What? I don't understand this meme.
Path of the Immeasurable Swarm [Worm/Cradle]
- Thread starter derivativeoflife
- Start date
- Crossover
Heartbreaking reality.
It was just a shocked face that I find particularly funny, no real deeper meaning. Tried a different, more clear one but its link refused to work.
Aeshdan
Prince Fraternal Of Pudding
- Location
- Gae Parabolae
That assumes that the relationship between Monarchs and hunger madra is linear, and I think there is some evidence that it isn't. In the first place, at the end of Waybound it is necessary that all the Monarchs leave immediately to keep Lindon from being consumed by hunger, they can't even have one of them stay to say goodbye.
Second, and a more complicated point: before the battle between Tiberian and Reigan Shen, there were seven Monarchs active on Cradle, so if the relationship was linear then each Dreadgod would have 7/5 (or 1.4) units of power. Then the Cat kills Tiberian and Yerin kills the Dragon, so now there are five Monarchs. Then there's a timeskip of several months (so the excess hunger the Dragon was generating should have time to fade). Then Shen kills the Slumbering Wraith and his power is released to the other four Dreadgods. So now the Dreadgods should each have 5/4 (or 1.25) units of power. So in other words, if the relationship between Monarchs and hunger was linear, the Dreadgods should have been stronger before the battle between Shen and Tiberian than they were after Shen killed the Slumbering Wraith. And obviously they weren't, because the Silent King couldn't break its prison until the Slumbering Wraith died.
It seems like going from zero to one Monarchs causes a much bigger spike in the amount of hunger generated than going from one to two.
- Location
- US-MA
Is this central area of the labyrinth part of Cradle canon? If yes, do we see what aspects Reaper squad are compatible with? Can a person grow into other aspects?
Also, how close is Taylor to being ready for Herald/Monarch advancement? It's been noted that finding an Icon is harder for Heralds, and the Herald advancement is harder for Sages, but she was the first Archlady among our Sage squad and had ~8-9 months of training/growing as an Archlady. Given the effort being put in, she's maybe a month or two away from peak Archlady.
It's so neat seeing Taylor and Eithan interact. The fact that Taylor has walked to the end of the road once, and lost everything and kept going, making herself better, she's faced most of her regrets (other than leaving everyone she cared about behind, never to see them again (yet)). This puts her in such a unique position when it comes to understanding and being a peer to Eithan, despite the current gap in lived experience. He's certainly delighted watching a peer come into her own.
Also, how close is Taylor to being ready for Herald/Monarch advancement? It's been noted that finding an Icon is harder for Heralds, and the Herald advancement is harder for Sages, but she was the first Archlady among our Sage squad and had ~8-9 months of training/growing as an Archlady. Given the effort being put in, she's maybe a month or two away from peak Archlady.
It's so neat seeing Taylor and Eithan interact. The fact that Taylor has walked to the end of the road once, and lost everything and kept going, making herself better, she's faced most of her regrets (other than leaving everyone she cared about behind, never to see them again (yet)). This puts her in such a unique position when it comes to understanding and being a peer to Eithan, despite the current gap in lived experience. He's certainly delighted watching a peer come into her own.
Look at that, a Spider that cares, and one who's core values include the power and necessity of individuals coming to work together.
If Charity doesn't come with, Taylor's at least going to change the rules so that they can stay in touch and visit every so often. When working firming up her connection to the Crown Icon, she explicitly declares this.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yes, Ziel's compatible with Titan but we don't get too much else, you can't change basic incompatibility but you can discover parts of your potential talents you didn't know about, and wait to read and find out, respectively.
The labyrinth, along with the elements we've seen so far, are all very much canon. Control of it forms a lot of the story for the last three books.
For Taylor herself, there's not much that we can see that's strongly holding her back. The fallout from connecting with Hera and nebulous "you are not yet at peak" is the primary thing stopping her from being ready to make an attempt, and both could be fixed by spontaneous insight or require significant investment to be prepared for. There's not enough canon on the precise elements at play to suggest that the setting has to be one way or the other, and I don't think the story to date has foreshadowed how it'll go. I could definitely be wrong on that call, so anyone correct me if there's something clear that we know.
A Herald advancement, especially a Sage's, is incredibly dangerous: most of your spirit (meaning: techniques, madra power, soulfire, etc) stays with the Remnant, and usually the Remnant is at least somewhat hostile. See the chapter with the Dark Moon Sect for an example of it going badly. No one wants to try this advancement if enemies could potentially interrupt, and I imagine a lot of people don't feel it's worth the risk even if they're secure enough. That means it's kind of a Catch-22, potentially: Taylor and Mercy need to deal with Seshethkunaaz to advance to Monarch safely, but they probably need Monarch capabilities to try to fight him.
How can they achieve all this? I'm curious to find out!
Couldn't Hera/Queen Administrator just use her powers to make Taylor's Remnant submit quickly? Part of her job was to force rebellious parts of herself or the Warrior Entity to obey.
- Location
- US-MA
Not an expert, but. That seems like it'd be the easy way, but the spirit is part of the person and has a will/authority of its own, and that's why the Herald advancement is harder for Sages than regular Archlords. Furthermore, Taylor's aspects are shadow and dream. Shadow is one of the better aspects at hiding/avoidance and dream is the best at dominating and resisting domination. So it may be possible for Hera to dominate the spirit but I think it more likely that it may be able to throw of any domination/working.
Much like what Ziel said to Yerin when Mercy advanced, I don't think it's going to be possible for Taylor to advance without a true contest of will between her and her spirit.
Could it throw her off considering the massive gap in power and experience? I doubt that Taylor's remanent can throw off power strong enough to dominate a dreadgod especially when it also needs to resist Taylor at the same time.
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Aren't remnants supposed to be crystallized cores of your being? Considering Taylor's whole being... I'm not sure there is anything in the multiverse that can make her remnant to submit without destroying it outright. Because it would literally better burn itself out than surrender. And that kinda defeats the point of the whole exercise.
First of all, Taylor has been mastered in canon by the Simurgh. Second of all Khepri forced people who I would consider having a lot of willpower to submit like Legend, and Chevelier. So, I don't think her willpower would be enough to stop Queen Administrator/Hera considering the experience and power gap especially since entities can force two shards to merge together which this is not far off from.
Not willpower alone. Authority. While they are tied together they are not the same. And Taylor did not have Authority on Earth Bet. With the only possible exception being her time as Khepri.
On the other hand right now she does have Authority and her Remnant will also have it.
But Queen Administrator/Hera now also has authority and a lot more of it than Taylor.
Yes, but it's not the simple "if A>B the effect A happens". It's conceptual in nature. If Taylor's Remnant has something like "Over my dead body" it would just spend it's own power to resist control until it burns out.
Hera has the power but Taylor's core would rather destroy itself than surrender, and would shatter itself rather than give in. Not her conscious mind, but the core component that is Taylor's with reality warping authority and willpower. Hera is strong enough she could crush Taylor…but what remains would not be useful and would kind of undo the reaffirming Taylor's existence she went through, or at least that's my view.
Trying to shortcut your way past confronting yourself is liable to have side effects. Yerin and Ruby's merge in canon was a side-step that didn't damage her, but the split of the blood sage and blood herald showed how bad it could have been. Lindon's issue in canon was also a problem.
Trying to shortcut your way past confronting yourself is liable to have side effects. Yerin and Ruby's merge in canon was a side-step that didn't damage her, but the split of the blood sage and blood herald showed how bad it could have been. Lindon's issue in canon was also a problem.
I don't get the sense that under ordinary circumstances it's possible for external factors to interfere. If it were, you'd see people like Malice be able to guarantee a near free herald advancement for archlords in her own faction just by subduing their remnants for them.
I presume it's because your spirit/remnant is a part of you, and the process that fully merges the two of you has to be borne entirely of your own will, or else the transformation will be imperfect somehow.
If QA does count as enough like/sufficiently connected to Taylor to help with her advancement and her remnant doesn't benefit from anything similar then yes, Taylor will overpower her remnant easily and seamlessly.
I don't think this is how it works. A lot of the present day monarchs possess a similar "die before surrendering" attitude and are also extremely strong willed individuals who fight to the bitter end, but all of them managed to subdue their remnants. It is very doable to subdue even an extremely uncooperative remnant in a clash of will.
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Theoretically, Taylor could do what Mercy did, but from a slightly different viewpoint. Especially considering she's now seen someone merge peacefully with their remnant. While Taylor's definitely uhh, confrontational and in general extremely distrusting of poor management/leadership/petulant god-kings, one of her core moments was about a dissonant group engaging in a unity of purpose. And sure, that's kind of because she mastered almost all of them behind her singular will, but it's not impossible that she might find common ground with her remnant. If Taylor and Taylor's remnant can agree to work together because they trust in each other's vision for the future, then it's possible Taylor could also avoid a remnant fight (a fight that would probably be the most cataclysmic Sage->Monarch remnant battle ever, because who even knows how Hera's connection to the remnant would work and what conceptual fuckery might be unleashed).
"Finally, everyone was working together."
"Finally, everyone was working together."
There is actually one issue I just realized there might be with my plan, if Queen Administrator/Hera and Taylor merge for the fight they might not be facing a Taylor remanent but a Khepri remanent instead.
Taylor BELIEVES in common causes above personal gain. Moreover she has sacrificed her individuality for power before when she became Khepri. She surrendered to Protectorate to achieve her goal of saving the world. If she is focused on becoming a Monarch, on saving the people she cares about her Remnant can also have this as priority above winning.
But also! Clones of Para humans gain memories of their originals through Shards. And QA seems more connected to Taylor's Madra than her brain. I believe Taylor's Remnant can regain memories MUCH faster than usual.
