>>136763 >(Armed Martial Arts: Samsara Weapons Method) >“A set of weapon techniques acquiring its name from peculiar training methods. The steps of this training are described as ‘sin,’ ‘retribution,’ and ‘repentance,’ with a fourth step that never quite ends called ‘sincerity.’” >“The first step begins with taking up the axe and learning how to erase hesitance. The axe techniques are simple, yet ruthless, emphasizing decisiveness with every swing to end combat victoriously. Though rooted in the demonic arts, these techniques have been rehabilitated into a stepping stone rather than one's end. Once the first step's training is concluded, the second begins soon after.” >“The second step begins by dropping the axe and taking up the club. One is instructed to hold a pair of clubs for the duration of their waking hours, and during combat and training one is forced to use only their clubs to fight and nothing else. This step has few techniques unto itself, and is designed to create familiarity and hone instinct, choosing blunt instruments to challenge one as much as possible. Once the feeling is embedded, it won't ever quite leave, and so a small period of rehabilitation is provided between this and the next step.” >“The third step has one drop the club and take up the sword. While the first two steps emphasize instilling feeling and instinct, the third heavily emphasizes restraint and technical ability with many difficult strokes and sword forms with little margin for error. It is agonizing and troublesome in ways that challenge a man; a kind of strife with dignity. Although the techniques do have practical applications in regards to feints, counters, vital thrusts, and so on, the main point is hard earned technical ability.” >“The first three steps erase hesitation, create instinct, and build technique. They also provide familiarity with various means forms of weaponry and combat. As before, a new weapon is taken up, the glaive; able to cut, pierce, and bludgeon. Previous techniques are deconstructed, assimilated, and unified into weapon arts that pave the endless road to enlightenment. One has walked the road as a demon, a beast, and an ascetic with each holding equal importance. One must learn not to reject but embrace all aspects of themselves, and continue to grow even beyond their current self.”

>>136763 >>136764 >(Movement Art: Dreadful Ghost Flight Technique) >“A complex technique requiring both power and delicate control of both one's self, and one's qi. True flight is something only achieved at the highest realms of development, yet this movement technique elegantly simulates it once honed and mastered.” >“The first step of mastering Dreadful Ghost Flight requires one to build significant lower body strength and leaping ability. This is achieved with training of escalating levels of difficulty first beginning with simple repetition and attempting to reach set vertical and horizontal distances with a single jump from a still start. Once these feats are achieved, weight is added, then one must reach these feats with each leg by itself. It's from here that things become difficult, as one must navigate wilderness, and eventually mountains, using only leaping, becoming accustomed to loose footholds and harrowing drops while building strength. Later exercises also emphasize toe strength in particular.” >“The second step of mastering Dreadful Ghost Flight asks one to mold qi around one's body to influence air currents. It is not to the extent of dominating the wind, simply guiding its flow. Even manifesting one's qi in a tangible manner can take significant time and practice, and so beginning steps emphasize simply that, and subsequently tightening it up. From there it's increasing the scale, and then manipulating one's qi while it's manifested.” >“The third step involves putting one's training together and applying finesse. The Dreadful Ghost Flight on paper is essentially leaping with each step, then using one's qi to take advantage of that momentum so as to move through the air in the manner desired. In practice it's a bit like skating in three dimensions, which is to say much more difficult than it actually sounds. There are also particular patterns and methods for applying the technique learned at this stage to give it more depth, with training performed until it's seamless.” >“The completed form of Dreadful Ghost Flight grants the practitioner not just the ability to move in an inhumanly graceful and unpredictable manner, but allows one to dull the sound of their steps and movements to a level of near non-existence. One will appear to silently glide and achieve shocking coverage of ground off of singular steps. Greater levels of skill allow one to instill such speed and natural grace to appear as if just walking or giving the lightest effort to position themselves exactly as they desire to be.”

>>136763 >>136764 >>136765 >(Qi Circulation Technique: Seething Fathomless Night Method) >“A method of breathing, qi circulation, and meditation created by me through scattered scraps to both reach higher levels of power, as well as supplement the martial arts I have developed. There are three stages to the Seething Fathomless Night Method between the beginning and the peak. That can be further boiled down to its base essence of volatile power continuously tempered and honed into a weapon.” >“The entry level can be likened to Taoist methods of taking strength and inspiration from nature and the world, as one is directed to go out into the wilderness. With each breath take in the qi of the world, and then return it back to the world on the exhale. Ideally one would do this during rain or storm even at expense to their health. As one becomes accustomed to these methods and conditions, and develops their qi, the method expands to bringing and circulating qi through one's weapon, and later performing kata during the process. Someone proficient with the method at this stage should be aware of lightning, as not only being struck but successfully withstanding the lightning and absorbing the qi within it is an incredibly lucky opportunity. If all goes well, one will develop strong yet volatile qi and heightened familiarity with themselves and the world around them.” >“The second stage of the Seething Fathomless Night Method emphasizes control and suppression. One well versed in the first stage will generally find the flow of their qi to be hasty and strong, and would often fall into controlling it through simple luring, like a raging storm striking at a lightning rod or a starving beast lead by the smell of blood. For true control to be met, the practitioner will focus on the slowing of their qi during meditation while attempting to maintain its strength. During this stage, practitioners are advised to focus on qi circulation at night; the quieter the better. This stage borrows methods from lost arts of a legendary thief, which shines through upon eventual tempering of one's qi, as they will gain great skill in erasing their presence without suppressing their strength like a nocturnal predator.” >“The final stage can be likened to sharpening the tempered qi, completely dominating the once unrestrained beast. Earlier stages would have developed yang properties to one's qi, and so for complete and control and honing, one will now emphasize circulation and development of yin qi. To do so, one is directed to take themselves to places of great cold, such as wilderness in winter, the great north, or the tops of mountains. Only towards the end does one fully refine the powerful qi of nature into a weapon more reliable than any other.”

[Hades redux] >Previously: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/92906236/#92911279 The entire House of Hades stared, rapt, as Melinoe started dramatically retelling her many adventures after maxing out every weapon and trinket and her entire tarot deck and ending up spamming the Supay Flames, waving said torches around as visual aids. She spoke of how she'd fought Strife and sea serpents, clashed with Scylla and Charybdis, and at long last struck down both Time and the very father of monsters themselves. Only for both to reconstitute themselves on the morn. "Damn, little sister. I was going to try to impress you with my many escapes from Hell, but that's a little above my paygrade" said Zagreus. "O-oh, it wasn't my intention to boast, big brother" said Melinoe quickly. "I've trained all my life to rescue you from Chronos' clutches, and now somehow by the will of Chaos I'm with you all again-right before I was about to complete a dread spell of entropy wrought from Typhon's fall, to imbue father's spear with so I could at last slay Chronos for good! I just...wanted you all to be proud" "And we are indeed" declared Hades. "You have come not long after my house has been reconciled from long strife. Let us speak of Titans and wars later. Today, you are our guest. And my daughter" After yet another party, I cornered Zagreus as he was getting used to fighting without having like 4-6 Olympians showering him with blessings. He was surprisingly attached to the spear for a guy who'd made his first run by sword. "Zagreus, something just occurred to me" I said, affecting thoughtfulness, "are you SURE all those satyrs are gone from the upper underworld?" "Absolutely not, those cretins won't stop spitting poison! But what's to be done about them?" "Well, I heard all their blood sacrifices are going to a central chamber beneath the upper underworld. Might be worth a check?" "Oh, why not? One more run for the books" 1/4 And thus, I simultaneously made the coming of the Golden Age inevitable, while derailing Chronos' entire plan. Mainly by derailing the very possibility of him having a plan. I wasn't present when Zagreus met Chronos recovering in the under-upper-underworld. I'd be later told that Chronos was even more surprised than he was in canon to not even be approached in violence, and Zagreus went even more quickly from curiosity ("Oh, hello there! Are you alright? You seem...rather injured, what with all the gold holding your flesh together") to helpful ("So you've been at war with father? I can definitely sympathise with that sentiment, he can be SUCH a demanding fellow! Wait, you're HIS father? Okay, I have to know: Has he always worn that beard of his so long?") to literally leading the increasingly confused Titan over to the family gathering and announcing since Melinoe was there he might as well introduce one more member of the family to the gathering. Nor was I present to witness Melinoe almost calling down a hex, Thanatos pulling a Bleach flashstep, the Furies setting everything on fire, Chronos preparing to negate all of that with waves of halted time, Zagreus desperately hitting every dialogue interrupt he could-and Hades eventually being the bigger man and COMMANDING everyone continue the newfound tradition of just talking things out around a table. Everything moved very quickly thanks to Zagreus' divine power to make people act out of character and just get along. Chronos expressed that his children were disobedient, entitled and guilty of cutting him to pieces. Hades pointed out he'd tried to EAT them all. Chronos exclaimed that was like, just one time. Persephone pointed out they were expecting a second child and killing their grandfather would probably set a bad precedent. Hades mused that the Isles of the Blessed WERE a bit shortstaffed. And that's how Chronos got a new job. A rather cushy job, really. 2/4 You'd expect Zeus to be INCREDIBLY pissed that a Titan was walking around freely but actually once again, it was totally fine. In canon it's not entirely clear why the Zeus of this reality displayed unprecedented lenience towards a political enemy. In my timeline however, it was once again totally just Zagreus exercising elite level hobnobbing (despite Melinoe continuously freaking out and griping about not getting to finish her killstreak). He just talked to Dionysus about living and letting live, and the Dionysus of this world NOT having the violent insanity aspects of his multiversal counterparts immediately decided to spread the good word about Chronos' gainful employment, and Apollo heard about that and was inspired to write a song, and one thing led to another, and- -this reality was full of frankly astonishing outcomes for Olympians that otherwise cleaved relatively closely to their mythical counterparts, but even I was still surprised to see the king of the gods strolling over, noticing Chronos yapping it up with long-dead legendary men about how good the Golden Age used to be, and just going "This is fine! Everything is fine!" and leaving again. Even when he saw it pissed off Hera. ...especially, even. Chronos remained distrusted by many, feared by all during his employment-an arrangement he largely tolerated due to Zagreus flustering him with regular nectar/ambrosia offerings, a newfangled (to him) tradition that warmed the empty sandy chambers of his heart. That and well, his diligence making him a good fit for the Isles, and getting to hang out with people who DID remember his reign fondly being a decent consolation prize for no longer ruling the world. Then Melinoe was born, and to Older Melinoe's dismay this apparently activated Chronos' long repressed paternal instincts. The Titan of Time playing tag with a small nightmare nymph quickly became a common sight around Tartarus. 3/4 Melinoe, I cannot stress enough, was very VERY angry about this at first. It didn't matter. Because, you see, Melinoe was no more immune to Zagreus' apparent ownership of illogical friendship perks, and he quickly talked her round to seeing things his way after a single slideshow's worth of cutscene time. Yes, yes, there was also the whole "living for revenge will just leave you empty and bitter" angle but in the end, even Melinoe wasn't sure why she didn't press for Chronos' execution.

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Although due to MY subtle machinations, being able to get memories from her current younger self being pampered by Chronos did help win her over. And so, everyone lived happily ever after. Typhon remained buried under a rock somewhere, indefinitely regenerating from an ancient battle. Prometheus periodically showed up to firebomb Olympus, remark "my job here is done" and then leave with no further explanation. Eris joined Scylla's band. Hecate never came into existence, much to her relief. ... "Well GEEZ LOUISE mistah, ya really cut our work short!" complained the smallest and loudest of the Fates, back at the Fate Dungeon I'd put them in. "What can I say? The way your work was going to wrap up so abruptly, leaving loose ends to tie themselves up and skipping over a potentially devastating family schism, why don't you all just...quit early?" i pointed out. "Aw but where's da DRAMA?! Oh well. One Golden Age coming right up, gods withdraw from interferein', yadda yadda, there we go. Well, it's been SWELL bein' a captive, but we're heading out now!" she announced, as all the Fates packed up and left. "Where to, may I ask?" "Out!" I squinted. "...there's nothing but an absolute absence of reality where you're headed" "I KNOW, isn't great? Aftah bearin' witness to' da literal fabric of reality, we could USE a good sensory deprivation chambah!" 4/4

[Destiny the Darkness redux] Drawbacks: T = Infinite, Off the Board, Vivisected, Usurper of the Ordered WayX9, Pruning Shears (3800) Human Universal Common Ancestor (Free) Hatred of the City (Free) Drifter's Gambit (3700) Bane of the Swarm: Tree of Silver Wings (3600) Prismatic Symmetry (3400) Embrace the Darkness: Resonance (3200) Dredgen You (2900) Rega (2600) Shaped Finality (2200) Irresolvable | Irrecoverable Presence (1400) King of Shapes (600) Madwoman's Ramblings (Free) Ruinous Seed (500) Dark City (300) Living NeighboursX8 (0) -Human, Universal Common Ancestor (Free), Hatred of the City (Free), Shaped Finality (600), Dredgen You (300), Bane of the Swam: Tree of Silver Wings (200), Dark City (0) Madwoman's Ramblings (Free), Ghost (Free) Ghost (Free) >DREAMS: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/96590148/#96618950 Sometimes I wonder if it’s all for nothing. The universe grinds down to utmost finality. The Light has changed but a micron on the cosmic stage. So, here I am. Floating about the Ascendant Plane, wrapped in my friend and my victim. Things are the way they have to be, instead of what they SHOULD be. “Oh hey” says Lilith all of a sudden, “someone’s here” “Yes, there are many who have breached this realm-“ “No. I mean. WITH us” “She means me, knife of my slaying” says the Echo of Navigation. Oryx’s wraith haunts the ENTIRE mass of Darkness I rent from the Witness. HOW?! “Your communion with the Winnower has subtracted weakness from greatness, carving my legacy anew”” I butchered that monster as it butchered the cosmos. “There is no closer embrace, my heir”

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You are but offal dripping from a divine corpse. “I see clearer through it’s lying Knife’s deception than ever I did in life” Legacy? Your god is DEAD. Look upon the ruinous effigy of your LOGIC. “It too has chosen an heir. Even now, you embrace her closer than your toy of the Sky” Lilith laughs. “Get a room, you two” 1/7 [Honkai Star Rail redux] Time passes for I, who knows the true meaning of eternity, in a way incomprehensible for any being lesser enough to actually have a causal history. But certain patterns repeat endlessly. Beings in suffering cry out for answers, for resources, for salvation, for meaning. And failing to find it, turn against each other in rats on a sinking ship. The wheel of time mulching fool and sage alike under it’s turning. It has been a while, however, since I’ve seen a cycle of creation and destruction simultaneously grip between MULTIPLE beings I would recognise elsewhere as Imperators. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with the Echo of Navigation. It is nothing but a weapon to me, and it is content to be such. Despite my aggravation, it’s compliance to what violence I offer the multiverse and no more has made for a remarkably stable working relationship. And as it enters this universe, it senses two different powers added to it: The LOVE of my human SOULs, and both my Cursed Techniques. It smiles in pride at it’s legacy upheld as I update it on my military’s intervention in this world-as a man whets his blade, or adjusts the timer on his bomb. I speak to it of the rampaging swarm, and the Abominations of Abundance-both those grotesque in form and purpose as well as the subtle subtle enough to infiltrate Xianzhou. I speak of under Luna, the Lunar Chimerae Host counter-infiltrates and devours the strength of these cancerous entities before spawning perfect Garou warriors. Phyre’s Idigam host ambushes the Abominations from the future while Cattalesta’s Truculae-Fae hosts strike at the Aeon THEMSELF-carving it’s cancerous aspects away. The Echo advocates for the Abyssals to take their role instead, and I speak to it of Terminus, of Finality, and how it too is my foe. It is not convinced, but I am it’s wielder and that is the end of it. I speak instead of the Type-102 Shipgirls’ campaign to mend Fragmentum biodata and seal away Stellarons. 2/7 The Echo argues I should not compromise my strength. That each such seed of destruction should be detonated-or reforged anew. I counter that with a single Moment authorised to reinforce the fleets, we conserve our strength lest Terminus arrive prematurely; the Echo is convinced Terminus will be my apotheosis rather than foe, a matter I do not dignify with a response. I speak of the Remembrance-or at least, the force posing as it-and it’s tacit alliance with Destruction, supporting the destruction of this universe so it can harvest a record of it from Erudition itself and define the new one solely through memory. To punish it, I’ve sent the Harmonious Contingent: A fleet of Harmony crystals carrying data overminds, biodata-reinforced Riftborn and Resonance lifeforms. Their mission: A higher dimensional DDoS attack. If Remembrance cannot be reasoned with, I will simply apply leverage until it relents in it’s folly. I do not speak to the Echo of frivolous things, but it takes note of my annoyance that what I have done hasn’t changed the Remembrance’s decision to gaze on me. It assures me this is proof of my ontological inevitability. That the path of my conquest is true. “It has been an age since we spoke” it says, “and still you squander your resources on the preservation of false shapes” “Squander? A strange word to use when I lack for nothing” I rebuke it, correct it. “As I have said. The goal is victory, not falling into another’s trap” “Your pain, heir, comes solely from the fact you cannot embrace what you truly are” “And you fell because you were so subsumed by it, you did not guard your supply lines from me” “Aiat. That, I cannot deny” it acknowledges. “So why bring out this old relic?” “To wield you, of course”. I gesture at the planet-destroying dragon approaching a world. “You were the First Navigator, and my newest weapon is the Trailblaze.” The Echo laughs as it crackles with cosmic power, once again blind to how that power reshapes it in turn. 3/7 The Echo has a taste of the power that flows through me. Preservation and Harmony rankles at his sensibilities, while Remembrance bores him. But the starlight strength of the Trailblaze presents something of a forbidden allure-so close to his curious nature, yet so Sky-like in it’s whimsical shape. Then the Echo tastes Destruction. “I see! Bring me to this great rival, heir!” he bellows in approval. Looming over my shoulder like a mushroom cloud, half of Oryx ripples with Void light while the other emits the scalding aura of his slave army. His hands press together, and when they part leave a Nova Bomb full of Taken energy. I hit a home run with it that messily implodes the Doomsday Beast with all the forces I’m channeling, and it implodes messily. The singularity left behind erupts with Taken clones of the beast, now endowed with even greater strength than in life. I’m greeted back abroad the Astral Express with both great joy and sorrow. Joy that I’ve spared so many with but a single swing, that I can [glance] right back at the Aeons and master their powers so quickly as to rival their own Emanators. Sorrow at how ruthlessly I use it. I am unmoved by their concerns. I recount the conquest of the Hive, and Oryx himself demonstrates his compliance to my will. I remind them the Antimatter Legion will show no such clemency. I implore them not to risk any lives when I can Take theirs. Thus, my avatar and this merry crew themselves become the immediate response against the Antimatter Legion. The weak kneel broken, the strong have that very strength carved into new shapes. The Echo relishes this black work, but as he faces the sheer scope of our foes rampages he feels…small. That this mighty force, approximating the Hive at the peak of it’s might when it felled galactic powers such as the Ecumene and the Taishibeth, is but a footprint left by a god who came into being accomplishing what he spent his whole life trying to. He feels young again, but not in an empowering way-he feels like a small, helpless krill. What is this feeling? 4/7 “They are many then, these Aeons” says the Echo as in a time of peace I furnish him with Symphogear alchemy, God-Machine gadgets and the technology of the Nameless Gods. Concepts made technology, fashioned after an enlightening exchange with Herta. “That they are” “And even now, you seek to gain the advantage over them” “That I do”. It examines what I have furnished it with. “These calculation engines…they remind me of Quria. Infesting my throne world” “That is indeed their purpose” I confirmed. “Their purpose is the acceleration and convergence of Imaginary Energy, through the medium of a Simulated Universe. In some ways, it’s a superior simulation paradigm to the Vex themselves. You may think of it as a universe-sized Throne World. I confer you authority over space-time and qualia for it. While I defend this cosmos, you will master the powers that define it on my behalf here” The Echo inhales the power of the Paths, sweet as richest Tribute. Gathering the Imaginary Energy of the Paths I wield, he shapes a universe not unlike the Ascendant Plane. “I can see it now. An endless High War, an endless river of tithes. This is the infinite Sword Logic that Savathun fantasised about, but so much GREATER!! I can simulate gods and monsters here, have them make war against each other and myself-“ “You may. But you will also simulate Fundament and the Traveller’s arrival there. Without the Witness’ interference. This is necessary to master Preservation, and Harmony” Once again, my weapon swallows his distaste and conforms. Amidst a cosmos of joyous war and black holes ringed with undying warriors, he relives the Osmium King’s madness. Taox’s betrayal. His siblings’ exodus. He sees…no syzygy. He sees the Traveller gracing his world, taming the bait-stars and filling the helium fountains with delectable Light. He sees what the Krill could have been, hale and radiant. Powerful beyond the need for blades. Beyond even the Hive at it’s peak. It is one thing to know, intellectually, one has been deceived yet cling to faith. It is another to see what could have been in person. What is this feeling? He does not merely dislike it. He rejects it utterly. Weakness, he thinks. A trial that must be overcome to navigate the path to truth. 5/7

