A/N: Chap 51 review responses are in my forums as normal. We should probably be finishing up next week or so, if all goes as planned. Like I mentioned, I will be dropping the last three chapters at once, assuming I can get that final climax scene polished up sufficiently.
Chapter Fifty-Two: The Goddess Loathed
"What's fighting Leviathan?"
"No fucking idea, but it looks a giant squid!"
"Since when could Lung go full dragon all at once? I thought he had to escalate?"
"Holy shit! Did you see that? Did you fuckers see that? That old shit just carved a hole through Behemoth's head with an axe!"
David listened to the chatter with a low, burning anger. He switched powers so he could focus on where the arrogant old man who claimed to be a god swung his axe. Coupled with a thinker power, he deduced that the axe wasn't shooting blue energy into Behemoth, it was bringing whatever it struck down to Absolute Zero, draining away all energy within its area of effect in a way not even Behemoth could compensate for. It was an all-or-nothing affect that seemed somehow to be a hard-stop to the Endbringer's electrical power.
People were talking about the old man as if Eidolon had not done worse to the beast.
He glanced back to the sea where Kratos' supposed ally was helping. All he saw was some Parahuman projection of a giant squid wrestling with Leviathan while an enraged, 20-foot-tall Lung lashed at the seaborne Endbringer with fire and claw.
In the sky?
In the sky that winged freak of a girl that Alexandria thought so highly off kept getting her ass knocked out of the battle. The Simurgh was beautiful, cold and perfect. Though he would never admit it to anyone, not even his fellow members of the Triumvirate, he'd always thought the Simurgh resembled Jessica Meyers, the first girl he'd ever truly loved.
"Jesus, David, you're in a fucking wheelchair. You're nice, yeah, but I can't marry you."
Even decades later, Jessica's words echoed in his dreams. He watched her, after Doctor Mother gave him the powers that made him the most powerful parahuman on Earth. Jessica went on to get married, have three kids, gain fifty pounds, then divorce and get addicted to pain medications. He lost interest when the perfect woman became the fat, bitter, drug-addicted caricature with his first love's face.
When he looked now at the monster above, who continued to swat Telos out of the air with contemptuous ease, he could almost see a young Jessica Meyers looking back at him. She moved her wings, exposing the porcelain breasts to him alone, as if to say, I am more beautiful than she could ever be. She was not worthy of you. I am. I am for you alone. You alone, David.
The back of his mind thrummed with the lyrics of a poem he'd read once that his Thinker ability recalled perfectly for him. Wordsworth's idealized woman shone before him, her lips parted as if in ecstasy, her marble white eyes shimmering with desire just for him.
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
A perfect Woman, nobly plann'd,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a Spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light.
She was for him. The Simurgh was for Eidolon to fight, not some freak girl with wings. How DARE they stand between him and his destiny? He was Eidolon! His entire life was dedicated to the final fight against Scion. Who the fuck were these stupid lesser fools to stand between him and his destiny?
Who were these fuckers to stand between him and the only woman who truly understood him?
It was so easy. He switched his Thinker power out for a kinetic blaster power. He punched his fist and unleashed a blast of energy that could have sent Behemoth Stumbling.
Telos didn't see it coming. For all her vaunted power, omniscience appeared not to be one of them because she didn't even look as the disintegration power struck her full in the back. David knew instinctively that it wasn't really destructive beam, but rather a temporal eruption that caused whatever object he struck to age a thousand years. It, like the old man's axe, was an all-or-nothing power. Useless against Endbringers, but against capes?
Instant death.
Only…it did not result in instant death. In fact, the little winged bitch didn't even seem to notice. She stabilized her tumble from where the Simurgh again smacked her away, flapped her wings and then flew once more toward the most powerful pre-cog and telepath known to exist.
And just like the last four times, the Simurgh managed to mostly avoid that breaker-sword that Telos brandished. Not entirely—another shattering explosion sent a shockwave through the atmosphere as the sword struck another wing. This time it was one of the Simurgh's primary wings, and just like the other four times somehow the blade did what no other parahuman had ever done—not even David. The primary wing came off the Simurgh with a burst of white energy almost like a small nuclear reaction that sent Telos tumbling and blasted away a huge portion of the debris that the Simurgh used to defend itself out over the burning, flooded town.
"Radiation warning! Behemoth is irradiating the entire town. Panacea and Dodomi are doing triage and healing in Telos's domain. Non-brutes need to evacuate or maintain a one kilometer perimeter!"
