Chapter 192 |
The seas of ivory continued to churn with a lazy rhythm. Their waters foamed with thousands of fangs, gnawing and scraping and masticating at the foundations of the shrinking island, its edges worn away by the ceaseless chewing of the countless maws beneath the—
...
«...»
Without warning, the shoreline of the Abyssal island shone with a dark, ephemeral light. Countless shapes exuded from the very fabric of space itself, like enormous living towers of solidified midnight. They were as majestic as they were terrifying, their unfathomable surface glittering with the myriad stars of the distant heavens, like windows into the voids beyond the reaches of reality.
Each one moved with slow, undulating grace, like stalks of seaweed in an ocean current, or perhaps like the tendrils of a kraken rising from the depths. As they grew ever taller, the dark appendages started moving in unison, crashing into the waves of teeth and claws like the whips of an angry god, tearing them apart with each sweep and slash.
For a fleeting moment, it appeared that the Abyss would finally return to normal, and the world was saved from its imminent demise. The illusion was short-lived though, as the seas of ivory began to boil and churn and rushed at the shore from every direction with renewed fury. The dark tendrils of night whipped at them, but for every wave of fangs and claws that they dispersed into ocean foam, another would undo their work. The battle was a stalemate at best, and it was still clear that this was not a sustainable solution.
«…»
While the incomprehensible battle of the shores continued to rage beyond the perception of all mortal eyes, there was something equally enigmatic taking place in the heavens. From the heart of the island, one more midnight tendril erupted from the ground and reached up to the sky. It simultaneously appeared unfathomably large and wide, yet at the same time also insignificant compared to the distance it had to cover. Yet, despite all logical expectations, the tendril continued to rise up and up and up, until it reached the very edge of the sky.
The central tower of the starry midnight was so long and wide that, had it been a part of the material realm, it would've broken under its own weight and collapsed into the void. Yet, as it was, it reached all the way to the end of the sky. When the tip of the tendril reached the firmament, the countless jaws embedded in it began to move, their fangs gnashing.
Yet, as it began to move with a bewildering yet graceful motion, like an enormous hand wiping the morning frost off a window, the bones of the heavens began to crack and fall, revealing the bright red sky of the Abyss above. Or rather, it was recreating the sky, the endless frosting of bones and claws being erased and replaced by the light of dawn.
«...»
...
Meanwhile, the battle in the crater was reaching its climax, with none of the heroes present being aware of the titanic struggle of existence unfolding around them. Or rather, almost none of them.
"{Elly, watch out on your left, over.}"
"I know, but..." Eleanor paused just long enough to send one of the minions flying with a kick to the face. "Look at the sky! What's going on!?"
"{I don't know either, but the others didn't seem to have noticed anything out of place.}"
"Really?" Eleanor was still confused by Judy's words, but then another minion lunged at her from behind. She reached over her shoulder and spun around, grabbing her attacker by the arm and throwing it into the air. She then jumped up, grabbed it by the leg, and used it as a makeshift bludgeon to smash a second assailant. As soon as she landed, she tapped her ear out of habit and asked, "Does that mean it's Leo's doing? I mean, if only we can see it, then it would..."
"{I have no idea, but if it is, I really hope he has a good reason for messing with the sky instead of coming back here.}"
"I'm sure he's doing his best!" Eleanor declared with unwavering conviction.
"You're welcome!" Eleanor exclaimed, only for her expression to turn blank a moment later and ask, "Wait... why did I say that?"
"{Let's just hope the Chief's going to be back soon and can help sort this situation out for good. For now, back up Penelope until Joshua finishes powering up.}"
"Roger!" Eleanor nodded, and then she spun on her heel and kicked a third minion so hard that its flaming head went flying. She then dashed towards the avatar of the Lord of Inanna and yelled, "Penny! Tag out!"
Penelope was holding Noir's attention while Eleanor was distracted, so she was more than eager to switch places and catch her breath.
"Got it!" she shouted back even as she was rolling out of the way of a massive arm. "Where are the others?"
"{Angeline and Deus are out of commission,}" Judy responded in Eleanor's stead, as she was busy fighting. "{Snowy is taking care of her. Amelia is still manipulating the Mana Well. Joshua is...}" Her voice hitched, and she hurriedly added, "{He's on the move. Stay clear, over.}"
Just as she said that, a burst of crimson light erupted in the back, and the next moment, Joshua flew past her, his wings flaring up like the feathers of a phoenix. He swung the black blade with a single fluid motion, forcing Noir to raise both arms to block the attack. His blow hit hard, sending a shower of sparks flying, but the monster held his ground.
"WHY DON'T YOU DIE ALREADY?!"
"Shut your pie-trap!" Joshua grunted in turn and swung his sword again.
Noir blocked the strike, but this time the impact sent him reeling back, despite the size difference. Joshua didn't waste any time closing in on him, but he had to abruptly jump to the side as the enormous arm of the avatar's body swung at him. He flew around the Lord of Inanna and unleashed a flurry of strikes, each of them hitting hard and sending tremors down the length of the monstrous arms.
However, he still wasn't used to his newfound Abyssal powers, while the Lord of Inanna was still brimming with power. All it took was a single moment, a lapse of attention, and his avatar's enormous arm sent Joshua flying.
"Ack! Dammit!"
Despite the powerful blow he just received, Joshua wasn't deterred. Thanks to the support of Sillu and the Mana Well, he was brimming with power that matched that of the Lord of Inanna. He found his footing in the air, readied his sword and charged at Noir again.
"You vermin!" Noir hissed, and suddenly the entire avatar was engulfed in purple flames.
The air crackled as the heat intensified, but that wasn't all. He had realised the threat Joshua was posing to him, so he made a split-second decision. The inky black flesh of the creature began to boil and writhe, and then the whole construct seemed to shrink even further, encasing him in what looked like an enormous suit of armour made of purple fire and black volcanic glass.
...
The matter not used for the exoskeleton encasing the Lord of Inanna fell away, a dark husk that soon turned a pale grey and crumbled to the ground. Now that he had regained his mobility, the most logical choice would've been to regroup and retreat, but Noir's wounded pride didn't let him accept such a possibility.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, he lunged at Joshua with furious abandon, his black-glass talons ready to tear him to shreds. Joshua, in turn, had no intention of backing down. He charged at Noir headfirst, the crimson flames of his aura enveloping his whole body, and when the two collided in an explosion of fire and light, it was only Noir who was sent flying back.
"Are you finally ready to listen?" Joshua bellowed at the Abyssal Lord, his crimson aura meeting the intensity of the violet flames. "You need to stop this right now! Don't you understand what's at stake here?"
"Silence, you unbearable mongrel!" Noir hissed and spread his arms, and the Mana Well in the centre of the crater flared to life in response. "You have put up more of a fight than expected, but my patience runs thin, and the hour of your doom is nigh!"
"You've been saying that from the..." Joshua cut himself short and shook his head. "No, it doesn't matter! You must stop this, right now!"
"Who do you think you are to order me to do anything?"
