Beyond The Impossible

The Gorgon’s Veil, 390 light years from the galactic center

In the fight between the Egyptian and Greek forces, it’s the former that took the first blow: despite a significantly higher number of ships, they were not prepared for the swarm of FENRIS drones created by Noriko Null. The Egyptian god Sobek didn’t take this lightly, and after transforming into a colossal crocodile-headed man he’s now devouring entire ships.

The vessels from the Adrestia and the Winter Fleet are like insects compared to him. Only the Jewel-Of-The-Universe, Hera’s moon-sized capital ship, seems willing to fight: the others are escaping from this monster.

<Finally something worthy of my attention!> Sobek says, opening his mouth to take a bite out of the ship before it can fire its main cannon. He pauses when something hits his snout with the power of a nuclear warhead; it’s not anywhere near enough to hurt him, but it does distract him.

<Hey! Stop eating ships, there’s people inside them!> Quantum protests through radio waves.

<I was hoping Olympus would send gods to fight me, instead of robots and mortals!>

<Dude, if you want to fight gods, maybe you should pay attention to that!> Quantum says, pointing at the Jewel-Of-The-Universe as it fires its cannon.

The entire nebula feels the shockwave: the ship releases enough raw firepower to annihilate an entire planet right into Sobek’s mouth.

 

Bridge of the Ragnarok

The crew cover their eyes: the light generated by the Jewel-Of-The-Universe is just too bright for everyone except Vesta, who just stares at it.

<It’s not enough. Nothing is going to be enough.> she notes.

<I’m not so sure, that was enough to overload our entire sensor array!> Kari replies.

<You don’t understand. Sobek is a Class-2 god: he has complete control over his physical body.>

<Like Quantum?> Noriko asks, her voice still distorted by the use of her golden eyes.

<In a way, but on a much larger scale. It would take at least another Class-2 to defeat him.>

<Didn’t you tell me that Hera is a Class-2 as well?>

<She is. But she won’t sully her hands until all other options are exhausted: she won’t lift a finger before Sobek has slaughterer her entire… where are you going?> she asks when Noriko stands up from the captain’s chair and walks out of the bridge.

<Torn, you’re with me. Kari, get us close enough.> Noriko orders.

<Close enough for what?>

<Close enough for me to kill Sobek.> she says before leaving the bridge entirely.

Kari looks at Vesta and asks:

<Am I supposed to guess how much that is!?>

<Just get us as close as you can without getting killed.> Vesta suggests.

<Couldn’t she just say that without being so dramatic?> Kari complains, starting the ship’s engine.

 

Bridge of the Jewel-Of-The-Universe

Hera laughs, watching the body of Sobek being torn to pieces by her ship’s cannon; her attendant has to be careful not to spill the ambrosia she’s pouring into her golden cup.

<Look at how pathetic these Egyptians are! Even my good-for-nothing son Hephaestus was capable of creating a weapon capable of killing them!>

<Your Majesty, it appears that Sobek’s body is reforming.> one of the officers informs her.

<So? Just fire at him again!>

<The… the main cannon needs time to recharge before we can fire another shot.>

<How long?> Hera asks, drinking her ambrosia.

<Fifteen minutes.>

<I’ll wait. Bring me another one.> she tells the attendant, handing over the empty cup.

<But… Your Majesty… we are not going to survive another fifteen…>

<Silence. I am enjoying my drink.> Hera shuts him up, wasting no time before drinking from the refilled cup.

<We are detecting an incoming ship. It identifies itself as the N01-Ragnarok.>

<Null’s ship. Blow it out of my husband’s sky.>

<Your Majesty… the main cannon seems to have overcharged our blasters. We won’t be able to fire for a couple of minutes.>

<Of course, yet another failure from Hephaestus. At least it will provide some entertainment… give me a good view of her death.>

<Yes, Your Majesty. I will recalibrate the viewscreen accordingly.> the officer says; his heart is pounding, wondering if Hera is testing his faith or if she really doesn’t know that he lied to her.

He just grabs the silver pendant in the shape of Null’s symbol that he wears beneath his uniform.

“Please, Null, if you can hear my prayer, save us!” he thinks.

 

On the hull of the Ragnarok

A hatch opens, releasing two people tethered to the spaceship by cables connecting to their belts.

Noriko Null is protected from the exposure to outer space by the Survival Field emitted by her green leather jacket, and Torn’s body is glowing red thanks to his Instinct Killer state.

<That is a really big animal.> the Demon states, looking at the head of Sobek: the crocodile fills his entire field of view.

<Well, you know what they say: the bigger they are…> Noriko says, leaving the sentence unfinished. Torn looks at her with a confused expression.

<The harder they fall. You’ve seriously never heard it?>

<I have not. What is that supposed to mean? Gods can fly, no matter how big they are.>

<It’s not about… nevermind. My brain is in overdrive when I’m using my golden eyes, and I still can’t understand the way you think.>

<I don’t understand you either: why the golden eyes, and why do you need me here?>

<I don’t need golden eyes to use the Final Abyss, yes, but once I switch them off I’ll be depowered for a while. And I might need your help in case anything…>

<What are you doing here? This is MY fight!> Sobek shouts, looking at the Ragnarok.

