A portal appears in the spawn room of the ORIGIN station, and Echoss steps through it, looking incredibly worried. "Is... is everyone... no that's a stupid question we just got demolished by bottles." a golden butterfly flutters past one of the windows of the space station.

He makes his way around the room, checking in with everyone.
"Miss Omorika, are you alright?"
"Miss Needleworker both, are you two going to be okay?"
"Miss Elem, hello are you okay?"
"Miss Khiones, you look like you're not taking this well, do you need to sit down?"
"Boshi, Hat Kid, are you two alright?"

"What am I going to do... Could I evacuate? The thymefield still seems to be active, at least partially. But then there's the other energy signature... would it even be worth the effort?"

Your spawnpoint is either obstructed or destroyed. You will now revive at the original spawn point.
----
Terry walks out of the Default Spawn Point.

"Wh-what happened? Where the hell are we?
All I remember is getting knocked unconscious by a projectile bottle right after that siege tank thing got carried off by... also bottles."

Terry walks further, getting and drinking a glass of water from the refreshments tile. Then, Terry becomes fully awake, and takes in his surroundings.

"Whoa, we're in a spaceship! :D"
----
Terry yeets himself into Magic Club.

"Magic club! Magic club! Magic club!"

...So, your majesty. Why is this so... Important? History won't change outside of the dead universe, after all.

"Good question, Venia, I am glad you asked! There are... There are simply put, marvels of magic and technology that were made in Sussui-marvels even in that time!-but marvels lost after the Second Cataclysm. Most are merely 'advanced for their age,' but there are a few that are of immense value! Secrets of the Godmodding War, ancient artifacts of conceptual technology, lost magical marvels that have never been recreated, secret powers-and not to mention, its location is incredibly convenient and its peoples would make a fine addition to our Empire! This, Venia, is why Sussui must be brought back!

...Your Majesty, I have... A question.

Yes?

Why didn't people just leave once they got what they wanted?

They couldn't. Anyone who enters the 'Thyme Field' cannot leave. One would have to destroy the Sphere, completely depowered, to leave. A herculean task, but even in the face of impossible odds... I am assured that we can, in time, complete this! We just need volunteers.

OK... So that's why no-ones come back? No-one has succeeded yet, either, or else I'd have heard of all of this sooner. Your majesty... I know what happened, but... What are the odds? Sussui never survived in any timeline known; what about other possibilities, sir?

...That is why I am asking you, Venia, to not go personally, for it would be incalculable damage upon the realm. You are already making a great many undue risks! Please, she would be devastated.

Your majesty... You are evading my question. What are the odds.

Well, Venia... I have ran the probability machine for... Months.

Months?! Your majesty, aren't you only supposed to run that for a few minutes?

... Yes, I am aware. Months, This equates to... Six-hundred and twenty-four centillion possibilities researched and analyzed based upon a single variable: Whether or not Sussui is destroyed after a certain date... October 26th, 2015 in Earth time, as its the closest approximate.

And what is the conclusion, your majesty?

Well, you see-

A horrific noise penetrates even Creation as Venia blinks back into existence, but... She isn't right, bottles are halfway to consuming her already and already growing-no, not growing! Venia doesn't look good either way, though. She's... Immensely glitched, shuddering back and forth in midair, mask spiders halfway-transformed into bottles, particles nearly obscuring her pained expression. And then-the bottles are enveloped by the grey goo, vanishing as far as can be told, except for one which so heavily glitches out that it appears to just roll on the floor, glitching out without any duplication. Venia herself simultaneously falls to the floor, the sound of glass breaking likely causing immense paranoia among those present. Venia is bleeding. She is bleeding a slurry of things that are not entirely blood, either, nor the odd vanishing liquid-a black substance and a blue substance join in, as well as a color of red considerably brighter, and more concerning, than usual.

The revitalization of the machine behind her rapidly undoes this tragedy and wipes away the 'blood,' wrapping it back up into Venia, who, after a moment, rises, kind of. The mask spiders on her body twitch, then fade. She is still enshrouded in glitch particles, taking pained breaths. You swear to all you hold dear that Venia's body shouldn't look nearly as much like glass as it does right now.

"... No, no no no no." Venia sputters, between breaths, as she starts walking. There is no denying it-something went wrong with her on the way here, between the glitching and the fact her body can't decide whether or not its made of glass or flesh. Two golden shimmering portals appear out of thin air, as two elegant maids made of platinum also appear out of nowhere. Disregarding their metal status, they are otherwise the perfect, most immaculate maids any have ever laid eyes on, priceless matierals somehow woven into fabric uniforms of impressive and attractive detail, impeccable poise and grace, with jewels for eyes-the most incredible anyone has ever seen, a multilayered display of internal cover mimicking the look of actual eyes, while still recognizably being smooth, carved jewels. They gracefully lend Venia a shoulder each, as Venia presses a hand at her temple.

Both turn to glass. Or, rather. Both turn into tiny bottle-like things, 'fading' into proper flesh. Her fingers are bottlenecks, and her temple is a look into an infinite mass of glass endlessly encapsulated within.

"I... What?!" Venia says, as she takes notice. Her lips press together and her eyes bulge at the bottle-fingers, though she quickly recovers with a shaky breath. "What the hell. I... That isn't... What?." She adds, as she starts moving forwards, helped by the maids.

"... What-oh... OH! STUPID, STUPID! Of course. 'Crash the game,' of course. That's what happened. Bottle wall from nowhere-even if this does get us money I should've stopped that cold, like, HELL!" Venia says, stomping the floor. Her leg shatters like it was glass, because it is glass, destroying her leg and turning the component shards into bottles, which explosively fly away, nailing both of her servants and most of the thankfully-isolated corner she wound up in... All of which begin duplicating on the spot. "oh NO NO NO NO NO-"

And as if responding to her commands, the Bottles immediately cease all duplication-even the small mass of bottles that had abruptly appeared where her fresh leg-stump was, reconstituting it into about as much as a knee before it all stopped cold. A negligable amount of station-and part of the heads of her maids-are now the same impossible glass bottles that should by all rights be consuming reality, but are not. Abruptly static, you could almost look at their impossible geometry and forever be amazed.

