Chapter Summary: When in doubt, crash out.
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Recruitment for the Second Evacuation Army officially begins. Join now to defend humanity! — The New Government's News
Lord Anvil vows to personally arm every Awakened willing to fight the Chain of Nightmares in Eastern Antarctica. — The Herald of Steel
Lady Ki Song sees off our brave Awakened as they depart for Antarctica. May fortune smile upon them. — The Raven's Feather
A Category Three Gate opens in the Southern Quadrant. Seventy-eight dead and two hundred injured confirmed. Was it incompetence or a failing in the Obel Scale? — The Unfiltered Quill
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Murmurs filled the chilly room.
Dozens of people surrounded her: soldiers, healers, engineers, and even a couple of administrators to help with the workload that surely awaited her. All of them were speaking in hushed tones, glancing around nervously as they waited for the Dream Gate to open.
Nephis stood at the center, as she was meant to be the first one to step inside. She was wearing the [Undying Chain], the dark armor combined with her stony expression enough to dissuade anyone from thinking she was in the mood to talk.
"You think she really did it?" a middle-aged Master whispered to her partner.
Of course, just because she did not want to talk didn't mean that people wouldn't talk about her instead.
Usually, the enhanced senses of a Transcendent were a blessing. But they could also prove to be a curse when she was forced to listen in on conversations about a topic as infuriating as this one.
"No way. Have you seen how they looked at each other? They're just lies and slander," the mousy-looking Awakened whispered in answer.
"Why did they fight, then? And why is Saint Sunless nowhere to be found? I bet she did, and he ran at the first chance he had," a gruff Master rebuked.
"To think I used to admire her. I guess—"
The trio must have noticed the room growing hotter, for they glanced at her with fear and immediately fell silent.
Nephis spared them no more thought. They did not know what they were speaking of, after all. If she had to get angry at every fool with a wrong opinion, she would be angry all day.
Five minutes after she put a stop to that infuriating conversation, Ki Song entered the room, leading a small delegation that would see them off.
The Ghoul smiled at them, greeted people in the crowd, and asked about the whereabouts of family and friends with an air of genuine concern. She remembered names, recalled old acquaintances, and even stopped to exchange a few words with some of the Awakened who had gathered there. Her manner was warm and composed, her voice soft enough to put people at ease.
Once the greetings were done, the Ghoul walked to one end of the room and turned to face the assembled Awakened. Ki Song waited until she had everyone's attention before beginning to speak.
Her voice carried easily through the room, warm and steady, filled with just the right amount of gravity. She spoke of the people waiting for them in Antarctica. Of the cities that needed to be defended, of the families that depended on them, of the countless lives that would be threatened if the Chain of Nightmares was allowed to spread unchecked.
She spoke of courage, of honor, camaraderie. Of standing together in the face of an enemy that wanted nothing more than to tear humanity apart. Every sentence was carefully chosen. Every pause perfectly timed. She knew when to lower her voice, when to raise it, when to let silence linger long enough for her words to settle in the hearts of those listening.
It was probably an excellent speech.
Nephis didn't know. She hadn't bothered listening to a single word.
Fortunately, the Supreme's speech proved shorter than Nephis had dreaded. Not long after she began speaking, Ki Song waved an arm, and a towering crack appeared in the middle of the room, splitting reality apart. Through its clear surface, Nephis could see another room on the other side, where the dignitaries of Falcon Scott stood waiting to receive them.
The Ghoul's eyes met hers then, their dark depths filled with a venom that she was more than happy to return before turning around without a care.
Nephis crossed the boundary of the Dream Gate without directing a single word to Ki Song, feeling her burning gaze on her back all the way until she crossed to the other side.
She stepped out into a vast, well-decorated room, where the group she had seen before was already walking toward her.
A portly man was at the front, the mayor, if she remembered right, who smiled brightly behind his thick moustache upon seeing her.
"Welcome to Falcon Scott, Saint Nephis!" the man exclaimed, sounding genuine.
She nodded in his direction. "Thank you."
If he was taken aback by her curt answer, the man did not show it before ushering her to partake in the food and drinks carefully arranged on a table out of the way. The councilors behind him were quick to follow her, offering empty platitudes and thanking her for being there to protect their city in its hour of need.
Even if she weren't capable of sensing their desires, she would have still been able to tell just how little they meant it.
