Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Give up already and give me your Miraculous!” Kradel shouted as his Fallen Angel Tokens swarmed the mall.

The faceless, horned angels crawled up on the walls like giant insects before, at their master’s command, they jumped at the two heroes standing in the middle of the ground floor.

The Harlequin threw her yoyo at a nearby railing and pulled herself into the air, dodging one of the attackers. She locked her arms together with her partner, and using her momentum, threw Bakeneko above the horde of Tokens.

“Cataclysm!”

The cat hero summoned a black knife in each hand and threw them at two of the tokens before they could react. They turned to dust, but there were plenty more to take their place.

The heroes landed on the railing on a higher floor.

“Catch them!” demanded Kradel, who himself looked like a horned angel in raggedy clothes, armed with blood red sword. He was floating just below the ceiling on his black wings.

“We need to get his sword,” The Harlequin said. “I bet that’s where the Akuma is.”

Bakeneko nodded.

“He’s to far away for me to get him, but you might be able to if you hook onto one of those beams on the ceiling.”

“I’ll try. Give me a boost!”

Bakeneko held a cradle with her hands for The Harlequin to step in and not unlike they did a moment before, this time she threw the other girl high in the air. The Harlequin aimed with her yoyo but realized a split second too late that she wouldn’t be able to get to the beam. Trying to salvage the situation, she hooked onto one of the higher railings instead and pulled hard, shooting herself even higher.

She was still a bit short from Kradel’s altitude, but that distance meant nothing for her yoyo. She pulled it free and with the same fluid motion, threw it at the fallen angel, trying to tie it around his sword, or at least knock the weapon free.

Kradel spun around in the air, taking the hit from the yoyo in his left shoulder.

The glowing 8 on the amethyst adorning his sword turned into a 9. Then it changed back almost immediately as Kradel summoned another Fallen Angel Token between himself and the Harlequin. The angelic abomination dived after the hero, reaching out to grab her. Not being able to do much while freefalling, the Harlequin braced herself for a painful meeting with either the floor or the monster’s claws.

Bakeneko pounced through the air, batting the Fallen Angel Token away with her pole. This gave the Harlequin just enough breathing room to secure her yoyo around a pillar and spinning around it land safely next to her partner.

“Don’t you understand?” Kradel spoke from above. “You can’t hope to defeat me! The more you attack me, the more servants I can make and the stronger they all become. If you try to stay away, I can just have my Fallen Angel Tokens strike me for more power. That’s why even the Heavens fear Kradel’s wrath!”

The token army launched another assault. Bakeneko swung her pole, and the Harlequin spun her yoyo, keeping them at bay for now, but it would be only a matter of time before they get overwhelmed if they couldn’t come up with something.

“I’ll admit that his power is troublesome,” Bakeneko said. “We can’t de-Akumatize him by just fighting his minions, but if we go after him, he’ll just tank the hit to turn himself even more powerful. An opponent who doesn’t fear pain is difficult enough, but one who benefits from it requires us to revise how we approach the battle at all.”

“Guess we could use some luck on our side,” the Harlequin said. “Lucky Charm!”

A leather-bound tome, as thick as a shoebox and twice as wide fell above, bouncing back from one of the tokens’ head. The Harlequin caught it, but she had to put in some effort not to fall over from its weight.

“I don’t know what to do with this!”

With a battle cry, Bakeneko batted away half a dozen angels, making a clear path for the two of them.

“Let’s make shelter in that shop over there until you figure it out!”

They rushed into an empty boutique.

“Cataclysm!”

With a kick, Bakeneko broke off the entire sales counter, using it as a barricade to keep the attackers outside.

The Harlequin placed the book on the counter and opened it, hastily turning page after page.

“I can’t read any of this. I think it’s Latin.”

Bakeneko looked at the text too.

“It seems so.”

“Can you read it by any chance?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

So, the text wasn’t the key. The Lucky Charm wouldn’t give them something that neither of them could use.

Should they just drop the tome on Kradel’s head from the roof, hoping it would knock him out? No, that would only make his Tokens tougher.

Other than the Latin text, the tome had a conspicuous amount of pictures, mostly medieval looking etchings, almost all of which had something to do with angels: angels appearing above a group of shocked men, or above a sleeping woman, bringing doom to a (presumably sinful) city, an angel battling with a dragon… she turned to a page covered in the picture of faceless, horned angels descending from a sky covered in dark clouds.

“That seems relevant,” Bakeneko noted as the army of tokens tried harder and harder to break down the door.

“Hmm. Kradel’s form is based on a Card Force Unit of the same name, right?”

“Indeed,” Bakeneko confirmed.

She had a passing interest in the game – she couldn’t spend much time on it besides her duties, but she knew Kradel from the promoting materials.

The Harlequin opened her yoyo in browser mode, making a quick web search. Soon she grinned.

“You have a plan?”

“Yes, but it’s risky. You need to hold off the enemies until I get what we need from the second floor… and there’s a chance I misunderstand the Lucky Charm and put you in danger for no reason.”

“Very well, I’ll leave through the front door and get their attention,” Bakeneko said without hesitation. “You can sneak out behind and do what you need, I’ll try to gain as much time as I can.”

They both nodded and Bakeneko stepped to the broken counter.

“Cataclysm!”

With a touch, she turned it to dust and barged out of the door. Swinging her pole in one hand and with her Cataclysm-charged claws on the other, she made quick work of the first wave of Tokens trying to get to her.

“Your minions are useless, Kradel!” she shouted toward the ceiling. “Did they banish you from Heaven so that they could freely laugh at you?”

“Get her!” Kradel bellowed.

Bakeneko ran, swiftly dodging the hailstorm of dark angels from above. Without wasting another moment her partner bought for her, the Harlequin turned away from the door and ran to the back exit.

🐞

Still carrying the heavy tome under her shoulder, the Harlequin stormed into Thunder Heart, the gaming store on the second floor. She hoped she could find the key to her plan quickly, but she wasn’t very familiar with the shop’s layout, and on top of that, most of the goods were spilled on the floor as the place was ransacked by Kradel’s minions. Her only hope was that luck would be on her side.

“The Harlequin!”

A large, blonde man rose from behind the counter, sporting a bread and considerable muscle weight.

“Hey,” the Harlequin raised an eyebrow. “How come you didn’t flee like everyone else?”

“Everything happed too fast. Some Enforcers had an impromptu Card Force tournament. My daughter and nephew are both really into the game, so we went together. It was all good until one of the kids got his butt kicked really bad and his friend got upset with him. He said some rude things – then next thing I know is an Akuma came, and the boy who lost got turned into a living version of his ace card.”

“Kradel,” the Harlequin nodded.

“I tried to distract some of the Tokens to give Hikaru and Naota a chance to flee, but I ended up getting cut off from all the exits. This is my shop, so I decided to hide here – thought the familiar place could be an advantage if they found me.”

It looked like luck was on her side after all.

“You did very well. You sell Card Force cards here, am I right?”

“Yeah. Individual cards, booster packs, starter decks, whatever strikes your fancy – but is this really the right time for this?”

“It’s hard to explain, but I need a card to defeat Kradel… specifically, this card,” she showed the picture to him on her yoyo. “Heaven’s Nightfall. Do you happen to have it?”

The shop owner stroked his chin, thinking.

“That’s from the new Dark Ascension set, isn’t it? It’s in very high demand, but you’re lucky – I have a few of them left in storage.”

He quickly produced a card with the exact same illustration that the Harlequin found in her book. The only difference was that the card was in full color.

“I don’t know how this will help you against a flesh and blood villain,” the man shrugged. “But you’ve saved us a few times already, so guess I just gotta trust it to you.”

Heaven’s Nightfall
Craft 3
Whenever you play a Dark/Angel Unit, this card gains 1 Tech Marker.
When a Dark/Angel Unit you control is attacked, you may remove 1 Tech Marker to redirect the attack to any other Unit you control.
All Dark/Angel Units you control gain +500 to all Stats for every Tech Marker on this card

The Harlequin smirked. Based on her quick research, despite being a supposedly powerful Tier X Unit, Kradel was regarded as mediocre at best by most of the community. His whole gimmick was that he became stronger whenever he survived an attack, but in practice this usually simply meant that the opponent wouldn’t attack him unless they were reasonably sure they would be able to one-shot him. Tier X Units were already pretty difficult to play, with a high Craft requirement and the cost of having to be evolved from a Tier 3 Unit, but Kradel came with an additional one card discard cost to unseal it. All in all, players found it troublesome to get him into play to begin whit, and he often proved to be underwhelming when it actually happened.

Immanent Eden tried to address those complaints though, releasing several support cards for Dark/Angel Units that, among others, had good synergy with Kradel. Heaven’s Nightfall was the latest in the row of those and the responses from the player-base seemed to be mostly positive so far, some even claiming that after all these years, Kradel might be finally viable. The only complaint seemed to be that getting the card required considerable luck or financial investment, but that was just the usual for trading card games.

“Thank you, I’ll make sure I’ll get this back to you as soon I can.”

“Don’t worry, if you actually manage to save our hides with that card, you might as well keep it.”

With a grateful nod, she turned to leave, when the man called after her.

“Wait! I know you are the Hero and all, but… won’t it be difficult to fight while carrying that giant book?”

🐈‍⬛

“You know you can’t keep this up forever, don’t you?” Kradel asked from his high vantagepoint. “My tokens have wings.”

“And I am a cat,” Bakeneko answered calmly, jumping out of they way of another diving angel. “Winged creatures are high on the list of my preferred prays.”

Putting actions behind her words, she pushed herself up with her pole, ran up on the wall the angels were trying to corner her against and brought down the closest one with a downward strike.

“Cataclysm!”

She charged both of her hands with the power of destruction and spun around, turning four more Fallen Angel Tokens into dust. A sixth one dived from above, probably freshly summoned by Kradel. Bakeneko dodged without issue then threw her collapsed pole with such accuracy that would have made Daredevil proud. She hit the token right in the neck and it fall on the ground, stunned.

Bakeneko jumped ahead, catching the pole mid-air as it bounced back and opened it, just in time to block the now literally fallen angel’s counterattack. She hit it right on the head, breaking one horn, then placed a well-timed swing under its chin, making it fly again.

“You know, I bet your power could be quite threatening under different circumstances,” she said, resting her pole on her shoulders. “But my Cataclysm seems to completely shatter your combo. No matter how tough you make your minions, one hit from Cataclysm will always get rid of them, and since you’re always forced to make new ones, you can’t build up their power properly. And because of that, they’re far more susceptible to regular physical attacks as well.”

Kradel growled in helpless anger. He knew Bakeneko was just trying to annoy him, force him to make a mistake, so she could get to his Akuma – but the dispassionate objectivity which she delivered her analysis just made his blood boil.

His card was strong… No, he was strong! He knew it. He just had to prove it to everyone else as well.

“Hey Kradel!” the Harlequin called out, stepping on one of the inside balconies connecting to the second floor. “Look, I brought you a gift.”

She held up a card.

“That’s right, it’s Heavan’s Nightfall! According to the internet, this card has the ability to make your god-awful Dark/Angel deck decent. How about a deal? Stop wreaking havoc and you can have it.”

A purple neon mask in the shape of a butterfly appeared before the angel’s face.

“Watch out Kradel,” Madame Butterfly warned him. “It’s all just a trick so they can defeat and humiliate you even further.”

He summoned four more tokens and pointed at the Harlequin.

“Attack!”

The horned angels dived ahead to tear her apart, but all she did was flip the card sideways, now holding it in both hands.

“I wouldn’t do that, unless you want me to tear this apart right in front of you. Come on Kradel, if all you want to be is Madame Butterfly’s fetchboy then go ahead, use the tokens and try to get our Miraculous. But if you want this card for yourself, you have to come here and get it yourself.”

“With the Miraculous in my possession I can rewrite reality!” Madame Butterfly reasoned. “I can make you a king, an emperor! You surely won’t risk that for a shiny piece of cardboard, will you?”

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing,” Kradel snarled.

He commanded his attacking tokens to stop and descended to the second floor, stepping in front of the Harlequin. Sword drawn is his right hand, he raised his left in a demanding gesture.

“Hand over the card – and your Earrings!”

With a reserved smile, the Harlequin placed the card in his palm – then she yanked her hand downward in a quick motion.

Kradel never noticed the thin wire of her yoyo, looped around her wrist.

Nor the humongous tome on the balcony above, with the other end of the yoyo tied around it.

The book landed in Kradel’s open palm, causing him to lose balance. Flipping his wings desperately, to prevent himself from falling off the balcony, he reflexively reached for the book with his right to support the weight.

The Harlequin grinned and with a roundhouse-kick aimed at his sword, she sent the weapon flying.

“No! Catch it!” he commanded his angels desperately.

The four Fallen Angel Tokens all dived for the falling sword.

“Cataclysm!”

… but Bakeneko was faster. Using her pole, she shot herself in the air, touching the sword right under the angel’s nose. It rusted into nothing before it could have landed, releasing the Akuma inside.

Kradel, now turning back into Jacob, a boy with brown skin and black hair, suddenly found it hard to balance the weight of the book with his wings disappearing. He fell over the railing.

Using her yoyo as a bungee rope, the Harlequin jumped after to catch him and put him on the ground safely.

“The battle is over!” she called out, spinning her yoyo.

She snatched the fluttering Akuma before it could make its escape.

“You can rest now,” she smiled at the regular butterfly she released from the yoyo.

Bakeneko stepped up next to her.

“Another job…” she raised her hand.

“… well done.” The Harlequin gave her a fist-bump. “We’re really getting the hang of this, huh? This time Paravani didn’t even feel the need to intervene.”

Even though she wasn’t convinced that was such a good thing. Sure, it was nice to see that she was improving, but she wouldn’t have minded if she could figure out more about the mysterious Peacock Holder claiming to be on their side.

“Ugh, what just happened?” Jacob looked up at the two heroines posing victoriously while he stroked his head. “I can’t remember.”

“You’ve got Akumatized,” Bakeneko said simply.

“Ah,” the boy nodded with sudden understanding. “Because of Drew. I see.”

“Want to talk about it?” The Harlequin offered.

“It’s… kinda stupid, really. Me and my cousin are both into Card Force, but he takes it a lot more seriously. We had a tag team battle today where we lost and he blamed it on me. He called me stupid for using Kradel for my deck. He called it a shit card.”

He lowered his head a bit.

“I… I know it’s not the best card, as far as optimization goes, but I just think it’s cool. That’s why I keep using him. Card Force is a game… games are supposed to be fun, aren’t they?

“Anyway, I know I shouldn’t let his teasing get to me so bad. But guess today it kinda did.”