"...What? What the actual hell?!" She says. "...I can... What?! And..."

Venia gazes at the scene, dumbfounded.

"...Breathe, Venia. Breathe..."

The maids, completely unconcerned with the absense of a good half of their head each, lower Venia to a sitting position as she inspects her leg, and the area of damage.

"... More bottles. I am now apparently made of bottles. And also a person. A bottle person? What the hell.... No, wait. A person with control over bottles. That's why they stopped... Welp. Great. I am now walking PTSD for everyone! and probably an unstable bomb, too, if force will just break me... Hrm. How'd that happen, Venia... Right! Right. I tried to... Siphon off whatever was powering those bottles to make an elemental shield. I... I died? Felt like I exploded internally. But... Now I'm not dead, for some reason, and now here... OK, so, I now appear permanently infused to the concept of bottles-infintely multiplying bottles of infinite geometry that turn everything else into itself, which will culminate in the consumption of reality... But not these? I must... Hrm. Can I? I'd have to try. I know my magic... Can I?"

Venia flexes her arms a bit. Her left arm is obscured by Ga'aunt (who is miraculously unharmed), but her right, Radiant Glove and all, shifts into a glass hand, a more complete version of the 'bottle' fingers from before. In as far as can be told, it is a hand that is also a bottle; a transluscent sheen curving off into five bottlenecks to perfectly resemble fingers, and within them, contains endless amount of bottles. You can't see where it ends. She flexes the hand, experimentally; it bends and moves like it were flesh, completely unconcerned for the fact that an effective infinite mass was being moved that by itself ought to be breaking physics over its knee.

"... My understanding of physics tells me that this should be tearing the station to shreds, but I guess these bottles don't care for physics ,ehehe... Or anything else," Venia says, face halfway beteween dark amusement and just horror.Then, she moves this hand over to the scarred part of the ship, and crunches up her eyes in concentration.

A kind of gray aura envelops her hand, which then reaches out to touch the bottles across the floor. The bottles respond, shifting, but do not start multiplying again-they instead lift themselves up, flying backwards into Venia's leg, assimilating themselves perfectly. A moment later, Venia's leg, reforms into the rough approximation of a glass leg with five bottleneck toes, before returning into the form of a proper leg, Venia's clothes included. The dislodged bottles from the maid's faces are too stuck to be quickly removed, however, and a few bottles fail to move at all-but those abruptly glitch out of existence only moments afterwards.

Venia isn't done. She takes her leg, standing up, testing it a bit-it walks like normal. She blinks at it, before turning her hand to her two maids. The glass bottles lodged into their heads resonate with her hand,, and slowly, slowly expand like before. Or, well. Slowly is relative, as they're still completely consumed, without even flinching, in a second, but nothing else, and the bottles they became do not drop either. Or mutter weird, discordant voices, either. Venia places a shaky hand on the inanimate bottle statues; most of her arm turns to glass as her hand melds into the mass, and abruptly they animate in a flash of gray, assimilating themselves into Venia's arm in the span of a second, nevermind that her arm is perfectly intact. The station is bottle free.

Venia looks dumbfounded at her own success.

"... Hrm. I control bottles now. And am now made of bottles. Infinite bottles... Each as fragile as a glass bottle should be, but will also reform into bottles, that would then infinitely replicate, except I am apparently also in control of that so as long as I want it to, they won't. Or at least, the Bottles that I generated... I'm stuck in some weird state of half-woman, half-bottle abomination, I guess. Wait... I used an elemental siphon, right? Wouldn't that mean that they're an element... Wouldn't that mean that I'm some kind of... What? Half elemental? ... That makes no sense, like, how does that even-"

Venia cuts herself off. Her face makes a curious look as she takes her (still bottle-akin) arm and... Flexes it. In a moment, her gray dissappearing goop appears on it... But it doesn't do anything and fades away shortly thereafter. Venia blinks once, then twice, and then does it again, to yet again no effect.

Several seconds pass in dead silence as Venia looks on, doubly dumbfounded. And then, she grins.

"Holy shit. HOLY SHIT! SWEET GOD ALMIGHTY!" Venia screams!-it probably attracts attention to her if she didn't already get it from her bottle-based antics-and she jumps in the air, elated, before slamming back down, this time with not enough force to destroy her own legs. She seems on the verge of tears-of happiness.

"... I don't know how, but I'm cured! No more metaphysical cancer! Yes! YES! I. This is amazing! I feel the best I've ever felt in years! Holy shit. I'm strong! I'm really strong! I feel strong again! Yes! Fuck yes!"

Venia cheers and whoops, passing by a window and now noticing the massive snarl of bottles that scar Sussui below. Her elation takes a sack.

"...Oh. Right. That. Impending apocalypse... Yeah, no way I'd be stopping that even at full power. Maybe survive, now, but not... Yeah, no. Probably not even that. This may actually threaten my home, too. That's an achievement right there."

Venia contemplates the growing snarl... For a bit. Then, she turns, now noticing the considerably-more-populated room, who in turn probably notice Venia.

