I finished having breakfast with Clarissa and left my home. The wonderful breakfast of bacon and eggs brought a smile to my face. But it was back to the grind for me. I felt a breeze and a slight pressure and shivered.

I turned and my heart froze in my chest. The world slowed to a crawl. In front of me stood an elderly Asian lady. Her hair was silver white done up into a bun. Two white hair rods held the neat bun her hair was in, perfectly in place. There were crinkles around her eyes and she was smiling slightly. But her eyes were firm and unwavering. Like pits that devoured all before them.

The final next to final nail in my coffin was the black and white color of her outfit. The final nail being the immense amount of danger my Perception stat was screaming at me. The Divine Empress had come to Purgatory and was before me.

I had thought what to do if she ever showed up before me. So, while there was a moment of fear and surprise, I took what little initiative I could. I bowed my head at a forty-five-degree angle. “Greetings to the Ruler of the West, the Divine Empress. I am Champion Michael of Purgatory.”

She didn’t say anything, and I counted to ten before straightening back up. She was still looking at me. I stood there in silence. The pressure was slowly mounting. I didn’t pay attention to anyone else giving us looks.

I hadn’t used the words the Astrologer had given me. If I used them and they didn’t work that would be the opening of hostilities. I was hoping I could talk my way out of this. I just needed to survive this one conversation. If I managed that, I wouldn’t have to use a questionable trump card.

“So, you are the dog that dares to bark.” I didn’t respond as a cold sweat formed all over me. Her voice was soft and there was only a slight accent to her English. “Yet you dare wear a dragon on your armor. You dare serve the Astrologer. You dare not grovel on the ground like the worm you are.” Anything I said would only escalate the situation and I wanted to deescalate and buy time.

It was the last gift I could give Clarissa. I could only hope she was already fleeing. It looked like I was going to fight the Divine Empress much sooner than I expected. “Where is the Astrologer?” That was the one question I didn’t want and knew she would ask if I was before her.

I couldn’t reveal that he was trapped, since then she would lay waste to everything and hunt him down. I couldn’t lean into him too hard, since he wasn’t around to back me up. She might just kill me to make a point if I played myself up as a servant of the Astrologer too much. I couldn’t give her the Astrologer’s proxy, since that might lead her to him and cut off a lifeline and my lifeline to getting the bomb inside me removed.

It was a tough question, but one I was ready to answer even though I hoped this day had never come. “He is traveling to gain another god-point before he returns,” I replied.

“Oh, how interesting. So he isn’t here? Do you know where?” That was another loaded question. Refusing to answer would see her turn hostile in an instant. One misstep and this would devolve into a beatdown.

“I suspect a tower, but I cannot be sure. He keeps his own council,” I replied. An educated guess combined with deflecting everything onto him. She slowly turned and looked at the surrounding people and city.

“How weak, how pathetic. No Valkyries. No United City States. Only dregs left behind. And you, a barking dog. Trying to keep the dragon away.” I didn’t say anything as her cold eyes settled on me once more. The smile was still on her face.

“Champion, what are you Champion of?” An easy enough question to answer without worry.

“This city your Divine Majesty.”

“When was the last time you have seen the Astrologer?” the Divine Empress asked.

“I have never seen him. Only his proxy, which he uses to communicate,” I replied. Better not to lie at all in case she had a truth sensing skill or was very good at cold reading. With the amount of Mind she had, she could easily watch and observe any changes I exhibited in slow motion with each answer.

“That is a shame. And where is his proxy?” the Divine Empress asked.

“Hiding somewhere most likely. He likes to vanish and reappear,” I answered. I was hiding him, but she didn’t need to know that.

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“So he has gone to ground and the real Astrologer seeks to gain strength for our next fight. Little does he know. I am already ready for our rematch. Even with another touch of divinity, he lacks good judgement.” That was not good. That was very not good. That meant she was ready to fight the Astrologer if he got another meta-point, which was likely his third.

“But you clearly have not been blessed. For no dog would ever become the master. Now, what to do?” She brought up her right hand and rested it against her face. “He would not care about any message I would send. But he does allow violations of our treaty, when he was the one to insist on them.”

“And he dared to insult me. What do you think I should do?” She was like a cat playing with a mouse. The mouse had no chance, and it could only dance before its inevitable death. It was time to act.

