Leandros, 55,000 light-years from Earth
Harmonia could’ve chosen another planet as her base of operations. Thebes, the capital world of the now defunct Ares sector, or Delos, the capital of what used to be the realm of Apollo.
Yet, despite conquering both territories, the goddess of harmony has decided to relocate to the small colony of Leandros.
The planet has never been particularly important to Ares; just one of the innumerable strongholds of his enormous fleet, struggling to build new ships faster than his constant wars could destroy them.
Leandros never had a centralized government, just various warlords fighting each other for control and for the opportunity to win bigger and bigger contracts for their military shipyards.
All this changed drastically once Harmonia took over. All armies are standing down, no shipbuilder is working, and in fact the shipyards are being dismantled under her careful watch.
<Isn’t this wonderful?> she asks her attendant, who is refilling her golden goblet with ambrosia.
The mortal is paying no attention to the view that Harmonia finds so appealing: from the top floor of what used to be a shipyard, she’s looking at the soldiers that are dismantling a dreadnaught piece by piece.
<Hnnn.> is all the attendant manages to mumble. He is one of the few mortals who have not been put to work towards the forceful disarmament, and is instead her personal slave. Harmonia meant it as a courtesy to his former rank of general, but to the attendant this is torture: he hasn’t had a moment of freedom for weeks, excluding the two hours of sleep she reluctantly concedes him.
<Your people only knew war. All I had to do was take away your free will and your independence: once you have finished getting rid of your weapons you will finally know real peace. Well, those of you who survive anyway. How’s the mortality rate going?> Harmonia asks, interrupting her speech to drink.
<Hnnn.> is the grunt received in response, followed by the attendant handing over a holographic tablet with extreme effort, as if he wasn’t in control of his own limbs and was struggling against a force moving his muscles for him. Which is exactly what is happening.
<Twenty percent? How are you STILL managing to die more in peace than during wartime!?> Harmonia exclaims, calming down once she reads through the whole document.
<Ah, I see… food reserves have run out and everybody is too busy with the disarmament to grow anything. My mistake! Perhaps I should slow things down a little.> she considers, and after completely ignoring the glimmer of hope in the attendant’s eyes adds:
<No, if anything I’m not moving fast enough. Your people can survive without food for a while, don’t they? It’s a worthy sacrifice for peace, as I’m sure you will…>
She stops, distracted by the streak of light illuminating the sky: a powerful laser beam just stuck the complex. By the time the explosion becomes visible, the laser has already gone back into the stratosphere and bounced back on the planet’s surface, multiple times.
<Someone dares to attack ME!? Show me a scan of the system!> she orders. The attendant doesn’t have time to obey: a pentagram of fire just appeared behind Harmonia’s back.
A stream of thousands of Blood daggers emerges from the portal, repeatedly hitting Harmonia over and over again. If she was human this would’ve reduced her to a bloody pulp, but even a Class-4 goddess like her is enormously more durable… even if her body is now completely covered in cuts.
<So Hell is no longer pretending to be neutral. About time you shed your hypocrisy.> she says, clenching her fist and concentrating her divine energies: her skin regenerates instantly, curing all damages with extreme ease.
<You think the daughter of Ares is afraid to shed some blood? It will take more than such a half-hearted attack to impress me. If you want to challenge me, come out and face me directly!> she threatens the portal. Of course she knows perfectly well the reason why she survived: to unleash a more powerful attack a Demon would have to step out of the pentagram and be in the same room… and at the mercy of her powers of telepathic pacification. The portal’s silence speaks volumes.
<Just as I thought. What did you hope to accomplish with this display of cowardice?>
<It’s called a distraction, you creep!> Kari Zel replies, jumping out of a second pentagram to kick Harmonia in the head. With her body currently powered by the 10K Rise, it hits the goddess with a force ten thousand times stronger than a regular human… enough to make Harmonia lose her balance, but nothing more.
<A useless trick. Nobody attacks me twice.> Harmonia angrily declares, and she’s right: the moment she’s aware Kari is in the room, the Myridian is completely unable to move.
Not that she needs to: the duplicate vanishes, replaced by a second Kari punching Harmonia.
<Works for me!> she exclaims, disappearing before Harmonia can do anything.
<Or me!> a second Kari adds, hitting Harmonia and immediately vanishing.
<ENOUGH!!!> Harmonia shouts, this time catching Kari’s mind in time: the Myridian is stuck in place, completely losing the will to fight or even the ability to eliminate a duplicate.
<You’re one of the servants of the Slayer of Gods. Why did you chose to attack me directly? Surely you know this is a hopeless endeavor.>
<Can’t… let you… win…> Kari struggles to say. She can feel Harmonia’s power annihilating her force of will: even a few moments are agonizing, she can’t even begin to imagine what her subjects have been going through being in this situation for months.
