Chapter Summary: There is no better couples therapy than immediate and violent death.
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Eons Ago
Amalgamation leisurely walked across her garden.
Trees and plants of all kinds and colors surrounded her, ranging from a young and lively mahogany tree from the War Realm to an old and withered yew tree imported from the elusive city of Shade in the Shadow Realm.
Under the singing of the birds that made her garden their home, she walked slowly, appreciating their melodious song for what might be the last time.
It was beneath her, but Amalgamation was nervous. Truly nervous.
Lost in thought, her feet carried her straight to the river that split her garden in two without her realizing it, and there she found someone she hadn't expected to see today.
An old human man stood before it, watching its crystalline waters as they flowed slowly across her garden. His back was bent by age, his hair long since gone white and sparse, his skin sagging, and his limbs weathered by time yet still strong. His face, shadowed by an old, ragged straw hat, was warm and kindly.
She observed his heart by reflex. It was full of determination, yet also plagued by an emotion she couldn't place.
Amalgamation bowed, realizing just who she was peering at so boldly.
"My apologies, Lord—"
"Please," he interrupted softly. "There is no need to behave like that between friends."
She did not dare raise her head. It would be improper to show just how elated those words had made her.
"How can I be of service?" Amalgamation asked promptly, not wanting to waste his time.
The old man chuckled warmly. "You can look up, for one. Then you can come here and stand beside me. It feels lonely to watch this magnificent river all alone."
Already obeying before the words had finished coming out of his mouth, she rushed to stand beside him.
Up close, he didn't look any more special than he had from afar. He was shorter than her, and his build was unimpressive, yet the raw power she could feel emanating from him felt vast and unfathomable.
As was usual for him, he did not speak immediately. Instead, he looked at the clear waters, taking in each and every droplet as it flowed relentlessly forward without pause or respite.
What did he see in them? she wondered. What could he, the master of Fate, see in something as simple as a river to have his attention so effortlessly commanded?
Amalgamation was a goddess herself, capable of observing Fate to a limited extent, and yet she couldn't claim a single percent of his knowledge and skill when it came to peering into the muddied eddies of destiny.
He twitched slightly, and she turned just enough to catch a glimpse of his purple eyes closing in what, for anyone else, might have looked like helplessness. But for him? No, she must have seen wrong.
"Tomorrow, we seal the Void."
He broke the silence at last, his voice calm and steady.
Amalgamation nodded and bowed again, silently offering her service once more. How could she not?
Her heart was filled with joy at the mere idea. So many beings -Gods, Divine, Noble Beasts, and even humans- united in a single purpose. Would it be the beginning of a new era? One in which, free of the calamities brought by the Void, harmonious unity and peace would reign at last?
For that reason alone, and nervous though the idea and danger involved made her, she was ready to stake her life.
"Tell me, dear friend," a wistful, almost melancholic note entered his voice, "do you think it's necessary, like my siblings claim?"
Doubt entered her mind at the seemingly innocuous question.
It was necessary. The Gods had claimed so, and even if they hadn't, she would have thought the same. The Void and those who inhabited it were an endless plague upon the realms that he and his siblings had created, a constant stream of danger and calamities that would only end when nothing good and beautiful remained.
And yet, the way he had asked it...
Amalgamation armed herself with valor and answered nonetheless, knowing that he valued honesty above all.
"Yes, my liege. I think it's necessary," she answered respectfully.
A long silence followed her words. Long enough for her to think that her answer had caused offense.
Before she could attempt to apologize, he nodded.
"Yes, it seems so."
He sighed slowly and finally turned to look at her.
The face he wore, belonging to one of her servants, was aged, covered with wrinkles and the stains of a life filled with hard labor, yet his eyes and the power hiding behind them were impossible to mask.
"When the Flame birthed my siblings and me, curiosity was the first thing I felt." His eyes closed once more, the same helplessness she had mistakenly thought she saw before flashing through his expression briefly. "Where did the Flame come from? How would it end? Did anything exist before it? And so, seeking answers, I decided to roam the Void. I fought, destroyed, and ran away from those who inhabited it. I saw things that haunt me to this very day."
"My Lord..."
"Yes, dear Amalgamation. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I, too, am capable of feeling like that." He chuckled self-deprecatingly. "What I saw in there? What lies in its endless depths? It's... sorry. If I tell you..."
