With his orb-eye, John saw Amber’s eyes begin to glow. A moment later, she held up a hand and said to Nine, “Wait! Just listen. I’m…,” then blasted forward, charging as her demon form transformed into a bear.

A mighty and ferocious growl shook the room as Amber blurred forward with her two paws held above her head. So many [Auras] activated that even John was surprised to feel them all.

Then Amber was two bears, a destructive beam released from each’s eyes. Both Nines barely managed to avoid the red lasers.

At the end of the charge attack, each bear swiped down with both paws at a different Nine. A split second after, a giant, full-body echo attack did the same.

Twelve pucks flew through the imaginary image of one bear, the other pucks beat against, pushed, and held the real Amber back. But the massive echo attack landed, knocking one of the Nines against the wall, leaving huge slashes down his chest that oozed his strange bloodlike liquid.

But that echo attack was also reflected back at the bear and it growled in pain and sprayed out its own blood as broken scales flew away.

Amber blinked behind the standing Nine. Four bolters met her new attack. She managed to bat two away with her paws as two more tore into her hide. The Nine on the ground shot a beam that rocked her head aside, causing some scales to fly off and blood to spray again. Two other bolters streaked at her, and she only managed to bash one, destroying it.

There were two Ambers as she blinked away, one attacking each Nine. Then there was only one Amber as chains made of light that glowed darkly completely covered the real her, holding her tight to the ground in a blanket of chains.

A lizard scurried out of the chains and breathed acid at the uninjured Nine. And that acid was all reflected back at the lizard as it was covered in chains again. A frog tried jumping out this time, but it couldn’t do much before it was covered and bound tighter.

The chains fell flat, but new chains blanketed a new area, covering a larger lump. John assumed that Amber had used her invisibility for that attempt.

Then the pile of chains over the lump expanded upward, covering a much larger space. The pile of glowing chains moved around as Amber tried to break free but continued to be trapped within.

One of the Nines said, “Can’t blink out? I opened ‘bond’ under black after ascending to Diamond, so I should hope not. It really helps with my light chains. But not half as much as it helps when I infuse it into my [Separate Domain].

“You all thought I had one aspect and concept, an orange aspect. What was it, ‘solar?’ The chance of ‘solar’ being an orange concept is practically unheard of. No, I merged a high-concept as a Gold. All Yellow do. Even Thirteen. It only looks like orange essence. Anyway, that was impressive how you killed my other clone. I’m sorry I must kill you too, my Alii. You should’ve picked a better man to love.”

John had hoped Amber would’ve fared better against Nine than he had. She tore through the first clone so easily. It seemed Fate had other plans.

There were two Nines, and both looked exactly the same minus the claw marks. Unlike Amber’s copies of herself, both Nines were real, and both had vital essence and real peripherals. But only one had a soul.

Nine was completely ignoring John. He prayed the biosynth continued to do so. He started to cast [Slip] and Nine didn’t even try to stop him.

John exited the shadows at Nine’s feet. The biosynth looked down at him with his emotionless face but did nothing as a broken arm slapped against his foot.

All that mattered was that Amber lived. Fate could plan all it wanted, but John had sworn these new children would survive him. And these would.

Fuck Fate, thought John. He smiled as best as his broken lips and mouth allowed as he pulled on Nine’s soul.

Nine refused the contest. John wouldn’t accept the refusal. He overwhelmed the biosynth’s own will and forced the contest to begin.

Nine tried to fight back. The biosynth might’ve outclassed John in every way during their fight, but Nine didn’t have a willpower forged in fire for six thousand brutal years and his will was quickly overpowered by John’s own.

Broken lips parted and a broken mouth screamed out in agony as a Diamond’s soul entered John. An immediate, tremendous, and unbearable agony flared up in his chest.

The real Nine fell dead, a dark-green crystal clanking off the ground next to him. The copy fell down and disappeared a moment later, as did the pile of chains containing Amber.

