Today would be the final day. Looking back, it was hard to believe it had only been a little over a week since they had started. It felt much longer than that to everyone. As it turns out, universe-altering games can be quite draining.

MB: Alright, guys. This is it. The final push begins now. Are we ready?

Everyone said yes.

MB: Also, before we go, everyone should have their sprite-summoning medallion. Every fighter counts.

AD: I think we've all gotten ours by now.

GL: I keep on forgetting I have that.

GT: I want to warn you; The denizens are forces to be reckoned with. In some cases, fighting them may not be the best option.

LM: Can we not fight them?

GT: In most cases, I would say yes, but seeing as you're all on a time limit, I don't think we can afford not to fight them.

BS: That sucks. I'm not exactly the best fighter

MB: What are you talking about? You have floating knives! I think you'll be fine.

GT: You should all be fine as long as you don't do anything stupid.

AD: I know this may sound random, but before we go, is there any way for us to see what you look like?

GT: Actually, we've been working on that technology for a while. We have a prototype. I'll go get it.

A few moments later, a strange figure appeared on everyone's screens.

GT: The voice functionality isn't working, yet, but we can at least see each other.

MB: You're an alien?!

GT: I guess we would be to you. You certainly are to me.

GL: You only have fur on your head? It must really suck when it gets cold out.

GT: I am sort of jealous. Jade actually has dog ears, but that's it.

AD: Who's that behind you?

John looked behind him. Standing there, was a person similar to John but with gray skin and stubby horns. John waved and mouthed what looked like 'hello', followed by what was probably a name. He ushered the gray being over to the computer and he reluctantly followed. He looked bewildered by what he was seeing on the screen.

GT: This is Karkat!

John and Karkat seemed to bicker back and forth for a bit. Eventually, Karkat begrudgingly began typing on the keyboard.

GT: HELLO, WALKING FUZZ COCOONS. AS YOU KNOW, DUE TO MY COMPANION'S FLAGRANT DROPPING OF MY NAME, I AM KARKAT. JOHN INSISTS THAT I TALK TO YOU, SO HERE I AM.

MB: Uh, hello then.

BS: Walking fuzz cocoons?

GT: OH, I APOLOGIZE. I DIDN'T REALIZE WE HAD A CONSORT PLAYER AMONGST US. FORGIVE ME FOR NOT NOTICING YOU IN THIS CROWD OF FLUFF CREATURES.

BS: What's a consort?

John seemed to be reprimanding Karkat for being rude and began typing.

GT: Sorry about this. He gets worked up easily.

BS: Really? I couldn't tell.

Karkat began wrestling the keyboard from John. Another gray person suddenly walked in. Her horns were longer than Karkat's and pointier. She wore a dress and lipstick. When she saw the quarrel occurring in front of her, she facepalmed and went to break up the fight. They could be seen arguing, occasionally pointing at the screen until the new girl touched something behind the screen.

"You'd better be FUCKING kidding me, John! How in the ever-living FUCK did you not think to flip the voice switch?!", Karkat yelled at John while waving his arms around.

"I can't read your strange troll language. I thought that might make it blow up or something. Also, you didn't think to flip the switch either."

"First of all, Blow it up? Oh, my fucking god, how can you be so dumb? I'm the dumb one, so stop being such a moron! Second, I didn't check for a voice switch because you told me it wasn't working, which, as we can all clearly see, is not even close to being the tiniest bit true! You aren't a hope player, John! Believing in something hard enough will not make it fucking true!", Karkat ranted on while continually pointing an accusatory finger at John's chest.

The other 'troll' started to speak up, "Karkat, calm down. We won't get anywhere by shouting at each other."

"How can you not take my side on this, Kanaya?! This imbecil actually thought that you would build in a switch that would blow up our only way to talk to other people besides typing!"

"To be fair, you did take the word of a human on troll technology."

"Well, excuse me for thinking he'd been with us long enough to be able to flip a goddamn switch!"

