Tok… tok… tok…

The sound of her heels was strange in her ears. An etheric echo that gave a strange solidity to the place. It had never felt this real before. Never this solid. Before, it had been something she barely visualized, and over time she saw herself more as a ghost floating through it. Now she could smell the faint scent of the iron shelves. She could hear the low creak of concrete and steel. She could feel the still air on her skin. She knew what it meant. While Regalia of Sonya Chernovna had taken her name, her other abilities had become more hers as well. 

She traced a finger along one of the shelves and stepped away. 

“Let’s do it right this time. I’ve been awake more than long enough,” she murmured as instinct and wisdom played a dance within her mind. She knew what to do to get it just right. She knew better than ever before. Every step along her path had pushed her meteorically towards a loftier and loftier place. She understood. She grasped it. She comprehended it. It responded, and she felt the pen in her hand even as her fingers remained empty.

“I am Duality.”

Euphoria.

He was right. I am kicking myself. The clarity I had when I was scheming and planning ahead of Australia, that was from impressions. No wonder I’ve felt a little off. This is… amazing.

Impressions flooded into her. Images of her, thoughts of her, hopes, fears, and hatred. All of those perceptions became fuel for the fire in her body. She held her head high as her body changed even in that ethereal space. Porcelain skin imbued with pinprick gems glimmered like little stars. An ebony swirl of obsidian inched its way through her fragile-looking flesh. She exhaled, and the line between light and dark glowed with her signature hot pink. She reached for the instincts again. Those strange, incomprehensible feelings, those distant concepts, and as they fled from her once more, she grasped them and pulled them back.

It was not all; some truths were still hidden, but she knew more.

“Deus ex Machina.”

Fleeting images and distorted permutations became a flood of information. Every token within her vast warehouse was nothing more than a blueprint, a collection of runes patterned together to create something beautiful, greater than the sum of their parts. She felt the karma around her and the presences wrapped in it. She reached for the closest one. The karma was black, but that held no meaning for her in this higher state. Up was down. Hate was love. Kindness was cruelty. Black was white.

It was a rudimentary understanding of duality, but it was certainly a start.

A transparent disk appeared in the palm of her hand; orbiting it were two others. “Steeltoxin Blood. Dark Bowman. Autarch of Shadow.”

Her free hand rose with a lazy gesture, and more disks raced to her side. “Intuitive Kinesthesia, Construction, Bloodhound…” the list went on. Commons, Mundanes, dozens of tokens that on their own were not all that impressive but contained a small piece of a greater puzzle. 

Calculating…

She felt the ability try to take control of the process this time, intuit on its own. She wrested control back from it and let the understanding pour directly into her. She saw the possible combinations, the potential results. She weaved a strand of connection between each of them, touching upon one spot or another where one feature would overlap another, where one rune would play against its neighbor. It was like a beautiful puzzle of glowing words and lines. Soon, a monstrous interconnected shape floated before her, threads connecting disks and forming the bare bones of something new.

Now, you may check my work, she permitted the ability. 

Assessing…

Minor errors detected. Highlighting.

She watched portions glow and saw how they fed back on one another. She still did not fully grasp what each rune meant; each was a greater truth of its own, after all. Yet she could still feel it, see what needed to be done. Changes were made, connections broken and adjusted. She painted an ability into existence, and the glows of errors slowly disappeared. When she was done, she held out her palm. Show me the result.

Calculating…

A single orange disk appeared in her palm, broader and more complicated than those that came before it. Peak Mythic, Named, true unfettered power. 

Result: Myrk of Hel

She opened her eyes and took in the room around her. The lounge that the Inner Circle had been using was cleared of furniture, everything pushed to the side. Around her, several of those she loved the most stood at attention, patiently watching as she floated in the air. None of them looked away, and she smiled as she turned her head towards Beyol, Blackrazor. She extended a hand to him. “Come here.”

He inclined his head and approached. She twisted in the air and danced around him when he stopped in the middle. “This one will be different. I made it myself, with no guides or handrails.”

The young man looked up at her. “All the more reason to be excited, Mistress.”

She tittered out a laugh and tapped his nose. “Good boy.”

She took his hand in hers, and her HUD activated.

Assessing Karmic Debts. Party: Park Beyol’s karmic contribution to Party: Sonya Chernovna is insufficient. Negative Karma detected.

