Lia was sitting in a control center of sorts, surrounding by magic screens that showed all sorts of views of the grassy plain the mock battle was taking place on. Each screen showed something slightly different, from different angles of the battlefield to simulations of other senses to a screen showing exactly what abilities the combatants were using. Currently, Lilith was using a combination of a few different aura skills at a low output, and judging by Tess’s face, it was having a noticeable effect.
Lia pressed a button that was labeled “begin combat”, and Lilith and Tess’s partywear vanished, their regular gear appearing in its place. To Lia’s surprise, neither seemed to be wearing any heavy-duty armor; Lilith just had a shirt and shorts that had been enchanted to be more durable, while Tess had on a suit that had a whole bunch of enchantments that would activate their effects roughly one percent of the time.
More interesting were the weapons that appeared on Lilith’s waist; they were miniature guns, composed of materials that Lia had never heard of. And, judging by the readouts on one of the screen, they were more like parts of Lilith’s body than separate weapons.
After taking a moment to look over the combatants, Lia leaned over and spoke into a strange black cylinder labeled “field loudspeakers” that Ellie had called a “microphone”. “Um…begin?” She said hesitantly, then turned to Ellie. “They can hear me, right?”
“We can hear you, Lia.” Lilith said, her voice transmitted through a box that was apparently called a “Speaker”. “Tess, would you rather I made the first move, or you? I’m fine with either.”
Tess apparently took umbrage with that, and began to stack a bunch of abilities onto her claws, then roared, using an ability that was supposed to send her opponents into a state of panic. And, even though Lia was separated from Tess and was not included among the ability’s targets, the sound of the roar was something primal, something that dug deep into Lia’s instincts and told her to run. Even Lilith seemed to flinch momentarily, but she remained otherwise impassive.
Tess took the moment to teleport in front of Lilith, but Lilith was somehow ready for it, a tentacle growing out of her body and ensnaring Tess before she connected. Curiously, the creation of the tentacle barely counted as an ability usage; it seemed that, at this point, such a thing was more a property of Lilith’s biology than it was a system-defined ability.
“Not bad.” Lilith said. “You’re a lot faster than I had thought you were going to be. I suppose that just goes to show the difference in our worlds’ strengths.”
Tess didn’t respond, choosing instead to teleport out of Lilith’s grasp. It seemed to be for naught, though; Lilith had somehow seen Tess’s destination and was waiting there to grab Tess again.
“FYI, I can sense where you’re going to appear.” Lilith said, not seeming challenged in the slightest. “I –”
Tess sliced down on the tentacle holding her, the damage taking a second to properly register thanks to a delayed damage skill she was using. But, when it did, it severed the tentacle, freeing Tess and allowing her to move back as she surveyed the damage.
“She’s not going to win.” Rose said matter-of-factly. “She’s simply outclassed.”
“She’s always outclassed.” Ellie said defensively. “That’s her thing; her stats are low, but she makes up for it in other ways.”
Rose shook her head. “Not like that. The quantity and quality of her abilities are simply not enough to handle what Lilith has. Lilith just has too many abilities, and a significant number of those are just as strong if not stronger than Tess’s.”
“How are you so sure?” Maven asked curiously.
Rose tapped a screen near her. “This has a full list of both of their abilities, with the most important ones highlighted. Come take a look.”
Lia walked over to the screen, and began to scroll through Lilith’s abilities. And, as she did, she found that the abilities just kept going. Most of them seemed inconsequential on their own, but there were just so many of them, and the important ones seemed just as powerful as the important ones Tess had.
Ellie and Maven likewise crowded around the screen, and Ellie let out a low whistle when she saw the list. “How many abilities does Lilith have?” She wondered.
The screen went fuzzy for a moment, and then a number appeared on top. “F-five thousand?!” Lia whispered. “How?! Are there even that many abilities?”
“Knowing nothing about her world, there has to be.” Maven said. “While I am not as familiar with this place as you, I doubt that the information it is giving us is inaccurate. At the very least, there are well over five thousand documented abilities in our universe.”
Lia shook her head, deciding to not worry about that for the time being. “Let’s just get back to the fight, I’m sure we’re missing stuff.” She said, looking back at the main screen. To her surprise, it seemed that the two combatants were frozen in time in the moment after Tess had freed herself from Lilith’s grasp.
“Oh, the fight paused.” Ellie said. “Can’t believe the party would do that for such a small thing.”
Rose chuckled. “Lilith, Lia, and I come from about fifty years in your future and that is what you’re hung up on?”
“Well, it doesn’t feel like you come from the future.” Ellie said. “To my knowledge, time manipulation takes a fair bit of Worship, especially if you’re trying to manipulate time for something with Worship. A full time stop for this long is probably crazy expensive.”
“Um, isn’t time stopped in all the universes? Like, for everyone that isn’t at this party?” Lia asked. “I’m sure this is basically free in comparison.”
“Fair, fair.” Ellie said. “But you’re right, we should get back to this. Uh…unpause?”
The fight resumed, Lilith staring down Tess impassively. “Ow.” She said, not sounding hurt in the slightest. “Looks like I was underestimating you a little.” She drew her guns, giving one a twirl as she did. “I thought you weren’t going to be able to give me a real fight until you were older and more trained.”
“Show off.” Ellie harrumphed. “She could at least take this seriously.”
A spider jumped out from somewhere inside Tess’s clothes, but Lilith intercepted it with a gunshot before it even landed. After a moment, the spider appeared on the dashboard, none the worse for wear.
“Sorry, didn’t think she could – eh?” A voice echoed out over the speakers. “Wait, how…”
“It’s fine, Silky!” Tess yelled. “You did your best!”
For a split second, Tess focused her attention inwards, but Lilith was fast enough to react, firing off a shot that barely missed Tess’s arm. “Fight’s still going!” Lilith said far too cheerfully. “I gave you that bit to recover since that whole speaker thing was a bit of a surprise, but I can’t give you all day!”
A wall of earth erupted between Tess and Lilith, and Tess ran backwards before becoming encased in a giant hill that came out of the ground. And then…the action paused, once again.
“This button just appeared.” Rose said, motioning at a button that said “Power-up (Tess)”. “Do you think we press it? I think it would be more interesting if we pressed it.”
“Yes!” Ellie said immediately. “It’ll probably simulate Descent, and that’s pretty important for this sort of fight.”
“Remind me what Descent is?” Lia asked.
“Our patron god inhabits our body and fights as one with us, allowing us to use their powers as our own.” Maven supplied. “For Tess, it means her infinite Luck stat applies to everything, not just status effects and the like.”
“I’m hitting it, then.” Rose said. “Unless anyone has an objection.”
After a moment of silence, she went ahead and pressed the button, and the screens fuzzed again. When they updated, they showed that it was, in fact, Fortune herself appearing, and not just a simulation of her Descent.
“So, Tess wins now, right?” Lia said. “Lilith is powerful, but a god is a god. I have a hard time believing Lilith could overcome that.”
Rose smiled faintly. “No, I still give her the edge. I think you have forgotten, since she used the term “Higher Being” instead of god, but Lilith is just as much of a god as Fortune. More of a god, actually, since she is, as Tess said, pulling double or triple duty.”
“You haven’t seen Fortune’s Descent.” Ellie said. “She’s essentially invincible. I think you’ll be surprised.”
Rose maintained that slight smile. “We’ll see about that.” She said. “Let’s resume this, shall we?”
Time resumed once again, and Tess’s expression went through a series of emotions, surprise, relief, and then, as Lilith tunneled through the wall in a worm-like shape, shock.
“Oh, is this the god you’re working for?” Lilith asked. “Pleased to meet you, my name’s Lilith.”
“Likewise.” Fortune replied. “I’m Fortune. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of you going easy on us?”
Lilith gave them a cocky grin. “I’m only using as much strength as I feel is necessary to win, if that counts.”
“Good enough, I suppose. Let’s go, then.” Fortune said. As if on cue, a spiderweb of cracks spread out from the tunnel Lilith had made, and the hill that had sprung up around Tess collapsed in on itself, a perfectly circular area around Tess remaining completely untouched.
As Tess and Fortune scaled the slope, Ellie gave the other spectators a smug smile. “See? Just by existing she shuts her opponent down. The very laws of the universe contort to favor her.”
“Keep watching.” Rose said.
Lilith popped out from underneath the soil with no apparent effort. “Ah, you’re kind of like Isa.” She said, seemingly unconcerned. “Annoying, that. Suppose we’re going to be doing hand to hand combat, then.” She holstered her guns and began blitzing forward, easily dodging loose patches of dirt that had not been there before.
Tess and Fortune cast a series of small spells as they stacked up their claw abilities again, adding a great deal of chaos to the battlefield. Yet, Lilith was somehow able to handle each bit of chaos; even if she had to slow down a little, she drew inexorably closer to Tess.
