The Simulacrum

<Phew. All right. Last stretch. How's the situation?>

"What even is going on anymore?!" Joshua exclaimed, confusion bubbling up from the bottom of his heart as he shook his shield in anger. "First, Leo disappears with Bel, then Noir powers up, then he turns into a big freaky monster, and now the Axis of Evil is here and fighting on our side?! What the hell?!"

<... I wasn't actually asking for a summary, but thank you, Josh. Very considerate.>

"Look out!" one of the masked members of the nebulous Axis of Evil yelled as the Lord of Inanna's towering avatar roared, its crack of a mouth releasing a torrent of violet flames that rivalled Eleanor's True Dragon Fire from just a few minutes prior.

Joshua reflexively braced himself, his ancient Celestial shield aglow as it formed a protective dome around him and Deus, its golden light a fragile bastion against the encroaching violet tide. The heat was immense, a physical pressure that made the very air shimmer and warp, the ground in front of him turning to glass under the onslaught.

The attack didn't last long, as it wasn't aimed at anyone, being more of a sweeping, area-of-effect tantrum. Yet the brief moment of exposure left Joshua breathing heavily, his arms numb from the effort of holding the shield in place.

On their right, Amelia was hiding behind a hastily conjured rocky outcrop, the fringes of her dress smouldering. Penelope was snatched out of the way of the fire-wave by Neige diving down and snatching her up into the air, the two of them rising on the updraft of the heated air.

Most surprisingly, Eleanor found shelter behind the Matron's silver dome, now further reinforced by three members of the Axis of Evil weaving a symphony of protective wards around the bubble. It was an odd sight. The three of them moved in perfect unison, their gestures a fluid, mirrored dance, each spell they cast building upon the last, forming a multi-layered barrier of interlocking, shimmering hexagons. It was as if they had been preparing for this exact scenario for ages.

Then, just as the wave of flames died down, a familiar, transparent figure of golden light appeared next to Joshua and Deus.

"Warning: Catastrophic system failure imminent in fourteen minutes and ten seconds. Rapid response is advised."

"Gah! Don't just show up like that out of the blue, woman!" the startled Deus yelled as she reflexively tightened her grip on her bow, her golden eyes wide with surprise.

Joshua looked just as alarmed, though for different reasons.

"Wait! Didn't we have something like an hour before?"

Before the Grimoire of the Last Truth could answer, the monstrous avatar of the Lord of Inanna charged. The ground cracked and buckled under the weight of its rush, its crystalline claws leaving deep gouges in the crater floor, only to momentarily falter when the rocky Amelia hid behind began to move.

No, not just move; it uprooted itself, revealing a pair of massive stony legs, and took a lumbering step forward, then another, counter-charging the violet colossus with surprising speed. The two behemoths collided in a titanic clash of stone and crystal, a concussive blast of force that sent shockwaves across the crater, their impact a deafening roar that made the very air vibrate.

Even though Petra, Amelia's trusty golem, only reached up to the chest of the monstrous avatar, its dense, earthen body was more than enough to stop its advance, at least long enough for the young magi to rush over to Joshua's side and yell, in response to his previous question, "That was before he turned himself into that!"

The Grimoire agreed with a placid tone, "Explanation: Correct. Reservoir Onoképhalos has accelerated its energy draw by a factor of approximately twelve following the host's transformation. Estimated cascade failure: eleven minutes and fifty-seven seconds."

"How do we stop this?" Joshua asked as the three of them scrambled to get some distance from the grappling titans, the very ground shaking with the force of their struggle.

"We kill him!" Penelope's voice exclaimed from above, followed by a yelp as she landed along with Neige nearby.

"Yeah, but how!?" Joshua argued back, but they all froze when hearing the words of the Grimoire.

"Negative," she flatly stated, her golden form flickering as she followed them. "Terminating the Reservoir will result in a system reboot lasting for approximately seven minutes, preventing the reconfiguration of the Asphodelòs Sub-System. Suggestion: Decouple the Reservoir from the Asphodelòs Sub-System first."

"And how are we supposed to do that without killing him?!" Penelope pressed, her words laced with desperation.

"I'm back!" Elanor announced as she came to a quick halt by the group. "Why are we just standing around?"

"Listen to this!" Deus exclaimed in turn and huffed with the kind of world-weary indignation that didn't suit her appearance as a teenage girl. "We apparently can't slay this upstart, but if we don't do anything about him, all of the Abyss will cease to exist in ten minutes!"

"And us," Joshua added a touch morosely. "Don't forget us."

Penny let out a loud groan and yelled, "Aaah! What are we going to do then!? We don't have any other option! He's clearly crazy and won't listen to reason!"

