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Power generator aside, Elmegiddo's summoning machine consisted of three layers. The central lake at the bottom, which concentrated the distorted space of the ancient battle. The floating island was the focus and pull. Above that hovered the portal itself. Right now, Zelas worked on the lake side on hardware facets, while Rangort tried to direct hir monks and angels to adjust the more ethereal aspects on higher layers.

With Val gone, they were left only with the old instructions that might be wrong. It was likely that Volphied and Valgarv would not have left hints for anything that allowed their pawns perfect control. So now they tried actually figuring out what everything did and how, working from hardware up since all software codes had gone with Valgarv. The Aqualord had a few clues given by Val, but that was it.

The second layer gave the most problems, since they had no lead on what exactly provided the pull. It was neither astral not physical, but it was something that worked like a hook. Shoot it in the guts of the fish and pull too hard, and the meat just tears apart. Erratic deities was the last thing they needed.

They planned to do a specified summoning soon, using the piece Lina and Zelas had taken apart. Zelas. With Zelas having control of it, that was the safest.

Well, having ... it was hers to master yet. While the beast swarm was obedient and could understand speech, they were not independent beings. They could not adapt, needed constant input and froze up when presented with situations they had no instruction for. They felt and thought nothing of their own, yet moved on some sort of sentience shared with all but Zelas. Or maybe Lina controlled them after all. Had she done something different? Was that possible, even if Zelas had instructed Xelloss to approach fusion with the exact outcome in mind? Had she unwittingly cooperated with her own trap? What else did she not know about Xelloss and Lina?

Concerns such as those might have consumed Zelas if not for more immediate distractions, such as the delicate crystalline data sheets of a motherboard she handled right now.

"And another thing! You're not as fantastic as your servants think you are, they just don't know any better! You either created them, or got them from the service of worse."

Filia insisted Zelas should order Dilgear to help sniff out Luna, which Zelas had exactly zero interest in. For crying out loud, she had allowed Luna to carve into her emotions. She had needed it. Nothing was better than avoid Luna in any and all ways. Luna took that hint, she wished Filia did too.

"They are my pack," Zelas snarled. Well, honorary members. Really, she and Xelloss were the only ones that counted when it came to the wolfpack.

"Ha! If that's so, why don't you act more like it? Didn't you declare to miss Luna that she's now part of your pack? You should be more worried."

It would be supremely bad to lose her temper now. Careful, she replaced the sheets and started taking apart the next row. "Well well, you certainly appear informed. What else passed between the lady corpse and you?"

"Just your exorcism. I don't know much about how your devil magic works, but there was a distinct sense of you having added miss Luna to your pack."

Fantastic, now there was a holy soul who could pick up on thoughts behind spells. Somehow.

"You know, maybe you did something that made miss Luna act so weird. I can only clean away devil energy, not its effects."

How she would have loved to drain that accusation, but she wasn't certain what exactly had gone down. Possession meant pushing down a human's weakened mind. On a purely cognitive level no devil was stronger than an organic mind backed up by a cycling soul. Luna however was a unique kind of chimera and even her human side was atypical. She hadn't meant to possess her and could not even tell when it had started.

She caught the noise of one of the hovering platforms descending, so let it go for now.

"Hey, what's up with all the angry faces?" Gourry asked when he jumped off his lift.

"She won't let mister Dilgear help us track down miss Luna," Filia said. "Even though it's most likely her fault she's got ill."

"Lina's sister got ill? Wasn't she always already?"

Zelas stepped away from the motherboard and closed its shield. "Yes, more than just ill, but that is not of importance. Why did you come down, mister Gourry?"

"The big worm said we gotta change the pipes for the generator to something about — wait, they wrote it down." He handed Zelas a complicated map in simplified northern language, too simple for one of her caliber. Evidently it had been written by one of Rangort's monks.

They'd discovered a protocol that could adjust and specify the summoned aspect, but it would only activate once security measures were taken. One of those was the alignment of the spacetime of the Red and Black Worlds, since the planets in both universes moved at slightly different paces. With simple worldly technique it was impossible to measure true speed in relationship to the universe itself; speed could only be measured in relation to other objects within. Even the astral world was anchored to the planet. However, if one tapped into the staffs that upheld the world, it was possible to calculate absolute location.

The machine was only supposed to summon and contain deities, not send them elsewhere. The fact that it nevertheless required the alignment only enforced what the Aqualord had said, about someone trying to get through last time Valgarv opened it. Connecting to the Black World had to happen before any of the other programs would work.

This was an excellent time to see whether she could do something about that, which would be done on the second level where aiming took place. Maybe Filia would finally take the hint.

Zelas followed Gourry up and let him try to explain things he didn't understand. Filia didn't follow physically, but of course she had teleported there once Zelas and Gourry arrived.

Zelas pointedly ignored her and went to find those damn pipes. Working on hardware wasn't pleasant for a devil, being so close to tools, but it was more tolerable if she did it to divert herself.

Gourry hovered around and chattered with Naga, who was in charge of earth reconstruction. That was acceptable noise. The pacing that Filia started doing behind Zelas was absolutely not.

"Must you do that?" she asked five minutes later.

"I'm waiting for Xelloss to get back so we can do something."

And she kept on pacing. Zelas tries to ignore it, both the sound and the nagging realization. Xelloss was going with her, if not stopped.

