The Moon
Without an atmosphere, this satellite is used to extreme temperature changes. The dark side is colder than ice, while the part exposed to the Sun is hot enough to boil blood.
But even that is nothing compared to the column of fire that is erupting from the satellite’s desolate surface, outshining the Sun itself.
Even Torn, whose eyes are accustomed to the flaming skies of Hell, has to turn his back towards the blinding light. Noriko Null does the same, checking her N-Watch relaying the status of her tech.
<The Survival Field won’t last long. We have to get outta here.>
<I’m not going anywhere until Ares has paid for his crimes against Hell.> the Demon replies.
<C’mon, you shouldn’t be this close to Vesta’s Hellfire Inferno. That thing should’ve vaporized the Moon by…> Noriko tells him, pausing as her silver eyes shine once she realizes what’s happening.
The intensity of the fire is diminishing rapidly: the power behind it peters out, and an instant after the flames vanish Null’s tech begin to shout a series of warnings.
Torn pushes out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by Vesta’s body, which has been thrown faster than sound towards the nearest mountain range.
Luckily since there is no sound on the Moon she can’t hear Vesta crashing through a mountain, or the horrible noise of divine bones being snapped in half.
<You’ve got to be kidding me!> Null comments when she sees the abomination before her.
What once was a god is now a charred mockery of a human body, a smoldering skeleton covered by charcoal-colored muscles.
<How the f#ck is he still alive!?> she wonders, unsheathing the StarScourge sword.
<I told Vesta she shouldn’t abuse the power of the Blood; she couldn’t hit him a second time with enough force. But she hurt him. SOUL REAPER!> Torn shouts, creating a red energy scythe much larger than what any human would be able to handle.
It’s large enough that its blade can hit Ares even if he’s still a little less than half a mile away… or rather he would hit Ares if what’s left of the God of War didn’t lift his right arm and stop the scythe with his bare hand, no matter how much strength Torn puts into his attack.
<Break.> is all Ares says.
His voice is even less human than before; he’s just sending radio signals, but it still sounds like it’s being produced by someone who just lost half of his vocal chords.
The scythe is broken into a thousand pieces, shards of Blood that fall harmlessly onto the lunar sands which have been fused into glass.
<I just need to hit him once. Create a portal close enough for me to…> Noriko begins to order, but she doesn’t finish: Ares has taken one step forward, and that was enough to unleash a moonquake that makes it nearly impossible to keep her balance.
She loses sight of the god for a couple of seconds; when she turns her eyes towards him again, his hand is inches away from squishing her head like a ripe fruit.
Her heart skips a beat; her brain is fast enough to realize what is happening, but her body can’t react in time to see his hand move through the field of bright light enveloping her.
Bridge of the N01-Ragnarok, lunar orbit
The bridge’s artificial gravity is kept at Earth levels, so Noriko feels in her bones that she’s just been teleported on board before she can actually see anything.
<Are you alright?> a Kari duplicate asks her; she’s surprised to be immediately hugged.
<Uhm… you’re welcome?> the Myridian comments awkwardly.
<That was too close!> Noriko admits; she’s fully aware that she came frighteningly close to an extremely violent death. Things get even more awkward when both girls are then hugged by the same man, or rather the same god.
<I love this new attitude of yours, Sunshine!> Hermes tries to flirt; Noriko manages to squeeze away before his hands can reach where she really doesn’t want them to be.
She looks around: much to her relief Torn has been brought there with her, and a trio of Kari is looking after an unconscious Vesta.
<How is she doing?> Noriko asks.
<I think she broke all of her ribs and her spine. Don’t ask me how, but she’s breathing.>
<That was rather impressive; even in his current state taking a punch from Ares is like being hit by a planet. I guess Athena massively underestimated our favorite aunt when she classified her as a Class-3 goddess.> Hermes thinks out loud, taking a step back when Noriko points the unsheathed StarScourge at his bare chest.
<Whoa! A little quick on the trigger there, Sunshine!>
<Just HOW is Ares still alive, let alone that powerful!? I thought heat was his weakness!!!>
<He can’t absorb heat to make himself stronger, true. But he’s still determined and pig-headed enough to simply power through it despite the pain… and believe me, he must be in excruciating pain right about now!>
<But he’s weaker now.>
<Oh yes, any god worthy of the title would wipe the floor with him right now.>
<I take that you’re volunteering?>
<Ah, I’m going to miss that sense of humor of yours, Sunshine. No, I’ve grown tired of this galaxy; this might be the perfect occasion for a much-needed vacation!>
<Thinking of just leaving, Hermes? I didn’t give you back your powers so that you could go back to causing trouble. If you bail on me right now you’ll seriously regret it.>
<Is that a dare? Sunshine, you know I can’t refuse these little games.> Hermes replies, disappearing from view in the blink of an eye; he reappears just for the time needed to kiss her cheek and then he completely vanishes.
<That’s it? You’re just letting him go!?> Kari protests.
<Not quite. My guess is that the deactivation of the necrobots that disabled his powers was only temporary, isn’t that right?> Dmitry Voron asks; in the confusion Noriko didn’t even see him.
<He’ll be powerless within minutes, yes. Too bad, I was thinking of using him to get close enough to Ares to hit him. I’ll have to settle for the teleporter.>
The Ragnarok shakes as something hits it with incredible speed, something that wouldn’t ripped in half any ship not protected by a hull of Neutral Matter.
<We should probably get out of here!> Kari suggests.
