//------------------------------// // 139 - Complimentary // Story: Songs of the Spheres // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// He was already there. Pinkie Pie knew she had no time to say anything. She whipped around, driving her Warhammer into Lord English’s mouth. The impact of Pinkie’s hammer with English’s face made a very impressive clang noise that rang throughout the halls of the Jarn. Everyone knew in an instant that they were under attack – and from the complete lack of quips from Pinkie, they knew it was serious. “No…” Vriska said, freezing up as she recognized her age-old foe. The others were not as hesitant – Rina, Mlinx, Flutterfree, and Veila all attacked. Rina’s swords penetrated English, but did not remove his life. Flutterfree’s Rage-infused Bow of Light hit true, but to no visible effect. Mlinx’s staff unleashed a torrent of red-green energy that English absorbed, while Veila’s miniscule magic feats did absolutely nothing. English roared. Everyone went flying to opposite sides of the bridge at high speeds. The carapace of Veila’s head shattered when she impacted the siding, spraying the blue blood of demons everywhere. “VEILA!” Mlinx shouted. Pinkie was in her massacre dress. “Rina!” Rina noticed Pinkie had a lot of explosives affixed to her hammer. She didn’t need to be told twice – she teleported everyone but Pinkie out of the bridge and into the air outside. The front half of the Jarn exploded in a rush of flame, smoke, and confetti. The remaining half lost all control over its velocity and started dropping to the ground like a stone, smoldering like any meteor should. Two specks flew out of the explosion – both completely unharmed by the flames. English opened his mouth and encased Pinkie in a vaporizing beam. She appeared on his back, driving a chainsaw into his neck. The chainsaw burst into green flames and disintegrated. He whirled around and clapped his hands, creating a few thousand pool balls burning with his unnatural power. Pinkie dodged every last one – but failed to get out of the way of the punch that hit her right afterward, sending her flying straight into the ground far, far below. English was going to pursue her, but Gilgamesh chose this time to jump out of the cascading wreckage of the ship, weilding a bright holy blade. “Guess what!? I FINALLY FOUND EXCALIBUR! You shall fall to its edge, foul beast! YAAAA!” Lord English let the blade hit him – he even opened his arms to let it pierce his heart. Upon seeing that English wasn’t flinching, Gilgamesh became concerned. “You know, maybe we could work out a-“ English ripped the sword out through his back and crushed it into fine powder. “…My curse is never to be lifted…” English punched a hole straight through Gilgamesh’s chest, killing him instantly. With a grunt, the Lord of Time dropped to the ground, fists bare. Pinkie was standing there on her hind hooves, a giant warhammer in one hoof, an advanced magitech railgun in the other. She seemed completely unharmed. With a snarl, she fired the laser-like bullet at English, and as expected he deflected it with one of his hands – leaving him open for an antimatter hammer to the face. The explosion blew Pinkie far away - but she bounced back like a rubber toy as soon as she landed. English clapped his hands and all the smoke cleared, revealing not a scratch on his body. “Right, so, clearly anything normal isn’t going to work. Gonna have to get a little creative…” “I got your back, sister!” Gilgamesh called, falling from the sky, body freshly aflame from consuming a revival item. “What should we do to the goblin?” “Make him eat some words!” Pinkie produced a speech bubble with what she had just said and shoved it in English’s face. A health bar appeared out of nowhere and she smacked English with it. For a moment, a chip of damage appeared in the bar. But then it restored to full in an instant. “…I think we forgot he has the powers too,” Gilgamesh said just before English punched the warrior’s head off. Pinkie bit her lip – thinking. She appeared behind English and drove another blade into him, but of course he didn’t care. Any ‘damage’ was just undone. It didn’t matter that time reversal was no longer an option, he could just say he was back to normal and he would be. His mastery over that domain far exceeded her own. But she could still be really, really annoying. She pulled out two cymbals the size of trees and crushed his head between them. With a roar he tried to vaporize her again – but as usual, she just shifted out of the way. Gilgamesh revived again and ran a shining blue javelin right into Lord English’s crotch. His repayment for this was getting crushed by the cherub’s foot. “PINKIE!” Vriska called from above – as far as Pinkie could tell, she was alone. “Is it perfect? My luck is only average!” “DO IT!” Pinkie shouted, beaning English in the face with a meat-grinder covered in spikes. Vriska did it – she rolled the fluorite octet and the infinite sided die at the same time. Her luck was average, and under normal circumstances she might have gotten something strong enough to have a minor effect on a higher demon. But this was not a normal circumstance. The winds of ka recognized her – not only was this battle beyond important to the fate of the universe, but she had a history with the foe before her. She was granted the one in a million chance she needed. 8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8 And the infinite sided die turned green. Her entire body transformed, becoming like green fire with burning blue eyes. The sharp, angled pirate’s armor of her normal full-8s roll formed around this flaming form. She shifted and shivered like she didn’t fully belong in the current reality, brimming with the very power Lord English had lost with the fall of the Green Sun. She clasped her hands – and she drove her fist through Lord English’s stomach. She let out an inhuman, eldritch roar that sounded like stars dying and forced all the energy into an explosion strong enough to crack the tectonic plate they were standing on, prompting much of the sand to fall into freshly formed crevasses. Pinkie met the attack with her own flurry of pink, flaming weapons while Gilgamesh fired a fusion cannon. The energy was more than enough to melt the ground beneath Vriska and English to pure glass. Lord English grabbed Vriska’s flaming body by the head and unleashed a beam from his mouth. The green energy was blown right off her and her armor shattered. But she did survive the attack. She was the first one to take a direct hit from Lord English and survive in eons. He threw her into the ground and then kicked her into the air, aiming another laser at her airborne body. It was at this point the Crimson Blitz crash-landed right onto English’s face, creating a massive crater in the glassy desert. He didn’t even wait for the dust to settle a little. He pulled himself out of the crater, holding the semi-flattened Crimson Blitz on his back, and threw it away. It landed a few dozen meters from his location. Discord teleported himself, Lightning, Cosmo, and Insipid out of the ship. “Never fear, help has arrived!” Lord English reached out and tore Discord’s form to shreds with his claws, following up with a beam of energy to disintegrate whatever else remained. “ULTIGA!” Lightning shouted, encasing English in the strongest spell she knew. Cosmo unleashed the full might of the Tree of Harmony on English, the light becoming blinding to everyone looking at the fight zone. Lord English punched them both at once. Cosmo exploded in an instant, but Lightning blocked with