"Team Victorian should be arriving soon." Battery stated. "Once they do, it'll only be a matter of time until we arrive on the battlefield." He casually sat on the ground, still within the world between worlds. Behind him, the Tallest Wave and White Wolf both stood, while Beta casually sat next to him. "How are the fights going?" He asked.
Beta let out a soft hum. "My cameras are hooked up to the others and are currently live. I've been following along and actively editing when I can. The footage is being shown off to the public, but the version they are seeing is exactly ten seconds behind in case something needs to be edited or cut in real time. So far, I've mainly just shown the battle Myth is having, since the others aren't doing much at the moment. Also, as it stands, the hero Cinder hasn't been spotted, so we have no way of knowing how she is doing."
"Is there any other way we can get to the battlefield before my sister?" Tallest Wave asked, folding her arms.
"Sorry, but no." Battery shook his head. "Believe me, I'd love to arrive on the battlefield first, but we're stuck here until it's all done."
"Damn loading screens." White Wolf let out a snort and casually fiddled with her phone. She got no reception or connection, but she was bored beyond her mind and wanted to at least do something. "So, boss man, what exactly is the plan once we get in? I'm not really a fighter, you know. It would have been better to bring that cat girl with you."
Battery once again shook his head. "Purrfect needed to stay in the real world. Thanks to her power's inversion, she can make copies of herself, which can remain behind and control the Giants. I need her to guard the world while we're all busy. All the big threats are going to be piled up in one spot for us all to take out at the same time, yet the world is still filled with other smaller evils that will try to take over. That's why some of the Enforcers were left behind. I imagine Boy Genius will also come out of hiding and swoop in once the villains are all caught off guard and take a majority of them out himself."
"Rip those guys, I guess, but what are you going to do about the ones in the actual Murder Games?" White Wolf asked, folding her arms. "You haven't told me jack shit, and I'm only really working with you since the alternative was being locked away."
"I also don't really know the plan." Tallest Wave said a little sheepishly. "You and Lois have been secretive about it."
"We can't talk about too much." Battery sighed. "The more people who know, the more it'll influence what you do, which could cause changes. Lightning Empress and I had a discussion shortly before all of this went down. She can't see the battles between guys like the Emperor, but she can look into the Paths beyond the point of those fights and take a guess as to what happened, working backward the best she can. Together, we built a solution, one that will all hinge on the outcome of a battle. If I told you anything and you either went along with it or tried to change it, it could ruin everything. The truth is, even I only know some stuff since Lightning Empress is keeping the rest close to her chest."
"So you're putting your trust fully in her?" White Wolf snorted.
"She was a friend at one time, before all of this." Battery nodded.
"And this plan you have, will it work?" Tallest Wave asked.
Battery met her gaze and shrugged. "With a bit of hope."
He decided it was best to not tell her the parts Lightning Empress had whispered to him.
'No matter what happens, you can't let Hope's words reach you. Plunge your sword through her, end it all, and in one big blast, while we're all in the same location, we'll all go. Wiped out in an instant, leaving only a single hero behind. The hero that will save the world. Stand strong, Jack Larison, your time is coming.'
"How is the situation?" Battery shook the memory off and turned to look back at Beta.
"Well, enough," Beta hummed. "Myth's team is doing as good as I expected." The robot lifted his hand and showed the hologram once more. Here, I'll show you." The image twisted and showed Myth battling a giant monster with several arms and heads, all clawing down at him.
Myth jumped to the side, letting out a loud roar as he entered his lion form. The zombie in front of him was massive and a mix of Red Raptor, Red Scorpion, and White Cow. It had many limbs that twisted and jutted out, each holding a large weapon, and the creature's eyes were filled with hate as it attempted to take a swipe at the many heroes that were running around it. Metal Ronin was in a new suit, one that had what looked almost like roller skates, which were covered in jagged metal shards. The hero flew across the ground, stabbing large chunks of metal into the legs of the zombie. Phoenix stuck to the air, blasting out pillars of green fire that tore chunks in the zombie's flesh. Money Tree tried dropping large blocks of digital money onto the zombie, but it would dodge out of the way at the last second. Finally, that left Claymore, who stood off to the side, feeling pretty useless right now.