Zelas didn't dare make guesses about the course of anything anymore, but it wasn't much of a guess that Xelloss's pack concept was looser than her own.

Earlier this day, Xelloss had gotten it into his head that he had to heal Filia's hands; apparently Luna now knew how to do that kind of thing, because why not. She'd been finding new ways to use her power ever since Zelas had plopped her on Orun's dance floor. Zelas had given Xelloss the time off so he could observe what her new powers were, which interested Zelas ... from a distance. It was the kind of giving permission that was normal, creator to priest, nothing like herself telling Luna to yes, please mess with my spiritual reality, frail little human.

Zelas understood the reasoning of her own mind at the time, that didn't make the decision any less repulsive. Likewise, she could spin some sense into Xelloss's decision, but didn't stop worrying what that meant about pack integrity. Those who could be a threat shouldn't matter in any way except their status as enemy.

She could just tell Xelloss to stay away from the dragon ladies unless fusion was needed. That might even increase the likelihood of him not ruining anything else. Then again, something unexpected might happen again. Was that risk worth it?

Maybe not.

"Perhaps you might do a useful things until he returns, such as investigating why Vrabazard acts so much more erratic? Some time today would be beneficent," Zelas said to Filia. "Such as right now."

"I still can't just speak to Vrabazard when he's like this, you know. How long is it even going to take before the gods are normal again?"

"How would I know?"

"You made this machine!"

"How would I know, you ignorant dragon, when I was following the instructions of an otherworldly god whose exact intentions we have yet to fully understand?"

"Hmmmph." Filia crossed her arms. "Well, either way I can't just go ask Vrabazard and I'm not teleporting in the middle of two wrestling gods. Maybe you should ask miss Luna, she can link to Vrabazard much better."

"You might not have noticed, but she is not here." That one was just to needle her.

Filia turned away, directing her pacing elsewhere. "That's why we're trying to fi—"

She froze up and stared, a tinge of fear in her emotions now. Zelas joined her at the edge of the platform.

Small but clear to her beast eyes, down there was Luna Inverse.

"Poodlywoo! Where are you?" Luna unfolded her wings and circled higher. "Come on, who's a good wolf?"

Zelas's fist clenched around the particle she held. She reaffirmed her decision not to become upset about such juvenile taunting. At six thousand years old she was better than letting a mere foul word get to her head, more experienced with the challenges of the world, she hadn't spent a thousand year frolicking but had born patience and before that plotted and—

"Poooodlywoooooo!" Luna howled like a wolf.

The particle pulverized in her hand, but Zelas was definitely better than starting to argue about a name. Putting her face on bored neutrality, she calmly and evenly said, "WHAT?"

Luna looked up. "There you are."

Luna flew up. It didn't escape Zelas's attention that Filia was strangely quiet.

Zelas carefully smoothed into boredom and stepped back to give Luna room to land. "Luna. I would have you answer where you have been after that stunt with Leyunso."

Luna folded her hands behind her back, wings still out, and sauntered closer. "Oh, let's just say I was really curious. Did you know there never was a Sage of Siephied?"

"Hmm." What a curious topic. "I presume you know this because you stole part of her astral body?"

"Oh, I suspected it earlier. Leyunso said and did certain things, right, Filia?"

Filia stared at her as if trying to solve a puzzle.

Now Luna was closer, Zelas could detect her emotions. Grief did not match the smug pride her body projected.

"Miss Luna, what's the wrong with you?" Filia asked.

Luna's entire astral body twitched in a disturbing way.

Filia closed the distance between them, but Zelas grabbed her hair and pulled her back. "Stay. What may be wrong with her could be wrong for us too."

"That's quite right." Luna spread her arms. "But it'll be okay."

Her astral power folded closer into itself. The flayed dragon skull grew flesh over itself. Human eyes tried to grow in the eyesockets and patches of pale skin emerged — like a human face poorly fitted on a dragon's skull. Contrary to that, her wings turned from dark red to dark grey and gained softer feathers.

"A-are those Valgarv's?" Filia stammered.

Luna just said, "Nah, but I think Poodlywoo will be interested anyway."

"I doubt it." Zelas whistled sharp, a signal agreed upon when the workers had decided on how to communicate with the disconnected gods.

On cue to the signal for immediate attention, Rangort uncurled from the upper level. While lowering hirself, a line of hir monks teleported up to them. Zelas pulled Filia along as she stepped back.

Rangort might be detached from the flow for the most part, but due to being closest to the planet's core element, hir monks had figured out a little connection . The island was earth enough for it to work. Before Zelas had claimed Luna as personal emotion-culler, the monks had often wandered just beyond the edge of Luna's sight range, driven by curiosity. They had an idea what to do already.

Zelas could only see the reach of the monk's magic, but when Luna's physical body slumped down it was clear they had gotten in quickly.

For a few long seconds, nothing moved. Drops of holy flow began to connect between Luna and Filia, but before that could mean anything, Rangort opened hir jaws filled with power.

Filia cried out. Zelas hesitated.

The god stopped on hir own, becoming utterly still. All the monks fell over. Most scrambled back on their feet immediately, just to gaze at Luna or Rangort in utter confusion.

Luna's astral body stabilized and her physical body stood up. She dusted herself off.

It had been an act.

"Rangort, go activate the machine's upper part," Luna said. "Call mode first, then we do the blender."