A sudden storm had blown in, and through the screens Lia could see that a mass of hypercharged lightning was building up, a strange energy pulsing through it. It discharged, but Lilith was able to react, her body taking on a rubbery sheen as the bolt struck, leaving only minor marks in its wake.
The rubber faded from Lilith’s skin, a thick black carapace replacing it. She had closed the distance to Tess now, and her hand had morphed into a large cudgel, which she slammed downwards at Tess.
Tess attempted to block with a clawed hand, but the claws shattered with a loud crack, all of the shrapnel choosing to fly towards Lilith despite all logic indicating that it should have done otherwise.
Tess, though she seemed surprised, swung her other set of claws down at Lilith, only for an absolutely awful screech to ring out, a barrier of innumerable impossibly-shaped symbols stopping her blow cold. Tess’s delayed damage ability activated, and then Tess burst into flame, taking what appeared to be all the damage her attack would have done.
“Huh?” Maven said. “How…those claws were from one of the toughest monsters in our universe. They should be stronger than…whatever Lilith can make. And that barrier…”
Rose chuckled. “As I said, you shouldn’t discount her. Eldritch abilities are far more powerful than traditional abilities, and it seems she has nearly flawlessly integrated them into her very being. And, might I remind you, she has yet to use any ability that requires Worship; she likely has multiple abilities on the level of Fortune that she has yet to reveal.”
“I may have underestimated her.” Ellie said begrudgingly. “I assumed she was just talking big.”
Time froze once again, a soft glow directed the group’s attention to the console. Another button had appeared, this one reading “Call in reinforcements for Tess”.
“I think that’s us.” Ellie said, sharing a glance with Maven. “Do it, I’m tired of watching from the sidelines.”
“I likewise find it frustrating that she has yet to take this seriously.” Maven admitted. “Perhaps this will force her to.”
Lia nodded, pressing the button and watching as Ellie and Maven appeared on the screen, the readouts indicating that they were both in Descent, Ellie with a god named Life, and Maven with a god named Dungeons.
“Oh, hey.” A new voice said, causing Lia to jump. “It’s the party thing. I assume some sort of mock battle is going on, since Life and I got called here?”
The woman, a short human wearing bright clothing, looked around the room. “Oh, no one I know is here. Uh, my name’s Death, I share Ellie as my Appointed with Life.”
“I am Rose.” Rose replied. “To answer your question, yes, we are having a spar. Tess was fighting a woman named Lilith, the only Higher Being of an Administrator named Kali. And Lilith, as well as Lia and myself, are from roughly fifty years in your future.”
“Um, I’m Lia.” Lia said. “Tess was losing, and we’ve been progressively allowing her more power. First it was Fortune, and then Ellie and Maven as reinforcements.”
Understanding dawned on Death’s face. “Oh, she must be that High Arbiter Kali was talking about. Yeah, I can see why Tess was losing, she isn’t prepared for a fight like that yet.”
“For what it’s worth, Lilith says she thinks she would lose to Tess’s party if she were to fight them as they are in her time.” Lia added.
Death nodded sagely. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Still…my money’s on her, even with reinforcements. She’s got experience and strength over each of her opponents.”
“I concur.” Rose agreed. “Shall we see how it plays out?”
Death gave another nod. “Please.”
Time resumed, Ellie appearing in front of Tess while Maven appeared a ways to their rear. Ellie threw a hand back, and a pulse of healing washed out from it, fully healing Tess.
“Oh?” Lilith said, raising a brow. “More of you?”
“We wanted to see a fairer fight.” Ellie said, the voice of a man that could only be Life overlayed with her own. “And the four of us are apparently the ticket. Maven, Dungeons, don’t forget that Lilith is a dungeon herself!”
“Yeah, we weren’t forgetting anytime soon.” Maven and Dungeons responded, face screwed up in concentration as they sent a barrage of magical attacks at Lilith. “One problem with that, we can’t do anything to her!”
“Oh, you’re doing things to me alright.” Lilith replied, her voice showing strain for the first time in the entire fight. “This is supremely uncomfortable.”
Lilith cast a lightning-quick teleport, backing up a ways and drawing her guns. “Alright then…I doubt this will work, but it’s worth a shot.” Though they didn’t change in appearance, the screens indicated that Lilith’s guns were being modified in real time, bullets appearing in the chamber as they did.
Lilith fired both guns, a large boom announcing the action. One bullet was aimed squarely at Tess, while the other went for Maven, but Ellie was able to use a skill to draw away the bullet going for Tess, and Tess’s aura of chaos was enough to throw off the trajectory of the other so that it missed Maven.
Lilith fired a third shot, aimed straight at Ellie, and this one struck true. The pull of her Ellie’s skill drew it straight to her shield, but the bullet punctured it like it was made of paper and buried itself into Ellie’s arm.
Lilith was doing something with her guns, but Lia’s attention was drawn away by the bullet within Ellie; it had cracked open like a seed, spreading its material by consuming Ellie’s blood. She was quick on a healing spell, expelling the bullet from her body and brutally mangling her arm before healing it right back up.
Death gave a low whistle. “Nasty stuff.” She said. “I’d hate to be on the receiving end of that.”
“Ellie, Life, heal us in five seconds!” Tess and Fortune shouted, bringing a clawed hand up to their throat. Lia watched in horror as they slit their own throat, a geyser of blood erupting from the wound only to completely dry up a moment later. Then Ellie’s heal impacted them, fully healing them as they began to chant what appeared to be a massively destructive spell.
It was at that moment that Lilith chose to fire her gun, having merged the two into one single, massive gun. With a bright flash of light and a sound more akin to a cannon than a gun, a massive bullet slammed into Ellie’s shield, a burst of Mana pulsing out into the shield and crumpling it around itself before bulldozing into Ellie.
Ellie was sent flying like a ragdoll, the screen showing the sheer magnitude of her injuries; most of her bones were fractured or broken, she was bleeding in several places where the sharp metal of the crumpled shield had punctured her, and there were several spots of internal bleeding as well. Yet, somehow, she survived, a sliver of health allowing her to stagger to her feet and throw away her now useless shield before casting a spell to heal her completely
“You’re still alive?” Lilith said. “Impress –” She was cut off, a momentary lapse in her concentration allowing Maven and Dungeons to worm their way into her and attempt to mold her body to their liking. Lilith resisted, though her skin writhed as if several monsters had burrowed into her and were moving around.
Tess and Fortune continued their chant, and just as it seemed that Lilith was gearing up to fully get herself under control, time stopped, and another button appeared, this time reading “Call in Lilith’s other selves”.
“She can do more?” Lia asked, morbidly curious. “I assumed that she could only focus her power on one of her selves at a time.”
Rose paused. “I suppose it’s another aspect of the eldritch being unfair.” She said. “Do we?”
Death shrugged. “Honestly, I think she’s still going to win, but I want to see the full extent of what she can do. You have apparently powered up Tess twice now, it’s only fair that Lilith gets one.”
Rose hit the button, resuming time. A massive surge of mental fortitude hit Lilith, allowing her to fully shake off Maven’s influence. “It looks like the kid gloves are off.” Lilith said, grinning widely.
Two figured appeared next to Lilith, one was a nearly identical copy, but the other was an angel child in a blood-red dress, holding a pair of incongruously large swords. And, to Lia’s fascination and slight horror, it appeared that each of them was as powerful as Lilith herself, and Lilith’s already high stats had doubled, leaving her head and shoulders more powerful than anyone else on the field.
“Yeah, it’s over.” Death said. “No shot Lilith can lose this now.”
The three Liliths shared a look, then dashed off, each aiming for a separate person. The main body went for Maven, her clone for Ellie, and the child for Tess. Time seemed to slow, Lilith’s other selves, Ellie, and Tess freezing in place as Lilith’s main body went for Maven.
Lilith arrived in the blink of an eye, levelling the massive gun at Maven’s face, a bullet practically oozing with Mana and something else loaded into the chamber. “Sorry, but playtime’s over.” She said, firing the gun at Maven.
Maven and Dungeons quickly created a small dungeon between themselves and Lilith, distorting the space and compressing it to a degree such that the bullet shouldn’t be able to reach them, but the bullet didn’t seem to care, punching through the space that had been created and hitting Maven squarely in the chest. The damage it dealt was…otherworldly, the total coming out to over five times Maven’s maximum HP, and she was instantly executed.
She appeared a moment later in the observation room, a tall woman that must have been Dungeons appearing with her. Death walked over and gave the both of them a pat on the back, a small smile on her face. “Good work out there.” She said. “You did pretty well.”
