Chapter 21: Flood Control

Some things are just too unpleasant to even talk about. Others are just plain nuts. And still others will make you feel like all of the Nightosphere broke loose. This was one of those situations, both figuratively and ironically.

The gang from Ooo flew high into the hellish atmosphere of the vile realm, observing as an unending flow of Finns from alternate universes climbed out of the pit. The humans were all equipped with angel blood swords, their brilliant white shapes contrasting heavily with the dark surface of the Nightosphere. Everyone was still in shock, unable to work up a plan as to how this threat could be dealt with.

Marceline was carrying Jake, Solara Ferrum, and FP Bubblegum. The group touched down on a ledge suspended far above the pit and continued to watch. They suddenly noticed various demons crawling back onto the impression. Apparently the evil alternates had swept away the repellant Ferrum had placed on the site. The creatures stared angrily at the approaching horde of humans, not wanting anything it their way of the sweet chaos emanating from the portal.

The Vampire Queen looked worried.

"Those idiots, not only can they not match Finn's fighting skills, but those swords will tear through them like nothing."

Although the inhabitants of the Nightosphere were chaotic, they were hardly evil, mostly since Abadeer gave them a daily reminder of who the true evil one was. For the most part they were just mindless monsters with nothing to do but crave more madness. It was for this reason that everyone felt pity for them as they charged toward their deaths at the hands of the Finns.

The friends turned their heads away as the first screams filled the air, indicating the contact between the two groups. No bites, or roars, or even stomps were heard, only slashes, lots and lots of slashes. Most of the gang scrunched up their faces, unable to force out the images their minds were drawing. Eventually, Marcy motioned for everyone to follow her away from the killing-grounds.

The echoes of slaughter slowly faded as everyone headed toward Hunson's castle, which lay perched on a high cliff surrounded by fire. No one spoke, either too scared of what they had seen, or knowing they would eventually have to face it. Jake finally broke the tension.

"Anyone got any ideas?"

PB held her head in her arm while she walked, deep in thought, doing her science thing. However, no output was received from the candy princess. She shook her head, unsure of what to do. Ferrum responded the same way, as did Solara, IK, and FP. Interrupting their sullen mood was the sound of approaching footsteps, many approaching footsteps. Nervously, the group turned around to see what was tailing them.

With a large amount of dread, they witnessed a mob of Finns heading straight for them, swords drawn and eyes filled with bloodlust. Everyone's eyes went wide. Jake suddenly grew to massive proportions and snatched up most of his friends onto his back. For obvious reasons, Ferrum was given a lift by Solara. Flame Princess also shot into the air. Marceline began to join her companions in retreat, but then looked back to the Finns, a glare growing on her face.

The others saw the vampire readying her ax bass. PB yelled to the girl.

"Marcy, what are you doing!?"

The floating teenager didn't answer, but mumbled under her breath.

"There's no way these guys are as good as Finn, I should be able to cut them down to size."

Ignoring the pleas from her friends, Marceline flew straight at the gang of alternate humans. One of them raised his sword as the vampire readied a strike from her own weapon. The two objects clashed, earning a satisfied grin from the gray-skinned bassist. The impact had thrown the Finn back rather than her.

"I knew you weenies couldn't be as good as ours!"

Before the gloat could continue, she was punched straight in the jaw by her opponent. He then kicked the vampire back and repositioned his sword to charge at her with the intention of impaling the girl. Marcy was too disoriented to stop the blade. Fortunately, a shot of fire blasted the villain away. FP appeared next to her bruised friend.

"What were you thinking? You can't just take them head on!"

Marcy wiped the blood from her lips.

"Maybe when the odds are fairly balanced, but how about when I get serious."

The vampire then proceeded to morph into a large demonic being with wings and an odd shaped head. Her appendages had turned to hooves and as she spoke, her voice was incredibly low and horrific.

"Bring it on you chumps!"

The Finn that had attacked earlier now had six more flanking him. The assembled squad then sprang into the air swords raised, ready to slice the Vampire Queen down. Marcy succeeded in smashing several of them away while FP blasted the rest. All seven of them fell to the ground groaning.

The others began to lighten up, believing they stood a chance against the hordes. Sadly, their morale was crippled once more as the Finns rose once again. Jake began to shake slightly.

"Oh crud! They've got Finn's pain and burn tolerance!"