Nothing happened. Luna tapped her foot, then grabbed the nearest monk and set her hand on his solar plexus. On the astral plane the weak connection between god and saint set ablaze. Rangort's projection grew more eyes and emitted a weak hum, while thin extensions grew. Extra senses, all in service of Luna.

They connected and stayed that way when Rangort spiraled up to the portal. Not to the main controls down below. There, Rangort tore the upper level apart and began to rearrange it in a way Zelas didn't see sense in.

Zelas adjusted her projection to warrior wolf.

"Miss Filia, could you go in there and reach her?" she whispered to Filia.

"I already did. Volphied is guiding her."

Volphied.

Greeted, next unexpected thing. What took thy so long?

Time for reordering the facts, don't panic. Luna was Volphied's ally, one way or another; it was unlikely Filia lied about this. Not approaching Rangort directly, but letting Zelas call hir in, had been a set up. Luna could apparently dominate the gods and was the likely reason for Vrabazard going out of control. It stood to reason that the healthiest god would go deal with that, leaving Rangort here. The timing being just after Valwin left to the west might even be intentional.

This was far more strategic than expected from Luna, more befit to the plan Volphied had given to Valgarv.

Zelas caught a glimpse of Naga turning into a bat and flying out of the main hall. Nobody paid attention to her. She'd try to find Lina, who better be doing something worthier than gorge herself somewhere.

Zelas prepped up the surrounding space to warp herself with Filia away, the moment Xelloss showed up; she doubted she herself could fuse magic with Filia. Until, time to stall.

Chin up, she looked down on Luna. "What are you Volphied's general for, lady corpse? You believe you can be immortal after all?"

"Yesssss," Luna purred. "Don't say that like I'm pursuing the impossible. After all, I already got rid of miss impossible."

A sharp sting of panic behind Zelas almost made her turn, but she didn't lose focus on Luna.

"Where is Lina?" Gourry paced up next to Zelas, all of his easy nature gone. Too riled for fearing her, he locked eyes with Luna. "What did you do to her?"

"Same as when she was little, Gourry. I suggested her she go see another world and helped her take her first steps."

Lina Inverse might just be dead. Less a loss of a loved one for Zelas than a definite point behind her thesis.

Just as Zelas was about to throw all immediate plan in the wind and flee, someone too familiar called out, "Zelas, do not speak. Stay put."

It was done.

All the should haves crashed down on Zelas. Should have fled, should have figured out Luna had back up, should have figured out she could fuse magic with others, should have figured Vrabazard's sudden rage was suspicious, should have, should have, ... but cannot, because she was only a tiny demon with a limited mind when the Lord of Nightmares was greater than all the worlds combined.

Gourry pulled out his sword, but Luna teleported behind him. Luna tried slicing him with her wings, but he cut them down with his sword. So she simply projected full dragon around him.

Zelas couldn't see more, but the scream told her this too was over.

Should have just killed Luna Inverse.

Luna dropped the body without ceremony as her projection faded. She set the corpse ablaze. If that was what she'd done with Lina too, there was no hope of reviving the Apostle.

"Heh ... it's easier with people I don't know much," she mumbled.

Lei Magnus walked into view, first on the astral plane alone. A second piece of Shabranigdu hung crudely crafted onto Lei's original astral body. Trace light of a world shard shone from the seams. This piece of Shabranigdu was still all devil king, untainted like the blended Lei Magnus. There could be no perfect merging between them.

It had to be the piece she and the Sage of Siephied had sealed millenniums ago, it was the only one accessible on the planet outside the island. There were no traces of the human soul that had once helped restrain Shabranigdu, however. Had Lei destroyed him, or ... no, Shabranigdu was gnawing on the soul barrier, wasn't he? She had seen similar flow when Xelloss had returned from his first dream stunt. She'd thought that a horrible wound at the time, but she reconsidered. That had been an inversion, this was rot. Lei wouldn't last long.

When his human self passed by he looked shabbier than ever, wearing only cheap modern clothing. The Zenaffa weren't around; either they'd ditched him or he'd been forced to teleport. One of his eyes appeared a little more human than all red other. Gone was the imposing dark sage, this man was just tired and cursed.

Rangort's monks decided it was time to do something at last. Their collective attack was easily swept away, but the distraction allowed a few of them to teleport away before Luna noticed. She intercepted two, but no more.

"They'll warn the Aqualord," Lei said. "Get this machine going, Luna."

"That's Rangort's part," Luna said, vaguely gesturing up.

Lei pinched the bridge of his nose. "The Earthlord is disconnected from the flow, right? You said the core controls are at the lack down below. The god is above us."

"Yeah, but I think there's an extra mechanism up there? It's blurry, Va- I didn't get all the explanation during the tour."

"Valgarv's tour?" Filia asked. "Why are you doing this, miss Luna?"

Lei cast a curious look at Filia, but didn't move on it. Luna feigned a curious expression, but didn't feel it.

"Right, you're ... you should have left, but I have something to say."

"Is this going to take long?" Lei asked. "I'm all for dramatic conversations about treachery, but only when I'm sure to be winning."

Luna raised a finger for him to wait. Lei rolled his eyes, but did stand back.

"You wasted your chance for true change, little lady," Luna said.

Filia's eyes widened when she realized. "Va—"

Luna was quick to cut her off. "A little, mostly just passing along a message. You know how mothers always die when they're not bad in this world? You're alive because you never were a real mother."

