Dark Galaxy, 10 billion light-years from Earth
The Menagerie of Gods
Vesta is taking a good look at Prometheus, despite not being in the room: the woman made of fire standing in front of him is just an emanation of her own flame.
There’s no mistaking her cousin for any other god, even if his eyes are still missing: the rest of his wounds have healed perfectly, but his eye sockets are still empty.
<We should leave. I’m certain Baal will notice my presence here, sooner or later.> she says.
<In a minute; I have to gather my strength. Don’t worry, we won’t be discovered.> he replies.
<How can you be sure? Can you still see the future?>
<Not without my eyes, but I can still sense things. It is my curse.>
<What are you doing in this galaxy, Prometheus? How did Baal capture you?>
<He didn’t. I was given to him as punishment for my crimes against divinity.>
<Again? I thought Zeus pardoned you for giving fire to mortals, after Herakles freed you.>
<He did, despite the protestations of Hera. In order to get on her good side, I decided to share with her the prophecy I had during my first sentence.>
<What prophecy?>
<That one day a mortal would slay a god without the help of a Drylon weapon, ushering the twilight of divine rule. Hera thought I was making fun of her: she plucked out my eyes with her own hands. She would probably have killed me if it wasn’t for Athena… she reminded your sister that I once stood in battle with your father Kronos. As thanks, she sentenced me to suffer under Baal.>
<I am so sorry, I was never told any of this. If I had been told… when exactly did this happen?>
<About a hundred years before you were exiled.>
<You… you knew what would have happened to me? Why didn’t you tell me!?>
<I saw that one day you would come to my rescue. That wouldn’t have happened if I had prevented your exile… and from what it seems, I was correct.>
<You were right about a mortal slayer of gods, too.>
<Of course I was. My predictions were never wrong, when I had my eyes.>
<Then how did Hera take you by surprise, or…>
<I was never all-seeing, Vesta. None of us gods are. When I had my eyes, I could never direct my vision to a specific moment whenever I peered into the future.>
<Still, those eyes could be handy if we could get them back.>
<That’s a thought for another time. I’ve recovered as much as I can; we should escape Baal’s realm now that we have the chance.>
<Not before we rescue my friends and family. I know where Aphrodite is; we should also free Persephone, Dionysus and Hermes.>
<Quite an eclectic alliance. Those are all family, but you also mentioned friends?>
<Mortals. Do you know where Baal could be holding them?>
<This must be hard for you to accept, but there’s no hope for your friends. No mortal could possibly survive imprisonment by Baal.>
<You clearly haven’t met them yet, Prometheus…>
The Shadow Colosseum, thousands of light-years away
Baal sits on his throne of skulls, watching over the arena.
Kari Zel hits the ground hard enough to create a small cloud of sand. She spits out a tooth and wipes the blood from her mouth.
<Lucky shot.> she says, attempting to get back on her feet; her legs immediately give out, forcing her to rest a little longer.
<Do you even remember how many rounds you’ve already lost?> Baal asks.
Still catching her breath, Kari looks at her opponent. It’s a shadow copy of herself: in fact, Kari’s own shadow literally flows directly into the body of the woman she’s been fighting.
Standing takes all of Kari’s effort, and she gets into a battle stance.
<Round one.> she says, signaling her shadow to attack.
<Wrong: you have lost thirty-seven fights. In a row. Isn’t it time to surrender already? Because I remind you, surrendering is the only way to get eternal rest.>
<Or if I win. Wasn’t that part of the deal?>
<Yes, of course. I am, if nothing else, a god of my word. But you will never win.>
<Watch me.> Kari boasts, rushing in for the attack.
Her shadow dodges a punch and retaliates with a roundhouse kick to Kari’s stomach.
Kari spits more blood, allowing her shadow to grab her by the hair and push her face into the walls of the arena with all her strength.
Falling down again, Kari takes the opportunity to sweep her opponent’s legs; her shadow is too fast for that, avoiding the attack and jumping on Kari’s torso.
She can feel a rib cracking. She tries to wrestle her opponent off her body, but the shadow grabs her arm and twists it hard enough to break it.
<Do you surrender now?> Baal asks.
<Go f##k yourself.> Kari responds.
She can feel her shadow grab her head and break her neck. She feels herself dying.
<That makes thirty-eight. Still think you can win this one?>
Kari takes a deep breath, and with an adrenaline rush she jumps back to her feet.
A quick check tells her that her bones are intact; her tongue can even feel all of her teeth are back, and she’s not even tired.
<Try all you want. No matter how many times you die in battle, I will bring you back. Unless you surrender, in which case you will be allowed to die. The only way you will leave this arena, mortal, if you surrender.>
<Or if I win.>
<You certainly are a glutton for punishment, aren’t you?>
<You’re the one who picked up a fight with the Vanguard, Baal. Round one.> Kari declares, this time waiting for her opponent to make the first move.
Her shadow stands still for several seconds, as if taunting her to attack. Kari knows better.
“She’s faster than me: I haven’t landed a single hit. And I can’t see a pattern in her attacks. I’ll have to turn her strength against her.” Kari thinks, waiting for the other to do anything.
She didn’t expect her opponent to simply vanish. Kari looks around looking for her; however her shadow grows from behind her, kicking her knee.
