Thanks go to EpicSlayerGuy99, Zillowzest, Wingah, Zack Frost, Doctah Sawbones, XelaZagity, ZeraoraTheKnight, GMLxAwesome, levyaustin525, Mysterious Venus, Acoolnamme, Kds147y, 10burgers, and Guest!
To answer your question, Guest, of the four Angel's we've seen, Future is probably the second strongest if we don't count Hacker being able to fuse with Demon and just count him individually.
Alright, sorry about the delay on this one! Some stuff came up in my personal life and this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be. But it's here now, and I hope you guys will be kind enough to review, because this is a fun one. :)
Next chapter should be going up Thursday, February 9th!
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale. The Thought and Seraphim!Sans were made by and belong to Tratser.
"... Dogshit day today." Hacker said more to himself than anybody else. He was standing on the balcony of his humble suite in The Gatherer's tower, leaning his forearms onto the metal railing and looking out over the courtyard below. He'd finally woken up from the coma Anarchy beat him into about twelve hours ago, right after it got dark. Now, the overcast sky was lighting up about as much as it could. A new day, but it didn't feel too different to Hacker.
*Feels like home, doesn't it?
"Whoa! Texty?" Hacker's head leaned back some, his eyes darting down to the box of text floating in front of him. He still had a few bandages on his face, but he managed to cock a brow. "I think this is the first time you've had something to say in years. I was startin' to think you slithered outta my head back when me n' Chara first made Character."
*I just haven't had much to say. I hitched my bets on a different Angel.
"... Yeah, that checks out." Hacker's expression soured after he read those words. His empty emerald eyes lifted back to the horizon while a frown settled back on his face, and he relaxed back into his leaning position. After another moment of silence, he agreed. "I don't know how or why Xander found a place that looks so much like Fortune City."
*It's what his Fortunate blood demanded.
"Must be..." Hacker responded half heartedly, looking down to his folded hands. Speaking of Xander, if the snake were awake right now Hacker'd probably bum a cigarette off him. He wasn't much for smoking, and Demon thought it was gross, but something about standing alone on a balcony made a cigarette in hand feel aesthetically pleasing. "... Any reason for the check up?"
*Why are you still here, Hacker?
"I live here." Hacker answered in his dead tone, not looking away from the bland horizon. He lifted one hand from where he'd kept the both of them folded over the railing, resting his chin in his open palm.
*You're smart enough to know this ship is sinking. You're not on the winning team anymore, so why are you sticking around?
"..." Hacker thought about saying he had nowhere else to go, but that had never stopped him from running before. With Xander down, almost all of his inner circle dead, and Eden still in the soup, Hacker could have and probably should have gathered up Demon and a backpack full of goodies and been on his merry way. His eyes glossed down to the statue looming in the courtyard... "Guess I've just dedicated a lotta time to this life. I wanna try to salvage it."
*Is that why you fought Anarchy?
"We fought Anarchy because Eden needed us to." Hacker didn't bother hesitating to answer, he didn't have anything to gain from lying. These days it looked like he had little to gain in general. He mumbled, "A whole lotta good we did, anyway..."
*Is that why you're really sticking around, then? Because someone needs you to?
"..." Hacker paused again. He squinted down at the flowers surrounding Cliff's statue; it looked like they were starting to wilt without Eden taking care of them. Maybe he'd go water them himself, now that the sun was up. His eyes glossed over to his text box then, and he repeated his previous question with a little more force. "Why are you checking in, Killer?"
*When you killed me, Angel, I died believing I had taken the only thing you ever loved. I believed that because of that, you would never love anything again.
*And yet, here you are. Here all of you Angels are. Fighting for something entirely different, and becoming strong all the same.
*It's perplexing, it makes me sick... I like it.
"... I don't feel too strong these days." Hacker's frown deepened, his eyes glossed down to his hand. Free of red cracks, free of the power that his winged counter parts had. His fingers curled inward, clenched into a fist... "Maybe if I was, things wouldn't be so screwed up now."
*Don't bother with maybes. You won my game because you dealt in absolutes.
"Well I think I'm absolutely fucked." Hacker pulled his hand out from under his chin and lowered his fist, taking hold of the railing beneath him and standing just a little taller in spite of the doom he was sure was on its way. He shook his head some while he grumbled, "I think I'm fucked, I think Demon's fucked, I think Eden's fucked, I think Fellphys is fucked, I know Xander's fucked..."
*And yet here you are.
"..." Hacker's eyes drifted down to the hands he held the railing with. His white knuckled grip, and the ink that seeped out from between his fingers. It trickled down the metal, dripped to the stones below... And splattered apart. The Deltarune on Hacker's back felt just a little warmer. "Here I am."
*You're staring down the barrel of your own destiny now, little Angel.
*And if you don't like it, then you'd better wish for it to change.
Character jumped the moment Errorphim moved. They launched into the air, front flipped over the skeletal god while he swung that scarlet saber through the air that Character had just occupied. The air split under the weight of his strike, ones and zeros poured out of a tear in space time's fabric. And while Errorphim was busy smiling at the effect the flick of his wrist had on reality, Character's ink hands blasted down from their back. Onyx fists rained down on the back of Errorphim's head, only to be stopped on a wall of unbreakable emerald light. Hacker and Demon thought the same cuss word, Fuckin' KINDNESS again?!
Errorphim spun in an instant, his arm tore right through the wall that Character couldn't even put a dent in and his long fingers snapped shut around one of the ink fists they'd tried to strike him with. Their wide eyes stared haunted over their shoulder at Errorphim before he yanked back, ripping them through the air and carelessly whipping them down towards the dustbowl below.
Character fired down like a rocket from what was just a casual toss on Errorphim's part, but still they forced themself to spin back. They rotated rapidly, picked up even more momentum, and they flung right through a portal that opened just before they hit the ground. In the very next instant, Errorphim felt Character explode into his back with a dropkick at sonic speed. They'd launched right out of a portal that had opened behind him, fired a strike into his spine with the same momentum he'd given them... And it got him to budge.
Errorphim's back arched, his browbones rose with mild surprise while Character winced. A red shockwave blasted out around them from their impact, and vibrations rocked their femurs like a tuning fork. Still, they shoved off of Errorphim's back, yanking back one hand as they launched back through the air away from him. Rapidly mechanical pencils appeared throughout the flickering sky behind Character, and they all sent graphite bolts raining down on Errorphim when they threw their hand forward at him.
Errorphim turned to face Character's attack, lazily waving one hand at it. The moment that he did, a tidal wave of BRAVE power crackled through the air. It moved at a shocking speed, electric light that shredded those graphite spikes to grey dust and melted the pencils they'd fired out of. Character hardly had time to throw their arms up before that electric power crashed into them, and their eyes went wide with pain. The force of Errorphim's voltage sent them blasting back across the sky, and the moment they were launching back Errorphim flicked down one finger, and a massive pillar of bone blasted down from above.
Body still twitching with electricity, Character's frantic eyes winced up at that bone smashing down towards them. Their ink hands wrapped tight around their body, and with a horrific slam the blunt end of that calcium pillar exploded into Character, sending them firing straight down with another shockwave of force. Those ink hands unwrapped from their body after the impact of that bone, flinging limp in the air just like all of Character's limbs as they fired down towards the wastelands below.
But, Errorphim didn't care to burry them in the sands. That was boring. So, he reached out with one hand, and it was his will that the earth Character was barreling towards changed. The ground collapsed in on itself, dirt and sand sucked into hundreds of separate points. Code twisted and changed on a god's will, and in the blink of an eye Character was no longer falling towards a desert. Instead, the acre of land they were plummeting towards had became a massive pit, and the only land available was the massive ivory spikes jutting up out of the darkness.
Character managed to open one eye in spite of the pain and wind resistance, just in time to see the death they were dropping into. Grunting with exertion, they turned their head, throwing out one arm towards one of the spikes to their left. From their shoulder one of those ink hands fired out on a stretching arm, its massive hand opening and snapping shut around that bone. The moment their hand had latched on Character pulled, and they were yanked to the side just in time to dodge impalement on a separate bone spike.
Their hand pulled desperately against their momentum, its ink form hardened and its palm sprouted hundreds of little hooks to stick better to the calcium surface it gripped. Character's teeth grit with exertion, they could feel their organs being yanked to one side as they swung through the air. But, finally, they dragged themself inward, spinning and spinning around that towering spike until finally, their momentum slowed, they slammed into it back first. Ink poured out of their palms, and they used it to cling to the vertical surface while they laid their head back against the bone and gasped for breath.
"So, you two are really the last Character duo left?" Errorphim's voice called down from above, and Character grimaced as they opened their eyes. He wasn't upon them yet, he just floated above the sea of spikes below on six wings he didn't earn. With his arms crossed over his chest, he was floating over the side of that spike opposite to Character. He couldn't see them yet, but still his voice spoke to them from high above. "What, did all the others rush in and get themselves killed? Living like a cockroach must've kept the two of you alive."
Character's ink hand flung up, wrapping around the point of the spike they were pressed against and yanking them up. They launched up over that spike, and that hand crushed its point in its grasp before they landed on its now more flat surface. Smirking in spite of the sweat dripping down their forehead, Character looked up at the heavenly being looming overhead, and all four of their fists clenched tight. "We're nothing like cockroaches."
"How'd'ya figure?" Errorphim cocked a brow bone and tilted his head, tapping one boney finger on his arm, which remained crossed with the other over his chest.
"Isn't it obvious?" As Character spoke, the void beneath them shifted. Suddenly, black fluid exploded out from between those pillars of bone. Massive streams of ink rose into the air and splashed together, swirling into one enormous mass. And though he kept his arms crossed, Errorphim's brow bones rose with pleasant surprise as one titanic ink doll crashed to life over him. It was enormous, a kaiju of slithering ink jiggling and looming over a god. And with its two arms it grabbed its bulbous belly, just before said belly rumbled and exploded apart in a barrage of ink fists. Pencils pointed out from the knuckles of those fists, and hundreds of punches crashed down on Errorphim all at once while the ink doll's masters shouted at the winged abomination above.
"Cockroaches have wings!"
Chapter 98: Wrong About Us
Or: Character's Wish
... Give 'em hell, munchkins. Future found himself thinking as he stared into the flickering sky over that field of death. Behind him, Clover and Melanie helped Eden to her feet. She was shaky, and exhausted, but she didn't bother with too many tears. The fact of the matter was there was no time, and if she wasted what few minutes Character gave her, then they would die in vain. So Eden wiped her tears, she gathered her BRAVERY and she forced herself to PERSEVERE.
"Everybody link hands." GB Sans was the first to speak up, taking up a stance at the center of the group. He opened up the both of his hands out to his sides, turning his head to look between all the sets of eyes that now laid upon him. "I know a shortcut to the evac."
A glance or two was exchanged, but no one hesitated to step forward and reach out. Susie took one of Sans' hands, Future took the other. Fell Grillby took Future's spare hand, and Clover took Susie's. Then Eden grabbed hold of Clover's hand, and though Grillby reached out... Melanie paused. Opposite to her, Ralsei did the same. The both of them looked to one another, maybe they had the same idea. Grillby's flames crackled with anxiety, and he reached out a little further towards her while he spoke up. "Melanie, there's no time."
"..." Melanie's brows furrowed, she stared at his outstretched hand... Before turning her head, looking over the horizon towards that flashing doom. Her KIND green eyes narrowed, and she finally spoke her thoughts. "We still haven't seen Lexi, Angel, or Anthony."
"Don't even think about it." Grillby's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, his outstretched hand clenched into a frightened fist. He knew where she was going with this, it was visible in the glowing green of her eyes. Grillby shook his head, "Even if they survived that blast, you won't. Please, just-"
"If they're dead then we're all dead." Melanie stated with a stunning sternness, making Grillby and a few others recoil. It was all a conclusion they'd reached separately, but they'd never expected someone as optimistic as Melanie to say it out loud. She shook her head, looking between those with linked hands while she went on. "I know it, all of you know it. If he can make people like Anthony just... Vanish? Nobody can stop him."
"What do you intend to do?" Eden squinted suspiciously at the KIND soul across from her, not yet releasing Clover's hand. She tilted her head some, dared to hear Melanie out.
"... When my teammates get knocked down, it's my job to get them back up." Melanie's expression hardened further, and on her chest her green soul shined bright. She lifted one hand, and instead of taking Grillby's hand, she pointed back towards the desert behind her. "If there's any chance that anyone survived that blast, I have to take it."
"We have to take it." Ralsei corrected, daring to take a stand beside Melanie. She looked over to him, and she smiled with some relief to see his support. He smiled right back up at her, before looking out to the few that remained before them. He looked to Susie, and though he expected her to look upset, she flashed him a grin. That made Ralsei smile a little wider; her and Kris believed in him. "No matter what the risk is."