"... Oh. Uh, Hi everyone! It's me. Venia. Right. Explanation time... Horrific eldritch mass of sapient bottles devoured us all. Yep, that covers it. OK, so. I have contingency measures for this, just in case... Actually, no. That won't work. I'd need access to an Update Terminal bare minimum. The saves aren't gonna do anything. Eugh. The bottles are consuming reality. I think they're sapient. Best-case scenario, this universe fades into the elemental planes and joins the anime girls in the 'horrific mistakes' pile. Worst-case, we are literally The Black and just consumed reality into a swarm of bottles that shall ceaselessly eat reality until it crashes, and if they get strong enough, uh, not even that will actually stop anything." Venia exposites. "Flip-side. Magical accident in attempt at self-defense against bottles turned me into... Whatever the hell this is. I don't know what I qualify as anymore. But, it's cured that weird blurring cancer for good-it can't consume me anymore. I... I feel the most physically fit I have ever been in years, and I seem to be able to control a reasonable amount of these bottles. Or just the bottles that... Originate, from myself. Are they even bottles? I don't know anymore. I'm definitely not a 'magical fix the problem' button, either way, that's... No, that's beyond me. I can just look at it and know. That down there is worse than just a glass tide. Best I can say is that I'd live on that damn planet because I'm already 'acclimated' so to speak... And I'm not even sure of that... As for where we are..."

Venia suddenly comes to realization. "...Where's Maria?"

Maria is not here. (Neither is Mr. Krabs.) Silence. Venia just looks upon the party. Her face... Her face drops. Her eyes lose their spark. She just stares, dead-eyed.

"...Huh." Venia says. Not the reaction you'd expect. "... Of course. I get cured of my metaphysical cancer in an unprecedented miracle, and then Maria dies. Maria's dead! M-maria..."

Venia shakes.

"... There's got to be a reason we're on here! Wait, maybe she's just not here, just somewhere else on the ship!?" Venia says. "F-find... No. No, she's not here. She's not anywhere. Dead." Venia says, suddenly mechanical. "... And... No. He's here. He is here. It is here. A... Thing."

Venia still looks dead. She looks at Nia (and others) briefly, but just resumes looking dead, not crying, not emoting, not doing anything remotely spectacular.

"... Let's go. Talk to him. Let's..."

A tear.

"... N-N-Nia!"

Venia falls to her knees, despair finally overtaking her as she sobs. She just crashes down to the floor (she does not 'break' from this to the mercy of all present), and cries, and cries, leaving a puddle on the floor, making incoherent statements about how she deserves to die and how she's a failure and a murderer. She offers no resistance-to anything, or anyone-if they were to act upon her.

What happens next is... Covered in the update.

---

Meanwhile, Mr. Krabs has somehow managed to spawn into the ship itself independent of everyone else, right in the bridge. He looks upon Slenderman, completely unfazed as he's a robot.

"Ahoy, matey!" Mr. Krabs says, completely aware of exactly what is going on below and exactly who he is calling a 'matey.' "I know you're fixin' for a brawl and we'll give it to you, but Venia needs a bit of time to recover, and possibly learn reality is going to reset... But first, questions."

"Where are we, and what is this place?" Mr. Krabs asks. "How did it get made, and so on. That's the first question." "The second question is, why are you doing this? Specifcally. What 'loose ends' are you tying up? Is this how you... Operate, as it were? Ahahaha. Third, is that bottlemass sentient? Swore I heard a voice from it before I died. Might as well Finally... What could be taken from here without permanently ruining our situation, so to speak?"

---

Venia's next skillpoint goes into STR.

"Great, time to get out of here."

Brutishace invests his next two skillpoints into INT and equips his Reaper Robes. He finds them incredibly comfy, and his skull even fits into an inner pocket! The cranium appears to like what would probably become its new abode.

The necromancer doesn't exactly know how he knows this... maybe the skull is communicating to him?

Nevertheless, Brutishace reminds himself to try upgrading the rest of his gear, and to give something back to the party as a token of thanks.

uA: ...

After Auth respawns... he doesn't appear to be holding up well. At all. His eyes are... empty, blank, similar to how they were when he briefly died. He's staring out into space, both literally and figuratively. His eyes are kind of... locked, on the snarl. It looks as though he's kind of broken, as he mutters to himself.

uA: This... this was a mistake... we've messed up so badly... all those people...

>You should leave him be...

Toast sits bolt upright on the metal floor, as though waking up from a nightmare. About dying. From bottles. She reflexively pats at her chest, making sure its real. It probably is. Stabilising, she becomes aware of where she is. There are a lot of questions in her head. Questions like: "what happened to us", or "how are we here", maybe "where is here, and why can i see sussui down there". Despite being useful questions for her to have answered, she doesn't ask any of those. No, instead, she takes a seat next to Marron, and asks something else.
"...Are you okay?"

The Man (sporting a new text color), wakes up on the floor of the station.

"Well. We uh, certainly screwed up big time, didn't we? Not that I had anything to do with it."

He walks up to the attendant guarding the northern hatch in the recreation and maintenance area.

"You uh, won't try and beat me up if I try to go through here, right?"

Zone -1

"What on earth just happen? How on earth did you guys create the Apocalypse!? Like c'mon..."

I ask the Operator "so what happens now?"

Astrec awakens on the station.
...where's Hex? Odd. Anyway.
Astrec surveys his setting, gets oriented, and quickly walks over to one of the search consoles, typing in "The Operator" in one, and "Project Thymium" in a second. Finally, after he reads those entries, he types in "Chairheir Studios".
Then, he talks with the Operator.
uC: ...are you who I think you are? Namely, a first guardian?
He realizes something
uC: OH. You're.. you're the Operator, from the Second Godmodding War, aren't you? The one who wielded the Faceless Eight, and helped contribute to the ultimate demise of The Godmodder?
He's taken aback for a minute, then recovers.
uC: Also, would you mind me scanning you?
If the answer is yes, he does so. If no, oh well.
Then, Astrec sees the update terminal.
uC: HOLY-
uC: That's a Update Terminal, isn't it.
uC: ...we've stepped into something big here, haven't we.
uC: ...I think I need to sit down. nice talking to you
Hex, meanwhile, suddenly noclips through the nearest wall.
uC: how. I- what. how.
HEX: I outran the Apocalypse
Hex then strolls off, leaving Astrec just staring at him, confused.
Hex thanks the Secretaries, and takes a drink from the refreshments, sipping it.
He then asks if he can explore the station. If yes, he kicks open one of the hatches, the Attendant hopefully being told to leave him alone if the answer is yes. If not, he goes and looks at Creation. If yes, he looks at creation later.
HEX: More of a Red Sun guy myself, but still neat.
He tries to highfive the Operator.

