Marianna scoffed. "Oh, Imsi, you stupid, ignorant fuckwit. I know that you as a man are only capable of thinking with your dick, and--uh..." Her eyes widened at me. "What--what is this? What are you doing?"

I looked around to see what I was doing wrong--besides my shit-eating grin, of course--and I noticed that fucking Laya rebirthed me in Marianna's body again. Of course. That was why she was so sly in asking if I wanted anything changed. That clever devil. I looked over at the current Laya beside the throne, the one who had just finished making the time seed that I used to get here, and she stared back with horrified, confused eyes.

"Are you--" Marianna glared. "Are you using some sort of glamour magic to spite me? Are you truly this low?"

I shrugged. "It's complicated, but it'll make more sense once I get you merged with your other copy."

"What?"

I gripped my fist and marched toward her.

She stepped back, took a swordsman's stance, and sliced at me.

The sword disintegrated into ash across my body.

And I punched her in the face. Hard. Like really fucking hard. So hard that she evaporated into dust. Not from the punch, I mean. I used the reduction spell for that.

I was, after all, still a level 100 recyclemancer. Just without any recipes or material.

I shook the sting out of my hand, and I hit Laya a knowing glance. She was still in her goth phase, it seemed, with all that black and the makeup. She stared like a startled deer, stepping back in a panic after seeing my power.

"You killed me once already," I said. "This was my second chance."

"I don't... I don't understand."

"It means fuck off and make some good memories. Future-you will be thankful."

She stared. I stared back.

And in a hurry, she opened a portal and vanished.

Relative silence came. The ship rumbled slightly. Ships were still fighting around. The war was still on.

I needed to put a stop to that. All I needed to do was get on the comms and announce my victory, and--

Wait.

I was still in Marianna's body. If I said anything now, everyone would think I was her. Fuck! I needed to change myself fast. Entropy magic! That's how Marianna was able to polymorph me.

I checked the skill list I had just gained from reducing her.

Entropimancer:

Level 1 Negentropic Polyfill

Level 1 Deleted Skill.

Level 1 Fuck you.

Level 1 Just Kidding. Good luck, Imsi

Level 1 Signed Laya and Cassandra

Ha. So funny, those jokesters. They deleted a few of the skills, but it wasn't a problem. Negentropic Polyfill was exactly what I needed.

I began to cast the spell.

Not enough entropic energy.

Oh no. I checked my skill list again. There was... supposed to be a way to gain and use entropic power, right? Fuck! Laya! Those little shits took it away! I was gonna be stuck as this big titty hot bitch forever!

Wait. No. I had a plan. Yes. It was perfect.

I found the Sword of Gods' Twilight on the ground, or what was left of it. The glass had shattered down to the hilt, but there were tiny drops of entropic power within. Yes!

I channeled the spell again, making just enough small adjustments to make myself be less like Marianna. I changed my face, my voice, and with the last little bit leftover, I reduced the size of my breasts. Seriously. I don't know why I was into big tits so much as a dude, but this shit sucked, for real.

The entropy ran out. I checked myself in a mirror. I was still a female-presenting, but I wasn't Marianna anymore. I was... just an original person. A... whatever the fuck I was now. It would have to do until I could get myself polymorphed into a more suitable body.

The ship boomed with another explosion. A thick crack shot across the window glass.

I hurried over to the comms console and clicked it on.

On every ship in orbit, my face appeared, and I smiled.

The fighting ceased. Every combatant watched from every screen across the decks of the ship, from their own helmet visors, from the ship bridges, unsure of who I was but knowing exactly where I was talking from.

I spoke slowly and deliberately. "Marianna is dead. The war is won."

I sprinted down the hallways of the ship. The windows around took on a red glow--a flaring red light--and the ship began to vibrate madly.

I don't know how I didn't see this coming. The planet was right the fuck there, so it was only a matter of time before we dipped into the atmosphere.

I raced as fast as I could and burst into the last mid-boss room.

And I froze.

The succubus girls were reverse gangbanging the Gimp King, and they had him pinned down on the ground there, and their eyes all jerked over to me.

They stared.

I stared back.

"Uh, Gimp King," I said. "Time to leave."

"Wait... this degenerate energy. Are you? Redrim!" He tossed the girls off him and began to give chase.

"Call me," a girl called behind him.

And together, we rushed down the next hall.

"Redrim," he said. "You're too slow. Hop on my shoulders."

I jumped on his meaty back, he gripped my ankles, and he erupted with speed. In an instant, we shot through into the next arena.

Inside was Vil and a very dismantled Ai-Gee. Vil was just fucking around, carrying what I assumed was Ai-Gee's core in his hand, and when we burst in, he snapped over at us, then at me, stared for a moment until it clicked, and he said, "Are you fucking kidding me, Redrim?"

"Come on!" I ordered.

He sprinted behind as we continued to the next arena, and we shot through the wall. Debris shot around, heavy concrete shards and dust, and we found the dragon missing. Instead, the heroes stood around the scorched room and tended to their rooms.

"Hurry!" I yelled as we ran past.

They cast confused glances at one another, then followed.