the Infinity Gauntlet. The artifact held fast against the Lord of Time’s beating – and in fact it absorbed most of the power he put into it. Lightning smirked. “Right back at you.” She snapped her fingers. English went flying back as if he had punched himself. “Not completely useless here after all…” Gilgamesh swung a sword again. “GOTCH-dammit.” English had grabbed his arm and used him to swat Lightning aside like a fly. Gilgamesh’s arm tore clean off in the process. Insipid leaped, touching a hoof to English. “Ha-ha!” English was already behind her. She blinked. “What in-“ she was flattened like a pancake, losing all sensation within an instant of his fist impacting her body. “STAR PLATINUM: THE WORLD!” Jotaro shouted, mixing his Stand with Hermit Purple and the Passion, trying to keep English and his soul from moving at whatever cost. It was all useless. Jotaro went flying back, limp, until he landed into the sand a fair distance away. “JOJO!” Pidge yelled, coming out of her hiding place only to get sniped by one of English’s pool balls. Pinkie ground her teeth. “We’ve still got hope. We-“ At her words, Lord English transported across the arena, found Rev, and tore her in half. Then he sent a beam of energy back at Pinkie that should have been enough to destroy a city. Pinkie was behind him again – Vriska and Lightning under her hooves. She bucked English across the face. Rina charged into English at the same time, embedding her horn in the beast’s head and self-destructing herself in a shower of dark magical sparks. Flutterfree dropped from the sky, creating a small crater with her sudden presence. Her entire body had deep, dark, purple energies wafting off of her like some amorphous monster. The Element of Kindness glowed a stellar white and her mane rippled like that of an alicorn. “The Kindest form of violence is an instant, painless death,” she recited. And then she kicked English to the ground and drove all of her wing-blades into his chest, screaming with all her Rage, trying to disintegrate him from the inside out. English refused to let her words be true. As a result, for the first time since the fighting began, Lord English roared in pain. But he had the Rage within him as well, for he was not just the Lord of Time, there was also a piece deep inside of him that knew the truth of the matter. He pushed his Rage to the surface, bringing out the Void and Heart as well, tearing at Flutterfree’s very soul through the connections she made. Flutterfree brought out Lolo, the winds of ka seeing it appropriate that the meta-natured Stand be able to pierce English’s defenses. Vriska, with her remaining Light, stabbed English in the head. The only other one of the team left standing enough to do much of anything was Pinkie, throwing in the destructive power of Space with a distorted hoof. It was not enough. Lord English exploded, vaporizing Flutterfree, Vriska, and Lightning. Only Pinkie remained. Gilgamesh had stopped getting up a while ago. Blood ran down the side of her face, coming from her eyes. The bright candy-red tone splashed unnaturally on the glassy ground. Lord English was bleeding too – the wounds Flutterfree had inflicted would not go away in an instant. His blood was the same candy-red color, though this was normal for him. They stood, staring at each other for a moment. English opened his mouth and hit Pinkie with a vaporization beam. She remained after it had hit her, but she hadn’t dodged either. A smile crawled up her face. “…Heh. You missed one.” “I DID NOT.” He snapped his fingers. Far, far in the sky, fleeing the scene was Mlinx – holding tight to Siron’s Staff since it was his only source of propulsion. Suddenly, he felt as if English had grabbed him. He was yanked out of his escape and rammed into the ground at a speed far above terminal velocity – but Mlinx did not shatter. He used Siron’s Staff to deflect the shock of the blow, bouncing onto his feet. Even though he was known as the runt, as the soft shelled demon, he had the fighting instinct of his people. He lashed out with the staff, hitting Lord English with a beam of Juju energy. It was no House Juju. It would not be the secret to Lord English’s defeat. Lord English opened his mouth and let out a beam of energy. Siron’s staff caught the energy, pushing back with a similar energy of its own. It was an admirable effort – but it was not enough. The defenses broke and Mlinx’s carapace shattered in several places. The staff flew into the air where Lord English caught it. Siron’s staff had a new owner. The original owner. It was his, after all. He had been the one who had created it; he had been the one who had set it loose on the multiverse. And now it was back in his control. Pinkie ground her teeth, more blood coming out of her eyes as tears. “YOU’RE THE VILLAIN!” she shouted. “YOU WON’T WIN! YOU CAN’T WIN!” Lord English wordlessly looked to her with his inconsistent, flashing eyes. He hit her with a beam of energy. Pinkie wavered, blood pouring from more than just her eyes now. “You can’t… kill… suction cup… pony…” She flopped to the ground, motionless. There was no more sound, just the rush of wind in the desert. Lord English clutched his staff in his hand. He had what he came for. He slowly marched off – not even bothering with the Sarcophagus. Just walking away, every step sending a tremor through the crust of Nucleon. He left behind him a wasteland of broken bones, blood splatters, broken glass, sand, and smoldering dust. The scene of a defeat. It took an hour for anything to move again. The hatch of the half-broken Crimson Blitz popped open, revealing Sherlock Holmes and Death. “Well… That was… revolting.” Sherlock shuddered, trying to gather control of himself. “You have them all?” NOT A SINGLE DEATH HAS OCCURED SINCE WE ARRIVED HERE. THEY ARE IN GREAT PAIN, THOUGH. THE AGONY OF A BODY NOT ABLE TO MOVE AND NOT MEANT TO FEEL. “Yeah, well, didn’t want to chance it by coming out sooner…” He pulled a white globe out of his coat pocket. “Now would be a good time to pray that Lightning’s magic is always reliable.” He threw it to the ground – and the entire battlefield was surrounded in the strongest healing magic Lightning had been able to compress into an arcane grenade over the course of about half an hour. It took about a minute, but everyone’s bodies slowly reformed from their various, brutal destructions, be it complete vaporization, grotesque mutilation, or simply a punch to the gut. At first they screamed from the pain the healing could do nothing about – but eventually, things settled down. The pain lessened, and they all sat up, breathing heavily. Pinkie took in a deep breath, grinned, and threw her hooves up into the air. “YOU! CAN’T! KILL! SUCTION! CUP! PONY! HA! TAKE THAT!” YOU WOULD BE DEAD IF IT WASN’T FOR ME Pinkie grabbed Death by the face and stared menacingly into his eyes. “Let me have this.” “Did we… did we all make it?” Pidge asked, adjusting her glasses. Mlinx looked around. “…Veila? Veila? Where’s Veila?” Lightning grimaced. “Did he get someone before we got here?” Mlinx clenched his fist. “He… he’s destroyed the last one… the last chance…” He laughed. “I might be the last demon! The last one in existence!” “That’s like… sucky,” Insipid said. Mlinx turned to her, ready to tear her limb from limb – but then he deflated. He fell to the ground, saying nothing. “…How are we going to stop that?” Flutterfree asked, sliding her marble tips back onto her blades. “He… he toyed with us.” “I don’t know,” Lightning said. “I do know that we’re putting aside all differences in order to do it. The rest of our