Once upon a time, there was a young boy. One said to have been found by a great Devil. This Devil took the boy in and raised him as his own. But the Devil didn''t want a son. He wanted a weapon. One that would obey him always and help him slaughter his enemies. He wanted something that could devour the Sun.


    So he raised this boy up. He forged him powerful armor and gifted him a weapon that was alive so long as the child trusted it—a partner for this young boy, and he drilled into him the image of what true power should be. Slowly, this child grew and eventually surpassed that of his mortal shell as the Devil fed him more and more. Bigger and bigger, this child became until soon only one word could truly describe him.


    Of course… This is just a story.


    Right?


    The air smelled of salt. The sand felt nice on his feet. Jack took a moment to roll his pant legs up. He dipped his hand into the water and raised it above him, allowing it to drip down onto his red hair. The sun cast down from above, feeling great on his skin, and he couldn’t help but smile.


    He felt so good.


    He hadn’t felt this good in years.


    His heart didn’t ache.


    Not right now.


    He walked along the beach. That was all that it was. Just a vast set of sand and a sparkling ocean. Something he had all to himself. Though he wasn’t alone, that would have been sad, and this was a moment of peace.


    “Papa!”


    He spun around and opened his arms wide as his daughter landed in them. He fell back into the sand, hugging her tightly. He couldn’t really get a good look at her. It was all so blurry, but it was enough. Even knowing this was fake and that it was the sword''s doing, he relished the moment for a bit, feeling her in his arms once again.


    “Papa, where did you go!” She whined.


    “Papa had to leave for a while... He- He’ll be leaving again soon...” He felt his voice crack and his arms gripped tighter around the child.


    “But I want you to stay!”


    “I do, too.”


    “So then stay.” A new voice responded. He looked up, and for a moment, he saw her. It was all so blurry, hard to make out, but he could see part of her. Her brown hair, her dog like ears, and the claws that come from her fingertips.


    “Hell Hound?”


    “Stay just a bit longer.” The woman said softly. “It’s nice here.”


    She was right there. He just needed to take the hand, and he-


    “Cut it out.”


    All at once, the pain was back. He felt his body change. His eyes lost their spark, his heart filled with pain, and he wanted in that moment to make the pain stop. “Ah, you’re no fun.” The voice of Avalon filled his head. The man didn’t seem to be with him. Jack no longer stood on the endless beach. Rather, he was nowhere. Sort of. A blank white void. A place outside of time and space, waiting for the sword to take him to where he needed to go to tell the next part of the story. “Did you have a nice dream?”


    “I’ll kill you.” Jack gripped the handle of the sword.


    “Don’t forget about our little price. You’ll have to pay me back for letting you use Story Maker.” Avalon’s voice was all around him, and Jack craned his neck, feeling the bones in it crack.


    “Yeah, yeah.” He raised the sword up, holding it out in the air. “Enough stalling. Take me to her. You said I have it till midnight. That’s less than an hour. I’ll take her down before time is up.”


    “I’ve missed you.”


    “When I see you in person again, I’ll carve your face off.”


    “Yeah, you’re slowly becoming your old self again!”


    “Avalon-”


    “Alright, alright. One super glitched up Lord, here we come!”


    ***


    By now, the castle had been mostly reduced to a melted husk of its former self. The three of them all stood on the only floor that wasn’t filled to the brim with lava. It shook and would give out soon. Cinder rested on her knees, staring up with wide eyes.


    “Battery?”


    Battery stood behind Wish, his sword going through the back of the girl’s head and out her mouth. The villain tried to turn her body and swing at him, but he spoke too fast. “Send her into the sky.” There was a loud pop, and Wish’s yell came from miles above as the girl dropped. “Hey, Kid. You doing, okay?” He said softly, finally turning to look at her.


    “Do I look okay?” Cinder asked sarcastically.


    “Better than most of the others.”


