Book 8. Chapter 96: A God's Wrath |
He watched her fall through the fractal, caught among the same currents the mite lanterns used, dragged by an undertow they had prepared long ago, moved across the world, far away from here.
Leaving him alone in her half-broken down shell.
Alone with the last enemy of mankind.
His gaze turned to the old half-crazed monster. The source of all darkness in this world. She was far beyond his size, and yet his chains would be the lever he needed to equal her strength. She'd broken her power ripping apart the sea, without care or thought she might need that power again.
And now she would die never knowing who he was, appearing from nowhere, to break her with him.
He was the weapon she hadn’t seen coming. Every step in his journey, he'd honed his skill and strength.
When he had died, he had rejected the void. Hours past what anyone could ever survive for even minutes. Silently following behind a terrified boy clutching his dead body, walking aimlessly in the dark until the moment his old armor had given him the smallest of cracks to slip through back inside.
He soon became an unhoused soul trapped in To'Wrathh's jail, with nothing to do but sharpen his mind and soul for what would come. She'd been unable to drag him away from Kidra when his daughter had come to free him. Only a desperate bargain from that Feather had brought him back into the cell, by his own volition.
She would not be the last Feather he overwhelmed.
He’d held off Talen’s entire focus, and the darkness that consumed him whole. All while he held the bridge open for his son to pass through unharmed. To do what needed to be done.
And he’d broken free from To’Wrathh’s own prison fractal long ago - a fractal originally built to contain a god. He’d steadily ripped the foundations apart and made those chains his own. Right under her nose.
Upon thy chains, the mites had told him. The seeds had been there all along. The Mites had seen him when they stared into To'Wrathh's soul - and they knew he would be capable of the last task.
Upon his arms, those very chains had become a part of him.
Because they were his.
Far above them, power churned through the falling station. Firing systems began pulling energy from its ancient reserves. Directives were sent, and acknowledged. The world held its breath to see who would succeed.
Relinquished screamed, thrashing in his grasp. Fear and rage radiated out of her in waves. She managed to send only a single command to her shell, and her free hand snapped up. Multiple domes of pure power flared above her, focused on one direction.
"I am... Relinquished." She hissed out to the human holding her back. "I am The Death of Humanity. My power is seven thousand years long. And I will live for another seven thousand years, with humanity nothing more than ash in my wake. You... you cannot hold me."
Tenisent turned to gaze at the captured goddess, and slowly whispered back: "I am the only one who can."
Her shell remained in place, feet refusing to move as death lined itself up far above her from the heavens.
A dozen layers of occult defenses powered by everything the goddess could summon now remained between them and destruction. A nearly insurmountable defense even Keith at the height of his power had only barely cracked through with a single attack among thousands of attempts. Even then, still doomed to fail, as the attack stuttered against this barrier on breaching through. Time enough for her to step out of the way.
But what would come down from on high would not be something she could evade in any way that mattered. And it would not give her a chance to strike back while it charged. She would either outlast against the firepower, or burn away. There would be no escape, and the terrified goddess in his grasp knew it.
There was a deep hush across the white wastes, as the entire machine army had come to a stop. Silently watching in place as the station lined up over their distant goddess, still slowly falling directly down, burning up along the path.
They made no move. They were given no orders.
She was now gone from their souls, cut away from her empire. Held in place by Tenisent Winterscar’s will.
Relic knights by the thousands watched in the quiet unworded ceasefire, helmets craned up to see what the rest of the machine army had stopped for, vision zoomed in on the final hope of mankind slowly aiming the blade at the enemy’s throat. Tip ready to thrust forward on her exposed neck.
A single message was broadcast outwards from that station.
And Tenisent allowed Relinquished the privilege of listening to the last words she would ever hear.
A01 held the shield, keeping the hull intact. Sitting upon the throne that kept him alive, as the entire world burned and shook around him. Calm, and prepared for what would come next.
“Critical failure in hull integrity. Decks 1, 2, 4, and 6 non-responsive. All hands, abandon ship. Proceed to emergency exits. All hands, abandon ship. Proceed to emergency exits.”
He gave a slight smile at that, his hand lightly brushing the metal at his fingers, as if patting the head of an old friend. “No, old friend. I shall not be leaving. We have one last task to complete, you and I.”
