Invidia. It was her, there was no question about it. We were looking at Charmeine's ghost, her possessed ghost. Even now, after I had much more practice with my Necromancy, I couldn't control her. I could barely sense the death energy around her, and I felt like even that was because she wasn't hiding herself anymore. She wanted us to know it was her. She was the one who had been creating and controlling those creatures out in the woods the whole time, and the zombie things in here. She had been messing with us, with me.

Even as we were taking that in, Bedivere and his men went rushing forward. After all, they didn't know what she was or what she was capable of. All she was to them was a simple ghost, so each of them ignited ghost-fire on their weapons while charging that way. She had shown herself as a threat, and they were going to end that threat.

So much happened at once in that moment. I felt another blast of destructive Necromantic energy like the one that had erupted through the cave entrance when we took the shield down. Before it could kill everyone in the cavern, I caught and dissipated it with a grunt of effort. There was a lot of power behind that blast. Too much power. What the hell?

Unfortunately, that wasn't even the only danger. I felt something else right behind that wave of explosive death energy, but my hands were full with the first problem. Aylen, however, threw her hand out and sent some sort of white light out of it to hit the dust cloud that had started to envelop the soldiers. Or at least, most of it. Two of them were still hit by the dust and immediately dropped their weapons as the stuff flew into their mouths and noses. They were choking on it, stumbling and screaming in pain, in a sort of horrible blinding agony that sent a deep shiver through my soul.

On top of all that, the cave was suddenly full of howling, hissing zombies. They seemed to come out of nowhere. No, that wasn't quite right. In the second after she had sent the blast of Necromantic energy and that strange dust, Invidia had vanished for just an instant. It was more like her form flickered. And when she reappeared, she had all those zombies with her. Dozens of them, which were already attacking the soldiers while they were reeling from the near-miss of the combined dust and Necromantic explosion. Not to mention the screams from those two who had been hit by the dust. Not that they were alone, given the cries that went up from others as they were set upon by those creatures. The zombies were hitting them from all sides, clawing at their eyes and biting their throats. All of it happening in that brief, precious moment when I was dissipating that first blast. It was all so quick. Before I could even think about stopping those zombies with my own power, they had already violently killed several of the soldiers.

More would have died if Senny and Shiori hadn’t been there. The latter used a power I hadn't seen before, one that must have been new. Her hands extended and she sent twin blasts of some sort of grayish tar-like substance that hit several of the zombies. The tar spread over each one it hit, hardening into a shell that seemed to trap them inside. Senny, meanwhile, used a burst of blinding speed to grab several of the troops and move them to the far side of the cave, out of immediate danger.

Bedivere himself, however, was still running forward. He dove under a zombie’s swinging hand and cut through its leg with one swipe off his sword. As it started to collapse on that side, he sprang back to his feet while catching the extended arm and used the fact that it was off balance to throw it into the legs of two more charging zombies, tripping them up and giving himself a clear shot at Invidia.

Except it wasn't a clear shot. She was ready for him. That much I could tell at a glance in that second after I recovered from dissipating the energy. Even as he threw himself that way, sword still ignited with ghost-fire, I could see her hand come up and around with a very solid spear clutched in it. A spear that was driving straight toward the chest of my literal biological ancestor.

In an instant, I used my Seosten boost and rocket burst to put myself there. My staff intercepted the spear. Or at least, sort of intercepted it. I was able to shove the weapon off-course, but it still managed to cut through my bicep before continuing on to stab an inch or so into Bedivere’s side. Before it could cut the man any deeper, I pushed as hard as I could and barely managed to force the weapon, as well as the Whisper-possessed Olympian ghost holding it, back a couple steps, closer to the rift.

Without me even needing to say anything, Asenath had already grabbed Bedivere and dragged him out of danger. I had managed to barely stop him from being completely impaled, but he still wasn't exactly in great shape. We just had to get through this and get him some actual help.

Speaking of help, my hand, the one that wasn't holding my staff, came up as I summoned my ghosts. They spread through the cave, helping the others with the zombies. I could sense Shiori and Aylen doing their best to protect the rest of the soldiers, and now they had backup.

Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones. The moment I did that, other ghosts came through the walls. Not mine. They attacked my ghosts, creating even more chaos. The soldiers didn't know which ones to fight. They kept swinging at anything near them. Nor were Shiori, Senny, and Aylen in much better shape. They recognize some of my ghosts, but not all of them. They didn't know who to fight.

