Beyond The Impossible

Myridia, 50 light-years from Earth

Vesta is floating above the giant hole in the ground where the Grand Cathedral used to be; from her vantage point, she can see the crowd still evacuating the area. It’s a lot less people than she expected, since most Myridian duplicates simply disappeared on their own.

<I don’t sense anything unusual around here. Did any of you have more luck?> she asks through the Neural Transmitter. One of Kari Zel’s duplicates replies from the edge of the crater:

<I’m running some scans here, but according to the Ragnarok’s computers there wasn’t anything unusual. Max, what about you? See anything weird?> she asks.

Max Black a.k.a. Quantum returns to his human form right next to her to answer.

<Aside from the giant freakin’ hole in the ground? I don’t think the building was teleported… it didn’t leave behind any of the weird particles, so it wasn’t done with technology.> he says, just when something gets his attention: a fire pentagram.

<Where is Null?> Torn asks once he gets out of the fire’s portal. Usually it’s nearly impossible to guess his emotions, but this time he’s clearly angry.

<Nice to see you too.> Quantum jokes; he hasn’t seen the Demon in weeks.

<We don’t know, she was inside the Grand Cathedral and then it just… disappeared. Can’t you sense her through the Blood?> Kari asks.

<No. She’s either disconnected herself from the Blood…>

<She can do that?> Quantum wonders, scratching his head.

<…or she’s too far away for me to sense it.>

<Doesn’t your bond through the Blood extend to other galaxies?> Vesta asks, descending from the sky to join her teammates.

<It does.> Torn answers, as laconic as his usual, before looking around impatiently.

<What is it? Are you sensing something?> Kari asks.

<Tell me you have something for me to fight.> he says.

Just then, something catches the Vanguard’s attention: a door that just opened in the middle of the crater. After a woman comes out of it, the door disappears as quickly as it appeared.

She’s covered with a grey cloak and she’s walking slowly towards them.

<Heads up. Bad guy approaching.> Quantum warns them.

<Not necessarily. She’s not done anything yet.> Vesta points out.

<She’s wearing a cloak. Classic bad guy attire.> he replies.

The woman takes off the hood, revealing that it’s a human with a completely shaven head, with several scars on her skin.

<You must be the Vanguard. A Demon, a Myridian, a shapeshifter and a minor goddess. I don’t get how you got to be so famous.>

<What have you done with the Grand Cathedral? Who are you?> Kari asks her.

<I am Skorpios, the current host of the Manifold.>

<Never heard of you. And you haven’t answered my first question!>

<About the building? I took it. I can give it back if you want.> Skorpios answers, raising a hand towards them. Without any other notice, something appears in front of her… the Grand Cathedral itself, launched towards them like a colossal baseball.

Each member of the Vanguard reacts in a different way: several Kari duplicates disappear, Vesta grabs a couple of duplicates and flies them off to safety, Quantum turns into radio waves, and Torn stands his ground.

<GROUND SCRAPER!!!> he yells, creating a very large blade that emerges from the ground and rises quickly. When the Grand Cathedral hits it, the building is split into two halves that crash behind the Demon.

<See? Toldja. Bad guy.> Quantum says, returning to human form and pointing his finger to Skorpios to release a lightning bolt.

The electricity reaches the woman, but instead of actually touching her body it’s absorbed by some kind of portal. At the same time, another portal appears right behind Torn; his alien physiology allows him to survive, but it’s not any less painful than for a human.

<Sorry! I didn’t mean to… are you alright?> Quantum asks him.

Torn reacts by creating a dagger next to his teammate’s face, just in time to deflect a laser blast.

<Enemies first. Apologies later.> the Demon says.

<Thanks, but what… hey, where did you get that !?> Quantum asks Skorpios once he turns back towards her: she has already discarded the laser gun she used against him and is now firing a much larger weapon, something that resembles a bazooka.

It shoots a powerful stream of pure energy, enough to vaporize a human. Instead it hits the chest of a goddess, once Vesta lands in front of her friends to protect them.

<I suggest you to surrender: mortals who fight us tend to get hurt. A lot.>

<I’m not just any mortal, red.> Skorpios says, her eyes turning solid black.

Quantum is the only one to sense an intense magnetic field around her head.

<She’s using Drylon technology.> he recognizes.

 

Somewhere else

Noriko Null has no idea where she is right now. Having just used her golden eyes, it’ll take some time before her mind returns to its full potential. Watching her situation with the eyes of a normal human being, she sees that she’s screwed.

Ulysses’ Lampyrian assistant, Leral, has escorted her and Ganos Lal into a prison. They have been separated from the other hostages taken from the Grand Cathedral, with no explanation about what’s going on.

Her attempts to escape have been useless: Leral has a Drylon device that can accelerate time, which she can use to effectively gain superspeed. The hostages have been disarmed, and to add insult to injury they’ve been stripped to their underwear.

<Why would you do this to your goddess? You’re a Lampyrian, Lady Null has increased the lifespan of your kind!> Ganos Lal pleads.

<She’s no goddess of mine.> Leral replies, pushing her inside the prison cell and closing the door.