As the leader of the Song contingent, Nephis held absolute authority over every city in the Antarctic Center until the campaign was over. With the only one capable of disputing her being Saint Jet once she arrived. In practice, it meant that every mayor, councilor, and bureaucrat in Antarctica had just seen their power reduced to whatever she was willing to leave them.
Politicians rarely took kindly to having their authority stripped away, even temporarily. Which was why they were so eager to welcome her, praise her, and make sure she was pleased with them.
Nephis listened with half an ear to what they had to say while watching the Gate.
Beastmaster, as her second-in-command, was the first to cross. She was as stunning as ever, with her red gown and the relaxed smile painted across her ruby lips that seemed completely at odds with the somewhat tense atmosphere that filled the room. Dark Dancer came next, the reclusive woman yawning openly as she fought to remain awake in the early hours of the morning. Then came Seishan, the last of her "sisters," looking just as elegant as Beastmaster and twice as deadly.
Following close behind was Cassie, who seemed completely at ease despite the slight limp that remained after the fight days ago. Effie came next, her expression lively but her eyes filled with doubt. Kai was next, looking just as conflicted as the huntress was. And finally, there was Rain, trying to march with a regal air despite visibly being the youngest person there by far.
Nephis had told them all that it wasn't necessary to come with her. That there was no point in risking their lives for a fight that wasn't their own.
None of them had been willing to listen, and for a moment, a trickle of warmth invaded her frozen heart.
The Firekeepers started pouring in next, and she was reminded of why it didn't last. The group had been reduced by more than a quarter, as Asterion's poisonous words proved too much for some of them to be willing to continue serving her.
Nephis had not begrudged their choice and had even made sure that they would be well cared for wherever they ended up in the Song Domain. It still stung.
It always stung.
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The first alarm came in the middle of the evening.
She was in her personal quarters, lounging on a chaise longue while reading a book that Revel had insisted she give a try.
Nephis heard the loud, grating sound and, without even knowing it, a sharp smile drew itself across her lips. She closed the book, whose name she could not remember and whose contents she couldn't recall no matter how much she tried, and stepped out of the room.
People hurriedly made way for her when they saw her walking through the corridors, a mix of respect and fear coursing through their hearts as they did so, but she paid them no mind.
Not even a minute passed before she arrived at the command center.
The room was plunged into controlled chaos as the military officers present asked questions, doled out orders, made contingency plans, and tried to get a hold of the situation before panic could start settling in.
"I will handle it."
Her words cut through the noise with ease, stopping the men and women dead in their tracks.
The officers shared nervous looks, aware of her absolute authority yet clearly disapproving of her decision.
After a short battle of stares, one of the senior officers smiled obsequiously at her and spoke. "Thank you, Lady Nephis, but there is no need for you to trouble yourself like that over a mere Category Two Gate. It is better for you to save your strength."
The man's words were reasonable, sensible.
It was just the first among many Gates that would soon open, and there was no point in her or any of the other Saints wasting energy and essence on something that could be handled with relative ease by the Awakened and Ascended present in the city. The Chain of Nightmares was a marathon, not a sprint, after all.
Sensible as the words were, they weren't what she wanted to hear.
"Did I stutter?"
The officer paled and hurriedly shook his head, sweat starting to pool on his forehead. "Of course not. Please forgive my poor manners. But if I may..."
"You may not."
"U-understood."
"Good."
Her communicator rang a short time later with the details of the incoming Gate. Nephis offered a nod and left as quickly as she had arrived, her armor already starting to take shape over her clothes.
She set off the moment she left the Government compound, her wings shooting her into the sky so fast that she left a gust of wind in her wake. Briefly, she stood over the city before departing toward her objective.
From high above, she could see all of Falcon Scott in perfect detail, and with it, all the desires it contained.
The tall skyscrapers, where thousands upon thousands lived, praying they would survive the ordeal they were soon to be forced through. Construction crews worked tirelessly to reinforce the walls and buildings, some taking pride in the work they were doing, while others lived in fear of their efforts being for naught. The streets, where small protests still raged as others hurried to and from work, desperate to cling to whatever semblance of normalcy remained.
Both extremes were present.
Some desperately wished for the good of all, praying that the Chain of Nightmares would be defeated without a single casualty. Others, driven to their lowest points, wished for nothing more than an end. Not only to their own lives, but to everyone else's as well.
Despair was slowly but surely starting to permeate the very fabric of the city as rumors of Antarctica becoming the new America spread like wildfire.
