CH 30: The Beast
After rolling the Gacha, Lex hadn't found anything he needed to use immediately, with one notable exception.
The Inhuman Gene.
The moment he activated the card, however, the Essence of Transcend Self immediately reacted. Since the mutation directly affected the soul rather than the body, the Essence had apparently decided to involve itself.
<The Essence has directly rejected the mutation.>
Raphael's announcement was technically correct. There had been no observable change to his genetics whatsoever. Yet Lex could still feel the power settling inside him. The mutation itself had been rejected, but whatever ability it granted seemed to have been absorbed and integrated by the Essence instead.
The result was a new ability.
A soul clone.
Clone wasn't entirely the right word, however. There weren't two minds or two separate consciousnesses. It was still just Lex. One mind controlling two bodies simultaneously. The secondary body contained only a fragment of his soul and, unlike his original body, possessed very few of his abilities.
Anything directly tied to his soul still functioned normally. Raphael was naturally present in both bodies, while Milim Eye, the Eyes of Depth and Ray Tracing remained available as well. The Force and Cursed Energy also continued working without issue, whether because they originated from Templates or because they were forms of energy rather than biological mutations. Telekinesis, Cryokinesis, Moxie, Dead Signal and most of his other powers, however, were completely inaccessible.
Creating the body wasn't instant either. It took several hours for the fragment of his soul to fully construct a vessel capable of housing it.
Which was why, when the Archpriestess finally sprung her trap, the original had already been prepared.
The moment his clone body disappeared into the pocket dimension alongside Kara, the original immediately took flight. In truth, he had never been far away to begin with, spending the entire operation hidden several dozen kilometers from the base as a precaution.
At the same time, Lex ordered Cortana to issue a Mission Abandonment command.
Whatever was happening beneath the temple was no longer worth risking everyone else for.
Fortunately, the upper levels remained relatively secure. Donna's team disengaged without major complications while Sharon coordinated the withdrawal. Within half an hour everyone had evacuated the facility.
Meanwhile, inside the darkness of the pocket dimension, Lex and Kara finally came face to face with the reason the Hand existed at all.
A black silhouette emerged from the void ahead of them. The creature resembled a giant black sphere balanced atop skeletal legs while elongated clawed arms protruded from either side. Its head was just as round as the rest of its body and possessed what appeared to be several layers of hanging flesh beneath its jaw.
For a moment, Lex simply stared.
This was the Beast.
The entity the Hand had worshipped for centuries.
The thing they wanted to shove inside him.
"You must be the Beast," Lex finally said. "The guy that the Hand worships. You're certainly uglier than what they'd drawn."
The Beast released a wheezing laugh.
"Khe khe khe... if it is appearance you desire, then allow me to grant you a regal form such as my own."
Dark power surged from one of its clawed hands.
Nothing happened.
Lex remained exactly the same.
The Beast tilted its head slightly.
"You certainly have strange abilities."
Lex wasn't particularly surprised. The Essence of Transcend Self had always reacted aggressively whenever something attempted to alter him against his will. Obviously that included whatever the Beast had just tried.
The creature's attention shifted past him and settled on Kara.
Unfortunately for it, staring at Kara usually resulted in violence.
The Kryptonian accelerated forward immediately, crossing the distance in an instant and driving a punch directly through the creature's torso.
Or at least that had clearly been the intention.
Instead, her fist passed straight through it as though the Beast wasn't physically present at all.
"This is my dimension," the Beast said calmly. "Here, only my will matters."
The darkness around Kara immediately came alive.
Invisible restraints wrapped themselves around her body and attempted to pin her in place. Against most opponents the attack probably would have worked instantly. Against Kara it merely slowed her down. Even with the dimension itself seemingly fighting against her movements, she continued forcing herself forward through sheer physical strength.
Lex attempted to use the Force.
The result was strange.
The Beast existed. The Force could perceive it. Yet trying to actually affect it felt almost impossible. The connection refused to properly form, as though the creature occupied reality differently from them.
The Beast responded by extending one clawed hand toward him.
Dark tendrils erupted from the surrounding void and wrapped around his body from every direction.
Back in the real world, the original had already regrouped with the others after the evacuation.
"What exactly happened?" Sharon asked immediately. "Where's Kara?"
"She's trapped in a pocket dimension," Lex replied. "You guys stay here. I'll see if I can ‘convince’ the leadership to open the portal again."
Elektra, who had been unusually quiet throughout most of the operation, finally spoke.
"Well, if you need to torture them, I could probably help."
There was enough venom in her voice to suggest she wasn't joking.
"Thanks, but no need."
The response had less to do with morality and more to do with practicality. The situation was already complicated enough without needing to worry about protecting Elektra as well.
