The strike was impossibly fast, impossibly sudden—Lady Styx didn't even register it. Fortunately, her shields operated autonomously.
The magma barrier reacted as though personally offended, contracting violently before erupting outward.
A deafening blast. Kanto might as well have stabbed a barrel of explosives. The concussive force sent him tumbling through the air twice. By the time Lady Styx had caught up mentally, she was already directing her remaining forces to pursue.
The diamond golems' autonomy had its limits. By the time they reacted, Kanto had already melted back into shadow.
The two traded blows for several more rounds before Kanto finally grasped the diamond golems' true nature: these things could act independently, and once summoned, they never disappeared.
Everything in the universe came with trade-offs. He'd initially assumed the golems were easy to produce and had been running guerrilla tactics against them.
Now, seeing that Lady Styx herself wasn't easy to take down, he changed strategy immediately.
Cut the wings first. Save the caster for last.
Three throwing knives whistled out. The three ranged diamond golems tried to parry with their weapons, only to be ensnared by shadow cages that materialized a heartbeat later—and Kanto was already engaging the remaining four at close range.
A twist of the waist, a rising kick—he planted his foot on one golem's thigh, and his dagger extended a blade of dark energy like a cleaver, shearing the construct's head clean off.
He caught the flash of loss in Lady Styx's eyes and knew he'd guessed right.
"Not enough combat experience, after all. Her tells are far too obvious." Thea sighed. The raw power gap between them wasn't that large—Lady Styx was only slightly weaker. But in combat experience, Kanto had her outclassed by miles. Her defeat was only a matter of time.
"She probably hasn't fought seriously in years. Give me enough time and I could beat her too." Fiona still felt their earlier draw had been unfair. Kanto's overwhelming advantage on the field owed more to his twin divine-artifact daggers—Lady Styx simply couldn't afford to block them head-on.
They could read the fight's true dynamics, but the spectators lacked that discernment.
All they saw was Lady Styx conjuring waves of stone constructs, fire, and boulders that sent Kanto dodging in every direction. Emotionally, they wanted Lady Styx to win—she was the one they knew. If their idol of decades, perhaps centuries, was taken down by some gladiator who'd appeared from nowhere, the blow to morale would be devastating.
But that hope grew dimmer by the minute. By the time Kanto destroyed the third diamond golem, most spectators realized Lady Styx was losing.
"What a buzzkill." Thea rose to her feet, visibly annoyed. As she stood, the entire planet seemed to shrink beneath her. Every spectator in the arena felt an immense mountain materialize before their eyes. Before they could even process what was happening, every last one blacked out.
The two combatants separated. Lady Styx was awash in shame and relief. A few more exchanges and she would have died. Whatever Thea's reasons, she'd saved her life.
On the other side, all Kanto felt was raw fear. For a split second, he'd felt the planet itself shudder. That level of power was approaching Darkseid's—he'd felt the same tremor whenever Darkseid's fury shook Apokolips.
He noticed Thea didn't spare him so much as a glance. She simply turned and walked away. He waited, tense and vigilant, for what felt like an age before he finally realized: Wait—no one's stopping me?
Time to go.
He opened a Boom Tube and vanished into it without looking back.
A minor episode—at least from Thea's perspective. For Lady Styx, it was anything but. Word of her powerlessness spread across the sectors, and within three days more than fifty worlds had raised the flag of rebellion. Many more were preparing to find a new overlord.
"I'll serve as your subordinate. From this day forward, you are my liege." With Thea's group still present—and refusing to let her leave—and fires burning across her territories, Lady Styx had only one option: pledge loyalty.
The subordinate was genuinely useful to Thea. The first life-form in the Two-Dimensional World would depend on Lady Styx's abilities. The living constructs produced by earth-type powers weren't life in the conventional sense, but they were invaluable nonetheless.
Feeling her way forward stone by stone, with no one to compare notes with, Thea had no choice but to try every approach available.
Her cool gaze swept over Lady Styx's face. An eternity seemed to pass before she gave a slow nod. "I accept."
Shortly after, Fiona, Kerrigan, and Lady Styx launched a three-pronged counterattack. The rebellions were crushed swiftly. The remaining worlds that had been preparing to choose a new master bowed their heads in submission before the Ruichi Swarm's fangs and claws.
A somewhat laughable rebellion—one that funneled countless new warriors into the arena.
These were the elites of the rebel forces, originally condemned to die. But their fate took a turn when Lady Styx's new mistress made a promise: win one match, and you walk free—go wherever you want. The condemned seized on that hope like a lifeline, fighting with desperate fury until the arena floor ran red.
The Two-Dimensional World still showed no progress. Even after Thea designed a custom psychic-power training regimen for her, Lady Styx—acutely aware of her own limitations—threw herself into practice. Results remained minimal.
On the other hand, the arena's unrelenting life-or-death combat finally paid off for Thea. Through sheer patient grinding, Her Ladyship worked out the final step of her breakthrough.
On that day, the arena that had roared with combat for over a month closed its gates.
Many spectators, still riding the high of unbridled violence, gathered in small groups and marched toward the venue to demand answers.
"Are you out of your mind?!"
"Get back here!"
Before they'd even reached the gates, acquaintances yanked them back—pursing their lips, cutting their eyes, waving their hands, shaking their heads. The full suite of silent warnings.
What was wrong with these people? The newcomers peered past the crowd and got their answer: corpses littered the ground beyond the gates, and arena guards were patrolling in force.
Friends pulled friends aside, trading whispered questions. What had happened?
Some had come out purely from herd mentality—everyone else was standing around, so why not join them? Someone who actually understood pointed at the sky.
The crowd squinted upward for a long time. There seemed to be a black sun hanging overhead.
Many had never seen a star up close and didn't grasp what it meant. More whispered conferencing.
"That lady... I think she's about to break through." They couldn't even recall Thea's name—they'd nearly resorted to calling her "the mysterious one."
"I heard she's not actually a sentient being. Her true form is a planet. You know Old Hunter on 32nd Street? He aimed a scanner at her from a distance, and the energy reading fried his equipment on the spot."
A chorus of oohs, ahs, and tongue-clicks rippled through the crowd.
They committed every detail to memory, preparing to brag about it on other worlds. Sure, their own power levels weren't much to write home about—but they'd been in the presence of greatness.
Oblivious to the chatter below, her realm now fully perfected, Thea hung motionless in space for a moment of quiet contemplation. She was ready.
A few brief words to Fiona, a single leap—and she vanished from these stars.