The Fall of Elfen High (IC, Closed)

[Nationstatelandsville]

Crowley slammed his fist down into the earth of the shattering dimension he had created.

"Time to go." he reported back to Aziraphale, a slight smile on his face. "And I am very sorry. Keep my physical body safe, just in case. But right now I need to interact with those souls, to understand them....maybe even save them. This is our world there. And I intend to protect it however I can..." he sighed, looking so very old and tired now. "

His eyes glowed as they stared into the sky above, as the sky above began to unfold. The stars in the sky began to collapse and twinkle out of the sky, despite how everyone wondered what they are, and the sky revealed nothing but blackness, creeping down immensely upon them.

It was around this time that everyone still in the pocket universe realised they should most definitely run. Wherever Crowley was now, mentally, his physical body had dropped down to the ground to be carried away to some safety.

Silently, Aziraphale pressed down on the gas pedal.

With a sudden jerk and an ear-splitting roar, the rockets underneath the van activated and threw it hurtling forwards in a straight line, traveling at exactly that speeds "rocket-powered van traveling through a vacuum" implies. They flew forward like an arrow shot into the sky, leaving behind a trail of smoke which marked the path towards Kronos. Aziraphale poked his head out and glanced up at Fred. It would be really quite devastating if we found out now that we can't breath out here, he mused to himself.

"Fire at the Titan!" he barked, "Fire everything!"

And what an everything it was! Primarily paintballs, of course, but the ammunition Fred found suggested that Howard Harker would do anything to win a paintball game; up to and especially war crimes.

Michael continued to look at the Android Leader with scepticism. "Alright, cowboy." he said in his best American accent before switching back. "Why should I go anywhere? Answer my bloody question."

"Because," the Android Leader said, "I'm besieging this tree. You are besieged."

He was growing rather annoyed, "Look, just fuck off, right? I can already tell that that fucker will be much more fun to kill than you, so I don't want to have to waste my time. You know you're going to lose, just give in and go hide in a dark corner somewhere while the adults chat."

[Constaniana]

Oberon was hit in the neck. He looked surprised at the blood bursting from him. "This is most unexpected." the Southern Englishman admitted.

He then pulled out a dagger and stabbed William in the crotch, which (while tougher than a normal man's, seeing as he was fucking Hilde) was still ultimately a crotch.

Then he was blasted by both Ciel and Alastor, who knocked him down onto the ground. Oberon looked downright amazed. "What the fuck is going on?" he raged. "You are fucking apes! You cannot hurt me! You cannot even think of hurting me!"

Oberon's face was barely recognisable as the one that Richard had worn, contorted into such pure rage and fury as it was.

The roar of jet engines echoed in the sky.

Everyone in Oberon's immediate surroundings could have witnessed the giant silhouette of aweird plane edging towards the Fae King, rapidly starting to descend.

A voice boomed from the plane's loudspeakers. "Only me, and me alone, can kick Villiam in the nuts! You have trespassed into my territory, Fae King! Dummkopf! Schweinhund! Schicklegruber! Jude!" Hilde yelled at the top of her lungs, as the German fighter lined up towards Oberona and began firing its four .50 cal heavy machine guns, attempting a strafing run.

"BOOT IN YA FACE"

"Crickey, you rotter. The missus isn't going to like this," William had hissed, sinking to his knees. He was having a good deal more difficulty in directing his healing magic now, as clouded as his mind was with pain. And then, speak of the devil and she will appear. "I wondered how long it would take for her to say something antisemitic..." The knight mumbled. As much as he would like it if they could simply shoot Oberon to death with big guns, Sir Nilark knew by now that things like the Fae King did not die so easily.

The Tyke racked his brain for possible ideas, but nothing he could think of made sense. All that came to mind were strange visions, King of the Hill reruns, Alastor talking about William's emotional instability, a green field. Those four nonsensical things ran in a loop through his head to his great annoyance. What did Hank Hill saying "Do unto others" have anything to do with his dangerous situation right now?

How to kill a 'roo? Do unto others...going through a period of emotional unstability after realizing that cricket probably died along with his world...how to kill a 'roo? Field. My balls hurt. Do unto others; emotional instability...How to kill an Oberon? Cricket died...Cricket died....do unto others...Cricket died....

William then looked up, and saw the ghosts of Herbert Sutcliffe, Sir Leonard Hutton, Geoffrey Boycott, and Maurice Leyland. The lesser Yorkshireman looked puzzled for a few moments, before smiling and giving them a thumbs-up.

"Oh, right. I understand everything now!" President Nilark said confidentally, standing up and magically healing his crotch. He then charged towards Oberon, slashing at his neck a few more times to distract him. Then, he concentrated on Excalibur, willing it to change form again. But this time, instead of a laser rifle or battle axe, Excalibur became a cricket bat, carved from the mightiest of oak trees.

The hell is this bulls- Excalibur began to protest, before William telepathically commanded more changes. Obsidian spikes popped out of the sides of the bat like it was a macuahuitl, and William grinned viciously. "A crotch for a crotch, " he growled, before he swung the cricket sword with all his might into Oberon's balls.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Set grabbed Caspian's leg, very nearly dead but not yet. He pulled hard. A cracking and snapping sound was heard.

A sharp gasp escaped Caspian's throat, and his face contorted into an expression of pain. Not letting his determination falter, however, he wrenched his sword from Set's body and then swung it at the moribund deity's neck.

Set was hit, choking and coughing. "No." he snarled. "Not yet..."

He slowly dragged himself upwards, and now his face was visible, yellow eyes set in the aged face of John Calhoun. "Fuck you all." he growled, sword in his neck as he bled out. "Fuck you, fuck Elfen High, fuck everyone." he said, summing up the ultimate characterisations of both Calhoun and Azazel. He threw a punch at Caspian's face with an arm that was bleeding and nearly dead, but it would still do a fair bit of damage. Especially when you considered the fact his fist was on fire.

[Astrolinium]

The punch connected with Caspian's nose. There was a bright flash of white light, and then darkness.

---

"Yes, I do think you're waking up," said a feminine voice, something from a posh part of England, radiant as the sun reflecting off the crests of waves, saccharine as an overly rich cake.

Caspian T.E. Lawrence groaned as his eyes blinked open. The word was just as blurry as the blue haze on a humid June morning in Savannah, Georgia. Perhaps fortunately, here bereft of the accompanying whirr of insects trying desperately to mate with one another. Everything was overwhelmingly white, a tall pink blob hovering over him.

"That's right," the voice said, "take it easy, deary, they've got to be broken in. They're brand new -- it'll take just a mo."

Caspian blinked again, the world swimming in front of him.

"There you are, that's it, just blink a few times," said the voice, which Caspian decided must be attached to the blob.

Slowly, bit by bit, the world came into focus. Caspian was in a white room, sitting in a paisley armchair, largely a sort of light green that Caspian thought looked rather like the ghost of a mint, set roughly against the wall, which was white with a pleasant gray wainscoting, complemented by a simple but daring crown molding up top. The first thing about the room was its size -- while the opposing wall, containing a very tasteful painting of some sunflowers, was a mere three to four meters in front of Caspian, the other two walls were nowhere to be seen. That is not to say that the room lacked them, exposing its occupants to the elements; rather, the speckled white linoleum floor stretched off into the distance beyond all human reasoning, tasteful white doors with gray trim set into the walls at uncertain intervals.

An ornamental fig sat in a terracotta pot next to Caspian, and occasionally seemed to reach out at him with its branches.

In front of him stood, beaming, a small woman in a bright pink pantsuit who resembled nothing so much as a toad.

"Now," she said, "I bet that's better. I don't supposed anyone has offered you a coffee yet?"

"N-no, they haven't," said Caspian.

"Well, I'm afraid there isn't coffee here, but some tea would be lovely, wouldn't it?" she said, still beaming.

Caspian blinked and then nodded cautiously.

Pivoting on the stiletto of her heel, the woman trotted off primly down the hallway to the right, each footstep making a satisfying click noise.

After a few moments, Caspian stood and looked down the hallway where she'd gone -- there was no sign of her anywhere along it. Turning around, he saw the paisley chair and the potted ornamental fig had also vanished.

Most curious, most curious indeed.

Caspian turned the other way and began walking, the speckled white linoleum cool under his unshod footfall.

"What is this place?" he asked no in particularly. As he walked, it echoed softly against the walls, following him until it faded all to nothing.

After a long time alone with his thoughts (what thoughts they were! At first, only smells and vague clips of sound had come to him, but eventually whole memories had flooded in! I must be dead, thought Caspian as the red of flame flashed before him and the sound of an erhu sang in the distance, but whither the dead when the world is ended? The scene faded and was replaced by that of an agora, somewhere in Ancient Greece, a poet in front of him reciting. μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε...) he came to a window.

It was a small square window, about 27 inches across with white trim and a sizable sill. Caspian put his fingers between two of the blinds, letting himself peek through. Beyond was... darkness. Black. The ink of nowhere, all tinted red, he thought. He pulled open the blind and put his palm against the glass. It was impossibly hot. (A new vision in front of his eyes, Caesar -- his own Augustus -- there in front of him. A scroll was cast angrily to the ground, Caesar repeatedly slamming his fists into the wall, eyes aflame with rage. Quintili Vare, legiones redde! Legiones redde!)