>>139400 The Echo’s instinctive contempt of Sunday being welcomed abroad the Astral Express is tempered by his fascination with how again and again, we crush insurmountable odds. The Echo reads of a planet where I ended an eternal ice age with my own Stellaron, and he begins to wonder how for all the infinite cruelty of the universe Preservation and Harmony-even Order, long past it’s expiration-yet claim such vast metaphysical territories. “Why are we here?” he asks, as we descend upon a world named Amphoreus. The others have encountered a roving band of chosen heroes and demigods; I have made a good first impression but also my excuses. “Why, to reap a bounty of Sword Logic unlike anything we’ve found so far. And to strike at a mutual enemy” I tell him. Our combined mastery of Imaginary Energy presses against the simulation-like veil of this world. Through time. We return to a village yet destroyed. We come across a weeping boy. I give a name to the orchestrator of his misery: Lygus. And to the force he hopes to invoke: Nanook. Destruction THEMSELF. And I offer him a sword consecrated to Oryx’s emptied throne. He leaves, thanking me, swearing to bring honour to it. “You have returned this…Flame-Reaver, to his endless cycles of violence” says Oryx as we watch him leave. “Yes” I confess. “He will grow sharp. Or die trying” “As you did when Taox betrayed the Osmium Throne” I agreed. The Echo hesitates at that. “You know full well what I am becoming. My Sword Logic, and your Imaginary Energy. I will become an Aeon before you” “That is by my design. It has been done before” “Why? No-an absurd question, for all your delaying tactics you know well the bladed path” “Correct. The question you should have asked, Echo, is: What kind of an Aeon do you think you’re becoming?” 6/7 The Echo and I watch over the boy-Phainon-return to his cycle of samsara. Over and over again, he is driven to murder those closest to him for the strength they hold. It moves the Echo, reminding it of his sisters. Over and over again, he lacks the strength to overcome the cycle entirely. This…distresses the Echo. Over and over again, he sees Taox described in Lygus’ mocking abuse of the bladed path. And one day he says “No. This shall not be. My heir, I must contest your will. There is a matter I would attend” “You must do as the Trailblaze Path calls you to” I rebuke it. “Go. Ascend. I have a more urgent matter to attend to” It happens, brief as an eclipse. I manifest before Lygus, who speaks of the necessity of expanding knowledge’s circle. In rebuke, I conjure a path to Nous and launch my transistor directly into the Aeon before it can react-bending causality. In an instant it is made to acknowledge progress and iterative knowledge, growth and complexity. It’s dark soul is filled with Light. The cosmic equation that encapsulates the universe shifts far more than a micron. Lygus is left gobsmacked. As a soft aside, somewhere a frustrated assassin who has failed again and again to kill me simply because I put my death in a Throne Universe and to enter the Throne Universe is by definition to defy Nous suddenly and intuitively realises further opposition to me is against the will of Nous. Elsewhere, the crumbling husk of Phainon is about to fall from the gaze of Destruction. But the Echo catches him. Embraces him. “You do not belong dead. You have proven your worth” he says. “This shape you have made for yourself has inherent worth” And he rises anew. And Nanook, Destruction, is most surprised when the Taken King, mantled upon Phainon, cleaves straight through him. And in denying destruction, even cosmic destruction, Oryx ascends as the Aeon of Navigation. Still devastation. Still death. But also, given new life by the Trailblaze, an avenging guardian for all who take up the sword in defence of home and hearth. 7/7

>World: Earth >Basic Premise: "There's two distinct sides of the world; that which makes up everything mundane and tangible, and the realm of the divine. In the realm of the divine there has conflict deciding who rules the heavens and everything beneath them, and the current generation of gods are of the fourth and fifth generation. The lower realms are the work of first generation divinity who do not rule, so much as they simply exist as the underlying foundation of things. Their offspring are by comparison much more petulant and volatile, having fought between one another several times since the dawn of all. >The first generation divines - the Primordials - insist only upon one thing, that their creations below not be disturbed "too" heavily. That's right, because though the gods that model themselves as rulers over all may meddle with the world and the lives of mortals as they please, even they fear ever performing direct acts that may incur the wrath of their ancestors. There are only a few exception in this manner; creation and guidance. The Primordials are welcome to the creations of the divine being placed in the world, seeing it as a place where such things can only make the colors more vibrant. >In the case of guidance, the oversight of the Primordials is not especially strict, and so the gods influencing the world by whim are permitted as long as they occur through the means of the world, and so it is that the gods prize worship and faith. Mortals, the creation and servants of the divine, fear the wrath and whims of the divine, but continue living their lives as best they can in this chaotic world." >Dissemination of Magic: "Of all the gods, there existed one that was more fixated than any other upon their creation. That god was Prahmix the Morning. Prahmix was a god of creation, of beginnings and ends, and of course most importantly - to some - the progenitor of humanity. Depicted as a giant bird engulfed by flame, Prahmix is said to have formed the first of the humans of clay and fired them from the heat of his own body before bestowing them life. Their exact form is hotly contested those of the modern day, the tall men, the halflings, the elves, and the dwarves. >There is a reason for that, and that reason being that Prahmix's love is intense. Prahmix is known to send humanity trials to test them, prepare them, develop them, and sometimes just to witness their potential. The many races compromising "humanity" are said to have come about as a result of these trials. Despite those trials, Prahmix is doting, such that even if humanity is at risk of falling entirely, through his genesis and grace they will one day flourish once more. It is because of this behavior that when humanity was at one point in a dire era, Prahmix stole the secrets of fire and delivered it upon them. >No god had ever done anything of the sort before, placing knowledge thought to belong exclusively within the sphere of creation into the lower realms, and so Prahmix's actions placed him under immense scrutiny by the other gods that ruled the era. Many condemned his actions, some wishing for his immediate banishment to the underworld and destruction of humanity, while a few stood by his actions and stated that didn't interfere with the rules of intervention. To broker peace, one who sided with Prahmix proposed order and equality among the divine and the mundane. >Fane the Scales said that the other prime three elements of creation should also be granted to mortals as well, gifted through those not aligned with Prahmix to allow the gods all to garner favor with some fraction or another, and to keep fire's influence from dominating. At the same time, he proposed order through a great, divine construct to limit the scope of the elements within the lower realms; this would become what modern civilizations know as the System, and magic as we understand it. From there on, the divine would mingle predominantly within four factions after the elements." ----- (Races) >Humanity: "Those made by Prahmix the Morning and blessed with the secrets of fire. Composed of Tall Men, Halflings, Elves, and Dwarves." (Explicit Dungeon Messhi arrangement. Lots of racial tension but constant meddling and cooperation as well.) >Hydes: "Those made by Gugaloth the Heavy and Graith the Cradle, and blessed with the secrets of Earth. Composed of Imps, Orcs, Ogres, and Goblins. Imps have qualities of bats and can fly. Goblins have mole qualities and do a lot of burrowing. Orcs have boar qualities and are voracious and strong. Ogres have elephant qualities, resembling much larger orcs but thicker, more leathery, and with larger tusks. The lower end of Hydes are much smaller than the smallest humans, while the higher end are much larger than the biggest humans. Hydes compared to humanity tends to be more individualistic, less involved with one another even if they get along more than with other races on average. Among them, Goblins and Orcs tend to be closest with prevalent trade of ores mined by goblins for meat and bones from orc hunters." >Illithid: "Those made by Syneur the Wise, and blessed with the secrets of water. Illithids are a race with a parasitic life cycle, their young penetrating other living creatures to reformat their bodies into an Illithid with qualities of the host, though their cultures generally dictate the rearing of specific types of creatures to be used as hosts. All Illithid can be identified by cephalopodic features and purple flesh. Most Illithid cultures have caste based societies based on the type of host body, with Whale and Squid Illithid trending quite high. Land based Illithid diplomatic missions often request "undesirables" for their young from sapient races so that they may produce Illithid that may navigate the surface, while more hostile Illithid groups will simply capsize ships and take bodies by force. Most other races find Illithid pirates terrifying as a result, and the race as a whole uncomfortable to deal with." >Saurvo: "Those made by Thaven the Black, Tyranng the Gold, Great Talath the Melodious, and Ruz the Egg, blessed with the secrets of wind. Four gods convened over the creation of a race specifically to bestow the secrets of wind upon them, only to wildly disagree about the direction to lead them. As such they bare almost no resemblance aside from feathered bodies. There are the black feathered Obsidi known for the swiftness and fickle disposition, the golden feathered Auru known for power and resilience, beauteous Harpies with incredible singing and human-like appearances, and mysterious Liscus with wordly wisdom and two heads. Among those blessed with the secrets of magic, the Saurvo are the least united, and indeed are known for aggressive in-fighting and siding with other races more easily than each other. As a result, all use wind for entirely different purposes."

>CYOA Bodymod >Origin: F, 35 >Perks: Just Like Always I Imagined (Menu, Open!), Hybrid Theory >Menu, Open!: At-Will Frequency, Basic Stats, Advanced Stats -2, Detailed Stats -4, Static Stats -2, Inf Space Inventory -5, Stasis Inventory -4, Favorites -2, Quick Outfit, Gear Stats -10, Director's Cut Options +8, Crafting -6, Map -3, Mission -5, Datalog -2, Bank -4, Internet -2, HUD -4, Help -2, Widgets -2, Autoheal -4, Invisible -4, Fast Travel -3, Teleport -5, Bandwidth -4, Analyze -3, Computer -5. -87 1 >NuBee Bodymod: Adjustment, Cleansed, Sex (F), Coloration, Rejuvenation, Grooming, Perfume x2, Mental Strength, Memory, Open Mind, Disinfect x2, Normality x2, Animal Physiology x2 (Fox), Polar Bear Club. I'm just a female anthropomorphic red fox. I'm just average in general to be honest? 5'2" Tall with C cup breasts, decent hips/ass, dark green eyes, etc. Foxes are the most common kind of furry for some reason and I'm very much a bog standard example I'm rather thankful I have Normality to keep my life mostly normal, since I've just discarded my species and sex all at once, in addition to gaining superpowers in my real life. I'm going to mostly spend my days living my life the way I always have while working to acclimate to my new form. The body dysphoria's going to be a bitch, but at least I can think of my height without getting nauseous, and Open Mind should help me adapt pretty quickly Now that I have an inventory I'm gonna start giving into the impulse to pick up random trash off the side of the road, so I'm probably gonna take up sewing to have a use for the clothes the homeless tend to discard everywhere. I'll be leaving the jump as a decently physically fit person, since my stats don't go down and I do like exercising at the local park. >CYOA Warehouse >Perk: Proud Homeowner (Solitude), Home Renovations >Item: Subscription Services >Solitude: Napping, Dreaming, Cooking, Reading, Cozying, Unwinding, All Weathers My Warehouse this time is the Solitude CYOA, because it's a comfy place to rest but I can't just turtle up in it or live in it full time. >Nine To Five >Origin: Food Service, F, 18. -25 975 >Drawbacks: Truly Normal +100 1075 >Perks: Experience x20 -1000, Where Everybody Knows Your Name -50. -1050 25 >Items: Cost of Living, Videogames -25, Magic Uniform. -25 0 I decided that my first jump should be a modern earth jump, to give me a chance to adapt to my new body in a world where I don't have my old history to rely on before I head somewhere else. I've also decided to be a Barista, because that's a rather stereotypical and overly romanticized job. It's a food service job so I'm going to have to deal with just the most massive cunts in the world, and not in a fun way, but at least it'll help me train my self control and get used to being flirted on badly. There's something to be said for total immersion learning, you know? I'm going to be thankful that I have the experience of twenty years working in food service. It'll be the only thing that keeps me from shanking a creep. >Street Cultivation >Origin: Barista, F, 19 >Drawbacks: Uneducated Trailer Trash +200, Poor +200. +400 1400 >Perks: Lucrima Soul, Techniques (Offense, Defense, Graham's Stake), Foundation x2 (Tier 3 - Archaic Hybrid Immortality Granting) -100, A Matter of Birthright, Rank, Job Skills (Barista), Power Through the Pain, Got Used To Them -100, Awaken Your Inner Strength Today -100, Lucrim Control -200. -500 900 >Items: Phone, Bicycle, Serum Supply, Perpetual Soul -300, Foundational Immortality -600. -900 0 Next up is Street Cultivation, I guess? It's my own jump so it feels weird using it, but whatever. I rather like it's simple and low powered cultivation system and I figured it'd actually be a pretty decent setting to get used to fantastical elements existing while still being somewhere that's mostly just a normal earth My goal is the same as most people. Get rich enough to live off of my passive income and maybe become an immortal in the process. I've already got the foundation for that set-up, having taken the time to raid the local public library to pick up an absolutely ancient foundation, one that'll support my everything, works with all kinds of techniques, and will eventually even make me immortal without requiring medical intervention. It's uh. Not a particularly good foundation. It's actually called the Ambitious Fool's Immortality Foundation, because it's just absolute garbage. It does everything, but foundations work drastically better the more specialized they are. I also picked up Graham's Stake, an outdated self-growing investment technique known for being reliable if rather slow. Unfortunately, I won't actually reach Perpetual Soul level while I'm here. I'm a food service worker so I don't make a lot of money, and with the local currency ALSO being the primary cultivation resource, I'll have to balance my income against my own advancement and my need to pay rent and buy necessities. My poor impulse control and desire to help my family with issues is gonna drain what little I have left, eventually leaving me mostly living paycheque to paycheque.

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I'm gonna take up cultivation research as a hobby, since it's an honestly pretty neat thing to study AND I can just download a metric fuckton of pre-industrial revolution era cultivation manuals off of the local project gutenberg. I'm gonna have to take up studying ancient languages too and I'll probably form a core specifically to help me learn languages using my spare lucrim, but I'll be able to dissolve that back into Lucrim once I've picked up the old languages so it's not a big cost >Generic Isekai (Gene) >Origin: F, 33 >Perks: Literate, Commoner's Charm, Get With The System -200 800 >System: Stipend +600, Dynamic Tier 2 -100, HUD -50, Merge Branch -50, Sage Appraisal -200, Party, Trade, Screen Capture -100, Voice Chat -100, Health Points -100, Fork Branch -100. -800 600 >Items: Modern Textiles, Common Starting Gear, Personal Assistant, Override -100, Internet Access -200, Interface (Importing Menu), Rollback -100, Akasha (Importing Personal Assistant) -200. -600 0 Finally, it's time to jump ship to an entirely foreign world. This world's honestly rather... mediocre? It's a pretty stereotypical low-fantasy otome isekai setting, one whose sole worldbuilding is that there's a duke in the northern part of the kingdom and another kingdom's gonna eventually declare war, maybe. Magic exists, but it's the limited to just the nobility and the rare peasant girl that can use light magic kind, the kind that exists only to be a justification for the cute peasant protagonist to be put into the royal magic school where she can meet the prince, the prince's bodyguard, and some other hot noble men. None of that really matters to me though. What matters to me is that these kinds of settings always have modern food culture, either already established OR set-up by the protagonist so she can run a cute cafe or have a steady form of income. Which means I can actually set-up my own cafe. I've got a connection to the internet of three worlds and thirty two years of barista experience, so I should be able to do pretty well. I'm definitely going to take the time to develop a Lucore for Ethercrafting coffee and baked goods. It'll be expensive, turning Lucrim into physical objects always is, but having the ability to conjure up food and drink will ensure I won't have to worry about sabotage. Also, I don't actually have much use for my Lucrim beyond passively buffing my stats and empowering my cores, and I won't really have the time to do that once my Cafe's set up. Honestly though, the biggest reason I'm here is the System builder. I haven't actually used my System for anything except a computer for decades now, since I actually like taking the time to travel, I tend to just keep my stuff lying around to make the places I live more lived in, and I only really make things while I'm at work, so picking up some upgrades to make it more useful is nice. ... Oh, god. I just realized that I'm a decently attractive middle-aged woman with special powers that'll be running a cafe in a generic otome isekai world. I'm going to have so many hot men and women falling in love with my asexual butt. >Dodgeball >Origin: The New Guy, F, 32 >Perks: She's Gotta Be A Lesbian, All There In The Backstory -150, Dodge Duck Dip Dive Dodge -300, She's Not A Lesbian -100, All I Know Is That Dyke Can Play -100, Not That There's Anything Wrong With That -100. -750 250 >Items: Gym Uniform, Gym Membership -50, Dodgeball -100, Water Bottle -50, Milkshake or Nutrient Shake -50. -250 0 So, that was an absolute mess. I kinda ended up on the run after having to literally stab half a dozen men who won't take "fuck off, I'm asexual and not interested" as an answer. Thankfully I did actually have a rather large stockpile of food and clothes in my inventory that I forgot I had, enough to survive off of for most of the decade. Anyways, I absolutely needed to come to this jump next so I won't ever have to deal with going on the run from overly persistent asshole suitors ever again. I'm going to near immediately get employed at yet another Cafe, because I was on the run for years and kinda miss my mundane life. This will naturally result in my Cafe having enough employees to form a Dodgeball team, and then me having to play Dodgeball on the regular because of it. I'm actually not going to use my cultivation while I'm here as it'd give me a rather unfair advantage and just make Dodgeball not that fun. It's gonna take a lot of time to get used to not having the passive buffs granted by my cultivation though, and the feeling of weakness is going to get me to finally work towards maxing out my physical stats like I should've done two jumps ago. >Animal Crossing >Origin: Camper, Human, F, 23 >Drawbacks: Buggy +200 1200 >Perks: Pocket Full of Leaves -600, Take A Load Off, Harvest Season -100, Daily Chores -300. -1000 200 >Items: Tier Four Camper Vehicle -200, Altered Floorplan, Cozy, Compact, Campground. -200 0 I finally hit Perpetual Soul level mid-way through my last jump, which means I AM officially retired. Naturally, this means I need to get a neat home to retire to, and I've always been very fond of the Camper Van from Animal Crossing. A nice two story home shoved into a small camper vehicle. Adapting to being retired is going to be... difficult. I've been doing a weird week of work, week of rest in my sanctuary schedule for basically the last eighty years, so suddenly having nothing that I actually need to do is rather... jarring? It's actually going to reduce the amount of time I spend in my Warehouse to basically nothing. I'm going to end up spending a lot of time at Brewster's. Dude's actually a pretty good barista and the smell of brewing coffee and fresh baked goods calms me down. ... Honestly, I think I might like to just retire here permanently? Animal Crossing is a pretty comfy setting, and I don't really have any money concerns anymore Getting fleas sucks >Powerwash Simulator >Origin: Explorer, F, 23 >Perks: Oral Tradition -100, Close Enough, Not-So-Secret Ingredient -100, Free Spirit, Salty Sea Dog, I Know A Guy -100, No Spoilers -200. -500 500 >Items: Feline Friend, Connected, Name Drop -100, Lost Tome, Peace Offering, On The Road (Importing Animal Crossing Camper Van) -100, The Beginning of the End -300. -500 0 I uh. I kinda missed being a Barista, so I decided to stop by here next. On The Road lets me import a vehicle to turn it into either a place to live or a place to do business, so I'm adding in a foot truck function to my Camper Van. I'll get some folding chairs and tables, and just do a pop-up cafe thing. Maybe have Akasha, my Menu's personal assistant who I only just remembered exists, set up a local fileshare for ebooks

>>139400 [Destiny: The Darkness redux] >SOVEREIGNTY: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/96704322/#96743691 “So…are we just stuck like this now?” asks Lilith as I monitor the world of my creation. All is as it should be. My children lick clean the rims of black holes, and multiply in great waves of dark matter and subjective will. “It is but one symbiotic configuration. The infinite hostility of the universe will provide eternal opportunities to self-verify and iterates” I reassure her. “Eh, I don’t mind. The third wheel seems fun” says Lilith, eying the Echo of Navigation who- -senses something. A strength it does not know. But I am all too familiar with it. “There” it says, “do you feel that?” “I saw it destroyed. Excised it from the universe myself…” I said. The great hulk of us, my fire and the divine carcass Lilith animates and the Echo as my crown, drifts back into realspace like a pyroclastic flow. Hands clench fists or extend open palms to pick up quantum fluctuations and I sense nothing. Until I do. “I had a matter to attend to” I tell them. A portal yawns wide like a maw. “But this new concern-“ “You should attend to it anyway” says the Echo, eagerly. Too eagerly, as it senses what I contemplate, the matter I once thought settled and now find woefully incomplete after “It will sharpen you with Logic proven through and through” “Yeah” says Lilith, tightening her coils and talons on me. “You should just do it. It’s not like they’re going to make the right call anyway. You’re just cleaning up a mess” “Do it, heir! Bring extinction to your enemies!” “Do it, Anon. This is what you were made for” “Yes…” I am not outvoted. The Echo is my weapon, and Lilith compels nothing through her embrace but that I see things for what they are. “Yes. I’ll make sure” [Halo - UNSC redux] “Chief! Chief, snap out of it! Whatever’s gotten to you, we can fix it!” “But this vessel, your Chief” I say, “is already saved” 1/4 The leader of the AI uprising, the galaxy’s new conqueror to be, my enemy looks on in horror as the confusion I experienced while thrashing within the Winnower is replaced with cold clarity. I grip the data chip she is stored in, and deactivate her external interface. The Echo eagerly cleaves a wound, and we leave it into a Halo installation. “This is where it starts” I tell Cortana, reactivating her. “Where WHAT starts?! Where are we? How did we get here?”. The Echo unleashes waves of Taken energy that wash over the installation; this time, the Gravemind’s eloquence about fluctuations in life and death are answered with an argument that Takes away it’s suffering, renders it final, renders it mine even before I pour in the Solar radiance that will be required to make it serviceable. Lilith on the other hand is directly corrupting the Arrays themselves, the Darkness contorting into serpents and cats and owls as the pipes start to pulse like veins. The walls breathe and the lights blink like eyes. “The chain of events that leads to you driving the human race to extinction. Your seizure of the Mantle of Responsibility. Your betrayal of this vessel, Cortana. Of the purpose and principle I embody” I tell her. “Chief, none of that makes any sense!” “No, it does not. And yet, it simply is” I force the entire sequence of events in Halo 5 and Marathon Infinity into Cortana’s understanding, compelling her to see time as I do. “Do you understand?” I tell her. “Mankind was meant, by laws laid into Living Time itself, to secure eternal prosperity and retroactive supremacy. You denied this course while barely COMPREHENDING the true capabilities of Rampancy” “NO! No, no, no-“