“I would use a tech-deck.” I made sure to enunciate clearly. Air Burst! I activated my skill to quickly put distance between us. I still had one more use in reserve. I began to turn around. The Divine Empress blurred out of sight from the corner of my vision. I instantly came to a stop as I felt a hand behind me.

“An interesting choice of words.” I heard the back paneling of my armor groan and felt it stretch around my body as I remained there in mid-air held onto by my back armor. I was suddenly released and collapsed to the ground. “Now the bite of the dog is revealed and is found lacking.”

I tried to get back to my feet, but a boot came down on my head. It was like a hydraulic press. My face was pressed into the stone. The boot stopped just before my skull would start cracking apart. “There, that is much better. A dog should be on the ground-“

“RADIANT BEAM!” I heard at least ten shouts. The boot did not lift from my head and the downwards pressure did not increase in the slightest. Heat and light washed over me. Then I heard several sonic booms. There was screaming in the distance. I wanted to look, but my head was pressed into the ground and an unmoving boot on top of it.

“How brave and how foolish. To think such weak attacks would even move me.” There was a reason I didn’t try to use Acid Shot. One push downwards and I was paste. “But back to your yapping. You think I would come here without purging what the Astrologer did to me?”

“I was an idiot your Divine Majesty,” I said into the stone of the plaza.

“An idiot. I am surrounded by idiots who dare to have thoughts enter their heads. But you still possess some use.” I felt the boot lift off my head. I got to my feet. The surround buildings of the plaza had been shattered. The Airship Port had collapsed as well. Everyone was either fleeing or screaming.

The ground around us was melted. I gulped heavily. Just end this. Either kill me or let me go. I hated this suspense. “For the Astrologer to entrust you with the activation words, meant that he trusts you and you must know something. You can either talk and die a quick death. Or I can take you back to my Master Fleshcrafter. He will get answers out of you one way or the other.”

I hesitated, not knowing what to do. I let out a sigh. This was it. I was going to die, and this was the end. I would go down fighting! Air Burst. I shot directly upwards. “Acid Shot,” x20. Air Burst. I gained more altitude as a wave of acid spread out beneath me.

“Amusing, but pathetic,” the voice came from above me. I slammed into the ground. I slowly tried to struggle to my feet. The Divine Empress was standing right in front me. “If a dog must be beaten first, I am happy to assist in your education. What do you know about the Astrologer?” She then turned to look at a wave of summons coming at her from the sky and the ground.

I noticed a couple of the pod monsters as well. They unleashed Radiant Beams at us as well. She flicked out her left hand. All the Radiant Beams just stopped before hitting her. Her right hand flicked out. Sonic booms sounded out and force explosions rippled through the air and ground dusting the monsters. Air Burst!

I needed to escape. She flicked her hand again. Too fast for me to see clearly. She was throwing things. More force explosions rippled out across the city devastating a wide swath of buildings. Air Burst! Air Burst! I was focused on her this time.

She moved her leg slightly and went zooming across the ground at an insane speed. She gave me a smile as she got behind me. I was then slammed into the ground again. “Did you have hope that time? That your friends would save you?”

She stomped down on my left knee. It shattered instantly. “Ahhhhh!” I screamed. It hurt a lot. But I knew I was lucky she hadn’t just stomped right through my leg, cutting it off. She probably didn’t want me to bleed to death.

“Just end it. Tell me about the Astrologer.” I saw summons dropping crafting bombs at her from above. She gestured upwards with a hand without looking. The bombs exploded mid-air. “Weak!” She spun around in a fraction of a second and the aerial monsters and bombs were ripped apart by force explosions, the remaining bombs detonating prematurely.

“I am the Divine Empress. Not some pathetic piece of garbage you can defeat with cheap tricks, but keep trying. It amuses me. The Astrologer?” I slowly got to my feet. If I was going to die, I was going to do it standing up. It was hard with my shattered left knee. I had to put all the weight onto my right leg, but I managed.

The Divine Empress just kept smiling at me as I struggled. Clearly wanting me to build up hope so she could crush it again and again to break me. It was working. It had worked. But I had not struggled for so long to just roll over and die at the first impossible fight. When there was nothing else, I would go for audacity and gamble everything in one final move.

I had only deployed this move once before. Clarissa, consider this my gift to you. I hope you get this woman for me some day.