Wish upon the Stars chapter 967

“You want…to surrender your forces?” he said slowly, his tone obviously disbelieving. “The ones with all your friends and your PARENTS in them? Those forces? You want to just…hand them over to the Void?”

I was panicking. Or rather, I would have been panicking if I could fucking THINK. Instead, my entire godsdamned brain was lighting up like a theme park of agony as my Danger Sense tried to clobber me over the head with the fact that I was SPEAKING to an enemy S-ranker. I was less than a hundred feet from the bastard, as was my WIFE, and we were both in horrifying amounts of lethal danger.

I triggered Leviathan, because I had to, both to ward off the Danger Sense and to prevent myself from being flattened by the extremely inconsistent field of Impact radiating off Wise.

Which was almost definitely why Callie and I were alive. Wise wasn’t…right. He WAS an S-ranker, but he was still operating like he wasn’t. The Void in his system had boosted him up several ranks, but he was…stilted. It was the only reason I could think of that he wouldn’t have noticed Callie.

This entire plan had been extremely haphazard. Looking back, I could see where my Fatewalker instincts had been pushing me back and forth during this whole debacle, leading to outcomes that were probably outwardly extremely dangerous, but that I was pretty sure I’d get through. I was threading the needle, and while I knew that this wouldn’t save me if I actually pushed Wise over the edge, I still had options.

I reached into my ring, wrapping my will around something that had been in there for a very long time. Something I hadn’t even thought about in months, because it would be a waste to use it against anything but a literal deity. The token.

Almost a year ago, I’d won a single use defensive token from the Lady of Lamentation during the trials on Rackham. I’d never had occasion to use it, but if anything warranted busting out the big guns, it was this. But I couldn’t activate it yet. If I did, Wise might notice Callie sneaking around.

At the moment, her status as a perfect Void predator seemed to have combined with Murmur to grant her some protection from his incomplete senses, but who knew how long that would last.

Which left me scrambling, trying to justify this whole mess with nonsense to keep his attention. I’d have preferred the life and fate of every person I loved NOT rest on my ability to make shit up on the spot. But sadly, wishes weren’t horses today. Lucky for me, this had all been going through the head of a parallel I’d spawned before engaging in this conversation, so I wasn’t standing around like an idiot staring at him in terror. I smoothly answered his question.

“Not for disposal obviously,” I told him dismissively. “But let’s be honest. We both know what’s going on here. I wouldn’t have made it here if I didn’t. You’ve won already. We could keep struggling, of course, but how many of my friends and family would die? I can’t risk that. I won’t. The WCP hasn’t done shit for me in my life. Who cares what happens to their prison planet. I’m more concerned with my people, and I want to ensure they make it out of this in one piece.”

A surrender hidden inside a plea for mercy with a side of ego stroking. I was almost proud of myself for that. Sure enough, Wise looked pleased. I’d figured him out. It was the form changing. He looked like me. That said something about him, whether he wanted it or not. I wasn’t sure why he’d fixated on me, whether he hated me, was jealous of me, or just wanted to prove he was better than me, but he had SOME attachment.

“You ARE smarter than I gave you credit for,” he gloated. “But then, I suppose that’s not a high bar. How do I know you aren’t planning some betrayal? That this isn’t a ploy to buy time for your parents to arrive?”

“To what end?” I asked bitterly. “You’re at S-rank now. You’d crush them. I didn’t reunite my family just to watch them die. Not to mention I’m standing right in front of you. If an S-ranker wants me dead, what the hell can I even do to stop it? I’m completely at your mercy. All I can do is plead for my life.” I let my head fall, projecting the image of a broken man.

He laughed coldly. “How pathetic. Shane Wyndham, the Wish Devil’s Son, debasing himself for his enemy. I suppose you would be an amusing pet, if nothing else. But you’re forgetting something. Your wife. I know what she is, and I don’t believe you’d sacrifice her. Actually, where is sh-”

“She’s part of the deal,” I cut him off, my head jerking up. “Nonnegotiable. You need to protect her. And honestly, why wouldn’t you? Your predecessor, the previous Void God, was cast down by her father. To have the only daughter of the Heretic God on your leash…could you imagine the status? Not to mention that to grow you need to consume other Void Children. Or your patron does anyway. What better weapon to wield against your own than a predator custom made to destroy them? You would be feared throughout the Void.”

His expression became pensive. “That…is an interesting proposition. I confess, my patron seems a bit too cavalier about her death. But using her for our own ends.” He grinned mockingly at me. “And she’s such a lovely thing, too. Perhaps she’d like this face I’ve adopted.”

My blood caught fire. Rage kindled behind my eyes and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to expose us right there. But I held out. I couldn’t let it go though. Nothing in me would allow that. “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I snapped. “You’re not the only one down here. And even you need underlings. I don’t believe you can afford to lose all those A-rankers. Afford to lose that dragon. The longer you draw this out the worse your position. It’s in your best interest to bring us under control and turn this particular weakness into an asset.”

