How fitting is it that the chapter that involves fighting the diamonds is number 75? Hm? I will be as clever as Rebecca Sugar one day!

And now with my ranting out of the way, back to the action!

This time last year, three Crystal Gems had relatively simply mission of stopping any loose corrupted gems while doing their best to raise their harmless ward Steven. Beach City was about as peaceful as a town could be. Most days were sedate and few missions posed much risk to their home or to the child of bunch. Back then, the concept of Steven Universe in combat was as surreal as his father deciding to become a sleazy lawyer.

Now, though, those days were far behind the original trio literally barreled into a warzone with over a dozen new allies by their side and Steven casually plowing gems aside with his bubble shielding him to lead the charge.

The throng of Homeworld natives immediately pressed on the gang and tried to separate them but they found that much harder than anticipated. Firstly, Fluorite was once again in her humanoid form and was literally sweeping gems up by the dozen with wide-reaching kicks and open-handed smacks meant to put distance between them and her family than outright destroy them. Besides her, the group had matured into a well-oiled machine that knew how to fight off packs and stick by each other.

Right behind Steven was Greg and Connie who kept any gems that tried flanking the boy at bay. The father shot with the accuracy of a master marksman, nearly all of them going down with one shot to the gemstone, and only using his swords if he was briefly disarmed. The young lady of the team was fully crystallized and making mincemeat out of gems as nonlethally as possible. Many attackers tried blindsiding her only to have blades erupt from her body or have one of her half a dozen swords swirling around her slice them down to size.

While the three effectively spearheaded the team, the others all their hands full. The only reason they were not fusing to make the battle easier is because of two things: 1. Peridot's little meteor shower riled up the locals enough that they were now clearly painted as the bad guys and they did not want to escalate things unless absolutely necessary. And 2. They could not even get the chance.

There were enemies on them every individual second. It was like fighting off a sea of multicolored bodies where everything from punches to headbutts to bites was trying to drown them. They were less fighting back and more pushing their way through. The only upside was that one good smack was enough to send one Homeworld goon flying into thirty of her closest friends. The issue was that there were thousands ready to take the place of each one beaten back.

And despite the arduous slog that each moment was, the group was slowly making progress. Bit by bit, they moved closer to White's central hub even as the teeming masses tried everything shy of dogpiling them. And all of this being done without shattering a single gem not that the cluster of enemies bothered to notice.

And as all of this happened, all three diamonds watched in complete shock. How. How were they still moving forward?! They watched a single dot amongst a sea of their own troops push and shove their way ever closer to their domain. Their collective patience was already thin but soon it was gone. White booted up her communicator and demanded that they needed drastic action now.

Back on the field, everything shy of actual witchcraft was getting flung around. Balls of fire, energy spears, waves of water, crystal bullets, and several actual gems were being tossed to and fro as the Crystal Gems kept trucking onwards. Right as Garnet was in the process of slamming a jasper into several rubies, she suddenly dodged to the side right as a piercing red laser nearly impaled her.

"Oh, now what?!" Lapis cried, dousing several oncoming with high-pressure water.

"I recognize those!" Rutile cried, "It's the robonoids!"

The conjoined gem was right on the money as the other rebels all looked to see a conical black machine with a glowing red front levitating above them. And it was quickly joined by several dozen more.

"SCATTER!" Topaz cried, knowing all too well how those worked given all the stories her crew told her about living as Homeworld refugees. As more lasers began streaming through, the rebels all scattered as did several of their foes. It seems even their survival instincts kicked in with the knowledge that one stray hit meant death.

Fluorite immediately fell back towards the ship to keep her new body, which was now a massive target, away from as much fire as possible. While the humans of the team were lucky enough to be unaffected, the others all dove into the crowds to put as much distance as possible between the instant-kill devices and themselves.

Soon, the Crystal Gems knew they were getting bogged down. Peridot knew they could not win as this rate which was why her mind turned to something drastic. She managed to down of the robonoids with her metal powers long enough to hack into it. From there, many Homeworld gems were now baffled why one specific machine was blasting down several others. The Crystal Gems soon took advantage of the confusion and pushed the advantage. The techie, however, took no time to brag and instead flew around until she found Lapis.