The knight bounded with great leaps just to keep up. I could see his narrowed eyes easing closer and closer beside me. "R-redrim. By the heavens. You never told me that you were a woman."

The healer slapped him the back of the head. "Quit ogling!"

The ship began to roar. The vibrations became too strong to stand in. Electrical systems sparked. Lights clacked off. The battle had long died out, and now both sides worked together to try and escape the dying ship. Some imperials headed to the escape pods while others outright came to join us.

We regrouped with our troops, withdrew to the next line, and our battle lines collapsed inward with the unorderly retreat.

An unearthly howl sounded throughout. Alarms wailed but soon malfunctioned and went silent. A heavy crash echoed through the floors, and a hurricane-force wind blew down the halls.

The ship was breaking apart.

We passed Jessie in her tanks.

"Who the fuck is this bitch?" she asked.

"Hurry the fuck up!" I snapped back.

They abandoned the tanks. The treads were gone anyway.

And as a stampede of people, we raced back into my battleship.

People tried to stuff themselves in, but I could feel their fear. There were cracks and gashes all throughout the armor. This thing was a tin can with a buncha holes punched through.

But I was a recyclemancer.

I raced to the bridge--some of the guards tried to stop me--and I pushed my way to the command seat and locked myself in.

Wires and hoses hissed out from the walls and latched into my bare skin.

I shouted in pain, welcomed it, and I felt the rush of raw mana pour into my body.

"Wait," said the Card King. "This is--You're..."

"Status report!" I demanded.

One of the techs shook off her confusion and looked back at the console. "Hull strength is at 2%. Fuel at 7%. LMD is non-functional." She looked back at me with a pale expression. "Redrim, I don't think that we can survive re-entry."

Another technician said, "All personnel have now boarded. Closing the bay doors."

The ship rocked violently, and we slammed against the side of the docking port. Everyone grunted and yelped at the force.

The Card King shook his head. "Redrim. You've done it. We all have. But I don't think there's any coming back from this. The LMD is dead. We have only minutes of air. We don't even have enough power to use the mining lasers, and what shields our mages can offer can't survive the heat of re-entry. This is it, Redrim. This is the one situation we can't escape from."

"So it's a garbage situation, then." I grinned like a devil. "Well, my friends. I just happen to be a recycler."

Everyone in the room rolled their eyes and groaned.

"For fuck's sake, Redrim," said the Card King. "Whatever bullshit solution you have, just get it done with."

I barked out a laugh, and I thrust forward my hand. "INFINITY COSMIC SADOMASOCHIST DRIVE: IGNITE."

The ship flared to life. Systems blinked on. Lights began to glow.

"The--the ship," said a tech. "Our resources are filling."

"It's recycle magic," said another. "Look there, on Marianna's ship."

Around us, the docking area was being eaten by an invisible force, and the matter of which was transferred over to us, bulking out our hull, filling in the cracks and holes.

"Admiral!" said the Card King. He struggled to hold onto the wheel. "Should we unhook now?"

"No," I said. "This is our heat shield."

"Admiral!" said a tech. "The ship is breaking apart. It won't last much longer."

"We don't need much longer," I said.

Outside, the roar rose to a crescendo, deafening, and several booms erupted in the space around. The decks were sprayed with debris of all size--as if we had just sailed through a skyscraper--and from the noise of destruction, we cut through Marianna's ship as it blossomed out in pieces. Each shard and cluster and component that had broken away caught the friction of the atmosphere and was set alight with a thick red flare.

"Admiral. Hull strength at 8%. 7%. 6."

"Haven't we had enough countdowns yet?" I asked.

"Not really--5. 4."

"Reverse thrust!" I ordered.

The Card King spun the wheel over against the roaring winds, and when we pointed the opposite our trajectory, he pushed us to full throttle.

And the rockets roared to life. The G-forces incredible against my human body, my everything shaking and rattling and teeth jittering, and finally--

"3. 2... 1.5..."

The engines cut off.

The red light thinned out and soon blinked out.

Our velocity was killed. We were essentially stationary in the sky.

I sighed with relief, and I could hear the thousands of people within the decks of my ship cry out in celebration.

And the ship began to fall.

"Why aren't we floating?" I asked. "Why aren't we floating?"

"LMD fuel is at zero."

"Fuck!"

The streets of Lambston were alive with shouts and pointed fingers.

Children hurried out of homes, luring out their scolding parents, who in turn were enthralled by the sights above.

A meteor shower. A fireworks display. Long streaks of burning light, some of it glittering and blinding, racing through the sky with trails of white smoke.

As if the Grand Magi themselves were painting on the world's canvas.

A person within the crowd pointed and shouted. Everyone looked.

And there, soaring through the sky with the same amount of grace as a brick, a battleship tumbled on its descent--white parachutes blossoming out behind, pieces of its hull vanishing in chunks, more parachutes adding, until it slowed, slower, and--

It was here.

The sheer size and weight of it cast a deep hum across the people as it flew overhead, close enough to reach out and graze its underbelly, and it crashed into the side of the mountain.

Queen Jenna, from her palace balcony, smiled and shook her head.

It was finally over.