Today, she decided, she would give them a reason to hope.
Nephis crossed the sky at breakneck speed, reaching the location where the Gate would open in a short time.
It was a vast, barren field situated roughly twelve kilometers from the city proper. Once, the place had apparently served as one of Falcon Scott's main glasshouses, a sprawling complex meant to provide the city with food even during the long and unforgiving Antarctic winter.
There was little left of it now. The Great War arrived first, reducing the glasshouses to ruins, and the descent of the Spell had finished the job. Now, only melted beams and shattered panes of glass remained, lying half-buried beneath the snow, their jagged surfaces glinting beneath the pale light of the sky.
Nephis landed on one of them, and the rusty beam of glass and steel groaned precariously beneath her weight.
She cast her sight far, investigating the battlefield she was supposed to fight in. There were no signs of life for kilometers in any direction. Only snow, broken glass, and the skeletal remains of the old glasshouse still stretched beneath the cold sky.
Her communicator suddenly rang as she watched the wide expanse.
Nephis frowned and retrieved it from her pocket. There was a new message awaiting her when she unlocked it, one that belonged to the Cohort's group chat.
[Effie: PRINCESS YOU LEFT WITHOUT US!!!!]
A second message appeared almost immediately.
[Effie: PRINCESS]
Then another.
[Effie: PRINCESS]
She stared at the screen for several seconds as message after message popped up on it.
The huntress's tirade continued for a few more seconds before more messages appeared beneath hers. Kai was trying to calm Effie down, Cassie insisting that she should have waited for them. Rain joined Effie in complaining about leaving them like that.
She hesitated, then, after a moment, typed her answer.
[Nephis: Sorry.]
She stared at the single word, finding it thoroughly inadequate. After another moment, she added more.
[Nephis: I will try to avoid doing this again.]
She got an answer almost immediately.
[Effie: YOU WILL TRY???]
Nephis considered replying, but in the end, she just locked the communicator and lowered it. For a long moment, she stared at the black screen, seeing her own face reflected on the glass.
How much longer would it work? How much longer would they be able to speak like this? How much longer before circumstances forced them apart?
She was a Saint, while Effie, Kai, and Rain were not.
That simple fact would inevitably separate her from the others.
She had no intention of letting them out of her sight for any period of time longer than an hour if she could get away with it, but reality disagreed with her.
The Chain of Nightmares was expected to spread all across Antarctica, and wherever the situation became critical, she would be expected to go. There would be Gates that only a Saint could handle. There would be cities that needed her. And there was only so much danger they could put themselves into before it became suicide.
Eventually, they would be forced to separate as she handled what nobody else could. Maybe it would just be a matter of minutes or hours. Or maybe it would be a matter of days.
And every time they did, every time she let them out of her sight even for a moment, there was a chance of something going wrong. Maybe one of them would encounter a Nightmare they could not overcome, maybe they would make a mistake, or simply be unlucky.
Nephis lowered the communicator, wishing they had just listened to her and hadn't come to this accursed place. That they could be safe and sound back in NQSC so that she could stop worrying so much and let the cold fire within her break free without a worry.
She did not like thinking about it. But she liked thinking about the possibility that she would not be there when they needed her even less.
A small, ugly part of her mind offered a solution.
Sunny could have done it.
With his seven bodies, he could have easily kept an eye on them at all times while fighting by her side. He could have been there when one of them needed help. He could have—
Nephis violently shot the thought down. She hated the very fact that it had even come to her.
Sunny had made his choice, and she had made hers. There was no point in dwelling on what-ifs.
The air trembled then, and she finally felt it.
The telltale sign of a Gate about to open. It was subtle at first, so subtle that a normal Awakened would have mistaken it for a trick of the wind.
A thin crack had appeared in the air, then it slowly widened without making a sound. The fracture expanded quickly, black lines extending across reality like a web of dark silk until, at last, the fracture shattered.
Space collapsed inward, leaving behind a vast, gaping hole in the fabric of the world, filled with darkness through which it was impossible to see anything.
It didn't take her long to notice that something was wrong.
The size of the Gate, its depth, the corruption emanating from it. There was no mistaking it. It wasn't a Second Category Gate, but one of the third. For the first time in more than a year, the Obel Scale was wrong in its prediction.
On the first of many Gates to follow, at that.
A chittering noise came from within the darkness, and the first Nightmare Creature emerged.
