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The shadowfolk rushing toward them were the immediate threat. They were grouped together, so Noah froze most of them with one use of Justice’s hourglass staff, which could time-freeze enemies in a cone. During this initial rush, Chastity enlarged Angel, and Cardi uselessly swung the Tesla rod at the frozen shadowfolk. They could not be harmed by the lightning. Shadow Antimogne’s elites were slow as they enclosed on Noah’s group. Shadow Antimogne himself stood, watching everything carefully. The few shadowfolk Noah hadn’t frozen were standing around Shadow Antimogne, protecting him.

Before the elites had a chance to close in, Noah launched his micro missiles. Dozens of small smart-missiles fired from his wrist and spiraled intelligently through the air toward Antimogne and each of his elites, leaving thin trails of smoke behind. Shadow Antimogne slid open the metal compartment behind him, revealing a tiny antimagic star. In the dark anti-light of the antimagic star, the micro-missiles had the opposite of their usual effect, splashing Noah’s enemies with droplets of water.

Shadow Antimogne smiled at Noah. The smile was inhuman and creepy. That bastard. Noah looked into the compartment and saw the antimagic star was attached to the machine they had found at Annatto – the one that accelerated the Tower and would allow Antimogne to use a piece of his soul to become God. Noah wondered if the extra power from the antimagic star was what allowed the golgotha to complete the Tower so quickly. But he didn’t have long to think about it, as his enemies were rushing him. And all his allies’ gear was under the effect of anti-magic now. Berenice was no longer made of metal, and Noah’s shadowscale emitted a bright light.

Shadow Antimogne winked at Noah, and slipped on a ring. At once, he became the center of Noah’s attention. It was the same effect he’d used in his throne room. Noah couldn’t look at anything besides Shadow Antimogne’s jet black armour and taunting expression. Noah knew the other enemies must be approaching him now to attack, but he couldn’t see them.

He heard barking as Angel ran away from Antimogne. That was unusual; she usually never ran from a fight. Noah decided maybe he should follow suit, but then realized there was nowhere safe to retreat to. They were trapped in this arena, surrounded on all sides by the green atmosphere of the Eye as the Tower extended toward the surface. Instead, Noah needed to disable Antimogne’s ring somehow. Even if it meant charging straight to him.

“Ether Walk,” spoke Noah. A fraction of a second later, a hot ball of plasma flew through his incorporeal body. He had no idea where it had come from, and it was a close call. Lucky he managed to Ether Walk just in time.

Seeing that Noah had turned invisible, Shadow Antimogne grinned.

Thinkst thou that hiding shall thyself preserve?

Cowards do hide, whilst men in battle fight,

And kings do wage the wars and lead the armies.

But we, a God, administer punishment.

Shadow Antimogne’s shadow side sprouted a second arm with sharp shadow claws. He began to swing wildly, hoping to hit an invisible Noah should he approach. The shadowfolk around him did the same, biting and clawing randomly, protecting their Emperor and their King.

Noah heard a loud thud from one side of the room, but couldn’t see the source. From the other, an arrow flew straight toward Antimogne’s head, slowed down, stopped midair, and then was redirected elsewhere.

Noah ran toward Shadow Antimogne. He was protected by two massive shadow arms tipped with long, black claws, and a cadre of shadowfolk. But when Noah’s Ether Walk ended, his armour’s bright light pushed back the shadow creatures, giving him the split second he would need to Eclipse Strike Antimogne.

Shadow Antimogne was startled when he saw Noah appear right in front of him. His shadowfolk scattered in panic. He stepped back and rapidly spoke, saying “Dismiss Antimagic Star!” in panic. The dark anti-light went away at once as the antimagic star fizzled. As did the effect making Antimogne impossible to ignore… and Antimogne himself. All at once, he was gone. The shadowfolk that had been protecting him looked at each other, confused.

Right. Noah guessed that under the effects of anti-magic, the ring of stealth made Antimogne impossibly un-stealthy, but with the anti-magic gone, it returned to its normal function, masking Antimogne’s presence. Noah stopped momentarily to see what had happened between his allies and the elites while he had been blind.

The regular effects of Noah’s allies’ artifacts returned at once. Berenice was once again made of solid metal. He saw that she had tossed the enemy rogue across the room, breaking his spine. That was the loud sound he had heard before. The rogue lay in a lump, still. Angel was no longer running from Antimogne, and seemed to be coming toward Noah. Chastity was standing back, firing arrows, which had all been pulled toward the armoured elite by magic, sticking harmlessly into his shield. She fired another arrow, this time straight at the elite. Her arrow was deflected away by the opposite magic. The armoured man walked slowly toward Chastity.

Sven was standing across from Wade, the blue Avatar of the Foot. He looked surprised. He was looking down at his hands, which each held a pile of dust. “My artifacts…” he spoke.

Wade smiled. He was holding a knife, and tried swinging it at Sven, but Sven jumped back, evading the strike and using his blood magic to tear a strip of blue flesh from his chest.

Cardi was able to swing the Tesla rod again, which was fortunate because now the shadowfolk were after her, and each swing gave her a second of reprieve, since they hated the lightning.

