Battle of the Multiverse

[HayesAJones]

In the last moments before Bug, flailing and screaming and fearing the end, was assimilated into Raspaganje, a bolt of power burst from her hateful form. It was not the entropic, golden lightning she had been using since growing stronger, since being touched by the void, but something deeper and more innate: not chaos, but emptiness, for a structured universe definitionally left empty spaces, the spaces from which Fraybug was born, and no being, not even the fell god Raspaganje himself, could collapse it into true nothingness.

So instead, it escaped, shooting through space towards a familiar presence...

_____________________

Alex cannot help but at Hale's encouragement.

"I don't think invasive ecology is as important as medicine, but... thanks."

His green eyes turn to Risel as her eyelids waver, the brows above them knitting in concern.

"Did you need to get some rest?" he asks the winged woman. "It's been... a big day for you, so no one would blame you."

_____________________

Gull's heavy footfall became louder with annoyance as Tenkarus- who she had only just caught sight of again, having thus far tracked her via scent- raced out of sight.

The blonde varul clicked her tongue. Couldn't she had been sent to look after someone slower? She wasn't used to running...

_____________________

Fray squirmed as Drillgore's ever increasing mass engulfed her, turning her pure white fur red with blood. She struggled on, trying to somehow wriggle her way out from his grasps, but she soon began to wonder if it was even possible to escape. Perhaps this was just her fate. The girl, Daeva's friend, had escaped. She could be reunited with Daeva and her other friends now. Maybe it was okay that it would be at the cost of her life...

Those thoughts were dashed, however, when something struck her in the skull, sending a surge of new power and emotion through her.

All was chaos for an infinite moment, a surging sea of anger, fear, betrayal, and shame, but it eventually became clear to Fray- at least in her own slowed perception, as it was only a split second in reality- that her twin had perished, somewhere and somehow, and these were her last sensations. Relief and pity swirled in her soul. Her other half was truly gone, and she was unsure how to feel. At least she would hurt no one else, but the things she was feeling, they made her heart hurt. Was this why her dark side had done such terrible things? Out of fear? Desperation?

It made her sad.

Yet, it also made her remember things, things she had begun to forget. The urge to fight on despite all odd. The will to life. Her twin had been hateful and violent and cruel, but she had also had a fierce wish to survive, and why shouldn't Bug too? She didn't just want to live, she needed to. Not just for Daeva, not just to right the wrongs she had done in the past, but for herself too.

She deserved to exist, and she would fight for her right to.

Pale fur gaining dark streaks and stripes as she reclaimed the power and knowledge held by her other half, Fray swelled up to meet Drillgore, refusing to be eaten away by his murderous intent. Instead, she pushed it away with long, muscular arms that sprouted endlessly from her, several grabbing at Drillgore's tethering tongue and gaping mouth.

"Go... away!" she snarled through human-like teeth, no longer blunted and useless like before or as sharp and cruel like Bug's, but something in between.

Sturdy, hoofed legs burst from beneath her and started slowly pushing both growing bodies, hers and Drillgore's, up.

"Go away, and leave me... alone!" Fray roared, glaring at Drillgore with not one, not two, but three glowing red eyes, one newly sprouted from her forehead.

[EdGojira]

Hercules stared into the singularity. As he watched, something changed. Some things sucked right in... a new form for Raspaganje. It was frustrating, seeing so many forms.

"You guys have some balls, I'll say," Hercules said to Immanuel. "If only my home universe weren't infested with power hungry predators. You know, the audacity of some to call me a mons--- Sorry, I digress. I'll be with you guys. Just need to straighten things out with the Dragon Balls."

The commotion had stirred the Dragon Balls from their perches. One rolled lazily down the hallway toward Hercules. Nonce paused before following. The pirate leader undoubtedly would catch on if he saw him like this. Not that it would matter much now that Nonce had failed, but he would rather not spend the last few minutes of existence explaining how he got from point A to point B. He searched the surrounding area for something to help and found the exact item he was looking for: an active camo badge.

Attaching it to his body, Nonce altered his colors, face and removed all traces of his past battles. Masquerading as another member of the species he made up. This was the way his life was now.

Nonce followed the Dragon Ball to where Hercules stood.

Hercules put his foot onto it and picked it up. "Little too much for a little guy like you?"

"I had it under control," said the small robot confidently.

"Sure you did. And I am a giant three headed dragon," Hercules smiled. He patted Nonce on the back. He addressed Immanuel and Mulek again. "Looks like it won't take me too long. Got a way to get in touch with her, maybe our
really big friend up there will be of help?"

Nonce's jaw locked up and he felt tempted to clench his fists. To get back into the active multiverse, go through all that trouble gathering the Dragon Balls... only for the Star of Calamity to so quickly dig its claws in. Now, to be demeaned---even if in a fraternal manner---he had to be careful not to crack the orb in his grasp. Hercules turned to look at him, and Nonce's body language changed completely. He was suddenly cocky, jolly. "Let's stick it up this incomprehensibly big wanker's ass, boss."

Each footstep following Hercules was one of deep bitterness. They had already lost. Nonce's great mistake would never be rectified. He was a dead man walking, once invincible, now powerless even to feral beasts like Persephone.

"Y'know," Hercules said. "I don't quite remember when I first added you to the crew..."

"I---"

"But I'm not gonna be remembering those things. Where do you be coming from?"

"Damned beast destroyed my world. I was one of the only few left... floating, through nothing. Sheer circumstance saved me."

"A tale I've heard much too often, I'm afraid. At least now we will never be worrying about him again. Guess you found the crew through the Trans-Galactic Network?"

"Nah, found your ship while floating through space... just decided to join in on the party."

"Lucky you found us when you did," Hercules said. "That other guy like you... don't often see a guy like you who just has fun after all you went through... no undercurrent of regret."

"There's plenty of regret going around for the both of us," Nonce replied. "Time in the void makes it easy to hide."

"Luckily you didn't go insane," Hercules said.

"I was insane before," Nonce said. "Now I have my head screwed on just tight enough to see... this happen."

"I did all I could for my crew," Hercules said. He rubbed some of the burn scars. "Does be seeming pointless right now."

"You have that right. Why even say you were going to be helping?"

"I don't know," Hercules said. "I suppose there's just no running now. It's time to go down with the ship. I was just glad that I had extra time with the crew."

"You be... oddly sentimental for a pirate."

"Guess so."

"You know, the Dragon Balls aren't enough to fix this?"

"Stay positive."

Hercules started to hum a tune, "Leave Her Johnny."

Nonce felt pity for the man. Back in his old world, Nonce had nothing but hatred for pirates. To be fair, his Hercules was far more unstable than this one. It was possible that due to time being such a fickle thing in the multiverse, that Hercules was on his quick way to becoming the man he saw before him. And that had no bearing on the crew, who always could have had such camaraderie. Only for Nonce to cut off their head.

Always looking at the small scope. Even when he thought he was looking at the large scope, Nonce couldn't work with it properly. He snorted. Look at him, throwing a pity party. Like that pathetic Other. Now, that was a man who really fucked things up. Deserved the death by his hands in the old multiverse.

They boarded a smaller vessel and headed down to the city below. Through the window, Raspaganje battled the Ninjas using an avatar. Nonce supposed he still had a use for the Dragon Balls.
_________
The Other stared into the singularity. His brave niece and nephews, fighting the battle once again. Even standing near all those who have been rescued, his contributions felt infinitesimally small. A literal god, an insect. It was unfortunately not a new feeling.

"Way out of our scope," Xarm said.

"Don't want to end up like our pilot, slowly burning away because they fucked with something they shouldn't," Beetle said sadly.

The group of pirates had left the presence of Aphrodite upon hearing a call from their Garig. Something strange had afflicted him, a burning necrosis. Go'ren had stayed back to comfort their ailing friend.

"It's bad now, but the doors of death are revolving."

After leaving the two, they headed back to the city to try to collect as many civilian stragglers as they could.

They had collected the Dragon Ball, but the cost had been heavier than he wished. "I should have stayed on task..."

"Don't beat yourself up too hard. Obviously we were on a time crunch," Beetle said. "Well, we failed to get the balls back to Hercules before total annihilation. But still."

"Honestly, just glad it wasn't Godzilla or disease who did me in," Xarm said. "This be a bit of an upset. And a relief at the same time."

"I owe Blubury money," Beetle said. "I was sure the end of everything was going to be Ragnarok."

"That's stupid," Xarm said. "Everyone knows Nidhoggr sticks around after that. Then the World Tree falls."

A loud bellow rumbled the landscape and at a speed even the pirates could barely perceive, a large vessel appeared in the sky. Atop it, silhouetted against the majesty of the eldritch light going on in the skies above The Other could see a row of jagged spines and the opening of a maw

The Other suddenly became far more alert. The beast roared once again, shockwaves bringing enough force to make him wobble. He muttered, "No..."

"Don't get yourself too upset there," Xarm said. He pointed.

The creature slithered around the side of the Pegasus's Tavern, clinging to the sides much like a lizard. It tilted its head and looked directly at The Other, a curious look in its eye.

"Looks like he's been through some trouble too. Let another one of them out," Xarm mused. It was interesting to see it here. The plan was to at least lock Godzilla in a brawl with Biollante and possibly some others that neither of could decisively win without draining each other. This thing climbed out on its own, or maybe Beetle's chimeric offspring wanted someone to chat with?

"What did Hercules do?" The Other gasped. The thing sounded too much like Godzilla and shared too many traits for it to not be related to the King of the Bloody Seas. Its skin may have been more like traditional leathery scales but the shoulders, thighs, neck and three rows of spines told him all he needed to know. Its face, distorted as it was from both its original sources, had a fusion of mammalian and features of... an iguana? Clever way to make a more docile clone.

"Looks like Kabuto's got a new friend! Finally!" Beetle said cheerfully.

"Y'know... I don't see any signs of Kabuto." Xarm said. "He's not on the ship."

Beetle's body language suddenly shifted. It became more withdrawn and stiff. She stepped further away from the other two.

"He was bound to get himself killed," Xarm spat. "You knew what you were getting into when you contributed that DNA."

"Can you not talk to her like that?" The Other scowled.

With a light shove, the Yakuza was taken off his feet and thrown into some rubble.

"Let me be crystal clear," Xarm said. "You have never been the one calling the shots."

A small vessel came into view, landing in front of the trio. The hatch lowered and Hercules stepped down. His expression was sorrowful and angry. "That better be some playful roughhousing going on down here."

"No," Xarm said. "Was just telling this guy the way it is."

"I can understand that," Hercules said. "So how about you explain to me why Godzilla was so hostile when your mission was to stop that?"

"That was all this guy," Xarm said. "Totally broke off and went after the Dragon Ball. Got Ten'ren, Gou, Nonce and Garig killed."

"I'm sorry for everything," The Other bowed. "I merely wanted to save time in collecting the Ball. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like we had reasoned with the monster."

"Not that good of a mind reader, huh?" Hercules scowled. The Other could see the fury burning behind Hercules's sunglasses. For now, the pirate didn't seem ready to act on it. "Take these to wherever the rest are---if they're even intact in all this mess."
Hercules presented The Other with a box with several Dragon Balls.

He then pointed to Nonce. "Go with them and cut their ankles if they try anything that might get the rest of you killed."

"Gladly."

Xarm's brow furrowed. "Captain, don't something be seeming familiar about this metal midget?"

"Not really, I'm afraid," Hercules said. He sighed. "For better or worse, it's been an honor knowing all of you."

He put a hand on Beetle's shoulder. "I'm sorry about Kabuto. Really am. He had some serious balls."

Beetle nodded silently.

"Almost had Godzilla dead-to-rights. Whatever you taught him about sound... it really came in handy. If it weren't for Raspaganje up there, he would have saved the crew. It wasn't me who saved us all, it was him and it was the crew."

"Have any last words for me?"

"Sadly, no..." Hercules said. "But he had plenty for our girl up there." He pointed to the giant reptile crawling across the ship. "I don't think he was planning on leaving, dumb as that was."

"Can... he still be alive?"

"Who knows what's going on in that dimension?" Hercules reassured. He supposed that in the end of times, he should be doing his best to make sure she was feeling as little heartache as he could feel honest sparing her. "You raised him well. In fact, if something happens to me and the multiverse hasn't already unraveled... I want you to take my place."

"What? Seriously?"

Without another word, Hercules boarded his ship and raced too the skies.

The Other watched him disappear and looked at Nonce, then to the giant monster. And then to Beetle. The Other wasn't the God of Judgement and was thankful he wasn't at that time.
__________
"Unfortunately," Jake said, "I think between Ubel's fire and their ki we only have two properties we need. Dana's magic makes three. Still could use nuclear power and... electricity, perhaps?"

Was he seriously forgetting if the Ninjas had the ability to generate electricity? He cracked his back. Within what amounted to a few hours, he had been thrown around, crushed, had his back cleaved open and was assailed by toxins. He was bound to forget something temporarily. One time, he was thrown into a transdimensional vortex and deposited on a planet... several dozen kilometers above its surface. While severely depleted of energy. He couldn't figure out day or night then.

"Don't think we have time to be mulling things over," Dana said.

"You have a point," Jake said. With a shimmering glow, Dana suddenly felt a surge of power.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Dana said.

"Powers at play up there, you're going to need a copy of my power to not die. In addition to your own strength, that is."

"What about the extra things we need?"

Below their feet, they could feel the soil shift. At first slowly, but picking up speed, a swirl of sand picked up nearby. The swirl coalesced into the Sandman. "My power over dreams should help with that."

"How'd you get here?" Dana said, nearly falling over. Thankfully her thick tail aided with balance.

"A couple of my grains, here for a little extra security," the Sandman replied. He rolled his shoulders. Something seemed... off about him. More cheerful, even if it was just barely. "We should get going. If I'm counting correctly, we only need one more thing for the witchcraft to work."

"Can someone explain to me why Jake thinks I'm a ghost?" Dana said.

"You know why," the Sandman said. He tapped the ground and wisps of sand gathered in the air around him, Jake and Dana. "You said it yourself, we don't have time to be mulling things over."

Dana caressed her horn. This unusual mutation. It was caused by something she didn't want to admit to, one of the things that spawned a deluge of negative emotions. Made her fearful. Sensitive. Leading her to lash out at total strangers like Android 21...

Dana had memories of another world, the one where the dead roamed. Where she roamed before she started the life where she was known as Dana.

Kenzie, her girlfriend, had her own too. Now she was stuck down there again. I'll get you back.

[Godzilla165]

Fight to our Last

Summer was always a special and especially busy time in the Realm of the Ninja. Various events were partaking at once, and children that seemed to have limitless energy were constantly outside playing around every stretch of the kingdom. There was even good amounts of trade and collaborations with other civilizations as well, which in turn saw different beings of all shapes and sizes coming in and out of the ninja realm. It was a wonderful and magical time; one could even smell it in the air. And yet, why then did Tiamat feel so lost, so nervous... So heavy?

She stood over a fairly high balcony on the 4th most floor of the estate, high enough to see a considerable amount of the extravagant landscape strewn before her, but not high enough yet to see eye-to-eye with the mountains. One of her hands haphazardly gripped the polished railing, as though if it didn't, then Tiamat would have surely collapsed like a swaying tree. It was but an unconscious affair, a side effect to her 1,000 yard stare, even though the objects of her gaze were but a few feet away. There they were in the fields, her greatest creations, playing happily with a group of other Yakuza children without a care. Shouting, laughing, and giggling incessantly, the four of them looked so happy, so jovial, so… Normal. Even her youngest child, Daeva, only 7 million years old, had a nigh permanent grin on her face as she kept up with the older kids.

Tiamat managed a smile of her own, but it was fleeting. She was happy, but her heart ached so, for she knew the gravity of what she’d done… And what she now needed to do.

“You’ve been watching them like a hungry predator for the past 10 minutes, and that’s short for you.” A familiar voice poked at Tiamat from behind.

She didn’t even turn around, only responding with a resounding sigh that seemingly caused her to grip the railing ever tighter. “They just look so happy, Lafay, so… At peace.” Tiamat said to her older sister with a shake of her head. “If I just hadn’t- If I didn’t go through with it…” She swallowed the rest of that sentence with an audible gulp. Now she really was swaying.

Lafayette came and placed a supportive hand along Tiamat’s back, and grabbed her hand that was currently squeezing the life out of that poor railing. “You have no reason to feel guilty for what you did, Ti. You gave those children the greatest gifts they would ever receive at their birth, gifts that they will one day use to do amazing things.” Lafay smiled, “Things may seem rough for now, but in time, you will see the fruits of your labor flourish into something beautiful… I promise you.”

Tiamat smiled an unstable one at her sister, resting her free hand on top of the latter’s. While she said nothing, her eyes were ever thankful, and they cast their intent gaze upon her children once more. Lafayette was right, it felt like she always was. They would grow up to become more than Tiamat could ever hope to imagine, not because of her… But through their own willingness and desire to always do the right thing, to one day… Protect everyone.

That was the perfect scenario, but as Tiamat’s eyes lifted slightly, across the way, they locked with those of the one being who sought to destroy that reality…

The four siblings locked arms with each other and hunkered down into a defensive stance. They looked eagerly towards six other kids who, at the loud command of “GO!” from one blue haired boy, raced towards them at full speed.

Dante grinned, “Ready guys??” He asked.

Evron, Ubel, and Daeva all nodded in excitement.

As the other children bared down on them, Dante, with as much energy as he could muster, yelled, “BRAAAAAAAA…

_________

…AACE!!!”

In a bright expulsion of white hot energy, the Guardians were thrown backward by Raspaganje’s sheer might. So effortlessly did he utterly dismantle their entire setup, and left the ninjas scrambling. Dante shot a desperate hand out towards his Celestial friend, in response to its agonized pleas for help.

“ANGIIIIEEE!!!” He screamed. But, it was too late. As the light finally died down, and the ninjas recovered, their armors burning bright, they floated in the presence of an entity that was no longer Dante’s friend, his companion… It was now the haven for the multiverse’s greatest evil.

The Ninja Prime glowered angrily towards Wormwood, disgusted by his daring cruelty to strip what was now so near and dear to him. Dante went to rush in headfirst at Raspaganje, so eager now to tear him apart piece by piece in order to free his friend, even if that meant having to fight the Angel head on to do so. But, before he could go, he felt a restrictive hand be laid on his right shoulder, and another on his left. He looked to either side of himself, and found both Evron and Ubel looking intently at him. Their expressions said it all: Rushing in would be absolute suicide against the Angel by itself, but with Raspaganje now controlling it…

“We’re going to get her back, Em, that’s a promise we intend to keep.” Evron reassured and squeezed his shoulder.

Ubel nodded, “Even if we die trying… We’ll do whatever it takes.”

Dante looked to Ubel, then to Evron with a face full of gratitude and appreciation, as Daeva floated in closer from the left side, eyes beaming bright. The Ninja Prime then faced towards Raspaganje with white eyes full of divine fury. His great wings spread wide, and he summoned the empowered Yakuza’s Wrath into one hand, while a Twin Jewel found the other. As his three siblings rearmed themselves, Dante, with intensity in his voice, commanded, “Destroy Raspaganje!”

Through a collective explosion of power that shook the multiverse, the Guardians threw themselves at the calamitous star, even as his azure meteors rained down upon them. Dante took point, and, using the vastness of Yakuza’s Wrath, he swung the massive scythe in an expansively wide arc at the flurry of space rocks. The sheer force behind the attack was more than enough to completely reduce them all to dust, allowing he and his siblings clear passage towards their opponent.

Like a giant panther, the Celestial Angel hunkered down, folded its wings inward, and used its powerful legs to pounce with the force of a planetary collision right at the incoming ninjas. An unstoppable force surged towards four immovable objects, neither party ready nor willing to back down…

_________

The skies were black, not from thickened clouds… But from suffocating smoke. The landscape was ablaze in hellfire, rainfall consisted of nothing but brimstone and ash. Buildings were no more than broken and hollow husks, the few that were even left standing, that is. Whatever civilians that were left were either dead or dying; hellish beasts trampled their bodies as they marched across the land towards their prey.

This was Asgard… What was left of it. The last remaining stronghold of the old guard, the once proud and beautiful crown jewel of so many innocent people, and gods alike, had been utterly defiled and ripped asunder by the forces of Hell. They were relentless in their pursuit for total conquest, and so far, they had succeeded. Asgard was the last line of defense before the demons were knocking down the gates of Heaven. If they succeeded here, then all hope would surely be lost.

It had been 3 grueling days of war, 3 cycles of nonstop attrition, bloodlust, and unspeakable loss. Worse yet, Heaven’s forces had been stretched to their very thinnest, with but a few thousand angels, and even less arch angels left to keep up the good fight. Meanwhile, it seemed that with every demonic fiend they killed, another soon rose to take its place and further strengthen Hell’s army that reached into the millions.

Suddenly, a great explosion in the sky rocked the battlefield below, and seconds later, an angel fell from the stars and crash landed hard into the city streets below. As the giant ball of dust settled, it revealed the celestial being now laid in a crater of his own creation. Groaning immensely with pain, the angel slowly clawed to his hands and knees, using his now cracked scepter as a fifth appendage to help support his weight. Shakily, he crawled out of the crater, laid his weapon down beside himself, before collapsing onto his back. His mighty wings were singed and torn in many areas, and his bronze colored armor was cracked and dented. His bruised face showed the overwhelming exhaustion that he felt inside, as well as the physical pain that he’d endured. All around him were fellow angels, either wounded, tired, or freed from their physical bodies. There would be no rest for any of them, as an ear piercing roar shattered what little rest the angel had tried to gift himself. His eyes ripped open, and he lifted his head to find that his body, as well as the entire surrounding area, were shrouded in shadow. The ground trembled and groaned every few moments, and as the warrior turned his head to the right, he was met with, in the distance, a colossal titan of a demon bearing down on him and his fellow angels. The beast had to have been 400 meters tall or more, its entire body covered in fissures of molten lava, horns as tall as 30 story buildings, fangs that were even longer still, and brandishing a double-bladed axe that may as well have been a skyscraper on its own.

The weary angel tried to find the will to stand and fight, or even simply run, but he couldn’t; his body wouldn’t currently allow it. All he could do now, was close his eyes and await his inevitable demise, whilst begging the Creator for forgiveness after having failed him.

Just then, he felt himself be scooped up and taken away by an unknown, yet gentle force. The angel watched in shock as the giant demon grew smaller with each passing moment, until it seemed like it was at least a good 3 miles away now. Before he could fully register what had just occurred, he heard a familiar, and instantly reassuring voice echo from behind.

“Are you alright, Issac?” She asked.

The angel, now known as Issac, pushed onto his buttocks and used his hands as support so he could stare up in awe at the towering, mighty, imposing, yet elegantly beautiful form of Sasriel, the first born angel. She peered gently down at him, empowered scythe in hand, and clad in an almost ceramic gold type of armor. Her great wings folded neatly together on either side of herself.

Issac stared on for a few more moments, befuddled by her presence, but eternally grateful all the same. That was until his tongue found him again, and he sputtered to speak. “Y-yes, m’lady, at least… I will be. Th-thank you for saving me, I am forever grateful.” He finally responded. As he turned his head to either side, he saw that more angels were close by too, at least two dozen of them in total. It seemed like this small hill near the east side of Asgard had become a rally point of sorts.

Sasriel offered a hand to Issac, “Come, on your feet; this battle is not yet won.” She declared.

He looked at her silently for a moment, before shaking his head. A weary sigh followed after. “I am sorry, lady Sasriel… But I cannot. I simply no longer have the strength to continue at this current moment.”

The mighty angel’s expression wavered, before her eyes filled with righteous defiance. “Then you must find it, for the good of our people, and all we currently know and love, you must find the strength to continue!”

“Lady…” Issac closed his eyes, but Sasriel was having none of it.

She continued on, “If we do not stop the forces of Hell here and now, Issac, then all is well and truly lost. Heaven will fall, and with it, the multiverse will soon follow. We cannot, WILL NOT, allow for such to happen!”

“I know the stakes, lady! I am fully aware of the gravity of the situation, believe you me!” Issac snapped, yet immediately regretted it, quickly averting his eyes away from Sasriel’s steely glare. “I just… I simply cannot continue fighting on right now, my body is at its limit.”

Sasriel’s eyes softened, her body relaxed. “Issac… I-”

Before she was able to finish, hers, Issac’s, and the attentions of every other angel present were turned to the sky. Four bright streaks of multi-colored energy screamed through the air at extraordinary speeds. Golden, red, violet, and blue trails of light intercepted the leviathan that threatened to kill Issac mere moments ago. In less than the blink of an eye, the titan collapsed in a pool of its own molten blood, massive holes now riddling its body, and its axe wielding arm having been severed off.

Issac looked in amazement, mouth agape, eyes wide as dinner plates. “What… What in Heaven’s name was that?!” He inquired in sheer disbelief.

“Not what, ‘who’.” Sasriel corrected, granting her a confused look from her fellow angel. She smiled and once more lended a hand, only for Issac to actually take it this time, and rose wobbly to his feet. Together, they watched as the streaks of light continued their assault on Hell’s army, plowing through countless demons of all shapes and sizes like they were nothing, whilst also working in tandem with several angels in the area to eradicate the virus.

Sasriel rested her scythe on the soot covered ground and continued to watch. “Those… Are the ninjas.” She finally revealed.

Issac looked to her with surprise, “The ninjas! Still do they fight?”

“They have not stopped,” She replied, eyes trying desperately to keep up with them, “we are currently knocking on the 3rd day of this infernal conflict, and those ninjas have yet to relent, to yield against this tidal wave of malevolence. I have not once seen them pause in their assault… Not once.” Sasriel shook her head, almost scoffing at herself from what she’d just said, but it was true. “The willpower of those four… It is unlike anything I have ever laid eyes upon.”

Issac turned from her to try and follow the ninjas wherever they went. They were so fast… It was proving nigh impossible to. “And for a cause that they have no real stake in, might I add.” He jeered.

“It matters not why they are here, Issac. What matters, is that they are here, and that they are fighting with us.” Sasriel calmly threw back. “Despite their father’s previous abhorrent cruelty, and his own threatening of the multiverse many eons ago, still have those four made it their duty to come and fight for what is right. For that reason, do they have my utmost respect.”

She turned to Issac and lended him a fierce smile, “Now… Are you with me, soldier? It is time we take back all that Hell has stripped from us.”

Issac nodded determinedly. His strength, after watching the ninjas fight on to defend all that he knew and loved, had returned to him tenfold. “I am, lady!”

With a firm nod, Sasriel looked to the other angels surrounding them, before lifting her divine blade into the air, and pointing it right at the demons that dared challenge them. Her great wings splayed far and wide, her eyes shined with vigor, and her sharp jaw clenched tight. Off to her right, she could just catch a glimpse of the ninjas coming in for another assault. “Come, my brothers and sisters, we shall follow the ninjas, the ones who have risked their lives to help us when we needed them most, into the very depths of Hell! Lucifer will tremble before our might!!!” She mightily declared, eliciting a thunderous war cry from her fellow angels, before they charged headfirst into battle against the endless, the expansive… The underworld come forth to life.

The ninjas soon took up positions beside and around Sasriel and her group, weapons trained and at the ready. When the demons charged forth, it was as though the entire landscape was alive, a living, breathing, roiling mass of wrongness. And yet, still were the heroes unphased, no longer afraid, nor intimidated; this was a war that they WOULD win!