<No, that would only give Ares the time to heal. Don’t worry, Anubis couldn’t get past the hull when he was fully powered up, in his current state Ares shouldn’t be much of a problem.> Noriko reassures her.
<We could fire the Black Hole Generator. He should be susceptible to it.> Dmitry suggests.
<This close to the Moon? To risky, the effects on Earth would be catastrophic.> Noriko dismisses his idea.
<I though you teleported Earth away!> Kari exclaims, pointing at the viewscreen: it’s pointed at where the Earth should be, but there’s nothing to see except the Moon itself.
<Not exactly; it’s just shifted out of our dimension. Nothing from our universe is going to affect it, except gravity… believe me, destroying the Moon would be VERY bad.> she explains.
<Speaking of bad, we’ve got company.> a Kari duplicate warns them from the sensor station: moments later, the viewscreen shows thousands of ships dropping below lightspeed and opening fire on the Ragnarok.
<The Ares fleet!? They should be several hours away, even at top speed!> Dmitry exclaims.
<The Palladium… it’s been shifted out of the universe with the rest of Earth. Faster-than-light travel is working again!> Noriko realizes.
<Then let’s use that and get out of here.> Kari suggests, wasting no time to fire up the Star Drive.
But instead of moving, the Ragnarok is shaken by an extremely powerful explosion. The lights on the bridge begin to flicker, and the artificial gravity disappears.
<What the Hades was that!?> Kari asks.
<Our engine exploding. We’re out of power.> Noriko explains, as the Ragnarok is being bombarded incessantly from all sides.
At the same time, something is tearing through one level after another: an irresistible force just smashed through the several tons of steel that constituted the only weak point of the ship… the exhaust ports of the engine.
Noriko quickly evaluates the situation. They’re losing altitude and are less than a minute away from crashing on the Moon, surrounded by a hostile fleet with a bloodthirsty god approaching fast. Everyone looks at her, holding their breath until she gives an unthinkable order.
<Abandon the ship. Torn, give us a portal to Myridia, we’ll regroup there.>
<We need to act fast! He’s almost here!> Kari warns them, tracking Ares across the ship. Not that she really needs to: the sound of him crashing through the walls is getting rapidly louder and louder.
By the time Torn has opened a pentagram of fire, Ares is already breaking through the wall separating the bridge from the rest of the ship.
Kari tries to slow him down by creating a blockade of duplicates; they give her enough time to move the unconscious Vesta through the portal, but Ares tears through them like nothing.
<Go. I must finish the mission.> Torn tells Noriko, creating a Blood sword for each hand while another dozen levitate around him.
<It’s not your call.> she replies; the Gravity Gauntlet forms itself around her hand, and Torn is pulled through his own portal against his will.
She’s about to do the same to force Dmitry, but then she has to use the gauntlet to slow down the approaching Ares: it’s taking all of its power just from holding him still.
<Noriko! We have to go! NOW!> the Russian scientist yells at her. The God of War is making progress: it’s like trying to stop a walking mountain, and the Gravity Gauntlet begins to sputter tiny bolts of electricity. It’s not going to last for long.
<I have him. I only have to strike him once.> she points out, holding the StarScourge.
Dmitry figures out her plan: the moment she disconnects the Gravity Gauntlet, Ares is going to get close enough for her to use the sword to kill him… if she doesn’t kill herself in the process.
And it could work, if the Ragnarok didn’t chose this moment to crash on the Moon.
Everything happens quickly, but her brain is showing everything in slow motion. The crash throws her off balance at the worst possible time: when Ares is making the last push he needed to completely overpower the Gravity Gauntlet.
She knows the math. The trajectory of Ares, his speed… she knows how much time she needs to move her arm to swing the StarScourge in the right position to kill Ares. And she knows that time is less than what Ares is going to give her. The math is clear. She’s about to die.
Then she feels Dmitry’s hand on her shoulder, as he pushes her towards the portal.
Without the ship’s artificial gravity, pushing her back means that he’s being pushed forward, especially since he just jumped towards Ares.
A human brain wouldn’t have enough time to appreciate the details. But her brain isn’t human, and she’s never hated that fact as much as she does now.
Because it means that, by the time she passes through the pentagram she has all the time needed to see Dmitry Voron having his neck broken by Ares.
Myridia, 50 light-years from Earth
A few seconds ago, the citizens of Null City were surprised to see a pentagram appear out of nowhere in the middle of Noriko Plaza and deposit three members of the Vanguard.
Now they see Noriko Null being thrown out of it and rolling on the floor.
<Nori! Are you okay? Where’s Voron?> Kari asks her, watching the pentagram starting to disappear behind her… until a hand of charred flesh gets through it.
Torn tries to close the portal, but it’s useless: Ares holds it open long enough to pass through, long enough to throw the dead body of Dmitry in front of him.
<This is what happens to mortals who play god, wench.> he says with his horribly broken voice.
Kari and Torn get ready for another fight, powering up to their 10K Rise and Instinct Killer states respectively and looking at Null for guidance.
Their leader slowly stands up, leaning on the StarScourge and keeping her head low. Then they notice that the sky is suddenly obscured by dark clouds.
<Playing god? All this time… I’ve been playing human.> Null replies to the God of War.
She lifts her head as the air is charged with electricity; her silver eyes are shining like beacons, and there are tears flowing down her cheeks.
<Is that a god you want?> she asks.
A black thunderbolt strikes down as she lifts the StarScourge; the dark electricity flows through her body for what feels like an eternity, erasing her tears once her eyes turn golden.
<Then let’s fight like gods.>
Discussion ¬