Myth took stock of everyone's position and then took a deep breath. His muscles expanded, and his lion form grew even larger, his claws and fangs growing jagged, before he took a thundering step forward and let out a loud roar. The sound was so loud that it blasted out of his mouth like some sort of sonic boom and smashed directly into the chest of the zombie, blasting it back and sending it smashing directly into the wall of the stadium they were in. The entire stadium shook, and several rows of seats exploded, raining debris down, the zombie's form cracking the stone. It barely affected the monster, though, the weird chimera villain ripping its way out of the wall and standing back up.
As the zombie stood back up, it let out a low, piercing growl, acid dripping down its many heads, burning the ground around it. Where all of its wounds were, paper began to fill the tears as it repaired itself.
"Damn it, I really hate all these powers that just allow a villain to heal." Metal Ronin spat out.
"Tell me about it." Money Tree let out a soft snort. "These guys are the worst."
"It's good to have you back, sir." Metal Ronin grinned and gave a nod to his former leader.
"Well, it isn't good to be back in this situation." Money Tree lifted his sword, his strange new cloak growing larger. "All I know how to do is slice and cut, and that doesn't seem to work on this guy. Any ideas, Myth?"
"Yeah." Myth cracked his knuckles. "We hit him really hard!"
"Sure, why not!" The other heroes all cheered and got ready for round two, while Claymore remained on the sidelines, watching the fight in stunned silence.
The zombie let out a hellish scream, all three of its heads twisting around to glare at the many targets that began to run around it. Its many arms are lifted into the air, and various battleaxes of compressed milk formed into existence, giving the merged villain a set of powerful weapons, which it sliced out with. Its strike split the ground open, leaving a wave of destruction in its wake, but the others were either too fast or too durable. Myth and Metal Ronin dodged out of the way of the strike, while Phoenix remained in the air out of harm's way. Money Tree formed a shield in front of him, which blocked the strike. The zombie spat out a glob of acid at him, and its tail shot up toward Phoenix, but neither of its attacks landed true. Money Tree sliced the orb perfectly in half, the liquid spilling behind him, while Phoenix flew through the tail, letting it impale him, only to then grab hold of it.
Fire and blood poured down Phoenix's body as the tail went all the way through his stomach and out his back, but just like the zombie he could heal, and already his body was putting itself back together. He wrapped his arms around the tail and let out a loud yell as he lifted up, flying higher into the air. The zombie grunted as its tail was tugged on, and then the next thing it knew, it was being carried high into the air. Phoenix kept going, flying up higher and higher until he was well beyond the clouds. Once he made it that far, he looked down at the villain with a cold glare and sliced his hand out, cutting the tail inside of him off. The zombie screamed at him as it dropped from the ground and plummeted down below at a rapid speed. As it fell, Phoenix tore the rest of the tail out of him and fixed up his damaged body.
The others all watched as the zombie smashed into the ground headfirst, shaking the entire stadium and kicking up a wave of dust. Part of the creature seemed to be caved in from the fall, most of it being left a broken, shattered mess, but already it was trying to heal. The heroes were on it before any of its damage could be fixed, though.
Metal Ronin jumped through the wave of dust and smashed an iron spear directly into the zombie's gut. It tried to take a swipe at him, but he lifted his arm and formed a barrier, blocking the strike at the last moment. His other hand shot out and smashed another iron spear directly into the zombie's gut. Each spear was long and jagged and sort of looked like lightning rods. His new suit was covered in them, having dozens all along his back or shoulders that could expand or shrink, and by now, he had shoved six into various spots along the zombie. Metal Ronin jumped back and clicked a button on his arm, and the rods lit up and then jutted out a wave of lightning, causing the zombie to spasm. The lightning flowed as if it were some sort of liquid and began to form into thick lines connecting to all the spears, binding the villain.
