‘Yes!’ John answered without hesitation. He had already figured that it was time for her to wake up earlier in the iron giant. The mana that Ria had been wondering where it went, the sense of foreboding he had felt, both were signs of a consciousness finally awakening.

‘Then get me the hell out of here!’ the voice answered, and John, still running, grabbed into his inventory and pulled out the metracana, threw it towards Gehnigm. The moment it left his hand, it started to change. The head sized object, appearing like a spine with a horribly malformed rib cage, expanded and twisted into a proper shape.

A mass of liquid metal, it transformed first into a rough humanoid shape. John could feel information being copied from his brain about what he wanted her to be, information that she now absorbed in its entirety. However, he could also feel her not being quite content with just being what he wanted, putting her own spin on all of his wishes.

What finally landed in the endlessly stretching space between John and the former Supreme Fateweaver was a beauty. ‘Of course she is,’ John thought in a moment of happiness amidst this unfolding aftershock of a catastrophe. ‘The world seems pretty nice to throw so many cute girls into my path.’

She had dirty blonde hair, the kind that was dark at the roots but quickly changed into a nice pale gold colour, that reached down to the middle of her back. To call it wild would have been an understatement, it was so unruly that it reminded John half of his girlfriend’s pure chaos of a hairstyle and half of a lion’s mane.

Her unclothed body had a healthy tan and was looking quite muscular without it being so overbearing that she lost her clearly feminine shape. A nicely round butt with tight skin and an average sized chest were her less notable features, even if the pinkish brown nipples crowning and John’s general love for behinds made them quite the sight.

The true attractiveness of this girl’s body lay with her stomach area, as weird as that sounded. Her defined muscles transformed the already beautifully flat area into a landscape of perfectly harmonized human physique that not even Rave could rival. The line from her ribcage to her belly-button, the soft shadow where pelvis and musculature met to form a V-shaped outline around her crotch, the way everything tautened and her ribs became the slightest bit visible when she stretched with a yawn.

“You throw a nude woman at me?” Gehnigm was obviously confused, a fact that bought them just a few more precious seconds as the Fateweaver already thought himself secure. On the other hand, John was pretty sure that he had victory on his side now; after all, he now had somebody who was able to manipulate the dimensions himself.

“Get at the back of the line; I need to get this contract in order first,” the new arrival said and turned to John. Her face was stunning to look at and had a nice cheeky look that was equally dangerous as it was fascinating. The expression of a tomboy that also knew that she was extremely attractive, the kind that played with men but also was one of the best friends to ever have if you got her there.

It was not the expression John had expected on whatever would come out of the thing that had sedated a forming goddess for seventy years. Not even in the slightest. “What is my name? I prefer Metra, but you can give me a new one for the time of our relationship.”

“Metra is perfectly fine,” John answered; he wasn’t great at name-giving in the first place, and he had no time to sit two hours before the insert field at the end of the character creation screen right now. “My name is John Newman.”

“What is my purpose under you?” that was the more important question.

The easy answer was ‘to kill that guy over there’, but that would have ended their contract at the end of this battle. “To serve me until I no longer want of your services,” John said. He had considered ‘Until the end of my life’ at first, but the way he said it now gave him an out if she turned out to be unworkable.

“Then this shall be my 77th contract. I declare you my master, John Newman,” with that John suddenly got a pop-up.

Well, he would have to find out what that Qiada thing was later. Metra turned back over to Gehnigm who finally got where the wind was blowing from. “A Metracana, here?” he seemed as perplexed as John was once the blonde girl reached into his inventory and pulled out a halberd. It was the latter part that immensely confused him, as the former was something he had already seen coming.

The halberd was made from sand coloured wood and about two-metres in size. Ending in a head of one long spike, with two crescent blades sprouting from the sides, all made from some sort of golden metal decorated with black writings in some ancient hieroglyphic language. John wasn’t actually quite sure if halberd was the correct term there; one might as well have called it an oversized axe.

Metra swung that thing around, and suddenly the gigantic distance between them was ripped apart. Literally, the concept of the room itself was cut by the tip of the halberd, creating a corridor in the warped space that allowed Metra to attack. Despite it being fairly slow, Gehnigm fell backwards as he dodged the second slice that followed. “Man, it has been so long since I have had a human body, much less one so sexy… also when was the last time I had a vagina? By Marduk, you won’t just have me fight, huh?”

