Knocking on Heaven's Door [MtG/Multicross/SI]

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty-Nine (????)

I sighed and yawned, the twitching tentacles rupturing into hundred of different forms. Hooks, claws, fangs, teeth, and pretty much everything that I, or they, could think of soon stood in front of me as the deadliest of weapons dripping with poison and toxins the likes of which not even the dead could survive the impact of. Towering behind me, the Queen watched impassively the proceedings, her voice a gentle soothing song.

The pulsing light of the crystals charged with energy called to the young, and as flames of ethereal existence ripped into existence to croon and educate the youth, they also greedily devoured the energy without color. Pale flames suffused my hands as they resumed their job of meticulously trying out the different forms of attack patterns. Nearby, more recently hatched Slivers played in the grass, like lion cubs learning how to bite through play. A few nestled in my hair, or on my back.

As the genetic code rewrote itself with the ease of clay, so too did the countless mutations happen swiftly and rapidly upon my skin and that of the Slivers close to me.

Be gentle. The Queen chided with the voice of a mother, her attention diverted to two roughhousing young ones, both having drawn blood from one another as they twitched back and forth like rattlesnakes, their beady eyes and sharp screams clearly indicating they were fighting for something quite dear to one another. One of the Queen's talons came down to soothingly caress the sides of the two baby Slivers, who seemingly content renounced their warring ways. Spoiled children.

"Well, a parent that spoils a child can't help but have spoiled children," I remarked as my tentacles deformed once more. I closed my eyes. I opened them again, gazing into the infinity of the Blind Eternities. Countless planes clicked and ticked like infinite arms of infinite clocks, all neatly separated by dividers that were impenetrable to all those who lived within them, but nothing more than obstacles for the likes of Us.

My eyes danced across the countless spheres, the infinite universes displaced in both time and space, and in the end they came to a halt upon a vaguely familiar world. I stared at the devastation wrought to it, and moved past the crumbled ruins of a defensive line deeply entrenched in the snow, the advance of the enemy army, and the carnage wrought not in the name of any grandiose scheme, but simply because it was a task they were set upon to do.

It was a world of despicable existences, and despicable long and shoddy descriptions and explanations that made one's knees weak, arms spaghetti. I chuckled as I descended upon one of such clocks, my steps resounding through the barrier and nimbly passing past it, landing on the snow marred with blood of a great battle between the forces of mankind and its most dreadful enemy.

The BETA.

The towering gatherers that were dubbed Soldier-Class paled in comparison to the Tank or Grappler Class troops that were advancing rapidly across the front line. Behemoth-like Fort Class BETA loomed over the white landscape, drawing near with quick movements. A snowstorm loomed in the area, impeding visibility to those who needed eyes to see. A nearing Soldier-Class found itself sliced neatly in half by a bladed whip courtesy of one of my Slivers, and as the rest of the small squadron of BETA began to be killed off in my surroundings, I took a look at where I had landed.

I stood in the middle of a snow-covered plain, blood and corpses of both soldiers and BETA all around me. A winged squadron of Slivers left my shoulder, rising for the air, but as pulsing beams of laser made their way to hit my flying scouts, I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists as they quickly ended up charred beyond recognition, falling back ton the ground only for their flesh to knit itself back together and regain their life.

Yet, landed they remained.

"Right, right, first the Laser-Class die horrible painful death, then I get to find my way to the closest city," I sighed and roared, the pulsing Mana leaving my body as over my head the snowstorm abated, the sky starting to burn with fiery red lights as circles of pale white energy began to spread open, squirming tentacles and thundering teeth emerging from them. Large worm-like creatures descended down howling their hunger, beams of plasma rupturing forth from their many forward orifices as their sides split to unleash volleys of flying Slivers. They landed with resounding crashes on the snow, rushing forward and taking down with them countless enemy forces on their path.

Powerful beams of light shot towards them, the BETA killing hundreds where thousands were being born by the second, but the advance was not deterred. Actually, rather than born, unleashed would be the proper term to describe the bursting of the sacs held hidden within the bellies of the Carrier-Slivers. A few seconds after the Laser-Class had been striking non stop at the skin of the Carriers, the flesh mutated to reveal glistening mirrors that reflected the lasers away, swiftly followed by other Slivers opening their mouth, unleashing no longer plasma beams, but the same laser wavelength of the BETA themselves.

"Hey!" I grumbled, "Are you telling me they're better at lasers than plasma?" I sighed as a nearby Bonescythe Sliver emitted brief chittering bursts, the other members of his squadron emerging from my skin one after the other to form what I called a Gathering. I summoned forth a yellow flag, and as it nimbly sailed to tie itself around the leader's neck, he gave me a proud and triumphant thumping of his chest in reply before rushing off through the plain vast fields, slicing his path through the BETA that were crawling towards our position.

The thumping of claws and feet on the floor were met with the brutal charges of the Belligerent and Groundshaker Slivers, both quite apt at their task of clearing off hostiles. While they were smaller compared to the Grappler and Destroyer Beta, they had something the other two sorely lacked in such a situation.

Training.

A Grappler found its pincers missing its prey as twitching shadowy Slivers appeared and disappeared like bursts of static, crimson fangs dripping molten lava dug deep holes into the BETA's flesh, and as the smell of burnt flesh mixed with the iron scent of blood, tall towering Slivers stood a vigilant guard around me, engaging in brutal fights with their massive talons the opponents' Fort Classes. The ground quaked as the battle of giants waged on, the sound of machine fire dying out as the humans preferred to retreat and let the new arrivals take the fight.

A few TSFs remained at the outskirts of the battle to witness the events, silent eyewitnesses of the carnage being wrought. I glanced at the shifting of a nearby Sliver, whose beak was covered in the grime and blood of a dead BETA. Gleaming strands of flesh now marred his skin as he gazed longingly towards his brethren, the claws morphing into a far more detailed and deadly variant of the Grappler-Beta claws. Soon, everyone else nearby had the same.

It wasn't widely known, but Slivers shared their traits and genetics through their psionics, having full control over their genetic code to the point where they could print it as speech and transmit it to the others. Thundering arcs of electricity soared in the air, my eyes drawn towards the light spectacles as the Fort Classes began to fall, their bodies devoured from the inside out by the Slivers' unending hunger.

A soft croon caught my attention as I began to walk forward, the corpses of the BETA a tantalizing prey for the countless hungry Slivers that weren't needed for the battlefield. Gentle songs rose in the air as white Slivers glistening with healing lymph nodes nurtured the wounded humans not yet dead, brilliant tentacles of light shining in the air like beacons of hope in a world of despair.

Yellowish lights seeped from the horizon, blinking in morse code throughout the Slivers now spread evenly across the battlefield. I slammed my hands together as the landed Slivers soon took flight, the skies covered with them in the blink of an eye.

They were hungry.

Thus, what cruel father does not feed his children?

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty (Schwarzesmarken)

The ruins of an abandoned village ran red with the blood of the BETA by the time the last of the creatures were torn to shreds. Slivers danced in the arctic-like waters of the nearby river, and as TSFs approached at a low altitude the towering Slivers that stood vigilant over the birth of a new Skep, I watched impassively from the top of the stone construction as the pilots probably took videos of the scene, as well as the military aid relief camp set up near it.

What I called Angelic Slivers stood near the wounded, their bodies emitting both heat and healing magic, melting the snow and casting a pleasant temperature on the wounded near them. They held on to a humanoid form, with tentacles that neatly folded in the shape of wings, or expanded to fully expel White Mana from their orifices to close wounds and restore missing limbs.

The tents were all white with a red cross upon them, and as a flag fluttered to the wind I watched impassively as the artillery took position in the far off distance. Even though I had made a big show to deal with the BETA, the people of Eastern Germany didn't trust me not to suddenly turn on them and eat them raw.

The wounded soldiers were also sedated, because I didn't want to have to explain to a bunch of traumatized alien-fighting soldiers that no, the Slivers weren't baby-eating monsters in turn. Well, I would have to explain that, but it could wait for a while.

I dropped down from the ceiling of the Skep as the snowstorm that had been lapping at the borders of my medical relief camp began to dissipate, the generated heat melting the snow as more and more Slivers left the crevices of the Skep to burrow into the ground, pushing their bodies forth to expand the underground network of tunnels. A military jeep with the emblems of the NVA, the national people's army, drove near while flanked by a full squadron of TSFs, the rest of the forces holding their positions within striking distance.