Or at least, that had been the plan, but the zombie flexed and tore its many arms through the binding and began to rip the many spears out of it, tossing them to the side. "Well, that didn't work." Metal Ronin muttered before he smashed both his arms together, the limbs twisting into a large barrel that unleashed a glowing green energy beam that tore off one of the zombie's legs.
More paper flowed out, and the zombie was in the middle of attempting another heal when Money Tree reached it. The man moved at speeds matched only by the internet itself. His sword expanded and grew, flowing like some sort of bladed whip, and he ran past the zombie, his blade tearing its other leg off. He didn't stop there, though, and lifted his arm, the whip jutting up and tearing the other limbs of the monster clean off. Once it was helpless, he brought his arm down, the blade slicing the creature clean in two, and then he sliced into fours, then eights, and so on, going until only chopped-up cubes were all that remained of the zombie, which even still were struggling to put themselves back together, paper flowing out and binding them back piece by piece.
"This healing is just absurd." Money Tree spat out. "I turned them into cubes, but even that isn't enough? Seriously? What the hell?"
The zombie put itself back together again and roared, but one of its heads was punched clean off by Myth, who came rocketing in. Myth hit the zombie with everything he had, tearing right through it, now in his bull form. In an instant, he swapped, going back to his lion form, and he tore his claws down the monster's gut, slicing it open. Then he was in his three-headed fire beast form, flames blasting out and scorching the zombie. Again and again, he kept shifting, going through dozens of different forms as he reduced the zombie to ash or mush over and over again.
"We'll just rip him apart each time he tries to stand back up." Myth declared. "Whatever it takes, even if we battle him all day and night."
"Right!" The others nodded.
Claymore absently played with his sword. "Damn, I really do feel so useless right now." He snorted. He didn't have the earplugs in anymore since there was no point. The entirety of the fake Oleander city was in an uproar, but most people wisely chose to avoid the stadium where a giant death match was currently going on. "It sucks being a normal guy."
"Claymore!"
Claymore felt his eyes go wide, and he turned around, finding Irene, Alexander Lauren, and Evan all entering the stadium. "What the hell! Why are you guys here? It's way too dangerous!"
Phoenix also seemed shocked and taken aback by Evan's arrival. This caused the hero to miss one of his fireballs, not stopping the zombie's healing. The zombie managed to recover enough and swung its axe out, knocking Myth back and allowing it to get some distance. It charged forward, its body healing as it aimed at the new, weaker targets that had arrived. It appeared in front of Irene and the others and swung out with its axe. The attack never landed, though.
In a flash, Claymore appeared between Irene and the axe and parried the blow. His fingers gripped his sword tightly, and with inhuman speed and strength, he sliced up, his sword literally glowing as it ripped straight through the creature and split the zombie in two, as well as the entire stadium, which was sliced cleanly in half straight down the middle. Not missing a beat, Claymore somehow grabbed all three of the players and, in another instant, appeared on the other side of the stadium away from the zombie, placing them all down.
Everyone stared, stunned by the display, as Claymore placed Irene gently on the ground. "I thought that guy was just a normal human," Phoenix said in shock. "How the hell did he do that? That was just as strong as Cinder?"
Irene felt a smug smirk tug its way onto her lips, a bit of pride bleeding in. "See, I told you. He's a horrible hero, but he's a great knight. Claymore is only good when it comes to protecting me."
"That was really stupid!' Claymore lightly hit Irene over the head with the handle of his sword. "You could have gotten hurt!"
"Ow!" The little girl rubbed her bump and pouted. "I knew you'd save me."
"Well, don't do that again!" Claymore yelled. "Seriously, what were you thinking! You're supposed to be smart!"
"If you two are done, the thing is healing again." Myth shouted.
Claymore turned just in time to see the zombie throwing its axe toward him. His sword glowed brighter, the entire blade seemingly being bathed in golden sunlight. He took a deep breath and steeled his nerves. "Leave it to me." He tore his sword up through the air, a streak of gold following it as he tore straight through the axe. The milk weapon burned to ash as his blade began to hum. "I'll take this thing out."
