The Karcist and the Lord

a S.C.P. Foundation Mythos x M.G.E. crossover

Chapter 38: The Fist Marches on, Part 2

Mekhanite Religion concerning Mekhane;

Core tenants hold that Humanity gained his favor, and thus received knowledge from him, despite being accidental creations of his chaotic counterpart Yaldabaoth, referred to in Mekhanite lore as The Abominable Flesh. Yaldabaoth grew angry and tried to exterminate Humanity as a result, only for Mekhane to intervene and imprison the God-Eater in a prison made from his body.

A lesser entity also worshiped by the Mekhanites is a servant of Mekhane known as the WAN. The WAN is typically depicted as a humanoid figure made of lighting, as opposed to Mekhane being depicted as one made of machinery. The WAN is viewed as having a bodiless entity which traveled alongside Mekhane, and acted as his herald and speaker, and also was tasked with guiding the Mekhanites when the Broken God walked the earth alongside him. When Mekhane imprisoned The Abominable Flesh, he knew he would be cut off from giving continual guidance to Humanity, and thus tasked The WAN to do so in his stead, and scattered what parts of his body not needed to imprison the God-Eater to aide it.

These are considered to be the various relics can be found throughout the various holy sites of the Mekhanites, often considered parts of Mekhane himself, and from which Mekhanites made many of their technological progress by essentially replicating the funtions and building off of said relics by using them as blueprints.

One example is the substance often referred to as the 'Holy Ichor of Mekhane.' A yellow liquid that has a constancy similar to that of blood, it is considered to be such from the body of the Broken God himself. When injected into the body of any living thing, it converts their body into that of various metals, stones, glass, and other materials that are not found in living tissue. Normally, a creature or person which has the Ichor flowing within them loses their mind and personality, becoming an emotionless shadow of themselves known as a Thrall, and are usually harvested for spare parts by the Mekhanites for their machines and technology, as well as bleeding out the Ichor of Mekhane when cut, resulting in them also acting as a self-replicating source of it. However, Mekhanites who are initated into the Church are also injected with this, and can preserve their minds through repeating a prayer known as the Oath of the Litigants, which results in one becoming a Litigant, their body being redesigned from the ground up into one solely of bronze, as opposed to mismatched designs of Thralls. After this, one will then be made into a Militant, Fabricator, or Magos. once their role is chosen, they are to perform their duties without question, for thus is the way of his servants.

As the Automatons began their march, the Dark Elf Limmeral looked. She and her kin were investigating the sounds of destruction that came from Bernia's direction, and came to help, thinking that the Cult of Nalka was attacking. However, upon sighting the giant war machines devastating the city, she and the other Elves with stared in silent horror and fear, as they had observed a scouting party from said Cult looking at the city being destroyed through their heightened senses. When they saw the cultists themselves seemed hesitant to attack, they watched on, until the Automatons moved away.

Now they going through the city, and examining the remains, looking for survivors. Limmeral herself was combing through the wreckage of a house, and calling out to survivors. "Hello? Anybody here?" she asked, and getting nothing in response. Currently one sector of Bernia was avoided, due to sensing high amounts energy that was dangerous to be exposed to. This was evident by the burned out corpses and buildings that the Dark Elves had found, which were charred beyond what a mere flame would do.

"Uhh..." Limmeral heard a man groaning, and found him with what looked to use to be a cabinet on top of his legs. She then recognized that he was a guard, and thus likely knew what had happened. She turned to the Elves behind her, and called out to them.

"I found one! I need some help over!" she yelled out, then ran over to the Human. When his eyes widen in fear, she stopped and then sat down next to him. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of there. I'm not going to do anything to you."

"No, don't lift it." the man said. "There were Humans in the giant Automatons. One of them stuck me with something, and left me here." he explained. "I don't what, but I can feel it changing me, and it hurts. Get away from me." he said. Limmeral then used her mana to look into the Spirit Energy of the man, and saw he indeed was changing. She did not know how, but it was like his Spirit Energy was being caged up somehow, wrapped in a shell of whatever mana this new group was manipulating.

What is happening? She thought, as two other Dark Elves ran over. The man looked at them. "Hey something is wrong here. He said there were Humans in those Automatons, and one of them did something to this guy."

"Get. Away from me." he said again, as the Dark Elves examined the Human. One of them put her ear to his chest, then pulled back.

"What the hell?" she said, visibly confused.

"What is it?" Limmeral asked, while the third Elf looked out for anything that might try to sneak up on the group. "Is something wrong with his heart?"

