Capítulo 2489: 72
Chapter 72: Promise 7-10
Promise 7.10
I was mid-leap when Alexandria slammed into me and wrapped her arms tight around my torso, pushing me back and back and carrying me away as she lifted me off the ground. Over her fluttering cape, I saw a limping Fenja rejoin the fight with a dozen other people, all of them closing in on Leviathan.
Who was shrinking as we got further and further away.
NO!
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
I looked down at Alexandria. I couldn't see her face. She hadn't said anything. She was just taking me out of the fight, away from the monster I needed to kill.
My lips pulled into a snarl.
You're…
My hands came up and I lifted them above my head, clasping them together.
…in my way!
And then brought them down on her like a hammer.
CRACK
The meaty smack of the impact was no less thunderous than my hits to Leviathan. That was because I hadn't held back, because this bitch was trying to stop me.
Alexandria staggered. If there was a way to stumble and trip in midair, that was what it might have looked like. My hit caught her like a speeding train, and we dropped from the air like a stone.
I skidded along the pavement as I landed, tumbling and rolling, but I managed to find my feet before I even came to a stop and stood, looking back to my target.
He was still there, in one piece.
Good.
I'm the one who gets to kill him!
My feet thudded against the ground as I started to move, to go back to Leviathan — but Alexandria had gotten up just as quickly, and the air cracked as she accelerated to supersonic in an instant. I had barely enough time for Herakles' instincts to flare in warning before she tackled me again, lifting me back up off the ground and carrying me even further away.
NO!
She didn't give me enough time to strike her again, force her to let me go; instead, she let go of me herself, and the momentum of our short flight sent me flying just as surely as Leviathan's tail had.
Bitch!
My time airborne was short, but felt much longer. I had no wings, no method of controlling my fall, so all I could do was impotently watch the blur of buildings and rain that passed me as I flew. All I could do was watch, and stew.
I landed again with a crash almost three blocks away, bouncing and tumbling along the pavement of the road with wet splashes. My feet slid a little under me, but I managed to turn my tumble into a controlled roll and get my bearings back.
And before I could do anything more than that, Alexandria came swooping down once more, leading with her fists.
The difference was, I was ready for her, this time, and leapt forward to meet her.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
CRACK
Her fists slammed home into my open palms with a sound like thunder, rumbling and powerful. The air around us rippled and rain was pushed away, as though we were the center of an explosion. For an instant, we hung there, matching fists.
Then, gravity took over and I landed, and Alexandria followed me down, hovering just high enough to stay level with my eyes. Even like that, I dwarfed her, and if I'd cared, I might have found it comical.
I didn't care. I didn't even take the time to try. I abandoned all other thought aside from moving forward and killing Leviathan, and if I had to push Alexandria out of the way with every step, then that was exactly what I would do.
"▅▅▄▄▃▃▂▂▃▃▄▄…! "
I stepped forward. Alexandria, grunting, was pushed back. Her arms were held almost perfectly straight, and her lips had curled into a snarl of effort. She was giving it her all to try and hold me back, and even though she was failing, she was failing slowly. That she hadn't buckled immediately gave proof to her claim as the strongest woman in the world.
At any other time, I would have found that impressive. Then and there, I only cared that it put her in my way.
My left foot swung. I took another step forward, as inevitable as time, as inexorable as a mountain. Alexandria, arms trembling from the effort, teeth gritted together, slid back, and when it became obvious that whatever method allowed her to fly didn't give her enough leverage, she dropped fully to the ground and planted her feet.
It wasn't enough.
My right foot swung forward. The pavement buckled and broke. Her boots ripped and tore. The asphalt wore away at the fabric of her costume, shredding it. Carving twin grooves into the street, Alexandria was pushed back.
A curl of vindictive pleasure swam through my gut.
Even the strongest woman in the world wouldn't, couldn't, stop me from killing Leviathan.
She was just a nuisance that kept getting in my way.
So why don't you get that through your head already…
A growl rumbled deep in my throat, more animal than human.
AND GET OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY!
"▅▅▄▄▃▃▂▂▃▃▄▄…! "
Another step, and another, and another. First my left foot, then my right, then my left again. Each one came faster as I picked up momentum and inertia. Each one came easier.
But Alexandria didn't give up. She matched my growl with one of her own, and it rose and rose with each step until she was roaring her defiance in my face. Even as I pushed her back, even as she was forced to give ground, even as her boots ripped away and she was left in her bare feet.