Marceline angrily charged again at the enemies. This time however, they quickly dodged and surrounded the demonic form on all sides. With a devious tactic, they all jumped into the air again, leaving no openings for the girl to slip through, at least not while a huge monster. Panicking, she shrunk back to her humanoid form and slid to the right, causing seven white blades to sink into the ground where her head would have been.

Two Finns immediately drew their weapons back and swung them around to Marcy, who barely had the speed to block the angel blood with her ax. Before the others had ganged up on the queen as well, a large fire blast threw them all aside. FP ran to the vampire to make sure she was alright.

She stated she was fine and raised her bass, preparing for the returning Finns. Flame Princess produced her own fire sword from her hand and covered Marcy's back. The seven humans circled around, waiting for an opening. The fact that all their attention was focused on just the two girls proved a definite mistake.

Two of the Finns were struck with flaming spears, straight through their chests. Instead of simply dying, their bodies were incinerated. Solara was behind them as their forms lay in ashes. Another Finn was knocked back by a massive yellow fist and smashed into a wall. Jake triumphantly shouted out, only to then howl in pain as he retracted his hand. It had a bad stab wound in it.

The crushed Finn had rapidly recovered, now having his sword tip covered in Jake's blood. The human charged back at the dog, who hastily retreated when he remembered this Finn would not pull any punches while fighting. Using his powers, he wrapped his injured paw and fled to a high cliff. Unfortunately, his foe followed him up. Now outright scared, Jake cowered on the ground, waiting for the end.

Luckily, the Finn was slammed on both sides by large sheets of rock. Nearby, Ferrum had unleashed a reaction to encase the evil human in stone. With no way to breathe or recover, the alternate perished in his prison. The fire elemental checked on his friend.

"Jake, are you alright?"

The magical canine had a remorseful look on his face.

"I know they aren't really my bro, and evil, but, it still messes me up actually trying to kill them."

Ferrum looked around at the battlefield. Marceline and FP had the same look on their faces as Jake. Solara's looked even worse. Ice King was already useless with his weakened ice, which the Finns could easily shatter, but even the old wizard appeared a bit unnerved fighting the alternate. Ferrum himself was shaken from having to execute the foe that was attacking Jake.

"There has to be another way…"

Flame Princess was busy struggling against the strength of a Finn's sword, which was gradually pushing her to the ground. The being smiled viciously, enjoying how close he was to the kill. Before the fiery girl collapsed under the pressure though, the human was kicked off of her by Princess Bubblegum. The gummy ruler helped pull the elemental off the ground and they both turned to face the last remaining Finn. The figure suddenly pulled out a secondary blade from his pack, preparing for the clash.

PB nodded to her friend and ran toward the young man. With precise grace, she managed to dodge the Finn's swings while jumping over him, landing perfectly on the other side. The human swung around and attempted to trisect the princess, only to meet the metal surface of an extendable staff the monarch had produced from her belt. PB held the position as long as she could, losing strength rapidly.

In the nick of time, FP had followed through with her part of the plan; flame dashing right up to the human and slashing at his back. The Finn screeched in pain as his pack burned to ashes and the fire slowly singed his new wound. Instead of cursing however, the young man seemed to be pacified. He spoke with a weak tone.

"Flame…Princess…it hurt."

He turned his face enough to show the girl several tears. FP instantly dissipated her sword, which she was about to use to cut down the evil alternate. Now instead, she began to rush at the being she had injured, tears gathering in her eyes as well.

"Finn! No, please, I'm sorry! I-"

She was cut off as she felt a sharp pain in her side. Frozen in shock, she managed only to look down at the white blade piercing her abdomen. The Finn had stopped leaking tears, now only displaying the cruelest of smiles. He laughed at the fiery princess fell back from the wound and dropped to the ground, grunting in pain.

"Flame Princess!"

PB attempted to shove the Finn out of the way, but the alternate easily parried her blow with the staff and sliced her midsection. The pink lad gasped as she felt her energy instantly begin drained. The gummy ruler fell to the ground, defeated. FP was losing focus now, but managed to scream as she saw a pool of dark pink liquid begin to leak from the candy woman.

The Finn approached Flame Princess, sword slung on his shoulder, grinning.

"That was just weak. My FP would've beheaded the enemy without a second thought."

The vile human raised his blade straight up, intending to let the terrifying weapon drop and sink right into the young queen's heart. FP closed her eyes, both out of despair and from loss of magma in her side. The last thing she heard was a devastating shout, followed by the sound of something being incinerated by strong flames. Then all turned black.