"Who are you?" Evan asked, stunned.
Claymore felt a smirk appear on his lips. "I'm the little brother of Sword Swinger."
"Sword Swinger?" Evan's eyes went wide. "Isn't she one of the heroes that died in the battle with the Beast? She didn't have any powers, she was just a normal human, but her skill was so great that it actually seemed to awaken something inside of her sword."
"Yep. It's the same for me." Claymore took off, his sword's glow starting to run out. "I'm worthless. I don't have any superpowers, and I don't have the skills my sister did. I never even wanted to be a hero like her!" He let out a yell and swung his sword out, the gold blasting off of it. "Even so, I was chosen. Her sword came to me and asked me to finish what she couldn't! This is the sword, the weapon that will slay the Beast!"
What was a soul? It was the energy that formed into the substance known as Ego. It is the root of a person's shape and the same fundamental law that the Paths of the universe followed. An Ego was something more than just a thing inside of a person, though. Animals, plants, bugs, and everything living had an Ego, a soul. So what happens when a person pours all their love into something? They put their heart and even their soul into an object and treat that object as if it were alive. Sword Swinger was a normal human, yet day in and day out, she took care of her blade, polishing it, cleaning it, reforging it, and even talking to it. One day, it talked back. One day it got an Ego. In other words, a soul.
The zombie screeched and cried out as the gold tore through it, and its body tried to heal, but the power was too great and too concentrated. The energy swirled out, and bit by bit, the zombie began to shatter, each cell reduced to less than ash, until absolutely nothing remained, not a single trace for the paper to bring back. It was over. The others all stood stunned as Claymore wiped the creature out in a single blow.
Claymore collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily as his sword's glow died out. "Oh yeah, by the way, I'm pretty cool."
***
A few moments before Wish's death...
Kevin twisted his fist, ramming it straight into Casey's face as hard as he could. Casey grunted, and his blood burned with an intense purple flame as he sliced up with his claws, tearing into Kevin's stomach.
On the other side of the street, Hannah smashed her foot into the ground, causing various metal bones to stab out of the road and come up like jagged spikes. They narrowly missed Oxide, who formed a metal whip and used it to swing herself above the spikes, dodging them all.
Both Oxide and Kevin landed on one side of the street while Casey and Hannah landed on the other. All four of them breathed heavily and were covered in various bruises. Despite their usual power to heal, though, all three monsters weren't able to, their injuries staying.
"What the hell." Casey spat out. "Something must have happened to Wish. The connection is messed up or something."
"That's not good." Hannah giggled softly.
"Yeah, you're telling me." Casey spat out. "If she actually loses again, this time it could be for real. If she goes, then you and I..."
"We can stop this now, you know," Kevin called out. "We don't have to fight."
"Of course we do." Casey sneered.
"It is a little sad, though," Hannah admitted. "I mean, I'm fighting Kevin and Ashley. I'm a little bummed about that if I'm being honest."
Oxide's metal mask moved away, revealing the face of Ashley, who gave the other girl a sad look. "Hannah..."
"Save it." Hannah giggled. "I don't actually care that much."
"You and I used to be friends, though," Ashley said sadly. "We went to the same school together. You, me, and Paige. She still asks about you. No one knows that you became a villain. They all think you died during the Beast attack."
"Let them think that." The skeleton sneered. "I couldn't care less. Wish saved my life. She's my hero. Some friend you turned out to be, you never even told me you had powers. All those times I protected you at the school, I bet you were laughing at me the entire time."
"No, I was-"
"Enough." Hannah shook her head. "It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters." Kevin barked out. "None of this has to happen. Please! We don't have to do this!"
Casey gave a faint grin and looked around. The street they were on was empty, though a large crowd of people was at one end watching the display. Now that Pied's music wasn't going anymore, the humans of the city were free to get in the way. "We do have to do this. You're on the side of good, and we're not. It's as simple as that!" He clasped his hands together and unleashed a fast-moving blood beam right toward the crowd. "Now do your job, heroes!"