"I'm..." Joshua hesitated, but then he steeled himself and declared, "I'm... erm... It was 'nagiru', right? I'm the nagiru, I think! The Herald of the Emperor!"
"I'm the Emperor!" Noir declared in turn.
"No, you're not, but it's not the important part! Listen, if you keep this up, this whole place will cease to exist, and then it won't matter who the Emperor is, because there won't be anyone alive to emperor over!"
Joshua's argument was logical, yet it was but a drop of water upon the fire of the Lord of Inanna's unyielding rage, and he roared, "You dare threaten to take my destiny from me, you—?!"
"No! You're the one who's destroying everything, not me! You have to—!"
...
"ENOUGH!" Noir roared as he rose into the air without the need for wings.
"Come back here!" Joshua cried out in return and flapped his wings, and then two of them clashed in the sky above the crater.
Their battle was a spectacle to behold, sword and claws clashing against each other with enough power to shake the entire crater. Yet, as much as Joshua's new powers allowed him to keep up with the Lord of Inanna, there was something else that kept the scales balanced between them: the fact that they were both supported by the Mana Wells.
Their repeated clashes created a steady stream of stray spells, sparks of mana flying off in every direction, and all the people on the ground could do was try to take shelter and wait for the outcome. The majestic sight of their battle high over the ruins of Castle Shamash put a stop to even the hostilities between the various Abyssal Houses in the city, all of them looking on with awe and trepidation.
Yet, as the battle raged on, it became clear that it was a stalemate, with neither side gaining an advantage.
Joshua was in the zone, and the words of Sillu were echoing in his mind. The power he felt within him was unlike any he experienced before, yet for some reason, it also felt familiar. It felt like it was his destiny, a calling he had all but missed, yet one that was his from the beginning of time.
It felt right. It was like he was finally whole and ready to fulfil the purpose the universe had planned for him.
...
Their power was the same. The False Emperor and the True Herald, the two of them were both drawing their strength from the Mana Well, and as the battle dragged on, it was only their wills that were tested in this clash of titans.
However, the mere suggestion of standing on equal ground was driving the Lord of Inanna more desperate and furious with each passing second, his attacks becoming wilder and wilder. It was only a question of time before he would make a fatal mistake for Joshua to exploit.
Or so it might have seemed in the eyes of the onlookers, but there was one thing that Joshua could not overcome, no matter how much power he had at his disposal: experience. The Lord of Inanna had cunning and guile on his side, and he purposefully left an opening in his defences to lure his enemy into a trap. In the heat of the moment, Joshua took the bait, and when their weapons clashed again, Noir grabbed the hero by the wrist.
He brought his true original power to bear, and in a moment, Joshua's body was wracked by immense pain as the mana inside his body was set ablaze.
"Aaaargh!"
Yet, if it was a question of mana, his reserves didn't pale in contrast with the Abyssal Lord's, and his pained cry was soon replaced by a furious roar as he channelled more and more power to counteract the Lord of Inanna's ability. The two powers clashed, and after a buildup that only lasted for a moment, they exploded with a concussive blast. Yet, even that was within the calculations of the Lord of Inanna, as he used the momentum of the blast to break away from Joshua and dive directly towards the Mana Well.
"Look out!" Eleanor called out towards Amelia and tried to close the distance, but despite her speed, she was just a moment too late. She could do nought but watch helplessly as Noir landed next to the Well, and before Amelia could react, he had her in his grasp.
"Nobody moves!" the Abyssal Lord roared, holding Amelia by the throat.
"Let her go!" Joshua responded in kind as soon as he landed, but Noir only scoffed at him.
"Silence, cur! I'm the only one giving orders right now!" He fell silent for several agonising seconds, basking in the tense silence that followed. "You claim that you are the Herald of the Emperor?"
Joshua responded with an audibly confounded, "... Yes?"
"Then prove it! Hand me my birthright and declare me Emperor in the sight of all these witnesses, or she dies!"
"Are you stupid?" Joshua blurted out with barely restrained anger.
Noir didn't respond directly, only tightened his grip on Amelia's throat, causing her to let out a strangled whimper. That was more than enough to spur the others into motion, but as soon as they did, the Abyssal Lord hissed, "One more move, and she dies!"
"Stop!" Joshua yelled at his friends, causing them to halt. He then turned to face Noir and said, "I can't believe I have to explain this again, but it doesn't matter if you're the Emperor or not when the whole place is going to explode—"
"Correction: Implode," the holographic representation of the Grimoire interjected, her voice cutting through the tension like a knife. "In fifty-two seconds."
Hearing that, Joshua finally gave up trying to reason with the mad Abyssal Lord, and he raised his palm as a sign of surrender.
"Fine. I'll appoint the real Emperor of the Abyss right now!" He raised his voice to a crescendo, and then he slowly extended a finger. Except, he wasn't pointing at Noir. "There!"
The Abyssal Lord's attention snapped in the direction Joshua was pointing at, towards the silver dome barely standing in the back of the crater. His eyes widened, first out of shock and then out of fury as he hissed, "You dare make a fool of me?!"
"Precisely!" he snapped back, followed by a just as urgent, "Quick! Arrow to the knee!"
The words triggered something in Noir. These very same words were spoken by none other than Leonard S. Dunning during their first battle, back inside the Restricted Field on the grounds of Blue Cherry High. It triggered an involuntary reaction, pulling his attention towards Angeline, only to freeze in confusion when he realised that she was still lying unconscious inside the same silver dome.
What he should've realised was that someone else was missing from there, but by then it was too late.
"H-Hyah!"
Neige's war cry wasn't as dignified or imposing as it could've been, but she was much more focused on her aim than such frivolous details. Unbeknownst to the Lord of Inanna, Judy had spent the last few minutes frantically weaving a plan, and while it originally didn't involve a last-second rescue attempt, they had run out of time in the most literal meaning of the phrase.
As such, Neige aimed well, and her icicle spear hit her biological brother squarely in the back. It did not penetrate his magical carapace, but it stunned and distracted him for a fraction of a second, allowing someone else to make the next move.
"Face retribution!"
The Abyssal Lord was further startled when Penelope seemingly materialized out of nowhere in front of him. Using her Concealment Sigil and speed, she rushed in following Judy's timing, and she swung her zweihander. This time, her blade wasn't glowing with mana. It was just a simple hacking motion relying on nothing else but the weight and momentum of the large blade, aimed directly at Noir's forearm.
It barely cracked the surface of his black shell, yet the shock of the unassuming strike was enough to make the Lord of Inanna lose his grip. That was all that was needed, as Eleanor was already dashing in from the other direction, and she scooped Amelia up into her arms before bolting away from the Abyssal Lord, yelling, "I got her!" as she went.
Amelia wasn't entirely passive during this time either, as the moment Noir's grip weakened, she immediately chanted a spell, leaving behind a ball of fire that exploded into the man's face. It wasn't an especially powerful spell, yet it not only blinded him long enough to allow all three of them to retreat out of his reach, but also peeled off some of the black material covering his face and chest.
It was a perfectly executed plan, but there was no time to celebrate, as the Grimoire's impassionate voice announced, "Twenty-nine seconds until implosion."