As consciousness returned to the princess of flames, she immediately tried to sit up and intake a large amount of air. She was stopped by a glowing orange hand, which held her shoulder back and laid her back down. As vision returned to FP's eyes, she saw Ferrum standing before her. His face was both relieved and concerned.

"Oh thank Grob. How do you feel Flame Princess?"

FP allowed herself to be brought back down to a pillow, which provided great comfort to her aching head.

"Some throbbing in my skull, but other than that I think I'm fine. Wait, why can't I feel anything below my chest?"

The fire elemental lowered her eyes to see her abdomen wrapped in several layers of fireproof bandages and then a round of tinfoil. There was still some hardened magma blood sticking out of the wound.

"What happened, where's PB, who else got hurt?"

Panic overtook the young queen as her eyes darted around the room looking for the rest of her friends.

"Where are we?"

This time, Marceline's voice answered.

"We're at my dad's place, FP. Don't worry, everyone made it out."

The vampire floated over to the girl's bedside and gave a gentle smile. Ferrum allowed the princess to slowly sit up. The room they were in was filled with pictures of the Lord of Evil himself, some with Marcy, some with various friends of his. The raven haired girl looked around.

"This is the room I use whenever I crash at my old man's. But you needed it a lot more than me."

Flame Princess was still concerned.

"How bad are the others?"

Marceline sighed, lowering herself to actually stand on the floor.

"Bonnie's getting better. She took a bad hit, but luckily Ferrum was able to transmute some fluids for her."

The Vampire Queen sat down on the bed as the alchemist excused himself to check on the others.

"Jake is stuffing his face in the kitchen. The weenie just got a nasty little cut on his paw. Simon somehow got out without even a scratch, although a good portion of his beard got shaved off. I just got an awesome scar on my arm…"

The vampire showed her battle wound to the bedridden princess, who rolled her eyes at Marcy's tough girl attitude.

"…and as you saw, Ferrum came out with just a few dents in the rocky portion of his body."

FP looked hard into her friend's eyes.

"What about Solara?"

Marceline frowned. She turned her gaze to the nearby window, answering back as she stared at the chaotic weather outside.

"She didn't get much damage. She just instantly healed herself, and you for the most part. She managed to fry that last alternate before it skewered you. But…the whole fight seemed to shake her up…like a lot."

Marcy looked back to FP.

"I know the look she had. I don't think she's…ever killed somebody."

Flame Princess looked horrified. The female precursor was no exception to the uneasy feeling the gang had of taking down the splitting image of their dear friend, no matter how evil they were. The fiery girl suddenly swung her legs to the floor and began to stand up. Marceline attempted to stop her.

"FP, you can't be up yet. You need your rest!"

The fire elemental shook her head.

"No. I have to talk to Solara. Where can I find her?"

The vampire sighed in defeat, motioning for her friend to follow through the door. The two walked in silence as they went down the halls. Passing by the kitchen, they saw Jake gobbling down a sandwich. A bandage was wrapped around his hand, so he simply stretched a third arm to help him hold his food.

Further down, they reached the central chamber, where Abadeer kept a constant portal to Ooo open, just in case. Stepping around the rift, Marcy and FP headed for the balcony on the other side of the room. The vampire stopped a few feet from the opening and gestured for the fire elemental to continue on without her.

Outside on the ledge, Flame Princess saw the angelic precursor leaning on the edge of the wall, sobbing. The girl quietly walked up to the woman and laid a hand softly on her shoulder. Solara slowly turned to look at her visitor, only to swiftly spin around and embrace the new arrival. FP was stunned for a moment, but then returned the comforting hold.

"I'm so sorry dear, I…I've never had to outright eliminate someone before. Disable at the most. And being that that person was the form of Finn, it made it just that much worse."

The young queen patted Solara's back, trying to calm the weeping ancestor.

"It's alright Solara; we all had trouble seeing past the skin. It's awful to admit but, even if we could fight the Finns, we couldn't bare the psychological pain of destroying them all."

The precursor separated from the fiery princess, wiping away the remaining tears. The fire elemental looked out into the blazing landscape of the Nightosphere.

"It was the same for me when Finn and I went through the gates to the Citadel portal. It was nearly impossible for me to fight his younger self. He had to be the one to send the final blow. The only one who could help us with this disaster is Finn, but he's stuck with a terrible evil within him."

