The four girls descended the short spiral staircase, which opened into the center of a magnificent and huge chamber. The laboratory was itself huge, larger than the work space provided to Sxeiva, but still much smaller than the storage space they had been fighting in.
Rather than what the girls would imagine a mad scientist's laboratory would seem like, their first impressions were that they had entered a clock tower somehow. Gears spun everywhere with an ongoing click sound at a distinct rhythm and an endless faint hum. It was somehow still fitting, such an environment would certainly drive even the most stable person insane. It was all too obvious that this was in fact the core of the entire Fortress, the center of its entire operation. Lwyn could also tell by this significance, this was the root of her father's potential, and deep within such a presence he would have the greatest ability to act upon worldly elements.. such as the world's veil itself.
A storm cloud had gathered straight ahead, surging into the infrastructure above a great dais of the room. Centered below it, shimmering amidst the celestial fury, was the fortress lord himself. Khaexyn turned to them as they approached, himself not caught unaware. The look of disappointment at least made one thing clear, they had shown up to interrupt his diligent work, which might also mean they weren't yet too late. All they needed to do was to figure out how to stop him from completing his work, to whatever means that required.
"I see you three managed to once again entrance my daughter into your cause. I will still see to deny you your hatred, I will make sure your corruption ends here. No more will the taint of the gifted inspire death and despair, I will ensure we have a world without such tragedy." Khaexyn still managed to speak like he was the good guy in this whole situation, and probably honestly thought that he was. However, the four girls were not so deluded to believe in the same statement, not completely. Khaexyn was not himself without faults, and the means and ends to resolve the issue Khaexyn sought and end for were both a vested problem. Lwyn still took a moment to consider his words, while the others reflected on his own faults.
"Are you serious? You think someone like you is going to end tragedy? Have you seen what sort of things you leave in your own wake? Even your staff here suffered when blindly bound to your cause, left with some of the worst conditions imaginable. Living conditions here were a mess, safety was fully neglected, and seriously I'm all too positive you don't even understand the value of life itself. Entrance? You ensnare your own loved ones and force them into your own bidding, even your own wife and child." "Sxeiva wanted free, but you would never. She could only suffer.. even past death had to suffer. You couldn't even let rest in death, had to force her unwanted shell to work even after. Steal rest, steal resolve.. steal hopes and steal dreams. All just steal everything from everyone.. minds, thoughts, ideas, will. Even from Earth, can't even think yourself, only steal." Thanrie and Mhyl were livid, finally getting the chance to express their ongoing fury at the one who inspired it.
Qheria and Lwyn were taken aback, totally unaware of these details. Mhyl and Thanrie had not shared the scenes they had found within the Fortress, the broken context such was left to resolve. Most of all, they had not shared the identity of the assassin who had tried to murder them at the Citadel. Catching on to the blank looks from Qheria and Lwyn, Thanrie threw one more verbal jab at Khaexyn. "I don't even see how you could ever be the one to stop world hatred, you are almost a seed for the stuff. Instead of letting your wife rest, you refit her mechanical parts into an assassin, and then send her to murder her own daughter. If we hadn't been so lucky, your daughter would have died to your own poisons!" Thanrie snarled the last statement, casting blame to Khaexyn. Qheria and Lwyn quickly put things together, realizing what this all implied.
Khaexyn was tempted to call out Thanrie for her lies and deception, but the despair he saw in his daughter quickly lead him to doubt such. Clearly, he might have overestimated the thoughtfulness of his artificial intelligence, which might have then almost made a terrible mistake. Still, even being far from perfect, it was still far better than what the living achieved in their day-to-day hatred. "I might have you to thank for, for returning my daughter to me. I might even consider making a memorial out of such, for keeping my daughter safe this whole time. However, this does not erase everything else, you still embody the will of hatred and are still intent on denying the world it's own salvation. For that, you will still perish." At the ending of his statement, electrical surges filled the room by Khaexyn's gift. Clearly negotiations weren't a solution here.
Qheria set up a barrier to block the current, keeping everyone safe. Mhyl discharged an explosive blast at Khaexyn's position while Thanrie unleashed her Scythe in a toss. Both strikes were deflected by Khaexyn's own force field, shimmering much like the one covering the Fortress. Lwyn however was not able to react, suddenly finding herself dizzy. Why was she so tired all of a sudden, needing a nap. Lwyn slowly collapsed towards the floor, being caught on her fall by Thanrie. Mhyl was alarmed, not aware of what would have suddenly cost Lwyn all of her stamina, but Qheria was seeing a repeat of a previous incident.
"Oh no, don't let her fall asleep! Khaexyn is trying to manipulate her again, like a form of hypnosis. Bound in fate and soul, heart and mind, most likely because of the charm he placed on her fate when she was little." Qheria reflected on the notes she read before, while adjusting her barrier to impart some added resistance to sleep induction. A fate controller, reaching the world access layer through a veil-link. Was Khaexyn really using the same resources he had for attacking the world's veil to access Lwyn's own personal fate? Wait, if he was, then bringing Lwyn here might have been a bad idea, his influence over her would be at its strongest with both of them in this room at this time.
