Continuing to walk toward the center of her fortress, and to her destiny, Kari couldn't help but smirk as she sensed the fear and panic running through those below, especially due to Fusionist's abilities.
Even before she recruited Tagiru, the Night Queen was well aware of his true power, and his real persona, hence why she ignored his usual remarks and attitude, happy to see his motives aligned with her own, and that soon, both would get what they wished for.
Arriving at her destination at the top of the center spire, Kari looked to see a circle of dark purple energy glowing on the ground with ancient writings on it, while the Dark Book hovered off the ground, glowing with the same dark energies.
Meanwhile, all around the circle, a rare type of Shadow Demon floated, Dark Warriors, each concealing their heads with a dark silver helmet, not only hiding away their faces, but also keeping the mists that made their beings at bay.
Around their shoulders were steel shoulderplates, shaped into skulls, with a similar skull set upon the belts each were wearing.
Their bodies were covered in dark robes, allowing their mist-like bodies to pour out from the bottom, where each floated in place, waiting for the Night Queen to join, as to begin their ritual, expressing no emotion as they hovered in place, knowing they only existed for this purpose.
Smiling behind the dark mist that covered her face, Kari walked into the center of the circle, before slamming her staff into the ground before her, closing her eyes as the dark wizards began chanting around her.
Above, tendrils of dark energy began to flow down from the massive portal above the city, encircling and encasing the Night Queen in a vortex of darkness, the corrupt brunette smirking the whole time.
Her ascension had begun.
-Meanwhile-
Down below, despite her own shock at seeing the transformation Fusionist went through, Vixen focused, knowing she still had a fight of her own as she turned and looked at Psychonis, seeing that the dark haired sorceress was also shocked by what she had witnessed, leaving the redhead to assume none of the other Dark Legionnaires knew about this power Fusionist possessed.
But having to keep focused herself, Vixen turned, raising her staff just as Psychonis' came down upon her, trying to cut Vixen down to size with her dark magic imbued hands.
Throwing a few punches, each making contact with Vixen's staff, with the mystic heroine putting up a great defense, Psychonis continued to show her relentlessness as she increased the darkness circling her hands and gave a set of punches, managing to repel Vixen back a few feet, groaning at the impact.
"Look around you, Katou! Is madness really what you want? You escaped the Circle of Shadows, why continue to follow Zhaitan's evil!?" The red haired mystic called out as she recovered from Psychonis' attack, knowing that while she was a villain, she was also a human being, and knew that whatever the Night Queen was doing would not end well for any of them.
"I don't follow Zhaitan, I follow her!" Psychonis yelled in reply, gathering dark magic into her hands once again as she added. "This is my destiny now. Once she's done, not even Zhaitan will stand in her way, and I'll be at her side in her new world!"
Having what she needed to say, Psychonis then cast out the dark energies, releasing it as a great and powerful surge, shaping itself like a lion, where it charged at Vixen, giving the mystic heroine very little time, only able to bring up her right hand and form what defenses she could at such short notice.
Groaning as she felt the dark energy collide with her barrier, sending sparks of dark energy surging all around, while the dark lion seemed to be trying to tear its way through the energies protecting her, Vixen took a moment to focus, clearing her mind and ignoring the physical and mental strain on her as best she could, thinking of the emotions, the feelings, the power she felt, and focusing on those important to her, as the image of her maroon haired leader, the man who would always hold a spot in her heart, came to mind.
'I might never have your heart, Davis... but I will always be there when you need me...' Vixen thought with a growing determination, knowing that he needed her help now more than ever, before her eyes glowed brightly through her mask as she felt her power rising.
Pushing herself, Vixen continued to keep her hand up, repelling the dark energies of Psychnois, finding her power increasing, allowing the red haired heroine to rise up her staff and cast out her own stream of energy, pushing through the dark energy that formed the lion, which roared in agony as it dissolved, and shot towards Psychonis, who quickly brought up her own barrier, consuming herself in dark magic, only to feel it start to fade from the overwhelming power of Vixen's attack as it collided with her power, causing the villainess to cry out in panic, fearing the worst.
