VS.
Arena:
Author: HillyHulk
Word Count: 10,510 words
Posted: April 5th, 2019
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Earth was never perfect in the first place. Even before the Shogun of Sorrow had come, there were horrible things affecting the planet such as war and famine. Back then, those things could be overcome and peace could be achieved for a decent amount of time before the next event would come. With him, however, those things would become commonplace. Suffering and worldwide slavery was a simple fact with their millennia long emperor in charge.
The universe was being added as well as aliens of different breeds were brought to their new lord. Whoever would dare challenge him would face utter annihilation for such insolence. As bad as the world of old could be, the world of the future was complete hell. For this reason, when a certain devour of worlds had returned to the planet, no resistance from his day had come to fight him back.
Even Silver Surfer was not going to fight his master’s desire to devour the planet this time. The herald side of him was obedient to Galactus as it was, but the human side had lost its connection to the Earth. This was not the home he remembered anymore. The tyrant had destroyed everything that he had valued in it. It didn’t matter whether it was absorbed or not.
Before they came to Earth, his master had learned of the shapeshifting master of darkness and sent him and two of his fellow heralds to a mountain known as Erebor while sending a third to the master himself. He was to be given an ultimatum through that herald; either leave the planet or be destroyed along with it. The three heralds had a nuisance to deal with in the form of the dragon that had claimed the island as his own, but that was all he was. All that was left to do was wait for their ally to arrive.
While their muscular, reddish-brown skinned ally waited on top of the mountain to keep an eye out for possible resistance either from air or land, the respectively silver skinned and fire skinned men waited for the scout he had sent toward the current location at the entrance of the mountain of their opposition. Eventually, he saw the scout Firelord had sent in the form of a falcon. When it perched on the extended arm of the master, Silver Surfer waited patiently for their conversation to end. Eventually, the falcon left and Firelord turned toward his fellow herald.
“Air-Walker is coming this way.” Firelord said, Silver Surfer only nodding in acknowledgement as he continued looking out toward the landscape around them.
So, they were finally going to get the answer to the ultimatum. It had been quite the wait, having to be patient for the response for an entire month. Suddenly, Morg made quite the dramatic appearance as he landed with a crash against the ground, mostly likely jumping off the mountain.
“Prepare yourselves, you two. I’m rather sure I saw explosions nearing us as well as a strange black lake of men coming toward us” Morg said, his axe lying on his shoulder.
Well, it wasn’t unexpected that he would fight back. Galactus himself most likely expected this situation as well when he gave the demand.
Silver Surfer flew into the air, aiming to assist Air-Walker. Morg flew out of the crater with Firelord close behind him, heading toward the ground forces. As he headed toward his ally, Silver Surfer felt an inner anger toward the man who had ruined his home. This “Aku” character had a lot to answer for. The man formerly known as Norrin Radd aimed to make him pay before his master came.
Air-Walker, meanwhile, dodged a volley of missiles coming from the wasp drones while punching through an incoming mosquito drone. He ripped the head of the drone off and stabbed a tick drone through the head before throwing it at one of the wasps. He was prepared to fight if necessary. He just hoped the man would have more common sense than he was showing. Since he was firing blasts of concussive force toward the wasps of his Space Drones, however, it seemed that was not in fact the case.
Some of the wasps managed to evade while others were not so lucky, exploding from the blast. Another mosquito tried to stab him through the back, but Air-Walker grabbed it by the proboscis of the drone and swung it at another incoming mosquito. Two ticks came at it from the side, only to have their faces grabbed and their molecules rearranged that made them cave in on themselves. Discarding them, he looked behind him and saw his ally’s incoming beams of energy that blasted multiple mosquitos and ticks. The wasps turned their attention toward the incoming surfing spaceman, shooting missiles at him to drive him away.
Silver Surfer evaded the missiles, his board swaying and flying all about while he returned fire. The wasps did the same as they evaded and counter-fired. The blasts they evaded wound up accidently hitting mosquitoes at times while they were being punched through and thrown all over the place by the other herald. Mosquitoes and ticks flew around the man, aiming for openings to his offense, but he was no fool and prepared to counterattack and strike headed his way. Mosquitoes became more ferocious, attacking relentlessly while the ticks used their assault to try to sneak in attacks.
Air-Walker responded by striking any of the mosquitoes whenever they got close. While doing so, he would keep an eye on the ticks and fire blasts at them to keep them at bay. He was too fast and perceptive for their plan of attack to work. Silver Surfer coming closer with every moment was no help either. Wasps took extra care to ensure their mistakes in allowing moves to get past were immediately. They made sure to blast away and beam heading toward them, blocking them from their allies as a result.
Back on the ground, Morg narrowed his eyes as he watched the beetle drones heading toward them. One of them had a humanoid robot dressed in a coat with a belt, a scarf, and a hat and had teeth and a tongue like humans as well as purely blues eyes. The big smirk on his face annoyed Morg as he grunted from the strength of his swing, creating a massive concussive blast that destroyed many of the vanguard in one fell swoop. The rhinoceros beetles that remained continued to charge, Firelord diving and swinging his baton into many of the beetles, breaking them to pieces. While Firelord of his opponents began swinging their scythe-like claws at the beetles, others circled around both him and Morg.
“Hey babe, you regret messing with Aku yet?” Scaramouche asked, an arrogant smug on his face.
Morg simply rolled his eyes as he shot the drone Scaramouche was standing on. The robot jumped off the robot, playing a flute he took out of his coat sending the pieces of drone toward Morg while the others charged at him. Morg swung his axe to meet the incoming stabs from the claws before striking back, slicing the robots to ribbons. Scaramouche used the remains as weapons, sending the pieces of drones toward him. Morg felt cuts come from the scythes that slashed across him.
Thanks to his durability, he could handle it just fine as he fired blasts toward Scaramouche who used his allies as cover. One of the attacking beetles nearly cut into his head, but Morg dodged at just the right time the scythe cutting his hair off instead. Morg retaliated by cutting the left claw off and slicing his head horizontally in half. He used his weapon to his advantage, using the scythe as a defense, cutting the incoming pieces Scaramouche attacked with and blocking the attacks from the beetles. Scaramouche was focused on attacking Morg, so he didn’t expect the baton that nearly smashed his head to pieces.
