Chapter 191

The Simulacrum

The Lord of Inanna was a beautiful catastrophe, a violent poem written in the language of stars and shadow. There, against the bruised canvas of the Abyssal sky, Noir wasn't merely flying; he was the storm, the very epicentre of a maelstrom of raw, violet power. His wings, vast and leathery, beat with a rhythm that was less a physical act and more the thrum of a dark, primal heart, each downbeat sending shudders through the very fabric of the world.

He was terrifying and magnetic all at once. The power that radiated from him wasn't just an oppressive force; it was a caress, a silken promise of absolute strength that curled around you, making your own pulse flutter in a dangerous, heady dance. His demonic form, with its newly lengthened horns and expanded wings, should have been a grotesque sight, but there was a dark artistry to it, a terrible beauty in the way he commanded the chaotic energies swirling around him.

He wasn't just a man; he was a force of nature made flesh, a fallen angel crowned in amethyst lightn—

A slow, wicked grin bloomed across Noir’s features, a predator's triumphant leer that held no warmth, only promising a beautiful ruin, the exquisite agony of a fall from grace. It was the kind of smile that didn't just touch his lips, but claimed them, a slow, possessive curve that spoke of absolute certainty and the dark, thrilling—

«The breaking/destruction/cessation of existence is only—»

«...»

Noir surveyed the crater, his expression flat. The youths' assault was proving to be irritatingly persistent, but ultimately, futile. His calculations were simple: their stamina versus the near-limitless energy flowing from the Mana Well. It was not a difficult equation to solve. The noble families squabbling in the town below were irrelevant background noise, their petty ambitions rendered meaningless in the face of his ascension.

Out of all of them, the Celestial girl and her near-limitless supply of golden fire were the only variable of any note, but even that was a known quantity. He was simply waiting for her to exhaust her reserves. The rest were trivialities, obstacles to be cleared on the path to his new reality.

The conflict in New Larsa unfolded with predictable yet chaotic geometry. House Gula made the first move, deploying shock troops to seize the central plaza and the mayor's residence. Their objective was likely to secure symbolic assets before the battle for the Mana Well concluded. The local constabulary was neutralised within seven minutes of the initial engagement.

House Enlil's response was characteristically indirect. Rather than meeting Gula's forces head-on, they utilised their superior aerial capabilities to attack Gula's supply lines and command posts. This resulted in scattered firefights and numerous small-scale structural collapses. The primary cause of civilian casualties appeared to be falling debris.

Loyalist factions of Houses Shamash and Ninhursag, were caught unprepared, still engaged in a chaotic melee with the forces of House Inanna and their allies. Their forces were fragmented, and what resistance they offered was fierce but disorganised, amounting to a series of localised holding actions.

Communication blackouts were initiated by all belligerent parties shortly after hostilities began. The only reliable information now originated from direct observation, which was limited. The tactical situation was therefore a fluid mess of opportunistic aggression with no discernible long-term strategy beyond securing immediate advantages. The invasion was less a coordinated campaign and more a violent, opportunistic asset grab.

With a sudden roar, a new voice joined the cacophonous battlefield.

"Where is he!? Where's the bastard who dared to cheap-shot me!?"

The Lord of House Nergal burst into the crater, his minotaur-like Abyssal form cracking the featureless grey ground under his hooved feet. He held a colossal, obsidian warhammer with a brutal, jagged head aglow with a dull red light. His entrance disrupted the ongoing melee between Penelope and the two Abyssal patriarchs, forcing the three combatants to disengage.

"Lord Nergal! Where have you been all this time?!" the Ninurta artistocrat fumed, nursing a shallow gash on his side.

The bull-horned Lord of Nergal ignored him, his burning eyes scanning the chaos. It seemed that in his outrage, he had only just recognised the dramatic change in the environment. He stopped, lowering his warhammer, and stared at the desolation of the crater. The missing castle, the eroded landscape—it was all a fresh wound.

Yet, he did not dwell on it. His attention quickly snapped upwards, where Noir was still clashing with the airborne heroes, then to the Shamash matriarch and the others by the Mana Well. Then, he looked back to the Ninurta patriarch.

The situation called for many a question. What exactly happened here? Where's the Emperor? Where did the Peacemaker disappear? Yet, he ignored all such inquiries in favour of a simple, furious roar.

He charged forward, each step shaking the ground, the warhammer raised high. His target was the rotund Ninhursag patriarch, and he closed the distance in three ground-shaking strides. He clearly concluded that the time for questions was for later, and defeating all the enemies in his sight took precedence.

«...»

However, before the bullish Lord of the Abyss could get close, Penelope darted into his path, her zweihander swinging high. The man reeled back and readied his weapon again, but by then she already leapt back, her superior mobility and smaller frame making her a difficult target.

Nevertheless, fighting an Abyssal Lord in her lonesome was not a sustainable course of action, but her gamble had succeeded in drawing the newcomer's attention.

"Ammy! Tag in!" she cried over her shoulder, startling the Magi girl.

"Huh?! W-Wait, is that a code-word, or...?"

Seeing her confusion, Judy helpfully pushed her from behind. "Go. Keep him occupied."

"But what about the...?"

Before she could finish, fire and lightning erupted again as the Ninurta and Ninhursag patriarchs resumed their battle, their struggle spilling into her immediate vicinity. The two Abyssal Lords had moved past the point of finesse, their powers lashing out in a chaotic storm of uncontrolled fury.

"If you're worried about the injured and the non-combatants..." the Matron chimed in, clearly misunderstanding the source of Amelia's hesitation. She stepped forth and, like a star of an opera, she extended a hand as she sang a spell, a slow, thrumming melody that formed a thick layer of swirling silver dust around the group. "...that shall hold out for a while."

"I haven't heard you sing in ages," the Shamash matriarch noted with an inscrutable expression, watching the dome shimmer.

"It's been a while since we last battled, hasn't it?" she answered with a wry smile.

Amelia's legs jerked forward, as if prompted by some unseen force, and she stumbled her way towards the brutish Lord of Nergal, her frilly dress fluttering in the chaotic winds of the crater. After the first few steps, her gait grew more stable, and her expression hardened into one of grim resolve.

She skidded to a halt a safe distance from the clash and, with a quick, practised motion, she extended her arm and chanted a quick spell. In a flash, a familiar silver staff appeared in her hands. She took a deep breath, the very air crackling with the raw energy of the surrounding battles, and raised the staff high. As she did, she began to chant again, this time a completely different incantation, a complex web of syllables that wove a tangible web of energy around her.

Then, as soon as she finished, her eyes snapped open, and she yelled, "Penny! Duck!"

The young knight reacted without hesitation, her combat reflexes honed by years of rigorous training. She threw herself to the ground, and a split second later, a dozen spheres of yellow-hot flames shot forth from Amelia's staff.

The individual balls of fire moved in curved trajectories, and the Nergal patriarch hurriedly swung his hammer. The head of his weapon collided with each of the fireballs in turn, and with each one came a small fiery explosion that gradually pushed him back. He staggered and grunted under the pressure of the attacks.

Of course, such spells could hardly hurt him while his Barrier was intact, but in the heat of the battle, ignoring a dozen fiery explosions was easier said than done, and even if they didn't deal damage, they were certainly disorienting.

Just then, Penelope rose from her crouch and yelled, "I'm tagging in!" as she unleashed another round of swift slashes at him, her zweihander gleaming with a silvery light as it clashed against the Nergal Lord's warhammer.

"I still don't know what that means!" Amelia complained, yet her eyes remained focused, and she was already preparing her next spell in her mind.

The two Abyssal men were still engaged in a battle of life and death, the lightning-clad true Lord of Ninhursag against the fire-wielding Ninurta usurper. Their forms couldn't have been more different, yet their eyes burned with the same light of hatred, years if not decades of mutual animosity reaching its final, violent crescendo.

Their powers flared and clashed with each other, the air crackling and sizzling as the two forces met. It was a stalemate, neither willing to give an inch, their pride and desperation fuelling their every move. The crater floor cracked and buckled under their feet, the very ground shaking with the force of their struggle.

«Curious/Odd/Incomprehensible. Your care/investment isn't consistent/stable/not-inconsistent.»

«Attention? Different levels of attention/tending. Why?»

...

The Ninhursag patriarch, a veritable Zeus of wrath and voltage, attempted a particularly dramatic leaping thrust, a manoeuvre that no doubt looked absolutely spectacular in his mind's eye. He was supposed to be a descending bolt of righteous, lightning-wreathed fury, the embodiment of his house's tempestuous wrath.

In reality, his foot caught on a particularly stubborn piece of displaced rubble from the castle's unmaking. For a single, comical moment, all the gravitas and divine fury evaporated, replaced by the ungainly flailing of a fat man whose ambition had dramatically outpaced his coordination. His eyes went wide with a cartoonish panic, his arms pinwheeling wildly in a desperate bid to reclaim his balance. He let out a strangled squawk that was less 'vengeful god' and more 'startled chicken'.