Not too far off, Shadowknight, who was watching the Colossus chase after Fighting Fury, having seen the hero reach the top of one building, only to quickly leap away as the massive demon's fist slammed into said building, toppling it over, heard Psychonis' cry, turning to see the dark sorceress losing her fight with Vixen.
It was then something began to stir within the dark warrior's being, a desire to rush to Psychonis' aid, but he had his orders, to fight and destroy the Night Queen's enemies, to...
'Save her! Save Jeri now!' A voice then screamed in his mind, his own voice, which seemed to overpower his senses as he moved, just as Psychonis' barrier was broken, the energy slamming into the villainess and filling her with pain as she began to lose her magic hold, plummeting to the earth below.
But before she could hit the ground, Jeri felt someone catch her, opening her pained eyes in surprise to see Shadowknight holding her bridal style, still showing his lack of emotion, where a portal opened before them, the dark warrior taking her through it as it closed behind them, leaving Vixen confused at what she just witnessed.
'They left, but why did he...?' Vixen mentally questioned herself as she tried to understand Shadowknight's motives.
But knowing Fusionist, Charm Mistress and the remaining dark forces still tore through Odaiba, she knew her questions would have to wait for another day, turning to see Red Nova and the other heroes who weren't busy focusing on the villain below.
Meanwhile, still fighting on the same rooftop, which now looked like it was on fire, Tai and Sora continued to battle, with the brunette using his energies to help protect himself from the fire attacks, finding even that wasn't helping much in the end as he dodged a fire blast from his corrupted girlfriend.
"I'll break you, and when Mistress is done, we'll be together forever!" Sora yelled with a continued insanity, showing what rational thought she had left quickly being overwhelmed by the power of the Mark, continuing to override her love for the man she was now fighting and causing her to lose her grip on her sanity.
'I have to end this soon, or she'll start burning the city down as well.' Tai thought in frustration as the flames around Sora began to grow, taking the form of a flaming bird around her, where it seemed to react to Sora's madness and let out an ear piercing shriek, while the roof they were fighting on was melting away.
As much as Tai wanted to fight back, to stop Sora, looking at what she had done, witnessing the great inferno she was casting, even if he wasn't already pushing through the broken bones and other injuries he sustained, the brunette knew he couldn't stop such an attack.
However, to the shock of both Tai and Sora, a large amount of water seemed to surge up the building, quickly wrapping itself around the fiery villainess and causing her to scream as her fire was extinguished.
"Darling, you need to cool off." A familiar voice then said behind Tai, causing him to turn and see Rachel and JP, both in their elemental armours, floating behind him, before a third figure landed on the rooftop next to the brunette, shocking him to see Tommy, only now, his elemental armour looked purified, even though his anger was now focused on Sora.
However, Tai then turned back when Sora's screams were heard through the water, causing him to see her eyes glowing with flames, along with her body as the watery sphere around her started to bubble and heat up, steam filling the air around them.
Feeling the intense heat overpowering the waters, Rachel said through her growing groans. "You boys better do something before she escapes."
"On it!" JP said back as he charged his fists in thunderous energy, before casting them off as a set of electrified blasts, striking the dissolving sphere of water and causing Sora to scream once again, only it was from the terrible pain that began to fill her, causing Tai to cringe at the sound, feeling his heart breaking from the pain Sora was going through, hating himself for what had lead up to put the orange haired girl in such a position.
But keeping his focus, Tai then saw the orange haired girl pass out, just as Rachel released the water holding Sora, who began to fall to the ground, causing Tai to quickly rush and catch her before she could hit the ground.
"We all felt the magical disturbance, first from Bagra, then from all this, so we rushed to come help as best as we could." JP said as he saw Dragonheart lie the orange haired villainess on the ground, before all three turned to see Tommy walk up to Dragonheart and Red Phoenix, the masked ice user remaining silent as he looked down at Sora, particularly the glowing mark on her forehead.
Then, without warning, three spikes of ice formed on Tommy's right hand, causing Tai to tense up as he thought the boy was going to attack, only for Tommy to bring his hand up, firing the spikes into the air, impaling three winged Stalkers that were rushing towards them, causing the demons to dissolve before they could arrive.
