Back when he was a fresher at university, Lukas had come across the Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus’ paradox, a thought experiment that raised the question of whether an object that had all of its components replaced remained fundamentally the same object. The question was that if every part of the ship was replaced by new parts, would it still remain the original ship? And if not, then perhaps if one took the older parts of Theseus’s ship and put them together, would the new ship become Theseus’ ship?

To surmise, the paradox raised a fundamental question — what constituted one’s identity? One’s history, or one’s physical body? Both philosophy and fantasy literature often sought this particular question, swapping a person’s body parts for artificial replacements until there was nothing original left within him.

Why was he thinking about this in the middle of battle? Because he was facing a walking-breathing-ghosting proof of the paradox.

Meynte was dead and gone over a thousand years ago. The new body belonged to Tanya, the parts, and even the existing skills belonged to Tanya and Tanya alone. But when her memories were swapped by those of Meynte, what would you call the body? Tanya, or Meynte?

“Wonderful,” said Meynte. The frown on her face had been replaced by a smile filled with curiosity and acknowledgement. “That metal smudge does not live, and yet you breathed life into it at will. I erased its soul from existence, and yet, it has a new one. Say, Outsider, is this your doing?”

Lukas felt the stress in the room abating somewhat. He could sense Blob hammer against Solana’s defenses in a different corridor. The two had shattered the wall, and extended the battlefield past it, leaving the room to just the two of them.

“And what if it is?”

Meynte threw her head back and released a full-throated laugh. “Crafting souls at will. A feat that surpasses all divinities of the Time Before. I am the wielder of the End of Potential, and you, the Avatar of Creation. We are polar opposites, you and I. No wonder you rub me the wrong way.” Her white eyes glowed as she regarded him. “Yes. Yes, that's right. Amaterasu was an eyesore but you… I just want to play with you.”

“Play?”

“YES!” claimed Meynte. There was a strange intensity in her eyes and tone. “I do not want to destroy you. Oh no, I cannot, will not, should not destroy you. You… I’d make you suffer something far, far worse. I’d have you create, only to see it obliterated before your very eyes. Then create again. And again. And again until the End of Creation. You… You are alien. You are wrong. You are— you are—”

It was like she was losing her sanity by the second, shaking her head so frantically that a normal person’s neck would have suffered traumatic injuries at the bare minimum. Just what was it about him that Meynte was driven mad just by contemplating it?

Could it be because he was an anomaly? He knew the Screen registered Tanya, and now Meynte, as Predator.

Not Prey.

“You, soulcrafter,” murmured Meynte, for once eyeing him like someone worth her recognition. “You have achieved far greater than what I had anticipated. Not only do you have the gall to damage my precious throne, you dare be my antithesis and desire to claim this host body. Be proud…”

There was murder and madness lacing her tone. A calm, irritated anger that could be ignored by any party. She formally took a battle stance against Lukas, and hoarfrost surged out of her like a maelstrom.

“...There have been exceptionally few that have managed to irritate me to such a degree.”

The tide of the battle changed instantly.

“Guhh!” Lukas grimaced as he attempted to hold his own against the wall of winter and death that crashed upon him. He had managed to keep up, and even pushed back from time to time, but this was way beyond anything he could counter. Unless he resorted to using his ultimate weapon, chances of him beating her was zero. But if he did use kinetomancy, he’d end up destroying Tanya’s body and killing her for good.

Either way, he’d lose.

Puppet BYLESTYR Eliminated

…

Create New Instance - BYLESTYR

Damn it. This was the fifth time Solana had destroyed the prototype. The bylestyr was, everything considered, the strongest prototype in his array. He knew that the Crypt of Fiendish Worms probably contained prototypes on its level or higher somewhere in its prototype stores, but he didn’t have the time or the inclination to try something new in the middle of battle. Still, that she was able to kill a full-fledged Level-3 bylestyr consistently without flaring her power out spoke of the ironclad control she had over it. He was pretty sure that if she came at him without reservations, she’d kick his ass.

It was fortunate that his Omphalos Reserves had enough energy to power up several hundred thousands of such bylestyrs before he needed refilling again. The problem was doing that over and over while trying to match Meynte’s assault.

He had never faced a situation where he was out of lifeforce or mana during his earlier battles, and his output had grown by magnitudes since then. The fractals only amplified that. Imagine his surprise that now of all things, he was being troubled with not having enough mana.

That kind of said everything about Meynte, Queen of the End and wielder of Everfrost.

It was ridiculous. Absurd. Completely insane.

His eyes were almost green now, constantly surveying the motion trajectories of the incoming barrages, and then using Shatterpoint Intuition to counter them. The problem was that despite his increased capacities, his arms were still human. They could only move so fast and for so long before fatigue caught up with them. Lifeforce could prolong the process but even it wouldn’t be able to delay it indefinitely. Unless he did something, he was going to lose.

“Is that all you’ve got, soulcrafter?” Meynte taunted him with a malicious grin on her face. “Don’t tell me that after that display, you are limited by your frail form?”