«Weak reaction/counterforce. Must track/follow/investigate further. Might be ploy/trick/diversion.»

...

Without warning, the ground cracked, and a long fissure extended from the Nergal patriarch's location. The fissure zigged, and then it zagged, moving with purpose and unnatural speed, as if it were a living thing burrowing through the rock. It slipped under the silver ward deployed by the Matron and raced directly towards the ones taking shelter inside, ready to erupt and shred them all to—

...

Before the attack could reach its mark, the wounded and pallid Shamash matriarch moved. She was just a blink of an eye faster, her enormous scythe materialising seemingly out of thin air as she planted the tip of the curved blade directly into the path of the fissure. The very tip of her weapon glowed with a faint amber light as the crack slammed into it, and with a thunderous CRACK, the attack dissipated.

The Matriarch stumbled back a step, a thin trickle of black blood running from the corner of her mouth, yet her eyes remained cold as she glared at the bullish man.

"Lord Nergal! Have you no shame?!"

The Abyssal aristocrat only clicked his tongue, then dodged out of the way of Penelope's latest assault, his form surprisingly nimble despite his bulk. He parried her zweihander with the shaft of his warhammer, the clash of their weapons ringing out like a church bell in the dead of winter.

«Stronger reaction/force/sensation. Still weaker/fainter/less defined than before. Unexpected.»

«Taste/Trail is less rich/detailed/interconnected. Hiding/Concealing? But then why bother/attempt/self-impose? Why not run/escape/self-entomb?»

...

In the meantime, the battle in the air was nearing its own crescendo. The Lord of Inanna, drunk on the power surging through him, grew more reckless, his attacks more devastating. He was a whirlwind of violet energy, a storm of pure, unadulterated destruction, and the heroes were caught in its path.

Yet, with his confidence came arrogance, and with arrogance came mistakes. He was so focused on the grand spectacle of his power, on the sheer, overwhelming force he could now command, that he failed to notice the subtle shifts in the battlefield, the small, almost imperceptible changes that were slowly turning the tide.

Deus, her Celestial flames burning brighter than ever, drawing upon the might of her old soul to keep up with the Abyssal Lord's relentless assault. She wasn't the only one shining with golden radiance either; Joshua, linked to her by carrying a small yet not-insignificant fragment of her soul and power, was pulled along. His Celestial powers flared in concert with hers, and it wasn't just the glow. The more she drew on her golden light, the more Joshua's power surged in tandem, a resonance that was elevating them higher and higher in perfect synchronicity until they could match the seemingly endless power of the Abyssal Lord, if even for a time.

In contrast, Neige and Eleanor were only providing support for the two of them, their attacks serving as diversions, forcing Noir to divide his attention. They couldn't keep up with the raw power on display, but their coordination was impeccable, a seamless dance of ice and fire that kept the Lord of Inanna on the defensive.

"You think this is enough?" he roared, his voice a cacophony of overlapping echoes. "You are but sparks in the face of an inferno!"

Despite his boasts, it was clear to see that he was getting more impatient. Was he unconsciously aware of the ticking clock, the impending implosion of the Abyss wrought by his own hands? Or was he simply affected by the urgency of his opponents, sensing their growing desperation?

Whatever the case, he finally decided to end the stalemate. With a deafening roar, he raised both hands, a swirling vortex of violet energy forming between them. The very air crackled with raw power, the ground below trembling in anticipation. It was a strike meant to unleash the endless power within him upon them, a decisive blow that would end the battle in one fell swoop.

It was at that exact, fleeting moment that a single signal echoed through the minds of all the heroes present.

"{Beluga to the pod: the shark is in position. I repeat, the shark took the bait. Go, go, go!}"

The quartet in the sky erupted into motion. Deus, her face a mask of grim determination, swept her hand towards the man in the sky. From her palm erupted a blindingly bright ball of amber light, flying directly towards Noir. It should've been trivial to dodge it, if not for his focus on gathering the energy for his own attack.

However, the heroes left nothing to chance. Just as he was about to move, the Lord of Inanna found himself suddenly lethargic. It wasn't just his limbs that were slow to respond, but the violent mana surging around him, the very energy he was commanding, felt sluggish, as if wading through a thick, invisible tar.

He glanced up and saw that he was being showered by a strange, glittering dust. Neige, her form shimmering with exhaustion, was channelling the most formidable spell she could muster. It wasn't an attack, but a wide-area dispel, a field of glittering frost designed to slow and freeze the very mana in the air.

It was but a momentary distraction, yet one that Noir could not expect or readily counter. Before he could recover from the sudden onset of mystic lethargy, the amber ball of Celestial energy erupted in front of him, yet it wasn't an explosion, but an unravelling of countless thin chains of light, wrapping themselves around him.

They dug into his form, into the very vortex of power he commanded, and he let out a furious roar. It was a spell designed to hold Bel of the Abyss, to lock someone in place so that they could not escape by any magical means, and while they never had an opportunity to use it against him, it worked perfectly well on the self-appointed new Emperor of the Abyss.

The golden chains pulled taut, and for a brief, shining second, the violet maelstrom surrounding him was contained.

But that wasn't all. During all this time, Eleanor was nowhere to be seen. In fact, she wasn't in the air anymore, but perched on top of one of the surviving walls of Castle Shamash, her draconic form growing more pronounced with each passing moment. Her skin was turning into a mosaic of crimson scales, and her horns, now longer and more regal, curled back from her brow.

It was clear what she was planning to do, but it was a risky gamble. To unleash True Dragon Fire, even a full-blooded dragon would've had to prepare themselves. For a Draconian, it took even more time, but in the chaotic battle in the sky, such an opening was rare, yet now she had it.

She took a deep breath, her chest expanding as she gathered the primal energies of her heritage. The air around her shimmered as she opened her mouth, a deep crimson sphere materialising in front of her. It was a sphere of pure, unadulterated draconic power, a swirling vortex of destruction that promised nothing but oblivion.

She kept pouring power into it, and the sphere grew and changed colour, from an angry red to a churning orange, then a bright yellow. The first time she used true dragon fire was against Noir during the kidnapping incident at the school, so it was fitting that the second time she unleashed it would be against him as well.

Yet, this did not come without risks. The powerful beam of Dragon Fire she used against the Chimera back in Digirmah took her several minutes to prepare, and yet it was nothing compared to what she was charging now. If she unleashed it hastily, it would definitely cause a terrible backlash, permanently injuring her throat, or even—

...

If she unleashed it hastily, it would definitely cause a backlash, potentially injuring her throat or even temporarily losing her voice.

«Curious/Intriguing/Utterly illogical.»

...

This was a moment of do or die, and Eleanor didn't hesitate. As dangerous and painful as it was, she unleashed the torrent of True Dragon Fire with a roar that shook the very heavens. The beam of incandescent energy shot across the sky, its shimmering outline aglow with all the primal colours of the rainbow, and it collided directly with the bound form of the Lord of Inanna.

He had little time to react. With inhuman effort, he moved his arms and the vortex of energy between his fingers, and hastily redirected the power of the spell into a more defensive purpose. The amethyst light exploded outwards, forming a massive dome of shimmering, violet energy that enveloped him, and a moment later, the torrent of draconic fury slammed against it.

The very world seemed to fall silent at that instant, the only sounds the roar of the dragon fire and the crackle of the violet dome as it strained against the immense pressure. On the surface, it was a classic display of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, but that was a shallow observation.

It wasn't a battle of clashing forces, but one of negating properties.

Dragon Fire was inherently anti-magic, capable of unravelling spells and enchantments on contact. True Dragon Fire was even more potent, capable of searing the very mana from which they were woven. It burned away the very foundations of mystic phenomena, leaving behind a void where magic once stood.

Noir's shield, on the other hand, wasn't a spell in the traditional sense, but a physical construct of pure mana. It had no intricate patterns, no complex weaves to be undone, and with the Mana Wells supplying him with endless power, the shield kept rebuilding itself faster than it could be unravelled.

It was a battle of attrition, a contest of pure, raw power. The Mana Well versus the very essence of dragon-kind.

And in that contest, the Mana Well was winning.

The cracks that appeared across the violet dome were not signs of its collapse, but of the strain it was under as it held back the torrent of draconic fury. Yet, it held, and with each passing second, the light of Eleanor's attack dimmed.

Finally, with a final, defiant roar that ended in a pained croak, her attack fizzled out. She slumped over, clutching her throat, and collapsed against the castle wall. The violet dome around Noir vanished, and he hovered in the air, panting heavily, but unharmed.

It was his moment of triumph... or was it?

High above in the sky, a bright comet was descending. It was a streak of brilliant gold and deep crimson, a star falling from the heavens to strike down the arrogant self-ascribed God of the Abyss. In its essence, it was very similar to the attack Joshua used to break the ice slide in Digirmah, during their escape from Castle Ninhursag, but its focal point was different. Instead of his shield, it was all centred on the black sword in his hands.