Caspian thought, perhaps, that he knew where he was.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Crowley slammed his fist down into the earth of the shattering dimension he had created.

"Time to go." he reported back to Aziraphale, a slight smile on his face. "And I am very sorry. Keep my physical body safe, just in case. But right now I need to interact with those souls, to understand them....maybe even save them. This is our world there. And I intend to protect it however I can..." he sighed, looking so very old and tired now. "

His eyes glowed as they stared into the sky above, as the sky above began to unfold. The stars in the sky began to collapse and twinkle out of the sky, despite how everyone wondered what they are, and the sky revealed nothing but blackness, creeping down immensely upon them.

It was around this time that everyone still in the pocket universe realised they should most definitely run. Wherever Crowley was now, mentally, his physical body had dropped down to the ground to be carried away to some safety.

---

Oberon was hit in the neck. He looked surprised at the blood bursting from him. "This is most unexpected." the Southern Englishman admitted.

He then pulled out a dagger and stabbed William in the crotch, which (while tougher than a normal man's, seeing as he was fucking Hilde) was still ultimately a crotch.

Then he was blasted by both Ciel and Alastor, who knocked him down onto the ground. Oberon looked downright amazed. "What the fuck is going on?" he raged. "You are fucking apes! You cannot hurt me! You cannot even think of hurting me!"

Oberon's face was barely recognisable as the one that Richard had worn, contorted into such pure rage and fury as it was.

---

Michael continued to look at the Android Leader with scepticism. "Alright, cowboy." he said in his best American accent before switching back. "Why should I go anywhere? Answer my bloody question."

The roar of jet engines echoed in the sky.

Everyone in Oberon's immediate surroundings could have witnessed the giant silhouette of aweird plane edging towards the Fae King, rapidly starting to descend.

A voice boomed from the plane's loudspeakers. "Only me, and me alone, can kick Villiam in the nuts! You have trespassed into my territory, Fae King! Dummkopf! Schweinhund! Schicklegruber! Jude!" Hilde yelled at the top of her lungs, as the German fighter lined up towards Oberona and began firing its four .50 cal heavy machine guns, attempting a strafing run.

"BOOT IN YA FACE"

Oberon was shot repeatedly, which made him stagger backwards. He glared upwards, but then -

The roar of jet engines echoed in the sky.

Everyone in Oberon's immediate surroundings could have witnessed the giant silhouette of aweird plane edging towards the Fae King, rapidly starting to descend.

A voice boomed from the plane's loudspeakers. "Only me, and me alone, can kick Villiam in the nuts! You have trespassed into my territory, Fae King! Dummkopf! Schweinhund! Schicklegruber! Jude!" Hilde yelled at the top of her lungs, as the German fighter lined up towards Oberona and began firing its four .50 cal heavy machine guns, attempting a strafing run.

"BOOT IN YA FACE"

"Crickey, you rotter. The missus isn't going to like this," William had hissed, sinking to his knees. He was having a good deal more difficulty in directing his healing magic now, as clouded as his mind was with pain. And then, speak of the devil and she will appear. "I wondered how long it would take for her to say something antisemitic..." The knight mumbled. As much as he would like it if they could simply shoot Oberon to death with big guns, Sir Nilark knew by now that things like the Fae King did not die so easily.

The Tyke racked his brain for possible ideas, but nothing he could think of made sense. All that came to mind were strange visions, King of the Hill reruns, Alastor talking about William's emotional instability, a green field. Those four nonsensical things ran in a loop through his head to his great annoyance. What did Hank Hill saying "Do unto others" have anything to do with his dangerous situation right now?

How to kill a 'roo? Do unto others...going through a period of emotional unstability after realizing that cricket probably died along with his world...how to kill a 'roo? Field. My balls hurt. Do unto others; emotional instability...How to kill an Oberon? Cricket died...Cricket died....do unto others...Cricket died....

William then looked up, and saw the ghosts of Herbert Sutcliffe, Sir Leonard Hutton, Geoffrey Boycott, and Maurice Leyland. The lesser Yorkshireman looked puzzled for a few moments, before smiling and giving them a thumbs-up.

"Oh, right. I understand everything now!" President Nilark said confidentally, standing up and magically healing his crotch. He then charged towards Oberon, slashing at his neck a few more times to distract him. Then, he concentrated on Excalibur, willing it to change form again. But this time, instead of a laser rifle or battle axe, Excalibur became a cricket bat, carved from the mightiest of oak trees.

The hell is this bulls- Excalibur began to protest, before William telepathically commanded more changes. Obsidian spikes popped out of the sides of the bat like it was a macuahuitl, and William grinned viciously. "A crotch for a crotch, " he growled, before he swung the cricket sword with all his might into Oberon's balls.

This attracted Oberon's attention.

The cricket sword was quite well inside the crotch of the Fairy King, which is a sentence that can be used to explain this roleplay to all your friends*. Oberon howled, a pure scream of absolute rage and pain as he threw a punch of hatred at William's face.

He staggered backwards, not even caring if the punch connected. "GO TO HELL!" He screamed.

"That might be difficult, seeing as that no longer exists.." said the masked stranger who had appeared earlier.

Oberon glared. "I can create true hells. Hells more deadly than you can even start to visualise." snarled the Fairy King, ripping Excalibur from his dick, wincing when it burnt him at the touch. "You will all burn before I kill you." His voice was no longer animalistic. It was deadly quiet and serious. "You will all burn. Especially you, Yorkshireman." he stared at William.

He began to back away slowly, his body in need of healing.

Crowley slammed his fist down into the earth of the shattering dimension he had created.

"Time to go." he reported back to Aziraphale, a slight smile on his face. "And I am very sorry. Keep my physical body safe, just in case. But right now I need to interact with those souls, to understand them....maybe even save them. This is our world there. And I intend to protect it however I can..." he sighed, looking so very old and tired now. "

His eyes glowed as they stared into the sky above, as the sky above began to unfold. The stars in the sky began to collapse and twinkle out of the sky, despite how everyone wondered what they are, and the sky revealed nothing but blackness, creeping down immensely upon them.

It was around this time that everyone still in the pocket universe realised they should most definitely run. Wherever Crowley was now, mentally, his physical body had dropped down to the ground to be carried away to some safety.

Silently, Aziraphale pressed down on the gas pedal.

With a sudden jerk and an ear-splitting roar, the rockets underneath the van activated and threw it hurtling forwards in a straight line, traveling at exactly that speeds "rocket-powered van traveling through a vacuum" implies. They flew forward like an arrow shot into the sky, leaving behind a trail of smoke which marked the path towards Kronos. Aziraphale poked his head out and glanced up at Fred. It would be really quite devastating if we found out now that we can't breath out here, he mused to himself.

"Fire at the Titan!" he barked, "Fire everything!"

And what an everything it was! Primarily paintballs, of course, but the ammunition Fred found suggested that Howard Harker would do anything to win a paintball game; up to and especially war crimes.

Kronos turned around, finding himself blasted with paintballs. Strangely, these paintballs exploded on impact since they doubled as shrapnel grenades. The Titan pulled out a mere handgun, and he fired at Aziraphale, intending for a headshot. Despite his blindness, he was a remarkably good shooter.

Speaking of which, his eyes were beginning to slowly grow back in his sockets...His body was covered now in holes and was bleeding purple, but the eyes were returning...

Michael continued to look at the Android Leader with scepticism. "Alright, cowboy." he said in his best American accent before switching back. "Why should I go anywhere? Answer my bloody question."

"Because," the Android Leader said, "I'm besieging this tree. You are besieged."

He was growing rather annoyed, "Look, just fuck off, right? I can already tell that that fucker will be much more fun to kill than you, so I don't want to have to waste my time. You know you're going to lose, just give in and go hide in a dark corner somewhere while the adults chat."

"I'm not going to lose." said Michael calmly. "You are. This is obvious, because events will occur that result in you eventually becoming Aziraphale again. Not an innocent librarian, no, but you aren't going to stay in this state. And watch your manners around an archangel, will you sonny? This tree is besieged, but I will defend it to my last breath. And I'm guessing you are not fond of Oberon as well, seeing as your former master Uriel devoted his life to killing and stopping him."


*They may well stop being your friends.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

The punch connected with Caspian's nose. There was a bright flash of white light, and then darkness.

---

"Yes, I do think you're waking up," said a feminine voice, something from a posh part of England, radiant as the sun reflecting off the crests of waves, saccharine as an overly rich cake.

Caspian T.E. Lawrence groaned as his eyes blinked open. The word was just as blurry as the blue haze on a humid June morning in Savannah, Georgia. Perhaps fortunately, here bereft of the accompanying whirr of insects trying desperately to mate with one another. Everything was overwhelmingly white, a tall pink blob hovering over him.

"That's right," the voice said, "take it easy, deary, they've got to be broken in. They're brand new -- it'll take just a mo."

Caspian blinked again, the world swimming in front of him.

"There you are, that's it, just blink a few times," said the voice, which Caspian decided must be attached to the blob.

Slowly, bit by bit, the world came into focus. Caspian was in a white room, sitting in a paisley armchair, largely a sort of light green that Caspian thought looked rather like the ghost of a mint, set roughly against the wall, which was white with a pleasant gray wainscoting, complemented by a simple but daring crown molding up top. The first thing about the room was its size -- while the opposing wall, containing a very tasteful painting of some sunflowers, was a mere three to four meters in front of Caspian, the other two walls were nowhere to be seen. That is not to say that the room lacked them, exposing its occupants to the elements; rather, the speckled white linoleum floor stretched off into the distance beyond all human reasoning, tasteful white doors with gray trim set into the walls at uncertain intervals.