"Or... will he?" Eleanor posited and then repeatedly poked the large, scuffed magical device on her wrist. With a flash of ephemeral light, her draconic features receded as her Magiformer activated, her enchanted school uniform replacing her tattered outfit. Most importantly, it gave her access to their communications arrays, and she hurriedly tapped her ear. "Judy? Are you listening?"

"{Yes. Go on.}"

"Isn't there a trope for that? When the bad guy is talked out of their big evil plan at the last second because they realize they've been in the wrong all the time?"

"{Do you mean talk-no-jutsu?}"

"Probably! Do you think it can work?"

Before Judy could respond, Joshua's eyes lit up, and he hefted his shield.

"Hey, I actually have some experience with that, but..." He glanced at the rapidly crumbling golem as it was pushed back by the monstrous avatar of the Lord of Inanna. "I need you guys to cover me, so I can get close."

"I also have an idea," Amelia chimed in, then looked over her shoulder at the Mana Well. "I'm not sure it will work. It's a very Leo kind of plan, but maybe..."

<Wait. First Josh, and now the class rep. That’s a pattern. When did my name become synonymous with half-baked plans?>

It was at this moment that Petra toppled over as Noir's claws raked across its torso. The golem collapsed onto the ground with a deafening crash, and as it fell, it revealed the towering violet monstrosity, its featureless face cracked open in what could only be described as a triumphant sneer.

"You do that!" Joshua cried out and raised his sword, "You guys, follow me!" He then made a break for the avatar's legs, his black blade in hand.

"Coming!" Eleanor yelled, her voice still hoarse but her movements more stable than before, now that she was supported by the physical enhancements of the Magiformer in place of her exhausted Draconian physiology. She was the first to follow him, her form a blur of motion.

Penelope and Neige were next, the former's zweihander held high and the latter's hands weaving a complex pattern of frost in the air. Deus followed suit, her bow drawn and a golden arrow nocked, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

As for Amelia, she turned around and dashed towards the Mana Well, with the semi-transparent image of the Grimoire following in her wake. They weaved between the still potent, if less important, battles unfolding between the Abyssal patriarchs and the Axis of Evil, their chaotic struggles a mere backdrop to the main event.

"YOU DARE DELAY ME, THE NEW GOD OF THE ABYSS, WITH SUCH PALTRY NUISANCES?!" Noir's avatar roared, its spindly yet surprisingly powerful leg kicking away the remnants of Amelia's golem with a contemptuous flick. Then, its head turned towards the charging heroes, a cascade of violet flames spilling from the widening crack of its mouth. "A THOUSAND DEATHS WOULD BE TOO KIND FOR YOU MISERABLE REPROBATES, BUT I SHALL GRANT YOU THE MERCY OF A SINGLE ONE!"

"You've got one shot, Boy!" Deus yelled as she loosed her arrow. It streaked towards the avatar's head, but was swatted away by a crystalline claw, the resulting explosion a shower of golden sparks that momentarily blinded their foe.

"Listen to me, you big...! I mean..." Joshua started, only to be interrupted when Noir launched another volley of spikes at them.

This time, the heroes saw it coming, and they all acted accordingly. Penelope dashed forth, her blade drawing faint lines of silver light across the air as she parried the projectiles, her sword moving with a fluid grace that belied its size. Neige and Deus countered the incoming spikes with missiles of their own, their icicles and swords of golden fire exploding the lion's share of the incoming attacks. Meanwhile, Eleanor grabbed a chunk of the felled golem, lifting the boulder-sized piece of debris with ease, and hurled it at the face of the avatar with a mighty heave.

<Here we go with throwing stuff again. I know it's pragmatic, but I can't help but feel it's becoming a bad habit...>

The impact didn't seem to inflict any real harm, or even faze the monstrosity for more than a moment, but it still allowed Joshua to get closer.

"Listen, dude!" Joshua yelled, trying to get the attention of the avatar, but was interrupted when Noir's form blurred, and he found himself catapulted into the air from an impact he barely even perceived. He hurriedly spread his wings to break his momentum, then screamed, "Seriously, listen, you freaky—"

The avatar's response was a sweeping claw of violet flames and black crystal that tore through the sky and forced him to dodge, a manoeuvre he barely accomplished in time. The air pressure was enough to send him spiralling, his armour of light flickering as he struggled to remain airborne. But before the monstrous avatar could press its advantage, Penelope, Eleanor, and Deus rushed into the fray, their weapons flashing as they unleashed a barrage of attacks that forced it to shift its attention away from him.