Then, her arms went slack and her resistance vanished, and as I was suddenly moving forward with all of my strength and speed, her head crashed into my chest, right below my ribs.
I stumbled back a few steps, hand rising reflexively to the spot. It didn't hurt. She hadn't wounded me. There had been so little intent to harm that even my ingrained fighting instincts had failed to warn me.
It was the surprise that stopped me more than anything.
"Apocrypha!" she spat. A large crack snaked its way down the side of her helmet, right over her false eye. "Get ahold of yourself!"
The surprise evaporated and a great swell of anger burned through my chest.
YOU!
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
YOU'RE THE LAST PERSON I WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM, YOU BITCH!
My feet kicked the ground and I rocketed forward, swiping her out of the sky with one enormous hand. I could almost wrap my fingers all the way around her waist.
She grunted, but she didn't resist.
"You're wasting time," she told me through her teeth. "Tattletale bought us the information of Leviathan's weakness with her life, and if you don't get your act together, that'll be in vain."
BITCH!
My other arm came around and I wrapped my other hand around her waist. Then, I started to squeeze, and Alexandria gasped.
And yet still, she didn't resist or try to pull herself free, even as she struggled to draw in breath.
"W—eee had a plan," she wheezed. "A-a way of killing Leviathan. Your plan. Right no—ow, you're ruining it. Wasting e-energy trying to…smash him with your fists. You're going to let him get…get away. Or else waste more…more time and energy and lives trying to kill him in a…in a way that won't work."
…It wouldn't, would it? No, I'd already figured that out at the beginning, hadn't I? Herakles could kill Leviathan, but it would take too much time and too much effort, and I had not enough of either to make it work.
At last, she added, "You're a h-hero, aren't you? Are you going to…to actually fight him, or are you going to just keep punching…until he sinks the city under your feet?"
Because every second I spent was more time for him to kill, more time for him to wear away at the ground beneath my feet, more time for him to bring in the water that would drown Brockton Bay. Every second was more lives in danger, more risk to anyone and everyone in range.
To begin with, Herakles had never been a hero I'd intended to use to kill Leviathan at all. He was supposed to be the raw muscle needed to drag him into that trap I'd set in the Boat Graveyard, and even then, it had become obvious that raw muscle wouldn't be enough to do that.
…Once more, it seems I have let my rage control me.
She was right, I'd been wasting time, wasting Lisa's… Lisa's sacrifice.
A pang of gut-wrenching grief shot through me just thinking about it.
All I had accomplished was to wail impotently at Leviathan. The very end of his tail, the thinnest, weakest part of it had been ripped off — so what? I had removed a hundredth of his killing potential, and by far the least dangerous of it.
Slowly, almost grudgingly, I loosened my grip on Alexandria and let her go. She gulped down a deep breath, floating now under her own power.
"…You're right," I admitted in a voice like gravel. "I've been wasting time and energy. Herakles isn't enough for Plan B."
Her lips pulled tight, but she didn't say anything.
I took a deep breath.
"Release."
I let go of Herakles, felt him leave me — and then, with a gasp, staggered under the surge of emotion, of anger, despair, and pain, that swelled up inside of me, no longer muted by his stalwart presence. My arms came up and wrapped around my chest, as though to hold shut the gaping wound of my heart, raw and exposed. My knees gave out from under me and I fell to the pavement, hunched over.
My eyes burned and I clenched them shut. A sob choked its way out of my throat.
Oh God, Lisa…
Stupid, stupid, I was so fucking stupid. I'd done it again, let Khepri and my fears about her run my life. And now, it had cost me Lisa, it had —
A hand rested on my shoulder, squeezing, forcing me to look up.
"Mourn later," Alexandria told me. "Leviathan now."
An ugly hate burned in my gut — but her callousness gave me that moment of clarity, that second of focus to force myself to think past the guilt and the pain. I swallowed and gulped down a breath of my own. It didn't make me feel any better or more prepared.
I was going to fucking kill Leviathan.
Somehow, I managed to force myself to my feet, the water under me sloshing. Then, I took another breath, steeled my heart, and reached through myself.
The hero I'd picked waited for me, stoic and patient. Before, back in the beginning, I'd been afraid of her, or rather, afraid of touching those like her who had been physically deviant in their myths. Those with bodies that weren't entirely human. Now, I grasped her without flinching.