It was an Awakened Beast with the general appearance of a monkey. Equal in size to her, with green, speckled fur, long, bulky limbs, and four spider-like legs coming out of its torso. Its amber eyes settled on her the moment it crossed the boundary, and it opened its mouth, filled with yellowed teeth, to howl at her before charging, running on all eight limbs.
Nephis jumped down from the beam and landed a few meters away from the Nightmare Creature. Red sparks finished forming on her extended palm, and a moment later, [Unity] landed in it.
When the monkey reached her, she merely swung her blade, and the monkey fell down in two even halves. No blood was left on it, and not even a second later, the corpse disappeared too, devoured by her sword.
It was the Memory she had obtained after slaying Amalgamation: a long, straight sword. Its pommel was shaped like a square, while the hilt was wrapped in light blue silk that felt soft and comfortable to the touch. The blade was forged from pale metal, with wave-like patterns etched along its surface.
Rain had described it as beautiful, but the only thing that Nephis cared about was how well it could cut.
And as the next creatures foolish enough to leave the Gate proved, it could cut very well. Though not as well as it could absorb the remains of those it slew.
The following waves were dispatched with ease, until at last, the first Fallen appeared. They were bigger than their weaker cousins, the spider legs metallic now, and twice as long. It made it no more difficult to slay them.
Nephis turned her wrist, leading the blade through a creature's skull, and took a single step back. The thing collapsed at her feet, its limbs twitching weakly before becoming still. Its corpse disappeared a fraction of a second later.
She did not have to wait long before another arrived.
It was faster than the previous creature, its body low to the ground as it bounded across the glass. Nephis waited until it was almost upon her before letting her sword flash under the cold Antarctic sun.
The creature's leap carried it past her, missing a head.
Another came from the left.
Nephis took a short step, made a small turn of the wrist, and a thin red line bloomed across its neck. The creature stumbled onward for two more steps before collapsing.
There was no need to wait long before more emerged from the Gate.
This time, she deliberately held back, allowing the creatures to come close enough to swipe at her before she killed them.
One lunged at her, the metallic tip of its spider-like legs aimed at her vitals. Nephis stepped aside, grabbed the offending limbs, and used the Nightmare Creature as an improvised weapon to beat to death the next three that came before the one she was holding broke beyond use.
More continued pouring in, and she fought them all with nothing but steel and her Will.
She stepped into their inner spaces. Cut, parried, counterattacked, repeated. Then, when she grew bored of just how easy it was to cut through them with [Unity], she stabbed it into the ground and used her fists and legs instead. She punched, kicked, ripped off their limbs, and used them as improvised weapons; she broke their every bone before putting an end to their lives.
Until at last, Corrupted creatures started showing up, and she was finally forced to put in some effort.
They were stronger, faster, and more durable, enough to justify the use of her sword. They also showed a high degree of cooperation and an intelligence that went beyond what their classes should have allowed. And unlike their lesser brethren, they did not charge madly, choosing instead to try and box her in. They circled around her like packs of wolves, struck from different directions, and employed simplistic strategies.
Against a lesser Saint, that might have posed a threat.
Against her? It only meant dying slower, as she soon proved to them.
Nephis brought down her sword in a broad arc, and the final monkey grew a head shorter.
[You have slain a Corrupted Tyrant...]
She watched its remains coldly for a moment longer before turning her eyes away. On the vast expanse, only she, the glass, and the snow remained, painted red for but a moment before [Unity] devoured the remaining blood.
Normally, Nephis would have felt a hint of satisfaction after defeating a Gate. It was a victory, a tiny one, yes, but a victory against the Spell.
She had stopped it from claiming more lives, from spreading its corruption, from turning the world even madder than it already was, from shattering the lives of countless people with its callous cruelty.
There was no satisfaction to be felt.
Fortunately, despite having killed what she thought to be the Guardian, the Gate chose to tremble violently right at that moment. Though trembling was a misnomer, it quaked violently, as if the darkness itself were suffering an earthquake.
She felt it then, the presence of a Nightmare Creature approaching the crack in reality. A powerful one.
Two hands bigger than she was came out, barely fitting through the Gate. They were encased in a shiny, silvery metal that gleamed under the sun as they grabbed the edges of the Gate and pushed them apart, widening it enough for the rest of the creature to pass.
Its long arms emerged first, covered in the same metallic material as its hands, with vicious ridges running along their length. Then came its head, a profane fusion of a silverback gorilla and a tarantula. Eight eyes stared at her with barely contained madness, while its lower jaws clicked hungrily.
