"What is this… what is this place?" Nova has awakened from her sleep, the surroundings are dark without any light, and she can feel that she's laying on top of something hard and metallic. She tries to move her body but the pain from her stomach and the high fever is telling her that this is a bad idea.
Nova gasps in pain and suddenly she hears a series of light footsteps walking toward her: "Hey." The lamp suddenly lit up, making Nova shut her eyes due to the uncomfortableness: "I am sorry that you might feel a bit uncomfortable here." It is Major, but unlike how Nova imagined Major is seemingly really soft with her tone.
"Why did you save me…?" Nova tries to sit up, but the pain is constantly trying to keep down her efforts.
Major looks down on Nova's wound, she takes out a scissor and cuts open the bandage, the wound is not seemingly healing for some reason.
"Hey, answer me!" Nova spoke up but Major just ignored her question.
Major then takes out an IFAK medkit and does some basic bandage work and then finally looks Nova into the eyes in a really helpless way: "What do you expect? I am a doctor by profession, I can't stand it when people are dying in front of me."
"Stop lying, I know you are the best assassin among the imperium." Nova really doesn't seem to get along with this version of herself: " I read your files. And you have not failed a single mission."
"I didn't, because I never killed any of them." Major has a really warm smile on her face: " I simply gave them another way of living instead of having me kill them."
"Sounds like you turned them into zombies or something." Nova really doesn't like the way Major speaks.
Major chuckles: "You are too funny, no, I am simply offering them an alternative way of keeping their lives instead of standing in front of the imperium's way. And if I cannot deal with them ..." Major has a smirk on her face: "I will send out my executioner."
"Maverick?"
"Indeed." Major then sits beside Nova while holding a bowl of warm soup: " Say, ahhh~"
"Stay away from me!" Nova tries to hit away from the soup, but her body is too damaged to even do that.
Major put the soup away and puts her hand on Nova's forehead: "Hmmm, the fever is getting worse." She then looks at Nova questionably: " Are you enhanced?"
Nova lightly shakes her head: "I was never enhanced… I just didn't like the idea of being changed from who I am." Nova takes another look at Major, they are basically the same copy. They have exactly the same hairstyle, same facial structure, hell, both of them even seemingly have the same necklace. She thought maybe she could really calm down a bit, who else could she trust if not the alternative version of herself?
Seeing Nova ease up a bit, Major has a meaningful grin on her face, she takes the bowl of soup again but this time she helps Nova to sit up and put the soup in her hand: "Why don't I tell you about this place while you are drinking?" Major clears her throat and starts narrating: "Once, upon the time, there was a man. He had nothing until he met his queen who descended from heaven. They grew up together and eventually fell in love. However, his ambition did not stop when they had an accomplished career and a fulfilling family. He wanted more, he wanted to live forever. For that, he has done things that aren't forgivable by anyone." Major let out a long sigh: "However, the friends around the man still forgave him, because they have come a long way and have seen horrible things as well. Things went well for a while, they wanted to even have children. But his hunger for immortality eventually consumed him. This time, the love of his life stood on the other side. In the heat of battle, he pierced his sword through her queen's heart by accident. He never wanted that." Major then looks at Nova: "Then I guess you can piece the rest of the story together?"
"Minka… was never his children?" Nova is shocked: "Then, what is she?"
"When the sword pierces through her heart, a protocol has been activated in a realm that was hidden by the ancestors. He sought knowledge that could bring back the love of his life, which he kind of did. But what came back was not his wife. It was just a mere automaton. He was devastated, but when a young girl showed up in front of his floor step that looked almost like the love of his life, he took her in, and raised her into an adult. While raising Minka, the man also tried to clone his wife, but it has gotten nowhere. But instead, he got a second child."
"This is really getting strange…" Nova commented on that.
"It was very strange, this is why Minka eventually found out about everything that he has done, through… me." Major let out a small chuckle: "Why do you think I am in the archive? He literally did that because I told Minka the truth. Which causes Minka to leave her timeline."
"You are a prisoner or something? I thought you were the fourth in the ranking."
