The Multiverse in a Nutshell

by Pennington Inkwell

The Fault In Our Cards

There was a tremble in Penn's hand as he stepped up to the half-cocked lid of the trunk, but that didn't stop him from pushing it completely open. Like the rest of Sylvia's interior, it had been expanded to be larger on the inside than should have been possible, big enough for him to potentially fall completely in while he was reaching for something. The small light at the top barely managed to reach the edges of the space, but thankfully there was another glowing item inside, nestled between his plastic duel disk and a small heap of extra flower-patterned shirts. That was the thing he had come here for. He had waited for both of the girls to be asleep before coming here, but there was still an extra observer he needed to deal with.

"Isis?"

"Yes?"

He glanced up to the small metal dragon sitting on top of the car, giving her his most serious look.

"You are to keep the existence of this item an absolute secret from anyone below Administrator-level clearance. Any details related to its use are to be kept a complete secret from Sunset and Missy."

Isis shifted uncomfortably at that, and he knew why. She loved information, and being told to withhold it from people she cared about clearly put her at conflict with herself.

"Isis, this order cannot be countermanded. There's a reason I haven't told Missy or Sunset we have this." He reached down, leaning as far forward as he dared into the trunk so that he could wrap his fingers around the star-shaped crystal. With a heave to pull himself back out, he emerged with the save point clutched delicately in his grasp. "Can you imagine if Sunset Shimmer tried to use this? With her determination, we could blow a hole in spacetime!" He paused. "A new one, that is."

"While I understand your concerns, an asset of this... magnitude... could yield incredible data if it were to be studied in use-"

"You can study it all you want, you're just not allowed to tell anyone about it or share your results with anyone who isn't an administrator or higher." He tried his best to swallow the rapidly-forming lump in his throat as he continued to stare at the softly-glowing crystal. "You'll... get to see it in use."

There was a long pause between the two of them as Isis processed his unspoken meaning.

"I understand. Are you certain you wish to do this? As I understand, this phenomenon cannot be undone from the inside. If you refuse to tell Sunset Shimmer or Missy about the existence of this, you could become stranded in a time loop for an indeterminate amount of time. Side effects of such a scenario could be extreme. Mental illnesses of all kinds, severe depression, schizophrenia, psychosis, dementia-"

"None of which scare me more than Salem." Penn couldn't put much force behind the words, maybe because he was trying to rationalize the awful scenario he was about to put himself in. "Sunset has enough determination to un-anchor it again. I can tell her about it if I have to, or once the danger has passed..."

"Do you know HOW to un-anchor it? Could you instruct her in doing so?"

That was enough to make him pause again.

Undyne had known how to rip the save point out of its place in space and time, but she'd been told how by the other Penn's soul that she'd bonded with. That meant that the knowledge had come from HIM. Until now, Penn had been assuming that he had the knowledge, that it would just come back to him once he was in a situation where he could use it... but he didn't.

There's some kind of difference between the "Penn who died" and the "Penn who came back," and that difference involves knowledge about the save point...

He lifted the crystal up to eye level, trying to look more closely into its depths, as if the translucent golden glow could imbue him with some kind of answers. All he could see, however, was the slightly-hypnotic flickering of golden motes of light inside.

YOU NEEDN'T BE IN SUCH A RUSH... WE'LL SEE ONE ANOTHER AGAIN SOON ENOUGH.

The voice sent chills stampeding up and down his spine, making his entire body recoil backwards. It was only fearful instinct that kept his grip on the save point solid as he stumbled for a moment, then frantically scanned the area around them to try and find its source.

"Isis, are we alone?"

Before he could hear her answer, a flash of green came careening out from the edge of the campfire's light. By the time he was able to bring his arms up to block, the green projectile was already at his throat, ready to remove his head at a moment's notice. Two blazing red eyes bored into his soul as a hand reached out and roughly snatched the save point from his hand.

"What the HELL are you doing with this?" a voice growled, casting aside all traces of femininity in favor of outright gravelly malice.

"Negative."

Penn was too terrified to roll his eyes at Isis's late warning.

"U-Undyne... Hi?" he whispered, glancing down at the glowing spear being held to his throat. He swallowed his urge to scream, the motion causing the tip of the spear to press into his skin.

Undyne, however, clearly wasn't in the mood for pleasantries, baring her shark-like fangs further as she held the save point up to his face. "I TOLD you to get rid of this, not USE IT!"

