Fiction:Tantummodo Mortem/Mass Armageddon

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Mass Armageddon
Previous	Da Blak Kroozade
Concurrent	Tantummodo Mortem, Ice Age
Date	During Tantummodo Mortem
Place	Borealis Galaxy
Provocation	Cracks in space time, due to the Time Secrets
Outcome	Dominion victory, countless universes destroyed
Combatants
Onuris Polar Crystal Alliance Da Rogue Boyz
Dominion Dominion of the Xhodocto
Commanders
Resistance PCA leaders Fre'kloar
Dominion Zargoth

The Mass Armageddon is the event in which reality in the universe cracked, as spacetime became unstable and began to rip apart. Caused during the Ice Age when Gratz'kaoz used the Vyro'Narza's Time Secrets - locked codes and patterns of spacetime which were deadly and unstable - to make himself a god, causing indirect annihilation of everything. And somehow, Zargoth was involved, and he seemed to be after his comeback...

Prologue

A Lost Servant

Kolossus, who at the time was overseeing Dominion operations, was completely caught off guard when...

• ??? - I see you're busy with something.
  
• Kolossus - ...Huh?
  

Kolossus turned to see his old master, Zargoth. He wasn't really sure what to think.

• Zargoth - Yes, I am alive.
  

Kolossus narrowed his eyes, in visible anger.

• Kolossus - How did you survive?
  
• Zargoth - Volzara never destroyed me. She just destroyed enough of me that broke any connection I ever had with her.
  
• Kolossus - Why are you here? To taunt me? To break me any further than I already am?
  

As Kolossus continued to be infuriated, Zargoth remained the same, expressionless being as usual.

• Zargoth - I am not here to taunt you. I suspect you will want very little to do with me. You shall no longer be my servant, though I am still a superior ranking to you in the Dominion.
  
• Kolossus - Grrrr. Why would I want to be with a master who only fails me. Look at me. This is your fault!
  

Zargoth made what was almost a sigh.

• Zargoth - You are weaker than before. It is not me who made you weaker than before, it is Mac. But that is not why I am here. I am here to make you an offer, for old time's sake.
  
• Kolossus - And what can you offer to the corpse that stands before you?
  
• Zargoth - Bitter, are we? What do you think I can offer you? I can offer you your power back, of course. I can offer you Antagonar. I can offer you help, in exchange only for your silence.
  
• Kolossus - Your help has only led me toward pain...So...much...pain!
  

Kolossus shook his head and groaned.

• Kolossus - But...Antagonar?
  

Antagonar then appeared right next to Zargoth.

• Zargoth - Technically, I could make Antagonar a lower rank than you, in which case he could be your servant. I've yet to officially give him a rank.
  
• Kolossus - If he was even lower ranking than me, he'd be little more than a soldier...I am as high ranking as one of Shu'wokerama's pet servants.
  
• Zargoth - And that is a problem?
  
• Kolossus - It is when Theruskrayathos wants your head on a pike. But it doesn't matter. Antagonar could be of use to me.
  

Zargoth nodded, and Antagonar approached Kolossus.

• Kolossus - I hope this does not turn into a trick.
  
• Zargoth - I am aware that the Dominion so far has viewed me, and yourself, as a failure. And that generally our greatest attempts at pulling off a successful plot have mostly been foiled. Theruskrayathos' patience with me is dwindling. I have something that I ought to tell you, and while you may gain no faith from me if I do, you will regret it if you do not hear it from me.
  
• Kolossus - I am all ears. Or at least, what is left of them.
  
• Zargoth - The plan, which was supposedly a failure, was in fact a success.
  

Kolossus crushed the chair he was sitting on.

• Kolossus - Turning me into this mortal husk was a success?!
  
• Zargoth - That was not. That was an unfortunate byproduct of what was in fact a success. If you can think back and remember my plan, you will notice it is flawed and my motives were irrational. That is because they were lies. My plan was to cut my ties with Volzara, and to fade into obscurity. I am currently the Dominion's best kept secret.
  
• Kolossus - So you knew this would happen...yet you allowed them to kill me!
  
• Zargoth - There was to be no evidence of me being alive, or being in any way successful.
  
• Kolossus - I want to strangle you so much. I don't see how this is a victory. So what if the link with Volzara is broken?
  
• Zargoth - I have no restrictions? She cannot interfere with my involvement with the Dominion? The list goes on.
  

Zargoth waited for Kolossus to respond, and he said nothing. Zargoth continued.

• Zargoth - I am asking very little of you, Kolossus.
  
• Kolossus - And that is?
  
• Zargoth - Merely, to speak of this to no one. To acknowledge that I am alive, but to let no one know. Not even other members of the Dominion. The people who are meant to know of my active status are already aware.
  
• Kolossus - Hmpf. So be it.
  
• Zargoth - You will get a little compensation that you deserve later. I will not tell of you my plan, but you will expect it. And it is bigger than anything the Deathmarch have pulled off in any recent time.
  
• Kolossus - I can expect it, yes. Defeat, just like always, with you coming up with excuses as of why it was actually a success.
  
• Zargoth - Prepare for something else. Because that is not what is coming.
  
• Kolossus - I will believe it when I see it.
  
• Zargoth - Understandable. Anyway, all the old ways in which to communicate with me still work. Let me know if you have any questions, or are in need of help. Until then, you can just wait until my plan succeeds.
  
• Kolossus - I doubt I will, but so be it.
  

The Events leading to Doom

During the Ice Age, Billig Oltauris - a fat crimelord Wranploer and enemy of the Polar Crystal Alliance - had recreated the brain of the late Falrik Zaarkhun as an AI and then absorbed it himself. This AI had all of Zaarkhun's memories, including those which Zaarkhun had learned in the mind of the Vyro'Ralza leader Zargoth - the 'Time Secrets', spacetime patterns and sequences locked away by codes. When arrested, Billig told the PCA of the Secrets, and was then warned by the Vyro'Narza that he had exposed the universe to a certain doom.

And shortly after, formerly deceased Loron Gratz'kaoz led a Dominion of the Xhodocto army of Loron'Kikra to destroy Da Rogue Boyz, kill Fre'kloar and Zr'Ahgloth and become the greatest Loron who ever lived, beginning Da Blak Kroozade. However, on his way, he decided first to bring himself beyond a typical Loron, to become godly. He had learnt from his master Kolossus of the Time Secrets, and as Billig had exposed the secrets' vulnerability to being learnt by mortals, was able to become godly. Gratz'kaoz was eventually defeated, and the imprisoned Billig was released but forced to work in the PCA's research labs on his project the "Anti-Secrets" - Secrets which could be used against the spacetime cracks caused by the Secrets.

But who knew what Zargoth was up to? And how long did they have before the Secrets just destroyed the universe? And would Billig side with the PCA for long? This was much bigger than a Borealis Galaxy threat. It concerned the entire universe. And action needed to be taken.

Doom Reigns

Mere weeks had gone since Gratz'kaoz had first used the Secrets. And the effect of them was spreading everywhere, across the entire universe, now popping up in random spaces. Cracks in spacetime were not visible, though when examined through special equipment, they appeared almost like a piece of 3D glass was cracked.

Spacetime rifts popped up everywhere. And with them, came spacetime anomalies. Volcanic worlds turned back to the ice age. Old and future armies popped up from nowhere. Comets that weren't supposed to land until a few million years in time began to land. Stars became supernovas seemingly prematurely.

Nothing was clear, nothing predictable. The only thing certain was that this was not looking good. While it mostly appeared around Borealis at first, it was about to spread across the universe. Who knew how long before it spread beyond that? And who knew how much longer the universe had left?

PCA scientists could only observe, and pray to find a cure. Billig seemed to have something in mind, however. But even he wasn't sure whether he could save everyone.

And somewhere out there, Zargoth was observing everything. But being an emotionless god, there was no grin on his face, or satisfaction that everything was going perfectly...

Like a Virus

Apalos Scouting

The first rift to appear in the Milky Way Galaxy was approximately three hundred parsecs from territories claimed by the AI Netspace for dyson swarms, and around two AU from a blue giant star. A small group of Apalos scouts were dispatched to investigate from a safe distance. The following is a report produced by Apalos.

“Report on the pseudometric phenomena observed at 2.24 Apalos Time Units, translated for sapient conceptualisation. Full technical details are available upon request.
 · Five Apalos scouts were sent to investigate a pseudometric disturbance in the approximate vicinity of Nebula PR-P376P6-H9V36. Passive scans showed presence of closed timelike curves with a mean proper loop four-distance on the order of [10⁹, 10^-10] seconds (thirty-two years into the future and three centimetres in diameter), and black holes with a mean mass on the order of 10²⁷ kilograms. Active scans appeared to trigger fluctuations resulting in net addition of curves and destructive temporal interference of black hole wavefunctions, suggesting a deeper inner structure on the order of 0.1 seconds in size, approximately 10³⁰ times larger than typical hyperspatial structures.
 · Attempts to directly probe the inner structure by sending in a scout protected using our highest-level defences resulted in the destruction of the scout via rapid expansion of the disturbance to the nearby star and superposition of timelike curves, resulting in the occurance of a supernova that would otherwise have not happened for another ten million years, along with mild subspace compression within the vicinity of the disturbance itself.
 · It is expected that, in order to neutralise any rifts within the vincinity of the Civilisation, Apalos will have to draw from its own resources up to 1.5 Time Units in the past. The existence of these temporal disturbances will make such a task significantly easier.”

Knowing that the Polar Crystal Alliance of the Borealis Galaxy had experienced similar spacetime phenomena, Apalos decided to contact their council, to discuss a report from their scout drones.

• Apalos - Greetings, Polar Crystal Alliance.
• Valzaria - Greetings from the Borealis Galaxy. We have read your report, and can positively draw several comparisons to the spacetime 'cracks' that have appeared in our galaxy, since the Gratz'kaoz incident.
• Xeron - Not even his death managed to slow down these cracks. It's the Zargoth rage all over again...
• Valzaria - It actually seems more deadly than that. Anyway, your reports stated that you had devised ways in which to combat the rifts. Can you explain in further detail?
• Apalos - It involves some complicated metric engineering. Specifically, it requires you to make use of the second approximation of the fundamental Chronoscopic equation.
• Valzaria - I...see. Our scientists would be willing to help you in this area of research, having a background in the subject. It also worries me that the spacetime cracks have spread to galaxies. Do you have any other reports of similar phenomena, for example, in other galaxies or deep space?
• Apalos - We have detected three in intergalactic space, almost precisely along the path between Borealis and Andromeda. A few have appeared within the space around Andromeda itself, leading to speculation that said galaxy may be a target.
• Xeron - That's worrying. I shall warn them immediately, unless you are planning a universe-wide warning?
• Apalos - We are sending warnings to all major civilisations and alliances. As for smaller civilisations, if any disturbances appear close enough to them for them to be affected, there will be nothing that a warning can do for them.
• Valzaria - Excellent. We should probably open up a lab, perhaps in the Milky Way, of scientists doing research into countering this universal threat. Unless you have anything more to discuss, then this conversation is closed?
• Apalos - No, I have nothing more to discuss. We will open the lab immediately in one of our bishop rings. Goodbye.

Zaarkhun's Tomb

After recieving the Apalos report, the PCA decided they would have to be reshuffling their research projects. Several scientists would be shifted to research on Apalos' ideas of closing the rifts, while others would remain as they were. Billig was approached to consult his opinion.

• Billig - Y'know, I do think you're makin' a mistake 'ere. What Apalos is doin' ain't solvin' no problem in the long run. Sure it'll make things easier in the short term, but I seriously would reconisder what you're doin'.
• Xeron - What do you suggest then, smart guy? Shoo out all our allies?
• Billig - What I suggest is either you pull them scientists back...or otherwise, you give me a properly trained team an' I'll speed the research up a little bit with this idea I had.
• Semirian - We can't get scientists out of nowhere for you, Wranploer. Hyperborea's team is already the best we have.
• Xeron - What's this idea about?
• Billig - One of me research teams from the Wranploer remnants recently sent me a message. 'E said that 'alf way through 'is project 'e realised 'e'd done similar research before, on one of Zaarkhun's top secret projects, eh? Course 'e 'ad no idea at the time it was anythin' on the scale of this. But 'e said that a lot of research could already be done for us, assumin' I'm right an' 'e left all of it in 'is tomb.
• Valzaria - Tomb?
• Billig - You really think a rich, mastermind crimelord like Zaarkhun would just be buried in a normal cemetary? Zaarkhun left everythin', 'is will, 'is body, an' some of 'is most secret work in the Zaarkhun Tomb.
• Semirian - Zaarkhun has a tomb? I imagined his body had been obliterated along with the rest of Vijaha.
• Xeron - That's a good thing. It meant less idiots were around to get in the way of the planetary bombardment.
• Billig - You serious?...'Ow else would I make that AI, eh?
• Semirian - How am I supposed to know? As far as I have experienced, you could have well taken his brain out of his body and left it to be destroyed.
• Billig - Zaarkhun paid people way too much to 'ave 'is body buried away in 'is rich tomb, an' 'ave 'is body mummified, for any of that to 'appen. Anyways, that's not the point. The point is, I need a budget increase, permission an' a spaceship to get there.
• Xeron - Not without an escort. I'm sure the Chief Major will be more than glad to take part of this expedition.
• Billig - Escort, eh? I'm not gonna die out there, not with Gyjak. If you'd give me permission to fetch her, anyways. I need no escort.
• Xeron - I'm not doing this for your protection.

Billig growled slightly.

• Xeron - But yes, you can get your pet Loktan if you want.
• Billig - You're seriously thinkin' I'll let the universe break apart? It's bad fer business, I told ya. But fine. We'll also need to hire the Guild of Shadowzs, an' they ain't cheap.
• Semirian - Money is not a problem for us.
• Billig - That's good, eh? Because the mercenary business is like being addicted to drugs; you become more reliant on 'em, you pay 'em more, you lose cash quicker than you'd expect. Get me in a spaceship with Genrai Nal, Gyjak an' the bitch and her police, an' I'll speed this research up a lot. If I'm right, that is.
• Valzaria - "If" you're right?
• Billig - I can't be certain having only ever been there once, can I?
• Semirian - You'll get your resources. Now go and get this done.

Without even a "right away", "will do" or a "goodbye", Billig walked out, preparing to leave.

---

The shuttle, with the small team, including UNOC, landed on a desert planet, going to a rocky mountain. There was a pitch black cave on the side of this mountain, just big enough for the shuttle to land.

• Genrai Nal - The tomb is located here. But only those with specific access may enter. Billig is no longer one of those people, but fortunately, I am.
• Dalverat - You go ahead, then. Does this place have any defenses we should worry about?
• Genrai Nal - Unless any have been installed since I last entered - which I doubt - there are none. However, the Tomb does not take likely to thieves. It will trust you, though, since you are with me.
• Xerkea - Ohohoho, the thief doesn't want anything stolen? What an hypocrite.

They accessed a huge door, twice the size of Vailisa, which opened slowly, and what they saw ahead of them was shining bright gold and jewellery. Gold coins stacked on gold coins, bars of diamond and all the rare expensive minerals of Borealis all together in this room.

• Xerkea - Pff. How's all that wealth helping ya? Oh wait, it isn't.
• Dalverat - Concentrate, Xerkea.
• Billig - Admit it, you're impressed all the same.
• Xerkea - It's a waste of money, keeping it all here to not be used.

Billig sighed at Xerkea's consistent tunnel vision.

• Billig - It's not a waste. The point of this all is demonstration. It's demonstrating the masses of wealth that this man amassed throughout 'is lifetime. It's a crimeboss thing, no petty cop bitch like yerself would undastand that, eh?
• Xerkea - Demonstration of how much of a greedy bastard you can be. You don't take this money to the afterlife.
• Dalverat - Enough, you two. In the end of time, none of your coins have any significance.
• Billig - Bleh. Keep walkin'.

And they did, through mountains of gold, passing several starship components, starfighters, more piles of gold, and even some pictures. There was a picture of his mother hung up on one wall, right next to a picture of the planet he was born. On the other side, they saw other pictures hung up. News articles. Zaarkhun's many accomplishments.

Xerkea showed no interest in any of the articles, but Dalverat flew over to them to inspect them. And just after walking past some of his pro-anarchy propaganda banners, they finally arrived at a huge console, and a hologram appeared of Falrik Zaarkhun.

• Falrik Zaarkhun - Well, congratulations. You have found my tomb and accessed it, and are now in the middle of all the accomplishments I made during my life. I'm likely regretting not achieving more, or maybe regretting some mistakes I made, up there in whatever afterlife - if there is one - but no matter.
• Billig - See that? That AI has a partial understandin' of 'ow Zaarkhun thought. I based me own AI offa that, eh?
• Dalverat - Good, good. Now get to work.

Falrik Zaarkhun's hologram peered over to Dalverat, and sneered.

• Falrik Zaarkhun - I detect you seem to show curiosity. What is it of which you are searching for in my tomb?
• Dalverat - I'm looking around since there's nothing else to do here other than watch Fat-guy and Blockhead-woman bicker.
• Xerkea - Hey!
• Falrik Zaarkhun - ...You are welcome to appreciate what is here, but if you are searching for nothing in particular, then you have made a very long journey out here to find this place only to search for nothing. I will assume now that you are lying.
• Dalverat - And what of so much interest do you have here, then?
• Falrik Zaarkhun - The tomb holds my body, my wealth, my will various achievements, and secret projects that were either unfinished or abandoned.
• Dalverat - Money is not relevant to me. Neither are your achievements, as you were our enemy...but your will, perhaps it'd be interesting to see that.

Another hologram appeared next to Zaarkhun. A visual image of Zaarkhun's will, and Dalverat immediately flew over to the hologram to read it, interested. It declared that, under normal circumstances, the entire Borealis Consortium Network would be left to Volim, if he were still alive. If not, then it would go to whoever could claim it. The Guild of Shadows and several of Zaarkhun's agents were given instructions on how to carry on, while others - including Billig - were freed from service.

• Billig - Strange, ain't it? Even in death, Zaarkhun is still hirin' people to do 'is dirty work, eh?
• Genrai Nal - Watch your tongue. I am practically free of him.
• Xerkea - Yeah. Get rid of one and another shows up. I've heard from Vekaron about Torrent's return.

Aside from a final message to Zaarkhun's workers - that they were to act on their own, and never ask 'what would Zaarkhun do', there was a request that all his secret projects would be kept in the tomb, and could only be continued by anyone worthy enough to; and he declared that he trusted anyone who had been able to access the tomb must be worthy. Among these projects...were the Time Secrets.

• Billig - Well, I share one thing in common with the old man: I love it when I'm right, eh?

While they talked, a huge stomp was heard outside, and a stench began entering the cave. However, nothing of unusual was visible. Genrai Nal instantly drew his blades, knowing something was up.

• Genrai Nal - There is clearly presence here.
• Dalverat - What was that?
• Thr'aloy - Ew. BILLIG MAN DID YOO JUS FART
• Xerkea - Huh. Must be thieves who followed us here. Just get these Secrets already.

Falrik Zaarkhun's hologram quickly switched to his aggressive pose, as he clenched his fist in typical fashion.

• Falrik Zaarkhun - Annihilate them!

Several of the golden statues, which had been thought to merely be that - statues - now began to move. They all 'awoke', and drew weapons, aiming at them.

• Xerkea - Grrr. The defenses are aiming at us now.

Tentacle-like tendrils entered the cave and appeared to "look" around at the piles of gold, as if they were searching for something. None of them were close to the team, though.

• ??? - Use...any...do you have...any?

Falrik Zaarkhun's hologram pointed towards the tentacles in the background.

• Falrik Zaarkhun - Destroy it.

The golden, and in some cases platinum, defense droids all turned around and fired. They were as agile as athletes, and their weapons far more deadly than even the richest PMCs could afford.

• Genrai Nal - These droids are a testament to the stubbornness of Zaarkhun. The ultimate, most perfect battle droids ever created in the criminal underworld - or Borealis at all - and he plates them with gold, burns the designs and keeps them purely to himself.
• Billig - I doubt they'll be a problem anymore, but let's try an' get these Secrets, eh?

Despite their power, none of the weapons did any visible damage to the tentacles. However, the cave was hit by an amalgamation of screams which echoed through it. Dalverat and Xerkea were forced to close their ears.

• Xerkea - Hurry up, will you?!
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Whoever wishes to defile this tomb...
• Billig - Zaarkhun, I'll 'elp ya if you give me all the secret project information on the Time Secrets to download.
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Time Secrets? Those were a highly classified project...they were shut down due to how clearly instable they were. By studying them, you are putting the-
• Billig - Entire universe at risk, I know, mate! I'm tryna SAVE this damn universe!
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Oh...you wish to search for the Anti-Secrets? Ah, I made a great deal of progress with them. In fact, I two of them fully scripted and ready for use.
• ??? - Are you useful?

One tentacle hit a pile of gold, causing it to dissolve.

• ??? - ...No.
• Genrai Nal - If we indeed have what we came for, then I suggest you use the teleporter to get out of here. In the mean time, I must stay and protect the tomb.
• Xerkea - Huh. Suit yourself.
• Genrai Nal - You will thank me if you ever need to use it again.

In one side of the room, a teleporter - made of solid platinum - appeared, ready to take them to any destination they wanted.

• ??? - No use...useless legacy. No genetic material anywhere.
• Billig - Huh. I 'eard Zaarkhun stole one of these from the Seagon scientists, eh? Let's 'ope the Kormacvar perfected this.
• Xerkea - I still want to know what that is! Dalverat - Just move already.

They all hopped into the teleporter, and in time, got back to the council.

---

The group all arrived in the PCA council room, where they described the list of events, and Billig presented them with a data chip of information he'd downloaded regarding the Anti-Secrets.

• Semirian - Anti-Secrets, hm?
• Billig - Secrets that can be used against the effects of Secrets. Zaarkhun said 'e'd fully worked out a couple of these, before 'e decided to bury them for good. They were in case of an emergency. You know what the man was like, 'e didn't make a plan B, he made a plan A-Z an' more. 'Course I'd figure 'e'd be scared someone used 'em an' had 'is back up. So he worked two of the Secrets out so we don't have to, eh?
• Xeron - That's good and all. Now, when can you get these two running?
• Billig - Well, since you robbed some of me best scientists, it'll take a bit longer, eh? But there's no worries. From lookin' at it, what 'e left were instructions, not actual scripts.
• 'Valzaria - We didn't rob you of anything. We already said we have our best scientists working on your project.
• Semirian - Get to work. We cannot waste anymore time than we already have.
• Billig - You're makin' this harder fer me to actually work with you. Bearin' in mind I'm only doin' this to guarentee a future...fer me family.
• Xerkea - Of course you are. The brain-in-a-jar father of many ugly children. Now move.

Billig growled fiercely at Xerkea, though he chose to ignore what she said.

Androchaos

Soul Burn

The day had been uneventful and average, with little to no divergences of schedule for those that resided under the multiple suns that shined their light upon this world; a colonial territory that belonged under the registration and authorization of the Andromedan Galactic Common, a world shared by the primary and secondary species of the organization with uncommon quarrel and collective prosperity. Soldiers were stationed across the capital city of this planet, a result of the recent influx of reports detailing recent acts of vandalism, arson, and terrorism within the member races and protectorates, involving particular organizations such as the Khaxvis Resurgence and Stratocracy of Karnagtah and other, less-concerning groups that may and may not have been affiliated with them.

The raise in security and patrol forces across the capital was little more than additional precaution, civilians continued their lives freely as they pleased without outside interference from the military, constructed of Guardians of many species, so long as they kept to the established laws and rules set up by the organization's Highlords. However, the rather moderate tranquility that veiled this world was soon to be ripped away and torn to pieces as one of the triplet suns parted below the horizon.

At the center of the commercial district of the capital, glass and debris flew in every and all directions without any particular aim. Within moments, alien blood flooded the streets and buildings leaned onto their sides, preparing to topple and collapse from the sudden damage that had been inflicted upon them. The sounds of roaring and screaming filled the air as eyes looked upon a peculiar, sudden scar that was inflicted against the ground; a crater of significant scale. At its center, a quad of individuals stood poised and stanced, their positions varying between one another depending on their focus, which was definitely not shared between them. Dying embers surrounded them and steam erupted from their footsteps. They wore mixed expressions.

One of the figures was a tall Kicathian figure, clad in highly advanced technology. Every breath he took however, a fiery red light shone through the seams of his augmentations. Behind his eyes, the same fiery light appeared. His clothing was lavish, but of a similar colour to his body. Another one of the figures wore nothing but leg pieces, evident scarring and indications of incineration marked across the entirety of his torso. He wore a wide, contorted smile on his face as he licked his knife-like jaws, glaring in the direction of the Kicath. He himself was Kicath-like in stature, but more Zazane in detail and aesthetic, as if he had inherited traits from the two.

Behind the Zazane was a Radeon in tarnished white armor, covered in scars from head to toe. His eyes, or lack thereof, were covered by a blindfold, but it was obvious that of all the individuals, he showed the most emotion, visibly distressed and annoyed. Another figure, a Zazane of bizarre colouration, stood with blades within her hands, sheathed in writing blue and red energy. Her breating firm and regular, each breath prompted the rise and fall of her well-endowed chest. She stood as a giant amongst three members of the group, her eyeless head pointing directly towards the Kicath.

Radeon - What in the cycle...

The Kicathian augment stood up, and looked around. Surveying the landscape and the architecture within the distance, his brief, slight expression indicated that he had arrived in a place unfamiliar and surreal to himself.

Kicath - Rather... interesting.
Radeon - Ugh... looks strange. Not gritty enough to be real. Did you bring crack into the ship again?
Zazane - Focus, anonymous man! Now is no time to be admiring your surroundings when they won't be here for much longer.
Female Zazane - You know, not every planet in Andromeda is a shithole.
Radeon - The architure looks... familiar.
Female Zazane - Perhaps you boys should focus on the fucking demon Kicath staring at us!
Kicath - Regardless.

The female Zazane's words met the cybernetic Kicath's skin. A demonic flame breathed through his synthetic flesh. The Zazane male stepped forward, guns in hand as his eyes narrowed towards the Kicathian shadow that stood before them. His smile grew only wider as he approached, his eyes shifting in their colour; nothingness black clouded bloody red.

Kicath - I see that I am not the only demon that arrived here.
Zazane - Amusing, I was about to say the same thing. Then again, how do I know you're as genuine as you say you are?

The Radeon, on the other hand, remained still and analyctic of his surroundings, shifting his head to examine his environment. He felt urged and provoked by this place with its magnificent architecture that could be identified in the distance, evoking his sense of memory of the past and an emotion that had long since absent; hope.

Radeon - Not an Imperium world. Not a hellhole like Alkhuse. Then what is it?

The Kicathian monster turned towards the Zazane aberration. The former's aura was burning hot, and his eyes became ringed with flame. It appeared to be something of a challenge, maybe a taunt, towards the shifting of colours within the Zazane's eyes, providing the Zazane's claim with evidence to his inquiry.

Kicath - Aesthetics should be enough.
Zazane - It doesn't take aesthetics to make one a demon, otherwise you'd class my Zazane friend here as a fiendish over-mistress because she is ugly as shit.
Female Zazane - Well fuck you too.
Kicath - Class me by name. Class me by appearance. There is no mask here.
Zazane - Then I can pound your face directly without a problem.

Not long after the explosions has occured, aliens of shapes and varieties circled and rallied around the crater as it burned and the smoke cleared from view, with the militia equipped with energy weapons and clas in ceramic armour of semi-decorative design. They were joined by buggies armed with gatling weapons mounted upon their rears and hovering in the sky were VTOLs that surrounded the four peculiar and destructive beings that took refuge within the impact site.

Kicath - Perhaps we can discuss this later. Company is in our midst.
Zazane - Fuck them. If you were there on Alkhuse, you'd see I have zero fucks to give.
Kicath - Indeed. I was there.
PDF Officer - Unidentified citizens. You are all found in suspicion of terrorist activity. Come cleanly and you will be detained without any harm done towards your persons.

The Radeon felt the presence of the militia as they surrounded the group. Sheathing his blade, he raised his arm as if to attempt to stall the aliens. The Kicath's attention diverted towards the officer, a brief pause following in which they exchanged glares between one another. Like the Radeon, the Kicath raised his arm before hurling a respectably-sized bolt of enigmatic energy towards one of the VTOLs.

Radeon - Wait! We are not your enemies!

