Chapter Text
Green sparks of lightning enveloped the emerald lady, with some crawling down the ground and shooting off. The oddest thing was, instead of inflicting burns, the lightning’s path left life in its wake.
The spots where her lightning struck had the soil become fertile again, sprouting small budding vegetation instantly. Just by taking up space, she managed to turn the crater in the middle of scorched earth into a small fount of life.
“Please, stop this madness,” the green lady sincerely pleaded. “You’ve done more than enough harm to the planet — both of you.”
She carefully loosened her grip while lowering Amelia to the ground.
“I do not wish to hurt you. Please, return what you stole and face the consequences of your actions.”
Amelia rubbed her throat while looking up at the lady with extreme caution. She was extremely confused at the fact that the flames didn’t affect the lady, so she took a cautious step back while gathering her bearings.
“My name is Ceres Fauna. I am the Keeper of Nature,” she gracefully bowed and turned her back on Amelia to face Mumei, much to both women’s surprise.
“Confident, are we?” Amelia grinned in disdain.
She offered a hand for Mumei to grab to stand back up, “I am hoping to at least talk. So, I don’t believe baring my arms against you would help me towards that.”
“Fauna-!” Mumei interrupted.
“ Our orders, ” she shot Mumei with a narrowed look, “were to retrieve the phoenix core and apprehend Amelia Watson for questioning.” Talking over her despite speaking barely louder than a whisper. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
Mumei looked away and pouted. “As if someone that selfish and shameless would just hand it over and come with us.”
Amelia crossed her arms and scoffed. “If that was the case, why did you only show up now? Didn’t think to stop that atomic woman before everything got to this point?”
“You haven’t seen how atomic I can really be…” Mumei pouted and whispered to herself.
Fauna handed Mumei a golden apple before turning to face Amelia, to which Mumei ate sulkily.
“That…” Fauna smiled shyly, “...would be because none of us were free until now. As you know, we’re council members that keep the balance of the universe. We don’t just sit at a round table and talk all day, you know?” She held a finger up as if to prove a point. “Mumei makes sure that human civilization develops while I make sure nature persists.”
“Is that right?” Amelia asked with a raised brow. “Even the Warden of Time has no time to deal with me herself?”
Fauna smiled wryly at the implied irony. “Yes, even the Warden isn’t so free.”
She rolled her eyes. “You mean she doesn’t want to.”
“Pfft. You’re correct. She doesn’t want to.” Her sweet smile turned sharp for a brief moment. “At least, up to a certain point, she doesn’t want to involve herself directly.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yes, so please, before we get to that point, surrender the phoenix core and come with us.”
Amelia crossed her arms and pursed her lips in thought.
“Honestly, my work piled up exponentially because of your battle.” Fauna pouted. “So instead of spending an eternity fixing the planet while you’re still fighting.” She sparked lightning at the snap of her fingers, producing another golden apple in the palm of her hand. “It would be much simpler to just stop you now before things get even worse.” She offered the golden apple with a smile.
Taken aback even more, Amelia looked behind Fauna and found Mumei done with her apple. Though, what stunned her the most was the fact that not only were her limbs restored, her original hair length and the hole in her chest was too.
“Fauna?! What the hell are you doing?!”
“An extremely powerful healing item and she’s just handing it over to her enemy for free?”
Amelia looked at the apple, then back at Fauna who was content to ignore Mumei, back to the apple, and again back at Fauna. After a long and hesitant pause, she quickly took the apple and bit into it.
“Poison won’t work on me because I can just burn it from the inside,” she said while chewing before swallowing. “Just saying.”
Fauna smiled a little wider. Then, without saying anything, conjured a sphere of lightning between her hands before raising it and spreading her hands in the air, scattering the lightning in a circle traveling outward.
“I know.”
“I knew it!”
Amelia time jumped out of the crater with her shield held up in defense. She waited a moment but found nothing hostile had happened to her. When she looked around her, she saw that the whole area was being revitalized with life in its fullest brilliance.
“So it’s… lightning that gives life? Is that her specialty?”
She gave herself a once-over, inspecting any effects on herself. She felt quite energized, as if she’d just slept for weeks. Her aches have disappeared altogether too. But the most surprising thing wasn’t just her full physical recovery.
Amelia’s eyes glowed as the hands of time appeared on her irises. She observed the world through eyes that saw all the timelines — the Eyes of the Timelord at her fullest capacity.
“I can time travel again.”
And what she saw only strengthened her resolve.
