Stars, stars, and more Stars, Part 1.

Death Realm, Conjugal Visit #269.

"So, Noona... How did my universe end up as a doomed reality?"- This has been bothering me for quite some time already.

As far as I understand, Doomed Realities don't start as such, something happens, something changes, but ultimately... all other timelines of the same universe convene into a single one. One which has no future of splitting ever again and tends to approach one or another form of apocalypse.

Like that split reality where Legion removed his father from the timeline and a separate reality was born where everything was quite Apocalyptic, in that reality no matter what they did, eventually, it was going to be sealed as a prison for one of the thousands of screw-ups of the Celestials. 

So the actions of its inhabitants were useless since the beginning.

"Ah... That was partly my fault but not entirely... sort of..."- Noona said while looking away with some badly concealed shame.

"Oh come on! Tell me! I tell you all about my embarrassing fuck-ups!"- That's all I could ask because it is hardly possible for a being such as Noona to make a mistake unless there are pressing circumstances.

"Fine!... Let's see... It's a story that starts with the estranged relationship between Odin and Hela, my representative."- She opened a path to my mind and started sharing her memories.

Story time!

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... When the Asgardian conquest was nearing its end... I had to appoint a representative of my concept to this universe. Hela, as proven worthy in countless other realities, was my chosen one."- Noona showed me a memory of her manifesting in the mind realm of Hela.

The whole 'You have been chosen' shtick.

"My avatar—or representative if you will—is unlike Phoenix's. My Avatar is supposed to 'join' a universe a 'little' bit after its birth. Coincidentally, around the time Odin was done playing conqueror, this universe reached a mature enough stage for me to bless it with my avatar."- In the memory, Noona gives Hela an infinitesimal of her power, birthing so the first True Goddess of Death of this universe.

"Unlike Phoenix's Host, my Avatar doesn't have any other responsibilities besides helping my valkyries collect souls from time to time and eventually oversee the definite death of this iteration of this universe."- Noona explained as she was receiving my caress and love from my lap, she is getting a lap pillow from me.

"Like an administrator in a game?"- I asked.

"More like the Janitor that closes the office; and the collection of souls is not that important, making sure that the end goes accordingly is their main task."

"Mmmm, why did you select the avatar so early? Isn't it easier if the avatar is born when the end is nearing?"- I asked.

"Because the fraction of my power that I left in her was supposed to grow with every death that happens across the universe so that when the finale arrives, the avatar releases the gathered power... truthfully ending it all."- She showed me a memory of another timeline.

In this timeline, when the last speck of matter stops, when the conversion of Energy<- >Matter is no longer possible because of the lack of entropy and differentials of states, when the universe is left cold and nothing more can change... a wild Hela manifests.

She is shriveled, almost faded, disappearing into inert dust, cracked all over her disappearing body, barely any consciousness can be seen in her eyes, no Life can be felt from her, no thoughts, nothing... Just a pure, unadulterated—and almost holy—concentration of Death.

With no bells or whistles, no flashy explosion, she fully fades away, and an absence of Life takes it all away with her.

It was beautiful, tempting, and even hot if you will, but perfect nonetheless. 

"Sometimes I have my avatars run some errands for me, but they are not as burdened with work as Phoenix's."- Noona comments.

"It's more accurate to say that you plant a Death Seed in your avatar and then they can chill and enjoy the power-up as it grows."- I said while thinking about the end of that timeline which was very different from the other two I've witnessed.

"Yes, but a Death Seed is what Celestial Gardeners use, so I don't like using the same name. And my seed serves a totally different and single purpose—it can't be misused—unlike those defective ones they made which have caused more trouble than I can count!"- She complained, possibly because she wanted to have the 'copyrights' to the term but, inexplicably, the celestials got it from her.

After petting her and giving her some love in the form of an aggressive biting on her nose—her kink, not mine—she calmed down and resumed with the story.

"Odin—unlike the power-hungry old man that he was—didn't welcome openly the report the next day when Hela ran enthusiastically to him to share the good news. She wanted to convince her old man to restart their conquest now that 'their' power had grown from one day to the other."- That's strange, not what I read in the comics nor what I saw in the movies.

"Because that's how the cute bloodthirsty thing saw it, as 'their' power, not simply hers but one which could be shared with her people. But there was a truth that Hela forgot—unwillingly—and that was that her baby sister had been murdered, which was the real reason behind the cessation of the conquest."- Wut!?

"Wait, Noona! Which sister?"- This sounds familiar but not right as I remembered.

"Aldrif Odinsdottir, Love. Why?"- She asks—with those deathly gothic eyes that she knows I love—staring at my draconic eyes that I know she loves.

"Wasn't Aldrif the firstborn?"- That's how I remember it.

"In 616 she is, here she is not."- Okay, now you've got me curious and 'curiouser'!

"What do you know of the conflict between Heven and Asgard?"- Noona asks.

"The queen of Heven loved her gold more than anything, Odin hired her but she crossed him when his enemies offered even more gold than him, Odin didn't appreciate such behavior—totally understandable—and this prompted Heven to declare war on Asgard—totally unreasonable—Odin was clapping their ass in Heven and seeing that her end was inevitable she snuck into The Royal Palace of Valaskjalf and kidnapped baby Aldriff and threatened to kill her if he didn't back out of Heven. Odin said 'no' to the terrorist and she stabbed Aldrif's heart. Odin had to retreat to console Freyja Freyrdottir after the murder of their daughter. Still, he went totally ballistic and severed the connection between Heven and the other Nine Realms and Yggdrasill, and used the Odinforce to power a curse on them, as a last 'Fuck you' to Heven."- I summarized what I knew.

"That's almost the same as here, but Hela—who was returning from another battlefield—when she encountered the queen abducting Aldrif went full fury on her and almost thwarted the kidnapping attempt but the golddigger was better at escaping, she followed the Queen to Heven and arrived just at the moment when Odin said that he would not submit to blackmail and the Queen stabbed her sister."

