A/N: Nope, you're not trippin'. Another post. I also found the time to do some review responses for the past two chapters. The final, concluding chapter of Theogony will be tomorrow morning at my normal time. Thank you all for reading.
Chapter Fifty-Four: Titanomachy
Alexandria's bracelet dinged. "This is Dragon. Someone has asked to speak to you privately."
The heroine stood on the edge of Telos' domain. All around, for as far as she could see, were the shattered remnants of the city. No building taller than two stories remained standing, and many had been ground down to their foundations or lower.
From the air, it was easy to lose oneself in the battle. She'd joined Legend in fighting Behemoth since she was one of the few brutes that could withstand even his most powerful attacks. She'd turned every bit of her concentration on the beast after that New York Ward punched a hole through the Endbringer's head that Kratos dug out like an excavator with his axe.
It wasn't until after that she realized that the Endbringer had essentially unleashed a high yield nuclear blast during the fight, leveling the southern portions of the city. Any individuals who hadn't evacuated into Telos' domain were either dead or dying, as were a terrible number of capes.
The northern and western portions of the city were ripped up and used as weapons by the Simurgh against Telos, while the quarter of the city by the Bay had suffered from a collapsed aquafer that none had realized until buildings began to collapse and sink. The only things untouched were Telos' domain, and the two massive trees that sprouted from her blood.
It was at once the shortest Endbringer fight she'd ever participated in, and yet also the most destructive.
Within the magical domain, doctors, nurses, Panacea and the rebranded Didomi all performed what medical services they could for the civilians and injured capes. The fight seemed to go so fast with such magnitude, and yet more than half the capes that volunteered to fight were dead or severely injured.
She touched her bracelet. "Go ahead."
A familiar voice spoke over the band. "Earth Ayin is gone. I believe Aleph, Daley and all others have collapsed as well. We named our world wrong. We were Earth Aleph. All others were branches from ours."
Contessa sounded tired; her words slurred. The meaning was plain enough, though. "Your mother?"
"All was lost. I walked through the door, and everything behind me ceased. He's coming for you now. Goodbye."
Before she could try to call Contessa back, her bracelet dinged again. "Hard override. This is Dragon to all Protectorate Forces. Scion has just vaporized Shanghai and Hong Kong. He is crossing the Pacific at High Speed and…correction. He has just vaporized Los Angeles and is over the…"
Alexandria's heart thudded. She looked around at the other members of the Protectorate who stood stiffly, eyes wide. Some had begun to guess based on what Telos warned them of, but others appeared completely shocked at the idea of Scion turning on them.
She turned to the west, trying not to think about the city she'd made her home. The horizon darkened as she watched, with a massive wall of billowing clouds sweeping toward them as fast as sound. A powerful, fierce wind began to blow, gaining speed and heat before the impossible pressure wave Scion brought with him.
Abruptly Telos was there. She was flanked by Sunny on one side, and another seeming ancient Native American woman in what looked like traditional Navajo garb. Each of them began chanting in a different language than the others, but the results of their chanting were undeniable. The wind died off, but to the west massive storms began forming almost instantly. Tornadoes miles across spawned in the blink of an eye, scouring the countryside as the impossible pressure wave hit a divinely powered pressure bubble.
The cold, analytical part of Alexandria's power informed her that the cities of Concord and Manchester were just obliterated, with every soul in them lost. Who knew if anyone in the mid-western United States survived at all?
She barely turned when Kratos moved to stand beside her. "He's destroyed every other dimension of Earth," she said. "Untold trillions."
"Dimensions he created," Kratos said without a trace of pity. "You know they came long before the world became aware. To increase the souls to feed upon. Now, he only knows rage. If we fail here, all is lost."
Scion arrived. The golden avatar slammed into whatever shield the three goddesses had created. The body he crafted was physically perfect, proportioned and muscled like an idealized statue of male perfection. Black hair and a beard had grown from the golden skin of his face, and his only clothing was a white unitard splattered with blood and dirt. He'd never changed it, not since he first donned it.
