In the beginning, there was nothing. Then, in that nothing, something stirred. Something woke up. Something older than old and stronger than strong.
It has gone by many names.
The One Before All.
Evil Beyond Evil.
Chaos Unbound.
The Shadow.
A threat of absolute power. The closest thing to a god. This chaotic power, which had visited Earth so long ago, left its mark upon the world, and yet humanity still lived. Humanity moved on. They survived its rampage and proved why this was their planet.
That wasn't the only threat they would have to face, either. Golark. Asmandous. Umbra Mortis. Lucifer. The Hawker Clan. The Beast. And now, the Emperor.
Yet even after all of these threats have come down upon the world and caused so much damage and destroyed so many lives, how is it that humans can still have hope and live?
The start of the final battle had begun here and now. A war that would lead to the end of an era had started. On the surface of the moon, the Emperor fought. In the emptiness of space, Full Monarch flew. And right now on the planet known as Earth, two heroes who had been left behind stared up at the moon above.
Despite the battle that was no doubt going on above, what happened on the planet was almost as important. An important conversation was about to take place.
"Do you think they're winning?" Mermaid asked, letting out a sigh.
"Nope." Young Dog's response was blunt and to the point, making his daughter frown.
"Seriously? You're not even going to try and pretend like they might have a chance?"
"Nope." Young Dog shrugged. "Sorry, but until the day comes when Full Monarch returns, I'm not going to have faith in our little band of losers. This world is a lost cause without him. It's as simple as that. We're dealing with something akin to the Devil. A force of power that is second only to the Shadow. Never send a man to kill something like that. Only God can do it."
Mermaid frowned, but she didn't say anything else. It was hard to argue with her dad. Certainly, since the moment Full Monarch vanished, the good guys and, in fact, all of humanity were pushed into a corner. They were losing this war. That was a fact. That didn't mean hope was gone, though. They all had faith. Faith in what could be. Faith in what should be.
Faith was a powerful thing. It could make miracles happen and shape the world in ways mortals simply could not.
It was through hope and faith that the human race was even able to go on, despite all the suffering and hardships they were put through. That was why the heroes all left for space. Mermaid and her father remained behind, and currently they were outside of the bunker, standing upon the ground, looking up at the vast cosmos that hung above them. The moon was high in the sky, and every now and then a faint flicker of light would shine down, no doubt brought on from the fighting. Good versus evil. The final battle was taking place while she and her father were done on planet Earth, left to guard Max and Lois.
Beneath the ground resided the bunker itself. The last line of defense.
Humanity's last hope in a world without Full Monarch.
Everything would soon come to an end.
The end of an era was in motion.
"It's hard to believe that we're living through a historical moment," Mermaid said softly. She looked around at the field she stood on. The area itself looked like your average farm. There were vast fields that stretched on and a few animals that roamed around, with a barn placed near the center. It was created to look boring and average and was placed far away from any city so that no one, not even the villains, would have a reason to come here and discover the vault that was hidden underground. This farm also had a tiny house with a wooden porch that had various rocking chairs. It was seated in these chairs that Mermaid and her father were having their talk. "So much has happened."
"Every second is history." Young Dog stated flatly. "Every second that a person decides to do something, it creates a butterfly-like effect. A wave of change that we can't study, nor do we know the full extent. That is the tricky thing about free will and time. They affect one another. An endless song and dance. Around and around." Young Dog took a long gulp from a flask that he had at his side, the alcohol running down his chin. "What we're living through now isn't our history, though."
"It's not?" Mermaid looked to her father, and he shook his head.
"No. Our history isn't in this moment. History is something that can be looked upon and remembered. There is no remembering this, though. We're at the very end. That bastard has already won. The moment he sent Full Monarch away. This isn't our history. It's theirs. Those bastards that serve the Emperor. They'll remember this as the day they wiped us out, and then they themselves will be wiped out by that fucker. The Beast."
"The world doesn't have to just rely on Full Monarch." Mermaid frowned. "We can still fight and walk forward. Full Monarch was strong, but he wasn't a god."
"Yes, he was."
"No, he wasn't."
"Yes. He was." Young Dog glared at his daughter. "If he wasn't a god, then I fear what a real one would look like."
"Godlike doesn't mean God." Mermaid shook her head and let out another sigh. "He was strong. But even he was still a human. He failed. He allowed himself to be sent away."
"And that's why we're doomed." Young Dog said, and his hands trembled a bit as he gripped his glass. "Without him, there isn't anything we can do."
