So after everyone got a good rest, especially me cause this Godhood form takes a lot out of me especially with that much Haki...
"So, had your fun?" Cript asked.
“Yes, yes I did.” I said happily, looking at my armored hands. “Was fun to let loose...and use a lot of abilities I never used before.”
"Well you best keep at it like that then cause it's not gonna be easier. We're on the last few floors so best to, ya know, not hold back or anything."
“Yeah…” I started. “Only people I can think of that we have to fight are...ourselves at this point.” I said carefully.
"Yeesh. Scary thought. Save for Kexez, their floor was literally the easiest since there was nothing."
The next floor had me sigh as I took in the decor… this… was my floor.
"Well, this is… unsettling." Jericho stated.
“Well...shit.” I started carefully. “This is gonna be a massive pain in the ass…” I took a deep breath. “Alright, so either this place was built like a paranoid mother...or it was literally just so straight forward that we only have to fight the boss…”
"What's your money on?" Cript asked.
“Well…I’ll do simple, cause old age would make me bored of paranoia” I started as I grabbed a rock and flicked it into the room, it connecting with a few pillars and falls to the ground and nothing happened.
We entered and thankfully nothing much happened, though eventually we did come to the main boss room. Aka, my tomb. Inside we spotted my coffin. Well, it was more like a sarcophagus, standing upright over laid down. I'm not gonna lie, it does look pretty cool.
Soon the lid slid down and fell off to the side. Inside was a mass of Nothingness Thorns that soon broke apart, letting out my feral form self. I looked mummified, Void Corrupted as broken versions of my weapons were stuck across and inside various parts of my body as my dead counterpart snarled and growled with primal, total lack of intelligence fury.
“Well...that sounds about right…” I nodded at the sight. “So...who wants to go first against a feral me?”
"I dunno, this feels like a good opportunity for you to fight your own demons. In this case literally by fighting your failures in physical form." Cript stated.
“Fine fine.” I shrugged. “Well, then...let’s get on with this.” I growled, bringing out Lunatic and Skysplitter. “Let’s start strong...Lunar Collapse!” I shouted, leaping high into the air as energy surged through both Skysplitter and Lunatic, as I threw down both at my feral demon’s with the force of an imploding Moon.
As I was swinging down I noticed both Lunatic and Skysplitter both glowed on it’s back as they both flew up and clashed against my attack, causing a massive shockwave to emerge from it as I was tackled quickly, my dead version trying to bite me only for a spike to skewer it’s muzzle before it could bite me, Foudre suddenly glowed on it’s back as the both of us were suddenly hit with a move I know fully well...Raijin’s Fury.
“Motherfucker!” I shouted as I kicked the thing away swiftly. “Blaze of Glory!” I shouted, summoning Eternal Flames and shooting a massive pillar of fire towards it.
The damned thing had Frozen Pride glow as a pillar of hollow Ice appeared and blocked my flames, before it slithered over and tried to skewer me with ice.
“It might be blinded with fury but it’s still really smart…” I grumbled, dodging the attack swiftly. “Well...if it can counter what I can do normally…” I muttered as I disbanded my weapons and brought out my new wrist blades. “Let’s do something completely different.” I growled, getting into a pounce like stance as my enemy growled, starting to slowly circle me as if trying to read my intentions. In a blur the both of us clashed together, claw and bone sparking against each other.
“What happened to me…?” I muttered, wondering what could have caused me to be this injured, to be purely in my feral form, and all my weapons embedded in me.
“Fa...ilure…” The wolf whispered to me, knocking me back suddenly as it landed on the ground paws first, growling and circling me again.
“I won’t fail this time…” I growled, getting up again as I heard the distorted noises of Arpeggio suddenly ring out, water suddenly shaping more forms of my dead counterpart. “And I’ll never fail again!” I shouted as I dashed forwards, putting away my blades as my arms were coated in Armor and Conqueror's haki, the water wolves leaping at me as I slammed my fists into them, causing them to turn into clouds of water and getting coated in it. “And when I’m coated in water…” I muttered, seeing Foudre suddenly spark as Lightning was called down, but I took the powerful and amplified attack head on. “No matter what you do I can take it!” I roared, leaping past the lightning and slamming my fist into the wolf’s muzzle, driving it straight into the ground and cratering it deeply.
And then...Book of Retribution glowed and took me to book world cause of course it would. “Of course Book world…” I grumbled, looking around carefully for the book...only to see something literally straight out of my nightmares.
Everyone I loved, everyone I cared for, butchered, slaughtered, torn to bits and tortured till they died from shock or some sick twisted mercy...each one seeing myself hover over, grieving as if I was somehow responsible for their demise...I ran past each one of them towards the glowing book, seeing countless numbers of my mistakes in my life repeated in the worst ways possible, from my family abandoning me to someone else, to my family dying due to my own weakness, to me being the ones to slaughter them all...in any other circumstance, I would have crumpled up into a ball and cried, hating myself to absolutely no end…
But I’ve personally been through this hell before...and even if it hurts, I don’t care anymore. “I won’t let this nightmare happen ever again!” I shouted. “EVEN IF I HAVE TO DIE TO MAKE IT SO!” I shouted as I slammed my fist into the Lexicon, it exploding into pages as I was brought out of Book World and looking back at myself, still a mummified feral monstrosity growling at me in anger. “I won’t fail…” I told them, bringing out Second Chance. “Cause I have my family now...and I’m done.” I growled, the monster leaping forward as I used my Destiny Link with Eclipsa, feeling the connection between the two of us create something amazing. “Grey Finale.” I muttered, swinging Second Chance past my dungeon self and dodging it’s swing, the older wolf falling to the ground before the magic of Second Chance started to work it’s magic on them.
