Priscilla sat within the church at Ashtanu, meditating in her old room. As she had been traveling until the recent crisis, she has not been in the church itself for some time. However, given what was happening, she wanted to be somewhere that would allow her to respond more rapidly if she was called upon.
In the week and a half since the first battle, she had been dispatched to three additional planets, fighting back against more and more enemies each time. She could feel the growth of the swarms, and these dispatches were becoming more and more frequent.
As she meditated, she began to work on more powerful divine abilities for the Holy Knights, some that could affect targets on a much larger scale than what she had previously bestowed them with. These abilities were meant to counteract the larger monsters still traversing the expanse of space.
Only two days ago, there had been a report that such a monster had nearly destroyed Desbar, having been slain just outside of its solar system. Its corpse hung in the sky, clearly visible from Desbar itself at night. This creature had appeared just outside of the Hyperlane barrier, with three gods working together to kill it before it could enter.
Priscilla. Udona’s voice echoed in her mind, and she immediately stood up.
Where am I going? She asked, already heading for the door of her room. Time was of the essence, and she couldn’t afford to waste precious moments on formalities, even with someone as great as a member of the Greater Pantheon.
It’s on its way to Deckan. Reports indicate that it is the metallic swarm. I’ll have Aurivy send you to the interception point. Udona said, before a golden glow surrounded Priscilla, transporting her into the depths of space. Priscilla flicked her wrist, summoning the Holy Knights behind her and preparing for battle.
Udona, Accalia, Tubrock, and Leowynn sat in a conference room at the Ashtanu Palace. “Have you managed to measure the infestation?” Udona asked, her voice sounding incredibly tired after being on full alert for so long. She wasn’t used to dealing with this herself, as her counterpart from the ‘higher plane’ often handled any crisis.
The other three nodded their heads, Leowynn stepping forward. “We’re still working to track down the larger monsters. However, we’ve managed to determine the spread of the three swarms throughout the different universes, after capturing target samples of each one.”
Leowynn held up a hand, and numerous projections hovered over the table, each depicting a different galaxy. “For the time being, it doesn’t look like their influence has spread beyond a single galaxy in each universe. This could be because they have yet to exhaust the resources of their current galaxies, or because something about their makeup limits their abilities to traverse between galaxies.”
As she said that, a portion of each galaxy began to glow green. “These are the regions currently occupied by the ‘Replicating Swarm’. According to our estimate, they are occupying roughly five percent of every galaxy, aside from Deckan, Lorek, and Spica. In the former, their occupation has reached as high as ten percent, while in the latter two, it is only at half of one percent.”
“The other two swarms are more contained for the moment, with the Cloning Swarm occupying six percent of Deckan’s galaxy, and the Mutation Swarm occupying eight percent of the new Metong galaxy. The Mutation Swarm was especially tricky to narrow down, because it is the swarm that has the greatest genetic differences among their members. Still, we believe this number to be accurate.”
Udona rubbed her face, feeling the mounting stress with these reported numbers. “And naturally, because they are swarms, they will begin spreading faster and faster the larger they grow. Is there anything else to report?”
“It seems that the swarms are hostile to one another.” Accalia spoke up, causing Udona to look over at her. “I investigated the location where the Replicating Swarm overlapped with the other two, and discovered signs of them fighting against one another. There were also signs that the swarms might be fighting against the other giant enemies.”
“It would be great if we could get an accurate count of how many of those were left.” Leowynn said with a bitter smile. “For all we know, they might have all been slain by the swarms, or by each other. Or, there could still be over two thousand monsters out there, each capable of consuming entire planets.”
“The only way we’ll be getting that information is if we can kill the swarms themselves.” Tubrock huffed. “You send this information to the Keeper, lass?”
“Yeah.” Leowynn said with a nod of confirmation. “He was just as enthusiastic about it as Udona is. For now… does anyone know where Scarlet is? I was wanting to modify the tracking ability we used to find the swarms, but I need her Blood domain.”
Udona hesitated for a moment, before letting out another sigh. “She said that she was going ‘hunting’. And she took Keliope with her.” When the other three heard that, their eyes widened.
You sure this is the spot, Scar? Keliope asked, clenching her fists as she looked around at the empty space before them. Scarlet simply nodded her head, her eyes closed.
It will be here soon. This is the largest surviving creature in any universe outside of Sher Dien. The odds that it isn’t one of our enemies is incredibly low.
When Keliope heard that, she grinned. Got it. You want to take this one, or you want me to?
Scarlet thought about it for a moment, before shaking her head. You can have this one. Make sure not to completely annihilate it, because I need its blood.
You got it, kid! Keliope said, creating a glowing platform of ki beneath her feet. This platform seemed to distort the light around it, anchoring itself into the very fabric of space.
