Author's Notes:

Firstly, as always, I would like to thank all those who favorite, followed or reviewed my story. Your support is really appreciated and pushes me to try harder.

Secondly, I realized I never answered what is Taylor's 'Theme' in the last chapter's ANs, so here it is: Taylor/Skitter is a genius combat tactician in Canon Worm, excelling in battlefield tactics, literally administrating the battlefield and creating strategies on the fly, all the while leading her 'troops' to victory against foes that far outstripped her in sheer power.

And so her Theme is 'The Commander', she who leads her troops in battle and through her tactics and strategies achieves victory. (You could also call it the General or the Tactician, since they carry pretty similar meanings to what I'm implying, but personally I prefer the Commander.)

Lastly: I do not own "Campione!" or "Worm Serial".

\V/

Uncertain Tidings

Looking at the tall proud buildings of the ancient coastal city of Alexandria and taking a moment to appreciate the impressive sights standing all around her, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her face, the golden marble she had claimed from Khepri shining upon the sun from its place around her neck where she was wearing it as a necklace, Taylor idly wondered if she would ever be able to travel anyplace without the lingering reason of having to face some kind of monstrous threat that was waiting at her destination.

Remembering how her last few trips back on Earth-bet had ended, while also taking into account the fact that so far her visit to Egypt in this Earth had already led to one death match, and adding the feeling of looming urgency that had led her to come to Alexandria, she morosely concluded that it wasn't likely.

"So the city appears to be still standing, any other sudden mysterious feelings coming forth from the ether in order to drag us off in the crack of dawn to parts unknown?" Anit sarcastically enquired, clearly still slightly annoyed by the fact that she had been forced to hastily pack her belongings right after sunrise in order to follow Taylor to the ancient city.

Instead of immediately replying the young Campione took a moment to search her instincts, noticing that while the feeling of urgency remained, she felt not even a whisper of any desire to move away.

"No, we are exactly where we need to be." Taylor stated with a conviction that she did not truly understand but fully accepted as fact.

For even if all she had to go on was a fragment of a dream, a half remembered warning given by someone she suspect might be Pandora, and her own instincts, she knew better than to simply dismiss it out of hand.

Yes, it probably looked like a wild goose chase when viewed from an outside perspective, after all one would think that if Pandora wanted a warning given she would at least try and make sure the listener remembered the full warning in the first place.

But having met more than enough precogs during her time as a 'Cape', she knew that such things as prophecies and warnings regarding the future were notoriously unhelpful just like that, it was pretty much a fact of life, even if she inwardly believed said precogs did their level best to be vague simply for the sake of being annoying.

"You aren't a Seer are you?" Anit wonderingly asked, the sheer conviction in the Campione's words making her truly ponder about the validity of their journey.

"Not at the moment." She nonchalantly replied, idly musing that with her Shards of Infinity Authority and the right selection of powers, she might in fact actually be able to pull up a very convincing Seer act.

Smiling at the deadpan look the other woman was giving her, Taylor grabbed her bags before moving out towards a nice looking hotel down the street.

"Come on, let's get some rooms and put our luggage away, I think we still have some time before whatever is going to happen happens."

This would also probably allow her more than enough time to track down someone capable of fixing her current documentation issues, after all, Alexandria being a port city meant that it would be even easier to find people with the skill set she required to get the job done than it would have been in Cairo.

'Some things simply never change.' She mused, thinking that no matter the reality, people would still always be people, both the good and the bad.

\V/

Deep beneath the waves, lurking amidst the darkness of the abyssal depths, of places where the sun warm light would never reach, a massive being swiftly swan towards her destination.

After years of slumber she had been finally awakened by the call of that which had been stolen from her lair, the fury and rage the theft had caused her still as strong as it had been that day so long ago.

And how she had raged, her fury destroying all in her path until nothing remained, creating a swath of destruction and despair on her wake, as she chased the one who had the temerity of stealing from her.

Her wrath upon discovering that the thief had escaped her grasp, leaving her domain far behind to never return, had made the very oceans quake with the intensity of her ire.