Zelas hadn't been eating, but the absolute shift in Filia's mental state was hard to miss when she stood so close. Filia's emotions both sank into hopeless and igniting a growing fire. Through gritted teeth, Filia said, "You have no right, Valgarv."

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," Luna said. "I'm only here."

"Luna, two things," Lei said. "First, do we need her? Second, why are you passing things for this Valgarv person?"

Luna rocked on her heels. "I don't want to kill her and she's not getting in the way."

"That doesn't answer either question."

"I don't think she can," Filia said. "Miss Luna, fight it, please! This isn't like you!"

"It isn't me, but who is me anyway? I can't tell with all these holes. Y'know in Sailoon, Val didn't so much pick a fight for kicks as that he just ate part of me. T'was to create a more solid thing for the white lady. The real one : a little bird caught by a mere cat. Pretty, no? He had a hole to fill and now I have that part back. People are just parts cobbled together, so what does it matter?"

While Lei looked on in growing confusion, Zelas's own confusion died out. Volphied's avatar had been under her nose all along? Val's innocuous fixation on birds had not been so harmless, had it? Couldn't unexpected things be something nice for a change? How easy it would have been for Xelloss to kill those birds, if only they had the slightest clue something was amiss with them.

At that moment, Rangort finished prying open the gate, then spiraled down to connect with the controls below.

The pillar shot alight in a pale silver.

"We'll talk more later," Luna said. "Ragradia will be here soon."

Lei sighed in exasperation. He didn't need to wait long.

With little more than a rush, the Aqualord slipped into Elmegiddo. Her massive dragon form manifested between the top two layers of the machine, close but not close enough to touch Lei's astral body.

"Aqualord, we'll have our rematch today." Lei didn't raise his voice, hardly seemed to care. His astral body expanded on one end as if that Shabranigdu tried escaping, but he pulled it back in control with ... he had the demonsblood talismans. Fantastic. Just fantastic. Nothing went right today.

Zelas threw all her thought against the order to stay. Stay here, where, for how long? Could she get out? Could she stretch when she knew exactly what he meant? She had to—

"Zelas, help in all ways you can to prevent the Aqualord from touching the machine."

She cemented her warrior projection and threw herself at the Aqualord, right after Lei projected a twisted two headed Shabranigdu. She remained small while Shabranigdu encased the inner layers of the machine as a wall of flesh. His erratic force meshed poorly with her precision, her first hit was a stray blast from Shabranigdu. Combat had never been so detestable. All the small intricacies of survival defied the command; she wanted to get away and save herself, but doom everything. Instinct did not fully obey command and the Aqualord did not hold back in the least.

Survival had never been a matter of going through the motions so much as this.

She lasted until Vrabazard poured in, bringing along a storm of fire. Zelas drew back just to launch herself at the Aqualord, ramming her into the other god. It gave Vrabazard a chance to wrap around her, pulled her along out, no regard to whom else got hurt. She burned and could not do anything about it. All ways to help Lei meant ignoring her immediate pain.

If she could, she would turn all of this back on Shabranigdu and Lei.

Once Vrabazard had pulled the Aqualord out of the tower, Rangort barreled hirself at the Aqualord. Both energy attack and astral body pushed the Aqualord out. The possessed gods pinned her down in the water, at which point Zelas was released from the command. There was nothing left to prevent and the order to stay had been revoked.

Stop projecting-stop. She had to stop, she shouldn't be falling, gravity shouldn't matter.

Dragging herself across the layers of the astral plane scorched her, not unlike Vrabazard. If she could just do it quicker—"

Lei Shabranigdu's voice thundered across the shore. "Zelas, return!"

She stopped. She had to stop. She couldn't stop.

Her projection solidified and she flew back the slow way — the only choice she could still make.

The Aqualord writhed in the water close to one of the sealed pieces of Shabranigdu; the one Lina had broken not too long ago. All the extra drones now gathered around it, eyes on Zelas.

She howled at them, or it, forcing the meaning of staying free within it. More she couldn't do before Lei called out again.

"Be silent!" he called, and then quickly added, "Unless I ask you a question! Answer those!"

He'd been thinking his orders through better, or maybe he'd gotten advice.

When she returned into Elmegiddo, someone had killed most of Rangort's monks. The angels had either dispersed or had met the same fate.

Zelas stayed afloat just barely within the tower, staying as far away from the gate as possible.

Lei had been given control of one of the elevating cylinder, while Luna took Rangort's place at the bottom level. Filia was with the four monks who had survived, trying to heal one on the brink of death. She still survived, but there was no sign of Xelloss.

Luna opened the doorways in either end of the hall, through which they had planned to bring in the hosts for merging. Lei Magnus went out one way first. Soon Lei returned with one of the hosts, which he tossed into the central lake. Then the next, this one accompanied by the beast swarm. The bodies followed what remained of the core, taking nor giving any initiative otherwise. Zelas wanted to speak, maybe steer them against Lei or have them send a warning, but right now she was just like them. Complacent and without will.

After Lei threw the next host in, he rubbed his hands clean on his robes. He cast worried glances out at the sea, where the Aqualord inched closed to the island. Her advantage as a healthy god could be felt, Zelas could only hope she would make it.

"No reason to be nervous, it'll be over soon," Luna said. She held out a flame on the edge of her wings. Lei joined in his darkness. Fusing their magic, they cast an extra barrier of the the central lake's surface.

