ZETA

Their bodies carried them a decent distance away from the scene before their minds could process the joy.

Hera’s mental dam broke first. “We…we won. We won! We beat the Curved Storm! We beat Terrent!”

“Yeah, we did,” Zeta said.

Hera was bouncing off the walls. Zeta had never seen her this happy. “I can’t believe it! This must be a dream! No, this isn’t one at all. This is real. This is real!”

“Hera, did I do the right thing back there?”

She frowned. “Well, if you left it up to me and me alone, Terrent would be dead. No, I don’t think to spare him was the smartest idea, but it’s effective for the time being.”

“Why not?”

She raised a lecturer’s finger. “You cannot lose Divinity, Zeta, even when ejecting a used Sigma. We assume this is because, in most cases, Sigma users only lose sigma when they die, or that’s what we think at least. Worse yet, it doesn’t become Excess, meaning it isn’t subjected to the all or nothing rule. It’s Divinity pending to be refilled with new sigmas the very second Terrent gets his hands on them.”

“I understand. I only tried to demoralize Gust, however. Even if he acquires 6000 points of sigma once again, what are the odds they’ll be the same sigma? Terrent Gust is still alive, but the Curved Storm is gone.”

“I guess you have a point,” she said. Then she beamed, opening her inventory to ogle at the Decents they robbed from Terrent. “I still can’t believe he’s walking around Aspic with his head lowered in shame. If you asked me a week ago, I’d say such a day was impossible!”

“That’s because you didn’t know me a week ago.”

“Shut up and savor the moment.” She gripped him by the shoulders. “Zeta, it’s possible! If we beat Gust, maybe we can beat Rex too. It’s very possible.”

Zeta guarded his stomach, clenching tightly to feel wounds both old and new pulse with pain. Thankfully, Gust only left him with minor scratches and fatigue, a gash or two at worst. “Let’s not be a hurry. Even I’ll admit I’m tired. Lying low is best for now.”

“No! Seizing this opportunity might be our best chance. If he’s unaware of our combined strength, we can catch Rex off guard! Let’s hurry to his hangout before he learns about Terrent.”

“Hera, you’re starting to sound as eager as I was yesterday, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

“Have confidence, Zeta! We can win!”

“I’ve been fighting for two days straight and taken a thrashing while at it. Even I know when to rest. We can wait, Balder doesn’t know a thing about what’s happened.”

She pondered on that for a moment, her face distorted into a conflicted scowl. “Fine. But heal quickly. I don’t want us to lose the thrill of victory before we take Rex down.”

“That ‘thrill’ is probably endorphins, but you have a deal.”

IVAN FOXWELL

On the prowl for the Lion of Aspic’s trail, Ivan tailed the hidden bulks of men pocketed away on the route to his destination. They were waiting, watching for the prey and her minion. The wooden abode was quaint, to say the least, but the guards at the door stripped away any sense of comfort the place might have once had.

Ivan entered the Harpy’s home and discovered it ransacked to oblivion; he wondered if Gust had thrown a tornado in here. Oh, he couldn't have, obviously. The upstairs was the exact same as the first floor. The ground and furniture were sinking through the wood. A board snapped, and the dresser crashed onto the base floor. That’s when Ivan decided he needed to be in and out as fast as possible.

In a ground floor bedroom, Balder Rex stood over the bed holding a small bronze statue of the Angel of Valeri.

“Sir,” Ivan introduced himself. Mr. Rex was surely jumpy, and Ivan didn’t need his head taken off my mistake.

Rex glanced his way, permitting him only a peripheral while his eyes remained locked onto the statue. “Do you have a report, Ivan?”

Ivan cleared his throat. “In addition to the passing of the Ghost Gun yesterday afternoon, the Curved Storm is no longer with us as of this morning.”

“Dead?”

“No. He’s been emasculated, in a sense. His scythe is broken, and his sigmas are gone. He is no longer fit to be in your service.”

“I see,” Balder Rex chuckled. He examined the bronze statue from every angle, admiring the glimmer of the sunlight’s reflection. He tossed it to the ground, shattering it underfoot. “The perpetrators?”