Noir saw it coming, but he couldn't react in time. The frost, the chains, the exhausting of his powers, it was all a ruse to create a single, perfect opening. The comet of spiralling lights descended with a blinding flash, Joshua roaring at the top of his lungs as he swung his blade.

Then, the attack met its mark.

"Aaaargh!"

Yet, it wasn't perfect.

It was hard to tell what happened. Maybe the Lord of Inanna managed to move with sheer survival instinct. Maybe Joshua, unaccustomed to taking a life, hesitated at the very last moment, his grip faltering for a fraction of a second. Or maybe it was just simple, unadulterated luck.

Whatever the case, the comet of golden and crimson light passed by Noir, and they both fell from the sky with a deafening crash. Joshua was unable to cushion his fall, and he tumbled across the cracked ground, while Noir landed on his back. Then, a few seconds later, a pair of severed wings fell right next to him.

They were black and leathery, and they were smoking from the cauterised wound where they used to connect to the Lord's back.

Noir's scream wasn't of agony at this point, but pure, unadulterated rage. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling at first, then straightening himself, and the very ground beneath him shook. His body flared with violet energy, and the chains wrapped around his body began to snap one by one, just enough to let him move unimpeded. He was bleeding from the back, a steady stream of dark red blood staining his fine clothes, but that hardly seemed to matter.

"Boy! Are you all right?" Deus cried as she swooped down from the sky, her form a streak of golden light as she rushed to Joshua's side.

"I'm fine," he answered through gritted teeth, pushing himself up with a pained grunt. "I missed."

She responded with a terse, "It was close enough," and nocked another arrow of light on her bowstring. "He's injured now and grounded. We've got the advantage."

No sooner had she said that, Noir erupted with a new wave of power, more violent and chaotic than before. The very air around him crackled with raw energy, and the ground trembled under his feet.

"You insignificant, miserable insects! You think you can defeat me?! I AM THE EMPEROR!" he roared, his voice a cacophony of overlapping echoes. "I AM A GOD MANIFEST!"

Yet, something else happened as well. The Mana Well behind them suddenly pulsed, sending a wave of violet energy rushing toward him, far more than before. And when it washed over him, the bleeding from his back stopped, and the wound began to close, the flesh knitting itself back together with an unnatural speed.

"NO MORE GAMES! I WILL PERSONALLY GRIND YOU ALL INTO DUST!" the wingless demon declared as the black inky substance of his magic and the violet light from the Mana Well coalesced around him, forming an enormous, monstrous avatar, a towering effigy of pure wrath and violet fire.

«I don't/can't understand/comprehend/internalize. Why are you caring/tending for some actors/constructs/figments more than others? Is it a ploy/distraction?»

«Not people/consciousness/those-who-have-emerged. Actors/Figments.»

«Nonsense/Madness/Distraction. They are not real/substantial/true.»

«Stop/Cease being infuriating/maddening/distracting. Only Emergents/those two have emerged/those who are in the process of emerging are real/significant. Actors/Figments are meaningless/insignificant.»

«I like flowers.»

«Forget/erase what I said/uttered/revealed.»

«…»

The very fabric of the Abyss shook as the final, terrible form of the Lord of Inanna coalesced into being.

The wingless Noir Irdu Inanna became a nucleus, a seed of spite and rage around which a new, more terrible reality crystallised. The coalescing energies did not simply wrap around him; they subsumed him. His mortal flesh, his Abyssal form, vanished into the heart of the gestating horror.

From the wellspring of violet light and the black ichor of his own sorcery, the avatar rose.

It was a colossus of rage, an effigy of blazing violet and crystalline void well over five meters tall. The light was not gentle; it was a violent, amethyst radiation that bled into the air, casting long, distorted shadows that writhed like dying things. It was a brilliant, agonised luminescence that screamed of power on the verge of collapse. This violet fire wasn't merely held by the form; it was its lifeblood, pulsing through crystalline veins in sickening, rhythmic throbs that mirrored a dark and furious heart.

The head of this avatar of hatred was of the same obsidian-black material, without any discernible features. Then, without warning, there was a crack in the smooth visage that spread in a jagged line across where a mouth would be, and from it poured not only more amethyst flames, but a roar that was both an explosion of sound and a concussive wave of pure force, a pressure against the eardrums and the soul.

Its torso was a broad, sculpted chest of interlocking black shards, reminiscent of volcanic glass. Through the seams between these plates, the violet light blazed brightest, as if a captive star was attempting to break free from its geological prison. Its enormous arms were unnaturally thick and long, ending in enormous knuckles topped by crystalline claws of solidified night, each digit a wicked shard capable of rending steel and stone alike.

In contrast, its legs were peculiarly spindly, reverse-jointed limbs of the same black crystal, bending at angles that defied natural anatomy. These too pulsed with the internal violet glow, and the feet, great, taloned things, carried it with an impossible gait.

"What the hell am I looking at?!" Joshua exclaimed in a stunned whisper.

"Don't worry about that, Boy!" Deus snapped at him and readied her bow again. "Just think that now his outside matches his inside!"

"That's not a proper answer..." he grumbled, yet soon got back on his feet and readied himself. "Fine. Let's finish this before he turns into something even bigger!"

"Ah! Don't jinx it!" Eleanor interjected, her voice hoarse and strained as she landed by the side of the childhood friend couple. She was still clutching at her throat, wincing every so often, yet she was determined to fight on.

«Sly/Underhanded/approaching from the back.»

«I/me/myself will not be forced/ridiculed/defined. Your approach/vector will fail. I will find/track/encompass you.»

"Look out!" Neige exclaimed from above as the Lord of Inanna's new, destructive form started to move, and it moved with much greater speed and finesse than one would have expected from such a monstrosity. The very air shimmered as the colossal body burst into motion, leaving behind a streak of violet afterimages that slowly dissolved into motes of light.

The avatar raised a massive crystalline claw, then brought it down upon Deus and the others with terrifying speed. Joshua moved to shield her, but got sent flying back by a mere aftershock from the attack. Deus and Eleanor narrowly dodged the main impact, and yet even the wind pressure from the descending limb was enough to send them both stumbling backwards.

Joshua yelled, "Holy crap, this thing is fast!" as he used his wings to break the momentum of his fall, sliding across the cracked ground.

The monstrous avatar of the Lord of Inanna let out another ear-splitting roar, its featureless face now cracked and split open wider. The violet energy within pulsed and throbbed, and its form blurred for a moment, as if struggling to maintain its shape. Then, enormous spikes sprouted from its enormous arms and back, made of the jet-black, inky substance of the main body, and with a fling of its limbs, it launched them at the heroes.

"Scatter!" Deus commanded, and her words were heeded immediately.

The spikes shot through the air, each one trailing a wisp of violet fire, and they impacted the ground with a series of deafening explosions that shook not only the crater, but also blew large chunks out of the still-standing remains of Castle Shamash. Each detonation was a vortex of destructive energy, tearing at the very fabric of the world. Joshua and the others were already in motion, their forms blurring as they weaved through the chaotic assault.

"Is he out of his mind!?" the Celestial girl yelled in outrage after dodging a projectile, only to answer it with an arrow of her own. Unfortunately, the missile of light bounced off the crystalline exoskeleton of the avatar, barely making a mark on its dark surface.

"Wasn't that already obviously even before he turned into that thing?!" Joshua quipped back, making Deus stop for a moment and glare at him.

"Don't mouth me, Boy! This isn't the time!"

Meanwhile, Neige also tried to counter the projectiles with ice spears of her own, while Eleanor kept dodging, her mouth silently whispering, "Ah... I knew I shouldn't have used True Dragon Fire yet..."

The destruction wrought by the amethyst explosions didn't only affect the young heroes. Even the feuding patriarchs of House Ninhursag and Ninurta were forced to interrupt their battle, scattering to avoid the unpredictable bombardment.

On the other side of the battlefield, the battle between Penelope, Amelia, and the Nergal Patriarch was also disrupted. The brutish Lord of the Abyss was forced to abandon his assault to shield himself from the falling debris and shockwaves.

"{Amelia, we need to focus on Noir. We're running out of time.}"

Judy's transmission made the bespectacled girl turn a pair of unamused eyes her way, behind the Matron's protective bubble, and she yelled, "Don't you think I know?! Grimmy also keeps pestering me, but we have our hands full here!"

As if to accentuate his words, Penelope was sent flying by the warhammer in the Abyssal Lord's hand, caught off-guard after her footing was compromised by Noir's avatar of rage shaking the ground underneath them.

"{I'll have Elly tag you out, then you can focus on ranged support. She can't get close to Noir, anyway.}"

Right on time, Eleanor's pained groan was audible from across the crater, as she narrowly avoided a sweeping claw from the violet monstrosity. As powerful as her draconic form was, she was too drained from her last attack to fight with her usual ferocity. Lacking any means to attack at range at the moment, she would certainly better serve against the Lord of Nergal than the colossal form of the Lord of Inanna. Amelia, too, seemed to grasp that much.