"It doesn't matter anymore, okay? There are people sitting there watching you scream your lungs out over an alien race not being able to read our language. Besides, what if one of the grubs walked in and heard you talking like that? Young minds are very impressionable and the use of this language in any capacity around them could be detrimental to their growth."

"Okay, okay, you're right.", Karkat took a deep breath to calm himself, "Sorry about being an obnoxious prick. I guess I probably didn't give off the best first impressions, huh?"

"Can you hear us?", asked Mae.

"Yeah, we've always been able to hear you. It's just now, we can have everyone together in a voice chat.", John replied.

"Wait, does that mean you've heard all of our mega angsty conversations with each other?"

"I tend to keep out of that sort of thing. You deserve your privacy."

"Good, because the levels of angst are through the roof in this session!", exclaimed Gregg.

"Trust me, the angst was real with us, too."

Angus wanted to clear some things up, "So, you're John, his name is Karkat, and I think I heard Kanaya, am I correct?"

"Yeah, that about covers it."

"Another question, what are you and what are they? What are your races called?"

"I'm a human and these two are trolls."

"As much as I would like to know more about your races, it'll have to wait until later. We need to get going soon. I do have one last question."

"What is it?"

"I heard them mention 'grubs', which I'm assuming are troll offspring. I'm also going to assume that they didn't intend to rebuild the troll population all on their own. So, I was wondering if maybe, you used ectobiology to create children?"

"You would actually be correct. We created thousands of grubs and human babies and gave them to the survivors of the war to take care of. Any prospitans or dersites left after the war will be put in the new universe. They will no longer be hostile as they have nothing left to fight over. They make good enough parents for the first generation and then it all becomes normal from there.", Kanaya explained.

"Could we keep any of the babies for ourselves?", questioned Gregg.

"Of course! If fatherhood is what you want, then go for it! I must remind you of your immortality, though. You will outlive your children if you decide to raise some."

"It's fine. It'll be worth it if Angus and I can give them the childhood they deserve."

"I wish you luck in that, then."

"Well, it was nice meeting you all. I hope we get to talk again soon after we're finally done with SBURB. I wish we had more time to talk, but we need to get going. If things don't go as planned, it was great getting to meet you.", said Mae as she went to turn her laptop off.

"Goodbye! I'll look forward to getting to know you better once this is all over, too! You'll make it, I promise!", John managed to get out before Mae left the chat, soon followed by everyone else.

Mae went downstairs and found her granddad at the front door.

"Hi, Mae."

"Hi, granddad."

"So, this is it, huh?"

"Hopefully."

"Are you sure you're ready?"

"It doesn't matter if I am or not. This needs to happen now."

"Yeah, I figured as much. Please, let me fight Eide with you."

"Of course. It would be cruel of me not to let you fight. Eide needs to pay."

"Thank you. It means a lot to me."

"No problem."

"Good luck with your denizen."

"Thanks. I'll be back after the fight to grab my ultimate weapon and to set up my grist rig."

"Love you."

"Love you, too."

Mae began her second to last flight up her house. Passing every floor brought back memories of the events of the past week. By the time the peak of the house was reached, Mae had pumped herself up to an extreme. She told herself that all of the work they put in wouldn't go to waste.

Passing through the gate brought Mae to a dark, cave-like area. The air was damp and suffocating. A draft could be felt from various directions. Once Mae's eyes adjusted to the light, she could see the hole in front of her. It was huge, just like the one from the mines. Was this what this was? A representation of everything that happened when she returned to Possum Springs. Mae knew what she had to do. She jumped into the hole, into everything she feared.

After some indiscernible amount of time, Mae landed on something. She could feel flesh and scales. These were consorts that had sacrificed themselves to the hole. There was no meaning to their deaths, just like Casey. That thought angered Mae. The thought of people dying for no reason drove her into a frenzy as she ran in what she hoped was the right direction.

Eventually, Mae reached a large circular room. In the middle, a colossal, serpentine creature laid unmoving. Mae began to hear its voice in her head.

I am Nyssa. Are you ready?

