The Reapers - Crystalizing [Worm x Cradle Crossover]
- Thread starter naysayernonsense
- Start date
- Crossover Novel Superhero
Thanks, if you haven't read Cradle then you are luckier than I am as you'd be able to read it for the first time. I wish I could do that again.
Canon Vista when her friends actually live up to that: Hello PTSD, Martyr complex and fatalistic outlook on the world of Capes.
She got therapy don't worry
Ya know, had Mercy repeated her stacked Forge arrow with Flechette's Sting enchantment that would have been a massively good attack
I mean, you are just a Ward Clock lol
The only famous heroes in BB whose name actually spread outside the city are Armsmaster, Miss Militia and Panacea
The only one comparable is the Grand Oath Array which is freaky because the only ones that have access to time based abilities in Cradle are Sage/Monarch tier characters or Divine treasures
Clockblocker, Gray Boy's timeloop, Bakuda's time bomb or Phir Se's time loop energy accelerator exist in Bet
I mean
"How can you face that?" the prince asked. "That's not an enemy, that's…the end."
Lindon lifted into the air and turned to face the Fiend. Dark fire kindled in his hand.
"No," Lindon said. "I am the end."
Lindon lifted into the air and turned to face the Fiend. Dark fire kindled in his hand.
"No," Lindon said. "I am the end."
Wonder how the structure of reality and parallel worlds. In the Willverse Fate and timeliness are much more "fixed" so to speak
And Iterations with Parallel Worlds are not standard Iteration things beyond those like Amalgam
There are too many worlds in the Iteration of Bet with the same people (Taylor met another version of her mom in the epilogue) with each world having developed differently in their time. Some world done vendors have any humans or life in them which should be impossible as life is what ties an Iteration to the Way
Suffice, those in the know would be interested in the mechanics of Bet and the Entities (Yerin would just want to stab the monster)
Nice chapter OP
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Have you hacked my computer or what? In hindsight it's pretty obvious Flechette and Mercy team up might be coming since they met earlier. This attack slid off because to my understanding Leviathan is frozen so simple attacks are not going to do anything to it. Correct me if I am wrong.
Lol, I know it is reads as CB being a little too enamored with being famous but I honestly forgot he isn't that well-known, I thought he was lol
True, some of the hax abilities in wormverse are next level.
Again, maybe a bit too on the nose from me but that is supposed to the theme next chapter, Endbringer vs someone who is recognized by the universe as "The End".
This is an interesting debate and I have had before, let me quote something from a thread on SB where I explained this;
Btw, I look forward to your feedback every time I post a chapter, just makes me happy to see someone taking their precious time to discuss something I wrote so thanks for that.
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If it was just a normal attack even by Mercy's without any Willpower/Icon then yeah it woukd wash off. Time lock can broken with sufficient hax like Siberian but Sting is really bullshit that it use one of the powers that can trump Clockblocker's. The other one is the Siberian though that was more equal destruction against his timelock but Sting is above both
More like he is known but not "I immediately recognize you and know your powers" kind of deal
Top heroes of the Protectorate like Armsmaster and famous first Wards like Miss Militia definitely fit those easy renown
More "breadth vs depth" really. More variety of kinds of powers in Worm but the sheer depth of what you can achieve with Cradle is better
Gonna be an interesting experience then, while Lindon and Co at least understand Fate and various possibilities and "what ifs", the existence of said possibilities truly existing along side them is a thought experiment
I'm also enjoying the fic really
- Location
- Elsewhere
The trick is that the purpose of giving powers in Worm is to develop the powers.
To be honest, it doesn't really seem that way in the story, since by definition anything they do with the power is something the power is doing for them.
It's not like Taylor is teaching her power to control bugs, and teaching her power to carry pepper spray seems kinda... minor?
If you blend the settings, then you could assume the shards can't cultivate, and some part of handing out powers involves the powers gaining depth.
Which could be fun if the Cradle people start teaching them to cultivate more deliberately and efficiently.
Imagine them treating this as a discovery and taking the information to Eithan and him being all like yup, that happens with sime iteration with no magic etc. or something similarly smug
That's a really interesting way of looking at it.
If we assume that Entities know about the Way and Abidan and that they steer clear of those areas of existence it would be pretty funny them trying to literally "cultivate" the shards into the human populations to get stronger. Quite like your typical Abidan or Vroshir cultivator.
Quest
The Great One
- Location
- Everywhere
Here's a thought: the entities are looking for the same thing they were looking for in canon - the secret to beating entropy. In the Willverse, that already has an answer - humans can beat entropy. The more humans you have in an iteration, the greater its connection to the Way. We know that canonically, the Great Elders could possess humans and achieve greater power in a iteration - in exchange for gaining the human weakness of perma-death.
So it looks to me like a pair of fiends* splitting off spawn of various types and using them to possess humans in their moments of weakness. They are iteratively testing humans and trying to understand their connection to the Way, while collecting weapons and tools for... something - potentially a confrontation with the Abidan.
*(Are they even a pair or a single fiend testing the viability of human male-female pairing?)
- Location
- Elsewhere
"We found it! We found the way to beat entropy!"
"What is it?"
"Humans! The more humans there are, the less entropy!"
*Looks at the most recent cycle, detroying thousands of dimensions full of humans.*
"...I really wish you had told me that 5 minutes ago."
I know you jest but from the glimpses we get into the reality of the Great Elders in Elder Empire, you know the OP class 1 chaos fiends, their vast experience and knowledge do seem similar to that of the Entities who gather experiences and knowledge of countless worlds via shards.
As entities are supposedly class 2 chaos fiends in this story, this could be their way of evolving and turning into class 1 chaos fiends. I don't know, just a thought.
I like th theory that the point is more about finding strategic thinkers. That while the shards have an unbelievable amount of computational power, their actual consciousness is rather limited, so they give powers to hosts and make them fight. When the host dies, they upload their consciousness into their personal strategy farm and weight their voices based on how successful they were in their fights in life at deriving novel and effective strategies.
8. Interlude - Dross
Information requested: [Updated] Combat solution against Endbringer Leviathan
[Synchronization set at 81%.]
Beginning report…
Lindon flies straight at Leviathan, Soul Cloak active. He switches Paths halfway through and opens with two beams of arm thick Dragon's Breath, one going where Leviathan is and the other going where Leviathan is going to be after he dodges the first beam.
Yerin, Mercy and others keep the Endbringer occupied, who won't be alert to Lindon's presence until Lindon is inside his guard.
Dross accelerates Vista's mental faculties so she can keep up with the battle's speed. The ground condenses and Lindon is in touching distance of Leviathan.
Another forged Empty Palm strikes Leviathan, who shrugs it off with minor difficulty. But the split second allows Lindon to grab hold of the Endbringer flank with his Dreadgod arm.
The arm starts Devouring.
Leviathan's uses his arm and his tail to get Lindon off of him, Yerin is there every time to intercept. Lindon holds on. The Dreadgod arm continues to devour.
Lindon opens two void keys; first one is empty to vent whatever excess power he Consumes from the Endbringer, second one is to bring out a Death Madra construct.
The floating cannon targets Leviathan's wounds with artificial but potent Death Madra already imbued with Lindon's Intent to kill. It stops/slows down the Endbringer's accelerated healing. [synchronization required]
Legend's laser beams are more effective when Leviathan's healing is interrupted. So are the long-ranged attacks from other capes.
Leviathan gets weaker with Lindon's arm Devouring from him. [synchronization required]
His movement is slower compared to before and he has to defend against attacks from no less than half a dozen enemies, all of whom pack a punch.
Leviathan unveils a new ability.
[Synchronization reduced to 54%.]
Lindon does not let go of Leviathan. Dross concentrates to further accelerate Vista's processing speed, slowing down time to a crawl for her. If the center of the new ability's origin proves to be Leviathan, she stretches the area inside Mercy's cordon up to half a mile in radius all around the Endbringer, or as close as she can, to keep the city safe from its effects. [synchronization required]
Eidolon has a [possible] direct counter for Leviathan's new ability. Yerin supports him until that happens.
Mercy locates the cape who….
Error…
Report Incomplete
Dross couldn't really stumble, but if he could, then he would have. Lindon was on his way to Leviathan, he was meant to strike the Endbringer with a forged Empty Palm roughly in the next half a second. Lindon had also most likely realized Dross's split attention but didn't say anything and stayed the course.
The anomaly came up when Dross tried to accelerate Vista's perception, something felt off. The closest sensation to it was like when Dross tried to attack or reach out to someone else with a Presence. But there had been no sign so far that Vista had any Presence, as she had displayed no extraordinary mental acumen outside of base human capabilities.
He managed to enhance Vista of course, he would had to keep some of his attention constantly on the brooding young cape from now on, but with the upgrade, she could process everything around her and contribute when called upon, he told Lindon to test her anyway.
"Hey Vista, you okay? Anything feels different? Better perhaps?" Lindon asked while firing a Dragon's breath, a slight amendment to their combat plan but nothing egregious.
The girl slowly nodded, looking around in what could only be described as a weird blend of suspicion and fascination.
"What did you do?" She shouted.
"Temporary mental enhancement. Tell me, what is happening with Leviathan?" Lindon said, twisting in the air a little to look at the young cape for extra emphasis.
Vista complied, and as expected, she was fully cognizant of the details of the battle.
The battle would go as planned. If only in the beginning.
But Dross's interest was piqued by something else. He revisited his memories, and analyzed the exact moment that had been odd enough for him to interrupt his combat solution report. He reviewed that oddity again several times.
His conclusion demanded more information, if there was anything like a Presence attached to the Cape, and it was a substantial if, it felt dormant. The only moment it had felt anything other than dormant was when Dross first tried to affect Vista's mind.
Ruby's input was needed. He contacted her.
[Hey rookie,] Dross itched for mischievousness as he hailed her, [did you notice this… layer, this blocker, when you worked with Eidolon. Can you send me those memories?]
Dross had let Ruby borrow his power to show Eidolon how the wall should be made, but he'd had no direct interaction with the cape. He needed to know if this phantom Presence was noticeable in all capes.
As he waited for an answer, the battle continued to rage. Leviathan was already faster than he was estimated to be in the last simulation Dross had ran. The Endbringer was fighting more intelligently as well, using his tail with better control and more importantly using his water echo to strategically to block the majority of aerial attacks.
But that discrepancy was within acceptable limits, as Lindon well knew. After all, Dross's combat solution was only 81% accurate.
Ruby replied back, [Sending you the packet now old timer.]
[Did you analyze mine? What'd you think? Does anything stand out to you? Tell me. There is something I'm sure.] Dross asked, conveying his eagerness.
[You're probably right, there's something, but not obvious. I didn't pay attention to it at the time because, as you know, I was busy. Let's discuss later.] Ruby replied and shut off the connection.
Dross reviewed the memories, nothing out of the ordinary unless you knew what to look for. There was a slight delay when Ruby made connection to Eidolon, another layer of… not consciousness, but something like a filter. The rest was normal.
It was understandable why Ruby chose to ignore such a minor anomaly, she was talking to multiple other people in the moment, if not in as detailed a manner she did with Eidolon. Time was short when she made those connections, and the distance from Yerin would have be straining her connection somewhat.
He stopped analyzing and stored the memory packet for a later discussion with Lindon and the rest.
It was time for him to devote most of his attention to the battle. Some of it went to the Death Madra construct once Lindon brought it out of the void key and ceded control to Dross. Most went to processing the remarkably alien power Lindon was Consuming from Leviathan.
Unlike most other beings Lindon had Consumed from, there weren't really many memories, most were animalistic impressions of prior destruction the beast had caused. Dross kept it all away from distracting Lindon's focus, although that wasn't a tough ask these days.
The well of power healing and recharging Leviathan felt endless from what Dross could gather, it existed deep inside the Endbringer. It meant the theory of their being a core inside these beasts was also correct.
The vast majority of the power was just wrong, reeking of chaos and not useful for Lindon in its raw form, they managed to break down a little bit of it so Lindon took it for his own, somewhat strengthening his Bloodforged iron body but the stolen power required more work to be usable so it went into the scripted void key.
The prevailing impression coming from the Endbringer was to cause destruction. In another time, with access to the Way, they could have perhaps used that in some capacity to defeat their opponent. Lindon overwhelmed Leviathan's Will with his own, continuing to Devour, but the healing well somehow empowered the beast's Will too so it kept functioning while Lindon was devouring from him.
Back in the real world, Dross noticed the efficacy of the Death Madra cannon. It wasn't really Death Madra, it was a lethal essence used on one of the Abidan-controlled ascended worlds for different purposes and Lindon had transformed it in a workshop to act as Death Madra.
The weapon had been effective but not as much as they had hoped it would be. It had not stopped Leviathan's regeneration, but at least slowed it down to its level at the start of the battle. The stump where one of his arms was growing back had remained the same for the past several seconds. This 'Death Madra' was effective at counteracting one of Endbringers' advantages, that was good to know. Lindon very like had a few more of these constructs, actually he certainly had a lot more.
Dross simulated events from the disjointed bits and pieced together a history of the Endbringer, periods of dormancy with no thoughts and no activity marked by brief bouts of violence and destruction. That complimented what the PRT officer had told them before the battle.
And a man, whose arrival meant Retreat.
That was intriguing. The golden figure, presumably a cape, was too powerful for Leviathan to confront in a head-on battle. But where was he now? Did he only defend his own land? Did they have Monarch like factions in this world too? Dross was inclined towards disliking the parallels to Cradle, he found newer challenges to be more interesting, not the same old problems and politics.
No, that was only a hypothesis, he should wait before jumping to conclusions based on an animal's impressions, he reprimanded himself.
Dross noticed Leviathan gearing up for a more robust solution to get Lindon off of him. [He is trying to fall on top of you.] He told Lindon.
Thanks for the warning, getting desperate then. Stay alert for anything. I'll let him crash and get around to the other side. Lindon replied.
In what could only have been called an ill-judgement, Leviathan flung himself to the ground, attempting to crush Lindon, and Vista, who had mostly been a spectator so far. By the time the Endbringer hit the ground, Lindon had disengaged and flown out from under the momentarily fallen Endbringer.
Flying closer, Lindon raised his hands. Bars of Blackflame left his palms and hit Leviathan right in the chest, vaporizing layers of flesh and leaving dangerously deep gouges. An arrow from Mercy fell like a dark star and impaled Leviathan's leg to the ground, Legends's lasers were non-stop, and Yerin was a constant whirlwind of blood and steel opening up Leviathan from all sides and not letting his water echo hit any other cape.
Dross paid close attention to Leviathan's chest wounds. He fired some shots from the construct to keep them from closing, Leviathan shifted to avoid the attack, opening himself to even more attacks from other capes, but one of Dross's shots landed, disrupting the regeneration of flesh and giving Dross, and Ruby and Suu, he admitted to himself, more time to analyze the Endbringer.
Dross let the battle play out and revisited Leviathan's memories and his own conclusions, the Endbringer was generating matter from somewhere, some other dimension perhaps? That would explain the seemingly endless healing factor.
Dross couldn't wait to talk to someone who knew something about these Endbringer, the girl calling herself Tattletale had shared good information but Dross wanted more.
That is when Leviathan made his next move. Lightning flashed above, and the clouds thundered, raining bullets.
[Synchronization set at 81%.]
Beginning report…
Lindon flies straight at Leviathan, Soul Cloak active. He switches Paths halfway through and opens with two beams of arm thick Dragon's Breath, one going where Leviathan is and the other going where Leviathan is going to be after he dodges the first beam.
Yerin, Mercy and others keep the Endbringer occupied, who won't be alert to Lindon's presence until Lindon is inside his guard.
Dross accelerates Vista's mental faculties so she can keep up with the battle's speed. The ground condenses and Lindon is in touching distance of Leviathan.
Another forged Empty Palm strikes Leviathan, who shrugs it off with minor difficulty. But the split second allows Lindon to grab hold of the Endbringer flank with his Dreadgod arm.
The arm starts Devouring.
Leviathan's uses his arm and his tail to get Lindon off of him, Yerin is there every time to intercept. Lindon holds on. The Dreadgod arm continues to devour.
Lindon opens two void keys; first one is empty to vent whatever excess power he Consumes from the Endbringer, second one is to bring out a Death Madra construct.
The floating cannon targets Leviathan's wounds with artificial but potent Death Madra already imbued with Lindon's Intent to kill. It stops/slows down the Endbringer's accelerated healing. [synchronization required]
Legend's laser beams are more effective when Leviathan's healing is interrupted. So are the long-ranged attacks from other capes.
Leviathan gets weaker with Lindon's arm Devouring from him. [synchronization required]
His movement is slower compared to before and he has to defend against attacks from no less than half a dozen enemies, all of whom pack a punch.
Leviathan unveils a new ability.
[Synchronization reduced to 54%.]
Lindon does not let go of Leviathan. Dross concentrates to further accelerate Vista's processing speed, slowing down time to a crawl for her. If the center of the new ability's origin proves to be Leviathan, she stretches the area inside Mercy's cordon up to half a mile in radius all around the Endbringer, or as close as she can, to keep the city safe from its effects. [synchronization required]
Eidolon has a [possible] direct counter for Leviathan's new ability. Yerin supports him until that happens.
Mercy locates the cape who….
Error…
Report Incomplete
Dross couldn't really stumble, but if he could, then he would have. Lindon was on his way to Leviathan, he was meant to strike the Endbringer with a forged Empty Palm roughly in the next half a second. Lindon had also most likely realized Dross's split attention but didn't say anything and stayed the course.
The anomaly came up when Dross tried to accelerate Vista's perception, something felt off. The closest sensation to it was like when Dross tried to attack or reach out to someone else with a Presence. But there had been no sign so far that Vista had any Presence, as she had displayed no extraordinary mental acumen outside of base human capabilities.
He managed to enhance Vista of course, he would had to keep some of his attention constantly on the brooding young cape from now on, but with the upgrade, she could process everything around her and contribute when called upon, he told Lindon to test her anyway.
"Hey Vista, you okay? Anything feels different? Better perhaps?" Lindon asked while firing a Dragon's breath, a slight amendment to their combat plan but nothing egregious.
The girl slowly nodded, looking around in what could only be described as a weird blend of suspicion and fascination.
"What did you do?" She shouted.
"Temporary mental enhancement. Tell me, what is happening with Leviathan?" Lindon said, twisting in the air a little to look at the young cape for extra emphasis.
Vista complied, and as expected, she was fully cognizant of the details of the battle.
The battle would go as planned. If only in the beginning.
But Dross's interest was piqued by something else. He revisited his memories, and analyzed the exact moment that had been odd enough for him to interrupt his combat solution report. He reviewed that oddity again several times.
His conclusion demanded more information, if there was anything like a Presence attached to the Cape, and it was a substantial if, it felt dormant. The only moment it had felt anything other than dormant was when Dross first tried to affect Vista's mind.
Ruby's input was needed. He contacted her.
[Hey rookie,] Dross itched for mischievousness as he hailed her, [did you notice this… layer, this blocker, when you worked with Eidolon. Can you send me those memories?]
Dross had let Ruby borrow his power to show Eidolon how the wall should be made, but he'd had no direct interaction with the cape. He needed to know if this phantom Presence was noticeable in all capes.
As he waited for an answer, the battle continued to rage. Leviathan was already faster than he was estimated to be in the last simulation Dross had ran. The Endbringer was fighting more intelligently as well, using his tail with better control and more importantly using his water echo to strategically to block the majority of aerial attacks.
But that discrepancy was within acceptable limits, as Lindon well knew. After all, Dross's combat solution was only 81% accurate.
Ruby replied back, [Sending you the packet now old timer.]
[Did you analyze mine? What'd you think? Does anything stand out to you? Tell me. There is something I'm sure.] Dross asked, conveying his eagerness.
[You're probably right, there's something, but not obvious. I didn't pay attention to it at the time because, as you know, I was busy. Let's discuss later.] Ruby replied and shut off the connection.
Dross reviewed the memories, nothing out of the ordinary unless you knew what to look for. There was a slight delay when Ruby made connection to Eidolon, another layer of… not consciousness, but something like a filter. The rest was normal.
It was understandable why Ruby chose to ignore such a minor anomaly, she was talking to multiple other people in the moment, if not in as detailed a manner she did with Eidolon. Time was short when she made those connections, and the distance from Yerin would have be straining her connection somewhat.
He stopped analyzing and stored the memory packet for a later discussion with Lindon and the rest.
It was time for him to devote most of his attention to the battle. Some of it went to the Death Madra construct once Lindon brought it out of the void key and ceded control to Dross. Most went to processing the remarkably alien power Lindon was Consuming from Leviathan.
Unlike most other beings Lindon had Consumed from, there weren't really many memories, most were animalistic impressions of prior destruction the beast had caused. Dross kept it all away from distracting Lindon's focus, although that wasn't a tough ask these days.
The well of power healing and recharging Leviathan felt endless from what Dross could gather, it existed deep inside the Endbringer. It meant the theory of their being a core inside these beasts was also correct.
The vast majority of the power was just wrong, reeking of chaos and not useful for Lindon in its raw form, they managed to break down a little bit of it so Lindon took it for his own, somewhat strengthening his Bloodforged iron body but the stolen power required more work to be usable so it went into the scripted void key.
The prevailing impression coming from the Endbringer was to cause destruction. In another time, with access to the Way, they could have perhaps used that in some capacity to defeat their opponent. Lindon overwhelmed Leviathan's Will with his own, continuing to Devour, but the healing well somehow empowered the beast's Will too so it kept functioning while Lindon was devouring from him.
Back in the real world, Dross noticed the efficacy of the Death Madra cannon. It wasn't really Death Madra, it was a lethal essence used on one of the Abidan-controlled ascended worlds for different purposes and Lindon had transformed it in a workshop to act as Death Madra.