Packo wakes up, feeling a sharp pain on his neck. He feels as if he got hit with something blunt...

He seems to be crying. After all, he has never felt a pain so sharp before. However, the pain suddenly mitigates, and so does the crying. When he comes to his senses, he notices that he's in space. A similar feeling to when he was first boarding his Shuttle from Licheria.

That said, he knows for a fact that this isn't Licheria. As he wakes up, he walks around... Only to see the outsides of Sussui, and the huge blob that seems to be engulfing the planet.

It is then when he sees both Ette and Marron.

"W-What just... Happened? Are you all okay? What is this... Place? It's space! And what is that planet... And that blob?!" He sounds pretty nervous, from what it looks like. Did they fail at destroying the ball?

"I-I want to know... Why we are here..." He says, although this time, he sounds more scared than nervous.

____________________________________________________________

As Packo keeps walking around the weird spaceship, he finds a certain figure staring into space, as he seems to be mumbling some words. The baker, despite his massive confusion, cannot help but to be nosier than usual, and asks that figure.

"W-Where are we...? This is space... Right?"

uA: ...
uA: ...I think so...

Auth doesn't appear to be very active mentally right now, with his empty-looking eyes gazing outwards into space... he doesn't appear to be very okay.

"But... Why? I was about to... Go after that big cannon and destroy it!" He replies.

uA: I...
uA: don't know. Who knows what happened...?
uA: We failed, at the very least... everyone is going to die...

"Wait... What?" Packo says, definitely scared. "I didn't fail at anything!"

uA: Not you in particular...
uA: All of us..

After he gazes into space a little longer, he sees the blob of... Strange matter engulfing the land, again. "I don't get it. Is that thing what we have to destroy?"

uA: No. No, it's...
uA: I think we made that.
uA: What we're here to get probably isn't going to survive either but... look, see how it's rising...?

Auth's sharp eyes still work, able to see the bottlemass rising into the air.

uA: It turns nothingness into bottles somehow...
uA: In time, nothing is going to exist anymore. We failed. Badly.

Packo enters a fit of rage as he hears that somehow, they are the cause for this mess.
"W-What?! Who did this? Are they here?"
"They hurt my head!"
"It hurts!"
"I have to teach them... A lesson!"

uA: There's really no point...
uA: I think the world is going to end in a few minutes. We don't have long.

"No way! I am going to go back to Licheria before this happens. And if I can't, I am going to find whoever hurt my head!"

uA: You died. That's why you're here. Everyone did.

"I... What? If I am dead... Why am I here, in space?"

uA: Died. You got caught in the flood of bottles, turned into bottles, and died.
uA: There’s a respawn point here, but only for us. And not even all of us.

Packo now seems more angry than anything. "Thanks for telling me what happened."

uA: Everything is going to either end or be restored in three turns. Who knows how much we’ll remember...

"I see..." Packo then storms away from the figure staring at space. He looks very angry!

uA: Whatever you’re planning... I doubt it will go well. I think the
Sphere - our actual target... it’s gonna be destroyed and the limits on our abilities will be released. If you’re going to try to hurt anyone it won’t go well.

Auth fully realises he cannot hear any more... but he tries to warn him anyway. This guy - he doesn’t even know his name... but it’s not going to go well for him if he tries something...

"Well then."

"Mom always said I'd likely be around to see the end of the world, but I don't think she ever imagined it would've come from plastic bottles. And I thought I saw all the freaky things the world could throw at me."
The secrets you look for do not repeat their tricks. Search elsewhere in this post; maybe a long, hard look will help you.
In the midst of Keiko's musings, she looks out of a nearby window. "Never thought about how the stars would look different out here, either. They look kind of... pretty. Maybe it's my low expectations, but still."

Keiko equips the Virgo Scarf, setting the empty Magic Resistance to Light, adds +1 to her SPC, MP, and SKI, and sits down besides the wall to keep looking out at the stars. A brief respite from her duties... if only it would last longer.

Irongutta awoke, finding himself on the cold metallic floor of... some place. He wasn't quite sure. "Bloody 'ell, second time this week I've blacked out like that." He tried to orient himself as he stood up. All of his limbs seemed to be where they belonged. The only things that were noteworthy were a splitting headache and a pit in his stomach.

"Where in Mork's name are we, anyways?" His eyes traced the walls of the room, glancing over the windows briefly. You know, just a bunch of stars. Doing a double take, Irongutta looked at one of the windows again and leaned in closely, almost pressing his face up against the glass. It was very clear to him now where they were. "Zog, we're in space!?"

Wandering out of the spawn point room, he immediately notes the out of place Christmas Tree. There seemed to be an extra present under it; addressed to him to boot! "From Toast, eh?" He promptly opened the gift.

αROUND ONE-HUNDRED SEVENTEENα
Destiny greets the fainted Chloe. She's not really responsive though, due to... y'know, fainting. Nia however, is in place to respond for her.

NIA: Y'know, she did just... like, die.
NIA: That's pretty insensitive...
NIA: If she was conscious, she'd totally RKO you outta nowhere.