Its torso followed, metallic and barely half as wide as its arms. Narrow slits ran along its sides, and Nephis did not have to wait long to discover their purpose as eight hairy, segmented legs unfolded from within, twitching as they spread outward.
Finally, its legs emerged, each one thicker than a dozen tree trunks bound together.
The moment it came out in full, the gorilla, a Corrupted Titan, roared as it beat its chest, the vibrations it produced loud enough to burst her eardrums.
It pounced while she was reeling from the loss of balance, running low on all its limbs, far faster than any creature of such titanic size should have been capable of.
One of its spider legs swiped at her before the others, so fast that it looked like a blur to her eyes. Nephis ducked beneath it at the last possible moment, then, instead of drawing away, she ran toward it, dancing between the other spider limbs before finally coming close enough and jumping to cut its head off.
The gorilla blocked [Unity] with its lower jaws, the longsword little more than a toothpick in comparison to its prodigious size. The sword clashed against its metallic jaw with a loud scratching sound that left a shower of sparks in its wake, yet nothing but a scratch on the lustrous surface.
Before gravity could reassert itself, she used the gorilla as a springboard to draw away, then invoked the first name of the day.
"Wind, grant me strength!"
A mighty gust pushed at her back following her order, launching her forward far faster than before. Then, infused with the full breadth of her essence and Will, her fist met the lower jaw of the gorilla.
The sound barrier broke apart as the Nightmare Creature was sent flying away, crashing through countless half-melted beams of glass and steel before finally coming to a stop.
It stood up no more than a second later with little more than a dent on one of its jaws to show for her effort, looking more furious than hurt.
Despite herself, a smile drew itself across her lips.
The abomination ripped one of the beams from the ground, even its towering length resembling a child's toy against its sheer bulk. It stared at it for a short moment before turning back to her, and though the arachnid jaws lacked the anatomy to smile, she was sure that it did so.
Nephis did not blink, and yet she almost failed to react in time when the beam was thrown at her.
It crossed the two kilometers of distance she had created with her punch in less than a second with another sonic boom, and though less than half of it survived its own momentum before reaching her, what was left still presented a danger.
She brought down [Unity] before her in a swift arc, cutting the beam into two halves that harmlessly passed by her, then continued on into the distance before crashing down to the ground.
More beams followed, thrown with the same force and precision.
Instead of remaining on the defensive, Nephis started running in the Gorilla's direction, dodging where she could and cutting through the obstacles where she couldn't.
The abomination proved its intelligence soon after, as the pattern started changing. Some beams were aimed at killing her, some at limiting her options by blocking escape paths, and others landed right before her, causing small tremors that cost her precious microseconds. One of them, in particular, threw her off long enough for one of the beams to clip her.
It was little more than a gash, literally millimeters away from passing harmlessly. Her helmet broke where it hit nonetheless, and with it went the skin on the left side of her jaw, leaving her teeth exposed to the cold Antarctic air.
Nephis paid the flesh wound no mind as she continued running, nothing but four hundred meters separating her now from the Titan.
The creature went into a frenzy at the sight of her continued defiance, launching the beams with even more speed than before, managing to clip her three more times before she finally reached it.
Seeing her incoming, it swung the final beam like a bat, trying to swat her away.
Nephis brandished [Unity], and the pillar of molten glass and metal, reinforced as it was by the Nightmare Creature's Will, was cut in half. She didn't stop there, using one of the falling halves as a foothold to jump toward its head again.
This time, the Corrupted Titan proved too slow, and her sword punched through one of its maddened eyes with a disgusting squelch.
Then, the creature roared in sheer, unbridled pain and anger as [Unity] started feeding, proving that despite its metallic luster, it was still a being of flesh and blood. The sword devoured the tissue, bone, and skin around the wound so fast that another eye was destroyed before she was forced to retreat, lest she be squashed like a bug.
A metallic gong echoed around the wasteland as the gorilla's own fist clashed against its head, rattling the creature long enough for Nephis to climb onto its wide shoulder and try to cut into its thick neck. That proved to be a mistake, as the creature was nowhere near as rattled as it pretended to be.
One of its spidery legs bent at an impossible angle to strike at her, and Nephis only had enough time to turn her head to the side before it reached her.
Had she been just a fraction of a second slower, her head would have been destroyed instead of just one ear.