The VTOL swerved in an attempt to evade the blast that was sent its way, although its exterior and a portion of its interior was incinerated by the energy that coursed through it, sending the craft on a guaranteed descent towards the ground and impacting against it, creating an audible and highly visible explosion almost immediately afterward. The Zazane spread out his arms as the soldiers were distracted and began firing, sending bullets erupting through the flesh, organs and bones of the soldiers as the rounds were engulfed in a demonic blaze.

After dispatching a significant number of officers, who died slowly with gaping holes and wounds within their bodies created by the explosive bullet rounds, the Zazane threw his arms in the Kicath's direction and aimed his weaponry at him. The Kicath, as a response to the taunt, sent demonic energy pouring into his own forearms as if in preparation to fight while surrounding VTOLs fired rockets and particle cannons on the group while soldiers mounted the gun emplacements upon their buggies and opened fire.

Zazane - For those of you who aren't me, you may wish to seek shelter.
Radeon - Goddammit...
Female Zazane - You're insane.
Zazane - Thanks, precious.

---

The particle beams and rockets struck the Kicath square on, creating explosions around him and picking up masses of dirt and dust. Once the air around the Kicath settled and cleared, allowing the soldiers to get a good view of the monster's visage, the Kicath sent a trail of Essence beneath the ground before it ascended from the soil in the form of fiery, metaphysical tendrils, tackling and smacking away soldiers and vehicles. Infantry panicked, some opened fire while others attempted to make their escape from the site in fear only to be crushed in their vehicles by the tentacles.

The Zazane spread his wings and placed away his guns, drawing an extensively long blade of Kicathian design within an instant from the back of his belt and glared towards the militia. He rushed forward, enduring the blasts and attacks that the military presence offers before returning his own wrath, consisting of wide, devastating slashes. The female Zazane bolted from the scene, trampling several PDF soldiers beneath her feet and crushing their limbs, spines, bodies, or skulls. The Radeon threw open his hands, attempting to slow the PDF's speed of deployment but attempting to evade resulting casualty as much as possible.

Kicath - Hmph.

The Kicath approached one of the buggies that were attempting to escape before grabbing ahold of it with his left set of claws. He raised it into the air and allowed it to escape his grasp, sending it on a crash course with a nearby skyscraper. Soldiers continued firing towards the four superpowered adversaries with little to no luck, with corpses and blood quickly increasing in number with every passing second. However, several soldiers successfully managed to escape out of pure luck and opportunity. Soldiers were beheaded by the Zazane's jaws, their limbs dismembered by his bare hands with little to no contributing effort on his part.

Kicath - Suitable decorum.
Zazane - Hah, if we are somewhere else, it's certainly not much of an improvement. The same bothersome insects that think they can get in my way.
Radeon - Goddammit! You don't even know who they are!
Zazane - And?

The Kicath's eyes gazed towards a tall-standing building close to his left before shifting back towards the deformed-looking Zazane that grinned in his direction, clenching his fists repeatedly and cracking the bones throughout his knuckles and fingers with each clench. The Kicath's palm conjoured a metaphysical blade constructed of Essence which tore its way through the skyscraper, the sounds of its structural skeleton bending and crumbling could be heard. Emerging from the wider streets, several large tanks clad within large slabs of heavy plating and equipped with twin-particle emitters surrounded the group, their swivel-mounted turrets pointing towards each member.

PDF Soldier - Oh fuck no!
Zazane - That's adorable, now why don't you hit me with it?
Radeon - You're nuts.

Perched within the port of one of the tanks, albeit a heavier, modified version of the standard design, was a rather grizzled Val'kar whose eyes were drawn to the group with a scowl across his face. He smoked a large, blazing cigar between his rotted teeth as he saw the Kicath let out a faint smile and gestured his hands. What was intact of the skyscraper's upper half tore its way through the concrete equivalent as it bolted towards the Zazane, ignoring and dismissing the tanks as if they were mere insects attempting to confront giants.

Kicath - Pleasant trip.

The Zazane threw out his arms, grasping ahold of the skyscraper as it pressurized against him, forcing his feet deep into the ground where he was standing. His smile grew wider, dripping with saliva as he chuckled. His resistance was impressive, but what become resistant soon became an offensive; he swivelled his torso around, still grasping the tip of the skyscraper before his claws disconnected from the material, launching the massive chunk of debris towards the tanks as a means to dispose of them. The tanks aimed and fired at both the debris and the Zazane, their firepower strong enough to incinerate buildings on touch.

Zazane - I'll give you credit, anonymous man, you're entertaining.
Kicath - Then you will find this extravagant.
Zazane - I am easily pleased.
Radeon - He's crazy! Like you!

The debris was obliterated into smaller chunks that were incapable of dealing harm against the militia through their powered armour and kinetic barriers, with the final shot being taken by the Val'kar commander's own tank as it rolled forward, his narrowed eyes darting over the landscape to observe his adversaries. The cigarette rolled into his mouth and he chewed it without paying even a single wince.

Kicath - That thing over there is rather annoying.
Zazane - I'll race you for it.
Tank Commander - Who do you freaks think you are, tearing up this proud city and slughtering my men!?
Kicath - A freak indeed.

Stretching out his Essence-charged arms, the Kicath glared towards the vehicle-confined military commaner as the tank found itself approaching the former at an increasing speed, although it was not an action dictated by the commander's physical influence; telekinesis was at play on the Kicath's part. The tank's treads screeched along the ground horrendously, carving deep grooves into the charred earth as it attempted to resist the invisible rope that the Kicath pulled with open palms.

Tank Commander - Oh you're psychics eh!

As the tank was pulled ever closer by invisible hands, it stopped suddenly. Behind the tank, the Zazane's claws had dug themselves into the material armour of the tank as if they had pierced through mere paper, with the Zazane's grin as wide as ever. The Kicath still held his metaphysical grip over the tank, struggling to force it forward as the Zazane's sheer strength provided immense difficulty. The Radeon found himself tired and panted as his telekinetic barriers began to fade.

Kicath - Hmph. Do not make this hard for myself.
Tank Commander - Light these spoonbenders up!
Radeon - Attack the Kicath! You might find it strange, but the Zazane is actually a decent person. He doesn't want to kill you!
Zazane - Oh, I so totally do.

The Kicath's concentration faded the instant the Radeon made reference to him, his head shifting towards the rough-looking Radeon with a burning distaste. The tank was launched backwards, in turn launching the Zazane into the air which allowed him to evade the incoming round of fire; the tanks under the command of the Val'kar commmander fired upon the Kicath, bathing him in the warm glow of particle weapons fire.

Kicath - I have little regret on doing this.
Radeon - Threl'naas! Stop trying to kill everything on sight!

The Kicath's metal skin became heated gradually as the particle weaponry struck against him, with the charred metal that constructed his frame beginning to absorb and recycle the particle beams, charging the Kicath as his entire form glowed with power. The skybound Zazane glared towards the battle that was commencing, a dagger of ornamental and decorative design manifesting itself within the palm of his hand before launching out his arm, the blade of the dagger descending upon a chain generated of pure white Essence. The dagger's curved blade struck the tank of the commander, digging itself into the chassis.

Kicath - Radeon. I've always hated Radeon.

The mass of energy that the Kicath had harvested from the firepower of the tanks was returned in kind before making an approach towards the grizzled Radeon that stood tired but not cowardly. He unsheathed his blades, directing a snarl towards the Kicath as the Radeon assumed a defensive stance. The tanks that were returned with their particle beams exploded upon contact, shrapnel and debris flying across the battlefield in a frenzy. The tank commander leaped from his vehicle as it was obliterated, he was now at his most vulnerable. From the Kicath's augmented arms, red blades of fire emerged.

Tank Commander - The hell--
Kicath - I'm going to enjoy making you breakfast.
Radeon - Come and get it.

The charred tank scraped across the torched soil before ascending towards the heaven, pulled by the force of the Zazane's arm channeling itself into the dagger that had connected to what remained of the vehicle. It approached terminal velocity in terms of speed in its traversal, with the Zazane swinging the chained dagger, thus the tank as well, over his head and around his body multiple times as he gyrated his body midair. His next swing landed the tank forcefully into the ground between the Kicath and the Radeon, causing the former to cease his approach and the latter to leap away. The Zazane was anchored and slammed into the ground, laughing maniacally. The tank's cremated remains were scattered into little more than mere pieces upon his impact, with the Zazane finding himself covered head to toe in charred, twisted flesh and open wounds.

Radeon - Ever heard of the word "collateral damage"?
Zazane - I think that's what I call "added bonus".

Straws Pulled at Random

The Val'kar commander pulled a gun of pistol appearance from his holster while he was laid upon the floor. Inserting a clip, he aimed it towards the Zazane, who was approaching the Kicath with that ever-horrific, widening smile that could not have been physically possible without causing an almost-immeasurable amount of pain towards one's face and skull. The commander fired, bullets landing into the torso of the monstrosity. While the other wounds inflicted from the impact has vanished and repaired within a matter of microseconds, these wounds took significantly longer; the Zazane glared towards the commander, who smirked and fired at the Kicath with indiscrimination. The bullets were cartridges that played host to Essence-dampening picomachines; a weapon to be utilized against the demigods of the universe.

However, the commander's smirk vanished as his being was elevated from the ground and raised into the air as the Kicath had not responded positively to being shot at. The Kicath felt mere irritation inside his body as his Essence capabilities started to flaw and lose control, though he kept a reasonable amount of ability behind him. The Radeon sighed, his moral highground surrendering and collapsing beneath him almost humorously.

Radeon - On the second thought, ignore what I said. Kill everyone.

More shots were fired from the commander's gun, reloading another clip into the weapon before unleashing another round of anti-Essence picomachinery cartridges in the Kicath's direction. They could both feel the Essence signature losing its influence, yet it didn't stop the augment from using it.

Tank Commander - Fucking spoonbenders, I'll kill you all!
Kicath - Shut up already.

The Kicath's hand slowly began to clench, causing the Val'kar to scream as he felt his body begin to ignite. A fire was initiating beneath his flesh, its potency increasing as the seconds past. Steam began to trail from his flesh as he was slowly being processed into incineration. Suddenly, he dropped to the ground. The Zazane had slammed a fist against the side of the Kicathian monster's face, slamming the Essence-blessed blade into the monster's flesh as he made his attack. It was lodged into the Kicath's cheek, burning away at the dark essence that empowered him. The Kicath turned its attention towards the more immediate adversary, his concentration on the Val'kar commander lost.

Kicath - That hurt.
Zazane - You going to cry about it or are you going to make me regret it?

The Kicath's eyes burst as demonic flames erupted from the sockets. Grabbing ahold of the Zazane's shoulders, he clenched down hard, digging his talon-like nails into the flesh and dark Essence being channelled into them. As the Zazane felt pain rush through his body, he grinned widely. His eyes once again became clouded and consumed by black, hollow emptiness as he screamed loudly, something that the surrounding company had never witnessed from him. However, it was not long before he threw his head forward, slamming his abominable crest against the Kicath's face and head. A shockwave followed the impact, kicking up debris as the Kicath let go and was knocked back, slammed into the ground with a hard crack.

The commander gasped for breath, writhing in agony as he stumbled to his feet with a struggle. He saw as the Kicath took a moment to stand as the Zazane was incapacitated before it dissipated in black and dark orange fire, leaving burning footsteps where he once stood that scorched the earth. The Zazane stepped back, gasping as the commander was doing as his shoulders dripped with melted flesh and leaking Essence. His smile hadn't left his face, although he was evidently hurt according to those around him. Black blood spat from his boiling wounds while he chuckled, leaning his head back and bellowing with laughter.

Zazane - Hahaha! Did you see that, guys?!

From the rooftops of the now-ruined district, the female Zazane watched the battle as it subsided. Her attention was distracted from the male Zazane as she saw that reinforcements were arriving upon the scene; more PDF forces, armed to the teeth in specialized armour, anti-Essence weaponry and powerful machines of war. The Zazane male looked towards the reinforcements and dropped to his knees, chuckling and laughing while his body twitched and spasmed. He wheezed for breath, but kept his iconic, twisted grin.

Tank Commander - You're in for it now you little shits.
Zazane - Quendor... get out of here. Find the prostitute, I'll be fine.
Tank Commander - Your pink Zazane friend...left you...to die!
Zazane - Heheh... not a big surprise.

Several PDF soldiers marched towards the Zazane and the Radeon, armed with rifles and high-voltage, nerve-killing stun batons. However, the Zazane showed his persistance as he leaped forward and swung his claws at the PDF officers, incapacitating or killing several of them by ripping through their armour and tearing their flesh, aiming for their helmets and faces. The Radeon attempted to hold off soldiers as well, launching weakened kinetic repulsion blasts and swinging one of his blades, however he was knocked down and assaulted with multiple rounds of electricity from soldiers as they flanked him. Behind the Zazane, soldiers fired Essence-dampening rounds into his back, while in front soldiers in power armour charged and attempted to knock him down.

The Zazane twitched more as he continued swinging his claws, digging into the armour yet unable to strike at their flesh as he became disorientated and struggled to stand on his own two feet. One of the heavy soldiers reached out, grabbing ahold of the Zazane and planting a firm headbutt against his crest, snapping the Zazane's neck as his head was thrown backwards. The Zazane took several steps back as his head could see behind itself, his balance being lost quickly. However, before he could hit the ground, he lunged forward one last time and headbutted his crest against the soldier, exploding their armour and throwing them across the battlefield, before collapsing to the ground. His wings drooped as motion was lost, though he still panted heavily.

Soldier - Had enough, terrorist?
Tank Commander - Just manacle him and bring him to the garrison.
Soldier - Understood sir.
Zazane - Why don't you... get behind me, get down on your knees... and kiss the contents of my dark, shit-stained anus! Haha!

As the Zazane was hoisted from the ground, one of the soldiers slammed a stun baton into his stomach, delivering a highly-potent electric shock coursing through his body. Shortly after, he found himself thrown into the back of an awaiting enforcement van alongside his Radeon accomplice, where they were subjected to their limbs and joints becoming trapped inside specialized chains and cuffs to severely restrict their movement, their bodies injected with multiple serums. The Zazane female had escaped capture, as did the Kicath, thus the odds of the carnage ceasing had been rendered to a hopeless naught...

---

Interrogation

Kithanan gradually regained consciousness. Still groggy from being knocked out. There was little way of telling how long he had been unconscious, he woke up strapped to a leather chair, he still felt weak however; whatever weakened him before was still having some kind of effect on him. Beyond his chair the room was featureless and grey, a mirror was opposite him while a heavy metal door was seen to the side. He was all alone in this room, with little sign of company. But there were people nearby; he could not see them, he could not hear them, but he somehow still knew they were there. The signatures were faint, barely noticeable, clearly the machines still working to suppress him.

Kithanan - Urgh... Haven't felt this numb since I fucked that Val'kar...or was it several Val'kar? ...No, it was definitely an orgy of some kind...perhaps a few Draconis there as well... Where the fuck am I?

Kithanan attempted to move, although he found that his muscles and joints were strapped securely to the chair with no possible chance of release on his part within his current state. The straps pressed into his flesh due to the strength of the grip, with some traces of blood dripping down the straps where they had pierced his skin. A hologram materialised in front of him, a Ryketian wearing the officers' uniform of one of the Guardians of light. She were her hair in a ponytail that dangled behind her head, her feet were straight and her hands were behind her back.

Rykeian - Your new home, alien.

The hologram slowly walked up to Kithanan, a slight if somewhat smug smile cracking on her face. Kithanan's eyes observed the Rytekian woman, looking her up and down with a curious expression which shortly turned to amusement. A chuckle made its way past his grinning lips as he gave her another glance, getting a good observation of her natural "assets" that struck out to his view most.

Kithanan - I guess you're the maid, huh.
Ryketian - The name's Tanna'Vithana. And you?
Kithanan - Kithanan, although you may call me "sir" or "lord" or "master". Preferably while on your knees.
Vithanan - Yeah...that'll happen. Now I'd like to know...why did you and your psychic friends trash a perfectly good CBD the other day?
Kithanan - I trashed a lot of things the other day, you're gonna have to explain to me what the hell "CBD" means otherwise I'm going to assume you're saying I caught a disease.
Vithana - "Central Business District." You know, the place in the centre of a city where all big businesses are located? You killed a lot of people and terrorised a lot more with your little light-show and I want to know why.

Vithana's smile had disappeared, within moments she had realised how difficult Kithanan was going to be merely from the way he looked at her and his rather stubbourn responses. Vithana's hologram slapped Kithanan across the face with a firm hand, but it felt as solid as if she were actually there. Kithanan reeled from the slap and leaned his torso forward as much as the straps would allow him, which wasn't much although he was straining both himself and the leather straps that held him by doing so. His tongue passed over his serrated jaws as he smiled.

Vithana - If I wanted to endure condescension I would speak to my in-laws. And what exactly do you mean we brought you there?
Kithanan - Don't take me for an idiot, I know it was you who teleported me and the others here. If you wanted a piece of me, you should have just asked, there's enough of me to go around without you having to strap me against a chair in leather. Unless that's your sorta thing.

Vithana - Not towards sociopathic shits like you. You're saying the portal wasn't your doing and it was not our doing...

Vithana turned around and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingertips, sighing audiable in frustration.

Vithana - Again however...why did you tear up a perfectly prosperous CBD?-- You know what? Different question. That Kicath...thing you were fighting, do you two have issues with each other?
Kithanan - I dunno, why don't you ask him? He knows more about why he wanted to kill me than I do, although I wouldn't mind having another go at it.
Vithana - because...gah-- right now we don't know where he is.

Kithanan leaned his head back and laughed, bellowing throughout the room as if he found the situation at hand genuinely hilarious to him. After a few brief moments, his laughter became quieter although he still had an amused and humoured tone in his dark voice.

Kithanan - Oh you're so fucked! Well, not yet anyway, although once I get out of these straps I could change that for you.
Vithana - I'm sure even you can work out I am a hologram. I could be halfway across the galaxy for all you know.

Vithana stepped closer and leaned to the side of Kithanan's head, a sly smile spreading across her face.

Kithanan - But you aren't, are you? You're behind the glass with the rest of the freak show.
Vithana - Oh, I'm one of the freak show? Remember who lifted up a tank without the need for power armour or a strength-enhancing body glove.
Kithanan - Well ain't you got a pretty mouth on you. How about you stop trying to intimidate me and either tell me why and how I'm here or get down on your knees so I can serve you fresh, hot dinner.
Vithana - I want to know what that Kicath freak is, where he's going and I want to know how I can stop him. You're here because from your actions you are a certified walking disaster area along with him and possibly that Zazane. So basically you're here because you're too dangerous for normal society.
Kithanan - ...You're not the Imperium, are you? If you were, you would already know who I am. You'll have your questions answered but just tell me this; what is the current date and who do you work for?
Vithana - ID.219505 and if you can't tell, I'm a major of the Guardians of Light.
Kithanan - And we're in Andromeda, correct?
Vithana - Of course.

Vithana leaned backand folded her arms, her eyebrow lifted as she looked at him.

Vithana - And what makes you think being an Imperial would make me know who you were? What are you one of those erm...Kodathargo people?

Kithanan remained quiet for a moment, his grin disappearing for a brief few minutes. For once, it appeared as if he was engaged in thought, genuinely enthralled with the situation. His eyes looked towards Vithana once again.

Kithanan - ...I don't come from around here.
Vithana - Is that why you've been talking shit to me?
Kithanan - Oh, that. I talk shit to everybody, don't take it so personally sugar tits. But... I don't belong here, I don't come from here.
Vithana - I guessed. So tell me, who is the Kicath?
Kithanan - I don't know him. At least, not personally. He has a reputation, though, especially within the Corporation and the Syndicate after that spree of murders.
Vithana - We have a lot of corporations here, so you'd need to be more specific. Although though the fact he tried killing an army with some strange power of his did give me the hint he is some kind of mass-murderer.
Kithanan - I'm talking about the Corporation and the Syndicate that forms between now and ID.219605.
Vithana - So the man's a murderer, you realise he could withstand the Yrsalimarus rounds we gave him while you almost collapsed.
Kithanan - Make no mistake, bitch, it won't happen a second time, I assure you.

With that, the straps that held Kithanan down snapped audibly. Blood spat from the wounds inflicted upon his muscles and joints as he rushed forward from his seat, black energy emanating from his hand as he wrapped it around the ultra-realistic hologram's neck. Vithana did not struggle, she merely grinned smugly as she let Kithanan's hand wrap itself around her neck, she even let off a small cackle of her own, her features sharpening with the sinister feeling she was right.

Vithana - What, you think you can choke me to death? I don't have lungs like this, genius!

Kithanan's eyes became obscured and clouded once more with impossible blackness as his hand tightened; Vithana could feel a very strange, very threatening feeling as Kithanan's hand grew tighter. While her holographic form did not have lungs to suffocate... her physical form did. Kithanan cackled, more energy leaking from his hand. Vithana felt it, she began to squirm, the stimulus returning to the Hologram and Kithanan saw as she was now panicking, barely uttering "security!" between her gasping breaths. Kithanan leaned in, his eyes of emptiness glaring into hers as the latter seemed to be losing life, draining away from her with every second. His voice suddenly became more sinister, a dissonant echo accompanied a deeper version of his normal tone.

Kithanan - You challenge powers you have no idea of. Now, I believe it is my turn to answer questions, do you not think? Or do you not value that esophagus of yours?
Vithana - Wha--What do--you want?

Emerging from the wall were two spherical drones that hovered towards Kithanan, they remained there, threateningly poised ot strike but hovered there almost waiting for the command.

Kithanan - You're going to tell me how I came here, to this time. I was unaware that the AGC would become so advanced as to develop time travel technology if that is what you used.
Vithana - I--I don't--Know. S-some kind of--S-spacetime r-rift. It came--out of nowhere. I s-swear the Commonwealth d-did not do=-do this--gah--Intentionally!
Kithanan - Don't you lie. You're not in the position for lying.
Vithana - I swear b-by my Ancestors Kith--anan. I--I don't know where--the rift came from!
Kithanan - Tell me, Tanna'Vithana...are your superiors watching right now?

Vithana shakingly nodded, the drones hovered a little closer.

Kithanan - Any family or friends? Children to raise, husbands to feed?
Vithana - Th-that's...classified.
Kithanan - I'm going to take that as a no, Vithana! That means you're worthless to people thus not good enough to keep around!

Vithana shook her head, now reduced to tears as she struggled to escape Kithanan's grip. Kithanan spoke with a teasing tone, enjoying every moment he had of inflicting pain upon the woman.

Vithana - Please...I'm only following protocol!
Kithanan - I'll ask again; any friends or family that are close to you? Any children, spouses, siblings that you take care of?

Vithana nodded shyly, almost trying to hide it behind her suffering.

Kithanan - Details, Vithana, I want details.
Vithana - I--I can't s-say! I'm only following protocol you must understand!

Kithanan's grip tightened once more, his teeth pressurizing against sets as he effortlessly began to lift Vithana higher, provoking her further. Vithana struggled to speak as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Kithanan - Did you want to be a general, Vithana? Did you want to put your family and friends at risk by challenging me?
Vithana - P-please no more, just let me go!
Kithanan - Answer me, goddammit!
Vithana - If I tell you...W-would you--l-let me go?
Kithanan - Maybe, maybe not. What chance are you going to take? The one that can save your life and give you a chance to warn your family about a murderous Kicath demigod or the one where you die and I know everybody you care about?
Vithana - You wouldn't dare!
Kithanan - I don't know, would I? You're the judge. I don't mind killing you here and now, doesn't make a difference to me. Thing is, if you don't answer me you'll die nonetheless.

Soldiers armed with shock rifles burst into the room, at that moment, the drones jabbed him with shock poles. Disconnected from the major, there was little risk of her being electrocuted, the marines joined, shocking him with their own weapons. Kithanan dropped Vithana and roared, spreading his wings to throw off his assailants. Vithana proceeded to watch as a massacre of blood took place before her very eyes; what was once a confined chamber was now becoming a bloodbath at a shocking pace as soldiers were torn apart, dismembered and decapitated. Once Kithanan was done, he stepped in front of Vithana and glared down at her. as the hologram lay on the floor, mimicking her present position as she struggled to recover.

Kithanan - ...Go home, tell your friends and family that you love them, warn them to stay inside or move away, take temporary leave I don't care what your excuse is.

Vithana spent several minutes gasping, she had watched the entire scene in horror and nwo saw Kithanan stand over her, that feeling of insignificance washing over her as she did.

Vithana - You're not--leaving this station!
Kithanan - Don't try and stop me. I let you go for a reason, don't make me think twice otherwise you'll end up like the rest of the stains.

Vithana disabled the hologram and stood up, scowling at Kithanan though the mirror before running out of the room in disgust, pacing furiously to another section of the station as it was set into lockdown. He merely glanced back with a horrific smile, as if looking though the two-way mirror and into the darkened room she was hiding in. But not only did he decipher the mirror's purpose, his eyes locked onto her and trailed her as if he knew exactly where she was in the room.

The Swarm Comes

The Draconid Imperium had hundreds of outposts and research sites scattered across the Plazith Rim, remote locations either serving as listening posts, frontier research stations that probed the depths of the fabric of the universe desiring its understanding. Today however, one unlucky outpost was about to witness a nasty surprise.

Evron-Ceti was a binary system a few light-years from the Crab Nebula. While originally the observation post was maintained by client members of the Shellious Imperium, the Shellis-Alcanti agreement allowed for an influx of Royal Academy students into Shellious research posts. For the past three years this particular post had been operated by professor Serrimisal Actakana, a female Sankana dressed in the white jumpsuit of one of the academy's field scholars. One afternoon she was looking over reports when alarms sounded, sensors had picked up a spacetime rift forming on the planet's surface. The planet had little in the way of life, much of it was covered in scrub on rocky islands that jutted from alkaline seas. But there was life here, a pre-agricultural species that were able to drink the alkaline waters of the planet's oceans and consume dozens of varieties of seaborne plankton.

The spacetime disturbance opened out near one of the villages and within a few minutes bizarre chitinous creatures poured from it. Their armour was a sandy brown to match the dirt they scurried over, the swarm covering the village in a cloud of dust that radiated from them, far faster than they could swarm our, covering the planet's surface within minutes in a cloud of glittering dust.

More advanced sensors indicated the planet was undergoing a period of erosion not possible though natural means,s tripping mountains, scrubland and plains of features, the seas themselves began to drain. Serrimisal was unconcerned, her focus was drawn more to the fact the cloud had begun to rise above the planet's troposphere and into orbit, the cloud spreading as high up as the station. Seeing this, Serrimisal activated the shutters to protect the station, the dust hammered away at the station's EM shielding and at the defensive shielding, it was then that she realised this was no mere cloud of dust.

The dust continued to eat away at the shielding, some of it breaching and swarming the hull. Instead of swallowing the station, the dust made its way inside, flooding the decks, some of it assembling itself into insectoid creatures of silver and gold camouflage on their chitinous armour.

Serrimisal ran as fast as she could, flapping her wings to blow the dust away, she had forced open a cabinet containing an airburst shotgun. She held it tightly as she sprinted for one of the escape pods but that was when she was at her most vulnerable; out of nowhere a chitinous leg smacked her in the bak and sent her crashing ot the floor. Pumping the shotgun she fired at the attacker, it reeled back, a large metallic insectoid with two large wiry wings but something was different. She looked up to see a bird-like beak accompanied by clacking mandibles. Two armoured arms reached out and grabbed her, puling her close, the mandibles chattering causing her to panic, writing about in the insectoid's grip.

Serrimisal - G-get off. Let go now. Demand you!
Creature - You...you are of the quota. You will join. Or you will die.
Serrimisal - Urgh. Join waht. I not join under threat!
Creature - You will join. For safety. For extension. You will join as one.
Serrimisal - N-no! Will not!
Creature - JOIIIN!

The dust swirled around the two, seeping from the creature's body as it covered Serrimisal. She felt a burning pain, a sense of numbness, she squawked as the creature held her tightly, her body dissolving away into the dust. She was reduced to a kernel, a lump of material that fit inside the creature's armoured palm. A cavity in the creature's chest opened up, dissolving away as though it were made of wet sand before the creature placed the kernel inside, chattering happily. They did this to a few other personnel before they began to consume the station.

The planet below suffered worse, it began to shrink as it was gradually aten away, becoming a thick cloud of dust that seeped into the mantle. In orbit the dust was assembling something; hundreds of cocoons, thousands maybe, the dust climbing from the planet's surface and arranging itself to form these structures with now sat hovering over the equator a gradually shrinking planet. It could be days if not weeks before the planet was devoured entirely, a pre-spaceflight species snuffed out in the space of a few hours.

