altera first. I'm trying to convince her that they're safer if we prioritize Khepri."
Nero whirled on me. "How are they safe if that madwoman has them enthralled!? If we get you near them-"
"She's been observing him and will probably have a countermeasure. Likely a ranged tactic or simply using an Endbringer to kill them from wherever she is the instant she detects a disruption in her control," Skitter said flatly. "Ziz would probably work. Her telekinesis doesn't seem to have a hard range, and we're all in the space that she and Leviathan can effect."
Nero stared at Skitter.
"I can keep you guys off her radar as long as you're close. Going in to find your loved ones will tip her off by virtue of them vanishing too. We disrupt her control, we have the means to find and protect them." Skitter turned to me.
I nodded. "Right. Our best bet to save everyone is a direct move on Khepri." I sighed. "So where's Archimedes being kept?"
"The castle, most likely," Skitter replied. "Likely not far from Doctor Mother."
"Will she be alright?" Fortuna asked, speaking up for the first time.
Skitter looked to her. "You're asking the wrong person that. I'm not too invested in her welfare, be it this version or the one I dealt with."
Fortuna's eyes narrowed. "If we need her cooperation-"
"Mostly we need the seals, so amputating her hand works just as well," Skitter replied.
The room went quiet.
"Yyyyikes," BB muttered.
Tamamo bristled quietly, then composed herself. "I think it would be better if you turned control over to Weaver for now," she said politely.
Skitter shifted, and shook her head.
Weaver looked at us. "Sorry. She's trying, but… she's uh…"
"Messed up in a lot of ways," I said quietly. "She's been through a lot. She survived Bakuda, Lung, lost limbs, tore out her eyes to avoid Masters… she's everything I tried to avert for you."
"And the other thing. Aster."
I nodded.
Weaver exhaled. "Right. So Doctor Mother knows you weren't her enemy, now. Her despair broke her down enough that Khepri got to her and performed the summoning with her as a patsy. Where does that leave us?"
"If we're going diplomatic route - as we
should," I said hurriedly, "Fortuna is likely our best bet. If she's put the pieces together she might also realize that she, ah… goofed… with regards to her."
Fortuna gave a sharp nod. "I'll talk her into it."
"Okay.
God, I wish Waver was here," I muttered. "Right. BB, Vid, I'll leave Fou and Bertie in your care. Vid, you hide the lot of you, and BB, you defend if someone somehow finds you. Also get Bertie in the open air. There's… countermeasures that do better out there."
"Prii!"
BB picked the fuzzball up. "And what exactly
can he do?" she said in an unimpressed tone.
Weaver gave him a once-over, then jerked. "Wait." She looked at me. "Did you…?"
I grinned. "It's a special surprise for very soon."
She shook her head. "Trust me on this, you want him outdoors," Weaver said after a moment. "It'll turn out better for all of us."
"Prii!"
"Okay. So Fortuna handles Doctor Mother, assuming she can hide from Khepri…?" Dragon said, gesturing.
"I can imitate Mantellum's power for a good while, and combine it with astralizing. Until I get to Doctor Mother, I can easily be incognito," Fortuna responded.
"Mantellum?" Vid asked.
"He was a Case-53, so an Eden Shard. Something about… power nullification? It blinded Shards, so the power should be a good workaround for avoiding her notice. If Doctor Mother gets close enough, Fortuna might be able to free her. Which, in turn, creates other problems," I said as I rubbed my forehead. I sighed. "What are the odds I can distract her enough to pull her attention to me and let you guys run around unchecked?"
Weaver shivered. Skitter responded.
"High. She hates you
almost as much as Scion, and that's saying something. You know something about me, then you know what I was up against. I… wasn't the picture of mental health. Petty, vengeful, murderous, amoral - that was what a lot of the county saw me as. Brockton knew I could be good, but I also used bullet ants as a disciplinary measure. Warlord was a good descriptor. So imagine someone like that who knows you're the goose who laid the golden egg and flew on by her."
"Translation: she's all the worst stuff
and everything made up about Khepri. Bitch is crazy and she blames
you," ZZ said as she flashed finger guns at me.
"Great," I croaked.
"Do you think you can handle her going at you?" Fortuna asked in concern.
"Maybe. I'll try," I said.
"So what will the rest of us be doing?" Dragon asked.
"ZZ, you'll be going with Dragon and Nero. I'm leaving Archimedes to you guys. Skitter, you're with me. Well, you and Weaver. You'll be the fallback if Khepri turns out to be too much for me to distract. Tamamo, you get your pick of things," I said with a wave of my arms.
"I'll be accompanying you. Fortuna will be fine on her- ah." She suddenly cut off.
"What?" I asked, blinking.
"So, there may have been one other who… escaped notice," Tamamo said with a mildly embarrassed smile.
"Eh?"
"
MIJO, YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE DAY I HAVE HAD!"
I wheezed as Quetzalcoatl wrapped her arms around me and swung me around. "It was horrible! So! Many! SPIDERS!"
Skitter stared at the Goddess. "...would anyone else have gotten away?"
"Gods are fundamentally different from humans, and Khepri has no Authority. I can't see Medusa abandoning Sakura or Shirou," Tamamo said apologetically. "Enkidu is probably keeping her from trying to misuse Gilgamesh, given they're made of clay. Sadly, Fran and Asterios both have human elements so…"
Nero nodded. "They're just… walking around like everyone else is. Patrolling."
"So Tamamo's with Taylor and I, and we're going to make Khepri mad as hell. In the meantime, BB and Vid are keeping Bertie and Fou safe until Fou hatches, Fortuna can take Quetz for backup to help Doctor Mother, and Dragon, Nero, and ZZ are dealing with Archimedes. I doubt taking out Khepri's actual self will be anything like easy-"
"Given she's sealed it away behind the Endbringers? No, no it won't be," Skitter said drily.
