Prologue
What the hell was this place!?
That was the thought on Calliope Mori's mind when she and her new companions found themselves stranded in a strange new world. Though her legs were still weak, she forced herself to stand up from her ruined seat in the motor-boat. Behind the plumes of smoke and dust rising around her, the rogue reaper saw a surreal domain of bookshelves, checkerboard marble tiles and spiral staircases under an endless cosmic ceiling.
Was this a library of some sort?
Or was this one of the traps that Death-sensei and his 'allies' had prepared for them?
Impossible, Calli thought. Just moments ago, before the ambushers with Maxim guns could even set up shop, she steered the boat into an entirely new course. The Portuguese Azores Islands were incredibly far from their original course of Lisbon on continental Europe. A whole swathe of the Atlantic Ocean separated them! Moreover, it was a place that Calli knew didn't have a Grim Reaper bastion in the past millennium.
The Azores Islands were a perfect hideaway, Calli quietly rationalized. It would have taken them a longer journey to charter a ship to sail to England, but they would have been safe there from their enemies - at least as far as Calli knew. All they had to do was actually get there safely. Unfortunately, while she looked around her strange new surroundings, that seemed less and less likely.
Guh!
Calli shook her head. Whatever this strange realm turned out to be, she knew she had to protect her new companions. She turned to them and saw that they were still shaken up from the impact, but Jenma and Kiara were already getting back up on their feet. Jenma and Kiara were in sync as always, Calli recalled. From the moment that she first tailed them in London, the management trainee and the Phoenix were an inseparable team that Calli had to watch from afar or clash blades with up close.
Standing alongside them now seemed more surreal to her than their trippy surroundings. The fact that she was now a rogue reaper had yet to sink in too. She then brought out the cracked obsidian orb that was supposed to tear open a portal into the Upperworld. However, a strange force sealed the power trapped within the orb - a force that Calli couldn't quite see.
Then, Kiara sauntered over to her with concern and offered her hand.
"Are you okay, Calli?" Kiara tilted her head with concern, "You're looking far away."
"Kusotori…"
Calli snorted. She pocketed the orb and then took Kiara's hand. She let her once bitter rival help her out of the wrecked motor-boat. The two of them then stood together and surveyed their surroundings.
"Do you know about this place, Calli?" Kiara asked with curiosity.
"I wish I did, Kusotori. I wish I did." Calli's eyes wandered up to the cosmos and her thoughts escaped her lips, "Things have been happening so fast. I've been learning about the things that Death-sensei has really been doing too. I haven't really had the chance to catch my breath, you know?"
A pang of pain gripped the rogue reaper's heart, but she suddenly felt Kiara's hand in hers once again. It was warm, Calli thought, and soothed her heart. The words that escaped Kiara's lips, however, were just as lost as hers.
"That's how I felt when I found out that I was the last Phoenix in the world." Kiara spoke with a rare somber tone, "Folks I've known for so long who were so full of life just… suddenly deciding to give up and expire? They didn't even tell me why they went and did it. Month after month. Year after year. Decade after decade. My list of friends kept getting shorter and shorter till' I was the only one left."
"That's rough…" Calli sympathized.
"I always used to think that it was my fault somehow. I was starting to think about ending it all too before I found Jenma and her senpai Enma in London." Kiara chuckled mildly, "Or should I say, they found me ?" The Phoenix turned to Jenma tending to the rattled Ame, Ina and Gura and she smiled, "Now, I have a new family. And I met you, Calli."
"Yeah." Calli pressed her back against Kiara's and then held her hand in silence. A thought crossed through the reaper's mind, before she finally thought out loud, "The detective, the shark and the Priestess - they aren't bad at all."
"I know right? They're kinda cute too!" Kiara gushed and squeezed Calli's hand, "Makes you want to protect them."
"We'll protect them together, kusotori ." Calli reassured, finally managing to smile.
While the Phoenix and Reaper were lost in their little moment, however, the gasps of their companions suddenly reached their ears.
Calli and Kiara let go of each other and promptly summoned their weapons with flashes of pink and orange light. They turned towards their companions and saw a strange book floating up above them.
It was Ina's grimoire!