"We can keep fighting. We can still have hope." River Sini looked back up at the moon, watching the various flashing of lights. Tiny cracks were starting to splinter out across the surface of the moon. She wondered for a moment what the battle must have been like. Which side was winning? "Humanity survived, Father. Over and over again. Before Supers, before the Lords, before the Shadow, after Supers, after the Lords, and after the Shadow. Humans aren't some fragile thing that can break down and shatter. They are beings able to stand up to annihilation and survive again and again. Full Monarch wasn't salvation. He was something we had come to rely on. Now that he is gone, it is time we use the power of perseverance that we have. We need to have hope now more than ever. Things are rough, but that doesn't mean we should give up. At the very least, if you do believe that Full Monarch is that salvation, that he is the only thing that can save us, then shouldn't we do our best to hang on until he arrives? Isn't it the duty of the species that he has protected and cultivated so much to survive so that he has something to return to? I don't know why you and the other heroes seem so keen on failing. Why do you all think that the war has already been lost, even though it just started? Ruby, my friend, hasn't given up yet. Even after all that she has seen, all the fights she's been in, and all the chaos and destruction that has been seen in her eyes. Despite knowing that her father might never return, she keeps on trying her best. She doesn't even want to be a superhero. That was never a life she wanted to live. It wasn't something she was ever interested in, yet she has also stepped up, and she now does her best. So why? Why have you and everyone else given up? Why can't you all just try a little bit harder? We've come so far, and we're still pushing forward, but what's the point if you all just assume that we are going to lose? Why can't you all just have a little bit of hope? We can keep trying. We can keep going. I don't want to give up yet. I want to save the world. I want to have hope that things will be better one day."
Young Dog remained seated, feeling stunned as he heard his daughter's speech. She had talked without stopping and kept her eyes focused on the heavens above the entire time.
"I know that we should have hope." Young Dog bowed his head. "But seeing everything that is going on in the here and now makes it hard. We're still trying, but at this point it seems as if we might be racing toward the end. It's good that the next generation, people like you and Ruby, can still look to the future." He gave a weak smile. "Maybe the world will still exist come tomorrow. If we're lucky."
"It will." Mermaid nodded. "I just hope it's the same world that we know."
Right now, all across the planet, men, women, kids, even heroes and other villains, were all hoping that this war that was tearing the planet apart would end.
And the end would come far sooner than anyone thought. In fact, today was the final day of the war.
Good versus evil.
A final dance.
But until that end did arrive, evil was going to continue to dominate, for at this current moment it was unchecked.
Mermaid went to say something, but before she could, there was a wave of light! A mix of white and black! All the shadows in the area grew, expanding out. A powerful chill crept across the land, and all the animals started to shake.
Space rippled, and the air was pulled in before it imploded, and a wave of force launched out, sending a ripple out that shook the barn and the house.
Mermaid's eyes widened in shock and horror, as did Young Dog's. The shift in the air and the dense power that suddenly appeared told her everything she needed to know. Someone had teleported in.
A mini crater had formed in the ground, smoke rapidly rising up and into the air. From the dense mist, a pair of fiery blue eyes blasted out and chilled both heroes down to the bone. The Emperor stood, his arm sucking in any light that remained. Next to him was his faithful hound. His beast. His bodyguard. Hell Hound gripped her mace tightly and growled when she saw the two enemies that stood before her and her master.
The Emperor's eyes calmly scanned the area, looking around. Studying. Calculating.
"H-How?" Mermaid yelled out. "They should have stopped his teleportation! The portal? How did he use the portal?"
The answer to this was obvious. The portals had, in fact, been shut down. The formula Doctor Blue had made did its job, making it impossible for the portal maker to open his many gates, but what the heroes didn't know was that the Emperor had another way to teleport and escape.
Of course, this was a fact they could not have known. Going from the moon to the surface of Earth would normally require a tremendous amount of power that was far beyond the means of any normal Super. Of course, Storymaker, the sword of the Emperor, was no ordinary Super. In fact, Harrison Avalon was likely the strongest non-Lord or Ruler teleporter around. It was through this weapon and his power that rendered space and time a moot point that the Emperor had been able to leave the moon and arrive at his destination, even though his own portal-based power wasn't working.
"How interesting." The Emperor's voice came out loud and booming as he studied the land he showed up at. "I wanted to teleport directly into the bunker, but I appeared out here?"
Mermaid gritted her teeth and jumped to her feet. Her father did the same, pulling out various knives along his belt. She had already been worried about the fact that the Emperor was here and not on the moon, but now she was full of panic learning that the Emperor somehow knew about the secret bunker that housed Ward and all the directors of the Hero Branch, as well as all the kids, Max, and Lois.