The weapon had been effective but not as much as they had hoped it would be. It had not stopped Leviathan's regeneration, but at least slowed it down to its level at the start of the battle. The stump where one of his arms was growing back had remained the same for the past several seconds. This 'Death Madra' was effective at counteracting one of Endbringers' advantages, that was good to know. Lindon very like had a few more of these constructs, actually he certainly had a lot more.
Dross simulated events from the disjointed bits and pieced together a history of the Endbringer, periods of dormancy with no thoughts and no activity marked by brief bouts of violence and destruction. That complimented what the PRT officer had told them before the battle.
And a man, whose arrival meant Retreat.
That was intriguing. The golden figure, presumably a cape, was too powerful for Leviathan to confront in a head-on battle. But where was he now? Did he only defend his own land? Did they have Monarch like factions in this world too? Dross was inclined towards disliking the parallels to Cradle, he found newer challenges to be more interesting, not the same old problems and politics.
No, that was only a hypothesis, he should wait before jumping to conclusions based on an animal's impressions, he reprimanded himself.
Dross noticed Leviathan gearing up for a more robust solution to get Lindon off of him. [He is trying to fall on top of you.] He told Lindon.
Thanks for the warning, getting desperate then. Stay alert for anything. I'll let him crash and get around to the other side. Lindon replied.
In what could only have been called an ill-judgement, Leviathan flung himself to the ground, attempting to crush Lindon, and Vista, who had mostly been a spectator so far. By the time the Endbringer hit the ground, Lindon had disengaged and flown out from under the momentarily fallen Endbringer.
Flying closer, Lindon raised his hands. Bars of Blackflame left his palms and hit Leviathan right in the chest, vaporizing layers of flesh and leaving dangerously deep gouges. An arrow from Mercy fell like a dark star and impaled Leviathan's leg to the ground, Legends's lasers were non-stop, and Yerin was a constant whirlwind of blood and steel opening up Leviathan from all sides and not letting his water echo hit any other cape.
Dross paid close attention to Leviathan's chest wounds. He fired some shots from the construct to keep them from closing, Leviathan shifted to avoid the attack, opening himself to even more attacks from other capes, but one of Dross's shots landed, disrupting the regeneration of flesh and giving Dross, and Ruby and Suu, he admitted to himself, more time to analyze the Endbringer.
Dross let the battle play out and revisited Leviathan's memories and his own conclusions, the Endbringer was generating matter from somewhere, some other dimension perhaps? That would explain the seemingly endless healing factor.
Dross couldn't wait to talk to someone who knew something about these Endbringer, the girl calling herself Tattletale had shared good information but Dross wanted more.
That is when Leviathan made his next move. Lightning flashed above, and the clouds thundered, raining bullets.
This one is just a teaser for the final chapter of the battle. I will publish that in a few hours. Enjoy, and as always, thanks for reading.
9. The End
Death fell from the sky.
"Take cover!" Narwhal bellowed to two of her temporary comrades. They had been staring mutely at their dead companions, but her cry broke them out of the reverie and they scampered underneath her forcefield. A few others had worked together to manage some sort of a functioning screen to block the rain.
It was hard to see anything outside due to the sheer volume and intensity of water, but already a couple were dead near her, gone in an instant, before they knew what had killed them.
She added two more forcefields to her existing one, covering the entire rooftop. Only a sudden premonition—some sixth sense alerting her to the darkening sky—had allowed her to be ready to spring up a barrier above her.
She hoped that other capes on standby and in reserve had found some shelter from the sudden downpour of this deadly 'rain'. It'd be an understatement of the century to call it just that, as it was chipping the fricking concrete, leaving visible dents a finger's width wide.
"You," she called out to a young cape who just stood wide-eyed under a ledge. Not recalling his name, she waved to him, he noticed her and had enough self-consciousness that he made an effort to appear calmer.
"Get a hold of yourself," she had to shout to make herself heard, "can you reinforce my shield?" She thrust her chin at her own forcefield.
He nodded, gulping.
"Yes? Good, do that."
Narwhal wondered if he'd find her words encouraging.
She walked towards the capes huddled together under the other forcefield barrier and addressed them, "Anyone who cannot build some barrier, or shield, or anything, take cover elsewhere, go inside the houses, anywhere this rain can't reach you." You don't need to see the battle, you can't anyway.
She paused to take a breath, fixing them with a steady stare, "the time will come when you can contribute, but it's not now." When they started trickling down from the rooftop, she turned away from them, squinting hard trying to look beyond and through the forcefields and the rain.
Her main concern was now for those on other rooftops and the grounds outside of the park's massive purple-black fence that kept Leviathan contained.
There was a reason so many of them were not inside fighting head-on against an Endbringer who had been displaying frightening levels of strength, speed and intelligence, even after she had seen him take more punishment than ever before.
Her last view of him was of a mess, blood had oozed from his numerous wounds, one arm gone and he had looked like a skeletal abomination. It would have despaired those watching if not for the hope she had seen in many eyes that Leviathan may have found his match today, or worse.
For once she too had allowed some hope to enter her heart, that perhaps with powerful new capes bolstering their numbers, Leviathan might finally be put down.
But like earlier, he had managed to upped the stakes, and brought out another hidden ability, just as devastating as the rest.
A flash of silver in her periphery caught her attention, followed by a roaring sound, drowning out even the rain's constant. onslaught. The sky above her completely cleared of the falling rain for a few seconds before it resumed. Not as deadly this time as before but still abnormally fast, with unnaturally large droplets.
The next thing she noticed with the visibility improved was one of the stranger sights in her life, an impossibly tall pole, no, a tree, devoid of branches. It kept rising in the sky until it pierced the clouds.
That was followed by an evident warping in the sky, which brought much of the rain previously falling outside the park, to swirl around the tree and fall inside the park. That was... yes, the young Ward Vista's doing.
It would certainly spare those on the outside but it meant more water for Leviathan to work with. It would make the Endbringer stronger.
Eidolon had done something earlier to cancel that advantage for Leviathan when he cleared the park of all water, but with rain this intense, another mini lake would form inside the barricade.
Perhaps it was time to help, Narwhal had been run ragged today but could still go another round or two. She made a platform from one of her forcefields and slowly began to lift herself, getting closer to the distortion.
She pressed a button on the radio on her arm and spoke into it, "Dragon, any capes who can block out the rain, send them to me. Even better If they can fly."
That said, she continued rising. Half a minute later, four more capes joined her: three fliers and the last one carried by a flier. Luckily, they all withstood the deluge out in the open.
At a suitable distance, she stopped, and gestured the others to do the same. Releasing a deep breath, she created as many forcefields as she could, making them as large as possible. Finally, she linked them all together to create a bigger barrier.
The rest followed suit, working together. Soon there weren't many gaps left for the rain to slip through and cause trouble.
The effort made her head ache, she had pushed herself to the max for the second time today counting her brief defiance against the Tsunami.
The others looked to be straining as well, barely holding on.
They would stay as long as they could, she told herself.
----
Alexandria punched Leviathan with her free hand, twisted in the air to narrowly avoide the claw swipe he had intended for her, and flew up out of his range. In the next instant, another attack demanded the Endbringer's attention, which left an opening for her. She dived through the air to strike, abruptly her advance was met by Leviathan's echo, she tackled it head-on, cleaving through, but Leviathan had moved from his position behind the cover of water. The heroine halted and hovered in the air, waiting for another opening.
The most concerning thing was that Leviathan increasingly moved in a jerky manner that made it seem like his water echo hovered around him as an auxiliary body armor, disrupting not just her advances but also defending himself from other long-ranged strikes.
That level of defensive awareness and ability was unprecedented and exactly in line with how Lindon had suggested Leviathan could improve.
Nonetheless, while the Endbringer fought on, he didn't look too comfortable out there, constantly on the defensive, unable to escape, and unable to shake Lindon off for more than a few seconds at a time. Whatever the burly cape had been doing to him, it certainly left the Endbringer visibly slower compared to a few minutes ago.
Her attention was drawn to the impossibly long tree Vista had fashioned, perhaps used as a reference to draw the 'rain' towards itself from what limited understanding she had of the girl's ability.
She took a moment to get a status update, "Dragon, has everyone outside taken cover?" The pelting droplets would bore through regular flesh, even some types of armor wouldn't be too useful against it.
Dragon sent an affirmative which meant Vista did not need to exert herself anymore, the rain would not harm anyone who couldn't handle it.
"Tell Narwhal and others to disengage immediately." She spoke in the radio and cut off the connection. She had seen the telltale rainbow hue of the Narwhal's forcefields. Once Vista's shaker effect was gone, the barrier would be too small to cover anyone below, better they back off for now.
She flew closer to the one called Mercy, who was patrolling her fence from the air. Alexandria came face to face with the woman and said, "Tell your friend that Vista can stop. We no longer need this", she gestured at the ridiculously tall apparatus, "nobody outside is under threat from this rain anymore."
The trio calling themselves "Reapers" would of course deny if asked directly, but they had some sort of communication system set up that she couldn't figure out. Nothing else would explain the almost choreographed coordination between the three. Alexandria had forced herself to not think about getting them onboard for the eventual war at the end of world, against their true enemy, that was for later.
Although judging by the what she had seen earlier, Cauldron had become interested remarkably quickly. She wasn't stupid enough to think nobody had noticed doormaker's portal—used to transport the last of the injured quickly before the Tsunami—but with enough 'luck' no one would remember that.
More notably, for the past several minutes, Vista had somehow been on the same wavelength as Lindon and his two companions, responding instantly to changes in her circumstances and maximizing her power in ways she never had before. Each time Leviathan tried to escape, either his escape path lengthened absurdly, or the ground folded beneath him. The Endbringer could not maintain his balance properly for long, often trees expanded to block his path, or projectiles reached him quicker. Vista was proving why she was a Shaker 9 and rated so highly.
Alexandria had kept tabs on the ward; her reflexes and response times were her biggest weaknesses. There had been no sign of any such drawbacks holding her back since her team up with Lindon. It was worth investigating later. Surely Lindon or one of his companions was responsible for this development, but how was the real question.
However, Vista was just a child, a very powerful one but still, only a child. Alexandria would prefer if a Shaker like that didn't die today.
All those thoughts flashed through her mind instantaneously.
Mercy only nodded in answer to her earlier suggestion, not bothering to shout or signal Lindon in anyway. But a second later the tree was getting back to a normal size, the warping in the sky was gone along with the forcefield screen.
A quick glance showed that everyone now in the open was durable enough to ignore the unnatural rain. Except for Vista, but she had been covered by a floating shield ever since the rain started, a shield that had replaced the floating gun-like contraption. Another question mark.
She found her chance to attack, flew in, punched Leviathan on the face, tilting it backward, Lindon followed her punch with a large palm shaped forcefield attack, Legend aimed all his lasers on the open backside of the Endbringer and Yerin slapped aside his tail before destroying his tail's echo. The Endbringer tried to regain balance with his arm but the ground underneath turned into a hole leaving him unbalanced and without defense.
Leviathan was vulnerable and without an active defense, but found extra strength from somewhere. He lurched up and whirled around a couple of times, his echo creating a vortex effect and picking up debris from the ground to throw it at the capes around him before smashing into them. Without a moment's pause, he exploded from his position, displaying similar speed as earlier and launched himself at the airborne Mercy who had drifted nearer to the action.
What happened next Alexandria could only piece together due to her extraordinary mental cognition. Leviathan jumped at Mercy, but she also flew towards him at the same time. Her bow was gone, and one of her hands swiftly turned into a giant purple fist half the size of Leviathan.
She struck him square on the center mass.
Leviathan, who was clearly not expecting that turn of events, was blasted back down.
Down, towards the ground that had shimmered briefly – Alexandria later recalled – but otherwise had remained unchanged.
As a result, when Leviathan hurtled down after being punched, instead of crashing to the ground normally, he was impaled in a dozen places on sharp spikes, all made from the stone of the earth, all courtesy of Vista. Hidden because someone had masked them with a powerful illusion.
But the spikes weren't normal either, they shredded Leviathan's flesh much more than they normally should have. Yerin immediately attacked the Endbringer with all of her swords, shredding even more flesh, making Leviathan look even more like a bag of bones.
At the same time, Legend unleashed hundreds of lasers at Leviathan's prone form in a handful of seconds, melting away layers of his flesh. All before Leviathan's echo could even return to him.
But when it did, it exploded on impact. Eerily similar to the earlier rain.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the rain intensified once again. Sharp, fast and relentless; made of inch-thick raindrops. Lethal for anyone with regular durability.
This time though, the majority of it targeted Lindon and Vista.
Alexandria had seen nothing like it. It was as if the sky had turned into the muzzle of a colossal machine gun, firing unlimited rounds of water-based ammunition, and the sole target were those two capes.
She moved to cover Vista. No doubt Lindon could handle himself, she had seen the evidence for that. But Vista was no Brute, one droplet was enough to kill her, and they could not afford to lose such a powerful hero.
Leviathan was still stuck; the rain didn't let up anyway.
Lindon had sprung up his spherical forcefield barrier, only covering himself and Vista this time, cancelling out the worst of the rain. A shield floated above Vista too, she looked unharmed.
Alexandria saw both of them leave the park to escape the rain. Good, Vista's fight should be over.
Leviathan had wriggled free. Although he looked like he'd been through a meat grinder or two, his physical state seemed to be no detriment to him. His echo started to act more independently, with a broader range of motion; it also swept up the detritus from the park with miniature vortices and collected some of the excess water in the park, almost like a second Leviathan if one were near sighted, but not quite.
Alexandria couldn't believe her eyes, they couldn't be back to square one, could they? No, this was surely the last acts of a dying animal, at least she hoped it was.
Leviathan moved. She moved with him, closing the distance and targeting a punch at his leg to knock him down. He tried to kicked at her but a dark arrow pierced his leg, pinning it to the muddy grass.
He kicked at her with the other leg.
She swivled in the air and kicked back, rocking him. Leviathan ignored his lack of balance and brought his arm around to defend against a sustained bombardment of Dragon's missiles aimed at his face. Even while defending and falling backwards, Leviathan brought his tail around in the arc, forcing her to dodge. Yerin at her side, dodged too before slashing at the retreating trail, cutting a big chunk out of it.
Eidolon chose that moment to announce his arrival.
The strongest cape in the Protectorate hovered high above the park. Dark grey clouds behind him. His form silhouetted by countless bright green twinkles from the rain hitting his defensive forcefield.
He raised his hands.
Everything in the park, in the air, and in the sky glowed a dull red. There was a low hum. Then, with a whooshing sound, all the water disappeared.
Not just from the ground, but the rain was gone from the air. The clouds in the sky above the park were gone. The sun shone through the gap.
Eidolon sagged, wavered, and dropped from the sky like a stone. Alexandria streaked through the air towards him but Yerin caught him first in a flash of white light. She handed him to Alexandria and nodded, before teleporting back to the fight again.
Eidolon wasn't unconscious. He assured her he was alright. Only needed a little rest, he insisted. She consulted Dragon and took him to one such shelter, one from where they could also keep an eye on the battle.
It wasn't over yet.
----
Lindon knew to expect something from Eidolon, but this was a pleasant surprise. The rain had stopped for now. The clouds were slowly coming back but for now Leviathan was down an advantage.
[Let's finish him, Lindon. No more water for him to play with. Get him my boy!] Dross cried triumphantly.
Lindon activated the Burning Cloak, blasted off from his perch on top of a tree towards Leviathan. The Endbringer snapped his tail at him, followed by his remaining arm, sending two different variations of his water echo at him.
One reached him first, with a swipe of a half formed Blackflame claw Lindon brushed it aside, not breaking his momentum at all. The second echo burst apart when it came near Lindon, sending sharp water projectiles at him with increased speed. He disregarded those and let them land on him, they were of no consequence now that he no longer had Vista with him.
He thought about the young cape as he neared the Endbringer. They would need to find promising heroes and guide them, mentor them, if they were to face all the dangers that plagued this world. Just the idea that people divided themselves into Hero and Villain factions, and it was that normalized, was enough to indicate the rot that had spread in this society.
There would be no easy solution here, just like there was no easy solution to the Hunger Aura, Monarch and Dreadgod problem.
He put those thoughts to the back of his mind and followed the path Dross had indicated to him. The Endbringer reacted to an illusion of Lindon bearing down on him from above but Lindon went straight to his neck from below and grabbed hold of it with his Dreadgod arm.
He let his arm feed, and let Dross handle the influx of memories and impression while he smothered the Will behind the alien, chaotic power and tried Read its intent.
At the same time, he activated the Hollow Domain, covering the entirety of the Endbringer's remaining body. It snuffed out Leviathan's water echoes utterly. Preventing him from obstructing the attacks falling on him, or use the phantom water as a weapon.
Lindon had to deactivate his Pure Madra technique from time to time; whenever Leviathan wasn't moving, and to let the others' hits land. It was easy enough. He wasn't doing much else, other than stamping his Authority and dominance on the Endbringer.
And one more thing, he also had all of his Destruction and Death Madra cannons out of his void keys. Seventeen in total and surrounding Leviathan. Moving in and out of the Hollow Domain, firing uninterrupted at the monster. Dross was helping in controlling all of those; their flight maneuvers and bombardment.
He felt a growing annoyance from Leviathan, that turned into frustration and discomfort after a couple of minutes when nothing Leviathan tried worked.
The Hollow Domain negated one of his biggest advantages.
Eidolon had emptied the field of water.
Lindon was leeching away his strength and it wasn't any advantage against those remaining anyway.
His budding intelligence had been combated by no less than three Presences.
He couldn't run away because of the cordon. If he tried to jump he would be intercepted by Yerin and Mercy among others who would could fly. Leviathan could not, he could only move in straight lines in the air, a clear disadvantage when he wasn't the one overwhelmingly strong.
He could not shake Lindon off. He ineffectually slapped at Lindon with his tail and his arm, all to no avail. Lindon either batted those away, or dodged out of the way, finding a better position than before, to resume his arm's Devouring. Hollow Domain constantly active.
Even Leviathan's speed was not an advantage against those fighting him now.
Legend could keep up with him, the cape maintained his distance anyway. He had no need to come close as he was devastating enough from long range. The cape named Dragon had disengaged from close-ranged combat but still fired shots whenever possible from a distance. Yerin was capable of near instant travel and Mercy could match the Endbringer in speed and overpower him in strength.
No advantage remaining for Leviathan.
Finally, after a few minutes of being a punching bag at the hands of multiple powerful capes all of whom attacked his core, after being assailed by someone who actively, and constantly, stole Leviathan's power and made him weaker and slower, the breakthrough came.
The first inklings of fear.
Lindon could feel those coming from the beast. His arm turned even more ravenous.
He hadn't Consumed any power that the arm fed on. He vented all of that into a spare void key. It was too much work right now to sift through that chaotic mess to find something useful. There would be time enough for that later.
But vague memories, impressions and feelings; he feasted on those.
Leviathan's sense of kinship with his two siblings. His sense of purpose, synonymous with destruction and ruin. His experiences of causing that destruction. His defeats at the hands of a golden man. His fear of the end. This dreadful "thing" on top of him, who was not a prey to play with but the complete opposite of that.
Lindon's Authority swelled. If this was Cradle he would have been on the verge of manifesting an Icon.
Still the Endbringer fought on, and kept trying. Lindon admired that tenacity.
He deactivated the Hollow Domain, and struck Leviathan with back to back forged Empty Palms, right at the Endbringer's chest, at the same time Mercy bound Leviathan's legs in Strings of Shadow and pinned his tail with another arrow.
Lindon jumped back as Yerin flashed past him towards Leviathan.
----
As soon as Lindon deactivated his technique, Yerin prepared herself. She wouldn't get a second bite at the cherry, not with this technique.
It wasn't meant for her current advancement level anyway, but she was no mere Archlord. She was an ascended Monarch and the Reaper's disciple.
[Mercy's bindings would be in effect in one second.] Her Presence informed her, and slowed time down for her.
Yerin took a deep breath.
Her sword arms poised, her blade in position, her stance perfect. The colors dimmed away from everything on the battlefield, they even bled away from Leviathan.
She struck, falling on Leviathan like Death itself.
The Reaper's Sword contained all her Authority, it cut right at the Endbringer's core. She felt a great resistance in Leviathan trying to stand against her Will.
Until finally, her attack stabbed through the core. It caused a detonation that hurled her away. She controlled her flight and skidded to a halt some way away from the Endbringer. Her breath coming a little harder now, her Will drained. The attack had spent all her Authority and it would take days to rebuild it on this world.
She allowed herself a smile and waited for her friends to finish the job.
----
Lindon formed the Dragon Descends technique, using all his Authority and Willpower, his own and what he had stolen from Leviathan. Yerin had cut open the Endbringer's core, he could see space warping and light bending strangely where it lay.
He jumped above the beast, and brought his technique down on top of him in a blast of Destruction and Fire.
----
Mercy took out a bolt from her Soul Space as Yerin cleaved through the Endbringer. Coincidentally, the bolt was same one she had Read when she had joined the battle.
She had tracked down the girl Flechette after erecting her barrier and convinced her to lend her an imbued needle of hers. Luckily, her display had impressed the girl enough that she had agreed. It still felt heavy to her spiritual senses, like it existed only to pierce through anything once released.
Lindon followed up after Yerin, their techniques shattering the crystalline purple pillars. Mercy's barriers took the brunt of the damage and saved the city blocks around them from being completely obliterated.
She lifted her bow and used the bolt to layer techniques. All of her most dangerous techniques, she layered them on top of each other in less than a heartbeat.
When Lindon got clear, she shot. The core was wide open, shattered, and still felt wrong to her senses. The Endbringer not moving at all.
Her arrow flew true, and disappeared inside the remains of Leviathan's core mass, unnaturally so.
