I'm tired of being judged.
Every damn time.
No matter what I do, it's never enough. No matter how many lives I save, they always find something to hate. Always find a reason to remind me that I'm related to Richie.
As if that's the only thing that defines me.
It doesn't matter how many times I try to prove them wrong. Doesn't matter how many scars I collect trying to make up for his mistakes. The world doesn't care about redemption, it only remembers the things it wants to.
Everything feels empty. The air. The ground. My hands. My heart. Empty. I keep asking myself why I'm still fighting.
I try. Gods, I try. But it's never enough. Save a city, and they complain about the rubble. Stop a war, and they whisper about the dead left behind. They look at me and see the cracks, not the effort.
I used to think I could change that. That if I just tried harder, saved one more person, fought one more battle, I'd finally tip the scales.
But all I've done is burn myself out trying.
And now I can't tell if I'm fighting because I still care, or because I don't know how to stop.
Can I let go?
***
Stars surrounded him in the endless cold void of space. Ash drifted between them, a faint glow from his sword casting light across his face. His hair, black and uncombed, floated in thin strands, and his gray eyes stared ahead with a kind of calm that didn't belong to someone alive.
There were no planets near him. Just the dull reflection of the intergalactic vehicle hovering behind him-a thin, silver arrow- shaped craft with hazard lights flashing nervously.
Ash lifted one hand, palm open, then folded two fingers down- the signal for "back off."
"Copy. Pulling back."
The vehicle shifted into reverse, its thrusters humming as it retreated several hundred meters, engines dimming like a frightened animal hiding in tall grass.
A pulse rippled through the dark, like a heartbeat echoing across space. It came from the rift. A few meters ahead, the air bent and tore open, a jagged wound spilling light and static.
The rift twitched. Something thin and pale pushed through the glowing slit in reality. It dragged itself forward like a starving thing, its limbs too long, too sharp, trembling as if the laws of this universe were pressing against it.
Another followed. Then another. Then a dozen more crawled out of the 'Nexus tear'. It was the dignified name of that ugly wound in reality, given by the scientists.
Ash waited.
The creatures twisted toward him, their shapes blurring as their bodies tried to obey physics they never evolved for. They pawed at the air like drowning animals struggling to swim. Their mouths opened, wide. A low growl vibrated through the vacuum. Sound shouldn't travel out here, but somehow it did.
Ash felt it in his bones. More spilled out Crawling. Stretching. Snapping at emptiness as if trying to bite the universe.
He exhaled through his mouth, and a faint white mist escaped.
A soft hum began crawling across his skin. Electricity danced quietly along his arms, thin arcs threading between his fingertips. He clenched his fist, and the sparks faded. He had to hold back. Time it right.
The Nexus Tear pulsed again and another wave of creatures spilled outward, layering over each other in a frantic swarm.
Ash's breath steadied.
Enough.
He moved. One moment he was floating in front of them, still and pale against the void. The next he vanished in a streak of faint blue light, tearing through the nothingness like a knife drawn too fast to see.
He circled the mass of creatures, arcs of electricity trailing behind him like glowing scars carved into space. The vacuum didn't slow him. It didn't even acknowledge him. He moved faster, looping around them in a widening spiral, each pass crackling louder.
He could feel their eyes following him. He could feel their confusion. He could feel his own heartbeat finally rising.
This was it.
Time to test the thing he made.
The one technique he barely understood.
The one that almost fried him the last time he tried it.
But out here?
Out here he didn't have time to hesitate.
A faint smile tugged at the edge of his lips. He slowed just enough to hover behind the swarm, energy pooling along his spine.
"Electro…" he whispered, low enough for only the void to hear.
The void vibrated.
Every spark on his body surged upward, dancing across his shoulders, snapping across his arms and chest. His veins lit up faintly, glowing beneath his skin like molten threads twisting through glass.
Lightning bled from his fingertips.
Thunder rumbled behind his ribs.
"…of Extinction."
The universe blinked.
And then it erupted.
A ring of raw lightning exploded outward from Ash, expanding like a newborn star. The arc sliced through the swarm instantly, tearing their bodies into dust before they even realized they were dying.
The closest creatures didn't even have time to scream. They were erased. Their limbs disintegrating into streaks of glowing ash that scattered like burning snow.
The shockwave didn't slow. It carved through the next layer. And the next.
A flash detonated across the void. Ash hovered in the center of it, electricity still dancing across his body like a storm refusing to die. His breath shook, not with fear but with the aftertaste of power.
Almost all the creatures were gone. The swarm was reduced to a drifting cloud of shimmering debris.