Mae didn't respond, instead opting to charge the denizen, landing a blow to its head. Electricity crackled from her weapon. A shockwave was sent out, knocking Mae far back and into a second strike from Nyssa's tail. Mae was shot to the ground and she groaned as she stood. She was barely able to dodge a huge purple laser which was shot from Nyssa's mouth.

Mae began to steal rage from Nyssa and was surprised to find that there was none. How could this monster that was clearly attacking her not have any anger? Struggling to dodge more attacks, Mae was desperate to find another solution. Her original attack did nothing and without rage, any consecutive hits would be just as ineffective.

It was only a matter of time before Mae was hit by an energy blast and sent flying into a wall. She felt pathetic. She couldn't do anything for herself. Without her friends, she was powerless. Without the rage of others, she was weak. There were times where Mae had somehow summoned obscene amounts of rage from somewhere, but where was it?

Thinking back on recent events, Mae seemed to become powerful during fights with Eide. Why was that? In most cases, she went into a rage when someone died. Was that it? Could she only become powerful if she sacrificed her friends? Was there some way to summon that strength without them?

Mae suddenly realized that she could produce her own rage. If she became angry about something, she could steal it from herself. Luckily, Mae was still fuming from the thought of Casey's meaningless death. Ripping the anger from herself, she gained the best of the worlds of anger and calm. She had all of the strength that came with rage as well as the rationality and critical thinking that came with a calm mind. The most noticeable things about her, though, were her eyes. Her eyes were void of empathy and mercy. They were true nightmare eyes.

Mae walked towards Nyssa slowly, deflecting various blows and applying minimal effort to dodging attacks that couldn't be blocked. She held her bat with only one hand, saving her second for if she needed to get serious. Once below the denizen's head, Mae flew up and swung her bat in a wide arc, a satisfying crack resonating from the impact of the bat followed by the crackle and buzz of more electricity.

Nyssa growled in pain and went to send out another shockwave, but Mae was unfazed by it. She continued sending out shockwaves. She needed Mae to be pushed back, but she wouldn't budge. Mae swung again, hitting her denizen's face once more. Mae dodged a series of lasers and smacked Nyssa a few more times before becoming angrier. She was bored, and the irritation was enough to make her want to finish the battle.

Two hands were now placed on her bat. It was time to end this. Mae's iron grip threatened to snap the handle of the high-end weapon. Mae flew at Nyssa, dodging a few last-minute attempts to stop her. They were futile in the end, as Mae's bat crashed into Nyssa's skull. The resulting grist explosion was mesmerizing.

With nothing to direct her anger towards, Mae felt her energy drain away, leaving her feeling like an empty husk. There was no more anger, and in turn, no will to fight. Mae dragged herself around to pick up all of the grist that had been dropped before heading back home to recover before the final encounter.

Bea entered her gate and it brought her to a clearing with a huge fort in the center. Monsters swarmed the surrounding area but Bea could kill them easily with her flying knives. Bea kicked down the front entrance and flew through the halls of the stronghold. It was like a maze and after about ten minutes of trying different paths, she reached a large central room. Sitting inside was another serpentine creature. It was blood red and bleeding. There was a layer of blood on the ground at Bea's feet.

"What's your name?", asked Bea, pointing her main knife at the denizen.

It is Armok. Do what you came here to do.

"Fine.", Bea sent forth a barrage of knives and used Bloody Crescendo. Blood went everywhere. Armok began absorbing the blood and his wounds closed on their own. Bea attacked again with another barrage, this time flying in with her main knife as well. Armok pulled in blood from all around the room and hardened it around him. He then exploded the solidified blood, sending shards and chunks everywhere. Bea was fortunate enough not to take any immediately fatal damage, but the wounds would kill her if she didn't heal them right away.

Pillars of blood shot up from the ground, forcing Bea into dodging instead of healing. She wasn't sure what to do. The bleeding was making her feel lightheaded. It wouldn't be long before she passed out from blood loss. Bea did the only thing she could think of and tried using the blood covering the ground to keep herself alive.