Seeing more incoming limbs, she kicked herself away from the gorilla and landed a dozen meters away.
The Nightmare Creature stared at her, the gaping holes where its two lost eyes had been steadily bleeding like red fountains, making it even more of a harrowing sight. The madness clouding its gaze was untouched, but there was also wariness there now, as it recognized her as a threat rather than an easy meal.
Nephis stared at it in turn, not fooled even for a moment into thinking that the battle was in her favor just yet.
She had wounded it, yes, but for a creature like that, it was little more than a flesh wound. Meanwhile, she had almost died many times in the short exchanges they had so far. The cold seeping in through the missing skin on her jaw and the trickle of blood falling down her neck and making her hair stick uncomfortably to her scalp more than warranted it.
Her smile widened.
"I have been looking forward to this," she said conversationally.
The gorilla stared at her in incomprehension before leaping at her, its full bulk put behind a charge that would turn her to red paste if she were to take it head-on carelessly.
Nephis did just that, dashing toward the creature with all the speed her muscles could muster, then reinforcing it with essence and the names of the wind and kinetic force.
They clashed halfway, [Unity] against one of the gorilla's spider limbs. Air burst apart at the point of contact, vaporizing the rubble surrounding them and pushing them back.
She landed on her feet a few meters away, intact save for the way her sword arm was shaking. The bones were likely fractured, the muscles pulled, and some blood vessels had likely burst. She welcomed the pain, the agony, the needles stabbing into her arm with every twitch, then channeled it into her Will.
Without using her Aspect, the muscle, bone, and blood vessels put themselves back together. They weren't healed, but they would be serviceable long enough to make the point moot.
"Ever since that day, I have felt nothing but anger."
Nephis started walking toward the creature, every step slow and calculated.
"My anger wakes with me every morning. It follows me through the day, beneath my armor and behind every word I speak. Asks me to be set free. To rip and tear until it is satisfied."
She dashed; [Unity] aimed straight ahead.
The Gorilla roared at her; the wave of air that hit her was almost enough to stop her dead in her tracks. Maybe it would have if she weren't reinforced with her Will. If every millimeter of her body wasn't.
Asterion had taught her a very important lesson that day.
Her Will was weak, small, pathetic, woefully insufficient to face the Ghouls.
The sensation of being pressed down by his Will, completely impotent to stop him from revealing her and Sunny's darkest secret, was one she would never forget. One that she would never allow herself to forget.
So she trained, every day, every hour, every minute, every second. It didn't matter how small or inconsequential the movement was; she reinforced it with her Will, commanded -no, forced- herself to be more. To do more.
It was agonizing. By the end of each day, she was more exhausted than if she had run ten marathons in a row, felt hollow as if she had been starving for weeks, her soul worn like a rug, and she suffered from splitting headaches that only someone with such an inordinate pain tolerance as hers could soldier through.
Early as it was, it proved enough to get through the Gorilla's barrage of wind and, since it was foolish enough to leave it unprotected, sink her sword into one of its fists. She left it there to start feeding on the Corrupted Titan as she leapt up, landing on its extended forearm, then started running across its length until she reached the elbow.
"And yet, it feels like I'm surrounded by cardboard. Like everything I touch can break apart if I so much as put a little force on it. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? To see everything break apart so easily that you can feel no catharsis in its destruction?"
Nephis saw her own reflection on the metallic surface of the Gorilla's arm. Smiling widely, with part of her jaw showing, silver hair matted with blood, and her eyes like two steely pinpricks. She looked crazy, unhinged, more akin to a Nightmare Creature than a woman.
She smiled wider.
"But you can take it, can't you?"
She punched down, and a loud, keening wail escaped the gorilla as the limb snapped in half.
Nephis stared in satisfaction at the arm, bent in the wrong direction, yet somehow remaining attached to its body.
Her satisfaction did not last long before the gorilla's other arm came up, too fast to react, and its fist collided with her. Pain erupted all around her as she was sent crashing down straight toward one of the heaps of glass and metal.
She collided against it with a thunderous crash that reverberated through the vast field like a miniature earthquake.
Had she not activated the [Undying] enchantment of her armor at the last moment, she would have died then and there.
Nephis remained for a few short seconds within the crater made by her own body, her head resting against a sharp patch of glass, too dazed to even consider moving. For a brief instant, she even considered not getting up, remaining there, forgetting all about the world and the problems that awaited her if she got up. Then the flame within grew colder, and she cast the idle thought away without hesitation.
