MAGA ADDENDUM : Nyatopia VIII – Waltz Towards the World's End

[Ashe? Ashe?]

"(Hm?)"

Inside a capsule filled with water, a young naked woman floated while holding her knees. Her head was covered by a golden helmet connected to tubes and machinery, and from under it stemmed long golden hair. 

Hearing a familiar voice low inside her head, she drew her face closer to the glass only to see a young woman in white lab coat, and wavy dark green hair.

"(Oh, Gabriel. Is something wrong?)" the girl in the tub asked in her head.

The girl didn't need to see anything more than that lab coat to recognize her interlocutor – it was the rank 9 angel, Gabriel of the Wise Foundation.

[No, there's nothing wrong. I was just checking how you were doing. You didn't wake up at the appointed time so…]

"(Oh… Sorry… I had… a rather pleasant dream… How much… did I oversleep?)"

[About a month. I would not call that oversleep at this point. That would be an overkill!]

Gabriel laughed, but there was no response. A  wry and pained smile on her face, Gabriel knocked on the tub again.

[Ashe? Ashe?]

"(...)"

[Hey, Ashe, are you here? Should we take the dinner you missed last month now? We won't really have time tomorrow, you know?]

"(...)"

[... Next time, then…]

As Gabriel turned away, it seemed to her as if she heard a faint reply coming from Ashe. 

"(... sorry… maybe… no… there won't be... sorry… tomorrow… Ganymede… how long? Chérie... Isa… is that… bad?)"

Gabriel turned around again and put her hand on the tube's glass.

[It is bad.] she answered with a wide smile.

Ashe's hands seemed to twitch for a second before staying immobile again.

"(... I… see… thank… you…)"

[That is my job, there is no need to—]

"(staying… by my side… thank… you…)"

Gabriel looked away, her eyes turned heavenward.

[Why bring that up every single time? I wasn't angry at you, at first, but now I feel like…]

Gabriel stopped, she couldn't hear Ashe's thoughts anymore. She observed the girl a moment, her mouth set in a hard line.

[Even now, you just do whatever you want, don't you?]

She gently tapped on the glass again, giving the girl a half smile.

[Good night, Ashe.]

She then turned away in order to leave, but a group of young women wearing a hooded black nun-like robe and a white eye-covering mask appeared. From their attire, it was easy to identify them as soldiers.

"Mistress Gabriel, we are under attack!" one of the soldiers said.

The girl's yellow eyes turned toward the soldier. [Under attack? A remainder of the Ganymedian fleet?]

"We… we can't say for sure… the enemy uses what seems to be a Loa Seith type of bibliomancy." another timidly replied.

[Loa Seith? Patmosian then. But why would they attack us?] Gabriel asked, taking a reflexive pose. [No, that isn't important, I will handle them.] she added, adjusting her glasses and going toward the door by which the soldier appeared.

"W-Wait, Mistress Gabriel! Actually, there's a little problem!"

[What else?]

"The enemy, it is no fleet!"

[Pardon?]

***

The Flying Fortress Tzaphkiel, headquarters of  "Waltz Towards the World's End" an organization at the head of which stood Sandalphon of the Golden Kingdom and her council. 

It was a construct seemingly made out of gold – a gigantic sphere flying at the center of two rings covered by what seemed like gigantic mechanic eyes. More than 500 people worked there , be it soldiers, engineers, healers, and other necessary personnel. Its entire surface was covered in various mechanisms both offensive and defensive, rendering it totally impregnable. Every single town who went against it were, well, weren't – every opposition was obliterated, cleanly and simply. 

That was the way of those known as the angels.

Needless to say, nobody in their right mind would dare to fight against them. 

And yet…

In a large corridor, swords and magics were clashing. A single shadow wearing a rust coloured scarf cleaved its way through the countless black soldiers stationed there. It flayed its swords left and right, easily defeating the guards in no more than a single hit. 

"There she is!!! Troops, strike with all your power!!!" yelled a commander, wearing a white attire and a mask covering her whole face. She raised an opened black book she was holding as well as her golden dagger before reciting a few sentences : 

Linked Evoke – [You are the one, the mother of a nation] – [Fear not, for I shall always stay by your side] – [And thus the enemy was smitten by the heavenly fist]

Behind every soldier appeared two gigantic spectral hands. As soon as the shadow approached another soldier, one the spectral hands moved at incredible speed – before her was now a gigantic fist aiming to crush her.

Taken by surprise, she crossed her swords together in order to block the blow before remembering it was an awful idea. She then tried to jump back in order to avoid the blow, but with one glance backwards, she understood her error – she didn't kill every single soldier as her objective was simply to go forward, and now, that became a big issue as the soldiers behind her also had spectral hands attached to them.

