Among the members of the Vanguard, Quantum considers Vesta his closest friend. He’s been physically closer to Kari, of course, but the fact that the Myridian girl lives hundreds of lives at once has always made him feel left out. Kari is wonderful, but sometimes too complex for him,.
Vesta, on the other hand, is as simple as it gets: she may be a goddess, but she’s the girl next door.
If the girl next door was a million years old and the most powerful being on her planet.
As he dodges the plasma blasts of his friend, Quantum has to wonder if he has what it takes to stop her. He knows that Vesta isn’t herself: not just because it’s out of character for her to try to kill the Vanguard, but because underneath the fire that surrounds her body, her skin has turned golden.
Every attempt to fight her seems futile: she’s resisting every form of energy that he knows. Even his natural advantage against her… his ability to move at the speed of light… seems useless now that her body is controlled by the advanced intelligence of Eden, enhancing her reflexes.
She tears through the metal of the Surtur fleet like it wasn’t even there, and she gets too damn close to him even when he’s made out of light.
<C’mon, Vesta, snap out of it! You can’t let these golden jerks control you!> he shouts through radio waves.
<There is no more Vesta. There is only Eden. Even a lower lifeform like you should understand it.>
<If I suck so much, how come your power doesn’t work on me?> he mocks Eden, retreating inside the nearest ship.
Bridge of the N12-Yama
Quantum reconstructs his body on the captain’s chair, looking at the crew: the ship, one of the replicas of the N01-Ragnarok, is entirely controlled by Nullbots.
<Don’t mind me. Can someone please open a channel?> he asks, as the entire ship shakes once Vesta lands on its hull and starts punching him.
<Perfect, you’ve got her right where I want her. Keep her focused on you.> he hears Null’s voice come from the ship’s internal speakers. It’s barely loud enough to be heard through the thunderous sound produced by Vesta’s fists.
<She seems focused enough. I know that she can’t punch through the hull’s Neutral Matter, but can’t she just rip out one of the escape hatches like Anubis did?>
<Not if she’s too busy.> Noriko answers, just when several ships open fire on the N12-Yama: Vesta is hit repeatedly in the back, but she is undamaged. Just like the ship itself.
<Keep me updated on her temperature!> she orders.
<75,000 degrees. Correction: 190,000 degrees. Correction: 371,000 degrees.> one of the Nullbots lists, when the bridge is illuminated by a much brighter sight: Vesta just turned towards the enemy fleet, releasing a white-hot stream of incandescent plasma.
<912,000 degrees. Increasing.>~
<This isn’t working, Nori! I’m coming back to you!>
<No! Stay ~~ere and ~~~ That ~~~ ORDER, Max! She has ~~~~ hotter!> Noriko yells, then her voice is completely replaced by static.
<Connection lost.> one of the Nullbots informs him.
<1,000,000 degrees. Decreasing. Hostile retreating.> another adds, as Vesta flies away.
Quantum takes a deep breath and presses what he’s relatively sure is a communications channel.
<Hey! Golden jackass! Where do you think you’re going?>
Vest turns towards the ship again. The viewscreen zooms on her face: hidden by the flames, she’s scowling at him.
<You’re running away? Where’s your superiority now? Can’t you destroy a single ship?>
<1,002,000 degrees.>
<C’mon, go back to your planet! You know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna take this ship back to my galaxy and tell everyone I kicked Eden’s butt with it!>
<2,025,000 degrees.> the Nullbot informs him once Vesta shoots a fully powered plasma blast, which hits the hull and slides off the Neutral Matter like water.
<Is that all you’ve got? Really? That’s pathetic!>
<4,000,000 degrees.>
<Man, this Neutral Matter is amazing, isn’t it? We’re gonna build a whole fleet of these babies!>
<7,000,000 degr~~~. Warning. Star drive off~~~~.>
<This is quite cozy. I could stay here all day.> Quantum lies, wiping the sweat off his forehead and transforming into a hologram of himself: the inside of the ship is unbearably hot.
<12,000,000 degrees. Struct~~~egrity comprom~~~~.> the Nullbot continues, even when its chassis starts to melt. Every instrument on the bridge has already suffered the same fate, but from the outside the ship looks still intact.
<I guess this means Olympian technology is superior to Eden. Who knew?> Quantum says, faking a yawn. He doesn’t even know if Vesta can hear him, but then the walls start glowing from the inside.
<20 ~~~lion ~~grees.> are the last words from the Nullbot before all of its parts are just a puddle of melted metal. Which immediately starts to evaporate.
<That’s pretty hot. How exactly was this a good idea!?> he wonders, when the blinding light coming from the outside rapidly vanishes.
The viewscreen has completely evaporated, just like everything else inside the ship. Quantum reluctantly gets out of the ship as radio waves and then recreates his hologram.
The ship is still glowing from the immense heat, barely intact; Vesta is standing on it, completely baffled by her situation as she wipes golden sweat off her skin.
<Max? What just happened?> she wonders.
<You just cooked the ship. Are you… you again?>
<I think so. But why?>
<I dunno, I guess Eden’s weakness is fire or something?> Quantum shrugs.
Vesta gives him a look rarely seen on her: the face of someone itching for a fight.
