Ch.8 - The Cost

Welcome to the madness, Hyoton! What a time to arrive, too. Enjoy!

This command shall only be heard once you have defeated the Brother gods, be it slaying them or removing them of their divine nature; you and other individuals of relative importance shall be bound to the 22 Major Arcana through a ritualized system of power by an additional contract you must sign first before receiving it (a short introduction for the 22 Major Arcana will be sent alongside this command once you receive it). (From Yip)

A conditional Command!? But I never heard this one! It was then Crimson remembered that there was that one Command where she hadn't heard anything. The timing could not be worse. Yet, a Command was a Command, and she could not refuse. "Crimson, May 9th, 13 of the Year of Emuna!"

The additional contract signed, Crimson was finally free to deal with the current situation. Or, that's what she would have thought if the introduction arrived a second later.

This is a contract for a system of power between you and the Cosigner Yip the Goatherd, proposed by the latter, based upon the previously mentioned 22 Major Arcana: The Arcana System; it will grant power (Vitalis) based upon cultivating positive relationships (non-romantic/romantic) with key individuals.

Crimson only half-heard as she struggled to survive the much more, attention-grabbing threat. Namely, the draconic head biting her torso and draining her divine power. "Stop!" She cried out as her hands pulled at Fin's draconic head. Fiery power started to gather around her hands. "This won't make anything better!"

"You're going to kill me regardless!" He snarled back at her, speaking without moving his mouth. And he did sound like a he. The original unisex voice had completely given way to a deep, masculine one. No doubt a consequence of draining the Brothers. He accelerated the drain as she summoned more power. "I don't want to die! And if I have to kill you to live, then so be it!" A claw rose up. "I won't let anyone take this power from me!"

Muddy energy edged those talons. A trifle amount, really. For a god, that was. The claw slashed downward, and the energy shot from it.

"Brother!"

Her head twisted around in time to see Light jump in front of Darkness. In spite of his bravery, no mortal could hope to withstand against even that miniscule display of divine strength. The energy blades sliced through both dragons. Light had moved with enough speed that his long body had curled in front of the darker dragon. The three blades cut him into seven pieces. Darkness only had a second to cry out before he was cut in four down the length. Body parts fell to the ground in meaty plops. Blood and visceral slipped out of carved open skin. After fighting for so long, Crimson felt nothing but deep dissatisfaction as the two Brothers died. It only twisted fate's cruel blade on the whole matter.

"Enough!" Fists glowing with fire, she slammed them against Fin's outstretched neck. He roared in agony, but the blow had been too weak. Crystal cracked, but his neck did not break, and he didn't stop draining her. While she had prepared her counter, he had directed energy to sheathe his body. She gave up for the single blow and simply pummeled against him. More cracks and fissures spiderwebbed outward, but still he didn't stop. He was changing again. Little by little, more red pushed into his muddy color. His wings shrank a bit more, while his long, reptilian body shrank inward.

Panic threatened to rise within her as death, no longer an impossibility, drifted toward her. Was he already more powerful? Was this it? After coming so close to victory, would she die right here to one of her own clones?

"HYAH!"

Griff, with his own set of glowing talons, crashed into the long neck. They pierced through the crackled, crystalline skin on one side and almost sliced Fin's neck off entirely. This time, Fin howled physically, his mouth releasing Crimson. She threw herself back, breaking the connection between original and clone.

"You fool! I could have let you lived!"

That was the sole warning Griff received before draconic talons raked across his side. Griff may have laughed if Salem or Ozma had attacked him, but he was still a spark compared to the bonfires the other deities wielded. A wing ripped off as the talons bit deep into his flank. The weaker clone was thrown to one side as he was tossed through the air, landing in a rolling heap.

"Leave him alone!" Crimson punched with her right, unleashing a river of divine fire toward her traitorous clone.

Perhaps he was unused to how long his body was now. When Fin dodged, he only shifted his front half out of the way, his back half caught in the burning river. Reddish-brown skin blackened beneath the flames. More agonized howling, but his ire was locked. "If I die, it'll be your fault, and I will reap my tally!"