Maven shook her head. “After those others appeared, we were powerless.” She said. “I cannot call that “pretty well” by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Well, by that point there was nothing any of us could really do.” Death said. “That bullet would have killed me, and I’m not supposed to be able to die. I don’t know exactly what she put into it, but it’s not normal, that’s for sure.”
“Was time stopped for the others for you?” Lia asked curiously. “Only you and the main Lilith were moving for us.”
“No.” Dungeons said. “It moved completely as normal. This place is known to play fast and loose with time, it likely did that for your viewing experience.”
“How are the others faring?” Maven asked.
Lia directed her attention back to the screen, which focused in on Ellie and the clone of Lilith, Nuwa, as the screen labeled her. The fight was one sided and brutal; Nuwa attacked in all sorts of strange ways, morphing her own body to use it as a weapon. A limb was taken with a blow from a scythe-like appendage sprouting from a tentacle that curved under Ellie’s sword, ribs were shattered with the club Lilith had made earlier in the fight, and all the while Ellie was peppered with spikes that shot out from Nuwa’s body. The only reason Ellie didn’t die within the first few seconds was her ability to nigh-instantly fully heal her injuries.
Still, each time she healed, Nuwa attacked her in some other unexpected fashion, and Ellie was trapped in a perpetual loop of damage. After a short while, Lilith’s main body appeared and Nuwa pinned Ellie, allowing Lilith to line up a headshot with another of those bullets, instantly killing her and causing her and Life to appear in the observation room.
“That was…embarrassing.” Ellie said. “What was I supposed to do there? Maybe if Death was Descending and I was immune to death I could have ignored the wounds made something happen, but we needed Life’s healing to keep everyone else from dying too.”
“Wouldn’t have worked.” Death said. “That last bullet would have killed us. I don’t know exactly what’s in it, but I can tell that it wouldn’t really have cared about that ability. It certainly didn’t care about Dungeons’ dungeon.”
Ellie drooped. “Well, I just look like a fool now, don’t I? I was talking all big about how Tess had a shot, and all six of us couldn’t beat her. I guess if she hadn’t received that backup, we could have made it work, but I’m not even sure about that.”
“Sorry.” Death said. “I really wanted to know what she was like at full power.”
“It’s only fair, we powered Tess up twice.” Ellie said. “Doesn’t make it less humiliating, though.”
“Speaking of, she’s the only one left.” Death said, nodding at the screen. “It appears time has staggered itself here so we can watch each individual conflict.
Time unfroze, and the child, Eve, according to the screen, was letting out a few extremely strong intimidation abilities, enough to cause Tess and Fortune to falter in their chant. As she rushed towards them, she just flat out ignored the effects of Fortune’s Descent, taking any injury straight to the face, and morphing her body so that sudden hazards missed her. And in only a few moments she was up close, swinging her swords down at Tess.
One of the swords was relatively easily blocked, but the other sheared off the blocking claws, moving through them as if they weren’t even there and leaving a slight gash in Tess’s arm. And yet, that slight gash, not even large enough to require any sort of advanced healing, put Tess on death’s door. Lia shuddered at the thought of taking a proper blow from that sword; even with her Title, she had a feeling that it would kill her outright.
“Oh, that thing is nasty.” Death said. “Like, really nasty. I have to get a look at that later.”
A wave of Ellie’s healing came from outside, washing over Tess and not quite healing the wound. Tess looked briefly to the side, the frozen image of Ellie and Lilith’s clone shifting, showing Ellie missing an arm as the clone stood over her. Not missing a beat, Eve swung her sword down, giving Tess a cold look. “Don’t get distracted.” She said.
Tess attempted to teleport out of the way, but Eve released a gargantuan wave of Mana, stopping the ability by simply keeping the Mana from getting to its destination. Her sword continued its arc downwards, and it would have been a killing blow if not for a spirit that erupted out of Tess, casting a spell that threw Tess backwards. The spirit took the blow in Tess’s place, and unceremoniously died, appearing beside the spider in the observation room.
“Good job, Isabella.” Ellie said. “You really helped out there.”
“Thank you.” Isabella replied quietly.
Back on the screen Tess struggled back to her feet, but Eve was already on her, tackling her to the ground and pinning her with a strength that her childlike body should not have been able to exert. “Yield.” She commanded, placing that nasty sword against Tess’s neck. “You’re not beating me, and I’d rather not hurt you more than I have to.”
“I…” Tess glanced over, first at the space where Maven would have been, and then over at Ellie, where Lilith’s main body was about to arrive.
“Well?” Eve asked impatiently. “Five seconds before I take your head off.”
“I yield.” Tess said, closing her eyes. And, just like that, she appeared back in the observation room, Fortune beside her.
“Good job, you guys.” Rose said. “You held out a lot longer than Lia and I would have.”
Lia shuddered involuntarily as she thought about attempting to fight Lilith. “She’s a monster.” She whispered. “I knew she was tough, but…” She trailed off, letting the implication hang.
“In all fairness, the whole idea behind me in the first place was to be as strong as possible while completely ignoring any semblance of balance.” Lilith said. “And the three of them are not anywhere near their full potential yet. I’m sure that, were I to fight the three of them from the present, I’d be absolutely destroyed.”
“How far in the future are you?” Fortune asked.
“Fifty years, give or take.” Lilith replied. “Though I like to think that whoever is from the furthest in the future is from the “real” present, and I’m sure someone at this party is farther ahead in the timeline than me.”
“Jerry looked into this phenomenon at one of these parties.” Life mused. “I believe his conclusion was that all times people are from are equally the present. He had some reasoning that escapes me at the moment, but it boiled down to not being able to apply the normal rules to this space.
“And, though attempting to teach you anything is a pointless endeavor due to the nature of this place, I would suggest you three treat this as a lesson; Descents are the bare minimum for combat if you are to engage Higher Beings in combat, not the instant victory they are in normal situations.”
“It’s like…I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s not fair in the same way normal combat is fair.” Death said, having hopped up on a counter. “Everyone’s got some stupid busted ability, and you basically have to be a Higher Being or otherwise infused with a lot of Worship to even have a shot at resisting those.”
Eve nodded. “I’m also well suited for this style of combat.” She explained. “I basically double or triple dipped on Worship, so I’m more resistant than normal to whatever “unfair” stuff other Higher Beings have.” She paused for a moment, then looked as if she recalled something.
“Right. I’m Eve, she’s Nuwa,” Eve said, motioning towards Nuwa, “and you can’t see her, but Mae is in Lilith’s head as our resident numbers gal slash supercomputer. We’re all alternate personalities of Lilith, but are treated as the same person for the purpose of Skills and stuff.”
To be precise, I am distributed around all parts of her body in order to maximize processing power. A voice rang out in Lia’s mind. It is good to meet you.
“Wait, if you can do that double dip or whatever, why doesn’t everyone do it?” Lia asked. “Seems like a no-brainer.”
“I…don’t know, actually.” Eve admitted. “I never really thought about it.”
“I have.” Dungeons said. “Usually, it’s a matter of numbers. Creating a new Higher Being is expensive, and they usually perform a vital task for the planes they oversee. Not many people are able to mentally handle such strain, and I believe Lilith only can because of her unique circumstances.
“The offensive benefits of such an endeavor are usually low, too; their resistance to other tampering increases, but outside of a few cases, each individual ability they possess does not become harder to resist. And, as combat between Higher Beings only occurs in the wars for planes, it is often seen as wasteful to put all your eggs in one basket for an event that only happens infrequently, especially when it results in such an increased workload to the Higher Being. Lilith is the exception to this rule, however, being able to split her mind as she has.”
Lilith shrugged. “Eldritch stuff may have poor compatibility with most people, but my whole schtick is being compatible with everything, so I get to use it worry-free. Anyway…what was with those mid-fight powerups? At the end there, it was a very different fight to what we set out to try.”
“I wanted to see both of you put your full potential out there.” Rose volunteered. “Though…perhaps your capabilities were not as fully tested as I thought they would be.”
“Yeah, you didn’t seem to be using anything expressly unfair.” Ellie said. “Except for that one time you reflected Tess’s attack. Surely, you’ve got something, right?”
“Much of it isn’t great for this kind of friendly fight,” Lilith said, “and what is isn’t flashy. I have lots of stat increases, ways to steal abilities or permanently seal the abilities of my foes, and even an instant-kill if I’m willing to either spend enough Worship or dip into my own health to do it. I didn’t want to try that last one, since it’s a bit risky and I’m not sure it would even work against you all.”
“And I mostly command monsters.” Eve added. “Not that they allowed me any of mine.”
“They wouldn’t have been much help.” Nuwa said quietly. “They don’t have any Worship in them, except for Saria, and she doesn’t have enough to make a huge difference. Tess and Fortune alone likely would have shut them down by just existing.”
“What was with that sword of yours, by the way?” Fortune asked. “I haven’t seen anything quite like it.”
