Chapter 27: The True Nemesis

A sight to see, Amelia thought. This was that marvelous spaceship she had seen on galactic tv, before. The Dreadnought. It was large, the length and width of three city blocks. Requiring its own special landing pad onto the massive building in the capital city of Aegis.

Amelia had quickly reunited with friends, some happy to see her. Some neutral.

Not all of them had approved of her unwholesome lifestyle. But all at least did not mind her help during the rescue operation, thanking the hyena generously. As the ship was reaching the outskirts of the city, the woman wanted to find Nam.

To spend time with her. To talk privately. These thoughts engulfed that sharp mind of hers as the black furry girl walked on the bridge. Divi was there, standing next to Diana, the Divine Guardian, Nam and Divine Flash. An imposing sight all five of them were.

“We are almost at the city limits soon, we will be ready to begin returning into orbit.” As they pass by a number of tall buildings, something catches their eyes in the right viewing camera.

Some people are standing on top of a building. At least five of them. And they are wearing black robes. Somewhat suspicious. Why would they be there to begin with?

“Zoom in closer with the right side camera, Diana! Who or what is on top of the large building near us?” With a closer zoom, they see it. An unsettling sight. A silvery-blue-haired woman with scales all over her skin, narrow silver eyes, and an awful snake tattoo on her face. Wearing the robes of those accursed cultists, too. That person is staring deeply into the camera and starts to motion at it, begging them to get closer. Egging them on.

What the hell was this? Red flags set off in Diana's mind.

“I got a bad feeling about this, my lord. Please don’t tell me you want to investigate.” Instead of just her lord, all the other women next to her just give her that look. Frustrated, Diana turns the ship a bit towards where those strange people in robes are.

“Just be careful, damnit! We just got these people out of trouble and now ya’ll are looking for it. Who is the one in charge here, I can’t tell. Just go already!” Diana yells, bemused, and the rest charge past Amelia, who is stunned but stays on the bridge. The Magician catches wind of their movement and quickly high tails behind them. Diana positions the large ship not too far from those cultists and opens up the left hangar bay door.

There, they see it. That strange person.

Something about her. Something was drawing them closer.

“Splendid, splendid. You took the bait. My true enemy.” The girl in front of the others has that serpent like face shown, the rest are hooded and it is hard to see their facial features.

“What? Enemy? Who are you?!”

“Who am I? Think hard, Divine Hammer! Who do you think has been watching and waiting for you? Who do you think has been an absolute menace to all the people in the stars? You should already know the answer already. You are not stupid at all.” The Builder squints those eyes, thinking deeply.

Then in a moment it comes to her, those snake ornaments on the robes.

This. This one was the leader of the damned cultists! So brazen, right in front of them. How long have they been waiting on Lunace? Did they observe the whole rescue operation? See the fight between Divine Flash, Nameless and that mighty Chaos King? What else have they seen? What else did they do? A rather strong emotion emerges on that creation goddess face.

She does not know what it is but she can feel it. It is hard to describe.

The feeling is akin to pure hatred. Perhaps the first time she ever felt that feeling for anything. And it was fitting. The being before her rejected unity and only desired one thing, only one thing. There was only a single desire the Builder could feel from that imposing figure.

Consumption. This being wanted to consume all things to become more powerful on its own. Every other being was merely an obstacle to defeat or an ally to eat, when needed. That look of pure hatred and vitriol makes the builder grind her hand into a fist, drawing blood. Nam and Divine Flash pick up on this a moment later, realizing this is the cultist leader.

Now also rather furious to see this being in front of them.

“I cannot even describe my feelings of anger I feel for you. So, you piece of shit, why have you got our attention? I don’t think it was by accident. No, you are showing off! You really are so brazen to appear in front of us, the people that have been killing your servants. What do you want? Tell us now!”

“Oh, so scary. But I would expect nothing else. From the one I want to devour so badly. I expect the best party out of your lot! The absolute best! We have been waiting for a long time. A very, very, very long time.”

“We? Who? Who are you really?”

