“Okay… Let’s give this a try!”

Orrin grasped at the air in front of him. A hand of light mirroring his own materialized next to the golem and tried to grab her, just as he envisioned. Unfortunately, his willpower was lacking, and the construct was shattered with a well-placed swing. He tried again with his other hand. That was dodged entirely, as was his third attempt. He’d seen it many times from the sidelines, but he now understood just how troublesome that predictive Skill of hers was. Even more worrying was the implication that Katya was asserting more and more control over the golem. Not only was she actively using her abilities, but her movements were far more fluid and natural. This did not bode well for him. He wasn’t yet sure how durable this form was, and hesitated to test out how well it’d fare against the Rustblood Juggernaut.

“Wait, I can fly!”

Remembering this ultimate counter to a close combat specialist, the giant-shaped lump of radiance willed itself to hover upwards. Fizzy then threw her wrench squarely at his head like a golem-propelled missile. It found its mark with a resounding ‘thunk.’ It didn’t hurt, but still did damage and sent him falling down to the dirt. Orrin bounced back to his feet and decided now wasn’t the time to be fancy, so he just started blasting. He clapped his hands together and produced a heat blast twice as powerful as the one that took out the whirly-bird. The golem charged straight through it for thirty blistering paces before she shield-tackled him, knocking him over once more. Her frame was red-hot by this point, though that didn’t seem to bother her too much. Orrin knew it wouldn’t. His actual aim was to burn off the machinery that suppressed her will and hijacked her frame.

However, he had underestimated the Original Artificer. Her mind control device was built to withstand the rigors of magical combat and emerged from that scorcher in a damaged yet functional state. It would appear the giant’s brilliant strategy accomplished little aside from slightly pissing off the golem, judging by the twitching of her eyes and the corner of her mouth. Oh, and she was rapidly beating down on the transformed giant while standing on his chest. Orrin really wasn’t all that bothered since he didn’t feel pain and his new form regenerated far too quickly to perish even with all this punishment. The downside was that it was a once-per-day miracle that only lasted for so long. If he was going to figure out a way to bring the Paladin back to her senses, he had to do it fast.

Thankfully, those barely perceptible micro-expressions gave him a hint. In all the excitement, he forgot that Fizzy wasn’t alone in her head. She had a… sibling, of sort. He never understood exactly who or what this ‘Plus’ persona was, but if she was as real as both of them claimed, then perhaps she was still in there, fighting to regain control. All Orrin had to do was give her that chance, and he had an idea on how to do that. Unfortunately, he’d have to seriously injure the golem, and he wasn’t sure he was capable of inflicting that kind of damage. The transformation’s heat and light had little to no effect on her, and his own Spells would fare no better. But what about raw strength?

Thinking it was worth a short, the giant clenched his fist and decked the golem right in the jaw. Well, it was more like he smashed her in the face with an anvil made of light, but it proved effective nonetheless. Becoming a Celestial Avatar temporarily improved all his Attributes by a whopping 500 points, which increased his strength by several orders of magnitude. The force behind his blow was so great that it actually sent the golem flying. She landed with a roll and naturally sprang right back at him. He scrambled upright and tried to kick and bash her some more without success, as she now knew to actively dodge those blows.

Damn that Champion Skill! Orrin internalized his frustration. If only there was a way- Wait! There is!

The ability in question could not function without line of sight, and the Priest had just the thing to deprive Fizzy of hers.

“Dazzling Flare!”

His god-given power amplified the Spell, causing it to drown the area in the purest white imaginable. Even if the golem resisted the urge to shut her eyes, she still wouldn’t see a damn thing. Orrin certainly didn’t. Yes, that meant he was taking blind swings, but ironically those had a much higher degree of success as he felt himself land three solid kicks in a row. The first two were stopped dead, likely by the golem’s shield, but the third struck something that sounded like her face. This was accompanied by a loud crunch and a loud thud as she bounced across the ground. The light faded shortly afterwards, revealing that the golem’s head was very much caved in. Orrin briefly wondered if he had gone too far, but reminded himself that the construct’s noggin was actually quite hollow and mostly decorative. Moreover, the damage had robbed her of the use of her eyes, drastically reducing her ability to fight. True, it was nothing that wouldn’t buff out, but that was what the giant wanted.

As soon as Fizzy enabled Parallel One, Plus would come out and be hopefully more cooperative than her enthralled ‘sister.’

“Holy Light.”

