The crimson portal tore through reality like a wound in the fabric of existence itself.
Its swirling energies cast an eerie glow across the night sky of Earth - their Earth, their original reality.
Thragg emerged first, the Battle Beast coat flowing regally around his massive frame. Behind him came his family - Amanda and Roberta, the three Eves, Nolan, and the Marks - all returning from their conquest of the hero world.
The transition between realities was instantaneous.
One moment, they stood above a Tokyo skyline watching Viltrumite forces descend upon a newly conquered world; the next, they hovered in familiar skies, Mount Everest and the Imperial Palace visible in the distance.
A blur caught Thragg's attention. Conquest approached at tremendous speed, his scarred face set in its perpetual scowl. Upon reaching his Emperor, he immediately dropped to one knee in mid-air, fist pressed to chest in the traditional Viltrumite salute.
"Emperor," Conquest greeted, his gravelly voice carrying absolute deference. "Your return was unexpected. The Empire stands ready for your command."
Thragg regarded his loyal general with impassive eyes. "Report."
Conquest remained kneeling as he spoke. "Earth remains secure. Resistance has been minimal and swiftly eliminated. The breeding program proceeds as scheduled. Integration of human governments continues without significant disruption."
"And the Coalition forces?"
"No movement detected in this sector. Our scouts report they maintain their distance at the established boundaries."
Thragg nodded once, the barest acknowledgment of Conquest's efficiency. "You have performed adequately."
For Conquest, this was high praise. His scarred face revealed nothing, but his posture straightened imperceptibly.
Thragg turned to his family. "Rest. We will convene tomorrow to discuss our next phase of expansion."
The dismissal was clear, his tone leaving no room for questions. Mark opened his mouth as if to speak, but a warning glance from Nolan silenced him.
As the family began to disperse toward the palace, Amanda approached Thragg. She didn't touch him - not here, not before Conquest - but her eyes met his with the familiarity only a mate could risk.
"Will you join us?" she asked, her voice carrying a question beneath the question.
"Later," Thragg replied, his deep voice betraying nothing of his inner thoughts.
Amanda nodded, understanding without being told that he required solitude. She turned and followed the others, glancing back once before they descended toward the palace.
When they had gone, Thragg remained hovering in the night sky, Conquest still kneeling before him.
"Resume your duties," Thragg commanded.
Conquest rose, saluted once more, and departed, leaving the Emperor alone among the stars.
Thragg watched the retreating figures of his family for a long moment. Then, without warning, he launched himself upward with such force that the air cracked behind him, the sound of his departure echoing like distant thunder.
On a palace balcony, Nolan stood watching the sky where his brother had disappeared. His vision could still track Thragg's form, a rapidly diminishing speck ascending beyond Earth's atmosphere.
"Where is he going?"
Nolan didn't turn at Amanda's question. She joined him at the railing, her gaze following his into the heavens.
"He needs time," Nolan replied simply.
"Time for what?"
Nolan considered his answer carefully. "After major campaigns, he has always sought solitude."
Amanda's brow furrowed. "Is he... upset about something?"
"The Emperor does not get 'upset,'" Nolan corrected, though without harshness. "He evaluates. Reconsiders. Plans."
"The nuclear attack," Amanda said quietly. "It was close, Nolan. Too close."
Nolan nodded once, no words needing to be said.
They stood in silence, watching the night sky where Thragg had vanished from even Nolan's enhanced sight.
"He'll return when he's ready," Nolan finally said. "The Emperor requires no one's concern."
-----------------------
Thragg accelerated beyond Earth's gravity well, past the moon, past Mars, deeper into the solar system.
His velocity increased with each passing second, the planets becoming blurs as he pushed outward.
His face remained impassive, but his mind churned.
The blue entity's face flashed in his memory - her energy form molding against him, her unwanted touch, her ability to remove him from his chosen path.
Then came images of the nuclear detonation in space, the weapons he had barely intercepted, the millions who would have died had he been seconds slower.
Both incidents shared a common element: he had been caught unprepared.
He, Thragg, Emperor of Viltrum, had been surprised.
Twice.
The thought was intolerable.
Far beyond the Earth's Solar System, he found what he sought - a barren dwarf planet, lifeless and untouched. He descended to its surface, the impact of his landing sending dust clouds billowing outward across the airless landscape.
For a long moment, Thragg stood motionless, arms crossed, surveying the desolation. Here, surrounded by absolute silence, he could think without distraction.
He approached a mountain face, staring at it for a long moment.
Suddenly- he began to carve.
His fingers moved through solid rock as if it were clay, shaping, defining, creating.
First emerged the noble form of Emperor Argall, his features regal and wise. Beside him, a young Thragg, eyes upturned in rare admiration.
As he worked, memories surfaced.
"The true measure of a ruler is not how many worlds he can subjugate, but how many he can elevate."
Argall's words, spoken millennia ago during Thragg's training. Words he had treasured, then questioned, then forgotten in the centuries following Argall's murder.
The stone took shape beneath his hands, Argall's likeness emerging with perfect detail. Thragg stepped back, studying his creation with critical eyes.
He remembered his other selves' words.
"You were weak," he echoed them, tested them on his tongue- to see if they felt like truth. "Your compassion made you vulnerable to betrayal."
They didn't.
Argall had not been weak - he had been visionary. His methods had built an empire that spanned galaxies, united through strength but maintained through purpose.
Thragg moved to another rock face, his hands working with greater force now. He carved scenes of conquest - worlds burning, armies falling before Viltrumite might.
His own rise to power through the civil war, the ruthless efficiency with which he had maintained order across thousands of planets.
His thoughts darkened as he worked.
Perhaps Earth had been an anomaly.