They wreathed and shook as the magic worked to revert the damage and then revert them to an infant form. Soon the corrupted version of me was reverted to the small pupper form of me.
"Daw, you used to be so cute. And now you're Overly sexualized." Cript said with a chuckle.
“I’m adorable still and you know it.” I chuckled, walking over and picking my pupper self up, hearing their small whines and nuzzling up to me. “But...you might not have been far off when you said ‘facing my demons’...”
I nursed little me for a while before sending them off to the others. The next floor was essentially a replica of Ponyville. The residents, or the monsters rather, seemed to be paper mache versions of ponies.
"Twilight… my Twilight." Cript stated.
“Do you want to take this one Cript?” I asked carefully.
He took a deep breath, raising a hand as he snapped his fingers. The whole town was suddenly ablaze in fire that touched the sky. "Sure…" He said, walking through the flames and passed the burning paper monsters.
“Well...straight to the point I guess.” I shrugged, walking after him carefully. “Anything about your Twilight that we should be worried about?” I asked, cause even if this was Cript I’m talking about, Twilight is still Twilight, more of a massive paranoid nerd than me half the time.
"She's patient. Learning is always a hobby for her, but when we had kids, she found a new passion in teaching."
“Neat.” I nodded. “Wonder what her abilities will be if you don’t one shot her.”
"Analysis. She'll learn everything about us. Replication. She'll calculate and master mentally all our abilities, skills and powers. And Finally, Counter Development. A perfect means to nullify or return the attacks no matter what they are." Cript stated.
I blinked. “Damn, that’s quite the skill set.”
"So how do we beat her?" Kexez asked.
"Patience." Cript stated. We arrived at Twilight's crystalcrystal castle. The doors opening wide as we neared. The inside wasn't like normal, it was broken and hollowed. Once we passed the doors, they closed behind us. The walls lit up with glowing symbols and runes I actually did not recognize.
"What are these?" Coco asked.
“This runework…” I started. “This is all...extremely fascinating and cool...but it’s not any kind of scanning or sensory rune words I know of…”
"You wouldn't know them. Twilight invented them." Cript said. "One of her pass times is to invent brand new magics, runes and spell work." Cript said with a chuckle. "Keeps them all to memory."
“Now I want to learn all this new amazing stuff damn it…” I pouted, my need for learning starting to outweigh the fact that we’re about to see Cript’s Twilight in a fight.
Between the bits of rubble laid all around the ground began floating form and burned paper. They swirled together until they formed an Equine figure. That figure then gained features of Twilight, horn, wings, coat and mane. She didn't look as decayed, but maybe that was because she was an Alicorn.
“That’s either her or a construct of her.” I started. “Not sure which, considering she creates new magic…”
"Yeah." Cript sighed out, closing their eyes. We all took a step back. Twilight's eyes opened wide as they seemed to glow with magic. Pure, raw… and unknown and new. "Even so," Cript opened their eyes, that same glow irradiating from them. "There's nothing I can't replicate."
I didn't see what happened next. One moment Cript took a step forward, the next Coco, Kexez and I were all blasted back and through the castle walls and into the still burning town. I looked up and saw Twilight pulling moons, stars and planets from the sky at Cript at speeds I couldn't believe, and he either obliterated them or deflected them as they came.
"Sweet… gods…" I heard Coco say from next to me. She was down on her stomach but looking up at the battle above us.
“Uh...huh…” I started. “That’s...quite a thing…”
I watched on in awe as Twilight wasn't just pulling the heavens down but was reshaping them faster than I could even see. One moment, a sun is being pulled near us, the next, a volley of spears forged from the stars energy. When she did this, Cript summoned forth his weapon, Darkest Hero and began rapidly cutting down the Spears. It was slow but I could see him getting closer to Twilight.
His free hand glowed with the copied magic and it rapidly formed a black mass that once he gripped it tight, he threw it towards the mare as it morphed into what I can only describe as a Black Hole Hurricane, rapidly sucking in all the raining heavens Twilight was pulling.
“What is this? Gurren Lagann?” I couldn’t help but comment at how absurd this cosmic level of attacks was at this point.
With her main arsenal removed, Cript got in closer but Twilight rapidly cast a shield. I dropped my jaw. The rune and spell work was… incredible. Not a single milliliter of the Matrix was wasted, and each rune in the magic Twilight created. The shield took the full force of Cript's attack, and was holding.
It wasn't lasting long though. Soon with each continuous swing the barrier began to crack and fracture. I was just amazed there was something that took effort for Cript to break.
The barrier shattered and to my further shock Twilight was now Dodging Cript's swings, matching his speed as she began casting attack spells at Cript purely from her mind. And Cript took every attack, not even bothering to defend or counter them.
"That's… impossible…" Kexez muttered as they looked up next to me.
“Nothing’s impossible.” Jericho said, the only one not having fallen over. “Especially for them.”
“But...there’s a certain point where...even this seems a little far fetched right?” I questioned nervously.
“We might be dealing with Cript’s original Herd if Twilight's here and Lyra’s the final boss.” The Admin of War stated simply.
“His...original Herd?” I asked in shock.
Jericho nodded. "As you know, Lyra is his first wife. And for many years it was just the two of them… then, the Dream Project Nexus worked on surfaced. The things Cript saw are one of the few that continue to haunt him. He took some time to relax, to be a normal person, er, Pony, on the Equestria his Lyra is from. Even managed to be one of Twilight first guards for her castle. Heh, it around then when it snowballed."