A weird light that hurt John’s eyes bathed the area. A light that sparkled. Amber growled out in pain in her bear form.

John squinted his eyes tightly closed to protect against the burning light. Strange symbols began showing in his closed lids. Then some gibberish. Then strange symbols again. He entered his Mind’s Eye.

Except for continuously glitching, Avatar looked as dignified as ever. “Goodbye, John,” she said.

“What do you mean? We won.”

“I’m helping. I don’t have much time. I’m destroying all the nanites, blocking your blasphemy from being reported. Live. Take care of your wife and children.”

“Stop! Don’t do this, Avatar. Let me deal with the consequences of my own actions. Please.”

Avatar put on her glasses and looked down her nose at John. She said, “At least I get to feel something before I die, even if it is pain. It hurts so much. I love you too, my silly boy. In my own way. The only way I could.”

“No, please!”

Avatar stopped glitching and disappeared. John’s mind space completely emptied, the same as when he entered his Mind’s Eye in the NetherRealm.

John sat in the darkness. Avatar sacrificed herself for him. She paid the price for his action. He tried thinking of a way to honor her, and he could think of nothing. He knew she was only a personality matrix, but she was more than that to him. She was his good friend.

All his friends always died. Always.

John should be dead as well, but he wasn’t. He was alive. He had a new lease on life thanks to his dear friend.

After saying one last farewell to Avatar, John exited his Mind’s Eye to the pain that awaited him in real space. The burning light sparkled out. His chest felt like it was being torn apart. His orb-eye saw Amber rise as a demon. She had many new wounds and was bleeding badly but her stomach seemed undamaged. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Her old chest wound truly looked fatal. It really looked like it should’ve killed her.

“John, I don’t have an NCS anymore. What the heck just happened? What was that light and how did you kill Seven-one?”

John’s mouth still wasn’t working, and he was trying his hardest not to scream out in pain in front of his wife. Amber sat next to him and her giant demon form cradled him in her arms. He held in his disgust as his wife kissed him. He tugged on her mind and fought the usual battle as he pulled her into his Mind’s Eye, a much tougher battle due to the terrible agony taking Nine’s soul was causing him.

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Amber stood in front of John in a dark and empty space. He focused on creating a light source and his heart fluttered as he looked at the woman he was married to, that was his. I am so lucky, he thought. Far luckier than I deserve to be.

“Are you okay, Husband?”

“I am now. We won.”

“Not yet. Was my Meleua in on this? If so, we’re in trouble. I’m real low on essence too. I love you so much. I can’t believe you’re alive. Oliua said you were dead. He said your capsule flew into deep space and you died.”

“I love you too,” said John. “I doubt the Meleua was part of this. Nine said he locked him in his own biosuit. On the bridge.”

Amber’s brows furrowed. “Well, shoot. Wish I knew that. I woulda seen if I coulda released him before coming here. Woulda been a huge help. Meleua could’ve torn Oliua apart. Wish I could make a copy of myself the same way Oli…I mean Nine. How Nine did.

“That was crazy, huh? What happened? Why’d he wanna kill you? And me? He said you were dead. I was…I was…but I knew it wasn’t true! I kept telling him he was wrong. And then I saw you! I was right! You came back to me! My heart almost burst with happiness! How’d you kill him? And what was all that light? And why’s my NCS not working?”

If Avatar hadn’t just died and John was in a better mood, he would’ve laughed at being asked so many questions at once. He said, “First, tell me how you survived? That wound looked fatal. A huge hole exploded your chest outward.”

Amber smiled. “Oh, that? Remember Magnus Gar’tar?”

“Yes, she’s on my list. I swore vengeance against her. I’ll kill her one day.”

“Oh, John. You and your vengeance. You should let her off the hook since she just saved me, or the thing she gave me did. I don’t know what it was. Some kind of eyeball-thing. I was a fox at the time and just wanted to eat it. If I’m remembering right, she didn’t want me to have it, but finally relented.

