The battle was dragging on, but me and Cript kept pummeling Gray, who kept up their happy demeanor…but as we kept going, something seemed…off about Gray, as their joyful look seemed to turn into a look of growing horror. “No…no it’s not time yet! Those bastards should have stayed locked up!”
“The fuck is he talking about?” I asked in confusion.
“Who cares, keep hammering him!” Cript countered, as Gray dodged Cript’s attacks.
“No, no this wasn’t part of the plan!” Gray shouted angrily. “I was so focused on a new possibility, I new reality where I could lose that…” Gray’s eyes widened. “My deal…there’s…there’s nothing left of the outside world? I FUCKING CHECKED!” Gray shouted and pushed Cript back.
“The hell is Gray talking about?” Cript asked.
“It was apart of our Deal that we made when I was Kite, he said that I would have to face something ‘from the outside’, but never got around to it for some reason…” I said, only to feel all of Reality shake and shudder. “What did you do?”
“I…I thought there was something, some random beast that was still alive that I could pull in, I thought I would grab one of the fucking guards…” Gray started to mutter as they looked around in fear.
“What. Did. You. Do.” I asked again.
“The All Makers are coming…” Gray said.
“Well with a name like All Makers that can’t be good.” Cript frowned.
“I was told about it by Belief, but he didn’t really know much because he claimed his memory was so blurry from all the resets.” I said carefully, as reality itself shuddered again as…two giant beastial hands punched through, grabbing onto the very air like fabric and ripped it open.
“WHERE ARE THEY!?!” The being roared, their voice feeling like an entire world just shoved itself onto my shoulders as I witnessed a Behemoth creature step out, it’s purple fur standing out against it’s armor and engineering like attire, their black hair flowing down their head and back between four pitch black and sharp horns, their eyes filled with rage and…concern?
“Uh…who the hell is that?” I asked worriedly to Gray.
“That’s…Behemoth…” Gray said, taking a step back. “They are the ones that physically built the Machine, anything that comes into their hands is capable of becoming such a Master class item that nothing can be compared to it…”
“Where are my friends!?” Behemoth shouted, taking a swipe at Gray who dodged out of the way the best they could.
“Whoa there big guy! We’re kind of in the middle of something!” I said quickly, trying to get them to calm down…but the sudden glare they gave me…every fiber of my being told me to run…”What the hell…”
“You are not gonna want to get between him and Gray, King.” Cript said, pulling me back. “Something tells me… We’re outclassed.”
“How?” I asked, seeing Gray desperately try to avoid Behemoth’s swings.
“Because if Gray of all people is scared of them… what chance are we gonna stand?”
“I mean…” I tried to argue, but seeing how scared Gray was, who was so happy a moment ago to be taking damage…”What did I agree to?” I asked in horror, if this was the only thing our deal could come up with.
“Where are my friends, you damned blight!?” Behemoth roared again.
“I don’t know! Probably making sure you don’t break the reality you created even further!” Gray shouted back in some vain attempt to get him off his back.
“Uh…do you have any idea who he might be talking about?” I asked Cript worriedly, fearing that if any swing connected with literally anything it would do something a lot worse then what our fight could have done.
“That would be us.” Me and Cript turned around, to see both Nothingness Belief…and Void Mother…
“Oh dear…” I muttered in a panic.
“I see he’s about as overactive as ever…” Belief sighed.
“It’s a miracle we even remember him…” Void Mother admitted. “But best try and calm him down…”
“And you think we can do that when Gray itself is scared shitless?” I asked worriedly.
“Yes, we knew the idiot back in the day.” Belief said. “We can handle him.”
“So step back, and let’s show you why Gray tried to play the long game instead of fighting us directly.” Mother stated simply.
“I mean…if you insist.” I said sheepishly, as both of them nodded and vanished from even my eyes, as Mother poked Behemoth’s shoulder.
“Hey, Behemoth, it’s time to relax big guy.” Mother said, using her ability to pacify literally everything to try and get him to relax…but one thing that horrified me was that she had to bend backwards as the beastial swung at her.