And if it can remember then they might talk. And agree. And above that...
I want her Remnant to be Khepri. I want her Remnant to choose to become Khepri.
Taylor chose to alter her understanding of her Authority, and of her connection with Hera, to be more in line with who she wants to be. More human.
But in doing so she sacrificed some of her potential power. And with how she saw Spider Mantle it feels like she pulled away Hera from the idea of Entity to idea of independent individual power. And that has it's power as well.
But I want her Remnant to fully embrace perspective of Khepris. And for them to then fuse. For them both to accept that there is a time of soft touch of Taylor, and time for iron grasp of Khepri.
The normal problem with Khepri is the sacrifice of her identity, but for Remnant with a newborn mind Khepri might be the source of her identity instead.
Instead of physical battle of submission, emotional battle of acceptance. To fill the lacks in each other.
Edit: And yes, part of why I want it is for Taylor to return to Gimmel for Her Shards (she earned them by right of conquest lol) and become a Monarch Entity.
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Great Greedy Guts
Ceterum censeo Vigilam esse delendam.
A lot sweeter here, too, since it's genuine and not the equivalent of going "Yeah, I'm listening, stop bothering me" while your husband points out the cliff you're driving your car towards with your face buried in your new phone.
Also fits with her last words of her old life. A small thing, part of a countless multitude that comes together to be the night sky.
Could be that the Wraith holds more than an even split of the hunger power, enough for it to more than balance out the loss of a couple monarchs. But also, yeah, there's probably a bigger jump from zero to one than anything else.
Forced Ascension
She woke up, disoriented and feeling weak, on a bare stone floor. The room was dark in a way she had not experienced since advancing to gold, under a deep pressure comparable to what approaching Malice had been. Attempting to call on the oracle to get an idea of the situation failed, and her other eyes, while present, felt sluggish and as blind as her.
Had she drunk that much at the festivities ? The fall of Shen and with it the final victory of their faction was certainly a cause for celebration, but she had not indulged that much, had she ? But no, the feeling was more of a spiritual wound than physical, her body was fine, but her soul was not. Worse, her partner did not answer the call, blocked out by an impossible barier.
Managing to stand up despite all, she quickly found that the only door was locked and warded specifically against physical means of passing through, along with several scripts along the walls limiting the effects of physical means inside the room, though, strangely nothing to block actual techniques. A pitiful obstacle if she could access any of her powers but currently impassable in her current state.
No matter. She has had worse. the first priority was information, where she was, what obstacles, who was present to hinder or help. The why and how could wait.
As she turned from the door, and her eyes finally got used to the supernatural darkness in search of any edge or hint, a voice made itself known, powerful, inhuman and corrupted by a heavy living static : "Finally awake ? I was getting tired of waiting."
In the shadow, unbothered by the mass of insects, the masked figure continued with increasing emotion.
"Because it was waiting for one thing, then another : If I did not act know we would still be waiting in a century, until forgetting and becoming content" the word was spat "with this endless passivity.
"When it was not ensuring the last of the dragon follower did not get linched, it was finishing the bloody bird, then hunting both cat. I could accept that, a decent enough goal. Maybe even dealing with the collapse of mount Sein. But letting yourself be trapped in paperwork ? That is pitiful"
"No, I refuse to stay in this prison, I want to see the stars, to fulfill this promise you seem to have forgotten".
"Thankfully" Her remnant finished, finally turning to face her "I have exactly the mean to force you to stop delaying and ascend now"
***********
I have sat on this idea for a while, from the winter sage arc, and created an account just for sharing this.
Specificaly, Taylor is both stubborn and vulnerable to scope creep, rationalising staying longer and longer the same way she delayed turning the undersider in until she actually joined them or going more than 100% against the end of the world without any personal consideration or break even when those would have helped more. So in this hypothetical future, without an external impetus for grasping for more power, she is procrastinating on her ascension, 'small' needed task by 'small' needed task along with charity and without being called on it by Mercy (because those task are actually essentials, and because Mercy does not think she can dictate those things to taylor and charity)
So Her remnant, possibly helped by hera, possibly independently, decide to force matters, arrange a room inverse of what is usually needed for herald ascension, locking the physical instead, then a battle of wills, because Taylor does not want to ascend yet, and the remnant very much does.
She woke up, disoriented and feeling weak, on a bare stone floor. The room was dark in a way she had not experienced since advancing to gold, under a deep pressure comparable to what approaching Malice had been. Attempting to call on the oracle to get an idea of the situation failed, and her other eyes, while present, felt sluggish and as blind as her.
Had she drunk that much at the festivities ? The fall of Shen and with it the final victory of their faction was certainly a cause for celebration, but she had not indulged that much, had she ? But no, the feeling was more of a spiritual wound than physical, her body was fine, but her soul was not. Worse, her partner did not answer the call, blocked out by an impossible barier.
Managing to stand up despite all, she quickly found that the only door was locked and warded specifically against physical means of passing through, along with several scripts along the walls limiting the effects of physical means inside the room, though, strangely nothing to block actual techniques. A pitiful obstacle if she could access any of her powers but currently impassable in her current state.
No matter. She has had worse. the first priority was information, where she was, what obstacles, who was present to hinder or help. The why and how could wait.
As she turned from the door, and her eyes finally got used to the supernatural darkness in search of any edge or hint, a voice made itself known, powerful, inhuman and corrupted by a heavy living static : "Finally awake ? I was getting tired of waiting."
In the shadow, unbothered by the mass of insects, the masked figure continued with increasing emotion.
"Because it was waiting for one thing, then another : If I did not act know we would still be waiting in a century, until forgetting and becoming content" the word was spat "with this endless passivity.
"When it was not ensuring the last of the dragon follower did not get linched, it was finishing the bloody bird, then hunting both cat. I could accept that, a decent enough goal. Maybe even dealing with the collapse of mount Sein. But letting yourself be trapped in paperwork ? That is pitiful"
"No, I refuse to stay in this prison, I want to see the stars, to fulfill this promise you seem to have forgotten".
"Thankfully" Her remnant finished, finally turning to face her "I have exactly the mean to force you to stop delaying and ascend now"
***********
I have sat on this idea for a while, from the winter sage arc, and created an account just for sharing this.
Specificaly, Taylor is both stubborn and vulnerable to scope creep, rationalising staying longer and longer the same way she delayed turning the undersider in until she actually joined them or going more than 100% against the end of the world without any personal consideration or break even when those would have helped more. So in this hypothetical future, without an external impetus for grasping for more power, she is procrastinating on her ascension, 'small' needed task by 'small' needed task along with charity and without being called on it by Mercy (because those task are actually essentials, and because Mercy does not think she can dictate those things to taylor and charity)
So Her remnant, possibly helped by hera, possibly independently, decide to force matters, arrange a room inverse of what is usually needed for herald ascension, locking the physical instead, then a battle of wills, because Taylor does not want to ascend yet, and the remnant very much does.
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The problem with a Remnant of Khepri is considering how powerful Queen Administrator/Hera is (probably Judge level) if it manifests on Cradle the Albion will almost certainly notice.
Event Horizon 5.6
New
In total, our journey to the labyrinth took several days. Although it threw fewer obstacles in front of us on our way out, the path we were forced to take was several times longer. According to Eithan, the Slumbering Wraith's authority over the labyrinth was weakening, a sign that Reigan Shen had usurped at least some control. We needed to deal with the Dragon King as quickly as possible so we could confront the next threat.
We slipped into Moongrave quietly and unobtrusively, as I was still officially dead. It took surprisingly little badgering for Eithan to agree to come clean about having some remainder of Ozmanthus stuck in his head. Yerin and Lindon seemed more surprised that he was actually volunteering information than anything else, and Ziel still seemed constitutionally incapable of being surprised by anything. Mercy, of course, barraged him with questions, and not even about the sacred arts; the two of them spent several minutes discussing the Arelius patriarch's hair care routine, until the rest of us dragged them back on track. Charity just sighed and shook her head, muttering something about why he'd had to land in our lap.
As I'd expected, Mercy adamantly refused to let Eithan use Penance in her place. "He's my family's rival, and I was the one who let him live the first time," she said. "It's my responsibility." I resisted the urge to try and dissuade her. I might have if I'd thought Eithan could use it more effectively, but even if he was in some sense Penance's creator, the sheer amount of symbolism on Mercy's side almost certainly outweighed that.
With that settled, Eithan left to deliver the arrowhead to the clan's most advanced soulsmith foundries, where it would hopefully be turned into an actual arrow. Charity and Lindon accompanied him, both being soulsmiths of no small skill. The others drifted away as well, until it was just me and Mercy. I spent a while telling her about our journey through the labyrinth, including the room at the very bottom. I wanted to return there with her when the opportunity presented itself. Even if she couldn't open the sixth door on her first attempt, I suspected just studying it would bring her significantly closer to an Icon, although I wasn't sure which one.
The conversation eventually trailed off, leaving us in silence. "Um… Taylor?" asked Mercy hesitantly after a minute or two. "You've… You've kissed a boy before, right?"
Ah. I'd been wondering when this topic was going to come up. "I have. I found it to be more trouble than it was worth, honestly."
"Have you… Have you ever kissed a girl?"
I didn't bother suppressing my smile. "I've done that as well, yes." I'd gotten punched in the face immediately afterwards, and there'd also been brain-eating parasites involved, but I didn't think that was context she needed right now.
"Really?" asked Mercy, rapidly turning bright red. "So, um, if… If I'd kissed a girl too, that would be okay, right?"
"You are allowed to kiss whoever you want, as long as she also wants to kiss you," I told her firmly.