"Those ranking doesn't mean anything; l hasn't seen the admiral done anything since forever. If you ask me, Minka is by far the strongest among all of us. You don't get to be an emperor's guard material just by not becoming extremely powerful."
Nova suddenly feels like her wound is less painful and got up from the bed, she walked around but soon the wound seemingly hurt again. Major helped Nova stand up straight and then helps her change the bandage again.
"You are a really tough cookie, aren't you?" Major looks at Nova concerningly: "Is it because of Monika?"
Nova nods: "I need to bring her home… I always need to; it is my duty."
"You sure is not because of love?"
Nova remained silent, it is hard to admit this, she's too proud and embarrassed to admit it in a serious situation. She jokes about it constantly to Monika but in reality, she might be a bit too shy to say it loud to her sister and actually mean it seriously. But Monika knew that this is why she never expects too much from Nova when it comes to emotional investment.
Major again has a meaningful smile on her face: "Aight, let's bring your little princess home." Unlike Nova, Major is actually very good at reading the little emotional expression on Nova's face, after all, they are essentially the same person. A while ago, she experienced similar things but then the accident happened.
Nova is about to move again but this time Major just pressed her down on the bed: "I will start looking for your little sister, for the time being, you need to rest and regain your strength. The archivist is an extremely dangerous character, and you are in no condition to fight." This time Major loosened her nice tone and sounded very commanding. Frankly, like Nova normally.
Monika finally had enough after running for so long: "Hey! Where exactly are we going? Everything looks exactly the same and from the looks of it seems like we are running in place!" Monika let go of Sannet's hand.
"We need to keep moving, or the watchers will find us."
"What is a watcher?" Monika asks.
Just when they are having a little quarrel, a sudden noise of an ariel engine just flew past them, it is huge because it seems like it is flying really high. Monika immediately got pulled under a shelf and then signed to be quiet. After a few more minutes, the noise is nowhere to be heard. Monika looked from afar: "Is that a mechanical bird?" she asks.
"It was a native creature from a planet that was infested with nano scarabs millennia ago. It eventually took over the entire ecosystem, but it somehow merges within them. Creating creatures as you see now." Sannet explains.
"So, kind of like the phyrexians?"
"Phyrexians? I have never heard of it." Sannet then starts surveying the surroundings again. This time, she seemingly has a direction: "We are approaching our location."
"Where?"
"Deep archives that store the top secrets of imperium." Sannet explains: "We need to find lord Trazyn's weakness."
"Weakness… Wait, are you going to kill him?"
"Very much so."
"We can't do that." Monika still believes in the good that was residing in Trazyn: " We need to save him."
Sannet suddenly stopped walking and turns slowly then stares right into Monika's soul: " Minka said exactly the same thing… This Trazyn is nothing like the one you know about; you know what is he going to do with you? You are just a mere host for his lost wife's consciousness. Amazingly you came in and gave it to him on a silver platter. When the process is finished, you will no longer exist and with that, he will wedge war among realities again." Sannet then said in a clearly angry tone: "So, do not say anything that doesn't pass through your brain again."
Monika looked away and remained silent, she had doubts about Trazyn in her world as well, but over time he has proved that he had no ill intention towards her. This is why she learned to trust him and eventually formed a relationship. But the words of Sannet just brought her back to ground zero of her doubts back in the day.
Seeing Monika's expression, she could already tell that she was a bit too harsh on Monika, she let out a sigh: "You know, I also tried to save lord Trazyn from his sorrows. But it is impossible to do so because he is a person who is fixated on things that he is dedicated to." Sannet then holds Monika's hand: "Let's go, we will save lord Trazyn together."
"Why did you change your mind? Is it because my words got through to you?" Monika suddenly has a spark in her eyes.
Sannet has a weird expression on her face, she's too prideful to admit it, and deep inside she's more moved towards the dedication that Monika has to Trazyn: " No… you know what, you either drop it or I will walk away right now!"
Monika just giggled it through as if nothing happened.
The archivist arrives in front of a laboratory facility within the archive, after scanning his handprint the door opened and shut off when he entered. He gazes into the deep side of the labs; it is a sealed hibernation unit. He slowly wipes away the mist and in there is the body of Eden. He preserved it until the moment he found a suitable host so he could transfer consciousness into them.