Behind him, the storms continued such that he looked like a golden sun shining in front of space itself, the clouds were so black.
Telos rose into the air, her sword in hand, until she faced him.
"Brace yourselves!" Kratos shouted in a thunderous voice that somehow reached every cape there.
There were no long stare-offs. No Henry Mancini music swelling dramatically. Scion's mouth twisted into a grimace of rage and a massive beam of white energy lashed out so fast that if Alexandria had been in Telos' place, she would have died.
Telos spun away, flashing her blade against the beam as if to block it. Somehow, it did, directing the energy up and away from the Domain. It could not have been a simple laser. Alexandria searched the field until she saw Legend. He stared back at her, wide-eyed, before blasting into a streak of light and joining the fight.
Alexandria launched herself into the air; and with his winged sandals, Kratos joined her. Other capes rose to join the fight as the battle was joined. For all his uncertainty and concern, Legend did not hesitate to fight with them. With a cry, he unleashed his most powerful lasers.
The former Glastig Uaine rose on her Valkyrie wings and used three of her stolen powers to do the same. Beside her, the other winged Valkyrie slung a club. All around, gods and heroes fired their various weapons at the glowing golden orb that surrounded Scion's avatar.
Scion didn't even bother blocking them. He instead stared with an open grimace of hate at Telos and her two Native American companions. Without moving his limbs, he surged forward into the divine shield. Where his golden orb touched it, streaks of lightning flashed out all around.
It was at that moment Flechette fired her String Theory-made weapon using Prometheus-made ammunition with her own striker/thinker power. The weapon fired so fast that it almost caused an optical illusion of moving backward from Scion's golden shield. The heat energy alone should have devastated the whole Northeast Coast, save for the physics-breaking aspect of String Theory's weapons.
The blast struck Scion's golden orb of light and blasted through it to strike at the avatar itself. Even though the shot travelled at near light-speed, Scion still shifted his form just enough that instead of taking the shot head-on, it instead struck his left arm.
For a moment, there was a disconnect between Alexandria's thinker power and her emotions. She could not believe what she saw.
Flechette's shot vaporized Scion's arm. The explosion that did so projected back into the storm caused by his arrival. The mushroom cloud that erupted blasted away the storm and most of western New Hampshire. Below, the entire city lifted in a concussive shockwave that rolled through the ground, causing earthquakes throughout the eastern United States.
Telos flew directly toward the Destroyer, her sword held at the ready. In the two seconds of her passage, the golden avatar restored his lost arm and then with both hands slammed down a double-first on Telos just as she swung her sword.
Again, an impossible explosion rocked the eastern seaboard. Her sword struck his side and sent him slamming into the soil, but his strike sent Telos straight into the destroyed earth below so fast the debris from the first explosion carried the hint of her outline.
With a roar that Alexandria could feel, Kratos used his winged sandals and charged after where Scion fell. Alexandria followed instantly.
The giant native-American god did as well. Others joined them.
Abruptly the golden orb returned, and then blasted outward. Where it passed, everything disappeared. Particulates from the explosions were swept away, and Alexandra realized that to Scion, people were particulates too. "Hard override, Brute 7 or below back off!" She screamed into her bracelet. "Avoid the golden light!"
The orb did not kill Kratos or his giant companion, but it blasted them away like toys. Alexandra caught a glimpse of capes that tried to comply with her warning but didn't have time. Where the golden light touched them, they simply ceased to exist. In the blink of an eye, ten of their most powerful capes were destroyed so thoroughly nothing of them remained.
Scion rose into the air. At his side, where Telos's sword struck, Alexandria saw golden ichor flowing over the white unitard. It was the only sign of injury, and he did not seem to notice it. Soulless golden eyes took in the field through the suddenly clean air, while the world around them seemed cloaked in roiling sheaths of black ash.
Those eyes latched onto Alexandria's, and for the first time since she saw Hero die, genuine terror seared through her mind. His face twisted with rage, as if he somehow knew that a piece of his companion provided Alexandria her power.