"Hela razed the battlefield as she went berserk and Odin had to order the retreat when even he was unsure about stopping her rampage."

"When only Hela, Freyja, and Odin were left in Heven from the Asgardian side, he ordered her to return—he planned to sever the said connection—but Hela—who blamed him for Aldrif's death—chose not to hear him, and replied with a flying sword to his head as she used her Nightsword to slaughter the angels. Odin obviously dodged, but the message was loud and clear, he was also to blame in his remaining daughter's eyes."

"Odin had the Bifröst summoned and shuttled himself and his resisting wife away, from the other side he severed the connection of Heven, and just when the last silver thread was about to be ruptured and the fate of Hela and Heven was about to be bundled together and sealed, Hela escaped Heven by summoning the Bifröst—which Odin was too busy to stop while he was cutting Heven off of Yggdrasill and cursing them."

"As she stained the golden floors red with the dripping blood of her enemies, Hela marched her way to her father intending to demand answers. However, Odin's responses were as expected unsatisfactory, given that he cared more about his pride and ego than his baby daughter at that time. Expecting her arrival, Odin set up a trap and was able to alter her memories. He then wantonly made everyone concerned with the tragedy forget about it and claimed to have lost his drive to continue his conquest"- Noona finished getting me up to speed on this universe's Asgardian family drama.

"How's that possible? Did he have the Mind Stone?"- Because I don't see him as a telepath of that level.

"His wife did it, she didn't want the remaining of her family splitting up further."- Okay, that makes sense, Frigga was always a capable witch and I imagine Odin probably powered her up with his Odinforce, but—based on what I know—it looks like her wish was not fulfilled.

"After that, things went pretty much the same as with those movies you showed me, with Hela wanting to follow the task she was born and raised for and Odin talking about his newfound desire for peace. That was until he grew afraid of the power I bestowed upon Hela."

"After Odin rejected her suggestion, Hela was not the same. Coupled with the remanent feelings of betrayal that the mind-wiping couldn't remove, Hela saw it as if her father(king) had betrayed her, her reason for being, her people, her Asgard... and she did what she was best at... she fought."

"As you can imagine she was stronger than Odin, not by much but still stronger. Odin knew this, and as such he prepared. He knew that with my power flowing in her veins, he couldn't seal her away because she would escape, and if he had battled her intending to kill her he was sure they would both die or weaken themselves, which he couldn't allow for the sake of the prosperity of Asgard."

"So, using the rune mastery he prided himself over, he set up a massive runic array and waited for his daughter, like a lion ant does for its prey, intending to siphon my power out of Hela before sealing her."

"Wait! How could he even power up something like that?"- Because not even sucking Asgard dry would he have enough juice to siphon Noona's power from Hela.

"He used the energy Yggdrasill was no longer supplying Heven and the other 9 realms."- Noona said.

"*Eesh*! Those are the actions of a madman, not a king thinking of his people!"- It's one thing to use Heven's energy, who were his enemies, but to use the other realms? That's just crazy.

"Yes, my Love. He was a madman who believed himself the destined ruler of the universe. But at that time the Infinity gems were lost so he had no other choice... or that was how he saw it. He should have left himself be chopped by my Hela!"- Noona pouted, expressing her distaste about the irrationality that Odin didn't let Hela sword him down.

"Hela was lured by her mother-"

"Wasn't she against splitting her family further?"- I exclaimed. The telenovela was getting better and better!

"-and Odin separated her from my power by force before pushing her into Helheim with the assistance of the Bifröst. But my power was not something he could store like he does his ale. My power was resisting and Hela was weakened but not threatless. Odin ordered her valkyries' regiment to go and weaken her enough to seal her in Hel. The valkyries followed the orders of their king and ganged up on my poor Hela."- I can only imagine how betrayed she must have felt when her valkyries followed her King's orders and didn't support her as they did on the battlefield.

"She fought and fought but it was useless, she was not losing, no! My Hela was slaughtering them, as the cute goddess of death that she was. But Odin only needed her to wear herself out enough. When the last of her valkyries died by her sword the sealing activated and she was imprisoned in Hel."- It's similar to the movies and somewhat to the comics, but more telenovela-like.

"Back in Asgard, Odin didn't know what to do with my power, he couldn't contain it and he couldn't risk it scattering and then making it to his daughter. In an urge of bravery, absurdity, and overblown egocentrism, he decided to become my next Avatar!"- Noona's face morphed into that of a wrathful wraith, and her realm quaked with her outburst.

Green and white lightning started to rain as water does during a storm, and the poor Valkyries could be seen running around trying to keep the place from falling apart. 

I calmed her down by abruptly placing my hand on her mound of Venus, over her underwear.

"AGH!~Ahn~Honey? Not now. I'm having a moment, okay?"- Her face back to her normal self.

"Sorry, Noona. Seeing you like that made me feel... things."- My kink, not hers.

"Stop it! *Slap*"- She slapped my hand off.

"... Later, alright?"- She bit hard my lower lip and sucked some of the blood(?) she drew before my wound close off, which got a shiver out of her. She slowly licked her lips and then continued as if I was not horny and needy.

"As I was saying... That fool thought to absorb my power, but how could I allow that ant to presume he could dictate who would be my next avatar? It was okay if he had killed her, she would have ended up here with me—where she will end up anyway—and I would have appointed another one as my representative."

"Choosing my Avatar is my duty! My privilege! I'm not like Phoenix! My power is not meant to be shared like a convenient power-up! Had he let my power flow free I would have chosen another capable Avatar, or I could have simply waited for Ragnarok and give it back to the girl when freed."- She roared and roasted Senior Sister in one breath.

"But no! That ant couldn't! He had the gall to try and overstep my judgment and think he could be the next one! He had the audacity!...~HeheheheheHEHEHEHEHE! So I made my power abruptly suffuse into the universe."- She laughed, she looked so ho-malevolent!