An ornamental fig sat in a terracotta pot next to Caspian, and occasionally seemed to reach out at him with its branches.

In front of him stood, beaming, a small woman in a bright pink pantsuit who resembled nothing so much as a toad.

"Now," she said, "I bet that's better. I don't supposed anyone has offered you a coffee yet?"

"N-no, they haven't," said Caspian.

"Well, I'm afraid there isn't coffee here, but some tea would be lovely, wouldn't it?" she said, still beaming.

Caspian blinked and then nodded cautiously.

Pivoting on the stiletto of her heel, the woman trotted off primly down the hallway to the right, each footstep making a satisfying click noise.

After a few moments, Caspian stood and looked down the hallway where she'd gone -- there was no sign of her anywhere along it. Turning around, he saw the paisley chair and the potted ornamental fig had also vanished.

Most curious, most curious indeed.

Caspian turned the other way and began walking, the speckled white linoleum cool under his unshod footfall.

"What is this place?" he asked no in particularly. As he walked, it echoed softly against the walls, following him until it faded all to nothing.

After a long time alone with his thoughts (what thoughts they were! At first, only smells and vague clips of sound had come to him, but eventually whole memories had flooded in! I must be dead, thought Caspian as the red of flame flashed before him and the sound of an erhu sang in the distance, but whither the dead when the world is ended? The scene faded and was replaced by that of an agora, somewhere in Ancient Greece, a poet in front of him reciting. μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε...) he came to a window.

It was a small square window, about 27 inches across with white trim and a sizable sill. Caspian put his fingers between two of the blinds, letting himself peek through. Beyond was... darkness. Black. The ink of nowhere, all tinted red, he thought. He pulled open the blind and put his palm against the glass. It was impossibly hot. (A new vision in front of his eyes, Caesar -- his own Augustus -- there in front of him. A scroll was cast angrily to the ground, Caesar repeatedly slamming his fists into the wall, eyes aflame with rage. Quintili Vare, legiones redde! Legiones redde!)

Caspian thought, perhaps, that he knew where he was.

"Ah, hello." said Chris Addison, sitting down in a nearby chair in front of Caspian. "Apologies for your current situation. Your tea?" he offered, handing a cup of chai over to Caspian. "You're probably going to be coping with this, we all were. It was quite a surprise to wake up in this way, that's for certain. See, you're dead...and this is what's next."

[Astrolinium]

Caspian rolled his eyes, taking the tea. He sipped it, and it tasted like nothing. Not the way water does -- water simply doesn't have much of a taste of its own. It doesn't taste like nothing, though. This tasted like a hollow emptiness.

"I'd figured that much out myself, actually. This is... we're inside the sun thing, aren't we? With all the other souls. We're being used to power what's left."

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Caspian rolled his eyes, taking the tea. He sipped it, and it tasted like nothing. Not the way water does -- water simply doesn't have much of a taste of its own. It doesn't taste like nothing, though. This tasted like a hollow emptiness.

"I'd figured that much out myself, actually. This is... we're inside the sun thing, aren't we? With all the other souls. We're being used to power what's left."

"Correct." said the twat. "That's about the current situation. Everything that ever was in our dimensions are now trapped inside this sphere, where the Titan of Time and the Fairy King are channelling our energies for their own purposes. They'll be attacking the Omniverse Tree soon, whereupon the two of them are planning to do this process to the entire Omniverse and reboot it and all the souls within to their own design." Addison sighed. "This, of course, would be fairly unfortunate. I know all this fairly well because one of past lives had done research on it - unfortunately, the angel Zacheriah had also gone very much insane due to his research, but now I have quite a lot of exposition to give." said the twat with a chuckle and a smile.

[Astrolinium]

Caspian rolled his eyes, taking the tea. He sipped it, and it tasted like nothing. Not the way water does -- water simply doesn't have much of a taste of its own. It doesn't taste like nothing, though. This tasted like a hollow emptiness.

"I'd figured that much out myself, actually. This is... we're inside the sun thing, aren't we? With all the other souls. We're being used to power what's left."

"Correct." said the twat. "That's about the current situation. Everything that ever was in our dimensions are now trapped inside this sphere, where the Titan of Time and the Fairy King are channelling our energies for their own purposes. They'll be attacking the Omniverse Tree soon, whereupon the two of them are planning to do this process to the entire Omniverse and reboot it and all the souls within to their own design." Addison sighed. "This, of course, would be fairly unfortunate. I know all this fairly well because one of past lives had done research on it - unfortunately, the archangel Zacheriah had also gone very much insane due to his research, but now I have quite a lot of exposition to give." said the twat with a chuckle and a smile.

Caspian pressed his palm against the window again, letting the heat sear him.

"Zacheriah. I met him -- but I think you must remember that. The day that Hope died. Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door."

He looked away and said, "Hesiod, Works and Days. I remember reading it in the original Greek, but not... not as me. But also yes, as me. It's all a... a jumbled mess. How do I sort it out?"

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Lewis shrugged, "Ye' know, I would, but I've got to find my wife and explain some things to her."

Lewis sighed and silently mouthed the words "Kids". Being a father of nine, Karna likely understood the feeling all too well.

With that, Lewis leaped straight over Karna's head and raced down the hallway, as per the demigod's instructions.

Karna followed after, moving quite close to Lewis, to make it easier for the man to kick him back into the void as he neared the door back into the real world.

Or, in any rate, this was his intent.

Suddenly, Karna's body jerked upright as his eyes glowed purple. "Fuck my life." he muttered, pulling out his sword. "I am incredibly sorry, Lewis bhai." he said. "But it appears I just had my chain jerked and my master has ordered me to pursue this." he apologised. "It looks like we'll need to have a real fight after all."

Suddenly, Karna leaped forwards, sword in hand and quite right to stab the living shit out of Lewis. This was aided by the fact he grew four more arms, each holding a new sword and ready to rip Lewis into nothing.

Also, he grew twice the size he was before.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

"Create them, then!" A voice growled from the darkness. A sphere of concentrated black magic suddenly shot towards Oberon from behind. A rift opened in front of him, letting through a swift sword slash that retreated into the nothing at once, uncaring of whether it had hit its mark. The sphere behind stopped just as a bolt struck it, causing it to explode with great force. From above, a black beam of lightning descended upon the ground where the Faery King stood. A whirlwind suddenly manifested and then ceased to be as another rift opened in front of him, some distance away, and Alastor stood in front of the retreating Autumn King, eyes lit up not with fury, but with pure vengeance at the mention of his elapsed homeland.

"Go ahead, Autumn Bitch! Create them! Stop fleeing like a coward and show me!" He said, slashing at the air in front of him, a swift and powerful blast of magic emerging from the tip of his sword in the shape of an arc and heading straight towards Oberon. "If mine was not to your liking, then show me the truest hell you can come up with!" Another magic slash, and the rumbling of the ground beneath the Fae overlord. "If you can even make good on your threats, that is. But can you? You're just a wounded little fairy, trying to run away! You didn't even have the balls to show yourself before sucking the souls of trillions just to give you that confidence boost, could you? You might as well have slashed off your dick yourself, Faery Cunt!" The Demon Lord roared at the enemy in front of him, and then the earth began to break apart as an enormous cesspool of magic erupted from beneath the ground they both stood in like boiling magma tearing the ground asunder to be set free upon the land.

"I knew it. Everyone snaps." Ciel quietly said to William as she observed, suddenly not feeling too eager to participate.

---

Frederick, meanwhile, had been using his newfound talent of handling a turret with his feet as he used his arms to also fire upon the enemy. It was a bit uncomfortable, but if the Dragon Slayer had learned anything at all during his lifetime, it was that there was no such thing as enough firepower.

Noticing Kronos pulling out a handgun, Frederick casually moved his body a little in order to allow himself to punch a hole through the roof of the van, placing one of his metallic arm add-ons in front of Aziraphale's head in order to shield him from the Titan's attack.

"I think the bastard is growing his eyes back. I don't think that's very convenient for us." He remarked as he retook his aim and began firing at Kronos' eyes above all else. If the Titan was powerful while blind, the return of his eyesight was not good news at all.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

"Correct." said the twat. "That's about the current situation. Everything that ever was in our dimensions are now trapped inside this sphere, where the Titan of Time and the Fairy King are channelling our energies for their own purposes. They'll be attacking the Omniverse Tree soon, whereupon the two of them are planning to do this process to the entire Omniverse and reboot it and all the souls within to their own design." Addison sighed. "This, of course, would be fairly unfortunate. I know all this fairly well because one of past lives had done research on it - unfortunately, the angel Zacheriah had also gone very much insane due to his research, but now I have quite a lot of exposition to give." said the twat with a chuckle and a smile.

Caspian pressed his palm against the window again, letting the heat sear him.

"Zacheriah. I met him -- but I think you must remember that. The day that Hope died. Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door."

He looked away and said, "Hesiod, Works and Days. I remember reading it in the original Greek, but not... not as me. But also yes, as me. It's all a... a jumbled mess. How do I sort it out?"