Bea immediately realized what she did wrong when waves of pain racked her body and she felt it begin to shut down. This was basic biology. You can't receive blood from someone with the wrong blood type. It didn't help that she had O- blood. Somehow, she doubted that mattered when taking in denizen blood.

With death even closer than before, Bea knew she needed to purify the blood somehow. Would that be included in her powers? She assumed it would and began to lose herself in what could be described as an out-of-body experience. She became one with the denizen for a moment as she managed to cleanse the godly blood. The blood still belonged to the denizen but it was in her, now.

Bea was back in the fight, but there was still the problem of Armok healing himself. He was in the middle of doing it again when Bea tried pulling the blood away from him. To her surprise, it was working. Having his blood in her made it easier to control. Bea tried using the same technique he had used earlier to harden the blood into a stone-like quality. She managed to create a large chunk of blood. After breaking the rock into multiple shards, she threw them at Armok. This, combined with her knives and earlier wounds, was enough to cause a noticeable change in the denizen's state of health.

The fight was coming close to having a victor. All Bea needed to do was burst Armok down the rest of the way. The godly blood was certainly helping. Bea shot up two giant spikes of blood from the ground and exploded them while they were inside him, rupturing his insides and dealing the finishing blow. Grist rained everywhere. Bea collected them and returned home through an exit portal that opened up.

Gregg appeared in a pitch-black area. Something was wrong with the air. It weighed down on him and made his breathing labored. He had felt something similar to this in minuscule amounts while on his planet, but he thought that was just the darkness messing with his brain. Now, it was clear that something had infected his planet with this darkness.

Gregg pushed forward, ignoring the fact that even walking was a chore in this black miasma. After trudging along for some time, Gregg reached a door. He pushed on it, but it wouldn't budge. There were lines etched in the door that led to Gregg's aspect symbol. He gave the door some breath and it opened, a flood of darkness pouring outwards. Gregg could hardly walk, but he went into the room anyway.

Inside, was Typheus, the breath denizen. He sensed that Gregg would only fight him, so he didn't bother with words. Instead, he opened with a tail swipe. Gregg tried to fly out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. He was hit directly in the stomach. Under most circumstances, he could recover fine from a single blow like this, but the darkness suffocated him, making it next to impossible to recover his breath.

Gregg tried to steal the breath from Typheus, but his flow was disrupted by the miasma. Next, he tried to throw his own wind at the denizen, but it dissipated almost as soon as it exited him. He did notice something, though. The air in front of him became clear for a moment when he shot wind into it. This could be how to win. Gregg just hoped he had enough in him to clear a path between him and Typheus.

Gregg began drawing everything he could from himself to put into this next attack. He took a deep breath and let out a grunt as he drilled through the air with his wind. He could clearly see Typheus. When Typheus attempted a second tail swipe, Gregg flew forward through the path he made. It was closing fast, so Gregg stole what he could from Typheus and let loose another gust of wind. He was closing the distance, and soon, he was able to touch the denizen. He placed his hand on his head and ripped out a massive amount of breath.

The first problem that needed addressing was the contaminated air. Gregg sent out a burst of wind all around him powerful enough to clear the room. He then attacked with a flurry of knife blows with wind blasts spliced in. A windstorm swept across the room. This one was from Typheus. Gregg struggled against the wind with his own, allowing Typheus to sneak in a tail swipe from behind and knock Gregg into the thick of the storm. The wind sent Gregg back towards the denizen, who created another windstorm going in the opposite direction.

The opposing winds created a tornado of colossal size, and Gregg was stuck in the middle of it. Luckily, he found his way to the eye of the storm quickly. Typheus was flying around in the tornado and attempting to ram into Gregg. Gregg, instead of dodging, flew directly above him and stuck his knives into his head, riding him around like a bull and using the wind to pull him back, leaving a long cut as he went.

