W̶̖͖̾̀͜e̸̟̙͈̹̐̄͑͆’̷̖̓̑͝r̸̛͓̭̫̱e̷̪̟̾̄̕ ̵̤͎͙͌̂̕̚Ả̶̛̫̭͝l̷̞̼̭̺̽̇͘l̵̘̥̹̬̽̇͘͘ ̶̜͛̒̕͝Ạ̵̬̺̇͜͝b̴̧̩̮̀͑͠ȯ̵͕͎̘͆́m̸͈̹̘̼̀i̸͎̜̪̺͛ǹ̵̨̙̦̀a̷̼̽̆̽t̵̲̲̪̰̎̂͌ḯ̴̠̳̃͘ͅȏ̴͍ͅn̵̬̭̮̽̂̓̔ṣ̶͚̗̯̔̉͋͆ ̸̪̙͓̽͐ͅĭ̷̖̃̆͘n̶̠̮̭̩͛͛̒ ̷͈̈́̾̂H̶̯̑̓͋̚e̵̙̗͒͐r̷͚̝̃ ̶̬͈̟̎̎͌͘ͅÈ̸̜̝͚y̷͇͚͑e̴̢̡̕ş̵̂̂

“Insolent child!” Florathea spat. “Go back to sleep already!”

“N-no!” Lora croaked. “I won’t let you hurt them anymore…! I know what’s going on now! I saw it! I saw your dreams! I finally understood everything!”

“You what…?”

“Humans, elves, dwarves, werewolves, fairies, goblins, every living creature treading on your grounds… They were hurting you! Every step on the grass, every tug on the roots, you’ve felt each and every single pain of all living plants!”

“Y-you… How did you—”

“Because I’ve felt it too! I felt it with your gift! Your healing magic made me resonate with all your plants too!”

That finally got the goddess to fall silent, if only for a moment.

Dahlian and I used this opportunity to subdue her with a combo of sword glitches and lightning strikes, shredding even more of her feathers until one of her wings finally broke off her back.

Florathea gritted her teeth and hissed in pain, gripping her shoulder. “Ignorant, leeching parasites, all of you,” she growled. “None of you deserve to live—”

She swiftly punched herself again, stumbling around a bit.

“You’re more of a parasite than anyone else!” Lora hollered. “Get out of my body already!”

“You stay out of this…!”

“No way!”

As the woman argued with herself again, Wymond swooped in and sliced off her other wing, delivering a force so powerful it cratered the ground into molten hot magma in the process.

The goddess finally collapsed on her knees with a pained grunt, scowling viciously. “Utterly despicable,” she snarled. “Vile, repulsive, disgusting monsters…”

“They’re not monsters!” Lora croaked, grasping her face. “This isn’t like you at all!”

“Silence!”

“Hey, Doll Lady!” Dahlian called out, pointing at the woman with wings. “When are you gonna sever these two already?! We already chopped off her wings!”

Morienelle sliced a few minions before turning toward us and the goddess. She squinted, and her eyes briefly glowed for a moment before she grasped her head. “Florathea isn’t fully weakened enough, so there’s still a risk of failure!”

“We might as well take that risk!” I shouted, glancing at the dwindling specks of orange light from the sunset. “We’re running out of time!”

“Ugh, don’t blame me if it fails then!” She stabbed her scissors on the ground and charged toward us. She flattened out a hand, and a luminescent needle molded out of her palm, massive enough to resemble more of an ice pick than a sewing tool.

“Back me up and hold her in place!” Moriennelle commanded.

Wymond spun his axe and smashed it against the ground, carving a trail of molten magma toward the goddess and surrounding her in a ring of flames. Queen Verisette also slammed her staff down and shot crystallized fragments at Florathea’s feet, freezing her legs in place.

Despite all that, Florathea swiftly blew them away with a swing of her arm.

“Sloane!” I called out.

The elf redirected his vines toward the goddess, coiling her arms together. The more she wrestled with it, the tighter the vines squeezed.

Morienelle leaned forward and picked up her pace, practically flying, and retracted her needle. She promptly thrust it forward and successfully pierced through the woman’s chest.

A blinding white light flashed the scene, forcing many of us to cover our faces, followed by an agonized scream.

What felt like an eternity passed when the light finally died down. We all hurriedly turned toward the goddess, who remained inside Lora’s body, and Morienelle, still shoving her needle deeper into her chest.

“Damn it!” Morienelle gripped tighter, her arms quivering as she struggled to keep the needle inside. “She’s still… too… strong…! Gyah!”