"Where is she... where's that witch?!" Tommy then asked in anger as he glared at Dragonheart, still feeling the mental trauma from the dark spell Kari had placed on him, before he looked up, seeing the cyclone of dark energy flowing from the top of the fortress.
"Leave it be for now, Tommy. We need to help stop these creeps." JP said as he put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, knowing he was mad and wanted to bring the Night Queen to justice, but right now they needed to focus on the larger battle.
"Go help the others, I'll take care of her." Dragonheart said as he took Sora in his arms, lifting her up bridal style and began to bring her down to the waiting authorities, wanting to get the orange haired girl in the right hands before any further harm could befall her, leaving the three Warriors to join the battle against the ever growing army of Shadow Demons.
Meanwhile, having landed on another rooftop, Fighting Fury was panting heavily as he watched the Colossus destroy the upper half of the building he was just standing on before, his body feeling the strain as he was using his full power for longer than he should, feeling his muscles burning as he body on the verge of collapse, but he knew he had to keep going and find a way to take the demon down.
He remembered when the last Colossus tore through Odaiba, and how it took several teams of heroes and the police working together to finally take the creature down, many losing their lives in the process, and Fighting Fury wanted to make sure it didn't happen again, steeling himself as the beast turned to him, letting out a fierce roar as it began to walk towards the tired hero.
However, the Colossus was then distracted as something flew by its being, firing blasts of blue energy at its face, causing it to let out a frustrated roar as it tried to hit the new foe, while Fury looked to see Responder trying to take the creature on.
"What are you doing?! Get out of here!" The deputized hero called out in great concern, not wanting to see the young hero get harmed, but Responder ignored him, focusing his attention on trying to find a weak point on the massive creature as he fired all over its being.
Remaining on the offensive, Responder continued to analyze the Colossus, finding through his visor, he could see the points of impact, but found that none had done any serious damage to the giant being, leaving the tech hero wondering just how they could take down such a foe, if there was a certain power of attack that could cripple this enemy.
However, flying past the Colossus' arm, while doing his best to avoid its grasp and being crushed, Responder was smacked down when the giant just managed to strike, swatting its hand down, with the rush of wind from the swing throwing Responder off course and causing him to plummet to the ground.
"Responder!" Fighting Fury called in concern, wanting to rush down and help the tech hero, but found that from his position, he wouldn't be able to reach him in time.
Groaning as he tried to get up, Responder felt a shadow cast over him, looking up to see the Colossus' foot about to come down and crush not only him, but a group of civilians that rushed over to check on him.
'Damn it! What do I...?' Responder tried to think, to at least save the civilians, before he heard someone cry his name, a familiar voice, where he turned his head to see, much to his horror, Ai pushed through the group to check on him.
"Ai?! No! Get out of here!" He yelled in great concern, no longer fearing for himself, but for the blonde's very life, putting Ai ahead of his own safety, not just as a civilian, but as his girlfriend.
However, Ai didn't listen, her fear of losing Haru too great as she got in front of him, checking to see if he was alright, before she turned and stared wide eyed at the massive foot of the Colossus coming down towards her, her fear finally taking over as she closed her eyes and held her arms out defensively.
Once she did, however, much to the surprise of Responder and the civilians, Ai's hands began to glow with a shining pink energy, turning into circles with ancient runes on them, before a great blast of energy shot out of the blonde's hands, not only shooting through the Colossus' foot, but its chest as well, causing the demon to let out a cry of agony as he began to fall backwards, its body dissolving into shadows before it could hit the ground.
Opening her eyes after sensing they were no longer in danger, Ai was just as shocked by what happened, looking at her hands in surprise as Fighting Fury managed to come down and check on Responder, where the tech hero asked in shock. "Ai... how... how did you do that?"
"I have no idea." The blonde could only say, still in shock as she looked upon her hands, wondering herself how she was able to use such power without knowing about it, while Vixen, who had flown over to check after seeing the Colossus go down, thought to herself. 'Looks like she has a strong tie to magic as well.'
Not too far away, using the remains of a building for cover in his showdown with Quickshot, Deathstrike couldn't believe what was going on around him, first at seeing Fusionist fuse with two of their allies, and then seeing the Colossus go down, leaving him wondering if this was a fight that the Dark Legion could win.
