Ineffa versus Sandrone, Part 5: The Moon's Blessing
Link to full fic on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77836121/chapters/203921056
With Sandrone’s machinations, a shaky plan of their own begins to form, adding even more pressure onto Ineffa’s shaken mind.
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Sandrone works alone, away from the chatter of the Fatui agents within the facility. They know better than to disturb their Harbinger in a foul mood.
‘Anti-Air defenses for Pulonia... hmm, must be able to counter jet propulsion technology...’
In truth, she had no intention of playing fair. She had been intercepting every single blueprint Aino was sending to the Craftshop, and nothing had been too alarming until now. Sure, the new upgrades for Ineffa were looking quite fancy, especially her new wings and jetpack, but she knew from centuries of experience that such an ambitious design would require way too much power.
Then Ms. Dear Annoying Fascination came and went, and no matter how silly she sounded and acted... She was still a formidable moon goddess and the power of the moon incarnate. If she manages to provide Aino’s robot with limitless kuuvahki, the results could get very ugly for all parties involved.
She imagines herself and Pulonia losing against Ineffa, the Tsaritsa’s armies invading Nod-Krai wreaking havoc, Columbina being forced back to Fatui headquarters... Too bad she never saw the ugly truth of this world, the fact that someone must sacrifice for another’s happiness.
She kicks a stray coffee can in annoyance, one of many now laying at her feet. “Ugh, stupid Columbina, Why won’t you understand! I’m doing all of this for... for...”
“For yourself?” Snapped a small girl with pink hair. Sandrone whirls around, “What did you say, you little squirt?!”
“I overheard everything you and that moon-goddess-lady were talking about, and I think you’re really dumb.” Aino proclaimed proudly, paying no mind to the firestorm in Sandrone’s brain. “If you don’t want your friend to be taken by a baddie, you fight the baddie, not sell out your other friend!”
Sandrone approached the small child hoping her larger stature and mean face would intimidate her enough.
“First of all, I am not your friend. Second of all, Do you know how powerful the Fatui are? Or the Tsaritsa is? She is a formidable warrior in her own right, now backed up with the strength of five gnoses, not to mention her army of Fatui and Harbingers to back her up!”
“That’s where I come in! I, the great whiz-kid mechanic herself, so propose we stop fighting amongst ourselves and join forces against the big baddie Tsaritsa! Together, our robot armies will be invincible!”
She was in her pajamas holding the small fluffy rabbit doll given to her the night she was kidnapped. In her other hand she was holding a toothbrush high towards the stars, still filled with toothpaste foam that also coated the edges of her mouth like a fake mustache.
Sandrone could not help herself but burst out laughing. “Hah, go back to bed, insolent child. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
“Fine, but neither do you! We’ll see who’s boss in two weeks’ time!”
Her face scrunched up to an adorable pout as she marched back to the bathroom to wash out her mouth. Sandrone only watched her fade away into the corridor with a light smile, and a forlorn look in her eyes.
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Ineffa’s keen senses detect worry, distress and desperation from the Moon Goddess as she returns to their meeting place – the Frostmoon Scion Library.
“How did it go?” asks an eager Jahoda, but Columbina does not answer her.
Instead, she pulls up right in front of Ineffa and puts a shaky hand on her shoulder. For a moment, she catches her breath. Apparently she ran at full speed all the way from Paha Isle.
“Sandrone has chosen war,” she begins. Leaving behind the shocked expressions of Jahoda, Flins and Lauma, she elaborates the whole story – about the Tsaritsa’s demands, Sandrone’s plan, and Aino’s role as a bargaining chip to turn Ineffa into a pawn of the Fatui.
“Wait wait wait,” Jahoda is the first to panic. “So even if Ineffa wins against Sandrone and we get Aino back, the Tsaritsa is still going to invade Nod-Krai and destroy everything? Oh no... nonononono! We’re so done for!”
As everyone inevitably shows differing states of shock and dismay, Ineffa thanks her robotic nature as it continues to calculate.
‘Analyzing options...’