"GREAT."
"Nice plan, but… how are you guys getting up there?" BB asked as she held Bertie over her head. "It's kind of a few AU's away."
"In perception yes, but not in truth," Skitter replied. The cape turned to Fortuna. "I believe you have Doormaker and Clairvoyant?"
Fortuna nodded. "I do," she said with a smirk.
"Then we have our in." Skitter turned control back over to Weaver.
"I'll be heading our effort, given I've got more experience with the Fourth. Skitter will advise unless it comes to a close-range fight - she's better at those." Weaver looked at me. "So… I guess the last questions are: is there anything else, and are you ready?"
I wiggled my hand. "I got ORT to agree to pitch in, and the Director is getting all the backup he can grab. Barthomeloi and El-Melloi are a yes, Edelfelt will probably be a yes once Luvia puts Rin, Shirou, Sakura, and Beast together, and Zelretch is a very likely," I noted. "I just need to signal them once Khepri's control aura is bound."
"...that might tip the balance," Tamamo said in a high-pitched voice.
Eh? Oh. Ohhhh. "Oh right, you actually know what ORT is," I said with a nod.
"It's a top contender for TYPE-Mercury, yes," Tamamo said as she sharply shook her head. "What in the heavens did you do to convince it to help!?"
"Uh. It thought I was a cute wee bab when it decided to check what I was back in that universe, and said it would lend me a hand sometime. Or something of that nature. So I took it up on its offer!" I said cheerfully.
Tamamo made slow grasping motions with her hands. "Fortuna. Get us out of here before I do Khepri's job for her," she said in a pleasantly calm voice.
Fortuna's eyes went distant, then refocused. "Alright. I've plotted our courses." She looked sideways at me. "If you get in too much trouble, let me know as soon as possible."
I nodded.
Doors of silver light opened, and swallowed us all.
___________________________________________________________________________
BB held Bertie up as they sat on the roof of the House. "So… does this thing come with an instruction manual?"
"Prii!"
"Don't think so. Does this?" Dmitri asked as he shook the sphere of light formerly known as Fou.
"...probably not," BB admitted.
The two stared into the sky, crowded with what could have been various Earths, if not for their uniform brown-gray color.
"...that's a lot of cities." BB scowled. "Too many humans, ugh."
"You like us," Dmitri reminded her.
"Yeah, you, and Taylor, and Mattias. ZZ wasn't human to start with, and the rest of you are… okay, I guess. But the vast majority of your species? Ugh. Blegh. EXTERMINATE."
"What?"
"What?"
"Prii!"
BB shook her head. "Anyways. Removing the species without removing you guys isn't in the cards, so I might as well look after them. Keep them from being too much of a pain in the neck to us civilized life forms." She shrugged. "I mean, it's why I've been doing what I've been doing." With a sigh, she dropped Bertie into her lap. "The things I do for love and entertainment."
Bertie settled down and gazed at the sky from his seat.
"He's such a cute little guy. Hard to imagine he's patterned after that monstrosity," Dmitri noted.
"He's got something on the ball, I'll say that much," BB said. Then she smirked. "Heh. 'Ball'. He's
spherical."
"Bertie's shaped like a friend," Dmitri said with a soft laugh as he scratched the small life-form's head. His smile faded a bit. "Can they really handle this on their own?"
"Fortuna can keep her and Quetzalcoatl hidden; it's a question of Quetz not suplexing or burning anything long enough for them to get to Doctor Mother. For Dragon's group, Nero can use her Imperial Privilege to do almost anything - which isn't as bullshit as what I can do, but still something - so getting them to Archimedes undetected isn't out of the question. ZZ's clairvoyance should keep them out of trouble," BB ticked off on her fingers.
"You didn't say anything about Grail," Dmitri reminded her.
"Yeah, because they're going to beard the goddess in her den. That's
nuts.
I wouldn't do it," BB said in a harsh tone.
"Uh," Dmitri said as Bertie began to quiver, eyes watering.
"Seriously, where does he get off!? Almost indestructible isn't indestructible, and to leave us behind!? We're both powerhouses, you could keep people hidden or trick her power while we talk to the Doctor or SOMETHING," she shouted, waving her arms.
"Priiiii…" The blobling's eyes began to drip tears like miniature waterfalls, mouth quivering.
"Babe, listen," Dmitri hissed, looking back and forth between Bertie and BB as he held Fou's cocoon away from the impending disaster.
Bertie's tears began to glow.
"IN WHAT WORLD WAS LEAVING US BEHIND A GOOD IDEA!?" BB roared, flinging her hands skywards and jostling Bertie as she kicked her legs out.
"
BWAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The small creature began to cry and sob wildly, glowing blue tears flowing out of its screwed-shut eyes.
"What the shit?" BB yelped as she stood up, Bertie falling onto the roof.
"Oh god, BB he's round!" Dmitri yelled as he chased the… not-rolling ball-creature?
"...he's not rolling?" BB said faintly.
The tears flowed down the house, and began to pool and spread.
It was then that the two noticed something.
The House was free-floating in the giant terrarium that Khepri had made - disconnected from the many Earths. Not too far off were the Temple and Gardens, in much the same situation.
"Uh…" Dmitri said hesitantly.
The tears floated outward, rapidly forming a body of water.
"...where is all of that coming from?" BB asked with wide eyes.
They looked at Bertie as he continued to wail.
"
BWAAAAAAH!"
"Uh, buddy, you're gonna get dehydrated…" BB said hesitantly.