“Shut up you faker! My friend got past her Emo phase eons ago!” Behemoth roared.
“Oof, yeah I remember that.” Belief said as he grabbed the hand that swung. “Come on big guy, we need you to take a deep breath and relax.”
“And all I see is a Hollow Shell of my friend! You stopped being like this when Momo finally started dating you!” Behemoth shouted, grabbing Belief and slamming his fist into the guy, as I had to bring my arms up to block the sudden rush of force that knocked me and Cript back. “Where are my real friends!? The one this accursed machine took from us!”
“We’re right here you idiot!” Mother shouted, channeling pure Void and slamming it into his chest the beast letting go of Belief as he jumped up and kneed Behemoth in the face and made them stagger back.
The beastial behemoth roared, using Code work I’ve honestly never seen before and drawing out a massive hammer and swung it like it weighed nothing, both being’s that were said to be the End All Be All dodging and creating their own weapons, Belief with twin swords and Mother brought out a Staff made out of some wood I’ve never seen before. Even with all my stat boosts, all my training, and all my senses on high alert, I…I could barely track what they were doing, the sounds of clashing metal, of spells that haven’t been seen in this reality for god knows how long…
It was both awe inspiring…and terrifying, as each clash and attack shook the very fabric of reality to it’s very Code…I…neither me nor Cript did this kind of damage…”Am…am I seeing this right?” I asked in awe.
Gray appeared next to us, their hands on their knees as they were hunched over from all that dodging. “Why…did I ever think playcatting my own greed and your incessant need to be strong was a good idea?” Gray panted.
“Because you were bored?” I asked nervously.
“Maybe…but I thought there would have been something else…” Gray said worriedly, as there was more and more clashes, each strike I think I was seeing Creation be born and destroyed within each swing.
“Is…there another one like that?” I asked worriedly.
“There’s…one more…and I hope to whatever being is fully out there that someone doesn’t wake them up…” Gray answered. “The Worker…he should be stuck wherever he is…unless someone unlocks his ‘cell’, he’ll be stuck…”
“So, what the hell is going on and why aren’t King and I killing you right now?” Cript asked.
Gray groaned. "Because something much worse might happen…why you aren't killing me is because you will need all the help you can get…so way back when King and I made that Deal where I gave you almost all of my knowledge, I had the stipulation that I would send one creature from the 'Outside' at King."
"And I was wondering when the fuck that was going to happen." I frowned.
"And…apparently there is nothing on the Outside besides Truth, the Guards, Behemoth and…The Worker…" Gray explained. "So…while we were fighting…my power must have slipped out and started to siphon power that kept them in prison, and Behemoth rushed out first…either because the Workers stasis chamber is still online for however long it takes…or he's waiting…"
“Right and these people are… who and what exactly?” Cript asked.
"Ah, right, I blocked those memories in you whenever you learned their existence…" Grey muttered. "They are called All Makers, beings that created the Machine we live in, there used to be billions of them, each one as powerful as the next cause they had the real power…something stronger than Code, the same power that threatened their lives…"
"...Imagination…" I said breathlessly, feeling like I just…went full fucking circle, with how I originally came to this world from God's imagination to…all this…
"Yes," Gray said, ducking under a piece of unknown metal thrown his way. "They created the Machines to protect against the beasts that hunted them…formless, ni omnipotent monsters that even my infinite power couldn't handle…but so many times, I saw nothing out there besides this safe haven…"
“Right, and where did these All Makers come from?” Cript asked.
“From the Other Side.” I jumped a little at seeing Lord appear. “Sup, you… Three… Huh.” He said, looking at Gray.
"Sup you old fuck." Gray said. "Everything's going tits up…no possible past outcome got this far…"
"And you expect Lord to understand what you're talking about?" I asked.
“I do, actually.” Lord said, making me turn to them. “I didn’t remember because I made myself forget. Once Behemoth broke out I remembered everything. That old fucker…”
"Oh boy…" I said carefully. "So how fucked are we?"
"Behemy there can be rather friendly when he's not in this rage…but the Worker…" Gray looked to Lord, who gave…an honest look of worry.