Scaramouche whistled in relief, turning his eyes toward the scowling herald smashing his way toward his ally. Scaramouche blocked the incoming swing from the baton, his legs buckling from the strength of the power of the strike. Morg let out a small smirk as he aimed a blast toward Scaramouche, a beetle getting in the way and getting blasted to pieces. Morg clicked his tongue, an annoyed expression on his face as he continued blocking the blows from the beetles with incredible speed. Scaramouche, meanwhile, pushed as hard as he could against Firelord before jumping back into the army of beetles.
Air-Walker, meanwhile, continued his flurry of strikes against the incoming drones. The mosquitoes saw that attacking with reckless abandon was not working with how fast their enemy was and they followed the ticks in circling him, thinking up another plan along with the ticks. Air-Walker stared them down, waiting for whatever they had in mind. Eventually, they made their move, attacking in groups of four. Two of them would attack first, ticks following mosquitoes while aiming for his blind spots.
Much like before, this didn’t work. This time however, it did have value this time as some of the ticks actually managed to get a few bites. Most of them couldn’t escape after biting down, but they were able to hit him with this new move. Air-Walker thought up a counter to their attack, evading them whenever they could before they could come up with a plan. Instead of attacking in a straight forward fashion like he did in the past, he made big swings to catch the other aiming for places he couldn’t see.
Suddenly, Silver Surfer flew past him and fired in a circular motion, forcing the other bugs back. The wasps, meanwhile, turned around and began forming their weapon. These men were quickly overwhelming them, and they needed a plan of attack. Silver Surfer narrowed his eyes, both he and Air-Walker fired at all directions. The mosquitoes and ticks mere forced to retreat, the firing too dangerous to get close.
The wasps connected to one another, aiming to fire one big beam. Air-Walker saw this and stopped firing for a moment and reacted, using his magnetism capabilities to pry them off one another. The mosquitoes and ticks used the chance to charge them all at once. Air-Walker turned the wasps against them, forcing them toward them blocking their paths by either slamming them to one another or nearly doing so which made them retreat. The mosquito and tick drones waited for a moment, watching the wasp allies floating about while Air-Walker stared them down Silver Surfer doing the same.
The two heralds watched the wasps watch their every move, aiming for the perfect shot at them. Their eyes pointed down for a moment, watching pieces of metal flying everywhere. At that moment where they diverted their attention, the wasps immediately opened fire on them. Air-Walker used magnetism to grab the missiles and throw them straight down toward the beetles. Morg saw those missiles head straight down toward them and warned Firelord.
Dodging Scaramouche’s sword swings and striking back, he looked up toward the missiles heading toward their direction. Kicking Scaramouche away, he stabbed through the beetle behind him and threw it toward the air, the body exploding upon contact with the missile. The other missiles blasted the other beetles, parts being thrown everywhere. Scaramouche tried his levitation again, but Firelord pulled the flute out of his hands and plunged it into his eye.
“That’s not cool, daddy-o.” Scaramouche said, pouting.
Firelord answered by trying to smack the flute in his eye, but Scaramouche rolled over it and began to scat-sing, lifting himself into the air. Scaramouche then used his tuning fork for sonic attacks. Firelord saw the air distort toward him and flew above it, the sonic attack hitting another beetle drone. The beetle’s abdomen began to vibrate before it exploded. Firelord stared at Scaramouche with narrowed eyes.
Silver Surfer and Air-Walker, meanwhile, began flying down toward them with the space drones gaining on them. Missiles shooting toward them wound up hitting their comrades, destruction from the ground army raining down from the friendly fire. Silver Surfer and Air-Walker flew right into the crowd, shooting at the beetles while using the beetles as cover. Morg nearly wound up cutting one of them in half when facing a beetle, missing by a hair. Morg focused on his enemies, barely registering that was indeed Air-Walker.
Morg noticed the tick drones following them and turned around and sliced a few of them in half. The ticks stopped and flew up into the air, focusing on their third target as he threw the claw in his hand at them only to miss. A beetle swung its claw toward his back from his shifted focus, but grabbed it and slammed it into the other beetles before tossing it at the ticks. Morg created energy slashes, the projectiles blasting any of the drones who didn’t escape on time. At the same time, Morg blocked the claws coming toward him and retaliating by swinging back, cutting them up.
Silver Surfer, meanwhile, shot at the beetles giving his grounded allies air support. The wasps were right behind them, but that was exactly what he and Air-Walker wanted from them. The two were too fast for them, being able to turn faster than they could which led to friendly fire whenever they got them within their sights. The beetles tried to swing their claws at them, but he was faster than they could swing and too tough when they landed hits. Whenever they could hit, the beetles only got broken scythes that used to be their claws as a reward for being able to strike the incredibly fast surfer.
Air-Walker took advantage of the beetles as well, but in a different way. The beetles were grabbed by his magnetism and thrown at the flying adversaries. Wasps, mosquitoes, and ticks alike were crush under the weight of the massive drones. This caused the beetles to switch their attention to the biggest threat toward them, charging toward the red and white colored herald. Not that it intimidated Air-Walker; having them all converge on him would make fighting them that much easier.
With the shift in focus, Scaramouche had fewer allies as they all focused on the magnetic menace wreaking havoc on their army. Firelord was quite pleased with this; less to worry over gave him more time to focus on the being that seemed to be their general. Soon enough, Morg noticed their shift in attention either. Earilier, scythe claws attacked from every direction that needed to be blocked, dodged, parried, or countered. Now, fewer and fewer attacks were directed toward them.
There were still ticks going after him, added to the mosquitoes. They made their presence known to him by attempting to strike him from behind. Morg felt a proboscis stab into his arm, Morg growling as he saw the end needle like appendage stabbing into his body. Morg snapped the proboscis off, the mosquito getting out and retreating. Morg turned toward his new foes, axe at the ready to turn the bugs into mincemeat out of some bug-themed insects.
Silver Surfer, meanwhile, continued to use the wasps against them. The beetles stopped attacking, seeing how useless their attacks would be against him and focused on Air-Walker as well. This didn’t make the wasp idea any less effective, however. In fact, it worked even better; with their focus on Air-Walker (the biggest threat to the robots with his magnetic ability) made them prone to ignoring the projectiles that couldn’t reach him anyway. This fight would be won soon enough.