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” Eve said, drawing the sword out from some unseen place and very gingerly setting it down on a table. “Perfect Chimeras are every species at once, so some genius got the idea to make a material specifically geared at combating them. This sword is…special, though. It was the first of these weapons to be produced, and people have already built up a mythos surrounding it. I’m pretty sure that like…I dunno, almost meets the criteria for it getting Worship? It doesn’t have any, yeah, but it definitely feels like…more than a normal weapon.”
“It is not uncommon for particularly notable weapons to obtain some power from how they are perceived.” Life said. “Though I must admit that I have never seen one with quite as deadly a base as that get the treatment.”
“To be honest, I can’t even touch the blade without gloves.” Eve admitted. “If I do, I get horribly burnt and it takes way longer than it should to heal. The only reason I even use it is because I can safely take it out of reach of anyone but me at a moment’s notice, otherwise that thing would stay locked up until the end of time. Not worth carrying my one weakness with me and all that.”
“May I?” Death asked, motioning towards the sword. “Oh, I’m Death, by the way. Life and I share Ellie as our appointed, two sides of the same coin and all that.”
“Go ahead.” Eve said. “Just be careful with it. I’m guessing this party won’t let you hurt yourself too much, but I don’t like to take risks with that thing.”
Death carefully picked up the sword, then stepped back from the others and gave it a few test swings. “Man do I wish I had this thing when I was making the Blades of Death.” She said approvingly. “I totally would have co-opted it into one of them.”
“Mind if I take a look at these blades?” Eve asked curiously. “I want to see how they stack up.”
“Knock yourself out. They’re not as good as your sword, but they also don’t have like…a story to them yet, so they don’t have that weird power bump. Give it a few hundred years or a particularly bloody conflict and they might well rival this thing.” Death said, a set of swords materializing on the table where Eve’s sword had laid previously.
She picked up the swords, absentmindedly growing another pair of arms so she had a hand for each of the four swords. “To tell you the truth, I would absolutely trade you if I could.” She admitted. “That thing is much too dangerous to me specifically, and it’s usually overkill anyway. These swords are much more fit for general use.”
“How did you get this thing storied so quickly, anyway?” Death asked. “It only feels a few years old.”
“A combination of a lot of things.” Eve said. “For one, it killed another of our personalities, and for two it’s kinda like the first atomic bomb in how it changed the dynamic of warfare. The fact that I’ve been publicly using it to great effect helps, too. We’re at a turning point in our planes, the kind of time when legends are made. It was the perfect storm, so to speak.”
“What is an atomic bomb?” Lia asked quietly. “And this sword killed one of you?” She had a hard time believing that; three gods weren’t enough to make Lilith even struggle, one normal person with a sword had no chance against her.
“She got better.” Eve said nonchalantly. “Very long story, but the short version is that the ‘main’ personality –”
“Inasmuch as any of us can be called a main or side personality anymore.” Lilith interrupted.
“The main personality,” Eve continued, rolling her eyes, “was actually split from a previous soul that Kali messed up in reincarnating. And that other personality that died was the other half. She let herself get killed so the two could merge, becoming the Lilith you see before you today.”
“And, to answer your other question,” Lilith said, not giving Eve time to continue, “an atom bomb is an incredibly destructive weapon constructed entirely without magic, one strong enough to wipe an entire city off the map with one firing.”
“That strong?” Tess asked doubtfully. “I know bombs can level a building or two, but an entire city?”
“That strong.” Death confirmed. “We’ve very deliberately prevented that technology from being researched in any sort of detail; there are no good outcomes when nuclear weapons are involved, and the positives can be easily replicated with magic.” She paused, looking at Lilith. “Did they get any stronger since our day? Were they used again?”
Lilith sighed. “Estimates put us at three thousand times stronger before magic was involved, and five to six times that now that people have begun to incorporate magic.”
Life shuddered. “You do have plans to curb their development, yes?” He asked. “This seems…excessive.”
“Eventually.” Lilith confirmed. “Once things stabilize.”
“Um…” Lia interjected, “don’t you guys do like…wars for new planes or something? Surely these bombs would be helpful there, right?”
“No.” Lilith said. “Most Higher Beings have ways to survive a nuclear weapon, and they can leave the land where they detonate uninhabitable for a long time to come. As Death said, there are no good outcomes when nuclear weaponry is involved.”
“But that’s a downer of a topic.” Fortune said, clapping her hands. “We’re at a party, let’s have a little fun with it! First off, introductions. I’m the god of Fortune, resident cool lady and the god Tess is an Appointed of.”
Everyone went around one by one and introduced themselves, and, once they had, Fortune began to speak again. “So, what’s on the agenda? More mock battles? Ooh, or maybe we could run a trial dungeon as a group!”
“That’s a thing here?” Ellie asked.
“Everything’s a thing here, as long as it’s entertaining.” Fortune said, waving a hand dismissively. “Though I can’t guarantee it’ll be much like the dungeons we know.”
“I…think I’ll have to pass on that.” Lia said quietly. After the show she had just seen, there was no way she would be anything but a hindrance. “I’m afraid I won’t be of much use when all of you are around.”
“Nonsense.” Fortune said. “Anything is possible here, we can easily standardize our abilities so everyone has a –” She cut off, disappearing from existence abruptly.
A quick look around revealed that the other gods and Lilith’s Parallels had disappeared as well, as had Silky and Isabella.
“I suppose they didn’t have a proper invitation, and their time here was limited.” Rose said. “A shame, but a smaller group is likely better for the time being, I think Lia was getting a bit overwhelmed.”
Lia nodded. “Sorry.” She said. “I know they’re important to you. And…literally you, I think?” She looked at Lilith, frowning slightly. She still was having a hard time wrapping her head around the exact relationship between Lilith and her alternate personalities; Lilith claimed that they were essentially separate people, but the other personalities seemed as if they were content to be treated as if they were lesser, or, at the very least, significantly more reliant on Lilith than Lilith claimed.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Lilith sighed. “I know it’s confusing, sorry. It sort of comes with the territory of technically being an eldritch abomination.”
“Eldritch?” Lia asked, frown deepening. “The word’s been thrown around a couple of times but I’m not quite sure what it means.”
“A very esoteric section, forbidden section of magic.” Rose explained. “While it brings great power, those who use it tend to go insane.”
“It only even works for me because of the way I am.” Lilith said. “When your whole schtick is compatibility with everything, you get a lot of leeway in things like this. Up to and including the systems of other universes, though we haven’t tested that much. Just had a brief moment in their universe,” Lilith said, motioning to Tess and Ellie, “and then Amy shut it down.”
“Really?” Ellie asked. “What did your stats translate to?”
“Gibberish.” Lilith replied. “All my stats and growths had decimal portions, my level wasn’t even a number and was glitched out, as were Skills, Classes, and Titles. As Amy said, it was very broken.”
“But you did have numbers, right?” Ellie pressed. “What were they?”
“Fifteen hundred on the low end, twenty four hundred on the high end.” Lilith replied. “But I don’t think you should put much stock in those numbers, your system threw a fit and wasn’t handling me correctly. What’s the normal range?”
“For someone level forty to fifty? Two hundred and fiftyish.” Ellie replied. “The maximum growth you can get is ten, or one hundred for resources, and the highest leveled person on our planes is…level one sixty, I think? And his highest stat is only about fifteen hundred and fifty, so I think you might well have higher stats than would even be possible in our universe.”
Lilith shrugged. “Again, don’t put too much stock in those numbers. If my lowest is that close to your universe’s highest, then the details have to be wrong. What level are you guys?”
“Late thirties, early forties.” Ellie said. “I have the best stat spread and Tess has nearly the worst, so we’re not exactly good reference points, Maven would be better.”
“True as that may be, you did not move like someone with that much Agility would move, unless you were holding back significantly at the end.” Maven added.
Lilith shook her head. “I was holding back a little bit, but not a lot.”
“Then, yes, the stats you saw were indeed incorrect.” Maven said. “While my eye is still somewhat untrained, I would not estimate your Agility to be greater than one thousand.”
“Sounds about right.” Lilith said. “So, for real, what’s next?”
“Cards?” Lia offered. “I don’t feel like doing anything too physical at the moment.”
“I’m down to play cards.” Ellie replied.
And, after everyone else said they were fine with cards, they did. After cards they did a couple more activities, and as they were moving between them, Tess, Ellie, and Maven disappeared. “Looks like it’s time to go.” Lilith said. “Pleasure hanging out with you again, Lia. Hopefully we’ll see each other next time, too.”
“I think I would like that. I would like to…” Lia trailed off as Lilith vanished mid-sentence. “Oh.”
And, before they had time to process that, they too were whisked away. Lia and Rose were snuggling again, having forgotten everything they had just experienced.
