The Simulacrum

Okay, so… battle. Honestly, that was the least of my concerns right now, because it felt a bit superfluous at this moment. The gang squared off against the various Axis of Evil members, Fidèle and Belette were still duking it out in the background, while Hareng was still busy combating the fires. The class rep was doing the same as well, but she was also summoning stone barricades from the ground to shelter the villagers and guide them out of the battlefield.

Then there was a series of explosions, and she yelled, "Hey! We just put that out!"

"Sorry!" Angie shouted back from the air, followed by an annoyed, "Focus, girl!" as Deus took the reins and sent another salvo of her burning spell-swords raining down at someone. I wasn't paying much attention there, because I was still too busy trying to figure out what this whole scene was about.

The cheeky answer was 'It's an action scene, duh?', but that was unsatisfying. Sure, there were awesome powers on display, with magic projectiles flying left and right and great feats of strength and all that jazz, but we already had a bunch of that during the incident at Castle Ninhursag and the subsequent train chase. Heck, it was easy to forget, but the big battle between the gang and Marzanna happened less than a week ago as well. Counting this, that's three major battles in a row.

Sure, we were all familiar with sporadic skirmishes and big pileups where a whole lot of action happened at the same time, but this was the first time I'd seen big clashes firing off one after the other. But why?

Looking at the unfolding conflict, there were many Doylist and Watsonian ways I could explain what was happening, and I already threw out a few, but there was something else in there that was bothering me. Sure, we were getting close to the finale, as future-me had often emphasised, so it made sense that there would be more encounters like this to allow everyone a little spotlight, but the way it was happening was… honestly, it eerily reminded me of a rather unpleasant possibility, and I needed a second opinion on it.

I shifted my point of view away from the literal sparks flying between the Abyssal Lords and Josh and Angie/Deus doing some synchronised combo moves to keep the Axis of Evil on their toes, and I soon found Judy hunkered down behind one of the rough chest-high walls Ammy created, which… Huh. It kind of reminded me of those cover-shooter games Penny sometimes played. They were even conveniently arranged in a way to—

No, stop it, Leo. Focus.

I exhaled hard and established the communications line again.

"Dormouse?"

"A moment, Chief," my dear assistant stopped me before I could get going, and she raised a finger. "Deinonychus, Ankylosaurus and Archeopteryx require support, over. Circle the building on your left, and you should be able to flank the Utahraptors. Parasaurolophus, out."

"… You do realise you're just going to confuse the heck out of them with these code-names?"

"It worked so far. If it's not broken, don't change it." She paused and tapped on her artifact. "Is there a new development?"

"Not quite, I just have a suspicion, and I wanted to pick your brain for a moment."

"I'm not sure this is the right time, but I'm lis—" She fell silent and then tapped her communicator again. "Pterodactyl, you have boogeys on your tail. Take evasive action towards Diplodocus, over." She listened for a moment, then pulled her party glasses down a bit and started again. "Now I'm listening."

"Okay, I'll try to be brief. We're reaching the end of the scenario, right?"

"Everything points in that direction, yes," she confirmed, though she sounded a bit stumped, probably because it was something we already established. It was best to be on the same page though, so I continued in the same vein.

"And this is essentially the big hurrah before the finale."

"Yes, I think that's also something self-evident."

"Don't you think things are proceeding a little too… haphazardly?"

She blinked, but then her brows descended into a hint of a frown.

"Can you elaborate?"

Thus prompted, I inhaled deeply and began my explanation, trying my best not to make it sound like a rant.

"I didn't pay it much attention before, because I obviously can't see everything, but I've been getting blindsided more and more often as of late by odd developments that feel justified in retrospect, but are kind of out of left field in the moment. You know? Like the Celestial renegades showing up in your battle with Marzanna? Or the incident with the Ninhursags? Or… well, this mess?"

My girlfriend graciously prompted me with, "I could argue about that, but I want to hear out your point first," so I stopped beating around the bush.

"Everything is happening too fast, potential players in the plot being introduced and written off quickly, and sudden developments like this… I've seen this kind of stuff before. It's when a serialised story is being axed, and the author has to condense the remaining plot as best as they can in the remaining chapters."

"… Does the Simulacrum work that way?"

"No, and that's what's confusing me," I admitted with a shallow groan. "That's why it feels so wrong. It's like things are being deliberately rushed for some reason, and I can't figure out why."

"Have you tried asking you-know-who?" Judy asked, and when I didn't respond right away, she clarified, "You mentioned authors before. Since he's the one responsible for the current scenario, shouldn't he be our primary suspect?"

"Yes, but you know I have no way to contact him. Every time he shows up, he just annoys me and plays with Ollie, and then leaves before I have the chance to ask him anything."