“I know we can’t choose our family and sometimes you can end up trapped in a difficult situation you can’t escape,” Bakeneko said suddenly. “But if this gets this bad, and you have the chance, maybe you should consider keeping some distance from him. If he wants to stay part of your life, maybe he should consider treating you better.”

The Harlequin blinked at her partner, then quickly averted her gaze.

“I… yeah, maybe. I always tell myself that if I’m patient enough, he will come to his senses, and sometimes he’s pretty cool for a while too. But then something like this ends up happening anyway. And he never apologizes.

“Well, I don’t think I’ll just cut contact with him, that seems a bit extreme. But I’ll tell him that I’m done playing Card Force with him. We can play something less competitive that doesn’t make him go nuts like this.”

Next, the Harlequin turned to the giant book with a heavy sigh.

Not as heavy as the book though.

“Need a hand?” Bakeneko offered.

“Thanks, but even with super-strength this seems a bit ridiculous. So, running the risk of being called an anti-intellectual…”

She tore out the first page of the tome and crumpling it into a ball, threw it high in the air.

Miraculous

The Harlequin!

An army of ladybugs swarmed the mall, fixing all the damage.

“You did it!” the blonde shopkeeper said, almost clapping as he walked down the stairs. “Amazing! Not like I doubted you, but seeing it for myself was something else… defeating an angel of death with a card and a book. It’s like something from one of those manga the kids love.”

The Harlequin picked up the dropped Heaven’s Nightfall card and stepped to the man.

“Thanks for your help, my trap would have never worked without this.”

He took the card and looked at it, considering something. He turned to Jacob.

“You, Jacob, right? I remember you coming to my shop a few times – you’re a huge Kradel-fan, aren’t you?”

“Huh? Yeah…” the boy smiled sadly, looking at the card that not long ago was turned into a bloody sword by the Akuma. Luckily the ladybugs were able to fix it with everything else. “He’s my favorite.”

The man stepped to him with a smile, offering Heaven’s Nightfall to him.

“Here, take this. It’s on the house.”

“Wha- seriously?”

“That’s really kind of you sir,” Bakeneko said.

“Please, you can all call me Arthur.” He turned back to Jacob. “You are right, games are supposed to be fun. Your cousin might be a better player on a technical level, but if he got so worked up over a simple loss, I wonder when he had fun last time playing a game. So please, if you can help it, don’t let his bitterness get to you. But, in case you can’t help it…”

He winked.

“It’s understandable if you never want to play with him again, but in case you ever change your mind… I wonder what his face would look like if you kicked his butt with Kradel. But in any case, please, put that card to good use and enjoy yourself.”

Jacob nodded.

“Thank you sir… uh, Arthur.”

“As for you…” he turned to the two heroes, looking a bit embarrassed. “I already mentioned my daughter and my nephew… well, my nephew, Naota, his anxiety got a lot worse since Madame Butterfly started her assault on the city. But I think knowing that there are heroes like you helps him a lot. I mean, real superheroes! He and Hikaru loved to play Sailor Moon and the like when they were younger. So, uh…”

He held up his phone.

“Would it be too much to ask for a photo? So, I can show him that I really met you two up close?”

The Harlequin and Bakeneko exchanged a quick look.

“Not at all.”

They struck their usual victory pose again, holding their hands in a fist-bump as they stood next to each other, only this time they waited for Arthur to make the picture.

Around the same moment when Arthur snapped the photo, a large swirling vortex opened somewhere on the edge of Achefall. Burning the green grass into ashen crisps, it spat out a dark figure before disappearing.

Using its sword for support, it slowly rose to its legs on the empty hill and looked at the wide, open, bright blue sky above.

Then it turned its gaze toward the horizon, with the unfamiliar city stretching beyond where it could see.

The Roaring Knight let out a deafening shriek.

Chapter Text

The Harlequin waved a quick goodbye after the photo and pretending to leave, she slipped into one of the empty bathrooms. Now that the danger was over the mall would soon fill with people again, and she really didn’t want to get caught in the crowd in her costume.

“Spots Off!”

And with that, The Harlequin was gone, leaving only Natasha Alexton behind in her pricey blouse and jeans designed to look plain.

“Good job, Natasha,” Tikki cheered. “But wouldn’t it be faster to get home if you stayed transformed? You have a curfew, don’t you?”

“I might be able to maintain my transformation indefinitely, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a break.”

She offered the kwami a pink macaron, which the tiny god gobbled up happily.

“And besides, it might be faster that way, but people would notice me a lot more. I won’t die using the public transit… whatever my mother might think.”

Tikki tilted her head a bit.

“If you don’t like the attention, why did you agree to pose for that photo? I’m sure that man would have understood if you refused.”

“That’s…” Natasha blinked. “That’s different. He helped us out in the battle, and he asked me first. That’s entirely different than people pointing fingers and snapping pictures of me without my consent whenever I swing through the city.”

“I see, I think you’re right.”

Every Ladybug Holder Tikki had known was different, but the ancient requirement for secret identities meant they all had to be quite private about their personal lives. She wasn’t sure, however, if anyone had put so much effort into trying to avoid the inevitable attention that being a superhero invited as Natasha did. She only shown herself to the public in her costume if it was necessary during emergencies and she never stuck around long after capturing the Akuma, refusing to entertain the crowd or to answer reporters. There were a few brief interviews with Bakeneko, where she answered some questions about their heroic work in a polite and straightforward manner, but whenever they would ask her about her partner, she requested everyone to respect the Harlequin’s wish for privacy.

In a way it was a positive trait for a hero, to be more concerned with her duties than bathing in the glory it brought her, but Tikki hoped this whole situation wouldn’t become too much for Natasha. She already had to deal with so much pressure from being a billionaire’s daughter and only heir, and now she had to protect the city while trying to keep everything secret.

Of course, there was at least one person in the Alexton household she could always rely on if her civilian life became too much – but that wasn’t something Tikki could ever discuss with her.

“Let’s go Tikki.”

Even though the alert was only over for a few minutes, the crowd already filled the open mall. Most people probably were hiding somewhere close after fleeing, despite all the public announcement warning the citizens to stay as far away from any Akuma attacks as they could. The battle was over so quickly, the reporters couldn’t even make it to the sight before the ladybugs had already fixed everything – but this didn’t prevent the news crew that since arrived to get some shots of the mall while the reporter described the events. Bakeneko, Jacob or Arthur was nowhere to be seen.

Walking in a wide circle to avoid the news crew and any people live-streaming from their phone, Natasha headed toward the exit.

🦋

With a frustrated groan, Madame Butterfly snatched up one of the antique chairs she kept in her hideout and smashed it against the ground. It was made of old, sturdy oak, but being thrown with superhuman strength it didn’t stand a chance against being turned into splinter wood.

That was about a thousand dollars that the Miracle Cure wouldn’t give her back.

Not like it mattered. Her insurance would cover it more than adequately.

“Dark Wings Fall!”

She de-transformed and there she stood: Agatha Alexton, main shareholder and CEO of Alexton Networks in her immaculate red business suit, clutching one of her signature hand fans in frustration. She would have been the wealthiest and most powerful citizen of Achefall if not for the Akimoto and Vector families who also set up their homes here.

Her free hand snatched forward like an attacking snake’s head, grabbing the tiny creature floating in front of her.

“What’s happening, Nooroo‽” she asked, raising the kwami to her face.

“I… I don’t understand, mistress.”

“Why am I keep losing‽” she snapped. “The Butterfly Miraculous’ power is supposed to be limitless, yet those two pests keep defeating my warriors. I command you to be honest: are you somehow making my Akumas weaker?”

“That’s impossible!” Nooroo objected, wiggling helplessly in her clutch. “When I’m inhabiting the brooch, my full power is at your disposal, I can’t interfere with how you use it! And even if I could, you already gave me a straight order not to try to sabotage or thwart you in any way. You know I can’t disobey you!”

Reluctantly, Agatha let go of him.

“Then what’s wrong? I thought Kradel would be the perfect champion. His powers were perfect – he could make an infinite army of servants to fight for him, and he got stronger from being attacked for god’s sake! Yet he fell for such a transparent trick – is that Jacob kid really that stupid?”

“He’s only a child, mistress,” Nooroo pointed out. “And also, that’s just how my power works… the stronger the target’s emotion is, the stronger powers you can give to them. However, it also means that their opponents have an easier job if they try to use that same emotion to manipulate them. Remember, my Miraculous originally wasn’t meant to be used the way you do.”

Under his calm words, Nooroo felt his heart breaking. Like all Miraculous, the Butterfly was meant for good, for helping people. His powers were supposed to create heroes, not villains. Seeing Agatha Alexton misuse them such made him sick.

“Is that all you can tell me?” Agatha asked doubtfully.

“Well, it also looks like that The Harlequin and Bakeneko are making a powerful team. You’ll probably need to create a truly exceptional villain to break through their teamwork.”

Reluctantly, Agatha had to admit he was right. Witnessing the absolute disaster of a Black Cat Holder the Guardian picked the first time had given her a false sense of security. She was sure that the Miraculous would easily fall into her hands. But that didn’t seem to be the case anymore.

She opened an ornate box on her working desk, handing Nooroo a hibiscus, then turned away to think. One wall in his secret room was covered in various screens and displays, currently showing the live coverage from the mall after the battle.

Maybe she could Akumatize herself, she considered. She knew it was a possibility, even though a risky one – she’d be required to temporally renounce her Miraculous after creating the Akuma. Someone with her cunning and resolve would surely make for a fearsome warrior, yet she was averse of the thought.

She was a CEO, after all. Her number one skill was outsourcing – she knew she couldn’t be everywhere all the time and she sure as hell wouldn’t be one of the most powerful women in the entire world if she was running around, trying to do everything herself.

She firmly believed that there was a perfect person for every job, and that applied to obtaining the Miraculous as well. She just had to wait until that person showed up on her radar. Then, her day will come – no need to dirty her own hands.

Something flashed through the screen she was looking at – only for a moment, but it made her twitch. She quickly pressed a button to stop the image, then stepped it back a few frames.

The cameraman was scanning through the crowd in Akimoto Mall while the reporter was babbling something about the attack and the heroics of the Harlequin and Bakeneko, but she couldn’t care less about the commentary.

There. As the camera passed over a student with a large backpack and a young mother carrying her child – between the two, only for a moment, a girl’s profile with long red hair, round, freckled face and green eyes.

Frowning, Agatha pulled out her smartphone.

“Alexton residence,” she heard the voice of one of her maids. She couldn’t recall her name – she rarely bothered to memorize her house staff, unless they made some mistake.

“And I am Agatha Alexton.”

“Oh, Mrs. Alexton!” The girl’s voice immediately became more wary and servile. “What can I help you with?”

“For one, you could tell me what my daughter is doing at the site of a terrorist attack.”

“I… I’m sorry ma’m, but I don’t…”

“I saw Natasha on the live feed from Akimoto Mall,” she interrupted. “Which is really strange, since I instructed my driver to go pick her up right after school was over. She’s supposed to be home already.”

“Oh. I’m terribly sorry, Mrs. Alexton, I have no idea what could have happened. I’m going to talk to the driver and ask… young Miss Alexton is all right I hope?”

“Hope is all I can do as well. I couldn’t reach her yet, but I will try again after this. I’m sorry dear, but it’s a bit hard to recognize your voice through the phone… what was your name again?”

“Anya, ma’m.”

“Anya, of course. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how busy I am… I wish I could tear myself away from work to spend more time with my daughter, take care of her needs myself, but I’m afraid it’s just not possible. That’s why I need to rely on you, my staff to look after her.”

“Of course, ma’m.”

“Since these attacks started, I can’t help it, I just can’t stop worry about her. I know I must sound like a capricious old lady, but if one day life gifts you with a child too, you will understand, she’s more precious to me than anything I can own.

“From now on I’d like to make sure that she’s coming straight home from school and she won’t be stuck in the city during any of these attacks.”

“Of course, we will look after it. I mean her.”

“There was the girl who escorted Natasha to the library on the day of that other attack. Was that you, dear?”

“Uhm, no. I think that was Saiyuki.”

“Of course, silly me. Natasha seems to be fond of her – could you tell her that I’d like her to go and pick her up after school from now on, and make sure that she’s safely returned home? And look after her wellbeing while I’m working – I’m sure this situation is just as difficult for her as well.”

“Understood, Mrs. Alexton. I will go look for her in a moment. Is there anything else?”

“No, that will be all dear, thank you very much.”

She ended the call and let out a frustrated sigh. She hoped that would take care of that.

She couldn’t risk a headline describing how her daughter got caught up in a terrorist attack. She had an image to uphold, and being called a negligent parent wouldn’t go well with it.

Once she gets her wish, she won’t need to be worried about such trivialities anymore.

Her brooch suddenly beeped with an alarm, making her raise an eyebrow. Emotions strong enough to be picked up by her Miraculous even when inactive were pretty rare.

She hesitated. This might be a great opportunity, but she still felt exhausted after the Kradel fiasco.

Then she smiled.

If she was tired, those so-called heroes must be even more so. No matter how strong their teamwork was, if she kept up the pressure, they’d make a mistake eventually.

And one single mistake was all she needed.

“Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!”

Once transformed, she was able to ‘zoom in’ on her target, reading their surface-level thoughts. It was strange though – there wasn’t a perfect analogy, but she felt like listening to radio broadcast with heavy static or trying to read a book in a foreign language she was only vaguely familiar with. No matter how hard she focused, all she could get was fragments.

Officer… Soul… Church… Tomorrow… Sacrifice… Interruption… Witch… Kris… December…

Their emotions, however, seemed to flow through flawlessly.

They were pissed.

There was a layer of confusion too, about their current situation, but it was almost entirely drowned out by the overwhelming anger and frustration.

This person had an important task, and they got interrupted at the least opportune moment possible. They were absolutely seething, and they would stop at nothing to see it through what they have started, yet they saw no way to do so.

Only if they had a path to see, a target… no amount of bloodshed would be too great of a cost.

Madame Butterfly allowed herself a wicked grin over being blessed with such luck. This was exactly what they needed – this kind of person would never be tricked by such simpleminded deception like Kradel was. They’d grind the Harlequin’s and Bakeneko’s bones into fine dust if it was needed.

What they exactly wanted – it did not matter. Promises were free, and once she had the Miraculous in her hands, it was only up to her if she was feeling generous enough to hold herself accountable for them.

She grabbed a butterfly from her tank and holding it in her palm, charged it with dark power.

“Fly away my little Akuma,” she whispered. “Go and bend this cold steel heart to my will!”

🐈‍⬛

“Claws In!”

Landing in a small grove planted behind the mansion to provide some shadow during the summer, Bakeneko turned back into Saiyuki Chernobyl.