ships will arrive soon – and then we can discuss what we’re going to do to him.” “We can’t do anything,” Sherlock said. “Not yet, anyway. But we can watch him.” He pointed in the direction Lord English went. “He’s going that way.” “Then that’s where we’re going,” Pinkie said. “Your ships can join us on the way.” “Why would he even need that fucking staff?!” Rina shouted. “It’s just a staff!” “I don’t know,” Pinkie said. Sherlock narrowed his eyes. “Why would he need it?” “Any ideas?” Discord asked. “Its primary function is useless in the New World… Does it have another? I don’t know… It was what he was looking for, though.” He shook his head. “We need to observe more. More.” “He… He’s back…” Vriska said, haunted. “Why would he be back? I sealed him away! I watched the House Juju take him!” “I watched him escape,” Sherlock said. “John’s essence was not in the House. He must not have made it back.” Vriska put an arm over her eyes and made a wheezing sound. Pinkie sighed. “…Everyone, we just lost. We just lost badly. But we’ve all been given a second chance. When we face Lord English again – and we will – it will not end like this. Got it?” There were a bunch of ‘yeahs’ mixed with dejected, defeated sighs. ~~~ Starbeat smacked the side of her goggles with her hoof. “I can’t trace him! Gah!” “Heading directly that direction,” I offered with a point. She gave me the stink eye and I knew she was considering bucking me again. Roxy inserted herself between the two of us. “Now don’t go breaking more of her ribs, Starbeat. She’s helping.” “You know we can’t trust her,” Starbeat said. “And yet you’re trusting Lord English Mini?” “No,” Starbeat said, glancing at Caliborn. “…Good thing he’s not trying to tell me where to go.” “…You trust Gamzee though.” “You leave Gamzee out of this.” “Just listen to her advice and don’t kick her in the gut again, okay?” Roxy asked. Starbeat thought about this for a moment. “Fine. Twilence, you can take the lead on following his ka trail. No, you don’t get that magic seal removed.” “As it should be,” Monika added. “You guys are being a lot grumpier than usual,” Saitama said. “And that’s saying something.” “What are you insinuating!?” Caliborn demanded. “…That you’re grumpy?” “Be nice, he resembles that remark,” Trixie jibed. “We’ve got other problems right now, stop bickering,” Starbeat ordered. “…Geez, okay,” Trixie said, backing down. Starbeat’s gaze faltered. “…Trixie, I’m sorry, I’m just under a lot of stress right now and…” “I get it, I get it. Twilence is right there, and we have to listen to her, and we’ve got some sort of world-ending evil to find. You’re just not making it easy, y’know?” Starbeat nodded slowly – but then Gamzee’s hand was on her shoulder, taking her attention away from Trixie. “Girl, you’re motherfuckin’ strong. Don’t let a little purple traitor make you think otherwise.” I glared at him. I wanted to scream for that monster to leave her presence, to ask how Starbeat was so blind to the menacing flow of ka around him. But I couldn’t – I had received some freedom and I wasn’t going to throw it away. The Crimson King was more important than some angry purple troll. I cleared my throat. “As I said, he’s going this direction. He’s not in a hurry, so we’ll be able to catch him if we hurry.” Monika pressed her hands together. “I can help with that… Saitama, you ready?” Saitama smirked. “How big of a punch am I allowed to use?” “Don’t destroy the planet,” Roxy deadpanned. “…Hmm… Could I do that, with a planet this size in this New World…?” “Not something to try and figure out,” Trixie emphasized. “Just… More than last time?” “Pretty sure I can do that,” Saitama admitted. “And if not I can keep replenishing him as much as we need,” Monika said with a wink. “I don’t care what sort of weird eldritch power the Crimson King has, we’ve got literal ka manipulation on our hands!” “Didn’t help Rohan…” Roxy muttered. He’d probably still be here if you released me. I can hear you, Monika responded to my thoughts. Funny, because I was addressing you. Want me to sic Starbeat on you? No. Something’s wrong with her, though. Gamzee too. Not Caliborn? Surprisingly, not so much. Just watch them, since I can’t. …I don’t know… You don’t have to trust me, but you do know I care about them. I think there’s cause for concern. Just be careful. All right, fine. I will. “Earth to Twilence,” Trixie said, waving a hoof in front of my face. “You’re about to walk into a swamp.” “That’s where he went!” I said, defensively. He had, but I also hadn’t realized I was about to walk into a swamp until Trixie had said something. “If you want to catch him you will have to go through this swamp.” Monika created a raft. “All aboard.” All nine of us piled on and set off through the swamp. It wasn’t a normal marsh – but things rarely were ‘normal’ on Nucleon. The trees were red and had no leaves, instead relying entirely on ‘parasitic’ butterflies for their solar nutrients. The water glowed blue as we set off across it, announcing our presence to all the predators. They were some pretty fierce predators. We also had Saitama on board so we didn’t need to worry at all. Even without him, almost all of us could have taken the beasts. “How strong are we?” Trixie asked, suddenly. “Or, well, all of you. I’m not a fighter, but…” “I think virtually all of us could take on an entire army on our own,” Roxy said. “The weakest aside from Trixie is probably… Chancellor Fluttershy?” The Chancellor nodded slowly. “I could not take on a whole army – but Starbeat could.” “I don’t know about that…” Starbeat said. Saitama punched a three-headed crocodile dragon in the face, exploding its skull. “Don’t sell yourself short. You have a fire in your eyes. Totally could take on an army and probably would if I wasn’t around.” He stuck a finger in the water and speared a trout. “Huh. Didn’t expect that to work.” “Turn left,” I said, my eyes closed to allow me some focus. “He’s changed direction.” “Why?” Starbeat asked. “All I’ve got is his ka-signature, Starbeat. I don’t know why he’s doing anything or for what purpose. The Eye of Rhyme is only showing me the story as it directly relates to us right now. I haven’t seen a scene in another point of view for a month. Everything’s had to be reset.” “…Do you have some visions back?” Trixie asked. I nodded slowly. “I can see some things. Not as many as I used to, but more than during the war.” “Well…?” “I see a City around the Dark Tower more than anything else. I see an airship. I also see a great evil – sometimes the Crimson King, but other times I think it has to be something else – charging across the land. And I see us standing together – but also fighting.” I opened my eyes. “Yes, I really am just a weird oracle with vague visions now, sorry, not much I can do about that at this very moment.” “Very helpful,” Starbeat muttered. “You understand my pain.” Starbeat let out a harsh, prolonged hiss. “Just keep navigating. Has he changed where he’s going anymore?” I shook my head. “As far as I can tell the heading is the same as I last said.” “THEN FULL STEAM AHEAD!” Caliborn shouted. “Make the boat go faster!” “Uh. Okay.” Saitama got into the water and started kicking. …To put it simply, the boat went faster. ~~~ “…and start moving around the planet until we find something,” O’Neill said, wrapping up the meeting. “That’s all folks, return to your ships.” Minna nodded curtly, stood up, and returned to her Commander’s seat on the Austraeoh’s bridge. O’Neill talked to the Emperor for a bit in the hall between the bridge and the meeting room, and Minna let them. She told herself she didn’t