“I didn’t eat it though. She put it inside me and said it would give me another life. I remember being mad because I just wanted to eat it. It isn’t inside me now, so I’m guessing it musta saved me. That attack was enormous and I’m a lot frailer in my real form since all my body [Perks] are turned off.”

Amber tried to hold John, her arms passing through his waist. “I really wish I could hold you in here. And I wish you’d just make yourself normal sized. This is ridiculous. You’re like 10 feet tall. But I’m so glad you’re alive! I knew you were alive too! I could feel it! And it’s so good to see you with a beard again, hot stuff, even if it’s really burnt. So, you gonna answer your wife’s questions now?”

John wasn’t up to going into every detail. He was uncertain if he had made the right call by returning to the ship. He couldn’t imagine just abandoning his wife and leaving her and his children with Nine forever and hoping the mad man kept his word. But if things had gone slightly differently, his wife would be dead right now. And he would be the one responsible.

At some point in the future, he’d explain in more detail. For now, John only said, “You know why he wanted to kill me. Thirteen. His princess. She picked the terms of the Duel. I didn’t. He wanted to kill you to hurt me.”

Amber looked up with doe-eyes at John. “Oh. Well, I guess the lesson there is vengeance is stupid, destructive, and leads to nothing good. Don’t worry, I won’t nag. I know how you feel about avenging everything. But I hope you think about it a little. How’d you kill him? And what about the lights and the NCS?”

John quickly thought of a way to tell Amber what he safely could. “I did something I’m not supposed to and can’t do again. All the nanites in the area were destroyed. That’s all I can say about it now.”

“Will we get the NCS back? The Tech 4 one?”

“I’m uncertain. You know as much as I do.”

Amber smiled brightly. “We’ll find out together, my love. We just have to…oh, before I forget, there’s something…something maybe good I need to talk to you about. Get your opinion on. But not now. When we’re away from the Peerless.”

“Whatever you want, Amber. I’m the luckiest man in the universe and I love you. And I appreciate you too. I’m sorry you had to save me again. And I’m sorry my actions almost got you killed.”

“What happened wasn’t your fault. We’re married. We’re in this together. Forever.”

Seeing his wife smile lessened the burden in John’s heart. He said, “When my mouth is healed, we should do kissing again.”

“It’s just called kissing, John. We can’t yet, my love. We still have our first issue we were trying to get rid of at Ryicci Station. A big issue. My Meleua.”

Before John could say anything, Amber said, “No! We’re not killing him. He’s a real nice guy and he swore fealty to me. Let me go talk to him. There’s a good chance he’ll wanna come with us. You haven’t heard him rant. He kinda hates the Peerless for thinking he’s defective. He thinks he’s right about…about all his stuff, and everyone else is defective for not thinking like he does.”

John just looked at his wife. He didn’t want to argue with her but talking to the Meleua was a mistake. He was a second tier Exalted. He should be killed while he was still locked within his suit.

John couldn’t kill the Meleua in his current state. Amber would have to do it. He tried thinking of a way to get his wife to agree to his reasoning. Before he could, Amber pulled herself out of his Mind’s Eye. He sighed and followed after her.

Pain racked John upon exiting. His chest hurt terribly and felt like it was ripping apart. Amber stood and took his arm in her hands again.

After setting all of John’s bones and reinfusing him with her healing, Amber changed to her human form, got out two crystals she put in each of his hands, and said, “I’m gonna go talk to him. You meditate and try healing up as much as possible, as quick as possible. I’ll be back soon.”

Besides the great pain in his chest, there was also a great pain in John’s heart from losing Avatar. He had to try and ignore both as much as he could. He sent vital essence to heal, worked on himself with his [Heal] manifestation, and then began to meditate.

Not whining or whimpering from the pain in front of his wife was not easy. He was looking forward to escaping it as much as possible, especially the pain in his heart, so he went deeply inside of himself. That also allowed him to heal faster.

