Lilith tumbled through the acrid, smog-congested sky, flailing like a mad banshee before she regained her bearings and looked to get even. She paused though, remembering they had took the plunge for a reason, and then she spotted it — a veil of glittering stars, and sailing atop, a fuzzy creature on two legs and what she guessed was a bodyguard. Bouncing off the polluted air, she zipped towards her destination and landed on the hastily swerving platform, striking a pose.
“Ta-da,” she halfheartedly cheered to no one.
The humanoid goat person and the woman in military uniform stared bewildered at Lilith for a moment, then right on cue the she-devil’s two
best pals appeared at her feet, teleporting with only seconds to spare from splattering onto the foul, unforgiving earth.
“Chara!” Asriel bleated, forgetting to keep up the pressure on the unmade as he rushed to lift his sister.
“Hey Rei. Get into any trouble while I was out?” Chara returned her brother’s warm embrace, regretting how brief it had to be. But that was okay. Asriel and Hawkeye were in good health, and that’s what mattered most.
“Pfft. Nothing yours truly wouldn’t handle. You look... tired.” Asriel knew his sister was strong, he was surprised to see she barely had any injuries! Her outfit was a little worse for wear though. They should really stop to get that patched up.
“Ahh, it was practically—”
“Oh, Uncle Sans! You’re back!” Asriel pulled the skeleton into a hug as well, before ducking down to counter a laser rifle round with a blast of fire magic.
Sans chuckled hesitantly. * he... heya, nephew. hope you weren’t roughhousing while i was gone.
The realization dawned on Asriel, and he covered his mouth sheepishly. “Sorry- I didn’t mean- You—”
* heh, don’t worry about it, kid.
It was unusually serene, even for being in the middle of a warzone. Something was off.
Lilith, instead of causing a ruckus, was completely transfixed on Asriel, drool running down her chin, all thoughts of revenge dissipated.
Asriel noticed the attention he was getting, and he flinched. He hasn’t been viewed like that by, well, anyone. Especially not such a pretty lady. He found himself eyeing her... face! Yeah. Wait,
that’s...! A white-hot jolt of hatred seethed through him, and he turned away from the butcher who killed his sister standing right in front of him.
Chara elbowed Lilith hard enough that she’d actually feel it. “Oi.”
“Who is that?” Lilith purred, her gaze unblinking.
“Asriel.
My brother.” Chara prayed that would deter Lilith at least a little.
Unfortunately, it did the opposite. “Oh, it’s one big family reunion. You two are
definitely related.” Lilith’s belief was for less than modest reasons.
“I am adopted.”
“Hm, must be a coincidence then.” It was probably for the best Lilith didn’t elaborate on that.
The five of them smited errant parademons and winged zoids out of sky with red knives, bombardments of bones, and concussive constellations. Lilith helped in her own way, tossing out a few shivs here and there.
None of this sat right with Sans. This witch, inserting herself where she doesn’t belong... It was beyond unforgivable. * i saw what you were doing.
* you got something you wanted to say about him?
Lilith wiped off the waterfall forming at her mouth. “Mm, more than you could ever know. But I’d rather let my actions do the talking.”
Sans’ eye burned with icy vitriol. * N O Y O U ’ R E N O T . . .
Lilith had found yet another of the pile of bones’ nerves to strike. “Aw, don’t get all worked up now. I wouldn’t wanna make Chara jealous.”
* as if anyone would want an old lady creeping on them.
Apparently it was up to Asriel to be the adult here. “If you
idiots want me to keep this platform moving, there’s a lot of unmade to focus on with
guns. I
can hear you talking behind my back, jerkwads.”
This reaction wasn’t entirely unexpected to Chara, given her brother’s history with people speaking for him. Still, it was concerning to hear him incensed to this point.
Sans, however, was unconvinced Asriel had grasped the stakes. * shush, nephew. uncle sans is havin’ a spat right now.
* i’m tryin’ to prevent a family takeover.
This did little to change Asriel’s mind, and he retorted utterly unamused. “Gonna drop you both if you keep it up.”
Sans gave up the effort, for now. Clearly he had overstepped some boundary (though Lilith was far more guilty, by the way!), and he reminded himself that this was not the same Asriel he knew from his reality.
Goat boy had more bite in him than Lilith expected. Seems she had also exposed a vulnerability without even trying. “Ooh... Sure, we can always get to know each other better
after this.”
Asriel’s chaos saber sparkled out from his palm reflexively. “You can get better acquainted with the heat of the sun you—”
“Asriel! Platform! Please!” Chara yelped, as the cloud of stars started to flicker and lose its vibrance, nearly sending group into free fall before Asriel stabilized his emotions.
