Two more chapters, and the final battle will come. Nothing else to say here, so let's answer some reviews:

1) Nobody245:

* Yup, even Sincoln wanted to move on from the Proto-Sister plotline. XD

* It's a harsh reality, but one we have to face eventually as we move forward.

2) Mysterious Mr M:

* That... I mean, I had a feeling you came across my stories somehow, but I didn't think it would be from THAT story.

* Sincoln, being a type of Lincoln, is well aware that the story's almost over. That, and he utterly despises the Proto-Sisters, and after four years in limbo, the last thing he wants is to see their ugly faces any longer than he needs to.

* Totally like a married couple, right?

3) Observant Guest: It's when the last "battle" takes place, yes. ;)

And now, let's go to the chapter.

Episode 98: Into the Non-Canon Continuum! Facing the Corruption Head-On!

Stella and Abraham walked together into the giant, square-shaped spaceship that Lisa controlled, with the first thing they noticed, besides the spaceship's massive interior, being the insane number of characters already inside.

"Huh, the ship already looked big on the outside," Abraham remarked. "But that doesn't do the interior justice."

"Yeah, it's pretty big, but to be fair it needs to be in order to house all of Royal Woods," Stella added, scratching her head as she looked around. "Still, it's impressive that its entire population is going to go to war with Planet Tokyo."

"It's the bare minimum we need to do."

Stella and Abraham looked up and saw Luan approaching them, sporting a tired smile.

"Luan, hi!" Stella greeted. "Is something the matter? You don't look so good."

"Just the pre-war hibbie jibbies, that's all," the divine comedian chuckled. "Besides, we're all about to head into outer space, some for the first time, and with Lisa no longer with us, it's been up to the rest of us to keep things running."

"Right, Lisa did perish," Stella frowned. "But if she's dead, who's gonna pilot this thing?"

"Luna will."

Abraham raised an eyebrow. "Does she even know how to fly a spaceship?"

"Going by your lip movements, I'm gonna assume you asked if Luna can even fly this thing... and the answer's no, no she can't," Luan shrugged with optimism. "But Lisa was always a dozen steps ahead of us! I'm sure she left behind an instructions manual all about how to fly this thing. Or she installed an auto pilot function. Till then, feel free to look around, meet some people, just, try to stay calm while we get ready to take off."

And with that said, Luan snapped her fingers and teleported out of the room, leaving Stella and Abraham to look around further and try to calm down.

"Hi!"

Stella turned around, and saw a pair of girls approaching her.

"You must be Stella, the Lovechild between Lincoln and Cristina, right?" the brunette asked. "I'm Sid Chang, Lovechild of Ronnie Anne! And my friend here's Calliope, Lovechild of Clyde!"

"Nice to meet you."

"Wait, there are still Lovechildren around?" Stella asked. "I thought most of them ceased to exist when Falsecoln absorbed them."

"Well, we're not really Lincoln's Lovechildren now, are we?" Sid answered with a giggle.

"Besides, if that was the case," Calliope adjusted her glasses. "Neither you nor your brother would be here right now."

"They make a good point," Abraham remarked. "But what do they want with us?"

"Abraham asks if you need something."

"Well, truth be told, Mom told me about you and I was so excited to meet you!" Sid chirped. "And also, Calliope suggested we could join forces together!"

"Join forces?"

"People are making groups to try make the incoming fight a little less chaotic," Calliope answered. "And since we're all Lovechildren, we figured it was a good idea to team up."

Stella glanced at Abraham, and said:

"I'm up for it, as long as we include Abraham."

"Sure, sounds good," Sid put her hands on her hips. "What can he do?"

"He doesn't make any sound whatsoever."

Sid and Calliope exchanged looks, and gained smiles.

"I think we can make it work."

Meanwhile, over at Planet Tokyo, Sincoln winced and stood up, feeling something big happened. Something like two things combining...

Two things... combining... merging... synthethizing...

He had to go.

"Master, where are you going?!"

Sincoln turned around to see none other than Mick Swagger standing nearby, looking notably worried.

"If the sisters are launching an attack this early, it can only mean one thing," Sincoln narrowed his eyes. "The Wild Cards have wised up on the Maker's plan and are working to throw it off the rails."

