Fight for Power

<<<Sigma>>>

With our course decided, and a time limit now hanging over us, we prepared to make our move. We decided to wait until the bottom team as in position first, no need to awaken the guards in the lower areas before they got there.

Once they arrived and were in position, we struck. I carved through one of the earth elemental guards with three quick slashes and swiftly moved to another, while Mars punched several of them together and then snapped, detonating the pile.

The remaining elementals reacted to our presence, lobbing chunks of themselves our way. A wall of wax rose to block them, then rushed forward as Candle used their own boulders against them, smashing several more of the defenders. A few more emerged from the earth around us, but before any of them could move Bloodriver and I moved through the room like a whirlwind, my blades and her saw carving them to ribbons.

A moment passed in silence as we waited for more to emerge, but none did.

"Well then. Xenon, any idea what all this is?" Bloodriver asked, looking around the room.

Past the more narrow entryway, the room itself was quite large, with numerous alcoves set into the walls. Each contained some element, fire crackling away, wind swirling, a tank or water, so on and so forth. Situated inside each of these was a single earth seraphim.

"These seraphim are all dormant... as I said earlier, this is likely an effort to obtain a second element. As far as I know, that usually requires the spirit to die, so I suppose this is an attempt to bypass that?"

"Wait, you have to die to gain a second element? What?" Mars asked, flabbergasted.

"That's what I've heard anyway," Xenon clarified, "I'm not entirely familiar with the process, given I've, you know, not done that myself."

"You're correct about that, for what it's worth."

"Oh, that's good to know," Xenon replied. There was a brief pause. "Wait. Who was that?"

"Over here," came the voice again. When we couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, there was a sigh followed by, "The one full of water."

That finally lead us to the alcove that was rather clearly a tank of water... muddy water. Probably what happens when you sit an earth seraphim in it for... uh...

"How long have you been in there?" I asked, jumping right to the point.

"Hah. Longer than you've been around, I figure. Funny thing, waking up and finding a buncha fleshlings being the first intelligent things I see. The elementals were okay, but not exactly sparkling conversationalists if you catch my drift," the earth seraphim replied, "I was told this was gonna take a while when I volunteered. Didn't give a time window, though. Just 'hop in here and we'll come get you when there's results'."

"Really? You just... jumped in, no thought for how long you might be here?" Xenon asked, voice clearly exasperated.

"Hey I wasn't asking questions! They tell ya you can maybe get a second element, and I figured why not? Seems like maybe its been an awful long time since then, though. Maybe this thing went longer than I thought..."

"That'd explain why it took so long for the Super-Bastion to respond..." Bloodriver commented.

"Super-Bastion?! Whoa, we didn't have one of those when I went under! s***, it really HAS been a long time! Those bastards, did they forget we were here? Lemme out of this thing, I'm gonna..." the seraphim growled, the glass of the tank creaking ominously as all the dirt in the water rushed to the front. The four of us had only a moment to jump back before the seraphim smashed through, carrying all the dirt with it... along with all the water, surrounding it in a sphere.

"Huh. Well that's new," the spirit muttered, before the water dribbled away from it, finally revealing a brown seraphim with swirls of blue running through it. "Hey, what do you know, it worked!" Bobbing upward, it swirled around the room. "Well, for me anyway. The rest of these guys maybe not so much?"

As the seraphim rambled, the rest of us huddled.

"Jackpot!" Candle said, fist-pumping. "A dual-element seraphim!"

"Yeah, but is he interested in joining us?" I asked.

"He didn't seem super enthused about being left here... maybe we can work that?" Xenon suggested.

"Worth a shot," Bloodriver replied, glancing over at the still-talking seraphim. "Don't want to be too pushy here, but if we could just-"

Mars interrupted by turning and shouting, "Yo, seraphim! Wanna come with us?"

This pulled the seraphim out of its rant. "With you fleshlings? Huh... well, I got no real connection to whatever's going on out there anymore now do I... So sure, why not!"

Mars turned back to us with an intensely smug grin.

"Yeah yeah, smug it up," I growled at him. "Just because it worked this time..."

"Well then, welcome aboard! Don't think we caught your name?" Xenon put forward.

"Ah, right! Name's Landslide. Pleased to meetcha."

Any further conversation was interrupted by a deep rumbling from below.

"Ah. You uh, got any friends checking out the thing down there?" Landslide asked.

