The Second Archon War, Imperatrix Umbrosa 7 (Patreon)

Hovering over the churning waters, Alexandria watched as the  MV Emilie Mærsk exited the storm clouds, and breathed a sigh of relief. This was the last of the international shipping vessels that had been caught in the raging typhoon that had blown up from absolutely nowhere a mere 26 hours ago. Actually, probably closer to 27 hours now. It had been a full day, but the string of typhoons that surrounded the Japanese island chain showed no signs of moving nor abating.

“We’re home free. Thanks, Alexandria. We appreciate the guiding light,” the ship radioed.

“Happy to oblige,” Alexandria said. “Not that there was much I could do.”

She had tried to brave the typhoon, but it was definitely something conjured up with superpowers, and not a natural occurrence. The winds had buffeted her relentlessly, lightning had struck her endlessly, and even her endurance and durability couldn’t protect her from complete disorientation and becoming utterly lost in the storm. She’d made her way out through the expedient of climbing above the clouds and desperately holding her breath long enough to get out of it.

Turns out, she did need to breathe. It had been a near run thing.

As for more evidence of the typhoon’s nature, ships caught in it had been allowed to leave without damage, small pockets forming around them as the storm angrily guided them out of it. Even when the Emilie had experienced engine trouble and a problem with her rudder, she’d been able to make hasty repairs and was allowed to leave undamaged.

Not so much for ships that tried to enter the storm. One foolhardy CIN ship had attempted to brave the storm and get back to her home port. It was unlikely they would ever even find debris from the wreck.

Alexandria was about to turn away from the storm, when she saw something else emerge from it. And what she saw made her anger and frustration boil over. From a bolt of lightning, Raiden emerged, looking calm but disheveled. She floated towards Alexandria, moving slowly through the air.

“Leave, Yankee. Your ships have been spared my wrath, for they were not within my waters. Should you dare violate my territory again, I shall not be so gentle.”

“You’re a monster. How many innocent people have you killed already!?” Alexandria shouted, clenching her fists and hovering just slightly above Raiden.

Raiden snorted at that. “I have had time to read more of the history of the Yankees and Japan. You began relations with a threat of violence with your ‘Commodore Perry,’ then you destroyed two of our cities with this ‘atom bomb’ and used pyro visions to destroy Tokyo like the Mad Spark Knight of Mondstadt.”

That last bit made no sense to Alexandria, but she was done talking. “AND WHAT ABOUT PEARL HARBOR!?”

She launched herself at Raiden, fists swinging, but Raiden simply wasn’t there when she arrived, and a shock of thunder hit Alexandria in the back even as she spun.

“Fool. You seek to challenge a god in her own domain?” Raiden sneered. Then she frowned even as Alexandria tried to punch her again, moving slightly to the side. “What is ‘Pearl Harbor?’”

“YOU ATTACKED US FIRST! THEN THERE WAS THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH, THE RAPE OF NANKING, CAMP 10-A!” Alexandria shrieked, naming off every atrocity she could come up with. Raiden continued to blink in and out of existence, moving too fast even for Alexandria’s impressive combat speed. Up here, in the air, with no way to pin Raiden down, the assault was fruitless. She needed Eidolon, or Hero, or even Legend to cover her blind spots.

Suddenly, a look of sheer terror flashed over Raiden’s face, and she spun, putting out a hand behind her. “No! You have called The Sustainer here!? What madness is this, mortal?!”

Alexandria almost delivered a punch to the bank of Raiden’s head, then she froze as well. Behind Raiden floated Scion. He simply hovered in mid air, regarding them.

Raiden moved back so she could see both Alexandria and Scion, her face now a blank mask. “Do you hate Japan so much, Yankee, that you would see her destroyed utterly?”

“Not Japan. Just you,” Alexandria panted, keeping a wary eye on Scion. Something occurred to her. This was not how people reacted to Scion. Not unless they knew what Alexandria did, and that was very, very few people indeed. “What do you know of…Scion?”

“Quiet, mortal. You Americans have no gods, and if you are not very careful, the Sustainer will destroy you as Khaenri'ah was,” Raiden hissed. Then, turning her back on Alexandria, she faced Scion and spoke. “Sustainer of Heavenly Principles! Why have you come? Japan is the land of Eternity, under my stewardship! Should you wish to punish her and her people, as according to the dictates of old, you must punish me first! Spare my people your wrath.”