I placed my hands in my jacket's pockets as I watched the man on the passenger seat descend slowly, but with great wariness. As he drew near, I took in his stern lineaments and his quintessential German appearance of blond hair and unsettling dark eyes, a large nose with a mustache below it, his beard well-kept and groomed.

"Major Holzer Hannibal, of the German Democratic Republic!" he saluted. "We thank you for your aid!"

"Superior Hive Administrative and Defensive Entity, S.H.A.D.E," I saluted in turn, "We of the Sliver Collective have come, so have no fear citizen of Earth, we shall purge the enemy and bring forth glorious hugs to your people!"

Inwardly, I howled in laughter at the Major's expression actually slacked off in what could only be described as surprise. I inclined my head to the side. "Are hugs not your preferred mean to intend friendship?" I asked next, scratching my chin, "But it's what I was told," I said while trying to keep the most serious of faces. In the end, I drew near with slow and steady steps. "Are hugs an acceptable mean of intending friendship?" I asked as I came to a halt an arm's length away from the Major.

"A handshake," the Major said, "A handshake is a better—"

I grabbed my right hand and gently detached it with a soft pop using my left, before starting to shake it slowly in front of the Major's eyes.

"I do not understand," I said quite calmly. "How does shaking a hand signify friendship?"

I already had tears in the metaphysical corners of the inside of my brain. The benefits of having full control over one's whole genetic make-up was that one could paralyze his own facial muscles to stick to a serious face, even as the insides died a bit by the second out of sheer laughter.

"Not like that," the Major said, turning to look at his driver and bodyguard. He extended his right hand towards his driver, and the man understood and promptly shook the major's hand. "Like this. This is a handshake."

"Ah!" I nodded, popping the hand back in and extending it in turn. "Handshake it is then!" and with that said, I shook the Major's hand, his driver's, and then looked up to the nearby TSF. "Handshake?" I asked with the most innocent of voices as I morphed my right hand to increase in size until it was the same size as that of the robotic fighter, much to the consternation of the pilot in question who perhaps had to use all of the steel of his nerves not to just start firing.

"We will proceed to recover the wounded," Major Hannibal said, and I smiled and nodded at him even as the pilot of the TSF awkwardly shook my hand.

"They are not wounded, only asleep," I replied. "We already healed them. We did not wish to increase the casualties of your collective, but understandably my fellow Slivers are not the most human in appearances. I did not wish harm to befall anyone, so at your leisure, I shall wake your men up." I morphed my right hand back to normal human size, and with a single hand gesture, the Angelic Slivers all bowed as one entity and dispersed away, flying off to return to their main task of nurturing the young within the Skep.

The first soldiers stumbled out of the tents looking refreshed as if they had just slept at ease for the first time since countless years. Their bodies were fit as if they had enjoyed a full night of rest, and there was a small smile on their faces, the after-effects of an euphoric sensation of their bodies telling their brains that for once, they had nothing to grumble about.

Large trucks carried the soldiers away, and as the last of them did so, I watched the Major's face harden ever so slightly.

"We would like to extend an invitation to Berlin, our capital, to—"

"The Hive wishes to speak with all," I replied with a smile. "Please, set a meeting with all representatives of mankind at your earliest convention. In the meantime, we shall continue to purge the enemy. When all are gathered, they may come here. We will guarantee their safety." I opened my arms and hugged the burly man gently. "We are friends," I said as I let go of the hug. "Let that never be doubted."

I then furrowed my brows. "We are also bulletproof, TSFs proof, artillery proof, air bombing proof, and anything-proof, please relate to your superiors that any attempt at damaging us will be met with furious laughter and public ridicule for the generations to come in the rest of the universe," I smiled. "We, S.H.A.D.E, bid you a fair and happy day!"

I patted his shoulders and then waved the man and his driver goodbye as they both left. The moment they did, I sighed and took a deep breath.

The men in charge of the artillery trucks in the far off distance were actually surprised to find myself appearing right in front of them with a large tray filled with mugs of hot chocolate.

"Salutations friendly humans!" I said with a bright smile, bringing the tray forward. "I have been told that chocolate is a tasty treat for your species! I bring it hot!"

Needless to say, the gawking and the guffawing made my day more than a thousand worlds burning in the flames of purification from the sins of Chaos. The soldiers didn't want to accept the hot chocolate, even though more than one mouth watered at the thought. I sighed, pouted, and then decided to leave it on the ground. "Would anyone like a hug?" I said next, "As a show of friendship and trust?"

Nobody wanted a hug.

Truly, party-poopers the lot of them.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty-One (Schwarzesmarken)

If I had left it to the capable hands of the Eastern Germans, the world would be notified only two to three weeks later, the time it would take for my Slivers to make contact with the fighting lines to the south of the Asian continent. The BETA's air superiority was non-existent. They had a powerful anti-air vehicle, but if the Laser-Class couldn't detect the flying vehicles, then they couldn't shoot them down.

The United Nations would send their representatives to talk, and I would welcome them with chocolate cakes and beautiful joyful songs of harmony and peace. It was actually quite charming how humanity would turn into putty the moment a superior alien force appeared naive and childish in its actions. The idea of being the strong man, the leader, the Alpha that knows all always appeased the interests of any political exponent of any nation.

Eastern Germany could send its messages and the Stasi could intercept them freely, but it couldn't stop Us. The Skep thrived and grew on the flesh of the BETA. Technically, rupturing the Leylines to feed it mana would be another solution, and the best solution would be to bathe it in the blood of countless species while draining their marrows for the greatness of the Hive. The Beta were made of organic flesh, grown into the hives and set out to do their job.

The Slivers emerged from the Skep born of Mana, of Flesh that I freely gave, and which was just as freely replaced in a never-ending flow from the Blind Eternities to regenerate my body. I did not summon pale imitations of the Slivers. I did not conjure them forth. I crafted them into existence. They were of this Plane the moment they were born. Their eyes would see their sky and their noses would smell their earth.

They would slither out and make their way to the closest leader of their clutch, who would in turn look up to his eldest sibling for information. They would click and clack and the chatter would transmit in a relay network made of organic sinews towards me, and then back at them.

Slivers were born alone, but would never be alone ever since. Their minds would become one with the Hive. Their discoveries, their cherished first springing of their coils, the mere act of feeling the wind under their wings for the first time would remain deeply embedded into the Legion's consciousness, and thus, into mine too.

The beauty of childish innocence would then be marred with the knowledge to rip asunder human limbs and tanks, with the identity of the BETA and their main characteristics. Images would float into their bodies, and sharper wings, stronger hides and thicker carapaces would form rearranging the structure of their bones, muscles and blood vessels.

The Sliver would then roar, and no longer chit and chat. It would slither upon powerful muscles and transfer itself through the folds of space to the war front, and there it would dig its talons into the depths of a Tank-Class, as his limbs would multiply. His heads would suddenly lunge in multiple directions, his flesh growing tumors of strengthening fungal syrup as wounds meant to be fatal would close within seconds, regenerating the flesh stronger than before.

Eggs would burst from its back, the newborns knowing all of the art of war and plunging into it with the skill of those around them. Chitin would rearrange and the form would morph, twin humanoid legs stand as the vision would soon be of the battlefield from high above, where slowly massive Slivers would near with twin pair of arms raised up high as sharp spikes would rain down upon the enemy's horde.

This would happen in a matter of minutes.

A BETA's Grappler-Class would snap a limb off, but the next pincer would only rough the skin, and the third attack wouldn't even dent the chitin. Evolution, an entire species' evolution, pursued through a singularity-like event of unquestionable speed and prowess. Time itself accelerated as somber-looking Slivers sneaked around the lines, their pale grey eyes glancing at the streams of time and altering the events. A beheading became a nick, a missed hit of a talon a successful strike, and as their ghastly appearances twirled upon the air, tiny cracks spread through the air around them.

Mana filtered to close them from the back, Slivers with hides covered in pale crystals closing the rifts as they advanced last. The reason Zendikar hadn't been overrun was that the Hive of the Hivelord followed the path of nature. Mine refused to bow to something as trifling as time.

If dimensional rifts were what gave power to Planeswalkers, if they were the universe's way of telling them to stop, then unfortunately the universe had fucked up.

For the universe's definition of apocalypse was my definition of FUN.

"Ah, good evening Major Hannibal!" I said with a bright smile as the Major made his way towards me on a patch of fresh grass which had grown luscious in the small amount of time it had taken for the Slivers to purify the area. I widened my arms. "Would you like a hug?"