<<<Phi>>>

There were a few more guards than I'd scouted out previously. By the time we we'd finished the whole room was covered in s***tered earth elementals. Fortunately Magnus was present to use his psionic powers as the world's largest broom.

Vika whistled as she looked around. "Well then, what's all this?"

It's a fairly busy room. That walls are covered in the engravings I saw from the entrance, a winding, complex script occasionally interspersed with depictions of robed, legless beings somehow interacting with the room's other major feature, which took up much of the floor.

Said feature is a huge set of concentric rings, inscribed with glowing blue runes. Each ring seems to be set in a track, so maybe these rotate?

"This room is old... much older than the rest of this bastion," Magnus declared, feeling around the engravings and rings. "Very old. A surface scan with my psychometry is only giving me quick glimpses, it all flies past. I'd need to look deeper in order to figure it out... but where do I look?"

"What all can you see from the surface?" I asked. No point jumping in blind.

"This... thing has had a wide variety of visitors over the years," Magnus explained, "These entities on the walls seem to have been the ones that made it, and they appear several times... before suddenly they're gone, then there's long stretches of nothing between each visit, someone new coming through each time. The time frame is so wide they come and go in a blink..."

"I'd say the beginning would be best, then," Vika commented. I hummed to myself.

"Hmm... the construction looks to be long, I would need far too much time to review it all," Magnus replied.

"Fair point," Vika conceded, "Something further along, then? If others have visited, some of them must have known how it works."

"Checking the robed figures might not help, they probably already knew the functionality well enough. A moment where someone's explaining the function would be best," I suggested. Magnus furrowed his brow in concentration.

"I have a candidate. I will need some time to examine it closely," he said, before seating himself in the center of the rings.

As soon as he delved into whatever memory he'd found, a loud clanking sound emanated from the edges of the room.

"Heads up," I called to Vika, drawing my blades. Panels of the floor lifted up and changed shape into suits of disembodied armor, covered in vicious spikes. These don't look like they were left by the spirits.

"Some sort of automated defense," Vika called back, staff drawn and gathering energy, "What even triggered them?"

I took a glance at Magnus. Did these things respond to him just scanning it?

<]-Mithril-[>

Screw this s***. Metal Gate: Aggro Shift. "Metal. Kaiser."

Incoming green flames at point-blank. I'm aware. I don't give two s***s because I'm going to kill Ark'thugal up and then kill Eranikus up and then grab the shard.

"Cobalt Crusher! Hiduminium Hammer!" I shouted, slamming two powerful hammers right into his head. Ark'thugal's retaliation ignited them upon impact. Don't care. Gonna kill his ass.

"I see that fire in your eyes. The drive for victory, the desire to win at all costs. I know that fire quite well," Ark'thugal said, grinning maliciously. "Survival is fury. Beat your hand against that wall until one or the other breaks. I know which one I'm betting on."

If Ark'thugal's going to mess up my plans with all that evily-evily magic s*** then I'll mess up his. "I'll demolish your evil plans and make you die here!" I yelled, slamming his face with a "Titanium Twister!" and a "Dolomite Drill!", which burnt away from the green flames upon slamming into his skull,

"Hah! Better than you have tried. Go ahead, give it your best shot!" Ark'thugal spat in return, spitting a wad of blood on me and punching me in the face with his green flaming fist.

"Beryllium Buster! Iron Impact!" I hollered, slamming additional attacks right into his ug mug, which is now bleeding profusely. Ark'thugal responded with some kind of blood attack mixed with those green flames, but I'm going to HARD SHONEN WILLPOWER past this s*** and win.

"Osmium Obliterator! Dolomite Devastator!" I roared, pummeling Ark'thugal with more massive attacks, piling on damage, forcing him ever closer to defeat.

"You think THIS is enough to kill me? GET. REAL." snarled Ark'thugal, grabbing me by the head and then slamming me down into the ground with enough force to crater the ground.

"I have only just BEGUN to fight!" I hissed in return. "Triple Alloy Anvil! Triple Platinum Pain!" Three anvils and three platinum beams to his face met with two fists in retaliation.

"Triple Silver Slammer! Triple Metal Reaper! I shouted, unloading three massive metal beaters and blades, slamming into his face and tearing gouges into his skull, with him retaliating with several bloody slashes.

"Triple Chrome Cannon! Triple Alloy Arsenal!" I yelled, firing three massive point-blank cannon blasts into his face along with numerous amounts of various weaponry, now forcing Ark'thugal back even as the edges of my vision began to fray.

