Capítulo 91: The Lord Of Land And Life
Wish's head hit the forest floor and rolled forward. Of course, it wasn't that easy. Her headless body kicked out, and Paragon grunted as the leg smashed into her side and threw her back.
The flowers rippled and bubbled, seeping across the ground as the body stood up and grabbed its head, placing it back on. "Did you really think that would work?"
"No." Paragon shook her head. "I figured you'd shrug it off. It woke you up, though."
"So, what!"
"So, you're not dreaming anymore. This is the real you. Once it's dead, you're gone for good." Paragon stood back up and pointed her sword forward. "It's kind of fitting you were a dragon earlier. Looks like I'm the knight that's going to slay you!"
Wish let out a snort, and her face twitched into a sneer. "You're more like the damsel in distress." Her shoulder opened up, and slowly, the handle of a sword pulled its way out of her body. Wish gripped it and pulled out a blade made out of bone. It snapped off of her body, and the villain pointed it at Paragon. "En garde."
Wish moved her legs fast, boosting herself forward and stretching. She swung the bone sword out, and it met Paragon's sword head-on. Paragon was just a normal human for the most part. Especially in a realm she didn't have any control of. On top of that, it was clear she had never fought before. Her swings were too large and sloppy, completely whiffing every time she struck out at Wish. She'd have to seriously ask Battery or Metal Ronin for tips on how to properly use a sword if she made it out of this situation alive.
Wish easily blocked and weaved out of the way of the strikes, a smirk on her lips. She ran her bone sword up and made a small cut across Paragon's face. "What's wrong? Do you have nothing to say?" The false Lord taunted.
"Is it too much to ask for a normal fight where we just silently glare at each other and try to kill one another?"
"Of course it is!" Wish's torso expanded and her upper body stretched out. It spun around at a fast speed, causing her sword to rip through the air. Paragon jumped back and raised her sword up, narrowly blocking the spinning blade that was now coming at her. Her arms shook and ached, each hit bouncing her sword up and forcing her to quickly bring it back down. As Wish spun, her other hand folded up, and from the elbow, another bone blade stabbed out. The blunt edge of it slammed directly into Paragon's skull and nearly broke her neck.
Paragon was sent flying back and crashed head-first into a tree. She slumped down and groaned as blood trickled down her face. She couldn't heal herself or mess with her body the way Wish could. The girl really was just a better version of herself. That didn't mean she was willing to give up, though.
Paragon rolled out of the way just in time as Wish's arm expanded and stretched out, slapping at the spot where the healer had been. The tree exploded and crashed down as the giant limb easily smashed through it. Paragon cut out with her sword and severed the arm, breaking it off.
"Did someone forget I can heal?" Wish snickered.
"Nope. But I think you forgot that I'm also able to mess with life." Paragon slammed her palm down onto the giant severed limb. It twitched, and her nose began to bleed badly as she forced her power into it. The entire arm seemed to suddenly come to life, the fingers stabbing into the ground and dragging itself forward. Then, it turned around and crawled after Wish.
"Seriously?" Wish dodged out of the way of her rogue arm, which attempted to swipe at her. "This is your big plan?" Her limb finished regrowing, and she raised it up, causing it to become even bigger than the one that was attacking her. She smashed it down and crushed the arm. "Easy peasy-"
Wish froze when she saw Paragon duck down. The arm she struck suddenly bloated and exploded, unleashing hundreds of fragmented bone spikes. Wish grunted as they stabbed all along her body and shoved her back a bit. Her skin twitched and shimmered across her body, and the bone shards slowly dropped out of her, and her wounds began to heal.
Paragon charged her suddenly, and Wish took a swipe with her bone sword, her arm expanding in length; however, Paragon dropped to her knees and slid under it. The healer stabbed her sword up and impaled it directly through Wish's mouth. It came out of the back of her head, and Wish just rolled her eyes and pulled it out. Paragon kicked off of Wish and rolled away, now unarmed.
Wish's face finished healing, and she dropped her bone sword, now pointing at Paragon with the blade of the Emperor. "Let's be real for a second. You're not beating me."
"If you really want to talk, we can discuss the fact that you still fail at learning the most basic of lessons."
"What?"
"You forgot about the hero on the sidelines."
"Huh-"
Cinder's hand grabbed Wish's arm as the flame hero crashed down. She pulled the limb back and forced Wish to decapitate herself with the sword, then easily ripped the limb off and shoved Wish away with her other hand. Fire blasted out of her palm and washed over Wish's form, burning it as the girl scrambled to heal.
