#final empress

It features the Final Emperor and Final Empress as playable Travelers!

Saviour looked at Vanille. “We need to talk.”

The fox Faunus stopped typing and turned. All around the laboratory, the countless robots that were normally at work stopped what they were doing. “After that speech you gave, I’ve been expecting you.” She frowned. “Would you mind turning that off?”

Saviour tilted her head ever so slightly to one side. “Are you worried that I’m going to kill you?”

“Not particularly.” Vanille smiled faintly. “I’m sure you’ve already planned this whole thing. If you want me dead, well, I’m just stalling for time here. We both know that I can’t win. Oh, I might be able to hold the first two levels off with all of the defences I have in this lab, but the third? I’d be dead before I could move.”

Saviour’s lips twitched. Had it been Lightning, she would have smiled. “You know, your Semblance has always fascinated me. I can see the very foundations of Creation. I can predict events that involved countless variables as easily as a normal person can predict the flight of something as simple as a tennis ball. But you? Your Semblance has always been difficult to predict. It’s probability manipulation on a scale so large that even I took a while to accept that it’s even possible. You are an anomaly, an uncertainty in the equations that operate Creation.”

Vanille took a sip out of her mug of coffee. She wondered if Saviour had paused just, so she could savour the taste. Probably. “So now what?”

“You are the most intelligent person on this planet. You know that I spoke the truth. This broken world must be fixed, and I need your help to do it.”

“So I’m not just expendable?” Vanille laughed. “Do you really expect me to believe that you don’t have contingencies in place to deal with every single possible person who could be a genuine threat to you?”

“Of course, I do, but that doesn’t mean I wish to use them.” Saviour sat down on a nearby chair. Vanille watched the space around her ripple. A forcefield of some kind, one based on warping space. “My sisters love you. You are perhaps Serah’s best friend, and you will soon be Lumina’s wife. You are not expendable. Your survival is a top-level priority, and your loss would represent an unacceptable reduction in the probability of success. Moreover, you are my friend to.”

“Saviour doesn’t really do friends.”

“You are Lightning’s friend,” Saviour replied. “And I am Lightning, or at least, a version of her depending on how exactly you think Saviour affects her - my - mental processes. But that’s not a debate for the present time.” She extended one hand. “Don’t you want the future that I’m offering?”

“Safety? Security? Who wouldn’t want that.” Vanille grinned. “But what do you want in return?”

“Obedience. Loyalty. Faith.” Saviour spoke each word with the finality of a hammer blow. “And why not give them to me? Who better to issue orders? Who better to rely on who? Who better to believe in? Are you worried that I will try to stop your… eccentricities? Do not be. I have no interest in controlling that part of your life. So long as you serve the greater cause, I will even encourage it.”

“And other people?”

Saviour’s eyes gleamed. “I have already assessed which parameters can be modified without significantly reducing the probability of success. The vast majority of personal freedoms come under that category. However, I can furnish people with a list if they wish. I wouldn’t want to deceive anyone.”

“Of course not.”

“I’m not going to take anyone’s freedom,” Saviour replied. “History, as I’m sure you know, shows how poorly that always ends. What I’m asking is for people to make an informed decision to give up certain freedoms to better further the processes required for civilisational survival and growth. Rest assured that the eccentricities common to you and many other creative individuals are not under threat. I am principally concerned with those who would undermine my authority or seek to destabilise my Empire during its formative years.”

“Your Empire?” Vanille’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“An Empire in which I have absolute command is the highest probability of success, given the present restrictions and objectives.” Saviour’s cold, cold gaze met Vanille’s. “You are not a fool. You’ve already reached the same conclusions I have.”

“Maybe I have,” Vanille replied. “But if I do follow you, it won’t be because of that.” The fox Faunus smirked. 

“Oh?” Saviour peered at Vanille. “And why would you follow me?”

“Because I trust you.”

“Trust? What an interesting word to use.”

“I said I trust you, Lightning.” Vanille’s gaze hardened. “I didn’t say I trust Saviour.”

Lightning stared out at the vast armada that her enemies had gathered. So it had finally come to this? No. That wasn’t right. She’d known it would come to this. In fact, she’d steered events to ensure precisely this outcome. A long, drawn-out war would only increase casualties. What was necessary was a demonstration of overwhelming might, a battle so one-sided that no one would ever seek to invade her territory again.

Even without enhancing her senses with Saviour, she could heard the rumble of the ships in the air. Vale had gathered its forces for a decisive strike. They had tolerated her little insurrection long enough. They had come to restore order.

They had come to die.

Lightning lifted one hand. The first level of Saviour washed over her, and the second followed an instant later. After years of training, the first two levels required barely more than a thought. The third was more difficult. Her brows furrowed before her expression smoothed as the by-now-familiar power of the third level settled over her.

The world was different now. She saw the world that existed, but she could also see countless additional details, from all of the myriad possibilities that different actions could produce to the higher and lower dimensions that overlapped the physical world.

There was a funny thing about dimensions…

Between the lower and higher dimensions were barriers. Well, that wasn’t exactly the right word. Vanille would have used something more precise. But it would do. Overcoming these barriers required tremendous amounts of energy, which was why teleportation was so difficult. On the other hand, if someone pierced a hole between dimensions, then that energy would leak out.

No, leak wasn’t the right word either. Explode was a better one.

Lightning was well aware that the world was watching to see what she would do. They wanted a show? She would give them one. She gazed up at her enemies, and she drew one hand through the air as if to brush them aside. Despite the ease of the gesture, the strain it put on her was almost enough to make her tremble. Piercing reality on this scale was easier to do with a weapon and from closer range, but she needed to make an impression.

To the eyes of those watching, all she did was gesture. To her eyes, however, what she’d done was far more remarkable. Saviour could not only perceive the higher and lower dimensions but also interact with them. That was one of the reasons its armour and weapons were so durable, and it was why it could damage even opponents like Ragnarok. What she wanted to do would have been easier with the fourth level of her Semblance, but third would suffice. Her mastery was great enough for that.

The barrier between dimensions in the space around the armada cracked and tore.

There was a flash of iridescent light.

The sky shattered.

X     X     X

The Slaughter of the Broken Sky was one of the pivotal battles that cemented the reign of her Imperial Majesty Lightning I. Using the third level of Saviour, she singlehandedly destroyed a fleet of roughly one hundred ships. Enemy casualties were estimated at more than 40,000.

The gaping hole in reality that her attack left remained in place for almost three decades, a stark reminder of what she was capable of.

Following the Slaughter, the Farron Empire invaded Vale. With its armed forces in complete disarray, Vale was forced to surrender less than a month later. Following the surrender, Lightning ordered that all those responsible for launching the attack be executed.