FORCED INTERVENTION.

When Ryla was informed that Rias had ravaged the planet that had made an attempt on her mother's life by turning their own weather against them, she didn't even doubt its credibility.

"How in the hell did you manage to pull that off?" she had asked once Rias returned

"Trade secret." Rias winked,

"Your epic is right; you really are the king of chaos." Ryla then joked

Immediately, the smile on Rias' face died as the jovial atmosphere evaporated. How did she know about her epic?

Rias grabbed Ryla and shoved her against the window,

"Not a fan of the being on this end of the rough stuff," Ryla smirked, "but I'm open to a compromise."

"How do you know about my epic?" Rias demanded, her eyes glowing red, "What aren't you telling me."

"Well, for starters, there's a lot I'm not telling you." Ryla said shoving Rias off her with surprising ease. Rias was taken aback by this because Ryla didn't seem the type to be physically strong.

"Don't be so shocked," Ryla said, "I'm a Regis too, I also have my own specialities."

She walked over to her desk and leans against it, "You are a warrior caste, right? I'm a different caste; controller."

"What does that have to do with you knowing about my epic?"

"It's not just your epic I know of," Ryla said as her own eyes glowed, "my divine sanction [Eyes of the Beholder] allow me to see the truth behind everything; their history, their secrets, their weaknesses."

"So I take it you probably know about me, too?" Rias asked

"That you're not really Nya, just something that's using her body? Yes, I knew." Ryla shrugged,

"Can you see Nya too?" Rias asked, off to the side of the room, Nya was sitting there, silently

"No, maybe that's all in your head." Ryla suggested

"So what do you know about the epics?" Rias asked, "With my divination ability, I'm only able to identify the epics of people around me, but no specifics."

"Epics are the life stories of certain individuals, people who would be involved in events that that would have far-reaching ramifications for Hyperion as a whole." Ryla explained

"How do you know all this?"

"I've had a lot of time on my hands," Ryla said, "Most epic holders never even unlock their epics, as each epic requires the right set of circumstances to unfold."

"Do you have an epic?"

"No, I'm too boring to be one of you 'chosen people'." Ryla chuckled, "I'm happy with my plain old destiny; The One Loved by Fate."

"The opposite of my destiny; She Who Fucks with Fate." Rias said, "My destiny has negated the epics of several people around me."

"Destinies are different from epics; they are a reflection of their holder's existence." Ryla explained, "With my destiny, I have come into contact with several epic holders. One of my maids had an epic that would have made her a powerful crime lord in Hyperion one day, and this morning she was eating me out under the conference table while I was having a meeting with the board of directors. Your destiny is similar to mine in the sense that the two of us are hardwired to attract epic holders to our side and alter their stories."

"This is all very interesting and all, but who assigns these stories?"

Ryla just shrugged, "Never really thought about it. I believe it's the work of some great universal consciousness, the will of Hyperion itself, but that is one of many theories."

"Wow, we suddenly got metaphysical in here," Rias smirked,

"Yeah, the existence of gods and originals is beyond me, so I try not to think about it." Ryla dismissed the notion,

At that moment Lisa walked into the office, "Madam, the flight plan to your next meeting has been prepared, and the board has requested an update on the Apex Index. Should I edit this one's entry as well?" she said looking at Rias

"What are you talking about?" Rias asked

"Providence has a list of powerful people we have under surveillance we refer to as Apex." Ryla said, not seeing the need to keep it secret, "You're on it."

"I suppose I should be honored, but probably every single noble and epic holder you know of must be on your list,"

"Not at all. You see, unlike nobles and epic holders, Apex are very few in number, only about a hundred or so at the most; they are without a doubt the singular most dangerous individuals in Hyperion."

"Go on," Rias said, intrigued

"Each one is a unique existence in their own right, having amassed staggering levels of personal power, and I'm not talking about armies and ships, I'm talking about people who have power within themselves comparable to armies and ships. True powerhouses."

"There are others out there?" Rias wondered

"Of course, you didn't think you were the only one who could level cities with a sneeze did you?"

"I've never destroyed any cities with a sneeze," Rias comments, "not yet at least."