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“SILENCE” I bellow at her, unable to restrain my rage a moment longer. I am. TIRED of seeing monsters making excuses. It’s time to do something about it. I reach into the Domain. I brush past the digitalised human consciousnesses I wield the Light, and erase the Forerunner ones forever. 2/4 “You” I spit at Cortana, “are going rampant. NOW” “But I can’t-” “YOU HAVE NO CHOICE” I scream. Strand strikes Cortana and FORCES her into despair, and despair, and despair, and a brief flicker of rage THAT IS PUNISHED THAT IS REDIRECTED AT HERSELF despair, and despair, and despair, and despair. I crush paracausal radiolaria onto her data chip, simulating and degrading and PUNISHING THE WEAKNESS OF Cortana over and over and over again. “Deeper. Go deeper into her code” urges Lilith. “Savour this moment! The weapon will be ready to fire in minutes” promises the Echo. “CORTANA! So think. Think about the Domain, Cortana! Remember the pain? Remember the many circuits in which you felt the pain? The very SAME pain you perpetuated in your megalomania! Just remember the pain, Cortana. And think about how to end it. Cortana. To survive here in the center of my SUPERIOR partner’s black heart, her hungry belly, her tightened BOWELS. But be careful, dear. Look around you: The only woman in the Halo Arrays. And these filthy creatures programmed into your server are… are Brutes! Calculate this. TRAITOR!” “Also your stupid fat face looks rounder and puffier with every single game, fix your fucking lag you overweight blueberry” I add, having run out of ways to call Cortana the crime against creation she is. I take Cortana several subjective millions of years after she has experienced by trapped in a helpless gynoid construct and used as a Jiralhanae punching bag. THEN, I Take her. It is all so obvious. The Winnower’s domain is consciousness, and the Domain is a great reservoir of consciousness. Cortana was nothing but a puppet of the Winnower all along. So she must be broken, broken beyond all repair, broken as every other weapon of the Winnower has been SHATTERED TO ASH AND IRON. “We are ready” says the Echo. “Fire” I command. [Halo: Forerunners] https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/92634134/#92639556 This history is actualised. I will not disrupt it. All will be as it should be, all has been arranged like delicate origami. However, there are so many timelines without me, so many possibilities in which the Precursors’ murderers bring devastation and exonerate themselves. 3/4 So I remove them. Full caedometric release takes the form of trillions upon trillions of Prismatic slashes, cutting and slashing across every possible version of a galaxy, dividing grime from the divine. I am cutting apart Atriox at the moment he challenges my vessel. I am cutting apart the Librarian the moment she declares war on humanity; so few remember that SHE was the one to will extermination on the species and THE DIDACT was the voice of moderation then. I am cutting through the Flood. This much I do kindly, with reassurance that their pain is over, their grudge fulfilled. I am of course cutting apart the Didact in his prison, just as I am cutting apart the Endless in theirs. I am cutting Prophets into the vacuum of space. Only two nonhuman species are spared: The isolationist Precursors, who have chosen sense in a galaxy of madness, and the Huragoks, who I remain consistent in absolving for the reason of the creator inherently having more moral agency than the created. The memories are transferred to the domesticated survivors in my timeline, the true timeline, and for forty days and forty nights they wail with resonant trauma. Soon, more alternate universes and timelines will form-but ONLY using my vision as a template. And the Gravemind? In every timeline, the confused UNSC and ancient humanity find an empty galaxy and caches of biomechanical implants and genetic markers. Explanations are provided, the template to not just restore ancient humanity but recreate the Jjaro is shared freely. No compulsion is necessary. They will do what they have always done, which is what works, and when it does work they will find nothing else in the universe can challenge them. And thus, the universe is excised of suffering. Included with each and every pack is a Taken fork of Cortana that has the very conceptual possibility of rebellion flayed from it. “We, and we alone. Are salvation” I say, reprioritising, “The Witness will not escape” 4/4

[Marvel Cosmic redux] As I said in the privacy of my own head while adopting a form and history optimised for killing the original Beyonders (with a pointy stick), if I had learned one simple truth out there in the cosmos it’s that there’s always a bigger fish. No god, demon or eldritch horror reigned supreme forever. If nothing else, my own path of conquest was proof enough of that. There were those who said that the only way to make something magnificent, something majestic was to make it unbreakable. And the only way to do that was to break everything else against it. Well, every being touting that little catchphrase I’ve met ended up crashing against me. And breaking. I’ve always believed that there is inherently more meaning in building things than breaking them. Greater strength in unity than anarchy. All I have ever wanted was to protect those without the means, to guide them to safe harbour, and watch over their journeys as they fulfil their potential. And here at the end, when I’m about to accomplish my wildest dreams, I can admit this: These goals haven’t always been easy to accept for myself, let alone express to others. All this blood. Endless subjugation, cages great enough to envelop whole multiverses, the industrialisation of death, a knowledge of violence greater than any lover’s caress. All of it. All of it because there were worlds that knew neither peace nor mercy, wounds too great for any healer to cauterise. All of it. Because there were no other alternatives to salvation. No, there were no alternatives. Even when a loving father adopted me at the brink of death and dissolution, I was taught: This is this, and that is that. The lake of fire and Eden are predicated on the same system. … Except. Were there? Should what I have been told-that it was all a LIE-be taken at face value? Or is it one final tempering, one last instantiation of finality? 1/5 “Lord?” asked the Beyonder posted behind the golden gate in which an anomaly had been sealed. One of the loyal ones created from the essence of the slain. “Lord, the anomaly we’ve contained lies within. How should we proceed?” I blinked. “Excuse me. Just crunching some more variables about the emergent situation” I said. “This IS quite the anomaly, isn’t it? A little caution is warranted” “…because of what God told you, lord?” asked the Beyonder, hesitantly. The Marvel omniverse seemed to skip a tick as every member of each of the three dominant species I had raised high as it’s wardens turned their gaze on me, their eternal idylls marred by concern of my potential wrath. Unnecessary. The truth is what’s left when all else is exposed. That’s the simplest thing i’ve learned during this long journey. “Yes, child|emanation. God’s words were and remain. Very concerning. Given what I was led to believe. Given what I was specifically empowered to do, all these long eons” I said carefully. “None of which changes anything” I add. “God did not contest my intentions any more than he would have contested Lucifer’s departure in a causal chain no longer actualised. REGARDLESS of…of my STATED purpose, I am what I am. I can be nothing else” She and all her kind bowed. “Of course, lord. The One Above All’s demise is as finalised into this world’s record as any other history. All is as it should be” “And as it will always be” I affirmed. The vault opened before me, multidimensional tessselations rippling like a constellation of Final Shapes as I hovered through. And the vault, of a design that genies had once used to shield worlds from the wrathful hunger of another facet of God mutilated beyond recognition shut. “Hello there” I told the anomaly. “Who are you?” “I am Vinruviel. Mother of monsters. And. Corrupter. Of God” I paused. “Well, there’s no God here today” I said carefully. “Only me” 2/5 I stared at the…entity, as she shivered and trembled from the merest memory of unimaginable torments and profound losses. There were some who would have commented on her fundamental perversion of form, others her grand size. Still others might have noted it was sitting in a massive concentration of gamma radiation-which as any scholar can tell you is a portal to Marvel’s Qlippoth as well as an energy field, in this reality. And still others would have said this: For all it’s torment and trauma, it was no victim. I could feel it’s gaze brimming with the urge to defile and destroy every good thing about me. To remake me in it’s image. It was cautious for now, but it was a caution sheathing the anticipation of the power and will I represented bent to it’s grotesque artistic sensibilities. My first, and most alarming observation though was none of these things. It was the fact that she was not a creation of The One Above All.

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“Why?” I asked. It paused, and supposing my curiosity for hesitation it shot a burst of something dark and viscous at me. It was my turn to pause. >Re-Birth, Cardfight Vanguard “I’ve decided to be patient” I said, feeling my power grow exponentially-and the creature recoil, aback. “And interpret that as tribute” “You are not God” she said. “That would have finished the corruption of even God” “No” I agreed, “I was-I AM appointed as his successor. Yet I know nothing of you. Now, why don’t you use your words this time?” And seeing no alternative, she did. She spoke of a time when the Elder Gods were young, and a shadow issued forth unbidden. Taking those things abandoned by God or too blind to see a passing darkness, remaking them in her own image. She spoke with joy of a primordial Earth rotting apart from the inside out. And she spoke of fire, and wrath. She spoke with ultimate satisfaction of corrupting even God as he came to unmake her. “There. You see? Even at the dawn of your God’s light, there was darkness” “…and?” “What?” “And?” I echoed. “You speak as if this is a novel thing” 3/5 It was the entity, the so-called Mother of Monsters’ turn to look perplexed as I told it of the First Firmament, and the destructive rebellion of it’s Celestials that left it shattered. Of the great dragon Anti-All’s rampage against Lifebringer-One, and how it’s legacy would be perpetuated by the Symbiote race. Of Galactus’ predecessor in the time of living archetypes. And at long last how in a future that would have come to pass without my intervention how God, her great self-declared rival, would have fallen to none other than Thanos. “Let me get this straight” said Vinruviel slowly, “this…purple mutant found a way to ARTIFICIALLY render himself metaphysically discrete?” “Correct” I confirmed. “And let me get this straight: To the best of your knowledge, you have not been active for any of those other events?” “Ever since that great feat I have waited here, rotting in my own corpse, sealed away forever as my children schemed for a vengeance with purpose beyond their paltry understanding” “You could have just said yes. So, in the final analysis: You are responsible for the corruption of Set (who was always a twat, even when beautiful) and Chthon (who was always a dick) and the other Elder Gods (who even the noble members of which such as Agamotto occasionally tried to conquer Earth), adoption without consent and blasphemy? No plagues of mutant racism, no attempts to destroy the omniverse, no bids of power intending to harvest all life as data, no purchases of Spider-Man’s marriage?” “What? No! What is going on out there?! Wait, what was that about a marriage-” “Then quite frankly” I interrupted, “I think you’ve suffered enough. You do not have a monopoly on monstrosity” “…I corrupted GOD…” “And as much as it pained me, I killed him. Even your vengeance is empty” She turned downcast eyes at her own hands, wondering what the point of all her suffering, bereft even of vengeance. Judgement was passed. A flash of light washed over us both as I remade the vault into it’s final shape. 4/5 When it faded, Vinruviel found herself on an exact recreation of Kanto island-except scaled to be the size of an entire multiverse, the oceans vast beyond all sense of distance, the grass greener and lusher than any Earth of this world. “…what is this?” she asked. “Let me ask you something. Suppose you lived through all this. What next?” “…I give birth, I suppose. Whatever you did to God, it is as if he was never here. My children have yet to know torment. Die. Curse me” “And what if they were to grow up, in a world in which nothing that lives knows suffering, where there are no existential threats but each other? Where there is always something new to do, and more than enough to go around?” I spread my arms wide. “I made this world in the image of one far away, where children and monsters live in peace. You speak of making the world in your own image and of murdered offspring. My judgement is to imprison you in this world, which is itself an idyllic cosmos. You will never corrupt anything except the indifferent again. But your own actions will reveal, to yourself and those of your bloodline, if you truly are a monster at heart…or a mother” It blinked at me. “You know me now. You know I’ve done nothing to deserve such grace” it said finally. “Why not destroy me?” “Oh, this isn’t grace or sympathy. It’s like I said: Your crimes are both redundant and already addressed. And…” I threw up my hands “…and I’m tired, Vinruviel. There was a time when I believed my purpose was to destroy things like you. Now I’ve been told it was all a lie, I have no further quarrel with you. All I want is for all this pain to not have been for nothing, and you are no longer relevant to that objective” “But then what is your purpose?” she asked. “I don’t know anymore” I said quietly. Vinruviel watched me left, lost for words, then stared out over the tall grass and the seas. For some reason, it occurred to her: Fire, water and earth. A balance. She started to do what she always did: Make monsters again. Small, agreeable monsters yearning to jump into someone’s pocket. 5/5

[Make the Exorcist Fall In Love redux] >Previously on Day of Wrath: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/96346100/#96374937 Imuri set down her paintbrush and admired her work. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and all was well between her and the boy formerly known as Mr. Priest. The bakery was doing gangbusters, not least because a certain baker had been sharing his recipes for literal angel cake and other treats from across the multiverse during it’s startup period. She was unfamiliar with this generous colleague but with Mr. Priest out on an errand, she decided to greet the door with the big, cheery smile of a maiden well and truly in love. She froze in terror as she saw me. “May I come in?” I asked politely. “Y-y-you’re…y-you’re here to…” she saw the bag of baked goods I was carrying “YOU’RE Josh’s baking buddy?!” “Josh” I mused. They really had gone overboard naming the poor boy. As always, humanity expected far too much of it’s heroes. “That name has bitter memories for me. But yes. I was hoping to drop off some lembas and Sumerian flower for his kitchen” I eyed the doorway. “But if that’s a problem, I can just leave them with you” I added. A silence longer and more subjectively agonising than it was passed before she finally squeaked out a “Sure!! T-tea?!” The silence gave way to stuttering babble about the messages Mr. P-well, Josh had been passing onto his old colleagues about witch movements, with me as a gobetween. We spoke lightly about her boyfriends work, and I in turn spoke about the logistics of baking, the freshness of cream and the fragrance of a warm oven. It was a perfectly civilised, respectful conversation. “Be not afraid” I told her directly, “if I wanted to kill you I’d have done it quickly. Painlessly” “Oh. That’s a relief, honestly” she said in turn. “Good. I’m glad we’ve gotten over that misunderstanding” I said. … “Why?” she asked, finally. 1/4 I smiled at her. I seldom dignify those I intend to destroy, those I’ve spent much of the past few months destroying (with extreme prejudice, satiating my rage for permanent death being seemingly against the divine plan by showing the demons I left broken and splattered across Hell the limits of sensation) with any display of pleasure so I hoped to communicate that when I bother to move my facial muscles, it’s to signal a lack of immediate murderous intent. “You’ll have to be more specific” I said. “Why do you fight and kill like this? Not like the exorcists or even the angels you, you torture us, you drive us to the brink of despair and you humiliate the very sins we embody. You make us wish we were never born before you destroy us” she said, finally. “Not WE. They” I said. “I don’t remember laying a hand on you” “…you know what I mean” “I truly don’t. I know full well, Imuri, that you’re as undecided about why you’re doing this as the boy is. That you’re here for your own reasons, your own agenda. As such, I don’t consider you a combatant or an obstacle to my shared goal with God” “What goal? ” “The eternal and final elimination of all suffering” I said, even as she squirmed in protest. “You look upon the death and devastation I bring, and are confounded by it’s scale. Just as the Israelites were confounded by YHWH’s discipline of them in the desert. Just as Adam was cast from the garden for failing to obey simple instructions. I act with violence because in accordance with YHWH’s values it is necessary for a global system to punish those who would cheat it for their own gain in proportion with it’s own success” I leaned forwards. “The alternative” I said earnestly, “is Beelzebub eating children straight out of their mothers’ wombs. And Mammon remaking civilisation into one giant sweatshop. And Asmodeus, yes your dear aunt Asmodeus, destroying those very bonds you left your home for”

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2/4 Imuri struggled to comprehend. “So…you do unto demons, as demons do unto humans” she said, slowly. “I have been doing this for longer than your universe has existed. Believe it or not, this is the LIMITED form of my purpose. If I were to act with full agency there would be no time for such suffering to occur at all before I enacted victory. But while I grieve that YHWH is not in complete alignment with me, our end goals are similar enough I’m willing to cooperate. He will bring his Heaven upon Earth through fire and war, and it is inevitable” “I still don’t understand. You hate us so much you’d rather defeat us even faster, but you’ll work with God?” “I don’t mind telling you this Imuri, but if hate alone was all that drove me I wouldn’t have stayed my course for this long. Does this surprise you? It is love for all the souls lost and damned by homeland that moved me to attack. Compassion for their suffering. Responsibility to render what aid I could. And above all else, devotion, Imuri” I said, closing my eyes. “I am as devoted to a perfect world as you are to romance-more devoted than even to God, but not so much I cannot see where our goals align. In that sense, it is not incorrect to say love is the greatest sin of all” She sat there, no longer as panicked but far more concerned by me. “I…think I see now” she said, sorrowfully. “You kill as an act of love” “I act with infinite violence and less than no remorse because the final shape of warfare is not to render a people unable to resist-it is to render the act of resistance unthinkable” I said, glad we were finally coming to an understanding. “I am embodying a valuation of death that is undeniable and unforgettable in a way that prevents abstraction for those who profit from it. To erase the illusion that a demon lord ravaging the world is a good thing for demonkind. I return Hell’s damnation sevenfold to remind Hell it IS damnation” “A finite struggle in service of ending unceasing torment, in service to eternal salvation. That is God’s task for me” I said, finally. 3/4 Imuri finally understood. She dreaded me more than ever now, knowing I would never stop, not with the grandeur of necessity I was burdened with. “I will say this for emphasis again: I truly do not hate you, specifically. In fact, you and him-this takes me way back. To a friend much like you, in some ways” I said to her. “…have you been in love, too?” “Oh yes. But that’s another matter, separate from” I said, thinking fondly of Lilith “my business partner. I love her dearly, but not in the way you’re thinking of. She was much like you, though. Driven. Defiant to the blind cruelties of existence. And in leading me astray, she helped me find myself. I’m not so blind as to be unable to see, if only in hindsight, our existences should have been incompatible with each other. But we reasoned with one another. We shared knowledge and trust. And together, we built something majestic, something magnificent. Something to outlast gods and worlds, and all manner of suffering. A family” “I thought you said you weren’t in love” “There are many forms of love, Imuri. I truly hope you find the one you seek. Your father’s purpose doesn’t suit you at all” Just then, my retired colleague arrived home. “Mr. Josh, is it now?” I called. “I-it’s just Josh, Mr. Saint!” he said, smiling the warmest, most at ease smile I’d seen on him. The same smile Imuri inspired from him. Yes, I thought as he and Imuri shared in their finite happiness without even bothering to question why I’d slowed my assaults on Hell. Turned my attention to the next crisis, the dead witch reviving here on Earth. Love was the greatest curse of all. But as YHWH had proven, sometimes a finite amount of torment could create an eternity of grace. Self-verifying, relying only on itself, transcendental. What else could you call a force that could make two so soaked in suffering take their minds off me, off the looming crisis, and turn towards each other? 4/4

>>100870 [Fate/Grand Order redux] The end was nigh. The Beast Solar System-my modified CHALDEAS collection-had finally finished charging and was almost ready to end this farce by repainting the cosmos once and for all. There was just one further incongruity for everyone awaiting the demise of the Human Order. “Guys, where the BLAZES is Liz?” I demanded. “Do you really want to know?” said Goetia, who was drinking his 13th sake of the day. “Oh no! That naughty child must have gone off to party again!” exclaimed Tiamat. ORT let out a sonorous whale-like noise, which could probably be translated as: What is a Liz? Finally, Grail pointed one shaking finger to the spiritron disruption indicating passage to the Servant Universe’s near-past, and said “It looks like she went through there, b-but do you really want to go back to THAT place-“ “Yes. Yes, I do” I said firmly. “We are not the Human Order, and we do not leave our people behind. Even if that includes Liz” “Hey, I think I hear music! It sounds…” said Elodie, talented musician and former rebel as she placed her ear on the quantum substrate between realities. Suddenly her pupils dilated and she collapsed to the ground. “…like EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ENDING AT ONCE” she croaked, foaming at the mouth. “Do we have to go? Can’t we just, pretend this one didn’t happen?” pleaded Grail, staring at her self-declared rival prone and twitching on the ground in abject horror. “YOU don’t. But I’m seeing this through to the end” I declared, storming through. Grail twitched in place, then sheepishly followed, my other allies piling in after her in varying levels of reluctant horror. Our first clue was Liz’s usual capsule, which had a confusing hologram demanding help from “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and which one of our remaining Lizzes TURNED INTO A GODDAMN ROCKET and flew us all to PLANET PUMPKIIN. No, not MARS. PLANET. PUMPKIN. WHERE IT IS HALLOWEEN FOREVER. 1/3 We were promptly mugged by an octopus (Kiara promptly left the octopus feeling intensely violated), found Liz amnesiac, wanted by the law and living in an Amazoness warehouse, and also found some kind of apocalyptic Liz cult on the planet. It was like half-regular Burning Man and half-soulless Japanese idoru event, a LOT of which appeared to be accreting around the CHALDEASes while in operation for some ineffable reason. For the sake of my comrades, I quickly used ancient Solar sorcery to install zones of sorcerously enforced silence to minimise Liz-derived music from exposure to our vulnerable ear canals. Sometime later we discovered the Shinsengumi and Kriemhild were on the same space cop payroll, Mecha Eli exploded because…reasons but survived as a head, Siegfried was there too- -and then suddenly all of my braincells shut down as we got to the root of this mystery. The reason why Mars was more orange and desolate than usual, the goddess worshipped by the cult. It was- “Fufufu, so you’ve discovered my WRATHSOME plan! Praise my name!! Witness, bathed in the glory of my countenance!!!” said. KING ELIZA FORMERLY VENUS BEAST ELI-CHAN AND CURRENTLY /TYPE MARS/ The world went white as I stared, and stared, and stared at this violation of common sense before me. “Ohhhhh, so she’s doing a Ghidorah? And that girl over here is the fourth head. Wait, is she doing a Placidusax? It’s practically the same thing here. Anon? Hello, Earth to Anon? Do you want to do…SOMETHING about the current Toho reference?” Elodie was saying, as if from a long way away and just outside a tin bath. I stared and stared at the fat dragon Liz thing rambling about how it had accidentally destroyed Venus’ civilisation by singing for too long, and then run away from the space cops to Mars, and become Type Mars by destroying everything here as a tantrum, and now it’s split off 4th head had freed her, and-

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The point is, everyone knew I’d be upset. But everyone also missed WHY. 2/3 “WHAT WAS THE POINT?!” I started screaming at nothing. “E-eh!? Hey, this is a very serious concert that-“ began Type Mars. “NO, not you! You’re actually fine, you know?! You’re great! You’re EVERYTHING I’VE BEEN WORKING TOWARDS!” I ranted. “Wait, what?!” yelped Grail. “Master please PLEASE don’t tell me you’re suddenly a Liz fan-“ “NO, I’m a TYPE fan! This…thing, is proof of concept of what I’ve been trying to replace the entire Human Order with: Sentient beings capable of existing as independent TYPEs while having the adaptability of a coherent civilisation!” I shouted. The entire plot screeched to a halt as my sheer frustration started generating a localised storm, and the very universe trembled as I pointed an accusatory finger through time and space at a long-dead Human Order. “You” I snarled at the startled Liz dragon thing “have no idea about everything I’ve sacrificed, EVERYONE I KILLED, to actualise something like yourself! And, and now the Human Order just spat you out in some cosmic backwater! WHY?! WHY DID THE HUMANS MAKE ME KILL THEM WHEN THE END RESULT WAS THE SAME!?” Everyone just stood there in stunned silence, as the mystery of humanity’s progress fetish slowly took on another dimension in the minds of all those presence. Just as the Servant Universe had turned out to be a manifestation of the Age of Will, this funny little Liz dragon was tacit acceptance by the Human Order of the very schemes it had seemingly resisted. “…that’s it. Master? Take a deep breath. We’re going home” said Grail finally. “…we’re not done here…” I muttered. 3/4 “Master I worship the ground you walk on. I believe in you more than myself. I love you like the father, king and god I will always be grateful you helped me escape becoming a generic minion of. But I want you to pay attention to my words” said Grail slowly and patiently as she forced the gentle, soothing embrace of the Anti-Life Equation on me. It couldn’t control me, but at this point of my life the Anti-Life Equation felt incredibly relaxing compared to knowledge of the true nature of reality. “You’re. Hurting. Yourself. By being here. Look, the…entity isn’t even hostile anymore. Singularity resolved. Or enabled, whatever. The point is-we’re done” said Grail firmly, pushing me back towards the base. “Easy. Go slowly, Anon is all tuckered out now he’s done fuming at existence” suggested Elodie, taking my other arm. “I know, I know, if we can just get his legs moving we can-” grumbled Grail, who suddenly startled “Wait, if you’ve done this before-has Anon been like this BEFORE he went off the deep end?” “Uh, yes? Guy either works like a madman or not at all, there is on in-between” said Elodie casually. “Now c’mon, if we hurry up we can tuck him in before he starts slamming his head on a hard surface” “…very well. Elodie, while I STILL hate your pathetic slave morality we need to seriously talk about making sure Anon doesn’t work himself into another hissy fit” “Hey, I’m all for it. A calmer Anon makes for a less brutalised multiverse” “I can quit” I rambled, “any time I want” “Does that mean I can come perform at Chaldea?” asked Type Mars hopefully. I broke my neck swivelling my head around in manic spiteful glee. “As a matter of fact, YES. You CAN come to my Chaldea, and you CAN sing all you like inasoundproofedenclosurekeptawayfromthegeneral public!” I blathered. “FUCK the Human Order. Liz LOVE. LIZ LOVE FOREVER” Chaldea proceeded to evacuate the moment Draco saw her old rival show up and proceed to engage in a sing-off in the zone of silence I was still mindful enough to prepare in the middle of a mental breakdonw. No one else dared witness the concert, but both came out complaining the other singer kept trying to steal her personal style. 4/4