"Initially he didn't understand what happened, and he lost sleep and sanity monitoring the seal, he feared that my power would make it to Hela, but just as he was losing his peace he accepted the counsel of his wife. He went to the Sorcerer Supreme of that time. By that point, he and his wife were aware that the Time Stone was in Midgard's possession."

"Why did he assume that something was wrong? What are we talking about here? A few centuries or maybe millennia in the matter of timeframes? The fact that his daughter was still imprisoned should have been enough to stop the paranoia, no?"- I asked.

"You see, when my power escaped his grasp, Odin felt that something was wrong, he just couldn't understand what, but his battle-hardened instincts screamed at him desperately, this went on and on for a few millennia until he had to get this worry out of his mind."- I see, she wanted him to suffer and know no rest.

"I was aiming exactly for this result! I wanted him to slowly lose his mind as his very being was telling him that there was danger around the corner but he couldn't find it or understand it. HA! He even called for his royal healers, thinking that he was cursed! HAHAHAHAHA!"- Noona cackled madly.

"How fierce!"- I said as I petted her.

"When the divine couple made it to Kamar-Taj, what awaited them was chaos and panic."

"Eh?"- I voiced out.

"Because just as my power had suffused, the sorcerer supreme could no longer see an 'unapocalyptic' future. He could see numerous ways to stave off the inevitable end, but none could make it past the awakening of the next Phoenix Avatar—Jean Grey—the best end he could see was half the planet burning and eventually the end of Earth—not long after—followed by the end of the Universe."- I understand, the chaos and panic was probably similar to the one I saw from the master of the mystic arts when I visited Yao the first time.

Sorcerers running from one place to another and a general state of unrest.

"The Asgardian couple were not the only ones, rather sooner than later, more gods visited the owner of the Time Stone to try and find a contradiction to what their seers had already told them... that the end was near."

"Odin had his wife vow secrecy in a binding oath and he never told anyone what transpired with his daughter. Most gods assumed she was sealed off somewhere, but the seal prevented anyone from knowing she was in Helheim. The fucking hypocrite had the balls to parade as the Wise Skyfather of Asgard!"- Noona shared in delight.

"Damn! Talk about a thick skin! He singlehandedly caused the end of his universe but then kept to his egocentric and judgemental ways."- Unbelievable, I'm glad I'm not like that!

"In a way, it was my fault that this universe was doomed, but by the time he siphoned energy from the 9 realms—especially from Midgar—the chances of it making it out were slim, not inexistent, but utterly improbable. So I had no qualms about 'dooming' the universe."- Yeah, probably something like the possibility of throwing a coin in the air and slicing an atom.

"Odin paid and is paying for his hubris. You should have seen his face when his seers told him they could no longer see any future upon your arrival! It was hilarious! I thought he was going to be the first bald Skyfather!"- Noona laughed.

He probably thought that the end of everything was just around the corner and since the end of time was coming along the seers became fully obsolete.

"That was... Genius! But, what happened with Hela? Did you leave her sealed off in Hel?"- I have to get to the end of this drama.

"Sadly, I couldn't interfere more, the last I did was set a route to Helheim for the lost souls to travel, to keep her company, and I changed it into her personal realm. It ended as a true hell, a sort of hybrid hell that exists within this universe, but not a full hell like the real Hell, the extra-dimensional one."- That's weird, why didn't she visit like she usually does?

"Mmmm, you might be confused about why I didn't intervene personally, are you not?"- Noona asks.

"Yes, I thought it was strange. Couldn't you go there and break her out?"- Because she is clearly fond of this Hela, I can't say much about other multiversal variants of Hela, but she seems to have cared for this one, which is strange because Noona's closest acquaintance was Senior Sister and no one else for eons.

I mean to say that other than Senior Sister she gave no fucks about anyone else.

"That's a misconception you have, Darling. We can only materialize in your surroundings, and even there it's only momentarily."-... ?

"What?"- I asked.

"Yes, Love. The energy you feed the universe, the one you don't use, reinforces the universe and allows for a bigger 'load'—aka Abstracts—but it's not enough to cover all of it. So, the universe routes the reinforcement to the place that is most needed... your surroundings. Which is why we can visit you, Love."- She said with a happy tone and sparkling eyes.

I had some excess energy and thought about stimulating my rate of energy production by exhausting my reserves and filling them back up—a classical pro-gamer move among reincarnators—and since The Aniki said that I could feed my universe with my energy I assumed it would be beneficial somehow... Looks like I was right.

"So that's why you and Senior Sister can visit me from time to time..."- I always wondered why they needed avatars if they could just pop up.

"We can also materialize in certain circumstances, but we need Eternity's or Tribunal's help. Alternatively, we could send a shard of ourselves, but it's not the same. This is a new experience for us! Especially for Phoenix and me, as we are most in contact with the lower lives but could never before interact so intimately."- She bounced in my lap in happiness.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"- And for each 'Thank you!' I was blessed with a kiss.

"You're welcome, Noona... Do you want me to break her free?"- I'm not entirely positive about the idea, since it could disrupt my plans for the acquisition of the Mind Stone.

"No, it's not needed yet. I did send her a revelation that she was going to be freed. But I know you want to wait and see if your plans with Loki and the Mind stone pan out successfully."- Noona understands me!

"Yes, I don't have much faith in them—if I'm being honest—because I believe Odin got a glimpse of me when I had to deal with the Green Door, so I can't predict how he and his royal family will react. But I don't want to actively disrupt my plans yet. If Asgard involves itself with me then I will probably free her since it would be idiotic to believe Loki would dare to invade my territory, otherwise, I prefer to wait."- If nothing works out, then I'll just ask Noona for the location of the stone. #SugarMommy #SugarBaby #StrongDependentMan #Shortcut #AskAndItShallBeGivenYou

"It's alright, she's doing fine and she did something interesting with her 'prison cell'."- Noona showed me the kingdom Hela has in Helheim.

Everything is dark green themed or black, but leaving that aside—and the unliving nature of the realm and everything and everyone in it—it looked like any other medieval kingdom from one of those Isekais I watched.