Next, reality broke, or the closest thing to it.
It felt like a crack reverberated through existence.
Mercy's instincts screamed warning, her spiritual senses taut. A screeching, keening sound started coming from everywhere.
[Its originating from Leviathan.] Suu said in alarm.
Suddenly his back arched, and without any buildup, countless lightning bolts struck down from above, destroying everything indiscriminately.
The radio on Mercy's arm came alive, "Someone protect the hospital!" A distorted shout came from a girl before the voice was drowned by the loudest sound of thunder she had ever heard.
----
Yerin looked up, already slashing out with Rippling Sword and Endless Sword techniques with all her swords, cutting out Lightning from the sky.
The sky was full of forking lights. It was a beautiful scene, and a horrifying one.
[Yerin, we need to protect the hospital.] Ruby said, she pointed out the direction and the distance.
Yerin activated the Moonlight Bridge, flashing above the medical camp set up for the injured and wounded. The Lightning storm had been doing considerable damage here too.
She flew higher, cutting and blasting away several lightning bolts headed for the hospital in less than a heartbeat. Her entire body buzzed from the insane amounts of electricity she intercepted.
[Yerin…] Ruby tried to say something.
"I know." She replied. There was only one thing that needed to be done.
Once among the clouds, high above the city with lightning and thunder all around her, Yerin let go of any restraints on her power. She unleashed her madra in every direction, without any precise techniques and emptied her core in the process.
The clouds for miles were blasted away. The sky above the city cleared enough that the Lightning storm ceased.
----
Lindon activated the Hollow Domain when he noticed the first Lightning strike as Dross chose that moment to increase his processing speed tenfold.
[This is a majestic view, I have to admit.] Even Dross sounded impressed. There were hundreds of lightning bolts in the sky, possibly more. Lindon saw them fork and multiply and disappear, increasing in number as they descended towards the city.
He glanced at Leviathan, the remains of his smoking body rigid with tension.
Ask Suu and Mercy to keep an eye on him. He told Dross.
[What are you planning? Actually, no need to tell me. I know exactly what it is.]
What's your estimate then?
[You cover the whole city but it takes a second or two and in the meantime some people might die, no they would definitely die, more than some. The intensity of the lightning will be… let's just say higher than usual. Oh, and you have been very liberal with spending your pure madra, your core will be empty if you keep this up for more than half a dozen heartbeats.]
Well, as you know, I have another. Lindon internally gave Dross a smile as he said that.
Then he poured all his madra into the Hollow Domain, expanding it to cover what he hoped was the whole city. He made it as dense as he could.
The results were… encouraging. Lightning strikes lost their power when they entered the field, they might still have injured or killed some ordinary humans but from what he has seen, no one had been outside in the open for a while thanks to Leviathan's earlier rain attacks.
[Sometimes fortune does favor the righteous.] Dross added sagely.
The exterior of many buildings was wrecked by the lightning, some small houses collapsed. He hoped nobody was inside.
A few seconds later, he sensed a familiar flavor of power pulse like a bright star in the distance.
The sky cleared of Lightning and the majority of the clouds.
He momentarily felt proud of Yerin before bringing his attention back to Leviathan.
While this storm appeared to be the last death throes of Leviathan, apparently a final blow was needed.
----
Mercy forged her bloodline armor, partly for extra protection from the lightning storm but mostly in anticipation of anything Leviathan might try next. Although she remained her normal size, no towering giants needed for now.
The arch in Leviathan's body was gone. He weakly tried to crawl away amidst the distraction, using the last vestiges of his strength.
Mercy stored her bow in the Soul Space and focused on her bloodline ability. A massive foot, half the size of Leviathan, sprouted from her leg and stomped at Leviathan. She trapped him under her boot.
The lightning storm ended too.
Everyone who remained in the park fixed their attention at Leviathan.
----
Eidolon had gone beyond his limits in clearing away the water, twice. He had needed rest in between.
But he finally felt he had the right power. Leviathan would die by his hand, today.
He looked for Alexandria, but couldn't see her. She had gone to search for anyone who might have needed her help during the lightning storm. Better, she might argue with him, might tell him to rest, he was in no mood for any of that.
He picked himself up, and teleported.
----
Lindon prepared a Dragon's Breath. He was already out of madra in one core, he figured depleting the other too was worth it if it meant killing this monster.
His technique ready, he raised his hand.
[Lindon…] Dross said, a note of caution in his voice.
"Step aside please." Her heard Eidolon's voice from behind. He knew it from Dross's, actually Ruby's, memories before, but the man sounded tired.
Mercy had removed her foot and dissipated her armor. It was only Lindon and Eidolon in close proximity to Leviathan. He half turned towards the cape, keeping his palm steadily aimed at the Endbringer.
"I'll kill him, it's my duty, you understand, always running, always..." The man continued to speak but his voice dwindled to a mutter, both his arms raised towards Leviathan.
[He sounds delirious. What in the world?] Dross was confused, or pretended to be.
He wants to be one to make the kill.
[What does it matter? Fool… eh, what do I care? Let him.] Dross dismissed the cape, going silent.
"Go ahead." Lindon spoke for the first time, and took a few steps back to give Eidolon a clearer shot. He lowered his hand but kept his technique ready if needed.
Eidolon nodded.
A translucent power, heavy on Lindon's spiritual senses, shot out from between Eidolon's hands and struck the Endbringer's entire upper body, including his core mass.
Everything above Leviathan's legs was annihilated. Ceased to exist right in front of Lindon's eyes.
Dross whistled in his head, [Dangerous,] he said.
Lindon agreed.
But the Endbringer was dead, only his lower torso remained on the ground, the rest had been destroyed, utterly and completely.
Lindon let his technique fade, bringing the madra back into his core.
Everything was still for a few heartbeats.
Then he started hearing scattered cheers.
"Take cover!" Narwhal bellowed to two of her temporary comrades. They had been staring mutely at their dead companions, but her cry broke them out of the reverie and they scampered underneath her forcefield. A few others had worked together to manage some sort of a functioning screen to block the rain.
It was hard to see anything outside due to the sheer volume and intensity of water, but already a couple were dead near her, gone in an instant, before they knew what had killed them.
She added two more forcefields to her existing one, covering the entire rooftop. Only a sudden premonition—some sixth sense alerting her to the darkening sky—had allowed her to be ready to spring up a barrier above her.
She hoped that other capes on standby and in reserve had found some shelter from the sudden downpour of this deadly 'rain'. It'd be an understatement of the century to call it just that, as it was chipping the fricking concrete, leaving visible dents a finger's width wide.
"You," she called out to a young cape who just stood wide-eyed under a ledge. Not recalling his name, she waved to him, he noticed her and had enough self-consciousness that he made an effort to appear calmer.
"Get a hold of yourself," she had to shout to make herself heard, "can you reinforce my shield?" She thrust her chin at her own forcefield.
He nodded, gulping.
"Yes? Good, do that."
Narwhal wondered if he'd find her words encouraging.
She walked towards the capes huddled together under the other forcefield barrier and addressed them, "Anyone who cannot build some barrier, or shield, or anything, take cover elsewhere, go inside the houses, anywhere this rain can't reach you." You don't need to see the battle, you can't anyway.
She paused to take a breath, fixing them with a steady stare, "the time will come when you can contribute, but it's not now." When they started trickling down from the rooftop, she turned away from them, squinting hard trying to look beyond and through the forcefields and the rain.
Her main concern was now for those on other rooftops and the grounds outside of the park's massive purple-black fence that kept Leviathan contained.
There was a reason so many of them were not inside fighting head-on against an Endbringer who had been displaying frightening levels of strength, speed and intelligence, even after she had seen him take more punishment than ever before.
Her last view of him was of a mess, blood had oozed from his numerous wounds, one arm gone and he had looked like a skeletal abomination. It would have despaired those watching if not for the hope she had seen in many eyes that Leviathan may have found his match today, or worse.
For once she too had allowed some hope to enter her heart, that perhaps with powerful new capes bolstering their numbers, Leviathan might finally be put down.
But like earlier, he had managed to upped the stakes, and brought out another hidden ability, just as devastating as the rest.
A flash of silver in her periphery caught her attention, followed by a roaring sound, drowning out even the rain's constant. onslaught. The sky above her completely cleared of the falling rain for a few seconds before it resumed. Not as deadly this time as before but still abnormally fast, with unnaturally large droplets.
The next thing she noticed with the visibility improved was one of the stranger sights in her life, an impossibly tall pole, no, a tree, devoid of branches. It kept rising in the sky until it pierced the clouds.
That was followed by an evident warping in the sky, which brought much of the rain previously falling outside the park, to swirl around the tree and fall inside the park. That was... yes, the young Ward Vista's doing.
It would certainly spare those on the outside but it meant more water for Leviathan to work with. It would make the Endbringer stronger.
Eidolon had done something earlier to cancel that advantage for Leviathan when he cleared the park of all water, but with rain this intense, another mini lake would form inside the barricade.
Perhaps it was time to help, Narwhal had been run ragged today but could still go another round or two. She made a platform from one of her forcefields and slowly began to lift herself, getting closer to the distortion.
She pressed a button on the radio on her arm and spoke into it, "Dragon, any capes who can block out the rain, send them to me. Even better If they can fly."
That said, she continued rising. Half a minute later, four more capes joined her: three fliers and the last one carried by a flier. Luckily, they all withstood the deluge out in the open.
At a suitable distance, she stopped, and gestured the others to do the same. Releasing a deep breath, she created as many forcefields as she could, making them as large as possible. Finally, she linked them all together to create a bigger barrier.
The rest followed suit, working together. Soon there weren't many gaps left for the rain to slip through and cause trouble.
The effort made her head ache, she had pushed herself to the max for the second time today counting her brief defiance against the Tsunami.
The others looked to be straining as well, barely holding on.
They would stay as long as they could, she told herself.
----
Alexandria punched Leviathan with her free hand, twisted in the air to narrowly avoide the claw swipe he had intended for her, and flew up out of his range. In the next instant, another attack demanded the Endbringer's attention, which left an opening for her. She dived through the air to strike, abruptly her advance was met by Leviathan's echo, she tackled it head-on, cleaving through, but Leviathan had moved from his position behind the cover of water. The heroine halted and hovered in the air, waiting for another opening.
The most concerning thing was that Leviathan increasingly moved in a jerky manner that made it seem like his water echo hovered around him as an auxiliary body armor, disrupting not just her advances but also defending himself from other long-ranged strikes.
That level of defensive awareness and ability was unprecedented and exactly in line with how Lindon had suggested Leviathan could improve.
Nonetheless, while the Endbringer fought on, he didn't look too comfortable out there, constantly on the defensive, unable to escape, and unable to shake Lindon off for more than a few seconds at a time. Whatever the burly cape had been doing to him, it certainly left the Endbringer visibly slower compared to a few minutes ago.
Her attention was drawn to the impossibly long tree Vista had fashioned, perhaps used as a reference to draw the 'rain' towards itself from what limited understanding she had of the girl's ability.
She took a moment to get a status update, "Dragon, has everyone outside taken cover?" The pelting droplets would bore through regular flesh, even some types of armor wouldn't be too useful against it.
Dragon sent an affirmative which meant Vista did not need to exert herself anymore, the rain would not harm anyone who couldn't handle it.
"Tell Narwhal and others to disengage immediately." She spoke in the radio and cut off the connection. She had seen the telltale rainbow hue of the Narwhal's forcefields. Once Vista's shaker effect was gone, the barrier would be too small to cover anyone below, better they back off for now.
She flew closer to the one called Mercy, who was patrolling her fence from the air. Alexandria came face to face with the woman and said, "Tell your friend that Vista can stop. We no longer need this", she gestured at the ridiculously tall apparatus, "nobody outside is under threat from this rain anymore."
The trio calling themselves "Reapers" would of course deny if asked directly, but they had some sort of communication system set up that she couldn't figure out. Nothing else would explain the almost choreographed coordination between the three. Alexandria had forced herself to not think about getting them onboard for the eventual war at the end of world, against their true enemy, that was for later.
Although judging by the what she had seen earlier, Cauldron had become interested remarkably quickly. She wasn't stupid enough to think nobody had noticed doormaker's portal—used to transport the last of the injured quickly before the Tsunami—but with enough 'luck' no one would remember that.
More notably, for the past several minutes, Vista had somehow been on the same wavelength as Lindon and his two companions, responding instantly to changes in her circumstances and maximizing her power in ways she never had before. Each time Leviathan tried to escape, either his escape path lengthened absurdly, or the ground folded beneath him. The Endbringer could not maintain his balance properly for long, often trees expanded to block his path, or projectiles reached him quicker. Vista was proving why she was a Shaker 9 and rated so highly.
Alexandria had kept tabs on the ward; her reflexes and response times were her biggest weaknesses. There had been no sign of any such drawbacks holding her back since her team up with Lindon. It was worth investigating later. Surely Lindon or one of his companions was responsible for this development, but how was the real question.
However, Vista was just a child, a very powerful one but still, only a child. Alexandria would prefer if a Shaker like that didn't die today.
All those thoughts flashed through her mind instantaneously.
Mercy only nodded in answer to her earlier suggestion, not bothering to shout or signal Lindon in anyway. But a second later the tree was getting back to a normal size, the warping in the sky was gone along with the forcefield screen.
A quick glance showed that everyone now in the open was durable enough to ignore the unnatural rain. Except for Vista, but she had been covered by a floating shield ever since the rain started, a shield that had replaced the floating gun-like contraption. Another question mark.
She found her chance to attack, flew in, punched Leviathan on the face, tilting it backward, Lindon followed her punch with a large palm shaped forcefield attack, Legend aimed all his lasers on the open backside of the Endbringer and Yerin slapped aside his tail before destroying his tail's echo. The Endbringer tried to regain balance with his arm but the ground underneath turned into a hole leaving him unbalanced and without defense.
Leviathan was vulnerable and without an active defense, but found extra strength from somewhere. He lurched up and whirled around a couple of times, his echo creating a vortex effect and picking up debris from the ground to throw it at the capes around him before smashing into them. Without a moment's pause, he exploded from his position, displaying similar speed as earlier and launched himself at the airborne Mercy who had drifted nearer to the action.
What happened next Alexandria could only piece together due to her extraordinary mental cognition. Leviathan jumped at Mercy, but she also flew towards him at the same time. Her bow was gone, and one of her hands swiftly turned into a giant purple fist half the size of Leviathan.
She struck him square on the center mass.
Leviathan, who was clearly not expecting that turn of events, was blasted back down.
Down, towards the ground that had shimmered briefly – Alexandria later recalled – but otherwise had remained unchanged.
As a result, when Leviathan hurtled down after being punched, instead of crashing to the ground normally, he was impaled in a dozen places on sharp spikes, all made from the stone of the earth, all courtesy of Vista. Hidden because someone had masked them with a powerful illusion.
But the spikes weren't normal either, they shredded Leviathan's flesh much more than they normally should have. Yerin immediately attacked the Endbringer with all of her swords, shredding even more flesh, making Leviathan look even more like a bag of bones.
At the same time, Legend unleashed hundreds of lasers at Leviathan's prone form in a handful of seconds, melting away layers of his flesh. All before Leviathan's echo could even return to him.
But when it did, it exploded on impact. Eerily similar to the earlier rain.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the rain intensified once again. Sharp, fast and relentless; made of inch-thick raindrops. Lethal for anyone with regular durability.
This time though, the majority of it targeted Lindon and Vista.
Alexandria had seen nothing like it. It was as if the sky had turned into the muzzle of a colossal machine gun, firing unlimited rounds of water-based ammunition, and the sole target were those two capes.
She moved to cover Vista. No doubt Lindon could handle himself, she had seen the evidence for that. But Vista was no Brute, one droplet was enough to kill her, and they could not afford to lose such a powerful hero.
Leviathan was still stuck; the rain didn't let up anyway.
Lindon had sprung up his spherical forcefield barrier, only covering himself and Vista this time, cancelling out the worst of the rain. A shield floated above Vista too, she looked unharmed.
Alexandria saw both of them leave the park to escape the rain. Good, Vista's fight should be over.
Leviathan had wriggled free. Although he looked like he'd been through a meat grinder or two, his physical state seemed to be no detriment to him. His echo started to act more independently, with a broader range of motion; it also swept up the detritus from the park with miniature vortices and collected some of the excess water in the park, almost like a second Leviathan if one were near sighted, but not quite.
Alexandria couldn't believe her eyes, they couldn't be back to square one, could they? No, this was surely the last acts of a dying animal, at least she hoped it was.
Leviathan moved. She moved with him, closing the distance and targeting a punch at his leg to knock him down. He tried to kicked at her but a dark arrow pierced his leg, pinning it to the muddy grass.
He kicked at her with the other leg.
She swivled in the air and kicked back, rocking him. Leviathan ignored his lack of balance and brought his arm around to defend against a sustained bombardment of Dragon's missiles aimed at his face. Even while defending and falling backwards, Leviathan brought his tail around in the arc, forcing her to dodge. Yerin at her side, dodged too before slashing at the retreating trail, cutting a big chunk out of it.
Eidolon chose that moment to announce his arrival.
The strongest cape in the Protectorate hovered high above the park. Dark grey clouds behind him. His form silhouetted by countless bright green twinkles from the rain hitting his defensive forcefield.
He raised his hands.
Everything in the park, in the air, and in the sky glowed a dull red. There was a low hum. Then, with a whooshing sound, all the water disappeared.
Not just from the ground, but the rain was gone from the air. The clouds in the sky above the park were gone. The sun shone through the gap.
Eidolon sagged, wavered, and dropped from the sky like a stone. Alexandria streaked through the air towards him but Yerin caught him first in a flash of white light. She handed him to Alexandria and nodded, before teleporting back to the fight again.
Eidolon wasn't unconscious. He assured her he was alright. Only needed a little rest, he insisted. She consulted Dragon and took him to one such shelter, one from where they could also keep an eye on the battle.
It wasn't over yet.
----
Lindon knew to expect something from Eidolon, but this was a pleasant surprise. The rain had stopped for now. The clouds were slowly coming back but for now Leviathan was down an advantage.
[Let's finish him, Lindon. No more water for him to play with. Get him my boy!] Dross cried triumphantly.
Lindon activated the Burning Cloak, blasted off from his perch on top of a tree towards Leviathan. The Endbringer snapped his tail at him, followed by his remaining arm, sending two different variations of his water echo at him.
One reached him first, with a swipe of a half formed Blackflame claw Lindon brushed it aside, not breaking his momentum at all. The second echo burst apart when it came near Lindon, sending sharp water projectiles at him with increased speed. He disregarded those and let them land on him, they were of no consequence now that he no longer had Vista with him.
He thought about the young cape as he neared the Endbringer. They would need to find promising heroes and guide them, mentor them, if they were to face all the dangers that plagued this world. Just the idea that people divided themselves into Hero and Villain factions, and it was that normalized, was enough to indicate the rot that had spread in this society.
There would be no easy solution here, just like there was no easy solution to the Hunger Aura, Monarch and Dreadgod problem.
He put those thoughts to the back of his mind and followed the path Dross had indicated to him. The Endbringer reacted to an illusion of Lindon bearing down on him from above but Lindon went straight to his neck from below and grabbed hold of it with his Dreadgod arm.
He let his arm feed, and let Dross handle the influx of memories and impression while he smothered the Will behind the alien, chaotic power and tried Read its intent.
At the same time, he activated the Hollow Domain, covering the entirety of the Endbringer's remaining body. It snuffed out Leviathan's water echoes utterly. Preventing him from obstructing the attacks falling on him, or use the phantom water as a weapon.
Lindon had to deactivate his Pure Madra technique from time to time; whenever Leviathan wasn't moving, and to let the others' hits land. It was easy enough. He wasn't doing much else, other than stamping his Authority and dominance on the Endbringer.
And one more thing, he also had all of his Destruction and Death Madra cannons out of his void keys. Seventeen in total and surrounding Leviathan. Moving in and out of the Hollow Domain, firing uninterrupted at the monster. Dross was helping in controlling all of those; their flight maneuvers and bombardment.
He felt a growing annoyance from Leviathan, that turned into frustration and discomfort after a couple of minutes when nothing Leviathan tried worked.
The Hollow Domain negated one of his biggest advantages.
Eidolon had emptied the field of water.
Lindon was leeching away his strength and it wasn't any advantage against those remaining anyway.
His budding intelligence had been combated by no less than three Presences.
He couldn't run away because of the cordon. If he tried to jump he would be intercepted by Yerin and Mercy among others who would could fly. Leviathan could not, he could only move in straight lines in the air, a clear disadvantage when he wasn't the one overwhelmingly strong.
He could not shake Lindon off. He ineffectually slapped at Lindon with his tail and his arm, all to no avail. Lindon either batted those away, or dodged out of the way, finding a better position than before, to resume his arm's Devouring. Hollow Domain constantly active.
Even Leviathan's speed was not an advantage against those fighting him now.
Legend could keep up with him, the cape maintained his distance anyway. He had no need to come close as he was devastating enough from long range. The cape named Dragon had disengaged from close-ranged combat but still fired shots whenever possible from a distance. Yerin was capable of near instant travel and Mercy could match the Endbringer in speed and overpower him in strength.
No advantage remaining for Leviathan.
Finally, after a few minutes of being a punching bag at the hands of multiple powerful capes all of whom attacked his core, after being assailed by someone who actively, and constantly, stole Leviathan's power and made him weaker and slower, the breakthrough came.
The first inklings of fear.
Lindon could feel those coming from the beast. His arm turned even more ravenous.
He hadn't Consumed any power that the arm fed on. He vented all of that into a spare void key. It was too much work right now to sift through that chaotic mess to find something useful. There would be time enough for that later.
But vague memories, impressions and feelings; he feasted on those.