"Well, I haven't really had much of a chance to..." Penn muttered. "One does not simply come across temporal-spatial trash cans that often, and I'm not gonna do anything halfway with this."

"Oh, and I'm supposed to believe you were just taking it out to look at it? When you KNOW Salem's coming?"

Penn could feel the volatile mix of fear, stress, and rage beginning to boil over. threatening to make him lose control completely. "Of COURSE I was thinking about using it!" He reached up and grabbed hold of the glowing spear, yanking hard enough to start slowly inching away from him. "Look at my memories! Don't you KNOW what Salem did to me? Don't you KNOW what we're up against?"

The spear dissolved away under his grip as Undyne stepped forward, wrapping her hand around his throat. "You can't see MY memories, but that THING created a threat that was just as evil and caused just as much pain! I've had Salem on my tail, too, you know! I've seen her face to face, and it's no excuse for trying something like THIS!"

Penn could feel that she was holding back. She had the strength to crush his windpipe and snap his neck without a second thought. That's right, I'm not just dealing with Undyne, here...

He narrowed his eyes, reaching up and rapping his knuckles against the spot on her breastplate just above where he knew his former self's soul resided.

"I know what you're trying to do, and you're never going to scare me more than Salem. So either talk to me like a normal person..." he narrowed his eyes. "Or take me seriously."

The two of them continued staring at one another for a moment before Undyne sighed and released her grip.

"Geez, you're REALLY a pain, you know that?" Undyne groaned. "I gave this to you because I trusted that you wouldn't let it fall into the wrong hands, not that you would BE the wrong hands!"

"You think I haven't thought about this for ages?" Penn sighed as he reached out, taking the crystal back again. "Missy's set trap cards and field spells, Isis has been working on specialized weapons, Sunset's been practicing with her saber CONSTANTLY..." he took a deep breath and looked at the crystal, seeing it for the harbinger of pain that he knew it was. "We have friends coming to help us, but... all I've ever had up my sleeve is knowledge, and I don't know what to expect!" He shook his head. "Salem... gave me a message. She basically told me to bring it on, that she wanted me to be ready for her with everything I had... so she could crush it completely."

"Whoa, seriously? We didn't get that kind of courtesy..." Undyne muttered.

Penn nodded. "It wasn't a courtesy, it was a reminder. Salem's the only one so far who completely outsmarted me. I only escaped her by a combination of luck and... well, I think it might have been card spirit magic that protected me from the fall." He could feel the weight on his shoulders mounting as he continued his confession. "She's better than me at what I do. She outplans, outsmarts, and outmaneuvers, and she's got literally infinite tenacity if I try to turn this into a stalling game or a battle of attrition!" He held up the crystal, displaying the save point with a reverent air. "The only way I could beat her would be to know what she's going to do before she does it."

"Dude, she's TOTALLY gotten into your head." Undyne stepped back slightly, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Seriously? You're talking about her like she's invincible! If she was THAT good, she would have caught ME ages ago!"

Penn's eyes widened slightly as he realized that she had a point... unless...

"Unless... she knew leaving you alive would stop me from using the save point... and that's the only way to-"

Undyne folded her arms and gave him a glare, cutting off the train of thought before he could finish. "Trust me, she has NOT been holding back. There's no conspiracy here, Penn! You're overthinking it!"

"But can you REALLY overthink it when it comes to Sa-"

"YES!" Undyne's hand shot up towards his face, only to stop just short of slapping across his cheek. One of her eyes had changed color, transitioning from burning red to a softly glowing lilac. Slowly, her hand moved up, placing itself on top of his head with a firm pressure, pushing him down towards the ground.

"Back to Earth, buddy... You're not thinking clearly, which is what she wants. You're blowing fuses, not drawing cards."

"But-"

The hand pressed down on him slightly, moving her thumb to press lightly on the center of his forehead. The pressure felt like it was drawing him back to the present moment. It was a pressure point that helped bring his focus to where it belonged, and one that only he knew about. "Stop. Take a deep breath."

Penn did as he was told, taking the time to force himself to inhale slowly and deeply.

"Salem is NOT invincible. We outsmarted her once and left everything she had as a smoldering crater. She's not precognizant, we managed to outfox her before, even with our brain falling apart in our skull!" Undyne leaned down, her violet eyes casting a soft light over his face until their comforting glow seemed to shut out everything else in the world. "You know who's smarter than Salem? GLaDOS. She knew better than to go up against someone with Sunset Shimmer and the magic of friendship on their side. The fact Salem hasn't thrown in the towel already just means she's not aware enough about who the good guy and the bad guy is in this situation." Undyne finally took her hand off of his head and leaned back, both arms folding over her chest as she leaned back.