“Good job beating that self-proclaimed angel!” Plagg cheered her while munching on the piece of camembert she produced from one of the many hidden pockets of her custom French maid uniform. “He didn’t even know what hit him! Well, guess The Harlequin deserves some credit for her work too, that use of the book was pretty ingenious.”

“Thank you Plagg. But I must ask you to hide yourself as soon you finished eating. I’m still on the clock.”

“What a hassle,” the cat kwami complained, wolfing down the rest of his cheese. “No offense, but I think you humans really messed up with this whole ‘having to work’ idea. When do you have the time to have any fun?”

Once finished, she headed for the inside, looking for Anya.

“Thank you very much for covering for me. And sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Come on, it’s nothing,” the other maid waved her off. “How is your uncle?”

“He’s still weak, but the doctors said he should be okay.”

Finding excuses to leave work and fight villains became harder by the day. It was one thing when Natasha’s school was attacked and she could rush there under the pretense of looking out for the safety of her employer’s daughter, but she couldn’t really do that all the time. Two times already she was forced to craft an excuse for being absent by claiming she lost her sense of time during her lunch break. Usually, she took on the most work among the maids and have helped them out with various emergencies in the past, so she could get away with something like this every now and then, but the lie would only hold up for so long before others became suspicious. Faking a sick relative felt distasteful, but she hoped she could get some mileage out of the story before having to come up with something else.

“Good, I’m glad to hear that,” Anya said, but her smile seemed strained.

“Did something happen?”

“Well… I’m honestly not sure what we were supposed to do about it, but it looks like the young mistress have sneaked away after school and went to the site of the latest Akuma attack.”

Saiyuki’s stomach sank with worry.

“Is she alright?”

“I suppose she should be. I mean, even if something happened, the magic ladybugs must have saved her afterwards, right? But Mrs. Alexton saw her on TV and got upset. She wants you to make sure that she comes right home after school every day and look after that she doesn’t sneak out during an attack. I’m sorry, she asked for you specifically.”

“I see.”

She could understand a parent’s worry of course, but Natasha already had so little time for herself and was watched over all the time – putting her under an even stricter schedule just felt cruel.

More than that, she was a bit shocked that Natasha would sneak away like that at all. She was always extremely careful not to openly go against her mother’s wishes; she even turned down the opportunity to spend the time when she was supposed to be in the library somewhere else – even though she did take the opportunity to read some fantasy books instead of studying which she was supposed to be doing.

Did something happen that made her go there?

No, she was probably overthinking this. Natasha was a teenager under a lot of pressure; it was completely normal for her to rebel like that – as much as going to the mall after school could be even called that. Maybe she had a date, or wanted to buy a video game, it really wasn’t Saiyuki’s business.

Or at least, it wasn’t supposed to be. It looked like her employer saw things differently.

“Hello! I’m home.”

The main entrance opened and inside stepped Natasha Alexton, still carrying her backpack from school.

“Sorry for being late, some roads got closed off because of the Akuma and I had to come the long way. Is my mother home yet?”

“No, she’s expected to work until the early evening today,” Anya said.

“Thanks,” the girl nodded. “Alright, I’ll be in my room, studying for tomorrow.”

She quickly vanished from their sight.

“Should I tell her?” Anya offered with a sympathetic smile.

“No,” Saiyuki shook her head. “If Mrs. Alexton wants me to do this, then I should be the one breaking the news as well.”

But first things first, she prepared some snacks for the girl. She really hoped the gesture wouldn’t come off as overbearing, or a cheap way to soften the blow, more like the honest signal of sympathy it was meant as. Saiyuki made sure to add some strawberry macarons, which Natasha seemed to grow fond of lately, despite her earlier commitment to chocolate.

Holding the tray filled to the brim with sweets, she knocked on Natasha’s door and waited politely for her answer, inviting her in.

“Sorry for bothering you. I wanted to ask if you’d like some snacks.”

“Well, I didn’t have dinner yet, but…” the way she stared at the chalice of chocolate ice cream was more than telling.

Saiyuki placed the tray on her bed, and the girl, careful not to stain the sheets nor her books dug in. The maid waited patiently until, spoon in her mouth, Natasha sent her a curious glance.

“Uhm, was there anything else?”

“May I sit down?” Saiyuki asked gently.

With a hint of surprise, Natasha nodded. Saiyuki rolled the girl’s office chair next to the bed and, careful not to wrinkle her uniform, she seated herself.

“Your mother saw a recording of today’s Akuma attack, showing you at the mall after the incident,” she cut to the chase.

Natasha’s expression was overrun by panic.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. She’s just worried you might get hurt. She asked me that from now on I pick you up after school and escort you home safely.”

“I… see,” the girl nodded with a sigh.

Well aware of the volatile situation they were both in, Saiyuki gave the girl a small smile.

“I understand this level of control must be… inconvenient for someone in your age. It would be for anyone, really. But I’m sure your mother is only motivated by worry and means the best for you. That being said, have you finished your books yet?”

Natasha blinked.

“Uh, I’ve read The Lightning Thief, yes. I still have a little left from The Sea of Monsters.”

She wanted to finish the second book before going to the library to return both and pick up some more – now, with any unauthorized trips like that out of the question, she guessed she would have to ask an unfortunate staff member to return her books for her.

“I see,” the maid nodded. “In that case, would you maybe like to visit the library tomorrow after school to pick up some more? Or maybe you’d go somewhere new? I hear the Achefall Gardens are quite beautiful, even if a bit crowded.”

Natasha blinked at the maid again.

“I don’t understand. I thought you were supposed to bring me right home after school.”

“Is that so? Hmm, my interpretation of Mrs. Alexton’s orders was that I’m supposed to bring you home safe and sound. I don’t remember anything about taking the shortest route possible, or that we couldn’t stop anywhere along the way… Of course, if you want to go right home…”

She put great emphasis on the word ’want’.

Natasha hesitated. She couldn’t understand why Saiyuki, otherwise the perfect employee anyone could dream of, risked getting in trouble with her boss like that. Was this her own way of sticking it to Alexton? Or…

Or did she genuinely care about…

Well, either way Natasha didn’t want anyone to get in trouble on her behalf. She was opening her mouth to politely refuse the offer, but something inside her just wouldn’t let her. At the end of the day, Saiyuki, even if young, was an adult. She could decide for herself what risks she was willing to take. And a breath of freedom was something both Natasha and her superhero-side needed. In the case of an emergency, it would be a lot easier to get away from one person.

“The library sounds nice,” she said with a sigh. “Thank you.”

“But of course,” the maid smiled. “There’s one thing I must insist on, however. In the case of an actual Akuma attack, you must hide and keep yourself safe at any costs, will you?”

Natasha gave her a strange look.

“You say that as if you’re not planning to stick around during an attack.”

“Oh, sorry, that’s not what I meant. Obviously if anything like that happened, I’d be on your side, making sure you are safe.”

It would be a lie to say Saiyuki wasn’t conflicted about all this. In a way, Mrs. Alexton was right, she did put Natasha in more danger.

Madame Butterfly must have realized that at least one of her nemeses was highschool-age. For Bakeneko, it could go both ways, she could’ve been either a senior year or a fresh graduate, but with The Harlequin there was no denying how young she was, quantum masking or not.

Probably because of this, most of the attacks took place late in the afternoon, after school was out but early enough that most teenagers would be able to go out without being too suspicious. Sometimes, like when she Akumatized Sonya Remington into Mercury, she deviated from that rule to make use of an especially strong emotion, but should she do that too much, her opponents would eventually run out of excuses. Luckily, she seemed sensible enough to realize that there was no point endangering the city with a rampaging villain if her true targets wouldn’t be able to show up.

That meant that a lot of these after-school trips were bound to overlap with future attacks. And despite what Saiyuki just said, she couldn’t stay at her side to protect her. Well, at least not as Saiyuki.

She knew that the gold-plated cage Alexton provided was no life for a teenager, but was that enough reason? Or was she just looking for a defendable excuse to get away from work? Part of her wished this arrangement wasn’t so opportune for her superhero antics, so she could be sure of the clarity of her own reasons.

🗡

“This has been the weirdest day,” the Roaring Knight thought.

Or they would have, if their thoughts and motivations weren’t only vaguely comprehensible to the human brain, I guess.

They were so close to breaking that pesky little SOUL’s stubbornness, they were sure of it. Once it gave up on forcing Kris to fight them, there would be nothing preventing them from proceeding with the plan. Take Undyne to the Shelter. Do the church operation the next day.

The Festival on Sunday.

The Sacrifice next week.

Then December…

But then that w i t c h had to show up and throw a wrench on their entire plan. It was completely inconceivable. They fought through that battle again and again, more times they could count and nothing like that happened before.

They suspected the SOUL’s treachery behind it. After all, it was at least as incomprehensible to them as it must have been the other way around. They needed the SOUL for their plan, it was part of the Prophecy, but there was no way to predict how it would act.

With the Cage being loyal to them, they hoped they could prevent any way it could have thwarted them, but it looked like the cursed thing have found a way to act outside of the permitted limits of their world.

And now the Knight was here, at the edge of an unknown city. They were obviously in the Light World, but… something…

They looked down on their tall body, surrounded by an army of afterimages.

Something was wrong.

If this was the Light World, they should have been back to normal, wouldn’t they? Unless that portal they were dragged through somehow preserved them in the state they were in when entering it.

It seemed like an advantage at the moment, sure, but it brought into question everything they believed to be able to rely on. How much of their powers did they still possess? They needed to make sure.

They pulled the Black Knife from the ground, running one pointy finger along the dark blade. It was damaged, the tip broke off in the struggle in which they were taken. The Knight focused their will, channeling a bit of their very lifeforce through the penumbridian blade. The diamond-hard crystal absorbed the energy, changing its own structure and fixing any damage in the process.

Their weapon was still reliable at the very least. At some point they needed to test their magic, but there was something much more important first.

They struck the ground, sending their will through the blade into the depths of Earth. It stretched and spread, searching for the ocean of darkness below to draw it to the surface…

They couldn’t find it. The Darkness Below, the eternal night growing under the world – it was gone.

They couldn’t open Dark Fountains.

It didn’t make any sense. The Darkness couldn’t have just vanished. It was as old and as vast as the world itself.

The only explanation was that this place never had it the first place.

That confirmed their worst fear: they were stranded in an unknown world, with their greatest power denied from them, and worse, with no obvious way back.

Even though they had to. They had a job to do, and failure was not an option.

Yet, there was no enemy before them to strike down. No obstacle they could shatter. For all their fearsome powers, they couldn’t even think of a way to start to solve this conundrum.

That was when the Akuma came.

The Knight noticed the butterfly and brandished its sword, but something stopped them from striking the creature down. Maybe the essence of darkness they could feel it carrying?

They reached out with one hand, and the Akuma took a moment to rest on their eaxtended index finger.

Then it pushed itself away and dived right into their sword.

A neon purple mask appeared before what the Knight had to show for a face.

“Now, what do we have here?” they heard a cold but cheerful feminine voice speaking directly to their mind. “I mean seriously, what the hell are you? A runaway Sentimonster perhaps? Or maybe something else, conjured by a Miraculous? Were you experimenting with some unknown magic to end up like this? Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. One thing I can tell, you are exceptionally powerful. You are going to be of great use for me, darling.”

With an unamused twitch, the Knight reached out through the mental link and grabbed the woman’s mind with her own.

🦋

In her hideout, Madame Butterfly let out a scream at the sensation of a thousand blades piercing through her skull. She tried to close the connection, but it would have required focus which she was unable to muster under the mental assault. All she could do was look for a vertical surface to lean on, so she wouldn’t fall over while the invader shuffled through the contents of her mind.

“Stop!” she growled helplessly.

The voice in her head was like steel grinding against stone. It would have given her a headache if she wasn’t already feeling like her head was about to fall off.

“Because we could make a powerful alliance!”

The woman grinned through the pain. Once it came down to business, she knew she had no equal.

“I saw some things of your mind. I know you’re powerful, but if you accept my help, my Akuma could make you even stronger. And I know you don’t belong here. I learned a few things about other worlds during my research regarding the Miraculous, even though I never thought I’d have to deal with them. But I can tell, whatever caused you to end up here, there’s no easy way back.

“Now, from my mind, you already must know what I am after. With the united power of the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Black Cat, I can grant any wish. I could send you home with a snap of my finger. Not only that, but I could probably provide you with whatever you need to attain your original goal there as well.

“What do you think? Doesn’t everything I have to offer worth a bit of your help?”

The creature remained silent for a bit.

🗡

Taken over by purple energy, the Knight transformed.

Its already impressive proportions grew even larger, completing their tall frame with bulging muscles. From their back, a series of white spikes bursted out where their spine would have been. The single white orifice on their face split in three, each taking the shape of a white eye, copying the one on their chest. Similar eyes appeared all over their body as well, making their jet-black form appear like a window into a strange dimension. Finally, the constant cloud of afterimages surrounding them solidified into two shadowy copy of them on each sides, holding their own dark blades.

“Knightbringer, with my Akuma enhancing your powers, there’s nothing in this world that can stop you. Destroy The Harlequin and Bakeneko and bring me their Miraculous – then we both can have our wishes fulfilled!”

With a deafening roar, Knightbringer raised its blade high, then struck the ground again.

This time, a pillar of darkness shot out, stretching high into the sky.

Hitting the Sun, it turned the bright orb completely black, with an enormous white eye opening on it. Even from this distance, they could hear the people of the city scream as the bright blue sky darkened, sprinkled with tiny white dots.

At first glance, they could have been stars.

But a thorough observer would have noticed that each of them was another, smaller eye.

Knightbringer’s magically enhanced voice drummed through the city.

Chapter Text

Watching as their city was consumed by the unnatural gloom while the sun was still high in the sky, two boys stood in Vector Hotel’s penthouse suite. One of them was skinny with pale skin and short, black hair and he was barely wearing any colors other than black. He was standing before the large panorama windows of the penthouse suit, staring outside at the giant otherworldly eye that the Sun became, and the countless tiny eyes that took the place of the stars.

He was Aron Vector, heir to the Vector family that owned the hotel and many similar ones across the world, making them one of the wealthiest families.

He smirked.

“You know, if I want to be honest, I gotta admit that this is kind of great,” he said nonchalantly. “The view, I mean. I don’t know how bad this Akuma is, but they got a knack for cool designs. Or maybe I just have a thing for giant floating eyes? Maybe I should make a Sentimonster like that someday…”

He turned around, looking at this boyfriend who was more fixated one the large television, currently showing a live news broadcast from the downtown part of the city. People were screaming and fleeing in panic from Knightbringer, and its two shadow clones destroying buildings and cars left and right. Some cops made a half-hearted attempt to stop the villain but most of them had the sense to realize they’re far outmatched and chose to flee as well, hoping that The Harlequin and Bakeneko would show up soon to take control of the situation.