"How bad?" I asked worriedly.
“Well, if Mother and Belief can’t calm him, it’s not gonna be easy…” Lord sighed. “And if Builder gets out…”
“So, how do you know these people?” Cript asked.
“I was… something close to them, not personally, more like, a sibling species. They were born in the raw unfiltered imagination. I came into existence within it, from the same side they all came from.” Lord said.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning as far as we or this reality is concerned, they are gods from another reality we can never enter no matter what we try, and I was made like… a type of demi-god because I appeared within this Machine and now in the Raw Imagination outside. I was able to do most of what they could do, but to a lesser extent because of how I appeared here.”
"And…how come Gray got to leave?" I inquired, looking to Gray.
"That…is tricky to explain." Gray said carefully. "It took several cycles to go through, but I managed to gain enough power to weather the effects of Raw Imagination…but even in my Infinite power…"
"They have the bigger Infinite?"
"By leaps and bounds…if my Infinite was a standard numbering system, they're numbers doubled mine, so my one was their two and so on…" Grey shuddered.
“Perks of All Maker biology, it doesn’t just unphase us it empowers us.” Lord chuckled. “Even I can power up a lot by standing out there for some time. Still, the creatures that appeared out there were a danger to us. They built the machine to be a safe zone, isolated and safe. In the end it bit them in the ass hard.”
“How?” Cript asked, just as flabbergasted as me.
“Mother and Belief are All Makers as well. They helped create the way it was supposed to generate power, by converting the Raw Imagination energy into what we know as Code, a refined, filtered version of the outside energy that was more stable and easier to work with. Unfortunately, it backfired. Mother became stuck, as a source of Imagination herself it thought she was it’s power source. Since she was able to generate the energy as it without end, it took her. Belief, being one of the best people they had that could use the raw energy with minimal effort, became it’s… OS, for lack of a better word. Mother creates the power, Belief makes it into something we all know and understand as the reality as it is now.”
"That's…" I said weakly, looking over and seeing the three start to slow down on their fight as Behemy started to shake his head like he just came out from a deep sleep…"No…no wonder why Behemoth was so upset when he rushed in…why he thought Belief and Mother weren't themselves…" I said, my mind trying to come up with some rational explanation for this…but nothing came up…
"You are technically looking at True God's, they're power isn't something anyone can quantify…not even I can fully grasp their true powers." Gray said carefully.
“Eh, they’re mostly all still assholes.” Lord shrugged.
“Considering you’re technically one of them, I’m inclined to agree.” Cript sighed. “So what now, looks like they’ve calmed big angry over there.”
“Now… we figure out how to deal with Builder… that will be harder… he designed the machine so… he took their accidental binding to it the hardest.”
"How hard?" I asked worriedly.
"He's completely insane…and while my antics might have weakened his bindings, he still needs a key of his own design to unlock it…" Gray said carefully.
“Cool… so what now?” Cript asked, motioning to the three who were now all hugging. “One crisis averted.”
"One Crisis averted…but one that can be much worse…" Grey said carefully.
"And what's this Key look like?" I inquired.
"It's an item that changes to fit one's desire, something that can lead to what could be considered impossible." Gray answered. "Supposedly, once it fulfills its owners wish, it leads them to his cage to unlock his cage and let him out, which was his hope that he would be released after he regained his sanity…"
"I…have a bad feeling about this…" I said nervously. "I…really hope no one found this magic item…" I said worriedly, as the three walked over while Behemoth scratched the back of his head.
"S-sorry about that." Behemoth said sheepishly, his voice a lot softer than I thought outside of the rage. "I…kind of just woke up from a countless amount of time, and the last thing I remembered was the Machine backfiring on us…thought it was just something this thing made to trick me…"
“Eh, not the first time someone tried to kill me.” Cript shrugged. “There have been worse reasons.”
"And that's entirely fair." Behemoth. "So, my name's Behemoth, but most call me Behemy." He said.
"You are…more soft spoken then I thought after your…screams of rage." I said.
