The entire world was praying. Everyone could feel this final battle, sensing the shifts in the air or the way space and time would ripple from the clashes. It wasn't just the civilians who wanted this seemingly pointless fight to come to an end, but the heroes and villains as well.
They had stopped their own battle. Even Nier and Lucifer.
All but two beings had become spectators. Only Full Monarch and the Ruler remained stuck in battle, and the rest of the world was being held hostage, forced to watch the exchange of blows that threatened to bring about an end to everything.
A collective thought was had during this final battle as everyone watched Full Monarch and the Ruler punch toward the other one.
"What are they thinking?"
What thoughts did the two strongest beings in the universe have? What decided the choices of their actions, and what led to them defending and attacking the way they did?
For what reason was this battle even going on? The rest of the world may never know, but for both Full Monarch and the Ruler, they seemed to enter a state where even thoughts stopped mattering as they read the other one like an open book and saw into each other's very soul.
It was only by understanding the other one that an outcome would reach its destined end.
"It was the duty of a hero to save everyone in front of them."
Jackson often said the words to himself every day.
These were some of the words he had lived by. In a way, these words were the entire reason he decided to become a superhero and try to save the entire world.
What was funny was that they weren't anything special either. He had just read them once in an old comic that Nier had lent him back during the war with Lucifer. Even back then, though, he had smiled when he read them.
"Save everyone."
Wasn't that such a beautiful notion? Wouldn't it be amazing if he could save literally everyone?
It was a childish dream, no doubt about that, but it was his dream, and he was proud to have it. A dream of saving those he cared about.
These thoughts went through Full Monarch's mind as he fought the Ruler. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't stop thinking about them. As he dodged swipe after swipe that the Ruler threw his way, he stared quietly at the being of Creation and Destruction, and he wondered.
"What are you thinking?"
And what was the Ruler thinking of during this fated battle between legends?
"Why was I born?"
This single question was likely asked by more people than any other. It was only natural that as humans, we are curious creatures who want answers to the unknown.
For most, they can claim that they were born out of an act of love between their parents. They were a precious gift, created and made to strengthen that love. Not all kids were born to two parents who held love for each other, though.
"Why was I born?" This question was one that Alpha often asked himself. Every day he would ask it, and every day it would go unanswered. "Why?"
Alpha felt cold.
It felt like ice was crawling along his back and gripping tightly onto his skin. He found himself floating without clothes or his armor in a sea of infinite darkness. It was all around him, as if he had been plunged into the ocean.
This living shadow tangled itself in his hair and his flesh and his limbs, and it hugged him tightly with no desire to let him go, and yet he knew that he didn't belong to this place. Lower and lower, he felt himself sinking, but he had not the strength to pull himself out.
He was totally helpless.
The only thing he could do was wallow in his self-negativity. All around him, every bad thought he ever had seemed to whisper and caress against him. Bad memories and desires that he chased after, which only led to others being hurt. These were the things that fueled this negative space, and they were the things that washed off him, dragging him deeper and deeper into this hellish pit of darkness.
It was in here that he once again found himself asking a very familiar question.
"Why? Why was I born? For what reason was I born to suffer? What did I do to get this fate? Why didn't I get salvation? What am I?"
What was he?
Was he a human? No.
Was he a goblin? No.
Was he a giant? No.
Was he a caterpillar? No.
He was none of these things, yet he was also all of them. He was a disgraced goblin who dreamed of being a giant but was in fact nothing more than a forgotten caterpillar, born from the butterfly that saw no use for him.
"Why didn't my dad want to keep me?"
Alpha sank deeper into the darkness, curled up into a ball as he felt cold. His eyes shut, and he allowed more of that negativity to seep through him.
"Suffer… Just make them all suffer. Suffer, just like I suffered."
All of this was happening within the mind of his twisted Ruler form. In the real world, the battle between him and Full Monarch was still underway.
"Suffer! Suffer! Suffer!"