"..." Grillby hesitated. He lowered his head, looked to the sand... Future squeezed his hand a little tighter, it was the best he could do to comfort the fiery chef now. He had some idea of how it must have felt, sending someone so young in to do a job that he wasn't strong enough to get done. And even though it hurt, even though Grillby knew Muffet was already gone and Melanie was the only family he had left... He lifted his head, and he nodded his approval to her. "Good luck, Melanie. Go make me and Muffet proud."
Melanie smiled wider in spite of the stakes, and she nodded right back to Grillby. Then, in the next instant... They were gone. With the flicker of Sans' teleportation, all but Melanie and Ralsei had vanished. And when Melanie turned her head to look to the fluffy goat who had dared to ride into the abyss with her, he already sat upon a levitating star made of gold magic. Ralsei reached out to Melanie, and he smirked. "C'mon, Lexi needs us."
"... Yeah. Yeah, lets go!" Melanie threw her hand up and snatched ahold of Ralsei's, and with all his strength the fluffy mage yanked her up onto his star. She flung up into a seated position behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist leaning forward with him. And as that star pivoted, and the two of them turned to face the valley of shadow and death... Their eyes narrowed, and their resolve hardened. This was it, all or nothing. They just had to hope that Character could hold on.
We're not gonna leave you behind, Character! So keep fighting, you can do this!
Ink fists blotted out the sky. They rained down at sonic speed from every angle, but Errorphim did not flinch. His expression did not change. He merely lifted one hand, opened his palm to guard against the first fist to reach him. But, before the pencil points on those oily knuckles could strike the palm of a god, light flashed. A white shine blared, ripping through that barrage of fists. In an instant that entire ink doll was devoured in a heavenly shine. The world was alight in a white flare. And as that shine cleared... Character fired through it, blasting their own fist right into Errorphim's jaw.
Though their ink doll had vanished in that ERASER blast, the fusion had shot right through the wave of deadly light just to slam their knuckles into Errorphim's jaw. And though a red blast crashed out around their impact, Errorphim's head hadn't moved. The multicolored lights in his eye sockets glossed over to Character, and he smiled when he saw the trembling frustration written across their face.
"I don't know why you anomalies are immune to my ERASURE, but it's too bad." Character started to pull back when Errorphim spoke, but it was too late. A blade of red light swung up, and it cleaved through their elbow, slicing off the arm that they'd use to blaspheme. Character's eyes twitched with agony as they recoiled, and a barrage of golden orbs appeared floating over Errorphim's head. They barely had time to look up through the streams of their own blood spraying through the air before those blasts shot down at them, all while Errorphim went on with a cruel grin. "Now all your deaths have to be slow and painful."
Character cried out in agony as their body was thrown back and forth, bullets of JUST energy firing down into them from all angles. They jerked back and forth with every impact, being steadily pelted all the way down from the sky. By the time those blasts stopped exploding against them, they were plummeting head first towards the spike pit below. Smoke streamed off their burnt clothes and scorched flesh, but DETERMINED steam quickly followed.
Character forced their eyes to snap open, and they grimaced as they stared at the approaching ivory spikes. Hastily they swung their legs up and forced themself to spin upright, and they landed perched against the side of one of those spines. The ink hands on their back grabbed hold of that pillar, and with a stream of blood now running down their face from their hairline, Character glared up at Errorphim. Their arm had already finished healing, as had most of the burns he'd left them with. If he wanted them dead, he was going to have to try harder.
Furiously the fusion's eyes narrowed at the skeleton looming above. No matter where they hid or what angle they struck from, with Errorphim in the air he always knew how they'd have to attack. Character had to jump up, they had to swat at him like a cat trying to catch a bird. But Errorphim was no bird, certainly not the kind that house cats eat. And Character was feeling more like a worm than anything else in that particular moment.
The abyss beneath Character ignited with white light, and the vicious flare of their Beat Blasters exploded up from below. Ivory light crashed up in defiance of that mad god, but they were stopped indefinitely against a wall of green. Errorphim crossed his arms over his ribcage while he stared into the crackling power that his defenses had brought to an immediate stop, before his head lifted to spot Character launching up into the air over him and his KIND defenses.
The fusion yanked back their right fist, and with it the ink fist on their right shoulder pulled back. When they threw their fist forward, the one on their shoulder exploded through the air on a twisting black arm. Errorphim lifted one hand and stopped that punch in his skeletal palm, only for the dark liquid to slither and wrap around his hand. That ink arm receded, pulling Character in at rapid speed. And they roared, pulling back their left fist and once more letting the fires of their shared DETERMINATION explode to life on their knuckles.
As soon as they were in range they swung their flaming knuckles at Errorphim's jaw, only for his free hand to swing up and snatch ahold of their wrist. His ink wrapped hand still moved with ease, catching their right fist when they swung that at him too. When their left ink fist pulled back and swung down at his head, a skeletal hand of orange light appeared in its path, catching it with ease. And Errorphim smiled as Character snarled and struggled in vain, the three of them pivoting in air so that Character's back was facing the desert below. The fusion growled through grinding teeth, pushing uselessly against Errorphim's iron grip. "Fuckin'..! C'mon!"
Errorphim didn't answer with words, but instead by pulling up one leg and planting a kick right in Character's chest. His foot smashed into them with such incredible force that they were sent blasting down to the earth in the blink of an eye. But Errorphim hadn't bothered releasing his grip, so the both of Character's hands tore right off, remaining in his powerful hands while they exploded into the sands beneath.
Now with two bleeding and steaming stumps instead of hands, Character The Wingless crashed across the brutal sands, carving a trench through the desert. After skidding a football field's length, their beaten and broken body finally came to a stop, leaning back on a mass of blood soaked sand. Still, Character forced one eye open as they gasped for air, scarlet steaming off their back and from the bubbling flesh on their wrists.
They watched Errorphim rapidly descend to the opposite end of the trench beneath. He dropped from above, but paused a foot or two above the ground, levitating above it. Then, at shocking speed he blasted forward, rapidly approaching Character. The Wingless shoved themself up onto shaky feet with the ink hands that had reformed on their back, unaware of the few feathers that were poking out of those hands as they crossed their still healing arms in a desperate defense.
Errorphim blasted knee first into their arms, and Character's eyes snapped open wide as they felt their bones crack and split under the force. A shockwave blew back their decimated arms, but before Character could be knocked off their feet and sent tumbling back, Errorphim reached out and grabbed a fistful of their hair. He kept a tight grip on their head as they fought desperately against the shockwave of his previous impact, and he pulled back his free hand. His palm opened, and in his grasp a spike of bone appeared in an instant.
Cruelly Errorphim drove that spike forward, ripping it right through Character's abdomen and making their pupils shrink in agony. With his own two hands that mad god punished The Wingless, yanking that spike out of them and sending their colors spewing over the sand just to drive it through them again. He started to laugh, he couldn't help it when he yanked that blood soaked spike out and stabbed them a third time. Watching the blood spew out past their lips, seeing agony twist and warp their expression. Torturing the wretched fusion that had once humiliated Error brought Errorphim pure ecstasy.
And though Character's legs had given out and they were dangling in Errorphim's grip, though their agonized eyes could hardly see and their arms were still dangling and bleeding at their sides, the ink fists on their back still swung forward. Defiantly, those dripping black hands punched down at Errorphim's skull with all the might that they had. But, before they could land, a shockwave of orange force exploded out from Errorphim. His grip on Character's hair released, and The Wingless was sent tumbling back through the sand by the flash of his might.
Character didn't fling far before Errorphim reached out, violet light flashing to life. PERSERVERANT strings fired out from his raised hand, and in the blink of an eye they crossed the distance, wrapping tight around Character's bleeding and smoking body. They coiled the fusion's punctured abdomen, squeezed their wounds like Errorphim was trying to wring the blood out of their body. Their broken arms were wrapped and pulled in the wrong directions, snapping them into whatever shape Errorphim desired while Character cried out in agony. "Agh-! Gah..!"
"Always running as fast as you can in the wrong direction." Errorphim smiled as Character grunted and growled, struggling to hold back agonized cries. The energy strings coiling their body no doubt burned their skin, diverting the attention of their regeneration to a wider scale and slowing down their healing. Errorphim flipped that blood soaked spike in his hand, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
"C-coming from the dipshit who, saw a guy with the title 'Hacker', blamed him for all of his issues, and got fucked to death over it..? Erg-!" Errorphim's expression soured at the sound of Character's remark, and with the twitch of his fingers he forced those strings to tighten their grip. Character cried out as their elbows were snapped down into the wrong direction, staring wide eyed with blurry vision into the flickering sky. "Agh..! Fuck..!"
"It's been fun, Hacker. Demon." Errorphim nodded his head, his smile had returned when he saw the way they gasped and tried to fight against going into shock. Their agony trembling pupils watched as Errorphim pulled the same blood soaked spike he'd already skewered them with several times back over his shoulder. He just tilted his head to one side, his cruel eyes narrowed while his grip tightened on that spear. "When you see Gatherer, tell him I said 'Sorry, I just couldn't resist the opportunity'."
"Ptew!" Character responded by hawking a loogie at Errorphim, but the loogie was engulfed by a dark blue light and tossed aside with the power of his INTEGRITY. Character's eyes watched it go, before they looked back to Errorphim. There was a few second pause... Then they frowned, and made their demand. "... Just throw the spike already."
That mad god grinned before he whipped his free hand forward, and at mach speed that blood soaked bone was launched through the air at Character's head. Their head snapped backwards with its impact, and Errorphim felt true joy when their body went limp on his strings. Another dead, he was sure. Character was motionless in his grasp, blood dripping off their dangling body. That bone spike stuck straight up from their face, must've went through their head and lodged itself in their grey matter. Maybe I should have made it slower... Errorphim pondered. Bah, there'll be more Charas and Hackers to slaughter.
Speaking of more to slaughter, Errorphim turned his head and looked out across the dead valley when the corner of his accurate eyes caught motion. A twinkle of light, and after he'd put in so much work to make this world dark... His browbones furrowed with some confusion when his stare rested upon a star of gold light, racing across the desert nearly a mile away. Atop that star, not even bothering to look at him, was some human Errorphim didn't recognize and an Asriel. Or, something close to an Asriel. But he looked wrong. An abnormality, a glitch...
"Disgusting." Was the god's decree, and with the same hand he'd used to put a spike through Character's dome, he reached out towards that shining speck in the distance. Were they fleeing? On some search for salvation? Oh, it didn't matter. There was no escaping him now. His pupils flashed gold, and with the utmost accuracy Errorphim's aim locked onto Ralsei and Melanie. White light began flashing in his palm... "Disappear."
In that same moment, Character's head snapped back up. Their wide eyes landed on Errorphim, their pupils were shrunken in their fury, and caught between their jaws was the bone spike that he had tried to smite them with. Red smoke rose from their chipped teeth and cut tongue, and still Character spat that spike forward with all the strength that they had. It shot through the air at mach speed, a wad of ink stuck to the end that had been trapped in their maw.
Errorphim's sockets widened when that spike shot through the space between the radius and ulna bones of his arm, and the ink wad at the back of the bone stretched out to wrap tight around his arm bones. With his arm snagged, the momentum of the spike that shot through it forced Errorphim's hand to be yanked to the side, and the beam of ERASURE that fired from his palm was thrown off course.
Melanie and Ralsei both flinched when light crashed by just behind them, the former looking over her shoulder with wide eyes to see the ground mere feet behind the two of them ERASED in an instant. Ralsei leaned forward and grabbed onto his hat with one hand while he shouted out, "What was that?!"
"We gotta go faster!" Was the most necessary sentence Melanie could think up. She leaned forward with Ralsei, wrapped her arms tighter around him while that star blasted forward with even more haste. The whipping winds blew her hair back, and the KIND soul glanced back just in time to watch Errorphim turn his furious glare towards Character.
"You throw like a bitch..!" Character assured Errorphim as they grinned, blood trickling down their bottom lip. Errorphim clenched his fist and yanked his arm back, and the strings holding The Wingless yanked them forward. He spun and threw his arm out to the side, and Character was dragged through the air before those strings released, whipping their beaten and broken body across the sands and sending them flipping and skidding across the brutal terrain.
"You've overstayed your welcome, Character." Errorphim said as his body turned in air. His attention was dragged from Melanie and Ralsei, and now his fury was once more balanced on Character's wingless shoulders. He snatched ahold of the bone that was still stuck in the space between his arm bones, and instead of bothering to slide it out he just made it vanish. His wings didn't move, but still Errorphim began floating higher into the air. He once more took up his place in the sky, looming over the wretched Wingless that struggled in the dirt. "I don't wanna play with you anymore."