Lia was sitting in a control center of sorts, surrounding by magic screens that showed all sorts of views of the grassy plain the mock battle was taking place on. Each screen showed something slightly different, from different angles of the battlefield to simulations of other senses to a screen showing exactly what abilities the combatants were using. Currently, Lilith was using a combination of a few different aura skills at a low output, and judging by Tess’s face, it was having a noticeable effect.
Lia pressed a button that was labeled “begin combat”, and Lilith and Tess’s partywear vanished, their regular gear appearing in its place. To Lia’s surprise, neither seemed to be wearing any heavy-duty armor; Lilith just had a shirt and shorts that had been enchanted to be more durable, while Tess had on a suit that had a whole bunch of enchantments that would activate their effects roughly one percent of the time.
More interesting were the weapons that appeared on Lilith’s waist; they were miniature guns, composed of materials that Lia had never heard of. And, judging by the readouts on one of the screen, they were more like parts of Lilith’s body than separate weapons.
After taking a moment to look over the combatants, Lia leaned over and spoke into a strange black cylinder labeled “field loudspeakers” that Ellie had called a “microphone”. “Um…begin?” She said hesitantly, then turned to Ellie. “They can hear me, right?”
“We can hear you, Lia.” Lilith said, her voice transmitted through a box that was apparently called a “Speaker”. “Tess, would you rather I made the first move, or you? I’m fine with either.”
Tess apparently took umbrage with that, and began to stack a bunch of abilities onto her claws, then roared, using an ability that was supposed to send her opponents into a state of panic. And, even though Lia was separated from Tess and was not included among the ability’s targets, the sound of the roar was something primal, something that dug deep into Lia’s instincts and told her to run. Even Lilith seemed to flinch momentarily, but she remained otherwise impassive.
Tess took the moment to teleport in front of Lilith, but Lilith was somehow ready for it, a tentacle growing out of her body and ensnaring Tess before she connected. Curiously, the creation of the tentacle barely counted as an ability usage; it seemed that, at this point, such a thing was more a property of Lilith’s biology than it was a system-defined ability.
“Not bad.” Lilith said. “You’re a lot faster than I had thought you were going to be. I suppose that just goes to show the difference in our worlds’ strengths.”
Tess didn’t respond, choosing instead to teleport out of Lilith’s grasp. It seemed to be for naught, though; Lilith had somehow seen Tess’s destination and was waiting there to grab Tess again.
“FYI, I can sense where you’re going to appear.” Lilith said, not seeming challenged in the slightest. “I –”
Tess sliced down on the tentacle holding her, the damage taking a second to properly register thanks to a delayed damage skill she was using. But, when it did, it severed the tentacle, freeing Tess and allowing her to move back as she surveyed the damage.
“She’s not going to win.” Rose said matter-of-factly. “She’s simply outclassed.”
“She’s always outclassed.” Ellie said defensively. “That’s her thing; her stats are low, but she makes up for it in other ways.”
Rose shook her head. “Not like that. The quantity and quality of her abilities are simply not enough to handle what Lilith has. Lilith just has too many abilities, and a significant number of those are just as strong if not stronger than Tess’s.”
“How are you so sure?” Maven asked curiously.
Rose tapped a screen near her. “This has a full list of both of their abilities, with the most important ones highlighted. Come take a look.”
Lia walked over to the screen, and began to scroll through Lilith’s abilities. And, as she did, she found that the abilities just kept going. Most of them seemed inconsequential on their own, but there were just so many of them, and the important ones seemed just as powerful as the important ones Tess had.
Ellie and Maven likewise crowded around the screen, and Ellie let out a low whistle when she saw the list. “How many abilities does Lilith have?” She wondered.
The screen went fuzzy for a moment, and then a number appeared on top. “F-five thousand?!” Lia whispered. “How?! Are there even that many abilities?”
“Knowing nothing about her world, there has to be.” Maven said. “While I am not as familiar with this place as you, I doubt that the information it is giving us is inaccurate. At the very least, there are well over five thousand documented abilities in our universe.”
Lia shook her head, deciding to not worry about that for the time being. “Let’s just get back to the fight, I’m sure we’re missing stuff.” She said, looking back at the main screen. To her surprise, it seemed that the two combatants were frozen in time in the moment after Tess had freed herself from Lilith’s grasp.
“Oh, the fight paused.” Ellie said. “Can’t believe the party would do that for such a small thing.”
Rose chuckled. “Lilith, Lia, and I come from about fifty years in your future and that is what you’re hung up on?”
“Well, it doesn’t feel like you come from the future.” Ellie said. “To my knowledge, time manipulation takes a fair bit of Worship, especially if you’re trying to manipulate time for something with Worship. A full time stop for this long is probably crazy expensive.”
“Um, isn’t time stopped in all the universes? Like, for everyone that isn’t at this party?” Lia asked. “I’m sure this is basically free in comparison.”
“Fair, fair.” Ellie said. “But you’re right, we should get back to this. Uh…unpause?”
The fight resumed, Lilith staring down Tess impassively. “Ow.” She said, not sounding hurt in the slightest. “Looks like I was underestimating you a little.” She drew her guns, giving one a twirl as she did. “I thought you weren’t going to be able to give me a real fight until you were older and more trained.”
“Show off.” Ellie harrumphed. “She could at least take this seriously.”
A spider jumped out from somewhere inside Tess’s clothes, but Lilith intercepted it with a gunshot before it even landed. After a moment, the spider appeared on the dashboard, none the worse for wear.
“Sorry, didn’t think she could – eh?” A voice echoed out over the speakers. “Wait, how…”
“It’s fine, Silky!” Tess yelled. “You did your best!”
For a split second, Tess focused her attention inwards, but Lilith was fast enough to react, firing off a shot that barely missed Tess’s arm. “Fight’s still going!” Lilith said far too cheerfully. “I gave you that bit to recover since that whole speaker thing was a bit of a surprise, but I can’t give you all day!”
A wall of earth erupted between Tess and Lilith, and Tess ran backwards before becoming encased in a giant hill that came out of the ground. And then…the action paused, once again.
“This button just appeared.” Rose said, motioning at a button that said “Power-up (Tess)”. “Do you think we press it? I think it would be more interesting if we pressed it.”
“Yes!” Ellie said immediately. “It’ll probably simulate Descent, and that’s pretty important for this sort of fight.”
“Remind me what Descent is?” Lia asked.
“Our patron god inhabits our body and fights as one with us, allowing us to use their powers as our own.” Maven supplied. “For Tess, it means her infinite Luck stat applies to everything, not just status effects and the like.”
“I’m hitting it, then.” Rose said. “Unless anyone has an objection.”
After a moment of silence, she went ahead and pressed the button, and the screens fuzzed again. When they updated, they showed that it was, in fact, Fortune herself appearing, and not just a simulation of her Descent.
“So, Tess wins now, right?” Lia said. “Lilith is powerful, but a god is a god. I have a hard time believing Lilith could overcome that.”
Rose smiled faintly. “No, I still give her the edge. I think you have forgotten, since she used the term “Higher Being” instead of god, but Lilith is just as much of a god as Fortune. More of a god, actually, since she is, as Tess said, pulling double or triple duty.”
“You haven’t seen Fortune’s Descent.” Ellie said. “She’s essentially invincible. I think you’ll be surprised.”
Rose maintained that slight smile. “We’ll see about that.” She said. “Let’s resume this, shall we?”
Time resumed once again, and Tess’s expression went through a series of emotions, surprise, relief, and then, as Lilith tunneled through the wall in a worm-like shape, shock.
“Oh, is this the god you’re working for?” Lilith asked. “Pleased to meet you, my name’s Lilith.”
“Likewise.” Fortune replied. “I’m Fortune. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of you going easy on us?”
Lilith gave them a cocky grin. “I’m only using as much strength as I feel is necessary to win, if that counts.”
“Good enough, I suppose. Let’s go, then.” Fortune said. As if on cue, a spiderweb of cracks spread out from the tunnel Lilith had made, and the hill that had sprung up around Tess collapsed in on itself, a perfectly circular area around Tess remaining completely untouched.
As Tess and Fortune scaled the slope, Ellie gave the other spectators a smug smile. “See? Just by existing she shuts her opponent down. The very laws of the universe contort to favor her.”
“Keep watching.” Rose said.
Lilith popped out from underneath the soil with no apparent effort. “Ah, you’re kind of like Isa.” She said, seemingly unconcerned. “Annoying, that. Suppose we’re going to be doing hand to hand combat, then.” She holstered her guns and began blitzing forward, easily dodging loose patches of dirt that had not been there before.
Tess and Fortune cast a series of small spells as they stacked up their claw abilities again, adding a great deal of chaos to the battlefield. Yet, Lilith was somehow able to handle each bit of chaos; even if she had to slow down a little, she drew inexorably closer to Tess.