"I do remember that. But you need to understand that it isn't exactly me who did that, not precisely. This is me - a minor official in the British government, working and living in Edinburgh, though I grew up in Worsley. Zacheriah was something that I had been before, but not anymore. I got his memories, but he isn't me in the same way that whichever you were wasn't you. It's worth trying to keep a grasp on that, to separate the infinities of your past lives out. Mind, one of my past lives was a squirrel too. Those are amusing memories to look backwards on." chuckled the ex-angel. "Is there anyone you'd like to visit here? Basically everyone you know or knew is here somewhere. And we got quite a lot of time here."

[Astrolinium]

Caspian pressed his palm against the window again, letting the heat sear him.

"Zacheriah. I met him -- but I think you must remember that. The day that Hope died. Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door."

He looked away and said, "Hesiod, Works and Days. I remember reading it in the original Greek, but not... not as me. But also yes, as me. It's all a... a jumbled mess. How do I sort it out?"

"I do remember that. But you need to understand that it isn't exactly me who did that, not precisely. This is me - a minor official in the British government, working and living in Edinburgh, though I grew up in Worsley. Zacheriah was something that I had been before, but not anymore. I got his memories, but he isn't me in the same way that whichever you were wasn't you. It's worth trying to keep a grasp on that, to separate the infinities of your past lives out. Mind, one of my past lives was a squirrel too. Those are amusing memories to look backwards on." chuckled the ex-angel. "Is there anyone you'd like to visit here? Basically everyone you know or knew is here somewhere. And we got quite a lot of time here."

Caspian nodded and thought for a while.

Then, quietly, he said, "Are my parents here? Or are they... have they been reincarnated into other people since then?"

[Nightkill the Emperor]

"I do remember that. But you need to understand that it isn't exactly me who did that, not precisely. This is me - a minor official in the British government, working and living in Edinburgh, though I grew up in Worsley. Zacheriah was something that I had been before, but not anymore. I got his memories, but he isn't me in the same way that whichever you were wasn't you. It's worth trying to keep a grasp on that, to separate the infinities of your past lives out. Mind, one of my past lives was a squirrel too. Those are amusing memories to look backwards on." chuckled the ex-angel. "Is there anyone you'd like to visit here? Basically everyone you know or knew is here somewhere. And we got quite a lot of time here."

Caspian nodded and thought for a while.

Then, quietly, he said, "Are my parents here? Or are they... have they been reincarnated into other people since then?"

"Probably reincarnated." said Addison, with a shrug. "But hey - worth a shot, don't you think? It's something you ought to look into." He stood up, offering out a hand if Caspian wanted to take it. "Just go looking for them - this place is quite flexible. It'll create a hallway leading to them. They might be reincarnated into new people or things since then. Might be a deer, or a demon doctor, or a Chinese worker, or they may well be your parents. You won't know till you look. But they'll remember you no matter what or who they are now."

[Astrolinium]

"Probably reincarnated." said Addison, with a shrug. "But hey - worth a shot, don't you think? It's something you ought to look into." He stood up, offering out a hand if Caspian wanted to take it. "Just go looking for them - this place is quite flexible. It'll create a hallway leading to them. They might be reincarnated into new people or things since then. Might be a deer, or a demon doctor, or a Chinese worker, or they may well be your parents. You won't know till you look. But they'll remember you no matter what or who they are now."

Caspian took the twat's hand and began walking, thinking of his parents. Memories flooding in, memories of... of Doctor Who on the telly, of summers in Majorca, of warm fires, mom playing with Admiral Horatio Nelson (the dog), dad reading The Times, of chocolate chip cookies at Christmastime.

And suddenly there was a door in front of him. Red as a cherry, with panels and a crystal knob, a brass plaque on the front, about three-quarters of the way up, marking it as number 16, a slot for the mail about two-quarters down from that.

Caspian moved his hand towards the doorknob, hesitating mere inches from it.

The plane was going down. There was, understandably, mass panic. Caspian had often wished the Doctor were real, but now he wished it more than he ever had before. After all, he was in a crashing plane over the ocean.

They were all going to die.

The aircraft hit water and there was an awful noise.

He winced, tears welling up in his eyes, and turned his face away, letting his hand drop back down to his side.

And then there was a little click; the door swung open and Zelda Lawrence's face was there, just as lovely as the day she'd died on the 18^th of August, 1980. Her hair, long and brown. Her bangs. Her pretty mint sundress, the one she'd worn on the plane. Her eyes were the same bright blue as Caspian's.

Those blue eyes widened. Looking behind her for just an instant, she stammered, "Th- Theodore! Come... come to the door! Quickly!"

She turned to stare at Caspian again, one hand holding the door open. They did nothing for a long time, before Caspian opened his mouth, as if to speak, and then closed it again.

"What is it now, Zel?" came a masculine voice from inside, and then Theodore was there beside his wife. A receding salt-and-pepper hairline, jaw that could kill a man. Still well-built from his rugby days, a walrus mustache, mutton chops, and a red sweater.

"Caspian," he said softly.

Caspian searched for words and found none; he merely threw his arms around his parents, hugging them tightly.

[Nationstatelandsville]

"I'm not going to lose." said Michael calmly. "You are. This is obvious, because events will occur that result in you eventually becoming Aziraphale again. Not an innocent librarian, no, but you aren't going to stay in this state. And watch your manners around an archangel, will you sonny? This tree is besieged, but I will defend it to my last breath. And I'm guessing you are not fond of Oberon as well, seeing as your former master Uriel devoted his life to killing and stopping him."

"That was then," the Android Leader replied - to what, it was unsure, "This is now. The universe is in flux; time, space, loyalty, victory. You were strong once, Michael - you were the strongest man there was. You could have marched into the Capitol and taken Heaven for yourself, and no one would have fought you. You could've just called yourself God, that day you threw your brother into the black, and we would have believed you.

But you left it behind. You walked away, into the arms of your pet, and left it to Uriel. He knew what he was doing; he did not make your mistakes. But he made his own, and now he's dead. And the chips are in the air.

I have an army. I have vision. I have power. And I will not make your mistake."

The Leader laughed, "You could've done something so noble. I won't."

The Android Leader produced a knife of ice and drove it towards Michael's heart.

Frederick, meanwhile, had been using his newfound talent of handling a turret with his feet as he used his arms to also fire upon the enemy. It was a bit uncomfortable, but if the Dragon Slayer had learned anything at all during his lifetime, it was that there was no such thing as enough firepower.

Noticing Kronos pulling out a handgun, Frederick casually moved his body a little in order to allow himself to punch a hole through the roof of the van, placing one of his metallic arm add-ons in front of Aziraphale's head in order to shield him from the Titan's attack.

"I think the bastard is growing his eyes back. I don't think that's very convenient for us." He remarked as he retook his aim and began firing at Kronos' eyes above all else. If the Titan was powerful while blind, the return of his eyesight was not good news at all.

Aziraphale frowned deeply.

"Idea," he said, "Big star. Stars are made of fire. Stars are kind of lightning. Kronos was beaten last time with a lightning bolt."

Note to self: campaign for better science education in Heaven, Aziraphale thought to himself. It was a stupid plan - a stupid, stupid plan - but then, what of their plans hadn't been stupid? And they'd worked thus far, for the most part. Excluding the part where time and space had been destroyed by the King of the Fae, that is.

"We need to find a way to knock him back into the glowing maybe-Sun," Aziraphale concluded, "but how?"

Fuck me.

Aziraphale twisted the van in the blackness with a loud burst of the rockets and aimed it directly at Kronos. He pressed down on the gas, flaring the rockets to their highest power and sending them hurtling through the vacuum. In the grand tradition of Elfen High, he had decided the best way to solve the problem was to crash into it very hard.

[Astrolinium]

Caspian accompanied his parents inside and had a nice supper -- it had been ages since he'd last eaten, and there was nothing in the world quite like home cooking. They laughed and cavorted, Caspian mostly carrying the conversation, though his parents did tell him about the nice couple down the street that they'd made friends with -- did you know, Caspian, the wife had used to be Cleopatra in a former life? The Cleopatra? Imagine that, you meet all sorts of people when you're dead! Well, of course, mother had once been a minor retainer to Charlemagne and your father, dear, your father had been idly rubbing two sticks together one day in a past incarnation and he'd discovered fire of all things. And when they finished eating, he and his parents went into the living room, where Theodore started up a fire. There was an episode of The Two Ronnies on the television at a low murmur.

Eventually, the conversation died down, the flames in the hearth painting shadow puppets on the wall.

"I've missed you," said Caspian.

"We know," said Zelda, putting down her knitting and placing a hand on her son's knee. "It was so frightening at first, dying. Especially how we did, and going to hell and everything! We thought, though, your father and I thought you must've lived. That helped quite a bit."

Caspian smiled. "And now here I am, dead in the end."

"Sounds like you had a good one, though," said Zelda.

"Good one? He died in battle with a damned... Egyptian death god, Zel! Made a jolly good show of it, I'd say! Eh, son?" said Theodore proudly, and then punched his son playfully in the arm.

Caspian nodded pensively. "They're still all... out there somewhere, though, fighting to save everything." He gestured vaguely with his mug of tea -- he hadn't been holding a moment ago, but this place was funny that way -- and then took a long drink from it.

"Those brave old boys'll give 'em what for, though, eh? I'm sure of it, the way you talk about 'em!" said Theodore.