Yards away, Character forced their body to move. They were gasping for breath, spitting up the blood that had flooded their formerly punctured lungs and pushing their still healing hands into the dirt. The burns those strings left, the broken bones that their soul struggled to shove back into place... Character's eyes drifted out across the desert, they rested on that star zipping closer to ground zero. They took a deep breath, and their right hand clenched into the sand even though skin was still stretching up over the exposed muscle and bone. ... Just one good thing. That's all we have to do.
Errorphim's browbones lifted when an updraft of boiling winds struck him, but his expression remained bored. Character's roar meant nothing to him, he was not intimidated as he watched their body lift to its feet. They clenched their new hands tight at their sides, and again those ink hands shot out of their shoulders. The Deltarune on their back burned white with the red flames over their eyes, and as a pillar of DETERMINATION exploded out of them, two or three more feathers forced their way out of those mutant ink hands.
Coulda swore we told those morons to run..! Character thought as their teeth ground together, they exhaled and red mist shot out from between their fangs. DETERMINATION healed the injuries they were covered in with increase haste. Their lips peeled back in a snarl, and all the strength that they had vibrated in their shared body. It had to be enough, they thought. They had to be enough, just this one time!
Whatever you dunces are planning, you better make it quick!
"Single file! Damn it, we said single file!" The shared voice of two of Demon's students cried out to the bumbling mass below, their BRAVE soul shining on their chest. They were perched atop one of the trains that people were pushing and shoving to get into, and their frantic orange eyes stared into the shifting mass of consciousness below while they barked their orders. Fellphys was supposed to be here to organize this evacuation, Demon's students couldn't handle it on their own! Did that rat lizard run off on them or what?! The two in one BRAVE human lifted their orange eyes to the flare of red light on the horizon, and their shaky fists clenched tight. C'mon, teach! You can beat that weirdo!
"People, please..!" Eden tried to call over the rumbling of the crowd, but no one bothered to listen. She just stood there with Clover's assistance, one arm around his shoulder so that she didn't tumble to the ground and get trampled. Overhead, Future floated on ink wings, shouting out uselessly into the chaos. It was hopeless, everyone was terrified! Eden's trembling stare watched as people pushed and shoved, screamed and shouted... Why was this happening? How could she get them to quiet down for just one minute?!
BANG!
Eden jumped when that gunshot resounded, it brought all her swarming thoughts to a crashing halt. Her head whipped up to spot Clover's arm, which he held high into the sky. He'd pointed his revolver straight up and sent a bullet blasting into the sky, and the noise was so loud and so jarring... It brought everything to a screeching halt. All those terrified eyes jumped to the two humans standing at the crowd's center, and Clover was quick to turn his head to Eden. He nodded once to her, and though she had to blink a few times, she shook her head and got ahold of herself before the panic resumed.
"Everyone, I need you to listen now more than ever!" She shouted out into the sea of consciousness, and though it rumbled some, the screams did not resume. No one pushed or shoved, everyone allowed themselves to stop. Eden's words held the weight, they trusted her. Suddenly, the ground under Eden rumbled, and she found herself and Clover rising a few feet off the ground on a pencil pillar. She smiled up at Future as she stood upon that eraser, and he smirked in return and gave the nod of his head. In her hand, multicolored pixels suddenly amassed. She cocked a brow at those building blocks, recognized them as Doctor Badster's handiwork. And though she was confused, she put her feelings aside when a megaphone had appeared in her grasp. She flipped it on and brought it to her lips, speaking out to the paranoid sea that surrounded her. "We are going to make sure that every single one of you gets out of here safely! Our strongest soldiers are out there as we speak, holding the line and fighting to protect you!"
"I know you're afraid, I am too! But to be BRAVE is not to be without fear, it's to feel fear and fight on regardless!" On legs that were still a little shaky, Eden stepped away from Clover and stood on her own. She raised one fist into the air, let the light shine down on that old bandanna wrapped around her hand while she shouted out. "So be BRAVE! All of you, be BRAVE! We're all getting out of here and we're going to do it together!"
"Single file! If you see someone struggling, help them!" Eden's voice ordered through that megaphone. She was a pillar of confidence and reliability for every last person there to lean on. And she stood tall as the masses began to move, she watched with orange eyes as young and elderly were helped up steps and into seats. People were smiling at one another then, moving in a more orderly fashion. The screaming and shouting was gone now, the chaos and panic had been stomped out.
"That beast wants us to panic, it wants us to despair! But we're strong together, and we won't give in! We won't relent! We WILL SURVIVE!"
Defiance by SharaX started playing as Character threw up the both of their arms, sending drills of ink blasting from the sands beside them. That ink spiraled towards Errorphim at a rapid pace, but with the flick of his wrist those drills were no longer ink at all. Reality shifted, code changed, and those liquid tendrils were suddenly frozen in ivory. Character's attack was turned to solid bone in an instant, rendering it useless.
Then, Errorphim waved his other hand, and a tidal wave of that white light exploded into existence. Character grimaced, jumping back and throwing their arms up to guard themself as ERASURE blasted against them. They felt what was supposed to be instant death wash over them, and though it didn't make them disappear, it hardly felt good either. Their eyes twitched with pain, their teeth grit as every atom in their body vibrated. An assault at the molecular level made every nerve in Character's body scream out in agony, and they might have done the same if they were capable of speaking.
They launched back through the air as that light faded, vibrations slowing in their shared body while they dropped towards the ground. Before they could land however, Errorphim darted down from above. He planted one massive hand over their face and drove them right down into the sand, a wicked grin splitting his face as he dragged them across the dirt. He used them like a garden hoe, digging a trench through that devastated desert and tearing the skin of their back apart in the process.
Finally, Errorphim pulled up and dragged Character out of the dirt, only to whip them high into the sky with the flick of his wrist. They sailed up into the air that their Wingless body could never navigate, flipping and flailing for balance. And Errorphim thought that was funny, until those stupid ink hands fired down and grabbed ahold of his shoulders. This straightened Character out, and their furious red eyes locked onto the mad god before those ink arms reeled in, sending them firing down towards Errorphim.
Roaring, Character yanked back one DETERMINATION flaming fist and sent it blasting down at Errorphim's head the moment they'd pulled themself into range. And though his hand shot up and caught their punch without a moment's effort, this didn't slow The Wingless down. Their ink hands released their grip on Errorphim's shoulders, instead swinging inward and wrapping right around his head. Those hands covered Errorphim's skull completely, interlocking their fingers and squeezing! Character pulled back their free fist while they tried to pop a god's head, channeling their DETERMINATION into their knuckles and waiting for him to break free so they could punch him in the face.
Errorphim didn't bother tearing those hands off his face though, instead just pulling back his free hand and straightening his fingers. Character's eyes widened as he jabbed forward with unfathomable speed, drilling his digits right through their flesh and into their abdomen. They managed to suck in a sharp gasp, before seven different lights flickered between the fingers they'd wrapped around Errorphim's head. A flash of power blew their ink hands back off his face, and Errorphim sneered as their blood trickled down his fingers.
Though they coughed up even more red, Character refused to stop. They clenched their fist and prepared to blast the punch they'd charged down into Errorphim's head, when they felt a painful rumble in the abdomen he'd stabbed into. In the next instant, their pupils shrunk in agony, and several cracks and snaps echoed out of their body... Before their diaphragm tore open. Their own ribcage, the bones in their very own body had been forced to move on Errorphim's command, and their ribs swung outward like double doors being shoved open. blood flew through the air as Character's body was mutilated from the inside out, every last one of their ribs having torn out through their abdomen and now protruding from their sides.
And as Character's eyes went entirely white, and the fist they'd raised dropped and stopped flaming, the scarlet soul on their chest flipped to blue. Errorphim's stolen INTEGRITY dragged Character out of the sky that he believed they didn't belong in, sending them firing off the hand he'd jammed into their body and sending them crashing into the dirt. They tore through the earth, a crater exploded out around their impact. Through the sand sent launching into the air, Errorphim's accurate eyes could see Character laying there and gasping for air clear as day.
"Look at you two... How pathetic." Errorphim's sockets narrowed with disdain as he watched Character struggle and gasp in the dirt. Their ink hands pushed into the dirt and shoved them into a sitting up position while their DETERMINATION dragged their ribs back inside their body. Glaring up at Errorphim, Character wrapped their hand around the one rib that refused to curl back in on its own and grunted with pain as they snapped it back into their shredded flesh. Errorphim shook his head at their resolve, it was sickening. "Knockoffs of anomalies, glitches of glitches..."
The air behind Errorphim ignited with golden light, once more orbs of JUST energy filled the sky. Character tried to force their body to move, but it was all they could do to swing one of those ink hands and command a wall of computer keys to start manifesting over their head. Those JUSTICE bolts fired down right through their defenses, plastic burned and a barrage of energy crashed down onto Character.
They were blasted back into the dirt as golden light exploded against them again and again. Their limbs flailed, their body was thrown to and fro as bolt after bolt struck them. Burnt flesh and boiled blood flew through the air, but Character's shared soul didn't give out and it made Errorphim frown. He threw his arm out to the side and the onslaught stopped, leaving Character laying flat on their back in the smoldering sand. And as he floated down towards them, he continued to berate. "You couldn't beat Chara, you couldn't beat the real Character. Now you think you can beat me? Delusional."
"We, are..! The real, Character..!" Character defied, even though they could barely lift their head out of the dirt. The moment that they tried to pull themself up, a powerful aura overflowed from Errorphim. An invisible, godly force crashed into their body, shoving them deeper into the dirt and sending a storm of sand blasting out around the three of them. Character cried out in pain, shutting their eyes to stop the sandstorm from blinding them. "Agh..!"
"No. You're a poor imitation. You're a mockery of the real Character." Errorphim's sockets narrowed spitefully while the world rumbled in fear of his wrath. Overhead, the sky flickered and glitched. Day became night for seconds at a time, stars broke down in binary code. Errorphim's powerful hands clenched to tight fists, his disdain alone made the whipping sands beneath start to break down and ERASE. "A faulty, useless, Wingless glitch."
"A-all this, coming from the trillionth Sans in the multiverse..?!" Character shot back through the crashing air even though they were being crushed by the weight of Errorphim's power. They threw up their shaky arms, wincing a glare up at him while they desperately tried to defend themself against a power they just couldn't comprehend. "Buddy, you're not even the first Sans to get seven souls!"
Finally, Character found a button to push. Errorphim's effortless expression flared with rage, and as that overbearing pressure shoved Character into the dirt, a draconic skull flashed into existence over the mad god. A rainbow of power flashed in its empty eyes, before unbearable white light ignited in its jaws. He had tired of playing with this glitch, and now he would make them burn. Character stared up into that flaring ivory, it reflected in their wincing scarlet eyes just before it exploded out of that maw and crashed down towards them.
Character's ink hands fired out from where they had laid hidden under their back, snapping their grip deep into the dirt outside the crater and yanking Character with max force up and out of that gravity. They were pulled just out of the range of that death ray before it struck the ground, and the moment that beam made contact with the earth an explosion of force blasted out from the impact. This shockwave blasted into Character's body, sending them flinging into the air and away from that molten flash.
Those ink hands lost their grip, Character was flipping aimlessly through the air. Flailing their limbs, swinging those ink hands, uselessly trying to navigate the sky in spite of their lack of wings. But it was impossible, they were Wingless. And the moment that they stopped flinging higher, Errorphim fired out of that dulling white flare at incomprehensible speed. He closed the distance in a single frame, firing his sharp fingers once more through Character's abdomen and bringing them to an instant stop.
"You! Hacker, Demon... Wingless." Errorphim's all powerful voice was a rumble now, not only in his chest but in reality's core. The air flickered around him as he reached out with his spare hand, grabbing ahold of Character's shoulder. The Wingless was frozen in agony, their weak hands wrapped desperately around the wrist of the hand that had punctured their body. Still, Errorphim effortlessly pushed his hand deeper. Divine bone tore deeper and deeper into mortal flesh, Character's eyes were wide and bloodshot from the feeling of those phalanges effortlessly shifting in their organs, tearing deeper and deeper... Four of those fingers shot from the middle of their back, only to curl inward. Binary code flickered and broke around the three of them as Errorphim took ahold of Character's spine, and he demanded to know. "The most wretched and cowardly Angel and Chara... Why do you resist? Why didn't you run?"
