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Chapter 235
🕑 Added 2025-01-28 17:00:07 +0000 UTC<”Technocrat…”>
<”I’m here, boss.”>
<”What’s Kingshark’s status?”>
In another place, a building fell, the shadow of a humanoid stood above it. Two red eyes burning with eldritch fury. Along the coast, ships cracked in half as they succumbed to the tentacles of a sea monster. Men fled for their lives as sharks of maddening size pursued them. That man-shadow raised its head up to the sky and let out a roar that shook the the earth. Heroes that had been sent to subjugate the cult compound stood nearby, unwilling to approach. No one wanted to fight a living titan.
<”He’s done.”>
Ishtar held Otis’ gaze. He smiled at her and glanced briefly past her shoulder. His blue eyes darkened just a little and he snapped his finger. Ishtar felt something wash past her, an unsettling muteness that came and went. “That’s better. I’m not a fan of eavesdroppers,” Otis said and brushed his hair out of his face before shoving a hand into his pocket and slinging his sword lazily over his shoulder. He kept looking straight at Ishtar, “I’m a little disappointed, Liberty, all that effort into writing up a plan for you and you botch it. Seriously. I was really trying to help. That power is really wasted on you.”
A plan? Ishtar looked to Liberty who had stiffened slightly, her glowing, pupiless eyes going wide. I’ve… never seen her that surprised before. Wait. Is that why her behavior changed after the raid? He made contact?
He sighed, “I was really hoping you’d make a bit more of a nuisance of yourself before I killed you. Now it looks like you aren’t going to make it long enough for the big-name heroes to see me put you down.”
Ishtar’s mind reeled. Calculations and possibilities bounding about in her head as connections that hadn’t formed between disjointed events finally settled. She knew he had been insistent on participating in the battle so he could get more reputation, build his ‘legend’. He’d stayed out of the Japan trip when it could have been an opportunity to make connections. Meanwhile, Liberty had taken deadly actions that had raised her profile higher and higher while she had built up and rebalanced the number of people in her compounds, creating a system to elevate herself.
He’s been fattening her up.
“You’re the author,” Liberty growled from across the smooth stone arena she’d created. Her banner fluttering behind her. The single flame on the banner had grown brighter throughout their fight and now a tiny wisp of smoke was rising from one of the corners of the banner.
Another flame is about to form, Ishtar thought, She can set rules for the area, like the no-flight powers rule. When that flame ignites she’ll get to make another one. Do I risk sticking around for her to do that? What if she blocks escape? Otis is invincible, he’ll eventually put her down and he’ll get the glory he’s after. Not to mention that I can’t kill him either. If I let this turn into a three-way fight I might be able to wear down Liberty more, but that won’t mean anything if Otis gets the final blow.
She clenched her fists. He feels stronger than before, somehow. There’s something different about him. He got here faster than expected and he overpowered Kerauna. That girl is not a pushover. She looked over at Liberty who had raised her armored fists. No. I can’t let them come to blows. Liberty’s power hasn’t waned just yet. She sensed Crusader and Harbinger behind her still, Can those two brats handle it? Can I put faith in their training and growth? What would Sonya do here?
Otis looked over his shoulder at Liberty and raised a finger to his lips, “Shh… the adults are talking.”
BAM!
Ishtar’s shin collided with the flat of Otis’s sword just as Liberty registered the insult. He whipped his head up to look at her with wild, excited eyes. “Oh you really don’t want me to fight her!” he laughed as he slid back only a few steps.
He’s definitely stronger! What have you done to yourself this time Otis?!
She darted towards him and he raised his weapon to block only for her to slip past his guard, his eyes dropped to her hand as she wrapped her fingers around the collar of his shirt. Liberty was already moving. “Where are we going?” he asked.
“Away,” she hissed and a hole opened beneath them both.
They fell.
Any good plan comes with some level of risk. Covering every variable is impossible. Clearing the list of objectives here at the battlefield was on me. Sonya trusted me with this plan. I can’t let her down. The wind whipped past her helmet as the pair of them hurtled towards the ground. She was inches away from Otis’ face, his eyes sparkling with excitement. I WON’T LET HER DOWN.
“You really think those two kids can take Liberty down? She’ll kill them in a heartbeat,” Otis laughed, the ground coming up closer and closer as they fell. He laughed. “What kind of villain trusts a hero? Seriously?”
