The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Eximo's spirit easily reached the crystal before its former body did. But as it approached Lutherion's still body, it was held back.

At this distance, the crystal's power was strong enough that it even leaked onto the spirit plane. Though it was not actively harmful to a spirit, the energy itself forced them away. From what Eximo could tell, the spirit it had sensed before was within there; but the amalgamation that was Eximo was now nearly feral, and did not stop to wonder why another spirit could be within that protected zone. Instead, it tried to find another approach, and went behind the crystal.

Amethyst had observed the crystal's apparent lack of depth. Here on the spirit plane, though, there was no trickery - it appeared as a two-dimensional paper cutout. Behind the crystal, the energy did not radiate at all; but no physical being could get there easily.

There was a book on the ground, in the shadow of the crystal. Lutherion would have recognized it as the same pop-up book he had opened before, changing the shape of this world. Eximo, however, paid it no mind. The amalgamation attempted to reach out a spiritual "limb" in front of the crystal...

And quickly retracted it. The energy was just as strong as before. It seemed this meal was beyond its reach, at least for now; despite its maddening hunger, Eximo could see that this was a waste of its time. It resumed the search for the meal that had escaped it before, and drifted away from the crystal.

At the same time, the now-mindless vacuum cleaner continued its advance. It had nearly reached the filth.

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SpoilerTomorrow, I plan to bring Lutherion back to life. If anyone wants to do anything with him before that, or do it their own way, now's the time.