"...Okay," she said after a moment. "I, um, I guess I never really realized that was something you could do. Mother always used to try and make matches for me, but they were always boys. She was always really big on, you know, continuing the, um, family and stuff, and I guess, um, two girls can't really, you know, do that." She got quieter and quieter as she talked, until she was barely mumbling by the end.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that when one of the girls is a Monarch," I said amusedly.
Mercy was now so bright red that I thought she might actually be illuminating the room. "B-but that- that couldn't happen by accident, right? I mean, not that- not that we- I mean, w-who said anything about Monarchs?"
My grin widened. "Oh? Maybe I assumed. Should I tell Miara you're already seeing someone else?"
"What!? No! I mean- I, um…" Groaning, she buried her face in a pillow. I was pretty sure the room grew noticeably darker. "Was it really that obvious?"
"Oh, sorry, was it not supposed to be? I kind of assumed you wanted everyone to know, the way you two were acting around each other."
This was fun. I hadn't had the chance to tease anyone about this kind of thing since… since Emma. I rarely ever thought of her anymore, but it seemed under the right circumstances, she could still conjure up a pang of bittersweet nostalgia. Thinking back, she'd always had a dozen boys wrapped around her finger at any given time, but I couldn't remember her ever actually dating any of them. Maybe her and Sophia…? No, I couldn't see that. I'd never actually figured out what had happened to her, stopped caring after a certain point, but there'd probably been some perfectly good reason in her twisted wreck of a mind to not want to date anyone. I shook my head slightly, dismissing the thoughts. The past was the past.
Once she'd gotten over her embarrassment, Mercy spent the next half hour gushing over how amazing her girlfriend was. Seeing her happy made me happy as well, but there was also a sense of… Not quite jealousy, but maybe the feeling that I should be jealous? After all, the sum total of my love life was a two-week fling the better part of a decade ago which had been more a coping mechanism than anything else. Was I missing something? I'd visited quite a few universes since then, and not a single person in any of them had really caught my eye, but maybe I just hadn't been looking?
I pondered the question for a little while, then decided it was stupid to try and talk myself into being unhappy. Maybe if I forced myself to date someone I'd find it wasn't as unappealing as it seemed right now, but it wasn't like I was on any kind of deadline. If I started feeling lonely in a decade or a century, I'd do something about it then. Besides, there was also Hera to consider. Getting intimate with someone while I could feel her metaphorically peeking through the window just sounded awkward. I might be able to explain the concept of privacy to her in the future, but for now, I couldn't think of anyone I'd risk hurting her feelings for.
It took two days to produce an arrow using Penance. Finding a combination of materials which were both compatible with and capable of standing up to its destructive power was no easy task. The final arrow was carved from the bones of a sacred leviathan with a death aspect, and bound together using material from the remnant of a long-dead black dragon Herald. Even so, it probably wouldn't last for more than a single shot. "Remember," said Eithan as we examined it, "This is not the true Penance. A Monarch may be able to defend against it, particularly one as old and powerful as the Dragon King. We will need to create an opening."
The Eight-Man Empire was thanked for their service, given a hefty bonus to make future business smoother, and sent on their way. The cost of paying them to actively seek out a hostile Monarch for a battle to the death was too high to justify, and there was also the risk the Dragon King would smell a trap. Better to let him think we simply couldn't afford to pay them any longer. Honestly, another couple of months would have made that true. Their prices had been surprisingly generous, but the battle against the Dreadgod alone had still cost us more than the average independent Herald would see in their entire life.
It took less than a day for the Dragon King to notice their absence. This time, there was no attempt to talk; it seemed he'd grown tired of us summoning up Monarchs to defend ourselves. The attack was sudden, the sky turning gold only seconds before his immense sandstorm exploded outwards, smashing into the city's barriers. Fortunately, they'd been kept powered for this exact reason and held strong against the assault.
The six of us gathered within a minute of his arrival. Charity was outwardly calm, but I knew her well enough to see the anxiety she wasn't letting herself feel. Mercy showed her anxiety openly, but likewise, I knew she wouldn't let it hinder her. Yerin looked eager for the fight, and Lindon simply looked determined. Eithan wore his usual easy smile, showing no nerves whatsoever. Five Sages and a Herald was a force strong enough to make even a Monarch hesitate. But there were Monarchs, and there were Monarchs. Reigan Shen was known for his vast arsenal of weapons and tricks, Emriss for her foresight and healing. Seshethkuunaz was known for his raw, overwhelming power. He wouldn't be deterred.
I used the Strands of Unity. My presence washed over the city, leaving sudden surge of hope in its wake as I revealed my survival. It settled over the other five as well, and it felt more complete in some abstract way than it had before. Each of them had their own perspective of the world, and through my technique, an echo of it was shared with me. To Yerin, the Sword Icon was like a a song in the back of her mind, guiding her through the steps of a lethal dance. To Eithan, the Death Icon felt like certainty, the absolute knowledge of where to strike a killing blow. Charity could sense the Dragon King's emotions even from here, could see his intentions almost before he knew them himself. And in Lindon's mind, Dross was constantly analyzing everything, plotting an ever more accurate course through the future.
"Ooh!" said Mercy. "Wow, I feel like I can see everything! Is this what it's like for you all the time?"
"No," I said, shaking my head. "This is new."
"Unless I'm quite mistaken, that technique carries the slightest touch of the Way itself," said Eithan, looking incredibly smug. "Just enough to translate the perspective of an Icon into something comprehensible to someone without it."
"Incredible," murmured Charity. "Not even Malice was capable of wielding the Way directly, as the Abidan do."
I frowned thoughtfully. The technique had changed slightly, even though I hadn't consciously done anything different. I still couldn't remember exactly what I'd seen inside that room at the bottom of the labyrinth, but some of that knowledge had slipped into my technique anyway. The adjustments I'd made to the technique without even realizing didn't seem to serve a purpose from the perspective of the Sacred Arts, adding complexity for no benefit. And yet it still felt undeniably righter than it had before, closer to some Platonic ideal which I still couldn't fully perceive. Was that the Way?
"Cheers and celebration for you, but don't we have an angry Monarch to deal with?" asked Yerin.
"Yes," I said, and then there was no more need for words. The Strands of Unity carried knowledge and intentions directly, with me serving as the hub. It was quite reminiscent of Hera's language, and I could feel her practically radiating smugness.
Lindon was the first through the barrier. A sphere of pale blue madra hundreds of feet wide exploded from him, the authority of the Void Icon wiping away the sandstorm. The response was immediate. The storm pulled back, condensing into the shape of a serpentine dragon miles long. It lunged forwards, its jaws opening wide enough to swallow the sphere whole.
In response, the sphere grew larger and began to spin as Eithan appeared next to Lindon, seamlessly shifting the technique into his own. The whirlpool of madra attempted to fling the immense dragon back the other direction, but the authority in it resisted. Through my link to Eithan, I channeled my own authority into his technique and said, "Submit." The Crown Icon clashed against the Crown Icon, and although the Dragon King's mastery of it was much greater than mine, he was trying to override the laws of the world and I was trying to enforce them. The technique was caught, whipping around back towards its creator.
The Dragon King launched himself to the side, avoiding his own technique. His storm obscured spiritual senses in a way similar to my swarm, but it was a side effect of its sheer power, not its intended purpose. As strong as his authority was, none of it related to deception. Charity had already sensed exactly where he was and where he intended to go. Mercy appeared in a flash of silver light, her bow already drawn back. Tens of thousands of black arrows burst forth, their paths curving to cut off every possible line of escape.
He made no attempt to escape. Instead, another enormous dragon erupted towards us, large enough to swallow the entire barrage. Before it could, a red and chrome sword the size of a skyscraper stabbed down its throat. It wasn't enough to stop the technique entirely, but the dragon lost cohesion, turning back into a wave of golden sand. There was still incredible power in it, but Mercy's arrows became intangible, passing through as though it were nothing but a diffuse cloud of dust.
Caught by surprise, the Dragon King was struck by several arrows before another blast of sand blew the rest away. They had virtually no effect, but first blood went to us. That was enough for him to begin taking the fight seriously. Unlike most sacred artists, he relied almost entirely on a single technique, but his mastery of it meant he needed nothing else. This time, it wasn't a single dragon which came at us, but half a dozen.
I released my swarm. The dragons plowed into it with no resistance, but it veiled us while we moved. Techniques flashed back at him, and he stepped through space to avoid an arrow from Mercy and a sword from Yerin. Anticipating where he'd arrive, the city's launcher batteries unleashed a volley just as he reappeared. The storm solidified into a golden shield, the purple bolts hammering against it with little effect, but they did force him to split his attention.
Meanwhile, the dragons rampaging through my swarm detonated back into vortices of sand. The power in them was less concentrated, not capable of killing any of us in a single hit, but they were far more effective at clearing out my swarm. More dragons had already formed from the larger storm, lunging towards us as our cover was depleted. Even with our combined ability to see a glimpse of the future, the sheer weight of power against us was too much to overcome. Someone was going to need to take a hit.
Eithan appeared in the path of one dragon, releasing another massive whirlpool of madra to redirect it. The two nearest dragons immediately swerved to target him. Lindon appeared in front of one, unleashing the Hollow Domain. Mercy placed herself in front of the other, summoning her armor at full size. Another of the Dragon King's techniques turned towards her, while the last two were on the wrong side of my swarm and continued onwards. I reinforced my swarm and concentrated it, meeting his techniques with the Devouring Swarm.