A sudden storm had blown in, and through the screens Lia could see that a mass of hypercharged lightning was building up, a strange energy pulsing through it. It discharged, but Lilith was able to react, her body taking on a rubbery sheen as the bolt struck, leaving only minor marks in its wake.
The rubber faded from Lilith’s skin, a thick black carapace replacing it. She had closed the distance to Tess now, and her hand had morphed into a large cudgel, which she slammed downwards at Tess.
Tess attempted to block with a clawed hand, but the claws shattered with a loud crack, all of the shrapnel choosing to fly towards Lilith despite all logic indicating that it should have done otherwise.
Tess, though she seemed surprised, swung her other set of claws down at Lilith, only for an absolutely awful screech to ring out, a barrier of innumerable impossibly-shaped symbols stopping her blow cold. Tess’s delayed damage ability activated, and then Tess burst into flame, taking what appeared to be all the damage her attack would have done.
“Huh?” Maven said. “How…those claws were from one of the toughest monsters in our universe. They should be stronger than…whatever Lilith can make. And that barrier…”
Rose chuckled. “As I said, you shouldn’t discount her. Eldritch abilities are far more powerful than traditional abilities, and it seems she has nearly flawlessly integrated them into her very being. And, might I remind you, she has yet to use any ability that requires Worship; she likely has multiple abilities on the level of Fortune that she has yet to reveal.”
“I may have underestimated her.” Ellie said begrudgingly. “I assumed she was just talking big.”
Time froze once again, a soft glow directed the group’s attention to the console. Another button had appeared, this one reading “Call in reinforcements for Tess”.
“I think that’s us.” Ellie said, sharing a glance with Maven. “Do it, I’m tired of watching from the sidelines.”
“I likewise find it frustrating that she has yet to take this seriously.” Maven admitted. “Perhaps this will force her to.”
Lia nodded, pressing the button and watching as Ellie and Maven appeared on the screen, the readouts indicating that they were both in Descent, Ellie with a god named Life, and Maven with a god named Dungeons.
“Oh, hey.” A new voice said, causing Lia to jump. “It’s the party thing. I assume some sort of mock battle is going on, since Life and I got called here?”
The woman, a short human wearing bright clothing, looked around the room. “Oh, no one I know is here. Uh, my name’s Death, I share Ellie as my Appointed with Life.”
“I am Rose.” Rose replied. “To answer your question, yes, we are having a spar. Tess was fighting a woman named Lilith, the only Higher Being of an Administrator named Kali. And Lilith, as well as Lia and myself, are from roughly fifty years in your future.”
“Um, I’m Lia.” Lia said. “Tess was losing, and we’ve been progressively allowing her more power. First it was Fortune, and then Ellie and Maven as reinforcements.”
Understanding dawned on Death’s face. “Oh, she must be that High Arbiter Kali was talking about. Yeah, I can see why Tess was losing, she isn’t prepared for a fight like that yet.”
“For what it’s worth, Lilith says she thinks she would lose to Tess’s party if she were to fight them as they are in her time.” Lia added.
Death nodded sagely. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Still…my money’s on her, even with reinforcements. She’s got experience and strength over each of her opponents.”
“I concur.” Rose agreed. “Shall we see how it plays out?”
Death gave another nod. “Please.”
Time resumed, Ellie appearing in front of Tess while Maven appeared a ways to their rear. Ellie threw a hand back, and a pulse of healing washed out from it, fully healing Tess.
“Oh?” Lilith said, raising a brow. “More of you?”
“We wanted to see a fairer fight.” Ellie said, the voice of a man that could only be Life overlayed with her own. “And the four of us are apparently the ticket. Maven, Dungeons, don’t forget that Lilith is a dungeon herself!”
“Yeah, we weren’t forgetting anytime soon.” Maven and Dungeons responded, face screwed up in concentration as they sent a barrage of magical attacks at Lilith. “One problem with that, we can’t do anything to her!”
“Oh, you’re doing things to me alright.” Lilith replied, her voice showing strain for the first time in the entire fight. “This is supremely uncomfortable.”
Lilith cast a lightning-quick teleport, backing up a ways and drawing her guns. “Alright then…I doubt this will work, but it’s worth a shot.” Though they didn’t change in appearance, the screens indicated that Lilith’s guns were being modified in real time, bullets appearing in the chamber as they did.
Lilith fired both guns, a large boom announcing the action. One bullet was aimed squarely at Tess, while the other went for Maven, but Ellie was able to use a skill to draw away the bullet going for Tess, and Tess’s aura of chaos was enough to throw off the trajectory of the other so that it missed Maven.
Lilith fired a third shot, aimed straight at Ellie, and this one struck true. The pull of her Ellie’s skill drew it straight to her shield, but the bullet punctured it like it was made of paper and buried itself into Ellie’s arm.
Lilith was doing something with her guns, but Lia’s attention was drawn away by the bullet within Ellie; it had cracked open like a seed, spreading its material by consuming Ellie’s blood. She was quick on a healing spell, expelling the bullet from her body and brutally mangling her arm before healing it right back up.
Death gave a low whistle. “Nasty stuff.” She said. “I’d hate to be on the receiving end of that.”
“Ellie, Life, heal us in five seconds!” Tess and Fortune shouted, bringing a clawed hand up to their throat. Lia watched in horror as they slit their own throat, a geyser of blood erupting from the wound only to completely dry up a moment later. Then Ellie’s heal impacted them, fully healing them as they began to chant what appeared to be a massively destructive spell.
It was at that moment that Lilith chose to fire her gun, having merged the two into one single, massive gun. With a bright flash of light and a sound more akin to a cannon than a gun, a massive bullet slammed into Ellie’s shield, a burst of Mana pulsing out into the shield and crumpling it around itself before bulldozing into Ellie.
Ellie was sent flying like a ragdoll, the screen showing the sheer magnitude of her injuries; most of her bones were fractured or broken, she was bleeding in several places where the sharp metal of the crumpled shield had punctured her, and there were several spots of internal bleeding as well. Yet, somehow, she survived, a sliver of health allowing her to stagger to her feet and throw away her now useless shield before casting a spell to heal her completely
“You’re still alive?” Lilith said. “Impress –” She was cut off, a momentary lapse in her concentration allowing Maven and Dungeons to worm their way into her and attempt to mold her body to their liking. Lilith resisted, though her skin writhed as if several monsters had burrowed into her and were moving around.
Tess and Fortune continued their chant, and just as it seemed that Lilith was gearing up to fully get herself under control, time stopped, and another button appeared, this time reading “Call in Lilith’s other selves”.
“She can do more?” Lia asked, morbidly curious. “I assumed that she could only focus her power on one of her selves at a time.”
Rose paused. “I suppose it’s another aspect of the eldritch being unfair.” She said. “Do we?”
Death shrugged. “Honestly, I think she’s still going to win, but I want to see the full extent of what she can do. You have apparently powered up Tess twice now, it’s only fair that Lilith gets one.”
Rose hit the button, resuming time. A massive surge of mental fortitude hit Lilith, allowing her to fully shake off Maven’s influence. “It looks like the kid gloves are off.” Lilith said, grinning widely.
Two figured appeared next to Lilith, one was a nearly identical copy, but the other was an angel child in a blood-red dress, holding a pair of incongruously large swords. And, to Lia’s fascination and slight horror, it appeared that each of them was as powerful as Lilith herself, and Lilith’s already high stats had doubled, leaving her head and shoulders more powerful than anyone else on the field.
“Yeah, it’s over.” Death said. “No shot Lilith can lose this now.”
The three Liliths shared a look, then dashed off, each aiming for a separate person. The main body went for Maven, her clone for Ellie, and the child for Tess. Time seemed to slow, Lilith’s other selves, Ellie, and Tess freezing in place as Lilith’s main body went for Maven.
Lilith arrived in the blink of an eye, levelling the massive gun at Maven’s face, a bullet practically oozing with Mana and something else loaded into the chamber. “Sorry, but playtime’s over.” She said, firing the gun at Maven.
Maven and Dungeons quickly created a small dungeon between themselves and Lilith, distorting the space and compressing it to a degree such that the bullet shouldn’t be able to reach them, but the bullet didn’t seem to care, punching through the space that had been created and hitting Maven squarely in the chest. The damage it dealt was…otherworldly, the total coming out to over five times Maven’s maximum HP, and she was instantly executed.
She appeared a moment later in the observation room, a tall woman that must have been Dungeons appearing with her. Death walked over and gave the both of them a pat on the back, a small smile on her face. “Good work out there.” She said. “You did pretty well.”
