"Grand Regent," Cecil Stedman called from behind, his voice carrying through the tense silence that had fallen over the battlefield.
"Before you respond to this... challenge, I should inform you that civilian evacuation is complete. The entire sector has been cleared to a five-mile radius."
Thragg's gaze never left Battle Beast, but he gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. "Casualties from the Flaxan incursion?"
"Minimal," Cecil replied. "Seventeen injuries, no fatalities. Property damage is extensive but concentrated in the commercial district."
"Acceptable," Thragg stated, then addressed the assembled heroes. "Withdraw to a safe distance. This confrontation is not your concern."
Battle Beast laughed, the sound rumbling like distant thunder. "Wise! Your underlings would only get in the way of our glorious combat!"
Anissa stepped forward. "Grand Regent, with respect-"
"Withdraw," Thragg repeated, his tone brooking no argument. "Observe if you wish, but from a distance that ensures your safety."
The heroes exchanged glances, reluctant but understanding the implicit command. One by one, they took to the air, creating a perimeter high above the battlefield.
Eve and Roberta worked in tandem, creating a observation platform that hovered safely beyond the potential combat zone.
The Guardians and Teen Team gathered upon it, their expressions ranging from concern to fascination.
"This is interesting," the Immortal murmured, his eyes fixed on the two figures below. "I've never seen Thragg accept a direct challenge before."
"Battle Beast's reputation is legendary," Conquest replied, his scarred face set in a grim expression.
"Even among Viltrumites, he is spoken of with respect. A warrior whose only purpose is combat, who has never known defeat."
"Until today," Anissa stated with absolute certainty.
Below, Thragg removed his cape once more, handing it to Nolan who had remained nearby. "Take this to a safe distance," he instructed. "It was left behind before for a reason. I would prefer it remain intact."
Nolan accepted the crimson fabric with a nod, then flew up to join the others on the observation platform.
Battle Beast watched this exchange with growing impatience, his massive frame vibrating with barely contained bloodlust.
"Enough ceremony!" he roared, dropping his weapons to the ground with a thunderous clang. "Let us test our strength, flesh against flesh, as true warriors!"
Thragg turned to face him, his expression impassive. "You wish to challenge the Grand Regent of Viltrum," he stated, not a question but a confirmation. "You understand what this means?"
"It means glory!" Battle Beast exclaimed, his fangs gleaming in a savage grin. "It means testing myself against the supposed mightiest being in the known universe! What greater honor could there be?"
"Very well," Thragg said, assuming a combat stance that seemed deceptively casual. "Begin."
Battle Beast didn't hesitate. With a roar that shattered the remaining windows in the vicinity, he launched himself at Thragg, covering the distance between them in a blur.
His fist connected squarely with Thragg's face - a blow that would have pulverized mountains, delivered with the full force of Battle Beast's legendary strength.
Thragg's head snapped to the side from the impact, but his body remained unmoved, his feet planted firmly on the cracked asphalt. Slowly, deliberately, he turned his face back toward Battle Beast.
A thin line of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth - a split lip, nothing more.
Battle Beast's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed with fierce delight. "YES!" he bellowed. "A worthy opponent at last!"
Up on the observation platform, the assembled heroes watched in stunned silence.
"He... he hurt Thragg," Mark whispered, disbelief evident in his voice. "I've never seen anyone even scratch him before."
"A minor injury," Anissa dismissed, though her rigid posture betrayed her own surprise. "Insignificant."
Thragg raised a hand to his lip, touching the blood with an expression that might almost have been... curiosity.
Then, something unexpected happened - the corner of his mouth twitched upward in what could only be described as a smile.
"Interesting," Thragg said, his voice carrying clearly to the observers above. "It has been... a considerable time since I last tasted my own blood."
Battle Beast's grin widened. "And you shall taste much more before we are done, Grand Regent! This is but the opening note of our symphony of violence!"
Thragg's stance shifted subtly, his body language changing from passive to engaged. "Perhaps," he acknowledged. "Let us find out."
Battle Beast charged again, this time reaching for the massive mace he'd dropped earlier. In one fluid motion, he scooped up the weapon and swung it, aimed at Thragg's midsection. The spiked head whistled through the air with enough force destroy moons.
Thragg sidestepped, the mace passing within millimeters of his abdomen.
As the weapon completed its arc, leaving Battle Beast momentarily extended, Thragg struck - a single, precise punch to the leonine warrior's ribs that cracked the air like a sonic boom.