She climbed out of the crater on unsteady hands and legs as her flesh and bone pulled themselves together through sheer Will. The pain was exquisite, maddening, almost enough to make her lose her mind.
Her smile grew wider.
"He left."
She took a step forward, and her left leg snapped back into place with a sickening crunch. She took another, and her arm bent once more like it was supposed to.
Nephis dismissed [Unity] from where it was still devouring the Gorilla's broken arm and summoned it back into her grasp a second later.
"Have I not been patient enough?"
Each step she took was steadier than the last, strength already returning to her while the pain faded back into white noise.
The gorilla's wariness had grown, a hint of fear shining through its remaining eyes as it bared its teeth and jaws at her.
"Have I not been understanding enough?"
Nephis flashed forward, and [Unity] carved deep into one of the Gorilla's legs. The creature wailed in pain, then kicked her away with the other right after. Nephis was back on the offensive, but a moment later, caring not for the way her body protested more and more with each attack she made.
"Did I fail at assuaging his fears?"
Feeling the threat of death, the gorilla finally unleashed its true power.
Its body rippled, almost turning liquid as, all around the field, the beams and heaps of metal started flowing toward it like a river flowing into the sea. In a matter of seconds, the Titan had grown even more, hundreds of meters tall already, its broken arm mended and covered in vicious-looking metal.
Then, it unleashed its Will, and the remaining metal struck at her. From millimetric needles to towering beams and everything in between. They came from all angles and directions, and whenever it had a chance, the Gorilla, too, struck at her.
"What did I do wrong?"
Nephis started invoking Names then.
She sliced at the creature with blades of wind, flayed its skin with vortices of water, blasted it away with force, set it ablaze with flames that did not extinguish no matter how desperately it tried to put them out.
The gorilla was no less dangerous. Already, she was covered in blood head to toe, her armor so damaged she had been forced to dismiss it lest it be destroyed; with each step she took, each strike she made, and every single twitch of her body, fresh pain traveled through her, the nerves ablaze like there was an army of red ants crawling within her.
"What could I have done differently?"
One of the metal needles stabbed into her neck, millimeters away from piercing the carotid, and the distraction caused by it cost her. More needles stabbed into her until she looked like a human pincushion. Then the liquid metal flowed over her, encasing her in a spherical prison of liquid metal.
She felt the gorilla moving through the vibrations in the ground, each step shaking it like an earthquake yet moving so fast it defied all reason.
Were it not for her quick thinking, she would have died at that very moment. Skin-tight as her prison was, it still left her enough wiggle room to speak, and that proved all she needed.
"Wind, shroud me from harm. Force, cushion the blow. Water, carry danger away."
Three names were all she could manage to utter before the Gorilla's massive fists crashed down on her prison, the impact alone opening a fissure into the ground two kilometers long. It did not stop at the first strike, as it kept pounding on her prison time and time again until it completely shattered.
When the metallic sphere broke completely apart, she was revealed, and the protection of the elements faded away.
Nephis tried to stand up, but couldn't. Tried to crawl, but couldn't. She tried to do anything, but couldn't.
She had reached her limit. It didn't matter how much she pushed her Will, or how much the flame within roared; her body was broken beyond possible repair.
That was when she activated her Aspect.
A second sun was born under the cold Antarctic sky, its wide radiance bathing the ruined field under its merciless heat.
Bones snapped back into place, blood flowed back into her veins, flesh and skin mended, sight returned as her ruined eyes returned, and she could finally hear the rush of the wind again as her eardrums recovered.
Nephis stood up slowly, patiently, and dusted herself off. The pain was as agonizing as ever, but she welcomed it this time.
"He left."
Nephis augmented herself with her full reservoir of flames, pushed as much essence as she could into her weary body, and magnified it with her Will. Then, she moved, and the world blurred as she reached the gorilla so fast it must have looked like teleportation to it.
Her fist collided against its head and the right half caved in like a tin can.
The Titan reeled violently and returned the blow. She dodged it mid-air, her wings carrying her out of danger's path, yet the shockwave of its fist still had her careening dangerously close to its jaws.
"Was I wrong? Did I fool myself into believing he wanted the same things as I do?"
Nephis invoked the name of Fire and Force to set off an explosion that blew her back and melted the lower half of the Gorilla's head.
