#121

“...t?” the Emperor chokes out. Then he turns to look at the five. “What?!” he repeats. “We just recorded that message for them, how are they...” He blinks as he realizes that the Inspector, who stands to his right, has betrayed him. He moves as Susie predicted.

“Welcome,” says Puck the Vulture, in a dead voice. His eyes are dead, same as Mack Greasy's. The shark's head is chewing only weakly. Just as he croaks out that single word, Fox himself seems to mouth something private. It's “sorry”. For this is the last thing Puck will ever say.

With a final chomp, Lefty Sinister falls from Mack's mouth. He gives a false-mandatory cry of pain as his left leg is torn off. He rolls with the fall, even as he harshly considers—with bitterness, the only buddy he's ever really had in this chump's life—that without that mouth, he ain't getting that leg back. But he'll live.

Mack and Puck suddenly disconnect from Fox's body. They do not react, and there's no blood as they're severed; the suit he's wearing continues through the points where their heads should have had holes to poke through. They lift into the air before him, twirling as if in a ballet, just as Fox says, “After this. Four more.” Then, they burst into flames, but do not scream. The flames consume them instantly, and they turn into orbs of orange light, that is then just as swiftly sucked into his body. There's a flash of white, and those two are gone forever.

The party has no time to react to that; to them, it's just pointless surrealism.

“The circuit isn't continued, Lefty,” Fox intones weakly. “Wilhelm has saved Esau; Zanne has rescued Usius. Their souls are free.”

Lefty says nothing, pretending not to have heard, as he has for the last fuckin' eternities he's had to spend nearly connected with that idiot. He dusts himself off, and, finding nothing else to do, slowly and bloodily crawls over to the party.

“But my parts come back to me—my 'investments'. Better than money, Lefty...” It's now as if talking is merely a pretense for this creature. “And once I drink your universe, and the other one I tore up, I'll be free. The Time Nexus will be released. Kul'ul walks again...”

It's taking all of the party, except for You, all they've got to resist dropping to the ground and writhing from fear; the air around Fox feels wrong, and Jacob at the very least can see a wavering set of tentacles occasionally ring his perimeter. They're standing in the presence of something that humans were never meant to know of.

“Four more,” he repeats. “One beyond my reach forever: Robert Kirk. Two just a few miles from here: easy pickings.” Without turning, he addresses the Emperor. “I'm sorry I fooled you, Kai.”

“No!!” the Emperor screams. “You can't do this!! You promised me my son! You promised me the woman!!”

“Promises are nil beside Kul'ul.”

Suddenly, the flames flash around the Emperor too—but there's some human anger in this fire. It's slow. Susie, and indeed everyone, is glad You can't see this, and she in particular has to look away. She can't see the man's flesh melt off, his muscles turn to cinders. His final screams are taken away until he, too, is reabsorbed into his Father.

The Emperor is dead.

There is silence.

“Is this where it ends, then?” Fox says. It takes every once of strength to strain against simply calling him it, and it, Kul'ul. For Kul'ul is an ancient demon, but was born billions of years into the universe's existence. Now, once again, many years after its birth, it risks returning. The Nexus is active. In the past, it calls out to Doctor Kai, having a mental breakdown. It asks him to kill his father, and to split his own mind, to become evil. He gives in and becomes Kul'ul. Kul'ul becomes the Second Enemy and is destroyed, until now. Now, when time can be broken again, and the limbs of the demon can reach through.

They're already reaching through. It's impatient.

“I guess this is it, yeah.” Jacob's the one to say that bit. He's still nonplussed, in his way.

“Excellent. This has gone on for far too long. I will require the weapon you've brought with you.”

“The Cosmic D8? Sorry, mate,” Mark says. “Don't got it.”

“No, no. A fuel-infused being of an advancement beyond even my inventions? With a completed computer uplink, no less. Perfect.”

That's when all but You are thrown violently against the right-hand wall. You is lifted into the air. Lefty snarls like an angry lion.

“The Blue Tower has been working on a very special project. The Ultimate project. Adapted from the engine that brought my bicycle and I into this world to begin with. A terraformer, to rebuild the planet in my image. It's simple; when I unleash the power of The Cascade, I will use my redirected terraformed crystals to drive the beam into Earths Alpha and Gamma. The Prime Earth and the Paradise Earth, destroyed. The rest of the Multiverse destabilized and crumbling. Easy to rebuild.” As he says that last word, his voice twists, and his face is replaced briefly with that of a beaked shark.

At his words, the left-hand wall slides open, and inside is yet another computer terminal—or, at least, something that looks very similar. Before anything else can be said, You is slammed across this computer, and his right hand suddenly reaches over and seems to bond with the computer.