...She then heads down to the Core of Creation, and examines the emerald light. Whatever the core is made of, it's almost certainly related to the Green Sun as she noted earlier. Yet, besides the obvious warmth of the sun, she gets a faint hint of the warmth of life. She's not sure as to whether this is incredibly concerning or not.

She then heads down to the Bridge. To the Operator. The Operator pays her no notice as she enters, only noticing her presence once she speaks.

THE OPERATOR: ...
THE OPERATOR: Oh. You.
THE OPERATOR: I didn't quite expect you to arrive here.

He turns to face Destiny, his tentacles still tending to the Update Terminal behind him. His face is featureless and smooth, and his suit ironed and pristine. Despite the lack of eyes, he manages to stare at Destiny with an incredible amount of intensity.

THE OPERATOR: While I might not have dominion over space as you suggest, I suppose greetings are still in order.
THE OPERATOR: I am The Operator. Known to some as the Slenderman.
THE OPERATOR: I am the current operator of this space station, known as Creation.
THE OPERATOR: While earlier I was perhaps but an observer, using Creation's power to do its namesake, it seems I have now been pushed to the forefront.

...How's he even talking? He doesn't have a mouth. And yet, he sounds so incredibly... disappointed. Not mad. Just disappointed.

THE OPERATOR: My purpose here was simply put, to tie up loose ends.
THE OPERATOR: Ire. That insignificant offshoot of its finest work.
THE OPERATOR: I had started this cascade of events with my assault on him, and I intended to see them to their end.
THE OPERATOR: That was my intention. No more. No less.

He ogles Destiny. She feels a searing pain in her head. Static begins to fill her vision.

THE OPERATOR: I turn my back for a second. A Secretary managed to get itself caught in the door.
THE OPERATOR: Somehow, in those few seconds, you've managed to doom the entirety of the universe.
THE OPERATOR: Even after I tried my very hardest to burn it into your minds; DON'T TRY THAT AGAIN. Without directly interfering with the world below, of course.
THE OPERATOR: ...Sending messages down there requires jumping through absurd quantities of hoops.
THE OPERATOR: And now look what you've done.

He waves an arm to the planet below.

THE OPERATOR: I reckon that there's already been enough deaths to rival the End War.
THE OPERATOR: At the very least, you managed to destroy all of your spawning locations. I suppose you were naturally routed here as a result...

THE OPERATOR: Oh well.
THE OPERATOR: Fortunately, when reality itself crashes, it'll load an old save.
THE OPERATOR: An old save, which I'll have you know, I edited out your little disaster.
THE OPERATOR: Soon enough, the number of bottles down below will hit critical mass, and reality will quite literally break down around us.
THE OPERATOR: Then, none of this will have ever happened. You'll remember this, at the very least. To make sure you don't repeat this little disaster.

The static fades from Destiny's vision. He seems to have calmed down somewhat.

THE OPERATOR: There is absolutely nothing I can do, other than wait.
THE OPERATOR: Wait for all of this to blow over.
THE OPERATOR: It's not like you've particularly delayed me. Reality will knit itself back together, as it usually does. No time will have been lost, ultimately.

THE OPERATOR: Anyway, I have a proposition.
THE OPERATOR: Working in Creation, while extravagant, can be... dull.
THE OPERATOR: There is simply not much to do, other than watch and moderate.
THE OPERATOR: A chance to flex my tentacles would be delightful.
THE OPERATOR: So, how about it?
THE OPERATOR: A battle at the end of the world.
THE OPERATOR: A game to pass the time.

THE OPERATOR: We will begin shortly. Near the end of this cycle.
THE OPERATOR: My assumption is that it'll be over quickly, but... you've all been quite surprising.
THE OPERATOR: Repeated strings of critical blows. Overcoming impossible odds to seize victory. Befriending every random female you meet, and somehow having it work. Somehow creating a romance.
THE OPERATOR: My hope is that you will surprise again.

He turns back to the console, and resumes clacking away at the Update Terminal. It's kinda weird how it looks like he just typed an "a", then an "a" in quotations, then a "then an "a" in quotations" and yeah I'm gonna stop doing that.

---

Zahlia considers speaking to the Operator. However, she's pretty sure that he's said everything that he wanted to say one horizontal line above.

---

Calibri comes to, and heads over to Chloe's side. He lifts Chloe up a little in an attempt to find injuries, talking to himself and hoping for her to wake up. As he speaks, her eyes gently flutter open.

CHLOE: M-Mar... r-ria...
CHLOE: ...
CHLOE: W-Wait, w-where am I-I-

She gently sits up, Calibri providing her a bit of support. She suddenly yelps as her eyes drift out the window, quite nearly falling over again.

CHLOE: SPACE OH gorilla RIGHT-

She hyperventilates for a few moments, before realizing that everything's actually alright. Calibri's right beside her, everyone's on the station, Nia appears to also be nearby... and then heads over, seeing that she's conscious again.

NIA: Oh, hiya!
NIA: You alright there?
CHLOE: N-Nia, w-what-
NIA: We died. Everyone.
CHLOE: ...E-EVERYONE!?
NIA: Well, sorta. We can respawn, apparently! Woo!
NIA: And now we're all here. On this fancy-smancy space station!
CHLOE: ...I-Is everyone a-alright then? Marron? Omo?
NIA: Yeah, they're here!
CHLOE: O-Oh thank goodness! T-Then, t-that means Maria i-isn't actually. d-dead, then! R-Right!? RIGHT!?
NIA: ...
CHLOE: ...
NIA: U-Um, h-how do I-

Chloe begins to tear up, soon fully breaking down into tears. She leans into Calibri, barely trying to hold it back. Nia crouches down next to her, and tries her absolute hardest to comfort her.