Josh exclaimed a panicked, "Aw, crap!" yet his arms were already moving over his head, taking up the stance to unleash yet another sword beam attack. It only required but a scant few seconds to fully prepare... yet even that was too long.
"NO! I WON'T LET THIS BE THE END!" Noir bellowed from the bottom of his lungs, and a wave of mana erupted from him with such force that it pushed everyone back. "IF I CAN'T BE EMPEROR, THEN NOBODY WILL! I SHALL TAKE IT ALL WITH ME INTO OBLIVION! IT'S NOT FAIR OTHERWISE! NOT FAIR, NOT FAIR, NOT FAIR!!!"
His words were punctuated by the howling sound of even more violet mana escaping his body and turning into a swirling inferno of amethyst rage and ruin, devouring the very ground and sky around him.
...
"What's going on?!" Penelope cried out in horror.
The Grimoire responded to her question with a flat, "Explanation: High-density Aetheric output is eroding the environment. Warning: Reservoir Asphodelòs is entering critical mass. Estimate: Thirteen seconds to implosion."
"Josh! Quick, hit him with your sword magic!" Eleanor demanded, but he only grit his teeth.
"I can't. If I fire this and miss, we'll all die!"
"If you don't fire it at all, we're dead all the same!" she argued back just as vehemently.
"I just need an opening. A clear shot," Joshua insisted, his sword still high over his head and smouldering with crimson energy. "If I can get just one shot at him..."
"Josh!"
"Just give me a second..."
...
...
...
...
"Announcement: Five seconds until impl—"
The grimoire didn't get to finish her countdown, as all the onlookers in the crater were startled by something flying through the air. It was a misshapen object the size of a basketball, and it flew across the battlefield while tumbling and twirling erratically. It reached the wall of amethyst flames, a tempest of pure mana that would normally rapidly disintegrate anything and everything that came into contact with it, yet the lumpy projectile passed through it with ease. In fact, it was only after the object reached the Lord of Inanna and collided with the back of his head that anyone could ever have a chance to recognise it for what it was: the decapitated head of a Chimaera.
More importantly, the unexpected impact made the maddened Abyssal Lord stagger, and his concentration faltered for a split second.
At the edge of the crater, halfway hidden behind a piece of a broken stone wall, a familiar face let out a loud cackle, and Hareng Ninurta declared, "That was payback! For the last time!"
However, loud and boisterous as he was, his voice was immediately drowned out by a low-pitched roar. That short moment of shock and confusion was the window of opportunity Joshua was waiting for, and he took it with both hands. Literally, as his fingers turned white on the hilt of his sword, and with an earth-shattering bellow, he let the crimson energy amassed above his head explode forth.
For a second, the amethyst of the tempest and the dark garnet of the sword vied for dominance, but then Joshua poured everything, his strength, his conviction, the power of the Mana Well, and everything else he could into his attack. His sword beam grew larger and brighter and hotter and more violent until, finally, the crater, the town, and maybe even the entire Abyss was tinted in his colours.
And then, silence.
Epilogue
The light of the morning sun gently streamed through the gaps between the plain, dark blue blackout curtains of Joshua's room. The blinds rattled and swayed in the soft, late-summer breeze, filling the air with the crisp scent of the coming autumn. It was the perfect weather to laze around in bed, yet that wasn't an option for our hero.
"Good morning."
He was greeted by a gentle voice by his side, so he groggily opened his eyes, and he immediately met the golden gaze of the girl sharing the same pillow with him. He closed his eyes again, but only because he had to stifle a yawn that threatened to escape his mouth. After that, he turned onto his side, so he could face her and responded with a carefree, "Morning, Deus. Is Angie still asleep?"
She exhaled a soft huff and sat up in the bed, revealing a rather adorable bunny rabbit printed pyjama top.
"Obviously. Both of you need to learn how to wake up on time."
"Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that," Joshua cooed to placate her and reached out a hand, cupping her cheek with his palm.
"You're not reflecting at all," the Celestial griped, yet she naturally leaned into his touch, even going as far as to cover his hand with hers. She closed her eyes and sighed, and the soft, affectionate smile on her lips told its own story. It didn't last long though, as she reached out to playfully poke Joshua's forehead and added, "We need to get up. You know what day it is today."
For emphasis, she gestured at the gnashing ivory jaws on the wall.
For emphasis, she gestured at the calendar on the wall, and the boy followed her gaze.
"Oh, that," he noted in a noncommittal voice, and then he turned back towards her and flashed a toothy grin. "Time flies by in good company, huh?"
Deus rolled her eyes and flicked her long, sandy-blonde hair over her shoulder. She clearly wanted to say something meaningful, but then she shuddered, and her eyes turned both blue and sleepy.
"Um... Ah. Good morning, sleepyhead," Angeline greeted him with a yawn.
"Don't call me a sleepyhead, sleepyhead," Joshua argued back with a smirk and poked his girlfriend's forehead. "I woke up before you."
"Deus woke up first, and we're the same person, so I technically woke up before you," she posited with a pout that made the boy chuckle.
"How come you're only bringing that up nowadays whenever it's convenient for you?" After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her down on the bed again.
"Hey, you!" she exclaimed, her face flushed. "Aren't we supposed to get up early today?"
"Five minutes," he negotiated while wrapping his arms around her.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Aw, fine. Five minutes," she agreed with a resigned sigh, but it was clearly just a pretence, as she quickly snuggled up to his chest and let out a long, contented sigh.
It was at this point that Deus momentarily came to the surface again to declare, "You two are incorrigible," but despite her words, she nuzzled even closer to him and closed her eyes.
They stayed like that for a while, their limbs intertwined and their breathing in perfect sync. Sadly, five minutes was a short time, and before long, the bone-white maw on the nightst—
Before long, the cartoon fox-shaped alarm clock on the nightstand began to buzz, and the boy's hand shot out from under the blanket and slapped it into submission. There were a couple of groans, and it took a few seconds before they mustered up the will to disentangle themselves from each other, and Joshua sat up first.
"Oh, fine. Let's get dressed and just go."
"Okay!" Angie exclaimed with a smile, and she rolled out of bed. She began to undress without any concern, and even though it wasn't an entirely uncommon occurrence these days, the boy still sneaked a few peeks at her. Not that she would've minded. As she casually tossed her pyjama top onto the bed, she looked over her shoulder and said, "You know, I just realised something."
Joshua responded with an absent-minded, "Yes?" while trying not to stare too hard.
"This was our last summer break. I mean, ever." She paused for a moment while looking for her school uniform, and then added, "It's kind of surreal, isn't it?"
"I mean, it's something everyone goes through," Joshua pointed out while putting on his own school uniform. "We're gonna be seniors, and then we'll graduate. That's how school works."
"I know, it's just..." Angie finished putting on most of her uniform and turned around to face Joshua, only to fall silent. Then, her silence turned into snickers, which then turned into giggles.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. It's just... I think you might need a new uniform."
Joshua exhaled a sigh and stopped trying to button up the sleeve of his shirt.