Dante’s eyes glowed with a bright intensity, “Ninjas, the forces of Heaven… Let’s end this now!!!” He thundered.

An unstoppable force, bellowed towards thousands of immovable, and defiant objects…

_________

Dante was sent hurtling away from a mere slap of the Angel’s mighty talons, but his siblings quickly took position to cover for his absence, and charged forward. Evron, summoning 20 clones of himself, attempted to do a hard right flank to catch the Angel off guard, while Ubel and Daeva and his clones kept the pressure on from all sides. Ubel rocketed in from below with a Zeus-empowered Hellsbane, and aimed to bludgeon the corrupt entity straight through the heart. But, Dante’s fallen companion was already several steps ahead. Instead of finding his blade deep in the Angel’s gut, Ubel was suddenly in an entirely different section of the battlefield, dozens of miles away from the fight… Trapped inside his very own armor. The density of such was now that of a gas giant, crushing Ubel with unspeakable amounts of force, eliciting a high pitched screech of agony from the large ninja. He was, for now, rendered completely useless. Evron’s clones were taken out shortly after, with but a simple flap of the Angel’s wings having reduced them to embers.

Neutron Sabers in hand, Evron roared in from the right side, a blazing red star in the black void. Aggressively, he blasted headfirst at the Angel, until, at the very last moment, he opened a portal right in front of it and darted through. As that portal closed, another was just about to open directly on the other side of the divine creature… But it had other plans for the tactful ninja. Just as Evron made it through, the Celestial Angel clenched one of its fists and instantly took control of Evron’s own portal! It went on to manipulate the vortex to swallow and entrap the guardian inside of it, before reshaping it into what could only be described as a large pane of flattened glass. Evron was pressed in the middle of it, seemingly frozen in place, but still very much alive and conscious, evident by his rage full and pained howls. With him dealt with for now, wormwood, with a flick of its wrist, sent him spiraling uncontrollably through space.

Raspaganje looked down at his taloned paws curiously. “Most impressive…” He hissed.

Daeva shuddered and cringed as she heard Ubel and Evron’s screams deep inside her mind. How desperately she wished to help them, but she also had a job to do, and was forced to press on. Using the void of space to her advantage, Daeva blitzed Angie at hyper speed, attacking from every angle in a few picoseconds. And, much to Raspaganje’s surprise, a few of the ninja’s hits did in fact land; surface cuts were produced along Angie’s wings and legs and neck. But, to Daeva’s surprise and audible frustration, those same marks were gone within a few seconds. Switching tactics, the youngest ninja continued to use her speed to make for a hard target, all the while producing a gigantic Ki Storm that would hopefully send the Angel flying. She traced a house-sized circle into the cosmic plane, and kicked it with all her might, shaking the area, and sent an complete eruption of physics shattering winds towards the Celestial Angel at hyper speed.

The Angel narrowed its eyes. “Let us see what this archaic body can do.” Raspaganje spoke, and forced his newfound puppet to stay where it was. These winds, torrential forces that would have erased a whole city from which it stood, and torn most other living beings asunder, plowed into the Angel with forces that were indescribable, surely enough to have some lasting effect. But, much to Daeva’s immediate horror, instead of hurting Angie… She merely fed the creature. It absorbed all of her winds into itself like a sponge, glowing even brighter than before now. It stared down the ninja with wide, excited eyes.

“Fool!” The Calamitous Star taunted, and unraveled his great wings. In doing so, what used to be Daeva’s attack just seconds go, had been turned against her. The winds from her Ki Storm exploded outward towards her at hyper speed, forcing Daeva to do nothing else but retreat, to run as fast as she could. The Angel wouldn’t allow her to get off that easily, however, and proceeded to twist and funnel the storm winds in every direction around its small target. Daeva, with a horrified scream… Was swallowed up by the storm, and flung to whatever corner of the singularity that would eventually catch her.

The Angel sensed him coming. Out of the corner of the its eye, it noted a brilliant tidal wave of white Ki hurtling towards it. As it turned, its eyes widened in genuine surprise from seeing how close he actually was. Clad in divine white fire, Dante bellowed forth in his Inferno form, aiming to swallow the Angel whole and vaporize the infection inside… And he nearly did. Until, a barrier of light came between him and his retribution; Raspaganje had let his guard down ever so slightly, and it had nearly cost him. For now, he was managing to hold Dante’s power back, but it was much more of a stalemate than he wanted it to be; what else did this body have to offer? His answer came after, with a flash of its eyes, the Angel had neutralized the immediate threat. Dante’s Inferno dissipated into millions of particles, and left just him behind.

The Ninja Prime was left in complete shock, gazing down at his hands, before staring into the eyes of his friend. “I-I-Impossible… Ang-”

Dante’s words were strangled to death as he found himself in a psychic chokehold, Raspaganje using his new body to press down further and further on his larynx. He felt his bones rattle from the latter’s deep and resonating chortle.

“Poor little hero, laboring for fruits that bear no sustenance.” Raspaganje mocked from within. “You and your ilk are… Persistent, a trait that I can respect, but said persistence is misplaced. You strive for peace, yet fight the one whom can bring about it?”

“A-AAAngie… I… I know you’re in there… Please…” Dante croaked, ignoring Raspaganje, whose eyes narrowed into an amused leer.

“Your pet is no longer with us, Dante. But, I can assure you that its divine body will make for a lovely, if only temporary haven for me to continue my work unopposed.”

Dante refused to believe the lies told by the deadliest serpent; his friend was in still in there somewhere, trying to reach him as much as he did it. He just needed to figure out a way to reach the Angel before it was too late. He had to save it… Save her.

_________

“Your affinity for them clouds your judgement, lady… It makes you weak.” Shayatin spouted very boldly at Tiamat, whom stood just a few feet away from her, the both of them outside the main gates of the castle.

Tiamat hurled daggers at Marise’s general, causing for the latter to somewhat flinch. “My LOVE that I possess for my own children does not in any way make me, ‘weak’, Shayatin.” She threw back.

Shayatin cast an icy look of her own back towards the Queen of Yakuza, and dragons alike. Her lips were scrunched into a frustrated sneer as she shook her head defiantly. “I am sorry, lady Tiamat, but that is where your greatest mistake lies. You see them as tender souls that you must… Care for, look after, as though they truly are more than mere weapons of war. As if, you of all people, had no inclination of what you were doing, when you gave them the gifts that they have!”

She opened her arms wide, as if almost pleading with Tiamat. “Those… ‘Children’, have no soul, lady. Why stagnate their potential when they could better used to-”

Tiamat furiously stormed right up to Shayatin, her teeth gritted tight behind stiffened lips. The latter had instinctively backed all the way down, with her tail tucked between her legs. She did not dare meet Tiamat’s gaze, she was bold, but not foolish. While the ninja was about a head taller than her Queen, it still seemed as though Tiamat towered firmly over her.

“Let me make one thing very clear to you, girl: Those four innocent children are MINE, they carry MY blood, MY power, and MY soul. And, although my power flows through their veins, it is, really, now theirs… To do with as they wish. Who are you, a simple attack dog of my husband, to EVER decide what the fates of anyone shall be?!” Tiamat chastised harshly, forcing Shayatin further and further into her shell with every lash. “You would also be wise as to remember exactly who you are speaking to, and never forget that at any moment, I can and WILL cease you from ever existing. Do you understand me?”

Shayatin quickly nodded, “Yes, my Queen…” She trailed off for a moment, before continuing. “Lord Marise will not be happy about this.” She tried to mutter under her breath.

Tiamat sneered, “And that is of no concern to you. I will deal with my husband, while you have but five seconds to leave my presence, before I am no longer so merciful.”

Without another word, Shayatin teleported off to some other part of the estate, allowing Tiamat to finally sigh heavily and slump her shoulders in exhaustion. “By the gods, is it hard to talk like that for long.” She bemoaned and massaged her neck.

“You always let her off too easy.” A voice gathered from behind.

Another sigh, this time one of exasperation, before Tiamat turned around and craned her neck up. “How long have you just been sitting up there, creeping?” She inquired to her guest.

“Long enough to tell you again that you let her off too easy.” The Other retorted from his perch on one of the gate’s massive columns.

“What am I supposed to do, erase her every time Shayatin wants to be a bitch?” Tiamat countered.

The Other shrugged, “Perhaps,” he said and leapt from his post to the ground, “you are her Queen, after all; you do not deserve to be talked to like that, by anyone. Especially not by, what did you call her again, Marise’s ‘attack dog’?”

Tiamat snorted, giving a little shrug of her own. “I was in the moment! Think it was a bit too harsh?”

“Do you really want my honest opinion?”

“You’re right, pretend I didn’t ask.” She snickered, before her smile quickly disappeared into a heavy frown. “It’s just… I just get so protective when it comes to my children, you know? And, Shayatin, as much I haaaate to admit it, knows exactly what buttons of mine to push. She’s pushed them so many times, that I probably need to sow them back on at this point.”

Tiamat cast a weary, stressful eye onto The Other. “My kids aren’t weapons, they’re just… Kids, kids trying to live.”

The Other nodded, his expression one of sympathetic understanding. “They are just kids… But they are also incredibly special, Tiamat, which means that, whether you or I like it or not, they will always have a target on their backs.”

Tiamat’s eyes grew saddened, and she turned away, folding her arms tight against herself. The Other stared after her for a time, silent, before he too looked away. He sighed, “It pains me greatly to know that my niece and nephews always seem to have someone watching them, people who have nothing but ill intentions towards them.” His fist clenched. “They are amazing, spectacular children, ones that I will forever be proud of… But from now, until the end of time, they are marked.” The Other stated heavily, turning to Tiamat. “That is the price they will have to pay for the incredible things they can do.”

She tried to hold them back, but the tears refused to be contained. They streamed down her supple cheeks, as much as she wiped them away, more soon came. “I don’t know what to do anymore. It feels like I’m drowning them, like I’m the one who brought them into a reality of nothing but pain and hardship… But I never wanted that at all!”

Tiamat faced The Other with a blushed face full of tears and pain, and asked him, “Have I failed them as their mother?”

The Other didn’t hesitate to answer with a firm shake of his head. “No, and do not believe for a second that you have. You just have to keep doing what you have already been this entire time, lady.”

“Which is?”

The Other’s face hardened, “You must protect them… No matter the cost.”

_________



Evron floated silently through space, sandwiched between two infernal panes of glass curtesy of Dante’s, “friend”. He swore to himself that as soon as he got out of this damned prison, he would smack Dante into next week! It wasn’t long before Evron’s mind was flooded with the agonized screams of his siblings, no doubt because of Raspaganje’s twisted means of torture. He could feel them, all three of them, and they were quickly losing ground. With every waking moment, his siblings were faltering against the insurmountable will of wormwood. He needed to do something, for the sake of the entire multiverse, and more importantly to him, his family… Evron could not, he WOULD not, be contained any longer! With a muffled roar, Evron flared his power to its maximum, filling the glass and the surrounding area with pools of red Ki. And then, in a violent explosion, he shattered his prison into thousands of melting pieces, set his sights onto the Celestial Angel’s energy signature, and dive bombed towards it at light speed.

“But it is not merely through their creation that they can endure such a daunting and stressful task. They can be reckless and bullheaded at times, yes, but they hold tight to their ideals for a better future. I believe that this is what keeps them going forward; no matter the trials and tribulations, they won't let go of their belief that there can always be a better world.”

Ubel was struggling fiercely in his own binds, binds that had once protected him countless times over. Raspaganje had wished for the guardian’s own armor to be his undoing… His eventual grave. The pain was immense, and the pressure even more so, but Ubel knew he couldn’t give up, he couldn’t yield. He felt the struggles of his siblings and how dire the situation had become for all of them. This could no longer stand, not while a fire still blazed on in his heart. For his brothers and sister, for his family back home, for Korraz, for Aphrodite, for his father Owlzarus, for Demmy, for Doris, for Nichelle, Yzazil, Immanuel, his best friend, Jake, for Dana, for Dea… For Molly… Ubel would not yield! A ninja, a guardian… Never backed down, so neither would he!

“This… This… Is my… Body… And I won’t let it… Control me!!!” Ubel screamed in godly fury. His entire body glowed violet, cascading across the foreseeable sky, and he firmly broke free from his own entrapment. Wasting no time, Ubel turned his attention to where Raspaganje still was, opened one hand to conjure the massive form of Soul Ravager, and used the other to yet again summon forth… “HELLSBANE!” The mighty blade screamed into his hand, ready and waiting to fight at its master’s side. With both his weapons in hand, Ubel charged ahead, ready to protect the multiverse with his life.

“It's no wonder they are so loved. None of them are perfect, and they have their flaws, but they strive to overcome them and fight on despite them, instead of letting them consume them.”

Daeva laid motionless in a crater along the canyon of a lone asteroid, about a thousand miles away from the initial fight. Her armored fingers dug mini trenches in the dirt as she slowly and painfully began to move. Shuddering fiercely to even move, let alone stand; her entire body hurt. Heavy dents had been punched into her armor, as well as deep cuts and grooves from the razor sharp winds. As Daeva groaned and pushed to her feet, she noticed that a huge chunk of her helmet was now missing, evident from the whole left side of her face being exposed. Great. Exasperated, Daeva reached up to strip the helmet from her head, revealing a trail of blood running from her split lip. She cast the helmet away to her room back home, so it could fixed at a later time, and turned to where she sensed the Angel’s energy emanating from. She could even still see the bright glow of it from here, like an especially bright star in the night sky. A smirk slowly found its way into the corner of her mouth.

“Use my own attack against me, huh? Okay, Raspy… I’ve got something for you.” She murmured. Until, Daeva caught something that replaced her smirk with a troubled frown: the Angel, Raspaganje, had Dante. He had him, and was slowly choking the life out of him.

Daeva’s upper lip curled, “Okay,” She summoned her blade, eyes glowing brightly, “now I’m pissed.”

Without another word, the fastest being in the multiverse took off from her rocky platform, and crossed the thousand mile distance between herself and Raspaganje in the time it took to blink.

“You. Don’t. Owe. Any-one any-thing. Seriously! Not a thing. Like, why should you? Why should you help the stupid little mites who don’t appreciate it anyway? Why should you help anyone when it will just be at your expense in the end? Life’s unfair. Me and you are proof of that. Being big fish means, definitionally, there are small fish. Life ain’t fair and everyone’s on their own. That’s just how it is.”

Ubel and Evron were now closing in upon the Celestial Angel as well. They found each other and gradually closed in on the other’s position, until but a few feet separated them. The ninjas brothers gave each other a warm nod, before focusing on their collective, corrupted target.

“RASPAGANJE!” Evron yelled, “LET OUR BROTHER AND ANGIE GO, YOU UGLY FUCK!!!”

The Celestial Angel darted its head around, surprise ridden within its golden eyes. The ninjas… They’d returned! “WHAT?! Impossible! How did they return so quickly?!” Raspaganje’s inner dialogue demanded.

Daeva joined her brothers, and soon enough, they had the Angel boxed in, weapons trained and ready to attack.

“They make you the bad guy. And that’s why they don’t deserve you. They don’t deserve anything. It's wasted on them. Anything is. They're just whispers in the story of existence. Smudges on the tapestry of everything. There have been millions of billions of them, and there will be a billion trillion more. So who cares? Only people like us matter. The big fish.”

With his attention distracted, Dante could feel Raspaganje’s influence on him weaken ever so slightly… But that was more than enough. With a bright flash of his eyes, Dante flared his insurmountable power outward, much to the shock of the Angel, who was then forced to let him go. As the light vanished, the divine being looked to find the Ninja Prime floating calmly before it, armed with his mighty scythe, and a Twin Jewel. Still in his angel form, Dante’s wings flared out intimidatingly, a warning to the Calamitous Star.

Tiamat stroked his hair whilst she gazed out at the vast, seemingly never ending expanse that was their home. Her perfect utopia, one that she built to be a sanctuary for any and everyone who needed a home, a place of peace and love and happiness. A home where she raised her children, formed an unshakable bond with her own sister, her friends, her family... A home that she was soon about to leave behind. The tears could no longer be fought back, and they soon fell down her cheeks to patter on Dante’s pale face. A soft groan came from him, causing for Tiamat to look down and smile sadly at him. She went to work in wiping her tears away from his cheek, as she mouthed the words, “I love you”.

“You look after them for me, little emerald, okay? Take care these people and love them to no end… Take care of them all.”

“I-I promise... M-Mom...”

Dante looked across the way at each of his siblings. “Are you guys okay?” He asked.

They nodded.

“Peachy, I’m just ready to kick this little bitch’s ass, hopefully hard enough to make him give Angie back.” Evron replied with a sneer.

“What about you, Em?” Daeva asked.

Ubel nodded, “You good?”

Dante returned the expression, and it was genuine… But he would feel even better once they freed Angie. “As good as I can be right now, but I’ll be fantastic once we get Angie back, and destroy this plague once and for all.” He stated.

“Well,” Evron got into a fighting stance, “let’s get to work, then.”

As the others readied themselves, so too did Dante, clenching his weapons tight. Deep down, he was hoping and praying for their key to victory to arrive soon, real soon. “Come on, wormwood…” He challenged. “Time for round 2.”




“It’s our duty and our choice… It’s our promise.”

[Demon Lord Gira]

Demmy could barely believe what she was seeing. The very foe she had been battling was agreeing to the deal that Molly was making... not only that, but Molly reached her hand forward the Colossal Despot's own outstretched hand.

"Molly, wait. Are you really-"

"Demmy, trust me." Her friend turned back to look at her, and there was a gleam of certainty in Molly's eyes. She gave Demmy a nod, and the Demon Lord felt torn within.

And yet, if Molly truly claimed to know what she was doing... She sighed, and nodded back.

With that, Molly turned back to the Colossal Despot. "We have a deal." She took the Colossal Despot's hand and shook it. "We will not interfere with your plans once this is all over. And Demmy, can you go up and help our doggy friend? My own energy is... taking some getting used to, and spent from Miyoshi.."

"Of course, yes Molly." Demmy didn't hesitate to even think on what Molly was talking about, or why or how she had subdued Miyoshi before or floated on down. No, there was still the issue of Drillgore to handle. The Demon Lord's body blackened and she shot back up through the holes in the ship, back up to help out Fray...

On the ground floor, Molly leaned against the wall and let out a silent sigh.

"That voice from before... She has lifted the seal placed upon my powers, the seal placed by the End of All. It is only because of her that you can use my blessing and my authority." The voice of the Lifemother spoke in Molly's mind. "But... who even was she? And how could she-"

"That.. That can wait. We have more pressing matters..." Molly mentally replied back. "But, thank you."

----------------

Hutistrend cackled and laughed as she heard Raspaganje's demeanor change once more, as fear of his banishment overtook the Star of Calamity. She felt his presence weaken around her, and her body's natural regenerative properties were kicking into high gear. The decay of ages from the Machine of Unmaking was being undone, and her cracking, broken skin was slowly returning to its original flawless brilliance.

"That's right, oh ancient Wormwood. So close to bringing oblivion to the multiverse, yet so far away. Let your tears in reality be sewn back together, let your original prison remain your entombment, and let your legacy etched in the halls of history be undone! Get fucked, you ancient scrub!"

The tears and gashes across the multiverse, the calamities wrought by the Machine of Unmaking on the fabric of reality were beginning to reverse. Holes and rifts to other realms filled with shadows and horrors closed back up. While the destroyed worlds and civilizations could not be brought back with this method, it was a start nonetheless, and Hutistrend only needed a little more time before Raspaganje was truly imprisoned back within the void between realities once more...

For just one moment, she stopped. A cold, sharp chill ran down her spine in that instance. The energy that flowed through the Machine of Unmaking fluxuated before it returned back to the normal altered energy meant to repair its damages. "So... you have succeeded, Mother..." Hutistrend lowly hissed through sharpened teeth. "Enjoy your victory while it lasts."

________________________

What relief Mulek felt as the vessel made its way toward the Realm of the Ninjas faded as she too looked to the skies, and at what could be seen across many realities: The Ninjas, the Heroes of the Multiverse, clashed against the very being who was behind so much. The same fiendish energies could be sensed, there was no doubt it was the same evil.

"Yes, I am ready." Mulek let out a long sigh, then steeled herself. "Hercules, Nonce, the fight ahead of us is one I doubt we can escape unscratched. Our foe is one with the powers of the cosmos itself in his claws, eons of knowledge and wisdom, and endless resources. I thought for so long that the stories of the End of All were of the greatest evil reality had ever known... but now I see that which not only rivals it, but eclipses it. We need a plan, a plan to ensure our victory and..."

The false angel went silent. When faced with such an overwhelming foe that brute force would not work on, alternatives needed to be addressed. And Mulek knew of one such way, one she herself had never done, but the brother of the one who had taken her in had done a long time ago. She knew how to do it, she had listened to that story hundreds of times after she had witnessed that fateful day herself. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to mention it. Her one hand gripped tightly her chest, and she gritted her teeth.

"I... think I know of one." She finally forced herself to admit.

_____________________________________

"R-rest?" Risel raised a clawed hand to her chin. She shook her head. "Oh no. I... Don't need rest. I can get by... with very little sleep. But... Thank you, Alex."

She looked over to Mara. "What about you, Mara? Would you like to rest?"

The blonde haired woman looked up. She had just finished sowing together an open gash on a young Ninja's leg, the bloody needle still in hand. "Yes, but how can I rest when I don't know if my husband will be alright? I can't and I won't until he's back here, safe and sound."

-------------------

The young Celestial found herself at what she believed to be the right place. The vibrations she felt through the ground told her there was commotion occurring inside the building, several people at that. She hopped off her piece of earth, then tapped on the door. No response. She grabbed the handle and tried to open it. It was locked.

"Very well then." Tenkarus huffed. She flicked her right hand back toward herself, and the metal within the door bent to her will. The locks undid themselves, and she was free to open the door.

Now, to find the missing children and their assailant...

____________________________________

It was the twilight of hope, and the darkest hour that the God of Death could have known. For his entire life, Crigan had fought against evil, against those who had sought to do harm to others and disrupt the world of humanity. He had fought to keep the warring humans and dragons in relative peace with one another, and only when all else had failed in his moment of weakness had he slaughtered the entirety of the draconic race of his world. He had fought against Persephone and her forced ever since she had taken Mara from him and let her become a vessel for Aram. He had fought against Persephone and her forces ever since she had allowed Aram to slaughter his entire human family, his children and grandchildren, as punishment for escaping his captivity. He had fought even against the people he had sworn to protect, when they had turned against him and wished for the death of all gods, while he fought to protect them all the same. He had fought for his friends and his allies when they had needed him the most, and he had lost everything he had left in that final bitter battle that had consumed the Miyoshi and Persephone of his world. Never had he backed down, never had he given in, never had he surrendered or truly been at a loss. Not against Sutekh the mad Osiran, where even a fraction of the god's power was an overwhelming foe for Crigan. Not against Miyoshi, who had channeled the hatred and nightmares of an entire multiverse into her and become a being on par with the Ninjas themselves. Never had he backed down, or yielded in the face of evil.

But this was different. This was the worst case scenario, an outcome with no way out. Persephone's body had housed within it a fiend, an evil spirit the God of Death knew all too well at this point. The same life force, the same energy that flowed from Chang'e also radiated from the demon within Persephone's skin and magnified it, to where just being so close was suffocating for the God of Death. It took all of his will to not collapse unconscious just from being near this evil, and he was powerless. His fight against Aram had robbed him of all his remaining strength, and now he was little more than a human, chained to the ground and completely helpless before the possessed form of Persephone who stood above him, arms spread out like a cross as the fiend stared down at him. Nichelle was nowhere to be seen, having been slammed through the roof of the Palace of Shadows and down who knew how many floors, Yzazil and Nyx had been blasted away by the fiend's eye bolts, and even the legendary Death Knight Minos struggled to stand as blood dripped down her face and her mask shattered. The fiend within Persephone's body laughed with a thousand voices, and both Chang'e and the twins laughed with him.

What hope was there for Crigan and the others? Was all their struggles for nothing? Had Chang'e won?

"Do you see now, Crigan? Your allies came so close, so very close to victory, yet it was never within reach." Chang'e continued to laugh. She held a hand to her face and her grin grew wider and wider. "And not just your allies down here, but those fighting Raspaganje as well. Even if they succeed against him, or he against them, there is no hope for any of them. My plans have come too far, the chosen time has dawned! Father, now dawns our hour!”

“Yes, Father. It is your finest hour now!”

“Yes Father. Wipe this world clean of those who do not belong!”

"And so I shall." The Archfiend cast its gaze away from the enchained Crigan, and toward Chang'e and the Twins. "It has been eons since I have flexed my indomitable will, and once these lowly fools are no more, then the imposter Raspaganje will be next! He dares to rival and eclipse me?! I will tear his body to the bone and rip his flesh asunder! That machine from before prevented me from putting him in his place, and that machine will be punished with hellfire and brimstone for denying me The Imposter's head!"

"F-father...Even as you are now, Raspaganje is beyond you. He has several timeline's worth of power within him,and he is nigh immortal. If you were to face him now..."

"Do not tell me I would lose!" The Archfiend rumbled. The unfractured half of Persephone's face twisted into a frenzied snarl. "You have always said that every time I tried to usurp my daughter's body! 'Oh, don't come out yet! You'll die! I don't want you to die!' Well now I have all the powers of the gods, and yet you still say I would lose?! What else have I need of, my brainy other?!"

"Father, please... I know just the thing. While it is the chosen time, please wait just a little longer. The pieces will be in place soon, and all will work out well, this I assure you."

The Archfiend was about to respond, but something caught its attention. it turned and faced Crigan, who had no idea as to why he was being looked at. And then, he noticed it, blue particles of life had begun to float around him. He stared at the blue particles that swirled and fused within him. This was not his work...so what was causing this? What was the catalyst for this occurrence?

It was only when he felt his strength be restored, his weakened state begin to undo itself, that Crigan realized what was happening. "Yzazil..." He softly muttered, and that was when he saw him, the God of Judgement, begin to walk toward the Archfiend. He looked haggard, worn out, barely able to stand let alone move. And yet Yzazil walked forward, toward their mortal enemy, and Crigan realized what his true purpose was, what he was going to do.

"Have you come to prostrate yourself before me, foreign god?" The Archfiend raised an eyebrow. "To beg for a swift painless death, or to become my slave? I will allow you to live as my pet alongside your decrepit carcass of a frie-"

Yzazil's hand pressed against the possessed body of Persephone, and all the Archfiend could see within the God of Judgement's eyes was a cold, determined fury. "I lay out punishment upon you, fiend... ULTIMATE JUDGMENT!"

"YZAZIL! NO!" Crigan shouted. He tried to pull and break at the chains that held him down, but it was too late. Yzazil's frame vanished into an aura of prana that flowed into the possessed Persephone. At first, the Archfiend was confused, but that confusion faded into agonized howls and gnashing as the very power that the God of Destruction used to destroy worlds was turned upon the ancient evil. The frame of Persephone's body could not handle the destructive power and was torn asunder, as was the very Palace of Shadows beneath their feet. Before Crigan's eyes, one of his closest allies sacrificed himself with the last of his own energy. The chains that held Crigan down were vaporized in that moment, and the God of Death could only watch as he and everyone else fell down through what had once been Persephone's palace. The divine energies surged in all directions, and it was only from Chang'e shielding the twins with her own body that they were spared the same fate that befell the ancient evil.