Ishtar bit her lip, hard. She was born to be a villain. To be the monster that Sonya needed her to be. To be the kind of villain that Sonya always visualized as the perfect example of their kind. She could respect heroes, it was part of the charm. She’d protected Sapporo’s body. But trusting a hero? She couldn’t trust a hero. What she could do was trust Sonya. Trust the work she’d put into them. Trust the connections she’d made. Trust the plan that they’d worked together on. Trust her henchmen.
“If anyone can do it, those girls will see it through!” Ishtar roared, “Mark my words, Otis! You won’t get the win today!”
His eyes narrowed and before she could blink his hand was around her throat, she saw that discoloration again, the sparks, her animal instincts recoiled. This time there was no escape. “Then you aren’t getting away without a proper punishment! Fall, Ishtar!”
BZZZZRTTT
Ishtar’s hud fizzled.
Her vision shorted out.
Everything was dark for a moment before it all came back online. She was looking up at the sky. Otis had flipped her to the bottom.
<Non-Euclidian has been disabled.>
<Warning. You have reached terminal velocity.>
<Warning. An external ability is attempting to influence Deus Ex Machina. Other internal functions may be disabled. Please remove external influence immediately.>
<Impact at terminal velocity in 3…>
Damn it!
<2…>
FINE!
A glowing white vine wrapped around Otis’ wrist as Ishtar felt a numbness wash over her. Starlight points of pain blossoming in her body. Otis looked at the vine in surprise as Ishtar grabbed him again by the shirt and wrenched her entire body to the right with all of her strength. Otis was still blinking as he looked up at her, confusion on his features.
The impact shook the ground for nearly a mile. Cracks spread across the ground outside the crater they had formed. Ishtar barely managed to pull herself to her feet as she staggered backwards. Lights flashing in her HUD. The paper-doll of her body showing numerous injuries. She felt the seeds of Visage clogging up her meridians again. They’d sprouted back with a vengeance. Her armor was cracked and there was a sparking and buzzing in her ears. The helmet’s damaged too, she thought numbly, looking down at the red smear before her.
At least he won't get up for a while-
The smear bubbled and a hand exploded from it.
You have got to be kidding me!
Ishtar raised her hand over her head, floating back several meters as power poured wildly from Heavenly Jade Heart. It thrummed through her body, crashing into the seeds and dislodging a few of them painfully. She coughed out a splatter of blood into her helmet as dozens of spears of light appeared in the air above her. She pulled Limitless Volley from her warehouse and channeled it while pressing down on him with every ounce of pressure Imperious could muster. An eye opened in the sky, widening until it spread across the entire field where he’d faced the monster horde. The dozens of spears turned to thousands, gleaming streaks of light hanging in the air like frozen rain.
She knew she couldn’t kill him, but at least, at least, she would be able to keep him down for a while. She brought her arm down with all her strength.
“OOOOTIIIISSS!”
A second time in as many minutes, the earth shook.
–
Sirens blared.
“Is she nuts?!”
Amos nearly threw the computer screen in his hands before letting it go and running his fingers through his mess of brown hair, “Look at that cloud! She’s gonna set off those goddamn dungeons on her own!” He turned to Colin who was leaning against a wall, his arms crossed as he stared at the dozen monitors Amos was using to watch the battle from afar.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Colin said and looked down at his feet, “Just gotta trust her.”
Amos turned back to the monitors. A marker on Hawaii flickered from red to green. Four left. He looked back at the screen monitoring the mana storm building around the battlefield. The remaining dungeons had turned orange. Liberty is gonna feel that in a minute. It’s now or never. He clenched his teeth, This is the big moment, boss. Don’t you dare lose. That goes for you as well, you crazy fuckin’ kids.
–
It was quiet for a moment. In the seconds that passed after Ishtar and Otis dropped down into a hole in the world. Cass had quietly hoped, for a second, that she’d suddenly come back and finish what she started. A tiny nagging voice in the back of her mind praying that this moment wouldn’t actually come to pass. That she wouldn’t have to step forward. But Ishtar didn’t return. Even as the ground shook beneath her feet and something glowed on the horizon out of the corner of her eye, Ishtar didn’t return.
She glanced at a grim faced Lillian-no-Crusader next to her.
We’re on our own.
She brushed a lock of blonde hair back over her ear and looked down at the edge of the disk of stone her sister had created with her ability. She’d never seen it manifest like this. So completely. But there was no mistaking her way of claiming territory. She finally forced herself to look at her sister. Liberty stood at the center of the arena, her breastplate cast aside. Her extremities the only parts of her body still armored. Her skin was almost silver, her hair danced around her head in a sourceless breeze, her eyes were like white flames.