"A handshake," the Major replied. Behind him, I could see a few of his most trustworthy attendants. His aide was Marai Heisenberg, a blue-eyed blonde-haired woman wearing her dark green military uniform. A few soldiers were holding what I recognized as very old cameras, perhaps to snap black and white photos. Captain Irisdina Bernhard was present too, striking quite the figure not just because she had her TSF uniform on, perhaps due to the presence of TSFs in the background ready to intervene at a moment's notice, but also because her eyes and her thoughts were telling me everything I needed to know about this situation.

It was the usual.

I was the miracle come to the people of Germany to bring forth a glorious salvation upon the desperate and the hurt, the balm that would save the weak and bring forth eternal prosperity.

It was all hidden deep within her, beneath layers and layers of self-control. Her heart skipped a few beats from nervousness as she understood I was watching her, but then again, it was my intention for her to catch on.

"We do not understand," I said gently, furrowing my brows. "Why is it that for politics, one must kill his egg-brother?"

The Major stiffened abruptly, and my eyes turned upon him. Every other soldier present around us did pretty much the same as the implications sunk in. "What is this Party, this Country, if not mere words you strap upon your tongue?" I asked once more, "If red is called black, it changes not, does it?" I blinked once. "Ah, We see," I nodded softly. "You are still so young," I chuckled. "Barely out of the egg. Thrums."

I smiled as the Major's final thoughts reached the forefront of his mind.

"Indeed, Major Hannibal," I said as an Angelic Sliver brought forth mugs of hot chocolate. "We can read minds." I gingerly took a mug and began to walk towards Captain Irisdina, her whole body stiff and yet at the same time ready, her fingers delicately moving towards her sidearm. "Young Irisdina," I continued as I offered her the mug of hot chocolate. "Trust is a two way door only for those who are weak. The strong do not need the door open to trust those on the other side of it. The strong...have strength." I furrowed my brows. "Would you prefer something other than chocolate?"

Irisdina looked at me, and then at the offered mug. She grabbed the mug with both of her hands, and in that moment the flash went off as a photo was taken, the cameraman not even sorry about it. After him, countless other flashes soon echoed. In the end, more Angelic Slivers were needed, mostly because people finally began to accept the hot chocolate offered to them as a sign of trust.

And as I sipped my own cup of hot chocolate, I smiled softly.

Everything was going according to plan.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty-Two (Schwarzesmarken)

Nothing can defeat the might of excessive kindness. Countless worlds fall to the Alien who gives them post-scarcity tech, and as the flames of the atom bombs fly in the air, the aliens in question laugh and wait for the remnants to unify before beginning diplomatic actions once more. It is a standard tactic of advanced civilizations, actually. Hand off replicators to every single living being in the world, and watch as people go outright nuts. The markets disappear, the economy doesn't crash, but vaporizes itself into oblivion. People rush for the seas to craft Yachts, and others go to the top of mountains to build enormous houses and castles.

People bear weapons crafted with Anti-Matter to tear down said castles and build their own, someone primes a nuke, and the population that until then lived on that world dies. The world can then be restored to its prime beauty, and the aliens can have a vacation on their newly conquered piece of land.

The Schwarzesmarken camp had a simple charm to it, and yet had been cleaned for the arrival of quite a few big shots. Clearly, their train of thoughts was oddly comprehensible. The photos of Captain Irisdina sharing hot chocolate with the leader of the new Space Aliens had already reached the top brass of Berlin, and while they had hidden the news to the common folks, they knew they had to strike the iron while it was hot, and come in person before the rest of the diplomatic corps of the world could mobilize.

The meeting spot was right at the center of the camp, where an open tent had been placed to allow the TSFs a clear line of sight on the proceedings. They hadn't even brought chairs or tables to sit at, nor were they offering Us food.

Not surprisingly, Heinz Axmann was present together with the Werewolf TSF battalion and Erich Schmidt, the Stasi minister. While Schmidt was something aptly defined as an opportunist and a paranoia-infused dictator-to-be with a plan to use nuclear missiles in order to further his goals should things turn south, at the same time he wasn't Heinz. Heinz Axmann was perhaps one of the few existences that didn't deserve to be called human, and perhaps truly were worthy of being dehumanized. He was the chomp factor of this Plane.

"General Hannibal!" I said with a bright smile, widening my arms as I read his thought with ease. He had told them about my abilities, and while it was pretty clear that they hadn't believed him at first, they still were wary enough about it. Yet, they had little choice but to try to think positive things about friendship, hugs, and warm chocolate. The truth was hidden slightly deeper, but they weren't capable of hiding it from me.

He looked mighty uncomfortable about the hug I gave him, but I hugged him all the same. I would not be denied, and the diplomats had no choice but to accept my actions, and copy my gestures. Angelic Slivers were flanking me as my own honor guard, and as I looked at the camp, I grinned. Mister Schmidt had ensured the Stasi would be the guard of the diplomatic corps, and the actual base defenders had all been sent to the outer edge of the base, just in case of a BETA attack. What this meant was that depending on circumstances, Schmidt would have the Werewolf battalion open fire and claim I struck first.

Really stupid, but at the same time, this was the world of bloody stupid double-crossing and whatnot.

"This tour of your facilities to be better friends is quite the novel idea, General Hannibal," I said as my eyes held on to their curious glint. I moved past him and stopped in front of Schmidt, his expression faltering briefly as he tried his hardest not to think about anything. "Minister Schmidt," I said in acknowledgment, widening my arms. The next moment, the Werewolf Battalion lost power to their TSFs, and much to Schmidt's surprise and the fear of the diplomatic corps , Slivers crawled out from within the joints of the machines, "You will be hugged and made fun of for decades to come!" I said jovially, grabbing hold of him by the neck and tussling his hair much to his shame and screams.

The rest of the diplomatic corps remained rooted on the spot, even if against their volition, and mostly because most of the people present had been forewarned by Irisdina and the General about the true intentions of this impromptu and non-programmed show of pleasantries.

The humiliation of the Stasi for the whole world to see.

Minister Schmidt's face turned red from the screaming, but he could do nothing as I outright proceeded to rub his head and humiliate him publicly in front of Eastern Germany's diplomatic corps. "Trying to spark a diplomatic accident! No, no, no, bad Mister Schmidt!" I chided him like a mother would chide a child, and the moment I let him go and he revealed his gun, I blinked and watched with quite the fascination as he fired straight at me.

Anger truly makes people forget themselves. The bullets bounced off with ease, tiny sparks spreading with each shot until I decided to most valiantly yawn right in his face and gently take the gun away from him. "Bad boy," I said as I materialized a water spray bottle, "Bad boy," I continued as I sprayed him, his expression utterly livid with rage as he tried to pistol whip me, only for the gun to shatter uselessly in his hand, "Bad boy," I continued without flinching, spraying him some more. He screamed hoarsely as he tried to swat the spray away, to near my hands to block my motions, and finally when he realized that everything was futile, he screamed even more when he understood he had been rooted to the spot by his treacherous, non-responsive legs.

Nothing like shattering the pride of a prideful man to harness a nervous breakdown of epic proportions.

"So," I said quite jovially as the crying Schmidt fell on his knees, a shattered husk of a once proud East German, "Mister Heinz!" my eyes brightened tenfold as I gazed right ahead at the red-haired springy man who suddenly stiffened, his back straight as he tried his hardest to think of a way out of his situation. "I see you liked that more than the hug! I shall endeavor to act in an appropriate way that you find pleasant!" with the twitch of a hand, a human baby with rosy cheeks materialized out of thin air, and as I grabbed a rock with my other hand, I nonchalantly made to hand them both over to him. "Please by all means! Crush this infant child's skull as it is your favorite thing!"

There was not a single member of the diplomatic corps who did not turn green at the proposition.

Heinz' blood ran cold as his heart picked up quite the erratic beating. He couldn't run, after all, and he had just realized that. He didn't know why he couldn't run, but he just knew he was forced to stay still as the alien drew closer to him, the smile on his face the flawless replica of childish innocence.

The child in my arms took that as the cue to cry in earnest. The Sliver mimicking being a human child was truly worthy of an Oscar.

