Beyond The Impossible

Inside Noriko Null’s mind

The white room has no door, no window, no anything. Just a floating computer from the 1980s and a chair, where Noriko Null is sitting motionless. Kari Zel checks her pulse: she’s alive, but completely inert. It may have something to do with the fact that she’s missing half her head: anything above eye level is missing, and there are dozens of cables connecting her to the computer.

<Nori? Can you hear me? Hello?> Kari tries to shake her, but she doesn’t react.

<It’s not really her. This is just a representation of her soul> Torn “explains”, inspecting the cables.

<I thought you said we were in her mind, not her soul> Quantum notes.

<Different terms for the same thing. Null’s soul is very different from the others I’ve touched before, probably due to the Drylon device inside her.>

<This isn’t how I’d imagine her mind to be. It’s kind of… bland> Kari says.

<Oblivion made considerable damage when he forcibly extracted Abyss from her soul. It’s possible that she isolated a small part of herself to act as a defense mechanism.>

<Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about… as usual… but she left us a clue> Max changes the subject, indicating the computer: the words “HELP ME” are blinking on its screen.

<Let’s see> he says, typing “Hello”.

>HELLO

>HELP ME – appears on the screen.

>ARE YOU NULL? – he writes back.

>SAFE MODE IS ON. HELP ME

>HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?

>SAFE MODE IS ON. DO SOMETHING

<Try “Soul Resonance”> Torn suggests.

>SOUL RESONANCE

>INVALID COMMAND

<Do you even know how to use this thing?> Kari asks.

<I have no idea of what I’m doing> Max answers honestly, keeping typing.

>RUN SOUL RESONANCE

>INVALID COMMAND

>RUN NULL

>INVALID COMMAND

>DELETE ABYSS

>INVALID COMMAND

>WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!?1?!?

>HELP ME

>HOW???

>TYPE HELP ME YOU IDIOT

<Oh. You could’ve said that earlier!> Max shouts at the screen, as he types angrily:

>HELP ME

>DIAGNOSTIC, HELP OR RETURN?

>DIAGNOSTIC

>CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE. PERSONALITY CORE DEFRAGMENTATION FAILED. INSTRUCTION AT ?????? REFERENCED MEMORY AT ????????. PERSONALITY CORE COULD NOT BE READ. FATAL SYSTEM ERROR.

<Does this make any sense to you?> Kari insists.

<Noriko’s always talking about her brain like it’s a computer. It looks like it crashed.>

<So what do we do now?>

<The first thing you try when something doesn’t work: you turn it off and on.>

>REBOOT

The lights flicker. Random letters appear on the screen, far too quickly to read them.

<Did it work?> Torn asks.

<I guess we’re about to find out> Quantum answers.

>SYSTEM REBOOT IN FIVE. FOUR. THREE. TWO. ONE.

 

The Pandemonium, Hell

Kari and Quantum find themselves holding Torn’s energy sword, which he’s retracting from Noriko’s unconscious body. It feels like days have passed, but they’re exactly where they left off: in Hell, about to be killed by Abyss. In reality, it’s been three seconds.

<▲╬♦▼╤╤▌║►> the Grey Lady complains in her incomprehensible language. She’s the reason they’re still alive: Abyss is literally as big as a mountain and attacking them with a colossal scythe. The only thing preventing the blade from cutting them to pieces is a black energy shield right above their heads, summoned by the Grey Lady herself. But judging from the exhausted expression on her face, she won’t be able to sustain it for long.

<Torn, we have to use the Stairway to escape. Abyss has all the power of Hell, we won’t survive for long against her once the shield fails> his wife Agony explains.

<We can’t. She knows how to find the Dragon Tomb: if we leave, she’ll use the Blood to cut a portal to its location. We can’t let that happen.>

<Be realistic, Torn. Abyss is Hell: she can’t be defeated in this state.>

<No. Even Hell can’t stop us. We are the Vanguard.>

<Actually, you’re both wrong. From where I’m standing…> Abyss replies, pushing the scythe against the shield hard enough to shatter it to pieces… and lifting the weapon to take another swing at them.

<…you’re already dead.>

>REBOOT COMPLETED. NEXUS ONLINE.

The scythe evaporates once it hits the golden light emanating from Noriko’s body. Kari and Quantum have to move away quickly: even in Hell, they can feel the light’s heat radiating.

Noriko’s body is surrounded by gold electricity, which somehow lifts her to a standing position. The static is making her hair stand up; her eyes are golden and vacant.

<What kind of bulls#it is this? You think this is gonna fool me!?> Abyss shouts, releasing a furious stork of swords towards their location. They’re numerous enough to obscure the sky.

>HOSTILE DETECTED. PROTECTING HOST.

The words coming from Noriko’s mouth are completely robotic, like something coming from a speech synthesizer. She lifts one hand: all the swords stop in their tracks, then simply vanish.

<How did… who the f##k are you!?>

>DELETE HOSTILE.