The wasps were not giving in despite the bad situation, continuing to rain down on their foe. Silver Surfer easily evaded them, the bodies of the preoccupied beetles being the perfect defense against them. They wanted to use their laser since their weapons were useless against their plan, but Air-Walker’s magnetism could pry them off each other just like they did before. They couldn’t even fly up for a better shot for the same reason. As a result, they were left with their current option of chasing down Silver Surfer.
Scaramouche was irritated by how they were being taken down. He was the only one who could do anything and there was no way his current adversary was going to let him get ahead of him. Firelord continued to swing his baton at Scaramouche, evading the sound attacks heading toward him which led to the destruction to the already increasingly weakening force of the beetle drones. Ticks and mosquitoes were focused on Morg as he drew them toward them, shooting them out of the sky when he was smashing them into the ground. Scaramouche couldn’t count on support.
Firelord got close to the flying robot and swung down on Scaramouche, smashing through his sword and sending him flying down to the ground in a crash. Scaramouche muttered something about being grateful for being a robot before kipping up and jumping away from Firelord. Contemplating on a plan of attack, Scaramouche did indeed hatch a plan as he began scat singing again. This time, the scraps of robots began to connect to one another through his jazzy tune. Eventually, Firelord was met by a giant robot made of the remains of other robots.
The herald wasn’t even fazed, Scaramouche still having a confident smirk on his face at the new weapon at his disposal.
“Sic, babe.” Scaramouche said, pointing at Firelord.
The robot charged at Firelord, the giant’s steps vibrating the ground with every step before finally jumping into the air and landing on top of Firelord. Growling as he balanced the giant robot on his baton, he grunted when he tossed the robot at Scaramouche.
“Oh jeez.” was all Scaramouche said as he focused his tuning fork toward the robot he created.
As it vibrated, Scaramouche scat sang to fly away from the pieces of machinery. He did get a rather far distance, but not enough as when it exploded, he was still within range for an eye to come crashing into him, sending him down onto another herald. Morg raised an eyebrow as he felt a body land on him, turning around and seeing Scaramouche.
“Who’re you looking at, Trigon?” Scaramouche asked both rhetorically and rudely, Morg raising an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term.
“Look, go and beat up some robots… no wait… whatever, I have a show to put on for the boss, you feel me?” Scaramouche rambled, slightly annoying Morg.
Said herald grabbed Scaramouche by the neck, Scaramouche immediately regretting talking to him.
“I do now…” Morg said with narrowed eyes, his superhuman strength doing its job on the throat.
Scaramouche tried to stab him with his tuning fork, aiming to make the arm explode with the frequencies, but Morg pushed him away a far distance. Firelord met him when he stopped rolling, his little eyes making swirls as if he were from an anime.
“Enjoy your little ride, machine?” Firelord asked mockingly, raising his staff in the air to smash his head.
Scaramouche made a small “Yikes!” sound as he rolled away before the staff could crush his head to pieces.
From the little crater he made, he wouldn’t have made it had that landed. Scaramouche made a little whistle at the damage output that could’ve been. Scaramouche tried to scat-sing, but only buzzing and distorted noises comprised his voice. Scaramouche felt dread; his greatest weapon was gone. Firelord swung his baton toward his head, but Scaramouche caught it with his tuning fork and began using the vibrations to destroy the baton.
Just before he could let go, however, Firelord caught his hand and held it firm against his baton. Soon enough, his arm was destroyed from the explosion that took place. Firelord was sent flying as well, but he somersaulted back to his feet just before he could land. The herald flew forward, smashing through beetle drones aiming straight for Scaramouche. Scaramouche wasn’t sure of what to do; his army was dwindling in numbers and he was incapable of fighting now that his arsenal had been disposed of.
Soon enough, another ruptured beetle drone revealed Firelord, horrifying Scaramouche. Before he could reduce his body to scrap metal, Firelord stopped as he noticed that something was off. In fact, everyone noticed that something was indeed wrong. When Scaramouche looked up, he saw something that shook him to his core. Firelord, confused, looked up to where he was looking toward, and the sight still confused him as to what he was looking at.
A giant splotch of darkness hung over them all, ever-growing and blocking off the sun as it expanded. The heralds didn’t understand what was happening right now, but the soldiers knew exactly what it was. The Shogun of Sorrows, the Deliverer of Darkness, and the Masters of Masters had finally arrived. Unfortunately for them, it seemed that his plan of attack was going to get them caught in the crossfire. The blotch began to rain a rather deadly rain in the form of spikes.
Each of the heralds slightly jumped in alarm, Morg shouting “Regroup!” as the heralds did just that.
Morg prepared his axe to fight them off while Air-Walker began making a shield out of the machines including the panicking Scaramouche and Silver Surfer created energy out of the cosmic force to begin shooting them away. All the robots desperately attempted to escape, but it was no use against the grip of Air-Walker. Just before they could hit, however, they were all caught in midair. The robots were relieved to be functional just before Air-Walker threw them all into the spikes just before they could be thrown at the mountain. Air-Walker then fell to his knees, creating a shield big enough to protect his fellow heralds taking a lot out of him thanks to the battle that preceded it.
Morg looked up, seeing a giant spaceship aptly named the World-Ship. The master had saved them just before it was too late. The robot piercing spikes eventually began to dissolve, the robots sliding off the pin cushion that was known as the mountain of Erebor. While the ink-black substance slid off the mountain forming, they watched their master walk off the stairs of the gargantuan ship that made up both his home and transportation before jumping off and creating a massive crater into the land from his landing.
The giant puddle of the black substance had begun forming together before shooting up into the air. As it continued to form, a giant, purple and blue armored, red eyed man walked up the crater, the ground shaking with every step staring at it all the while. The substance formed arms with claw-like fingered hands, green lips filled with sharp crooked teeth, simple white eyes, red fiery eyebrows, and feet resembling that of a shroud. Both Aku and Galactus had finally arrived. The two powerful beings stared each other down, Aku growling at Galactus for foiling his attempt at the lives of his heralds.
“You do not seem to comprehend the mistake you are making, Aku” Galactus said, watching as he stood up to his full height.