"Set."
I'd been spoiled for choice, really. Several of the heroes I'd gone and researched had excellent qualifications as riders, as tamers of beasts. Gawain, particularly, was in a very odd place, in that he had no extra skill as a cavalryman, no real talent for compelling the fantastical and legendary beasts of the world, but still had a Noble Phantasm — a set of chains — that let him ride a dragon.
There were others, though, who took it further. Others who had been around in the time when those beasts had been common, when they and their companionship had been features of every myth in some form or another.
Queen Medb and her chariot.
Medea's bronze bulls.
Achilles' chariot and divine horses.
They all had different problems. Gawain's skill might not be enough, and his Noble Phantasm bound a dragon, not…whatever Leviathan counted as. Medb and Medea were both…squishy was the only way I could describe it. They weren't suited to getting in close with Leviathan, not without their chariots. And Achilles? He was strong enough, but I had the sense that all of his offensive options were costly, if it came down to having to fight or retreat.
In the end, a lot of the options in my current repertoire came down to one of those three problems. Too specialized, too defenseless in close combat, or too draining if it came to a fight.
There was only one I knew of who made sense.
"Install."
I grew again into a lean, long-limbed form. My bust and hips swelled. A hooded robe, like that of an ancient priestess, settled over my shoulders and head. My hair lengthened and straightened and turned a vivid shade of pale lavender. A pair of leggings stretched up my legs, and a molded sort of leotard covered my body, exposing my stomach and thighs. Over my eyes was a strap like a blindfold, a specialized band designed not to limit me, but to protect the world from my gaze.
A sort of cold, calculating calm settled over me, completely at odds with the hate and violence of her myth. Waiting in the wings, I could feel several Noble Phantasms, including one that would irreversibly change me and even the very scythe that took this hero's head.
Medusa.
A rider of the highest class, capable of mounting and controlling even the likes of a divine beast. Fast, slippery, agile — if I had to disengage and try again, she was the best choice. Her offense was also fairly weak without her mount, but with her eyes, even Leviathan would at least be forced to pause, wouldn't he?
Most importantly of all, she was also cheap. Efficient. As long as I didn't push her too far, the stress of using her would be minimal. I'd have more than enough left to switch to King Arthur and end this.
Alexandria approached cautiously. I felt her through a kind of magical sonar, a combination of several senses, including sound and smell, that gave me a level of precision that was utterly startling and, against all logic, even better than sight.
"Are you ready?" she asked.
"Yes," I answered softly.
She nodded. "Do you need a lift?"
"No." I crouched down, like a sprinter at the starting line. The murky water felt like blood under my fingertips. "This will be fine."
Water flew. In the space between one blink and the next, I went from a standstill to Medusa's max speed. Beneath my feet, the water I trod upon held me like solid ground.
In a flash, I was coming upon a tall building, an office building like many others you could see everywhere in downtown Brockton Bay. With Herakles, I had scaled such a thing with the inevitability and the sheer forward momentum of a runaway train.
With Medusa, I leapt, and my leap carried me ten, twenty, thirty feet at least. I landed softly on the window of the fourth storey like a spider, legs bunched, hands out, fingers splayed so that only the tips touched the surface, and for a moment, as the glass flexed, bent, and then wobbled back into shape, I hung there.
And then I flung myself forward, scaling the side much as I had before, and a moment later, I was kicking off the corner of the roof with all the grace and agility of an Olympic gymnast. The wind was whipping through my long hair, the rain pelted my cheeks, and the wet smell of the sea, as familiar to Medusa as her own hands, filled my nose.
One block away, I landed atop another building with catlike grace, my robe fluttering around me. In the distance, although I couldn't see him, Leviathan's presence loomed.
I pressed my fingers into both of the buttons on my armband.
"Priority message," I said in Medusa's silky voice. "This is Apocrypha. I'm rejoining the battle. Close-in combatants should disengage from Leviathan."
I didn't wait for confirmation; I took off again, leaping off the side of the roof and towards the battle. The wind whistled in my ears, the rain pounded down, but even over them, I could hear the sounds of the others fighting, of lasers scything through the air, voices shouting, people screaming as the armband rattled off more names.
Brigandine, Escutcheon, Campanile — three more wounded, because I'd taken leave of my wits for too long.