With a burst of energy, the goddess sent her and her needle flying away. Morienelle tumbled away while her needle stabbed against the ground, far from her reach.

Florathea heavily panted, grasping her face, and raised a hand toward the needle.

“No! Don’t let her take the needle!” Morienelle shouted.

And yet, none of us were close enough to reach it before Florathea’s powers could. Out of everyone here, the only person who could teleport the fastest was… me.

So, I promptly dashed forward, glitching around like crazy and deflecting away Florathea’s powers in the process. I managed to teleport close to the needle and stopped my glitch there.

I made a mad dash for it and leapt for the needle, snatching it before crashing and rolling through the dirt. I spared half a second to catch my breath before confronting the approaching swarm of grass blades.

I hastily stabbed myself with my sword, summoned my glitchy profile tab, and glitched myself away, blowing up all of Florathea’s projectiles at my former spot.

Yeah, it took me this long to figure out that I could summon this explosive profile tab and heal my injuries whenever I was at death’s door or took a fatal blow. Better late than never, I suppose.

In any case, I glitched here and there, leaving clones with duplications of the needle all over the place, and once I teleported close enough, I made a diagonal slash, spun around, and threw the needle forward.

All at once, my clones copied me, shooting away the duplicated needles and stabbing the goddess in all directions. Light engulfed her body, and she screamed even more loudly in pain.

I landed on the grass with a soft thud and hoarsely coughed. Dahlian rushed over and helped me back up.

“Ugh, th-thanks,” I sputtered. “Did it work this time?”

Dahlian looked forward and said, “I think… it’s working.”

I lifted my chin and hitched my breath.

Lora collapsed on her knees, and the green hue ever so slowly faded away from her hair.

Dahlian and I staggered toward her, still keeping our distance.

The woman raised her chin, the divine glow from her eyes flickering as if the spirit inside her kept clinging onto her body for as long as she could.

“For decades, I’ve started seeing the world in a different light than anyone else,” Florathea muttered, breathing heavily. “Every living creature had been deformed into unsightly abominations in my eyes, and every sound they made sounded like nails scratching on a board. Even their scent irritates my nose.”

She clutched her face, scowling at the crowd forming around her. “I honestly tried my best to investigate and cure this bizarre curse, but I couldn’t stand it anymore. Not after I started feeling all the pain my plants have felt. Whenever they get harvested, whenever they get plucked out of their roots, whenever they get cut down or trampled on, no matter where they were, I felt it. Every. Single. One.”

Wymond furrowed his brows. “You’ve felt… pain from all your creations?”

“That’s what I’ve said!” she screeched. “Even the grass you’re all stepping on is hurting me like hell!”

“What kind of crazy curse is that?” asked Silvestine.

Morienelle tossed a glance at Entrophys, who shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I don’t know either.”

“Wait, you said my curse is similar to yours,” I said, stepping forward. “What do you mean by that?”

“I meant your powers look similar to this curse.”

I widened my eyes, my heart pounding with anxiety. “Wh-what?”

“That odd, fragmented, jagged, and jumble of random colors surrounding you, the way it distorts your vision unlike anything I’d ever seen before… That’s exactly how I’ve been seeing you monstrocities.”

“Wait, what? You see us covered in all those glitches?”

“‘Glitches?’ Is that what you call them?”

“That’s… that’s the, erm, term I use to, uh, describe the visual errors going on.”

“Visual errors… Yes, that’s the most fitting term for you unsightly abominations.”

I took another step, dread rising in my chest. “Then… this whole time… you’ve been suffering from sensory glitches? Our distorted forms, the noises, the pain… All your senses were broken?”

“I’m not broken!” she shrieked. “Divine beings like us never break from such a curse! This curse had only unveiled the truth behind this world, the truth that you’re all hideous monsters!”

“She sounds like she broke a long time ago,” Dahlian muttered. “So that’s the reason behind the war, huh?”

Queen Verisette took a step forward, returning a glare more hostile and vicious than the goddess herself. “So you’ve killed my people and my family all because of your insanity,” she snarled. “I’ve had enough of you already. Begone from my kingdom at once.”

The goddess dryly chuckled as her remaining powers gradually wore off. “Fine, you can have this child back. There are plenty more of where this vessel came from anyway.”

With those last words, the last fragments of divinity left Lora’s body and dropped her on the grass.

Morienelle rushed over and kneeled beside her, checking her pulse.

“H-how is she?” asked Ashrenne.

With a sigh, the doll stood up and faced us with her casual stoic expression.

“I can confirm Florathea is gone from her body for good. Victory is officially ours.”