Paragon ran forward and placed her hands on Cinder's back, using her power to close the girl's wounds and fix her up the best she could, though she still had an issue with properly fixing up the wounds Wish inflicted. "That won't keep her down for too long," Paragon said quickly. "She's going to transform into her Lord form again. I can't fully heal you, so you'll be damaged. That's okay, though. I just need about a minute, maybe two, and I think I can end this issue for good."
Cinder nodded and handed the sword back to Paragon. "I'll give you more than enough time. My life is in your hands."
Wish's form wasn't burning anymore. Even as the fire ran over. The girl's arm and head came back, and horns grew out of the side of her head. Plants rose up and twisted around her, coating her entire skin in skintight black roots. Large, jagged claws grew out of the tips of her fingers, and she batted the air so hard it twisted the fire around her as she slowly walked forward.
"So, you went from a Dragon to a plant Demon?" Cinder asked, raising an eyebrow. Wish was covered head to toe in inky black lines that kept twisting along her body. Large demonic horns stabbed out of the girl's head, and a new tail formed, which flicked back and forth lazily.
"I prefer Devil!" Wish blasted forward with godlike speed and brought her clawed hand down on her. Her shield unfolded, and she raised it just in time. The claws dug into the metal, chipping it a bit, but the shield held strong. She put all her force into her arm and shoved Wish back.
"Go, Paragon! I got this!" Fire blasted from her feet, and she rammed herself into Wish's body. She wrapped her arms around the girl and sent them crashing through dozens of trees, getting as far away from Paragon as she could. Wish grunted and raised her hand up and brought it down on her back, reopening her wounds. She screamed, and her fire went out.
Wish broke out of her grip as they crashed through the woods, and the villain slammed her other hand forward, trying to impale her on the claws. She managed to suck in her stomach and turn to the side, the attack only grazing her. She swung her shield out and slammed it upside Wish's head and caused the demon to stumble back. With her other hand, she created a sword made of fire and swung it out, slashing into the side of Wish.
Or at least that had been her plan. The roots literally caught the fire and tore it apart, the plants devouring it. So much for fire types beating grass types...
Wish's mouth opened wide, and the villain spewed out another wave of acid. She rammed her shield into the girl's face and used it to block most of the stream, but some of it still splashed down onto her foot, causing her to hiss. She replaced her sword of fire with a spear and rammed it forward directly into Wish's gut. She wasn't able to impale the girl, but she did manage to throw her away.
As Wish stumbled back, the girl's body twisted and turned in unnatural ways, her joints snapping and reaching further than they should. The girl racked her claws through the air so fast she sent out thin blades of air. She had seen Cinder do something like this by punching the air hard enough to send out a wall of pure force. This was almost like Green Wolf's power, in a way.
Cinder blocked one of the strikes, but the other one clipped her shoulder, splitting it open. She threw her spear at Wish, but the girl batted it out of the air with her clawed hand, destroying it with ease. "Let's see how your plants feel about this!" She took a deep breath and then screamed out as loud as she could. She put all the effort her enhanced lungs could muster into the scream. The wave of sound exploded from her and destroyed the nearby trees and forest floor. It rammed into Wish, and the girl actually screamed out as the sound wave vibrated through their armor.
Wish clutched at her ears, but it wasn't able to block the attack out. The sound was forcing its way into the girl's body, blowing up her organs and ears. Wish's body struggled to heal, and that was when Cinder struck out. All at once she stopped her yelling, her throat bleeding now. She skated forward with inhuman speed, copying the way Battery would run, and appeared next to Wish.
Wish's hands stabbed toward her, but the girl's brain had been fried from the screaming, so the swing totally missed. The energy swirled around her shield, and she brought it up so fast it split the demon in two. Wish's body was forced into the air, and she turned her shield off. Her hands appeared at her side, mimicking the same move her giant Baggy had done. An orb of fire began to flicker into existence. Her hands wrapped around the orb, and it began to expand in size, crackling wildly. Right as Wish began to fall out of the sky, she rammed her hands out and unleashed the attack, blasting out a massive orange laser.
Wish was in the middle of putting herself back together when it hit her. The orange light burned through the girl's plants and fried her insides, blasting her through the forest and sending her miles back.