I’ll show her frail. Lukas gritted his teeth spitefully. He had always suspected that Tanya’s Everfrost was more absurd than anything else he had ever seen, short of Inanna and the Ifrit King. Given what he knew now, the latter was probably going down on that list. Tanya had been a Level- 22, and that was before they had gotten inside that borderland. Given that Lukas had climbed up by 13 levels there, he had some idea what her new levels were like.

And she had an eighty-seven percent ECR.

Given his own experience with being possessed by a goddess multiple times in the past, he could tell that Tanya was up for a very nice surprise after he managed to wake her up. After making her suffer for a day or two for putting him through this. Yes, it wasn’t her fault, he knew it, but he just enjoyed seeing her face all scrunched up.

Mind is racing in all directions. Going to need to end this soon, he thought deliriously. Still, no sense in giving in. Especially now that he was so close to figuring things out.

Reaching into his prototype array, he reached for more help.

I wish Mori was here. She’d get a conniption.

Accessing Monster Prototype Svartalfar

Initiating Consciousness Shift

Enact

And Hreidmar’s instincts took over.

The sulfurous smell vanished from his nostrils, replaced with a faint, wet, muddy whiff. The constant surges of lifeforce instantly vanished, replaced with a feeling of connectedness. The battleground almost vanished from his senses. He was a creature of the terrain and here he was, in an underground city, crafted exclusively out of rock and terramancy. He could sense the material forces at play, the strong yet subtle way Solana’s barriers held the entire thing in place. He was a spider, perched within another spider’s web, one that made up for its incipient craftsmanship with its sheer scale. A familiar layer of anti-friction formed around him, isolating him from everything. The battleground, and Meynte’s glacial territory, which otherwise had seemed everywhere, now felt utterly localized.

Small.

Irrelevant.

“Oh?” asked Meynte. “That is some change. Your mana and lifeforce patterns shifted completely. It is like a completely different individual. What other secrets do you have, Outsider?”

“Just hang on a minute! I swear my next one involves talking bunnies.”

“Your insouciance is no longer amusing, Outsider,” said Meynte. “And regretfully, I have grown bored of this stalemate.”

And then the storm began again.

Lukas had seen Tanya conjure everfrost blades before, but she had always followed a craft, lock and launch policy. Granted, seeing a hundred everfrost blades hung in air, each of them pronouncing a frigid death upon impact had its own psychological value in war. Meynte on the other hand, simply did not have such restraints. It was almost like a portal had opened behind her, unveiling a land of glacial white from which contrails of silvery white light kept coming at him.

Which made his defense all the more impressive.

The adrenaline rush within him died. Extreme rationality took over. Thick walls of stone erupted between them, intercepting Meynte’s attacks. Everfrost was deadly to lifeforce but against rock, it was little more than the frozen hoarfrost that constituted it. He saw Meynte extend his attacks from all directions, and casually raised walls from every direction, while also crafting his plan. There he was, standing in his element, against a creature that had, for better or worse, proved to be stationary.

That would prove to be her undoing.

The truth was, he had at least one way to save Tanya up his sleeve, without resorting to using kinetomancy, that is. Trouble was, there were four major problems with that.

One. He didn’t know exactly what Meynte was capable of. No entity that could take on a veritable goddess could be a one-trick-pony.

Two. Even if she somehow was a one-trick-pony, then that single trick would be so versatile with so many variations that he’d be hard-pressed to truly account for everything.

Three. Meynte wasn’t a soul. She was a memory. A cluster of memories. And this cluster had to come from somewhere. Lukas refused to believe that even the Empress would be that stupid to store the memories in this throne. No, it was more likely that the Throne acted as a conduit through which the real memory-source transferred the memories to the victim sitting on it. And he had no idea where or what that source was.

And finally, four. Even if he somehow managed to trap her and get her to desert Tanya’s body, she’d probably return to the Throne. Chances of him collapsing at the end of the fight was really high, and Tanya was already mind-fucked. It would be horrifically easy for Solana to walk in, snap his neck and kill him for good measure and then repeat the process with Tanya again, and this time, there would be nothing he’d do, because he’d be too dead to do anything.

He needed a solution that tackled all four points, and not necessarily, in order. He’d need to find what she was capable of, and try his best to get Solana out of the equation. That was way more difficult than it seemed, since she was a demented fanatic with six centuries of blind faith empowering her fanaticism. And while he did all of that, he also needed to find a way to trap Meyte for good.

Might as well start from that.

After all, she entered Tanya through the Throne. So, the Source must be connected to it. All he had to do was find it.

The first wall shattered. Two more rose to take its place.

Lukas didn’t care. His lips didn’t even move. The command came anyway.

Find it for me.

Anomalous energy exploded out of him in all directions, expanding past the usual radius — searching, recognizing, comprehending, distinguishing. The svartalfar ability to recognize different substances in the terrain was added to the mix. For what he was searching for, was a very unique substance.