He burst into motion, so fast that the area behind him erupted in another kiloton-level explosion just from the heat-energy of his speed. Alexandria had only a split second to brace herself before…
…she felt a hand on her bald head. The chemo had left her skin so thin and sensitive even the touch of her mother's hand over her scalp hurt. "My little superhero," her mother said.
She was falling. She didn't understand why her power didn't respond; why she could not draw breath. She saw a streak of golden fire and dark wingsa second before Telos slammed into Scion from behind. The air around them erupted, condensing so hard the shockwave looked like a tsunami of compressed air as it blasted outward.
The shockwave struck her a second before driving her into the soil. Her fall felt completely wrong—she waited for the feel of her feet to hit, but they didn't. She looked down, barely able to move her own head, and saw with a numbed sense of surprise that her body ended right below her ribcage. There she was, the most powerful brute in the world, and Scion hit her so hard she…
"You've been trying so hard. You deserve better." Her mother's voice from years ago lingered in her mind. It was then that the young Rebecca understood that she was dying. That the chemo wasn't going to work.
I'm going to die.
The only reason her thoughts continued was her power. As Taylor once told her, her power didn't heal her cancer, it just froze her body. But as she stared down at her own calcified intestinal tract, she could feel her thoughts slowing. She could feel the breath leaking away as her brain struggled for oxygen.
She could see Hero smiling down at her; she could see her mother weeping over her bed.
Doctor Mother stood in her lab coat with a clipboard in hand after administering the agent to save Becca's life and give her powers. "I'm not a monster?"
Doctor Mother made a note on her clipboard. It was not her who answered, though.
"You've done monstrous things, but somehow you never truly became a monster."
Becca didn't understand. Overhead she saw Telos and Scion fighting, exchanging blows so powerful that the shockwaves of each one blasted other capes from the sky. So how could Telos also be kneeling beside her?
"I feel really light," Alexandria whispered with her dwindling breath. It was an ironic statement; one might even say it was darkly humorous. But she felt no humor or irony as she said it. The lightness did not linger in her body.
"I know," Telos said. Not Taylor Hebert. She had a brilliant glow to her that Becca could barely stand to look at, even as every part of her longed to see.
"Are you my god, now?"
"Only you can answer that, Becca."
"I think I'd like you to be."
Telos smiled, and the beauty of the smile made Becca weep. It was not just a physical expression—it was a sunrise on a cold morning; it was mother smiling down and holding her hand during her first chemo treatment. It was…it was…
"Will others be with me?"
"You carry within you the souls of those you love, just as they carried yours," Telos said. Shining hands lifted her gently out of her mortal shell; she felt light and pure. No more pain; no more tears.
"I'd like to see Hero again," she admitted. "I never told him. That I loved him, I mean."
"He knew."
The battle raged around them. She saw Bastion and Merlin trying to shelter a group of blasters only to be erased by one of Scion's golden bombs. She saw a brilliantly shining coyote that somehow seemed untouched by the violence and destruction as it led held a terrified Flechette's hand in its teeth and flittered her around the battlefield.
They did not go to Telos' domain, though. Somehow, they stood before the two trees at Winslow. "Will you stay with me?" Becca whispered.
"I will, as long as you need me too."
Between the trees, Becca saw figures moving. There was Steve in his red and gold Hero costume, smiling playfully. Her mother was there. She turned to face the Telos at her side, while the true Telos fought a life-and-death battle beyond. "How can you be here?"
"What is 'here' to a god?"
Becca looked beyond her; within the swirling, blackened sky another explosion blasted debris away for a brief window at where the Golden Avatar and Winged Goddess fought. "She can't beat him like this," Becca said. She didn't know if it was her Thinker power or something else. But she knew her words were true. "She can't kill him through his avatar."
The goddess at her side nodded. "Are you ready?"
"Will it hurt?"
Becca's young goddess took her hand. "Never again."
"Okay. I'm ready."
~~Theogony~~
~~Theogony~~
Cloaked in armor that could let her walk on the sun; blessed with magical protections that could withstand a supernova, somehow Taylor still hurt. Every part of her hurt, from her head to her toes. Even her hair hurt.