"Snowballed how?" Coco asked as she stood up.
"Well, he was on Break, Lyra brought him lunch. They ended up shagging in the closet and then Twilight found them."
“Oh yeah, I remember hearing that story.” I chuckled.
"Seriously?" Kexez asked, laughing.
Jericho nodded. "That ended in a three-way. Needless to say after that day the two returned home and then, guess what… nothing? Alright. Well by this point Lyra and Cript had their twins, and the babysitter they hired turned out to be Chrysalis."
“Oh yeah, and then she was trying to siphon off energy from the twin’s, but Cript stopped her and showed her a much easier way right?” I asked, thinking I heard this entire story before.
"Actually she was just babysitting. After her failed Canterlot Invasion, the Changelings kicked her out."
“Yeah that makes sense.” I nodded.
"She was surprised they didn't care she was the former Changeling Queen. Time passes and well, Twilight's three way that day left an impression on her, Chrysalis felt, well, similar feelings being accepted so openly and then Luna showed up but that's because before he was Twilight's guard, he was Luna's when Cript had amnesia and was really good at it, and Luna got a crush on him so you can imagine what happened shortly after."
“Neat.” I nodded. “So we’re...probably going to be fighting Cript’s original harem then? Or just...Cript cause at this point even Cript seems to be having trouble.”
"Probably just Cript. No offense but they'd… steamroll you."
“It’s almost like this somehow makes my previous fights feel underwhelming and disappointing.” I frowned.
"Do you wanna fight that?" Jericho pointed at the now Galactus sized Twilight casting spells with matrix circles the size of galaxies at Cript. "Then go on, go."
“Fine, I will.” I said, getting up and clapping my hands together. “Unlike you people, I also create new thing’s.” I said carefully, a spell matrix appearing behind like a Buddhist Dharma Wheel as I brought out my Gauntlet and Greave weapons. “Still experimental, but it’s a good a time as any to test it out.” I growled, taking a step forward and surprising Jericho with how fast I suddenly bolted into the fight.
As I rushed in and passed Cript to deal my first blow, a sudden Matrix appeared before me from Twilight. Emerging from the Matrix was-
The blow when we struck one another nearly blasted me back. Looking back up I saw myself. They were noticeably not a Den Mother, but still a Dire Wolf and we're welding… Void Key. "Heh. You're the bitch I was summoned to fight?" The other me asked.
“Oh there’s going to be so much catharsis with the ass kicking I’m gonna put you through.” I laughed.
"You really are me to have an ego like that." They said, raising Void Key. "Well, this will be… interesting."
“Oh no, there’s no ego in this.” I said. “Just gonna be me feeling so much better for all the shit you put me and my family through.” I answered, the spell matrix glowing a little brighter as I slammed my fist into the bastards face.
Despite the impact they rapidly spun and sliced down my torso. The pain stung as that Void collided with my Nothingness and my wound slowly stitched itself back together. "I don't even know you." They replied as they then kicked me in the gut, sending me back some feet in the air.
“Don’t you fucking use an Avenger’s Endgame quote on me.” I countered, dashing forward again as I tried throwing a series of powerful blows against the thing, wondering how powerful this version of Void Key was.
They rapidly began countering and blocking. To my surprise though on my last swing they brought out Frozen Pride in a flash of Void. The shield was purple and black with various cracks and leaking Void energy. "Wow, you're actually good. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were closer to being me than a first glance would tell."
“Well...I can already see where this is going.” I started, opening my hand slightly from the shield until I clenched down hard and used a powerful shield breaking strike against it, the force meant to injure this void version of me even with his shield up.
They were blasted back but appeared mostly annoyed with the attack. “Seriously? That all you got?”
“Oh I’ve got plenty more!” I shouted, the spell matrix starting to spin as I vanished and threw a powerful haymaker, slamming into their shield again and knocking them back again, leaping forwards to try and land another blow only for them to counter with a wall of ice tainted with Void energy that blocked my attack.
“Shadow Blizzard!” The dire wolf shouted as he slammed Void Key into the ice wall, shattering it as million’s of Void infused hail pieces slammed into me, causing me to fly back.
“Kharmic Reversal!” I shouted as I started to spin wildly, all the Void Hail bits suddenly spinning around me into a tornado that burned and melted away into beams of energy as I threw it all right back at him, the being blocking the attacks as best he could but still getting caught on his sides and limbs. “Ganesha’s Might!” I shouted, rushing forward as I pulled back my fist, making the dire wolf’s eyes widen as it looked like dozens of fists were suddenly appearing from my one single fist as I slammed it into his gut, a loud elephant roar sounding as it felt like dozen’s of beings lead by their leader slammed into him, sending him flying away.
My opponent coughed up blood but raised Void Key up. “Condemn!” He shouted, which confused me cause he would have...I took a deep breath and looked down at my own chest, the pesky bastard put the rune on my chest when I wasn’t paying attention...so I was immediately struck by the same amount of force and flown back just as far away, just in the nick of time as a literal planet slammed into where we were, almost crushing the both of us.
“Damn it…” I growled carefully. “This sucks…”
“FORE!” I heard someone scream as what sounded like a golf club hitting a golf ball happened and...the planet that was between us suddenly started flying towards me.
“SHIT!” I yelped, stepping back into a stance and readying a palm strike. “Kali’s Wrath!” I said, starting to do a careful dance before slamming the palm of my hand into the planet, causing it to shatter instantly as I saw the Dire Wolf...hey wait a minute, that’s my tactic!