Once Luna could let go active control of that, she returned to her position at the controls. Crystals had grown on the broken panel, which Luna jammed a bleeding arm in.

"Here goes all or nothing," Luna said.

"Don't joke about the nothing," Lei said. He was just afraid.

A thundering sound echoed through the tower. At the top level, raw force she had no name for pried open the walls of the world and struck a path beyond it.

Zelas had expected a display similar to Xelloss's reports of the mission seven years ago, a terrifying mass pouring out, either dark or light.

After nothing happened for almost a minute, what they got instead of a demon was a tiny human woman falling out. Freckled with brown hair in waves, she looked ripe for the outdoors. Yet she wore a grey suit and strange biomechanic additions, looking neat and alien more than wild and lively. Zelas didn't know what to make of her.

The human landed on one of the smaller floating cylinders. It lowered her to the second level. She hopped down before it stopped and looked around on confusion. Finding none, she peered down the edge.

"Hey, you guys are supposed to be up here!" Somehow the voice carried even though they were so far and had no magic.

"That's the old plan! Valgarv's dead and we got no doves, so we're doing this manually!" Luna yelled, using her magic to force the sound up.

"Aww, no," said the person. "I'll be right with you."

The cylinder descended until it stopped before the outcrop of the control panel.

She landed on her toes, clicked her heels and saluted Luna and Lei. "Leticia reporting for duty. Other than poor Valgarv's demise, are things well?"

"Who is this?" Lei asked. Zelas was too far away to sample emotions, but hoped that really was the suspicion it sounded like. It was about time.

"Ally," she said. "Apostle of a different bend that my little sister."

"You can say that again," Leticia chuckled. "Best way to keep from being swayed by Her : order. It helped my Black World a little too much because now we have these messes of deities, but what can you do?"

"You could explain what you're doing here, for starters," Lei said.

"I'm just a little bit of back up and a pinch of key." Leticia clapped her hands together. On the sound, a bright sphere expanded between her hands. "Really, don't mind me. You're about to meet someone more important."

She winked and stepped away from the sphere, standing aside with her hands behind her back.

"Zelas, stay near me and be ready to fight," Lei called.

Zelas landed at his side, not sure what to fix on as enemy. Volphied's holy presence, despite having magic, could be felt in her physical projection, but Luna was more likely to be the threat. Just after she landed, a holy ripple went over her back and wings. Filia had teleported in behind her.

"This is not what you told me would happen," Lei said to Luna.

"It's a surprise," Luna said. "You might even like it."

The sphere took the form of a human woman, clad in a white gown with red ribbons. Two cloaks flowed below her hair, one of waving cloth, the other rows of feathers springing from two red gems. Mint green hair fanned out. To many human eyes, she would be every inch the goddess of light.

Meeting the glare of Lei, she said in a most soft voice, "Do not fear, I am your ally if you will let me."

"Really, Night Dragon?" he said, "You know you had to hide, so why even bother pretending now?"

She held up a placating hand. "Please don't mistake the mirage you spoke to before for me. My avatar of this world was destroyed before Valgarv even reached Kataart. What you met was a projection by the child, who had been programmed to deliver a message. Without me, all he could do was relay rough information on basis of Valgarv's knowledge, who himself was not awake at the time."

Lei crossed his arms. "Let's hear the truth then, because I'm very interested how you'll explain the part where you once tried destroying my world."

"It is a similar story as your own, Lei Magnus. You know what it is like to be a chimera, how it poisons your identity. We were not the clearest of mind at the time, incomplete as we were, so Valgarv could compel us to destroy what he hated in the time it took us to enter this world entirely. We had never entered in our entirety. Once we were whole, we would not end the world, just empty it. There is only astral and organic life on this one planet, it would be as easy as traveling to your moon, taking off a piece of it and hurling it to the surface of the planet. It would result in an global extinction that nevertheless leaves the planet whole.

Dugradigdu and I did not agree on what to do with it, but Valgarv tipped the scales to me : we would reformat life in a superior way and program it so there will be no strife."

Lei doubted, but in Filia the anger reaching boiling point. She stepped past Zelas.

"Mister Lei, wait. What proof do you have they will simply reform the world? Valgarv has always spoken of purification, one that would involve recycled souls, all old identity lost. That child you saw, I used to be his mother. Volphied might not have had direct influence for a few weeks, but in the years before this she and Valgarv could cooperate. They manipulated is for years and we couldn't even tell."

"The child you speak of, was he the one I saw in Kataart?"

"Mint haired, yellow eyes, white pants, blue vest with red edges. That was the day he returned to me bleeding, after straying to visit you."

Lei nodded. "Sounds about right. Did he work for them?"

"He was not real any more than a golem, he had no soul, no independence. They can create simulacrum personalities so good that even an emotion eating devil could be fooled, but ultimately, what they make is just programs they control," she said. "Creating personalities is like molding clay to her."

"What do you have to say about that, Volphied?"

"Yes, in a way it is accurate." Volphied floated over to Filia. Ah, new strategy. Lei doubted, so the source of doubt had to be dealt with. Killing her now would be suspicious.

"Not all constructs were hollow, mind you. I myself was there in a form. I have seen you for all that time." Volphied manifested a white dove in her hand, holding it to Filia. "Don't you understand what our ability means, now that you have given life and independence to our Val not too long ago?"

"Zelas, what is that about?" Lei asked.