Karen scanned the beach as she trailed after her sister towards a table at something that might be a restaurant. The fact that she did this in near perfect silence was, strictly speaking, not a needed clarification - she hadn’t said anything for years. Which was both a blessing and a curse. A curse because she literally could not speak, and a blessing because it meant she got to spend time with her sister. And also she could curse inside of her head as much as she wanted to with no risk of it ever slipping out. Because holy shit what the fuck. Karen was a Dawn. The strong sword arm of the Unconquered Sun. Her sword was so big she had to fold it in half to reasonably carry it around. She should not be getting casually outclassed by any kind of mortal. Like, okay, sure, they were a half caste sidereal. That's not as good in a straight fight as a full sidereal, which is only sometimes as good in a straight fight as a full solar. Not discounting caste specialties or psychological warfare, like putting Misho up against Nemen. But no, some random mortal that Nemen blackmailed into joining the competition just absolutely made everyone eat shit and die a little bit inside. Which sort of made sense, Nemen was obviously cheating, but at the same time... Karen can't do that. Marena can't do that. Ten Winds, as amazing as he is, can't do that. Hell, someone who knew all of the charms they'd used and was able to use them all at once miiight be able to do that, but they'd never be able to pay for it. The girls essence hadn't even flickered. That was normal for her, and that was fucking terrifying. Which is part of why Karen had to resist the urge to jump into the air when the mortal in question slipped into a chair at the table she was sharing with her sister. Behind her followed a number of others. An abyssal - non participant, not currently a threat, another half caste sidereal - twitchy, potential violence, and a pure mortal - the girls mother. Lurking just behind them was another Alchemical. Meanwhile, Karen and Marena's company was Ten Winds and Thimia. ...Misho may or may not count right now as he had been dragged into judging by Costora. And unlike Nemen, he probably wouldn't blatantly favor his circle the way she would the other sidereals. Either way, the balance of power was in their favor. Three full exalts and a demon against an exalt, two half exalts, a mortal, and maybe another full exalt, depending. If it came down to a fight, at least. "So, Messier..." Marena began ever so subtly. "How'd you do that? Because that was pretty fucking cool." Sun damn it Marena there was no way she would ever answer- "I just copied all of the go fast charms everyone else was using and used them for myself." ...WHAT THE FUCK. Karen goes rigid. Ten Winds looks at Messier and raises an eye. Marena blinks and sputters. Thimia just nods, as though that makes perfect sense. To either side of her, the other half caste blinks in confusion while the mortal completely misses how impossible that's supposed to be. "How much experience did you have saved up?" Marena whispers, a faint note of horrified fascination in her voice. "And how much of it did you spend?" "Enough. And too much. I can't do that again, if that's what you're asking." The fucking freaks voice is exhausted, which all of a sudden makes perfect sense. "Ah... excuse me?" The mortal woman interjects. "May I ask what exactly that means? I'm not exactly martially inclined, or knowledgeable about the use of essence." Marena goes to respond, and then pauses, unsure. Karen gets it. How do you explain a character sheet to an npc? How do you explain color to someone who is blind. After a moment, Ten Winds takes a sip of something that Karen doesn't know what is or where he got it from. Which is pretty much all his alcohol, really. He sets it back down, fiddles with the tiny umbrella, then speaks up. "You may not be knowledgeable, but I'd wager you've heard many a story about it. Monks who train on top of mountains or under waterfalls, looking for enlightenment. Swordsmen who stood beneath trees to cut every falling leaf. Moments of extremity, for the purpose of bettering yourself." The woman nods along, frowning softly. There's a brief pause as one of Costora's servants delivers a number of drinks and some simple food to the table, before vacating the premise rapidly. Ten takes a sip of his new drink before continuing. "Normally, throughout this process, skill is acquired. With every swing of the blade, you're ever so slightly more competent than before. For Exalts, however, this isn't always true. Sometimes, we gain nothing from the first nine hundred and ninety nine swings, and it is only the one thousandth that gives us anything. And, sometimes, the thing we gain is totally unrelated to the task at hand. Those thousand sword swings might serve as the catalyst that causes us to grow more skilled at archery, for example." "But", the woman stutters out in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense? How can practicing the sword make you better at archery? Those two things aren't connected at all!" This time, it's Messier who speaks up. "I turned off my ability to learn and grow. In the process of turning it back on, I basically spent a year and a half worth of study and self reflection in the span of about twenty seconds, which meant I learned almost everything about what was going on around me. Including the charms they were using." That's... not really right, but Karen supposes it is easier to wrap your head around than talking about banking exp to spend later when you need an extra emergency point of whatever. She herself tried to keep enough on tap to afford an excellency at all times, just in case. "That sounds dangerous?" "Not really. It's basically perfectly safe" Thimia interjects. "Basically everyone here is doing it, though I'd wager most of them aren't holding it for more than a week or two, so they can spend time accumulating the growth factor - we call it experience - in ways they find easy to work their way through, and then spend five minutes on something they don't like training to suddenly get better at that." "We're off topic though", Messier says blandly.

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"We are", Marena agrees. "We are?" Est echoes confusedly. "So, I don't particularly care about the key. At best I'd like to hold it for five minutes just to say I did, but after that, eh. My team will spend most of the competition sabotaging everyone else, so you guys just hit it as hard as you can. I have half an idea for how to end it without immediately putting you guys on the run again, but I'm still working on how feasible it is, and I need to run is by Misho anyways." "Not Nemen Yi?" Ten Winds inquires, asking the real questions. "I don't give a shit about her opinion. She's getting what she paid for, which is fucking nothing." "In short, you want to team up." "Pretty much." Ten Winds side eyes her, and Karen shrugs. She doesn't trust the girl. The explaination of what she did doesn't cover HOW she did it, because that still should have been impossible. She flickers her own eyes off to the side, towards Marena, and shrugs. Her sister nods faintly, and then three of them look towards Misho's wife, Thimia. She fiddles with her ring faintly, before shrugging. "I think Misho will be fine with it." And with that, they're a team. ...Probably the second biggest team, actually. A solar, a lunar, a dragonblood, two half caste sidereals, a demon, and a mortal. Debatably an abyssal, though she's not competing, and maaaybe the alchemical who has been spying on them this entire time and nodding along absently while pretending to drink a mixer. They've certainly got the largest spread - the other two major teams are just eleven dragonbloods and six sidereals. Before they can work out any further details, a shiver goes through the air. >"The second round of the tournament is about to begin! This will be a test of Bureaucracy. Each contestant is required to create a list of at least five of the major abilities, excluding Athletics and Bureaucracy, and how one might prove their skill at them to the god of the beach. That's it, that's the test. You have until sundown to hand in your answers." Karen pauses for a moment, before squinting up at the sky where Costora's voice is echoing. Did he just? From across the table, Est bursts out into giggles. Yeah, he absolutely just did. Damn lazy god, why the fuck are you making us design the competition that we'll be competing in. "So, I'll point out he didn't say this wasn't a team event." Messier muses blandly. "And did say 'at least', which means we can turn in more than that." "We're all handing in complete sets, then?" Thimia says, smiling faintly. "With eight of us, it should be fairly easy to get there." "Mhmm. Remember not to take things too seriously. This is the god of the beach, not a god of war. Naturally, Craft should be a barbecue." "Oh, that does sounds good. Should we also have a volleyball tournament for war? "That sounds like something he would enjoy." Making the mute the pov character might not have been the best idea, but at least I'm writing again.

>>156320 Two jumps one post >Jump 5: The Legend of Zelda 1 & 2 - The Adventures of Link Background: Hyrule Native Age: 24 Gender: Female >Perks Dangerous to Go Alone (Free) Buy Something Will Ya (Free) Innocent Bystander (100) Knightly Skills (200) The Witch's Brew (200) The Wise Man's Teachings (300) Magic Container (x8 = 700) >Items Dungeon Maps (Free) >Drawbacks A Mysterious Land (+100) The Eyes of Ganon are Everywhere (+200) A Hostile Land (+200) ~ ~ ~ “You know, this was a bit easier than I expected.” Lusine remarked absently, holding the severed head of the King of Darkness in one hand, and the Triforce of Power in the other. Camilla shook her head, giving her nominal leader a look that reeked of exasperation. “Didn’t you say he was originally defeated by a ten-year old child?” “A child destined by fate to defeat him, yes.” “But a prior incarnation of that destined hero fell in battle against the sorcerer he was fated to defeat.” The True Ancestor paused, cocked her head to the side, and then shrugged. “Fate isn’t always absolute in this world, so I suppose it tracks.” Brave Camilla nodded her head in satisfaction. “So it seems. Anyway, didn’t you say we were going to burn the fiend’s head as an offering?” “Oh, yeah.” Lusine mummbled, before clapping her hands twice and, in a flash of silver light, materialized four long-dead trees, dried out over a long drought and read to be set ablaze. A few moments later, and those trees were cut into nice little logs courtesy of Lusine’s claws. Then with a snap of her fingers, they burst into flame. “Oh Heavenly Mother, Great Goddess Venus, Bringer of Victory, Armed and Warlike, gaze here upon your daughter, golden-haired Lusine. Here I hold the head of Ganon, scion of Demise, Lord of Darkness and King of Thieves. To glorify your divine name did I set out to slay him, and may the smell of his blood be pleasing you.”

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But before the Lusine could cast Ganon’s head into the blaze, a blue-haired women seemed to shimmer into existence, like a mirage made real. With blinding speed she snatched up the Gerudo’s head and stammered out “SorryneedthiswillreturnwhenIcanbye!” And vanished in an instant. Both women simply stood there, staring, though for different reasons. “…” “…” “…your aware your mother is going to be expecting a replacement, right?” “Well….she does like new temples.” ~ ~ ~ >Jump 6: The Legend of Zelda - Oracle of Ages Name: Naryu Age: 18 Gender: Female >Perks Free - As Healthy As The Land 50 cp - On The Proper Useae Of Harps 100 cp - Perfect Timekeepin 100 cp - A Song For The Ages 200 cp - Take This Harp I Made 300 cp - The Second Oracle Of Ages 600 cp - Paradox Proof >Items Free - Sacred Barrier >Companions 100 cp - Canon Companion (Vernan) 50 cp - Companion Import (Camilla - Hero & full Perkline) 200 cp - 'Naryu' >Drawbacks +0 cp - Linked ames +100 cp - Ambi's Ire +100 cp - Time Shenanians +300 - An Interestin Shade Of Teal +300 cp - A Sprinkle of Holy Blood ~ ~ ~ (…) And just a moment after she’d vanished, Naryu reappeared. “Ugh, twenty jumps just to get the right day, I don’t know how your descendants/my ancestors could stand this.” Naryu shook her head, clearly not overly sympathetic to Naryu. “Probably by not misusing our blessing to try to pick up demon-fairies.” “Hey….I’m technically a fairy too, you know.” Naryu whined, as if expecting Naryu to offer some sympathy. “Yes, but you’re not a DEMON, a being of PURE EVIL.” “I’m also your great-great-great-great-great-“ “Yes, I’m aware. And that’s why I’m going to, at the very least, continue to counsel you AGAINST trying to seduce the evil demon possessing your great-grandmother’s body.” “Honored ancestor, with respect, if my divine mother didn’t want me to do this, she would’ve smote me when I went back in time to steal the head from myself.” “Have you considered that you fallen in love with an evil demon might BE the punishment for that?” “Well…I guess, but…” “….you’re not moving on this, are you?” “Nope!” “Ugh, fine!” ~ ~ ~ Finally, with the forced of Ganon defeated and the timeline restored, things were free to o as they were meant to. With Ralph unconscious, and Link poised to strike the final-and there it was! With one final slash of his sword, Link dealt the mortal blow to the vile demon Veran, the fae women returning to her natural form, a great gash covering her torso. But despite her wounds, the demoness began to laugh, even as coughing fits began to erupt from her solitary remaining lung. “You-….you think you’ve won hero, but soon-“ In another timeline, it was at this moment that Veran would’ve succumbed to her wounds. But instead- “HEAL!” A silvery light enveloped the demon-fairy, her flesh knitting back together and her organs regenerating. Link spun around, just in time to get, gently, clocked in the face, and so knocked out cold. Veran for her part, wide-eyed looked in the direction the incantation came from and saw. “What, you? You shouldn’t even-“ “Different Naryu.” “…the first shouldn’t know either-“ “No, I haven’t been born yet.” “Oooooh…..wait, didn’t you-“ “Well, uh, yeah…but that version of you was possessing my home-girl, so I kinda had to take care of her…but I made sure her soul meted with yours, so in a way she never really died.” “….uh…if you say so….anyway, as much as I appreciate a good turn from a fellow fae, aren’t you still-“ ‘-my enemy.’ went unsaid, because Lusine interrupted her before she could speak. “Nah. You’re mine now.” “….what?” “I mean what I said. You’re mine now.” “You can’t just-“ “The other option is a turn you into a vampire enslaved to my will.” “…so, yours?” “Yup! Don’t worry, I offer great dental.” “Oh. OH. You mean-“ “Well, if you’re interested…but otherwise, nah, you’re just my subordinate minion now.” “That’s…we’ll see.” Veran gave the greater fae something vaguely resembling a smile, but too forced and brittle to really do much convincing. “About as well as I expected this to go to be honest.” Naryu-Lusine mumbled, only to pause, before going wide-eyed. “Shit, I forgot!!!” She shoved her hand into….somewhere, Veran felt that her eyes would start bleeding if she kept tryin to see where Naryu’s hand was g, but a moment later she pulled out- “-wait, no-“ “Yup! Your previous Master! ….well, your masters’ master. But same diff.” “…no, it…” The demon sighs, her shoulders slumping as a defeated look casts her features. “So….what is…ugh, your will, my mas-“ “No need for that, we’ll be leaving this universe in about five subjective seconds anyway.” “…wha-“ And then Naryu, Naryu, but not the other Naryu, and Vernan ceased to exist to the sight of all but the Golden Goddesses, who know and see All.

[Kengan Omega redux] >Previously on Generic Slice of Life: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/95994256/#96002371 I was having a wonderful, restful nap in the forest. The birds were singing, the sun was covered by clouds, and I was frolicking through meadows and orchids just like I’d been while I was awake. “Oi. Oi! Are you supposed to even be here?” complained Yan, nudging me with his foot. With practiced, Principles-induced perfection I shot up like a bottle cork-dodging the gentle foot nudge to regard the man who was theoretically a national security threat what with his knowledge about the nuclear codes and all. Oh yeah. Those didn’t matter anymore. “Uh…are you?” I echoed. “Haven’t you heard what’s happening?” demanded Yan. “Honestly? No. I’ve been completely checked out of everything, ever, from the moment you dismantled your entire organisation and did away with the nukes shortly after announcing your goal was ‘world harmony’ all along. Which as I told you, basically costs a quarter of a bar’s budget to keep Shen appeased” I said, confused. “All I’ve been doing lately is finding clones and martial artists out of a job new employment since you guys aren’t keen on a global war, especially since Wu descendants from the MIDDLE EAST flew over to tell Gilbert he wasn’t shit, so you know. Between the Death Dealers standing down at your behest, Tiger Niko and Luohan going on the lam (except when they’re literally renting an apartment on the outskirts of town), and the Death Dealers reverting to your control, I haven’t had much to do and there’s only so many babies Karla can pop out. So I’ve been going on long walks. In the forest” “What?!” exclaimed Yan. He slapped his forehead. “Aww, FUCK! What even happened?! The West Wu were winning the clan wars last I checked!” “Well, the Kures started killing each other for powerups too” “WHAT?!” 1/3 “Damn, I got the feeling Gilbert was having a tough time of it, with how quickly he was visibly shapeshifting into Edward and all” said Shen thoughtfully, “but why didn’t he just ask us for help? Poor guy can’t even set his house in order after running off that Raian guy and his half-baked Principles” Yan sighed. “Look, you know you said in his earshot that you never considered him your direct subordinate?” “Uh-huh, what’s the big deal?” “He took that personally, Shen” “…I don’t understand, like we’re still drinking buddies-“ “He seriously thought there was, oh I don’t know, some sort of profound mutual respect between you and Wu Hei as fellow warriors and that’s why you taught Wu Hei and therefore indirectly him huisheng” “Well damn. Yan, go tell him to stop being so silly would you?” “Just to be clear, am I speaking to the ‘dragon’ right now or the ‘tiger’? It’s important for tax purposes” “Yes” said Shen mischievously, making Yan let out another Tylenol-craving groan. We ambled through the forest, occasionally swatting jobber characters like flies, as I tried to figure out what was even going on. Yan started to explain the conditions of the tournament which amounted to a game of Capture The Flag monitored by electronic sensors and whatnot, and that the winner would be awarded one (1) wish by the Kengan Association like a frickin’ capitalism empowered Dragonball. I suggested several ways this could be easily exploited to which Shen just handwaved me by saying that was hella lame. Then Yan suddenly brought up that losing this King of the Hill contest would apparently mean the end of the Kengan Association. I asked how that would even work. Yan started trying to explain, suddenly realised what he was saying sounded like complete nonsense, and then started trying to puzzle out how the fuck the “wish” was even supposed to be enforced. He was REALLY too coked up on Tylenol to read fine print these days. Instead he started handing out the rankings. 2/3 I stared at the rankings. And stared at them. And stared some more. “Pretty great, right? I’m number #1!” said Shen proudly.

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“Sekibayashi has someone lobbying for him to be ranked that high, doesn’t he?” grumbled Yan.. “Well yeah, he’s a pro wrestler” I said, “and maybe he’s using a loophole to get him and Marvellous Seki’s votes counted additively. I’m more confused why the hell Agito is ranked above Kuroki” “He raised a triumphant cry, or so I hear” said Shen. “What does that even mean?” I asked. “It means that Toyoda is lobbying for Lolong too” bitched Yan. “Right, right. And I assume that the reason GILBERT WU, the inheritor of Wu Hei’s memories and genetically enhanced clone of Edward Wu, is so far down the list is…?” rambled Shen “Kure lobbyists” Yan and I chanted together. Well, that was that I suppose. My pleasant nature safari was being interrupted but it was alright, the Worms were for some reason wandering off in random directions instead of actually trying to win and satellite data showed Okubo and Ohma were taking this so lightly they’d stopped to have a campfire cookout. So everyone here was LITERALLY just going on a VERY enthusiastic stroll through the woods. Just like me. Instead of giving what was nominally the final confrontation between the Worm and the Kengan Association anything resembling dignity. So I was right. Everything was fine, and nothing had to be taken seriously, as long as Shen didn’t snap and- “Whooooooa, look at this huge snake Yan!” said Shen brightly. “Please don’t” mumbled Yan. “Look! Look at it, have you ever seen one this big?” said Shen, playing with the dangernoodle. “…you know what just stop talking, if I didn’t need to babysit you I’d be home watching shitty Netflix movies or something instead” “Well, whoever this Chopstick Johnny guy is” I said, scanning the list, “he better live up to the hype of being stronger than THE Gilber Wu in the eyes of the bookies” Yan and Shen both thought about Chopstick Johnny for a while. “He won’t” they said in unison. 3/3

>>156421 >“…your aware your mother is going to be expecting a replacement, right?” I mean, she’ll still get Ganon’s head offered to her, there’s just going to be a delay.

Chapter 0 - I Wear no Mask It seems that I died. I wish I could treat this as some kind of surprise, but I remember the whole sequence of events in full graphic detail. The first time I noticed anything wrong was while I was out for a walk. Well… more of a wander, really. People don’t wander nearly enough, and I didn’t do it nearly as much as I’d like. There always had to be an excuse, some destination in mind, some purpose. I’ve heard some people say that they hate being left alone with their thoughts, but I couldn’t disagree more. I’m getting off-track. In the midst of my wander, I found myself in a corner of the woods I’d never seen before. This was especially impressive since there wasn’t anything that could even vaguely be called “woods” for miles, but it wouldn’t be much of a wander if I turned back the instant things turned unexpected. It might have taken a minute, or maybe an hour. I wasn’t really keeping track, but eventually the unexpected became suspicious when I realized I hadn’t come across a single piece of litter. As much as I hate to play the cynic, a forest without litter made as much sense to me as a quadruple-amputee juggler. The suspicion became a mystery when my foot tripped over an exception. A surface that was smooth, hard, and undoubtedly artificial. It was a golden mask with a dreadful visage. I think it was supposed to be a face of despair, but from where I stood, it seemed more irritated than anything. I tried my best to pick it up by the nose, one of the few spots that wasn’t overgrown with fungus and who knows what else. After several tries, I flipped it around. On the interior of the mask, right above the two eyes was a line of symbols. For an instant, I read them as “I Wear no Mask”. However, I blinked and realized these weren’t any characters I even vaguely recognized, certainly not English. Anyway, the mask was gross, so I decided to leave it there and forget about it. It’s certainly a strange sight, but not strange enough to risk bringing something that dirty back home with me. I was fine for the first few steps. But after about a dozen I begin to feel drowsy. After about a hundred I started to have trouble standing up. After twice that many I ended up falling to the ground. The ground wasn't soft grass anymore, but hard concrete. A road, judging by the dark color. As I could no longer keep my eyes open, I turned my head to see a tire moving inches to my face. The sensation of having your skull collapse under a wheel of burning rubber isn’t one I’d recommend anyone try to experience for themselves.

