Chapter 706: Oh...Hi?
"Shit... fuck. Fuck!"
There have been many things that Diana has forgotten throughout her life, mostly due to the fact that most of her memories are thousands of years old. There will be lapses from time to time, but one thing that she will never fail to remember is her daughter's voice and choice of voacbulary.
And it would seem even another universe's version of her was the same.
"This is why I don't like fighting you, god. So frustrating!"
"..." Diana continued to watch this alternate version of Hannah scream in frustration for a few more seconds, before finally turning to look at the black knife stabbed through her stomach. She continued to stare at it for a while, before gritting her teeth and pulling it out.
"Ngh...kh!" She let out a constricted groan, followed by a loud gasp as she truly was no longer used to feeling this kind of pain. Even then, however, she quickly inspected the blade to try and see what it was made of.
And she doesn't know whether she doesn't remember, or she clearly has not seen this kind of material before. She tried shattering it with her grip, but all it did was leave a mark on her palm.
"Don't bother," Hannah finally stopped prancing around and screaming; her breaths, still clearly deep as she looked at Diana. She then opened up her palm, and as she did so, the black blade in Diana's hand flew toward her,
"This is Carmondium," Hannah said as she cleared her throat and started spinning the blade around her hand, "It's from Cosmos-462, and so far you can only find it there. It was made from some sort of...bone from an old god or whatever that doesn't exist anywhere else."
"..." Cosmos-462, Diana didn't have to think to figure out what that means.
"And in that world, it has a very interesting name," Hannah then let out a small sigh as she slid her palm across the blade, curiously making it disappear,
"The Themarian Killer."
"..."
"Oh, don't look so shocked, Mother," Hannah rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Did you really think themarians were invincible?"
"..." Diana did not really answer.
Themarians, invincible? She probably thought that a thousand years ago, but not anymore. After all, as of today, she had witnessed the annihilation of themarians not just once, but twice... and all in the hands of one person.
"Oh, by the way," Hannah then let out a small sigh as her armor started fading away. Or more specifically, it was sucked by her golden bracelet, revealing her fiery pink full-body suit that clingly wrapped around her curves,
"That's not going to heal," she said as she pointed at the gaping and bleeding wound on Diana's stomach. And after another sigh, she threw something at Diana.
"..." Diana inspected the thing that Diana threw first, before catching it at the last millisecond. It was a small bottle the size of a finger, containing a green glowing liquid.
"Drink that. That's the only way you're going to survive this."
"Is it?" Diana finally spoke as she looked at her wound again, trying to see if it was going to close or not—but it should have already as soon as she pulled the blade. But now, the wound seemed even larger than before.
"It's not poison, Mother," Hannah placed her hand on her waist, "It just looks like poison, but it's not. Come on, I could have stabbed you with the blade from the start—I just got desperate, there's no need for you to actually die. Don't be stubborn like the last one and wait for me to inject that into you."
"...Are you able to answer my questions?" Diana did not drink the vial just yet as she looked Hannah in the eyes.
"No," Hannah immediately let out a small scoff as she subtly shook her head, "I'm actually not even supposed to speak to any of you just yet."
"How many universes has your world traveled to?"
"Fuck, Mother..." Hannah sighed, "I just told you I'm not allowed to talk to you."
"My husband said there should be many portals appearing here, so why is yours the only one? Are you capable of preventing others from—"
"Stop! Stop! How many times do I have to tell you not to ask any questions!? Just drink the shit!"
"Cosmos-462. Does that mean you have—"
"No."
"..." Cosmos-462. Although Diana was still clueless about many things about the multiverse, she could at least deduce that the number of universes that this Hannah's universe has traveled to would be at the very least 462. After all, Diana and the others from the Common Council decided to call the very first Other Earth they visited as Earth-1.
"Anyway, just..." Hannah once again let out a sigh as she tapped her bracelet, summoning her armor once again, "...Just drink the goddamn shit, Mother."
"Wait! You-Ugh!" And as Hannah's feet started to leave the ground, Diana tried to fly and chase her again, only for the hole in her stomach to grow even larger; her blood, spurting and gushing out like a faucet.
"..." Diana closed her eyes, before letting out a sigh as she looked at the green vial. This was given to her by Hannah, so there—no.
The fact that it was given by Hannah should make her worry even more...
...even more so another version of her.