"I will bring you back, wait for me, Eden." He mutters and then rushes outside towards the archive's control room. The playtime is over, he turns in the key for the emergency protocol and thousands of drones have been sent out for surveying every corner of the archive. He then pulls out a sword that absorbs light, today, someone is going to die.
Major returned with a grim face, due to the various injections of different types of medicine. Nova's wound is almost healed, she can at least run and fight in a non-violent manner: "What's wrong?" Nova asks.
"This is bad, archivist deployed the emergency protocol. The argus drones have been deployed everywhere, it is almost impossible to run through to the control room to deactivate this." Major is trying to figure out a solution.
"I have a spare stealth suit." Nova pulls one out from her integrated backpack: "I hope the size fits."
"Fits? You better worry about yourself after a lack of exercise after the desk job." Major scoffs and takes over the suit with force: "I never fail a mission after all."
Just when Nova was checking her weapon, a surge of pain came from her wound, but she managed to tough through it. Seeing this, Major gave Nova a small amulet: " Take this, it will help with the pain."
Nova inspected it for a few seconds then put it on: " Weapons checked, ammo prepped, and medical supplies are ready." She just mutters to herself, it's a force of habit.
Major threw a few shining bullets at Nova: "Those are shield piercing rounds, it will go through the normal human body like it's nothing but when it is shot through a shield, it will cause an extremely violent explosion after breaking."
Nova nods then both of them activate the stealth suit and start heading towards the control center.
Monika and Sannet were not far away from the control room when the alarm started, so they took their chance and hid inside the facility: "Labs?" Monika asks.
"Experiment storage facility, full of collected biological entities. Before we go in there, we need to turn off the alarm." Sannet whispers.
Suddenly the main door opens, and the archivist is looking more terrifying than ever, his blade almost made Sannet skip a heartbeat,
Monika notices this change in expression, she asks: "What kind of blade is that?"
"It is called: Iron curtain. A blade that is coated with some strange material will absorb any impact and then return it as an energy pulse. We cannot engage him out front."
"If I can get close enough, I might be able to replicate that sword." Monika is planning: " But let's wait for his action."
At this moment, Sannet's phone suddenly rang, and the archivist was calling her. She looks at Monika and then takes out her phone then walks directly to the archivist: " Lord Trazyn?" She bows.
"Oh, you are here." The archivist looks surprised: "I was finding you everything, did you come after the emergency alarm was activated?"
"Indeed, sire." Sannet replies: " I was looking for Monika, but she is nowhere to be found."
"Interesting." The archivist put his hand on Sannet's shoulder: "Dear Sannet, how did you know that her name was Monika?"
"Sire? I-" The blade pierces through Sannet's chest, she looks at Trazyn in a helpless way: " Why…?"
"I always have an emergency protocol for everything or everyone. In the first contact, I have already established a unique radioactive signal within her vicinity, It is harmless and almost undetectable, except by more. And you, my dear Sannet, you stink with it." The archivist then holds Sannet's face closer: " I have never thought my dearest ally, friend, or once my chosen family would betray me for a host."
He then pulls out his sword and throws Sannet on the floor: " Well now. Come out." Trazyn shouts in the direction where Sannet came out.
"Gladly." A flaming sword flew directly at the archivist and almost hit him in the face. However, he managed to react fast enough and then dodged it.
Monika is breathing heavily, on her hand is the super-soldier serum that was given by Sannet. Monika now has restored to her enhanced self, at the moment, she is enraged. She witnessed the closest person to Trazyn in his life being stabbed in cold blood. She has completely given up on the archivist.
Monika pulls out a dual magic sword, one is emitting black lightning, and the other is seeming constantly to have water dripping down from it. Without any more conversation, Monika vanished from thin air and then a bolt of black lightning hit directly at the archivist. But as Sannet said, this sword can absorb anything.
The archivist then stabs the sword on the ground and a wave of unrelenting pulse blasts through the control center. Naturally leveled the whole facility to ruin, the alarm however was also damaged in this attack.