"Yeah, it's not beating, it's ticking." a few seconds passed as the Elves stared at her incredulously. "Not only that, but his left lung sounds more a bellow pump or something, and its spreading." the Dark Elf said. They then looked at him, and also noticed he was starting to look cold and emotionless more and more, his fear ebbing away. "Hey sir, are you-" suddenly she was interrupted by his hand shooting out and grabbing her by the throat. As he spoke, his turned pale and his eyes began to look more glassy.

"Run." the man said with a voice that sounded dull and hollow, before crushing her neck and throwing the Dark Elf, knocking down Limmeral and the other Dark Elf. As the two got up, they inspected their injured sister Dark Elf. She was grabbing at her throat, which had indentations where she was grabbed. While her sister was occupied casting a healing spell, Limmeral looked over to where the man was, and froze in terror.

He pushed the cabinet off with one hand, revealing both legs bent awkwardly at the knees, which then twisted around as they snapped and cracked back into place. As the man got up, a mechanical whirring sound could be heard, as his skin tore in an angular and segmented fashion. Another group of Dark Elves, along with a few Grizzlies and other beastmen Mamono who were in the area as well ran other.

"Oi, what's goin- what in the Pantheons name is that?!" an Ant-girl cried out, pointing at the transforming Human. As part of his skin turned into metal plates that looked like a mismatched collection of copper, iron, and tin, various clockwork analogues of where his organs should be could be seen. One of the most notable things that startled the Mamono, was the audible ticking sounds emanating from him as he approached.

"There's more of them!" another yelled out, as they began to hear the same sounds in multiple directions. Suddenly, the Mamono also noticed that even the dead were getting up, with various degrees of conversion and different materials replacing their flesh, living or dead. Most were metal, but others such as glass, wood, stone, and even substances that the Mamono did not recognize could also be seen, the growing sounds of ticking growing into a cacophony of sounds. They then saw a figure similar to that of a Sparthian, but looking like the converted Automatons and wearing the garb of a priest of some kind as he emerged from a crowd of the various transmuted Humans and Mamono, all of whom stared quietly at the man. He then raised a finger, pointed it at the Mamono gathered there, and muttered three words in a distorted and menacing voice.

"Excise these Abominations."

**POV SHIFT**

Fabricator-Priest Lamda Decion was left behind along with several other priests by the Mekhanite strike force to establish a perimeter for a forward operating base. This way, if something happened to the Colossi they had a fallback position. So when the abominations were seen almost immediately entering the area, he had the other Fabricator-Litigants spread out, and they injected a large number of the dead and dying with the ichor of Mekhane. Unlike them however, the Ichor had completely overwhelmed their bodies and minds, consuming them to make mentally empty Thralls, which come from having the holy blood of Mekhane himself introduced to the body with under going specific rituals to preserve ones faculties. He also accelerated their conversion into Thralls through the Catalyst Litany, a Fabricator prayer that causes anything undergoing a change, such as in this cause the Ichor converting the organic material of the various denizens of this city into a purer form, to speed up tremendously.

And now, as the Thralls swarmed around the Mamono, they were being pushed back and tossed around with little effort. Decion himself stood back and watched, examining the circle formation they adopted to protect themselves. It was not expected for the Thralls to immediately overwhelm them, but their quick coordination was not something he expected either, with an outer formation made from the stronger Mamono, while archers formed an inner line to support them.

"What have you done to them?!" One of the creatures screamed at him, a Dark Elf if he was correct in his assessment of the speaker. "Who are you?!"

"For your first question, I have purified their weak and corrupted souls, beyond even your Flesh worshiping sins, abhorrent beast. As for who I am, that is not in your place to ask." Decion said, silencing the Dark Elf, who turned and blocked an over head swing by a Thrall chopping downwards with its arm. As the copper limb struck the Demon Realm Silver sword she carried, the Elf let a shout of exertion and shock, the impact driving her to one knee. As Lamda turned to see an archer aiming at him, he moved his head to the side, her arrow whistling past. In response, he pulled out a sling, picked up a rock, and began spinning the leather pouch by the string after readying it and taking a step forwards.

After around three spins, he swung and released, sending the stone hurling at the archer as she nocked another arrow. She then yelped, as the missile struck her bow, breaking it in two as well as hitting her wrist, causing her to fall over and hold unto it. The rock he hurled was not rounded unfortunately, so instead of cleaving her hand, it got knock off course and left a painful gash instead. Taking the time to grab another stone, he quickly used his augmented hand to form a chamber which ground and polished it into an oblong object with in a few seconds. This time aiming for a second wave of Mamono coming to reinforce, he saw they were about three, maybe four hundred meters out.

Under normal Human standards, that was too far, but with an enhanced vision and his body being replaced with a stronger mechanical one, he was more then able to throw the rock and strike them from this distance. One of the Mamono, a Centaur, fell over as her leg was struck, and he could hear her scream out in pain. As the Monsters around her look and saw their comrade on the ground, they scattered, moving from cover to cover.

