Beyond The Impossible

Beneath Hell’s surface

Quantum doesn’t like this planet. Not just the fact that it’s Hell and that every time he comes here someone’s trying to kill him: there’s definitely something off about it.

He’s feeling it even when his body is a mass of neutrinos descending through the magma: there’s something at the center of the planet that just doesn’t agree with his powers.

<Is everything okay? You’re unusually quiet.> Vesta tells him. She can’t see him in this form… her divine sense aren’t that superhuman… but she can still hear him when he talks through radio waves.

<It’s the Blood energy that’s infused into this planet, down to the core. It gives me the creeps.>

<Try to focus. We can’t let Anubis have the Key of Heaven, he’s dangerous enough as it is.>

<What do you know about him?> he wonders.

<He killed a lot of innocent people today. I don’t need to know anything else.> she answers concisely; he’s not used to hear rage in her voice, but it’s there.

<Looks like we found it.> he says to change the subject once they arrive at the large hollow floating in the planet’s molten mantle: someone just sliced into its outer shell to create an opening.

Vesta flies inside: some lava has managed to flow inside, but the rest is held at bay by barriers of pure Blood energy. She simply grabs the edges of the makeshift door pulls them together, heating the metal so much that it becomes easily malleable despite being made to resist magma.

Quantum changes back to a holographic version of himself: the place is still too hot and toxic for his human flesh, but he doesn’t like to stay in his neutrino form for too long.

<They really did a number on this place. Recognize anything?> he asks, shooting photons from the palm of his hand as if it were a flashlight: now that Vesta has sealed the entrance, the only other source of light is the faint glow of the lava. Quantum points his light at the broken statues, then at the pile of charred Demon corpses, then at the humanoid covered in black fur sitting on them, and follows the metallic cables on the neck until he looks at the jackal’s head with glowing red eyes.

<Begone, scavenger. I found it first.>

Quantum lets out a not-particularly-manly scream as he throws a couple of lightning bolts at the jackal god’s face, then gets out of the way as Vesta flies towards him.

<Anubis!!!> she shouts, punching him with a fist covered in flames. She punches him a few other times, with every blow violently shaking the entire sphere.

<Do I know you?> he asks with a monotone voice. He doesn’t even acknowledge her attack.

<Do you… yes of course you know me! I’m the Firstborn of Kronos!>

<Ah. Yes. Goddess of… plants, I believe? You’re the mother of the Queen of the Underworld.>

<That’s my sister Demeter! You seriously don’t know who I am?>

<Should I?>

<Nevermind. Why did you attack Hell?>

<I fail to see how that concerns you. Does this planet belong to you?>

<It belongs to the people you’re killing! You’re going to pay for what you did to them!>

<Really.> Anubis replies, then slowly stand up. Both Vesta and Quantum have to look up, considering how tall he is. And in the darkness, his cybernetic parts begin to glow.

<Tell me, young child. Are you a goddess?>

<Don’t answer that!> Quantum warns her.

<Yes.> she answers proudly.

<And here we go again.> he facepalms.

<I am Lord Anubis, The Guardian of Death, The God Who Swallows A Billion Souls, Last of the Nine Gods Who Rule The Universe. Tell me, Firstborn of Kronos, what are you the goddess of?>

<The household… fire.> Vesta timidly answers, intimidated by the amount of power she senses.

Considering he has the head of a jackal, it’s impossible for Anubis to smile. Quantum could swear he just saw him do that anyway.

<Adorable.> Anubis comments, charging a blow with his claws.

 

On Hell’s surface

Torn and several Kari duplicates are busy fighting the army of cyborg Demons that have converged on their position. She’s split her 10K Rise power across ten duplicates, and Torn is in his Instinct Killer state, but they’re barely managing to hold them off.

<Don’t you just hate it when we have to stay behind because we’re not invulnerable?> Kari asks, dodging a cyborg’s energy sword and giving Torn the opening to decapitate the adversary.

<No.> he simply replies.

Then the ground shakes so much that even the cyborgs are taken by surprise. It’s just the beginning: there are fissures opening in ground, as something is being thrown through the planet’s interior with so much force that Hell’s volcanoes are doubling their already fierce activity.

<Yeah, me neither.> Kari adds, looking into the distance as a body emerges from underground.

Quantum does the same up close: before the lava surrounding Vesta’s body has time to drip, he flies back towards Anubis and transforms into electricity. He sneaks inside his cybernetic parts and releases enough energy to power New York City for a day, just as Vesta flies back towards Anubis to hit him with a fireball of several thousand degrees.

Anubis counteracts by redirecting Quantum’s energy into his own fist, using it to blind Vesta, and then punching her with enough force to throw her into the next continent, when she stops only once she hits a volcano.

Quantum returns to human form and lays on his back near the top of the volcano, waiting for Vesta to get out of it.

<Uhm, Vesta?>

<Yes?> she responds, trying to dry her hair as if she just fell into a pool of water instead of lava.