Even Lauma’s voice – the one so calm and collected most of the time, was shaky at best. “This is... indeed a terrible situation. Nod-Krai does not have any sufficient means to defend itself, other than the Lightkeepers, who, if I remember correctly, took an oath of loyalty to the Tsaritsa?”
“Oaths are just words, and our duties are to the people of Nod-Krai above all else,” said Flins, with fingers now bridging his temple.
“The real issue lies with firepower. Visions are few and far between, and most of the rest are armed with melee weapons and unable to withstand Snezhnayan firearms and Delusions. Although I suppose now Miss Columbina is a full moon goddess with all the Tri-lune’s power, so if she is able to defeat the Tsaritsa one on one, then maybe-”
‘Option: Direct, large-scale conflict with the Fatui, not feasible. High chance of defeat. Even in case of victory, high probability of large numbers of innocent casualties..’
As Ineffa’s robotic mind continues to calculate, Columbina raises her hand to interject Flins’ tirade.
“That’s... quite enough,” Columbina’s voice sounds hollow and powerless, but it is enough to silence everyone.
“I don’t want neither my friends nor the people of Nod-Krai to suffer any longer because of me. Not Ineffa, not Aino... and certainly not innocent Lightkeepers. Joining the Fatui was my decision... and I must bear responsibility for it.”
‘Searching other options...’
Lauma grabs the long sleeves of her dress gleaming in pure moonlight. “Kuutar, you cannot seriously mean-”
“That I’m turning myself in? Yes, Lauma. I am. I know my way around that wretched place, and I do have a loving friend there, no matter how much I want to strangle her right now,” Columbina smiles weakly.
Yet everyone can see it is but a thin, somber veneer. Weighted down by the sadness and resignation of a goddess – no, their friend - about to lose their hard-earned freedom.
“...Analysis complete. Ms. Columbina, And I believe there is a plan to spare Nod-Krai from the Tsaritsa’s wrath without sacrificing anyone, even Sandrone.”
All eyes turn towards her in eager anticipation.
“It unfortunately rests on two factors: One, me defeating her. Two, my restraint being enough to NOT kill her, both of which are proving to be almost impossible tasks... And even after that, we are going to need external help.”
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The night is dark as forboding northern winds blow relentlessly across Nasha Town, rattling windows and shivering doors. Inside the Curatorium, Illuga, Nefer, Ineffa and one representative from the Voynich Guild are seated with grim silence.
Lauma clears her throat.
“The second meeting of the Nod-Krai League is now in session. My... deepest apologies for the nighttime summon and supreme confidentiality, but the situation at hand calls for it.”
Founded after the defeat of Dottore between all the different factions of Nod-Krai, The League was the first entity resembling anything like a ‘government’ in Nod-Krai’s history since the fall of Hyperborea.
The Fatui’s noticable absence from said ‘government’ session makes the subject matter painfully obvious for all parties involved. The mood is sombre, and tense as every soul fears the coming conflict.
“I have heard the gist of the situation from Jahoda,” Nefer begins. “And no, dear miss Moonchanter. I am not lending my help to a venture destined to fail. Obvious loss of mora and property aside, every single person in this room will face the gallows once the Tsaritsa lands in Nasha Town harbor with an army and three harbingers in tow.”
Her voice is ever calm and methodical even as she is speaking of doom and blood, a fact that does little to soothe Lauma’s tension.
“Even with our Moon Goddess, the Tri-Lune herself on our side?” she inquires hopefully.
“Especially with her on our side,” says the Voynich Guild representative. “She is their prime target, and deity she may be, I frankly doubt her ability to protect the rest of us from the Fatui and their harbingers as they descend upon Nasha town while she battles the Tsaritsa.”
Illuga had been writing things down since the beginning of the meeting, and he creases his brow with his middle and index fingers, frowning at the numbers.
“I will be brunt with you. Operations against the Wild Hunt have drained our treasury and injured many of our capable members – and we are in no condition to stand against the Fatui.”
