AN: Warnings for biosquick, because you know; Tzimisce.
"Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people."
Deuteronomy 13:8-9, Christian Bible
Tuesday, 6th of June 2186. D-Day
"Hello everybody! This is Fiala Karalosi from ENN speaking live to everyone on earth, with our awesome friends, radio free earth! Resist, humanity demands it! Resist!"
There was a short whisper that still carried over the microphone, "Was that good? Did I do it right? I always wanted to say that! What? Oh right, gotta keep going!"
A muffled cough.
"Today is a historic day! Today, we retook Europe from the forces of darkness! Hooray! Allied forces launched operation Overlord, and landed a daring attack on the beaches of Normandy! After much fighting we drove the Nazis back, and ultimately won the war in Europe less than a year later on May 8th… wait."
There was the sound of shuffling papers.
"This is really weird. How is this written as if it's already happened? Today is the 6th of June. This is talking about fighting that happens later on. Isn't May before June? How can we have won the war last month? And since when did we start calling the Reapers 'Nazis'? Who's this Hitler? Isn't the main bad guy Reaper called Harbinger? I'm confused."
Whispering in the background.
"What? This is from a few hundred years ago? Humanity really fought another evil empire? …Huh. Ahem. This is Fiala Karalosi, speaking live to earth. Today is a historic day! Today, we WILL retake Europe from the forces of darkness! Allied forces WILL launch operation Overlord, and land a daring attack on the beaches of Normandy! After much fighting, I'm sure we'll win! Good luck guys!"
Over a hundred thousand Reapers gathered at the beach of Normandy in the darkness before dawn on the 6th of June. The puny humans had dramatically announced their plans to assault the stranglehold the Reapers had on Europe, not even bothering to encrypt or hide their military transmissions. Human troop movements and supplies were gathering to attack Normandy beach. This was no feint or bluff. All signs were clear; humanity really was going to stage a massive naval assault at dawn. Here. Today. Soon.
While many Reapers were clearly visible, thousands of other Reapers had dug holes to hunker down into, and piled trees and brush on top of themselves in an attempt to hide their presence. It wasn't really working. It just made them look ridiculous.
10 minutes ago, Human strikecraft were tracked leaving England en masse. This was it; humanity's doomed attempt at striking the direct strength of the Reaper might. Such hubris. Organics never learn; the cycle cannot be broken!
Thousands of Alliance vehicles converged towards Normandy beach. In clear view at the vanguard was the Normandy SR-2, the human ship that gave Harbinger such trouble. The human forces were almost in range. The Reapers clustered on the beach stirred. It was time. More Reapers gathered in from the surrounding countryside in preparation to stifle the puny human assault. Anticipatory. With this victory they would break the backs of the human resistance, and go on to reap the rest of the filthy organics across the planet. And after that the rest of the galaxy would fall quickly.
Then, only then did they see the churning in the water. Something was rising out of the ocean; a submersive attack! Beams of magnetohydrodynamic fury blasted out of a hundred thousand Reapers at this new disturbance, enough to destroy any man-made object many, many times over.
Billowing clouds of superheated steam from the Reaper strikes obscured its form, but it continued to rise; larger than a battleship, larger than the Citadel. It just kept coming, rising up higher and higher out of the ocean.
It rose from the ocean like the return of fallen Atlantis.
Back at Operation Overlord HQ in London, the Alliance staff stared at the huge mass of earth and stone filling their screens. The Tradition mage liaisons smirked at each other, smugly enjoying the confoundment.
Admiral Anderson turned to the Order of Hermes mage standing next to him, raising an eyebrow. "What exactly is that thing? You told us we'd have artillery and air superiority for the assault from some kind of flying church, but this… this is no mere chapel."
The mage shrugged. "It's the chantry of Doissetep; a fortress where we could practice magic unhindered by common reality. It moved around in Europe in the eighth and ninth century before we hid it away from earth. We kinda went out of hand with the size of it; just kept adding onto it over the years. It was a castle first, then a mountain. Then we made it bigger. You know how it goes; locked out of consensual reality for centuries; stuck in the shard realm of forces with nothing to do but plot. And build cool shit with magic we couldn't show anybody. Until today."
It rose out of the ocean, over a thousand kilometers wide.