Dmitri prodded the water curiously. "Oh."
"What?" BB asked flatly.
"It's Grail's Water."
BB froze. "You mean… Tiamat's Water? The Tide of Life?"
"Guess so," Dmitri said. He set Fou's cocoon in the runoff, and it stayed put.
However, the two noticed it began to glow brighter.
"So one of the security measures he put into fuzzy lumpkins here is it can cry the Tide of Life into existence," BB said cheerfully. "Because of fucking course it can."
The two superpowered individuals stood helplessly as the small creature's flow of tears began to reach the size of a large lake - in the minute or so since it had started crying.
"This is
such bullshit."
"Mm-hm," Dmitri said as stretched. "Well, I doubt Mattias would have made it hurt him, so let him cry himself out and it'll be fine."
"
BWAAAAAAH!"
"I'd feel bad if that was, you know, a thing I did. But honestly I'm more annoyed than anything," BB said as her eyebrow twitched.
"He's also probably indestructible, or close to it. Which is good," Dmitri said off-handedly as he squatted by Fou's glowing cocoon.
BB sighed. "Why do
you get to look after the quiet one?"
"Because you made Bertie cry. Consider it a penalty."
BB sighed as she watched the Water continue to flood further and further. Her eyes narrowed.
Was that Water coming from somewhere else? It seemed to spread too quickly for a single point of influx.
And that
sound…
She grinned. "Oh you damned evil genius," she muttered.
"Eh?" Dmitri asked absentmindedly as he lightly prodded the glowing ball.
"Nothing, darling!" BB said in a playful tone.
"Mmkay. Let me know if I need to do anything," Vid replied.
BB nodded and gave a savage grin to Khepri's little multiverse. "Yup! 'Kay! Will do!"
Heh. Heh. Heh. Better hurry dear kouhai, or mummy might steal the show.
____________________________________________________________________________
I landed with Weaver and Tamamo inside a massive chamber of smooth stone, mostly open to the air above.
Khepri reclined in a large throne hewn with Egyptian-inspired solar imagery, and she peacefully chatted with… huh?
The woman looked like Lisa, true. But that scarification around her lips…
"That's
her Tattletale. She's as fake as the rest," Skitter muttered, taking over. "But even odds Khepri has deluded herself into thinking she's real."
"...what happens when they-"
"Sand. Just… right into sand. And then even that vanishes, much like when Servants vanish into light." Skitter's pose relaxed back into Weaver.
"She won't notice us unless we make the first move; I made sure of that," she said. "But we need to move quickly. She'll still be able to multitask even with the distraction, so you'll need something hard-hitting."
...I had some ideas.
"Psychologically speaking, what would hit her the hardest?" I asked.
Skitter took over again. "Aster, Yamada. Lisa doing her thing or dying."
"...what about Emma or Sophia?"
Skitter shook her head. "Beneath her. And I'd mostly let go of that by the end, too."
I looked at the false Tattletale. "So… she's her emotional support? Her crutch?"
"Yes…?" Skitter said slowly.
Tamamo drew a sharp breath. "Grail-"
"Then we kick her support out from under her," I said softly. "If she stays active, she could prove as damaging as anything to our plans."
Skitter lowered her head. "I don't like it."
"You just said she's not real!" I hissed.
"That doesn't mean she doesn't look like my best friend!" Skitter retorted, heat in her voice for the first time since she appeared to us.
"Grail, look!" Tamamo snapped quietly.
I peered over, and felt my eyes widen.
Armsmaster.
Tattletale. Ours.
And Cu Chulainn.
All three knelt before Khepri, unmoving.
"We need to be careful. She could kill them easily," Tamamo said, sotto voice.
"So setting her off by depriving her of Tattletale-"
"Altertale."
Skitter's head moved as though rolling her eyes. "
Fine. Altertale. But killing her won't fix our problem."
I exhaled. "A hostage? Shutting her up is easy."
Skitter snorted. "So you think."
I shook my head. "It'll be fine. Tamamo?"
The fox priestess nodded. "I'll cover you."
"Weaver?"
She took over. "I'll close and keep those three locked down and out of the fight."
We moved.
I used my Gate and appeared behind Altertale, and light spun from my hands. It solidified into a strip of material that adhered across her mouth, causing her eyes to widen.
Well, that and my seizing her and placing a hand reshaped into a claw against her ribs.
Khepri's eyes widened. "What the hell do yo-"
Weaver appeared and a dim grey aura enshrouded the captives. They slumped, relaxing.
"Fuck," Tattletale wheezed.
Armsmaster coughed, gripping his shoulder with his organic hand. "That was… uncomfortable."
Cu stood shakily, and brandished his spear.
Tamamo stood by Khepri, blade pointed at her neck and mirror spiraling around her. The necklace of beads draped over her body.
"Heya Khepri," I said in a faux-merry voice. "Let's
chat."
Altertale made an angry, muffled sound. I felt something impact me lightly.
"...did he even notice?" Weaver asked distantly.
"Probably not," Armsmaster said in a flat voice.
I looked down.
Huh.
"That usually works," Khepri allowed. "But given the opponent…"
The nanothorn knife Altertale kept trying to stab into my genitals through my pants did little more than reveal the marble-like material behind the cloth. And shed some grey mist from itself.
Tink.
"Let them go or I kill her," I said finally.
Khepri arched an eyebrow. "Let
her go or I kill
them."
"Or I can make you," I said conversationally.
Khepri sighed. "You really can't," she said with a smirk.
I spun Altertale as a wave of concussive force that would have shattered my body blew at me, halting it inches from impact.
"...shit," Khepri muttered. "Alright, time for plan bee."
