Zero and Eliza slammed into the plaza with the force of falling stars. The impact carved a crater straight through marble and bone; dust and ruined banners rained over the crowd. For a breathless second the whole world stilled — then a thousand voices rose with the same question. Was this the Invalian Mutilator? The Killer who terrorised the trials for decades?
Amarze was the first to laugh. He stood beside Miles, an impossible figure of white and rot. "Hard to kill," he said, amusement cold as ice. Miles' face tightened — equal parts disgust and nausea that made his throat clench.
Zero shoved Eliza off and stood. Their gaze swept across the ocean of faces — murmurs rippling: Executioner… the Imp… is it real? In the cage Medea had abandoned, saints and prisoners blinked awake from their stupor and peered out with bloody curiosity.
"Oh my!" Medea darted to Zero, eyes alight. "You seriously lived through the labyrinth?" His tone was baffled but delighted. "This will be so much fun!" He sprinted into the cathedral while the others lingered at its gates.
Jeremiah chuckled inside the cage, waving lollipops like confetti. Zero's eyes snagged on him, and a brief, ugly smile cracked their mouth.
"What's with the kid being here?" Zero hissed. "Children shouldn't be dragged into such evils."
"I'm perfectly happy!" Jeremiah laughed. "I just can't believe this is how we all meet." He tucked a lollipop into the cage's bars — it popped softly. The lock fizzed. The prisoners tumbled out like spilled coins: Saraline, Psylaiso, Gabriel's shadowy head whispering curses, and others groggy but alive.
Saraline and Psylaiso sprinted forward, each pinning Zero at point blank while Gabriel raised his hands into a curling sign.
"Relax," Miles said, clinging to Amarze's sleeve like a man struggling to keep upright. "He's in the reprisal. So are we." His voice tried to sound casual, but it broke.
Gabriel spat, furious. "We did this before. It was hell. We're not repeating it — no offense, demon boy."
"I'm not a demon," the Imp snarled.
"But a second reprisal? Always sounded insane," Saraline muttered, still holding Zero tight. "We're alive, right?"
"Let's speak to Thidos," Psylaiso said coldly.
"Sure," Amarze agreed, light unraveling into a corridor that led into the cathedral's throne room.
They stepped through. A laughter rolled out from above — low, cavernous, the sound of a god amused by prey.
"What's so funny?" Gabriel asked, looking up at the silhouette of Thidos.
"So many of you should be dead already," Thidos said, his voice echoing down the hall. "It's as if I'm haunted by ghosts."
He descended from his throne. The flawless white of his form melted like a mask. Beneath it, a darker face seethed into shape: Xeras. The crowd's breath hitched. The cathedral itself seemed to bow.
Jeremiah whispered in awe, "A god… a perfectly beautiful being."
Xeras' eyes locked onto Zero. "You've been annoying," he said with ledger-flat calm. "And you hurt me once."
Zero barked a laugh. "I don't regret killing Elliot." He raised a hand — and from another fold of reality, Diane collapsed onto the floor. She whimpered, auburn hair spilling loose, eyes hazel and terrified. She looked up at Xeras and smiled weakly. "Oh… it's you."
Xeras twitched. His skin flushed, fists curling into tentacles as his teeth stretched into a shark's grin. The hall seemed to breathe with him, writhing with grief and fury.
Zero tore free from his captors. He grabbed Diane by the hair, lifting her face for all to see.
"Get off her," Xeras warned, voice trembling. "Or die."
"No." Zero's fist punched through Diane's skull. Bone shattered; blood sprayed warm across their hand. The smell of iron flooded the room.
Miles, Amarze, Psylaiso, Jeremiah, Saraline, Gabriel, even Eliza — all froze in horror. Then Eliza teleported them away before the carnage consumed them.
The cathedral convulsed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Zero's laughter echoed as the walls sprouted tentacles, the floor split into magma, and the ceiling collapsed. The Imp dodged between falling stone and grasping limbs.
Xeras flared, unleashing a rain of spears made of light and shadow. "Die!" he screamed, fury raw enough to shatter marble. The blows ripped through Zero — yet they regenerated, laughing all the while.
"I SAID FUCKING DIE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Thidos screamed, creating galaxies and hurling their collapse at the Imp. Zero healed even as their body was erased down to information.
Thidos coiled the moon in one hand and slammed it into the earth, driving Zero into the planet's core. The crowd wailed.
Zero burst free, laughing, monstrous in size. They ripped up spectators, used bodies as shields, and hurled planets like toys. "I'm sorry you feel that way!" the Imp bellowed, twisting their carnage into mockery.
"STOP MAKING ME KILL MY MEN!" Thidos howled, grief and rage twisted into a shark's grin. He unleashed poisonous eagles that dove like spears. Zero caught one by the beak and battered the rest into him. Meteors rained back and forth, devastation layered over devastation.
Finally, Thidos' light erupted so bright it eviscerated most of the crowd, leaving only a few. His face cracked with horror. "My people…" He staggered, skin shifting back to Xeras. He fell to his knees in the ruin. "The reprisal…"
"No more Timpelsons!" Zero roared, advancing with a spear in hand. "I killed your other children. I hate you — and I'll make you suffer like me!"
Xeras rose slowly, eyes raw. "Enough. You'll die in this reprisal. And if not, I'll kill you myself. Watching you break is justice." A tear slid down his cheek. Then he vanished.
Silence. Eliza snapped the scattered survivors back into line.
Saraline stared at Zero, trembling. "So this… is the strength of an Imp."
Gabriel's mask cracked, a single green eye quivering in the fissure.
Zero turned, gave a mocking bow, and waved with a bloody grin.
Amarze's voice cut through. "The reprisal starts now." He gestured toward the cathedral's yawning gates. "Enter."
The crowd parted. The doors groaned open. Beyond them, the world braced for blood...