Zelas quickly summed up the key aspects of recent events. Volphied didn't look too thrilled with this, but didn't interfere either. Filia waited by, her eyes more often than not on the dove that now rest on Volphied's hand.

Once Zelas finished, Volphied said, "It is all true, but see it in context : our ability allows us to test out personality before we give them independence. Deities though we may be, we cannot govern multiple planets alone. This potential exists to populate planets in a safe way so they can function without war even if we are not around. Personhood is only the sum of many small parts, why would the starter pack be considered sacred?"

"Sacred means nothing anyway," Filia said, almost like she agreed. "You were the reason Valgarv went to his knees before, weren't you? Was he as Val, or had you altered Valgarv?"

"Had you taken his hand, he would have been real in every way. Valgarv was desperate enough to make his soul available, the gate was open, it could have been. He could have been Valteira."

"Really?" Filia laid her hands on the dove, like a child desperate before an adult with the power of wishes. Filia felt anger, but somehow managed to bring forth more sorrow.

"And he could still be," Volphied said. "Not in a mere simulacrum like that. I have all of him remembered."

The dove shimmered as Volphied drew out a tiny blue sphere, in which a tiny ancient dragon floated. "All we would need is a soul."

"A soul alone isn't enough. That's not all we did," Filia lied. "We had to give him a dream body as well."

Just slightly, Volphied frowned. "A dream body?"

"The dream layer is a side of the astral plane that goes the other way. No seat of spirit, but a land within the spirit," Filia said.

Out of Volphied's sight, but within Zelas's, Lei Magnus tensed up.

"Can you actually access the astral plane without Valgarv?" he asked. "Luna doesn't like a very stable way to do that. She leaks."

It was a test. Whatever might have been possible with Valgarv was obsolete now. Luna was a mere human, poorly blended with holiness. She did not have the same potential and synchronicity as a millennium worth of dragon-devil chimera. Volphied could make no promises for souls in this world, who relied on the astral plane for their identity.

"We hoped together you two might be able to," Volphied said.

"Really? I did once think Luna and I could work together, but that's not whom I'm contracting with, is it?" Lei spat. "Your mirage in the Kataart mountains told me you would destroy the astral plane. It's starting to sound like Valgarv slipped something. Get lost, Volphied. I didn't go through hell and ice just to be reduced to a mortal puppet on your hands."

Volphied pressed her lips together and Leticia gave a sheepish smile.

"I start to see why you sought out Luna as your ally. You also want—"

Volphied should've kept her eyes ahead. Filia ripped open a soul gate between herself and the bird, pushed her own holy magic through and tore it from Volphied's hand. Barely had it left or she teleported to Zelas.

"Warp me away."

A request Zelas was all too happy to oblige and quite able to do, since nobody had forbidden her to let others leave.

"Can't follow that," Luna muttered to some unseen command. "Can't trace devil warping."

Lei groaned. "What now?"

"Oh, yeah, Filia does a lotta trickery without outright lying lately." Luna grinned and actually felt something to match that expression. "Oh, Vol, didn't figure that out yet, or wasn't Valgarv in the mood to admit he'd been tricked?"

Volphied appeared entirely to human when she whirled around to face Luna, more than a little upset.

Luna shrugged. "Didn't wanna tell you. That's what you get when you only let me wanna end the world with you."

Oh, Luna wasn't Volphied's general, she had been rewritten. From the sound of it, where Zelas could not act on what she wanted, Luna could not want anything else. Yet, her personality remained the same otherwise. What would that even be like?

Lei prepared to warp away too, but he hadn't charged up for long distance and his sick astral body did not help. He was about to command Zelas when Leticia hopped behind him and hit the back of his head. He lost focus and slumped forward. His physical body passed out and Shabranigdu reared, but the chimera side just barely restrained him.

Zelas didn't attack, she'd only been told to be ready to fight, not to actually fight.

"Well, this sucks," Leticia said. "We gonna go ahead without channel thing?"

"Yes," Volphied said.

Leticia saluted and took Luna's place at the controls. She didn't need to bleed for connect, as she had her own crystals grown from her gauntlet.

Zelas wanted to speculate on what beneficial not vital use Filia could have had, but her thoughts wandered to the inevitable. What would Filia do? What could she do, even if she found Xelloss? Was Xelloss even alive? Hoping felt ill in a devil, but its fading was worse.

The pillar turned brighter yet, filling the remains of the tower with a soft wail. Only with her physical ears could Zelas hear the tone. A song, ethereal without meaning, deep without either sorrow or joy. It brought down a silence Zelas hadn't realized existed.

The gods outside stopped struggling. They came into the tower and whirled around each other, forcing an uneven unity of light. The crescendo rose the more they unified. Its only irregularity was the curse on Vrabazard, but even that began to smooth away until there was only holy radiance.

Valwin took a little to arrive. Once all four had joined, the song's was strong enough to echo even in the physical world.

Luna stood up and unfolded her wings. In her hands she held the angelsblood talismans. She trembled and her eyes were tearstreaked, but the emotions didn't devour her. More than sorrow, she felt regret.

She looked at Zelas for the first time. "Isn't it pathetic, Zelas? I was afraid you'd do this to me, now I'm doing it to myself and you're the one who is afraid of me."

Unable to do anything else, Zelas lowered her head. It wasn't a bow, no submission. Just acknowledgement of a similar fate at her.

Luna flew up into the godly light. Just like that, she'd vanished.

