THE MOMENT
[You may join me. - Chroma] Minerva felt the Whisper on her wrist and her Chroma's gentle voice in her mind. At the same moment, a black portal opened in front of her and Ruby. She ran through the portal as soon as it was tall enough for her.
On the other side of the portal she found an orange, smoky sky and an endless, flat plain of ash; and, Chroma. The tall, lithe woman with long, metallic-chrome hair smiled broadly at Minerva when she appeared. Then, Ruby behind her.
"Well?" She looked at Ruby. "How'd I do?"
Ruby flicked her right wrist upward to summon her slate. A pane of glass appeared in the air before her and she began typing on it. She could read the text, but Minerva and Chroma only saw it as a translucent, grey slate. Ruby nodded to herself as she studied the server information.
"Perfect," she grinned. "Not a single living cell, not a single drop of water anywhere."
"I hadn't considered how enjoyable that would be," Chroma said. "I find myself looking forward to more. However...," she focused on Minerva. "...this isn't the only option. Meredith could do this quicker, and with considerably less effort." Minerva nodded at Chroma as she knelt on the blackened ground.
"I know. But, this is a special occasion; I want to enjoy every step of the process," she replied. Minerva formed a fist about a foot above the ground and her hand began to glow with golden light.
"Gently," Chroma reminded her. "Without the oceans, you'll need much less force than you think." Minerva nodded and the glow dimmed; then, she brought her hand down to the ground. Before she made contact, she stopped and flicked the surface of the Earth with a single finger. Immediately a deafening, deep cracking sound filled the air and the earth began to split beneath her finger.
"That'll do it," Ruby said. Her focus was still on the slate; but, when she spoke she looked up and dismissed it. The slate disintegrated into white powder and disappeared.
"Let us return to the office while it settles," Chroma replied as the Earth began to shake beneath them. The track that Minerva made traveled deep into the core; and, through it. A black portal appeared beneath Minerva and Ruby, then the three women were in Chroma's high-rise office again.
"Well, that was easy," Minerva said. Ruby nodded.
"All in all everything went as well as it possibly could have. But even in the best-case scenario, we still have to wait. It's not hard to make; just time-consuming. It'll take some time for that Earth to settle into something useable."
"What... like an hour?" Minerva asked. Ruby shook her head. The sunlight pouring in through Chroma's wall-sized window reflected off the rubies that formed a crown atop Ruby's head. The movement made red sparkles dance across the walls.
"Days...minimum. Weeks or months is possible; some Earths take up to a year to settle after being halved."
"Oh.. wait," Minerva suddenly wasn't sure her plan would work out. "We've got a little more than seven months... how many Earths do we need to crack open?" Ruby shrugged.
"At least 1000 need to be used for the product to be considered voidsteel at all. But, that's low-grade voidsteel and not very 'special'. For you, I think we're going to need closer to a million."
"Fun!" Chroma chirped. But, Minerva's eyes widened. She'd always heard voidsteel was difficult to make. She assumed that was just because not everyone could crack the Earth in half. But, now she realized that she'd need at least a million weeks for the small amount she wanted. Over 19,000 years.
"A million? That's... not going to happen in seven months...," she sighed.
"Nonsense," Chroma replied. "Tim can pause everything until we're done. We could finish...," Chroma raised her delicate, alabaster hands and made air quotes. "... 'today' if you wanted." Minerva shook her head.
"No... Ruin's already been through something like that. I'm not going to make him wait longer." Minerva turned to Chroma and looked into her silver eyes.
"Will you ask Meredith to help me prepare for my wedding, please?"