Battle Beast grunted, the impact driving him back several feet, his claws carving furrows in the concrete as he maintained his footing. Rather than showing pain, his eyes lit with savage joy.
"Good!" he growled. "But not enough!"
He countered with a combination attack - swinging the mace horizontally while simultaneously slashing with his claws at Thragg's face.
The Viltrumite ducked under both attacks, then delivered an uppercut that caught Battle Beast under the chin, lifting the massive warrior several feet off the ground.
Before Battle Beast could recover, Thragg followed with a rapid series of strikes to his torso - each punch landing with surgical precision, targeting nerve clusters and vulnerable points with knowledge gained from millennia of combat experience.
Any normal opponent would have been incapacitated instantly.
Battle Beast merely absorbed the blows.
He retaliated with a headbutt that caught Thragg by surprise, their foreheads colliding with enough force to create a shockwave that pulverized the asphalt beneath them.
For the first time, Thragg showed a reaction - a slight widening of his eyes, not from pain but from genuine surprise.
Battle Beast pressed his advantage, dropping his mace and grabbing Thragg in a bear hug, his massive arms constricting with enough force to crush planets. "Feel my strength, Viltrumite!" he roared, squeezing with everything he had.
Thragg's response was immediate and decisive. He brought both arms up between Battle Beast's and as his grip loosened,
Thragg struck with the heel of his palm directly to the warrior's sternum, creating enough separation to follow with a spinning kick that sent Battle Beast crashing through a nearby building.
The structure collapsed around the leonine warrior, concrete and steel burying him momentarily.
The debris exploded outward seconds later as Battle Beast emerged, now wielding his energy blade - a weapon that glowed with an unearthly light as he activated it.
"Impressive technique," Battle Beast acknowledged, blood trickling from a cut above his eye. "But how will you fare against this?"
He lunged forward, the energy blade slicing through the air.
Thragg evaded the first strike by millimeters, the energy field around the blade singing the fabric of his uniform as it passed.
The second slash came immediately after, part of a complex attack pattern that forced Thragg into a defensive posture.
The Grand Regent moved with fluid grace, each motion calculated to provide minimum target area while maintaining optimal counterattack positioning.
He evaded a dozen slashes in rapid succession, studying Battle Beast's technique with analytical precision.
"Your bladework is exceptional," Thragg noted, his voice betraying no strain despite the intensity of the exchange. "You've studied the martial forms of many worlds."
"Seventeen galaxies worth of combat knowledge!" Battle Beast confirmed proudly, continuing his assault without pause.
The energy blade hummed and crackled as it cut through the air, each strike coming within fractions of an inch of Thragg's body.
Thragg waited for a specific attack to repeat, then made his move.
As Battle Beast executed a diagonal slash, Thragg timed his counter perfectly - stepping inside the warrior's guard and striking his wrist with precise force, targeting the nerve cluster that controlled fine motor function.
Battle Beast's grip on the energy blade faltered momentarily - just long enough for Thragg to seize the weapon.
With a twist of his wrist, he reversed it, now holding the alien technology with the practiced ease of someone who had mastered every weapon form in existence.
"Seventeen galaxies," Thragg said, examining the blade with mild interest. "I have conquered thousands."
He deactivated the weapon and tossed it aside, the gesture a clear statement that he needed no advantage against his opponent.
Battle Beast's response was a roar of approval. "As it should be!" he declared. "A warrior's own strength against another's!"
He charged again, this time retrieving his mace and wielding it two-handed.
The weapon blurred as he swung it in complex patterns designed to overwhelm any defense through sheer speed and unpredictability.
Thragg met the assault head-on, his hands moving to deflect the mace's strikes. Each impact created a thunderclap as a near unstoppable force met a near immovable object.
The ground beneath them began to crack and splinter from the transferred energy, a spider web of fractures spreading outward with each exchange.
On the observation platform, the others watched in amazement as the battle intensified.
"I've never seen anyone match Thragg's speed before," Eve said - surprised still despite logically knowing that she has not known the Grand Regent for long - reinforcing the molecular shields protecting their position as another shockwave reached them.
"Battle Beast is drawing on everything he has," Conquest observed. "Fighting with a desperation born of knowing this is his ultimate challenge."
Below, the combat had taken on a new dimension. Battle Beast now employed his full arsenal, having retrieved both his mace and energy blade.