“That being said,” Aron added, seeing that his boyfriend was in a serious mood. “How bad is the Akuma?”

Yuu Akimoto looked up from the television. He had light skin and silver hair, and he was wearing mostly causal clothing except for his silver star necklace he always had on him.

“I don’t know,” he said earnestly.

“You don’t know?” Aron repeated, with a mixture of amusement and slight concern. “You mean ‘I-can’t-say-to-maintain-the-integrity-of-the-timeline’ you don’t know, or you don’t know-you don’t know?”

“In all the timelines I inspected through the Burrow, I’ve never seen an Akuma like this,” Yuu said. “It’s something completely new.”

He stepped away from the television and started to walk in a slow circle in the room, thinking.

“So, this is bad then,” Aron said with a frown. “Not just we have no idea if The Harlequin and Bakeneko can handle this on their own, it can completely derail the timeline even if they do, huh.”

“It’s early to say. But you know me, Aron.” Yuu stepped to the nightstand and took out a thumb ring from a small box. “I like being sure.”

“Is it time for you to intervene then?”

“First and foremost, I want to scout out what this Akuma is and where did it come from. The best way to do that is if I participate in the battle, yes. To be fair, helping out sometimes here and there won’t derail the timeline too much if the Harlequin and Bakeneko still get to deal with most of the threats on their own. Not intervening right now runs a greater risk… if we figure out how to beat this and find out afterwards that it put Inari in danger, we can always reset and retry knowing what we are dealing with.”

He stepped to the window, next to Aron and stared out into the shadows, cutting deep in the flesh of his city.

He transformed, his hair turning orange and his necklace gold. His clothes changed into an orange robe with a cape of similar color trailing behind him, and white dress pants. A white, beaked mask covered his face. Finally, a five-pointed star with a feather inside adorned the chest of his robe.

He pulled a quill from under his cape and raised to his ear like a cellphone.

“Ms. Li? I’m Dawnbringer. Yes, I’m about to, I just wanted to check in.”

“Do as you see fit, Dawnbringer,” an elderly woman’s voice spoke on the other end of the line. “The elders of the Order fully trust your judgement and so do I. That being said, do you need any other help? You mentioned before that it was yet too early for the Harlequin to assemble a full team, but given the circumstances, should I maybe look for some temporal Holders withing the city? There are a few I had my eyes on, but did not contact them so far, as per your request.”

“I’m afraid this is not the right time for that. We know too little about Knightbringer’s abilities, a crew of inexperienced Holders could be at risk of being overwhelmed and their Miraculous taken if it’s as powerful as it seems to be. The reason I’ve contacted you is to ask to make the preparations for the Burrowing Snake operation.”

“I see. I’ll prepare everything and be ready for your signal if the need be.”

Quickly thanking the Guardian, Dawnbringer ended the call.

“And how about me?” Aron asked with a teasing smile. “Don’t you need a cool Sentipartner?”

“Not yet. But I ask you to transform and be on the ready, in case we need you later.”

“Got it,” the boy chuckled. “So, that’s how it will be, three Heroes against the darkness… pretty poetic. Even though four would be more like an RPG I guess.”

“Isn’t four means death?” Dawnbringer joked.

“You know me, I like to play dangerous games. Duusu, Spread My Feathers!”

And with that, Aron changed too. His skin turned blue and like he was trying to create a dark counterpart to Dawnbringer’s bright colors, he don a dark blue robe with a black hooded cape. He spun his fan around playfully.

“Alright, let’s stay in contact. You need anything, just let me know,” Paravani said.

“Sublimation!” Dawnbringer called out. “I give myself the power to use other Miraculous powers!

“Voyage!”

He opened an orange portal in the air, leading to the chaos-filled streets below and jumped through.

☀️

Saiyuki was still sitting with Natasha, when the girl’s room turned unusually dark. At the same time, both of their phones started to beep with various alarms and notifications. Natasha quickly looked at hers.

“Another Akuma,” she said, her hand clenching into a fist. “Madame Butterfly is awfully diligent today.”

Saiyuki jumped up from her seat.

“Please, forgive me, Miss Natasha, but I must leave you for a bit. The attack is downtown, but from this darkness it appears that the Akuma is able to spread its effect far away. I must make sure that the premises of the house are safe – I’ll be back shortly to make sure you have everything you need until the crisis is resolved. Please, don’t leave your room under any circumstances.”

Natasha reluctantly nodded.

“Okay, I won’t. I promise.”

Returning the nod, Saiyuki dashed out of the room.

Feeling a sting of regret, Natasha let out a sigh. Then she grabbed her bed sheets and turned to the window.

🐞

“Anya!” Saiyuki ran up to the other maid.

“Saiyuki, did you see the sky?” the girl looked at her with a hint of panic.

“I did indeed. Don’t worry, I’m sure the Akuma will be stopped before it could make it this far. However, I’m very sorry, but the hospital called me about my uncle. It looks like the sudden darkness caused him some kind of panic attack and worsened his state. They are giving him sedatives, but they think a familiar face might help him calm down on his own. Could you please look after Miss Natasha until I’m back? All you need to do is make sure that she’s safe, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Anya blinked with a hint of uncertainty, but then she nodded.

“Of course. Go, look after your family.”

“Thank you very much!”

Without wasting another moment, Saiyuki ran outside, already looking for a hiding spot to transform in the sudden dark.

🐈‍⬛

Hoping that her co-worker’s uncle would be okay, Anya stepped to Natasha’s room and knocked.

No answer. She knocked again.

“Young mistress?” she called out, opening the door ajar. “Sorry for bothering you, I just…”

The words died in her throat with a gasp as she saw the window wide open, with a sheet rope dangling outside.

“I’m so grilled,” the young maiden groaned.

🐞🐈‍⬛

“Tikki, Spots On!”                                                                      

                                              “Plagg, Claws Out!”

🗡

“Stop right there!” called out one of the few police officers that haven’t fled yet.

To their credit, at least they tried to protect and serve by holding off Knightbringer until the Heroes arrived.

Sadly, all that their efforts accomplished was giving more work for the ladybugs afterward. The creature and its shadow-copies shrugged off the barrages of bullets like they were nothing, then let out a deep laughter. It sounded like some gigantic industrial machine breaking down.

They struck the ground with their giant sword, opening a deep fissure under the officers’ feet. Some of them fell right through, ending up somewhere in the city’s sewer system. The less lucky ones were caught by the initial shockwave and were thrown against the nearest walls, then fell back on the ground, not moving.

The few cops still standing realized they were far outmatched and ran for cover.

Officer Olsen was busy rethinking his life choices, hiding behind an old Toyota. Maybe he really should look for another career like his father said. This was only his first week in the force, but frankly, he could have gone for the rest of his life without having to put on the uniform again.

His thoughts were interrupted by a pair of heavy feet crushing the top of his cover. He looked up to see the three white eyes of Knightbringer glaring at him.

“Please…”

He stood up to back away, but he fell back right on his butt.

“I’m sorry I shot at you. I’m not doing it again. Please, just… don’t…”

Knightbringer raised a hand, gathering energy in the circular hole on its palm. Olsen shut his eyes tightly.

Then he felt something, a warm, orange light falling on his face. He opened his eyes at the last moment to see someone picking him up and dragging him away from the energy blast.

Looking up from the arms of his savior, he had to realize he had to thank his life to a teenage boy in a chicken costume. It was a really cool chicken costume though.

Dawnbringer put him on the ground.

“Go for safety. Let me handle this.”

Knightbringer looked the boy over.

“And so do you.”

The villain raised its hand again.

“Voyage!”

Dawnbringer slipped into a portal, avoiding Knightbringer’s energy beam. He popped up right behind his opponent’s back.

“Sublimation! I give myself power-analysis!”

A bright orange light ran over the shadowy figure, scanning them.

Knightbringer

ATK 999  DEF 999

The bane of another world, infused with the dark power of the Butterfly.

With a smirk, he dodged another shockwave.

“Knightbringer, huh? Guess our battle has been fated then. You can call me Dawnbringer.”

He ducked, avoiding two sword strikes coming from the shadow copies who just seemed to appear out of nothing on his two sides.

“Sublimation! I give myself enhanced agility!”

“And just as I suspected, its no ordinary Akuma. If it came from another world, that explains why I never saw it from the Burrow. It probably only breached this specific timeline.”

That was a bit frustrating, he had to admit. All that time and effort to keep things on the right track, all to ensure that a child doesn’t get erased from existence, and now he might be forced to start all over because of something completely outside of his control. But such is the price of playing god, even if it’s for the greater good, he guessed.

He kept jumping around Knightbringer’s attacks – with his Sublimation-increased speed and natural precision, it was almost fun, if not for the disastrous condition they left the city in, he might have genuinely enjoyed the challenge. He wondered if he should use his ace right away. If he was quick and decisive enough, he could de-Akumatize Knightbringer right now – he had a hunch that this time getting rid of the Akuma on its own wouldn’t be enough, so they could still use the Lucky Charm and the Miraculous Cure afterwards, but it should make things easier for the Harlequin and Bakeneko once they arrive.

But then, if this day needs to be reset, they won’t know how to beat them without his help. It’s better to hold off on that for now.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t try the old-fashioned way.

“Sublimation – I give myself the power to use other Miraculous powers!”

He threw his quill like a boomerang at Knightbringer’s main body, but they parried easily, knocking it far away.

“Fetch!”

The quill turned around and tore Knightbringer’s gigantic sword from their hand, bringing it to Dawnbringer. Knightbringer’s eyes widened, and it let out a furious growl.

Dawnbringer took a precious second to inspect the weapon. It wasn’t like anything he has seen before, like an endless black void encased in glass and given the shape of a sword – it seemed to swallow all light around it, then spat it back, changed into something else.

He kinda hoped he’d have the chance to study it more later but now was not the time.

“Cataclysm!”

The sword cracked.

Then a strange ringing ran through the crystal, and the cracks started to shrink.

“It didn’t break? And not only that, but it repairs itself?”

With a wave of energy, the sword tore itself out of Dawnbringer’s hand and returned to Knightbringer. They struck the ground, sending another fissure at the Hero, but he managed to dodge using Voyage.

“You didn’t like that, huh?” he smirked.

“So it’s not indestructible, or they wouldn’t be so protective about it. There are very few things that can withstand a Cataclysm though. It’s probably something they brought with themself, not a result of their Akumatization.”

Black, shadowy swords rained on the battlefield. Dawnbringer considered testing his reflexes against the attack, but really, teleportation was easier.

“Voyage!”

Instead of jumping to safety, he used the portal to swallow up the projectiles from the air, then sent them all back at Knightbringer from point-blank range. They didn’t seem to be perturbed by their own attack, only slightly raising their blade to block.

“Cataclysm!”

Dawnbringer reached through the same portal for the blade, not leaving any time or room for the villain to retreat.

Almost instantly, one of the shadow copies appeared between them, absorbing the Cataclysm and scattering into nothing. But even that victory didn’t last long, as another copy showed up to take its place, jumping through the portal at Dawnbringer. He closed the portal as the clone was only half-way through, turning it back into black mist.

Its twin rose from the ground like a ghost right behind him and grabbed him, holding him tight while Knightbringer charged up another energy beam in its palm.

“Resistance!”

Instead of going for some fancy trick to free himself and dodge, he just let Knightbringer evaporate their own minion while he withstood the attack without a scratch. He needed to be careful though – even someone with his abilities couldn’t abuse Sublimation forever, and he started to feel the rapid switching between powers wearing him down.

He wasn’t about to let that stop him though.

“Cataclysm! Mirage!”

He summoned his own copies – around a dozen or so of them, each holding the power of Destruction in their hand as they all charged at Knightbringer at once. It sliced through the ground, trying to get rid of the illusions, but they all jumped in the air at once, avoiding the trap. Knightbringer’s two clones threw themselves in the crowd of Dawnbringers, decimating the illusions with their dark blades, but at the end, there was still one left, bringing his Cataclysm down on their master.

Knightbringer changed shape – it turned into a small orb and slipped away the last moment. Dawnbringer’s attack hit the ground, opening a large crater and evaporating the two shadow copies with the shockwave.

Floating into safe distance, the orb changed back into Knightbringer and summoned its two servants back. Still kneeling in the middle of the crater, Dawnbringer smiled.

“For someone so powerful, you run away an awful lot, don’t you.”

He rose back on his feet.

“Not like I can blame you. Despite your boasting you must realize the precarious position you are in. You need the Miraculous to get back home – I imagine that’s what Madame Butterfly promised you, didn’t she? But if I beat you only once, it’s over. I’m, however,, unlike you…”

“Lucky Charm!”

“Cataclysm!”

“… I’m not alone.”

A black wooden plank covered in red dots fell on the Harlequin’s hand.

“And who are you, exactly?” she raised an eyebrow at the boy.

“Dawnbringer, Holder of the Rooster. I can tell you more later, but how about we take care of this first? I have reasons to believe that the Akuma is in their sword.”

“Yeah, we figured that much.”

She dropped the plank on a piece of broken concrete, letting one end pointing diagonally in the air.

“Ready, Bakeneko?”

Still holding to her Cataclysm, Bakeneko jumped on the grounded end of the plank.

“Ready if you are.”

“Then here we go!”

The Harlequin jumped on the upper end of the plank, launching her partner through the air. She spun around, aiming her Cataclysm right at Knightbringer’s sword.

It was a flashy trick, but it gave way too much time for the opponent to read her trajectory. Not even bothering to change shape this time, Knightbringer floated backwards, using their two copies for cover.

Completely forgetting about the threat they were dealing with so far.

“Venom!” Dawnbringer called out. “Voyage!”

A well-placed sting through a well-placed portal, left Knightbringer completely immobilized.

The shadow copies screeched. They either had some level of autonomy, or Knightbringer could mentally command them even in their paralyzed state, because one of them immediately retreated from its guarding position to pick up its master and bring it to safety. The other dodged Bakeneko’s Cataclysm and drew its sword to hold off the hero.

“Don’t think you can get away so easily!” the Harlequin grinned. Coiling her yoyo around a nearby rooftop, she gave chase, pursuing the retreating shadow with Knightbringer through the air.

“Voyage!” Dawnbringer called out, helpfully opening a portal for her to cross the distance.

The Harlequin swung through, kicking the shadow in the chest, sending it, Knightbringer and the sword all to the ground in a big heap.

