I commend this fic to you, ChromeKnight who planted the seed, and to you Paladin, who watered it to grow. To you both, for the inspiration.

Bahamut: Ahem!

And my muses, who refused to allow the plant to die.

Mewtwo: Damn straight.

DISCLAIMERS: Don't own what's not my own.

Kamen Rider Daikaiju: Epic of the Cosmos

By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland

Prolouge: War-torn World; Escape from Death Itself

The skies that were, once upon a time, as blue as freshly cut sapphires are now a dulled crimson as though the very heavens were bleeding from mortal wounds. Where multitudes of forests grew and lasted for nigh several decades at the very least, there was now ash and blood mixed with the entrails of the dead beasts that were not able to escape the latest assault. In the cities of man, where towers of steel and glass rose up to the skies and scraped against them, there was nothing but ruins as far as the eye could see and not a single living human being in initial sight though the sound of fighting could be heard echoing in the desolate wind that blew harshly across the landscape where hundreds of crystal spires grew upwards from the ashen ground of the dying world.

A blast of neon fire lit up the darkness of the mid-day light as several voices roared in pure madness. Several figures, their forms blurred both from their speed and the heavy smog that lay close to the grounds which they traversed, ran as a mob of what could once have been called humans gave chase after them, one of them occasional launching a weapon or two into the black mists. Strange hints of reflected light gave evidence to the fact that those being pursued were all bedecked in armor but what kind could not be seen though there were some obvious differences in shape and the way they moved.

"It's too late!" cried one of medium height and extra width. "The Influence has spread! We have to get out of here before they reach the end of their ropes."

"We can't just leave them here, there must be something that can be done for them!" argued what sounded like the youngest of them.

"It's too late for them," said the only female in the group. "They're fully integrated with the towers and have all reached Critical Mass. The only thing we can do is retreat before one of them finally is granted mercy through death."

"Wait a minute," spoke the apparent leader of the band. "Listen."

Silence.

"I don't hear anything…" spoke the youngest.

"That's just it. What happened to the people? They couldn't have just given up."

That answer came from the rupture of the city streets as hundreds of humanoid arms burst from the ground, thick black skins cracked with thick jagged lines of purple-tinted energies. The group was caught flat-footed as several undead hands grasped them and held them tightly in place as the largest of the crystalline towers slowly began to glow.

"Shit!" exclaimed the leader. "Quick!" he spoke to the sole female of the group. "Teleport us out of here before—"

Whatever he was needed to be said, could not be said for, at that very moment, the tower struck.

A huge piece separated itself from the tower's "trunk" and floated in midair before aiming its serrated tip straight at the group and launching itself down at them. Perhaps it was a cruel twist of fate that chose that exact moment for the time of the crystal's victim to end. Two powerful explosions ripped a new hole in the city's center but the lights and sounds were nothing familiar to those watching from a safe distance and indeed the explosions were different. For though he had not finished his words, she already was halfway through the process of teleporting them to safety when those affected with Critical Mass expired in a grand explosion to accompany that of the tower's single assault against them. A chance that could occur only in several lifetimes' worth of time had managed to assert itself in that single moment where three different types of energies mixed and fought for dominance.

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In a world outside of a world, where nothing but darkness was prevalent and light only seen by those capable of making it, there sat a being with eyes of blood that oozed promises of pain and destruction. Eyes that narrowed in anger as hands nearly crushed the sole window that showed the outside world in its entirety.

"What has happened?" rasped the being. "The crystals, they're resonating; vanished but not dead. How can this be? That would have at least killed the others and left him for me to finish off. Where have they GONE?! Do they think they can ESCAPE me so EASILY?! I WILL FIND YOU!" Crystals began to cover the world like weeds gone into overdrive as the being vented its rage. "AND WHEN I DO, I'LL RIP OUT YOUR HEART AND TAKE BACK WHAT WAS STOLEN FROM ME! DO YOU HEAR ME?

"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"

The world that was once home to six billion people and several million life forms exploded silently in the darkness of space, with nothing but a large glowing crystal as a living tombstone to the planet's demise.

To Be Continued...