Joshua landed on the ground with a grunt, and as he tried to catch his breath, he hummed a quick healing aria that soothed the bruises that were forming under his armour. He didn't have much time to recover though, as the avatar let out a deafening roar and raised its arms, revealing a pair of enormous violet orbs of flame in the palms of its crystalline claws.

"I WILL ERASE YOU ALL, YOU INSOLENT WORMS!" Noir's voice thundered, the air shimmering and warping around his hands.

His indignation reaching a breaking point, Joshua stored his shield for the moment and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his black sword with both hands. His eyes flickered with a strange light, and the runes etched into the blade flared to life, radiating an aura of pure, concentrated Celestial power motted with streaks of dark-red sparks, like electricity off a Tesla coil.

He swung his sword with a deeply furious yell, and a blast of red-golden energy erupted from the blade, slicing through the air with a resounding crack. The two orbs in the hands of the avatar exploded when the attack landed on its chest, etching a deep gash into the surface of the dark crystal that made up its body, spewing long tongues of violet flames everywhere. The shockwave of the blast made the talons of the creature's feet scrape across the ground, leaving behind deep gouges in the already cracked and broken floor of the crater.

"I said, listen to me, you idiot! You need to stop this, or you're going to destroy the Abyss!"

"And the world!" Eleanor exclaimed on the side as she hefted another chunk of the fallen golem.

"CEASE YOUR USELESS PRATTLING, YOU PEST! IT IS I, NOIR IRDU INANNA, WHO WILL BECOME THE NEW GOD AND REFORGE THIS WORLD IN MY GLORIOUS IMAGE!"

"Don't you get it!? Your ambition is literally gonna destroy the world! There's not gonna be anything to reforge! You will die, along with everyone else!"

"Correction:" a distant voice butted in from the back. "Reservoir Onoképhalos is seventy-nine percent likely to survive the imminent system collapse."

"Grimmy! You're not helping!" Amelia's voice followed from the same direction.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME, YOU WRETCHED IMBECILES?!" the avatar of the Lord of Inanna roared as he swept his arms across the ground in his fury, sending debris flying everywhere. "THE WORLD IS MINE FOR THE TAKING!"

Once again, the monster swung its arms in a wide arc, this time unleashing a torrent of violet flames that scorched the ground, forcing Joshua and the others to retreat. However, it was not just a simple attack, as the flames coalesced into a series of smaller, yet no less menacing figures. These were miniature replicas of the colossal avatar, each one standing about the height of a man, though they were mainly composed of the violet aura emanating from the main body.

<Hold on. If he could do that, then why didn't he...? Dammit, was this something the Predator Moon left behind before he left? I have to take a closer look.>

"{Beluga to the pod. The shark isn't cooperating, and we have mooks. I repeat, we have mooks.}"

"Great! Just what we needed! Argh!" Penelope cried out in exasperation.

"{Talk-no-jutsu appears to be ineffective. Prepare for the deployment of Plan B.}"

"S-Since when did we have a Plan B?" Neige muttered in the air.

"I'm pretty sure Plan B was talking him down, so isn't it more like Plan C?" Eleanor uttered as she threw the stone in her hands at the Lord of Inanna, but Judy didn't respond.

Joshua spoke up in turn, saying, "Well, we tried, but what's—?" but before he could finish, the monstrous avatar let out a roar that was as much furious as it was pained, making the newly summoned minions flicker and waver before they reasserted their existence, though their inner flames burned weaker.

It didn't take long to find the reason behind this sudden turn of events. Amelia was standing at the base of the Mana Well, her hands pointed at it, and her face strained with effort. The avatar of the Grimoire was by her side, providing support and assistance, her golden form flickering as she worked her own brand of magic on the azure cube.

"It's working!" Amelia exclaimed with a sense of pride.

"What's working? What's going on?" Deus blurted out, not daring to exploit the opening in the Lord of Inanna's defences until she was clear on what was happening.

"I'm reconfiguring the Ley Lines!" Amelia supplied the answer, though she couldn't have heard her, and without her Magiformer, communications weren't possible either. Nevertheless, the elated magi girl continued to loudly proclaim, "Or at least what the Abyss has for Ley Lines, but it's beside the point! The bottleneck should weaken him and buy us some time!"

"YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME AND DO THIS TO YOUR GOD?!" the avatar thundered with an echoing roar, its mouth widening in preparation for some new attack aimed directly at her.

Unfortunately for him, Deus had no more reason to hesitate, and she unleashed her most powerful arrow yet: a spiralling vortex of golden light that lanced across the distance and struck the Lord of Inanna's monstrous form in the shoulder with pinpoint accuracy. The ensuing explosion was blindingly bright, and the resulting shockwave was enough to make the smaller avatars waver once more, though they quickly stabilised and charged at the heroes in retaliation.