"Yeah. I really should've tried this on first." He looked over himself and whispered, "A lot has changed since this time last year, huh?"
He wasn't exaggerating. While it wasn't unheard of to go through one last growth spurt at his age, Joshua's physique had changed more drastically than most. The uniform that fit him perfectly last year was now uncomfortably tight around the chest and shoulders, not to mention it was also about a palm short on his arms. To make things even more awkward, his height also increased a bit, so his trousers were too short to cover his ankles.
These changes were the result of not only months of training and fighting, but also the profound effects of becoming an ************* *********** had on his physiology. Yet, his girlfriend interpreted his comment in a different light, and enthusiastically nodded along.
"For sure! I mean, think about it!" She raised her right hand to eye-level and started counting on her fingers. "Last time this year, we weren't even dating, Deus wasn't with us, the Elysium and the Abyss were still enemies, and ************ of ********** were still *************!"
Joshua couldn't argue with that, so he just nodded along with a long, drawn-out sigh.
"And yet, even after all this, we're still going to school, huh?"
"Of course," Deus chimed in, taking control of her body for a second. "******** would be very upset if we didn't." Her eye-colour shifted back to blue, and Angie agreed with gusto. "Exactly! If we tried to ditch school, ************ would be sooo mad at us! ********'d say something like, 'You're still minors, so go to school! It's common sense!'"
"Yeah, totally," Joshua agreed and used his thumb over his shoulder to point at the amalgam of sharp talons and beaks leading into the void of complete non-exis—
...
He used his thumb to point at the door leading to the upper floor of his home and said, "Speaking of which, let's get going. We have to meet up with the others, too."
"Right!" Angie followed him with a skip in her step. As she climbed the stairs behind him, she asked, "What about breakfast?"
"I'm pretty sure we don't have time for that," Joshua grumbled and pointedly gestured at the bo— cla— clock. He gestured at the clock on the living room's wall.
"But what if I starve?" she pleaded with an innocent look that would've made an angel blush. Joshua could only roll his eyes in response.
"You're not gonna starve. We ate a big dinner last night."
"To be fair," Deus chimed in without warning, turning Angeline's cherubic expression into one of deadpan seriousness, "we did expend a lot of energy last night. You were unusually... vigorous."
Josh blurted out a flat, "What?" in mild confusion, while Angeline's face shifted once again when she reasserted control, and she turned beet red.
"Aaah! Deus, don't be a perv!"
"I'm not a p-perv!" her other half insisted with audible outrage. "Don't try to shift responsibility upon me, Girl! You were the one who wanted to try doing that preposterous position with the—"
Joshua interrupted their argument by grabbing her hand, accompanied by a frantic, "Never mind that! We'll just grab something from the convenience store at the crossing, okay?"
"Okay!" Angie agreed, though she was still a tad flustered from before.
The two of them soon left Joshua's home, holding hands all the while, even if it made putting on their shoes more troublesome than it had to be. They were soon on their way, walking down the road. The sun was bright and warm, the last embers of summer still lingering on, yet the wind already carried the chill of autumn.
The bustling city of Timaeus was already in the throes of its usual morning hustle. Cars were filling the streets and people were milling about, all of them rushing towards their workplace or other destinations on the churning rivers of ivory fangs.
On the languid meadows of ivory bones and claws.
On the pristine ivory-white tiles of the sidewalk.
They were men and women of all ages and creeds, each of them clad in clothes befitting their station, from the humble factory worker to the haughty businessmen in their expensive suits and ties. They were all the main characters of their own lives, and thus, they were unique and special in their own way, each and every one of them.
As such, busy with their own daily troubles and complex internal worlds, they had little time and attention to spare for the young couple, the true unsung heroes of this world, without whom none could enjoy this special day of utter mundanity.
As they walked, Joshua's mind also wandered, and he eventually turned to Angeline with the words, "Everything's so peaceful."
"Peace is good," she declared with a falsetto voice, clearly mimicking someone.
"Yeah, that does sound like something he would say," Joshua grumbled, but then he reiterated, "But what I was trying to say is that it's weird after how ridiculously bullcrap last year was."
"True. But... that's the past, right?" Angie mused with a distant look on her face. "We made it through somehow, and now we can just live a normal life. That's what we were fighting for, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah, but..." He exhaled a shallow sigh. "I mean, I can still barely believe that we pulled through that battle at the end."
"You're still worried about the Abyss? But Elysium and the Abyss are at peace now, remember?"
"Yeah, I know, but it's still gonna take ages to sort it all out, and now I'll have to keep moving between the two like a cloud of lacerating fangs and—"
"... moving between the two like a freaking ping-pong ball! My head already hurts just from thinking about it."
Angeline playfully swatted at his shoulder with the words, "Oh, hush, you silly-squirrel!" followed by a slight pout. "We agreed that we aren't doing any politicking until we graduate."
"Yeah, but it's different for you. You have the whole ex-Directorate, or whatever they call them now, taking care of stuff in Elysium, but the Abyss was turned upside down by that whole fiasco. It's gonna take years before things settle down enough to get a proper government running again."
"And that's not something for us to worry about right now," Angeline declared with a huff. "Let's focus on school and getting into a good university first, and leave the annoying politics stuff to the adults."
"And *********," Josh pointed out, causing Angeline's eye colour to shift.
"True. There's no helping ********** sticking his nose into every single detail."
As the two of them continued their discussion, they soon encountered a familiar group of anthropomorphic pack of vicious predators made of an amalgamation of thousands of off-white shards of bone and—
...
They soon encountered a familiar group waiting for them at the usual crossroad.
"Angie! Josh!" the energetic redhead at the centre of the group called out, waving at them with her left hand over her head. "Come on, you guys! We're going to miss the opening speech!"
"We're not that late," the bespectacled girl at her side noted dispassionately as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"Like, to be honest, I totally don't mind, like, missing Endy's droning. Fer shur," the brown-skinned girl at the edge of the group mumbled, her modified uniform tucked in and stitched up to the point it was just modest enough to still meet the dress code.
Joshua greeted his friends with a lazy wave and an equally laid-back, "Morning, guys," and then he stopped to count them.
All of them were here. Amelia, with her signature glasses. Penelope and Neige, inseparable as always. Sahi, tagging along, seemingly without a care in the world. And of course, there were Judy and Eleanor in the back, immersed in discussion.
"What is this? What even is this?" Eleanor hissed in a low voice. "Where's *********? A-Awawa? Why can't I say his name?!"
Judy stopped the blonde girl's mounting panic with a soft, "Hush," and an even softer finger placed on her lips. "I'm not sure what's going on either, but I have a hypothesis."
In the meantime, the childhood friend couple fully joined up with the group, and they all started their usual commute to Blue Cherry High. It was the same old path that the gang had walked a hundred times, the same familiar streets with the same familiar people on their way to their own destinations. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.
"Hey, guys? Guess what?" Penelope spoke up, sounding even more enthusiastic than usual. "Snowy and I are going to join the student council this year!"
