With death, i slowly rake my hand across my face.
"Its going to happen one way or another. Isn't it? You'll push me towards supremacy if I want it or not"
entropy tilts her head, then chuckles like this is funny
"I suppose so. All you need to do is kill that titan, it-"
"he"
she stops for a second then starts up again
"he... won't be too hard to kill. You've done it once already after all."
I look away not speaking for some time.
"Frozen singer. Description-"
she cuts me off
"that isn't needed my child."
Hey at least I got one over on her
"you dont like remembering the deal with weaver do you?"
She sighs
"I dont particularly like that god, fate its a cruel thing, even to them"
yes fate. The string of fate she took from me
"I suppose you used the power of sun god to take a string of fate from me"
she watches me from under her veil
"thats such a odd thing to mention"
With War the group huddles up talking about the plan
"In any case, the Castle will most likely be heavily defended. We will sneak inside... if that doesn't work, we will storm it, take out Madoc's henchmen, and then deal with Madoc himself. Once he is rendered useless, the Castellan will be forced to reveal its hand — that is when we will help Effie reach it, destroy it, and reclaim her authority as the Master of the Castle."
Morgan frowns almost scowling
"Hold your horses. How are we supposed to take out a small army of private security specialists? They will be armed, as well, and we are currently mundane. One bullet will be all it takes to kill us."
Sunless looks at the stone saint
"Madoc might have an army of henchmen... but we have Saint."
The stone saint glances up at sunless, no real recognition but instinct remains
"As far as we know, she is the only being in Mirage City capable of wielding Awakened powers. She is far away from reclaiming her Transcendent might, but even then, one of her should be enough to balance the scales."
Morgan glances at mordred, a mix of quite a few things, hate, disgust, some pity and some regret.
"What about him? Where are we going to stash him?"
Sunless shakes his head "Nowhere in Mirage City is safe. Not only because the Castellan is now hunting him down in an attempt to make your fratricide fantasy come true, but also because the northern dam is compromised. There is no telling when it will collapse, and what the result will be. So, we'll be taking him with us. Naturally, Mr. Mordret here is not exactly a seasoned fighter..."
Sunless turns to morgan
"So, it is going to be your job to keep him safe."
I speak up
"no. I will be protecting mordred."
Morgan looks at me with quite a lot of contempt
"and youve made this decision for?"
I dont look up from the knife in my lap.
"I am more capable, and not as likely to kill him. Either way, are you sure you want to argue with me morgan of valor."
She grits her teeth, she knows she's not able to beat me, even with us both being mundane.
"I also suppose you should know my younger self was messing with you by copying how mordret moves and some how he speaks."
Sunless looks away. Spider queen snickers. Effie sighs heavily. Morgan seems to be slightly surprised. Mordred seems to be puzzled.
With Sun I sit on the railings watching the land get closer. Finally im almost back to nice dry land. I think i hate the ocean even more now. By god this trip has been horrendous. Bloodwave is fine, I can see why I liked him. Seer of the infinite is a annoying little shit. I would pray if the gods weren't dead that she never becomes a saint. Who knows what her transcendent form would be. Hm. If I was to guess, it would either be like cassie, or something completely insane. I wonder if she knows
"hey seer of the infinite, do you know what your transcendent form will be?"
"Yup"
her not saying what it is means she has no real interest in telling me. How annoying.
With war i park my PTV. I turn the car off and I take the keys out. I get out of the PTV closing the door behind me. Spider queen gets out and she leans on the PTV panting
"how many laws did you just break?"
"None i remember them all well and followed them to the letter"
she slowly stands up, she towers over even Athena by a good amount.
"But not the spirit if im right"
mordred gets out and promptly almost falls. I grab him throwing him over my shoulder before he can fall
"you're slowing us down."
I start walking towards his private ship soon joined by the rest of the cohort. Athena laughs
"well i guess I've learned a few new things about mordret today"
i keep walking mordred pipes up in his ever cheerful tone
"their driving disoriented me a lot so now their carrying me"
Sunless has a incredulous tone when he speaks
"so now your being carried"
"i did it to soul stealer a few times as well. It was the best course of action after all"
effie grumbles about her own plague version. We get to the docks and Mordret comes into sight. He studies us all for a few seconds before he finally fully processes all of the visual information. He looks at me with a mix of deep confusion and something else. He smiles trying to hide his true feelings
"Well, this certainly brings back memories. Morgan, dear sister... we really should stop meeting like this."
his smile turns sadistic as I put mordred down.
"Granted, slowly crushing your spirit in those ruins was quite an amusing pastime. Splendid to see you as well, Saint Athena — you are a sight for sore eyes, as always. It takes a really special person to stay alive after being maimed, mangled, and killed by me so many times... allow me to extend my admiration."
Later after the two change clothes I take a seat. Mordret quickly comes up to me.
"Well I'll say its been some time my dear rival"
I keep staring at the knife
"hm. Not one for talk. Abnormal. Now I have to ask why are you all here?"
"So sunless can retrieve something left by one of the deamons."
He glances over at sunless
"oh so you all really didn't know about him"
"I did. They did not"
he tilts his head
"you knew?"
I nod faintly
"soul stealer told me about mordred"
he takes a step back. I look up at him, he tries to mask his terror, and quickly fails
"oh so that manic brought back unrelenting storm"
"I am not corrupted. I have no interest in killing you. You'd be quite useful against the 3rd."
He seems more then a little apprehensive
"you definitely look at me the same"
I look down at the knife in my hand
"i was corrupted for so long. Did you assume that would leave no mark?"