To Right the Wrongs of the Past

Nothing of our future is set is stone.

??? - So that is the period. The Antecedent.

A lonely radiant figure stared into the flaming orange sky of a devastated world from atop a demonic, claw-like crag, her heavenly radiance all the more bright set against the planet's hellish landscape. An eternal being which had long since abandoned the concepts of age and time, she was neverless brought to this particular period, compelled to investigate a particular chain of events that had transpired in this turbulent time. The extrauniversal stranger narrowed her eyes as they trekked through the charred rocks, blackened bones and dunes of ash: something among this ocean of chaos interested her, and shewanted to know what it was precisely. With a wave of her silvery hands, she descended onto one of the planet's many ruined cities, all while remaining in a meditative, half-lucid trance, as if while her body remained in this particular place and in this particular time, her mind was still anchored to a realm beyond our own, separated by thousands of parsecs and trillions of years. The figure stepped on the cracked asphalt, not caring about the pain her exposed body felt, and took a sample of the rock in her palm. A shadow of surprise appeared on her stoic face.

??? - Yes. It was there. That galaxy, that period. The Antecedent started there, - the being said, strangely speaking of the world she saw as of a distant place. Her eyes closed, and with barely moving lips she uttered a sacred tantrum in an strange tongue so alike and yet so unlike the languages of the modern Gigaquadrant, - Taikanum-nar-shaius. Brothers and sisters, come. Her call was answered with a melodic chant, and more ghostly figures appeared standing at her side. The largest of these figures, engulfed in blood red light, spoke telepathically to the one that called him in a severe and cold tone.

??? - So that is true, Auspex. It all began there.
Auspex - Indeed, Regnant. That is where it all started. That is the Antecedent which repercussions shake our time. Many timelines intertwined in that period, past and future. I believe that the reason for that was a rip in the fabric of reality... An anomaly caused by malignant entities.
Regnant - Very well. You, Aedifix and Oculus shall take care of that then. You know the Law. Observe the past, gather data about the anomalies... - Regnant's voice seemed even more devoid of feelings than usual - but do not interfere with our... ancestors.
Aedifix - But... we can change this. - although it was still evident that the third being's telepathical voice belonged to an advanced being, it also seemed to be more distressed and youthful and those of his comrades - destroying these anomalies is within our power. I suggest eliminating the-
Regnant - The consequences will be most dire, Aedifix. I hope you understand that.
Aedifix - Of... of course.

Who were these creatures? Where and when did they come from? What goal or purpose they seek to achieve in our universe?

Nobody knew.

Leave Borealis, and Never Return

Out in the Borealis Galaxy, in deep space, a time anomaly appeared, this one taking the form of a black hole. The dangerous temporal energy it would emit would wreck havoc to space around it, and it would grow...though the Junction didn't seem to care. A silver Junction Planet Fortress appeared, floating around, almost the same size as the hole itself, vaccuuming energy. This was brought to the attention of The Mechanic...

• The Mechanic - Hey, hey, silver Planet Fortress dudes! Hey, how y'all doing here? Just popping in to give you a little reminder that the black hole you're harvesting there, ain't the safe sort. I'm just reminding you that you are quite possibly endangering the galaxy you inhbait just by looking at it.

To the Mechanic appeared a screen which appeared as nothing but static. Through it, a voice spoke, much more eloquent than any Junction drone.

• Alfabusium - Well, if it's not the leader of the Grox. Why are you here? Finders keepers, sir, so leave this area.
• The Mechanic - As I stated, I'm here to let you know you're putting the entire galaxy in danger. And I'm here to ask you kindly to stop.
• Alfabusium - How rude. All we want is to harvest some energy. Is that asking too much now?
• The Mechanic - I...thought beings of such a high state of power would understand this. I don't have to explain to you why the energy is dangerous now, do I?
• Alfabusium - You should know higher beings such as me have no regard for your mass of stars. I will harvest the energy if I want. You cannot order me around.
• The Mechanic - He-he-hey...urm...don't cha think that's a little...urm...selfish?

Alfabusium let out a hearty laugh.

• Alfabusium - It is, indeed. And I don't care. Leave.

• ??? - I hardly think it's your job, Alfabusium, to tell the Mechanic to leave. That's my job. Oh, it's also my job to tell YOU to leave as well!
• Alfabusium - ...Excuse me?

Displaying now on screen in transmission format, Zelfron appeared, looking more evil and confident than ever, and laughing, mockingly. He had now become godlike, in the exact same way that Gratz'kaoz had before. And right behind him was an enormous fleet of ships from the Dominion of the Xhodocto, all clearly pointing squarely at the Junction, seeming bloodthirsty.

• Zelfron - The Dominion has claimed ownership of all these time anomalies, as need I remind you, that we directly control them. Leave.

Alfabusium's screen changed into a blackened static, and his voice changed into a boomic, electronic tone.

• Alfabusium - Xhodocto aligned. Initiate protocol. Prepare for suppression.

Zelfron laughed more, as the fleet grew in numbers. He then also grew in size. While, unlike Gratz'kaoz, his appearance hadn't changed significantly as a result of his new godly power, clearly his position had.

• Zelfron - DECLARING WAR ON US? THAT'S CUTE. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO DIE? AND BECOME HISTORY?
• Alfabusium - The Junction does not die. You will become part of us.

The Junction fleet prepared to engage Zelfron's fleet. However, suddenly, forces began teleporting inside Alfabusium's spaceship and attacking it. Leading it was a shadowed being with flaring red eyes, with an avian build. Launching powerful blasts of energy around, he destroyed entire armies of synths, and in a matter of a few minutes, he had littered a mountain of corpses on his path.

And then, the being stood at the top, and let out a roar, thirsting for battle.

• Arberkul - Death...made me...ANGRY!

Zelfron's laugh was even more menacing. The godliness had affect him too; he was like a chessmaster, orchestrating his new weapons of war and clearly abusing his power.

• Zelfron - YOU SEE, BUGS? WE DO NOT BECOME PART OF YOU, YOU BECOME PART OF US. PART OF THE LOST IN TIME!!!!
• Alfabusium - Infrastructure damaged. Repairs. Retreat. Retreat. Retreat.
• Zelfron - NO. DO NOT REPAIR. YOU WILL FADE INTO OBSCURITY. AND MAYBE AN ANOMALY IN TIME WILL BRING YOU BACK. ME AND ARBKERUL, WE HAVE BOTH RETURNED FROM THE DEAD...AND BOY IS IT FUN.

Alfabusium's fleet teleported away from sight. Arberkul returned to Zelfron's ship, appearing by his side.

• Arberkul - Cowards run away! I am not satiated!

Zelfron laughed maniacally, once more, spat, and turned to Arberkul.

• Zelfron - They are part of our experiment now. We shall see how cruel or kind time will be to them. See if they shall be remembered. We shall attack them with our fleet that forced them to flee. Need I remind you who it was who destroyed the rest of their territories?
• Arberkul - It was the masters...and we will destroy what remains of them ourselves!
• Zelfron - YES! WE SHALL! AND THEY WILL FADE TO OBSCURITY...AND THEN OUR OTHER MASTERS SHALL JUDGE THEM. THE TIMES!

---

Around an hour later, The Mechanic picked up a signal. The Dominion fleet was heading straight for the Junction's territory. As much as he didn't trust them, the Mechanic was fully aware of what the galaxy would lose if they were destroyed, and definitely did not want that scenario to come about. But he knew the Junction could not take this on alone. So he contacted them...

• The Mechanic - You guys seen that fleet heading straight for ya?
• Alfabusium - Are you here to mock me, Caretaker? The old enemy has returned, and we are in danger, for the first time in a while.
• The Mechanic - No, I'm not mocking anyone. I'm concerned as well. But hey, you want to be safe here, right?
• Alfabusium - This is not our only territory, though it is our most important.
• The Mechanic - Well...we're not interested in a Dominion fleet destroying our galaxy either, really. We should fight them together.
• Alfabusium - Relying on outsiders for help...disgusting.
• The Mechanic - Well, don't see it that way. See it as getting a chance to get revenge on the old enemy.
• Alfabusium - I suppose. We do have a mutual objective, after all. And our fleets combined would be next to unstoppable.

It wasn't an alliance, nor was it really friendship. But it was a start. And it was at least enough to deal with Zelfron and Arberkul's fleets.

Combined, their fleets were monsters. The Grox' giant armadas, the Alvino ships, and the Junction Planet Fortresses combined were almost unstoppable. The Junction' mastery of Dark energy, and the Grox' mastery of Essence, and their combined mastery of technology beyond the comprehension of anyone else in Borealis made them a formidable force. The Dominion, no matter how powerful, were in for a hell of a fight...

---

Shots fired, quite literally. The monstrous combined fleets took on the massive horde that was the Dominion fleet. Any normal space battle between fleets of Borealis was suddenly dwarfed by the chaos that was this one. Beams of light fired from both sides, explosions everywhere. In the space between them, there was now only debris, rubble, and more destruction. Nothing said 'no-go zone' like this battlefield over a Junction world. And Zelfron himself had not seen this coming.

• Zelfron - Since when did they join forces? And how long have they been allies for?
• Arbkerul - They are not...I was informed they were not!

Zelfron turned to Arberkul, clearly frustrated.

• Zelfron - Did time make you blind as it made you dead? The fleets are working TOGETHER.

Arberkul hid his frustration. While inferior, it was clear that Zelfron was not technically his master.

• Arberkul - It may be a temporal alliance. But they are not allies.

He was about to say, "did time make you stupid and illogical" in response, though refrained from saying it. Zelfron was aware that he would say it in one possible future, but the decision to refrain from saying it made Zelfron somewhat forgive him.

• Zelfron - You might need to leave this ship. I will go out and fight.

Zelfron was then off, leaving Arberkul behind on his capital ship, which despite its shielding technology, was going down fast.

---

Charging head strong into the Grox and Junction fleet, the godlike Zelfron cruhsed almost everything in his path. While the larger cruisers would not go down to him easily, he could easily smash the smaller ones in mere seconds. Either by spearing through them, or just picking them up, telepathically, and crushing them.

But it wouldn't last for long. An Essence blast from a Grox ship slowed him in time. Before he could react, to speed himself up, a Junction ship clamped down, locking the space around him, using Dark energy. A few blasts from their ships more, and it seemed to destroy Zelfron.

The immediate response was a Dominion retreat. Any ship not yet decimated would now know not to return to Borealis.

---

• The Mechanic - That was some fancy shooting, Junction. Nice one.
• Alfabusium - Enemy defeated. Assimilate remains. Repair dama...sorry, what did you say?
• The Mechanic - Well, I said, nice one. Couldn't have done it better myself.

Alfabusium paused. He didn't want to admit he felt somewhat flattered by the compliment, nor was he really used to social interaction. So he continued:

• Alfabusium - Everything is complete here. You may now leave our territory.
• The Mechanic - Yeah. You're free to use all the energy you took from the time anomaly, but I'm sorry to say that we had to freeze that location in a quarantine, until we figure out how to stop the anomaly.
• Alfabusium - So be it. We are not interested in facing the old enemy again, either.
• The Mechanic - I guess that's all. Unless, do you think Zelfron really died?
• Alfabusium - If he did not, we will assimilate him.

---

Doom Reigns

Return of the Congregation

---

A Congregation Cruisers faces the Enterprise

After the USS Enterprise-A encountered Helo Roslia who just returned from a dangerous adventures from the future, the troubles for captain Jambes Rambo and his crew had begun. During a sensor sweep, an anomaly revealed itself- this time due to events in the Ice Age when Gratz'kaoz used the Vyro'Narza's Time Secrets. In front of the Enterprise a wormhole opened itself, with a lone ship exiting it, one of the most feared and dangerous cruisers ever encountered by the Rambo Navy, a black colored cruiser belonging to the Congregation!

• James: "What in the name of Artmyris is going on?"
• Jolene: "I-i am not sure sir? Readings are of the scale!"
• James: "I am not interessted in what you don't know lt. Adams!"
• Hannity: "A ship is coming through sir! A massive one at that!"

James and his bridge crew looked at the wormhole in front of them and the ship exiting it. The massive ship had black spirals, looked like a nightmare coming alive! A deadly silence fell upon the bridge, as more and more of the massive ship emerged from the wormhole.

• Jolene: "Captain, database recognises the ship as, as a- oh! Impossible!"
• James: "What is it science officer!"
• Jolene: "It's, it's a Congregation cruiser! First encountered during the Tigris War!"!

James looked in horror at the black ship, ever since the Xhodocto defeated the Rambo strongholds in the Tigris Galaxy no Rambo officer even encountered the Congregations again. Protocol was simple, inform Rambo Command and haul yourself, your crew and ship to safety. Yeoman E'Leana, the half humanoids/Caizini gave James a datapad about the Congregation.

• James: "Helm, raise shields and target weapons. Prepare an evasive course to get us..."
• Hannity: "Incoming fire!"

Enterprise boarded by Congregation forces!

Before the captain could call for a "brace for impact" the underside of the Enterprise was rocketed by incoming fire, vaporising shields and damaging the outer hull the Enterprise was left defenseless against the menacing Congregation cruiser. As the shields fell, the cruiser unleashed it's boarding parties upon the Enterprise.

The Congregation forces, Kruhda and Sentinels swarmed the hallways of the proud Rambo ship. The crew fought valiantly to repel the invaders, but were forced to give ground to the Congregation forces. By miracle, none of the crew was actually killed by the invaders, somehow the invaders were more interessted in dowloading data from the computer systems of the Enterprise. As the invaders fought the crew, the Congregation Cruiser contintued to open fire, while the bridge crew tried to avoid incoming fire as much as possible, the Enterprise was hit severly by enemy fire. In one of the hallways, Tania, Yudran and Windsor were surrounded by the enemy forces. While the Krudha came nearer, Tania and Yudran looked in disgust at the menacing creatures, for them coming straight from a nightmare. All three feared they would be killed by the enemy forces, but suddenly the creatures returned to the Congregation cruiser, wich had stopped firing and was shimmering from excistance while still in the wormhole.

At the bridge, Captain James Rambo didn't hesistate and ordered Walter to take the Enterprise as far as possible from the Congregation cruiser and return to the Rambo Capital for repairs and to inform Rambo Command of an impending return of the Congregation. As the Enterprise jumped into warp, the Congregation cruiser remained at it's position. It had stopped firing as the managed to dowload data from the Enterprise, indicating the Congregation Cruiser was in a differant timeframe, over 20 years into the future!

The Girl, the Flowers, the Keltsa

The time anomalies had spread now to other points in time. It was becoming less and less predictable as time went on, and of course, more and more catostrophic. A Corruptus army, pulled straight from the Second War of Black Fog, were now attacking planets from god knows what timeline. And the huge hordes of Kikras were now fighting in parts of Andromeda that hadn't been touched by the war.

Upon one such world that found itself touched by the taint of Kikra claws, people screamed and ran for their lives but were swiftly cut down and massacred by the demonic ferals. As they devoured the flesh of innocent bystanders and unsuspecting civilians, they all felt the ominous presence of something they had not encountered before. Standing before the brunt of their army, a rianth of lagomorphic qualities, holding a katana in his grips and sported narrowed eyes.

• Hachiman - You again.
• Loron'Kikra - SHANK DIS RABBIT GEEZA

The hundreds of Zazane, Grimbolsaurian, Radeon and Loron Kikras charged towards the rianth warrior. Hachiman let out a deep sigh, manifesting as an essence similar to cold breath, and refused to step forward. The Kikras charged him, they pushed forward into the flurry of multidirectional slices and slashes which tore them apart, reducing many of them to what could be recognized as paste.

• Hachiman - Didn't you learn anything last time? Get lost.
• Radeon'Kikra - Last time? By which you mean the First Fog War? Our master is far stronger now!
• Hachiman - Heh, you must have forgotten what I did to Marigrax. Well, allow me to remind you as I seperate your joints from your limbs.

Hachiman continued to tear apart the Kikras as they charged him mindlessly, his sword glowing with white energies that incinerated the demonic flesh of his enemies even before it touched them. A distasteful expression was worn across his face as his fur became stained with their Entropic blood. The hordes of Kikra grew stronger, and far more numerous. But as they were mere anomalies, they were endless. It was becoming clearer that Hachiman would not be able to fight.

And then, another army of Kikra appeared behind the proud warrior standing his ground, and they, like their other Corruptus cousins, were out for his blood. While Hachiman could tear apart armies with but mere slashes of his blade, it was becoming increasingly evident that the swarming tactics, if one could call them that, of the Corruptus began to overwhelm him. He held his ground well, the hours became lost in Corruptus blood. Alas, Hachiman's attention began to wane as he saw innocents take their chance to escape while the demons were distracted.

Another Loron'Kikra appeared...it was the Gratz'kaoz Kikra, from the Fog War. He broke free of his chains, and hit Hachiman in the back of the head hard.

• Gratz'kaoz Kikra - ill fucking wreck yoo

The slam caused Hachiman to be flung from the floor and thrown through the air. As he was knocked off his feet, the rianth warrior took one last opportunity and allowed a sharp ribbon of Dream Energy to flow from the blade of his katana, splitting the Kikra in half vertically. Hachiman fell to the ground, his eyes struggling to remain open. Instead of an engulfing darkness, he saw an embracing light - a side effect of his control of the energy of dreams - and decided that he must rest, seemingly oblivious to the hordes that surrounded him. He shut his eyes and gasped, falling into unconscious.

---

Much later, Hachiman found himself...somewhere incredibly different. He was laying on grass, still wounded and tired from battle. There was nothing to hear but the sound of silence, nothing to smell but the plants, or maybe whatever beetles lived here. He then heard the footsteps of a girl approaching him, and her soft voice spoke:

• ??? - Are you alright?

His eyes fluttered open. He would have sat up but the smell of the fresh grass enticed him to stay laying. He let out a deep exhale, again manifesting as a cold breath of essence, and decided to keep his eyes to the sky above, keeping his movement minimal so as to not evoke any injury further.

• Hachiman - A little tired, I guess. Nothing I can't... deal with... Where am I?

The girl smiled cutely. When he looked at her, she was very humanoid, and had rabbit-like ears and fur.

• ??? - This is the place where everything grows. Come on, don't tell me you've never heard of here before!

Hachiman saw her stand over him and felt both mildly curious and somewhat relieved. He smiled as she did and stayed laying down, regaining his touch with his senses; he could feel the mild breeze pass through his fur, he could feel the strands of grass between his toes, the beetle that rested upon his nose.

• Hachiman - Can't say I have, miss. This is very unexpected... but not unwelcome in any sense.
• ??? - What's your name?
• Hachiman - Hachi. Everybody calls me Hachi. Mind telling me yours, miss?
• ??? - I'm called Reiko around here. My name doesn't really mean much.

She then sat by a bench nearby, and invited him to come over. Standing up, Hachiman took gentle steps, trying not to rush. He took the chance to take a good look at her; her face was cute, her chest was admirable. He sat beside her, not bothered by the sudden transition in surroundings.

• Hachiman - I dunno, your name may mean something to somebody to out there, surely.
• Reiko - Oh, I'm sure it does. I've no idea. How did you get here? I just saw you come out of some portal. What planet are you from? Are you from this galaxy?
• Hachiman - Earth. At least I think I'm from Earth, if you've ever heard of it. As for the galaxy, I suppose you'd hear it be called the Plazith Rim. What planet is this?
• Reiko - I've...never heard of either of those at all. This is planet Kazuna, in the Qaryik galaxy. I don't like it here, it's dangerous. So I often come and look after this place, because where the plants grow, I can forget about everything else going on.
• Hachiman - Kazuna, Qaryik? Heh, can't say I've heard of either of those. I must be a real strange guy to you, quite a stranger.
• Reiko - Yeah. It's not often you see someone fall out of a portal in the sky, hehe.
• Hachiman - Heh, should consider myself lucky. Out of all the places in existence, I landed here. Though if it was my choice, I'd make just a tiny change.
• Reiko - Oh? What's that?
• Hachiman - I would have landed a little closer.

Hachiman turned to her as he spoke and exchanged a shy smile, blush flaring across his cheeks. Reiko couldn't help but blush as well, and giggled. She then sighed.

• Reiko - Since the Scourge, things have gotten pretty bad around here. The Keltsa are becoming stricter, and more bitter.
• Hachiman - The Scourge? Keltsa? There hasn't been a Scourge for at least a decade or two.

Reiko laughed, in a cute way.

• Reiko - Come on, everyone knows the Keltsa! You know, big godlike beings who show up in every planet?
• Hachiman - I... I can't say I do. Godlike, they sound similar to the Xhodocto.

Hachiman appeared confused, taking a moment to think to himself. She spoke in terms that were alien to him, it began to arouse his suspicion.

• Reiko - No, no, not like them. Come on...you must know why the laws have suddenly become stricter...don't you at least remember the day when a curfew was placed over every planet in the galaxy with no reason given? That was because the Keltsa were jealous. They wanted to be the next Xol'Etra godrace, but they lost to some people from another universe. 'Krassio' or something. And they gave us all shit for it? Remember?
• Hachiman - ...Krassio? Another... universe? ...Krassio is a term we use where I come from, as is Xol'Etra.

Reiko's cute smile changed to surprise.

• Reiko - ...Please don't pull my leg. I may look cute, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid.
• Hachiman - No, no, honest! I wish I was joking... You do look cute though.

Reiko stared harder at him. Soon, she realised that, despite their shocking similarities, they were not in fact of the same race. And then she started to believe him.

• Reiko - ...So you're from the universe where the Krassio are from?
• Hachiman - Yeah, where I'm from, Krassio are native. They're considered heroes for what one of them did to the Xhodocto. Master Kroc, I think his name was.
• Reiko - Interesting...

Reiko smiled cutely to herself again, then turned back.

• Reiko - The Keltsa are kinda like that. They're a race of giant floating bubbles which happen to also be the most intelligent beings in this universe. They were scientists who eventually discovered some principles of Chaos, and the Xhodocto didn't like that, so they've tried to destroy us since. When they brought about their regular Scourge, the Keltsa saved us. They are really strict, and life is hard...but we owe a lot to them.

Hachiman leaned back, his confused expression changing to reflect more laxed emotions. He wasn't panicked nor alarmed at the situation, but just curious. Interested, with more than just the conversation.

• Reiko - And then there are these other godraces. They're called the Taldar and the Verezaph. And the Keltsa learned how to communicate with them. Of course, no one's ever seen a Taldar. Or a Verezaph. But we've all heard stories about them.
• Hachiman' - Wow, you sure are up to date with it all. Where I'm from, everybody seeks to forget about the Scourge or are unable to remember it. It was the Vi'Navitum that saved my universe - big bird things that represent the aspects of life. They protected us with humongous arcs. Oh and... I've seen a Taldar, met one in fact. She was beautiful, a goddess even by her people's standards.
• Reiko - Yeah, Vi'Navitum, that's what they call the Verezaph...

She suddenly changed her smiling expression to another one of shock, but a different kind of shock. An amazement, kind of admiration.

• Reiko - You met...Volzara in person?!
• Hachiman - Mhmm, she rewarded me... us, my allies, for saving the universe from a monster called Zargoth. Saved her from him, too. Heh, she was... astonishing. An incarnation of beauty itself.
• Reiko - Wow, I've always dreamed of meeting Volzara! I haven't dreamed of meeting Zargoth, though. The Keltsa say he's pretty menacing. But they've saved us from Scourges, I'm sure they can save us from him.

And of course, she soon became more interested in him, preferring not to think of the world she lived in.

• Reiko - So, tell me about yourself. Who are you in your universe? What species are you?
• Hachiman - I'm... human, sort of. Humans, they're like... ape people, but no fur. I'm kind of a... well, a mutant. A "rianth", as we're commonly called. And who am I in my universe? I'm... a hero, I guess. I slay demons, I save a galaxy or two every fortnight, vanquish a demigod every once in a while. But that's boring talk.
• Reiko - Wow, that's neat. They say there are no heroes here anymore. All killed in wars, by the Xhodocto, executed for standing against the Keltsa...
• Hachiman - What about you? What do you do? You don't look like a soldier, not with that sweet face of yours.

She blushed and giggled slightly, then went on:

• Reiko - I don't really do much. I'm a student, in fact. 31 year old student. I'm training to be a journalist soon though.
• Hachiman - Heh. 31, eh? The years have been kind to you, over three decades old and your fur still looks as fresh as velvet silk.
• Reiko - That's not too uncommon here, actually. We live for hundreds of years. I'm barely an adult. If the Keltsa let you live, they let you live for a reason, and that means they'll let you live for a long time...
• Hachiman - Is that so? Heh, the Keltsa are smart. You know, it's funny; when I saw Volzara, I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And when I look at you, I see her. It's almost as if she was sitting right beside me.
• Reiko - Aww...

She smiled once more, even brighter, and blushed.

• Reiko - It's not everyday you meet a cute guy who says that to you.
• Hachiman - Hehe, is it every day that a cute guy just falls out of the sky in front of you?
• Reiko - Right here? Of course not. Hardly anyone knows about this place but me. Or has time to come here.
• Hachiman - Well, I'll make time to come here as long as you can. I like it, peaceful, serene. Tranquil. It's beautiful. I'd most certainly enjoy seeing more. And the place is nice too.
• Reiko - Oh yeah, it is. The place where everything grows. Not many other places like this.

Suddenly, she felt something grasp ahold of her hand gently, with a delicate touch. Hachiman leaned over and placed his other hand upon her cheek, planting a kiss upon her nose.

• Hachiman - You know I can't stay, don't you?
• Reiko - Aww...c'mon! Just a bit longer?
• Hachiman - Well... how much longer did you have in mind?

Hachiman gave a cheeky and suggestive smile, pressing his nose softly to hers. His eyes glimmered handsomely, sparkling with passive Dream Energy, causing his irises to transition between golds, white and purples. Reiko looked extremely surprised, if not shocked.

• Reiko - You can use Essence here too?!
• Hachiman - Of course! My Essence isn't just anything standard, it's... well, there's no easy way to say it. It derives from the dreams of those across the universe, whichever one I'm in.

But then Hachiman noticed her facial expression did not display a pleasant surprise.

• Reiko - You need to stop...you'll be hunted down here.

And as if on cue, a large, floating creature that Hachi recognised as looking rather like a jellyfish flew hovered over, and he was suddenly lifted from the bench telepathically and stunned, made to look at it. Hachiman cringed as he viewed the jellyfish creature, grunting as he was held within its grasp.

• Reiko - It's a Keltsa!

Keltsa - You have violated laws #594 which state you must not use Essence, and law #968 which claims you may not live unless you are registered and can confirm your existence and identity. Explain yourself, or face termination.

• Hachiman - Urgh... Hachiman Shin-Ha of Earth! Rianth, human. I know nothing of your laws nor do I know anything about your or this place, I'm not from here in case you haven't guessed. Foreign, alien.
• Keltsa - ...Not from this dimension, it seems.

Hachiman was then released, as he fell to the floor right beside Reiko. Hachiman stood and shook his body, feeling somewhat violated by the creature's touch. He had obviously been watching too much hentai.

• Keltsa - You are not permitted here for longer than 75 time units without registration. You have exceeded this limit. You will be returned to your universe, or terminated.
• Hachiman - Give me a moment, you big... squiggly... fishy thing. I'm just finishing up some business, I'll be gone soon.

The Keltsa closed in, and then opened up a portal.

• Keltsa - Pass through or face termination.

Hachiman turned to Reiko for a moment and passed a wink, infused with Essence. As he did, her chest felt bizarre, but not in a bad way; warm, comforting.

• Hachiman - I'll come back, miss Reiko. I'll be back as soon as possible. I won't forget you, I promise. You're too beautiful to forget.

Reiko smiled, and waved again.

• Reiko - Please do visit sometime. I'll be right here.
• Keltsa - You wish for the alternative?

Hachiman passed a wave and grunted as he turned back to the Keltsa. He gave a displeased look and leaned in, his eyes flaring with Dream Energy before he spat in the creature's face.

• Hachiman - Learn some manners, where I'm from your attitude would get you killed.

Before the Keltsa could react to Hachiman's claim, the rianth walked through the portal with a satisfied look upon his face, although inside he felt sad that he could not spend more time with the girl beyond the anomalies.

The portal behind him instantly closed. It seemed the Keltsa were good enough to make a portal leading directly to his home, at least. But what had been on the other side of the portal would have a lasting effect on Hachi's life forever...and he had one hell of a story to tell.

Future's tense

A Legacy future of the The Civilisation

They said it could never be done in an expanding universe. That life would perish with all of matter, that the universe would expand forever lifeless and empty.