I landed on the street with a splash, throwing up more water as the people nearest gave startled shouts. In front of me, Leviathan stopped and turned, and with his two good eyes, he looked at me, stared at me, made special note of my presence.
I took off first, racing across the ground, and he turned fully towards me, swatting someone out of the way like they were a nuisance ("Saurian down," reported my armband).
He started towards me, but I was faster and crossed the distance quicker, and I danced out of the way of his claws and his echo both with a serpentine grace, sliding down between his legs with a spray of water. My legs coiled beneath me, and then I sprang up and onto his back, like I had with Herakles before.
"Got you."
I held out my hands, and with a metallic rattle, I summoned up my chains and commanded them forth.
This was my contingency for Plan B, for if Herakles and his raw strength wasn't enough to force Leviathan into my trap: tackle the problem laterally, by taking advantage of conceptual abilities rather than physical.
Because if it was a beast, I could ride it.
That was one of the reasons why I had chosen Medusa. If it were a dragon, an honest-to-god dragon, then that would be beyond her, but anything and everything else that could be called a beast, whether it was a mere monster or something with a spark of the divine, it fell under her purview.
"Kuh!"
My chains moved with a life of their own, snaking, twining, wrapping around Leviathan's torso. They slithered over the uneven planes of his chest and waist, still pockmarked with slowly healing wounds, and wound twice around the base of his tail for good measure. At the last, they came up and around his neck, leaving the two ends attached to a pair of nail-like daggers in my hands. I held them like a pair of reins.
The muscles in my arms strained as I grimaced and yanked on the chains as hard as I could.
"Rah!"
Leviathan was not a dragon. In shape, in form, he might resemble one only the slightest, but not enough to embody one, not enough to share its image and its concept. What he was in truth, what he counted as to Medusa's power, I didn't know, not for sure. But if Lung was hurt so much more by Balmung because he wore the concept of a dragon as his power, then Leviathan, who was shaped in the likeness of a divine beast from myth…
Well. Even those beasts blessed with the burden of divinity fell under Medusa's purview.
And if even a divine beast could be tamed under my command…
Leviathan jerked and started to move.
…then Leviathan should be unable to resist.
It wasn't that easy, of course. Slowly, haltingly, Leviathan began to march back towards the edge of the city — towards my trap, waiting at the edge of the Boat Graveyard, where I'd laid it in preparation for today — and he resisted every step of the way. He bucked and tossed about every few steps, trying to shake me. He stumbled and tripped over his own feet, as though he had suddenly, inexplicably become a clumsy, lumbering beast. He crashed into the corner of every building he even came close to.
He did everything he possibly could to try and resist, everything he could to try and throw off the yoke of my control. That he could even try likely had something to do with his nature, with the fact he was a creation of a passenger, rather than the real Leviathan.
He came close, at times. My grip over him was as close to absolute as it was going to get, but my footing, my position on his back, was not.
"It's working!" someone shouted. I had no idea who.
"Don't attack him!" I shouted back. "If you break the chains or throw me off, then I lose what little control I have over him, right now!"
Several people ignored me, and attacks peppered his legs and his tail, the two things in easiest reach. Even a projectile or two, a searing laser from Purity, struck him on the shoulder and the torso, just barely missing my chains enough not to sever them. Leviathan used them to make things harder on me, as an excuse to stumble and stagger under the force of them, even though I knew they meant nothing in terms of actual damage.
I gritted my teeth and worried, for a moment, that after all of this, after I'd finally started to get this plan back on track, it would be ruined just like that.
And then my armband — mine and everyone else's — beeped to announce a priority message.
"This is Alexandria," came her voice. "Do as she says. Until Leviathan breaks free, halt all attacks."
Almost instantly, the attacks stopped. The blasters who had been firing at him hovered uncertainly in the air, watching warily, and the close-in fighters on the ground backed off, keeping hold of their weapons with white-knuckled grips. They would all start again the instant I lost control, undoubtedly, but for now, there was nothing else getting in my way.
I yanked on my chains again and compelled the beast beneath me to move. The links strained, but held, and with that plodding, reluctant gait, Leviathan marched under my command.
I wasn't sure how long it took to make the trip. It might have been no more than five minutes, but the thick tension and Leviathan's deliberate slowness made it feel like an eternity. It wasn't helped by the fact he kept running into the side of every building he could whenever we had to make a turn, because I worried every time that he might shake me off and get free.