"FATHER!"

"FATHER!"

---------------

From her work tower, Lilith could not believe her eyes. A monument that had stood for eternity, from the very founding of Sheol itself, the Palace of Shadows... was vaporized before her very eyes. Through thousands of years of civil war and rebellion it had stood, through many Lords of Sheol across the ages, from Lucifer himself to Demogorgon to Malcania's rebellion. And now... it was no more, merely ashes and stone that fell from the sky to the ground below. And somewhere within there, Persephone as well. Lilith gripped her hands tightly against her skirt and slammed them against the wall. "LORD PERSEPHONE!" She screamed, hoping beyond hope that somehow her lord and master was alive and well, yet deep down her heart told her otherwise. All her instruments told her the same, that the energy was enough to destroy a planet, and concentrated upon Persephone... She stood no chance.

A pained groan spooked Lilith. Almost instinctively, she hid beneath her desk, afraid the source of the noise was some surviving enemy come to kill her. Instead, she saw it was Belfrit, who had her hands up against her head. The girl staggered back and forth in her steps, and shook her head as if trying to fight off something. "B-brother..." She groaned, and Lilith's heart was caught in her throat.

Belfrit had been a perfect assistant for herself and Persephone, but not of her own violation. Lilith had installed in her a means for Persephone's will to suppress what was normally there, and keep Belfrit loyal to them and them alone. However, it required Persephone to still be alive and well, and if she was out of the picture...

The girl hit herself in the forehead again and again, and her shrouded eyes became clear, a vibrant light blue that replaced the scarred lifeless eyes that had been there before. The once robotic voice that had no emotion flared, and pure burning anger filled the girl's tone and visage. With a final strike to the forehead, she dug her right fist into the bulge that was there, and ripped it out, blood and flesh that coated her hand along with a writhing metallic worm that she crushed in her grip.

"DAMN YOU TO HELL, PERSEPHONE!" The girl bellowed. With her left hand, she stamped her staff down into the floor, and several large fronds emerged and pushed open a hole in the wall, which she was carried out of. "Brother, i'm coming! Hang in there!"

When she was gone, only then did Lilith crawl out of her hiding place. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The Belfrit personality she had implemented had been killed off with Persephone's demise, and this was the full proof of that. Had the Goddess of the Earth Lavidana seen her, Lilith had no doubts she would have died then and there...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pain. Everything hurt for Crigan as he landed upon the scorched earth below. Dust clogged his throat and burned at his eyes, yet somehow he was alive. The God of Death shakily rose to his feet and coughed. He hoped beyond hope that Yzazil was still alive, that somehow the God of Judgement would still be here, and yet, there was no trace of him, none at all. Crigan shook where he stood. In his own weakness, he couldn't even save his closest ally, a god from a different pantheon that he had come to know as like a brother to him. After so much they had been through, so many trials and battles, and someone else close to him had been taken away. What would Immanuel think, to know that his own brother was no more? The thought haunted Crigan.

He was not alone in the great crater that had been formed from Yzazil's sacrifice. Nichelle lay prone on the ground, yet her injuries were being washed away by the last bits of Yzazil's blessing. Minos was also there, and without her white mask, she looked... strangely familiar to the God of Death, the golden eyes and the crimson hair that complimented her soft, yet mature face. And throyugh the smoke, Crigan could see the form of the giant machine Erebus, and within he could sense Nyx's life energy. How was Nyx faring, knowing that her own uncle had given his life to end the ancient evil?

Nichelle groaned, and began to get to her feet. "Wha... What happened?" She asked. "I got slammed down here, and then everything blew up. Are... Are we dead?"

"No." was Crigan's answer. His eyes refocused forward, through the smoke and debris. "And neither is our enemy."



As the smoke and dust faded, Nichelle could see what Crigan meant. A great dark mass loomed before them, over a hundred meters in height. It was shaped like a vase, or more like a womb as Nichelle realized, its outer skin reverberated and stretched with each pulse that came from within, a living embryo sack. Sixteen crimson orbs burned down upon the trio from within, a gaze that threatened to engulf their vision and their minds. The shape within the womb was impossible to distinguish, but it seemed to be growing every second, pushing and bulging against its imprisonment.

"What... What the hell is that?!" Nichelle stepped back. "Is that what was within Persephone?! What the hell?!"

"Correct." Came down the chilling unmistakable voice of Chang'e. She hovered before the sixteen eyes, and behind her were the twins. Crigan noticed her breath seemed haggard, and a slight dribble of black blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. Had Yzazil's final strike somehow crippled her? "I will admit, I was not expecting him to commit such a reckless strike that would kill himself, but even this works out for me. Now Father will know that there are those strong enough to wound or even kill him in his current state. This will knock his ego down a peg, and make him more likely to listen in the future once he fully regenerates."

"As if we'd give you that chance!" Nichelle leaped forward, and Minos beside her toward the hovering Chang'e. Thanks to Yzazil's final blessing, her blades had been restored, and Nichelle stabbed both of them in toward her, while Minos swung down her scythe as fast and as hard as she could.

They never got the chance to even reach her. Unholy lightning shot forth from the tip of Chang'es fingers and engulfed both women. The lightning stabbed through their bodies and burned at their skin, before they were hurled back away into the ground. In this moment, Crigan tried to dart in with his divine form, once more useable thanks to Yzazil's blessing, but it was the twins who intercepted him. A frozen ray and a scorching pillar raced through the air toward him, and the God of Death turned invisible and banked hard to the right, barely avoiding their strikes. As he reappreared in their faces, he channeled his own energy into the tips of his claws and blasted them point blank. unable to raise their shield in time, the twins flew back into the womb like membrane and bounced off of it. It was precious time that Crigan had, and with Chang'e distracted and the Twins momentarily out of the way, he flew toward the infantile Archfiend, and prepared to blast it with all of his might. His claws glowed a crimson hue as he flew in to slash at the ancient evil...

Pain erupted through Crigan's world. His claws ripped into his own body as the rift that had appeared before him closed. He doubled over, then found himself blasted down into the earth from a blast of lightning from Chang'e.

"Don't even try. I know you better than you do yourself, Crigan. In fact, I know all of you better than you do yourselves. You can't win this fight, you have no chance in Hell."

Yet, unbenownst to all below, high in the air where the last of Yzazil's life energy faded into the aether, something darker separated away and began to take shape. Something that had hidden within the shadow of the God of Judgement until his destruction...

[Beast Blood]

As Tengri’s form faded, Korraz slowly let go of the spear. Her hand burned as the destructive power still flowed through it. Her bloodied maw mouthed a few words, silently commenting on the warlord’s passing. Of course, no sound actually came from her, but any able to read on the giant’s lips would have witnessed her mimicking the very same words she had heard reverberating throughout the multiverse moments before, which her mind had translated for her: “Lenge leve kongen...”

Long live the king.

Although one threat had been taken out, there still remained one right next to her. Taking her eyes off of Tengri’s spear, Korraz slowly shifted her gaze to Drillgore’s clone. Like Diabolus, this creature clearly had no light in him. He was wholly malicious. She would have to be completely daft to allow him to cause more harm to herself and others.

He appeared to be hiding beneath some kind of protection he had made for himself. By virtue of this shelter and Korraz’s hulking frame effectively blocking the surges of power from reaching him as Tengri drew his last, he went by fairly unharmed. She studied his metal shielding curiously through the blood dribbling down her brow. The gleaming color of her tusks and the bright yellow of her eyes stood out in stark contrast to the blood covering her, piercing through the dark colors.

This metallic shell might have protected him from the spear and the ramifications of Tengri’s death, but it would not protect him from her. The Borskall smith lumbered his way and stomped down onto the defensive dome, crushing weight easily crumpling the metallic shelter and squishing the Drillipede beneath his own shield. The shape-shifting creature spread around the metallic plates like a pool of black goo, before Korraz reached down with her hand that was still surging with the energy of Unmaking to rip him off the floor. His dark flesh warped beneath her grasp as the giant hoisted him up, holding him at arm’s length as she kept him in her paw to let the destructive energy rend him apart. The multi-limbed foe quickly defended himself, curling his drill-tipped tendrils towards the titan’s extended arm. Multiple points stabbed into the brawny limb, rapidly drenching her coat in blood, even as several of these limbs fell off, drills clattering against the floor while the Unmaking negated the centipede’s regenerative capabilities. One drill went straight up into the tear created by the Bolts of Unmaking in her arm, burrowing from her elbow all the way to her shoulder. Although the pain surely would have driven many foes to their knees, Korraz was not one of them. No matter how intensely the Drillipede savaged her arm and shoulder with his drills, a whirlwind of spinning blades and spilling blood, she retained her focus as she continued to constrict him. Her body had suffered too many blows from her enemies throughout her life to feel much in the ways of suffering anymore. This pain, or lack thereof, would not stop her. She did not flinch even as several drills poked out from beneath her flesh, yet Drillgore himself, with his odd anatomy, survived his body flaking away better than she had expected.

However, Korraz’s eyes, firmly locked onto her foe, seemed to lose their focus, the giant blinking hard a few times and shaking her head to try and clear the cobwebs. In her blurry vision, she saw the Drillipede grinning at the sight of his prey weakening from blood loss. Although the Borskall was not affected by his torture, she was still a living, breathing creature, and it appeared she had underestimated - or perhaps was simply unaware of - the true amount of damage her body had sustained. Her grip loosened, however much she fought to restrain it. Still, she stubbornly pressed on. If she could hold on just a little longer, she could finish him off, and the multiverse would have one less threat to deal with - her family back home could sleep that much more soundly without him around.

Between the giant’s stubborn tenacity and the unusual anatomy of her foe allowing him to survive longer, the two were caught in a stalemate...

Until a dark-feathered variable tipped the scales squarely to Korraz’s favor.

Having fully recovered from the damage done to him thanks to Korraz’s protection, Hod landed on the blacksmith’s shoulder, wings crackling with electricity as he spread them in a threatening display. His pale eyes surged with power. From his black talons flowed out a wave of blue energy, which flowed through Korraz’s body up the arm that was holding Drillgore. The energy of Unmaking fizzled out, only to be replaced with intense electricity. The tendrils harassing the Borskall smith retracted, only to fly apart to ashes. The blacksmith felt rejuvenated, the edges of her vision still dark, but not getting worse.

Just a little longer...

[MinorBone Good]

Boore clapped while he saw Jake and Dana talking. It's just been so long since he had seen them, well, before total disaster keep striking them. Sorta. Everything kinda gets foggy here and there! "You got it Jakey and Dana!

As Annity waved goodbye to the departing heroes, she turned around to try and find another book. She nearly stumbled over her own feet, barley catching herself on the shelves of the bookshelf. She breathed out a shaky sigh of relief. She stood straight up again, readjusting her glasses. However, she spotted a soft glow coming from her left hand. The mark! N-No... He w-was near..? B-But how? She thought she lead him off her trail! Before she could react, she felt her eyes turning inside her head, her fingers dug into the shelves. After those two brief seconds of pain, her eyes returned to normal, starting to relax. A crooked smile forming on her face.

Well, well.. Who knew you would end up here, little ghosts and precious Annity? He had only come back here to see if Owlzarus was still here, only to find two of his targets. What an amazing stroke of luck. Well, for him at least.

The Possessed Annity looked up and found the book she was once looking for. She stood up on her tippy toes to try and reach the book, and barley managed to pull it out. She pulled the book closely to her chest. "There we go. Found the book we were looking for.." Drillgore looked over at Boore and Booled, a small smile forming on her face.

Who says you can't kill a ghost?
__________________________________________

As the forms of Shayatin and Bug were slowly brought into the englarging black void, a tiny voice in the back of his head suggested to join in as well. He could almost feel himself start to float towards it to join the crowd, but stopped himself from his instincts from taking over. He was lucky, nay, smart enough to purge himself of most of Raspaganje's influence back in his lab. Had he not done so, he would've been just another pawn to be used. Just like all the other times in his life with Persephone and Quatheral. He twisted his head back towards the now changed form of Raspaganje, his grin just growing smaller by a bit. Why did everything had to be so hard to kill with these Ninjas around? It was just an annoyance really to him.

Evoex looked around in awe. He had never seen such power eminating from such a creature! Not even Quatheral! Or all the Ninja's combined! This was looking bad. He readied another textbox, trying to at least deflect some of the asteroids crashing down upon him and his allies. He strikes at one, but it was no use, it broke easily and the meteor smashed it's way into Evoex with such for that Evoex's body clung around. The front of the asteroid had it's textures warped just a bit, but it didn't soften the blow of the landing. Orange goo splatted out from underneath the rock, Evoex starting to malfunction again. But he couldn't let down his new friends. He made a portal beneath him and another one towards the side of the asteroid. He slipped through the small portal like liquid, dropping next to the asteroid that nearly killed him... Well, not killed. He still wasn't sure if he could be killed if he was already dead in a way.

Evoex looked up to see another steroid heading directly towards him, but a large red tail smacked the offending rock away like paper weight. Though, the tip of it's tail was nearly ripped apart by the move. Red blood trickled down like rain above Evoex for a moment. The glitched Quatheral looked over at the Howo-Beast that just saved him from another moment of pain. Although he wasn't sure if this monster knew him from before or not, but he was thankful nonetheless. Now.. What to even do here.? He could... No no. He was too weak for that.

He looked over at the Celestial Raspaganje, fighting against his friends. Evoex knew he had to do something... Maybe.. Maybe her could get in just close enough to spread his corruption just bit! Yeah! That might work. If he was just able to do that, it might be able to stun Raspaganje! That's what he would do. A large shadow formed over Evoex, causing him to look up again. Another meteor, but Evoex was ready this time. He quickly teleported his way out of the landing zone, making his way towards Raspaganje!

All the while, Drillgore was circling around Raspaganje, trying to find a weak-point for the Ninja's to take care of. Unfortunately, his old employer seemed to build up quite a resistance. A shame. He looked over to see the Howo-Beast doing it's best from the meteor's from slamming into the Ninja's, but it was starting to strain it. Drillgore's eyes flickered before returning his gaze to Raspaganje. His goal was pointless to Drillgore. To stop the cycle? Oh no no, that he couldn't have! He wanted to continue the cycle, if not change it a little of course. The cycle must continue!
___________________________________________

Drillgore waited with baited breath as he finally felt the instabality finally start to cool down. However, he didn't get a chance to move, as a sudden gigantic furred foot broke through his defensives. This beast surly was playing on the offensive now, weren't they? He didn't have time to reform, he had to perform a counterattack! But he wouldn't get that chance, he still wasn't prepared for the energy of Unmaking to strike him! His body distorted, going through various states of matter at once, still trying to keep one shape. He strikes back with his tendrils, trying to least this beast to at least let go of him so he could regain his senses. As the two countinued to fight, more and more blood was being spilled, and with both Korraz weakening and Drillgore temporarily lacking his regenerative powers it truly was a battle to the death. The closest Drillgore had in quite some time.

Just as Drillgore was finally able to get his bearing, a smaller lifeform came in to assist the great blacksmith. And in a moment's notice, he found his extra appendages completely incinerated! Electricy was shocking him to the core, destabilizing his form. He started to go more into a black and white slime state, his skin burning from the energy. Annoyances. That what he was constantly dealing with. He was so close, he could taste it, damnit! He didn't care if this form would be dying, he wouldn't let this one get away! His main drill started back up once more, drilling his way further into her flesh. An extra, slimy hand extend out from his body, clawing into Korraz's bloody fur. He just had to find a vital organ!

As Korraz kept glaring down at her foe, Drillgore stared back into Korraz's, that damn grin never changing. His grip with his clawed hand slowly starting to loosen, a deep laughter echoing in Korraz's mind. "This death means noth-thi-ing to-to me... More red blades poked out from Drillgore's skin like pufferfish, but were already starting to disintegrate away. Drillgore then felt a pulse. Whether it was Korraz's heart or lungs, it didn't matter. Digging further in with his spinning drill, he pulled back his drill a bit. Drillgore's eyes flickered for a moment, struggling to maintain consciousness in this dying body. Suddenly, a large spike exploded from the tip of the drill, impaling through not only one of the blacksmith's lungs, but through her back as well! His eyes flickered once again, twisting the spike to try and spread the cut. Luckily for Korraz, the lights never returned after that, his body finally going limp. Her body collapsed over him, coating her flesh and fur in black and white paste...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drillgore hissed at Fray as she starting to find newfound strength. Where do these creatures even come from!? As Drillgore was pinned against the ceiling by Fray, a white tendril formed out of Drillgore's back with a bladed tip. With a swift swipe, he cut along Fray wrists, allowing him to temporarily free himself from her grasp. He let out wicked, cruel laugh as a tendril wrapped around her left hand, pulling it downwards, allowing Drillgore to be free once more. Drillgore started to return to his normal state, looking down at Fray. "Tsk tsk, I offered you chance to let your friends live."

Fray glared all three of her eyes at Drillgore, who sent another bladed tendril towards Fray. She was quicker this time though, and was able to grab hold of it, and yanked it as hard as she could. Drillgore was slammed down to the floor, the tendril ripped off just as quickly as it had formed. Now acting on the offensive, Fray promptly proceeded to stomp on Drillgore's head in an effort to try and stop this monster! With a satisfying crunch, black ooze exploded out beneath her. But before her very eyes, it was quickly sucked back into his body! Drillgore's left arm grabbed hold of Fray's leg, and forced her leg off his body. He slammed his drill into the ground, moving himself back upright, only to be punched in the stomach and slammed against the wall.

The reformed beast pushed Drillgore against the wall, now watching for any tendrils coming out of any area. She continued to push Drillgore further and further, so much the wall began to give away, and collapsed. Using the little time he had, Drillgore neck opened up, revealing rows of fanged teeth. Drillgore lunged at Fray's face, trying to bite her face clean off, Fray slashed at Drillgore's torso with her claws, spilling even more blood. Drillgore returned the favor by striking her shoulder with his gigantic drill. Drillgore started to pull back his head, causing bits of Fray's face flesh to come peeling off. A slippery black tonguee ran over his teeth, tasting Fray's blood and relishing in it. "And now I'm going to kill them anyway! Just like I probably will with Dante's little pupils too!"

Drillgore slashed back at Fray, then dug his drill into her stomach. Fray still stayed strong though, and continued to push through. She grabbed hold of Drillgore's head, peeling him off of her skin, finally freeing herself from his grasp and chucked him into the corner of the room. Black and white tendrils exploded out from Drillgore's body, and like a twisted insect, crawled across the ceiling. More insectoid limbs popped out from his chest, small circular saws and drills closing in on Fray. She was able to deflect two, but more pierced into her flesh! Drillgore leaped back onto Fray, causing her to fall to the floor. The weapons dug deeper into her flesh, but Fray had to be strong..

With a great amount of pressure, she was able to stand up even with Drillgore on her. With her shaky legs, she jumped up and moved slightly forward attempting to slam Drillgore in the ground in an attempt to get the corrupted Quatheral off of her. She got what she bargained for and more, as they both crashed through the floor, flattening Drillgore beneath her tremendous body. Like pulling herself from a bed of nails, she was able to free herself once more. The top of Drillgore's head opened up like a flower, rows and rows teeth pointed towards her, along with several small black tongues coming out from the base, trying to coil around Fray's head. She grabbed Drillgore by the throat, which bit onto the palm of her hand. But she endured it once more, and shoved Drillgore across the room.

The transforming monstrosity continued to grow in size, strands of flesh connecting to the roof and walls. And with a deep roar, he aimed his drill towards Fray. With a loud click, a smaller drill was sent out like a bullet towards Fray! With no time to react, a gigantic explosion sent her flying back, causing her to go through several more room. Her fur was now singed, and parts of it were even on fire still. As she tried to get up once more, she could see the black mass of Drillgore containing chasing after his prey. His red eyes gleaming down at her. "Come on now, You're better than this.. What do you truly gain by just refusing to die, hm?" He lunged forward, his drill spinning a mere few centimeters in front of her face!

[HayesAJones]

Looking up from an older Yakuza child, a boy trying his best to wear a brave face, whose leg he was bracing, Alex frowned at Mara.

"Are you sure?" he asked her, splitting his eye between his patient and her weary face. "If I were Crigan... I think I'd be happiest if you were rested and healthy when I returned. I know waiting isn't easy... I really do... but I've found it's worst to let yourself worry the whole time. If you lay down, I think you'll be surprised at how easy it is to fall asleep. Worrying takes a lot more energy than you think at the time."

_____________________

Before Tenkarus could begin her investigation, the sounds of heavy footfall and heavier breathing closed in on her, and a huge, canine shadow fell over the Celestial.

"Finally here," Gull grunted, ears folded flat against her head as she heaved. "Alex... sent me. Worried about you..."

_____________________

Fray- or whoever she now was, Bug now baked back into her soul- bared her fangs and growled, "Not understand!" accusingly at Drillgore before unraveling into a sea of sinew! As the Quatheral killer's drill bore into empty air, a vacuum forming within Fray's now writhing mass, the army of thin tendrils that she had become spiraled up and all around him, snapping tight around his body with an air-splitting crack. Slithering all over the growing abomination, anchoring to and trying to restrain his murderous limbs as it moved, the wave of worms began to reconstruct a familiar shape atop Drillgore: the upper half of Fray's canine form.

"Not understand... at all!" she snarled, one of of her hands clenching into a fist that swiftly swelled in size and began to crackle with red lightning. She was reshaping herself faster and more fluidly than ever before, perhaps as a result of now truly understanding who she was. With a roar of effort, she swung down at Drillgore's splitting, fanged head as heavily as a hammer.

"An important person waiting for me!"

[Beast Blood]

Korraz clutched her chest as her foe collapsed over her, seemingly unable to keep his form with the damage he had taken. With her injured lung, the giant struggled to breathe, but she could manage.

Both Hod and the blacksmith shook themselves, shedding the liquid shroud of black and white washing over them. Pawing more of it off her person, Korraz looked down, scattering the strange goo with her foot just to make sure it would not spring back to life.

With these foes dealt with, she had to find Glaxion. Although she doubted her friend was in any serious danger, she still hoped the warrior was okay.

Hobbling out of the throne room, Korraz raised her head and sniffed the air, trying to pick up her friend’s scent. However, the blood clogging up her nose overpowered anything else, to the point where she actually struggled putting it aside to isolate the other scents around. Perhaps it would be simpler to rely on her ears instead.

Glaxion certainly made it easy for her friend to find her. The sounds of exploding machinery, splashing water and, most of all, hammer on metal were joined by the warrior’s laughter as she mocked her foes’ failed attempts to stop her.

“Want me to close my eyes? Would that make it easier for you!? I am already half-way there, you know!”

Turning a corner, Korraz witnessed a handful of robots brutally thrown about, assorted mechanical limbs and pieces flying across the hallway in a rush of rendered metal and electronics. A panel on the ceiling opened, revealing what looked to be some sort of weapon. Before it could even open fire on the frosty fighter, Glaxion smashed it clean off its hooks, the same swing of her hammer sending the broken turret crashing on top of the equally broken robots. Since extinguishers had started dousing the fires caused by the brutish Borskall’s destructive rampage, Glaxion decided to make what was in her mind a better use for them, leveraging her waterbending powers to grasp the sprinkling water and pin her foes beneath a thick sheet of ice.

Chuckling at the sight of her victims struggling to free themselves, Glaxion continued on her merry way, soon coming across the blacksmith.

“Oh, look who it is,” the warrior said. “You got who you came for? I caused a bit of a distraction on my end.”

Korraz nodded and thanked her for keeping these things off her back, before worriedly pointing to a bloody scratch on her friend’s arm, bloodied hands asking what happened to it.

“What did I do to my arm? What did YOU do to your... everything!?” Glaxion retorted, cold eye glancing up and down her larger friend, hand gesturing widely. “You look like you were bitten by a Hvalhaj! And you went to sounding like an impaled Worg to sounding like an impaled Undead Worg. At least I still have an arm to speak of!”

Korraz smirked. That was probably an accurate description of what her breathing sounded like. She glanced down towards her arm, turning the limb over to examine how it was doing. It was certainly in a bad shape, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

Before Glaxion could go on to continue scolding her for being equally careless, the blacksmith’s ears picked up the sound of shouting and fighting. Hod, as well, had his head tilted in that direction. The giant glanced back up to her feisty friend. She brought up her thumb against her ear, index and middle finger crooking, before pointing in the direction of the noise she was hearing.

“Oh, indeed,” Glaxion answered. “It seems some are having fun without us. We shall not stand for this, will we, Korraz?”

Korraz shook her head, her agreement eliciting a grin from the horned warrior. Pulling her hammer off her shoulder to hold its head in her hand, Glaxion led the way, the sound of battle calling her.

The two giants happened upon the sight of some kind of dog trying to fight back what Korraz noticed looked an awful lot like the black and white creature she had just fought. Had it survived after all, waiting for her to leave it so that it may heal, or was it only related to it?

The furry one’s form shifted freakishly, twisting reds and ivories battling the blacks and whites of the dog’s foe. It fought back valiantly, yet its distress was clear. Korraz’s brow lowered displeasedly, jaws clenched. Yet again, the sight of a creature being bullied triggered the giant’s protective instincts. Her friend must have been thinking the same, as her teeth bared and her clawed hands tightened their grip on her hammer. With no need to confer with one another, the two titans charged at once, rushing to the furry shapeshifter’s rescue, the combined footfalls of the giant friends shaking this entire portion of the ship.

As Fray managed to strike down Drillgore in a move that both surprised and amused the sadistic Quatheral, the Borskall reached them. Glaxion, wrapped in a thin electrical shield by her friend, swung her hammer in an arc that pulled the doctor off the floor and across the hallway, electricity empowering the strike of the metallic weapon as it surged through her foe’s body.

Meanwhile, Korraz stepped before Fray, curling her tail protectively around her and positioning the muscular appendage so that its vicious, jagged spikes threatened any approach. Her leg partially blocked her, while her hand hovered above her as if trying to hide her from view. The blacksmith slouched forward slightly, unconsciously lowering her center of gravity so it would be harder to dislodge her, ready to wrestle any approacher into submission as she firmly anchored herself on the spot, feet digging their claws in the floor.

“Fear not, little wolf,” Glaxion reassured. “You are not alone anymore.”

---

In the frozen skies of Bjornskar, a swirling red aurora in the shape of a great antlered Beast raised its ethereal head and paws in a threatening posture, an echoing roar sounding all over the realm of frost and beyond, rattling the branches from the great tree the world hung upon. The Beastmother was displeased with the sight of this dragon creature threatening her home and her children!

[Corzak The Mighty]

"If it is lightning you seek, Hercules could always provide that for us, as can the Borskall Korraz," Owlzarus replied to Jake. "For Nuclear power, we would no doubt need the Cruel King of the Bloody Seas."

As the sand beneath the duo's feet softened, revealing the form of the Sandman, Owlzarus' expression softened. "It is good to see you again. Will you be aiding us in this endeavor, La'tomer?"