As soon as she could, she leapt out of her makeshift vehicle after setting it to self-destruct and landed next to her former barn-mate.

"We need Turquoise, now!"

"Shouldn't we not escalate things?" the waterbender asked.

"You think this is escalating?! Trust me, this is a sample! They have hundreds of thousands of those active! Trust me, I'd know!"

Seeing no other choice, Lapis joined hands with the shorter gem and soon the larger form of Turquoise flew into the sky with her arms outstretched. One by one the shattering robonoids halted before being liquified into black metallic liquid. The wave of Homeworld gems were astounded, and briefly thankful that the lethal weaponry was gone, before the fusion curled her hands into fists. The liquid metal shifted into hundreds of solid daggers that she let fly. Gems suddenly ran as a literal wave of weaponry rained down on them, poofing them by the dozen.

Knowing that they would regroup soon, Turquoise put her hand on her communicator. "Connect to everyone!" As soon as the signal was up, she gave her order. "Everyone, when I saw now, get off of the ground!"

The others held whatever gems they were facing as best as they could while also keeping an ear out. The four-armed fusion had her hands to the ground even as the Homeworld gems slowly moved towards her. What they did not realize was that the gem who could practically reshape any and all metal was standing on a planet covered in metal…

"NOW!" Turquoise suddenly yelled as a pulse seemed to ripple through the ground, confusing everyone who passed by. The only exception was the Crystal Gems who all took the cue and jumped as high as possible. It was a good thing they followed the advice because suddenly hundreds upon hundred of metallic spines shot up from the floor. The air went from the sounds of fighting to many terrified and pained screams as thousands on unsuspecting troops were impaled en masse.

To the Diamonds, they literally watched a ring of death stretch from Turquoise's position. All three, even White, winced as they could not even tell how many gems even survived the surprise attack. Even the other rebels felt their stomach drop at such a brutal tactic. And just as soon as the field of spikes erupted, they suddenly faded as the ground returned to normal. The team quickly regrouped around Turquoise before she returned to Peridot and Lapis, all of them now looking at the hundreds of gemstones lying about.

"Well… It's efficient," Adamite tried to say, but even she was shaken.

"Sorry… We kinda panicked," Lapis admitted, taking her girlfriend's hand to try and calm her down.

"It had to be done," Garnet assured them, "Now let's hurry. We need to make it to White's tower at all costs!"

Wasting no more time, the whole sprinted forward as an entire new wave of gems rushed out to take the place of the fallen first wave. Whether it was potentially losing a comrade or simply the sight of the hated enemies of their masters, the new batch seemed to fight even harder than the last.

White, however, was not the least bit pleased. She did have one last plan for Steven, however. A special project that she told absolutely no one, not even her fellow diamonds, about. All she needed was the opportunity to use it. Figuring that the other matriarchs were getting more and more agitated with each step the Crystal Gems grew closer, they could be just the thing hse needed to get the hybrid in the right place.

She opened her communicator to both of them. "Well, this is turning a serious mess, isn't it?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, brilliant leader, do you have any bright ideas?" Blue snarked, completely uncaring if her only superior would be angered. White had to bite back the urge to rebut and instead kept her façade up.

"Indeed, but it seems our ground troops just aren't cutting it even now. Perhaps you two should… handle this personally?"

"With all due respect, White," Yellow said, "All of our forces could be collateral in such a conflict."

"Oh, a few scattered shards seem a small price to pay to avenge Pink, wouldn't it? You both do have some making-up to do for your last attempt at fighting Steven…"

Both of the other diamonds clammed up at that dig. They both refocused their attention to outside and could see Steven's team advancing closer and closer. A few unfortunate gems were even getting catapulted into the sky somehow. The crashes and shouts from the battle rang in their ears as they soon made up their minds.

Steven and the others kept up the advance even as the wall of gems never stopped trying to stop them. No one had any idea just how many gems had gotten poofed or simply removed from the fight but the wall of gems never seemed to thin. Even with Pearl's clones, multiple elements being chucked around, two sharpshooters, Bismuth's whipping more gems then she could count out of sight, and Steven's multitude of weapons on top of everything else they had was only enough to barely tread water in this sea.