Noriko turns towards the ship, and she sees a woman whose body is a scorpion’s tail from the waist down. It’s Serket, and she just snapped both cables.

<I have history with this Demon. He’s mine!> she declares pulling Torn’s cable towards her while pushing Noriko away from the Ragnarok.

She didn’t expect this, and she certainly wasn’t prepared to spin around uncontrollably in space. The Survival Field allows her to breathe, but it’s never a good idea to be in the middle of a space battle without a spaceship. She considers accessing the ship’s teleporter, but Sobek chooses that moment to attack the Ragnarok. Kari makes the right move in activating the shields, but that also means that Noriko can’t be teleported to safety.

Thanks to her golden eyes, she can feel Kari’s guilt in this. She can feel Torn’s rage as he begins his barrage of attacks against Serket. She can even feel the glee of Hera as she watches her panicking.

But she also feels something else inside herself. Something primal, something she’s felt the other times that she used her golden eyes. Righteous fury fueled by unbridled willpower.

Just by thinking about it, she adjust the magnetic properties of the Survival Field to stabilize her position, and she lets loose the power of the Nexus.

<Final…>

It feels like nothing else in the universe. It’s the drumbeat of billions of hearts pounding through her skull, it’s a vengeful scream that could last eons, it’s black lightning flowing through her veins.

And she lets it go.

<…ABYSS!!!>

Pure information explodes from her body, carried away by a high voltage flow of electrons. To a mortal, it looks like she just unleashed the mother of all lightning strikes.

To a god, it looks like death.

Sobek moves away from it; only his crocodile face makes his terror less obvious. The tiny creature in front of him, less than an inconvenient speck of dust, just hit him with something he can’t comprehend. Sobek’s form tries to recede from the black lightning, but it’s useless: the electricity seems to be alive, twisting its stream of electrons around Sobek. It almost seems to take a physical form of its own, a serpentine dragon constricting Sobek until he dissolves into empty space.

 

Bridge of the Jewel-Of-The-Universe

Hera’s jaw drops as she witnesses the Final Abyss utterly disintegrate Sobek. She had no doubt that she could beat the Egyptian god… but she had no idea that Null could kill a god so easily.

<That must’ve been a trick. There’s no way she can be so powerful.>  she tells herself; for the first time in many centuries, she’s keeping her voice down, almost a whisper.

But it’s too late to silence the effect of this spectacle. Her crew saw it, and they’re just speechless.

Her entire fleet, all the fleets present, Greek and Egyptian, saw it.

<Your Majesty… what should we do now?> her second-in-command asks.

<Wait. And fetch me another drink.>

 

Bridge of the Bloodshed

Silence on a Hera ship is quite common, but on a ship full of Ares soldiers it’s unprecedented.

Adrestia appreciates the moment of calm. She’s standing in front of the viewscreen, hands behind her back, below her long blond hair. Her red eyes show no reaction to the death of Sobek.

<Red alert. Be ready for the real battle to start at any moment.> she instructs the crew.

To her surprise, the electric beast generated by the Final Abyss isn’t vanishing yet… although as always, her face betrays no emotion, remaining as unreadable as always.

<She’s learning. The young dragon may be worthy of my father’s attention after all.>

 

Drifting in space

Torn emerges from a pentagram-shaped portal, approaching Noriko: she’s still emitting black electricity from her body and her golden eyes, but she also looks like she’s having a seizure.

<You can stop now! Sobek is dead!> Torn shouts at her; even he hesitates to get too close.

<Can’t… turn it… off…> Noriko struggles to respond; Torn feels that her soul is just as troubled as her body.

<Calm down. Find your center. Focus your…>

Torn stops to concentrate: he just created a bunch of energy swords to cover his back, preventing Serket’s tail from impaling him. Or at least delaying it, because the goddess is strong enough to break his Blood constructs.

<What have you done to Sobek? I can’t sense him anymore!>

<What have I done?> Noriko asks, her golden eyes shining with light and crackling with electricity.

<I removed him from existence. Stand aside or you will suffer the same fate.> she continues, extending her arm towards her and showing her the palm of her hand.

<You think that I don’t know mortals? I see what your current state is doing to your body, you don’t have a single drop of energy to spare!>

<I agree. Shut me down, Torn.> she orders; as soon as she finishes the sentence, a red energy dagger appears behind her head and plunges into her skull.

All of the energy released by the Nexus… the enormous lightning dragon that devoured Sobek… flows back to Noriko. And before it can reach her, it passes through Serket.

In space, nobody can hear the scorpion goddess scream. But Null can: she can feel Sobek’s pain reverberate inside Serket’s dark soul, destroying the scorpion goddess from within.

Torn barely has enough time to grab Noriko and jump into a pentagram portal before Serket’s body explodes with all the power of Earth’s nucleal arsenal.