The antiquarian looked back toward the retracting singularity, before he raised both his taloned hands. Waving his arms in a circular motion, each hand shimmering with orange light, Owlzarus quickly forged a teleportation ring, as a rift in space-time opened for the group to join in. "If you are, there is no better time than now for us to act. It appears Wormwood's influence is weakened enough for us to enter unaccosted."
_________________________________________________________________
Immanuel stared in silence as Hercules and Nonce discussed the situation with the dragonballs. It seemed truly had gotten dire if even the dragonballs seemed incapable of sorting out this mess. The God of Light glanced back towards the roiling chaos above, as the singularity rumbled and spat, like the eye of a hurricane. Though it seemed to have contracted somewhat, its tendrils still spread across the whole of the heavens. Whatever the ninjas and those within the singularity were doing, it seemed to at least be slowing the growth of Raspaganje's influence. Whether or not that would prove enough to ultimately put the Star of Calamity in his place, he could not know.

His gaze once more fell to Mulek, studying the angel intently as she spoke. The god remained silent for a few moments, before he offered her a nod. "I believe you, good Mulek... and what is it we shall need to do?"
_________________________________________________________________
As the dust cleared where the Palace of Shadows had once stood, flecks of Prana fluttering in the air across the battlefield, the form of the Erebus soon revealed itself, half-submerged under a pile of dust and debris. The massive, sheol-warped machine lay dormant for a few moments, like a monument to the glories of mankind in times past. It seemed as though the great engine of destruction had been finally put to rest... but the truth was much more grim. Within the still, dust-filled cockpit of the Erebus, nyx sat in contemplative silence. Her eyes, caked with dust and debris, soon became wet and muddy, tears soon beginning to roll down her cheeks.

"U-uncle... Yzzy..." The ace pilot let out labored breaths between each word, as her nose began to run. Nyx leaned over the console in her machine, unable to bring herself to look up towards the chaos occurring outside of her great machine's cockpit. "Y-yzzy... why...? You... you didn't have to..."

Nyx - normally stoic, strong of will, and nearly unshakable in determination - wept inconsolably. Never again would she hear Yzazil's voice... never again would she see him, behold his might, learn from his years of pooled wisdom. The last remnant of her old life, her old family, was now gone. She truly was alone in the world now...

Then, she heard it. That voice... that damned voice. Nyx's sorrow began to twist to rage, as she glanced up from her rested position within her cockpit. Out through her cracked and broken window, she could make out the ever familiar form of the source of all this woe: Chang'e. Nyx's fingers gripped tightly into the armrests of her seat, her hands turning red. Her expression twisted from one of despair to one of pure, blistering hatred. It was because of Chang'e Earth was threatened, why she had been captured and taken to this wasteland! It was because of Chang'e so many had been forced to die, and it was because of her that Uncle Yzzy was gone!

"That cunt... THAT CUNT!" Nyx yelled, as the Erebus suddenly roared back to life! Flaring with power, the machine lurched up from the mountain of debris it has been buried under, kicking up another destructive cloud of dust. The screech of grinding metal and the rumble of crushed stone shook Sheol as the great ebony machine stomped back onto its feet.

"CHANG'E!" Nyx roared, echoing through her system's speakers and across what little remained of the Palace of Shadows. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"

A massive cloud of smoke and flame erupted from the Erebus' shoulders, as a volley of missiles all fired out at once, each of them locked onto Chang'e...
_________________________________________________________________
The colossal despot's form shrunk back down from his massive, shadowy giant state, and back to that of his normal, albeit still shadow-shrouded, humanoid form.

"Good to know we are in agreement," The Colossal Despot replied to Molly with a smirk. "Now, how about we get to work on shutting down Tengri's Doomsday toy, eh?"

The shadowy figure begins to move towards where Tengri's lower throne was....
_________________________________________________________________
Raspaganje let out a booming chuckle as the Ninjas prepared to challenge him, his crimson eyes burning like beacons of despair through the roiling chaos that surrounded them. The infernal halo of light, like a mockery of heaven's own splendor, intensified around Raspaganje, filling the singularity with a blinding, prismatic radiance the likes which had never been seen before. Motes of light and dark gathered within the palms of Wormwood's hands, as the Star of Calamity's fell pinions spread wide enough to nearly envelop the entirety of the singularity

"Yes, come. Let us settle this once and-"

A disruptive pulse suddenly danced along the avatar of Wormwood, causing the lights around the Star of Calamity to flicker and weaken. A ferocious bellow shook the singularity, as Raspaganje's concentration was broken! His crimson eyes turned towards the form of Drillgore, burning with anger.

"Drillgore... why have you not dealt with the cretin?! KILL HER!"

Drillgore simply smiled cruelly back at the Star of Calamity. "Sorry, Raspaganje. I've determined our goals simply... no longer align."

Raspaganje's eyes flared with a mixture of rage and panic. "You... YOU WOULD DARE BETRAY ME?!"

All around Raspaganje, a deluge of infernal stars erupted forth from the void, before they all unleashed themselves upon Drillgore, forcing the traitor to evade, before he completely disappeared from the Star of Calamity's sight. Raspaganje unleashed a bellow of anger and hate, before he suddenly turned towards Tengri's flagship, where Hutistrend stood perilously upon the Machine of Unmaking's central pillar, distorting its powers. If only he could stop her himself...! Raspaganje snarled, as he zoomed towards Tengri's tattered flagship to confront her himself, hoping to preserve the full weight of his power!

"Quick, while he's distracted!" Dante commanded to his siblings. "Now's our chance to put an end to this!"

Daeva, Ubel, and Evron all nodded in unison. "Got it!"

Like a cluster of stars, the Guardians of the Multiverse rocket towards the charging form of Raspaganje, moving in to hammer him from all sides! The first to approach him is Daeva, sword in hand, as she suddenly surrounded the Star of Calamity with a dozen of her after images, each of them looking to unleash a destructive Ki Storm upon Wormwood! Raspaganje unleashed a bellowing roar, as a thousand bolts of brilliant white light fired out from his body in every direction, creating a veritable kaleidoscope of destruction, forcing Daeva to temporarily withdraw to evade its wrath!

Approaching from either side of Raspaganje soon came both Ubel and Evron! Glowing with crimson energy, Evron unleashed a destructive torrent of red lightning upon Raspganje, aiming his bolts at the massive scar across his chest! Snarling, Raspaganje waved his arms in a circular motion in response, summoning a consumptive void that swiftly swallowed up the bolts, before unleashing them back at Evron in a destructive storm! Evron, swift as he was, quickly maneuvered to evade his own corrupted assault, but was struck by a stray bolt across the shoulder, sending the hero careening through space before he recovered! However, while Raspaganje was distracted, he felt the burning pain, as the form of Hellsbane suddenly erupted from through his back and out through the gaping scar in his chest!

Geysers of violet energy erupt from Raspaganje's form, though the strongest of the Guardians' victory was not long lived; the Star of Calamity raised one of his arms, which suddenly become shrouded in ephemeral light. Around where the avatar's limb was, the form of Raspaganje true forearm suddenly manifested, stretching with such size and mass to displace reality itself upon emergence. With the ominous hum of a bellowing quasar, Raspaganje slammed his manifested talon into Ubel, sending the Ninja scattering through space, before he was slammed into a nearby planetoid with enough force to split it in two!

Raspaganje, still wracked with pain from both Hutistrend's disruption and Ubel's successful strike, spread his infernal wings wide, before he unleashed a volley of sapphire meteors toward the recovering Ninja, intent on finishing off the one who had dared wound him! Before his assault could land true, however, he suddenly watched as a good portion of his meteors' momentum was stopped, as their power was slowly seeped to nothing. Emerging once more from the darkness was the form of Drillgore, who quickly consumed the severely weakened meteors, shooting Raspaganje a smirk, while mockingly wagging his finger.

Raspaganje growled and prepared to charge Drillgore and put down the traitor, but was interrupted by a sudden blast of Ki-powered wind from Daeva, followed by a serpentine torrent of golden fire from Dante! The twin attacks washed over the Star of Calamity, causing him to vanish completely within their combined power! A harrowing roar shook the cosmos, as a sickening miasma erupted forth around Raspaganje, swallowing up the divine wind and celestial flames of the two siblings!

"Destiny is MINE to shatter! The whole of the multiverse shall crumble before my stride; your interference here will not stop that!" Raspaganje snarled, as his devilish miasma began to push back the twinned assault more and more.

"Rub! Ubie! We can use a little bit of your help right about now!" Daeva shouted aloud.

After recovering from their brief stunned states, both Evron and Ubel dashed to join their siblings. Evron charged up his crimson bolts of lightning, unleashing his destructive Ki upon Raspaganje, while Ubel gathered negative energy into a particularly massive sphere to unleash upon Raspaganje!

"Hammer him with everything you've got!" Dante shouted. "Don't let him escape!"

Ki surged even more intensely from the four Guardians, blasting down upon the slowly weakening form of Raspaganje. The miasma cloud began to weaken around him, as the combined Ki surge began to slowly enclose itself around him! The disruptions around Rapsaganje's avatar intensified, as Hutistrend's betrayal soon began to come to a close, the crack where Raspaganje had emerged slowly beginning to seal!

The Black God of Decay closed his eyes, as if deep in concentration. He loosed a calm, yet unnerved exhale, before his infernal light began to shine ever brighter.

"No... reality is MINE to control!"

Raspaganje's eyes shot open, as his fell pinions erupted forth from the prison of ki, engulfing the entire singularity!

"TIME... SHALL RESET!"

A blinding light swallowed the entire singularity, as the wheels of reality swirled backwards in time...

Back to right before Hutistrend's disruption had occurred.

As Raspaganje felt Hutistrend's disruption lance through his body, he instead chose to stand and fight, allowing the Ninjas to come to him!

"He's been wounded!" Dante shouted to his siblings. "Let's take this opportunity to finish him!"

Daeva, Ubel, and Evron all nod in unison. "Right!"

The first of the Ninjas to approach is Daeva, who once more danced around Raspaganje, conjuring her mirror images to unleash her Ki Storm. This time, however, Raspaganje focused his gaze in to search out the life essence of Daeva, quickly singling her out! Before the Ki Storm could erupt, Raspaganje conjured a blackened demiplane around Daeva, as tendrils of ebony decay erupted forth all around her, quickly grasping all of the Ninja's limbs!

With Daeva distracted, Raspaganje was better prepared for Evron and Ubel's assault. Evron arrived first, once again unleashing a deluge of crimson lightning toward the Star of Calamity. This time, however, Raspaganje's rift swallowed the bolts and redirected them to the advancing Ubel instead, allowing them to strike Ubel, sending him scattering away before he could strike!

"Ubel!" Evron shouted in shock. Before he could retaliate however, he suddenly felt the taloned grasp of Raspaganje's grip his neck, as the Star of Calamity's hellish grip rapidly melted away at both flesh and armor like it was ice before a flame.

As Dante closed the distance, hands burning with holy golden fire, Raspaganje flung Evron haphazardly towards the approaching ninja, before rushing him headlong! Dante was quick to evade and right his brother, but hand little time to prepare for Raspaganje's sudden and aggressive advance. Snatching Dante in his talons, Raspaganje used the Ninja Prime as a makeshift cudgel, channeling his powers of fell light through him, and slamming him into Evron! The impact unleashed a blinding flash of corrupted light that burned away at Evron's armor and skin, sending him twirling head over heels into the void.

Spinning Dante around, Raspaganje extended one of his wings outward and focused its tip into a spear-like protrusion, stabbing it through Dante's chest in a geyser of gore! Raspaganje's destructive touch wracked the Ninja Prime's body, burning away at him from the inside.

"Dante... how I had long anticipated this moment," Raspaganje hissed. "Three cycles of time, I have plotted for my revenge against you. I had hoped my revenge would have manifested sooner, had your father's work been successful... but it seems time and time again, I make the fatal error of relying on others to achieve what I desire."

Raspaganje's gaze turned towards Hutistrend, as the avatar of Wormwood's expression warped into what could only be described as a demonic smirk. "But, this will have to make due for now. Your spirit is inferior to the body I had sought, but it holds enough power for me to end this game of ours. Goodbye, Ninja Prime."

Suddenly, Raspaganje's avatar began to bend and warp, literally pulling itself open to create a nightarish rift in space. Its body expanded, ten, twenty, a hundredfold in size, large enough to become almost a sun! The scar upon Raspaganje's chest twisted and rippled with power, and became a miniature singularity unto itself! Through the singularity emerged a great golden serpentine snout, followed by six burning red eyes and a head crowned in upwards curling horns! The great head, that of Raspaganje himself, opened its devilish maw, a kaleidoscopic light of despair shining within it, before a destructive exhalation erupted forth from it! Like that of a great quasar, space bent and warped around it, blinding all who dared witness its hellish splendor. The blast engulfed Dante, sending him scattering through the void, before the beam lanced across Tengri's flagship, engulfing it in Rapsaganje's raw power and blasting the once glorious vessel to four sizable chunks!

Hutistrend was sent spiraling into the void, as the Machine of Unmaking, too, was sent spiraling out of control. The singularity's power only began to grow as Hutistrend's reversal spell began to fade. Raspaganje's power began to grow once more, as his hellish light intensified across the void. The great head of the Black God withdraw back into his avatar, as he shrunk back to a more humanoid size and turned to face the other three Guardians.

"Now... where was I?" Raspaganje hissed. "Yes... sending you to join your brother on oblivion!"

Raspaganje's hands flared with light, before he unleashed a destructive beam of blue-tinged radiance towards the other threee ninjas...

[Godzilla165]

Spoiler:

Cthelee waited with baited breath while on the other side of the door. He could hear his own heart thumping inside his chest. Why did in these tense situations there was almost no background noise? Everything just goes quiet. It's like you're trying to immerse yourself into this situation, Cthelee thought. He suddenly heard a loud commotion going on, then the horrifying sound of a gunshot, followed by the sound of screaming. Cthelee flinched away from the door, covering his head with his wings. He stared at the ground beneath him. He wasn't breathing. He was too scared to make a sound. Too scared to move.

He then heard Uquillious cry out, something about Markeyy he thought. Then followed by an ear-piercing scream once more. He unintentionally let out a gurgle of fear, now shutting his eyes tightly. He started to uncontrollably shake, He was fearing the worst for the Night Owls? What in Quatheral was going on in there!? W-Was Drillgore going to kill them all one by one, even his supposed allies!? Th-This wasn't good. N-N-N-Not at all!! He then heard Drillgore speak in his mind, but seemingly addressed to the Night Owls still. After a little while, he could hear the sound of a saw turning on, and the horrified screams of a poor woman. He.... He hoped her well on her afterlife. That was all Cthelee could do, wasn't it?

Cthelee gulped, finally opening his eyes just a bit, looking back towards the door. With shaky steps, he started to approach the door once more. As he did so, he could hear the clattering sound of something metal being thrown across the floor. Cthelee paused, his heart pounding harder and harder. He could hear the muffled sounds of the Night Owls from behind the door. He ever so slowly pressed his head against the door, trying to hear what they were saying. He could overhear Alexei and Vale's arguing with each other. He didn't hear Hayden though... Were they really going with this abomination of Quatheral? However, a a sudden shout from Hayden caused Cthelee to flinch a tiny bit.

All the while, Drillgore was simply staring at the three individuals. Their lack of experience was evident. A part of him wanted to execute each one of them on the spot. It would be sooo easy to. They were just so easily distracted by the sight of gore and death. Truly weak. Their weapons were far from impressive to. A simple charge forward, and he could've simply penetrated her body and riddle it with holes if he transformed the front of his body like a bed of nails. They lacked the armor the Ninjas had as well. He tilted his head ever so slightly at Alexei, his crooked grin never faltering. Even as Hayden spoke up, Drillgore never took his glassy crimson eyes off of Alexei.

It was only when Hayden started to speak about the deal did he finally twisted his head towards Hayden. His grinned turned upwards just a bit. Hayden could almost swear that Drilgore's eyes got a bit brighter as well. "Deal."

Drillgore's left hand extended outwards for Hayden to take. And despite the protests from broth Alexei and Vale, the deal was sealed. After touching Drillgore's cold hand, a red portal formed under Hayden, and he fell through, with the portal sealing shut behind him.

"Don't fret, I'll treat hi-" Drillgore didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence, as a new portal suddenly formed in the room. Now, could it be one of the Ninjas came back to try to save their students? He didn't have to wait long, as the 6 familiar forms of Evron, along with 3 distinct forms of Quatheral beings. Intriguing, was that he was smelling earlier on Tengri's ship? He was almost sure of it. Then how did they get to Evron so fast? Bah! Who really cared at this moment!? One of these clones was already rapidly approaching him with one of the powerful knuckle dusters. Drillgore cracked his upper body backwards, evading the punch with ease. His left arm grabbed hold of the clone's right; a black mass of flesh now moving up his arm. With a resounding snap, Drillgore pulled at the clone's arm with such force it not only dislocated it but also snapped his humerus bone into two!

With a twirl as graceful as a ballerina, the clone of Drillgore swiveled around and threw the injured clone of Evron towards the others, knocking them down for the moment. That was all he needed. With a cackle, a portal formed behind Drillgore. "Au revoir, Evron!" He tipped an imaginary hat to the clones, and slipped into the portal behind him, and sealed it shut. Not even a seconds later, a portal opened above the clones, all of the hostages bodies came falling through, even the poor unfortunate remains of one that he slaughtered. Another portal opened up, and Emmanuel soon came falling through as well, landing directly onto the remains of the dead. His left hand was entirely grinded into nothing, and that wasn't even the extent of his injuries. Still though, he was alive.

Cider groaned and rubbed her smooth head with her crystal claw paw. "E-Eeugh... What a stupid trip.. I-I wanna go home.." She looked over at O'nugulao, who was in the process of floating back up. "Thanks, you crick, now we're all in a crappy situation 'cause of you! And you say I'm bad for the mission." O'nugulao provided no comment, nor a hint of even looking at her. All they were doing was staring blankly ahead, looking at the piled of Yakuza citizens, along with the fresh organs of one. Cider looked over at what they were looking at and bent her ears a bit. She hadn't quite seen such meat there since back home. Were they plucked straight from the plants? She hadn't the faintest clue what was going on.

Xpveinees was still on the floor, quietly holding her torn hand. Still laying at her side, her single eye was tearing up from all the pain she was experiencing. She couldn't even really feel it, she couldn't bend a finger if she tried. She continued to stare at her hand in disbelief and shame. When that clone of Evron took it, he didn't account for that her hands were rings, so when he grabbed onto it for himself, he fucking tore her entire hand and split it in half! She was surprised she was able to keep quiet there. She wanted to scream out in pain. She wanted to wail. She wanted to give up... But she couldn't do that to her dear Mother! No... she had to s-stay strong.. Just like Mommy told her.

She still lay on the floor, clutching her wrist with her other hand. She didn't want to see how bad it was. She didn't. But her curiosity got the better of her. She slowly raised her broken hand to her face. Her eye shrunk a little bit, but continued to stare. Blood was oozing out fast. The She could even smell her own blood. It had a weird smell. Didn't know how to describe it. Xpveinees continued to stare, the air sacks that would inflate and deflate her ringed hands was completely torn, now looking like a bumpy worm covered in blood. Her arm was shaking. "Мамочка, это больно." She lowered her arm a bit, straining just to keep it upwards. The air sack slowly slid out from her ripped and flappy skin, falling out and landing on the puddle of blood that was growing beneath her. Xpveinees was feeling light headed, her stomach felt empty all the sudden. She didn't know what to feel anymore. Shame? Fear? Sorrow? She didn't know.

What was beginning to rise however, was rage. That... That stupid ninja!! H-He dare harm her... T-Take away her Mother's gift to her!? Ge-Getting his nasty hands on it. Disgracing. She wiped away a few tears that were going down her spear-headed face. How dare he!? H-HE HAD NO RIGHT TO EVEN TOUCH SUCH DIVINE BEAUTY!! Xpveinees grunted, her spider-like legs starting to get a footing to stand back up. "Глупые ниндзя! Глупая якудза!" She pressed her non injured hand on the ground, pushing herself upwards into the crouching position. She turned to she where her weapon was dropped and grabbed hold of it. She slid her ringed hands around the weapon, tightening around it. She stood up on her for legs, letting her injured hand dangle on her side. Her entire body was on fire now, both from pain and anger. Her tail slammed down on the ground and looked for the nearest standing Yakuza member. Unfortunately for Vale, she was set in Xpveinees's sights first. "ДЛЯ QUATHERAL ВЫ ДЕРЖАТЫ!"

On the other side of the door, Cthelee moved his head away from the door out of shock. He.. He recognized that voice!! Xpveinees was here!? He burst through the door, running towards where he thought he heard the voice. He called out to her, trying to stop whatever what she was planning on doing. Seems it was too late though, as his eyes opened to see Xpveinees strike Vale in the back of the head with a blunt end of some sort of spear or staff. He cried out, jumping right into Xpveinees to knock her down. Xpveinees screamed out in rage, trying to free herself and kicking her legs sporadically. Her fingers pressed down on the blue button, a light blue beam shooting out from the tip of the spear. When it struck a wall, it coated it in freezeing cold ice. Cthelee continued to try and stop her, but she wouldn't stop screaming out nonsense. She managed to land a lucky kick against Cthelee, knocking him several feet away from her!

Xpveinees let out a howl of frustration, and looked over to see who she was actually fighting, and her eyes widened. In her blind frenzy, she hadn't noticed she was with Cthelee. She didn't have much time to say sorry however, due to one of the Evron clones tackling her and restraining her.

A winded Cthelee groaned on the floor, before standing right back up and sprinting over back towards Xpveinees to try and calm her down again. On his way over, Cider shouted out towards Cthelee. "Holy crap! You're alive! We've been looking everywhere for you!" Cthelee nearly stopped in his tracks, only briefly glancing over towards Cider before returning his gaze back to Xpveinees. He sighed. Why were things going wrong so quickly? She sighed once more, and ran over towards Vale, checking to see if they were okay. Luckily, there was no sign of a major injury. No blood. He kneeled down to Vale, and helped her up with his wings, trying to let out a reassuring gurgle to see if she was alright.

Meanwhile, O'nugulao went into the corner of the room, activating the communication device. Once Quatheral picked up, O'nugulao immediately answered. "Cthelee is secured, Fiotto is supposedly somewhere near here. Unsure about Howo, Evoex, Ishome and Booled & Boore. Though I do sense traces of Evoex being here."

"O-Oh Thank the... A-Alright.. Stay safe. I'll be sure to reward you once you get back."

"Xpveinees is injured, but I'll make sure she gets healed."

"O-Oh... T-That's why I'm feeling a bit of pain.."
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Meanwhile, in another part of the estate, Fiotto waddled out of the castle, looking back at the door. "Gee willikers Cthelee, I really do hope know what you're doing." He placed a robotic over her face for a moment before continuing to move forward. Things have gotten worse and worse. He saw death, that wasn't really a thing back home. Sure, there were accidents here and there back on Quatheral, but that was so rare. Here though, at least anywhere but home, living beings were being hunted down and slaughtered. The plucky robot rubbed the top of his head, sighing. "I miss my antlers and top hat too.." He thought aloud.

He really only wished that they came at the right place at the wrong time. Perhaps the Ninjas and others could take a little break back home once this battle was over. Yes! A nice cup of tea would do everyone nicely! Perhaps he could give everyone who visited a bowtie as well. It was only fitting. He looked around his surroundings, noticing some people were cheering for the Ninjas to come and save the day. If they had as much as support as they did now, then Fiotto hoped they would succeed just as much as them.

After a few minutes of waddling, getting a few excited stares from the younger Yakuza due to his strange appearance. To be honest, he didn't know quite where he was going, just somewhere safe he supposed. He kinda lost track of where he was. He looked around again, and noticed a small group, seeming tending care to an orange haired patient. Doctors of the sort he assumed. Maybe he could assist, he couldn't just stand and do nothing. He waddled over to Hale and the others, raising a finger. "O-Oh! Hello! I am Fiotto. May I be of assistance? I can provide tea, salt, sugar, and spoons! Oh, and a laser pointer as well!"

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Hayden suddenly found himself on a dirt ground, the portal sealed behind him instantly. When he raised his head, he saw a place gigantic plants throughout the area. He didn't get much of a chance to look however, due to a black tendril grabbing hold of him, and he ended up going through several flower petals. To his surprise, he ended up in a control room of sorts along with the dastardly Drillgore. There was a long cylindrical tube in the center of the room, pumping up and down and glowing a bright red. His back was toward him, and the tendril from his back finally let go of Hayden. "Ah, greetings Hyaden. Sorry about the sudden transportation. I couldn't have Evron disrupt our deal. I must say you are very noble. You honestly did a great thing. You're saving a lot of lives my friend. Even if you did just kill a child."

He let out a lowly chuckle before turning back around to look at Hayden. "Don't wo-o-orry, I have no intentions of injurin-uring you. At least not yet. Are you fami-ami-amished? I could provide you food a-and drinks if you wisssh. Unless.." Drillgore paused, clearly excited about something. "You want to see the other Quatherals I captured.. What a sor-rry state their in."
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The battle was going a bit rough for Evoex, but he was still managing. As much as he hated hurting others, this was the only real option, wasn't it? If these beings wanted to take over the multiverse, that means they would take Quatheral too, and he couldn't have that! He slammed a text box through another crowd of enemies, besting the horde for another moment. Just then, he felt a surge of power coming from Raspaganje.

[Border]"OH FUCK!!"[/Border]

Parts of Evoex's separated before conjoining back together. An explosion was heading right towards him! He quickly created a portal beneath himself, going through it and sealed it. He was now high up in the atmosphere, normally it would be death for Quatherals at this height, but luckily for him, he was already dead! Well, maybe that wasn't good, but good enough for now! He watched the massive explosion grow beneath his glitchy feet. This was really bad. Really really really bad! He waited for the explosion to die down before teleporting back into the scene, looking around to see where he could assist now.

At least, it was until he heard an ungodly noise coming up from behind him..



When Evoex turned around, what he saw matched the description of the noise perfectly to a T. Standing in front of Evoex, was a gigantic 300 meter tall read beast, in the familiar shape of one of his friends. It was mostly lizard like, but he noticed the back legs had more of an amphibian quality to them. The horrendous noise continued, sounding like many voices screaming at once, along with the sound of static. The gigantic Worm Thrallified Howo stepped through the large portal, her front claws replaced by metal drills. No... He couldn't have done something so horrible to her, did he? The kaiju version of Howo's mouth hung open, almost to a point where he thought it was forced open.

When she stepped down, Evoex felt the ground rumble and vibrate, dust kicking up everyone. Evoex got a closer look at this demented Howo's flesh, he noted that it had a strange texture to them. It didn't take long to see what it was though. Mostly humanoid bodies, glued to each other by their own blood. The Not-Howo grumbled, her nostrils flaring up, trying to smell her supposed target. A blacked forked tongue slid out of her mouth, moving over the skin that grew over her eyes. The rest of her humongous body made it through the rift, with it sealing shut behind her. Her back legs stamped the ground behind her. A deep guttural snarl letting loose, though it was barley heard through the static and screams that were constantly being heard throughout her entire body. She sniffed the air again, and turned towards the form of The Ninjas and Raspaganje. A crooked smirk formed on her lips. She got the scent.

The beast's back legs lowered themselves to ground, getting ready to perform a leap. With a powerful jump, she leapt over several hundred meters, landing not too far behind the 4 Yakuza and Raspaganje. With a near deafening roar, The Howo Beast stood up on her hind legs, aiming her front claws towards Raspaganje. The drill claws began to spin rapidly, before shooting out from her hands like gigantic bullets.