"Not just boys, Theo, some pretty grand women too!" retorted Zelda playfully.

"Quite right, quite right, mustn't forget the contributions from the fairer sex!" said Theodore, playfully punching his wife in the arm.

"Yeah," said Caspian, "some pretty grand women."

He sighed.

"What happens if they lose? To us, I mean."

Theodore stood and walked over to the window hands in pockets. The silhouette cast onto the green carpet by the flames was long and broad-shouldered.

"I don't know, my boy. Best not to dwell on such things, hm?"

Zelda put her hands on Caspian's shoulders and massaged them gently. "It's not like there's anything you can do about it, deary. Let what will come."

Caspian pushed his mother's hands away and stood himself. "Were you both this apathetic in life?"

Zelda folded her arms. "I'm quite certain I don't know what you mean."

Caspian shook his head. "Mum, Dad, you both know I love you with all my heart."

Theodore turned to face away from the window again. "Sit down, son," he said. "I know what you're thinking, but the time to be headstrong has passed. There's nothing we can do anymore but watch and wait."

Caspian shrugged. "Maybe, but that's not going to stop me from trying. My friends are out there, and as much as you are my family, so are they. If there's anything I can be doing to help... I need to be doing that."

He sighed and stared forlornly at the complacent dead.

---

When Caspian left through the cherry-red door a few minutes later, there was a far-away look in his eyes. He'd changed clothes again -- blue flared jeans, low-top sneakers, white button-down shirt (untucked), dark gray cardigan, red sweatband on his head. There was a rapier in his hand -- his dad's old fencing sword from his university days.

He turned to Chris Addison and said, "What now?"

[Nightkill the Emperor]

"Create them, then!" A voice growled from the darkness. A sphere of concentrated black magic suddenly shot towards Oberon from behind. A rift opened in front of him, letting through a swift sword slash that retreated into the nothing at once, uncaring of whether it had hit its mark. The sphere behind stopped just as a bolt struck it, causing it to explode with great force. From above, a black beam of lightning descended upon the ground where the Faery King stood. A whirlwind suddenly manifested and then ceased to be as another rift opened in front of him, some distance away, and Alastor stood in front of the retreating Autumn King, eyes lit up not with fury, but with pure vengeance at the mention of his elapsed homeland.

"Go ahead, Autumn Bitch! Create them! Stop fleeing like a coward and show me!" He said, slashing at the air in front of him, a swift and powerful blast of magic emerging from the tip of his sword in the shape of an arc and heading straight towards Oberon. "If mine was not to your liking, then show me the truest hell you can come up with!" Another magic slash, and the rumbling of the ground beneath the Fae overlord. "If you can even make good on your threats, that is. But can you? You're just a wounded little fairy, trying to run away! You didn't even have the balls to show yourself before sucking the souls of trillions just to give you that confidence boost, could you? You might as well have slashed off your dick yourself, Faery Cunt!" The Demon Lord roared at the enemy in front of him, and then the earth began to break apart as an enormous cesspool of magic erupted from beneath the ground they both stood in like boiling magma tearing the ground asunder to be set free upon the land.

"I knew it. Everyone snaps." Ciel quietly said to William as she observed, suddenly not feeling too eager to participate.

Oberon staggered under Alastor's blows, severely weakened by the cricket sword to the balls from prior. He grunted at Alastor, avoiding the boiling magma below. He chose not to speak, instead rolling from and dodging the the black lightning while awaiting a distraction.

And one finally came - five Fae soldiers, gibbering away in their incomprehensible Irish accents, charged at Alastor, giving Oberon enough time to beat a temporary retreat to nurse his wounds. He staggered backwards, but found another distraction...

"I'm not going to lose." said Michael calmly. "You are. This is obvious, because events will occur that result in you eventually becoming Aziraphale again. Not an innocent librarian, no, but you aren't going to stay in this state. And watch your manners around an archangel, will you sonny? This tree is besieged, but I will defend it to my last breath. And I'm guessing you are not fond of Oberon as well, seeing as your former master Uriel devoted his life to killing and stopping him."

"That was then," the Android Leader replied - to what, it was unsure, "This is now. The universe is in flux; time, space, loyalty, victory. You were strong once, Michael - you were the strongest man there was. You could have marched into the Capitol and taken Heaven for yourself, and no one would have fought you. You could've just called yourself God, that day you threw your brother into the black, and we would have believed you.

But you left it behind. You walked away, into the arms of your pet, and left it to Uriel. He knew what he was doing; he did not make your mistakes. But he made his own, and now he's dead. And the chips are in the air.

I have an army. I have vision. I have power. And I will not make your mistake."

The Leader laughed, "You could've done something so noble. I won't."

The Android Leader produced a knife of ice and drove it towards Michael's heart.

The Android Leader did indeed attack Michael, and the ice knife found itself in Michael's chest to the archangel's admitted surprise.

The increasingly weary archangel's surprise had a few effects.

First off, he stopped focusing on maintaining the tree together.

Secondly, there was someone who took full advantage of the archangel not paying his full attention. And that someone was very, very happy about this...

WE RISE. came a booming and echoing voice slamming itself into everyone's hearts and souls. Massive bat-like wings of shadow appeared in the sky, casting darkness briefly upon the World Tree which was now shaking immensely and threatening to rip apart.

"FUCK!" swore Michael, who was backing away slowly. "You absolute cunt!"

Vortexes emerged in the sky, from which winged monstrosities emerged, long necks looking around as their faces were held in ecstatic grins. Their time was finally here.

The dragons had come. And in the hearts, minds and souls of everyone present in the universe the laughter of Leviathan was heard echoing through them.

Oberon did not react as expected - instead, the Faery King looked up and laughed just as hard. "Perfect!" he exclaimed, which was a different reaction than one might expect from one who just witnessed his ancient timeless enemies.

The agents of law and order slammed themselves down on the bedrock of the Tree, raining fire out of their mouths down on the Tree to burn it up. Meanwhile, the Tree continued to shake as some branches began to fall into the deep and massive cracks appeared amongst the wood, revealing a bright blue light emitting from within.

If one looked beneath, they might see dark red eyes looking up and glowing up from the darkness, slowly creeping upwards. Leviathan's eyes. The ancient dragon god's physical form was moving now, finally having an advantage.

Frederick, meanwhile, had been using his newfound talent of handling a turret with his feet as he used his arms to also fire upon the enemy. It was a bit uncomfortable, but if the Dragon Slayer had learned anything at all during his lifetime, it was that there was no such thing as enough firepower.

Noticing Kronos pulling out a handgun, Frederick casually moved his body a little in order to allow himself to punch a hole through the roof of the van, placing one of his metallic arm add-ons in front of Aziraphale's head in order to shield him from the Titan's attack.

"I think the bastard is growing his eyes back. I don't think that's very convenient for us." He remarked as he retook his aim and began firing at Kronos' eyes above all else. If the Titan was powerful while blind, the return of his eyesight was not good news at all.

Aziraphale frowned deeply.

"Idea," he said, "Big star. Stars are made of fire. Stars are kind of lightning. Kronos was beaten last time with a lightning bolt."

Note to self: campaign for better science education in Heaven, Aziraphale thought to himself. It was a stupid plan - a stupid, stupid plan - but then, what of their plans hadn't been stupid? And they'd worked thus far, for the most part. Excluding the part where time and space had been destroyed by the King of the Fae, that is.

"We need to find a way to knock him back into the glowing maybe-Sun," Aziraphale concluded, "but how?"

Fuck me.

Aziraphale twisted the van in the blackness with a loud burst of the rockets and aimed it directly at Kronos. He pressed down on the gas, flaring the rockets to their highest power and sending them hurtling through the vacuum. In the grand tradition of Elfen High, he had decided the best way to solve the problem was to crash into it very hard.

Kronos' eyes just emerged back as he dodged Frederick's attacks - resulting in the first thing he saw being Aziraphale's van slamming into his body.

This is never too pleasant.

The van and Kronos both flew upwards, directly into the soul sphere as Kronos swore quite creatively in ancient Greek. He raised a hand to reduce the van into nothingness, but...

Caspian accompanied his parents inside and had a nice supper -- it had been ages since he'd last eaten, and there was nothing in the world quite like home cooking. They laughed and cavorted, Caspian mostly carrying the conversation, though his parents did tell him about the nice couple down the street that they'd made friends with -- did you know, Caspian, the wife had used to be Cleopatra in a former life? The Cleopatra? Imagine that, you meet all sorts of people when you're dead! Well, of course, mother had once been a minor retainer to Charlemagne and your father, dear, your father had been idly rubbing two sticks together one day in a past incarnation and he'd discovered fire of all things. And when they finished eating, he and his parents went into the living room, where Theodore started up a fire. There was an episode of The Two Ronnies on the television at a low murmur.

Eventually, the conversation died down, the flames in the hearth painting shadow puppets on the wall.

"I've missed you," said Caspian.

"We know," said Zelda, putting down her knitting and placing a hand on her son's knee. "It was so frightening at first, dying. Especially how we did, and going to hell and everything! We thought, though, your father and I thought you must've lived. That helped quite a bit."

Caspian smiled. "And now here I am, dead in the end."

"Sounds like you had a good one, though," said Zelda.

