Lyra led the charge under Leowynn’s orders, taking with her no less than three hundred Fallen Deities. This force was created with three purposes. Their primary mission was to eradicate the void monsters attacking Lorek, Spica, and Earth, before moving to assist the other worlds. Secondly, they were to assess the combat power of the monsters that they were facing.

Finally, regardless of the success or failure of the first two objectives, the members of the vanguard team had been chosen with the thought of being able to retreat if necessary. There were numerous Fallen Deities that had support abilities to help them get away from harm. With their assistance, it should be possible for the majority of them to escape, even in the worst case scenario.

“According to the reports of the advanced scouts, the realm facing the greatest danger is none other than Lorek!” Lyra reported. “Additionally, Lorek’s particular opponent is one that could spread to other worlds, if it is not dealt with promptly. When we enter the void, everyone with me, and we will rush Lorek with everything we have!”

The Fallen Deities around her nodded their heads firmly. When Lyra cut open a void gate and rushed out, everyone immediately prepared for battle. Their bodies turned into a blur in the void, ignoring the vast majority of the monsters. They flew towards Lorek at their greatest speed.

However, they quickly found that the distance between themselves and Lorek did not seem to be getting any narrower. If anything, Lorek was becoming further away the more that they flew. Lyra signaled for everyone to stop, holding a saber shaped like a crescent moon. As she did, a guttural voice spoke up in their minds, before pausing. When it resumed, it had adopted the common language.

“Is this better?” The voice asked, and Lyra would see a faceless man standing only inches away from her. She jumped back in alarm, swinging her sword, though only seemed to cut through empty space. “Now, that was rather rude. I believe it is proper to introduce oneself before taking their head off.”

Lyra grit her teeth, grasping more firmly on the curved blade in her hand. “The invaders this time want to talk? I have no desire to give you information that you could use to influence me.” Although not as much as the myths of old, names were precious things when dealing with the void. It wouldn’t be strange if the being before them were able to kill someone only by knowing their name.

“Hmm? Oh! You are mistaken. My skills do not lie in abusing the power of identity. You see, my dear, I am a Void God. Have you heard of those? I suppose not, I have been told that we are quite rare existences.”

“To put it simply, I am a being born within the void that has devoured the essence of countless of your fallen deities, absorbing their nature to reach transcendence myself. Thanks to this, I have surpassed the mundane need to abide by intrinsic rules. Instead, I am one who creates my own rules. You may call me Kal’thrall.” He said, performing a polite bow. Lyra heard a shocked gasp from the Fallen Deities behind her.

Lyra turned to look at them, only for her head to tilt, falling off of her neck and into her free hand. Her eyes widened, hastily moving to reattach her head before the void could corrode her severed neck. However, no matter how she tried to control her energies, her head would not stay attached.

“I told you, didn’t I?” Kal’thrall asked in a confused tone. “One must give their name to take the opponent’s head. Though, I suppose simply taking your head won’t kill you. I know!” He clapped his clawed hands together, before Lyra shouted out.

“Everyone, close off your sense of hearing! His power must only work if he tells you his rules!” It would make sense if that were the case, functioning like an incredibly powerful memetic script. Thus, she immediately cut off her sense of hearing, deafening herself to what the ‘void god’ was about to say.

At the same time, dozens of abilities flew past her, whether fire, ice, darkness, or light. After accepting Lyra’s prior order, they knew that they wouldn’t hear the order to attack, and had to end the battle before more rules could be established.

Unfortunately, the abilities of the more than one hundred Fallen Deities were not able to touch this void god. Instead, they curved around him, or disappeared into black portals. Everyone was left dumbfounded, though their eyes widened in abject horror when they saw Lyra’s body dissolving into the void.

Without hesitation, those Fallen Gods dedicated to escape activated their abilities, sealing the void around their opponent and teleporting the surviving members away. Let alone save Lorek and the other worlds, they had not even managed to approach Lorek before being chased back by a lone invader.

“My, that was quite rude indeed of them.” Kal’thrall said to himself, looking at the scattered remains of Lyra. “I did tell her that I make my own rules. Why would I need to have them hear it?”

Though he muttered to himself, it didn’t particularly matter. His faceless head turned in the direction of the largest world within the void. “So, they are hiding there, then? That seems to be a rather tricky place to attack.” He seemed to be formulating a plan when a shrill scream stole his attention. On one of the larger worlds farther away, a blade tore out of the world barrier, slicing apart the six-eyed figure that had been smashing against the shield surrounding the world.