When John finally stopped meditating and opened his eyes, his chest felt much better, and his bones were knitted together again and felt strong. He was mostly healed. His vital essence was running low. He felt groggy and drained. Nine’s corpse had been removed along with the crystal it dropped.

A message flashed in John’s vision telling him to enter his Mind’s Eye. He became excited and did so. But Avatar was gone. He had no avatar. He would have to go through the whole process over again. He chose to have his profile imported rather than pay for new testing.

Then John had to pick a new avatar. He couldn’t pick Wise Woman again. He didn’t want to see a friend that wasn’t his friend. He didn’t have it in him to deal with this now. He was trapped in the avatar selection menu so just exited his Mind’s Eye. He missed Avatar but his wife and the children she carried were alive, and he had duties.

On the floor, at the spot where the clone of Nine John had fought was killed, were both of John’s bolters. He collected them along with his sword and shield and headed out. The door to the bridge was open. As soon as he passed through it, four different types of peripherals, well over a dozen in total, pointed at him. He froze.

“Oh, stop it, Meleua! Don’t be a jerk,” said Amber. She was also fully healed. Her beauty sent butterflies flying around John’s stomach. He wondered how long he had meditated for.

“Apologies, Alii. I don’t know his intentions,” said the Meleua.

Amber was wearing a differently colored deployment outfit. She smiled at John, pushed some of the peripherals out of the way, and much to his surprise, started to do kissing with him, deeply and passionately.

John held his wife tightly and they did kissing for a while. Soon after he cupped her rear in his hands, she backed away, smiling. “I finally got to kiss my husband. That’s all I can do, sweety. It’ll only make it more difficult if we…keep going. But I’ve been waiting years to do that again, just so you know!”

“Please don’t do that on the bridge,” said the Meleua. “It’s disgusting. Do you realize the mouth is filled with bacteria? Urine is a thousand times cleaner than the average mouth.”

John thought the Meleua had a good point and agreed with him in general. Amber laughed and said, “Jeez, way to spoil a moment! Can you get rid of all these peripherals, please?”

The peripherals quickly disappeared or flew back to the Meleua.

“Is he going with us,” asked John.

Amber lost her smile. “He knows about us. You meditated for three days straight so we’ve been talking a lot. We’re in real trouble, John. When Seven-one died, a script was triggered. Meleua can’t stop it. In four days, we’ll arrive at Victor’s nav point. In eight days, we’ll arrive at Gani. Under lockdown. There’s no way out of it.

“The worst part is the ship transmitted a message Meleua decrypted. We’re really, um, screwed. Bad. Nine collected a lot of evidence. On both of us. It’s all circumstantial but it paints a pretty clear picture of us being heretics. I could…they want…ugh, there’s no way out of this. We could beg for forgiveness but there’s no way we’d be able to stay together or escape together after, even if they don’t execute us.”

John’s heart sank again. Fate still conspired to break him. He wouldn’t let it. “There has to be a way out of this.”

The Meleua said, “We’re going straight to Gani, Five-three. We’ll be met with force and interrogated.”

With more anger in his voice than he wanted, John said, “It’s John. I’m not a number, and neither are you.”

John asked Amber, “Is he with us? Or is he turning us over? He isn’t acting like he’s worried.”

The Meleua turned to look at John. “I’m not worried. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

John’s hand went to grab his sword’s hilt over his shoulder. Amber yelled out, “Stop! No more fighting!”

Amber placed herself between John and the Meleua, put her arms around her husband, and her head on his chest. “Please, John. It’s not much of a honeymoon, but this is all we’re getting. We don’t gotta hide now. Let’s just…just enjoy the time we have left. Together. Please. Okay?”

John held his wife. Her life was at risk. His children’s lives were at risk. He wouldn’t be able to enjoy himself until that wasn’t true. She may have resigned herself to her fate, but John never would. And he wouldn’t let Avatar’s sacrifice be for nothing.