Blood drifted out from the corpse, the crimson color contrasting powerfully with the dried husk of the Patron of Feathers.

Edraine felt genuine fear as she watched the drifting weightlessness of Velio’s body. Two desires rose in her simultaneously. First, to unleash the attacks she had steadily refined by breaking out the Patrons: prove her worth on this battlefield. She wondered how well she would measure up against her capable allies and the most powerful individual in the Nexus.

The second impulse was to turn and flee. To remain was to dance with death.

While Edraine remained tensed between those possibilities, the Patrons surged into action. The Patron of the Abyss rushed forward, rapidly swelling into a massive, roiling cloud of absence that devoured the area around Elhume. The Patron of the Blooms began to generate another viscerally present garden while the Patron of the Sun gathered up his power between cupped hands.

Elhume raised his head and grinned at them all. His blurry form flared with power. “Die here. The Third Fist: Boundless.”

This time, Edraine reacted to his voice and mobilized her own destructive image to counter it. By the time Elhume raised his fists and drummed against the fabric of the Nexus around them, she was poised to meet it. Edraine hissed and pain and drifted backward, but her image absorbed most of the force this time.

Her image coiled and flipped, wanting more feedback.

Her eyes glittered and she clenched her fist. I was completely overpowered. But this method is correct. I can feel it something changing. It’s almost as though my image is coming alive to complete itself…

Only the Patron of the Abyss seemed to be staggered by the most recent attacks; its body broke apart into a dozen wiggling pieces that drifted out in every direction. Emptiness lightened to the purple amorphous substance and then settled back to absence. The other Patrons used that same moment to strike back.

“The Boundless Wilderness!” The garden of the Patron of Blooms exploded. All the plant matter swelled and bristled, ripping through its previous forms to become something vast and primal. That overwhelming tide of natural growth swelled until it completely surrounded Elhume. Thick tree trunks crashed down on him. Building-sized roses unleashed thorns as large as a normal human. He raised his fists in response, but the Patron of Blades and the Patron of the Sun weren’t about to let him counterattack easily.

“The Golden Eyes Indignation!”

“Sudden Stagger!”

A dusky crescent whipped forward from the Patron of Blades and hit the Elhume almost lightly. Yet when he received that attack, he stiffened. That moment allowed the huge golden beam, edged with black stars, to smash directly into his chest.

Edraine raised her hand to shield her eyes from the light, yet suddenly the Patron of Blades and Blooms were there, on either side of her. The Patron of Blades was sweating, all his cool confidence gone. “We must leave. Reus-”

“Here,” The Patron of the Sun panted, even while the golden-black beam pinned Elhume down. He, too, looked bedraggled and exhausted. The conflict with Elhume had only lasted for about fifteen seconds, but it was clear that they were completely spent. The Patron of the Sun shook his head. “Even without his body, he is still so-”

“The First Fist: Dominance.”

A roaring filled Edraine’s ears. All the Patrons around her stiffened as the golden beam was shattered and a luminous fist rushed toward their position. Everything seemed to still. Edraine looked at those blurry knuckles that grew to fill her vision and couldn’t move. She strained against that restriction, knowing that if they didn’t react, she would die. Their attempt to overthrow the Nexus would end here, severed by the ominous monolith that had defended the Nexus since its inception.

I- Edraine’s skin burned as her image began to run rampant through her muscles and joints. She felt her elbows pop and blood began to drip from her nose. The gulf of permanent destruction stretched before her. She could feel its serrated edges and jagged limbs, reaching out to seize her. Her image rose in response, both antagonistic and sympathetic. Her mouth tasted like copper. Not like this-

Their position shattered and Edraine gasped. Without her even noticing, they had been surrounded by one of the amorphous hunks of the dispersed body of the Patron of the Abyss. When they reformed in one of the other chunks, the Patron of the Abyss formed next to them, visibly wilting from the strain.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Elhume twisted around to locate them. “You…”

They had moved next to Velio’s corpse. The Patron of Blades reached out, putting a hand on the withered body of the Patron of Feathers. His other hand closed around the strange bone charm that was the object of Elhume’s obsession. Almost immediately, color began to drain out of his face. “Quick. This damned thing- what the hell, Elhume?!? Did you really create a weapon to kill your son?”

Edraine reached out and grasped the head Velio. It seemed… disrespectful to just leave him here.