mind waiting a few extra minutes. As it turned out, she did. She did mind. But her military discipline kept her planted, silently, in the chair. Eventually, O’Neill decided he was done with the chat and returned to his captain’s chair. “Permission to go off-duty, sir?” Minna asked. O’Neill looked to her. “Not even going to let me get my seat warm?” “…Sir?” “You can have a vacation day, you earned it. But be ready to be back here at a moment’s notice if we find anything. Where you going?” Minna stood bolt upright as soon as she’d been told she could go. “Swip.” “…Ah. I would say enjoy yourself, but…” he didn’t finish the thought, opting to simply wave her along. She marched down the halls at a brisk pace – never breaking into a run. She knew the moment she broke into a run, she would lose all her discipline. And she needed to keep her discipline. It was what kept the people of both sides looking up to her. If she faltered, they might find an excuse to… She was overexaggerating it in her mind, of course, but it could always be the thing that tips someone over the edge. She entered a transporter bay and found that it was absolutely filled with Aradias tearing things off the walls and replacing them all in quicktime. One of them slowed her timestream to be even with Minna’s. “Hi High Commander! …I’m one of the Aradias who served with you, not that I expect you to remember.” She saluted. “An honor to be here.” Minna saluted back. “What’s going on?” “Transporter malfunctions. Lapis Vee is having us renovate the entire room. I can take you to the one on the other side of th-“ “Thanks, but I’ll find my own way,” Minna said, hurrying off. Instead of going to the alternate transporter room, she went to the docking bay. She pressed a hand to the door. “Taking Skiff on a trip to Swip.” |> Access granted. “…Nala what are you doing in the ship’s computer?” |> Renovations. The coding could be improved by several orders of magnitude. “Just don’t go evil on us.” Minna jumped into a Skiff and took it off the Austraeoh, flying through the small gap of space between the Merodi flagship and the spaceship that was a Sweetie Belle. They were in an ‘orbit’ around the core planet, which was to say they were drifting around it in an organized vaguely-circular pattern in order to see what they could find. They could never make out much unless they were right on top of it due to the ‘fog of ka’ (Chem had named it), but they could still see the world. Minna had at one point said it was beautiful. She still believed the tessellating colors and biomes were beautiful, but she wasn’t looking to it at the moment. Other things were on her mind. “Welcome to Swip!” Swip announced as Minna entered her hold. “How can I be of help?” “Looking for Thrackerzod,” Minna said, crawling out of the Skiff. “Thrackerzod is currently on the bridge. Nettle, could you take her there?” Nettle looked up to Minna and waved. “Sure!” Minna examined Nettle. In many ways, the two of them were alike – both pale skinned not-quite-humans. Minna was significantly taller and more muscular than her. Nettle seemed to have blacks and whites on her only with no in-between while Minna had a grayish tinge to some of her hair and her eyes had the purplish color to them. Minna remembered who this girl in front of her was – an all powerful relic of the most powerful civilization to exist in the history of the multiverse. She couldn’t for the life of her see the mildly insane jellyfish-entity in this woman. There was just too much fear in those eyes, too much hesitation in the way she moved. Definitely not the same person. As Nettle started walked with her to the bridge, the ex-Downstreamer smiled. “So, hi. I don’t believe we’ve met?” “I’ve encountered you, but you wouldn’t have registered it,” Minna said. “Nothing to be ashamed of.” “Oh, good, I’ve been trying to introduce myself to people lately and I’ve been finding that a lot harbor resentment toward me for being like I was. An… arrogant prick? Is that right?” “I don’t think so,” Minna deadpanned. “I’ll ask Burger about it later. …Or Mattie. …Actually, I get the impression that all my friends aren’t really as socially acceptable as they claim to be.” She rubbed the back of her head. “So… yeaaah.” There was an awkward silence. “So, why are you here?” “I’m going to ask about my mother.” Nettle blinked awkwardly. “And this is the point where the context clue is ‘shut up’?” “Yes.” “…Thanks.” She turned around and walked away – Minna was already at the door to the bridge. She took a deep breath and walked in. Thrackerzod was not the only one in there – the Everykid was as well, playing a video game on the console. A video game that starred her… Minna didn’t think about this. She cleared her throat. “Thrackerzod.” Thrackerzod visibly tensed, even though Minna was only looking at her from behind. The once-eldritch unicorn slowly turned her chair around and fixed Minna with a concerned glare. “She’s dead, Minna. Dusted.” Minna didn’t know what she’d been expecting. That, probably that, but she hadn’t let herself accept it. Or look into the future. Or much of anything, really. She took in a deep breath. “Thank you, Thrackerzod.” “…It wasn’t painful. Not for any of them, if that’s what you want to know. She didn’t even seem all that surprised. Just… pained.” “She really did it, didn’t she? That wasn’t just some… cover story?” “Killed Renee in cold blood,” Thrackerzod said matter-of-factly. “Renee cleared her mind at the same time. It was… one last gift. She went with a smile on her face.” Minna sat down in an empty chair and held a hand to her forehead. “…I’m sorry,” Thrackerzod said. “I can’t be the emotional support you need right now. I’m… I’m just an eldritch demon trapped in a unicorn’s body.” She sighed. “Burgerbelle might be able to help. If she can keep from cracking a joke every five seconds…” “I have Frigid,” Minna said. “He… He’s there for me.” “If you think that’s enough.” Minna shook her head and stood up. She gave Thrackerzod a salute and turned to leave. The Everykid stopped her by hugging her legs tightly. Minna looked down at the kid in the hat. Something about her presence made Minna smile. She peeled the Everykid off her legs and kneeled until she was eye level with the kid. “…I have the day off. Want to… get something to eat? Like, ice cream?” The Everykid nodded vigorously. Minna glanced at Thrackerzod. “…I can take her, right?” “She seems to like being the kid, go for it,” Thrackerzod said. Minna picked the Everykid up and took her out of the bridge. There was just something about holding her in her arms that felt… right. Of course this wasn’t her kid, but maybe, just maybe, she could pretend like the Everykid was for a day. And she could see what it was like to be her mother. ~~~ Eve didn’t have to follow the signal very far - relatively speaking, at least. The Skiff probably covered a distance the size of a standard Earth diameter, but on the core world it was barely a pixel on the map. They came to a stop over a giant hole in the ground that looked recently caved in. She brought the Skiff low, ‘skimming’ the ground so close she upturned a fair amount of dust in the process. It did not take her long to find the tunnel that led deeper into the ground. “…I’m hesitant to take the Skiff underground…” Eve admitted. Corona shrugged. “It’s not like we actually need it to travel from planet to planet, our own magic is enough, we can risk it.” “Okay then,” Eve said stretching her neck and lighting her horn. “Time for some fancy flying.” “Are you really that good of a pilot?” Sunny asked. “Uh… Probably not…” “Scoot