Space shook and shifted. Gravity cried out, and the air rippled as cracks began to spread out across the ground and the sky. The Ruler's arms raised up, filling the area with waves of Imaginary Energy that twisted to his will.
Orbs formed, which rapidly shaped into eggs that then exploded into a sea of bugs. Spiders, ants, wasps, and anything else that had the ability to tear and render flesh. Full Monarch wasn't impressed as he swatted his hand through the air and ignited it, setting everything ablaze.
The Ruler let out a hiss as he watched his army be flash-fried. His hands curled up and grasped the air, tearing chunks out of it, which he then threw at Full Monarch, but the hero barely flinched as he swatted the bizarre effect away.
"Just give up." His blue fire grew more intense, formed around him like a second layer of skin; nothing could hurt the strongest hero in the world. "You can't beat me. Not while I'm like this."
"Suffer!" Beams of energy rapidly began to shoot out of all of the Ruler's many arms and fingers. "Suffer! Suffer!"
"You're not making me suffer, but you are hurting this planet and its people!" Full Monarch flew forward, swatting the lasers away as he pulled his arm back. "This chain of suffering has to end! No more!" He punched out as hard as he could, and the ground cracked and shattered as the fist flew into the Ruler's chest, cracking it and sending him flying back.
The Ruler rolled across it, the cracks starting to twist open across his body. Just a single strike from Full Monarch left him reeling, but he didn't care. All that remained in his heart was the need to destroy and create. He would bring down the entire universe and, from its remnants, build a new one in its place.
And it would all start with the death of Full Monarch!
The Ruler's many arms dug into the ground as his strange body rotated to the side. More cracks twisted their way across his flesh, and from his wounds, powerful energy began to spiral and grow. It built up and up like a flame that went unchecked.
Full Monarch frowned as he saw the energy that began to spill out of the Ruler's body. "Oh no, you don't. I know what you're planning!" He flew forward with godlike speed, reaching out to the Ruler just as the oversized bug reached its peak and self-destructed.
The Ruler unleashed all its energy outward, ripping past its flesh and blowing itself to bits. The explosion was one that would have destroyed a chunk of the Earth, but the planet and its people were all spared by Full Monarch, who used his maximum output to seal and halt the blast. He took the burden upon himself, absorbing the damage and forcing it all onto his own back. As such, only Full Monarch was hurt, as he felt a sharp pressure stab across his flesh.
The number one hero gritted his teeth and held his ground, managing to withstand it. His blue flames spiraled around him more and more, and his eyes narrowed as he watched shadows lift into the air, like a swirling mass of darkness, and they simply rebuilt the Ruler of Creation and Destruction.
'This isn't good.' The Brightest Star muttered. 'He blew himself up and simply revived. Worse yet, he's even stronger than he was moments ago. Meanwhile, our power is dropping.'
"It's not over yet." Full Monarch declared.
'You're right… It will be, though, if we can't stop that revival power.'
As if sensing Brightest Star's worry, the Ruler gave a sneering smile across his twisted skull-like face, and he ignited for a second time. Once more, Full Monarch took the burden of the explosion, as the Ruler self-detonated. Its massive form was rebuilt in less than a Planck second, and one of its many limbs came crashing down directly onto Full Monarch.
The hero felt the wind be knocked out of him, and he was smashed into the ground hard enough to leave a crater. He went to throw the hand off him, but again, the Ruler simply blew himself up, having zero regard for his own well-being since he knew he would reform.
'You can't keep taking those blasts!' The Brightest Star hissed from inside of Full Monarch's mind. 'Each one is weakening you; meanwhile, that bastard is growing stronger! He's going to turn this into a battle of attrition.'
"I don't have much of a choice." Full Monarch wiped the side of his mouth, clearing away blood, which was devoured by the flames that clung to him. "I can't let the planet take any of his explosions."
'Isn't there anything you can do?'
"I'm trying to think of something."