"And, when Sunset Shimmer's involved, the good guys always win."

For the first time in recent memory, Penn felt an overwhelming sense of reassurance settle over him. His racing pulse finally settled, and his mind seemed to stop spinning like an out-of-control merry-go-round. He lifted up the save point again to stare at it before turning and carefully placing it back into the bottom of the trunk. He took a moment to place a heap of his spare flowery shirts over it, hiding it from sight it help him put it out of mind. The fact that he wasn't about to force himself to use it felt like a weight being lifted off of his shoulders.

"I- I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, but... I'm so scared."

"That's what she wants, bud." Undyne's eyes had returned back to their typical red, but her anger seemed to have faded during the brief period she wasn't in control. "She wants us scared, because scared people get stupid. That thing?" She pointed towards the trunk. "THAT'S stupid. Of all people, the two of us ought to know what that thing can turn people into..."

"Well, that isn't so much of a problem for me..." Penn glanced down at his hand, remembering the sight of the black sludge now coursing through his veins. "I'm already barely holding on to humanity as it is, I don't mind taking another step away from it if it keeps them safe."

Undyne's eyes narrowed, and Penn was almost certain that she was using Undertale's "check" magic to inspect him.

"Dude... what happened to you?"

Her incredulous tone made Penn smirk slightly in spite of himself. "It's a long story involving demons, an ink machine, and accidentally remodeling the TARDIS..."

"I'm sorry, did you say the TARDIS?" One of Undyne's eyes flickered again, and Penn knew that the version of him that was fused with her was probably freaking out right now, which made him chuckle. "Tell me EVERYTHING! Start at the beginning-"

"-and when I get to the end, stop. I know." Penn nodded and used one hand to shut the trunk for good. "Come on, this is one we're gonna want to tell around a campfire. I should be able to get those embers roaring again."

As the two of them walked away from the trunk, Penn still couldn't help but think about the save point. Half of his thoughts were relief that he had been talked out of using it... but the other half were unable to forget that it was there, ready and waiting for when he was willing to commit himself to it.

It was too valuable of an asset to just forget about completely, no matter what Undyne thought.

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"Uuuuugh... Seriously, Sunset! It's enough to make my head spin!" Penn griped as he grabbed at his temples. "Light side, dark side, living force, unifying force, physical force, there's even a COSMIC force! Even if I let Isis drive all day so I can just focus on reading, there's enough extended universe novels to keep me busy for a month."

"Wow... it's that much?" Sunset took a moment to look at the handle of the saber, feeling the weight of the history behind it. Penn's knowledge always seemed bottomless... I guess there's limits to everything.

"Not even. There's still animated series, spin-off movies, video games... and then the whole thing was acquired by Disney and they took a lightsaber to the canon for a soft reboot..." Penn shook his head. "I grew up watching Doctor Who, and the 50-years-running show about time travel was LESS confusing!"

Sunset couldn't resist smiling. "So, are you giving up, o wise teacher of the lore?"

Penn looked up at her with one eyebrow cocked before snorting derisively and digging his spoon back into his chili. "Certainly not! You underestimate my power!" He took a large bite before shaking his spoon in her direction. "Gimmie a little longer. By the time we're done saving Remnant, I'll have the high ground over this Star Wars lore!"

"It's good to have you back to your old self..." Sunset smiled. "I was pretty worried about you for a while, you know! We all were. It kinda seemed like you were coming unhinged..."

"Well, probably because I was." Penn smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. "Honestly, I feel crazier for NOT being as worried as I was. Fear feels like the only RATIONAL response to the situation, but... a friend pointed out that Salem probably WANTED me to be freaking out, so I have to avoid giving her what she wants." He shrugged, seeming to be without a shred of his former paranoia. "So I'm going to force myself to believe that everything will work out okay as long as we stick together."

"Because it will."

Just as the words left Sunset's mouth, the air around them became eerily still. The chill of the night intensified to become bitterly cold, stinging and biting at her skin. A second later, the fire withered and dwindled until it snuffed itself out completely, as if it had been suddenly deprived of air.

BA-THUMP

BA-THUMP

BA-THUMP

Sunset could hear a heartbeat in her ears, but it wasn't her own racing pulse. It was loud enough to reverberate through the entire campsite and beyond, like a continuous rolling thunder.