"E-eugh..! GaaAAHh!" Was the only sound Character could manage, agony taking hold of their body. They leaned their head back and gasped through the blood that was leaking out of their nostrils and over their bottom lip, their hands twitched and struggled but were unable to move. On their back, those imitation wings dangled limp and useless.
"You couldn't have thought you would win. You never win." Errorphim leaned in closer, the weight of his presence bore down on Character. And when they refused to explain, his wrath brought more punishment. With his hand on their spine, Errorphim once again forced Character's bones to move. They felt their body quake, the very structure that kept them together trembled and fought against the muscles that encased them. Character gargled blood while they screamed, a few of their fingers and toes curling suddenly backwards. Ribs snapped and tore in different directions, their arms and legs fractured. Still, even as he subjugated and damned Character, Errorphim demanded that they answer his question. "So why? Why are you-..!"
Character's brows twitched when they realized Errorphim had suddenly stopped speaking, and they slowly managed to tilt their head up just enough to look at him. Their blurry vision took a moment to focus, but after a few seconds... They realized Errorphim wasn't looking at them anymore. He stared past Character, out towards something in the distance. And he was smiling again. Character let their head fall back, they coughed blood through gritting teeth as they tried to look back at what Errorphim may have been staring at. When they saw it, their eyes widened in horror.
Character had let themself get pushed back too far, and that blast had knocked them a mile into the air. At this height, it was plain to see even to them. The evacuation zone on the horizon, mere seconds from Errorphim with his speed and completely within his reach. But, Character didn't understand. Why were there still so many people there?! The evacuation should have started hours ago, everyone should have been able to escape..! Trembling, Character's hands clenched Errorphim's forearm, and they forced their head to lean back up so they could see his face. His piano grin was wider than they'd ever seen it, and cruelty shined in his all seeing eyes when he looked into their beaten down, desperate expression.
"Trying to do somethin' good before you die... How selfless." Errorphim's skull tilted to the side, his sockets narrowed and his grin widened. Character's challenge had totally distracted him from the evacuation zone he'd spotted earlier, as did those two glitches on the star. But now that he could see that terrified mass of consciousness, it was clear. It was obvious. Hacker and Demon, worthless cowards and useless scoundrels, thought that their lives could be traded for all the innocent souls on the horizon. Unfortunately... "But you two are cockroaches, not martyrs. So I'm gonna kill you last."
Character's trembling agonized eyes widened, their pupils shrunk as despair settled over them. That couldn't be, it couldn't go like this. This was their one chance, the one time they finally chose to do the right thing! He couldn't just take it away..! But Errorphim knew he could do exactly that, and he intended to. Letting go of Character's shoulder, he flicked his hand to the side and released his grip on the spine of The Wingless. Their broken down body slipped right off the hand that had mutilated them, none of their disgusting blood even stuck to his divine body. He set his sights on those Hacker and Demon had tried to protect, and they plummeted down towards the wasteland below.
Weak streams of DETERMINATION steamed off of Character's body as they dropped, their limp limbs were dragged upwards by the winds that they were dropping through. If they just had wings, they thought as their desperate, shrunken pupils stared up at the cruel god above. If they could catch themself, if they could fly with him, if they could defend the sky that he polluted... Their broken body struggled to move, many of their bones were shattered and plenty of their muscles were torn. But they had to do something..! Anything!
On Character's demand, the ground far below them tore open. Two long rows of pens crashed up out of the sands, reaching high into the air in parallel lines. Ink overflowed from the points of those pens, racing out and interconnecting into one large mass of black. And from Character's back, their ink hands launched down on stretchy arms towards that massive magic construct. They rapidly grew just before splashing against the bottom of the long mass, connecting to its pen base. At the same time, the ink flowing out of the pen points hardened into a sharp curve, a vantablack blade.
Snarling their desperation, Character yanked with all their might. And as they plummeted downward, the towering blade that they'd crafted was ripped out of the earth. They spun forward, swung their head down and their back forward and sent that titanic ink and pen sword crashing up through the sky and towards the mad god in an act of raw defiance.
Errorphim had been so preoccupied watching those ants squirm, he'd already forgotten The Wingless that he cast aside. He reached out towards the writhing masses, and golden light started to shine in front of his open palm. It started to shape into a familiar, rectangular box... And then a mass of ink swung up in front of Errorphim, making his sockets snap open wide.
Character's ink sword blasted right into the mad god, and his jaw tightened as its blade shoved into his body. Straight down from his forehead, if that blade had struck a mortal like that they would have certainly been split into two perfectly even vertical slices. But Errorphim's body was too powerful, it did not give. His bones did not so much as chip... But his teeth grit, his sockets were wide. He'd had to tense his body, he'd had to struggle to make sure that blade didn't send him launching backwards. And it hurt.
Multicolored pupils darting down towards The Wingless nearly a mile beneath, Errorphim pulled back the hand he'd reached out to the masses and planted it against the enormous blade that shoved against him. Orange power surged, and light exploded out of that ink sword, blasting it into massive chunks. Then, Errorphim's body shifted and his wings beat, firing him down after The Wingless that continued to defy him.
Once again Errorphim closed the distance in the blink of an eye. A second split, and then he was crashing into Character feet first. He blasted down atop their still healing sternum, crushed them down into the ground and sent a crater blasting out around the impact with an ear shattering shockwave. Character's eyes were entirely white, their mouth agape as blood shot out from between their jaws. Errorphim stood atop them, used them to make sure his divine body never touched the ground. He was above that now, he had wings.
With one finger Errorphim pointed to the writhing Wingless beneath, and another string of PERSEVERANT energy fired out from his finger tip. It wrapped tight around Character's throat, pulling and strangling their pained gasps to an immediate stop. Errorphim's wings lifted him back into the air, and with the whip of his hand he dragged Character through the dirt with the string he'd used to leash them. They tore through the earth before that string released, sending them tumbling across the sand and inevitably skidding to a stop.
Get... Up..! Hacker and Demon thought in unison from where they laid, bloody and broken and flat on their face. They managed to turn their head to look up at the cruel god floating closer, and they shoved their hands into the filth and started to push themself off the ground that their Wingless body was chained to. On their back their ink hands did the same, a few spotty patches of feathers on their knuckles catching in the winds. Keep FIGHTing..! Keep fighting!
Errorphim waved his hand, and from under his arm a skeletal fist made of BRAVE energy fired out towards Character. Grunting, the fusion shoved themself up to their knees, and their ink hands swung forward and snapped shut around that giant energy punch. They dug their knees into the dirt, reached out with their own hands, fought with all their might against that one strike..! Just for another boney orange fist to swing in from the side, blasting into them and launching them on their shoulder across the sands.
C-c'mon..! Move..! Character thought as they laid there, knocked aside and gasping for breath. Even though their nerves screamed for them to stop, they forced their head to lift. They looked up, and they watched as Errorphim began floating forward. Right past them, closer to the evacuation zone. The innocent people that they swore they would protect..! One good thing..! W-we've just gotta do..! One good thing!
Errorphim was floating forward quickly now, dust was kicked up at his sides. His multicolored eyes were locked onto the mob of glitches ahead, he was racing towards them now. Sand turned to mud beneath him, he launched out of the wasteland he'd created and onto the blood soaked battlefield that The Anarchist had left in his wake. Flashing gold, his eyes could see the terrified humans and monsters trying to flee. He could see the face of Eden The BRAVE standing atop that pencil pillar and watching death race closer at mach speed. She had cold sweat beading down her face, and she turned her head to bark more orders at those she wasn't strong enough to protect. "Faster, faster!" It didn't matter. They were all gonna die.
Suddenly, from the wall of dust behind Errorphim, a feathered ink hand fired out. It reached forward and around towards him, and he threw up one forearm to block whatever strike it was planning. That hand snapped shut around his forearm, and it yanked Character right out of the dust, swinging them right around. Now in front of Errorphim and once more blocking his way, Character roared at the top of their lungs. Streams of blood and streams of DETERMINATION alike running off their body, they yanked back their left hand, and in their grasp Demon's machete appeared. They screamed as they stabbed right at Errorphim's head, "WE'RE NOT DONE!"
Effortlessly, Errorphim swung up his free hand. He slapped that blade aside, and its steel crumbled like glass before vanishing to nothing. Grimacing, Character refused to stop. Even as their weapon was destroyed they reached forward, grabbing ahold of Errorphim's raised hand with their own. They landed on the ground beneath him, planted their feet and grabbed his other hand as well. They dug their heels in while their ink hands snapped shut around Errorphim's shoulders, and they pushed with all their might. "We..! Won't, let you..!"
"You don't have a choice." Errorphim promised them, continuing to effortlessly push forward and forcing Character to slide back. They clenched their teeth and their eyes, dug in their heels and tried to stop him... But it just didn't matter. He kept sliding forward, closer to the helpless people at Character's back. People who hadn't killed like they had, people that didn't deserve to die like they did..!
"Grnn..! C-come onnn..!" Character said more to themself than anyone else, lowering their head and pushing with all their might. They could feel muscles giving out, barely healed wounds reopening, blood vessels popping. Their exhausted soul fought with all it had, their DETERMINATION vibrated in their broken body and made it move. Made them fight. "T-this is..! This is our last chance..!"
"And you'll waste it, just like all the rest." Errorphim glared down at them as he spoke. He did not care about their will, he did not care about their redemption, he did not care about the new feathers popping out of the ink hands that could not restrain him. He stared down with unforgiving and all powerful eyes into Character's exhausted, effort twisted expression and he saw a being that did not deserve to exist. A glitch, just like all the rest. A cancer for him to purge. A chaos for him to make into order. "Because you're not strong enough."
"Gnn..! Rnng..! Ghahh..!" Character grunted and growled through a throat that was clenched so tight they could hardly breathe. They could feel tears welling up in their eyes, they knew he was right. They couldn't protect Eden, they couldn't stop Error. They couldn't save anyone, and they couldn't do anything right. After all the chances they'd wasted, they weren't getting another one. Even after all the people who believed in them and all the people they let down... Granny, Asriel, Monster Kid, Eden, Melanie, and even... Even..! Their hands clenched tighter, their feet dug deeper, their weak muscles pulsed with hysterical strength, and Character The Wingless cried out with tears streaming down their bloodied face. "CHARAAA!"
Errorphim recoiled. Something in him flickered, something felt. Red light flashed in his multicolored eyes, for just a moment. And, against all odds... He stopped pushing Character forward. A sudden weakness flooded through his bones, and The Wingless forced him to a stop with brute force. Character threw their head up, they stared right into the red in Errorphim's sockets with their wide, desperate stare. With blood, bruise, dirt, and tears all over their face, Hacker and Demon shouted out with their shared voice. "WE'RE SORRY!"
Power flashed through those ink hands, the fleshy liquid on their backs pulsed before dozens of feathers began popping out. And Character let out a primal, guttural roar as they pushed, beginning to shove the stunned Errorphim back and away from the people they were protecting. Because they had to, they needed to. So long as Character lived, they would not stop. Everything that they had, everything they'd ever done, any of the meager strength they'd gathered, it had to be enough. DETERMINED flames exploded out in patches over their beaten and bloody body, and those feather covered hands clenched tighter on Errorphim's shoulders while they screamed. "WE WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU!"
Errorphim's brow bone twitched, he didn't understand. It felt like his stomach was twisting into a knot, but he didn't have a stomach. He didn't have a heart, he didn't care about these stupid imitations! Furiously he yanked the spike of emotion that had pierced him out of his souls, he pushed that red light out of his eyes and he summoned seven spikes of bone in the air behind Character. His own hands crushed theirs in his grip, and his divine wrath poured down onto Hacker and Demon.
STAB!
The music stopped.
Character's back arched, their eyes went wide. The tension in their muscles released, the intensity in their face disappeared. New streams of tears released, mixing with the blood that was streaming out of Character's mouth and nose. Seven bones had shot right through their back. Divine points tore through the Deltarune branded on Character's back, defacing the symbol in an instant. And as feeling vanished in Character's lower body, all four of their hands released. Those ink hands splattered to useless puddles, and they fell silently to their side without that shocked expression ever disappearing.
Eden's pupils shrunk and a single stream of tears overflowed, her eyes went wide as she watched Character fall at Errorphim's feet. She was paralyzed there, right with all the pirates and all of Demon's students. They all stared in disbelief and despair as a silence fell over the evacuation area... And then Errorphim floated right over Hacker and Demon's body, and continued towards them with a smile.
They weren't running, Errorphim thought that was good. Whether it was because they intended to stand and fight or because they knew there was nowhere left for them to run did not matter to him, the outcome would be the same. Wipe the slate clean, ERASE them even if they squirm. Clean this world, free it from the chaotic chains of infinity.