When Gregg reached the end of Typheus' tail, he jumped off and propelled himself back with his wind, following the flow of the tornado, until he came back around to Typheus. This time, however, he intended to fly directly into the denizen. He accelerated himself as much as he could with his wind and plunged both of his daggers into the denizen's face, causing him to explode into a mountain of grist and revealing an exit portal.

Gregg returned home, and the reality of the situation dawned on him. This was the end. It was either live or die. If things didn't work out, Gregg wanted to die with no regrets. As he went to his alchemy equipment, he messaged John.

GL: Would you happen to have the code for a ring?

GT: What kind of ring?

GL: An engagement ring.

Angus found himself in some icy ruins. Icicles hung from the ceiling and the floor was made of ice, forcing him to fly through. As he explored deeper, despite how normal weather works, a blizzard was forming. It started off as a light snow but grew to a storm after around ten minutes. Angus had to cover his face and he was glad when he saw a room without a blizzard raging inside.

When he entered the room, it turned out to be much bigger than he was expecting. Another thing that he had anticipated slightly more was the presence of his denizen, Metis. This was once again a snake-like creature, but this one had a mask. It was solid white with two slits where the eyes should be.

Angus didn't give Metis a chance to speak before activating Cerebral Cadenza. Angus saw a path where he could shoot the ground to create a smokescreen and use it to get behind Metis. When he attempted this, something was off. He created the smokescreen, but when he went to flank Metis, she shot an energy beam down. Angus barely stopped in front of it but was blinded by the resulting water vapor.

Angus attempted the fraymotif again, this time opting for a more direct approach. He saw that he could aim a few precise blasts at the denizen's eyes while avoiding counterattacks. He put the plan into action, only to be stopped in his tracks by a swing of Metis' tail. It wasn't where it was supposed to be. He saw things differently than how they happened. Could Metis read his mind?

Angus stopped using the fraymotif after seeing that is wasn't working. He instead started flying around and firing off magic blasts when he could. Metis always seemed to be able to dodge, and Angus kept finding that the beams being fired back at him were a bit too well placed.

This was similar to the earlier fight Angus was in with the trio of bosses that were too fast for his mind powers. Angus tried to use the same mindset he had used back then. He let his mind go blank and depended on his instincts to survive. He immediately noticed a shift in the fight. If there were no thoughts, Metis couldn't read them. The only problem was that Angus wasn't used to fighting this way. His moment-to-moment fighting was dull compared to his mental warfare.

Metis, at one point, hit Angus into the air with her tail. Angus barely managed to stop himself from flying straight into some icicles hanging from the ceiling. He saw an opportunity and fired a shot into the ceiling, causing it to shake violently. Icicles began raining down. Metis, even though she saw this coming, was powerless to stop it. She managed to destroy a few with magic, but many icy spikes drove themselves into her.

Angus saw that Metis was distracted by the ice and dived in for a barrage of lasers. He stuck his wands into Metis and sustained a beam that slowly bore into her. Metis was becoming slightly desperate. She fired a laser at Angus, which he dodged, sending it into her body. That was enough to finish the job. Metis disappeared in a flash and grist flew everywhere.

Angus returned home and found Gregg at the front door, standing with his hands behind his back. When he saw Angus approach, his ears drooped down and he began to blush.

"Hey, bug. What's up?", Angus greeted.

"Uh, I just wanted to come see you one last time before we go and fight the black king and Eide.", replied Gregg nervously, his eyes darting around a bit."

"Thanks. It means a lot to me that you would come here to see me before we leave. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Angus knew Gregg was up to something. Perhaps, it was a gift. Angus restrained himself from extracting the answer from his mind. Gregg probably wanted to surprise him with something.

"What do you have behind your back?", inquired Angus.

Gregg suddenly shrank back a bit and his breathing became heavier, "Well, I know that we might not make it through this, so I wanted to do some things that I've been meaning to do. I don't want to die with regrets, so here I go.", Gregg laughed a bit at the end to try and take the edge off, but it didn't help. His stomach felt like it was about to explode and his heart was racing a mile a minute.