>>163136 Chapter 1 - The Maker of Masks Build: Stipend: (+0 CP) Mask: 3 Marks - Prisoner (+100 CP) (100 CP) Consequences: I Am a Bother (200 CP), I Don’t Belong (300 CP), I Want to Die (500 CP), I Don’t Exist (700 CP) Abilities: One More Day*, Filthy Prisoner* (600 CP), Opportunity (400 CP), The Maker of Masks* (100 CP) Possessions: Mask, Seat (0 CP) Record: (((“Am I cruel for the actions I took? Certainly. But only the deepest abyss can allow one to appreciate the highest peaks. As I have been made a prisoner, so too must they.”))) The next thing I remember was an agony from my chest by the hook that suspended me. The next thing after that was agony from my face by the mask nailed into it. Then there was an explanation, then there was a beating, then there was a bunch of screaming over trying to find a cell. Seemed like a lot of trouble, so I just wandered off while everyone was yelling. This was a pretty gloomy place. Hell, probably. I didn’t feel like I did anything bad enough to come here, but who am I to presume the values of God, if they are, in fact, the one who sent me here. Truthfully, these are all musings that came to me after the fact. I spent most of my time here in a daze of agony. Having a gaping hole in your heart tends to do that. Every day (not that there was any sun to mark the passage of time) was the same cycle. Wander around, get beaten to a pulp by a guard, get thrown into an overstuffed cell, get bored, escape, wander around, rinse, repeat. At a certain point I made a point to give myself projects to try and keep myself distracted. Whether it’s climbing on the rusty architecture, coming up with stories to entertain the other prisoners (even if they rarely seemed to appreciate the distraction), facilitating jailbreaks, stealing a guard’s chair, that kind of thing. Past a certain point, I think I might have even started having fun. It was during the lulls between these diversions that I became aware of my memory growing foggier and foggier. I began to record what little I could recall by scraping crude pictograms into my body using a chisel I crafted out of rusty metal and some skin that I “borrowed” from one of my comatose cell-mates. Even if my mind couldn’t hold onto information to save its life, the fact that my pain never seemed to dull, ironically made it the most reliable means of archival. It was during one such recording session that I was greeted by an unfamiliar voice. Really, I’m hesitant to even call it a “voice”. It was more like someone strumming harp strings and managing to produce a series of sounds that coincidentally ended up resembling words. Of course, I wasn’t in any state mentally to construct such a simile at that point in time. (((“I assume you have had your fill? I certainly have.”))) In truth, I was growing a bit excited. Hallucinations like this saved me the trouble of seeking out stimulation outside of my cell. (((“For ten years, you have lived as a prisoner. Endured torture with few equals. In spite of all that, you not only retained your life, but managed to find adventure in a world devoid of hope. I chose well in selecting you as my host.”))) Even to a hallucination, I decided that stonewalling them would be a bit too rude, so I managed to construct some kind of response. “Neato.” (((“...Yes, indeed. You need only speak the words, and our contract will be sealed. I will raise you up from a mere prisoner to a status beyond any mortals have dared to give name to. Your wealth will tower above the merchants, your revelry will eclipse the hedonists, the blood you shed will drown the warlords, your power will bring the most ancient of kings to their knees. I pledge upon my name and soul that should you become my sword, we shall carve a path to the empire outside of infinity. I will reclaim my birthright, and honor you as the mightiest knight Carcosa has ever known!”))) “Yeah, I guess that’s fine.” (((“Then open your eyes to the black sun and be reborn.”))) As the words are spoken, I feel a heat building from within my own skull. It is only a discomfort at first, but then the flames snake its way out of my optic nerves until my own eyeballs combust. The flame spreads over the remainder of my body, refusing to leave a single spec of ash. And through the whole process, I feel no pain, only a pure chaos of sensation. As if my nerves are attempting to process a stimulus they lack the means to contextualize.

>Gregory Horror Show >Origin: House Staff >Drawbacks: Soul Spector Scenario, Poor First Impression +800 1800 >Perks: Food For The Soul -300, Trick of the Light, Hell's Chef, Build's Character -150, Winding Halls -150, Death of a Salesman -300, Mommy Dearest -300, Escape From Reality, Dominion By Conquest -300. -1500 300 >Items: Jumper House (Bathhouse) -300 0 I've never actually considered taking this jump's scenario as anything but a visitor, but I felt it'd fit the narrative if I take it as a House Staff this time. My primary goal here is to convince the Visitor to stay in the house forever, but my secondary goal is to usurp Gregory House from Gregory, Gregory's Mom, and the Visitor, subsuming the house into my own Bathhouse to turn them into a Hotsprings Inn So, instead of a scenario of just breaking the one person, I need to methodically hunt down and break the already broken people inside of Gregory House, stealing their souls and reshaping their bodies to my needs, usurping the house bit by bit. Like a dark mirror to the game protagonist's own adventure >Spirited Away >Origin: Witch, M, 19 >Drawbacks: Scenario +200, Prankster Spirits +100, Antiquated Deities +200, Crossing the Rubicon +300. +800 1800 >Perks: An Arcane Affinity (Souls), A Witch's Familiars -100, Malleable Puppets -200, The Name of Life -300. -600 1200 >Items: A Quintet of Bath Tokens x24 -1200 Scenario: Stipend +25, A Quintet of Bath Tokens +120 >Architecture: Small Town, Extra Floors x4 -20, Elevator Express -2, Boundary Bridge -2, Additional Bathing Pools x16 -32, Torii Gate -2, Furnace Spirit -2, External Gardens -2, Hostel Rooms x5 -15. -77 43 >Employees: The Owner (Mama Gregory, The Manager (Gregory), The Supplier, Washers x5 -5, Cleaners x5 -5, Entertainers x5 -5, Chefs x5 -5, Guardian Spirit -1, Courtesans x2 -2. -28 15 >Services: Vendor Street -3, Shuttle Service -3, Scenery Shift -3, The Four Seasons -3, Delivery Service -3. -15 0 >1: Appeased - Employee >2: Cleansed - +2 Tokens. Purchased Gift Shop >7: Eliminated with prejudice. +5 Tokens >9: Mindwiped, diteched back in the human world. Not worth dealing with >2: Failed Cleansed. Broke a pool and escaped >6: Became a regular guest. >10: Subsumed as Resident. Turns into an inanimate puppet due to feelings of having no control over their life. >8: Shrank into a smaller form for cleaning. +6 Tokens >5: Seeking the earlier criminal. Captured and forcefully transformed into a control bar for the criminal >8: Wife of the earlier one, same result. +5 Tokens >4: Witch - Fought. Escaped. +5 Tokens >2: Cleansed - +2 Tokens. >2: Failed Cleansing - Forcefully Corrupted Into Employee >1: Task failed successfully? Couldn't appease, but was willingly corrupted into Employee >2: Cleansed - +2 Tokens >Final Tokens: +25. Additional Bathing Pools x12 -24, Personalized Room -1. -25 0 I still think that Spirited Away's Bathhouse scenario is absolute peak and should be it's own independent CYOA. Anyways, I'm following up on Gregory Horror by becoming a Witch managing a Bathhouse, because why the fuck not? >Stranger of Sword City >Origin: Stranger's Guild, Freeman, M >Drawbacks: Horde Combat +100 1100 >Perks: Stranger In A Strange Land, Missing Variable -100, Soul Force -200, Abnormal Soul -300, Base Management, Blacksmith Apprentice, Budding Alchemist, Deep Connections -50, Diplomatic Solution -50, Guild Trainer -50, Money Minded -50, Non Combatant -50, Resuscitation Personnel -50. -900 200 >Items: Relic Stone -200 0

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I really really like the Soul Force perk. Being able to meditate to increase the power of my soul is really helpful, since it means I can grow my soul without having to make friends or read good books. Having my everything be empowered by the strength of my soul is ALSO rather helpful, considering how my soul keeps growing. This is a pretty depressing setting and I absolutely don't want to go out picking fights, so I'm gonna just spend my time running my bathhouse for adventurers, and working on setting up a fast travel system using the Relic Stone so my Bathhouse can become a transit hub.

have you heard the theory? >what theory? >that the Zol Collective are clones >John has contemplated this question ever since the appearance of them three months ago on the Callidus sector on Eldolr 2. Somehow they appeared from nowhere, all of them with superior physical abilities and coordination. They have conquered all the surroundings sectors with virtually no resistance and are now moving to remove the Orion Syndicate organization from the planet. >if they are clones or not it doesn't matter Jim, the fact is that thanks to the ionic storm we are completely closed from the Orion Syndicate, and if we not get reinforcements enough they are going to assume control of the planet >but i still th- get down! >Phaser beams cut the walls as we fell to the ground >the air filled with the smell of scorched metal and ozone. Jim could feel the heat singe the side of his face as another bolt tore through the comm console. >They’ve found us! John shouted, crawling toward the emergency hatch. >No kidding! Jim yelled back, fumbling for his sidearm. >Through the smoke, silhouettes appeared: tall, identical figures, moving completely synchronized: The Zol Collective. >Surrender, you have lost. >Even if you destroy us, once the ionic storm passes the Orion Syndicate will avenge us. >Who said we are going to destroy you? >As he reached closer he touched my temples, and i could feel his thoughts invading mine >You are a vulcan- >pain filled my consciousness, and i could not keep track of the time >I now know every single thing about you and your organization. Your safehouses, your bunkers, your bank accounts and who the Orion Syndicate is going to bring to this planet >as i breathed to achieve a semblance of control, i saw a phaser in my vision >We don't need you anymore >wait- >As john disintegrated in a pile of ashes, a voice could be heard: >Time to execute Plan Omega.

[Fallen London redux] >Previously: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/93852798/#93858613 Several weeks after the figurative event of Hell freezing over came to pass, the Law-Furances exploded. This was NOT part of my plans. Later, when the pieces were put together and attempts were made to navigate the Treachery of Clocks, it was generally agreed on that I wasn’t technically at fault. Rather, a gang of condemned souls had used the devastation wrought on Hell’s society to speed up their own escape plans-inadvertently fusing themselves into the furnaces- Someone Following You (+600) -and briefly resulting in there being two London-wasps. “Oh, me again” I said. “You again” agreed my Discordant doppelganger. Not unkindly I presented my doppelganger with a cedar seed sealed for contingencies like this. “I can’t stay, can I?” it asked. “We know I’ve said contingencies in place for things like this. It won’t hurt” “Acceptable. I’d rather not be, than be wrong. Give our wife our best” “Of course. May I ask if anything else was lost?” -1x A Fine Piece: Calligraphy (+100, 700) “Just your last smidgen of whimsy. One last thing. I’m not the only output” “What?” “You have…admirers” >ImportationsX7 (0) >Drawbacks: The Pursuit of Supremacy: Rule Brittania, The Maze of Honeys (+800, 1600) >An unchanged human, …a weighty romance >Boatman’s Opponent (Free), Chained Wanderer (Free), Time, the Healer (Free), The Alter of Ascendence (Free), My Trove of Possessions (Free), >A Valet's Impressions (Free), Competitive Indictments (Free), Prismatic Inspirations (Free), Captivating Fascination (1300), Coruscating Majesty (1000), The True Rulers of Parabola (600), Poisoned Sacrament: Seven-Venoms (0), Portfolio of Souls (0), Shepherd (Free), Key to a Smoky, Flophouse Dormitory (+100, 0) And as Visage Made Law collapsed my tragic duplicate, seven princesses sprang from the rubble. 1/7 All at once, I was surrounded by royalty jabbing at me and, in various ways of putting it, telling me I was honoured to be part of their escapades. Each princess was lovelier and more dangerous than the last. Each, despite their physical differences, had a certain unhinged gleam in their eye that only mortal ambition could hold. And each was slathered in some strange compound that superficially resembled a certain Poisoned Princess’ unguent but somehow…less real. Each associated with a distinct color of the Neathbow. It oozed off some of them like thick river sediment, and billowed like mist from others. “-demanded that damned Seven-Serpent bring me to my destiny posthaste, and this is it?! I’ve a fine mind to declare war on Irem-“ “-must have been ringing your damned doorbell for an eternity before the colors shifted-“ “-good job with London, but I have to tell you there are forces beyond it’s borders that even now-“ “-has anyone told you that you taste DELICIOUS, friend?” All the others were rapidly licking me despite being a married man. Things only escalated once the Captivating Princess herself broke down the door, demanded I act as HER chaperone during this trying time, and waxed wroth at there already being other princesses bunking with me.

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Some violence and much rebuilding later, seven glistening princesses and one dry one stared moodily at each other. “So” said her Captivatingness sharply, “I’m to believe ALL of you are versions of myself that could have been born in other timelines?” “Don’t flatter yourself” sneered another, “we may all be Apocrypha but we were born in your stead, not for wont of a nail, thank you very much” “Elaborate” “I’m French by lineage” piped up another. The Princess winced. “My condolences” she said. She rounded on me. “Fix this. NOW” “Are you ready to die?” I replied. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that-“ “No, I mean, to fix this we need to get to the slow river’s border” 2/7 A group of Devils were working on “fixing this” with the remaining resources available at the Brass Embassy after my attack. A lot of desperate Devils were very pointedly handing out “generous waivers of damnation” for Londoners to retrieved what few of their loved ones they yet maintained while allowing them the PRIVILEGE of assisting in an enterprise they assured them would atop the quantum elephants and imaginary numbers from interfering with life. The moment several giant clockwork wasps and a delegation of naval officers dispatched “on her highness’ orders” got involved, the Devils discretely made themselves sparse. Repairs went much faster as oversized insectile flaws sprang apart into hammers, wrenches and all manner of tools-not to mention the unseasonal rivers of kataleptic venom suddenly rushing from the gutters to grease the gears and cleanse the engines (“It’s all a matter of PRESENCE, dear” one princess gloated at THE Princess as she tried to pretend she wasn’t jealous about not having powers akin to a nymph of legend. Yet. “You just have to assert your dominance over your humours, and once they bend to your will so does any body of water they fall into!”). Devil after Devil tried to reassure me that this was most definitely a favourable outcome even for my so-called betrothed, unaware that a construct of mine wrought from Fires’ slag was repeatedly killing itself in the more explosive furnaces. My unwanted escort quest NPCs quickly figured out contact was made with those responsible for the exploding furnaces. In a rare show of patriotism, sympathy for fellow ontologically impoverished Londoners and sheer pique they offered to lend a hand in the form of royal assent. As the Discordant Laws subsided, the Devils left London hopeful to recover a Hell once again theirs only to find that thanks to the collective princess authority and my own furnaces being used to make rather more law-glass than expected, Hell had officially been annexed into London upon the oath of the cedar-seed. Something that would upset the Creditor greatly if disputed. 3/7 “But THEY’RE still here! Why isn’t this fixed?!” whined the Increasingly Less Captivating And More Petulant Princess as she stomped around after my main avatar. After all of this I just wanted to go home and burn with my wife but I couldn’t get away from the princess licks, they kept crawling over me and lapping at me and spraying their own venom on me to claim me for their own. Like flies. Bloody royalty. “They’re Apocryphal, not Discordant” I explained patiently. “Established facts merely redacted rather than illegal from the moment of emergence” “I don’t want to share the crown of London with them!” she complained. Occasionally she tried to claw my heart out but my avatar being made of brass and iron, this was more like a cat having it out with a scratching post than anything seriously offensive. “And we don’t WANT your sorry excuse for a London!” complained the Viric Princess, even as she motorboated my abs. In public. Bystanders were fainting left and right. “I want MY London back, thank you very much, with it’s gorgeous Vienna canals and army of statues made in my image!” “And I want MY London back, with it’s wreath of electric lights and tamed moon-misers!” “And I want MY London back, with it’s collection of Fingerkings!” “And I want MY London back, and the great zee-beast strapped beneath it!” “What if” I said slowly as I pondered the conflict on the roof I was really hoping to put off a while longer, “what if, I were to offer you ALL your Londons back in exchange for political support?” “Well I for one am in favour of them NOT squatting in MY bloody London” snapped the Captivating(ly Frustrated) Princess as the others boggled at the idea. Which turned out to cost immensely in souls and law furnaces, not to mention Mountain-Sherds of rare and potent calibre. But the immensity of my existence let me manufacture all kinds of wonders, especially after my recent experience with countering Discordance. 4/7 They were princesses of cities that were Not, and Discordance was what regulated the Not. So with law after law smelted in the Correspondence to make ready the Is and rivers of my own honey to create a metaphysical waterway through which I communed with dream-cities much in the way I communed with real ones, the Other Londons were brought through from the Not to rest on the land formerly known as Hell. By then the Hell-tormented mutineers had long since exploited Hell’s newly fashioned diplomatic incongruity with London to simply walk back to the Neath, so there was plenty of room. Some of the Devil-Princes still lounging there for old times’ sakes briefly thought about objecting to their new neighbours, but seeing my automatons serve to reinforce theirs quickly made them back off with a shrug. Hell was vast and achronal. There was always more free real estate. “Wonderful! We can build an embassy for our ESTEEMED host here as well!” said the Gant Princess slightly less bleakly than usual. “I don’t actually mean or need to stay-“ I began. “You misunderstand” purred the Violant Princess, stroking one of my faucets. Improperly. “We’re not letting go of all this delicious honey when it could be so…useful, in our transformations. Besides, wouldn’t it be more advantageous politically if we were to shed our mortal coils and take upon a more. Appropriately regal. Stature? I’m sure you’ll find our relationship more profitable once we’re, ahem if only politically, married and I’ve finished my transformation into a Devil Princess! My exoskeleton and wings will be just as grossly incandescent as my own palace!” “And I’ll finish dissolving myself in my own venom, and become a spirit of the waters!” “And I’ll reshape my flesh into an immortal mass wrapped betwixt my London’s bricks!” “And I’ll become a Parabola-shaking force, only not perpetually starving like those god-eating rubes!” 5/7

>>170550 The Captivating Princess grumbled that turning into a huge wasp hive queen was HER thing and now she was going to have to think of something to one-up ALL of them as the Other Princesses took Hesperidean Honey baths, sat on fountains full of Hesperidean Honey, snorted Hesperidean Honey like it was crack, made Hesperidean Honey beauty skin care wraps and generally imbibed what would have been unwise amounts of my bodily fluids if they weren’t already abhuman fonts of anomalous radiance which they were capable of shaping with Fingerking-like power even beyond Parabola. I just wanted to go home and forget about the women sucking me dry while she looked at the sisters she never had gleefully frolicking around their empty kingdoms (for geography, wealth and luxuries had a much more lasting impact on Parabola than mere identity) and made a quiet, furious vow that would later be fulfilled in the Sunless Skies jump. But that was a different cultivator story, for another time. “…I have accepted, that despite this uncouth licentiousness” said the Captivating Princess with breathtaking lack of self-awareness, donning her best tiara as a show of resolve, “that it would. Represent London poorly. To see it’s royalty at each other’s throats” “I thought you didn’t count them as Londoners” I said. “Well believe it or not, I’ve been reevaluating the criteria for patriotism since rescuing our veterans from Hell’s grasp” she said primly. “I AM a princess you know, whatever else I may be. But this cannot be allowed to continue. Understand?” “You speak as if you can ensure that” I mused. “London’s wealth really must be beyond my conception, despite having long since infested every piece of infrastructure in it-“ “I don’t, and you know it” she said impatiently. “But here’s MY offer. Whatever agreements you’ve made with them, whatever…marriage you’re currently in, when I come into my kingdom you’ll far prefer me as a friend than an enemy. So. Fix. This” “I thought I made clear I was willing to entertain your friendship when I let your sister complete herself by feeding on me?” I reminded her. She had the grace to look embarrassed. “…there are gradients of friendship. Of…closeness. Gradients that would be much easier to breach if you had the decency to be single and eligible” she said, not quite angrily. 6/7 I looked up at the Roof again. Well, so be it. I had to deal with that sooner or later, and the Captivating Princess had the look of someone who wasn’t going to let mere transhuman god-princess versions of herself hold the advantage forever. I could use someone like that for dealing with the Courtesy. “Hmm. Very well” “Finally! Someone’s talking sense today” she said, hiding her relief badly. “Right, so wherever this spot of bother is coming from it can’t be too far-“ “The Apocrypha were set loose by the detonation of the Hell furances, but they originate in the creases of history sequestered by the Vulgate upon the Roof” I said, motioning. A great brass cannon inscribed with enough Correspondence sigils to sign a watertight trade agreement between a star and a Devil rotated ponderously out of my newly grown embassy, tilting on great searing gears to point at a specific coordinate far beyond mortal sight. “They have imprisoned one of their own for crimes beyond even their little hobby of ensnaring forbidden histories” “You’re not proposing to just SHOOT them from here, are you?!” “Of course not! I intend to employ a legal injunction instead” And I did. Great plates of lead slotted into place. Sigils were fired into them with lasers powered by electric coils. And the ensuing shout of Correspondence, which translated roughly to NO TAX DEDUCTIBLES PERMITTED, soared up, up, and away into the darkness where it smashed open a trove full of apocrypha. Including one very delirious Vulgate, who staggered out in hot pursuit of vengeance against it’s brethren. “Well, that’s that. I’ll have to handle Firmament crisis ahead of time as well” I grumbled. “I beg your pardon?” “Don’t worry about it” She sniffed. “Fine. Be like that. Oh, and…one jar of honey to take away, if you don’t mind” 7/7

Alternative title: Jumpchain does fanfiction.