“LUNA DIVIDER!” The Void version of Me apparently swung down at me, which I managed to barely dodge as a massive explosion knocked me away.
“Alright...if you want to do force…” I growled as the spell matrix behind me suddenly glowed brighter and looked more like a DharmaChakra. “Symbi...how you holding up in there?”
“This sucks, but I know what you want to do.” The fusion symbiote told me as I felt the magic wheel start to spin faster and faster.
“ASURA!” I shouted, feeling as the wheel seep into my back, hundreds of arms suddenly sprouting from my back that all fuzed into my two main arms and formed pure magical rage fueled might.
“Oh Asura would be so pissed at you stealing his look.” Void me said, bringing out Skysplitter as well, which as I saw Skysplitter and Lunatic were both Void Tainted, taking on either darker hues and looking blood stained like Skysplitter, or damn near like a black void with Lunatic, like it was the dark side of a moon. “I mean, people might be pissed at you for using their God’s names for attacks but who knows.”
“I did my research, I asked them directly, and I made sure to do thing’s with respect.” I growled, rushing forward and delivering an uppercut at them, who blocked with both Skysplitter and Lunatic but still being flung away.
“Okay...your looking more and more like me the more we fight…” The Void version of me said carefully. “Never thought I’d fight a younger version of myself though.” They laughed, swapping out into Eternal Flames and sending a massive plume of flames that were on par with some of the stars here.
“And I never thought I had to deal with another one of myself again.” I said, rearing back my right hand and throwing a powerful haymaker, the sudden gust of air creating a wall that caused the flames to scatter around me harmlessly.
There was a sudden shift in the air. Both my other and I turned to see Cript managed to land a blow on Twilight with Second Chance. It magic managing to overpower hers and begin to heal and revert her to a foal.
I turned back to my other, who to my surprise was not vanishing.
“I’m...not falling...to some summoning bullshit…” Void King growled, their body having Void tendrils lashing out from their force of will to deny themselves from being thrown back.
“Well…” I rolled my right shoulder carefully. “I’m just gonna have to knock you back into your world.” I said, still ready to fight against him. “Any objections Cript?”
"I mean, he's you so, maybe talk first before assuming he's evil?" He stated while feeding foal Twilight with a bottle.
“So why are you using Void anyway?” I asked carefully.
“Have you heard the phrase ‘lived long enough to see yourself as the villain’?” Void Me asked.
“Yeah of course…” I grumbled.
“Who knew Consume would be such an...innovative ability to finally bring that special utopia I’ve been working towards for so long...especially against those that wouldn’t surrender.” Void King said, raising Void Key as an example. “And oh how I took a little too much gratification on devouring this asshole.” He said with sadistic glee.
“Wait...you mean you...used Consume?” I asked carefully, remembering getting that ability and immediately regretted obtaining it cause it felt so...Vile.
“Against Nexus and any of those fuck heads that would follow them or Void Key’s machinations yes.” The dire wolf said as they leaped forwards, swinging down at me as I blocked the strike quickly. “Any who surrendered got a nice cell that was practically their own lovely home...but I became what I needed to to bring about Peace, and that was becoming a Tyrant.”
“Yeah...that sounds fair…” I sighed out, hating how I knew I would probably do that if thing’s went south after all of this as I swung my fist at them, only to be blocked by Foudre.
“So am I truly evil for doing what other’s couldn’t?” Void me asked, kicking me away as they threw Foudre in a very familiar pattern around me.
“I mean...the very definition of Tyrant means yes you are.” I started, vanishing before a bolt of lightning slammed into the ground, literally disintegrating the very ground that it hit in a small circle.
“Unlike you, I stopped caring about the small details about the obviously terrible people and got rid of them when they didn’t surrender.” Void King growled, bringing out Sharpshooters and letting out a sudden maelstrom of arrows towards me.
“So your not Evil,” I started as I slammed my fist into the ground, creating a wall of air and debris that blocked all the arrows. “You’re just tired of all the fighting...and went to any lengths to see the people you cared about be happy.”
“Exactly.” Void King said. “And if I have to kick my young and naive version’s ass to get back to what I need to do, than I’ll gladly do it.” He growled, summoning Interdiction and dashing towards me.
“The only thing I was naive about was immediately trying to jump into a fight that even Cript was having a little trouble with.” I rolled my eyes, blocking one of the laser sword swings. “But that was because I didn’t want to run away after I’ve come so far,” I started, slamming my fist into the guy before he went with his own gauntlets and slammed it into me. “I’ve grown so much and I won’t let someone stronger than me make it pointless again,” I declared, kicking the wolf away and jumping into the air, spinning like Sonic as I threw a spinning axe kick down onto him, which he blocked with both arms, cratering the earth beneath him. “I’m going to have to fight those fucker’s sooner or later, especially when Grey wants me to fight beasts from the Real World, so I won’t back down!” I shouted, jumping back and dashing forward, getting slammed in the face but I brushed past it and slammed my fist into them again. “I won’t run again!” I barked, as the both of us started to get into a massive anime punch-a-thon, our arms and fists blurring as the entire area around us started to rise around us. “And I won’t let it all my hard work be meaningless ever again!” I shouted.
Our fight that devolved into a bare knuckle brawl went on for what felt like hours...probably only minutes but I wasn’t counting as the both of us were battered, bruised and bloodied. “You...done yet…” I panted heavily, cause even after my ‘training’ with Lord I was still exhausted, my spell matrix glowing dimly as the powerful arms of Asura gave out a while ago.
“One...more hit…” Void King panted as well, the both of us raising our fists up as we threw one last, final punch as we both connected against each other in a boxing style ‘double hit’.