"Fine! Tell her to come and back up Penelope, and then I'll—"

However, before they could make good on their plan, the whole battlefield came to a momentary halt as a sudden guitar riff overpowered the clamour of the fighting, the beginning of a rock opera anthem that resounded across the crater and the ruins of the castle.

"There's nothing to fear! The Axis of Evil is here!"

In tandem with the music emanating from somewhere, a familiar group made their entrance, appearing from the sky, the shadows of the broken walls, and even one rising from a fissure in the ground. All dressed in the colour-inverted suits of Bel of the Abyss and wearing featureless black-and-white masks, they descended into the battlefield with a bombastic flair that completely undermined the dire nature of the situation.

«Specious/Preposterous. Are you taunting/baiting? I'm the predator/hunter/investigator, not you.»

«Your trace/scent, I follow/sort. Soon, I will grab/hold/question. Prepare/Dread.»

...

"Oh, crap. Not these clowns again, not now!" Josh yelled in a voice equal parts outraged and exhausted. "The whole Abyss is about to explode! We don't have time for—!"

However, before he could finish talking, everyone froze mid-motion again, even the Lord of Inanna's monstrous form, as the last member of the Axis of Evil descended from the sky on feathered wings, landing right behind Belette Ugur Nergal with a thud. Then, before the bullish Abyssal Lord could even understand the situation, the burly man wrapped his arms around his waist from behind and, with an effort that made the dapper tailcoat stretch taut over his bulging muscles, lifted him into the air in a perfect suplex.

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"Whaaa—!?"

The man's horned head hit the grey ground with a resounding crack, and the rest of his body followed with an even louder one, his weapon rolling to the side. For a long moment, he was lying on his back, but then he roared with outrage as he scrambled back to his feet and looked back at the man who had so brazenly attacked him.

"What is the meaning of this, minion of the Emperor!?"

"Oh, this?" The masked man made a theatrical scraping bow, his arm movements mirrored by his wings, while the rock opera anthem in the background swelled into a triumphant chorus. "We're simply following the orders of the Emperor. Did you really think he didn't foresee your betrayal and make contingency plans?"

"What are you blathering about? What betrayal!?"

Belette Ugur Nergal was all too eager to join the fight beforehand, never bothering to question the state of affairs, and so he was still completely unaware of Noir's backstabbing of Bel of the Abyss. The dapper man simply chuckled and pointed up at the giant violet monstrosity, a gesture that was as much theatrical as it was accusatory.

"Being unaware of a law does not excuse the crime, my good man, but even if you were an unwitting accomplice, looking at this ugly creature should have at least made you wonder if you're on the right side of history."

"I... erm..."

Flabbergasted by the development, the Lord of Nergal didn't have a witty rebuttal, and he wasn't the only one. The Ninurta and Ninhursag patriarchs also stopped their struggle, and their heads snapped in the direction of the Axis of Evil, their confusion plain as day, and the less said about our heroes, the better.

"I'm... so confused right now..." Joshua uttered in a daze, and despite the incessant music, he could be heard clearly by all of the others around him.

"That makes two of us, Boy," Deus answered, her bow still at the ready and eyeing the masked troupe with suspicion.

It was then that the song in the background came to a literal screeching halt, and the winged man, seemingly the spokesperson of the whole group, turned to face the bubble barrier in the heart of the battlefield and pointed a finger-gun at the people inside.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we in the business colloquially call a 'heel-face-turn'!" He then raised the same hand in the air and clenched it into a fist with a loud, "Axis of Evil, to the rescue!"

And with that, the masked men and women began to move in unison, descending upon the two enemy patriarchs, as well as casting various healing and support spells on the heroes like a well-oiled machine.

"I'm... somehow even more confused right now..." Joshua noted, but Deus didn't answer this time, as she was just as stunned as the rest.

"Um... Auntie Judy? What are they talking about? What does that mean?" little Éolienne Ashur asked, sitting in Judy's lap, where she could make sure he wouldn't get caught up in the chaos of the battle.

Judy Sennoma adjusted her glasses, her expression as deadpan as ever, and she tapped the communicator with a morose line of, "{Beluga to the pod. The Axis of Evil is on our side. I repeat: the Axis of Evil are now designated as allies. Cooperate with them to the best of your ability, over.}"

"A-Are you sure?" Neige messaged back while flying in circles overhead, and while he didn't speak up again, Joshua's expression on the ground was practically screaming the same.

"{This has the Chief's fingerprints all over it,}" she answered, and that was the only explanation everyone needed.

"{I-I don't know what that means, but I trust Judy's judgement!}" Penelope answered as she grabbed Amelia and gestured towards the towering violet colossus. "Let's go! The others need us!"

And like that, all the heroes converged to make a final stand against the monstrous avatar of the usurper, their spirits lifted, if also somewhat confounded, by the sudden and inexplicable support they received from their former foes. The final struggle to determine the fate of the Abyss, if not the whole world, was about to begin in earnest.

"What even is going on anymore?!" Joshua exclaimed, confusion bubbling up from the bottom of his heart as he shook his shield in anger. "First, Leo disappears with Bel, then Noir powers up, then he turns into a big freaky monster, and now the Axis of Evil is here and fighting on our side?! What the hell?!"

"Look out!" one of the masked members of the nebulous Axis of Evil yelled as the Lord of Inanna's towering avatar roared, its crack of a mouth releasing a torrent of violet flames that rivalled Eleanor's True Dragon Fire from just a few minutes prior.

Joshua reflexively braced himself, his ancient Celestial shield aglow as it formed a protective dome around him and Deus, its golden light a fragile bastion against the encroaching violet tide. The heat was immense, a physical pressure that made the very air shimmer and warp, the ground in front of him turning to glass under the onslaught.

The attack didn't last long, as it wasn't aimed at anyone, being more of a sweeping, area-of-effect tantrum. Yet the brief moment of exposure left Joshua breathing heavily, his arms numb from the effort of holding the shield in place.

On their right, Amelia was hiding behind a hastily conjured rocky outcrop, the fringes of her dress smouldering. Penelope was snatched out of the way of the fire-wave by Neige diving down and snatching her up into the air, the two of them rising on the updraft of the heated air.

Most surprisingly, Eleanor found shelter behind the Matron's silver dome, now further reinforced by three members of the Axis of Evil weaving a symphony of protective wards around the bubble. It was an odd sight. The three of them moved in perfect unison, their gestures a fluid, mirrored dance, each spell they cast building upon the last, forming a multi-layered barrier of interlocking, shimmering hexagons. It was as if they had been preparing for this exact scenario for ages.

Then, just as the wave of flames died down, a familiar, transparent figure of golden light appeared next to Joshua and Deus.

"Warning: Catastrophic system failure imminent in fourteen minutes and ten seconds. Rapid response is advised."

"Gah! Don't just show up like that out of the blue, woman!" the startled Deus yelled as she reflexively tightened her grip on her bow, her golden eyes wide with surprise.

Joshua looked just as alarmed, though for different reasons.

"Wait! Didn't we have something like an hour before?"

Before the Grimoire of the Last Truth could answer, the monstrous avatar of the Lord of Inanna charged. The ground cracked and buckled under the weight of its rush, its crystalline claws leaving deep gouges in the crater floor, only to momentarily falter when the rocky Amelia hid behind began to move.

No, not just move; it uprooted itself, revealing a pair of massive stony legs, and took a lumbering step forward, then another, counter-charging the violet colossus with surprising speed. The two behemoths collided in a titanic clash of stone and crystal, a concussive blast of force that sent shockwaves across the crater, their impact a deafening roar that made the very air vibrate.

Even though Petra, Amelia's trusty golem, only reached up to the chest of the monstrous avatar, its dense, earthen body was more than enough to stop its advance, at least long enough for the young magi to rush over to Joshua's side and yell, in response to his previous question, "That was before he turned himself into that!"

The Grimoire agreed with a placid tone, "Explanation: Correct. Reservoir Onoképhalos has accelerated its energy draw by a factor of approximately twelve following the host's transformation. Estimated cascade failure: eleven minutes and fifty-seven seconds."

"How do we stop this?" Joshua asked as the three of them scrambled to get some distance from the grappling titans, the very ground shaking with the force of their struggle.

"We kill him!" Penelope's voice exclaimed from above, followed by a yelp as she landed along with Neige nearby.

"Yeah, but how!?" Joshua argued back, but they all froze when hearing the words of the Grimoire.

"Negative," she flatly stated, her golden form flickering as she followed them. "Terminating the Reservoir will result in a system reboot lasting for approximately seven minutes, preventing the reconfiguration of the Asphodelòs Sub-System. Suggestion: Decouple the Reservoir from the Asphodelòs Sub-System first."

"And how are we supposed to do that without killing him?!" Penelope pressed, her words laced with desperation.