Noah looked around, hoping to catch some glimpse of Antimogne, but the artifact hiding him was too powerful. He could simply hide until his elites and the shadowfolk finished the fight for him. Noah decided to help Cardi since she had no way of killing the shadowfolk on her own, but with his shadowscale armour he could easily kill them. He ran after her and the small group of shadowfolk chasing her. The majority of the shadowfolk were still frozen in the center of the room, but a small pack were after Cardi. Noah screamed as he punched them with the fists of his own shadow, and one by one they crumbled and disappeared.

As he ran after the shadowfolk, he noticed a few things out of the corner of his eye. One, he saw Angel growling at Chastity, which he thought was was strange. Second, he saw Wade Footspawn kick Berenice as she tried to tackle him, and watched in horror as her metalskin ring and her mirage necklace crumbled to dust. No longer was she made of metal. Wade grinned at Berenice’s look of shock.

As Noah finished off the last of the shadowfolk, he heard Sven make a strained grunt. Noah turned and saw just for a brief moment Shadow Antimogne, barely visible in his haze of stealth, standing behind Sven, stabbing him in the back with a dagger. Sven collapsed to his knees. Noah charged toward him, and an arrow flew toward Shadow Antimogne from Chastity’s direction, but he was gone as quickly as he came. Sven lay on the side, clutching his chest in pain. The wound was not immediately fatal, but was life-threatening.

Berenice fought with Wade while the others searched for Shadow Antimogne. Chastity also fired an arrow at the remaining elite, the copper woman, but missed.

Angel ran around aimlessly, but at a certain point she seemed to stop and look up, as if she was looking at something above her. Before Noah could take this in, a clockwork grenade landed at his feet. His heart jumped out of his chest. In a quick panic, he rewound time ten seconds. He saw that he hadn’t rewound time enough to prevent Sven from being stabbed, and scolded himself. He couldn’t do it again, as the artifact was out of mana.

The ten seconds of combat played out identically as last time. Except when Noah killed the last of the shadowfolk, he sprinted toward the copper woman and Eclipse Striked her. Stunned, she dropped the half-built clockwork grenade she had been making, as well as the plasma cannon she was holding under her arm. Since Noah had left Cardi alone, Wade had instead gone after her and kicked her from behind. She shrieked, falling forward onto her face. The Tesla Rod crumbled to dust in her hand.

“No!” shouted Noah. The Tesla Rod was one of their most powerful weapons, and without it, they might not be able to win the fight. He stared angrily at Wade, who caught his stare and smiled back. What a bastard, thought Noah.

An arrow struck the clockwork woman between the eyes. Chastity had hit her mark. She collapsed on the ground next to her half-built grenade and plasma cannon.

Noah confronted Wade, who stood in a ready stance. Cardi crawled past Noah, taking cover behind him.

“Your armour is lovely,” smirked Wade, stepping toward Noah. “And I wonder what those staves do.”

There was a loud crack as Berenice mega-tossed the other elite into the ground, crushing his skeleton.

Noah turned back to Wade. “So, what, if you kick me my artifacts will be destroyed?” Wade smiled, stepping closer to Noah, ready to kick him. “Then I won’t give you the chance. Ether Walk,” said Noah, just in time to avoid being bowled over by an enlarged Angel as she ran away from Chastity. She was trying to control her, yelling for Angel to heel, but Angel wasn’t listening.

As soon as Noah turned invisible, rather than wait for him to make his move, Wade turned and sprinted toward Berenice. Fuck, he was going to try to destroy her metalskin ring again, and this time Noah wouldn’t be able to undo it. Noah ran after him.

Wade stumbled as a chunk of flesh was torn from his calf. Sven. He was lying on the ground, barely conscious, but wasn’t out of the fight yet.

Noah wanted to Eclipse Strike Wade, but was distracted when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Angel stop and look up. It was like she was looking up at someone, but there was nobody there. Could it be Shadow Antimogne? But why would Angel want to follow him around? Noah remembered that Angel had fled Antimogne once the antimagic star was activated. And now that it was deactivated, she was following him? Noah wondered if Antimogne had some artifact that attracted animals, which under the effect of antimagic instead repelled animals. In any case, he had a tiny window of opportunity to strike Antimogne if he was right. Noah pivoted and ran toward where he guessed Antimogne was hiding.

“Eclipse Strike!” Noah shouted, hitting Shadow Antimogne, who became briefly visible to him when they made contact. Noah saw a stunned Antimogne drop his dagger, which Noah gracefully took hold of and plunged into Anitmogne’s chest. Antimogne let out a wordless, breathy groan, and collapsed to the ground. As he fell, Noah ripped off the necklace giving him stealth, making him visible to all. For Angel’s sake, he also took off a ring Antimogne was wearing, correctly guessing it must be the artifact affecting her. She looked around confused, and then took off after Wade.

“You stupid beast!” shouted Wade, turning to face Angel. He was flanked between Berenice and Angel now, and was all alone. Berenice took the sword from the dead elite and mega-tossed it at him. It shot through his chest like a bullet. His blue body fell to the ground, dead.