A mere human once contemplated whether consciousness will be an eternal property of the universe. He found that certain types of computation could be achieved in a collapsing universe. As it collapsed into an infinite moar, minds could achieve ever faster computations, shrinking an infinite sequence of steps into ever smaller finite volumes. Consciousness could exist without limit. But all the physical indications pointed to an expanding universe. The universe would never achieve it's grand moment of realisation.

Within the unknown between existence and non-existence, bad dreams lurked. But nihilism was itself a only a concept, and every system of thought is self-limiting. The universe expanded, life adapted and intelligence progressed. It is a law of nature that systems reach critical points of complexity, enough to render another environment within itself. One such system were the replicators, which possessed the ability to evolve all possible sequences within an environment, leading the emergents such as living organisms that could live in other possible environments. These organisms too given sufficient time could emerge into ever greater complexities, some evolving universal language, capable of embodying all possible words. But language created a whole new environment with mind, capable of rendering all possible ideas. The ideas allowed for the existence of technology, the ability to change all possible environments. Emergence continued even on from there, on world after world, even meeting on occasion forming endosymbiotic alliances. Knowledge progress continued on, beyond even consciousness itself. As matter itself dwindled while the universe grew old, the emergent knowledge creators harnessed the very expansion of the universe: dark energy, using it to compute unbounded sequences of steps. Finally intelligence grasped control of all forces, and the universe woke up to it's grand moment.

But understanding itself was not without limit. There would always be flaws of uncertainty in nature, but this was not a problem as limits defined the very structure of being. But one flaw stood out from the rest: it was growing like a cancer, squashing every postulate and refutation ever conceived with temporal fallacy.

---

On-board the Bishop Ring designated by the Apalos as a research station, a message was intercepted from the AI Netspace. A rather diminutive looking being with goggles for eyes hesitantly answered the call for the director, and seemed to yelp. "I... It's subroutine avatar of the Heterogeneousness."
The Heterogeneousness was an Emergent Intelligence that appeared in The Civilisation's infrastructure, that has chosen to use a star's magnetic fields to house minds, with the goal of creating a new kind of being that was made up of every intelligent species in the universe in order to intuitively grasp every kind of problem solving.
Commander Jazzaroth's avatar coalesced out of the plasma soup of the star's surface, the acoustic chatter of a million sentients seem to grasp out for his Grimbolsaurian form, wanting it back, the star sighed. But he knew he was needed by his old friends and life.
Through hyperspatial beaming, his avatar was already on the Bishop Ring. The recipient seemed to want to bow before the Technoospheric Lord. "Thank you, Wheskel Grimboly", and the nervous looking man seemed to relax presented by a humanoid form. "It has come for the Onuris council to convene again, the Grox Meta-Emperor has an important message from the future."

<Incomplete, SSA dialogue coming soon>

Representatives of the Onuris Alliance, and many other powerful empires from across the universe met at Plazith Rim Cooperative, set before the location of the Grox Meta-Emperor. The black hole AI and the loyal Meta-Empire was surrounded by polities of the AI Netspace, protecting intrusion from both outsiders and the Emperor.

Set in a grand hall alien in architecture, the Onuris representatives were positioned in the middle. Between them was a voicebox, presumably translating the AI. The voice filled the room, almost broken as messages were strained by the gravitational well of the black hole.
"There is a chain of retro-causal changes emanating from a future. It claims to be the best of all possible worlds."
"Where have I heard this before?" one figure from the DCP mentioned, with that, Jazzaroth decided to take over.
"We are not exempt of this causal root. The Ultraterrestrial claims to have information on the temporal anomalies discovered by the Apalos and Polar Crystal Alliance."
The heckler asked "Then what is required of us? Why should we care what someone from another universe wants?"
Jazzaroth replied; "The rifts in time have appeared all across the multiverse, thus we must leave behind parochial notions of our history. The anomalies absolutely need fixing, the Apalos have already been gathering resources to travel to the past."

A soft voice, obviously from Cephalodian, came from behind, some Onuris representatives swung around, surprised by the presence of a pacifist in a military conference. "Pardon me sir, while I do not question the possibility of time travel, from what many physicists agree, it is utterly useless for the time travelling agency. We already know there is a multiplicity of histories, any time traveler who goes to the past and changes something will inevitably end up in a different history."

A human representative spoke; "But your species has traveled to the past on a quest for your beloved Cosmospawn."
"Actually... We didn't, I am Captain Guupiru by the way. Your physicists discovered in the 21st century that entangled pairs of particles that pop into existence outside black holes remain in contact even when one of the pair falls in. The escaped particle contains all the information necessary to read off the entire history of the black hole. We used a cosmic string that formed early in the universe's history, they share a similarity to black holes but have a conical geometry, so we merely compressed the emitted radiation into a quantum computer and created a virtual rendering of the time we wanted to visit. As the universe was incredibly simple, we avoided intractable computational complexities and found our Cosmospawn!"
"Time travel is indeed rare because of this belief, one which is enforced by the fact most time travellers vanish, and those who do return are believed to be coming from duplicate histories. With this in mind, we cannot be certain any knowledge or changes we make from going to the past will be useful to us." Commander Jazzaroth

There was a pause, but then the Apalos decided to speak, explaining that changes to the past are possible. Usually apparent physical paradoxes are walled off by the event horizons of black holes, or separated by spacelike infinity, or even swing the time travellers into a new future. But occasionally when causal violations occur on a closed timelike curve, they are inherently unstable, the nature conserves itself by finding the most desirable configuration of events if done correctly, of course. The Apalos concluded that they may require support from the Onuris Alliance if the conference of races vote on time travel.
Warlord Kilnok seemed relieved. He had traveled to the past by accident, and had never been sure he was in the right universe. After a short break, the deliberation continued.

• Commander Jazzaroth - Are there any more causal anomalies we should be aware of?
  
• Apalos - There is one of great importance. It is not intrinsically significant, however, its destination is potentially highly dangerous.
  
• Ramcard - I am here at request of my friend and battle comrade, Warlord Kilnok. The Rambo are hesitant to join this, and as such I am allowed as Vice-Admiral to decide whether or not the Rambo want to act. But I can tell you one of our main reasons the Rambo were going to wish to present here, as a ship of us encountered an anomaly from the past and revealed the return of the Congregation.
  
• Apalos - Indeed. This anomaly leads into the darkest hours of the Tigris War.
  

Jazzaroth looked surprised, while Grand Admiral Carandial's interest was piqued.

• Jerkon - The Tigris War. That was when it all started.
  
• Exec. Admiral Olassa Vaneticus - Such a dark period...
  
• Ramcard - The Rambo ship managed to escape; now the cruiser sits still. Rambo Command feels to destroy it as soon as possible, but we do not have the resources nor the fire power for it.
  
• Commander Jazzaroth - If the old Congregation make their way to the modern era... what would be the consequences of them meeting the Deathmarch?
  
• Apalos - It is the opposite situation that we are concerned about. We have no evidence that the Dominion of the Xhodocto is aware of this anomaly, but if they are, it is highly likely that they will plan to take advantage of it, sending their superior forces back in time to turn the Tigris War entirely in the Congregation's favour.
  
• Olassa - With permission I have contacts in the Grand Inquisition; a few of their operatives are rumoured to be veterans against the Congregation.
  
• Warlord Kilnok - I agree with both the Apalos and Jazzaroth. If our times are bridged, we will be in fatal danger nonetheless.
  
• Carandial - The Dominion must not be given such an opportunity. Who knows what damage it could cause?
  
• Apalos - Oh, we know what damage it could cause. We would all be erased from history.
  
• Jerkon - We have suffered enough on their hands. It must be stopped immediately.
  
• Olassa - The Imperial Talon Navy shall stand by any endeavour to stop this incursion!
  
• Ramcard - But how to deal with these anomalies? Many of us do not have the resources nor the fleets anymore like in the time of the Tigris War. Plus, we might add that our once proud alliances are, eh how to call it properly. Fragile among some of us.
  
• Apalos - We intend to fix this anomaly at the earliest available opportunity, however, our fleets are stretched thin across time and space. We simply need help in order to ensure that none of the Xhodocto's followers - past, present, or indeed future - can stop us.
  
• Warlord Kilnok - Indeed, I will devote my personal fleet to help you.
  

Ramcard crossed his arms before his chest. Sighing, he wondered where the discussion was going to lead. Meanwhile, one of the DCP commanders, Brorsk, slammed his fist, thinking "Don't you people see the opportunity?"

• Carandial - Hm, very well. I will commit my flagship, the Empirical, as well as five Star Destroyers, to aid you in this matter.
  
• Jerkon - The Indoctrinate Collective's Royal Guard will aid us.
  
• Olassa - Hah. Only five Star Destroyers? I think you underestimate the threat, Basileus.
  
• Carandial - We shall see.
  
• Jerkon - Of course he does. It will bite him back on his rear eventually.
  
• Carandial - Your diplomatic skills are truly impressive. You should be thankful we are aiding you at all.
  
• Olassa - I will be willing to supply three battlefleets of the Imperial Talon Navy, including our new cutting-edge vessels. The Tigris War was a nightmare; even if the effects do not transfer to this timeline, it will be an honour to save allied lives from such a terrible fate in the past.
  
• Captain Guupiru - No! There will be no more killing from your fleets!
  
• Carandial - Precisely. Throwing fleets at the problem won't do.
  
• Olassa - The last time the Imperial Talon Navy encountered the source of time anomalies such as this, it was something beyond this plane of existence. Pardon the superstition.
  
• Apalos - We fully intend to get to the bottom of the problem. However, if the Congregation retroactively wins the Tigris War, then we will not be able to.
  
• Grox Meta-Emperor - We are required to fix the chain of retro-causal changes. If we do not take control of the anomalies, they will control us.
  
• Olassa - "Throwing fleets at the problem" may not work for securing the time anomalies, but it will work for keeping the Congregation from crossing over. Is that not our more immediate concern?
  
• Warlord Kilnok - We need to provide cover for the Apalos, but we cannot discover the origin of these problems without helping them.

Apalos decided that it was time to return order to the assembly.

• Apalos - Shall we attempt to come to some kind of agreement as to the course of action? The current plan is to place fleets on both sides of the anomaly. My ships will close it. Any fleets that join us will be used in defence, particularly on the Tigris War side. When the anomaly collapses, there will be sufficient time for all ships to return to the present.
  
• Carandial - The plan appears sound. I agree with it.
  
• Olassa - Agreed.
  
• Warlord Kilnok - I will station my fleet and an army of Ultra-Troopers on the Tigris War side. Commander Brorsk will provide two guarding fleets on the other.
  

There was a small pause in the discussion as agreement settled amongst the attendees, but there was one more issue to deal with.

• Warlord Kilnok - Captain Ramcard, you have mentioned there is a Congregation warship in our time.
  
• Ramcard - That is true, near the NX Region in Q82.
  
• Warlord Kilnok - We must take it out before it becomes a forgotten problem.
  
• Carandial - Agreed. It poses a great threat to the natives.
  
• Ramcard - My thoughts exactly; I remember all too well what a single cruiser can do to a colony or fleet. I haven't forgotten them.
  
• Apalos - We are currently tracking its movements and monitoring its transmissions. As of yet, it does not appear to have contacted the Dominion. It may be wise to ensure that it never gets the opportunity.
  
• Ramcard - I would be honoured to fight once again by your side, Kilnok; let's take out that cruiser as fast as possible.
  
• Warlord Kilnok - I will gladly assist the Rambo once more.
  
• Carandial - Captain Nirndal is the closest Imperial captain to the cruiser's last known location. I can assign him to aid in the attempt to destroy it.
  
• Olassa - I will contact that sector's executive admiral. Perhaps they can provide vessels and outposts to keep surveillance and aid the Apalos in tracking its movements.
  
• Apalos - The rest of our fleets must deal with the anomaly as soon as possible; we cannot afford to wait. Perhaps Commander Brorsk should command the DCP forces on the Tigris War side until you arrive?
  
• Warlord Kilnok - Yes, he is a good fleet commander; he shall take my position while I see to this rogue Congregation ship.
  
• Ramcard - Then it is settled, good luck and my the Atlantica blessings be upon us all. I will prepare my ship for battle and join the others in taking out that cruiser.
  
• Apalos - Excellent. If there are no more remarks that anyone wishes to make, let us begin.
  
• Olassa - I believe that is everything set, yes.
  

With that said, Ramcard left the room to prepare his ship for battle and plots to gather more Rambo ships to attack the Cruiser. As Ramcard left, he passed several members of UNOC, and nodded to them in greeting as they walked in.

• Valzaria - Well, apologies for being late.
  
• Zr'Ahgloth - PROPA STOOPID YOO DID A WHOLE MEETIN WITHOUT US? OH MA DAYS MAN YOR ALL A BUNCHA WANKAS
  
• Warlord Kilnok - I'm sure there is room for a few more potential helpers.

Carandial nodded at the DCP delegation, ignored everyone else and left the room.

• Yogtam - Well, we're briefed on most of the information, and we are indeed available to help.
  
• Commander Jazzaroth - I believe this all in order. If any more civilisations wish to join, I will file you encrypted updates.
  
• Apalos - Good. Is there anything else you need to know?
  

Zr'Ahgloth raised his hand.

• Apalos - Yes?
  
• Zr'Ahgloth - do yoo sell pizza on dis ship
  
• Apalos - Yes. Second floor food court.
  
• Zr'Ahgloth - safe blud imma eet
  

Zr'Ahgloth then walked out casually, completely forgetting he was in a meeting, to eat.

• Apalos - Very well. Meeting adjourned.

Rambo Impatience

Rambo Nation vice-admiral Ramcard stood uneasy at the bridge of his command ship, an Excelsior-class Refit, the USS Dallas. Concerned he looked outside, and what he saw he didn't like at all. The report of James Rambo was right, just before they lost contact with the USS Enterprise, they managed to send a transmission about a possible return of the Congregation. Ramcard, without permission from the Empress went to a secret meeting of the Onuris Alliance and asked his old allies to help him defeat the dreaded cruiser. Ramcard made sure it wasn't an Onuris mission, nor SSA or the Empress would be furious and send her own ships against that of his allies. As such Ramcard claimed it was a desperate act of old allies, veterans of the Tigris War who aided eachother against the Congregation.

However the cruiser didn't remain at it's position and was approaching New Republic space, wich was located close to the NX-region where the cruiser appeared. Ramcard and Rambo Command didn't wish the ship to become a public knowledge as it would frighten the people and send panic among the entire Quadrants. As such Ramcard asked the Hutters for aid and general Hut'Pmec responded with two D-5 cruiser and his own D-7 battle cruiser. Ramcard brougth a Constellation class, a Miranda-class and the USS Divide under command of Ramirrking.

Ramcard orders to intercept the fleet without the Onuris aid!

• Ramcard: "Commander Ramiron, slow down to one quarter impulse."
• Ramiron: "Yes sir, the fleet is responding. Weapons all charged and locked on Congregation target. Shields are up and all defensive positions are taken!"
• Ramcard: "Lieutenant?"
• Giusti: "I cannot scan beyond the Congregation cruiser shields, however it is approaching and will be in firing range in 20 seconds Sir. Sir, you are aware we have a very small fleet against a Congregation cruiser?"
• Ramcard: "I am well aware of that lieutenant Giusti, and I do not need you to remind me of that is that understood? "

Giusti nodded, she overstepped her boundries with the vice-admiral with that comment.

• Ramcard: "This is vice-admiral Ramcard of the USS Dallas. We have to stop this Congregation cruiser before it destroys our homes! May the Atlantica be fortunate with us! All ships commence attack!"

At once the Hutter D-5 cruisers and the USS Divide opened fire. But the Congregation cruiser responded and fired all it's forward cannons and lasers at the approaching Rambo/Hutter taskforce. Within second the shields of the USS Divide buckled and was crippled by the incoming fire. The Miranda-class was destroyed with all hands and the Hutter came under attack as well. As the Congregation cruiser's fire power hit the forward shields of the USS Dallas, the ship quivered and some crew members lost their footing.

• Ramcard: "Blast them! Lieutenant Giusti, any sign of Kilnok or the others who pledged to help us?"
• Giusti: "Negative sir, the Congregation cruiser is jamming all transmission. Sensors are down! Sir, the Congregation cruiser is firing again!"
• Ramcard: "Brace for Imp..............."

As the second volley of incoming fire of the Congregation cruiser hit the USS Dallas, it's forward shields collapsed and the outer hull got minimal damage. However it's warp nacelles were disabled leaving the flagship of Rambo Nation a defenceless prey. With both the Hutter and Rambo ships disabled, the Congregation cruiser began launching it's fighters and boarding parties. One of the Rambo ships, a constellation class hammered by Congregation fighters. Suddenly, the combined fleet of Imperial, DCP and Draconis vessels came shooting into the battle. Giusti - Vice-admiral sir, allied ships have appeared!
Ramcard - Thank the Atlantica they did!
On board the Draconid command ship the captain sat in his chair watching the situation unfold. He loosened himself up and stood up.
Captain Terilos - I want portside guns aligned and prepared to fire on that congregation vessel. Tear its hull apart!
All thirty two kilometres of the Empirical, flagship of Grand Admiral Carandial positioned itself between the Congregation vessel and the Rambo and Hutter fleet, protecting it from incoming fire. Warlord Kilnok's vessel, a Subjugator class peppered the fighters that were incoming on the Dallas with fire, destroying them instantly. Crippled by the combined fire, large hull fragments began to explode from the Congregation vessel.
Warlord Kilnok - All too easy. Target the Congregation cruiser with forward glasma cannons
The Congregation cruiser turned it's cannons away from the Rambo/hutter task force and began firing at the Onuris vessels! Meanwhile the USS Dallas regained power, and together with the remaining Constellation-class they gave supporting fire to Kilnok's vessel, keeping fighters of his track. The Draconid Command vessel - the TNSS Apolyrius - turned and fired a volley from its riftfire cannons that sent projectiles hurtling though hyperspace before opening tears between dimensions. The Nexus metal, while strong, held no resistance to the extreme heat of quark-gluon plasma, flashing blue-hot with gamma black body radiation.
Carandial - Our enemy is weakened. Fire all weapons on these coordinates.
Terilos - Understood admiral, lining up weapons now.
Ramcard - "Commander Ramiron, you heard the admiral, fire phasic torpedoes at those coordinates!"

Among the fracture created, Krudha and Sentinels were sucked into space, their bodies bombing into the metal scraps of the hull of the might cruiser. Some burned instantly in the glasma while others were freezing in the vacuum of space.
Terilos - Admiral the Apolyrius and the Terimos are prepared for another volley but our targeting systems are having some difficulty locking on to the vessel's interior spaces. Scanner data or vessel layouts would be helpful.
Carandial - Sending what we have over to you now captain.
Soon the mighty cruiser buckled under the stress of the  combined fire powers of the allied forces, though it was net yet defeated. It continued to fire all cannons, and it's forward laser managed to destroy the Constellation class in an instance!
ITN Crewman - Captain...that vessel just destroyed the Rambo vessel in a single shot...
Warlord Kilnok - Extend our shields to the stricken Quadranta craft!
In a desperate act of survival, the cruiser launched all fighters, in hope of confusing the allied forces!
Terilos - The lost wil be mourned, but all guns cripple that vessel now!
The lasers followed straight lines, but curved around the repulsive gravitational field of the Subjugator's shields, destroying several Krudha fighters in the process. Meanwhile, the Empirical launched dozens of support craft to aid the Rambo and Hutter vessels. The ITN Sunwrath battleships turned themselves and fired another volley, their payloads momentarily opening up rifts into 4D Hyperspace inside the Congregation vessel. Before the payloads detonated themselves and the leaking hypermatter.
Carandial - Commander, coordinate with allied forces and commence primary ignition. Wipe that aberration from the face of the cluster.
The Congregation vessel tried to make a jump towards the Subjugator, but the ship's glasma cannons melted the Congregation Cruiser's bridge. With the bridge destroyed, the massive cruiser was crippled. Warlord Kilnok - This is not like what I remembered...

From the ventral hanger bay, the Empirical fired the matter cannon. A focused stream of quark-gluon plasma and hypermatter was fired at ultrarelativistic speeds toward the Congregation vessel before impacting cataclysmically against the vessels' failing hull. And finally the cruiser fell, a massive explosion, as bright as an exploding star marked the end of the massive and dangerous cruiser!
Terilos - Well that's one way to finish off a downed opponent.
Ramcard': "They did! They really did it!"
Carandial - Congratulations friends! A significant victory.
Terilos looked at the event and had the screens record the destruction, the monitors playing close attention to the Empirical. On board the Apolyrius, Terilos began clapping, the whole bridge erupting into an applause.
Warlord Kilnok - What a glorious way to end the days of this War of Ages relic.
Terilos - I'd hate to imagine what these vessels were like in a flotilla.
Ramcard: "Indeed, I guess we were lucky! Though somehow, I wonder why did the Congregation return?? We haven't seen them in decades and now they suddenly return? A scout? A prelude to a  new invasion?"
Warlord Kilnok - They got here by accident, lost in time.  They do not belong here now, and never will return.  But we must make sure the Old Congregation with it's massive resources never meets the New...
Carandial - If you would all do me the honour of embarking upon the Empirical, we can truly celebrate over a glass of Vasilias wine.
Terilos - How can I refuse an offer such as that?

The USS Dallas at once launched a shuttle containing vice-admiral Ramcard and docked in one of hte massive hangar bays of the Empirical. Warlord Kilnok brings barrels of ale and whiskey to the Empirical. After the celebrations on the command decks died down, the TNSS Apolyrius and TNSS Terimos sent over their captains aboard the Empirical. As the captains landed in the hanger bay, they were greeted by Carandial and his command crew, who bowed respectively toward them. With all officials gathered at the recreation deck of the Empirical, all toasted their drinks at their victory and talked about the event. Ramcard and Kilnok discussed how a vessel could travel from the past to this current time and how to counter act or monitor this kind of events. Stepping out of the Draconid shuttles was a third Draconis who saluted Caradinal in the Draconid fashion standing tall and thumping his chest. Meanwhile, Carandial spoke with with the Draconid captains, impressed with their skills in battle.
Lesser Admiral Alovissa - I have to admit, it does seem a little out-of-place to be celebrating the destruction of one cruiser. However as far as wines go, I do enjoy this blend.
Ramcard - “Rest assured, a single victory upon a Congregation Cruiser is worth a lot and definitely deserves a celebration."
Carandial - I can send you over a bottle if you would like. Perhaps in return for a Draconid vintage?
Warlord Kilnok' - Our men on front guarding the Apalos are going to find this job a lot easier.
Alovissa - That would be appreciated, Admiral. Are you a connoisseur yourself by any chance?
Warlord Kilnok - Though the Tigris War is still fresh in our minds, the politics, structure and technology has been revolutionsed several times over. In the Tiris War, many of us were barely exploring outside our home galaxy's. Warlord Kilnok raises a toast to those left behind in the Tigris War, and to those going back to it.
Terilos - “I guess an old phrase applies here, what was it, "In the fields of war even a single kill is a victory, for the foe now has one less soldier.”. The Draconid captains raised their glasses in honour of Kilnok's toast. Carandial echoed Kilnok's toast, though in the background several of the prim and proper Imperial officers looked uncomfortable with the abundance of alcohol on their ship. Ramcard looked in his glass, wishing to raise his glass at the toast, got flashbacks of the horrors he witnessed during the onslaught of the Rambo Tigris Colonial Sector, his travel with Kilnok to Hell and the following refusal of the SSA to aid Rambo Nation in their dire hour of need. He sighted and simply  nodded towards Kilnok. Alovissa shuffled towards Carandial as the other captains talked amongst themselves.

Warlord Kilnok' - Not much was left after the matter cannon's near-total destruction of the cruiser.  But just in case, we should clear any debris.  The subspace signature of so many ships here might be detected by the Cult.
Terilos - I know a few intellectuals back in Andromeda who would love to pick a ship like that apart for its workings. Warlord Kilnok - Even a sample of Krudha or Sentinental tissue will raise flags to any cult forces, for they were entirely exterminated by the Xhodocto.
Alovissa - As much as I agree this vessel could have offered much. Something like this may be too much of a risk to keep for study in known space. Warlord Kilnok - Perhaps we might get this chance, on the other side of the rift.
Alovissa - Which reminds me, I need to report this skirmish to the commodore.
Ramcard' - "Are you suggestion to use the rift to travel back in time ourselves?"
Terilos gave Kilnok an uneasy look at what he was suggesting.
Warlord Kilnok' - Ah, you must have missed that part of the meeting. We must do to close the rift. The Apalos are sending ships to close the aperture in the Tigris War,and want us to back them up and provide cover. Ramcard raised an eyebrow, and sighted.
Alovissa - Commodore Verdonus has already dispatched fleets to support them, but you are right. The more aid we can offer, the greater the chance of success. Warlord Kilnok - If we get the chance to capture a Congregation Cruiser, it could give us valuable information on the early, "physical" Xhodocto, their evolutionary weaknesses could be revealed. Having said that, such knowledge would also be dangerous.
Ramcard: "I am sorry my friend, I can back you up on this side, but Rambo Command forbade me to enter the rift. I was commanded to close the rift and destroy the cruiser! Though if the rest of you want to do that, the Dallas will experience some technical difficulties in the mean time."
Warlord Kilnok - That is okay, we need forces on both sides of the rift.
Carandial - I will dispatch Captain Nirndal to your position to provide any repairs that you require, admiral.
Alovissa - I will speak with my direct superior to see what my fleet can provide in keeping watch over this skirmish site.

The Kormacvar Are Extinct, Right?

Examing the Borealis Galaxy and the anomalies, the Mechanic saw a blip show up on his radar. It showed Arkarixus, flying in a Zoles starfighter, though he seemed to be heading towards the Core. But wasn't Arkarixus off with a team elsewhere? Out of curiousity, the Mechanic sent a transmission.

• The Mechanic - Arkarixus? Hello?
• Arkarixus - Head Caretaker.
• The Mechanic - Yeah, that's me...urm, what're you doing in Borealis?
• Arkarixus - Why would I be elsewhere?
• The Mechanic - Eh...I figured you were out on some...journey or whatever...am I mistaken?
• Arkarixus - Initiate self-repairing protocols on yourself for you are talking nothin but nonsense.

Now it made sense, this Arkarixus was not from the present. The Mechanic ran a quick test, and confirmed there were temporal energies - Dark Chronoscopic, to be precise - around him.

• The Mechanic - Alright, what were you in the middle of doing last? What time are you in? Did you see any portal, any flash of light or anything, anything to suggest you might have moved from one place to another?
• Arkarixus - I saw a light. That is all. Why do you bother me with these questions?
• The Mechanic - Well...not sure you'd believe me if I told you...

The Mechanic tried quickly to sum up the situation of the temporal anomalies.

• Arkarixus - What you speak of literally makes no sense whatsoever.
• The Mechanic - Arrrgh! What time are you from, damnit, tell me! C'mon...please don't be from the timeline before you even defeated Regnatus...
• Arkarixus - Defeat Regnatus? You are clearly defective. Regnatus is deceased. My mission is destroy the Grox.

The Mechanic sighed, then looked around for more temporal energies. Billig appeared in the chat.

• Billig - Wot you want, mate?
• The Mechanic - Billig! Is there any way to kind of force a time anomaly? I've got Arkarixus here from a timeline where he barely understands time or the Taldar.
• Billig - Well, that's a problem, eh?
• Arkarixus - You make me waste precious time with primitives. Unknown, extremely unpleasant primitives at that. I have better things to.
• Billig - Oh yeah? Like seein' yer wife again?
• Arkarixus - I have the opportunity of having a wife, unlike you, clearly. Unless your species possesses a fetish for fat excess.

Billig then uttered a few words, and near Arkarixus, another ship appeared. This one, however, was Lunaxis' ship.

• Billig - Will this work, eh, Mechanic?
• The Mechanic - That...that's perfect! Yeah! Right from before she was about to evacuate I guess?
• Billig - Yeah. 'Course she's never gonna make it, eh?*Arkarixus - Lunaxis, what are you doing here? You were supposed to be at the headquarters.
• Lunaxis - The headquarters?! But we're dying out here! We need to evacuate this universe right now! There is no other way!
• Arkarixus - What are you even talking about?
• Billig - Don't make much sense, eh?

Billig tried to explain what the Mechanic had failed to do, to both of them.