Angie perked up with an interested, "Really?" and the silver-haired girl at their side awkwardly inclined her head in the affirmative.
"Y-Yes. We were asked about it, and..."
It was at this point that Sahi chimed in with a grin as wide as her face.
"Like, we need new recruits because, like, too many of the third years were totally devoured by gnashing maws of infi—"
...
"Like, too many members graduated, and we're totally low on manpower, so Paz made me, like, promise that I recruit people."
"Didn't he also graduate?" Josh absentmindedly asked, and the brown girl shrugged in return.
"Like, yeah, but he's still working in the School, so, like, he's not really leaving. It's, like, he's the shadow-president now." She let out a giggle. "That's, like, totally wicked, isn't it?"
Before anyone could respond to that, Penelope threw her fist in the air and declared, "And we're going to join the disciplinary committee! We're going to uphold order and justice and get extra recommendations after graduation!"
"Wait, you get endorsements for that? For university admissions and stuff?" Angie's eyes lit up, and she turned to Joshua. "Josh! We should join the student council, too!"
"Let's discuss this later." He made a vague gesture at the shop at the crossing, and asked, "Didn't you want to get some snacks?"
"Not snack, breakfast! And yes!" She turned on her heel, the previous conversation all but forgotten, and rushed past the others with a cheery, "Be right back! Don't leave me behind!"
Meanwhile, at the back of the group, Elanor looked thoroughly perplexed.
"This is way too weird. Why doesn't anyone else realize that ********* is missing? Or that all of this is weird?"
In lieu of an answer, Judy raised her hand and pointed at the simple metal band on her ring finger. The blond girl's eyes opened wide, and she hurriedly took a look at her own hand. Sure enough, the same simple ring adorned her ring finger.
"Right! But, does that mean it's another of those recon things, or...?"
"Ret-con, and I'm not sure," the deadpan girl spoke curtly, her foot nimbly stepping over the violently snapping bony jaw on the sidewalk. "Whatever is going on, I don't think we can do much about it. Let's make sure to stay close to each other and observe."
Eleanor nodded in agreement and followed her partner, carefully dancing over another array of gnashing jaws of ivory that tried to snatch her feet from under her.
Carefully jumping over a small puddle of water on the sidewalk.
"Look! It's gone again!"
"What's gone again?" Neige inquired, looking somewhat baffled by their odd behaviour, but Judy quickly shook her head and dismissed her with a flat, "Never mind."
Like that, the small group finished their regular pilgrimage to the temple of learning called Blue Cherry High. By the time they reached the gates of the campus, their surroundings were filled with the sounds of the other students chatting and laughing. It was the same old schoolyard as usual, full of familiar skulls and teeth and claws. Nothing was out of the ordinary at all. Nothing at all.
The morning assembly and the principal's speech were thoroughly extraordinary, just as usual. His speech was filled with inspiring words and deep metaphors, like the importance of using the opportunity of the last year in high school to gnaw their way to the surface of the ivory sea. It was a truly moving experience that everyone was going to fondly remember, but then it was time to head to class, so they all left the auditorium and made their way to the classrooms.
The classes were just as mundane as the rest of the day. The arch-magi of the Assembly maintained their cover-identities as teachers for another year, and they were all too eager to discuss the curriculum and their plans for the school year, such as their plans to introduce a mandatory class on the importance of avoiding the gnashing teeth of the earth and the sky. The students eagerly listened to the advice, just like they were supposed to.
It wasn't until the first lunch break of the new semester that the members of Joshua's inner circle converged once again, meeting up at their usual spot on the roof of the main building. They all arrived together and set up the benches, and soon they were sitting in the same configuration they were used to from the year before. Everything was the same as usual, with the late-summer sun illuminating their gathering from the beautiful bone-white noontime sky.
"This just so weird..." Joshua noted, causing Eleanor to turn to him with eyes wide open.
"It is, right?"
"Y-Yeah," he mumbled, taken aback by her intensity. "I mean, I think I talked about this with... someone in the past. At some point. I... can't exactly recall when, but the point is that it just feels so uncanny to come back to school after all we've been through."
"I can't disagree," Amelia said, sounding more tired than anything. "After our trip to the Abyss, and getting kidnapped, and everything that happened after it, a peaceful day like this feels just a tad surreal."
"Oh... So that's what you meant..." Eleanor whispered, sounding crestfallen, so Judy lightly patted her back to cheer her up.
"Yeah. I mean, what else could I be talking about?" Joshua asked her with a critically raised brow, and when he didn't receive an answer, he shook his head and reached into the gaping maw surrounded by jagged, serrated t—
He reached into his lunch box and picked up a strip of fried chicken breast.
"Seriously, I think it'll take some time getting used to normal life again. It's almost as if—"
But then he never got to finish his thought, as a tidal wave of bo—
...
But then he never got to finish his thought, because Angeline leaned over the back of the bench and nearly caused it to fall over, forcing Joshua to grab onto his lunchbox and lean the opposite way to balance her weight out.
"Hey, careful!"
"Sorry!" the Celestial girl responded with a smile. "I was just cloudgazing!"
"Oh? Did you see any fun shapes?" Penelope inquired as she craned her neck and squinted at the flocks of vicious jaws and fangs floating on the canvas of the ivory sky.
"Nah. But, you know? When things are peaceful like this, you're supposed to do this kind of stuff."
"Oh? Like, picnics, and cloudgazing?" Sahi interjected with a grin. "Like, I totally get you!"
"Well, yes." Neige agreed with a timid nod. "Things are very peaceful, and..."
Judy blinked. She didn't quite understand what startled her either, but there was a nagging sensation in her mind. Her eyes immediately darted to Eleanor, and when their gazes met, they both realised that they were in sync.
"Peace is good," Eleanor stated, causing the Celestial girl to lurch forward in her seat and point at her.
"Yeah! I just said that this morning, too!"
"Yes, but..." Eleanor tried to speak up, but even after racking her head for a while, she couldn't formulate a good response.
She sighed and slumped her shoulders, so it fell to Judy's shoulders to come up with something, and she stated, "This is only the beginning of the school year." She paused, then re-formulated the thought. "You could say this day is the beginning of the rest of our lives."
"Yeah, I suppose," Joshua agreed, if tentatively, looking quite confused.
"True," Amelia noted, and she absentmindedly adjusted her glasses. "We're going to be third years. Our last year of high school, and then... The future awaits."
"Yes, exactly!" Elanor perked up and pointed at her. "This is the beginning of our journey towards the future!" She glanced at Judy for support, but the deadpan girl didn't speak up, so she pressed on with, "And... um... Every new beginning comes from the ending of some other beginning!"
"Is that a quote?" Penelope asked, looking increasingly bamboozled by the conversation.
"M-Maybe?"
"What Elly's trying to say," Judy cut in, inspired by Eleanor's attempt, "is that there can't be a new beginning without ending what came before, so while it's the beginning of the rest of our lives, it's also the endings of all the yesterdays that brought us to this place."
"Oooh? How very, like, philosophical," Sahi noted without much interest, her attention more focused on the plate of deep-fried claws and mashed bones in front of her.