    “The others! Are they okay?” She tried to stand but wobbled and slipped.


    Battery placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “They’re fine. All of them are with Sky, being healed.”


    “Sky’s awake?”


    “Yep.” Battery placed the handle of the sword on her head. “I’m going to send you there and beat this villain-”


    “No! You can’t do it alone.” She argued.


    “With this sword, I can.”


    “What is it then? Where did you get it- How did you even get here? Sir, you have a lot of secrets, and I’m having a harder and harder time finding ways to trust you. I- I don’t want to not trust you, but...”


    “I understand.” Battery gave a slight grin. “Well then, once all of this is over, how about we have a long talk? Until then, I’ll tell you my secret. My biggest one. My name isn’t Jack Larison. I’m actually...” He leaned in and whispered into her ear. Cinder felt her eyes go wide, and she stared at the man. He smiled softly. “Take her to the hospital.”


    “I’m sorry I let the helmet you made me break.” She managed to get it out before the pop hit her, and she was no longer on the battlefield. Instead, she seemed to appear in a cramped hospital room.


    “Oh great, another one—Cinder.” Poseidon’s voice caused her to jump. She turned and saw the girl. Poseidon wasn’t in costume. No helmet or mask, but she knew it was the Lord of the Sea. “What are you doing here?” The girl spat out.


    “Cinder is here?” She turned and saw Sky sitting on the floor. The room was filled with a few Hero Branch doctors, as well as Metal Ronin, Wasp Nest, Snowdawn, and Money Tree. All of them looked to be in bad shape, barely hanging on. Sky was seated between Money Tree and Wasp Nest, a hand on either of their stomachs, doing her best to heal them. Money Tree was coming along much better as most of his wounds were caused by Kevin, which could be healed, but Wasp Nest was getting worse and worse. “Thank God you’re here.” Sky sighed, allowing her connection to mingle back with her bird. She could see again for the first time since she had woken up as Destiny rested on Cinder’s shoulder. “I can- Oh my God, how are you standing, Cinder?!”


    “Huh?” Cinder looked down at herself. She honestly didn’t realize how bad it was. Her skin was still a nasty red from her hellish fire, her lungs were extremely damaged, causing her to have a raspy cough, and she was covered in dozens of cuts and bruises. Her forehead still leaked blood from the massive cut she received when the helmet broke, and her costume had been torn almost as severely as Mr. Larison’s had. “Oh, now that you mention it—”


    She stumbled and tripped past her feet, smashing into the wall and sliding down it. Her hair and eyes had long gone out before Battery had even arrived to save her. She could barely feel any of her power and she groaned weakly. Poseidon folded her arms and turned away. “She’ll be fine. Get through Ken first, Sis.”


    Paragon nodded and focused on healing the two most severely injured. However, some of her power leaked through Destiny, and Cinder felt her body ease more. His healing had seemed to grow stronger. Her lungs felt far better as they fixed, as did all her broken or bruised bones. Her burns also mostly faded or healed fully. She still had a few noticeable bruises, and the wound on her forehead had closed and became a nasty scar, but other than that, she was primarily fine once more.


    “Destiny came in real handy, Paragon.” She reached up and ran her fingers through the bird’s feathers. “I don’t think I would still be alive without him.”


    “I’m glad you brought him with you,” Sky admitted. “I need the extra hands.” The bird flew off of her shoulder and landed on Snowdawn. Already, the boy’s body began to heal. “What happened? No one is telling us much. BB spoke a bit, but she left with Mom and Grampa.”


    “I want to know too.” Poseidon glared down at Cinder. “Start talking.”


    She shrunk down a little from the girl’s hostile gaze. She got the feeling Poseidon still didn’t like her all that much. “R- Right. Well... I’m pretty sure we found the Lord of Life.” That caused the room to mostly go silent. One of the Hero Branch members stood up and walked out the door, clearly about to pass the information to the higher-ups, but she really didn’t care at that moment.