Ark'thugal responded with an ice attack plus green flames of some kind, didn't hear the name, don't care when I responded and shouted and ROARED, "Triple Titanium Trident! Triple Metal Macross!" gouging him with three huge tridents and pummeled him with three enormous metal crosses.

"Triple Metal Missile! Triple Alloy Amputator!" I screamed, blasting him and gutting his face and I don't think I heard his reply's attack name over the blood and the explosions and retaliating unholy attack.

"Triple Radium Ruiner! Triple Rhenium Razor! Triple Barium Buster! I punctuated, slamming Ark'thugal and pummeling him, forcing him to give ground even as my hearing began shorting out.

"Triple Jet Fist! TRIPLE METAL KAISER!" I hollered, unleashing an astronomically powerful series of attacks, the aftershock of which annihilated the ground we were standing on, the heavy winds kicking up a massive storm of dust, part of that deflected attack lancing towards the green star in the sky and slamming into it.

The explosion was deafening, the recoil from that slamming into the two of us even as we continued to sock each other in the face in mid-air, the ground beneath us now missing. I did not let up, following up with a "Triple Titanium Thundercrusher! and Triple Platinum Punisher!" as Ark'thugal replied with a swarm of undead and green flames.

"Triple Chrome Constellation! Triple Metal Meteor!" I roared, bursting through the horde of undead, unloading these attacks into Ark'thugal's skull, before grabbing Ark'thugal in mid-air, and then slamming him into the ground with a thunderous "Strontium Suplex!", pushing both of us further into the ground, past several roaming Earth spirits into an underground region with magma. Ark'thugal's retaliation froze and evaporated that magma, but unluckily for him I'M NOT DONE.

"Triple Rust Railgun! Triple Silver Strongarm!" I yelled, shooting him in the face and growing several arms to slam Ark'thugal down through the ground even more, magma singing the two of us as we dragged this fight further and further down past the crust, into the mantle of the planet.

"Triple Osmium Obliterator! Triple Dolomite Devastator!" I screamed, pummeling Ark'thugal further into the magma, countless swarms of undead rushing at us as I grabbed the Warboss with my arms and chains and tried to drown him in the magma and he tried to burn me with his green flames.

"Platinum Piledriver!" I hollowed, grabbing Ark'thugal and forcing both of us further into the heart of what is probably part of an active volcano, through enormous amounts of molten rock and past several confused Fire spirits.

"I'm going to drag your s***ty, evil Warboss ass to hell and KILL YOUR ASS THERE! TRIPLE PLUTONIUM PAIN!" I roared and screamed, my massive nuclear explosion fists slamming into Ark'thugal's face, the impact of the blows shaking the earth and unleashing a seismic molten magmafall, sending both of us down through the earth and closer and closer to the planet's core.

<Gamma>

"Gamma? Hey, Gamma! Come on, get up!"

I awoke slowly, groaning. Feels like someone thwacked me in the brain with a wollywog. Pushing myself up from the sand, I looked around slowly before my gaze landed on a relieved Orbin.

"Finally, I've been trying to get you up for like five minutes," he said, pulling me up by my right arm. I rested on him for a moment before standing fully.

"Where... is this Perplexing Pool?" I asked, taking another look around. We appear to be on the southeast end, near the Shower Room. "How the heck did we end up here?"

Orbin shrugged. "I woke up over on the other side of the Shower Room not too long ago. Couldn't port back to HQ, so I decided to look around and found you."

"Well, if we're here, some of the others might be. Let's have a look around and see if we can find anyone else."

Fortunately I have wings to simply fly over all the water here and Orbin is a blue Pikmin, so moving around wasn't too hard. A quick flight to the west, and my attention was drawn by a sharp whistle. I looked down to find Orvtre floating up to meet me.

"Well there's one of you. What happened? Why are we suddenly in Perplexing Pool?" I asked as Orvtre pulled up alongside me.

"Some kind of time fracture. We're mostly likely in either the past or the future, and if the pattern holds there's a 'shard' somewhere around here we'll need to find," shi explained.

"Time fracture? Does that mean Chi is involved in this somehow?"

"Maybe," Orvtre admitted, "although I haven't seen him yet... this may be because something happened to him."