***
"Damn it, that Diana was very good."
And as no one was chasing her anymore, Hannah took her time to fly back to her portal; even removing her helmet as she took in a long and deep breath. Her eyes, taking in the sights of a world she has seen before thousands of times, but at the same time, never before. A small hint of exhaustion could be seen reflecting from the moisture wrapped around her eyes; wanting to fall, but always finding the strength to hold on.
"..." She glanced to where she left Diana, before just shaking her head and letting out another sigh loud enough to be heard even as the wind violently hit her in the face, "Two universes meeting their variants who seemed to have no idea what they're doing... someone's going to have a field day with this."
Hannah finally quickened her flight, only to once again slow down as she was directly below the portal she came from... as well as directly above the hidden room where she found the variants.
"Alice with an amplifier, Dad and Alice should really stop existing in one universe. That shit's giving me creeps," she whispered to herself, "1 Bernard, 1 Deceased Bernard, Alice, two Dianas, and an Aerith variant... or was that the Queen?"
Hannah tried recalling everyone she found in the room, "I don't even know which of the variants actually belong in this universe, damn it. Fuck... this really is complicated."
And as her frustrations grew enough for her to start shaking her hair, she suddenly stopped moving and flying altogether as she realized something.
"1 Bernard, 1 Deceased Bernard..." Hannah once again whispered as she counted the names of the people in the room, "Shouldn't... there be one more according to the scan?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Meh, probably no one important." And so, with those words, Hannah once again flew up, causing the clouds above her to ripple, revealing the portal hiding above them. And without even the slightest of hesitation, she went straight through it.
And just like entering any other door, Hannah was in a completely different place—a room that looked eerily similar to the infrastructure and walls of Ahor Zai. There was nothing there, however, just a small gray empty room.
And as soon as her feet touched the gray floor, her bulky black and gold armor disappeared into her bracelet.
"Ugh, so tired," Hannah groaned as she removed her bracelet, and without even a care, she just let it fall from her hand.
[Welcome back, Ms. Hannah.]
And before the bracelet could even touch the floor, a hand emerged from it to catch it; a feminine voice that seemed similar to Diana, also reverberating throughout the entire room,
[Was your expedition successful?]
"Don't ask," Hannah rolled her eyes as she just lazily walked toward an empty wall.
[That bad, I see.]
"Just close the portal, I still need to buy something."
[But the expedition—]
"Fuck the expedition, let Dad handle it!" Hannah slammed her palm on the wall, "Just close the goddamn portal, I have a sale I need to get to, damn it!"
[Very well,] and like an eye closing, the portal floating at the very center of the room disappeared. And as soon as it did so, the wall in front of Hannah opened up,
[By the way, someone was—]
"Save it for later," Hannah just waved her hand before stepping out of the room, the hall in front of her, also completely gray. There really was no way of knowing how long the hallway was, as one couldn't really see the end of it.
It didn't matter to Hannah, anyway, as she just flew up—the ceiling above opening a tunnel as she did so. And as she emerged from the other end, she found herself inside another room—or more specifically, a cubicle. Or even more specifically, a toilet.
Hannah then casually grabbed a set of clothes that were hanging on the door of the cubicle, quickly wearing it as she stepped out. And indeed, she was in a public restroom.
The other people looked at her, but she did not even give them a single glance as she checked herself in the mirror; putting on a cap and tying up her hair into a ponytail before nodding to herself.
"Hm... no need for makeup," she then said as she stepped out of the restroom... and into what seemed like a public mall.
"Let's go buy some shit before Dad finds out," Hannah then grabbed her phone from her pocket as she started walking around.
"Excuse me, Miss."
But not even ten steps after, she found her path blocked by someone.
"God, can you guys just stop hitting on me just for one sec—Oh... Hi?" Hannah was about to snarl as she groaned in frustration. But as soon as she saw the man standing in front of her, she quickly but subconsciously started touching her hair; the mall, everything, and everyone around her just seemed to disappear,
"Did... did you need something from me?" Hannah tried her best not to look at the man from head to toe. But how could she not, when this was probably one of the most unique but oddly good-looking people she has ever met?
"For now I only really need one thing, Miss—your name."
"Stop... being so formal," Hannah stuttered as she subtly leaned closer to the man, "And it's Hannah. You?"
"Ross...
...Riley Ross."