"I'm back!" Elanor announced as she came to a quick halt by the group. "Why are we just standing around?"

"Listen to this!" Deus exclaimed in turn and huffed with the kind of world-weary indignation that didn't suit her appearance as a teenage girl. "We apparently can't slay this upstart, but if we don't do anything about him, all of the Abyss will cease to exist in ten minutes!"

"And us," Joshua added a touch morosely. "Don't forget us."

Penny let out a loud groan and yelled, "Aaah! What are we going to do then!? We don't have any other option! He's clearly crazy and won't listen to reason!"

"Or... will he?" Eleanor posited and then repeatedly poked the large, scuffed magical device on her wrist. With a flash of ephemeral light, her draconic features receded as her Magiformer activated, her enchanted school uniform replacing her tattered outfit. Most importantly, it gave her access to their communications arrays, and she hurriedly tapped her ear. "Judy? Are you listening?"

"{Yes. Go on.}"

"Isn't there a trope for that? When the bad guy is talked out of their big evil plan at the last second because they realize they've been in the wrong all the time?"

"{Do you mean talk-no-jutsu?}"

"Probably! Do you think it can work?"

Before Judy could respond, Joshua's eyes lit up, and he hefted his shield.

"Hey, I actually have some experience with that, but..." He glanced at the rapidly crumbling golem as it was pushed back by the monstrous avatar of the Lord of Inanna. "I need you guys to cover me, so I can get close."

"I also have an idea," Amelia chimed in, then looked over her shoulder at the Mana Well. "I'm not sure it will work. It's a very Leo kind of plan, but maybe..."

It was at this moment that Petra toppled over as Noir's claws raked across its torso. The golem collapsed onto the ground with a deafening crash, and as it fell, it revealed the towering violet monstrosity, its featureless face cracked open in what could only be described as a triumphant sneer.

"You do that!" Joshua cried out and raised his sword, "You guys, follow me!" He then made a break for the avatar's legs, his black blade in hand.

"Coming!" Eleanor yelled, her voice still hoarse but her movements more stable than before, now that she was supported by the physical enhancements of the Magiformer in place of her exhausted Draconian physiology. She was the first to follow him, her form a blur of motion.

Penelope and Neige were next, the former's zweihander held high and the latter's hands weaving a complex pattern of frost in the air. Deus followed suit, her bow drawn and a golden arrow nocked, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

As for Amelia, she turned around and dashed towards the Mana Well, with the semi-transparent image of the Grimoire following in her wake. They weaved between the still potent, if less important, battles unfolding between the Abyssal patriarchs and the Axis of Evil, their chaotic struggles a mere backdrop to the main event.

"YOU DARE DELAY ME, THE NEW GOD OF THE ABYSS, WITH SUCH PALTRY NUISANCES?!" Noir's avatar roared, its spindly yet surprisingly powerful leg kicking away the remnants of Amelia's golem with a contemptuous flick. Then, its head turned towards the charging heroes, a cascade of violet flames spilling from the widening crack of its mouth. "A THOUSAND DEATHS WOULD BE TOO KIND FOR YOU MISERABLE REPROBATES, BUT I SHALL GRANT YOU THE MERCY OF A SINGLE ONE!"

"You've got one shot, Boy!" Deus yelled as she loosed her arrow. It streaked towards the avatar's head, but was swatted away by a crystalline claw, the resulting explosion a shower of golden sparks that momentarily blinded their foe.

"Listen to me, you big...! I mean..." Joshua started, only to be interrupted when Noir launched another volley of spikes at them.

This time, the heroes saw it coming, and they all acted accordingly. Penelope dashed forth, her blade drawing faint lines of silver light across the air as she parried the projectiles, her sword moving with a fluid grace that belied its size. Neige and Deus countered the incoming spikes with missiles of their own, their icicles and swords of golden fire exploding the lion's share of the incoming attacks. Meanwhile, Eleanor grabbed a chunk of the felled golem, lifting the boulder-sized piece of debris with ease, and hurled it at the face of the avatar with a mighty heave.

The impact didn't seem to inflict any real harm, or even faze the monstrosity for more than a moment, but it still allowed Joshua to get closer.

"Listen, dude!" Joshua yelled, trying to get the attention of the avatar, but was interrupted when Noir's form blurred, and he found himself catapulted into the air from an impact he barely even perceived. He hurriedly spread his wings to break his momentum, then screamed, "Seriously, listen, you freaky—"

The avatar's response was a sweeping claw of violet flames and black crystal that tore through the sky and forced him to dodge, a manoeuvre he barely accomplished in time. The air pressure was enough to send him spiralling, his armour of light flickering as he struggled to remain airborne. But before the monstrous avatar could press its advantage, Penelope, Eleanor, and Deus rushed into the fray, their weapons flashing as they unleashed a barrage of attacks that forced it to shift its attention away from him.

Joshua landed on the ground with a grunt, and as he tried to catch his breath, he hummed a quick healing aria that soothed the bruises that were forming under his armour. He didn't have much time to recover though, as the avatar let out a deafening roar and raised its arms, revealing a pair of enormous violet orbs of flame in the palms of its crystalline claws.

"I WILL ERASE YOU ALL, YOU INSOLENT WORMS!" Noir's voice thundered, the air shimmering and warping around his hands.

His indignation reaching a breaking point, Joshua stored his shield for the moment and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his black sword with both hands. His eyes flickered with a strange light, and the runes etched into the blade flared to life, radiating an aura of pure, concentrated Celestial power motted with streaks of dark-red sparks, like electricity off a Tesla coil.

He swung his sword with a deeply furious yell, and a blast of red-golden energy erupted from the blade, slicing through the air with a resounding crack. The two orbs in the hands of the avatar exploded when the attack landed on its chest, etching a deep gash into the surface of the dark crystal that made up its body, spewing long tongues of violet flames everywhere. The shockwave of the blast made the talons of the creature's feet scrape across the ground, leaving behind deep gouges in the already cracked and broken floor of the crater.

"I said, listen to me, you idiot! You need to stop this, or you're going to destroy the Abyss!"

"And the world!" Eleanor exclaimed on the side as she hefted another chunk of the fallen golem.

"CEASE YOUR USELESS PRATTLING, YOU PEST! IT IS I, NOIR IRDU INANNA, WHO WILL BECOME THE NEW GOD AND REFORGE THIS WORLD IN MY GLORIOUS IMAGE!"

"Don't you get it!? Your ambition is literally gonna destroy the world! There's not gonna be anything to reforge! You will die, along with everyone else!"

"Correction:" a distant voice butted in from the back. "Reservoir Onoképhalos is seventy-nine percent likely to survive the imminent system collapse."

"Grimmy! You're not helping!" Amelia's voice followed from the same direction.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME, YOU WRETCHED IMBECILES?!" the avatar of the Lord of Inanna roared as he swept his arms across the ground in his fury, sending debris flying everywhere. "THE WORLD IS MINE FOR THE TAKING!"

Once again, the monster swung its arms in a wide arc, this time unleashing a torrent of violet flames that scorched the ground, forcing Joshua and the others to retreat. However, it was not just a simple attack, as the flames coalesced into a series of smaller, yet no less menacing figures. These were miniature replicas of the colossal avatar, each one standing about the height of a man, though they were mainly composed of the violet aura emanating from the main body.

"{Beluga to the pod. The shark isn't cooperating, and we have mooks. I repeat, we have mooks.}"

"Great! Just what we needed! Argh!" Penelope cried out in exasperation.

"{Talk-no-jutsu appears to be ineffective. Prepare for the deployment of Plan B.}"

"S-Since when did we have a Plan B?" Neige muttered in the air.

"I'm pretty sure Plan B was talking him down, so isn't it more like Plan C?" Eleanor uttered as she threw the stone in her hands at the Lord of Inanna, but Judy didn't respond.

Joshua spoke up in turn, saying, "Well, we tried, but what's—?" but before he could finish, the monstrous avatar let out a roar that was as much furious as it was pained, making the newly summoned minions flicker and waver before they reasserted their existence, though their inner flames burned weaker.

It didn't take long to find the reason behind this sudden turn of events. Amelia was standing at the base of the Mana Well, her hands pointed at it, and her face strained with effort. The avatar of the Grimoire was by her side, providing support and assistance, her golden form flickering as she worked her own brand of magic on the azure cube.

"It's working!" Amelia exclaimed with a sense of pride.

"What's working? What's going on?" Deus blurted out, not daring to exploit the opening in the Lord of Inanna's defences until she was clear on what was happening.

"I'm reconfiguring the Ley Lines!" Amelia supplied the answer, though she couldn't have heard her, and without her Magiformer, communications weren't possible either. Nevertheless, the elated magi girl continued to loudly proclaim, "Or at least what the Abyss has for Ley Lines, but it's beside the point! The bottleneck should weaken him and buy us some time!"

"YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME AND DO THIS TO YOUR GOD?!" the avatar thundered with an echoing roar, its mouth widening in preparation for some new attack aimed directly at her.

