The perfect circle...
A saying that was invented by the monsters that served the Emperor.
In nature, there is the predator, and there is the prey.
It is the duty of the prey to offer itself up and allow itself to be slaughtered by the predator. The predator existed to hunt the prey and to slaughter them as it saw fit. That was the circle of life. The perfect world.
At least this is what a person would be told if they managed to force a monster to spill what they believed in. The truth was the world itself wasn't so simple. Predators were not the things that were on top, and prey wasn't something that would willingly let itself be devoured. In some cases, prey could even surpass the predator and devour it instead.
The Emperor, despite being the biggest threat in the world, was a villain most people knew nothing about. It was kept mostly hush-hush that he was formerly Nier, one of the warriors who defeated Lucifer. The world knew he was a Lord of the Land and Life, but most of the people assumed Nier had fallen and this was a new Lord.
Even the Hero Branch knew very little about the Emperor. They knew that he was Nier and that he was a threat to the world, but it was impossible to tell how much stronger he had become since he walked down the path of evil. Footage of his fight with Full Monarch had been recovered, and it was seen that he had new powers he shouldn't have had access to. Namely, a strange blue aura.
Still, these were the Enforcers. They were the best of the best, right? That meant that they couldn't lose. It was their job to win. Not only were they the ones who were now about to stand before the Emperor, but they had Ruby Admiral, daughter of Full Monarch, with them, as well as one more secret weapon that was up their sleeve.
Ruby was the first up, and she looked around casually. The throne room was a mess since a giant dragon had crashed through the roof above and landed in the middle. Pillars were knocked over, and most of the lights had been put out, the only glow coming from the Emperor himself, who remained seated on a spiked throne made of warped swords. The darkness molded and twisted around him, blue fire pouring out of his eyes. He was slouched and casual, not even looking shocked at the fact that they were now in his home.
Several monster corpses littered the room, crushed and broken under the debris. Their blood flowed out, but none of them were any of the four generals or any other notable monster like Alien.
After Ruby stood up, Feast and Legend were next. Legend was still in his electric form, lightning and other energy radiating off of him. He clutched a jagged spear of golden light, and his robes blew in a wind he created. Feast rubbed his belly, which growled.
After them were Golden Weaver and Omega. Omega cocked his arm, which unfolded into a large beam rifle, while Golden Weaver muttered a quick prayer.
Ferros and Goregous stood and dusted themselves off. Goregous bit his lip but got ready, pulling out a pair of knives, while Ferros hugged herself, the black liquid flowing out of her body.
Lastly, Tamer stood up and pulled off one of the many metal cages that hung around her belt, while Hands lifted his arm and held his palm out toward the Emperor.
Ruby folded her arms and smirked. "Shocked to see us?" The Emperor didn't say anything. Instead, he stayed seated and just stared at them in silence.
Legend stepped forward. "Omega, Weaver, Gorgeous. You three leave. Go look for the portal maker. Tear this entire place apart if you have to. Even if we can't beat the Emperor, we can take the portal user down and give ourselves a huge advantage. He won't be able to escape either, so we've got him locked down somewhere."
Omega lifted off the air, flames boosting out of him, and Gorgeous raised his arm, allowing Omega to grab his hand and fly him away. Golden Weaver fired out a wave of thread and attached it to Omega's leg, getting dragged off as well. The cyborg launched his beam at a wall, blowing it down, and flew out of the room. He had to make his own exit since the doorway had been blocked off. Once they were out, he began to go nuts, launching his attacks out, sending beams of energy and rockets everywhere in order to destroy more of the castle and slay more of the monsters.
Legend waited until they were out of the room, and then he turned back to look at the Emperor, the six of them now all that remained. He was about to say something, but the Emperor spoke first. "Was that wise?" The voice came out almost in a taunting way, and the eyes seemed to narrow. It bounced around the room, loud and booming, and caused a chill to go up all the heroes' spines. "You're losing three members before you fight me?"