    “That confirms it, then.” Poseidon muttered. “We had the feeling, but... Well, none of us wanted to believe it.”


    “Will mom be okay?” Sky winced.


    “Ocean Empress has nothing to worry about.” She spoke up. She gave a slight grin. “Battery is going to beat the Lord.” She stood up, wobbling a bit. “I’m going to go find a payphone or something and call Myth. He has no idea what he’s missing.”


    “Alright.” Sky nodded. “Stay safe. This is a Super hospital run by the branch, so everyone here knows who we are.”


    “Got it.”


    Cinder made for the exit, and Sky sighed as she felt her powers continue to mostly fail at healing Money Tree’s arm and Wasp Nest’s leg. “Lily, I’m doing my best, but it isn’t looking good. I think we should—Lily?” She stopped when she didn’t hear her sister.


    Poseidon stepped out of the room, her eyes glaring at the back of Cinder, who walked down the hospital walls. She bit her lip hard enough to cause a stream of black blood to pour down it, and she slowly followed after the girl. “Her. It’s always her. Ever since she showed up, she’s been getting everyone I loved hurt.” She could feel it. The changes were starting. She raised her hand, pointing it at the back of Cinder. Water began to swirl, and at any second, she would blast a hole through the girl’s head.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    “Please help me to get stronger.” Poseidon jumped when she heard the voice. She whipped around, and her eyes went wide by what she saw. Snowdawn was moving again. He had seemed to heal better than the others, not having been damaged by the Lord at all. He was bruised and battered but back on his feet. Currently, he stood bowed down before her. “Please! I want to get stronger!”


    Poseidon blinked, a little taken aback. “What?”


    “You’re the Lord of the Sea. Your power is far above mine, but we share some of the same things.” The hero explained. He gritted his teeth and smashed his head into the floor hard enough to crack it and cause blood to spill down his face. “I’m tired of being weak. I want to be strong enough to protect my friends. Strong enough to actually do something. Every time there’s a big threat, I’m always on the sidelines. Please, Poseidon! I’ll do anything. Just tell me, how can I ever get as strong as you?”


    “As strong as me.” Poseidon looked down at her hands. They were normal again. What had she been about to do again? She couldn’t recall. She remembered seeing Cinder, and then everything went black… She felt her rage fading gradually, and she sighed before smiling. “Well. I don’t know if you could ever be as strong as a Lord, but reaching the level of the Enforcers sounds possible if your power is what I think it is. It won’t be easy, and I don’t have a lot of time before I need to get back to my own duties. I can give you about a week, maybe two if you’re lucky.”


    Snowdawn’s fingers dug into the stone. “Anything is fine. I- I just don’t want to be a burden anymore.”


    The girl held her hand down towards him. “Then let’s make you into a warrior.”


    Hope walked the halls, throwing her arms behind her head. She needed to call her mom badly. She had said she’d let Myth know what was going on, but she honestly didn’t remember his phone number off the top of her head. At the end of the halls, she spotted a payphone and made her way over to it.


    Of course, that would have been easy and nice, and today wasn’t her day, so instead, her ears rang out, and she dodged back just in time as a window exploded, sending a hail of glass everywhere. She threw her hands out and blasted her fire out, hitting all the shards and wiping them out before they could hurt anyone.


    It had been a person that crashed through the window—one dressed in what looked like a tracksuit of all things and with long red hair. A pair of scaled wings stabbed out of the girl’s back, but they slowly pulled their way back into her body. A long red tail, however, continued to smack the floor as the girl stood up to her full height.


    Wyvern, a member of the Enforcers, turned to stare at Cinder. Cinder felt her heartbeat grow more rapidly as her eyes went wide. “Oh my God, you’re Wyvern. I am like a huge fan! I had a massive crush on you for years. Can I have an autograph-”


    Wyvern sprung through the air, grabbed Cinder by her costume, and slammed her into the wall back first. The hero’s eyes narrowed as she stared down at the young girl, and she leaned in.