“This is anime as shit.” Coco commented, having been eating popcorn the entire time.
"Just kiss already!" Kexez yelled while sipping a large soda.
"Why are you two fighting still anyways? You're both not really bad guys. So, no real point in this."
“I was apparently summoned to fight this bitch.” Void King said, pointing to me.
“And I wanted to join the fight to prove my progress so far wasn’t bullshit, then I had to fight this bitch.” I said as I was pointing to Void King. “Also kiss already?”
“Why the hell would I kiss myself?” Void King asked.
“Cause you already suck yourself off sometimes, so get on with it!” Coco called out.
"Plus you did fuck and impregnate a future timeline variant of yourself, so… this isn't new to you." Kexez added.
"Not to mention what you and Den, your own mom, get up to." Jericho threw in.
“And my original birth mother sometimes…” Both me and Void King said at the same time. “I hate you all.” I said, pulling out an elixir and chugging it as I walked over and picked up my Void version. “Alright you, I’m gonna make you into a proper woman.”
“I never signed up for this!” Void King said in pure embarrassment, the dire wolf struggling in my hold as I took them...to a closet that was weirdly in this room.
“Why’s there a closet there?” Coco questioned, seeing me drag my cutely embarrassed self into it.
"King, stop. If they wanna stay male then let them. Otherwise this is a rape." Cript spoke up.
“Alright alright.” I called out. “Sorry.”
“I still didn’t sign up for this…” Void me whined. “It’s like my second date with Chrysalis all over again…”
“Was it fun?” I asked.
“Well...yes…” My more conservative counterpart blushed.
“Ever wanted to know what it feels like to literally fuck yourself?” I asked, causing them to wiggle a bit.
“Uh...it...has crossed my mind before…” They muttered nervously.
“Do you want to do it?” I asked softly, gently putting a hand onto the door handle, not turning it yet for my counterpart's decision.
"Stop it." Cript said, whacking my snout with a rolled up newspaper. "Bad horny wolf. Bad." They repeated, whacking it several more times.
“Oh when it happens to me it’s funny.” I rolled my eyes.
“I never did say no…” Void King said. “Just...shocked at how quick...I am to literally getting plowed I suppose…”
"It's kinda our King's hobby." Kexez informed.
"Job in that one timeline." Jericho added.
“And boy was I good at that.” I whistled at the memories.
“I...really? I’m that horny?” Void King asked.
“And more.” I chuckled.
"Ironic considering I'm the Admin of Love. Though Lyra still leaves you with cracked hips and bruised genitals." Cript added.
“That woman needs a little chill in her movements.” I complained. “I’m sorry that her thrusts can crush mountains or she rides me like a monofilament dildo.” I said carefully, which made my counterpart lightly shift in my hold.
“Uh...all this horny talk…” Void King blushed. “Can we get on with me myself and I here? It’s...getting a little uncomfortable for me with uh...a lot of things.”
"Well, first, King, given this version of you is from an alternate timeline, do you approve of them remaining here?" Cript asked.
“Well, better question would be if the Time Walkers approve of it, cause while I can be fine with it, Time Walkers would probably be not okay with another one of me running around this place.” I mentioned, even though I technically controlled Purgatory which was a dumping ground for lost Timelines...it was still the Time Walkers job mostly.
"So long as you file the paperwork they'll be fine. I still find it hilarious a Paradoxical Organization uses pure Bureaucracy." Cript chuckled.
“Yeah I’m still really surprised it’s all Bureaucracy.” I nodded.
A quick bit of paper and use of my powers over Nothingness later, Void King was allowed to remain here without restrictions. "So, what will you be doing now?" Cript asked my Void counterpart.
“Well...you people wouldn’t be here if a war wasn’t still going on...so…” Void King looked over and saw Coco. “Teach her Consume so she can use it on Void Key.” They said as they pointed at Coco.
Coco gulped. "Me?" She asked.
"Huh, that actually would work out extremely well." Cript said thoughtfully. "Her biology and being built to be Void Key's perfect Host would make using Consume on him probably the most flawless assimilation that ability has ever done. Plus given how it seems to have worked for you, when she does it she'd probably surpass you in terms of Void Abilities in no time."
"Can she handle Consume though?" Jericho asked.
“Consume is an ability where one of the purposes of it was to have Mortal’s obtain it and become Eldritch Gods.” Void King explained. “Anyone can use it if they manage to get it, it’s all about the use of it that’s key here.” Void King said. “Cause I’ve used it on hundreds if not thousands of beings, and while some of them were a challenge, it all worked out.” Void King shrugged. “And it’ll especially work out when Coco only uses it on Void Key, cause the rat bastard really want’s Coco cause she’s their true host...so what would happen if it’s true host Consume’s it, mind, body and soul?”
"Basically Coco would become a new… whatever Void Key is, but keep her identity and personality since the ability digests those aspects of the target." Cript stated. "Usually. Jericho here is an example of someone who can resist/survive that but it's a rare trait to possess to have, and even then it took him forever to reconstruct himself."
"Do you think Void Key Is like that?" Coco asked worriedly.
"If they are I might be able to work something out there…" Cript said. "So, gonna tag along with us or gonna head off?"
“I might as well tag along to see what I’ve missed so far in this new world.” Void King shrugged. “Also Void Key would not be able to, as I have personally Consumed him, which is probably why my sexy version here thought I was being possessed by him.” They said, pulling out Void Key’s keyblade version and now that I got a better look at it...it felt hollow, like the soul in it was long gone.
"Alright." Cript said as they sent foal Twilight to the safety of home. "Onwards."