Soon a a familiar voice entered the minds of everyone, a lowly chuckle. "My friend Raspaganje. How lo-o-onng has it been? J-Jusst as a tip: If you're going to start betraying your own subjects, you bet-better make su-ure that you can at least con-t-trol them. Alas, poor Tengri!" The Howo Creature's claws started to regenerate it's drills, a horrible cracking noise coming from her jaw.

"But don't worry Raspaganje, I do still intend on hold-ding up on our deal! Though it was hard to see, a black crooked hand pushed out from the bodies stuck together on Howo's exterior, followed by a familiar well-dressed Quatheral. Drillgore floated out from the concoction of bodies, floating just above the 4 Yakuza Ninjas. "Fight along your side, did you not? That was all you sa-said!"
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Annity nodded at Owlzarus. "A-As much I would like to, I just don't.. I dunno.."

Boore paused for a moment. He.. He just wanted to get a body back... But even he realized maybe this wasn't the time for it. He looked back over at Owlzarus. "N-No.. I'll just weigh you down, You can go without us! I'm sure you'll do fine! The little ghost floated over to Owlzarus and hugged his arm. "Good luck buddy! I know you can do it!"

Booled nodded. "Yes. Good luck. Even though you'll probably die. I do wish you the best though."
_________________________________________________________

"Very noble of you, m-my friend!" Drillgore like a hungry void, continuing to feast on the shell of Fray. "You're very keen on mak-making Daeva happy, aren't you?" Several strands of flesh continued to make their way over to Fray, several of the strands wrapping around her ankles to pull her back in. Small hooks shot out from Drillgore's body, digging into Fray's shoulders, making sure she shouldn't escape this time. Drillgore's form only started to grow larger and larger, knowing he was getting closer to killing this being. The floor beneath him bent and deformed just from the amount of pressure he was applying.

"If you give in now, I'll even l-let that little plan of Daeva's continue! After-After all, I only need to kill to be satisfied. Drillgore's head cracked down the middle, soon splitting open, a long black tongue shot out, wrapping around her throat, continuing to pull her in. "I am a man of my word after all."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Centi-Drillgore continued to stay in place even as the ship was shaking, he watched as Korraz pulled the spear from her body. He'd knew it would be fatal if she threw it back towards Tengri. A crude smile grew on Drillgore's face, knowing what would soon come. He sunk his drills deeper into the ship's metal flooring, preparing for the worst. Drillgore started to incase himself in a reddish metal-like hull, making sure he wasn't going to be affected by the instability of the spear. A small dome formed around him, and Drillgore was left patiently under it. He would have to wait for the irregularity to calm down before he could truly attack Korraz again. He couldn't wait to skin this annoyance alive once he was able to move again...

Vale patted Cthelee’s fluffy chest and nodded that she was alright. Picking herself up, she whirled around in a fury of snow and ice, glaring cold daggers at Xpveinees, her face scrunched into a gentle sneer. “Do that again, and I’ll make ice sickles grow out of your eyes.” The girl calmly threatened. “Do you have any idea what we’ve just been through?!”

“Vale…” Alexei tried to calm her, reaching out in an attempt to touch her arm, but the former was having none of it. She ripped her arm away and balled it tightly into a trembling fist. “We’ve lost our family, our best friend was just kidnapped by one of YOUR own, and you think you can come into OUR home and attack us?!” She motioned with her other hand towards the pile of dead Yakuza bodies lying in the center of the room. Tears began to pool in her eyes. “Take a good long look; this is what one of your people did to ours… And that’s not even half.”

Alexei, not knowing what to say, glanced at the Evron clones standing around them; they too found it difficult to say anything. The leader finally broke the deafening silence by moving over to kneel beside Emmanuel's unconscious form. Pressing two fingers up against his neck, the ninja sighed with a noticeable drop in his shoulders, and nodded once. "He's alive." Evron said to no one in particular, and gently lifted the hand that had been reduced to nothing more than a stump. "Bastard... Hale will be able to fix this, though; don't you worry, Manny."

Then, the clone delicately lifted Manny into his arms and stood to his feet, before looking towards his fellow teammates. "You two on the right, get the bodies out of here and lay them to rest in the mountains; make sure to give them a proper burial... They deserve that much. You three, gather the wounded, and escort them to Hale; I'll take Manny and meet you there shortly." The squad leader ordered, prompting the other clones to do as they were told. Two of them, as carefully as they could manage, began to gather the deceased and teleported away. The other three went to work in rallying the wounded out of the lab and in the direction of the good doctor.

Finally, the squad leader set his attention onto that of Vale, Alexei, and one remaining clone. "You three, let's get this place cleaned up and sanitized; I don't want Hale coming back here and seeing his lab trashed. The clone and Alexei both nodded and broke off in different directions to gather cleaning supplies, leaving only Vale still stood there. "Your highness, with all due respect, we need to find Hayden before it's too late! We can't waste any time!" She pleaded.

"And we will, I promise." Evron replied softly. "I'm making it a personal mission of mine to get him back from that monster, but we also can't just go kick down the door. We need to find out where the hell Drillgore took Hayden first, and then we need a plan that doesn't involve getting him killed, understood?"

Vale, with a pained and frustrated expression, ultimately sighed, allowed for her shoulders to drop, and nodded with understanding. "Yes, your highness... I trust you. Just please, please get him back." She said, and went to find Alexei.

Evron looked after her for a moment, before he silently vowed to keep his promise to the girl, and carried Emmanuel to get the care that he so desperately needed.

_________________________________________________________________

Hayden slowly picked himself back up and did a little shake to remove whatever dirt was on him. As Drillgore prattled on, the young warrior used the time to gaze at his current surroundings, tuning the former out while he got his bearings. Nothing of note really caught his attention, he was merely surrounded by rocky walls and a dirt covered floor. There was slight chill, as well as a noticeable echo whenever Drillgore spoke. His prison was cavernous, that much he could gather. Hayden paced back and forth a bit in front of Drillgore, wondering just how in the world he was gonna get out of there. Someone would surely come for him soon, he hoped so, anyway. In any case, it wasn't beneficial for him to panic in a situation like this; that isn't what Dante taught him. For now, he couldn't do anything else but go along with whatever Drillgore had planned, and try his best to survive. As long as the twisted creature chose to leave him unharmed, he would be fine.

Turning to Drillgore, Hayden rested his hands on his hips and nodded a yes. "So, what kind of refreshments do you have in this place?" He inquired.

_________________________________________________________________

Spoiler:

The Supreme God had indeed filled her end of the bargain. She had to admit, the scope of what Alabaster, no, of what Chang'e was planning was beyond even what she could have imaged at first, but the more she had thought about it during her time on the Varul planet and back in Sheol, the more she had to agree with it and now she was fully onboard. What Chang'e offered was leaps and miles beyond any sort of power or stature she could have as Persephone's guard dog, and Persephone's own rougher treatment of her as time had gone on had made the decision to blast her in the back all the more cathartic. Now everything was set in stone, and there was no going back.

The countless bolts of lightning coursed through the air toward the Supreme God, who with a giggle and a smile on her face began to fade and reappear right as each bolt was to strike her. No matter how fast Aphrodite fired them, Aram was one step ahead, ensuring they would miss her and fly off farther into space aimless. She reappeared high above Aphrodite's head, and prepared to dive down upon her to run her through with a light blade formed from her left hand, when a loud shout caught her off guard.

'Try and dodge this! SPECIAL BEAM CANNOOOOONNNN!!!”

Her attention having been fully upon Aphrodite, Piccolo's strike had caught her unaware. She tried to warp out of the way, but the beam hit her just in time. It was slightly off to the side, puncturing through her just above her left hip and through the side, revealing a cauterized wound with a blackened rib that was exposed. Aram grabbed at her side and grimmaced in pain. She began to feel the old vestiges of her original personality try to resurface, the violent boorish side of her Persephone had sealed her as, but she forced herself to will them back down for the moment.

Despite the wound landed by Piccolo, despite all of the pain, Aram began to chuckle as she landed down on the ground before Piccolo and Aphordite, before she burst out into complete laughter. "You really don't understand, do you? None of you do!" The God of Suffering chortled. "I've already done what I needed to. My purpose until the final phase is complete is done. The final death pains of this reality has begun, the one who I will serve is about to be revived, and as for you..."

The cackling smirk grew into a crazed, feral grin, and Aram finally let her original personality leak through. Her voice returned back to the decisively male tone of her original self as the very air around her supercharged with electromagnetic properties.

"YOU ARE ALL WELL AND TRULY FUCKED! YOU'RE ALL ON THE ONE WAY TICKET TO SHITVILLE, AND I'M THE CONDUCTOR! CHOO CHOO MOTHERUFCKERS!"

She clapped her hands together, and the ground before them tore and ripped apart as the very atoms that held them together were dissolved. Piccolo and Aphrodite began to feel themselves sink into the destabilized earth, and Aram willed the electrical charges in the air to continue to destabilize the ground, unleashing a superheated lahara of mud to sweep over Piccolo and Aphrodite...

Aphrodite braced and prepared to summon an electrical barrier for protection, but she was suddenly caught off guard from Piccolo rushing in and just about tackling her out of the way, allowing for the mud to crash harmlessly past. A few miles to the right of Aram, the duo used the brief moment of respite to come up with a plan of action. There had to be some way to gain a critical and permanent blow on the false goddess.

"You have my thanks once again, Piccolo." The love goddess said with a slight smile.

The Namekian nodded, "Of course, lady." He leered at Aram, "We need a plan, Aphrodite, and a good one."

"Indeed, we need something that will dent her nigh impenetrable defenses." Aphrodite turned to him, eyes lit with possibility. "Piccolo, that form of energy you wielded to attack Aram... It managed to harm her, sending her into a fury. Are you able to do it again?"

"I would need time to gather enough energy... But I could, yes. With enough energy..."

Aphrodite nodded, "I will buy you some time." Without another word, the goddess took off into the skies, hands alit with divine lightning. She charged headfirst at Aram, and attacked with a flurry of aggressive punches and kicks. Even as the latter dodged and parried most of her attacks, still did Aphrodite press on, trying her best to buy Piccolo enough time.

Back on the scorched surface, Piccolo got to work in putting his piece of their plan into action. Pressing two fingers against his forehead, he began to charge as much energy as he could, not wishing to fail the goddess of love. "Just keep her busy for as long as you can, lady! It won't be long!" He shouted.

_________________________________________________________________

Ubel quickly darted in front of his siblings and spread his arms out wide, as far as they could physically go. With a loud bark, the largest ninja summoned forth a forcefield the size of a planetoid, the largest he had ever created. The beam of destructive energy smashed into it with the force to extinguish a solar system, buckling the barrier, and thus Ubel. Yet, his protective sphere of influence held firm for now. Ubel pushed back against the beam with his entire being, his entire soul straining against the might of Raspaganje. Evron and Daeva flew to either side of Ubel and lent their power in assistance to stave off Wormwood for as long as they could manage. Pieces of their armors were burned away, along with the layer underneath, exposing bits of flesh and even tender muscle. Ubel, and Evron's helmets slowly cracked apart in pieces, revealing their strained faces beneath.

"Keep pushing!!!" Evron roared.

The three guardians put their entirety into merely holding Raspaganje back. It came to a point where red, violet, and blue energies started to visibly leak from behind them in the bucket loads, floating uselessly into the void of fractured space. Their combined screams shook the very foundation of space time, muscle and tendons breaking with every second passed, bones stronger than the strongest of metals cracking under the pressure of the calamitous star.

"Guys... Guys, I can't..." Daeva stammered.

"Hold it!!! Do NOT give in to that fucker!" Evron growled, the blood vessels in his neck and chest bulging to their breaking point.

Ubel kept up the barrier for as long as he could, but try as he might, it still wasn't enough. Cracks formed on the surface, the energy visibly blinked in and out like a dying light bulb, and Ubel felt himself starting to give way. Something was missing, something was needed... A final piece in the galactic struggle...

As such, screaming in like a living star... Dante put himself in between the massive beam, and his ninja siblings, taking the full brunt of Raspaganje's power. Ubel and the others stared in bewilderment.

"Dante... What are you-"

"Keep at it! Push him back!" Dante commanded, cutting Ubel off.

"B-But... RIGHT!" Said the others. With the combined might of the Ninja Prime, the guardians were able to at the very least prevent wormwood from advancing further. Dante's entire body glowed radiantly, blindingly, rivaling even that of Raspaganje in total luster, absorbing as much of the intensive energy as he could, while repelling the rest. His siblings continued their collective push as well, yet to their horror, the energy kept coming, never ceasing... Never weakening. Dante's body was on the verge of imploding, Evron's bones were close to shattering, Ubel's soul was near its end, and Daeva's muscles were virtually torn apart. Despite their bodies close to collapse, the ninjas refused to give in, yield to the darkness of Wormwood. For the multiverse, they could not... Would not... Give...

Suddenly, an even brighter flash filled the sky, pure white in its coloration, and enveloped both the malevolent energy of Raspaganje, and the ninjas themselves. The light cascaded across space, covering every inch of the endless void, like that of a inaudible wave swallowing a city whole. Across the multiverse, all could see the light in its blinding viscosity. And, all could also see that, when the beautifully intense energy finally died down... The ninjas were gone. Not just gone, it were as though they'd never existed; their bodies, their presence, all gone. There was an eerie and heavy silence left suspended, as if reality held a collective breath.

******************

Aphrodite and Aram waged godly war in the skies above Dudael, trading blows that sounded like cracks of TNT. The latter came in for a vicious swipe to Aphrodite's face, but the goddess thrust backwards to dodge, grabbed Aram's wrist in a vice grip, and used her free hand to deal a punishing blow to her mouth. The hit sent Aram flying into the ground far below, granting Aphrodite a window of breathing room. Then, before she could press her assault, she was hit with a sudden presence, or lack thereof. Aphrodite turned her gaze to the sky and her became awash with bewilderment; the ninja siblings were... Were gone. Gone? Her mouth hung agape, her eyes scanning the skyline for any signs of them; there were none.

"W-Where..." She stammered, before looking for where Piccolo was. He was still there, but he was no longer charging his attack; he was staring at the sky, and her, confused. “Piccolo?” Aphrodite called.

“Lady…” He replied, looking up at her, but not really looking at her either. His eyes were wide, beads of sweat collected on his smooth head, and his breath was hastened. “What just happened up there?!”

Aphrodite shook her head, “I… Do not know.” Those three little words carried an unspeakable heaviness now, causing for the goddess to shiver as they left her lips.

Where had they gone? Where had he gone?

*****************

Back in the Ninja Realm…

Hale was busy at work fixing up another tiny fae, delicately stitching the long and slender gash on her left cheek. In just a few moments, he was finished and proudly examined his work. “There we are, my dear. By tomorrow, there will barely be a scratch left.” The doctor promised.

The pixie being smiled gratefully and went to hug his cheek, leaving even a small kiss behind. Hale chuckled and watched as the fae flew joyfully away, most likely in search of her friends to show them her fleeting battle scar. Hale watched as she disappeared above the second story of the estate, and was about to get to work on another patient… But something struck him. A great absence in not just his own realm, but the multiverse at large. His eyes turned to the sky, and he was instantly left aghast by what he didn’t see. Haphazardly, Hale reached up to remove his glasses, sloppily folding them to stuff into his shirt pocket.

“By the gods…” He muttered with a gasp.

“Hale!” His name was suddenly called, causing him to have a delayed response in turning to see whom had done so. What he saw had at first left him even more confused, but his mind quickly put two and two together when he saw three additional Evrons following behind the one who called him, carrying in his arms…

“Emmanuel! What happened?” He asked, rushing to the Yakuza’s aid as Evron’s clone set him on a medical bed.

“Drillgore’s dirty work.” The ninja grumbled.

The doctor closed his eyes, sighed, and merely shook his head. “The senseless violence has yet to cease, it appears.” He mumbled, looking up at the clone leader. “He will be fine in my care. The rest of you, please escort the wounded to any beds that are available; I will attend to them shortly.”

The others did as they were told, motioning the victims to have a seat on the beds that were left. With them settled for now, Hale turned his attention back towards the squad leader. “Your highness… What in Yakuza’s name just happened?!” He inquired in a hushed, yet sharp tone.

Evron shook his head, “I have no idea, they all just… Vanished. I can’t even get an energy reading on any of them.”

“I can see that, dear boy. My question is: how, and why?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, doc. One thing’s for sure, though…” The squad leader turned his head to the sky, “I hope to hell and back that they’re still alive… Wherever they are.”

****************

Wherever they are.. Wherever they are.. Wherever they are… Wherever they are.

[Demon Lord Gira]

Molly gave a nod to the Colossal Despot and moved to follow him. In all honesty, she felt apprehensive about making a deal with someone like him, but that was why she had used the specific phrasing she had: Neither she nor Demmy would stand in his way of his plans in the future, but that didn't exclude the other heroes like Ubel or Korraz from doing that.

"Your friend, the Abyssal Demon... Are you sure she will be alright?" The voice of the Lifemother echoed in her mind. "There is something about her foe, Drillgore, that puts me on edge more than even Raspaganje..."

"I have faith in Demmy, as she does in me." Molly mentally replied. "She'll be fine, I know it..."

The vessel shuddered. Molly braced herself the best she could against the wall. There was little doubt in her mind, things were escalating outside of the ship. If they didn't move fast...

------------------

It didn't take Demmy long to reach where Fray and Drillgore were doing combat. The Demon Lord remained in the shadows, and watched as Korraz entered the fray against the strange creepazoid thing. She had to admit, whatever it was she was looking at reminded her of the Quatherals, but with everything charming and quirky about them flipped on its head and dialed into sheer wrong territory. A part of her wanted to jump in and help them, but a different part of her brain was louder than that.

She was leaving Molly, alone, with the Colossal Despot. Granted, Molly somehow now had powers which still confused the hell out of Demmy, but even still, she didn't trust that guy as far as she could throw him, and that wasn't very far.

But something else caught the Demon Lord's attention, from elsewhere on the ship. It was the energy from the Machine of Unmaking, and where once it had seemingly stopped, now it was back at full power. And there was something else she heard from that direction, and it was screaming.

-----------------------------

Hutistrend screamed as the unholy energy from within Raspaganje washed over her like a flaring supernova. Her skin burned, her muscled scarred and were torn apart, and every fiber of her body screamed out with her. But even more than in pain, Hutistrend screamed in a frenzied rage against the near omnipotent dragon.

She had been so certain Raspaganje couldn't lay a finger on her, so certain that the worst he could do was fling some weakshit magic her way and just be tied up fighting the Ninjas. She had been so certain, so assured of her own victory, she hadn't expected or planned for such a scenario like this. For him to emerge his head physically from his imprisonment just to blast her away...It infuriated her to no end. The only reason she had even survived was from siphoning so much energy from Chang'e, but even an attack of that magnitude took so much energy...

Before she could begin to think on how she could eviscerate Raspaganje from the inside out for subjecting her to such pain, she felt it. The connection that existed between her and Chang'e was severed. She felt no more of Mother's energy, and as Hutistrend looked down at her hands, the once rapid regeneration that had been happening was now slowed exponentially.

In the void of space, a chuckle escaped from her mouth, then a giggling fit escaped from her, before she finally erupted into fullblown laughter. "Mother, oh Mother, is your situation that dire you are forced to cut me of? Forget this mission, I've done my part. And you've only sealed your own fate, Mother." Hutistrend commented to herself, her voice lost in the vaccum. Without Chang'es energy, she was effectively mortal, especially against Raspaganje. Surely, the actual heroes could carry on from here on out. Though perhaps...

She vanished into thin air, her presence no longer on the battlefield. Raspaganje had no idea what he was in for...

_________________________

Mulek didn't answer Immanuel, not at first. She simply looked off through the sky, for what seemed to be hours. When she did look back at Immanuel, her face showed no hesitation or reluctance anymore. She had made her mind.

"My master, Cercil... She had a brother once. A fellow angel named Sariel. He was calm, collected, never raised his voice, never lost control of his emotions and already kept a level head. In many ways, he was the opposite of Cercil, and he was a major pillar for her to lean on for support. He helped keep her sane and in control of her emotions."

Mulek turned to look back at the sky. "But, Sariel had to sacrifice his life. The same great evil that had wiped out the angels reared its ugly head on the Celestial world. The Celestials prayed to the gods for salvation, and they came. Crigan, Lavidana, and Astrelus were summed by their prayers and worked together to try and slay the evil, but even those three were not enough. They had been summoned too late, for the Celestials and their world were already dying. Cercil and Sariel came as well to help, but against the End of All and its evil spawn born of its blood, there were simply too many. So, Sariel chose to make the ultimate sacrifice. While the gods bought time, he offered up his life to create a seal to contain the End of All and imprison it for all eternity. Our foe here is even mighter than the End of All and likely cannot be slain by normal means. It was imprisoned within the space between realms before Tengri's machine weakened its seal enough for it to escape."

She looked back at Immanuel, and nodded to him. "So, I will sacrifice myself to ensure Raspaganje can never again inflict harm upon another. But, I need help to do so."

_____________________________

"I... I know, but..."

Mara's expression softed as she looked from Alex over to Risel, then back to Alex again. "I just... I just want him to be okay. I really do."

She wrapped her arms around herself, and looked down at the ground. "We've just been through so much, that to finally have a chance to live peacefully, only for it to be robbed again from me... I just can't."

------------------

Tenkarus let a long pained sigh escape from her mouth. "I would complain, but if Alex sent you here, then I don't have much room to. Fine, you can help me out. Though, I should have this under control..."

Once Tenkarus was inside of the house, she placed her hand upon the floor and listened. She could feel the vibrations from all across the building, and just as she suspected, there was a room where several people were in. No doubt these were the missing Yakuza students and their assailant. She grinned, and willed the walls between her and her target to part, so she could move in unapposed...

__________________________

That moment of hesitation with Aphrodite and Piccolo pondering what had become of the Ninjas was a mistake.

A harsh screeching sound caught Piccolo's attention, and he turned just in time to be struck head on with a shearing wall of intense light. It burned at Piccolo's flesh and caused his green open wounds to be cauterized as he was blasted down into the ground. A second such beam rained down upon Aphrodite and engulfed her, turning the ground she stood on into glass and burying her several meters down.

From her own crater rose forth Aram, she glared down upon the two who opposed her. The distinctively male voice of her original incarnation remained as she spoke down to them, "What utter foolishness. The End of All has come forth, his world soon to be made. You fight against Fate itself, with no hope. I am to be the sole blazing star of hope in his world, a peace I will share only with a select few and watch as the rest of mankind kills and maims each other for it. Just accept your helplessness, and FUCKING DIE!"

Both hands reached upward, Aram willed the electromagnetic particles around Piccolo and Aphrodite to her command. She levitated them both out of their craters, the very atoms around them slaves to her will. Then, she tightened her grip, ready to watch as both of them would be crushed into paste by divine power of the Supreme God.

------------------------

Chang'e smirked as Nyx's rockets flew through the air at her. What a trivial matter. She raised up her hand to conjure up another series of rifts to ensure they would simply fly on through and blow up Nyx with her mecha...

A sudden sharp pain cut her off, and Chang'e felt her eyes bulge in their sockets. Robbed of the ability to stop the assault, Chang'e was engulfed by the entire barrage of rockets that impacted her and consumed her in a single violent explosion. When the dust settled, she had fallen to her hand and knees, her body charred and covered in smoke and ash.

"MOTHER!"
"MOTHER!"

Both of the twins flew to their mother's side. Crigan could hardly believe what he was seeing. While it seemed at first glance that Nyx's missiles had done what nothing else could, he had seen it, in that brief moment before the missiles had struck, weakness in Chang'e. Something else was at play here, something that was helping them in this one crucial moment... But what?

Only Chang'e knew the true cause of her pain, and as she slowly struggled back to her feet, the answer was clear as day to her.

Hutistrend... Whatever she was doing, it was eating through her energy reserves. With so many lifetimes worth of energy at her disposal, normally Chang'e wouldn't even need to worry about running low on steam. But the past few days have used up far more of her resources than she could have anticipated. The fight against Persephone and Adolphus, the battle against Daon, and now all of this. Combined with Hutistrend leeching off so much of her, and it was taking its tool on her body.

To hell with her emotional stability. She was too close to her ultimate goal to be weighed down by something so trivial. So, she severed the connection between her and Hutistrend. That worthless jug had served its purpose. Now, she could finally let loose with all that planning and scheming no longer needed.

Another volley of missiles from Nyx, to finish what the first had started, screamed through the air, but this time Chang'e was ready. Jagged lightning bolts tore through them and detonated them well before they could reach her, and continued on to strike Erebus. The machine was rocked by the demonic lightning that burned through its metal, and the bolts rained upon Crigan and Nichelle, and while the bioweapon and the Death Knight were able to evade the demented lightning, Crigan was not so lucky. He was engulfed, his blood boiling as he was burned alive. Chang'es face twisted into a demented smile.

"That's right, you never stood a chance! Now I have nothing holding me back, because what I have awaited so long for is finally dawning! The destruction of the fey, the Human/Dragon wars, the endless bloodshed for the throne of Sheol, the destruction of both Heaven and the Celestials, Persy's rule, all of it was to my design and for this one ultimate purpose! And I will be denied no longer!"

[Godzilla165]

Aphrodite, impressively enough, kept her screams of agony purely within the depths of her mind, despite her entire body feeling like it was on the verge of being crushed like a pitiful tin can. She managed to creak open one of her eyes to take note of Piccolo beside her, finding him in no better of a state than she was. His green skin was severely burned and cauterized in several places, and thin streams of purple blood rolled down either sides of his mouth. Piccolo's choked roars of pain were like nails on a chalkboard to the goddess's ears; Aphrodite needed to come up with a way to get them both out of this, and fast. With her very atoms close to breaking, Aphrodite, with as much strength as she could muster, forced both hands open in a fully splayed position. Little sprites of bright blue electricity danced along the insides of her fingertips and across the pinch of skin directly behind her eyes. In response to this, the whole of Dudael's expansive sky was clouded over in even more clouds than what were already there. But, these nebulas shapes were far larger and thicker than the ones that preceded them. Their nearly black coloration shrouded Dudael in night, blotting out the sun and all other stars that may have tried to twinkle above. A deep, thunderous growl emanated from within this suffocating cloud coverage, sounding like explosions in the sky. Bright flashes of lightning quickly made themselves known, looking like incredibly large lamps showing on the surface of the clouds, and by the hundreds. As Aphrodite's power increased, so did the frequency of these flashes, as well as the bellows of thunder.

Then, said flashes of light evolved into streaks of lightning that struck anywhere and everywhere that counted as a surface. They smited their targets, and continued to exist for a dozen more seconds before disappearing. This was no normal lightning. They completely torched whatever they hit, leaving in its place a large pocket of magma like material. They were also as magnificently wide as they were long, appearing to be at least 2 miles in diameter. Whole columns of energy that were soon taken control of to be tamed, and funneled together for the love goddess to utilize. Aphrodite combined every single one of these monstrous bolts of Olympian power together, slamming them together like Hephaestus used to pound metal and other materials with his mighty hammer to create truly wonderful, and many times deadly pieces. This would most definitely be the latter. Much to even her own wonder, and even terror from what she'd just created, Aphrodite stared down what could now only be described as a javelin to end all javelins. Miles in length, as well as in sheer width, this was what she now believed to be her magnum opus... The greatest and most powerful creation of her other side.

