The Vatican was not at peace. The recent events had caused a level of confusion like never before. Whether it was the appearance or the identity of the mysterious man, nothing was normal—especially his very existence. The feeling of being confronted with something beyond this world was something that no cardinal, archbishop, or bishop could ignore.
A man walked escorted by bishops. This man had an imposing figure, with a gaze that seemed to weigh the soul of whoever looked at him. His face, marked by deep wrinkles and dark eyebrows, reflected severity. His cassock was always immaculate, black with red trims, and he wore an ancient onyx ring with the seal of the Apostolic Chamber.
This man was Cardinal Vittorio Lucchesi, with the title of Camarlengo of the Holy Roman Church. A high-ranking cardinal ordained more than 40 years ago.
The Camarlengo is a powerful and enigmatic figure by nature. This man was the one who ordered the imprisonment of Allen while investigating his identity. Cardinal Lucchesi remembered Allen's smile as he was escorted, and his words that came through telepathy.
"Check Father Merrin..."
Lucchesi took those words very seriously, and before doubting whether Allen was a human or a demon, he decided to follow through. It didn't take long for him to find Father Karras, who was with Father Merrin. Once he interrogated him, his face grew severe.
Demons... A bridge to hell, an exorcist with superhuman abilities... Everything was very strange...
Cardinal Lucchesi called in someone specialized to examine Father Merrin's body. He did this while he was busy, so it took him a little while to go check the funeral chamber. Passing through several ancient buildings, he arrived at a huge black door. The hearts of the bishops alongside the Cardinal tightened. There was a decadent and dark atmosphere in this building as if something that shouldn't be in the Vatican now resided there.
Upon entering the building, the cardinal walked to a specific room. This place was cold to prevent the decomposition of the bodies.
There, he found a man with a thin face and well-maintained hands, dressed in black, as if his profession was reflected in his aesthetic.
"It's a pleasure to have you here, Lucchesi..."
"Alessandro... Do you have something for me?"
"Mm... an impatient man, as usual..."
The man spoke in a low and measured voice, with the precision of someone who weighs each word like an incision. He wasn't seeking attention or fame. He was known in the halls of the Vatican as "the last shadow," for he is the one who touches the body of the Supreme Pontiff one last time.
"My vision of my work is a bit peculiar... I do not embalm bodies... I preserve symbols. The man returns to dust. The legacy, to the altar... Well... whoever did this work is impressive. Normally, when embalming a person, the goal is to conceal the truth, to fill the person with the illusion of life in the face of death..." Alessandro Vescari was a reserved man, but his eyes gleamed with admiration. "But this person... didn't do that... didn't conceal death; instead, it embellished it... this man could remain unchanged for five hundred years..."
"Alessandro... I wasn't talking about the embalming," the Cardinal said sternly.
Although Alessandro was a layman, he was treated with the same regard as a high-ranking official. His loyalty to silence was as important as his technical skill. He only answered to the Camarlengo, and before each preparation, he privately prayed for the soul of the Pontiff. However, on this occasion, this highly esteemed figure was being pressured by Cardinal Lucchesi, and it was clear that the reason lay in the dire situation at hand.
Alessandro smiled weakly, but then his face darkened. He opened Father Merrin's shirt, which lay in a coffin.
"This man was cursed to never rest in death... this man needs a complete farewell to prevent his body from being desecrated..."
The bishops grew alarmed, while the Cardinal narrowed his eyes upon seeing the glowing red symbol on Father Merrin's chest.
Allen's words came back like a punch to those present: "I bring the gates of hell on my back..."
"Someone release Allen Walker!" The Cardinal's orders reverberated powerfully as the light of the Vatican dimmed before the literal threat of the Apocalypse.
...
...
(Universe 1)
*Anissa's POV*
The life of a Viltrumite is usually simple. We often spend months, even years traveling through space in search of planets useful to the Viltrum Empire, whether for their resources, as even in the vast universe, certain valuable minerals and specific elements are scarce. In such a world, the task is quite simple, as we don't care for the life the planet holds. We can destroy whatever is necessary to take the world... even if that means the total annihilation of life in it...