Suddenly, a rush of unrestrained Kuuvahki fills the room as the doors open with a loud bang.
“Even if a your friend and a member of this League spends the rest of her days in unwanted and undeserved imprisonment?”
It reveals not Columbina the shy recluse, but Kuutar the Moon Goddess and de facto archon of Nod-Krai. Her anger is visible through her silken veil and closed eyes, providing a certain degree of gravitas that sends everyone into stunned silence.
Apparently many had forgotten that the Moon had a dark side that is seldom shown to the world.
Lauma respectfully yields the podium to her, and she is duly thanked with a small nod from the deity.
“Dear merchants of the league, it seems that your judgement of the scales have concluded that it leans in favor of abandoning the one to ‘save’ the many,” she speaks with barely-hidden contempt.
“Allow me to balance the scales for you. If I do manage to hold off the Tsaritsa and the Fatui without your help, the Tsaritsa will not be the goddess terrorizing your hearth and home.”
The Voynich Guild representative’s eyes widen to saucers at the implicit threat, while Nefer’s stays cool and calculating.
“I have been at the heart of the Fatui for quite some time. Never think they will stop at just one child - or robot. Once she takes control, the Tsaritsa will use everything and everyone in Nod-Krai as her fuel to burn in her pursuit of vengeance towards the Heavenly Principles, including yourselves. Don’t forget how I was barely a living husk when I ran away from them.”
Whether it was from her outburst or not, the remaining three grow quieter as they ponder their options.
“Then, dear Moon Goddess, do you have a different solution on how to stop the Tsaritsa? One that preferably doesn’t end with us all getting torn to pieces?” Nefer finally speaks.
Instead of an answer, Columbina pulls out a shining moon marrow, an orb with an almost translucent metallic sheen now levitating in her palm.
“Ineffa, would you kindly?”
That was her cue, as the robot stood up from the shadows and approached the dimly-lit podium, her new wings, stature and tail now purposefully visible to everyone within the compound.
“As everyone knows,” Columbina continues, “The Tsaritsa’s real target is to make Ineffa a powerful harbinger fighting on her side, and I intend to beat her to the chase. Kneel, former Dragon-lord of Natlan.”
Ineffa does, yet her emotion module cannot help but dread as the identity she tried so hard to push away comes back to haunt her once again. She steels herself as she remembers her pink-haired creator and family, and why she is doing this in the first place.
“Do you swear to defeat Sandrone in my name, and free your dear companion from her clutches?”
“I do.”
Now came the hard part,
“Do you swear to not fatally harm her, and instead detain our dear, misguided friend for our future safety?”
Ineffa herself had suggested this course of action. It was what Columbina wanted anyway, but also if Sandrone was captured, she would be a highly valued asset to be used as significant leverage to dissuade the Tsaritsa from losing yet more of her harbingers.
Such logical thoughts did little to calm the raging inferno of murderous thoughts in her mind.
“...I do.”
Apparently not catching the firestorm in her brain, Columbina moves onto the final part of the oath.
“And finally, do you swear to act as the protector of Nod-krai, and stand against her enemies from without and within?”
“I do.”
Ineffa’s plan could be summed up into one word - Deterrence. If they couldn’t defeat the Tsaritsa outright, then they could at least make it as painful as possible for her to conquer Nod-krai by force. Sandrone as hostage, Ineffa as a harbinger-level threat, Columbina herself with the power of the Tri-Lune (however much she had given back to the land)... maybe it would be enough to make the Tsaritsa think twice before firing a shot.
“Then I deem you worthy to have this within you. Now rise, Dragon Sovereign of the Moon.”
Ineffa rises slowly, gingerly almost as if bearing a phantom weight on her shoulders. Her entire life was a lie. Columbina was no real archon. She was no real Dragon, let alone a Dragon Sovereign. This ‘League’ was not a functioning government. The Klink-Klank Craftshop was no real family, so beset with divisions from within.
The only hope she had was for everything to look steady at least, and maybe everything would be okay.
Posted Feb 28, 2026, 1:01 PM UTC