[ Location: The Upside Down - Creel House Attic ][ Date: November 1st, 1985 - Time: Frozen ]
"Hard way it is," I muttered.
Vecna didn't move because he didn't have to.
The house moved for him.
Thick, wet vines shot out from the walls like spears.
They aimed for my chest, my legs, my neck.
They moved faster than snakes, driven by a hive mind that spanned a dimension.
'Atomic Rearrangement.'
[ Ability Active: Psychokinesis (Divine). ]
I just waved my hand like I was shooing away a fly.
The vines didn't stop; they changed. As they entered my personal reality bubble, the organic matter dissolved into fine, dry sand.
POOF.
The sand rained down on the floor, harmless.
"You can't grab me, Henry," I said, stepping forward, my boots crunching on the grit. "I rewrite the rules now."
Vecna tilted his head.
He looked annoyed. "So you can change matter. It's childish if you think that's enough."
He raised a hand.
He didn't throw vines this time.
A wave of psychic force slammed into me.
It was a command written in the code of the universe.
KNEEL.
The pressure was immense.
It felt like the sky was falling on my shoulders.
My knees trembled a bit.
'He thinks he's stronger ? Cute.'
'Reality Anchor.'
[ Ability Active. ]
I locked my existence into place.
I straightened my back.
The pressure shattered against my will like glass hitting a rock.
"I don't kneel to corpses," I said coldly.
Vecna's eyes narrowed. "You can resist? Fascinating. But you are one. I am Legion."
"One?" I grinned. "Who said I was alone?"
I formed the Tiger Seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
POOF.POOF.POOF.
Three clones exploded into existence around me. They were all wearing the same trench coat, holding the same glowing Void Blade.
"Get him, boys," I ordered.
Clone 1 raised his wand. "Bombarda Maxima!" An explosion rocked the attic, blowing the roof off.
Clone 2 used Telekinesis to rip the floorboards up, turning them into shrapnel.
Clone 3 coated his fists in Aether and charged Vecna head-on.
Vecna was forced to move.
He swiped a hand, disintegrating Clone 3 with a wave of rot, but Clone 2's shrapnel slammed into his chest, pushing him back.
"You are annoying," Vecna hissed, floating into the air to avoid the debris.
"Am I? I said, floating up to meet him. "We tend to break things."
I drew my Void Blade.
The Vibranium-Chakra metal hummed, turning purple as I poured Aether into it.
I swung.
Vecna caught the blade with his bare hand. Sparks flew. His skin was harder than steel, reinforced by the dimension itself.
"You are strong," Vecna whispered, his face inches from mine. "I can feel it humming under your skin. A star trapped in a jar. Vast. Dangerous. But you have finite energy. I am the Ruler here and have access to everything here."
"Then I'll just dethrone you," I snarled.
'Reality Warping: Spatial Distortion.'
I twisted the space between us.
Vecna stumbled.
Down became Up.
Left became Right.
His orientation broke.
I kicked him in the chest.
BOOM.
He flew backward, crashing through the attic wall and tumbling out into the red, lightning-streaked sky.
I flew after him, hovering over the dead landscape of Hawkins.
Vecna stabilized in mid-air.
He looked at me. He didn't look angry anymore. He looked... tired.
"Why do you fight?" he asked, his voice echoing across the wasteland. "You think I do this for hate? For cruelty?"
"You kill Innocents, Henry," I shouted, leveling my sword. "That's pretty cruel."
"I am saving them," he said.
I blinked. "Excuse me?"
Vecna gestured to the sky, to the red storm and to the vines covering the world.
"You think this place is a curse? No. It is a Shield."
He floated closer.
"Beyond this world... beyond the Upside Down... there is the Void, abyss or another name for it is macroverse."
The air around us shimmered.
Vecna projected a vision into my mind.
I let it in, my Occlumency filtering the madness.
I saw a darkness that wasn't just black. It was alive and hungry.
"The Old Ones," Vecna whispered. "Great dreamers who sleep in the dark. If they wake... reality ends. They do not want to rule, Vivan. They want to consume."
The vision shifted.
I saw a Dark Tower standing in a field of red roses, besieged by chaos.
"The Crimson King," Vecna continued. "He batters against the walls of existence. He wants the monsters in. He wants the Mist to cover everything."
The vision ended. We were back above the Creel House.
"Humans are weak," Vecna said, looking down at the town. "Fragile and divided. They cannot fight what is coming. They will break."
He clenched his clawed hand.
"So I will break them first. I will melt them down. I will combine their minds, their bodies, their souls into one perfect organism. A Hive Mind. Strong enough to hold the door shut. Strong enough to fight the Abyss."
He looked at me with those cold, blue eyes.
"I am not the villain, Vivan. I am the hero. I am the cure."
I stared at him.
'He's insane. But... he believes it. He thinks he's saving the world by turning everyone into meat-soup.'
"He's lying, He is consuming the misery and life energy to become more powerful and" Pennywise giggled in the back of my head. "He's scared, VIVI. He thinks if he builds a big enough wall of corpses, the dark won't eat him. But he's wrong. The Crimson King eats walls for breakfast."
I looked at Vecna.
"You're afraid," I said.
Vecna's face twitched.
"You're terrified of what's out there," I said. "So you're hiding behind a wall of human bodies. That's not saving them, Henry. That's just building a bigger snack."
"It is survival!" Vecna roared.
He unleashed his full power.
I unleashed mine.
Aether collided with Hive Mind Energy.
The sky cracked.
The sheer pressure of our conflicting energies was too much for the unstable dimension.
RRRRRRRIP.
Above us, the red clouds tore open like wet paper.
It wasn't a portal to Earth but it was a portal to Outside.
A grey fog rolled in. Thick. Heavy.
It smelled of salt water and ancient rot.
The Mist.
Through the tear, I saw something.
It was massive. A leg? A tentacle? It was the size of a skyscraper, drifting lazily in the grey fog beyond reality.
And then, an Eye opened in the rift.
It was yellow. It had a slit pupil.
It was looking at us.
'System. Observe.'
[ System Error: Target Comprehension Failed. ]
[ Threat Level: UNQUANTIFIABLE. ]
The sheer weight of its gaze flattened the trees below us. Gravity doubled instantly.
Vecna stopped floating.
He dropped a few feet, looking up in genuine terror.
"No," Vecna whispered. "Not yet. I'm not ready."
He shot vines at the tear, trying to stitch it shut. But the vines withered and died as they touched the Mist.
"It's coming in," I realized. " Did we broke the seal?"
The Eye blinked.
A sound like a foghorn blasted through the dimension, shattering windows in the Creel House.
BWAAAAAMP.
Vecna looked at me.
For the first time, he didn't look like a monster but like a man who realized he was small.
"Do not let it in!" he screamed. "You fool! If that enters, there is no Earth left to save!"
I looked at the tear.
It was widening.
I looked at Vecna.
'I can't fight him and That Thing at the same time.'
I made a choice.
I flew up, landing back-to-back with Vecna.
"Truce," I said, raising my Void Blade.
Vecna hesitated.
Then he raised his hand.
"Temporary," he hissed.
"Close the damn door, Henry," I ordered, my eyes glowing violet. "I'll hold it back."
I pointed my sword at the Eye.
"Hey! Ugly!" I shouted at the Cosmic Horror. "Occupied!"
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