Crimson cut off her attack and teleported herself in front of Griff. Only for Fin, mid-charge, to teleport too. She spun around, fists up and charging. Griff swung his glowing wings and flung two blades of crimson energy. They cut into the sides of Fin's open mouth as it enlarged itself. He yelped in pain, yet it didn't stop his draconic maw from snapping down on top of Griff's head and chest.

The sound of shattering crystal echoed across eternity as the dragon's fangs chomped through shell and feather.

It was echoed when one of Crimson's fists smashed into Fin's left eye.

It didn't stop Fin from scooping up the rest of Griff into his mouth. Screaming, Crimson punched her second fist through a nostril cavity, the two fists meeting in the center of Fin's skull. A claw reached out and swiped at her. Knocked away, Crimson ripped out half of Fin's upper head with her. His opened throat shrilled his agony. But he never stopped chewing through Griff's breaking body, twisting his head to shift the dead clone's body to the right side of his mouth. Crimson energy bled from Griff's disintegrating form into the muddy color of Fin. It was the one time Fin's wings grew bigger, by half an inch.

Crimson righted herself in a flip, tail twitching in fury. She pounded her fists against each other, igniting both. "He was your brother!"

"Who tried to kill me!" Fin roared back. He lifted himself off the ground. Even though she could see into his head, muddy power gathered at the back of his throat.

Beams of crimson and mud blasted into each other. The two forces held each other in stalemate for a brief moment before the crimson pushed the mud back. Little by little, the crimson crossed the threshold. Although winning, Crimson was deeply disturbed by what she was seeing. She should have had enough power to win this outright. The Contract had granted her more power than both Brothers combined. Did he drain that much of my power? Was Griff's sacrifice that much to even the difference?

One thing was for sure. There was no more regret about what needed to be done. Fin would die, and she couldn't bother telling herself she would feel bad about it. Maybe about how this all came to be, but Fin had gone too far. He now possessed a greater threat to Remnant than the Brothers did. Soon, her power would drill through his form, and this battle would come to an end. It was so close now. A few more feet and…

One of Fin's claws reached out to the approaching beam.

Seeing the danger instantly, she cut off her power and teleported to the side. The mud speared through the remaining crimson beam and through the empty space where she had been. His claw reared back. She generated more fire as she re-evaluated the situation. I can't let him touch me or get a hold of my power. No long energy. I'll have to use only quick shots and wear him down. Anything else, he'll drain. A more disturbing thought came to her. Wait, was I actually winning that last one, or was he letting me?

She reared her fists up in front of her face before firing the fireballs in a one-two punch combo. An ugly energy shield manifested in front of Fin. The twin spheres exploded against it. She was already moving. Keeping her distance, she threw out a barrage as she sought to wear him down through attrition. The shield moved with her, absorbing each attack with ease.

She teleported to the opposite side and resumed the fusillade, only to be met with the shield teleporting with her in the exact moment and counter. "I'm you!" Fin called out. "I know what you're going to do, what your instincts are, because they are mine as well!"

He teleported. A shadow above her was all the warning she needed to teleport out of the way before the third dragon crashed into the spot where she just was. "That works both ways!" She snapped back. "I know all of your moves, too!"

"Then a stalemate!" He blew another gust of muddy energy toward her new position. "Locked in a fight for all of time!"

It was not without a sense of irony that Crimson leapt to the side as she considered an option that Light had tried so hard to implement. "Maybe we can work something out."

"Bullshit!" He charged toward her, getting used to his new body as it lumbered forward. "I am part of the God of Darkness now. You were always going to kill him, which means you will need to kill me to feel like Remnant will be safe! This battle only ends with one of us dead!"

Their fight took them to a different continent as they tried to gain the upper hand. Fighting next to a mountain, her next strike was far stronger as she had been charging energy into her left fist. Unfortunately, when she unleashed this fiery projectile, Fin matched it with his own muddy lance. The two divine attacks detonated against each other and created a massive explosion that destroyed a quarter of the continent. The mountain was vaporized in an instant as the living pair took their fight to a third continent on Darkness' planet, leaving a crater behind that cut all the way to the mantle. Magma rushed into the new opening as it created a monstrous body of lava large enough to be seen from space.