Noah looked down at the dying, bleeding Shadow Antimogne. His shadow features were fading fast, leaving behind the normal Vannoccio Antimogne.

Tears formed in Noah’s eyes. He felt a burning anger toward the pale, pathetic man lying on the ground before him. Because of him, Sven might not make it. Because of him, Katherine was dead. Jori was dead. So many people were dead. He was supposed to feel relief at killing him, but he only felt confusion and frustration. “Why? Why did you have to become a god? Why was it so important to you get powerful at any cost?”

Antimogne let out a dying whisper as blood came to his lips.

How wearisome eternity so spent

In worship paid to whom we did create…

Antimogne died. By the looks of it, Sven would be next. With all of their enemies dead, Berenice and Chastity rushed to his side. He was paler than usual, and shivering. His breathing was shallow.

“Sven,” spoke Berenice softly, holding his hand. Angel trodded toward Sven and, sensing he was hurt, licked Sven’s face, which made him give a pained smile.

It was then that Noah realized Cardi was holding the clockwork woman’s plasma cannon, and had it pointed at Noah.

“Cardi?” he asked.

“Oh, Eye,” gasped Berenice, seeing that Cardi intended to betray them.

“I am sorry,” said Cardi dejectedly. “I love all of you so much.”

“Then do it nie!” shouted Chastity. Put down the cannon! For the Eye’s sake!”

“I cannot,” said Cardi softly. “My lady… She must become the prime god. There is too much horror in the world, and she can fix it all. She can make everyone happy. She can force everyone to love everyone else. I hate all this hate, you know?”

“Cardi,” said Noah. “Please. I know you are a good person. You’re just confused, okay? Put down that cannon so we can talk about it. We won’t decide on what we’re doing about the prime god until we all agree.”

“There’s no time! Even now the Tower is penetrating the Eye’s crust and burrowing to its core. We have minutes left!” she said. She was starting to cry. “I am so sorry, but I have to kill you all. It’s the only way. My lady, forgive me.”

“No!” screamed Chastity and Berenice as Cardi raised the cannon and fired it. A glob of white-hot plasma shot through the air toward Noah. He winced in anticipation, but was surprised when he felt nothing. Berenice had leapt in front of him, taking the impact for him. Cardi tried to fire again, but the cannon needed time to recharge. Chasity’s arrow struck her between the eyes, and she fell to the ground, dead.

Noah knelt down beside Berenice. She looked alright, and was totally unaffected from the blast. Noah was thankful, and sighed in relief. “You sure are durable, huh?” he smiled. But she just looked at him with a pained expression. She took off the metalskin ring. “What are you doing? What is it?” he asked. She winced, and took off the Mirage Necklace. At once, her injuries became visible. Despite the metalskin ring, the plasma had still been able to melt away half of her torso. Noah could see her exposed ribcage and organs. Blood poured from her body. She was dying.

“Oh my God,” said Noah, his voice shaky. Berenice clutched his hand. “I love thee, Noah,” smiled Berenice.

“No,” said Noah. “Not you. Don’t go.” Tears were forming in his eyes.

She took his hand and kissed it, leaving blood on his skin. “Oh, Noah. I do love thee, Noah, truly. With all mine heart. I am joyous to have met thine acquaintance.”

“Please, Berenice,” cried Noah, holding her hand tightly.

“I give thee thanks,” she said, stopping to cough up blood. “For setting me free. Life as a free woman… It hath been such fun.”

Chastity and Angel came to her, and Sven crawled toward her. They all spent Berenice’s dying moments with her, and watched her die.

Noah cried, and Chastity held him. He cried into her shoulder.

Sven whispered something, but Noah couldn’t hear it. He was devastated. He felt Angel licking his hand. He cried for a minute longer, and then Sven whispered again.

“What?” Noah raised his head to ask.

“There may be yet… Save me… And her, too…” He said, each breath more painful than the last.

“What? How?” asked Noah.

Sven pointed to the artifact with the necklace containing a piece of Antimogne’s soul. “Become a god,” he said. “She looks dead, but not yet beyond reach… In the university we had a saying… Sometimes all you need is a little blood… And until the blood rots…” He coughed up more blood, and couldn’t continue speaking, but Noah got the idea.

Noah stood up and he and Chastity approached the artifact. He took the necklace in his hand and saw that the artifact had a circular section that could be rotated by his finger and thumb. He did so. There was a flash of blue light, and Noah’s heart skipped a beat. He felt his ribs with his fingers. It was an uncomfortable feeling which lingered in his chest. It was like a part of him was gone, trapped inside the necklace. He put the necklace back inside the machinery. He felt his ribcage again. It was like a piece of his heart was gone. His heartbeat felt weaker.

“Think ye it did work?” asked Chastity. Noah nodded at her. The only question now was how long it would take for the artifact to activate and make him the prime god.

The answer was less than a minute. They had swapped out Antimogne’s soul for his just in time. Noah became faint and his vision went black. He felt his body fall to the ground. He heard Chastity’s voice, but couldn’t hear what she was saying. But then, other voices became audible.