"She's picked up an interesting hobby."- I comment.

"That she did."- Noona giggles.

____________________________

The Arcadia.

Shi'ar Controlled Space.

Among the stars and the other celestial bodies, inside the headship of the Sith Order—The Arcadia—a renowned association for which only so little is known, the three known members of this order plot their future course of action.

"Kitty... It might be a little late to question... But what's the real reason behind this?"- Kurt asks his Captain.

"What do you mean, Kurt? It's obviously revenge, isn't it?"- Captain Kitty answers with a malevolent grin.

"Shut up! I know you care for revenge, but that's barely 30% of your motives. Drop the bullshit!"- Exasperated, Kurt said.

And he had every right to be.

"Fine! I'll put it this way... What has been known to move humans regardless of the era?"- Kitty had a nasty smile.

"Faith-"

"Be serious."- Kitty interrupts.

"-is not the answer... Pleasure, power, commodity, money, belief, love, altruism, there should be more, but these come to mind."- With a sigh, Kurt answered.

"Money, Kurt, Money will get you anything!"- Kitty shouts energetically.

"I thought power trumps all, like a +4 in UNO."- Kurt remembers very well the lessons he was taught on the battlefield.

"Well... yes... But no one cares about power in Halo. But do you know what we do care about?"- Kitty asks with anticipation.

"...Favo-"

"FAVORS!"- She shouts while interrupting him.

"Oh! Revenge is the driving force, but the real motivator is the Favor (Currency)!"- Kitty confesses.

"I don't see how we will generate Favors from this..."- Kurt asks. If anything it looks like she is spending military resources, not making a profit.

He does know that Aragorn is footing the bill, but he can't help but think that his friend's planning is awfully flawed.

"Huhuhu! My blue devil friend, that's where you're wrong... You still think, in some manners, like a Terran... The average resident of The Crystal has no basic needs—sustenance, housing, a happy family, etc—but what they lack in troves are suitable battlefields."- She opens her arms dramatically to illustrate the screens displaying the gathering fleet on the opposite side of the Arcadia.

"I don't see how you would profit from this when everybody in Halo can warp. There's no way to privatize a battlefield."- Kurt's eyelid twitches at the more than one thousand vessels arranged on the enemy side.

Initially—during the first raid—nobody took them seriously, who would? Not when a single ship was attempting to raid a planet. Only a madman would take that seriously... you have to be Thanos, at least.

A ship was sent to detain them... A ship was lost. An assault squad was sent to exterminate them... An assault squad was lost.

Things kept escalating until they no longer sent their lambs to the slaughter, and given that The Arcadia was orbiting the planet by that point, yet it wasn't attacking, the Shi'ar thought about waiting them out and evacuating the planet in case the ship took offensive action.

Communications were down, thanks to the off-shot of the blue AI that accompanied them, so they couldn't request help and reinforcements, but they knew that when the time came for their usual status report and they missed it, the Command Center would figure out that something was amiss.

That was their hope.

Which soon came crashing down when a dark cloud of purple tones manifested surrounding the planet. 

The Arcadia had been orbiting the planet while releasing an invisible cloud of dark matter, all the while they were unaware of the inescapable trap that was being woven by the cat.

The problem was that this form of non-baryonic matter could not be detected, or seen since it didn't interact with light or the electromagnetic field... not until it was activated—or primed as Aragorn did with the ship—but at that point, the cage would have been already closed off.

When the dark matter clouds had completely surrounded the planet and Kitty had activated the entrapment—making it visible—they sent a vessel to test out the waters. Said ship went in but never out, the dark matter eroded and ate it, like how cotton candy disperses in water, for lack of a better comparison.

When the second ship was sent, this one ejected a memory core back to the waiting hands of the Shi'ar on the planet, in which a video of the destruction of the ship and its passengers could be seen.

There was no other attempt to break through with a vessel. Panic ensued and as it's understandable they tried to bomb away the cloud. But this cloud was too vast and dense to be blown away with a few explosions.

Just because you could bomb the atmosphere it doesn't mean that it will go away.

Things kept escalating until they couldn't see a path to freedom.

That's when the maniac cat acted and sent a stealth team with a floating blue orb to crack their databanks and steal the classified info she was after. 

This floating blue orb—no bigger than a fist—was the off-shot of Seraph that was accompanying Kitty. As could be expected she also requested a piece of the cake in this business the cat was entrepreneuring.

The operation went smoothly and five minutes before the reinforcements arrived, The Arcadia sucked back in the Dark Matter, and comms were restored. As this was happening the Shi'ar reinforcements made it to the Planet... Only to see The Arcadia drop a Planet Cracker and then enter FTL travel before the planet quaked and cracked all over. 

The magma of the core overflowed from these cracks and the surface was turned into a boiling red ocean... Millions of years would be needed for the planet to regain its hospitable biosphere.

Since then, whenever The Arcadia was spotted or the name of Captain Kitty of the Sith was heard, the Shi'ar responded bloodthirstily.

Not so much later than that, news was spread about the loss of a Shi'ar-controlled planet under the siege of a single vessel.

Skirmishes were common, we are talking about galactic empires here, obviously, there would be clashes from time to time, but a single ship taking down a whole planet? No, that's some Mad Titan-level shit.

Kitty and company thought that with this news they would lose some of the popularity the trio was cursed with... Instead, now more than ever, the hate for the Shi'ar has been rising unprecedentedly. 

A certain Fox Queen in a certain water-filled world got a hold of the news before anybody else did, she didn't want the reputation of her pet project tarnished, so she did what was most logical in this situation. She spread gossip and evidence of the multiple atrocities that the Love-Trio of the century had to endure under the harassment of the Shi'ar.

It was all bullshit, of course, but who cares? Nobody liked the Shi'ar, the only reason they were not the most despised galactic empire was because the Kree still lived, but their arrogance and the way they thought of themselves better because of their ancestry clashed with every other galactic race.