The last time he fought the Emperor was four years ago. Back then, he had been able to use his power to take control of the Cosmos and halt the Emperor's explosions. By placing a piece of his raw energy into the man's body, it halted the recovery ability and disrupted the Emperor's power, making it impossible for him to blow himself up.
Such a thing wasn't possible right now, however, as the Emperor had evolved into a form that had so much overwhelming energy that a tiny shard of Full Monarch's wouldn't be able to hold it all back.
Not to mention, the Emperor was beyond needing his body. In order to affect him, the chains and binding-like effect would have to be placed on the soul.
This was easier said than done.
"I have an idea, but I doubt he's going to let me go and get 'that' thing." Full Monarch winced as he took another explosion head-on. It was only a matter of time until the Ruler would grow to a level of power that he couldn't keep up with anymore.
The Ruler reformed again and slammed a fist toward Full Monarch, but before it could hit the number one hero, both a bolt of lightning and a shard of ice slammed into the villain's hands, tearing his strike off course.
"Full Monarch!"
"Max? Sini?" Full Monarch asked in surprise when he saw the two other Lords. "What are you guys doing here?"
"I know what you're planning!" Max called down. He stood on a block of ice that Sini was floating through the air on. "Go get it! We'll hold this thing off while you do!"
"Do you two think you can manage that?"
"Nope! Which is why you'd better hurry!"
Full Monarch bit his lip, but then he nodded. He dodged another swipe from the Ruler, and he blasted off into the air, flying away. The Ruler watched him flee, and it raised its arm, about to launch another strike of energy his way, but Sini and Max both struck out first, mixing lightning and ice, as they threw a mountain at the giant bug, which barely slowed him down.
"Ready?" Sini smirked as he raised his trident.
"To lose? Yep!"
The battle they had with the Ruler lasted less than one second…
Sini dropped from the sky, and with a battle cry, he stabbed his trident out. Blades of ice followed him down, and they were coated in swirling water, which appeared out of nowhere. They began to spin, getting faster and faster, and with a single thrust, he launched them all out directly at the Ruler, who looked up at him. The Ruler lazily created a barrier around himself, which blocked the attacks, and then, faster than Sini could react, he swatted his arm down and smashed it into Sini.
Sini gasped and spat up a wave of blood as the hand pressed down onto his stomach and began to crush him. He tried to shove the arm off of him, but no matter how much effort he put into it, he couldn't even get it to budge. Just when the pressure seemed too much, Max came rocketing down.
Max screamed and rotated the air around himself, forming a drill of pure wind around both his arms. His legs then glowed and buzzed as they shifted into pure lightning, and he zapped forward with blinding speed. He smashed himself directly into the Ruler's chest and hit the being hard enough to shift its weight back. The Ruler was forced to stop crushing Sini, and its teeth clicked together as it steeled its gaze on Max.
Max got ready to do it again, but a shimmering orb of Imaginary Energy appeared in front of him, and the orb exploded into a sea of constructed bugs that wrapped around him. He screamed as a spider began to web him up, and centipedes slithered their way around him and began to dig into his flesh. No amount of lightning affected them, as the constructs simply absorbed Max's energy and grew bigger.
The Ruler cocked his head to the side as he watched both Lords. Slowly, he began to lower his head, and his jaws cracked open, getting wider and wider as he got ready to devour them both, but at the last moment, Full Monarch reappeared and swung out with a sword, slicing both of the Ruler's arms clean off.
It wasn't just any sword that he held, either. The Ruler's eyes narrowed just slightly as he stared at Storymaker, which Full Monarch held.
That was the trump card Full Monarch went to get. "This blade will be the key to reaching my desired ending." Full Monarch declared, and his flames began to slowly swirl over the blade. "This sword is going to help me make my story!"
In the next instant, Full Monarch flew forward, hoping to impale the Ruler on the end of his sword, but despite being so massive, the Ruler was shockingly fast, and he vanished in a blur, dodging the stab. His arms regrew, and he struck out, smacking Full Monarch. The blow knocked the number one hero out of the sky, and he twisted his body and swung out with the blade, but the Ruler created a barrier that blocked it.