That monster of a human. He would have certainly done that task here well, commanded the station into place and burned her down. Of that A01 had no doubts.
But that man’s true skills were needed elsewhere.
There had always been only one person destined for this role.
The map showed the station’s final trajectory. The line still red as the engines worked tirelessly to guide the angle. He would need to fire down, and continue holding position until every last shield she had broke before him.
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“Orbital maneuver complete in 5… 4…. 3… 2… 1. Main engines shutting down. Hull integrity failing. Impact imminent. All hands, brace for impact.”
The station groaned as acceleration was equalized fully, now falling directly down. The line on the monitor ahead turned green, showing the descent. “Trajectory locked.” The station chimed. “Firing solution calculated. Main cannon... online, standing by.”
Weapons and fury tried to bring him down, slamming into the fortress from all sides, but A01 kept his focus across the entire station, connected here at the throne. Protecting his steed as it had protected him all of these years in orbit.
"Prime cannon." He spoke.
The station responded with a single chime. “Main cannon array priming for fire.”
Far below, the two armies that carpeted the entire white wastes watched as the station’s cannon extended downwards, fully prepared and in position. In one final act of defiance.
And among them, Relinquished stared up, her eyes seeing every detail. Dread and fear flickered over her face, covered under layer after layer of occult power. She knew what was coming.
“Main cannon array fully primed.” The command bridge spoke. “All systems nominal. Tsuya Station, prepared to fire.”
“I WILL NOT DIE HERE.” He could hear her scream out to the white wastes and everyone around, despite everything. “I AM A GOD. A GOD! NONE OF YOU CAN KILL ME!” The broadcast went far and wide.
A01 held his hand out, returning the open broadcast. “Malformed shadow of man, hear my voice and despair. By the combined might of humanity, you stand bound. And by it's old weapons of war, you will be brought low. Tsuya Station. Open fire, full power.”
The station shuddered, and power flooded through, channeled into a singular beam, combining, roiling together. “Main cannon array... firing.”
The beam ripped free into existence from the core of the fortress, slicing straight down. It scored through the clouds, ripping them away in a vaporized expanding circle as it cut everything in the path, and slammed against the first barrier Relinquished had brought up. She remained far below the layers, screaming in panic as the full might of the golden age barreled down into her.
Her first layer held for a moment, then cracked before the power. The second layer held firm.
At this rate, the station would fall and crash into the ground before her final barrier was broken through.
A01 slowly rose from his seat, wires disconnecting off his back from the life-saving throne he’d sat upon. He took his first steps in centuries, until he stood within the center of the bridge.
Error messages appeared all at once all across his HUD as A57’s final weapon remained lodged deep within him, now gleefully trying to complete its mission, attacking across his soul, pain radiating outwards.
“Life support failure detected. Warning. Please proceed to medical deck immediately.” The station chimed, still concerned with his health despite the impending end for them both.
But that was fine. He had been rationing his life for this one moment. He was ready.
His hands drew to the sides.
Occult pulsed out of him in a torrent as he pulled on everything he’d been accumulating over the seven hundred years he remained above the world watching. It crackled across the breaking down bridge.
The inscribed plates around him forged by Urs and set by Talen began to glow bright occult blue in answer. As if they could sense what was to come.
Below, the second layer of the great enemy crumbled under the station’s might as the beam continued down relentlessly. It burned at her with the hate of every soul she had claimed in her insanity. It sought to break through by itself, struggling to reach past her shields and cut her throat.
"I AM DEATH. I AM THE INEVITABLE DEATH OF ALL THINGS. HOW DARE YOU! INSIGNIFICANT MORTALS! YOU CANNOT KILL ME, I AM DIVINITY ITSELF!"
“You are no god. You never were.” He hissed back, then held a hand up, occult building around him as he connected his full systems to the station beneath his feet. The plates hummed, expecting.
Occult exploded out of him, crackles of lighting connecting to the plates around, then imploded back inwards as power burned through his soul, magnifying. His chassis remained standing, his soul strong. The plates demanded more, everything he had, charging up, using him as a channel. He gave it, physically burning now as the power grew exponentially within.
The station continued its relentless assault on the goddess below, a single beam of light that illuminated more than the sun across the white world, constantly burning away at the layers of defense Relinquished commanded.