Ruby chuckled and pointed her thumb at herself. "I'm all they need."
The Emperor hummed. "And are you sure they'll be able to find the portal user?"
"I am." Legend nodded. "We had spatial tech on the ship, and I know for a fact your little portal maker didn't run in time since the machines didn't detect any on Earth. You weren't aware of our plan, were you? You're putting on a face, but the truth is, you guys don't have access to your portals. It's why this room is empty. You can't have your guards teleport in. They're going to have to run all the way over here, which means all we have to do is beat your ass before they arrive. It's six on one! Do you really think you can win?"
The Emperor seemed to almost let out a sigh, and his energy began to seep out. The blue light rapidly began to crawl through the room, and everyone flinched and raised their guard up, but no attack came. Instead, the light went over the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor, forming a barrier around it. One that kept them all trapped inside. The exits were cut off, and it would now be impossible to leave or enter without breaking through the barrier.
"Welcome to the stomach of a giant." The Emperor finally stood up. "Now you don't have to worry about my guards showing up."
"Why the hell would you do that?" Legend asked in shock.
"What sort of king would I be if I made my soldiers wipe out the ants that got in my way?"
"Screw you." Legend growled. "Dust him." Legend stabbed his spear forward, and it glowed, unleashing a thick beam of blue lightning, which zapped out. The energy rammed headfirst into the Emperor, and the others soon joined in.
Ruby and Feast both casually picked up bits of debris and chucked them as hard as they could, setting the air on fire. Ferros created jagged tendrils of liquid metal, which blasted out sharp blades that launched like bullets. Tamer threw one of her cages down, and it expanded and twisted, forming into a giant frog-like monster covered in black spikes. It opened its mouth and fired out a thin beam of water that mixed with the lightning to make it even stronger. Hands' arm glowed, and a massive wave of green light launched forward as he also sent his own energy attack out.
All the attacks compressed and swirled together, exploding in a massive boom that would have kicked up a wave of dust if not for the barriers that blocked all the dirt. Since there was no dust that was kicked up, it instantly became clear that the Emperor was perfectly fine, still standing where he was as if nothing had happened.
"Aw, shit." Legend cursed. "I was kind of hoping that would harm him."
"He's about to aura farm us, isn't he?" Feast groaned.
The Emperor took a step forward and casually dusted his armor, clearing the burnt flakes away. "My turn." Ruby instantly grunted and gasped as, faster than she could blink, a hand wrapped around her throat. The Emperor was on her in an instant, and the others barely had time to move as he picked her up and rammed her headfirst into Legend, using her as his weapon. Ruby's skull smashed directly into Legend's head, whose eyes went wide in pain, and then Emperor twisted and kicked out, ramming his boot into Legend's gut. He launched the dark-skinned hero away and dropped Ruby to the ground, only to catch her by the foot as she fell. He lifted her up and swung her again, using her body as a club as he spun and rammed her toward the other heroes.
Feast wrapped his arms around Tamer, Ferros, and Hands, shielding them with his own body since they weren't as durable as he was. He let out a roar of pain as he felt several of his ribs shatter, and he was sent rolling across the room, ramming through the throne and smashing into the blue barrier.
Ruby winced in pain and kicked out with her other leg, smashing it into the Emperor's throat, but that barely slowed him down. He grabbed her other ankle, holding her, and pressed her face into the floor. He put a boot under her chin and began to press down while pulling her up at the same time. Ruby gritted her teeth and then cried out as the pain began to get to her, but it suddenly stopped when Tamer's toad twisted around and launched out a tongue, which wrapped around the Emperor's helmet, covering his eyeholes.
The Emperor dropped Ruby, and he grabbed the tongue, pulling the toad toward him. He punched out with his arm and splattered it, sending guts everywhere as the monster exploded.