Then, however, something happened that caught everyone's attention. Twin beams of light, one yellow and one blue, suddenly erupted from two buildings off to the sides of White's tower. All of the Homeworld gems promptly began to back down and ran in any direction they could.

"Well, two guesses what that means…" Amethyst said, "Okay Steven, you, uh, think you've got this?"

"Honestly? No…" he sighed, "One, that form really tires me out. Two, I've fought them both at once before!"

"And you aren't going to," Garnet stepped in, "We're gonna need something big. We're gonna need Obsidian."

While most of the group were baffled, three of them knew exactly what she meant. Pearl, Amethyst and Bismuth all looked ready to faint hearing that.

"I know, I know, but we're completely out of options now," the fusion admitted, "Either we subdue the diamonds and press on or we're all completely outmatched."

"Wait, who's Obsidian? What's gonna happen?" a totally baffled Steven asked.

"You know the big gem who's outside the temple," Pearl asked him, "That is Obsidian. And it's basically what would happen if you fused with Alexandrite."

"Oh… Oh boy…"

"Steven, just relax and you'll be fine," Garnet assured him before turning to the others, "Bismuth, keep everyone together! Follow along with us as best you can!"

"Got it! Everyone, stand waaay back!" The others wasted no time turning around and putting some space between them and the main four especially as they could already see Yellow and Blue actually running towards them. The two matriarchs stormed ahead, through the masses of gems now cheering for their leaders to put the Crystal Gems to rest, but they caught sight of their foes just as Steven and his three guardians all joined together.

The pair of rulers then watched in horror as the blob of light expanded from five feet to fifty and beyond in the span of a few seconds before a titanic eight-armed form. As the light cleared, both of the diamonds balked as they saw a black-skinned titan with red lines running along her length. An utterly massive head of black hair with fiery orange swirls silhouetted her, but that did not distract from her two faces. One looked up at the sky unmoving while the other glared down at the diamonds, actually being a head taller than them.

The Crystal Gems collectively gasped at the colossal fighter now on their side. The Homeworld gems were all dead silent as they could not believe the monstrosity that was now on their doorstep. Yellow and Blue briefly felt all of their bravado disappear before they both glared back at Obsidian.

"Of course you do this," Yellow sneered, "You savages never had any shame so why not do it here? Desecrate our own home with your disgusting behavior!" Blue said nothing, but her ugly grimace made it clear she felt the same and even more. The fusion, however, stood still as if waiting for them to make the first move.

The queens were all too happy to oblige, Blue attacking from the right and Yellow from the left, with a pair of punches that would have punched through a small planet. They were both stopped with one hand each, the metal plating that was the ground cracking under the strain but Obsidian never budged. Yellow was then suddenly lit on fire by a massive wave of flames from Obsidian's other left hands, briefly causing her to scream in panic. Blue would have reacted if not for the three free rights hands unleashing a blast of ice that froze her solid in a few seconds.

Down on the ground, the other earthlings were stunned.

"Holy cow…" Greg gaped, "They could do that? The whole time?"

"Believe me, Rose didn't like busting this one out," Bismuth told him, "That much power can get out of hand really fast."

Greg's mind all but short-circuited thinking that the love of his life somehow became part of the godlike being he was witnessing. At least his mind did not dwell on that image for long as the fires died down to reveal Yellow was little more than annoyed and a burst of energy from Blue shattered the ice encasing her to reveal her incensed form.

Obsidian, however, still seemed unfazed at this. Instead she brought her top two hands up and pointed at the diamonds before uttering her first words.

"Give up," she said, her voice a distorted mixture of all of her components, "You won't win."

Judging from how both monarchs scoffed, they had no intentions of backing down. The black titaness did not expect anything less, but felt it was only right to give them one last chance. With the gauntlet officially thrown, Obsidian's hands all glowed to reveal a jet-black armored glove on each one. Faster than anyone watching the fight could blink, she leapt forward at lightning speed that no one at her size should have and sent all eight punches into Blue Diamond.