Scion simply regarded the two women for a moment, his expression calculating, more alert than Alexandria had ever seen. Then his face slackened, and in a sonic boom, Scion was gone again.

For a moment, there was silence, then Raiden spoke, sounding exhausted. “Depart, Yankee. And do not return to these lands again.”

“Wait, Raiden, what do you know of-”

The face that turned towards Alexandra was utterly inhuman. Raiden was suddenly no longer the size of a normal human woman she had been before, but a colossus with lightning blazing in her eyes, and thunder roaring in her voice. One giant arm of purple lightning floated on her right side, three more on her left, all bearing swords or bolts of electricity, while she was born up by two more metallic hands, a great purple eye open to eternity floating behind her like a halo.

DEPART, MORTAL, AND NEVER RETURN!

A bolt of lighting slammed into Alexandria, driving her back and through a portal that opened behind her. She was slammed into something hard, it felt like metal, which she crunched into, leaving a bent and twisted crater. Men shouted around her, and she realized she was back on the deck of the USS America.

Groaning, Alexandria extricated herself, then limped over to a panicked looking Admiral Crowe, who had run out of the carrier’s island.

“Alexandria! What’s happening? Is Raiden attacking?” the admiral demanded.

Looking up, Alexandria saw the portal was closed. In the distance, she could still see the storm line, still many kilometers away.

“Turn the fleet around. Go home,” Alexandria gasped, shaking herself. “Call the President. Tell him…tell him we have to rescind the Kill Order.”

The Admiral glanced at Alexandria, who was clearly wounded, something that hadn’t really ever happened before, and then back at the storm. He suddenly deflated, looking decades older. “Not much a battlegroup can do against a typhoon anyway. We’ll make our way back to Pearl.”

Pearl. Raiden hadn’t seemed to know about Pearl Harbor. And the words she’d used…they hadn’t made any sense. Was she delusional? She had to be. No sane woman thought herself a god. And yet…when she’d seen Scion…Raiden had been terrified. She’d looked at Alexandria, who considered herself to be the second most powerful cape in the world, after only Eidolon, and not blinked. She’d taken on Leviathan, reportedly even enjoying herself from remarks she’d made. But Scion, supposedly the greatest hero in the world, and shaken Raiden to the core.

Maybe she just feared justice. Or maybe…maybe Alexandria didn’t know as much as she thought she did.

“I’m heading back to the Mainland. I need to talk with Director Costa-Brown and the President.”

Without further ado, Alexandria lifted off, flying slower than she usually did, and trying to use the time to think. She landed in Los Angeles twenty minutes later, and found someone unexpected waiting for her at the PRT Director’s own desk.

“Do come in. The coffee is still warm. I had your favorite delivered,” the woman at her desk said, sipping a plastic cup of her own. She wore a suit cut more in a man’s style so that it hung about her somewhat awkwardly, a black fedora, and white vest and tie. Bosa Donuts sat on the desk as well as another cup for Alexandria. She knew it would have just the right amount of sugar, and her favorite creamer as well.

“Contessa,” Alexandria said by way of greeting, taking a seat and picking up the coffee. She sipped it, and let out a long sigh. It was good. Well, the coffee wasn’t, but she loved it regardless. Just the right temperature too. She took a longer drink, formulating her thoughts.

“The Kill Order will have to be rescinded,” Contessa said, picking out a donut. She took a bite, then washed it down with some coffee. “Look at me. Stress eating. I haven’t done this in ages.”

“You told the Doctor to approve the order in the first place, didn’t you?” Alexandria asked, picking out a donut of her own. She couldn’t get fat, Hero’s comments to the contrary, but she did try to watch what she ate. A little indulgence once in a while wouldn’t hurt anything though.

“I did. I can’t see Raiden. Most of our Thinkers can’t. I confess, I was in a bit of a panic. It’s been a long time since something happened I completely could not account for,” Contessa said, idly licking a bit of frosting off her fingers between words. “Endbringers and Him aside of course.”