The fists converged in an attempt to crush her. Be it at her left, her right, or above her head, she had literally no ways to escape the omnidirectional attack.

"Cocytus!!!"

A dome of ice surrounded her, and blocked every single blow as if they were nothing. The ice shattered and a white sword appeared before turning black as it instantly melted into steam.

The commander twitched.

"Troops!!! Mark yourselves!!!" she ordered pressing palm on her dagger until she could bleed. Then, she used her own blood to put a 'X' on her mask – her troops imitated her knowing exactly what she wanted to do. "Linked Evoke – [Virtuous bathe in the radiant light. Wicked drown in the bottomless abyss] – [Those marked by the seal of blood shall not plunge in abyss]"

The spectral hands disappeared leaving behind a faceless cloaked form protecting the soldiers with its wings. Seeing this, the shadow smirked.

"A protection against instantaneous deaths? That grimoire of yours has some incredibly specific codes written in it." she commented, taking an offensive stance.

"Codes that do not appear as words in the air. A long black sword and a crimson dagger... To think I would have to occasion to see those again, Styx and Acheron, the Underworld's Rivers. It seems that the rumor about Queen Death still being alive was true after all!"

"Who?"

The steam slowly dissipated revealing a young woman with long white hair held in a ponytail, and brown skin. She was wearing a black two piece swimsuit, a visor cap, and a crimson scarf. Her pale blue irises shined like torches and her sclera was black.

The girl smiled arrogantly. "Sorry, but I have no idea of who you are talking about. My name is Cruisader, daughter of the Faceless Witch, Nya, and sister of the Puppeteer Witch, Shogo!"

The commander stayed silent. No soldier dared to attack without receiving her orders first, that was the procedure against someone able to use a death code.

The enemy was not Queen Death indeed, but many of her characteristics were here – the dark sclera, the fiery eyes, the tears-like black lines under  them, that dark aura screaming death... She even had Styx and Acheron! There was no mistake possible, that girl was dangerous.

"Troops, retreat. I shall evoke Ecclesia Minora." the commander said, calmly. However, this time, protests surfaced.

"What? Wait, commander, you can't possibly use that here! It will destroy a part of the ship!" one said.

"Have you forgotten Mistress Tzaphkiel can't be affected by some codes? Ecclesia is one of them. Now, leave this woman to me." the commander insisted.

"B-But…"

"Styx and Acheron can provoke instantaneous death upon contact. It is said that to even wield them, one has to die," the commander said, opening her book. "That girl, she can't be killed by normal means, I fear she already sold her soul to the sword. Only the holy light can kill her now."

Or so she said, but it was only conjecture on her part. She just didn't want to take any risks and eradicate her in one hit.

Besides…

It was tiring to keep a code blocking insta-death on a group of around 20 people. That, and she really wanted an excuse to use Ecclesia Minora at least once. The first time she saw it, she was fascinated and reeeally wanted to unleash at least once, but never had never had the occasion.

Like that one time against that mechanical cat at Scrapman Yard…

"Commander, the target is too weak. We can finish it off without using it," said soldier A, stabbing said snake in the mouth.

Or that one time she tried to cut a river in two at Henge…

"Commander, we can literally traverse it by foot…" remarked soldier B, walking into the water which struggled to get past her ankles.

Or when she tried to use it to reach the summit of the tower in Exe Dot EXE…

"Player, there's no functionality that allows rocket jump in this world. In fact, rocket jump makes no sense so stop trying to activate that code this instant!"

"Commander, just stop, please…" said soldier A, taking away her scriptures.

"Yeah, the others are afraid of you," soldier B added.

Yes, her subordinates were frightened too so she decided to stop that day, but today was different!

Powerful adversary? Check!

No other sure fire ways to beat her? Check!

Place allowing to use it safely?! Oh ho ho ho ho ho!!!

"... Understood." the soldier replied with reluctance.

"*cough* Yes, yes…" the commander replied.

Quickly the remaining troops evacuated leaving the commander alone with Cruisader. Now, she could use Ecclesia without hurting anyone and without anyone stopping her – she dreamed of that moment.

"..."

Yet, she didn't feel any excitement at the moment. When she arrived, she recognized the two who used to stop her from using Ecclesia among the number of the corpses. Those two survived this long journey up until now at her side, and tomorrow they were supposed to celebrate – the protagonist would have been finally defeated and a new age would have started. 

But now…

"Since you were nice enough to give me your name, I will give you mine. They call me Bel, I am a commander serving under Mistress Gabriel," she pointed her dagger at Cruisader. "Remember this name, for it belong to the one who will crush you."