over,” Sunny said. Eve obliged and allowed the fiery unicorn to take the helm. She latched onto all the controls with her magic and pushed the Skiff forward into the tunnels. It was very dark for a long time, but the Skiff’s headlights were more than enough to light their way. Sunny masterfully weaved her way through the tunnels like an ace pilot, hitting only one hanging stalactite that the Skiff’s hull easily shrugged off. “Sorry!” she blurted. “Just focus on the flying,” Eve said, no hint of worry in her voice. The serene words were warranted; they made it through the tunnel without any significant damage. They found themselves in an underground spherical hole with a mini-sun in the middle, a jungle around the lower edges, and a large gray structure. Eve’s eyes lit up and her grin widened. “Is that the Hub!?” “It looks like it!” Corona said, grinning as well. “Yes! Take us down!” Sunny made a salute and slowly brought the Skiff toward the Hub. They must have seen them coming, since the docking bay lit up and opened their ceiling panel, allowing the Skiff to drift slowly to the floor within. They landed without incident and popped the windshield open, Sunny hopping out first. Storm was waiting for them with a security team. He didn’t lower his gun when Sunny appeared. “Which one are you?” “Uh… Sunny?” “Stand down Storm,” Eve said, leading Daniel gently out of the Skiff. Storm stood down the instant he saw Eve. “…Evening!? I… I didn’t expect to see you ever again!” “It’s good to see you too,” Eve said. “And Daniel…” Storm smirked. “I suppose I’m going to have to give you my job?” “You can keep it…” Daniel breathed. “That’s not what I’m here for…” “What are you here for?” “Why do people have to keep asking that question?” Storm shrugged. “Regardless, it’s good to see you back on your feet.” “…For a given value of feet,” Daniel muttered, stumbling a bit. It was at this point Storm noticed Corona crawling out of the Skiff. “STOP RIGHT THERE!” Corona tried to stop – but since she was in the middle of crawling out of the Skiff she lost her balance and fell flat on her back, dazed. “Storm! No, stop,” Eve said, spreading her wings in a defensive posture. “I know what she’s done and I know you have a right to be angry, but I’ve given her my pardon.” Daniel grunted. “For what it’s worth, as Overhead of Expeditions I do as well… Better to just move on…” Storm looked at Daniel in surprise. “…Daniel?” “Curses aren’t a thing anymore. She’s not trustworthy, but there’s no need for violence here.” “I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Corona said. “Can I stand up now?” Storm lowered his gun, eyes still angry. “Sure. I still have to put you under arrest.” “Why?” Eve said. “I’m not in charge here. Starbeat is, and not having you tried and executed is probably against her wishes.” Eve blinked. “Starbeat?” “War changes people,” Storm said. “Corona, come willingly or I will have to use force.” Corona rolled her eyes. “Right, we’ll play along.” “Corona…” Eve warned. “You’ll have a talk with her,” Corona said dismissively. “Knock some sense into that skull of hers. I can sit in a cell for a few hours, it’s not like the world’s in danger right now or anything.” “…It might be,” Daniel said, narrowing his eyes. “Well, it’s not like we know what kind of danger it’s in.” Corona held out her hands. “Take me away.” Storm took joy in cuffing Corona up, a sight that hurt Eve. He led them away, into the new society of the Hub. ~~~ Who’s group was it? Was it Starbeat’s? Was it Roxy’s? Was it mine? Whoever’s it was, we were tracing the Crimson King through a landscape composed mostly of rough, black metal that was very angled and uneven at a close inspection, but from a distance seemed very smooth and lustrous. The land was mostly flat with the exception of a few pointed peaks in the distance. “Why can’t we see him?” Starbeat demanded. “The land’s flat!” I sighed. “I said we were close, not right on top of him. He’s probably within line of sight, which includes possibly being behind those mountains or that hill or what have you.” “The coward should show himself!” Caliborn shouted. “He needs to beg for mercy at my feet!” “Saitama’s feet,” Monika corrected. “Fists,” Saitama added. I stopped short. “…Uh…” “Uh, what?” Starbeat questioned with the usual amount of distaste. I pointed down at the ground. There were giant footprints crossing our path – the right foot being nothing more than the peg leg, the left a clawed monstrosity of a comparable size to me. I slowly turned around to look at Caliborn. The shapes of his foot and peg leg matched, but he was much, much smaller. “…What are you all looking at me for!?” “In the original ‘plan’, you grew up to become Lord English,” I said. “What?” I facehooved. “You got ‘riiiiiiipped’.” “Oh. I remember that…” “Yeah, well, given these footprints and the ka I’m sensing…” I gulped. “There’s… There’s a good chance the fully realized Lord English is out there. And nearby, these tracks are fresh.” Monika furrowed her brow. “So now there are two apocalyptic multiverse-ending threats running around?” “Jegus…” Roxy muttered, hand to her forehead. “This… I think I can finally say it. We’re fucked.” “Wimpy bitch,” Caliborn muttered. “Their power is nothing to ME!” “Lord English is also the Lord of Time,” I pointed out. “Yeah, but he’s me, and I’m the BEST!” “I think chances are pretty high he tries to kill you on sight.” “What? That’s stupid, you’re fucking idiotic!” “What would you do if there was another, weaker version of you?” Caliborn blinked. “I wouldn’t. Fuck you, that’s why.” I rolled my eyes. “Riiiight…” “All this changes is that we now have to deal with both at some point,” Starbeat announced. “Let’s go for the Crimson King first since his tracks are nearly-impossible to follow.” I nodded. “Seems reasonable. He’s this w-“ A spaceship appeared above us – a carrier of some sort. I couldn’t recognize the design upon a cursory inspection, and I didn’t care, because I suddenly knew who was inside. I grinned. “We just got backup.” The carrier landed in front of us and opened up its hatch with a loud clang upon contact with the metallic ground. While there were a few dozen people inside the carrier, only five decided to come out – Lightning, Sherlock, Mlinx, Pinkie, and Discord. Before any explanations or angry shouting could begin Trixie gasped. “DISCORD?” “TRIXIE!” Discord teleported to her and pulled her into a really really big hug. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” “Oh, you!” Trixie giggled. “Do I have a lot to catch you up on!” “What a coincidence! Perhaps we should have a moment over tea?” “…Discord, that’s Flutterfree’s thing.” “I’ll get you to like tea yet.” “So… Dirty…” Caliborn said, staring on with great interest. “Discord, zip his mouth,” Trixie ordered. Discord did just that and Caliborn was powerless to resist. “EVERYONE STOP!” Starbeat shouted. “Let’s get through… introductions.” She turned to glare at Pinkie. “We all know who each other are.” “You don’t know me,” Sherlock said, stepping forward. Starbeat raised an eyebrow. “You are right, I don’t. Care to introduce yourself?” “Sherlock Holmes. You are Starbeat Glimmer, and you’re about ready to blow a gasket because we made a truce with Pinkie.” “Brilliant deduction, detective.” Starbeat examined him through her goggles. “You are a completely normal human being with the gift of deduction, cementing your position of authority among those of higher power. You have been manipulating things behind the scenes and not one of your ‘friends’ truly know how much you have been doing that.” Sherlock was