    “Whoa, whoa, I’m underaged; wait a second-”


    Wyvern sniffed a few times and pulled away. “You stink of death. Who the hell are you?” The girl frowned.


    “She’s Cinder.” A new voice spoke up. Sitting on the side of the window that Wyvern had come through was a young boy in a black suit. He couldn’t have been older than twelve, and he had dark skin. Boy Genius played some video game on a handheld device. “She’s a member of Myth’s team. Also, I’m pretty sure she’s the Lord of the Sun.”


    She blinked. “Nuh uh.” An airtight response. They would suspect nothing-


    “Yuh huh.” Was the boy’s equally airtight counter. They suspected everything. The little boy hopped down to the floor and made his way over to her. He lightly poked her in the stomach, causing her to giggle a bit from how ticklish she was. “I just had a great idea.” The boy said, snapping his fingers.


    “What is?”


    He didn’t answer and instead looked up at his teammate. “Wyvern. Let’s kidnap her.”


    “What!”


    “Yeah okay.” Wyvern nodded.


    Wyvern’s wings shot out, and before she could even think of fighting back, she was scooped up in the woman’s arms. The tail wrapped around Boy Genius, lifting him up as well, and then she blasted through another window, exiting the hospital...


    ***


    “That wasn’t very nice, you know. Not like it matters, though, since I can fly.” Wish taunted. Large bat-like wings pulled themselves back into her body as she landed on the ground.


    “Yeah, I just needed to get you away for a bit.” Battery admitted, placing the sword over his shoulder. “I’ll go all out and kill you now, though.” He smirked.


    “Well, aren’t you a cocky little shit? To be honest, I’m not that interested in you anymore.” The girl admitted. “The more I look at you, the more I can tell. Your DNA is a total mess. I have to ask. Are you even human?”


    “That’s rich coming from you.” Battery quipped. “I guess you can tell I’m dying though. The shard from the Victorian’s blade is slowly killing me.”


    “Aw boohoo.” Wish started to stalk toward him, her eyes roaming over the sword he held. “Now, where on Earth did you get that from? I’ve heard you struggled with Green Wolf and other guys. If you had that in your back pocket, why didn’t you use it?”


    Battery looked down at the sword, frowning a bit. “It’s a Super. This sword is alive and has its own powers. It also isn’t mine. Not anymore. We pass the sword on when we think we’ve reached our final battle. Currently, the sword belongs to Paragon, though I’ve been far too scared to actually face her and present it to her. Since I am no longer its proper owner, I am only able to try and bargain for some time with the sword. If the bargain pays off, then I am allowed to wield Story Maker. This blade folds the Paths in on themselves across all realms, twisting all of reality in order to shift the place of something. It can take me to any person or place I’ve come in contact with before and can send any person it touches to a place I’ve been to. So sadly, I couldn’t just teleport you to the sun or something like that since I’d have to go there.”


    “Didn’t you send Kevin to the bottom of the ocean?” The girl questioned. She had seen it happen thanks to the cells inside of Kevin.


    “Yes.” Battery responded bluntly.


    “So then that would mean you… You know what? It doesn’t matter. Your big trump card is teleportation.” Wish snorted. “Most powers like that have a gimmick, and I’m sure yours is no different, but even still, do you really think you can beat me with a weak-ass ability like that?”


    “Of course I can.” His words caused her to growl.


    “Oh?” Her bones popped and cracked as she crouched low, looking like a predator that was about to go feral. Her teeth grew longer and fanged like, and her flesh tore as spikes of muscle and bones began to come out. "I''ve learned a lot from my fight with little Cindy. She might have caught me off guard for a bit, but never again. Next time I see her, I''ll skin her alive."


    “You really are the Lord of Life, aren’t you? '''' Jack hummed. “So that means the Devil''s really dead.”