I inclined my head to the side, "Are you not going to do that, Mister Axmann? Why are you trying so hard to hide who you really are?" his expression remained coolly neutral, and as it did, my eyes began to slowly change in color, "Would you rather I show you my true form? You would definitely consider it monstrous, which is why I keep it hidden, but you do not have to fear being a monster, Mister Axmann! If that's who you truly are, then I will not judge you! Only your fellow humans can judge you for your actions! To Us, this S.H.A.D.E unit, whether you rape countless human women, abuse and sadistically torture people you know are innocent and rip apart families just to laugh at their misery...I guarantee you, we do not care the slightest!"

His fists suddenly lost their strength. "Ah..." he muttered, his eyes staring straight at me as, for a brief second, he seemed to gleam beneath my face to my true character. "What a filthy liar you are."

Those were his last words.

He knew that he was finished.

Peace would be achieved. The BETA would be defeated. And then, he would be trialed for his sins and crimes. He knew that, and even if he didn't know that, I definitely implanted into his head the notion that it would happen, and that he would lose everything.

He pulled out his gun and, as invisible strings guided his hand, he squeezed the trigger to shoot himself dead.

I turned towards general Hannibal, my expression slightly perturbed as I proceeded to hand the baby over to him.

"I am honestly befuddled," I said quite kindly. "Is this how you do diplomacy? With violence, lies and bloodshed?"

Needless to say, nobody answered my question, but deep down I knew that my job here was done.

Nobody would challenge or slow down our gathering of materials now. I could just as easily move along to another Plane, and wait until the much needed bio-organic mass would reach the critical point.

To lay siege to a whole Plane, one first needed enough bodies to properly circle all around it, and enough food to sustain them all once awake after all.

And if there was one thing we Slivers didn't lack in, it was in warm bodies.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty-Two Point Five (Zendikar)

Nissa's patience was thin. It had been terribly thin since the beginning, and now it simply was tethering at the edge of snapping. Her tribe had been utterly destroy by the Eldrazi, and the land itself was dying a piece at the time due to the Phyrexian invasion. The living that were not consumed would transform slowly due to Phyresis. And this was without counting on the countless drones, scourges, and processors that assaulted every corner they could reach, sometimes aided by the weakened defenses due to the Phyrexia cults, and sleeper agents.

Yet Zendikar was her home, and even without her tribe, even as the light of hope was just about to die out, she would defend her land. She wasn't alone, and that was the saving grace of this world.

She wasn't alone, but some of her allies were questionable at best, utterly unnerving at worst.

"I'm sorry!" Yuuki Rito was one such example of the latter, his face deeply planted into her bosom, his hands and fingers in unmentionable places. Plant tendrils emerged from the ground to grab hold of him, and as he yelled in shock, more tendrils shot out from him in turn, bonding them both together in obscene poses that made her anger rise deep within her chest.

She didn't know why, but she was sure this was all the Tyrant's fault. Otherwise, why let John escape with this pitiful excuse of a boy? This disgusting wretched form that was the epitome of human depravity...if only they weren't lacking in manpower, if only he wasn't a Planeswalker...then she would have killed him a long, long time ago.

"If you are sorry, then fix your mistakes rather than repeat them endlessly," Nissa hissed out as she broke free, her right hand digging into the boy's neck to pry him off her and throw him against the wooden wall of her hut. The wall rattled, but didn't break. She took a deep breath, and then resettled her green sash around her waist, a hand gesture making her staff float towards her, her expression sour. "Why must I be saddled with you," she muttered. "Go meditate in the groove."

"But I just came from—"

"Then, clearly, you need to meditate more," Nissa hissed out, curtly throwing out with a snap of a vine the boy. He wouldn't die from being flung out of her house, even if she had used magic to craft it out of the top of the highest tree in the forest she inhabited. He'd hit the ground and hopefully break some bones, thus learning a lesson with pain, if words weren't enough.

Who was she kidding. He would never learn. Clearly, the Tyrant had cursed him to be a never-ending source of stress to all females near him. Such cruelty quite befitted the devourer of worlds, the Never-Ending Hunger, the Bastard who will never lose...her leather gloves creaked as she clenched her fingers tightly around her staff, her steps hitting against the wooden floor with a bit of harshness as she swung aside the curtain that allowed her sight of the forest she had sworn to protect. She would normally not stay so tall and high, but as the hot flames of the purifying fire roared and raged at the summit of her hut, she quenched her anger, replacing it with bitter disgust.

Even the purifying flames were a gift of the Tyrant.

Yes, I have condemned your Plane and stolen another, but here you go, a gift to make it up to you. Grab this torch and go hunt the darkness. I can't be bothered to do it myself!

The white flames were cool, and yet they had the intimate knowledge of one's soul, prodding them and deciding if they were worthy or not. It was only because of the flames that she was sure Yuuki Rito wasn't a spy, or a double-faced agent. He was a human, and while that meant he didn't really have any redeeming qualities, at the very least he wasn't on the Tyrant's side.

Sometimes though, she wished she didn't have to suffer him and Chandra Nalaar at the same time.

She could see her streak through the skies, dancing in the air as flames and fire followed her wake. She couldn't help but admit that without her help, the living beings of this Plane would be hard-pressed to hold the line. It took everything they had to hold at bay the seemingly infinite tides of Eldrazi and Phyrexian, but yet they managed and sometimes, they even managed to advance upon the scorched, rotten and cursed lands.

"Sugarcube, everything's a'right?" the deep voice made Nissa turn from the scene, and she scoffed in reply. "Guess the new Walker's a bit of a mess?"

The light orange color of the pony's coat had the contrast of the light blond hair that fell in a ponytail across its back. The leather hat she wore stood firmly planted on her equine head, and if it weren't for her small size and vibrant colors, definitely unnatural, not a single soul would have been able to distinguish her from a natural pony. Well, if one excluded the mark of three apples on the side of her flank and the large green eyes that seemed to stare deep into her soul.

"A mess would be preferable," Nissa replied. "You could bring him to the front lines," she remarked. "Throw him at the drones."

Applejack clicked her tongue against her teeth and shook her head with a sharp chuckle. "Now, now, ya don't mean that, sugarcube." She drew nearer, and then came to a halt right by her side. She began to stand up on her two hooves, her form slowly taking on a more humanoid appearance until she stood wearing a red and black flannel jacket and a short brown skirt, a pair of leather boots to top it off. Her hat had remained fixed on her head, but a stalk of grain now stood firmly planted between her teeth. "The front's tough, and ya can't expect a young tree to weather the storm without some help."

"You could handle him in my stead," Nissa said. "I could take over."

Applejack's eyes twinkled for a bit, "I could help for a bit," she said. "They've been quiet for a while."

Nissa took a deep breath. "That means they're preparing."

"Yeah," Applejack said grimly. "I felt it all over the land. They're pulling up something big once more. If I could just go and—"

"You need to bring it up with the rest of the council," Nissa said, glancing away from her. "Isn't that what we all decided?"

"I'm just saying," Applejack grumbled, "That getting everyone to agree is gonna be a waste of time."

"And if the Eldrazi get their hands on a Planeswalker, then everyone else will have to fight an even harder battle," Nissa scoffed, "Since they are not elves, it is already a wonder they can manage this much."

"Yeah sugarcube, yeah, sure," Applejack nodded with a tired sigh.

"You could prostrate yourself in front of the Tyrant and see if he twitches a finger in your aid," Nissa said, a smirk on her face. Applejack's eyes narrowed as she neighed like an angry horse having just been told, and having understood, that it was time for the butcher. "As I thought," Nissa said after a brief moment of silence.

"He won't come unless the flames of the purifying fire are snuffed out," Applejack said hotly. "And Chandra and I will never let them die until that monster pays for what he did."

Nissa giggled, and then shook her head gently. "Then, rather than act like the Tyrant does, perhaps you should act opposite of him and call for a council?"

Applejack looked out at the scenery, and then swallowed. In the far off distance, the sky's color was not blue, but a sickly orange intertwined with crimson red.

Apple Bloom? Apple Bloom, where the hell are ya—

Only blood. There was only blood left. Blood, and a ribbon soaked of it.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty-Three (League of Legends)

It was the silence. The silence gave it away. Runeterra was a desolate landscape made of ashes and sand, a desert mixed with shards of glass and metallic remains from explosive shells. There was nothing left on this world of value, and death lingered upon each and every single dune. Bleached skulls sometimes shone under the crystal clear sky devoid of clouds, and as my Slivers began to stretch and extend across the sky, connecting with those that stood guard and shielded the plane from the rest of the multiverse, a consciousness awoke.