"No!" Tamer screamed in rage as she got out from under Feast. "How dare you!" The Emperor jerked his hand in her direction, pointing out with his finger. He did it so fast a bullet of air blasted forward and pierced straight through Tamer's stomach, blowing a small hole through her and knocking her to the ground.
"Tamer!" Hands cried out. He rushed over to the hero's side and tried to support her as she spat up some blood. "Shit. You've got to be kidding me."
"What did you all think would happen?" The Emperor folded his arms and looked out at each of them. "Did you really think you could just enter in here and take me down? Prey isn't allowed to harm the being that stands on top. A predator exists to be the ultimate stopgap. The perfect circle dictates that you all die and I live. It is as simple as that."
"Shut up, you bastard." Legend rocketed across the room, fully recovered. Lightning gushed out of his body, and he rammed his spear forward, but the Emperor reached out and caught the tip of it. More lightning gushed out of Legend's weapon, and he glared into the cold eyes of the Emperor, but he wasn't able to drive his spear forward anymore. "God, hearing you speak pisses me off!" Legend's body changed, purple fire blasting out of his hair, and his muscles bulged and turned red as his spear faded. "Go straight to hell!" He rammed his fist straight into the Emperor's gut, but the armored bastard took it head-on and stabbed his hand out, slicing it into Legend's stomach.
Legend groaned but forced his mouth open and unleashed a wave of intense energy that washed over the Emperor and actually pushed the villain back slightly. The Emperor surged his energy out and tried to step forward, but Feast rolled across the ground like a ball and rammed his hand out. His blow was caught by the Emperor, who caught the meaty fist and shoved it down, nearly breaking Feast's hand, but Feast still didn't stop and threw out his other arm, this time ramming it into the Emperor's side. While he did that, Legend grabbed the Emperor's arm and twisted his body, tossing the Emperor across the room as hard as he could.
As the Emperor flipped through the air, Hands lifted his arm up and closed it into a fist. The air shimmered, and more energy swirled into the room, forming into a massive fist, which began to close around the Emperor and squeeze. The hand was large and crackled with green flames, but the Emperor grunted and flexed, shattering it. He dropped back to the ground and punched out, ramming a fist right into Feast's face.
The hero's nose exploded in a shower of blood, and he hit the ground hard.
"Ants." The Emperor turned toward Legend and rammed his leg out, shattering all of Legend's ribs as he hit the man in the side and sent him blasting back once more. "All of you are just ants. The only beings worthy to challenge me are Full Monarch and Lucifer. I am a king. I stand above you all. I am a predator, and yet none of you are even worthy of being my prey."
"That doesn't sound as cool as you think it does!" Hands threw his fist out again and launched his attack toward the villain. A green fireball launched from his arm, but the Emperor swatted it away and put the flames out with one arm. Hands screamed again and launched the attack out once more. He did it over and over again, sending wave after wave at the monster, but again, each time the attack was about to reach the Emperor, the man would just casually swat it away and be done with it, as if it wasn't even worthy of his attention. He still hadn't even used his own power, which pissed Hands off even more. Eventually, though, Hands reached his limit, and he felt his energy die out as his aura started to fade. "Damn it. That's not fair... I... I can shatter mountains with those blasts. How strong is this freak? I'm an Enforcer, damn it!"
"Are you done yet?" The Emperor calmly asked.
"Fuck you!"
"I'll take that as a yes."
Hands gritted his teeth but didn't say anything. He remained next to Tamer, holding onto her body as she was rapidly bleeding out. He hated this.
The Emperor raised his arm up slowly, clearly about to do that same flick attack that wiped Tamer out, but he stopped for a moment. "You're not going to try anymore?"
"I hate you." Hands spat out. "I fucking hate you."
"I see." The Emperor hummed again. "Terrible final words."
"Just do it, you arrogant fuck."