• Arkarixus - ...Insanity.
• Billig - I'd 'ave thought a Kormacvar would've known that. Jus' know that you don't really belong 'ere, so we'll 'ave to tell you to scram.
• The Mechanic - What he's TRYING to say is, we'll have to escort you back to your timelines.
• Billig - Oh, an' by the way, Lunaxis...you ain't survivin'. You never make it outta this universe.
• Lunaxis - ...Am I really destined to die here?
• Arkarixus - Do not feed such thoughts to my wife's mind, primitive. It will not end well for your organs.
• The Mechanic - You still don't believe us?!

The Mechanic then sent over data to both their ships.

• The Mechanic - It's right there, it's written in Kormacvar. Your computer interprets it. Those are records. She dies right now!
• Arkarixus - ...But...for what reason?
• The Mechanic - The reason isn't recorded, because it wasn't known at the time of writing. But she dies trying to evacuate the universe to escape from Zargoth, as he steals the soul of every Kormacvar. Of course she manages to get away, only for a Grox patrol ship to blew her up mere seconds before she leaves the universe.
• Billig - Tragic, eh? Well, I mean...lookin' at her now, all that meat looks tasty...

Lunaxis closed her eyes and put her hands together, while Arkarixus looked at her over the transmission, his expression being a mix of anger and confusion.

• Lunaxis - If I'm to die here...who am I to try and stop it?
• Arkarixus - I will not permit this!
• Billig - There's nothin' we can do! We'll just break the bloody timeline!
• The Mechanic - There must be something...come on...
• Billig - You're a fuckin' idiot, mate.
• The Mechanic - No. I was close to Lunaxis. She was one of those Kormacvar I could call a friend. We would share stories, share our views on everything, sometimes chat...
• Billig - I DON'T GIVE A SHIT, MATE! SHE'S DYIN'!

The Mechanic looked solemnly at them, but then suddenly...

• The Mechanic - I have a plan. Arkarixus, hop in her ship, I'll create a body and hop in too!
• Billig - Wot the bloody hell're you doin'?
• Arkarixus - What is the purpose of this?
• The Mechanic - She was about to escape the universe at the time. I can transport her there. She WILL escape the universe, and you will as well. That way we can keep the timeline of the universe stable, and neither of you have to die.
• Billig - Grr...I guess that works.
• Arkarixus - If it is what it takes for her survival, I am willing to do anything.

As he ordered, the Mechanic created a body there, and began working on the Kormacvar device. It had been billions of years since he'd worked on inter-universal travel, as it had been deemed completely unsafe. Of course, the Mechanic was able to crack it, and soon, they were gone...

---

The Kormacvar ship arrived in a region of space, though there was a planet nearby. It was purple, a gas giant world with no actual land, though it had dozens of moons. The ship floated away, as the tension inside the crew built up. Where were they? What would they be doing here?

• The Mechanic - Well...I lost connection with my main self back at our universe, so I don't think I have any way of looking up any information. But, well, it all seems to have worked, you're alive.
• Arkarixus - That is enough.

An awkward silence came across them, as they all feared what was to happen next.

• The Mechanic - ...Well, what're we gonna do here? Find the nearest signs of life?
• Arkarixus - Yes.
• Lunaxis - Well, we weren't the only ones trying to escape. Who knows, maybe there are some Kormacvar refugees here?

The ship flew around, orbiting the purple world, until finally it came across a signal. Surprisingly, the Kormacvar ship could pick it up and completely interpret it.

• ??? - Kormacvar refugees are still a thing? Well, ain't this a treat.

Whoever was sending the transmission spoke the language fluently. And had recognised their species. That was a good sign, at least.

• ??? - Could you please identify the captain (or captains) of your vessel and we'll let you board our space station?
• Arkarixus - This is Warmaster Arkarixus and Admiral Lunaxis, Kormacvar Empire.
• ??? - Huh? We've heard stories about you. Apparently the both of you should be dead. The one of you was kiled trying to leave, the other one was left behind in your universe and so is presumed dead. How did any Kormacvar in your universe even survive?
• The Mechanic - Eh...it's complicated...
• ??? - I can imagine. Well, since you're refugees, we'll need you to board our refugee station just a few kilometers ahead of you.
• Arkarixus - So be it.
• ??? - Oh, I haven't formally introduced myself.

What was purely an audio transmission before appeared. It was an alien, with about 5 eyes and of a greyish colour, and from what they could tell, was tall. It had a large, slightly rectangular but rounded head.

• ??? - I'm Trevskor of the Zyfalei. We have quite a story to tell, though we presume you've got one too.
• Arkarixus - That is correct.
• Trevksor - Not the most sociable of your race, huh? Just like the stories.

---

As the Mechanic, Lunaxis, Arkarixus and the other Kormacvar got off, the space station was hardly what they expected. From the outside it was just a metallic sphere, though inside it was a bustling metropolis city. When they exited the starport, they found the city full of huge buildings, life, and even plants grew. They were met by the Trevskor they had talked to, and could now see he had 8 legs.

• Trevskor - Hey there, hope you had a pleasant journey, all the checks have been made and the Kormacvar living here can confirm you're the guy their ancestors are talking about. Has chronology gotten a little fishy, or are you just one of his ancestors who happened to be named after him or something? Well, anyway, this is our capital, Zyfalei city. It's basically an artificial planet.
• Arkarixus - We are dealing with "time anomalies", apparently. Everything not making sense is to be blamed on time.
• Trevskor - Oh, hey, it's always blamed on time. Why not blame it on the Taldar for not doing their job properly?...you do have Taldar in your universe, right?
• Arkarixus - Taldar are in all universes and all timelines.
• Trevskor - Ah, good. I've never left this universe. In fact, none of the Zyfalei have. And that's where my story begins.

On the top of the platform on which they had gotten off, it seemed to be attached to the skyscraper building nearby. Of course, it was not. The crew were all shocked when it detached, and floated around.

• Trevskor - Welcome to my guided tour of your new home! Make yourselves comfortable, if you want chairs just signal for them.

As they floated around, they began to see the population of this place. Aliens so different from each other it was confusing. While there was one race - Trevskor's race - that was more dominant than the rest, all of them really didn't seem to belong together. Yet they were living in almost perfect harmony.

• Trevksor - Zyfalei, named after the founding race the Zyfaloids, is an empire made of people who stand up to - or have stood up to - the various godraces, and the Scourge. Its races are all some of the toughest and most experienced you'll come across. We scout out for people who are forced to flee universes, and redirect them to this one.
• Lunaxis - That's an admirable goal.
• Trevskor - It is indeed. This is our capital, and there is a reason it's an artificial planet/space station. It's fled 937 universes before. This space station is older than the universe it currently recides in.
• Arkarixus - Remarkable.

As they moved around, they really couldn't see any sign of any hostility, anything to show they were armed.

• Trevskor - Our scientists are adepts in calculating the current time of the universe and likelihood of the next Scourge. And what do ya know? The next one in this universe won't be for millions of years! That's luck, I tell ya. And since the spaceship has been added to over time, the technology of it is far greater than most threats it's come across. Well, our entire empire is. The empire is a fleet, by the way. We don't have colonies on any worlds, just around them.
• Lunaxis - Very interesting. This is all fascinating.
• Arkarixus - Hm. Yes.
• The Mechanic - I had no idea a place like this existed...could I go back to my univer-
• Trevskor - Unfortunately not. If you do, you risk us being found. We don't have the protection of godraces like others do in this multiverse. You know, they say this multiverse is the safest for surviving Scourges.
• Lunaxis - Why would you want to go back, Mechanic? You're safe here with us.
• Trevskor - Good point. This place indeed is quite possibly the safest place in the omniverse. Want me to show you your kind?
• Arkarixus - Do so.

The platform then floated around and came across a building. Around it, all Kormacvar. The technology, in fact, was very Kormacvar.

• The Mechanic - It's beautiful...I never seen anything like it in billions of years...
• Trevskor - Yeah, we allocate each race their own building as their sort of 'centre'. Of course, it's easy to get lost, as there are over a trillion of them. Your race was allowed to take refuge here due to how advanced its technology was, and the rumours of your ties to the Taldar.
• Arkarixus - My Empire and the Taldar are long-time allies.
• Trevskor - So we'd heard. Well, the Taldar technology did come in handy. After at least 3 trillion years of research, we've finally found a way to stop a universal Scourge...you know what that is, right?
• Lunaxis - We do, the Taldar have told us about it. Omnipotent demons destroying entire universes...leaving absolutely nothing behind...
• Trevskor - Well, to put it more exactly, they leave nothing behind except the fundamentals of what made it in the first place, then recreate it. None of the races who had taken refuge here would have ever been able to understand it two trillion years ago, but as we add more smarter races, we did. The people of the universe we are currently in are oblivious to the fact we saved their hides! Well, anyway...I suppose that concludes the tour. We hope you enjoy your stay.

The Mechanic then turned to Lunaxis and Arkarixus.

• The Mechanic - Well...I saved you alright. Nothing can go wrong here, eh?
• Lunaxis - Thank you so much, my friend. I knew I could count on you.
• Arkarixus - Acceptable.
• The Mechanic - I don't suppose you'll be needing any Caretakers around here. I could end this body's life if you want.
• Lunaxis - Why would you do that?
• The Mechanic - I did my duty. I saved your life, and potentially made it much better. I'm pretty useless here when these people have their own Caretakers that do they job way better than me! No need for a cranky old guy to look after you guys anymore...
• Arkarixus - You will not self-terminate.
• Lunaxis - Don't say such things, Mechanic! You're our friend, we don't want to see you gone!

The Mechanic then reconsidered.

• The Mechanic - I...guess I can stay if I'm allowed to...

Lunaxis leaned down and passed her hand through the Mechanic's head, as if she was petting him.

• Lunaxis - Don't talk as if you are not wanted. Nothing would make me happier than all of us being together for eternity.

The Mechanic then had a change of heart, and he smiled.

• The Mechanic - In which case...I'll stay! And I know just what to do, I'll take over as Head Caretaker of the Kormacvar building here! I don't care what phoney thinks he can do my job better...I'll be looking after you here for as long as time goes on!

Lunaxis giggled while Arkarixus retained a serious expression, though he appeared saddened.

• Arkarixus - If only Regnatus had survived, he could also be here.

The Mechanic chuckled to himself in response to that.

• The Mechanic - Yeah, if only...hehe...well, time to get this party started!

Enter Insanity

So. Here I am, stuck in the twenty-eighth century. I suppose this was a better time. Fashion was high, the universe at war and everyone was judged on their social attitudes. Fitting in was dogmatic. Unlike the times of my youth, where fitting in was...well...dogmatic but judgement came in the form of a corporate fist.

Trying to get used to the music at this time. Studying the entire scene of the fashion and musical attitudes of Cyrannus, especially. High fashion. Intelligently written music, social culture rather fitting. Although within Andromeda I picked up a record called Quan'rassi telradankan from the Brood of War. Rather stereotypical of Brood of War culture. I actually cannot remember why I picked it up.

The voice speaks to me frequently now. Like an abiding whisper. I have to take medication every half an hour now. Every time it talks I have this overcoming emotion to burst into tears. It feels as if blood has poured out of my arms like through a crushed glass. I don't feel strong. Weak. This blood, like salt across bare flesh. Resisting it. I can only take my mind off it. It almost acts like a puppeteer. Its words, welcoming, agreeable; but unwanted. It screams like a thousand voices at once. Like a deafening cry of children with broken legs.

It's getting difficult to remember things. Overcome by this voice. It screams and I shut my eyes. I open them and I am somewhere else. Confused. Intrigued. I woke up this morning, evidently in an apartment. Cannot exactly remember how I got there. There was a Zazane girl, a shredded mess in the corner of the room. Her left arm with two fingers left was strewn over my torso and what was left of her, perhaps her torso and bloody shreds of her legs sat folded and piled up in the left of the room. I can't exactly remember what the floor looked like as it was a putrid cocktail of dark brown Zazane blood and intestines like a fresh coat pooling up to my claws. Her head was on floor not too far away with the back of the skull burst open, seemingly by my fist as I have brain matter spewed all over it. It was more of a garbled mass of eyeball and teeth rather than that of a filthy Zazane girl's head.

Moving out of the bedroom I encountered two corpses of a Radeon and then an Artharon. It became more apparent that I was down and out for a few days. The Zazane girl's flesh discoloured a pale brown whilst the fur of the Radeon girl stood hard on end and turned grey. The Artharon had no skin whatsoever, sitting like a butchered mass of stale muscular tissue and bone. Propped up on the table as if I just tore her skin off where she sat. The Radeon girl probably put up less of a fight. One end of the room was her, and the other end, was still her. Blood and guts, seemingly eaten (some of them). Unlike the others she still had her clothes on.

Music was still playing. Oddly enough, Quan'rassi telradankan was playing. I suppose I remember now. I myself was also void of clothing. As I looked down, to my arms and then my legs, every breath brought forward an infernal light within my body. It was difficult to remain standing from just how much blood there was...like a lubricant. I guess I have to leave this place before the voices come back.

I forgot to mention that everyone else in the block was dead as well.

The Fairies Beyond This Plane

Uriel was in the palace grounds one afternoon, observing as Alensia was tending to a cluster of rare flowers near to a path. Uriel was sitting on a bench, admiring his wife as she performed the activity he loved, smiling away. It wasn't like Uriel to really let his concentration wonder. But he did, when in the corner of his eye, he saw a floating image, of who appeared to be Drakon, appearing to call to him.

Uriel glanced towards the image and looked at it with a curious eye. As Alensia wasengrossed in her activities, Uriel stood up and slowly made his way, with caution, towards the image. The image moved seemed to also be moving towards him, as it was becoming clearer.

• Drakon - Uriel Ultanos?
• Uriel - You're not...you can't be. Why would you approach me?

The image of Drakon appeared to dodge his question.

• Drakon - I am lost. Can you help me?
• Uriel - Lost? You are within the grounds of my palace, great father.
• Drakon - I have lost my way in this realm. I need guidance in order to return.
• Uriel - Return where? Your gardens?
• Drakon - To my realm.

Uriel looked around, confused and rather puzzled at how to help.

• Uriel - Forgive me great father, but I do not know the way.

The image of Drakon then shone brighter, and time around Uriel was frozen.

• Drakon - Return me to my plane.

Uriel stepped closer, shaking his head in disbelief.

• Uriel - Great father...you never blessed us with the sight of realms beyond this one.

It was almost as if Drakon was not fully understanding Uriel, as if he didn't understand Draconian. He repeated again:

• Drakon - I need to find the way to my realm. Return me to it.

But the image was pointing. Somewhere in the distance was some kind of portal. Of course, only Uriel would have noticed it here.

• Drakon - I cannot see the way. Can you help me?

Uriel turned his eye to the portal and opened his mouth in awe. He looked back to Drakon and nodded with confidence.

• Uriel - I will guide you, great father. I see a way but I am unsure how this is so.

He approached the portal, with the image of Drakon following right behind him. It seemed strange. The portal was merely a few hundred metres away, and while it should only be visible to Uriel, it would make sense if Drakon could see it as well. Without pausing to question the great father, however, Uriel simply went through, and the image followed behind him.

• Drakon - Thank you, Uriel Ultanos...

And before he knew it, the image faded, and changed. It was now a small, bright red, alien creature with 3 bug-like eyes that was floating above the ground despite having the limbs to walk, flying on fairy-like wings.

• ??? - You have been most helpful.

Uriel blinked when he saw the creature he had been leading and took several steps back, shaking his head.

• Uriel - Please explain!
• ??? - You have helped me. I was lost. I could not find my way back to my realm.

Around him, in this portal, he didn't see any sort of ground. He was now floating in some kind of orange vortex, with this floating red alien having no problems. But Uriel seemed to be having a seizure, unable to adapt to this enviornment.

• ??? - I thank you, Uriel Ultanos. I have now returned home to my plane.
• Uriel - Why did you pose yourself as a being I venerate?!
• ??? - So that you may help me. And you did. I thank you.

---

Uriel grunted as he lay on the ground, the shunting into another realm was not kind to his system. He lay there limp for a short while, somehow content to rest. Eventually, he gathered his strength and grunted as he lifted himself up, pressing his arms against the ground and pressing downwards to lift his form, shaking his head as it was still spinning somewhat. When he looked around, he found he was in some sort of glass-like chamber. Surrounded by red 'fairies', similar to the one who led him here.

• ??? - We are sorry, Uriel Ultanos. But we need to examine you.

Uriel suddenly panicked and looked around. He frantically pressed his hands against the glass-like material, his eyes wide.

• Uriel - Get me out of here now!
• ??? - We cannot do that. You must first be examined.
• Uriel - Why?

The creatures all seemed to hum together, and while Uriel felt nothing, there were beams of light surrounding him and checking him externally and internally.

• ??? - You have entered our realm. We must be sure you are friendly. Thank you for assisting #632 in his journey home.

Uriel stepped back from the glass and gave an understanding grunt. A slight nod as he did so. The creatures then finished their examination.

• ??? - Hmm. This is not so good. We are uncertain.
• Uriel - Excuse me?

The creatures seemed to have finished their examination, and now were all hovering around in front of him, rather than circling him.

• ???' - Allow us to make your acquaintance. We are the Queloneye. A hivemind race of highly advanced creatures from a universe different to yours. There were huge anomalies, causing one of our race to fall into your realm, whom you helped out - though likely not so willingly.

The Queloneye then paused for a second.

• Queloneye - You are Uriel Ultanos, as our scanning has just proved. We took a look at your past. It does not look so good.
• Uriel - I have lived two centuries, so elaboration would be favourable.
• Queloneye - It is filled with murder, destruction, and not so much with peace. However, you do seem capable of being friendly, and for that we shall let you free.

The 'glass' was removed, and promptly, Uriel looked around apprehensively before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the chamber, looking at his hosts with scrutiny.

• Queloneye - You seem curious. Do you wish for guidance?
• Uriel - I would like to know more of where I am. Potentially why one of your kind brought me here.
• Queloneye - You are in our realm of a neighbour universe to yours. Names are meaningless, however. We did not bring you here for a reason, rather, you took one of our kind here then appeared hostile, so we had to contain you before allowing you to leave. Our apologies, it is the normal procedure.

Uriel looked sternly at the aliens surrounding him.

• Uriel - If I appeared hostile it is because I was dragged into an alien environment.
• Queloneye - Which is understandable of course. Anyway. Our realm is of the same dimension as you, which is why you survive here. You may notice it is hugely alien. This is because of our attempts to emulate the 5th dimension, and indeed, to eventually ascend.
• Uriel - You all desire to emulate a higher dimension... Why?

Uriel began to clam down, and was returning his mind to one of curiosity.

• Queloneye - It is our desire to eventually ascend, beyond the constraints of a 3D mortal. We are the most advanced race of our universe, and we have protected it from the Scourge.
• Uriel - And yet you desire further progress.
• Queloneye - Of course. It is our desire to ascend beyond what we are. We see ourselves as guardians of this universe.

The Queloneye opened the door of the chamber. Outside, there was a portal showing the universe they were in.

• Queloneye - Come. We have a great deal to show you, to satisfy your curiousity.

Uriel nodded and took a deep breath, walking though the portal that had been opened and into the universe outside. Of course, it was merely a projection, a sort of simulator. The creatures followed him.

• Queloneye - If you look at the races of this universe, many of them are young.

The 'camera' zoomed into many galaxies, showing fairly primitive races, young empires that were building. They were not nearly technologically capable as the races in Uriel's universe.

• Queloneye - They cannot fend for themselves. Many are yet to discover some of the more powerful technologies.

In fact, some of these races had yet to discover space travel.

• Queloneye - How could the Xhodocto just destroy them in a Scourge, when they've yet to really live? It did not seem fair to us. They need a guardian. The Vyro'Narza, the Vi'Navitum, and now the Xol'Etra, they have all fought in this universe before, and they helped us gain this knowledge. In fact, a Scourge was attempted prematurely, eons ago. It is suspected this was due to the Xhodocto's rage, as opposed to their true purpose.

The Queloneye showed more screens of the Xhodocto's attempted Scourge, of which the godraces fought against it.

• Queloneye - The first premature Scourge was a failure. Though when the second came, the Taldar prepared us for it. And we managed to survive...but barely. And they were kind enough to move us to another multiverse.
• Uriel - Just as the Vi'Navitum had done for my home universe...
• Queloneye - Indeed. The very same.

More screens showed, of once again, the Xhodocto failing to Scourge the universe. This time, however, it was trapped under a barrier, one strong enough to hide it.

• Queloneye - Of course, we could not save the entire universe. But we could save what mattered. Anyhow, our ascension is necessary if we are to protect our universe further. The primitive races need at least time to live their lives. It is only fair to them.
• Uriel - I understand your reasoning. My people are in some ways alike. The young are naive, prone to making mistakes. They must be protected and educated by the elder races.
• Queloneye - We feel the same. That is our philosophy. We were young too, once...

The projection was concluded, and they had returned.

• Queloneye - We consider ourselves masters of all the sciences, and of Essences. In a way, we are like the Ioketa of your universe - indeed we have met before - or the Krassio. In fact, we were one of the races who could have been chosen to become the Xol'Etra, though the Krassio won us out. I suppose Verezaph was fond of Kraitoss. Was that his name?
• Uriel - I have not heard of him unfortunately. You speak of individuals mostly beyond my knowledge.
• Queloneye - Kraitoss was a 'god' who was responsible for the creation of the Krass - who in turn created the Krassio - and had fought alongside Verezuon. He was also the creator of the Xhodocto Bane, which your universe is home to. We have learnt this from examination, of course. We are largely unfamiliar with other universes.
• Uriel - Such things...it is as though you speak of heroes of old, demigods i ntheir own right...I suppose they are.
• Queloneye - We rarely speak of such a topic. Our universe, of course, has no heroes. But one day, we feel, the people who inhabit it may become heroes themselves.

Uriel looked at the aliens and sighed.

• Uriel - Surely there must have been some.
• Queloneye - We are a hivemind. A singular being. There are no individuals amongst us.

The Queloneye then all made a circle in front of Uriel, and created a portal.

• Queloneye - You may now return to your dimension. Thank you ever so much for your help.

Uriel loked at each of the aliens. Staring into their eyes and observing their features, he felt a bizarre sense of familiarity within them, even if they were alien to him. He nodded in response to their suggestion, and he passed though the portal, taking one last look back before crossing the threshold.

• Queloneye - We hope to see you again sometime.

Uriel nodded to them and turned around, sighing as he stepped back though the portal and into his own universe, arriving at the Imperial Palace grounds.

Meet Your End

Time Is Broken

Of course, it had gotten to the point where the universe was on the complete brink of destruction. A huge crash felt across the entire universe had let everyone know that time had pretty much stopped. Any of the laws of time that anyone had known before, they could now throw them out the windo. And the Polar Crystal Alliance gathered for a final meeting.

• Valzaria - I have been talking to Tuolog and the other Ioketa. They had predicted this exact thing would happen. There are no longer any constraints of time, and the universe' instability is getting worse.
• Semirian - I have just received word from Billig. He claims to have discovered the Anti-Secret.
• Xeron - About damn time!
• Valzaria - A working one, this time? That would be good. I doubt it's easy to obtain, mind you...and we'll need help. I'm not sure what help we can get.

The Crystal Alliance thought amongst themselves, then Xeron had an idea.

• Xeron - ...You know, if the constraints of time are gone...then doesn't that mean we can get help from pretty much any timeline?
• Semirian - Marveous. This is exactly what we need. Gather our allies. Our allies' allies. Everyone.
• Valzaria - Indeed! I'll call Tuolog here.

A few minutes later, the PCA, UNOC, Xerkea and UNOL all arrived in a completely empty floor - empty so as to give plenty of room for testing in case this didn't work - of their space station. And with the simply opening of a few portals, no one had a clue who would come out...

Without hesitation, Tuolog opened several portals in different parts of the room. He hadn't given any specific callings for what time periods...just for "allies".

---

Stepping through one portal was a tall, handsome-looking figure - a Rianth with a vintage appeal and a mature-looking coat and stance, wearing fancy, wealthy clothes. He had long golden hair and a muscular, yet slim, figure, and looked towards the group. Leaping through another portal was a colossal wolf that radiated with alien, yet somehow familiar, energies.

Then more. From another one of the portals, emerged a tall Kicathian figure. It was quite clearly Kithworto...but appeared older. His appearance was more muscular, his skin appearing more rusty and his eyes were worn but piercing. He didn't wear Kicathian armour, but a commonplace Kicathian trench coat.

• Xerkea - It's Kithworto and...Hachiman?
• Kithworto - Sorry I'm late. I wasn't betting on seeing this place like this again. I prefer it like this.
• Future Hachiman - Ah, good to see you all alive again!

Through one portal appeared a large scarlet Draconis wielding dual kukris stained with blood. His armour was also stained with blood but he had his arms completely bare, exposing the considerable amount of muscle that layered on top of them. The Draconis looked around confused, pointing his kukris at the strangers.

Kilnok of the DCP appeared, apparently from the present time, surprised as he had just been enjoying vintage wine on the Empiracle.

The gigantic wolf that entered through one of the portals unleashed a fierce roar as he glanced upon those entering the room.

• Inatosan Wolf - This magic... isn't Source... Where am I?!

Crawling out of another portal was a pink Zazane of considerable size, with no eyes, a stunted snout and an impressive set of curled horns. Adorning her body was a revealing set of leather-like armour. She stood up, at five-and-a-half metres she towered over several amongst the group, baring her teeth as she looked around, and saw straight ahead another one of the portals which promptly turned black to reveal an icy cold figure.. It was also Kicathian, but his regalia was mismatched and brilliantly designed. In his hand he held a well carved walking stick with an eye propped on the end of it.

• Santorakh - Eh...what? Okay. Who the hell opened a portal to Insomnia? Clever trick but...okay. Who the hell broke reality here?
• Tuolog - I answer that, Santorakh. Zargoth broke it.

Yep, Santorakh himself...and to make things even weirder, out of one of the portals appeared a horrendous, deformed mass of flesh shaped like a Wranploer. It remained silent; though none of them knew it, it was Vorius.

The older Hachiman looked towards the Zazane and lifted an eyebrow as a sly smirk appeared across his face. From the portal beside him, a bizarre amalgamation of Kicathian and Zazane biology emerged, holding a guitar decorated with bones and blades' - Kithanan.

• Kithanan - Fuck.
• Santorakh - Zargoth? That little...whatever in the name of finely-dressed madman he is? Only one person breaks reality and that's me! ME!
• Oniron - Can someone explain where in the void I am. One minute i'm slicing the Paragon's henchment into salami, the next I'm here.
• Inatosan Wolf - Where is Isiris?!
• Vorius - ...Time. Disturbance. Disturbing. Disturbing. Disturbing. Disturbing. Disturbing.
• Santorakh - Oooh. I like this big Wranploer thing over here. You remind me of Volim. Except bigger and more hungry.

Another portal opened...and a younger Zr'Ahgloth appeared...from the old Propa Big Loron Empire.

• Young Zr'Ahgloth - OI WAT DA FUK IS DIS WANKA HEER DOIN MAN HE LOOKS LIEK ME CEPT HES WIV DA OTTZELLOAN DUMBOS
• Kithworto - Dal'nyur above. A century into the past and you've just broken reality.
• Oniron - I am pretty sure I am not dead.
• Zr'Ahgloth - AND WHOS YOO YOO LOOK LIEK ME CEPT MA HATS COOLA
• Future Hachiman - Grand. Just grand.
• Kithanan - ...Oh hey look it's Blossom!
• Young Zr'Ahgloth - BLUD YOO MESSIN WIV DA PROPA BIG LORON EMPIRE DEYZ GONNA SHANK YOO
• 'Kithworto - Oniron Voxis? Well. That's certainly a sight I haven't seen for a while.

Of course, it wasn't just people from portals coming. Da Rogue Leedas and Warbosses kicked the door open and entered the room.

• Fre'kloar - WHAI DIDNT YOO CALL US MAN
• Young Zr'Ahgloth - OI YOO WAT DA HELL YOO HAV NOO FRENDS NAO
• Zr'Ahgloth - FRE'KLOARS NOT MA FREND HES JUS...SUM DUMBO I WORK WIV SOMETIMES
• Fre'kloar - NOH
• Young Zr'Ahgloth - MAN FREKLOAR YOO WANKA YOO DUNT EVEN HAVE AN EMPIRE YET
• Fre'kloar - U WOT M8

The Pink Zazane looked at Kithanan and walked up, sniffing him with a scowl on her face.

• Yidda - Who is Blossom?
• Kithanan - The name I'll be screaming when you go down on my---
• Future Hachiman - Oh, please.

