Arachnalich cried and soared through the air. One of the mutants had broken through the line and exploded close enough for the shockwaves to impact her.

Her arms and legs started to flake as the magic holding her body together reached its limit, disrupted by both the explosion and the electromagnetic effects of a nuclear blast.

She grit her teeth and focused as much magic power as she could on herself, her built-in computer running as fast as it could to calculate how to repair the damage. Pulling that power caused her undead minions to crumble away as she withdrew the power maintaining them, but right now she didn’t have anything to spare.

Her phylactery and all her spare bodies were still within the timeline, so she couldn’t use them to regenerate in this space. As far as this battle was concerned, she could die like anyone else.

 

And their side didn’t have many lives left to give.

 

The Temporal Arbiter had identified which parts of the new timeline belonged to the individuals that had sided with them, and had withdrawn his support from those parts specifically. Their allies were still regenerating faster than them, but now far slower than their opponents. And so their side suffered heavier and heavier attrition.

 

The AVS was all but gone now, the monsters and villains still waiting to return from their latest deaths.

 

And the Atomic Cult was as strong as ever.

 

Her own undead had crumbled away. There were still a few NSLICE units standing in front of her but the cyborgs had problems of their own now.

 

For the Vophae had won their fight.

 

With Xiong Huang missing in action, the auxiliaries eventually lost hope. The dream they saw did not come to pass. And without her assistance, they could not resist their masters alone. One by one, they yielded.

 

Freeing up the Vophae to join the wider fight.

 

The joint Vophae fleet bombarded the machine swarm. NSLICE Defender had created a massive shield protecting all of Serenia, but one superpowered city could not contend with a fleet meant to conquer entire sectors. Her shield was already flickering and fading in places under the ferocious orbital bombardment. The NSLICE units surrounded Serenia, guns and superpowers blazing as they tried to hold the line. But the Vophae had regained dominion over their auxiliaries, who now rushed the machine army in endless waves. War walkers climbed over the buildings, beams of light incinerating the warbots, insectoid swarms tore the lines apart, plasma bolts from armored infantry blasted flying warbots out of the sky. Admiral Siendir’s Vophae disciples cut through the autonomous units by the hundreds as the NS elites tried desperately to contain them. And so one by one the cyborgs fell. They had been overrun.

Finally, the Vophae bombardment pierced through the shield, a massive bolt of plasma crashing into the central spire of the city and exploding. The shield died down as NSLICE Defender faded away.

 

Archnalich grimaced. Looks like this was the end for her.

 

The ILS wasn’t doing much better. They were down to a handful of heroes. Director Green stood, firing her grav-cannon as soon as it charged. Linda stood beside her, doing her best to guard the Director’s flank. Captain Hot Devil and Icy Falcon had their hands up, cones of flame and ice bursting out but growing ever smaller. Major General Tina had run out of bullets, Tesla Titan’s suit was broken and the man had abandoned it, punching his foes with lightning-covered fists. Master Elegant Kantana swung a broken blade, half his sword missing. The Gentle Gloom carried an injured Dragontooth on his shoulder, using his free hand to fire a beam.

 

Aurora Legion, Nemesis, and the Nova Guardians panted and fell to their knees as Captain Sildeth smiled before them. The alternate Arvid, Saydaa, and Roxanne stood before them, determined to protect their originals if only for a moment longer.

 

And then all the members of the original timeline started to cry out. The river of light representing their timeline began to wobble and distort. Its defenders began to flicker in and out of existence.

 

The damage to their timeline had reached a critical level. One final push and it would break down entirely.

 

The Temporal Arbiter lifted his staff, its head shining bright.

 

“Finally, time shall be restored to its rightful flow.”

 

He fired a huge ball of yellow light at the timeline…

 

Just then white cracks of light rippled across space. Three figures shot from a white vortex.

 

Xiong Huang flew forward and punched the incoming mass of power with an uppercut. It deflected up high and impacted Admiral Siendir’s flagship, exploding and wiping out much of the surrounding Vophae fleet.

 

“Guess who’s back, you idiots?!”