He wielded them in tandem, creating a whirlwind of attacks that would have overwhelmed any lesser opponent.
Thragg responded by increasing his own tempo, his movements becoming faster, more fluid.
He evaded the mace's crushing weight while simultaneously blocking the energy blade's lethal edge with precisely timed forearm deflections that utilized the blade's own momentum against it.
A particularly vicious swing of the mace forced Thragg to block directly, his arm meeting the weapon's shaft with a crack that echoed across the battlefield.
Using the point of contact as leverage, Thragg executed a throw, redirecting Battle Beast's momentum to send him hurtling through another building.
The structure collapsed in a cloud of dust and debris, but Battle Beast emerged immediately, now wielding a third weapon - an energy bow that materialized in his hands.
He nocked an arrow of pure energy and fired in one smooth motion, the projectile moving at light speed toward Thragg's heart.
Thragg caught the arrow centimeters from his chest, the energy sizzling against his palm but causing no apparent damage.
As Battle Beast fired a rapid succession of follow-up shots, Thragg moved with blurring speed, catching each arrow in turn until he held a handful of the energy projectiles.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he extinguished them, the energy dissipating harmlessly. "Ranged weapons will not decide this contest," he stated.
Battle Beast discarded the bow with a snarl of frustration. "Then taste my claws, Viltrumite!" he roared, charging forward with renewed fury.
His attack pattern changed completely, now utilizing the natural weapons he was born with - the ones he had most experience with.
His claws, harder than the mightiest metals and sharper than the sharpest blades, slashed at Thragg in ways designed to overwhelm through sheer volume of attacks.
For the first time, some of these attacks connected.
Battle Beast's claws raked across Thragg's chest, tearing through the dense Viltrumite muscle tissue to leave five parallel gashes.
Another slash caught Thragg's shoulder, and a third drew blood from his forearm as he blocked a strike aimed at his throat.
These wounds, though superficial by Viltrumite standards, represented something unprecedented - Battle Beast was actually landing meaningful hits on the Grand Regent.
Thragg's expression changed subtly, a flicker of something like excitement crossing his features.
The wounds on his chest and arm were already beginning to close, Viltrumite healing accelerated by his enhanced control over his smart atoms, but the fact they had been inflicted at all seemed to awaken something in him.
"Better," he acknowledged, his voice carrying a note of genuine approval. "Your natural weapons are more effective than your manufactured ones."
Battle Beast pressed his advantage, combining claw strikes with powerful kicks and headbutts, each attack flowing into the next.
Thragg matched him technique for technique, now fully engaged in the battle.
His counterattacks became more aggressive, more precise - palm strikes to nerve clusters, elbow strikes to vulnerable joints, knee strikes to pressure points that would have incapacitated any normal opponent.
Battle Beast still like before absorbed these attacks with incredible resilience, his body adapting to the damage in real-time.
Where Thragg struck a vulnerable point, Battle Beast's muscles would instinctively tense to protect it on the next exchange, forcing the Grand Regent to constantly adjust his targeting.
The battle moved into the air as Thragg launched himself upward, Battle Beast following with a powerful leap that carried him to matching height.
They clashed above the ruined street, each impact creating sonic booms that shattered windows for blocks in every direction.
Thragg's superior flight control allowed him to change direction instantly, attacking from unexpected angles.
Battle Beast compensated with raw power and combat instinct, using Thragg's own momentum against him when possible.
When Thragg executed a diving attack, Battle Beast would meet it head-on, their collisions continuing to create shockwaves visible to the naked eye.
The Grand Regent demonstrated the unique Viltrumite ability to create leverage in mid-air - changing direction without surfaces.
He would stop instantly at full speed, then accelerate in a different direction without the push-off that normally is needed.
Battle Beast adapted to this advantage by anticipating Thragg's movements, positioning himself to intercept rather than chase.
When Thragg executed a complex aerial maneuver designed to attack from behind, Battle Beast was already turning to meet him, his mace connecting solidly with Thragg's shoulder.
The impact sent Thragg spinning through the air, though he recovered almost instantly.
For a brief moment, something like surprise crossed his features.
"You anticipated my vector change," Thragg observed as they hovered facing each other. "Few beings could have predicted that movement."
Battle Beast bared his fangs in a fierce grin. "I may not have fought Viltrumites before, but do not underestimate my intelligence.
Your flight patterns have tells - subtle, but present to those who know how to read them."