Both of them looked at each other, neither one needing to say what the other already knew.

She's here.

Something was off, though. In everything Penn had told them about Salem, he'd never mentioned anything about expecting a giant heartbeat.

"Sunset? I think something's wrong..." Missy's voice whispered in her mind.

Hang in there, Missy. Just stick to the plan, okay? Stay where you are and start working on getting those ten materials.

"If you say so... Just use the signal if you need me before that!"

The world around them grew hazy and began to shift as Missy's magic did its work to establish their chosen field spell in reality. Clock Tower Prison appeared out of thin air like a mirage, materializing at their backs a short distance into the woods.

We need to survive four "turns" before CTP starts to protect us... But once it's set up, Salem shouldn't be able to hurt us.

"Hello, children..."

FZZT!

Sunset's saber was in her hand and armed before the figure stepping into the campsite was even fully visible.

Salem had looked awful over the video call they'd shared at the colosseum, but she looked even more horrifying in person. Her gaunt skin was corpselike in the pale moonlight, and the black veins clawing at the edges of her face made her look diseased. Most of the rest of her body was obscured by a long black dress that seemed to perfectly match the shadows she was emerging from, making it difficult to tell where one stopped and the other began. Her scarlet eyes burned with an unholy light as she cast her eyes around their campground, looking completely unimpressed with their temporary home.

For a brief second, Sunset felt herself thrown backwards in time to the first time she'd seen that smug, disgusting face and condescending sneer. In her mind's eye, she could still see the image of Penn, beaten and broken after she had tortured him. It filled her with rage, but she forced herself to stay in place. Rushing forward into the fight would be foolish. She needed to trust the plan.

She spared a glance in Penn's direction, checking to make sure he was alright in the face of what she could only guess was a face that haunted his nightmares.

He was on his feet, but there was a tremble in his knees that made it clear he was only barely able to stand. His eyes were wide enough to see the whites on all sides, and his breathing was coming only in short bursts, riding the line between breathing and hyperventilating.

"I have to say, I'm disappointed." Salem glanced to either side and gestured to the area around her. "Not even so much as a perimeter guard? I gave you advance notice that I was coming in the hopes that you would put up a decent fight."

Sunset glanced at Penn, expecting him to give some kind of witty response to her jab, but he still seemed to be completely frozen with fear. Guess the banter is up to me...

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't want this to be over before I had the chance to get some payback, myself..." Sunset stepped forward until she was standing between Salem and Penn, blocking her from her goal.

Salem's eyes glanced upwards, then around the area once more. Clearly, she was searching for something, but she didn't want to tell them what.

"You're awfully spirited for someone who never finished a single semester at Beacon. I suppose that you have some kind of 'secret weapon' to use against me? Or perhaps you harbor some delusion your spirit and your saber will be enough because you're on some kind of righteous quest?" She held her arms open, clearly inviting Sunset to attack, but her expression settled into a glare that set a layer of frost over her soul. Behind her, Sunset could see a sea of glowing red eyes glaring at her: Grimm, waiting in the wings for a signal from their mistress. "I will be happy to relieve you of those delusions."

BA-THUMP

BA-THUMP

BA-THUMP

Whatever was causing the pulse had grown closer, feeling like it was coming from the very ground beneath their feet.

Salem looked past her to Penn before a small smirk crept onto her face. "Ah, yes! I remember, now. You don't truly put up much of a fight until I threaten this one." He raised her hand in Sunset's direction, palm facing her. An orb of black energy formed just beyond her grip, humming with power. "I wonder what you will become if I kill her here and now?"

"Try it." Sunset growled, cutting off whatever response Penn might have been about to give. Salem was trying to egg him into doing something stupid by using her.

Why is she wasting so much time talking to us? I thought she wanted us DEAD!

BA-THUMP

BA-THUMP

BA-THUMP

Unless...

Sunset narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on her saber. She forced herself to take a deep breath, mustered up all of her courage... and sprinted at their foe.

Missy, be ready with the traps!

"Sunset, NO!"

Sunset ignored Penn's cry of panic. If Salem was trying to keep them occupied with talk, then there was something she was trying to buy time for, and Sunset couldn't let that happen.

"And the queen enters play..." Salem muttered.

Salem made a small motion with her fingers, and tendrils of multicolored light erupted out of the black orb, lashing out at her. Sunset was ready for them, however, raising her saber up to protect herself. The energy blade caught the magical blast, refracting and deflecting it to either side of her body as she continued to run without missing a beat. Salem seemed surprised to have her attack stopped so easily, which gave Sunset an opening.