"Was it an enemy all along!?" Calli hissed.
She prepared herself to swing her scythe, just as she had practiced so many times before. Kiara, likewise, swung her broadsword through the air and called forth a ball of flame in her free hand.
The odd book, however, fluttered around and shivered as if it were panicking. Looking at that book and the way it moved, Calli couldn't help but think of it as a scared, lost human child that couldn't speak. That childlike book hid from Calli and Kiara and stayed behind the safety of Ina's long locks of hair.
This time around, Ame, Gura and Jenma drew their pistols.
"Ina, get down." Ame urged. She pulled back the hammer of her Webley revolver with an ominous click.
"Wait, everyone! Stop!" Ina spread out her arms and placed herself between the floating grimoire and her companions, "My grimoire is trying to say something, but you all are frightening her!"
"Her…?" All of Ina's companions said in unison.
Ina's tentacles sprouted behind her and she brought the grimoire before her for everyone to see. Strange, otherworldly runes floated from the book with faint purple shimmers before disappearing into thin air. Ina read those runes carefully and nodded knowingly.
"Humu, humu…" Ina mused.
Calli tilted her head and dissolved her scythe. She then put a hand on her hip and asked.
"So, what did it say, Ina?"
The runaway Priestess turned to Calli and translated for the grimoire.
"She says that her name is AO, but we can call her 'AO-chan'. She's promising that she's on our side and that she's here to serve me as the bearer of the Ancient One's forbidden knowledge." Ina revealed calmly at first, but her expression soon soured, "However, she says that we're in an incredibly dangerous place and that she wants us to listen to her very carefully."
"Where exactly are we, then, Ina?" Kiara asked this time, setting aside her own magical weapons.
More purple runes floated from the grimoire and Ina translated once again.
"AO-chan says that this place is called… the Infinite Library."
AlterMyth
The Infinite Library
Sixty-Fifth Scene - An Eldritch Friend
The ladies of the Watson Expedition set aside their weapons and watched Ina converse with her now sentient grimoire. Everyone could see Ina's lips moving, speaking some sort of language, but none of the ladies could hear - or rather perceive - what she was saying. In response, AO the grimoire answered with flurries of shimmering purple runes that emanated from its turning pages.
Minutes later, after what seemed like a silent symposium, Ina heaved a sigh and faced her companions to tell her grimoire's story.
"According to AO-chan, she's an offshoot of the collective consciousness of beings known as the Ancient Ones." Ina casually explained, "She's been sleeping all this time, but she was awakened by the concentration of cosmic energy in the Underworld."
"Because of that Ritual of Death and Destiny thing?" Calli guessed.
"That's right." Ina confirmed with a smile, "Since the ritual was interrupted, she wasn't fully awakened until we got into this so-called 'Infinite Library'. This place has a lot of latent energy that happened to stir her awake - but it also seems like she's been accompanying me for quite some time now."
"What does it mean by that, Ina?" Ame folded her arms and pouted. The fingers of her right hand twitched, tempted to pull out her Webley revolver yet again.
AO shuddered and her purple cover seemed to shrivel under Ame's gaze. It then turned to Ina once again to speak in its purple runes.
"Say, Ame. Remember when you and Ophelia Lowry had fisticuffs back at the College?" Ina revealed, "I was there under the Willow tree, helpless, while you risked your life to help me save face. Back then, I was begging for something - anything - to help you and stop Ophelia from taking things too far." A small smile then formed on Ina's lips, "AO-chan answered my call. She was still in her nascent form, resting in my subconscious. However, she manifested a single tendril to aid you in battle."
"A tendril…?" Ame blinked and racked her brains, "Now that I think about it, when I was blacking out… I think I saw something like that. I thought it was my imagination."
"That was AO-chan lending you a hand. I thought it was my imagination too!" Ina insisted now with a giggle. She then turned to Gura this time and added, "On the RMS Teutonic, when we fought against the Sea Serpent, AO-chan lent us her strength again."
"She did?" Gura tilted her head with disbelief, "Now when did that happen?"
"Remember when the waves came crashing into the deck?" Ina spoke for her book again, "AO-chan used her powers to keep everyone onboard. She had more power by then and managed to keep everyone's feet firmly on the deck!"