'At least I got to take out that traitor.' The gunslinging villain then thought with a smirk, recalling the horrified face of Seraph at seeing Fang gunned down, before his other senses kicked in, letting him know that Quickshot had turned a corner, having her right where he wanted her.
Popping out of his hiding spot, taking the auburn haired heroine by surprise as she tried to turn her guns to him, Deathstrike quickly activated his rocket launcher, where the missile seemed to impact, causing the villain to smirk wickedly.
However, much to his shock, a barrier of pure light shot out of the smoke, revealing that Seraph had arrived and used his power to protect Quickshot, his left arm losing the energy and the shield fading, while the angelic hero's right hand was brimming with energy as he quickly closed the distance between them, giving Deathstrike no time as Seraph let out a cry of rage, slamming his fist into the villain's face, sending him flying back and crashing into a wall behind him, where the villain slumped from out of the broken debris, falling to the ground, where he lay unconscious.
"That's for my brother, you filth!" Seraph said in anger, wanting to do much more to the gunslinger, but he knew that justice needed to prevail, allowing Quickshot and a few officers to quickly rush over and apprehend the villain, before the angelic hero flew off, knowing that the super charged Fusionist, Charm Mistress, and most of all, Kari, where still at large.
As all the fighting continued, Red Nova continued to stand his ground as he stared at the warped form of Fusionist, seeing the black wings of Asta spread out, as though ready to take off, before the hero's eyes widened to see dozens of tommy guns emerge from the black folds of the wings, pointing directly at him.
"Die!" Fusionist yelled as hundreds of dark energy bullets were unleashed from the barrels, causing Red Nova, Thunderstrike and Songbird to each dodge the onslaught, trying to avoid the mass attack as they went for cover.
From their confines, as well as past the officers watching them, Dark Ivy, Dark Hawk and Stryker were all in shock, awe and fear at seeing Fusionist fight, where the defeated assassin said loudly. "That's it, if we get out of this, I am getting as far away from him as possible!"
"I'm just glad I never got on his bad side." Stryker said with a light laugh, where his girlfriend and the plant based villainess each glared at him, before refocusing on the battle.
While Red Nova, Thunderstrike and Songbird managed to take cover behind a massive section of debris, the remains of what used to be a section of skyscraper, the three found that they couldn't stay in one place for too long when they saw the ground rip up around them, pulling out electrified cables that then shot at the group, noticing the lines of cable each connected with the same dark energy that made up Fusionist's new form.
"If this keeps up he'll consume all of Odaiba." Songbird said with growing concern, believing that the longer Fusionist remained in power, the more danger she, her teammates and the civilians would be in.
The trio then looked up in time to see Fusionist leaping towards them, with the cybernetic arm pulled back as electricity and flames encompassed it, ready to strike the heroes down in one blow.
"I'll kill all of you! Nothing will stand in the way of the new world!" Fusionist cried out as he attacked, forcing the three heroes to split when the villain's extra fist slammed into the ground, only for it to create a shockwave that sent the three flying back in different directions, while breaking up much of the debris around him.
Standing back up, and looking around with a mix of annoyance, rage and insanity in his eyes, Fusionist then yelled out. "Airu! Stop hiding! Get out here and fight!"
Said villainess, meanwhile, was cowering behind a beam of a half repaired construction site, too overwhelmed in fear to move, not at the heroes, but at the true power of one she deemed an annoyance, having flashes of all the times she belittled him, got mad at him, and other times that made her regret her life at the moment.
"Oh, damn. Damn, damn, damn, please don't find me. Please, please, I promise to never treat you like trash again, please, please just leave me be." The blonde whispered in growing panic, hoping that she could just slip away and that the heroes would distract Fusionist long enough for her to escape.
While she knew her cowardice would not go unnoticed, she would make it up to the Night Queen somehow... she hoped.
Occasionally summoning enough courage to pop her head out, only to reel it away, Charm Mistress managed to get a glimpse of the fight, seeing Red Nova had split from the girls, trying to divert Fusionist's attention with a barrage of fireballs, knowing that as much as they detested one another, his hate for Red Nova would always get the best of him.