Except that the construct simply chanted her Spell the old fashioned way because the Priest was a dumbass and just stood there waiting for her. Though disappointing and embarrassing, this reinforced the notion he was on the right track. Fizzy was definitely avoiding the use of Parallel Plot, which could only mean it was a threat to Katya’s grip on her psyche. It was just a crying shame that Orrin could not activate another’s Skill for them. Especially not when said someone was repeatedly swinging a wrench-shaped mass of titanium at his knees and groin. Thankfully his sense of pain remained dulled and his overflowing vitality kept him reasonably safe, but all the thrashing made it difficult to think.

Unfortunately he was so focused on trying to work out how to break Fizzy free of Katya’s control that he failed to consider his environment. The burning wreckage of that helicopter was not too far from the two of them, and it was letting out some thick plumes of dark smoke. These rapidly rose and gathered, and without wind to disperse them, thickened in a dark cloud that blocked out the sun. Whether guided by luck, instinct, or something else entirely, Fizzy gradually pushed Orrin into the shadow of that smog until he was cut off from the source of his newfound power.

[Celestial Avatar is no longer active.]

[All Attributes -500. HP recovery has returned to normal.]

“… Oh, crap.”

With the Hero Skill undone far sooner than expected, the giant reverted to his meatbag self. Now that he wasn’t regenerating at a ridiculous rate, it only took seconds to bring him down to the ground and render him unconscious. It was almost laughable how quickly he fell once the divine power abandoned him.

“Ha! Pathetic.”

Katya seemed to agree. Though her helicopter and its cargo of drones lay in a smoldering scrap heap, she hadn’t neglected to include a camera and radio in the device strapped to her new ‘unpaid intern.’ This allowed her to remotely monitor and direct Fizzy from anywhere on Tascuna, so Orrin’s mad plan to keep the golem away was laughably futile from the start. This was the only reason the giant was still alive, as Katya had rescinded her previous order after she witnessed his transformation.

“Excellent, devochka. Now bring him to me alive.”

Her intentions were, naturally, rather sinister. Her mechanical empire required an obscene amount of energy to function. Though it was currently self-sustainable through a mix of solar energy, biofuel, and other, lesser sources, it was only barely so. The locals’ sabotage on her infrastructure had a significant impact, and Orrin would serve to make up for that deficit once she chained him up and harvested that ridiculous output he just showed. Not to mention that his life had worth from a strategic standpoint. She needed to know what he’d told the gremlins so that she could plan accordingly and fortify her defenses until she was ready to strike back.

There was just one minor hitch.

“Hm?”

Katya was about to turn her attention elsewhere when she realized the golem wasn’t carrying out her orders. Fizzy just stood there, hand outstretched and gripping the unconscious giant by his hair. She likely intended to just drag him along like the bag of meat he was, but once again her hand refused to budge and her whole body seemed to lock up. This was different from before, though. For one thing, it wasn’t Katya’s doing, and for another, she wasn’t still as a statue. Her entire frame shook, vibrated, and wobbled, but it was her lips that quivered the most. That last bit escaped the otherworlder’s notice as it was outside her over-the-shoulder field of view.

“I said move!” she demanded. “We have much work to do. Mostly you.”

Rather than figure out a way to replace or redesign the components that required an Artificer’s touch, Katya’s plan was to simply make Fizzy part of the assembly line. It wasn’t an ideal solution since the parts she’d produce in that auto-pilot state would be of lower quality, but it would have to do. Once enough OCDs were produced and the gremlins were dealt with, the golem would be discarded like any other piece of obsolete equipment. Bit of a shame things turned out this way, Katya thought. She genuinely liked Fizzy and respected her as a fellow Artificer. However, that was personal, and Ekaterina Dragunova would never let such attachments get in the way of business. This weird malfunction, however, was taking its toll on her already strained patience.

“Hmpf. Perhaps I miscalculated the mana fluctuations? Blyat…”

The device she had fitted Fizzy with was created through Universal Controller - the Ultimate Skill Katya obtained from achieving Level 100 as an Automata Artificer. While mental magic was normally useless on constructs, the items produced through that ability could hijack any golem or automata. The result was a docile, loyal and obedient servant that kept most of its cognitive functions intact. Every Universal Controller had to be tailor-made to a specific target, but Katya had a bunch of these devices prepared before she put her body on ice. It had been a simple matter to take one out of storage and calibrate it so it would work on the mithril golem’s core. That whole thing about measuring mana signatures was a complete lie. She’d already scanned those and more the very first time Fizzy stepped into her control tower, and had been preparing for this ‘hostile takeover’ since. She suspected there might be a few glitches since this was as unique a construct as one could find, but this particular hiccup was-

“Pa…”

The golem’s mouth suddenly opened up, and a single syllable leaked out.