Perhaps his approach to the hero world had been too merciful, too measured. The Illuminate had nearly succeeded in their genocide because he had given them time, had not eliminated them immediately upon discovering their existence.
His hands moved faster, stone cracking under his strength.
The armed man versus the unarmed group - his centuries-old strategy.
The group knows they could eventually overwhelm the armed man, but none want to be the first to take the bullets. None want to be the worlds reduced to cosmic dust by his wrath.
Fear. Efficient. Reliable.
Thragg's fingers dug deeper into the mountain face, carving now with less precision, more force. He began to shape Amanda's likeness, her features forming in the stone.
But as his darker thoughts intensified, his usually perfect control wavered. Pressure built in his fingertips, microscopic fractures spreading through the stone.
With a sharp crack, Amanda's face shattered, fragments of rock drifting away in the low gravity.
Thragg stared at the ruined sculpture, an unfamiliar sensation rippling through him.
Not quite shock - the Emperor of Viltrum did not experience shock - but something adjacent to it.
Failure was not a concept he associated with himself, yet here it stood before him, manifest in broken stone.
He moved to another section of the mountain, gathering his focus. Again, he began to carve Amanda's likeness, his movements more measured this time.
As her features emerged from the stone, his thoughts continued their internal debate.
Had his first life's memories made him hesitate when he should act decisively? Was his growing... attachment... to his family clouding his strategic judgment?
Small cracks appeared in the stone as his concentration wavered. Amanda's face began to form, but imperfections marred the sculpture. Not catastrophic like the first attempt, but flawed nonetheless.
Thragg stepped back, studying the imperfect creation with narrowed eyes.
"Perhaps... Different worlds require different approaches," he thought. "Some may respond only to absolute dominance, while others..."
He turned away, moving to face the largest cliff on the barren planet. This time, he would create something comprehensive. Something worthy of an Emperor's hands.
With renewed focus, he began to carve his entire journey - Argall and young Thragg, his rise to power, the worlds under his rule. As the massive sculpture took shape, his thoughts found a rhythm, a balance.
Neither pure ruthlessness nor pure mercy was universally effective. Each world, each civilization, each challenge required its own approach.
His hands moved with perfect precision now, carving his family into the stone - Amanda and Roberta, the three Eves, Nolan and the Marks. Each rendered with careful attention to detail, forming a monument to his existence across two lives.
As he worked, clarity emerged from confusion.
He would trust his instincts, honed across millennia and two existences.
He would prepare for all contingencies, never again be caught unprepared by dimensional entities or conspiracies.
And he would approach each world as it required - with mercy where mercy would succeed, with terror where terror was necessary.
Hours passed as Thragg carved, the massive sculpture growing to cover the entire cliff face.
When he finally stepped back, the completed work stood as a testament to his journey - from Argall's son to Grand Regent to Emperor of multiple universes.
"For the Elevation and Peace of life," he said to the silent stars, "if a world requires me to be a saint, I will be a saint. If a world requires me to be a devil, I will be a devil."
He touched the faces of Amanda and Roberta in the sculpture, acknowledging what his new life had given him without diminishing what his old life had taught him.
With his mind made, Thragg launched himself from the barren planet, accelerating back toward Earth.
-----------------------
The palace was quiet when Thragg returned, most of its inhabitants having retired for the night. He landed on the grand balcony without sound, the Battle Beast coat settling around him in the still air.
He entered his private chambers to find Amanda and Roberta waiting for him.
Amanda sat in a chair by the window while Roberta stood nearby, her posture perfect as always, pink energy dancing subtly between her fingertips as she manipulated data on an invisible display.
"About time you showed up," Amanda said with a slight smirk, rising from her seat. "We were starting to think you'd found another planet to conquer."
Roberta dismissed her energy display with a gesture. "Your absence was noted at precisely seven hours, forty-three minutes, and twelve seconds."
Thragg moved to the center of the room, his massive frame somehow fitting the space perfectly. "I required solitude to consider recent events."
Amanda approached him, crossing her arms casually. "And? Figure anything out up there in the cosmos, or just needed some space to brood?"
"Clarity," Thragg replied. He turned to Roberta, whose gaze studied him intensily "Tomorrow, we must research countermeasures against dimensional interference."
"I have already begun preliminary calculations," Roberta responded- not even questioning why he would want that - a hint of pride in her voice. "The molecular structure of the portal suggests vulnerabilities we might exploit."
"Good," Thragg acknowledged, his gaze moving between his two women.
A moment of silence passed between the three of them. Then, in a gesture rare for its spontaneity, Thragg reached out to touch Amanda's face - the same touch he had given to her stone counterpart hours before.
His other hand extended to Roberta, fingers brushing against her cheek with surprising gentleness.
"Rest," he said, his deep voice carrying something almost tender. "Tomorrow brings new challenges."
Later, when Amanda and Roberta had retired to their shared bed - a massive structure custom-built to accommodate Thragg's frame alongside his women - he stood watching them briefly.
Amanda had already fallen into sleep, her arm draped casually across Roberta's waist. Roberta remained awake longer, her mind processing the day's events until even she succumbed to rest, her typically perfect posture relaxed in slumber.
As he watched over his sleeping family, Thragg's expression remained unreadable to any who might have observed him.
But within, his resolve had crystallized into something harder than the stone he had shaped.
He would protect what he had built. He would expand his empire across all realities. And he would do so by whatever means each world required - saint or devil, merciful or merciless. Or the inbetween.
Creation will be elevated.
Whether it wished to be or not.
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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter.
Long time no see. I hope the chapter was fun to read- I know it's shorter than normal, but well, I still need to get back into Thragg's head.
Been a while since I wrote him.
Well, I hope to see you all later.
Bye!)