Leviathan's sense of kinship with his two siblings. His sense of purpose, synonymous with destruction and ruin. His experiences of causing that destruction. His defeats at the hands of a golden man. His fear of the end. This dreadful "thing" on top of him, who was not a prey to play with but the complete opposite of that.
Lindon's Authority swelled. If this was Cradle he would have been on the verge of manifesting an Icon.
Still the Endbringer fought on, and kept trying. Lindon admired that tenacity.
He deactivated the Hollow Domain, and struck Leviathan with back to back forged Empty Palms, right at the Endbringer's chest, at the same time Mercy bound Leviathan's legs in Strings of Shadow and pinned his tail with another arrow.
Lindon jumped back as Yerin flashed past him towards Leviathan.
----
As soon as Lindon deactivated his technique, Yerin prepared herself. She wouldn't get a second bite at the cherry, not with this technique.
It wasn't meant for her current advancement level anyway, but she was no mere Archlord. She was an ascended Monarch and the Reaper's disciple.
[Mercy's bindings would be in effect in one second.] Her Presence informed her, and slowed time down for her.
Yerin took a deep breath.
Her sword arms poised, her blade in position, her stance perfect. The colors dimmed away from everything on the battlefield, they even bled away from Leviathan.
She struck, falling on Leviathan like Death itself.
The Reaper's Sword contained all her Authority, it cut right at the Endbringer's core. She felt a great resistance in Leviathan trying to stand against her Will.
Until finally, her attack stabbed through the core. It caused a detonation that hurled her away. She controlled her flight and skidded to a halt some way away from the Endbringer. Her breath coming a little harder now, her Will drained. The attack had spent all her Authority and it would take days to rebuild it on this world.
She allowed herself a smile and waited for her friends to finish the job.
----
Lindon formed the Dragon Descends technique, using all his Authority and Willpower, his own and what he had stolen from Leviathan. Yerin had cut open the Endbringer's core, he could see space warping and light bending strangely where it lay.
He jumped above the beast, and brought his technique down on top of him in a blast of Destruction and Fire.
----
Mercy took out a bolt from her Soul Space as Yerin cleaved through the Endbringer. Coincidentally, the bolt was same one she had Read when she had joined the battle.
She had tracked down the girl Flechette after erecting her barrier and convinced her to lend her an imbued needle of hers. Luckily, her display had impressed the girl enough that she had agreed. It still felt heavy to her spiritual senses, like it existed only to pierce through anything once released.
Lindon followed up after Yerin, their techniques shattering the crystalline purple pillars. Mercy's barriers took the brunt of the damage and saved the city blocks around them from being completely obliterated.
She lifted her bow and used the bolt to layer techniques. All of her most dangerous techniques, she layered them on top of each other in less than a heartbeat.
When Lindon got clear, she shot. The core was wide open, shattered, and still felt wrong to her senses. The Endbringer not moving at all.
Her arrow flew true, and disappeared inside the remains of Leviathan's core mass, unnaturally so.
Next, reality broke, or the closest thing to it.
It felt like a crack reverberated through existence.
Mercy's instincts screamed warning, her spiritual senses taut. A screeching, keening sound started coming from everywhere.
[Its originating from Leviathan.] Suu said in alarm.
Suddenly his back arched, and without any buildup, countless lightning bolts struck down from above, destroying everything indiscriminately.
The radio on Mercy's arm came alive, "Someone protect the hospital!" A distorted shout came from a girl before the voice was drowned by the loudest sound of thunder she had ever heard.
----
Yerin looked up, already slashing out with Rippling Sword and Endless Sword techniques with all her swords, cutting out Lightning from the sky.
The sky was full of forking lights. It was a beautiful scene, and a horrifying one.
[Yerin, we need to protect the hospital.] Ruby said, she pointed out the direction and the distance.
Yerin activated the Moonlight Bridge, flashing above the medical camp set up for the injured and wounded. The Lightning storm had been doing considerable damage here too.
She flew higher, cutting and blasting away several lightning bolts headed for the hospital in less than a heartbeat. Her entire body buzzed from the insane amounts of electricity she intercepted.
[Yerin…] Ruby tried to say something.
"I know." She replied. There was only one thing that needed to be done.
Once among the clouds, high above the city with lightning and thunder all around her, Yerin let go of any restraints on her power. She unleashed her madra in every direction, without any precise techniques and emptied her core in the process.
The clouds for miles were blasted away. The sky above the city cleared enough that the Lightning storm ceased.
----
Lindon activated the Hollow Domain when he noticed the first Lightning strike as Dross chose that moment to increase his processing speed tenfold.
[This is a majestic view, I have to admit.] Even Dross sounded impressed. There were hundreds of lightning bolts in the sky, possibly more. Lindon saw them fork and multiply and disappear, increasing in number as they descended towards the city.
He glanced at Leviathan, the remains of his smoking body rigid with tension.
Ask Suu and Mercy to keep an eye on him. He told Dross.
[What are you planning? Actually, no need to tell me. I know exactly what it is.]
What's your estimate then?
[You cover the whole city but it takes a second or two and in the meantime some people might die, no they would definitely die, more than some. The intensity of the lightning will be… let's just say higher than usual. Oh, and you have been very liberal with spending your pure madra, your core will be empty if you keep this up for more than half a dozen heartbeats.]
Well, as you know, I have another. Lindon internally gave Dross a smile as he said that.
Then he poured all his madra into the Hollow Domain, expanding it to cover what he hoped was the whole city. He made it as dense as he could.
The results were… encouraging. Lightning strikes lost their power when they entered the field, they might still have injured or killed some ordinary humans but from what he has seen, no one had been outside in the open for a while thanks to Leviathan's earlier rain attacks.
[Sometimes fortune does favor the righteous.] Dross added sagely.
The exterior of many buildings was wrecked by the lightning, some small houses collapsed. He hoped nobody was inside.
A few seconds later, he sensed a familiar flavor of power pulse like a bright star in the distance.
The sky cleared of Lightning and the majority of the clouds.
He momentarily felt proud of Yerin before bringing his attention back to Leviathan.
While this storm appeared to be the last death throes of Leviathan, apparently a final blow was needed.
----
Mercy forged her bloodline armor, partly for extra protection from the lightning storm but mostly in anticipation of anything Leviathan might try next. Although she remained her normal size, no towering giants needed for now.
The arch in Leviathan's body was gone. He weakly tried to crawl away amidst the distraction, using the last vestiges of his strength.
Mercy stored her bow in the Soul Space and focused on her bloodline ability. A massive foot, half the size of Leviathan, sprouted from her leg and stomped at Leviathan. She trapped him under her boot.
The lightning storm ended too.
Everyone who remained in the park fixed their attention at Leviathan.
----
Eidolon had gone beyond his limits in clearing away the water, twice. He had needed rest in between.
But he finally felt he had the right power. Leviathan would die by his hand, today.
He looked for Alexandria, but couldn't see her. She had gone to search for anyone who might have needed her help during the lightning storm. Better, she might argue with him, might tell him to rest, he was in no mood for any of that.
He picked himself up, and teleported.
----
Lindon prepared a Dragon's Breath. He was already out of madra in one core, he figured depleting the other too was worth it if it meant killing this monster.
His technique ready, he raised his hand.
[Lindon…] Dross said, a note of caution in his voice.
"Step aside please." Her heard Eidolon's voice from behind. He knew it from Dross's, actually Ruby's, memories before, but the man sounded tired.
Mercy had removed her foot and dissipated her armor. It was only Lindon and Eidolon in close proximity to Leviathan. He half turned towards the cape, keeping his palm steadily aimed at the Endbringer.
"I'll kill him, it's my duty, you understand, always running, always..." The man continued to speak but his voice dwindled to a mutter, both his arms raised towards Leviathan.
[He sounds delirious. What in the world?] Dross was confused, or pretended to be.
He wants to be one to make the kill.
[What does it matter? Fool… eh, what do I care? Let him.] Dross dismissed the cape, going silent.
"Go ahead." Lindon spoke for the first time, and took a few steps back to give Eidolon a clearer shot. He lowered his hand but kept his technique ready if needed.
Eidolon nodded.
A translucent power, heavy on Lindon's spiritual senses, shot out from between Eidolon's hands and struck the Endbringer's entire upper body, including his core mass.
Everything above Leviathan's legs was annihilated. Ceased to exist right in front of Lindon's eyes.
Dross whistled in his head, [Dangerous,] he said.
Lindon agreed.
But the Endbringer was dead, only his lower torso remained on the ground, the rest had been destroyed, utterly and completely.
Lindon let his technique fade, bringing the madra back into his core.
Everything was still for a few heartbeats.
Then he started hearing scattered cheers.
Some bad AI art to go with chapter 9 - actually after
Cosmic Dream
dreaming of utopia
Ceased to exist or was banished to another world? Kind of have a bad feeling there.
10. Aftermath
The cheers got louder and continued for a long minute. Capes began coming out from cover into the open as news of Leviathan's demise spread.
[Excellent work, only a few hours in and… Progress!]. Dross proclaimed loudly in Lindon's mind.
He looked up; the clouds were rapidly dispersing, leaving the sky a clear blue. Late afternoon sunlight cast long shadows and bathed the remains of Leviathan's corpse in fiery orange outline. Icy winds coming from the sea had already removed the stench of Endbringer's burnt flesh that had permeated the entire park during their battle.
Mercy was immediately away after the battle to check in on Yerin but Lindon had stayed to keep an eye on Eidolon. The cape was just standing there in a slumped manner, staring at the downed beast.
"How are the others?" He asked Dross, reached into his pocket and took out a potent elixir to recover some of his pure madra. Once empty, he put the vial back into the void key in his pocket.
[Good as new. Both are helping out at the hospital, some of the damage to its building was severe.] Dross replied.
Lindon involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief. It was stupid to worry about Yerin, he knew, but he couldn't help it. Both Yerin and Mercy registered vaguely in the distance to his senses, moving about with regular surges in power when they used a technique.
Then he remembered there were giant remains of an impromptu ice wall in the ocean. Those needed to be taken care of. He headed towards Eidolon, maybe the cape had some way of annihilating that too.
[Lindon.] Dross suddenly said.
Lindon sensed it acutely. On an impulse, he also reined in his spiritual senses somewhat—from being actively straining wider to a more passive sense focused nearby—the action dampened his ability to perceive Yerin, Mercy and the rest of the city, but heightened his awareness in close proximity.
A golden man in white clothes silently hovered high in the air, swaying cape trailing behind him. His long hair blew freely with the wind.
He was looking at them impassively.
There were louder cheers followed by audible murmurs at this arrival.
[He just appeared inside the city and flew here immediately.] Dross said, then mentioned that Mercy had seen him first and alerted everyone of this new development.
They all knew there was a very strong golden cape in this world, powerful enough to instill doubt in Endbringers and make them retreat by his mere arrival on a battlefield. Lindon and Dross had gathered that much after Consuming from Leviathan during the battle, and shared those findings with the rest.
But the demeanor of this man appeared strange, he just hung in the air, extremely still. His face blank, devoid of any emotions.
Eidolon too saw the new cape.
"Scion." He said in a whisper. "You are here. Well, he's dead." The cape continued in a croaking voice, waving a jerking hand at the Endbringer's remains.
Scion slowly drifted to ground and looked down at Eidolon who met Scion's eyes unflinchingly.
Lindon stayed quiet, observing.
The golden man radiated a sense of disgust mixed with sadness that would have overwhelmed Lindon had he been a child back in sacred valley, but it was curious how this cape with no mask and a blank expression had this emotional effect near him.
"If we try, we can kill the other Endbringers too, perhaps you can …" Eidolon spoke slowly, as if he wanted Scion to fully comprehend his words. But as he was speaking, Scion abruptly turned away. He drifted up a couple of feet and flew to the dead Endbringer's body.
Eidolon sighed and shook his head.
As he went by, Scion's eyes met Lindon's. He paused briefly, looking up and down at Lindon.
Lindon didn't think this man was normal, perhaps his powers had warped his personality somehow, like Subject One?
[He exudes depression, maybe that's his problem.] Dross offered. [Heartbroken? Seen too much tragedy? Lovesick? Too much travel? Tired?] He didn't stop.
Lindon ignored Dross's ramblings and gave Scion a brief nod, who didn't respond, just stared at him mutely before resuming his slow flight towards the corpse.
He looked at the scene of death for a few seconds before shooting up and away from them, leaving a golden trail glowing behind him.
Lindon kept his spiritual perception tighter than before. He'd only let go to exert his full authority and spiritual pressure on Leviathan, to make him submit. There was no need to flaunt it anymore.
Already they had revealed too many of their abilities in saving this city. Before they even had a clue of the whereabouts of the class two chaos fiend—or fiends—plaguing this iteration and the corruption they must have caused here. It was best to keep a lower profile as much as possible.
He didn't know what to make of Scion. They'd had a victory this day, the first of its kind if Lindon had understood anything, and the golden cape gave no response.
[Maybe he got jealous we took his kill away? Or that someone else might take his place as the strongest? Hey, I am only going by how you humans behave.] Dross said wryly.
Lindon chuckled.
But there was still work left to be done. He approached Eidolon and waited in silence for a few seconds as the cape appeared to be in deep thoughts, head down.
"Are you alright to continue?" Lindon asked when eventually Eidolon acknowledged him.
"Continue?" Eidolon said after a moment, his voice puzzled.
"Apologies, but the ice wall you built has served its purpose. We should clear it before any damage to the climate and such." Lindon explained, then asked Eidolon, "can you do to the… you know, the pieces of ice what you did to… him?" Lindon gestured at the torn corpse behind them, his question also serving to satisfy his own—and Dross's—curiosity.
Eidolon seemingly understood and stood up to his full height, head cocked to one side. Gradually he became stronger to Lindon's senses. That must have been one of his powers.
[I'd love to study this hidden energy system of this world, and have a session with him in particular. He appears more adept at it then anybody else we've seen.] Dross let out a sigh as he voiced his wish.
"Thank you for helping out in the battle, your contribution was invaluable." Eidolon said in a formal manner and extended a hand. Lindon clasped it, keeping his Dreadgod arm's impulses in check. "I'm sure we could use your help in the coming Endbringer fights. You and your… team." Eidolon finished a little awkwardly and let go of the handshake.
Lindon was about to suggest that they should leave right away for the clean up but Eidolon spoke again. "Oh, and I'll take care of the ice, don't worry about it. My doing, so I'll fix it."
"Are you sure? Two can do it faster." Lindon offered.
"No no, I insist."
That annoyed Dross. [What is up with this guy? First he wants to make the kill himself then he rejects our help with a simple task. Does he want to be the only hero or something? Doesn't he realize we've helped him all the way today.]
Maybe he does that's why.
Dross conveyed strong disapproval.
Lindon could empathize. His Presence only wanted to study Eidolon and his powers more.
Meanwhile the cape floated up and flew away.
There'll be time enough for research. He reassured his Presence.
Dross already had a lot of data on Vista and the other capes they'd fought with but they understandably had no real information on the development of powers in this world and its 'sacred arts'.
If there were to be any promising candidates they would take under their wings, this was something they needed to understand.
He feet took him took him to the Endbringer's body, the material it was made from was extraordinary. Lindon hadn't seen anything like it before, at least not on an isolated world like this. The matter behaved like flesh but he knew from experience it was exceedingly strong and hyperdense.
He didn't need to take anymore from the body though. One of his city-sized void keys was filled almost to the brim with what he had Consumed from the Endbringer. Stupid amounts of strange matter, the water from Leviathan's echo, his flesh, all consolidated together in the void key, far more than was physically possible to take from just a building sized monster. The big question was how? Where did it all come from? Were the Endbringers connected to other dimensions for their healing?
His opened that void key and extended his senses inside.
During their training, Eithan had showed them a discarded fragment of an iteration that had been corrupted, before he'd removed it from existence.
The flavor of this Consumed matter felt similar to that; chaotic and faintly resonating with the Void.
Lindon's Soul Forge was sealed along with his other weapons but this substance would be useful there. Corrupt or not, there was a metaphysical weight to it, as if it was more than it seemed, part of something bigger perhaps.
The Endbringers definitely had some connection to the chaos fiend they were here to investigate and potentially confront.
That was another problem, everything was really murky in this iteration. As an Archlord his ability to see fate was limited in the first place, this world with its fraying connection to the Way reduced that to nothing.
He asked Dross. Has this ruse as a new hero team run its course? Should we tell whoever's in charge here at least a version of truth? We might get some answers about the situation. What do Yerin and Mercy say?
Dross relayed his message and said, [Tattletale asked if you were from another earth, which begs the question; are there multiple earths here? We know the locals call this planet earth. How does that work? We only know of one planet in this iteration where the fiend is active. What is going on here?] Dross let out a frustrated grunt.
[I really need to get a hold of, what did the sergeant call it? Yes, the internet.] He said.
Lindon did remember the girl asking her that and he had only smiled in response before jumping off of that rooftop. Perhaps that could be an explanation, three people come from another "earth" to save this one. Perhaps not.
But save from what? What appearance did the fiend take? Where was it? That's what they needed to find out.
[Heads up, company inbound.] Dross let him know.
Lindon continued his idle inspection of the corpse, his thoughts a whirlwind.
Very soon he was being hailed by a tall cape in plates of blue armor carrying a halberd in one hand.
"You there. Lindon, right?" he asked, coming closer.
He was accompanied by a few more capes, some adults, others younger. Most of them went to Leviathan's lifeless form, with a look of awe in their eyes and half obscured faces, those that were visible anyway.
Some few approached Lindon, among them was the girl Vista. Lindon replied to the tall man with a simple "Yes," and a nod. Then stepped closer to Vista and offered his hand, "an honor fighting alongside you, young uh... lady. You did well."
Vista hesitated then stood a little taller and shook his hand. "Well, it was a team effort… you did well too." she said.
"Armsmaster." The halberd guy introduced himself. "This is Miss Militia and you've met Legend." He introduced the other two accompanying him.
Lindon nodded to the woman who had a face mask most similar to his, with a gun strapped to her belt. He'd already met Legend who now carried a burn wound on his shoulder.
[Grazed by a lightning strike.] Dross said.
Legend spoke this time, voice raised and addressing all those nearby, "This is a day for celebration! Yes, we lost many defending this city and we will mourn them, but we've also achieved something unprecedented. Leviathan is dead." Many of the capes roared in triumph.
He paused before continuing, and pointed a Lindon, "I'd say you and your team played an important role in that, so from the Protectorate, accept our gratitude." Lindon just shook his head at that.
Armsmaster shifted his halberd from one hand to another and said, "Since the truce will be in effect for a couple more days, we'd prefer if you could come to the PRT offices for a debrief?" The cape left the unsaid question hanging.
[What truce?] Dross asked. Yes, what was this truce? Was this place also at war? Armsmaster's invitation only raised more questions for Lindon.
Keep both of them updated. Lindon told Dross. Let's see what this PRT is and how it works.
"Sure, but what about the, you know, civilians and the rest? So much is destroyed." Lindon inquired.
Legend answered his question. "Our teams are taking care of that. And I'm sure the government will allocate additional resources for the rehabilitation of the civilians. An Endbringer is dead after all."
"Let's get you to the HQ." Armsmaster said.
Lindon invited the cape to go first with a gesture. "Lead the way."
With a parting nod to the other capes, they left. Lindon walked beside Armsmaster as they moved through the city towards their destination. He asked sporadic questions about Brockton Bay and then half-listened to the cape escorting him.
He had another discussion going on too in his mind, Yerin was in favor or just laying out the truth and dealing with whatever consequences come their way. Mercy preferred a more circumspect approach, more in line with what Lindon had suggested; posing as capes from another earth. Although he himself didn't fully believe in that idea.
There were parallels; their native 'earth' or planet could be Cradle, and the backstories—should they need them—pretty much the truth. The Dreadgods could be their versions of Endbringers and Dross could show those memories to anyone if needed.
And when the time comes, if it comes, they could divulge the existence of Abidan and their connection to the organization, that would also mean adding this world to the list of higher iterations who had the knowledge of Abidan and their purpose, but that was a problem for later.
Before everything else, they needed information on what the deal was with these different earths, the other planets in this system were uninhabitable for regular people. Where was this earth Tattletale spoke of?
[Why don't you ask him if he has internet? Or his phone? Maybe he'll lend it to you.]
No. Lindon replied and decided to give Armsmaster, and his clipped comments about the city, his full attention. The local cape was particularly forthright on how the rescue efforts would go.
Part of the reason they were walking to their destination instead of a quicker commute, Lindon realized, was so that the leader of the Brocton Bay Protectorate could wave and nod at civilians emerging from their shelters. A few times he stopped and reassured those distraught at the damage to the city – that things were under control and an Endbringer was dead. His words of encouragement often extended to capes and uniformed officers coordinating the relief efforts.
Lindon was subject to much attention, he just politely nodded along as Armsmaster comforted the civilians.
Leviathan's arrival and the battle had levelled the city's infrastructure to a crippling degree in Lindon's estimation, especially in some areas. The rebuild would take time. Still, there was an air of jubilation about things, despite the death and devastation, people had smiles on their faces and hope in their eyes. It was a monumental event, an Endbringer dying. Lindon could hear the chatter among the city's population gradually turning excited.
They reached their destination; a partially crumbling structure in one corner, but not in any danger of collapse. There was a hospital at the side with some activity outside, people moving in and out.
Armsmaster ushered Lindon inside through a lobby and then another hall to a conference room with some chairs and a screen at the head of the center table. Some drinks and snacks lay waiting on a tray.
"I'll be back shortly, with the rest. Make yourself comfortable. Have a drink, or cookies." Armsmaster said before pivoting and walking out of the room.
[Sure, have a drink Lindon why don't you? Not like we don't have anything else to do. Do you think there is a phone here? Also, is this where those teenage capes live? There were those pictures outside, I recognized a few.]
