LIMINALITY by Moony1 | World Anvil Manuscripts | World Anvil

Chapter 67

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In the now vast, tangible ocean of this new place, Janus stood face to face with the monstrous abomination as he held his spear firmly while his friends bravely looked at the towering titan, enormous in size but not invincible as long as they got their backs to one another.

Schrodinger, on the other hand, would be willing to join the fight if it weren't for his lack of offensive abilities. Because of his inability, Schrodinger felt useless throughout the whole event, despite being ready to vanish out of existence when the battle started.

The gust was unforgiving, the waters were deep, the weather was brutal, and the tension was palpable. Janus looked up at the creature looming over them, knowing how inconceivable defeating him would be as the god clutched his spear tightly once again.

A large yellow moon hovered behind the monster, illuminating everything in their new surroundings. The water was calm, yet the waves seemed violent and turbulent, crashing against each other like two forces pushing and pulling. Janus steeled himself as he stood his ground against the creature.

Janus widened his eyes when he felt her hand comforting him in this tense situation they are currently in. "You're not alone," she spoke with her voice audible. "We're here, not going anywhere." Saomi tightened her hold, reassuring her intent.

If he had lips, Janus would be smiling at this point, "heh," chortling at himself and the absurdity happening to him, "thank you," closing his eyelids, and appreciating the company he was in, finding this wholesome even though this is serious.

Janus then opened his eyelids back and looked at the beast ahead. "So," adjusting his grip, his expression hardened. Saomi and the cat nodded, prepared for what was about to come. "Were you going to just stand here all day or what?" He questioned Cthulhu without breaking his glare.

Cthulhu remained silent towards the statement Janus made, standing as his tentacles wavered and swayed calmly and smoothly like a gentle breeze. The monster gave the impression that he was observing his opponents, studying him, and considering his options.

They did not waver, did not flinch, or show any sign of fear or weakness. The wind blew again as the silence between each other grew longer. No one made a sound except for the occasional ripple in the water. Janus kept his gaze steady, never breaking eye contact with his opponent.

Then finally, the eldritch deity broke the silence: "I'm sorry for what I am about to do," a hint of sorrow can be heard from his voice as well as sarcasm behind his words, unable to contain his pity for their inevitable demise from happening, "it pains me greatly," a vague response of whether or not he was mocking them.

Saomi scoffed; her hand let go and she formed a fist. "Sorry for slaughtering my people and father?" She angrily stated while her glare intensified, remembering the tragedy that happened almost as if it were moments ago, although surprised to see empathy from a monstrous entity. "Your genuinely sorry?" A look of disbelief now replaced her expressions, unsure how to properly respond.

It laughed with both amusement and sadness before summoning blue lightnings around the environment with no mercy or sign of stopping anytime soon. Causing everyone besides Cthulhu to separate themselves from each other and dodge the incoming attacks left and right.

Janus jumped, flipped, and rolled constantly, trying his best to avoid getting struck by electricity moving throughout the waters as his human companion sprinted in secluded, small, and difficult spots from the water that weren't previously affected by lightning or had magically dissipated the moment it hit the surface.

As Schrodinger teleported to some unknown dimension or place of time, the two were forced to evade the constant and near-impossible patterns of these lighting strikes happening across the ocean, forcing Janus and Saomi to split themselves apart as a result of their adversary relentlessly striking the area wherever he pleases without thought or concern.

Gritting her teeth, she knew that she couldn't keep continuing this for long as the attacks of this monster were becoming more rapid and strategically placed to the point that it was becoming more difficult to maneuver around in safety as time went on. Looking left and right, the girl frantically searched for her comrade, hoping that Janus was fairing better than her.

To her relief, Janus flied like a speeding bullet, raising his spear upwards to the monster only to be countered by the impending tentacles upon him. "Oh—" A very close call Janus would experience barely dodged the appendages coming his way.

He knows the overwhelming forces of Cthulhu's relentless attacks are going to become mentally tiresome, and some of his powers are still momentarily gone for the time being. At least he got most of it after managing to remove the thing's full control of existence.

Suddenly, a thin worm-like appendage then dimpled behind his back neck, catching him in surprise from having not anticipated a sneak attack coming. "Augh," Janus managed to yell in shock and discomfort whilst feeling his vision quickly blurred.

"Grkk!"

Reacting from the surprise attack, the grip of his spear slowly began to loosen when he felt most of his powers and essence in what made him to be becoming weaker by the minute; if this keeps up, he will become nothing more than empty as he continues to gurgle painfully from losing the vitality needed to stay conscious.