He sighs
"i guess not. How aren't you corrupted?"
"When I was brought back all corrupting knowledge was gone from my memories"
he studies me for a good while
"do any of you have plans to harm me?"
"Storm wants to punch you for ghosting them"
he chuckles to himself before catching himself.
"of course they do."
With Storm I lay on the ground. Cassie taps me with her foot
"you have to get up. Come on."
I roll away staying down
"noooo"
she sighs, its more slightly amused
"come on ■■■■ your a saint you can't lay on the floor"
I throw my hands up
"oh come on all my other versions are so sad and self reflecting. Can't I be the silly over dramatic one around here"
she shakes her head
"i mean I know you just back from helping with the skinwalker and all but still why dont you lay on a bed?"
I drop my hands
"its a floor kind of mood at the moment"
she leans down and she picks me up by my armor
"no clue what that means but let's go"
With war using the shadows i ambush a group of the hired soliders as they scramble around in the dark. Left first then the right last the middle. I cut the wrists of the left most one chaining that into stabbing into the neck of the right one, I yank it to the side into the head of the middle one. I finally slit the lefts throat and I start moving yet again. I hear a loud boom of the stone saint breaking through their defenses. Mordred turns his head and quietly speaks up
"how do you do that?"
I move swiftly through the dark
"kill?"
He nods
"without feeling anything about it"
"even like this, like a abused puppy-"
he seems to get a little sheepish at that
"you still keep your wits about you. You are correct I dont feel anything when killing. Nor do I feel anything before. Theres nothing to push my blade."
He glances back at my face
"its what you value more, killing is a action that you must consider well. Don't let feelings you can not have stop you, use the feelings you have to push the blade forwards"
I finally quietly jump down from the wall. I use small sticking out parts as landing. I land not too far away from the cohort. Their trying to figure out what to do about the gun situation
"I am terribly sorry, and I don't mean to presume. But I could not help but wonder..."
He looks down at the bodies on the ground
"Why don't you just take their guns?"
Later I hold onto the railings with one hand. It does help this body was made to be a construction worker although it will not be enough with only a single hand. There's a gunshots then I feel two hands stead me then take mordred. It would seem sunless has realized.
"Don't mind if I do this do you?"
I shake my head. He turns to sunless with a smile.
"Goodness gracious, Sunless. What was that for?"
Sunless scowls
"That was to slow you down."
The two have a short stare down
"Ah, it seems that I've been caught."
I nod not making any attempt to move away. Spider queen leans on saints shoulder twirling a gun. It is odd the palace of Imagination version of her had a kind of relationship with whispering blade.
"Yes it was quite the slow realization that you had been absorbing all of the others you killed"
Sunless looks between us, then he realizes i didn't team up with mordret, i simply do not care to move away
"What? You think that you'll do a better job of protecting him than two Sovereigns?"
Mordret laughs, mordred turns his head slightly towards Mordret clearly troubled.
"As a matter of fact... yes. I do believe that. You two have too much to lose, you see — the whole world, really. And that is exactly what the Dreamspawn will use to destroy you. But me? I have nothing. And therefore, I have nothing to lose."
Mordred tries to speak but is put into mordrets mirror realm.
I dont move as white mist floods my vision. Is it my own voice calling my true name, or is it of death?
"Ah, what a strange sensation. I've never taken a reflection as a vessel before... it feels so odd. But also oddly fitting."
I make a small hum. He had mentioned such a idea in another of his ramblings. How i wish I could have been like that. For a second I feel someone's hand on my shoulder. Mordret, he's keeping a close eye on me as the most dangerous person here.
"Try your authority Athena"
Sunless processes my words and he yells out
"Effie, Tell me to regain my power."
Athena seems puzzled for a second then, she grabs my arm with a look of understanding
"as much as I dont like you, you're the better shot here. So regain your power"
she let's go just in time for me to shoot forward towards mordret. Athena stumbles back being caught by sunless
"Suffering from the lack of potency, huh? Not performing as you used to? Well, Auntie Effie can help with that... you're a Sovereign, partner! Rise and shine!"
Mordret moves out of the way barely in time to not be hit. He knows to not let me touch him morgan and the stone saint are here due to sunless now
"Go drown him in true darkness. Go!"
Darkness shrouds the world around me.
He quickly overpowers the stone saint with the new vessel. Left. I dodge down under a swing of his arm using it to nick his side. Up. I slide to the side dodging a swift kick
"you are truly unpredictable"
left. I freeze below his feet to throw him off balance. It works for a second, he is adapting. I grab the stone saint and I jump back out of the true darkness. He steps out of it as well testing his hand
"What a curious vessel. Its nature is... almost perilous, I think. Oh, but this won't do, won't do at all." he changes its appearance back to himself
"Now, where were we? Oh, yes. All of you owe me something, and it's time to collect. Let's start with the thing-"
his voice is filled with hate, for the idea of my existence, a taint on the reputation of someone he has a slight fondness for
"that shouldn't have ever existed"
he was trying to harm me mentally, knowing my opinion on calling someone a monster to do so. He takes a step towards me then his eyes go up at the great mirror behind me. I feel its gaze, is that how singer felt when making a deal with it?
With death, I slowly look up.
"I guess i have no real choice in this do I?"
She laughs
"i suppose not. Now my dear"
she leans foward towards me
"don't let that guilt get in your way"
I look up as the prince of ash, still having some injuries that refused to heal from our last fight, rises from the lava, it pouring off of him like a waterfall. I look down at the daggers in my hands. Today it will not be the rocks that killed him.