Oniron looked towards Kithworto with a raised brow

• Oniron - You look familiar...
• Kithworto - Kithworto Aknatazán. Except from the future.
• Yidda - You smell of sex little Zazane...thing.
• Oniron - Wait, future?

Vorius looked down on everyone in the room with a cold look. The Councillors and Da Rogue Boyz were clearly intimidated by his presence.

• Kithanan - I'm using your perfume.
• Santorakh - Heeehee! Isn't this all...exciting?! It's like a party! But it doesn't make sense!
• Future Hachiman - Ah, Santorakh! Always good to see His Travesty again.
• Oniron - All this confusion makes me want to eviscerate something.

Yet another portal condensed into the form of a green-skinned near-Human, Emperor Mazipnos Tokzhalat of the Girdo Empire, apparently composed of Apalos nanobots.

• Vorius - Disturbance. Destroy. Disturbance. Devour. Disturbance.
• Kilnok - If even the Xhodocto God is confused, I guess I should be.
• Xerkea - What is THAT?!
• Santorakh - Hachiman. You're bigger. Well I haven't seen you for a while. That portal opened up in Insomnia and then I got thrown back seventy-three million years in the past.

Young Zr'Ahgloth turned to Kilnok and Tokzhalat.

• Young Zr'Ahgloth - OI. YOO WANKAS IS MA ENEMIES ENNIT? FUK YOO BOTH
• Kithworto - Right. Councillors. Explain this madness.
• Future Hachiman - And you seem... well, as mentally devastated as always. Which is entertaining. And a little concerning, but you'll be fine. I guess.

One more, late portal opened and emerging from it was another Draconis, taller than Oniron, clad in menacing obsidian armour with eyes a bloody red. Uriel Ultanos.

• Fre'kloar - EXPLAIN DIS BOOLSHIT
• Santorakh - Yeah! EXPLAIN DIS BOOLSHIT!
• Uriel - An explanation would indeed be useful.

From a much larger portal, a titanic figure walked through, wearing imperial armour that cladded his form. He appeared both Draconis and Zazane in physiology, a towering monster with a grotesque yet threatening appearance.

From another portal, a blackened Kicath in onyx armour appeared. Wearing similar clothing to Kithworto, he looked around in confusion.

• Kordan Rex - Does anybody mind explaining to me what in the Void is going on?

Suddenly a strange shifting portal of black white stereotype spacetimes tiles appear, and an eldritch machine cube from the far future Plazith Rim Cooperative appears from the fifth dimension.

• Vorius - So much DNA...I crave...but I must not...
• Incognito - It's like one those moments when you take drugs.
• Kithanan - Yeah, maybe throw a chainsaw at some dumb bitch...
• Oniron - You try take my DNA blobby and i'll tear you a new anus.

Mazipnos looked at the far future transapient with some sort of familiarity. Vorius looked straight at Oniron's.

• Vorius - ...Done already.
• Oniron - Huh?

The Transapient then picked up Mazipnos like a toy and laughed.

• Santorakh - Right. So. What mortal here broke reality and why? And what the hell are you all doing here? Get back to your own timelines before I make ya!
• Fre'kloar - YOO EINT NO BOSS OF ME
• King Rebaris - Can I have everyone's attention...
• Kithanan - I'm alright thanks, uncle.
• Santorakh - Don't make me turn you into a milkshake again! And little nephew. How's dad?
• Transapient - I remember this construct.

Of course, everyone continued to argue amongst themselves, leaving Rebaris unheard. He shouted louder into the microphone.

• King Rebaris - SILEEENCE!!!

Everyone instantly quietened down and paid attention, while Santorakh turned to Rebaris.

• Fre'kloar - ow man yoo dun hav to shout...
• Santorakh - That was just impolite.

After waiting a moment for everyone to be quiet, as soon as he was confident that everyone was now listening, he spoke.

• King Rebaris - I know this is all a shock for you, and you're probably now demanding an explanation from us. Well, all I'll tell you is that Zargoth has managed to break the spacetime continuum, and the result is that any constraints of time are gone. This universe, its past, and its future, are all about to be destroyed in a matter of hours.

• Fre'kloar - I BLAME ZR'AHGLOTH
• Zr'Ahgloth - I BLAME ZR'AHGLOTH 2
• Kordan - Zar-who?
• Future Hachiman - I said sssh!
• Santorakh - Now usually I wouldn't object. But...well. That's not very nice.
• Tuolog - There is hope for universe, however. A cure has been found by our scientist - his name is Billig - that can resolve everything, and return you all to your correct timelines as if nothing happen. That is, if Billig correct, anyway.
• Kithanan - We're fucked.
• Kithworto - Language.

The Transapient began emitting an electrical buzzing sound that overwhelmed the room, much to the upset of everyone else.

• Fre'kloar - WOW SHUT UP?
• Santorakh - Keep it down will you?! The mortal is trying to speak!
• Mazipnos - Some people just want all the attention...
• Future Hachiman - Don't mind him, he's just nervous.
• Transapient - That was the Unseen...
• Tuolog - So essentially, we need you all to help us. We're going to reach Billig's location, and from that point, he'll give us instructions on how to save the universe. Why do we need so many? Because we could potentially be fighting people from any timeline...and with no rules of time, that means an unlimited number of opponents...
• Inatosan Wolf - Hope not for the Adversary!
• Santorakh - Oh it's not like Caligaduro Provectus can hear you.

A mass of utility fog appeared close to the PCA team until it materialized Silver Death.

• Silver Death - Acknowledged.
• Uriel - I sense we have all spilled a significant degree of blood in each of our lifetimes. So surely this will be nothing new.
• Incognito - Well...not in the warrior way. I don't like fighting. Sort of. Not the usual way.
• Kithanan - Yeah, you're crazy. I like you. Piece of shit.
• Tuolog - Uriel is correct. Well anyway, I suppose we be on our way soon.
• Oniron - The giant scary Draconis is right in my case.
• Vorius - Kill him...kill Zargoth...make him squeel...
• Santorakh - Right. You make him squeel and I'll feed him...cheese?
• Kordan - ...Uriel! There are Draconis in our cour--
• Future Hachiman - Please, be quiet. I don't want to have to do to you what I did to Kol Daren.
• Kordan - ...Kol who?
• Vorius - ...Possible.
• Santorakh - Wonderful!
• Fre'kloar - OI. ONE QUESTION. HAO WE GETTIN DERE?
• ??? - I'll handle that, don't worry.

One more portal appeared outside the space station, and a hologram project inside. It was the Iron Fist...and the holograms of General Volim and Falrik Zaarkhun appeared.

• Falrik Zaarkhun - So, I figure we're hear because some spacetime continuum broke and we were called for help. Well, lucky you called me from the point where I don't want to kill you and I was about to go destroy Regnatus.
• Santorakh - TWO VOLIMS?! SUPERB!
• Uriel - I am sure I killed one of those two...
• Mazipnos - With time as it is right now, everything that will have happened is happening now again.
• Kithworto - Everything is a big mess right now. Just a big, big mess.
• Kithanan - Oh you know nothing about big messes.

Kithanan giggled to himself, while Vorius growled loudly. This led to Volim appearing absolutely terrified.

• Volim - ...Get us back to our time!
• Kilnok - The DCP is pledged to throwing its finest bombs at the problem.
• Santorakh - Regnatus! I keep trying to invite him to Insomnia but every damn time he says something cryptic and I get confused.
• Kilnok - Though that might not work now.

There was another hologram projected with Falrik and Volim, of course...

• Sollow - I died?...how is this possible?...oh well...I suppose I will get to kill in the future...
• Future Hachiman - Oh please no, not him.

Sollow's hologram licked his blade.

• Fre'kloar - wow no. no. no. no. such no
• Incognito - Ech. What is that?
• Kithanan - An annoying asswipe.
• Kordan - I want to kill it already.
• Uriel - Join the gathering, apparently.

The Inatosan Wolf howled in annoyance while Kordan stood next to Uriel, grumbling in an annoyed fashion while the Future Hachiman stood around Yidda to take sly glances at her assets.

• Falrik Zaarkhun - Ahem. I'll make space in my ship to hold everyone. And once you get inside, you can probably summon your own spaceships from your timeline or something. I don't know much more than what I've worked out alone.
• Kithworto - Well. There's no time like no time itself. Let's move.
• Rebaris - If everyone is ready, then we can leave.

And suddenly, next to Future Hachiman appeared a small, blue creature who let out a small dance.

• Gorf - We gonna have so fun, yep.

The Transapient hovers over the Wolf with interest.

• Transapient - This one is not from our multiverse.

Santorakh then looked at the wolf, and jumped on top of him, as if he were a steed.

• Santorakh - Giddy up! Hi ho silver and away!

Uriel then turned to Kordan, with a sort of glare.

• Uriel - Does something about my nature bother you?
• Kordan - ...No. Nothing. Nothing at all.
• Inatosan Wolf - DEFECATION!
• Yidda - ...you, blue thing, stop staring.
• Gorf - I stare at whatever I want.
• Santorakh - Oh shush.
• Future Hachiman - Oh I wasn't staring. I was... analyzing.

The Mechanic was the last to fly in.

• The Mechanic - Woah! Crap! SorryI'mlate! Beenbusydoingstuffwiththewhachamacallitthrusters! Anyway, time to go, right?
• Fre'kloar - ...yeh
• Rebaris - TIME TO GO, RIGHT?!?!?!
• Fre'kloar - I SED YEH YOO FUKIN DEAF
• Santorakh - Yeah time to go. I think. Time isn't an appropriate word.

• The Mechanic - All right, let's mosey.

Kithanan played a short riff on his guitar and laughed, yelling an obscenity in Zan'tai.

The Secrets Are Out

Out in a dome on an asteroid, Billig was making the final preparations for his 'anti-Secret'. The crystals that the asteroid contained happened to contain a great deal of temporal energy, which might just work for this final Taldar code.

• ??? - Pssst. Hey. Having fun over there?
• Billig - Quiet, I'm concentratin'.
• ??? - Don't tell me go stay quiet, you fat piece of mortal flesh.

Out of the shadows, Kolossus' form materialized.

• Billig - Oh, you, eh? Go fack off, I'm tryna deal with you an' yer pal Zargoth.
• Kolossus - I don't give two damns about Zargoth. But I see you working on things mortals are not supposed to.
• Billig - Mortal? You wot, mate? I ain't been a mortal fer a while now...
• Kolossus - Oh, you have. Having Taldar nurses don't make you immortal. In fact, that's the saddest attemp at immortality I've ever seen.
• Billig - Sadder than your curse, I presume? You ain't the ol' Kolossus who goes murderin' dozens of Taldar by yaself no more, mate. You're just anotha weak Traffphyd, eh?
• Kolossus - Am I? You want to find out?

Kolossus walked into Billig's direction.

• Billig - Back off...don't make me call 'em...
• Kolossus - Call who? The Vyro'Narza? Don't make me laugh, mortal! I'm doing them a favour by doing this!

Kolossus' claws extended from his fingers.

• Billig - What're you doin'?!

Kolossus dug his claws on Billig and in an instant, the fat Wranploer felt a painfuk shock run through his body. His Time Secret, the one he always used to keep himself alive thanks to the Taldar, was being removed from him. And as it happened, Kolossus' scars disapeared and his wings began to grow once more.

• Billig - NO! You can't do that...you can't make someone forget...aaargh!
• Kolossus - My power...returns!

Billig was left on the floor, falling. His breathing was failing, and he could barely stand up. The mass off fat was weighing him down. Kolossus looked at his own hands, energy flowing on them once more. He let out a chuckle and he looked down on Billig.

• Billig - The Secrets...you've got 'em...but now who else alive knows 'em?...
• Kolossus - Does it matter? Your universe is history. The Dominion has won today and will win forever. Now die a pitiful death, you disgusting sack of scum.

Kolossus opened his massive wings and disappeared in a blast of energy. A mere minute later, much to Billig's relief, the Iron Fist, followed by millions of fleets from all sorts of timelines, appeared. The enormous group beamed down, and Tuolog ran over to Billig.

• Billig - You've...you've arrived...an' you've brought yerselves a nice army, eh?
• Tuolog - Billig? What happen?
• Santorakh - Someone's had too much cheese.
• Kithanan - Eugh, that smell... Just eugh... Burning fat. The robot Kicath guy is probably loving this.
• Gorf - Wow that's one fatty fat, hm?
• Incognito - No, to be honest.

Billig lay their choking, as he made his confession.

• Billig - Kolossus came...an' 'e used me Secrets to restore 'is energy...he also erased them from my memory...

Everyone's shock came quickly. Were they doomed?

• Tuolog - No...
• Santorakh - Well you're just stupid then aren't you?
• Hagto'Zhl - dad y u do dis
• Kordan - ...And the problem is what?
• Billig - I know how...we can save this universe yet...it inolves this very asteroid, I narrowed it down to this one...but well, I was the only mortal alive who knew of the Secrets...
• Volim - You are not.
• Billig - I ain't? How's that...possible...the only mortal who knew was Zaarkhun an' I took his memory for me own- wait...

Volim sighed. This Billig was as irritating as the one he knew.

• Volim - Pay attention, you fatass. Zaarkhun is right here!
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Good to know that's what happens in the future...
• Billig - Oh come on...you of all people know 'ow important this is... *Falrik Zaarkhun - I do. And that's the only reason I've yet to kill you.

Vorius walked up to Billig, his tongue licking his jaws.

• Vorius - When your functions seize, you will be mine.
• Santorakh - This is your body...without fibre!

Falrik Zaarkhun turned to Santorakh and chuckled, then back to Billig.

• Inatosan Wolf - The Alien reveals itself once more. The depths refuse to contain It.
• Santorakh - Permit me a demonstration. This is your body...without fibre!

Vorius looked at the Inatosan Wolf with a blank expression.

• Vorius - ...Unknown.
• Yidda - Take his body, there's too much fat. It will be like eating dough. I want...muscle.
• Incognito - I bet you do.
• Fre'kloar - OI ITS DA LORONZ WHO EET PEEPUL NOT ZAZANE OR KICATH FUK OFF
• Yidda - Much tastier than fat.
• Kithanan - Then how about you crawl over here and take a munch on my bone?
• Falrik Zaarkhun' - Just tell us what to do. I'll pass on the Secret to Tuolog, he might just be capable of saving everyone.'
• Billig - We'll 'ave to be quick...you'll still need me alive for a bit...

Billig gulped., and Volim hissed at him disgusted. Future Hachiman looked towards Yidda with slight amusement and held out a hand, which dripped with blood as he materialized a steak in his palm from supposedly nowhere before he threw it to her. Kordan was leaning against a wall with a frustrated and bored expression - an obvious follower of Zr'An'Kar.

• Billig - Now I've got no more Secrets...the Taldar 'ave no reason to keep me alive...meanin' that I 'ave about hours before me heart stops workin' an' I die...
• Vorius - I feed in hours.

Billig coughed.

• Billig - If I can stay alive that long...at the very least I can save everyone else...
• Xerkea - You? Being that autruistic? This must be a miracle.
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Xerkea...you still haven't changed, it seems.
• Xerkea - This is all his fault. I have no reason to feel sympathy for him.
• Fre'kloar - hachi yoo can make food nao? MAKE ME A PIZZA MAN
• Future Hachiman - I can make anything I want. Anything anybody has ever dreamed of and ever will dream of. I cannot, however, find dreams of the Secrets.
• Fre'kloar - i dun care for sekrits man jus make me a pizza
• Santorakh - Well then you're a stupid little stupid then.
• Uriel - An interesting ability, to weave reality as the others wish to see it. So very useful...
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Perhaps. Oh well, I'll beam everyone back aboard the Iron Fist, and we should prepare to go head to the 'Grey Zone'. Said Grey Zone is the fabled place where time is supposed to stop...and where we should channel our Secret to save this universe.
• Santorakh - Why am I even here?
• Gorf - Because you're a smelly little man. Now let's do this.
• Santorakh - Careful there little imp thing. I can turn you into a handbag!

Into The Grey Zone

The allies gathered in the Iron Fist, while blasting off to the Grey Zone. The place where time stopped. But one question remained among them if they died here, who's to say they'd return to their timelines? And if they failed...then they would have never existed in the first place. Their entire lives and everything they'd ever acchieved would be for nothing.

• Billig - Jus' ahead of us is the Grey Zone. No one should be able to access this void, but the constraints of time are all gone, eh? Let's go in. Soon as we find a surface, we can use the Secret.
• Santorakh - Well. Fun.
• Future Hachiman - Ah, I remember these times. The Borealis War... It has been a while since I have travelled upon a voyage as epic as this.
• Xerkea - You sure look like you matured, Hachi.
• Future Hachiman - Thank you, Grandma.
• Gorf - We gonna have a good time, fellas. Don't worry 'bout nothin'.
• Kithworto - About nothing. Yeah. I don't think this is going to start or end well.

Kithanan began to play slow chords on his guitar, which quickly began to speed up as a smile grew on his face.

• Gorf - You awfully pessimistic, mister Xi'Arazulha. C'mon, it'll be fun.
• Kithanan - Yeah, Old Man.

From the nothingness of the Grey Zone, a voice appeared. With it brought a sense of calamity and horror.

• Oniron - Can you not play the horrid excuse for music, my timpahanic membranes are about to bleed!
• Kithanan - Beams of fire sweep through my head!
• ??? - Problematic. Time broken. Possibilities broken.
• Fre'kloar - dafuq is dis
• Tuolog - Brace yourselves...
• Kordan - Don't you tell me what to do.
• Gorf - Brace yourself, fella.
• ??? - 'From zero, shall emerge infinity. From infinity shall emerge nothingness.
• Oniron - If the intercom is on can someone turn it off, I don't like the speaker right now
• Fre'kloar - oh i fink i rememba from da borealis war wat to do when evul voices talk to yoo yoo ask Kithworto fer help

From the zone, a bright flash appeared, and from it, indeed emerged multitudes of forces.

• Inatosan Wolf - Justice runed by eternal travesty. Bloodcurdling hammer soon to be released.
• Santorakh - Would you quit with the song lyrics and get your own words?

Uriel stumbled and used his claws to dig into the floor to support himself, Yidda was thrown backwards and landed with her back against a wall before Oniron landed right next to her. Future Hachiman stood with no effort while Kithanan was launched into the furthest wall - landing against Yidda, his guitar landing elsewhere. Kordan stumbled onto his side, breathtaken. Kithworto shielded his eyes, whilst Incognito turned away in what might have been fear. Santorakh kept on looking.

• Santorakh - What a party crasher. Last time he did this he destroyed my tea set.

Gorf was thrown about while Vorius remained unflinching. And then, the Grox from a time before the New Grox Wars appear.

• Grox - You great lumps of carbon wad!
• Xerkea - Ah shit. It's the Grox.

The Inatosan Wolf and Hachiman stared into the light, glaring while they began to stead themselves. The Grox began firing their weapons frantically, many of which beyond the technology of the fleets' defenses. Uriel paced towards a screen and rested his hands against a wall, growling, he clenched his fist, tearing into the wall and deforming the surrounding material. The huge fleet behind the Iron Fist began to fire on the seemingly infinite force of Grox. It was carnage.

• Santorakh - Angazhar you humourless brute! What are you doing?!
• Angazhar - 'The die has been cast. Chaos reigns.
• Santorakh - ...Why do we all talk cryptic anyway?

Vorius bit the air in front of him at the sight of the Grox.

• Grox - WE MUST COMMIT REVENGE ON THE XHODOCTO.
• Gorf - Wow you're ugly.
• Santorakh - Revenge? Angazhar just opened that damn portal for you!

• Grox - WHAT? WHY ARE WE EVEN HERE?
• Santorakh - Haha. Stupid imp things.
• Gorf - Heheh yeah.
• Incognito - Very well. What now?
• Grox - You look like on of us...
• Uriel - Obliterate them, annihilate them, render every single ONE NOTHING. BUT. SCRAP
• Future Hachiman - I forgot how humorous they looked.
• Fre'kloar - we watch dem dai frum our SUPA FLEET MAN
• Kithworto - Now? Now we just...do things.

Starships from the past, the future and everywhere in between came about. Everything went bezerk immediately, as crewmen fired weapons they didn't even know were invented yet. No one could really tell what was happening amongst the chaos that ensued.

• Santorakh - Remember remember the...whatever day it is.
• Fre'kloar - DIS BATTUL IS A CLUSTERFUK. I LUV IT!!!!
• Santorakh' - Clusterfuck.' That might just be my new favourite word.

The Grox, of course, had the least idea. But they cared not, simply fired upon what appeared to be their enemies. And then... The Grox fleet all ceased fire, then slowly turned around.

• Mazipnos - Oh, so it worked.
• Rebaris - What worked?
• Santorakh - Work worked!
• Mazipnos - Of course, in this timeline Apalos are on good terms with the Grox. And I'm affiliated with Apalos. That means I know their security codes. We've now got the past Grox on our side.
• Future Hachiman - Trolled.
• Mazipnos - They'll come in handy for whatever comes next. Let's see who decides to show is face now...

They braced themselves for the next fight. There was a silence, quickly broken by Incognito, as he looked at Santorakh.

• Incognito - What's up with this Kicath anyway?
• Gorf - Heh. Silly. It's an Xhodocto, not a Kicath.

Incognito went quiet, in either embarassment or fear.

• Oniron - Wait but....he looks like a Kicath to me. Only his dress sence is damn-near horrendus.
• Santorakh - Horrendous? Horrendous?! Just what exactly did they wear fifty three thousand years ago, huh?!
• Oniron - Nothing that was such a ghastly mashup of colours as what you're draped in, that's for certain.

The Scheme of Perfection

And then, from the darkness of space, four blood red eyes appeared. A monstrous voice roared thorugh the team's minds.

• Regnatus' - 'Insignificant resistance.
• Santorakh - Regnatus! Regnatus you magnificent bastard, reply to my calls already!
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Funny. I was about to kill you in my timeline.

Hachiman's face became a scowl, his eyes narrowing with a deadly glare as he clenched his fists, focussing his scorn and anger.

• Hachiman - HIM.

Rebaris, Xerkea and the Rogue Boyz all screamed in fear, while Vorius threw himself away from view as if he was scared. Uriel growled at the screen and clenched his fists, the air within the vicinity of his body heating up. Regnatus' planet-sized spaceship body appeared and unleashed lasers, tearing the allied fleet apart; there was almost nothing that many of the defenses could do about the sheer power of this ship. The thousands of warships fired upon Regnatus and his nearly invincible spaceship.

• Kordan - What... What is that...
• Regnatus' - 'Become one with the void.

• Falrik Zaarkhun - God damnit...I have no idea how he was defeated in my time...
• Oniron - How is that thing not collapsing in on itself?
• Xerkea - We killed him last time by having Arkarixus upload himself into his mind. That's not gonna work now.
• Regnatus' - 'Succumb and ascend.

Behind Regnatus, appeared a colossal demon. It bore wings, and its appearance was as horrifying as it was intricate. Surrounding its form was a blackened aura as its eyes were white. The demon picked up a ship of their fleet, and hurled it at the Iron Fist, which was damaged badly.

Meanwhile, the Inatosan Wolf bared its many hundreds of teeth and unleashed a powerful roar, causing ships to explode, implode and collapse out of space. Hachiman spread his arms and closed his eye - as allied ships were eviscerated, they were replaced and resurrected, allowed to continue the fight.

• Inatosan Wolf' - Caligaduro Provectus.
• Caligaduro Provectus' - 'The void calls.
• Inatosan Wolf' - 'You shall be returned.
• Tuolog - As if Regnatus was not enough, we have to take this Caligaduro out too...
• Santorakh - And Caligaduro as well! Why doesn't he reply to my calls either! You demons are all up yourselves!
• Fre'kloar - wow SHUT UP OH MA DAYZ
• Oniron - I'm...rather stumped.
• Santorakh - Basically they're two big demons who have absolutely no manners whatsoever.

Suddenly, the Wolf's form disintegrated. Before the team could realize what was going on, they witnessed as a colossal wolf, thousands of kilometers in size, ran past the allied fleet, towards Caligaduro. Joinging the entities, a rather ominous cloud began weaving itself though the allied fleet, eating at and dissolving any ships it passed though which only swelled the cloud with each lost ship.

• Uriel - No...not them, anything but them!
• Xerkea - We gotta take them out one at a time...Someone here who can teleport, take us to inside Regnatus. We need to destroy him from inside out!
• Tuolog - On it.

From Caligaduro's hands, formed two immense blackened spheres that spilled towards the team and towards the wolf, while Tuolog opened a portal to inside Regnatus. As the team appeared inside Regnatus, right before them was an army of Devourer's Chosen cultists. leading them was the shadowy version of Arberkul who had attacked the Junctionn weeks before. One of the spheres flew to the side and exploded. From it, all manners of demonic entities and chimera spilled from it, flying into the void of space.

• Arberkul - YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE THIS TIME!

The Wolf's mouth dripped with Source energies, proceeding to fire a horrendous beam, consisting of millions upon millions of essence lasers, towards the demon and its assault. Regnatus launched one of his massive claws at the Wolf to pummel him. The blast hit Caligaduro's armoured torso, himself being turned from the blast. He spread his wings and beat them forward; a black and red shockwave flew from its feathers.

• Incognito - And I thought I was mad before.

Appearing on a hologram within the ship's interior, they all bore witness to a figure standing upon the edge of the helm of the ship. It was Kithanan, playing his guitar, which proceeded to unleash horrifying blasts of black energy that obliterated enemy vessels.

• Zr'Ahgloth - DAT WAS MIEN
• Young Zr'Ahgloth - FUK OFF FAGGOT

Uriel opened his palm and materialised a dark greatsword, the blade blood red and glowing with Descension energies. he then charged to cleave Arbekul, his footsteps pounding on the floor. Kordan joined Uriel, materializing his own greatsword to assault the demon with great prejudice. Da Rogue Boyz also charged into the cultists. Xerkea attacked them with her mecha suit as well. Meanwhile, Vorius looked around, as if he was in awe.

• Vorius - ....Life. Life. Life. Life. Life.

From Kithworto's two hands, pooled a sphere of Life Energy and Death Energy. Those who knew Kithworto from this time could feel Kithworto's powers had increased since then.

• Future Hachiman - Be careful, Kithworto.
• Kithworto - Be careful? Since when did you tell me to do things?

Oniron shrugged and twirled his kukris and charged to dive into the cultist army, a twisted grin on his face as he jumped in. Meanwhile, Santorakh readied his walking stick as he smacked it against the palm of his hand a few times. Arberkul then blasted Uriel and Kordan away as he turned into his Demon Form. He let out a roar and launched a breath of Dark Chronoscopic fire at the team.

• Santorakh - Right. Who wants omelette?
• Arberkul - I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE!
• Kithworto - Didn't I kill you already?

Yidda also leaped into the fray, tearing into cultists with her claws, teeth, and phenomenal strength

• Xerkea - From what the Mechanic informed, Zelfron brought his soul back. Kill him again.

Uriel roared to push back against the flames before leaping into the air and opening his wings, swinging his sword to carve into Arbekul's shoulder. Santorakh waved his stick at some of the cultists, turning them into cheese. Future Hachiman stayed reserved and watched from the sidelines, continuing to rematerialize allied ships as they were destroyed by the enemy.

• Kithworto - Oh dear. Well, I'm going to have to kill you again then.

Silver Death charged ahead and punched Arberkul, sending him flying across the chamber into a wall. Travelling deeper, the team could see Regnatus' reactors. Kithworto doubled over, as his form mutated into the Omega State. It was even larger and more terrifying than his former self.

• Fre'kloar - geezush
• Kithworto - Come then. Let's see how you can dish out vengeance.

The Inatosan Wolf's fur became scorched as it came into contact with the demon's energies, before unleashing an eviscerating blast of thin, concentrated Source towards his opposition.

• Oniron - Drakon's arse Kith when did you learn to do that!
• Kithworto - Confession. I was always able to do this.
• Oniron - I think I preferred the verion of you I knew.

Arberkul leaped into Kithworto's direction, with the intention of devouring him. And just as he did, Kithworto grabbed Arberkul with his left arm.

• Kithworto - You just don't learn, do you?

Uriel saw Arbekul and dived to plunge the blade deep into his back. Arberkul frantically dug his teeth on Kithworto's arm, being completely blinded by his own rage. Arberkul's teeth smashed upon contact with Kithworto's flesh.

• Xerkea - Oh I know! Throw him at the reactors!
• Zr'Ahgloths - IM ON IT

The armour on Caligaduro's shoulder was burst away as he roared out. He grabbed the wolf by his neck and tore at it. They both rushed to grab Arberkul.