The first thing she did was sever Salem's hand at the wrist, causing the black orb to dissipate. Before the pain had time to register, Sunset had flicked her wrist and brought the blade down on top of her other arm to cut it off at the elbow. This was the battle she had been training for, and every ounce of her practice had coalesced into a smooth, fluid style of movement with maximum efficiency. In her mind, she could hear the warning that Penn had given them numerous times about Salem's immortality:

Once you start, you can't stop! Debilitating lethal blows are the only way to keep her immobilized, and she's going to wait until you stop to catch your breath to strike back! You can't let your guard down, no matter what!

Sunset held nothing back, gripping the saber tightly to counter what little resistance there was as it passed through Salem's body. With her hands gone, Sunset made a vertical slice, starting at the base of her neck and vertically bisecting her torso before exiting near her waist. From there, she went upwards, slicing off first one arm, then the other at the shoulders. She pulled the saber back and switched her style from slicing to stabbing, plunging the blazing tip into each of Salem's eyes to leave only smoldering blackened holes in her head. When the witch opened her mouth to scream from the pain, Sunset gave her a mouthful of plasma, disintegrating the inside and emerging from the other side of her head with ease.

But she wasn't finished there. It was as if time were moving in slow motion for her, with gravity taking longer to exercise its control over Salem than it should have.

Sunset pulled the saber back again, slashing first at Salem's knees, then completely severing her waist at the center of her body. She didn't even give time for the pieces to fall, continuing to hack and slash with her saber at Salem's torso until it was in more segments than she could count. Finally, with a roar of rage, Sunset ripped the saber through her neck to separate her head from her body, then executed two more slashes to cut said head into quarters, splitting it both vertically and horizontally.

Her arm was burning from the effort of the rapid-fire attacks, now, and Sunset knew that, if Penn was right, even THIS wouldn't be enough to stop Salem for long. Finished for the moment, she jumped backwards to put distance back between herself and Salem...

Except that her feet couldn't move.

Her eyes widened as she looked down, finding herself standing at the center of a red rune circle, with thick black Grimm claws gripped tightly around her ankles. She swung her saber down by her feet to try and cut them off, but more simply sprung up to continue holding her in place. She was trapped.

In front of her, she could see that the pieces of Salem's body still hadn't reached the ground, and now she could make out why:

Thick strands of black, tar-like liquid were connecting all of the pieces together, holding them in place as they reassembled themselves. Sunset tried using her saber to disconnect them, but Salem's disembodied hand wrapped around her wrist, digging her black nails into her skin and holding her weapon still.

"That... hurt." Salem's voice growled as her tongue grew back into its proper place. In a matter of seconds, she was completely restored, rolling each of her shoulders in turn before stretching her neck from side to side. "But now queen takes queen."

Before Sunset could even think to cry out for help, her entire world exploded with pain. It was pain unlike anything she'd ever known, like her entire body was on fire and being stabbed in every place she could imagine. The torture wasn't just physical, however. Rage, hatred, grief and anguish all coursed through her heart and her mind, a thousand lifetimes' worth of every horrible feeling humanity could imagine pushed beyond the extremes that any living person could feel were all being forced into her brain at once.

She wasn't certain how long it lasted, the seconds stretched into years in that state. She was fairly certain she had been screaming at some point, but the pain left her body completely drained of all strength when it ended. When Sunset's awareness of her surroundings returned, Salem was lifting her up by the throat.

"For an empath, your mind is surprisingly unshielded from those around you..." she muttered. From her dismissive tone, Sunset was almost certain that she hadn't even intended to give her that sampling of her inner feelings.

Sunset understood now why Penn had been so afraid of this woman. Deep down, she knew that what she had just experienced was only a small sliver of the malice and hatred embodied in Salem, and every ounce of that unfathomable evil was directed straight at them.

They were facing a foe that embodied everything counter to the Elements of Harmony, and those cardinal evils ran deep as an ocean. In this helpless state, Sunset couldn't help a dark thought from pushing to the front of her mind: without her friends, could this much darkness overwhelm even the remnants of the Elements left in her heart?

BATHUMP

BATHUMP

BATHUMP

Sunset couldn't tell if the racing heartbeat was her own pulse or the unearthly heartbeat they'd heard before.

"MISSY! VANISH SUNSET NOW!" Penn's voice barely registered in Sunset's mind, only barely able to break through the haze of terror Salem had instilled in her.