Noriko looks around: even if she still had her increased intelligence, there’s nothing in the cell that she can use. Just walls, ceiling and floor of brick and mortar. Not even a bed and not even a toilet, just a drain in the corner.

<So what’s the plan, just leave us here to rot?> she asks.

<I could reduce you to ashes in a second. The boss wants you alive.> Leral answers.

<Why? And why are you following him? What’s Ulysses to you?>

<You don’t get to ask question. Maybe you’ll be a little more compliant after a couple of days without food and water.> Leral says, nodding slightly and then completely freezing in place.

Ganos Lal waves her hand in front of her, on the other side of the cell’s bars. She gets no reaction: Leral isn’t breathing or blinking.

<What is she doing?> the Supreme Pontiff wonders.

<Accelerating our time. Two days here can be two seconds outside.> Noriko explains, looking around to search for something to use. There’s not even a source of light: illumination comes from neon lights located in the corridor on the other side of the bars.

<I don’t know where we are, but Ulysses must’ve chosen this place to… do you mind!?> Noriko says crossing her arms over her chest, once she notices the woman is staring at her a little too much.

<I’m sorry! It’s just… I’ve never seen a goddess in such an attire, not so close at least.>

<Well back off, okay? Your weird religious obsession with me is already creepy enough, I don’t want to deal with you trying to get into my pants.>

<You are not wearing any pants.>

<Not my point! Just… sit on a corner and mind your own business, okay? I need to think.> she says, doing just that: sitting in the lotus position in a corner and closing her eyes to meditate.

Ganos Lal copies her actions, even if she’s a little more awkward since she’s not accustomed to sit this way. She also closes her eyes and breathes slowly. But unlike Noriko, she talks.

<Demeter. Hephaestus. Selene. Tiamat. Phobos. Deimos. Artemis. Serket. Sobek. Nephthys.>

<What are you doing?> Noriko asks, opening just one eye.

<Demeter. Hephaestus. Selene. Tiamat. Phobos. Deimos. Artemis. Serket. Sobek. Nephthys.>

<No, seriously, what are you doing!?>

<Praying.>

<That’s… that’s a list of all the gods I’ve killed. In the order I’ve killed them, too.>

<Indeed. It’s the Slayer’s Prayer. I hope you don’t mind… it gives me solace to think at all the obstacles you overcame to save us. I have faith that you will triumph today as well.>

<If that’s what it takes to get you to stop from staring at me, carry on.>

<Thank you. Demeter. Hephaestus. Selene. Tiamat.>

<Just as long as you’re not thinking of me half-naked while you pray.>

<…>

<Lal?>

<Well I wasn’t. Phobos. Deimos. Artemis…>

Noriko shrugs and goes back to meditating. Ulysses is running some kind of interference that prevents her from using the Neural Transmitter, but the most worrying fact is that she can’t access the Blood to contact Torn or Hell.

She already knew Ulysses had some knowledge of the Blood… when they met at Kari’s wedding, he was able to fix the damages her soul had accumulated. It’s not a fond memory: she can’t believe just how close she was to sleeping with him.

Pushing the idea aside, she goes back to the first time they met, right before the formation of the Alliance. He was already able to force her Abyss personality to switch back to Null just by staring at her… in retrospect, it’s possible he had some kind of mental power from the start.

“He already knew how to deal with a Nexus user” she thinks “Makes sense since he served in the Trojan War with Diomedes, who was also a Nexus user. In retrospect, deleting the Diomedes simulation from the Mindscape might’ve been the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”

That’s when she gets an idea.

 

The Mindscape

In the blink of an eye, Noriko isn’t in her cell anymore. She’s sitting on a mountaintop covered by sheet of ice and under heavy snow. And she’s still in her underwear.

<Oh for f#ck’s sake, why does this keep happening!?> she asks herself, shivering and stroking her hands over her arms in a vain attempt to warm herself a little.

<Because you refuse to accept that reality is what you make of it.> is the answer, coming from a bald child who is hovering above the mountain with his legs crossed. He’s only wearing a loincloth, but he doesn’t give any indication of feeling cold.

<The Monk. Believe it or not, I was not looking for your philosophical bulls#it, I was trying to get in touch with another simulation of a previous Nexus host.>

<What I believe is inconsequential. But you are here seeking knowledge about Ulysses, correct?>

<I was looking for the Scribe. I’ll take the Egyptian desert over freezing my butt any day.>

<Your buttocks are an illusion. But you should know that, if you seek enlightenment about the former king of Ithaca, the Scribe will not help you.>

<Maybe not. Diomedes told me not to trust any Nexus host. But even if he’s tried to kill me before, I’ll take the Scribe over your inane zen crap any day. Now, if you would just help me reach him…>

<The Scribe can give you information about the origins of Ulysses, yes. But finding out how he became a master of Soul Control would be far more useful for you, Null.>

<What does that even… wait. You know something about his mental powers?>

<I know everything about them.> the Monk answers, descending to the ground and instantly increasing his age to that of an adult man.

<I was the one who taught him everything he knows about them.>