Bakeneko pounced for the sword, eager to hold it in her destructive grasp, but she was yet again intercepted by the other shadow swinging its own sword at her. Deciding that she could always summon her Cataclysm later, she went for a punch to get rid of the meddling shadow, but it dodged, causing her to waste her power on a broken concrete wall. The copy swung again, but she parried with her pole.

“Lucky Charm!”

The Harlequin landed on her feet, holding a beaded necklace.

“Shit. Kind of drawing a blank on this one.”

She hoped for something she could use to help out her partner, so she could free the Akuma – normally her first idea would have been using the beads to trip the opponent, but you can’t really do that with someone who can fly, can you.

“Watch out!” Dawnbringer called out.

She spun around, only now noticing the other shadow bringing its sword down on her. Not enough time to grab her yoyo, she held up the necklace in both hands, hoping to catch the blade in it.

I kinda worked – the sword cut through the necklace, sending the beads rolling on the ground, but she escaped in one piece. Then, getting an idea, she dropped on the ground, using the beads to skid under the shadow. Hanging to a lamppost with her yoyo, she pulled herself next to Knightbringer’s limp body and grabbed their sword.

The shadow followed with a screech, trying to slice her up again, but this time the Harlequin blocked with Knightbringer’s own blade. For once grateful for the few fencing lessons her mother made her attend, she pushed back and swung at the shadow, keeping it on the defensive.

Realizing that they were stuck in a stalemate, the shadow made a somersault over the Harlequin’s head and dived into Knightbringer’s body.

The villain rose once again, then raised its hand, charging up an energy beam.

“Shellter!”

The Harlequin found herself surrounded by an orange bubble of energy, protecting her from the attack.

“Looks like they’re using the shadow to puppeteer their own body,” Dawnbringer noted.

“What an absolute bullshit set of powers,” the Harlequin fumed as Knightbringer slammed down its large fist on the energy shield. It seemed to hold up, for now. “Any idea how to break this thing before they get through?”

Dawnbringer could feel pearls of sweat forming on his forehead, but he ignored it as he called out “Voyage!”, creating a safe passage for the Harlequin.

The other shadow, locked in its own fencing match with Bakeneko, let out a growl and struck the ground with its sword, creating another trench under the Harlequin’s feet, just as she was about to step through the portal. Holding to the sword tightly, she faltered.

Dawnbringer reached through the portal to grab her, just as the Shellter broke under Knightbringer’s barrage of punches.

“Clout!”

Knightbringer’s hand closed around the Harlequin’s just as Dawnbringer’s superpowered punch landed on their chest. They flew a long way before stopping mid-air and flying upwards, dragging the heroine and the weapon with them.

“Cataclysm!”

Making use of the shadow’s distraction, Bakeneko quickly dispatched it, then sent an anticipating look toward Dawnbringer. The boy nodded, opening a new portal, leading from Bakeneko to high up in the air, where the Harlequin was struggling against her opponent.

“Here!”

Bakeneko poked the tip of her pole through the portal. With a grin, the Harlequin secured her yoyo around it, and with a kick against Knighbringer’s shoulder, she pulled herself free, swinging toward the portal. But the moment she thought she was free, she felt a grip, hard as steel around her ankle as Knightbringer pulled her back.

With a shout, she threw the sword through the portal. It stood into the ground right before Bakeneko’s feet.

“Catacl-”

The word died in Bakeneko’s throat as the reforming shadow grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth. She struggled to pull herself free, but grappled by a superpowered opponent, she could make little use of her usual mobility. Another claw-like hand gripped hers, pulling her ring off.

“No!” the Harlequin screamed, still dangling from Knightbringer’s hand by her ankle.

She threw her yoyo, this time not caring for what damage she might do. She fixed it tightly around Knightbringer’s neck and pulled. Using the leverage, she jumped up, and like a drowning person kicking another down, she kicked against the creature, the only goal in her mind is to reach the portal.

It was useless.

In a split second, one of Knightbringer’s arms closed around her with irresistible force, trapping her again. With another hand, they reached for her head, tearing one of her earrings away.

Panic setting in, the Harlequin kicked, squirmed and wriggled. She had not enough room, strength, or momentum left to jump – but with all she got, she slipped out of Knightbringer’s grip, falling toward the ground.

She couldn’t fight with half a Miraculous. Her transformation already started to come undone, drawing a trail of red sparkles as she fell – maybe, if she was lucky, it would last just long enough to keep her from splattering below.

But even if she couldn’t win, she wasn’t going to just give up either. At the very least, she can keep them from winning. Maybe, if they were quick enough, Dawnbringer could Cataclysm her other earring, keeping it from falling to Knightbringer’s hands. Maybe she could…

Her fall was suddenly interrupted, as Knightbringer grabbed her by the neck. Her hat, flying off her head, fell for a bit more before scattering into red sparkles.

They pulled her up, ignoring her squirming as they took her another earring.

Then they let go of her, letting her fall again.

Chapter Text

After double-checking that all the doors and windows were safely closed during the attack, the Dreemurr family gathered in their living room to watch the news. Kris didn’t say anything, but Pico immediately sensed that they were tense. Made sense – another knight-themed Akuma, it probably brought back some unpleasant memories.

“It’s going to be fine,” he told his spouse with a reassuring smile. “Whoever got Akumatized this time, the Harlequin and Bakeneko will save them, the same way as you. And now they’ve got a third hero on their side, that must be a lot of help.”

Kris nodded. They stayed silent but returned the smile, letting their husband know that they appreciated his support.

The phone rang and Pico got up to get it.

“Yes? Yes, they are… Okay, I tell them.”

He covered the receiver with his hand.

“Kris? It’s for you, they say it’s urgent.”

Kris cocked an eyebrow, but stood up, taking the phone.

“Hello?”

“Kris Dreemurr?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“I’m sorry. This is not going to be… pleasant, but I try my best to at least make it quick.”

“What are you talking about? Who are you?”

Static noise filled the line and a sudden ache pierced through Kris’ body. It was everywhere at once, but it was definitely focused on…

“Argh!” they grabbed their chest, dropping the phone.

“Kris‽” Pico stepped closer with sudden alarm.

“Dad!” Inari jumped up from the couch.

Kris’ head dropped, their arms hanging limply next to their body like a puppet.

“Kris, are you okay?” Pico reached out with one hand.

I’m fine❤️                                       I’m feeling sick

“You don’t sound fine,” Inari noted. “You don’t sound like yourself.”

Sorry I think I need rest                                             ❤️Arm yourself

With sudden, twitchy movement, Kris walked to the hallway and stepped before the old family portrait. They rested one hand on the frame for a moment, like they were hesitating.

“Kris?” Pico stepped behind them with increasing worry. “Kris, what are you…?”

With seemingly great effort, like they were fighting an almost irresistible urge, Kris tore their hand away from the portrait and went to the kitchen instead. Opening one of the drawers, they pulled out an ordinary kitchen knife, holding it in their hand for a moment, like they were trying to test its balance. Then they threw the knife in the air and with a confident move, caught it with their other hand.

The sudden movement made their messy brown bangs swing and Pico was sure that for a split second he caught some kind of red twinkle under them.

Then without a word, Kris marched to the door and went out to the street, still blaring with sirens.

“What’s going on?” Inari asked. “Did Madame Butterfly get to them again? I didn’t see an Akuma…”

“I don’t know,” Pico answered, pulling their phone. “But either way I think it’s better if we let the Heroes deal with it. They’ll make sure that they’re fine.”

He quickly composed a text and pushed send.

🐈‍⬛

Painfully aware of each second ticking away, Bakeneko threw all caution into the wind as she threw herself at Knightbringer’s shadow copy with a battle cry. She struck it with her pole once, twice, thrice and it parried everything, holding its sword in one hand and her ring in the other.

Then the shadow turned into a small, black orb and flew over her shoulder. She spun around to see the actual Knightbringer pulling their sword from the ground. They raised their free hand, and the orb floated above it, dropping the ring next to the Harlequin’s earrings. Bakeneko’s stomach sank. Her vision started to blur from the black particles of her own dissolving outfit.

Not wasting any time on gloating, or to acknowledge her efforts, Knightbringer raised their enormous sword to strike her down.

An orange portal opened behind her and Dawnbringer pulled her to safety, closing the portal immediately. Looking around, Bakeneko recognized the place, they were a few streets away from the battlefield.

“Voyage!” the boy called out again.

Another portal opened and the Harlequin flew through, her vertical velocity suddenly converting into horizontal, giving her the speed of a fired bullet. With well-trained reflexes, Bakeneko caught her and set her down, noticing but opting to ignore her flustered expression.

“Sorry about that,” Dawnbringer said. “We have little time, so I’ll be brief: if you wish to fight for your Miraculous, I can give you an opening, but I can’t guarantee anything else in such a short time.”

The two girls, their costumes flickering in and out, exchanged a look.

“An opening is all we need,” the Harlequin said.

“Very well. Resistance! Voyage!”

🗡

Knightbringer opened their palm, looking at the two tiny jewels. It was hard to believe that they held such power as Madame Butterfly claimed, but they knew better than to judge by looks.

Suddenly, two tiny creatures appeared, floating above their hand.

Plagg took a deep breath.

“Catacl-”

A purple mask appeared above their face. The otherwise ominous butterfly shape was so much at odds with Knightbringer’s absurd morphology, it was almost funny.

“You did splendidly, Knightbringer!” Madame Butterfly cheered. “Now, bring me the Miraculous, so I can wish you back home, like I promised.”

“Don’t be silly, the two girls may have seconds left before they detransform, assuming they haven’t yet. The Rooster is indeed powerful, but that’s one more reason to hurry up instead of prolonging this battle any longer.” Her mental voice became suspicious. “Say, you aren’t trying to figure out how to use the Miraculous without me, do you?”

An orange portal opened and Dawnbringer jumped through. Without hesitation, Knightbringer waved its hand, raining black swords at him, but they all dissolved into nothing the moment they made contact with him. With a growl, they charged at the boy, raising their sword.

“Lucky Charm!”

A black cloak with orange lining fell in Dawnbringer’s hand. He smiled and threw the piece of cloth into Knightbringer’s face. A simple trick, but unexpected enough to break their momentum as the Harlequin and Bakeneko jumped out of the portal too.

The Harlequin swung her yoyo, tying it around Knightbringer’s wrist and jumped, bending their arm so their hand would be an easier target for Bakeneko’s pole swing. The earrings and the ring both flew into the air.

Knightbringer transformed into its orb form to get away from the cloak and the yoyo, but it was a moment too late. The Harlequin and Bakeneko jumped, each grabbing a Miraculous – then, just before the last of their transformation faded away, they both jumped in the pit created by Knightbringer itself, finding refuge in the sewers below.

Dawnbringer smirked and with a backflip, vanished in the portal he just came from. He’d be back in action soon enough; he just needed a moment to regain his breath.

🦋

“Fool!” Madame Butterfly screamed in her hideout, her anger momentarily overriding her caution toward her dubious ally. “You literally had the Miraculous in your hand! All you had to do was listening to me, but now we’re back at square one!”

Knightbringer didn’t answer, even though they were both well aware that they could hear her through their mental connection. They didn’t just refuse to take responsibility for their failing, they even had the nerve to willfully ignore her!

“Retrieve them, or I’ll remove your powers!” She threatened before shutting down the connection.

Only then did she take a calming breath.

There was nothing lost yet. Knightbringer may be hard to control, but they were still their most powerful solider yet. They had every chance to turn this hick-up around and obtain the Miraculous, and in case they failed, she could always make another villain. This was a war of attrition, and she held all the cards.

Still, starting over every time was frustrating. Maybe, just maybe… she should prepare a plan B. Even if Knightbringer failed, the heroes would be exhausted after the battle. If she could manage to immediately strike again, in the moment of their victory…

A smile played on her lips. Yes.

One way or another, this was going to be the day of her victory.

<> 

Using one hand to shield her nose from the smells, Natasha looked at the ring in her other palm. It was a thin silver construction with no gem or emblem embellishing it, but the metal itself was worked into an ornate pattern of intertwining vines. She was sure it looked different the last time she had it in her hands, but she guessed it was part of the Miraculous’ magic trying to disguise itself.

A small, cat-like creature popped up next to her.

“Hey Natasha,” Plagg grinned at her. “It’s nice to see you again. Hope you’re just as happy with my new holder as I am.”

“Yeah, she’s awesome, but…” the girl blinked. “How did you know my real name?”

Whoopsy-doopsey. Right, Plagg was only supposed to know her as the Harlequin, they never met in her civilian form before.

“Oh, you know,” the kwami shrugged nonchalantly. “Bakeneko lets me use the internet, and you’re rich and famous. Learning that you were the Harlequin all along though? Wow, total leftfield. You can’t tell because of my cool temper, but I’m flabbergasted right now. Anyway, you don’t happen to have any cheese on you, right?”

“Sorry, all I got is sweets,” the girl held up a strawberry macaron. “Tikki isn’t really into cheese.”

“Dear, sweet-tooth Tikki,” Plagg sighed. “Well, there’s no accounting for taste, I guess. And usually that just means there’s more camembert for me.”

Natasha slipped the ring on her finger.

“Guess we need to mix things up a little this time. Hopefully we can manage with each other’s powers. How do I transform with you?”

“All you have to say is ‘Plagg, Claws Out’!”

“Plagg, Claws Out!”

Magic encased her, creating her new outfit.

Part of her just wanted to color her usual costume black, slap some cat-ears on top, and be done with it. They had a battle to win, after all. But that wasn’t the part that the magic of the Miraculous was willing to listen to, apparently.

A shiny black spandex materialized on her body, like she just stepped out of the latest superhero blockbuster. Her torso was further protected by a black chestplate with green lights around the edges, and five green circles glowing in the middle – one larger and four smaller, together forming a paw.

Her ginger hair arranged into a thin, long ponytail while the top of her head was covered by a black helmet-mask with cat ears. Black platform boots appeared on her feet, sneakily adding a few inches to her apparent height, and black gloves slipped on her hands, each finger ending in a pointy metal claw.

Finally, a mechanical cat tail spurted out behind her and a metal belt formed around her waist, holding her shiny new baton.

“Okay, the tail might be just a bit much,” she thought. “But what the hell, I live only once I guess.”

“Okay,” she grinned, clenching her fists. “Let’s turn this Knightbringer into Knightfall!”

Running to the nearest manhole, she jumped back up to the street. Immediately, a barrage of black swords hit the concrete around her, but she was prepared, deflecting the attacks with her pole.

“Cataclysm!”

She jumped up after Knightbringer, floating above the street. They dodged, but she extended her pole, pushing herself back and meeting them mid-air. Reflexively, Knightbringer raised their sword to parry her baton, and without hesitation, she grabbed the top of the blade with her Cataclysm.