A sonic boom then rocked the entire hemisphere as the morose diamond went flying for several dozen feet before she dug her feet into the ground to stop. Yellow, meanwhile, tried to retaliate with a blast of electricity but the fusion summoned a gigantic orange shield over her arm to stop the attack flat. With another burst of speed, Obsidian leapt up and sent both her feet into Yellow's gut before backflipping off of her and uppercutting the dazed diamond with four right hooks that sent her sprawling to the ground.

Once Blue managed to stop, and witness the swath she made demolishing a few dozen buildings and hearing her gems panic, she decided that the direct approach was not the way to go. Cerulean energy built up around her hands before she fired off two blasts right as Obsidian was busy dodging Yellow's electric attacks. Being almost entirely gem, even she would not be able to shrug off those attacks.

Thankfully, Obsidian did not have to as massive orange bubble suddenly sprung around her to stop both diamonds' attacks at once. Yellow was quickly knocked off her feet from the sudden barrier as well, giving the volcanic deity the time to drop her guard long enough to kick Yellow into the air before leaping up after her and spiking her back down right into her own palace miles away.

As the warlord of the planet's own temple crumbled on top of her, Blue was actually starting to panic. This monstrosity was making fools out of them! In front of all of their subjects no less! And Blue could only guess how many gems could have been crushed by Yellow's crash. She was about to scream in frustration, but a black hand suddenly clamped over her mouth. A terrified squeak managed to come out before a point-blank fire blast that would make Cinnabar envious suddenly flung her back to her own palace which quickly collapsed underneath the melancholy monarch hitting it like a train.

If the gems on Homeworld were not panicking before, now they were in a full-tilt frenzy. Seeing the mighty towers that served as the bases and homes of two of their beloved leaders being demolished a minute apart from each other was enough to tip many of them over the edge. Anyone who saw caught sight of Obsidian turn and ran for their lives, terrified that this destructive goddess would annihilate them for nothing.

Unfortunately, a huge crowd of panicking locals ended up running right into where the other Crystal Gems sans Fluorite (who was keeping an eye on the Beacon in case anyone had any bright ideas) were watching the carnage.

"Um, we come in peace?" Greg tried to defuse the tension, raising his empty hands over his head. Considering every single gem pulled out their weapons and charged at them, they did not hear him or assumed his words were a joke in very poor taste.

As a smaller battle started brewing, the two diamonds eventually emerged from the rubble of their respective homes and huddled in front of White's palace. They both glanced to see if Obsidian was after them, but the fusion merely crossed all of her arms and waited.

"Okay, this is turning into a complete disaster," Yellow admitted, "We need to coordinate our efforts if we even want to stand a chance against this thing."

"Yes… We need to be smart…" the other diamond sighed, "And we need… To keep the casualties minimal… I hope my pearl is okay after that…"

While they strategized, however, White was thinking anything but clearly as she watched her two right-hand helpers getting beaten down. A little voice in her mind yelled at her to throw all subtlety to the wind and rip that fusion apart but her all-powerful reason kept rebuking the primal urge. She brought out her little pet project from her gem – a white metallic cylinder as tall as a common Pearl with a large black button on top. The design was primitive, but she could afford to be utilitarian considering what this would do…

Meanwhile, outside, Obsidian kept watch to see that the other diamonds were not attacking anymore. She herself felt the urge to simply flatten them while they unprepared, but the collective conscience of the Crystal Gems kept that lesson that they were not here for vengeance. They just needed to make their way to White and then drop off Pink.

Before either side of the stalemate could move, a menacing red glow suddenly came from White's palace. It was as if a third eye appeared on the visage of her forehead before a piercing crimson laser shot out right at Obsidian. A massive orange shield several stories tall appeared on her arm just in time before the laser impacted and actually pushed against the barrier. It took a sudden swing of her arms to fling the blast away causing it to streak over the horizon.

Both the diamonds were stunned. Obsidian was even more so since something about that laser felt wrong. Even blocking it felt painful like the attack was not going to hurt her. It was going to eradicate her and especially Steven.

Enraged by the threat, Obsidian roared and used Amethyst's super speed to rocket ahead and extend her top four arms to clothesline both of the diamonds. Blindsided by the attack, both queens were smacked with obscene force and their legs buckled from the impact. Before they could hit the ground, each of them had a pair of sucked punches hit them in the back that further disoriented them. They were so dazed that Obsidian has the time to summon a spear in each hand before they leapt a mile into the air with in one massive leap and throw the weapons with the perfect accuracy to impale the arms and legs of each diamond.