Timelines of brilliance, glory, and joy. Timelines mixed of all that glimmered and all that was dull. Timelines where all of her were happy and content with the lives they were dealt, the friends she happily endured life with.
Except for the one timeline she came from.
“That’s right.”
Surprised, Amelia narrowed her eyes at Fauna.
“My soul is whole again too — why? How?”
“I told you,” Fauna sighed, “I do not wish to fight.”
“I see…” Amelia said with a thoughtful hand on her chin. She grinned and nodded graciously, “Thanks,” before disappearing in the blink of an eye.
With only Mumei and Fauna left behind, the heat that permeated endlessly disappeared as well.
“I told you she’s shameless.” Mumei shook her head in disappointment while summoning more papers to her hands.
“I didn’t want to do this the hard way…” Fauna said in contempt, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed in anger, sincerely disappointed. “Prepare the seal.”
“Fine,” Mumei said while surrounding the area with papers as if forming a dome with them at the center. “I hope your divinity works.”
She ignored Mumei in her anger. Her dress had dulled and darkened, losing the emerald shine it gave off in exchange for a dimmer, duller green — releasing a most dreadful energy. The life she summoned quickly wilted away, spreading death and decay.
She held her hand out as if to grab something. Then, with one flick of her wrist, “Sana!” the Time Traveler was back in her hold. Her hand’s vice-like grip, crackling with unrestrained energy, held the Traveler’s hand and kept her from escaping again.
“...?!”
“I told you that I did not wish to hurt you!” Fauna fiercely glared at Amelia. “But Mumei is right, you are shameless!”
“My hand-... wait! How the hell did I come back here?! I can’t jump away?!”
“This is your final warning!” She commanded, tightening her grip around Amelia’s hand. “Hand over the phoenix core and I’ll grant you a swift and painless death!”
Amelia summoned her flames to protect herself, however, much like before, it was ineffective against the lightning that surged from the Keeper of Nature. She couldn’t understand it, the flames of the divine firebird had the power to burn everything under the sun to ashes — that was how it’s always been, so that was how it should have been. Yet the lightning was neutralizing her flames.
Her fruitless retaliation only angered the Keeper more.
“ Why do you refuse to listen?! ” Fauna yelled.
She pulled Amelia towards her and struck her chest using her other hand with an open palm, knocking the wind out of her, but more devastatingly, the soul too.
“ Very well! ”
Amelia watched her soulless body floating awkwardly in Fauna’s hold, to which she simply tossed to the ground without a care. Meanwhile, Amelia floated away, observing her transparent soul in her confusion.
“Insolent child, so eager to clash! Proud of your stolen powers! Apathetic to the lives lost, all in a vain attempt to indulge in your selfishness!”
Amelia tried to escape but she could barely control herself while floating bodiless in the air. She watched as scenes of all her past crimes appeared before her from some of the floating papers.
“Well, no more! Amelia Watson, World Plunderer! For the crimes gathered before the Council!”
Amelia tried to jump again but she couldn’t.
“And by the power vested in me!”
She tried to summon the flames, but it was too erratic and volatile, burning herself in the process.
“I, Ceres Fauna, Keeper of Nature, with Nanashi Mumei, Guardian of Civilization, as my witness!”
The air had felt stifling as dense mana poured out of both Council members.
“Declare thee guilty!”
The two clapped their hands at the same time — Mumei gathered all the papers that recorded Amelia’s sins into one book while Fauna shot green lightning from her fingertips, stopping just before touching Amelia, casting a large incomplete magic circle before her.
“Damn it! Don’t underestimate me!” Amelia bared her fangs and roared in all her rage. “I’m Amelia Watson! I’ve faced beings worse than you! Escaped situations worse than you could ever put me through!”
The fire inside her burned fiercely, using her soul as its fuel.
“Silence!” Fauna yelled. “You can’t burn my lightning! You’re not a phoenix! The moment you’re ashes, we’ll have the phoenix core! So go ahead, keep trying! Make my day! We’ll see how that’ll end!”
“Stupid!” she yelled back, grinning madly as the strength of her flames grew. “You think this’ll stop me?! You don’t know Takanashi Kiara! ”
As the Traveler’s flames grew, the Guardian finished collecting all the pages into a single book. Then, she wrote a strange insignia on the cover, glowing the moment it was done. Immediately, she pulled her arm far back and tossed the book into the middle of the magic circle Fauna created. The pages flew out of the book and filled in the incomplete magic circle, transcribing runes that made it whole.