“No…” Katya got a bad feeling. “No, no, no, no!”

“Ra…”

“Stop that!”

“Llel…”

“I command you to stop!”

“One.”

Fizzy’s left eye suddenly let out a bright green glow as the efforts of her alter ego finally bore fruit.

“You just made a bad move, lady!” Plus declared with a triumphant smile. “Nobody messes with Fizzy’s brain on my watch!”

“Chto za huinya?” the otherworlder cursed. “Who are you!?”

“I’m the one that’s going to turn your butt into scrap if you don’t give me my sister back!”

Though Katya knew about Parallel Plot, she hadn’t been made aware that Plus was a separate, independent entity.

“Bah! Feezy! Cease use of all Skills!”

“Parallel Zeeeealotry! Phew, that was- Parallel Zulalalalala! Stop that!”

“Keep eet up, Feezy. Pickup ees on the way.”

“Quiet, you!”

The secondary personality raised a hand and tried to rip off that oversized backpack. Unfortunately, the enthralled ego was fighting her just as hard and prevented her from doing anything. Though Plus had managed to leak a ‘Parallel One’ through the mind control, she and Fizzy were too evenly matched for either of them to do anything. This meant that Plus could keep Parallel Plot going, but it was only a matter of time before she ran out of the MP necessary to sustain it. Normally she’d generate more through movement and Engine of Destruction, but that was not going to happen. And even if the golem’s magical reserves were indefinite, Katya’s reinforcements would arrive and capture the rebellious construct before long.

On the upside, all this internal strife was doing wonders for the aforementioned Skill.

[Proficiency level increased. Parallel Plot is now Level 7. LCK +4. INT +2.]

[You have learned a new Spell: Parallel Two.]

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

A new voice screamed inside Fizzy’s head as the Paladin’s second alter ego gained awareness.

“I’m… I’m alive?” she muttered. “I’m alive! Ah, crap. I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“That you are, sis!” Plus cheered.

“Sis? … You’re Plus, right? And this is Fiz-? Hold on! What the fuck is going on?!”

Being ‘born’ into a body that was currently fighting against itself was not the best way to start one’s existence, to say the least.

“Look, we’ll have plenty of time to figure that out later! Right now I need you to help me get this thing off our backs! Can you do that?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“Well, you better figure it out quick!”

“Parallel-”

“-Two!”

The golem hijacked her own chant, and her right eye let out an emerald glimmer that mirrored the left.

“You keep the right side under control, I’ll handle the left!” shouted Plus inside Fizzy’s head.

“I’m-! Trying-! But this-! Fucking-! Arm-! Isn’t listening-!”

“Give eet up! You have no chance!”

“Shut it, cunt!” the newcomer yelled.

Back in New Dragunov, Katya’s android blinked its eyes in disbelief. Was that a third voice that just came out of the same golem?

“Can’t seem to- Parallel Ze-bra! Zebra! What even is a zebra?! I don’t know! Parallel- NNNNNNNNAAAARGH! This is insane! I know, isn’t it great?!”

Yes, those were definitely three distinct people all wrestling for control over the same mouth. That was true for the rest of the golem too, but that was the part that caught Katya’s attention the most. At least until she noticed that both Parallels working in tandem were able to overpower the personality under her control and were about to remove the Universal Controller. There was one thing Katya could do to stop them, though she really didn’t want to do it. It was such a horrendous waste… though if she couldn’t have what she wanted, then nobody could.

And with that selfish and petty reasoning, the Original Artificer sent a signal to her Universal Controller that activated the same contingency she squeezed into all her devices. The back-mounted device overloaded its power core as it sent a focused burst of energy into Fizzy’s torso. The surgical strike succeeded in punching a hole through her outer plating and striking at the all-important core underneath. Thankfully the damage it sustained wasn’t severe enough to halt its function, allowing the Parallel duo to finally take the now-fried device off and throw it to the ground. The new girl also furiously stomped on it for good measure.

Unfortunately, while the multi-faceted Paladin escaped the worst case scenario, she didn’t do so unscathed.

[Your core has been heavily damaged. HP -716.]

[You are now Crippled. Maximum HP reduced by 500.]

[The effectiveness of the INT and WIS Attributes has been reduced by 50%.]

[Automatic HP and MP recovery are now disabled.]

“Oh, crap! Holy Light!”