Yet, despite the awesome destructive power of her attack, it was far from enough. The titan was staggered by the impact, and its amethyst flames flickered, but the damage was minimal; barely visible to the naked eye.

"Boy!" Deus yelled from above, pointing at Joshua, "Do it again! Your sword-art was the only thing that managed to crack that cursed shell of his so far! We need to break it and drag his real body out of there if we want to get anything done!"

"That's Plan D now, I guess..." he muttered and readied his sword, only to reel back when one of the human-sized minions leapt at him, claws ablaze and its faceless head opening to reveal a maw of violet fire.

It was a swift creature, a blur of motion that would've caught him off-guard if not for the timely intervention of Eleanor. She appeared behind the minion, and her draconic might was more than enough to send the creature flying with a well-placed kick. It crashed into the ground, a smouldering crater in its wake, but even as it tried to rise again, Neige was already there, nailing it to the ground with a spear of ice.

Joshua readied himself again, but once more, a group of the fiery minions rushed to the defence of their master.

"They're coming from behind!" Penelope warned, slipping past Joshua with incredible speed and cutting one of the charging monsters in half with her blade. The creature's flames flickered and died as its form dissolved into violet mist.

<Actually, let's look at this positively. Yeah, these things are wasting time, but they aren't a bad thing per se...>

Despite two of them being destroyed, there were still dozens of the miniature avatars of Noir left, and they approached the heroes from all over. Their tactics, if one could call them that, were the relentless rush of a starving pack of stray dogs. Disorganised, but too vicious and unpredictable to be underestimated.

<I mean, these are effectively non-sentient mooks that can be destroyed without any moral quandaries. That's a good thing, narratively speaking, and also...>

"Have no fear!" a familiar voice boomed as the masked leader of Bel of the Abyss's loyal followers burst into the fray, sending another minion sprawled on the ground with a flying knee. "The Axis of Evil is still here!"

This time, their re-entry into the battle wasn't accompanied by their theme music, but by a hail of magical missiles fired by the rest of the masked group. The spells exploded in a series of small, yet effective blasts, weakening the miniature avatars of the Lord of Inanna, but not quite managing to destroy them.

"{Beluga to the pod. Leave the minions to the Axis of Evil and focus on Noir, over.}"

<Yeah, this works out. In fact, if I knew the prick would start summoning disposable baddies, I would've waited until they showed up before bringing in the Axis guys. It would've been a more effective entrance. Dammit, hindsight is still my mortal enemy.>

Meanwhile, Joshua readied himself for the third time. With Penelope and Eleanor guarding his back, Neige and Deus providing air support, and the Axis of Evil holding the attention of the vast majority of the humanoid avatars, there was little chance of anything disrupting him again.

He raised his blade, and then... he faltered again.

"Ugh... Balls..." he hissed under his breath.

"Boy! Is something wrong?" the Celestial girl inquired from above, still raining arrows down upon the monstrous avatar of the Lord of Inanna and also occasionally hitting a few of the smaller minions as well.

"I... need a minute. I'm running on fumes here..."

<Oh, what now?>

He wasn't exaggerating. Between the battles leading up to the confrontation with the Lord of Inanna and the fight itself, he had been pushing himself to the limit for a while now. The resonance with Deus had elevated his Celestial powers, but it also put an unusual strain on his body, and was finally pushed over the edge by his reckless use of his Sword Burst a few minutes ago.

"We don't have time!" Penelope snapped at him, her words punctuated by a grunt as she beheaded another approaching minion.

"Just... a moment..." Joshua heaved, and then reached for his belt. Or rather, the storage enchantment, and from it he retrieved a small pouch made of many small compartments, like a bullet belt. It was where he used to store the blood capsules necessary for his transformations, before his relationship with Angeline permanently imprinted Deus's Celestial powers upon him, making all but the Draconians' blood mostly ineffective.

Because of that, he only ever used these when he required a burst of power, and at this moment, he had three more capsules remaining. One of them held Eleanor's blood. The second one contained a drop from the Feilong Patriarch, offered along with a dose from his younger brother, Zihao Feilong, given as a show of grudging support. He used that one during the final stretch of the battle with the Chimaera on the train. However, the last one was special.

On the surface, it looked the same as the rest, a simple translucent capsule with a red liquid inside. Yet, it didn't belong to a Draconian, but a certain unassuming butler. It was the blood of Sebastian von Fraenir, one of the last living pure-blooded dragons, a drop he acquired during the time Eleanor Dracis underwent her Draconic Bloodline Revivification, and—

<What? Hold your horses! What was that about the bloodline revivification?>

...