Monika had to show herself again because she was trying to defend herself from the pulse attack. The archivist does a grab gesture in his hand, and Monika suddenly was pulled towards the archivist, the force was so strong that her collar was grabbed immediately.
"Well, that was eas-." The Monika in his hand suddenly exploded with violent plasma explosions.
It burned through his hand and showed a mechanical skeleton underneath his flesh: " You…" The archivist released countless nano scarabs flying toward Monika: "If I cannot have you, NO ONE WILL!"
Monika didn't flinch, she raised her water sword sideways and then did a full swing. For an instant, as if the world has stopped for a second, a wave of the tsunami with intense force washed away all of the nanorobots causing them to short circuit due to the magic property in the water. The splash also knocked Trazyn away, making him pinned on the wall.
Monika slowly walks toward the archivist and pulls out an ax that is almost as tall as her: " Submit." She said and then point the axe at the archivist: "Normally, I would've killed you, but you are the father of Minka and a hero of imperium. I cannot be the executioner in this place. But I would have killed you thousands of times if is up to me!" Monika is trying her hardest to not kill this man.
"I can't fail… I am so close…" The archivist's armor suddenly starts melting and reforming, Monika tries to strike but her axe is seemingly being pulled into the armor. She jumps back and is ready to strike again. His armor is as if came into living and starts to consume any materials that it can find, debris, metals even papers are all being used for transformation. Monika threw a few bombs into them but it seems only to make it stronger.
"Monika!" Nova shouts at Monika from the other side, she and the Major have arrived.
Monika is glad to see her sister is safe and sound but more importantly, they need to come up with a strategy to beat this monster. Right now, the archivist is nowhere to be seen and a black tumor-like abomination is absorbing and destroying everything in its path.
Major calmly analyzes the situation, from her past experience, this is nothing like what she's seen, however, she immediately pinpointed the cause of all this, the iron curtain technology is seemingly being misused by the archivist. This is his failure-safe for the case when he fails, he will eventually transform and who knows what is going to happen.
Major drops a small marker on the ground and starts counting down with her watch. When the marker is grabbed and absorbed, she calculated the time of touching and the loss of signal: "1.2 seconds." She writes it down on her forearm.
Nova is setting up a machine gun that was scattered on the ground, but just when she's about to shoot at the abomination, Major stopped her: "If we attack this being, it will only make it stronger, we can only kill it from within."
" But how- Wait, we can use the shield piercing round." Nova knows exactly what Major is thinking: " I am prepared and ready."
Major nods, it feels good to work alongside herself in another world. She then pulls out a shield generator and sets up the time of the shield at 1.1 seconds. When she throws it in, like anything, it is immediately being absorbed but suddenly a huge bubble seemingly was raised from within, and in that split second, the bullet was already pierced through the iron curtain and then exploded within the shield. The absorption has stopped, and Monika is seemingly still fine. But all of a sudden it starts sucking air around it and eventually a black bubble rises in the middle. There, a man walked out. He has no human features left; it is just a humanoid person with reflected iron curtain material coating on top of it.
Major frowns suddenly, nothing should've survived the explosion that violent. The being suddenly turned toward Nova as if it was the animal instinct to seek vengeance. It rushes toward Nova at an unimaginable speed, but Monika managed to catch up and blocked its attack in front of Nova.
"Run!" Monika breaks out of her stance and swings her flaming sword toward the being, within an instant, the flaming sword shattered like it is made of glass. The force was so hard that Monika had flown a dozen meters out due to the shock wave.
A few normal snipers round fired up, but the monster just absorbed it. Major is looking at everything that is happening, by the looks of it she cannot do anything about this monster as it is somehow indestructible and doesn't have any tactics. However, she did notice the bullet that was absorbed into the monster. This time, Major takes out a thermal scope and calculates the time between the bullet going in and the heat signature disappearing: " 0.0002 seconds…" She pulls out her pistol and loads in a strange-looking bullet.
As Nova tried to hit the monster with more of those shield-piercing bullets, Major fired a shot at the exact moment. She correctly pinpointed the trajectory of Nova's shot and just when her strange shaping bullet was absorbed almost at that exact moment the shield-piercing bullet hit the strange bullet causing it to start glowing in blinding light. Before the heatwave hits, Monika pulls Nova out from the blinding light and hides together behind a concrete wall.
