I stared at the spot in space where Lauren used to be for nearly a second. The entire solar system was gone. Only the Necro Sword remained. The sun had winked out at some point, imploding in a catastrophic wave of energy that my runes had shielded me from, and there were blinking notifications in my vision.
Jean was somewhere close, but she gave me my space to process, to deliberate. It was surreal, watching Lauren die.
I'd been so sure I'd never be able to get rid of Shin and Lauren. I pictured us as lifelong rivals who would inflict an untold amount of misery on each other, but that hadn't happened. I was free. And I wasn't sure what I would do with this newfound freedom.
My notifications finally came through.
You have killed Lauren, Priestess of Shin the Avaricious, and have severed your final tether to him.
+928 M souls
Your system now runs on pure Soul Energy and bears the emblem of the Phoenix.
You can now travel the Multiverse, protected at steep costs, and continue to empower yourself by burning souls.
+300 to all stats.
Maybe I would travel the multiverse, or the galaxy, to start with. But before that, I had to make sure Earth was safe. With a mental flex, I shattered the massive bow, using my absorption runes to draw the spent energy into my armor.
"Are you okay?" Jean asked, floating beside me. I had barely sensed her teleport in.
"Yeah," I muttered, almost powering down my True Form out of sheer exhaustion. "The fight was harder than I... anticipated. I'm sorry about Storm."
I looked straight at her, and she nodded once. "I wanted to step in and save her, but the Phoenix had to keep her word." She bit her lip. "In some ways, I think this is better. After everything, I think this was what she wanted."
"Yeah…" I sighed. "Peace sounds pretty good right about now."
But we weren't there. Not quite yet. The images of New York burning and my dimension getting torn apart were fresh in my mind. Jean had assured me that it was mostly manipulation, but the memory stayed with me nonetheless.
We also had the demons to contend with, as well as the other horrors of the universe. It occurred to me that Earth could never truly be safe. Not without substantial reform and security measures.
"We should head back," Jean said. "They need us back on Earth."
"Yes, they do. Can you head to New York straight away?" I asked. "I need to check on the dimension first. Even though it should technically be safe since Shin no longer has access…"
"You're worried that he unleashed something there just to spite you?" She immediately understood, and I nodded, grateful.
"There's just one last problem before we leave," I said, looking at the Necrosword. Leaving something that powerful out here, undefended, was just begging for trouble. The universe might technically be inaccessible, but the blade was very much dangerous. We could have a Null in our hands in very short order if somebody with a sick enough mind ever got hold of it.
"I say we chuck it in the heart of a supermassive black hole," she suggested.
"One surrounded by a few planetoids, a massive enchantment array, and packed with enough protection to make Odin blush?" I said.
"It'd take a Celestial to get through that at the very least."
"Sounds like a plan, then." My orbs glowed and wove a chain of runes around the blade, draining the massive energy pouring off it as I encased it in an Arcanite sheath and sent it into my storage.
With a wave of my hand, a portal appeared, and I gave the desolate universe one last look before I stepped through.
Rin's POV
I sat on a throne of corpses several skyscrapers high, panting in and out with Yamato buried in the eldritch flesh beside me. My senses stretched over what remained of the dimension. The endless sea at the bottom lapped into the vast static of the multiverse, slowly draining away, and the sky had patches of empty space speckled throughout it like distant clouds on a dry day.
Most of the islands were gone, and the X-Men had barely survived, but they were far from fine. Colossus had lost everything below his waist and was relying on Logan's power to help him. Scott and Bobby had nearly been taken over, and a Widow had lost her life, not to mention the Sentinels.
My breath hitched. Thousands upon thousands had died, and the Arch Sentinels hadn't been spared either. Raphael had sacrificed himself so that I could take down Quellitrax and save us all.
But none of that mattered now that we were stranded here with no way home. We'd all tried using the dimensional enchantments Dante carved into our armor. They'd gone dark when he did. The Infinity Stones hadn't been able to fix them either. I tried turning back the clock with the Time Stone and even forcing open a rift with the Space Stone.
Dante had mentioned offhand that Yamato could possibly do what we needed, but aside from cutting really sharply and projecting blades, I hadn't been able to get the weapon to do anything.
Uriel appeared beside me with a flash of space magic and stared out at the horizon.
"When Dante made me a few months ago, I didn't expect my journey to end so... abruptly," she said slowly. "War on a scale that boggles the mind, camaraderie with mutants and demonkind, and living in a time-touched dimension. I suppose I've lived a fuller life than most."
I raised a brow at her. "I didn't peg you for the philosophical sort."
"And I didn't think you would match the master in swordsmanship, however briefly."
I was tempted to wave her off, but I knew Uriel wasn't the sort to lie. Play at being oblivious to mess with us, maybe. Dante and I had started playing into it after a while, giving her a taste of her own medicine.
Dante... I produced Rebellion and stared at the weapon for a long while. It was longer and thinner than it had been when I'd first seen it. When Dante had first fought me all those months ago, he freed me from SHIELD's grasp. It felt like a lifetime ago.
I was just some hotheaded kid. And he'd shown me the world.
"Do you think he's dead?" I asked Uriel.
"With the master's track record, I highly doubt it," she said. "Though we will not know for certain until Mistress Jean returns or Wanda, whoever is faster."
I stared at the sinking sea. "Do you know whether that'll happen before or after the dimension completely falls apart?"
The silence that followed was answer enough. I hadn't done the rough calculations like Azrael and the other Sentinels had, but the Space Stone had given me an intimate feel for space. It was also what I attributed my sudden leap in sword talent to. That and the Time Stone. When you knew where everybody was and was going to be, it became a whole lot easier to counter them.
"Peter Parker floated the idea of charting interdimensional space in a modified space vessel," Uriel said, "and Azrael thinks the plan is inspired. Between the rest of the Sentinels and the X-Men, we might finish the modifications in time, but it's anyone's guess where we'll end up, if we even survive the trip."
I didn't like the idea of diving into interdimensional space with the equivalent of a paper boat to keep us safe, but we were running out of time and options. I hoped Jean returned with Dante. And I hoped Wanda came back. And I hoped they weren't all looking to me to lead, despite my youth, but I had to play the cards I was dealt.
I pulled Yamato from the ground and slipped it into a sheath that flowed out of my armor. I sighed.
"Where do you need me?"
"We need as much Arcanite as you can spare."
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