(("I think we may have hit the jackpot here, partner..."))
What I see in front of me is a massive blob of goop with a launchable eyeball and a mouth that resembles Patrick Star's when his brain crashes. What T.K. apparently sees is a slot machine that just rolled three 7s.
Better clear the confusion up before this thing steamrolls me.
'How so?' I ask as the giant clones approach with one beginning to spawn 'normal' clone enemies.
(("Well for starters, this boss is essentially a highly-evolved slime, but it still has some internal structures that could be damaged such as invertebrates. It also lacks a brain unlike the clones this creature births, however mutated and deformed they are."))
'So it's like a jellyfish?' I clarify while holding the smaller clones back with Ghastly Grasp. The Mother Clone Blob also does its main eyeball-launching attack at me, but I knock it back into its socket with a well-timed counter.
Damaging that big eyeball is the only way to hurt the thing in game, but there are clearly other parts of it that can be damaged. The fact that my Royal Fisting actually knocked the whole thing back instead of going through that part of the blob shows that the eye isn't the only important part in its body.
But what is T.K. getting at here?
(("I'm getting to that. So the innermost layer of this boss is a singular nerve cluster wrapped in muscle, surrounded by a massive layer of gelatinous goop, which itself was surrounded by the membrane located behind it's giant eye, aka, the only part of this thing that you could damage in game and the best way to damage the creature here.
When the nerves and muscles went to create and move a limb, they tensed up in order to force rigidity. The whole body thus deforms every time it moves-"))
'Kind of like a jellyfish or slime; got it. Soooo...'
(("So, when you sent a 'Royal Fisting' towards that creature at the start of the fight, you sent so much power through it that the cells reacted violently, creating a strange hard mass around the muscle and nerves that eventually went into the clones it summoned, which function as a hivemind.
Factoring that in with this creature's incredible regenerative and reproductive abilities, this new species of 'tank clones' as a result became more durable then the usual tank clones that it is now summoning. The same augmentation can also been seen in the 'normal clones' those particular tank clones create."))
Holy shit. So not only can this thing create infinite clones, but it can also customize what goes into those clones. It's like Zarganor's milk spawn, but they come directly from my body. My extremely powerful, adaptable, ability-filled body.
(("And this ability also doesn't cause any permanent damage or energy loss when splitting off clones. It's like cells multiplying. The same rule goes with any abilities you provide the clones; because yes, with this body and the level of control we have over it, we can control this process and the clones that spawn from it completely unlike, say, Godzilla Earth who has similar propagation powers. These clones, like the flesh and energy you split off when making them, reform instantly after the split.
You could provide a clone with flesh containing 5% of your power and the arsenal of abilities from your King class and instantly recover all of that after the split. You could even probably absorb those clones back into yourself after the split and gain all the energy you gave them, permanently increasing your max power as a result. Your abilities won't duplicate too when the clones are absorbed back into you, but the increase in energy alone is beneficial enough.
To put it simply, picture you going from 100% power to 95% power when splitting off a clone with 5% of your power and then instantly going back to 100% power as your body regenerates the lost piece. You then merge with that split off clone to increase your total power to 105% of what you had before. The max percentage of your power that you can put into a clone is likely much lower than that, but considering how fast the Mother Clone Blob can create clones to begin with, this concept still has incredible potential.
Not to mention, with the ability to do self-division without limits, you could very well undergo a self-generation of a completed form from the tiniest fragment of your body if you were ever defeated. In other words, you could completely regenerate back to normal from even the tiniest cell and get stronger while doing so thanks to your body adapting to whatever brought you to that state. So yeah, your regeneration capabilities would go from 11/10 to 100/10."))
'...Okay, yeah. This may be my most overpowered ability yet depending on how much the cloning and regenerating processes can be augmented and customized. That's not even considering the fucking duplication glitch I can do with these clones.
I can literally create an all new ecosystem of clones built around myself with them adapting to whatever area I'm in on top of all the duplicated energy and abilities I gave it before absorbing that ecosystem and all its inhabitants back into myself to gain all its power.'
"Sorry, but I'm waaaaaay too eager to figure out your signature ability's potential to fuck around for any longer." I state bluntly before having T.K. just absorb the clone boss and its summons in seconds.
