Gradually, they navigated through the distorted space. Flying was like pushing the ship through thick sheets of fabric. Sometimes, stars blinked out entirely as if erased. Other times, they flickered back with wrong shapes.
After an agonizing hour, Angy stood from her seat.
"Here," she said suddenly. "Stop here. This is the right spot."
"Youâre sure?" Endric asked.
Angy nodded. She stepped closer to the viewport. "This is where Gustav fell. I can... feel it."
Everyone exchanged uneasy glances, but none doubted her. Angyâs connection to Gustav had always been strong. Now, with her bloodline awakening in strange new ways, her senses were sharper, deeperânearly prophetic.
They prepared to exit the ship.
One by one, they grabbed specially crafted suits reinforced with advanced shielding and MBO modifications. Even then, a few werenât sure these would protect them in a region where reality itself had been scarred.
Aildris stretched his limbs, gathering his energy. "Everyone ready?"
No one was ready.
But they nodded anyway.
The ship released them into the corrosive, monochrome expanse. Their boots touched nothing, yet there was resistance, as though they were walking through sheets of dense fog made of paper.
Angy drifted forward with her long silver and pink hair floating like ink in water.
"This is far enough," she said softly. "Set up here."
E.E exhaled shakily. "So this is it... the beginning of something we canât take back."
Angy kept her eyes fixed ahead. "We donât have a choice. If we donât start soon... there wonât be a universe left."
She didnât tell them the rest.
That her child was reacting.
That she could feel the fragments of Gustavâs essence drawing to her like gravity.
Endric floated closer to her. "Before we begin... you need to understand. Once you start, they will feel it."
Angy turned to him, unwavering. "I know. Thatâs why we must be ready."
"Weâve prepared exactly as you said," Endric continued. "But if even one deity arrives too earlyâ"
"Then you will hold them back," Angy interrupted gently but firmly.
Endric swallowed. "Weâll try."
The others gathered around them in a loose circle. Over thirty mixedbloods, and alien refugees hovered in the monochrome voidâscarred warriors, desperate survivors, people who had lost everything.
This was their final gamble.
Falco drifted beside Angy and handed her the containment cylinders. Each one was glowing faintly with swirling lights. Gustavâs essence, collected piece by piece from across galaxies.
Angy held them carefully. They were warm. Too warm.
Almost alive.
Her child responded again causing her to feel another flutter in her womb.
She closed her eyes briefly to steady herself.
Endric floated upward, positioning himself directly at the center of the group.
"Everyone," he announced through the comms, "link your energies. Iâll guide the process."
E.E raised a hand. "You sure youâre up for this, brother?"
Endric nodded. "This is the only way."
And so it began.
One by one, everyone activated their bloodline energies, channeling their abilities outward. Light, flames, gravitational distortions, psychic threads, elemental flows, alien particlesâdozens of power types shimmering into the air like luminous strings.
Endric reached out telekinetically and grabbed hold of each strand. His power swept out violently as his eyes glowing a brilliant purple-blue while the energies converged into him.
His skin cracked with glowing lines. His veins illuminated. His aura exploded outward.
Sersi flinched. "Endricâ!"
"Iâm fine," he forced out through clenched teeth.
The energy of more than thirty powerful beings was pouring into him. It felt like having suns shoved into his bloodstream.
But he endured.
He gathered them...
Twisted them...
Forged them...
And sculpted them into a massive telekinetic construct.
A barrier.
A fortress.
A sphere of impossible density... brighter than any physical material, woven from raw will, energy, and the combined might of warriors who refused to surrender.
The barrier snapped into place around all of them.
A thousand times sturdier than neutronium.
A thousand times more complex than any shield ever created.
E.E let out a low whistle. "Damn... Endric. You werenât playing."
Endric didnât reply. He couldnât. The strain was already immense causing blood to dripp from the corner of his lip despite the suit.
Angy drifted toward the very center of the barrier with the containers of essence in hand.
"Once I begin," she said quietly, "donât come near me. Whatever happens... stay back."
Ria frowned. "We donât know what will happen."
"I do," Angy whispered.
But she didnât explain.
No.
This was her burden to bear.
She touched the first essence container. It vibrated.
Her bloodline flared as silver fractals swirled through her irises.
A warm pulse shot up from her belly, spreading through her torso, to her chest, up her throatâ
She gasped.
Falco moved instinctively. "Angyâ!"
"Donât!" she snapped as her eyes blazed with light. "Stay back!"
He froze, startled.
Angy floated in place, breathing harshly as the power surged inside her like a second heartbeat. The essences trembled in resonanceâresponding to her, recognizing something within her.
Her bloodline.
Her unborn child.
She began opening the containers.
One.
A rush of energy swirled around her, pulling into her skin.
Two.
A spiral of light wrapped her entire body.
Three.
Her heartbeat synced with the essencesâthump... thump... thumpâgrowing louder, sharper, divine.
The others watched in awe and terror.
E.E whispered, "Is she... glowing?"
Ria swallowed hard. "Sheâs more than glowing. Her aura is distorting space."
Indeed, the monochrome surroundings rippled around her. Black-and-white streaks bent away as though pushed by cosmic pressure.
Inside her, the baby pulsed again as though lending its existenceâits connectionâto the Outworldly power.
Angy grit her teeth against the pain swelling through her abdomen. âNot now... please... just hold on...â
She opened more containers.
Five.
Seven.
Nine.
Each time, her body shook, but she kept going.
Endric pressed a hand to his helmet as sweat dripped inside despite the cold. "Her energy is skyrocketing... this is insane..."
Sersi nodded slowly with widening eyes. "Sheâs starting to reach... deity levels."
Angy floated higher with winds of cosmic pressure swirled around her as more and more of Gustavâs undying essence merged into her bloodline.