"Hey! Over here!" Orbin called from a bit to the north. We flew over and found him next to-

"Is that... Omicron?" I asked as we descended. Yellow Pikmin, orb at the end of his stalk, wearing... a bunch of gear. Notably not made of metal.

"Oh, interesting! You have an orb like me! And you stand upright, most green Pikmin don't do that!" Omicron said upon spotting me, moving surprisingly quickly to examine me from head to toe. I turned, very slowly, to give Orvtre A Look.

"Ah, this isn't the first of these fractures I've been to. We uh... recruited this one in the first one I was in," Orvtre explained sheepishly.

"You found. Another. Omicron," I demanded more than asked.

"He's real skedaddly," Orbin interjected, as Other Omicron shifted from examining me to very intently examining the bark on the nearby tree stump, with precisely as much interest. "He fired like thirty questions about the shard in my chest in ten seconds when I found him."

"Oh, hello! Who might you be? Are those barbs natural?" Omicron's voice drifted over. He'd moved a fair distance and was now beside a scaly Red Pikmin who was laid out on the ground like we'd been. Spotting the Hero Band on his stalk, I realized he was one of the Bloodseeders that had joined us. Which one was this...?

"Dimetrodon head hurt..." he groaned as he sat up. Ah, that one.

Orvtre got the others caught up on what was going on, finishing hir explanation just in time for our attention to be drawn by some commotion to the north. As the group set off, I flew up to get a bird's eye view of it.

Immediately visible was all the water being flung about by whatever altercation was occurring. As I flew closer, I was able to pick out Hydross amidst the waves, having a go at another Blue Pikmin. I'd assume Beta is around as well, but she'd be effectively disguised in the water around here. Their opponent, on the other hand...

... immediately revealed their identity when they snapped shut the pincer on their left arm, firing a high velocity air wave that Hydross only barely avoided. I dove down to the others.

"Beta and Hydross are fighting someone, and I think I know who," I called out as I came down just above the rest of the group.

"That's Stream, some guy that attacked them a few years back. I'm pretty sure they killed him, actually, Beta told me a bit about it once. So it seems you're right, Orvtre."

"I'd place bets on him having the shard, then," Orvtre replied, "In which case he may be more dangerous than he originally was, and that means Beta and Hydross need our help. Let's go!"

"Dimetrodon Fight!" Dimetrodon loudly agreed, flames catching on his fists. The fight's happening in the water, though, so that kind of restricts his ability to help for the moment...

But it doesn't restrict mine. Whirling into a quick forward surge, I flew overhead and let loose my venom breath over Stream.

"What in the... hey! Back off!" Stream yelled, aiming his pincer at me. That took his attention off of Hydross long enough for him to advance and jab at Stream with his reef spear, forcing Stream's attention back onto him. That was swiftly followed by Orvtre sniping at Stream from the shore.

"Who are these jokers?!" Stream raged, retreating underwater for a moment. This was shortly followed by a burst of air, carrying frothy, high temperature water at Orvtre. Orbin stepped in front and summoned his shield, blocking the attack.

"I'd ask the same question..." Hydross called out, backing off as another air burst fired at him from the water. A blob of water poked up in the distance behind him, Beta waving at me before dropping back in.

"Happened to be in the neighborhood," I gave as my lame explanation, "Need some help with this guy?"

Hydross growled, tilted his head, and nodded. "Whatever, this guy's aggravating enough that I'll take it. Just don't get in my way."

Any response I had was interrupted by another air burst... this one much stronger than the others, slicing its way through the sky, singing one of my wings. I pulled myself into a glide to get back to shore as the air beam descended towards Orbin and Orvtre, who despite putting up another combined shield were actually shoved back this time.

The air burst did, however, briefly push the water away from Stream, and Dimetrodon took full advantage, rushing out through the parted waters to slam his fists against Stream's shell-covered arms.

"How dumb of a Red are you? The water's coming back in!" Stream commented as he deflected Dimetrodon's blows. As the waves closed in, however, they suddenly came to a stop in a circle around the two of them, Beta hopping out of the water behind him to shoulder tackle him in the back.

"Sure about that?" Beta taunted, as Dimetrodon socked him in the face. A growl from Stream was followed by a downward air burst, blasting both of them back, Dimetrodon only avoiding being pushed into the water by Hydross catching him.

"Come on then," Stream sneered, clacking his claw.

/|\Ark'thugal/|\

"Hahahaha! Excellent! COULDN'T ASK FOR A BETTER BACKDROP!" Ark roared through the fire and brimstone, "FOR YOUR INEVITABLE END!"