Authorities clashed, and the battle became conceptual. A titanic dragon flew through an endless wasteland, so mighty that nothing in existence could ever hope to be its equal, and the merciless sun overhead promised inevitable, inescapable death. Darkness encroached on it: An all-consuming void that could never be filled even if it swallowed the entire world, a sharp edge that marked the utter end of existence, and an endless night that would irresistibly smother any light which tried to pierce it. But the dragon was too strong; its absolutes outmatched ours. It pressed forwards, forcing the darkness back.
Then Charity, invisible, came close enough to the Dragon King's physical body to unleash the Dream of Darkness. In the vision, horrifying specters emerged from the darkness, darting around the dragon, their claws ripping at its very soul. It roared defiance, struggling to push the darkness back, and still succeeding. But its immense will was now fully committed. A sword fell from the heavens, severing one of the dragon's wings in the blink of an eye.
The vision snapped. The Dragon King's arm spun away from the rest of his body, sliced cleanly off by Yerin's Final Sword. Instead of blood, more golden sand poured from the wound, rapidly shaping itself into a replacement indistinguishable from the original. We hadn't come out unscathed either; even the weakened technique which had made it through the Hollow Doman had scoured Lindon's skin raw, although he was already healing, and Mercy's armor was cracked and pitted. My swarm was gone, but it had done its job and diffused the final two techniques back into clouds of sand.
Around ten seconds had passed since the battle began, and we'd taken each other's measure. Together, the six of us could match the Monarch. But if it became a battle of endurance, we would lose. We were capable of resisting his techniques as long as his will was split between us, but it was costly in both madra and soulfire. At the current rate, we would exhaust ourselves in no more than fifteen or twenty minutes, whereas he could likely keep fighting like this for hours. We needed to make an opening.
The Dragon King stepped through space again to avoid his own technique returned by Eithan. We kept pressuring him, techniques already flying towards him even as he reappeared. He kept pressuring us as well, more dragons forming themselves from the storm and coming at us from every angle. I unleashed my swarm again, my authority warping the world to create the shadow aura it needed.
This time when we were forced to take hits, he focused all of his will on Mercy. We'd anticipated it, and Eithan sent stars of pure madra spearing through the technique. That wasn't enough to fully disrupt it, not with the Dragon King's focus on it, but Mercy summoned the Netherworld Empress. The technique had changed slightly, no longer resembling Malice quite so much. Instead of crushing contempt, the regal figure radiated a sense of purpose and determination. It had no desire to kill, but it would do what was necessary to protect innocents. Empowered, she met the technique with a punch, the shockwave blasting sand away in all directions.
Switching tactics, the Dragon brought his entire storm forwards, no longer shaping it into discrete techniques. He couldn't bring nearly as much of his power to bear on a single target in this form, but it also made the technique impossible to avoid or hide from. Charity, Yerin, and I had no defenses against it except the inherent toughness of our Archlord bodies, meaning we would be shredded in short order. Instead, we gathered around Lindon, who once again summoned the Hollow Domain. We moved forwards as a group, while Eithan and Mercy moved independently. Mercy abandoned her titanic form, covering only her body, and Eithan Forged a suit of blue-white armor around himself.
Our enemy took a more defensive posture, avoiding and deflecting our techniques while letting his storm wear us down. It wasn't entirely effective. With the pressure on us greatly decreased, our advantage in sight became much more significant. The Dragon King dodged another Final Sword from Yerin, straight into a volley of stars from Eithan. He blocked them with a shield of gold sand, but the pure madra weakened the barrier, allowing Mercy's arrow to phase through.
Unlike the previous arrows he'd been hit by, this one contained her full power, and a significant portion of his chest blackened and flaked away as he was blasted over a mile back. The wound began filling in almost immediately, but he'd been knocked into a legion of phantom soldiers, their blades slicing at his mind. He blew them away with a pulse of sand, only to be struck by a Rippling Sword from Yerin which cut a deep gash into his leg.
Even on the back foot, this might have been the best strategy for him. We were hurting him, but he could take a huge amount of punishment. All he needed to do was outlast Lindon's pure madra, and we'd be forced to retreat. But he had the pride of a dragon, and wouldn't tolerate being a punching bag while we tired ourselves out. A moment later, the storm once again began concentrating itself into discrete techniques.
I immediately released my swarm again, covering us while we evaded. The previous dance resumed, our authorities clashing as we attacked and defended. Mercy, Lindon, and I had each used up close to half of our madra, while the others had a bit more. We still hadn't found an opening. The Dragon King would sense Penance the instant Mercy revealed it, and would either retreat or focus all of his efforts on defending against it. We were going to need to take a risk. Thoughts flew back and forth between us as we searched for an opportunity. The battle continued and our madra reserves dropped steadily lower, but the Dragon King had weakened slightly as well, his injuries beginning to add up.
So far, we'd mostly managed to keep the Dragon King's attention focused on Mercy, Eithan, and Lindon, who could best weather his attacks. Now he changed tactics again, ignoring them and sending all of his techniques into my swarm, where Charity, Yerin, and I were hiding. In a flash, the path forwards was suddenly clear.
Yerin burst out of my rapidly dwindling swarm, launching herself back towards Moongrave. The battle had drifted several dozen miles, and the sandstorm was now between us and the safety of the city's walls. Every dragon instantly swerved towards her, and the storm in front of her condensed itself into even more, leaving her surrounded. She struck out with the Final Sword, joined by an arrow from Mercy, stars from Eithan, and a volley from the city's batteries. The Dragon King focused all of his authority on the techniques, determined not to let her escape. Two of his techniques unraveled, but there was still no safe path through.
Unlike Yerin, Charity and I didn't need my swarm to hide ourselves. Invisible, she once again came in range to use the Dream of Darkness. This time, instead of focusing on defense, I lent my authority to her technique. For a moment, the Dragon King was blind. He threw the technique off almost immediately, but in that fraction of a second, Lindon stepped through space. A titanic claw of black fire struck the Dragon King from behind, blasting him entirely out of his storm for the first time in the fight.
Before he'd even slammed into the ground, I renewed my swarm around him, immediately beginning the Devouring Swarm. Debris blasted into the air as he impacted, and immediately dissolved into golden sand as he met my Ruler technique with his own. This time, I stood my ground. Through the Strands of Unity, I reinforced my authority with the will of the entire Akura clan. For nearly two full seconds, my swarm held him at bay. Then he broke through, the storm exploding outwards and annihilating my technique. I was too close to avoid it, and the wave of sand blasted me away even as it scraped my skin raw. But I'd already done my job.
Mercy could release an arrow layered with all seven of her techniques in a fraction of a second. Penance was theoretically simpler, and yet vastly more difficult. Physically, she did nothing more than fit the arrow to her bow and pull the string back. Conceptually, it felt as though she was attempting to bend the end of the universe to her will. But no, not quite; Mercy had never bent anyone or anything to her will. Instead, she simply shared her conviction that the Dragon King needed to die for the sake of all the innocents in the world, and that it was her responsibility to do it. The power in Penance pressed against her, searching for weakness, and found none. Her will and the weapon's lethal intent sharpened to a single point, and the world held its breath, the power of every other technique on the battlefield suddenly muted.
She released it just as the Dragon King freed himself from my swarm. Even for a Monarch, it wasn't sufficient time to react. The arrow crossed the miles between them in less than the blink of an eye. It struck him and vanished, leaving no physical wound. The Monarch's lifeline, an endless font of immortality, was instantly severed, his life aura vanishing like so much smoke.
And then Fate shifted, and I realized we'd miscalculated. Through shear will alone, the Dragon King clung to life. He used no techniques; splitting his focus would have killed him immediately. Instead, he directed all of his power inwards. Confronted with inescapable death, he didn't despair. He had the pride of a dragon, and his last act would be to take his killer with him.
Penance had destroyed only his lifeline, leaving his spirit still largely intact, and he'd used his final moments to engrave it with his will. His remnant burst free, not in the shape of the young human boy that he'd worn for most of his life, but in his true form of an immense gold serpent. Although spirits couldn't truly wield authority themselves, this one had been bound with a single, final command at the moment of its creation. It lunged towards Mercy, and the power of that final command locked space around her, preventing her from using her Moonlight Bridge. Simultaneously, another wave of golden sand blasted outwards, only marginally weaker than the living technique.
My mind accelerated to its maximum, and I assessed our options. Yerin and Eithan hadn't been able to avoid all of the techniques the Dragon King had sent at them, instead plowing straight through. They'd survived because his will had been pulled away from the technique at the last moment and because Eithan had protected them with his madra armor, but they'd still been seriously injured. Elixirs would heal them fairly quickly, but not quickly enough to make a difference. Mercy was retreating back towards Moongrave, but the remnant was faster and would catch her before she made it. Loosing Penance had taken a lot out of her, and her spirit was nearing exhaustion.
Could Charity, Lindon, and I destroy the remnant before it caught her? Through our various precognitive abilities, I saw how it would play out. Punching through the storm would delay us, just for a second or two, but long enough that it would reach her before we reached it. It would make no move to defend itself; its entire focus would remain locked on Mercy even as we tore into it. In the majority of futures, her armor broke before the remnant did. Sometimes she survived anyway, her Herald body strong enough to endure to the wrath of a Monarch for a few seconds even unprotected. Sometimes, she didn't.
There were things I was willing to risk, and Mercy's life wasn't one of them. I didn't pursue the Dragon King's remnant. Instead, I used the Mask of Divinity. It had taken me months of work to make this technique function at all, and additional months before I could use it quickly. I'd spent those months, because I'd known that if I ever needed to use the technique, it would almost certainly be an emergency.