"There is no need to," she interrupted hurriedly upon realizing just how uncomfortable it made him.
He smiled at her, and even though the vessel he wore held nothing attractive to her eyes, she felt her heart flutter at the sight.
After taking a small breath, he continued speaking.
"My siblings want to create an Age of the Flame of Desire. One that will last forevermore."
The smile disappeared from his face like morning dew.
"I told them it's not possible. Everything that has a beginning must have an end, as Shadow often says. The cycle cannot be changed or broken, no matter how much we desire it. I told them that sooner or later, the Flame will wane, but they did not listen. I told them that even our might will prove insufficient in the end, yet..."
"Impossible, you..." she muttered involuntarily, then hurriedly closed her mouth.
He chuckled warmly and shook his head to show that there was no offense.
"I must admit to feeling... what did the humans call it? Ah, yes. Restless. I feel terribly and helplessly restless."
Amalgamation's brows furrowed in concern. "Will the battle tomorrow go wrong?"
Shaking his head, he answered, "No. In fact, we will be far more successful than any of us ever dared hope."
"What's wrong then?"
Another long moment of silence passed before he answered.
"Everyone thinks that I created Fate, that I command it with but a thought to achieve the result I wish it to," he said, then continued, saying something that sent all of her beliefs crashing down. "I didn't. If anything, I am its slave more than anyone else."
After taking his straw hat off, he scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner.
"I know the price that must be paid for our success tomorrow. I know every single step, every second, every momentary action that will lead to it. Yet I am just as helpless to change its course as a fly is to change ours."
Everything clicked into place immediately. The implications behind his words, the restlessness he claimed to feel, the melancholy weighing on his shoulders...
The river stopped flowing, the birds stopped singing, even the rustling of the countless trees and plants stopped. All of them and more paused under her turmoil.
Amalgamation looked at him, properly and boldly looked at him. At his restless posture, at the resignation playing on his face, at the way his back was bent, not by age, but by the inevitable.
She looked, and decided that she would not abide by it.
"Then I will do it," she proclaimed, full of conviction, her divine realm shaking at the sheer power and Will behind her words.
He stared into the river, and its frozen current, then, with a simple flick of his Will, everything resumed, wrenching control away from her without effort. Then, he smiled once more, yet it lacked joy.
"I know that you will try, dear Amalgamation, and so I ask you not to."
"But..."
"Please, don't," he asked once more. "Tomorrow comes, dear friend, whether we want it to or not. Even the most beautiful of dreams -especially those- must come to an end. And so, I am ready to play my role, no matter how restless it makes me feel."
Rather than calming down, the shaking of her realm grew worse, reflecting her inner turmoil.
"In the future, two of my descendants will approach you," he continued softly. "One will come with the winds of war and calamity at his back. The other will come to make you an offer that is as delectable as it is poisonous. I beg of you to reject both."
Amalgamation nodded dutifully, yet in her heart of hearts, she knew that she wasn't going to heed that request.
He observed her carefully and then, falling for her deception, smiled one final time, bittersweet in a way that she couldn't quite understand.
"Do not fret, dear friend. We will meet again."
The image of his smile, and how beautifully it was reflected in the river's clear waters, would forever be etched in her mind.
And Amalgamation understood what it was that she saw in his heart. The determination flared stronger than ever, yet what she finally recognized as mourning shone just as brightly.
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Present
"I shall devour the heir to the Flame of Desire as well."
Nephis watched the Nightmare Creature carefully, noting the maddened glee burning in its eyes.
She could feel its desires, and just how truly twisted they were.
It wasn't the first time she had felt a Nightmare Creature's desires, but this one was far worse than any she had ever met. Most, even the smarter ones, were limited to food and violence. This one, however? It craved the idea of devouring her, of devouring everyone in these lands. Devouring each and every single thing so that they would exist in harmonious coexistence as one.
Nephis had already known it to be a dangerous adversary, but knowing and seeing were very different. Now that she saw its desires? She knew that she could hold nothing back to put it down.
With practiced ease, she called on [Hopebringer] and attempted to plant a seed on the creature's chest. Being of the same rank as she was, the seed was planted successfully and slowly began to grow, watered by her essence.
"What do you mean?" she asked calmly to keep it talking.
The others hurried to join Rain behind her, understanding that they would be of no help against a creature as powerful as this.