NIA: I-It's not your fault, I-
CHLOE: I-I said I-I'd... p-protect her...
CHLOE: I-I... h-how am I g-going to f-face...?
CHLOE: Author's Note: translating crying people is hard. I don't think even Nia knows what she's saying.
NIA: Oh, Chloe...
NIA: I-I wish I knew w-what to... w-what to say...
NIA: B-But I-I'm here for you! A-And, i-if you'd like, I'll try and e-explain everything to Venia...
CHLOE: Y-You... y-you will?
NIA: Y-Yeah! I mean, you should probably talk to her later, b-but... well... yeah.
CHLOE: T-Thank... t-thank you...

Nia decides to leave Chloe to her own devices to check up on other people. Before going though, she passes her one of her christmas burritos, which she somehow managed to grab.

NIA: Cal, you watch after her, alright?
NIA: You can do it! Don't forget- I gave you my blessing!

She skips off to check out the space station, and on everyone else. Elsewhere, Verdana approaches a Secretary, trying to find somewhere nice for Gibbet to sleep. The Secretary takes off its chef hat, and waves to the Core of Creation. Suddenly, a green flame ignites in the air! The flame seems to "burn backwards"- that is, something is coming out of the flames, rather than being destroyed by it. A bird nest lands on the Secretary's head. It then takes Gibbet, and places him/her/it/tem on the nest, still on its head. It seems to be quite happy with Gibbet there.

EN meanwhile, greets the Operator. She asks about how long they'll be in this space station for.

THE OPERATOR: About one boss battle.
THE OPERATOR: Given your history, I estimate no longer than six rounds.
THE OPERATOR: Or shorter. If I wipe you all.

---

Nezira does the first non-RP thing of this update, inserting 3 points into her MMP, while removing 1 from her SPC. She then opts to tend to a few people, first talking with Nia. She says that it's not her fault that the apocalypse happened.

NIA: Huh? I wasn't really blaming myself for it-
NIA: hold on WAIT I DID CAUSE THE APOCALYPSE.
NIA: ...Or did Mr. Krabs cause the apocalypse? For all I know, I might've made a really stable reality-destroying mace outta my upgrade if he didn't jam the Glyph in there...

NIA: Hey, thanks for checking up on me.
NIA: It's always nice to know that people care~

She gives a coy little wink to Nezira, before carrying on with her day of trying to make sure everyone's decently okay. Nezira then tends to Omo, who's staring out into space. Her voice seems... more dead than usual.

OMORIKA: I'm... alright.
OMORIKA: Surprisingly. While my own death isn't particularly shocking...

She stares down at the planet below.

OMORIKA: Thousands. No, millions.
OMORIKA: We've condemned millions of lives to a death. And of those, many are of my people. I swore to protect them when I took my seat in the Highchair...
OMORIKA: A-And now... w-we've gone a-and...

OMORIKA: ...However, I believe that we are here for a reason.
OMORIKA: Survivors of the apocalypse.
OMORIKA: While I doubt this'll simply... "blow over", perhaps there's a way to make things right.
OMORIKA: I'm going to explore this station. Care to join me?.

With that, she begins to march off into the station. She promptly finds herself in Recreation and Maintenance, and begins to research the area. Nezira then goes to search one of the terminals, and is immediately hit with an incredibly high amount of results for Iti. There's far too many for her to read through in a timely fashion! However, a few catch her eye. She has a feeling she's not strictly limited to these ones, though. And of course, there's more information on non-Iti things, too!



She then goes to talk with the Operator. He wanted to talk?

THE OPERATOR: I already explained everything to your... acquaintance over there. Destiny.
THE OPERATOR: You can ask her, or alternatively, do what most people do and look up.
THE OPERATOR: I assume you know what I mean.

---

Boshi opts to +1 his RES, and swap for Static Overcharge. Or at least, a reskin of it. He opts to talk with Nia. Is she alright?

NIA: Hm? Yeah, I'm fine.
NIA: Surprisingly fine, actually. Maybe it's just the robotic body speaking, but dying didn't really shock me at all...
NIA: Hopefully you're holding up alright, too!

Hat Kid meanwhile, opts to talk with Marron. Why is everyone in this space station?

MARRON: W-We're all here because we... died.
MARRON: I think the bottles ate the spawn points. I-I should be thankful f-for that, o-otherwise w-we'd be infinitely re-spawning and dying for all eternity...

---

Echoss quickly queries with everyone. Gotta see if everyone's alright. First, Omo.

OMORIKA: Save for the fact that everyone I've ever known has died by... bottles, of all things...
OMORIKA: Remarkably, yes. Although, I do feel this remarkable feeling of wanting to shatter the very being of whoever had the bright idea to create a reality-destroying snarl...
OMORIKA: ...If you find them, give me a pointer, yes?

Then, Marron. She's mostly just staring out into space, Ette keeping her company.

MARRON: ...
ETTE: (I-I'm fine! I don't think sis is taking it the best, though...)

Then, Chloe. Well, she's actually still crying from earlier, so he opts to leave her alone for now. So from there, he tends to Nia.

NIA: Hm? I'm alright, don't worry!
NIA: Everyone's checking up on me...
NIA: I mean, it makes sense, but... it makes me feel special~

---

Terry yeets himself into Magic Club. Or at least, he considers it- given that the world was destroyed mere moments ago, it's probably not in session.

---

VENIA UNLEASHES A CALAMATIC AMOUNT OF TEXT. All of it nicely recorded in this spoiler, as authored by me, Tazz, Piono, Engie, and a few others.



...The game shudders after processing all that text. Anyway, Mr. Krabs goes to greet The Operative. He asks a few questions.

THE OPERATOR: ...You're still going, even after all those blocks of text...?
THE OPERATOR: ...Very well.

