>>5141210“Hold on, everyone! Vector, with me!” You bellow, voice cutting through the haze of battle like a foghorn. A line of neon lances from the obliterated swarm back to the bridge, where Vector joins your allies in holding on to whatever they can as you bank hard to the right. The kaiju-sized kappa surges past you, it's swarm left decimated and forgotten in what you now realize is clear desperation. Your abandoned foe's wake slaps violently at your hull...and then, something happens that chills you to your rivets.
The sea goes absolutely, unnaturally still, it's chaos and life and vibrancy smoothed out like a sheet of glass. All movement's stopped, all inertia's canceled. You're rooted in place on the plains of a frozen, reset ocean, with the Amalgam suffering the same fate several hundred meters away.
“OH, YOU’RE AN INTERESTING ONE.”
The voice that fills the air and ripples across the ocean’s glassy surface goes beyond sheer volume - it’s all the rage and ruin of a natural disaster refined into a smooth, focused line of syllables. It doesn’t disturb the water’s surface, even as it rises from the depths—a thing whose size defies any adequate descriptor, easily capable of swallowing you and the Amalgam whole with room to spare. Its head is conical, the upper halves of various reptilian and aquatic predators all arranged around a focal point, a darting tongue that languidly flicks in your direction.
A Daughter? No…no, everything you’ve seen up to this point has indicated that there’s a size limit on corruption growth, but an Amalgam couldn’t possibly tal-
“I AM SOMETHING ELSE, DEAR.” The thing purrs, slicing cleanly through your train of thought. “NOTHING AS SPECIAL OR INTERESTING AS YOU, THOUGH.”
“…You can hear me?” You hesitate, keeping your voice as even-keeled as possible in the face of your (understandably) tense crew. “My thoughts, I mean?”
“I CAN. DAUGHTERS. CONSTRUCTS. AMALGAMS…ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH, WOVEN INTO NEW FORMS BY MY CREATOR’S NAÏVE HANDS. I WAS BLESSED WITH AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE THREADS. TELL ME…WHAT IS YOUR NAME?”
“…Yamato.”
“YAMATO…AH! HA, HAHAHA!” The creature throws its head back, its laughter finally the thing to disturb the water’s pristine surface. “A MOST EXCELLENT REFERENCE!”
“May I ask yours?”
“LEVIATHAN. APPROPRIATE, NO?” The thing chuckles, and as it leans closer the water around your frame finally loosens in a radius wide enough for you to have some semblance of freedom. “I AM SO VERY CURIOUS AS TO HOW ONE LIKE YOU CAME TO BE. I’VE NOT SEEN SOMETHING QUITE LIKE YOU IN MANY CRUCIBLES. CAN-…*MAY* I INSPECT YOUR FORM FOR BUT A MOMENT? I JUST HAVE TO KNOW WHAT PROMPTED SUCH A UNIQUELY STUNNING FORM.”
Your crew moves to defend you, but you pull them back with a subtle shift of your top deck before addressing the titan looming over you all.
(Continued)