Well, this was hardly the time to be thinking about that, but it seemed that John’s perverted nature had sneaked that in there somewhere. Not that Metra seemed to mind; she was grinning ear to ear. She seemed very much happy with how things were going. Having loved to do more than guesswork, John tried to navigate the maze that was their mental connection but to no avail. “Man, I don’t get lots of oppo-“

Gehnigm recovered rather quickly, and the floor underneath Metra suddenly started warping like the centre of a wormhole simulation, dropping deeper and deeper. “Like that will stop me,” John heard the entertained voice shout out in battle-hunger as if she was right beside him. Then she appeared out of a portal, a sliced open part of reality right besides Gehnigm who ran as she was busy climbing out of that.

This fight of bending dimensions made John’s head hurt, and he was certainly happy that he just had to watch. All he understood was that the two of them didn’t have the same powers. Where Gehnigm manipulated and bend space, Metra tore it apart. The main difference that made was in scope. The Supreme Fateweaver would have been able to manipulate the dimensions of an entire building, but Metra was able to punch through singular parts of reality.

Metaphorically speaking, Gehnigm could fold or stretch the fabric of reality however he wanted; Metra weaved through the fabric like a needle. It was the power John had needed, one that could effectively battle the Supreme Fateweaver’s.

“Why do you have these powers?” Gehnigm wanted to know. Metracanas were a rather secretive thing, so him being unaware of how they worked wasn’t surprising. As a matter of fact, not even the Horned Rat had known that Metra would develop these powers; John just had been able to figure it out earlier in the iron giant when something had siphoned off mana. Something that then also had reached out to his mind and filled him with a sense of foreboding, and if that something could do all of that out of his inventory…

“This is what happens if you let me soak in mana in an undefinable space for too long,” Metra said, tapping the shaft of the halberd on her shoulder. John used Observe on both Metra and the weapon at the opportunity.

That thing was stupidly strong and fit perfectly for what Metra needed as equipment. Did the world just decide that this was the moment that everything aligned for her appearance or what was going on?

All that was nice and dandy, but John couldn’t help but feel that her stats were somewhat underwhelming for what he had been hyped up for. Then again, at their level, stats were a secondary concern. As someone who had been subject to a few women who were prone to blow up at random times already, Metra being able to handle her rage was a nice change of pace. Although he had to wonder about the fact that she scaled with his level. Was she being held down by him or pulled up? Looking at her age, skills and the things she had eaten already, the former seemed way more likely. Was it thanks to the Adapting Powers attribute?

“Although the real key here is that the plea to awaken me was the need for someone who can fight your powers.” As the ancient artefact turned hot babe spoke, she bundled up her hair behind her head and created a ring out of her own metallic body that kept most if it in place. It had been annoying when she moved, so she had to get it out of her face. Unruly strands fell by the wayside and framed her face. She would live with that much, apparently, as she didn’t bother with them anymore after her wild ponytail was in place.

“Well then.” Her voice took a swing from cheeky to aggressive; her eyes opened wide, changing colours from radiant green to a bright red. She entered a crouching position whirling the halberd down, the tip pointing at the floor as she held it with both hands. “My job is to kill you, so let me guide you…” she penetrated the air in front of her with the tip of Qiada as she darted forwards, the weapon halfway disappeared, “…to the afterlife!”

The tip appeared again right next to Gehnigm’s head, but like every other attempt at attacking him, it simply curved around him. “You may have a similar power, but I remain stronger,” the Supreme Fateweaver reminded them, having regained his cool from the distance. Even as a non-combat focused mage, as long as he remained dominant in his field, he was untouchable. Metra’s appearance had saved them from him escaping, as he now had to concentrate on defending himself, but it wasn’t a solution.

Gehnigm was so much more proficient at his craft that he even had time to help Ivan as he kept himself safe from Metra’s attack. The cowardly father was still holding strong, but it was only the support of the Fateweaver that gave him the upper hand. Against John’s hope, her appearance hadn’t magically turned the situation around. Her attacks didn’t even hold a candle to Sylph’s speed or Gnome’s strength. She just had the right ability at the right time. Her dimensional attacks missed Gehnigm again and again, always bending away before they could reach them. They came one after another.