I guess so. Let's just wait. We need to decide now what we tell them. Lindon told Dross. He didn't want to speak out loud to him inside this building.
[Yerin is asking what's there to discuss? Just demand to see their leader and let them know we're here to help.] Dross played the messenger between them.
Lindon really couldn't decide what to do, he recalled his last conversation with Eithan before coming here. Leading a mission like this came with many responsibilities, making correct decisions principle among them.
[Mercy disagrees with Yerin.]
He'd expected that. In many ways Mercy's judgement would be sounder than both her teammates, since she had way more experience leading diplomatic missions. It wouldn't be a bad idea to follow her lead in this.
[You know what I think?] Dross whispered in a conspiratorial tone, [Mercy might just want you to be the one to decide. I wouldn't be surprised if she actually agrees with Yerin. We do want to get this mission done as quickly as possible, there are other worlds to save after all.]
No, we can't think like that. If we fail here we may not get the chance to save other worlds. Execution or imprisonment, that's what the Judges had told him during his swearing in as a Reaper. Both were much more likely than success in the long term.
Even if we unveil the truth, we should be careful. He insisted.
Caution called to him instinctually, the lack of information reinforcing his natural habits. Every other mission they had been to, they mostly knew what they needed to do, and those iterations had been under Abidan protection for a long time prior to their troubles. None of those things were true here.
But on the other hand, as Reapers they had a responsibility to rise above their instincts and make the soundest decision, regardless of the natural inclinations.
He juggled both options and more in his head.
Alright, how soon can they come here? Lindon finally asked Dross.
[Couple of minutes] Dross replied after a second.
Good. Here's what we'll do.
Lindon explained his plan as put his mask back in his void key, picked up a cookie and had a nibble; it was excessively sweet. He shrugged and ate it whole.
He ate another as he waited for everyone to arrive.
----
"Door."
Contessa walked through the portal into the offices of the PRT headquarters in Washington DC. Specifically, the Chief Director's office. She settled into the oversized chair and reviewed her Paths; all of them in this city were on course. Nothing unexpected.
In stark contrast to the recent complications that had originated in Brockton Bay. It remained to be seen if any ripple effects from those developments would disturb Cauldron's wider plans.
A minute later, the door opened and Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown walked in. She hesitated for a fraction of a second upon seeing Contessa in her chair, but otherwise stayed unperturbed.
She closed the door behind her, walked over to the mini-fridge tucked away in one corner of the office, and with measured precision, poured herself a drink. Contessa received a raised eyebrow in inquiry but she shook her head. No alcohol for her.
"So?" Costa-Brown, otherwise known as Alexandria, but only to a handful of people, broke the silence. "I know an Endbringer just died but I have a feeling you aren't here for that." She retrieved a clip from her impeccably tailored business suit and secured her long hair.
"Not far off the mark." Contessa replied. She waited for the other woman to sit opposite her.
"Our new friends then. If they are 'friends' that is." Costa-Brown said.
"What did you find out?" The woman in the black hat asked.
"Nothing. No records of anyone like them so far in PRT, Guild, Suits and other unofficial records. They do have a vaguely Asian look about them. The one I spoke to; her accent was ever so slightly off."
"And?"
"Our intelligence is incomplete, but no such capes in the Yangban or in other Asian nations have been seen, heroes or villains. Certainly not working together with such precision. They are either recent triggers with some Teeth like memory and skill inheritance or something we don't quite know."
"As expected. There is no mention of anyone remotely like them in Cauldron's records either. All case 53s and others we've dispersed in different worlds; no one was like them, with a powerset this strong or versatile."
"None of the explains why you are here." Costa-Brown said after a few moments.
Contessa adjusted her hat, "The paths in Brockton Bay are in a disarray." She admitted.
"How do you mean?" Costa-Brown asked, then her eyes widened, "they are your blindspots?"
This was the strange part. "No," Contessa replied. "Well, not exactly, I can path them in a way, but it keeps changing, it's like my agent is learning but still can't stick the landing."
She could almost see her counterpart's mind churning at the news behind those deep brown eyes, their unfocused gaze drifted towards the room's plain glass window and beyond.
Contessa let her think.
"They are not some new kind of Endbringers then. Or more Scion like beings. But I suspect weaker precogs would still be blind to them." Rebecca concluded.
"Yes." Contessa confirmed. "But," she raised a finger, "we need you to find out who they are. More importantly, they need to be on our side come the end. Convince them to join us, they'd be better off that way." So would we, she thought.
"I see." The Director of the Parahumans Response Team responded after a couple of heartbeats.
"Doctor Mother feels that if necessary, we might even bring them in, show them around."
"Doctor Mother huh? What about the rest of you?" Alexandria asked, letting amusement show.
Contessa just spread her hands.
"And I gather your power is no help in deciding when it becomes necessary?"
"Precisely. That's why we need more information. Ideally, we'll maximize their potential with the right path. Throw them at Scion at the right moment and what have you." Contessa laid out the bare bones plan.
"And assuming we have another Sleeper or Ash Beast situation at our hands, what is the consensus then?" Costa-Brown asked.
"That is unlikely. But on the off chance they turn out to be nuisances, we have the usual protocol." Divert them away from key strategic assets, keep them distracted and keep them alive.
"And hope that they're there at the end of the world." Alexandria finished her thought for her.
"Exactly, so they can be useful." Contessa smiled without humor at Alexandria before continuing, "now I know you have a meeting to attend, I'll let you get on with it."
She stood up. "Try not to fail Chief Director, we might have been gifted our silver bullet. We can't waste it." She turned, and said, "Door." Then walked through the portal next to her.
[Excellent work, only a few hours in and… Progress!]. Dross proclaimed loudly in Lindon's mind.
He looked up; the clouds were rapidly dispersing, leaving the sky a clear blue. Late afternoon sunlight cast long shadows and bathed the remains of Leviathan's corpse in fiery orange outline. Icy winds coming from the sea had already removed the stench of Endbringer's burnt flesh that had permeated the entire park during their battle.
Mercy was immediately away after the battle to check in on Yerin but Lindon had stayed to keep an eye on Eidolon. The cape was just standing there in a slumped manner, staring at the downed beast.
"How are the others?" He asked Dross, reached into his pocket and took out a potent elixir to recover some of his pure madra. Once empty, he put the vial back into the void key in his pocket.
[Good as new. Both are helping out at the hospital, some of the damage to its building was severe.] Dross replied.
Lindon involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief. It was stupid to worry about Yerin, he knew, but he couldn't help it. Both Yerin and Mercy registered vaguely in the distance to his senses, moving about with regular surges in power when they used a technique.
Then he remembered there were giant remains of an impromptu ice wall in the ocean. Those needed to be taken care of. He headed towards Eidolon, maybe the cape had some way of annihilating that too.
[Lindon.] Dross suddenly said.
Lindon sensed it acutely. On an impulse, he also reined in his spiritual senses somewhat—from being actively straining wider to a more passive sense focused nearby—the action dampened his ability to perceive Yerin, Mercy and the rest of the city, but heightened his awareness in close proximity.
A golden man in white clothes silently hovered high in the air, swaying cape trailing behind him. His long hair blew freely with the wind.
He was looking at them impassively.
There were louder cheers followed by audible murmurs at this arrival.
[He just appeared inside the city and flew here immediately.] Dross said, then mentioned that Mercy had seen him first and alerted everyone of this new development.
They all knew there was a very strong golden cape in this world, powerful enough to instill doubt in Endbringers and make them retreat by his mere arrival on a battlefield. Lindon and Dross had gathered that much after Consuming from Leviathan during the battle, and shared those findings with the rest.
But the demeanor of this man appeared strange, he just hung in the air, extremely still. His face blank, devoid of any emotions.
Eidolon too saw the new cape.
"Scion." He said in a whisper. "You are here. Well, he's dead." The cape continued in a croaking voice, waving a jerking hand at the Endbringer's remains.
Scion slowly drifted to ground and looked down at Eidolon who met Scion's eyes unflinchingly.
Lindon stayed quiet, observing.
The golden man radiated a sense of disgust mixed with sadness that would have overwhelmed Lindon had he been a child back in sacred valley, but it was curious how this cape with no mask and a blank expression had this emotional effect near him.
"If we try, we can kill the other Endbringers too, perhaps you can …" Eidolon spoke slowly, as if he wanted Scion to fully comprehend his words. But as he was speaking, Scion abruptly turned away. He drifted up a couple of feet and flew to the dead Endbringer's body.
Eidolon sighed and shook his head.
As he went by, Scion's eyes met Lindon's. He paused briefly, looking up and down at Lindon.
Lindon didn't think this man was normal, perhaps his powers had warped his personality somehow, like Subject One?
[He exudes depression, maybe that's his problem.] Dross offered. [Heartbroken? Seen too much tragedy? Lovesick? Too much travel? Tired?] He didn't stop.
Lindon ignored Dross's ramblings and gave Scion a brief nod, who didn't respond, just stared at him mutely before resuming his slow flight towards the corpse.
He looked at the scene of death for a few seconds before shooting up and away from them, leaving a golden trail glowing behind him.
Lindon kept his spiritual perception tighter than before. He'd only let go to exert his full authority and spiritual pressure on Leviathan, to make him submit. There was no need to flaunt it anymore.
Already they had revealed too many of their abilities in saving this city. Before they even had a clue of the whereabouts of the class two chaos fiend—or fiends—plaguing this iteration and the corruption they must have caused here. It was best to keep a lower profile as much as possible.
He didn't know what to make of Scion. They'd had a victory this day, the first of its kind if Lindon had understood anything, and the golden cape gave no response.
[Maybe he got jealous we took his kill away? Or that someone else might take his place as the strongest? Hey, I am only going by how you humans behave.] Dross said wryly.
Lindon chuckled.
But there was still work left to be done. He approached Eidolon and waited in silence for a few seconds as the cape appeared to be in deep thoughts, head down.
"Are you alright to continue?" Lindon asked when eventually Eidolon acknowledged him.
"Continue?" Eidolon said after a moment, his voice puzzled.
"Apologies, but the ice wall you built has served its purpose. We should clear it before any damage to the climate and such." Lindon explained, then asked Eidolon, "can you do to the… you know, the pieces of ice what you did to… him?" Lindon gestured at the torn corpse behind them, his question also serving to satisfy his own—and Dross's—curiosity.
Eidolon seemingly understood and stood up to his full height, head cocked to one side. Gradually he became stronger to Lindon's senses. That must have been one of his powers.
[I'd love to study this hidden energy system of this world, and have a session with him in particular. He appears more adept at it then anybody else we've seen.] Dross let out a sigh as he voiced his wish.
"Thank you for helping out in the battle, your contribution was invaluable." Eidolon said in a formal manner and extended a hand. Lindon clasped it, keeping his Dreadgod arm's impulses in check. "I'm sure we could use your help in the coming Endbringer fights. You and your… team." Eidolon finished a little awkwardly and let go of the handshake.
Lindon was about to suggest that they should leave right away for the clean up but Eidolon spoke again. "Oh, and I'll take care of the ice, don't worry about it. My doing, so I'll fix it."
"Are you sure? Two can do it faster." Lindon offered.
"No no, I insist."
That annoyed Dross. [What is up with this guy? First he wants to make the kill himself then he rejects our help with a simple task. Does he want to be the only hero or something? Doesn't he realize we've helped him all the way today.]
Maybe he does that's why.
Dross conveyed strong disapproval.
Lindon could empathize. His Presence only wanted to study Eidolon and his powers more.
Meanwhile the cape floated up and flew away.
There'll be time enough for research. He reassured his Presence.
Dross already had a lot of data on Vista and the other capes they'd fought with but they understandably had no real information on the development of powers in this world and its 'sacred arts'.
If there were to be any promising candidates they would take under their wings, this was something they needed to understand.
He feet took him took him to the Endbringer's body, the material it was made from was extraordinary. Lindon hadn't seen anything like it before, at least not on an isolated world like this. The matter behaved like flesh but he knew from experience it was exceedingly strong and hyperdense.
He didn't need to take anymore from the body though. One of his city-sized void keys was filled almost to the brim with what he had Consumed from the Endbringer. Stupid amounts of strange matter, the water from Leviathan's echo, his flesh, all consolidated together in the void key, far more than was physically possible to take from just a building sized monster. The big question was how? Where did it all come from? Were the Endbringers connected to other dimensions for their healing?
His opened that void key and extended his senses inside.
During their training, Eithan had showed them a discarded fragment of an iteration that had been corrupted, before he'd removed it from existence.
The flavor of this Consumed matter felt similar to that; chaotic and faintly resonating with the Void.
Lindon's Soul Forge was sealed along with his other weapons but this substance would be useful there. Corrupt or not, there was a metaphysical weight to it, as if it was more than it seemed, part of something bigger perhaps.
The Endbringers definitely had some connection to the chaos fiend they were here to investigate and potentially confront.
That was another problem, everything was really murky in this iteration. As an Archlord his ability to see fate was limited in the first place, this world with its fraying connection to the Way reduced that to nothing.
He asked Dross. Has this ruse as a new hero team run its course? Should we tell whoever's in charge here at least a version of truth? We might get some answers about the situation. What do Yerin and Mercy say?
Dross relayed his message and said, [Tattletale asked if you were from another earth, which begs the question; are there multiple earths here? We know the locals call this planet earth. How does that work? We only know of one planet in this iteration where the fiend is active. What is going on here?] Dross let out a frustrated grunt.
[I really need to get a hold of, what did the sergeant call it? Yes, the internet.] He said.
Lindon did remember the girl asking her that and he had only smiled in response before jumping off of that rooftop. Perhaps that could be an explanation, three people come from another "earth" to save this one. Perhaps not.
But save from what? What appearance did the fiend take? Where was it? That's what they needed to find out.
[Heads up, company inbound.] Dross let him know.
Lindon continued his idle inspection of the corpse, his thoughts a whirlwind.
Very soon he was being hailed by a tall cape in plates of blue armor carrying a halberd in one hand.
"You there. Lindon, right?" he asked, coming closer.
He was accompanied by a few more capes, some adults, others younger. Most of them went to Leviathan's lifeless form, with a look of awe in their eyes and half obscured faces, those that were visible anyway.
Some few approached Lindon, among them was the girl Vista. Lindon replied to the tall man with a simple "Yes," and a nod. Then stepped closer to Vista and offered his hand, "an honor fighting alongside you, young uh... lady. You did well."
Vista hesitated then stood a little taller and shook his hand. "Well, it was a team effort… you did well too." she said.
"Armsmaster." The halberd guy introduced himself. "This is Miss Militia and you've met Legend." He introduced the other two accompanying him.
Lindon nodded to the woman who had a face mask most similar to his, with a gun strapped to her belt. He'd already met Legend who now carried a burn wound on his shoulder.
[Grazed by a lightning strike.] Dross said.
Legend spoke this time, voice raised and addressing all those nearby, "This is a day for celebration! Yes, we lost many defending this city and we will mourn them, but we've also achieved something unprecedented. Leviathan is dead." Many of the capes roared in triumph.
He paused before continuing, and pointed a Lindon, "I'd say you and your team played an important role in that, so from the Protectorate, accept our gratitude." Lindon just shook his head at that.
Armsmaster shifted his halberd from one hand to another and said, "Since the truce will be in effect for a couple more days, we'd prefer if you could come to the PRT offices for a debrief?" The cape left the unsaid question hanging.
[What truce?] Dross asked. Yes, what was this truce? Was this place also at war? Armsmaster's invitation only raised more questions for Lindon.
Keep both of them updated. Lindon told Dross. Let's see what this PRT is and how it works.
"Sure, but what about the, you know, civilians and the rest? So much is destroyed." Lindon inquired.
Legend answered his question. "Our teams are taking care of that. And I'm sure the government will allocate additional resources for the rehabilitation of the civilians. An Endbringer is dead after all."
"Let's get you to the HQ." Armsmaster said.
Lindon invited the cape to go first with a gesture. "Lead the way."
With a parting nod to the other capes, they left. Lindon walked beside Armsmaster as they moved through the city towards their destination. He asked sporadic questions about Brockton Bay and then half-listened to the cape escorting him.
He had another discussion going on too in his mind, Yerin was in favor or just laying out the truth and dealing with whatever consequences come their way. Mercy preferred a more circumspect approach, more in line with what Lindon had suggested; posing as capes from another earth. Although he himself didn't fully believe in that idea.
There were parallels; their native 'earth' or planet could be Cradle, and the backstories—should they need them—pretty much the truth. The Dreadgods could be their versions of Endbringers and Dross could show those memories to anyone if needed.
And when the time comes, if it comes, they could divulge the existence of Abidan and their connection to the organization, that would also mean adding this world to the list of higher iterations who had the knowledge of Abidan and their purpose, but that was a problem for later.
Before everything else, they needed information on what the deal was with these different earths, the other planets in this system were uninhabitable for regular people. Where was this earth Tattletale spoke of?
[Why don't you ask him if he has internet? Or his phone? Maybe he'll lend it to you.]
No. Lindon replied and decided to give Armsmaster, and his clipped comments about the city, his full attention. The local cape was particularly forthright on how the rescue efforts would go.
Part of the reason they were walking to their destination instead of a quicker commute, Lindon realized, was so that the leader of the Brocton Bay Protectorate could wave and nod at civilians emerging from their shelters. A few times he stopped and reassured those distraught at the damage to the city – that things were under control and an Endbringer was dead. His words of encouragement often extended to capes and uniformed officers coordinating the relief efforts.
Lindon was subject to much attention, he just politely nodded along as Armsmaster comforted the civilians.
Leviathan's arrival and the battle had levelled the city's infrastructure to a crippling degree in Lindon's estimation, especially in some areas. The rebuild would take time. Still, there was an air of jubilation about things, despite the death and devastation, people had smiles on their faces and hope in their eyes. It was a monumental event, an Endbringer dying. Lindon could hear the chatter among the city's population gradually turning excited.
They reached their destination; a partially crumbling structure in one corner, but not in any danger of collapse. There was a hospital at the side with some activity outside, people moving in and out.
Armsmaster ushered Lindon inside through a lobby and then another hall to a conference room with some chairs and a screen at the head of the center table. Some drinks and snacks lay waiting on a tray.
"I'll be back shortly, with the rest. Make yourself comfortable. Have a drink, or cookies." Armsmaster said before pivoting and walking out of the room.
[Sure, have a drink Lindon why don't you? Not like we don't have anything else to do. Do you think there is a phone here? Also, is this where those teenage capes live? There were those pictures outside, I recognized a few.]
I guess so. Let's just wait. We need to decide now what we tell them. Lindon told Dross. He didn't want to speak out loud to him inside this building.
[Yerin is asking what's there to discuss? Just demand to see their leader and let them know we're here to help.] Dross played the messenger between them.
Lindon really couldn't decide what to do, he recalled his last conversation with Eithan before coming here. Leading a mission like this came with many responsibilities, making correct decisions principle among them.
[Mercy disagrees with Yerin.]
He'd expected that. In many ways Mercy's judgement would be sounder than both her teammates, since she had way more experience leading diplomatic missions. It wouldn't be a bad idea to follow her lead in this.
[You know what I think?] Dross whispered in a conspiratorial tone, [Mercy might just want you to be the one to decide. I wouldn't be surprised if she actually agrees with Yerin. We do want to get this mission done as quickly as possible, there are other worlds to save after all.]
No, we can't think like that. If we fail here we may not get the chance to save other worlds. Execution or imprisonment, that's what the Judges had told him during his swearing in as a Reaper. Both were much more likely than success in the long term.
Even if we unveil the truth, we should be careful. He insisted.
Caution called to him instinctually, the lack of information reinforcing his natural habits. Every other mission they had been to, they mostly knew what they needed to do, and those iterations had been under Abidan protection for a long time prior to their troubles. None of those things were true here.
But on the other hand, as Reapers they had a responsibility to rise above their instincts and make the soundest decision, regardless of the natural inclinations.
He juggled both options and more in his head.
Alright, how soon can they come here? Lindon finally asked Dross.
[Couple of minutes] Dross replied after a second.
Good. Here's what we'll do.
Lindon explained his plan as put his mask back in his void key, picked up a cookie and had a nibble; it was excessively sweet. He shrugged and ate it whole.
He ate another as he waited for everyone to arrive.
----
"Door."
Contessa walked through the portal into the offices of the PRT headquarters in Washington DC. Specifically, the Chief Director's office. She settled into the oversized chair and reviewed her Paths; all of them in this city were on course. Nothing unexpected.
In stark contrast to the recent complications that had originated in Brockton Bay. It remained to be seen if any ripple effects from those developments would disturb Cauldron's wider plans.
A minute later, the door opened and Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown walked in. She hesitated for a fraction of a second upon seeing Contessa in her chair, but otherwise stayed unperturbed.
She closed the door behind her, walked over to the mini-fridge tucked away in one corner of the office, and with measured precision, poured herself a drink. Contessa received a raised eyebrow in inquiry but she shook her head. No alcohol for her.
"So?" Costa-Brown, otherwise known as Alexandria, but only to a handful of people, broke the silence. "I know an Endbringer just died but I have a feeling you aren't here for that." She retrieved a clip from her impeccably tailored business suit and secured her long hair.
"Not far off the mark." Contessa replied. She waited for the other woman to sit opposite her.
"Our new friends then. If they are 'friends' that is." Costa-Brown said.
"What did you find out?" The woman in the black hat asked.
"Nothing. No records of anyone like them so far in PRT, Guild, Suits and other unofficial records. They do have a vaguely Asian look about them. The one I spoke to; her accent was ever so slightly off."
"And?"