A hundred thousand Reapers on the beach desperately blazed away at Doissetep; rivers of devastation bouncing harmlessly against its ancient wards. Across its battlements, shield spells effortlessly synchronized and wove together. Incoming fire rippled off the overlapping shields and glyphs of protection. Then, it opened fire on the Reapers milling about on the beach. Countless Seals of Solomon, kilometers of runes, and obsidian crystal lenses blazed to life. Thousands of bolts of lightning, fire, radioactivity, kinetic force, gravity, plasma, and radioactive gravity-plasma poured out through defensive wards unhindered towards the Reapers, leaving no gaps for return fire. The scope and intricacy of coordination was staggering.
It kept rising.
One of the logistical staff scowled. "There's no way this coordination is possible. Not just between the defensive layering, but also allowing the weapon fire to pass through. And the targeting! How are you coordinating this kind of scale? There's… there's over a thousand kilometers of shield and artillery emplacements! We're looking at over a million artillery pieces, or even more."
The Hermetic mage smirked. "Don't forget it's not just a two dimensional line of battle. It's also 13 kilometers tall. We can use the entire front end, plus some of the top and bottom as real estate."
Doissetep was now firing in patterns; no longer raining down fire indiscriminately. First a Fibonacci sequence. Then ascending prime numbers up to 10,000,000.
One of the non-Hermetics frowned. "Now you're just showing off."
The beams of power thundering onto the Reapers shifted, changing tones and colors as they struck down.
"Is… is that music? Wait. That's the Imperial March!"
The Hermetic mage just smiled wider.
"I don't see any bleed over, or interference. Every other time we've seen massive magic being used, there was plenty of wasted energy. The Alliance couldn't even get this magnitude of artillery and defense coordination with VI's, how are you doing it with painted circles and burning candles?"
A mage wearing three omnitools leaned over. A virtual adept. "We're using a VPSN."
"A what?"
"VPN for spells." The virtual adept gestured at a small program running in the corner of the main display. "Hamachi; zero configuration Virtual Private Spell Network."
Even as Doissetep cleared the Reapers off Normandy beach, it was still lifting out of the water.
"My god, how big is that thing?"
The Hermetic scratched his head in mock embarrassment. "About two hundred times the size of the Citadel." Glancing at the glazed looks, he tried again. "About the size of Portugal."
"Nothing can be that big!"
The Order of Hermes mage shrugged. "We've got two of them. And don't get me started on what the technocracy built."
Finally Doissetep lifted completely out of the ocean, the 92,212 square kilometer under-surface thrumming with barely shackled fury; a myriad of complex arrays and sigils powering and lifting the trillion ton chantry. Of course, pouring that much power resulted in tremendous amounts of energy expenditure, mostly as heat.
Of course the Order of Hermes weaponized the massive thermal outtake. Into a country-sized microwave cannon.
No Reaper survived contact with its event horizon.
Over twelve kilometers tall, the chantry of Doissetep bore down on the panicking Reaper horde.
A Reaper horde all gathered in one convenient spot to be crushed en masse. Whoops.
While most of the Reapers were still shooting everything at the chantry, more and more of the Reapers were devolving into irrational behavior. Many of them ran. Some tried to hide. One was spinning in a circle. Another was trying to build a Mass Relay out of sand and wood.
"It's a trap!"
"They wanted us all to gather together so they could crush us all at the same time!"
"Flee!"
"Flee!"
"000000000000000!"
Finally, the entire Reaper army broke in mass panic, trying to run away.
Wider than the entire northern coast of France, Doissetep cruised south, chasing the fleeing Reapers across the countryside, disintegrating them with its withering magic turbolaser fire. However, due to its ponderous size, many Reapers were able to escape its immediate grasp.
That's when the Hermetic chantry of Mus rose out of the Mediterranean to cut off the Reaper retreat.
There were two of them.
Sandwiched between the two country-sized battle-chantries, the Reapers fled east and west.
Reapers who tried to cross west through the Pyrenees mountains into Spain were eaten by the mountains themselves; jagged ridges thrusting into the air like knives. The broken Reaper forces fleeing never saw two mud-covered Reapers on the ground, desperately signaling them to get out of the air. Rock teeth snapped closed on Reaper metal, and pulled flailing Reapers underground. Flying Reapers were snatched out of the sky by mountains leaping into the air, mouth-valleys glittering with granite and marble.
Between the Gangel Antediluvian Ennoia the Earth Mover and Pangaea the World Serpent, nothing would escape into Spain.
Reapers who fled east met Tzimisce. Which was definitely worse.
The Citadel Councilors gathered together in the Presidium. While they had an important incoming call from Admiral Anderson on earth, in politics it was the little gestures that subtly showed dominance. So they let him wait on hold while they arranged themselves to best present their munificent power.
Tevos smiled. It was time. "Avina, we are ready to receive the Admiral's call."