After the light fades, the center of that light has been nothing but ash. Monika and Nova came out, surprised by what had just happened, the Major slid down from the top of the wall and landed in front of them: " Well, that is taken care of."
"Are you… Major?" Monika can tell because of the exact same face as Nova's, in fact, both of them wear the same stealth suit, it almost looked like a nightmare Monika had a while ago.
"Sharp mind. Your sister even took a second more to figure it out." Major grins and pats Monika on the shoulder: " You did well, it reminds me of Eden when she was still alive."
Monika didn't even hear about this, she directly rushed towards Sannet's body. Monika holds Sannet's hand and starts tearing up. Even within the limited interaction, she could tell that Sannet is the few people out there that actually cared about what's best for his master. An extremely loyal servant, even in the end she retained her dignity.
Major salutes in the back as well, she and Sannet have a really good relationship with each other. However, she is glad that Sannet is finally free, even though this is a realm that's just a mere simulation of the heroes of imperium, but in this reality, everyone is real.
Nova sits next to Monika and borrows her shoulder to cry on. This time, she is not asking any questions. She's just there, for Monika. Suddenly the entire background starts simplifying into mere polygons and eventually everything just becomes a white canvas.
/:/ Simulation load complete…..
Uploading data…
Data received.
The archivist looks at the result of the simulation, he starts frowning. Sannet is by his side while Monika and Nova just got the badge of the heroes of the Imperium, they are on their way to Trazyn's archive. He didn't really care a lot about the defeating part, because he could also make plans to avoid it. But seeing Sannet dies. He hesitated, he has known Sannet since they were little, and he can tell that Sannet has always been the most caring person he had in his life.
"Sannet." He called.
"Yes, my lord?" She looks at Trazyn in a concerning way, she has been worrying about him for a while and now the looks on Trazyn are really new for her.
"Tell me… Do you think that I might have lost the real reason that we have been fighting for? Please remind me again." The archivist asks.
"We fight for the glory of the imperium of man, all Xeno, traitors, and obstacles shall perish before us. The empire we establish will last for eternity, not just for us, but for our children and their children." Sannet recited with perfect accuracy.
"Do you think I have lost sight of our mission because of my regret?" The archivist realized something: "I wanted to make Minka happy by bringing back Eden. But I guess sometimes, a mistake is a mistake." The archivist stood up and then pats Sannet on the shoulder: " It is good to have you around me, Sannet."
"Lord Trazyn.. I am a bit confused." Sannet tilts her head sideways, the archivist's words are very confusing for her. At this moment, the Terra sisters approached the door. Sannet looks at the archivist and awaits his instruction.
"Open it up, Sannet." He stood up; the scene is exactly like what it is in the simulation. After they had entered, he said on the throne: "Brave warriors from another world! Rejoice for this is the end of your journey!" The archivist seemingly felt really relieved after the simulation.
Nova and Monika immediately are in a fighting stance, because they thought the archivist was going to fight them or something.
"Trazyn?" Monika slipped her words out, but the archivist didn't really react to it.
He came down from the throne and told Sannet to give Monika the super-soldier serum. Monika is holding the injector in a surprising way. Because he gave her exactly what she needed at the moment.
"Wait, sire…" Sannet is surprised but the assuring looks in Trazyn made her feel glad that her lord is looking in another direction in life. Minka gave this injection to Sannet because if all hopes are lost, Sannet will use this serum to contaminate the purity of Monika's blood, thus making her an unsuitable host. When Trazyn told Sannet to do so, it was a sign of him truly letting go of his past.
He then looks at Nova, the unfriendly glare from her is somewhat new, as Major would never do that. Instead of giving an item to Nova, he teleported Major from the deep archive. Major is wearing an apron and seemingly was making pancakes: " What… wait… oh..." Within seconds, Major understood the situation completely.
"Well, hello. I am Major." Major's friendly expression is giving Monika the creep: "Nice to meet both of you." She immediately also understands the intention of the archivist.