Janus tried his best to struggle; the grip of his spear slowly began to loosen when he felt most of his powers and essence in what made him who he was were conceptually disappearing like dust blowing in the wind. Janus tried his best to struggle, but the grip of his spear slowly began to

Cthulhu painfully let out a screech after Janus's savior came to the rescue, her blade cutting the near invisible appendage behind him as she quickly proceeded to assist her friend. Quickly grabbing the collar of his robe, they then leap far away from the eldritch deity's sights, landing themselves safely towards an isolated piece of rock.

"Janus! Are you alright?!" She worriedly asked, holding the weakened deity closer. Janus coughed and gasped for air, clutching his spear tightly from experiencing his abilities diminishing. "I can't—" He couldn't finish his sentence, "Their gone..." Eyes widen in horror at this realization.

"What's gone?!"

There was no time for conversation when the sudden presence of its tentacles immediately headed in their direction, forcing herself and him to accelerate time in evading the appendages while lighting strikes continued to randomly strike throughout the waters below, forcing her to hold him while dodging everything that came their way.

"My powers," he exclaimed with clear fatigue, "it drained them." Frankly speaking, there are still a few remaining, but having most of them gone and extremely weak in this weak is problematic. "I don't think I can keep going," an honest statement Janus made.

Saomi bit her lips, knowing damn well that it was far from the truth: "Are not all of them correct?" She asked before evading another attack, "We can still fight!" Her courage was promising but not realistic for the outcome ahead.

Janus shook his head, gripping his spear even further. "Even then," doubt was clearly present. "I am too weak in this state to properly walk, let alone run," he sighed, having to watch his godlike abilities fade away before his own eyes. "We cannot win this, Saomi." The hopeless words Janus spoke were enough to realize their fates.

Ignoring the deity's words, she proceeded to jump high above, evading the incoming appendages before landing herself towards the waters. "We will defeat him and restore the Dreamlands back to their rightful state," her optimistic view of their fate is certainly admirable, as Janus admitted, albeit her bravery and efforts would prove fruitless against the mightiest of them.

"I can use all my strength to summon a portal for you and Schrodinger to safely escape on different planes of existence," he said weakly as Saomi continued to dodge Cthulhu's seemingly persistent attacks from both his lightnings and tentacles. "It's the only way for you to survive."

"No."

She harshly said, serious and cold, "We're defeating him together, period," refusing to accept escape from this doomed world, "everyone will be saved as long as one of us keeps on moving." Her determination would have Janus sigh with a small smirk.

"Stubborn as usual," admiring the heroine's bravery, knowing the answer beforehand yet the foolish human had proven his own predictions to be false, "I have a plan," he said while his savior proceeded to dodge a nearby lightning strike and tentacle altogether, "were going to pierce my spear on where the thing's heart is."

"Heart?" Saomi was bewildered by this: "Do you think it has a heart?"

Sighing tiredly, he exclaimed in what he meant by heart, "Metaphorically speaking, every man, woman, or god has unexplainable reason and event to be prosperously exist in narrative that entails the foundation of information that makes up everything in who or what they are," Janus explained, having Saomi confused by the words coming out of his mouth. Sensing her confusion, he continues to explain what is meant metaphorically: "For the Cthulhu case, he is bound to story just like anyone else, and that means my spear can search through the heart of it that created him."

"Ah," catching on to what Janus was trying to explain, Saomi then asked, "then, stabbing Cthulhu's 'heart' would stop him from existing?" Processing the complex explanation, she would finally understand somewhat: "I hope you're right, Janus, because we were running low here."

Laughing incredulously, he shook his head and asked, "Does it exist? Once my spear touched that heart, paradox will ensure to rewrite the events in correlation with the titan's death," Janus explained, having Saomi almost get struck by the nearest tentacles. "Every cause and event he inflicted will vanish and no longer exist, but I'm not sure what will happen to me and you as well as the friends and people we interacted with," he sadly spoke, wondering the effects overall.

Saomi's confidence remains sturdy, "then we'll deal with that afterwards," dodging another nearby appendage and lighting strike, "there is nothing to—"

".......!!!!"

Fear, anguish, despair, sadness—all of these emotions Janus experienced and witnessed his dear friend being suddenly wrapped around the woman's forehead with its now-thin wire appendages before slicing and splitting the top of her head apart. Blood was pouring like a mountain in her last moments, the eyes rolling upwards and the mouth gasping silently. J

The two begin to fall down together, splashing into the water as her corpse landed on top of him. "Saomi." A stream of tears flowed; his trembling eyes refused to believe. "Saomi." Janus tried shaking her body, hoping this was some sort of trick or illusion.

"SAOMI!!"

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