Ivan sighed. He did not want to be present for this. “The Harpy of Aspic and her new companion. Both the Ghost Gun and Curved Storm referred to him as ‘Zeta.’”

Rex clenched his fists until the knuckles went milky white. “I thought it would be…entertaining to toy with the Harpy as punishment for interfering in my affairs, but this cannot be forgiven. My two strongest men…”

In a fit of rage, he raised his fists and brought them down upon the bed, literally annihilating it into splinters, feathers, and strands of wool. Such was the power of the sigma Smithereens.

“Sir, not to step out of line, but you should avoid destroying too much if you still intend to search this home.”

Rex shook his head. “No need. The bitch is smart enough to not leave her sigmas in the house. The little scrap keeps them all in her Pocket Inventory.”

“And you mustn’t worry, sir. Neither of them will leave Aspic alive. I can order them to do so immediately if you wish.”

“You’re damn right that they won’t leave alive.” He turned to the broken statue on the ground. Valeri’s head was still intact, so Rex fixed that. “These people, these average sigma users. The days of prayer are past us now. Ora Charms are the future, and I will be ahead in the game.”

Ivan cleared his throat again. Doing so was essential as Mr. Rex hated stuttering. “May I ask sir, why do you need the Harpy’s sigmas again?”

Rex smiled. “Ivan, dear Ivan. Don’t you recognize the gift of love?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Then what more motivation do I need? I seek a courtship with Lena the Wise, the Pillar of the Mind and one of the most beautiful women in the world,” he said poetically. “As you know, Ivan, she is a Mind focus, just like dear Hera here. Hera’s sigmas are my ticket to ride with the Pentagon.”

My apologies, sir, but you have absolutely no chance, Ivan thought. “Of course, sir. As you wish, I will order the commencement of the manhunt. Do you need anything?”

Balder Rex looked around the room, checking every nook in cranny as if to identify a flaw. “Some fireworks, perhaps.”

“Fireworks?”

“What better way to start a show?” he grinned.

Ivan was perplexed, but then it dawned on him. Get out! He ran outside. Here? Now? He couldn’t! Why wasn't he waiting? I just need to get outside!

Behind him, Balder Rex dropped to the ground. With his hands firmly on the floor, his deep voice cried, “Quake!”

Ivan was thrown off balance as he sprinted for the living room. The whole house began to rumble. He tried to stand up, but a loosened support toppled and crippled his knees.

He cried out in agony, desperately pulling his body forward, reaching out for one of Rex’s goons to save him. But they were long gone. Outside, out of earshot. Just a little more, that’s all I need to escape.

Ivan glanced upward as he heard the cracking of wood and stone. Then the second floor fell down on top of him.

ZETA

Hera fell over first, and then he lost his balance soon after. A vibration shook their bodies in a resonance of chaos, and a rumble consumed their ears. The streets of Aspic shook with fury. It wasn’t an illusion, as the citizens seemed to notice it too, panic seeping in the crowd’s veins.

“Is this the apocalypse?” “What’s going on?” “First twisters, now this?” “Why is there so much damn noise in this city?”

“Hera, thoughts?” Zeta asked.

“No, this can’t be. He wouldn’t…” Hera muttered, horrified.

“Talk to me!”

She didn’t get the chance. A crack split the road between them, growing like a fluctuating limb of severed space. Zeta stumbled away from Hera, who was doing likewise on the other side. The crack rose and split further, consuming debris, stone, rubble, and even, unfortunately, people and screams.

The thundering earthquake did not cease, which made finding suitable friction to stand on a challenge. Zeta climbed to a second-floor balcony, an easier feat with the slanted roads and buildings.

“Hera, what’s going on!” he called out.

She looked at him with eyes of fear. Her words from earlier culminated in unadulterated regret. “It’s Rex! This is Quake, his Grand sigma!”

“This is Rex?” Zeta asked himself.