At last, however, we made it. The Boat Graveyard, and the conspicuous empty spot in its middle, was in sight. Well, so to speak.
My armband chirped again.
"Freezer team, get ready," Alexandria's voice ordered. It took me a second to realize she was talking about Clockblocker and Vista.
My lips pursed. Freezer team? Really?
Not like I had room to talk, I guess, but that was the best they'd come up with for a team meant to "freeze" Leviathan's bonds in time?
With all of the water, it was harder to tell where the bay ended and the city began. Even if I'd had full use of my eyes, it might have been nearly impossible to see the exact spot. I felt it easily enough, however, when Leviathan walked off of the docks and sank into the water of the bay. The sudden drop that sent a thrill through my stomach was pretty hard to miss.
The two nail-like daggers in my hands soared, and with a pair of dull thunks, they stabbed into the rusted hulls of two sunken ships as I threw myself off of Leviathan's back.
They wouldn't hold him for long.
I landed again on the very edge of a submerged pier, pressing my fingers against the wood, and sent a thread of magical energy into the spell I'd prepared beforehand, waiting only for the final burst of energy needed to activate it.
"Suidigidir."
And from under the water rose another pair of chains, thicker and sturdier than Medusa's. They shot out like lightning, winding themselves around his arms to meet in the middle around his neck, then the ends snapped together to form a collar. The moment it formed, they pulled taut, yanking his arms out to the sides.
"NOW!" I shouted.
Space twisted. It was eye-watering and brain-melting, and I imagined seeing it with my actual eyes would have been infinitely more disorienting. Across that warp, an arm, clad in white, stretched out and slapped the chains as quickly as possible — both the ones from the trap and, to my surprise, Medusa's.
Instantly, the rattling of the chains ceased and they froze, utterly and completely. When Leviathan tugged, they cut into his skin like blades and crushed his false flesh and muscle alike effortlessly.
Thirty seconds, starting now. I had to assume that was all the time I'd have.
Release.
Medusa slipped away, leaving me in my base costume, and I had to squint around suddenly being able to see again.
I jammed my fingers into the buttons on my armband, even as I called up King Arthur.
"Hard override," I growled. "Everyone get back. You don't want to be anywhere near here when this hits."
Artoria Pendragon rose to meet me like she'd been expecting my call, like she'd been waiting for it.
"Set. Install."
I shrunk. The heart of the Red Dragon beat powerfully in my chest, churning out magical energy. My costume became a battle dress and gleaming silver armor. Gauntlets formed over my hands, in which I held a gleaming golden blade.
Excalibur.
I took a deep breath, in through my nose, out through my mouth. My heart thudded anxiously as I hefted this holy sword and took hold of it with both hands, tip pointed towards the sky. Briefly, I closed my eyes and centered myself.
This was it. The culmination of my plan. With this, I would kill Leviathan.
And avenge Lisa.
Light surged. It rose towards the rainclouds above like a beacon, bright and blinding. Power rolled off of my blade in waves, so thick that even the most ignorant and insensitive of the people gathered around me must have been able to feel it.
Legend, at least, understood.
"Everyone, back away!" he bellowed over the pouring rain. "Back! Back! Keep a safe distance!"
I squared my feet, and as everyone else scrambled to get away, I lifted my sword up above my head.
Across from me, Leviathan stared me down, the muscles in his arms and legs bulging against the restraints holding him down, even as they dug deeper into his body and black ichor trickled from the wounds. But he could not break free — to do so would be to tear himself apart, to rip his own body to shreds.
So he summoned water from around him, gathering it in a wave that he threw in front of his body and in my direction, as though it would be enough to knock me off balance or ruin my aim.
And instead, it parted around me as the Lady of the Lake's blessing prevented it impeding me.
Light gathered. Magical energy surged. The power of the greatest holy sword churned and circulated. The deepest, most heartfelt prayers of mankind shone brilliantly in the gloom of the rain.
Strike true. Not with anger or hatred, but with justice and righteousness.
I wanted revenge for Lisa — for the friend torn from me. But this was not about that. Even if that thought lingered in my heart, from the beginning, this had never been about something so personal and selfish.
Leviathan was bigger than that. King Arthur, who had never even punished Lancelot for his treachery and never hated Mordred for his own betrayal, was bigger than that. Here and now, I had to be bigger than that.
