With all the scary benevolence that was going on, Lukas had sort of forgotten that it was happening inside his mindscape. Frost, true to her own sadistic ways, had touched him in the head, sending him flying in the endless white world and—

He was back in the throne room, complete with the destruction fest he had contributed to earlier.

Just like he remembered.

Time had all but stopped while he was gone — or more accurately, time had flown by extremely swiftly where he had been, in the mindscape. This wasn’t the first time he had experienced Time Dilation — Inanna had done it earlier, back when she had faced Tanya’s Frost Avatar in the Crypt, and much more recently, when she had manifested and aided against the Ifrit King. But this was the first time he had actually benefited from it.

Prophylaxis Recovery Status: Active

All systems normal and functional

Accessory Heteromorph Active and Connected

All things considered, it was a wonderful trip. He had taken a hideous risk, including giving himself multiple aneurysms, and everything that had happened had been beyond his control. He had expected the Frost Avatar to torture him mercilessly for sealing her away. Instead, she had given him information and showed him her… form.

Neither Solana nor Maude were anywhere to be seen, and Tanya —

Tanya sat upon the Throne, her eyes glassy and utterly inhuman, watching him with an expression that bordered between confusion and mild curiosity. She tilted her head to the left, then to the right, looking at the room like it was the only thing in the world worth her interest. She ignored Lukas completely for several seconds before she spoke.

“Insect, what transpired in my throne room?”

Lukas blinked. What was he thinking? Frost might have behaved like Tanya, but that was because she was part of her. Regardless of her true form, she was a manifestation of Tanya’s subconscious. Meynte, if it was in fact, her, was an Empress, an existence that was in the same zip code of being a god minus the divinity.

One that had ascended not through a Truth like Inanna, but through a Taboo. A power so ancient and terrible that the world had forgotten it's like. That power demanded his respect, his obedience, his adoration and abject terror. He remembered his childhood lessons about how it cost one nothing to be polite, but it could buy one as much as one’s life. So yeah, he needed to tread carefully there.

Carefully.

Naturally, his mouth opened, and he spoke. “Yeah, I blew it up.”

Tanya… or rather, Meynte looked mildly annoyed. “And… why did you do that?”

Before he could answer, an immense crash to his right attracted his attention. His senses rang alarm bells as Solana, or rather, her body, levitated out of it. Her burnt and mutilated form turned vertical and arose, still stiff as a board. Lukas could see her fingers clenched into fists, and a dense surge of power erupted out of her, tearing pieces of her flesh away from her like bits of rotten meat being peeled off a carcass by a sandblaster. He gaped in morbid fascination as Solana opened her dead eyes and let out a silent scream, and the flesh around her mouth sloughed and peeled away like a snake’s scales.

He had never seen a skinwalker in true form before. He’d have time to be terrified later. Instead, he took in the details, watching as the batlike face, horrid and ugly and too big for the body, contorted in shapes that made no sense. Gaping hungry jaws. Hunched, powerful shoulders. Membranous wings stretched between the joints of its multiple arachnoidal arms. Flappy black breasts hanging before its chest, spilling out of its dress that no longer looked feminine. Its eyes were wide and black and pupil-less, with a dark unending void peeking out at the world outside, and a kind of leathery, slimy hide covered its flesh, while thin tubular structures thrashed around, extending out of its body like angry tentacles.

His reflexes kicking in, he pushed himself away from her, and got up, ready to blast and burn her away with a thought. He let out a garbled, incoherent cry and raised a force-shield, while his right hand locked into a rigid claw, and a small sphere of dazzling white flames gathered within the cage of his fingers, spitting and hissing with vicious heat. Facing Meynte was an insurmountable problem‌. He really didn’t need the walking-breathing corpse to make things further difficult. Quickly, he conjured a worst-case scenario in his head, and found that even if he used his unstable kinetomancy again, it wouldn’t be enough to take both of them down.

Accessory Heteromorph set for Combat

Lukas barely had a moment to think as his head was bombarded with a hundred different monster prototypes. He could sense Blob reacting to the danger to his life, ready to take immediate action against them. And given what he knew about Aqāru…

Halt. He commanded. Do not attack. Activate Capacitance and wait.

Acknowledged

Luckily for him, the threat did not come to pass. Instead, the creature shuddered, drawing its winged membranes into itself. The black ichor-like hide turned into patches of pale, perfect flesh that spread over its dark skin like a fungal growth. The flappy breasts swelled back into softly rounded perfection once more.

Solana stood there before him later, settling back in her modest business suit, her arms hanging on either side, her back stiff and an angry expression on her face. She was no less pretty than she had been a few moments before, not a line or a curve any different. But for him, that effect had been ruined. He had seen her, and would always remember what she truly looked like beneath this flesh-mask.

She looked at him, her eyes shining like burning coals. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do that again. It was… most uncomfortable.”

And then she regarded Tanya — Meynte, whatever, and strode towards her. She came to a halt a feet away from her, and genuflected. And in a tone that bordered on fanatic reverence, she declared—

“Glacier Queen, Bringer of the End, I, your servant, pledge my fidelity. I serve and obey.”