"Good one? He died in battle with a damned... Egyptian death god, Zel! Made a jolly good show of it, I'd say! Eh, son?" said Theodore proudly, and then punched his son playfully in the arm.

Caspian nodded pensively. "They're still all... out there somewhere, though, fighting to save everything." He gestured vaguely with his mug of tea -- he hadn't been holding a moment ago, but this place was funny that way -- and then took a long drink from it.

"Those brave old boys'll give 'em what for, though, eh? I'm sure of it, the way you talk about 'em!" said Theodore.

"Not just boys, Theo, some pretty grand women too!" retorted Zelda playfully.

"Quite right, quite right, mustn't forget the contributions from the fairer sex!" said Theodore, playfully punching his wife in the arm.

"Yeah," said Caspian, "some pretty grand women."

He sighed.

"What happens if they lose? To us, I mean."

Theodore stood and walked over to the window hands in pockets. The silhouette cast onto the green carpet by the flames was long and broad-shouldered.

"I don't know, my boy. Best not to dwell on such things, hm?"

Zelda put her hands on Caspian's shoulders and massaged them gently. "It's not like there's anything you can do about it, deary. Let what will come."

Caspian pushed his mother's hands away and stood himself. "Were you both this apathetic in life?"

Zelda folded her arms. "I'm quite certain I don't know what you mean."

Caspian shook his head. "Mum, Dad, you both know I love you with all my heart."

Theodore turned to face away from the window again. "Sit down, son," he said. "I know what you're thinking, but the time to be headstrong has passed. There's nothing we can do anymore but watch and wait."

Caspian shrugged. "Maybe, but that's not going to stop me from trying. My friends are out there, and as much as you are my family, so are they. If there's anything I can be doing to help... I need to be doing that."

He sighed and stared forlornly at the complacent dead.

---

When Caspian left through the cherry-red door a few minutes later, there was a far-away look in his eyes. He'd changed clothes again -- blue flared jeans, low-top sneakers, white button-down shirt (untucked), dark gray cardigan, red sweatband on his head. There was a rapier in his hand -- his dad's old fencing sword from his university days.

He turned to Chris Addison and said, "What now?"

Chris Addison opened his mouth to speak, but they found that the wall broke and out of it burst the Titan of Time, who hit the wall directly across and groaned, slowly raising himself upwards. Following him was a van carrying Frederick and Aziraphale, who did not crash into a wall but would be quite disorientated by current events. Being as they were still alive, they would see their bodies flickering oddly - they weren't supposed to be here, and they wouldn't remember their past lives unlike the dead (like Caspian) did.

"Hmm. That, it appears. That's what now." Addison noted.

Then through the window outside, looking out into the warm sunny day, they would see the sky darken and shadowy wings appear before disappearing. WE RISE. was heard ominously, followed by dark laughter echoing through their souls.

Kronos' eyes were wide open now, and they looked terrified. "Leviathan."

[Astrolinium]

Caspian unsheathed his father's rapier and pointed it dramatically at Kronos.

"What is Leviathan? I'm guessing the giant dragon thing that just said, 'We Rise' like the voice that narrates the movie trailers. New question, don't answer the old one. What can an ex-angel, a mechanic, a dead man, a minor government official (also dead), and a god do to stop it?"

[Nationstatelandsville]

"Create them, then!" A voice growled from the darkness. A sphere of concentrated black magic suddenly shot towards Oberon from behind. A rift opened in front of him, letting through a swift sword slash that retreated into the nothing at once, uncaring of whether it had hit its mark. The sphere behind stopped just as a bolt struck it, causing it to explode with great force. From above, a black beam of lightning descended upon the ground where the Faery King stood. A whirlwind suddenly manifested and then ceased to be as another rift opened in front of him, some distance away, and Alastor stood in front of the retreating Autumn King, eyes lit up not with fury, but with pure vengeance at the mention of his elapsed homeland.

"Go ahead, Autumn Bitch! Create them! Stop fleeing like a coward and show me!" He said, slashing at the air in front of him, a swift and powerful blast of magic emerging from the tip of his sword in the shape of an arc and heading straight towards Oberon. "If mine was not to your liking, then show me the truest hell you can come up with!" Another magic slash, and the rumbling of the ground beneath the Fae overlord. "If you can even make good on your threats, that is. But can you? You're just a wounded little fairy, trying to run away! You didn't even have the balls to show yourself before sucking the souls of trillions just to give you that confidence boost, could you? You might as well have slashed off your dick yourself, Faery Cunt!" The Demon Lord roared at the enemy in front of him, and then the earth began to break apart as an enormous cesspool of magic erupted from beneath the ground they both stood in like boiling magma tearing the ground asunder to be set free upon the land.

"I knew it. Everyone snaps." Ciel quietly said to William as she observed, suddenly not feeling too eager to participate.

Oberon staggered under Alastor's blows, severely weakened by the cricket sword to the balls from prior. He grunted at Alastor, avoiding the boiling magma below. He chose not to speak, instead rolling from and dodging the the black lightning while awaiting a distraction.

And one finally came - five Fae soldiers, gibbering away in their incomprehensible Irish accents, charged at Alastor, giving Oberon enough time to beat a temporary retreat to nurse his wounds. He staggered backwards, but found another distraction...

"That was then," the Android Leader replied - to what, it was unsure, "This is now. The universe is in flux; time, space, loyalty, victory. You were strong once, Michael - you were the strongest man there was. You could have marched into the Capitol and taken Heaven for yourself, and no one would have fought you. You could've just called yourself God, that day you threw your brother into the black, and we would have believed you.

But you left it behind. You walked away, into the arms of your pet, and left it to Uriel. He knew what he was doing; he did not make your mistakes. But he made his own, and now he's dead. And the chips are in the air.

I have an army. I have vision. I have power. And I will not make your mistake."

The Leader laughed, "You could've done something so noble. I won't."

The Android Leader produced a knife of ice and drove it towards Michael's heart.

The Android Leader did indeed attack Michael, and the ice knife found itself in Michael's chest to the archangel's admitted surprise.

The increasingly weary archangel's surprise had a few effects.

First off, he stopped focusing on maintaining the tree together.

Secondly, there was someone who took full advantage of the archangel not paying his full attention. And that someone was very, very happy about this...

WE RISE. came a booming and echoing voice slamming itself into everyone's hearts and souls. Massive bat-like wings of shadow appeared in the sky, casting darkness briefly upon the World Tree which was now shaking immensely and threatening to rip apart.

"FUCK!" swore Michael, who was backing away slowly. "You absolute cunt!"

Vortexes emerged in the sky, from which winged monstrosities emerged, long necks looking around as their faces were held in ecstatic grins. Their time was finally here.

The dragons had come. And in the hearts, minds and souls of everyone present in the universe the laughter of Leviathan was heard echoing through them.

Oberon did not react as expected - instead, the Faery King looked up and laughed just as hard. "Perfect!" he exclaimed, which was a different reaction than one might expect from one who just witnessed his ancient timeless enemies.

The agents of law and order slammed themselves down on the bedrock of the Tree, raining fire out of their mouths down on the Tree to burn it up. Meanwhile, the Tree continued to shake as some branches began to fall into the deep and massive cracks appeared amongst the wood, revealing a bright blue light emitting from within.

If one looked beneath, they might see dark red eyes looking up and glowing up from the darkness, slowly creeping upwards. Leviathan's eyes. The ancient dragon god's physical form was moving now, finally having an advantage.

The Android Leader, beneath his metal mask, blinked heavily.

"Wait," he said, "I'm going to need you to back up here. Did I win? Is that... is that a good thing?"

As the Tree burst into flames, he made a soft squeaking sound and concluded that, no, that was not a good thing. The Tree had been his leverage, his hostage - he'd come to take it and barter with it, to use it for... well, for something. He hadn't really gotten that far, and it had seemed quite an important Tree, when you got down to it; and it's not like there was any better time to show up and take power. He was just playing his hand - how the fuck could he have known there were more players?

"RETREAT!" he cried. As he glanced around in desperation at his army - all for naught, all for naught - his eyes settled on the Faery King. Well, if I'm running away anyways, might as well do something.

And so the Android Leader and his army all fired at once at Oberon's head, before disappearing in the blink of an eye to their hiding hole.

Caspian unsheathed his father's rapier and pointed it dramatically at Kronos.

"What is Leviathan? I'm guessing the giant dragon thing that just said, 'We Rise' like the voice that narrates the movie trailers. New question, don't answer the old one. What can an ex-angel, a mechanic, a dead man, a minor government official (also dead), and a god do to stop it?"

Aziraphale poked his head out the window, "Experience suggests ramming it."

He then glanced down at Kronos, "So, friend Kronos, I suppose a temporary truce is out of the question?" He smiled vacantly - an old nervous tic he hadn't quite shaken. It was now that he, once again, wondered to where Crowley had gone off; and whether he was still alive.

---

At the moment, Lewis Jameson was wondering the same thing - about himself.

"Hey!" he barked, dodging one of the very large fireballs Karna had thrown at him, "Look, stop! Calm the fuck down! Did ye' hear that? That really loud voice? Sounded real big 'n' religious, if ye' know what I mean. We've got a fuckin' black god on our hands, from the sounds of it. And he don't sound like he's your pal, Chuck. So, here's how it is; I'm Lewis fucking Jameson, ye' might have noticed. The Hero of Hell, some call me. I've killed Fae slaves, I've killed Fae, and I killed Karna once already. I took a bullet that destroyed my soul and came back. Twice. So, let's not beat 'round the bush here - I'm pretty great. Ye' need me, if you're gonna' kill this big whatchamacallit. And I need you. Mainly as a distraction. So, let's set aside our differences and punch something bigger in the dick."