"Right!" Missy's voice called back, making it clear she'd emerged from her hiding spot to save her. Fear like ice stabbed at Sunset's heart when she saw Salem's smile return.

"Rook enters play..."

She'd been expecting this.

"ACTIVATE TRA-"

"Now, Uru. Knight takes rook."

Salem's voice had barely raised above a whisper, but had still cut Missy off completely. All around them, the unnatural heartbeat climbed in volume and pace until it reached a fever pitch... and then stopped.

Above their heads, Sunset could see glowing lines being drawn in the sky. They seemed like meaningless squiggles at first, but as they continued to grow, Sunset could see a shape forming: the outline of a massive spider. When the outline was complete and the last lines met to enclose it completely, the darkness of the cloud-covered sky gathered together inside of the traced shape, giving it form and depth. Moments later, it began to descend, it's numerous eyes gleaming with the same malice Salem possessed. When it collided with the ground, everything shook and trembled with the force of its weight.

"N-No... No, no, no...." Missy's voice stammered. "You- you couldn't!"

"Oh, finding a kindred spirit isn't so hard when you know where to look, and thankfully that portal you so kindly pulled me into in our last battle placed me in precisely the correct place to find one." Salem gave a casual glance up at the gigantic spider, the tribal-looking lines in its carapace glowing with violet light.

"MISSY! GET OUT OF-"

"TOO LATE, boy!" Salem snapped, fresh ferocity adding an extra growl to her usually-calm voice. "Much, MUCH too late!"

"Wha... what... is... that?" Sunset was barely able to eke out the words through Salem's grip.

The spider's mandible parted, allowing a spray of glowing webbing to erupt from its mouth. Sunset was forced to listen as Missy's pained scream ripped through the night air.

"Earthbound Immortal Uru is a duel spirit that allows me to take control of one of my opponent's monsters by sacrificing one of my own." She motioned behind her to the numerous red eyes in the shadows. "And I have plenty to spare."

In the corner of Sunset's eye, she could see Missy floating past, webs wrapped around her arms and legs like a puppet as she took a place by Salem's side. Her eyes were dim and dark, lacking the lively, fun-loving spark that had always been there in the past.

"N-no... No!" Sunset tried to kick at Salem, but her attacks seemed to have no effect. "Let her GO! Give her BACK!"

"Hmmm... I think not." Salem mused, taking a moment to tousle Missy's hair with her free hand. "Perhaps I'll order her to obliterate you both with the same attack you used to end my wyvern? Or maybe sacrifice her for another monster right before your eyes? Perhaps I'll ask her to walk straight into the jaws of one of my Grimm, THAT would be fun to watch..."

Tears were brimming in Sunset's eyes when she heard Penn's first word since Salem arrived. It wasn't a voice trembling with fear or clenched with pain... it was a roar of rage.

"LONGINUS!"

Sunset could see Penn rushing up next to her, arm swinging in a wild haymaker punch for her face. She made a small gesture with her free hand, causing him to be suspended in the air, only barely out of reach of her. A small twitch of her hand pinned his arms to his sides and brought him closer, until their faces were almost touching.

"And the king is exposed. A misstep, to be certain... but one you've made before. You're not the type to repeat your mistakes-"

It was only in the momentary emerald flash of familiar magic that Sunset saw the smile on Penn's face before Salem was impaled by a hailstorm of spears raining down from above. As nearly a dozen magical spears impaled her from above and even more of them jumped up from below to lift her off of the ground, the grip on Sunset's throat was released, allowing her to drop to the ground and stumble back, rubbing at the sore spot on her neck. She hardly had a moment to try and catch her breath, however, before she was violently yanked back by the back of her shirt, lifting her up and away until she was a safe distance from Salem again.

When the initial shock had worn off, Sunset looked up at her savior.

"Undyne!"

The armored fish monster smirked as she released her grip on Sunset's shirt, then lifted up Penn with her other hand and set him back on his feet.

"Aaaaand that was, what, a minute and a half before you said the safe word?" she snickered. "Come on, Penn, I thought you would make it longer than that!"

"Well, I wasn't expecting her to bring an Earthbound Immortal with her!" Penn gestured up at the gigantic spider, which was slowly turning its head to look in their direction. Its mandibles parted, building up a charge of glowing violet energy.

"Uh, guys? I think it's getting ready to attack..." Sunset pointed upwards to the ten-story monster, then down to Salem's suspended body, which was beginning to twitch and move again as she attempted to free herself from Undyne's impromptu pit-free spike pit. Missy was still standing completely still, as if unaware of the world around her.