“The Cloner has been defeated already? No, I should say finally, that world is sped up. Hmm…” His body turned, addressing one of the beasts that had simply been floating in the void. “Contradiction! Head to the freed world and resume the attack!”

The void beast, a towering serpent with dozens of arms, shuddered in fear as it was addressed. It immediately turned, rushing over to the large world. Kal’thrall simply nodded his head in satisfaction before turning his gaze back to the world where they had escaped. “I suppose that’s where their scouts earlier ran off to. I’ll need to track their exact coordinates next time…”

Leowynn opened her eyes, her expression one of shock. Her aloof appearance crumbled, looking almost panicked. “What happened?” I asked in alarm, turning to face her. I wasn’t the only one that noticed, either, with Dana and the others turning at the same time.

“Lyra… is dead. The vanguard troops were forced back, before they could even approach Lorek.” She reported, her voice somewhat shaking.

“Did the void beasts gather and fight together?” Dana asked, her eyes wide. However, Leowynn shook her head.

“No, it was only one. According to their reports, the being that they fought declared itself a ‘void god’, a void monster that had consumed the essence of fallen gods and gained the power to create its own rules. It decapitated Lyra in one moment, and destroyed her body in the next, while being immune to the abilities being launched against it.”

“Doesn’t that mean that we can’t fight it in the void?” Lifre asked, gasping. Dana, however, quickly shook her head.

“No, that’s not right. Even if it’s not bound by rules in the same way as other void beasts, there will still be a limit to its power. Its scope of abilities should be similar to that of Leowynn, being able to freely manipulate the void and inject new rules. Otherwise, there’s no way that it could be sent by a Rank Four world, because it would freely be able to create new worlds on its own.”

I nodded my head in agreement. “Unfortunately, having powers similar to Leowynn would still make it nearly unbeatable. Leowynn is incredibly powerful in the void, and she hasn’t even done that many fights personally. No offense, of course.”

“None taken.” Leowynn shook her head, still dazed. “It’s rare for me to need to fight personally. This being, on the other hand, likely has far more experience when it comes to wielding its power.”

“Then I’ll fight him.” Dana said simply, causing the rest of us to look at her in shock. “What? If it comes to fighting a monster like this, nobody is better suited to it than I am. You can consider his fighting style to be an advanced version of the Absurdity of Fate. He focuses on a rule he wants to implement, and causes the void to respond. If that is the case, the only people that can fight him are those that have either mastered controlling the void to the same degree that he has, or those that can master the Absurdity of Fate. Leowynn’s the only one here that can control the void with the same ease as he can, but she doesn’t have the combat awareness needed to fight someone like that.”

“Let me send the scholar with you.” I said, but Dana firmly shook her head.

“He’d only be a liability. If the other party realized that he was a summon, they could use that connection to attack you. Don’t worry, though.” Dana grinned, her shadow spreading out as two identical figures rose from either side of herself. “I won’t be going alone.”

“That’s right, boss! Leave it to us!” Clara declared proudly, flashing a thumbs up at me. Meanwhile, Sienna only nodded her head, clenching her fist.

Dana turned, looking at Lifre. “What’s the status of the Last Gasp?”

Lifre hesitated, before shaking her head. “It takes time for them to open a void gate from Fyor. They haven’t managed to leave yet.”

“Good. Call them off until we’re done with this guy. If they enter the battlefield, we won’t be able to focus on what we need to do.”

Lifre nodded her head briefly, and I watched Dana and her two clones tear open another void gate, walking through with a confident stride.

Kal’thrall was just thinking about how to draw out more natives from the world where they were hiding when he saw a gate open in the distance. From it, three nearly identical figures emerged. One had purely black hair, while the other two had either a silver or golden streak. He could tell at a glance that the three were essentially one entity, but they had to be confident to face him alone.

“My, hello.” He spoke to the trio, teleporting himself over to appear a few feet in front of them. “My name is Kal’thrall. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I don’t suppose you have a moment to chat about the world that you just came from?”

The girl in the center smirked, forming a sword in one hand. “Clara, battle mode. Sienna… let them all out. The shadows march to war.”

Clara grinned, her eyes going black as two whips appeared in her hands. Sienna, meanwhile, offered a small nod. Her eyes went black as well, darkness spreading around her body. Kal’thrall paused, watching them, and even thought of entering the shadow to break their morale.

However, as the shadow grew larger and larger, countless figures began pouring out of it. Soldiers, spirits, dragons, the endless void suddenly felt so very small. “Sorry, Kal.” Dana said as she pointed at him with her sword. “My name is Dana Jafer. I’m not here to fight you, I’m here to destroy you.”