Time is speeding up again. No one can stop it, not even the two sorceresses in the room. It will only get faster, for K͇̱̮̖͚̔́͒̉̆ǘ͓̤̤̬̺̆͐̄̄l̨̰͓̝̳͆̿̊͝͠u̠̗̯̩͚̒̀̔̈́͠'̼̖̯̞͋̈́͊̈́̅͜l̛͚͇̲͎͊̽̑̐͜ ̧̙͙̱̟̃̄̒͗͝y̳̗͇̟̥̓̒̔̽͆ê̟͇̲͔̯̑͋͝͝t̨͈͇̮̬̀͛̀̎͝ ̯̭̜̞͙͒́͋̾̃ḛ̢̛͔̖̩̄̉͒͋n̪̤̺̖̬̓̄̈́̐̂d̞̱̟̤̯̋̄̅̍͘u̢͍̪̼͈̇́̂̀̎r̢̛̭͔̟̥̐̀͘̕e̛̬͈͊͒̑̅͜͜ͅs̮̬̝̫͇̎̎̈́͋͒.

“With a direct line of fuel being fed to the computer, in its own way of transmission, we can get past having to build a massive fuel core, like that of the White Tower. The intense passage of fuel will kill You. Of course. But my weapon will be complete. An Earth primed with both advanced tier soldiers and a built-in system of accumulation crystals capable of reshaping the fuel into any way desired.”

“No!” Susie cries, as she watches You faintly twitch against the device.

“No one anticipated the use of the terraformer. Because I never allowed the Emperor to know if it, until at last the Blue Tower was our only respite. The planet itself must be made hostile to those not linked to Kul'ul. The next stop is logical. The Multiverse itself must enter such a stage. Below me, all that is not orderly will be lost...”

“No!!” Susie shouts again. You is beginning to glow. Even as he's speaking, Fox is beginning to channel the fuel from somewhere—presumably from the two prongs at the top of the Tower. All the energy that ever was in Lefty and Jacob's home universes is now trying to pass through You. He's making a low grunting sound and despite his mindlessness is actually in pain—implying the agony is beyond comprehension.

The others try to strain, but already they can sense what's coming, from the future. They sense the freedom of Kul'ul, already flowing back on a stream of chronons, making its own release inevitable. The Nexus is active.

R̶̨̮͇̺̙̞͈̝͈͗̎̀̈́̌̇́͒̔̄́̚͜͜ͅI̵̺͇̺̮̦͕̰̤͈̪͋͂̀̅̆̃̎̓̅̾̍̾͜͜Ş̵̨̢͈̭̝̱̤̝̱̼͔̀̋̈́̽̃̾͐̉́͝͠É̷̢̛̳̠̪̳̞̜̭͚̮̣̂̀̈̊͋̉̽̇̎͜͠

Jacob screams first, because Doctor Kai is screaming. Klaus is screaming too, and Kurq'wes is driven very close to such a thing. They see what they are, and what they'll become. They see the curve of destiny and as Jacob shares this vision he sees the torture of his brother at the hands of an Earth-Gamma monster, just as Mina sees Aurel die, as Susie witnesses the traces of thought in the dark place where You is, and just before they all see a rush of images of things that outline the final physicality of it all. The Ultimate angles and curves and shapes beyond just a simple scientist sitting in a lab, tinkering with a time machine.

And three simple words, that come now from the past, from a time when the only audience they had was a set of empty prison cells.

K̺͕̹̰̦͍̫̻̹̙̣̊̈́̈́̀̑̈́̇̀͊̀͝ͅU̢͕̻̦̪̰̱͔͚̗͊̍̌̀̈́̎͂͛̑̒̓̊͜Ľ̡̦̲̖̯͖͕̞͉͇͈͌̏̍̄͗̇̂̉̀̍͜'̡̻̼̲̻̙̲̹̥̺̦̖̆̔̍̎̔̈̓̒̉͒͆͝U̡̧̜̭̲̗̖͚̟̹̟̰̾͛̀̈́́͐̈̓͆͘͘͝L̢̧̰͖̦̘͖͉̪̻̳̰̂́͒̅̎͑͌̀̀͆̚

Ý̧͕̬̯̣̻̟͉̟̼̲̗̋̒̈́̑̆̃̀̎͆̓̕Ȇ̡̡̛͔͕̘̘̪͖̣͇͇̈́͒̑̈́̽̏̈́͜͠͝͝Ṭ̡̛̛͎̝̬̥̥̥̝̺̯̖̌́͋͋͒̿̈́̌̌͝

E̡͇̗̦̝͙͇̦̜̋̆̾͊̓̓̇͗́͒̌̕͜͜Ň͙̫̩͙̠̙̘͕̜͔͔̓̽͊̽͑̎͆̆͂͜͝Ḑ̨̧̛̛̞̖̯͙̱̩̹͕͉͂̄̀͌̐͂̈́̒͘͝U̻͓̺̰̬̯̺̟̞̣̠͙̽̌͂̀͛̓̀̏̏̽̓͘Ŕ̛̛̠̖̞͇̙̹̭͓̰͈̲̣̌͋̃̄͐̃̚͘͝Ĕ̜̰̫̪̼̩̹̖͇͓̠͔̉̒͆́́́̂̀̑̽̕Ş̡̳̖̥͎̺̗̩̞̻̪̇͆͒̀̍͊́̔̒̇̋

Past, present, and future collided, collide, and will collide as the power of three universes enters the room, warping minds, fracturing space, and revealing the Ultimate message.

They lose.