(("Beginning analysis.")) I'll leave that to you, partner.
While T.K. gets started with that, I go ahead and begin setting up more custom obstacles for my little sisters' walkthrough.
The evil clones won't be the only unfair opponents they will have to face. They still have three levels to go after this; that's three more levels I can make straight-up unfair with a couple adjustments.
Once that's done, I head back and watch their progress with the girls seeming to get the hang of this latest level after a while. I stored a few regeneration spells in some of the milk spawn (it's a similar method to how I 'store' charged spells in Dragonsbane, T.K. handles releasing them at the right time) to heal their fellow enemies while I was gone with the hope of the girls catching on and targeting the healers.
They did and cleared out the clones, fountains, and other enemies that stood in their path. The warehouses and teleporters where all these clones came from in game were destroyed too (with me absorbing a teleporter or two beforehand for T.K. to analyze).
I actually considered adding in a few Time Bombs throughout this latest level and having the girls destroy those first before attacking the clones, but that felt like a little too much. This section was hectic enough as is.
Then came this section's boss fight and I ended up creating several milk clones of the Mother Blob bosses for Karen and Tricia to battle at the now abandoned Art Museum.
The big blobs' regeneration was almost as overpowered as the minions those two faced earlier and the smaller clones the blobs spawned ranged from enemies exclusive to this game to enemies from my Divine Summon combo.
Tricia came up with a clever way to take them down though which involves using a Dire Shroud as a shield while the blobs absorb them, or at least try to before releasing tons of their energy to blow the bosses up from the inside out.
Tricia's POV:
Suck it, blobs! Even with Dovah's modding, they were still as overrated as their space cousin's horror movies.
But even as Dovah came over to congratulate us on a clean victory (in the figurative sense, milky blob gunk is fucking everywhere right now), something still felt wrong.
Karen then takes both of Dovah's hands mid-monologue and places one on each of our heads.
...That's better.
Dovah's POV:
They deserve the headpats.
(("Do I even need to say it at this point?")) No.
(("Well, I'm going to keep ripping on you for it anyway, sisc-")) Lalala, can't hear you!
(("I am literally in your head right n-")) Karen and Tricia definitely did better today then they did yesterday as they actually won and stayed conscious the entire time.
(("You would give the two headpats regardless!")) Well they like them! You saw what Karen did and Tricia knows that her tsundere act isn't fooling either of us. It doesn't matter what the two grow up to be, I'll give my sisters all the love and comfort they could ever want.
Speaking of, they were completely exhausted after this latest boss fight and we slept at Chef's place again (which he wasn't too thrilled about), but I reminded him that we were taking care of the comet problem and saving his town for him which caused him to relent.
"Alright seriously, who are you, ya little cracker? I know I'm not just seeing double of Kenny and Craig's sisters right now, and you make even that Damien kid look normal with your freaky powers!" Chef confronts me after the girls go to bed and I just be blunt with him.
"We're from an alternate timeline that got destroyed when Butters Stotch went batshit crazy. I'm using the comet as a way to train those two since we have to deal with way worse threats in the future."
"...You know what, forget I asked."
"Okie dokie!"
I don't really need sleep anymore (and I'm tired of all the fucking nightmares I get when I do fall asleep) so I just spend most of the night planning my next couple steps with T.K. while observing the war between the terrors and patrollers again on some holo-screens my A.I. had pop up in front of me.
That doesn't stop Karen from practically napping on my lap as I work and plan.
"Karen." I call out to her. "If you're tired, then you should lay in bed and sleep properly. I'm going to be up for most of the night and doing this is bad for your back."
"No." A rebellious Karen responds, nuzzling her dreary little head against my chest to make her comfortable in defiance. "I had to spend such a long time without seeing or hearing from you. I need this!"
Damnit, Matt and Trey! Making her so chibi cute by default should be illegal!
But in all seriousness, I can't really argue back since that's the truth. I don't know what was used to fuck up the time jump so badly, but the result was her and Tricia being forced to spend years on the run from a tyrannical sociopathic Butters.