‘Wait a second, is she getting faster?’ John realized as he was watching. Not only did the time between each attack diminish, but they became stronger as well. And as she did, the special distortions around her became lessened as her targets power was outweighed.

All the while Metra’s grin was like the carving on an incredibly sexy voodoo mask, unmoving and final. The true place where her emotions lay were her eyes. Each time an attack missed, John could see the frustration flare up and drop right into a swelling sea of anger and fuel the berserker’s power just a bit more. That’s when John understood.

Metra was like the Hulk, the angrier she got, the more power she had. Unlike the Hulk, she seemed to have a fair working self-control, however. And it didn’t just stop at her physical strength. John was pretty sure there were some other conditions to this, there always were conditions, but in and of itself, that was really impressive.

And it worked. Soon enough, Gehnigm had to pull back his support towards Ivan as the weapon appeared next to him again and again. He was a sitting duck, having nothing but an overpowered defence skill now subject to an attack that got stronger the longer it was used. In game terms, he had just met his counter. John didn’t particularly look at the portal manipulation that was going on, had no time to figure out the drawbacks of that technique. He was looking for an opening.

Metra went on her final offensive, slicing open a dimensional gap and jumping inside only to burst out right next to the Supreme Fateweaver. The whole room was distorted as Gehnigm desperately tried to bring distance between them as best he could. Even now his power in this field remained far greater than Metra’s, and in one second, without either of them moving anymore, the space between them grew from a few centimetres to hundreds of metres. The only reason why the power-copying metracana could even get this close was because she used her efforts in a focus while Gehnigm had to ward off everyone at once.

Which was exactly why he got hit by 12 Shardbound in the back the moment it was only Metra he concentrated on.

John had spent the time of their exchange of blows to spread the shards throughout the room using Possession, only ever waiting for the moment where there was one gap. When Metra finally closed in on Gehnigm, all of his defences had dropped.

Dropped far below what John had anticipated. Even the mighty had faults, especially those who thought themselves untouchable. It seemed the former Supreme Fateweaver had no experience in melee combat whatsoever. Thus, the moment he thought that only his powers could save him now, he had used a knee jerk reaction that left him wide open.

And so his body was riddled with holes from the shards of pure energy either burning into or flying straight through him depending on their energy level, disappearing after they had dealt their damage. “But my… perfect… world…” Gehnigm broke down as his life left him. Their primary threat was no more.

‘Geezus Christ, what level was that guy, and why didn’t he ever invest into any offensive skills?’ John to wonder. ‘Only getting defensive stuff is bound to get you murdered one day. That’s like being a turtle by choice in a world where raptors exist that can pick you up and crack your shell by dropping you from the sky.’

Metra sent him a majorly pissed glare, but John had another thing to deal with right now. At least that’s what he thought until he spied something wavering in the air. A moment later, the air ripped open, and Metra’s hand darted forth, grabbing him by the collar. The gap wasn’t big enough to pull him through, but she could glare at him through it perfectly well.

Her eyes were now of a greyish green, but even with that burned out look, the feeling of directed rage inside them was clearly burning like the fire of smelter. “Never get involved in my fights again, Master. NEVER get involved in MY fights!” she said it twice, as if once wasn’t clear enough. Then she dropped him again, and the gap, through which he was able to see her face, closed. He would deal with that later.

Ivan, without help from his ally and having noticed his superiors defeat, was now without hope to win this fight. He dropped to his knees the second this became apparent, the same second John turned towards him. The armour he wore screeched as he went to the ground, evidently having more honour than him. Others had at least believed in what they fought for with enough fervour to die for it; all John saw here was someone desperately trying not to make his own decisions.

“I surren-“ the word didn’t even come to an end as something started to choke his air away.

“Sylph, stop that!” Salamander instructed.

“I ain’t doing it, something else is,” Sylph said with puffed up cheeks, “My powers aren’t being used, none, nothing, nada, see, there is this strand of copper wire here that is doing it. Pretty copper, thin copper, copper comes from there!”