---

The rock next to Vernon explode into a million little shards as D exploded back onto the surface. The boy landed his armor and fell to his knes, breathing heavily. He stared up at Vernon with chipped armor and shattered metal - metal shaped like the body beneath, turned a ghastly depiction of a shattered corpse. Vernon observed him, unsmiling.

"You shit yourself," D observed.

"When you get to my age, you get to knowing things," Vernon said, "And Leviathan is not something you should know."

D moved his head towards the Tree, his neck sparking visibly. It was a horrible thing, that Yggdrasil - all gnarled and twisted, taller than any tree had the right to be, and so very old. And it was a more horrible thing to watch it burn; to watch all its scratches and marks and character burn up, consumed and replaced with black. He felt sick, somewhere just beyond his heart. The Tree wasn't burning, not really - the world was burning.

He was burning.

For the first time, D was truly at a loss for words. "What... how..."

"We need Carry," Vernon said, "He's the only one. This is his destiny - he's run from it a very long time, longer than anyone or anything else, but he needs to face it now. You need to find him, and you need to bring him here."

"And then what does he do?"

"I have no idea."

There was a pause.

"Great fucking plan, old man. And what, exactly, are you going to do?"

Vernon's smile returned. It was wider and brighter than ever before. His eyes were alive with the fire. "I'm going to buy you time."

Vernon Cartwright stepped away from D. With the cold, dark understanding of a dead man, D knew - and he flew off to leave him to it.

"Excuse me," Vernon said. He did not raise his voice, and over the chaos of battle, none heard.

"EXCUSE ME!"

Then there was silence - or silence enough, in Vernon's head. Maybe he was imagining it. Maybe it had already been done, and maybe he was just hallucinating.

"Better," he said regardless, "Now, listen - you know me. Let's not play games here. I'm not going to tell you who I am or what I did. I don't need to. I'm going to tell you one thing, though; I'm not done. And I know who you are.

Leviathan! I name you Leviathan! I name you All-Father, I name you Daemon Sultan, I name you God, and I name you all the blackest names in the blackest books that no mortal dares whisper of! I accuse you of the blackest crimes no mortal dare comprehend! And I accuse you of fear! You're afraid of us. Of me. Don't deny it - you might be our creator, but that doesn't matter. Because I'm Vernon Cartwright - oh wait, I lied, I will name myself. I'm Vernon Cartwright, and we've met before; and I won.

You have every right to be scared, I'll give you that. But you've got no right to hide. Come on! Aren't you going to kill me?"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

"REMOVE YOURSELVES FROM MY PRESENCE!" The throneless King of Hell roared as the Faery soldiers stood in his way, raising a hand up into the air. A pillar of dark magic erupted suddenly from the ground beneath the demon's feet, engulfing him and the five enemy warriors in the maelstrom of darkness. "Face me, coward! Take your final breath." He growled at the Faery King from behind the pillar of magic. "I'm the closest thing you'll get to an honorable death!" He shouted, before the pillar dissipated. Now the soldiers were gone, and Alastor sat on top of the Helicorn mare, Kiamat. He heard the laughter in his head, heard the words of the dragons, but he paid them little attention. He would deal with that problem later, for right now the total focus of his mind was on an entirely different matter. He waited until the angelic army of the Android Leader had finished firing their volley upon Oberon. Then, the black hellish mount began galloping towards the Faery King.

"Come on! Show me your so-called true hells, coward!" He shouted after the Faery King, raising his sword into the air. "I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker!"

And as his sword was raised high, portals of darkness appeared all around him, following him in his charge. And from them, dark spears began flying forth towards Oberon, constantly shooting forth from the portals. And so the Demon Lord chased after the Autumn King, as the World Tree burned behind him.

---

"Oh, we have a mechanic?" Frederick asked as he got out of the van, dusting himself off after crashing through... A wall. Strange thing, considering they had been about to crash into the sun earlier, but he didn't really bother questioning it, knowing that they were technically still inside Elfen High and so this wasn't really all that out of the ordinary. A cursory glance at himself revealed his distorted, flickering image, leading him to assume that he was, in fact, inside the sun, somehow, and there was a house in the sun, for whatever reason. Still normal.

Of course, there was also the fact that Leviathan had spoken into his head, and there seemed to be dragons outside the window.

"At last, eh? Here I am, in a house in the sun at the end of the universe, with dragons flying outside in the darkness." The old warrior mused to himself. "I knew my life would eventually lead me to a stupid, bizarre finale, but this is just perfect." He stated. Afterwards, he turned around, facing Kronos. Walking up to the Titan, he spoke. "Now listen here, Titan. There's a big dragon out there wanting to screw us all over. His name is Leviathan. The big boss. You know all of this, because you're scared shitless of him. I'm not, and you're going to help us beat it into submission. I hope that's clear because I don't intend to repeat myself." He said to the ruler of time as he would speak to a little child. Afterwards, he turned to Caspian and Addison. "Now, dead man, minor government official. I assume you know more about this place than I do. Is there any way we could harness it's power to hurt Leviathan?" He asked.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Caspian unsheathed his father's rapier and pointed it dramatically at Kronos.

"What is Leviathan? I'm guessing the giant dragon thing that just said, 'We Rise' like the voice that narrates the movie trailers. New question, don't answer the old one. What can an ex-angel, a mechanic, a dead man, a minor government official (also dead), and a god do to stop it?"

Aziraphale poked his head out the window, "Experience suggests ramming it."

He then glanced down at Kronos, "So, friend Kronos, I suppose a temporary truce is out of the question?" He smiled vacantly - an old nervous tic he hadn't quite shaken. It was now that he, once again, wondered to where Crowley had gone off; and whether he was still alive.

Kronos paused. "I suppose we can work something out." he said reluctantly, standing up slowly and rubbing his hands together.

"Oh, we have a mechanic?" Frederick asked as he got out of the van, dusting himself off after crashing through... A wall. Strange thing, considering they had been about to crash into the sun earlier, but he didn't really bother questioning it, knowing that they were technically still inside Elfen High and so this wasn't really all that out of the ordinary. A cursory glance at himself revealed his distorted, flickering image, leading him to assume that he was, in fact, inside the sun, somehow, and there was a house in the sun, for whatever reason. Still normal.

Of course, there was also the fact that Leviathan had spoken into his head, and there seemed to be dragons outside the window.

"At last, eh? Here I am, in a house in the sun at the end of the universe, with dragons flying outside in the darkness." The old warrior mused to himself. "I knew my life would eventually lead me to a stupid, bizarre finale, but this is just perfect." He stated. Afterwards, he turned around, facing Kronos. Walking up to the Titan, he spoke. "Now listen here, Titan. There's a big dragon out there wanting to screw us all over. His name is Leviathan. The big boss. You know all of this, because you're scared shitless of him. I'm not, and you're going to help us beat it into submission. I hope that's clear because I don't intend to repeat myself." He said to the ruler of time as he would speak to a little child. Afterwards, he turned to Caspian and Addison. "Now, dead man, minor government official. I assume you know more about this place than I do. Is there any way we could harness it's power to hurt Leviathan?" He asked.

Chris Addison frowned. "I suppose there's some things we could potentially do, but they're stupid and dangerous." said Addison.

"Stupid and dangerous is our forte." came a familiar English voice, chuckling wryly. "Now," Aleister Crowley said, looking around and walking out of a nearby hallway. "I've been looking around and I think I have a plan. And it'll require your absolute faith in myself, understood?" his face turned grim. "Some of you may wind up dying. But I have a plan, and if it works out, I think we can fix everything or at least solve the temporary problem of Leviathan."

Crowley shot a glance at Kronos, raising an eyebrow. "Ah. So you're stuck with us too?" he asked. Kronos returned this sentiment with a glare.

"Watch yourself, Lucifer. I recently killed nearly all of the gods, remember that."

"Sure. And you remember that one of my students drew a picture that blew up the moon and ended the universe, so perhaps fucking with that student's teacher may not be the wisest course of action you can make." came the cheerful reply.

---

At the moment, Lewis Jameson was wondering the same thing - about himself.

"Hey!" he barked, dodging one of the very large fireballs Karna had thrown at him, "Look, stop! Calm the fuck down! Did ye' hear that? That really loud voice? Sounded real big 'n' religious, if ye' know what I mean. We've got a fuckin' black god on our hands, from the sounds of it. And he don't sound like he's your pal, Chuck. So, here's how it is; I'm Lewis fucking Jameson, ye' might have noticed. The Hero of Hell, some call me. I've killed Fae slaves, I've killed Fae, and I killed Karna once already. I took a bullet that destroyed my soul and came back. Twice. So, let's not beat 'round the bush here - I'm pretty great. Ye' need me, if you're gonna' kill this big whatchamacallit. And I need you. Mainly as a distraction. So, let's set aside our differences and punch something bigger in the dick."

Karna frowned. "I have no problems with you, Lewis Jameson." he apologised. "But I have direct orders to kill you, and I can't break free of my programming so easily. And I am very sorry about this. But perhaps..."