Hera's avatar formed behind me, then drifted forwards, merging with my own body. Most Enforcer techniques manifested as a simple glow, but there was nothing simple about the Mask of Divinity. Instead, Hera's many arms now sprouted from my own shoulders, and her mask covered my face. The symbolism was important; the technique was a mask, something I could put on and take off without being changed by it.
My link to Hera opened wide, as wide as it had when I'd fought the Silent King, but this time it was a vastly different experience. Our thoughts merged to the point that it became easier to think of us rather than me, but it was us. I was still here, my sense of self no longer washed away by her vastly greater existence. The change wasn't entirely due to the technique, either; we fit together better than we had before. No matter how much smaller I was than her, to her, we were equals.
Our thoughts accelerated beyond even what my mind was capable of. The remnant was almost on top of Mercy, its jaws opening to crush her, but that fraction of a second was all the time in the world to us. There were a multitude of ways we could solve this problem, and it was best to find the most efficient. Just opening our link this far was already dangerous. The lighter we kept our touch, the less likely we were to draw the attention of the Abidan.
We could simply dominate the remnant, of course. Now that we were merged, the thought that the Dragon King might have ever stood up to our will seemed absurd. Tied as we were by the Strands of Unity to millions of our subjects, our mastery of the Crown Icon vastly eclipsed his. His remnant would pose no challenge whatsoever. But doing so would require more power than any being on Cradle should be capable of wielding, and even if the Abidan weren't watching, other Monarchs almost certainly were. This time, there was no Dreadgod battle to obfuscate what took place.
Moving Mercy was similarly problematic, as it would require breaking the Dragon King's final working when every scrap of his remnant's will was focused on enforcing it. What we needed to do was somehow go around his working. It was a simple working, although no less effective for it. If space was a door, the remnant was holding the door shut.
But space wasn't a door, and the Dragon King's understanding of it had been amateurish at best. Unfortunately, however, as extensive as our understanding of space was, it was based on the laws of another universe. There were certain commonalities, but there were also differences, and we hadn't yet had a chance to investigate them.
Well, there was no time like the present. We extended our senses sideways, in a way that was both incredibly alien and as instinctive as breathing. There should have been other universes there, pressed up against this one, but there weren't. Instead, there was something… else. It resembled a vast, infinitely complex machine, although there was also something organic about it. The space was both more and less real than the physical world. Nothing there could actually be touched, but it existed in a way that a rock or a tree didn't.
We felt excitement bubbling up. The purpose of this space was unknown, but its nature was familiar. Constructing a very similar pseudo-real space had been one of the first tasks of the cycle when arriving on a new cluster of worlds. It had been used to facilitate communication and exchanges between shards, whose physical forms were spread widely across many different realities.
There wasn't currently time to give the space the thorough investigation it deserved, but some observations could be made. The space wasn't just ordered; it was the very concept of order. Although we had a thorough understanding of the laws governing aura and madra, their ultimate source had remained a mystery. That question was now answered. The structures in this space were somehow modifying the laws of reality in the physical universe, allowing new processes to exist. It was, in a sense, the foundation reality rested on. With sufficient study, we would be able to modify the fundamental laws of physics however we liked.
Now wasn't the time for that. Careless action here might literally unravel the entire universe, if sufficient force was applied. But a small, local change shouldn't pose any significant problems. Although we couldn't yet navigate the space freely, we were tied to Mercy by the Strands of Unity. Like the rest of the world, her existence was reflected here, and our technique led us to it. As a Herald, her existence was self-defined; even here, nothing could affect her without first overcoming her will. But we had no intention of harming her, and she was already trying to escape. Her will wouldn't oppose us.
A portal was essentially a hole punched in space, connecting two distant parts of the world. The space around Mercy had been reinforced, hardened to make that impossible. We made no attempt to move her. Instead, we flexed our will and rewrote the tiny portion of reality that defined her location. She wasn't moments away from being seized by the remnant's jaws; she was safely back in Moongrave. An instant later, it became so.
We briefly paused to examine the results of our action. The tiniest ripple in reality spread from where we'd made our change, barely detectable even to us. The authority we'd used had been significant, more than a Sage should be able to wield, but not exceeding the abilities of a Monarch. Anyone watching from a distance would assume that the burst of power had come from the Dragon King himself, or perhaps from Penance, unless their senses were exceptionally sharp. There was a risk, but it had been successfully minimized.
In total, we'd been merged for slightly less than a full second. We felt a small reluctance to separate. We were so much more together than we were separately. But we would still be together, if not quite to the same extent. It wasn't worth taking extra risks just to hold on to this feeling of completeness. Regretfully, we let our link fade back to its usual levels.
I gasped a deep breath as the world seemed to unfreeze. That had been… intense, although not nearly to the same degree as before. I let the Mask of Divinity fade, quickly examining myself to make sure there hadn't been any harmful effects. The technique had worked perfectly, better than I'd even hoped for. Out of caution, I hadn't tested it to its full extent, hoping I wouldn't need it at all. I was a bit embarrassed to realize that part of me was now hoping for an excuse to use it again. Judging by the feelings coming down the link, I didn't think Hera would try to talk me out of it.
And I might have one. Hera had understood the strange space we'd discovered beneath reality more than I had, but I remembered the broad outlines. The beginnings of a plan were already forming in my mind, although it would take much more investigation before I'd know if it was viable. For now, though, we had a battle to finish.
The remnant's jaws snapped shut on nothing, and it stuttered in the air, suddenly unsure how to fulfill the purpose it had been imprinted with. A moment later, Charity and Lindon reached it. An Empty Palm nearly half a mile across slammed into the remnant's flank, dissolving a significant chunk of its leg. On the opposite side, Charity's phantom soldiers began carving into its hide. I hurried to catch up with them, while also directing the batteries on the city wall to fire at will.
It lashed back at us with its claws and the storm around it, but its movements and techniques had become confused and hesitant. The inflexible nature of remnants meant its focus was still on trying to find Mercy. It succeeded a moment later, as an arrow blew a sizeable chunk out of its shoulder. Roaring, it surged forwards towards the city walls. The barrier flashed brilliantly purple as the remnant slammed into it, but as powerful as it, it couldn't match the strength of a Dreadgod.
The rest was almost anticlimactic. The remnant continued to throw itself against the city's defenses in a futile attempt to reach Mercy, barely defending itself as we tore into it from every angle. It took less than a minute for it to collapse at the base of the city's wall, although that was a significant amount of time when every attack thrown at it could flatten a sizeable town.
I allowed the Strands of Unity to fade. There was still plenty to do; the remnant of a Monarch was an incredibly valuable resource and needed to be processed before it decayed into aura, but that wasn't my area of expertise. My next task would likely be scouting out the suppression field in preparation for an assault. First, though, there were a few conversations I needed to have.
Mercy hugged me the moment I entered the city. I hugged her back just as tightly. "I'm sorry," I said. "I shouldn't have assumed that the Dragon King's remnant would be less of a threat."
"It's okay. I wasn't scared. I knew you'd find a way to save me."
"Always."
We embraced in midair for a few seconds longer while I waited for the others to join us. Charity arrived first. "Not since before the Dread War has a Monarch been killed by Sages and Heralds alone," she said, smiling. "I can't express how proud I am of you. Both of you. I'd always hoped I'd see you surpass me, but I never expected it to happen in such a short amount of time."
"We haven't surpassed you," objected Mercy immediately. "Maybe we can do some things you can't now, but you can still do lots of things we can't. We aren't just going to stop needing you all of a sudden."
Charity laughed softly. "No need to spare my feelings. I would have taken leadership of the clan if it was required, but I would much rather not." She turned to me. "Your working, at the end. It wasn't a spacial transfer. I don't believe I've ever seen a working quite like it."
"It was a working on a deeper level," answered Eithan as he arrived. His skin was still red and raw from where the sand had scoured it, but an elixir had already healed the worst of the damage. "A level very few manage to touch before ascending."
"But Ozmanthus did," I said, turning towards him even as I veiled us in my authority.
"He did."
I nodded, unsurprised. "Tell me. Did Ozmanthus ever try to rewrite the laws of the world so that Monarchs would no longer produce hunger aura?"
We slipped into Moongrave quietly and unobtrusively, as I was still officially dead. It took surprisingly little badgering for Eithan to agree to come clean about having some remainder of Ozmanthus stuck in his head. Yerin and Lindon seemed more surprised that he was actually volunteering information than anything else, and Ziel still seemed constitutionally incapable of being surprised by anything. Mercy, of course, barraged him with questions, and not even about the sacred arts; the two of them spent several minutes discussing the Arelius patriarch's hair care routine, until the rest of us dragged them back on track. Charity just sighed and shook her head, muttering something about why he'd had to land in our lap.
As I'd expected, Mercy adamantly refused to let Eithan use Penance in her place. "He's my family's rival, and I was the one who let him live the first time," she said. "It's my responsibility." I resisted the urge to try and dissuade her. I might have if I'd thought Eithan could use it more effectively, but even if he was in some sense Penance's creator, the sheer amount of symbolism on Mercy's side almost certainly outweighed that.
With that settled, Eithan left to deliver the arrowhead to the clan's most advanced soulsmith foundries, where it would hopefully be turned into an actual arrow. Charity and Lindon accompanied him, both being soulsmiths of no small skill. The others drifted away as well, until it was just me and Mercy. I spent a while telling her about our journey through the labyrinth, including the room at the very bottom. I wanted to return there with her when the opportunity presented itself. Even if she couldn't open the sixth door on her first attempt, I suspected just studying it would bring her significantly closer to an Icon, although I wasn't sure which one.
The conversation eventually trailed off, leaving us in silence. "Um… Taylor?" asked Mercy hesitantly after a minute or two. "You've… You've kissed a boy before, right?"