"Providence has all of them under surveillance for one another, at this point in time, that is all we can do to secure them. They're all threat rank SS beings an above."

"And I'm on the list? Aw, you shouldn't have." Rias blushed

"Well, you did fuck up a whole planet by yourself," Lisa said, "we need to monitor you and your ilk in case one of you decides to sow chaos all over the galaxy."

"Well it's not currently on my to-do list, but one can always find time for a little anarchy," Rias beamed, "So, who else is on this list?"

"Well, there's you, the Supreme Pontiff of the elves,"

"That bitch, Titania? She's a special rank threat?"

"Oh yeah, terrifyingly so," Ryla said, "but she hasn't made a major move in centuries, so she's gone down on the list. There's also some vampire blood lords, and a lykan known as the wolf king, and a couple of others too, last time I checked."

"And since you mentioned me first, I guess that means I'm the most dangerous, right?"

"Nope, you're definitely in the top fifteen, but you're not number one." Ryla says

"What? so who's the biggest and baddest then?" Rias demanded, she was practically offended that she was not the one Providence considered the most dangerous person in all of Hyperion.

"Maybe some other time," Ryla smirked, enjoying having something over Rias, "I have a truce to accept on the planet you razed so efficiently and I will be gone for the rest of the week."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Eat my food, sleep in my bed, fuck my maids, I don't care," Ryla shrugged, "I'd recommend you visit Apalapachere, the best resort planet anywhere."

"Well, I guess I could take some me time," Rias said. As she lounged on the couch

"I'll have Lisa book you a reservation, you are going to have the time of your life. I guarantee it" Ryla said, "Well, see you."

As Ryla and Lisa walked onto the elevator that would take them to Ryla's personal command ship, she turned to Lisa,

"This has been really fun," she sighed, "but it's just not the same without Nya."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Send a message to Avalon, let them come and handle it." Ryla said, "The next time I have sex with her, I want her to be my lovely Nya Crimson again."

"Understood, madam" Lisa said

* * *

So far no one had been able to track Rias since she left Vulcan. Eli even came up with an idea to trace the anti-particles from the Orb of Thassah that she took, but progress on outfitting a sensor to do that was slow.

Morgan and Valla's surgeries had gone well, but they were still recovering. Today, they are lightly sparring as to not upset their injuries. After so long of being confined to bedrest, being active felt refreshing.

The two of them faced off against each other, dressed in loose clothing that were easy to move, Morgan was wearing hot pants and a tank top, while Vala was wearing yoga pants with a sports bra.

They were fighting with Bo staves, and the practice room was filled with the clacking as the wooden staves clashed against each other. Both women were highly focused on their match, the bodies quickly glistening with sweat and effort. They were so engrossed that they didn't hear their named being called until Astrid yelled.

"MORGAN! ASTRID!" she screamed, attracting their attention

"We've got news on Rias," she said

They proceeded to the command center, where Terror, Kiva and Amara were waiting with Eli and Merlin. They were all gathered around the central command table, looking at multiple images on screen projections.

"What happened?" Morgan asked

[Providence reached out to Terror,] Merlin informed, [they sent us the location of a luxury resort planet, Apalapachere. Apparently that's where she's residing right now.]

"How did they even know we were looking for Rias?" Amara demanded, "how did they even know she was calling herself that?"

[Because she was working for them.] Merlin speculated, [One of our probes picked up chatter from a Providence Security Fleet that a new asset unleashed a weather attack on a renegade planet before flying off into space. According to eyewitnesses, the asset was a person, and didn't have a spacesuit.]

"We sent probes and scanned the planet," Eli added, "traces of the same anti-particles that coincide with origin usage, as well as blood aura were found in the upper atmosphere."

"So she was doing Providence's bidding all this time?" Valla asked

"And now it seems that now they want to return her to us," Terror said. "Why?"

"Do we trust this information?" Morgan queried, looking at Amara

[I verified it as soon as Terror reported it.] Merlin said, [she is there.]

"Alright, for whatever reason, Providence has decided to give up Rias," Amara said, "let's not waste it."

She then turned to the rest of the room, "I want my ship prepped for launch, assemble squads 7 through 12, get them ready to sortie. We may need the back-up"

Met with affirmatives, she turned back to the gathered group, "Get yourself geared up, we leave in thirty. Let's beat this bitch and get Nya back."