The black crystal let out a scream-like noise as it cracked further. Then, it released a wave of energy, pushing the two warriors away.

The cat-hero landed on her feet, digging her baton into the ground to stop herself from sliding backwards.

“In case you were wondering what deity to pray to, you may call me Bastet,” she said with a smug grin. “But spoilers: I won’t listen.”

Knightbringer waved its sword, summoning an army of shadows.

“So you can make more than two, huh? You like to keep your cards close to your chests – but you’ll run out of tricks eventually!”

With the push of a button, she split her pole in two, preparing for the incoming siege.

Not too far away, another person jumped out of a fissure, landing in a nearby tree that somehow survived the battle so far.

She was wearing a red tube top with arm warmers – red with black spots on the left, going down to her wrist, and a pure black one on the right that stretched into a fingerless glove. She sported a red skirt with black spots, and her face was covered under a red-black domino mask.

“Lucky Charm!”

Throwing her yoyo high, she summoned a red frying pan with black spots and immediately looked around for a way to use it.

Just under the tree, a section of the concrete road was torn up, creating a ramp of sort. Without wasting any time, she dropped the pan and jumped on top of it, using it as a surfboard to build up momentum. She spun her yoyo around, knocking shadowbringers away left and right as she dived into the crowd attacking her partner.

“Nice outfit!” Bastet grinned as they stood back-to-back, fighting off the swarm.

“Thank you. I think I’m going to go by the name Shichibug while this arrangement lasts.”

They quickly got into the pattern, whenever a group of shadows closed in, Shichibug blocked their sword strikes, using her pan as a shield. When they retreated to prepare for their next attack, Bastet would strike them with her poles, disarming them, then Shichibug tied up the stunned opponents and threw them against the nearest wall with her yoyo, dispersing them into dark mist.

It was a stalemate though, their opponents didn’t get any closer to them, but they didn’t get any closer to victory either, and Knightbringer had other powers to rely on as well.

They rose high above the tussle, charging a beam in their hand.

“How much heat do you think that pan can resist?” Bastet asked.

“Not that much, probably.”

“Figures. Cataclysm!”

This time Bastet channeled her power through her pole, striking the ground beneath, creating a small earthquake. At this point all the nearby streets and buildings were evacuated and collateral damage was so rampant already, what did a little more destruction matter?

The shockwave blew a hole under them, dispersing most of the shadows, and caused the nearest building to come crashing down, right on top of Knightbringer.

This proved to be enough of a distraction as the creature interrupted their attack to turn toward the building and cut it clean in half with their sword to avoid being buried.

Problem number two, now all the rubble from the destroyed building was falling on the street, with Shichibug and Bastet in the way.

“Lucky Charm!”

Getting rid of her pan, Shichibug summoned a canoe for cover. Throwing themselves at the bottom of the Cataclysm-pit and covering themselves with the canoe, they stayed safe as the rumbling ended. They were now buried under the debris, but with another quick Cataclysm Bastet dug themselves out.

Knightbringer floated above the ruins, keeping its distance. They seemed to be waiting for the heroes’ next move.

“It’s getting cautious,” Bastet noted. “Maybe it starts to finally tire out?”

“Possible. They should be still affected by Dawnbringer’s paralyzing attack from before, moving their body through that shadow must take a lot out of them. But we should count on the possibility that it’s trying to trick us.”

“Yeah, but we won’t get the Akuma by playing defensively. I got a hit in with my Cataclysm, but the sword slowly repairs itself, if we can’t keep up the pressure now, we might lose all our progress. Maybe that’s why it’s stalling for time.”

“All right, let’s see what luck has in store for us.”

Shichibug threw her yoyo in the air.

“Lucky Charm!”

She received a tennis net.

“You think the same as I do?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Bastet smirked. “Let’s see if they’re really as scared of us as they seem to be.”

Bastet fixed the rolled-up net on her belt, and the two heroes pushed themselves into the air, jumping back and forth between the nearby buildings as they closed in on Knightbringer.

They floated backwards, never showing their back to them. They summoned one sword after the other, trying to slow down the heroes, but Shichibug and Bastet dodged each projectile flawlessly while slowly but steadily shrinking the distance between themselves and the villain.

Finally, with a powerful push, Bastet spun above their target.

“Cataclysm!” she called out.

Without hesitation, Knightbringer turned into an orb to slip away.

With a grin, Bastet dropped the tennis net, unfolding it in the air. At the same time, she hit extend on her baton, nailing one end of the net to a nearby wall, while the other end trailed downward, after Knightbringer.

Shichibug threw her yoyo, stringing it through the other end of the net and securing it around a lamp post at the corner of the same building. With a strong pull, she fastened the net, pushing the orb against the building’s wall.

Realizing that they were about to be trapped, Knightbringer turned back into its normal form and with a swing, cut themself free.

That was when Bastet came diving from above, touching the sword with her still active Cataclysm.

The weapon let out a screech that sounded like the gates of hell itself breaking down – then it exploded into thousands of tiny black shards.

The shockwave pushed Knightbringer and Bastet apart. Then, a tiny purple butterfly fluttered towards the sky.

Standing ready, Shichibug spun her yoyo.

“Time to clean up the chaos!”

She caught the Akuma like she was doing it her whole life, and a moment later she released the purified butterfly. Then, without missing a beat, she caught one of the falling pieces of her tennis net and threw it right back in the air.

Her magical ladybugs swarmed the city, washing away every sign of destruction with their healing wave.

Then, they rose into the sky and ate up the darkness and the lurking eyes, restoring the sun to bathe Achefall in its warm orange light.

“Ugh.”

Bastet pushed herself up with a groan, but she was smiling with satisfaction.

“Guess even with our Miraculous shuffled up, we make a pretty good team, huh? Another job…”

She raised her hand for their usual victory ritual, only to be interrupted by the opening of an orange portal and Dawnbringer landing next to them with an alarmed expression.

“Don’t let your guard down. It’s not over.”

“What are you-”

They heard a deep growl and a dark figure rose from the ground.

Knightbringer, or whoever they were supposed to be now, had lost some of its body bulk, but they were still impossibly tall. The spikes lining their back and the eyes covering their body were gone, leaving their form almost entirely black. Their face had a single, white orifice now – that it was supposed to serve as a visual organ or a mouth, it was impossible to tell.

“What’s going on?” Shichibug gripped her yoyo tightly. “Why don’t they transform back?”

“I wanted to warn you, but there just wasn’t enough time,” Dawnbringer frowned, preparing his quill. “They’re not like the other Akumatized victims you fought.”

The shattered sword, now fully restored by the ladybugs, rose from the ground and flew back into the dark figure’s hand. They struck a fighting pose and let out a mind-blogging shriek, creating a soundwave that seemed to shake the whole city.

“Y… you can’t be serious,” Bastet snarled, preparing her pole. “Since when do Akumas get a second stage‽”

The Roaring Knight appeared!

🦋

Madame Butterfly took a moment to let out a satisfied laugh. It couldn’t have been more perfect even if she planned it out – a warrior that keeps fighting even after de-Akumatized. That was exactly the kind of advantage she needed to get those overconfident brats off-guard.

Of course, she didn’t expect the Knight to hold up their agreement for a moment. They’d most likely try to get the Miraculous for their own use, exactly like she’d do in their position. But it didn’t matter. All she needed them for now was to wear the Harlequin and Bakeneko (or whatever name they picked this time) down even more. In the meanwhile, she was free to look for someone to finish the job.

She closed her eyes and opened her mind to the city’s turmoil. There was plenty of fear and stress she could have worked with, people were scared of the unusually tough Akuma, and the brief relief brough by the ladybugs was quickly torn away by the deafening roar of the Knight.

But she was looking for something with more kick.

“God damm them all.”

Anger. She smiled. That sounded promising.

“Damm that idiotic Guardian for scamming me. Hero my ass! Who even cares about something so ridiculous‽ She conspired with the Harlequin to make me look like an idiot and get me locked up. And now some dumbass cosplayer is parading around, playing catgirl with MY Miraculous.

“Just wait for it. I will get out of here. Then you all get to learn a much-needed lesson of respect.”

Richard Skinner.

The Guardian’s first pick for the Black Cat Holder. He turned on the Harlequin and tried to take the Miraculous for himself, but quickly got his ass kicked. Now he was sitting in a juvenile prison under some vague charges of ‘theft and vandalism’, at least until someone came up with something better to account for acts of voluntarily supervillainy.

He was the least reliable ally someone could ask for, but the perfect target for Akumatization. His hurt ego and blind thirst for petty revenge would make for a devastating villain.

Smiling, she took a butterfly from their container.

“The city’s busy celebrating the return of the sun and fails to notice that it’s about to set. Go, my beautiful Akuma, and create a shadow they won’t ever forget!”

🐞☀️🐈‍⬛

Bastet jumped backwards to avoid the Knight’s energy-wave, only to end up in the area of their raining sword attack.

“Shellter!”

Dawnbringer created a bubble to protect all three of them, giving them a much needed moment to gather their bearings. But the dark blades just kept coming down on them until the barrier cracked and broke under them. Shichibug and Bastet spun their weapons to deflect the remaining projectiles.

“Am I crazy, or their attacks getting stronger?” Bastet asked, jumping away as a fissure opened under their feet.

“More brutal, maybe,” Dawnbringer corrected, landing on a traffic sign. “The Akuma made them stronger, but they needed to protect their sword to keep those powers. Now that they already lost it, there’s no reason for them to not go all out.”

“So it was holding back so far? Good to know,” Bastet grunted. “Cataclysm!”

She hit the ground with her baton, sending a winding shockwave at the Knight, who responded with a blood-red slash of its own. The two attacks hit each other midway and exploded, tearing the road into bits. The battle just started but the street already looked like the ladybugs never fixed it in the first place.

Bastet coughed, the dust from the impact blurring her vision. Then she heard movement from behind herself.

It was almost a moment too late when she spun around to block the Knight’s sword with her pole.

“You have to do better to sneak up on a cat,” she grinned, but her brow was sweating as she pushed back against the Knight’s absurd strength.

Shichibug tied her yoyo around the Knight’s waist and pulled them away, but they freed themself in a moment by turning into an orb. Retreating to a safer distance, they swung their sword rapidly, bombarding all three of them with red energy waves. The heroes stood their ground, deflecting the attacks with their weapons.

“You said it wasn’t a regular Akuma,” Shichibug said. “Then what they are?”

“I’m not sure myself,” Dawnbringer admitted. “All I know is that they came from another world. Madame Butterfly jumped on the opportunity to Akumatize such a powerful creature, but I’m assuming they want the Miraculous for themself now. Voyage!”

Using the same trick he did once before, Dawnbringer opened a large portal before the three of them to catch the Knight’s bullets and another above them to send them all back. Realizing that they were now effectively attacking themself, they stopped the barrage. Making use of the momentary break, Dawnbringer jumped through himself.

“Venom!”

Recognizing the threat, the Knight immediately went on the defensive, trying to keep its distance from him.

Relying on their orb form again, they slipped through the portal, hoping to find escape the way Dawnbringer was coming from. Instead, they found themself almost hit square in the middle by Bastet’s baton. They turned back at the last moment, blocking with their sword.

“Hi there,” the cat hero said with an expression that could be either a grin or a snarl.

She pushed against the Knight with all her might, pressing them backwards toward the portal.

“Wanna hear about a game I’ve used to play as a kid?” Bastet filtered between her teeth. “It’s kinda like tag, or hide-and-seek. You look for places to hide. If they find you, you run away. I called it the loser’s game, because there was no way to win. You just kept going, trying to avoid being cornered. The game only ended if you got caught or gave up.”

She grunted as the Knight tried to push her out of its way, but she held on.

“Why am I telling you this?”

Dawnbringer jumped through the portal behind the Knight, still holding onto his Venom.

“’Cause you just lost it,” Bastet smiled.

With a growl, the Knight stopped pushing against the girl. Caught off-guard, she fell ahead, right into their arms. Just as Dawnbringer was about to strike with his venomous stinger, they spun around, holding Bastet in front with their sword across her neck.

Dawnbringer stopped himself, the stinger inches from Bastet’s face.

They stared at each other for a moment, stuck in a stalemate, when Shichibug’s yoyo tied itself around the Knight’s arm, pulling her partner free. Dawnbringer jumped to strike a defenseless spot on their body, but the Knight was just a bit faster, striking the ground with its sword. The Earth trembled and the shockwave pushed all three heroes far away, giving the Knight enough time to retreat.

“Last time it could only resist Venom because of the powers the Akuma gave them,” Dawnbringer told the others. “They know that the Miraculous have the power to defeat it. They’re fighting out of desperation now, so don’t give up!”

“Who was about to give up?” Shichibug smiled. “Lucky Charm!”

She received a thick metal chain, red with black spots. They looked at each other with Bastet.

“We catch them,” Bastet said.

“And you paralyze them,” Shichibug finished. “We just need to find a way to stop them from escaping as a ball.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Bastet said, resting her pole on her shoulder. “Just make sure to get me close.”

Dawnbringer nodded.

Shichibug and Bastet charged at the Knight, and the game was back on – dodging various attacks left and right that the Knight threw at them while flying backwards, trying to escape.

“Now!” Bastet called out in the middle of a flip over a red energy wave.

“Voyage!”

Slipping through Dawnbringer’s portal, she landed right behind the Knight, cutting their path off.

“Cataclysm!”

She charged her pole with destructive energy, assuming the pose of a batter.

Shichibug came in from front, spinning her yoyo.

The Knight shrunk into a ball again, trying to slip out of the flank. Waiting for this exact moment, Bastet charged forward, hitting it with her Cataclysm-charged pole.

She sent the ball flying, right into the nearest wall, turning the concrete into dust. The Knight changed back, its form blinking and flickering from the strike.

Shichibug and Bastet closed in, each holding one end of the chain. They circled around the dazed Knight, tying its arms to its trunk.

“Shellter!”

An orange bubble rose around them, cutting all possible paths to escape.

The Knight growled, their aura of afterimages changing into a solid white glow.

The Knight’s hand glow a strange color

“That doesn’t look good,” Bastet frowned. “Dawnbringer?”

“Voyage!”

He opened a portal inside the barrier, ready to strike.

The Knight threw its head back and roared. Its body released an energy wave, seemingly tearing its chest open to reveal a single white eye between its black ribs.

The chain broke and the Shellter shattered. The shockwave ran through the streets and even the tiny portal, throwing the heroes backwards.

The Knight rose, stretching its long arms. Black, six-pointed stars rained upon the city, shattering everything on impact. Thay spun and danced around the Roaring Knight, like a galaxy around a black hole, only to be finally absorbed by their body.