This revelation seemed to intrigue Thragg.
He attacked again, this time with a series of feints designed to test Battle Beast's claim.
Each false movement was met with appropriate counters, confirming that the leonine warrior could indeed read Viltrumite flight patterns with remarkable accuracy.
Their aerial battle continued, moving across the city in a series of explosive clashes.
Buildings suffered collateral damage as shockwaves radiated outward from each impact.
Thragg, aware of the destruction they were causing, directed their combat toward a large city park where the potential for civilian infrastructure damage was minimized.
Battle Beast followed, perhaps unaware that he was being manipulated, his focus entirely on the joy of combat against a worthy opponent.
In the open space of the park, their battle intensified further.
Thragg executed a diving attack that Battle Beast met with an upward swing of his mace. The weapons connected with Thragg's forearm, which should have obliterated anyone that wasn't him.
Instead, Thragg used the impact as leverage, spinning to deliver a kick that caught Battle Beast squarely in the chest.
The leonine warrior was driven into the ground with enough force to create a crater twenty feet wide.
He emerged immediately, launching himself back into the air with a roar of defiance, his energy blade activated and slashing towards the Viltrumite.
Thragg evaded the blade with like always with millimeter between him and the slash, each movement calculated to use minimum movement while maintaining optimal counterattack positioning.
When Battle Beast overextended on a particularly ambitious slash, Thragg seized the opening, delivering a palm strike to the warrior's sternum that created an audible crack.
Battle Beast absorbed the blow without slowing, retaliating with a headbutt that caught Thragg by surprise.
Their skulls connected with bone-crushing force, creating a shockwave that flattened trees for a hundred yards in every direction.
For the first time, Thragg showed a reaction that might have been pain - a slight narrowing of his eyes, a momentary tightening of his jaw.
He touched his forehead, finding a small cut where Battle Beast's brow ridge had connected with his own.
"Second blood," Battle Beast noted with fierce satisfaction, having finally landed a true hit that wasn't one allowed to dodge another more devestating one. "The day grows more glorious by the moment!"
Thragg's expression shifted, something like genuine enjoyment flickering across his features. "Indeed," he acknowledged. "You fight well, Beast of the Stars."
The compliment seemed to fuel the leonine warrior's battle-lust.
He attacked with renewed vigor.
Thragg met him blow for blow, his movements becoming more fluid, more engaged.
For the first time, the observers saw him fighting not with the cold calculation of a military commander, but with the focus of a true warrior.
Their battle transformed the park into a wasteland of craters and uprooted trees.
The ground itself was reshaped by the forces being unleashed upon it, new topography formed by the impacts of their exchanges.
After nearly an hour of continuous combat, neither showed signs of fatigue.
Battle Beast's white fur was matted with blood from dozens of wounds, yet his attacks remained as powerful as when they began.
Thragg's uniform was torn in multiple places, revealing minor injuries that healed almost as quickly as they were inflicted.
Then, in a move too fast for even most Viltrumite eyes to follow, Thragg seized the offensive.
He feinted with a right cross that Battle Beast moved to counter, then changed force instantly, driving his left fist into the warrior's solar plexus.
The impact drove the air from Battle Beast's lungs and created a momentary opening that Thragg exploited.
A flurry of strikes followed - an elbow to the jaw, a knee to the ribs, a palm strike to the sternum - each one landing with on vulnerable areas.
Battle Beast staggered backward, momentarily overwhelmed by the assault.
Thragg pressed his advantage, executing a spinning kick that connected with Battle Beast's temple, sending the warrior crashing to the ground with enough force to create a crater thirty feet deep.
Before he could recover, Thragg was upon him, pinning him to the ground with one hand on his chest.
Battle Beast struggled, his legendary strength straining against Thragg's immovable grip.
"Observe," Thragg said, his voice carrying to the watchers above. "The difference between us."
With his free hand, Thragg demonstrated something none of the observers had ever seen before.
His hand began to vibrate at incredible speed, the molecules of his flesh accelerating to the point where they became a blur of motion.
Then, impossibly, his hand passed through Battle Beast's chest as if the warrior's chest was nothing more than mist.
Battle Beast's eyes widened in shock and rage as Thragg's hand penetrated his body without breaking the skin, passing through flesh and bone with no resistance.
Inside Battle Beast's chest cavity, Thragg allowed his hand to solidify just enough to interact with physical matter.