"The ending of all our yesterdays," Joshua echoed Judy as he got up from the bench and walked over to the fence of safety sinews around the roof of the skull, and he looked over the city of bones, his hand in his pockets. "I suppose you could say that. This is what all those struggles we went through were for. We fought robots and monsters, got kidnapped, some of us multiple times, nearly got assassinated, we battled self-appointed emperors and gods, and yet we won our peaceful new beginning."
"Yes! Exactly!" Eleanor insisted, looking a little nervous as the roof of the skull building was shaking under the onslaught of thousands of disembodied, snarling maws, the sound of gnashing, grinding, snapping, and tearing growing louder and louder. In other words, everything was peaceful and normal.
"Which means it's also the ending we earned," Judy doubled down, looking just as apprehensive, despite everything being perfectly ordinary.
"Right." Meanwhile, Angeline also got up from the bench and joined Joshua at the edge of the roof. He casually wrapped his arm around her waist, a very natural and practised motion, and let out a low hum. "Yes. I suppose as endings go, this is pretty good." He turned to the rest and raised his hand, as if toasting with a goblet, and echoed Eleanor with the words, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end! Let our next ending be just as peaceful!"
"I'll drink to that!" Penelope joined in, raising her hand in a mirror motion, but then she faltered and whispered, "Erm... O-Once, I'm old enough, of course! I don't want to make ******** angry..."
Her timid words caused everyone on the rooftop to fall silent, only for chuckles to erupt all around. The perfect image of a peaceful day coming to a slow halt, the gears of time itself grinding to an inexorable halt, encasing them in a moment like amber, their faces forever frozen in a jovial smile, the world of bones and claws and teeth arrested in a happy ending.
...
Until the sun in the sky exploded, breaking the ivory canopy with a furious, "CHECKMATE, YOU BLOODY SON OF A MUPPET!"
But that was a story for a different time. A different beginning.
The formless void trembled. It was a contradiction made manifest. It was boundless, yet constrained. A lack of space and dimension, yet a place in itself. It was empty, yet it was filled with endless stars, and it had no beginning or end, yet its edges were frayed, as if gnawed upon by an insatiable, infinite hunger.
And yet, it trembled. The void, the stars, the frayed edges, they all shook and rippled as a lake's surface disturbed by an uncounted deluge of raindrops. There was a sensation suffused into the void. It was close to an emotion, but hard to put into words. A sense of anticipation. Expectation. Yearning. As if something was about to happen, and the formless emptiness was waiting with bated breath for it to finally occur. Whatever it was, it was surely something momentous.
At last, it began. A ripple of colour spread across the black canvas, like an aurora borealis. A glimmer of gold, the colour of sand and sunlight. A dash of azure and cerulean, the shades of clear skies and calm seas. More and more joined as they danced in a slow waltz of colours, each and every hue more brilliant than the next. As the lights spread, the countless stars began to swirl. First slowly, then faster, as if caught in the pull of a maelstrom. Faster and faster they spun, their trajectories revealing something resembling the outlines of the void.
The tiny stars danced to a rhythm only they could perceive, white streaks intertwined by all the colours known to man, and many more beyond. The music they painted on the fabric of the void grew to a crescendo. The lights burned brighter. The colours grew sharper, and the stars moved ever faster, their trails becoming a solid vortex. The light and the colours and the stars were all so close to each other that they blended into one, and the entire universe was washed in a brilliant display of pure, unfiltered, blinding whiteness...
And then, ignition.
Was it a spark of anger? Frustration? Or maybe just a sigh of relief upon some unseen shackles falling away? Regardless, the white flame erupted, the space between spaces itself transforming into a conflagration of such intensity that its light would've seared the eyes of anyone who would've dared gaze upon it.
It was a nova of light, sound, heat, and raw, primal energy. Then, at last, as the searing white reached the frayed edges of the void and filled in the space between spaces, like molten metal poured into a mould, one more explosion. This one not of light or heat or colour, but of intent. A triumphant zenith, wrapped in a single sentence:
"CHECKMATE, YOU BLOODY SON OF A MUPPET!"
~~~
Wow. Okay. So, that might not have been the most dignified way to announce my... erm... birth? Was that accurate? In any case, I cut myself some slack, because bloody hell, I cut that waaay too close.
But back to the whole 'birth' thing. I had a body now, so that checked out. I mean, I had a body before, but not an all-caps BODY like this. It was very hard to explain, but it almost felt like I've been stuffed inside a suitcase all my life, and I was able to stretch out my limbs for the first time ever. I was vast, and unfathomable, and indescribable, and...
"I'm still me, right?" I asked out of habit, and quickly combed through my memories. "Yeah, I still feel like me, but..."
Before I even finished the thought, I suddenly understood what was going on. Or rather, I always understood, but I just... forgot? No, it was more like... how should I put this...?
...
Oh, and now I suddenly knew exactly how to put it and why it was happening. Colour me black and white and call me a zebra; I was actually correct about something! The universe really was Leos all the way down! I had a nigh-infinite number of 'me'-s kind of compartmentalised away, just like other-me and narrative-me used to be, yet all of them were essentially ME. All-caps and all.
Every version of me was experiencing my existence, and would freely merge in and out of current-me without breaking continuity. That made me, essentially, Leo Prime.
...
Actually, scratch that name. If I said that out loud, the girls would make fun of me for it for weeks. If I were lucky.
As for my BODY, the words of Oriole sprang to mind, back when I still called her The Girl. If this consciousness and personality were 'who I was', then the impossibly vast, unfathomable, and inscrutable thing surrounding me was 'what I was'. In other words, this was my... Domain? Did that make me an Emergent?
...
Oh, there it is. More knowledge is merging in, making me feel stupid for even asking that question. Of course I was an Emergent. I was one all along, except I was... different? Now that I think about it, why was I stuffed into a suitcase again? Metaphorically speaking, of course?
I was sure that if I waited for just a bit longer, some of my parallel-'me'-s would drop by with a ready-made answer to that question, gift-wrapped and all, but I felt like I was forgetting about something important. I mean, something personally important, not necessarily in the grand cosmic scale of things… or maybe there was some overlap, now that I thought about it, and—
"Ah, right!" I wanted to snap my fingers, but I didn't have any. I'd have to fix that later, but first… "Where's that bloody son of a muppet?"
I, well… 'looked around' wasn't quite the right way to put it. It was more like I expanded my Domain like an enormous amoeba feeling out its surroundings. I felt so very big, and all-encompassing, and—
"Oh, there you are!"
My Domain, for lack of better terms, 'reached out' towards the familiar gnawing sensation. Funnily enough, it was already 'inside me', in a matter of speaking, so I just had to fully envelop it, and then…
…
Erm… What was I supposed to do with him again? I was woefully inexperienced with this stuff. I was more used to the 'whack with sword' paradigm of combat, not whatever the heck this was. It also felt profoundly less satisfying than just decking the bastard across the chin, if it even had any.