Future floated down on his own wings, floating on the edge of the evacuation. A pitiful last line of defense he was, without Character's hyper regeneration or the power of his students. Errorphim could see it on his face, in his wide, trembling eyes and the sweat beading down his forehead. The King was staring into the face of his ultimate fate now, and it was cruel. Even still, there he remained. A winged man with a cause to die for. That made Errorphim smile.
Thwack...
Errorphim's smile faded, however, when he felt something wet slap against his ankle. He looked down and spotted a weak, dripping rope of ink curled around his leg. There was no pull, no grand surprise attack. Just a feeble string, trying and failing at tangling him. It barely managed to wrap a single time around his ankle, and all it did was attach some dead weight.
When Errorphim turned his head back, his annoyed multicolored pupils landed on Character The Wingless. They laid there on their side in a pool of their own blood, feebly reaching out with just one shaky hand. The ink that reached out from their raised hand was stained red, tainted by the blood it had mixed with in their veins. Character could hardly even gasp as they stared up at Errorphim with those distant, defiant eyes. Their face was pale, if it wasn't for the ink they'd snagged him with Errorphim would have thought they were already dead.
H-... Have... To... The Wingless didn't speak, they couldn't. It was all they could do to stare up at Errorphim with those dazed, lightless red eyes. Their body was cold, they couldn't feel anything beneath where those spikes had shredded their back and they figured that meant their spinal cord was in pretty rough shape. Even still... Their shaky fingers clenched, and that ink whip tightened around Errorphim's ankle. Have to... S-stop... Him... Just, one good thing...
"..." Errorphim floated there in silence, staring down at Character. He pondered in that moment how he must have looked in his last life time, beaten and armless laying in a pool of his own dust on the void floor. What a wretched fate, what a pathetic end. But he did not feel sympathy for The Wingless bleeding in the mud, quite the opposite. It was cathartic, seeing a form of the beast that had done him in at the end of his last life be so easily dismantled at the start of this one. In fact, he realized in that moment that no torture he could bring to the cowering mass before him would bring the satisfaction that Character's mutilation did. So, he should probably just make it quick.
Errorphim's wings shifted then, and he began effortlessly ascending into the sky once more. Character, refusing to release their rigor mortis grip, dragged across the sand for a moment or two before their busted body lifted up into the air. They dangled useless as Errorphim rose higher and higher, it was the closest they would ever get to flying. But eventually, inevitably... That ink whip stretched, and then it split. Their tether broke, and Character plummeted without a single objection back to the ground that they could never escape.
With a thump they crashed into the mud. They couldn't lay flat with those spikes still sticking out of their back, so Character laid awkwardly on their side and hip. At the angle they were at, their distant eyes were staring right at the train stations that made up the evacuation center. They knew there was still people there, but their vision was getting so blurry. Their senses were fading...
On her platform, Eden's frantic eyes darted between the rising Errorphim and where her champion laid defeated. Character had fought so hard, they had all fought so hard, but... She turned her head, looking out to all the people that still remained. Thousands had escaped, but hundred still remained. And they all turned their heads, they all looked up at her and they could all see the despair written on her face. Mothers clutched their children, destruction was assured. Character couldn't hold out long enough, they couldn't escape fast enough. Eden's shaky hands clenched into tight fists, she could feel a weakness falling over her. An understanding that this was how the world ended, and it was far beyond her control. In her very soul, she felt acceptance that she did not want creeping in. Was this really how it all ended..?
"... Well, c'mon boss!" For the first time in what felt like centuries, someone spoke. One of the teens that Demon had trained, or technically two. They stood on one of the metal sheet roofs above one of the trains, looking out at the dead valley ahead. With a dark blue soul shining on their shared chest, that INTEGRITY fusion cupped their hands around their mouth and shouted out to the one that they firmly believed was the strongest. "GET UP!"
"... Yeah. Yeah!" Beside them, a two in one PATIENCE soul quickly nodded their head. Their fists clenched tight, they pushed back against the unbearable weight of despair, they tried to fight out of their assured destruction with what might they had. They too screamed out across the field, "KEEP FIGHTING! YOU HAVE TO!"
"YOU CAN DO IT!" A third voice entered the fray, Susie had screamed out from the edge of the crowd below. Her voice boomed across the war-torn wasteland, she shouted with everything she and Kris had. "BEAT THIS CREEP!"
"GET OFF YER ASS!" Clover, usually so calm and so reserved, dared to push his chips in from where he stood beside Eden's platform. It was his only option, it was everyone's only option. Character was the only one who could stop the death that was about to rain down, this was their last chance. So, he cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered, "YA CAN'T JUST GIVE UP! YOU RED SOULS NEVER JUST GIVE UP!"
Eden blinked a few times, her wide eyes once more darted between the frozen masses beneath her. People were moving again, opening eyes that they'd clenched tight and uncurling from pathetic and useless defenses. Murmurs broke out, they were growing... A spark of hope, Eden recognized. A tiny little light in the ocean of darkness that Errorphim had poured down onto all of them. Her fist clenched, and she looked to the megaphone still in her hand...
"GET UP!" Future roared from above, cupping his own hands around his mouth. He wasn't strong enough, he knew it. He couldn't regenerate from the injuries that they could, he would be slain in an instant if he tried to stop Errorphim now. Just like all the rest he was helpless... But still, he called out. "GET UP AND FIGHT, CHARACTER!"
Laying there in the mud what felt like a thousand miles away, Character twitched. Their eyes narrowed some, regained a bit of light and tried to focus in. There was noise, a sound. Bubbling, growing, just beyond their receding perception. A murmur... Character's cold, rigid hand twitched. Fingers tried to curl. With everything they had, they focused in on that sound. And as they did, a single thought appeared in their previously emptying mind. ... Fight...
The mumbling of the crowd was growing, it rapidly evolved into an earth shaking roar. All the people Character had tried to defend, the nameless faces that Hacker and Demon had called useless followers and cowardly cultists a thousand times now pumped their fists in the air. They cupped their hands around their mouths, they lurched forward and they screamed until throats were rubbed raw. Hundreds of different voices, but they all screamed together. All their hearts beat as one, and they all wished for one thing. The sound got more clear, and as Character's jaw tightened they remembered. W-we... Have to, save them..! All of them!
Eden's head whipped from side to side, she couldn't believe her eyes. All of her people, all of her soldiers, and even all that remained of her enemies. Every last one of those pirates was roaring right with the crowd, it felt to Eden that the entire world was crying out for a savior. A savior who's name the world knew, a savior who's name Eden knew..! Throwing her head forward, Eden's orange and purple eyes landed on the twitching body discarded at Errorphim's feet. She pulled that megaphone up to her lips, and above all others her voice boomed loud and clear.
"ANGEL, CHARA! YOU'RE OUR HEROES, SO GET UP AND SAVE US!"
Character's eyes snapped open wide, their hand clenched into a fist in the dirt. The chipping and cracking red soul on their chest pulsed with power, and they dragged their heavy head out of the dirt. Scarlet steam started to rise from their shared body, their heart started to pound with all of those chanting their names. And as the cracks in their shared soul began healing, and death's chill receded, Character dug deep into their own DETERMINATION. They focused all of their thoughts, all their hopes and all their dreams on a single goal. The one thing that they wanted, what they needed more than anything else in the world..! Save them..! SAVE THEM! WHATEVER IT TAKES!
Their head whipped up to look at Errorphim, looming in the sky overhead. High above. Where they couldn't reach... No, where they had to reach! Even though they couldn't feel their legs, even though their body was mutilated, even though they had been beaten and humiliated again and again and again! Their soul wouldn't break, Hacker and Demon would not give in! Together they stared down the barrel of their own destiny, and with all the DETERMINATION they had, they wished for it to change.
But Errorphim didn't care about that, it was too late. That knockoff, a hero? Glitched glitches, and weak ones at that. Those cockroaches beneath had hitched their bets on losers, and now they were going to die. Effortlessly, Errorphim reached out with one powerful hand. He smiled, cruelty shined in his eyes and he derived pleasure from the hopes he was about to crush. Those poor fools, they'd all disappear screaming for salvation that wasn't coming. Some of the souls he siphoned power from would say that was more noble than dying crying for mercy, but Errorphim knew it was pathetic either way.
In front of his outstretched hand, golden light once more manifested. It took shape rapidly, became a solid mass of energy. A rectangular box, big enough to make Errorphim's massive hand look small. He smiled wider as he read the word written across the button he'd willed into existence. "ERASE". The slate would be wiped clean, and this pitiful world be the first of many to vanish in an instant. That was his divine will, that was his own wish. And there was not one being alive powerful enough to override it.
With that in mind, Errorphim's browbones narrowed. Confusion washed over him as he watched a few cracks split out from the center of his ERASE button, just as he was pushing his hand forward towards it. The confusion only lasted a split second before morphing into total shock as a blood stained fist fired right through that button, shattering it like glass and defying his divine will!
Roaring and encased in scarlet light, Character blasted their punch right through Errorphim's ERASE button, past Errorphim's outstretched hand, and as he started to recoil they crashed it right into his jaw. Errorphim couldn't understand as his head was shoved to the side, his mind staled as pain blasted through his body for the first time in this new life. His head was pushed back, his divine body was forced to lean and give ground... Give ground, to Character The Winged.
First Death by TK from Long Tosite Sigure began playing.
Wings of ink spread wide from Character's shoulders, their shadow fell over Errorphim as the same hand they'd used to crush his ERASE button grabbed ahold of the mad god's collar bone. Their jaw clenched, their lips peeled back to reveal their grinding teeth. Scarlet flames exploded out around the both of their eyes, the fires of their soul encased their fist when they cocked it back. And Errorphim couldn't understand, he couldn't comprehend what was happening when they sent that punch drilling down right into the center of his skull!
A ring of red light blasted out around the impact, followed by another, and then another. A DETERMINATION shockwave blasted across the sky that Hacker and Demon had dared invade, and in spite of all his godly will and divine body, Errorphim was sent blasting downward. Like a comet he was launched down in the blink of an eye, and though his divine body was never meant to leave the sky, Errorphim crashed into the mud with enough force to send a massive blast of debris exploding up around him. The Ascended Angel had arisen once more in Character, and they had taken their place in the sky and knocked that cruel god into the dirt they were once chained to.
DETERMINED flames burning on their rapidly healing body, Character grit their teeth and tried to withhold the furious, primal noise trying to escape their throat. Their entire body was vibrating, they'd gone from the brink of fading away to having incomprehensible strength vibrating in their bones in seconds. But they'd wished for this power, they'd wished for this reality, they'd wished for these wings so they would control this might!
With the same hands they'd used to punch out a god, Character grabbed ahold of their head. Their muscles strained, their soul flared, their wings tensed... Then, they threw their hands out and their head back, and in an instant ungodly power overflowed. A tower of red light blasted out of them, it reached all the way down to the earth and it blasted high into the sky.
A twisting cyclone of DETERMINATION exploded out of Character The Winged, and as they let out a roar of emotion and DETERMINATION pure and raw, a white light exploded to life in front of that tornado of soul. A familiar shape, one they would no longer deny. And down below, the stunned innocents Character had sworn to protect stared in awe into the flashing storm. Eden's lips curled, she felt her eyes growing teary. That little ember, that tiny flicker of hopeful light was now shining bright in Character's torrent of DETERMINATION in the shape of the Deltarune.
Ralsei was kneeling beside the first body he and Melanie had found, looking down at it frantically. Xander The Gatherer, or what was left of him. His beaten and bruised body was punctured three times, right in his core. What shocked Ralsei more than the sight of his nemesis brutalized however was the ice that had formed in those three wounds, sealing them temporarily to stop the bleeding. Whatever Predator had done, it had been effective. Because though it was weak, Ralsei could in fact still see an in tact red soul on The Gatherer's chest. But his eyes were closed, his body was motionless. Ralsei couldn't even feel his pulse...
"C'mon, Lexi! Wake up!" Melanie's voice was cracking and desperate as she held The Predator's prone body in her arms, kneeling in the sand. By her side, The Angel laid similarly still. Just like Xander, their eyes were closed and their bodies were without a pulse, but their red souls still shun bright on their chests. Melanie grimaced, tears were in her eyes as she shook Lexi's body in her arms. "You have to wake up!"
Ralsei's shaking hands reached out skeptically towards The Gatherer's body, laid out in front of him. Should he heal him? Would it matter? He and Melanie had dug these three out of the sand, Melanie had already healed the gaping wound that had been left in Angel's diaphragm, but... They couldn't heal this! This strange, suspended animation that the three of them were in! They'd gotten all the way out here, they'd even found three of the four they were searching for, but... Damn it, was this all for nothing?!