With gentleness, he wrapped his fingers around the warrior's heart, giving it the slightest squeeze - not enough to damage, just enough to demonstrate his power.
"I could end your life in an instant," Thragg stated, his voice calm. "Your strength, your durability, your legendary toughness - all meaningless against my control of matter itself."
Battle Beast snarled, blood-flecked spittle flying from his fangs. "Then do it! Finish me, if you can!"
Instead, Thragg vibrated his molecules again, phasing his hand back through Battle Beast's chest without causing any damage. He stood, stepping away from the fallen warrior.
"Get up," he commanded. "Our battle is not finished. I will not waste this meal so quickly."
On the observation platform, the heroes watched in stunned silence.
"Did he just... phase his hand through him?" Mark asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Molecular vibration," Roberta explained, her scientific mind racing to understand what she had just witnessed.
"He's accelerating his atomic structure to pass between the molecules of Battle Beast's body. The precision required is... inconceivable."
"I've never seen a Viltrumite do that before," Nolan said, his expression troubled. "Not even in the ancient texts."
"Because no Viltrumite has ever achieved such mastery over their smart atoms," Anissa stated, her voice carrying a note of something almost like religious awe. "The Grand Regent has transcended the limitations of our physiology."
Below, Battle Beast had regained his feet, his expression a complex mixture of rage, frustration, and - most surprisingly - respect.
"You deny me my glorious death," he growled, blood dripping from numerous wounds across his massive frame. "You toy with me, demonstrate your superiority, yet refuse to deliver the final blow. Why?"
"Because this moment is rare," Thragg replied simply. "The opportunity to test myself against a worthy opponent comes perhaps once in a millennium. I would not see it end prematurely."
Battle Beast studied him for a long moment, then threw back his head and laughed - a sound of genuine amusement rather than his usual battle-hunger. "You Viltrumites! So concerned with efficiency, with purpose, with the logical application of power.
Yet here you stand, the mightiest of your kind, prolonging a battle for no reason but the experience itself!"
Thragg's expression remained impassive, but something flickered in his eyes - acknowledgment, perhaps, of the irony Battle Beast had identified.
"Continue," Thragg said, reassuming his combat stance. "Show me what else you possess."
Battle Beast's grin returned, fierce and joyful. "With pleasure, Grand Regent!"
The battle continued.
Battle Beast retrieved his fallen weapons again, with Thragg allowing him, again, wielding mace and energy blade simultaneously in a whirlwind of attacks.
His style had evolved throughout the fight, adapting to Thragg's defenses, finding new angles and combinations that might penetrate the Viltrumite's guard.
Thragg responded with equal creativity, his centuries of combat experience evident in the efficiency of his movements.
Where Battle Beast attacked with overwhelming force, Thragg countered with precision and timing, using his opponent's momentum and mass against him.
When Battle Beast executed a powerful overhead strike with his mace, Thragg sidestepped at the last possible moment, allowing the weapon to embed itself in the ground.
In the split second of vulnerability this created, Thragg struck with a combination of elbow strikes to Battle Beast's exposed ribs, each impact creating a sound like thunder.
Battle Beast abandoned the embedded mace, spinning to slash at Thragg with his energy blade.
The Viltrumite caught his wrist mid-strike, applying precise pressure to the nerve cluster - attacking them like always - that controlled fine motor function.
As Battle Beast's grip involuntarily loosened, Thragg disarmed him with a twist that would have torn anyone else's arm off.
Now weaponless, Battle Beast relied on his natural arsenal again - claws, fangs, and raw physical power.
Thragg met his assault, blocking claw strikes with forearm deflections, countering kicks with precisely timed evasions, continuing to redirect Battle Beast's immense strength with subtle shifts in position that used the warrior's own momentum against himself.
The fight took to the air once more, Battle Beast launching himself upward with a leap that carried him fifty feet above the ground.
Thragg followed.
They clashed in mid-air, the impact creating a thunderclap that echoed across the empty city.
Battle Beast's claws found Thragg's shoulders, tearing through the muscle to leave deep furrows that bled freely for several seconds before healing.
Thragg retaliated with a series of strikes to Battle Beast's torso. Each impact created a shockwave visible to the naked eye, the effects of them rippling through Battle Beast's body.
The warrior still absorbed these attacks, his body still adapting to the damage in real-time.
Where Thragg struck a vulnerable point, Battle Beast's muscles would instinctively tense even more strongly than before to protect it on the next exchange.