“I am the most powerful being in existence, fool. I obey no one. All beings in existence are to obey me and that includes you, devour of worlds” Aku said.
Galactus would’ve raised an eyebrow if he had any as he rhetorically asked “Is that truly how delusional you are?” as he crossed his arms in disapproval.
Aku simply laughed at him; what a foolish, ignorant comment! He responded with after he stopped laughing “I suppose you have never heard of me if you truly don’t know why I rule the universe.”
“I’ve only heard of you from one of my other heralds. I pay no mind to what happens in the world, I simply devour them for sustenance.” he answered.
“Well, I suppose a lesson is in order then.” he said, interlocking his fingers and cracking them, a big smile on his face.
Galactus scowled at the master of earth. If he truly thought he was the dominant one here, he would have to show him just how wrong he really was.
“I will handle him myself. The rest of you get into the ship” he ordered his heralds, the group doing as they were told and flying into the ship.
The two stared each other down for a moment, waiting to make the perfect move. Aku smiled an overconfident smile, thinking of which animal would work for this being. Galactus simply continued to scowl at him. Aku’s army, like it has been countless times before, had been defeated. Now it was time for the masters to do what they did best; destroy all opposition that dared to challenge their superiority.
Aku was the first to act, eyes glowing a bright white before they flew toward Galactus. Galactus crossed his arms together, marching through it without difficulty. Aku frowned as he continued firing eye beams, Galactus continuing to power through them before closing the gap and throwing a right hook toward Aku. Aku ducked and shot back up with a cloud of flames flowing out of his mouth onto Galactus. Galactus swept the flames away, nearly smacking Aku as well.
This was not going to be easy if his projectiles weren’t going to be very effective. He combined the power of his beams and flames to create lightning of his own design, Galactus grunting from the combined power of the attacks as his body skid back. A small smirked spread across his face as he pulled a fist back at threw it, the punch landing into his stomach causing him to hunch over in pain. Before he could land fists onto his head, however, he slammed his head into them first sending them flying away, knocking Aku off-balance. Galactus aimed to punch him next, but Aku teleported away before it could land.
Annoyed, he looked for the shogun of sorrows. It was a rather flat plan arcoss the land, especially with the destruction of the mountain so it wouldn’t be difficult to find him eventually. For now, he created a force field to defend himself from wherever direction he could strike. Aku soon revealed himself, a loud thud coming from the back of the field. Galactus put down the shield and grabbed Aku by the face before throwing him away and firing an energy blast at him.
Aku barely reacted on time, cutting the attack off with a sonic screech, Galactus holding his ears in pain. When the black body of Aku landed, he used his rolling to his advantage as he shapeshifted into a ball. Galactus watched him come toward him, lifting pillars of earth from the ground the dark lord rolled away from as he headed toward him. Eventually, one of the pillars lifting into the air lifted Aku along with it which said villain used to his advantage as he jumped toward the man formerly known as Galen. Eventually, Aku’s body landed onto Galactus, nearly breaking his nose.
Galactus held his nose for a few seconds, firing powerful blasts of cosmic energy toward Aku. Aku was lucky he didn’t get hit; it would’ve likely killed him with the amazingly large craters left behind. Soon, Aku came toward Galactus again, Galactus this time side stepping the ball of fury. Aku stopped rolling forward and did so in the other direction, flying through the air with a jump aiming for his knee. Galactus gave him what he wanted, kneeing him in the air like a soccer ball before slapping him into the ground with impressive force.
Before Galactus could press the attack, Aku’s body shot out of the air forcing him to back away before it could shoot into his face. Aku’s body reformed immediately upon hitting the ground, created giant spear-like spikes toward Galactus, the man crushing them all with fast punches before running toward Aku. Aku fired more sonic screeches toward him, Galactus causing an earthquake with just on powerful stomp onto the ground. Aku could barely keep his balance from how powerful the earthquake was, creating an organic jet pack. Reeling his fists back, Aku unleashed of flurry of punches.
Galactus blocked them, skidding back from the force of the powerful punches that landed with the speed of a Gatling gun. Soon enough, Galactus grabbed an incoming left jab, then the right fist and tightened his grip. Aku winced before swinging his shroud-like legs at him, Galactus grunting from the force. Galactus narrowed his eyes and pulled him toward him, Aku crashing into his face, before grabbing his legs and chest before slamming him into the ground. Aku growled as he tried to sonic screech, Galactus throwing him away before it could be effective.
Aku flew away, balls of blue flame forming in his hands before he threw them at Galactus. Said almighty being punched them out of existence, feeling that they were stronger than the normal fire he had used before. As Aku flew toward Galactus he continued firing his blue fireballs, Galactus striking back by making tall, skinny spikes come out of the ground in retaliation. Aku flew away from many of them so his aim wouldn’t get blocked by the spikes, but Galactus noticed something he didn’t expect. Whenever he did manage to catch Aku with his spikes, no damage was visible in his body.
His body would react to the spikes contacting his body, but it would just seal up again as if it were water. Aku noticed him raise an eyebrow at this in slight confusion before giggling, annoying Galactus.
“Nothing of this world can harm me. You can strike me with your annoying constructs all you wish, you will accomplish nothing.” Aku said in a cocky manner.
“I see…” was all he said for a moment, shoving his spikes back into the earth before saying “That must be nuisance, putting it mildly for the humans. For me, however, that just means having to destroy you with my bare hands.”
Aku narrowed his eyes at Galactus as he flew toward him, adding powerful flames to his legs to increase speed. Once within range, Aku summoned arrows the size of aircraft carriers to rain down upon the area. Galactus grabbed Aku’s fist before it could land before punching him, sending him flying a foot before creating a force field. The arrows broke upon the shield, Galactus withstanding the force coming from the oversized arrows, but Aku teleported away. Aku teleported into the force field, giggling before cracking his knuckles and throwing multiple fast punches into the face of Galactus.
Galactus began creating a shield out of the earth, the land around the two becoming dark while blocking the arrows. Galactus’ arm sandwiched his head in-between them before punching him in the gut, tearing his antlers off, and pummeling his face with hooks and jabs. Aku tried to block them, but Galactus was much stronger than Aku as his body buckled from the force coming from every incoming fist.
“Enough!” shouted Aku, lighting the land around them with fire seeing Galactus simply narrow his eyes in response.