“So…can you account for her now?” Alexandria asked, feeling a bit sick. Not from the donut, though it was much too greasy to be good for her digestion. Just the thought of their best Thinker, the woman who guided the world on the precarious path towards survival, blind. It was not a thought to ease the stomach.

“To a degree. I can see the ripples she’s making, and the impact those will have.” Contessa reached over and picked up the phone, then handed it to Alexandria. “The President.”

“Yes, Mr. President?” Alexandria said, not even waiting to hear who it was.

“Alex. We’re going to have to pull the plug on the Kill Order. Word’s out: Japan is going to be forming a new government under Raiden. I don’t like it, it’s ugly, but we can’t have a bounty out on a head of state. It would look pretty bad for us.” The President sounded exhausted. He’d probably been woken in the middle of the night to be informed of what was happening.

“So, we’re just going to let Japan go to a Warlord?” Alexandria asked, making a face. She knew she had been going to tell the President the same thing, the response was more out of reflex than anything else.

“Believe it or not, it looks like it will be a peaceful transition of power. There was a very brief Civil War, fighting between the JSDF and the Sentai, but Raiden put a stop to it. Word is, Prime Minister Nakahara has managed to negotiate himself a top position in the new regime. And, well…there’s the other aspect of it.”

“Other aspect?” Alexandria asked, heart pounding. The President wasn’t supposed to know. Not that. Not who the real threat was.

“Hero and the other Tinkers put out a paper. You probably haven’t read it yet, it’s only circulating at the highest levels and only in the past few hours. But it looks like Japan has free energy now. For as long as Raiden is in power. They’d like her to plant one of her trees here. If we could get our hands on perpetual, clean energy…”

“Tinkertech always has its drawbacks,” Alexandria sighed, feeling relief wash over her. “But yes sir. I agree. I’ll make the statement shortly.”

She hung up, and looked to Contessa. “So, what’s the plan now? Do you know about…Raiden and Scion?”

“No. Do tell.” Contessa said, reaching into the box for another donut. She broke it in half, dropping the smaller chunk back in. “See? I’m being good. Only one and a half donuts.”

“I’ll take the other half,” Alexandria sighed, reaching out for it. She paused. “Do you really not know?’

“I do, at least what happened with you, or I can extrapolate quite a bit. But I want to hear it all from you anyway.  You’d feel better at least, right? Having someone to talk it over with,” Contessa prompted.

“That’s not like you,” Alexandria said, munching on the donut.

Contessa shrugged. “It’s not like me to not know what I need to know about someone to walk my path. Besides, maybe you’ll have a nugget that can help me figure out the right questions to ask.”

So Alexandria told her. Poured out everything, from Raiden’s initial cold hostility, to her baffling lack of knowledge of history, her reaction to Scion’s appearance, and the sudden transformation.

When she was done, Contessa nodded, and finished her coffee. “Well, you’ve given me something to think about. See? Humor to lighten the mood a little. Aren’t I a good friend?”

“I suppose,” Alexandria said, standing as Contessa did. The other woman walked towards the door, but Alexandria reached out to catch her by the arm, only for Contessa to easily dance out of the way. Back to her old tricks. “Oh, just stand still, will you?”

Contessa did, and feeling a bit awkward, Alexandria gave her a hug. “You are a friend. Don’t forget, you don’t have to walk your path alone. None of us do.”

“Some of us walk in the light, others in the shadows. We all have our role to play, Alexandria.”

“Of course. But stop by for coffee some time again. Even you should have people to talk to.”

Contessa flashed a smile that never reached her eyes, settled her hat back on her head,

It was slightly humiliating to have to get up and rescind a Kill Order she’d put only a couple of weeks earlier, but she did it. It was a lot of political talk and feather unruffling, but it boiled down to the same thing as the CUI: Raiden had challenged the world to a game of chicken. And the world had blinked.

Not 15 minutes after Alexandria’s announcement, the Kamikaze simply stopped. No slow wind down, no gentle dissipation. The storms were there one minute, and gone the next. Raiden didn’t even issue a statement. Not that she needed to. Her actions spoke loudly enough.

Alexandria sat down, looking at various reports on her desk. A strange new cluster, Slaughter House Nine activity, and predictions of the next Endbringer attack. She sighed, and picked up the analysis of Raiden’s trees. What was that madwoman up to next?