Thanrie applied her gift to boost Lwyn's own energy, much like a caffeine boost or an energy drink. Cluing into what Qheria was implying, there was no way she wanted that to suddenly happen again. Mhyl herself was alarmed, so it wasn't just Sxeiva, but Lwyn too, manipulated by the strings of fate to dance at Khaexyn's whims, almost in the same way. It was all chains of fate, the same thing that had killed Sxeiva, the same thing now threatening to kill Lwyn. Thanrie was also putting together exactly how integral the fates they had might have been, the magnitude of good and bad luck over their journey looked to have been set into Lwyn's personal fate.
"Wait, how did you actually learn about this?" "Oh, while hunting around, I found some of Khaexyn's notes in a surveillance room. Even got to see a broadcast of the later part of the hypnosis myself. His penmanship is atrocious, scrawling rough ideas in the most chaotic ways, connecting a World Access Layer to a Veil-Link through a Fate Controller, which itself is also bound to his daughter.. manipulated in fate and soul, heart and mind." Mhyl pondered the answer Qheria provided, forming most of the same impression Qheria had. However, what stood out to her was a matter of concept, the whole thing sounded like Lwyn was herself bound to the link to the world. She considered some of Lwyn's imparted responsibilities, the stuff presented from both of their mothers as represented by the world's flow. Lwyn was interconnected by everything, the center of everything, designed and assigned by her fate.
Lwyn struggled against the need for sleep, thanks to Thanrie's donation and Qheria's support, but still looked a bit exhausted, caught within the fated pressure to fall asleep again. She had, however, heard the entire explanation. Khaexyn wanted to control her in her moment of weakness, to drive her into betraying her friends if she would let down her guard for even a moment of rest. She refused, even the memories she had of her friends being attacked by her inspiring a dark grief, there was no way she would let that happen again. Her father was tied into this mess, himself working to manipulate her fate, entrapping her just as he had her mother. Her mother had endured against him all these years, she could at least endure this confrontation.
Lwyn set a projectile into her weapon and blasted it at her father, a dark energy designed to bleed away energy. Khaexyn's barrier however negated the attack with little effect. Mhyl set to help Lwyn, trying to turn the electrical energy of the storm above Khaexyn against him, but even that had no effect. "Even if you cling to your false bonds with my daughter, your hopes are futile. Yhse will awaken again, eventually, but that's not all. I know your barrier will not hold against this assault, both in lightning and in fate. After connecting myself to this fate, the presence of the gift itself weakens in its attempts to reach me. Soon, you will find the gift has left you, leaving you defenseless before me." Khaexyn might not have finished his goals, but in truth he wasn't far from it. Very soon, the veil would be torn wide, with everything that represents Celese itself unmade. Even now, buried so deeply in this fate, there was nothing left that could touch him.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Lwyn evaluated her resources, looking for any possible solution for this mess. Khaexyn was effectively immune to any creations of the gift at this point, a sort of anti-gift vortex. His shield however seemed to be empowered by this same fate, which would block anything ordinary.. and probably technical. By measure of this fate, there was nothing that could touch him, because everything was bound by world principle. Nothing could interfere with the fate that it was bound to, to do otherwise would be a paradox. The fate woven was withdrawn from everything else, contained only within itself. However, it was the principles of the gift which had caused this state, Khaexyn's gift had applied to create this measure of fate in the first place. Knowing how the gift worked, that means that the extent of this fate was determined by the ideas that had originally forged it.
Lwyn's eyes went wide, a caffeinated stare supplemented only by a bounty of insight. Qheria had spoken of some notes regarding the mental construction of this process, connecting her father's link to the veil as his way to access the world itself. There was only one other element left in that web of fate, Lwyn herself. Using that same connection to fate to try and manipulate her thus provided her a connection back, which could itself leave Khaexyn vulnerable. However, it wasn't like she was capable of much by herself, especially if her projectiles weren't included in this web of fate. How would she do anything, if all she had was herself?
Lwyn took a deep breath, realizing there might then be one way. "I'm going to need a hand with this. Mhyl, can you setup a giant steel magnetic wall on the other side of Khaexyn? Thanrie, I need you to boost the magnetic effect of my gloves. Qheria, I'm going to need you to launch me forwards towards my father, just to provide some momentum." Lwyn instead received looks that she herself might be going crazy. She didn't blame them, this whole idea seemed crazy even to her. One of the earliest lessons they had on the gift was to never do this, Ehryinae had explicitly warned them about using their own self as a focus, but it was the only projectile she had that would work. Even if she switched her focus to her glove like a flying punch, the context of her gift would fail once faced with the glove's fate. But if she was the focus, it would be a collision of her fate, which was integrated into the entire design. There was no other alternative.