But eventually she had returned to the depths, her fury unabated and unrelenting, for she did not forgive, she did not forget. And so she had patiently waited amidst her dreamless slumber, knowing that that which was rightfully hers wound eventually returned to her domain.

And now she could finally feel its calling presence, she could feel it, lingering just beyond the deeps, taunting her at the very edge of her domain. She could once again hear the siren song of that which she desired, and this time nothing would stop her from reclaiming it.

Her fury had not been diminished by the years that had passed while she kept her silent vigil, and now that the moment had finally come for her to take her vengeance she would make sure that nothing remained in her path.

Entering into the waters of the Mediterranean with speeds that no sea creature could ever achieve, the gargantuan monstrosity allowed her bloodlust to permeate the very waves all around her, her massive maw opening in anticipation.

Soon she would be feasting upon the flesh and blood of those foolhardy enough to claim that which was rightfully hers, soon she would be able to savor the sweet flavor of death and despair.

Soon the world would once again remember her wrath.

\V/

"I can't believe it was that easy." Anit stated, a deep uneasy feeling entering her words, troubled eyes locked upon Taylor's hands.

The origin of her unease being the complete, official looking, professionally made, set of fake documents the Eight Campione was now calmly inspecting with an air of approval.

"Fake documents are not something you should be able to simply stroll somewhere and grab a handful as if they were some novelty item in a store!" She exclaimed, eyes never wandering from the source of her current distress.

"I mean, seriously, it took what, four hours from leaving the hotel to you pinpointing where that forger worked and getting the documents made? And that's considering the fact you insist you have never been to Alexandria before!" She continued her rant; the fact the whole ordeal had been done without even a hint of supernatural influence or magical powers only managing to unnerve the mage even more.

"People will be people no matter where they live Anit." Taylor calmly replied while checking her new passport and deeming it a pretty decent work. "If you learn the rules that control the underworld of one big city, you have learned the rules to them all. To those knowing what signs to look for that guy was practically advertising his services with a neon sign."

"And you know the specifics of how organized crime operates in large cities how exactly?" She asked the young Campione in a deadpan tone of voice. "You can't be older than twenty after all."

"I spent my late teenage years as the supreme warlord of all organized crime upon my hometown. And I'm turning nineteen this year if you must know." She calmly explained, as if simply stating an unimportant fact, while also distractedly putting her new documents away.

"No, really, how do you know all this stuff?" Anit asked after letting out a disbelieving grunt, clearly not believing the dryly spoken statement.

Shrugging her shoulders while idly wondering how the olive skinned woman would react to the rest of her, assuredly absurd, life if she were ever to tell the whole truth to her, Taylor started looking for a way to pass the time until whatever she was waiting for finally happened.

After all, becoming one of the warlords of the bay alongside the rest of the Undersiders was positively tame when compared to their latter clashes with the Slaughterhouse Nine, tangling with the Protectorate, joining the Protectorate after killing one of its founding members, battling Behemoth and the other Endbringers, fighting against and latter alongside a shadowy organization without morals hell bent on saving the world no matter the cost, or facing down Scion alongside Eidolon with an army of Parahuman thralls and the help of the Endbringers themselves of all things.

"It's a legacy of a misspent youth." She only half joked, gaining an annoyed huff from Anit for her troubles.

"Hey what do you think about visiting Alexandria's national museum? I heard a lot of good things regarding its exhibits, and since we are already here…" She trailed of leadingly, giving the olive skinned woman an expectant look.

"Oh why not." Anit grumbled, still slightly annoyed by Taylor apparently tall tale answers. "If I remember it right they even opened a new exhibit recently, and all reviews say that its center piece is a true sight to behold."

Walking back to the main thoroughfares as they left behind the seedier parts of town, Taylor signaled a passing taxi while giving her companion an interested look.

"Really, what is it then?" She enquired while entering the cab.

"A gigantic blue pearl recently donated from a personal collection, the so called 'Ocean's Orb'."

\V/

Taylor could literally feel the history all but radiating from the magnificent artifacts that were inside the many display cases within the museum.

Exquisite works and ancient relics, all protected behind their glass shields, silent witnesses of many of mankind's greatest civilizations, all preserved for the future.