She felt Alexandria pass into her domain. She'd never known the woman that well personally, but she had seen her truth and accepted her faith. And with her passing Taylor heard her soul's final warning.
She can't kill him through his Avatar.
Other gods and capes held the monster back, if just barely. Cliona of the Tuatha Dé flew beside her uncle, who was fighting from the back of a brilliant white stallion that flew not on wings, but on a blanket of fire.
She could feel capes arriving all around from across the country, only to perish in each blaze of Scion's terrible power. She knelt in the ruined, hurt soil of her home just to recover and settle her thoughts.
Her father fell from the sky—his magical sandals were destroyed. He fell on his back with such a thud the impact lifted Taylor and the ground she knelt on slightly. He picked himself up with a grunt, axe still in hand. He was covered in mud and what looked like blood. His eyes blazed fiercely and his power caused the air around him to flicker with rage. His eyes met hers.
"I can't kill him through his avatar," she said, knowing Alexandria's last warning was the truth.
"You know this?"
"A soul's last warning to the living," Taylor said. "It is truth."
His shoulders dropped as his eyes sought the black clouds and the flashes of light that marked the continuing battle. "You know where his true form is?"
"I do. I have the eyes to see him now; I have armor to shield me, and a sword to fight him." Taylor stood and flexed her wings. "Even then…he's so large, dad. He was the sky."
His armored pauldrons creaked as he stepped toward her. A massive, filthy hand rested on the pure, liquid silver armor of her own. He gripped his hand there, staring at her. "Open the way for me, and I will go in your stead."
He meant it, knowing full well he would not survive.
"You'd die a warrior's death," she whispered. "But you wouldn't kill him."
The earth shook violently under their feet. The air blazed as a god died. Both of them looked up to see Ryujin, Dragon God of the Sea, latch down with his mighty jaws on the avatar of Scion just as the Destroyer unleashed only orb of golden destruction. The resulting clash of alien power and divine will sent every cape and god blasting away; Ryujin's shattered body fell like a falling star into the debris clouds that covered the state.
"I can hurt him from the Between," she said. Her heart beat painfully in her chest as she realized what she had to do. "I can confront him and distract his avatar. You can't kill him through it, but from behind it I can open a door. Wait for it—keep fighting him until he stops. When he does…when he's open and distracted…that's when to strike. From within and without, we can kill him."
He listened with his heavy features set. A massive hand reached behind her neck and pulled her head to his until they touched foreheads.
"Listen to me child," he said over the roar of destruction around them. "Listen, and obey. Come back to me. You defeat this monster, and then you come back to me."
She met his gaze and saw the man behind the god; the father behind the soldier. A man burdened with crushing loss and loneliness. He was her father, but she was all he had left in the world.
She hugged him, crushing him in her arms and wings, until he hugged her back. The smell of him; the sheer presence of him washed over her. Of hiking in the forests; of fishing. Of the way she would sit and watch him shape lumber or build things. His quite pride when she mastered how to hold a sword, or shoot an arrow.
Of the many nights spent on his lap, feeling the deep thrum of his voice as much as listening while he told her stories of gods and monsters. "I love you, Daddy."
He squeezed her tightly. "And I you, child. No greater good have I done; no greater gift have I ever received, than you."
She drifted away from his arms, held aloft by her wings. She brushed her hands against her Brisingamen.
"Return to me, child," he prayed.
She smiled brilliantly, saddened by the fact her crystal eyes could no longer shed tears.
Lifting her head, her Bifrost eyes easily pierced the gloom of the battle. The great Thunderbird—a god of chaos and change—struck out at Scion just as it struck at Behemoth. Scion responded with blasts of golden orbs that vaporized the matter that made up the spirit, only for it to assume another shape. It could not kill Scion, but neither could he easily kill it. The Thunderbird gave time for the gods and capes to regroup—those that remained.