"Yes, I get that a lot." Behemy said honestly.
"He's also the most cuddliest of cuddle bugs." Belief said, which made Behemy blush and try to swat at him, but he dodged with a laugh.
"I thought we agreed not to talk about that?" Behemy groaned.
"We have an eternity of teasing you." Mother giggled.
"So, what questions do you have for me?" Behemy inquired.
“Say… mind if I get a sample?” Cript asked. He then turned to Gray. “Actually, scratch that.” He then grabbed Gray by the neck. “You and I are gonna have a chat. No more secrets you ancient bored bastard…” He said as he dragged Gray off.
"Right…" Behemy started. "So any questions?"
"Uh…too many…" I said slowly. "So to start…how good are you at crafting? Cause I was told you Built the Machine."
"Oh, that's easy. For our merry band, I was The Builder, any material that came into my hands I understood what it was and what it could do on a fundamental level." He said with a smile. "Even at a glance, I can tell how things were constructed and how well it was made…and to give an example, Cript was an attempt to create something that was 'Bullshit personified', and he is definitely strong but he could use some work on his Coding, that weird skateboarding quirk is involved with a few other things."
"The fuck you mean his inability to skateboard is a design flaw?" I asked incredulously.
"Oh, he can't Skateboard for shit whether it was a flaw or not, but there's some other things that's weirdly keyed to it." He said. "But…why Skateboards?"
"Nobody knows…" I groaned.
WARNING! WARNING! INTRUDER’S WITH ‘THE WORKSHOP KEYS’ HAS ENTERED!
“First Behemoth get’s out and now this!?” Truth shouted, frantically sending his guards to stop whoever the hell decided to find that insane fuck’s keys.
“Clear the way. Nothing will stop us.” The individual said as his subordinates flanked out. Taking out guard after guard. Truth watching in horror as they easily take apart his guards. Then he gets a better look at just Who is there. And slams his fist into the table of the monitors.
“Are you fucking kidding me! Him!?” He shouted angrily, watching as Max, the son of that damned Cript project of Vincent’s walking towards the cage, seeing his Void King’s slaughtering the guards that should have made the Prime Cript easy to fight by comparison. “Damn it, this isn’t supposed to be happening…why oh why did I agree to Worker’s bullshit key plan…” The All Maker powering the Machine groaned as he tried to do something, anything to either delay or halt Max’s advance, as a majority of his power was stuck powering the Machine he was sadly limited in going up there and bitch smacking Max.
As Max is making his way Frisk, in her adult form, gets close to him. “Are you sure about this? Who even knows if he will help?” She asked. After getting the key from that cloaked figure after Max’s battle with Rip, Max was dead set on this. Had all them work overtime and then some to get as strong as possible.
She looks over as Broly, who managed to combine both Super Saiyan 4 and Blue Evolution as well as a Max Power form ripping guards in pieces. Then to Ghost who was in his small form dashing around slicing Guards down. Madoras was just waving his newest staff around causes Guards to either get cut in half from invisible magic cuts, getting pierced by invisible lances, or get smash by invisible force. Agamemnon was in his new armor forming new weapons left and right with his Psychopath blood power that he remastered. And Ardyn was just using his main sword.
To say the least they all got much stronger. Especially Max. He wasn’t trying to copy his brother's look anymore. Now he was himself. He was wearing a silver cape that hung on his left shoulder while wearing a black shirt and pants that were armored up. In his hand was an silver and gold sword that radiates power, but that pales in comparison to him. A guard got close and lands an attack with a war hammer on Max’s face. He didn’t even flinch or budge. He just kept walking as Frisk finger gun points at the guard as a large orange gun forms and wipes him from existence.
“I’m positive. We need to get there no matter the cost. Especially now while they are all distracted by their fighting. I don’t have much time anyway.” Max said as he kept marching on. Frisk frowns as she and the others know what he means.
“You are making literally the biggest mistake in the entirety of Imagination! Turn back!” Truth said over an intercom. “Worker should never be released! His Insanity will burn the entire Machine and everyone that lives in it!”