A few bits of lava were leaking down the girl's cheek, overcome by the hopelessness of their situation. Solara sighed.

"You and Finn really overcame a lot during those Gates, it's truly unfair to not have him here to help us."

FP's eyes suddenly sprang wide open. She shot her gaze to meet the precursor's.

"That's right! These Finns, they never went through the trials of the three gates!"

Solara grew a confused expression. Marceline had heard FP's excitement and floated over.

"What's going on here?"

Flame Princess grabbed both Solara's and Marcy's hands, pulling them with her as she dashed back into the castle.

"Come on, we've got to get everyone together!"

The living room was filled to the brim with house guests. Hunson was impatiently leaning against the wall as Ice King, Jake, and Ferrum sat on the couch. Solara was in Hunson's recliner, which the Lord of Evil had been gentlemanly enough to offer. Flame Princess was standing in front of them, waiting for the rest to get there. A minute later, Marceline entered, walking and helping a still recovering Bubblegum walk to a nearby seat.

"Easy, Bonnie," the vampire stated as she lowered the monarch into the chair.

PB thanked her friend and turned to face FP, as did Marcy.

"So what is it that you've wanted to say, Flame Princess?"

The fiery girl took her own seat nearby.

"I think I know of a way to stop the Finns, without having to…you know."

The gang all looked intrigued.

"Those alternates have one definite thing in common: they never went through the three gates to reach the Citadel. Because of this, it is naturally obvious that none of these Finns conquered their deepest fears."

A few of her friends' faces grew astonished looks, seeing where FP was going with this. PB leaned forward.

"Of course! We can scare the daylights out of them and force them back into the portal!"

Flame Princess nodded happily as the rest of the group chattered intently. Ferrum however, interjected.

"Wait though, the best thing I can think of to send all the alternates running is the ocean, but there's no water in the Nightosphere. How would we accomplish getting a whole body of it in here?"

FP was prepared.

"That's exactly why we're going to ask for some help."

She turned to the Lord of Evil.

"Mr. Abadeer, could you connect that portal to the bottom of the ocean?"

The slickly dressed demon raised his eyebrow.

"First I get an army of crazy humans that are annihilating my slaves, and now you want me to flood the place?"

Marceline floated over to her father.

"Dad, this is serious! If we don't stop them, you won't be safe either. It's your rule or your life. Make a choice."

The man thought hard for a moment, irritated by the options given to him. Finally, he let out a deep breath and shrugged in defeat.

"Fine. Looks like I don't have much of a choice."

Marcy felt grateful. Without a second's warning, she hugged her old man. Hunson was surprised at first, but then smiled and returned the embrace. After stepping back, the demonic ruler straightened his tie.

"Alright, you all better get ready, this'll get really wet, fast."

PB turned to Solara and Ferrum.

We'll need to direct the path of the water; you two's combined power should be enough to create somewhat of an aqueduct in the landscape."

The fiery beings nodded, standing up and walking to the nearby balcony. With a thumbs up to his friends, the alchemist allowed himself to be lifted in the air by the precursor and they flew toward the direction of the pit, awaiting the plan to go in motion.

Marceline went with her dad to open the portal as the rest of the group headed to the top of the building, so as to not be swept away by the coming force. With everyone in position, PB gave the signal for the demon lord to unlock the rift. After a quick chant, Hunson and Marceline made a break for it while the wormhole began to glow.

As father and daughter made it to the spot where the gang was waiting, the castle began to rumble. A moment later, several of the walls blew out, pouring out mass quantities of sea water, which quickly began dousing the roaring flames that surrounded the Lord of Evil's house.

Solara and Ferrum worked fast, combining energy to perform multiple Catalyst reactions to shape the mountains into solid walls and redirect the pounding waves. In the far distance, the horde of Finns could be seen making a march on the castle. They suddenly stopped when they noticed the wall of water rushing to them. At first they just held their heads in the air and sniffed, making the group on the palace a bit nervous.

Surly enough though, after getting a good whiff of the water's origin, each and every one of the alternates' eyes grew enormously wide.

"Oh Glob, the ocean!"

"Run!"

"Get out of my way!"

"Oh jeez! Oh jeez!"

The ocean waves were funneled directly at the impression in the ground, where the pit appeared to still be spilling out more Finns. This event was halted as the hordes began moving back to where they came from. Those that had yet to see the threat were confused, watching all their alternate selves diving back down the hole.