"I've got this." Undyne raised one hand, summoning a wall of purple shields in front of them. "Nothing's going to get through THAT!"

Just as the spider lunged forward and fired a beam of burning light from its mouth, Penn's eyes widened in fear. "WAIT A MINUTE-"

The beam passed through the shields as if they weren't even there, slamming into Penn's chest and lifting him completely off of his feet. The force was enough to send him flying out of the camp and into the trees, vanishing completely from sight.

"PENN!"

One of Undyne's eyes flickered violet as she hummed thoughtfully to herself. "Huh... Uru's effects ALSO let it ignore defending monsters and attack life points directly... Talk about cheap!"

"Is he... gonna be okay?"

"Worry more about the rest of us, Sunset! He's the one she wants, so the farther he gets from here, the better!" Undyne raised her shield as Salem snapped the last of the offending spears, stretching her rapidly-healing body before locking her eyes back onto them.

"I expected you to be dead by now, but I suppose I should have known better when my pets never came back with your head."

Undyne growled as a fresh spear materialized in her hand. "Those were supposed to kill me? I thought you were just helping with my morning workouts!"

"As flippant as ever... I suppose that's to be expected, given your second soul." She smirked as she dusted herself off. "But I'm afraid it'll take more than that to stop me, and running is NOT an option. I haven't come alone."

Undyne grunted and tossed her spear upwards into the sky, where it collided with one of her shields. Both exploded into a shower of magical sparks with a crackle similar to a firework. That's the signal!

"What, did you think we did?"

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"Owwwwwwwww..." Penn groaned. His entire chest felt like it had been crushed in a hydraulic press, then reinflated with a bicycle pump.

"You know, it's REALLY cheap for her to come at us with a monster that can attack the opponent directly."

"Well, if she did her research about duel monsters, and it seems like she did..." Penn made an attempt to push himself up, only to give up a second later as his body failed to muster up enough strength to overcome gravity. "Then she probably picked Uru specifically to get around your defenses..."

"Well, get up so we can go make her PAY for hurting Missy!"

She was right. Penn felt a fresh dose of rage coursing through his veins, just enough for him to brace himself against the tree he'd crashed into and push himself up onto his feet.

That, however, was as far as he got before a sharp, stabbing pain in his stomach brought his progress to a halt. He looked down at the offending wound and, for a moment, thought that we was hallucinating.

It was a blade from nowhere. It was planted directly in his stomach hard enough to push him back against the tree, but disappeared into thin air a few inches away from him.

"WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED? HOW- Don't take it out! Pulling it out will only make you bleed faster!" Reason felt like she was growing more and more distant from his thoughts as shock began to set in properly.

"Me oh my, looks as if we may have made a mistake. We got the wrong nerd!" a familiar voice taunted.

With the sound of shattering glass, the illusory barrier fell away, revealing Torchwick and Neopolitan standing directly in front of him. Neo had stabbed him with the hidden blade in her umbrella, keeping him stuck in place as they stood over him with smug expressions on their faces.

"Oh... oh that CAN'T be good..."

Penn was at odds with himself about whether or not to try and pull the blade out of his gut, only able to hover his hands above the injury as it began to rapidly trickle with black blood. As if on autopilot, his mouth formed the first words that came to mind.

"H-Heya, boss..."

Comments

[Velvet-Fresh]

How does one defeat a true immortal... what happens if shes exposed to Space?

[Venerable Ro]

Plot twist! Who would have thought Salem would invest in off-brand options?

[Raistlin]

10788562

Given that she represents Disharmony incarnated, the logical thing would be purifying her. The question is from where is Sunset going to pull enough Harmony to neutralize Salem's evil?

[Venerable Ro]

10788657

Especially with Uru backing her, that thing's plenty malevolent all on its own.

[Bluebottle27]

10788657
I'dve said imprisonment/immobilisation would be a better choice, probably wouldn't even need to use magic either; one trip to a metal foundry, knock her into a vat of molten metal, cool it down, voila, instant steel coffin. Alternately (far fetched I know), teleport her into the heart of the Sun, she gets immolated by the heat and the moment she regenerates she'd be instantly immolated again, so she'd have no chance to do anything to get herself out of it.

[Boltstrike58]

"Earthbound Immortal Uru is a duel spirit that allows me to take control of one of my opponent's monsters by sacrificing one of my own." She motioned behind her to the numerous red eyes in the shadows. "And I have plenty to spare."