If there was any lingering doubt about who was controlling Tanya’s body, it faded away with her words. There was no hesitation ‌to her movements — the gesture wasn’t some technicality she had to observe. Solana believed that the person before her merited such obeisance. As if seeing Tanya like that wasn’t already enough to set him on edge.

Naturally, the words that came out next fitted the ambience well. In the worst possible way.

“Kinky. Knew you had submissive tendencies behind that blowhard facade.”

—

Solana turned around. The smile on her face had vanished and a determined look tensed her features. “Outsider, your mouth lacks elegance. Keep it under leash, or I’ll remove it myself. You are in the presence of—”

“I think I’ve a good idea what she is,” he said quietly, eyeing Meynte. As far as situations went, this was hardly beyond salvaging. He’d rank facing the bylestyr as far more dangerous than this.

And with good reason.

Meynte didn’t seem to care what his intentions were. It was obvious even to those without battle experience to tell. Her presence itself assured victory, and in her eyes, everyone should recognize it.

Lukas would know. He was awfully familiar with that gaze.

“You’re playing the arrogant Queen-bee vibe a bit too hard,” he said, meeting Meynte’s eyes, completely ignoring Solana’s threats. “Maybe cut down on the theatrics a bit?”

“Aguilar!” Solana hissed, her eyes both furious and wide with near-panic. Meynte, on the other hand, was regarding him intently. He noticed a subtle shift of her weight and had he not expected it already, he’d barely have noticed the sudden flash that originated between them and lanced out towards him. Meynte ‌was reasonably surprised when a sliver of pure lifeforce popped between them, and met the incoming projectile head on. The Everfrost spear struck the shield, turned to ice, and was instantly shattered from the force of the collision.

Neither of them acted like what had just transpired was out of the ordinary, their gazes remained where they had been the entire time.

“I told you. Kings, Emperors, Gods — they are all fiction where I come from. What did you expect I’d do? Shiver and bow and kiss the helms of a has-been ghost?”

“Hmm,” murmured Meynte. She tilted her head to one side, her smile fading. “I suppose not. Mindless dogs like you are incapable of following even the simplest instructions for long.” Her cadaverous eyes stared at the shattered ice on the floor, as if examining it. “Then again, your jests are amusing. Better than the helpless beasts dancing to the tune of their goddess. Your defiance presents an amusing comedy, if stale in some regards.”

“What are you getting at?” asked Lukas impatiently.

“Servant,” murmured Meynte, “introduce me to this ephemeral.”

For a few seconds, there was silence. Then Solana gasped and staggered, nearly falling down in the process. She stood up and then spoke in a ragged tone. “You stand before Meynte, Glacier Queen, Cruelest Winter, Bearer of the End.”

Lukas tilted his head slightly. “So she’s a ghost.”

“Not a ghost!” Solana snapped, her composure visibly giving way to irritation. “Have care how you speak. The Empress, before her demise, crafted this Throne — Nidhogg’s Lair, to store a part of herself away. An indemnity, sealed away from the claws of Death, awaiting to fashion another into the reincarnation of Meynte herself. And now, Tanya, a vessel of Everfrost, has achieved her destiny. Her form will become the form of Meynte, Queen of the End, the original wielder of Everfrost. After a thousand years, our hopes have finally been answered.”

“Right, and you and your fellow yokai can go dance and sing kumbaya and all that crap. Now return Tanya back to me.”

He took a step forward.

“That is impossible,” said Solana. “I promised her I’d reveal her destiny to her. She accepted it and sat upon that throne. And now, she’ll serve the greater good and become the new form for the Empress.”

“Servant,” Meynte murmured, her cataract eyes watching Lukas. “Who is this… insect?”

“He is Lukas Aguilar, my liege,” murmured Solana, “the Outsider of Legend. The one that fought your descendant, bound her down, and forced her to follow his will. He has been the key to getting the right Host for your Throne.”

She turned to face him. “Aguilar. You have been of much help, and now you have fulfilled your destiny. As part of my gratitude, I’ll let you walk away free. But if you stay, if you bow before the Queen and offer your allegiance, then she will grant you all the knowledge that you seek. The world, the gods, the universe itself — nothing transcends her gaze. Accept this, and you shall have a power you have never known.”

“And she’d just give that to me…” Lukas muttered.

“Absolutely,” said Solana. “Kvasir’s treatise, the Asukan’s collections — none but the Empress herself can give you the knowledge of the Time Before. You are powerful and unpredictable and have a knack for coming out ahead in difficult situations. That much I’m willing to concede. You can be the sword of our Queen, and she will wield you to wreck the Asukan world apart.”

“Tempting,” said Lukas. “But I’ll have to go with a no. I’ve a problem with liars and betrayers. Just as your Queen thinks of the world as hers, I think of Tanya as mine. And I cannot tolerate anyone trying to steal anything from me, whoever, whatever they are.”

Lifeforce sang in his veins. Mana and Anomalous Energy rushed in as well. His fractals heated. There was a time to fight and a time to talk… and the line that bordered the two was fast approaching.