A few moments later Lex was already moving back toward the temple.
This time stealth wasn't necessary.
The Force and Telekinesis worked together as he descended through the facility, ripping apart every obstacle placed in front of him. Doors were torn from their hinges. Walls shattered. Hand operatives were hurled aside before they could even understand what was happening.
By the time he returned to the ritual chamber, alarms were finally beginning to spread throughout the complex.
The Archpriestess stared at him in disbelief.
"You... how could you be here?"
The demon that had regained its freedom after Lex's disappearance reacted immediately.
It launched itself toward him at tremendous speed, demonic energy erupting around its body as it attempted to close the distance.
Unlike before, Lex had no interest in conversation.
The moment the demon entered range, Telekinesis seized it from every direction and halted the charge instantly. Before it could even struggle, Force Lightning erupted from Lex's hand. This time Heretic Magic flowed through the attack as well.
The effect was immediate.
The host body died almost instantly.
The demon followed moments later.
Unlike physical attacks, Heretic Magic directly affected the soul itself. There would be no resurrection. No new host. No return.
The demon was simply gone.
The grotesque insect-like creature Kara had been fighting received similar treatment. Lightning crossed the chamber and slammed into its body repeatedly. While the creature proved durable enough to survive the attack, it was still left twitching and incapacitated beneath the barrage.
The Archpriestess finally reacted.
Dark energy erupted around her as she completed several hand signs and launched a spell toward him, only for an enormous wall of ice to rise from the floor and intercept the attack before it could reach him.
Lex didn't slow down.
He continued advancing.
A figure suddenly landed between them.
A samurai.
Glowing eyes.
Ancient armor.
Gorgon.
Lex recognized him immediately. One of the Hand's deadliest fighters. A man whose gaze could petrify his enemies.
Unfortunately for Gorgon, Lex's Essence of Transcend Self rendered that particular ability completely useless.
Their gazes met.
Nothing happened.
Then Telekinesis crushed Gorgon's skull.
The body collapsed to the floor.
For the first time since he had entered the chamber, the Archpriestess looked genuinely shaken.
"What... how..."
Her eyes moved between the corpses surrounding her.
"You were hiding this..."
Ice began spreading across her robes.
Up her legs.
Across her body.
Lex stopped only a few meters away.
"Now then," he said calmly. "Open that gate again. The one leading to the pocket dimension."
The ice continued climbing.
"Or die like them.”
“Even if I could, I would never betray the great Beast,” the old woman said as she spat at his face. Of course, the spit never reached him. The invisible force surrounding Lex immediately redirected it back toward her. The strange thing, however, was that the saliva was actually corrosive, burning into her own skin the moment it touched her face.
During all this time, Lex had noticed something else as well. In fact, he had realized it almost immediately after being thrown into the strange dimension.
There was a time dilation effect.
“Can you calculate how much dilation there is, Raphael?”
<One second inside the Pocket Dimension is equivalent to 12.4 seconds outside.>
That was extremely favorable for Lex. If the calculation was correct, he effectively had hours to work with while only minutes passed outside.
<She has killed herself.>“What the fuck...”
Lex blinked in surprise and looked back toward the Archpriestess. At some point during their conversation, she had apparently used some form of magic to kill herself, and he hadn't even noticed it happen.
“Oh well, I always wanted to see how my resurrection works.”
He casually dropped a single drop of blood onto her corpse, carefully restricting it to only its resurrection properties and none of the other things his blood was capable of doing.
Almost immediately, feedback returned through the connection.
Approximately thirty minutes.
Apparently she had damaged her soul during the process, which complicated things slightly.
Since there was nothing else to do while waiting, Lex began exploring the ritual chamber. He was hoping to find information, records, books, anything useful really, and his wish was granted surprisingly quickly when Milim Eye revealed a hidden passage concealed behind one of the statues.
Beyond it sat an entire library.
“Nice.”
Apparently centuries-old cults still liked keeping physical records.
Meanwhile, Sharon called to ask what exactly had happened. While Raphael began reading through books at absurd speeds, Lex explained the situation, informed her that Kara was trapped alongside the soul clone, and instructed everyone to keep their distance from the lower levels of the facility. Things could potentially become very dangerous very quickly.
Of course, Donna and Sharon herself were exceptions.
After all the enhancements she had received, Sharon was more than capable of holding her own, and having someone tactical on the field was always useful. As for Donna, she was powerful enough that Lex wasn't particularly worried about her safety either.
Meanwhile, the Beast was having an extremely difficult time.
No matter what method he tried, he simply couldn't possess Lex. He pushed against the human's soul repeatedly, attempted to force his way into the body, and even tried more subtle methods, yet every attempt ended in complete failure. He couldn't even enter the body, let alone seize control of it.