With a thought, I turned my ghosts bright pink. It was something I had been working on just for fun, but it helped now. Or at least it would for a moment, until Invidia changed the other ghosts to match. Which…

“How?” I demanded while keeping my staff raised. “How could you possibly have this much Necromancy? How could you be doing all of this? Charmeine wasn't even a Necromancer. I'd be surprised if she knew anything more than the basics.” I wasn't even going to question the fact that she could use magic in the first place. It had been made very clear that Whispers, whatever they actually were, operated on very different rules than ordinary ghosts. As if the ability to possess and control ghosts like Charmeine didn't already make that obvious. They were so much more dangerous.

To be honest, I really wasn't surprised when she started to laugh. Although the next thing she did definitely took me off guard. She smiled and then the area around us completely changed. We weren't in the cave anymore and the others weren't with us. I was alone with her, standing in a snowy field. Seeing that, I snapped my gaze around with my staff extended in her direction. “What--huh?”

She, in turn, smirked at me. Honestly, I wasn't sure which of them I wanted to punch more, Charmeine or the creature possessing her ghost. “Aww, what's the matter, little junior reporter? Haven't you been able to put the pieces together yet? Or did you already figure it out but just keep living in denial?”

My eyes narrowed as I watched her, trying once more to reach out with my Necromancy, just in case. It was just as pointless as every other time. I couldn't control the Whisper, and I couldn't control the ghost she was possessing. But this was even more than that. In this case, it was like there was an active shield of some other Necromancy around her to block me. The same power she had been using this whole time. The same power that… oh.

In the back of my mind, I could hear Fathom murmuring that she really didn't like any of this at all. She also said something in an old language that was probably from somewhere far away from Earth, some sort of old alien sailors' prayer or curse. Maybe a little bit of both. Either way, I could feel her agitation. Actually, I was pretty sure I could feel the agitation coming from the others too.

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Clutching my staff tighter, I spoke in a low whisper, my voice cracking just a little in the process as I put words to what I had been trying not to accept ever since this started happening. “The dust back there, that stuff you used to kill those men, it wasn't dust.

“It was sand.”

That smug grin grew wider as Invidia raised her hands and made more of that sand swirl around her. Sand that became incredibly hot under her direction before the individual grains grew to the size of pebbles. “By Jove I think she's got it.”

My hand snapped out and I took control of the sand from her, shoving all of it aside. At least, that was my intention. But only about half of it obeyed. The other half stayed where it was, held there by her as she gave an audible tutting sound. “Now was that very nice? Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to steal someone else's toys when they're still playing with them? I thought your mother was supposed to be some sort of law-keeping person. What kind of example did she set for you? Or did she wander off with the old Necromancer before getting to that part?”

She was obviously trying to get under my skin. Even knowing that, I couldn't help but growl a little bit. Still, I pushed that aside. If she wanted to gloat and mock me so much, let her. I needed information right now. “How? Obviously, you have my powers. The sand control, the object heating, the Necromancy, even the teleporting. That's where all those zombies came from back there. When you flickered. You teleported away somewhere, grabbed those zombies, then teleported back with all of them. But how? How could you possibly have my powers? That doesn't even make any sense.” After a moment, I added, “And while we’re at it, how are you even here now?”

In response, clearly showing off, Invidia transformed Charmeine’s ghost body into a giant lion form. I wasn't sure if that was more or less impressive to do as a ghost. But either way, she started pacing in a circle around me through that snowy field while the burning hot sand swirled around her, melting some of that snow. She also spoke in that form, which must have been a ghost thing. “Oh, did you think your little Reaper-Adjacent friends were the only ones who could use time travel? Did you think they were the only ones who would see the potential in grabbing control of that Dragon-man’s lost energy? Bit arrogant, isn't it?”

There was a lot I wanted to say to that, but I settled on simply replying, “Sure, you're working for Tartarus and it sent you back in time.” I was really trying not to get too caught up dwelling on the whole idea of a sapient evil universe existing at all, let alone being the thing behind this situation. Thinking about that too much was just overwhelming, and wouldn't actually help at all right now. Not when I had plenty to deal with right in front of me as it was.

Instead, I continued with, “And I guess it makes sense that something like that would want to grab a big power source. But that doesn't actually explain how you have my powers, or what's actually going on.” She was arrogant enough that I was really hoping she would explain the entire situation so I could use that time to figure out what to do about it.