The magma around him began to turn the same green as his flames as his mere presence corrupted it, and yet still Mithril hammered away at him. He slammed his fists into her midsection, each strike accompanied by a burst of green flame, and yet she kept going.

"Give! Up!" Mithril roared back, thrusting a wall of nuclear drills at him. Ark punched straight through it easily, the energy he'd poured into her making her metal brittle and weak.

"I'll beat you, beat people stronger than you!" she shrieked, turning the s***tered metal into sharp flakes that cut into his flesh, and yet he pushed through it, raking fingers full of green flame across her torso, leaving blackened furrows.

"And then, I'll kill that s***ty evil god of yours!" Mithril kept going, slamming her fists into Ark's face, the fatigued metal crunching into metallic spikes, gouging open his cheeks to reveal a rictus grin.

"And once he's dead, I'll toss his carcass down into hell right alongside you!"

"That's right, elemental! NEVER SAY DIE!" Ark replied, ramming a fist straight through her torso, more black and green cracks spreading out around it. Mithril took the chance to grab hold of him.

"TITANIUM!"

Ark beat his left hand into her face, and she bit his hand.

"TRAIN!"

Ark pushed forward, reaching his right arm up behind her to grab the back of her head and spray more green flames into it.

"THRASHERRRRRRRRRRRR!"

A huge train loaded with thrusters blasted out from her body, shoving Ark along as it burst forward at hypersonic speed, straight down, into the gravity and heat of the planet's core. Both were shortly lost to sight.

"Eat..... s***....." Mithril growled, all but spent.

Mithril dragged herself out of the green magma and remained still for a moment, no energy left to celebrate. Slowly, laboriously, she made herself return to the surface. Eranikus - and the shard - were still up there.

It took an hour to get back to the surface, dragging herself out of the hole in the ground she'd driven the death knight into in the first place, leaving molten drippings in her wake.

"Alright, one down... one to- oh," she interrupted herself as she caught sight of Eranikus.

He was... well, partially alive. Specifically around his front. The back half was still quite undead. He was panting, eyes rolling about at random, until they landed on Mithril.

"What is... who... where am I?" the green dragon murmured. Mithril forced herself to walk toward him, quietly ignoring the verdigrised flakes chipping off of her with each step.

"The middle of... just about nowhere," Mithril informed him. "That bastard... killed you and... raised you into undeath. And on top of... on top of that, I think... the shard's rewinding you... back to life a little," she ground out, each word accompanied by a painful metallic grinding noise.

"Shard...?" Eranikus responded, just managing to lift his head to look at himself.

"Too much to... explain right now... time bulls***. Ugh... probably pieces of Chi," she said by way of explanation, willing herself not to fall over.

"The time warden? That is... quite dire," the dragon muttered, seeming nearly as out of energy as Mithril did. "This state that I am in... this is not living. Please, small one... a measure of mercy."

Mithril approached him, morphing her hand into a blade and lining it up with the center of the living portion of the undead dragon. Certainly that's where the shard was.

"Sorry about this," she offered.

"The one that... slew me... what of him?" Eranikus asked.

"Dead and... buried, in the center... of the earth."

"Hah... a fate richly deserved. Go on then... return me, to the dream..." the dragon murmured. Mithril stabbed into him with one quick motion and withdrew her arm with the shard in hand.

"Thank... yoooooouuuu," Eranikus muttered with his final breath, as undeath washed over him once more. Mithril eyeballed the shard.

"You better... fix me up between... now and the next one," she said as cracks spiderwebbed out from it.

Before the world could s***ter around her, though, the ground shuddered violently.

"No," she grunted between clenched teeth, before the ground exploded in front of her, a black figure erupting from the hole and slamming down in front of her before rising to his full height, eyes blazing green. As the cracks spread toward him, he grabbed them and shoved, pushing the cracks back to Mithril's hand, which he clasped in both of his.

Well and truly lost for words now, Mithril had no clever quip as Ark's burning gaze came back up to meet hers. A sinister grin spread across his face, and she noticed, through blurry eyes, that all his injuries had vanished. Like he'd not been in a fight at all.

"Heh. Heheh. Hahahaha, hahahahahahaha!" Ark threw his head back and laughed. When his eyes alighted upon her again, he leaned forward and said, in a conspiratorial whisper...

"Mithril. Reach heaven by violence."

