Not much later...
“You... how did you do this?!”
“You’re just a memory, le Fey. You’re already dead. Did you really think you could out-think me?”
The remnant of her stared at me, writhing and twisting in pain. The magical reassembly of her psyche had... run into a few snags. Misconnections, deleted memories, disrupted thoughtpaths, temporal inconsistences, rewritten moments... yeah, I’d played just as fast and harsh with her as she’d intended to do with me.
Her reassembly hadn’t gone so well. I had more of her life than she did.
“Your time is done. It’s time for you to go.” I could sympathize with her life and attitudes, especially given the era she lived in, but that didn’t mean I was going to put up with having her around trying to replace me, or just pissing the world off in general.
Once she assembled herself, I understood exactly what she had done, the last memories sliding into place. The entirety of her magical experience and knowledge was at my beck and call, and I knew it even better than she did.
“Truly a worthy successor,” she breathed, as Silver Magic flared, undid what had been done, and Morgan le Fey dispersed once more, the reincarnation process complete, and it was all over.
One mild Psychic Reformation later...
=========
Dynamo of the High Guard, Warlock of the Widow in the Web, The Sage of Focus, Courtier of Death
Neutral Good Female Augmented Powered Human/6*, Base Spider Totem Template
Ur-Priest/1, Alchemist/3, Mystic Theurge/9 (Ur/Sorc), Hierophant/2, Warshaper/5; Wizard/1, Learned Sorceress/1, Arcane Theurge/10 (Sorc10/Wiz6), Archmage/3 (Wizard), Craft Theurge/5 (Alc/Wiz); Arcane Fist/4, Minstrel/1, Lyric Theurge/5 (Wizard/Minstrel), Theurge of the Arts (Alch/Min)/10
Strength: (14) 18->37/43 [65/68**]* Height: 5’9
Dexterity: 18->39 [50,+9**]* Weight: 140 lbs.
Constitution: (16) 18->38 [50, +9**]* Hair: Black (Auburn)
Intelligence: 20->60 (64 Cold)*** Eyes: Green
Wisdom: (12) 18->35*** Age: 21
Charisma: (12) 18->37***
Health: 156
Soak: 755
Movement: 200’
**Ultra Nova Core Rank/Mutant Core: 9 (05%)/ 260 PP (fixed, integrated)
Arcane Pool/Ki: 66 (3+ ki (21) + Song (42))
Warlock Rank: 10 (12 w Chasuble)
Theurgic Caster Levels: Ur-Priest/10 (66); Sorceress/20 (33); Wizard/20 (33); Minstrel/16 (29) (NOG reduced Slots), Alchemist/20 (33), (+4 CL all (Human/6), +2 Human to Alchemist Level))
Notable Talents/Traits: Naturally Focused, Dauntless; Favored by Fate, Spell Affinity, Magical Tradition, Undead Slayer, Weird Scientist, Valiant Reputation; Soul of Le Fey; Heavy Gravity Training/4; Born Eldritch Blade; Slayer: Ninja, Tong, Werewolf, Skrull/Dire Wraith, Brood, Fiends, Mutates, Constructs (robots), Gene-born (acquired); Patient, Protective; Born to Shadows, Seductive, Manhunter, Independent; Widow of the Red Room; True Believer, Faithful; Romantic, Artistic; Sealed Identity; Master of Four Dragons (Sun, Moon, Shadow, Ocean); Master of Night Rose; Scholarly, Dedicated Researcher; Ice Queen, Organized; Silver Tongue, Perfect Pitch, Musical, Gifted Vocalist; Master of Kiai-jitsu
Templated Powers: Poison Resistance and Acquired Immunity; Radiation Immunity; Perfect Balance; Enhanced Speed and Jumping; Impact Resistance; Enhanced Climbing
Warlock Powers (Spider Totem Pact, Active): Bio-Electric Generation*; Covalent Bonding/Repulsion*; Danger Sense*; Strength Increase*; Dexterity Increase*; Constitution Increase*; Speed Increase*; Reaction Time Increase*; Damage Reduction Increase*; Increased Healing Factor*; Manifest Eldritch Blade*
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
#Mutant Core Power*: Superspeed, Flight, Increased Reaction Time at Speed; Increased Invulnerability at Speed
Ultra Nova Core Powers: Enhanced Strength IX, Enhanced Invulnerability IX, Enhanced Energy Absorption IX, Enhanced Flight IX, Enhanced Energy Projection IX, Enhanced Vitality IX, Enhanced Reaction Time IX
Widow Training: Enhanced Healing, Enhanced Memory, Combat Instincts, Fast Learner, Steady Mindset, Increased Longevity
Acquired Powers: Immune to Fire and Cold extremes, affinity for Fire and Cold Magic; Spellcaster (Weaver Magic); Pheromonal Control; Sunstone Attunement (Crystal Bones); Rune-Carved Bones (+5 to Physical Stats**, Unbreakable); Godstone Attunement; Ultra Nova Core; Beaubier Core (integrated)#, Inspired Intellect+2 (Grand Discovery), Second Sorcerer Bloodline (Dark Phoenix, Fire/Cold), Prepared Archmage (Wizard Spells); Fey Caster, Asgardian Sorcery; Cosmic Awareness
Spells per day: ...