Both collided against each other, every fist colliding with their corresponding enemy’s fist shaking the land around them. Aku picked up speed, but the endurance and durability made sure he could withstand them despite they were in fact taking effect on his body. Eventually, Galactus shot an energy blast into the stomach of Aku, sending him flying. Aku teleported before he went flying through the barrier, Galactus annoyed by him for doing so. Galactus used the flames around them to find him, eventually seeing the shadow of Aku behind him and backhanding him, Aku skidding across the ground before he sent a massive boulder toward him with his telekinesis.
Galactus staggered as the massive rock crashed and crumbled against his head. Aku smiled at this, stopping the arrow rain that was currently breaking through the shield Galactus made to get it out of the way. Soaring through the air and going through the wall, his telekinesis was put to work yet again as he grabbed the entirety of the wall. Galactus scowled at the airborne villain as he put incredible strength into throwing the giant wall at him.
Galactus planned to create a shield, but Aku teleported in front of him and poked him in the eyes with his clawed fingers. “Not this time, world eater!” he said before teleporting leaving him to be buried under the massive amount of rubble.
Aku wasn’t finished yet; from the skies rained bombs the size of the boulder from before. Soon enough, the area was been destroyed, debris flying everywhere from the massive explosion. Galactus couldn’t move from the rocks swallowing him, so he could only endure the damage being done to him. Following that was a thunderstorm with strength unprecedented on earth, Galactus gritting his teeth from the impact landing on him. Aku’s mocking laugh could be heard from his position, confident on his incoming victory over this pest.
While the thunder and lightning coated the arena, Aku began to shapeshift. His body became cylindrical; his eyes shifted into his body while his mouth became the barrel of the device while the rest created giant legs. Aku had become a laser cannon that was growing more and more as time moved on. Eventually, Galactus shook his from his disoriented state, pain finally entering his body much to his irritation as the laser cannon grew to his size.
With time being of the essence, Aku fired the cannon at Galactus. The Devourer of Worlds only had time to see the cannon fire before being consumed by the powerful electrical blast that blasted him to kingdom come. Aku moved his eyes to the biggest teeth in the barrel, looking down in the massive hole in the ground. After waiting for a while, it seemed to be clear to him that this battle had been won.
Laughing it up, Aku wallowed in his victory. “Let that be a lesson to all who dare to challenge me! There are no and will never be an equal to my power!”
Adding flare to his victory, fireworks decorated the skies. Little Aku rose from the ground, playing instruments created from their bodies. A small festival made specifically to gloat had been made. All the while, Aku soaked it all in as he also planned how to deal with the accursed samurai that was the last of the worthwhile threats to his power.
Aku wouldn’t get to enjoy his moment for long. Aku noticed something strange was happening to the rocks. From his position, they seemed to be dissolving. Aku brought the mini Aku into his body, his body growing back to his gargantuan size. The heralds up above were not the least bit surprised as Galactus’ body was slowly revealing itself.
Aku had quite the opposite reaction, his mouth gaping wide, pupils shrinking, and eyebrows being put out. “That should not be possible…” he muttered to himself, backing away from the area.
“Do you see now, fool? Nothing you have at your disposal nor your arsenal can kill me.” Galactus said, jumping from the sky.
Aku growled before screaming in rage, multiple arms coming out of his sides and throwing multiple fireballs at him rapid fire. Galactus became consumed in smoke as they all exploded against him. Soon enough, a purple and blue hand grabbed him by the face and began discharging energy, exploding between the two body parts as he continued firing mercilessly, Aku struggling against the giant appendage. Aku’s right arm shifted into a serrated blade, Galactus shoving him away seeing him glare daggers at him. Galactus punched him in the stomach, his hand opening and firing a blast that Aku teleported away from, the beam soaring toward the sun.
Aku appeared behind him, aiming to decapitate his foe. Just before he could reach the neck, Galactus returned the favor and teleported as well. When he appeared again, he aimed to punch right in the back. Aku teleported behind him, aiming another sword swing to slice at him. From that moment, Aku and Galactus teleported all over the place, trying to get a hit in on one another.
Aku growled and muttered “As if fighting him wasn’t annoying enough.”
Eventually, the two began trading blows, the sword clanging against the fist of the mighty creature. Galactus aimed the slam his fist against the top of his head, but Aku stopped him with a sonic screech. Galactus stopped, the sword plunging into his shoulder. Galactus held in a groan, aiming to punch him in the face only or Aku to duck and stab him in the gut. Aku snickered as he began cutting into his opposition, huge gashes being cut into his body before Galactus created a shield, pushing him away. Galactus fired an energy blast into Aku’s chest now that he was open, sending him flying before skidding across the ground.
Before he could land anymore hits, Aku delved into the ground. Galactus raised an eyebrow, appearing over where he had disappeared into. Keeping his eyes peeled to ensure he wouldn’t get a sneak attack at him, Aku eventually revealed himself, his giant circular eyes being outright cartoonish in his new form as multiple tubes appeared around him. Aku had become a tubeworm, his multiple appendages rushing toward him. The appendages lashed at him, Galactus punching and grabbing then throwing away the limbs away.
Galactus aimed to shoot the eyes of Aku, but the body parts disappeared into the ground. In their place, five of the tubes in the ground wrapped around his arms and began pulling him down. Galactus used a surprise move on him, restructuring his body causing it to spasm and barely control themselves. Galactus chopped them, cutting them off. More appendages began shooting into his chest and stomach before Galactus could shoot them down.
Even more appendages began to grab the outstretched limbs while also grabbing his legs, Galactus struggling for a moment to keep steady. The eyes reappeared in front of him and began firing lasers, Galactus annoyed from the rather weak projectiles. Galactus pulled out of the grip of the appendages of his left foot, stomping down on the appendages wrapped around his arm. More appendages began to wrap around his arms while trying to grab his other arm before having to flee before they could be blasted into oblivion. The captured arm, meanwhile, began pulling out of the grip of tubes.
Lasers hammered the back of his head again, Galactus grabbing them before they could escape the way they did before. Shackled to the ground, Galactus fired beams at as many of them as he could without blasting his own leg, forcing them to retreat. Galactus jumped into the air and landed on them, Aku’s other appendages going through spasms due to the pain. Galactus aimed to erase them all just before they could have the chance to escape his wrath with energy blasts, but the appendages preemptively dived into the ground when they got back muscle control.