And then he let go, and the world s***tered around her.

++Bloodriver & Xenon++ (Overlord verse)

Regarding "things to do in this top room before we head to the bottom room to back up the bottom room team", the first thing we got done besides recruiting Landslide actually happened just after the seraphim burst out of that tank of water, namely, taking a sample of the muddy water remnants from that tank before it splashed on the ground. I simply used my blood control to coat the ground with a thin layer of blood, before scooping up the muddy water and putting it into my powered armor's compartmentalized storage.

Notably, Landslide wasn't curious enough to question why I took that muddy water remnants sample, and the other Hero Squad members knew Magnus well enough to know that the psionic 'min would want a sample of this muddy water for later psychometric analysis.

Xenon (I) asked Landslide what information about the dormant seraphim, such as their personalities, likes and dislikes, did he know about. Landslide replied, "Eh, I mighta known some of 'em, but only in passing. They come and go so quick when you're fightin' fiends."

Hmm, that didn't inform me about each of the individuals here at all. Perhaps this calls for something more generic then, I thought, carving a message into the outside of the dormant Earth Seraphim's containers that only spirits could see. Notably, Landslide was curious enough to question this, so I explained to him thus: "Consider it a recruitment pitch of sorts."

We then all agreed to go down to the bottom room to back up the bottom room team, confirming to Landslide that yes, "we do have friends examining the bottom room, actually, and that we were going to head there to help them out."

"Would it be faster to bust through to the bottom room from here directly, or to just take the already existing passageway?" Candle asked, turning to look at Sigma and Landslide.

"Ah, you'd run into the roof of it that way, and whatever it's made of we never managed to get through it. Gotta take the path," Landslide replied.

"Well you heard him, let's move! Whatever they're screwing with down there, we'd better get it done before the seraphim show up," Sigma urged.

So we rushed down to the bottom room as fast as we could, Candle making a big ball of wax and rolling down in it, while the rest of us used our fastest means of getting down there. Since we had scouted this route earlier, we didn't have to spend additional time searching for hidden traps along this route.

When we made it to the bottom room and moved past the engravings, we came across a huge set of concentric rings, inscribed with glowing blue runes. Magnus was seated in the center of the rings, while Vika and Phi were fighting some suits of disembodied armor, covered in vicious spikes. These armor suits looked really tough, not taking as much damage from Vika and Phi as I had first expected.

Phi had ducked under one of the armor's extendable chain-connected fists, jamming one of his blades in an armor's joints to hinder it. Vika then slammed her staff charged with frost energy into the back of the armor, freezing it instantly, and then Phi grabbed it and slammed in into the ground hard, breaking the ice and cracking it. Even after Vika then blasted away at the armor, it got up again and resumed attacking with their extendable chains, so Vika fired a massive arcane beam into the armor, forcing the armor into another one, while Phi used an earthen jutsu to slam a huge rock into the two and pulverize them.

Only after a few more attacks was it confirmed for me that these armors needed to be pretty thoroughly smashed to stop them. Sigma reached the armors first, zipping up to one and then disintegrating it in a storm of blades, while I slammed a torrent of blood down onto another armor and then blasted it with light. Said armor attempted to get up again, but Candle then pinned it down even more with a lot of wax and we pulverized said armor into pieces.

Meanwhile, Landslide immobilized another armor with mud, forcing it to the ground, while Mars blasted away at said armor with fireballs and explosions.

Hmm, I (Xenon) think I'd like to experiment with a combination attack with water and microwave radiation later on.

Anyways, with most of Hero Squad now down here, it was a simple matter to deal with the armors now. Magnus the Red soon spoke, having figured out what this device was: "This device is a Weaver of Destiny, able to manipulate the threads of fate, specifically the fates of those currently in this room. Not to lock in their entire life from that point forward, but to edit their fates for the foreseeable future and point it toward something. It is not so grand as to accomplish something like Overlord Omicron's downfall, however; something smaller would be within its capabilities."

With all of us on a time limit, we quickly came up with suggestions on what to alter each of our fates towards.

Sigma didn't want the Weaver used on him, stating: "I don't think I'm comfortable with anyone screwing with my fate or whatever."