It awoke, and the next instant a thousand billion mines shone brightly red all around my entry point. The explosives had all been primed with nuclear elements, and as countless mushroom clouds rose to the sky, devouring the atmosphere greedily, I remained unfazed as glittering scales crackled in answer, my eyes a glowing green. Slivers emerged from the sand with their skins melted, their muscles exposed to the sickly radiations. The clattering of robotic entities caught the attention of some of my Slivers, but most of the enemy's force had already been dealt with before I even had to think about it, the wear and tear having worked on them better than any talon I could summon forth.

The consciousness I could sense stirred, and in a second I was already there, atop a dune made of glittering diamond shards gazing at a throne made of pink cloth and ribbons of multiple colors, all bleached to a lighter hue by the uncaring sun. The dazzling spectacle was met with a bored and annoyed look by the figure atop the throne, whose purple eyes had seemingly lost their glint a long, long time before.

"So, Jinx," I said colloquially as I began to slowly walk down the dune made of diamonds, the beeping of bombs echoing all around us, "Have you finally grown bored of explosions?"

She emitted a single scoffing noise, and that was soon followed by our entire surroundings turning into one giant supernova-like implosion as Anti-Matter twisted into existence to craft a bomb capable of annihilating all of existence. The next instant time unwound itself backwards, and the bomb itself did nothing more than merely emit a fizzle, and pop with no damage whatsoever.

Jinx's eyes stared deep into mine, even as she slowly stood up from her throne with exaggerated motions. She looked around for a bit, and then grabbed hold of a deformed skull, cracked under the strain of repeated punches and with dark pink ribbons to simulate hair glued to it. "Jinx will be a good girl now," she said, her will to live smothered into non-existence, "Can...Can Jinx be a good girl now?"

"Did Jinx not want to blow the whole world up in countless explosions?" I remarked, gesturing all around us. "Jinx did that, did she not?"

"Yeah," Jinx said, nodding slowly. "Jinx went to sleep after that. It got boring." She looked up at me, expectantly. "Jinx dreamed of explosions. Jinx made a lot of dreams about explosions. Jinx built the biggest explosions in her head. Now Jinx wants to be a good girl." She looked down at the floor., and then lifted the skull up for me to see. "Can Jinx have Vi back, please?"

"Jinx can," I said as I gingerly took hold of the skull, which shone brightly as it exploded with a miniature nuclear charge embedded within it. It did nothing but lift a thick cloud of smoke, as Jinx sheepishly looked sideways.

"Jinx forgot it did that," Jinx said. "Jinx still wants to be a good girl."

"Jinx can still be a good girl," I answered quite calmly, "If Jinx does something for me."

Jinx's eyes returned to stare at mine. I calmly extended forth a small cylinder with the top shaped like a Sliver, if made of dark metal. Tendrils and spikes lurched from around its frame as it slowly seemed to grow alive, the eyes of the small Sliver atop the cylinder hungrily looking at Jinx's lifeless expression.

"Don't fight it," I said gently. "If you don't fight it, Jinx can be a good girl, and she can leave."

The Sliver shot forth from the top of the cylinder, and as it carried the cylinder off my palm, it dug itself deeply into the girl's skull, making her blanch as her thoughts, her memories, her whole existence suddenly came in contrast with the Hive's own.

My eyes narrowed as they began to glow a bright blue, mana thrumming to the surface of this decrepit world as the countless Slivers holding this world into lock dissipated, returning to the Hive to add their psionic prowess to those already awakening by the score. The Legion thrummed, psionic leashes and spikes rupturing into the metaphysical as they took in the existence known as Jinx and tore her up, dragging each and every piece of her existence into the light for all the others to see, and learn from it.

She screamed. She knew pain. She discovered new meanings to words she had never even thought of. Her brain bled as countless thoughts rummaged through her, and as she cried, and feebly twitched for assistance, as she had eyes leak blood and her skin deform and crack against her will, she suddenly lunged and began to sob, her face pressed against my chest.

Her body soon melted away, disappearing within mine as her Spark shone brightly, now added to the coalition that thrummed deep within my core. I took a deep breath, and then slammed both of my hands together, the shock wave materializing not just in the air around Us growing richer by the second, but also in the sand returning to concrete, then into asphalt, and in buildings and skyscrapers that soared to the heavens. Clouds reformed while humans began to reappear on the streets as if they had never been killed and atomized down to their smallest particles.

Then, as the last vestiges of the diamond throne of Jinx disappeared, I watched neutrally as the remnants of the skull reformed into the police enforcer of Piltover known as Vi, who would probably wonder why she was a few towns over, and why Jinx would never again be seen into this world.

I disappeared, my passage erased without a trace.

The Hive welcomes all, sinners and saints.

All my life has been...unlimited explosion works?

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty-Four (The Witcher)

White.

Pure white.

There was only snow upon this desolate world devoid of life, only ice, only darkness and death. This was the world of the White Frost. This was the pinnacle of non-existence, of negative entropy. This was the beginning of the end. Like Heat Death propagated itself, so too did the White Frost do the same, if in a completely opposite direction. The Incubators had cherished this. They had learned how to harness the power that came from it. They had become the masters of it and by consequence, I had too.

I extended a hand, Slivers of beady crimson eyes and pure white skin fluttering into existence as they hissed and gurgled, the silent death of the freezing wind in their breaths. They did not kill with screams or talons. They did not make others suffer. They brought death slowly, but surely. They were the slow drop in temperature from twenty to nineteen, and then down, deep down, until one day it reached the absolute zero.

"Grand Master?" a tiny voice squeaked nearby, a fluffy white tail coupled with deeply crimson eyes revealed itself from the ice and the snow. It hopped on its legs, and came to a halt by my side. "Grand Master," it said with glee, its eyes shining. "I, Yukibey, stand ready to serve!" it stopped right in front of the mass of Slivers that defied entropy, and squared its fluffy shoulders to attention, its tail moving right and left quickly like an overtly excited dog seeing its master for the first time in centuries.

"How fares the device?" I asked, a prism of singularly incandescent white burning brightly within the tightly knit confines of a psionic net, the pulsing heartbeat of a process unthinkable in most universes and that yet, in this one, worked. The act of defying entropy and denying its fundamental law, bringing forth no longer a death by heat, but a death by frost.

"It works, Grand Master," Yukibey said. "The universe is in balance thanks to it," it added. "How may I be of service to the Grand Master?"

I extended a hand, and as twirling Slivers left my arm to melt together and form a strong steel-like band near it, a shimmering portal spread across it. Yukibey watched, no words leaving its mouth. The effect was immediate. Upon the completion of the gateway, the still and frozen air began to move as entropy was greedily sucked inside, the colder winds and frost leaving the gate in turn.

Yukibey said nothing even as I moved the Sliver gate with a gesture, letting it fly high in the air until it reached the edge with this world's atmosphere. It spoke only once I began to widen the gate itself. "Grand Master?" Yukibey said. "How may I be of service?" it asked once more, and while there was no fear in its voice, I knew it was unnerved.

"Increase the device's power," I said as the spinning Sliver gate began its descent once more, now easily capable of engulfing much of this world's surface. Colorless stones emerged from my skin, the energy within it brimming as it sparked across the air, empowering the circle. I roared as the connection established itself, the ticking and spinning of the countless clocks across the infinite walls of the Blind Eternities ringing midnight and midday at the same time. The next second I found my target and pulled, the boundary between the two planes thinning drastically by the second.

Worlds turn in crucial moments of decision. Make your choice.

The scorching heat of a volcanic eruption flash-melted the ice around me, the resulting explosion forcing my wings to widen up as I began to float. The anti-entropy engine pulsed and thrummed as the gateway snapped shut, leaving upon the frozen lands a figure of pure fire. The land beneath his feet melted swiftly, and yet the mud had barely the time to form that it soon became dry, the nearby blocks of ice evaporating quickly too as the flames spread greedily in the air sucking the oxygen out of the atmosphere to increase the brilliance and the heat of the flame.

"Shigekuni," I said flatly to the humanoid torch. "I come in peace." I raised both of my hands, and in so doing the flames didn't cease in their intensity, but the heat somehow lessened considerably. An old human figure emerged from the flames, his long white beard fluttering to the wind as his red eyes seemed to pierce into my very soul. He found something truly disgusting with his gaze alone, and thus his expression turned sour within a split second of our meeting.