"Hoh~!" The Atlantean's eyes shone brightly now, "Was that why nobody fell off? I didn't even notice!"
"Humu humu~" Ina nodded and held AO firmly in her hands, "From what AO-chan is telling me, she is like a filter for the Ancient One's knowledge. She's a crucial degree of separation for me, the chosen Priestess, so that we can maintain our sanity. That's why she tried to take the persona of a human girl from the Far East, just like me. That's why she wants to be called 'AO-chan'."
"Interesting choice." Jenma hummed, "Where I'm from, Far Eastern girls are fawned over around the world. They're relatable and cute and they make folks feel comfortable. I can see where this… uh, AO-chan is going."
"It's kinda cute, isn't it~?" Ina agreed happily, but her expression soon soured again, "Cute persona or not, AO-chan's other duty was supposed to be relaying the will of the Ancient Ones to me."
"How does that work out now?" Calli put a hand on her hip, "Didn't we steal you away from the Ancient Ones, Ina?"
"You did." Ina nodded with genuine relief, "AO-chan was able to take this nicer persona because she manifested separately. It makes me worried about what she would have been like if things went according to Death-sensei's plan. She answers to me now - not the Ancient Ones - and that's a big deal!" She hugged the book gently and beamed, "I won't be able to learn more of the Ancient Ones' secrets, but AO-chan says that I already had plenty of powers that had been sleeping within me."
"Will you still be able to undo the spell that turned Miss Enma into stone, though?" Kiara asked meekly this time.
"As long as we can find that book that sealed Miss Enma away, I can undo the spell." Ina reaffirmed wholeheartedly, "Whatever that spell is, AO-chan will help me understand it."
"That means we have to find that damn book. I don't think it's gonna be easy..." Ame interjected this time. She looked around the vast, dreamlike expanse of the Library and groaned, "Just how in the world are we supposed to find something like that in this big of a place!?"
While Ame was speaking, she felt a familiar rattling in the pocket of her coat. She reached into her pocket, pulled out her golden watch and popped it open with a flick of her finger. The hands of the clock were still spinning wildly just like they did when the eldritch horrors came bursting out of the River Styx. Seeing her once motionless watch moving like that made her feel incredibly uneasy.
Then, all three hands of her clock stopped. The hour, minute and second hands all pointed in one direction like a compass.
Twelve o' clock.
True north.
A chill ran up Ame's spine and she dared to turn to where her golden watch seemed to be pointing. Her companions likewise turned to where Ame was looking as well.
Out of thin air, a tall girl with wavy red hair appeared floating in the cosmic void above the checkerboard floor ten paces ahead of them. She wore a kindly, saccharine smile and appeared to be happy to see them. In Ame's eyes, however, she could tell that this girl's smile was anything but genuine.
"Hoh…?" An amused scoff escaped her lips when she saw Ame's tense expression, "You anticipated where I was going to appear? Amusing."
Unfazed, the redheaded girl floated down gracefully onto the checkerboard floor and she landed on her feet. Under the light of the cosmic void, Ame and her companions saw the girl's dress - a Napoleonic double-breasted military coat in lilac with a white sash and pauldrons of golden braids.
She gave the ladies a dramatic low bow as if she were in a stage play. Then, when she stood back up, she renewed her smile and spoke with a suspiciously clean and polite voice that echoed throughout the space.
"Welcome, dear guests to the Infinite Library of the Ancient Ones." She laid a hand over her chest and continued, "We are Knowledge, the librarian of our namesake and the custodian of this unfathomable realm. How may we help you , is what a human would say. However, we are already aware of your purpose in our domain."
The strange girl named 'Knowledge' referred to herself in the royal 'we' and brought her hands before her. Flashes of dark lilac light gathered around her fingertips. That dark lilac light coalesced in her hands and took the form of a peculiar hardbound book that bore a name written in gold letters.
' Ennis-Marie Miyamoto '
Enma.
She then looked straight into Ame's eyes and smirked.
"Detective Amelia Watson. How much are you and your companions willing to sacrifice to quench your thirst for knowledge? Or should we say, ' truth '?"
Sixty-Sixth Scene - The Price of Knowledge
Knowledge, huh?