Cruisader snorted. "Sorry, I need to kill Sandalphon as soon as possible. It is not personal, you know?"

Under her mask, commander Bel laughed. "You say that, but your smile betrays you! Alright, that is how it is supposed to be. War begets war, hate begets hate. Let me tell you this then."

She took a fighting stance.

"This is personal."

***

[Hmm… Is that the intruder?] Gabriel asked as soon as she reached the corridor. It was clear a violent fight took place here – part of the ground seemed burned, others were covered by ice. In the middle of this, lay two corpses – one side, a girl in white nun-like outfit with multiple cuts, her mask broken, lacking her right arm, and with a black sword piercing her chest; on another, a girl whose body had burned beyond the recognizable.

The soldiers stayed silent, looking devastated by the sight of her commander's body. Gabriel patted the shoulder of one of them to reassure her.

[Everything will be okay. Once Mistress Sandalphon has brought down the divine realm, you… We won't lose anyone anymore. Bel has just gone to the abyss, but we will save her, I promise.]

The soldier turned to Gabriel. Tears rolled from under her eye mask, but she did her best to smile.

"I will call the medical team, and the cleaning team! Sorry for bothering you, Mistress. Let's waltz towards the world's end!" she said with conviction, bowing, a hand on her chest.

[Let's waltz towards the world's end.] Gabriel replied, a hand on her chest.

The other soldiers bowed at their turn and left the corridor after repeating the same sentence. Now alone, Gabriel took off her glasses and closed her eyes.

[Tzaphkiel, close this corridor in a range of about 5 meters around me, please.]

Walls suddenly closed the corridor. Gabriel looked around, but couldn't hear the intruder's thoughts anymore. She then looked at Bel's lifeless green eyes, partly obscured by her orange hair – was she conscious of it? Was she conscious she died before eliminating her target? Gabriel wished it to not be the case, because otherwise, that smile she had in her death would be too hard to look at.

Her eyes narrowed as she put back her glasses.

[Tzaphkiel, find the intruder and tell me her position, please. Or no, I know were she wants to go so direct her towards Ashe's room, please.]

The walls disappeared and she walked with determination towards her friend's room.

***

"Well! I wasn't expecting an invitation, color me surprised!" Cruisader extolled, the room into which Ashe, or rather Sandalphon, was sleeping.

In front of a glass container filled with water, Gabriel was sitting on a chair, her leg crossed and joined in front of her mouth. She was still wearing a white lab coat, but this time, it was opened revealing a sort of black swimsuit. It looked quite provocative even though it was technically a one piece – it seemed to be made of triangles and was so skintight that it looked like her actual skin. 

Her arms and legs too, were different. Her arms were covered by what seemed like black gloves and fingers looked like claws; her legs looked the same, as if she was wearing tights. The strangest changes however, occurred in her eyes whose pupils became slit, and irises red. That, and she now had horns where her ears were, and a black reptilian tail.

"Eeh~, that's quite the change of look. Are you, perhaps, an exhibitionist, Miss Gabriel? You sure are showing a lot of skin today!" Cruisader commented, a mischievous smile on her face.

Gabriel, seemingly ignoring the comment, simply got up.

[You are in bad shape.]

"I know."

It was true, Cruisader was bleeding from her forehead and her right arm was also broken. She seemed to be barely able to stand up, her body covered in bruises, and burns.

Gabriel raised one of her clawed fingers. [Here is my question, answer it carefully, please : would you rather die here, or join our cause?]

"Join the cause of a weirdo who communicates by putting words into people's minds? That would be interesting…" she replied smiling, before glaring at Gabriel. "If your cause didn't involve destroying my family that is."

Gabriel lowered her finger. [Very well.]

Cruisader prepared herself. Normally, nobody should be able to see or hear her thanks to a hidden ability of her sword, but it was obvious it didn't work on this angel. A rank 9 angel – the white flowers in her hair were 9 too, each for a life she had. No matter how she looked at it, beating her was impossible for her in her current state and maybe, was impossible in about any state.

Cruisader sighed. Well, she did realize that this was a suicide mission from the start, but at least, she found out where was Sandalphon. That was going to help her sisters in the incoming fights.

Without Cruisader even realizing, Gabriel moved behind her and cleanly cut her head with her claws. Her eyes coldly looked down on the beheaded corpse – there was no pity in them, no pity or remorse, yet the angel apologized.

[Sorry it has to come to this.] she said. [Worry not, for even you shall be saved.]

Having said that, she shut her eyes.

[Tzaphkiel, once we reach Ganymede, use Ecclesia on every district, please.]

She opened her eyes, a serious look on her face.

[Let's avoid bad surprises. This was too easy.]