When the magic circle was completed, the Keeper compressed it down to the size of a small ball that fit the palm of her hand. And with a wave of her fingers, pressed it against the Traveler’s forehead, branding her very soul.
Divine lightning spread through her entire being, enveloping the flames that were growing rampant until they were no more. When the flames had died, Amelia stopped moving. Fauna then pulled Amelia’s soul back into her body
But the moment her soul was returned, she instantly woke up, grabbing Fauna by the neck and blasting her with a gigantic flame that reached the skies that turned it glowing red.
The entire land was scorched earth yet again.
Only this time, the intensity was far greater.
Mumei was caught off guard, not expecting the huge pillar of fire to come out of Amelia’s palm. Amelia howled at the sky as she got back on her feet, her entire body was radiating heat that was akin to the surface of the sun. The ground beneath her feet had turned molten. The seal on her forehead glowed white-hot, searing itself onto her skin.
“Oh wow, Fauna’s dead. Omega’s not gonna like that.”
It was then that Mumei had the damning realization that they made things worse. She knew magic would only backfire on them, but she didn’t stop because Fauna’s powers came from divinity, the only power that can compete with a phoenix’s flames.
However, a fully-realized phoenix can burn even divinity if it had a strong enough source — something she never expected Amelia to be capable of since she was simply a human that stole the core.
“I think we made her angry.”
She turned tail and sprinted off, dashing so fast her steps were dozens of meters apart. She contacted the rest of the Council as she took a quick peek behind her, the imposing flame pillar still illuminating the entire land like a second sun.
“Sana?”
[Hi, Mumei!]
“Can you please take me away from here? Fauna just died and I don’t want to join her just yet.”
[ FAUFAU WHAT?! ] an echo resounded everywhere at once.
“Yeah… the shameless plunderer kinda went berserk after absorbing mine and Fauna’s seal…”
[DID YOU USE MAGIC?]
“No, we used divinity.”
[THEN HOW?]
“Iunno. I guess Takanashi Kiara’s core was stronger than we thought. Or maybe Amelia Watson’s soul is the strange one.” She nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders while running on the surface of the water, escaping into the ocean where even its temperature had risen to a degree that there was steam everywhere within miles of the fire pillar. “Anyway, Miss Shameless is summoning flames like a real phoenix now, so I can’t deal with her alone anymore.”
[FAUFAU CAN’T DIE! SHE-]
“I know, I know. But if you don’t wanna take me back, then come down here and avenge her with-”
The space in the sky distorted, warping, and breaking — as if depth and perception blended. The silhouette of a massive eye appeared on the horizon. It pulled back, revealing the upper torso of a woman so large that she dwarfed the planet.
“-me…”
However, more terrifying than her size was that she was visibly furious.
“WAIT! SANA! I’M STILL HERE! YOU’LL KILL ME TOO!”
The heavens shook as the celestial woman raised her finger — which was still several times larger than the land they’ve been fighting on — and crashed it down on the planet.
“ SANAAAAAAAAA!!! ” Mumei cried, fearing for her life as she felt the entire planet rumble. “I SHOULD’VE CALLED KRONII INSTEAD!” she yelled again, rueing her decision. However, in the middle of her sprinting, she felt a familiar spark behind her that made her instantly run back. “Tsk. Why the hell isn’t Kronii here anyway? This is her problem too, damn it! God damn it! Stupid Kronii! I hate you!”
As the finger broke the atmosphere upon its entry, Amelia felt a hand grab her face, and a jolt of lightning spread through her. Her flames gradually weakened despite her best efforts to keep burning.
“I’m not done with you!” Fauna, flames licking her very skin, struggled with every ounce of her divinity to neutralize Amelia’s flames. “You didn’t like experiencing all the pain you inflicted on others, did you? That’s your punishment for all of eternity! Even if you break out now, when all five of us gather, we’ll just seal you again!”
She poured all of her divinity into the seal on Amelia’s forehead, inflicting her with all the pain she caused up until this point. The mistakes she did, the crimes she committed, the sins she proudly admitted — returned to her all at once. And with multiple lifetimes worth of traveling, her soul was steeped in them more than anyone else.
Tears formed at the corner of her eyes, but they fizzled and evaporated before they could even race down her cheeks.
“We could have done this peacefully, but you’re too stubborn!”
“ Because you’re all standing in my way! ”
“Just die already!”
Amelia raised her free hand and charged up her flames. Fauna did the same, gathering green lightning into a sphere in her palm. As their attacks inched closer to each other, the finger that was crashing down was about to make contact with the land too.