The words of the redheaded custodian lingered in Ame's mind. Beads of sweat formed on the detective's brow while she racked her brains for an answer. At the same time, she couldn't help but wonder why this 'Knowledge' girl was talking to her directly.
Ame drew her revolver again and her companions all followed suit. Calli's scythe, Kiara's broadsword and Jenma's katana were all raised alongside the guns of their companions.
In response, an army of hooded figures wearing black habits appeared further away. There must have been a hundred of them wielding the latest issue French military rifle, just like the Grim Reapers of the Sous La Lune bastion did. Moreover, four Maxim machine guns - the same ones they encountered at the bastion keep and at the fork in the River Styx - entered the stage once again on wheel carriages.
Ame's heart trembled when she saw the black-clad army and their Maxim guns from behind the iron sights of her revolver. They were two or three kilometers away, but they looked like they were prepared to march forward at the drop of the hat. Even though her army was far away, this 'Knowledge' girl was unfazed by the weapons of the Watson Expedition pointed at her.
"It's those guns again!?" Gura hissed beneath her breath. She summoned her aquamarine trident now too to shore up the meager firepower of her revolver, "How the hell did those get here!?"
"Wouldn't you like to know, Atlantean. Those machine guns are the least of your concerns at this time." Knowledge hummed, amused by Gura's frustration, "You should be thankful that we chose this form that beings from your world can perceive without losing your minds. Great men and women - and even mighty beasts have gone mad from attempting to perceive our inconceivable forms!" She then grinned at Gura menacingly and teased, "Just like how the formidable Sea Serpent turned against his masters and nearly slaughtered an entire cadre - a λόχος - of talented Atlantean cadets off the coast of Florida thirty years ago."
"That was you!?" Gura growled and gripped her aquamarine trident.
Knowledge shook her head, but the crafty smile remained painted on her lips. She then gestured to herself and continued.
"We are a neutral party in the affairs of your world." Knowledge insisted, feigning innocence, "The Lord of Death, Calliope Mori's 'Death-sensei' merely borrowed a book that induced serpentine madness, among other things."
"Death-sensei has been here before!?" Calli growled, holding her scythe firmly, "Were you the reason why he suddenly changed!?"
"Oh, my dear young reaper. The Lord of Death changed himself." Knowledge mused condescendingly, unfazed by the veteran reaper's glares, "He came here searching for means to change the status quo. With the Ancient Ones' blessing, we provided him with the books he sought." Her menacing eyes then turned to Jenma, "We informed the Lord of Death that interlopers from a certain Cover Corporation would be arriving from a parallel universe."
"Damn it. So that's why the reapers were able to ambush us so quickly!" Jenma hissed.
"Perhaps." Knowledge hummed again, "Though, Grim Reapers were not our only guests these past few decades. The mighty Phoenixes have come by here as well."
"Phoenixes…!?" Kiara's face went pale.
"Why yes, Phoenixes." Knowledge smiled with sickly sweetness, "Do you know what they have searched for, Kiara Takanashi?"
Kiara gulped. She wanted to turn away or cover her ears, but her bright pink eyes stayed locked with the eyes of Knowledge. The cosmic librarian's smile widened mischievously.
"They were searching for ways to end their endless lives. Every single one of them."
"AND YOU JUST GAVE IT TO THEM!?" Kiara screamed. Her orange hair and her pink started bursting into flames, but Knowledge simply chuckled.
"Who are we to stop a guest from borrowing books? As long as they pay the price to the Ancient Ones, forbidden knowledge finds itself in the hands of those who seek it." She then waved her hand through the sky of cosmic void as if she was counting the stars, "In the constellation of the collective consciousness that is the Ancient Ones, we are the most considerate of our… guests."
Tense silence gripped the checkerboard realm. The girls held their weapons and glared at Knowledge, but none of them could shore up the resolve to take the first step.
That was when Ina came forward with AO-chan firmly in hand to break the stalemate.
"Ina…?" Ame whispered, but the Priestess had already broken ranks with them.