It was obvious that the Emperor was strong. That had been known about. He had gone toe-to-toe with Full Monarch. Still, many of them had thought they could do something. They didn't think they'd be able to win, but they assumed they could at least harm the bastard. Instead, all they got was a monster. One created by the Beast, who lived to torment humanity. He was throwing his power around so casually. The Emperor was playing a game. He was like a child who was throwing his toys around as much as he could to see how long it would take before they broke. They were the toys, trapped in this box of death and misery as he broke them down bit by bit.
It pissed Hands off more than anything. How much had Full Monarch held back just so they could do stuff? If Full Monarch was stronger than the monster that now stood before them, then what even was the point of the rest of them existing? Had Full Monarch just been feeling pity toward them?
Why did humans have to exist in a god's world?
Everything was starting to turn bleak, but as always, in the darkest pits of despair was when the brightest light would begin to shine.
The Emperor was about to launch his next attack out at Hands, but before he could, Ruby rammed her fist up into the back of his head. Something was different this time, though. Her strike wasn't being held back. It let out a massive thundering boom that shook the room just as much as the first attack had, and it even made the Emperor stumble slightly, his arm dropping. He turned to look back at her, only to get another fist aimed directly at his face. She hit him even harder the second time, building up momentum. There was a small crack along his helmet, and he went to strike out at her, but she ducked under his attack.
Ruby reached up with blinding speed and grabbed the villain by the shoulders before he could attempt to run off, and she began to push forward, dragging him across the ground. He tried to hold her back, but she gritted her teeth, and her muscles bulged and even expanded slightly as she beat him in a contest of pure strength. The Emperor was pushed all the way to the back and rammed into the energy wall he created. Then she brought her head back and rammed it forward, directly into his chest as hard as she could. The front of his armor twisted and was caved in, and the force of the blow caused the barrier to shake and crack before finally giving out as he was launched through it.
The Emperor smashed down into the ground and rolled across it, now in the destroyed hallway that Omega and the others had gone through. Calmly, he stood back up and dusted himself off once more. He glared back up at Ruby, who had the biggest shit-eating grin on her face. Blood trickled down her forehead, going over her nose and down to her chin, from how hard she had rammed her skull into him.
"What do you know?" She called out. "I guess this ant just forced the king to fall flat on his ass."
"You know you're going to die, right?" The Emperor began to pick himself back up. "You only managed to get a few good hits in after all. I'm still perfectly fine. How long do you think you can go, though?"
Ruby smiled and launched herself out of the room. "Let's find out!" She threw a punch out, but the Emperor blocked the strike, raising both his arms. "What's this? A king blocking an attack from an ant?" She struck out with her foot and rammed it into his leg, causing him to fall over. As he landed back on the ground, she dropped down toward him with her elbow, but he rolled out of the way. She hit the ground and shattered through the floor, falling to a lower level of the castle. It was another random hallway, and this one wasn't as badly damaged as the others, only having some cracks. It was also filled with monsters who all roared and screamed as Ruby landed down. "Awkward."
The Emperor dropped down through the hole and landed on the ground. His eyes surged, and blue light launched out as he unleashed a wave of energy. Ruby squeaked and dodged to the side, the laser beam slicing through the monsters and hallway. He began to turn toward her, his eyes still firing, and she ran for it, causing more of the hallway and castle to be torn to bits by the laser vision. All the monsters died, being cut to ribbons, and before the Emperor could finally turn to look at her, she reached him and slammed a fist into his chest as hard as she could.
"What gives! We were having a fistfight, and you bust out laser eyes; that's not cool!" Ruby called out.
The Emperor recoiled from the strike, his energy cutting off, and he growled. "Don't be stupid. I'm not playing the same pathetic game you are, you worthless Lordian!" He stepped forward and punched directly into the side of Ruby's head and sent her flying through the destroyed hallway. She hit the back of it and groaned but sat back up and grinned.
Ruby spat out a broken tooth and lay on the pile of debris, giving the Emperor an even bigger smile. "What's a Lordian?"
"What?" The Emperor actually paused.