"What do you want?" the captain-commander of the Gotei Thirteen asked, his voice carrying itself powerfully across the air as the Slivers formed a semi-circle behind my back. They hissed and clicked, chittering among themselves and coiling themselves, ready for battle should the need arise.

"When you Sparked, I explained the situation of the Multiverse to you and asked you a few simple things. I am merely wondering if you followed up on them," I said offhandedly, "Also, your welcoming me is chilling my poor heart," I added as I patted my chest, letting a small block of ice shaped like a heart fall on the ground, where it quickly melted.

"If you did not wish for this sort of welcome, you could have come yourself into my home rather than forcefully drag me here," Captain Yamamoto spoke, his eyes glaring fiercely. "In all of your thousand of years of life, have you yet to learn the politeness of knocking at someone's door?"

I allowed my fingers to crack slightly as I took a deep breath. "See Yamamoto, I am not the one who knocks," I narrowed my eyes. "I'm the one who rips, tears and shreds. I've been doing a trial run, and it's been a while since I last fought seriously against someone. Since I'm planning something big, I kind of need to practice for it," I gave him a small smile. "Wouldn't want me being rusty make things go wrong when I hit the real deal." I began to stretch my arms. "So I reckoned...why not spar a bit? You have the time to entertain me?"

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow. "Spar?" he asked. "Is that so?" he used his free hand to push his beard to the side, his appearance slowly changing as he lost the thousand of years on his frame regaining his youth, and as he took a stance ready to unsheathe his sword, his eyes narrowed as smoldering flames took their place, his hair burning brightly. "I think I understand why you chose this desolate world."

"Grand Master?" Yukibey squeaked, "Grand Master, the Anti-Entropy engine is overheating—"

Now wasn't that quite ironic.

"Then just build another one," I answered without glancing away from my sparring partner.

I took a deep breath as the scales all over my body hardened, specific glands beginning to work their due as my body strengthened itself through all achievable means. We stared at one another, and then he struck first.

I hit the nearby mountain at mach speed.

"...all right, now I'll really get serious."

Chandra had nothing on Yamamoto.

After all, he had Nippon Steel, folded one thousand times.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty-Five (The Witcher)

The only reason the world did not melt outright was because it had been covered in a thick sheet of permafrost. It still did melt. The ground itself melted into molten lava abruptly as the Slivers gathered around my body and adapted to the burning heat of a supernova's core, the billions of Celsius hitting my frame becoming a scorching heat, but not a vaporizing one as thick reddish-brown scales took over.

The vast emptiness of space welcomed us both, Yamamoto on the offensive and I on the defensive as a blade of rough steel with a pennon wrapped around its hilt materialized from the thin Aether at my silent command. I slashed forth with it as it crossed with the one made of pure flames. Yamamoto's heat would have vaporized any lesser Planeswalker, or forced them to retreat. To me, it was like staring at an open oven. The feeling was there, but it was bearable if one put his mind to it. Five more swords emerged from my back to join the pennon blade one in holding back the Shinigami's own, each of them brimming with two-colored blades.

Six-armed as I was, I still ended up being pushed back by miles as Yamamoto disappeared nimbly, slashing at me from countless angles with a speed and precision that only my countless eyes and alteration of time allowed me to catch and deflect. No sound echoed in the absence of air, and yet the clangor of the swords still rippled across the air in waves that threatened to break the very space in-between ourselves.

In the emptiness of the void I silently avoided the incoming slash, only for the flames to twist themselves into spirals and whirlpools, reaching for my eyes with deadly precision. Frozen blocks of ice materialized as Sliver heads of light blue and white formed from my shoulders, the ice itself exploding with an audible pop as oxygen formed from the impact. Yamamoto's next swing pushed past me, and sliced in half the nearby moon, which cracked apart and began to separate.

A long whip-like tail left my right leg as I spun, barbs rupturing and shifting through time and space to strike in all directions and all places at the same time. The invisible armor of flames of Yamamoto melted the barbs made of the strongest material I could summon forth before they could hurt him, and as he gripped upon the melting flesh of my leg-tail, I burst the flesh around it into maws and fangs, caustic liquids of undoubtedly deadly nature spraying over him.

The heat made the liquids explode, the vaporous gases attracted to his frame as he disappeared, reappearing with grace and finesse behind me and moving a single hand in an upward gesture. A massive pillar of bursting star cores detonated in rapid succession in a downward path towards me, and as it did, I slammed both of my hands together and howled as the thrumming of the Hive answered my call, the forged link between Planes awakening the countless hungry entities that devoured countless worlds at my command.

The flames descended upon the gaping maws of the Slivers, the heat mixing and intertwining with their flesh as countless were charred just to properly channel said devastating heat and countless more died while holding it confined until it could be properly digested. It split evenly among the countless Hive Worlds, the Planar Barriers between them linked all among themselves and none others.

Heated winds left the countless pores of my sweating body, thick white haze crafting a breathable atmosphere the size of a planet, which quickly began to turn to ice due to the cold of space.

My body was singed, and yet burned brightly of a light of its own as my eyes narrowed in firm determination, my six blades standing at the ready as I rushed forth, pushing myself onward. With slick and precise motions, Yamamoto's sword parried all blows, easily letting them glance off his blade without even once managing to pass through his defenses. Muscles tightened and reformed, ripped and grew stronger as energy burned itself into the miracle of creation. The speed increased until normal human eyes could no longer see the strikes, and as the burning friction of the blades against the air crafted thunder-like echoes, the pressure between the strikes reached a seemingly impassable limit.

And then it broke right through it.

The resounding blast sent both Yamamoto and I backwards, the oxygen that had been turning to ice melting itself as it began to spin around the newly born core of a nascent star, even as a seventh blade formed from a seventh arm. This one was spiral-shaped, and whispered darkly as fog seemed to leave its hilt.

Yamamoto strengthened his stance as his muscles began to turn reddish, Mana gathering all across his body as flames spread evenly over his hair and through his eyes. I burst with gems and powerful crystals, Slivers of all species awakening within the confines of my frame as I clutched on to the seven blades with a single hand, the pressure exercised enough to meld them all together into a singular entity that was the death of fashion to behold, and yet seemingly unparalleled in power.

When it crashed against the fiery blade of Yamamoto, it creaked under the strain.

Bursts of primal energy gathered in my left hand as Mana thickly poured into existence to form a blinding sizzling bolt of energy. It struck through the intertwined blades, sending Yamamoto to fly backwards as I lowered my shaking right arm.

I took deep breaths even though there was no air to breathe, and then flapped my wings forward, countless copies of myself materializing from thin aether by my sides. A large hole spread through my chest as I widened my eyes, only for the wound to close abruptly, even as the other copies disappeared when struck by the same attack. Yamamoto's whole being burned incandescently as he lifted his left hand in the air, a titanic sun forming overhead with all of its heat and power.

Shields of White Mana formed all across my frame as I kept flying forth, impacting through the surface of the sun thrice as hot as a normal one would ever be, reaching past the utterly absurd levels and bursting right through its core, past it, and out the other way where Yamamoto was waiting to swing down his blade. I intercepted it with my bare hands and grabbed on to it with my fingers, roaring as I surrounded his frame, and his sun armor, with my countless hungry fangs, tentacles and talons.

Tentacles were clearly the weakness of Japanese people.

He burned right through them, pushing myself down as my back actually hit the surface of the planet we had just left, cracking apart the ground as the snow that had once been ever-present had already been replaced with scorched molten magma. I stood back up, exhaling deeply as I cracked my neck to the right and to the left, my right hand lifted up in the sky to recall back the seven swords I had used.

"Have you had enough of a beating, youngsters?" Yamamoto asked, his sword gently resting on his shoulder, "We can go on for days if you'd like. This world's time...it goes by faster than mine, does it not?"

I grinned. "One day equals one second."

"Oh oh oh," Yamamoto laughed cheerfully, flexing his left arm as flames erupted all across his veins. "Then I guess we can truly go all out!"

"I'd like that, but unfortunately I did ask for a sparring and not a beat down," I replied nonchalantly as a pipsqueak voice suddenly caught my interest.

"Grand Master!" Yukibey whined from a nearby rock that seemed cooler than the rest of the surrounding area. His eyes were actually filled with tears. "The Entropy levels are off the charts! Grand Master!" he whined quite thoroughly, "You broke the Entropy Engine!" he outright began to cry. "How can I face Kyubey-Sempai after this!? I should report to be recycled! Grand Master! Whyyyyy..." Yukibey cried out, his fluffy tail swishing right and left quickly as he shook his head.