"We need you! Everyone needs you!" Melanie spoke as she clutched Lexi's body even tighter. Tears overflowed from her eyes, they streamed down her face to her chin and they dripped down onto The Predator's peaceful expression. Despair was washing over Melanie, no matter how hard she fought it. Errorphim had pushed Character all the way out of her sight, she knew they were going back towards the evacuation zone. Had everyone escaped? Were they already dead? Melanie slapped her hand against Lexi's cheek, shaking her harder. "Please! We need you now!"
BOOM!
Suddenly, an explosion of force rocked the world. When Melanie felt the shockwave strike her, her first thought was Errorphim. That somehow the beast had spotted them, that she was about to vanish to nothing... But, when she turned her head and stared into the whipping winds, her eyes widened. The sky bleached red, the world covered in crimson. On the horizon, a tower of DETERMINATION unlike anything she had ever seen before crackled with power. And at the tower's center, a white Deltarune symbol burned bright.
CRACK!
Then, Melanie jumped. Red light flashed like a lightning bolt, right before her eyes. In her arms, Lexi's body jolted violently and suddenly. A blast of scarlet electricity had fired out of her soul, like some magic defibrillator had been used on the culmination of her very being. Ralsei had fallen back onto his hands, because the very same thing had happened to Xander. His broken body jolted and jumped with that electric crash. By Melanie's side, the prone body of The Angel did the same, flailing up chest first with a DETERMINATION bolt.
Over in the distance, somewhere buried in the sand... Ralsei could see a forth red bolt firing up into the sky, likely out of the forth body. The one DoubleKid they were missing... Ralsei and Melanie's eyes looked out to that tornado of fire on the horizon, and they felt hope that they thought they would never feel again. Daring to place that hope, daring to dream for a better outcome, they looked once more to the faces of The Predator, The Gatherer, and The Angel...
And when my eyes snapped open, and I immediately sucked down a lungful of air, the very first thing I saw was a message from The Killer.
*Time to wake up, little Angel. Someone wished to save you.
"Hah... Hah..!" Gradually, that massive tower of power began to fade. Scarlet light was sucked back into the dual soul it had overflowed from, and Character floated there with DETERMINATION crackling off their body. Red flames ignited on their skin, crimson voltage crackled through the X scar that The Ascended Heir had cleaved into their body years ago. The Deltarune on their back burned bright, and the blood was burned off their skin right with the dirt and filth. Baptized in the fires of their own soul, Hacker and Demon's furious scarlet eyes pierced right through the settling dust below. "Get up, bitch! We're not done smacking you around yet!"
Almost instantly an answer came as that dust cloud glitched and shifted. Once a shade of brown to match the dirt and mud, it suddenly shifted to a pure ivory white. Like snow... Or little pieces of bone. In the next instant that wave of bone fragments blasted up from below at breakneck speed, but Character was unphased. With the swipe of their hand, a wall of steel computer keys instantly manifested beneath them.
That shrapnel dinged uselessly off of their defense, before furious white light blasted up from beneath those keys and obliterated them in an instant. From that ivory shine, Errorphim rose back into the sky. He lifted right up to Character, floated across from the new Ascended Angel and let his glare settle on them. He was unscratched, his bones were not damaged... But, there was a little bit of mud stuck to his cheek, and that was enough to make Character grin.
"However horrible you thought your death was going to be a minute ago, it's going to seem merciful in comparison to what I'm about to do to you." Errorphim promised The Winged as he reached up, flicking that mud off his face and making it vanish to nothing. It was clear in his frown and in the colors burning in his sockets, that mad god was furious. That hardly phased Character, though.
"You're bitch made, Error. A couple'a human souls ain't gonna change that." Character said as they put up their fists, wings spread wide behind them. Scarlet color flickered within the ink black feathers, and bolts of red voltage crackled off Character's shared body when they clenched their fists tighter. "You should'a stayed a jar boy. You would have lived longer."
"..." Errorphim didn't speak. He just floated there, glaring at Character... Before he lifted his hand, pointing his open palm down at the colony beneath. The people were refocusing on their escape, and he wasn't going to let it happen. But, before ivory light could even start to flash in his palm, Character was upon him. Their wings fired them forward, their hand wrapped tight around Errorphim's wrist and pulled it up away from those they were sworn to protect, and once more their fist rocketed right into the center of Errorphim's face.
A shockwave blasted out from the impact, and though his head was shoved back, this time Errorphim was not sent launching backwards. That was fine, Character knew as they pulled their knees up to their chest. They sent their feet blasting out, and they shotgunned a brutal dropkick right into Errorphim's ribcage as they released his wrist. Another three ringed shockwave of red, and the mad god was sent exploding back across the skyline.
Character flipped back off of their kick, their wings flexed swiftly to stop them from flying back. And though they knew they didn't have much time, The Winged still looked over their shoulder to the train stations below. Their shared eyes landed right on Eden, she had stood her ground and stayed right on that platform in spite of the storm of power that had raged before her. And with a single proud tear streaming down her face, she smiled at Character. Hacker and Demon smiled right back at her, lifting one hand and throwing a thumbs up back towards her. Then, their head turned forward and their wings beat, firing them after the mad god they'd just kicked into next week on a streak of red light.
Snarling, Errorphim flipped in air and straightened himself out, just in time to reach out and catch the fusion blasting towards him. He caught Character's oncoming punch by the wrist, and when he tried to stab through their chest with his own hand they caught him by the wrist. Character's impact made the both of them launch back, and they spiraled across the sky, grunting and shoving against one another's grip all the while.
Wind whipped by the two of them, godly light and inhuman DETERMINATION flashed and crackled as they corkscrewed over the horizon. Finally, Errorphim's middle set of wings drew back and crashed down into Character just as their back was facing the ground far below, sending them blasting away from him and rocketing down to earth. Character winced, but their wings spread wide, catching them mere feet before they hit the ground and allowing them to soar across it, keeping up with Errorphim from below.
The ground beneath them rumbled, and Character's right wing flapped up while their left flapped down, flipping them over and dragging them to the side just before an enormous mass of bone crashed up out of the sands beneath. The desert kept rumbling, and more and more of those skyscraper spikes of calcium kept crashing up towards Character, who continued to weave hastily between them.
Finally, a massive spire of ivory launched out of the ground ahead of Character, and they flipped in air, slamming feet first into the tower and coming to a hasty stop. Their knees bent as the force of their speed carried through, and as their glare landed on the god flying overhead, their wings flared. Scarlet energy exploded out from beneath, and the ink was sent splattering away, replaced instead by nothing but DETERMINED light. Then, those scarlet wings blasted downward, and with speed unlike any they'd had before The Ascended Angel was sent rocketing back up at Errorphim.
Watching them crack like red lightning up towards him, Errorphim pulled back one of his hands and opened his palm. In his grasp scarlet light manifested a blade that was not his own, and the moment Character got into range he slashed down at them. But Character pulled back their own hand, their own DETERMINATION flashed to life in the shape of their own saber. Sparks shot by when their blade stabbed forward into Errorphim's own, the DETERMINED steel clashing and causing a metal shing as they deflected his slash.
Reaching forward with their free hand, Character grabbed Errorphim by the face and planted their feet on his pelvis after knocking his blade aside, yanking their own sword up over their head and flipping the blade to face down. That sparking scarlet steel crashed right into Errorphim's sternum, but stopped dead against his godly body. The Winged grit their teeth as they shoved against him, trying to drive their blade into his form. White and red sparks fired out around the point of impact, before the air behind Errorphim ignited with a barrage of golden bolts.
Eyes darting up to those JUSTICE blasts, Character's energy wings hastily beat downward, firing them up higher into the sky in the blink of an eye. That barrage of energy fired right after them, and their wings flexed as they stopped in air. Ink once more lashed out of their back and over the energy shape of their wings, reforming Character's black wings just in time for them to fold those ink feathers forward like a shield and stop that barrage of power dead against them.
Character winced as they floated there, blocking that relentless barrage of blasts and trying to think up some sort of counter attack. But, before they could, Errorphim launched up beside them, thrusting one hand down at them. INTEGRITY flashed, and Character was encased in dark blue light and sent firing like a bullet down into one of those skyscraper bones. Their body crashed right through it, blasting out the other side and continuing on its arch towards the dirt while the top half of that bone split and plummeted down to the sands beneath.
Character's wings blasted down, and with all their might they shoved themself up, once more skating just a few feet above the ground. They continued to launch back, streams of sand being kicked up at their sides from their aura as they yanked back their hand and clenched it into a tight fist. Over their head, a massive Beat Cannon appeared. It's three segments spun at high speed, and scarlet steam released from between those segments. Character threw their fist forward then, letting it snap open and sending a wave of red hot light exploding out of that Beat Cannon and up at Errorphim.
Floating high above, Errorphim scowled. Opening his own palm to the blast racing up towards him, another one of those draconic skulls immediately flashed into existence beside him. Its maw snapped open, and the Godly Gaster Blaster sent its own wave of white energy crashing down towards the red stream racing higher. Light flared, white and red strobe lights flashed over the desert as those beams blasted into one another. Electricity crackled, stray beams of light fired off from the struggling plasma waves as they shoved into one another.
Errorphim's jaw clenched, his hand tensed and he command more power out of his Godly Gaster Blaster. A pulse of energy flared down that white wave, and once it crashed into the red stream stopping it dead it finally shoved it back. White light steadily pushed red out of the way, shoving down towards the Beat Cannon beneath. But, before Errorphim could feel too much satisfaction about this, his accurate eyes spotted a shape firing up towards him.
Spinning like a drill, Character swirled up and around the flashing light of those struggling beams, closing the distance rapidly on their high speed red wings. Errorphim recoiled when they shot off the end of those beams, leaning his head back just in time to duck the DETERMINED steel that they cleaved at his head with. He yanked back his own saber of red light, stabbing up at Character with it, only for them to summon another saber in their free hand and stop that vicious strike against its broadside. Their shared eyes glared right through the stolen light of Errorphim's furious stare, and Character roared as they pulled back their free blade and prepared to cleave the red right out of his sockets.
Before they could stab him however, violet strings fired up from Errorphim's free hand and wrapped around Character's throat from behind. They let out a startled "Ack-!" as they were suddenly strangled, before Errorphim threw his hand back. He yanked them right off his body and flung them down towards the earth a mile beneath, and as they flipped back through the air they slashed through those PERSEVERANT strings with the blades of their DETERMINATION. Their wings, now ink once more, flexed with power and stopped The Ascended Angel in place.
Errorphim didn't give them time to rest however, instantly throwing one hand out towards them. PATIENT light flashed in his open palm, and immediately a cyan shine engulfed Character. Their eyes went wide as they were stopped dead there, and Errorphim's wings beat, firing him down at them as he yanked back his stolen red saber. Character grit their teeth and struggled with all their might, their soul flared with their shared power as that cruel god cleaved at their head, looking to slice it in right off their shoulders.
But, at the very last second, Character's body flexed. Their power flared, and an updraft of blinding scarlet light exploded up and out of them, shattering that PATIENT prison. Their head whipped forward and their jaws snapped open, crunching down with savage power on the blade swinging at their head and shattering its scarlet steel in their jaws. Errorphim snarled at the sight of this, releasing the crumbling shards of that blade with the hand that he swung with while opening his free hand.
Hastily the mad god threw up his open palm, right into Character's face. Just inches from their nose, that unbearable white light exploded out of Errorphim's hand and engulfed them. The light of ERASURE washed over The Ascended Angel, their atoms were violently assaulted by power that was meant to destroy all it touched. But, even though their very being was under assault, Character's hand shot out of that white flare, snapping shut around Errorphim's hand and interlocking their fingers with his.
Errorphim's eyes widened as they yanked his hand aside, tearing away the light of his godly power and revealing their furious, unyielding expression. Yanking back their free hand and clenching it into a crackling red fist, Character drilled a punch down at the mad god's face, but he must have finally learned his lesson because he got his free hand up and caught their knuckles in his grasp.
"This..! Doesn't make sense!" Errorphim snarled as he and the fusion spun through the air, each of them trying to shove past the other and get back to clobbering them. They both yanked back their heads, and when their foreheads cracked together another shockwave exploded out around their bodies. "You're just knockoffs! The wings and the fusion doesn't matter, you're still mortals..!"
"Have you considered you might just be a shit tier god?!" Character didn't hesitate to challenge, a mad grin ripping up their expression. Errorphim snarled, and the both of them threw their arms to the sides, releasing each other and launching a few feet back away from one another. Errorphim's body trembled with rage, he didn't understand. Where had this strength come from? Why did these dirty glitches not feel mortal anymore?!