"Our intelligence is incomplete, but no such capes in the Yangban or in other Asian nations have been seen, heroes or villains. Certainly not working together with such precision. They are either recent triggers with some Teeth like memory and skill inheritance or something we don't quite know."
"As expected. There is no mention of anyone remotely like them in Cauldron's records either. All case 53s and others we've dispersed in different worlds; no one was like them, with a powerset this strong or versatile."
"None of the explains why you are here." Costa-Brown said after a few moments.
Contessa adjusted her hat, "The paths in Brockton Bay are in a disarray." She admitted.
"How do you mean?" Costa-Brown asked, then her eyes widened, "they are your blindspots?"
This was the strange part. "No," Contessa replied. "Well, not exactly, I can path them in a way, but it keeps changing, it's like my agent is learning but still can't stick the landing."
She could almost see her counterpart's mind churning at the news behind those deep brown eyes, their unfocused gaze drifted towards the room's plain glass window and beyond.
Contessa let her think.
"They are not some new kind of Endbringers then. Or more Scion like beings. But I suspect weaker precogs would still be blind to them." Rebecca concluded.
"Yes." Contessa confirmed. "But," she raised a finger, "we need you to find out who they are. More importantly, they need to be on our side come the end. Convince them to join us, they'd be better off that way." So would we, she thought.
"I see." The Director of the Parahumans Response Team responded after a couple of heartbeats.
"Doctor Mother feels that if necessary, we might even bring them in, show them around."
"Doctor Mother huh? What about the rest of you?" Alexandria asked, letting amusement show.
Contessa just spread her hands.
"And I gather your power is no help in deciding when it becomes necessary?"
"Precisely. That's why we need more information. Ideally, we'll maximize their potential with the right path. Throw them at Scion at the right moment and what have you." Contessa laid out the bare bones plan.
"And assuming we have another Sleeper or Ash Beast situation at our hands, what is the consensus then?" Costa-Brown asked.
"That is unlikely. But on the off chance they turn out to be nuisances, we have the usual protocol." Divert them away from key strategic assets, keep them distracted and keep them alive.
"And hope that they're there at the end of the world." Alexandria finished her thought for her.
"Exactly, so they can be useful." Contessa smiled without humor at Alexandria before continuing, "now I know you have a meeting to attend, I'll let you get on with it."
She stood up. "Try not to fail Chief Director, we might have been gifted our silver bullet. We can't waste it." She turned, and said, "Door." Then walked through the portal next to her.
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I wasn't quite sure if shards learn and assimilate that learning on the job, or if they only do that properly after a cycle. But I went with the first explanation anyway as it makes for a more interesting story imo.
They can learn fairly quickly, their perspective is just so detached from human that its hard to tell what they are actually learning though, nevermind the restrictions hiding what is a true improvement and what is a relaxation on nerfs
11. Trust, Truth and Tensions
Mercy mumbled a thanks to the PRT staffer who opened the door before stepping aside for her. A couple minutes, as she'd told Lindon, had turned into twenty and then more as she had worked alongside the rescue teams to extract civilians from two separate shelters which had been hit by lightning strikes.
Too many had been injured or stuck under the rubble with an unfortunate few dead.
Now she was here. Her eyes sought Lindon and Yerin first, who sat together at one end of the center table. Yerin was busy eating something.
Both their masks were off, that gave her a clear indication as to how Lindon had decided to move forward.
[You are not hungry, are you?] Suu asked her.
Doesn't matter, I absolutely want to eat. Exotic delicacies even more so. Mercy could perform at her peak for months without eating anything, but where was the fun in that.
First things first though. She unwrapped her mask and made a motion to stuff it into her pocket, actually sending it to her soul space.
All the while her eyes tracked every single person in the room; either sitting or standing. Some she had seen before during the battle, others were new and in civilian garb. A few faces were visible on a screen at one end of the room, presumably joining the meeting remotely waiting for her. She grimaced internally.
Enough dilly dallying.
"Hi, I am Mercy." She waved to the room. "Sorry if I'm late. There was an emergency." She padded to an empty chair next to Yerin and sat down.
"Are we done with introductions? I didn't miss anything did I?" In a quieter voice than before, she asked Yerin who mouthed a 'no' before drinking from a glass of water.
Mercy was relieved to hear that. Already she had seen the suspicion in some people's eyes at the strength she had displayed and the shadow-based techniques, even with her spiritual pressure completely bound. A good first impression in this meeting would smooth their mission, it might also make it everything that was about to be revealed about the three "interlopers" more digestible. She grabbed a cookie from the plate for herself.
"Alright, I believe we can begin. Yes?" A middle-aged woman in what appeared to be formal business clothing, started the meeting. She was seated at the other end of the table from them with a rather stern expression.
"Wait," Mercy said with a mouthful, she quickly swallowed the contents. "I've just told you my name, this is Yerin, and him, Lindon." She gestured at each of her companions. "Will you guys not… uh, not introduce yourself?" She asked with raised eyebrows, moving her head from side to side, looking at everyone.
"Suppose we don't know any of you." Yerin helped her out.
"That's correct, just let us know, your names and anything else that's important." Mercy suggested.
The windowless room had felt small she had first come in, with more people inside than chairs and an air of uncertainty on a day like this, a little get-to-know chat would relax everyone.
They had to tolerate a few grumbles at first but as the round of introductions went on the atmosphere of the room gradually improved, a few capes started quiet conversations among them, some dug into their drinks and snacks. That was better.
From what she had seen since the end of the battle, the people of this world would take time to come to term with this new reality and a dead Endbringer. It was simultaneously too unbelievable – several civilians and capes had outright refused to believe Leviathan was dead – and also cast a heavy shadow on what had gone on before, the countless lives lost and cities destroyed as she had come to know.
A new world promised much to the general public, but it also rekindled for them painful memories of what had gone on before.
It took several minutes as over a dozen people in the room and those on the screen gave their names, and in some cases their official ranks first.
Finally, Mercy shared her full name, so did Lindon and Yerin, and Mercy gave a sincere little dip of the head to everyone, "Thank you all. Over to you Director."
Emily Piggot restarted the formal proceedings, "Thank you Akura Mercy. To be clear, this was originally meant to be a simple debrief session, with far fewer personnel, to gather any findings we could from capes who fought Leviathan closely, and killed him." Before she could say anything else some people started drumming the table it, in applause. Others joined in with some clapping and light cheering.
The woman waited for the noise to die down, "Yes, Leviathan is dead, something for which I congratulate all capes and non-capes, especially those who participated in the battle." She paused, her eyes scanning the faces of everyone in the room.
"As I said, we called this meeting initially to collect any information useful for future Endbringer attacks." A brief silence ensued.
"However, Lindon here," Piggot pointed at him, "requested the presence of the PRT and Protectorate leadership, the people in charge, for matters pertaining to the 'safety of the world' as he put it. Therefore, that's what we're here to discuss and ascertain the truth of."
She took a breath, gave the big screen a sidelong glance, and resumed her speech. "Make no mistake, Mr. Lindon, the only reason you have been offered this courtesy is because you and your team played a pivotal role in Leviathan's death and in the protection of this city. And because according to our records you have no past as a Villain or as a threat to the general public. But if this turns out to be you wasting our time, you wouldn't like the consequences."
She finished, fixed Lindon with an icy glare and picked up her glass of water.
Lindon sat up in his seat and shared a brief look with Yerin and Mercy. She smiled at him with an encouraging nod, internally urging him to smile. He got the point as his natural scowl faded away into a mild frown.
Lindon cleared his throat, then began, "Apologies, we aren't here to waste your time or ours. What we have to say is important, it's also extremely urgent, and we appreciate that you have arranged for this assembly in such a short time."
"Yes, awfully efficient of you." Yerin interjected.
Mercy kicked her leg, and gave a 'come on' expression when Yerin looked back with a grin.
Lindon spoke again. "The simple truth is that we're not from your world."
That didn't produce as big of a reaction as she'd thought it would. She had a guess why.
Lindon did receive multiple questions, asked one after the other.
"What do you mean?" Piggot responded flatly.
"Aleph?" A cape said in an inquiring voice, leaning back into his seat, Armsmaster.
"What?" Another cape said at the same time, Myrddin.
"What is the meaning of this? This is why I was against giving these people special treatment." That offended voice came from the speakers, one of the PRT directors from another city.
Mercy asked her Presence to track everyone's reactions as Lindon disclosed the information. It might inform how to approach anyone after the meeting if needed.
Lindon raised his hand to quieten the crowd.
"I'll get to where the three of us are from, but firstly, most importantly, and the reason we came here to your world, is that it's under attack." That didn't elicit any reaction, understandably so.
"No, I don't necessarily mean under attack from the Endbringers. On their own, they are probably too weak to be a world ending threat."
Some in the room couldn't hide their incredulity.
"Are you serious… is he serious?" A woman on the screen was offended, Wilkins. These PRT directors were an uppity bunch.
She kept going, "what's going on Director? Why are we wasting our time here?" Mercy felt disappointed at some of these PRT official being so confident in their own ignorance.
Lindon didn't let Wilkins continue her rant either, "A world like yours can co-exist with calamities like giant monsters," he repeated. "It can, just treat them like unstoppable natural disasters and rebuild after them." He said forcefully. "Trust me, I come from a place like that, that's what we used to do. Besides, you have powerful heroes and you just killed one of those monstrosities today."
Mercy was surprised Lindon referenced the Dreadgods, but it was alright by her.
"But that's the point, these Endbringers are not on their own, they are connected to something bigger, something far more threatening." He paused for moment, eyes flickering from face to face. They were at least listening now, or giving him the chance to complete his thought before interrupting.
"The real danger to your world is what we call a chaos fiend. More specifically, a class two chaos fiend that has made your world a target, as far as we can understand. For decades or centuries, we're not sure."
He said the next part slowly, "However, if everything continues like this, if the fiend is allowed to operate freely, like it has been, then very soon, in a few years, possibly decades, this world is going to end."
"The good thing is we're here. That gives you more than a just snowball's chance in hell." Yerin chimed in.
Mercy could sense disbelief and suspicion in the room. It was evident in the expressions of civilians and in the postures of the capes with faces hidden behind their masks.
"A bigger threat than the Endbringers? What a day to make an absurd claim like that." A PRT director expressed his disbelief through the screen, although not as loudly.
Director Piggot spoke too, her tone steeped in doubt. "I'm sorry but all this… it just sounds ridiculous, especially with no evidence. Do you have any proof for your claims?"
Well, it was always going to come down to this; how should the Reapers convince a native population that they're there to help, instead of the opposite? Mercy remembered Eithan grilling them on that subject in their 'diplomatic' training as Reapers.
[These people are worn-out Mercy. Too many of them became kind of dismayed when Lindon talked about the fiend and the end of the world.] Suu told her.
I suspect we just confirmed their fears. Mercy though, empathizing.
[The more skeptical ones have been louder but they definitely are in a minority.] Suu said.
They need some hope in their lives than they got today. She admitted to Suu. And that is also a part of our job, she thought to herself.
Lindon nodded to Piggot in reply. "I understand why you'd be so concerned," he said, "we made a decision to tell the truth and that's what we'll do. I'll show you our findings and the threat assessments, how we came to those and everything."
But the woman in charge, Costa-Brown, broke her silence to ask a question of her own.
"When you say you are not from this world, what does that mean exactly? Elaborate. Where exactly are you from? How did you come here? And you keep using the word 'we'. Who's that? You three or someone else too?" Her voice was frosty, her demeanor cold.
Lindon scratched his head, then looked at Mercy, was he inviting her to present this part?
[Yes] Suu confirmed.
Mercy stood up.
"My friend gave you the um…, let's just call it, a bit of bad news," she said. "Some of you may be wondering who else we've shared this with. Let me reassure you, we've kept it under wraps in the few hours we've been here." She smiled.
"We actually do realize how panic inducing it can be to tell the general public their world is shortly ending. Trust me, we have experience with that. Which is why we requested only your top brass."
She tucked an errant hair strand behind her ear, "you can decide if this information is worth publicizing. I personally would advise against that. When you have a presentable solution, maybe then, but that's a debate for later."
She nodded at Lindon, ordered her thoughts, then began the reveal. "Yours is an isolated world like many others; as in no contact with another civilization. So it will certainly come as a surprise to you that there are other habitable worlds out there."
[Interest level higher, keep going.] Suu told her.
"Planets, planet sized ships, fortresses and so much more. We are from one such world; it's like yours, a little bigger, a little different but with human populations."
A projection half the size of the table sprang up in the center of the room, causing a couple of people to lean back in their chairs and swear. It showed images of Mount Samara, Serpent's Grave, Moon's Grave and Ninecloud city among others.
"Our planet is called 'Cradle'. And we are part of an organization that has countless planets under its protection; the Abidan."
The projection now displayed Abidan figures in their white armor, performing different tasks. And then the imageries of the eight Judges appeared consecutively alongside their home worlds and divisions.
"More accurately, we are members of the Reaper division of Abidan." Visuals of Grave appeared, an unimpressive rock floating in space.
Not the best of images to convince a native population of the Reapers' heroics. But Dross redeemed himself by showing a moving projection of Eithan in his seamless black armor.
He was hovering outside Grave, with his dreadful Scythe in one hand, and running the other hand through his hair while flashing a glorious smile, very un-Ozriel like.
"Don't think less of him because of that dimwit smile; that is our boss. He saved our world once." Yerin said. "Happened to be his own too," she added gently.
The projection showed Daruman the Mad King unleashing his apocalyptic attack and Ozriel blocking it on his palm.
The audience were rapt now, their eyes intense. Lindon and Dross were undeniably enhancing the projections with Dross' dream madra and Lindon's authority. The projections felt more real than they should have.
"Our job is to go into dying worlds and save them from the inside, from whatever is interfering with the fate of the world, native or alien, and threatening its natural existence." Mercy continued.
Several more projections and moving images appeared; of them fighting monsters in other worlds, bringing an end to conflicts, convincing the natives to compromises for the safety of their world. The images might have appeared nonsensical to quite a few of the attendees but it was enough to give a general feeling of the scope Reapers operated within.
"Any questions?" She asked.
Yerin looked at her in mock disappointment, likely anticipating too many questions at once.
"Is everyone in your Abidan a cape?" A PRT civilian, Calvert, asked.
That was an odd question to start with. "Depends what you mean by cape," she replied, "we all have some ability to bend the laws of reality to our will, enough strength and power, but there's a lot more elements too." That was enough of an answer to that question.
"So you're not parahumans?" Someone else asked, through the speakers. Not a civilian, but the cape, Dragon.
"I'm not sure, that depends on your definition of parahuman I guess. We're not familiar with your energy system yet so I can't say."
That threw them off for some reason. She looked around for other questions, donning an inviting smile.
Armsmaster rapped on the table twice. "I'd love to believe that we've received some unexpected help, that we are not alone in this universe, but all this," he waved his hand at the projection, "it's just some images, possibly illusions and stories. Do you have any definitive proof you are what you claim to be? There are countless worlds? I find that hard to believe. Even if I'm quite sure you believe your own words."
"That's the thing about belief; for some of you, short of experiencing an alien world for yourself, you'd never believe it exists. So naturally there's a measure of trust you'd have to extend to us. If we are to work together to save your world, that is." Mercy replied to the no-nonsense cape.
"However," she fished in her pocket void key and produced a minor spirit-fruit, "here is something for you and your scientists to analyze." The spirit-fruit, an apple-sized orb, glowed with an inner fire in its orange-maroon skin.
[Its scent and taste are known to evoke feelings of happiness; did you know that? Good choice.] Suu gave his approval.
She pushed at it with her will and it slowly floated towards Armsmaster, coming to a stop in front of him. "This is a native fruit from our world. It's safe; clear of any microorganisms that might be dangerous to you. Nothing like this exists here or in any other world. Feel free to test it or use it any way you like."
Armsmaster held on to the spirit-fruit carefully. Many others around the table leaned forward to get a better view of the spirit-fruit.
Mercy preempted before more questions, "Look, asking for too many details about Abidan isn't very useful at the moment. In due time, sure. But we are dealing with more urgent matters as Lindon said. So best we focus on that."
Legend asked a question this time.
"How come you are the ones saving entire worlds? With all due respect, you are strong but not excessively so. I'd say compared to Scion…" he gave his hand a wiggle and his head a little shake but didn't complete his sentence. What he'd implied was enough. Scion was that powerful? Huh. Why did he sit out the fight then?
"Lindon, you said earlier that Endbringers aren't strong enough to be world ending threats on their own. That sounds ludicrous to me, but let's say I trust you on that. Even then, the three of you, the triumvirate, other big hitters, all of us barely subdued and killed an Endbringer. If the remaining Endbringers attacked at the same time, we'd be, pardon my language, but we'd be screwed. How do you explain that? Unless you were in some way holding back which I'd doubt." Legend met each of their eyes one by one.
He had a point. How to approach this subject? She shared a look with Lindon before letting him speak.
"We have enough in our tank, and you are right, we were holding back just a little." Lindon smiled at Legend. "Besides, you underrate yourself, and strength of the people here. We are discussing all this with you because we can't be very efficient without cooperating with the locals."
He seemed to debate something with himself for a couple of seconds, with Dross most likely, then said, "Another thing, we were hoping to give the local heroes some pointers, some help, on how to improve their skillsets you know. You saw what Vista did, if more capes can maximize their talents, you'd be collectively stronger."
That was an interesting change to the plans and a little misleading, dangling something like that in front of them. Vista's improved performance was a unique phenomenon because of Dross.
[Maybe that's what he is planning, making Presences for the promising heroes.] Suu guessed.
Some capes did appear interested at that offer though.
Lindon nodded his thanks to Mercy and stood, while she sat.
"Let me tell you why the Abidan were alarmed and sent us to this world."
Lindon gestured at the projection, it grew brighter and now showed Earth. The blue green planet framed in the vast backdrop of emptiness and distant stars.
"Your planet is a few billion years old, give or take. Considering your solar system, it should naturally exist for roughly the same amount of time more. Reduce that by a magnitude of ten or hundred if you want, you know for unforeseen human impact. Even so, the planet should naturally exist for a few thousand years at least, staying habitable. That's the natural order… it should be the natural order of things."
He glanced at Yerin, she gave him a thumbs up. His eyes smiled before he shifted his attention back to the room.
"But the Abidan division whose job is to see possibilities in fate, every possibility, infinite… they say there is a 99.99% chance that you only have a few decades left at best." The planet in the projection blew up in an explosion, leaving thousands of fragments drifting in space.
Lindon hesitated for a heartbeat.
"Admittedly, they came to this conclusion without knowing what was really happening in this world. Mainly for two reason."
He held up two fingers for emphasis.
"First, because the imprint of chaos on this world is too deep, its fate is too obscured. That's basically how we knew there was a fiend entrenched here. And truthfully, it's also why we could be a little inaccurate about the time frames, regarding the fiend's activity or the time available to us."
He lowered one finger, "Secondly, Abidan only came to know about the existence of your world a year or so ago per your time. If they had more time, maybe we could've had a solution ready, or we'd come sooner in case you were wondering why now. But unfortunately, that's not what happened."
He took a deep breath. It was hard to tell if anyone else was even breathing. Lindon finally had their full attention.
"The three of us are pretty much clueless about your world's history; we only arrived this morning. But you have a better grasp of things. Has anything happened in the last few decades that was monumental and extraordinary...? Is there a trend of such events? That's where we would start our investigation into the fiend."
A cape in silver-gold armor shuffled forward in his seat, Chevalier, that was his name. "Part of me thinks you're making a fool out of all of us, but the other part wants to believe you." He sounded apprehensive. Then waved his hand, "Anyway, you've referenced a chaos fiend. What's that? How do you identify one? what does it look like? Have you seen one for yourself?" He fired off a series of questions, tone flat to make a point. He carried on in a softer voice. "You've shared no information on that. If we're to help you as you say, we need something more than just words." He folded his hands and reclined in his chair.
[Don't you prefer dealing with forward thinking people like him? And not cynics who don't want to see past the status quo? They are statistically much better partners too, in most endeavors, across all words.] Suu said to her.
Lindon pursed his lips, "I don't know any specifics about this fiend, my apologies. But I can show you the last class two chaos fiend I fought."
Mercy grimaced at what was to come. She wanted to avert her eyes but that would send the wrong message if anyone saw her.
"Brace yourselves." Lindon warned, to no avail.
Cha'tur'niak, Devourer of Dimensions, appeared on Dross' projection, the country sized beast floated above a planet. Even an old moving image of this abomination felt wrong, like chaos turned into squirming flesh. Nonsensical, illogical, exuding horror.
Mercy didn't want to look at it more than she had to, half fearing it would actually hurt her sense of aesthetics. It was the epitome of ugliness.
A loud "What the fuck?" was exclaimed by no less than half a dozen people in the room at that image. Some of them were fascinated by it, most civilians stared elsewhere, and took hasty peeks from time to time.
A quiet chuckle escaped Mercy's lips at their reaction. Yerin's laugh was much louder.
"These are just old pictures. You should have seen his face when he came back from that fight, green as spring grass." She said with a guffaw, thumping Lindon on the back.
Nobody else laughed with her.
"You see." Lindon said with conviction, bringing the attention to himself, "You can feel that these things are an aberration." He pointed to the projection which shut down.
"That beast devoured reality for sustenance—or for pleasure, honestly I still don't know—leaving the humans for last. Planet after planet, dimension after dimension. Now your world faces a similar threat, or worse." He paused for effect.
"Normally when a world gets exposed to chaos or chaos fiends, strange things start to happen; time and space randomly glitch, laws of nature behave oddly, chaotic beasts arise." He let the suggestion land, before concluding, "the anomalies never lessen, they only ever intensify until, finally, the fiend shows itself, or takes action. Then it's too late, unless a miracle happens."
Hushed discussions rippled through the gathering after initial silence. Lindon remined standing with hands clasped behind his back.