The next floor was easy enough to tell who was here. Chrysalis. The entire floor was styled after a Changeling Hive.
The floor was surprisingly Uneventful as we arrived at the boss floor. The flesh-like door opening wide and revealing the deformed, starved frame of Cript's Chrysalis.
"So… what does she do?" Kexez asked.
Just then, Cript took a step forward, and Chrysalis shifted into a copy of him. The two dashed at one another, Cript taking out Darkest Hero, and to our Surprise Chrysalis did the same. "Perfect copies of whoever she shifts into." Cript stated as they fought their shapeshifting wife.
“Neat.” I nodded. “Well...this is a one on one then I suppose.”
"They probably all will be." Jericho stated.
“Well that sucks…” I sighed out. “No more fighting for us then…”
Jericho rolled their eyes as Cript and Chrysalis battled. It was a bit more tame than-
"The Fuck?" Coco asked for me as Cript was already holding the small, Grub infant Chrysalis.
“That was...fast.” I started carefully. “How the hell did you beat her that fast if you were literally equal?”
"It's not the first time I've fought a perfect replica of myself." Cript stated. "The trick is just to fight like someone else or outspeed the copy. In my experience both work out pretty well." He said with a shrug.
“Well...at least that’ll give me some advantage when I have to do that...again.” I said carefully.
With that, he sent Infant Chrysalis off and we went to the next floor.
This floor was the Moon. Luna.
The Alicorn herself was standing before us, her features mummified almost like my fallen other. Her horn glowed as a black and silver battle-axe broke out from beneath the ground and floated to her side.
“That’s a pretty cool looking axe.” I commented.
"She calls it 'Moon Fall'." Cript replied as he and Luna clashed, the impact cracking the crust of the moon and sending large debris floating up and about as they slowly crashed back down.
“Wonder how fast this fight will go…” I wondered, considering when he fought Chrysalis it was over rather quickly.
The more they fought the more I began to examine Moon Fall. It at first seemed similar to Lunatic in concept, but it wasn't inducing a berserker state. Rather it seemed to be flowing pure energy into Luna and she back into it to create her attacks. It also, from what I can tell, seemed to be made from a moon as well, though I can't be sure exactly.
In the end, Luna put up a fight that was akin to when Cript was fighting Twilight, And caused a lot of noticeable damage. Eventually though Luna was reverted back to Woona.
“She so cute.” I giggled.
"So that was Moon Fall. Huh, always wondered what her Axe was like." Jericho said.
"Yeah, she doesn't use it that much given it makes her a bit too OP for her liking." Cript said.
“It kind of reminds me of Lunatic in a way.” I pointed out. “Just without the berserk state, what is it actually?”
"Well, I made Moon Fall from… what was it… oh yeah, about… 9 octillion planetless moons." Cript said. "Was a headache getting them all pressurized into the shape of the thing but it worked out pretty well in the end."
"Planetless moons?" Coco asked.
"Moons that were either knocked out of orbit, planets got destroyed or were just somehow sent whirling through space at random." They explained.
“Huh...yeah that makes sense.” I nodded. “Cause Lunatic was made from a Planetless Moon as well, after it survived a Sun going Supernova and it was pissed.”
"Yeah, but the difference between Moon Fall and Lunatic is that the Moon Lunatic is made from is a gigantic moon and was magical enough to develop a form of sentience. Moon Fall, while all the moons were magical in nature they're sentience is akin to bugs or small animals."
“So when you put enough together it might create something more?” I inquired.
"Well, yes and no. Think of it as an arc reactor powered by magic and despite the physical size it should be, only occupying the space and shape of Moon Fall."
“Sounds about right.” I nodded.
"So… all that's left is Lyra…" Jericho brought up.
Cript sighed, handing me little Woona as they turned to the exit door to the next, and final floor. "Yeah…"
“You don’t have to do this...I can take over or someone else can if you want.” I said carefully, knowing this was probably a massive pain for Cript.
"You can't. You'd lose." He stated flatly as he began walking towards the door. "Lots of times before, my enemies tried using her against me in some way. Shapeshifters, clones, but those were all fakes. This one… will be different. This time I actually will be fighting her…"
“How strong is she? Really?” I asked carefully. “Cause you said that she’s an Admin right? But I never was told how strong she was.”
"She is the Admin of Marriage, and a Goddess of Children and Childbirth, but those aren't what make her so strong. Tell me King, do you know what the two things that make all C.R.I.P.T's so unique and strong is?"
“I mean, besides bioengineering on a scale I still can’t quite come to grips with, even after all the Nexus information I’ve gotten since I accepted that deal with Grey...and the fact that your the biological child of two admins, Vincent and his other half, both being Admin’s of Life?” I asked curiously. “Or is there something else here that I don’t know about?”
"The biology and engineering is just half of it. The body is a machine, right? Well, our unique "heart's" are the power supply." He said, turning to me and placing a finger over his chest. To my shock it began to glow a red and gold color and the beating of something… like a heart, but purely synthetic, thumped through the air. "We all have a unique "Heart" that none of us, not even Lord can understand how it works or what it even is. Normally, even if our bodies die, these keep ticking. For some of us, it keeps us alive even when we shouldn't be. For others, they die but the heart keeps beating, a battery ready to power anything in all creation. The few times they are destroyed, we would be dead. Permanently… but Heir Cript's like myself are… different."
“It’s because you’d become Mother right?” I asked, which made me start thinking about a lot of things. “One of the two strongest being’s that helps make this entire place work?”