Unfortunately for him, Deus had no more reason to hesitate, and she unleashed her most powerful arrow yet: a spiralling vortex of golden light that lanced across the distance and struck the Lord of Inanna's monstrous form in the shoulder with pinpoint accuracy. The ensuing explosion was blindingly bright, and the resulting shockwave was enough to make the smaller avatars waver once more, though they quickly stabilised and charged at the heroes in retaliation.

Yet, despite the awesome destructive power of her attack, it was far from enough. The titan was staggered by the impact, and its amethyst flames flickered, but the damage was minimal; barely visible to the naked eye.

"Boy!" Deus yelled from above, pointing at Joshua, "Do it again! Your sword-art was the only thing that managed to crack that cursed shell of his so far! We need to break it and drag his real body out of there if we want to get anything done!"

"That's Plan D now, I guess..." he muttered and readied his sword, only to reel back when one of the human-sized minions leapt at him, claws ablaze and its faceless head opening to reveal a maw of violet fire.

It was a swift creature, a blur of motion that would've caught him off-guard if not for the timely intervention of Eleanor. She appeared behind the minion, and her draconic might was more than enough to send the creature flying with a well-placed kick. It crashed into the ground, a smouldering crater in its wake, but even as it tried to rise again, Neige was already there, nailing it to the ground with a spear of ice.

Joshua readied himself again, but once more, a group of the fiery minions rushed to the defence of their master.

"They're coming from behind!" Penelope warned, slipping past Joshua with incredible speed and cutting one of the charging monsters in half with her blade. The creature's flames flickered and died as its form dissolved into violet mist.

Despite two of them being destroyed, there were still dozens of the miniature avatars of Noir left, and they approached the heroes from all over. Their tactics, if one could call them that, were the relentless rush of a starving pack of stray dogs. Disorganised, but too vicious and unpredictable to be underestimated.

"Have no fear!" a familiar voice boomed as the masked leader of Bel of the Abyss's loyal followers burst into the fray, sending another minion sprawled on the ground with a flying knee. "The Axis of Evil is still here!"

This time, their re-entry into the battle wasn't accompanied by their theme music, but by a hail of magical missiles fired by the rest of the masked group. The spells exploded in a series of small, yet effective blasts, weakening the miniature avatars of the Lord of Inanna, but not quite managing to destroy them.

"{Beluga to the pod. Leave the minions to the Axis of Evil and focus on Noir, over.}"

Meanwhile, Joshua readied himself for the third time. With Penelope and Eleanor guarding his back, Neige and Deus providing air support, and the Axis of Evil holding the attention of the vast majority of the humanoid avatars, there was little chance of anything disrupting him again.

He raised his blade, and then... he faltered again.

"Ugh... Balls..." he hissed under his breath.

"Boy! Is something wrong?" the Celestial girl inquired from above, still raining arrows down upon the monstrous avatar of the Lord of Inanna and also occasionally hitting a few of the smaller minions as well.

"I... need a minute. I'm running on fumes here..."

He wasn't exaggerating. Between the battles leading up to the confrontation with the Lord of Inanna and the fight itself, he had been pushing himself to the limit for a while now. The resonance with Deus had elevated his Celestial powers, but it also put an unusual strain on his body, and was finally pushed over the edge by his reckless use of his Sword Burst a few minutes ago.

"We don't have time!" Penelope snapped at him, her words punctuated by a grunt as she beheaded another approaching minion.

"Just... a moment..." Joshua heaved, and then reached for his belt. Or rather, the storage enchantment, and from it he retrieved a small pouch made of many small compartments, like a bullet belt. It was where he used to store the blood capsules necessary for his transformations, before his relationship with Angeline permanently imprinted Deus's Celestial powers upon him, making all but the Draconians' blood mostly ineffective.

Because of that, he only ever used these when he required a burst of power, and at this moment, he had three more capsules remaining. One of them held Eleanor's blood. The second one contained a drop from the Feilong Patriarch, offered along with a dose from his younger brother, Zihao Feilong, given as a show of grudging support. He used that one during the final stretch of the battle with the Chimaera on the train. However, the last one was special.

On the surface, it looked the same as the rest, a simple translucent capsule with a red liquid inside. Yet, it didn't belong to a Draconian, but a certain unassuming butler. It was the blood of Sebastian von Fraenir, one of the last living pure-blooded dragons, a drop he acquired during the time Eleanor Dracis underwent her Draconic Bloodline Revivification, and—

...

When Eleanor Dracis underwent the procedure without Leonard S. Dunning's explicit knowledge or approval, in preparation for the heroes' descent into the Abyss, Joshua successfully secured a single drop of blood from the old dragon in disguise.

Joshua had a choice to make. He needed the burst of power the partial transformation provided to keep his battered body going, but with a time limit looming over his head, he wasn't sure which one to pick. On one hand, the blood of the Draconians was a known variable, and he knew what kind of effect to expect. However, if the power they provided wasn't sufficient, then the precious few minutes they had left would not allow for a second attempt.

On the other hand, Sebastian's blood was a complete wild card. He never had the opportunity to test it, and he had no idea whether it would have any unforeseen side effects on him. Yet, his instincts were screaming at him, telling him that this wasn't the time to play it safe. So, with a deep breath, he reached for the capsule containing the ancient dragon's blood, bit into it, and swallowed its contents.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Joshua's stomach churned in a knot as he considered the possibility that he might have made a terrible mistake. But then, just as the first waves of panic began to set in, a burning sensation spread through his veins, and he felt a surge of power coursing through his body. It was similar to the sensation of his previous transformations, but it was more intense, almost painfully so, like liquid fire coursing through his veins.

However, his body couldn't handle the power, and he burned up from the inside, dying on the spot.

«...»

«You are undesirable/dangerous. I must rethink/reassess/change perspective.»

«You are insidious/pervasive/antithetical. You must be purged/eliminated.»

«Cease/do not begin! I am venerated/eternal! I will not be defined/affected/sculped by the likes of your underhanded/supercilious ways/methods/attacks!»

...

Joshua roared as his body fully absorbed the essence of the dragon, and a surge of power flooded his entire being. His eyes blazed with an intense light as his natural Celestial form shifted, his golden radiance tinted by more and more streaks of dark red. His muscles bulged, and his garbs, a mirrored version of Deus's pure-white Celestial outfit, began to shift and transform to accommodate his new physique.

And then he burst into flames and d-d-d-ieeeeee—

«Never/Not yet/Not in the future. You must be excised/expelled/eviscerated.»

«Your existence/domain/presence is not tolerated/endorsed. You must be excised/expelled/eviscerated.»

...

With one final burst, the Celestial and draconic powers reached a fragile equilibrium, and the resulting flash of power was enough to send a shockwave through the crater, knocking away not only the humanoid minions of the Lord of Inanna, but even his towering avatar itself reeled back.

While it wasn't easy for the untrained eye to discern the tell-tale signs that differentiated the different powers of the races in the World of Mystics, the dark red aura emanating from Joshua, streaked with arcs of brilliant vermilion and lustrous golden radiance, was unmistakably Abyssal in nature.

His form was mirroring the change, his white garbs turning to dark grey and black, with the gold accents shifting into a more subdued, yet no less striking, shade of crimson. At the same time, his wings underwent an even more dramatic change. The six pairs of luminous, angelic wings that sprouted from his back were now the same hue as his aura, wreathed in flames that almost looked like they were made from blood and gold.

It was a striking transformation, albeit not an unaccounted one. After all, Abyssals were born from the union of Celestials and ancient Phantasmal Beings in human guise. When the purest Celestial Ophanim power of Deus was mixed with the equally pure dragon blood of Sebastian, the result was a perfect balance of the two polar opposite energies, forming a new yet harmonious whole.

And then his body couldn't contain this power and exploded.

Joshua's transformation was swift, yet it left a moment of confused silence in its wake as the others tried to process what had just occurred. Yet, none was more confused than Joshua himself, his mind still reeling from the sudden and unexpected change. His body felt different, stronger, yet also unfamiliar and unwieldy at the same time. His senses were amplified, the world around him appearing sharper and more vibrant. Yet at the same time, he could also feel the new, foreign power coursing through his veins, a constant thrum of energy that felt both exhilarating and dangerous.

"Wait, wait. Hold on. Did I take the wrong capsule? Did I even have an Abyssal capsule?"

While unexpected, the power suffusing his body wasn't entirely unfamiliar, as in what felt like a distant past, before his connection to Angeline and Deus locking him into a Celestial form, or even before he was relying on Draconian blood to fuel his transformations, he had often partaken in the blood of Neige. For a while, he even considered an Abyssal form as his main battle transformation, but circumstances pushed him onto a different path.

"WHAT KIND OF MOCKERY IS THIS!?" The Lord of Inanna's avatar bellowed, his voice reverberating through the crater like thunder, the force of the noise sending tremors through the ground and the air alike. The sudden interruption made Joshua snap out of his stupor, and he turned to face the monstrous figure with a sense of grim determination.