After a particularly vicious exchange that left both combatants bleeding from multiple wounds, they separated briefly, hovering a hundred feet apart.
Battle Beast's chest heaved with exertion, though his eyes still burned with battle-lust.
Thragg's breathing remained controlled, his posture betraying no fatigue.
"You fight well, Viltrumite," Battle Beast acknowledged, blood dripping from a dozen wounds. "Better than any I have faced in my entire life."
"As do you," Thragg replied, genuine respect evident in his tone. "Few beings could have sustained this level of combat for so long."
Battle Beast's eyes narrowed, studying Thragg with newfound intensity. "Yet still you hold back. I feel it. You limit yourself, contain your true power."
Thragg did not deny this. "Complete unleashing of my capabilities would end our battle prematurely. That would be... inefficient."
"Inefficient?" Battle Beast repeated, baring his fangs in a fierce grin. "Or is it that you wish to prolong this moment - this rare instance of not being entirely alone in your power?"
Something flickered across Thragg's face - a brief, unguarded moment that revealed the truth of Battle Beast's insight.
Before he could respond, the warrior attacked again, this time with a desperation born of understanding.
Their battle became even fiercer.
Battle Beast's attacks grew more ferocious, more precise, as if determined to force Thragg to his absolute limit.
Thragg responded in kind, his movements becoming faster, more fluid, more engaged.
The observers watched in silence, witnessing something they understood was historic - perhaps the greatest one-on-one combat the universe had seen in since its beginning.
After what seemed like hours but might have been minutes - time lost meaning in the face of such a glorious battle - the end came suddenly.
Battle Beast, in a final desperate gambit, launched himself at Thragg with everything he had, abandoning defense entirely in favor of a killing blow. His claws extended, aiming for Thragg's throat.
Thragg could have avoided the attack easily. He could have phased through it as he had demonstrated earlier.
Instead, he chose to meet it head-on, catching Battle Beast's wrists at the last possible moment, using the warrior's own momentum against him.
With a single, precise movement, Thragg drove his fist through Battle Beast's chest - not phasing this time, but a punch that penetrated completely through the Beast's torso.
Battle Beast's eyes widened, not with pain or fear, but with a strange satisfaction.
Blood poured from the wound and from his mouth as Thragg withdrew his hand, now crimson with the warrior's lifeblood.
"Well struck," Battle Beast gasped, somehow remaining on his feet despite the mortal wound. "A killing blow worthy of legend."
Thragg supported him as he began to fall, lowering him to the ground with unexpected gentleness. "You fought well," he stated, his tone respectful.
Battle Beast coughed, blood spattering his white fur. "My name," he said, his voice growing weaker, "is Thokk, son of Zorr. Remember it, Grand Regent, when you speak of this day."
"I will remember, Thokk, son of Zorr," Thragg promised, kneeling beside the fallen warrior. "Your name will be recorded in the archives of Viltrum, your battle commemorated as one worthy of the Empire's respect."
Battle Beast - Thokk - smiled through bloodied fangs. "Thank you... for this glorious death," he managed. "But I must... apologize."
Thragg's brow furrowed slightly. "For what?"
"For not being... what you sought," Thokk replied, his breathing growing more labored. "For not fulfilling your wish... to truly feel the thrill of battle... to not be so alone anymore."
Something flickered across Thragg's face - a brief, unguarded moment of emotion that the observers had never seen before. Not anger, not pride, but something almost like sorrow.
"You gave what you could," Thragg said quietly. "It was... more than most."
Thokk nodded, his eyes beginning to dim. "Perhaps... in another life... If I had more worthy opponents before I met you... we might have been... equals."
"Perhaps," Thragg agreed.
With a final, rattling breath, Battle Beast's body went still, his fierce eyes fixed on the sky above. Thragg reached out and closed them with a gesture that seemed almost gentle.
For a long moment, the Grand Regent remained kneeling beside the fallen warrior, his expression unreadable.
Then, slowly, he rose to his feet, looking up at the observation platform where the people watched in silence.
"Conquest," he called, his voice returning to its usual authoritative tone. "Prepare Battle Beast's body for preservation. His hide will be removed and fashioned into a garment worthy of his valor."
A murmur of shock rippled through the assembled heroes at this unexpected command.
"Grand Regent?" Conquest questioned, his scarred face betraying rare surprise.