"Chief, you really need to stand up to yourself," she insisted, only to shield her mouth and whisper, "Or failing that, you should ask the Emergents," in a low voice, as if afraid that someone would overhear her in all this chaos.

"That's my Plan B, but first I just wanted to know if you think there's something to this, or I'm just being paranoid."

"I think you might be onto something, but if you're right, and it really is being orchestrated by you-know-who, then there has to be a reason for it."

"Yes, I figured as much, but…"

Judy cut me short before I could finish. "Chief, sorry, but I really need to pay attention here." She tapped on her communicator and added, "Let's continue this discussion once we're out of battle."

"Fair. Be careful."

She let out a non-committal hum and then immediately went back to coordinating the group. There were high-flying hijinks, earthquakes and explosions, thunderbolt and lightning (very very frightening), and so on. Again, I've seen them all, and I was more occupied with the discussion we just had.

To summarise, Judy agreed that I might've been onto something, and I trusted her instincts on these things, because she was usually right on the money (me being a womaniser and all the harem-talk notwithstanding, but hey, we all have our blind spots). That was a step forward, but it still didn't answer the big question: why was the scenario being rushed? Or put another way, why was future-me rushing the scenario?

Was it impatience? I didn't think so. I knew myself, and I knew that I wouldn't get sloppy like this unless there was an insurmountable external pressure in play. If so, then was it the Simulacrum's doing? My new Emergent acquaintances swore up and down that the scenario wasn't supposed to take Josh and co. to the Abyss, so maybe this was a reaction to that. Maybe there were more of those 'rubber bands' in play, and the framework of the world itself was pushing the scenario towards an early conclusion in response to being stretched in a direction it wasn't supposed to go.

Which brought up another question: why was there a need for a conclusion? I mean, every story had to end Nobody had time for literally endless tales, because those would take a while to tell. More practically speaking, there were only so many pages in a book or minutes in a movie, but our situation was different. As far as I understood, the Simulacrum's goal was to provide the metaphysical environment for the Submerged Ones to define themselves into young Emergents, and the scenarios existed to give them the necessary stimulation and patterns required for that.

In that case, a scenario ending should've been the point when the Submerged Ones 'emerged', both figuratively and maybe literally. If we took that as a baseline assumption, then there could be only two outcomes: either the scenario was a success, and they emerged, or it was a failure, and they didn't. If we transplant that back to our earlier analogy, the only reasons why a scenario would 'get axed' early would be either because it already succeeded and the Submerged Ones were raring to emerge, or because it was unlikely to succeed, and it was better to start with a clean slate and a new scenario, necessitating the ending of the current one.

The problem was that I had no idea about the consequences of either of those options, and that was troubling, to put it mildly. This scenario was never really meant to be a 'real' one, but a sort of trap or prank on the Crowned Coalescence that the Emergents decided to run with, so it wasn't guaranteed it would succeed. I'd sat in on their meeting (even if I didn't understand most of it), and they seemed to be pleased by themselves, so it didn't sound like it was failing either.

But putting all of that aside, what did a 'finale' even mean in that broader context? Sure, from the scenario's battle harem shounen roots, it was easy to guess what a satisfying ending should've looked like. Josh fights Crowy, there's a huge battle, he then triumphs (maybe with the power of friendship and/or love; it was a common trope for a reason), then group hug and timeskip to a bit later. All the relationships are solidified (with maybe Babies Ever After in effect, if the time-skip was long enough), everyone gathers one more time, and we get a big group shot with some optimistic words about the future. The End.

Sounded fine, if a bit clichéd, but was that what the Submerged Ones wanted? Was that necessary, or some kind of trigger? Was future-me fast-tracking us towards that ending with a cursive 'fin' pasted on top of it on purpose? It sure looked like it, but I couldn't help but feel that there was something missing from this equation. But what could it be? I had no bloody idea, because future-me was a dick and refused to tell me diddly squat, but if I had to guess, it should've… been…

It was at this point that I stopped my train of thought and sat up straight on my bed back in my cell. Let's take a step back and look at this from a different perspective. I activated the storage enchantment of my gear, and out popped a familiar, worn notebook. I leafed through this thing multiple times, trying to memorise as much of it as possible, and I hit it up again, though this time with something else in mind.

I turned the pages and scanned the lines like I was one of those hyper-genius types who could flip through a book and remember its full contents perfectly. I wasn't, and that wasn't what I was aiming for either. It took less than a minute, and then I snapped the notebook shut and stored it away again, feeling a bit more secure in my hunch.

Simply put, the most consistent thing future-me had been doing since his first appearance was not explaining shit to me. Even the notes only contained 'events as they should unfold', without any explanation about the hows or the whys. He was keeping me in the dark on purpose, and I never gave it much thought before this, but when I looked at it in retrospect, it was all very deliberate. Purposeful.