A few moments later Myrddin stepped forward, he'd been standing at back, leaning against the wall. "There is no such fiend here," he said. "None of us have seen anything like that. The biggest threat we know of are Endbringers. A distant second would be other S-class threats and then various villain groups, at least here in North America and Europe."
That got a lot of nods and murmurs in agreement.
What would North America and Europe be Suu? Mercy asked her Presence.
[Ninety six percent chance those are nations or continents.] Suu confirmed her guess.
Myrddin continued, "You should see the majority of rest of the world, it's like a jungle; might makes right and all the rest. That's the trajectory of last few decades for many regions that I can think of, things getting worse, Endbringers and their attacks, increasing number of villa…."
"What is it that you wish to achieve by telling us all of this Mr. Lindon?"
The chief director cut off Myrddin, whose grip on his staff tightened. Apparently, he wasn't used to being interrupted in this manner.
"You've painted an ugly picture for us, told us rosy stories, true or false. You've offered us a fruit to examine. But you've presented no solutions." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Have you any idea how to move forward? You say you have experience saving worlds, well, what do you suggest we do differently?"
She had made a valid argument which meant her question garnered audible support. It wasn't too difficult to address either way but Mercy would have preferred better first impressions. That's why she had suggested they acquire more knowledge about this world before revealing their mission.
"I'll come to that. But may I ask a question of my own?" Lindon said, "We only know of this one planet in this sector, certainly the only one where a fiend is active. But I've heard mentions of different earths. What's that about?"
His query raised some eyebrows.
"Are you asking about Aleph?" One of the capes asked.
Mercy's interest shot up, she had heard that before.
She spoke first, "What is Aleph? He also said this word earlier." She pointed at Armsmaster.
Narwhal spoke for the first time, that woman was striking to say the least. She got into a brief history of Earth Aleph, Earth Bet and other possible Earths they had no access to since someone called Haywire who had opened those portals had died.
"Are you hearing this?" Mercy said quietly to Yerin and Lindon who was now sitting. "That's not… not how we know iterations to function."
Lindon nodded, listening intently to the 'Guild' cape. Yerin was in deep thought too, or in conversation with her Presence.
Narwhal finished her explanation.
The three of them remained silent for several heartbeats.
"So they're like branches of fate, but they actually exist here?" Lindon said at last what they were all thinking. "That's fascinating".
"Pardon?" Narwhal said, but Lindon just raised his hands apologetically. "Oh, I was just thinking out loud."
Mercy's mind was bubbling with questions of her own but she let Lindon take the lead. He had stopped, head tilted to one side, no doubt Dross was going crazy in his head.
Suu wasn't any better, he would've been itching for a discussion with her too if she hadn't asked him to figure it out silently.
"There must be no end to them," Lindon said quietly, then looked up, voice firm now, "but I digress. The important thing is, if there's another planet or more, perhaps the fiend is operating from there. We'll definitely need to explore these realities somehow."
Before anyone could object Lindon continued, further raising his voice, "We understand the need for discretion, don't worry. If you've deliberately not contacted your counterpart 'earths' I can understand why. That's not the only course of action we have but it's worth investigating."
Mercy saw a fleeting smile disappear from chief director's face which frankly could've also been just the screen glitching. It was good news if she liked the plan. The PRT was an organized force, government sponsored and it had capes affiliated with it, with their backing this mission would have more chances of success.
"Hold on a second," a local PRT civilian spoke, "this is radical! I don't think you realize the scope of what you are proposing. Accessing different worlds? There are so many ways this could fail. I mean even the Aleph people don't like us very much and we are presumably very similar to them. Who's to say our interference will be welcome in different earths, if it's even possible in the first place. It could open a new pandora's box if villains and S-class threats attempt to take advantage of it."
Yerin hadn't said much but this time she replied first, pointing at Lindon, "He just said 'discreet' didn't he? And 'investigate'. I'm not too familiar with your language but I'd wager that means doing things quietly."
Miss Militia offered an explanation. "You're not wrong but I kind of understand deputy director's concerns. We've had a bit of a leak situation going on." Yerin just shrugged in response.
Mercy tried to approach the discussion a different way, "Look everyone, all Lindon did was present was a suggestion. I'm sure we can work out the kinks. Also, that's only one of the things we can do." She took a breath, then picked out one of the capes.
"Myrddin right? You mentioned things are better in North America and Europe. I assume that means it's not a great situation elsewhere in the broader world, the more remote areas?"
She didn't wait for his response and stared directly at the chief director, "We can try to remedy that, help you out. No one knows what the future holds yes? An organized population is more stable and makes it easier if you have to evacuate a region or transport resources in case of battle, or whatever the challenge. It's better than anarchy." She finished, willing them to show a positive response.
Director Piggot engaged in a whispered dialog with Armsmaster and the deputy director who were seated either side of her. Mercy couldn't read much expression on chief director's stoic face.
"That sounds like a more workable solution." One of the PRT directors from another city said. "Obviously we'll need to discuss all of this further and decide you are who you say you are…"
"It's not necessarily a solution," Lindon said, "we are only suggesting potential approaches at the moment." Mercy understood the tact; these people had been under pressure for a long time and in many ways a serious meeting right after a lengthy battle wasn't the best idea for many of them.
Lindon kept speaking, "I've already made it clear we know next to nothing about the situation here. So, until we have more knowledge of your world, I won't pretend to know what you should do."
He stayed silent for a few seconds then said. "You have something called internet, we'd like access to that."
A few odd expressions at that, then Dragon's voice reached them before others, "that will be arranged of course, it's a basic human right."
That was easy. There wasn't much reaction to Dragon pronouncement either.
[I guess this internet really is ubiquitous here.] Suu said.
"Gratitude." Lindon replied.
Yerin elbowed her. "At least he didn't bow when he said that."
They waited for more responses but most of their hosts were busy whispering to each other. Mercy tuned them out, not wanting to eavesdrop.
What else have you found interesting Suu? she asked.
[Let's see, those two are friends.] He meant Myrddin and Chevalier who stood at the back engaged in a discussion, their heads almost touching.
Come on, anyone sees that. She replied.
Director Piggot was now in a discussion with the chief director and other PRT directors, although she was mostly listening through a device in her ears.
[I have a suspicion; would you extend your senses underground?] Suu asked. Mercy did so. Turns out Suu was right, there was a huge space underground and plenty of activity.
It is their office and headquarters. No surprise they have so much space.
The director looked ready to speak. She waited for everyone to quiet down then began, "I believe this has been a productive meeting. Our new guests have given us much to think about." She spread a hand towards them, "We'll discuss your claims and our response to this potential new threat internally."
She inclined her head, "Meanwhile, we'd like to extend you an invitation for a closer collaboration with the PRT. We can't determine the veracity of your claims so swiftly but you did great work today as we all know. The unique insights you bring would make be valuable in our mission to protect and serve."
Mercy stifled a groan. They weren't trying to sign them up for their government sponsored organization, were they?
The local deputy director, Renick, had likely anticipated some resistance on their part. He quickly plowed ahead, "You don't need to decide anything now. Take your time. There are PRT lodgings available for you too if you need rest and refreshment."
So the PRT wanted to keep a close watch on the trio, that was entirely predictable.
Lindon shook his head, "Apologies, but we don't know enough about what you do or how you operate. Not just PRT but also your Earth. Your work, influence, governance, politics, factions, challenges; we need some education on all that. More importantly, if we ask, would you even tell us the whole truth?" He said with an apologetic smile.
"We're not saying no to collaboration, we just not promising anything." Mercy clarified. "We'll be travelling all over the world, possibly worlds, it's part of the job."
"Surely, you can at least use a PRT representative as a guide, for a short time anyway, it's better than the alternative. A protectorate cape? A group teleporter perhaps." Legend suggested. "I'm sure you can ditch them whenever you want." He had a wry smile on his face.
Cheeky, but that wasn't a bad idea. If the PRT were offering then why not.
"I'm curious, Is Scion with your PRT?" Lindon asked.
There were some laughs at that.
"Scion is a simpleton with a lot of power. All he does is help people, but like a child." Chevalier said from where he was standing in the back of the room.
"He is a non-factor for us outside of Endbringer situations where we just hold on and hope that he comes and drives them away." Miss Militia added. "Maybe not anymore." She said softly.
"You really do need some time on the internet friend." Chevalier chuckled.
Chief director cleared her throat, and said, "Since you claim to be members of another organization, your reluctance is reasonable, not unsurprising. Nevertheless, let me make it clear that out offer does come with a certain autonomy of action, at least in the United States and Canada as long as you don't break any laws and rules of engagement. Miss Militia will guide you on what those are."
United States uh? An alliance of nations I gather. Mercy consulted with Suu.
[Or an empire.] He guessed.
"Ultimately," Costa-Brown went on, "with PRT at your side, you'd have more resources at your disposal, your international travels would have our backing and the government's. Not to mention you've all shown triumvirate level prowess, you do that enough times and there will be question marks about you. Then there's your public image and balancing that with keeping your discreet activities quiet. If I were you I'd give the offer more consideration than you have." She concluded with a knowing look.
Another PRT director spoke up, "I concur with the chief director." Oh, he was just echoing his boss, "We just lost half our team today, perhaps some time with Baltimore Protectorate for the three guests would be educational. We could use the extra firepower too."
Mercy saw Piggot roll her eyes at that.
Wilkins was having none of what Costa-Brown or Carr offered, "are we forgetting that these people are practically unknown? Their stories are unverified ma'am." She almost pleaded with her boss. "Just because they helped out today doesn't mean we don't do our due diligence before opening up PRT resources for them." She was the skeptical type. It was a good quality for an administrator at times but right now Mercy wished she's shut up.
Annoyingly, a few other PRT civilians, including one or two in the room, nodded at her objections.
"I'd advise caution too, but I'm just a consultant after all." Calvert said.
Mutters and debates resurfaced at that.
Yerin banged her hand on the table, "Spent long enough jabbering, have we? Listen," she addressed the whole room, "we spilled everything to you for one reason – we are here to save your world and you deserved to know from what. Considering you didn't have any idea I reckon you ought to be more grateful."
She stared at them challengingly, "Cut to the heart of it? Doesn't matter you're onboard or not, we're gonna get the job done. Track down that fiend and eliminate it. As a nice bonus, your world gets to keep kicking for a few more millennia, how about that?"
She leaned forward, "So it'd be wise to let us do our job, eh? If by some miracle, you end up handling the gig all on your lonesome, we'll either lend a hand or get out of your way. Might ask a few of you to tag along with us to the Heavens. Who knows?" She shrugged nonchalantly.
Everyone was more than a little taken aback by the tirade.
Mercy tried a more diplomatic approach. "I think what Yerin is trying to say is that you don't need to fear any nefarious intentions from us, it might be just words to you but you'll see." She said with her best smile.
Then firmed up her tone for the next part, "We do want to complete our mission and we'll do our job even if anyone stops us. By revealing ourselves we are also trusting that none of you 'respectable figures in society' are the agents of the fiend." She let them digest that for a moment.
"This was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission with intelligence gathering on the fiend. Our luck we ran into Leviathan on the first day here." She said ironically. "That's also why we need to hold off making any real plans."
Director Piggot took the reins in her hand for the final time, "Wei Shi Lindon Arelius, you and your team have the premises of Brocton Bay PRT ENE headquarters available to conduct your research, in strictly limited capacity. You also heard Legend's suggestion, I'll advise you to consider that offer at least and allow one of our capes to accompany you. I would sanction that." She took a deep breath, "is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"
Lindon gave a shake of his head, "Not now. Thank you for listening to us."
Mercy nodded to the director and said. "You'll no doubt take your time. As will we. Let us get our bearings and you'll hear from us."
Piggot addressed everyone. "Alright then. Thank you all for coming. Once again, congratulations to all for a historic day, possibly in more ways than one. Good night."
Mercy stood up but the chief director had more to say, "The directors will reconvene in half an hour. Everyone else, enjoy your night."
What next? Mercy was thinking when Yerin nudged her and poked Lindon. "I'm starving, meet me outside." She said, and disappeared in a flash of white light.
Mercy's gaze met Lindon's and she broke into soft laughter. He sighed, then joined in.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Author Note: I am not entirely sure if I've gotten all the Worm characters right, but I just wanted to move past this point. So if there's anything lacking, let me know and I'll make it better in future chapters.
Too many had been injured or stuck under the rubble with an unfortunate few dead.
Now she was here. Her eyes sought Lindon and Yerin first, who sat together at one end of the center table. Yerin was busy eating something.
Both their masks were off, that gave her a clear indication as to how Lindon had decided to move forward.
[You are not hungry, are you?] Suu asked her.
Doesn't matter, I absolutely want to eat. Exotic delicacies even more so. Mercy could perform at her peak for months without eating anything, but where was the fun in that.
First things first though. She unwrapped her mask and made a motion to stuff it into her pocket, actually sending it to her soul space.
All the while her eyes tracked every single person in the room; either sitting or standing. Some she had seen before during the battle, others were new and in civilian garb. A few faces were visible on a screen at one end of the room, presumably joining the meeting remotely waiting for her. She grimaced internally.
Enough dilly dallying.
"Hi, I am Mercy." She waved to the room. "Sorry if I'm late. There was an emergency." She padded to an empty chair next to Yerin and sat down.
"Are we done with introductions? I didn't miss anything did I?" In a quieter voice than before, she asked Yerin who mouthed a 'no' before drinking from a glass of water.
Mercy was relieved to hear that. Already she had seen the suspicion in some people's eyes at the strength she had displayed and the shadow-based techniques, even with her spiritual pressure completely bound. A good first impression in this meeting would smooth their mission, it might also make it everything that was about to be revealed about the three "interlopers" more digestible. She grabbed a cookie from the plate for herself.
"Alright, I believe we can begin. Yes?" A middle-aged woman in what appeared to be formal business clothing, started the meeting. She was seated at the other end of the table from them with a rather stern expression.
"Wait," Mercy said with a mouthful, she quickly swallowed the contents. "I've just told you my name, this is Yerin, and him, Lindon." She gestured at each of her companions. "Will you guys not… uh, not introduce yourself?" She asked with raised eyebrows, moving her head from side to side, looking at everyone.
"Suppose we don't know any of you." Yerin helped her out.
"That's correct, just let us know, your names and anything else that's important." Mercy suggested.
The windowless room had felt small she had first come in, with more people inside than chairs and an air of uncertainty on a day like this, a little get-to-know chat would relax everyone.
They had to tolerate a few grumbles at first but as the round of introductions went on the atmosphere of the room gradually improved, a few capes started quiet conversations among them, some dug into their drinks and snacks. That was better.
From what she had seen since the end of the battle, the people of this world would take time to come to term with this new reality and a dead Endbringer. It was simultaneously too unbelievable – several civilians and capes had outright refused to believe Leviathan was dead – and also cast a heavy shadow on what had gone on before, the countless lives lost and cities destroyed as she had come to know.
A new world promised much to the general public, but it also rekindled for them painful memories of what had gone on before.
It took several minutes as over a dozen people in the room and those on the screen gave their names, and in some cases their official ranks first.
Finally, Mercy shared her full name, so did Lindon and Yerin, and Mercy gave a sincere little dip of the head to everyone, "Thank you all. Over to you Director."
Emily Piggot restarted the formal proceedings, "Thank you Akura Mercy. To be clear, this was originally meant to be a simple debrief session, with far fewer personnel, to gather any findings we could from capes who fought Leviathan closely, and killed him." Before she could say anything else some people started drumming the table it, in applause. Others joined in with some clapping and light cheering.
The woman waited for the noise to die down, "Yes, Leviathan is dead, something for which I congratulate all capes and non-capes, especially those who participated in the battle." She paused, her eyes scanning the faces of everyone in the room.
"As I said, we called this meeting initially to collect any information useful for future Endbringer attacks." A brief silence ensued.
"However, Lindon here," Piggot pointed at him, "requested the presence of the PRT and Protectorate leadership, the people in charge, for matters pertaining to the 'safety of the world' as he put it. Therefore, that's what we're here to discuss and ascertain the truth of."
She took a breath, gave the big screen a sidelong glance, and resumed her speech. "Make no mistake, Mr. Lindon, the only reason you have been offered this courtesy is because you and your team played a pivotal role in Leviathan's death and in the protection of this city. And because according to our records you have no past as a Villain or as a threat to the general public. But if this turns out to be you wasting our time, you wouldn't like the consequences."
She finished, fixed Lindon with an icy glare and picked up her glass of water.
Lindon sat up in his seat and shared a brief look with Yerin and Mercy. She smiled at him with an encouraging nod, internally urging him to smile. He got the point as his natural scowl faded away into a mild frown.
Lindon cleared his throat, then began, "Apologies, we aren't here to waste your time or ours. What we have to say is important, it's also extremely urgent, and we appreciate that you have arranged for this assembly in such a short time."
"Yes, awfully efficient of you." Yerin interjected.
Mercy kicked her leg, and gave a 'come on' expression when Yerin looked back with a grin.
Lindon spoke again. "The simple truth is that we're not from your world."
That didn't produce as big of a reaction as she'd thought it would. She had a guess why.
Lindon did receive multiple questions, asked one after the other.
"What do you mean?" Piggot responded flatly.
"Aleph?" A cape said in an inquiring voice, leaning back into his seat, Armsmaster.
"What?" Another cape said at the same time, Myrddin.
"What is the meaning of this? This is why I was against giving these people special treatment." That offended voice came from the speakers, one of the PRT directors from another city.
Mercy asked her Presence to track everyone's reactions as Lindon disclosed the information. It might inform how to approach anyone after the meeting if needed.
Lindon raised his hand to quieten the crowd.
"I'll get to where the three of us are from, but firstly, most importantly, and the reason we came here to your world, is that it's under attack." That didn't elicit any reaction, understandably so.
"No, I don't necessarily mean under attack from the Endbringers. On their own, they are probably too weak to be a world ending threat."
Some in the room couldn't hide their incredulity.
"Are you serious… is he serious?" A woman on the screen was offended, Wilkins. These PRT directors were an uppity bunch.
She kept going, "what's going on Director? Why are we wasting our time here?" Mercy felt disappointed at some of these PRT official being so confident in their own ignorance.
Lindon didn't let Wilkins continue her rant either, "A world like yours can co-exist with calamities like giant monsters," he repeated. "It can, just treat them like unstoppable natural disasters and rebuild after them." He said forcefully. "Trust me, I come from a place like that, that's what we used to do. Besides, you have powerful heroes and you just killed one of those monstrosities today."
Mercy was surprised Lindon referenced the Dreadgods, but it was alright by her.
"But that's the point, these Endbringers are not on their own, they are connected to something bigger, something far more threatening." He paused for moment, eyes flickering from face to face. They were at least listening now, or giving him the chance to complete his thought before interrupting.
"The real danger to your world is what we call a chaos fiend. More specifically, a class two chaos fiend that has made your world a target, as far as we can understand. For decades or centuries, we're not sure."
He said the next part slowly, "However, if everything continues like this, if the fiend is allowed to operate freely, like it has been, then very soon, in a few years, possibly decades, this world is going to end."
"The good thing is we're here. That gives you more than a just snowball's chance in hell." Yerin chimed in.
Mercy could sense disbelief and suspicion in the room. It was evident in the expressions of civilians and in the postures of the capes with faces hidden behind their masks.
"A bigger threat than the Endbringers? What a day to make an absurd claim like that." A PRT director expressed his disbelief through the screen, although not as loudly.
Director Piggot spoke too, her tone steeped in doubt. "I'm sorry but all this… it just sounds ridiculous, especially with no evidence. Do you have any proof for your claims?"
Well, it was always going to come down to this; how should the Reapers convince a native population that they're there to help, instead of the opposite? Mercy remembered Eithan grilling them on that subject in their 'diplomatic' training as Reapers.
[These people are worn-out Mercy. Too many of them became kind of dismayed when Lindon talked about the fiend and the end of the world.] Suu told her.
I suspect we just confirmed their fears. Mercy though, empathizing.
[The more skeptical ones have been louder but they definitely are in a minority.] Suu said.
They need some hope in their lives than they got today. She admitted to Suu. And that is also a part of our job, she thought to herself.
Lindon nodded to Piggot in reply. "I understand why you'd be so concerned," he said, "we made a decision to tell the truth and that's what we'll do. I'll show you our findings and the threat assessments, how we came to those and everything."
But the woman in charge, Costa-Brown, broke her silence to ask a question of her own.
"When you say you are not from this world, what does that mean exactly? Elaborate. Where exactly are you from? How did you come here? And you keep using the word 'we'. Who's that? You three or someone else too?" Her voice was frosty, her demeanor cold.
Lindon scratched his head, then looked at Mercy, was he inviting her to present this part?
[Yes] Suu confirmed.
Mercy stood up.
"My friend gave you the um…, let's just call it, a bit of bad news," she said. "Some of you may be wondering who else we've shared this with. Let me reassure you, we've kept it under wraps in the few hours we've been here." She smiled.
"We actually do realize how panic inducing it can be to tell the general public their world is shortly ending. Trust me, we have experience with that. Which is why we requested only your top brass."
She tucked an errant hair strand behind her ear, "you can decide if this information is worth publicizing. I personally would advise against that. When you have a presentable solution, maybe then, but that's a debate for later."
She nodded at Lindon, ordered her thoughts, then began the reveal. "Yours is an isolated world like many others; as in no contact with another civilization. So it will certainly come as a surprise to you that there are other habitable worlds out there."
[Interest level higher, keep going.] Suu told her.
"Planets, planet sized ships, fortresses and so much more. We are from one such world; it's like yours, a little bigger, a little different but with human populations."
A projection half the size of the table sprang up in the center of the room, causing a couple of people to lean back in their chairs and swear. It showed images of Mount Samara, Serpent's Grave, Moon's Grave and Ninecloud city among others.