"Yeah. Long ago, back when I was first fighting Deletes, Lyra… got hurt. Badly. She was vanishing before my eyes and… I did the only thing I really could. I pulled this thing out, and gave it to her. I expected to die… and for a few minutes… I was. Lyra woke me up shortly after my heart began to heal her, and to my shock I had regrown this thing. Like it never was removed. Only I and the four other Heir Cript's can do that it seems."
“That...can’t entirely be a coincidence can it?” I asked carefully. “One in five chances to just...magically bioengineer the next Mother? That’s not something even Grey can do, and he’s remembered everything from past Resets.”
"I couldn't tell you. But Lyra is as strong as she is because my heart beats inside her. The engine that can create the next mother… it saved her once… I'm hoping it still can."
"Wait… what do you mean?" Kexez asked.
"My heart saved her from a delete, and over the years it's been changing her body and every test basically confirms it. Putting my heart inside Lyra didn't just save her, as far as Code and creation is concerned, Lyra is basically an Heir Cript."
"And… if she is you, or like you and the five others… she might actually…" Jericho started.
"Be sane, alive… and a prisoner." Cript finished.
“Well…shit.” I sighed out. “Okay so that’s probably why I’m going to get my ass handed to me if I try to fight them…”
"What could keep a Cript of your caliber imprisoned though?" Coco asked.
"Well, aside from Vincent/Grey themselves… Jericho."
"Hm… not quite. There is likely one other thing that can…" Jericho brought up. "What if Lyra is… inside the womb? It's already indestructible, so…"
"Despite what we do with our own wombs and bodies and stuffing people in them… that's gross, at least in that context." Kexez shivered.
“I don’t like where this is going.” I started carefully.
"None of us do… but it does raise a question, if Lyra is a Prisoner down there… then who's guarding her?" Cript asked, making us all gaze towards the doorway.
“Only one person we haven’t seen yet…” I said carefully, summoning my King’s Greatsword. “Only one man who would still be fighting for the one person that’s been with them since the beginning.”
"... Me…" Cript said.
"Kexez, Take Coco home." Jericho started. "Void King, you in?"
“Fighting Crip? What fun.” Void King said, bringing out their own King’s Greatsword, only instead of it being powered by Nothingness it was powered by Void.
"Can't we stay and help?" Coco asked.
“Considering what we’re going to be fighting Coco...I don’t know…” I sighed out. “Hell, I don’t know if I could do much all things considered…”
"Hmm… maybe not alone… but… together…. Maybe." Cript offered.
I took a second to think about that, then remembered. Spitfire!
“I’ve got it.” I nodded, pulling Coco and Kexez close to me. “Ready you two?”
"Sure, fusion is oddly fun." Kexez nodded.
"If it means I can help then yes." Coco nodded.
“Then let’s do this.” I said warmly, feeling Kexez and Coco start to synch up with me as we fuzed.
Hello World! Spitfire’s back! “Alright guys, I’m back and ready for some asskicking.”
"I forget how tall she is." Jericho commented.
"Fusion can be weird like that." Cript shrugged. "Spitfire, Void King, you two ready?"
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Void King said, preparing himself for the upcoming fight.
“Bring it on.” I said, summoning six weapons, both of King’s Gauntlets, Coco and Kexez’s Keyblades, and Skysplitter and Lunatic, ready for anything.
We entered the doorway to the final floor. The path seemed stained with void unlike anything I have seen before. The part of me that is King, felt the sting and burn under our feet as Nothingness and Void clashed, trying and failing to eat away at one another.
Soon we spotted the final door, broken down from the inside long ago. I tried casting Light Magics, but to no avail. Light refused to exist here.
“Well that’s not very nice…” I frowned, changing out Lunatic for Eternal Flames as I used it’s upgraded to absolute hell’s flames to give us a light, as it’s the only thing we know of that can bring light to the Void.
The light it did give was a small amount, but enough for us to see the ruined floors and walls, long scratched claw marks carved into the stone and metal. A trail of thin yet strange chains lead from the ceiling down towards the back. The metal smelled… alive.
“So...should those chains smell alive?” I asked curiously.
“To keep me imprisoned? They would have to be.” Cript stated as we followed the direction of the chains. Eventually, we began to see a small glow. Putting out Eternal Flames, we spotted the source.
Within a glass jar of sorts, floated in an unknown liquid, a womb. It was glowing with a pureness and bright light that gave the area around it color.
Holding the jar tightly, was Cript. The chains were molded into his neck, arms, legs and across his back. Whatever clothes he wore previously, now remained only as a tattered, torn and stained pair of trousers.
Their hair was in knots and was extremely shaggy, and hung to their elbows. His eyes were sunken, as if sleep and stress was all they knew and the very concept of rest was unknown and alien.
“Damn…” I muttered. “The hell could have caused this to you?”
“My guess… losing Lyra… to that Prison…” Cript, our Cript said as he took a step forwards.
The Cript holding the Void Mothers womb gave off a primal, mindless growl, but it had a single, imminent meaning. Leave, or die.
I felt a chill of terror slide down my spine and into my fusion made soul. I’ve never seen Cript… Pissed.
“So...who wants to go first?” I asked nervously.
“Me, Obviously.” Cript said, taking a single step foreward.
The chained Cript carefully placed the jar down, their hands glowing as they cast a protective barrier around it. The part of me from King screamed out at how… unbelievably strong that barrier was. Despite it being so small, it was potent enough to… withstand Cript.