I saw a flash of anger in his eyes, but he smoothed it over nearly seamlessly. “Of course,” he soothed. “I was just testing your limits. I have no need of a spineless servant. Good to see you’ve got some guts even if you’re smart enough to see which way the wind is blowing.”

Lie. I could smell it on him. He was enraged. But he’d decided to play along, probably to “betray” me at the last second so he could gloat. He’d never get the chance. My eyes focused past him, to where my wife had reached a sort of cascading nexus of glowing lines that I was only able to see through our bond. Lines of dark Void energy connected to all the anchors in this chamber.

Sadly. That glance was all he needed. His brow furrowed, and I could tell he was about to look for whatever had caught my attention. I didn’t even think. I triggered Double Trouble, and then flexed my will, shattering the token to surround Callie and I with a defensive shield as I dropped Murmur, since it wouldn’t really matter now that he was actively searching anyway.

In the distance, I could feel the rumbles getting closer. My parents were coming, and I wasn’t sure if I should be more afraid or relieved. Could they do anything to him now? Could they help us?

“SNEAKY BITCH!” he roared, hands coming up. His fingers spread, and the world CRACKED as black mist shattered the space in front of us, sending cones of rippling Void infused force right at us…which hit the barrier and did nothing.

Single use. I knew what that meant. I would get one try with it. But I had been studying up on tokens like this in my spare time for a while now, and single use did NOT mean single attack. This shield could block a blow from a literal god. Granted, not very well, because it was designed for emergency defense. But Wise wasn’t a god. He wasn’t even a proper S-ranker, and his attack only managed to vaguely disturb the screen of hazy reddish light that surrounded us.

Callie, who hadn’t even looked up from her task, sent a wave of trust through the bond as she raised Gossamer. The black blade lit from the inside with a blue black fire, looking like nothing so much as a soap bubble. The gem at the hilt glowed brighter, and brighter. And I felt…something. Something else.

I remembered what Atlas had said. About Callie being an avatar. And the church that he’d created to house the blade. The temple. Wise screamed in incandescent RAGE. “Don’t you dare! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

My wife didn’t even hesitate. She swung her blade down like a headsman’s axe, and the razor sharp edge bit right through the black misty chords, igniting them all with Heretic Fire, creating a web of blue black flame that strung the length of the mirrored chamber, sending the entire level into a dizzying explosion of flames and visual feedback. I heard a crackle, like an egg on a hot pan, and then another, and as I watched, the closest anchors began to explode light overloaded lightbulbs, the distortions above them snapping closed.

Wise screamed in fury, blurring forward to pound on the screen of red with black cloaked hands, eyes blazing that unearthly blue. “NO! NO NO NO! You can’t do this! I’ll butcher you! I’ll turn you into fucking SHOES!”

The shield wavered, the red beginning to fade. My blood turned to ice. This was it. We’d fixed things. We’d saved the whole planet…and we were going to die. I wrapped my arms around my wife, resting my head on her shoulders as I turned her away from the enraged Void Vessel. “I’m sorry.” I told her softly. “I’m sorry this is how it ends. I’m sorry this is where loving me brought you.”

She reached up and yanked my mask off, pressing her lips to mine fiercely. “I’m not,” she said stubbornly. “I’m proud. Being married to you has been the greatest adventure of my life. If I have to die, I’m glad it’s with you. I love you Shane Wyndham. And don’t you ever forget it.”

Resting her head against my chest, she closed her eyes, and I smiled softly down at her as I bowed my head. I was ready. This wasn’t how I’d planned things to go, but at least we’d saved my friends. I was sure Zeke and my parents could get them away from some jumped up Void Toady. He was barely an S-ranker. I had faith they could handle him. It was a shame I wouldn’t get to see it.

I thought that was the end. As I heard the shield begin to finally give way, cracks spreading over the screen of light, though, I heard something else. A scream of incandescent rage so primal and terrifying that I felt it in my bones. “GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF MY SON!”

There was a blur, and a female form made of blazing white fire smashed into Wise at top speed, sending him careening across the chamber to smash into one of the mirrored walls. Give her credit, my mother didn’t mistake him for me for even a second, her blazing white eyes shimmering with unrepressed wrath. Her hands were covered in a pair of mirrored gauntlets, and her torso had a mirrored cuirass across it. I saw my dad off in the distance, approaching with Zeke and Sebastian, Killian bringing up the rear. 

Staring at them, I couldn’t help what I did next. The relief, gratitude, and joy washed away every speck of terror, leaving me to collapse to my knees, still holding Callie. My head tipped back, and despite the still very real danger we were all in, I started to laugh. And I didn’t stop.