Suddenly, her fist lashed out, a rippling wave of energy sweeping ahead of her. Where previously, nothing had existed, suddenly a wall of flesh appeared as if to catch her punch a thousand kilometers away. This flesh caved in, blood spurting from the impact.
Keliope brought her two fists together, channeling ki around them to form an intricate sphere. Star Shattering! She shouted mentally, throwing her hands forward. The sphere launched before the beast could pull away, its astronomical size causing it to be caught off guard by such a tiny obstacle.
The sphere crashed into the beast’s hide, before rapidly expanding. The beast, so large that just its eye could be considered a planet, was torn apart as the sphere grew to be the size of a sun. Scarlet waved her hand, all of the scattering blood rushing to her. She absorbed this essence, her hair fluttering as if under a powerful wind.
Keliope stood back, watching as this small girl absorbed enough blood to cover entire planets in crimson oceans. As she did, her aura began to escalate, her ki growing stronger and denser. Only when the last of the blood had been absorbed did Keliope speak. You get anything good out of that?
Scarlet hesitated, shaking her head. It would seem that there is no blood connection between these beasts. Nor did that one have any inborn abilities, aside from its great size. We’ll need to keep hunting.
Works for me! Keliope grinned happily, punching her fists together. Where’s our next target?
Scarlet focused, before Keliope’s eyes widened. She took a step back from the smaller girl, feeling a powerful, murderous intent coming from her. Kid? Kid, calm down!
One of them is on their way to Earth. Or rather, to Olympus. She said, waving a hand to tear open a hole in space. Keliope barely had time to rush forward and into the portal before Scarlet stepped through and closed it.
As soon as they were through the portal, Keliope saw Scarlet staring into the distance. Her ki was already mobilizing. Clearly, there was no need to ask who would be the one to kill this monster.
Keliope could sense the creature approaching. This seemed to be one of the smaller enemies, as its entire body was only as large as the Earth or Deckan. Still, it was large enough to have triggered Scarlet’s ire.
Scarlet lifted one hand, pointing in the direction of the oncoming monster. A dense, red glow appeared from her finger, before disappearing. Keliope sensed a distortion in space, before the energy signature of the enemy simply vanished. …Okay, I know you’re all protective of the Keeper and everything, but how much energy did you just use on that?
Enough. Scarlet answered, disregarding the blood of the distant foe. Assuming that there was any blood left to begin with. Let’s move on to the next one, before the memetic creatures notice us. I don’t want to have to make another mortal body for myself after this is over.
…Are you not your own person? Keliope asked in confusion, and Scarlet simply glanced over at her. It seemed a valid question, as the other mortal incarnations all had their own identities, as well as their own minds from birth.
Scarlet simply shook her head. I am Scarlet, and I always have been. I might not be able to connect to the version of myself in the Admin Room, but that changes nothing. This body is just a shell that I created so that I could go live with dad. If it is destroyed, that will be annoying, but I’ll just make a new one later.
Keliope blinked at that, but Scarlet spoke again before she could say anything. I’ve found our next target. It looks like two of them are together.
These words snapped Keliope out of her thoughts, forcing her to focus. Scarlet tore open another gap in space, and they stepped through yet again. This time, they appeared within eyesight of two behemoths clawing at one another, biting into each other’s flesh. Keliope let out a sigh, shaking her head. Looks like they really are mutual enemies. Do you want to wait until they kill each other, and take out the winner?
No, that will waste too much time. We need to kill them quickly and move on. There are still a lot more that could be out there. Scarlet said, preparing to act, before Leowynn’s voice spoke into her mind.
Sister, are you free? Leowynn asked, and Scarlet’s expression softened somewhat.
Not at the moment. I just encountered the enemy. What’s going on, Wynnie? She asked, gesturing for Keliope to take her place in fighting. Keliope shrugged her shoulders, stepping forward and punching her fists together.
I was hoping to get your help to set up a divine tracking ability that could locate the monsters we’re facing. Since you went out to hunt them, I assume that you have your own methods of doing so, as well?
Scarlet hesitated, before shaking her head. It won’t work. I’ve already checked their blood. These creatures share no relation to one another, and are not even of the same species. I’m hunting them by simply looking for the largest physical creatures in any universe, outside of Sher Dien, and I have a portion of my senses directed at key regions for any large threat.
Leowynn paused for a moment, before speaking again. Can we use that criteria to form the search ability? Looking for any creature larger than the planet Desbar?
I tried that, before taking Keliope out to hunt. There were over ten million creatures of that scale, throughout the various galaxies. Most of them should just be randomly created monsters that just barely fit the criteria. I sent an avatar to one, and the only report it sent back before self-destructing was ‘memetic tentacle planet’. That’s why I am only focusing on the largest creatures, those too big to be converted planets.
While Kelly and I deal with these, you all focus on the swarms. We can look for any stragglers after the swarms are dealt with and we have a proper count of the enemy forces.