Stuck in this dilemma for a long moment, I finally remembered something else. This time, it wasn't some other segmented-off variant of my consciousness dropping by to say hello, but one of my original memories, and after feeling around a little bit, I found a very familiar location.
There was no reason to overthink it. I grabbed hold of the Predator Moon, ignoring all the gnashing and shredding he was doing, and flung him with all my might, my consciousness following right after. At first, it's deafening silence. Then an ear-splitting cacophony, like a million bowling balls tumbling through a million giant panes of sheet glass. Finally, a crash that was somehow even louder, followed by a startled scream.
"Eeek! W-What's going on!?"
"Calm down, Obsidius!" Carmine's voice tried to rise above the noise, but it was drowned out by the mountain of screeching maws and snapping jaws. It was distracting (not to mention disturbing), so I gave him a good smack to pipe down.
"GRAAAAAAH!"
The strike sent the mass of bone and fangs flying, and it hit the other end of the not-dark not-room, finally quieting down. It was… less satisfying than expected. I should probably try again, but first, a makeover.
An Emergent's form was all about 'Definition', and I had more than enough history to define myself as myself. After but a moment, my amorphous presence sprouted a torso, then four limbs and a head. The small details also came to me naturally. My face, my hair, my school uniform. Even the Leoformer in my belt buckle was reproduced perfectly, and as soon as I was humanoid again, I turned to the four Emergents huddled around the control pedestal and waved at them.
"Hi, guys! Sorry for crashing in like this, but it was a bit of an emergency." It was only at this point that I realised that our dynamic entry left a… well, 'hole' was a gross oversimplification, but let's call it a 'gap in the boundaries of the not-dark not-room' for the sake of simplicity. "Oh, wow. My bad. Here, let me try to fix it up in a jiffy."
Lacking any better way to go about it, I used my Domain to plug the not-hole in the not-wall of the not-room, and even though the not-walls had no colour, it was easy to tell where I patched it up, because it was a different colour. This place was just counterintuitive like that.
Anyhow, as soon as I finished, I turned to the Emergents and flashed my friendliest smile along the words, "See? As good as new!"
Based on her expression, Carmine was the first one who recognised me, yet she was so confounded by this development that Oriole beat her to the punch, and she dashed up to me.
"Wow! You did it! Congratulations!"
"Erm… Thanks, but…" Just as I was about to explain the situation, there was a roar in the back, and a giant kaiju-monster lurched towards me, made of a jigsaw of bones and all kinds of small animal parts. It was big, and scary, and angry, so I did the only reasonable thing under the situation. "I haven't forgotten about you! Shut up and wait for your turn!"
I threw a punch by reflex, and the patch on the wall formed by my Domain responded in kind, elongating like a hydraulic piston and decking the creature across the not-dark not-room again. Once the dust settled, my Domain retracted, while I stared at my fist. This was… slightly better, but it still wasn't quite the satisfaction I was looking for.
"Was… Was that the Venerated Predator Moon?" Obsidius inquired in a mousy voice, and while the answer was quite self-explanatory, Fulgor barged forward without paying him any heed.
"It's you! I mean… ah… You never gave us your name, but I can recognize a fellow man of culture anywhere!"
"Yep, it's me. Hello, Fulgor," I paused to nod at the others too, "Carmine, Obsidius. Sorry about the mess, but—"
"Who are you?!" a familiar, screech voice bellowed as the mountain of bones (which itself was just the proverbial tip of the planet of bones) coalesced into an equally familiar, spindly humanoid creature. "Identify yourself!"
I couldn't help but blink at the Predator Moon with the deadpannest expression I could muster, and then I raised a finger towards the Emergent Quartet.
"A moment, please. I have one buck-wild story to share with you guys, but first, I need to deal with him. Give me a subjective minute." I didn't wait for their response and immediately turned on my heels, then approached the belligerent bastard with a loud, "What do you mean 'identify yourself', you bloody bony bellend!? After spending all this bloody time treating me like I was the world's tastiest pickle, the least you could do is to recognise me!"
The Predator Moon's eyeless face of constantly shifting and churning bands, claws, and bones was somehow even more blank than usual, at least until I could sense a vague spark of recognition in him, and his already threatening voice dropped a whole octave.
"You! You are the interloper! Who are you! Answer me!"
"Here we go with the one-sided demands again…" Shaking my head, I crossed my arms and loudly declared, "Fine! If you want to know so badly, you can just call me Leonard S. Dunning."
There was a flat 'What?' coming from behind me, clearly from Fulgor, while the ivory knob in front of me was once again giving me a blank stare, which was impressive for a being without any visible eyes.
"Ah, whatever. Let me help you out a little. Can you guess what the 'S' in my middle name stands for?"
"S?" he repeated after me, then fell silent, allowing Carmine to voice her own conjecture.
"Is it 'Simulacrum'?" she asked, sounding both apprehensive and fascinated at the same time, and her expression soon turned confounded when I shook my head.
"Close, but you're not thinking big enough." I let that sink in with a long pause, then I raised a hand, fingers poised for a snap. "The 'S' stands for 'Sol'."
A snap and a crackle later, the part of my domain plugging up the hole flared to life, its blinding light instantly turning the not-dark not-room into the quite-illuminated not-room.
"Praise the sun!"
I was just about to give a piece of my mind to the bitey bellend when I heard someone yelling out next to me, and when I turned to face her, I very nearly facepalmed at the sight of the girl with her arms spread in a cross shape.
"Really, Oriole? Really? You're embarrassing me."
She just giggled without a shred of guilt in her eyes, and I would've given her a lecture on the proper use of out-of-context jokes, jests, and references, but I had more important things to take care of first, so I shelved that for later. The Predator Moon was still confused, and as much as it was unsportsmanlike, the tosser had been spending the last subjective eternity tormenting me, so I felt little qualms about hitting him with a cheap shot.
My body moved through the space of the not-dark not-room with a familiar sensation quite reminiscent of Phasing, and before he knew what hit him, I did, my fist digging into the left cheek of its ugly mug and sending him flying again.
"Ah, that's it!" The elation burst out of me as all the pent-up stress and indignation I built up since this bastard first barged into the Simulacrum was channelled into that straight. "That was for all the goddamn biting!"
He roared back at me, his form once again overlaid by the immense size and weight of the bone-white planetoid… so I Phased over and hit it even harder, sending him flying in the other direction.
"And that was for trying to ruin the scenario and screwing over all my friends!"
The Predator Moon hit the not-wall of the not-dark not-room and bounced back, putting him into the perfect position for a lariat, and while that was superfluous, I really wanted to see the princess's face when I told her about this, so I went for it.
"And this is for purposefully targeting my girlfriends!"
The impact sent the ivory bastard flying once again, but this time with extra-silly spinning, and then he eventually fell and landed roughly at the halfway point between the other Emergents and me.
While all of this was going on, I didn't forget to keep squeezing his Domain with mine, and it caused his lanky, creepy form to shift and waver. He still managed to get back to his feet and roar at the quartet.
"What are you doing? Aid me!"
"Now, hold your horses, you big bony baby. This is between you and me, and nobody else gets between us until I'm done venting my grievances with this here fist, so you better clench your teeth. All of them."