Shichibug, Bastet and Dawnbringer skipped, jumped and dodged around the projectiles, trying to avoid them all. Dawnbringer summoned another barrier, trying to cover as much of the city as he could, but soon the scattered wave of stars unified into two steady streams spiraling around the Knight, cutting through everything in their path.

Finally, the starstorm of darkness seemed to run out. But it wasn’t over just yet.

The Knight shouted once again, releasing all the stars it absorbed at once for a devastating tide of destruction.

Chapter Text

Bastet thought she blacked out for a moment as her body was thrown back by the sheer force of the Knight’s wrath. She found herself lying limply at the bottom of a broken wall, with an imposing dark figure floating above.

A dozen or so black swords appeared around the Knight, each pointing at her.

🛡️Defend

The swords all came down on Bastet… then they suddenly stopped. She blinked, still struggling to keep her vision focused.

Someone was standing in front of her, but she could make out very little of them as they were facing the Knight. They had a slim figure with shaggy-looking brown hair. They had a knife in one hand, holding it diagonally ahead, like they were holding a sword. In the other, they held a gray metal circle that she couldn’t really identify, but they were keeping it like a shield.

“Kris…?” she whispered.

The Knight seemed to be dazzled as well, their swords kept floating, not moving an inch ahead toward them.

Then Kris’ posture changed.

❤️🗡️Fight

They jumped ahead and upwards, stabbing their knife right between the Knight’s neck and shoulder. The creature shrieked and pushed them away, sending them flying like a baseball.

“Voyage!”

Dawnbringer jumped in for the save, catching Kris mid-air and pulling them into the temporal safety of a damaged building nearby.

“Kris, what the hell are you doing?” he snapped. “You can’t just try to fight a supervillain with… is that a trashcan lid?”

They gave Dawnbringer an empty stare.

Sorry                    ❤️      Who the hell ARE you?

“Kris?” He scanned their face with a hint of alarm. “Are you alright?”

“I don’t think they are,” he heard Paravani through his communicator. “I just got a message from Pico, he says Kris was acting strange before they left home. He didn’t see any signs of Akumatization, and at the time Madame Butterfly’s Akuma was still tied to Knightbringer, so it couldn’t be her, but my guess is that someone is controlling them.”

Dawnbringer reached out, touching Kris’ forehead.

“Sublimation! I give myself the power of telepathy!”

With an inaudible click, his mind connected to Kris’.

And someone else’s.

“Who are you?” Dawnbringer asked.

“Is that why you’re possessing Kris? You put them in mortal danger by making them attack the Knight.”

Using his telepathy, Dawnbringer made sure to broadcast the conversation to Paravani as well but also hid their own discussion from the presence in Kris’ mind.

“What do you think?”

“So, they need a body they say?” Paravani mused. “That’s something I could help with… and in case they prove to be untrustworthy, we can just get rid of them with a finger snap. Built-in insurance.”

Dawnbringer considered it for a moment.

“Let’s say we can provide you with a body, using our magic – one capable of taking on the Knight. Would you be willing to release Kris in exchange for that?”

The cracked walls of the building collapsed, revealing the Knight on the other side. Dawnbringer swooped up Kris and jumped through the window.

“We’re ready if you are, Paravani,” he said into his communicator.

“Ready to go, but my Amok could use a shortcut to get there faster.”

“Voyage!”

From an orange portal a blue feather fluttered forth, entering the knife in Kris’ hand. A neon-blue mask appeared above their face.

“Okay, this is a bit unusual, but luckily I’ve got a pretty flexible Miraculous,” he told the SOUL. “We’re going to create a Sentibody for you – I’ll provide the magic, but it will be formed by your thoughts and desires… well, with how jumbled up you are in there, guess it’s inevitable for Kris to have some influence on it as well, but hopefully that won’t be too much of an issue. So, guess just try to focus on what you want?”

A blue glow came to life, taking the vague shape of a human.

CONNECTION TRANSFER…

Kris, still hunched over Dawnbringer’s shoulders, let out a half-painful, half-relieved groan.

The sentibeing took on its form – it looked a lot like Kris when they were Akumatized into the Knight(?), wearing an antique looking armor, scarf, and wielding a sword, but instead of blue, it was all in grayscale, like they stepped out of an old photo. The only color was two shimmering red dots, barely visible under the gray bangs falling into their face.

“Behold…” Paravani hesitated. “… okay, maybe I should let you pick a name. It’s your body after all.”

NAME YOUR VESSEL

A black orb floated after them, turning back into the Knight. They swung their black sword at Dawnbringer, but it was parried by another, gray blade.

“Alright,” they grinned, flashing two canines slightly longer and pointer than you’d expect from a human. “You may call me Knightbreak.”

“Okay, so we ARE running that pun into the ground huh,” Paravani sighed. “Very well, as I said, your choice.”

The Knight growled.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Knightbreak said, pushing stronger against the Knight. “And this time, it’s down to you and I… no Titan to save your skin. Twin Strike!”

They released a wave of red energy, pushing the Knight backwards, then continued with another one right away before it could recover its guard. The dark creature smashed into the road below, leaving a crater in the concrete.

“Could you make sure to keep Kris out of the line of fire?” Knightbreak turned to Dawnbringer. “I’ll take care of this.”

“I’ll keep them safe,” Dawnbringer nodded. “But I’ll keep an eye out, in case you need reinforcement.”

He sat Kris down, on the ground.

“It will be fine, just make sure you keep that knife safe, okay?”

The Knight bursted out of the ground and rose high, raining swords at Knightbreak below. They dodged left and right, taking advantage of the supernatural speed of their sentibody, then spun their sword and stabbed the ground.

Red rays of light erupted from the earth, sending a cloud of debris high in the air. Knightbreak jumped from one piece to another, using the broken concrete as platforms to get in the same height as the Knight. The black figure swung its sword, turning the rock under its opponent’s feet into fine dust, but they managed to push themself away the last moment.

Knightbreak raised their sword, a red orb of energy forming at the tip of the gray blade, then they swung it at the Knight. It parried with its own weapon and the orb exploded into dozens of glowing red knives, surrounding them and coming back at them from behind.

Unable to dodge, they fell back on the ground on their knees, using their sword for support.

“I don’t care how tough you are, this is over!”

Knightbreak dived after them to finish them off, but the Knight managed to regain their wits at the last moment and threw their sword at their opponent. Knightbreak spun to the side and caught the weapon by its hilt, but surprised by its momentum, they were dragged backwards. The Knight’s black swords appeared around them, forming a corridor and waving up and down as they flew through at high velocity. They tried their best to stay in the middle, but they were still cut in multiple places and landed in a bloody mess, too weak to stand up.

The Knight called their sword back and floated closer. Towering over the gray figure, they raised their weapon.

“Come on, do it,” Knightbreak teased as blood dripped from their mouth. “You know I’ll be back in a blink, as good as new. But you, you won’t be any less worn down this time.”

It touched the tip of its sword to Knightbreak’s chest, sending glowing red lines spreading through their gray skin. They shouted.

“Agh, that’s…” they gasped for air. “How can you…”

The Knight’s laughter could peel the paint from the wall.

Through a Voyage portal, a red yoyo with black spots coiled around the Knight’s ankle and pulled it through. Flexing her muscles on the other side, Shichibug flipped the Knight above her head and sent them crashing into a parking car. The alarm started to blare, creating an echo through the empty street.

Knightbreak jumped through the portal before it closed, readying their sword.

“Thanks,” they muttered.

Shichibug gave them a quick once-over.

“I hope I don’t offend you by saying this, but you don’t seem to be in fighting condition.”

“You’re only saying that because I’m covered in my own blood,” Knightbreak grinned.

Their sword lit up red, and they sent a blast of energy at the Knight, just as it was about to recover from the fall. Taking a page from the heroes’ book, it spun its own sword, dispersing the energy, then jumped high up, charging at the two from above.

Knightbreak jumped ahead to block while sending Shichibug a side-glance.

“It’s dropping the fancy attacks for melee – if you have an ultimate finishing move or something like that, I’d say now’s the time to use.”

“Well, I’m not sure if it’s a ‘finishing move,’ but… Lucky Charm!”

A large shadow covered the fighters as a piano materialized above them in the air. Shichibug and Knightbreak quickly jumped away.

“I’d say that’s a pretty darn good finishing move.”

“It’s usually not this direct.”

The Knight slashed the piano in two, causing it to fell on the ground harmlessly – and revealing a diving Bastet behind it in the air.

“Cataclysm!”

She punched the Knight right in the chin, or where it was supposed to be with her destruction-filled fist, sending them flying upward. Shichibug caught them again with her yoyo and spun them around before they could recover from the surprise attack.

“Now!” she shouted, throwing them right in front of Knightbreak.

They jumped, their blade drawing a red trail in the air as they slashed at the Knight.

It crashed into the ground and rolled a few feet, dropping its sword on the way. After staying still for a second, it pushed against the ground with both hands, trying to stand, but all they seemed to manage was kneeling.

Shichibug and Bastet stepped to them from each side, spinning their weapons. Knightbreak stepped in front.

“You have been weighed.”

They placed their sword under the Knight’s chin line, the blade humming with red energy.

“You have been measured. And you have been found wanting.”

Bastet sent Knightbreak, this complete stranger who, for some reason, chose to take on a form so uncomfortably reminiscent of her friend, a cautious look.

“And now what?” she asked. “We won, so… you’ll just execute them on the street like that? I get it, they’re dangerous and you probably know more about them than we do, but that just seems…”

“If I’m right about their true nature, I can’t really kill them… at least not in the classical sense. I can’t be sure, but I think they’re what’s in their native world is called a Darkner – an object turned into a living being by magic.”

“Like a sentimonster?” Bastet mumbled. “Still…”

“That means that even if they’re critically wounded, they can be brought back later. I’ll just need to fix the object they were animated from. Until then, they won’t be able to harm anyone.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Shichibug looked at them.

Knightbreak licked their lips.

“Then, I should only dirty my own hands. But I must take that risk. Last time when I was close to cornering them, they summoned an eldritch monster that could have destroyed an entire world, just to cover their escape. Here, in your world, their powers are much more limited. I have to take this opportunity.”

Another Voyage portal opened behind them and out stepped Dawnbringer.

“First things first… Venom!”

He stabbed the Knight in the neck, making sure it couldn’t escape while they were talking.

“There are some practical concerns beside the moral ones too,” he said calmly. “If Shichibug casts the Miraculous Cure, it will undo any damage caused during the battle. That might include that taken by the Knight too. If we’re not careful, we might just end up restoring them to full strength again.”

He looked at the Knight, kneeling in silence. Even though their limbs were paralyzed, their orifice shifted from one of them to the other, emulating an intense stare.

“There’s also a chance that the ladybugs would judge that their arrival here was the original cause of the whole trouble and bring them back to their own world, resetting back everything like they were before. They work in mysterious ways, but they have a tendency of singling out magical anomalies.”

“That didn’t happen last time,” Bastet pointed it out.

“True, but then you’ve only beaten the Akuma. The Knight itself was still very much both willing and capable of fighting your for the Miraculous. Now is a different story. My primary concern is the safety of this world, but if I can help it, I’d rather not put anyone in danger somewhere else by setting the Knight free in theirs.”

The Knight let out a low, guttural noise.

Knightbreak pulled their lips.

“I can travel between worlds, but my method doesn’t really allow for passengers. Honestly, I’m still trying to get the hang of the whole thing.”

Bastet looked around at the battle sight and the blatant destruction.

“And what if we just cut the Gordian knot and don’t use the Miraculous Cure? I mean, there are no casualties this time, and sure, it would cost a lot for the city to fix all of this…”

“I could pull some strings to cover the finances,” Dawnbringer said, stroking his chin. “It would be putting a strain on the city’s moral though, a lot of people would be ripe for Akumatization.

“Maybe it would be better if I just sent the Knight back, together with Knightbreak, to the Knight’s world. I could probably manage with Sublimation, even though not knowing the world in question could make it tricky…”

His words were interrupted by the sound of thunder.

They all looked back as electric arcs sparked between the few still standing buildings. A swirling vortex appeared way above, its black color sometimes broken by splashes of muted rainbow.

“Ah,” Dawnbringer sighed, while Knightbreak gripped their sword more tightly.

“You two seem to know what that thing is,” Shichibug noted.

“I’m not an expert, but it looks like another interdimensional portal,” Dawnbringer said.

“It is,” Knightbreak confirmed. “It’s the same magic that brought the Knight here. Be ready, there could be anything on the other side.”

A young woman fell through the portal, landing in a half-kneeling position not far away. She had long, light-brown hair, and she was wearing even longer, dark-brown robes with a pointy hat. In one hand, she was holding a short staff. In the other, kind of breaking the harmony of her costume, a plastic pet-carrier. The small, mostly black cat inside let out a curious meow.

“Yes!” the girl cheered, jumping on her feet. “Did you see that, Twilight? Noooo explosion~!”

She took a moment to look around, taking in the ruined cityscape around here.

“… I guess. Okay, if there was an explosion, I’m pretty sure that this time it wasn’t me!”

“Her?” Knightbreak mumbled.

The Roaring Knight let out a noise that might or might not have been a groan.

The woman’s eyes finally set on the small group. With a gasp, she ran up to them, seemingly completely ignoring the three people in animal costumes and the gray swordsperson with red eyes.

“There you are!” she stared at the Knight. “Goddess, I thought I’d need to search this entire world for you. Look, I know we kinda got off the wrong foot last time, but I need you to return home. Like, immediately. Your… uh, your friends told me…”

“Crashandra!” Knightbreak interrupted.

“Huh?” she turned to them, finally acknowledging that there were other people around. “How you know my… wait, your voice…”

She jumped back, provoking a indignant meow from her carrier.

“You! That… voice on the phone thing! The… the Unknown Caller! It was you!”

“Should we be able to follow this conversation?” Bastet asked, crossing her arms.

“They seem to know each other,” Shichibug noted. “Let’s give them a minute to catch up before harassing them with our questions.”

“Sure, it’s not like we have a destroyed city to fix or anything.”

“Crashandra, what are you doing here?” Knightbreak demanded.

The witch looked away.

“Sorry, I… I’m here to bring back the Knight.”

“Why? You were the one helping me banish them the first place.”

“I know! But I told you that you can’t fight fate for long, didn’t I? After you helped me to go to your world… well, to that other world, I’ve got trapped. I had to deal with another deal, with Kris’ boss.”

“Their boss?”

“I don’t know. Creepy voice on the phone, kinda like you, just scarier. They told me that if I don’t help them, they just keep me locked up and get rid of me.”

Knightbreak looked away, thinking.