And that’s why I had trouble making deals in the beginning - Negative Karma, she thought, and pushed down her will upon the ability. She had never, ever, tried to bend the rules of Broker before. It seemed infallible. Yet she knew it had a strange sense of poetry and humor in some cases. She also knew that, Black or White, all she needed was Karma from him as long as she was in this state. It was a wisdom born of her transformation and an awareness that had grown ever since she helped Amos. I am Duality. The Black Karma is sufficient for the deal.

Reassessing Karmic Debts. Party: Park Beyol’s karmic contribution to Party: Sonya Chernovna is sufficient. Negative Karma will be paid as well.

Now we reach the point where I don’t know what will happen.

Abilities have been selected. A merger will take place within Party: Park Beyol as a reward for his services. All selected abilities will be combined into a new state. Proceed?

Proceed.

The feedback was sudden and intense. Sonya felt something powerful pass out of her as something dark and oily entered her own being. She felt it inch its way towards her soul, seeking a place to rest and settle. It was an icy feeling, painful and grotesque. She shuddered and clamped down with her will. Black is white. The karma directed towards him is a result of his service to me. I favor him for every act. This karma is mine, and in my eyes it is the purest white. She felt a jolt, another sensation of upheaval within her, and then the sickly feeling passed. She grinned. Eat your heart out, Riot. This is how you manipulate Karma.

Her eyes fluttered open again, and she looked down at Beyol. He was swaying on his feet, his eyes rolled up as shadows popped and flashed around his body. He dropped to his knees and clenched his fists as shadow became solid, black glass ingrained with violet death. He shuddered again, and it turned into a cloud of lethal dust. The chill of absence filled the room before collecting around him and finally settled.

Blackrazor rose, and he looked down at himself. “I feel… right.”

“I thought it fit you well,” Sonya said. “Congratulations, dear.”

He bowed, and she gestured for him to return to where he had been standing in a circle around her with the others. He walked past Kingshark, and the two shared a high-five. She snickered at the brotherly duo and twirled in the air, reclining on a bed of nothing. “Kera, would you like to have a taste?”

The holder of Primal Lightning stood up straight. “You got some electrical powers for me?”

Sonya turned over onto her chest and kicked her legs. “I was also thinking about giving you Storm King and Kong’s power.”

Kera crossed her arms and tilted her head. “No thanks,” she said with a shrug. “I just want lightning. I’ll make my own storms. Not interested in getting punchy either.”

Sonya smirked at her and gestured for her to come over. She reached into her warehouse and grabbed every electrical ability that was available. There was no need to hold back at this point, and she wanted to give her the best she could. Kera held out her hand, and Sonya took it. The process was far easier this time. She didn’t attempt a merger, which seemed to increase the cost of a deal. Instead, she simply poured the tokens into Kera.

Kera staggered as electricity built on her body. Crackles of lightning danced on her skin as she threw her head back and laughed. She stumbled a few more steps as discolored bands of power pulled out of her skin before being drawn back towards her mouth. She gorged herself on the abilities, light pouring from her eyes. When it was done, Kera was glowing like a beacon in the dark room.

“I feel… full,” Kera wheezed and wiped her lips. “So close to something better. I’m missing something, but… it can wait.”

Sonya nodded. “Good. Use it well.” She looked up at Kingshark. “Will you take Storm King?”

The big man grinned. “If she don’t want it, I’ll take it happily, boss.”

Another merger, another one of her Inner Circle enhanced and ready for the fight that would come some day in the future. Their ability sets were rounding out. Blackrazor’s seemed complete at this point, as did Kingshark’s. She turned to Colin, and the delicate figure shrugged. “I’m set, boss. I have enough self-awareness to know that Archfiend will carry me through that threshold. Obviously, Amos is good too. He should be back soon, right?”

Sonya nodded. “Yes. Time is about up.” She looked over at Ozzie, and the undead man just snickered and waved a dismissive hand. 

He gestured at himself. “How do you improve on perfection? If I need an ability to smite with, I’ll go find my own. Freebies aren’t really my thing.”

She opened her mouth to point out that it wasn’t exactly a freebie, but she knew he was just saying that to be funny. She snorted and finally looked at Marta, but she knew better than to ask. Marta wanted to test herself first, push her abilities to their limit before she accepted a merger. Sonya nodded at her dear friend and then turned to the guests among those gathered. Two individuals who were not quite members of the Inner Circle but were worthy of at least accepting her gift. The first was the woman in robes on her knees, hands clasped in prayer.