When Eleanor Dracis underwent the procedure without Leonard S. Dunning's explicit knowledge or approval, in preparation for the heroes' descent into the Abyss, Joshua successfully secured a single drop of blood from the old dragon in disguise.

<Oh, come on, princess! Seriously? And how did I even miss that?>

Joshua had a choice to make. He needed the burst of power the partial transformation provided to keep his battered body going, but with a time limit looming over his head, he wasn't sure which one to pick. On one hand, the blood of the Draconians was a known variable, and he knew what kind of effect to expect. However, if the power they provided wasn't sufficient, then the precious few minutes they had left would not allow for a second attempt.

On the other hand, Sebastian's blood was a complete wild card. He never had the opportunity to test it, and he had no idea whether it would have any unforeseen side effects on him. Yet, his instincts were screaming at him, telling him that this wasn't the time to play it safe. So, with a deep breath, he reached for the capsule containing the ancient dragon's blood, bit into it, and swallowed its contents.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Joshua's stomach churned in a knot as he considered the possibility that he might have made a terrible mistake. But then, just as the first waves of panic began to set in, a burning sensation spread through his veins, and he felt a surge of power coursing through his body. It was similar to the sensation of his previous transformations, but it was more intense, almost painfully so, like liquid fire coursing through his veins.

<Okay, so that's going to be our eleventh-hour power up, I suppose, and now we can—>

However, his body couldn't handle the power, and he burned up from the inside, dying on the spot.

<... Stop. Just stop. Come out, you cheeky bellend. I know you're here.>

«...»

<There you are. I knew it's been too quiet here. Also, what gives? I thought we were past these blunt-force machinations.>

«You are undesirable/dangerous. I must rethink/reassess/change perspective.»

<That doesn't answer my...>

«You are insidious/pervasive/antithetical. You must be purged/eliminated.»

<Whoa there! What's with the sudden change of tune? Are you still mad about the whole flower thing, or—? Ow!>

«Cease/do not begin! I am venerated/eternal! I will not be defined/affected/sculped by the likes of your underhanded/supercilious ways/methods/attacks!»

<Son of a...! Well, tough luck, because I'm not letting you mess with my friends like this! Case in point:>

...

Joshua roared as his body fully absorbed the essence of the dragon, and a surge of power flooded his entire being. His eyes blazed with an intense light as his natural Celestial form shifted, his golden radiance tinted by more and more streaks of dark red. His muscles bulged, and his garbs, a mirrored version of Deus's pure-white Celestial outfit, began to shift and transform to accommodate his new physique.

And then he burst into flames and d-d-d-ieeeeee—

<Ow, you motherfu— I told you to stop!>

«Never/Not yet/Not in the future. You must be excised/expelled/eviscerated.»

<What the hell got you this worked up!? You're the one who keeps munching on me! I haven't done anything to you yet... I think? Or is it one of those Emergent time-block crapshoots, where you're spooked by something that happened in the fut— Argh, damn! That was like four phantom limbs at once! What the shit!?>

«Your existence/domain/presence is not tolerated/endorsed. You must be excised/expelled/eviscerated.»

<You said that already, and... crap, this is going to hurt, but... Ugh!>

...

With one final burst, the Celestial and draconic powers reached a fragile equilibrium, and the resulting flash of power was enough to send a shockwave through the crater, knocking away not only the humanoid minions of the Lord of Inanna, but even his towering avatar itself reeled back.

While it wasn't easy for the untrained eye to discern the tell-tale signs that differentiated the different powers of the races in the World of Mystics, the dark red aura emanating from Joshua, streaked with arcs of brilliant vermilion and lustrous golden radiance, was unmistakably Abyssal in nature.

His form was mirroring the change, his white garbs turning to dark grey and black, with the gold accents shifting into a more subdued, yet no less striking, shade of crimson. At the same time, his wings underwent an even more dramatic change. The six pairs of luminous, angelic wings that sprouted from his back were now the same hue as his aura, wreathed in flames that almost looked like they were made from blood and gold.

It was a striking transformation, albeit not an unaccounted one. After all, Abyssals were born from the union of Celestials and ancient Phantasmal Beings in human guise. When the purest Celestial Ophanim power of Deus was mixed with the equally pure dragon blood of Sebastian, the result was a perfect balance of the two polar opposite energies, forming a new yet harmonious whole.

<Oooh? Okay, I kind of saw that coming, but I kind of didn't. I mean, as far as last-minute battle shounen power-ups go, this one's logical enough, but—>

And then his body couldn't contain this power and exploded.

<Oh, fuck oooff!>