The gold in Cinder's hair faded out, and her eyes lost their fire. She collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get herself to change back. She had hit her limit a while ago. "Damn. If only Armin was here. He'd have loved to see that..."
The snapping of a branch caused her to look up, meeting Wish's gaze. The devil walked forward, brushing itself off, and cocked its head to the side. "Well. I'd like to say it's been fun, but that'd be a lie." The villain rammed her hand down, but it never reached her, a pale hand snapping out to stop it in its tracks. Paragon's grip grew tighter around Wish's wrist and snapped it. "What the hell?"
The red-haired girl smirked and rammed her fist into Wish's stomach. The monster nearly vomited, not expecting the strength of the strike. Wish growled and slashed up with her claws, tearing them into Paragon. Paragon was torn open from stomach to face. Or at least she should have been. The branches in the shape of Paragon dropped to the ground as Paragon appeared behind Wish and slammed the Emperor's sword into the girl's back.
Wish stumbled away and swung out, ripping Paragon's head off, but again, wood dropped to the floor as Paragon was suddenly standing a few feet away. "I think we should give ourselves a change of scenery." Paragon snapped, and the entire world seemed to rumble and twist.
The dead vanished.
That was the only way Cinder could describe it. A field of flowers expanded out and grew in all directions. The trees put themselves back together and rose higher, as if standing at attention. The gray sky above broke and crumbled as rays of sunlight came crashing down, painting everything in gold. In the center of it all, Paragon stood tall, gripping her sword. The light seemed to almost bend and twist around her, like a goddess coming to life.
"You have control again; I take it?" She asked.
"Yeah." Paragon gave a soft smile. "I needed to fall asleep, which took me a bit. Ended up hitting myself in the head super hard until I blacked out. I'll pay for it later, but it'll help."
"It'll be fine, though, because these are just dream avatar bodies, right?"
Paragon shook her head. "Nope. Sorry. Any damage we take in here is reflected on our real bodies."
Cinder winced a little and rubbed her stomach, which was filled with tiny holes. She really didn't feel that good. "Man, I seriously hope you can fix this when we're out of here then. Now that you're in charge, can you just erase her from existence?"
Wish's eyes locked onto Paragon's, and both girls began to circle each other slowly. Paragon shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. I can absorb a target only after truly defeating them in here. It's what stopped her from just blinking us away when she was in charge. She was also way stronger than I was and could do a lot more than I could. Even as I am now, I doubt I could actually put her down for good."
"So, what do we do then?"
"I'll let you know when I figure it out!"
Wish got tired of their talking and charged forward, swinging her claws out. Paragon was way faster now and blocked them with her sword. Both girls went back and forth, cutting and tearing one another apart. Wish would simply recover, and a new Paragon would pop out of thin air and keep the fight going. It could have gone on forever; neither really had a way of losing energy. As they fought, though, they tore their way through the forest.
Cinder watched them on her knees. Her body ached. Standing was tiring at the moment. Despite that, though, she kept track of them, watching them head in a familiar direction. "Paragon! She's trying to get to your body and wake you up!"
"I noticed!"
They were less than a mile away from where Paragon's form slumbered on the wooden slab. Wish gave a twisted smile and allowed Paragon's sword to cut through her. She batted the girl away so hard she blew off Paragon's arms and dropped to all fours, making a break for the sleeping girl.
Paragon appeared in front of her and held her sword out, but Wish didn't back down, gladly impaling herself on the weapon and ripping her way through Paragon. Her claws tore the girl in half, and she stumbled out on the other side, half a mile away. Again and again, Paragon's appeared doing their best to stop her, but Wish would either kill them in a single shot or throw them away from her with ease. No matter how many of her own limbs got torn off or cut up, she'd simply regrow and heal them.
Paragon simply didn't have the destructive force to wipe out someone who healed this fast. Even binding her didn't work. Roots and branches stabbed out of the ground and wrapped around Wish, tying the girl up, but Wish's jaw simply unhinged, and she vomited up a second Wish that crashed to the ground and took off running again. The first Wish broke down and faded away as the second one got closer to her goal.
The forest seemed to bend and twist to Paragon's will. Wooden logs formed around the body of the unconscious Paragon, forming a barrier around her. The trees started to crack, and something began to rise out of the world. Massive and forged from plants and trees, it was a goliath—bigger than a mountain. It was a girl—a giant—made out of the planet itself. Somewhere deep within, Paragon slumbered, creating the same weapon she had used to kill Mars King. It was over one hundred meters tall and in the shape of Paragon, forged out of the land itself.