As the ground shook from the oncoming horror, the rest of the horde finally understood as the scent of sea water filled the air. Those too slow to escape the wrath of the ocean were swept away like ants as the waves collapsed and fell down into the impression, filling up the pit in a matter of seconds.

Hundreds of screams could be heard as the Finns freaked the math out, desperately trying to get out of the water, to no avail. Gradually, they were pulled down into the hole, where a whirlpool had formed to drag the evil beings back through the portal at the bottom. The rift itself was being stretched greatly from the sheer force of the liquid, accelerating the speed of the water drain.

From up above, Ferrum and Solara smiled at the scene. Not only had they solved their problem without having to kill more people, but the view itself was actually quite comical. It looked just like bugs getting flushed down the toilet. Satisfied with the effects, the two began the journey back to the remains of Hunson's castle.

The rest of the gang was cheering wildly as the elemental and precursor arrived back at the roof. Ferrum was exhausted, physically strained from all the transmutations he had performed. FP helped him lay down as the Lord of Evil gazed at his ruined realm. He sighed.

"Well, for the good of the multiverse, I guess."

Marcy placed a hand on her father's shoulder.

"You see dad, not all sacrifices are without gain."

The man smiled weakly, trying to grasp his daughter's sense of value.

"And not all humans are saps."

Everyone froze at the new voice. They all turned to see a single Finn, soaking wet, carrying his angel blood sword in his hand. The weapon disturbingly was unable to be recognized as white or red, hinting at what the human had been doing with it. The alternate pointed his weapon at Hunson.

"Now if you don't mind Abadeer, I'll be ripping that body off of your amulet."

Marceline hissed as she stepped in front of her father defensively. The rest of the group tried to gather their own stances, but remembered how exhausted they were from the earlier battle. Solara was the only one who was able to raise her fists with blazing white flames.

The Lord of Evil however, gave a smile of admiration.

"Wow, I like the way this guy thinks!"

"Dad!"

"What? It's my job, give me a break."

The Finn took several steps forward, only for Solara to take her place in front of the Vampire Queen, further protecting the man behind them. Hunson suddenly felt a presence behind him. As he turned around, the unexpected happened.

The Lord of Evil received a devastating slice from his neck down to his lower side. The blow not only severed the Nightosphere Amulet from its chain, but cut off a large piece of the man's tie, which fluttered away in the air. Abadeer's eyes were set in disbelief as his blood began to splash out of his chest. Time moved in slow motion as Marceline screamed for her father while turning around to catch the dismounted man in her arms.

Hunson's business suit disappeared, leaving him in his boxers and sweatshirt, providing little cloth to stop the wound on his body from gushing more fluids. Everyone's attention was now drawn to the horrors of what had just transpired, ignoring the surviving Finn completely. The gang ran to help Marcy tend to her fallen father as she began to sob.

Oddly enough, the man's injury did not begin to heal. Solara moved aside the rest of the group and knelt down to the bleeding Abadeer. She placed her hand over the wound and tried to cauterize it. No effect, Hunson simply flinched from the pain. The precursor's eyes widened.

"This blow…it was dealt on a molecular level."

A sudden warping sound echoed from behind the group, drawing their attention. Solara and Flame Princess's flames spiked wildly at the being before them. Their eyes were filled with nothing but hatred.

Astrum stood there, holding the Nightosphere Amulet in his hand. His hood was still up, hiding his face. The pitch black entity held up the amulet, only to crush the relic into pieces. A terrifying screech filled the air as the source of chaos was destroyed. The dark precursor then levitated a single shard of the remaining gem as the rest turned to ashes and faded into the air.

"Your efforts were fruitless. The alternate humans were just a distraction."

Solara began to charge at the vile being, but the man was too fast. Using his spacial manipulation, he shifted the air molecules to shove Princess Bubblegum toward him. The Ancestral Flame was forced to halt her assault as Astrum held the helpless and injured woman up by her hair.

PB was struggling in pain as the precursor glared at his angelic enemy.

"Make one more move, and her life will end."

The gang all grew expressions of despair. They had thought they had won, they had believed the dark manipulator had failed. Now here they were, at his mercy as Astrum held a hostage. Solara reluctantly lowered her flames, lowering her head in surrender. The time-space bender began to back away. He reached out and swung his hand down as if it were a claw. The result formed a rift behind him.

"One after another, your plans shall fail, and this multiverse will fall to your failures."