"Did you
just?" Weaver said in disbelief.
The harsh buzzing as the room darkened with millions of tiny bodies occluded any further commentary.
Weaver had Tamamo and the others in her range, so was able to protect them.
I, however, switched to my draconic form to avoid getting an extra dose of protein for the day.
"So," the buzzing roared in my ears, "feeling like letting her go now?"
Altertale made a muffled plea, and I noticed not a single bee had landed on her. They couldn't penetrate my armored skin, so they tried in vain to sting me.
"Not rea-"
A powerful telekinetic force gripped me and tried to wrench me away from Altertale.
I clung tighter, and heard an annoyed growl as the bees dispersed.
"Alright," Khepri said with narrowed eyes. "Brute-forcing it won't he-" She paused.
The bees had dispersed - but they hadn't left.
Weaver stared at her. "You brought bugs to fight
me."
The illusion dropped.
Every bee in the swarm was made of crystal.
"Wh- how?" Khepri said, shocked. "Those were- but!"
"You backed us into a corner," Skitter said icily as she took over. She reached down, and plucked a gun from Tattletale's side. "Did you really expect us to play fair? Transmuting material is one of the more basic powers of the Fourth. And now we control them without having to fight you."
Khepri leaned back. "So you do." Her eyes narrowed. "But like you…"
"
I have other options."
The roaring dragon-shaped mass collided with Weaver, knocking her back and away, making Tattletale, Armsmaster, and Cu freeze up again.
"DID YOU THINK ALL I HAD WERE PARLOR TRICKS!?" Lung screamed at Weaver. He had six arms, and his scales were a chitinous brown rather than silver. His wings had also transmogrified into literal dragonfly wings.
A black-shrouded figure with no wings but four arms slammed into Tamamo, sending her flying.
From the single pink eye along with the brown, it seemed a Pretender-possessed Alexandria was
also available.
Tamamo cried out in shock and pain as a fist caught her face, snapping her head back. A bruise already began to form.
"You see…" the Alexandria copy said in a low voice.
"ALL THAT I OBTAINED…" Lung continued.
"IN GOLD MORNING, FROM THE OIL PLATFORM ON? IS MINE." howled through the entire castle and beyond.
Weaver rolled away from Lung, and I could see Skitter tap in. The bugs landed and began to gnaw at his armor, while Pretender-Alexandria circled around a now wary Tamamo.
Our friends remained enthralled by Khepri, who stared hungrily at me.
"Give me back what's mine," she growled, her voice echoing softly in various timbres.
"You first," I hissed.
"I want my friend back."
"
I want the world back."
Fire blazed around, and the throne room began to break under the force of Pretender's fists and Tamamo's spells.
Skitter smoothly dodged around Lung's blows, narrowly averting each strike as it came.
I tapped my foot on the ground. "Let's not mince words."
"Your world was an abomination. If not for your existence, if not for you having spawned it, it would have been a 'pruned' timeline. The nature of a utopia is that it does not exist," Khepri said bitterly. "By making a world with so little suffering, it is automatically prepared for destruction."
I stared right at her. "Duly noted, Miss Armageddon."
"I'm saving it!" she growled out, other voices raising to meet hers.
Lung. Pretender. Tattletale. Cu. Armsmaster.
But… not Altertale's.
Interesting.
"So why not control Lisa? Your Lisa?" I asked.
"She's of more use to me free," Khepri responded quickly.
A slow smile spread across my face as Skitter slammed Lung across the burning floor behind me.
"Free?" I asked in amusement.
Altertale hadn't been struggling, but at that she tried to reach for what was covering her mouth in sharp, frantic movements.
"What a perverted sentiment, Beast. You stole the agency of everything living on earth, supplanted the rest with your memories, and you think this…
person is free?"
Khepri blinked. "What do you mean?"
Pretender faltered, only for Tamamo to lash out with a meteor of ice that carried her body away with a mighty crash.
I scowled as Altertale bit through the muffle.
"Don't listen to- hrk!"
I reformed it quickly. It wouldn't do to have our plans ruined.
"Tell me. How do you know something is just another one of your memories?" I asked quietly. "Just another projection?"
Khepri's eyes narrowed. "What are you playing at?"
Once more, I smiled.
"Why don't you take a closer look at Lisa, here?" I offered, jostling Altertale. "What you find might… surprise you."
Khepri scoffed. "Lisa is real. She'll always be with me, right until the end. Don't try to fuck with my head."
I kept smiling. "Coward."
Her head snapped toward me, and though she didn't emote, a chorus of angry shrieks and buzzing rose from outside.
____________________________________________________________________________
Fortuna prowled down the halls, homing in on the information her clairvoyance gave to her.
Khepri was
nothing like either version of Taylor. A childish madwoman, with a harsh smattering of a savior complex. That, and an all-consuming force of power.
If they'd known what had turned her into the gibbering mess at the end…
Fortuna shuddered as she passed another pair of unseeing guards. Clockblocker and Grue, but insects.
The shards she was using would have run low, if not for the fact she'd been… cheating, a little.
Champion, her own, didn't have a limit anymore, but the 'why' of the 'how' she received still eluded her. Fortunately, she was able to apply a variety of other Thinker abilities to parse out the minutiae that went unremarked. Switching between them was as easy as-
"
Que desastre. Fortuna, is what Grail's doing really holding that much attention?" Quetzalcoatl muttered.
Both of them felt the emotions running up and down their bond with him, and had some limited awareness of what he was doing.