Wish didn't even seem phased. Large black wings formed out of the devil's back, and she took flight. Her body spun through the air as the giant raised its arm up and brought it down. The wind twisted and formed around her as her claws hummed, and she rammed herself up into the hand that came down. Like a drill, Wish cracked it and began to break into it. Vines and other planes tried to attack her, wooden spikes attempting to impale her, but she walked through them or cut them down with her claws. Acid spewed out of her mouth, tearing her way further into the plant woman's giant body.
"I know that you're in here somewhere, Sky!" Wish yelled out in a sing-song voice. "It's only a matter of time until I find you!"
The giant form rumbled and rose out of the ground more. Down below, Cinder stared up at it with wide eyes. "God damn! She had this in her back pocket? How is her sister the one that's becoming an Enforcer this year?" Paragon was way stronger than she thought. Or at least in here, she was.
She stared up at the giant form as it looked down at her and began to reach out in her direction. Its fingers stabbed into the ground, and it easily tore everything apart, ripping a chunk of the planet out of the ground. She stood on her plot of land with shaking legs as it raised her up.
"Do you have a way for me to help, Sky?" She called out.
"Maybe." Sky's voice shook the planet, and she had to clutch her ears as the sound wave alone nearly blasted her back. "It's risky, though-"
"Yeah, okay!" she yelled back. "I'll do it; just no talking!" The form nodded and then raised its arm behind its head. Its foot raised off the ground, and it craned its back, looking up at the sky. It almost looked like it was about to... "Uh, Sky... You're not about to throw me out of orbit, are you?"
That was indeed what Sky had planned.
Cinder screamed as the giant threw the land; she was on with a fastball special. The entire land instantly exploded and crumbled; it was not made to be thrown at such speeds. As for her, she was sent rocketing forward faster than she had ever moved. Her skin burned, and it almost felt like it was going to rip off of her body. She had no control over her direction. She spun out of control, getting higher and higher, and the burning got worse and mixed with a chill so bad she swore Snowdawn was attacking her.
She broke past the clouds in a second, and all at once, faster than her mind could even process, gravity ceased to hold onto her. It was the same feeling as when Poseidon had used her power to allow them to fly. She was in outer fucking space.
Ice rapidly formed over her flesh, and she could feel her lungs popping and expanding as the vacuum of space was literally ripping the oxygen out of her. If not for the fact that she was a Super, she'd be dead instantly. She became aware of two things as she still kept going up.
The first was that Paragon's world was small—way smaller than Earth. It might have been about as big as Oleander City at most. Second, there was nothing else out in space other than a single sun, which was way smaller, way closer, and still somehow just as hot as she pictured the real sun being. Also, she was very quickly approaching said sun at breakneck speeds.
Her flesh caught on fire. Not the good kind, though. This one began to eat away at her suit and rip her flesh apart. She wasn't even able to scream since she was in space. She tried to turn her power on, but it failed. She was in too much pain to think straight. Her eyes felt like they were about to explode, and for some reason, she found herself thinking back to that time on the roof with Mr. Larison.
She'd have liked to do more of that. Not just with him but the others as well.
Then...
She hit the sun.
Wish tore through more of the wood, clawing away at it all and spitting up an ocean of acid. Her dead plants came to life, forming hands and scythes that tore everything down. She destroyed everything faster than Paragon could put it back together. More Paragons appeared and rained down on her, but Wish batted her hand, and the wind ripped them all apart.
Even not being in control, the world seemed to awaken her senses. It guided her, and she smirked as her claws tore away at another part of the wall, breaking it away. She stumbled into a sizable bedchamber-looking room. Paragon rested on a bed, sleeping peacefully. In front of her, another Paragon stood, gripping her weapon.
"End of the road."
"It isn't over yet!" Paragon yelled. She charged forward and swung her sword out.
Wish lazily blocked it and tore her hand forward, ripping the Paragon in two. "Yeah. It is." She jumped up and landed on the bed, bringing her claws down. Paragon's eyes snapped open, the dream ending. The girl rolled out of the way just in time and swung her sword out, but it bounced off of Wish's enhanced flesh.
Just like when Wish woke up, the world remained the way it had been left at. It was still filled with life and sunshine; however, now that she was awake, nothing was keeping the giant held together, and the thing began to break apart and crumble, shattering to dust. She felt herself start to fall, and it was a long way down. Wings grew out of Wish's back, and the devil used them to stop her fall, but that was something Paragon was unable to do.