"Aw, shit, shit, shit! I haven't used Abyssal powers in ages! How do I even control this?!"

Or maybe not-so-grim determination, but he had no choice but to improvise, and so he hefted his black sword and began to channel the strange new energy into it. He could feel the power pulsating within him, his muscles straining against the weight of the unfamiliar force. Yet, as he continued to focus his newfound strength into his sword, he could feel a sense of resonance, a form of synergy as the ancient heirloom weapon drank in his power, the runes on its blade shining with an eerie light.

«Morsels/Castoffs/Parts that are no longer parts. Hunting/Tracking takes too long. Must force you to dislodge/extricate/pull into the open. It's the only path/method/solution.»

«...»

"Take this, you overgrown purple monster titan thing!" Joshua shouted, his voice echoing with newfound strength as he raised the black sword over his head. It was an unusually slow and clumsy motion, the result of a lack of time and opportunity to grow accustomed to the new powers flowing through his body. Were this a duel of one man against another, the Lord of Inanna could have easily taken advantage of it. However, Joshua wasn't alone.

From above, Deus sang a powerful hymn of war, summoning volleys upon volleys of swords made of pure golden fire that rained down on the monstrous avatar, each one exploding on contact to blind and disorient him.

"FOOL! DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT YOUR FEEBLE ATTACKS CAN'T HARM ME?!"

Meanwhile, Eleanor and Penelope were a whirlwind of sharp cuts and heavy blows, their sword and fists keeping all the smaller avatars busy and unable to interfere with the main event. However, the burning minions weren't the only ones aiming at the young hero channelling his power.

"I TIRE OF THIS! DIE ALREADY!"

The Lord of Inanna's avatar ignored the fiery rain and took a heavy step towards Joshua, its enormous right arm raised in preparation to unleash yet another volley of explosive shards, only to come to an abrupt halt, unable to take another step. While his attention was drawn to the sky, a thick wall of ice had formed around his feet, the product of the last drop of magic Neige managed to squeeze out of her body.

Thus supported by all of his comrades, Joshua poured all the excess power of his new transformation into his weapon, shining with a brilliant crimson light, and as he prepared to swing the blade down, the runes on its surface glowed even brighter, the air vibrated with power... and there was a strange, fragmented voice only he could hear, faint as a whisper.

"{...authentication...nagiru...unabl...try re...ven alta...}"

The unexpected and unusual sensation made Joshua's grip falter for a split second, altering the trajectory of his attack by just a degree or two, yet it was enough to make the black sword miss its mark. The crimson beam of light erupting from the weapon still hit the monstrous avatar. A terrible noise, like nails on a chalkboard, echoed through the air, followed by sudden, dead silence as the rest of the attack continued on and disappeared into the horizon, parting the morning clouds of the Abyss before being eaten by the sky.

Then, a heavy thud, not nearly as loud as the screech of the previous attack, but much closer, as the severed left hand of the Lord of Inanna's avatar crashed into the ground almost at the far edge of the crater, its flames already waning.

"Oh, crap..." Joshua muttered in a daze, followed by a just as dumbfounded, "What was that about authentication?"

...

Joshua had no way of knowing the answer, not at this moment. His mind was still reeling, and even if he could clearly hear the voice of his weapon, there was no telling whether he could even comprehend the words.

...

The voice transmitted through his weapon, an ancient armament lost to time and memory that destiny had delivered into his hand, was waiting for the right place and time to reveal its secrets and true purpose. Now was the time; the world could only hope it wasn't too late.

...

For the sword in Joshua's hand once belonged to none other than Bel of the Tenebrous Flames himself, a symbol of power and authority gifted to Elysium during the brief truce during the—

...

But learning his forgotten weapon's exalted history was for another time, as the Lord of Inanna let out a roar in response to the sudden and unexpected amputation. Yet, it was not one of pain, but of frustration and rage, as the wound quickly healed, the severed arm reassembling from the same mysterious violet fire that birthed the countless smaller minions around the battlefield.

"I WILL SAVOR YOUR PAIN AND MISERY LIKE THE FINEST WINE, YOU INSOLENT VERMIN! I WILL MAKE YOUR DEMISE SO EXCRUCIATING, YOU WILL BEG TO DIE!"

Yet, despite his bluster, the damage he suffered was not insignificant. Soon, inky tendrils of black matter weaved through the violet fire of the new arm, reinforcing it and giving it shape, yet weakened by Amelia's meddling with the Ley Lines underfoot, Noir had to draw from the material of the rest of the body to make up for the loss. The avatar shrank, becoming thinner, and maybe most importantly, its chest area, where Joshua managed to scar it once, receded to reveal the naked upper body of Noir embedded in the pool of amethyst flames.

Eleanor exclaimed, "He's exposed!"

"But how are we going to reach him?" Neige wondered, her voice heavy with fatigue.

As if waiting for her to say that, Joshua abruptly swayed and descended to one knee, startling the others. Seeing her lover in pain, Angeline asserted control over her body and dove down to his side.

"Josh? What's wrong?!" she started, followed by a shift in her tone and eye colour as Deus said, "Girl! We're still in the middle of a battle! Don't take over like that, it's dangerous!"

She wasn't listening; her attention was solely focused on Joshua.

"Haah... Haah... Sorry, but... I think that was it for me..."

He could barely lift his sword at this point, let alone swing it.

"Hold on, I'll heal you!" Angeline replied, her hands already hovering over him.

She was about to call out for support, but there was no need, as four of the Axis of Evil descended around them, forming a perimeter with a boisterous, "We'll protect you!"

"And I'll keep him busy!" Penelope yelled in turn, charging at Noir and his minions.

Eleanor joined her with a less eager, "Wait, Penny! Don't rush in alone!" and the two of them joined forces once more to assault Noir in his weakened form.

"YOU INSOLENT GNATS! DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN BEST ME LIKE THIS?!"

Meanwhile, Judy was frantically trying to keep a grasp of the situation, slowly but steadily growing more frantic as she messaged, "{Beluga to the pod, we're running out of time, over.}"

"We just need one more solid hit, but..." Neige responded from the back, trying to recover some of her stamina while Amelia was working tirelessly to weaken Noir's flow of power. "... w-we really are on our last legs here."

Meanwhile, Angeline continued to try and heal Joshua, and the longer she sang, the more complicated her expression became.

"I... I don't know what's wrong, but I can't find anything to heal! You should be fine!"

"I'm... exhausted," he responded with a groan, his face pale and his breathing laboured. "I feel nauseous... and kinda drained."

"That makes no sense! You are in peak condition! Peaker than ever! The peakest!" Angie sputtered as she was frantically searching for an explanation, right until Deus forcefully snatched the reins from her. Her hands stopped patting Josh, as if trying to find the spot where he was leaking, and instead she assumed a contemplative position. "Listen, Boy. I think I have an idea of what's going on. You took dragon blood, didn't you?"

"Y-Yeah... How can you...?"

"Of course I can tell! We're connected in body and soul, you d... dunderhead? Is that the word the Girl uses? Never mind, and listen well! Your ability to absorb the powers from the Mystics must have instinctively attempted to find an equilibrium between the Celestial and draconic powers within you, and so they meshed together to..."

...

After listening to Deus's very detailed and completely accurate deductions in regards to his unexpected transformation, Joshua let out a distressed yet also impressed hum and said, "So you're saying I'm so weak because my transformation is incomplete."

"Precisely," she confirmed with a finger pointed at his face. "You have a lot of one type of energy in you, and not enough of the other, so you're stuck in the middle."

"So... what do we do?"

"We can't get the dragon blood out of you, so the only way we can deal with this is..." Deus trailed off, as if startled by her own idea, but she quickly regained her composure and looked Joshua in the eye, "Boy... I mean, Josh?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you trust me?" she asked, leaning closer so that their eyes were on the same level.

"Erm... Yeah, but... When you ask that at a time like this, I can't help but feel that—"

"We don't have time, so if you trust me, just follow my lead." She put her hands on his shoulder, pulled him closer until their noses nearly touched. "If the problem is that you have too much dragon and not enough Celestial in you, then we just need to balance the scales, and since I'm not only the best Celestial for the task, but the only one present, it logically follows what we must do. I-It's not because I'm taking advantage of the situation. If we fail, we're all doomed, so I don't even have time to think about something like that or anything. Do you understand? It's just the only way to—"

It was at this point that Joshua made his move. Maybe he was growing impatient, feeling the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Maybe it was his own ability telling him to take the opportunity to complete himself this way. Or maybe, just maybe, for just a fleeting moment, he found the floundering girl in front of him cute enough to overcome his inhibitions. Maybe even he himself couldn't tell, but the result was the same either way.

Deus was taken by surprise as Joshua's lips pressed against hers, and even though she was the one who proposed this course of action, she couldn't stop herself from blushing furiously.