He didn't just want me to stay out of his way while he was doing his retcon stuff; he was actively boxing me in and trying to give me as little info as possible. In fact, there was a distinct possibility that I wasn't just purposefully uninformed, but actively deceived by him, but… why? Why would I do that to myself? Because of more timey-wimey bullcrap?

That was a possibility, but it felt like an incomplete answer. Future-me knew something. It could've been about the ending of the scenario, or maybe something else entirely, but it was important that he couldn't allow me to know for some reason. Which meant it had to be a dangerous secret. Whether it would've been a danger to me, the gang, or maybe the scenario itself, I had no idea. It might've been the reason why he was rushing things like this.

I had no way to know, and it annoyed the piss out of me. I concluded that I would have to brainstorm this a bit more with Judy, but for now, I lied down in my bed again and cast my point of view back to the nameless village in the middle of the lands of Shamash, where the battle was still raging with the same ferocious intensity as before, except…

"I need to prepare a spell! Cover me!" Ammy yelled from the back, and Angie responded with a chipper, "Got you!"

At least I figured it was her, based on the eyes. She's been switching so fluidly with Deus as of late, it was hard to tell sometimes. More importantly, she popped out of her cover and let loose a couple of arrows in the direction of a pair of Axis of Evil members, forcing them to duck behind their own rock barricade.

The class rep followed her up with an enthusiastic, "Heads down!" and waved her wand over her head like a lacrosse stick, lobbing a fireball in an overhead arch.

The men in the impact zone didn't rest on their laurels though, and one of them yelled, "Intercepting!" while summoning a small, round barrier. The fireball didn't explode right away, but just bounced off, landing right next to the stone slab.

Then there was a blinding explosion, cracking their cover and forcing them to relocate while a different pair was providing them with suppressive fire from behind another chest-high wall and… this was just a cover shooter, just with magic and crap. Was… was this my fault, too? Did this happen because I made a mental connection a few minutes ago? But that's dumb. Even in the worst of times, Narrative influence wasn't this blatant.

Hold on, wait. If this situation was arranged by future-me, and he knew Ammy would summon these, therefore he may have instructed these guys to operate this way, so that I would see it and have this train of thought about narrative influence. But if that's the case, then he must have known about my previous worries and his not telling me shit, so maybe this was meant to indirectly tell me that he's not telling me anything because narrative influence like this can be dangerous to our plans and…

"Ugh. I hate mind games."

My quiet gripes were punctuated by yet another explosion when Elly let loose a small blast of dragonfire to break another convenient chest-high rock barrier. There might've been some universal law of cover-saturation, because as soon as that one was taken out of the equation, everyone seemed to agree that cover blasting each other was over, and they all jumped into the fray, resulting in a chaotic melee.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the ruined village, the two Abyssal Lords were still going at it. Despite being in a weakened state, Fidèle was still dominating the duel, though I couldn't see a single scratch on Belette either. If anything, despite still wielding a big-ass war hammer that looked anything but nimble and defensive, he was swinging it with contemptuous ease and made sure to keep the Shamash matriarch's attention without pushing his luck too far. Which, once again, made no sense.

This kind of tactic would've been fine if they were in their home territory and waiting for reinforcements, but stalling for time when this deep behind enemy lines was asinine. Yeah, sure, the response units from the Shamash capital were being late, but they were expected to show up any time now, so Belette and the Axis of Evil should've been pushing hard to capture the gang, or Ammy at the very least, but instead they were just causing as much havoc as possible. What was their plan, exactly? It couldn't have been that they…

"New boogey at two-o-clock! Take evasive—!" Judy's ever-so-slightly startled (read: full panic) voice jolted me out of my thoughts, followed by a no less frantic, "Chief? You said Noir wasn't in the vicinity!"

I reconnected to her and hastily told her, "No, he's at the…" I trailed off when I checked on his mark, and then saw the eruption of purple light coming from nearby. "Son of a bitch!"

Pivoting my point of view to said mark, I witnessed a shocking and yet simultaneously infuriating scene.

"So we meet again," Crowy spoke in a low, creepy whisper. He was standing in a shallow crater caused by yet another of his dynamic entries, and the air was positively boiling around him as he unfurled his wings.

When he did so…

"Bastard!" Josh roared and pointed his blade at him. "Let her go!"

… it revealed that he was holding the unconscious class rep against his chest. The sudden development took the gang by surprise, but the same couldn't be said about the Axis of Evil, who used the moment of confusion to regroup, moving with practised ease while everyone else's eyes were glued to the bastard.