 

But the Temporal Arbiter wasn’t listening to her. Rather, his gaze was on another figure, as his eyes went wide and he started to tremble.

 

“No, that can’t be…that’s impossible!”

 

Arachnalich and Londyn smiled. Saydaa and Arvid let out a cheer while tears welled up in Kiyosuke and Nana’s eyes. Aurora Legion glanced at the man, then at Nemesis, then turned to one another with wry smiles.

 

The Faceless Minion had returned.

 

“You…how did you escape from the Temporal Nexus?! Even if you somehow reclaimed your original memories, it should be impossible to navigate through the infinite possible timelines being created there!”

 

Bob just smirked at him.

 

“That's what family's for. Finding your way home.”

 

The Temporal Arbiter’s face twisted in a snarl. He thrust his staff forward, firing all his power to banish Bob once again…or worse.

Bob lifted his hand, his eyes glowing golden. A shield of golden light formed in front of him and took the blow head on. The Temporal Arbiter’s eyes widened once more.

 

“That’s impossible…those timelines shouldn’t actually exist yet…”

 

Bob smirked again.

 

“As you said, infinite possible timelines. And that lazy goddess technically built an entire world on her own. Turning possibility into reality is kind of her specialty.”

 

The Temporal Arbiter grit his teeth and ceased the stream of power. He began to withdraw his extra support from the new timeline, reclaiming as much of his power as he could without destabilizing it. As he did he shouted at all of the timeline’s defenders.

 

“Everyone, kill that man! He must not be allowed to touch his timeline! The fate of your reality depends on it!”

 

The remaining Vophae ships began turning towards Bob. The Atomic Cult and the Vophae auxiliaries abandoned their encirclement and began to rush towards Bob. Captain Sildeth flew towards him at maximum speed.

 

Bob smiled and raised a hand.

 

“Well that seems annoying. I think this situation calls for…a hero.”

 

With that, a massive magic circle formed out of golden light on the ground in front of Bob.

 

A flash of light stunned everyone present as the ritual activated.

 

Four figures stood in front of Bob. Their eyes widened and they turned every which way. The figure in front turned around. The moment she saw Bob, her shoulders relaxed and a big smile formed on her face. She knelt on the ground on one knee.

 

“My hero! Your servant, this Princess Aurélie Laffitte de Atrein awaits your command!”

 

The others turned around, their eyes widening. Adoel trembled slightly.

 

“Bob?! What’s going on?! Why are you here?! I thought you were leaving!”

 

“I did. I called you to my world. I need you to go fight an army and a time god, thanks.”

 

She and Londibni both clutched their heads at that.

 

““WHYYYYYYYY?!!!””

 

The Ancient Dragon crossed her arms and tilted her head.

 

“I don’t know, Bob. I’m supposed to be the ultimate arbiter of my world, or something like that. Going to other worlds and messing with their affairs is kind of extremely problematic…”

 

“There’s more ice cream in my world, more flavors than you could ever imagine.”

 

“I’LL DO IT!”

 

The four turned to the incoming army. Hero Princess Aurélie drew her blade and grinned.

 

“For the hero!”

 

And she leapt towards the enemy.

 

Captain Sildeth rushed to intercept her but the Ancient Dragon appeared before him, slamming an uppercut into his jaw and sending him flying upwards. The Ancient Dragon looked up, nodding as she saw the Vophae recover and his fleet moved to support him.

She began to glow, her body melting into light that grew and expanded, reclaiming her full dragon form.

 

“I will handle the ones above! You take care of those on the ground!”

 

She swung her wings, sending forth a gust of wind that flattened the oncoming army as she shot into the void above. She opened her mouth and unleashed her breath, a mighty beam of light that erased Captain Sildeth’s current body and swept across the Vophae fleet.

 

The Atomic Cult and the Vophae auxiliaries were still recovering when the Hero Princess fell upon them. She rushed through the army, a pink flash of death and destruction. Faithkeeper shone bright with the holy light of Ione’s power.

 

“Holy Strike, Master Power Slash!”

 

Princess Aurélie swung her blade down. Under normal circumstances, this would empower her blade with holy mana, allowing it to strike down any foe before her.