"I am the Priestess of the Ancient Ones, miss Knowledge." Ina spoke with as firm of a voice as she could muster, "We do not want to cause any trouble. All we want is the Book of Enma and safe passage to the Portuguese Azores Islands. Surely you can grant a Priestess' request."
Suddenly, Knowledge burst into laughter and the entire Infinite Library shook with her. Thousands of books came flying off of the shelves and fell onto the floor or into the cosmic void. Cracks started to form in the spiral staircases and the checkerboard marble floors beneath their feet. Ame, Ina and their companions struggled to stay on their feet in the midst of it all.
"You speak as if you have power over us, Unordained One." Knowledge caught her breath and the tremors ended as well, "Guests may bargain for their books - yes - but do not bargain with a chip that you do not have. You have rejected the opportunity to bring about a new age into the mortal world. You have been invited to this place as merely Ina'nis Ninomae - a girl with an incomplete larva of a grimoire. Nothing more."
Ina's lips trembled and her grip on AO-chan tightened. She wanted to lash out at Knowledge, but the sound of footsteps coming from behind her broke her train of thought. Moments later, Ame walked past Ina and addressed Knowledge.
"If you want to bargain, let's bargain. Stop talking in circles, damn it!" Ame spoke impatiently, "What do you want for that book and for safe passage?"
"An ordeal, dear detective." Knowledge finally answered, tracing her fingers over the Book of Enma as if she was working a phantom loom, "Defeat my servants, and you shall have what you have requested." She then smiled at Ina and then Ame before she added, "We also offer an alternative."
"And what would that be?" The detective grumbled.
"The Ritual of Death and Destiny has not yet stopped, detective. The Ancient Ones still seek their Priestess." Knowledge explained playfully, "If you were to surrender the Priestess to us, then the Book of Enma and safe passage are yours. No questions asked."
Ame furrowed her brow and hissed, "Hell no! Not gonna happen!"
With that, Ame and her companions renewed their combat stances and faced down Knowledge and her distant army. Knowledge, on the other hand, snickered and she disappeared once again into thin air. Then, her disembodied voice echoed throughout the cosmic realm of the Infinite Library.
"I look forward to your performance, brave warriors of the Myth!"
The checkerboard marble tiles of the Infinite Library then rumbled violently while the black-clad army charged through the vast lobby towards Ame and her companions. The three kilometers that separated them would disappear soon enough and she knew it.
Calli came forward with her scythe in tow and turned to Ame with a frown.
"You've got a real talent for making enemies, Watson." Calli heaved a sigh, "This is how you nearly died in London, you know. I was supposed to be the one to reap you if you bit the dust, but AO-chan and that Concoction saved you."
Ame scoffed at Calli's remark and turned to her new ally with a smirk.
"Seems we met earlier than I thought." Ame snickered and then corrected the reaper, "It's not that I make enemies easily - it's just that I know who my friends are." She then smiled at Calli and all of their companions and insisted, "And I'm going to fight for them with everything that I've got! No matter the odds!"
"I can appreciate that." Calli laid a hand on Ame's shoulder, "Lead the way, Amelia Watson. We're counting on you."
"Leave it to me, Calli!" Ame grinned confidently.
The six ladies of the Watson Expedition then gathered together in the face of the advancing army. There, in the wide open space of the Infinite Library lobby, the five ladies chosen by Cover Corporation, and their eager management trainee, would fight together for the first time - as HoloMyth.
Sixty-Seventh Scene - The HoloMyth Ensemble
The black-clad army of Knowledge marched on through the checkerboard hallway to close the distance, carrying their French army rifles with the wheeled Maxim guns in tow. Even before they crossed into the last kilometer, Amelia Watson brought out her Krag rifle and began taking pot-shots at them. Her shots, coming from well beyond the maximum range of her weapon, were inaccurate, but they spurred the army to hurry on through.
Moments later, the black-clad army did just that. Its front ranks broke into a sprint to charge the Expedition's position. Ame's shots became more accurate and she managed to pick off some frontliners, but the human wave threatened to blot out the checkerboard floor before them. Soon enough, Gura, Ina and Jenma joined in with their own firearms too.
Suddenly, Kiara and Calli dashed off towards the lines of bookshelves that reached up to the cosmic void above them. Calli's scythe and Kiara's broadsword hacked away at the bases of the bookshelves and felled them like mighty timber trees. All the while, Kiara set the bookshelves and their contents ablaze.