unimpressed. “Let’s go down the list. You’re irrationally angry, have a deep-nested desire to give everyone in the collapse movement what they deserve, have no patience for most of the people around you, have gotten yourself on a little power kick as of late, have finally discovered something resembling a love life, and were holding Twilence prisoner with magic locks.” Starbeat blinked, realizing he’d just used the past-tense word. “Shit…” “Thanks Pinkie,” I said as she used a magic-restoration device on my horn. “Doooon’t mention it!” Pinkie said, jingling what were probably supposed to be comical representations of magic locks, but just looked like purple handcuffs. The two of us bounced back to the carrier, free. Starbeat lit her horn. “Get back here right now…” “No,” I said. “I will not. I’m not going to let myself be subject to your… Rage-fueled dementia anymore.” “She’s not demented!” Trixie shouted indignantly. “Perhaps not. But she’s not in a good state of mind.” I glared at Gamzee. “I want to blame you, but I don’t have any proof.” Gamzee shrugged. “Hey, I’m just here for motherfuckin’ support. Do I look all that angry to you?” “The Bard of Rage can work in mysterious ways,” I observed. “Enough!” Lightning said, clapping her hands. “Lord English is loose and he has Siron’s staff. I don’t know what he wants to use it for but we fought him, and we lost badly.” “The Crimson King’s loose too,” Roxy said. “We fought him – and with Monika and Saitama we almost won. He ran away and we’ve been pursuing him.” “We can help,” Sherlock offered. “The ship has better sensors and can get us to either one of them faster.” “We can sort out all the interpersonal details later,” Lightning announced. “Right now we need to stop these monsters. Does that work for you?” Caliborn grinned. “So long as I get to shoot that Crimson fucker some more…” “Don’t speak ill of the dead,” I chided. “…What?” I shook my head. “Never mind, not important, sadly.” I looked to Starbeat. “Can you put aside your anger for just one moment and take on something actually evil?” “I can,” Starbeat seethed. “I don’t have to enjoy it.” “Nobody’s asking you to.” “It’s implied.” “Let’s just get moving,” Mlinx announced, clearly tired of all this. “Everyone aboard.” Saitama shrugged. “You heard the bug monster.” He jumped into the carrier. Everyone else followed shortly after. The carrier lifted itself into the air rather quickly. “Crimson King first, harder to see,” Pinkie said. Strange – the man currently at the pilot’s seat – raised an eyebrow. “Where?” “That direction,” I said, pointing. The ship blasted in the direction I pointed. In all of three seconds, Strange pulled the ship to a stop, eyes widening. “What…?” We had found the Crimson King all right – drifting across the dark metal like a red wraith, Black Thirteen held firmly in his grasp. But we had also found Lord English. He had taken a detour from his straight march and was now marching toward the Crimson King, the staff Juju held tightly within his green, knobby hand. Everyone on the carrier froze – unable to do anything but watch the interaction unfold. The Crimson King turned to face Lord English with caution. “What manner of creature are you?” “HERE.” “Don’t be so coy.” He lifted up Black Thirteen as a weapon. “You are Lord English.” Lord English didn’t even nod – he just marched closer and closer to the Crimson King. “Do not be a fool,” the Crimson King warned. “One of your caliber could have a place in my new existence.” Lord English kept walking forward, the features on his face not changing in the slightest. “I see you wish to risk it all for whatever petty reason your brutish instincts have rationalized.” The Crimson King pushed his hands forward. “BEGONE!” Lord English was already behind the Crimson King and punched him through the head. The King retaliated in kind, driving his eldritch fingers into English’s face. Despite the hand literally grabbing at the inside of his skull, English took a breath – and let out an explosive beam of hyper-intense energy, creating a crater similar to the one he had left in the desert a few hours prior. The King reformed into a gigantic spidery shape and drove all eight legs into English. English was already on his back, breaking the carapace with a powerful fist. The King returned to his humanoid form and met English’s fist with Black Thirteen. “That curious ‘already here’ power of yours… it is no more.” Lord English clearly didn’t care, using his other fist to punch forward – only for the King’s free hand to meet it. The impact of the two limbs was enough to crack the metallic earth beneath them, creating a sound like claws on chalkboard mixed with a collapsing ocean liner. The shockwave was enough to make the observing carrier fire its maneuvering thrusters to remain airborne. English opened his mouth and unleashed a beam of multicolored energy, but the King blocked it with a projected eye, reflecting the beam back at English. The green monstrosity fell back, blowing up a mountain in the process. He charged out in an instant, manipulating time to increase his speed and drive his claw through the King’s stomach. The King responded in time, summoning thousands of blood-red needles to impale English from all sides. He followed this up with a burst of eldritch energy, twisting English’s body to impossible proportions. The Crimson King was not all that surprised to see English stand back up – bleeding his bright candy-red blood. “Tiring?” the Crimson King asked, hitting Lord English with an attack from a dimension that shouldn’t have existed. “Finding it difficult to face the impossible when your own powers are limited?” Lord English sped to the Crimson King and kicked him with enough force to create a fissure the size of a canyon behind him. The King responded in kind, an eldritch power that absorbed all life-energy for a thousand kilometers in the opposite direction and spiked it into Lord English in a single instant. The resulting explosion of the impact carried enough energy to start burning the metal beneath their feet with deep, purple flames. English still stood strong. He pulled back his head and charged an attack, summoning several thousand pool balls in the air to keep the King busy while he did so. Then he unleashed the beam that could destroy planets, devastating only a small section of Nucleon in the direction he was facing. But the Crimson King was already behind him. “Thanks for the trick.” The King was already driving eldritch thorns into English’s entire body, taking control of what constituted his muscular and nervous systems. English froze, unable to move. He let out a disgusting mix between a honk and a roar before his jaw bone and vocal cords were frozen as well. Deep, crimson spikes punctured out of every square inch of his body – and then vanished just as quickly. The Crimson King removed his hands from English’s body. Blood began to pour out of the Lord like he was a punctured water balloon. The green menace wavered for a bit. He grunted and took a step, turning around to face the Crimson King. He held out a shaky, uneven fist. An eldritch tentacle hit him upside the head. That was all it took – Lord English fell to the ground, dead in a pile of his own blood. The Crimson King stood triumphant – and then grabbed his side. “That… Took too much…” “Get him now!” Lightning ordered. “We h-“ Lord English’s body started glowing. With a serene, almost holy light, every one of his wounds were healed. He floated into the air like a deity and opened his eyes. The Crimson King tried to cut him in half – but his attack was disintegrated