Fortuna quickly cast her senses around her, tapping multiple Shards in quick succession. "Khepri's underestimating him, but he's drawing her ire. His Magic hasn't come into play yet, so she's only accounting for his physical abilities." She gave a short, sharp exhale. "Without Skitter to ground her in fact, the shortsightedness applied to her is coming into play. Undisturbed we might have been able to escape notice, but now we're on a timer before she starts killing everyone in a fit of pique." Then she felt her eyes widen involuntarily.
"
¿Qué pasa?" Quetzalcoatl asked, noticing.
"Blind spot. Big one. Khepri I can see because she hasn't bothered to raise her mystic defenses. Why bother when you've won? But there's something else out there, and I can't see it," Fortuna said shortly. She came to an abrupt stop outside of a door.
"Then how do you know about it?" Quetzalcoatl asked with a frown.
"Because I'm looking and there's a hole in the world according to my powers. That means something Beast or Deity tier." She opened the door.
Doctor Mother - Eva - sat with her hands folded in her lap, staring into space. She blinked, then peered at Fortuna. "Oh."
Fortuna swallowed harshly. The last time they'd met…
"I suppose it's fitting," the older woman said tiredly. "She didn't need to control me, given… well. It's all over now, isn't it? I brought about the very future I tried to prevent by opposing Grail. An alien takeover." She gave a bitter laugh. "I was so
sure, you know."
"Eva?" Fortuna asked hesitantly.
Quetzalcoatl closed the door behind her as they walked in.
"Hm. I can understand why she'd send her projection of you - she despises both of us, but me she needs. There's no better way to get to me, really." Eva shook her head. "Punishment for all my sins. I was willing to pay the piper once all was said and done."
"We both were," Fortuna said quietly. "But there's still hope."
"Is there?" Eva replied. She squinted. "How odd. Those clothes…"
Fortuna walked closer, and held out her hand. Silvery light danced along her palm.
"...was it you?"
Fortuna nodded. "All along. I co-opted Eden's power when I died, and came back stronger. But even with the full power of an Entity and then some, I can't beat this alone."
Eva's eyes shone with unshed tears. "And I turned you away. Said those awful things, when all you did was follow the path you set."
"No. It was one I chose." Fortuna let the power go, and knelt next to Eva's chair. "Eva, you are one of the few people who can undo this mess. Khepri has everyone. Almost everyone. If she didn't have them in her original timeline, or if they were far enough from human, they escaped. And we're still fighting back."
"A small group of people banded against an alien threat," Eva said tiredly. "Where have I heard that one before?"
"Those marks on your hand are more than just a contract, Eva. They're three absolute orders. Though they can be resisted, if you apply them right? You might give us the opening we need to free everyone and give Earth -
every Earth - a fighting chance."
Eva shook her head. "Can they kill her?"
Fortuna hesitated. "No. Probably not. We… a part of her, the one good part? It escaped, and told us how to kill her. We need to get rid of those seals, and using them up counts. Another is to destroy the catalyst used to summon her."
"Archimedes and the flute."
"Right. The last is her, but until we destroy the Endbringers she summoned, she's immortal. The only way we get her to deploy them is if we work her into a high enough rage she tries to murder us all, or she has no choice. If we try to take them where they are, as they are, we lose. They're too close together and she can force their cooperation."
Eva looked down at her folded hands. "So how…?"
"Remember Mantellum? I can use his powers to hide from Khepri. So long as you're near me, her parahuman abilities can't touch you." Fortuna gently placed a hand over Eva's. "Eva. We did so
much in the hope that humanity could
survive the entities. We never thought it could
win. Right now, if we don't remove Khepri? Humankind is over. Our worlds will never be the same, and everything will just be an extension of her. It's no less an extinction than what they would have visited upon us in their cycle."
"You think we can win?" Eva said softly. "Against…" she waved her hand vaguely. "This?"
"I've seen humanity repel the incineration of its own history, strike down Beast after Beast after threat," Quetzalcoatl said solemnly. "They may need help, they may need guidance, but they can fight back against this." The goddess gave a pointy-toothed grin. "So,
niña. Do you think you can rise to the challenge and help squash this bug?"
Eva looked in Fortuna's eyes.
Fortuna looked back.
Doctor Mother's head inclined for a moment, then she gave a sharp exhale, back straightening. Her gaze was alert and focused, expression stern.
She stood.
Fortuna stood with her.
"Very well. Giving up, seductive as it may be,
isn't an option. I've done far worse in the name of saving the world; I might as well go the step further."
"It's going to be dangerous," Quetzalcoatl said knowingly.
"Putting my life on the line for this was never in question," Doctor Mother said coolly, striding towards the exit. "Contessa, Door."
A silver pane of light appeared. "After you, Doctor," Fortuna said with a small smile.
Doctor Mother nodded once, then walked through.
Fortuna and Quetzalcoatl followed.
____________________________________________________________________________
Dragon scowled as she followed ZZ. "So what are we looking at?"
ZZ held up a hand as the three women huddled against a wall.
Two guards passed by, eyes unseeing as they kept to their route.
"Alright. It's under a little heavier guard but… wow, she did not expect an invasion," ZZ muttered.
Nero huffed. "Honestly. Using Group Tactics in tandem with Presence Concealment might have had something to do with our performance as well," she said with a frown.
ZZ tilted her head. "Got him. He's right around the corner and in the chamber ahead." She jabbed her thumb in the direction the guards had just come from.
Dragon sighed. "And for protection?"
"I'm seeing a lot of webs and little bugs. Nothing we can't handle with some strategically applied fire," ZZ responded.
The three of them quickly moved, and stopped in front of a wall of white silk.
"Uh," ZZ said intelligently.
"Ah yes. This does resemble 'a lot of webs'," Dragon said dryly.