This wasn't good...
"The land was a bit rough as well." The Emperor looked down at his sword. "Storymaker, did you do this? Or did they plan on my teleportation and manage to make a barrier capable of keeping us out? No matter. I'll tear my way through the planet if I must—"
A massive wave of ice fired out as Mermaid yelled and thrust her arms forward. The water surged and froze before her as she sent everything she had at the villain. The Emperor didn't even look toward her. He kept his eyes on his sword, studying it in silence as Hellhound threw herself in front of him and swung out with her mace. Her weapon shattered the ice and sent its shards out, and she roared.
"You dare attack us?" Hellhound barked out. "I will skin you alive!"
Young Dog threw out several of his knives, and as Hellhound went to smack them out of the air, the bombs attached to the blades exploded. The blast didn't even shift the two Supers remotely, and Young Dog instead used it to block their line of sight as he pulled out a remote from his belt and held it up.
"How dare you betray us, Nier!" Young Dog screamed in rage. "You'll pay for what you did to my father! Now take this! Everything Omega and the other Mental-based Supers we had in our ranks created this just for you!"
The entire farm shook, and the ground started to split open as hundreds of rockets and bombs launched out along with drones that unleashed a wave of bullets and heavy flamers that spewed out fire. Lasers, sonic blasts, poison gas, and even deadly radiation were launched all toward the Emperor and Hellhound.
They knew that if the Emperor ever showed up, they'd need to be ready, and so every weapon they could fit had been placed on this land. The bunker was so deep underground that even if a hundred nuclear bombs went off, it'd be fine. That was why Young Dog sent everything that was here at the man. He hoped that something would stick.
Of course, he knew this also wouldn't work, but the explosions and bombs going off all had a different reason for happening.
While everything was blasted at the Emperor and Hellhound, Mermaid hastily did her best to form waves of ice, blocking everything she could to the best of her ability. She was just barely able to escape her and her father as nukes erupted all along the field, reducing the land to a scorched field of ash.
What was insane was the fact that those bombs weren't even the biggest they had. Far stronger and bigger bombs were in the bunker itself, made to go off if the Emperor attempted to absorb Max like he did Sini. Those bombs had been specially made to harm even Supers with near-unbreakable flesh and were a last resort, as they could accidentally blast away a chunk of the planet if they weren't careful.
The bomb had been made specifically for the Beast, mimicking the explosive force it would unleash when it was defeated, and was crafted by both Sini and Avalon, but it was never used since there was a fear the Emperor and his use of portals could redirect the bomb back at them, so instead they hid it out of sight, and it would be used to kill Max quickly and ensure the Emperor didn't get his hands on the Lord of the Sky and the Weather.
When all the attacks were finally said and done, and the smoke cleared, the Emperor and Hellhound both stood, a massive pair of blue hands, forged from energy, wrapped around them both. The hands faded, and the Emperor now looked around the field of ash that he was in.
The animals, which had also been shielded from the blast by their own barrier of blue energy, began to freak out, but with a wave of his sword, the Emperor sent them all away, and he also teleported all the radiation and gas that was in the air out into the void of space, far away from anyone else. His eyes finally landed on the melting block of ice that contained Mermaid and Young Dog. The house the two had been standing at, which served as the entrance to the vault, was no longer there as well, revealing a massive metal door placed onto the ground that would head down for miles, eventually reaching the underground bunker.
More ice formed around the vault as Mermaid attempted to seal it shut. "Do you really think we're going to let you live now that you're here?" Mermaid demanded, and jagged rings of water circled her body as she formed a blade of ice, which she pointed at the armored villains. "You die today."
Hellhound let out a growl. "A worm like you thinks she can harm my master?"
"Better a worm than a bitch." Mermaid taunted. "What are you supposed to be, his lapdog?"
"Maybe don't piss off the uber-powerful villains." Young Dog muttered, and he drew a katana that was placed at his belt. It was a specially made sword, forged from the same metal as the Emperor's armor, leaving the blade black, and it had been crafted with extremely thin yet vibrating molecules along the blade, which allowed it to nearly cut through anything. He doubted it would leave even a scratch upon the Emperor, though.
The Emperor remained where he was and studied the two heroes calmly. "Are you two really going to fight?" He almost sounded amused, which pissed Mermaid off even more.
"Hell yeah, we are!" She declared. As to whether they could win this fight or not... That was another matter.