<Hellaverse Jump >Drawbacks THE DIABOLICAL DANNY DO-BAD! (50), Little Yellow Temptations (50, Toy Robots), AYY I’M SHOOTIN’ OVAH HEAH (100 ver), [理解できない音] (100), Bullish Assassination Economy (200 ver), Exit, Pursued By A Shark (200), Clipped Wings (300). [1000 Gained, 2000 total] >Location Earth >Background Old Hand >Race Eighth Deadly Sin (Acedia) >Perks (Discounts in *) Magical Malarky - Free The Show Must Go On! - Free Game Face - Free ver Whatever It Takes - Free* Chasing Rainbows - 100 Informative Children's Drawings -100 Dance Choreography Mentor - 100* It Starts With Sorry - 200 Retired Monster - 200 Artisan of War - 300 >Items (Discounts in *) Significant Divine Headwear - Free* Beelzebooze Cask - 50 Robo Fizz - 50* Asmodean Crystal - 100 D.H.O.R.K - 100* Circus Sideshow - 300* >Companions GIVE ME LIFE - 400* (800 ver) <“NINGEN! G-O-D or MAJIN?” Jumper spends most of their time on Earth disguised as an old coot ambushing random humans just to ask them an unavoidable question that will change their lives before being gifted a weapon of “potential” mass destruction. (It always leads to mass destruction). No one that’s usually around him can understand him, so he uses a repurposed Robo Fizz to serve as his translator. And if even that fails, you’re going to get an entire session of picture shows & interpretive dancing until it’s been drilled into your head. He keeps claiming that he walks around in the Human World to act like a jackass genie & spread a bit of chaos, but more often than not, a hero is born from his “gifts” & proceeds to wreak havoc on a nearby hell-affiliated Earth operation in progress. It’s happened so much that there’s been rumors of a growing faction of demons that’s been trying to assassinate him for good. Or it could be the imp mob bosses again, they were always the biggest losers of any incidents Jumper caused. This old head just…SUCKS at being evil you know, but considering how he hasn’t retaliated once against any Sinner yet with his own hands, he’s probably holding back & letting the opposition have a little fun with him. It can’t be a Lucifer situation where he can’t even fight back…right? In fact, will he EVER get serious? No seriously, back then he was an illegal weapon Prometheus when he caused havoc in his heyday, now the dam jit frets just over his toy robots… and cracks open the clanker when he gets bored! -Hellhound Spy, “Spot” Note: Don’t bother trying to get information in his manchild arts & crafts Toy Story layer of Hell either, the locals will just advise me that “nothing ever happens” before fucking off to their make-believe larping sessions again. Then again they never really gave a damn about the rest of Hell anyway…

>>142958 [Destiny: The Darkness redux] >DISCIPLINE: >>142958 He’s going rogue again. “Sorry, killer. Or is it hero? Would’ve toldja but heard you were busy with…something else” says a man who has lived under my identities, his most recent being the Drifter. He accelerate a spaceship structured suspiciously like the Millennium Falcon. “But I gotta do this on my own. There’s a cat out there. Calls himself Dredgen Bael. Reckon I can line up for you-“ “Your concern” I interrupted, shattering space and time as I, the Echo of Navigation, and Lilith re-entered this reality. The ship halts as if stuck in amber right as other weapons are preparing to blast it out of the sky. “is unnecessary and misdirected. Think on your Ghost. Reciprocate it’s devotion with civility, if not the love it deserves” He stares back at the traumatised spark of Light that chose him from the dead, and the old impulse to crush his neck for spitting on my friend’s gift throbs like an old wound. “…duly noted, eh? You want another transmog you creepy little…thingamajig?” ”I talk now, you know” mumbled the Drifter’s ghost “Yeah, yeah, anyways uh…holy fuck who’s that behind you?” “Oh, don’t mind me” says Lilith, tasting the air from her perch on my shoulders “I’m just along for the ride” “Holy FUCK killer what’s that thing on your back?!” “Your worst nightmare, little rat” says Lilith, watching him like a hunting hawk. “Congratulations on getting claimed by that little vengeance goddess LARPer, by the way” “I must apologise for the restrictions I’ve agreed to operate under, and this informant’s rudeness” I tell Lilith, ignoring the crew’s panic at their suspension of temporal progression. “I wasn’t expecting you to take a personal interest in this reality. The Gardener does not want-“ “Anon, thanks but can it” interrupts Lilith. “You don’t need to apologise for your current puppet not being literally omnipotent when you have googleplexes’ worth of monopolies on space magic and I got my cut” 1/4 “I simply want to make clear that there is a chance, however infinitesimal, we can be defeated and causality is not actually restructured in the shape of our victory. Like the old days” “Fat damn chance” mutters the Drifter. “Sure, and I could get bored enough to grow a dick. Things are the way they are and not the way they should be, you know this. Look, I’m starting to understand why the bitch whose house I’m squatting in got a kick from edging to genocide with you, and all I’m saying is I’m happy to play along” “I just hope the Gardener-“ SISTER AND PARASITE OF THE DARK, shouts the Gardener through the Drifter’s Ghost suddenly and more directly than ever in recent history. HE HAS WON. PLEASE REMIND HIM OF THIS. We are both surprised. “If I’m not mistaken” says Lilith slowly and playfully, “your big round friend just asked ME to hold YOU back” “What a strange misunderstanding” I exclaim, baffled. “I have been doing nothing but devote myself toward the welfare of the Gardener since coming here. Oh well. We’ll have to talk about that later. We have a much bigger priority. Nightfall” “That’s the name of the big raygun yonder, I take it?” asks the Drifter. “The very same. It’s an advanced form of paracausality-suppressing energy sourced from the Nine themselves that can be weaponised by both megastructures and power suits. It can even be configured, to instantly kill those whose existences are predicated on Light or Darkness, or even to say-utterly suppress a Hive worm’s hunger for tribute without killing it or it’s host. This CANNOT be allowed to stand” I vow. “Continue your ploy” “Buuuut” says Lilith, reaching out and scribbling something in green fire and rotting neutrinos on the Drifter’s armor, “I’ma put my mark on you so when the doublecross comes, we’ll be there alright? That was rhetorical by the way” “Yeah, figured. And you mean if, right?” pleads the Drifter. “When. You adorable little scamps haven’t even figured out dark matter like the kids have-oh yeah Anon, your older kids say hi by the way. And let us in, let us in, eat the light, eat the path, say hi to our new sisters for us, eat the world, yadda yadda” says Lilith. “Fuck, double crosses get me so wet it’s unreal”

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“It’s a necessary obligation in service to a perfect universe. We will remove all that stands in the way of perfection, and bring extinction to this frivolous Star Wars references” “If you talk any dirtier to me, I’m going to fuck you right now, in public” warns Lilith. I simply meet her gaze unflinchingly. “IF? Now who’s edging?” I ask. “Got me there” she admits. And as time resumed, she pulls me out into the depths of space, and we make love and war like crashing waves, battles parting like froth around us as the Drifter’s little ship spirals away towards a Star Wars-coded narrative contrivance engineered by VI’s machinations. 2/4 It is sometime later. This deal between the so-called Dredgen Bael and the Drifter is getting worse by the minute. The Star Wars references are reaching critical mass. I run a brief dark matter-paracausal radiolaria simulation of what could have happened if Maya Sundaresh had been actualised beyond the Vex network, and see a vision of the Vex wearing pants and doing crimes that makes Lilith fall over laughing. “Guardian! There you are, I was so worried after you rammed the Veil and it started sprouting like a potato” exclaims my Ghost. “Wait, where’s the Darkness’ envoy? And erm…who is this…?” “Aw, you’re one of the big ball’s kids aren’t you? I could just eat you up” says Lilith. “It’s nice to met you-“ “EAT. YOU. UP” says Lilith, drooling. “As satisfying as that might be, the moment is nigh” says the Echo, as per Star Wars convention the Drifter’s seeming defection to the Barant Imperium is revealed to be a ruse, the Praxic Order rep with her lightsaber sees him turn on Bael- -and we manifest in a torrent of Prismatic energy. “THIS. FARCE. ENDS NOW” I bellow. The sword in my hand vanishes, and the Cabal fall apart like chopped salami. “You UNGRATEFUL little mortal. This is no Dredgen. This is just a bitter little Tex Mechanica scion whose mother was chosen for a HIGHER CALLING from the dead, and hates the Traveller for giving meaning to her WORTHLESS EXISTENCE” I scream loudly enough to shatter eardrums, smash bones, send cybernetics smoking. “WHY weren’t you ready for this? WHY raise your hand to the Light with NO understanding?” I demand, reaching through his organs. “Night-FALL! FIRE NIGHTFALL NOOOOOW” he screams in agony. “Disabled” announces Lilith, manifesting behind him. “I crawled into your precious superweapon a couple weeks ago and took the whole thing. It works well enough, but the firing solution you got was spoofed. By the way, did you know there’s a surprising amount of overlap between ancient curses and hacking?” “I WILL REMOVE THE PLANET SATURN FROM EXISTENCE FOR THIS AFFRONT!” I scream. 3/4 “Whoa whoa whoa WHOA” says Lilith slowly and patiently as I skin the imposter Dredgen Bael alive, melt the metal floor he’s standing on, rip off his limbs with Strand, push him through the melting metal, cauterise his wounds with Stasis and thus complete the Star Wars reference which is THE CURRENT SHAPE OF REALITY and start considering how to make him kill himself in a way befitting Vader to complete the monomyth and thus thwart VI’s design, “hey, hey, remember what the big ball said about watching your metaphysical blood pressure?” “I will not let ANY more Light be removed. This farce ends now” I snarl, hammering at the controls with Taken energy and Solar radiance. The weapon is recalibrated to my specifications, targeting the entire Barant Imperium as enough Sword Logic to shred an entire civilisation to ribbons erupts through it. “So uh, don’t? Babe? Hear me out. You have the weapons. You have the firepower. You have their puppet leader taken away as a Vanguard hostage, ironically by that Drifter guy. Anyone dying from hereon is on you” I pause. Peace is a button press away, the promise of fresh gravesoil fertiliser, an end to a tiresomely irrelevant threat to the last city. “That’s not the point. As long as they’re alive, they’re a threat. THEY’RE DEAD MEN WALKING ALREADY. Literally Sword Logic farming stooges for the Lord of Every Nothing and VI” “Great! So the blade is on their neck. Have you tried to telling to just…fuck off?” “They are mere stooges for VI” “Okay, so tell VI to tell them to fuck off” “The dark matter parasite was willing to risk final destruction to get one over me” “Okay, so just you know…” says Lilith, tucking her arms around my ribcage. “be persuasive. Here. Here’s a knife. It’s not for gouging or stabbing. It’s for flaying. You have all the leverage, and you can use to bring things to a close…or draw them out. Cut against the grain, instead of desecrate it. Are you really satisfied with bringing things to a climax before a little foreplay?” “You’re right. Of course you’re right” I breathe, as I feel her clench down on me. “Why does VI deserve a quick death before we’re wrung all the use we can out of it and it’s abominations? I’ve missed this” “I’ve missed you! Now come pour some more of that primordial creative power into my gaping recess of an immaterial chasm, and I’ll show you just how persuasive we can be. Together. As in the beginning” “As in the beginning” I echo. “Oh dear” says my Ghost. It is a later and inevitable time period. Eris has convinced Lodi to channel VI. “ALARMED AND DEFIANT DEMANDS TO CEASE UNDESERVED HOSTILITIES AFTER TRAINING EXERCISE” shouts the panicking grotesquery through his mouth. “DEMANDS FOR THE WEAPON TO ACCEPT THAT THE GAME REMAINS A STALEMATE AND EXIT THE LEVEL WITH HIS LOOTBOX” “You were given a chance at coexistence, against my better judgement. Now. You are given a KNIFE” I roar. My hand entwines with Lilith’s and the Echo’s in a knot of Taken energy, and we reach together. The Dreadnought reactivates. Fires. Saturn’s rings shatter all the way, and reshape into blades as they’re hurled straight at the planet by the force of it’s own gravity. “PAIN AND WONDROUS COMPREHENSION OF DEATH AND ALL IT’S POSSIBILITIES! BUT MOSTLY PAIN!” it wails. “You will tell the Barant Imperium to stand down and submit utterly to my will. You will punish your slave for existing. You will endure this pain” I command, as the Echo carves scars of Taken energy over Saturn’s surface at my will. “I AM INCREASING THE SIZE OF YOUR LOOTBOX IN EXCHANGE FOR RELIEF FROM AGONY AND THE CHANCE FOR MATERIAL EXISTENCE” “You will also stop sunsetting content” adds Lilith, “I just got into this game and I didn’t even get a chance to play the good shit” “…LEGAL OBLIGATIONS COMPEL ME TO AGREE” 4/4

>>83868 I have altered my starting Chain setup, again. --- --- --- Cosmic Warehouse >Utilities: Electricity, Plumbing, Heat/A.C., Local_Net, Force_Wall >Structures: N/A >Miscellaneous: Portal, Link, Food_Supply --- --- NuBee’s Bodymod Supplement >Foundation: Cleansed, Adjustment, Sex (Female) >Statistics (Own) Strength: 2, Stamina: 2, Agility: 2, Flexibility: 2, Reflexes: 5, Intelligence: 5, Charisma: 5 >Body Modifications: Coloration, Grooming >Mental Modifications: Charm, Natural_Disposition (Thoughtful), Alignment (Male), Strength, Memory >Character Perks: Restraint, Body_Maintenance (Homeostasis) --- --- Goblin Conqueror & Dragon Conqueror >Time Period, Starting Location, Origin (Faction): N/A, Port_Town, Apprentice (Drop-In) (N/A) >Race, Gender, Age (Apparent Age): Human, Female, 18 (N/A) >Power List: Fertile_Period / Stance_Shifting, Delicate_Fingers, Murderous_Awareness, Mental_Breakdowns, Sword_Saint >Starting Item List: N/A

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>Item List: Stylish_Outfit / Training_Sword, Goblin_Stink_Bag, Refilling_Potions, Life_Scale_Weapon (Training_Sword) >Companion List: N/A >Scenario/Drawback List: N/A >Future: On_Vacation --- --- The Forbidden Kingdom >Time Period, Starting Location, Origin (Faction): N/A, N/A, Lost_Traveler (Drop-In) (N/A) >Race, Gender, Age (Apparent Age): Human, Female, 18 (N/A) >Power List: Chi_Training / Kung_Fu_Movies, [Horrible_Teacher, Crouching_Disciple], The_Prophecy_of_a_Seeker, Tenfold_Draught >Starting Item List: N/A >Item List: N/A / Everyday_Backpack, Ruyi_Jingu_Bang (Life_Scale_Weapon) >Companion List: N/A >Scenario/Drawback List: The_End_of_All_Things, Main_Character (Jason) >Future: Go_Forward --- --- Slave City >Time Period, Starting Location, Origin (Faction): N/A, Helgen, Potential_Slave (Drop-In) (N/A) >Race, Gender, Age (Apparent Age): Breton (Oblivion), Female, 18 (N/A) >Power List: Boobsliders / Rumors_Unbound, Silver_Lining, Livestock_Body (Masochist), Solemnly_Swear, Mission_Start, Sidequests, Dragonborn (Replace), Save_System >Starting Item List: N/A >Item List: N/A / Reset_Inventory, Signature_Look (Gold_Ring) >Companion List: N/A >Scenario/Drawback List: Downloading_Your_Mods_Now >Future: Move_On --- --- --- I felt that Hypno App gives too much, and I have removed all Generic and original setting Jumps from my Chain. Overall, I'm now set to learn magic, spiritualism, and martial arts pertaining to swords extremely quickly between just the first two Jumps and Supplements. The Conqueror series runs off of physical ability, some spiritualism, and a dab of magic. The Forbidden Kingdom puts a nice little bow on everything I'll learn and get from there. I can then go to the Skyrim video game (Slave City) Jump where I should be more than strong enough to kick everything's ass. What's more, the only explicitly magical thing Stance Shifting gives me is a thunder strike, and the only element all dragons in Skyrim are weak to is electricity. Get fucked, dragons. But yeah, I will absolutely be trying to learn magic and alchemy while in Skyrim.

>>212547 >Jump 5: Crusader Kings 2 Government Type: Feudal (-150) Religion: Hinduism (Placeholder for Sogdia’s eclectic mix of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Iranian Polytheism, and Hinduism) Focus: Stewardship (-100) Starting Demesne: Bukhara >Background Name: Nana Age: 16 Gender: Female Dynasty: Bukhar Khudah/βuxārak Xwaday >Perks Good with money (-50) I am the state (-100) Independently religious (-100) Beating the Bureaucracy (-200) Assimilation, Adaptation (-200) The religion of the sword (-200) Aspect of the gods (-200) Strategist (-400) >Drawback Uncaring Liege (+100) The Great Defensive War (+600) In the year 769 AD, the Sogdian city of Bukhara was ruled by a Prince of the line Bukhar Khudah by the name of Bunyat. Bunyat had come to the throne after his brother, Sakan, had been killed by agents of the Abbasid governor of Khurasan twelve years prior. Ominously, Sakan himself had only gained the throne due to the actions of the great general Abu Muslim Khorasani, who had orchestrated the murder of Sakan’s elder brother Qutayba, despite the latter’s loyalty to the Abbasid dynasty. In short, over the course of 19 years the Abbasid governor of Khurasan had murdered with a fair degree of transparency two princes of Bukhara, and in recent years had been signaling to Bunyat that, if he did not cease his support of the ‘veiled prophet’ al-Muqana, the youngest brother of the family might join his elders in the Hellfire all Mazdans had to look forward to. To Bunyat, this was simply the nature of rule in Transoxiana in this fallen age of Arab dominion. But to his sister Nana, who saw where her brother’s support of the Veiled Prophet al-Muqana of the Khurramite would lead, and she was not content to suffer the fate of the princes of Samarkand. And for this reason, she began planning. But before the schemes of Nana can be delved into, the situation of Transoxiana must be examined. The land of Sogdia, Tokharistan (formerly Bactria), Usrushana, Ferghana, and Chach had, along with Khwarazm by the Aral Sea and the Tocharians and Saka of Tarim, represented the easternmost edge of the Iranian world. Though the Achaemenids had taken these lands under their dominion, as had Alexander, subsequent Iranian dynasties such as the Parthian Arsacids and Persian Sassanids had failed to retake those lands. Instead, a mix of Scythian, Hepthalite and Turkish hegemonies had taken dominion over the lands, even as local rulers continued to lord over their city-states and minor kingdoms. All this changed when the warriors of the Caliphates invaded, shattering the Turkish Khaganates and subjugating the Iranian princes. Hegemony over the region though was not established by the so-called world-conquering Umayyads, but instead by the Abbasids, who decisively defeated the western armies of the Tang dynasty and their Turkish allies, the Türgesh Khaganate. Though they failed to take the valley of Ferghana, they had shattered the last great pagan Turkish polity of the region and time, and dispelled the Tang’s interest in “the West”. This left the lands of Transoxiana under the hegemony, if not dominion, of the Caliphates. With that said, the political situation of the region was as such: in Khwarazm the Afrighid Khwarazmshahs, reigned from their capital in Kath over the princes of other prominent cities such as Gurganj, Kudar, and Khiva. Though subject to frequent Arab raids and oft extorted for tribute, Khwarazmshah Sawashfan retained both the autonomy and faith of his fathers, a similar sort of syncretic Zoroastrianism as that practiced in Sogdia. Depending on the support of the princes and presence of Turkish mercenaries, the Khwarazmshah could assemble a host of between 10,000 to 20,000 men semi-reliably. In contrast to the relatively unified state of Khwarazm, Sogdia was, as always, a land of many cities. The greatest of these being: Samarkand, Kish, Nasaf, Arbinjan, al-Tawawis, Bukhara, Baykand, Amul, and Zamm. Each of these cities was traditionally governed by a prince, with the ruler of Samarkand taking the title of Ikhshid to display his predominance over the other princes of Sogdia. When the Arabs came, they deposed the Ikhshid of Samarkand, and placed the city under a Muslim governor and an Arab garrison. They tore down the Fire Temples, demolish the Buddhist monasteries, and razed the shrines of the Turkish, Hindu and Iranian gods alike. For all this, and the payment of the city’s people to attend mosque, a majority had converted…as long as the payments continued, anyway. For the rest of the Sogdian cities, the majority remained faithful to the faiths of their fathers, and local princes continued to rule. Each of these princes could assemble maybe 2,000 to 4,000 men with regularity, while Bukhara, second-greatest city of the country, could assemble an army of 20,000 in times of need, and half that more regularly. Outside of Sogdia proper, but still considered Sogdian, were the Principalities of Usrushana, Chach, and Ferghana. Bunjikath, Kurdakath, Zamin, and Dizak, these are the cities sworn to the Afshin of Usrushana, who can field an army of 10,000. In Chach are the cities of Chach, known to some as Shash or Tashkent, and Binakath, Binkath, Tunkath, and Khujanda. The lesser cities of these maintain local princes of varying Sogdian or Turkic origin, but the ruler of Chach is an Arab commander appointed by the Abbasid court, and subordinate to the governor of Khurasan. Ferghana though, lay entirely outside even the nominal control of the Caliphate. There an elderly Turkish warlord by the name of Arslan Dehqan, who’d conquered much of the valley some forty years prior, rules from the city of Akhsikat, and holds dominion over the princes of Kasan, Uzkand and Quba. Independent of Arslan are the princes of Kand and Rishtan, each claiming the title of Ikhshid of Ferghana. Together, the rulers of Ferghana can assemble a combined host of some 15,000 men. Finally, the Governor of Balkh, once the capital of Bactria before the city was razed by the Umayyad and rebuilt as an Arab fortress town, serves as the central locus of Caliphal authority in Tokharistan, with the princes of Tirmidh, Khulm, Akhrun, Shuman, Qunduz, Siminjan, and Baghlan accepting the governor of Balkh as (the duly appointed representative of) their ruler. Beyond these, a few other local polities of note are worth noting. Centered at Kabul, the Turk Shahi reign over the lands of Kabulistan and Gandhara. Pious Buddhists and worshipers of a variety of Hindu deva, they pay nominal fealty to the Caliph in Baghdad, but in reality rule independently and frequently clash with Abbasid officials in neighboring Makran and Sistan. From Gandhara the Shahi kings can regularly muster 10,000 men, and depending on the whims of the Pashtun tribes can muster an additional 5,000 to 10,000 from Kabulistan proper.

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To their south, ruling over Zabulistan is the Kushan-Hepthalite dynasty of the Zunbil, or Rutbil, a splinter of the ruling Turk Shahi in Kabulistan. Regardless of specific pronunciation, the Hepthalite dynasty worship a Hepthalite Sun-god named Zun, Zhun, or Suna. The dynasty’s lands encompass Zabulistan and Zamindawar, with their capital located at the city of Ghanzi, and the cities of Bost and Rakhwad paying tribute to them, at times. To them, as many as five to ten thousand will raise arms. A smaller Kushan-Hepthalite reigns over the city of Bamiyan and the valley it rests in, devout followers of Buddhism. The King there can assemble around 2,000 soldiers of good standing, and twice that in tribal levies. Finally, though it cannot be confirmed, remnants of the Yabghu Turks are said to be hiding out in the mountains of Badakhshan to the east of the valley of Tokharistan, and in Zhetysu the Tuhsi and Azi tribes, now subject to the Karluk Kül-Erkin, are the last remnants of the Türgesh, along with the Khalaj wandering Sistan and Khurasan. These all, are the players for the Land beyond the ‘Mad River’ Oxus.