Lilith looked incredibly pleased with herself. “Hm, that’s too bad. Maybe seeing more of me and Chara together will change your tune?”
Asriel only gave a disgusted snort. This lady wasn’t worth the trouble, not when the fate of the world was in their hands. Getting a rise out of him was exactly what Lilith wanted.
The five rode in relative silence, outside of anything related to the war. It felt like everyone else didn’t take the danger as seriously as Sans. Indeed, Lilith had achieved greater heights of depravity than he thought possible. Asriel knew how to stick up for himself, but that wouldn’t be enough against the full extent of Lilith’s grossness. Was Chara really capable of stopping her? The fiend seemed to lack any morals or restraints. Did Sans want to find out how true that was?
Lilith’s appetite for provocation was sated for the moment, and her eyes were drawn to the battlefield, and her one desire above all others. She marveled at the ballistic geyser of scintillating devastation erupting from the Pirate King’s maw, his savage arson spree storming the unmade. Her admiration dampened, though, overtaken by a wistful pall. She wasn’t out there enjoying the mayhem with Ridley, resigning herself to watch from afar. That’s how it should stay, while her passion had gone down the gutter.
She wouldn’t have to confront this feeling for much longer. The end was approaching, and when it did, the calm before the apocalypse finally broke.
Most were paralyzed in dread. The few that made any attempt to voice their disbelief were drowned out by the absolute manifestation of
nothingness.
It lanced through the front lines, as ravenous and merciless as a black hole, snuffing out hundreds of lives, like a candle in a typhoon.
The void of sound subsided, and the resulting shockwave sent the five reeling back. Against all odds, Lilith was the quietest as they were knocked to the ground.
A bleak haze settled upon them, heads lowered in solemn reverence as they suffered through the various stages of grief. A desolate valley was the only thing remaining of the calamity.
Lilith, of course, had no such heartache. Her immediate focus was the titanic mecha. It was steadily advancing like a rocket-propelled skyscraper, crimson lights radiating through the dark atmosphere with the malice of a menacing spectre.
Pummeling an Arbiter might bring Lilith some sense of relief. Everything else had failed. And if that didn’t work...
She bolted towards the Fade.
“Going off without me?” Chara called out.
“I need to get this over with.” Lilith continued on. It was about time she finished this already.
—
When she arrived on the scene, she was treated to a grand display of Wyvern’s superiority. Princess Flak going mech-to-mech as she piloted Epyon, Phantoon siphoning the Fade with its slavering tentacles at every opportunity, and Lord Ridley loosing a relentless stream of plasma. There was also that new guy - what was his name? Boris? - hanging onto the void mech’s torso.
So this is supposed to be an Arbiter. Kinda disappointing.
Honestly, it sickened her. Not just the Fade, the entirety of the unmade. They could have the veneer of personality, show emotions, and seem to feel pain. But she knew it was all a facade. They may differ in power, but they were all the same at the fundamental level. Hollow vessels with no will of their own.
And yet she must fight.
Epyon skidded across the earth as it blocked a colossal jab, on course to squash Lilith beneath its heels. Lilith, rather than sprinting out of harm’s way, sprang onto the gundam’s leg and dashed along its frame as if it was a jungle gym.
“Woah, hiya Lilith!” Flak hollered from the mech’s speaker. “Where ya been?”
Lilith wasn’t in the mood for a chat, but regardless, the Fade was accelerating towards the two to pulverize them under its megaton force.
“Uh, catch up with ya later!” Flak wrenched an arm to switch Epyon to its aerial mode, and jetted off before her and Lilith were pulped by the enormous hydraulic press.
As Lilith climbed onto the gundam’s helm, she flew past the space dragon. “Sup Boss.”
Ridley wasn’t particularly caught off guard, replying with an affirmative grunt.
Lilith was a truly unstable element to account for, but she was nonetheless one of Ridley’s most prized assets. Had she really earned that, though? She wanted to ask, but it would be pointless.
She pushed all that contemplation aside, clicking the null grenade in her hand. As Epyon arced into range of the Fade, she leapt into the air and hurled the weapon. It
plinked the ebony hull, then released an explosive shower of sparks, disrupting the built-up void energy primed to discharge.
The unmade Arbiter howled.
RREEEEAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
Lilith griped as she landed. “Geez, she’s a loud one.”
“Hah! Get a taste of ’nade, Fade!” Flak whooped, firing a volley of Vulcan shells in celebration.
The hive mind consciousness of the Akata was thrown into disarray. The beasts thrashed around wildly, scattering like ants. With a fractured formation, and the alphas bludgeoned into unrecognizable slabs of twitching meat, the Fade’s defenses were proven to be flawed. Gaps existed in its fabled-to-be-impervious armor - it was up to Wyvern to rip into and exploit them.