One by one, towering, burning bookshelves came tumbling down onto the once plain checkerboard battlefield. Millions upon millions of burning books came falling off of the shelves and bombarded the black-clad army. Then, in the blink of an eye, those flaming bookshelves crashed onto the front line and crushed them completely!
"Now that's a ground pound!" Ame commented and grinned at the flames.
All that chaos halted the advance of the army of Knowledge. A third of their number was crushed under the flaming wreckage and a burning barricade now stood in their path. The black-clad cultists were attempting to climb over the barricade when the ladies of HoloMyth beat them to the punch.
Ina used her tentacles and her crowbar to breach through the burning wreckage. Jenma then drew her katana and led the charge through the breach. Gura and Ina followed behind their manager with their pistols and melee weapons in tow.
Ame reloaded her rifle and then carefully fitted a bayonet to its barrel. Once the blade was secure, she followed her friends into the burning breach and clashed with the staggered army. She saw Gura, Ina and Jenma cutting through swathes of enemies in a blistering melee.
Ina's twelve tentacles swarmed their foes and smacked many of them down with the strength of mighty haymakers. The Priestess occasionally fired off her P220 pistol as well and struck down any cultist that got too close with her handy crowbar.
Gura, on the other hand, was a force of nature as always. Her trident flew true through the air and skewered many cultists that were unfortunate enough to duel with her. Her Single Action Army revolver made short work of anyone who tried to shoot her. Then, her tail smacked down anyone who tried to ambush her.
In that chaos, the cultists started to realize that the tides of battle had turned wildly. Many of them were drawing their bayonets and wielding them as short-swords now but a handful still held stubbornly onto their guns.
However a handful of the cultists were attempting to flank and surround them.
"Not on my watch!" Ame hissed.
The detective shot one of those cultists dead, cocked the bolt of her rifle and then shot another one in quick succession without even looking down the scope! A third cultist pointed his rifle at Ame from behind, but she saw him off the reflection of her bayonet. She turned around in a full 180, knelt down and shot him in the torso before he could pull the trigger!
Before she could even find time to breathe, a fourth cultist rushed her with his bayonet. Ame rolled on the floor and watched the bayonet fly dangerously close to her shoulder. She then quickly pounced forward and stabbed the cultist dead with her own bayonet. It was an incredibly clean strike that cut through with surgical precision that would have impressed even Dr. Watson.
Ame then fell down to the cracked, bloodstained floor on her bum. From there, she saw traces of pink flashes of light that cut through a mass of the cultists in one fell swoop. The shimmering scythe of Calliope Mori whirred with deadly precision and tore down cultist after cultist in a terrifying display of strength and skill.
Kiara Takanashi, on the other hand, flew through the battlefield and swooped down upon the Maxim guns and their crews. She cut them down with her broadsword and burned them all alive with powerful blasts of otherworldly flame. Her firebombs melted down the Maxim guns into scrap metal once and for all!
Then, the gentle figures of Gura and Ina approached her and offered their hands to her.
"Now's not the time to get comfy, Watson!" Gura grinned affectionately with her cute toothy smile, "Back on your feet, soldier!"
"Humu humu~" Ina agreed wholeheartedly, "We still have a battle to fight, Ame! But I don't think it will be long now."
Ame smiled back at her two closest friends and took their hands in hers.
Epilogue
In the span of a few minutes, the ladies of HoloMyth made quick work of the army of Knowledge. Just about every single cultist had been defeated. Their bodies were either sprawled out on the floor, steeping in pools of their own blood or were trapped underneath the flaming wreckage of the felled grand bookshelves of the Infinite Library.
One last cultist laid down on the floor, bleeding to death while he laid against the ruined shelves. One of his legs had been torn clean off by Calli's scythe and a bullet from Gura's Single Action Army was lodged in his shoulder. Despite this, he defiantly wielded a pistol with his shaky hand and tried to point it at Ame.
The detective frowned when she saw this desperate struggle. She could tell that he was already fluttering in and out of consciousness and that he was already at death's doorstep. So, Ame simply kicked the pistol out of his hands. Then, the man breathed his last breath.