Reading Lwyn's determination, Mhyl nodded and focused with her book to create the requested wall. It successfully rose up in the distance behind Khaexyn, collecting additional magnetic potential from the ongoing storm. Thanrie sighed, holding up Lwyn's worn glove so that she could focus on it properly. Qheria stood there, still stubbornly trying to dissuade this idea as her barrier tried to hold. However, everyone kept moving forwards regardless. Qheria was mostly worried what would happen to Lwyn, worried something would go wrong, but Qheria knew there were otherwise out of options.. and it wasn't like Qheria didn't trust Lwyn. Qheria ensured that she was ready to cause a repulsion force with her barrier when the time was right.
With everything prepared, Lwyn exited the barrier with a light forward leap, landing upon it much like she would any other wall. Lwyn activated her gloves the moment after Qheria unleashed her barrier, sending Lwyn flying. Lwyn knew she was the projectile here, and focused upon her very self for this, her entire self as a whole. Not just her body, but her fate and soul, heart and mind. All of her that was her was a projectile here, being cast forward in defiance of her father's endeavours. His reasons were sound, but the rest was all flawed, she refused to let things go that way. She smashed fist-first into Khaexyn's shield, which shattered in an electrostatic burst, the shield itself unable to stand up to the fate influencing it either. She then collided with the fate protecting her father, cancelling it in equal measure to her own. Finally, she collided with his stomach, sending him flying into Mhyl's wall with considerable force. Even Thanrie cringed at the force generated by this punch, a measure she had never had reason to resort to.
Khaexyn collapsed to the floor, his strength rapidly leaving him in such a battered and broken state. To think it would be his own daughter who would deny him in the end like this. "It's.. still far too late. Everything has been set in motion, the veil will unmake itself at this rate, I don't even need to be part of it. Once it's gone, only I can put the new model in place, the world will be left a broken dying void until then. Once I've recovered, I will reclaim my daughter, and we will ensure the world is finally saved." Khaexyn was still struggling through the pain, but confident in his victory. There was no other way things could end any differently anymore.
Lwyn rushed to consider the context of events, watching the storm still surge above violently even without Khaexyn's control. She reached out with her gift, looking for anything she could do, but nothing responded to her. She somehow just knew, the flow of the world was bound by fate, but it wasn't directly connected to her. Before her, there was one other person, the person who had bound this fate to the world, and still had the foremost authority over it. She was linked, but only second in line. Unless control was passed down to her, the world would not listen. However, she knew that in his devoted fanaticism for Earth, he would never surrender. Meanwhile, the clock was still ticking, the clicking sounds of the room almost tracking the passage of time, and Khaexyn was loosing consciousness.
"Khaexyn, give up! Earth is nothing as great as you would imagine! We've seen it, in our memories, this will not save our world. Earth, Celese, they are just their own unique places with their own differences, and should simply remain as such. There is no solution in making two Earths, we should instead just make a better Celese!" "Ah, so that's the secret of your knowledge. I had been left wondering how my enemies had found such measures of greatness. That greatness will be imparted upon Celese, just as it has caused improvements upon each of you. I ask instead for you all to give up, to come to accept change and the bounty it can bring. Do so, and I don't even care if you decide to make use of your knowledge to rule over it. Even if I am cast unto death in my success, I will never yield." Lwyn was desperately trying to plead hope with her father, but Khaexyn refused to surrender. If it took his death to end the world's hatred, sending him into the arms of his fallen love and passed the hopes of the future to his daughter, that wouldn't be a bad ending at all.
Lwyn's mind was spinning at the concluding statement as well, being cast unto death. The chain of fate was a rule of succession, willingly giving up was only one of the two possible ways for control to be passed down, the second solution requiring death. Even despite everything he had done, Lwyn still felt a measure of love for her father. Tears coursed down her face as she pressed her alternatives, her father already accepting death over surrender. Leaving him to live would instead be at the cost of everything else, everyone else she cared about would then suffer her neglect. Still, she had only recently lost her mother to this chain of fate, would she have to also lose her father to the same, even after having thought she had lost both when she was very little? No, in fact, maybe that first loss was the real one, her parents had both been lost to her ever since, broken by their fates. It just tore her to have this state of loss stretched out so long, compounded upon so much grief. Worse, she realized that, exactly like her mother, there was only one person who had the responsibility to resolve this death, to close the doors in one terminal moment.
Lwyn pulled out her crossbow, loading it with a plain metal blade, and struggled through her tears. Mhyl was the first to realize what Lwyn was planning to do, but again could not find a way to stop the course of events. Mhyl herself felt pain in understanding the weight of responsibility that Lwyn was being tasked to carry, it would be far too much for her to bear. All that she could do was to be there to support Lwyn through all of this, it was all any of them could do. She stopped Qheria and Thanrie when they were about to react, shaking her head. Lwyn turned to Mhyl, still broken-hearted by her own fate. Mhyl passed Lwyn her own version of a plastic smile and nodded, despite her own tears.
Khaexyn's final moments were quick and painless, with Lwyn not wanting to make it any more painful for anyone than already was. At the moment of Khaexyn's death, the storm overhead started to fade, having formally passed control of the world's fate to another.