However, just as their attacks were a hair’s breadth away from connecting, Mumei swooped in between them, grabbing Fauna by the waist and away from Amelia. It lasted only for a tiny fraction of a second, but it was enough to stun Amelia completely. Not because of Mumei’s appearance but because Mumei snapped her fingers in her ear at point-blank range. The snap was so loud that her flames died out for an instant while also leaving her with broken eardrums and a rattled brain. Her eyes and ears bled out while it spurted from her nose and coughed and choked on it too.
It was only thanks to the phoenix core that she managed to stay awake at all, her cranium would’ve shattered otherwise.
Sound waves traveled outwards, blasting everything away within a large radius. Sana’s finger too, only for a few meters, but they were still meters that bought Mumei precious time. And because she was faster, she managed to outrun the waves before they could even come close to hitting her or Fauna.
“Athena, strengthen my shield…” Mumei whispered, emboldening her summoned golden round shield with the Goddess of Wisdom’s blessing for a brief moment.
Her eyes glowed brightly as her body did too. She sprinted as fast as she could to get away from being directly beneath Sana’s finger. When she finally got out by a hair’s breadth, she leapt high and blocked the impending impact of Sana’s attack while holding Fauna tightly.
“ Kratiste Aigis replica .”
An extremely powerful shield that raises a super-dense multi-layered defensive barrier that blocks physical and magical attacks around the caster. The ultimate shield — at least when not used to block the phoenix’s flames.
As soon as Sana’s finger made contact with Amelia, the planet was, once again, assaulted by waves upon waves of destruction. Mumei and Fauna were sent flying hundreds of kilometers away that they ended up in the neighboring continent in a crash landing.
At that point, it would be a miracle to find any living being other than them.
There was simply nothing they could do.
After all, Space’s scope was simply unfathomable.
“ SANA! IS! BEEG! ”
“““ Sana is beeg! ”””
Amelia, Fauna, Mumei, and Sana all cheered as they raised their drinks.
“That’s what you get for hurting Faufau!” Sana stood proudly.
“Yeah!” Fauna went along. “That’s what you get for going against Council!”
“That’s what you get for hurting Friend!” Mumei cheered along.
Amelia giggled, happy that they seemed to like what she showed them.
“By the way, Ame,” Mumei called.
“Yeah?”
“Does this movie have a story? It looks like it does but I’m not really sure if that’s your focus or if it’s really just to show off some fighting choreography. Really cool fighting choreography though. I love everything here just because you make me look super cool. Unrealistically cool, even.”
“Yeah, there was a prologue too, right?” Fauna added. “We watched it before seeing this part just to see what happened.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Sana nodded. “This is all super cool and stuff and I still don’t get how you did all of this but I’ve been wondering that too.”
“Oh? That?” Ame laughed shyly. “Remember what I said before, I think it was clipped a few times.”
“Don’t you realize how little that narrows it down?” Fauna retorted with a laugh, earning another giggle from Amelia.
“There’re so many clips of you though?” Sana did too. “There’s literally thousands of clips from you alone.”
“Was it the one where you said you wanted Myth to beat you up?” Mumei asked.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! That one! That’s the one.”
“That’s your inspiration for these short movies?”
“Ahahaha, yeah.” Ame scratched her cheek with a finger. “That. I just thought it would be funny.”
“But isn’t this more cool than funny?” Fauna asked.
“Also, also, you have Council beating you up for much longer than Myth did. Does that mean you want us to beat you up too?” Sana asked innocently. “And more intensely?”
“Oooohh, kinky.” Fauna teased.
“Are you into that?” Mumei piled on the teasing. “Is that what this is truly about? No kink-shaming here.”
“Yeah, no kink-shaming, we just wanna know!” Sana doubled down.
“Unless your kink is being shamed.” Fauna tripled with a huge grin.
“Uh… ahahaha? Anyway! You girls want more drinks? Snacks? There’s more coming up but I need time to prepare them.”
“I’m not hungry but I’m not that full either,” Sana said.
“Yeah, I think we can eat something light,” Fauna agreed.
“I want some nuggets.” Mumei quickly answered.
“Chicken nuggets?”
“Are there other kinds of nuggets? What am I asking, of course, there are.”
“Yeah,” Amelia laughed. “There are. Do you want others or are you cool with-”
“Just chicken nuggets, please. Let’s order some chicken nuggets.”
“You girls cool with that?”
““Yeah!””