Still, they did have several plans set in place just in case the Emperor did try to arrive. That blast from earlier had sent a signal to the bunker alerting the Branch that they would be getting their own plans ready. This wasn't a threat that they were going to take lightly. What stood before them was a villain on the same level of destruction as the Beast. A powerhouse able to rend the planet itself into a fine dust if he got his way.
And yet Mermaid had hope.
"I hope you're ready." Mermaid declared. "It isn't just the Enforcers that you should have been worried about."
"Oh?" The Emperor seemed slightly intrigued.
As if on cue, there was a flash. Teleportation was a rare power, and for most, they could only go short distances. The heroes did have a famous teleporter, though, by the name of Mummy, and currently, he was arriving, using every power he had. He could only travel a short distance, less than ten miles, but the blast that had happened had sent a signal to him and the other heroes they had on standby.
From the light that erupted, bandages began to appear in the air. Long and flowing, they formed various shapes and unwrapped. The first to touch down was a man in gold, who had these bandages wrapped around him.
Mummy flicked his hand out, and more of the bandages began to open and expand as other heroes were pulled through space. In a matter of moments, fifty different heroes all appeared. Some were glowing with waves of energy, others held weapons, and some were in advanced power armor. All of them looked determined and stood behind Mermaid as she gripped her sword of ice.
"The Enforcers serve directly under Full Monarch." Mermaid began. "They are an elite team and, as such, are made up of the ten strongest heroes in the world. Haven't you ever wondered about the others, though?" She smirked. "Meet the eleventh through fiftieth strongest heroes!"
The heroes all cheered and stood their ground.
There had been talks of bringing many of them along to the mission on the moon, but in the end, it was decided that they should remain behind because the difference in power between them and an actual Enforcer member was too great, and they'd just get in the way. Here and now, they weren't expected to win. This was just a diversion. A means to an end, and they all knew it.
They were cannon fodder. Fodder that was going to fight with every ounce of strength they had left.
"How amusing." The Emperor looked at the small army of heroes.
"I'll deal with them." Hellhound began, but the Emperor raised his hand.
"No."
"Master?"
Calmly, the Emperor took his sword, and he handed it to her. "I want to see what the ants can do. Let them see how little they matter when a God stands before them."
Hellhound took the blade and bowed her head. "If that's what you wish."
The Emperor began to walk forward, and from his eyes the blue fire within surged out. Each step was filled with the power and weight of a trillion giants, and the planet itself seemed to shake. And yet the heroes didn't falter. With a roar, Mermaid launched everything she had at the man, sending rings of water and ice as she stabbed out with her sword and charged. She was followed by the other heroes, who all got ready to fight. And the Emperor? He simply kept walking forward.
This was going to be their final stand. They would slow him down. Hold him off. Do whatever it was that they could. All so that humanity would have a future they could look up to.
Down in the bunker, many Hero Branch soldiers ran around getting the last of their preparations up and ready. They were putting on powerful power armor that would soon die or getting massive guns loaded up for war. While they did that, many of the directors ran to their families and prayed.
Seated at his desk, Ward tapped his fingers, and he closed his eyes. "And so, the end has come at last. God help us. Please. Come save us, Full Monarch."
Unknown to Director Ward, unknown to Mermaid and Young Dog, and even unknown to the Emperor and Harrison Avalon, this current scene was being watched. A person outside of time and space found herself looking at it all.
Hope Lauren, the current host of the Brightest Star, stood in a void that held no light. Before her, a massive crystal resided, which played out the events of the war that was currently unfolding. She watched it with keen interest, studying every detail down to memory.
"It's thanks to the power of the Cosmos that I am able to do this." Full Monarch explained. "That power has allowed me to take the events that happened through the universe's gaze and review them. It's pretty handy, isn't it?"
"It is." Hope nodded, and she smiled softly. "So, I'll be able to do something like this also?"
"Well, you do lack some of the Cosmos' power due to how much it aged and rusted away; the same goes for the Sun side, but you might be able to do a lesser form of this." Full Monarch chuckled before his look suddenly grew serious. "So, are you ready?"
"Do you even have to ask?" Hope let out a snort and folded her arms. "Of course I'm ready. I was born ready."
"Good." Full Monarch nodded. "Because from this point on, it gets ugly."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah." Full Monarch nodded. "We're close. Soon... Soon enough, you'll see the fight that created the world that you know. You'll see my battle with the Emperor. You'll see my fight with Jack Larison. Allow me to show you what you can expect. Watch the true power of a Ruler. The strongest Ruler. Behold, the thing closest to the Shadow. This is the threat you will have to beat."