================
I sat down on the outside of LaGrange, looking at my Assay. It didn’t even list out my abilities, spells, or Buffs... such as my Copied Mimicry.
The penultimate-Level game. Three Twenties. One more step to make it onto my Eternal Road.
I hadn’t even wanted it, and it had come so fast, and in a Supersverse, no less. Just stacking up things once you hit the top of the power curve.
I technically wasn’t a Vishanti Sorcerer, but I was now a Fey Caster, which was the same thing on the Elemental Spirits side of things, and I was an Ur-Priest, who could steal Faith, and in doing so, forge connections to any number of Entities... including all the ones Dr. Strange tapped into.
I wasn’t a Vishanti Sorcerer, but I could fake it really, really well... and I had read all of his library, and a whole bunch more, besides.
“You look a mite depressed.”
I looked up at Ben Parker, suddenly standing out there in the vacuum with me. He looked ten years younger than he’d once been, fit and in very good shape without being heroically muscular, eyes wide and filled with the knowledge of someone who’d looked upon stuff at the heart of creation.
He still got together with Peter every Wednesday for some sort of lessons on stuff, and he and May had Peter over for Sunday dinner. They had sold the old family home after fixing it up, and now lived out of an apartment in the building the Savages kept for the High Guard in Manhattan, where it didn’t matter if they weren’t around all the time, or even for extended periods of time.
Ben sat down next to me by a reserve shield emitter. “I felt you take off, but I didn’t follow where to. I’m still a bit rough with the extended Awareness thing.”
I flicked up holos of the Magus and the Sovereign Race. “Meet the Pope of the Universal Church of Truth, and his first fanatical followers, going to conquer all other species in his name.
“I killed him and a billion of his servants directly. How many may die to the civil war that’s breaking out, the religious fragmentation, and the starvation that follows is completely separate.
“Also, he blew up three colonized planets and killed four billion sapients for their souls and faith before I could unbrainwash them.”
He turned his head and looked over at the beautiful blue and white orb, sitting out there in space to our left. He was counting souls, no doubt.
He turned his attention back on the holo of the Magus, and reached out, using it as a focus, looking at time and space.
After a full moment, he released a breath that did nothing in the vacuum. “You didn’t mention the billions he killed expanding his empire...”
“No. They were the reason I killed a billion of them. If I was the vengeful type, I would have killed all of them...”
“Artificial things, the lot of them.”
“Some would say genetically perfected. There’s a lot of irrelevant trash in our own genetics, you know.”
“True. But their evolutionary road is at an end because of it. Any evolution makes them something other than what they are, will start them to fighting, and one side will be exterminated and the other keep the name.” He huffed, able to read the xenophobia and intolerance below their beliefs even at this distance. Cosmic Awareness is frighteningly blunt about such things.
“Yeah, we don’t know any local race who discriminates against those different from themselves, for better or worse.”
He sighed despite himself. “I’m probably going to have to do something like that in the future, aren’t I?”
“Yours will probably be worse, because you’ve got the power to do more than I do,” I agreed soberly.
He closed his eyes. “It’s horrible to even think about, you know.”
“Unfortunately, the universe isn’t kind to those who just want to create and watch life grow in all its many forms.”
“How true that is, I’m finding out. You fight, or you are crushed in passing.” His eyes dropped. “I never went off to war, Dynamo. I’m not a soldier. I like to fix things, make things...”
“Nobody is born a soldier. Oh, they may have violent streaks, but that doesn’t make a soldier.
“What makes a soldier is being willing to take up the weapon and do the job when you are called upon to do it. The thing you have that most don’t is there is nobody above you telling you their cause is the one worth fighting and dying for. You can look right out there and see the cause and your opponents.”
“There are a lot of them, Dynamo,” he said softly.
“Yes. And the only consolation we have is that most of them are just as afraid of making the first move as we are, and so most of the conflicts are down below your level. Which doesn’t stop whole bunches of others from outside the universe from trying to mess with us willy-nilly, non-finite bastards that they are.” I glanced over at him. “Sama got you doing anything positive, instead of this nasty always-alert stuff?”
“Ignorance was such bliss,” he agreed quietly. “It’s good that I can mess with my own mind and make it big enough to deal with all this.” He took a deep breath. “She’s totally up with me taking Mercury and Venus out of their orbits and making a new world on the opposite side of the sun from Terra, you know.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed. They were just hunks of rock sitting out in the void, useless where they were. Obviously, the gene-strains of the future Guardians of the Galaxy weren’t going to be coming about in this universe. “Of course, we’ll just claim the Xandarans did it, right?”
“They have the technology to do it. Me doing it just saves some time.”
“Technology powerful enough to move planets. Just as frightening as magic and cosmic power in its own way. It’s not even the limit.”
“I took a look at Galactus’ homeworld. Not the limit is right.”
“Yeah, a ringship the length of Terra’s orbit is pretty big.”
“So, now the two of ‘em are gonna send you out to do stuff like this, just so I don’t have to.”
“And so they don’t have to. I’ve a feeling they don’t actually need you or me to defend the planet, Ben, but they truly don’t want outside powers to know that, or it’ll create all sorts of troubles.”
He blinked. “Are you sure?” he had to ask.