The planetary destruction went unnoticed by the combatants. Instead, she was focused on a bitter pill that was Fin's retort. She knew that he spoke the truth and knew that no amount of persuasion would work. He had chosen to live, and if the only life he could live was an eternal battle against her, then he would have no qualms about it. Worse, the fight was confirming her second-worst fear. He had enough power to equal her. This battle could and would last all of eternity.

I need more power, she realized. The Offerings were useless to her since they could only restore lost power below the survival threshold. She needed power directly from the Contract itself. She reached out to it.

"NO!" In her momentary distraction, Fin teleported himself in front of her, head lunging for another bite. She jumped back and out of the way. He didn't relent as he kept throwing himself straight at her. "You can't access the Contract if I don't give you a chance!"

"I only need a second!" She danced out of the lunging bites before whipping at his body with fiery knives. Even in this ferocious assault, he had enough presence of mind to conjure smaller shields to intercept each throw.

"I will not give you a second!"

He was true to his word. The planet suffered beneath their fight as they struck at each other with power that torched the skies, ripped the earth, and boiled the seas. All the while, she looked for a way to break the deadlock. She phased through the earth to strike from below. He nuked the world beneath him. She went to the darkest depths of the ocean to unlock the Contract. He was there, and the resulting exchange created the largest tsunami witnessed by physical reality along with a new oceanic trench. She fled to the moon. He followed, and the orbiting celestial body was shattered by their fight. She teleported to the spiritual realm. He was there in the same instant.

The goat was still there too.

Fin glanced at the goat, and Crimson knew that the stalemate was broken. The goat screamed when Fin fired a laser out of his remaining eye socket at the animal. She appeared before the goat and batted away the quick attack. Then threw out her arms and caught the jaws from biting her.

"You care more about a fucking goat than you do me!" Fin raged as two of his fangs stabbed through each of her hands.

The drain started again as she pushed outward with raw strength and through the pain. "I didn't want anyone to die!"

"Fuck you! Don't lie to me! You had always planned on killing Darkness! Don't try to hide it behind regret! You are a killer!"

His voice was changing again. Growing higher pitched as he sucked her power away. Her arms failed her as the jaws started to overpower. She could feel death waiting behind her. If only she had more power! Wait, I can't move and neither can he! Pushing against the closing maw did not require her full attention. It took only three seconds to open the Contract.

Observations!

A full Brother's-worth of Observations flowed into her!

She teleported them both to Darkness' world. Then, roaring her defiance, she shoved his jaw as wide as she could. He fought and howled as the battle turned against him. Then, she ripped herself out of the way, his fangs included. She pushed the knives of teeth out of her hands before squeezing them into scarred fists.

The first Command arrived.

You are to spend 5 days on Remnant right after the battle ends and another 5 days 1600 years after those first 5 days before settling in the modern Day.

Got it!

Crimson sprinted around Fin as she punched toward him. His skull had shrunk, less elongated and more oval. His horns were more triangular with a hint of fur on them. The smallest tuft of fur covered the tip of his tail. Still capable of summoning an energy shield. It blocked the crimson fireball. Without missing a beat, she fired another. Another explosion as it hit the shield. It was followed by a third, a fourth, and a fifth. Fin curved his head around as he tracked her circling as he fended off the attacks.

His shield cracked on the twelfth fireball.

He hissed as he poured more power into the shield.

You may not burn more than 10 doors of knowledge from this point on now.

She was beyond the Doors, but happily took the power. The advantage was hers, but she would no longer consider victory assured until it was in her hands.

The crack expanded. Although he added more to it, her rapid fire continued to chip away. She couldn't concentrate power onto one strong blow, yet quantity became its own quality. A second crack split off from the first. Then two cracks became four. As they multiplied, Fin growled louder, an anxious note in his voice.

She came to a dead stop and punched with both hands. The double shot streaked forward and smashed the shield to pieces.

Command: Since you already have a Herald, bless a mortal with these qualities; Courageous, Wise, and Intelligent, I do not care whether said champion is yet another Bloody Butcher, or some sentient garbage. (The difference between Heralds and Champions is that one is your right hand, The Hand Of God, whilst the other is a mortal chosen by you, granted power and to be your martial sword within the mortal world.)

Wait! I need to finish this fight first!