"Also, he'd probably die of a heart attack, the poor thing," I continued smoothly, extending a hand to summon the Incubator into my arms. The creature unfortunately melted immediately, especially since I was still venting off the excessive heat. He reformed a split-second later atop my head, hugging it tightly. "Guess we can conclude it's a draw and move on with our lives."

Yamamoto sighed, his appearance returning to that of the old, wise captain of the Gotei's divisions. "Would you like some tea?" he asked next, opening a portal to his right.

I shrugged, and then followed him through.

"Do you have Earl Grey?" I asked.

"I have Matcha," Yamamoto answered roughly, his eyes burning with the blaze of a man in his prime defending his favorite drink.

"Just as long as you don't do the whole tea ceremony thing, please," I said as we both reappeared inside Yamamoto's office, the tatami below our feet spontaneously starting to burn as the papers on the nearby desk vaporized to ashes, the walls starting to melt in turn. As we both rushed to stomp the flames out and cool the atmosphere with magic, we blinked in unison at having forgotten just how high our spirits had soared...

And then we began to laugh at how silly we were about it.

"So, how are things going?" I asked as I took a seat on a nearby pillow, watching the old man take a seat in front of me. He pulled a string by his side twice, and then huffed, shrugging lightly.

"They are going quite well," Yamamoto replied with a neutral tone. I raised an eyebrow at the absolutely meaningless declaration, and plopped my chin on the open palm of my right hand.

When Yamamoto's lieutenant Chojiro stepped inside, he did not look surprised to see me. On the plus side, his blend of black tea leaves was astonishingly delicious.

We were left alone soon after, and as I took a long sip of hot tea, I exhaled in relief. I spat out some space dust that had gathered in my larynx, and watched with fascination as it seemed to have held magnetic properties, judging by how quickly it went on to hit the hilt of Yamamoto's sword with a metallic clink.

The Commander of the Gotei thirteen used his thumb and index finger to burn the metallic smudge off, leaving his sword in pristine conditions.

"I would ask of you a favor," he said in the end. "A Planeswalker who should have showed up a week ago hasn't come and sent no word about it. I believe she might have encountered trouble along the way."

I blinked, and then narrowed my eyes.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Miss La Arwall," Yamamoto said.

I stared at Yamamoto a bit, my eyes snapping shut as I exhaled loudly.

"The law is the law," Yamamoto continued.

"I know, I'm the one who made those laws!" I whined. "I could just let her be," I continued, standing up while sipping tea as I began to walk in circles. "That damn pacifist—killing is unjustifiable my ass—good for nothing vegetarian...I'm even allergic to lion fur," I groaned. "But fine! I, the merciful Tyrant, shall seek her out and if she's been killed, I'll find the guilty party and annihilate them from existence after torturing them for countless decades."

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow.

"I did that once," I answered his unspoken question. "And the guy was a serial child killer."

Yamamoto, most aptly, said nothing.

Even he had a soft spot for children.

Only monsters didn't have soft spots for children.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty-Six (Secret of the Blue Water-Kenya)

Somehow, I wasn't surprised. Nadia had always been an eccentric individual, but this topped even her. It was a large and bizarre gathering of various bits and pieces of houses, all connected together with what could only be described as crude handiwork, and which yet managed to keep it all steady. There was even a retractable plane launcher, coupled with a giant rubber band. This monstrosity of architectural design stood in the middle of a beautiful savanna, a nearby crystal clear pond of water shining like a sparkling jewel as countless wild animals drank near it, or rested in the shade of taller shrubs.

I neared the door made from what looked like an airliner, and as I rang the doorbell by literally pulling up and down a piece of rope, a bell that definitely had to be the size befitting the bells of Notre-Dame rang deeply. The animals by the nearby pond weren't even scared by the noise, perhaps because they had grown used to it. I hummed nonchalantly as I patiently waited until I heard a swift pit-patter of steps.

The door swung open, and just as it did the figure on the other side of it froze in fear.

I definitely wasn't who she was expecting to see. I smiled as gently as I could as I felt Yukibey stir from the top of my head, his crimson eyes glinting with joy.

"Is your mother home?" I asked, even as Yukibey began to swish his tail joyously, standing up on my head. The kid looked like a spitting image of Nadia, but as soon as her thoughts came to the surface, it was clear I had missed the shot by quite a few decades. "Your great grandmother," I corrected myself. "You great-grandmother, Nadia, was supposed to meet with me a few days ago, but she didn't come," I grinned and inclined my head to the side. "Would you let me in?"

The little girl looked kind-of worried at the idea, but I smiled a bit more as Yukibey hopped down to stop right in front of the young girl. "Hi!" Yukibey said sweetly, "I'm Yukibey! And this is the Grand Master! Touch my fluffy tail!" he added, swishing his tail right in front of the child. "Someone with such a cute fluffy tail can't be scary," Yukibey added, his voice warm as he slowly began to purr and snuggle closer to the little girl. She instinctively grabbed hold of the soft fuzzy thing and hugged him awkwardly, looking up at me without saying a single word.

"I'll cook you something," I said politely. "I'm one of your great grandmother's friends."

Her stomach took that as the cue to grumble, and she stepped back from the doorway to let me in while still clutching on to Yukibey. She found courage in clutching the warm toy-like creature, which she believed was simply a talking dog.

I swiftly glanced around the entrance, taking in the photos that seemed to cover every wall, and the top of every desk and drawer. "I guess she likes taking pictures," I remarked as I glanced at the photos showing her smiling, not one year over thirty, by the side of men and women, children and newborns. "I once told her it was meaningless," I said as I tapped the glass of a particular photo. "For only the dead will eventually rest within the frames, and then, only the unknown for the strangers to come. That is if you don't end up finishing the space sooner than later."

The little Nadia didn't even bother listening to me, and headed with determination in her young heart towards the kitchen, nervously hopping on a straw chair and placing her arms around Yukibey to pet its soft fur. She looked at me with her two wide eyes, her childish and innocent expression twisted with a bit of fear. She didn't dare ask me where her Granny had gone, and she hadn't the presence of mind of asking after her parents, since they had gone missing a few days earlier too.

I furrowed my brows. "Your parents died?" I asked, my eyes narrowing suspiciously as the girl held her breath, a tiny nod leaving her shaking frame. I hummed thoughtfully, opening the fridge and sighing as I realized it was empty. A second later, and I had summoned from thin air a large platter of lasagna. The little girl realized only then that she hadn't told me where the plates were, but at the same time, she realized I had summoned forth food from nothingness and couldn't help but liken me to a magician like her great grandmother.

She would have wanted to ask me a lot, but she couldn't remember how to speak. Since her parents' death, a terrifying car crash, she had been unable to...they had left her...

I hummed as I tapped with two fingers her forehead, her eyes ceasing their watering as she blinked, before smiling and beginning to eat the warm lasagna with delight. I took a seat in front of her and began to eat silently, the Sliver net extending over this world seeking out the trails of Planeswalking across the Blind Eternities. She had received quite a few visits, and had visited quite a few worlds in turn.

"Hey," Yukibey said suddenly, swishing his tail. "Do you want to make a wish?"

"Yukibey," I said sharply, making him turn to look at me with wide eyes. "No."

"As you wish, Grand Master!" Yukibey said as he shook his tail, even though his ears dropped down sadly and he lowered his gaze. "What Grand Master wishes is absolute!" he looked up at the little girl, his spirit having already lifted itself back up in a split-second. "The Grand Master is awesome little human girl! He is the savior of the whole universe! The fabulous destroyer of Entropy! He who froze the suns! He who suffocated all life so that they would cease creating entropy! Without him, why! We would only live countless billions of years rather than eternally without him!" he turned to loo at me with wide, sparkling eyes, swishing his tail rhythmically to his cheering. "Grand! Mastah! Grand! Mastah! Grand! Mastah!"

I calmly brought my hand to cover my face as Yukibey's tiny paws rose in the air while his body moved right and left.

The little girl had no idea what was going on, and thus simply giggled at Yukibey's funny and clumsy motions.

The Slivers pinged, having found a trace that I did not recognize from the countless others.

I stood up and, with a silent gesture, Yukibey easily snuggled out from the girl's embrace, hopping his way back on my head much to the girl's slightly anguished cry of surprise.