Red Nova then dodged as Fusionist lunged at his, seeing his normal hands grow daggers like Asta's out of them, each with electricity running along their tips as he charged at his foe, only for a blast of electricity and sonic energy to slam into the villain's side, not knocking him back, but causing him to turn and glare at seeing Rachel, JP, Tommy, Cosmic Knockout, Frequency and Razor Wolf all glaring at him.
"Looks like we're late for this party." Frequency then said with a smirk as the three heroes and three elemental warriors prepared to lend a hand.
With their arrival, the group acted fast, with Rachel using the busted water pipes to call upon her element, raising several streams of water, each turning to tendrils that wrapped around and tore through Fusionist's cables, Tommy focusing directly on Fusionist and casting out a wave of icy energy, slowly freezing and consuming a section of the villain's being, while JP and Cosmic Knockout fought side by side as they slammed their fists into an overturned car, not only throwing the vehicle at Fusionist, but with the electricity coursing through it, it overloaded the battery and caused it to explode upon Fusionist, dealing a fair amount of damage to his being.
However, much to the shock of the heroes, the damage Fusionist seemed to sustain slowly began to heal itself, where they looked to see the dust and gravel around him swirling, as though he was fusing them into his being and repairing the damage.
Stepping forward, Frequency tried to counter Fusionist's power, to put a halt on the villain's regeneration as he threw several small speakers out, each latching to Fusionist's body as they began to emit a great shrieking sound, not only delaying Fusionist and his abilities, but the sonic energy seemed to do a number on his form.
"Take that you fre..." Frequency started to say, before his eyes widened as he then saw his speakers sink into Fusionist's body, only to reappear on his cybernetic and shadow arms, which the villain then pointed at the blond hero, sending out a blast of sonic energy right at him and sending Frequency flying back and crashing into a car nearby.
"Ok... That hurts..." Frequency commented with a groan as he tried to get up, feeling the constant ringing in his ears from the sonic attack.
Meanwhile, just as Fusionist was about to make a move, Thunderstrike came at him from ever angle, delivering powerful punches, while making sure not to stay to close to him for long, a method Razor Wolf mimicked as he rushed the villain, swinging his blades at Fusionist as he rushed past him, trying to damage him in the process, leaving the villain disoriented, especially when Songbird and Vixen flew over, firing blasts of energy and magic at him.
"Damn you all, I'l...!" Fusionist started to yell in anger, before three fists, Red Nova's flaming, Seraph's light infused, and Fighting Fury's energy covered fist collided with his being, sending the villain flying, crashing into the construction site nearby, causing the villain to growl in anger as he started to get up, before a familiar help of fear caught his attention, turning his eyes and anger to see Charm Mistress looking at him in fear from the beam she was hiding behind, fear that grew as his hand reached out for her.
"No, wait please...!" The blonde villainess cried out in a growing fear, before there was a loud scream and a flash of light, alerting the heroes, where they then saw the construction site begin to break apart, the rock, metal and wood all breaking apart as even the ground was sucked up, forming a massive tornado of debris.
And from the tornado, the upper torso of a man popped out, only its entire being was black, save for a pair of red eyes, while red energy flowed out of its being, looking like spikes coming out of its back and its arms, where the being then let out a monstrous roar.
"No more games! If I have to fuse this entire city with me, I'll kill you all!" Fusionist yelled, his voice now echoing in the minds of the heroes, letting them know that he had just fused Charm Mistress into his being.
"This isn't good. The more we try and attack him, the stronger he becomes. At this rate he'll start absorbing more than just those three into him." Seraph said in concern as they looked at the new form of Fusionist, watching as the debris around the villain was breaking apart and being sucked into the tornado that formed his being.
"Even if we damage him a little, he just repairs himself, we need to take him out in one blow." Songbird then added as the other heroes joined up and stared upon what the villain had become, failing to see the solemn look on Red Nova's face.
"The rest of you stay back. I'll end this." He said with a more serious tone, causing most of the heroes and heroines to look at him with confusion, while Thunderstrike looked at him with worry and fear, causing her to start to ask. "Please, don't tell you you're going to...?"