This is not the case when the planet in question is valuable for its fauna or its people. In those cases, we are more careful after a controlled purge, until the civilization loses its ability to resist. Its survivors are used as slaves, either to turn the world into a productive colony or an agricultural one.
Are we monsters?
I have been called that many times over two thousand years...
We are beings who live thousands of years. There is even an old man who is over five thousand years old, and far from being weak, he still seems like he could live another ten thousand years. For our people, the lives of most species are so insignificant that they are not even worth remembering.
I couldn't answer that question before...
This strange detachment grew little by little until we reached the point where we lacked great emotions when seeing our own people die...
But it makes sense; we are monsters... we massacre each other in a purge for the weak... we become the air of the universe, with dozens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of us, sweeping across the universe, destroying everything in our path...
But as is logical, no empire is 'Invincible'. Just when we reached our peak of power and the largest number of pure and strong Viltrumites, a terrifying virus attacked us. This plague virus robbed our people of their powers, made us weak, made us fragile, and pushed us to the brink of extinction because it was horrifically contagious and fast-acting.
Those who survived after that were fewer than a hundred... and with that, we realized that even Viltrumites are not absolute. Of course, we never were; the Ragnars have always been here to remind us of that, but there was no reason to fear beasts without intelligence who couldn't fly or leave their planet. Again, the same story... to remember him once more was to give his due respect to a mercenary who, for many, is a legend.
The only danger for Viltrum was the Space Racer. This guy could kill us easily with his weapon. This Infinite Ray was so powerful that it could pierce planets and stars, destroying them effortlessly. There was no way a Viltrumite, even with their terrifying resistance, could survive that. That doesn't mean we couldn't kill him, but it would involve sacrificing several Viltrumites to get close to him. That weapon was too powerful. Unfortunately, that is an unacceptable option because losing even a single Viltrumite is devastating due to our small numbers. Also, there's no need for that, as there's only one Space Racer in the entire universe, and it's easy to ignore his existence.
As I remembered the Space Racer, I realized how much our species had diminished... We lost almost all of our kind. It should have been a devastating blow, such a great tragedy that it would crush us, but it wasn't...
I and the rest of the Viltrumites had our duel, we respected our dead, but we were not crushed.
I realized how little I cared about the lives of the other Viltrumites, even though there might have been a relative of mine among them, and yet I had long forgotten them or simply stopped caring...
So yes, we are monsters...
...
I came back from my memories only to face reality... I'm going to die...
It was completely unexpected to see this guy here...
It was a very particular sound... one I never thought I'd hear in my life, the weapon of the Space Racer started charging in front of me...
*End of POV*
The air vibrated with an invisible pressure as if space itself was holding its breath.
He was there.
Not a Viltrumite.
Not a monster.
Not a hero.
Space Racer.
Anissa had seen him in classified Coalition files, in distorted recordings, and in the terrified eyes of old soldiers who had survived by accident. No one faced him. No one escaped. Not because he was faster than them. But because he never missed.
He was floating, motionless, like a timeless shadow. His metallic figure outlined against the black from the space, and his rifle... that damn rifle was already charged, aimed directly at her chest as if it had been born to find her. His three eyes never lost sight of the target, his hand never hesitated... This man was a legend and one of the reasons the Planetary Coalition hadn't been destroyed by the Viltrumites...
Anissa felt her body wanting to move. Every cell in her body screamed to flee, to get away, to cross a dozen solar systems if necessary. To survive, as she always had... But she didn't move.
Not because she was brave in this moment.
Not because she thought she could win.
But because behind her was Earth.
That noisy, weak, chaotic... and warm planet.
That planet that had confused her. That had started to change her.
And on that world, somewhere... was he.
The stubborn, reckless, and strong idiot who had dared to fight her, to touch her pride and, unknowingly, her heart.
Allen.
She clenched her fists.
She couldn't flee. She couldn't let that light pass through her and burn everything she had barely started to understand.