All three of them were alright. The wounds they had taken already healed under her flames. Even Rain, whose bleeding hands and ashen expression had almost sent Nephis into a murderous frenzy, was alright, shaken but nothing more. She had taught the girl well, and she had performed better than Nephis could have ever expected.
Now, it was her turn to deliver them safely out of this place.
The Nightmare Creature looked her up and down, and she could have sworn it licked its lips.
"What is there to explain, child?" it tutted in disappointment. "Is this age truly so ignorant as to not know something this simple?"
"It is," she answered evenly. "Explain yourself."
The pale woman chuckled and started walking slowly toward her, the water from which it had emerged following along.
Nephis' sword had remained pointed in the Nightmare Creature's direction all along, sparks already dancing around its edge in preparation to unleash an inferno. Just as she was about to attack, it decided to stop and answer.
"You know of the Flame, don't you?" The creature waited for her nod before continuing. "Then it should be obvious enough. No Flame lasts forever, and even Desire, mighty as it might be, wanes sooner or later."
It pointed a dainty finger in her direction, the long digit pale as bone, almost resembling a dagger.
"In comes the Flame of Blasphemy, tasked with putting an end to what Desire has begun." It smiled, a wide, tender smile that gave Nephis goosebumps. "That, dear child, is the role the Harbinger of Inevitability will play."
The creature pointed in the direction she knew Sunny to be.
"He will bring an end to everything and everyone you have ever held dear." Laughter erupted from the creature, filled with rapturous joy. "And in doing so, he shall finally free my Lord from his slumber. You can still stop him, you know? Kill him, and the end shall never come."
Nephis felt Rain tense behind her, a terrified expression growing on the younger girl's face. She couldn't afford to turn around and comfort her, so she settled on handling it with words.
"Is that the best you have?" she scoffed. "What is it with ancient beings and your obsession with making Sunny and me try to kill each other?" She scoffed again at the memory it brought. "Merias already tried and failed. What makes you think you can succeed?"
While Rain relaxed, Nephis could perceive Seishan's inquisitive stare at her back. Some uncomfortable questions were sure to follow once all of this was over.
The Lady of the Lake's smile grew wider at her reaction, as though it had received confirmation of what it already knew.
"Good," it said happily. "I would have been greatly disappointed if that pure heart of yours had been tarnished so easily." It shook its head wistfully. "Then again, what else could I expect from one chosen as you? The Flame wanes, Harbinger of Ruin, but its Desire hasn't. It wants to burn still. It wants to light up the Void and those who inhabit it, craves more. More, and more, and more, more again forever and ever."
"I am meant to kindle it again," Nephis guessed, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Become the new Flame of Desire once the old one burns out."
"Correct, child." It leaned forward, staring at her chest as though it held all the answers in the universe. "What I see in your heart? All of that determination, that conviction, passion, and sheer desire? Oh, it has chosen well, oh so well." The creature straightened, the same eerie smile still painted on its lips. "Pity that you won't live long enough to live up to such a destiny."
The creature took another step forward, and Nephis did not hesitate before sending a gout of flame crashing against the pale woman.
Surprisingly, it did not move away, and merely watched as it collided with its left arm. Then, without doing anything, it observed as it blackened in an instant, turned to a crisp, and finally was reduced to ash. All without showing an ounce of pain.
Only when the fire started spreading to the rest of its body did it react, calling on more of the water that was slowly flooding the fleshy halls. It surged over its body immediately, smothering the flames after a little effort and restoring the lost limb within the same instant.
"What a marvelous power you wield, child." It rejoiced, the glee in its eyes all the more vivid. "I shall put it to great use when the time comes."
Nephis' hand around the hilt of the [Blessing of the Moon] tightened, her brows scrunched, and a hint of fear broke through her expression. For a moment, she looked like she might take a step back, but in the end, she didn't, and glared more fiercely instead.
She wasn't the greatest actor, so she hoped that by not overdoing it, the act would work. Its resilience and healing were astounding, but nobody knew better than she did that such a thing did not come without a price.
Already, she noticed a simple fact. The water had undone the damage, but a good part of it had been expended in the effort. More importantly, though, nobody but her could recognize burnt flesh as well as she did. And the walls? Made of that disgustingly fleshy material? It could barely be seen, but their tone had grown just a fraction darker.