"No!" Kevin jumped out in front of the beam and lifted his arms, ready to block it. Before it could hit him, though, Oxide struck out with her arm, wrapping him up in a wave of metal armor that kept him safe. The beam smashed into the armor and broke past part of it, but it was unable to pierce it all. "Whoa! Thanks for the save."
Oxide managed a smirk and nodded her head toward her boyfriend. "I got your back."
"And I got yours." Kevin's look grew somber as he glanced back at the glaring faces of Casey and Hannah. "Let's do this."
Kevin charged forward, shattering the ground. Oxide's metal tore off of his body and twisted into a large iron hammer, which he wrapped up with his tendrils and swung out with as hard as he could directly at Casey's head. Casey barely managed to duck under the strike, but before the villain could make a counterattack, Kevin kicked out, smashing his foot right into Casey's stomach. Casey was blown back and rammed straight through a food cart, raining the festive items down onto the ground. A second later, the Demonica-looking villain was forced to roll out of the way as Kevin came down hard with the hammer, smashing it into the ground and cracking it. The entire street shook from his blow, and both boys growled at one another.
"Die," Casey declared.
"No thanks," Kevin said flatly.
Casey clapped his hands together, the purple flame blood flowing out and compressing in between his palms as he unleashed a piercing strike aimed right at Kevin's head. Kevin lifted the hammer up at the last moment, using it as a makeshift shield. The rest of the weapon heated up and exploded, dropping to the ground, now as a useless pile of liquid. Kevin smashed his fist out and rammed it into Casey's face, but Casey hit back, forming flaming blood gauntlets that burned and scorched Kevin's muscle-like form. The Mars King-looking boy hissed in pain and felt his leg nearly explode as Casey launched out another compressed beam straight through the kneecap, downing Kevin.
On the other side of the street, Oxide twisted her body and struck out with a wave of jagged blades that appeared in the air around her, her liquid metal taking shape. Her blades were deflected easily by Hannah, who simply created metal bones that altered their own magnetic field, causing the blades to shift and turn midair, missing the skeleton girl. Hannah let out several taunts as she deflected the many attacks that came her way, causing Oxide to growl. Oxide formed a large hammer, and she charged forward, swinging it out at her enemy as hard as she could, but before the blow landed, Hannah lifted a hand, her own magnetic field changing and shifting. The hammer stopped midswing, and no matter how hard she tried, Oxide couldn't get the weapon to budge.
"Magnets, bitch." Hannah said proudly. Hannah smashed a fist directly into Oxide's stomach, and Oxide gasped as she felt her suit shift around her, and she was blown back.
"Damn it, magnetic bones? Seriously?" Oxide hissed as she smashed back first into a building.
Hannah let out a loud laugh and brought her arm back, lifting it up. Oxide was instantly dragged out of the building, dragged by an invisible force across the ground. Hannah smashed her arm down as hard as she could, and Oxide was thrown into the air and then came smashing down onto the road hard enough to crack it. Before Oxide could recover, Hannah smashed her foot into the ground, firing out another wave of metal bones that stabbed and pierced along Oxide's body, tearing into the girl's metal armor and spilling her blood. Oxide gasped in pain, and with another twist of Hannah's hand, Oxide felt herself being bounced around the cage of metal-bone spikes she was now in.
Both Kevin and Oxide were launched back, and the two of them rammed into each other, back first.
"Hey." Oxide groaned.
"Hey." Kevin chuckled. "Switch?"
"Switch."
They twisted themselves around one another, and Kevin charged at Hannah, punching her square in the face, while Oxide ducked under a blood beam sent by Casey and impaled a sword straight through his stomach.
Oxide dodged another wave of beams, and she created more swords, blocking Casey's attacks. Her armor flowed out like a liquid metal, and she danced around him, cutting him over and over again, spilling more and more of that purple fire blood. Casey howled and threw his arms out, attempting to blow the area around him up, but he wasn't fast enough, and Oxide used her powers to wrap him up in a thick metal iron maiden-like device. His fire went off wildly, burning through the metal suit, but by the time he got out, his fire was mostly gone, the liquid metal turning white hot and dripping down his skin before it began to turn solid. He growled and tried to pull his way out of it.