Gregg took a few steps forward and got down on one knee, keeping the black box he had concealed behind his back. Angus realized what was going on and shock began to cover his face.

"Angus Delaney," Gregg pulled the box from behind him and opened it, "Will you marry me?" Gregg was crying out of both fear and hope, yet he still managed to keep a smile on his face.

Angus stood there for a moment, trying to keep himself from crying, but failing miserably.

"Of course, I'll marry you.", Angus walked up and hugged Gregg. Relief washed over Gregg and joy filled both of their hearts.

"Come on, try on the ring!", urged Gregg as he wiped the tears from his face. Angus extended his arm out and let Gregg slip the ring onto his finger. It fit perfectly. The ring was made of silver and there were was an arrangement of diamonds on top that looked like a galaxy.

"It's beautiful."

"I had it look like a galaxy because you're the center of my galaxy, no, my entire universe."

"That's so sweet. I love it, though, not nearly as much as I love you."

"Awww, I love you, too, cap'n."

They nuzzled together and looked up to Skaia.

"Do you think we can do it? Can we really win?", questioned Gregg.

Angus held up the ring, "Eide may have both rings, but I have this ring, and it's better than anything Eide could possibly have. We can win, I promise."

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better just hearing you say that."

"Glad to help."

Someone messaged the group chat.

"I guess it's almost time. I should probably go do some last-minute alchemy."

"Alright, that's fine."

"One last kiss for the road?"

"I'd be glad to."

Germ was fighting Nyx and making short work of her, too. All he had to do was allow the void to consume everything. In order to use his powers, he had to feel empty inside. He had spent his time mastering this ability and now, he could clear his soul of any emotion at will. It was part of why he always seemed so enigmatic and laid back. Nyx tried to fight back using the void for herself, but Germ was already empty inside. It was only a matter of time before the void consumed Nyx. Sadly, it took the grist with it, but with Selmers, he knew it didn't matter.

Selmers' fight against Hephaestus was also an easy one. All she had to do was stop time and wail on him until he eventually died. He had a hammer that was left behind called the Fear No Anvil. Selmers picked it up, even though she couldn't use it.

Bombshell's denizen was the strangest. Her denizen was Echidna. Her upper half was a humanoid form with giant quills on its back. The rest of her was the typical snake tail. Bombshell was prepared for a fight, but Echidna didn't attempt to fight back. Instead, it gave Bombshell a message.

You have been tasked with the upbringing of a new universe, and you have done well. You may claim your reward without resistance from me.

She lowered her head to just below Bombshell, waiting for her to kill her, which she did. Bombshell took the Deringer and sliced clean through Echidna's head. She collected the grist and noticed one of Echidna's quills on the ground. She picked it up and stored it for later. It might be useful for some alchemy.

Lori was given the hardest fight out of anyone. When she entered the chamber of her denizen, she noticed a long, winding path. She walked along, expecting it to lead her to the denizen, but was surprised when the ground beneath her shook and came to life.

Her denizen's name was Yaldabaoth. His head looked like a depiction of the sun. He was larger than any other denizen. He was the denizen reserved for the strongest of warriors and the only one not tied to an aspect.

Lori didn't know any of this, however. She placed a heart shield around herself and flew at the denizen. Yaldabaoth let out a roar and dozens of lasers were fired out of its mouth and eyes. One hit Lori, and her barrier shattered. She put up another one and charged again, learning from last time. She dodged the mass of lasers and swung her spirit chain into his head. Sparks flew, and Lori was unable to penetrate the denizen's defenses. Lori continued to push, hoping she would break through and was horrified when her weapon snapped in half.

Lori's heart was broken and her barrier disappeared. She pulled out her chainchete and spirit machete and desperately tried to do any damage at all, but all that happened was they broke, too. All she had left was her normal machete from the start of the game. The fight was hopeless at this point.

John watched on as this was the last fight before the final boss. He was astonished that the game would give Lori Yaldabaoth. He didn't think she was powerful enough to warrant a fight with him, and it was being made clear that this was the case as Lori was reduced to the image of a frightened and desperate mouse.