The Nightmare Creature wasn't immortal. It just spread its wounds across the rest of its body, and when that body was likely bigger than a mountain chain...
Nephis nodded, her mind made clear by the pain of her Flaw and her conviction as severe as ever. The fight was going to be a long and arduous one, but she had overcome worse odds.
"Flame, burn that which does not belong." She chanted, reciting the Names of Fire.
Following her command, and in a wide circle around them, fire burst to life, evaporating all the water and charring the walls to a crisp while leaving Nephis and the group untouched. She inspected the results and decided that they were good enough.
At least for now, it should be safe enough to afford splitting her attention between fighting the creature and protecting the others.
"Stick together and remain close. Call the moment you feel threatened," she instructed, then sent Nightmare into Rain's shadow for good measure.
The tenebrous steed's dream curse was already hard at work, but she feared that it wouldn't be of help soon enough to be decisive. At least the seed planted by [Hopebringer] was extending its roots quickly.
Only after receiving their assent did she lunge at the Nightmare Creature, her sword burning bright with white flame.
Steel collided against the creature's clawed hands a fraction of a second later, and Nephis found that even boosted by all her flame reserves, the Lady of the Lake could still match her strength. In fact, she was slowly overpowering her. In the background, their Wills crashed, and she was surprised once more by the creature's sheer breadth.
The pale woman forced its way closer, its death grip on her sword growing stronger despite the grievous wounds and burns it carved into its flesh. Once they were face to face, it let go with one hand, and Nephis finally overpowered it, delivering a cut that crossed from its right shoulder to its hip.
Water surged from beneath the Lady, flowing upward to heal its wounds.
Having already expected such a thing, Nephis was ready to react.
"Water, lash from within."
Yet despite her command, the clear liquid did not react. She had already suspected as much, but it was good to get confirmation. It wasn't really water, but most likely a liquid physical embodiment of the creature's life force.
Even before it was completely healed, the Nightmare Creature punched with its dainty hand, the movement so fast and carrying so much weight that the air was displaced and a sonorous crack echoed.
Nephis tilted her head in time, and the blow only grazed her ear. That mere contact, brief and light as it was, was enough to burst her eardrum and send a maddeningly high-pitched ringing through her brain.
She stepped back immediately, white flame already enveloping her ear to restore the damage. The pain of her Flaw was as terrible as ever, yet in that moment it brought her enough clarity to parry the follow-up kick of the Nightmare Creature.
Its attacks did not cease, a flurry of kicks and fists following as the pale woman assaulted her with frenzied aggression, and Nephis could do nothing but defend.
From time to time, she repeated her previous actions, burning a circle of safety around the others whenever she noticed that the water was getting dangerously close.
Nephis weaved between the attacks, moving out of the way when she could and taking them where the damage would be most reduced when she couldn't. As she did, her mind was fully focused on studying the Nightmare Creature.
How it moved, how it breathed, the way its muscles twitched before attacking, where its eyes looked before moving, even the way it twitched its lips before attempting to bite her. Little by little, she mapped it, understood what made it tick, and started predicting it.
What had before been a one-sided barrage of attacks that she could do nothing but defend against turned into a deadly dance where she returned as many blows as she received. It continued for a little longer before the moment she was waiting for arrived.
Nephis extended a millimeter more than was necessary in apparent panic, exposing a gap in her defense that the mad creature, smart as it was, could not ignore.
Sure enough, it pounced on it, and its clawed hand pierced her ribs, missing her lungs and heart by mere millimeters, just as she had planned. Before it could retract, Nephis grasped the offending limb and held it in place.
"Fire, burn, destroy, wither, rot that which does not belong." She chanted swiftly.
In the brief instant before it happened, Nephis noticed the shocked expression on the pale woman's face and, despite herself, allowed a vicious smile that would make Sunny proud to stretch across her face.
Then a conflagration like few she had ever conjured burst to life as the creature burned. It spread lightning-fast, covering the creature from head to toe, and even the arm still plunged inside Nephis within a heartbeat.
Water surged once more, attempting to douse her attack, but the only thing it did was spread it further.
Nephis did not let go of the arm as she watched it happen, observing the fire slowly devouring the water, extending to the walls, and slowly starting to consume them too. It wouldn't stop, not until there was nothing left to burn. And even that nothing, it would attempt to burn.