"Affirmative, Councilor Tevos." the VI replied.
Anderson's face flickered to life in front of the Council.
"Councilors." Anderson's greeting was curt.
Tevos nodded regally. "Hello Admiral Anderson, how are y- dear goddess, what is that thing?!" horrified, she pointed behind Anderson.
In the distance behind Anderson rose the horrifying pseudo-form of a Reaper-like monster, flesh towering hundreds of feet above everything in its path.
"Ah." Anderson gestured apologetically at the organic super-Reaper behind him. "That one's on our side. Sort of." The organic Reaper-thing had formed itself into a giant maw covered in tentacles and eyes and was biting a Reaper in half while grappling with several other Reapers. Tentacles the size of skyscrapers spread everywhere, a flailing maze no Reaper could escape. Tentacles covered in mouths and eyes.
Reapers were crawling away, keening voices of binary pain. Tentacles filled the air, suplexing one Reaper while others whipped out and gripped additional Reapers, dragging them back into the epic tentacle wrestling match.
"It's supposed to be an ancient vampire; a sort of re-awakened corpse. Name's Tzimisce." After a moment of silence, Anderson continued. "I don't really understand it either."
The air shook. "ALL SHALL SUCCUMB."
Anderson shrugged. "It says things like that. You get used to it after a while."
"Why does its eyes have tentacles and teeth coming out of them?" whispered Valern, horrified.
"It's all mouth; where does the food go?" Sparatus murmured.
"What's that horrible sound it's making?" Tevos added.
While Tzimisce's main maw kept bellowing, a horrible chorus was coming from the other mouths covering its tentacles and eyes. Buzzing in the background; continuous, unending, as the mouths chewed on captive Reapers clutched in its coils.
"omnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom"
Anderson shrugged. "It also does things like that. You get used to it after a while."
It leapt into the air, tentacle mouths biting/gripping the flailing Reapers, pulling/dragging them high. Rotating, it spun. Hapless Reapers screamed, clutched in its coils. "SPINNING VORTEX PILEDRIVER" it bellowed as it corkscrewed them into the dirt, headfirst.
Anderson shrugged again. "Like I said. It also says things like that. You get used to it after a while."
The Council watched in horrified silence, unable to look away from the spectacle.
Anderson coughed. "Councilors, Commander Shepard took the Normandy on a stealth run to Mars recently, and cleaned out the Prothean cache there. Our techs and wizards just finished going over the data archives, and we've found something. Something that could turn the tide of this war."
"What did your… wizards discover?" Sparatus spoke stiffly, eyes riveted to the monstrous wrestling match behind Anderson.
"A blueprint, created by the Protheans during their war with the Reapers. For a weapon." Anderson gestured with his omnitool, and the connection pinged with a completed file transfer. Diagrams appeared in the sidebar, scrolling series of technical readouts.
Councilor Valern glanced down at his omnitool. "Capable of destroying the Reapers?"
Anderson nodded. "So it would seem."
More Reapers charged past Anderson, joining in the distant melee. Tzimisce was flailing about, beating Reapers upon their heads with the broken remains of other Reapers.
Valern rapidly flicked through the files on his omnitool. "The scale is… it would be a colossal undertaking."
Anderson shrugged. "Our initial calculations suggest it is very feasible to build. With the resources the Council has available, you should be able to rapidly complete it."
"EVERYTHING BEGINS AND ENDS WITH TZIMISCE"
Tzimisce transformed into a floating mouth; a slinky made of teeth. It leapt through the crowding Reapers, each bite scissoring them in half. Instead of mundanely opening its maw for each bite, the fleshy circle pulled inwards and rolled its teeth into its mouth, growing them again out of the back of the mouth to reform into an even bigger maw. In effect, forming itself into a circular chainsaw tunnel, dragging each Reaper through its threshing maw.
Tevos valiantly ignored the massacre, glancing down at the blueprints. "Have you considered the Reapers destroyed the Protheans? What good did this weapon do?"
Anderson nodded. "It was incomplete. They ran out of time before they could finish building it."
Sparatus leaned forward. "Do you really believe this can stop the Reapers?"
Anderson sighed. "It's a weapon. Maybe it can, maybe it can't. But we need to try. The Reapers won't stop at earth. They'll destroy every organic being in the galaxy if we don't find a way to stop them!"
"I CAN TASTE YOUR FEAR. IT IS DELICIOUS."
Tzimisce flung itself forward, bursting into hundreds of chunks; mountain-sized eyeballs covered in spikes that impaled Reapers and tore through earth and stone. The eye-flesh spat ropes that tangled into each other, pulling the eyes back together to reform.