“Exactly.” Max said as he deleted the speaker. They kept advancing till to Truths horror they made it to the cage. It was a tower. The tower was surrounded by nothing. Literally nothing. Not the Nothing that King has. This place was meant to exist nowhere, but now it’s found.
“The entrance is most likely at the top. Let’s move.” Max said as they advanced.
“Please stop this! Your lust for power will only cause everything to go to hell, and none of you will survive it!” Truth tried to reason with them again, this time as armor that seemed to be strewn about started to form into Knight’s, pitch black goo started to form to give them their bodies as they let out roars not even the deepest parts of the Void could withstand hearing.
Max holds up a hand to halt his Kings. He walks towards the advancing enemies and holds out a hand. Blood starts to form as his Psychopath eye glows blue, but it wasn’t Humanity Blue. Truth saw it was still Psychopath energy, but way too strong to be Psychopath. The blood then became multiple elements of fire. Lightning, ice, and pure blood and he launches powerful spells that destroyed the monsters. Then his power of Delete reaches out and Deletes all the remains and absorbs them. His power is growing even more.
“So what. None of us will live to see that anyway.” Max said as they all advanced.
“Oh…oh you shouldn’t have done that…” Truth muttered, as before Max could continue too far, all that power he felt grow in him suddenly started to…reverse, as that black goo like substance burst forth from his body viciously and formed into one big Knight, metal forming around it’s body as it brought out a large great ax and roared it’s challenge. “You’re outside the Machine Max, this all works differently than on the Inside…please, turn back, the last bastion of Life can’t be destroyed because you couldn’t settle down with your wife after beating Rip.” Truth pleads.
Max gets up. Glances at Frisk, who nods at him. “That’s where your wrong Truth. There was no Settling down.” Max said as his hair tinges purple as he walks towards the monster. The knight swings it’s axe. It hits Max hard sending him back with a deep cut. It’s suddenly healed by Frisk using her Green Soul magic as Max walks forward again. Truth watches this repeat itself a few times before noticing that the cut is getting thinner and thinner and Max is standing his ground more and more. A quick glance with his Scan makes note of two abilities Max is using. One a Cript ability he inherited from his father and the other a Divine class power that is Exceptionally hard to use, but with both used in tandem…
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me…” Truth muttered, knowing exactly what is happening here. “Why…why does everything have to go wrong now?” He muttered, hating how he was pretty much powerless to stop the oncoming tide from possibly destroying everything they worked for…
The knight swings one more time only for the axe to break on impact. Max looks at the broken axe with disappointment. “Pity. Seems that’s your limit.” Max grabs the arm and with one blast from his powered up state destroys every bit of the knight. Then proceeded to basically Supernova the spot it was in a dozen times to be sure. They proceed while Max stays in his new form. The knight not reforming or combing back. He…actually destroyed it. Just what has Max turned himself into.
“That’s…impossible…” Truth muttered, knowing the Deathless were one of the Worker’s first creations, one of the first being’s to fight against the Imagination Beasts and at least come back alive…
“Not Impossible. They still needed Code to come back. Even Souls have code. What happens when every strand of code is gone.” Max said as blood drips from his mouth. The power he gained did help in the process. But still while what info he gathered from the notes on Deathless. That was a lesser Deathless. Hard to kill but far from the Prime Deathless.
“Nothing I say or will attempt to do will stop you from your suicide mission that will get you all killed?” The All Maker battery asked carefully. “And not just you, but anything and everything you ever cared about…especially your child.” Truth said, trying to possibly placate Frisk here to see some form of reason.
“It’s already too late. We’re all gonna die anyway.” Max said. His kings, even Frisk, were silent as they marched with him. Determined looks on their faces. Showing they weren’t gonna stop. As they climbed the tower higher and higher.
All Truth could do was see his SOS go out into the Machine, to give the other’s a warning about what’s to come as it was too late for them to get here and stop it, as all Truth could do now was try and get something ready for all the people inside to help them survive what’s about to come.