Watching an ancient scroll covered in hieroglyphs she could feel a rueful smile appearing on her face. She loved history; it was one of the many dangers of having a university teacher for a mother, alongside having all the classics of literature read to you long before they could ever be asked as school projects.

And yet it had been years since she had visited a museum, years since she had done anything even close to something this normal.

"Come on, the new exhibit is this way. That scroll is no different from the dozen others we have already looked at on the way here." Anit said, all but dragging Taylor away from the display case, the Egyptian woman having apparently long since grown inured to her own country's relics.

Truthfully speaking the young Campione could not blame her companion for her enthusiasm in regards to the museum newest exhibit, after all the pictures of the translucent blue pearl had made the jewel look simply amazing.

Entering a heavily guarded room alongside dozens of other tourists Taylor could feel her breath being taken away. The aptly named 'Ocean's Orb' definitely lived up to all the hype about it.

A perfectly round naturally formed blue tinged pearl the size of a coconut sat upon a velvet cushion behind an obviously reinforced display case, an iridescent light seeming to glow from within the translucent azure depths of the magnificent object.

She knew that naturally formed perfectly spherical pearls were rare, that the larger ones were even rarer, and that the ones to reach the size of the one she was looking at right at this moment were so rare to be practically unheard off.

The fact that it possessed a light blue tinge of all things probably raised its value from simply astronomical, to downright ludicrous.

'This would have been stolen so many times back home that it wouldn't even be funny.' She idly thought as she appreciated the exquisite natural wonder sitting in front of her.

She hadn't even known it was possible for a pearl to be anything but pale white, and the inner light it seemed to radiate gave to its already magnificent appearance an even more powerful allure.

Point in fact now that she stopped to think about it, the blue light that it radiated seemed to be slightly stronger than it had been mere moments ago.

Carefully analyzing the object in front of her while calmly tuning off the tour guide explaining its history, Taylor concluded that it really wasn't a mere trick of the light, the shine the pearl was giving off was slowly intensifying, its glow already being slightly too strong for it be a mere reflection from the lights above.

"Anit, correct me if I'm wrong, but does it seen to you like the pearl is glowing a little too strongly for it to be natural?" She asked her companion, wanting a second opinion in regards to the phenomenon.

"What do you mean about glowing too strongly to be nat…" She trailed off, noticing the same thing Taylor had just noticed. "Yes, this is most definitely not natural."

"I thought so." The Eight Campione calmly stated, moving towards one of the rooms large windows in order to get a better sight of the magnificent view of the city's harbor, her sharp eyes immediately noticing what could be a problem. "And now I think I may know why we are here."

"Really, why is that?" Anit curiously asked, still analyzing the shining blue pearl and trying to figure out why its glow had intensified all of a sudden.

"Unless I am greatly mistaken, the weather forecast had predicted clear skies for the rest of the week, didn't it?" Taylor asked in the same even calm tone of voice.

"Why yes it did. Why do you ask?" The Egyptian mage idly asked, still engrossed by the strange phenomenon in front of her.

"Because I'm looking, at this very moment, at a massive storm front, that is all but rushing towards the city straight from the sea." She deadpanned, her words bringing Anit straight to her side, wide eyes taking in the uncommon weather.

"You think this is why you had to come here." Anit stated more than asked, eliciting a small nod of confirmation from Taylor.

"Want to bet that whatever is causing that is after the pretty shiny oversized marble over there?" She asked half joking, steel slowly entering her eyes as she took in the quickly growing storm in the horizon.

"That's a suckers bet and you know it." Was the mage flippant reply, her own eyes also taking a hard tint as she analyzed the swiftly approaching storm.

"Guess vacation time is over." Taylor murmured, moving towards an apparently normal looking tourist that was taking photographs of the many pieces being displayed inside the room and roughly dragging him towards the window.

"W-what do you think you are doing?!" He nervously asked, not fighting her grip in the slightest. "Please let me go before I'm forced to call security and…"

"Cut the act, I'm really not in the mood for this kind of nonsense right now." Taylor barked out, hard eyes glowering down at the man. "You and the other two tails standing outside stalking skills are downright pathetic, so shut up and pay attention."