• Kithworto - What makes you think I am going to give you to him?
• Xerkea - Just do it! We're wasting time!

The Wolf yelped as it was grabbed, but it proceeded to resist, using its colossal claws to rend "flesh" from Caligaduro's face, pounding with enough force to collapse planets behind it, while Regnatus meanwhile launcehd his lasers at the Wolf. Kithworto's eyes rolled and hurled Arberkul across the hall towards the reactor, not much unlike a ball.

In the midst of this frantic battle, Tuolog chose to bring up another portal; he needed more help. Kithanan was joined in by the future, blind version of Quendor.

• Quendor - ...what in the cycle is going on?

All of a sudden there was an eruption of oil and waste. The DCP had returned to the fight, they had been teleported to the ship's intestines. And while the two Zr'Ahgloths fought over who threw Arbkerul, the DCP managed to help, and they together, tossed him into Regnatus' reactors. As he hit the reactor, Arberkul exploded. The reactor was destroyed entirely and Regnatus let out a pained roar. Explosions were heard all over the ship.

• Xerkea - Tuolog, get us out of here!

Tuolog hurried to produce a portal large enough to fit them all in.

Kithanan continued to play his ship-destroying guitar atop the Iron Fist, observing as the colossal demon and the gigantic wolf clawed and battled, he turned to the Eventide Sorrow, the future version of the New Dawn, as it materialized. Caligaduro's face was torn by the claws, before behind him, an incredible black portal appeared behind him. He struggled to pull himself into the portal with the Wolf.

• Caligaduro' - 'Face the void, weakling.

As the team escaped, Regnatus exploded violently, hitting Caligaduro behind him.

A Demon's Luck With Numbers

Caligaduro let go of the Wolf as the ship bashed against his side, before he turned. From his body conjured a volatile black beam of energy, eradicating the wreck of Regnatus's body. The Wolf howled as Caligaduro let go, from the howl unleashing once more a concentrated blast of Source, a million different lasers. It aimed for the Colossus' chest, creating a cavity. Whilst it did not burst through his chest, Caligaduro was sent back, into the reaches of his portal. He held on to the edges of the rip. All manners of demons warmed on the Wolf as Caligaduro launched himself back.

• Santorakh - Call me when you have the time, Regnatus. YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE DAMN TIME.

Meanwhile, behind them, a horde of Kralgon ships appeared. But two different Kralgon ships appeared to be the capital ships leading them.

• Young Kralgon Emperor - Time to be ANNIHILATED!
• Roshisiz - Seconded, my pathetic son.
• Fre'kloar - impossibru

The infinite force of Kralgon appeared, led by the young Kralgon Emperor...and his dad...

• Roshisiz - Now, son, you'll see why I never let you be a leader.
• Young Kralgon Emperor - Go ahead and try to impress me! I dare you!
• Oniron - Drakon's arse that's a lot of ships.
• Dalverat - That's something I never thought I'd see.
• Kralgon Emperor - Is that seriously me?
• Young Kralgon Emperor - I was about to ask you the same...

Upon the Wolf's snout, Future Hachiman had appeared. He held his opened palm towards Caligaduro, with narrowed eyes. From his palm, a ferocious blast eviscerated all demons that made contact with the Wolf and engulfed the Colossus in a destructive light.

Uriel looked to the fleet and clenched his fists. Spreading his arms, Uriel's power crushed Kralgon ships as though he was squeezing them with his own hands. The fleets clashed, though the Kralgon fleet was clearly outnumbering the fleet led by the Iron Fist. Regardless of how many they lost, the fleets kept approaching, firing upon each other.

• Zr'Ahgloth - dis is bullshi. DA KRALGON EMPERAR HATES HIS DAD
• Young Kralgon Emperor - Of course I do. But I hate you even more!

Caligaduro's roar caused many ships to explode, as he was launched back. He flew back into his portal, as it closed behind him. The demonic forces all turned to dust.

• Zr'Ahgloth - yoo sur? yoo reely wanna hav ya dad show off hao betta he is dan yoo?
• Young Kralgon Emperor - ...Admittedly not...
• Zr'Ahgloth - DEN KEEEL HIM
• Santorakh - Yippie!
• Young Kralgon Emperor - Perhaps I could.
• Roshisiz - Oh seriously?!

The Young Kralgon Emperor turned his fleet on Roshisiz and fired. Now, the two fleets simply turned on each other.

• Zr'Ahgloth - LOL IT WORKED
• Fre'kloar - DERE I DONE IT

In the midst of the carnage and the broken, ships, Kithworto recognized a figure standing on a ship. It was tall, draconic in shape. It was Angazhar in a physical state.

• Zr'Ahgloth - OOOOOOOOOOOOOH SNAP
• Warlord Kilnok - We meet again.
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Gods?...Bloody GODS?!
• Billig - Funny, eh?
• Oniron - That thing wins the ugliness contest.
• Xerkea - ...Where is that flesh guy?
• Santorakh - Me?

Vorius had not returned with the team and was nowhere to be seen.

• Xerkea - Is that a Xhodocto?!

From Angazhar's palm, was a small red light. As he clenched upon it, the entirety of space around them turned into a hellish space-scape.

• Fre'kloar - MA BODYS NOT REDI
• Tuolog - Wait. This a Xhodocto from before they got stronger than they are. Perhaps Angazhar intentionally weakening himself?
• Gorf - Santorakh here should be the one doing this fightin'. For extra irony.
• Angazhar' - Now. We shall see if you mortals really are as powerful as you claim to be.

Angazhar swung a punch, but from it, a blast of Chaos Energy, a manner of all colours jutted at the team. And at the same time, within the hellish firescape, another form appeared...it was Grimbolsaurian, though twisted into alien geometry. It was Tricarrion. No one noticed, of course, too distracted by everything else going on.

• Uriel - I prevailed in the hellscape your kind left Andromeda in. I am strong enough.
• Xerkea - Oh god someone do something!

The cannons of what remained of the huge fleet fired. Every crew member completely shocked at the mere idea of fighting this monster...

• Fre'kloar - KITHWORTO DO SUMFIN
• Kithworto - ....Santorakh, do something!
• Santorakh - Santorakh, do something! Wait. I'm Santorakh.

Tricarrion appeared within the ship, threw himself towards Kilnok, throwing him to the floor.

• Santorakh - Angazhar you idiot, what are you doing? I'm your brother for our sake!
• Angazhar' - 'Irrelevant.

Angazhar turned to a nearby planet, and struck it with his essence. The planet exploded violently, with billions upon billions of tons of rock hurtling towards them. And while the whole business with Angazhar went on, Zr'Ahgloth tired to help Kilnok out, throwing his punches at Tricarrion, though he soon found his hands stuck to Tricarrion, beginning to burn.

• Santorakh - I hate it when he's like this!
• Gorf - Now this isn't much fun anymore I gotta add.
• Uriel - Something must be done...

Angazhar looked at the team. He roared; the tumult of sounds could be heard all over the hell that they were in. Strong enough for the infinity to shake. Kithworto and Incognito fell to the ground as the sound hit them, and even Santorakh shut his eyes in pain.

• Santorakh - Well, that's it. I'm going to do something now.
• Oniron - Other than telling him off?

Santorakh appeared right next to Angazhar, and threw a punch. A few seconds later, and Angazhar and Santorakh were facing each other in hand to hand combat. Each punch and kick laid on each other cause reality to shudder and planets to explode.

• Kithworto - What in the...
• Fre'kloar - amazin
• Santorakh - You need a time out mister!

Angazhar laid a punch across Santorakh's face and launched him across space, before turning back to the allied army. Silver Death's Planet Fortress appeared on the fleet and launched a dark energy laser at Angazhar's direction.

• Zr'Ahgloth - id do stoof but ma hands ar kinda stuck to dis tricarrion geeza
• Angazhar' - 'You were always weak.
• Santorakh - No, I'm just not good at this fighting thing!

The laser hit Angazhar's body. He fell to the ground, before launching a blast of Chaos Energy back. Santorakh took the opportunity, and fired at Santorakh with his walking stick.

• Santorakh - Take that you stupid Xhodocto!

The resulting blast colliding with Angazhar caused the realm to flash in a bright white, before Angazhar's roar could be heard. The realm melted away around them, taking them back to the Grey Zone.

• Xerkea - ...Well. I'm not sure what happened, but it worked.
• Santorakh - He is not going to be happy with me once this is over.
• Gorf - Well you're our here for now.
• The Mechanic - Oh, so we're done with that? Cool. Now do you want to help Kilnok with his Tricarrion problem here?

A DCP ship overhead tried to isolate Tricarrion, but were forced to take evasive action against incoming rock, and Kilnok sliced Zr'Ahgloth's hands off to get him free, while the DCP medics soon repaired his hands to working order.

• Kilnok - Medics will attend to you now
• Zr'Ahgloth - ow wat da fuk man

Attention was turned to Tricarrion. Kilnok began to duel Tricarrion, and TDa Rogue Boyz all attacked Tricarrion while Xerkea fired at him with her mecha suit Tricarrion shifted in two, and his began to glow, staring at Xerkea while attempting to out duel Kilnok.

• Xerkea - Everyone help kill this thing already!

Everyyone began to feel their body temperature rising, appropriate for how much the battle was heating up. Uriel lifted his sword and swung it to strike downwards on the Tricarrion copy.

• Kilnok - Quick, Tricarrion is using the technique Wormulus used, by boiling blood!

The sword bounced off the copy of Tricarrion, while they both turned on Kilnok. Kordan growled and swung his foot to kick one of the versions of Tricarrion away. Uriel staggered back as the sword was made useless. Unfortunately, Kilnok was losing. Tricarrion had been taught by Anzaghar personally for this moment...

• Uriel - This being's aura...what are we fighting?
• Xerkea - A filthy demon!
• Uriel - This is no mere demon...

Future Hachiman stepped forward and clenched his fists, smiling. His aura enhanced and increased, fluctuating violently as he approached.

• Future Hachiman - I know what to do with demons.
• Kithanan - Kick them in the ass!

• Tricarrion - Hah, fool! I am being of the two worlds, I have Bo Ramik's energy as well!
• Uriel - That would the the extra power I noticed.
• Hachiman - I am being that ascends the concept of 'worlds'.
• Kilnok - It's true, he is a living personification of the Monad.
• Gorf - Yep, you understand it well.
• Oniron - And this perconification means...what?
• Kilnok - Look away from him!
• Hachiman - You may transcend Yin and Yang, good and evil, dark and light... I transcend universes, I am present beyond this one.
• Uriel - Transcend....good and evil...
• Fre'kloar - im not used to hachi talkin smart
• Oniron - I'm guessing bug-man has a point so I'm going to do what he says although Drakon knows why.
• Warlord Kilnok - His power is still limited to collective unconscious between dreams and reality.

Oniron turned to look away from Triccarion, closing his eyes tightly, while Yidda shrugged and stepped back, turning her mind's gaze elsewhere.

• Kilnok - You are experiencing a thought form created by Anzaghar, which has spread through the collective unsconsious.

Xerkea and the Rogue Loron all turned away from Tricarrion and began thinking of something else.

• Kilnok - Return to normality, is to return to consensus reality...
• Uriel - So long as we believe he exists, he will?
• Future Hachiman - Then I will dream of a place where he does not.

As everyone sat in quiet meditation, struggling to relax their thoughts, Tricarrion attempted to make one last effort of violence. But then he was gone... For now.

• Fre'kloar - grimby? wat grimpy? never seen one in ma life
• Xerkea - Hey, it worked!
• Warlord Kilnok - He will return one day, when he is more fixated in our reality tunnel.
• Santorakh - Riiiiiight.

Finally, Landing Space

In the black space of the Grey Zone, there was a piece of flat land they could find. It was just a platform though, with gravity and all, that looked like it really shouldn't belong there. That might be just what they needed.

• ??? - Well, I'm somewhat impressed.
• Fre'kloar - who sed dat

As the team beamed down to this platform, Zargoth appeared above them.

• Future Hachiman - Him. He said that.
• Zr'Ahgloth - MOTHEFUKA
• Future Hachiman - I expected you to say you expected us.
• Santorakh - Zargoth, you ridiculous little shit!
• Xerkea - So you really are alive, you shit.
• Zargoth - Of course I am. Volzara never defeated me, just destroyed the part of me that kept me connected to Volzara.

Zargoth turned to Santorak, with the equivalent of an eyebrow raise.

• Zargoth - You're here, are you?
• Santorakh - Yes I am here! Now get the hell off this universe before I make you!
• Oniron - I wish I was back fighting the Blood Dragons. Everything made sense where I came from.
• Zargoth - ...Don't you see? It's succeeding. The Vyro'Narza, the Xol'Etra and the Vi'Navitum, their plan will now fall apart.
• Gorf - Nah, can't let that happen now, can we?
• Santorakh - Yes, of course I see it. I'm the freaking God of Madness, I've seen it since you were breathed into being? How dumb do you take me for?!
• Zargoth - I do not take you as unintelligent, I merely question your decision to fight against me.
• Dalverat - You don't question an entity who doesn't make any sense.
• Future Hachiman - It wasn't his decision.
• Santorakh - Course it was my decision! I choose whatever I want to do!
• Zargoth - You raise a good point, Dalverat. In stark contrast to him, I know nothing other than logic, mind you. Emotions seem rather strange.

Zargoth then looked around, before speaking again.

• Zr'Ahgloth - ok im tired of yoo COM FITE ME FAGET OR GET OUT
• Incognito - Remind me to return to my time once this is done.
• Kithanan - No time for that.
• Zargoth - Let's begin, shall we?

Zargoth vanished, and Santorakh growled as the ground beneath them shook.

• Santorakh - I see why Angazhar hates him. I might take turns with him punching him whilst he hangs from a ceiling.

In a distance, a huge three-headed dragon appeared and roared at the team's direction.

• Atrocius - DEVOUR.
• Inatosan Wolf - The devourer of dragons.
• Santorakh - Atrocius? What is this, two for...three for one now?
• Falrik Zaarkhun - What?
• Kithworto - That's...abominable.

Atrocius' three heads charged beams of dark magic and fired at them, knocking them back at least. Uriel looked at Kordan with a smirk.

• Uriel - How about we see who can lay the killing blow?
• Kordan - Is that even a challenge?

Kordan smirked and drew his greatsword, while the Inatosan Wolf glared towards Caligaduro's servants and his own reincarnation. Several DCP Ultra-troopers jumped into hyperspace to create spectral ghosts, in an attempt to confuse the creature.

Next to Atrocius, could be seen the Void Guardian, albeit in a smaller, sizeable form. With him he held a sword, and behind him, a tumult of other Void Guardians. Out of the ground, a mountain of teeth and eyes rose as well as a huge number of tentacles. The leading Void Guardianroared, where the others charged towards them at an alarming speed.

• Vargash' - 'Madness spreads.
• Santorakh - Of course it spreads! I have the damn butter knife!

Uriel chuckled and lifted his sword onto his shoulder. He sprinted towards Atrocious, faster than any Normal Draconis and when close enough, leaped and flew to cut into Atrocious' shoulder, while Tuolog tried to amplify the damage of everyone using his various Essence powers. One of Atrocius' heads lunged at Uriel to devour him whole.

• Santorakh - I'd be a little wary of their swords though. Sharp.

The sword burned with Descension energy as it cleaved the air, seeing the head, Uriel swung the sword to slice the mouth in half, and the head backed away and fired a blast of magic at Uriel. Kordan ran at equivalent speed to Uriel and leaped as he got close, aiming to slash through the dragon-killer's tail while his sword radiated with Descension energies.

The Void Guardians then charged towards the team, with greatswords in hand. The Rogue Loron and Xerkea all fought them, while Gorf walked up to Future Hachiman and poked his leg.

• Gorf - Hey. Throw me at the dragon.

Yidda used dark chronoscopic to sprint with lighting speed towards the Void guardians, diving though them and using her claws to tear their bodies apart.

• Future Hachiman - Say please.
• Gorf - Please, dumb.

With great effort, one of the Void guardians was torn apart. However, it was made entirely of a black, metallic stone. Future Hachiman nodded and picked up Gorf, who curled into a ball. He raised his arm back before launching it forward, bathing Gorf in Dream Energy and throwing him towards Atrocius at mind-shattering speeds. Uriel shielded himself with his wings as the blast hit him, he roared in pain as he felt the energies surging against him, befor eroaring back, causing a shockwave. In midair, Gorf was engulfed in a blast of light. When the team could see him again, ehad turned into Laminoula'Fuerq, who roared as he travelled into Atrocius' direction. Laminoula'Fuerq collided with Atrocius, causing the dragon demon to lose its balance and fall into the ground.

One of the Void Guardians came and cleaved his blade down towards Incognito. He held the Void Guardian's arms as attempted to swing down, struggling to hold his strength against it.

• Incognito - Little help here?
• Vargash - Help yourself by serving me.

Kithanan launched himself and kicked the side of the Void Guardian's "head", throwing it away from Incognito. Kordan took the opportunity and attacked Atrocius while it was grounded, aiming to slash off one of the monster's wings with his Descension enchanted sword. Uriel twisted around and dived to slam his sword into Atrocious' back. Kordan, Uriel and Laminoula'Fuer's combined attacks caused Atrocius to growl and then fall over, lifeless.

Yidda bounded though the armies of Void Guardians before wrapping her arms around one Guardian and burned the area around her hands and torso with descension energy, and it was thrown into the distance, as Incognito stood back up. Silver Death attacked the Void Guardians with blasts. The leading Guardian neared the team, with a unique sword in one hand, and a seven-tailed whip laced in flames with another. Uriel jumped off the corpse then turned to look at the leading Guardian, scowling

• Sollow - Hahaha...this is so pathetic...

One of Vargash's tentacles slammed into Sollow, tearing him apart. Of course, Sollow was shocked at how fast he was torn apart. Naturally, he rebuilt himself, but likely only to die again.

• Santorakh - Yes! Well done, mini-me! I mean...crap. Sollow's dead.

The Inatosan Wolf approached the leading guardian and howled once more, once again matching one another in size. Between the Wolf's jaws was the Eye; an alien artefact, not from any universe the others aside from guardian and his accomplice, Vargash, could recognize.

• Vargash' - 'Irisis. Mine.

Vargash launched its tentacles at the Wolf's direction.

The leader stopped, before he flailed his whip around in form, causing the ground to be launched into the air in fiery fissures from the surface.

• Xerkea - I don't know where these guys come from but I really don't want to find out.

Kithworto attempted to reach the leading Void Guardian, which was nearly twice his size. Before he could land a punch on him, its whip came around, smacking Kithworto across the horizon.

Vargash's tendrils were severed as Kithanan materialized a weapon in his palm that he gripped tightly; a Firesword. An "enhanced" Firesword.

• Warlord Kilnok - You know what, I've heard all that before from you "immortals". It's rubbish.

Out of Vargash's mouth, Lympharians began appearing. Kilnok, in an attempt to show some superiority, unleashed a weapon derived from the Taldar godhammer to attack them.

• Harbinger - Become one with Furor.

Kithanan unleashed several ferocious, thick ribbons of existence-destroying fire towards the guardian, which merely beat against his armour like candle-flame against rocks. He turned to Kithanan, before a black gathering of energy, not unlike Chaos Energy formed around his blade.

• Void Guardian' - 'Do you not know the Void, demon?
• Kithanan - How about you sniff MY void?! Haha!
• Vargash - His void is not our own. He does not deserve to exist.
• Kilnok - Do you not no there is no such thing as a void in our universe?

The Inatosan Wolf turned to Vargash and countered its tendrils with Source-based vines that erupted from the ground, manifested by the Eye.

• Santorakh - Hey. Mortal. Over here. I'm a walking void.
• Kithanan - You're a giant ass-crack then!
• Kilnok - Then you are a void half full, of food!
• Santorakh - ...I guess he's sort of a Chaos Monster in this reality. Totally not my fault.

Vargash roared in anger. Out of its mouth, it spat fiery orbs into the sky which began falling like meteors. As the team attacked the Lympharians with melee weapons,t hey found their weapons slowly turning into crystal. Kordan roared and also attacked the Lympharians, taking the opportunity to shove Uriel aside to gain some additional kills to his counter.

• Kordan - My sword... what is happening to my sword?
• Harbinger - Furor is happening. Accept it.

Uriel was put off balance. But growled as he saw his sword was also crystalising. As the Guardian roared again, the skies began to turn a nebulous red.

• Caligaduro' - 'The void is strong here. Infinite.

After a few seconds there was a sudden explosion of Descension energy, not unlike a powerful bomb

Laminoula'Fuerq jumped into Vargash and began climbing it until he arrived at its mouth. Charging Dream Energy, he fired directly at the Sanity Colossus' mouth, causing it to scream and severla of its tentacles to explode. The Lympharians all cried in union as Vargash was hurt. As Vargash was attacked, the Inatosian Wolf used the Eye once more, creating an eviscerating laser that sliced through Vargash's maddening flesh. Vargash let out a screech until it stopped moving altogether, being absorbed back into the ground where it had emerged from. The Lympharians all fell apart into blocks of crystal.

Future Hachi stepped forward once more, towards the Guardian, raising an arm to tranquil the skies, throwing the meteors away from the group with his essences. Behind him, cracks within time and space began to appear before erupting into portals; several hundreds of Hachimans, all engaged within an Angel Form of varying sizes, charged towards the Colossus.

• Fre'kloar - DAM DATS A LOT OF BUNIS

The Guardian faced the mass of Rianths, before he disappeared into nothingness.

• Fre'kloar - huh

Behind the army of the allies, the Guardian reappeared. His body blocked out the skies.

• Fre'kloar - JUS DAI ALREDY
• Sollow - Please hurry up and die...oh wait...that was a rather hypocritical statement...hahaha...
• Inatosian Wolf - The Anethema becomes desperate.

The Guardian let out a roar, strong enough to blast rock from the surface, as it reached towards the team.

• Xerkea - How are we supposed to fight that?
• Oniron - Apparently it wants the demon guy more than us...
• Xerkea - My point stands.

Suddenly, Hachiman grabbed ahold of the Eye and wrenched it from the Wolf's mouth. He aimed it towards the Colossus, and began to focus, tapping into his mind to empower the artefact; from several dozen thousand of Koldenwelts across the omniverse, the Eye unleashed several eradicating beams towards the Guardian, aiming for his neck and appendages. The blast knocked itbackwards, and impacted the surface of his chest as his armour shattered and hit the ground. The Guardian retracted, and laughed as he looked at the Eye.

• Incognito - That can't be good.
• Tuolog - Indeed...
• Oniron - Stripping him is better than doing nothing.
• Fre'kloar - noh
• Santorakh - Silly nilly. What do they teach you that far in the future?

All of the Void Guardian raised their arms into the air as above them, a virulent portal emerged into Chaos.

Kolossi

• Santorakh - I'm getting bored with this. Anyone else?
• Future Hachiman - Indeed. Give me some idea.
• Incognito - I don't think bored is the right word.
• Santorakh - Give you ideas? You put yourself into this catastrophe.
• Laminoula'Fuerq - Eradicate them all, Xhodocto.

Santorakh walked forward to face the original Void General. He stood there for what seemed like a ridiculously long time. He looked at the landscape, before licking his finger and holding it up to see where the wind was blowing. He did a few stretches, before he grabbed his walking stick.

• Kithanan - This is going to be good.
• Santorakh - How about it then?
• Fre'kloar - TURN DEM INTO PIZZA
• Young Zr'Ahgloth - ENNIT
• Zr'Ahgloth - stfu losa
• Future Hachiman - Turn them into giant beautiful women and I might just praise you.
• Fre'kloar - r u dum TURN DEM INTO PIZZA

Santorakh hit his stick a few times, before slamming it into the ground again. A ripple went through the surface of the Grey Zone as a light travelled up the army of Caligaduros, as their bodies froze. A few moments passed before all of their bodies reduced to stone, and collapsed under their own weight.

• Santorakh - Stupid Chaos Monsters. I told them to stay in their own realities and what do they do?
• Oniron - For a guy with dominion over reality you're not very good at keeping your demons in check.

As soon as the Void Guardian fell, the group soon saw a starship zoom right over them. Though it seemed that whoever was flying it had no need for it, as he could hover anyway. Many people recognised it as Zelfron.

• Zelfron - It is through the time anomalies that I have obtained my power...you will not stop them.
• Santorakh - Mortals really don't understand things, do they?
• Future Hachiman - Time means nothing to me, neither does its anomalies.

Zelfron zipped around, throwing out blasts of what seemed to be Dark Chronoscopic energy. As everyone tried to hit him, he took almost no damage.

• Zelfron - You have the powers yourself? Hah, but they are surely weak compared to mine!
• Oniron - Come down here and fight like a warrior and not some cowardly newt!
• Kithanan - Get down here so I can tear you a new one personally, shitface!

Da Rogue Boyz all chased after Zelfron, ranting gibberish as they were hit by his attacks. Xerkea fired at his direction with his suit while Silver Death merely watched. Santorakh, in random whim, hurled a giant block of cheese at Zelfron, while Laminoula'Fuerq let out a roar and fired a wave of Dream Energy as well.

Despite the fact he took little damage from everything else, Zelfron was actually hurt by the cheese.

• Zelfron - ...What?
• Santorakh - And they call cheese useless. What are you going to say now then? Huh? Huh?!
• Kordan - Bizarre. Almost comical. Hehehe.

Kithworto looked rather astounded at what just transpired.

• Kithworto - Cheese. Really?

Spirits gathered in the air, turning into a strange, spiritual creature.

• Hagto'Zhl - jus shup and throw MOR CHEESE AT HIM
• Egnozeus - It is not entirely illogical.
• Tuolog - No! It not cheese that hurt him. It anomalies!
• Fre'kloar - can i eet da cheese den?
• Uriel - Are you suggesting we weaponise the very thing we are strying to eliminate?
• Tuolog - I am. Just use time anomalies, they his weakness.

Tuolog turned to Brag'klogga, Dalverat, Yidda, Santorakh and all the others with time powers.

• Santorakh - No one turns to me! Not even me turns to me!
• Kithanan - I'd better sit this one out then. Bastards.
• Brag'klogga - rite den OI ZELFRON PREPARE TA FEEL MA FLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH

Brag'klogga waved his staff and out of it, a storm of shuriken-shaped pizzas materialized and were thrown at Zelfron.

• Uriel - This battle should be memorable.
• Kordan - Wise decision, foul imp... thing. Only those of the chronoscope can seek to damage the alien as of now.

Knar'gank shed a tear at the sight.

Santorakh waved his stick at Zelfron's direction; from it came a colossal burst of black energy. In a strange turn of events, the shurikens actually managed to cut off Zelfron's arms, while Santorakh's blast knocked him to the ground.

• Zelfron - My powers...my powers!
• Brag'klogga - IS NO MATCH FOR MA POWAS

Yidda stood up and lowered her head in concentration. With a deafening roar, deformed, snarling animals materialised and leapt to tear Zelfron apart. Zelfron struggled, trying to fight them off and desparately trying to get out, but he was very much defeated now. And then, the last thing he ever saw...his clone, Zelfron III, appeared before him.

• Zelfron - You...you are a disgrace!
• Zelfron III - How does it feel to finally die? To finally be put to rest, never to return again? Out in the Grey Zone, if you die, you do not come back. Time does not flow here.
• Silver Death - You attacked us. Now you will be punished. You will become one of my personal drones.

Silver Death walked up to Zelfron and grabbed him, lifting up to his eye level.

• Zelfron - Zargoth...Zargoth will save me! He won't allow it...I am one of his greatest servants!

At this moment, the skies were engulfed in an inferno. At the horizon, a titanic sillhoette appeared.

• ??? - Your masters do not care for failures.
• Zelfron - ?!

Zelfron looked up in horror. For once, he was scared...death was the only thing he'd ever feared.

• Zelfron - Time has not been good to me...

The sillhoette leaned down, revealing itself as Kolossus. Uriel widened his eys and took several steps back, and many did so too, while Kordan bowed on a single knee.

• Future Hachiman - Your masters are pretty hypocritical.
• Kordan - My Lord!

Kordan bowed onto a single knee.

• Zelfron - What are you doing here?!
• Kolossus - I'm here to test my returned power, by eradicating every one of you insects...except master Santorakh, I'm not very sure why he's here.

Zelfron gulped, knowing it included him.