She felt herself smash into wooden walls that broke apart. She'd hit a floor only for it to break apart, and her fall would keep going. Her giant came crumbling down, and she smashed through trees before finally slamming back first onto the ground. She groaned, feeling several of her bones snap and break. Everything hurt. Wish slowly landed down in front of the girl.
"Welp." Wish gave a sly smirk, pulling back the vines around her face to reveal the grin she held. "I don't want to jinx it, but I think it's really over now."
Paragon just sighed. "Just get it over with, you bitch."
"With pleasure." Wish's fingers wrapped around Sky's hair, and she lifted the girl.
"Hope's going to kick your ass."
"Whatever helps you accept this with dignity." Wish rammed her hand through Sky's stomach and brought it out the other side. Sky gasped and vomited up a fountain of blood. Her eyes went wide, and tears streamed down her face. The black flesh that made up Wish's body twisted and seeped out, quietly wrapping around the girl. Wish placed her other arm behind Sky and almost pulled the girl in for a strange hug. "You know, part of me views this as a tragic event. In a way, I just became an only sibling. I'm kind of sad about that, I think." Sky gurgled something as the flesh washed over her and began to melt her body away. It was not quick nor was it painless. "Shh... Just let it happen. Rest now, dear Sky. You've earned it."
In an instant, Sky was gone. Pulled into Wish's body fully, the darkness absorbed the girl. Wish closed her eyes and cracked her neck. Her long white hair fell down her back, and part of it was filled with red streaks. She could feel it. Her power grew. Doubled, tripled—no, it was even more extraordinary.
She saw it all: all cells, the Paths that made up this world, and the way life needed to evolve and change.
She held her hand out, and instantly, everything began to swirl and obey her coming to life. The wind folded in on itself and changed. Like cancerous cells, they bubbled out, expanding into arms and legs, and then feathers sprouted out as she created a bird out of nothing. She didn't stop there, though. Her fingers expanded and wrapped around it, forcing the cells within the bird to change and twist. It grew larger and sharper, turning into solid metal.
The iron bird took to the air and flew away, its wings sharp enough to slice through trees. Not only had she created new life that never existed before, but she also created a Super, now without the help of Doctor Blue. The same power the Emperor once held was in her now.
She didn't even need to touch it. Not anymore. She snapped her fingers, and the entire creature exploded. Its organs burst out of it, sending iron bones every direction. She laughed and snapped again, forcing the thing back together. Its broken pieces connected and regrew as it came back. Instead of iron, she forced it to turn into something else. Its wings broke away, and its feathers were replaced with scales. It expanded in size, twisting into a shark, and no longer was it made out of iron. Instead, it had plastic see-through skin showing off the organs within, which struggled to keep up with the changes.
She shrunk it down in size, forcing it to get so small that she could pick it up between two fingers. It was easily crushable, and she flicked it away, forcing its corpse to put itself back together again and turning it into a rabbit. The plant life surged up, obeying her, and twisted into a giant mouth that tore the animal apart. As she laughed, all the trees around her also grew a mouth and joined her.
"God has been born!" She announced, sweeping her hands out.
"God!" All the trees echoed.
She stared down at her hands, watching her cells alter and twist to her whims. She could become anything or anyone, create anything she wanted, be it man, beast, or person. "How did the Emperor ever lose with a power like this? What a fool he was. The Sun was easily beaten. Speaking of which, I still need to absorb her. Where the hell is she-"
A solar flare is an occurrence in which the sun releases a burst of radiation and messes with the electromagnetic field caused by a disturbance on the surface of the sun. This wasn't a solar flare.
The sky was on fire.
Hell had come to Earth.
A massive pillar of flame smashed down into the ground, shaking and shifting the entire planet. Trees exploded, and the ground around them became molten ash. Just as when she had sparred with Wyvern and learned to harness the fire of an explosion and compress it all down, Cinder had done that on a much bigger scale...
Cinder stepped out of the pillar of flame. The sun above was gone, but it was still daytime. A new sun was on the planet. She was cloaked in so much fire that it hugged her like a skin-tight barrier, almost like what Wish did with vines or what she would do when she used her power at its max and went nova. Every part of her was golden—all but her eyes, which burned with a red-hot flame that glared directly at Wish.