Ah. I'd been wondering when this topic was going to come up. "I have. I found it to be more trouble than it was worth, honestly."
"Have you… Have you ever kissed a girl?"
I didn't bother suppressing my smile. "I've done that as well, yes." I'd gotten punched in the face immediately afterwards, and there'd also been brain-eating parasites involved, but I didn't think that was context she needed right now.
"Really?" asked Mercy, rapidly turning bright red. "So, um, if… If I'd kissed a girl too, that would be okay, right?"
"You are allowed to kiss whoever you want, as long as she also wants to kiss you," I told her firmly.
"...Okay," she said after a moment. "I, um, I guess I never really realized that was something you could do. Mother always used to try and make matches for me, but they were always boys. She was always really big on, you know, continuing the, um, family and stuff, and I guess, um, two girls can't really, you know, do that." She got quieter and quieter as she talked, until she was barely mumbling by the end.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that when one of the girls is a Monarch," I said amusedly.
Mercy was now so bright red that I thought she might actually be illuminating the room. "B-but that- that couldn't happen by accident, right? I mean, not that- not that we- I mean, w-who said anything about Monarchs?"
My grin widened. "Oh? Maybe I assumed. Should I tell Miara you're already seeing someone else?"
"What!? No! I mean- I, um…" Groaning, she buried her face in a pillow. I was pretty sure the room grew noticeably darker. "Was it really that obvious?"
"Oh, sorry, was it not supposed to be? I kind of assumed you wanted everyone to know, the way you two were acting around each other."
This was fun. I hadn't had the chance to tease anyone about this kind of thing since… since Emma. I rarely ever thought of her anymore, but it seemed under the right circumstances, she could still conjure up a pang of bittersweet nostalgia. Thinking back, she'd always had a dozen boys wrapped around her finger at any given time, but I couldn't remember her ever actually dating any of them. Maybe her and Sophia…? No, I couldn't see that. I'd never actually figured out what had happened to her, stopped caring after a certain point, but there'd probably been some perfectly good reason in her twisted wreck of a mind to not want to date anyone. I shook my head slightly, dismissing the thoughts. The past was the past.
Once she'd gotten over her embarrassment, Mercy spent the next half hour gushing over how amazing her girlfriend was. Seeing her happy made me happy as well, but there was also a sense of… Not quite jealousy, but maybe the feeling that I should be jealous? After all, the sum total of my love life was a two-week fling the better part of a decade ago which had been more a coping mechanism than anything else. Was I missing something? I'd visited quite a few universes since then, and not a single person in any of them had really caught my eye, but maybe I just hadn't been looking?
I pondered the question for a little while, then decided it was stupid to try and talk myself into being unhappy. Maybe if I forced myself to date someone I'd find it wasn't as unappealing as it seemed right now, but it wasn't like I was on any kind of deadline. If I started feeling lonely in a decade or a century, I'd do something about it then. Besides, there was also Hera to consider. Getting intimate with someone while I could feel her metaphorically peeking through the window just sounded awkward. I might be able to explain the concept of privacy to her in the future, but for now, I couldn't think of anyone I'd risk hurting her feelings for.
It took two days to produce an arrow using Penance. Finding a combination of materials which were both compatible with and capable of standing up to its destructive power was no easy task. The final arrow was carved from the bones of a sacred leviathan with a death aspect, and bound together using material from the remnant of a long-dead black dragon Herald. Even so, it probably wouldn't last for more than a single shot. "Remember," said Eithan as we examined it, "This is not the true Penance. A Monarch may be able to defend against it, particularly one as old and powerful as the Dragon King. We will need to create an opening."
The Eight-Man Empire was thanked for their service, given a hefty bonus to make future business smoother, and sent on their way. The cost of paying them to actively seek out a hostile Monarch for a battle to the death was too high to justify, and there was also the risk the Dragon King would smell a trap. Better to let him think we simply couldn't afford to pay them any longer. Honestly, another couple of months would have made that true. Their prices had been surprisingly generous, but the battle against the Dreadgod alone had still cost us more than the average independent Herald would see in their entire life.
It took less than a day for the Dragon King to notice their absence. This time, there was no attempt to talk; it seemed he'd grown tired of us summoning up Monarchs to defend ourselves. The attack was sudden, the sky turning gold only seconds before his immense sandstorm exploded outwards, smashing into the city's barriers. Fortunately, they'd been kept powered for this exact reason and held strong against the assault.
The six of us gathered within a minute of his arrival. Charity was outwardly calm, but I knew her well enough to see the anxiety she wasn't letting herself feel. Mercy showed her anxiety openly, but likewise, I knew she wouldn't let it hinder her. Yerin looked eager for the fight, and Lindon simply looked determined. Eithan wore his usual easy smile, showing no nerves whatsoever. Five Sages and a Herald was a force strong enough to make even a Monarch hesitate. But there were Monarchs, and there were Monarchs. Reigan Shen was known for his vast arsenal of weapons and tricks, Emriss for her foresight and healing. Seshethkuunaz was known for his raw, overwhelming power. He wouldn't be deterred.
I used the Strands of Unity. My presence washed over the city, leaving sudden surge of hope in its wake as I revealed my survival. It settled over the other five as well, and it felt more complete in some abstract way than it had before. Each of them had their own perspective of the world, and through my technique, an echo of it was shared with me. To Yerin, the Sword Icon was like a a song in the back of her mind, guiding her through the steps of a lethal dance. To Eithan, the Death Icon felt like certainty, the absolute knowledge of where to strike a killing blow. Charity could sense the Dragon King's emotions even from here, could see his intentions almost before he knew them himself. And in Lindon's mind, Dross was constantly analyzing everything, plotting an ever more accurate course through the future.
"Ooh!" said Mercy. "Wow, I feel like I can see everything! Is this what it's like for you all the time?"
"No," I said, shaking my head. "This is new."
"Unless I'm quite mistaken, that technique carries the slightest touch of the Way itself," said Eithan, looking incredibly smug. "Just enough to translate the perspective of an Icon into something comprehensible to someone without it."
"Incredible," murmured Charity. "Not even Malice was capable of wielding the Way directly, as the Abidan do."
I frowned thoughtfully. The technique had changed slightly, even though I hadn't consciously done anything different. I still couldn't remember exactly what I'd seen inside that room at the bottom of the labyrinth, but some of that knowledge had slipped into my technique anyway. The adjustments I'd made to the technique without even realizing didn't seem to serve a purpose from the perspective of the Sacred Arts, adding complexity for no benefit. And yet it still felt undeniably righter than it had before, closer to some Platonic ideal which I still couldn't fully perceive. Was that the Way?
"Cheers and celebration for you, but don't we have an angry Monarch to deal with?" asked Yerin.
"Yes," I said, and then there was no more need for words. The Strands of Unity carried knowledge and intentions directly, with me serving as the hub. It was quite reminiscent of Hera's language, and I could feel her practically radiating smugness.
Lindon was the first through the barrier. A sphere of pale blue madra hundreds of feet wide exploded from him, the authority of the Void Icon wiping away the sandstorm. The response was immediate. The storm pulled back, condensing into the shape of a serpentine dragon miles long. It lunged forwards, its jaws opening wide enough to swallow the sphere whole.
In response, the sphere grew larger and began to spin as Eithan appeared next to Lindon, seamlessly shifting the technique into his own. The whirlpool of madra attempted to fling the immense dragon back the other direction, but the authority in it resisted. Through my link to Eithan, I channeled my own authority into his technique and said, "Submit." The Crown Icon clashed against the Crown Icon, and although the Dragon King's mastery of it was much greater than mine, he was trying to override the laws of the world and I was trying to enforce them. The technique was caught, whipping around back towards its creator.
The Dragon King launched himself to the side, avoiding his own technique. His storm obscured spiritual senses in a way similar to my swarm, but it was a side effect of its sheer power, not its intended purpose. As strong as his authority was, none of it related to deception. Charity had already sensed exactly where he was and where he intended to go. Mercy appeared in a flash of silver light, her bow already drawn back. Tens of thousands of black arrows burst forth, their paths curving to cut off every possible line of escape.
He made no attempt to escape. Instead, another enormous dragon erupted towards us, large enough to swallow the entire barrage. Before it could, a red and chrome sword the size of a skyscraper stabbed down its throat. It wasn't enough to stop the technique entirely, but the dragon lost cohesion, turning back into a wave of golden sand. There was still incredible power in it, but Mercy's arrows became intangible, passing through as though it were nothing but a diffuse cloud of dust.
Caught by surprise, the Dragon King was struck by several arrows before another blast of sand blew the rest away. They had virtually no effect, but first blood went to us. That was enough for him to begin taking the fight seriously. Unlike most sacred artists, he relied almost entirely on a single technique, but his mastery of it meant he needed nothing else. This time, it wasn't a single dragon which came at us, but half a dozen.
I released my swarm. The dragons plowed into it with no resistance, but it veiled us while we moved. Techniques flashed back at him, and he stepped through space to avoid an arrow from Mercy and a sword from Yerin. Anticipating where he'd arrive, the city's launcher batteries unleashed a volley just as he reappeared. The storm solidified into a golden shield, the purple bolts hammering against it with little effect, but they did force him to split his attention.
Meanwhile, the dragons rampaging through my swarm detonated back into vortices of sand. The power in them was less concentrated, not capable of killing any of us in a single hit, but they were far more effective at clearing out my swarm. More dragons had already formed from the larger storm, lunging towards us as our cover was depleted. Even with our combined ability to see a glimpse of the future, the sheer weight of power against us was too much to overcome. Someone was going to need to take a hit.