"TREMBLE"
Tzimisce leapt high into the air, reforming into a single floating eyeball. Tzimisce pulsed, and hundreds of thin strands burst out from underneath its green iris, sticking to Reapers and dragging everything towards its unending gaze. As the first Reaper victim drew near, the giant eye's pupil enlarged, forming teeth. A mouth opened at the center of its gaze, pulling the struggling Reapers in.
There was an awkward silence as the Council stared at the organic beast devour Reaper after Reaper.
Anderson coughed, "How's the summit coming along?"
Hundreds of Reapers swarmed around the monster, which grew larger with each consumed Reaper.
Tevos shuddered and turned away, unable to look. Tzimisce was a messy eater. "We... we've hit some snags."
Reapers flew at Tzimisce, eyes blazing. Gouging beams flash-heated fleshy tentacles, which boiled and popped with wet burbles.
Anderson shrugged. "Maybe the promise of building a weapon capable of defeating the Reapers will bring things together."
Tevos frowned. That sounded like an insult. She glanced at her fellow Councilors. Valern was occupied, looking at the new tech. Sparatus was standing stiffly, face still. That meant he was also frowning. "Admiral, we appreciate your concern, but all our races…"
"ENTER THE CHAOS DIMENSION!"
She trailed off, unabashedly staring past Anderson. Anderson turned as well.
Things had escalated. Thousands of Reapers were now attacking Tzimisce. Energy beams and crushing metal crashed down, trying to bury it under their weight of numbers. With its bellow, Tzimisce pulled itself into a sphere; iridescent and pulsing. Then it exploded.
All the Reapers were flung into the air, twisting in a vertical vortex of flesh ribbons. Pulsing lightning rode up and down the column, reality bending and warping. Screaming Reapers were pulled into ropy strings of inorganic taffy, stretched beyond physicality. Reaper-matter twined and braided into a torus, rotating slowly as more and more Reaper mass spun into it. In the center of the spinning ring, a great eye opened, blazing with eldritch might.
Anderson scratched his head. "Yeah, that was pretty intense."
Tevos couldn't handle it any more. "Before we end this call Admiral, is there anything else to discuss?"
Anderson nodded. "Yes. We're almost done mopping up the Reaper presence on Earth and soon will begin staging a solar offense to push the Reapers back towards the Mass Relay."
Tevos blinked. "Really, Admiral? I knew you have had unprecedented success using your ground troops, but I thought most if not all of your fleets were already destroyed."
Anderson smiled. "We've had tremendous losses, it's true. But that was primarily among our dreadnaughts. We have plenty of smaller ships available."
Sparatus flared his mandibles. "But dreadnaughts are the only thing big enough to even begin to engage the Reapers in space! What are your cruisers going to support?"
Behind Anderson, more and more Reapers ran, flew, and crawled towards Tzimisce.
Sparatus frowned. "Where are all these Reapers coming from? It looks like they're running. What are they fleeing from?"
Anderson pointed above his head. "Look up."
The camera turns. Here is the human battle line, driving Reapers into the deathtrap that is Tzimisce. The camera tilts up. Floating a mile above the human battle line is a fortress the size of a country. It stretched for hundreds of miles in either direction, and as it advanced towards the Reapers, brilliant beams of color and rays of no-colored void strike down at humanity's foes. Glowing symbols form geometric patterns on its walls, deflecting all fire directed at it.
The camera panned to the left; there floated another one. There were two of them.
Floating cityrealms. Nationrealms. Mus and Doissetep. Heat. Lightning. A nimbus of power radiated from them, the essence of force, whelming all in their path.
Anderson's voice was dry. "As you can see, we don't need to build an anti-Reaper superweapon. We've already got one. Two even."
Omake
"Wasn't Mus lost to the Nephandi back in the First Edition?"
"Pfft. You think we'd let something like that stop us? The Order of Hermes? What kind of hubris-less mages do you take us for? We took it back."
"And wasn't Doissetep destroyed in the Second Edition?"
"Like I said. You think we'd let something like that stop us? The Order of Hermes?! What kind of hubris-less mages do you take us for? We rebuilt it! Everyone said it was daft to rebuild Doissetep inside a realm made out of lightning and explosions, but we built it again all the same, just to show them. It exploded again. So we rebuilt it a second time. That one also exploded. So we rebuilt it a third time. That one froze, shattered, was transmuted into electricity, then exploded. But the fourth rebuild stayed up. And that's what we have; the strongest, biggest chantry in the entire tapestry of reality.