"Right, stand aside," Nero said as she pulled her sword out. It immediately set itself ablaze. "I heard fire, so we're doing fire, umu!" She swung at the silk, and it ignited like dry paper.
Screams of outrage echoed through the castle.
"We're rumbled! Move!" ZZ yelped.
Dragon growled. "Step back."
Nero and ZZ quickly stepped behind her as she wrapped herself in green light.
The fire had made a sizable dent in the barrier of silk, opening the room behind. It was strung with webs floor-to-ceiling, and the size of an olympic pool. At the other end was a bier with a cocooned body upon it, a glint of metal sticking out of its chest.
The light faded, and Dragon stood on all fours in her new form. Her scaly neck flexed as she opened her jaws, eyes gleaming with inner radiance. Her wings were spread for balance as her tail anchored her.
She reared her head back on her serpentine neck, and the bottom of her throat glowed.
"Fire in the hole!" Nero yelped, tackling ZZ back even further.
The unmatched heat vaporized the barriers before Dragon, engulfing the room in crackling electricity.
ZZ and Nero blinked the spots from their eyes and gazed upon the smoking wreckage of the room.
Archimedes' body lay on the blackened bier, the flute extending from his chest.
He didn't move.
"Did she do it?" ZZ whispered.
Nero shook her head. "It's damaged, but not destroyed. Let's go."
Dragon barreled forward, Nero and ZZ propelling themselves along behind her with Mana Burst and Telekinesis respectively.
It took roughly half a minute to cross the chamber to the funeral stand, and there they got a better look at Archimedes.
He was covered in the mark of Velber, eyes wide and unseeing.
"He's dead," Nero said flatly. "After all this, and… he just gets to…"
ZZ sighed. "It's my fault too. I let him go because I was high on freedom, and made the same mistake I did for a long time. Playing with my enemies instead of finishing them off."
"If he's dead, where's the golden mist effect?" Dragon rumbled deeply, sitting on her haunches.
"Brain-dead," Nero clarified. "If there was a Velber to control him, he'd be acting like a puppet. I guess. It's conjecture," the Emperor allowed.
"Yeah, lights are on but nobody's home," ZZ agreed. "Whatever Amy did to him finished him off mentally."
"If Velber's a virus, all she had to do was make it propagate," Dragon responded.
The castle shook.
"Whoops, right, on a timer," ZZ babbled. "Uh…"
Nero looked at her. "
One of us has a universal delete button, and it's not me or the tech-dragon-demigod," she said tartly.
ZZ drooped. "Ehe. Right." She stood up straight. "Okay. Time to finish what I started, huh?" Her hand rose and her palm faced Archimedes' prone body. "Sorry it took me so long."
Nero faced the door with her burning blade as footsteps resounded in the hall.
"STOP! YOU CAN'T - WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO LISA!?" reverberated through the halls.
"
Cursed Cutting Crater," ZZ breathed.
The darkness took Archimedes and the flute. It swirled into a sphere. Solidified.
For a brief moment, there was a hole in the world.
Then it dispersed, leaving an empty bier. No blood, no light. Just… gone.
With a slow rumble, the walls began to crack. Empty veins tore their way through the structure, and stopped.
"One down," Dragon growled. She opened her maw, and lightning poured out. Suits marched out of portals, flying into combat with the guards.
"Where's the throne room!?" Nero shouted as she swung her blade, carving through the insectoid horde.
"Out and up! Get close!" ZZ called. She was tired after using that Phantasm, but there was still more. Hopefully Grail could do something about that.
Nero backpedaled, reaching her first as she hopped backwards. "Dragon! Tess! Get over here!"
The massive serpentine form crashed through the wall and coiled around Nero and ZZ. "Let's go!" she roared.
It was child's play to wrap them in a sphere of telekinetic force. Launching them upwards was easier. Everything was simple when it came to her old tricks.
They rocketed through the ceiling and floors above, hurtling towards Grail's battle with Khepri.
____________________________________________________________________________
Khepri stared at the sand pouring around the small indent I'd made in Altertale's torso.
"Now, if she were real, wouldn't that be blood?" I asked rhetorically. "The answer's yes. Or, well, maybe golden light. But sand is sand, and she's just as fake as all your other memories."
Lung continued to fight, but he was on autopilot. Pretender just stopped in midair, tanking a sphere of lightning that Tamamo flung at her.
Altertale screamed behind her muffle, eyes wide with rage. I hadn't hurt her, not really. It was a minor scratch. But I'd broken the illusion that would have kept Khepri stable and more capable of fighting on multiple fronts. Inhuman multitasking isn't as useful when you're having a very human meltdown.
"Liar… you're lying! You're just making that sand pour out!" Khepri bristled.
"...really?" I couldn't believe this was what people saw Taylor as. She was precise, cunning, applied. Not… this.
Her gaze flattened, and a roaring buzz began outside. "No, you're right. This isn't me." She gazed at me. "But it was a nice act, wasn't it?"
Oh shit.
Altertale spun out of my arms, torn by invisible force.
I was slammed into the wall and felt the pressure on my head and torso, crushing me down.
"You had me at first, I'll admit," Khepri said conversationally. "But really. Did you expect your ploy to last beyond the first anchor? I just need to find Eva and assert my control, and
that will be safe. You don't have the firepower to take my guardians. You lost before this started."
I grit my teeth and tried to move. The power held me in place.
Lung swiped at Skitter, fire boiling along the floor. She dodged, gazing between the dragon-man and Khepri.
Tamamo narrowly evaded a punishing blow from Pretender as she tore a couch-sized chunk of stone out of the floor with her fists.
"You placed your bets, and lost. Now, if you'd started spreading your Tide of Life?