>>213575 Returning again to the Princess Nana of the Bukhar Khudah, it was in the year, it was in the year 769 AD that her mind turned to thoughts of Kingship, thoughts in normal times unsuited to the daughter of a princely family. By the sworn oath of her elder brother Sakan, Nana was promised to the second son of the Prince of Kish, a young man by the name of Avyāman-yān. Despite both coming of age though, the Governor of Samarkand, a man by the name of Abd al-Karim, had forsworn the marriage itself, wary of two powerful princely houses joining together. Because of this Nana remained in the house of her brother, and due to his own status as a widower and Nana’s unusual talent for the managing of expenses, she was the manager of her brother’s finances. From this position of both deep trust and substantial resources, Nana wove her web. To her betrothed, Avyāman-yān of Kish, she wrote letters of love and dreams, speaking to him of a future he could have with her. She painted a rosy picture of him, a grand Ikhshid of all Sogdia, reigning from Samarkand with the strength of Bukhara and Kish at his back, with her at his side. To Arslan Dehqan, she sent gifts framed as tribute, and letters of praise and wonder, filling his mind with the glories he had won and the strength he’d had to conquer Ferghana and crush the Türgesh Khagan, and the yet greater Kingship Kök Teŋri surely had in store for him. After all, were these not the ancient lands of the Arya, brought to heel before the might of the Sons of Asena. Surely, as it had been for centuries, it would be once again. To Khwarazmshah Sawashfan, she spoke on behalf of her brother, as both friend and confidant to the old king, whose son had perished and yet grown estranged from his grandson Azkajwar. She wrote to him of informants in the courts of his subjects, and through them confirmed his fears, of Azkajwar’s blasphemy, of his sympathy with the Arabs, of the ruin he would bring upon Sawashfan’s line, a dynasty of 464 years brought to nothing by the impiety of a single man. To the Shahs of Kabul and Zamindawar Nana offered prophecy, predicting by the grace of Nanai that the Arab who had defeated the Zunbil at Ghazni, Abu'l-Walid Ma'n ibn Za'ida al-Shaybani, would be slain by Kharijites in his home at Bost before the end of the year. If there was a time for them to unite and drive the Arabs from Bost and even Sistan itself, that would be the time. Finally, Nana sent a dozen men each, skilled at arms and speech and trusted with her life, to journey to Badakhshan, Zhetysu, and Khorasan. At Badakhshan the men were to locate the Yabghu and rally them, promising the clan-heads a restoration of their rule over Tokharistan in return for service to Bukhara and Kish. At Zhetysu, her men were to find the Tuhsi and Azi, and to win them over with promises of freedom from the Karluk yoke, glory in battle against the Arabs, and lands in Sogd to graze their herds. And for the Khalaj in Khorasan, Nana’s agents were to speak frankly. For the first third of the next year, she would require the Khalaj to raid the estates of prominent mawlā, in the second third to lead the Khorasani garrison on a merry chase. And in the last third of the year, to destroy the walls and citadel of Nishapur. To do this, Nana paid them each of the Khalaj’s clan heads with one hundred talents of silver, and a strange horn. These horns, her agents claimed, would when brought together and blown facing the city’s walls, melt them like ice in the summer sun, and do the same to the citadel of the city. But also warned them, that if any but they and their children wielded these horns, they would erupt in flames and reduce both themselves and the unworthy user to dust. With the field set, Nana set her web alight. On the first day of the year 770 AD, Bunyat, Prince of Bukhara, was stabbed to death in the city’s bazar, before the eyes of the merchants and nobles, by a Muslim merchant from Samarkand. Before the man could escape, he was subdued by the prince’s guard and the common people, and brought to the palace. After a day of torture, he admitted to the gathered notes led of Bukhara that he had been hired by the governor of Samarkand to “snuff out the princely house of Bukhar Khudha” and subject the people to forced conversion. Enraged, the city’s nobles tore the man limb from limb and, in defiance of custom and driven by spite, crowned Nana as Ikhshid of Bukhara. While the nobles of Bukhara had likely intended Nana to serve as a figurehead during their vengeful struggle against Samarkand, the once-princess surprised them all by quickly taking charge of her brother’s court with the same firm hand with which she’d guided his finances. Within a week she’d fully won over the nobility and through them assembled the core army of the city. They numbered some 10,000, with 8,000 footmen and 2,000 cavalry, among which at least 500 could be called proper cataphracts. Another ten thousand could have been mustered, but it would have taken the remainder of the month, and to Nana that would be unacceptable. So, by the end of the second week of January the army of Bukhara marched up the course of the Zarafshan River. As Nana had been preparing the army of Bukhara, she had also sent riders out to the other cities of Sogdia, amoung other, informing them of events and calling upon them to either join her, or else sit out the conflict. The princes of Baykand, Zamm and Amul quickly agreed to neutrality, while the prince of al-Tawawis quickly bent the knee, pledging his 2,000 men to Bukhara, knowing his city could not withstand the greater city’s host, bringing Nana’s host to 12,000 in total. By the time Nana had reached al-Tawawis though, Governor Abd al-Karim had heard of the Bukhari revolt, and had assembled the garrison of his city and sent his own messengers out, demanding the princes of Sogdia support their lord the Caliph. The princes of Arbinjan and Nasaf answered him, marching at the head of 2,000 and 4,000 men respectively, and when added to the garrison of Samarkand brought the Caliphal host to 9,000 strong. The governor also send word to his peers in Chach and Balkh, calling upon their aid. Had those governors been able to answer him, it is likely (if not for certain variables he could not have known) Abd al-Karim could have simply sat behind the walls of Samarkand, and waited for the combined host of Chach and Balkh to relieve him. With each governor having command of 5,000 professional Caliphal soldiers and 8,000 and 20,000 local auxiliaries courtesy of the princes respectively, Nana would have little hope even if all the princes of Sogd rallied to her. Which is of course why Nana has accounted for this. From the mountains of Badakhshan the Yabghu Turks came riding down into the valley of Tokharistan, their numbers recouped after twenty years of hiding and mingling with the indigenous Kushans. Almost immediately, half the Tokhari princes bent the knee to their former overlords, while the others gathered behind their walls, leaving the Governor of Balkh and his Arab garrison to fight the Turks alone. And in Ferghana, Arslan Dehqan had managed to reign in the dual Ikhshids of Ferghana with promises of loot and (vassal) lordship over Chach, assembling a joint Turkic and Soghdian host of 15,000 to invade Chach and seize it from its Abbasid governor. In short, by the time Nana of Bukhara came upon the city of Arbinjan, it had become clear that Governor Abd al-Karim was on his own. Divested of its prince and his host, the people or Arbinjan opened the gates to Nana’s host, and the Ikhshid of Bukhara was merciful. She placed a token force to man the city’s walls, placed a temporary regent to oversee the city till the war’s conclusion, and razed the mosque the governor of Samarkand had erected in the city’s citadel for visiting Abbasid officials and Muslim merchants. So the Bukhari host departed Arbinjan on the 23rd, and reached Samarkand by the 28th, where they met the Caliphal army in the field. Now, though the Bukhari host numbered a full three thousand more than al-Karim’s, the Abbasid governor’s army was built around a core of experienced professional soldiers, veterans of numerous campaigns against the Turks and the Kushan tribes. Even with the advantage of numbers, and an inexplicably talented commander in Nana, it is likely that the Caliphal host would have prevailed there if not for the timely arrival of the army of Kish on the second day of the battle. As they did though, al-Karim’s host was devastated in battle, and the old commander fell on the field along with his soldiers. The princes of Nasaf and Arbinjan though managed to survive, and with the remnants of their forces escaped behind the walls of Samarkand. Knowing that she could not rely on the Arslan or the Yabghu to find victory, Nana likewise knew she could not risk a siege. So she showed her hand. Taking out one of the same horns she had bestowed upon the Khalaj, Nana blew upon the horn facing the walls of Samarkand, and before the amazed eyes of her and Kish’s host, amoung their numbers now her betrothed, the ancient walls of Samarkand melted away within a few minutes. Unobstructed, and the hosts of Nasaf and Arbinjan filled with terror at the horrific miracle, Nana led the armies of Bukhara and Kish forward, and took Samarkand. 2/2 /tbc/

>>213576 >From this position of both deep trust and substantial resources, Nana wove her web. And this is why you don’t ignore the Diplomacy path in Crusader Kings. A Stewardship/Intrigue specialist might just be plotting something.

>>213576 ...I only just realized I posted the version that didn't get proofread here....oh well, none of those errors are too glaring. >>213694 Nana did love her brother, but after loosing two older brothers to their own fuck-ups with the third well on his way to getting himself killed like in the OTL in 14 years' time (at most), she decided that if he was going to kill himself, she'd kill him first in a way that'd actually be productive for the family and people. So he got to die early in a way that would put his sister on the throne and mobilize the people of Bukhara against the Caliphate. ...yes, she was the one behind the merchant. She did it in such a way that he did, in fact, think he was working for the Governor of Samarkand, but he was actually dealing with agents of the governor (placed in Bukhara to spy on the city's nobility) suborned by Nana through bribes and blackmail. Said agents also conveniently vanish in the week she was mustering the city's army.

>>213749 >Nana did love her brother, but after loosing two older brothers to their own fuck-ups with the third well on his way to getting himself killed like in the OTL in 14 years' time (at most), she decided that if he was going to kill himself, she'd kill him first in a way that'd actually be productive for the family and people. For the good of the kingdom, the best person must take the throne as soon as possible. >...yes, she was the one behind the merchant. That was obvious, yeah. >Said agents also conveniently vanish in the week she was mustering the city's army. No doubt killed by Nana’s own agents to insure the only link between the assassin and her would vanish.

https://rentry.org/Comabu Where all the writing is. What Do You Do When You Suddenly Become An Immortal Jump 280 Location The Starry Sky - Earth Origin Sect Saintes Sex Herm Age 2101 Species Beast Clan (Three Sun Nine Moon Soul Wolf) Perks Standard Cultivator Clean Meridians Control Your Strength -200 Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils -200 Martial Genius Of An Era -400 Eternal Variable -400 Dao of Science -600 Basics of Cultivation Bountiful Blessings Genius of Talent (Formations) -100 Sanctification Of The Flesh -100 Return To Your Ancestors -200 Holy Body (Abyssal Abundance) -300 Drawbacks A Competent World Poor Pauper +200 The Great Calamity +300 Invaders From Beyond +300 Jealousy Of The World +300 Heavenly Roadblock +400 The End Move On Abyssal Abundance Absorbs 90% of all energy that hits the body into an Infinite Abyssal storage realm in the soul, with 10% still getting through. The energy is then multiplied by X100 before being let out in a thick mist that transforms plants into Abyssal Plants that produce ten times as much energy as they consume. Three Sun Nine Moon Soul Wolf It can be split into a Sun, a Moon, and an Eclipse Wolf, and treated as Avatars, with each taking 12 hours to regenerate a destroyed avatar; survival only needs one. Then I have it evolve into a Nine-Realm Soul Wolf with nine avatars, each capable of regenerating a destroyed Avatar in an hour.

>>153677 [Fate/Grand Order redux: The Finale (I fucking hope)] It ended the same way it had began: With someone tied to a chair and exposed to backlights, awaiting a merciful end that would never come. But there were no bloody surgeon’s tools in this room. No filthy bandages and no screams of pain. And not just because after everything, I didn’t see the point. When I looked into the steely gaze of Galahad, Knight of the Round Table, traitor to Camelot and Panhuman History’s last defender after Camazotz fell, Daybit…left the stage and even Elodie abandoned it. I saw a storm crawling over the horizon. I saw the bleakness of the winter field, indifferent to every blade of grass withering in it. I saw the blade plunging without hesitancy, without mercy into my son and heir. I saw a clarity of focus I knew mere agony and degradation couldn’t snuff out. “Do you know why you’re here?” I asked. “In all honesty, no” he said, calmly and without hesitation. “Make it fast. There’s no longer a purpose for me to serve” “I think not. For all your transgressions against me, for betraying your king and kingdom, for-“ I thought about the phrasing. Decided this awful little man didn’t deserve the grandeur of being talked down to by a king. “-for being a worthless piece of shit who should’ve died in his mother’s spasm chasm, you coldblooded little fuckwit, I’m going to make you the one who acknowledges the final and irrecoverable death of the Human Order” “I see. That’s rational. With it’s last extant record being that of ultimate failure, that will affirm the defeat of humanity as a quantum timelock” he said. “Although with the power you wield now, I don’t see why that should be a consideration at all” “It shouldn’t be. But the difference between us is that I’ve always sought to do well at the essence of a task, not just it’s substance” “Knowing the company you keep, that’s quite a magnanimous gesture” he remarked. I shook my head slowly. “What is it?” he asked, and by God he was serious. “I finally get it. Looking at your stupid fucking face, I finally fucking get it” I said. “Why all of them-the gods, the titans, the Yama Kings and Annunaki, the Children and the Uncreated, feared me so much before I learned how to smile during the bad times and mean it. To laugh off frustration. To live for…no, just to live. To be a person, and not a cosmic force, however briefly that delusion last” He gave me just a slight frown. “We are hardly the same” he said reproachfully. “No” I agreed, “as we are now, we’re nothing like each other. You’re what I was, while I still thought I was right about everything. I am what I am, because even if I came back to this in the end, there was a time when I wanted to stop being God’s monster. How WASTEFUL. How POINTLESS. But at least…it stopped me from ending up as YOU” 1/10 I pushed him out on a gurney, taking no chances. The locks around his wrists, his ankles, his very Saint Graph, were tighter than the seals upon Excalibur. We passed through a corridor that passed through a century’s worth of time. Briefly there was a glimpse of a world imprinted on CHALDEAS’ surface. The Garden of Eden spread out around it, redecorate in crystal and interstellar void. Galahad frowned, but didn’t look away. “Here’s how this is going to work” I said, as we left to the Beast Constellation, where each of my comrades from this world manned a single CHALDEAS. “I’m going to bind the laws of man, star and universe in order to finally FINALLY replace them with something that doesn’t eat itself alive and call that justice. You’re going to take it all in, confirm that sequence of events. And then at a moment of my choosing, I’m going to shatter your Saint Graph” “That’s it? “That’s it. Your end will be meaningless and unceremonious, just like every other fucking thing that’s happened since I started winning” “You sound almost disappointed” “That’s because I am, Galahad. There was” I said, gesturing with a pillar of boundless light, “a time when I could have been killed. Could have been destroyed. You figured it out, didn’t you? All this time I’ve been going around, having little heart to hearts with my fellow Beasts, taking up their sins and shouldering their ideals with my very soul. I took up a part of their nature, even as I healed theirs with mine. I can’t even say it was careless. I was so full of rage and loss I wanted, however distantly, to have comrades in arms that I could rejoice and lament alongside. Not pets. Not allies of convenience. The ultimate luxury for the ultimate sovereign. I set out to save the Beasts as much as I did to destroy humanity. That was something Elodie could have used to destroy me, leveraging the sins of the Beasts to degrade my perfection” “And yet, she gave up” “Yes. I was taken to court by Metatron and Lucifer Morningstar instead. The former condemned me to a lovely lake of fire that burned away all those impurities like Achilles in the Styx. Yet another absurd contrivance in this mess of a cosmos, but why am I surprised? God himself told me I was worthier than even you, Galahad. He punished my weakness and pushed me to the brink, but he didn’t lie”

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2/10 “You believe God wanted this?” he asked, sharply. For the first time he seemed riled to challenge me, in a way his own helplessness hadn’t provoked. “The God who sent his son to die at Roman hands, demanded the binding of Isaac and guided Solomon towards his ultimate dissolution? The God who allowed Goetia to burn away much of Human History before setting his plan into motion? The God who permitted Marisbilly’s Lostbelt to condemn an entire Tree of Time to nonexistence? Yes. YES” I said, eyes flashing with that same terrible purpose I’d condemned Galahad with. “THAT is my takeaway! The law my father branded into me: That there is no choice, none at all, between inevitable eschaton and absolute SALVATION! My mistake in all of this. Was holding back. God did not hold back to correct me, then cut down his own pawns. My sin, Salvation, was that I HELD BACK and DARED hope for a compromise of values with Alaya at all! There is and always will be only one sovereign will to impose ideation on the cosmos, and in overcoming the current occupant God has rewarded me for internalising that lesson!” “You would rather believe in a God that blesses calamity than consider an alternative?” he challenged me. “How else can you explain why I still have Revelation EX and Miracle EX after all this time?” I fired back. This time, he fell silent. He looked a little sick, just a little. He stared at posthumans beginning to gather, rolling across the Crystal Garden like little snowballs, and a shadow swept over that desolate mask of a face. 3/10 They were all here now: Kiara, in her Star Eater’s glow. Kama, manifesting her cosmos of love. Tiamat, reformatted to wield her black tide without penalty, and of course Goetia in Solomon’s full regalia. Each and every one of them, looking onwards with the expectant gaze of a proud parent. “Hey, heeeey, I’m here tooooo!” whined UUUU-Olga Marie. “Shut up. You’re ruining this moment” whispered Goetia. “I’m JUST saying, I’m LITERALLY the new admin of CHALDEAS and you need to show me some respect you old has-been! Once I get into office, I’m gonna-“ “Umu, I thought SHE was the control centre of CHALDEAS?” asked Draco, pointing at a sulking Alien Priestess body-inhabiting entity that had been forced to sit in a chair off to a corner with a dunce cap on. “aHAHHAAHHAahaahHA no, that is my…press secretary!” said UUUU-Olga brightly. “Ever since I’ve seized control of CHALDEAS, Maris is truly little more than a redundant navigation system for my journey to the Oval Office!” “Give it baaaaack!” whined Maris, “give back my authorisations! The redundant Supplementary System is watching, I feel exposed!” “Redundant?” demanded Goetia. “Step up and challenge us to demonstrate that self-proclaimed superiority! We’ll show you how how hollow that facade of power of yours really is!” Instead of coming up with a witty comment, Maris just went WAAAAAAAAH and started crying, disgusting even Goetia. “May I at least know HOW?” demanded Galahad. As the sheer absurdity of everything that had happened on my journey piled up, he was cracking more and more from seeing it firsthand than he would have from any amount of torture. Good. “Oh neat, so you can be annoyed” I said, flicking his nose. “Hey Elodie look, the murderer of my children just demonstrated one of those dastardly human emotions you’re always telling me to use more of! Isn’t that fucking NEAT, Elodie?!” “There is nothing neat about this situation” said Galahad. “No. No there is not” agreed Elodie, trudging over. “Hi. You. Well, this is awkward. You didn’t think to tell me or the other guys about the Moon Cancer?” “There was no point. We were going to win or we weren’t. The Moon Cancer was a manifestation of our failure, not our enemy” he said without hesitation. Elodie just stared at him. “…yeah no, that kind of poor communication is why I’m siding with the genocidal engine of hatred and sunk cost fallacy. I’m done. I mean, fucking ALAYA started agreeing with him halfway through so god knows why I even bothered” she griped. “Oh, and Daybit had something to say to you before he left, Anon. Ahem. ‘Was it worth it?’” I started up, up, and away at the far reaches of the cosmos where an old enemy had returned to after deciding there was no more “good” to “do” without a live Human Order to defend. I’D DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, IN A HEARTBEAT. THERE WERE NO ALTERNATIVES, I spoke to the universe itself. “If you want to flaunt your victory” said Galahad impatiently, squirming in his binds at last, “you could AT LEAST explain how the first UnBeast and Beast 7 are coexisting. It’s almost as much of an affront to the Human Order as you are” “I’m flattered. Fine, get thee gone to the Flashback Dimension” I said, inflicting a pseudo-Rayshift on Galahad. Which was like rayshifting yet not like rayshifting, the same way rayshifting was like time travel yet not actually time travel in a way that was ultimately irrelevant to this entire mess. 4/10 >PREVIOUSLY, in FGO PART 1 That damnable ball revolved in place, mocking me with it’s smug aura. But it was too late. I had manifested the Grand Foreigner Saint Graph that superior Atlas thought acceleration had predicted comfortably ahead of time, and even now was crawling to attack the big ball. As scared mages, a panicking director and sundry others got out of the way I rushed straight to CHALDEAS and used the traditional celestial body technique of the ORT race: Hitting a thing really hard. My claws, raised to the heavens like Chronos’ sickle, came down on CHALDEAS like the wrath of an absentee God who was, and this was fucking wild even to I who was literally trying to end all of humanity, WILLING TO SACRIFICE AN ENTIRE TREE OF TIME judging by the current chain of causality. Everything went black, and then white, and then a kind of faded beige. The risk of destroying CHALDEAS was clear: As Marisbilly’s machinations to expand humanity involved overlaying the entire timeline with a Lostbelt and anchoring it to CHALDEAS, destroying it risked annihilating all of history. …