But not wanting to reply, Red Nova focused himself upon Fusionist, where his entire being was covered in flames, causing the other heroes to back up, before the fiery hero launched himself at the torso part of Fusionist, who laughed as he saw his enemy rushing towards him, where he yelled out. "You can't stop me! Your actions helped make me what I am today."
"I can't set things right in the past but I can help make a brighter future." Red Nova said in reply, dodging tendrils of dark energy that were shot at him before, much to the surprise of those below, he grabbed at Fusionist by the waist, dragging the torso section up and out of the tornado, towards the sky, with said cyclone starting to follow the pair upwards.
"What is he doing?!" Fury asked in concern, where Thunderstrike replied with some tears starting to form in her eyes. "Up there, he doesn't have to worry about buildings or people getting caught up in this, so he can let loose."
As Red Nova kept flying upwards, holding the being that was Fusionist, seeing only a dark mist for hands and a lower body, while the rest of the cyclone followed them, sparks of dark energy began to surge on the hero, the villain trying to fuse his enemy into him, but increasing his fire, Red Nova managed to block him out.
However, for a brief moment, their minds touched, and Fusionist's eyes widened as he realized who Red Nova really was as he said in a voice of surprise. "Kudo?!"
"Tagiru, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed a friend to help you." Mikey began to say, expressing a more sincere smile as he added. "But after this is all over I promise to set things right. I will put an end to all that hate still plaguing at your heart."
The fire around Red Nova then grew even larger, consuming both Fusionist and himself, causing the villain to cry out in pain, while the hero let out a cry of his own, unleashing his full strength as a massive blast of fire shot out of him, disrupting the cyclone heading towards them, while everyone below had to shield their eyes from the bright like, feeling like the sun was only inches from their faces, astonishing the group, while Thunderstrike was left in great concern.
When the light died down, the heroes all looked to see what looked like a ball of fire heading towards the ground, crashing with such might that several cars nearby were sent flying, where the heroes, especially Thunderstrike, rushed to see if their friend was alright, and if Fusionist was defeated.
And when they arrived, looking down into the crater that was formed, Thunderstrike held back tears of joy to see Red Nova standing, his armour broken in some areas, while behind him was the unconscious form of Fusionist, who had reverted back to his original form, while the unconscious forms of Ironfist, Asta and Charm Mistress were sprawled out all along the crater, having been freed from the fused form with Fusionist's defeat.
"Don't ever do that to me again!" Thunderstrike yelled as she rushed down, almost tackling Red Nova in a tight hug, just as the other heroes finally arrived, each sighing in relief to see that the fight against Fusionist was over, before Red Nova said with a serious tone. "I promise, but we need to focus, this fight isn't over yet."
The other heroes nodded as they looked up at the dark pillar of energy coming out of the top of the fortress, seeing Dragonheart and HiTech now flying up to see if they could aid V-Force.
Having finally cut through the Shadow Demons in his way, Davis landed behind the ritual site, quickly glancing around at the chanting Dark Wizards, extending his light blades once again as he prepared to cut them down and end this ritual before it could be finished.
But before he could act, Davis' eyes widened to see each of the demons dissolve into shadows, joining the pillar, before a shockwave of dark energy was sent out, causing the maroon haired hero to shield his eyes from the blast, but as it faded, not only did he feel it, but so did every living thing around them, where Dragonheart and HiTech stopped in their tracks as everyone look at the spot the Night Queen stood in, seeing the dark energy fading, and seeing a horrifying sight in its place.
Floating before Davis was a being three times his size, a being clad in a pitch-black robe and wielding a gigantic scythe based weapon, with the blade charging up with the same darkness that now filled Kari's figure.
Upon the robe and set within the chest, the shoulderplates and the waist were a collection of glowing blue gems, which Davis didn't pay much attention to, finding himself drawn to the hood covering Kari's face, finding it consumed completely in darkness.
Behind the dark form of Kari was a large ring formation, expelling a tremendous amount of energy within the centre, while around the ring, great fragments of black crystal floated around, the sight of which caused Davis to step back a little, finding himself filled with dread and fear at what Kari had become.
"I am the Night Queen... I am the new Dark One... Let this world of pain and anguish disappear... forever..." The Night Queen said in a voice that sent chills down the spines of everyone within Odaiba.
The final battle had only just begun.