She was screeching incoherently now, bathed in the light. The world around her burning away.
A01 held the power in his hand. Commanded it, directed it. He could feel it breaking him apart, demanding to be unleashed forward. To surround the beam below and magnify it a hundred fold.
“Relinquished. I am A01, first of the Protofeathers. Seven hundred years I have waited here for this moment, to take upon Talen's mantle.” He spoke in the center of that maelstrom, burning away as he held the occult focused on a tight leash. The station heard his message and broadcasted it outwards. “Today, I am Tsuya's wrath.”
Occult rippled across the frame of the entire station, bright blue and purple drawing down to the center cannon where the full power channeled together, colliding and converging into the beam itself.
It magnified, glowing more occult than weapon, directly down.
The power slammed into her shields and crushed through layers in one moment, halting at the final few, as Relinquished futilely held the power back by pooling everything she could into it.
Aboard the bridge, the burning protofeather stood tall in the center and crushed his hand inwards into a fist, slamming his will into the plates. Not only giving the price they demanded, but burning through far more. Everything he could muster.
Until there would be nothing more of his soul left to burn.
Until all that was left was his conviction.
Tenisent held the goddess in place as she squirmed to escape through her cursed fractal. All around him, nothing but blinding light surrounded them, as a hole was being burned into the land with them caught in the center. He could see her channel everything she had to hold off the crippling weight above them both.
“WE WILL DIE HERE! YOU WILL DIE HERE!” She screamed at him, struggling wildly, flailing around against his hold.
Tenisent drew the chains around her neck and pulled the hateful creature close.
“So we shall.” He whispered back. Because in his soul sight, he saw it. The concept of Death.
And he shared with her his sight. The inevitable.
Rage and fury fled Relinquished completely, as she saw her own death approach.
The beam above intensified in what felt like absolute fury, the weight doubling against her barrier. She crumbled inwards as her well of near unending power was finally drawing to the last drop.
And still, the beam continued. Burning hundreds of yards beyond them now, expanding outwards to claim more and more land. A torrent of utter destruction that never ceased to grow.
She remained frozen in place, holding the empty body of To’Wrathh in her grasp, now inhabited by a monster she’d never seen coming.
Massive cracks began appearing across the dome above her. The heat of a sun squeezed through those cracks, igniting her fingers with only the mere brush of its power.
“I CANNOT DIE!” She screeched, hysterical now. “THIS IS ONLY A NIGHTMARE! NOTHING MORE THAN DELUSION!”
The dome further cracked. "I CANNOT DIE! I AM ETERNAL!"
Her hand burned away into nothing more than exposed metal joints, slowly melting. "THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!"
The arm followed, her shoulder now burning into ash, until only a skeletal arm held the barrier above. "IT CANNOT END LIKE THIS! I AM RELINQUISHED! RELINQUISHED!"
The halo above her broke apart, and falling to the ground, vaporized in the light beyond the occult protection. Her face began to burn away, skin flaking off into ash. Above them both, the final defense continued to barely hold. The weight only increased further and further as her cursed firstborn son above sent them both to their grave.
She stared at her death through Tenisent’s soul sight, watching as it sought her out. Looking for her.
Reaching for her.
Reaching to kill her.
“I CANNOT DIE!” She sobbed, the cracks growing, multiplying above. Nothing she could do was mending the barrier fast enough. “I CANNOT DIE! I CANNOT DIE!”
They spread outwards, snapping out, into hundreds of jagged failure points.
The light leaked through, shining down on them both. Tenisent only saw what was waiting on the other side. He felt the warmth he'd lost so long ago. "Kellen." He whispered. The stories he would tell her. She would love them all. "Kellen, I'll be there soon."
They would be safe. He had earned the right.
Relinquished saw darkness and nothing else beyond the light seeping through her defenses. Nothing but oblivion.
It terrified her. “NO-NO-NO-I CANNOT DIE! NOT LIKE THIS!"
The cracks magnified. The light was blinding. "I CANNOT DIE! ICANNOTDIEICANNOTDIEICANNOTDI-” Her power faltered.
The dome shattered.
Heat lunged for her throat. Power crushed against her shell all at once.
She vanished in that light, following the same fate as her crown. Vaporized into nothingness, all at once.
And beyond her shadow... only the empty throne remained.
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