Eithan appeared in the path of one dragon, releasing another massive whirlpool of madra to redirect it. The two nearest dragons immediately swerved to target him. Lindon appeared in front of one, unleashing the Hollow Domain. Mercy placed herself in front of the other, summoning her armor at full size. Another of the Dragon King's techniques turned towards her, while the last two were on the wrong side of my swarm and continued onwards. I reinforced my swarm and concentrated it, meeting his techniques with the Devouring Swarm.
Authorities clashed, and the battle became conceptual. A titanic dragon flew through an endless wasteland, so mighty that nothing in existence could ever hope to be its equal, and the merciless sun overhead promised inevitable, inescapable death. Darkness encroached on it: An all-consuming void that could never be filled even if it swallowed the entire world, a sharp edge that marked the utter end of existence, and an endless night that would irresistibly smother any light which tried to pierce it. But the dragon was too strong; its absolutes outmatched ours. It pressed forwards, forcing the darkness back.
Then Charity, invisible, came close enough to the Dragon King's physical body to unleash the Dream of Darkness. In the vision, horrifying specters emerged from the darkness, darting around the dragon, their claws ripping at its very soul. It roared defiance, struggling to push the darkness back, and still succeeding. But its immense will was now fully committed. A sword fell from the heavens, severing one of the dragon's wings in the blink of an eye.
The vision snapped. The Dragon King's arm spun away from the rest of his body, sliced cleanly off by Yerin's Final Sword. Instead of blood, more golden sand poured from the wound, rapidly shaping itself into a replacement indistinguishable from the original. We hadn't come out unscathed either; even the weakened technique which had made it through the Hollow Doman had scoured Lindon's skin raw, although he was already healing, and Mercy's armor was cracked and pitted. My swarm was gone, but it had done its job and diffused the final two techniques back into clouds of sand.
Around ten seconds had passed since the battle began, and we'd taken each other's measure. Together, the six of us could match the Monarch. But if it became a battle of endurance, we would lose. We were capable of resisting his techniques as long as his will was split between us, but it was costly in both madra and soulfire. At the current rate, we would exhaust ourselves in no more than fifteen or twenty minutes, whereas he could likely keep fighting like this for hours. We needed to make an opening.
The Dragon King stepped through space again to avoid his own technique returned by Eithan. We kept pressuring him, techniques already flying towards him even as he reappeared. He kept pressuring us as well, more dragons forming themselves from the storm and coming at us from every angle. I unleashed my swarm again, my authority warping the world to create the shadow aura it needed.
This time when we were forced to take hits, he focused all of his will on Mercy. We'd anticipated it, and Eithan sent stars of pure madra spearing through the technique. That wasn't enough to fully disrupt it, not with the Dragon King's focus on it, but Mercy summoned the Netherworld Empress. The technique had changed slightly, no longer resembling Malice quite so much. Instead of crushing contempt, the regal figure radiated a sense of purpose and determination. It had no desire to kill, but it would do what was necessary to protect innocents. Empowered, she met the technique with a punch, the shockwave blasting sand away in all directions.
Switching tactics, the Dragon brought his entire storm forwards, no longer shaping it into discrete techniques. He couldn't bring nearly as much of his power to bear on a single target in this form, but it also made the technique impossible to avoid or hide from. Charity, Yerin, and I had no defenses against it except the inherent toughness of our Archlord bodies, meaning we would be shredded in short order. Instead, we gathered around Lindon, who once again summoned the Hollow Domain. We moved forwards as a group, while Eithan and Mercy moved independently. Mercy abandoned her titanic form, covering only her body, and Eithan Forged a suit of blue-white armor around himself.
Our enemy took a more defensive posture, avoiding and deflecting our techniques while letting his storm wear us down. It wasn't entirely effective. With the pressure on us greatly decreased, our advantage in sight became much more significant. The Dragon King dodged another Final Sword from Yerin, straight into a volley of stars from Eithan. He blocked them with a shield of gold sand, but the pure madra weakened the barrier, allowing Mercy's arrow to phase through.
Unlike the previous arrows he'd been hit by, this one contained her full power, and a significant portion of his chest blackened and flaked away as he was blasted over a mile back. The wound began filling in almost immediately, but he'd been knocked into a legion of phantom soldiers, their blades slicing at his mind. He blew them away with a pulse of sand, only to be struck by a Rippling Sword from Yerin which cut a deep gash into his leg.
Even on the back foot, this might have been the best strategy for him. We were hurting him, but he could take a huge amount of punishment. All he needed to do was outlast Lindon's pure madra, and we'd be forced to retreat. But he had the pride of a dragon, and wouldn't tolerate being a punching bag while we tired ourselves out. A moment later, the storm once again began concentrating itself into discrete techniques.
I immediately released my swarm again, covering us while we evaded. The previous dance resumed, our authorities clashing as we attacked and defended. Mercy, Lindon, and I had each used up close to half of our madra, while the others had a bit more. We still hadn't found an opening. The Dragon King would sense Penance the instant Mercy revealed it, and would either retreat or focus all of his efforts on defending against it. We were going to need to take a risk. Thoughts flew back and forth between us as we searched for an opportunity. The battle continued and our madra reserves dropped steadily lower, but the Dragon King had weakened slightly as well, his injuries beginning to add up.
So far, we'd mostly managed to keep the Dragon King's attention focused on Mercy, Eithan, and Lindon, who could best weather his attacks. Now he changed tactics again, ignoring them and sending all of his techniques into my swarm, where Charity, Yerin, and I were hiding. In a flash, the path forwards was suddenly clear.
Yerin burst out of my rapidly dwindling swarm, launching herself back towards Moongrave. The battle had drifted several dozen miles, and the sandstorm was now between us and the safety of the city's walls. Every dragon instantly swerved towards her, and the storm in front of her condensed itself into even more, leaving her surrounded. She struck out with the Final Sword, joined by an arrow from Mercy, stars from Eithan, and a volley from the city's batteries. The Dragon King focused all of his authority on the techniques, determined not to let her escape. Two of his techniques unraveled, but there was still no safe path through.
Unlike Yerin, Charity and I didn't need my swarm to hide ourselves. Invisible, she once again came in range to use the Dream of Darkness. This time, instead of focusing on defense, I lent my authority to her technique. For a moment, the Dragon King was blind. He threw the technique off almost immediately, but in that fraction of a second, Lindon stepped through space. A titanic claw of black fire struck the Dragon King from behind, blasting him entirely out of his storm for the first time in the fight.
Before he'd even slammed into the ground, I renewed my swarm around him, immediately beginning the Devouring Swarm. Debris blasted into the air as he impacted, and immediately dissolved into golden sand as he met my Ruler technique with his own. This time, I stood my ground. Through the Strands of Unity, I reinforced my authority with the will of the entire Akura clan. For nearly two full seconds, my swarm held him at bay. Then he broke through, the storm exploding outwards and annihilating my technique. I was too close to avoid it, and the wave of sand blasted me away even as it scraped my skin raw. But I'd already done my job.
Mercy could release an arrow layered with all seven of her techniques in a fraction of a second. Penance was theoretically simpler, and yet vastly more difficult. Physically, she did nothing more than fit the arrow to her bow and pull the string back. Conceptually, it felt as though she was attempting to bend the end of the universe to her will. But no, not quite; Mercy had never bent anyone or anything to her will. Instead, she simply shared her conviction that the Dragon King needed to die for the sake of all the innocents in the world, and that it was her responsibility to do it. The power in Penance pressed against her, searching for weakness, and found none. Her will and the weapon's lethal intent sharpened to a single point, and the world held its breath, the power of every other technique on the battlefield suddenly muted.
She released it just as the Dragon King freed himself from my swarm. Even for a Monarch, it wasn't sufficient time to react. The arrow crossed the miles between them in less than the blink of an eye. It struck him and vanished, leaving no physical wound. The Monarch's lifeline, an endless font of immortality, was instantly severed, his life aura vanishing like so much smoke.
And then Fate shifted, and I realized we'd miscalculated. Through shear will alone, the Dragon King clung to life. He used no techniques; splitting his focus would have killed him immediately. Instead, he directed all of his power inwards. Confronted with inescapable death, he didn't despair. He had the pride of a dragon, and his last act would be to take his killer with him.
Penance had destroyed only his lifeline, leaving his spirit still largely intact, and he'd used his final moments to engrave it with his will. His remnant burst free, not in the shape of the young human boy that he'd worn for most of his life, but in his true form of an immense gold serpent. Although spirits couldn't truly wield authority themselves, this one had been bound with a single, final command at the moment of its creation. It lunged towards Mercy, and the power of that final command locked space around her, preventing her from using her Moonlight Bridge. Simultaneously, another wave of golden sand blasted outwards, only marginally weaker than the living technique.
My mind accelerated to its maximum, and I assessed our options. Yerin and Eithan hadn't been able to avoid all of the techniques the Dragon King had sent at them, instead plowing straight through. They'd survived because his will had been pulled away from the technique at the last moment and because Eithan had protected them with his madra armor, but they'd still been seriously injured. Elixirs would heal them fairly quickly, but not quickly enough to make a difference. Mercy was retreating back towards Moongrave, but the remnant was faster and would catch her before she made it. Loosing Penance had taken a lot out of her, and her spirit was nearing exhaustion.
Could Charity, Lindon, and I destroy the remnant before it caught her? Through our various precognitive abilities, I saw how it would play out. Punching through the storm would delay us, just for a second or two, but long enough that it would reach her before we reached it. It would make no move to defend itself; its entire focus would remain locked on Mercy even as we tore into it. In the majority of futures, her armor broke before the remnant did. Sometimes she survived anyway, her Herald body strong enough to endure to the wrath of a Monarch for a few seconds even unprotected. Sometimes, she didn't.