Yellow and Blue both shouted in pain, struggling in vain to free themselves as they were pinned to the metallic ground that their own subjects forged and laid down. Then they both looked up at the incensed expression on Obsidian's face and all of their protests died. The being towering above them looked from one to the other, genuine fear on both of their faces. The hands on her left turned red with burning flame while the right ones changed to frigid blue. Then with one mighty clap, all of her hands came together and the feuding elements were smashed together to form lightning.

The diamonds had a few seconds to process what was about to happen before the electricity rushed forward and wracked their bodies, bringing fresh screams of agony from the two supposedly invincible beings before they both fell limp. Their forms were still intact, but it was obvious they were not fighting anymore.

Obsidian's main eyes then turned upwards towards White's palace directly above her. The supreme leader inside was now sorely tempted to leap out and attack especially when the fusion invading her home raised a hand and gestured her to come down from her tower.

Obsidian then stood and waited as a hatch eventually opened several dozen feet above her to reveal White Diamond strolling down the ramp before touching down on Homeworld for the first time in eons.

"So," the monarch said, looking down at Obsidian with a flat expression, "You wanted to see me, yes? Let me guess, more proclamations about how vile and unjust I am? A bargain for me to surrender before you destroy Yellow and Blue, perhaps?"

The fusion, however, merely moved a hand down to her navel where a now tiny gem started to glow…

…Before White suddenly lunged forward and planted a fist in Obsidian's face hard enough to send her reeling back. Before the fusion could recover, the diamonds suddenly sent swept her legs so fast that her limb was a dazzling blur before Obsidian fell to the ground. A massive foot from underneath White's sparkling gown then pinned Obsidian to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry," White feigned, "You assumed I would listen to you? After unleashing a small-scale Armageddon on my world?" A small chuckle escaped her lips before her foot moved from Obsidian's torso to her throat and her tone shifted to a growl.

"I will erase you from existence."

She lifted her foot just long enough for Obsidian to get up before slamming it into her face. She then moved to do it again but Obsidian managed to roll out of the way before White's foot left a crater in the planet's stannic surface. The fusion quickly got herself up on her feet again, but now she was the one looking up at the suddenly placid form of White Diamond who had her arms outstretched in her normal pose.

"But make no mistake, I intend to make an example of you first," she said factually, "As well as discipline the other diamonds for letting you get this far."

Without even turning her head to look at them, White opened her hand to let out a beam of ivory light that bolted straight for the recovering diamond. As soon as the glare hit them, both monarchs suddenly screamed louder than when they were electrocuted. All of the color suddenly drained from their bodies as the spears that pinned them down slowly vanished until two bleached diamonds slowly stood up.

Down below on the ground, the battle between the other Crystal Gems and Homeworld troops stopped dead in their tracks as soon as White Diamond appeared but the reactions were very different. Throngs of loyal soldiers looked on at the majesty of their true leader in awe, suddenly at complete ease even as Obsidian got back up for another round. The other rebels, however, watched their best fighter get clobbered before seeing the other two diamonds suddenly rejuvenated. Even the fusion herself flitted her eyes from White to Yellow to Blue in hesitation.

"No more bravado out of you?" White chuckled, "Oh dear, it seems you still don't understand my mission even after all this time."

"It is my job to purify this universe," Yellow said in the exact same voice, her expression and pose mirroring White, "To rectify all of the abnormalities in existence."

"The cosmos are filled with untold monstrosities and dangers," Blue followed up, White's voice also coming out of her mouth, "And that is something I simply cannot have."

"And that includes you!" All three spoke in perfect harmony, chilling even Obsidian, "You have defied my will long enough! I will break you utterly for all of the chaos you have reigned over my flawless order!"

With no other choice, Obsidian's gem in her primary forehead briefly glowed before two exact duplicates appeared at her side. All three onyx-colored fighters readied their weapons as the three diamonds remained as poised as ever while the masses on both sides of war watched with bated breath.

Next up: "Whiteout." See you all then.

Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave a review.