Then I'd have a concern. One nullified by having your friends kill each other, but it'd put a cramp in my plans," Khepri admitted.
I felt my shoulder crack, shards flying as my arm was torn from my body. I couldn't gasp under the overwhelming pressure.
Cu's hand twitched.
"And you think you can get free? Unlikely," Khepri continued. "The thing is, I defeated Scion by convincing him life wasn't worth it. Breaking you down is something that I'm going to enjoy."
"And it only betrayed everything we ever believed in," Skitter said in a quiet, harsh tone.
Khepri looked over.
There was a Lung-shaped hole in the wall, and a swarm of crystalline insects fluttered around her body as Skitter walked forward.
"I sacrificed
everything. But you're not that. You're power without conscience, the worst of humanity painted on over a Shard."
She held her hand up. "And that's why… we're
both Khepri. You're just the ideal that everyone feared. I'm everything she
was. Hope, madness, drive, valor… all my sins and all my virtues. That's me. Taylor Hebert. You're the gibbering madwoman who steals bodies, the tyrant who took a city and held it until she killed a hero. Two halves of a whole."
Cu's body went lax.
His spear appeared.
"And even if I'm not as strong as my own legend, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."
The spear plunged forward, screeching against an invisible barrier as Cu drove it forward.
His eyes blazed with hate as it ground further and further, sparks flying.
Khepri's eyes were wide as her entire focus oriented on the defense.
"Now, Contessa!" Skitter barked out.
A silvery Door opened, and Doctor Mother strode out, her head high.
She raised her left hand, which bore a scarab in flight, ankh on its back.
"By the power of this first command seal, release the humans and Servants!" she said fiercely. Red light sparked from her hand, and Khepri's head snapped back as it was engulfed in crackling power.
Stone flew at Doctor Mother, only for Tamamo to intercept it with a deft swipe of her blade.
Quetzalcoatl lunged at Pretender, intercepting her flight and bearing her to the ground where she began to launch punch after punch wreathed in solar fire, eliciting sickening cracks from the phantasmal cape.
Armsmaster twitched, only to return to stillness.
"ENOUGH!" Khepri roared, flinging Cu back with a shockwave.
Darkness came with a sense of overwhelming agony.
She'd shattered my head.
"MATTIAS!" I heard somehow, Cu screaming in rage and horror.
I was distantly aware of vicious explosions as my core began to produce material to reconstruct my skull. I opened an eye on my chest, and saw Cu bounding towards me as crystalbugs erupted in light and flame against Khepri, tearing through her forcefield as Weaver stood silently, arms outstretched.
"Another!" Fortuna told Doctor Mother, warding off buzzing humanoids with streams of silver light.
"By this second seal, I order you! Release the humans and Servants, and seal your parahuman power!" Doctor Mother snapped out.
Another surge of red impacted Khepri, causing her to yowl in anguish.
Altertale palmed a gun, and aimed it at Doctor Mother as she smoothly took three steps forward. "You really think this will change anything? Once you use them up, we'll have no use for you," she said with a mad glint in her eye. "We'll make you watch as everything you fought for is consumed, broken down, and rebuilt in our image. We are
Khepri, and you will
never-"
A sphere of force tore through the floor as Cu threw his body over mine.
Nero's blade burned as it lashed out at the closest target.
The room… stopped.
Altertale stared downward as Aestus Estus plunged through her abdomen, fire engulfing her from the inside out.
"...oh." The gun dropped.
Weaver shifted back over to Skitter as she teleported next to Khepri.
She raised the Black Barrel Replica, and fired twice.
Khepri didn't move as the bullets impacted her torso and did little to nothing.
Whatever Skitter saw must have given her something to chew over, because Weaver was back and encasing her in chaotic energy.
"Lisa?" Khepri whispered through her thralls. None moved.
The construct dissolved into sand, melting into flowing glass around Nero's blade.
"By this third and final command seal! Release the humans and Servants, and seal your parahuman power away!" Doctor Mother snapped out.
The light on her hand faded, leaving only smudged markings to show there had ever been seals.
Lisa and Colin - our Lisa and Colin - slumped.
"Colin!" Dragon rumbled, shooting forward in a burst of green light. Her human form rematerialized and scooped Armsmaster up.
Weaver vanished and reappeared by Tattletale, helping her up.
The Thinker blinked wearily, then her eyes widened as she looked at Khepri's blank face. "Oh shi-"
Doctor Mother careened backwards, blood spraying into the air.
A cacophony of buzzing reverberated, overpowering the cracking sound of the castle's foundation cracking once more.
The sky darkened, the space between worlds was blotted out as torrents of bodies took to the interconnected atmosphere.
Khepri stood from her chair. "This game," she said, voice cutting through the noise, "is over."
They descended.
Fortuna dove to cover Doctor Mother's prone form with her own body.
I couldn't move as I regenerated, though Cu stood to protect me.
Mankind as Khepri imagined them fell upon us.
They came closer and closer, in all manner of shape and size, all screaming in rage, grief, and horror.
Khepri's emotions were shunted into them, driving them mad.
She stood there, not even satisfaction on her face as her victory encroached upon us.
Until… a single bright light emerged, tearing through the cluster.
And another.
Shooting stars without number impacted the insectoid horde, and as they cleared away, I saw what had changed.
Someone must have upset Bertie.
I had given him two powers to protect himself, beyond the durability that was my own trademark.
First, I had shared Tiamat's gift of the Tide of Life. He could produce it with a fragment of the First Magic that I had replicated into his body. This was to protect himself, and others.
The second was to open Gates, so he could escape to other places if he was pursued by something that could still threaten him.