by the empowered light. “What is this?” Lord English spoke. “UNCONDITIONAL. IMMORTALITY.” Then he held up his staff Juju. He could have used it at any time since the battle began, but he had chosen not to. But now that he had proven himself… It was time to end this. The Crimson King sensed this. He dropped all pretense he had of a standard body, letting his full eldritch form shine through. The appearance alone would have caused madness for anyone within the carrier had the computer not detected this and placed a sanity filter over it. There was too much – curdling masses of darkness that were the color of blood, but definitely not blood alongside bones that did not appear to come from any animal anyone had ever seen in their lives. There were tentacles, but there were also vaguely gaseous sections that buzzed with the sound of a billion cicadas and the moans of those who wished for death. Dominating this all was a single, intangible, crimson Eye. The Crimson King could see. He could always see. Everything his eye laid its gaze on was his. An immense eldritch beam shot out of the eye. It would have destroyed a sizable chunk of Nucleon – big enough to be felt as an earthquake on the other side of the conglomeration planet. Lord English held up the staff Juju, executing a plan an eternity in the making. He had known since the very beginning there was a large chance he would be trapped in the House Juju, ever since he had used it against the retconning kids. He also knew what the House Juju was – and that if, for any reason, English was ever released, then the Crimson King would be as well. The First Multiversal threat would face off with the Last. So English placed a Juju with the explicit purpose of absorbing eldritch power out into the multiverse, where it would eventually find its way to his claws once again. Where it could be used to end the Crimson King. Lord English’s staff Juju absorbed every last inch of the Crimson King’s attack, letting none of the energy even touch the ground. Then the staff moved on to absorb the King himself – starting with the tentacles, the blood, the screams, the gas, and the bones. The Crimson King let out a scream that would have curdled the minds of everyone in the entire system, but the staff absorbed even that into itself. Soon, only the King’s pure essence, his eye, remained. “I AM THE CRIMSON KING!” it shrieked in defiance. “NOT ANYMORE.” Lord English snapped his fingers, and the last remaining essence of the Crimson King shunted into the staff. Black Thirteen appeared in its place and began to fall to the ground. Lord English pointed the staff at Black Thirteen and activated the Crimson King’s power. A beam of red, black, and green energy affixed the core of the Juju to Black Thirteen. The Dark Tower’s prized artifact seemed to struggle against the power, but eventually it gave in – slamming itself into the staff Juju’s central crystal. The two essences fused together. Black Thirteen gained an aura around its edge that shifted through every color of the rainbow much like how English’s eyes did. Two perpendicular spirographs appeared within the mists of Black Thirteen, one red and one green. The new orb floated in the air, surrounding itself in black metal spires in a similar way to TSAB Devices – becoming one with the attachments, but not physically touching them. The shards arranged themselves into the form of a pointed scepter with the new Black Thirteen in the center. Lord English grabbed hold of his now completed weapon, connecting with it on a deep, metaphysical level. He let out a deep, horrid HONK as the energy coursed through him. His green Cairo Overcoat transformed into a deep, Crimson red. He turned to look directly at the observing carrier. All of us were still frozen. Even if we weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to do anything. He pointed. He could have destroyed us all right then and there without so much as breaking a sweat. Instead, he just shattered Death’s skull into a million tiny shards. Then he turned and walked away, just as he had been before. Marching to some unknown goal… Someone was able to revive Death – I don’t know who, my Awareness of the event was severely skewed by English’s presence. “Why?” Starbeat asked. “Why in-“ “He sent a message,” Sherlock said. “He could have killed us all, clearly. He could probably have found a way to extinguish Death’s soul. He just wanted us to know that, at any time, he could remove our ability to survive him with little effort.” He looked down. “He could have ended the fight at any time with that staff, but he chose not to. He’s putting on a show.” “Why would h-“ “He wants to win,” I said. “He’s been making it purposefully difficult for himself. Trying to build himself a story where he ends up the victor… While still fully retaining the role of a villain.” “…Could that work?” Pinkie asked. “I want to say no,” I said. “But… I can’t. The rules have changed… He has that new weapon… And ka is so dense…” I gulped. “He might have a chance.” ~~~ Eve sat in a room, alone, with Storm and Azula. The Overhead of Relations made it painfully obvious she wasn’t pleased at her welcome with a scowl. “I understand you and Corona have been through a lot,” Storm said, folding his hands together. “But that’s clouded your judgment. She needs to pay for what she’s done.” “She and I did the exact same things for almost the exact same reasons,” Eve pointed out. “If you’re going to try her for war crimes, why not try me?” “Because you didn’t kill the multiverse!” “She never wanted to do that and you know it. It was because nobody could agree that we couldn’t minimize the deaths. If she asked the question at all, this was going to happen. Would you rather she tried to take the action herself without consulting anyone? Plus, she didn’t even succeed; someone screwed with the collapse and created this world. I think that’s hurt her enough, don’t you think?” “Less people died. A lot less people. She was willing to sacrifice a lot more. To really be right, she needs to lose more than she was willing to sacrifice in the first place.” “Don’t you talk to me about rights, Storm,” Eve spat. “You and I both know that you’ve never been big on ‘morality’ or ‘justice’, you just do what’s most beneficial to you at the time. I gave you a world where being moral was your best option, so you took it. Now, in this world, you’ve decided it’s in your best interests to breed anger and resentment. You’re doing really well.” Storm bristled. “Then you’ll have to take Starbeat’s word for it, because she is the one saying those things.” Eve narrowed her eyes. “That sounds so unlike her…” “She suffered because of the war.” Storm leaned in. “We lost, Eve, and the story of war is almost always written by the victors. We have a chance to deny them that right. The people of the collapse don’t have to control this New World, we can make it our own.” “We can do that without all this anger!” Storm slammed a fist on the table. “I do not want to be in a world they designed!” “They didn’t design this world!” “They shouldn’t have any say! They said we all needed to die! We decide how we get to live – and that’s without them!” “GET OUT OF HERE!” Eve shouted. “This is not Merodi Universalis,” Storm said. “Even if it was, you have no place dealing with internal affairs.” “And you’re Second of Expeditions. You have no business being here either. Get out.” Storm stood up, bowed insultingly, and walked out. “Starbeat’s in charge. When she gets back…” “When she gets back I’ll be struggling to restrain myself,” Eve muttered. Eve was left alone