When she joined, the light drew together in a perfect, simple sphere. The astral plane around it became so clear, Zelas could even see the outline of the world wall, scarred from the ancient battle.

The sphere, no ... the egg of the gods began to rise up, carried by the pillar's light until it was above the earth.

Right as the egg legs the pillar, the light turned black and the song changed into a cursing call. The lake boiled dry as the pieces of Shabranigdu converged. Megiddo itself howled as the pillar broke through it and pulled at the hosts within hell.

Luke and Lezo were spat into the world at the bottom of the pillar, only seen for as long as it took to be pushed into Shabranigdu.

Lei's human self screamed out, now wide awake again. He trashed and clawed at the floor before finding bearing. To think such power could be anchored by weakness.

"Time's running out, Lei Magnus," Volphied said. "One way or another, Shabranigdu will be reformed. Please, just accept my help."

Lei found a spark of that telltale humor stubbornness, also known as hardheadedness. He looked at her held out hand with nothing but contempt. "No. You'd just make me into what you want," Lei spat. "I'd rather die on my own terms, if I don't take over Shabranigdu myself."

Fool, if Zelas had a choice for a chance she would have taken it, however little. He wouldn't win against his other, purer counterparts. Not when all of them were together.

"Well then, there are plenty of other planets in your universe. I do not need this one," Volphied said.

She phased herself behind Lei Magnus, right where on the astral plane the additional piece was welded on. In reflex he lashed out with magic, but she could not be touched. Unstable as she might be in this world, her physical form was far stronger than a mere human. Lei was helpless as she drove her arm through his back and janked out the red sliver. That forced all his attention to the monstrosity on the astral plane, leaving Volphied time to snatch the demonsblood talismans from his arms.

"Let it sink to the Sea of Chaos and take all devils along."

Lei fell forward, either in giving up or because the growing malformation of his body. Lacking any meaningful way to keep whole, Shabranigdu's untainted part poured over Lei. His body distorted and mutating, growing bleeding tendrils and limbs all over. Little human remained soon, replaced by a convulsing mass that failed to spawn Shabranigdu's form. Shabranigdu couldn't even speak.

All throughout it, Volphied had the most serene smile. Without hurry, handed the demonsblood talismans to Leticia, but the sliver she tossed to Zelas.

"Y-you have no hope of locking Her out!" Lei sputtered. "Once She i-is in, she'll be free to go everywhere!"

"It is a one way portal we made here. Of course, I expect our Mother to find a way regardless, but we did not model this process after Megiddo without reason. If push comes to pull, I'll put the matter before the actual Megiddo. Who better to handle the passage of souls than an entity that can carve into the walls of the world?"

"You're-you're out of your mind."

"I am a god created to ensure existence," Volphied said. "And I am a person who does not want to suffer. That is quite within my mind, thank you."

Volphied didn't spare him another glance as she flew up, Leticia floating behind her on a rising platform. On the way, Volphied manifested a swarm of insectoid drones, which took apart the gate within seconds. This done, the swarm followed Volphied into the blackening sky, right at the now distant egg of Siephied. They didn't stop flying for as long as Zelas could see.

Zelas had to agree. Volphied wasn't out of her mind, she did the most logical a being like her could do. That didn't mean anything more than Zelas, who herself should being — should have done — what was most reasonable. Her own survival, the way she was and wanted to be.

Lei refused to be torn into the now blood red lake, but this only mean Shabranigdu could expand through him. Distorted flesh crawled closed over the floor. Sensing her, veins shot out to wrap around her limbs. They pulled her forward. She could not physically resist, but she could pick up the red shard as she was swept over it. For all that it meant helping Volphied by being a thorn in Shabranigdu's side, it was the only thing left to hold onto.

Zelas clung to everything she had evolved. She had no solid soul, no survival instinct to fall back on, but she was her intellect. He would destroy her before her power would be his to wield.

At least, that was what she wanted. He just had to command against it. Imagining she had any agency left was all she could do. Now, oblivion would be mercy to Zelas and victory to many other devils.

"How did you become like this?" Shabranigdu's voice came from all angles. "How do you dare become like this?"

He didn't kill her. He demanded perfect submission to his power, forcing her to slowly grow back into the being she'd sprung from. A little here, a little there. Her active energy, as used for attack, merged with him first. Then the channels through which she ate emotions. The edges of her very soul started to blend with his until he no longer had to command by voice.

Somewhere Lei Magnus screamed, but she couldn't even tell what direction. Everything became Shabranigdu.

He reaching up into the pillar, growing on both planes into the gateway. The ragnarok surface crumbled under his force.

With the mere breath of the Lucifer, Götterdämmerung began. All Zelas hoped for shattered. Where Fibrizo went down in mad despair, Zelas would go down in muted failure. All the ways her plans had gone wrong either by her own faults, or the unpredictable, she remembered now. How had she ever thought she could defeat this complicated world that she wasn't meant to understand, to question?

Perhaps she had been rebelling all along. If nothing else, she could try to retain her awareness of that until she was upon the Sea of Chaos. Let's see whether Lucifer even cared, or whether the existence care itself was just a whim. If so, then this punishment was whim too. She refused to be a whim.

She forced her eyes to project and open. Shabranigdu quietly mocked her, but let her see just to feed on her.