The sprites of electricity that had once danced on her fingertips, had transformed into great big spirals that covered the circumference of her arms. The sides of her eyes yielded strips of energy that stretched far beyond her head, and her hair radiated furiously with electric might. Her eyes glowered at the maddened form of Aram, and Aphrodite clenched her jaws tight.

"There will BE no peace where you lay, usurper. Enjoy your eternity in HELL!" The real love goddess declared, and clenched both of her fists tight.

A roar of thunder shook the land in response, before her weapon of mass destruction, pointed directly at Aram, hurled itself towards her at light speed. The air around it roiled and burned, the grounds beneath it caught wild fire, and its mighty bellowed rivaled even that of the King of Monsters himself. All of that power, that divine righteousness, aimed squarely at a false god, ready to vaporize her utterly and completely...

[MinorBone Good]

O’nugulao glanced over the growing commotion that was going on. They let out a small hiss before turning back towards the device on their wrist. A devious thought flickering inside of O’nugulao’s mind. “Xpveinees is currently being attacked by the Ninja’s citizens.”

“WHAT!? N-No!! Stop them! P-Please!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect her. I’ll be back soon.” O’nugulao shut off the communication device before Quatheral could respond back. They lowered their single arm and looked in front of him again. O’nugulao knew the Yakuza had no intentions of harming any of them. However, if they could get back home with all the remaining members of Quatheral, they would be declared as a hero after facing the treacherous Yakuza.

All the while, Xpveinees was still on the ground, her legs still trying to get the Evron clone off of her. They couldn’t see it due to her face being facedown on the floor, but she was weeping a considerable amount. She was in so much pain, embarrassed and humiliated. She… She failed Quatheral. Not just everyone back home, but her mother as well. That’s all she wanted to do really. Just make her Mommy happy. She wiped her face against the floor, trying to make those stupid tears go away.

Xpveinees swiveled her head to face the icy cold stare of Vale, a mix of anger and sorrow in her eyes. Xpveinees clenched her remaining good hand tight to her chest. A deep sharp pain was growing inside of her. It wasn’t a weapon, was it? N-No.. No it was guilt, wasn’t it? When Vale motioned over towards the piles of the dead. Xpveinees could only stare at the corpses. There was so much blood. She sort of tuned out Vale as the smell of the deceased started to enter Xpveinees’s body. Everything went null for her.

Cthelee could only let out a disappointed sigh. Why did things go down like this. Not wanting Cider to see more of this mess, He quickly shooed her out of the room, leaning down to her level once they were out. He chirped to her, wanting to know more what happened just so he could understand both sides.

Cider tapped her feet anxiously. “U-Uhh.. What happened… Mom sent O’nugulao and Xpveinees here to try and get you guys back. I mean, she was in full on panic mode. W-We were all worried for you all.. B-but you’re safe right? These uh… guys here really aren’t as bad as Tengri says they are right?”

Cthelee’s eyes widened a bit upon hearing Tengri’s name. Although they haven’t met, Cthelee knew enough that Tengri wasn’t an ally. He quickly gurgled back at Cider, wanting an answer.

“U-uuhh. Right. Tengri..” She said his name with a disgusted tone, as if he was nothing more than trash to her. “T-Tengri, that big blue guy came in looking really injured at first. We offered help and soon he went on his way. I guess Mom trusted this asshole in trying to get you guys back. So when the two of them went, I…. kinda followed.”

The big bird just groaned, looking at Cider with a disapproving look. Still, he flapped his right once, signaling her to continue the story.

“Uhhh, so yeah. We ended up in his ship there, we got into a fight, but came out victorious! The blue bastard left us though! One of his henchmen lent us to a ship, and we tried attacking the ninjas, but we got snuffed… And now we’re here..”

Cthelee just sighed once more, the amount of stress he was under was agonazing to him. Now he had to look out for an additional three…. Wait. His eyes went as wide as dinner plates, remembering what he had seen earlier. Now it’s explained! MITSIF! She snuck in with the three without knowing! He stamped a foot and slammed his wing in his face. Great.. Motif was still on Tengri’s ship, and didn’t follow the rest. And now she was likely to make things worse with Tengri.

“Sooo, Fiotto is here, right?”

Cthelee nodded. The least Cthelee could do now in this situation was at least cheer up the injured and help out. He really hoped no one would have to endure any of Drillgore’s malicious attacks. That wouldn’t be the case it seemed. Why did he have to escape? As the clones of Evron started to carry out the injured survivors, Cthelee looked back into the room, noting Xpveinees was still on the floor of the room with O’nugulao.

He ran into the room when he could, checking out what was wrong with the normally angry Quatheral. It was then he noticed a large wound on her hand, so much that it made it unusable. He could only whimper as he hugged the silent Quatheral. Poor thing. She likely didn’t know what was going on and was just doing what Quatheral told her. She was still young. Why on Quatheral did she send her here? She was only 8! How could Quatheral be so cruel. There was no way she was that desperate, was she?

Cthelee lifted Xpveinees onto his back, his knees bending just to accommodate the weight. The worried bird Quatheral looked over at the crystalline rabbit standing halfway in the doorway. He motioned O’nugulao to follow, and the small group soon made their way to Hale.

*****

The group finally made it to Hale’s current location, setting down Xpveinees on an empty bed. A huge part of Cthelee felt sorry for her, but if she hadn’t overreacted, she wouldn’t have been in this situation. As Cthelee was rubbing his temples with his wings, he heard a familiar robotic voice. He turned to see Fiotto waddling up to them, a small smile now on Cthelee’s face.

“What happened here!? A-And why are our Quatheral people here!?”

O’nugulao quickly explained the situation to Fiotto, who only sighed.

“A-Alright then. I’ve just been providing tea the people here.. Is Xpveinees injured? I’ll start prepping right away…”
__________________________________________________

The crooked Quatheral snapped his neck slightly backwards at Hayden’s question. Drillgore raised his hand next to head and tilted his head downwards at the young Yakuza. “Oh, plenty of kinds. But, I would assume some standard water would suit you best. I c-could also cook you up a piece of meat if you wish. I also have canned meats if you wish."

Drillgore grabbed onto Hayden’s right hand with a tight grip, not enough to make it painful though. As Drillgore led Hayden through his lair, the area around started to shift. It lost its cave-like appearance, shifting more towards more of a cold and technological look. Black metal panels lining the walls. The two soon found themselves in a darkly lit room, the air sort of musty. Drillgore finally let go of Hayden’s hand and opened a refrigerator-like device. A white tendril slithered it’s way out of Drillgore’s chest, pulling out a container filled with water. He let Hayden hold onto the bottle while Drillgore pulled something out from deeper within.

As Hayden was making sure that his water wasn’t contaminated in any way, Drillgore opened the freezer, grinning down at his next quick snack. Inside were several small lizard-like beings, their skin mostly turned a dark blue and purple due to the temperature. There was only one of these kinds of Howo’s children remaining alive, primarily a yellow color, standing on their own frozen siblings. It looked back at Drillgore with it’s beady and underdeveloped eyes. The poor thing's legs were shaking, trying to back away from the frightening being.

A small black tentacle grew out of Drillgore’s hand, grabbing the snout of the small Howo, pulling it towards himself. It had no strength to even fight back as it was brought towards the front, her tail and back legs gone limp a long time ago. Drillgore just chuckled to himself as he placed the small creature on the side of the machine. He slammed the door against the creature’s head, easily decapitating it. A small surge of pleasure racked Drillgore’s entire being, rewarding him for his good work. He then absorbed the carcass into his body and looked over at the stoic faced Hayden.

Hayden didn’t even have time to react as he was suddenly being dragged along by Drillgore again, out of the kitchen area and down several long hallways. Eventually they got to a door, which looked more in place in a submarine than… whatever this place was.

“You will be stationed here temporarily. I still have to… adjust your room. I’ll let you chat with one of my other guests. Please, do not attempt to escape. Or else I may have to start experimenting on you too.” He opened the door, leading Hayden inside.

The air stank of blood. Already the first step in he stepped in something wet. When Hayden looked down, it looked like he was stepping in green liquid. When he raised his head again, he saw another Quatheral. As if he hadn’t seen enough blood and gore enough today already, there in the center of the room was what could only be described as a large lump of meat attached to a pole in the center of the room, with several wires attached to Ishome’s body and the ceiling.

“Apologies for the mess. I was finishing up an experiment. I should be back quickly.” He shut the door behind Hayden, followed by a loud click.

“Y…You…. Don’t.. Know.. You.” The voice rasped, six blank white eyes staring down at Hayden. “Q-Quatheral.. N-No! No! No no no nnnnnhhhhooo! NO DEATH! PLEASE! DEATH DEATH DEATH! DIE! D-Diiiiiiieee… Noo… You! You no… S-Saaave meee?”
___________________________________________________

Evoex watched in horror as he watched the Ninja’s as a bright light enveloped both them and Raspaganje. It was too late it seems… There was nothing. No sign of them. This was… most disturbing. What could he even do at this point..?

Meanwhile, Drillgore watched where the Ninja’s once were. Even he wasn’t quite sure if they were gone or not. Only time could tell.
________________________________________________________

Boore gasped and floated up towards the possessed Annity. “Oh my Quatheral! Are you really going to help us out!? Thank you thank you!”

Booled started to interject. “Boore, I still d-”

“Shut it! Not now! We can finally get our bodies back! You know how much this means to me? To us even! We’ve been wanting our bodies since forever we died!” Boore protested, speaking once again the angry tone that Booled found bizarre. So long they always heard the chipper voice of Boore. But ever since that Timestream Abyss incident, Boore has been acting out of line.

“Boore, please listen to me. You have to und-”

“No! No no! No more! I’m doing it for us now! You’ve always been the older sibling, making the moves, but this time I’ll be helping us!” Boore retorted. He wasn’t having any of it. Boore was so close to feeling so much like an alive being again. He was having… emotions for once. Emotions instead of just happiness all the time.

Booled let out a loud sigh, in a much more saddened tone than usual. “Boore, please. Taking a quick route such as this is the wrong way. Mother told us she would try her best to try and get our bodies back. I put faith into our own Mother rather than this stranger.”

“We’ve been ghosts for a century! She’s had plenty of time to try and fix this!”

As the ghost duo were busy having their first real argument, the possessed Annity opened up the book, quickly scanning through the pages. She briefly glanced up to see Boore having their nubs of hands on their hips, looking down at Booled. It looked pretty comical due to Boore’s mask still having a smiley face on it. Even Boore’s happy tone never really changed, just with a slight bitterness added to it.

She looked back down at the pages. After a few more seconds of turning, a big smile spread across her face, finally finding the page.

“Please Boore, trust me. We’ll go straight to Mother’s temple as soon as we get back.”

“No no! We’ll see if it works here, and if it does, you can do it as well! But if it doesn’t, then I’ll listen to you!”

“No… We just-”

A meek voice coming through Annit’s mouth disrupted Booled, causing another despaired sigh coming from beneath his mask. “Sorry to intrude.. But I found the page for it.”

Boore looked over at Annity, then back at Booled. The two siblings stared at each other for a solid 10 seconds. None of them dared to say a word. Boore looked down at the ground for a moment, avoiding Booled’s frowning mask. The little ghost turned away from Booled, moving towards Annity and hugged the side of her face.

To Drillgore’s shock, when the little ghost touched his cheek, he felt a surge of joy and positive energy enter his head and body. How… interesting. This is the same type of reaction whenever he neutralizes the blood flow to the brain, killing it. A giddy feeling. Almost sexual, but not quite. Annity smiled back at the little rainbow ghost and patted his head. “Awww, you’re such a cutie!”

“D’aawwww, thank you!” Boore cheered, spinning in a circle before looking back at Annity.

Annity giggled, looking back down at the book in her hands. “I just want to do the right thing for you and let your worries go away.” She looked down at the book and pointed at a passage near the bottom. She began to read it aloud. “It says here that If I’m able to extract a part of your soul, which is you in your current form, that I can possibly give you a short-term body. It’ll only last for around 20 or 24 hours give or take.” She said in her timid voice.

“YIPPIE! Thank you thank you thank you! How do we extract my soul? Or something?” He raised one of his nubs to the bottom of his mask trying to ponder how.”

“On the next page, it has a basic summoning circle, we could try doing that. Though I’m not used to using summoning circles.” Annity clicked her tongue, tilting her head slightly.

“Oh! I can help! Probably! It’s just circles that you summon right?” Boore moved his arms in circles wildly, going as fast as he could. “I-Is this working?!”

Annity snorted. She quickly regained her composure and continued on. “And… Oh. It actually seems like I brought the materials with me." She reached into her pockets, pulling out a small purple jar.

Booled looked down at Annity, shaking his head. “Is there any way that I can convince you to not follow through with this? This doesn’t seem safe.. What would happen if he died? I would more than likely join him since we are connected spiritually.”

“I… I think those are fair concerns, and-”

Boore interrupted again, his anger growing steadily. “Booled! Please be quiet! I wanna try to get my body back! PLEASE!”

Booled recoiled back at Boore’s shouting, disturbed by Boore’s slight personality change. Something was most definitely wrong with him. He needed to be fixed. Fixed? Was that the right word? He wasn’t normal self. But how could he even help? Boore wasn’t even listening to him anymore. And now, Booled was starting to feel something new. Maybe the Timestream fiasco also gave him some sort of unintended side effect, because now he could feel a sharp pain his torso area. It felt odd, but it made Booled feel more despair than he had ever had in recent memory.

“Uhhhm.. Anyway..” Annity tried to clear the air, pulling the lid off of the jar. Crushed up dead plants, turned into a special type of ash. Apparently Annity was way more into this plant thing than Drillgore had first thought. While not the intended ingredient for the summoning circle, it could still perform the ritual. Good. Annity leaned down toward the ground. “Oh, I hope Owlzarus doesn’t get mad that I’m making a mess here… I’m sure he’ll understand when he comes back, right Boore?”

“Right! Owlzarus is so cool! He’s like aaaa… Like a male version of a mother!”

Annity snorted again. “Right.” She simply stated. She then started to pour out the contents of the bottle onto the floor, forming a small circle on the floor. And after a few minutes of preparation, the markings on the inner circle now completed. Annity then looked back at the book, squinting her eyes a bit. “Already buddy Boore, you just gotta get into the center of this circle, and I’ll just say the words. Though, don’t get your hopes up, I’m still not sure if this will work still due to your weirdness..”

“Nah nah nah! We got it! You’re the bestest! You’re cool like Daeva!” Boore floated on over to the circle, giggling to himself. He pressed his nubs against his face, rubbing them all over, even messing up curled whiskers a bit.

Booled all the while watching this whole ordeal go down. Clearly no one was going to listen to him. What was the point of even trying to stop them? Still, Booled thought it was a weird 180 that Annity suddenly switched on letting them have their bodies back. The larger ghost looked over his shoulder, wondering if there were others in this library. If there was, he couldn’t sense it.

“You ready, Boore?” Annity said, holding the book in one hand.

“Yeppity!” Boore clapped his nubs, looking down at himself. “Goodbye old body! I’ll miss you!”

With a nod, Annity started the spell, pursuing her lips shortly to try and figure out how to pronounce the chants. After a few seconds, she started up. “O magni nunc spiritus, quaeso hanc creaturam ex alio mundo accersam. Unus qui me in tempore necessitatis regere poterit. Forma corporis necessaria, spiritus conviva delectum habeat.”

The ground in Owlzarus’s great library started to shake, but only a bit. Was it working? Or was this just something wrong? Booled wasn’t sure. He floated behind Annity, who was still speaking the chants from the book. From what Booled saw, it did seem this was intended. He placed his hand on Annity’s shoulder, then suddenly reeled back. He remembered that feeling… What he just felt touching Annity… A long time ago.

The possessed Annity paused for a brief moment, a cold sense of doubt entering Drillgore’s mind. As soon as it entered though, it quickly left. No, this would be his chance to continue this! He continued to chant, a red mist forming around the summoning circle.

Booled, shouted out, the most expressive he’s ever been in a century. “Boore! Get out of there now! Please!” Booled floated over to the circle, only to be blocked by the miniature tornado of the red mist. The saddened ghost look over at Annity, floating on over toward her. “What have you done, you monster?”

Annity ignored the ghost, saying the final chants to the spell. The red mist exploded outward, covering the small section of the library in a dense red fog for a moment. The area soon cleared, a large figure now standing where Boore was. As the mist finally cleared, the new form of Boore was finally revealed. A 12 foot monstrosity stood before them, arms as long as an ape’s, and the legs looked not too far off either. It had the same color scheme as Boore, a rainbow pattern going down his body. Juxtaposed however, was the very small head of the new Boore, complete with the mask still around his face. He was still looking down at himself, starting to flex his muscles.

“O-Oh my Quatheral, it happened! It happened! I-I have a body again! This is great!” His voice boomed throughout the library, causing Booled and Annity to wince.

“Boore, we need to get out. NOW.”

Boore giggled, pointing at Booled. “Awww, why now? I’m still.. Oh my! I HAVE FINGERS THIS.. This is awesome!” He cheered, getting up on his hind legs and moving them up and down in place. Tears started to come out from underneath his mask, mixing in with his already shiny fur. “This is the happiest moment of my life!”

The sound of a portal opened up behind Boore, but none of the siblings even heard it due to Boore’s cheers.

“Boore, this is a tra-”

A loud thunderous bang shot out. Time began to slow for Booled. He was transfixed on Boore’s face, a front view to the assination. Boore’s mask cracked open, around its left eye. Dark red blood following it like a volcanic eruption. A hideous sound of like a rock being torn open filled the room next. Bits of Boore’s blood shot out, going through Booled’s body and landing onto the floor. The mask came flying off next, also going through Booled’s body and clattering to the floor, sliding a bit.

Booled let out a whimper, quickly moving towards the mask of his sibling. He heard nothing at this point. Well, at least from the outside world. His mind was yelling at him to do something, or that he should’ve done something before. Criticizing himself… for Boore’s death yet again. He tried to hold onto the mask, even trying to hug it. But he couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t grasp onto it anymore. It was in reality, and he couldn’t interact with it. Despite this, he kept on trying, noting that his hands were much more transparent than he’s ever seen.

“N-Nooooo.” His voice was hoarse, choking up. It Sounded like he was on the verge of crying. Booled wasn’t able to see his hands anymore. He looked down at body, already starting to fade away. He couldn’t move now. He felt like his body was turning into air, separating into different directions. His mind was going blank. He couldn’t think anymore. Except for Boore. But even those thoughts were drifting away, becoming nothing. Like losing himself in a fog that was stealing his memories.

Booled’s mask dropped onto the floor, landing next to Boore’s. The straps of Booled’s mask wrapped around Boore’s, locking them together one final time. The blood of Boore’s new body finally reached the masks, running around them like a bloody river.

The Drillgore looked over at the dead body laying on the ground, then at the possessed Annity. He would finish her off later. She lost their little game. But now, he would focus on the hunger in his body. A mouth formed around Drillgore’s belly, sinking it’s yellowed teeth into Boore’s flesh. Blood was sent flying across the room, a bit landing on Booled’s now physical mask, a small trail of blood going down the right eye of the mask.
__________________________________________________

As the two shapeshifters began to tear and claw and bite into each other like savages, both of them sensed two new beings coming their way. Thunderous footsteps. One of them he recognized, belonging to the big behemoth he fought moments earlier as his copy, but another one he didn’t. An eye grew on his side, trying to get a better view while still staying focused on Fray. His spare eye widened at the sudden strike of a large hammer crashing at him with a force of a goddamn mountain.

Drillgore was sent careening through the ship, his head crashing into the ceiling, nearly detaching his head. His body continued to tumble down the hallway for a few seconds before finally coming to a stop. Electricity was swarming his entire body. To him though, it felt more like an itch coiling around him. Black and white tendrils exploded out of his back, attaching themselves to the sides of the walls, ceiling and floor. His neck popped back into place, already healed to perfection.

He looked back at the three foes before him, his smile never fading. These creatures were… annoying him, to say the least. The wolf wasn’t worth it anymore, too difficult to kill. The one he’d injured didn’t seem to have any signs of slowing down either. While the new one he could engage, with the other two there it was absolutely pointless. A shame. Drillgore’s body started to hum, the electricity starting to converge onto Drillgore’ drill. He lifted it upwards, concentrating the electricity onto the miniature drill. With a soft click, he raised his arm up slightly, firing the electrified mini-drill.

The bullet zigg-zagged across the hallway, soon crashing down on the ground in front of the trio. A large explosion erupted, even larger than his normal drills. Even Korraz and Glaxion were pushed back from the explosion, though not by much. The floor wasn’t so kind though, as the metal creaked and groaned before finally giving away, making the three beasts fall down another floor. The three of them coil barley see through the amount of smoke building up in the area, except for Drillgore’s red eyes and smile looking down at them.

“Awwww, it was fun while it lasted! But I have other matters to attend to. And don’t you worry, white wolf. I’ll make sure your friend that you love to copy so much will suffer in a different way.” He said in Daeva’s voice, although it was ever so slightly off. And with that, Drillgore turned away from the group, heading into the air ducts for a retreat.

When the smoke finally cleared, a small giggle rang out. The three of them looked at each other, wondering which one of them were laughing at a time like this. But as it turns out, when the sound repeated itself, it was coming from the right of them. When they turned to look, a small furry creature with a party hat on its head materialized, tilting its head at them. After a solid few seconds, Mitsif waved at them, elciating another giggle from the small Quatheral.

[HayesAJones]

Fray's attention was pulled in many directions at once as Drillgore retreated. Just as he had sought to tear apart her body, the Quatheral killer left her mind in pieces, each singing a different, compelling question.

Who were her saviors, and how could she thank them?

Should she left Drillgore leave unopposed? Should she gives chase?

Where was Molly? Was she still safe? Her injuries had been severe, yet she seemed to have shrugged them off. What was she?

And who was this tiny creature? Was it a friend or a foe? She hoped it was the former. She did not want more enemies. Besides, it was strangely endearing.

After a few moments of choice paralysis, her chest swelling and caving heavily, the dog-headed beast raised one of her clawed hands, tearing into the fabric of reality. She was tempted to create a rift to Drillgore, to reach through it and throttle him for daring to threaten Daeva, but Molly was more important, so she instead made a doorway to her, honing in on her now very notable lifeforms. It was warm, yet heavy. A portal of crackling gold appeared before Molly and the Colossal Despot, and Fray leaned her great, horned head through it, hoping she did not look frightful.

"M... Molly," she rumbled hesitantly, trying to modulate her voice to be somewhere between its usual growl and her dear friend's. "Safe now? Daeva sent. To help."

She looked back to Korraz and Glaxion, bowing her head humbly to them. "Also... had help."

As she murmured toward Molly, she began to feel guilty for ignoring Mitsif, so a small, gangly arm grew from her hunched back and waved back at the impish being.

_____________________

Alex smiled at Mara sadly. "I... know that feeling. It's not fun, feeling helpless... is it? Sometimes I wish I could do more. Fight, or something... just sometimes."

"But we can help here," he continued, voice stronger, more confident. "If you can't rest, then... let's give Crigan as little to worry about when he gets back, okay?"

_____________________

As the wall began to part, shaking and creaking wildly, a pale shadow leaned over Tenkarus, warm fur brushing ticklishly against the back of her neck. Gull braced one huge against each side of the splitting walls and aded her strength to the Celestial's, trying to hasten the formation of their passage.

[Godzilla165]

A Call to Arms

Wherever they are… Wherever they are… Wherever they are…

Silence. One luxury that the guardians hadn’t been granted in far too long, was the smooth, unadulterated nothingness of silence. Even in the depths of space where sound is its eternal enemy, still, for them, it has indeed permeated. In fact, the last thing the four of them remembered was a pure tidal wave of sound and light, crashing into their bodies with an unrelenting ferocity. As such, when Dante was the first to awake from his unknown time lapsed slumber, and his ears were pleasured with the warm musical tonality of silence… He believed himself dead.

It wasn’t until he broke the slim seal holding his eyelids shut to free his sightseeing vessels that he realized he was still very much alive. The most he felt was refreshment, the type of sensation that one felt after a… Good night’s rest. Dante’s lethargic dreariness fell away quickly as he rose to a sitting position, and stared outwardly at the vast, endless expanse of white. He looked down towards where he was sat, and immediately noted the milky water puddling beneath him, and all around. His armor was also gone, replaced by his white and black ceremonial robes, his hands and skin soft and warm. Dante’s eyes widened ever slightly as he led their gaze towards his surroundings once more. The low hanging fog, the white purity of everything; he had been here before.

“This is… This is… This is…” Dante’s voice rolled in a soft echo.

Before such a thought could be finished, off to Dante’s left, he noticed Evron’s familiar form lying gently in the water. And, to his right, the Ninja Prime saw Daeva, and Ubel was in front. All at once it seemed, did the three ninjas awaken and rise from their lying positions, all now in their robes as well. Evron’s was a deep purple, with a giant white Yakuza symbol stitched into the left breast. Ubel possessed a teal robe with bits of flowering around the wrists and chest area, and a silver “U” stitched into both arms. Daeva, to mirror her eldest brother, had a straight black and white robe.

The three of them rose to different sitting positions, and gazed with utter bewilderment outwardly at their newfound location.

“What… Where the hell are we?” Evron was the first to ask as he stood slowly to his feet.

“Is this, are we… Dead?” Ubel wondered with a small and nervous gulp.

Dante shook his head, “Not dead, Ubie, this is something much more than that.”

Daeva, having yet to have said anything, gave Dante an inquisitive look. “How can you be so confident, Em? How do you know for sure?” She asked him.

“Yeah, didn’t we just get utterly blasted by a colossal fuck ton of energy?” Evron rhetorically inquired, crossing his arms. “What makes you so sure that this place isn’t like, purgatory or something?”

Dante, without looking at his siblings, finally got to his feet, still very much focused on the divine location they were in. “Because, I’ve been here before.” He finally answered.

Evron’s eyes widened, “Wait… What?”

“When was this?” Ubel questioned.

Dante turned to face them, and took in a deep breath. “When Aphrodite and I went to see Dad, I got into a fight with the demon. It… Almost won. But, before it could finish me, I was brought here.”

“And just where is ‘here’, exactly?” Evron prodded.

The Ninja Prime looked between the three of them intently. “… The lake of creation.”

“The, ‘lake of creation’?” Ubel’s brow furrowed as he began to pace. “I remember Owlzarus mentioning that to me once years ago, but I was only half-way listening. But, something that he said about it stuck with me; he said it was a part of…” Ubel’s jaw slacked, his eyes grew wide and bright, and he stared back at Dante in utter disbelief. “No… No, you’re not saying… Are we really…”

Dante merely nodded, “We’re inside of the Core.”

Daeva let a long, drawn out gasp buffer from her lips as she stared wondrously around at her surroundings. “No way… No way…” She murmured.

“Holy. Fucking. Shit. Holy fucking shit. I mean, holy fucking shit!” Evron bluntly exclaimed, his hands rubbing feverishly through his hair.”

“I literally cannot believe this, I can’t…. This can’t be real.” Ubel stammered.

