Chapter 25: Sword Against Staff
Prince Adam immediately ran through the corridors of Castle Grayskull in determination. Behind him, Zodac vanished into thin air, and the battle erupted once again between his heroic companions and Skeletor's demonic henchmen. He ran and he ran, as fast as he could, until he came upon Skeletor's chamber. The Lord of Destruction towered above him, more insane and monstrous than ever. Shokoti and Lord Masque were behind him, engaged in a battle with Keldor and the released He-Ro. The Glowing Orb hovered in the air at the top of the chamber.
With all his inner strength, Adam challenged the Overlord of Evil to a final battle. Skeletor erupted into laughter at the proposal. How could this weak, feeble being before him, weakened and battered as he was, possess even the merest hopes of beating him? Nevertheless, amused at the prospects of defeating his most hated enemy in this manner, he accepted the challenge.
"Well, you're not the man you used to be, Adam... but I will gladly duel with you for the sake of reliving old memories the way they should have been. Let this be our final battle!"
Skeletor seemed to instantaneously radiate with immense, crackling beams of energy, and the entire chamber around them was soon engulfed in swirling metaphysical chaos. The two arch enemies were detached from the material world, in realms of pure power and energy. But instead of sword against staff, this battle consisted purely of fists and flesh┘ although the Havoc Staff still made its cameos in the battle as Skeletor materialized it within his hands, for the sake of blasting his mortal adversary with immense pain.
Adam's body was racked with the most intense and unbearable pain he had ever experienced. For several seconds he doubted his own confidence; could he really hope to defeat this evil tyrant now of all times? But he had made the challenge, and could not afford to abandon his hope. If the pain continued to overwhelm him, he could easily drop dead within the next few moments. He had to concentrate on his inner psychological strength, for no matter how much the opposite may seem true, the mind was always more powerful than the body...
The essence of goodness channeled through his being, his physical strength suddenly seemed boosted, and he shot up with a searing uppercut across Skeletor's chest. Although the Lord of Destruction felt little pain, he took a step back in shock, surprised at how much strength was left in this battered mortal.
"You may be physically entwined with the universe..." said Adam, "but I am mentally entwined... and while I remain so... I will always hold on... to the true... power!"
He concentrated on his psychological energy, and beamed a mental wave of heroic power towards Skeletor's mind. The Lord of Destruction, alienated as he was from all heroic energy, received a shock from this wave and stumbled back.
Adam lifted his arms, relaxing them briefly after channeling his power. And in a split second, a beam of light manifested within his right hand, and formed into the solid shape of the Sword of Power.
Skeletor scoffed at his opponent, and remarked "That thing is useless... now that the power of Grayskull is mine, you can no longer absorb it."
Prince Adam shook his head. "Not all of it is yours... at least a small portion has always escaped your grasp... and that is the portion that contains the light!"
He held the sword above his head, and for the first time in many moons, he shouted:
"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL... I HAVE THE POWER!"
The burst of energy erupted from the sword just as it had always done in the past, showering down on the Prince and transforming him -finally- back into the form of He-Man, mightiest man in the universe.
He-Man stood before Skeletor, untouched and unwounded, his strength almost fully restored.
"Now, Skeletor..." declared He-Man, "here is your chance to redeem yourself. You were born to cause destruction... you have known nothing else. Now is your chance to see the light at the heart of all matter... that which shines through even the darkest of souls."
Laughing in mockery, Skeletor blasted He-Man with a bolt from his fingertips, replying "Yes... the light that illuminates my eternal greatness!"
Finally, sword clashed against staff once again as the two definitive embodiments of good and evil locked themselves in combat, in the ultimate battle for the universe.
Although deterred slightly by his enemy's miraculous reabsorption of his incredible power, Skeletor reminded himself that he was a God... and he still had power over all. Summoning all the evil powers within his being, he attempted to overcome He-Man with pure mental force, overwhelming his enemy with mental powers of darkness just as his enemy had previously done with such powers of goodness. He-Man dropped to his knees, and struggled on the ground against the power.
Clutching his head, He-Man summoned all his strength to hold onto the essence of the light within him. No matter how hard Skeletor tried, he could not manage to manipulate He-Man's mind... until, weakened, he took a step back and gasped for breath frantically.
"How do you avoid succumbing to my force... I am a God... I am the Universe... it does not make sense!"