On the physical plane, the first tears on rock announced Her coming. Gravity became erratic and the lightning of the tearing world wall helped it tear apart the tower. The first drops of golden chaos seeped into astral plane. Soon they'd spread to the physical world.

All this passed beyond what Xelloss had described during Her first visit. Then She had held back, never intent on ending the world. Now, the astral plane itself tore apart with it.

There was nowhere to go even if she could.

If Volphied won, what did it mean? She didn't have enough information, again.

If Shabranigdu won, it would be what the Lord of Nightmares wanted. If Siephied won, it would be what the Lord of Nightmares wanted. All those years she had told herself that either way was fine, it was acceptable to experiment, because all of this was merely an expression of Her Will. Now old muted instinct boiled into a cacophony of joy.

She began to crave the end of the world, even as she revolted. That one moment of pure exaltation, of utmost perfection that any devil longed for. Any, save one.

She heard Xelloss before she saw him. Somewhere between the rising ruins, he called her name.

When she caught a glimpse of him at last, he was alone. Any last hope he'd run into Filia by sheer chance and could come with fusion magic at hand died.

His astral outline had frayed for some reason; whatever had deterred him hadn't been good. No dragon at this side, no fusion magic. He could end today, like everyone else ... but he didn't have to.

The instinct to take down this world with her did not carry on to others, she found now. Zelas still wanted him to live.

Shabranigdu noticed her weakness, or his, because he pushed her further out onto the physical plane in her wolf form. Her most organic form, the one she'd once developed to 'experiment' with how exactly life worked. Veins, spine, flesh, all of it now down to the smallest preceptor of pain, just so he could tear her apart before her priest. She could not die from physical injury, but projection was made from power regardless. He drove a spike through her jaw, making it harder to speak. Ripped the wings off clean, then decided that rot might fit : a third layer of pain, because her pride crumbled with it.

All along, Shabranigdu whispered to her. Devils have no children, he told her. She was not the daughter of the demon king, nor was Xelloss the child of the alpha wolf. She had fooled him, made him more like the mortal souls that always cycle through Megiddo, he told her. He could make Zelas die mortal death as long as he wanted, she should appreciate that the world would end soon, but she couldn't do it perfectly, could she?

He didn't expend much power on her, just enough to keep her restrained. If it went as he wanted, Xelloss would watch her die and stay too long.

Luna's jest wandering into her memory as a final insult. It's probably just mothers in this world. Mad or missing. She'd be both to Xelloss soon.

He found her.

When Xelloss landed before Zelas, he hesitated to attack Shabranigdu. He didn't know what to strike. Zelas herself could not even tell anymore where Shabranigdu started and she ended.

When nothing moved against him, he stepped closer. Behind him bloody appendages grew out, slowly encroaching.

"Are you still here, my liege?"

Zelas forced her eyes to focus on him, hard as it was with the things growing through her skull. He lowered his head the moment she looked at him, ever submissive.

"What happened? What can I do?" His emotions didn't taste like he believed there was much left to do.

Speaking was difficult now she had so little magic left to herself. Air and throat were the best she could do.

"Volphied has entered, but did not succeed as she wanted," she rasped. "Our Apostle of Chaos has failed, if she ever existed."

"Miss Lina failed? How?"

"Only by being murdered," Zelas said. "Without a vessel she is powerless. How were you not here when I needed you?"

A wry smile played on his lips. "I was unfortunately occupied ... Milgazia told me a joke."

She chuckled through the pain. Of course. That would be the message. All of this was a joke. If Xelloss had been around to fuse magic with Filia, everything might have gone differently, but he hadn't been there because a dragon told a bad joke. This was the entire world : not a mistake, but a perfect joke.

It didn't matter anymore what Zelas knew, it didn't matter what she believed. Far more than anything, she wanted the joke to end. She couldn't make it so because she was the joke, but Xelloss still had a chance. The Sea of Chaos did not call for him, did not want him. Lucifer herself had ensured that.

"Xelloss, you have to go," she sputtered.

"My liege, he's not paying attention to you, I could give you an edge in breaking free," he whispered. Did he really believe that?

"No, he is here too, pushing me. Go, survive. Find Ruby Eye's portal before this world is gone, anything, just survive."

He took another step, still ignoring the tendrils of Shabranigdu that closed in. "What am I supposed to be without you?"

"Whatever you always were when not on our island." She had an idea what that was, since Xelloss would rattle off frivolities unless she stopped him. Skip the pointless banter, she'd always said. Maybe she could have predicted him better if she hadn't.

He'd always been eager to leave, but now he stayed when he shouldn't.

"My liege, the Lord of Nightmares won't end this world so simply. She must have another intent, we just have to figure it out. She sent back Siephied ... and you cannot even believe me. Please, trust me when I say this won't be the end. Don't give up."

"Xelloss, how can I give up when I have nothing left to give? But you do, so I command you to exist."

"We can both exist. Let me help you. What do I attack to break you out?" He laid his hand on her snout. She did not have the energy to mind what otherwise would be a great disrespect. Respect meant nothing now Shabranigdu had invented hell for a devil.

"There is nothing to help, it is over. I am just a trap for you now. This entire world is. Get out while you still can."

"But if She wants to—"

"It doesn't matter! Get out of Shabranigdu's range now!"

For a moment, he laid his forehead against her snout. She feared he had learned to disobey after all, but before Shabranigdu closed around him he jumped back. Obedient as always, but for the first time Xelloss had looked at her with horror in his eyes.

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