Ei sat in her room, meditating. Everything was once more as it should be. Her lands were at peace, her people safe and largely continent. She had quelled the rebellion, and appointed new heads of the Tri-Commision. Her heart still ached for Makoto and Inazuma, even for the teasing of Yae. But Japan was a good land, and it needed her. Needed guidance and protection.

There was still the matter of the Heavenly Principles. She thought back to a few days earlier, to her official ascendance as Shogun before the people.

The adulation of the crowd was nothing new, and Ei had to admit, she had missed this. Oh, she had received prayers in Euthymia, but it had not been the same. And she had largely ignored them regardless. To walk once more amongst the people…it was thrilling.

She would not remake the same mistakes as she had in the past. Her defeat at the hands of that Traveler had sent her here. The girl had been strong. Stronger than any mortal should have been, able to use her abilities even when Ei silenced all mortal Ambition and Vision in her own realm. What had been her name? It mattered not. The result had been the same. She had been defeated, and when she had next blinked, she had been in a new land, though it had taken her some time to realize it.

She raised her hands, and the crowd quieted. “My people, people of Japan, a new age dawns.”

Normally, Ei reserved giving speeches for the battlefield, but she gave remarks at some length, earning adoration and cheers from the crowd. It was both gratifying and terrifying, as well as exhausting. Where was Makoto to deal with the praise of mortals? Ei would rather be left alone, but she could not do that now. Thankfully, most of the people seemed to adore her, and the new government had seamlessly picked up where it had left off, the wheels of bureaucracy grinding on.

There was still dissent, of course. Even now, she knew of no less than eight schemes to have her assassinated or her power suborned. She would wait on those. They were mortal plans, made by mortal hands. Fallible. Incomplete. Prone to failure.

But it was the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles that she was concerned with. It was a god’s duty to attend to her people, and to protect them. From other gods and demons, but most importantly, to protect them from the Wrath of Celestia. This Sustainer was not of Celestia, not of the world she knew. But he was dangerous.

There were three that Ei had feared, three that she had been unwilling to face upon an open field. Only three. Morax, the King of Stone, mightiest and most enduring of all the gods. Murata, Lady of War, the only one who’s technique and skill was a match for Ei’s own skill. And the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. That this new world had its own Sustainer…it was troubling.

That and the new visions. They were like leeches, latching on to the mind of those they possessed, altering their minds and wills along with their bodies. Ei had subtly altered Ami and Mushu’s own parasites to be more benign, though she had not severed the connection to the Sustainer completely. Simply adjusted them to be more to her own preferences. Should she do the same with all her Sentai? She had not decided. If it invoked the wrath of the Sustainer…

Though Ei continued to meditate, her stomach rumbled. The problem with meditating upon the mortal plane was that one’s body had mortal needs. Ei could ignore them, of course. She did not, strictly speaking, need to eat. But she did like to. The food of Japan was reminiscent of that of Inazuma in many ways, but there were so many new and interesting things to try.

She stood from where she had been floating over her bedroom, and walked over to the ‘mini-freege.’ She was still staying at the hostel until her palace was constructed. That would take some years, even with these new machines and building techniques, but her palace must be eternal. She had insisted on proper hardwoods and stone, instead of this ‘concrete’ and ‘rebar’. It seemed woefully impermanent.

Inside, there were several six packs of the ‘coke.’ There was a new one called a ‘pepsi.’ It was supposed to be even sweeter, and Ei took out a can of each. She tried both, and found both delectable. Which was superior she could not say, they both had subtle differences of taste.

After imbibing both, Ei looked around. She saw the ‘micro-wave’, along with several of those cups of noodles Ami had asked to have purchased for her. There was water as well, and Ei mostly remembered how Ami had prepared the noodles. It wasn’t really cooking, right? How bad could things be?

“Get them all outside! Quickly!” Kenta roared, and holding his breath, dashed back into the toxic miasma that filled the burning hotel. After a few minutes of frantic searching, he found the three missing maids hiding in a back room, passed out from the choking fumes. He lifted them onto his shoulders and dashed out, his long tail swishing behind him. He just managed to exit the building as it groaned, and began to collapse in on itself. Flames spewing out of the many windows.