She closes her hand in a fist, and golden cracks appear on the body of Abyss. Once she opens the hand again, Abyss explodes in a kaleidoscope of colored glass shards thrown all over Hell.

<Pretty> Lesion comments, protecting herself with a red energy umbrella. The rest of her family does the same, with Torn also protecting Kari while Quantum and the Grey Lady make themselves intangible. None of the shards comes anywhere close Noriko.

<Is everyone alright?> Quantum asks.

<I think so, but what about Nori?> Kari answers, pointing at her friend.

Noriko turns around to look at them. The Nexus, the Drylon device inside her head, is shining so much to be visible through her skull as a glowing symbol for infinity.

>LOWER LIFEFORMS DETECTED. SCANNING. NO SIGN OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE NEARBY UNIVERSE. CONNECTING TO COSMIC BACKGROUND NETWORK.

She looks up. The sky is on fire, as always, but she’s looking way past that.

>SIGNAL LOST. HIGHER FUNCTIONS NOT AVAILABLE DUE TO HOST ERROR. STACK BUFFER OVERFLOW. ATTEMPTING ADDRESS SPACE LAYOUT RANDOMIZATION.

<What is she doing?> Kari asks, afraid to think of the answer.

<I don’t know, but the last time she was like this, she almost exploded. Uhm, hello?> Quantum tries to call her attention, but Noriko just ignores him. He watches her in infrared, and what he sees is not good: she’s burning up. At this rate, she won’t resist for long.

>WARNING. HOST BATTERY LOW. SWITCHING TO STANDBY MODE TO RESERVE POWER. LOADING LAST KNOWN GOOD CONFIGURATION. NEXUS POWERING DOWN AND AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.

Noriko closes her eyes and her body goes limp. Kari creates a duplicate to catch her before she falls; even in Hell, she’s noticeably warm to the touch.

<Nori? Talk to me, are you okay?>

<Kari? I’m scared kill you angry perfect fine, thank you. What happened?>

Noriko looks around. The Pandemonium has been smashed to pieces, the mountain that housed it has been reduced to countless tons of rocks and debris scattered everywhere, and there’s a hooded woman with grey skin staring at her.

<On second thought, I don’t think I wanna know> Noriko admits.

The moment would call for a celebration, but it’s Torn’s turn to ruin the moment announcing:

<It’s not over. She’s still inside the Blood.>

The ground shakes and bleeds energy. Demons are crawling out of the ruins of the Pandemonium: many of them have been crushed by the destruction of the mountain. If they were human, they’d be dead; which might explain why they’re moving like zombies.

<So… that happened> a dark voice resonates in the air.

<Aww, come on, how many times do we have to fight her!?> Quantum complains.

<Many times> Agony answers, conjuring two swords and using one of them to point at the sheer number of Demons rising. There are millions of them, each under the control of Abyss.

<She’s mind-controlling them, like she did in Hawaii. We’re gonna need some backup> Kari says, creating a dozen duplicates. Each of them duplicate rapidly, summoning an army of Karis.

<Ten thousand against millions? Bring it on!>

The Demons charge, each carrying a potentially limitless arsenal of energy weapons; their thunderous march is a terrifying sight. Torn and Agony look at each other.

<Just like our wedding day> Agony says cheerfully, holding her husband’s hand.

<Indeed. Shall we…?>

<Together, my love. CUT OF A BILLION DEATHS!!!>

The Demon couple shouts together, releasing a steady stream of bright red energy that dwarfs anything unleashed by Abyss so far. On closer inspection, the stream is made of countless tiny daggers. The effect is spectacular, plowing through Hell’s army and mowing down thousands of enemies by the minute. Quantum joins the attack, taking the form of an arc of lightning that jumps from Demon to Demon, dodging those fast enough to come very close to cutting him in half.

<I miss having Vesta on our side. We’re waiting for one of your ideas, Nori> Kari says, creating even more duplicates to run into battle. She’s in a clear disadvantage against Demons, who are all much stronger and resilient than her, but at least she’s not unarmed: Torn’s daughters, Lesion and Laceration, are just as good as him at creating new swords for her duplicates.

<I’m working on it. Abyss controls the Demons through the Blood, the energy field they use to create weapons. How is she doing it? You still haven’t figured it out?>

<Keep it together, Nori, we don’t have time for your crazy side!>

<I’m not listening to you, Fury. It’s Soul Resonance. What? Her soul resonates through the Blood to give her power. Abyss doesn’t have a soul, she’s just a part of my mind! Exactly. Then why can’t I stop her? You cannot bring yourself to consider Abyss an aspect of your Shut up Void No she’s right this time! Will you all shut the f##k up!? I’m trying to think here!!!>

<Nori quit arguing with yourself and DO SOMETHING!!!> Kari shouts at her.

<Yes. Right. I think I know what to do> Noriko says, kneeling down and touching the ground.

<This is probably a bad idea. HELL RESONANCE!!!>

There’s an energy wave radiating from her chest, and Hell turns blue.