There were things I was willing to risk, and Mercy's life wasn't one of them. I didn't pursue the Dragon King's remnant. Instead, I used the Mask of Divinity. It had taken me months of work to make this technique function at all, and additional months before I could use it quickly. I'd spent those months, because I'd known that if I ever needed to use the technique, it would almost certainly be an emergency.
Hera's avatar formed behind me, then drifted forwards, merging with my own body. Most Enforcer techniques manifested as a simple glow, but there was nothing simple about the Mask of Divinity. Instead, Hera's many arms now sprouted from my own shoulders, and her mask covered my face. The symbolism was important; the technique was a mask, something I could put on and take off without being changed by it.
My link to Hera opened wide, as wide as it had when I'd fought the Silent King, but this time it was a vastly different experience. Our thoughts merged to the point that it became easier to think of us rather than me, but it was us. I was still here, my sense of self no longer washed away by her vastly greater existence. The change wasn't entirely due to the technique, either; we fit together better than we had before. No matter how much smaller I was than her, to her, we were equals.
Our thoughts accelerated beyond even what my mind was capable of. The remnant was almost on top of Mercy, its jaws opening to crush her, but that fraction of a second was all the time in the world to us. There were a multitude of ways we could solve this problem, and it was best to find the most efficient. Just opening our link this far was already dangerous. The lighter we kept our touch, the less likely we were to draw the attention of the Abidan.
We could simply dominate the remnant, of course. Now that we were merged, the thought that the Dragon King might have ever stood up to our will seemed absurd. Tied as we were by the Strands of Unity to millions of our subjects, our mastery of the Crown Icon vastly eclipsed his. His remnant would pose no challenge whatsoever. But doing so would require more power than any being on Cradle should be capable of wielding, and even if the Abidan weren't watching, other Monarchs almost certainly were. This time, there was no Dreadgod battle to obfuscate what took place.
Moving Mercy was similarly problematic, as it would require breaking the Dragon King's final working when every scrap of his remnant's will was focused on enforcing it. What we needed to do was somehow go around his working. It was a simple working, although no less effective for it. If space was a door, the remnant was holding the door shut.
But space wasn't a door, and the Dragon King's understanding of it had been amateurish at best. Unfortunately, however, as extensive as our understanding of space was, it was based on the laws of another universe. There were certain commonalities, but there were also differences, and we hadn't yet had a chance to investigate them.
Well, there was no time like the present. We extended our senses sideways, in a way that was both incredibly alien and as instinctive as breathing. There should have been other universes there, pressed up against this one, but there weren't. Instead, there was something… else. It resembled a vast, infinitely complex machine, although there was also something organic about it. The space was both more and less real than the physical world. Nothing there could actually be touched, but it existed in a way that a rock or a tree didn't.
We felt excitement bubbling up. The purpose of this space was unknown, but its nature was familiar. Constructing a very similar pseudo-real space had been one of the first tasks of the cycle when arriving on a new cluster of worlds. It had been used to facilitate communication and exchanges between shards, whose physical forms were spread widely across many different realities.
There wasn't currently time to give the space the thorough investigation it deserved, but some observations could be made. The space wasn't just ordered; it was the very concept of order. Although we had a thorough understanding of the laws governing aura and madra, their ultimate source had remained a mystery. That question was now answered. The structures in this space were somehow modifying the laws of reality in the physical universe, allowing new processes to exist. It was, in a sense, the foundation reality rested on. With sufficient study, we would be able to modify the fundamental laws of physics however we liked.
Now wasn't the time for that. Careless action here might literally unravel the entire universe, if sufficient force was applied. But a small, local change shouldn't pose any significant problems. Although we couldn't yet navigate the space freely, we were tied to Mercy by the Strands of Unity. Like the rest of the world, her existence was reflected here, and our technique led us to it. As a Herald, her existence was self-defined; even here, nothing could affect her without first overcoming her will. But we had no intention of harming her, and she was already trying to escape. Her will wouldn't oppose us.
A portal was essentially a hole punched in space, connecting two distant parts of the world. The space around Mercy had been reinforced, hardened to make that impossible. We made no attempt to move her. Instead, we flexed our will and rewrote the tiny portion of reality that defined her location. She wasn't moments away from being seized by the remnant's jaws; she was safely back in Moongrave. An instant later, it became so.
We briefly paused to examine the results of our action. The tiniest ripple in reality spread from where we'd made our change, barely detectable even to us. The authority we'd used had been significant, more than a Sage should be able to wield, but not exceeding the abilities of a Monarch. Anyone watching from a distance would assume that the burst of power had come from the Dragon King himself, or perhaps from Penance, unless their senses were exceptionally sharp. There was a risk, but it had been successfully minimized.
In total, we'd been merged for slightly less than a full second. We felt a small reluctance to separate. We were so much more together than we were separately. But we would still be together, if not quite to the same extent. It wasn't worth taking extra risks just to hold on to this feeling of completeness. Regretfully, we let our link fade back to its usual levels.
I gasped a deep breath as the world seemed to unfreeze. That had been… intense, although not nearly to the same degree as before. I let the Mask of Divinity fade, quickly examining myself to make sure there hadn't been any harmful effects. The technique had worked perfectly, better than I'd even hoped for. Out of caution, I hadn't tested it to its full extent, hoping I wouldn't need it at all. I was a bit embarrassed to realize that part of me was now hoping for an excuse to use it again. Judging by the feelings coming down the link, I didn't think Hera would try to talk me out of it.
And I might have one. Hera had understood the strange space we'd discovered beneath reality more than I had, but I remembered the broad outlines. The beginnings of a plan were already forming in my mind, although it would take much more investigation before I'd know if it was viable. For now, though, we had a battle to finish.
The remnant's jaws snapped shut on nothing, and it stuttered in the air, suddenly unsure how to fulfill the purpose it had been imprinted with. A moment later, Charity and Lindon reached it. An Empty Palm nearly half a mile across slammed into the remnant's flank, dissolving a significant chunk of its leg. On the opposite side, Charity's phantom soldiers began carving into its hide. I hurried to catch up with them, while also directing the batteries on the city wall to fire at will.
It lashed back at us with its claws and the storm around it, but its movements and techniques had become confused and hesitant. The inflexible nature of remnants meant its focus was still on trying to find Mercy. It succeeded a moment later, as an arrow blew a sizeable chunk out of its shoulder. Roaring, it surged forwards towards the city walls. The barrier flashed brilliantly purple as the remnant slammed into it, but as powerful as it, it couldn't match the strength of a Dreadgod.
The rest was almost anticlimactic. The remnant continued to throw itself against the city's defenses in a futile attempt to reach Mercy, barely defending itself as we tore into it from every angle. It took less than a minute for it to collapse at the base of the city's wall, although that was a significant amount of time when every attack thrown at it could flatten a sizeable town.
I allowed the Strands of Unity to fade. There was still plenty to do; the remnant of a Monarch was an incredibly valuable resource and needed to be processed before it decayed into aura, but that wasn't my area of expertise. My next task would likely be scouting out the suppression field in preparation for an assault. First, though, there were a few conversations I needed to have.
Mercy hugged me the moment I entered the city. I hugged her back just as tightly. "I'm sorry," I said. "I shouldn't have assumed that the Dragon King's remnant would be less of a threat."
"It's okay. I wasn't scared. I knew you'd find a way to save me."
"Always."
We embraced in midair for a few seconds longer while I waited for the others to join us. Charity arrived first. "Not since before the Dread War has a Monarch been killed by Sages and Heralds alone," she said, smiling. "I can't express how proud I am of you. Both of you. I'd always hoped I'd see you surpass me, but I never expected it to happen in such a short amount of time."
"We haven't surpassed you," objected Mercy immediately. "Maybe we can do some things you can't now, but you can still do lots of things we can't. We aren't just going to stop needing you all of a sudden."
Charity laughed softly. "No need to spare my feelings. I would have taken leadership of the clan if it was required, but I would much rather not." She turned to me. "Your working, at the end. It wasn't a spacial transfer. I don't believe I've ever seen a working quite like it."
"It was a working on a deeper level," answered Eithan as he arrived. His skin was still red and raw from where the sand had scoured it, but an elixir had already healed the worst of the damage. "A level very few manage to touch before ascending."
"But Ozmanthus did," I said, turning towards him even as I veiled us in my authority.
"He did."
I nodded, unsurprised. "Tell me. Did Ozmanthus ever try to rewrite the laws of the world so that Monarchs would no longer produce hunger aura?"
Suryn
On the wings of a Dragon
Holy shit. I don't think its possible but if it is... That would change everything.
Such a great chapter
I love a good controlled fight. Just enough uncertainty and a little surprise for a cool innovation. This is peak Taylor fighting.
What a good idea there at the end! I don't have the technical knowledge of the setting to speculate, but I'm excited to see where that idea goes.
I'm starting to think that Taylor/Hera is the end game here. Maybe not romantic(but I'llcontinue to hope!), but them fusing into some sort of ascension. I'm here for it.
What a good idea there at the end! I don't have the technical knowledge of the setting to speculate, but I'm excited to see where that idea goes.
I'm starting to think that Taylor/Hera is the end game here. Maybe not romantic(but I'llcontinue to hope!), but them fusing into some sort of ascension. I'm here for it.
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
My assumption is the answer is "trying to do so causes severe side effects that fundamentally begin to degrade reality." Effectively changing the world so monarchs don't produce hunger aura probably, instead, changes it so it produces it entirely on its own under the weight of that change