For the first time, she heard the scream.
And gods, did it scream.
All in all, it only took a couple of seconds for the creature's body to be reduced to ashes, yet its pained screams -and the way the halls themselves writhed in pain too- made it feel far longer.
Only when even the ashes had burned away did Nephis turn around and walk back toward the others. The fire still spread, burning away at the creature relentlessly. It had committed a terrible mistake, allowing her to come in -and she was sure they had only managed to enter because it allowed them to- without knowing who she was.
Rain was looking at her with wonder in her eyes, Cassie was smiling, and finally, Seishan looked at her with a disturbed expression on her face.
"Please, remind me not to make an enemy of you," the princess said politely.
Nephis would have snorted if she still wasn't suffering from the lingering pain brought by her Flaw.
Another terrible quake echoed around the halls, and Nephis decided that she had no time to bask in the victory. She had slain that vessel, but more were likely coming, and if the real body was as big as she thought it was, then it would be a long, long time before her flames finished consuming it.
Her Will crashed against that of the Lady of the Lake, trying to force the passage open once more, but this time, instead of resistance, she met something else.
The world flipped on itself, and Nephis suddenly found herself somewhere else.
She was standing on the surface of a lake, its waters shining with silver light. High above, there was a wound in reality where the moon she remembered used to be.
"Took you long enough," someone muttered beside her.
"Sunny!"
"Big brother!"
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Sunny grimaced when he heard the concern in their voices.
He did look bad, but he didn't think it was that bad. He only had enough holes in his chest to look like Swiss cheese, his left arm hung uselessly at his side, a couple of bones were broken, and...
Thinking back on it, he did look that bad. Maybe he also had a concussion?
He had no idea how Nephis, Rain, Cassie, and Seishan had arrived here, but he was thankful. Mostly for the fact that the first immediately put her flames to work, healing the damage so fast that the absence of pain almost made him light-headed.
Yeah, it was definitely bad.
Though Sunny smiled viciously. One should look at the other guy first before judging.
A monstrosity of flesh and bone stood before him, as tall as a four-story house, with dozens of arms and legs, all teeth and eyes and more things that made his stomach revolt. What was important, however, were the countless bleeding wounds and severed limbs that covered its body, courtesy of his efforts.
Surprised as he had been by the boost in power the Lady of the Lake had received after consuming the heart, Sunny was, if nothing else, greatly experienced when it came to fighting those stronger than him.
Working in tandem with Saint, he had defeated it and struck again at the lake. The roar of pain had been a sight to behold, though not as much as what followed.
The pale woman had stood once more, fury clear across its features, and more of its minions had appeared.
Somewhat foolishly, he had hoped that its supply had been exhausted, but he hadn't even scratched the tip of the iceberg. It was a being old enough to have met the Gods, after all. Sunny could spend months doing nothing but killing its minions, and still not come close to eradicating all of them.
He had learned that firsthand. The Lady of the Lake had consumed thousands of them already as they battled, its beautiful yet eerie form coming undone with each instance until it had turned into this monstrosity.
Saint had already been dismissed, too injured to continue battling, and he himself hadn't been in much better shape.
Which made it quite fortunate that they had decided to show up at this very moment.
A final burst of flame enveloped him, and Sunny found himself completely healed. The sensation of being free of the pain and injuries that had plagued him was so euphoric that he could have kissed Neph right then and there if his sister and an extremely old and dangerous horror weren't watching.
The Lady of the Lake spoke before he could consider whether to do it anyway.
"You have cost me much, children."
Sunny focused back on the Nightmare Creature and noticed that its wounds, just like his, were already healed under the water-like liquid's gentle touch.
"So much careful growth and expansion gone, just like that," it continued, the serenity in its voice long gone. Its eyes turned to Sunny first. "Thousands of my lesser selves devoured to fuel this ugly form and stop you from damaging my plans any further."
Its eyes traveled to Nephis next, pure hatred coloring its voice.
"And you. Can you fathom how much I lost because of you? Millennia of work gone to waste, forcefully cast away before those abominable flames of yours could spread any further."
Despite its cyclopean size, the Lady of the Lake took a soft breath and closed its eyes.
The sight filled Sunny with nerves.
When it opened them once more, all traces of leisure had left its eyes.
"No more games, no more plays."
Immediately after saying so, it started growing again while the level of the water decreased.