Eventually the Beast stopped trying.
“I suppose I'd have to settle for the second best.”
Lex immediately realized where the creature was looking.
His eyes widened.
The Beast's attention had shifted toward Kara.
Unlike him, Kara had never received any of his blood. She possessed none of the strange protections and immunities that had accumulated around him through the Essence. Worse, he was still restrained by the dark tendrils binding him in place while the Beast existed in a manner that made it almost impossible for him to directly affect it.
“Kara!”
The warning came too late.
The Beast surged forward and disappeared into her body.
For a brief moment Kara's eyes flashed crimson before her entire body jerked violently.
“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”
The roar echoed throughout the dimension.
Then she laughed.
“Khekhe khe... I didn't think the second option would turn out to be even better than the first.”
The Beast's voice emerged from Kara's mouth.
A second later Kara slammed her own fist into her jaw hard enough to snap her head sideways.
“Ohh... how feisty.”
The Beast sounded amused as it continued testing its new host.
Lex's expression darkened.
This was bad.
Not because Kara was weak, but because she was Kara. Possessing someone capable of punching gods through mountains was the last thing he wanted the Beast to accomplish.
Desperately, he attempted to guide a drop of blood toward her using the Force.
The attempt failed immediately.
His Essence informed him that only the original body's blood possessed the supernatural properties he relied upon. The clone's blood was effectively normal.
Of course it was.
The Beast smiled through Kara's face, somehow making the expression significantly more disturbing than before, then fired a heavily concentrated Lesser directly toward him.
Lex immediately pushed back with the Force, trying to stop the attack, but the Beast controlled this dimension absolutely. The beam struck him head-on and his regeneration simply couldn't keep up as large portions of his body were burned away.
“Khekhe khe...”
The Beast laughed.
Then Kara punched herself in the chin hard enough to shatter several teeth.
The laughter briefly stopped before resuming once more.
For the next several minutes the Beast focused primarily on suppressing Kara's resistance. Every movement suggested an ongoing struggle beneath the surface, which was at least somewhat reassuring.
Kara was still fighting.
Some time later, the Beast suddenly felt a summoning reaching toward him from Earth.
Its attention shifted immediately.
The Archpriestess.
A portal was being opened.
The timing was actually excellent. Acquiring Kara as a host had dramatically increased the Beast's interest in going to the physical world, and sooner or later he would have needed someone to summon him there anyway. In fact, he had already been considering sending instructions to the Archpriestess regarding exactly that matter.
A useful servant remaining useful.
Without hesitation, the Beast accepted.
A portal opened before him.
The moment it stabilized, he crossed through.
For the first time since acquiring his new host, the Beast felt genuinely pleased.
Then he looked up.
And found himself staring at enormous piles of glowing green crystals.
The satisfaction vanished almost instantly.
The Archpriestess was indeed present, though not quite in the way he had expected. She was bound by a glowing blue lasso and restrained by a woman he didn't recognize.
More importantly, standing directly ahead was the same man the Beast had personally watched die.
Just as rage began surging through him, mountains of the strange green crystals launched themselves toward him.
Naturally, he ignored them.
This body possessed extraordinary durability. He had already tested it thoroughly. A few rocks weren't going to—
“AAAGHH!”
The scream tore from his throat as the crystals pierced his body from every direction.
Immediately he felt weaker.
Much weaker.
Within moments, the body that had felt godlike was weaker than an ordinary human.
“What did you do?” he bellowed.
“Just a little welcome gift, Krahllak.”
Lex smiled.
Force Lightning erupted from his hand, Heretic Magic flowing through it.
The Beast couldn't even dodge.
“How...? Why can it damage the true me? What exactly are you?”
Rage and confusion mixed together as Krahllak attempted to abandon Kara's body and flee.
Then dark magic circles illuminated the ground.
The demon slammed into an invisible barrier and stopped.
“No... how could such low-level magic stop me? What is happening?”
At this point, Krahllak was genuinely bewildered. What should have been one of the greatest victories of his existence had somehow become a disaster.
The Force Lightning enhanced by Heretic Magic wasn't powerful enough to kill him instantly, but it didn't need to be.
Twenty-five minutes later, Krahllak ceased to exist.
“Wow... thanks, Donna. Without your Kryptonite tip, that would've been a nightmare.”
Donna had been the one to mention the weakness of Kryptonians. Naturally, she had assumed Lex wouldn't have immediate access to any.
The Essence of Wealth disagreed.
All it had taken was a thought and mountains of Kryptonite had appeared.
That said, today's most valuable contribution had probably been Lex's blood. Used as a catalyst, it had amplified a relatively simple dark magic ritual to absurd levels, preventing the demon from abandoning Kara's body and escaping once things started going badly for him.