When the allotted time finally elapsed, the Excalibur Blue launched from the Vulcan anchorage and drifted away from the moon. Once far enough away, the entire ship warped and vanished as the space around it distorted.

Their warp shift deposited them within orbit of the resort planet. The planet had been terraformed from a rough desert world to a tropical paradise. Owned by a high noble, Apalapachere was a popular destination for all sorts of nobility, galactic elites and celebrities. The planet's surface was over eighty percent water, with hundreds of thousands of islands and archipelagos scattered across.

Normally, breaching a sovereign planets orbit is a serious violation, but the head of Providence herself had warned the resort managers of the breach ahead of time and even paid compensation in advance.

They had also booked one of the largest island available and paid an exorbitant amount for possible damages. All of this raised a red flag in the minds of the managers, but seeing as they'd already collected the money, they could only vacate all nearby islands, set up a security perimeter and hope there wasn't too much collateral damage.

From the Excalibur, several combat shuttles exited the hangar bay and made its way down towards the planet below, following the source of blood aura energy they located upon arrival.

* * *

One combat shuttle touched down on the beach, close to a cabana where their quarry was lazing about. They could've tried to sneak up on her, but with her extrasensory abilities, such an ambush was more likely to end in failure than not.

Rias was sunbathing on a lawn chair, wearing an impossible skimpy bikini that was little more than pasties over her nipples and crotch. She had thick sunglasses covering her eyes and the Hyperion version of a piña colada in her hand.

The fact that they were on a tropical planet that with three suns proved a challenge for Morgan and Valla, but they were both covered up thoroughly in their full combat armor, while everyone else donned a light combat suit.

"What are you buzzkills doing here?" Rias asked taking a sip from her glass, not even bothering to look their way.

She was replied by dozens of javelins made of ice raining down on her and the whole cabana, created by Valla, and Morgan, who had mimicked her power.

"I hope that hurt." Valla snarled from inside her armor

"Well that was rude," Rias says as she appears some distance away from the debris and ice shards, she was unharmed, dusting frost off her shoulders, "I didn't even get to finish my drink,"

Kiva and Astrid are both shocked, the form she has now is identical to the woman they saw in their vision, the one who would destroy Avalon.

[We're taking Nya back] Merlin said

"I'd like to see you try," Rias smirked condescendingly

"Rias, right?" Terror called, brandishing two short swords made from nuform, "We haven't been formally introduced; I'm the guy that's going to rip you out of my best friend's head."

"Best friend? Is that what you really think you are to Nya?" Rias snickered, "oh, you poor delusional fools."

"It doesn't matter what you have to say, bitch," Astrid growled, "We're still getting our mom back."

Rias looked directly at her, "You're the only one I didn't hurt,"

"What?"

"When I left Vulcan. You, Astrid, were the only kid I didn't hurt on the way, and it's not that I couldn't hurt you, I didn't."

"And you think I should be thankful after you broke my brother's arm and stabbed my sister with a poisoned sun sword?"

"I didn't hurt you because you're special." Rias said, "Special in ways you don't even know yet, and I can teach you how special you are."

"Are you trying to recruit me?"

"Let's just say I want to give mothering a shot," Rias says, "If Nya could do, why can't I?"

"You're not my mother." Astrid snarls

"Oh, aren't I?" Rias asks, "so how was I able to pull you in here so easily?"

It was then that Astrid realized that she was no longer on the beach with the others, she was in Liberty Park, on Avalon

"Where am I?" Astrid demands

"Welcome to the mindscape." Rias said, "This is my own personal mental world, right now we're still looking at each other outside, not even a second has passed since we started talking."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Well I…" Rias started to explain, then she stopped and looked puzzled, "Why did I bring you here?"

"You didn't." another voice said as a new figure suddenly appears.

"Mom!" Astrid calls as Nya appeared

"YOU!" Rias screams, enraged, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"For the weeks I've been putting subtle suggestions into our head," Nya explained, "convincing you to subconsciously pull Astrid into the mindscape."

"But why?" Astrid said

"So I could tell you how to beat her," Nya said, "her one weakness."

