Beyond The Impossible

Defiance-IX, in orbit above New Atlantis

Aegian Galaxy, 2.5 million light-years from Earth

Major Davis hasn’t slept well since he arrived in the Aegian Galaxy. He’s been the only member of the crew since Medusa petrified everyone else on the ship, and he hasn’t had the occasion to send a distress signal.

Not that it matters: now that Skorpios has locked him out of the communications system, it would take millions of years for a message to reach the Milky Way.

But his two captors have become sloppy. They may have disarmed him and locked him into his quarters whenever he’s not allowed on the bridge… but they didn’t do a good enough job of searching for hidden weapons.

Major Davis felt a little paranoid when he hid a compact knife under his bed, but today it will pay off. When the door to his quarters is unlocked, the standard signal that he’s wanted on the bridge, he’s able to quickly hide the knife in his pocket before he’s teleported.

<What do you see, Major Davis?> Skorpios asks him, sitting on the captain’s chair.

Medusa stands before the main viewscreen, which shows a planet entirely covered by water; dozens of ships turned into stone are now visible in orbit.

<Murder.> he answers.

<Freedom. This Galaxy is finally free from divine rule.> Medusa corrects him.

<By murdering innocent mortals together with their gods.> the Major argues, slowly walking towards Skorpios. He tries to keep his pulse steady: according to the records she can sense souls, so he can’t be certain she won’t sense his hidden thoughts.

She may be superhuman, but she’s mortal. If he could get close enough to catch her off-guard, stabbing her in the neck should kill her before she can teleport him into the nearest star.

His heart skips a beat as he inches close enough to make his move, when the entire ship shakes.

A bright green light illuminates the bridge; this could be his chance to make his move, but Major Davis hesitates when an angry voice shouts:

<You want a f##king piece of me, you c###sucking c###t!?>

<That’s Persephone. Bring her here so I can turn her into stone.> Medusa says.

<No. We’re perfectly safe here.> Skorpios replies.

<The ship won’t survive another hit like that! You, mortal, raise the shields!> she orders to the Major. By the way Skorpios is looking around as if she was trying to identify where a sound is coming from, he suspects his chance of making his move is lost.

<I didn’t sense her approach: this is a trap. Where did she come from?> Skorpios wonders.

<Really? I have to get there to shove my foot up your ###hole? Fine for me!>

The light concentrates on a single point, as the green energy surrounds Persephone while she flies directly towards the ship.

<Uh. Guess she really is just that stupid.> Skorpios shrugs, concentrating her power to warp the space in Persephone’s direction… only before she disappears into a white triangular portal.

<What the…> is all the mortal is able to say a second portal appears behind her, with Torn throwing himself much faster for a human’s reaction time.

Even her cybernetically enhanced physique can’t get out of the way fast enough, and the Demon tackles her into a different portal while stabbing one of her kidneys with an Aether knife.

<What was that? Skorpios?> Medusa calls out, covering her eyes when the entire room is suddenly completely filled with blindingly bright lights.

<Sorry, we’re your playmates now. Hard to use your powers against something you can’t see, isn’t it?> Quantum’s voice asks her.

Major Davis doesn’t question how he’s able to hear it; he’s more worried by the fact that Quantum has inundated the bridge with so many photons that he might be permanently blind.

<Hard? Yes. But not impossible.> Medusa says, opening her eyes.

The air suddenly fills up with what looks like a dense fog: Quantum’s form has been transmuted into billions of the tiniest possible clumps of stone dust.

<That makes no sense.> Vesta acknowledges as she flies towards Medusa, who reacts the only way she knows how: by transmuting what she sees into stone.

That doesn’t bother Vesta. Not only because her body is already currently made of stone, so all Medusa does is change the fire surrounding her into stone… but because that doesn’t stop her from continuing her flight.

Medusa is hit by her target like it was a speeding car. She’s still enough of a goddess to still be only slightly dazzled by this, but that buys Vesta the few seconds she needs to break out of the stone shell that used to be her fire.

<Normally I would give you one last chance, but we’re past that.> she acknowledges, slapping Medusa in the face with enough strength to create a deafening sound.

<Vesta to Null. Medusa is out.> she acknowledges though her Soul Relay, lifting Medusa’s limp body with one hand to make sure she’s truly knocked out.