A hand clapped onto her shoulder and she turned to Crusader.
“I got your back. No matter what.”
She swallowed hard, “We could die.”
“Didn’t stop us in Tokyo,” Crusader said with a grin and turned to look at Liberty who waited patiently for them.
Am I ready?
She followed her friend’s gaze and looked back at her sister.
Sonya, can I do this?
She reached up to her heart and pressed her fingers against a slip of paper she’d kept there for so long. A private secret. A gift. An assurance. She felt the paper crinkle a little beneath her shirt as she wrapped her fingers a little more tightly around the long handle of her hammer. She remembered the torment. The days spent in that cold cell. Her sisters unfeeling gaze. Nights of endless cruelty. Pain. Grief. She thought about those bodies laying in the streets of Tokyo. Those kids who’d lost their parents, who’d looked up at her with hope in their eyes despite the tragedy.
Cassiopeia Hanks firmed her resolve. Harbinger stepped onto the platform.
I’m ready. Lift the sanction.
The paper burned beneath her shirt, fading away into nothing. She felt three sparks in her chest draw into one another as she started her march. Crusader hopped onto the platform and joined her. Shoulder to shoulder. She felt those sparks grow closer, closer, and finally meet. The two powers she had been given by Ishtar merged with Mighty Asterion at long last. Her core power that she had spent so much time developing, learning, training, and growing. It bloomed as instincts poured into her mind. She clenched her teeth and grew until she was at her sister’s eye level.
“...Harbinger?” Crusader asked, glancing towards her.
“I’m good,” Harbinger growled, “I’m ready.”
“Finally here to face me,” Liberty said when they reached speaking distance. She tilted her chin up and looked down over her nose, “But are you prepared to kill?”
“I’m bringing you in, Stella,” Harbinger growled, “You’re going to face your crimes.”
Liberty scoffed, “Still a weakling. I’m disappointed.”
She took another step forward and swung down her hammer, holding it at her side and puffed out her chest. “I am a hero!” she shouted, “Like Sapporo! Like my team! Like those that protected the people of Tokyo! Like the brave people here right now, fighting you! I’ll say it one more time, Stella Hanks! Liberty! I’M BRINGING YOU IN!”
Liberty frowned and stood up a bit straighter before gesturing to her chin with a scowl, “Then give it your best shot, sister-”
The fight began with the sound of shattering glass and a hammer driving into the side of Liberty’s head as Liberty’s wide eyes turned on her sister. A sister that she’d abused her entire life, that she couldn’t rationalize as anything but lesser than her. Harbinger knew her sister’s twisted thoughts like the back of her hand. She’d never change. Harbinger drove the hammer as hard as she could, her muscles bulging beneath her hero gear as Liberty staggered back a step and touched her lip, looking down to see blood.
She looked up at Harbinger and blinked. “You.”
“Me.”
Liberty snarled and clenched her fists, a glow rising on her skin that abruptly sputtered out. She blinked and looked down at her hands. The silver gleam hadn’t gone but it hadn’t intensified either. It was Harbinger’s turn to look down at her sister over her nose, “Looks like mission accomplished,” she said with a smile, “We’re back to where we started so long ago, big sister. I just need to outlast you.”
Shouts rose behind Harbinger and Liberty looked up as well.
“Harbinger! Crusader!”
Guildmaster Evergreen?
“You girls okay?”
Handmaiden?
Liberty whipped her head left and right and for the first time in her life, Harbinger saw her sister look afraid. She ground her teeth and turned to her banner, holding her hand out to it, “NO ONE LEAVES! NO ONE ENTERS!” she roared as a second flame erupted on the banner. “NOT UNTIL I SAY OTHERWISE!”
Harbinger took a step back and readied herself as Liberty rose to her feet, her face twisted with fury. The ground cracked beneath her feet as she clenched her fists. The palpable aura of strength around her crashed down in a wave as her muscles bulged and her body grew. Every ounce of power she could gather pushed to the fore.
“Today, I finish wiping out our family, Cassiopeia.”
Comments
Wintermelody
Thanks for the Chapter
Metal(Liz)ard
Hype moments all round ishtar is gonna have a lot of catching up to do with sonya
Gemiae
This climax is amazing!