Errorphim threw his open hands out to his sides and arched his spine, and behind him the air filled with brutal bone spikes. He threw his hands forward then, and all of those pikes launched forward at Character at once. The Winged hastily threw in their own arms, and from their hands dozens of ink whips fired out, each out wrapping around an individual bone spike. Character pulled their hands back then, and with them they yanked back every last one of those spines firing at them.
But, the moment that barrage was pulled aside Errorphim shot forward, slamming into Character and driving a spike that he'd summoned in his off hand right through their gut and out their back. He sneered when he saw the way their eyes snapped open in pain, but that grin remained on that fusion's face up until their jaws snapped open. The moment they did, a spike of ink shot right out from their throat, and Errorphim hardly had the time to whip his head to the side before that ink slashed by, cleaving across his cheek. It left a black stain on his godly body, and that made Errorphim's socket twitch furiously.
He swung his skull down and crashed it right into Character's forehead, and they were sent launching back off the bone he'd stabbed them with and towards the ground below. They flew down head first at mach speed, only for a portal to open in their path. They shot right through it, flipping in air to be standing upright as they shot out of another portal right over Errorphim's head and blasting the both of their feet right into the top of his skull, violently shoving his head downward.
Errorphim's body was forced to hunch, pain shot down his spine and it did nothing but piss him off. That hole he'd punched had already healed, and now Character was standing on his head. They smirked down at him as they stood there, had the gall to put their hands in their pockets. Clenching his skeletal fists tight, Errorphim's teeth grit before he threw his head up and straightened his back, trying his hardest not to roar with rage as he released a shockwave of that brutal white light.
Character jumped back, throwing up their arms to guard as ERASURE once more washed over them, and again they felt every cell in their shared body scream out in agony. That orb of white light stretched across the sky before dissipating, and Errorphim's accurate eyes immediately locked onto the fusion floating across from him. Even though their body still twitched here and there, and there were dark marks on their skin almost akin to burn marks from that ERASURE wave, they were still smirking. DETERMINATION steamed off their injuries, they healed effortlessly, and they remained unperturbed.
Errorphim didn't hesitate to launch forward, snarling his fury as he pulled back one fist and sent it blasting at Character's head. They swiftly tilted their head, letting his fist swing over their shoulder and sending their own punch flinging up at his jaw. Errorphim threw his head back to dodge their upper cut, and twin bone spikes appeared over his shoulders, pointing down at Character. The Winged's wings beat, launching them back as those spikes stabbed down through nothing but air.
Errorphim grabbed each of those spikes and shot forward in pursuit, and Character threw their arms out to the side, manifesting dozens of mechanical pencils in the air surrounding the both of them. Errorphim reached them and drove the both of those spikes right through Character's chest, and though their eye twitched with pain, The Ascended Angel's grin did not fade. And though for a moment Errorphim didn't understand, when Character's ink washed blood exploded out of that wound and coiled up his arms with a grip tight enough to crush steel, it became clear.
Those lead pencils all opened fire, but with a green flare an orb of KIND energy appeared instantaneously around Errorphim and Character. Those graphite spikes were three times their usual size, and each of them stuck halfway through the KINDNESS sphere that Errorphim had created, rapidly cracking the defense. Errorphim snarled at this, his furious eyes looking down to the inky blood that was slithering further up his arms and trying to strangle more of his body.
Quickly, the mad god cocked back his head and sent it blasting down right into Character's forehead again, and The Winged was launched right back off of the spikes they were skewered on. They fired through that KIND orb and smashed through a few of the mechanical pencils they'd created as they fired down towards the earth. And as they caught themself once more with a flex of their wings and a shockwave of scarlet light, Errorphim's body erupted with a blast of BRAVE power, blowing apart his KINDNESS bubble and blasting the surrounding mechanical pencils to smithereens.
Character panted red fog as they stared up into the crackling orange sky, their lips still curled up in spite of the blood overflowing down their bottom lip. They couldn't help it, they didn't know if they'd ever been in a mood this good. The holes in their chest were all but healed by the time that arrogant flash of power faded, and Errorphim's multicolored glare settled on them once more. He floated high above, tried to loom over Character. Tried to get them to believe he was a higher being, but they weren't buying it and it was pissing him off.
"Fine, you wanna live like a cockroach?!" Errorphim snarled furiously, throwing one powerful hand up into the air. Overhead, the flickering sky crackled and glitched. Reality twisted, impossible became possible, and something started to form in the atmosphere. Character watched, wide eyed as space stretched and shaped, and a mass of ivory took form. So big it nearly blotted out the entire sky above them, Errorphim had summoned an asteroid sized pillar of bone, and when he threw his hand down it began to plummet towards the planet beneath. "I'LL JUST SQUISH YOU LIKE ONE!"
Character's wide red eyes watched that massive bone start to drop down towards them, they could hear the wind crashing as it broke through the atmosphere. Flames blasted to life on its surface, the light reflecting in Character's eyes while its shadow fell over them. And as they stared in awe, they reached back with out hand, and again huge pillars of pencil launched out of the sands beneath. Like skyscrapers they were, and rivers of ink overflowed and intersected from the points of those pens while ink shot out of Character's absentmindedly outstretched hand. In their head, Hacker couldn't help but think while they watched the fires disappear from that falling bone meteor. ... Y'know, as a science guy, this is kinda fascinating to watch.
*Yeah, sorta romantic. In a "the world is ending" kind of way.
Hacker's smile was on Character's face as he read Demon's answer to his silly thought. Then, their expression tensed, and their grip tightened on the ink handle in their grasp. Grunting with exertion they yanked up, and the earth rumbled and crashed as it tore open to defend from this spatial strike. Out of the dirt, Character dragged another enormous blade of ink and pen, several times more massive than the one they'd swung at Errorphim earlier. With a powerful roar they wrapped both hands around that vantablack handle, and the fires of their DETERMINATION blasted to life over the onyx blade of their colossal ink saber as they swung it up at the attack raining down from the heavens.
The bending, titanic saber slashed up through the sky and towards the surface of that continental bone skewer, and Character's primal roar reached a new pitch when it struck the ivory surface. Instantly, that bone split around the flaming ink blade. It sliced higher and higher while the spike dropped lower and lower, and Character's teeth grit as the two sides of the enormous bone crashed down at either side of them. Sweat broke out on their forehead, they held their breath... And just as the both of those bone halves blasted deep into the earth below, driving hundreds of yards beneath the surface, Character's colossal ink sword slashed out the other side of the massive bone spear.
Character took in a heavy, relieved breath as their grip released on that impossibly huge saber. Immediately it broke apart in the sky above, and chunks of broken pen plummeted down on the wasteland with massive puddles of ink. Character's arms hung limp at their sides, scarlet smoke and flames rising off their flesh. In the next instant, dust blasted up from the twin impacts below, firing over Character with enough force to throw their hair up before they were completely engulfed in the smoke.
Wincing in the thick dust, Character still found themself smiling as they inhaled the polluted air. They caught the golden glow of accurate eyes in the smoke, and in the next instant they were throwing their arm up and catching a spike of calcium moments before it stabbed through their heart. They spun, using that spike to knock away another bone firing at their back, before spinning back around and backhanding the third spear of ivory firing at them into shards.
Character clenched their fists and their wings spread wide, and immediately a blast of DETERMINED aura crashed out around them, sending that blinding dirt blasting out across the skyline and once more clearing the air. The moment they could see they spotted Errorphim barreling towards them, and they didn't even have time to get their hands up before he was driving his fist right into their gut. Their body folded around his impact, and he launched down towards the earth beneath with them on his fist.
Before they could hit the sands however, Character cranked back their fist and speared it right into Errorphim's jaw. His face contorted around their punch, before he was sent blasting off to their left and they spun to face him. Their wings beat powerfully, and again Character shifted their momentum, gliding just above the sands and eventually coming to a stop just a few feet above the earth. Rubbing his jaw across from them, Errorphim's wings crashed down, sending him launching right at them.
He crashed into The Ascended Angel, he caught the wrist of the hand they tried to slug him with and they caught the one he tried to slug them with. Once more they were suspended in the crackling air, grunting and pushing and trying to overpower each other. The unbearable weight of their auras dented in the earth beneath them, flattening the sands into a hardened crater. Bolts of electricity fired off the both of their bodies, scarlet from Character and white from Errorphim, who snarled from between grinding teeth. "Why, are you, still smiling?!"
"What do we have to frown about..?!" Character demanded to know, their elation never faltering in spite of the massive strain on their body. They hardly noticed the red cracks spreading out from the Deltarune on their back and the shared soul on their chest, all they felt was the power rushing through their veins. Some foreign energy was burning deeper in their soul, a power beyond either of their comprehension. Something they didn't know they had, but whatever it was, it had granted their wish. So they smiled, and they floated toe to toe with a Seven Souled God. "We've got everything we ever wanted..!"
"You're going to die!" Errorphim promised, releasing his grip on them and pulling his arms back away. Character did the same, and they both yanked back a fist, just to throw forward dual punches. Their knuckles crashed together, and towers of electricity crashed out across the desert around them. "Alone, left behind! Then I'm gonna kill all your little friends!"
"If you think you're gettin' outta this timeline alive," Character and Errorphim pulled back the fists opposite to the ones they'd just thrown, and again their punches crashed together with another shockwave of power. Errorphim pulled back his free hand and threw it forward in an attempt to grab Character by the head, but they threw their body back, ducking under his reach and blasting both feet at Errorphim in a drop kick. He blocked their kick with one bony forearm, but the impact did send him sliding back through the air. "You've got another thing coming!"
"You can't destroy me!" Errorphim promised furiously, titling his head to the side and dodging the punch that Character fired at his head after they shot at him. His own fist launched up, blasting with brutal force right into the side of Character's head and sending a white shockwave blasting out around them. Still, Character was not sent flying, and the arm they hadn't overextended with that punch launched a vicious elbow right into Errorphim's unbreakable ribs, making him hunch forward some while they were forced to lean to the side.
Character didn't bother refuting Errorphim's statement, instead just yanking back the same fist that had missed a moment ago and trying for another punch. Errorphim's hand shot up first though, and he grabbed ahold of Character's fist before spinning, yanking them with him and sending them whipping at mach speed right into the massive wall of bone that was left by the spatial skewer they'd sliced in two.
Character crashed back first into the bone, and before they could get ahold of their senses Errorphim launched forward. He grabbed ahold of The Winged's shoulders, and his wings beat, sending the both of them firing upwards. He shoved them into the bone, dragging them up the harsh calcium wall and sending cracks splitting up around their impact. Shards of ivory rained down while Character's body was forced to swim through bone, before finally Errorphim reached the halfway point between those two massive pillars and spun. He dragged them off the wall, pulled them up over his head, and threw them with cruel brute force right towards the earth.
The moment Character was out of his grasp, Errorphim threw down an open palm towards the plummeting fusion. Over each of his shoulders, a Godly Gaster Blaster warped into existence with a flash of ones and zeros. Their jagged maws snapped open, white light flared within before firing down at max speed towards Character The Winged. The two of them hardly had time to throw up their arms in a guard before those waves of molten plasma washed over them, engulfing them in their unbearable light.
Errorphim's cruel grin only grew as those death rays crashed down into the earth, creating a shockwave of boiling heat that The Ascended Angel was most certainly trapped within. Those two death rays mixed together beneath him, forming a destructive bubble if ivory energy. Bolts of white lightning fired off of that crackling power orb, the roar of death filled Errorphim's ears like music... Before a loud hum overpowered it.
Errorphim's brows furrowed as he turned his head, before his eye sockets widened. Circling him and the two bone pillars he floated between was not just one, but three rings of those Beat Cannons. Spinning and humming with power, three of The Ascended Angel's seven halos glowed with bright red death. The mad god snarled at this disobedience, he started to wave his hand to ERASE that pitiful attack-!
SLASH!
Pain flashed through Errorphim's bones as Character fired like a bolt of scarlet lightning right by him. They launched out of the roaring agony he'd tried to trap them within, steaming red and immediately healing any wounds he'd dared give them. With a sword of crimson light clenched tight in each hand, their vicious slash sent Errorphim launching higher, and they landed perched on one of the two bone pillars he was trapped between. Their DETERMINATION wings blasted down, and they fired right by Errorphim's body once more, their cruel slash causing a flash of red and knocking him even higher.
Character landed perched on the bone opposite to the one they'd just jumped from, only to immediately fire off it and slash by Errorphim a third time. Then, a forth. A fifth, sixth, seventh..! Character darted back and forth with gruesome diagonal cleaves, knocking Errorphim's writhing body higher and higher into the sky between the two pillars Character was launching off of.