"I thought you would look more intimidating, 'assassin that has never failed a mission.'" Nova narrows her eyes, seeing the Major she kept hearing about look like this, she can't help but feel a bit disappointed.
"Well, you see. You cannot really judge a person's ability by mere looks. For example, I thought you are like a cleaning lady instead of a soldier. Your posture is off and from your arrogant words, I can tell that you have grown up without a proper instructor. Probably parentless." Major has a smirk on her face.
Nova wants to beat the crap out of Major, but Monika manages to hold her off: "So… what can you do?" Monika asks Major.
"I can teach you the way to defeat whoever you need to defeat." Major takes off her apron and puts on her uniform jacket: "I am the strongest weapon the imperium has to offer." She points to her head: "I am the military advisor of all strategic military planning."
"Well, this has been fun. Good luck saving the world." The archivist then sighed them farewell, the simulation makes him realize that there are more important things in life. He looks at Sannet in a complicated way. As they send Monika, Nova, and the Major out. So, the archive closes for the time being.
"That was weird," Monika mutters.
"Why is that?" Nova asks
"I thought Trazyn was supposed to be someone that-"
"Obsessed in you?" Nova giggles
"Stop embarrassing me!" Monika's face is pink, she doesn't want to admit it, but she was a bit disappointed at how well the entire thing went. She wanted to save the archivist from his past mistakes. But clearly, the world is very different from the one in her imagination.
When they finally arrived at the grand hall when they first arrived, they were greeted by Minka, Elysia, and Eden: "It is good to have you back, Major." Elysia smiles warmly.
"Elysia." Major paused for a second: "You have not changed a bit, have you?" Major said in a slight hint of getting annoyed. She then turns to Minka and has a wide smile on her face: "Minky!"
"Aunt Nova!" Major and Minka hug each other tightly. Eden is just watching on the side, calmly seeing how things unfold between these two.
"You two have helped us a lot." Eden said to Monika: "It seems like the archivist's heart finally opened after all of this time."
"The Trazyn in this world…" Monika sounds a bit lack of confidence: "Is he always like this?"
Eden shakes her head: "No, he's always the smartest and the most determined person I've known. It was such a shame that I couldn't see the ending with him." She let out a sigh: " But I believe that you and your Trazyn will surely do so."
"Thanks." Monika is glad that she has someone like Eden that can share this kind of problem.
After bidding farewell to the rest, Major finally returned to Monika and Nova: "So, tell me how to crack this 'world-ending problem' of yours."
"Before doing that, I am more curious about how you achieve a never-failing mission streak?" Nova asks.
"You try it multiple times until you reach your goal." Major gave out a rather simple answer.
"Impossible, most of the mission has only one chance."
"What did I say?" Major's tone suddenly sounded terrifying.
Seeing this, Monika just asks another question: "Well… allow me to describe to you our problem…" She then proceeds to explain all the past events that have happened so far which are regarding Glissa.
Major holds her chin for a while, while Nova on the other side isn't really impressed at all: "You look grumpy." Monika half-jokingly said to Nova.
Nova didn't react to what Monika said, she was thinking about the hidden meaning of Major's words. She felt like she's got the meaning, but the answer isn't rolling out of her tongue.
Major then finally starts speaking again after a considerable amount of time: "The only way to defeat her is to make sure that she never invaded in the first place."
Nova let out a chuckle while Monika's expression is grimmer.
"Allow me to explain, Glissa's influence has rooted deep already in your world, and even if you kill her the damage is already done. The planet wouldn't be able to sustain itself anymore. You are in a dead man's noose. No matter if it pulls or not, you are already dead. So, we have to kill Glissa or stop the possibility that the war was ever able to happen. Now, i need you to think about the event where you made first contact with the phyrexian. Because if we make sure that they never knew your world existed, this is also a possibility." Major explains.
"The cave… where I, Trazyn, and another Necron overlord was traveled to Mirrodin." Monika recalls but suddenly she shakes her head: "No! We need to kill her… because..."
Major didn't know what happened, but Nova read through Monika's words: "Trazyn… he became a human when they were in Mirrodin. If this never happened, he and Monika would never be together."