Not all were safe, however, as they were destroyed. All that was destroyed was more of the background, the earth being carved into like a hot knife through butter. Immediately upon relenting on his firing, Galactus was treated by a big group of the appendages slamming into his face, causing him to fall with a crash that could heard for miles. The appendages grabbed his arms and legs, Galactus grunting against their grip while other tubes shifted into bendable spears that aimed for his body. Galactus’ flight speed outpaced them, Galactus flying into the air while the limbs struggled to keep them in his grip.
Galactus began altering the structure again, the limbs not able to control themselves again as they went into spasms. Galactus began chopping them down, the limbs falling to the ground before burrowing into the ground and replacing the limbs from before. The limbs immediately shot up into the air, trying to grab him and pull back to earth. As the amount of replacement limbs began to equal those being lost, Galactus went further with his restructuring and began tearing them apart while focusing on the new ones. Some of them grabbed his torso, quickly pulling him back to the ground.
Galactus pulled them off before throwing them away, only for others to slam into his face. Those same limbs created blue fireballs to fire at him, Galactus crossing his arms and blocking them. Galactus wound up blinded suddenly thanks to appendages coming from behind him. The limbs stretched upward, lifting him into the air while others wrapped around his torso and more still wrapped around his torso. All of the tubes began pulling with all their might in different directions, Galactus’ teeth gritting and eyes nearly closing before he revealed his other matter related skill.
Galactus began transmutation, making them as water-like, making their limbs lose their grip on their enemy. After turning them back into solid matter, they quickly began coming toward him. Before they could touch him, Galactus created a shield. Unfortunately, they flew past him before grabbing each other and creating a net, pulling him down along with his shield. Telekinesis grabbed the limbs, pulling at them to get them of the pinned down devourer.
Aku and Galactus struggled against one another, trying to get over one another. With the physical strength of Aku equaling that of Galactus, neither could get ahead very far. Galactus, looking for a way to get ahead, aimed his molecular restructuring toward the eyes he knew were somewhere underground. Eventually, Aku’s sight began to blur and eyes in general began to feel pain from the interference with their molecules. The appendages attempting to crush him weakened in their grip, Galactus ending the shield and pulling the appendages off, ripping them all apart.
Galactus flew into the air to see when they struck next as they began to regenerate. Sure enough, they shoot back up toward him when they repaired themselves fireballs shooting up into the air as the limbs themselves began pulling. The eyes, trying to shake off the tingling from having their molecules scrambled, adding their own weapons as lasers shot up as well. Galactus teleported away from the appendages, the eyes looking around to find him before he appeared to the side of the large field the tubeworm version of Aku made. Galactus swept a blast, cutting them all off including the eyes.
As they all fell in tatters, Galactus teleported above the fall bits of Aku and grabbed his eyes before blasting them both to oblivion. The replacement limbs went haywire from the pain, thrashing and swinging about with nor direction now that there was no view to direct them with. Galactus wasted no time in using this opportunity; he grabbed large handfuls of the limbs and began pulling them all upward along with him in his flight. Thinking up an idea on how to ultimately deal with this rather persistent enemy, he opened a hole in the space-time continuum.
Aku’s large blackness that kept all the appendages to gathered dangled from the air, his eyes in the process of regenerating. Galactus simply tossed him into the hole, following him all the while. The Worldship followed him as well, the heralds entering the hole.
Eventually, after quite the psychedelic ride, they all appeared over a new land. Aku looked over the land, seeing an island not familiar to him. There was the wide ocean in front of him while behind him was a jagged rock face that made up the cliff of the island. Galactus made his appearance with a rather large splash, Aku narrowing his eyes while transforming again. Galactus searched for the creatures he fused with in this universe. Colossa was not a very descriptive place, but he could still direct them to their area.
While Galactus focused on finding the robots with a similar name to him, Aku took advantage of his distraction by swimming to the wide-open ocean surrounding the two of them. The shogun of sorrows was going to need the area advantage for what he had in mind. Just grabbing him wasn’t going to be enough, though; the fight in his tubeworm form proved that much. Galactus finally found the machines and began speaking with them, sending him to their current area.
Aku attacked from behind, wrapping his newly acquired tentacles with incredible strength. Galactus looked behind him, seeing the kraken that Aku had become (how coincidental that was would be lost to him). Amplifying his strength was telekinesis, pulling him even harder than he was before. Galactus snarled, pulling and wrestling with his body. Aku fused his eye lasers with his flame, creating lightning that worked much like before.
Galactus endured the strong projectile, lifting Aku into the air before slamming him into the ground. That proved to be a mistake, the electrical properties of the attack electrocuting him. It also electrocuted Aku thanks to their supernatural properties, but Aku was able to endure, nonetheless. The Great Destroyer lifted him up to the air again, Aku smirking as he continued to attack him with lightning. Galactus used his began messing with his molecules again, this time making the creature as intangible as water, the kraken falling into the water.
Aku growled, muttering “Wretched molecular abilities…” before looking around the legs of Galactus and pointed at them demandingly.
The kraken wasn’t the only one that was confronting the powerful being challenging Aku: the master of masters created little versions of himself in the shape of carp. Using their elemental abilities, they all are being using the water as a giant weapon; pillars of water shooting about as the carp swam all over the place with extreme amounts of pressure coming from the mouths of the carp. Galactus felt the wind get knocked out of him as some of the pillars slam into his chest, all the other nearly toppling him from all the force coming together. Galactus stomped his foot into the ground before he could fall completely, standing his ground while freezing the water. While the Aku all froze (including the leader), Galactus pulled his body out of the ice he encased his foe with.
Galactus knew he could break free thanks to his fire breath and aimed both hands toward Aku, firing a large blast made up of the two beams in his hands. Aku was sent careening through the ice, the ice breaking further before he teleported and reappeared on top of the ice.
“Use all the tricks you can think of, Galactus, you will see they are no use against me!” Aku cackled, telekinesis pulling all the carp in massive chunks of ice.