Taylor summered her power; she could feel Sarah in her domain, acting as battlefield manager with Alexandria's death. She could feel Panacea struggling to save her wounded family and Marie granting healing powers while Ty and Shaquelle helped direct refugees. She could feel her followers praying to her; for her.
And she could feel Scion's hatred for her; that she existed. From two miles away in the midst of black clouds of debris and smoke, golden eyes saw her. She met that gaze and lifted her sword. He charged at her abruptly, again causing all behind him to vaporize from the heat-energy of his impossible acceleration.
She lifted her sword, and with a thought, she moved Between.
Just like before, the air around her immediately began to burn. Her mithril armor sparkled as the magic within resisted the assault. Her tattoos gleamed as her mother's magic too fought to preserve her against the hellish atmosphere of the Between.
Just as before, her bare feet slipped on something slick and wet-bodies. She stood in a field of bodies piled so high they seemed to reach the burning red sky. Just like before, no matter how hard she flapped her wings, she could not fly.
She scrambled over the bodies of the fallen gods. She tried her best to ignore the spiritual echoes of her brethren as she did so.
Eledumare was I. I am Olofin-Orun, Lord of Heaven! Olodumare, almighty and supreme. I am he who sees the inside and the outside of man. I can do all things. I am fallen!
Over a crest of crushed, bloodied bodies, she saw a wall of crystalline flesh. It was neither organic nor stone, but rather a scintillating, barely comprehensively wall of energy. With her bifrost eyes she saw the truth of it...she saw how part of this being existed in multiple phases of reality all at once. She had to reach it.
Vahagn was I, the dragon reaper! I am fallen!
One hundred and one names, had I! Yazad, Worthy of Worship! Harvesp-tawan, All-Powerful….
Khaldi was I…
Ganasha was I…
Ryujin was I...
She continued to wade through the burning air over the bodies of fallen gods of all description. She focused not on the horrors she climbed through, but the goal she had to reach. All around, a solid wall of scintillating fractals smothered the Between in fire. Just moments after she arrived, that massive wall of fractal flesh twitched.
She knew that at that moment, Scion detected her within his massive form. She scrambled faster, launching herself in desperate dives from the tops of hills of divine corpses. Her wings were useless-she dropped faster than if she were on earth, as if the burning air itself pushed her down. Yet still she pushed on, realizing that she could not afford to slow or stop.
She'd made very little progress before the burning air in front of her shimmered. The flesh of dead gods melted away into something else—growing layer by layer as Scion forged a golden avatar in front of her from the flesh of his past victims.
Biting back her terror, Taylor pulled her sword from its sheath. The four-foot broadsword reforged by the last godly smith on earth from the fiery sword of Surtr himself caught fire in her hands. She swung the mighty blade the moment the golden avatar appeared.
Scion's empty, bearded face had a single moment to look surprised before the combined magic of the Norse gods and the Tuatha Dé pierced his avatar and destroyed it entirely. In this realm, he could not shield himself in dimensional energy. She was within him, like a virus.
The massive wall of fractal flesh twitched so hard the entire Between shook. Piles of dead tumbled over each other and Taylor herself was tossed bodily from her feet, flailing with the falling, tumbling bodies of her ancient lost kin. With a silent cry, she pushed herself from the carnage and saw, in the distance, something else that Scion's violent spasm created.
She saw a tiny shard of blue light amidst the red burning air. Like Scion, it was neither solid nor gas, but a hazy state between.
Yggdrasil!
Scion's avatar reformed, much faster this time. He appeared in a shower of godly flesh and a burst of heat and flame. Even before the flesh had assembled itself, he struck at her with a beam of pure white light even more powerful than the golden beams he used in the mortal world. Taylor braced herself as she saw bodies vaporizing under the wave of light, until it struck her.
The magic of her armor saved her; instead of being destroyed somehow it translated the devouring energy of the attack into a concussive one that blasted Taylor up and away. She spun as she flew until she saw the trace of Yggdrasil that her first attack had exposed.