The Nexus Tear pulsed again. And more of them spilled out.
'Lower beasts.' The gutterborn trash of the Realm of Hell. The kind of creatures a first-year hero trainee could kill if they didn't panic.
But In huge numbers?
They could swallow a planet whole.
As they spilled out. For some reason, Ash sheathed his sword and moved. And suddenly moved. He didn't wait for them to gather. A streak of lightning ripping through the void, slicing between the first cluster as his arm whipped forward. Electricity crackled across his palm and tore straight through a creature's skull. The head ruptured in silence, dissolving into black dust that scattered like broken stars.
Another lunged.
He caught it's arm by his jaw and crushed it as a bolt surged up his forearm. The electricity traveled through the beast's body like a hungry snake, blowing it apart from the inside. Pieces of it floated around him, weightless and twitching.
More crawled out of the Tear. He exhaled, eyes narrowing. "Alright," he muttered. "Come on then."
The nearest beast snapped its too-wide mouth at him. Ash pivoted, dragging his fingers across its throat. Thunder flared. The creature's neck split cleanly.
One tried to latch onto his leg. Ash turned, electricity bursting from his heel. The beast exploded, throwing its shredded limbs backward in a spiral of drifting gore.
Another one leaped blindly at his back.
He didn't even look. A tendril of lightning coiled from his shoulder, spearing the creature mid-air and splitting it into two drifting halves.
Bodies floated around him like a sick constellation.
The rift kept pulsing rapidly.
Ash narrowed his eyes. "Persistent little shits."
He blitzed forward.
A burst of white-blue light flashed behind him as he propelled himself directly into the incoming cluster. He grabbed one by its spine, lightning coiling down his arm like a living rope. The creature convulsed violently before it burst apart, its limbs spinning away like severed branches.
Two more snapped at him.
He reached out, hands glowing, and clapped.
The sound didn't echo, but the shockwave did. A dome of electricity rippled out from his palms, vaporizing the nearest beasts instantly. Their bodies shredded into countless pieces, scattering outward.
He burst upward, then shot down at full force, landing in the center of the swarm. Sparks detonated under his feet, radiating outward in a blue explosion that ripped the front line into fragments.
A creature slammed into him. He grabbed it by the face and crushed it with a lightning burst so violent the pieces vaporized mid-air.
Seven more jumped him at once. Ash's body ignited in a full electrical surge, and the beasts were blown back in chunks, limbs scattering like torn cloth.
The battle wasn't supposed to stop anytime soon.
***
The backup unit's vehicle shuddered out of hyperspeed and screeched to a halt, thrusters firing in frantic bursts as alarms lit up across the cockpit. Sensors were screaming, energy residue everywhere, radiation spikes, anomalous readings from the Nexus Tear.
The pilot cursed. "Holy… what the hell happened here?"
The side doors slid open, and three figures drifted out into the void, no suits, no heavy armor. Just heroes.
They floated forward, their movements sharp and practiced, cutting through the dark until the battlefield came into view.
And then they stopped.
Because in front of them was not a battlefield.
It was a graveyard.
Hundreds of severed bodies drifted in empty space, limbs, jaws, torsos twisted into hunks of cooling flesh. Ashes of creatures floated like dust storms, swirling around the remains of beasts that were once alive enough to tear a man apart.
Mark's breath caught in his throat. "Shit… this is all him?"
The oldest of them, Spencer, narrowed his eyes, scanning the destruction. The bodies were cut clean. Others were split open like they'd been electrocuted from the inside. Some weren't even bodies anymore, just smears of drifting debris.
He nodded once.
They floated deeper into the carnage, pushing aside loose limbs and drifting bone shards. At first, everything looked the same, just dead beasts twisted in silence.
Then Luna pointed forward.
"Wait—here! Someone's floating… is that—?"
They all turned.
A single figure hung in the void, motionless, arms spread slightly apart. His body drifted among the corpses like he was just another piece of debris. His head tilted downward. His body spun slowly, carried by the leftover force of the fight.
From this distance, he looked lifeless.
Luna swallowed. "Is… is he dead or something?"
Spencer didn't even slow down. "No," he said flatly. "He's not."
Mark scoffed lightly. "Come on. We know this bastard and his cursed luck. It's Ash."
They approached the floating figure.
Spencer reached him first, brushing aside a severed arm of some beast that drifted between them. He slid an arm under Ash's back, another beneath his knees, pulling him up gently.
"Ash," he said quietly. "Hey. You hear me?"
No response.
His skin was cold, electricity still faintly humming under it like a storm that hadn't fully died.