Kari works through the pain and pivots on her other knee to position herself for an attack, only to be punched in the throat.
Her shadow then punches her stomach; once Kari kneels over in pain, she follows up with an uppercut. She’s on the ground again, something that the shadow takes advantage of by stomping on her neck with enough force to break her trachea.
<Thirty-nine. This is educational for me, I didn’t know mortals could die in so many ways.>
<You cheated.> Kari complains, clearing up her throat after yet another resurrection.
<How so? I gave your shadow the same abilities your body would possess at the peak of its potential.>
<Then give me my powers back. They’re a part of me you can’t take away.>
<Who said anything about your powers? You are already using them to the fullest.> Baal explains, conjuring up in the arena something Kari didn’t expect… a giant TV screen.
It’s showing a montage of several fights between Kari and her shadow; she doesn’t recognize some of those moves, even if they are all fights between the same people.
Each one personally overseen by Baal on the stands.
<All of your duplicates are fighting as well. Ten thousand arenas, all like this one, and you have not won a single fight yet. In fact, not one of your duplicates has landed a hit.>
<Do we all have to win, in order to leave this place?>
<Not at all. If only one of your ten thousand selves wins, or even if one of them surrenders, this will be over.> Baal explains.
To make this clearer, the images on the screen are replaced by a tally:
KARI ZEL: 10,000
SHADOW: 10,000
<Do you understand the odds now? You will never win against a perfect opponent. You might as well surrender now… what do you say?>
<Round one.> Kari answers, preparing to fight again.
<I’m getting tired of hearing you say that.> Baal sighs.
<Let’s change it up then. 10K Rise!!!> Kari shouts, and her body is engulfed by purple energy while the tally immediately changes:
KARI ZEL: 1
SHADOW: 10,000
All across the planet, every single other Kari Zel disappears from her arena. This one, now powered up by the strength and speed of all the other combined, rushes towards the opponent with the full intent of taking her down.
KARI ZEL: 1
SHADOW: 1
To her shock, this is not enough: the shadow dodges her punch, then steps aside and grabs Kari’s arm. Exploiting her momentum, she throws Kari right through the wall and beyond.
With so much superhuman strength behind it, she lands in one of the other arenas… identical to the one she just left.
Kari anchors her to the ground, waiting for her opponent to arrive: since she has to get through the same hole she just created, she should be able to see her coming.
And indeed, she does see her, approaching at superhuman speed, and she’s ready to tackle her.
At the last possible moment, however, the shadow splits into two separate duplicates that attack Kari from each side, puncturing a kidney each. They re-unite in a single body strong enough to punch Kari’s nose straight into her brain.
<Forty. I gave your shadow the ability to do everything you can. What do you say to that?>
<Round one.> Kari replies, after her latest resurrection.
If Baal had eyes in his skull instead of a swarm of flies, they would be rolling right now.
“Only one chance left. This could probably kill me, even with Baal’s spell.” Kari thinks, preparing herself while her shadow waits for her next move.
The 10K Rise is not her only trump card. She has another ace up her sleeve, something she doesn’t like to use: the strain it puts on her body is tremendous, and it’s hard to use all that power.
The 10K Rise, which concentrates all the virtual particles she normally uses to create all of her duplicates, would normally be the full extent of her power.
If the Amazons hadn’t experimented on her when they captured her, saturating her body with virtual particles… enough to multiply the 10K Rise by itself. Ten thousand by ten thousand.
<LIMIT BREAKER!!!>
KARI ZEL: 100,000,000
SHADOW: 1
It’s hard to even think at this speed, which is a big reason why Kari barely ever uses this technique… but she has to pray that’s too fast for her shadow to adapt.
KARI ZEL: 100,000,000
SHADOW: 100,000,000
Her opponent is now just as fast and strong as her; just their movements kick off a small dust storm in the arena. Even Baal is impressed.
<None of my prisoners has ever fought with such vigor; even the gods themselves. But it’s still useless: you cannot defeat the best version of yourself.>
<I don’t want to defeat her. I want her strength for myself.> Kari replies, dropping out of her Limit Breaker state and down to a simple 10K Rise.
KARI ZEL: 1
SHADOW: 100,000,000
With a punch with the strength of a hundred million women coming towards her, Kari Zel closes her eyes and concentrates… just as her shadows adapts to her own power decrease.
KARI ZEL: 1
SHADOW: 1
She timed this just right. Her shadow is even able to see her smile as Kari shouts:
<SHADOW BREAKER!!!>
The tornado of virtual particles emanating from Kari’s body is so intense that, for a moment, even Baal has trouble seeing through it… but once it dissipates, the shadow is nowhere to be seen.
Kari Zel stands on her own, surrounded by a blindingly bright purple aura.
KARI ZEL: 1,000,000,000,000
SHADOW: 0
<You absorbed your shadow as if it was a duplicate.> Baal recognizes.
<I am Myridian. Nobody tells us what our limits are. And we do. Not. Surrender.>
An instant later, Kari is standing right in front of Baal. This is such a colossal leap in the power she’s accessing that can’t even move at her full speed: without divine abilities, she can’t even reach the speed of light… even though right now she would absolutely break that record.
<I’m pretty sure this qualifies as a win. Now… where are my friends?>
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