with Azula. “What are the chances you and I can sway the population?” Eve asked, quiet. Azula shook her head. “Low. They’ve been whipped up into a frenzy… It’s almost unnatural. I’m not the watcher of people my uncle was, but I wouldn’t have thought they had this in them.” Eve shook her head. “What happened?” “I want to say it’s the war. I’m not sure it is.” “…What will they do to her?” “They’ll want her executed. Any of the big names in the collapse will get that.” Eve looked at her. “…It’s already happened?” “They found Phage and Rosalina,” Azula said. “It wasn’t pretty.” Eve shook her head. “And they’ll want more… Azula, this has to stop.” “How are you going to stop it?” “…If talking to Starbeat doesn’t work, we might just have to take back control.” She looked to Azula. “Or we might have to escape. I can trust you to help?” Azula nodded. “Of course. Just tell me when.” “Thank you. For now, just keep doing what you’re doing.” Eve folded her wings and walked out of the meeting room. Sunny and Daniel were waiting for her outside. “This isn’t it,” Daniel said, shaking. “It’s not here.” “He’s getting… insistent,” Sunny added. Eve nodded slowly. “This… actually works. I think it’s about to get a little uncomfortable around here, and it’d be best if Daniel wasn’t around. Can you take him to… wherever it is he thinks he needs to go? You can have the Skiff.” “Will you and Corona be okay?” “…If everything goes as planned,” Eve said, furrowing her brow. “While you’re out there, tell anyone who will listen what’s happening here. That we might need help.” “Got it.” Sunny saluted. “See you soon.” “You too.” The two mares went their separate ways. Eve teleported herself through several corridors until she found her way to the jail Corona was being held in. She walked in the front door. All three guards were laying on the ground, out cold, but Corona was still in her cell bouncing a ball against the wall. “What…?” “They thought they could keep insulting me. It took… oh, a good thirty minutes before I lost it. They’re all fine and I didn’t open the door.” She kept bouncing the ball. “Even healed them up after a minute.” “Are you still sure about this?” “Let them have their moment,” Corona said, narrowing her eyes. “Get it all out into the open.” “They’ll want to execute you.” “They’re welcome to try.” Corona caught the ball and sighed. “…Thanks for sticking by me.” “What are friends for?” Corona laughed. “They’re apparently good for doing a lot of really, really stupid sounding things that are amazing anyway.” Eve smiled. “Don’t let yourself worry. We’ll turn this place around somehow, you can count on it.” “There’s something else going on, I can feel it. Bigger than all of us.” “There always is. But when we find it, we’ll face it just like we faced everything else.” Corona smirked. “You came in here all pessimistic and concerned and now listen to you. Eve, never change.” “Corona?” “Hmm?” “Don’t stop changing.” Corona let out a deep, real laugh filled with life. Only a few weeks ago that noise would have never left her mouth, and she had been free then. Here she was, imprisoned by people she had considered her neighbors and friends, laughing. The sight warmed Eve’s tired, strained heart. ~~~ “Nanoha!” Jenny shouted, bursting into Nanoha’s personal quarters and promptly smacking her head on a lamp. “We’ve got a call you need to be here for!” Nanoha sighed – she had gotten into her nightshirt and had been this close to getting into bed. She picked up Raising Heart, put on her usual attire, and sat down in a swivel chair. “Can they patch it through Raising Heart?” Jenny nodded. She poked her head down the hallway. “YOU GUYS GOT THAT!?” Apparently they did, because they patched the transmission through to the Device in an instant. It flashed and projected a holographic screen with four familiar faces – O’Neill, Minna, Vita, and the Emperor. Nanoha’s mild annoyance vanished in an instant. “This is a pleasant surprise!” “It’s about to get better,” O’Neill said, snapping his fingers. “Currently in ‘orbit’ around your planet is a sizable fleet composed of both preservation and collapse forces. Including the Austraeoh. Given your lack of space-related infrastructure in this city of yours I bet you’ll be very glad to have us here.” “Yes,” Nanoha laughed to herself. “…I’m more glad to see that you’ve agreed the war is over. It hasn’t always been easy to do that here.” “Just have your military leaders agree to stop fighting,” Minna said. “Discipline takes over the rest as soon as there isn’t an enemy. …For the most part, civilians and the Combine are difficult.” “I would imagine…” Nanoha said. “We’ve had to use a looming threat as a reason to get everyone to work together.” “Oh boy… How big and ugly is it?” “It’s the Crimson King,” Nanoha said. “With the fall of the multiverse, the self-defense protocol deactivated. He’s free, and he’ll want to not only destroy the Tower, but take its power for himself.” “Where is he now?” “Unknown. We know he’s coming back here – and soon – which is why we’ve built so many defenses. We plan to use everything we have on him. I can trust you to help?” “Definitely,” Vita said. “We’ll stand by you until the end. What do we know about his powers?” “He has retained an eldritch nature despite this being im-“ “He’s dead,” Renee said, walking into the room. “Was just defeated. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” There was complete silence on both ends of the call. “You have to worry about what beat him.” She smirked evilly. “That’ll be here shortly as well. Have fun.” She trotted out of the room. Minna held out a hand. “W-was that…” “That was not your aunt,” Nanoha said. “That… is the Emissary of Ka, a manifestation of what the Flowers perceived to be the Tower’s Will. You will not find what you are looking for with her.” “…Sounds like you have a lot to catch us up on,” O’Neill said. “It also sounds like we don’t have any time,” Jenny added. “Like, at all.” Nanoha nodded. “I’ll patch you in to Saxton Hale – he’s currently running the military operations. You’re still Overhead, O’Neill, but he knows what the situation is down here. I need to go talk to the Emissary…” Vita cleared her throat. “Nanoha, before you go…” “I already know, Vita,” Nanoha said with a sad smile. “…I felt it the moment everything was dusted.” She cut the transmission and marched out of the room, purposefully flicking a tear out of her eye. Renee was waiting for her, a bored expression on her face. “Who is it?” “See, that’s part of what you have to do,” Renee said, cleaning one of her front hooves with a bored expression. “I can’t just tell you everything, that’d be boring.” “You said the Crimson King would lose. And he did.” “Yes.” “What about this… new threat?” Renee smiled. “My lips are sealed, High Sovereign. Telling you the end of the story before it happens? That’s ridiculous.” “Not entirely…” “Then I simply chose not to.” Renee tossed her mane back. “You have more defenses here than virtually any planet in the multiverse has ever had. What are you so worried about?” “That’s what I’m worried about. We’re over-prepared by all possible metrics. Something’s going to go very, very wrong.” Renee looked at her with knowing eyes. Eyes that didn’t give anything away. “I have work to do,” Nanoha muttered under her breath, turning and walking away. “More than you realize,” Renee called after her. Nanoha ignored the Emissary’s comment. Whatever work there was, she would put all of her power into it. She may not have fought to create this New World, but she would fight to her dying breath to defend it and her City.