    “And soon you will be as well!” Wish promised.


    Battery sidestepped as a wave of bone-like blades blasted from her right arm. He dodged the attack, and his body ignited with a wave of golden lightning. Time seemed to slow down, everything turning a dark gray as he blasted at Wish at his fastest speed yet. She tried to bring her arms up, but she wasn''t fast enough. “Dozens of years ago, Nier married. He had a single daughter with this woman. However, his life took a tragic fate. The Beast from Space arrived on Earth for the first time and wiped the city he lived in off the face of the map. His wife and his daughter both died. This event is what led to him becoming the Emperor.” Battery announced.


    Wish tried to block, but his sword sliced through the shield that grew out of her arms. The blade hacked its way into her shoulder, burying it deep in her body. She growled as her flesh healed over it. Spikes stabbed into Battery but shattered, unable to break his golden barrier.


    "Die!"


    Battery ignored her and put more effort into his swing, dragging the blade further along her chest. “That was when he used his power to create a new wife for himself. Out of the corpse of his loved one, he brought her back. It turned out wrong though. It might have looked like her, but it lacked a soul and an Ego. His wife was truly dead. All that remained was a ghostly image. The Princess of Life was born. A woman who’s job was to look after all the future monsters he created and carry his heir.”


    “H- How do you know all of this?” The villain hissed. “Who the hell are you-”


    Battery cleaved her in two and blocked dozens of blood spikes that fired from Wish’s corpse. “The Emperor also failed to bring his daughter back. Much like his wife, the corpse of the child came back, but it lacked the soul or Ego that made them truly his child. A new being had been created. One out of his power, and not out of the love he and his wife had combined. This drove the Emperor mad. In his crazed state, he finally snapped. He lost his wife, and his daughter, left with only walking corpses that were different people entirely. It was no wonder he became evil due to the broken state his mind was in. That was when he found someone. A young child needing help. A young child with the ability of Imagination. A young child who wielded creation and destruction. And with this child''s help, the Emperor would go on to recreate the lost soul of his daughter and rebuild a brand new body that the Princess of Life could carry within her womb. Do you understand what I’m saying? You might be the Lord of Life right now, but that power isn’t meant for you. It’s meant for his daughter, someone he went to hell and back to create. The rightful owner of your power is Sky!”


    “I’ll kill you!” Wish roared, and her body began to expand out, firing waves of bone blades into Battery, who stood there and took the attack.


    “I’m already dead. I’ve been dead for a long time now.”


    Once upon a time, there was a young boy. One said to have been found by a great Devil. This Devil took the boy in and raised him as his own. But the Devil didn''t want a son. He wanted a weapon. One that would obey him always and help him slaughter his enemies. He wanted something that could devour the Sun.


    So he raised this boy up. He forged him powerful armor and gifted him a weapon that was alive so long as the child trusted it—a partner for this young boy, and he drilled into him the image of what true power should be. Slowly, this child grew and eventually surpassed that of his mortal shell as the Devil fed him more and more. Bigger and bigger, this child became until soon only one word could truly describe him.


    Giant. The Devil had created a Giant that was so strong it could devour the Sun itself. At last, the Devil had his perfect weapon.


    “All of her cells.” Battery twisted his sword and rammed forward with blinding speed, jutting the blade into Wish’s neck. “Put all of her cells back into her.”


    Wish’s eyes went wide, and she suddenly screamed as trillions upon trillions of pieces were unexpectedly jammed back into her, and she became whole. Her body expanded, but she had no control of it. Blades of bones stabbed out, and her limbs twisted and lengthened in awkward ways. Her neck stretched, and more limbs began to jut out of her as her form tried to expand to accept all the new tissue that had suddenly been shoved into her. It was as if she had been filled with hundreds of more bodies.