"He was the worthiest opponent I have faced in millennia," Thragg explained, his tone brooking no argument.
"His memory will be preserved not in stone or metal, but upon my person. All who see me will see him, will know of Thokk, son of Zorr, and the battle we shared."
Conquest nodded, understanding dawning in his ancient eyes. "It shall be done as you command, Grand Regent."
Thragg turned to Cecil Stedman, who had teleported and approached cautiously now that the battle had ended. "Director Stedman, coordinate with Viltrumite engineering teams for the reconstruction of the damaged areas. Priority will be given to civilian infrastructure."
Cecil nodded, his expression carefully neutral despite the extraordinary events he had just witnessed. "Of course, Grand Regent. We'll begin assessment immediately."
Thragg remained where he was, looking down at Battle Beast's body one final time as Cecil left.
Up on the observation platform, the others processed what they had witnessed in their own way.
"Did he just order Battle Beast's... skin... to be made into clothing?" Eve whispered, horror evident in her voice.
"It's not what you think," Nolan explained quietly. "In many traditions to wear the hide of a worthy opponent is the highest honor one warrior can bestow upon another.
It means Battle Beast will forever be part of Thragg's story, his legacy preserved as long as Thragg lives."
"That's... still disturbing," Mark muttered.
"Perhaps by human standards," Anissa interjected. "But the Grand Regent has granted Battle Beast an immortality few beings ever achieve.
His face and form will be recognized across the Empire, his prowess acknowledged by all who see the Grand Regent wearing his memorial."
Nearby, Roberta was uncharacteristically silent, her gaze fixed on Thragg's distant figure.
There was something in her expression that went beyond her normal fascination or even the admiration she had shown previously - a deep understanding, perhaps, of the isolation that came with being fundamentally different from those around you.
"He's not just powerful," she murmured, almost to herself. "He's transcendent. Existing on a level no one else can reach. The perfect being, and yet..."
"The loneliest," the Immortal finished for her, his eyes showing rare compassion. "Power separates. Absolute power separates absolutely."
As Conquest supervised the careful removal of Battle Beast's body, Thragg finally turned away, his expression once more the impassive mask the world had come to know.
Whatever moment of connection, of emotional vulnerability, had been visible during the battle's final moments was now carefully hidden behind the persona of the Grand Regent.
He ascended to the observation platform, his uniform torn and bloodied but his bearing as regal as ever. "The situation is contained," he stated, addressing no one in particular. "Return to your assigned duties."
As the everyone dispersed, Nolan approached Thragg, offering him his cape. "An impressive victory, Grand Regent," he said carefully. "Battle Beast was a legendary warrior."
Thragg accepted the cape, reattaching. "Yes," he agreed simply. "He was worthy of respect. And now he will be remembered as long as I draw breath."
For a moment, something like understanding passed between them - Nolan, who had chosen human connection over Viltrumite isolation, and Thragg, who had never been given such a choice before.
Then the moment passed, and Thragg was once more the Grand Regent, issuing orders and overseeing the aftermath of the day's events with his usual efficiency.
But those who had witnessed the battle, who had seen those unguarded moments of emotion, now understood something fundamental about the being who ruled their world.
Behind the power, behind the authority, behind the cold logic of Viltrumite governance, there existed something unexpectedly human - a longing for connection that even the mightiest being in the universe could not entirely suppress.
They wondered, will he always remain alone?
Or will there ever be someone who can burn away the loneliness?
None of them truly had an answer.
---------------------
(Author note: So... I hope I did this battle justice.
Well, as I already showed before, Thragg is far stronger here because of his control over smart atoms, that don't only give him his durability,
but also his strength and speed, meaning by having more control over them, he is also significantly more powerful in those fields.
As for the loneliness part, in canon I doubt Thragg cared, he had his purpose, but here, Thragg's purpose is already being fulfilled by him because of his early conquest, he doesn't really have much to do.
He also because of his first life memories does yearn for connection no matter how much he tries to deny it, and connection to him because of his 2nd life isn't really focused on love, because he has been too distant from it for millennia.
The only thing that he is familiar with is strength, the joy he's had serving his purpose, the joy from exercising his strength and well... He doesn't have that. Hasn't had that since he became the ruler of Viltrum.
So yeah, that's how I see it. Also, Battle Beast wants death, a glorious death, he wouldn't work with Thragg and would hate him for the disrespect of denying him death, so he would never work for him.
Well, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)