She told me that she looked at this as training for the future. That this could serve as proof as her not needing anyone looking after her and Tricia anymore. But I know that would only serve as an excuse for so long.
I know she and Tricia forgive me. That it wasn't my fault and I did everything that I could. But like I said before, how could I not feel responsible for what Butters became?
If this can help make it up to her even a little, then so be it.
"Alright, you little pest. You can stay. Just don't expect tomorrow's training to be any easier if your back hurts."
"Haha yes, obey your god." Karen proclaims, keeping her monotonous expression. "Entertain and comfort me forever."
"Don't push your luck. You may be filled with divine adorableness, but gods are now a part of my multiverse-domination diet."
"And I can blackmail you by *yawn* telling the evil Reds and Wendy that you're using them as sacrificial pawns if you try to do that."
"Only the Reds are, Kare-bear. Wendy isn't at fault here and I do owe her one after she helped save me. Tell you what, let's keep watching this latest battle and do a little analysis of it until you fall asleep.
I may not have been the main strategist during the Nahkriin War, but I was paying plenty of attention to Cartman's moves and throughout that campaign and I'm sure you picked up on a few things too despite going on your own mission during that shitshow. This war is honestly just a bigger version of that, fuckups and all.
I can already see 3 major mistakes the trio of terrors are making right now; mistakes that were made in the Nahkriin War too. Can you guess what they are?"
"Does being drunk on power count? I've seen literal mindless monsters with more *yawn* flow and rhythm then the changeling."
"...Not what I had in mind, but I'll count it as one mainly because I find how she's using my body insulting."
"Isn't she doing something similar to what *yawn* you did during the Nahkriin War?"
I open my mouth to refute that latest claim of hers, but then stop as I really begin to think about it.
You know what? Yeah, that does remind me of myself during Nahkriin. I lost myself to anger after Timmy's death and went on a warpath with everything at my disposal like what these guys are doing right now. The Changeling and Dark Angel are doing this more for greed than revenge, but there is still plenty of anger fueling the two (three if you count Wendy).
I won't lie, I'm still angry too. I'm as angry at the Time Patrol as I was when I got together with Cartman to form Nahkriin back in my timeline, but I won't let that anger blind me a second time.
"You're right, I can definitely see the similarities. Seeing the changeling in my body now is like seeing myself from back then, but I've learned from my mistakes.
Defeat was something practically foreign to me until ManBearPig, but I've learned to accept and recover from it since then. A battle lost is just that, a battle. It's the war that's important. The pieces have all been put in place and they'll buy me more than enough time needed to deliver the finishing blow."
"Heh, it would have been fun to see what strategy the real and current you would use against them in the frontlines."
"Yeah. I doubt going on a blitzkrieg rampage like I did with Cartman during Nahkriin would work very well here if this current war is anything to go by."
As the eldritch bean slowly drifted off into a deep sleep, she muttered, "It would've... been fun to... join this ti...m..."
"Karen?"
*zzzzzzzzzzzz*
"...Goodnight, little sis." I whisper as I gently pat her head.
"Sweet dreams, Karen."
"Do you like them, patrollers?" Dark Angel Red asks as she hovers over her empire's latest creations.
"I call them... the Lotgral."
*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR*
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
Five of these titanic monstrosities plow their way through the battlefield, annihilating anyone and anything in their way.
"Turns out that Trapper Keepers can be used for not just merging things into it or its host, but merging things into each other as well. It's a little experiment the Fallen Dragonborn perfected shortly before you ambushed us in my old fortress. Best of all, I can do this with my shadows as well with the added bonus of ensuring they are kept under control.
(A/N: Dovah figured out how to do this in Chp 111 "A Match Made in Hell")
What you are currently witnessing is the fusion of Geldon and Tooth Decay for size and strength plus fire breath and disintegration abilities, Zarganor for telekinesis and other long range attacks, and ManBearPig for viciousness and endurance. They are further boosted by both the Nazi Zombie space goo the Visitors use as fuel for their ships and various buffs from my other shadows.
The former, along with Zarganor's telepathy, even allow my creations to infect, control, and empower anyone that stands in their way, living or dead. Then using that data, they can create copies of their new soldiers with Zarganor's Milk Spawn ability."