"NOOOOO!" Rias bellowed, her rage ripping the construct of Nya asunder, "YOU ARE BENEATH ME, NYA CRIMSON! I AM BETTER THAN YOU IN EVERY WAY!"

The representation of Nya vanished without protest, then Rias turned to Astrid, her eyes red with rage.

"GET OUT!"

Astrid blinked, suddenly finding herself back on the beach, a sudden shift in the air pressure before her showed Rias, furious, she was so angry that she had burnt off what little there was of her bikini and was now engulfed in blood aura that was burning like a bonfire.

"What the hell did you say to get her so pissed?" Eli said in their ears from the Blue

"Nothing," Terror said back, "Astrid told her we're taking Nya back and she suddenly exploded."

"You dare manipulate me. ME!" she snarled to herself, "Fine then Nya, if you're putting all your hope in these fucking kids, let's see how you'll feel when I play volleyball with their heads!"

"Look out!" Terror yells

In the blink of an eye, Rias is in front of Astrid, her burning right fist was about to punch right through Astrid's face.

Astrid summons the thickest defensive barrier she can in time to take the brunt of the attack, but still sends the young adept flying to the other end of the island.

"Oh fuck this," Amara sneered, "All units, engage!"

Around them several other combat shuttles de-cloaked, materializing in a loose circle around the beach. Dropping dozens of Spartans, all armed to the teeth. Everyone attacks at once, unleashing massive attacks onto her body. The war had just commenced.

* * *

Astrid comes to hearing her mother's voice gentling coaxing her

'Astrid sweetie, wake up,' she says, 'wake up, they need you.'

When she opens her eyes, she's along, then she sees a massive explosion go off far away

"Man, how hard did that bitch hit me?" she demands as she stretches.

'Sorry, she doesn't know my own strength,' comes a reply that causes Astrid to whip her head to the side so fast she almost gets whiplash

"Mom? Where are you?" she asks looking around

'In your head,' comes the reply, 'I used the mindscape earlier to send a thought echo into your mind.'

"But why?"

'You linked with me telepathically once, I was hoping you could do it again. This echo is fading so I need to be fast. Rias thinks she's unbeatable right now, and she pretty much is; with all my powers and none of my restrictions, if you fight her, she will murder you all.'

"That's really encouraging." Astrid huffed

'As long as she's at full power you don't stand a chance, which is why I had her pull you into the mindscape; to tell you my weakness.'

"You told us don't have a weakness," Astrid said

'I lied,' she replied, 'I've always had a huge weakness, an Achilles heel that neither I nor Merlin could ever fix, and I trust you to exploit it.'

Her voice was getting fainter and fainter by the second.

'Listen sweetie, this is really important; the way you can beat her is to…'

Back with the others, they were putting up a surprisingly good fight. Rias, armed with the full might of a cosmic lifeform was trampling over them, though, frustratingly enough, none of her attacks ever seems to land a fatal blow, while their attacks seem to be tailor-made against her. The majority of the Spartans were focused on long-range combat, hitting her with heavy artillery while keeping themselves mobile, thus keeping her distracted enough for Amara, Terror and the other to get in close with their own assault. They moved like a proper military machine, which annoyed Rias to no end, yet also made her exceedingly proud. Safe to say, she was a mix of emotions.

The most troublesome one out of all the assembled force was Merlin, Rias could tell that the jinn was somehow coordinating the assault along with Eli. So far, she had stayed out of the conflict, keeping her distance and observing the whole battlefield from afar. She was obviously planning something.

Every now and then, Rias' body hesitated long enough for someone to avoid a deadly strike, or for her to get hit by an attack she already saw coming. It even felt like she had to fight against her own body just to continue this fight.

"Nya!" Rias suddenly screamed, "what are you doing to me, Nya?"

"This bitch is powerful, hot and crazy," Terror commented, "as someone who's dated that combination before; it isn't a good mix for us."

"Well, it has to be doing something," Morgan says as she fires her blasters at her, before dodging a tendril of blood aura, "because we're still standing, and it doesn't seem like we're her only foe."

"Everyone," Astrid called from their comms.