Major took a deep breath. She doesn't know how this action will affect the time stream, but this is equivalent to taking a huge rock out from the river of time, there's no telling what it will do to the future of that world. And yet this is the most viable solution. Also, from what Monika said, Imotekh was already planning to raid the world.
Monika sits on the floor, she's helpless. There's no winning either way: "If only…." Monika cries: "If only we could stop all of the threats before they even reach us…"
Major suddenly hit her lap and stood up from the chair: " You are right! In your world, the admiral has the fleet. It is able to eliminate the all-star sector-wise threats. And a single world-level threat like the phyrexian should not be a problem at all!"
"Wait… Are you trying to stop the crusade from ever happening…?" Nova questions that plan, which would also mean that our parents would never leave us in the first place… I and Monika would never become soldiers…" Nova then slowly turns to Monika. She's right, this would also mean that Monika would never meet Trazyn. But instead, she would have a normal childhood and doesn't need to go through all of those hardships. It is all the benefit of weighting against Trazyn.
Nova turns to Major and said: "We will need a few moments to discuss this privately…" Major answered with a nod and proceed to leave.
"Monika… I don't know what to say… But this is your call..." Nova quietly sits next to Monika.
Monika is not crying, she just blankly staring in front of her. This is the choice between a life she dreamed of and Trazyn the man she loves the most. They have been through so much hardship together but along the way, they had each other.
Thinking about this, Monika punches the floor as hard as possible and shouts: "WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME?! WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME THAT LOSES EVERYTHING?! WHY?!" Her scream echoes along the hall. Every hero of the imperium heard this and let out a long sigh.
Monika finally picks herself up and runs straight to the exit, she needs to be with Trazyn. Or there will not be another time. Nova, however, did not chase her, she wanted to know the solution to this problem. And she will not leave before getting an answer.
"Now, it is just you and me." Nova looks at Major menacingly, she will get her answer even if it means violence.
Major immediately understood Nova's intention: "I have been waiting for this moment for a long time." Major cracks her knuckles and has an evil grin on her face.
"Are you sure you are leaving?" Minka asks while seeing Monika activating the portal.
Monika didn't answer, she didn't want anything except Trazyn at this very moment.
"You are making a huge mistake." Minka tries to stop Monika but the sudden blade that popped out from Monika's hand indicates that Monika is on the edge of having her mind snapped.
"If the world wants me to lose Trazyn to save it then I would rather sacrifice the world for my happiness. And besides, I am pretty sure an opposite me has already chosen the other path." Monika's answer makes Minka have no come back from: "If you thought Monika that would save the world for her happiness is better than go ahead, you already traveled through realities anyways. You can do it again." Monika is so distracted, she even forgot that she's talking to a simulation of the old Minka.
Monika finally has packed up everything she is going to bring back, which includes a lot of weapons she has seen and copied with her ability. Elysis however at this very moment came here just for the sake of observing.
"I thought you were going to say something." Monika looks into Elysia in the eyes, even though she doesn't have a specific grudge towards her but the time in the realm did teach her that looks can be very deceiving.
"No~ I am here to send you off, since you are such a beautiful and amazing person, I am sure that whatever your choice is going to work out. Because beautiful girls like us are unstoppable." She winks.
Usually, Monika would be grossed out but in a tensed-up situation like this, Elysia being herself might be the sanest thing she has seen at the moment. She nods to Elysia and then proceeds to jump into the portal.
Nova on the other side dropped her weapon, she's going to go hand in hand. Major slightly tilts her head sideways, in a way to salute her adorableness of Nova. Major checked her revolver chamber, she needed to make sure that her weapon wouldn't accidentally kill Nova or something. But she's going to make sure that it will hurt. A lot.
Nova's hand starts seeing sparks and it eventually becomes a bolt of lightning. It hit Major but even though the energy went through, Major is still perfectly as if a bolt of lightning is recharging her instead of damaging her severely.
Nova frowns, she didn't see anything different. No device was activated in that scene and the Major's position did not even change. It was a direct hit, what just happened defies every logic Nova knows.