His eyes dilated slightly, as kinetic trajectories slowly appeared in front of him. The world became sharper. Every detail imaginable was for him to discern and determine. Every twist, every turn, every single vibration. The Screen threw him a mass of contradictions about Meynte, facts that he could not tally at all. Facts that would determine the difference between absolute victory and colossal defeat.

“You’re deluded if you think Tanya was ever yours,” snipped Solana. “She was born to do this. This was her destiny.”

“And who are you to do that to her?” Lukas demanded. “One’s family and friends are there to support you when you make a mistake. When you fall down. They help you stand up again. They do not take advantage of you and trick you into a different fate.”

“This. Is. Her. Destiny.” Solana growled.

“And that,” said Lukas, “is why we don’t see eye to eye. Tanya is rash and ignorant and makes mistakes, and I want her to understand the meaning of the choice she’s making. By definition, experience takes time and mistakes to build. And Tanya, like myself, is quite young. But ‌if what you say is true and Tanya wants to become the body of some has-been relic of the past—” Solana’s eyes twitched — “then I’ll not stop her. I will not reprimand her or keep her from her destiny. Hell, I’ll even stay on her side and help her deal with the consequences, even if it means working with a backstabbing bitch like you.”

“You would?” Solana asked, a mix of curiosity and disbelief flashing across her icy mask.

“I would,” agreed Lukas. “And don’t think too much about it. Your backstabbing skinwalker brain might explode.”

“Do you really think it proper to antagonize me so?”

Lukas affected a bored look. “You should be lucky I haven’t already torn you a new one. As far as I’m concerned, I’m being incredibly diplomatic.”

Honestly, he was enjoying Solana’s reactions. However, he wasn’t taking her lightly. He just had the right idea of how to push her buttons. And blatant disrespect, especially to someone she regarded as her superior, did that like nothing else.

An enraged Solana was a sloppy one, after all.

It also had her and Meynte’s attention firmly on him. He had debated truly cutting loose and going straight to attack, but there was always the chance of Tanya getting injured in the battle. Possessed or otherwise, the body was still hers.

And right then, the Screen pinged.

Energy Drain Complete

Accessory ready for Combat

Initiate Puppeteer Protocol?

About time. Now that Rollback Protocol had done its job and activated Blob as a complete accessory to his Anomaly System, he could control it, both in hand and remotely, albeit within a certain distance.

Like accessing his Omphalos functions through it.

He could only hope that things would turn out exactly like he planned.

“I’d ask you to think again, Outsider. Your association with the girl is fleeting‌. I am offering you a way out. I can offer you all the kami in the world. I can take you to the Haze and show you the nine realms themselves. All you’ve got to do is submit to us. Forget about the girl.”

“No can do.”

“You’d face my wrath for her?”

“I’d not defy you for her,” Lukas amended with a stony expression that matched hers. “I’d defy you for her ability to choose for herself. And if you, or your Queen tries to stop that, then you'll have to deal with something worse than freaking Amaterasu.”

“And what is that?” asked Meynte, her cold, white eyes staring at him with vivid interest.

“Me.”

Solana drew herself to her fullest height and shot him a deathly glare.

“You will not win.”

Lukas smiled. “I might not win.” The flecks of green overlaid over the brown. Power surged within him. “But I’ll make sure that all of you bleed for it.”

His challenging gaze met hers without hesitation. “What? Still having second thoughts?” He taunted. “My, what a loser attitude! Maybe this isn’t about Tanya at all. This is about your cowardice. But then again, what else can I expect from a servant of a has-been?”

And he looked straight at Meynte in the eyes.

Inanna had once told him not to draw another in an extended gaze. All sorts of things could invade one’s mind through the eyes. It was why they were called the windows of the soul. Just as he estimated, he felt the brunt of her psionic assault smash into her mind. Had he suffered this back in the anomaly, her will would have crushed his flat. But things had changed. He was the Prime Host, with a Level-5 Alpha Condition. Not even the most lethal of monsters could possess him and force a chance upon his soul or his mind. Compared to that, this was a small fry.

He saw Meynte’s eyes widen in shock as he soundly rebuffed her assault.

“Naughty, naughty,” he taunted, wagging a finger in remonstration.

“Perverted thing!” whispered Meynte. “I take offense to you staring at me like that. As Queen of Yokai, I’m obliged to end you. You have no one else to blame for this outcome than yourself.” For the first time, she addressed him with a firm tone laced with smooth, killing intent. Glacial eyes met the flecks of green with brown, and an agreement was made.

Only one of them would leave this fight alive.

Lukas’s frown deepened, but he otherwise didn’t move at all. “I’ve seen enough miracles for one lifetime.”

Five, ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred shards of Everfrost formed in the air all around Meynte, who stared at him from her throne.

Puppeteer Active

Choosing Appropriate Prototype

Solana’s eyes turned pitch-black as a wave of something drew closer.

Intended target identified

Intercept Routines

Activate Prototype Khorkhoi

Dazzling, white flames began to form around Lukas’s fists, cloaking them like a glove. He watched as Solana crouched down, and let out a strange growl that resembled less like a warcry and more like a landslide rumbling from her throat.

Meynte’s lips twisted. “Pity.”

Enact

The room exploded.