In other words, they were the classical old man who expected respect because of how old they were, the type that demanded the center of the room no matter where they went, they were the perfect target.

So when this said Queen wove a romantic story about the Love-Trio and their fight against the oppressor evil empire, their popularity skyrocketed.

"That's the limit of your business mind, Kurt. This is how it's gonna play out, pay attention: Whenever we are about to clash I would send an invitation for the maid that paid in advance and made a reservation, then we clash, we battle, we conquer, we slaughter, and finally we move on. Do you see it now?"- Kitty asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"... You're selling battlefield tickets."- Kurt voiced out.

"WE, Kurt! WE are selling battlefield tickets and a chance for revenge, don't forget the driving force, it's important. Since we will be moving from battlefield to battlefield in an erratic way we won't have to risk these birds setting up a trap or the maids stealing my battlefields, how could they when even I don't know which outpost we will attack next?"- The cat cackled.

"So the battles would be somewhat safe and 'we' would monopolize the offer... This is genius and terrible, I think I feel worse participating in this than in your supposed conquest for revenge..."- Kurt complained. 

He had grown a lot after the months he spent following Kitty and Aragorn rescuing refugees, but that did not mean he ever lost himself in the bloodlust or the dubious moral compass of the Haloans.

"You can feel that way, Kurt. I would never tell you how to feel, everybody has an undeniable right to their own feelings, even in Halo we respect that... as long as you're not scum. But whenever you feel like that, I want you to remember the following:"- Kitty made a dramatic pause and locked eyes with her devil friend.

"We have a proper casus belli. We were provoked, not the other way around. And if that doesn't do it for you then think of our sweet friend, Jean. She will have to bring the cosmic fires of rebirth to this empire of self-righteous pigeons... along with the deserving victims there will be undeserving ones of her cosmic flame... How do you think our innocent girl will take it?"

Kurt's eyes opened wide.

"Don't you think she would feel better knowing that we share some of the blood her hands will be tarnished in? Isn't misery better with company?"- Kitty was thinking ahead, she had no way of knowing for sure how Jean would take it, but she believed that at least she would find company in her and Kurt if they all were stained with the same blood.

"...That's... I didn't think of that... I guess I'm willing to walk through the valley of the shadow of death if it's for my friends... I still feel bad about the Favors, but I will find a better use for them in the future."- Kurt voiced out.

"Pragmatic and somewhat religious! That's just like you, Kurt! I like it!"- Kitty glomped him in a hug. 

'Though I don't know if that's what that verse means.'- Kitty pondered.

"What about you, Carina?"- Kurt asked.

"I'm way past the grievances of the weak. The weak suffer and that has always been my reality. This time I'm enjoying the side of the strong and I have no care left for the weak who one day believed themselves Celestials and now are suffering the repercussions of their hubris for provoking Master Aragorn and Lady Jean."- Carina said factually. 

"I see... A different perspective, huh?"- Kurt acknowledges her point of view.

"That's how it is."- Carina smiled at the blue teleporting devil.

"The time for doubt is over... The time of slaughter is on! 1 vs More than a thousand... HeheheHEHEHEHEHEHEHHAHAHA! I like these odds! I will go out and disrupt their formation, you take care of the ship's navigation in my absence and have Carina take over the weapons systems."- Captain Kitty ordered.

"Aye, Aye, Captain."- Kurt agreed in a tired voice and went to Carina's side to coordinate with her.

Kitty seeing this, opened a portal and jumped in the middle of the enemy formation. 

Alarms went crazy as soon as she was detected, and wasting no time, she opened and closed a portal to sever around the midsection of a ship.

There was no explosion or flashy outcome, simply a disabled ship and the dying crew who were left behind as the Cat moved on to the next victim.

'That was tiring, cutting the energy shielding is not effective... What do I do?... Ah! I know!'- She thought to herself, and with overflowing joy, she kited a few vessels after her.

[Come on, over-evolved birds! Is that all that the so-called strongest and most ancient empire of this quadrant of the universe can do?]- She mocked them through the comms.

An intense shower of light followed her as she swirled tridimensionally in the vacuum.

[HAHAHAHAHA! You can't hit me!]- She cried in joy and mirth as she flew around the ships like an energetic fly.

Due to the risk of hitting their allies, they couldn't indiscriminately fire at her as she flew tight corners around the massive ships.

"Set the weaponry system to fire automatically when the firing path is clear! And have the other ships do the same!"- Demanded an official.

"Today Darth Kitty perishes!"- He said with a seriousness unbefitting of the sentence.

The idea was to have the ship's targeting system triangulate with the positions of the other ships so that when the cat flew over a spot that didn't intersect with any ship she would be shot down... 

Sadly this was what the Cat was aiming for, so in what appeared to be a suicidal move, she flew to a cleared location which was in range of all the 17 warships that she had kited.

The computers on all warships acted upon the preselected command and shot at the sitting target. 

[Gotcha!]- Kitty rejoiced and mocked them while she opened a portal.

The destination? The other side of the battlefield, where The Arcadia was taking the brunt of the task.

[Thanks, Kitty!]- Carina thanked her over the comms.

[You're welcome, 'Babe'!]- Kitty joked over their telenovela-like relationship status known throughout the galactic network.

She doesn't know how many times they have rejected several news chains by now. They are tired! They don't want to go to an interview and explain that all of it was a rouse from their draconic overlord and their fluffy queen!... Well, they do want to do that, but Emma forbids them from doing so with her logic and sound arguments about how Nirn needed them to make this small sacrifice.

In such a way and with other underhanded tactics, Kitty disrupted the enemy while her pirate ship took care of the other side.

Until she judged that the remaining numbers were right.

['Babes', fire the Instant Magnetar!]- Kitty ordered while constructing a complicated spell circle for a type of barrier.

She was not great at barriers, but the ways of defense were a requirement for any competent sorcerer, so Yao forced her to learn of it even if she didn't want to. 