Dante smiled and nodded once more. “Believe it. It was here where I met this strange woman who called herself the ‘speaker of the Core’, almost like an advisor or something.” He said.

“An ambassador.” Evron replied.

“Right. She’s the one who helped me unlock my angel form, and make peace with the demon instead of destroying it, how I met Angie. Now, I still don’t know who she really is, but one thing’s for certain… She saved my life.”

Daeva smiled sweetly, “That’s amazing, Dante; I wish I could’ve met her.”

“Yeah, but as incredible as all of this is, and us being here,” Evron faced his siblings “It still doesn’t answer ‘why’ we’re here.”

“I believe I may be able to help with that.” A smooth and pleasant, feminine voice responded suddenly from behind the ninjas.

The four siblings all whirled around at the same time, now met with an all too familiar sight to one, but a completely alien entity to three. Dante smiled warmly, but his siblings wore faces of caution and wonderment at this pale, blue outline of a woman stood before them. She was entirely featureless, save for her svelte frame. Though she was a stranger to Ubel, Daeva, and Evron, her aura was a comforting one; she gave off a feeling of trust.

“Who…” Evron started to ask while taking a slight step back.

“Easy, Rube.” Dante stated calmly. “Guys, this is the woman that I told you about… The speaker of the Core.”

Daeva’s eyes widened, “Whoaaa, so you’re like… The Core’s Vice President or something?” She inquired whilst studying the woman with a curious eye.

The entity chuckled, her translucent shoulders bobbing up and down, before she folded her hands together and nodded. “Indeed, young one, you could say that I am.”

“You’re also the one who rescued our brother, yeah?” Ubel asked.

She turned her head to Ubel and nodded once more. “Yes… Though it was he,” She looked warmly to Dante, “who allowed himself to forgive and ascend; I merely acted as his guide.”

Dante smiled appreciatively before looking at Evron, “You okay?”

The second eldest uttered a little grunt in response, eyes glued to the woman in front of them. “Yeah, I’m still just… Taking it all in.”

“…Alright, just making sure you’re good, hun.” Dante teased, slapping Evron on the back.

Daeva, meanwhile, was becoming more giddy and curious by the second, like an excited child. “Wow wow wow, I have soooo many questions! Like, do you ever get tired? Or, do you ever get to sleep? Do you NEED sleep? How did you meet the literal CORE of the multiverse? Do you ever eat anything? Is that why you’re so pale? How old are you? Where’s your home? Do you even have a home? What’s the answer to life? Why-“

“Peri, Daeva, DAEVA.” Dante stopped her, holding back a laugh. “I think that’s one too many questions for right now, don’t you think?”

“Right,” Daeva smiled sheepishly, “my bad.”

Dante turned to the mystical and mysterious woman, “Besides, the bigger question is why exactly are we here?”

“Or how did we get here in the first place?” Ubel spoke up.

“No.” Evron said with a firmness, attracting the attentions of all that were attended. “The biggest question is the one I’m sure we’re all thinking, that nagging voice in the back of our minds…” He trailed off, stepping in front of the others to put himself face-to-face with the lady in the lake. “Who… Are you?”

The woman stood there frozen for a few passing moments, silence once again taking over the divine place. Her hands, once folded neatly in front of her, were allowed to simply hang by her sides. If the ninjas hadn’t known any better, then they likely would have seen a deep exhale coming from her, evident by the lady’s shoulders rising and falling. It was then that she finally spoke, her voice like silk.

“I shall answer all three; it is only fair that I do. And, if we have enough time,” She looked over to Daeva, whom could almost sense a smile resonating from her, “I will answer any and all questions you have, dear, that is my promise to you.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that.” Daeva grinned.

With another brief pause, and a breath let free, the woman began. “The way in which you four arrived here was the same way your eldest brother did: I retrieved you, and brought you here.”

“Why?” Ubel asked with a furrowed brow.

“Because, despite your incredible collective success in surpassing your limits, it still would not have been enough. Had I not intervened when I did, your battle against Raspaganje would have indeed been lost.”

“Wait, how do you know for sure we would’ve-“

“I could feel it, young one.” She answered Evron, looking directly at him. “I could just feel it.”

“Okay… Okay.” Dante replied, satisfied with that answer. “Well, I think I speak for all of us in saying that I really appreciate your help, truly. We were all pushing ourselves to the absolute limit, and had you not stepped in… Well, you’ve already told us, haven’t you?”

“Okay, fine.” Evron crossed his arms, “But that still doesn’t answer the other two.”

The woman nodded, “Indeed, it does not. As for who I am, and why you all are here, both of these questions are more… Complicated.”

“And why is that, exactly?” Evron pressed.

“… Because in order for me to properly answer one, then I would first have to answer the other, and I… I simply do not know how you would respond to it.”

The siblings exchanged looks of confusion, laced with a bit of suspicion. Cryptic was the word replaying in all of their minds. Yet, it was Ubel who lent her some comfort in her seeming nervousness. He smiled warmly and nodded, indicating that he understood her plight.

“That’s okay, look, why don’t we start with the easier of the two, yeah? Why did you bring us here?” He questioned gently.



The woman offered a gentle, yet saddened, unseen smile to the tall ninja. “Oh, Ubel… You were always so incredibly thoughtful, so gentle-natured... So kind.” She complimented. Suddenly, her light blue and transparent form began to change, harden. Smooth and nonexistent surfaces on her body took on actual features; white hard light flaked away, leaving rosy skin in its place. Perfectly smooth and soft fingers opened and closed, and a royal blue cloak, lined with emerald green jewelry like sections covering the sleeves and chest area, shrouded the woman’s petite and svelte body.

Awe was at the forefront of the ninjas’ faces, watching on intently with anticipation.

“Who…” Daeva trailed off.

Raising both hands to the edges of her hood, the woman grabbed them delicately, noting her own hesitation to remove it… To uncover her own face. One final prolonged exhale was the strength she needed to pull the hood away, and let it nestle silently behind her neck. Shoulder length, curly blonde hair fell neatly on either side of her face, and light pink lips were drawn taught in a nervousness. She raised her head to meet the guardians, and stared at them through periwinkle eyes. If it wasn’t for her shorter hair and slightly thicker frame, she could have absolutely been mistaken as…

Dante’s posture changed almost instantly, like a cracked whip. His controlled and relaxed pose swiftly evolved into a stupor; his feet were spread apart, and his knees were bent as though he’d just been punched in the gut. His green eyes were as wide as dinner plates, his breathing was taught and abrupt, his forehead beading with sweat. His bottom lip quivered and shook, as his top lip tried to combine with it to form something intelligible, but found it nigh impossible to do so.

Evron took a sharp, almost painful gasp of breath inward, as his crossed arms fell to his hips like sacks of brick. His shoulders trembled and shuddered. A knot in his throat made it excruciatingly hard for him to swallow, forcing him to clench his throat using one hand, while the other clutched at his chest, as if to try and rip out his rapidly beating heart.

Ubel’s face grew pale, having lost all of its color, leaving behind a deeply perturbed husk, with eyes that were bleeding with sorrow. He suddenly found it difficult to remain upright, and found himself bowled over, having to grasp at his knees for support.

“D-D-D… Daeva… Daeva…” Ubel sputtered, his face one of reddened agony as stinging tears began to pool in his eyes. He shook his head repeatedly, “Oh Daeva… Oh Daeva…” He continued to whimper, for it was she that Ubel’s blurred vision was focused on.

Daeva found herself in a trance, a permanent fixation that blurred her vision to everything but what was right in front of her, her ears blocking out her brother’s stifled cries. Her eyes were wide and glassy like a child’s, her mouth slightly agape. She felt like she was walking though molasses, with every step she took dragging her immensely heavy legs forward. Her journey seemed eternal, but it wasn’t until the woman stood in front of her closed the distance between them, that it actually felt palpable. Daeva, with a trembling hand, reached up to touch, to pinch, and to caress the woman’s supple cheek.

“Mmm-Mmm… Mm-Mom?” She asked feebly, weakly. It came out as a nervous squeak, yet dripped with deep, unseated pain.

The woman reached up with both of her hands to rest them against Daeva’s, pressing the latter’s soft palm deeper into her cheek, feeling not only its warmth, but its cautious, petrified clamminess. An unstable smile, one that was but a twitch away from giving into pained sorrow, crossed the woman’s lips… And she nodded… She nodded profusely.

“It’s me, sleepy girl… It’s really me.” Tiamat finally said.

Daeva felt as tears ran along her hand until she slowly removed it, and collected Tiamat’s hands into hers. She traced along their smoothed surface, flipped them over to rub the lines of her palm, feeling their slightly rougher texture. A look of revelation overtook Daeva’s whole visage, and she looked into her mother’s eyes with quivering ones. Without a word, she wrapped her arms tight around Tiamat’s waist and nestled the side of her head into her bosom. It took a moment to finally register with her, but once it did… Daeva’s entire face scrunched, her cheeks flushed with pink, and she wept… She cried so hard, that it hurt. Eons upon eons of emotion poured out at that moment, and it wasn’t long before Tiamat joined her.

She smoothed and caressed the young girl’s hair, rubbed her back, and whispered gentle shushes as she did this. “There there, it’s okay, little one; I’m here… I’m here.” Tiamat’s honeyed words washed over Daeva’s entire body, causing for her to bury herself even further into the former.

As Daeva continued to cry, Tiamat’s watered eyes found her other children, her three brave sons. Delicately, she placed a tender kiss upon Daeva’s head, and walked with a nervous step to greet Ubel. The latter, bowed over still, staggered to his full height and towered over his mother. Yet, in her presence did the tallest ninja feel minute, struggling to even maintain his current posture. Ubel stared at her, taking in all of her. His hands shuddered, tightening into fists before releasing a second later; his breathes were stifled and brief, causing for him to pant. Tiamat at last had found her way to him, and she smiled tearfully, taking his hands into hers. Ubel peered down at her delicate looking ones, feeling as her fingers ran over his skin gently and precisely. His eyes welled; as much as he tried to keep himself from breaking, his hold was slipping.

“Mom…” Ubel croaked, gripping her hands tightly.

She felt them as they trembled, their icy coldness… But Tiamat merely clutched his hands tighter. “My sweet baby boy… You’re so tall!” She grinned.

Ubel laughed and wrapped his arms tightly around her, resting his chin on her shoulder blade. It was then, as Tiamat craned a bit to embrace him, nestling her own chin along his muscled shoulder, did Ubel finally break. She felt as some of his warm tears pattered onto her back, every sharp intake of breath as he sobbed quietly, his entire body tensing then relaxing with each exhale. Tiamat was silent, her eyes fully shut, merely rubbing Ubel’s back up and down in gentle waves. Eventually, he did pull away to look into her eyes, clasping her shoulders delicately.

Ubel smiled innocently, reaching up to wipe a few tears away. “We… We’ve got soooo much to talk about, Mom.”

Tiamat chuckled and helped him clean the rest of his tears using her sleeve. “I want to hear allll about what you’ve been up to, Ubie Suby… I missed those little talks we always used to have.”

When she was satisfied with Ubel’s dry, yet blushed face, she looked to her second eldest cautiously. Because, while Tiamat was nervous beyond reason to reunite with all of them, Evron made her especially so… How he would respond… How he would react. One more deep breath in, hold, then exhale. Her shoulders relaxed as much as they could, and she tiptoed towards the red eyed guardian.

Evron, eyes alit, fists balled, and teeth gritted, stomped towards her with but one thing on his mind. “I can’t believe you… I can’t fucking believe you!” He growled.

Tiamat suddenly stopped and tensed up, holding up her hands to try and calm him. Fat tears streamed down her pleading and regretful face. “Evron, sweetie, please… I didn’t me to-“

She was cut off… Her eyes grew wide in utter shock, and she was all but frozen in place. There he was, Evron, clutching Tiamat in a raw and powerful embrace. He had one hand placed ever so softly on the back of her neck, and the other wrapped around her waist. His head found a place to snuggle into along her shoulder, and his body just slumped, fully relaxing in the comfort of his beautiful mother.

“I missed you so, so much…” Evron whispered, cool tears running down his cheeks as he opened his eyes and sighed. It was a sigh that he’d kept drawn in for eons, holding onto it like a precious stone. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, Mom. Please… I… I don’t know if I can handle that again.”

Tiamat was in pain. It wasn’t from Evron’s touch, but from the words he’d inadvertently used to pierce her heart. She had hurt him, scarred him… Failed him. And for that, she now felt an agony that was indescribable. Her whole face welled up, she clutched the back of Evron’s head with one hand, and held onto him with the other, almost in a protective manner. “Oh Evron… Oh Evron… I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean… I didn’t to hurt you, baby. I never wanted to… By the gods, my boy… I’ve hurt my boy!” She wailed, nearly collapsing into Evron’s arms.

Evron held onto her securely, keeping her from falling. He had her, as did she him. They could cry together in each others’ arms. Evron had always kept to himself how he felt about Tiamat’s leaving, never wishing to engage in nor discuss with anyone just how much her absence had affected him. In his mind, he wanted to remain strong, needed to be, for the sake of his siblings, and himself. But now, for the first time in a long, long time, he allowed himself to be completely vulnerable. He lowered the walls he’d built, and let his emotions finally speak. As they flowed into the embrace, Tiamat saw them clearly… She felt them. They were hurting, yes… But there was also a light, a tiny ember of happiness from the fact that, yes, yes, finally she’d come back.

Tiamat drew backwards to collect Evron’s face into her hands. “I will never abandon you again, okay? I promise you, sweetie, and that is one I intend to keep until I take my last breath.” She vowed to him, using her thumbs to wipe free the tears that plagued his face.

Evron smiled sweetly at her, grabbing her wrists. He kissed the inside of her palm before nodding that he understood. Time would tell whether or not she would keep true to her promise, but for now, Evron was satisfied… Happy that she was there with them all. But, she still had one more trial to complete before all was said, done, and rebuilt. Evron turned to look behind him for but a moment, smiled, and then turned back to Tiamat.

He nodded once more. “Go to him.” He said.

Tiamat considered Evron for a few more moments, until finally, placing a kiss on his cheek, she turned from him and set her gaze upon him… Her firstborn. Dante, Dante… Dante. There he stood, gazing at her with eyes that could only be described as a distant longing. They remained frozen in time for a while, her and him, their gazes fixated on one another, a distance of mere feet separating them. Tiamat smiled so tenderly, so warmly, and Dante did the same.

“… Mom.” Dante finally spoke, no… Murmured ever gently.

Tiamat nodded once, a small and subtle one, perhaps, but one she knew he instantly picked up on, what it meant… What it represented. “My little emerald.” She replied in a hushed whisper, and finally started towards him.

Dante walked slowly to her, legs stiff and wooden, arms heavy. “You’re the speaker of the Core… The woman I spoke to before, the one who saved me… It was you all along.” He said to no one’s surprise, especially not his. But, to have said that out loud, to have heard it come from his mouth… It was different… Felt different.

She nodded again, folding her hands neatly over one another. “I was, or… I am. I’m sorry, sweetheart, sorry for all of the secrecy, for not being there when you needed me most, I…” Tiamat could not finish, nor could she find the strength to even look at him. Her eyes averted, she shook her head slowly, painfully, closing her eyes as she felt daggers stabbing at her chest. “I failed you as a mother, Dante, I stood by and watched as you… As my own son, was tortured and beaten, and I… I didn’t do enough to stop it.”

The lake resonated in tiny waves with every tear dropped from Tiamat’s eyes. She kept them closed as to not find Dante’s gaze, of which never left her.

“He may have been a monster… But I was no better, having abandoned my own children… Leaving you behind. Dante, I-“

That was when he took her hands into his, causing for Tiamat to finally open her eyes, to meet his gaze at last. And, what she found was not one of anger and disdain, yet instead one of gentleness, acceptance… Happiness.

“Hey… Don’t you dare talk about my mother like that.” Dante mused, smiling softly. He squeezed her hands, “Mom, I want you to understand something, alright? You. Did not. Fail. Me. You didn’t, okay? What Dad did to me, what he put me through… Those are his sins and his alone, and he’ll be paying for them for eternity. And, you’re right, he was a monster… But I had an angel in my life, we all did, the four of us. She saved us, kept us safe, kept us warm, made sure we were fed, clothed, showed us so many amazing things, taught us how to fend for ourselves, how to treat other people with love and respect, loved us…”

Dante looked deeply into Tiamat’s eyes, as his glistened with the sparkle of tears. “You are not a monster. You were, and are the best mother that I, that Evron, that Ubel, and Daeva could have ever asked for… And I am so, so happy to have you back.”

When that first tear broke free, the rest came like a torrential flood. Tiamat nearly buried herself into Dante’s being, soaking his robing with the waters of a mournful deity. Dante hugged her tightly, closed his eyes, and let himself be… Allowed himself this moment of splendor. A warrior, a guardian to all existence, a mentor, a loyal partner, an older brother… A king. But, in this instance, in this precious moment of time… He was but a son, a son happy to have his mother back.

He opened one eye to peer at his siblings and motioned them to come, and they did. Together, the ninjas wrapped themselves and Tiamat in an embrace that was long overdue. War still raged, and the guardians were needed… Yet right now was a time of celebration.

Their mother was finally home.

[Corzak The Mighty]

Nyx let out a cry of despair, pain, and frustration as the bolts, powered by the reality-bending might of Chang'e cleaved through the Erebus' defenses like a knife through butter. The lightning ravaged not only the machine's armor, but the machine's internal systems as well - systems integral to the giant mech's function. Alloyed metal was melted as cast aside, wiring warped and destroyed, computers fried and corrupted to the point f nonfunction. But the lightning had traveled not just to the point of damaging the machine - the electricity struck Nyx as well, sending untold volts straight into her body, nearly killing her in the process. The massive war machine loosed a mechanical bellow, the creaking of its joints groaning beneath unsupported strength, before it collapsed into an limp, unmoving heap within Sheol.

Gasping for breath, her hands burnt and damaged from the electric assault, Nyx let out a weakened plea, in the hopes someone would hear.

"U-uncle... Yzzy... I'm sorry..."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The azure blaze of the Star of Calamity died down, like a stellar flare, as the singularity returned to a cold, eerie stillness. Abyssal darkness once more filled the rift in space and time, where nary a star shone across its crushing void. As the fell light faded and the reality revealed itself, the great wings of Raspaganje flared outwards, as if announcing his final victory. A boom, like thunder, shook the singularity, followed by a haunting echo of a million billion departed souls. The echo soon melded into a chorus of maddened laughter, intensifying into a single, solid voice that acted as one. The clouds above, once obscuring the cracks made by the Machine of Unmaking's phenomenal power, soon parted, revealing the infernal light of Raspaganje himself.

The Star of Calamity, rejoicing in his seeming victory, raised his avatar's arms upwards into the calamitous eye of the storm, his wings stretching upwards to form a luminous, arcing V in reverence to the entity far above.

"Four great stars fade today... the first of many to fall before the might of Wormwood. Tis bittersweet to see such an ancient foe fade, like an old friend vanishing forever... but it is of no matter to me. Solitude is what shall await me in the end. An eternity of solitude, of stillness. Where life shall not blossom, and death cannot flourish. A world where nothing can be, for nothing ever was. The true peace that the guardians long saught, but could not achieve!"

The avatar extended a hand towards the adrift Machine of Unmaking, as suddenly the violent, unpredictable bolts that lanced from its tip gained focus, like lightning to a rod. The bolts sliced through time and space, like great serpents, as passed into the form of Raspaganje's Avatar, causing the entity to become aglow with radiant golden light! Bolts of unmaking sliced across the whole of the singularity. Raspaganje's Avatar, utterly subsumed by the bolts, extended a hand towards the central rift that loomed above, and unleashed a scintillating pulse of reality-warping power into it, causing the cracks to once more intensify. A ferocious roar shook the singularity, as the fell taloned hands of Raspaganje appeared once again, this time pressing intensely against the confines of its prison, nearing the point of rupture.

"Yes... I can see it, clear as day now... the coming of my victory. An eternal silence! An eternal death!"

The Avatar of Raspaganje glanced down mockingly towards Evoex and Drillgore.

"Rejoice - you shall be the first to bare witness to the birth of our new era!"

The invisible barrier that seemingly held Raspaganje back suddenly shattered, as the very bark of the world tree that had held Raspaganje back seemed to splinter and crack. The first of Raspaganje's talons, his right wing, reached through the void of space and reached down upon a nearby planet, engulfing it in its entirety within his grasp.A second talon did much the same, tearing through the very fabric of time and space above. The horn-crowned head of the Calamitous Star slithered forth next, six burning eyes gleaming with excitement. The head glared down towards Evoex and Drillgore, as the maw of the great horror opened, filling with an ethereal blue light.

"Now, fade unto nothing, as it was always destined to end..."
----
A shimmering rift of orange light split open within the singularity, followed not too long after by the forms of those assembled by Owlzarus. The wizened antiquarian's brow furrowed in anguish and despair as the first talon of Wormwood breached the bark of the World Tree.

"We're almost too late," Owlzarus warned Jake and Dana. "We must begin the ritual at once, if we seek to drain Raspaganje of his power!"
----
Immanuel eyed Mulek calmly, examining the angel hwo had accompanied him through the multiverse for so long. She was so willing to throw away her life, to combat this horror? She was willing to become a vessel, a living prison of flesh and blood, to contain the evil of the Star of Calamity? Few who valued themselves would ever consider something so horrid a fate... truly, her guilt, the weight of her past, must have weighed upon her. Or perhaps, it was a sense of duty, of honor, to her forebearers to make this sacrifice that none would, to become the seal to dispose of Raspaganje once and for all. Whatever her reason, Immanuel would respect her choice.

Immanuel extended a hand to Mulek, placing it upon her shoulder, before offering her a reassuring nod.

"I will do everything in my power to aid you. Who should we seek?"

[Corzak The Mighty]

It all happened in a flash, faster than anybody could have anticipated. A flash of scintillating blue light erupted, like a solar flare, before slicing into the vessel like a knife through butter. The entire vessel shook, splintering apart like wood beneath an axe's swing! With a horrid roar and a violent shuffle, Molly, Demmy, and the Colossal Despot found themselves hurtling out of control through space, tumbling head of heels. Each were violently thrown against the ebony walls of Tengri's flagship dozens of times, as loose articles scattered about the chamber, some flying with such speeds to strike and draw blood from the unfortunate trio. Finally, their tumbling came to a stop, as they crashed hard into a floating planetoid, the impact causing them to bounce violently off of the floor a couple times.

The colossal despot let out a pained groan, clutching his head as he regained his bearings. "Well... that's not good."

His soulless white eyes glanced up to a nearby window and widened in horror, as he watched the machine of unmaking drift farther away into space, its golden lightning lancing about once more. "That's definitely not good."

He then watched as the hellish bolts lanced through the void of space, into the fell avatar of Raspaganje, and launched themselves clear into the rift roiling above them. "Things just keep going from bad to worse..."

He looked to Demmy and Molly. "We're in a precarious spot now. The mechanisms on the flagship won't stop the Machine of Unmaking now. We're going to have to find a way to shut it down directly... which means someone's going to have to make direct contact with it... and it's CERTAINLY not going to be me."

[Demon Lord Gira]

It was only thanks to Demmy flying through the portal that the strange dog-like fiend had made and enveloping Molly within her shadowy frame that Molly was spared the worst of the tossing and turning. When it stopped, Demmy's shadow receded and turned back into her normal human form, slightly battered but unharmed from that which had rocked the ship. Molly looked upward, at the Machine of Unmaking which was drifting farther and farther away. This was problematic to say the least. They needed to stop it before Raspaganje would be completely released from his seal, and yet...

"I'll do it."

Molly turned to face Demmy. " Demmy, you can't. That will-"

"Kill me?" The demon huffed. "I've lived through worse than that kind of energy. I got my eye stabbed out by Cercil's batshit insane sister with holy energy, and I'm still alive, aren't I? Besides, I think you got someone else here who can look after you if I do somehow croak."

Molly turned to look at where Demmy had shifted her gaze to, and only then realized that Fray was right there. "U-ummm... Yes, I'm fine now." She told the large lupine form. "Thank you for being concerned about me... Demmy, can-"

She turned back to look at Demmy, and the demon was already flying up toward the out of control Machine of Unmaking. "DEMMY!" Molly shouted up at her, but she knew there was no way she could catch up to her, or stop her.

The shadowy demon twisted and weaved her form around the raging bolts from the Machine of Unmaking. Somehow, it felt calming to Demogorgon, the fact that she was about to pull the plug on Raspaganje's plans the best she could. She couldn't figure out why, but the notion calmed her mind, as she prepared to fire several eye bolts straight into the Machine of Unmaking, to destroy it and stop its destruction of the fabric of reality once and for all...

------------------

The black winged angel's gaze shifted back to the sky, to where she could see Raspaganje beginning to free himself even further. Time was not on their side, but flying in to fight the fiend directly would be useless. She had seen the Ninjas fight against it, and it had beaten them back. She would stand no chance against Raspaganje... Unless...


"I need someone to distract him so I can begin the ritual." She explained to Immanuel. "Otherwise, I cannot pull it off, and I need someone else to give me the energy to begin it."

----------------------

The wall beside Hayden then cracked, then broke apart. Through the dust and debris came Tenkarus, who struggled not to gag disgust at the atrocities she was seeing in this room. Blood was everywhere, Quatherals that were either dead or on the verse of death, mounds of flesh...

What kind of sociopath monster had done this?! Not even Titania had been this cruel with her murder of all those Celestials so very long ago.

"What the actual hell happened here?!" Tenkarus covered her mouth and nose. It was putrid, the air was putrid with the stench of death and decay. "You, let's get you out of here, now! I'm here to rescue you!"

--------

Mara wanted to say something against Alex's point, but she couldn't bring herself to. He was right. As worried as she was about Crigan, he must have been just as worried for her. She let a long sigh escape from her mouth, and weakly nodded.

"You're right. We just need to keep doing what we can here, and worry about the present." She let a smile form on her face. " T-thank you."

___________________________

The Supreme God's face twisted into a maniacal cackling snarl as she braced herself for the incoming strike. She held her hands forward, palms facing theincoming divine lightning javelin, and her eyes sparkled in anticipation.

Right as the electric javelin were to strike true, it was met with the energies of of dwarf star channeled through Aram. Fiery hot plasma surged forth and collided with the incoming javelin, and the two attacks striking shook the very firmament of the realm. Superheated ionized gases sparked and clashed in every direction that gouged through the earth and turned the very soil into glass where it wasn't tunneled through. The divine power of Astrelus, the Goddess of Light, was such a wonderful thing for Aram to have. Not only could she use her very frame and form to torment Crigan, but as she had been the very leader of the gods, her power was nearly unrivaled. And now Aram had that and so much more at her disposal. This worthless child of a foreign god was nothing compared to-

Aram gritted her teeth. She felt herself begin to be pushed back, her beam of intensified light unable to stand up to Aphrodite's full power. The Supreme God's eyes were bloodshot with madness and rage as she processed this. Impossible! This was the very thing she had strove to avoid by unshackling the contract with Persephone and ridding of Mara's body! Were the Ninjas truly this far above and beyond what she was capable of?! She was certain, dead certain, Korraz would stand a snowball's chance in hell against her with all of her primed power, and yet... Yet here she was, still failing against the divine powers of the Multiverse...