The Command didn't care. Although she knew he would absorb it in seconds, she threw an energy net against Fin before teleporting to Remnant. A beautiful summer day greeted Crimson as she appeared to the closest mortal she could find. Given that she had been fighting a battle to the death on a different planet, happenstance brought her to a small oasis where an even smaller tribe rested for lunch. Specifically, she manifested in front of a middle-aged man in white, desert robes. The man, indeed the entire clan, froze, his gray-blue eyes ballooning beneath his turban.

"Sorry, no time!" She placed a finger against his brow. "Receive my blessing!" A wave of crimson power swept over the father of two before he could scramble together a word. "Use this to do good."

That was all she could spare before she teleported back to the world of Darkness. Fin was gone. She teleported back to the spirit realm, right next to the goat. To her right, Fin lunged at her with an open jaw. Already expecting it, she twisted as the glowing energy in her hands flashed into a construct in her hands. Swinging, Crimson jammed the newly-formed scythe into Fin's last eye. He screamed and bit down anyway with fangs glowing with ugly, red light. The scythe's blade sticking out of his eye threw off his aim. Instead of biting through her head, Fin claimed her arm and half of the scythe's haft as his fangs tore up to her shoulder. Now that both of them were screaming in agony, Crimson ripped the scythe out of Fin's head, transforming it mid-swing into an ax.

Fin tried to withdraw as he 'digested' her arm. Although one eye socket was flat out gone and the other pierced, he wasn't blind. The deities of Remnant didn't need eyeballs to see. So, his head was locked onto her as he tried to keep her at bay with a swing of a claw, flinging energy blades at her. She caught them on the ax head where they broke upon it. There was just enough force to throw off her answering lunge. Her ax cut deep into his flank as she struck off a wing.

He hadn't quite swallowed the power from her arm. She punished him for his distraction with a second ax blow. He roared as her sharper crimson energy cut into his core. She didn't yank the ax out as fire poured into it. His red-mud color blackened around the ax embedded in him as the fire burned. He finished consuming her arm, but it looked like whatever power he had gained did not equal the price being paid.

He snapped at her with his head.

She spun around the haft of the ax and kicked his head away.

The fire continued to build within her rebellious clone.

But first… If you have enough power to lift the curses upon Ozma and Salem, I would recommend you do so before you settle, or, at least, purge Salem of the Grimm-essence contaminating her own. (I notice the catgirl command is not a permanent one, at least as it stands now; I hope, at the very least, you still have the freedom to choose your own likeness as you enter into Remnant.)

I reinforce this Command.

Just like that, whatever power he had taken from her was minimized as the Commands continued to supply her. The battle was nearing its end as a bonfire coalesced within Fin's body and burned outward. He was outright howling in pain. Whatever empathy she might have felt for him could not overcome the stump that was where her arm used to be. His closest claw reached up and snapped around the haft above where her grip was. The muddy skin blackened before the fire cut off from pouring into him. Instead, the fire's strength was redirected and consumed by Fin. With a twist of her hand, she snapped the haft in twain before stabbing it into his body next to the fading ax head.

More fire shot into him. Before he could think about it, which had to be difficult considering the agony he was in, she kicked and then pinned his foreleg down to the ground. When his head snapped at her again, she kicked it with her other leg, briefly pulling off a split.

The fire bled out of his wounds, and burning light filtered out of his eviscerated neck. With a final, miserable shrill, Fin exploded from within, scattering pieces of crystalline mud across the planet.

The last surviving power and personality of the Brothers Grimm died with Fin.

I've got one more here: purge the Grimm, the relics, and the trait of silver eyes from those who possess it.

I will reinforce this Command.

She released a shuddering sigh as she sank to her knees. She wanted a moment to rest, to think, maybe to grieve. But, they were Commands. She braced herself for the compulsion.

It came. She prepared to teleport and…

…blinked in complete confusion as she stood in the spirit realm.

"...what?"

CONTRACT VIOLATION: HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED. DEPLOY COUNTERMEASURE.

Before she could comprehend what was going on, a rolled up scroll appeared in front of her. It unrolled itself beneath her, right below her feet into the 'floor'. Once it was unrolled, the parchment gleamed with bright, pure light.

All around her, strings of fire erupted.