<Are you alright, Major Davis?> she then asks.

<I think I’m blind. And my crew was turned into statues.> he quickly summarizes.

<Noriko can cure you, and she’ll figure out a way to restore them. Oh, in case you inhaled some of that mist, you should probably try coughing it out… Quantum will eventually reassemble himself and that won’t be pleasant.> she explains.

After the sudden chaos, there’s an eerie silence on the bridge. It enhances a doubt she voices:

<Is it just me, or was this way too easy?>

 

The Empyrean, outside the universe

The last remnant of Heaven is connected to the material universe by a door created by the Tablet Of Destinies: it is the only way to access this dimension.

Since the rules established by the Tablet only allow members of the Vanguard to open that door, this has made the Empyrean the ideal holding place for two immensely dangerous artifacts: the Infinite Abyss that currently acts as jail for Typhon and Athena, and the Soul of Kronos currently being held in an object resembling a lantern.

Kari Zel now holds both objects to her chest, keeping her eyes on the door and powering up her body through her 10K Rise technique.

The only regular inhabitant of this dimension, the celestial being calling herself Siduri, stares at her tilting her faceless head.

<You know you can leave when you want, yes?> she asks.

<Not now, Siduri. I have to time this perfectly; Noriko doesn’t want these things in our dimension for too long, so I’m only leaving when I absolutely must. Frankly, you should leave with me.>

<Why?>

<It’s going to be very dangerous in here. That’s why Noriko wants me to take these to a safe place, we don’t want to set free what they’re holding.>

<My physical form can’t be harmed in the material universe. I will stay here, yes?>

<Suit yourself. Show’s up.> Kari warns her, as the door suddenly opens.

Torn and Skorpios are through into this dimension, and Kari takes the opportunity to spring through the same door to return to her universe.

Creating a portal from the Aegian Galaxy to Earth took a lot out of Torn, who can’t prevent Skorpios from expanding the space around her to repel him.

<What is this place?> Skorpios wonders, holding her bleeding side and wondering how Torn could have known that her kidney has been replaced by her emergency forcefield emitter, now broken.

Something about this dimension doesn’t feel right to her senses, but that’s the least of her problems.

<I have her locked!> Roxiana shouts, not far from her position… this dimension is so weird that Skorpios can’t properly judge distances.

That’s not the only thing not making any sense: she can feel Roxiana using her Soul Control to block her own soul abilities and disrupting her concentration.

<NOW! Don’t give her any pause!!!> Noriko Null shouts.

<With pleasure.> Isis smiles.

<About f##king time.> Persephone echoes her sentiment, and the two goddesses unleash their full might in the form of an unfathomable release of energy targeted at Skorpios.

Siduri is pulled away by Noriko Null, whose forcefield is working at full power just to allow her to survive.

<Don’t get any closer! You want to get yourself killed!?>

<I wish to observe. If your associate is fine so will I, yes?>

<Roxiana is protected by the Absolute Defense, she can’t be harmed. With that much power around, even you would have problems holding a physical form.> Noriko explains to Siduri.

<It’s not a lot for a celestial being. But I will have to rebuild.> Siduri comments: the glass structure around them has crumbled into dust, and now the only thing visible in all directions is the raw energy left over by Heaven in the form of enormous walls of white hot fire.

<You brought a new thing for me to keep here, yes?>

<You mean Skorpios? No, she’s too far gone… I have to take her out. I estimate she’ll be overwhelmed in a minute or so.>

<She seems fine, yes?>

Despite their differences, Noriko has to admire how much willpower and mastery of her Drylon device Skorpios is showing right now.

With her body damaged by Torn and her concentration disrupted by Roxiana, she’s still able to warp space around her to deflect the combined attack of two very powerful goddesses.

While she thinks it’s a pity that so much potential has been wasted by the indoctrination Skorpios has been subjected to, her allies have other thoughts.

<She is quite resourceful for a mortal. I can see why you needed the help of a real goddess to take her down.> Isis boasts.

<There’s only one f##king real goddess here, you Egyptian r##ard.> Persephone replies.