NO! No no no no no no NO NO NO NO NON NO NO! She would NOT be overshadowed by some worthless child of a foreign god! She had more she could force herself to exert, much more than this, even if it would bring her to ruin! But before that, there was always the tried and true tactic of underhanded play...

And so, as she felt herself begin to slip in the struggle, Aram's nine fox tails manifested behind her and stabbed downward. The tails extended out beyond what was organically possible, partially turning into light energy, before they then shot upward, and right into Aphrodite. Two of the tails stabbed into the goddess's left arm, two into her right shoulder, two into each side of her waist, one into each of her legs, and the last into her left shoulder. The tails stabbed clean through Aphrodite's flesh and muscle, and Aram's demented smile returned in full force. The electric javelin was cut short from the sudden strike, and Aram's own attack was now unopposed, as it raced toward the skewered lover of Dante...

--------------------

The death of hope. The dawning of the realization that all was for naught. It was this kind of moment that Chang'e lived for, and that moment that crept across Nyx's face brought her nothing but joy and ecstasy. As if they ever stood a chance against her.

"Nyx, get up!" Aseya tried to push and shove at the woman's shoulder. "We're helpless here!"

"Damn that thing..." Lae hissed as he glared through the cockpit up toward the hovering form of Chang'e and the Twins. Even with the footage he had seen, was there truly no weakness to this fiend? Nothing they could do at all? Was this really the end?

..Wait, what...

He couldn't believe his eyes. Despite the burns that covered his body, despite the wounds he had taken, despite the otherwise powerless human frame he was in, Crigan still stood to his feet. The tiny fae was dumbfounded. What chance did he have against her? How could he hope to even still stand? She had all the power in the world, and he had none. So why was he throwing his life away so recklessly?

"Chang'e... You say everything was to your design?" Crigan panted. Blood dripped down the sides of his face and one knee was bent at an awkward angle. Both Nichelle and Minos stood by his side and armed their weapons as well. "That you will not be denied? You're wrong. We will deny you of your goal. We will stand against you, even to our deaths. This is not your world to mess with or torment. For all those you've afflicted and killed, for everything you have done... We will end you."

A series of chuckles greeted Crigan's speech. Chang'e held a hand to her head, her grin ever growing as she shook her head. "A glutton for punishment, that is what you are. Time and time again I've lead many versions of you to ruin, either to death from Persephone or from your own hands. I've seen many timelines, and none of them ended well for you, God of Death. What makes you so certain this will end any different? I am the Heart of the Multiverse. Everything that has plagued your existence, Persephone's existence, The Four Corners of the Resistance, the downfall of Heaven, all of that was to my desi-"

Time seemed to slow for all who witnessed the event. Chang'es eyes shot wide open as pain tore through her body. She turned her head down, and saw the burning hole that had been blasted through her back and out her chest. Then before her eyes a sword erupted out from next to the opened wound, drenched in her own blackened blood.

"MOTHER!"

"MOTHER!"

The edge of the blade glowed a sickly purple hue, and Chang'es body was lit up with divine energies that wracked at her body. She was sent flying downward and crashed into the ground in a muffled thud, dust and blood kicked up from the impact. The Twins turned, but were both greeted with a plume of hellfire that engulfed the pair of them and blasted them down deeper into the crater. Only then could Crigan and Nichelle see the culprit, and while one caught Nichelle by surprise, both of their identities left Crigan bewildered and confused.

"So Philip's death... The death of my brother... YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT?!" The Whisper Demon formed from the shadowy energy that had parted from Yzazil and aimed both of her hands down to where Chang'e and the Twins had been cast, and more pillars of hellfire surged down and consumed them. This hellfire was joined with divine flames that Minerva poured in as well.

"MY BELOVED! YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME!" The Archangel of War screamed in murderous hatred. "BURN! BURN! BUUUURN!"

Nichelle could hardly believe her eyes. Hevar had died in Yzazil's arms as a frog, hadn't she? How was she back? Unless...

Crigan was even more confused. Minerva had been dead for thousands of years, so how was the mightiest of the Archangels still alive and here? What was going on?

Beside them, Cercil landed. The Goddess of Hudai was panting heavily, and looked exhausted. "We made it... just in time..." She looked at Crigan, but at the sight of Minos, she paused, as if trying to process what was going on. She shook her head.

"Cercil, what is-"

"No time, you're seriously wounded and others here are as well. I'll take you all to the Ninja's place and then come ba-"

"Sister, leave this fiend to me." Minerva continued to pour divine fire into the ever growing crater. "This won't take long."

"Get in line, angel. I've been waiting for revenge against Persephone, but now that the real mastermind just showed herself, I'll take her life with my own hands! I lost everything to her!"

"Join the club, mortal."

Cercil looked up at Minerva, and gave her a nod. "If you insist..." With that, she raised up her staff, and in a bright light teleported Crigan, Nichelle, Minos, and those within Erebus away from Sheol, away from Hudai, and back toward the Ninja Homeworld.

No sooner had they left, than the torrent of flames exploded back toward Minerva and Hevar. Both raised barriers to protect themselves, and when the flames died, Chang'e hovered up from the crater, her robes burnt and hair singed, but the wounds afflicted upon her rapidly healing before their eyes. "It's always interruptions. First Adolphus... Then Daon... and now this. And my lovely prisoner has escaped as well. That just irritates the hell out of me... And two worthless nobodies have volunteered to be my punching bags!"

[Godzilla165]

The Core’s Vaunted

“Mom… As unbelievable as this is, I just wanna know, NEED to know… Why did you wait? Why did you wait so long to reach out? Why did you never let tell us where you were this whole time?” Evron bluntly asked, having broken the long-standing silence that had cropped up after the initial reunion.

Tiamat took in a long breath and shook her head slowly. She knew this question would be asked from one of them; it was simply a matter of when. But, she was hesitant, not because she was scared of telling them the truth, but because she was worried. Tiamat was worried, nervous of their acceptance, or lack thereof of the truth. Ultimately, such no longer mattered; her children deserved to know, regardless of their reaction. She owed them that much.

Yet, before she could answer, before she could utter a single word, it was Dante that did so for her. “As much as I would also love to know, Rube, I don’t think now is the time.” He replied. He regarded all of his siblings with a stoicism, a hardened eye. “Raspaganje cannot and will not be allowed to win, not in this cycle, nor any other. So, while it’s understatement to say that our Mom finally being back is amazing…” Dante turned to Tiamat, his expression softening, “Why did you bring us here, Mom? It couldn’t have just been for a family reunion?”

Tiamat nodded once. Finally, it was time. “You’re correct, Dante.” She agreed, looking at the others with weary eyes. “Sadly, our homecoming will have to be cut shorter than what I was hoping. The multiverse is in greater peril than any of us could have otherwise expected. If Raspaganje wins, then life, reality, and everything that we’ve come to know and love will end.”

The deity shook her head, an angry frown twisting on her lips. “His version of ‘peace’ is not a kind that anyone wishes to have.”

“So what do we do?” Daeva inquired. “You said it yourself, Mom; even at our current ‘level’, Raspy would’ve still beaten us.”

Ubel nodded in agreement, “We can’t push ourselves any further… Not right now.”

A sly, clever grin crossed Tiamat’s lips. “Fortunately, sweetheart, that is where you’re wrong.” She mused.

Dante and Evron shared a look, and exchanged confused thoughts. “What do you mean?” The latter asked.

“Come.” Tiamat stated and clapped her hands together, suddenly creating a long and rectangular, iridescent portal to a different dimension directly behind her. At the foot of the portal were pure white steps, ones that, to the ninjas’ point-of-view, stretched on forever.

Folding her hands neatly together, she nodded to them, “It is time the four of you received your birthright.” She said, and turned to head into the portal.

Dante furrowed his brow, “Which is what, exactly?”

Tiamat stopped, turned, and looked him dead in the eyes. “The key to winning this war.”

******************************************************
A few minutes into the ascend, the small Yakuza group had been mostly silent, with only a few brief remarks spared between them. Ever since Tiamat’s remark about the key to winning the war, the crucial component to ending the conflict, such did the gravity of the situation grow even stronger. There they were, the guardian ninjas, surrounded by darkness on all sides; the only source of light being the glowing white steps beneath them. They were ready, ready to fulfill their duty, to right the wrongs committed by Raspaganje, Chang’e, Persephone, Tengri, Miyoshi… And ensure that the multiverse did indeed have a future… A future where free will reigned.

“Soooo, that key you mentioned before… Where exactly is it, Mom? Like, where are we going?” Daeva inquired.

Tiamat chuckled, “Patience, dear, you’ll see soon enough. But, I will say-“ She looked over her shoulder to smile at the ninjas, “No children of the Gods have ever traversed this level of ascension before. This is a huge moment for you, for me… For all of us.”

“You still hate spoiling things, don’t you?” Dante mused.

“Ha! Look who’s talking!” Tiamat threw back.

Evron snorted, “Yeah, Em, you’re the freaking KING of not revealing anything; that’s why you’re simultaneously the best and absolute worst whenever you’re in charge of movie night.”

“Which is hilarious, considering you’re just the worst liar ever.” Ubel snickered.

“Yeah! I think you’re worse at lying than Peri is at holding her liquor, and that’s saying something!” Evron threw his head back and laughed.

Daeva dropped her jaw, “HEY!” She snapped, before reaching out with two fingers, grabbed a chunk of Evron’s cheek, and squeezed with incredible force.

“Ow, OW, HEY! THAT ACTUALLY HURTS, YOU LITTLE-“

“See…” Dante reached up to wrap his arm around Ubel’s neck and forced the latter’s head down to meet his other fist, where he went on to saw it back and forth against the broad ninja’s cranium. “I didn’t know I came here to be disrespected, especially in front of Mom!” Dante exclaimed.

“OW, Dante!!! If we weren’t in the middle of saving the multiverse right now, I’d-“

“Alright, ALRIGHT! That’s enough, yeah?” Tiamat finally stepped in, though struggling to withhold a bout of laughter. “Listen, focus back up, alright? We’re almost ther-“

Suddenly, behind the Yakuza deity, what could only be described as a towering pair of iridescent doors, appeared. The ninjas quickly ceased their squabbling and situated themselves in an organized manner. As Tiamat turned to face the doors, they inaudibly opened outwardly, revealing nothing but a cascading white light that hid within. Tiamat nodded silently to herself, “We’re here.” She spoke, then turned to the four guardians. “Come… It is time.”

And so they did. Without a word, the siblings followed her up the few remaining steps that stood between them and the future of existence… Into the white void.

******************************************************


Silence. Silence was the requiem of space. A tender song that resonated within the hearts of all, whilst uttering not a single word. The black mass of the universe clutched quietness as though if it didn’t, the latter would slip away and be forever lost to the void. The guardians were quite familiar with this phenomenon, just as they knew space nigh as well as their own home.

But this wasn’t space where they currently stood. There were stars floating all around, nebulas hovering about, and the arms of galaxies stretched out… But this place was not space. The ninjas took a few moments to absorb their new surroundings, quiet awe transfixed along their faces and within their eyes. This, however, was not the thing that captured their collective attention. Rather, it was the entity before them that held stricken their gazes.

Dante’s face became awash in amazement. “This… This is…” He managed, before to his siblings’ surprise, he dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

Evron scrunched his face up in confusion. “Dante, Dante, what the hell are you-“

“Evron…” Tiamat, who stood in front of them, cut the former off. She smiled his way, “Hold that tongue of yours back for now, dear.” She said, then turning around to face the entity herself, gazing up to try and take in some of its vastness. “For you all are now stood in the presence of the Core.”

Tiamat’s revelation had hit Evron like a truck, as it did to Ubel, and to Daeva also. “I… We’re… What?” Evron stammered and stumbled, the color leaving his skin as he craned his neck up to stare wide eyed at…

“The… Creator…” Ubel gasped, mouth on the floor, his eyes and lips quivering together.

Daeva covered her mouth with her hands, whispering in disbelief to herself, “The Core of the Multiverse… And we’re standing… In front of it?!”

Then, in one smooth motion, did Daeva, Evron, and Ubel all sink to one knee alongside Dante and bow their heads. The ninjas knelt to no one, no kings, no queens, fellow gods, no one. But, in the presence of the creator of all, the Shepard of existence… The Guardians could do nothing more but kneel in eternal respect.

Tiamat smiled proudly, her heart melting at her incredible children. Then, she turned from them to face the Core once again, and her eyes lit up with excitement. “Turn your gaze upwards, my children; you don’t want to miss this!” She said with growing anticipation in her voice.

The ninjas did what she said and brought their heads up to peer at the creator. And, when they did, they were granted with a truly wondrous sight. Before them did they witness the birth of a brand universe. Rising from the lake of creation, said universe was extraordinarily tiny when compared to its sculptor, but still could the ninjas make out various galaxies, nebulas, stars, and even planets hidden within. And, with not a hint of drama, the new reality for trillions of life forms was promptly cradled in the arms of one of the Core’s seemingly infinite branches, where it would soon be transferred out of the former’s domain.

A single tear fell from Ubel’s eye. “Beautiful.” He uttered.

“Breathtakingly beautiful.” Evron agreed, grinning from ear to ear.

“Wow… This feels like… The ultimatest of ultimate honors being here.” Daeva said, eyes and mouth aghast.

Dante smiled at her, “That’s because it is, baby sis. To be here again, I-“

“Wait wait wait,” Evron whirled his head to look at Dante, “again? What do you mean ‘again’?!”

“You were already here before??” Ubel questioned.

Dante grinned cheaply, letting a nervous laugh slip out. “Oh yeah, heh, I guess I forgot to mention that, huh?”

With an overextended groan, Evron rubbed a hand down the length of his face, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to say about you sometimes, Em.”

Tiamat chuckled to herself before extending an inviting hand to her children. “Come, rise; the Core says that it is time.” She said.

The guardians did as they were told, rising back to their feet, and awaited for whatever the Core apparently had in store for them next. Suddenly, a ghostly white and translucent tendril of divine energy snaked down from the Core’s central being, splitting into multiple points at the end, almost like fingers. The long strand found its way over to the ninjas and wrapped comfortingly around them, filling each of their bodies with a kind of warmth they’d never felt before. They felt eternally reinvigorated, stronger, surer, and more focused than ever before.

Dante chuckled, looking to his siblings in excitement, as they also shared his sentiment, before he stared at Tiamat. “What is it doing, Mom?” He asked.

“You four are the Creator’s guardians, its vaunted knights, if you will.” She replied, smiling sweetly. “This is just the Core’s way of greeting you all.”

Daeva gleamed, reaching out with a hand to shake the energy tendril. And, to her surprise, she was indeed able to physically touch it. The power that it possessed sent a pleasantly electric shock through her entire body. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you too!” She exclaimed.

And then, the arm slowly drew away, passing by Tiamat with a subtle wave. The deity nodded and peered at the ninjas with a serious gaze. “Now then, I need you to get into position. Form a circle, and take hold of each other’s hands.”

And so they did; they quickly formed a perfect little circle, and clasped tightly their fellow ninja’s hands.

“Now then… The ceremony can begin.” Tiamat stated.

Ubel peered her way, “Ceremony?” He parroted.

She nodded again, “For in order to bring forth the key to victory… To summon him… You all must listen and do exactly what I say, alright?”

The ninjas shared looks of intrigue and a little honest hesitation and caution. But, after they mentally assured one another, they looked to their mother with determination.

“Alright then, let’s do this.” Dante said.

Wasting no more time, Tiamat soon began by placing herself in perfect alignment underneath the Core. “You all must first close your eyes and focus, focus on nothing but the sound of my voice. Clear your minds of anything and everything else that may wish to pass through; let my words flow through your very souls, the very fibers of your beings. Do so silently, for no other word needs speaking during this process.”

Tiamat extended her arms towards the ninjas, pointing her now upturned and open hands at them. She closed her eyes as well, feeling as their minds emptied and instigated an exodus of every other thought, desire, and feeling. Their minds were clear, primed, and ready.

“You four are not just the Guardians of the Multiverse, not just those who protect the innocent, not simply the stewards of peace and righteousness. You four are more than even that. You are the Core’s knights, the Creator’s prodigal sculptures… And my beautiful children.”

Soon, brilliant golden energy flowed from the palms of Tiamat’s hands and towards the ninjas, where it began to encircle them. Simultaneously, raw energies from the Core itself came forth and orbited them. A glorious cyclone of the most divine and powerful energies of reality swirled around the guardians, and they. Felt it. It was unlike anything else, in their combined 92 million years of life, of existence… They had never felt anything like this before. Their hair flowed and billowed, as did their clothes. This was it. The time was now.

“It is with your incredible gifts that you all will Shepard the multiverse to victory against wormwood, and lead her to a better, brighter future. Yet, it shall not just be the four of you alone… But together… As one.”

Tiamat’s eyes shot open, and she, along with the Core, poured even more power into the ninjas. Still did they hold firm, minds completely focused and free of any invasive thoughts. Their hands squeezed each other’s tighter as they held onto one another for dear life.

“By the power of the almighty Creator, by the power of its right hand, and by the extraordinary powers of Dante, of Evron, of Ubel, and of Daeva: The Guardians of the Multiverse… I SUMMON THEE!”

The cyclone of energy was at its zenith, washing over the four mighty warriors like a great wave. Their bodies, their souls… The very fibers of their beings were transfused, interwoven perfectly together. Their Ki combined, stacking atop of Tiamat’s, of the Core’s. In the light, there were no longer four.


There was only one…

************************************************************

The God of the Multiverse

Aphrodite could only look on in a mixture of horror and utter defeat at the loss of the javelin. Her greatest weapon, the best chance she currently wielded at defeating this, this… False usurper… Was snuffed out. Worst of all, it had taken all of her power to summon such an attack; Aphrodite’s power was all but spent. Her lightning form sizzled away, leaving behind a goddess that had currently, nothing left in the tank. She could only watch as Aram’s nine tails shot forth and skewered their way into her body, showering the landscape with her bright red blood. The pain was searing and agonizing, yet dull and delayed. Aphrodite looked across the way at Piccolo, her new friend, how his now limp body hung suspended by Aram’s power. Her head drooped like a rope; she had failed him, and that stung far worse than what her enemy could have ever concocted.

With the last bit of strength she had, Aphrodite picked her head up to peer at Aram. Those eyes… Those cold, lifeless eyes… The goddess felt sorry for her. Genuine empathy was cradled by her heart. Her lips drew taught, and a single tear left her eye. “I feel deeply sorry for you, Aram. It’s obvious to me now that love is a foreign concept to you, having never experienced it at all yourself.” Aphrodite spoke with a weariness. A feeble half smile crossed her lips, “I just hope, for your sake, that you’ll one day know what that actually feels like.”

Yet, before Aram could strike down her opponent, a light, an utterly blinding, incomprehensible, all encompassing light… Shown in the sky. It started in the heavens of Sheol, but soon traveled across the entire multiverse, every facet of existence, and of reality. Across the snowy plains of Hel, the mystical shroud of Owlzarus’s great library, the heavenly realm of the ninja, the eternal paradise of Noon Harvest, the asteroid belt of Quadrant 9, the joyous wonderland of Quatheral, the skies of Heaven itself, the fields of Makai, the dead world of Maritus, the peaceful skies of Namek, the gentle plains of the Borskall, even the abandoned world of Noraage, with in impenetrable ceiling. Human settlements, new universes, old ones… All could see and FEEL the light. Aphrodite stared blindly towards it, awe overcoming her weariness and defeat. Piccolo, with a pained groan, craned his neck to also peer at the light, feeling its resonating might flow through him.


The good Yakuza doctor, Hale, stopped in the midst of tending to Emmanuel, and stood to look at the light. He reached up to remove his monocle, and let his bottom jaw drop. The Evron clone that had been assisting him, also stood alongside him. The latter took off his helmet and tucked it under his arm, staring at the brilliance with an excitable grin.

“By the gods… What in heaven’s name is that? What is that feeling?” Hale wondered aloud.

Evron’s clone grinned even wider, “Ohhh, you’re about to find out, doc; just you wait.”

Emmanuel’s eyes creaked open, having felt the warmth from whatever power had suddenly shone across reality… And he smiled. He knew it deep down… He just knew.

As did Lafayette. The entirety of the ninja realm, including Alexei and Vale, were now all outside, filling the streets, the plains, the balconies of the estate… All trying to get both a view, and a sense of this incredible power. Lafayette merely sat calmly upon one of the front steps to the estate, and watched in anticipation with a smile.

“Oh Tiamat… What truly wonderful children you have, dear.” She muttered to herself.


Hayden jumped nearly ten feet back as Tenkarus broke into the room of nightmares. Soon though, he breathed the largest sigh of relief in his life from her being there, and nodded profusely at her offer. “Okay, but wait! Not everyone in here is… Dead.” He shuddered at that last word. “Can’t we at least try and save them before-“

His words were immediately cut off as the great piercing light poured into the room, filling its entirety with a wall of pure white. The young warrior tried to shield his eyes, but to no effect. “What… What is that?!” He yelled.



Before Raspaganje could advance any further, the ungodly devil was indefinitely blocked by a wall… A sheer wall of pure divine energy. It seared at his flesh, burned his very irises, and sent him reeling from the colossal mounds of power. A shield of energy formed around Evoex to protect him, while Drillgore was consumed by the ever growing light, scorching his black flesh.

And then… Before the eyes of all… An enormous white sphere appeared in the heavens. The size of a massive star, the sphere hovered soundlessly in place, emanating endless amounts of energy and power. The Core of the Multiverse… Or at the very least, a mere avatar of the Creator… Had come for all to see. And with it, did it bring a gift… The key.

And so, forth did he rise, ascending from within the pool of unlimited power, radiating a light that cascaded across the multiverse. And, as the Core’s avatar faded away in a conglomeration of particles, he was THE light of all existence. He was basked in brushed stainless steel and aluminum all across his body, with ancient glowing white text of the Yakuza engraved across the surface. Fingerless steel gloves governed his hands as they were clenched calmly beside his person. Stainless steel rings wrapped around his elbows, leaving the rest of his arms exposed. Only his mouth and nose were covered by a brushed steel faceplate, allowing for his glowing white hair to flow brilliantly down to his lower back. And his eyes… Closed until now… Opened with a divine flash to reveal radiant golden irises, giving off both a feeling of warmth, yet overwhelming, extraordinary power.

He is the Core’s pride and joy, its perfect creation. He wore the determined and set brow of Dante, and his long, majestic hair. He had the sharp and fierce eyes of Evron, Ubel’s towering stature and beefier physique. And, he possessed Daeva’s radiant skin, her perfectly sculptured legs, and her warm essence.

When his eyes opened, they locked onto Wormwood, the Star of Calamity… Raspaganje. Yet, they were inherently, eternally calm, with not a single spark of rage nor excitability within them. Raspaganje could feel the power coming from just them alone, and those eyes never left the dragon. His judgement began… Now.

For he was stood in the presence of the sword and shield of the Core… The God of the Multiverse had arrived at last.

This. Was. Tenchi Orion.

[Beast Blood]

The trio of furry creatures lay on the floor beneath a thin layer of dust and rubble from the floor broken over them. Though the floor creaked dangerously beneath her, Korraz — by the slimmest of miracles — had actually managed to avoid falling another floor below, enormous weight spread evenly rather than being focused into her feet and tail. While Fray had landed safely onto the giant’s belly, snatched up by the scruff of her neck and pressed against the blacksmith for protection, Glaxion landed awkwardly on her face, hind legs kicking in the air. The warrior growled, the deep, rumbling sound rattling the metallic plates of the ship around her.

While Glaxion angrily fought to her feet, Korraz slowly sat up, dazed from the blood loss and the fall. Realizing she was still holding onto Fray’s fur, she gently plopped the pale canine onto her feet as she slowly pushed herself up to her own stance.

“Come back here, milk drinker! I am not done with you!”

While Glaxion tried to find a way to climb up to pursue the malicious Quatheral, Korraz turned to the sound of giggling coming from somewhere behind her. To her surprise, upon turning around, the giant was met with the sight of a mouthless creature waving its hand. This one appeared much friendlier than just about anything she had met on the ship so far. However, the situation was too dire to offer a formal greeting. She waved back a bloodied hand, before inviting the creature to join them.

The blacksmith would have communicated further had something her ears caught not grabbed her attention. Interrupted mid-hand signal, the giant whipped her head over her shoulder to stare at Fray. It was not the portal conjured by the canine shapeshifter that intrigued her so, though the giant did briefly wonder if she and her friends were the only ones unable to summon such rifts, but rather the voice she spoke with. The dog spoke in a tone that Korraz recognized as possessing traits of Daeva’s voice, but it sounded unspeakably off, as if two different voices were trying to blend together and not doing so perfectly, two instruments failing to harmonize - two vocal threads merged together imperfectly. The giant had heard certain birds mimicking voices and noises around them before, but the effect here was no less bizarre. From where she was, Mitsif could see the giant’s traits go from curiosity to complete confusion, to mild concern. Her hand, hovering aimlessly in the air, slowly dripped blood.

Glaxion’s hammer struck a slouching piece of flooring above her, the horned giant using it as a sort of ice pick to anchor herself for climbing. The harsh noise startled Korraz out of her thoughts, stopping her train of thought before it would go too far. Seeing her shorter friend could use a hand, Korraz lumbered her way and picked her up by the scruff of her neck, allowing her to reach the floor above her. Despite her injuries, the movement was every bit as fluid and effortless as it could be - until a horrible, wet snap came from the mangled limb. Korraz’s furry hide crinkled like carpet, pulling back her bloodied fur like a sleeve and wrenching her fingers open in an odd spasm. By chance, they did so just as she had reached the proper height to release Glaxion, allowing her friend to hoist herself up the ledge. The warrior turned to see Korraz examining her arm with concern that she probably should have had before. The blacksmith carefully tucked her arm against her, covering it with her other arm for protection. Some of her fingers still twitched beyond her will. She raised her eyes back up to see Glaxion staring back at her with a glare a stern mother would give a cub that got itself in trouble. The giant could only wonder how much more menacing that gaze would have been if Glaxion still had her other eye - she might just have spontaneously combusted on the spot.

“You, uh... should probably stay here and guard these little ones,” Glaxion suggested, though it felt far more like scold than advice.

For once, Korraz did not argue. Although she hated the idea of leaving her friend alone to fight, she also did not want to leave these new allies alone either. And, as the state of her arm showed, it would be unwise for her to go and make it worse. It was better to remain here and try to regain some strength, at least until something came up.

With her dominant arm barely functional, Korraz used her other hand to bid Glaxion good luck. Watching her friend grin and stomp her way towards her foe, Korraz turned to the vent again and pried its lid off with the tip of a claw, then turned her hand over, inviting the creature inside to step onto her extended paw.

---

“Hmm...” Glaxion scratched her chin, grinning maliciously as she stalked the corridor she last saw her prey in. Her nose helped her close in on what she recalled to be his scent, and her ears pinpointed the location of the grating sound of drill against metal as it was dragged through the air vent. Stomping forward, Glaxion thrust her fist into the wall. Crashing like an icy, clawed meteor, the fist caught Drillgore in its grasp and ripped him out of his escape route.

The warrior laughed heartily.

“Got you now.”

The Borskall’s cold fist squeezed onto him, aiming to freeze him from within...