Bay 12 Games Forum

Well, in ancient times, they'd probably assume he'd sic Kina on them.

I dunno nowadays.

On one hand, if Trespasser wins, everyone dies.
On other hand, if Vertex wins, everyone dies anyway.

THIS MY FRIENDS IS CALLED A DILEMMA

Hikari goes over to pick Sandra up.

---

"W-what do you mean by that?! W-wait, I'm detecting something! I-It's not a Vertex! I-It's....something....w-worse!"

Suddenly, Primordial fusion with Shinju-sama.

And what she finds is very, very bad.

The presence that lurks beyond the void is indeed a Trespasser. This Trespasser seems to fill Her thoughts with....oblivion. Every single thought, every single emotion, rendered unto nothingness. Her attempts at Embracing nothingness fails, for how can one envelop that which surrounds everything? Despite Her ancient power, despite Her all-encompassing might, there are and always will be those that exceed even that.

She meets them. She catches but a glimpse as She attempts to force her way through this wall of Oblivion, the wall of Nothing that attempts wash over the Shinju and Herself, and sees the face of the enemy for the first time in so many long years.

It is Nothingness embodied. Nothing but an empty black maw leading into the eternity that is nonexistence, that would drive a mere mortal insane. Even She that Embraces has difficulty in attempting to perceive it, but owing to Her having floated in this nothingness before, it isn't hard to comprehend. The Shinju seem to collectively exude fear; their opponents had merely wanted to wipe the world from existence, but this, this presence wanted nothing more than nil to overrun all that is. Despite their fear, they still attempt to hold on, to create a bulwark against Oblivion with Her help-

And fail. Their will, even bolstered by the single presence of It that Embraces, cannot hold out. It fails. For a moment, She can sense herself fading, slowly disintegrating into the Oblivion, and the cold embrace of Nothing creeps up every fibre of her being-

But it does not end yet.

One voice. Then two. Then three. Then legions. Legions of the fallen Heroes of this world rise. They wash Oblivion from their gods, bring back from Nothing what She loses. Alone, these voices cannot simply hold the tide, but all together, six hundred years worth of Heroes, they shine as bright as the lights of the gods themselves. And so they do.

Slowly, she witnesses a massive flower enshroud itself around the Trespasser, crushing it, trying to push it into itself and render it harmless. With a mighty roar, the Trespasser attempts to fight back, and lashes out at It that Embraces in the process.

She is forced out of the Shinju tree, the strike and her drastically weakened state forcing her into a smaller, thinner form than usual. However, it seems her, the Shinju, and the Heroes have done well for themselves, for out from the void comes a far less gargantuan and far more mortal, but no less dangerous, maw of a giant creature, long forgotten by any world since the day it was sealed away. Slowly, giant, shadowy tendrils push themselves out of the void, ignoring the Phazon shot as it attempts to force itself into the Jukai, hurling its weight at the Shinju tree. Its black body appears to be a mass of tendrils, tentacles and what-have-you, defying count or description, and what can be said to be its 'head' is nothing more than a giant maw, gnashing and clawing. Even this creature seems to dwarf the Vertex, standing far taller than anything they've ever seen, looking down upon the Shinju tree as if it were a fresh grass shoot, ripe for the eating.

Everyone who looks upon it feels a fright of primal dread, even those who have forgotten dread or known no fear for years or decades or centuries. There just seems something....wrong about this mass of squirming, wriggling tendrils with a giant fanged jaw.

This creature, they know without having to ask, is a Trespasser.

"Course! It'll be great!"

Before anyone can speak, however, every single Hero's phone in the room goes off. The alarm sounds nothing like the first one, but far more urgent.

Mio's eyes widen as she checks her phone.
"What?! Barrier breakdown?! That's-"
Those are the last words she gets in before she, her Hero allies and everyone else, Sandra, the ship and Tourmaline included, get thrown into the Jukai.

---

Unknown Phase
Jukai
Everyone is deposited at a spot halfway between the Shinju tree, shining behind them and the ship in front of them. Mio looks around frantically.
"The barrier broke! The barrier is-oh.

Oh god."

As everyone looks towards where Mio is staring, they realise what she has reason to panic over.

There is a giant gash in the sky, leading into what seems to be total blackness and oblivion. Unlike the other gash into the outside world, where there was hellfire, and the surface resembled that of the sun, this seems infinitely more dangerous. If Alanis were to use her magesight on it, she would see a literal gap in the world, as if there was literally a void; not even ambient magic is present.

Chizuru's eyes widen.
"Where does THAT one lead to?"
"Senpai....I'm scared."
"It'll be alright, girls. Everyone, transform!"

Mio and her Hero Club execute a combined transformation, transforming into their Hero forms in front of everyone. The flashes of magic make it hard to discern movement, but Chizuru seems to be dancing as she transforms, Hikari and Ayane seem to confidently allow their magical garments to put themselves on, Yuki actively grabs hers and Sora meekly lets themselves be put on to her.

"Sachi, can you detect anything?"
"I.....I detect a large Vertex signature heading towards you! B-Behind you!"

As she says that, another gash is torn into the Jukai with a loud ripping noise. A giant Vertex pushes itself through.

This one was far larger than the last ones they'd faced.

It resembled a giant, burning orb, with rainbow-coloured smaller orbs spinning around it in elliptical orbits. The orb is enshrouded in luminescent crystal, emitting a low humming noise and it seems to dwarf even the largest Vertex they'd seen thus far. The only visible 'face' part of the Vertex seems to be a small diamond of metal on the face of the orb looking towards them, with a small, red crystal inset in the middle.

"Libra-type Vertex, Major. This isn't good."
"It's not alone! Sachi! Can you detect the second one?"
"I-I'm trying to! I can't find it!"

Hana fades into the background NPC mass and does stuff with gaming. Woo.

---

Meanwhile.....
"Eeeeeeh?!"
An auburn-haired girl trips over her luggage in her rush to get into the school.

Hm. There was also a part of the original backstory where the Pantokrator just LET her rampage around because because all of the worship people would be giving would be towards him in an attempt to get him to wipe her out.

Of course, being a dick, he doesn't, because wiping her out means he loses all the worship he gets from the people. Kind of like the anti-worship people gave to Apep in Egypt, only instead of being aimed at Kina, it's aimed at the Pantokrator.

But yeah, being able to kill Godzilla/Tarrasque girl with universe-warping madness sounds decent.