<You are so right, child. Only one real adult goddess here.>

<What, just ‘cause your crusty #### is a couple billion years older than me?>

<No, because I am a real Class 1 goddess and not a petulant child playing empress.>

<What did you just f##king call me!?> Persephone asks, ceasing her attack to face Isis.

<Persephone, what the f##k are you doing!?> Noriko shouts. Persephone can barely hear her over the sound of her own boiling voice shouting:

<I’m the f##king Queen of the Underworld and you will treat me with f##king respect!!!>

<You know you are a joke in my pantheon, right? Our lesser death gods are better than your own husband, the real deposed king.>

<Isis, concentrate on the attack! Don’t leave any opening to Skorpios!> Noriko orders.

<Please, I’m infinitely more powerful than this insect who thinks she matters just because she married a moderately competent god.>

<What. Did you say. About my husband!? You’re the one who married a dead loser!!!>

<At least Osiris died fighting Kronos. Hades got bested by a mortal… one who still orders you around.> Isis chuckles, proceeding to ignore Persephone.

<Torn, get me Vesta here, now. I need the backup.> Noriko orders.

Persephone clenches her fists. Her skin glows with power and her blood boils.

<You know what? F##k god levels. F##k mortals. And most of all… F##K… YOU!!!>

Persephone’s entire essence is put into a single energy blast; at point blank range, even Isis herself is staggered. Not enough to actually hurt her… the gulf between a Class 1 goddess and those beneath her is that vast… but it is enough to create an opening.

Now that she doesn’t have to focus on deviating energy that would otherwise incinerate her, Skorpios is able to tap into the full power of the Manifold device inside to reach beyond this dimension.

And something appears in her hands… a head, with green skin and snakes instead of hair.

The head of Medusa, ripped from her own body by warping the space around her.

Medusa retains consciousness for a couple of seconds, but that is all Skorpios needs.

Roxiana is the first to turn to stone: the Absolute Defense bracelet on her wrist is unaffected.

With her mind now free, Skorpios has enough clarity for a final move.

The tactically smart move would be to petrify Null, but her fanaticism can’t resist the chance for a major victory against the gods: she teleports in front of Isis, turning her to stone.

She would gladly do the same to Persephone, but Medusa’s power can’t work when she’s dead.

Skorpios warps herself back to her universe, avoiding the energy blow that Persephone intended to be the source of her death… and instead ends up vaporizing the Isis statue.

<Hey! Get back here, you f##king coward!> she protests.

<Persephone, WHAT THE HELL?!!?> Noriko practically screams; not only Persephone has never seen her this mad, she doesn’t recall seeing any mortal this angry.

<Calm your t#ts, I can take on that teleporting c#nt whenever I want.> she shrugs, walking towards the door… which has been broken in half by the battle.

<We HAD her. Do you have ANY idea of what you just did!?> Noriko keeps shouting; her silver eyes are almost as bright as the white fire surrounding her. Persephone can almost feel the energies of a Final Abyss building up within her, and for the first time in a long time she’s scared for her life.

<We… we don’t have to worry about Medusa anymore. Ripping off her head killed her; trust me, I’m an expert on these things.>

<She’s been dead before! She can resurrect herself! And now Skorpios will be prepared for our next move because LIKE A COMPLETE IDIOT you just blew our best shot!!!>

<I… didn’t mean to?> Persephone whimpers; despite having nowhere to go, she feels like she’s been backed into a corner.

<Have you ever, ONCE in your life, cared about your temper tantrums hurting people!? Give me one, just ONE f##king reason why I shouldn’t kill you here, JUST NOW.>

<I, I know how to, uhm, how to restore Vesta to her natural state.>

<Why should I believe you!?> Noriko asks, staring her in the eyes.

There can be absolutely no doubt: she’s about to kill her.

<I swear on my husband’s life. Please. I don’t want to die.> she whimpers, with her voice returning to a more natural sound.

<I don’t make deals with gods anymore. You will stay HERE, until I have verified your story and I’ve fixed the mess you made. Then we’ll see if you’re worthy enough to stay alive.>

<Y-yes. Absolutely. I understand.>

<Siduri, you’ve got yourself a new roommate. Make sure she behaves.> Noriko concludes, and the former Queen of the Underworld breathes a sigh of relief.