Chapter 133: A Legend’s End

She put her hammer away, the slow, wispy visages of the heroes fighting their illusions in the void. "Welcome to that which is between the real and not... It is not negative except when perceived as such for its alien nature," she instructed. "Unfortunately, I cannot remain much longer in this state, or I may be lost... The Curse of the Wise."

Conner scratched his ears as if hearing something just beyond notice. "It’s not Infernal Force. It’s..."

"Eldritch," Rachel confirmed with a short chortle. "Ascending into places unknown to become the unknown. One cannot fight what doesn’t exist within one’s perception of what is and isn’t. Belief doesn’t matter. Reality doesn’t matter. For reality is but a pale reflection of The Truth past the veil."

Conner laughed as an Infernal, smiling shadow of her born out of his own nightmares exited the haze, cackling and swinging the spiked end of her hammer into his lower back, punching a hole straight through his spine and out his belly.

As quickly as it came, the shadow faded away, and Rachel reached out to catch him. "We create our own nightmares. You believed I would kill you here, yet... I can’t kill you, Conner," she sighed, looking at him with a sad smile as it dawned on him.

"The Black Moon made it so I could never kill you...because you killed yourself. Yet, isn’t it ironic that I am the hope you unconsciously sought to intervene near this end? I am the salvation for your desire for a heroic death."

Globs of blood leaking out, Conner choked out another laugh, arms slowly going numb as the corrupting force seeped into his soul. "I...I just thought it would be, I don’t know...more epic than this."

Rachel’s smile widened, and the haze drifted away to show the swirling purple pull of the void above them, the song of heroes drawing Conner’s gaze to the maddening abyss. "You cannot find what you seek against me...but in there, you will live out your legend against the greatest foes you can conceive until you obtain the heroic death you seek."

Chest shaking with mirth, Conner slowly nodded. "Then...I guess I shouldn’t keep those who are calling me waiting. I’m not exactly...the hero they deserve, but I guess I’m all they got."

Face softening, Nia flipped gravity, sending the box, heroes, and nightmares alike into the Black Moon, where they were welcomed with loving cheers. The world faded away, and her dark fur receded as she stood with Nia in the center of the stadium, Conner nowhere to be seen as he descended into the madness of The Nightmare.

Izanami appeared in front of her, the stadium melting away to then be replaced by the polluted lands of the Hell Lady, the Infernal Moon shining overhead; the stands were empty, no god left after Conner’s demise or perhaps hidden by Izanami’s power.

The woman appraised her as the Eldritch Force drained from her body and was pulled into Nia’s Pool, and a new, sadistic force took its place.

[Lunar Hell Hare - Yomi: Active]

"Well, now that everything is about to collapse, why don’t we talk about the spoils of your victory and your promised rewards, Rachel? Ah..." As almost an afterthought, Izanami gave her a curious stare. "Did I tell you that there is a way you can save Conner’s Seed?"

"No?" Rachel chuckled, now entering a conversation about saving a fractured multiverse, at the minimum. A devilish horn grew out of her skull, her hips cocking to the side at the offer. "Spoils are a welcome surprise, but what benefits do I get from saving this Seed, and what would I have to do?"

Izanami folded her hands in her sleeves. "Well, not you as a mythickin, but if you have another legendkin that you’re fond of, they could take on Conner’s burden. Interested?"

"Maybe I am..." The cruel, wicked edges of her heart reared their head with Yomi’s filthy embrace; she was becoming rather fond of the fallen deity. "A lovely walk under the Hell Moon is a delightful treat. Lead the way; I’m listening."

Walking beside Izanami on the banks of Yomi, Rachel stared at the polluted river as the Hell Lady led her to a covered boat. Nia was bouncing on her toes beside them, the impish bunny’s hair bobbing with her skips.

The extravagant fallen deity’s face had softened as she guided them to board the vessel, redesigned with cushioned luxury for several guests. In the solemn, cold depths of Yomi, born of Izanami’s broken trust and longing for love, Rachel felt a slight change since her first experience with the powerful energies.

"Aren’t we on a clock?" she asked, sitting across from the woman and glancing across the river. The ghostly entities of her realm shoved off from shore, taking them into the water’s flow.

A gentle sigh left Izanami’s lips, and Rachel heard invisible devils inhabiting the underworld moving beyond her sight. The foul stench of the wind added to the polluted hellscape, searing her nose. Yet, under Yomi’s Hell Moon, she felt a hint of happiness and bliss that was reflected in the fallen goddess’s face.

The woman’s shockingly kind eyes moved to Nia, and she pointed behind the big-eyed bunny. "There is one of the spoils, Dear. Why don’t you play?"

Nia flipped around to spot Conner’s dolphin, floating beside the boat. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you, Auntie Izanami!" the girl cried, despite it being their own hard work that had given them the prize. "Let’s go, Dolfo!"

"Already named him?" Rachel chuckled, playing with a lock of her hair as Nia jumped on the constellation creature and shot into the sky with a cheer. "And these are mine... What happened to Conner?" she whispered, picking up the man’s shiny sun gauntlets, useless to her, but she had a plan for them.

The Hell Lady folded her hands in her lap, looking after Nia in a longing, motherly way. "Auntie Izanami... What a charmingly deceptive little devil of a bunny."

Yseress appeared beside the woman, purse held in front of her. She giggled as her infernal eyes fixated on Rachel. "A natural manipulator who uses her age to her advantage. Perhaps she does take after you, Baroness."

"Princess," Rachel returned with a short chuckle while holding the gauntlets to her stomach for Nia to absorb into her storage slots, not incorporating them into her denier. "You seem to have changed since gaining control over Conner’s Seed. How much time do we really have?"

A small, upward tilt came to Izanami’s cheeks, still pondering something as she followed Nia’s gleeful loops in the sky. "Conner has long since died, but you can get the details from Eostre before you return; it takes time for something this large to collapse before the link to Yomi is severed. I think it is best you soak up as many rays as you can...while you can."

Her somber gaze drifted to Rachel, vision sliding over her single horn and black, red-streaked hair. "Yomi is a mirror of my own corruption, misery, and torment... This is me," she gestured toward the polluted river and filthy, bare landscape. "What do you think? Tragic?"

Sitting back, Rachel’s black, four-leaf-clover eyes scanned the ruined town of Yomi. "I’d say it’s tragic...but I hear something on the wind I didn’t when I first came here." Tapping her bottom lip with her knuckle, she puzzled over the strange sensations filling her from the overhead moon. "Maybe it’s because I’m resonating with this realm, but I do think you’ve changed since I met you."

Yseress smirked, but it soon shifted to excitement. "Lady Izanami doesn’t change. Unless...she used the power of the Seed? Does it have that ability to purify you?"

Izanami’s gaze fell to her folded hands, her voice a sad whisper. "No. The Seed can only change parts of the universe inside of it and invite other realms to answer its call. What do you hear, Rachel?"

Rachel held a hand against her chest, suddenly restricted by the emotion echoing through the wind. "Happiness... Bliss? It’s strange when I’m practically a devil..."

Izanami’s smile showed true as her rotten corpse took the place of the illusion, displaying her actual form while staring up at Nia. "The call from the jagged rock, threatening...joy. It struggles to be heard like a siren’s call...the gold and honey dripping from the Seat of Divinity," she breathed, touching her cracked lips.

A silence fell over them with the surreal pressure that came from the Hell Lady’s gentle words. "It’s not beautiful or pure, but I can hear her song from beyond the shore... I feel her wind against my face from the flapping of her wings...the black and silky tenderness choking me... I can almost taste happiness, Yseress."