As soon as the light of life left his eyes, Ame's pocket watch started whirring loudly again. The detective brought out her pocket watch once again and watched it's unnatural motion gradually slow down. It stopped with all hands pointed to the seven o' clock notch, so Ame turned in that direction. True enough, the hands of her watch moved as well until all hands pointed to twelve.
All of the sudden, the cryptic figure of Knowledge appeared before HoloMyth once again. She was floating above the bloodstained battlefield, sitting leisurely on a majestic chaise longue chair with crossed legs. At the same time, her ash green eyes were fixed solely on Amelia Watson.
The ladies of HoloMyth drew their weapons again and prepared for battle. Ame pointed her revolver at Knowledge and spoke on behalf of her friends.
"We beat your crappy goons, Knowledge. Give us Enma's book and let us go."
"We're afraid you haven't defeated them, dear detective." Knowledge smiled condescendingly, "You have merely freed them from their moral coils - and given them the cause that they sought." She then showed Ame the ring on her finger, bearing the insignia of an inhuman eye, "These men and women were from the congregation of the Esoteric Order of True Sight . Every single one of them seeks to die in service to the Ancient Ones."
When Knowledge said this, the bodies of the fallen cultists shuddered as if something had taken hold of them. Even the man who had just bled out before Ame's eyes was moving again. His body picked itself up from the floor along with the bodies of his comrades. Their eyes were all rolled over, but their irises had turned pitch black - reflecting the cosmic void that hung above the Infinite Library.
"What the…" Calli gasped, frightened by what she was seeing, "Their souls haven't been reaped… and yet they're reanimating!?"
"Slaughtering them here in this realm has given them what they seek! Enlightenment! True Sight!" Knowledge continued with rising excitement, "They have served the Ancient Ones in life. Now they have the honor of serving the Ancient Ones in death!"
Cultists who were trapped under the burning rubble of the felled bookshelves broke free from their fiery graves and tore through the mahogany wood with inhuman strength. Their bodies were set ablaze but no cries of pain escaped their lips. Their limbs were bloodied and scarred but they still held onto their bayonets firmly.
Then, one after another, black tendrils tore out from the spines of the cultists and loomed over the backs of their heads.
"Ah, they have ascended~!" Knowledge cheered euphorically now, "The strings of their fates are now in the hands of the Ancient Ones! They have been accepted!"
A chill ran up Ame's spine. She watched the man who died before her rise up and draw his bayonet, but his eyes were not focused on her. His eyes were no longer his own.
He no longer existed as an individual - or a human.
Ame gritted her teeth and drew her revolver. She held her breath and shot that man square in the head. The dead man threw his head back from the impact but he righted himself on his one leg as if he felt no pain whatsoever - even as black grime dripped from the bullet hole on his forehead instead of blood.
Thunderous, joyful laughter erupted from the lips of Knowledge and rattled the entirety of the Infinite Library once again. The tremors were so strong that Ame and her companions were thrown off balance. All of them fell down to their knees while the enlightened army of Knowledge loomed over them.
Knowledge herself hopped off her chaise longue and descended effortlessly down onto the war-torn library floor.
Once again, she held the Book of Enma in her fair, manicured hands. This time, though, flashes of lilac light surrounded her and coalesced into weapons that floated around her in a circle: a naginata, a two-handed greatword, a scepter-like mace, a lithe rapier and a revolver.
"Allow us to ask you again, Amelia Watson." Knowledge reached for the naginata and skillfully whirled it around, casting powerful gusts of wind that put out the Phoenix fire in the burning barricade, "How much are you willing to sacrifice for truth?"
"Truth…!?" Ame growled, seething with rage while she got back up on her feet. "What the fuck are you talking about!?"
"We know the question that has been burning in your heart and mind all this time, Amelia Watson." A malicious smirk formed on Knowledge's lips, "You wish to know why someone like you was chosen to stand among the Myths. Why were you chosen? Why do you deserve any of this?" Knowledge tilted her head to the side in an unnatural, inhuman angle and looked straight into Ame's eyes, "Wouldn't you like to know?"
To Be Continued