Galactus created a shield, blocking the impact of the large school of fish while the kraken teleported again, appearing in the shield like he did before. Galactus was prepared, however, jumping into the air while keeping the shield intact and evading the giant frozen fish. Aku chased him with them, Galactus putting down the shield for a moment to grab the squid by the head and throw him away before blasting all the carp out of the sky. Aku’s eyes narrowed before he teleported again, appearing safely on the ground while pulling more chunks of ice from the ocean and throwing them at him while also shooting lightning. Galactus blocked them with his own ice chunks, intercepting them mid-flight while firing his more powerful cosmic energy at him.
Galactus looked in disdain as Aku teleported again and reappeared above Galactus, the squid spinning like a saucer smacking him with his tentacles. Aku clung onto the chest of his giant enemy, slamming his tentacles into his face while laughing at him. Galactus punched him in the face, but Aku bit down on the hand right just before the strike landed. Galactus was annoyed with the kraken, slamming his right fist into the kraken, beating him down with ruthless aggression. Kraken Aku grabbed his arm before grabbing the other arm and lifting himself above him so he couldn’t punch him anymore.
Galactus simply changed tactics, raising Aku over his head and swinging him down into his knee, pummeling him before extending his arms and kicking him off. As Aku sailed across the air, lightning fired down upon him. Galactus simply took the attacks in stride while aiming his hand for another cosmic energy attack, Aku teleporting away before he could land a hit. The Worldship had to be directed away, the ship lowering before it could be annihilated. Telekinetically grabbing the ice from the ground, Aku used it as a means of transportation.
Galactus watched the foe soar through the air, his tentacles shifting into crossbows completely with rather large arrows. Taking a chance, Aku fired one of his arrows, Galactus backhanding it away from him. While Aku flew around Galactus while taking chances with his arrows, Galactus continued to smash them with his bare hands before stopping him by melting his platform. Knowing he could just make another, he took the extra precaution of turning the ice back into water. Aku fell back into the water, annoyed with Galactus.
Aku began to spin around underwater, pulling the water along with him as he created a whirlpool that grew bigger and bigger with every moment passed. Galactus, being as big as he was, wouldn’t normally be pulled by the waves no matter how strong they were. The telekinetic grip, however, was something difficult to contend with as he felt himself lose his footing. Aku added to his pull as he lifted multiple boulders and hit him with it all at once, knocking him down before he could put up his shield.
Once he did, however, he saved himself from the next plan as the entirety of the ocean was alight with electricity. Aku snarled in irritation, his plan having been foiled thanks to the defense Galactus had over him. Using telekinesis, he propelled himself over the ocean, Galactus seeing him and firing multiple blasts of cosmic energy toward him. Aku threw them away as he continued his propulsion, Galactus narrowing his eyes as he watched him just before teleporting when he was as close to him as he could be.
Aku flashed out of existence to avoid what he was planning to do. The heralds back up in the Worldship watched warily down at the ocean of Colossa, careful with where their enemy was as well as their master. Eventually, Aku appeared again, trying to watch where he was only to get caught when his opponent came back with him. Bursting from the earth below, Galactus gripped him in the palm of his hand with a powerful hold trying to crush him into pulp. Aku, however, only became a glop of sludge as he slipped through his hands like water.
With the squid being just as useful as the forms before it, Aku planned a change of tactics an aimed to enter his body. Galactus felt the strange tingling sensation that numbed more of his arm as it traveled along his body, tendrils of dark energy enveloping both the outside and inside of his body.
“Trying to invade me, I see…” Galactus said, and eyebrow raised as he put his restructuring to work.
The ooze that was Aku began to malfunction, his body twitching and stretching as it tried to keep itself together.
“Curse you, you infuriating rat!” Aku shouted before his mouth crumbled back into his body.
Galactus fueled his arm with cosmic energy before firing a mighty blast, shooting him away as well. Aku screamed as he catapulted away from him before a mighty splash.
“This is pointless, you can’t beat me. Surrender now and your death shall be quick and painless.” He stated, directing his eyes toward the Worldship.
Aku’s body began to morph again, its body becoming bulky with long clawed arms and shorter clawed feet with his angry face staring at Galactus with complete malice. Aku jumped at Galactus, arms outstretched as he lunged toward Galactus.
“I am the most powerful being in the universe! How dare you insult me!” he shouted into his face, Galactus staring down at him with annoyance.
“So be it. Throw your life away if that is what you wish.” Galactus stated, Aku kicking his gut right after he said it.
The gorilla form of Aku screeched at Galactus, his ears nearly bursting from the consistent sound attacks leveled against him. With a telepathic message toward the heralds, the Worldship began firing its arsenal toward Aku.
“This is over, Aku, I don’t have time for this” Galactus said, walking away before Aku could get pummeled mercilessly by multiple projectiles.
Aku couldn’t react in time and was swallowed by the multiple explosions from the weapons of the Worldship. Multiple explosions littered the area around him while Galactus walked away, absorbing the planet as he did so. Eventually, a large cloud of smoke was all that remained from the place Aku was pummeled to the earth. Not a single trace was left from the area Aku was attacked from.
The heralds were ready to rest after having finally getting rid of him. As they all began to leave the ship and follow their master with just their flight, a certain someone reappeared in front of them with a cackle.
“Nothing your precious ship has can defeat me, fools! Now to see what kind of damage I can do here!” he said, his fingers tapping together before he separated into three.
One form was a praying mantis, one a spider, and another a scorpion.
The heralds, surprised at the ineffectiveness of their ship, charged toward the enemy. The spider acted first, its multiple legs stabbing toward them only for them to either evade or block the strikes. Blocking was a dangerous tactic, however, as they were sent skidding across the ground or flying away from just one strike. Firelord managed to evade one strike and headed toward the spider, the scorpion grabbing him and throwing him away. Morg grabbed a spider leg and lifted it, but was floored by the claw of the mantis.
Silver Surfer and Air Walker flew toward him next, the mantis swinging his claws toward them only for them to evade. The scorpion shape shifted into a manta ray, chuckling before flying after them. Galactus, meanwhile, telepathically called for the heralds to follow him. Unfortunately for him, he only received news on Aku attacking them from within the ship. Air Walker, the one giving him the message, was swatted away.