He handed the unconscious women over to the paramedics. Their lungs were damaged, and they’d have difficulty breathing for the rest of their lives, but they’d live. Thankfully, while there were a great many injuries and the hotel was a complete write off, they’d managed to get everyone out alive.

He stomped over to Raiden, who was just coming out of the field decontamination chamber they’d set up. She was looking rather bedraggled and peeved at being forcibly sprayed down with the chemicals, but when she saw Kenta she tried to turn away, looking embarrassed.

“Are you OK?” Kenta demanded, looking Raiden up and down as she wrapped herself in a towel. Damn but she was a fine looking woman.

“I am hale. How many…?”

“No one died, if that’s what you're asking. But Ei, what caused all that? That smoke, the medics say they’ve never seen anything like it.”

Raiden didn’t turn to face him, but when she spoke she sounded ashamed. “I…attempted to make one of those ‘instant ramen.’”

“You…you did what?”

And then Raiden told him the full story. By the time she was done, Kenta was having to hold back laughter. Yes, the situation was horrible, and there were some seriously injured but…seriously? She couldn’t even heat up a cup of instant noodles without…that happening?”

“From now on, you are absolutely forbidden from ever using a microwave again,” Kenta said firmly. He thought about it, and added, “Or a stove. Or an oven. Or an instant pot. In fact, you’re completely forbidden from ever trying to cook anything again. Even making tea.”

“I am a god!” Raiden huffed, turning around and puffing out her admittedly impressive chest. “You are a mere mortal! You cannot tell me what to do!”

“I’m your familiar, and you just burned down a hotel and turned the rubble into a toxic waste site that might take ten years to clean up. God or not, you’re the worst cook I’ve ever heard of. You have a literal legion of servants who would be happy to make you food any time you want. You can teleport to the nearest convenience store and buy whatever you need, or go a little further and get some damn WcDonalds. No. More. Cooking.”

Raiden pouted a little, but then she looked at the still burning hotel and the firefighters in hazmat suits, and hung her hand in shame. “Very well.”

Snorting, Kenta walked away, far enough he was certain Raiden couldn’t hear him, and started laughing hysterically. He was gasping and wheezing for breath when the lightning bolt struck him. He was fine, of course, but chased after Raiden on general principle. She had “gone to Tokyo” on “urgent business” by the time he got back to where she’d been.

“That woman,” Kenta grumbled. “I didn’t sign up to babysit a god.”

Of course, that was more or less what he had signed on for, he just hadn’t known it at the time. He looked at his limbs, and touched them. They weren’t real flesh according to the doctors, but he could feel it when he pinched his skin, and they felt real enough. They were supposedly tougher, made of what Raiden called “electro-alchemy’ which sounded like magic to Kenta.

Sighing again, he went to clean up Raiden’s mess. And vowed to never let her within 100 meters of a microwave again.

In his many years at sea, Dr. Myung had seen the ocean’s many faces. The deep peaceful blue of a sunny day. The iron gray waters of a storm, the pitch black at night, and even a blood red sea during an algae bloom.

He had not, however, seen a purple sea. Nor one that crackled with lightning.

“We can’t get close,” one of the fishermen, Ji Ho explained, pointing. “The boats that go there die.”

“It’s been like this since the Kamikaze?” Dr. Myung asked, lowering his binoculars.

The fishermen discussed it for a moment, then shook their heads. “No, before. Since the Desolation.”

That was what they were calling the cataclysmic event that had resulted from the Raiden Shogun unleashing her full might. The Musou no Hitotachi, the warlord called it. Well, more than a Warlord now, Dr. Myung supposed. She was now internationally recognized as the de facto head of Japan, though in practice her position seemed somewhere between military chief and deity.

For his part, Dr. Myung now said his prayers nightly to her. He’d questioned his faith for years, but the emergence of a true god, even a Japanese one, made things in the world make a little more sense. He was a man of science, and believed in what he could see and test in a lab. And everything about Raiden Shogun told him she was far, far more than a parahuman.

The research vessel kept at least two nautical miles between itself and the flickering purple waters. While the sailors said that you could go out on the waters of the Desolation, it quickly overloaded any electronics. Some had died when they were stranded, others had been able to drift free before a miasma-like effect sapped you of all life, or drove you murderously mad.