<A suicide mission, then? The light show must have been the work of the other servant, “Quantum”, I believe. And the pentagram is from the Demon. Is Hestia part of your little conspiracy too? Because if she is, she will have to torch the planet from orbit if she wants to antagonize me: my power can also pacify gods.>
<Just… us…>
<Really. Then you will return to your mistress Null and give her a message from me: there is nothing she can do to stop the peace.>
<You can tell me in person.>
The voice is coming from Noriko Null herself, who just teleported in the room; at the same time, the Kari duplicate is teleported out.
<The Slayer of Gods, murderer of my father. I thought you would be taller.>
<I get that a lot.>
<Or smarter. First you waste your pawns, then you place yourself directly under my control?>
<I needed to check a few things first. Dealing with your security systems or your army was the priority; I wasn’t sure the reports were true, but you really have neither. Overconfident much?>
<What would I need to defend myself against? I am peace incarnate. Nobody with hostile intent can even approach me before becoming my servant.>
<That was the second thing I had to check. I assume you didn’t notice Kari was actually transmitting to me sensor data about the kind of energy you’re emitting? I just had to calibrate my Survival Field to filter out some of it. Not enough to actually attack you, sure, but enough to avoid turning into your personal zombie.>
<You sure do like the sound of your own voice.>
<I get that a lot as well.>
<But if you know you cannot attack me, why meet me in person? Nothing you can argue will dissuade me from continuing my crusade of peace.>
<Well two reasons, really. Being close makes it easier to kill you, plus I really had to see the look in your face when you figure out that, for a goddess bent on galactic domination, you sure have a gigantic weak sport.>
<And what would that be?>
<Your power only works against brains. Get her, boys!> Noriko orders, snapping her fingers.
A new pentagram portal opens up, and Harmonia prepares to defend herself against other Blood weapons… only to be assaulted by a swarm of robots shaped like wolves.
Hundreds of F.E.N.R.I.S. drones attack Harmonia in rapid succession, dragging her out of the command center. As they sink their metallic teeth into her flesh, she’s completely at their mercy.
<Good boys. Now to get to…> Noriko tells herself, only to be interrupted by the attendant grabbing her arm. It’s not in an attempt to hurt her, though: the former general is crying.
<Kill… me… please…> he begs.
<I’m sorry, I’m not… this will over soon, I promise.> she replies, pushing him away to get some space… and as she takes a deep breath, black clouds assemble over the skies of Leandros.
She’s done this multiple times: touch the essence of a planet’s population to draw the power to kill a god. This was only a superficial connection when she used the God Eraser, but the more she has mastered the Final Abyss the more she’s been able to sense this kind of thing… and now that she has unlocked the full power of the Nexus, it’s not that much different than absorbing the knowledge from Earth’s collective consciousness.
And what she sees is horrifying. People being forced to work with little sleep, or rest, or social interaction. Compared to the experience of being little more than meat puppets, even the harsh memories of war are paradise. It fills Noriko with rage, and her silver eyes crackle with electricity and a desire for vengeance.
<Enough of this. FINAL… ABYSS!!!> she shouts, releasing a black lightning bolt that moves towards Harmonia taking the shape of a dragon’s head.
The F.E.N.R.I.S. drones get out of its way, giving Harmonia time to see the attack coming.
<HARMONIC RESONANCE!!!>
Her mind emits a massive telepathic wave, intercepting the Final Abyss. The dark electricity reverberates all over the planet, and Noriko can hear the screams of three billion people in agony.
<What… are you…> she tries to say, forcing herself to continue the Final Abyss even when blood starts to come out of her eyes and nose.
<You cannot use this planet against me. If I die, I will take all these mortals with me.> Harmonia answers; even if they are not in the same room, their thoughts are so amplified by this telepathic tug-of-war that they resonate at a great distance.
Noriko is pushing her mind to its breaking point to sustain a Final Abyss for this long. This is taking a toll on Harmonia as well: she will eventually succumb to the attack… after the three billion mortals living on Leandros are dead.
Noriko can feel their pain as their minds are ravaged by something designed to kill a god… and she stops, deciding their sacrifice is not worth it.
<I’m sorry.> she admits to Harmonia’s attendant, looking at his terrified face as her eyes revert to their natural brown to recover from the strain of the Final Abyss.
For a few precious moments, Harmonia’s mental control over the planet is broken. The attendant looks at Noriko, then at the pieces of glass scattered on the floor when the F.E.N.R.I.S. attacked Harmonia, and then back at Noriko.
<I can take you with me. You’ll be safe.> she proposes, her finger ready on the button on her belt that will remotely active the teleporter.
The attendant doesn’t even consider the offer: in the last remaining second of freedom, he takes a sharp shard of glass and jams it into his throat with all the strength he has left.
It’s the last image of Leandros she has before she vanishes in an explosion of light.
The rest of the planet doesn’t have the same chance. When Harmonia dusts herself off and watches the F.E.N.R.I.S. fly away into the atmosphere, she has already regained absolute control: the workers stand there to watch her, like mindless zombies.
<What are you looking at? Go back to work!> she orders, and they have no will left to resist.
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