THE OPERATOR: One. Creation is a space station.
THE OPERATOR: I believe that Creation is incredibly ancient, perhaps even predating the Psi Godmodding War. As for who made it, nobody knows... but I'm inclined to believe that it created itself.

THE OPERATOR: Two. I explained two above, but I supposei t bears repeating.
THE OPERATOR: I am here to see the journey of Ire to an end. I did start this, after all. It is only fitting to see that modification burn.

THE OPERATOR: Three. The bottlemass is sentient. Thanks to you.
THE OPERATOR: Shoving a glyph of a million voices into there not only critically derailed the plot of the universe, but gave the mass sentience.
THE OPERATOR: Without it, the universe would be dying magnitudes slower.

THE OPERATOR: Four. Don't touch anything.
THE OPERATOR: If the Update Terminal is tampered with, your save might be corrupted.
THE OPERATOR: You could quite literally permanently destroy reality if you corrupt the save.
THE OPERATOR: The terminal is quite heavily shielded however, so the odds of it being harmed by a stray attack are minimal.

Venia then +1's her STR... and feels something.

After a bit of time for everything to calm down, Venia keeps flexing her hand.

VENIA:... I don't know what it is, but I don't think its just the cancer going away...
VENIA: Its like this weight just got lifted off of my mind...
VENIA: ... Maybe...

Venia concentrates. A glitched aura suspends itself behind her, and after a moment, her soul appears behind her, a jagged black skeleton-like thing, skull hidden behind myriad long strips of silver cloth-hand-spider things. It, and Venia, flex their hands roughly the same way at the same time. It doesn't seem to demanifest as swiftly as it did before.

VENIA:... So, the Thyme Field isn't inhibiting it as much anymore?
VENIA: ... But I didn't feel this way before... Like my heart is on fire.
VENIA: I don't know what this means, but...
VENIA: ... I'll need every scrap of power I can get. Good to be back in form.

Venia Trait evolves into Rogue's Grace! Her stat boosts from weapons are now unlocked, and far more importantly, she gains a second Special: Phantom Menace!

---

Brutishace +2's his INT, and equips the Reaper's Robes. Nothing much.

---

Auth stares blankly into nowhere. Nana, despite being somewhat shaken from her recent death, opts to take the initiative, and walks up to him.

NANA: H-Hey, Author! Y-You alright?
NANA: I-If you want to talk... I-I'm willing to!
NANA: You helped me, s-so... y'know. I want to repay you.

She takes Auth's arm. Not his hand, because that's l-lewd.

NANA: Y-You don't need to worry.
NANA: I know it wasn't your fault. Y-You don't need to feel this way, a-at least...
NANA: W-Whoever did this... I don't think he's part of your party. Not anymore, a-anyway...
NANA: J-Just... s-snap out of it, alright? Y-You're my hero, and I-I don't want to see you this way...

She holds firmly onto Auth, waiting for him to come to his senses.

---

Toast jolts awake. She then heads over to Marron's side, sitting next to her and asking if she's okay. Marron turns to look at Toast, her face full of worries and doubts becoming less intense.

MARRON: I-I... I don't know...
MARRON: E-Everything just h-happened... s-so fast...
MARRON: I thought... I-I thought, that for once in my gorillaing life, e-everything was gonna be alright...
MARRON: And then we died. I couldn't do anything.

Marron curls up into a sad little ball, looking out into the stars from over her knees.

MARRON: W-Why does everything... k-keep happening to me? To... us? W-Why does e-everything happen when I think e-everything's going to be alright!?
MARRON: C-Chaos stopping me f-from going w-with you, n-now this...
MARRON: I-I... I just wanna b-be able to... s-smile without needing to worry about d-dying, or g-getting hurt, o-or... j-just, anything!

MARRON: ...
MARRON: I-I... I just want it to stop. I just wanna be happy, f-for one gorillaing time...
MARRON: No plot twists, no oblivion, no anything- just some peace and quiet...

Marron, still being a sad little ball, rolls over about twenty degrees towards Toast, leaning against her. She's foggy-eyed, red faced, and mostly failing to hide her sheer frustration.

MARRON: A-At least y-you're here, Toaster...
MARRON: W-Without you, I-I'd... I-I'd... I-I'd...
MARRON: ...
MARRON: ...
MARRON: ...
MARRON: ...dunno.

MARRON: A-Anyway, h-how are you holding up?
MARRON: Sis is okay. I've made sure of that much, at least.

Marron remains next to Toast, looking out into the stars. The planet below. Ette opts to butt in, offering her sister a cookie in an attempt to calm her nerves. She grabs it with two fingers, cracks it in half, and offers the other half to Toast as she nibbles away on the other half.

MARRON: ...Love ya, sis. Don't change.
ETTE: (Heart emoji!)

---

The Man asks an Attendant if he's allowed to go through the hatch, and explore other parts of the station. It roars quietly at him in a threatening manner. He's not quite sure what it means, up until the Attendant begins to smack its bat into its hand repeatedly.

---

Daskter asks the Operator what happens now.

THE OPERATOR: We wait.
THE OPERATOR: These cycles take some time, you know.

---

Hex asks if he can explore the station. He gets the same response from the Attendant as The Man. With that option out of the way, he looks at Creation. Its core. Staring into the light, he can make out what appears to be a ball of fire. And in that flame, an eye of sorts. Made of the fire. It doesn't appear to be very good at paying attention- it appears to be half asleep!

He then tries to hi-five the Operator. He gets flicked away by a tentacle, his stride on updating the terminal barely being affected.

THE OPERATOR: I'm busy.

---

Packo asks Marron and Ette what's going on. He's promptly ignored by Marron, but Ette is willing to talk.

ETTE: (I don't really know why we're here...)
ETTE: (I think something really bad happened, and we can't return to the planet...)
ETTE: (I'm kinda scared, but... I know that we can fix this!)