They resemble a mixture of Destoroyah's final form from the Godzilla franchise and the Adult Clover from Cloverfield Paradox... with their roars and cries sounding exactly like those of the latter, shaking any who hear them to their very core.
Various shades of green cover the creature's red, black, and dark gray colorscape with the goo being produced being flung all over the area, infecting any who touch it. Armies of strengthened Nazi Zombies and Milk Spawn soon appear around the monsters who each rival that of Satan and Cthulhu at their full strength... and that's before the spectrum of buffs from other shadows are applied.
Dovah watches on with Karen sleeping on his lap as Dark Angel Red's newest assets push back multiple of the Exalted Agents by themselves while the glowing green goo residue infects weaker patrollers all around them.
The Time Patrol was trying, it really was... but it simply wasn't trying hard enough.
"Well... those sure are something."
(("Not bad for a prototype, right? They're not just walking fortresses, but walking production lines as well. As time passes, they go from being one-man armies to full on armies!"))
"Those are a prototype?!" Dovah hisses into his head. "Lotgral literally means 'Calamity' in Dragon Language!"
(("Correct. This was basically me stress-testing how far I could push my current methods of genetic engineering, something my very existence basically hacks or 'cheeses' in your gaming terms. The Dark Angel and Changeling just threw out some suggestions for components; I did the rest.
They've already done their jobs; any combat data and studies on their behavior gained as of now is just a bonus. Simply the knowledge gathered from the process of making them will be invaluable for all future stages of our plan.
In fact, I already have a few ideas for extra components to add into the next batch such as the giant aborted Nazi Zombie Fetus boss from Stick of Truth. It is large, durable, and even has a natural lifesteal ability with no magic being required.
There's also the future weakness patches to consider. A strong enough person using the Stick of Truth may be able to take control of them. Then there's the Dovahkiin/Princess Kenny combination that could quite possibly fart these creatures out of existence and the Rune Stone plot MacGuffin that can defeat Geldon in seconds.
The Time Patrol will likely try those methods out at some point; we'll just have to wait and see if they work or not. If they do, then we'll fix that issue with the next batch."))
"...You and I are still the ones with the most control over them, right? Not the Dark Angel?"
(("That's correct, with the power and magic we have now, freeing the dark angel's shadows from her grasp is something we can do with relative ease."))
'Oh, she is not going to like that. Let's make sure that little development stays a secret for now, okay?'
(("I came to the same conclusion. However, these aren't machines; they are basically living organisms despite being undead. I can send orders to their brains, orders that can override the Dark Angel's commands if need be, but these creatures are unstable and will continue to become more dangerous as time passes. If the Time Patrol doesn't manage to terminate them, then that responsibility will fall to us."))
"Alright. Just make sure not to get too carried away with the mad science, alright? A mad scientist losing control over an experiment is like one of the biggest cliches out there! And be sure to keep giving me updates on this stuff, okay? I want to be kept in the loop when it comes to projects like this." Dovah commands.
(("I thought you didn't want to do that with Karen and Tricia."))
"I don't! This doesn't involve those two. Look, I know I said before that I don't want to get bogged down with all the nitty gritty details, but big things like this are parts of the plan I want to oversee from start to finish. Our methods may be brutal, but saving the multiverse is still our end goal and we can't do that if it gets completely destroyed by these monstrosities before we're done!"
(("That's what contingency plans are for."))
"That's not... forget it. This only stacks the odds even further in our favor. The majority of the Time Patrollers are just common nooks who are too busy choking on the damn chips to even play their cards, the Changeling is still playing Go Fish, and while the Dark Angel is pretty clever, she's still learning. She's basically trying to card count in Blackjack without realizing the deck was stacked beforehand.
I've learned from and surpassed all of them and having you in my corner is like having an artificial grandmaster as a partner. These guys will be out of ammo before they even know what hit them. I'll show them who they should really be afraid of."
(("Chances of kicking everyone's asses: 95%"))
"Continue searching for the specific types of timelines I requested to rebuild our card deck; I want that percentage bumped up to a hundred. We need our ultimate ascension to be as perfect as possible; this table has been long overdue for a shakeup."