From the vantage point he possessed, he could see quite a deal of Aspic. This street was not an isolated affair. Many roads were being split apart and lifted as if mountains planned to arise from them at any minute. The shaking shattered numerous amounts of fragile amenities from pots to post signs.

He acquired a fair idea of where the cracks in the ground were, and one thing he noticed was that they all pointed to one location like branches to the trunk of the chaos. While the origin point was invisible from where he stood, the direction offered him a gutwrenching, likely possibility. Oh, you have to be joking.

Zeta scaled down to the street, hopped over the crack in the ground and joined Hera on her side. The rumbling died down to a tiny, tingling vibration.

“Hera–”

“I know,” she said, swallowing a lump of terror. “He’s at home.”

She was slowly regressing back to the cautious lamb, one who never raised a hand to her formal superiors. During their fight with Gust, having a partner at his back was an incredible relief. Having an encouraged partner was even better, and he didn’t want to lose that. This reversion needed to stop.

“Hera. You said it yourself, we can do it.”

It took her a pause or two, but she nodded with a nervous smile. “No more rest for you then?”

Zeta shrugged. “How can I? Balder Rex is begging for trouble to come his way. Plus, he probably destroyed the bed I needed to sleep.”

Hera hesitated, shook off her nerves with meditative breaths. “Right. No turning back. We accept this task now or never.”

Zeta smirked. “Is there anything in the house that we should worry about Rex getting his hands on?”

Hera thought for a moment. “Mrs. Olgue! If she came home–”

“I doubt her luck is that awful, but we’ll keep an eye out. Anything else?”

Hera shook her head. “Other than trying to send me a message, or maybe ambush us as we went home, I don’t know why he’d visit my house.”

“Then let’s find out. Come on!” Zeta started running towards the source of the Quake.

The streets were slightly uphill now, which made basic endurance training a peevish annoyance. Once again, Sir Kagan, I can thank you for years of breathing thin air.

As they turned the corner, however, a loud cacophony of chaos came from the house’s direction. It wasn’t another earthquake, more like a complete structural collapse. Sure enough, Hera and Zeta caught the tail end of a dust wave coming their way.

“What is he doing? Tearing down buildings?” Zeta asked.

“It sounds like he’s tearing apart the city.”

“Has he lost his mind?”

“Help! The Lion’s lost his mind!” someone running their way cried out.

He was one of Rex’s thugs judging from the clothing, the weapon, and the mannerisms he possessed. The thug ran to a group of his comrades in a panic. Why is he fleeing?

“What do you mean?”

“What’s all that havoc down there?”

“Mr. Rex,” the thug began, panting, “he’s gone berserk! Everybody’s friend or foe to him, even us! We got to get out of here!”

“Good God! Are you serious?”

A cry tore through the air, and a bloodied, hacked body landed several steps away from the group.

“Oh, shit! Let’s go!” They completely ignored Zeta and Hera as they ran for their lives.

Zeta stopped and stared at the corpse, wide-eyed. “Umm, Hera? Do you know what Balder Rex’s focus is?”

She was taking little, anxious breaths. “Not particularly… If I were to guess. It’s Devastation.”

Zeta sent a quick prayer to God. Hera said that no one believed in him beyond a superficial level, but he still decided to take the chance. From here on out he would put no doubt in his ability, so this was his last chance to have a second thought. “Devastation. Wonderful.”

Slowing his pace, Zeta drew Black Meridian. His body was tired, so very tired of battle, yet the hardest thus far stood ahead. No, Zeta. Do not get caught up on this one man. Compared to what you will face in this sad and miserable world, he is a small fry. Treat him as such.

“Right, small fry,” he told himself, taking his first steps towards the house. He walked until the shadow of an ogre came into view, a giant stone heaved above his head, ready to smash the world to pieces.

Quake - Devastation, Terrestrial: User summons a seismic catastrophe to shake a radius of approximately five kilometers. (23450).

(A) Place both hands upon the ground. Ideally place them on a level equal to targeted ground, as higher elevations may weaken the radius. The amount of destruction decreases as it gets closer to the edge of the designated radius. (!) Indiscriminate.