"You called me a worthless Lordian." Ruby repeated. "Did you mean Lord?"
The Emperor almost let out a snort. "No. You're not a Lord."
"But I'm a Lordian?"
"Yes. As is your father."
"My dad's a Lordian also! You mean Full Monarch, right? So is he a Lordian and not a Lord?"
The Emperor sighed. "He is both. All Lords are automatically converted into Lordians on a molecular level once the title of Lord passes down to them. A Lordian itself is not a Lord. Neither are the children of Lords. You're quite special for that reason. Usually, the child of a Lord is just born as a normal Super; however, your creation was beyond normal. The fact that your hair ignites in the same fiery red glow is proof of that. All Lordians possess the red light of power. That's where your strength comes in as well. Able to rival even the power of a giant." The Emperor took a step forward, and his eyes began to glow again as he got ready to unleash his lasers once more. "Still, though, it matters not. You're no match for me—"
"What's your deal?"
The Emperor stopped again at her stupid question. "What?"
"Your deal." Ruby pushed herself up and rubbed the back of her neck, wincing. "You're not the Emperor, right? Your eyes are blue, not red, and the Emperor I met was a total coward who hid behind his monsters and let them do all the fighting for him. You're the guy who fought my dad, right? I'm guessing you were the one with portals?"
"I am the Emperor—"
"Okay, so there are two of you?"
"Die." The lasers didn't stop this time and blasted out. Ruby threw her arms out in front of her and attempted to block the attack, but it began to push her back and burned her palm. "It was a mistake to engage in talks with an idiotic creature like you."
"I'd like to talk a bit more, actually." Ruby grunted and struggled to push forward through the lasers, but she was still being pushed back. "Like seriously, what's your deal? Why are you doing all of this?"
"Because I'm evil."
"That can't be it!"
"Doesn't matter to you; you're about to be a corpse."
"Oh, screw you!"
The Emperor's beam was about to wash over Ruby and burn her away, but before it could, a bolt of lightning smashed down into the Emperor's head. He looked up, his energy cutting out, and he found Legend standing above him from the hole Ruby created. Next to him were Hands and Tamer, who was being supported by the hero.
"Oh? You want more?" The Emperor asked.
"Master!" A voice called out at the end of the hallway, and the Emperor turned just in time to see his faithful hound. Hell Hound strutted forward, dressed in her armor, and ran her claws along the wall. "Are you hurt?" She asked, a growl escaping her as she glared at Ruby and the others.
"I'm fine." The Emperor folded his arms behind his back. "I had some fun, but it's time to end it. Did you bring it?"
"I did." Hell Hound kneeled and held up a white sword toward her owner. "Your weapon."
The Emperor took the offered blade, his claws gripping around the handle, and he raised it up. He pointed it up toward Legend. "I beat you all without a weapon. What do you think will happen now?"
"You're right." Legend sighed.
"Oh? About what?" The Emperor sounded amused now.
"We're just ants." Lergend's shoulders sagged, and he gritted his teeth. "Ants can't kill a king."
"Finally figured it out—"
"It takes a king to kill a king." Legend finally smiled. "Tamer. Do it."
Tamer hesitated but reached toward her belt toward one of the cages that was pulsing with black energy. "Are you sure?"
"I am."
Tamer pulled the cage off and dropped it toward the ground. The Emperor stepped back suddenly, feeling uneasy, and Hell Hound hissed and grabbed her mace. The cage hit the ground and exploded, black fog seeping out.
"What is this?" The Emperor demanded.
"You said it yourself." Legend called down. "There are only two people who could face you. Since you got rid of Full Monarch, I decided to go ask someone else for help."
From the fog, a figure lifted up. One dressed in long flowing black robes. He had ashy pale skin, golden eyes, and inky black hair. He clutched a thick bible to his chest and stared into the blue eyes of the Emperor.
"Hello, little ant," Lucifer stated. "Playtime is over."