<Neat. Let’s set their planet on fire.>
N14-Surtur
On the bridge of one of the ships controlled by Emissary, Kari Zel is looking at the zoomed-in image of the smoldering remains of the N12-Yama.
<Okay, how did you know!?> she asks Noriko Null.
<Simple deduction. Eden had control over Vesta and didn’t send her to attack any ship protected by Neutral Matter; they had to have a reason for not using her power to its fullest. I couldn’t think of any other reason than they would run the risk of losing control over her.>
<Yeah, but why would it be a problem in the first place?>
<Technically speaking Eden wasn’t controlling Vesta, they were controlling the necrobots inside her body. When Anubis fought her and Max on Hell, he infected him but not Vesta: we know from Hermes that he has no problem controlling other gods, so it had to be something specific to Vesta to make her a difficult host. A weakness to extremely high temperatures made the most sense.>
<I’ll trust you on that. Now what do we do? Attack Eden with fire?> Kari suggests.
The Emissary hologram intervenes:
<That would be ineffective. Our orbital bombardment did zero damage: the necrobots are weak to fire, but not Eden.>
<How could I be so stupid!?> Noriko exclaims, slapping her own forehead.
<Don’t take it so hard!> Kari consoles her.
<It was under my nose from the beginning! “When winter falls, and the third sun calls, all the gods will curse the queen of the universe. The first men shall return, for all mortal things to burn”!>
Kari and Emissary look at each other, completely lost until Noriko reminds her teammate:
<Tyche’s prophecy!>
<Oh, wow, that was ages ago. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about it!>
<We already knew the first men were the Eden, but “for all mortal things to burn” wasn’t just a warning. It was a plan to take them down… I think.>
<You think!?>
<It was very vague and symbolic… I freaking hate prophecies. I suppose it’s possible that Eden could be destroyed when exposed to intense heat if it’s infected with necrobots, but that would require spreading the necrobots across the entire planet. It’s not like we have a single target.>
Just then, Quantum suddenly appears next to Noriko and joins the conversation.
<Actually, I think we… hey!> he shouts, taking a step back when he finds himself facing Noriko’s Genius Gun a few inches away from his face.
<I told you to stop sneaking up on me, Max!> she complains, lowering the gun.
<Sorry! I was listening in with the Neural Transmitter. I think I know how you can infect every Eden at once: there’s a golden sphere inside some kind of sanctuary at the center of their planet, and I think that’s what’s controlling all of them at once.>
<Really? What makes you think that?>
<Come on, it’s a glowing thingy surrounded by bad guys! Of course we need to blow it up to win!>
<Max. Please, please tell me you’re not asking me to trust your plan based on video game logic!!!>
<Do you have a better idea!?>
<As much as I hate to admit it, not really. I’ll need to get to center first… did you see if Anubis brought the Key of Heaven with him?>
<No, sorry. But if Eden has it, why aren’t they using it?>
<Unless they are using it… just not here.> Noriko reasons, stroking her chin.
Hell, 163,000 light-years from Earth
Torn is calmly walking through the aisle of one of his planet’s most sacred buildings, which to an Earth citizen would resemble a cathedral with pentagram-shaped windows.
There are small streams of hot lava separating the pews, and the walls are full of paintings representing gold-skinned humanoid being brutally maimed by sword-wielding Demons.
<We see you have not forgotten your temporary triumph against Eden.> Torn comments, not even looking when the energy swords he created slices the dozen Demons who are trying to ambush him. Their corpses join the crowd of victims scattered everywhere.
In a reversal from the paintings, they are watched over by the Eden who followed Torn; not that there’s much difference, since Torn’s body and mind belong to Eden now.
The dead don’t stay that way for long: it doesn’t take much from the necrobots to reanimate them, and they join Eden as soon as they rise.
It will take approximately three days for their bodies to become exact replicas of the standard male and female Eden, but their will to fight evaporates instantly.
Torn reaches the raised platform that watches over the congregation and places his hands on the pulpit. The hand that is holding the Silver Key of Heaven.
<One billion years ago, the universe was denied our perfection when the Demons attacked us. Today, in a moment of poetic justice, we allow you to be the instrument of our…>
Torn’s speech is interrupted by the appearance of two unusual Blood weapons: a chain sickle that cuts the pulpit in half, and a whip that swiftly grabs the Key and returns it to the weapon’s owner.
Two Demon females step out of a portal. The younger one, seemingly a teenager, is now holding the Key, while the older one is glowing with a hateful red aura.
<The legends are true: you talk too much.> Laceration comments.
<Let. My husband. Go.> Agony adds.
<We see that your kind has not changed. You still refuse to accept the inevitable.>
<It won’t be inevitable now that we have this.> Laceration taunts him, as her whip animates itself to place the Key in her hand.
<It can wait. We can use the Key to take our sacred planet to this galaxy after we are done with the realm of the Olympians.>
<We won’t allow you to invade the Olympian Galaxy.> Agony replies.
<Such primitive minds. Do you really think we would limit ourselves to a single planet?>
Times Square, New York City, Earth
In the middle of one of the busiest and most iconic intersections in the world, the crowd scatters to get away from a strange phenomenon: a halo of light has just appeared, slowly descending towards the ground. As it does so, it materializes two humanoids… a man and a woman, with golden skin.
<Rejoice, savages. You are about to witness infinity.> the two Eden say in unison.
Discussion ¬