The Patron of the Abyss’s power activated again, pulling them through the holes in space to teleport them somewhere else. However, they did not escape before Elhume turned around all the way.

“None of you care… reality rewards such efforts… with doom.”

Then they were gone, teleported to some obscure corner of the Nexus. They floated above a dead planet, while a powerful red star blazed nearby. Everyone huffed out a relieved breath. The Patron of Blades cursed quietly and allowed the dangerous bone charm to float in space, his hand already beginning to turn black even from the brief exposure.

The Patron of Blossoms sagged, her body twisting and writhing. “He… has gotten more vicious in his old age.”

The Patron of the Sun grunted. “He won’t let us go easily, especially since we took that damned piece. And with how difficult it seems to transport that devilish-”

The space around them rippled and a deep and distorted voice spoke. “The Fourth Fist: Timeless.”

Instantly Edraine felt something grip onto the entire group as that horrifyingly powerful fist rushed through existence toward them. It sought to drag them back to the desired location so it could crush them directly, as it had Velio.

However, the Patron of the Sun released a low shout and blazed with golden light, this time tinged with red light from the nearby star. That radiance was incomparably brighter than what the Patron of the Sun was able to release against Elhume. The grip that attempted to pull them back in time weakened and then shattered.

His shoulders heaving, the Patron of the Sun wiped his lips. “Fuck. Next time, we need to fight nearer to active celestial bodies. You know how hard it is to fight in darkness for me-”

“We need to move quickly,” The Patron of Blades observed, even while continuing to flex the hand that had held the bone charm. “You can suppress the fist’s ability to pull us back to that location, but it will eventually find us in the next few hours. We need a secure location, both to withstand the force of Elhume’s punch and to hide from his pursuit for a while. Also to seal this charm and to try and help the Patron of Feathers recover. Perhaps she can give us some more information as to what the hell happened while we were sealed.”

“Back to the Sanctum, then?” The Patron of Blossoms said sourly.

But the Patron of the Sun shook his head emphatically. “No. Theoretically, Elhume shouldn’t know the location… but since the Patron of Feathers is like this, can we risk it? Our powers will be suppressed there; if he shows up we will be slaughtered.”

“Well, where else can we hide from the eyes of the Nexus?” The Patron of Blossoms snapped. “The System is present everywhere.”

Edraine licked her lips. Then she opened her mouth. “I might know of a person who can help us.”

*****

Lady Iellaya bowed her head. She was alone in Commandant Wick’s office with the Commandant, but she didn’t dare show even the slightest bit of disrespect after the week that she had. She was afraid, for the first time that she could remember, filled with a strange sense of weakness.

The past few days had been rough. First, she had followed the Grand Marshal Devick around as the woman gleefully slaughtered the opposing factions within Military High Command as soon as she found them. There were even some innocent people that ended up as collateral damage because they were speaking with the Grand Marshall’s targets.

Perhaps ten thousand lives, from safety patrols to assistant Commandants, had been ripped to shreds by this sociopath’s chained hooks. It was to the point that the opposition didn’t dare let any of their soldiers outside of the base and the average civilian seemed to have vanished. Either they were accompanied by a Speculum tier combatant, or they would be killed.

Needless to say, the abandoned corpses and Devick’s gleeful laugh hadn’t helped the increasingly ominous mood in the Nexus. Her show of violence had even scared the Engraving Guild into setting aside their differences and reaching a pact. Now the NLC seemed to be reorganizing itself to speak out against these atrocities.

Hypocrites, Lady Iellaya thought.

The second reason she was afraid was…

...for whatever reason, Lady Iellaya’s image was rapidly weakening. A few of her feathers had been falling out each day. She was not a suspicious woman, but definitely it felt like something ominous was happening around her.

“So? How bad is it?” Commandant Wick tapped the desk. From his tone, he knew exactly how bad it was.

Lady Iellaya cleared her throat. “...from accompanying Grand Marshall Devick these past few days, I think it’s clear she intends to hunt down the opposition until they are either eradicated or she gets to fight another Speculum. Her dedication to her crusade has not slackened in the least.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Commandant Wick steepled his fingers. “Obviously, she will pursue justice with zeal. That is why she is a Grand Marshal. No, what I’m asking is how her mood is.”

Lady Iellaya blinked. She pictured the woman’s gleeful expression. “Honestly, she appears quite cheerful.”

“Good. Then it’s time I ask her for a favor.”