David was well within the sphere. His shielding power began to sparkle as the wave of radioactive isotopes that Behemoth sent out splashed against it. Ignoring the attack, he switched his offensive power to a breaker power that converted oxygen to hydrochloric acid. The power wasn't Manton limited, and so would convert all the oxygen in Telos's lungs to acid.
It had the advantage of not being a physical attack that would penetrate her skin. If he understood the metaphysical aspect of her protections correctly, as long as the attack bypassed her skin, it could hurt her.
"Have your gods betrayed you, High Priest?"
With his three powers dedicated to flight, defense and killing Telos, he had only his human perception. That perception had completely missed the winged, silvery figure that rose up beside him. He did recognize Glaistig Uaine's face within the domed helm she wore, though she appeared much older than when he faced her prior to her Birdcage incarceration.
"What are you talking about?"
With the wings of her armor, she did not need to dedicate her own three power mix to flight. And the armor appeared to be protecting her from Behemoth. Instead, he saw shadows of capes Eidolon recognized—capes with Thinker and Perception powers.
"You think we didn't see you strike at Telos?" Her voice carried a dissonant choral effect, like singers singing out of tune to each other. "Or before weeks before, when you struck at your goddess. Are you so desperate for her attention you would initiate battle with the Engines of Chaos?"
The clouds over the city boomed so loudly the shockwave of the sound itself flattened some of the buildings. David spun around as the clouds seemed to take shape into something almost bird-like. The cloud wings were bent at impossible angles and seemed to cover the entire city. Two massive streaks of lightning, shaped somehow like claws, reached down and gripped Behemoth by the horns on his head.
The moment the construct made contact, the clouds began glowing an ominous orange as whatever it was soaked up all the radiation that Behemoth could produce. The Endbringer himself took on a white glow as he began emitting so much energy the whole Earth would have been irradiated otherwise.
"What is that thing?"
"Probably another god," Glaistig or whatever she called herself now said. "There are several fighting. I didn't believe Kratos at first when he came to me in the Birdcage, even though he had no fairy. But now… It is remarkable, is it not, that gods still walk among us?"
The old man with the axe, the ginger with the sword and the giant Indian all charged and attacked Behemoth when the Endbringer reached up two massive, glowing hands to rip apart the entity attacking it from above. They seemed to concentrate on one of Behemoth's thighs, and unlike all other fights David had been involved with, their attacks made the monster react instantly.
A glowing radioactive stone fist slammed into the giant Native American and sent him sprawling into the rubble of the shattered buildings around it. Kratos and the red-head, being human sized, easily avoided the fist despite its deceptive speed. Like before, the axe plunged deep into Endbringer skin that before had resisted David's strongest attacks.
Behemoth responded with a flash of such intense radiation that the earth itself should have melted and buildings around it crumbled and burned. The giant, bird-like god holding it roared and thunder crashed like artillery so loud ear drums surely shattered around them.
Movement caught David's eye. A small slab of concrete that looked like it once belonged on top of a building hung unsupported in the air. He saw people moving frantically atop it.
"I do believe Behemoth is about to die," Glaistig said with clinical detachment.
Someone on top of the floating slab fired a weapon at Behemoth. David switched from his offensive power to a perception power. He caught a glimpse of one of Legends more promising Wards standing on the slab next to what looked like a large canine…Is that a coyote? Whatever she fired moved so fast it looked like a streak of light. Oddly, it appeared to move from Behemoth to the shooter, though he knew that wasn't right.
The streak of light struck the Endbringer's thigh just as Kratos and the red-head jumped clear.
The massive, thunderous cloud-bird released Behemoth as the monster's thigh blossomed in a brilliant white star that made the ground around it instantly shatter into dust. Was it a Gray Boy bubble of some kind?
As David and Glaistig watched, the Hero Killer began to turn gray. The white, star-like sphere where its thigh used to be grew brighter and brighter, so much so it made the rest of the day seem to darken in relation to it. The effect on Behemoth was even more pronounced, though. The creature lost all color. The magma that seemed to drip off it in rivers turned black, then even that color was leached from it. The glow of it's one eye went out, and even as David watched it began to crumble into massive boulders.
David had been waiting for this moment for almost twenty years. He'd attended every single Endbringer fight, growing weaker with each fight even as he tried harder and harder. He was the most powerful parahuman on Earth, second only to Scion. But he stood there and watched someone else take his victory away from him, and the desired victory tasted like ash.
An ear-shattering screech spun his attention back to the Bay. He barely held control of his bladder when he saw a massive, Cthulu-like being of waves, tentacles and sea animals rising from the solid black wall of cloud behind Leviathan even as Lung himself slashed at the beast even more powerfully than before.