Seeing those problematic side effects, Plus panicked and tried healing the damage with magic. This succeeded in closing up the gaping hole in her lower back, but could do nothing for the internal damage. Katya’s spiteful goodbye had dislodged a thumb-sized piece from the spherical puzzle-like outer layer of the golem’s core. The Spell could not restore lost body parts, so that devastating injury was there to stay. Seeing this, the more senior of the Parallels drew upon her vast experience… and panicked.

“This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!”

“Come on, really?! How in the fuck did you manage to break Fizzy?! AAARGH! I barely even woke up and I’m already neck deep in shit!”

The newcomer focused her ire back towards the shorted-out control unit and wrenched it hard enough to make a head-sized crater in the ground.

“Fucking bitch! Look what she did to us! What are we gonna do about this, Plus?!”

“I don’t know! Fizzy usually makes the plans, but she’s still not responding!”

“Well, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do! We go back there and rip Katya apart bolt by bloody bolt and then put her back together as a fucking toilet! Then smash that, too!”

Even though she was barely a few minutes old, this new entity still had access to their shared memories. It was a lot of information to process all at once, but at this point in time she was well aware of who was to blame for her rude awakening.

“Are you crazy?! We’re missing half our max MP, a fifth of our max HP, and did you miss the part where Fizzy isn’t responding?! We should retreat and recuperate before-!”

Plus’s argument was then rudely interrupted by a loud flash and a distinct cracking sound. She slowly turned around and, sure enough, a giant mantis-beetle-ant had shown up to investigate what all the ruckus up here was. Right now its attention was focused on the burning helicopter wreckage about sixty paces away, but it was only a matter of time before the golem was noticed and most likely attacked. Thankfully Fizzy’s memory of fighting that soldier-class biters was still fresh, so the new girl didn’t have to think much before she figured out what she was staring at. More importantly, she knew that killing one would just summon more of them from their nest deep beneath the ground.

“Okay,” she whispered, “you win. Let’s go.”

“But what about Orrin? We can’t just leave him here.”

“Sure we can. Watch this.”

And Fizzy’s feet started to move. Plus put up a few more whimpers of protest but ultimately did nothing to stop her new sister from abandoning the Priest. Yes, she felt bad about it, but Fizzy’s wellbeing was ultimately more important than his. She’d feel less guilty if she knew that Tony was alive and on the way with his ‘little friends,’ but she hadn’t noticed the exchange between him and Orrin back on the helicopter. Katya’s device had unfortunately completely cut her off from the golem’s senses while it asserted control over her. Once the fighting started, Plus had to put every last bit of willpower she could muster into disrupting the enthralled personality’s swings from within. It was thanks to her efforts that Orrin survived long enough to get that strange surge of divine power, and the Parallel entity had refocused her efforts towards wrestling control away from Katya afterwards. Frankly speaking, even this flawed outcome was nothing short of a miracle.

Not wishing to squander this stroke of luck, Plus helped her new colleague sneak away from the crash site and pointed her towards a nearby hill.

“Where are we going?” the rookie whispered.

“Finding shelter.”

“Okay… From what, though? Doesn’t look like it’ll rain.”

“Don’t be silly. It never rains here.”

“Oh, right.”

Indeed, for whatever reason Tascuna’s atmosphere was completely devoid of all forms of weather aside from the occasional breeze.

“We need to hide from Katya,” Plus elaborated. “I’m sure she’ll send more of those drones to find us, and we’re in no state to fight without Fizzy.”

“What?! No way! We can handle-”

“Keep your voice down!”

“S-sorry.”

“Also, no we can not. Fizzy’s always the one that does legs and arms, and I’ve only ever done Spells. I’m not all that experienced with martial combat, and you’re literally three minutes old.”

“Ugh. Fine. But where do we even go? Nothing here but rocks and dirt and grass.”

“That’s why we’re going this way. Think I saw a cave or a crater or something around here while we were falling.”

“Wow, really? That’s what you were doing at that critical moment?”

“I mean, I look at stuff. It’s what I do.”

“… Whatever. Let’s just go.”

The two of them forged onward. With the golem’s automatic MP and HP recovery disabled, they had no choice but to leave the Engine of Destruction running and regularly cast Holy Light to undo the constant damage. Not exactly ideal travelling conditions, but at least their lives weren’t in danger. With Plus pointing the way, they were able to find what she saw quite quickly. She obviously didn’t get a good look at it during the rapid descent, because it wasn’t a cave or a crater. Indeed, the giant, gaping, seemingly bottomless hole in front of them was very much in the ‘or something’ category. It was as if someone took a tower-sized nail, jammed it into the ground, then took it out.