My enemy was a monster, an evil set to destroy mankind, aptly named an "Endbringer." Left free, he would destroy this city, and if he could, me and all of the brave fighters arrayed beside me along with it. For King Arthur, there could be no greater honor than to save this place and these people, no act more humane than to rescue them.
With this attack, I would give new life to this city and the world. Hope, to people everywhere who had none. Yes — and what cause was more pure and just than that?
Yes. Let us put an end to this.
With Artoria's pride singing in my chest, I shouted the name of this miracle I held in my hands.
Sword of Promised Victory
"EX —"
I swung down.
"— CALIBUR!"
The blade of light descended.
The ultimate slash, carrying the hopes of all those who had ever strode across a battlefield, cut down.
A blinding beam of golden light raced from my sword, parting the water, disintegrating everything in its way. It shot towards the silent Leviathan, burning through whatever happened to be in front of it, churning the water and turning it into steam.
There was no scream to show the moment it struck Leviathan. No thunderous boom or death cry. The rampaging beam of light swallowed him whole and continued on, consuming the boats of the Boat Graveyard behind him and flying out through the bay. In the distance, it crashed into the shimmering blue barrier of my imitation of Lord Camelot, and unlike Leviathan, who had struggled to do anything to it at all, it hit hard enough to crack.
For an instant that lasted an eternity, the beam of light shone brightly and kept going, and then, as the magical energy fueling the acceleration and convergence reactions inside Excalibur dried up, the beam itself guttered and died. The water that had been evaporated hung about, heavy and thick, so thick, in fact, that I couldn't see through it.
In the aftermath, there was silence. Behind me, no one spoke; they all held their breath, waiting, as I was, to see if that was enough. The hot steam that rose from the bay met the cold rain falling from above, hissing and sizzling as they mixed and exchanged heat and energy in search of equilibrium.
Who knew high school physics could apply to the aftereffects of a magical laser capable of turning the entire city to slag?
The billowing steam began to clear. The great mist of all the evaporated water started to thin and dissipate, and now, I got the first real look at the destruction Excalibur had wrought. My breath caught and my heart leapt into my throat.
"No way…" I whispered, horrified. "Even that… Even the strongest sword ever made wasn't enough to…"
It reminded me of what had happened to Behemoth, in Khepri's world. The layers of impossibly tough skin, refracted over each other through multiple higher dimensions, had all been stripped away. The black ichor that had served as his blood had all boiled and evaporated. The fake organs, the glowing eyes — the great beast that had terrorized the world for most of my lifetime had been reduced to a blackened, charred skeleton.
Even that wasn't totally intact. The right arm was missing from the elbow on down. A full half of his head, and three of his eyes with it, had been sheared away. His whipcord tail, so dangerous it was equally as lethal as any other part of him, was now nothing more than a stump, a nub at the base of his spine.
And there, in the center of his chest, was an orb. His core.
But, in spite of this horrendous amount of damage, in spite of being more injured than any Endbringer in this world had ever been, he was still standing.
"All of that, and still…"
The skeleton shifted. I threw myself backwards, gritting my teeth, and prepared to use Excalibur once more, regardless of what the consequences would likely be to my real body afterwards. I had just gambled with one of my aces — and lost.
I needn't have bothered. Leviathan's left leg snapped at the knee, and the immense skeleton listed to the side as gravity pulled it down. As the body collapsed into a heap, huge chunks of charred material flaked off and disintegrated like cheap chalk in the rain.
I watched, breath held as my heart thundered in my chest, the great bones fall, and when they hit the ground, they shattered and broke, as though the very thing holding them together was now gone.
Leviathan was dead.
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
NOTES
Part of this felt a bit anti-climactic. But, well, when a plan is actually coming together the way it was supposed to, that's always a bit anticlimactic. Stretching out Medusa dancing around Leviathan a few more times wouldn't have made it felt tenser, I don't think.
Falling action and immediate aftermath next chapter, then maybe an interlude, and Pendulum 0.5 to cap it off. After that, arc 8.
Also, trying a new style for my notes at the bottom of the chapter. I think it's easier on the eyes than the glaring bold, don't you?
(Bryn eventually came, but it took almost 1000 SQ before I got her, and that was almost 1000 SQ without any other SSR Servants, either. So, yes, sticking with the decision to go F2P in FGO.)
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