Without thinking twice, Sunny ordered Serpent to return to its original form and sent it to take Rain, Cassie, and Seishan far away while he himself turned into a shadow.
At the same time, Nephis had already taken on her transformation and turned into an ocean of white fire.
Shadow and flame merged together, and from them, a colossus was born. It was made of both elements, each millimeter of it sculpted by shadow and set ablaze by fire, exalting each other in a way that made them more than the sum of their parts.
In that state, there was no barrier between them. His thoughts flowed into her mind, and hers flowed into his just as easily as they did within their own. Their already incomparable synergy was raised to a whole new level, and so they did not need to speak or make a gesture before the colossus moved.
From within the shadows at the back of the Lady of the Lake, a gargantuan blade of shadow emerged, piercing the Nightmare Creature's chest and setting it ablaze.
"Fire, burn, destroy Amalgamation!" Nephis roared, and the world answered with a pillar of flame that dwarfed the Crimson Spire itself.
The colossus crashed against the creature a moment later, wielding its blade and their combined Wills to put an end to the abomination at last.
Sunny felt flesh give, cut, and burn within the same instant, and the blade continued past where it had bisected the vessel of the Lady of the Lake and struck its true body, the surface of the lake.
The creature retaliated violently, dozens of arms punching at the same time with enough strength to make the world quake. They connected with the colossus they had become, breaking apart a good portion of their right side. The damage was dire, but under their combined Aspect it was restored half a second later.
Another terrible roar of pain emerged from it when they countered, yet Sunny was forced to admit a simple truth.
They couldn't kill it. Not like this, at least.
Neither he nor Nephis had infinite essence, and they would run out long before Amalgamation was defeated.
Its accumulation was just too much, its foundations too wide and too strong. Nephis could set it ablaze and let it burn for years on end. Sunny could cut and cut without ever stopping, yet come no closer to killing it.
No, he needed something else.
He needed its shadow.
It had eluded him so far, and it was only the fact that the Lady of the Lake bothered to fight back that convinced him that it had one to begin with.
It was somewhere in the depths of the lake, hidden so well he couldn't find it even now. He was sure of it.
How to find it, though?
It must have only been a minuscule fragment left to elude his senses. The lake was too big, and of course, the pale woman wouldn't stay idle while he looked for it.
Which left only one option available.
One that he resisted with every fiber of his being.
Attempting it would leave him completely defenseless before a being that could kill him at the slightest mistake. There would be no last-second saves, no ace up his sleeve, no smart ploy to employ. Sunny would die, plain and simple.
It was the only solution that occurred to him, and still Sunny resisted the idea.
It meant trusting Nephis completely, giving her free rein to do as she wished while he sought the Lady of the Lake's shadow.
And he hated it.
Hated leaving himself vulnerable. Hated relying on Nephis. Hated that his life kept being thrust into her hands and that he could do nothing but hope she wouldn't disappoint him.
Everyone, including her, always did, always let him down, always failed, always betrayed him. How long until she did it again?
But what he hated most?
What infuriated him so much that he almost reveled in the pain of the Nightmare Creature's latest blow for the clarity it brought?
Their minds were one, their thoughts traveling freely between each other.
That damnable woman was perfectly aware of what he was thinking, of his turmoil, and made no effort to influence his decision. Not a word, not a stray thought or emotion. She stood perfectly silent, allowing him to come to his own conclusion. He could almost imagine her, standing at a polite distance, her face infuriatingly composed, refusing to say anything so as not to influence him.
Sunny hated her for it, but he loved her even more for it.
With a mental sigh, he made his decision and hoped -and when would he learn at last that hope was a poison? He wondered- that she wouldn't disappoint him this time, at least.
He found no reassuring words in Nephis' thoughts. Neither did she say anything encouraging or make one of her proclamations. He might have thought twice if she had.
Instead, he only felt a wave of affection coming from her, so warm and comforting that his heart almost melted. Sunny swore to have his revenge for that later. He was sick and tired of being the only one left speechless by affection, damn it!
He hesitated one final time and then, for the first time in forever, completely let go.
Sunny felt the limbs of the colossus keep moving, the blade still slashing at the Lady of the Lake, shadows still answering Nephis' call as they would his. He felt it, yet was little more than an external observer.