Maven shook her head. “After those others appeared, we were powerless.” She said. “I cannot call that “pretty well” by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Well, by that point there was nothing any of us could really do.” Death said. “That bullet would have killed me, and I’m not supposed to be able to die. I don’t know exactly what she put into it, but it’s not normal, that’s for sure.”
“Was time stopped for the others for you?” Lia asked curiously. “Only you and the main Lilith were moving for us.”
“No.” Dungeons said. “It moved completely as normal. This place is known to play fast and loose with time, it likely did that for your viewing experience.”
“How are the others faring?” Maven asked.
Lia directed her attention back to the screen, which focused in on Ellie and the clone of Lilith, Nuwa, as the screen labeled her. The fight was one sided and brutal; Nuwa attacked in all sorts of strange ways, morphing her own body to use it as a weapon. A limb was taken with a blow from a scythe-like appendage sprouting from a tentacle that curved under Ellie’s sword, ribs were shattered with the club Lilith had made earlier in the fight, and all the while Ellie was peppered with spikes that shot out from Nuwa’s body. The only reason Ellie didn’t die within the first few seconds was her ability to nigh-instantly fully heal her injuries.
Still, each time she healed, Nuwa attacked her in some other unexpected fashion, and Ellie was trapped in a perpetual loop of damage. After a short while, Lilith’s main body appeared and Nuwa pinned Ellie, allowing Lilith to line up a headshot with another of those bullets, instantly killing her and causing her and Life to appear in the observation room.
“That was…embarrassing.” Ellie said. “What was I supposed to do there? Maybe if Death was Descending and I was immune to death I could have ignored the wounds made something happen, but we needed Life’s healing to keep everyone else from dying too.”
“Wouldn’t have worked.” Death said. “That last bullet would have killed us. I don’t know exactly what’s in it, but I can tell that it wouldn’t really have cared about that ability. It certainly didn’t care about Dungeons’ dungeon.”
Ellie drooped. “Well, I just look like a fool now, don’t I? I was talking all big about how Tess had a shot, and all six of us couldn’t beat her. I guess if she hadn’t received that backup, we could have made it work, but I’m not even sure about that.”
“Sorry.” Death said. “I really wanted to know what she was like at full power.”
“It’s only fair, we powered Tess up twice.” Ellie said. “Doesn’t make it less humiliating, though.”
“Speaking of, she’s the only one left.” Death said, nodding at the screen. “It appears time has staggered itself here so we can watch each individual conflict.
Time unfroze, and the child, Eve, according to the screen, was letting out a few extremely strong intimidation abilities, enough to cause Tess and Fortune to falter in their chant. As she rushed towards them, she just flat out ignored the effects of Fortune’s Descent, taking any injury straight to the face, and morphing her body so that sudden hazards missed her. And in only a few moments she was up close, swinging her swords down at Tess.
One of the swords was relatively easily blocked, but the other sheared off the blocking claws, moving through them as if they weren’t even there and leaving a slight gash in Tess’s arm. And yet, that slight gash, not even large enough to require any sort of advanced healing, put Tess on death’s door. Lia shuddered at the thought of taking a proper blow from that sword; even with her Title, she had a feeling that it would kill her outright.
“Oh, that thing is nasty.” Death said. “Like, really nasty. I have to get a look at that later.”
A wave of Ellie’s healing came from outside, washing over Tess and not quite healing the wound. Tess looked briefly to the side, the frozen image of Ellie and Lilith’s clone shifting, showing Ellie missing an arm as the clone stood over her. Not missing a beat, Eve swung her sword down, giving Tess a cold look. “Don’t get distracted.” She said.
Tess attempted to teleport out of the way, but Eve released a gargantuan wave of Mana, stopping the ability by simply keeping the Mana from getting to its destination. Her sword continued its arc downwards, and it would have been a killing blow if not for a spirit that erupted out of Tess, casting a spell that threw Tess backwards. The spirit took the blow in Tess’s place, and unceremoniously died, appearing beside the spider in the observation room.
“Good job, Isabella.” Ellie said. “You really helped out there.”
“Thank you.” Isabella replied quietly.
Back on the screen Tess struggled back to her feet, but Eve was already on her, tackling her to the ground and pinning her with a strength that her childlike body should not have been able to exert. “Yield.” She commanded, placing that nasty sword against Tess’s neck. “You’re not beating me, and I’d rather not hurt you more than I have to.”
“I…” Tess glanced over, first at the space where Maven would have been, and then over at Ellie, where Lilith’s main body was about to arrive.
“Well?” Eve asked impatiently. “Five seconds before I take your head off.”
“I yield.” Tess said, closing her eyes. And, just like that, she appeared back in the observation room, Fortune beside her.
“Good job, you guys.” Rose said. “You held out a lot longer than Lia and I would have.”
Lia shuddered involuntarily as she thought about attempting to fight Lilith. “She’s a monster.” She whispered. “I knew she was tough, but…” She trailed off, letting the implication hang.
“In all fairness, the whole idea behind me in the first place was to be as strong as possible while completely ignoring any semblance of balance.” Lilith said. “And the three of them are not anywhere near their full potential yet. I’m sure that, were I to fight the three of them from the present, I’d be absolutely destroyed.”
“How far in the future are you?” Fortune asked.
“Fifty years, give or take.” Lilith replied. “Though I like to think that whoever is from the furthest in the future is from the “real” present, and I’m sure someone at this party is farther ahead in the timeline than me.”
“Jerry looked into this phenomenon at one of these parties.” Life mused. “I believe his conclusion was that all times people are from are equally the present. He had some reasoning that escapes me at the moment, but it boiled down to not being able to apply the normal rules to this space.
“And, though attempting to teach you anything is a pointless endeavor due to the nature of this place, I would suggest you three treat this as a lesson; Descents are the bare minimum for combat if you are to engage Higher Beings in combat, not the instant victory they are in normal situations.”
“It’s like…I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s not fair in the same way normal combat is fair.” Death said, having hopped up on a counter. “Everyone’s got some stupid busted ability, and you basically have to be a Higher Being or otherwise infused with a lot of Worship to even have a shot at resisting those.”
Eve nodded. “I’m also well suited for this style of combat.” She explained. “I basically double or triple dipped on Worship, so I’m more resistant than normal to whatever “unfair” stuff other Higher Beings have.” She paused for a moment, then looked as if she recalled something.
“Right. I’m Eve, she’s Nuwa,” Eve said, motioning towards Nuwa, “and you can’t see her, but Mae is in Lilith’s head as our resident numbers gal slash supercomputer. We’re all alternate personalities of Lilith, but are treated as the same person for the purpose of Skills and stuff.”
To be precise, I am distributed around all parts of her body in order to maximize processing power. A voice rang out in Lia’s mind. It is good to meet you.
“Wait, if you can do that double dip or whatever, why doesn’t everyone do it?” Lia asked. “Seems like a no-brainer.”
“I…don’t know, actually.” Eve admitted. “I never really thought about it.”
“I have.” Dungeons said. “Usually, it’s a matter of numbers. Creating a new Higher Being is expensive, and they usually perform a vital task for the planes they oversee. Not many people are able to mentally handle such strain, and I believe Lilith only can because of her unique circumstances.
“The offensive benefits of such an endeavor are usually low, too; their resistance to other tampering increases, but outside of a few cases, each individual ability they possess does not become harder to resist. And, as combat between Higher Beings only occurs in the wars for planes, it is often seen as wasteful to put all your eggs in one basket for an event that only happens infrequently, especially when it results in such an increased workload to the Higher Being. Lilith is the exception to this rule, however, being able to split her mind as she has.”
Lilith shrugged. “Eldritch stuff may have poor compatibility with most people, but my whole schtick is being compatible with everything, so I get to use it worry-free. Anyway…what was with those mid-fight powerups? At the end there, it was a very different fight to what we set out to try.”
“I wanted to see both of you put your full potential out there.” Rose volunteered. “Though…perhaps your capabilities were not as fully tested as I thought they would be.”
“Yeah, you didn’t seem to be using anything expressly unfair.” Ellie said. “Except for that one time you reflected Tess’s attack. Surely, you’ve got something, right?”
“Much of it isn’t great for this kind of friendly fight,” Lilith said, “and what is isn’t flashy. I have lots of stat increases, ways to steal abilities or permanently seal the abilities of my foes, and even an instant-kill if I’m willing to either spend enough Worship or dip into my own health to do it. I didn’t want to try that last one, since it’s a bit risky and I’m not sure it would even work against you all.”
“And I mostly command monsters.” Eve added. “Not that they allowed me any of mine.”
“They wouldn’t have been much help.” Nuwa said quietly. “They don’t have any Worship in them, except for Saria, and she doesn’t have enough to make a huge difference. Tess and Fortune alone likely would have shut them down by just existing.”
“What was with that sword of yours, by the way?” Fortune asked. “I haven’t seen anything quite like it.”