The thunderous cloud-bird screeched again as the ocean-monster brandished a spear the size of a cell-phone tower. The tip of the spear glinted with ephemeral fire before plunging directly into the base of Leviathan's whip-like tail. The beast struggled to escape, but Lung was just large and powerful enough to contain it. Other capes arrived as well, walling the creature caught between the impossible wave and forcefields.
Eidolon recognized Narwhal's and Bastion's various fields among them.
He glanced back up where Telos seemed to be single-handedly occupying the Simurgh. Yes, she kept getting knocked back by massive clouds of debris, but when she dove in for attack she moved with such speed and power that she broke through the Simurgh's defenses and scored a hit. Just since Behemoth died and Leviathan was hurt, the Simurgh lost another five wings and even a foot.
Cold white eyes looked beseechingly at him. She kills me, David. I cannot see her. I cannot withstand her sword. She is going to take me away from you. Am I not yours? Was my beauty not for you alone? Save me, David. Let us be alone together.
"And the master at last becomes the slave," Glaistig said. She sounded sad. "I can see them now. Now that I see your fairy, I see theirs as well. It was always you. You needed worthy opponents, and your power granted them to you. Unbeatable, unrelenting. But the time grows short. I can see now how you reach for more. Your power does not give you what you want, High Priest. It gives you only what it thinks you need. But what you need, we cannot abide."
David wasn't even listening. He was drifting toward Telos and the Simurgh. He'd let his imperviousness drop as he dedicated two of his powers to attack. The oxygen-to-acid attack, and a second nightmare power that would drive Telos insane.
It wasn't enough to kill Telos, he needed to make her suffer too. She needed to suffer for taking his Jessica away. For taking away his victories and his uniqueness. He was Eidolon! He was the most powerful…
His thoughts ended instantly as he felt a strange thud, and then nothing.
~~Theogony~~
~~Theogony~~
"And now I have my own priest to worship me," Ciara said sadly as she took Eidolon's power into herself.
She turned as her cousin joined her. The word made her feel at once confused and faintly warm in a way she'd not felt since before…everything. Aideen had no fairy—her strength came from her father, as did her ability to use the armor and weapons granted to her. The club she bore looked ancient and primitive—a lump of wood etched with silvery runes. But the power it delivered against Behemoth was as devastating as anything Cliona's power could deliver without the spear her mother gifted her.
"Did you just kill fucking Eidolon?" Aideen asked.
"Yes," Cliona said.
"Was he a cunt, then?"
The question, and the faith behind it, was why Ciara felt the way about her cousin that she did. Aideen did not consider her a monster or a villain. She was the sort of friend who Ciara could not only confide in, but who would help hide the bodies without a moment's hesitation.
"Yes. He was mastered by the Simurgh. It's a shame Telos wanted to kill her by herself."
"Fuck 'er. We done Behemoth, she's too feckin' slow. Let's go speed it up, eh, cousin?"
For the first time since her trigger, Cliona laughed. "Lets!"
The two-winged women soared toward the swirling, tornado-like construct that the Simurgh used to defend herself. Even as they watched, Telos pierced it and slashed with her sword, taking one of the Endbringer's arms off at the elbow. The creature didn't even seem to notice. Though her summoner had perished, the creature now fought for her very existence.
Ciara shuffled through the unlimited powers she gained from Eidolon's fairy. She saw the shadow of him form. She'd always thought they were souls, but now that she'd encountered true gods she knew they were just personality imprints from the powers themselves. Even so, the shade that appeared looked disgusted and disappointed.
His powers, though, were endless. She shifted her own fairies to strengthen what had been weakening from him, and with both her hands she gripped all the debris the Simurgh had gathered. "Prepare to strike," she shouted.
Suddenly, every object around the Simurgh was subjected to a thousand times the normal gravity of earth. The debris field slammed down to the shattered city below. The Morrigan howled her battle cry and swung the mace of the Dagda, unleashing an attack at once physical and spiritual. It looked like a black cloud that shot across the air. The Simurgh moved away from it, but the cloud changed its course. It was not any mundane projectile subject to the whims of gravity or physics.
The Simurgh surged to one side to avoid the blast, and at that exact moment Telos arrived. Her black sword struck the Simurgh in her chest. The power of it compressed the air like a volcanic eruption, blasting everything back so powerfully Glaistig had to release her gravity power and assume a shielding power to keep she and her cousin aloft.
For the first time since its first appearance, the Simurgh showed reaction. Its mouth opened in a silent scream as it lifted its lifeless eyes to the heavens.