---

Keiko equips the Virgo Scarf! She also +1's her MMP, SKI, and SPC. She then takes a seat, looking out at the stars. Are there any constellations around Sussui? She can't really tell... but that doesn't stop it from being breathtaking.

---

Irongutta opens a present! Weird how the tree has taken itself to space, but alright. Tearing apart the paper, he finds a necklace of sorts- made of a spider silk string, with several wooden "totems" adorning it, representing past foes: Neru, Calypse, DJ Headz, Lucid, and... one of himself! Tiki Necklace obtained!

---

The NPC's decide to spend their skillpoints. I had it written down, but then things happened and my progress up to this point was deleted, but I'll see if I can recall it from memory...

Chloe: +1 STR.
Marron: +1 SKI.
Ette: +1 DEF.
Omorika: +1 INT.
Nia: +1 DEF.

Pretty sure that's it. Anyway, the Operator finishes up his updating cycle after a horrible accident involving the dropping of the cache,

THE OPERATOR: There. All squared away.
THE OPERATOR: Now, back to business.
THE OPERATOR: A game.
THE OPERATOR: A game at the end of the world.

The Operator's tentacles begin to swirl around him at rapid rates, and static begins to slowly build at the edges of everyone's vision. A circle of pages emerges from around the Operator, which then fly off towards the eight Secretaries in the room. They catch the pages.

THE OPERATOR: I can't quite hide my pages, so this will do nicely.
THE OPERATOR: Now, don't hold back. Perhaps if you prove yourselves worthy, I'll edit in a little gift for you on your return.
THE OPERATOR: So.
THE OPERATOR: Prepare yourselves.


You are accosted by...

THE OPERATOR
The Progenitor

PLAY - dU5k M3Igb VkgN Wsxbg (Epic Battle Fantasy 5)



<THE END OF CREATION, ROUND ONE>
The Operator is likely the single strongest foe you've met yet! To have a hope of harming him (efficiently), you'll need to seize several pages from the Secretaries around the map! They have hefty amounts of SHP, so you'll need to focus them down as a team, instead of spreading out your shots!

Note that killing a Secretary with a page will teleport the page right into your hands, so watch out for that! The Operator has several moves that function off of pages, so be especially wary as to who holds them!

Now Playing: Chris Christodoulou - Coalescence
Tip of the dop: When will the tall time-traveling bisexual nephilim ever be happy?

---

STATTYSTUFF
Terry -1s his AGI, -2s his SPC, +1s his MP, +2s his DEF, +1s his RES, and equips the Santa Hat.

---

Terry gets up, and starts hugging everyone, one by one. Except Auth, because you know how that went last time.

Then, Terry notices Omo at the Switch table.

"May I join in, ma'am?"

---

Battle - End of Creation
Terry spawns at I3, moves to I8, then fires his Zaliska at Secretary1.

Echoss, having talked with everyone he could, approaches Omo at her game station.
"Um... Miss Omorika, do you mind if I join you?"
To be RPd/written with Ire once the updoot is done.

Additionally, a smaller Echoss butterfly flutters down and transforms into a full-sized hologram Echoss, which moves to rouse Taeda, but after looking around at the others, decides it would be best to just let her sleep for the moment, and sits down by her, in case she wakes up and needs someone to brief her/console her.


A butterfly Echoss moves in to act as a stand in for real Echoss in the new battle. Spawns on the appropriate top row, then uses shopping spree to grab a Phoenix Up

Toast is silent for a bit after a Marron speaks.
"I- um. I-I'm not sure how I feel. Kind of... numb. Or, maybe hopeless? Angry? It's like... like I've accepted that there's nothing I can do about this and... I hate that. I-I always thought when I actually died in the real world it would mean something, but here its just..." she gestures to the growing mass below them, "...bottles- and I didn't even get a chance to fight back."
She tenses up a bit, before untensing again.
"Thanks for... being here. Here, with me, and here on Sussui (even if we're technically not on it right now). I... probably wouldn't have come if I didn't think you were here."

~~



~~

Then, she respecs. This is on the first page of my theorycrafting doc. Static Overcharge is still the weapon counter.

~~

Toast spawns in at L3 and activates her Unsealed Spellbook: Intuition to cast Deep Thinking. At the end of each round, after Regen, it is Primed to go off- but only if she has 3 Signature stacks. This costs 125 SP total, bringing her to 225 SP.

Destiny puts one point into DEF, gaining 1 AC, and 1 in SKI. She also switches out Overpowering Stab for Slash.
Now that I think about it, this system is alike to the old days of SGEAR...

Destiny then decides to upgrade her helmet.


This helmet is quickly equipped.

--------------------------------------------

A game to the death, eh? Let us play.
Destiny runs in at I3, runs to E3 and shanks the Secretary.

The Man spawns in at I3, moves to F7, and fires at Secretary 1.

I place all 3 of my stats into RES

Settings:
Weakness: 30% Slashing, 10% Light
Resist: Piercing and Dark.

Attack: Slashing

Special: Blitzkrieg

Actions:
I enter the battle at J2 and summon a Conscript at L2

The Conscript calls for allies, 1 appears at M2. They immediately hit the dirt
(Absolute invasion by the main one)

A decisive (or not) battle is starting...

"Y-You darned humanoids! So you are the ones who hit my head all along? Okay then... Watch t-this!"

He then bravely moves and hits one of the Secretaries. In truly OFF-Fashion, the Secretary doesn't even react, making Packo think he did something wrong.

"Uh... Hmm..." He then takes a few steps back behind some cover, to actually analyze the situation.
__________________________

Packo enters into battle, spawning at M3, and moves to P3. Then, he whacks Secretary 2, and then retreats to O4.