So much heat expanded and twisted out in all directions. Wish forced her flesh to evolve to withstand it and cloaked herself in an aura of intense life force. Her body grew larger, and her lips curled into a grin. "Greedy little bitch. You ate the star."
"Where's Sky?"
"Do you even have to ask!" Wish giggled and patted her stomach. "I ate her."
Cinder rose off the ground, levitating. She was finally flying. She looked around, almost in a daze. She could see things—so many weird things. Twisting shapes and lines. "Oh. You ate her. Guess I'll pull her out of you."
"I'd like to see you try-"
Matter twisted and erupted in Cinder's hand. It wasn't fire. It was all manner of colors bending and jutting out, and she flicked it at Wish. Wish tried to block it, but it instantly blew her to pieces. She screamed out as her body was torn apart and scattered, and the pieces in the air stopped listening to her. Matter collapsed in on itself and rebuilt into a shape. Sky dropped to her knees, nearly vomiting and shaking as her body was rebuilt.
Sky felt her eyes go wide when she saw Cinder. It was like looking into the sun as if it had gained a human form. Despite how much heat flew off of the floating girl, though, Sky felt fine. It twisted and went around her without burning.
Chunks of Wish reformed into the air as the girl roared out in pure rage. "What did you do!"
"Wyvern—She told me about the time she helped train you." Paragon sounded shocked and floored. "I heard about you absorbing and controlling a massive amount of fire that didn't belong to you. We were up against the ropes, and I figured you'd be able to pull it off, but I didn't think you'd do something like this. Hope... What have you become?"
"Hope?" The girl made of fire looked down at her hands. "Is that who I am? No… I am the Brightest Star."
Wish screamed in anger, and claws stabbed out of her fingertips. She ran forward, shrieking, and swung out with her arm, aiming at Cinder.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Once, there was a great threat—a being known as the Shadow—something that would nearly end all life on Earth. It was stopped, though, when four heroes appeared—the first Supers, the Lords. They gave their lives slaying that monster, and upon their death, the Lord of Life simply made a wish. She wanted the fun to never end.
The cycle of the Lords was born. The Lord of the Sky and Weather, able to see space and time for the false restraints they are; the Lord of the Sea and Ocean, doomed to always end up the monster; the Lord of the Land and Life, a perfect reflection of humanities joy, sorrow, anger, and determination; and the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos, a being of near unlimited power able to forever change the universe.
The Lords, at the end of the day, are still just Supers. That is, until they transform. When they take their humanity to the next stage, their power goes beyond the point a standard Super can reach. There is another, though. A level of power beyond their Lord state. A power that rivaled the Shadow, a power that created the Beast, a power that Lucifer and the Emperor both sought, and a power that Full Monarch reached. When a Lord gives up all semblance of humanity and turns themselves into the perfect machine for their ability. When a Lord Inverts their power and gives it permission to take the pilot seat.
Cinder stared at the frozen form of Wish with dull eyes. Slowly, she pulled her arm back.
It was over in one attack.
The Brightest Star won.
***
Poseidon jumped as a burst of gold filled the tower. It made her scream and fall back. Sky dropped to her knees, breathing heavily, and everything shook and twisted as she came back to the real world. Cinder was golden—almost like the Victorian—actually, maybe even brighter!
"What the hell?"
Then, in an instant, it died out. The fire simply vanished. Cinder's eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she crashed down into the arms of Paragon, who caught her. That wasn't all that happened, though. Something had clearly gone wrong as Wish's body smashed into the wall and the Lord of Life slumped down, shaking, her eyes filled with terror. "Hope!" Paragon held onto the girl and shook slightly. She was blind again, her brain quickly connecting with Destiny, who rested on her head. She placed her hand on the girl, ready to heal her, but stopped. "What... What the hell is this?
"What is it? Wait- Did you guys do it- Why was she glowing- Is she still glowing-"
"Shut up." Poseidon instantly went silent and stood up straighter. Destiny's sight came back to Paragon, and the bird cocked its head as it stared down at Cinder. The girl was perfectly fine. Way too fine. Her injuries were gone. Not just them; her costume was fully healed; hell, she even had her helmet back. Her hair was still golden, and besides being exhausted, it was like she had never even fought Wish.
It wasn't just her, though. Paragon could feel it in her own body. She was fully healed as well. Then her attention was turned over to the white-haired girl. Wish was rocking back and forth and grabbing at her hair. "I- It shouldn't- How did- But it was- I- Not again- Not ever again! I won't do it ever again, I promise!" Wish was mentally gone.