"I'll kill you!" Casey screamed again, glaring at Oxide.
"Why are you doing this?" Oxide demanded.
"Because I wasn't born lucky! I was born as a normal human in a world filled with freaks. I didn't get blessed with godlike powers, and no one was there when I needed them most! I had cancer, and I was going to die! There was no Paragon or Victorian to save me, all because I was a nobody! None of you did anything when I was still myself, and you only learned to care about me after what I became! After, it was too late!" Casey roared.
"But it isn't too late!"
"Yes, it is!" Casey's body began to glow rapidly as his power surged bright.
Oxide's look grew serious, and she nodded her head, forming a massive lance along her arm. "Okay then. I'm sorry."
Over with Kevin, he jumped out of the way of more of the jagged bones and twisted under one, unleashing a powerful punch directly to Hannah's stomach. The girl gasped, and she was blasted through a building, but she didn't even get a moment to recover. Kevin was on her in an instant, and he grabbed her by the head, his fingers digging into her skull. He forced her head down and brought his knee up, ramming it into her face. Again and again, he kept smacking her around over and over until the metal along her body began to crack and dent, and her blood spilled out, broken teeth dripped from her face. Kevin punched her one last time, digging his fist into her ribs and breaking past them as he smashed her directly onto the ground. He breathed heavily, feeling his rage start to vanish, and he stared down at the girl in pity.
"I used to see you hanging around Ashley all the time at school," Kevin said quietly. "You always looked so happy, and you were nice to most people. Sure, at times, you could be a jerk, but... what happened?"
"I died." Hannah spat out and lay on the ground, her body broken. Slowly, though, she began to rise to her feet. Her bones began to crack and expand, and she started to get bigger. "I was taken by the Bad Timers. Not any of the serious members, just some of their low-level grunts. I died that day, or at least I wanted to. I couldn't be myself after the things they did to me. It wasn't a hero who swooped in and saved me. It was Wish. She found me. I was a broken mess, barely clinging to life, yet she found me and gave me a second chance. Made me stronger. Made it so something as horrible as that would never happen to me again. It's only natural that I worship my Goddess with everything I have, isn't it?"
Kevin gave her a sad look, and his arm began to expand slowly. "God... I'm sorry. None of us knew. I-" He felt his voice break for a moment, and he then balled his hand into a fist. "I'm sorry you're hurting. I wish... I wish the world could be a better place where people don't have to worry about anything. Where kids can grow up and follow their dreams and not have to worry." Kevin gave a sad smile before his look grew serious. "I'm going to put an end to this all. You're not going to hurt anyone ever again!"
Oxide rammed her lance into Casey right as Kevin punched Hannah. The two villains were blasted back and rammed into each other, smashing into the ground and sending up a shock wave. Casey and Hannah groaned, struggling to stand, while Kevin and Oxide now both stood in front of them.
"D- Damn it." Casey spat out. "Seriously. Again?"
"Not yet, not yet, not yet." Hannah dug her nails into the ground. "Not yet-" A crack echoed across the street, and Hannah stopped and looked down at her hands. Along her bones, more cracks began to form and open. "Oh."
"Shit." Casey stopped struggling and looked down at his hands. "Seriously." He was also starting to crack. "So that's it, huh?"
"What's happening?" Oxide asked in shock. Both of the teens were starting to shake, and from their cracks, a strange, almost fog-like substance was rising out of them.
"Wish lost," Hannah said sadly.
"Huh?" Oxide's eyes went wide. "You mean she's still alive?"
"Was. Not anymore." Casey chuckled weakly. "We weren't created the same way the Emperor made his monsters. Wish can't create new souls. That power exists exclusively within the Emperor and is something not even Lords of Life have. Wish put pieces of herself within us. Not cells, but something deeper. Fragments of her that existed within our bodies and slowly changed our souls, stripping our humanity away. Like a cancerous cell that just kept growing. In other words, our souls became her soul, and with her gone..."