Just before the man could discard PB and step through, he was caught off guard by someone nobody could have expected. A swift kick in the head disoriented the precursor, resealing the portal behind him. A second strike severed Peeble's hair, causing the princess to fall, only to be caught and quickly moved within the grasp of a single strong arm.

The Ooocians all gasped in utter shock and astonishment. There before them, holding the candy ruler tightly in one arm, infinity sword in the other, was Finn the Human. The young man proceeded to set the woman down gently on the ground. Ice King and Jake received the lady to help her recover, but their eyes were still glued to the arriving hero. Finn just smiled.

"Missed me, guys?"

Everyone was in utter disbelief. Solara spoke first.

"Finn! How did you…"

She was unable to finish the question, but the human pointed to just below his right shoulder, where his Citadel insignia shined through his shirt.

"It's not like you ever turned this off. And besides, there's no way I'd let my friends save the multiverse all by themselves."

Progressively, the faces of his friends grew into smiles of joy. All except for Flame Princess, who was beginning to cry.

"But Finn, your condition."

The young man gave a hearty grin.

"It's fine for now. I worked something out."

The human quickly focused on his heart, which was still burning unnaturally.

"Remember," he whispered. "We're in this one together. That was the deal."

A voice chuckled from within his body.

Why Finn, you say that as if we were against each other this whole time.

The hero scowled at the evil inside him but shook it off and turned his attention to the main threat. Astrum was recovering from the blow to his temple, holding his head dizzily. Finn stepped forward and opened his hand, revealing the cut off piece of Hunson's red tie.

"I'm not letting this nightmare continue. This ends now."

The dark precursor looked toward the human with (again, just a guess) utter hatred. In a split second, he attempted to strike the young man with kinetic energy. Before his hand could push the molecules however, a blade of fire struck his neck. Astrum backed away as he desperately tried to put out the flames on his cloak. Solara stood beside Finn, as the others looked on from their injured positions.

Giving up, the precursor chose to abandon the garb, grabbing and ripping the smoldering fabric off of his body. As the being's true appearance was revealed, Finn, and everyone else, gasped.

Astrum had average tanned skin, golden blonde hair that reached down to his shoulders, and a menacing glare that showed off his deep ocean-blue eyes. The human was frozen in place, unable to ignore the similarities between his foe and himself. His hands trembled, causing his sword to constantly vibrate in his grip.

"Who…who are you?"

Finn didn't quite know what kind of answer he was expecting, but the fact that the precursor's appearance shocked him so much was enough to scramble his mind. Astrum took a step forward, raising his arm to attack. Before he could though, a blade suddenly pierced his body, forcing him to grunt in pain. Everyone gasped again as the Finn from an alternate dimension retracted his weapon and proceeded to snatch the Shard of Evil from the precursor's hand. He backed away from the group and stood at the edge of the roof, grinning maliciously. Astrum healed his wound with his powers and shot an enraged look at the human.

"What do you think you're doing, fool!?"

The alternate Finn laughed.

"You expected cooperation? I'm the one who was planning to use you! And with this Shard, my strength will allow me to conquer my world and beyond!"

With a final laugh, the Finn let himself fall back off of the roof. Astrum was too late in trying to grab the human with his kinetic force. He was also too slow to dodge the powerful stream of flames that sent him plummeting off the roof. Solara rushed forward and looked back to Finn.

"Finn, you and I are the only ones able to fight. Go after your alternate self and get that Shard. I'll handle Astrum."

The human took a step forward.

"Why does he look like…"

Solara interrupted.

"I don't know, Finn. We'll figure it out later, just go!"

The hero finally reacted, giving a nod to his friends before sprinting and diving off the edge of the roof, following his alternate. Flame Princess placed her hands over her heart.

May Infinity protect you, Finn.

Solara shot herself into the air, making her way to where Astrum managed to stop himself in midair. Patting off his singed clothing, he stared back at the angelic woman with deep loathing.

"Get out of my way!"

The Ancestral Flame simply ignited her fists, forming strong concentrations of white fire. Her eyes narrowed at the enemy before her.

"If you want to get past, you'll have to take me down first."

The two precursors prepared to clash, taking offensive stances as the audience below anxiously watched, hoping for the best.

Some of you guys have been wondering about Astrum's origins. Well, I've heard your curiosity so get ready to get A LOT more info on this guy, both in COT and upcoming Archives.

Hope you enjoyed and please review.

next: Chapter 22: Battle for the Third Shard