    Battery stared up at her face, her red eyes meeting his. His hand grew tighter on the sword, and he ripped it out, jumping back just in time to dodge a swipe she sent at him. Wish screamed and howled, and the world around them shook as her unstable body grew larger and twisted. She tried to thrash at him, but he used his sword and appeared dozens of meters away from her. "Myth. Bring him here."


    Space twisted and shifted, and in a flash, Myth crashed to the ground. The leader of Pantheon''s eyes were wide with shock as he stared up at the monster that was still growing. "W- What the actual fuck!" The man stared back at Battery in shock.


    "Myth! Something that can freeze! Now is our chance; she''s down to her last life!"


    Myth didn''t even skip a beat. He spun back around and faced Wish. He transformed, and his body began to expand. His legs melded together into a large tail, and scales coated his flesh. His head sank in and became snake-like, and from the roots of his hair, dozens of other snakes grew out, venom dripping from their fangs. A beast able to kill with its looks. A power that was hard to pull off fully as most Supers resisted the effect; however, Wish was so unstable and unfocused she stood no chance. His snake-like eyes blasted out a wave of gray energy. Wish''s screams grew louder, and the ground began to break. Cracks appeared in the air around them as she was unleashing so much power that the very realm they were in began to shatter. Slowly though, her flesh began to harden, and her movement slowed as she began to become encased in solid stone.


    In an instant, she was frozen. Turned into a grotesque statue. Battery walked forward steadily, golden lightning swirling around the handle of the sword. Myth''s body quickly changed back to normal. "That sword. I''ve seen it before. That blade is-"


    "The sword of the Emperor. Created by him with the power from the Lord of Life." Jack slashed out, his golden energy erupted forth, and Wish''s stone body exploded. Golden fire surged out of the pieces and began to eat away at her. In a single instance, they had destroyed her body. Every last cell. That just left him and Myth alone now. “That’s how most people know the story. What they don’t know, though, is the sword was never actually his. It belonged to someone else. Someone he gifted it to.”


    He could hear the sounds of wings beating in the air. Small and faint. Footsteps crunched on the grass. He turned slightly and saw them. BB floated over quietly. Ocean Empress stalked behind the girl, her eyes tracing him up and down. Lastly was Old Dog. The man’s face was pale, and he looked like he had seen a ghost. His eyes were locked onto the blade.


    "That sword!" Old Dog stared up at Jack with wide eyes. “My God. Your face! You were one of them. A member of the Emperor’s army!”


    "The Emperor''s!" Ocean Empress felt her eyes go wide. They narrowed and locked onto Battery. "No more games. Who the hell are you?"


    Myth stepped forward and was about to say something, but Jack stopped him. Resolutely, he stabbed his sword in the ground, not bothering to meet his eyes. “My name is Jack Larison. This sword. It used to belong to the Emperor. In his final battle with Full Monarch, this blade became mine, and I used it to cut his stomach open. Back then, I went by a different name, though. My name is Alpha. I’m the son of the Emperor.”


    The clock finally struck midnight.


    The end results... Both sides suffered losses. The Wandering Coin lost an entire realm, countless soldiers, and a majority of their stolen tech, and as of now the warriors known as Wish and Kevin are MIA. The Sub Enforcer members known as Wasp Nest and Metal Ronin were left hospitalized and struggling to recover. The same can be said for their leader, Money Tree.


    Later that night, Old Dog passed away peacefully in his sleep.


    Doc sighed as he walked down the long stone hallway beneath the realm’s grounds. It had been the place Wish took him shortly before she left for her fight.


    “Well, isn’t this all just great?” He muttered. A swirl of energy grew within the tunnel as a gate to another realm opened. It was the secret exit the Pallet Boys had installed under the castle. “Sunshine is going to be pretty mad...” When he stepped out of the portal, he found himself in a new lab. One that held a familiar metal pod that glowed with a bright blue energy. “Oh well. No matter. We can always regrow you, Wish. After all, you’re not really dead. Not yet. Not until your story comes to an end.”