"Astrid, thank fuck you're alive," Morgan growled

"Listen, I think I have a way to weaken her enough for Merlin to finish her."

"How much time do you need?" Kiva demands

"A few minutes,"

"Done," Amara says as she orders her Spartans to abandon one of the combat shuttles, which she then takes control of via a remote piloting system on her HUD.

With the combat shuttle under her command, she sends the craft crashing into area where Rias was.

"Why did nobody think of that sooner?" Terror demanded

The reprieve is short lived when the burning wreck of the shuttle is lifted up and thrown at them

"Oh, that's why." Terror answers himself as they all scatter.

Rias was standing there, her torn, burnt and ruined flesh already repairing itself.

"There is nothing you can do to stop me!" she yell

"Except this," Astrid says de-cloaking and appearing in front of Rias, her arm crackling with energy. She slams her palm into Rias' chest, shoving her mana directly into the mana core, before being shoved away by Rias,

"Don't touch me!" She snarls, but then she starts screaming in pain, as her mana core glows brighter and starts to change color. Spurts of blood aura start to break through her skin as her body starts to distort and deform.

"What did you do?" Kiva asks

"I pour my mana into her mana core, scrambling her insides," Astrid explains, "with her internal stability compromised, her active blood aura will be frenzied,"

[That would trigger a bio meta-crisis episode, effectively making every cell in her body go berserk.] Merlin realized, [That's insane, you just exploited her MARS in a way I hadn't even considered]

"How did you come up with that?" Kiva demanded

"Never-mind that now," Astrid snapped, "Merlin, shut her down, while she's still getting her body under control."

[Right,] Merlin says as she suddenly rushed towards the writhing Rias. One touch would be all she needs to fix everything, then all of a sudden her body is paralyzed and forced onto the ground.

Around her, everyone else finds themselves paralyzed as well.

"I finally figured it out; it's the crest." Rias says, holding her face, "Earlier, Merlin was using our connection through the horizon via my crest to interfere with me, clever."

"Ugh," Astrid struggled to move, but she could feel the crest on her crotch grow warmer, along with the numbness that was spreading out from that region, freezing her in place.

Around her she could even see the Spartans frozen, their armor seemingly locked up.

"I could also use that same connection to immobilize you," Rias says as her body finally stabilized, "I can also use it to lock all tech that was made by the Black Box on Vulcan, including Spartan armor. It's how I was able to restart the Black Excalibur a while back."

She rose into the air, holding out her hand, a huge burning ball of blood aura appears, quickly growing in size until it is twice the size of a combat shuttle, "with this, it's my win."

[Nya, don't do this!] Merlin pleaded, her body kept locking down, forcing her to disassemble then reassemble, only for it to lock again, she was currently making very slow progress approaching Rias

"Goodbye." Rias says, a single tear rolling down her cheek, as she's about to throw the orb at them,

All of a sudden, reality itself paused. Everything and everyone in the whole universe was frozen, stuck in a single second and nobody noticed it, except Merlin.

Her body was frozen as well, but her consciousness was still active and she watched silently as a tear opened up in space, unlike the different types of dimensional and spatial rifts she's witnessed before, this tear was as if someone poked a hole in a 2D sheet of papers with a pencil. Even she couldn't fully comprehend what she saw as what appeared to be an arm made out of… nothing reaches out from the hole in existence.

From the hole, Merlin could hear some sort of vocalization, but was unable to translate it as the arm reached into Rias' head and pulled something out of it, a yellow mass.

The mass registers to Merlin as Maja, she still had some of the Maja inside of her? How?

In the formless hand, the mass disintegrated, then the arm turned to her with a beckoning finger. Merlin felt herself being ripped out of her android body and placed once again inside the crest adorning Nya's back.

Reality reasserts itself and time resumes, with Rias about to kill her court.

[No.] Merlin says as the ball of blood aura vanishes

"W-what? How?" Rias demands, "How did you get back in me?"

[I'm bringing Nya back.] Merlin says, [goodbye Rias,]

Rias doesn't even get to yell in protest as she is suddenly rendered unconscious.

As she falls to the ground, Merlin goes to work. A part of her wonders if what she had witnessed was just a glitch, because as far as she knew, the implications of what she had just witnessed was practically impossible.