-----
Ember City didn't look like a city anymore.
-----
Flames crawled over collapsed buildings, licking twisted rebar and shattered concrete. Smoke rolled thick through the streets, clinging low, stinging the eyes. Melted street signs sagged on bent poles. An overturned bus burned on its side, tires hissing, windows blown out. Bodies lined the cracked asphalt—humans, demons, heroes—piled together in ugly heaps of twisted limbs, scorched armor, burned flesh. Some were still smoking. Some were missing parts.
Car alarms wailed in the distance, warped and dying. Fire crackled. Metal groaned as structures slowly gave up under the heat.
Two reinforcement heroes moved through the wreckage, boots crunching over glass and debris.
Hero #1 slowed, head turning in short, jerky motions. His mouth hung open. His breathing went shallow.
Hero #1 (voice small, barely steady): "Is… this… this what's left of the capital?"
Hero #2 scanned the street, visor smeared with ash. His hands trembled as he wiped it clear, leaving streaks.
Hero #2: "The fight started twenty minutes ago…" He shook his head, disbelief creeping into his voice.
"Twenty minutes—and look at this place. How the hell are we this late? There's nothing left."
A deep cracking sound rippled through the air—like the sky itself was straining to hold together.
Hero #1 stiffened, shoulders tensing. He slowly lifted an arm, finger shaking as he pointed upward.
Hero #1: "H-Holy shit… look. The sky is—"
Hero #2 elbowed him hard, snapping him out of it.
Hero #2: "Focus. There's a safe zone nearby." He pointed sharply.
"Teleport-capable heroes dropped evac survivors near that dome. We check for signs of life, pull anyone we can, and bail."
Hero #1 swallowed hard. "Fine. Let's grab whoever's left and get out before we get our asses killed."
They moved again. Hero #1 stepped around a crushed fire truck—the cab flattened, something inside still burning quietly.
Then the sky split.
A jagged line of black-and-red light tore across the clouds, bleeding through smoke and ash.
Both heroes froze.
The crack widened.
The air screamed.
Something punched through.
No—
Two figures.
They fell like a comet.
A massive silhouette with four arms—and a smaller, battered body locked in its grip. Megalodon held Black Mentis by the face, literally using him as a handle. Mentis, bloodied and broken, kept swinging upward blindly—knuckles cracking against Megalodon's jaw over and over.
Hero #1 whispered, breath hitching: "What… what is that…?"
They didn't have time to move.
BOOOOM.
Megalodon slammed into the ground, stabilizing himself mid-impact while dragging Black Mentis down with him.
The ground detonated.
Concrete shattered outward in a violent ring. Asphalt cracked and lifted. Megalodon's fingers were buried deep in Mentis' mask, using his face as leverage as they hit. Mentis kept punching even as they landed—fists snapping upward, bones cracking against Megalodon's face.
The shockwave blasted down the street.
Both reinforcement heroes were thrown off their feet, boots skidding across broken asphalt. They slammed into debris, armor scraping hard.
Hero #2 hit the ground on his side, rolling, forearms snapping up to shield his visor.
Hero #1 dropped to a knee, both hands over his helmet as dust and shattered concrete rained down.
CRASH—CRACK—RATTLE.
Windows exploded outward. Loose metal tore free from buildings. A streetlight snapped clean in half and clattered across the road.
The dust cloud swallowed everything.
Both heroes coughed violently, vision reduced to swirling gray.
Hero #1 (hoarse): "Damn it—I—I can't see—!"
Hero #2: "Forget this—move! Grab whoever we can and go! This place isn't for us!"
The ground vibrated beneath them—heavy, deliberate footsteps.
When the dust thinned, the street came back into view.
Megalodon stood at the center of the impact zone, unmoved. Cracked asphalt cratered beneath his feet.
He held Black Mentis by the neck, arm extended, lifting him off the ground like a broken doll. Mentis' body hung limp for a second—blood streaming down his face, armor fractured—before one hand twitched, fingers curling again, refusing to stop.
The two reinforcement heroes were already running toward the dome.
Neither of them spoke.
Neither of them understood what they had just witnessed.
They only knew one thing—
Whatever this was, it was far beyond anything they were prepared for.
Megalodon (calm, almost bored): "Give up already. You haven't injured me once. I'm still doing great."
He yanked Mentis' head upward, forcing him to look at the city.
Megalodon: "Look. Don't you see? It's already over. Your whole city's wiped out. All your allies are dead. So why keep fighting? Just… let go. Go to sleep, warrior."
Mentis' fingers curled into fists, shaking violently.