"Hmm. Perhaps... a chance to free one of the other Experiments controlled by the Overlord?" Phi suggested. This suggestion was quickly shot down as the Weaver only works on near-future fates, and we're currently on a planet-hopping trip far from Overlord Omicron who has little reason to divert his forces to chase a not-immediately threatening us when the Galactic cult are the Overlord's next door neighbors who are threatening enough to bash his face in should Omicron get cheeky and try to divert forces away from the Pikmin planet this early. Plus we doesn't want the Overlord to chase us this early on.

When Landslide was asked if he wanted anything from the Weaver, he replied, "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh THIRD ELEMENT!"

"A powerful new technique would suffice for me," said Mars.

"I guess I'll go and try and become an Archangel, but getting my second element would be fine too, and would be a step in that direction. Of course, I'd prefer if this happens without me having to die," I (Xenon) said.

"Secret," I (Bloodriver) said, then quietly and covertly communicated with Magnus, telling him in a whisper, "To restore my people and my allies from my past."

Following my (Bloodriver's) example, Vika and Candle also covertly told Magnus what they want from the Weaver of Destiny.

Hearing what Landslide and I (Xenon) said, Magnus specifically adjusted the Weaver so that it's set to "Landslide gets a THIRD ELEMENT WITHOUT DYING AND REBIRTH!!!" and not "Landslide gets a THIRD ELEMENT!!!" which raised the difficulty from low to very difficult. Magnus pointed this out to Landslide, who responded, "Ah. Probably shoulda figured on that."

When Landslide was asked which option to pick then, he responded, "Mmmmmmm. Not big on the dying route."

Magnus the Red then gave a further explanation of how the Weaver works, first stating that the Weaver provides clear feedback to the user whenever what they're trying to do is beyond its capabilities. Secondly, there was a limited amount of resources available to spend on the fates of the people in the room.

Magnus explains: "Let's say I have 10 points to work with. Life Equation is 3 points. Mars' request would take 2 points. Phi's takes 8, 7 if "Experiments who joined Overlord Omicron willingly" were excluded. Landslide low difficulty is 2 points. Landslide very difficult is 5 points. Bloodriver's is 6 points. Xenon Archangel is 1000 points, 100,000 points without dying and rebirth. Xenon second element is 2 points. Xenon second element without dying is 5 points.These point values are assigned arbitrarily and may not necessarily be accurate, I haven't tested all these inputs yet."

With this now known, I (Bloodriver) said, "... it may be better to omit my request if resources are limited, then. I should be able to accomplish what I had in mind... eventually."

Magnus tested out some troll requests as a control:
A meteor falls on the Overlord and kills him: 750
Control stops being cryptic: 1,000,000,000
Sigma eats a grape: 1 (Sigma: Wait, there's grapes on this planet?) Points value immediately shifts to 0
Stormwalker maps out a random nearby less hazardous planet: 2, which visibly surprised Magnus

As for what modifiers in general would make requests less difficult for the Weaver, Magnus quickly fiddled around with possible modifiers to figure out that:

Less specific tends to decrease the difficulty. Increasing the number of people it could possibly affect tends to increase the difficulty. Affecting entities that are very powerful greatly increases difficulty. The person whose fate you're altering can also have an effect; a more powerful person tends to be easier simply because it's less difficult for them to achieve this altered fate. Altering a weaker person's fate can be easier, but could also be much harder if you're trying to get them to do something above their power.
Manipulating the fate of a god, directly or indirectly, is almost always above the threshold.
Being more specific can lower difficulty, if it narrows the scope to something smaller.
An alteration that is in line with the person's character is decidedly easier.
Even if they don't actually know it's in line with their character.

After Magnus told us what modifiers do what and how they affect difficulty, he asked us if any of us wanted to to adjust their requests at all. Magnus noted that for Phi's request, there was a +2 point cost to guaranteed not lose anyone, as that risk was a part of the cost.

"Do we have time for this?" asked Sigma. Magnus replied, "I'm testing things out quite quickly, actually," moving the runes at rapid speed. "If I narrow it to Kappa specifically, does that help any?" Phi asked. Magnus replied that Weaver cost for just Kappa was reduced to 5 points.