She grabbed onto the tiny, exposed branch with her left hand to slow her uncontrolled tumble. Scion's avatar rose into the burning air, unaffected by an atmosphere he created with his very existence. Rather than fight him, Taylor focused her bifrost eyes on the tiny exposed branch of the world tree. She did not possess the light of Alfheim to activate the crystals. All she had was her own power and the power of the Bifrost within her.
It was enough. She lost her own vision as rainbow light flooded out from her crystal eyes and into the branch. Nearby, reality itself shook violently as the fractal flesh twitched. Below her, Yggdrasil shrugged free of the corruption that had choked it. Just as a tree reached for the sun, Yggrasil responded to the power of her magic by suddenly growing and stretching, until with a sudden burst of light the entirety of the world tree broke free of the Destroyer's corruption.
Taylor stood on the branch, watching in awe as blue paths opened before her. Below, where the light of the world tree shone free, the bodies of the dead gods faded into clouds of stars.
As the gods of old fled, freed by the rebirth of the world tree to seek their own final resting place, Taylor stood with Surtr's sword in hand and stared down at the Destroyer's false face. With a silent roar, Scion flew at her through the Between.
As fast as Taylor was, she could not have avoided a being moving as fast as thought itself. The blow of his fists on her cracked her uncrackable armor with strength to shatter worlds. She felt the first layer of its magic break like glass. As they fell, with golden fists pummeling at her chest faster than even godly eyes could follow; she felt her wing snap before they hit another branch of the world tree. Even through her mother's protection, he broke her wing. The pain felt distant—removed by the sheer impossibility of the act. No thing born of any star should have been able to hurt her. What, then, was Scion by a creature beyond the stars themselves?
He broke through her armor again, right over her stomach, and struck with a blow that could have shattered galaxies. She felt her mother's protective spell absorb the blow, but he didn't give her time to recover. With his golden fist on her bare stomach, he once again attacked with the white, destructive beam.
Taylor screamed as the power of it enveloped her entire body, coursing through the runes her mother gifted her, before the power of it shot out through the base of her spine, redirected by the spell. Just like the crack of Brigid's armor, she felt the magic that had protected her for the whole of her life shatter before Scion's rage.
He's going to kill me. The realization didn't frighten her for herself. Instead, it terrified her for her father, and for Marie, Shay and Sarah and all those who she left in her domain so that she could fight for them. If she failed, they would perish. Her father would die. Her world would die.
With her mother's protections shattered, Scion once again reverted to his fist, striking her bare, unprotected stomach. The blow ripped the breath from her and sent unbelievable agony coursing through her body.
I can't let him win. She clung to that thought as the black ichor of her blood burst from her lips. Even if she died, she could not let him win.
Cold flame cloaked her arm as she summoned the winds of Hel. Scion raised his fist to strike again, and she knew if he succeeded, she would die. Before he could, she weakly placed her hand to his face.
Cold, spiritual flame engulfed his head. It was not an attack of physics. He could not shield against it like he might an attack by a parahuman. He could not just burn it away. It was the wind of Hel itself. If he'd had a soul, the wind would have ripped it out. Without a soul, it locked the avatar in a state of true zero energy. The avatar shattered. Yggdrasil shook once more as the fractal wall of flesh spasmed violently.
Taylor looked down at her blackened stomach. Not burned, but bruised. She could feel her internal organs moving as she stood-liquified by the blow in a way she knew she could not survive. Tears of agony streamed down her cheeks as she raised Surtr's sword. Somehow, the enchanted blade stayed with her, even if she barely had the strength to lift it.
The world tree responded to her summons and her need. The branch she stood on rose and reached out until she looked down on the impossible entity that had come to destroy her world. Fractals and flesh and plasma beyond description formed a snake-like body that wound like Jormungandr across the infinity of the Between. She was within him, and yet beside, above and below. He was so vast directions did not matter. Yet, directly below this living branch of the world tree, she saw the pulsing core of Scion's being.
Suddenly, she was not alone. She froze, staring in confusion, as two beings formed before her. Unlike Scion's avatar, these were feminine. They bore human-like outlines, but instead of flesh she saw fields of stars, as if both were windows into infinity itself. Bright, starry blue eyes stared intently at her.