Black Mentis (ragged, voice broken): "D-Damn it… they're all—dead…"
He closed his eyes for a second. Every death hit him like a hammer to the chest—everyone he knew, fought beside, they trusted and he felt like failed them.
Black Mentis: "…This isn't war… it's slaughter…"
His whole body trembled—not from fear—from rage pushing up his throat like bile.
Megalodon huffed through his nose.
Megalodon: "You finally get it. Good. Then tell me what I need to know. Where is the mastermind behind the guy who broke the statue?"
Mentis' eyes snapped up—burning.
Black Mentis: "HOW THE HELL WILL I KNOW THAT? I won't let my comrades' deaths BE IN VAIN…"
He jerked back hard—driving his elbow into Megalodon's jaw. The hit sent Megalodon sliding backward a few steps, boots digging trenches through broken asphalt.
Mentis dropped to one knee, gasping, then pushed himself upright again—barely.
Megalodon chuckled, a low, unsettling rumble.
Megalodon: "Hmph. Looks like he's not showing up even after all this."
He lifted two fingers to his forehead, eyes unfocusing.
A mental whisper.
Megalodon (inner voice): I cannot locate his energy. It's like they're gone from the entire omniverse…
A darker thought slid in.
Megalodon (inner): Perhaps a re-do is the only wise choice…
Black Mentis' eye twitched in confusion.
Black Mentis: "The hell are you mumbling about up there? Who are you expecting? And why the hell do you keep calling me a damn puppet?!"
Megalodon sighed, rolling his giant shoulders.
Megalodon: "Fine….You're clueless. Do you even know who the manipulators are? The ones who are watching—Controlling—everything?"
Black Mentis (furious): "Manipulator—? Speak clearly, damn it!"
Megalodon grinned, teeth sharp, eyes cold.
Megalodon: "You wouldn't understand, puppet. Just know this… even if you kill me—"
He opened his arms.
Megalodon: "—nothing changes. This world isn't yours to save. It's already been decided."
Black Mentis: "That's enough. You can shove your riddles up your ass."
He moved before Megalodon could blink.
BOOOOM—!!
A sonic boom erupted as Mentis vanished and reappeared right in front of Megalodon—fist arcing upward.
CRACK!!
His punch landed flush on Megalodon's jaw, snapping the demon's head back so violently the bones in his neck popped. Buildings behind Megalodon imploded from the force alone.
Before Megalodon even tilted forward, Mentis was already behind him—
—his arms sparking with lightning.
He unloaded a barrage of punches. Each hit bent the air, distorting the smoke and flames around them.
Megalodon grinned mid-hit, blood sliding down the corner of his mouth.
Megalodon (inner, impressed): He still has this much power? Even after all the beating he received?
Mentis' arm glowed with red energy—pulsing.
Megalodon (gasping): "T-That's it… he's using it again… just like in the void—"
Mentis slammed a hit into Megalodon's chest so hard the demon's ribs cracked. The impact launched Megalodon through the remains of a parking structure, bricks and metal exploding outward.
Mentis didn't stop.
He conjured a blade of condensed air—massive, shimmering—then swung it three times.
SHRRRKKK!
SHRRRKKK!
SHRRRKKK!
Three air slashes cut the ground apart as they fired toward the collapsing rubble where Megalodon fell.
Megalodon burst out of the smoke—four arms extended, two reaching for Mentis' legs, two grabbing his upper body.
Mentis twisted mid-air—kneeing Megalodon in the chin, snapping his jaw upward. He dropped low, sweeping Megalodon's leg. The demon stumbled—
—and Mentis' blade arm flashed once.
A spray of hot black blood erupted.
One of Megalodon's massive arms fell to the ground with a wet THUD, still twitching then it started vanishing.
Megalodon's breath hitched. Then he smirked— eyes glowing locked in the demon.
Megalodon: "…Heh. That actually hurts. Well done. You know what? I won't regenerate it. I'll keep it… just for your effort."
Before Mentis could blink, Megalodon's remaining arm shot out and wrapped around his skull.
CRUNCH—!!
Megalodon smashed Mentis into the ground so violently the earth inverted under them—creating a crater big enough to swallow a city block.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A second shockwave tore outward, flattening what little of Ember City remained upright.
Blood sprayed from Mentis' mouth. His armor cracked open. His ribs bent inward like broken cage bars.
Megalodon hauled him up—then drove a fist into Mentis' stomach.
Black Mentis gagged, coughing blood directly into Megalodon's face. His armor split. His skin tore. His legs buckled.
Megalodon didn't stop.
He hammered him again.
And again.
And again.
Every punch sounded like a building collapsing.
(Mentally):" I… I can't.. let it… end like this…"
Black Mentis tried to raise his arms— But he failed. His body was shutting down.
-----