Gates tore through the Pseudo-Lostbelt, dumping waterfalls of the Tide wherever they aimed.
The space between worlds was a giant, glistening sea, all of them wavering in its reflection.
This was
far beyond Bertie. I hadn't given him
this.
Water rushed into the castle, overtaking us all and sweeping us out to sea.
I felt my body rapidly reconstruct, and after a moment, I shook my newly rebuilt head. I managed to see Eva's face washed free of blood, yet her gaze was still distant.
Eventually, we came to a halt at the ocean's center.
"Where are we…?" Weaver breathed.
The worlds around us shuddered, and moved towards each other. They began to merge as the massive scarab that held them hissed in outrage.
The swarms of 'mundane humans' flit around, igniting in silver flame wherever the stars touched them.
From the sea, the stars continued to rise. Though their numbers never matched those of Khepri's thralls, they could keep the average ones at bay. I saw, somehow, the capes coming towards us.
I whipped my head to the side as soft splashing reached my ears. We were all on top of the Water, somehow not breaking the surface.
The worlds finished merging. Four remained, and they sank to the Water, flattening out into masses of land - endless cityscapes that bracketed the ocean.
But that was on my peripheral.
My eyes were locked on a small, catlike doll.
"Well this is a mess, isn't it?" Chirithy said disapprovingly.
Weaver. Tattletale. Armsmaster. Dragon. ZZ. Fortuna. Doctor Mother. Quetzalcoatl. Cu Chulainn. Myself.
We looked skywards as voices began to reach our ears.
"This world was finally,
finally getting somewhere and you want to destroy it!? I had to leave kids behind after Leviathan!"
"Jack Slash murdered me and my family, and you want to ruin a world that actually
got rid of him?"
"Fuck off bug lady! Nobody we left behind wanted this, and if we were still around, neither would we!"
The voices continued to rise in protest, Water drenching the stars in empowering light.
"
LAAAAAAAAAAAA"
She rose from the depths, massive torso stretching to the heavens.
"So, uh, your little munchkin started using
her gift - you know, that
she gave you - and bawling so hard she
had to see what the problem was. And well, with a hole open for us to come through…" Chirithy trailed off. "It turns out that people really don't like their loved ones getting erased this close to a happy ending!"
Tiamat smiled down at us, spreading her arms.
Our friends, our family, bobbed to the surface, dry as a desert.
BB landed in front of me. "Please tell me you got the other stuff done," she said flatly.
Vid rode a wave of Water over, Fou's cocoon still in his arms.
"Yeah, it's done," I said distantly.
Tiamat's face contorted into a vicious snarl. "AAAAAAA"
I turned, and grit my teeth.
The landmasses had finished encircling the sea.
Khepri's beetle glared down at us, the sun blazing behind it.
"I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE THE WORLD FROM ME!" she roared in a multitude of voices.
____________________________________________________________________________
"I'd say that's a signal," the Director said icily.
Zelretch flung the portal open.
"Chelon Canticle Brigade: move out!" Lorelei ordered with a snap of her riding crop.
"Let's be off, Angra," Reines said in an icy tone, Trimmau dissolving into mercury around her.
The dark-skinned man sighed as he gripped his knives, butler attire firmly in place. "Why…"
Luvia stood firm. "Edelfelt must continue. I have made arrangements if the worst should happen, but…" she trailed off. "I will not back down."
Svin rolled his shoulders. "Can't let Flat mess it all up and Gray get hurt," he said laconically.
The Director turned to Zelretch. "Don't forget the other portal."
The Wizard Marshall nodded. "Of course."
The magi strode into the chaos."
____________________________________________________________________________
An endless distance away, a spider crawled out of its crystalline web, and into another universe to seek new prey.
And to see if the little one could hold its own against the invader.
<ANTICIPATION>
____________________________________________________________________________
I stared as the tears in space formed, and saw who emerged.
Zelretch and Barthomeloi walked in front of a battalion of fifty magi, each as strong as a Lord - if I remembered correctly.
Luviagelita, Svin, and Reines followed behind, Trimmau flowing around them in her mercury form.
Angra Mainyu's human shape looked around wildly until his eyes hit Tiamat, then he visibly wilted.
Crowley brought up the rear, dark prana dripping from his body as he strode forth.
In the heavens, the second tear unleashed a spinning bluish UFO that bolted across the sky.
<ANNOUNCEMENT>
<Gratitude. Target.>
<ACKNOWLEDGEMENT>
"SO IT SEEMS YOU HAVE BROUGHT OTHERS INTO THE AFFAIRS OF MY WORLD. SO BE IT."
Each landmass around the sea shuddered as massive forms crashed into them.
Bohu's tall, slender form stretched skyward as she towered over her corner.
Tohu flowed back into her territory, her three faces leering as they shifted rapidly through visage after visage.
Khonsu sat in midair over his, scowling darkly as the air distorted around him.
The Simurgh floated above hers, and bits of metal began to congregate around her and come together.
Leviathan hit the water and began to surge towards us.
"I AM BEAST V-R. DESIGNATION: RESTRICT. MY SIN IS REGRET. MY NAME IS KHEPRI." The voices raised in an unholy chorus; puppets, cape puppets, and Endbringers alike. "I WILL ATONE FOR MY FAILURES, AND MAKE A WORLD WORTHY OF THE SACRIFICES I MADE. YOU CANNOT STOP ME."
Tiamat reared back, Water raising in barriers around her.
Fortuna shot skyward, enveloped in silver light.
The stage was set.
"Watch us!" I shouted, pointing at the beetle goddess who held the world in her talons.
We'd stolen the chance to win. Now we had to make it count.