Anit stopped midstride as she had been about to intervene and demand Taylor to explain what she thought she was doing, now searching eyes taking in the man that had been dragged before her.

"I I don't know what you…" The now profusely sweating man tried to say, only to be immediately cut off by the Campione calmly holding his shirt in one hand.

"I told you to cut out the act! I need you to contact your so called Council of The Sands and demand them to initiate whatever alarms and contingencies they have for supernatural disasters, or haven't you realized yet what's happening at sea?"

With that she spun around, all but shoving the man at the window, allowing him to take with wide eyes the steadly darkening horizon and the swiftly approaching storm, before letting go of her hold on him

He stared open mouthed for a moment, before clearly gathering his wits and giving a deferential bow to the Campione standing by his side.

"Right away Your Grace, it shall be done." He nervously but confidently stated before all but running away from the room, stooping near a couple that had been looking at some exhibits down the corridor before all three of them immediately rushed off.

"How did you notice they were tailing us?" Anit could not help but ask, giving Taylor a slightly wondering look.

Allowing a small rueful grin to appear on her face despite the steel still glittering on her eyes as she remembered all the crazy Master/Stranger protocols she had learned as a member of the Wards, alongside her own experience with stalking targets while remaining unnoticed, she answered with a self depreciating chuckle.

"Let's just say that I didn't live the most normal of lives up to this point, okay?"

\V/

Standing atop a large warehouse near the sea, looking at the raging waves crashing against the city's harbor as the storm intensified with every moment that passed, her Eternity's Sight already active and tracking every single one of the heavy drops of rain that were relentlessly battering against her silently awaiting form, steel in her eyes as she waited for the beast that was swiftly approaching to make landfall, Taylor could not help but remember a far too similar situation from her not so distant past.

Back then it too had been raining torrentially, dark storm clouds covering the horizon, the furious sea attempting to engulf everything with its massive waves, while she waited for the incoming threat to rise from the depths and strike her hometown.

She remembered far too well her first battle against an Endbringer, how small and helpless it had made her feel, how even with an veritable army of parahumans working side by side, both heroes and villains alike setting their differences aside in order to combat a far greater threat, they had barely managed to drive the beast off.

And now once again here she stood, eyes locked at the raging sea, adrenaline pumping through her veins, as she waited for her foe to arise from within his watery domain, as she stood between its bloodlust and a city full of innocents.

The similarities were truly uncanny, but there were also major diverging points.

Gone was the inexperienced and doubtful young teenager that she had once been, gone was the wide eyed youth that had stared at one of humanity's greatest foes with fearful eyes as she attempted to help as best as she could in protecting her city.

She had seen the true horrors that lurked beneath the façade of everyday life, she had seen the monsters that preyed upon humanity, and she had faced those very same eldritch monstrosities in battle more than once.

And while before she had stood as simply one amidst many, now she stood alone as the threat approached.

"The evacuation of the port and seaside areas of the city is nearly complete." Anit reported as she touched down beside her in the rooftop, a determined look upon her face despite the raging storm all around then. "Also, some of the best long range sensors of the Council were able to confirm that whatever it is, it's definitely a Heretic God, even if they cannot tell anything else regarding its identity at this moment."

'Well, perhaps not exactly alone.' She thought with a hint of fondness, the more she saw of the Egyptian mage, the more she realized her newest follower had a core of true steel underneath her polite exterior.

"Good, make sure that there is no one even near the shoreline." Taylor said, giving Anit a small nod of acknowledgment. "If the waves we are seeing get any stronger, and I'm betting they will, anyone that stands too close to the water will be carried away in a heartbeat."

"Did you get it like I asked?" She questioned without averting her eyes from the raging seas, seeking confirmation even though her sensing Authority had already all but confirmed it to her, Anit silently offering a small backpack as an answer, Taylor nodding in kind while swiftly strapping it to her own back.