“So, the person Kris was communicating with on the phone wasn’t the Knight. I suspected that much. It’s probably Carol, even though…”

“I don’t want to know!” Crashandra snapped. “I don’t have anything to do with this. I just wanted to save Twilight and bring him home safely, but first, I have to complete this bargain. Please, don’t make it harder than it has to be.”

“It doesn’t have to be hard for either of you,” Dawnbringer said.

He stepped forward, claiming the others’ attention.

“Sorry for assuming, but based on your outfit, you’re a witch, right? A witch from another world.”

“Yeah,” she said, seeming a bit flustered. “I’m Crashandra Splinterwood from the Swiss Alps. Sorry for not introducing myself properly before, things got a bit… tense.”

“Don’t worry about it. You may call me Dawnbringer.”

“Shichibug,” the girl in the ladybug suit introduced herself as well.

“Bastet,” said the other girl with a sigh. “At least at the moment.”

“I, uh…” the swordfighter seemed a bit lost. “I just decided to call myself Knightbreak while using this body a few minutes back. It was mostly for dramatic effect during the fight but guess it’s easier if you have something to call me, so we can use that for now.”

“Okay,” Dawnbringer said, crossing his arms. “So you made a deal to bring back the Knight – I will assume that you’re bound by magic to complete it. Did it say anything about in what condition they have to be?”

Crashandra hesitated. Technically, no, but witch bargains had an unwritten rule, kind of a fourth Tenet that expected both parties to respect the spirit of the words spoken. This one deal was tacky enough to begin with, but there was a limit on how far she could push before the ancient magic in her blood got worked up again.

“Well, at the very least they should be alive and well, or it would violate the spirit of the bargain,” she said cautiously.

“Got it,” Dawnbringer nodded. “And would it be a violation to bring them back together with Knightbreak? More specifically, as their prisoner?”

Knightbreak started to pace back and forth excitedly.

“If you could bring us to the Light World… whether they’re a Lightner or Darkner, they would have no power there. I could keep them in check. With my own body, and with the Knight as my prisoner, I could finally figure it out what the hell is going on in that town…”

“Sorry, I don’t think I can do that,” she shook her head. “I’m out of penumbridian, and even if I had more, it’s one in a billion chance that I could just stumble upon the right world without help. I’ve noticed that those ‘Dark Worlds’ enhance my magic, that’s how I managed to get here first try. But going back, our best bet is using the way I was coming from.”

She pointed up, at the still open portal.

“And it leads into a Dark World. There’s one in a shelter, south of the town…”

“The Shelter‽” Knightbreak stopped, staring at her.

“Maybe we need the Turtle?” Bastet joked.

“Okay,” Knightbreak said, raising a fist. “Bring the Knight back, I don’t care. Just bring me with you, too. If I can figure out what’s in that place, if I can get even a glimpse…”

Crashandra chewed on her lips, thinking it over. Honestly it was kind of dumb from the caller not to specify anything about how she delivered the Knight. What if they had a contingency for something like this? But really, it wasn’t her business even if that was the case. She just had to do good on her deal.

“I’m still going to need more penumbridian if I want to get home with Twilight,” she said uncertainly. “I don’t think they will provide me with any if I betray them.”

“You mean Shadow Crystal?” Knightbreak grinned. “Luckily we’ve got a huge supply right here.”

They grabbed the Knight’s sword from the ground.

“Bastet, would you?”

“Cataclysm!”

She tore out a good handful of the black crystal making up the blade and passed it to Crashandra. The sword started to repair itself immediately.

“Will that suffice?”

The witch sighed.

“Sure, whatever. It’s your funeral.”

She took a minute to chant an invocation that summoned a bright disc of golden light under herself, Knightbreak and the still paralyzed Knight. She made it large enough so they had plenty of room – it was a long way up to the portal, and there was no reason to not make the trip as comfortable as she could. Twilight put his paws on the carrier’s door, looking curiously at the dancing lights.

“I’m sorry again, for all this trouble,” Knightbreak looked back at Dawnbringer, Shichibug and Bastet.

“I…” Crashandra hesitated. “Same. You can never know with wishes, but maybe if I had a better handle on my magic we could have avoided all of this.”

“Hey…” Bastet looked away for a moment, hesitating, but then she turned to Knightbreak. “You said there was a Kris in that other world too, right?”

They looked at her.

“Yeah?”

“Are they… I mean, did they ever…”

She shook her head.

“Nevermind. Just make sure they’re okay.”

They smiled, letting their pointy canines show.

“I will.”

Crashandra raised her staff, pointing upwards, and the disc started to lift them toward the portal. It felt slow, but the people and the street quickly shrunk beneath them as they ascended into the sky.

Then, the swirling vortex seemed to stop for a moment. It flickered, then came back almost immediately, but as it did, white smoke started to pour out of it. A faint, flowery smell filled Crashandra’s nostrils.

She waved her wand, making the stop mid-air.

“What’s going on?” Knightbreak asked.

“Someone’s messing with my portal,” she groaned. “Again. Seriously, why can’t anything go smoothly.”

“Hey,” the other turned toward a small, purple dot in the distance. “What’s that?”

🦋

The Akuma flew through the city’s sky, attracted to Richard’s aura of hate. But then something changed, a disturbance, overcasting the clear signal of negativity.

Madame Butterfly frowned, trying to make sense of the emotion interfering with her power.

Something about other worlds… and judgement?

You’ll be judged for your every action

Past, present or future

Another portal?

Madame Butterfly hesitated. Richard was a pretty safe bet for Akumatization, but if she had the chance to get her hands on someone as powerful as the Knight again… but they might be just as difficult to control.

Before she could have made the decision herself, the Akuma turned away from its original destination, heading toward the anomaly in the city’s heart.

🐞☀️🐈‍⬛

“What happened, why did they stop?” Bastet asked, trying to get a better look at the disc floating above them.

“Something’s wrong with the portal,” Dawnbringer said. “I don’t think the smoke is supposed to be there at least.”

“Should we check on them?” Shichibug asked.

“We might have another problem,” Bastet frowned. “Look!”

She pointed at the Akuma flying high above them.

“Madame Butterfly must be hoping to capitalize on our exhaustion after beating the Knight,” Dawnbringer reasoned, crossing his arms. “And it’s heading for the portal, too.”

“The portal to the Knight’s world,” Bastet bit her lip. “Do you think there might be more of them on the other side?”

“Well, let’s not find out,” Shichibug said, spinning her yoyo. “Dawnbringer?”

“Voyage!”

<> 

“Whatever it is, I don’t like it!” Crashandra said with a concerned expression. She could tell when she was seeing corrupted magic. “Stand back!”

She raised her staff, pointing it at the approaching butterfly.

“Kinetic blast!”

A wave of magic twirled out of the staff. Then, an orange portal opened before her, with a yoyo spinning through.

Her blast hit the yoyo perfectly, knocking it way off course. Meanwhile, the butterfly dived, avoiding both, then it rose again, vanishing in the cloud of white smoke that completely surrounded the portal by now.

Crashandra sucked on her teeth loudly and sent Knightbreak an awkward look.

“You don’t think that’s going to be an issue, do you?”

🦋

The purple mask appeared before Madame Butterfly, with thoughts and emotions flooding her mind as the connection was created.

“… an Akuma? What’s going on…? This can’t be real, right?”

She needed more than the immediate panic. She dug deeper.

“My mind is making this up to distract me. Guess Yuko was right, I just can’t deal with reality anymore.

“I’ll never finish this story. The pieces just don’t fit together. And even if I did, what does it matter? I can’t change who I am.

“My classmates are going to hate me. Even if I try to pretend that I don’t exist, I’ll sure do something withing a week to piss them off.

“Nora is going to university, she won’t be there to protect me anymore.

“And Al, he won’t be there to tell me what to do.”

She fought off the urge to groan in frustration. That’s why her Akuma crossed dimensions – a teenager with anxiety‽ There were plenty of those in her world!

It didn’t matter. She could work with this. She just needed to trust her Miraculous, if this kid’s turmoil was strong enough to attract her Akuma, they must have some kind of potential.

She cleared her throat.

“Hello, Ruthless. My name is Madame Butterfly.

“I can assure you, you aren’t hallucinating. I’m talking to you from another world to offer you great power. In exchange…”

“… you want me to get the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Black Cat, right?”

“Huh? Uhm, well, yes. But I also want to help you.

“I can tell how scared of you from everything, your real life. You wish you could hide yourself in a story, but those aren’t giving you reprise anymore either. You feel helpless, weak.

“But I can change that. I can send you on your own Hero’s Journey, hopping through worlds and fighting mighty opponents. With each of them defeated, you will become stronger. If you ever decide to return to your old, mundane life after your adventure, there will be no petty bully or mean teacher that can ever scare you anymore!”

“But you don’t really want me to be a hero, do you? You want me to be the villain.”

“Does it really matter?” she whispered in a honied tone. “You’d be the protagonist of your own story. Let me tell you something adults don’t want you to know. Real life doesn’t have immaculate heroes or irredeemable villains. It’s the winners who decide who gets painted as what.

“So, what do you say? Would you rather have someone else take this opportunity in your place? Or would you once take control of your life and be a winner?”

There was a pause, which was weird. She was supposed to sense their thoughts, even if they weren’t directly talking to her, but there only seemed to be static for a moment. A side-effect of establishing telepathic connection through dimensions, she guessed.

“Very well,” they finally said. “I’ll do it.”

Madame Butterfly smiled as she felt the transformation taking hold of her newest victim.

<> 

The white smoke suddenly cleared up, and someone jumped through the portal just before it flickered away completely.

A short figure in dark clothes landed on the golden disc. They wore a black hooded cloak over a dark gray vest, and other than the silver bangs falling from their head, most of their face was hidden under the combination of a black domino mask and their hood. Several long, black scarves trailed behind them, vaguely looking like tentacles or tendrils of black smoke.

They looked up at Crashandra, Knightbreak and the kneeling figure of the Knight with a wide grin.

“Sorry for dropping in,” they said, pointing finger guns on them and earning an empty stare. “Uh, you know, dropping? Because I just…” Their voice became annoyed. “Oh come on, it was a pun!”

“Who the hell are you?” Knightbreak asked.

“Wait, hold on,” they raised a hand.

They stepped closer to Crashandra and gave a once-over the cat in the carrier. From closer it was easy to tell that he wasn’t completely black – his back was freckled with dots of white fur and his paws were red.

“Is that…” they looked up, back at Crashandra. “And the witch costume! Oh no way!”

Their grin grew even wider.

“Crashandra, what the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Hometown, how much did I miss?”

She raised her staff defensively.

“Hey, stay back. How you know me? And who are you?”

“Oh, it’s my name you want?”

They stepped back, raising their arms in the air.

“Well, there’s the spoiler answer, the theoretic answer, the fanon answer and the obvious answer. But for the sake of continuity, let’s just say…”

They made a dramatic spin, letting their costume twirl all around them.

“I’m Ruthless!”

Crashandra’s grip tightened around her staff while her face turned pale.

“What’s wrong?” Knightbreak asked, placing a hand on their sword.

This strange figure didn’t seem directly aggressive, but well, they didn’t seem exactly peaceful either.

“The voice told me that name,” Crashandra said, her voice slightly trembling. “Ruthless is the name of the mage who took Twilight from my world. If it’s the same person, they’re extremely dangerous.”

Ruthless let out an excited laughter, bouncing from one foot to the other.

“Seriously, he said that? Well, guess if you want to get meta, it was always true, even though I’m not really a mage… well, not yet anyway. But no, that could only mean… my plan is working. Even better, it already worked!”

“You’re not making any sense.”

Knightbreak stepped ahead, sword pointed at them.

“If you’re not going to explain, then you better get off now.”

“Relax, I don’t care about you two, or the kitten right now,” they brushed past them, like being threatened with a weapon meant nothing. “I’m here to fish a bigger fry. Or the other way around. No, maybe it works better like this.”

They leaned forward, staring at the kneeling Knight. It raised its orifice, staring back, but Venom still kept them from doing anything.

“Whoa,” Ruthless whispered. “I have to tell you, seeing you like this in real life, beaten… it’s even better than it was in sixteen pixels. I just wish it could have been me.”

Knightbreak put the sword on their shoulder, slightly touching their neck.

“Step back. Now.”

Ruthless’ smile suddenly turned fainter.

“Fine.”

They turned back toward the swordfighter.

“You’re being really stingy, you know? You already had your turn with them. You should learn how to share!”

Suddenly, one of their scarves came to life, wrapping around Knightbreak’s arm. They tried to pull away, and Ruthless pulled back, sending their sword clanking over the disc’s edge and smashing the other into the disc.

Crashandra pointed her wand, charging up another blast, but Ruthless jumped ahead, using four of their scarves to hold themself in the air and kicked her in the chest. She flew off the disc.

With her concentration broken, the disc shattered into nothing. Ruthless folded all their scarves, then stretched them all at once to propel themselves ahead in the air like an octopus would in water. They used the propulsion to follow the Knight’s falling body.

It was far enough from the original attack site that there were still some people lingering on the streets, but they soon fled as the Knight crashed into a glass dome, serving as the entrance of some fancy store. Soon, Ruthless landed next to them.

“Here we go,” they smiled, ignoring the fleeing crowd.

They wrapped their scarves around the creature’s dark form, raising it in the air.

The Knight’s words turned into a glass-shattering scream as a stream of energy flew through the scarves, from its body to Ruthless’. Their grin soon turned into a frown. Then they let out a scream too, as the power overwhelmed them.

Dawnbringer, Shichibug and Bastet jumped through a Voyage portal just in time to witness the scene.

“What the…” Bastet whispered.

Suddenly, the Knight’ form faded away, leaving only Ruthless behind, still twitching. Their form was surrounded by an army of afterimages, but they kept moving around on their own, like they were out of sync. Their body flickered, turning into an orb for a moment, then changing back.

Then, they flexed their muscles and seemingly by force of will alone, their body stabilized. A small pin appeared on their vest, picturing a knife with a black blade.

And they laughed.

“God, she was right. This power, I never felt this good.”

They walked a few steps and pulled out the Knight’s sword from the ground where it landed.

Ruthless equipped the Black Knife

It was about the same length as their entire body, but some of their scarves formed a scabbard behind their back, just high enough so it wouldn’t hinder their movement.

A purple mask appeared over their face.

“I’m glad you’re having fun, but don’t forget about our deal.”

“Don’t worry,” they said. “I will get you the Miraculous as I promised. I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to try out my new powers anyway.”

They turned around, facing the three holders the first time.

“So, you are the Heroes of this world, aren’t you?” they pulled Black Knife and holding it in one hand like it was weightless, rested it across their shoulders. They gave the trio a friendly smile. “Sorry to say, but your story just got derailed.”