"What the hell is going on?" Poseidon asked, staring at Wish in shock. What the hell could have happened to break that monster into this? Wish was constantly shivering and stared at the ground, not looking up. She felt no aura of killing intent coming from the girl, and Wish didn't even react when she stabbed her with her trident. The white-haired girl didn't even bother to heal up the wound, letting her blood spray out.
Paragon squeezed down on Hope's hand. Destiny looked at the sword Avalon had become, which rested on the ground. "I think… I think Cinder turned into what Full Monarch became. She called herself the Brightest Star." In other words, Avalon was right once more. They were still in his weird game.
Cinder let out a low groan. Her eyes slowly opened, and she glanced around before going wide. "Oh crap! How did I—I was just in space? Paragon, did you beat Wish?"
"Do you not remember what happened?" Paragon asked. When Cinder had been in that weird form, it almost seemed like someone else was in charge. They had even reacted to being called Hope with confusion. "We didn't exactly beat Wish."
"What?" That was when Hope noticed Wish standing in the corner. Fire gushed out of her hand, and she raised her palm, ready to blast the girl away once more, but she stopped when she saw Wish not react at all. The girl was just curled up on herself. Like a beaten dog, she was lost to the world around her. "Last thing I recall is flying at the sun. Thanks for that, by the way! A little warning, next time!"
"It saved our lives! Wait, do you really not remember it?"
"Remember what?"
Poseidon sighed. "This happened to me the first time I transformed, though my body didn't get all glowy like you. I forgot a bunch of stuff for a bit during the moment, and it took weeks for it to all come back."
"That wasn't a normal Lord transformation," Paragon said, shaking her head. "It was almost like what Full Monarch does when he takes a fight seriously..."
"What the hell did I do?" Cinder asked.
Paragon shook her head. "We can talk about it later. For now, you can power down."
"Power down?"
"Yeah. Your eyes are... You know."
Her eyes were a fiery red, and her hair was the color of sunlight. She hadn't even realized she was in her transformed state. She closed her eyes and focused, feeling the power fade. "So, should we blast Wish, or do we still have to worry about her trying to absorb Paragon in the dream world-" Her hair changed, and her eyes shifted to red once more. "Whoops." She turned it off. "As I was saying-" It came back on. "Stop that!" She turned it off, and it was back on. "I don't want to be blonde, right now!"
"Welp, Cinder broke her powers." Poseidon snorted. The girl shook her head and picked up her trident. "Doesn't matter. Look at her." She pointed down at Wish. "I don't know what you guys did, but she's in no condition. This is our chance. We can throw her into space or Nightshade or something where she can't hurt anyone-"
"Oh, I'm afraid you're already far too late for that." They all jumped back when they heard the voice. Twisting around, they found Mr. Grove standing at a section of the stairs where they could see him. His arms were folded, and he nodded. "I'm unarmed and also a normal human. You attack me, and I die instantly. Go for it if you don't care."
Paragon shrugged and raised her hand, but Cinder slapped it away and shook her head. "What the hell is this place? And what were you doing? I'm really ticked off and confused and want to hit something, so talk carefully before I sic Paragon on you!"
"While the two of you were in Wonderland, this entire tower shook and glowed," Poseidon explained. "I was having an issue with blood loss, and the other heroes were stuck dealing with Golden God or weren't able to fly up high enough to enter."
As if on cue, the tower began to rumble once more, and a blue light seemed to seep out in all directions, covering the walls and sending out a low hum in the air. Cinder felt her bones vibrate a bit, and she narrowed her eyes at Grove. "So, what the hell was that? Is this place a bomb? Please tell me it isn't."
"It's not a bomb." Grove snorted. "Look, just give me Wish back. I don't want to hurt any of you."
"I really doubt that." Paragon spat out. "We dealt with Wish. She was what you needed to make your drugs. You're screwed." As if on cue, Wish let out another series of sobs and folded in on herself even more.
"Yes." Grove's eyes closed, and he sighed. "The Wandering Coin is dead. That is why I am calling the one who told me to build it. He said this would happen one day. He pretty much figured out every detail."
"What are you saying?" Poseidon inched forward and gradually began to increase Grove's gravity. The tower couldn't take much more of a beating. She didn't trust that he was really unarmed. Chances were he had a bomb on him. She made sure the increase in gravity was small and not easily noticed. Slowly, she'd raise the bar, getting him used to it until she could pin him down all at once and stop him from reaching for anything.