Memories were delicate things. You couldn’t just store them in random substances. You needed something spiritually active and yet empty. Something that could survive long without shattering and yet isolate the memory from the external environment.

Something like featherglass.

Scanning for Featherglass

Extending Borders

And how convenient that he had the Sink within reach. Which meant that the conduit was within reach too.

Located Featherglass

Purity: 81%

Pulling subterranean geography…

Lukas suppressed the urge to laugh. 81% purity. Maybe Solana was right. Asukans really were the lowest rung on the ladder if the highest they could pull off was 76%.

It was here. Somewhere here. It had to be. There was no other alternative. He’d find it. He’d get it. He’d grab it. All he had to do was dig…

Deeper.

Wider.

Farther.

His senses expanded outward. He wasn’t Lukas Aguilar anymore. He was svartalfar. A creature of the terrain. From this terrain he was born, and into this terrain he’d return upon his demise. The terrain was his everything, and it showed him everything he wanted to know.

All he needed was to be a little faster.

The Ice Queen snarled some meaningless things to him, but he didn’t bother paying attention. He couldn’t win this, not as he was. Hreidmar’s skills were a strong counter to Meynte, but only for the short term. Especially if Meynte threw her entire might against him.

But that didn’t mean he was out of options. No, rather because he was in such a state, a new path had become available that he did not, and probably had not, considered before. A last ditch effort with long lasting consequences even if it did work, but the odds were far more favorable than anything else he had. No, if anything, they were better than what he had when the battle started.

So he focussed.

Deeper.

Eyes were useless. The knowledge of the underground complex rushed through his mind. He felt the coppery tang of blood in his mouth but ignored it. A thousand points came to mind, only to be rejected for another thousand location points. And then another. And another, painting them in different shades of color in his mind’s eye. Moving faster than physically possible, his Reach moved deeper, searching through the walls to find it. It was connected to the Throne, but Solana had played with the fabric of space to twist it through mediums that made no sense. If he couldn’t find it, he’d have to undo Solana’s barriers. No, tweaking these barriers would bring down the entire territory.

He needed an alternative.

“This delusion will end with your death!” snarled Meynte.

Faster. Lukas told himself, ignore the bitch and concentrate. You have the sink. You cannot get to the source. So what can you do?

He paused.

Damn it. I really am an idiot.

In using Hreidmar’s instincts, he had begun to limit himself to thinking like him, like a svartalfar. Hreidmar wouldn’t have a choice except to find ways to tweak through Solana’s defenses and get to the main source. But an Anomaly like Lukas?

He could create a new source.

Initiate Featherglass Forging

Determined purity: 81%

Scanning for stable alloys…

Meynte raised one hand.

He was close. He was very close. Just a little more and he’d be victorious.

“Your last stand was praise-worthy, but the battle was decided before it had even begun.”

Damn it.

“Eh, I really have a really awesome final move that you won’t see coming, but it’ll take me about five minutes to prepare. Mind if I get started?”

The truth was that he gave it fifty-fifty odds. The really ancient and immortal-type never really gave much importance to time. Why would they, when a decade to them held almost the same value as a week would to someone like him?

Just a little more and this will work.

This, the Empress would not be able to foresee.

“The Queen has sentenced your fate. Nothing you say or do can change it.”

“Heh!” said Lukas. His voice was wet and raspy at the same time, something that belonged to a deranged old man rather than a young adult. “Sorry to disappoint, Empress, but you’re wrong!”

The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. This was taking a heck of a toll. Still, after all that stunt and bargaining with the svartalfars, it was just that easy? Fucking stupid!

“Slightly?” asked Meynte, cocking her head slightly. “At risk of being exposed to your madness, child, I will indulge you. How am I, who brings the End of Potential, wrong?”

Featherglass creation complete

Altering physical shape and size…

Connecting to Sink…

“You said the battle was decided from the start. I wonder, which battle are you talking about? Me resisting you? Or me resisting Everfrost?”

The Empress’s frown deepened into curiosity. “Your ramblings—”

“Makes a lot of sense!” Lukas retorted, throwing up more blood. “Because I know a lot of things. I know lots of important things. Want to know some, before you try to kill me, Queen Meynte?”

Right in the middle of that, the floor erupted and a creature arose out of it. The only thing he could make out was an immensely tall, lean, shaggy, vaguely humanoid thing with a dark head and claws that were the size of his arms.

And it was fast.

Lukas hastily raised a stone wall, but one look with those abyssal dark eyes and it disintegrated to dust. Lukas terraported over and over, but the creature was one step, three steps, seven steps ahead of him, and if not for his force shields, he’d have been sliced into pancakes several times over. Lukas threw a wave of pure lifeforce at it but it spun in midair, and raked its claws at his mid—section —

Only for someone else to grab its claws midway and thrash it down upon the ground.

“...”

Lukas blinked, and turned at his unexpected savior. Her entire body glowing with sigils and runes, and glaring down at the fallen creature, was Maude.