As soon as her hand had touched the mysterious Core, the world had fallen away from around Mikayla.

  Dizzying lights that she had no names for filled her vision in a kaleidoscope of overwhelming colours, until it all peeled back and she found herself in an impossible place.

  Because suddenly she was in the sky.

  Standing on the edge of a floating rock, Mikayla could only stare out at a field of clouds below. The sky above her was not blue, but a shifting and twirling rainbow of colours all woven together like an impossible tapestry.

  "You have come," a voice shook the world, the loudest noise she'd ever heard shaking the world, stronger than she could imagine and yet somehow sounding incredibly weak.

  It had come from behind her, and Mikayla turned, searching for the source. That was when she realised that she wasn't standing on a rock, or a floating island, but on the edge of a large bowl formed from earth.

  In the centre of the bowl was the most massive snake she had ever seen - yet also the most wretched. Its scales were multicoloured and rippling through every hue of the rainbow, where they hadn't been stripped away and left abscesses that bled golden light. Its frame was skeletal, its skin peeling away where it wasn't stretched tight across the contours of its bones. Its eyes were pools of gold that had faded to a tarnished dullness, barely able to twitch open to regard her. The tip of its tail was tucked beneath its chin.

  "You're the Rainbow Ouroboros," Mikayla guessed.

  It opened its mouth, revealing chipped and broken fangs. "Yes," the snake hissed, sounding like every word was a struggle. "Thank you . . for coming . . even after . . what I did . ."

  "What do you mean, what you did?" Mikayla questioned, eyebrows furrowing.

  "The holes . . in the worlds . . that brought you here," The Ouroboros heaved out a sigh. "I was . . desperate . . to escape this fate . . I acted rashly . . callously. And . . failed. You were . . an innocent victim . . of my crime,"

  Mikayla's jaw worked furiously without any sound emerging. So she hadn't been brought to the Kaiju Coast by accident? She'd been collateral damage in this thing's last-ditch attempt to flee? Like falling through a manhole that a plumber was trying to use to escape a flooding drain? That . . that still sounded mostly accidental and probably wasn't a very good metaphor. Nonetheless, she was . .

  Actually, no. Looking at the wretched state of this creature, she couldn't bring herself to be angry. Clearly, no matter how bad she'd had it, this Rainbow Ouroboros had suffered far worse things.

  "What are you, actually? A Kaiju?" Asika had mentioned that there were some Kaijus who had learned to speak and get along with people. Was that what she was dealing with?

  "No . . I am a god," the Ouroboros choked out.

  Mikayla's eyes widened, even if she had somewhat suspected. This was a god. A dying god. A god, who, presumably, was in this state because of what Flyreh and Mahendra had done to him. That was . . terrifying.

  "Do not fear," the Ouroboros murmured. "I am in this state . . because of my own weakness . . and because none have worshipped me in decades . . I have been dying for a long time . . that man merely hastened the process. To think . . someone as weak as him . . could do this . . I am truly . . wretched,"

  "Well. Um. Can I do anything to help?" Mikayla suggested, looking around. There was barely anything in this strange space. No . . she could see that the edges of the stone bowl were slowly crumbling, flaking away into nonexistence. There was barely anything left.

  "Thank you . . but I cannot be saved . . not now," the Ouroboros shook his head.

  "Are you sure? You couldn't open another rift? Use my Mana to do it maybe? Or we could -"

  "I am going to die," the Rainbow Ouroboros said with finality, and Mikayla shut up. "My Core has been damaged . . perverted . . irreparably,"

  Mikayla's head was spinning with that revelation, even if she couldn't bring herself to voice it. Were God Cores the same sort of thing as Equipment Cores or Companion Cores? How did thatwork?

  "All that is left . . is to deny the invader his prize," The Ouroboros reared up, raising his head, and Mikayla was awestruck by the spectacle of rainbow lights cascading down his length. She could barely imagine what this beautiful creature must have been like in the prime of his life.

  "You want me to take your Core somewhere else?" Mikayla guessed. "I can try. The escape attempt isn't going so well, but -"

  "No," the prismatic serpent rumbled. "Such would only . . prolong my death . . . and waste it. The invader seeks to . . supplant my mantle . . to build a new divinity out of my bones,"

  "Is that possible?" Mikayla couldn't help but ask.

  The Rainbow Ouroboros loomed down towards her, those massive golden eyes seeming to drown out the rest of the world. "Consider this . . my apology . . and my penance," he crooned.

  "Whoa, whoa, hang on, what are you doing?" Mikayla's eyes darted downwards, feeling the very tip of the serpent's tail touch the bottom of her chin, while the cool scales of his snout pressed gently on the top of her head. She squirmed, but for all that the god was clearly on his last legs, his grip was still so strong that she couldn't pull her head free.

  The world shook around them as that impossibly loud and incredibly weak voice made the colourful sky shatter like glass. "Let my final words be known to the four winds and all beneath them, to the world itself and all who would stand guard over it!"

  The ground fell away, and the Rainbow Ouroboros caught Mikayla, still keeping her head pinned between his lips and his tail. His body was breaking down, scales and flesh evaporating into colourful mist. "I am the Rainbow Ouroboros, the God of {TEAMWORK}. The Hundred Hands Entwined and the Myriad Colours United. I hereby announce that my time in this world has come to an end, and with my dying breath I declare my inheritor,"

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Mikayla's eyes widened. This was a whole new level of insanity. "Wait, hang on, are you sure about this? I'm not gonna stay in this world, I'm going home! I can't take over your role as a god or anything!"