“My name is not important. We are the nightmare, we are the mighty snakes that devour the heavens. We are the Ouroboros and don’t you dare forget that name ever again! That would be so disappointing, my enemy. We will be waiting for you when you return to the jewel of the heavens! Do not think you only have those little Chaos knights as your only foe.”

“Waiting? Is that a threat?” A sagely question which would be rebuked by the fierce and verbose voice. This wretched bastard who toys with lives on a daily basis is enjoying this too much. That smile is frighteningly wide, wider than any human can normally muster..

This scum that admits people are fuel for their cause. Horrible wasn’t even a good enough word to describe that subhuman. No, not even human, the Divine Hammer though. This one had a divine essence but a more twisted nature than the noble warriors.

“That was not a threat but an assurance! I assure you we will meet again, no need for a promise, o noble goddess of creation. As a small gesture, I will show you the depths of my will, no, our will to consume all.” Suddenly, a warning signal flares up.

Seems the damned demon had reactivated the planetary shield, for some reason. And now aerial drones were flying their way. Damn, how will they escape now, the Builder thinks.

The answer was given to them. A nearby servant walks forward.

It seems to be a middle-aged fox man. Nearby underlings walk near him, preparing a sharp sword.

“My Lord, I will give you my arm. Show them the power of the snake god, at your leisure.”

“Thank you, Malgan. I shall reward your obedience later. Dismember him, my slaves!” And a moment later, a woman in robes cuts off his right arm, splashing blood everywhere. The Leader of the cultists slowly picks up this arm. Then. Then something even more horrific.

The girl begins eating the arm, bit by bit. First, she consumes the fingers, munching them down with precision. Then the bones in the knuckles, chomping easily through bone that was hard as a rock. Then quickly chews down the rest of the arm in the span of two minutes.

The horrible sight nearly makes Nam and Divine flash throw up. While making the builder and the Divine guardian grimace in sheer disgust. And after that, that beast begins slurping up the leftover blood in the ground, finishing the meal given to her by her follower that worships that monster.

Monster was the only word they could think of. And it did not stop there.

The vile woman outstretches that right arm of hers. It now seems to be changing, morphing. Morphing into a horrible-looking weapon. The flesh of hers starts combining with metal, scales and parts of that eaten flesh. And begins forming what looks like some kind of horrible mutated cannon.

It begins charging up a massive amount of energy.

An inhumane amount. The sphere of energy grows to twice the size of her body, then releases a powerful energy blast. This blast zooms past the ship, luckily not hitting it. But completely disabling that shield that just went back online in the stratosphere.

Rather than being a gesture of kindness, this was merely a demonstration of malice. What these bastards might do to them later.

“You, disgusting, piece of, I’d outta-”

“You don’t have time for that Divine Hammer! You have to escape now, or you’ll endanger those poor, poor people that your comrades spent so much time saving. You wouldn’t want to do that would you? We will meet again, hahaha!” Unable to fight those arrogant but accurate words, they move back onto the ship, quickly closing the hangar.

The Magician eyeballs that monster in human flesh for one brief moment, smirking.

“We will be ready, don’t you worry, spawn of the Ourobourous.”

“And so shall we, ancient one! Do not worry, I will enjoy our next meeting greatly!” The door closes, sealing the air pressure in the hangar.

A minute later, they head towards the atmosphere. Cannons ablaze, the Builder takes control of the ship. The others man the battle cannons, shooting off the small, pesky drones flying towards them.

“Hold on. We will be out of here soon. Don’t let up! Once we reach orbit, we will go straight into warp. Power up the warp generator, Diana!”

“As you wish my lord. The generator will be fully powered in five minutes.”

Beams hit the ship, smashing against the powerful energy shield. Not enough to do damage but enough to be bothersome. Smaller drones attempt to dive bomb into the vessel to no avail; the servant droids on deck are good shots.

And after a couple more minutes, they finally have broken into orbit.

The ship powers up then soars into hyperspace. Slower than going through gates but that was not an option at this moment.

They return to their home.

Return to prepare themselves for the incoming conflict.