"We found a trace on where your grandmother might have gone," I said as I watched the little girl hop down from the chair and reach to grab hold of one of my legs, looking up at me afraid I'd leave her alone forever just like her grandmother had done. Well, forever was a lofty word, but the child didn't know any better after all. "I should leave someone to take care of you though," I tapped my chin, and then shrugged.

A massive towering Sliver sprouted from my back, countless tentacles and talons intertwined with fangs and deadly spikes ruptured across my skin as it slowly fell on the ground, the slithering of a powerful tale replaced with the gentle patter of naked feet. The beautifully crafted woman stood with light blue hair and shining golden eyes, a candid smile on her face.

"You take care of her while I'm off recovering her grandmother," I said to the creature, who simply smiled daintily before kneeling down in front of the little girl, smiling so brightly it would have warmed the heart of an undead Lich in a split-second. A pair of cat ears twitched atop the young woman's head, and as she pried gently the child off my leg, I waved them both goodbye before disappearing across the Blind Eternities.

The girl was in good hands.

Nyarla Slivers were, after all, the most caring and loving of my creations.

The Nya of cats, and the madness of Nyarlathotep in a single package.

I regretted nothing.

Absolutely, I regretted nothing.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Forty-Seven (Star Trek)

These were the voyages of the Enterprise. Through the infinite vastness of space, Captain Picard and his crew would set their sights upon the vast expanses of the galaxy in search of new forms of life, new discoveries and new means to bring forth the glory of a moralistic high ground for all to witness and be gleefully glad about humanity as the epicenter of understanding, acknowledgement and respectfulness.

But I was not wrong in saying that these had been the voyages of the Enterprise. The USS-Enterprise-D's broken husk floated in space, corpses staying nearby with tiny trails of ice crystals growing over them. They had been dead for a long, long while. There was only one being still functioning, and it wasn't the spaceship's computer or its logs. I gingerly stepped on the torn commanding deck of the Enterprise, which had been ripped apart in half and caused the immediate death of all those aboard, and stared at the spot of the operation officer, where a humanoid figure remained frozen and covered in a light coat of ice.

I could have restored only Data and acquired the information out of him, but I reckoned I could waste ten seconds to restore everything else as it had been.

It was as I extended a hand to restore the broken husk of the Enterprise to full functions that a humanoid figure materialized from thin air. The man had brown hair and a pair of dark eyes, and while he was wearing a Starfleet red shit uniform, he wasn't a common human to begin with. Already, the streams of time and parallel realities formed as he tried various approaches in order to yield as much information from a single instant of time as possible, crafting nodes in the fabric of time and space as complicated as a Gordian knot.

"Ah, the Tyrant," Q said, a smile on his lips. "The Q-Continuum—"

"Utilizing words spoken by myself in the potential futures to have the appearance of knowing everything about myself is meaningless when I possess the necessary capacities to not only visualize multiple facets of the same reality upon different parallel streams, but also a firm determination to see you hanged and quartered should you try such measly tricks on me ever again," I replied nonchalantly and quite quickly, but I was sure he had caught every single one of my words with ease. As multiple parallel essays of his being were torn to shreds and annihilated before they even had a chance to try new methods, the Principal Reality that withheld the Q I was speaking to remained the only one in which he had not died a grisly death.

The bridge closed with a snap and a soft hiss, and I materialized upon their respective seats all of the members of the Enterprise that had gone missing. They were all dead, their bodies in various states of dismemberment, but still easily restored into existence.

Q actually blinked, his skin taking on a slightly greener hue before nodding. "Miss Arwall's words were not merely for show."

"Nadia does not possess the ability to lie fruitfully," I replied as Mana left my fingertips to restore life to the frozen bodies, the broken bones knitting back together as I hummed, my hum becoming a symphony which spread across the metallic frame of the ship to restore power to its engines, sealing breaches and calling back to their original positions the corpses that had floated even light years away. "It is her charm, some might argue. If you know her, then you know of us Planeswalkers?"

"Only a few things," Q answered, settling his suddenly materialized tie around his neck, his Starfleet red shirt uniform replaced with a black suit and white shirt combo. "The Q-Continuum tried to restore life to their bodies, but ultimately failed," he continued, flipping open a small compact grey pen, which in truth wasn't a pen, but something out of a Men In Black cameo. "We couldn't even undo the damage caused to the Enterprise."

"A Planeswalker's attack on the very essence of reality will do that," I acquiesced, the whiff of Red Mana heavy in the air, mixed with...White? "Something that has been killed in body, soul and existence can't be restored by anything that belongs to that Plane," I slammed both of my hands together, the final touch to awaken the sleeping members of the Enterprise.

"Power to shields!" Captain Picard yelled as the alarm of the Enterprise still blared on, his powerful voice carried over to the Chief Tactical Officer, the Klingon Worf. I waited patiently until it became clear to everyone aboard the bridge that they had two figures standing there that hadn't been there before, and they were no longer under attack.

"Q," Jean-Luc Picard slowly stood up from his captain's chair, his expression for the most part unreadable, and yet quite easy to discern in annoyance and light anger.

"This time I am innocent," Q answered, both hands raised as he shook his head quickly. "Which I understand is difficult to accept, but since I truly am, truth will always find a way, I say!" he smiled as he said that, and I simply scoffed.

I glanced at Jean-Luc Picard, and then belatedly realized what had happened as his thoughts, and those of the rest of the bridge's officers, converged into my mind. While they definitely remembered Nadia, and her latest visit, all actions done by whoever had destroyed their ship had been erased from their minds. I sighed and then crossed my hands behind my back. "Miss La Arwall came through here, didn't she?" I asked, "And she was pursued," I stared outside the bridge's large frontal panel at the asteroid belt. "She didn't know that though, did she?"

"Miss La Arwall...then, you are one of her kind?" Jean-Luc asked, his expression slowly losing the hard edge it had gathered at the sight of Q. "She came through here to ask for further understanding of our Replicator technology and our post-scarcity peace development," captain Picard continued. "She did not say where she was headed."

I nodded, "I understand that, Captain," I spoke as I summoned forth from my left arm a small Sliver with beady silver eyes. "Lurker? Any traces?" I asked it, even though I could have just as easily thought the question out. The Sliver's eyes snapped in countless directions in less than a nanosecond, the ultra-sensible retina burning and regenerating just as swiftly. It shook its Sliver head, clearly having found nothing of interest even in the tiniest of atoms of dust. It disappeared back into my shoulder, not wasting a second to return to its slumber.

"Ah, by the way, your memories might have been tampered with beyond your universe's ability to fix." I looked straight at the captain. "I will need to examine one of your crew," I said. "She has...gone missing, and I fear whoever is hunting her might be doing its best to hide his tracks. There are...holes in your memories, Captain Picard, just as there are in those of your bridge crew members."

I extended tendrils from my back, tiny eyes and motes of Blue Mana forming around them as I began to gather the energy required to revert time backwards, rather than just heal the damage done. "It will not hurt, but understand that I am in a hurry," I continued. "Miss La Arwall has the bad habit of not defending herself from those who wish her harm, nor does she believe in the act of murder. Thus, I will merely give you twenty seconds to pick anyone from the bridge to have his memories of the events restored. As traumatizing as they may be, I guarantee you that unless they wish for it, I will not tamper with their memories and remove said knowledge from their heads." I jabbed my thumb in Q's direction, "Should you wish for it, I will also add the genocide of the Q-Continuum's species as an added bonus."

"Hey!" Q exclaimed, his eyes wide. "That's—No!"

I scoffed, and then looked straight into Captain Picard's eyes. "At the end of the twenty seconds, I will simply pick myself. Apologies, but I am in a hurry."

I began to count down slowly, not really giving the rest of the crew the time to think about alternatives. Then again, Worf accepted on the grounds of being a Klingon and being scared of nothing before I could even reach the count of sixteen.

"Very well," I said as I took a deep breath, "It will not hurt."

Thus I read his mind as time spiraled backwards inside his head, and let me tell you that understanding what one says while they try to speak backwards is one thing, but understanding speed-of-thought words spoken backwards is another. Especially when they came in Klingon, and my Klingon was a bit rusty to begin with.

Thus there they stood on the torn bridge as the pressure came less and the air dispersed, a massive and powerfully built humanoid, clad in black with long ram-like horns twisted in the form of the symbol of infinity, and eyes burning with a fierce inner white light and near it a white-skinned Kor with Hedron-like symbols smudged in black grease.

The Dahaka was one thing. The woman though...where had I seen her before?