Chelsea returned to the holographic screen that Imperatrix had in front of her and pleaded to stay on it. "Can I stay here? Pretty Pleeeeeease?" She asked in a high-pitched voice.
Imperatrix sighed. "Fine. Just don't embarrass me or yourself, otherwise I'll demote you."
"I'll try not to!" Chelsea said, but she sounded confident as if she were playing it up.
"You think you're such hot sh*t but anyone who sold their soul and gained enough power could do what you did!" Katt blurted out. Although the rest of her group would've agreed with what she said, her fiery outburst sent chills to them. A blatant act of defiance in front of the rogue time traveler in front of them who took over space-time would be incredibly reckless.
After a few moments of silence, Imperatrix chuckled and grinned. "Bold of a subject to say that to my face, but I shall humor you! I'm just gracing this courtroom with my presence to gloat!" Her gloating was slightly assuring to the group since it meant Imperatrix wasn't going to smite them on the spot, but they, including Katt were still shaken up from it.
"I have a feeling we could've already known each other in another timeline." Imperatrix started musing. She materialized a handful of large enchanted cards, and the stack of them floated around the room for everyone else to see.
Each of the cards were black and white with 1-bit graphics, and had a white text box with black text at the bottom. Some of them also had arrow buttons in the text box.
Among the first cards in the stack showed someone who looked like Imperatrix from the side view, looking dejected and pained over something, and wearing a uniform that may have looked very familiar to some, but they couldn't be completely sure.
"I'm going to forge my own path" Read this first card.
Another card was all black aside from the box at the bottom and read "She tried to steal one of the superweapons, but got caught and faces her demise." This was chilling to read, but could this have actually happened? She was right there in the room!
One of the next cards showed Imperatrix wearing a black dress with a mask, smiling in a triumphant pose. In her right hand she was carrying the Fomalhaut super weapon, which was made clear by the long glowing magic ribbons that were trailing from it. This card read "That was close, but I got away with it! This super weapon is mine!"
Some of the last cards in the stack depicted the space-time incident and the time rift that opened. One of them read "You enter the time rift and fly towards the center", with an arrow button on the bottom right.
The last one read "Will you take anyone out of the rift to the palace?" With a "Yes" button and a "No" button on it.
"The cards we were dealt from the stack of choices could've been different." She said, noticing everyone's astonishment at them. She gave them a few more moments to look at the cards before they floated back to her and she put them away.
"How did you break the fourth wall?!" Camelia loudly asked in astonishment.
"You look surprised, Camelia. You haven't been a dimension weaver for long, or the Gatekeepers didn't tell you..." Imperatrix said in a tone that had a mix of concern and snideness. "A powerful enough dimension weaver can manipulate time, and a powerful enough time traveler, like me" She emphasized. "...Can harness the power to break the fourth wall and manipulate the metaphysical realm!"
She waited for a few moments for Camelia's reaction before continuing.
"The Gatekeepers want to be the only beings to have the power of both at once!" She exclaimed, still sounding cheerful but her words and tone clearly struck some nerves. Blue and purple shadowy clouds of magic formed concealed the Gatekeepers' stands.
From their silhouettes she could see they were trying to talk about something. /p>
"Hmmph. Hiding in shame, aren't you?" She snidely asked them.
Meanwhile at the Gatekeepers' stands...
Mia was seething with rage. "Can we break our code of honor just this once? We could still kill her 4 against 1, we can restore the timeline and undo her rule!" She said.
The other Gatekeepers wanted to agree with her. They had the power to crush the League then and there, and execute its leader who they couldn't previously convict. The verdict was already done.
They argued among themselves despite agreeing on the same points. Mia said her points. Ragnar agreed with them aside from him wanting to execute Imperatrix himself, but Mia argued that her own grudge was more personal so she should have the honors, if the other Gatekeepers would agree to it!
Aiko was ambivalent about it, and Thutmose was against it. Aiko was tempted for Imperatrix to just be executed there and the League shut down for the good of space-time. She was the first to mention that there wasn't really anything stopping them from extrajudicial revenge, and sounded confident when she mentioned this, until she followed it by saying there wasn't other than knowing the balance of power they enforce would likely collapse from their display of hypocrisy.
This realization was demoralizing, but Thutmose still seemed unfazed. Mia said it shouldn't matter; Imperatrix deserved to be made an example of to deter any other time travelers from going rogue and from threatening space-time.
Whether she was more swayed by her grudge was questioned, but the other Gatekeepers thought she had a fair point that they needed to do what was right for the fate of space-time while maintaining order, though Thutmose still remained the most against getting extrajudicial revenge.
Aiko asked why he still opposed it, while she tried to think of another solution. The one she brought up gave some hope, though it could be a long shot.
The group thought about it some more and Thutmose was the first to sound confident about it. "The pact we officiated with her is beneficial for us, but it requires patience. Power always has a cost..." He started to explain.
"If she causes SPACECON 1, then it is our right, and our obligation to execute her. Provided the insufferable nature of our rules and regulations, it ought to be merely days before she surrenders in frustration."
The other Gatekeepers immediately agreed. Ragnar thought this approach still wasn't ideal, but agreed that it's a pragmatic way to save space-time without breaking their own rules.
"Yeah! No one willingly puts up with our bureaucracy, not even us!" Aiko cheered.
However, there wasn't going to be just one surprise visitor to the courtroom. The Gatekeepers dispelled the magic clouds that were hiding them from view and were ready to confront Imperatrix about how they were sure she'd give up.
"Awww... I'm insulted" Imperatrix said coyly to them. She turned towards the group of stranded people again, glancing at Katt in particular for a moment. "But there's someone who can attest I didn't sell my soul to achieve my greatness!"
"I'm going to summon him now!" Imperatrix started to cast a summoning circle in the middle of the courtroom. She raised her arms up, and her cape started to billow behind her, lifting off the ground.
"I Ummonsay Heethay - Ingkay Ofay Ethay Demonsday Antanasay!" She said in an incantation.
The room went dark aside from the light from the summoning circle, and flashes of light that looked like lightning. "Gong!" "Gong!" "Gong!" Large bronze bells also materialized, ringing loudly. The column of light in the summoning circle turned red and magic smoke swirled out of it, burning into bursts of fire.
"Ugh... It's getting hot in here." Alicia said. She brought out a foldable fan from her purse, unfolded it and was fanning herself.
There were also chills along with the heat. "I'm getting shivers up and down my spine!" Kayla said, shivering.
"Oh Hell's Bells!" Katt exclaimed. The bells continued to ring at intervals during the summoning. Each ring announcing the arrival of a formidable entity!
An imposing silhouette emerged from the column of light, surrounded by sparks, magic dust and flames. The silhouette had a figure that clearly towered over most, was regal with a crown, had spiked armor, a jeweled scepter and a long billowing cape. The gems on the figure's outfit sparkled, and there were several of them on the belt, scepter, crown, cape collar and pieces of shoulder armor.
As the dust and flames cleared, everyone had a more clear look at who Imperatrix summoned... His eyes had gray sclerae with red irises that had a hint of orange to them and glowed.
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