Decion then reached to his helmet and tapped on a button. "My position is about to be flanked. I'm pulling back before the next group of abominations arrive. Is the fortress secured?"

"Affirmative." A Tech-Acolyte replied a few seconds later. With that, Lamba Decion grabbed a sphere and charged it. The top half then opened, and when set down, a glowing light was emitted from it. Decion stepped through it, and was in the castle, where a similar device was turned on. After a few seconds, the Thralls that were with him ran through as well. After the last Thrall entered the castle, a scream was heard as a Monster tried to come through the portal, only to emerge from the other side as a burned out husk as it closed shut. As the Fabricator-Priest walked out and stared in the distance, a cloud appeared where the portal device self-detonated after wards, followed by a booming sound. He then turned to the other Fabricator-Litigants, who were gathered around him.

"Take the Thralls, and make sentential turrets from them. Whatever parts are left, use to make containers to replenish the our supplies of the Broken Gods' Ichor. And prepare to hold the line." he then looked back outside, and his eyes zoomed in the direction the Mamono came from. He could distinctly make out their shapes, beckon a passing Mekhanite over. "Get me the Magos at once. We are going to need more support in a short while..."

**POV SHIFT**

Lescatie

As Wilmeria stood at the ready, she sized up her opponent. He was around twice her size and build, and armed with only an ax. But so far, he had displayed an odd ability to teleport thrown objects so they flew in random and unpredictable patterns, which already made him more dangerous then he seemed. As she took a probing stab at him, the Cultist side-stepped away, and took a swing at her.

She backed up, the ax head stopping just short of over swinging as Wilmeria backed up and dodged it.

Damn, he's fast. Wilmeria thought. If only Sasha were here, and we didn't exile her and the other Fallen Cultists... she then noticed the man was gone, having backed up into the shadows. She then glanced about while the Mamono and Sarkic warriors around her watched the area.

"My lady, behind you!" someone screamed, and Wilmeria turned around expecting an attack, only to see there was nothing.

"Wilmeria, what are you doing?! Turn around!" the Chimera yelled out, and she turned to see her opponent was coming at her. She raised her rapier and slashed at him, cutting into his chest and stomach, but he did not die. Instead, he impaled himself unto the sword, which was designed for thrusting attacks and tackled her, causing the Fallen Bride to let out a grunt as she fell backwards onto the grounds. He then raised his ax, and brought it down, intent on decapitating her right there. However, one of the Kitsune intervened by blasting him away from Wilmeria, causing him to drop the ax.

"Get them!" She yelled, and the Mamono quickly rushed the confused Sarkics, giving Wilmeria the time to get up and pick up the ax the robed man had, since the rapier was still stuck to his body when he got blown away. As she looked for him, she heard one of the Monsters cry out and turned to see him pulling her now bloody rapier out of the same Kitsune that saved her. After taking a glance at her, the man then wiped it off on his sleeve, then did a flourish and pointed it at Wilmeria.

"Your tried with the sword?" she asked.

"One is best suited to learn at least several weapons my dear." the black robed man said, swinging and cutting off the head of a charging Ghoul without looking at her. "The ax just happens to be my favorite. Now do give it back." he said in a deceptively cheery tone, holding out his hand.

Wilmeria frowned, and instead pulled back and threw her arm at him, only to find the ax wasn't there. She then heard a clang, and turned to see the ax fly out and chopped off one of her legs.

The Fallen Bride cried in shock, and fell over. She then glanced at it, and saw the stump had a growth of flesh over where wound should be. "What?" she muttered, then turned to see the masked man stepped so that his foot landed next to her head. As he knelt down, she could hear the malice in his voice as he spoke again.

"Now then, I believe you are one of the few that my god Ion wants alive." with that, he grabbed her by the throat, and a portal formed. "I guess I'm leaving this fun little adventure then." One of the Sarkics saw him leaving, and cried out.

"What are you doing?!"

"It should be obvious. See you on the other side!" the man said cheerily, abandoning the war band as the Mamono tried to stop him. As the Mamono began to realize what happened, panic flew into the ranks with only the Chimera standing her ground and fighting off the Sarkics as her sisters got out. At the end of the skirmish, she looked around, and realized she killed all the of the cultists, but then fell to her knees.

"We got to warn the Lilium." she muttered to no one in particular, before getting up again and getting out of the cellar...

**POV SHIFT**

Void Temple of the Seraphim

As the Chief God and Serialian stared at each other uncomfortably, while the goddess rolled the scroll up, and then placed out of sight in its rack. After sighing deeply, she turned to face her subordinate.