Fearing that he would back down if he thought twice, Sunny forced himself to continue and activated [Endbringer].
The world changed immediately as millions of strings of life, black tendrils that every living and unliving thing possessed, revealed themselves.
Sunny did not allow himself to be distracted by the sight and instead looked at the Lady of the Lake.
Like previous times, he saw countless of them, belonging to the myriad beings that composed the whole known as Amalgamation. With so many of them, it was impossible to find the one. Impossible, save for what he was going to do next.
A switch flipped in his mind, and the world changed once more, [Endbringer] and the sight granted by [Blood Weave] activating at the same time.
Harrowing, tyrannical, soul-wrenching pain assaulted him immediately as the black tendrils morphed, growing thicker and clearer until what remained before him were the Chains of Fate.
Sunny felt like a boat about to capsize in front of land, like a parched man surrounded by water, like a starving man forced to sit before a banquet.
It was horrible.
Oh, so horrible.
And even crueler was the fact that he was just a thought away from making it all go away.
Just a thought, and the sight would disappear.
Just a thought, and the tapestry of Fate would hide itself.
He would likely die to Amalgamation, but who cared when the pain would die with him anyway?
Then, his muddled mind remembered.
Rain. Nephis. Seishan. Even Cassie.
They would all die if he failed, like everyone else in this land would.
Like reality itself would if Amalgamation succeeded in becoming the Flame of Blasphemy.
He would like to say that he succeeded through something noble. Through courage, selflessness, or something equally stupid.
But in truth?
It was pettiness.
The idea of giving up now, after making such a big deal out of trusting Nephis while he found the way to victory, irked him too much to do so.
So Sunny forced himself to think through the pain, to find clarity in a world that had none, and grasp the chains with limbs that did not exist.
Images flashed before his eyes when he touched the first.
Leerac was an Awakened, fighting for king and country, though in truth, he had only enlisted for coin and the promise of curing his ailing mother with it. His battalion made camp before a beautiful river, and he was tasked with protecting the mundanes while they built the defenses. Then he took a look into the clear waters, where he saw a beautiful pale woman staring back at him, and knew no more than pain and agony.
Cerrial was a Noble Beast, wisest and eldest among her pride. She had led them through bountiful and difficult times. Through famine and drought. And now she had led them to this river, where they could rest their weary bodies before resuming their march. She lowered her head to drink and...
Zersi was a young boy who liked nothing more than to swim. Each morning, before dawn and before having to start his chores, he would take a long, relaxing dip. This morning, however...
Weafy lowered his canteen into the water, impatiently waiting for it to be filled so that he could drink. All of a sudden, a hand touched his...
Kerke observed the surface of the lake...
Sult...
Nal...
Ri...
F...
Sunny watched life after life flash past his eyes. Rich and poor. Strong and weak. Good and bad.
Amalgamation made no distinction between its victims. All of them were fuel in its eyes, a stepping stone toward its objective of recovering its past strength and freeing the Forgotten God.
He didn't know how long he spent like that, how many tragedies he witnessed, or how many more remained unknown and forgotten, swallowed whole by the abomination fighting him.
The only thing Sunny knew was that he had finally found what he was looking for.
He watched Amalgamation, a true Divine, speak with the Forgotten God, the scene that birthed her obsession with water, the lie, and the consequences that not heeding his advice carried.
And finally, he found what he was looking for.
There, on the other end of the chain, smaller than a fingernail and so inert he almost failed to recognize it as a living shadow, was Amalgamation's.
All at once, the chains disappeared, and his muddled mind finally caught up to the pain that it had been doing its best to ignore.
The pain of it, and the soul damage he suffered from witnessing Fate as much as he did, were agonizing, yet he forced himself to endure just a little longer.
Just enough to put an end to this.
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Nephis felt it the moment Sunny's consciousness returned, the harrowing pain she had been sharing with him gone like the wind. Even she, used as she was to her Flaw, had barely managed to stay coherent through it and fend off Amalgamation's attacks, both against the two of them and the others.
She couldn't do any less. Few knew as well as she did just how hard it was for him to place his trust in someone else, much less her, and so she refused to let it down.
Nephis felt his thoughts next, and following his instructions, she extended her senses until she found it.
There, at the bottom of the lake, forty degrees to their right.
The former divinity's shadow.