Now she is grateful to her demonic fox teacher.

[Calculating optimal path.]- Seraph voiced out over the comms.

[Navigating to firing position.]- Kurt informed.

[Firing in:

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

ElectroM load out!]- Carina complied with her captain's order. 

From the mouth of the skull in The Arcadia, a shining white-blueish electromagnetic orb was shot to the geometric center of the enemy formation.

It flashed once, and the cat activated her barrier, one which should block all manner of electromagnetic interference—effectively blinding her—and all the ships were immediately pulled toward the temporary artificial magnetar.

[Fry them!]- Luckily—or as planned—they use a quantum-enabled communication system, or else she wouldn't have been able to command her crew from inside her barrier.

[Acknowledged.]- Seraph answered.

The Arcadia aimed all of its laser gunnery at the cluster of broken ships and panicking surviving Shi'ar, and shot one concentrated amber beam.

There was an explosion that looked more like the birth of a tiny star, followed by a wave of debris, and then the Magnetar died out.

Because The Arcadia was made of primed Dark Matter, it was not affected by the magnetic pull of the artificial magnetar, the same couldn't be said of the metallic vessels of the enemy.

[You can come out, Kitty.]- Kurt.

[Roger.]- Kitty.

"How many of those do we have left?"- Carina asked.

"Two more, but if you can get me a few engines from their ships I should be able to jury rig more. Father gave me access to the blueprints."- Seraph said from her spherical off-shot.

"I don't think there's anything salvageable from this batch."- Kurt expanded on the main screen the cloud of space debris.

"It's alright, I can work with that."- Seraph said in a singsong tone. 

"Let's do it quickly, I'm pretty sure we are in the 'Most Wanted' ranking by now, if it's not the Shi'ar then the bounty hunters will get us."- Kitty who had just portaled said.

"We could make a profit of those..."- Carina said offhandedly.

"What? How?"- Kitty asked, she was not lacking in units, but the more the merrier.

"Most bounty hunters have bounties."- Seraph answered.

"Ka-Ching! I should have thought of that!"- Kitty shouted.

"Leave it for later, Kitty. We have enough in our hands with the Shi'ar, I don't want every bounty hunter in this quadrant turning on us."- Kurt said.

Like so, this hunting day came to an end for the adventure of Captain Darth Kitty.

_________________________________________

Halo, The Crystal. 

In one of the labs in my Crystal, under the watchful eye of Victor von Doom, I set the materials needed to cultivate a body in the grow pod of his design.

"Looks like you're not gifting her immortality... why, though?"- I ask Doom. 

"My mother was... is... a woman who always saw life in her own way. I do not believe she would like to be eternal, like you and your people."- Doom in his classical seriousness answered.

"What about you?"

"... Which son wouldn't like their mother to be undying?"- He said while his finger danced in the air as he set the parameters in the holo screen for the body's development.

"That's true, I also wanted to die before my mother—children can be egoists and inconsiderate like that. I was never good at dealing with loss."- Sadly I had no chance against the cruelty of happenstance... In a way, I ended up eating her.

"I won't say that I'm sorry, because I find it hard to see you as anything else other than what you are... but I find no shame in thanking you for sparing me from your pain."- Yeah, I can see it, this guy sees me a sort of sentient monster-thing, he has no sympathy for me... It's so refreshing! 

"I follow the code of Hammurabi in many ways. Everybody is innocent until proven guilty, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I apply it in both directions, I do good for thee, I expect good from thee; I do bad to thee, I expect bad from thee; and it's reversed way, you do bad you get bad, you do good you get good, simple."- It's also how most karmic systems work.

"You, an eldritch being of unimaginable power, a mind resourceful enough to create this satellite and all the technological marvels in it, chose to guide your life following a set of laws from the Babylon era made by primitive humans in a primitive society?"- Doom arched an eyebrow in questioning.

"Well, not entirely, I don't go around removing body parts from the guilty, but I like to believe that the basics make up everything. No matter how advanced and powerful one is or pretends to be—as long as you have not lost your individuality—the basics in one way or another rule and guide your life."- At least it's been this way so far, based on the examples I've witnessed.

"And what does the 'basics' entail?"- Doom asks, his hands not stopping even once. He was done setting the core that housed her soul in the grow pod.

"Don't let others trample you but don't trample on the others, care for your loved ones, try to be as kind as you can without badly affecting your inner circle—never forget that your inner circle is worth more than outsiders—goth girls, respect as much as you want to be respected, The Shine, listen as much as you want to be listened to, understand boundaries, learn when to stop caring, beast girls, learn when to slaughter and when to heal, there's more but this is the basics."- There are some ancestor teachings right there!

"..."- Doom stopped his work on the screen for the first time and looked back at me.

"... I see... what about the loss of individuality that you mentioned?"- He resumed his work after the inquiry.

"If you ever get to one of the big O's—Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence—you'll lose your personality. If you know everything, can do everything, and can be everywhere, then there would be no need for anything of what makes you 'you'. You end up as a pseudo-consciousness bound with the 'everything' spread 'through the all'."- It's a bit more complicated but this is what The Aniki explained to me.

"... Does reaching the summit require abandoning your true self?"- He asks, I could feel his attention on my next words.

"... The best solution is a Domain of Control. You create a territory in which you can be God. Outside of this territory, you have none of the big O's in your deck and you're just an overpowered being, but inside you're God with capital G. In my case, my domains are my mind—when I have a body—and my soul. This should be the first step if you ever want to do your own thing and create a multiverse—in my humble opinion—but I don't think a True GOD will ever exist."- Aniki also shares my opinion so I believe I'm on to something.

"Because of The Outside?"- Doom asks for clarification. I never explained in depth what the Void was to him, but I did say that there was an outside to the All which we inhabit.

"Exactly... It is too big and unpredictable, impossibly hostile, and even if somehow two or more multiverses clashed and you managed to claim ownership of the other—growing your might—I don't see how you would do to go then and hunt for more."- I just can't imagine it, the paradoxical nature of the Void would forbid it.