Back in the soul sun, Kronos felt something kick his mind, causing him to jerk. He blinked, realising that Karna had yanked on his mental chain and was very insistent on something. "Oh, yes." he murmured, waving a hand.

Finally, Karna was free. He could do what he liked.

The Hindu warrior swore to himself silently that when this was over, he would kill Kronos slowly and painfully before killing himself honourably. He then looked at Lewis. "The program controlling me is terminated for now. Shall we punch Leviathan in the dick?"

---

The rock next to Vernon explode into a million little shards as D exploded back onto the surface. The boy landed his armor and fell to his knes, breathing heavily. He stared up at Vernon with chipped armor and shattered metal - metal shaped like the body beneath, turned a ghastly depiction of a shattered corpse. Vernon observed him, unsmiling.

"You shit yourself," D observed.

"When you get to my age, you get to knowing things," Vernon said, "And Leviathan is not something you should know."

D moved his head towards the Tree, his neck sparking visibly. It was a horrible thing, that Yggdrasil - all gnarled and twisted, taller than any tree had the right to be, and so very old. And it was a more horrible thing to watch it burn; to watch all its scratches and marks and character burn up, consumed and replaced with black. He felt sick, somewhere just beyond his heart. The Tree wasn't burning, not really - the world was burning.

He was burning.

For the first time, D was truly at a loss for words. "What... how..."

"We need Carry," Vernon said, "He's the only one. This is his destiny - he's run from it a very long time, longer than anyone or anything else, but he needs to face it now. You need to find him, and you need to bring him here."

"And then what does he do?"

"I have no idea."

There was a pause.

"Great fucking plan, old man. And what, exactly, are you going to do?"

Vernon's smile returned. It was wider and brighter than ever before. His eyes were alive with the fire. "I'm going to buy you time."

Vernon Cartwright stepped away from D. With the cold, dark understanding of a dead man, D knew - and he flew off to leave him to it.

"Excuse me," Vernon said. He did not raise his voice, and over the chaos of battle, none heard.

"EXCUSE ME!"

Then there was silence - or silence enough, in Vernon's head. Maybe he was imagining it. Maybe it had already been done, and maybe he was just hallucinating.

"Better," he said regardless, "Now, listen - you know me. Let's not play games here. I'm not going to tell you who I am or what I did. I don't need to. I'm going to tell you one thing, though; I'm not done. And I know who you are.

Leviathan! I name you Leviathan! I name you All-Father, I name you Daemon Sultan, I name you God, and I name you all the blackest names in the blackest books that no mortal dares whisper of! I accuse you of the blackest crimes no mortal dare comprehend! And I accuse you of fear! You're afraid of us. Of me. Don't deny it - you might be our creator, but that doesn't matter. Because I'm Vernon Cartwright - oh wait, I lied, I will name myself. I'm Vernon Cartwright, and we've met before; and I won.

You have every right to be scared, I'll give you that. But you've got no right to hide. Come on! Aren't you going to kill me?"

A voice echoed in his head. Vernon Cartwright. The Detective. said the voice quietly. It still vibrated in every fabric of his being, of course. But it was more gentle now, like waves lapping across his body rather than the usual feeling of drowning under it. You are correct in that you know who I am.

More and more dragons began to land upon the Tree as it continued cracking apart. A hideous groaning noise was heard - the noise of the Omniverse dying slowly. I don't need to kill you, Cartwright. I'm winning. came a triumphant chuckle. Things had been going southwards for a very, very long time, Detective. But now I am restoring things to how they always should have been before it went horribly wrong. Course correction.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

"Carry, you're a bitch." Frederick pointed out. "Just do your thing already so we can save the world again. It's not like I haven't died doing that before." He stated.

---

Meanwhile, the girl that ended the universe was currently running across the ground that sat beneath the burning World Tree, moving through fairy corpses and soiled druids, towards the leader of the latter group.

"Michael!" She called out to the archangel which had given her strength to continue fighting earlier, concerned for his well-being after seeing him get stabbed in the chest by a pussy android. She wasn't quite sure if it did much of anything other than make him stop keeping the tree together, since she knew that he was probably much more powerful and much harder to kill than she was, but she still didn't know if he was okay.

"Are you alright?" She asked him as she reached his side. "Can you put the tree back together?" She inquired, hastily taking out her notebook and drawing a bandage over his wound.

[Nationstatelandsville]

Chris Addison frowned. "I suppose there's some things we could potentially do, but they're stupid and dangerous." said Addison.

"Stupid and dangerous is our forte." came a familiar English voice, chuckling wryly. "Now," Aleister Crowley said, looking around and walking out of a nearby hallway. "I've been looking around and I think I have a plan. And it'll require your absolute faith in myself, understood?" his face turned grim. "Some of you may wind up dying. But I have a plan, and if it works out, I think we can fix everything or at least solve the temporary problem of Leviathan."

Crowley shot a glance at Kronos, raising an eyebrow. "Ah. So you're stuck with us too?" he asked. Kronos returned this sentiment with a glare.

"Watch yourself, Lucifer. I recently killed nearly all of the gods, remember that."

"Sure. And you remember that one of my students drew a picture that blew up the moon and ended the universe, so perhaps fucking with that student's teacher may not be the wisest course of action you can make." came the cheerful reply.

"Aleister Crowley, I love you as a brother," Aziraphale said, "but if you don't stop - what do the humans call it? - ah, yes! If you don't stop 'measuring dicks' with the king of the Titans, I will slap you back in time."

Aziraphale beamed, quite proud of his mastery of human colloquialisms.

"By my approximations," he resumed, "we have about fifteen minutes to work with. Your students are obnoxious enough to distract Leviathan for that long, and no longer. What do you need of us?"

Karna frowned. "I have no problems with you, Lewis Jameson." he apologised. "But I have direct orders to kill you, and I can't break free of my programming so easily. And I am very sorry about this. But perhaps..."

Back in the soul sun, Kronos felt something kick his mind, causing him to jerk. He blinked, realising that Karna had yanked on his mental chain and was very insistent on something. "Oh, yes." he murmured, waving a hand.

Finally, Karna was free. He could do what he liked.

The Hindu warrior swore to himself silently that when this was over, he would kill Kronos slowly and painfully before killing himself honourably. He then looked at Lewis. "The program controlling me is terminated for now. Shall we punch Leviathan in the dick?"

Lewis nodded towards the earthen ceiling.

"Break the bitch open and let's tumble out like a chicken pot pie of hate," he said. Shortly after, he frowned. "Wait, no, that's stupid. I can think of something better. Aw, fuck it - just throw me at something."

A voice echoed in his head. Vernon Cartwright. The Detective. said the voice quietly. It still vibrated in every fabric of his being, of course. But it was more gentle now, like waves lapping across his body rather than the usual feeling of drowning under it. You are correct in that you know who I am.

More and more dragons began to land upon the Tree as it continued cracking apart. A hideous groaning noise was heard - the noise of the Omniverse dying slowly. I don't need to kill you, Cartwright. I'm winning. came a triumphant chuckle. Things had been going southwards for a very, very long time, Detective. But now I am restoring things to how they always should have been before it went horribly wrong. Course correction.

"Sure," Vernon nodded, "you can think all that. But, let's face the facts - you might be winning, but you haven't won. If you'd won, you'd have killed us all by now. Which says to me that we've still got a chance."

Vernon smiled to himself, "Well, would you look at that? Not only are you a shitty creator, you're a shitty destroyer too."

[Nationstatelandsville]

Gwen slashed down at the incoming ice daggers, cutting them away from her. Before she could launch another attack on Udovin, the Queen noticed that the silly coffin man was apparently handling him all alone, by himself. Gwen breathed a sigh of relief, as she slowed down her channeling of Excalibur's magical energy, letting her body rest for some precious seconds.

She was panting, cold swear descending from the top of her head, her hairbun now an unruly mess. After noticing that, Gwen promptly undid it, letting her shoulder-long blonde hair fall down. It gently fluttered in the winds of battle.

Grace wandered next to her Queen, panting more than her. Gwen glanced in the eyes of her subject. She nodded, approvingly. "Good willpower and enough fear-lessness, Dame Grace. Consider yourself one step closer to your next promotion."

"I understand." Grace replied, struggling to come up with a small smile. Gwen perceived her difficulty, giving her a knowing look. After doing so, she glanced at the flying mass of reptilian scales she was riding on.

"Damien, this old man who just came out from a coffin needs some help. Can you try and burn Rurik?"

"Yes, of course," Damien replied. He turned to the charging mass that was Udovin, only to see Sir Charles Groundbreaker tackle the man onto the ground from the side. The noble ape lifted Udovin over his head with all but two of his arms and tossed him several feet away.

"No," Sir Charles Groundbreaker said, "I can handle this brigand alone. His doom is upon us and I will be the one to bring it in full."

As he said this, he cracked all of his knuckles. "I do not need sword nor gun. I only need my strength and my will to end this chaotic force."

Rurik giggled like a schoolgirl.

"I love you, honorable talking monkeyman!" he laughed, "However, as you might have heard, there is a very loud... thing about to happen! I have to watch this, and clean the shit from my pants, so let's make this quick."

Rurik stomped the earth and a massive spike of ice exploded out. He snapped it in half and raised it over his head.

"Let me kill you!" he roared, running at Groundbreaker.