“I am not a god, Setsuna, as much as I look like one,” Sonya said with a smug grin. “Now, what do you say to something other than an ability that only works every now and then? A combat power? Something dramatic?”

Colin and Barry snorted out laughs, while the woman’s eyes shone with wonder. She smiled and shook her head. “A fighter, I am not. Flashy? No. Help you. Please, may I?”

Sonya tapped her chin. She tilted her head to the left before diving back into her warehouse. She alighted on the floor and reached out, letting her vision crest across the place. Only one ability came to her hand that fit perfectly. It was strange. Not even a high-tier ability. Her lips thinned when she looked at it.

“...Place of Learning. My father’s ability.”

It was not an ability that would be of any use to her on her path. There was a small part of her that did not want to part with it, though. She knew, though, that it was not something she could just keep to herself like a trophy. He would want it to be used, and it was better served in the hands of someone with Setsuna’s wisdom. Even so, she still could not bring herself to hand it off permanently.

She lowered herself near the seer and placed a hand over her heart. Investment.

As Setsuna gasped and reacted to the influx of new instincts, Sonya turned to the last person present. “You’ve been patient.”

“It has been quite a thing to watch,” he said, leaning on a cane. He still appeared youthful, but using his powers to restore damage done by First Wind had taken its toll once again. “You’re willing to give me a new ability?”

She nodded. “I have sampled from many heroes, Blight. I cannot guarantee that any of them will help you win, but I am sure you can get a hit in.”

He grinned. “As long as I can deck that bastard once before he’s ruined, I’m fine.”

She reached into her warehouse and went for something easy to work with. Of all the Heroic-tier abilities out there, Heroic Strength, Heroic Speed, and their variants were remarkably common. Though, she had shaken hands with a few thousand licensed heroes since she started all this chaos. She snickered. Imagine the look on First Wind's face when Blight the paragon decks him into the next country. She pulled out of the warehouse and began the investment.

Blight just collapsed. He was experiencing a sensory overload that would take a few hours to bounce back from, but she was confident he would be okay.

She turned to the others. “These are my gifts to you, for everything you’ve done for me. We have a long way to go, but now we are equipped for the future,” she said and closed her eyes. “One last thing to do.”

“I was waiting for this,” Barry said. “I missed the last one.”

She chuckled. “Shut up, I’m concentrating.”

“I think she’s gonna pop in that Dragoon girl’s power,” Colin said noisily.

“You two are being asshats,” Sonya complained.

“I think she should pick up Kong’s power,” Marta said. “That way she can catch up with her beloved ‘Chu Chu’ in cultivation.”

Sonya opened her eyes. “Really?”

Marta looked away innocently, and Sonya closed her eyes again.

“Is she starting?” Beyol chimed in.

Sonya opened her eyes and looked up to the ceiling, praying for patience. “I am a floating, glowing woman made of porcelain in my super form, and my henchmen still continue to mouth off. What did I do wrong?”

“Picked a bunch of nutjobs as henchmen,” Kera said helpfully.

Sonya whipped her hand out and created two portals. One above Kera and one beneath her. Kera gasped and fell for a few seconds before starting to laugh. Sonya rolled her eyes and cut the bottom portal off. Kera just landed on her hand and did a backflip, landing and dipping into a bow. The others clapped. Sonya dove into her warehouse to get away from the bullies she called her Inner Circle.

“Ishtar?”

Her words echoed in the space before her dear sister stepped out of her mind and into being. She raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Thoughts?”

“I think we both know what we should pick. The others weren’t wrong, and…” She held out her hand, and an orange disk drifted into her palm. “The Grimoire won’t react to anything, so it’s of no use right now.”

“I wonder what the result will be,” Sonya said thoughtfully as three disks floated to her. She gently drew lines between the three of them and saw plenty of open spaces and ‘errors’ where she would need to put lesser abilities to bridge the gap. “Seven Lifetimes of Wukong. Raiment of Athena…” She hesitated over the one in the middle. “The Pale.”

“Only one way to find out, little sister,” Ishtar said. “Shall we begin?”

Sonya grinned as her will spread through the warehouse. A wave of disks poured towards her. She opened her arms wide, and connections began to form. A new ability was taking shape. This one would be something more than a mere simulation of one of the Great Ones. This was an ability created for herself. This was an ability born of Wukong’s ferocity and Athena’s wisdom, bound together by the eerily named The Pale, a gift from her mother. She set her jaw. She would make another to bear her name, another symbol of her growing might.

“Merger.”