"Any more tricks?" Major has a punchable expression on her face.
Nova clinched her fist and started rushing towards Major. Every swing was on point and every technique was executed to perfection, and yet Major was not getting hit or Nova was not even remotely that she's close to Major. Yet, Major is right in front of her the entire time.
Nova is deep breathing, she's frustrated, but she managed to keep a cool head. Major, however, seemed to just get bored and pulled out her revolver. She didn't aim at Nova, and yet when she fired the rubber bullet hit directly on her stomach. Nova felt like she was just punched with a full-force swing. There's no way that bullet was even remotely aiming at her and yet it hit Nova at the end.
Major suddenly grabs Nova by her collar and pulls it close, their faces have almost touched each other, and yet none of their expressions has changed: "People say eyes are the window of the soul. And yet your eyes are as cold and dark as the polar sphere glacier." Suddenly, Major's pupil flashed for a few milliseconds.
With this, Nova suddenly understood something. Instead of trying to let the energy outburst create something like lightning, she focused it on something deeper. Something she never understood and yet it has been inlaid with her the entire time.
Suddenly she saw the flashes from Major's eyes again, this time, Major released her. She has a smirk on her face: " Well, well, well… It does seem that every version of me is all geniuses."
"Project pacifier… We failed but it seems like your world has succeeded in it."
"Smart girl. In fact, I was the one that made it happen. It has never been leaked but I was the prototype designer because I found the way to do it with my ability."
"Time… reverse..." Nova said it out loud, but she could not believe it.
"This is why I have never lost a battle. Pretty sure in your world someone has done it, but it just was not as impactful as mine." Major continues: "With our energy level we can only reverse the time by a few seconds but with a powerful enough energy source… you can take back however long you want." Major then takes out a small device: " This is the algorithm and the blueprint for such a machine to work. Energy source wise…. Well, you have to deal with it yourself."
"Why didn't you just tell me about this?" Nova asks.
"Because it will not work if I do so… we are gifted with great power, and something is just not explainable with words." Major then puts her hands on the back: "Well, now you have the most powerful weapon in this place. Go. save your world."
Nova carefully puts the device into her jacket pocket and then arrives next to the portal. When she was about to step in, she stopped. Nova looks back to Major and Major nods in return. In Nova's mind, she wanted to stay and learn so much about what she might be. But someone in her life has told her that it is not wise to try to know about your own future. Your end is better to come as a surprise as, when you are trying to counter your doom, you might be breeding it at the same time.
Nova landed in the room. It is still the same as when she left. Only a few weeks probably have gone by while they were in that secluded realm. Nova slightly adjusts her hair style and then takes off her jacket. All she could use now is a warm bath. She then proceeds to take off her clothes and the moment she left the room, she was welcomed with confetti and a blow of a party horn.
"Welcome back! sis-" Monika stopped, when she sees Nova being completely naked while half-covering in the confetti, she knows that she has made a huge mistake.
But Nova just replied with a small grin, after all, she has fully dressed in dirty clothes anyways, so it is good that Monika did it now instead of sometimes after. But Nova's grin faded when she sees Trazyn is holding a small cake: " What is this? Are you trying to give me diabetes?"
"Sis!" Monika holds Nova's hands: "Today is our birthday! Honestly even I forgot about it, but it was Trazyn that prepared all of this." Monika pats away the confetti on Nova's shoulder: "Anyways, why don't you go take a shower while me and Trazyn are going to prepare for the party."
Nova replied with a nod and then headed to the bathroom. Nova slightly clenched her fist; she did not know that this ability is this useful: "Second chance huh?" She grins in confidence.
While Nova is sitting in the bath, she starts to read the documents that Major gave her. Everything is fine and the machine should be an easy case for Trazyn. But at the very bottom, there's a document named: M.1.N.K.A. Nova opens it up and in there is the complete genetic series of Minka, it is so detailed that anyone that has a decent lab can make Minka from scratch.
Nova closes the files and sinks her head into the bathtub: "How far have you planned…?" She mutters. Undoubtedly, Minka is a genius in too many ways. At this point, Nova has no idea whether it is all planned out by Minka or just sheer luck.