Analyzing the situation at hand she kept strategizing for the battle to come, considering possibilities and discarding plans, all the while taking into account that her Golden Hero Authority would be useless to her at this confrontation due to the fact that the two days cooling down period the Authority demanded hadn't yet passed, more than twenty hours still remaining before she could use it again.

That still left her with her Shards of Infinity, Eternity's Sight and her newly acquired Master of The Sands, but while her Infinity's Sight was extremely useful and already in effect, it was purely a support type power, lacking any kind of direct offensive capability, and while she could easily see that the power she had acquired by defeating Khepri could be extremely useful in a fight, it also lacked the kind of finishing power she had needed to win her last battle.

All in all she knew that once again her trump card would end up boiling down to her Shards of Infinity, which thankfully was fully charged. Three charges, three powers, that once selected would spell either victory or defeat depending on her choices regarding them and whatever foe that was lurking beneath the crushing waves.

It was obvious that whatever God was fast approaching held the ocean as its domain, but until she could see it for herself and get more information, any plan she could make would be shaky at best.

Her train of thought was cut short as a massive tidal wave crashed against the far off shore, a gigantic form riding alongside the rushing waters into the city's harbor.

Taylor could see its gargantuan form rising from the raging sea, its long dark scaled sinuous body coiling around the boats in the harbor, its massive fanged maw, which looked large enough to easily swallow a horse whole, parted open, steam apparently drifting from within its cavernous depths

It was some sort of massive sea serpent, over two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, its powerful muscles easily crushing the large steel freighters docked on the port as if they were made of tinfoil and, as it raised its head high in order to turn its shining blue eyes to look towards the city, jaws opened wide as it let loose a bestial roar, the young Campione could feel its hunger and bloodlust permeating the very air all around them.

"Anit what the hell is it?" Taylor demanded, eyes relentlessly searching her opponent's massive form for possible weaknesses to exploit.

"It's the biblical beast Leviathan, the twisted whale, lord of envy!" Anit immediately proclaimed as she took a step back, easily recognizing the gargantuan biblical sea monster. "He is…"

'It's official, the universe IS screwing with me.' An unhelpful part of her mind could not help but think even as she took in the monstrous sea beast imposing form, even as she stopped Anit's explanation before it could even start.

"Let me guess, he's a macro-hydrokinetic capable of causing massive tsunamis and storms, is extremely strong and resilient and can move at impossibly fast speeds while underwater, oh, and can probably form some kind of water afterimage when it moves. Is that about right?" She dryly asked, unminding of the very confused look her companion was now sporting.

Taking in her new foe for a long moment with an extreme sense of déjà-vu, before finally letting out a tired sigh, Taylor could not help but question if the universe had some form of a sense of humor.

And if that was the case, if it could possibly be out to get her or something, for it would definitely explain a lot in regards to all the weirdness that seemed to constitute her life.

Shaking her head free of such unhelpful thoughts she hardened her resolve, steely determination shining from within her eyes.

"Alright beastie." She firmly stated, determination filling her being as she ignored the raging storm battering her body. "It's time for round two."

\V/

Author's Notes:

So here it is, Taylor second Heretic God, the biblical monster Leviathan.

As I had alluded in the beginning of the story I had planned for both Khepri and Leviathan to be the first two Heretic Gods Taylor would have to face, the first due to the fact that she shared his name during the Golden Morning and the second since it was the first Endbringer she faced in Canon Worm.

And yes, I am aware that in Canon Campione! Leviathan was a Divine Ancestor, a former Earth Mother Goddess who was defeated by another God and thrown down from her divine throne and forced to assume the form of a human Witch.

But considering the fact that she was sacrificed in order to awaken Sun Wukong in volume six of the light novels, and therefore had absolutely no impact to the rest of the story, I decided I would make use of Leviathan here, what with Taylor's past with the beast, since any other dragon-god sacrifice would suffice to awaken the Monkey King, after all as I had said in the first chapter this is an AU.

Also, In Christianity Leviathan is often associated as the Demon Prince of envy and it's said that his abode is the Mediterranean Sea, since the waters of the river Jordan supposedly should fall into his mouth, so making her face Leviathan on the Mediterranean made sense to me.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review before leaving.