The sword was useless if it couldn't hit its mark, and both of them knew that. Despite having used a claymore during the war with Lucifer, Full Monarch was a tad embarrassed to admit that he allowed himself to grow a tiny bit sloppy and untrained when it came to bladed weapons. He had come to love his fists more than any sword, and right now, Storymaker was feeling awkward and clunky in his grasp.
Full Monarch flew forward once again and stabbed out with his blade, but the Ruler lazily dodged to the side and smacked him away. "Suffer." It then blasted out a thick orb from its palm, but Full Monarch easily sliced it in two with his sword.
"I told you, I'm ending that phase. No more suffering!" He flew forward one last time, but the Ruler reached out and grabbed him out of the sky, wrapping its fingers around him. Its body then began to shimmer as it got ready to blow up again, while keeping the sword Full Monarch held away from it. "No! Don't do it-"
"Alpha!"
The Ruler paused, and his head seemed to twist around as he stared down at Hell Hound. The girl looked like her body had reached its limit. Jagged cracks covered her flesh, slowly growing, and whatever energy powered her was starting to leak out. The sight of the woman he claimed he had loved actually managed to cause the Ruler to pause for a fraction of a second. Seeing her in such a damaged state made his fragile mind whirl in confusion.
He wanted everyone to suffer. To be broken down as the world had broken him, yet seeing her like this… Something about it didn't sit well with him.
"Alpha! Please!" Hell Hound gasped out and tried to step forward, but her legs gave out, and she collapsed. "This is going too far. This is crossing a point of no return. Y- You have to stop. Before it's too late. Please! Alpha, come back!"
That brief moment of pause gave Full Monarch his chance. The number one hero gritted his teeth and blasted forward with everything he had, breaking his way out of the Ruler's grasp, and he stabbed out with his sword, impaling it straight into the spot of the Ruler's body where a heart should have been.
The Ruler howled as the blade broke past his defenses, and he twisted his gaze away from Hell Hound and refocused it on Full Monarch. His many limbs reached out and began to tangle themselves around Full Monarch, pulling the hero closer. Next, the Ruler lit up and almost seemed to chuckle as he got ready to blow himself to bits on top of Full Monarch.
"Suffer."
"No." Full Monarch gritted his teeth and pressed forward with even more power. The Ruler's energy was building up and reaching its peak, but his own energy was increasing even more rapidly, surpassing the Ruler. "No more suffering!"
Storymaker didn't just stab through the Ruler's flesh. It also didn't just stab the Ruler's heart. No. It went deeper and further than any blade has ever reached before. More and more it stabbed out until it pierced the Ruler's very soul.
This act was only possible thanks to Full Monarch using his own power to forge a bridge of fire. He poured all his energy out. Keeping the Ruler's body held together didn't matter, as the being could now blow up and recreate its very soul, and so he needed to affect the soul itself, but even that wouldn't be enough, so with a yell, Full Monarch pressed on and shoved the blade even deeper, piercing past the soul and the ego.
Before Full Monarch's eyes, the world seemed to fade away and vanish. The Ruler's own body also seemed to no longer exist within his gaze. All he saw was an infinite mound of darkness, which was cold enough to freeze the very fire that formed around his flesh.
As the darkness expanded, it began to wrap itself around him, and it tried to swallow him whole, but Full Monarch fought through that and ignited himself even brighter with the power of pure hope. His own hope. Hope in his power. Hope in the Brightest Star. Hope in humanity. And hope in him having enough strength to save everyone who was in front of him.
The darkness that was past the Ruler's soul screamed out and launched waves of negativity and malice, all in an effort to defeat and devour Full Monarch, but the hero just powered up even more and flew deeper into the sea of darkness, plunging Storymaker past it.
It was within this sea that Alpha floated. His eyes were still closed, and ice rapidly coated his flesh from how cold it was. He was sinking deeper and deeper, being pulled down by negative thoughts and emotions.