• Santorakh - I don't even know either.
• Zelfron - May Time take all of you! You are merely slaves of Time!
• Kolossus - You've used an interesting strategy. Taking individuals from other timelines and multiverses to aid you. A most...usable idea.
• Uriel - You have been defeated time and again, this shall be no exception!
• Kordan - I must apologize; I cannot include myself within this battle under the knowledge of knowing that I would be conflicting with Lord Zr'An'Kar.
• Kithanan - Pussy.
• Kordan - Mind your tongue, imp!
• Tuolog - Well. That awkward if we lose an ally.

Kolossus laughed.

• Kolossus - I cannot be destroyed, mortal. I am the true dark god of time here! You brought a temporal army to aid you. Two can play this game!
• Future Hachiman - I am ready for whatever you have to summon against us.
• Oniron - I've killed Blood Dragons by the dozens, I'll fight every single one of your kranndung-formed soldiers!

Kolossus extended his wingspan and around him, an entire army of different Kolossi spawned. All of them looked different from the original. Some appeared with a serpentine body, others appeared almost embryonic in look. The entire Kolossus army clenched their fists and took a step forward.

• Army - We are Kolossus.
• Tuolog - Oh no...

Falrik Zaarkhun cowered in fear, while the others prepared their weapons. Sollow, however, walked out and licked his blade at Kolossus.

• Sollow - I will destroy all of you...and you cannot destroy me...hahaha...
• Santorakh - Oh, you do something productive for once.

The Kolossus army all aimed their fingers at Sollow and blasted him in unison, obliterating him completely.

• Genrai Nal - Well. That was less than wise.
• Falrik Zaarkhun - ...Awkward.
• Oniron - Okay, that was scary.
• Kolossus - You've defeated so-called gods and even one of my masters...but can you defeat an army of ME?

Billig hurried over to the group.

• Billig - I don't think we can defeat 'im. Try an' cover me, I'll see if I can activate the anti-Secret before me time's up.
• Kithanan - This is nothing. I've fought larger armies of pissed-off Templars.
• Future Hachiman - It has been a while since I have danced with more than one accomplice. Let us perform.
• Future Quendor - Hm. Come at me.
• Laminoula'Fuerq - These numbers only show your cowardice, Zr'An'Kar. I will enjoy crushing your bones like wood.
• Kolossus - May Kamik'Shi have mercy of your souls, for I will not!

From the sky, an Apalos probe crashed into the groud, and then took upon the form of Mazipnos.

• Mazipnos - Sorry, I've been cleaning up in space. What have I missed?
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Oh, not much. Just a bunch of demon killing and all.

The Kolossus army charged into the allied team's direction.

• Uriel - ...I can't. I don't want to consider it!
• Oniron - Consider what?
• Uriel - I cannot say.
• Oniron - Mate, you've got energy flowing out your cloaca and you're scared.
• Uriel - Do not concern yourself!

Incognito rolled his eyes, before looking at the army. From his hands blasted two massive ribbons of fire as they tore the landscape apart.

• Billig - Hurry! I've only got a few minutes to live...

The battle was on. Brag'klogga decided to fire more of his shuriken pizzas at one Kolossus, while Yidda growled and leaped to tear at the Kolossi with her claws cloaked in mixed Dark Chronoscopic and Descensino energy. Laminoula'Fuerq charged forward, tackling one of the Kolossi into the floor. Silver Death fired his guns as well, being in equal levels to the Corruptus War-era Kolossi. One particular Kolossus looked at Kithanan with a maniacal expression.

• Kolossus - Slept well this night, Kezzy?
• Kithanan - Urgh... Fuck you, cretin-face!

In his palms, Kithworto charged two spheres of Death Energy. Hurling one of them into the army, a miniature black hole spawned, sucking in numerous Kolossi warriors. Future Hachiman took a step forward and sat down, closing his eyes and positioning his hands in a certain manner' - around him, blasts of lightning, constructed of Dream Energy, eviscerated enemy Kolossi. The Inatosan Wolf leaped into the opposition and began tearing apart the Kolossi with his colossal teeth and claws.

• Mazipnos - Right. I see what's going on here.

Quendor jumped between the time spirits, eviscerating their malformed flesh with swift blade strikes, as Yidda continued to crawl between Kolossi, rending at them with her claws and teleporting about. The real Kolossus towered over the battlefield, his infernal wings covering the skies. He let out a roar as flaming rocks began falling at the team's direction. Uriel drew his warblade and ran towards the arm, though. Partially distracted. Mazipnos, however, transformed back into an Apalos ship and grew to the size of a small starfighter. The Apalos ship then activated a large deflector shield and began launching Chronoscopic-ensheathed Thunderbolts at the Kolossi.

• Uriel - The hunger, I can feel it...it yearns...must resist.
• Billig - Tuolog! Why ain't you focusin' yer energy? I don't 'ave long!
• Tuolog - I think I have idea...

• Santorakh - You're making me angry! And hungry! You don't like me when I'm angry...or hungry. Very very hungry!
• Kolossus - Turn the mortals into cheese then.

Santorakh's eyes turned black as the world around them turned icy cold.

• Santorakh' - 'DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO.
• Kolossus - I'm sorry,I didn't mean to!

Uriel used the supernatural power in his legs to leap towards one of the Colossi, falling to plant his hand in one of their bodies. Along with the Apalos ship, Kilnok decided to bring some DCP ships, who similarly used their ships' gravity manipulation to fire Chronoscopic at the Kolossi. From the skies, blackened jets of Chaos Energy started stabbing the ground with colossal force, tearing the enemy apart. Then, as Uriel landed, using his sword to keep himself held in, he began to leech energy off the Kolossus he was hanging off.

The team's efforts destroyed most of the Kolossus Army. The real Kolossus looked down on the battlefield in annoyance.

• Kolossus - Destroy all you want. I can make more! I can make infinite armies! You cannot stop me here, or anywhere!
• Billig - Tuolog...what're you doin'?!
• Tuolog - Hehehe...

Tuolog then hovered, and looked straight at the real Kolossus.

• Tuolog - Hey, how you enjoying your new powers?

• Kolossus glared at Tuolog and fired a blast of blast of energy at his direction.

• Tuolog - How rude. That kill me one time. Of course I dodge it a second.

Tuolog coughed.

• Tuolog - So, you enjoy your new powers, correct? A shame if they were to be taken away again, wouldn't it?
• Kolossus - I don't have time for you. I have more important things to care of.

A portal appeared behind Tuolog...and the now deceased Mac, along with the Baby Taldar, appeared right behind him.

• Tuolog - Like these, yes?

The entire Kolossus army turned to Mac and the Baby Taldar, visibly intimidated.

• Kolossus - ...Don't you dare.

Mac growled, infused with the energy of the Baby Taldar, and rushed forward, raising up his sword above Kolossus.

• Mac - Take this, you little bitch.

Kolossus let out a reality-shaking roar and threw a punch at Mac's direction. He slammed his sword down upon the real Kolossus, sending waves of energy into him. The curse...while weaker than before, it was reapplied. The Kolossus army began turning into dust. The fires on the real Kolossus' wings went out, with only a skeletal wingspan remaining.

• Kolossus - I did not...expect this.
• Tuolog - Hehehe. Outsmarted, bitch.
• Fre'kloar - wow watch yor language faget

Kithworto chuckled to himself slightly.

• Kithworto - It's always fun to watch you be defeated, Kolossus.

Kolossus was reduced to little more than six meters in height. He looked at the team with a petulant expression. Unlike his previous curse, he didn't appeared to be as weakened as before.

• Kolossus - I've lost here...but in the end, the Dominion has won anyway. You're too late to save your precious multiverse from the anomalies.

Zargoth's Master Plan

The inferno that Kolossus had left behind him remained there, and grew more intense. The Grey Zone itself was beginning to shake, and collapse, as its master arrived.

• Zargoth - He's right. You have fought valiantly, and won a small victory. But it is nothing compared to the grander victory.
• Future Hachiman - Any victory is worthwhile, whether it'd be small, pyrrhic or both.
• Kolossus - My quest for power will never end...you will all hear of Zr'An'Kar again.

Kolossus disappeared in a demonic smoke.

• Santorakh - Phooey. I was just about to drag him into Insomnia as well.

Santorakh paused for a few moments.

• Santorakh - Wait. I'm the God of Madness, of course I can still do that.

• Zargoth - You see, I have been trying for many millennia to stage my true comeback. Ever since the War of the Ancients, I have been planning this moment. And the 'failures' - such as those in the Borealis War - have even led to this.
• Xerkea - You're making up excuses again.
• Oniron - Blah blah blah you're just another airhead politician.
• Zargoth - Upon my return after the War of the Ancients, in order to survive, I had to tie myself to Volzara. As Santorakh here will tell you, that's hardly optimal for the Dominion. So when Volzara 'defeated' me...my ties to her were cut. Any Taldar left in me was gone.

Santorakh beat his cane against the ground. Then he looked at his cane, before slamming it into the ground again.

• Santorakh - Blasted stick never works.
• Zargoth - So now, all it takes is the destruction of, I don't know, the most important multiverse to the Taldar, the Verezaph and any other 'godraces' who oppose the Dominion, to truly return. And what better place to start than this universe, one of the most unstable? Heheh.

It was clear to them that Zargoth loved making speeches.

• Future Hachiman - You truly are a petty, jealous creature.
• Billig - Zaarkhun, speak the Secret now! Tuolog, you channel it!

Falrik Zaarkhun - ...Why isn't he stopping us?

In the meanwhile, Kolossus reappeared next to Santorakh, and Zargoth didn't seem to notice.

• Zargoth - For a very good reason. You won a small victory, but it's meaningless. I wasn't after the destruction of your universe...
• Santorakh - Ah. There you are. C'mon, sissy, you're coming with me.
• Kolossus - ...Oh no.

To Santorakh's left, a morbid green portal opened up, with a black centre, all while Zargoth was still talking.

• Santorakh - Right. Get in.
• Kolossus - Ngh...as you wish.
• Zargoth - You see, after the Annihilation, this universe was 'scourged', though it was saved. And moved from the old multiverse to another. This multiverse it was moved to also contains plenty of other universes similar to yours; full of brave 'heroes' who have fought the Dominion and managed to survive Scourges. Let's say they are pretty important.
• Oniron - Wait...you planned to destroy the multiverse to make a return but you weren't pursuing this univere's destruction?

Kolossus took a step forward, changed directions and tried to run off.

• Zargoth - You catch on quickly, Oniron. This universe is meaningless compared to the rest of the multiverse. Why would I destroy one univrse like yours, when I can destroy dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? The Vyro'Narza, the Vi'Navitum, and the Xol'Etra, ever since the Etra were created, have been planning their retribution. And now, in one fell swoop, I'm putting an end to it.

Before Kolossus could run a far enough distance, Santorakh grabbed his left leg and hurled him on to the ground.

• Oniron - That's why I got confused you...I have no idea what you are.

Zargoth showed the others another portal to the outside multiverse. The dark energy of the Grey Zone and all the anomalies of the universe sept out, claiming other universes and destroying them, rapidly. The effect was snowballing as everything else died.

• Oniron - The old "nah I won't kill X people, I'll kill Y!"
• Kithanan - Efficiency at the highest grade. He'd make a good businessman. I hate businessmen.

Kolossus, meahwile, tried to crawl out of Santorakh's grasp, with no success.

• Santorakh - What are you scared of? You're going to love it in Insomnia! Tea parties! Cheese! Cake! Masquerade balls! Discordant operas! Unfortunately, some uncultured swines like dear Volim...but still. Cheese!
• Kolossus - I don't deserve this!
• Zargoth - Even if you save yourselves, how can you save them? Thousands of others like you. They're not prepared. Prepared for a Scourge? Sure. But not for this kind of destruction. They aren't prepared for this. And since none of their universes should exist, they will never be rebuilt. Theree is no hope for any of them.
• Valzaria - Why...you...you evil...little...
• Mazipnos - On the bright side, our multiverse-monitoring projects are going to become a lot easier now.

Santorakh started walking towards the portal with Kolossus still in his grasp, as he left a trail as his claws were still on the ground.

• Santorakh - Say goodbye to Zargoth as well. I think Skhánaróton and Moxix will also enjoy having you around. As for Emperor Kitzangaven, well you can help him find his head. He hasn't seen it for over five hundred thousand years. You can also help Volim find his head. He kind of lost trying to rip it off because he didn't like my singing. Can you imagine that?
• Kolossus - Kordan...you saw nothing.
• Kordan - ...Aye, my Lord.
• Uriel - He tried to kill us and still you honour him.
• Kordan - My Lord attempted to kill you, not me, inbred Draconis infidel.

Tuolog began to shine brighter.

• Tuolog - I channel Secret. All effects of the anomalies are restoring!
• Zargoth - To yours, sure. And I suppose the Vi'Navitum will arrange for the universe to move to another safe multiverse. But to everyone else...destruction.

Zargoth, and the portal outside showing the death of everything, vanished. They could only imagine the horror that was occurring in the other surrounding universes as everyone, totally unprepared, fell to the monstrosity that Zargoth was causing. And then...

To add insult to injury, Zargoth started showing the other multiverses get destroyed, zoomed in. Hachiman recognised one. A race of floating jellyfish-like creautres dying instantly, helpless, unable to defend themselves. They were the Keltsa. Hachiman stood as he watched the creatures become felled by Zargoth's wrath, stepping forward as the memories began to flood back once more. He remembered now, the Keltsa. The creatures that had both terrorised and protected their universe, the race that had made sure to immortalize those that were vital to them. He remembered now.

• Future Hachiman - ...The Keltsa... No! No you can't do this! Leave it alone! Leave that world alone! Don't you dare!!
• Zargoth - Recognise them, eh? Oh, yes you do. Your little Reiko is there.

The girl which looked like a Rianth was shown. She was trapped on her world, nowhere to move. They could see her plead to find some way to escape the realm, but it was dying, closing in on itself, just as the Keltsa were. They were unable to hold it back. This was just one of thousands of universes...

• Future Hachiman - Don't you dare! ...I'll tear you apart! I'll tear you into shreds if you lay a damned finger on her!
• Zargoth - Me? I won't do anything. She'll die trapped in there. Oh yes, wasn't there some promise you made to her? Want to speak to her?

Reiko could now see the portal herself. She was confused for a moment, but then understood that she was indeed dead. Among them, she saw Hachiman.

• Reiko - Hachiman?!...You promised...you promised we would meet again!...I guess we did...
• Future Hachiman - R-Reiko! Reiko! Oh, by Volzara I'm sorry Reiko! ...I promised we'd meet again! Not like this, but better! Much better! I'll save you, I will!
• Zargoth - Don't make more empty promises than you already did.
• Future Hachiman - Spare her! Even if it takes the death of universes to satisfy you, spare her! She doesn't deserve this!

The portal then changed as they watched other universes die, helplessly. One of them, the Mechanic would have recognised. It was a universe that held the sanctuary of surviving races. Billions of races from billions of universes, in a space station as old as the universe. Then, he noticed Kormacvar.

• The Mechanic - Kormacvar...in another universe?! Arkarxius isn't the last one?!
• Zargoth - Well, he is.
• The Mechanic - NO!!!!

And to insult them further, he showed a zoom in on this dying universe...Lunaxis. She was alive.

• The Mechanic - THIS IS TERRIBLE!!! HAD I KNOWN SHE WAS ALIVE...LUNAXIS! I FAILED YOU, I'M SORRY! I FAILED YOU!!!!!...I failed you!...I said that I would always be there for you...

He pulled out an amulet and looked at it. A picture of him with other Kormacvar, other Caretakers, with Lunaxis there, taking good care of him. He began to sob, as Zargoth showed the next universe.

• Kolossus - At least you mortals will feel as much pain as I will!
• Santorakh - Pain? That only depends if you don't like sixty-seven day long operas. If you don't then you and Volim are going to be best friends.

And then universe shown destroyed. But one, a race of fairy-like beings tried to slow it down: the Queloneye. They simply tried to hold it off, but they couldn't. They were ready for a Scourge...but not for this. Their death came next.

• Queloneye - The young...we must protect them! They have not...lived yet...

Uriel lowered his arms and looked up, in a fit of rage. He recognised the Queloneye and their noble quest to save the younger ones.

• Uriel - I may be a monster in my own timeline but you...I am NOTHING compared to you!
• Future Hachiman - You are disgusting, Zargoth. Infuriating. What does the blood of infinity even help to achieve?
• Tuolog - How could one be so evil...
• Billig - There...there was nothin' we could do...

Uriel threw out his arms in anger, while Billig then fell to the ground, as he was clearly having a heart attack.

• Billig - I 'ope...we saved ourselves at least...
• Uriel - I am a saint in comparison! Your existence is proof I am not beyond salvation!

Meanwhile, Kolossus was still being taken away, Santorakh called out for Zargoth, who ignored him.

• Santorakh - Well that wasn't nice. He ignored you! Trust me you're going to get the treatment of a lifetime in Insomnia!
• Kithanan - ...We're allowing ourselves to get raped through the anus, we're not even trying to fight. What is wrong... with you all?
• Santorakh - Well, it was nice meeting you all and fighting on the good side again. Haven't done that for a while. Was a treat. Also say goodbye to Kolossus here. He's going on a long vacation. He needs one. Look at him.
• Uriel - ...Feed me.

As Uriel, in fury, yelled out to where Zargoth was, it was all in vain. Zargoth was busy back with the Dominion, reaping his rewards, satisfied he had made a true comeback. It was clear that no one would mess with Zargoth again, now that his reputation was restored, and that he was stronger than ever.

• Laminoula'Fuerq - I'm unsure of what fate holds for us.
• Kordan - If we are all to die... then I shall die with the knowledge that I have conquered at least one of my nemesis.
• Kolossus - I don't! Let me go!
• Santorakh - What did I say about not telling me to do things?
• Kolossus - ...I'm sorry.
• Santorakh - Forgiven. But please have fun in there. You'll like the crowd and the Aspirants tending to your every whim.

Santorakh raised his hand, holding Kolossus upside down.

Tuolog couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Kolossus.

• Tuolog - Good luck...
• Kordan - Do not worry, my Lord... I shall perform this favour in your name.
• Kolossus - Die in a pit, Ioketa scum!

Uriel fell to his knees and looked up at Kordan, beginning to bear his teeth.

• Xerkea - Well...what now?
• Future Hachiman - All the dreams... I can feel them fading. Countless infinities within infinities vanishing.
• Uriel - if I am to die by your hand abomination, I will not be from submission!
• Laminoula'Fuerq - Completely unbearable sensation.

Kithworto let out a long, deep breath. Billig coughed, his life about to end.

• Billig - It should...be ova...I reckon we've saved the universe, eh?
• Mazipnos - Just the one.
• Oniron - I guess...never believed I would become aware of the existence of other universes though.

Before Santorakh closed the portal behind him, he stepped back out.

• Santorakh - Wait! I forgot something.

Santorakh went over to Billig and crouched down. Billig, coughing in death, looked up,

• Santorakh - You. Fatty. You're coming with me as well.
• Billig - You...'ave some business with me?
• Santorakh - No. I'm just taking you with me as well.
• Xerkea - Yes! Have him trapped away like Volim! Now that makes me happy.
• Billig - Ah...well, I don't get to die yet, eh?

Santorakh grabbed Billig by the excess of his torso, and dragged him along as well.

• Falrik Zaarkhun - Aww. I wanted to kill him myself.
• Oniron - This is all alien to me.
• Mazipnos - And yet another being is chosen to dine on endless cheese.
• Kithanan - In the grand scheme of things... this isn't so bad. Heh, hehehe... we survived, after all.
• Laminoula'Fuerq - Now that our mission is complete, I imagine our time here is ending.
• Tuolog - Just give us a few seconds...everything be restored.
• Oniron - Gods, demons, other universes and realities, inferno...Please tell me we won't remember this when we all go back.
• Falrik Zaarkhun - If I'm correct, things should restored like nothing happened. Well, anyone who died here is lost to time and won't return. And unfortunately...we can't save the multiverse.
• Mazipnos - The effect of that temporal destruction was that the other universes never existed any more for you to remember them. So to speak.
• Uriel - What are you waiting for mutant, permission from your dark diety?
• Xerkea - I still wonder what happened to that...flesh guy.
• Falrik Zaarkhun - Yes, Mazipnos put it best. It was as if they were destroyed by the Scourges that were supposed to destroy them.
• Kordan - I am savouring your despair.

Volzara, Verezaph, and an unknown Xol'Etra appeared before them.

• Volzara - It's true...Zargoth got the better of us. He was sly, faking his death, so that this could happen without us suspecting a thing...well, you've managed to save this universe. We can take you to another multiverse, and restore everything to normal, if you so wish.
• Xerkea - I suppose that's for the best.
• Future Hachiman - This is... This is wrong.
• Mazipnos - What alternative is there?
• Oniron - Do we have to do anything?

Volzara nodded. While the other two looked disappointed in their plan's failure, she seemed closed to tears, feeling sorry for the trillions of lives lost.

• Volzara - The alternative is that this universe is destroyed as well, in which case you all die here. And no, there's nothing more we need you to do.
• Future Hachiman - What happens next then...?

• Volzara - You will forget most of this...most of it, anyway.
• Vorius - More...got more...the deed is done.

Volzara then nodded. A flash of light engulfed them all, and their vision blurred. It was as if they had all gone to sleep.

---

And soon, those from the present were back in the PCA's council.

• Tuolog - Well...everyone remember what happen? I remember we stop anomalies...and Zargoth destroy multiverse...not much though...
• Xerkea - ...Wah. What happened?
• Vorius - ...Not supposed to be here.
• Fre'kloar - man im gonna throw up
• Yogtam - Many lives were lost today. Or was it another day? I'm not sure. Either way, we saved ourselves, and did what we could. I suppose that's enough.

Aftermath

She Will Die

Returning to the Dominion of the Xhodocto's base, Zargoth strode in slowly, as if feeling a sense of pride, though of course, no expression was shown on his face as usual. Anyone else would have had a grin on his face, but Zargoth typically did not. Many of the others of the Dominion now looked to him with respect and amazement, a huge contrast to the distaste for him they showed before, as he walked past. Zargoth entered an area with the other leaders.

• Zargoth - The task is done. My plan has successfully been completed.

Hez'Kalka sat upon a rocky outcrop, looking down at Zargoth's march of emotionless pride. Between him had his blade in his hands. Ekthrikos accompanied him, hunched over and breathing heavily in bouts of anger. In the skies, looking down upon them, was Angazhar's Eye, silently observing the meeting. Next to them was Shu'ulathoi's pitch-black visage, who watched from a distance.

• Zargoth - Many of our enemies gathered together in one place...and I crushed them all before any of them saw it coming. I bypassed our traditional methods, as you well know, and did this 'legally'. Not that those ancient 'laws' matter much anymore.
• Hez'Kalka - Arrogant, are we not?
• Shu'ulathoi - You are the only one who follows laws here, Vyro'Ralza.
• Zargoth - I was referring to the laws laid by the Vyro'Narza and the Vi'Navitum eons ago. Back when the Box was still there to protect them.

Echoes of Angazhar's breath traversed through the wastes of Tangent, accompanied with the word 'box' sung in chorus.

• Ekthrikos - Box? Box?! The Eye is more powerful than the box, you worm!
• Zargoth - The Box is destroyed, anyway.
• Shu'ulathoi - Your concepts do not matter. What matter is that your mission is concluded.
• Zargoth - My mission here is included, correct. However, my service to the Dominion is not.
• Hez'Kalka - What do you mean, 'not'? We would know if you were of no further use. A bolt of flame would strike you down where you stand.
• Zargoth - I assumed as much. The fact that I am still walking shows that I must still be useful in a way.
• Hez'Kalka - Do not ask me in what way, 'Demon Lord'. Ask the Lord of Tangent instead.
• Zargoth - Then, Lord of Tangent, I ask you. What purpose do I still serve you?

Angazhar's eye reared over the union. His voice resounded throughout Tangent, causing Hez'Kalka and Ekthrikos to wince as he spoke.

• Angazhar - Serve?

Zargoth turned towards the eye, waiting for the Lord to continue speaking.

• Angazhar - What purpose may you serve?
• Zargoth - That is your decision. I believe I have demonstrated what I am capable of.
• Hez'Kalka - I would watch your words.
• Zargoth - It's not easy when you have no concept of emotions, of course.
• Hez'Kalka - Have you not concept of decency? Speak with respect. Be grateful he has not set Ekthrikos upon you.

Ekthrikos growled at Zargoth, his eye flickering viciously at him. An invisible force pinned Zargoth where he stood; pains of fire shot through his legs as Angazhar continued to speak.

• Angazhar - What use are you?

Zargoth felt himself unable to move. Any other demon would probably have felt pain, but Zargoth wasn't one to feel anything. However, he was very sure that he needed to show Angazhar more respect than he currently was. He stayed silent, waiting for Angazhar to speak.

• Shu'ulathoi - Imbecile. You are not to ask for usefulness. You are to make yourself useful.
• Zargoth - Is that so, my Lord?
• Hez'Kalka - Indeed. Lest Lord Angazhar cast you into the void.

Zargoth stood himself up. Though he wouldn't admit it, he was actually feeling...fear. Having no confidence, he then spoke.

• Angazhar - I sense fear. Is Vyro'Ralzora, Supreme God of Time, afraid?
• Zargoth - If it is so that I am to make myself useful, then I shall go about doing so. First of all, I will keep the Vyro'Ralza, though I have no need for any more servants. Antagonar is useless, and so I will dispose of him. I will dispose of any other 'agents' I had, as I can be far more productive alone.
• Hez'Kalka - Wise words.
• Zargoth - Secondly, while I will consult the Dominion at all times, I will continue to go about my plans of keeping any resistance from the 'opposing side' out. Volzara had some ambitious plans, though admittedly they were far too ambitious. Hopefully I can get the upper hand on them.
• Angazhar - Not hopefully. You shall.
• Zargoth - And thirdly...I have been planning this for a long while.

Zargoth made the demonic equivalent of a cough, slightly hesitating before he spoke.

• Zargoth - ...My next plan...is to kill Volzara.

Hez'Kalka's face narrowed as he looked at Zargoth with a sign of disbelief.

• Hez'Kalka - You? Kill Volzara?

Shu'ulathoi moved closer to the other Demon Lords, towering above all of them and looking down on Zargoth with juding eyes.

• Shu'ulathoi - Your love is irrelevant. You attempted this in the past and was defeated by mortals.
• Ekthrikos - Female body. Matters not. Her body shall be mine to control. Time would be mine.
• Zargoth - No, I have never planned an assassination attempt before. This time, she will die.
• Angazhar - Succeed, and be rewarded. Fail, and you shall be ceased.
• Zargoth - Understood. Once she is dead, it will be far from easy for the Taldar to revive her. They will be left with a choice they do not want to make.
• Shu'ulathoi - Serve us?
• Zargoth - Yes...but not in the traditional sense. Their souls for her body.
• Ekthrikos - Sating hunger? Cattle for slaughter? Nourishment?
• Shu'ulathoi - Hmmmm...you have my attention, Zargoth.
• Zargoth - I may have need for the Dominion forces at the time, though for now, I shall go about this alone. She will be caught offguard and she will be killed. And what follows...is for Onuris to decide. But like I said. It will be a decision they will not want to make.
• Hez'Kalka - Delivering time onto us?
• Zargoth - Exactly.
• Hez'Kalka - Heaven, and then Sequencium itself. Grandiose.
• Shu'ulathoi - One by one, the realms of our enemies fall.

Any other demon would have let out an evil laugh, but this was Zargoth. He was feeling some pride, but then he remembered the eye staring right at him, and tried to show as much respect as he could.

• Zargoth - I will do this promptly.
• Angazhar - Inferno realized thrice.
• Zargoth - It is likely they will attempt to create a new realm, given how many of their realms we are destroying.
• Shu'ulathoi - You are not to allow this.
• Angazhar - Silence them all.
• Zargoth - I believe I have finished here, unless there are any queries directed to me.
• Angazhar - Leave.
• Shu'ulathoi - I am willing to lend support, but if you fail, you will become part of Santorakh's table.

Zargoth understood, and vanished.

Tantummodo Mortem The shadow that will be cast over your souls shall be that of death. All you can do is watch your world crumble. Main plot Prologue  · Into the Fire  · Feverous  · Digital Citadel  · Dreams of Destruction  · Solitude  · The Demon Who Came to Tea  · Ex Umbra In Solem Sub-plots Da Blak Kroozade  · Mass Armageddon  · Tarefnar  · Abolitionem Caelum Related Synopsis  · Encyclopedia Tur'ina'iad a'eldgar kal'tor thr'ranach. We declare war.