Plus peered over the edge to see if she could see the bottom, but that was a firm ‘no.’

“Should we jump?” she suggested.

“Bit risky, isn’t it?”

“No, it isn’t. We’ll survive the fall for sure. Can’t be any higher than the drop from the helicopter.”

Fizzy’s Shock Absorption had helped cushion that impact tremendously. In fact, if that ability was max Level, there was a good chance she’d survive even the long drop from Tascuna to Terrania. Probably. Plus wasn’t big on numbers and formulas, but the original would probably be able to math it out for sure.

“Uh-huh. And then what? You expect us to climb those sheer cliffs?” the other pointed out.

“Oh, yeah. That’s a good point. Oh! One second. Holy Light!”

*FWOOM*

The routine flash of restorative radiance had the unintended side effect of startling a small bird that had landed behind the golem while the two of them pondered the hole. The spooked animal reacted as expected and fluttered away in a panic. The noise it made startled both personalities in turn, making them turn around expecting trouble. Or at least they tried. Unfortunately, one went left and the other went right. This resulted in both of them - the unconscious Fizzy included - to tip over forward.

“Ah…”

“… Fuck.”

These were the only words they got out before they plummeted downward.

Much as Plus surmised, Fizzy’s ridiculously tough frame survived the drop without much issue, and not only because it wasn’t as long a fall as the last one. For one thing, she clipped a few random outcroppings of rock that slowed her down. Or, well, she liked to think they did. In reality they accomplished little beyond bruising her new sister’s ego and sending them both spinning uncontrollably. When they actually reached the bottom, they landed in a deep pool of water and sank right to the bottom. No danger of drowning, of course, but not exactly ideal since moving around in search of a way up took a lot more effort. The extra exertion also heated the mithril even more, causing it to glow a dull red while the water around it actively bubbled and sizzled. At least there was no danger of overheating.

“So. What now?”

The newcomer spoke up again, this time using her ‘inside voice’ that she totally didn’t forget about earlier.

“I don’t know. Fizzy! You awake yet?!”

Unfortunately, much like the last twenty times she called out, there was no response.

“Great. I’ve only been alive for like ten minutes and I’m already going to die in a dark pit full of water and misery. This is just fucking fantastic.”

“We’ll be fine. It’s not like we need air or food to survive down here.”

“So what?! We’re lost! The fucking core feels like its barely holding together, let alone that our HP and MP recovery is fucked! We won’t even be able to move if we shut off this stupid Engine thing! What do we do if the damage gets too much?! Or if some fucking moon kraken or something sees us down here and decides it wants what’s left of us! We’re just drifting along until the universe decides to end this cruel joke called existence, and there’s fuck all we can do to stop it!”

“Teresa’s tits, girl! Why must you be so negative?!”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because the very first thing I had to do after gaining awareness was to FIGHT FOR MY LIFE AGAINST MY OTHER SELF?!”

“That settles it! I’m gonna call you Minus!”

“Please don’t.”

“Too late! I’ve already decided, and don’t act like you hate it. We’re mostly the same person, so we both know you think it fits!”

“… Whatever. I’d rather talk about this core situation. Can we do anything about it?”

“No idea. In retrospect I should’ve taken that backpack thing with us. It might have provided a clue, but I was too focused on our strategic retreat.”

“You mean that slow, shameful escape that landed us in the moon’s asshole?”

“Strategic. Retreat.”

“If you say so. For what it’s worth, I doubt that piece of junk would be much help. In fact, I suspect we’re beyond help, period.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. Malcolm - you know him, right? He’s a smart guy. He’ll fix us up in no time.”

“Uh-huh,” Minus was skeptical. “You hear that?”

The golem’s hips shook violently, producing a quiet metallic rattle that was just barely audible over the sloshing and splashing.

“That’s a piece of our brain bouncing around inside our ass. An arm is one thing - good job on losing that, by the way - but I doubt there’s a golem technician alive that knows how to fix THAT. Assuming we even find a way to get off this fucking rock! Or that Fizzy even wakes up!”

“Alright! Alright, you’ve made your point. Yikes.”

“Also, and I’m really sorry to say this, but I think I was right.”

“Huh? About what?”

Just then, Plus noticed a massive shadow pass overhead, right on the edge of the bare-bones illumination given off by Fizzy’s heated plating. Its exact size and shape were hard to make out, but it was impossible not to notice the bushel of tentacles trailing behind it.

“About the moon kraken.”