As one -and never had that expression been more fitting- they moved, launching themselves into the air. A stone lantern, small and almost invisible against the sheer mass of the colossus' palm, appeared.
From inside, shadows started pooling outward: first a drizzle, then a stream, and finally an ocean of them. Yet even then, they did not stop. Only when no more remained within the Memory did the deluge cease.
Nephis felt and shared the strain of wielding them, of shaping the shadows into a sword kilometers long. The sword of impossible scale burst into flames next, and together they aimed it, its tip pointed downward, poised to strike where the shadow was.
Amalgamation roared in fury, its own prodigious size growing even greater, and Nephis felt it preparing something, its Will and what could pass for its Aspect rearing for a strike that she knew they would not survive.
Fortunately, her hidden weapon was ready. She hadn't dared use it before; the moment the Lady of the Lake realized it was there, it would destroy it, and she would have no chance to do it again.
But now that they had found its weakness? There would be no better time.
Deep within the creature's very being, a flower burst forth from its seed, and Nephis felt the connection blazing brightly through [Hopebringer].
"If you don't move, your agony will be over," she said softly, though her massive size made her voice thunder like lightning.
Amalgamation did not react to her words, did not blink, did not move.
It couldn't.
[Hopebringer] was an insidious gift from the Daemon of Desire herself. One that allowed her to command those in whom she had planted a seed of hope, as long as she could give them a reason to feel hopeful. And what hope was stronger than the idea of being free from the agony of Corruption?
Nephis could already feel the monstrosity fighting back, unraveling the flower of Hope at prodigious speed. It wasn't fast enough.
The sword descended: shadow and flame, ruin and inevitability, Lost from Light and Changing Star's Will made manifest.
For a single, breathless moment, they hung in perfect, silent stillness. Amalgamation fighting against its bindings. Rain, Cassie, and Seishan watching their only chance of salvation with bated breath. Sunny and she hoping that it would be enough.
The moment passed, and death came for the former Goddess.
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Amalgamation stood motionless, incapable of moving under the Heir of Desire's command.
She saw the colossal blade descending toward her shadow.
Heard the rush of the wind against her disgusting flesh.
Smelled rot and ash.
Tasted the bitterness of defeat.
Felt Shadow's cold hand, mocking her even now, grasp her countless hearts.
She was old. Truly old. Old enough to remember a time before time itself existed. Old enough to have met the Gods before the Original Sin turned them into the husks she fought in the Doom War.
And yet... she wasn't ready.
Amalgamation hadn't united all in eternal harmony as she had always dreamed of. Hadn't returned to her glorious former self. Hadn't cleansed herself of Corruption. But worst of all, hadn't liberated her Lord.
He was still there, in that lightless Void, suffering in eternal agony, paying for the sins of his traitorous siblings.
She had failed. Completely and utterly.
And now, she was going to die.
Amalgamation was old, truly old, but she wasn't ready.
Death, as so often, did not care to wait for her to be.
Untold eons, victories and defeats, and a warm smile belonging to a weathered old face flashed before her eyes.
The sword clashed against the surface of the lake, and pain like no other assaulted her. It was brief; for a fraction of a second later, it came into contact with what little remained of her shadow, and she knew no more.
As she had begun, so too did she end. Her Lord's words, always so filled with wisdom, had been right, and she had been a fool for not listening to them.
And still, she found hope in those very same words.
"Do not fret, dear friend. We will meet again."
For the first time in her long existence, Amalgamation prayed, prayed that they would come true.
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Hundreds of people stood with bated breath, crowded around the Lake of Tears, waiting in restless silence for the outcome of the battle that would decide their Fate.
It began slowly, as it so often did. First, a ripple appeared on the surface of the lake. Then, more appeared, growing stronger, more numerous, deeper, until the lake as a whole began trembling.
All at once, a sword of gargantuan proportions burst out of the water, forged of shadow and flame in equal measure.
Changing Star and Lost from Light heard it then, the voice of the Spell.
Merged into one, their very existences so closely knit together that nothing but themselves could undo it, they were both blessed by Weaver's greatest creation.
[You have slain a Corrupted Titan, Fragment of Amalgamation]
[Your shadow grows stronger / Your soul shines brighter]
[You have acquired an Echo / You have acquired a Memory]
And they? They lacked a face, and yet, just as the humans did, smiled.
They so enjoyed seeing plans come to fruition.