"Oh, it's you…" Crowy spoke in a smug, oily voice as he sized up Josh, followed by an unimpressed, "I have not forgotten that day, boy. Your time will come." He paused and looked up at the girl hovering a good distance away in the air, and he amended, "And so will yours, my dear sister."

Of course, she couldn't hear that, because she was too far away, so it was probably said just to unnerve the others around him, which at this point counted Josh, Angie, and Elly. That was, incidentally, more or less the same as the group that confronted him the first time around.

As for the rest, Penny was further back, and by the looks of it, she was planning something. Probably to hide with her personal Concealment Sigil and then stab the bastard in the back, but before that could happen, the spanner in the works burst into the scene again.

"My fair maiden! I'll save you!" Hareng Ninurta yelled from the top of his lungs as he dived towards Crowy, but he barely reacted. He didn't even raise his hand, just flexed his wing, and with a contemptuous flap, he sent the young noble flying in the opposite direction and right through the only remaining wall of a burned-down barn.

Oh. Okay, then. So he was doing the whole 'overpowered villain flexing his chops on the red-shirts' routine. Very nice, very thematic. Just one question, though: WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING HERE!?

Seriously! This was way beyond contrived; this was just straight-up nonsense! I knew for a fact that he was in Castle Nergal just five minutes ago, so the only way he could've gotten here on such short notice was with… with…

"Son of a bitch! Again!" I fumed, and as if waiting for my realisation, the sound of a slow clap started everyone.

"Bravo! You're finally learning the trade!"

Future-me, as Bel of the Abyss, walked into the middle of the battlefield with the casual ease of someone taking a refreshing afternoon stroll in the park, eliciting a full gamut of reactions. For Crowy, he was struggling to keep his poker face from cracking. For most of the gang, it was a mixture of shock, fury, and hopelessness. For my girlfriends in particular, it was mainly confusion, but Judy hid it really well behind a veil of anger that hopefully wasn't aimed at me in particular. I probably wasn't so lucky, though.

"All right, Crowy, my boy. You remember the rules," Bel warned the bastard in the middle with a wag of his finger reminiscent of a tired father educating their kid. "I'll let you keep her, but you have to take care of her. Having a pet is a responsibility, and I won't hear you crying about it later."

"Don't worry, my Emperor," Crowy responded through a thin-lipped smile that definitely didn't reach his eyes and hefted Ammy's limp body, pressing her even harder against his chest. "I'll take very good care of her."

"Good." He crossed his arms and nodded in satisfaction, then twitched and acted like he just noticed Josh and the rest glaring at him. "Oh, hello! Fancy meeting you down here! And Deus, old buddy! If I knew you were coming over, I would've tidied up the place. Sorry about the mess."

"Bel of the—!"/"— of the Abyss!"

Two voices overlapped as both Deus/Angie and Fidèle roared in anger, the latter rapidly approaching from the sky. Before either of them could get to him, future-me Phased across the battlefield and spread his arms wide.

"Ladies, please. Don't fight over little old me." He came to a staggered stop mid-motion and shifted into a thoughtful pose with a finger on his chin. "Hey, Deus? A silly question, but are you a lady now? Officially, I mean?"

He got a hail of arrows and flame-swords flying at him in place of a response, so he Phased over to Crowy and patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh, my. It seems this neighbourhood is rather dangerous. Be careful on your way back home." He then stepped back, just as Penny was about to rush the two of them, and he extended his arm, showing a thumbs-up. "Remember: your responsibility now."

He then disappeared, which not only startled Crowy, but also Penny, slowing her down just enough to let the bastard flap his wings again. His aura surged, tinting half the village in purple, and then he abruptly launched up into the air and accelerated past everyone.

"No! Ammy!" Penny yelled and tried to jump after him, and so did Josh, taking off into the air on his wings, but they were almost comically slow compared to the Abyssal Lord cutting through the air.

"Do you think I'll let you go just like that!?" the Shamash matriarch cried out, turning into the familiar streak of smoky orange light and launching after the retreating purple ray cutting through the sky.

"Shit! SHIT!" Josh, realising that he couldn't catch up to them, stopped mid-air and yelled, "We need to take care of these guys, and then…!" only to trail off into a long moment of silence, capped by a confused, "Where did they go?"

If he meant the Axis of Evil, then the answer was that future-me extracted them while everyone was focusing on Crowy's sudden and inexplicable appearance. He did the same to Belette Nergal, which was bollocks as well, but let's just ignore that for the moment, because Josh wasn't asking the right question.

Just now, after patting Crowy on the shoulder, future-me gave me a thumbs up. As in, he was literally looking me in the eye (as much as that applied to staring at my disembodied point of view) and was reaching towards me, so…

"… What the fuck was that supposed to mean?!"