The chained Cript turned their gaze towards us, their eyes red and dry. He stood-
I swore loudly as the blast of magic sent me flying. All my left arms breaking from the impact as my feet skidded and bled as I landed and tried to stop. The crash into the wall I made broke my spine from tailbone to neck and my healing factors went into overdrive to repair the damages. Jericho and Cript were both ganging the crazed Cript, but that Cript was holding his own. Easily.
“The...fuck…” I groaned in pain, cause even if I had King as a part of me I could still feel pain.
“Yeah, that tends to happen.” Void King said, gently picking me up.
“And why the hell are you okay?” I asked.
“One of the many things I picked up was how broken being Ethereal is half the time.” Void King chuckled. “So...this is Cript when he’s completely lost it huh?”
“Apparently...and he’s handling both himself and Jericho at the same time…” I grumbled, getting up as my body felt fully healed.
Void King and I rapidly rushed in, joining and, yet still the crazed Cript was holding his own. He summoned no weapons but rapidly showed a beyond mastery in hand to hand as he dodged, deflected and blocked our weapons bare handed. The few marks that the weapons did make upon his skin healed the second the weapon was pulled, almost giving the illusion as if they were doing nothing.
“You two have to get the Womb.” Cript said as he kept up his attacks.
“Sure.” I nodded, as I immediately tried to leap towards the shielded jar as I saw Void King do the exact same.
When we arrived we tried bashing and breaking the shield to no avail.
Void King slashed at it, but all it did was break the Void Key corpse he was using as a weapon. “Shit.” He huffed, tossing the broken weapon without a care. “Well, got any ideas?”
“I have three idea’s.” I said, pulling out Book of Retribution and it’s Archstaff counterpart. “Let’s try dispelling it.” I said, casting as many counterspells or dispelling magics as I could to try and see if those worked.
The second my magic touched the barrier, Book of Retribution caught fire and Archstaff shattered, both turning to dust before me as I felt them… vanish from King’s arsenal…
“Okay… so that didn’t work.” Void King me stated just as dumbly as I felt.
I grabbed the thing and chucked it into the middle of the fight, so blinded by absolute fury that one of King’s, and my own, weapons just magically ceased to exist.
Cript spotted this and rapidly grabbed it, using it to slam the crazed Cript in the face. The barrier cracked. He then backed up and slammed it onto the ground again, the crack expanding and looked ready to go. The crazed Cript rapidly rushed towards Cript, trying to steal the jar back but Cript used this to slam the barrier-covered jar into the crazed counterparts face, breaking the barrier and the jar.
The split second that happened, Cript grabbed the Void Mother’s womb and bolted next to us. “Okay, got the womb. Spitfire, I need King here, so let them go and turn into Zeco.” Cript ordered. He cast a barrier, then another, then fifty more between us and the crazed Cript.
Somehow, I managed to immediately bolt out of Spitfire as she devolved into Zeco, running along after Cript. “The fuck am I going to do now that Book of Retribution and Staff of Clemency are gone?” I asked carefully. “How am I not...kind of broken at this point given I can’t feel it anymore?” I asked, still shocked that the moment it ceased to exist I wasn’t in a shuddering mess as the entirety of Nothingness wasn’t shaken to it’s very core.
“Relax, I’ll make you a new one.” He said, quickly grabbing my hand and began using magic to make runes into it. “You still have Consume, and it will take a while before I can get Lyra out of this thing. I’m gonna Link Consume to this spell which will basically turn you into Miroku from Inuyasha for a bit here.”
“Will King be able to hold them that long?” Jericho asked.
“He’ll have to. Ready?” Cript asked as the crazed him was already on the last few barriers and the runes along my right palm glowed.
“WIND TUNNEL!” I shouted, bringing up my palm and holding my arm, aiming it right at the crazed Cript and activating it as the black hole they formed began to absorb’s all types of matter.
As the Dungeon Cript broke thru the final barrier, he immediately caught himself as he felt the sudden vacuum effect against him, trying to fight against the might of Cript’s magic and the Consume skill, but he failed and flew into the Wind Tunnel.
It felt like I was being punched and kicked from the inside, my bones breaking and flesh ripping and healing rapidly as Consume was working overtime to ‘digest’ them.
I focused solely on not exploding and letting this bastard out. I’m not sure how long it was but eventually I felt someone grab hold of my face and looked up, seeing an older, tired human form Lyra standing before me. “Let me in, King.” She said.
“F-fine…” I said, lightly putting a hand on her’s as I used my Consume ability to try and absorb her as well, hopefully able to get the crazed Cript under control.
Once she was in, a few moments later I felt everything within me still. I breathed out happily…
Targets: Cript. Lyra Heartstrings. Assimilated.
Personality of Cript. Digested.
Personality of Lyra Heartstrings. Digested.
I stared at that notification for… a long time. They’re…
“Congratulations King.” Cript said as he helped me to my feet. “You’re the first person other than myself to kill me.”
“Uh...cool.” I said carefully. “I mean...you killed yourself by yourself...I…” I sighed out. “So...we won?” I asked carefully.
“That we did.” Jericho said, sighing as they fell themselves into a sitting position on the ground.
“Also, congratulations again.” Cript said, placing a finger to my chest as, to my surprise, the same glow as his and synthetic heartbeat began to echo from within me. “As of right now, you’re an Heir… and officially on my level.”
“Well…” I started, taking a deep breath and feeling...not that much different honestly. “That’s a good thing...wonder how that’ll affect my time as Kite...and the Equilibrium skill Grey forced on me for Kite…”
“No idea.” Cript shrugged. “Well, come on. Let’s go home. We’ve been in the Void long enough.”
“Yeah…” I started, putting a hand to my newly glowing chest. “Let’s go home.”
To be continued...