"Why is it that now that we finally found a little happiness, it had to be taken away?"
She allowed her transformation to unfold, turning her into an ocean of fire first, and then a giant knight half the Titan's size. Then dove toward it, the clash of their fists pulverizing what little was left of their surroundings.
Nephis reeled back from the impact, the construct of her arm dangerously close to being destroyed. She restored it, watching with trepidation as her reserves of essence drained dangerously low, and punched again, matching the Titan blow for blow.
The Gorilla slammed into her, then turned liquid and started molding itself over her, trapping her within mere moments. Spikes and hungry mouths emerged from within, pricking and biting at her from all directions like she had been trapped in a blender. Its Will permeated every millimeter of the liquid death, matching hers step by step with a mastery that spoke of countless years, to her mere months.
It only took her a moment to decide the best way to handle it, and then put it to use.
With a sound akin to breaking glass, one of her cores shattered, and an explosion that dwarfed every single one she had created throughout the battle erupted from within. Everything in the vicinity was immediately swallowed by the white radiance, and by the time it subsided, she was surrounded by a sea of molten metal.
There wasn't a single hint left of the gorilla.
Nephis landed back on the ground, her transformation already undone, then she started walking at a brisk pace.
Just fifteen meters away, at an otherwise unremarkable patch of molten metal, she found what she was looking for.
Her foot came down, and the hollow space cracked open like an egg.
Within, she found a Nightmare Creature. It was small and scrawny, smaller even than the Awakened Beast that had first come through the Gate. The white-furred monkey looked at her with madness, but over everything else, it stared at her with fear as it jumped out of the hole and ran away from her as fast as it could.
It reached twelve paces before [Unity] pierced its chest from behind. The little monkey landed heavily on its stomach, screaming in abject pain as the sword fed on its intestines.
Nephis walked to it calmly, then kicked it upward.
"You did not answer."
The Corrupted Titan looked at her with eyes clouded by fear and pain, not even daring to retaliate against her. She felt its desires then. Killing and feeding on her flame had been at the forefront throughout the battle, but now, it only wanted to be put out of its misery.
Her foot landed on its head, and she started applying pressure.
"Answer me."
The monkey screeched in pain.
She lowered her head to stare dead into its eyes, her voice lowering to a sharp hiss.
"Answer me."
Bone cracked beneath her foot.
The flame within her was so cold she felt like her blood had been turned into ice.
"Answer me."
Like an overripe fruit, the skull gave, spraying blood and brain matter everywhere.
[You have slain a Corrupted Titan, Sage of Steel.]
Nephis took a long look around.
At the ocean of molten steel and glass she had left in her wake. At the deep canyon carved by the Sage, at its weak little body, hiding behind the might of a giant. She stared at her hands last, at her boots, at the blood covering her from head to toe.
She didn't know how long she stared.
Only that the anger was not satisfied.
-------------------------------------------
Her return was met with much fanfare.
The soldiers on the walls cheered the moment she came into view, and in no time, the higher command was informed too.
By the time she arrived back at the Government compound, an impromptu party had been arranged.
She heard the mayor speak about how much of a victory this was. The first Gate of the Nightmare Chain had been closed without a single casualty, even though it was of a higher rank than predicted. He went on to talk about the need for unity, about how, by standing together, they could brave the incoming danger. Then he started praising her, extolling her bravery and strength, and the selflessness that had led her to take charge when nobody expected her to.
Nephis did not bother listening to a single word.
When he finished, the attendants cheered and clapped. Some honestly, most not. She had been close enough to the city for the drones to catch glimpses of her fight against the Titan.
Monstrous, cruel, tyrannical, bloodthirsty, worse than a Nightmare Creature, she heard people calling her, thinking that she couldn't hear them.
The reasonable part of her said that it was as good a chance as any to turn things around. Praise the swift response of the military, without which she might not have arrived in time. Offer sweet words. Be the charismatic, heroic Changing Star she knew herself capable of being.
With every day that passed, more and more of the tiny little stars that symbolized her nascent domain disappeared as the people lost faith in her, after all. It was half its original size already, and there was no sign of it stopping any time soon.
Yes, the smart move now would be to make a friend out of the people in power here. Make friends all over Antarctica. Gather allies, decry the rumors about her as false, improve her image with carefully planned acts of generosity and kindness. That way, she could stop the bleeding, maybe even reverse it.
Nephis couldn't find it in herself to care enough to do it.