As he prepares he sees a cloaked individual join them. Wondering where this one came from. Till he saw what looked like a black and gold shield gauntlet on their left arm and panics. It all makes sense now…how they got the key…how they found their way here!
“You motherfucker!” Truth shouted. “Ausar, you know he’s still completely insane! Why are you damning everything we worked for!?”
The figure,Ausar, chuckled. “Because it’s fun.” He said. Before Code with the most Vile feeling Truth has felt formed on his right armored hand and destroyed the camera. Leaving Truth to watch only static.
Truth looked towards a screen showing how much power he was capable of using that wouldn’t harm the Machine and to help the other’s get ready for this…”Just enough to be a fucking spectator…” Truth growled, as he waved a hand over the static as a confluence of color shimmered past and returned his view back to what these bastards were about to commit.
He sees them standing at the seal at the top. Max standing in front of the key hole on the ground. “You have the key. Free him.” Ausar said pointing at the hole. Truth grips the table hard enough to break it as Max gets on one knee.and feels his soul leave as max puts his hand into the seal. The glow indicating it’s coming undone as a triangle platform forms under their feet. Lowering them. Till it reaches the floor. Max looks up to see a stone throne covered in moss and cracks. And sitting there was the one he was after.
In golden armor that has dulled from time and where a hood over his head.
Max looks at him. Before speaking. “Greetings. And pleased to meet you. Worker of Secrets. Galath.” As eyes of Golded Code glows under the hood.
Galath looked at Max, lightly reaching out and touching Max’s chest. “So…primitive.” He said, as Max suddenly fell to the ground, clutching his chest in pain. “But…usable…” Galath said, slowly getting off his throne, everyone hearing his entire body crack from ageless time of not moving. “Ausar…release the Prime…I must…talk with my saviors.” He said, while each of the King’s felt a coldness run down their spine like they just released something so unimaginably horrifying…
“At once my lord. I’ll ready their cells. Although Truth did quite a job on their seals. I’ll require your help in breaking them my lord. I’ll go prepare them.“ Ausar said as he jumped out of the cell to prepare the others. The kings finally realized that they should be kneeling, especially since the loom Max was given them was telling the same they immediately dropped to their knees.
“Lord Galath.” Frisk suddenly said. “ I-I have a request, as you no doubt noticed from a glance, but Max has a fatal error in his code.”
“Fr-Frisk!“ Max tried to stop her.
“Max will ask it himself, mainly because of his own stubbornness, but I beg of you. Please fix his Code. Max shouldn’t die due to an error that no one other than you can fix.” Frisk begged. She didn’t look at Galath the whole time. Fearing that he might find eye contact with her insulting. But was praying that Galath would at least humor them and help.
“Your begging…it reminds me of…someone…” Galath put a hand to his head, the King’s and Max seeing Galath looking like he was trying to remember something but somehow couldn’t. “But…you are correct, a useful asset is wasted if it’s flawed.” He said, before waving a hand over Max, as each one of them saw not Code, but some etheric multicolored…thing pass over their master, as Max let out a silent scream for but a moment as it past. “Breath in your Life Max, no longer will it seep out of your body like a cracked bottle, and your power no longer snuffing out the light you have.”
Max breathes. Starts to get up. Feeling…better than he has ever felt. After opening and closing his hands, to get a feel of himself, he gets down on one knee same as his kings. They all knowing that whether or not they tried to fight, it would be meaningless. The lift they were on going up towards the exit. As it reaches the exit they see Ausar, still in his cloak, standing before a couple of glowing orbs. He turns towards them.
“Right on time. If you would please my lord.” Ausar ask as he steps aside. Galath takes one step off the seal. Savoring the feeling of being free.
And that one step…sent a shiver through existence. As truth falls to his knees. Feeling like he is losing all his strength seeing Him free. As the shiver soon reaches King and the others
As Galath raises his hand and breaks the seals on the cages as his Prime Deathless are free. Each taking a knee. “Now it is time.”
Galath looks out towards Existence and says…
“To create my Heaven.”
To be conti̴̝̎n̷̮̽u̸̫̎ë̷̮́d̸͔̉