Shifting Charmeine back into her regular ghost form, Invidia offered a languid shrug. “Well, that was a little more difficult. But in the end, all I really needed was one of these rifts, and one of you. Happily, there were plenty of both to go around. Did you know there are hundreds of you spread across this timeline? Most of them just go straight to whatever the nearest rift is and do their job. Hell, some are only active for maybe twenty minutes. They appear, find the rift, and go right through it. No muss, no fuss. Others run into more complications, more problems. Then there's the one I found.” She turned to face me once more, her smile widening even more in an obviously taunting way that sent a cold shiver down my spine.

“Aylen,” I managed to put together. “When she showed up a few years ago, she was alone. Except she wasn't supposed to be alone, was she?”

Before replying, Invidia abruptly hurtled forward as she was pacing, a familiar rocket burst appearing at her back to propel her that way. So she had that power as well. Yeah, I was really doing my best to keep myself together and not freak out too openly.

After making that obvious point, she stopped just as abruptly and gave a short nod. “Let's just say I lured that other version of you away while your little friend was still sleeping. You were so nice and helpful that you followed me all the way to that rift. It really should have been one of the easier ones for you. But just as you went through it, I possessed you. Your body was being split apart into little atoms to go into the rift and I possessed you at that exact moment. The moment when you were just energy, before you could be reconstituted anywhere else. And that was that. You managed to turn off the rift, but you didn't go anywhere else. Your energy came into me. And you were delicious, by the way. I don't think I've ever had a meal that good in my entire existence. But I am hoping to get seconds.”

Ignoring the obvious implied threat, I replied, “Which means you have my powers, apparently. And then, you just walked away and you've been waiting for us to show up at this one all this time?”

That familiar shrug came back. “Waiting and practicing. Did you know you have an awful lot of powers? It takes some time to figure out how to use all of it. I am just starting to stretch my legs a bit. But now I've got a pretty good idea of how it all works. But I've been very eager to see how it all matches up against the original source. I mean, maybe not the original original. After all, you're just another copy like the one I already took. Do you think you'll be as easy to put down and absorb as she was? Maybe you'll kick a little while I'm digesting you. But hey, if I'm lucky, maybe I'll double up on your powers. Is that how that works? If I track down every single version of you that pops up between now and the present could I take all of your powers? That sounds pretty promising to me.”

I was really trying not to let myself think about the fact that a version of myself had been killed and absorbed by her. And I definitely didn't want to think about what that might mean when we all came together in the end. Assuming I got through this, of course. Would there always be a part of me that was missing?

No, I couldn't think about that right now. I had to focus on surviving the next few minutes.

Instead, I ignited the ghost-fire spell on my stuff while replying, “You said it yourself, you just waited for the other me to be vulnerable and took advantage of it. You didn't actually win any fight. You’re a coward just like always, hiding in the shadows and sneaking around.”

Yeah, she definitely didn't like that. Her eyes narrowed at me, as Charmeine’s ghost body seemed to quiver with anger. Her voice was tight. “Well, in that case, I suppose I should make a point of not hiding anymore, shouldn't I?”

With that, I felt her use that teleportation power once more, and we were suddenly somewhere very different than either that empty snowy field or the cave. We were in a city. It was still the middle of the night, but the streets appeared to be constructed from some sort of smooth stone that was glowing just enough to illuminate the area around us, and there were still people using that glow to walk around even this late. Or they had been walking, until we appeared. Then they just stopped and stared at the strange glowing ghost and the man in the fancy suit (I was still in my Jacob disguise) with expressions of confusion and curiosity.

This was obviously still a medieval city, and one that was under construction. But it was so beautiful, even from the view of this single street, with the glowing streets and pristine buildings. Far off in the distance, I could see several enormous towers stretching into the sky. They were only partially finished, but even now I could tell they would be an incredibly impressive sight.

The more I saw, the more convinced I was that I knew where we were now. Although I really wanted to be wrong about that. As much as I wanted to visit this place, I definitely didn't want to do it like this, and not with her.

“Here we are,” Invidia announced while spreading her arms wide. “Right in the heart of Camelot. Can't really say I’m hiding now, can you? Let's find out just how much damage we can do. After all, I literally couldn't do this without you!”

Then the people weren't staring anymore, they were running and screaming. The city immediately erupted into chaos as Invidia, who had every single one of my powers, sent hundreds of ghosts and undead creatures to flood the streets of Arthur’s glorious capital city and attack everyone in sight.