  "Better that my essentia be lost to your world than fall into the hands of the invaders," the Ouroboros assured her. "Perhaps, the world willing, my essentia shall see you home safely,"

  He drew breath, even though Mikayla was mostly sure she'd just seen his lungs disintegrate. "I offer all that remains of me as a gift to Mikayla Aiadon, with no conditions, restrictions, or final demands. Let nothing remain of my legacy. Consume it all so that she may receive as much as I can give,"

  "This is, um, bigger than I think I can grasp just yet. I'll probably need Asika to explain how big a deal that was. But . . thank you," Mikayla whispered.

  In the last moment before his head and tail had completely disintegrated into dust, the Rainbow Ouroboros whispered, "Best of luck,"

  His world faded entirely, leaving Mikayla suspended in a black void. Before she could panic about that, though, System notifications filled her vision.

  [CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN NAMED THE INHERITOR OF THE RAINBOW OUROBOROS!]

  [YOU HAVE ACQUIRED A TITLE: INHERITOR OF THE RAINBOW OUROBOROS.]

  [YOUR SIGNATURE HAS BEEN UPDATED.]

  [THE DEMIGOD SYSTEM IS NOW AVAILABLE TO YOU!]

  [AS A LIVING MORTAL, YOU DO NOT MEET THE PREREQUISITES FOR POSTHUMOUS APOTHEOSIS.]

  [YOUR CURRENT WORSHIPPER COUNT IS: 0.]

  [YOUR CURRENT DOMAINS ARE: {TEAMWORK}]

  [YOUR CURRENT DIVINITY RANK IS: RANK 0 (MORTAL).]

  [YOUR CURRENT FAITH POINT TOTAL IS: 3,923.]

  [YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE BLESSING OF {TEAMWORK}!]

  Mikayla squinted at the last message. ". . wait, did that snake say he was the god of teamwork? What the hell is a 'god of teamwork'?"

  [WARNING: YOUR DIVINITY RANK IS INSUFFICIENT TO MAINTAIN A DIVINE REALM. {THE REALM OF THE RAINBOW OUROBOROS} WILL COLLAPSE AND YOU WILL BE EJECTED.]

  Mikayla looked around at the black void, all that remained of what she assumed had been the Rainbow Ouroboros' Divine Realm. "I'm okay with that,"

  She regretted her words as soon as she'd said them, because then she was falling. And somehow the world went even blacker.

  <=====}—o

  When she came to, the sight of Keldryn squaring off against Flyreh woke her up more effectively than any pot of coffee. The bleariness evaporated, and before she'd even realised what she was doing the Black Knight was wrapping around her frame once more. She relished the mastery, the fact that she could now call it up with only a thought. Hopefully that skill would save her life.

  The black and red lights drew the eye. "You okay?" Keldryn asked, his eyes only leaving Flyreh for less than a second.

  "Peachy," Mikayla grumbled. She'd just watched a god die and declare that she would replace him. There was a lot to unpack there, and no time for any of it.

  "I think you're being overly optimistic," Flyreh regarded them both. "There's nowhere left to run," He didn't move from the doorway, his posture completely relaxed. In the shrine room turned laboratory, with only one exit, he had them cornered and he knew it.

  "What happened, lass?" Nocturnus whispered.

  "A god just decided he'd rather have me replace him than that guy," Mikayla summarised.

  Flyreh, who apparently had good enough hearing to catch that, did a double take."Pardon?"

  "Access demigod system?" Mikayla desperately muttered under her breath. White and gold notifications blossomed into her field of vision, markedly different to the blue screens she'd become accustomed to.

  [DEMIGOD SYSTEM ACTIVATED. WELCOME, INHERITOR.]

  [ERROR: THE GOD 'god/teamwork/rainbow_ouroboros' DOES NOT EXIST IN THE DIVINITY REGISTRY. ALL FUNCTIONS RELATED TO PATRON INTERVENTION ARE UNAVAILABLE.]

  [CHANNEL DIVINITY IS UNAVAILABLE. COMMUNION IS UNAVAILABLE -]

  "Tell me what is available!" Mikayla demanded.

  [BLESSING OF {TEAMWORK} IS AVAILABLE.]

  "Apply the Blessing of Teamwork to myself, Keldryn," She paused, then decided there was no reason not to. "And Nocturnus!"

  [SELECT POTENCY OF BLESSING: RED, ORANGE, YELLOW -]

  "Whichever one is strongest!"

  [APPLYING RAINBOW BLESSING OF {TEAMWORK} TO THREE INDIVIDUALS.]

  [YOUR CURRENT FAITH POINT TOTAL IS: 3,623.]

  [CORES DETECTED. SYNERGY DETECTED. ATARAXIAN OVERRIDE ENGAGED (FAILSAFE).]

  [HOTFIX COMPLETED. CONDITIONS SATISFIED TO INITIATE PANTHEON PROTOCOL.]

  ['RAINBOW BLESSING OF {TEAMWORK}' HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO 'PERFECT RAINBOW BLESSING OF {TEAMWORK}'.]

  [APPLYING PERFECT RAINBOW BLESSING OF {TEAMWORK} TO THREE INDIVIDUALS.]

  Mikayla's eyes widened, the System messages replacing each other almost too quickly for her to read them. "Ataraxian Override? Pantheon Protocol? Perfect Rainbow Blessing?"

  Flyreh started. "What did you just say, girlie?"

  Before Mikayla could decide how to respond, a rainbow aura appeared around her body, like a localised Aurora Borealis. A matching glow appeared around Keldryn's body. "Mikayla, what did you do?"

  "Something called a Perfect Rainbow Blessing of Teamwork. I assume it'll make us stronger if we're fighting together," she explained, stepping forwards to flank Keldryn.

  Flyreh's eyes went wide. "You got that starring snake to give you a what? How?!"

  "Well, he really hated you, so -" Mikayla was interrupted by her rusty Core Controller shining like the sun. Keldryn's did the same, and it took only seconds for the rainbows to drown out everything else.