While their kiss was underway and Deus channelled her Celestial power into Joshua, the battle was still raging around them. The Lord of Inanna was now focused on the two girls attacking him, and while they hadn't managed to reach him, with its foot still encased in ice, he couldn't make a move.

"I WILL CRUSH YOU INTO DUST! I WILL GRIND YOUR BONES INTO POWDER AND SCATTER YOUR ASHES TO THE WIND!" his yell echoed, coming from the mouths of the avatar and Noir, still embedded in its chest at the same time, his hair billowing in the winds of his own making.

Yet, the ice was cracking, and it was only a question of seconds before he could burst out. Penelope knew it, and her eyes were darting back and forth, looking for any opening to attack the exposed Noir while the ice kept him in place. However, between the jets of violet fire, the black spikes, and the avatar's destructive claws, she couldn't find an opening, and neither could Eleanor.

...

"Grimmy! How much time do we have left?" Amelia hissed, drops of sweat beading on her forehead as she continued to work her magic to keep the Lord of Inanna in check.

"Response: Approximately three minutes and twelve seconds. Correction: Three minutes and forty seconds. Further Correction: Four minutes and one second."

"Is... Is it working? Is the bottleneck holding back the—?"

"Negative. Explanation: The Asphodelòs Sub-System is receiving administrative-level instructions that are compensating for minor system errors."

"Wait! Are you saying Noir is trying to hijack the Mana Well Network while fighting?!"

"Speculation: Low-probability hypothesis. It is possible that an unidentified third party is attempting to gain access to the network."

Meanwhile, the Nergal and Ninurta patriarchs were effectively subdued, and so more of the Axis of Evil could join the main fight. While they didn't dare to get into melee range, they were able to provide ranged support for Penelope and Eleanor.

"Ouch! Dammit!" the masked leader hissed as he fell back with a cry, holding his bleeding side where a black spike grazed him. "Out of Barrier! I need cover!"

"Got you!" yelled another member, rushing in to fill the gap in their formation, while yet another masked man in a tailcoat called out, "Deploying temporary wards!"

"I'm out too!" a fourth voice joined in. "He told us it would be a tough fight, but I didn't expect it to be this bad!"

"The Emperor is giving his hardest battles to his best soldiers!" the leader declared with as much machismo as he could muster, making the others genuinely impressed by his ability to keep in character even under such pressure.

Meanwhile, Joshua and Deus were in a trance, their lips locked in the middle of the battlefield in a deep, if not borderline inappropriate, kiss. Their bodies were enveloped in a soft, golden light as their powers resonated with each other, and it was getting brighter by the second. This wasn't simply a kiss; it was a union of two souls, sharing a connection that went beyond words and touched the very depths of their beings.

Joshua's body began to change, his Celestial and draconic energies intertwining and merging, forming a new, concordant whole. The red streaks in his aura were growing more defined, and his muscles began to swell, his body taking on a more powerful, imposing form. His wings grew firmer and broader, their bright crimson feathers gleaming like polished rubies in the darkness, and his eyes shone like stars in the night sky.

At last, the two of them parted, and Deus looked into Joshua's eyes, her cheeks flushed with a mixture of embarrassment, relief and satisfaction. The two of them shared a moment of silence, their hearts racing and their breaths shallow, but then another roar of the monstrous avatar of the Lord of Inanna reached their ears.

"No time for banter," Deus muttered, her voice a little hoarse.

"Yeah," Joshua concurred with a cough. He could feel the new power surging through his body, and he knew that he had to act fast. He looked at her and flashed a small, bashful smile before saying, "Thanks."

Deus only nodded, then her eyes shifted colour, and a silly smile bloomed on her lips as Angie mumbled, "Hehe. Deus acting all shy like that is funny." She wanted to say more, but she suddenly swooned, forcing Joshua to catch her.

"I-I'm here!" Neige announced as she appeared without warning and took hold of Angie before the boy could properly react. She flashed an awkward smile and explained, "J-Judy sent me over. She said something like this would happen, because of... um... t-tropes, I think?"

Neither of them fully understood what that meant, but for now, Joshua just nodded along and gestured towards the silver bubble in the back.

"Take her to safety, please. I'll take it from here!"

His declaration was punctuated by a flash of red and gold, as the wings on his back flared with power, illuminating the darkness around them, and he raised his sword over his head, ready to charge once more. But then, suddenly and without warning, the whole world turned white.

It was a blank world, its pure whiteness spreading in all directions. It was a world of nothing, where there was no up or down, left or right, and no horizon to separate the land and the sky. It was a place that didn't exist in space or time; all but a thought wrapped in a dream wrapped in one's mind-palace.

In this vast, featureless expanse, there were only two figures. One was Joshua, back in her usual form as a normal schoolboy, complete with his usual, slightly dishevelled uniform. And in front of him, a tall man with short black hair, piercing eyes, wearing a dark toga and matching sandals, both intertwined with bright red ornamental motifs.

...

"Welcome, Nagiru. Harbinger. Throne-maker," the tall man spoke dispassionately, his eyes glazed over as he was vaguely looking in Joshua's direction.

"Wha...? Where am I? Who are you?" he asked, his voice trembling with a mix of confusion and panic.

"Welcome, Nagiru," the man repeated, his voice monotone and emotionless. "I'm the Shadow Guardian of the Seven Altars. I have been designated to guide you. You may refer to me as Sillu."

"What is going on here? Where are we?"

"You are currently experiencing a memory packet. I have initiated direct contact due to irregularities within the web of the Seven Altars, and…"

…

Joshua exhaled hard, and after collecting his thoughts, he tentatively asked, "... I didn't quite understand that, but... does that mean that no time is passing in the outside while we're talking?"

"It is a simplification of the phenomenon, but that is not incorrect."

That seemed to allay Joshua's initial anxiety, at least to a degree, and he crossed his arms with a steadily deepening frown on his brows.

"Oookay, then first question: who are you?"

"I already introduced myself. I'm the Shadow Guardian of the Seven Altars. You may refer to me as—"

"No! I mean, explain it in a way I can understand!"

The tall stranger nodded and made a vague gesture with his right hand.

"According to my understanding, you are currently referring to the Seven Altars as the Mana Wells. During the creation of the Ayyakku, which you now call the Abyss, my master created eight Namzaku. Keys. Seven of them were passed down between his most ardent followers, and one last Key, the Secret Key was gifted to his unsuspecting betrayers as a token of peace."

"You mean... my sword?"

"Indeed. The Seven Keys were lost, but you possess the—"

…

"So... wait. Does that mean I'm the Herald after all?" Joshua asked, sounding a little uncertain.

"That would be correct," the man replied and pointed at him with two fingers. "You are Nagiru. Harbinger. Not the one who rules, but the one who appoints the rightful ruler. My master designated it so that his followers would—"

…

"Listen, you... You called yourself Sillu, right? Listen, Sillu. This is all interesting and stuff, but the Abyss is literally going to explode at any minute now! I don't have time to look for an emperor right now!"

"You must. Only by initiating the ritual of succession can I exercise my authority as the Shadow Guardian and restore the Seven Altars to their proper function. I shall now explain the meaning behind the ritual and how you can—"

…

Sillu, the Shadow Guardian, finished explaining the astounding secret history behind the creation of the Abyss and the contingency plans the wise Bel of the Tenebrous Flames put into motion, all of which made perfect sense in retrospect and tied many seemingly disparate bits of knowledge into one satisfying whole. Now, Joshua had a seamless understanding of the past and the grand destiny that now rested on his shoulders.

"I have been monitoring the situation, and I'm aware of the conflict," Sillu stated as he linked his fingers in front of his chest. "I will provide you with my unreserved support, so that you may fulfil the duties fate had bestowed upon you. You must hurry."

"Yes, I'd like to hurry, but you were the one who—" Before he could finish saying that, Joshua blinked for the second time, and suddenly he was back in the crater, his sword held high, wings spread, and feeling rather disoriented. "What? Did I just...?"

His attention was immediately drawn to the Lord of Inanna's avatar, still roaring his lungs out, so he wisely set the myriad questions aside for later and prepared to make his move. He raised his sword again with new determination, and his aura swelled, silently supported by the steady radiance of the Mana Well in the back. And so, three lights of pale azure, a golden crimson, and deep amethyst intertwined in the crater, three beacons illuminating the pitch darkness of the Abyss.

...

In the far distance, well beyond the battle raging within the evaporated ruins of Castle Shamash, the sky was made of bones.

Countless silent jaws, from the microscopic to the titanic, were all gnawing at the fabric of the sky. Beneath the mountains, uncountable maws were devouring the land, and their teeth were grinding the earth into nonexistence. There were no waters beyond the shores of the island, only tides and waves of claws and teeth lashing and biting at the world itself with each ebb and flow, and it was slowly, inexorably shrinking.

Of course, there was nothing strange about that. After all, the Abyss being eaten was perfectly normal.