"If it is as you said, and every other story is supposed to be true somewhere in the Void, doesn't that mean that if I write a story about someone conquering the omniverse—the ALL—then it would be real? Meaning that there would be a way to conquer everything."- He asks.

"No, the Void is not so simple. If everything and anything is absolutely possible but the existence of the Void denies the plausibility of a narrative, the paradoxical nature of it would ensure that the said story is both truthful and deceitful. In the end, you would have a multiverse that has an omniverse within it."- That way it would be both possible and impossible, paradox fulfilled.

"... I see now why you believe that a True God would never surface."- He said. 

That is also part of the Paradox because a True God would exist in these onmiversal multiverses, but for practical matters, a being overruling the Void is impossible—I believe.

But all the secrets and paradoxes of the Void are not clear to me, even if I was born from and molded by it, there might come a time when a True God is born, but I certainly don't want to be it. 

I love myself very much to ruin what I have by pursuing Omnipotence.

"Heck! For all I know, maybe there was a True God once, and then this one fused with the Void. Limitless possibilities and all of that, right?"- I exclaimed.

"There's some faulty truth to that."- He comments offhandedly.

"Leaving behind the purposeless topics... Have you been much under their scope lately?"- I inquire about Hydra in Latveria.

"Not more than expected, I had to change a few plans and was delayed in some areas, but everything is ready. I'm resurrecting my mother now because it will be easier to add her to my family now than later when I sit on the throne."- Doom said with absolute confidence.

"Do you need anything else from us for that purpose?"- I ask.

"...Not exactly a necessity, but a big mess to relieve some of the eyes on my back would be useful. But like I said, It's not a necessity, by this point I'm already ruling Latveria from behind the scenes, I'm just one step away from going public and lawfully owning my home and people."- I never doubted that he was this capable.

"I should be releasing some of my World Tree drugs next week, and—in conjunction with Stark Industries—N-Tek will be releasing a new line of communication and computing tech during the Stark Expo that should revolutionize pretty much every sector... That should be enough of a distraction to have Hydra gunning crazily for my back."- And Stark's, but Seraph has his covered.

"So you're finally starting with the war on pharma... what drug are you releasing first?"- Doom knew that indirectly I was starting a war with the pharmaceutical economic sector.

It's not that I was exactly against their capitalistic approach to healthcare, it would be a lie for me to say that I care from the bottom of my heart if the humans exploited their weak. Such was the way of Life, no matter how disgusting I found their practice.

But the purpose of my meddling with pharma was something that I do give a fuck about... Sublime. When I have all of the humans supporting unquestionably my Umbrella Corp, I will start a global campaign of vaccination with the undisclosed objective of the inoculation of the Sublime pandemic.

Naturally, since I wanted him to become the Emperor of Earth, I ran by him the general listing of the drugs we would release from the products obtained from the Arbor Mundi. It's a way to keep Doom informed about the changes we do to 'his' Earth.

"The multipurpose skincare cream."

"Is that the one that cures all skin-related ailments or the one that removes all scarring?"

"The one that removes scarring as one of the 'side-effects'."- I answered.

Precisely this said side-effect is my true aim.

"Right... This one was to introduce the regenerative qualities of the tree to later introduce a regenerative drug that should be able to regrow organs and/or extremities, right?"- He's almost done with the final check-ups for his mother's body.

"Yeah, that way it doesn't look that suspicious when I introduce the regen drug. Just suspicious enough to grow the target on my back. Soon I will have all the scum of the world aiming for my death while the general population will shower me with their love."- It's all about balance and creating the perfect target.

"It really will make things simpler for me when I move as your successor and get all of your good rep and none of your bad press..."- He comments.

"Yep, it's part of my objective to die a martyr and pin the blame on someone (Possibly Hydra) and pass the torch to you."- I can already picture my dramatic end.

"..."- Doom stopped his movements once more to look at me, weird guy this one. 

"But that's far in the future... Hey, I've been meaning to ask, but what's this?"- I pointed at a vial of a purple fluid he kept to his right in a special sealing container. 

"I didn't see it in the report you sent about your mother's body."- I said.

"This... This is the crystallization of my efforts to help humanity and in the future make them understand that I'm the better option... the only option."- He said with a steely resolve in his voice.

"Is it your version of the super soldier serum?"- Which would make sense, humanity is a sucker for super soldier serums.

"Not exactly. By studying the information you provided about your people's change in race, the variants of the SSS that you've developed, and combining this with my own specialty in sorcery I came up with this. In the long term, it will have much better results than if I gave all of humanity the SSS."- He passed me a report I had not seen about the effects of his serum, which I sped read.

"... It's amazing. It's not exactly a change in race like what I did, but it's not far, the changes are hereditary. If I had to explain it I would say that it evolves a human into a higher version of itself."- Should I say it turns a human into a high-human?

"Extended lifespan, enhanced physiology to the peak of what each body tolerates, and the most surprising enhancement is the one on the soul—not to leave behind the enhancement of the brain, hence of the mind—how do you do it? A ritual in conjunction with the administration of the serum?"- I inquire about the enhancement of the soul.

"Yes, I tested it on myself and the results were as predicted, now my mother shall enjoy the same benefit."- I glance at his soul and the change in it is just like he said.

"Is your specialty in sorcery toward souls?"- I knew about the lightning blasts he uses and I know that almost all Dooms I read about dabbled in just about everything, but other than him specializing in souls I wouldn't picture how he would come up with this marvelous invention. 

"Yes, it is. I didn't know much about how to face Mephisto, but I thought that to help my mother's soul I should at least master the sorcery of souls. I also studied dimensional travel and manipulation to an extent, but my real specialization is souls."- By this logic, maybe all Dooms have a specialty in souls.

"How much is the extension on the lifespan?"- I ask.

"It's unpredictable."

"Because each person is different?"