He-Man stood before him, and brandished his sword. "The mind is the most powerful weapon of all," he declared, "more powerful even than this sword."
"But I am Master of the Universe... I have the most powerful mind of all!"
"The power of the light overcomes the shadows of the dark... the most powerful mind is one that follows the ways of good!"
His sword began to shimmer with mystical heroic energy. He-Man channeled the essence of goodness from his body through his sword, and fired an enormous burst of light from the sword at Skeletor. Skeletor stumbled back in pain.
"Now is your chance, Skeletor!" declared He-Man. "Redeem yourself and follow the light!"
"Never!" screamed the Lord of Destruction, "I am the darkness in all matter!"
Summoning all his power in the entire universe, he channeled it all towards He-Man, determined to overcome his hated foe once and for all. Engulfed by the tremendous waves of evil energy, He-Man was almost paralyzed... but he concentrated on all his mind power, traversing it through his sword to hold against Skeletor... his sword shimmered with immense light...
"At the heart of all matter," he spoke, "lies the essence of good!"
He arose, and a burst of light erupted from his sword, careening towards Skeletor and engulfing his entire form. The powers of truth and justice spread throughout Skeletor's body, wracking his evil mind with tremendous pain. A blinding flash of light burst out between the two great foes, obscuring He-Man's vision entirely. A colossal, ear-splitting and death-defying scream rang out, and a huge explosion blasted through the eardrums of He-Man... and of the entire universe.
Throughout all of Eternia, the explosion shook the ground and vibrated the entire planet. Mountains collapsed, and dust and ash rained down from the skies. Barely a single being throughout the whole planet stood on their feet, shaken to the ground by the incredible force, almost deafened by the colossal sound.
The Eternians lay on the ground, gasping for breath and gazing up at the skies above them. Clouds of black vapor and acid were spewing gently into the dark, evil-ridden skies... and slowly, they dissipated, revealing the gleam of a clear, blue sky, and the long-absent, resplendent rays of the Red Sun of Eternia.
Amidst a mass of shattered debris, and mangled bodies, She-Ra, Teela, The Sorceress and Man-At-Arms drew themselves to their feet, and headed towards the distant silhouette of Castle Grayskull, from where the explosion had seemed to have originated. What had become of their defender? Had he survived the explosion?
Within moments, they reached the castle- where they saw He-Man standing in triumph at the very top of the great and ancient edifice, raising his sword up to the sky, the gleam of the Red Sun reflecting from the blade of the Sword of Power. Above him, a swirling cloud of dark energy and cosmic matter drifted into the skies, dissipating in the rays of the sun until it had faded into nothingness. Skeletor, the God of Destruction and the greatest evil the universe had ever known, was no more.
In a voice that rang with heroic nobility, He-Man called out "By the Power of Grayskull... let the force of light return!" Beams of light emitted from his sword, and spread out across the skies throughout the whole of Eternia. Forests bloomed, animals ran freely through the countryside, sentiments of hope and glory spread through the air. Peace reigned over Eternia once more. And the vibes of peace spread over the whole universe... causing each and every heart to feel, at that moment, a sense of warm relief and content. The forces of good had achieved their ultimate victory over evil... and all at the hands of He-Man, Most Powerful Man in the Universe.
A great celebration spread throughout Eternia. The planet was exhausted and devastated by the long and chaotic war, undoubtedly the greatest war the universe had ever faced. But among the Eternians, there was a huge sense of relief that this incredible, hellish evil threat, greater than even the most pessimistic of Eternians would have dared to imagine, had actually been defeated. And He-Man, the man who had single-handedly put an end to this evil, was hailed throughout Eternia as the greatest hero the universe had ever known.
The magic of Grayskull finally returned to its original heroic state, and once again settled within the castle. The spirits of the Elders came forth, together with The Goddess, He-Ro and King Grayskull, to congratulate He-Man on the ultimate victory of good over evil. The ultimate showdown between the two sides, prophesized thousands of years ago by the great deities of the universe, had been won by the forces of good.