 

But these were not normal circumstances.

 

Bob was not a god. He could not create a new body or a new soul. And Eirorun was just one possible world, waiting to be born. It did not exist as of this moment, so he could not truly pull a person from it.

 

So who were these people then?

 

They were something like a spirit, a mirror image formed using his memories as a core. A construct, formed directly from Ione’s power to grant it substance and far, far greater power than they possessed in the potential world.

 

In other words…

 

Right now Princess Aurélie’s body was formed directly out of Ione’s power, her strength boosted to previously unimaginable levels.

 

So when she tried to channel that power…

 

Her blade shone like the midday sun, a blazing star in her hands. As she swung it forward, a massive blast of golden light struck the grown and surged forward, devastating everything in its path. Radioactive mutant, advanced alien shields, armored chitin, shields of atomic energy, it mattered not. Each stroke of her blade felled her foes by the dozens, maybe even the hundreds.

 

Adoel thrust her hands forward even as she grit her teeth and cried.

 

“Why why why, you stupid, evil hero!”

 

Hundreds of golden magic circles formed in the air in front of her. Beams of golden light fired from all of them at once, vaporizing Vophae war-machines and Atomic Cult supers alike. Golden light then wrapped around Princess Aurélie, buffing her already incredible power to truly ludicrous levels as she rampaged across the battlefield.

 

Londibni had tears of stress and fear flowing down her face as she picked up her bow, drawing an arrow.

She released it.

A huge golden line cut across the field as the arrow pierced through the entire army.

Londibni simply stared at the bow in her hand, blinking repeatedly.

 

Londyn and Arachnalich looked at one another.

 

They nodded.

 

“Bob?”

 

“Bob.”

 

Londyn waved her hand to rally the remaining heroes.

 

“Let’s go, people! This fight isn't over yet!”

 

The heroes of the ILS let out a cry and charged back into the fray.

 

The Temporal Arbiter flashed into the air above the battlefield. He pointed his staff at Princess Aurélie.

 

“You…you are an aberration. A temporal fluke! You should not exist! Begone!”

 

A beam of light surged forward, striking the Hero Princess to banish her.

 

Nothing happened.

 

The Temporal Arbiter blinked and thrust his staff again.

 

“I said…Begone!”

 

It struck her once more.

 

Nothing happened again.

 

He frowned.

 

This time he really put his back into it.

 

Still she rampaged across the field, ignoring him.

 

“What is this?! Why doesn’t it work?!”

 

The Temporal Arbiter was right, in a way. Princess Aurélie was a temporal fluke that shouldn’t exist, a visitor from a world not yet formed, an inhabitant of a timeline not yet begun.

 

Which meant the Temporal Arbiter could not use his powers over time to banish her from it.

 

Because she didn’t exist within that time to begin with. At least not the time the Temporal Arbiter could see and control.

And her body was currently formed from the power of a being on the same level as him, if not greater, so he could not simply banish that either. The only way for him to destroy her was to overpower her directly.

She looked up at him and grinned as she narrowed her eyes.

 

“Oh, I get it! You’re the Dark Lord of this world, aren’t you?”

 

“No, I am the Arbiter of Time, the one who…wait a minute!”

 

She leapt up at him, swinging her blade. He hastily swung his staff to block the sword coming for his head, grunting as blade and staff collided with a clang.

A wave of light surged around her as he tried to freeze her in time, but she shrugged it off with a golden flash of her own. A magic circle appeared under her feet from Adoel, allowing her to find her footing in the air.

 

“Holy Strike, Master Flurry!”

 

The Temporal Arbiter swung his arms back and forth, eyes widening as a dozen strikes hit him all at once, each one sending blasts of golden light surging forward as they collided with his staff.

He blinked back, taking distance. A ball of light appeared in his free hand as he gathered his power.

 

And then a golden light struck the ball. He gasped and leapt back.

 

Londibni and Adoel laid down covering fire upon him, preventing him from launching a counterattack as Princess Aurélie launched herself at him once more.

 

And so the heroes summoned from another world battled the Temporal Arbiter for the fate of their hero’s reality…