Lori tried to remind herself of what gave her heart.

Why do you fight?

Because I need to be there for my friends.

Do they really need you? Everyone else has probably killed their denizens already. You're still too weak.

No, I can't think like that. It'll get me killed.

Do you really think that friendship and believing in yourself are enough to win? Grow up, already!

I won't win if I don't try.

Why try if you aren't going to win?

Stop, please! I'm not going to die!

There's nothing you can do about it. It'll be easier if you accept it.

No, I won't!

Why not?

I don't know. I just can't die here.

Then fight.

Lori steeled herself and flew at Yaldabaoth. She wrapped her machete in heart magic and swung without breaking her weapon.

That's it. Keep going.

She thrust forward. Nothing happened, but she kept going. The denizen eventually shot a laser at Lori's hand, knocking the machete away.

It's not over, yet. I won't let it be.

Loir tried to feel as empowered as possible, which was hard considering how she hadn't done any damage to the boss. She channeled her energy into her fist and threw a punch, pumping all of the heart forward at the moment of impact. A loud crack sounded as Lori's arm reeled back from the force of the punch. She clutched her hand in agony. Her bones had shattered. Lori groaned at the pain and fought to hold back tears.

I need more heart. Where can I get more?

To get more, you need to dig deeper. Why can't you die?

Because I need to be there for my friends.

Wrong. Why can't you die?

I don't know.

That's not good enough.

I'm sorry, okay. I just don't want to die.

Why don't you want to die?

I want to be alive.

What does it mean to be alive?

To not be dead?

If that's all being alive means to you, it's no wonder you can't gather the strength to fight for it. We all will die one day. Why can't it be today?

There's still so much I need to do. I can't leave yet.

I thought all there was to being alive was not being dead?

I was wrong. I have things to do, people to do those things with. I can't give it up so easily.

Why not?

I only get one life. I won't let it be taken away from me.

One last question. You've thought a lot about what you don't want. What do you want?

I want to live.

"I want to live!"

Lori felt the weight of everything that would be taken from her if she lost. A pink glow enveloped her, creating a field of heart. It grew larger and larger, threatening to consume anything that entered. Yaldabaoth fired lasers at the field, but the disintegrated as they entered the ball of pure energy surrounding Lori. Driven by the one thing all living things are driven by, the ball engulfed the room, along with Yaldabaoth, and all of his grist.

There was one problem that came with this growing ball of pure heart. It didn't stop growing after Yaldabaoth was dead. A large chunk of Lori's planet was being consumed. John saw this and called up Bombshell.

GT: Bombshell, we have a problem.

Bs: What's going on?

GT: You need to get Lori away from her planet, now! Put her somewhere she won't be able to damage anything.

Bombshell didn't question John's judgment. She flew to Lori's planet at just below lightspeed and the sight that she witnessed filled her with a mixture of fear and empowerment. She shook it off long enough to move Lori somewhere deep in space but was mesmerized by how good she felt after it was done. Everyone looked up and saw the large, pink dot in the sky, and looking at it somehow filled everyone with determination.

Lori's power finally subsided, revealing an unconscious mouse floating powerlessly in the medium. Bombshell took her home and handed her to her mother. After that, she messaged everyone.

Bs: Is everyone ready?

MB: I can't explain why, but I feel readier than I've ever felt before.

GL: Same. It was so weird. Angus and I saw a pink ball in the sky, and we just felt better about everything.

Bs: I think that was Lori. She finally unlocked her full potential.

GL: That's great! She'll be a huge help against Eide.

Bs: I wouldn't count on that.

GL: Why not?

Bs: She was completely drained when I found her. I don't think she'll wake up until after we've finished the game.

GL: Aw, man! That sucks!

AD: At least she gave us that last confidence boost we needed to finish this once and for all.

BS: It really is amazing what she can do.

MB: Alright, guys. We may not have Lori, but I know we can do this. Who's ready to finish Eide and make a new universe?!