The man folded his arms and looked around at the tower they were in. "Russian roulette. Know what that is? It's a game that used to be played by the humans that were around before the age of the Shadow. A person puts a bullet in a revolver and spins it. They then take turns pulling the trigger until someone's time comes. Don't you think that's a lot like the Beast? It first showed up twenty years after the defeat of Lucifer. We don't know where it came from or where it truly goes when it leaves. Just that it completely vanishes, but then it always shows up in a single city somewhere on this planet and wipes it off the face of the Earth. A lot of times, new Calamities seem to be born from it. The Emperor and Chrysanthemum were both created after it visited their home cities. When it's done, it just leaves and then will always return a year or two later. For nearly thirty years, this cycle has existed. It was so good at causing mass panic that people like Lucifer began to copy it and create his sick murder game. In a way, it's sort of like we're all players in a bad game of Russian roulette. The heroes never beat it. They always lose. The Beast always wipes a city out. That's its fate. Any day now, Oleander could be its target, or Lillian, or Daisy, or whatever land is left. The only thing that could truly stop it was the Emperor's plan. He wanted to create a world of only Supers. He believed that by doing that, the Beast would leave the planet alone. It always goes after normal humans and only attacks Supers that get in its way. Sadly, the whole world was against him. Destiny wasn't on his side, and he was fated to lose."
"There is no such thing as destiny or fate," Paragon said, shaking her head.
"Maybe to a normal human the concept of a guiding force exists, but Supers have long since destroyed that being. Whisper can see the future and changes it all the time," Poseidon snorted. "I'm pretty sure that it isn't stuck in stone."
"Whisper once told me something," Cinder said, chiming in. "She told me that she had once looked at Myth's Path, and they were doomed to fall to the Beast. Despite that, though, he's still standing here even to this day. Bottom line is I don't think fate is super picky."
Grove's arms folded, and the man's lips seemed to almost break into a frown. "Are you truly sure? Maybe you haven't found the line that truly connects it all to the Paths. Myth is fated to die to the Beast. Whisper never said it would be the first one he fought. Maybe when it shows up again, he'll die to it. Also, who's to say she really is changing destiny? Maybe she was always meant to see the way the future would twist for her?"
"I feel like you're trying to cope with the fact that fate and destiny have been broken many times before-"
"This is a teleporter," Grove announced. "I was told it would be my fate to turn it on and bring 'him' here! I made it here just as he said I would!"
"Bring who here!" She yelled out. She didn't dare use her fire power. Due to how wonky her powers were, she had no idea how different or intense it would be. She'd just have to trust that Poseidon would attack at the right time.
"This place was first built by Mr. Sini and Avalon." Grove placed his hand on the walls, feeling it hum. "It was a new way to space travel without the use of rockets. Created with the help of the Lord of the Sky, they found a way to hop across space. It works like a beacon and can send any person to any other spot that has one of these machines in our solar system. Nearly every planet has one. He fled after his loss. Came back for a bit. That was when I met him. When he told me what I had to do. Wish was a gift. One that I could use to further my goals, but he told me the day would come when he would need her back. She held what belonged to him now."
It started in her stomach. She wasn't the only one. Poseidon and Wish also shifted. Poseidon stepped back, while Wish whimpered. Paragon was the only one who didn't seem to notice. The air seemed different. Something was wrong—something was really wrong.
She felt her arms and legs shaking. "Who-"
It echoed in the tower: footsteps. At the top of the stairs, someone was walking down toward them. The shaking got worse—so much worse. Fear. That was the only way to put it—utter fear.
"Who is it?!" She demanded.
Grove looked her dead in the eyes. "Who do you think?"
A hand grabbed the railing, one that wore a black glove. She had seen him once—only once—in an old history book. They never made statues or drawings of the man. Still, he existed in the back of everyone's mind—the modern-day Satan, the man who had nearly brought humanity to utter destruction, the thing that went toe to toe with Full Monarch, forced nearly every villain to submit to him, ruined Mr. Larison's life.
The thing every person feared deep down.
Black twisted iron in the shape of a man. Jagged devil-like horns. A long cape that mocked the heroes. Glowing red eyes deeper than even the Lord of the Suns.
The Emperor reached the bottom of the stairs and slowly cocked his head.
The Lord of Land and Life had arrived.
The real one.
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