Magnus also tested out the Weaver costs for a chance to free other Experiments from Overlord Omicron's control: Theta: 9, Crystalis: 9, Delta: Above threshold, Omega: Above threshold, Zero: Above threshold, Any (minus Omega and Zero): 6, Hyperline: Above threshold, Omicron Mark II: Above threshold

Red Pikmin Experiment Mark I: Nonspecific query, Red Pikmin Experiment Mark II: Nonspecific query

Zeta: No response, Alpha: No response, Delta Mark II: No response (invalid queries, indicating that these three weren't under Omicron's control)

When Vika brought up the possibility of testing out unrevealed Mark Is/Mark IIs, Magnus tested that out for the Upsilon line, and the Weaver cost for a chance to free Upsilon Mark I was 7. Sigma and Phi asked Magnus to input the Weaver costs for a chance to free their respective Mark IIs from Overlord Omicron's control if said Mark IIs were being controlled by him, and Magnus revealed that Sigma Mark II's cost was 7 and Phi Mark II's cost was 8.

The difficulty cost to get a generalized "method to get elemental spirits additional element(s) within a time frame we consider reasonable and timely that is not death and rebirth, and is accomplished without the help or influence of our enemies" is 8 points for Xenon, 9 for Landslide probably because he has a second element. This was suggested by Magnus, a fishing rod rather than an expensive fish, as an analogy might go.

The Weaver cost of a generalized item/person/whatever (that is different from the Life Equation) that would help free people from the Overlord's control would be 8 points.

The Weaver cost for a generalized method for powering up that isn't an Ebony Candypop Bud would also be 8 points.

There was an 8 point Weaver cost for a hint for finding Overlord Omicron's Zro farms.

Magnus added a modifier to the Life Equation request to lower it down to a 2 cost, which was partly possible since the point rating for that was originally more like 2.6 or 2.7.

"Okay, so we've settled on altering my fate to expedite the search for the Life Equation, as well as that generalized method for powering up, a fishing rod rather than a fish if you will. It's a pity that we could not fit Mars's request and all those fishing rods in there. Mars's request was quite cost-effective for a fish," Magnus noted.

"Eh, no big deal, was kind of an out there ask anyway," Mars replied.

Oh how I wish we had more points to spend..." Magnus mused.

"Ha static hahahahaha... static WISH GRANTED. Be prepared static PAY static PRICE." said someone, before the runes on the Weaver began rapidly being moved by an outside force.

"Dammit, Magnus!" Vika exclaimed.
"I didn't do it! I didn't agree to this!" Magnus cried out, futilely trying to stop this.

"Too bad... static you're getting it ANYWAYS! You will static understand WHY."

And this was when a massive amount of an unknown energy fluctuation occurred, instantly draining a significant portion of our current health/current hit points to pay for part of the cost in blood, or in the spirits' case, whatever representative of current health/current hit points would be for them.

Certain, if not all, Overlord verse Hero Squad members receive a vision of the Time of Agony, which they must prevent, or mitigate and seal. Besides the name, not much information could be gleaned from that besides an overwhelming sense of Agony. They also have been instructed to keep information of the Time of Agony secret, both as a need-to-know basis and to keep that information away from villains such as the Overlord and the Galactic cult. Some of the fates of the Overlord verse Hero Squad members have been moved to unknown fates.

"Uh, you lot okay there?" Landslide asked.

Sigma gave an exhausted groan and said, "I f***ing knew this was a bad idea."

"That was... quite a lot of blood..." Phi noted, looking at all the blood that seeped out of us.

I moved to resuscitate Mars and Candle, both of who passed out from that HP payment, with my healing powers.

Magnus looked at the runes of the Weaver and told us that he sees that besides himself (Life Equation), Xenon (generalized +element(s) method for spirits), and Mars (powerful new technique), all of the other Squad members' fates had been tampered with by that outside force and could not be viewed yet. Magnus noted that even Xenon's (generalized +element(s) method for spirits) fate had been subtly altered, perhaps as an attempt to drive the cost of that down, and that even with that, it shouldn't have even been possible to fit both his, Xenon's, and Mars altered fates in at the same time and wonders what else would be needed for the cost...

That outside force then suggested to us to keep its existence a secret from outsiders as this would benefit us; that force didn't push super hard for that; it told us it knew that its unrevealed status was on a timer the moment it took action, but it would still be disappointed and annoyed if any of us told outsiders of its existence regardless.

"Get f***ed," Sigma spat. "Even if it's a pain in the ass, it's giving a warning," Mars noted. "Hmm," mumbled Phi.

"Well hey if you want me a keep a secret that's fine, I can do that. Might ask next time ya think you got a secret to tell though, that's just common courtesy that is," said Landslide.

That outside force then warned us to prepare for combat immediately, as the retaliation for altering fate so much will come down on us soon...