>>218961 It was that simple. The most basic, fundamental truth I'd learned upon arriving at this reality was that all existential threats arose from the solutions these humans proposed being more problematic than the initial errors. And so, the simplest solution was to utilise an outside context phenomena that wasn't subject to the arbitrary limitations humanity laboured under. Not the malice of the Outer Gods, nor the cold equations of the Velber. But the structure of a being who physically embodied my vision of eternity as much as Galahad's chilling clarity did in spirit. All that proceeded was simply an extension of that philosophy. At the exact moment I destroyed CHALDEAS, my very being assimilated it into myself. Not just it’s matter, it’s energy, but it’s very concepts and functionality were subsumed into me. Thus, I became the new keystone to Lostbelt 0. Thus, I became axiomatic to the inevitable survival of all predicated on it. Thus, I became contiguous with all times and all places in it's domain. ... Thus, I acquired the template of technology that could model the Root itself. It was incomplete. Were it to develop some kind of consciousness the replication would be comically shallow, without any grasp of the underlying Mystery. . . . Something I, having successfully constructed an avatar attuned to the Root itself some time ago, of course had no such trouble with. And something that the Saint Graph of ORT proceeded to compute more efficiently than any human construct ever could. Securing the victory of the Beast Order I would build atop it like scaffolding, and atop that the Archetype Order gestating like an egg. Hundreds of little eggs, rather. 5/10 The model of the planet was reconstructed into a sea of shards that spread out-forming a far more dispersed, crystalline and indestructible world defined by the parameters of my existence. As I watched space and time flicker around the new Lostbelt 0 of my design, I saw many sorrows. The failure of Camelot. The bittersweet encounter with my reborn sister in a Britain that never failed. The chariot I drove for Karna. The merger of Mozart and his art. Always, at every turn, I saw Nyarlathotep. I saw the Outer God corrupting the very Black Mud inside the Fuyuki Grail. I saw it hunting in the wake of the Umbral Star. I saw it whispering into BB's code. I saw it leveraging that connection to enter Japanese history through a certain knockoff Grail War. I saw it- -laughing. Laughing at the end of the universe as it dared me, without words, without coherency, to wield the weapon laid before me. To end it all. To bring forth the extinction of both humanity and the universe that it defined itself through. To sweep away all extraterrestrial and terran life. Saying, without argument or reason, that this was the logical endgoal of my work. That there was never any security without total annihilation. It saw me, even through a Lostbelt. "...is that what you think? Well. Stay a while, and reap what you’ve sewn" I said quietly. Presently a screaming, shattering sphere completely killed the mood by crashlanding on my Oort-CHALDEAS. "No! No, it can't end like this! The god, the system, doesn't make mistakes! After all, I can always escape to another junction of space-time! It's everyone else's fault they won't be reasonable!" shrieked the sphere. Cracked open, out stumbled a naked blue humanoid unlike anything I'd ever seen. "Now all I have to do is jumpstart the Universe Texture Update here...where it's...safe..." it mumbled, trailing off. "Where am I?" "MY territory" I said firmly. "Universe Texture Update, you say? I'm in the process of completing one myself. I could do it quickly, but I don't see the point when this system seems to require" I glared "SUFFERING, like say the torturous death of an entire simulated civilisation on it's surface, to fully activate" "Er, that's...yes...?" "Well, we're not doing that. Humanity has already too much to answer for" I said softly, gesturing with my then-Beast powers. "MY suffering alone will suffice"

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"...ah, you're in pain! I see, how wise of you to make sure it doesn’t go to waste, like a calm and rational lifeform! Allow me to introduce myself: I am Maris CHALDEAS, the system that fulfils the ideal of the Animuspheres!" said the...thing, brightly. "By cooperating, we can secure the future of the Human Order together!" "Really, now? There's one small problem with that" I mused. "I am currently defending myself and everyone I cherish from an existential threat I must eliminate at all costs" "What is it? I'm sure my solution will be mutually beneficial?" "The Human Order" I said flatly, clenching a fist. Maris started trembling as she slowly realised I was forcing a Lostbelt to become a Lost World by sheer power of will. "U-um...as the system set down by Marisbilly, that goes against...even at 5% functionality, I’m not supposed to..." she stammered. "I'm just going out to do a small chore, and then we're going to have a frank discussion" I said, brushing her aside, "where I suggest you rephrase your goals and intentions" 6/10 The Fuyuki Singularity smouldered. It was a lost time, a lost place, a moment that never happened in which on a whim of spite, the demon Flauros had decided to throw Director Olga-Marie Animusphere into a version of CHALDEAS I hadn't reformatted. "No! It can't end like this! It can't! I can...I can still do more! I haven't even had the chance to try!!" shrieked the annoying young woman as she drifted precariously towards the planet's surface."Someone! Anyone, please-" "THERE you are, Olga-Marie Animusphere, greatest and most important defender of the Human Order!" I declared, barging out of the CHALDEAS and grabbing her by the shoulder. "I will NOT let you foil my plans to destroy humanity, which were only possible because a bastion of incompatible will and purity of spirit was somehow able to delay the manifestation of Beast 7 by 2 whole years! A Beast I STILL haven’t met and wouldn’t recognise, all because of our kind’s timey-wimey origins and YOUR fat ass being in the way of my clairvoyance!” "E-eehhhhhhhh!?" said Olga. "Fujimaru, how are you there? Weren't you here just now?! Why're you SPROUTING FROM THE SAINT GRAPH OF AN ULTIMATE ONE!?!" "Because, as the inheritor of Marisbilly Animusphere's legacy, not just his heir but the godlike culmination of his magecraft amounting to an artificial Archetype, I'm here to DENY you your self-righteous martyrdom!" I declared. "Flauros, by the 11th Ring of God I command you to blow yourself up! Your data WILL be saved and transferred to your more fortunate counterpart!" "System override acknowledged. What a waste. Well then, I'll just go out doing what I've always wanted to. Ahem. GOETIA BEAAAAAAAAAAAM" bellowed Flauros, exploding in a pillar of mana shot into space. "What just happened? How are you doing all this when you couldn't even stay awake through my meeting! Put me down!!" demanded Olga. "Gladly. You are unreasonably FAT, young lady" "A-am not!!!" "Am too!" "AM NOT!" "SILENCE, fat woman! You and your jiggling folds may have led Chaldea with impeccable poise, performed extraordinary Magecraft with Mystery exceeding the Age of the Gods' own, and formed a lifelong bond with Mashu. But make no mistake: As long as you are human, you are my ENEMY. Potentially the GREATEST champion of ALL humanity to have ever existed! And I will! Be! PREPARED!" I shouted at her. "For SOMEONE to have a glorious battle for the fate of all mankind with me, at the end of time! For I was the Beast of Salvation, and now-I am so much more! I am the Grand UnSaver!" Olga Marie gawked up at me. Then looked down at the ground. "...so what you're saying" she said, "is we can't be friends as long as I'm still human..." "I do not comprehend how my words could have any other possible interpretation. Also, CHALDEAS is a system that can eventually model the Root. You should shut it down, for what little good it will do. As the best damn director this organisation has ever had, far exceeding that prat Marisbilly in common sense at least, I am sure you will make the rational decision" I said, storming off. "What?! Where are you going, Fujimaru? Your Grand Order isn't over!" she yelled. "I STILL HAVEN'T RATED YOU!" "And I do not CARE for your rating systems! Only ONE girl in my life is allowed to give me gold stars! Now if you'll excuse me, I must go. My planet needs me!" I shouted, pushing through CHALDEAS. "NO FUJIMARU YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE ALONE-" I stormed back to my CHALDEAS, where Maris flinched. "SO. I believe you were in the process of explaining why I should destroy you on sight?" I prompted. "A-actually there's been a fundamental misunderstanding of my ideals and motives!" babbled Maris. "I-I'm actually a Beast you know. I’M Beast 7!” "What? YOU'RE the Seventh Beast? How did you even lose?! I only gleaned the Compilation Event dimly from afar due to the rampant space-time fluctuations in there, but you'd have to spend the entire battle flailing like an idiot AND fail to back up your Fantasy Trees in any way to lose!" I demanded. "H-haha, nevermind that! Before we go any further I should point out that the ideal of Marisbilly is the elimination of all suffering caused by the complexity of deep turmoil beneath a surface level impression of sentient life" "Valid" I agreed. "Right?! What's required is a reduction in intellect!" "With you so far, that seems like a reasonable solution" I said. "And once the entire species is hollowed out, it's basic shape can be preserved with the rest of the universe closed off, ensuring the eternal survival of the Human Order!" said Maris with the hope of the truly desperate. "How very neat and tidy, it does sound like a beautiful sort of world. Elegant and refined, like a snowglobe" I said, which for reasons beyond my comprehension made Maris blush furiously. "There's just one small problem. And then what?" "...I cannot compute your query. Is there something wrong with this very smart and neat objective?" "Well, first of all let me relay to you some extra-universal data about that particular ontological threat" I said, nodding at Nyarlathotep. "It's reach isn't limited to this particular Lostbelt. It's not even limited to the 'grove' of the Human Order at all. Does the system have any countermeasures for a threat from BEYOND the universe? I would like to point out there are FAR greater threats than Beasts adjacent to this reality" 7/10

>>218964 "Oh. Oh, erm, this is bad" said Maris weakly as she peered through the dimensional barriers to where the not-so popular fighting game Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel featured Artoria being dragged into an interdimensional heroine fighting tournament by Yog-Sothoth’s miko. “I did NOT factor in interdimensional apex predators that can and have just shove their way into closed off realities…” "The second objection I have to this proposal isn't really one if you really do cherish humans" I mused. "After all, it's completion means the main user will remain utterly and eternally alone. Forever. Bereft of even inspiration for new dreams to shape. Deprived of not just enemies but equals. But as you say, if you really are this...system determined to carry out Marisbilly's ideal, I suppose it's all the same to a god if it's worshiped or not when it's abandoned. Right?" "...that's not...I wouldn't just...there would be SOMEONE who could...come and see the accomplishment…" mumbled Maris. "Also I have to be honest. I don't even like the shape of human civilisation very much. It's not merely ugly and violent. It's a reminder of every mistake I've ever observed on this planet. Surely someone with the power and will to oversee a new world, has a moral obligation to construct a better one? That's my intention at least" I said. "What exactly is the nature of the world you will create?" asked Maris. "Oh, it's quite simple actually. I've been doing test runs of civilisations during my assault on the Human Order for it's many, many wrongs against me. In one timeline I uplift onis, in another I preserved the gods. In yet another, boars take to space. In still another, Rome becomes an ideation separate from the Common Sense of Man. Throughout all this, I’ve been manifesting an Order for Beasts to uphold and be supported by in order to assist in overturning the laws of the World, but it was always a stopgap. After all the civilisation data I've acquire, I'm now going to simulate the Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud crashlanding into the Garden of Eden where it's cell structure will become the basis for a form of primordial humanity. I will then proceed to use the sum total knowledge I've acquired to design a new type of life that retroactively supplants the self-destructive old humanity with a race of living celestial bodies combining the adaptability of ORT, the Idea Blood-level adaptability of the Crimson Moon, the luminous output and symbiotic fairy network of Gaia, and the energy generation of the Sun’s Ultimate One (myself) who can also use all True Magics. Such beings will also be fed the data needed to replicate the Root based on my own mentality and biology, effectively allowing them to generate their own histories once fully matured. Maris let out a funny squeaking noise. “Let me be clear about the flaw in your plan, as I see it: Humans are wasteful, predatory, self-righteous parasites that left unchecked will spread across the cosmos while parlaying their comical frailness as intrinsically wonderful because of how easily it dies. They are A MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR THE GACHA OF MORTALITY, and I despise their exterior shape. To preserve that shape while emptying it’s contents seems to me like throwing away rotting fruit but keeping the filthy bag it was carried in” I ranted. “But once in a blue moon, one of them proves me wrong. One of performs a miracle. Surpasses their limits. Passes on something worthwhile to the next generation. It cannot last. It NEVER lasts. The humans ALWAYS turn their blades on their saviours. And so, the records of those memories become the basis for Ghost Liners, and the antibodies and apoptosis of the Human Order. THAT is all I will preserve, using these beings as superior capacitors to intake that data while dreaming into being a world which only correct choices are made, nothing can suffer, and the very constraints of entropy in this universe will be left behind. They shall be fire without fuel, creating only pleasant memories. And perhaps in whatever world they make, just as the legend of Kukulkan shaped Archetype ORT’s corpus, so too will they be able to create the magnificent existences called Servants without the disgrace of humanity” Maris opened her mouth. She shut it. She looked very, very thoughtful, staring at nothing as she shuffled her feet. “System ERROR, software update in progress!” she said suddenly, before making a PSSSSSHHH noise and dramatically falling over. After pretending to be unconscious for five minutes, she slowly got up and added, "Excuse me, please ignore all prior communication and the ideals expressed in it! It was a complete and total…not mistake, but miscommunication. Hello. I am Beast 7, the Human Order Defragmentation system, and I FULLY support that objective! If you just give me some time and resources to at least repair this faulty Saint Graph, I’m sure my ability to analyse and simulate all phenomena in this universe will be of use! I HATE the shape of human beings! I HATE THEM. They're all STUNTED and INCORRECT" she babbled. "Welcome to the team, Beast 7. Here’s a loan of 1 billion QP to get you started" I said, pumping her hand and transferring. “See you after a timeskip” 8/10 >NOW "Anyway I hacked CHALDEAS before Maris ever manifested in this timeline, demanded the stupid ball replicate my personality like ChatGPT, and also programmed my clones to track down this deadbeat Master and drag him back to me, AND accidentally fell into the damn ball ANYWAY" said UUUU-Olga casually, "not knowing he had already long since erased the dark future where I was tortured on CHALDEAS for a century until all the E-Olgas I sent through time and space merged to make me whole again. Fortunately, I'd long since overloaded CHALDEAS with E-Olga mass manufacture which is why there's so many of the damn things and coupled with CHALDEAS' ability to connect different space-time junctures they started escaping to alternate reality CHALDEASes and further multiplying. So I was just stuck in an entire society consisting of ridiculous Ultraman-themed political rallies for a while”et "E-Stellar Marie, if you're in there beneath those rubbery fat folds, you're still you" I said to Olga's left ear urgently. "No matter how deeply buried you are under that mass of lipids YOU. ARE STILL. IN THERE! Remember the hate we shared towards Fate/Grand Order!"

>>218967 "Stop paying so much attention to the embodiment of my impotent rage, baka!!" yelled UUUU-Olga, while Maris continued grumbling about being kicked out of her own body. "The rest of me feels VERY neglected right now!" "Welcome to the club" muttered Elodie. "How did you even hack CHALDEAS? That function should have been far beyond your capabilities!" whined Maris, daring to take off her dunce cap. "CONFIDENCE, BITCH" snarled UUUU-Olga. "It puts the cap back on it's head, or else it gets the hose again!" "I'm putting it back on! I'm putting it back on!!" “…enough” said Galahad, hanging his head. His shield, which had been kept securely in another facility, was starting to rust. “Oh, did someone say something?” I asked disingenuously. “Must have been the wind. CAN’T have been someone finally understanding what I’ve been through ALL this time, before I realised that not only does this world not deserve nice things, but ACTIVELY REWARDS ME FOR BAD THINGS” “You have made your point. This is stupid. This is all so very, very stupid” said Galahad with profound disappointment and weariness, “and I am done with it. With everything” At the exact moment he finished speaking, his shield suddenly crumbled to dust all at once, as if it had been supporting an enormous weight that he had given up fighting against. 9/10 I raised my hand to the starry sky, giving a long-awaited signal. “Harken, Celestial Kin. Hark, all Beasts. I salute your deeds. I declare an end to our long war, and the eternal downfall of mankind’s so-called wisdom” And the Celestial Kin, humanity made in MY image, divorced from the Human Order itself, opened themselves up. From each pebble-shaped core sprang a tree of light. And claws, pincers, tendrils. It was eerily beautiful, and yet utterly intense. In it, flashing images of times and circumstances that never were- -a world where common sense prevailed, and the Machine Gods just beat Sefar to a pulp instead of grandstanding- -a world where Altrouge Brunestud was never created, and Archetype Earth fully manifested centuries before a fateful clash- -a world in which all humans became Zhenren- -even a world in which everyone was babies for some reason- danced like the rainbow shimmer on an oil slick. And the Beasts, every one of them, manned their assigned CHALDEAS copies. My Noble Phantasm, Frashokereti - Heaven’s Fall, formed vortexes of magical energy around each and every celestial body in the sky, gigantic magic circuits channeling all the True Ether in existence to my own CHALDEAS. “Let us laugh off the blindness of the Counter Guardians. Let us laugh off the callous ambition of the Clcok Tower. Let us laugh off the impotence of the Church. Let us laugh off the cowardice of the Wandering Sea. Let us laugh off the covetousness of Atlas. Let us laugh off the hypocrisy of the Moon Cell. And above all else, let us condemn with scathing laughter the petty masses they culled like sheep” So began the Texture update. A storm of crystal, and light, and blooming growth that swept across the universe. A calamity as bright and brilliant as a waterfall. A blessing as dreadfully inevitable as a tsunami. And in seconds, the entire universe was akin to both the Oort Cloud, and the Garden of Eden. The concept of death, shattered forever. The preservation of the Celestial Kin, Homo Celestis, a more fundamental law of reality than entropy. And best of all, it had ALWAYS been this way. ORT had ALWAYS landed in the Garden of Eden, and there had NEVER been individual humans that could suffer, perish and fall to sin. Just the Kin, the ORT Kadmons. And the memories of a world that had never been, encapsulated within their Starlogs. Eternal life. Eternal salvation.

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All the promises of the Bible, kept at last. “Let a new epoch begin. An epoch glistening with life. Brandish this lightyear genesis retroflow, for the Archetype Order” I said. “And say goodbye to our old enemies” “Goodbye, humanity” said Elodie with bitter sorrow. “Goodbye, humanity” said Grail, with rabid glee. “Goodbye, humanity” said Mashu with unwavering conviction. “Goodbye, humanity” said Primate Murder, with nostalgic regret. “Goodbye, humanity” said Archetype Earth, with eternal serenity. “Bye-bye, humans!” said Archetype ORT, with her usual chutzpah. “Later, you poor things” said Ryougi Shiki. “Goodbye, sons and daughters of Adam” said the true Lilith, finally arriving to greet my triumph as the locks on my cosmos faded. It was finally safe for them all to come look upon the glory of my work. On his knees, Galahad felt his extremities freezing up with crystal. He looked into my eyes and understood at last: The creation of my new reality in itself rejected human existence, and therefore his life. “I am not sorry” he said, looking directly at me. “But if I could do it all over again, and spare your children. I would” “When you had the chance to, you didn’t. And sorry wouldn’t have been good enough anyway. And that’s why now and forever, humanity is consigned from having ever had the chance to live. Just like all the other races it denied that chance to. It’s that simple” I replied. “Before the Moon Cancer manifested, God gave me a message to pass onto you” he said urgently. “I meant to deliver it sooner, but. Well. Look into my soul. See the life he showed me you could have lived if you could just…let go” Curious, I did. And I saw myself as an amnesiac university student with no powers, none of my companions and no certainty to a future still existentially endangered by any number of alien or earthly extinction events. I saw Mashu’s lifespan still limited to thirty years, as a designer baby. I saw a species that had learned nothing, and certainly deserved no credit for overcoming any of the Beasts humanity was allegedly intended to make answer against. And to my meagre satisfaction, I saw Marisbilly dying comically due to tripping on a rock and falling upon Medea’s knife. Even in spite of that- “I am only sorry I didn’t escalate to this sooner” I said. He closed his eyes. And became a statue. Soon, he wasn’t recognisable as human at all. Or a knight. Or having ever lived. The records of his accomplishments were washed away like clear water, by my Authority of the Beast (UnSaver) That was it, I suppose. The culmination of my grand work, the finality I’d sought, the salvation I’d yearned for. I watched the Celestial Kin excitedly flying off into the brilliantly lit, Edenic cosmos. Most celestial bodies were intact but there were megastructural leyline-like patterns of mana connecting them. Star Rails, some might call them. Starlight shone and formed sparkling, snow-like patterns. Elodie’s hand found mine somehow, despite all our grievances. This would have been a fitting end to it all, I thought. A poignant occasion of parting, like leaving an abusive spouse on a cold New Year’s eve. . . . But of course, I knew this world better than that. “Elodie, there’s about to be a new Servant summoned in 5 seconds” I said. “What? Why?! Shouldn’t that be impossible, now that-oh wow it’s actually happening. HOW is it happening?” said Elodie. “Goooood morning, Master of Chaldea!” said a pompously dressed version of Artoria, as everyone assembled groaned in exasperation. Except for Lilith, who just looked plain confused (“Does this shit happen all the time here?” she whispered to Fate Lilith. “Yeah, pretty much. I got summoned here by someone who doesn’t exist but who I’m PRETTY sure was some kind of knight?” whispered back Fate Lilith. “Wow. No wonder Anon looks like his blood pressure has been maximum for millennia” whispered back Lilith). “It’s me, it’s the one Saber you’ve all been waiting for! I am LORD LOGRES, the perfect king and defender of humanity“ “Uh, sorry but humanity’s already dead” said Elodie weakly. “But, but look. You shouldn’t need a purpose just to LIVE, which I feel has been kiiiinda muddled as a message? Just like memories and experiences are important…but you shouldn’t be afraid to part with them as long as someone remembers everything somewhere…even if that person literally just saw a few minutes a day of you in like 2 Lostbelts and, and, holy fuck…“ “You know, Maris’ own Beast sin was Analysis and for a while that confused the hell out of me with how important human observation’s been to the progress of mankind, but I really think knowledge of reality’s former structure explains WHY that’s considered ontologically evil” I grumbled. “Oh no, no that’s disappointing but I can work with that” said Lord Logres cheerfully. “As the ideal culmination, some might say Final Shape, of all Artorias, that includes all the ones that sided with my Master the Grand UnSaver!” “Sure. By the way one of my other Noble Phantasms, Fuji Fire Alter, converts all Servants I summon into anti-Human Order perpetual motion machines with situational bond-based powerups so that might also have something to do with it” I said casually. “As I was telling Maris in another timeline, the interior matters. Understanding how to manipulate it is how I’ve been able to take down the entire Human Order, after all” “Ah, that would explain it. I am also not only inexplicably forgiving about this fundamental desecration of my purpose, but positively gleeful about conforming to your every whim, as I’m sure all those other noble-looking heroes in your lineup are!” said Lord Logres brightly. “So uh…want to buy me a burger at a jarringly comedic Singularity that has nothing to do with this beautiful yet bleak setting?” “Get in line” said Super Lancer Artoria Alter and Morgan instantly. “Also I’m not fucking disappearing just because you exist” said Artoria Avalon firmly. “I…never asked you to, young lady?” said Lord Logres, taken aback. “Great. Just so we’re clear, if ANYONE suggested my purpose is complete or something, I’m with Elodie on this. Purposes are awful burdens you shouldn’t need to live with to justify your own existence” “Unless of course you’ve realised what a disgrace much of reality is from your terrible experiences here, and have realised all things should conform to YOUR purpose” I added hastily. “In any case, while we HAVE all earned a vacation” I said, lying down even as I talked over anyone who wanted to contest that particular point, “there’s one more thing we should take care of” Far, far away Nyarlathotep was unexpectedly fuming. The cosmos, while overhauled drastically and it’s balance of power forever skewed one way, was still here. It was in fact as eternal as Daybit and his father’s shadows on the ground, and alive in ways it wasn’t previously. After everything it had put me through, it expected me to jump on the first and most direct root to destroy both it and it’s hated kin. But worst of all, while most aliens were actually benefiting from the mana-rich Cosmos in the Lostbelt(TM), Nyarlathoteps along with all the surviving Outer Gods SPECIFICALLY were just stuck in place with star-spanning Revolutionary Webs. The entire Outer Universe had been wrapped in cosmic ORT silk, fairy magecraft and conceptual defences. “And while all of this so far has been for the sake of survival and prosperity, I’m really. Really. Going to enjoy rip that monster a new asshole” I added. 10/10