My little owl, one of the figures said to her silently. My beautiful girl. I have dreaded this day since long before you were born.
Taylor realized with a shock that she was looking at her mother-her beautiful mother. And beside her was Athena herself—her father's half-sister and her aunt.
The prophecy has been fulfilled, the long-dead goddess announced in a silent voice that somehow still echoed in Taylor's mind. Pandora's curse has been lifted. The goddess of hope stands ready to ascend.
"Mother, I don't understand…" Taylor whispered.
The time has come, my Little Owl, Freya said. It is time to release hope into the world once more. The hope that your father carried for so many centuries now resides in you, Taylor my darling. Telos my god. It is time to let it free.
Below, Scion was reforming not just one avatar, but dozens. Thousands. Millions . What he could not do with one he would do with untold legions. Taylor knew instinctively that she could not fight them all. Not all the gods and heroes of earth could fight them all. The agony she felt began to lesson into numbness. Once more she found herself wishing she could still cry.
"I miss you, mother," Taylor said.
I have always been with you, Taylor. And I always will be. You will see my face again.
The goddesses faded into clouds of stars, leaving Taylor alone on a branch overlooking the body of the destroyer of worlds. Her knee buckled as her strength began to slip away. The army of avatars charged across the Between toward her, ready to finish what they started. More formed, untold numbers like stars.
Taylor forced herself to stand unsteadily on the branch. She did not have the breath to shout her determination. Instead, she lifted her sword and dove off the branch of the Between to plunge, blade-first, into Scion's core being.
~~Theogony~~
~~Theogony~~
Flechette didn't understand what she was still doing there. Yes, the sabots that Prometheus made for her blasted off bits of Scion, as long as she charged them with her power and fired them with String Theory's arbalest.
It took him less than a second to grow the parts back. In the meantime, the most powerful beings she'd ever seen or heard of were being blasted into dust. Alexandria was gone, Eidolon dead. Right now, the only thing keeping Scion from obliterating the entire country was a bird-shaped cloud, Glaistig Uaine, an axe-wielding brute and a crazy red-head on a horse.
On top of all the terror, there was the strangely attractive girl in the Coyote Mask who kept holding her hand and somehow zipping her all around the battlefield.
She'd never been so terrified in her life.
"Hard override. Coyote, do you have the girl?"
The voice sounded so deep and powerful it made Flechette's arm tingle from the speakers in the bracelet. The Coyote-girl laughed. "I do, Spartan! She's a pretty one, I will steal her away when this chaos is done!"
"Stand ready. Telos has gone Between. You will know the time."
"I will, Spartan," Coyote said.
"He knows you?" Flechette yelled. She had to—the sound of the earth dying around them was louder than any rock concert she'd ever been to.
"We've met," Coyote said with a smirk.
"I don't understand. Who are you?"
Coyote lifted her mask off, but suddenly it was a man with a thin mustache and dark skin like sandstone. His dark eyes bored into her as his voice rang in her ears.
"I am Áltsé hashké! It was I who convinced the moon and stars to being night. It was I who stole Water Buffalo's children, to cause the flood that forced First Man and First Woman to move onto this world. I am eternal and forever! I am Coyote!" He slipped his mask on, and suddenly he became a strangely alluring girl again. "And the time has come, lover-to-be. Take your weapon, and strike down the Destroyer of Worlds!
Flechette fought back a wave of dizziness. "What?"
Coyote turned and pointed. "Shoot him!"
She followed his gaze and stared, confused, as Scion hung unmoving in the air, his head thrown back and his mouth open in a silent scream. Her power lit a path for her; her hand brushed against the sabot even as her other hand brought the arbalest up. She felt no hesitation, not within the grip of her power. She pulled the release lever, and the sabot shot out.
Her bracelet started issuing orders to evacuate, but all she could feel was the arm that wrapped around her waist and the heady, almost bestial smell of the creature that held her.
"As much as Telos," Coyote whispered. "As much as the gods, you have won the day, my Champion."