Suddenly it was over. The alabaster perfection of her 14-foot frame shattered like a toppled statute, falling in pieces to the broken city below. Telos floated away from the debris before joining the others. Where Eidolon would have been consumed by rage and jealousy for the interference, the young goddess was grinning ear to ear.
"My Valkyries!" She laughed. "Perfect timing! I saw Dad and his team killed Behemoth. What do you say about finishing off Leviathan?"
"Feckin' roit!" Aideen crowed.
Below, Sedna of the Sea continued to strike at the base of the thrashing Endbringer's tail while Ryujin had taken on an intense golden glow as he unleashed the full power of his divinity. Kratos and Aengus had arrived and were wailing on the monster with every cape that survived the Behemoth fight.
Ciara joined her power to the battle, while beside her the Morrigan did the same.
Telos hovered toward the black wall of water and wind that marked the boundary of the ocean. Ciara watched her even as she struck with her own myriad power.
Sedna of the Sea pulled her massive spear back, revealing a shattered opening in the Endbringer's skin. And in that second, Telos dove like a bullet with her sword held out. Ciara shifted to three separate shielding powers. All around her, the other shielding capes did the same as if divinely inspired, and Lung roared triumphantly as he surged forward and wrapped his massive clawed limbs around the thrashing Endbringer despite its own claws tearing viciously at him.
Telos' sword struck home at the monster's core. Just like Behemoth—just like the Simurgh—Leviathan went utterly still as all color leached from it. Lung flared with golden fire and with a massive swipe of his claws struck Leviathan's head. The head before that could survive nuclear blasts shattered now like porcelain, and with the creature's death the rest of his body crumbled into boulders of colorless stone.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Aideen crowed.
"Look around you, cousin," Ciara said.
Borne aloft by her divinely-crafted wings, the Morrigan did just that. Her eyes widened as she saw the city below.
Brockton Bay was gone. The battle against Behemoth alone had shattered and irradiated every skyscraper in the downtown area. What he didn't destroy, the Simurgh ripped up to defend herself. Ciara and her cousin were so focused on their own battle they lost the greater truth. That truth was Endbringers did not die easily.
Telos drifted back to them, her face flushed with victory. Like them, though, her crystalline eyes were searching the wreckage below. Only two areas seemed untouched. The first was a small plot of trees in the Docks area. Ciara knew that was the physical entrance to Telos' spiritual domain.
The other untouched area was a pair of massive trees that stood whole and pristine amidst the shattered remnants of a school. "So many lost," Telos whispered. "Pythia gave them time, but…"
"Far more lived than would have otherwise," Cliona said softly.
"Dad tried to set the battle in the southwest, far from cities."
"The enemies of humanity would not permit their passing without a price."
Alexandria arrived, followed a second later by Legend. The surprise was when Kratos arrived. His power of flight consisted a pair of winged golden shoes. "Well done," he said, speaking to his daughter.
"What happened to Eidolon?" Alexandria asked.
"He became mastered by the Simurgh," Ciara said. "So much so, he started summoning more Endbringers to replace those lost."
Ciara found Alexandria to be interesting. She had an intense thinker power along with her strength, but her invulnerability struck her as an unchanging diamond. The flying brute could go unageing and unchanging for untold eons, at least until the power of her fairy was exhausted.
Because of that thinker power, Alexandria understood instantly what she meant. Legend, mere human as he was, did not. "What the hell does that mean? What'd you do to him?"
"She killed him," Kratos said. He sounded…approving. "Eidolon attacked the Simurgh weeks ago, but only after the Simurgh noticed my daughter. Even then, she began mastering him."
"He was the source of the Endbringers," Ciara said. "He did not truly control them, but he was their origin. They were his powers, turned against him as a challenge. Nor were they the only ones. Now that I have claimed him, I can feel others that he could have summoned. Twenty in all. Think on that before you decide I did wrong."
"You did no wrong," Kratos said before Legend could speak. "Nor is this fight over."
"The Destroyer," Telos said. She looked around them until focusing at a point below. "He's over China right now."
"You can see him?" Alexandria asked.
For all her power, the flying brute didn't understand Telos' crystalline eyes. Ciara, though, understood. "With those eyes, Telos can see anything she chooses to look at. She is not truly omniscient, for she cannot see all things at all times. But she is most certainly all-seeing, in that she can see all she focuses on."
The young goddess smiled sadly. "It had to put out my mortal eyes to find the path I needed. Scion is coming, though. He knows what happened."
"Then let us prepare," Kratos said. "One last battle!"