Silver Surfer began shooting at the ray, pelting him from behind. The manta breathed flames at Silver Surfer, causing him to have to flee. Air Walker flew away just before he could crush him with his body, the manta not pleased with it as he chased him down with eye beams. Out of his back shot out tiny little manta rays with big smiles all going after Surfer. Little explosions hit the walls as Surfer fled from the attacks and fired back with beams of his own.
Morg slashed at the legs of the spider, dodging the stabs from the legs of the giant spider. Robots in the ship known as Punishers, having heard the commotion and found the threat, began punching the enemy as well. Spikes began shooting out of his body forcing the robots back if it didn’t stab them. Those that didn’t escape forced the spider back with every fist swung against them. Little spots of blackness moved across the ground, shooting up into a pillar with tremendous force, forcing back all the robots lest the get crushed like the less fortunate among them.
The manta became a scorpion again, stabbing at Air Walker as he rolled and dodged the strikes from the deadly creature. Air Walker attempted to punch the creature only for the pincers to block them with surprising speed. Aku attempted to grab it again, only for Air Walker to grab the pincers and break it down the middle. From that crack, however, came a nasty surprise. Little men with Aku’s face came out of it and jumped toward Air Walker, the herald flying above them.
Another that came out, however stopped him before he could get far. A small green man with long white fluffy hair and long green lips jumped out as well.
With a lighter voice and a mocking laugh, Aku shouted “Now get him!” the other Aku doing as they were told and began to punch him into the ground.
With a roar, Air Walker burst from the group of men. The small man scowled as he began summoning fireballs from his hands and rapid firing at him. Air Walker flew away from the attacks, one of the human versions of Aku grabbing him in a choke hold after catching him. Air Walker tried to wrestle out of his grip, but it was too tight on him. He began elbowing him in the kidney, the other humans jumping up toward him while the hermit prepared for his lightning strike.
Silver Surfer was nearly overwhelmed by the flying manta rays. Their beams had begun to cut off his flight paths with how they were surrounding him, leaving him with fewer places to evade. Now he was engaged in close quarters combat with them, unfortunately not being trained in such areas. The Aku manta rays, while also not being trained, had a supernatural capability to fight. The result was Silver Surfer falling to the ground, his board getting blocked away from him as he shot away at the incoming manta.
Just before they could reach him, however, manta crashed into the ones surrounding Surfer. Firelord had come to his aid, swinging his baton against the many manta rays. With no projectiles of his own, Firelord was a better close quarter combatant than Silver Surfer. Swatting away the manta to get a shot at Surfer was a challenge, but not as much as it presented to Norrin Radd. Stopping his strikes for a second once seeing Norrin, Firelord grabbed his board and threw it at him.
Silver Surfer jumped just before it could spear his legs, flying away from the manta. One of the manta began to shift into another form, becoming a female form with neck-length hair, green skin, and a black and red dress. Another of the manta ray used its body to keep her airborne, the female form formerly known as “Ikra” smirked before it shot toward him, the other rays flying around them. Aku swung her rather interestingly shaped blade down on Firelord. The man grunted from the force before Aku head-butt him and followed it by kicking him away.
Morg rolled and ran away from the spots surrounding him as he tried to close the distance between him and the spider Aku. Staying on the ground was a better vantage point to both focus on Aku and keep an eye on the traps he laid out for him. Aku smiled wickedly as he watched him evade all about before beginning his strikes. Morg skid across the path from the powerful strikes before smacking them away with the blunt side of the axe. Aku blew a large amount of flames toward him, Morg jumping away from the strike.
Morg saw a spot heading toward him, flying away before the pillar could pulverize him. Closing in on the spider, Morg slammed his feet into the face of the giant spider sending him crashing into a wall. Spider Aku tried to bite him, but Morg flew back before slashing it across the face. Aku grunted before screaming, shooting him away with his laser eyes. Morg regained his equilibrium, flying to the ground and running from another incoming pillar.
Suddenly, all forces stopped there attacking before all were pinned to the ground. The heralds looked around them, watching Galactus stomping toward him. Aku growled as he struggled against his grip. Galactus let go, all the Aku running toward them as well as the giant forms of them coming toward them. All reformed into the blobby Aku before they split into a serpentine dragon and bird that was a face with talons and wings respectively. Before either could combat Galactus, however, multiple beings began to punch into the ship.
Aku raised an eyebrow, watching them all head toward him.
“This fight is now truly over.” Galactus intoned, Aku looking back toward him.
Dragon Aku snorted before he and bird Aku flew toward them. The Gah Lak Tus, having finally arrived, began firing their fear rays. Searing pained entered both bodies, the two falling to the ground and becoming puddles before reforming into a normal groaning and agony filled Aku.
“You couldn’t defeat me when I was just myself; you cannot stand up to me with these beings by my side. Your time in this universe is now over.” Galactus said, staring down the agonized Aku.
Gritting his teeth in frustration and pain, Aku spit out “This fight will not be over until I win. Next time, I will defeat you, mark my words.”
Energy building into his while his palm directed to the crumbled form of Aku, Galactus said “There will be no next time.”
“I disagree!”
Rings came out of his mouth before surrounding Galactus. Galactus looked around in confusion before falling into the hole it created, the hole then sealing itself with high pitched noises. Galactus was now gone, Aku fleeing by teleporting away.
Taking deep breaths as he went back into the darkness of his lair, Aku said “Next time we battle, planet eater, you will not be so fortunate.”
Galactus meanwhile continued to plummet into the hole in time, the area around him disorienting him along with his body going from something known as the noodle affect. Eventually, he fell out of the hole and landed on a large jungle where dinosaurs ran free. Galactus saw where he was; in ancient times, some moment in the age of dinosaurs.
“Coward…”
As he looked at everything around him, he saw something coming toward him. A small black bit of familiar substance was heading toward him. Annoyed at the substance that was coming toward him; he raised his hand at the giant black fragment that would become Aku and blasted it, destroying the now feeble substance.
“What is happening to me?!” he shouted, watching his hand disintegrating to cinders.
His arms and body followed suit, Aku screaming form the unbearable pain before the burning took his head, the shogun of sorrows having been essentially erased from existence. Galactus, meanwhile, focused on absorbing the planet. Now that he was here, he might as well do what he had been set out to do. The future had been secured only to face certain destruction. All that would remain was the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus.
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