They did lower two remotely controlled submersibles, made for them by their onboard Tinker Nimpeu, who stayed on the command deck and worked the control sticks herself. She wasn’t the strongest of tinkers, but her ability to make anything related to the water was incredible. She’d designed their ship and much of their gear herself, and Dr. Myung was trusting in the quiet young woman.

“Any fish on the sonar?” Dr. Myung asked as he stepped into the main cabin.

Nimpeu didn’t look up, quietly shaking her head. All sea life stayed far, far away from the Desolation. There was now effectively a wide corridor of dead sea from Kyushu to Taiwan. Not even birds would fly over it, which had been devastating to certain migratory species. Ships certainly couldn’t pass over it, though planes at above 500 meters seemed to be fine.

The submersibles dove quickly to the somewhat shallow seabed, then crept along it until the dark abyss became visible. The bottom glowed, as did the waters, making the waters far brighter than they should have been. Dr. Myung watched for a few moments, then frowned, pointing at his screen .

“What’s that, there? Go in for a closer look.”

Nimpeu maneuvered one of her probes towards the alien object, which shone with the same weird inner light. It was close to the edge of the Desolation, but not exactly in it. The crystalline structure almost seemed to be growing there, spreading out like coral along the seafloor, despite this section being about 180 meters deep. There were types of coral that could grow that deep, but they didn’t build reefs like this.

“See if you can get a sample,” Dr Myung urged, and Nimpeu spoke for the first time that day.

“I don’t want to lose my baby.”

He put a hand on her shoulder. “I have faith in you. It will be fine.”

She bit her lip, and nodded, inching the probe closer. The vessel had a wondrous number of tools, and she was able to scan it, noting that it seemed like it was filled with energy, probably electricity. A small bit was chipped off, and the probe returned to the surface, while the other continued its observations.

A few minutes later, Nimpeu let out a gasp of shock, pointing to the screen.

Dr. Myung took a look, and blinked. “Something’s alive down there…but what is that?”

A giant plant of some sort was growing right on the edge, its long tentacle-like strands floating in the current, a great flower at least 10 meters across with four petals turned towards the probe. Even as the probe moved closer, the face of the flower tracked it, as if it could see the little submarine.

This time, Nimpeu didn’t hesitate. This was just a plant, after all, and she moved her vessel in. When she got within ten meters, however, the plant roared, the sound picked up by the microphones on the drone. Then lashed out with its vines, which flew through the water far faster than they should have.

Nimpeu reacted instantly, taking evasive action and keeping the main camera trained on the plant. It screeched again as if in anger, and then the central stamen opened, and a beam of lightning shot out.

The probe went dead.

Stunned, the team sat quietly for a moment, save for the soft swearing of Nimpeu as she gently punched her controls in anger.

“What in hell was THAT?” one of the undergraduate students asked.

“I don’t know,” Dr. Myung admitted. “A new lifeform of some kind.”

Later, the sample the surviving submersible brought back was analyzed, and found to contain an outrageous amount of power. It seemed to actually be generating electricity, and had a volt output higher than a battery of a similar size. Extensive testing showed it provided enough electricity to run a laptop computer for six months before it grew dim and dull.

Korea kept the discovery secret for only a few months, before a massive underwater mining rush began. Nations desperate to gain the incredible power jockeyed for power, until a North Korean warship fired on a Vietnamese vessel. At which point, Raiden herself arrived the next day, and announced that she considered all of the Desolation to be Japanese territorial waters.

No one further argued with her, and especially not since during the night, what was now being called an Electro-Regisvine snatched an unwary Australian ship down to the depths, killing all hands. There were some negotiations with the Japanese government, and various countries friendly to the Shogunate were granted harvesting rights, for a massive fee. Though Japan retained a huge advantage, as certain talismans granted by Raiden protected them from what she called the “Balethunder.”

Later, it was learned that somehow, certain parahumans were able to survive the Desolation with no ill effects, freely able to harvest the minerals that had been dubbed Electro Crystals.

All had the same powers, regardless of national origin, and all had a small talisman they bore.

And they were those of Vision.