"What happened?" she asked. She was visibly annoyed, and the Arch-Angel cringed. "I thought I said we were not going to antagonize Ion. So where did Amuil get sent to?" after taking a few seconds to clear her throat, Serialian answered.

"As far as I know, she was sent to the same place the portal that was formed by the Mamono ws tethered to on Earth. Obviously she managed to acquire the attention of the Cult of Nalkas' enemies." the Void Seraphim said, a slight tinge of worry on her face. "Unfortunately, they have shown an advanced technological state, and also have been as extremely hostile as the Cult itself. Given the fact they are also low in numbers and so far have mostly stayed in one group, whether they will actually accomplish their goals remains to be seen."

"I already know who they are." the Chief God said, and then held her hands over her face as she rubbed at it. "Not only that, but an army of them has come here before. They happen to be Mekhanites. A civilization that we knew little about, save they are not to be trifled with." Serialian noted the Chief Gods word choice.

"Have they been hear before?"

"Yes. A group of them once ended up on this world, proceeded to cause massive amounts of global devastation and nearly wiped out both Monsters and Humans with technology that would make the Automaton look like a scarecrow, and took my predecessor herself to stop them. They would later, after having their minds almost completely wiped of all knowledge of their homeward, who eventually found Sparthens and the Minorus Empire." the Chief God summarized. Serialian nodded her head. The Minorus Empire was a Human civilization which existed for about ten and a half thousand years, until the current Monster Lord came to power and its capital city of Sparthens found itself overwhelmed by her forces. What few Humans that weren't taken had managed to split off into their own pocket dimension, which had lain undisturbed since.

"Wait." the Arch-Angel said, as she looked back at the Chief God, who glanced up from her hands. "You mentioned them causing global devastation. How does nobody know about them now, especially since it took the First Chief God to defeat them?"

"I was tasked with erasing all evidence from the mortal realms of what happened, while my predecessor erased the Pantheons' memories to prevent any thoughts of rebellion. After wards, she founded your order, and left me in charge of maintaining Eros until she comes back. Which brings us to now." The Chief God explained, and she visibly grew agitated. "I'm now worried as to her fate. If she went to that world..." she trailed off, and Serialian was confused over what to do as the Chief God knelt over in her chair and started to breathe irregularly. This was the first time she had reacted like this since... ever in the Arch-Angel's memory. When the First Chief God left the world, the Pantheon started to grew subtlety rebellious towards their superior. When Deborah the current Demon Lord took over and began her rebellion, things had only escalated since, leaving the Chief God practically bouncing back and forth between making sure Armageddon itself did not happen because some random inter-dimensional God from beyond didn't find this place, and trying and failing over and over again to bring the world back under control.

Serialian then walked over to her, and placed a hand on the goddess' shoulder, and felt her shudder from the touch. As the two stood there like this, a sudden chill overcame both of them, making the Angel and the Chief God look around. Upon sensing what it was coming from, fear manifested on the goddess' face.

"No, no, you got to be kidding me." she muttered, as the two rushed out and entered the chapel, where a Void Seraphim in a white theater mask and masquerade outfit was sitting in the middle of the room. As a passing Void Seraphim turned and saw him, she stared in shock and open mouthed awe.

"INTRUDER!" she screamed, and immediately the Angel was surrounded by the points of multiple spears, while a number of the Angels took positions in the rafters with bows and arrows at the ready. As the Void Seraphim looked around, the mask switched from grinning in the style of the masked symbol of comedy, to looking at the Chief God with the frown of the symbol of tragedy.

"Aw, did I do something wrong? I promise I won't bite." she said, only to have a spear butted into her face in response. "Now now, that is not how you treat a guest," she chided, not moving her head which was resting on the pews back, wagging a finger at the offending Angel. "You never know what they might do or say in response." at that, a trail of black ink of some kind began to pour out from the eyes and mouth, before the masked Angel swung her head hard and violently towards her assailant, sending a trail of the liquid flying at them. The other Void Seraphim then screamed, as she was burned by the majority of it getting unto her face and body, and a number of Angels backed away to dodge the rest, with another falling over as some of it got on her leg, burning her as well. "Now then, I believe an associate of mine seeks to speak with you." she said, gesturing to the podium.

As everyone looked over, they saw another creature was sitting there, and sensed it was hiding its presence from them. It at first appeared to be in a masquerade uniform, but on closer inspection, many realized that was actually the creature itself, which then stood up, and introduced itself.

"Greeting fellow Celestials... I, am but a humble Ambassador, and I hail from Alagadda. And as it happens, I do believe the Grand Karcist is on your world as well." after a few seconds passed, another portal opened up, and Ion walked through it in his God-Eater form.

Who invoked my name? he asked, before noticing the Ambassador of Alagadda, at which point he let out a sighing noise... Here we go again.