<Holy f##k he’s strong.>

<Yeah. I don’t think we can take him.>

<Well, I have an idea, but it’s only going to work if you can use your Eternal Flame without…>

<My what?>

<Eternal Flame. That thing you do when you get so hot that you can melt Neutral Matter? The one you used against Amaterasu and Apollo?>

<It’s not called “Eternal Flame”, Max.>

<Well, what did you call it?>

<Nothing! I didn’t give it a name!>

<But it’s your best attack! It’s not cool unless it has a name!>

<If you say so. What do you need me to do?> she asks, rolling her eyes.

<Can you hit Anubis with it? Without blowing up the planet?>

<I don’t know, I’ve only used it in space before, but I can try. What do you have in mind?>

<You’ll see. Hit him with everything you’ve got when you see an opening.> he tells her, moving back towards Anubis at the speed of light.

The Egyptian god has just emerged from the ground, and the hot lava is still flowing over his black fur. Quantum reaches in the form of a laser, then switches to electricity to be absorbed again into his circuits. He has only a few moments before Anubis can react, and he changes his particles again.

Into antimatter.

Several megatons of explosive power devastate Anubis from the inside; when Quantum decides to leave, he does so by opening a large hole in the god’s chest, exposing his ribcage.

Anubis did not expect such a lower form of life to pose a threat and was not prepared for a fight of this caliber. Just as he wasn’t prepared to see Vesta fly towards him, engulfed in fire.

<This is what I’m the goddess of. ETERNAL FLAME!> she shouts, concentrating millions of degrees between the palms of her hands and shooting the heat directly into the heart of Anubis.

It takes all of her willpower to contain the blast: if she loses control, she could reduce the entire planet to ashes. Fortunately for what’s left of Hell, she’s up to the task: the column of white hot fire proceeds in a straight line, instantly vaporizing everything it touches but without igniting the atmosphere.

When she’s done, she can breath a sigh of relief: Anubis has been reduced to a skeleton, his skin and muscles having been atomized by her Eternal Flame.

Quantum reconstructs his body from the immense quantity of gamma rays unleashed by the matter-antimatter collision, visibly out of breath but unharmed.

<Whoa. Remind me never to do that with a full stomach. Did it work?> he asks, turning towards Anubis. The skeleton is immobile, still standing and with its canine jaw wide open, with the embers of its burning flesh slowly dripping.

<I should probably throw him into the nearest black hole, just to be sure. Just give me a minute.> Vesta says; she doesn’t show it much, but the attack has left her exhausted.

<Take your time, I don’t think Mr. Ugly here is going anywhere.> Quantum replies, turning his back to the skeleton. A moment later, he feels the greatest pain he’s ever felt in his life as the claws of a dying god pierce through his chest.

<MAX!!!> Vesta shouts, flying towards him. The skeleton of Anubis grabs her by the head and throws her violently on the ground, then stomps on her to prevent her from rising.

<Thank you, Firstborn of Kronos, for providing a better soldier.> Anubis says, throwing away the lifeless body of Quantum.

<What. Did. You. Do.> Vesta says angrily, and Anubis has a hard time keeping her down.

<Rise.> Anubis orders, but not to her. Quantum slowly gets back on his feet: beneath his ripped shirt, the wound that pierced his heart is being closed by metallic tendrils growing into his body.

<Leave him alone!!!> Vesta shouts, managing to break free but not before Anubis can say:

<Eliminate her.>

Vesta doesn’t even see the attack. She’s just under a rapid bombardment of hard radiation and electricity, so sudden and so brutal that she doesn’t know how to respond. In her current weakened state, it’s more than enough to take her down.

Quantum recreates his body in front of Anubis, standing at attention. Without saying a word and with his eyes now glowing red.

<Satisfactory. Now follow me.> Anubis orders, disappearing in a halo of light with Quantum.

Torn and the Kari duplicates are having an easier time fighting the cyborgs, but not by much. It’s not like fighting living Demons… their reaction time is noticeably slower and they tend to rush in without much of a strategy… but it’s still a fight against thousands of Demons.

They expect the fight to continue for a long time, but without much of a warning the entire opposing army disappears at once. And considering their disappearance was accompanied by a halo of light, there’s little doubt about what happened.

<Crap, Anubis must’ve taken the Key. Vesta, Quantum, are you alright?> Kari asks through the Neural Transmitter, without receiving an answer.

<Hello? Guys?> another Kari adds.

<He got away. That son of a b##ch got away.> Vesta responds. Kari can’t remember of a single time she’s ever heard her curse, but that’s not the part that worries her.

<Where’s Max?> she asks.

 

Null Tower, New York City

Noriko Null is analyzing the nanoscopic robots left behind by Vice on her quantum microscope, when she has to get away from the lenses: her eyes are hurting like crazy.

<Dammit not now, I was almost done.> she complains as her eyes turn from golden to brown. She wipes the tears away, discovering that it’s blood.

<That’s probably not good.> she tells herself, having another look at the microscope. Not that it matters: it will take some time for her silver eyes to return, and in the meantime she can’t understand what she’s been working on.

It’s time that she won’t have: a pentagram appears behind her, and two Kari duplicates help a badly injured Vesta to step into the lab.

<You guys look like crap. What happened?> Noriko asks.

<Anubis has Max. And the Key. And we don’t know how many Demons, perhaps millions.> Vesta  explains, with a grim expression on her face.