Realising that the other Emergents weren't moving, the lanky freak faced me with as much bravado as he could muster and bellowed, "Do you think you can walk away from this after what you've done here? After what you've done to me? Do you have any idea who I am!?"
"Of course I do. You're the Predator Moon, a vicious, irritating, unreasonable…" I was planning to keep rattling off more less-than-flattering adjectives, but looking at him made me pause. "Actually, I take it back. The name 'Predator Moon' is way too badass to be wasted on a wanker like you. You're more of a Bob than anything else."
His body language abruptly changed, and he let out a throaty groan, the echo of a stifled scream.
"You! How dare you dare Define me?!"
"What, you don't like your new name, Bob? I gave it to you for free, Bob. Why are you so ungrateful, Bob?" He continued to groan as the amalgam of bones that made up his body churned and roiled like he was boiling from the inside. "Actually, no! Even the name 'Bob' is too good for you! You're… Yes! You're a Benjamin!"
"Argh! Stop! I will not be Defined by the likes of—!"
"Shut up, Benjamin! The adults are talking!" He reeled back like I hit him, even though I was nowhere near him. "Definition this, Definition that… If you keep insisting, then I'll just have to Define you with the most humiliating of all possibilities! I am, of course, talking about…" I paused for dramatic effect, then raised my hands over my head menacingly. "… Mikey's Curse!"
I was expecting some shocked gasps, but there was only confused silence, so I turned to the Emergents.
"You know? Mikey's Curse? Anyone?" I was still getting the silent treatment, though I could swear Fulgor knew the trope I was talking about and just didn't want to admit it. "Oh, come on! Read a book, people!"
Meanwhile, the bony prick tried to use the moment I was paying attention elsewhere to escape, but I caught him before he could get any headway and raised my hands up again.
"That's it! Face the consequences of your actions! Mikey's Curse be upon thee!" I said, but it was more like… how should I put it? Kind of the reverse of my naming of the other Emergents. If that was looking at one of them, subconsciously tallying all their most attractive and endearing traits, and then distilling it into the Emergent language in the form of a word like 'Oriole', this was more like cherry-picking some minor traits, or even imposing new ones, and then hammering on them until they become their new Definition. "Benjamin!"
The slightly less bony bastard reeled like I just hit him with a hammer, but that was just the beginning.
"Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin!" Each time I stressed his name, his form would twist, and his clawed, fanged, bony features would recede. "Ben-jaaa-min! Beeen-ja-miiin! Benny-Benny-Benjamin!"
"Argh! Stop! Stop this at once! Stop, or else I'll… I'll…"
With each repetition, his voice grew less like nails on a chalkboard and more like an actual human voice, and at long last, it was time for the coup de grace. I raised my hand even higher, took a deep breath for a dramatic beat, and then yelled, "BENJAMIN!"
With a flash, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place, and so did he onto his knees, looking at his small, pale hands with a pair of large, ruby-red eyes.
"What have you done to me!" he cried, and it did sound like the tantrum of a kid, exactly what he looked like.
I decided to make him as un-threatening as possible, so I went with a kind of androgynous shota look, with an albino complexion, long straight silver hair, a white shirt with puffy sleeves, pumpkin britches, and a pair of bright red suspenders to complete the look. Sure, this kind of forceful re-Definition was temporary at best, but I couldn't think of a better way to humiliate this haughty, ravenous dick.
"Haha! Look at you, Benjamin! You're now…!" My words trailed off as I watched the outraged eldritch horror in the guise of a kid tug at his clothes with a mixture of fury and panic, and a heavy realisation settled upon me. "Goddamit. Now you're too cute to beat up. I'm hoisted by my own petard, and hindsight is still my worst enemy…"
"You monster!" Benjamin roared at me and dashed over, then started beating on my thigh with his teeny-little fists. "How dare you?! How dare you?!"
While that was going on, I noticed that the rest were also huddled together, so I uttered a slightly apprehensive, "What?"
"You're kind of scary…" Obsidius blurted out, only to immediately cover behind Carmine. "Eeep! D-Don't turn me into a newt!"
"Why would I ever…? Not to mention, if I could turn any of you into a newt, it would be Oriole, after that whole 'Praise the sun!' nonsense she pulled."
My words made the pigtailed girl hiccup, and her orbital rings faded into monochrome from shock.
"W-Wait! It was just a joke! I mean, we all knew that now that you're awake, everything would be all right, so what's a joke between friends?"
Before I could formulate a response, Carmine lightly cleared her throat, her crimson eyes focused on me alone.
"Putting what happened to the Venerable…" She suddenly stopped, and after a few failed attempts, she resigned herself to utter, "The Venerable Benjamin aside…"
The not-so-bony kid let out a vail in response that almost made me want to reflexively pat his head, despite logically knowing that he was still the same weird predatory planetoid thing inside. Carmine waited for him to finish, then cleared his throat again.
"So, Leonard Sol Dunning?"
"Just Leo will do," I interjected, and she inclined her head.
"Leo, then. Can you explain what is actually going on?"
Oriole, desperate to move the conversation along, flashed a toothy smile and exclaimed, "Oh, that's a long story!" in a birdsong-y voice. "It all started with the Crowned Coalescence finding Sol and the Artifical Domain being stirred, and then Leo was inside the scenario, and…"
"Hold on!" Fulgor interrupted next. "You were inside the scenario? Are you telling me you were the second Free Actor all along? Wait, let me phrase that differently. Are you… Are you the actual Leonard Dunning from the scenario?"
I nodded along, but a different name from before made me stop in my tracks, and I addressed Oriole again.
"Where's the Crowned Coalescence, anyway?"
"I don't know," she admitted with a shrug. "You know him. He always likes to make dramatic entrances, so he should show up any minute now."
"No, actually, I don't know him. Not really, and…" The mention of 'dramatic entrances' gave me this odd sensation, similar to the one from before. Like I was forgetting something really, really important. It felt like it would remain a nagging feeling for a long time, but then, like a bolt out of the blue, I suddenly remembered. "Oh, shit! The finale!"
"What finale?" Fulgor's brows descended into a thunderous frown. "The scenario is over."
Even Obsidius backed him up, saying, "Yes. I confirmed it."
"No, it isn't. I had to cheat a bit because a certain someone was literally eating me from the outside-in and the inside-out at the same time. Speaking of which…" Reaching down, I picked up the kid still ineffectually beating on my leg and abdomen by the scruff of his neck (figuratively, of course) and handed him over to Carmine. "Hold him for a second, please."
She automatically accepted him, and only when he started struggling and kicking at her did she hurriedly say, "I'm sorry, Venerated Benjamin. I meant no disrespect."
Little bony Benjamin's eyes opened wide, and he started wailing and cursing again, but I wasn't paying much attention to him anymore, because I was already reaching out towards the hole in the side of the quite-bright not-room.
"Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back!"
And with that said, I immediately left to tie up a few dangling loose ends before some timey-wimey block bollocks could bite me in the ass. In other words, this day wasn't over just yet.