"…Are you going to shoot?" she whispered, not knowing if it was a question, a challenge, or a plea.
Space Racer didn't respond.
Only a growing light in the barrel of his rifle.
And the entire universe seemed to stop.
She knew... that she was going to die... Yet death had never scared her. It would be rare for a Viltrumite to fear death because that would be a weakness... but now she understood why she was afraid... something so simple and so foolish that the Anissa from a thousand years ago, a hundred years ago, even the Anissa from a year ago would have scoffed at with contempt...
Millennia away from this weakness, and yet in just a few months, it came at her like a punch...
Anissa smiled and charged at Space Racer, simultaneously altering her trajectory to pull Earth out of the path of the shot. Space Racer didn't hesitate to keep aiming; it didn't matter if Anissa flew at the speed of light; Space Racer never missed...
Anissa knew... these were her last moments, but she was no longer scared. Once her heart understood, her mind became completely relaxed. She was ready to die... perhaps her only regret.
"I'm sorry... I would have liked to live that beautiful dream a little longer..."
Anissa felt it was too soon; not even a year had passed by his side, and there were countless things they hadn't done... She had not even given him a child... it felt so unfair. She would trade her two thousand years of life for just one more by his side, but it was impossible...
"Is this my Karma?"
Anissa, who had taken so many lives and destroyed so many worlds, thought maybe this was her punishment. If so, it was a cruel fate, because the world waited for her to care about not dying, for her to fear dying, only to take everything from her.
"This is fine..."
The Space Racer fired his weapon...
The destructive ray generated by infinite energy can pierce anything, even a black hole. There is no logic in it, no way to explain how something so small can have so much power. You can only accept it and think that this weapon is in the hands of the legend... the Space Racer...
The ray reached Anissa in an instant; she apologized. Even if she managed to divert the trajectory, a part of Earth's surface would still be affected by it.
*Flash*
Anissa opened her eyes as the pendant Allen had given her shone like never before, creating a massive shield that absorbed the power of Space Racer's shot.
Anissa was happy and moved to tears; to see this woman shed tears was something that had not happened in thousands of years.
"Thank you..." Anissa grabbed the pendant. Something like this had been given to her, it was obvious that Allen was protecting her from possible conflict with Thragg. She was sure this could only mean that he didn't want to see her die.
"Huh?!" Even the stoic and cold Space Racer couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had fired, yet something was stopping it, but only momentarily. A crack appeared in the shield, and also in the pendant.
Anissa wasn't startled by this; she didn't even care; she caressed the pendant with her fingers, "It's unfair... I haven't done anything to return this much affection... it's so unfair."
More cracks appeared in the pendant.
...
...
...
"Is it time?" Allen smiled while waiting to be released, knowing that the Vatican couldn't deal with this problem alone. However, the mission was over, so it was just a matter of whether Allen wanted to help this world.
*BA-DUM*
"...!" Allen's smile faded.
His chest tightened. He felt a terrifying chill.
"What?..."
[Allen!]
The system barely finished speaking before Allen opened a portal to the Invincible universe. This surprised everyone, but Allen didn't care, his only concern at this moment was getting to Universe 1 as quickly as possible.
"Dammit!"
How couldn't he know? He designed those pendants!
Each one was life insurance to protect the ones he cared about most. The pendants were created so that no matter where he was, his loved ones could be safe. But now, one of those pendants was about to be destroyed!
At that moment, questions flooded his mind, Why hadn't she teleported?! Why didn't the pendant activate the necessary safety measures?!
The pendant's shield was never its main defense feature, was the teleportation capability assisted by the system made it impossible to block!
"Dammit, dammit, dammit!"
Allen crossed the portal with a mix of uncontrollable anger and fear. Because even this man could still be afraid.
"I'LL KILL YOU BASTARD!"
...
Within the Vatican, the footsteps grew faster, but when they reached the cell, it was empty.
"Sound the alarm, we have a fugitive!"
The guards, who seemed to be dressed like someone from the past century rather than responsible for the Vatican's security, rushed at great speed, unaware that Allen was no longer in that world.