Finally, Errorphim was clobbered up past the both of those bones, and Character launched up by him one last time, their slash spinning him around so he was staring straight up at them. The Winged plummeted right back down towards the mad god, extending one leg and starting a brutal spin with the beat of their wings. They dropped down so fast and Errorphim was so dazed, he hardly had time to start lifting his arms before Character's brutal ax kick crashed down right on his face!
The mad god was sent launching downward, almost back into the range of those shining halos. But his wings spread wide and caught him, his expression twisted with fury as his multicolored eyes landed on The Ascended Angel. Character didn't fear his glare, their own expression intensifying as they yanked back both their blades to their sides. Scarlet electricity crackled up the DETERMINED steel, Character's eyes went wide and their jaw clenched tight. Then, they whipped their arms down and slashed an X, releasing a primal roar as the energy fired off their blades in massive scarlet streaks.
Errorphim's eyes snapped open wide, he reached up desperately and stopped that X of red power against his palms with all his might. His wings flexed harder, his body tensed and his jaw clenched as he forced that crackling energy to stop pushing him downward..! Unfazed above him, Character just yanked both of their blades up over their head. Lightning DETERMINATION crackled between those two sabers, before Character let out another savage roar, cleaving down and sending two more enormous streaks of crimson flames firing down at Errorphim.
The moment those parallel slashes hit the crossed ones Errorphim was struggling to hold back, the force shoved that mad god right down. His wings were forced to curl, his body gave and he was sent crashing down towards the earth. Character threw the both of their hands back as he descended, throwing their twin sabers away and letting them vanish in crackling red before throwing one hand down towards the god they subjugated. Their hand clenched into a tight fist, and Errorphim's head snapped to the side to watch waves of scarlet power blast out of the surrounding halos.
"HAAAAAAAA!" Character screamed out, an updraft of scarlet light blasting their hair back as their Fusion Beat Dome devoured Errorphim in its crimson flare. From deep within, the DETERMINATION slashes that they'd used to cut Errorphim down to size detonated, causing an explosion within an explosion and creating a red halo at the top of their Beat Dome's flaring light. The crashing light engulfed and burned through the bottoms of those bone spikes, and Character watched the two pillars crumble inward and drop down into the roaring power beneath.
For several long moments, the world was colored red. Those cracks tore deeper into Character's flesh, but they didn't care. They kept pouring all of their godly power into that molten beacon beneath, they kept Errorphim trapped for as long as they could. The updraft blew back their hair and tore at what clothes they still had, but still their face was defined by a wide eyed grin.
All the years chasing power in vain, reaching towards the sky and trying to understand... It was too bad that it took so long, but they got it now. True strength didn't come from the desire to hurt, it came from the need to protect. And when Character's eyes glossed over across the horizon, and they spotted an orange flare firing up and out of the evacuation zone, they knew they'd done what they needed to do. Everyone had escaped, they'd given the people they cared for enough time. That grin changed into a modest smile, and Character felt something inside their shared soul relax. Well, look at that. We managed to do something good.
Character The Winged turned their head then, they let their eyes settle back on the crashing power beneath. It was a good thing everyone had gotten out, they thought as the flashing lights started to die down. Those Beat Cannons had exhausted their ammunition, the blast from their slashes was fading out. Their Fusion Beat Dome was hastily vanishing, and the strength was leaving Character's body. They didn't need it anymore, their wish had been granted.
So, Character lowered their outstretched hand. They let their body relax, and they slowly descended from the sky. Their shared scarlet eyes watched the massive cloud of smoke before them, they were dropping down just outside of it. Even outside the blast radius, sand had been scorched to glass. Whatever that power was, it really had been potent. But, it was gone now, Character could feel it. That unidentifiable battery of new DETERMINATION within their shared soul had activated to grant their wish, and now it was gone for good. The music faded out.
That was fine, Character understood as for the first time since they'd gotten their wings, their feet touched the ground. Their fight was over, they thought they might have even done a good job. Punking a Seven Souled God... Yeah, they could die with that achievement under their belt. With one shaky hand Character The Winged reached up, resting their palm over their heaving chest while the crackling scarlet glow disappeared from their body. Their wings slowly dissipated into thin air, and they hunched forward as weakness once more gripped their aching body. ... Alright, cue ball. Show us whatcha got.
THUNK!
It didn't take long. A spike of bone fired right out of that settling smoke, Character winced as it shot through their shoulder. They were knocked off their feet by the impact, dropping back onto their ass and landing leaned against a rock sized bone fragment. Their jaw tightened as they felt their blood streaming down their now limp left arm, and their one red and one green eye glared into the smog, landing on the massive shadow lumbering through it.
"... You're mortal again." Errorphim assessed as he walked out of the devastation Character had created. His feet touched the sands, he was forced to walk the earth for just a moment... Before his wings finally straightened out, and he once more lifted just a few inches off the ground. His body was still mostly unscathed, but there was a burn mark here and there. If Character really squinted, they thought they could find a few chips in his bones. Ha, they damaged a god...
"Y-yeah..? Is that what that was..?" Character arched a brow at Errorphim from where they now sat on the glassed sands. Their face was a little pale, they were dripping with cold sweat, likely from the pain their now mortal body was experiencing. Still, they cracked a smile. "Heh... Immortality felt weird..."
"I don't have any idea how you got ahold'a that power, but it doesn't matter." Errorphim decided, clenching his hands into tight fists. Green lights flickered over his body, those burns and chips in his perfect form slowly healed. His eye sockets narrowed irritably at this, it must have caused him some shame to have to patch up a body that was supposed to be indestructible. That made Character smile a little wider, even as he went on. "It wasn't enough to stop me - not even close. Your flash in the pan's faded, your last wish failed."
"Y-you think, we wished for the power to beat you..? Moron..." Character rolled their eyes, leaning back against that bone behind them and trying their best to get comfortable. They looked so unbothered, Errorphim hated it. Just a bit ago he had the entire world despairing, and now this rotten imitation had the nerve to sit there and insult him..?! Sensing his confusion and indignation, Character looked back to him and explained. "W-we knew we weren't the guys for that job... All we wanted, was a reality where everyone could be saved..."
"Well you failed at that too." Errorphim growled, his jaw tightening. He lifted one hand, and over his shoulder a spike of bone warped into existence. Character's eyes glossed up to it, but they didn't flinch. Their expression was unchanged. Errorphim went on furiously, "You think just because they got away from me here that they're safe? There's nowhere they can hide where I won't find them. After I destroy this world, every other disgusting glitched timeline is next!"
"We already told you, you aren't getting out of this timeline alive." Character stated matter-of-factly, and if Errorphim had blood they thought it might have boiled. Well, then again, Sans had blood, so... Marrow? Yeah, bones had blood in 'em, kinda... Character pondered this absentmindedly, stuffing their good hand in their pocket. Y'know, we could probably just ask..?
"No Character, I think I'm going to be just fine." Errorphim's sockets narrowed, his cruel grin returned. There was no point in this conversation, this annoying glitch was just going to keep running their mouth. Clearly, they wanted him distracted for as long as possible. And though he was a little embarrassed that he'd played along for this long, it didn't matter. Errorphim wasn't going to play their game any longer. That bone spike floated a little higher, took aim on the space between The Winged's eyes. It was time to die. "You, on the other hand..."
Character didn't talk anymore, didn't feel like getting cut off mid quip. They let their eyes settle on that spike, took a deep breath and relaxed. Somebody was going to miss them, they knew that now. There'd be some kind of memorial... Maybe they'd even get a statue? That'd be hilarious. They were smiling again, it probably pissed Errorphim off. But they didn't have anything to frown about, they'd actually had a pretty good run. A nice place to live, good friends, all by the side of who they cared about most. They even got their wings right at the end. Yeah, it was a good life. And that was good enough.
... I love you, Chara.
*I love you too, Angel.
THUNK!
Character's eyes widened, their head leaned back... And their smile grew. That bone had fired down, but it hadn't gotten far. Still a few feet above it's mark, that ivory spike had been stopped dead in a pale death grip. And as Character blinked their tired eyes up at the white mane of the one who'd saved them, Errorphim stared shocked into a furious scarlet glare.
"Hey, fusion." Anarchy's powerful voice addressed Character first, even though his glare stayed on the mad god floating over him. His hand clenched, and the bone that he'd caught was crunched to dust between his fingers. It crumbled down into the burnt sands, and Anarchy's right hand lowered. Character's eyes glossed to his left, they could see he had a white knuckled grip on his crowbar. Their eyes darted back to the back of Anarchy's head when he asked, "What are your names?"
"..." Character hesitated for a moment, their tired eyes narrowed. He wanted their names..? Here they'd thought Anarchy would always be content calling them knockoffs... The surprise faded some off their exhausted expression, and Character took a deep breath before they answered. "... Angel. Angel, and Chara..."
"Well thanks for the wake up call, Angel and Chara." Anarchy didn't hesitate to show his gratitude, even though his voice was hardly friendly. Character's eyebrows rose a little, they had to blink once or twice... Then, their expression relaxed, and they managed a shaky smile. Anarchy never turned around to see it, he didn't have to. He'd acknowledged them, and he'd remember them as they were. Now, what mattered was getting them out of the way and beating the Dwarf for escaping his Flask. "Gaster, take them back to the people that care about them. We'll handle it from here."
Character didn't bother asking questions. They just shut their eyes and relaxed as best they could in their achy body. Looked like they were getting outta this one after all... Eden would probably be relieved. That was good, they'd hate to make such a tough lady cry. A new gravity grabbed their body as a portal opened beneath them, and in an instant Character The Winged had vanished from the battle field, that portal snapping shut behind them.
"Anthony The Anarchist." Errorphim smiled as he said the name, shaking his head. He crossed his arms over his chest, floated a little higher. He saw it as a way to show power of Anthony, but Anthony saw it as him trying to create distance because he was afraid. Regardless of this misunderstanding Errorphim continued to sneer down at The Anarchist, "Gotta say, I didn't think I'd catch a freak like you playing hero."
"Oh, Dwarf..." Anthony's previously irritated frown curled suddenly into a wicked grin, and his scarlet soul flared to life. His blood was vibrating, he could feel the excitement in his bones. All this time, crushing everything in his path, never breaking a sweat... Could Errorphim handle it? Whatever he was, he felt different than the rest. That godly presence resonated with The Killer's Bastard Son, he felt it and knew it was similar to something in his infinite soul. So he grinned, his pupils shrunk and he felt his hair bristle and rise. "There's nothing heroic about what I'm gonna do to you."
"What we're gonna do to you."
Anny's eyebrows rose when my voice cut in, he threw his head back and looked to his left with a giddy smile. Beside him I floated down on four onyx wings, my body was already crackling with red light. Whatever exhaustion and pain I had felt after fighting through Frisk and Xander, it had disappeared. My soul had been jump started, and as my scarlet glare landed on the mad god, I was certain that meant death for Error.
Anny's head whipped to his right then, he watched with increasing excitement as Lexi The Predator dropped down from above, landing right beside him. Her ice tiara reflected the scarlet light in her eyes, one of her hands was clenched into a tight fist and the other held her scythe over her shoulder. She planted her feet right with us, and together we all stood in defiance of Order's Mad God.
In the next instant, a pillar of DETERMINATION exploded up out of Anthony. His vicious stare settled back on Errorphim while he released the pressure of his soul, firing a red beam high into the flickering and glitching sky. Next, to his left, my own soul ignited, firing another tower of crimson into the atmosphere. To his right, Lexi's own power exploded, and in moments the world was tinted red. Three towers of DETERMINATION loomed before Errorphim, but his smile didn't fade.
The world rumbled and shook, glass shards crashed through the air with the dust and sand. Debris was sent blasting away, across the wasteland that had been left in our wake. Then, Errorphim's wings flexed, and a massive tower of ivory light blasted up into the sky before us. It was huge, wider than the three of ours put together. But it's shockwave did not disrupt our footing, the multicolored lightning that fired out of it could not pierce the cyclones of our DETERMINATION.
The entire world rumbled around us. The sun no longer shined on this place, the only light in that moment was red and white. The only noise was the roaring of our power. And though we were face to face with impending doom, and we really did have to fight a god... I turned my head, and I looked to Lexi and Anthony. Then, I looked forward, and managed to smirk just a little. I'm glad we're doing it together.
Me, Lexi and Anny were alone with Errorphim now. With nothing but wide open fields surrounding us, this dying world was our battlefield. No one to protect, nothing to preserve. If this reality crumbled around us, so be it. We had to go all out, every one of us. That's why we'd been revived, that's why we stood together. It was up to us to save the world now, and in unison we all thought the same three words.
WHATEVER IT TAKES!
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