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” Eve said, drawing the sword out from some unseen place and very gingerly setting it down on a table. “Perfect Chimeras are every species at once, so some genius got the idea to make a material specifically geared at combating them. This sword is…special, though. It was the first of these weapons to be produced, and people have already built up a mythos surrounding it. I’m pretty sure that like…I dunno, almost meets the criteria for it getting Worship? It doesn’t have any, yeah, but it definitely feels like…more than a normal weapon.”
“It is not uncommon for particularly notable weapons to obtain some power from how they are perceived.” Life said. “Though I must admit that I have never seen one with quite as deadly a base as that get the treatment.”
“To be honest, I can’t even touch the blade without gloves.” Eve admitted. “If I do, I get horribly burnt and it takes way longer than it should to heal. The only reason I even use it is because I can safely take it out of reach of anyone but me at a moment’s notice, otherwise that thing would stay locked up until the end of time. Not worth carrying my one weakness with me and all that.”
“May I?” Death asked, motioning towards the sword. “Oh, I’m Death, by the way. Life and I share Ellie as our appointed, two sides of the same coin and all that.”
“Go ahead.” Eve said. “Just be careful with it. I’m guessing this party won’t let you hurt yourself too much, but I don’t like to take risks with that thing.”
Death carefully picked up the sword, then stepped back from the others and gave it a few test swings. “Man do I wish I had this thing when I was making the Blades of Death.” She said approvingly. “I totally would have co-opted it into one of them.”
“Mind if I take a look at these blades?” Eve asked curiously. “I want to see how they stack up.”
“Knock yourself out. They’re not as good as your sword, but they also don’t have like…a story to them yet, so they don’t have that weird power bump. Give it a few hundred years or a particularly bloody conflict and they might well rival this thing.” Death said, a set of swords materializing on the table where Eve’s sword had laid previously.
She picked up the swords, absentmindedly growing another pair of arms so she had a hand for each of the four swords. “To tell you the truth, I would absolutely trade you if I could.” She admitted. “That thing is much too dangerous to me specifically, and it’s usually overkill anyway. These swords are much more fit for general use.”
“How did you get this thing storied so quickly, anyway?” Death asked. “It only feels a few years old.”
“A combination of a lot of things.” Eve said. “For one, it killed another of our personalities, and for two it’s kinda like the first atomic bomb in how it changed the dynamic of warfare. The fact that I’ve been publicly using it to great effect helps, too. We’re at a turning point in our planes, the kind of time when legends are made. It was the perfect storm, so to speak.”
“What is an atomic bomb?” Lia asked quietly. “And this sword killed one of you?” She had a hard time believing that; three gods weren’t enough to make Lilith even struggle, one normal person with a sword had no chance against her.
“She got better.” Eve said nonchalantly. “Very long story, but the short version is that the ‘main’ personality –”
“Inasmuch as any of us can be called a main or side personality anymore.” Lilith interrupted.
“The main personality,” Eve continued, rolling her eyes, “was actually split from a previous soul that Kali messed up in reincarnating. And that other personality that died was the other half. She let herself get killed so the two could merge, becoming the Lilith you see before you today.”
“And, to answer your other question,” Lilith said, not giving Eve time to continue, “an atom bomb is an incredibly destructive weapon constructed entirely without magic, one strong enough to wipe an entire city off the map with one firing.”
“That strong?” Tess asked doubtfully. “I know bombs can level a building or two, but an entire city?”
“That strong.” Death confirmed. “We’ve very deliberately prevented that technology from being researched in any sort of detail; there are no good outcomes when nuclear weapons are involved, and the positives can be easily replicated with magic.” She paused, looking at Lilith. “Did they get any stronger since our day? Were they used again?”
Lilith sighed. “Estimates put us at three thousand times stronger before magic was involved, and five to six times that now that people have begun to incorporate magic.”
Life shuddered. “You do have plans to curb their development, yes?” He asked. “This seems…excessive.”
“Eventually.” Lilith confirmed. “Once things stabilize.”
“Um…” Lia interjected, “don’t you guys do like…wars for new planes or something? Surely these bombs would be helpful there, right?”
“No.” Lilith said. “Most Higher Beings have ways to survive a nuclear weapon, and they can leave the land where they detonate uninhabitable for a long time to come. As Death said, there are no good outcomes when nuclear weaponry is involved.”
“But that’s a downer of a topic.” Fortune said, clapping her hands. “We’re at a party, let’s have a little fun with it! First off, introductions. I’m the god of Fortune, resident cool lady and the god Tess is an Appointed of.”
Everyone went around one by one and introduced themselves, and, once they had, Fortune began to speak again. “So, what’s on the agenda? More mock battles? Ooh, or maybe we could run a trial dungeon as a group!”
“That’s a thing here?” Ellie asked.
“Everything’s a thing here, as long as it’s entertaining.” Fortune said, waving a hand dismissively. “Though I can’t guarantee it’ll be much like the dungeons we know.”
“I…think I’ll have to pass on that.” Lia said quietly. After the show she had just seen, there was no way she would be anything but a hindrance. “I’m afraid I won’t be of much use when all of you are around.”
“Nonsense.” Fortune said. “Anything is possible here, we can easily standardize our abilities so everyone has a –” She cut off, disappearing from existence abruptly.
A quick look around revealed that the other gods and Lilith’s Parallels had disappeared as well, as had Silky and Isabella.
“I suppose they didn’t have a proper invitation, and their time here was limited.” Rose said. “A shame, but a smaller group is likely better for the time being, I think Lia was getting a bit overwhelmed.”
Lia nodded. “Sorry.” She said. “I know they’re important to you. And…literally you, I think?” She looked at Lilith, frowning slightly. She still was having a hard time wrapping her head around the exact relationship between Lilith and her alternate personalities; Lilith claimed that they were essentially separate people, but the other personalities seemed as if they were content to be treated as if they were lesser, or, at the very least, significantly more reliant on Lilith than Lilith claimed.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Lilith sighed. “I know it’s confusing, sorry. It sort of comes with the territory of technically being an eldritch abomination.”
“Eldritch?” Lia asked, frown deepening. “The word’s been thrown around a couple of times but I’m not quite sure what it means.”
“A very esoteric section, forbidden section of magic.” Rose explained. “While it brings great power, those who use it tend to go insane.”
“It only even works for me because of the way I am.” Lilith said. “When your whole schtick is compatibility with everything, you get a lot of leeway in things like this. Up to and including the systems of other universes, though we haven’t tested that much. Just had a brief moment in their universe,” Lilith said, motioning to Tess and Ellie, “and then Amy shut it down.”
“Really?” Ellie asked. “What did your stats translate to?”
“Gibberish.” Lilith replied. “All my stats and growths had decimal portions, my level wasn’t even a number and was glitched out, as were Skills, Classes, and Titles. As Amy said, it was very broken.”
“But you did have numbers, right?” Ellie pressed. “What were they?”
“Fifteen hundred on the low end, twenty four hundred on the high end.” Lilith replied. “But I don’t think you should put much stock in those numbers, your system threw a fit and wasn’t handling me correctly. What’s the normal range?”
“For someone level forty to fifty? Two hundred and fiftyish.” Ellie replied. “The maximum growth you can get is ten, or one hundred for resources, and the highest leveled person on our planes is…level one sixty, I think? And his highest stat is only about fifteen hundred and fifty, so I think you might well have higher stats than would even be possible in our universe.”
Lilith shrugged. “Again, don’t put too much stock in those numbers. If my lowest is that close to your universe’s highest, then the details have to be wrong. What level are you guys?”
“Late thirties, early forties.” Ellie said. “I have the best stat spread and Tess has nearly the worst, so we’re not exactly good reference points, Maven would be better.”
“True as that may be, you did not move like someone with that much Agility would move, unless you were holding back significantly at the end.” Maven added.
Lilith shook her head. “I was holding back a little bit, but not a lot.”
“Then, yes, the stats you saw were indeed incorrect.” Maven said. “While my eye is still somewhat untrained, I would not estimate your Agility to be greater than one thousand.”
“Sounds about right.” Lilith said. “So, for real, what’s next?”
“Cards?” Lia offered. “I don’t feel like doing anything too physical at the moment.”
“I’m down to play cards.” Ellie replied.
And, after everyone else said they were fine with cards, they did. After cards they did a couple more activities, and as they were moving between them, Tess, Ellie, and Maven disappeared. “Looks like it’s time to go.” Lilith said. “Pleasure hanging out with you again, Lia. Hopefully we’ll see each other next time, too.”
“I think I would like that. I would like to…” Lia trailed off as Lilith vanished mid-sentence. “Oh.”
And, before they had time to process that, they too were whisked away. Lia and Rose were snuggling again, having forgotten everything they had just experienced.