"Our planet is called 'Cradle'. And we are part of an organization that has countless planets under its protection; the Abidan."
The projection now displayed Abidan figures in their white armor, performing different tasks. And then the imageries of the eight Judges appeared consecutively alongside their home worlds and divisions.
"More accurately, we are members of the Reaper division of Abidan." Visuals of Grave appeared, an unimpressive rock floating in space.
Not the best of images to convince a native population of the Reapers' heroics. But Dross redeemed himself by showing a moving projection of Eithan in his seamless black armor.
He was hovering outside Grave, with his dreadful Scythe in one hand, and running the other hand through his hair while flashing a glorious smile, very un-Ozriel like.
"Don't think less of him because of that dimwit smile; that is our boss. He saved our world once." Yerin said. "Happened to be his own too," she added gently.
The projection showed Daruman the Mad King unleashing his apocalyptic attack and Ozriel blocking it on his palm.
The audience were rapt now, their eyes intense. Lindon and Dross were undeniably enhancing the projections with Dross' dream madra and Lindon's authority. The projections felt more real than they should have.
"Our job is to go into dying worlds and save them from the inside, from whatever is interfering with the fate of the world, native or alien, and threatening its natural existence." Mercy continued.
Several more projections and moving images appeared; of them fighting monsters in other worlds, bringing an end to conflicts, convincing the natives to compromises for the safety of their world. The images might have appeared nonsensical to quite a few of the attendees but it was enough to give a general feeling of the scope Reapers operated within.
"Any questions?" She asked.
Yerin looked at her in mock disappointment, likely anticipating too many questions at once.
"Is everyone in your Abidan a cape?" A PRT civilian, Calvert, asked.
That was an odd question to start with. "Depends what you mean by cape," she replied, "we all have some ability to bend the laws of reality to our will, enough strength and power, but there's a lot more elements too." That was enough of an answer to that question.
"So you're not parahumans?" Someone else asked, through the speakers. Not a civilian, but the cape, Dragon.
"I'm not sure, that depends on your definition of parahuman I guess. We're not familiar with your energy system yet so I can't say."
That threw them off for some reason. She looked around for other questions, donning an inviting smile.
Armsmaster rapped on the table twice. "I'd love to believe that we've received some unexpected help, that we are not alone in this universe, but all this," he waved his hand at the projection, "it's just some images, possibly illusions and stories. Do you have any definitive proof you are what you claim to be? There are countless worlds? I find that hard to believe. Even if I'm quite sure you believe your own words."
"That's the thing about belief; for some of you, short of experiencing an alien world for yourself, you'd never believe it exists. So naturally there's a measure of trust you'd have to extend to us. If we are to work together to save your world, that is." Mercy replied to the no-nonsense cape.
"However," she fished in her pocket void key and produced a minor spirit-fruit, "here is something for you and your scientists to analyze." The spirit-fruit, an apple-sized orb, glowed with an inner fire in its orange-maroon skin.
[Its scent and taste are known to evoke feelings of happiness; did you know that? Good choice.] Suu gave his approval.
She pushed at it with her will and it slowly floated towards Armsmaster, coming to a stop in front of him. "This is a native fruit from our world. It's safe; clear of any microorganisms that might be dangerous to you. Nothing like this exists here or in any other world. Feel free to test it or use it any way you like."
Armsmaster held on to the spirit-fruit carefully. Many others around the table leaned forward to get a better view of the spirit-fruit.
Mercy preempted before more questions, "Look, asking for too many details about Abidan isn't very useful at the moment. In due time, sure. But we are dealing with more urgent matters as Lindon said. So best we focus on that."
Legend asked a question this time.
"How come you are the ones saving entire worlds? With all due respect, you are strong but not excessively so. I'd say compared to Scion…" he gave his hand a wiggle and his head a little shake but didn't complete his sentence. What he'd implied was enough. Scion was that powerful? Huh. Why did he sit out the fight then?
"Lindon, you said earlier that Endbringers aren't strong enough to be world ending threats on their own. That sounds ludicrous to me, but let's say I trust you on that. Even then, the three of you, the triumvirate, other big hitters, all of us barely subdued and killed an Endbringer. If the remaining Endbringers attacked at the same time, we'd be, pardon my language, but we'd be screwed. How do you explain that? Unless you were in some way holding back which I'd doubt." Legend met each of their eyes one by one.
He had a point. How to approach this subject? She shared a look with Lindon before letting him speak.
"We have enough in our tank, and you are right, we were holding back just a little." Lindon smiled at Legend. "Besides, you underrate yourself, and strength of the people here. We are discussing all this with you because we can't be very efficient without cooperating with the locals."
He seemed to debate something with himself for a couple of seconds, with Dross most likely, then said, "Another thing, we were hoping to give the local heroes some pointers, some help, on how to improve their skillsets you know. You saw what Vista did, if more capes can maximize their talents, you'd be collectively stronger."
That was an interesting change to the plans and a little misleading, dangling something like that in front of them. Vista's improved performance was a unique phenomenon because of Dross.
[Maybe that's what he is planning, making Presences for the promising heroes.] Suu guessed.
Some capes did appear interested at that offer though.
Lindon nodded his thanks to Mercy and stood, while she sat.
"Let me tell you why the Abidan were alarmed and sent us to this world."
Lindon gestured at the projection, it grew brighter and now showed Earth. The blue green planet framed in the vast backdrop of emptiness and distant stars.
"Your planet is a few billion years old, give or take. Considering your solar system, it should naturally exist for roughly the same amount of time more. Reduce that by a magnitude of ten or hundred if you want, you know for unforeseen human impact. Even so, the planet should naturally exist for a few thousand years at least, staying habitable. That's the natural order… it should be the natural order of things."
He glanced at Yerin, she gave him a thumbs up. His eyes smiled before he shifted his attention back to the room.
"But the Abidan division whose job is to see possibilities in fate, every possibility, infinite… they say there is a 99.99% chance that you only have a few decades left at best." The planet in the projection blew up in an explosion, leaving thousands of fragments drifting in space.
Lindon hesitated for a heartbeat.
"Admittedly, they came to this conclusion without knowing what was really happening in this world. Mainly for two reason."
He held up two fingers for emphasis.
"First, because the imprint of chaos on this world is too deep, its fate is too obscured. That's basically how we knew there was a fiend entrenched here. And truthfully, it's also why we could be a little inaccurate about the time frames, regarding the fiend's activity or the time available to us."
He lowered one finger, "Secondly, Abidan only came to know about the existence of your world a year or so ago per your time. If they had more time, maybe we could've had a solution ready, or we'd come sooner in case you were wondering why now. But unfortunately, that's not what happened."
He took a deep breath. It was hard to tell if anyone else was even breathing. Lindon finally had their full attention.
"The three of us are pretty much clueless about your world's history; we only arrived this morning. But you have a better grasp of things. Has anything happened in the last few decades that was monumental and extraordinary...? Is there a trend of such events? That's where we would start our investigation into the fiend."
A cape in silver-gold armor shuffled forward in his seat, Chevalier, that was his name. "Part of me thinks you're making a fool out of all of us, but the other part wants to believe you." He sounded apprehensive. Then waved his hand, "Anyway, you've referenced a chaos fiend. What's that? How do you identify one? what does it look like? Have you seen one for yourself?" He fired off a series of questions, tone flat to make a point. He carried on in a softer voice. "You've shared no information on that. If we're to help you as you say, we need something more than just words." He folded his hands and reclined in his chair.
[Don't you prefer dealing with forward thinking people like him? And not cynics who don't want to see past the status quo? They are statistically much better partners too, in most endeavors, across all words.] Suu said to her.
Lindon pursed his lips, "I don't know any specifics about this fiend, my apologies. But I can show you the last class two chaos fiend I fought."
Mercy grimaced at what was to come. She wanted to avert her eyes but that would send the wrong message if anyone saw her.
"Brace yourselves." Lindon warned, to no avail.
Cha'tur'niak, Devourer of Dimensions, appeared on Dross' projection, the country sized beast floated above a planet. Even an old moving image of this abomination felt wrong, like chaos turned into squirming flesh. Nonsensical, illogical, exuding horror.
Mercy didn't want to look at it more than she had to, half fearing it would actually hurt her sense of aesthetics. It was the epitome of ugliness.
A loud "What the fuck?" was exclaimed by no less than half a dozen people in the room at that image. Some of them were fascinated by it, most civilians stared elsewhere, and took hasty peeks from time to time.
A quiet chuckle escaped Mercy's lips at their reaction. Yerin's laugh was much louder.
"These are just old pictures. You should have seen his face when he came back from that fight, green as spring grass." She said with a guffaw, thumping Lindon on the back.
Nobody else laughed with her.
"You see." Lindon said with conviction, bringing the attention to himself, "You can feel that these things are an aberration." He pointed to the projection which shut down.
"That beast devoured reality for sustenance—or for pleasure, honestly I still don't know—leaving the humans for last. Planet after planet, dimension after dimension. Now your world faces a similar threat, or worse." He paused for effect.
"Normally when a world gets exposed to chaos or chaos fiends, strange things start to happen; time and space randomly glitch, laws of nature behave oddly, chaotic beasts arise." He let the suggestion land, before concluding, "the anomalies never lessen, they only ever intensify until, finally, the fiend shows itself, or takes action. Then it's too late, unless a miracle happens."
Hushed discussions rippled through the gathering after initial silence. Lindon remined standing with hands clasped behind his back.
A few moments later Myrddin stepped forward, he'd been standing at back, leaning against the wall. "There is no such fiend here," he said. "None of us have seen anything like that. The biggest threat we know of are Endbringers. A distant second would be other S-class threats and then various villain groups, at least here in North America and Europe."
That got a lot of nods and murmurs in agreement.
What would North America and Europe be Suu? Mercy asked her Presence.
[Ninety six percent chance those are nations or continents.] Suu confirmed her guess.
Myrddin continued, "You should see the majority of rest of the world, it's like a jungle; might makes right and all the rest. That's the trajectory of last few decades for many regions that I can think of, things getting worse, Endbringers and their attacks, increasing number of villa…."
"What is it that you wish to achieve by telling us all of this Mr. Lindon?"
The chief director cut off Myrddin, whose grip on his staff tightened. Apparently, he wasn't used to being interrupted in this manner.
"You've painted an ugly picture for us, told us rosy stories, true or false. You've offered us a fruit to examine. But you've presented no solutions." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Have you any idea how to move forward? You say you have experience saving worlds, well, what do you suggest we do differently?"
She had made a valid argument which meant her question garnered audible support. It wasn't too difficult to address either way but Mercy would have preferred better first impressions. That's why she had suggested they acquire more knowledge about this world before revealing their mission.
"I'll come to that. But may I ask a question of my own?" Lindon said, "We only know of this one planet in this sector, certainly the only one where a fiend is active. But I've heard mentions of different earths. What's that about?"
His query raised some eyebrows.
"Are you asking about Aleph?" One of the capes asked.
Mercy's interest shot up, she had heard that before.
She spoke first, "What is Aleph? He also said this word earlier." She pointed at Armsmaster.
Narwhal spoke for the first time, that woman was striking to say the least. She got into a brief history of Earth Aleph, Earth Bet and other possible Earths they had no access to since someone called Haywire who had opened those portals had died.
"Are you hearing this?" Mercy said quietly to Yerin and Lindon who was now sitting. "That's not… not how we know iterations to function."
Lindon nodded, listening intently to the 'Guild' cape. Yerin was in deep thought too, or in conversation with her Presence.
Narwhal finished her explanation.
The three of them remained silent for several heartbeats.
"So they're like branches of fate, but they actually exist here?" Lindon said at last what they were all thinking. "That's fascinating".
"Pardon?" Narwhal said, but Lindon just raised his hands apologetically. "Oh, I was just thinking out loud."
Mercy's mind was bubbling with questions of her own but she let Lindon take the lead. He had stopped, head tilted to one side, no doubt Dross was going crazy in his head.
Suu wasn't any better, he would've been itching for a discussion with her too if she hadn't asked him to figure it out silently.
"There must be no end to them," Lindon said quietly, then looked up, voice firm now, "but I digress. The important thing is, if there's another planet or more, perhaps the fiend is operating from there. We'll definitely need to explore these realities somehow."
Before anyone could object Lindon continued, further raising his voice, "We understand the need for discretion, don't worry. If you've deliberately not contacted your counterpart 'earths' I can understand why. That's not the only course of action we have but it's worth investigating."
Mercy saw a fleeting smile disappear from chief director's face which frankly could've also been just the screen glitching. It was good news if she liked the plan. The PRT was an organized force, government sponsored and it had capes affiliated with it, with their backing this mission would have more chances of success.
"Hold on a second," a local PRT civilian spoke, "this is radical! I don't think you realize the scope of what you are proposing. Accessing different worlds? There are so many ways this could fail. I mean even the Aleph people don't like us very much and we are presumably very similar to them. Who's to say our interference will be welcome in different earths, if it's even possible in the first place. It could open a new pandora's box if villains and S-class threats attempt to take advantage of it."
Yerin hadn't said much but this time she replied first, pointing at Lindon, "He just said 'discreet' didn't he? And 'investigate'. I'm not too familiar with your language but I'd wager that means doing things quietly."
Miss Militia offered an explanation. "You're not wrong but I kind of understand deputy director's concerns. We've had a bit of a leak situation going on." Yerin just shrugged in response.
Mercy tried to approach the discussion a different way, "Look everyone, all Lindon did was present was a suggestion. I'm sure we can work out the kinks. Also, that's only one of the things we can do." She took a breath, then picked out one of the capes.
"Myrddin right? You mentioned things are better in North America and Europe. I assume that means it's not a great situation elsewhere in the broader world, the more remote areas?"
She didn't wait for his response and stared directly at the chief director, "We can try to remedy that, help you out. No one knows what the future holds yes? An organized population is more stable and makes it easier if you have to evacuate a region or transport resources in case of battle, or whatever the challenge. It's better than anarchy." She finished, willing them to show a positive response.
Director Piggot engaged in a whispered dialog with Armsmaster and the deputy director who were seated either side of her. Mercy couldn't read much expression on chief director's stoic face.
"That sounds like a more workable solution." One of the PRT directors from another city said. "Obviously we'll need to discuss all of this further and decide you are who you say you are…"
"It's not necessarily a solution," Lindon said, "we are only suggesting potential approaches at the moment." Mercy understood the tact; these people had been under pressure for a long time and in many ways a serious meeting right after a lengthy battle wasn't the best idea for many of them.
Lindon kept speaking, "I've already made it clear we know next to nothing about the situation here. So, until we have more knowledge of your world, I won't pretend to know what you should do."
He stayed silent for a few seconds then said. "You have something called internet, we'd like access to that."
A few odd expressions at that, then Dragon's voice reached them before others, "that will be arranged of course, it's a basic human right."
That was easy. There wasn't much reaction to Dragon pronouncement either.
[I guess this internet really is ubiquitous here.] Suu said.
"Gratitude." Lindon replied.
Yerin elbowed her. "At least he didn't bow when he said that."
They waited for more responses but most of their hosts were busy whispering to each other. Mercy tuned them out, not wanting to eavesdrop.
What else have you found interesting Suu? she asked.
[Let's see, those two are friends.] He meant Myrddin and Chevalier who stood at the back engaged in a discussion, their heads almost touching.
Come on, anyone sees that. She replied.
Director Piggot was now in a discussion with the chief director and other PRT directors, although she was mostly listening through a device in her ears.
[I have a suspicion; would you extend your senses underground?] Suu asked. Mercy did so. Turns out Suu was right, there was a huge space underground and plenty of activity.
It is their office and headquarters. No surprise they have so much space.
The director looked ready to speak. She waited for everyone to quiet down then began, "I believe this has been a productive meeting. Our new guests have given us much to think about." She spread a hand towards them, "We'll discuss your claims and our response to this potential new threat internally."
She inclined her head, "Meanwhile, we'd like to extend you an invitation for a closer collaboration with the PRT. We can't determine the veracity of your claims so swiftly but you did great work today as we all know. The unique insights you bring would make be valuable in our mission to protect and serve."
Mercy stifled a groan. They weren't trying to sign them up for their government sponsored organization, were they?
The local deputy director, Renick, had likely anticipated some resistance on their part. He quickly plowed ahead, "You don't need to decide anything now. Take your time. There are PRT lodgings available for you too if you need rest and refreshment."
So the PRT wanted to keep a close watch on the trio, that was entirely predictable.
Lindon shook his head, "Apologies, but we don't know enough about what you do or how you operate. Not just PRT but also your Earth. Your work, influence, governance, politics, factions, challenges; we need some education on all that. More importantly, if we ask, would you even tell us the whole truth?" He said with an apologetic smile.
"We're not saying no to collaboration, we just not promising anything." Mercy clarified. "We'll be travelling all over the world, possibly worlds, it's part of the job."
"Surely, you can at least use a PRT representative as a guide, for a short time anyway, it's better than the alternative. A protectorate cape? A group teleporter perhaps." Legend suggested. "I'm sure you can ditch them whenever you want." He had a wry smile on his face.
Cheeky, but that wasn't a bad idea. If the PRT were offering then why not.
"I'm curious, Is Scion with your PRT?" Lindon asked.
There were some laughs at that.
"Scion is a simpleton with a lot of power. All he does is help people, but like a child." Chevalier said from where he was standing in the back of the room.
"He is a non-factor for us outside of Endbringer situations where we just hold on and hope that he comes and drives them away." Miss Militia added. "Maybe not anymore." She said softly.
"You really do need some time on the internet friend." Chevalier chuckled.
Chief director cleared her throat, and said, "Since you claim to be members of another organization, your reluctance is reasonable, not unsurprising. Nevertheless, let me make it clear that out offer does come with a certain autonomy of action, at least in the United States and Canada as long as you don't break any laws and rules of engagement. Miss Militia will guide you on what those are."
United States uh? An alliance of nations I gather. Mercy consulted with Suu.
[Or an empire.] He guessed.
"Ultimately," Costa-Brown went on, "with PRT at your side, you'd have more resources at your disposal, your international travels would have our backing and the government's. Not to mention you've all shown triumvirate level prowess, you do that enough times and there will be question marks about you. Then there's your public image and balancing that with keeping your discreet activities quiet. If I were you I'd give the offer more consideration than you have." She concluded with a knowing look.
Another PRT director spoke up, "I concur with the chief director." Oh, he was just echoing his boss, "We just lost half our team today, perhaps some time with Baltimore Protectorate for the three guests would be educational. We could use the extra firepower too."
Mercy saw Piggot roll her eyes at that.
Wilkins was having none of what Costa-Brown or Carr offered, "are we forgetting that these people are practically unknown? Their stories are unverified ma'am." She almost pleaded with her boss. "Just because they helped out today doesn't mean we don't do our due diligence before opening up PRT resources for them." She was the skeptical type. It was a good quality for an administrator at times but right now Mercy wished she's shut up.
Annoyingly, a few other PRT civilians, including one or two in the room, nodded at her objections.
"I'd advise caution too, but I'm just a consultant after all." Calvert said.
Mutters and debates resurfaced at that.
Yerin banged her hand on the table, "Spent long enough jabbering, have we? Listen," she addressed the whole room, "we spilled everything to you for one reason – we are here to save your world and you deserved to know from what. Considering you didn't have any idea I reckon you ought to be more grateful."
She stared at them challengingly, "Cut to the heart of it? Doesn't matter you're onboard or not, we're gonna get the job done. Track down that fiend and eliminate it. As a nice bonus, your world gets to keep kicking for a few more millennia, how about that?"
She leaned forward, "So it'd be wise to let us do our job, eh? If by some miracle, you end up handling the gig all on your lonesome, we'll either lend a hand or get out of your way. Might ask a few of you to tag along with us to the Heavens. Who knows?" She shrugged nonchalantly.
Everyone was more than a little taken aback by the tirade.
Mercy tried a more diplomatic approach. "I think what Yerin is trying to say is that you don't need to fear any nefarious intentions from us, it might be just words to you but you'll see." She said with her best smile.
Then firmed up her tone for the next part, "We do want to complete our mission and we'll do our job even if anyone stops us. By revealing ourselves we are also trusting that none of you 'respectable figures in society' are the agents of the fiend." She let them digest that for a moment.
"This was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission with intelligence gathering on the fiend. Our luck we ran into Leviathan on the first day here." She said ironically. "That's also why we need to hold off making any real plans."
Director Piggot took the reins in her hand for the final time, "Wei Shi Lindon Arelius, you and your team have the premises of Brocton Bay PRT ENE headquarters available to conduct your research, in strictly limited capacity. You also heard Legend's suggestion, I'll advise you to consider that offer at least and allow one of our capes to accompany you. I would sanction that." She took a deep breath, "is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"
Lindon gave a shake of his head, "Not now. Thank you for listening to us."
Mercy nodded to the director and said. "You'll no doubt take your time. As will we. Let us get our bearings and you'll hear from us."
Piggot addressed everyone. "Alright then. Thank you all for coming. Once again, congratulations to all for a historic day, possibly in more ways than one. Good night."
Mercy stood up but the chief director had more to say, "The directors will reconvene in half an hour. Everyone else, enjoy your night."
What next? Mercy was thinking when Yerin nudged her and poked Lindon. "I'm starving, meet me outside." She said, and disappeared in a flash of white light.
Mercy's gaze met Lindon's and she broke into soft laughter. He sighed, then joined in.
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Author Note: I am not entirely sure if I've gotten all the Worm characters right, but I just wanted to move past this point. So if there's anything lacking, let me know and I'll make it better in future chapters.
Interesting fic, those from Earth Beth really ignorant do they
You got just the right amount of talking-past in that confrontation. I approve!