"Yes, but also because the serum opens a path to sorcery, and as you know sorcery can naturally enhance the body's vitality. Normally these enhancements depend on the base plate of the body."- He said.

"I understand. Your serum enhances this plate so the limits of the extension would vary."- It comes down to the affinity as well. I bet this guy is already aiming for above the millennia, he was blessed in the field of affinity to sorcery like that.

"We're ready."- Doom said.

"Okay! Proceed, I'll make sure to intervene if things derail."- I shift into my female self because I don't want things to get awkward when his naked mother is reborn.

"..."- Doom again stared at me and didn't comment, he then initiated the procedure.

There were no mechanical sounds or an impressive light show. It was something much more fantastical and mysterious, yet subtle... The growth of a human in an artificial womb (Grow Pod), the abnormally fast—yet controlled—cellular reproduction, the consumption of the supplied materials that made up the growing body, and the affixation of the freed soul into the new compatible vessel.

Every single process and reaction—down to the smallest molecule—was controlled and guided by the great maestro, Victor von Doom. He was essentially reproducing what I could do with my biokinesis with technology and a dab of magic.

'Impressive, sometimes it is easy to overlook how resourceful the people around you are, Master Chief.'- Spark said in my mind.

'Yes, I thought he was going to follow one of the methods we uploaded in the Learning Room, but he made his own thing.'- In some aspects his process is better than ours, in some, it's not.

But for the goal he wants to achieve this is as perfect as it can be.

'The care and delicate planning he invested in this can be appreciated with a single glance.'- Spark comments.

'He's mamma's boy.'- I add.

'Heh... Mamma's boy.'- Spark mocks.

We stayed in this 'project' without sleep for three days, and by the end of it, Cynthia von Doom came back to the world of the living, in the flesh...

It's just that...

"She is younger than you?"- I ask as I point out to the elephant in the room.

"Technically? She's not. It's just that the serum brought her back to her peak state... as you know women's biological peak tends to be on the younger side compared to men's."- Doom said, scanning his resting mother to ensure there are no problems.

"Ah, you're right. Life values women on their capability for reproduction."- Such is Life.

"..."

A silence spreads around the room and I notice a small fluxation in Doom's emotions.

"What's wrong?"- I ask.

"She should be waking up."- Doom.

I walk to her side and *Slap!*... She opens her eyes but there's no recognition in them...

"As always... the delicate care of an exploding landmine."- He complains and pushes me away from her to observe her status closely.

"It worked, and you gave her regeneration."- She is physically fine.

"She was already awake—with her eyes closed—but... she turtle shelled herself—speaking in terms of mental health—probably trauma. I doubt Mephistopheles kept her in a 5-star room at the Hell Hotel..."- I comment as I study her mind and get closer to the other side where Doom isn't.

It's solely a mind problem, her soul is in a surprisingly good state.

"... Can you solve the problem?"- He asks, teeth grinding in anger.

"Sure."- I bring my forehead to hers and dive into the mess Mephisto left behind.

...

...

...

...

Fuck.

"Doom?"- I ask—eyes closed—with a split self taking charge of my body while the main mind is working on her.

"Speak."- He demanded.

"So... Do you want me to remove her memories of it?"- Because I don't think this shit is something anyone should live with, it makes what my girls went through look like a walk in the park. 

"... Is it the only way?"- He asks. I believe he will need to replace some of his teeth, there are probably cracks on them by now, and I can smell the blood in his hands from the wounds his nails make in his palms.

"I can help her process this shit, but that's borderline psyche redesigning. Of course, there would be no downsides to it because I am the one doing it, but that is at the expense of her privacy... It's like me putting my hands in her everything."- Because I would have to change some parts of her to allow her to have the mental strength and resilience to overcome what Mephisto did to her.

"Will you erase the memories or seal them?"- Doom asked.

"Erasure."- Luckily there's no body trauma—because she was bodiless—so I don't have to deal with trauma on her body, like her body reacting to something it once experienced.

"Remove them."- He said, decisively.

And I get to work on it.

Mephisto can be so thorough with the strangest of things... He wanted to fuck with Doom and Cynthia so much that he made sure to condition her to fear and hate Doom as if her life depended on it.

It appears he wanted to reunite Cynthia and Doom in some way and have her kill him—or try at least—he made her go through thousands of simulated situations in which Doom was the perpetrator of her suffering.

He took Doom's form and mannerisms and then did to her whatever and all that his sadist mind desired. Then in his original form, he went to her 'rescue' in every simulation and made her equalize him to safety, warmth, lust, love, dependency, and other 'pretty' feelings.

I bet he held a copy of her healthy mind—before he fucked with her—just to enjoy the pleasure of showing her what she did to her son after she had taken out all of her anger and insanity in him.

He even had some of his minions assume the form of the children they shared in their 'happy' family. 

It's to the point where even if someone told her what he did to her, she would still be with her 'love devil' because she wouldn't care about anything other than him and killing her son. 

It's like a weird case of Harley Quinn but utterly deranged. None of the cute psycho we all love in Harley and more like the type of psycho you wonder if you should kill out of mercy.

He made her go through cycles of sanity-insanity to enjoy her breaking apart.

Jokes on him, I was going to give him an easy death, now I won't...

Let's clean this gunk...

...

...

...

...

"Done. Talk to her, she needs it, I left her some vague memories—very few—in the form of a film so that she can understand what happened; and bring her to me once a week for follow-ups."- Poor girl. 

"..."- He nods and moves closer to wake her up, and holds her hand tenderly.

I teleported away, to give them some much-needed time alone.

I feel like collapsing a reality or two, I better go to Noona and have these impulses soothed... or else I'll do something not nice to Mephisto, and I can't have that, I need the little shit alive... for the moment that is.

... Though I wonder why it bothers me so much... It's not like I care about Cynthia, it's more like I despise what he did but feel no empathy for her... interesting... I do feel pity for her... for them... 

______________________

So this chapter got split, again, because of the word count. I'll upload this part first and in a few hours I'll upload the next.