The victory of the Masters of the Universe was celebrated at Grayskull with the double marriage of both of Eternia's greatest saviors. He-Man was finally wed to Teela, now the new Sorceress of Grayskull. Having overcome her evil duplicate self at the end of the war, she now felt stronger and more purified in her soul than ever before. Now truly immortal, and having survived the war under enormous strain, she was perfectly well-set to be the new guardian of the mystic castle. She-Ra, meanwhile, married her pirate lover, Sea Hawk, himself a great hero for having defended Etheria as it had itself felt the onslaught of Skeletor's victory. The celebration was overseen by not only Zodac, but all of the Comic Enforcers. The former Council of the Wise, who had founded Eternia's infinite magic centuries ago, were overjoyed at how their philosophies and practices had enabled humankind to survive so many centuries on from their establishment. And the defeat of Skeletor represented the ultimate defeat of their ancient adversaries The Nocturnals. It was the greatest celebration Eternia had ever seen, with all the planet's great saviors throughout history present at the ceremony.
At this moment, barely any trace of evil remained on the planet. Even the Black Continent was no longer such, for the spirits of evil had been banished from the planet altogether with the vibes of peace resulting from He-Man's victory. That dark and dismal stretch of land saw the gleam of sunlight for the first time in centuries, shining over the sets of ruins that had once been Snake Mountain and the Fright Zone. Many of Skeletor's surviving warriors had been taken prisoner in the final conflict, and escorted to Prison Star for life imprisonment. Others had fled from Eternia altogether.
King Randor had suffered a fatal injury during the final battle for Eternia, and died shortly after, but had lived to see his brother Keldor achieve redemption, and his son and daughter become true heroes. He-Man and Teela were crowned King and Queen of Eternia, and would rule the planet from Grayskull. The Sorceress retained her powers and was promoted to a deity by the Elders. But although her natural duty at this moment was to leave Eternia to watch over the cosmos, the Elders granted her freedom in this time of restored peace, permitting her to live the quiet and boundless life for which she had yearned throughout her difficult years as Guardian of Grayskull. She chose, therefore, to live in the tranquil environment of Eternia's Southern Continent, aside her new lover, Man-At-Arms. Duncan had received many severe, crippling injuries in the war, and could no longer fight or walk great distances. But he had served as a warrior for well beyond his years, to amazing effect, and was now ready to spend his old age in peace.
One of the few members of Skeletor's forces to remain on Eternia was Evil-Lyn -although she now preferred to be called simply Evelyn, as in her previous life. She was herself being hailed as a heroine by the warriors of Eternia, for having had the courage and psychological strength to redeem herself and see the light through the darkness, thus aiding the Eternians in their final victory. But she was overcome with severe guilt over her past, so she decided to retreat to a solitary life in the peaceful tropical environment of the Golden Isles. But she would not go alone- with her was her lover, Tri-Clops, who had himself found the strength to move beyond the corruptions of evil, and had gladly thrown away all the riches he had obtained throughout his life of crime. Having finally realized the bond of trust between them, the two former minions of evil were now ready to begin their journey of life anew, rejuvenating themselves together in the Golden Isles.
She-Ra, meanwhile, was offered the crown of Etheria, now that Glimmer and Carlos were ready to set about restoring peace to their world. But She-Ra had lived a lifetime of war ever since her youth in the service of the Horde, and declined the offer, choosing instead to opt for a quiet and humble life on the seas of Etheria with Sea Hawk. Glimmer herself took the crown of Etheria, to the pleasure of many of her citizens, who regarded her as a great heroine for the many things she had done to help restore peace to their world ever since she was merely a girl. Eternia and Etheria were bound together in harmony, and their rulers vowed to devote their lives to restoring peace to the war-ravaged worlds.
All the surviving members of the Masters and the Rebellion were hailed as saviors. Granamyr, meanwhile, declared that for the first time in thousands of years, he finally felt optimistic about the future of the human race. Convinced that He-Man would restore full peace and tranquility to the minds of humans, eliminating greed and corruption altogether, he signed a peace treaty with He-Man and pronounced him an eternal ally of the dragons of Darksmoke. He then flapped his wings, and flew off in the direction of his kingdom, to continue his rule over Darksmoke for at least another few thousand years.
Following the celebrations, as She-Ra and the Rebellion returned to Etheria, and the Masters set about rebuilding their individual lives, the rulers of both Eternia and Etheria set about restoring the lifestyles and cultures of the people on their worlds. Help was immediately given to the people who had been made homeless, or led to suffer, during the wars. Reconstruction work began on the beautiful cities that had been destroyed by the evil forces, with plans to convert them into even more majestic and beautiful places than before. Following the devastation caused by the war, this was to prove an enormous and difficult task for both worlds- but Eternia and Etheria worked together in unison, and within a decade, both planets were flourishing once again.