"We're going to die." Hannah sighed. "Man, that sucks. I liked living."
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Oxide winced.
"Nope." Hannah giggled before her look grew softer. "I did have fun hanging out with you. Spending time at school and pretending to be normal despite everything that happened. I don't regret what I did, though. Not even for a moment. Wish will be my hero, and if my fate is to join her in the afterlife, then so be it."
"Same." Casey nodded and grinned. "I should have died a while ago, but I got to live a bit longer because of her. I got to spend my last few years not in a hospital bed but out in the world, living the way I wanted. I'm content with this."
Casey and Hannah took a moment to look at each other, and both gave one last smile before they rammed their hands past each other's ribs and impaled their hearts. They decided to go out at the same time. The cracks fully expanded, and the two of them drifted off, being scattered to the wind. Oxide watched them go, feeling a weird mix of emotions.
"Ashley?"
"Yeah-" Ashley suddenly felt a wave of horror as she turned and saw dozens of cracks opening up along Kevin's flesh. "Kevin!"
Kevin dropped to his knees and gasped, feeling Ashley's arms wrap tightly around him. He let out a weak chuckle. "Shit. I actually forgot for a second there, but I guess if it happened to them, it'd happen to me, wouldn't it?"
"No, no, no!" Ashley shook her head, and her arms grew tighter around Kevin. "I won't let this happen!" Her liquid metal flowed out and began to wrap around him, trying to keep him held together, but the cracks just kept expanding. "Just hang on! I'll find Paragon, and she can heal you!"
Kevin's red skin faded away, his tail vanished, and messy blonde hair fell down his face. He looked how he did before he became a monster. The way he had once been. The only difference was the spider-like cracks that kept coming. "I'm sorry for not being the best boyfriend."
"Kevin!"
"I know I did a lot of bad things. I- I wanted to be the best. I thought that was the only way I had a right to be with you. Because I was born as a normal person, and you were a Super."
"You idiot." Ashley sobbed out and held him closer. "You were special. I cared about you; I loved you. I never wanted to break up. I just wanted you to get better. You were putting so many things into your body and getting madder and madder. I didn't like seeing you that way."
"Hope helped me out a lot. She's saved my life a few dozen times now, I think." Kevin chuckled. "Each time, I always felt grateful because it meant I had more time. More time to think about what I would say or do when I finally got the courage to see you again." He weakly reached up and placed a hand on Ashley's cheek. "You know, I never really got to do a whole lot or see the entire world. I'm just some stupid kid. Even still, though, I'm happy I got to see you again. I think... no. I know that I love you."
"Kevin!"
"If I could do it all over again, I think I would." Kevin let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "The good, the bad. All of it. All so I could see you for a bit longer. You're amazing. Utterly amazing. Please don't get hung up on me. I want you to thrive. Grow, Ashley. Because you're special."
Ashley let out a heavy cry as Kevin's body fully shattered and broke away, leaving nothing behind, not even the villain he had used to keep his form.
Kevin Buckle, age seventeen, soon to be eighteen.
He was a kid who loved baseball, and in another life, he might have gone pro. In our world, though, he became a monster and served Wish. Briefly, he worked for the hero Cinder and became the hero Shift. It is thanks to Shift that, in the coming years, Oxide will be able to help the number one hero defeat the Beast.
He did a lot of bad and some good.
He lived his life.
Oxide cried louder and banged her head against the stone ground. Her hands clutched the last thing that was left behind from Kevin's departure. A golden card. Kevin had left behind his Hades card.
Meanwhile...
Lightning Empress let out a low hum and sat down on the burned corpse of Intake. The villain's body was struggling to heal, but she kept zapping it, not allowing it. Her eyes focused on the castle in the distance as a low rumble began to expand outward.
"Finally." Lightning Empress brushed her hair back. "We're getting closer to the final act. Don't screw it up, Jack."