Oh, great. She's learning their tricks!

[MariusIoannesP]

Ah yes another update! Good thing too. I just finished Volume 8 of RWBY this weekend. That was certainly something.

All this time Penn's been carrying out an Undertale save point.

There's some kind of difference between the "Penn who died" and the "Penn who came back," and that difference involves knowledge about the save point…

Up to this point, the story's convinced us that this Penn is just as much Penn as the original. After a long while Sunset finally had to accept it. This is the first indication that maybe there is something different about him.

"Gimmie a little longer. By the time we're done saving Remnant, I'll have the high ground over this Star Wars lore!"

Well having the higher ground did help Obi-Wan.

Her eyes widened as she looked down, finding herself standing at the center of a red rune circle, with thick black Grimm claws gripped tightly around her ankles. She swung her saber down by her feet to try and cut them off, but more simply sprung up to continue holding her in place. She was trapped.

Uh oh

"Oh, finding a kindred spirit isn't so hard when you know where to look, and thankfully that portal you so kindly pulled me into in our last battle placed me in precisely the correct place to find one."

Not only did unleashing the black hole on Evernight possibly allow Baalchion to invade Remnant, but using the trap card on Salem has allowed her to align with an Earthbound Immortal Uru

And so begins the final battle with Salem. I imagine the rest of their interdimensional allies will be on their way next chapter. Once she's taken care off they'll be on their way to save Remnant from Baalchion and Chirac. Very much looking forward to that. Just finished Volume 8 of RWBY as I said. Eagerly awaiting the next installment. Keep up the good work.

[Astegra]

10788827
the problem with that is that unless she is denser than the metal IN the molten metal then she won't sink, unlike a terminator, which is a really heavy/dense metal skeleton, she is still made of flesh and blood( if corrupted but still flesh(look up " Leidenfrost Effect" to see what i mean)), seeing as magic/grimm probably wouldn't have made her much heavier and she is pretty powerful, so just pushing her inside the molten metal would pretty tough but KEEPING her there long enough to cool the metal would be even tougher since she has some really powerful grimm BS on her side, she'd probably break out of anything that isn't comic-book super-metal or whatever. honestly, throwing her onto an abandoned planet or a totally empty pocket dimension would be the best outside of an extremely powerful magical jail that was made with beings like her or stronger in mind. at this point, the ACTUAL elements of harmony might be the most likely way of getting rid of her as a threat one way or another. because no matter how powerful she might be, her immortality is DIRECTLY from an actual capital G god(s).

[Bluebottle27]

10789630
There's always a snag isn't there? I suppose the difference in weight/mass could be overcome by using something heavy to knock her into the vats and keep her down, eg a (very) large pile of scrap metal or a large overhead crucible, but of course, the plan would hinge on taking her unawares so she couldn't bring her magic to bear to escape. Sending her into an empty pocket dimension or onto an uninhabited planet is a good idea, but seeing as how Penn & Co. already did something similar with a trap card in the RWBY arc, I feel that would only slow her down but not actually stop her unless they could find a way to close the dimension off utterly from the rest of the multiverse, even then I think Salem would e able to brute force her way through eventually. I still think the most effective way would be the most unrealistic way outside of Harmony Blasting her; find a way to drop her into the heart of a star or a black hole so she'd be destroyed instantly upon regenerating back, an endless cycle that would prevent her from moving an inch without outside help.

[Vulpine Dynamic]

AAAAHHHH I NEED MORE

[Blaze the draconic mage]

Well damn what an ending he gets to see Eyeliner and icecream munchkin again.

[Stet709]

You know, when I read Penn had a star-shaped crystal, and didn't want Sunset (or Missy) to know he had it, I thought he might've had the physical Element of Magic somehow, but I read further and realized it's a save point.

[J3sterking]

Okay, here me out real quick. Let's forget Salem a second and focus on Bendy--and, honestly, Salem probly doesn't hold a candle to anything legitimately demonic.
One of the main things that happened to the studio was canon divergence out of a closed time loop. They now have no real way of destroying Bendy. EXCEPT that they have a pocket-sized time loop that they could theoretically trap Bendy in. Granted, just trying to shove how him in is probably the stupidest thing you could suggest, BUT if Isis ran some tests, they could probably seal Bendy away for eternity.
This is all theoretical, anyway. Neither media gors into enough detail for us to know exactly how this would work, but if u throw some elements of harmony into the mix, you could almost certainly make something happen