"Why was I born?"
"Why am I suffering so much?"
"What purpose does my life have?"
"Is there a reason for me to even exist?"
"Why am I a bad person?"
These sentences and thoughts formed tendrils that wrapped around Alpha, binding him like powerful chains, and they tugged him further past his soul and ego into a void where nothing existed. It was within this nothing that something thrived.
Something older than even the universe and full of anger and hate. Something that had long since latched onto him since the moment his cursed existence came into the world.
"Why were you born?"
"Why do you suffer so much?"
"What purpose does your life have?"
"Is there a reason for you to even exist?"
"Why are you such a bad person?"
The questions kept reaching out. Tighter, they bound themselves around Alpha, and the depths of darkness pulled him lower.
He was all alone. Why?
Why was he always so alone? Why did this world even bother to have a need for him when it all seemed to want to kick him while he was down? And why was he always down? Why did he not matter? Why did he suffer so much? Why didn't anyone care about him?
"Is that what you really think?"
Alpha's body flinched as he heard a new voice. One that rang out amongst the sea of despair. His eyes slowly cracked open, and he flinched when he saw a light in the darkness. A light that began to grow bigger and bigger, and the darkness screamed as it started to get pushed away. Despair was nothing before hope.
"Do you seriously believe all those words?" From the light, a hand formed, and Alpha felt it wrap around his arm. His eyes fully opened now, and he stared in shock as Full Monarch's body began to shimmer and reform, forged entirely out of a light crafted from his sheer hope. "Come now? Why ask such depressing questions? Why were you born? Why do you exist? Why does the world seem to be against you? Do you think these are all questions only you have had? No. They aren't. Plenty of people throughout this world and the next have all pondered the same thing you did. So many have bad things happen to them and think that it is proof that the world is out to get them, but it isn't. The world isn't out for anyone, and not a single person suffers more than the next. We all struggle, we all feel pain, we all feel down, and we all feel like our rotten luck has caused all the negativity in our lives, but that's not true, and we all know it. Deep down, we do."
"G- Get your hands off me." Alpha hissed and tried to yank his hand away, but he failed to. He tried to sink deeper into the darkness, but he failed at that as well. Full Monarch's grip was too strong, and the light of hope was too bright. Alpha couldn't escape. "W- What are you doing?"
Full Monarch's grip grew tighter, and he refused to let go. "Are you really just a kid? Because that's what you're acting like. Constantly throwing this tantrum. You asked why no one cares about you, but what about that lady outside? To me, it seems like the only one who doesn't care is you. You seem to care about nothing, not even your own well-being. At the very least, you don't care about the lives of other people. You're selfish. You're full of corruption. You're evil. Plain and simple. That is why you are always down. That is why you suffer so much. You bring it upon yourself because those who cause despair will know only despair. And I'm sorry that you might have had a hard life or that you weren't saved at moments when you should have been, but I am here now, and I have been constantly reaching out toward you. Why don't you take my hand? Why don't you stop this all? It's because you're scared. Because all you know is this hatred, and that is all you want now. Even after whining and crying and begging for a different outcome and for the answers you seek, you won't give the effort to reach out for them. If that's the case, then I'll force you to do it. Bit by bit. Because that's my job. Because a parent, even one who doesn't have any right to call themselves that, should be the one to reach out to their child who is hurting and rescue them."
Alpha gritted his teeth. "You know nothing! Don't act like you understand what I have been through! You can't even imagine the suffering that has happened to me!"
"You're right. I likely can't." Full Monarch shook his head. "And I will remain unable until you tell me."
"What?"
"I'm serious." Full Monarch stared down at Alpha. "Tell me. Everything. Go on. It's okay for you to open up and to talk. I'll be here to listen."
The final battle between Full Monarch and the Emperor was not one of fists or orbs of energy. Rather, it was going to be a father finally listening to his son.
Alpha felt his lip tremble, and for the first time ever, he began to talk about his past. He started the tale of how he became the person he is today.