Mick Swagger's eyes widened. "They are?!"

"Honestly, I'm not surprised. I'm pissed off, though, so I'm gonna go pay the Wild Cards a visit."

"But Master, I thought you were willing to follow the plan to the letter?"

"The only reason I bothered doing that is because the Maker's little pet stopped me from doing anything else," Sincoln smirked. "But now that he's gone, I can do whatever I want. And I believe two can play the same game!"

"Wait, Master, before you go, you can see the future, right?!" Mick asked. "You saw it just now! So tell me, did you see Planet Tokyo winning the war?!"

"Well, I did see something, related to you specifically," Sincoln snickered. "But it's quite unpleasant..."

And with that, Sincoln disappeared, leaving Mick alone to prepare for the upcoming war.

Once the Wild Cards had synthetized with their Xeno selves, Leni immediately teleported them to their next destination: a mismatched realm of static and unfinished realms, with a broken sky and next to no living beings nearby.

"Here we are," Lincoln took a step forward. "The Non-Canon Continuum."

"Non-Canon Continuum?" Ronnie Anne pondered out loud. "What even is that?"

"It's a realm outside of reality where everything that gets sent here is treated as if it had never happened," Leni explained while looking around. "No matter how important the thing was, if it gets, like, sent here, it'll be as if it never existed."

Clyde raised an eyebrow. "You mean like Cristina's relevance?"

The redhead promptly slapped him. "Oh shut up, will you? Let's just find Lute and get this done with!"

"But why would Lute even be here?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"She's trying to escape from the consequences of her actions," Leni lowered her eyelids. "She totes knows what she did's wrong, but she, like, also knows that as long as she stays here, nothing can actually happen to her."

"Ah yes, of course you'd know that, Leni Loud..."

The Wild Cards' eyes widened, except for Lincoln, who took a deep, weary breath as a familiar copycat of his floated into view.

Sincoln.

"You are, after all, the creator of this Maker-forsaken realm."

Leni and Lincoln got ready to fight, followed by the rest of the Wild Cards.

"Hmph, typical of a false idol: as soon as your alleged superiority is called into question, you try to remove the naysayers so the only thing left are adulators," Sincoln folded his arms and smirked. "I didn't really expect this from you, Lincoln. But then again, I know better than to expect anything from your family."

"What are you doing here, Sincoln?" the boy asked sternly.

"Don't act dumb, Lincoln! I know exactly what you're doing!" Sincoln walked towards the boy. "You think that just because you decide to go off-script, that it'll guarantee you a happy ending? That all the pain and suffering everybody's been through will have been worth it? Because I got some very bad news to give you, Link."

Sincoln narrowed his eyes. "As long as the Louds exist, there will never be a happy ending."

Lincoln and the Wild Cards stood firm as Sincoln ranted:

"I mean, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that everything that has gone wrong, is going wrong, and will go wrong, can all be traced back to a Loud! Your arrogance, your pride, your sense of superiority above all else, these and more make it clear the Loud family are nothing more than vermin! A blight! A parasite who'll ruin the universe at the first sign that things aren't going the way they like!"

"Right, as if you were any better," Clyde narrowed his eyes. "At least Lincoln and his sisters are trying to fix things-"

"They can't fix anything! Their mistakes are far too numerous for them to make it up! They will always be guilty! Always be shameless! And so, they'll never even try to make amends!"

"Funny you mention that," Cristina smirked. "'Cause while you were ranting about the sisters, Leni flew over to Lute's side."

Sincoln's eyes widened, and once he turned around, he saw they were right: Leni was flying to Lute's throne, with the embodiment of Corruption sitting on it.

"Son of a-!"

Sincoln tried to fly towards the duo, but Lincoln teleported in front of him and slapped him back, causing the monster to shoot orange crystals at him.

Clyde quickly threw a card, and the crystals were absorbed, the card returning to Clyde's hand soon after.

"Why you little..."

Suddenly, Cristina and Ronnie Anne appeared out of nowhere and tried to tackle Sincoln.

The embodiment of evil quickly responded: he punched Ronnie Anne in the gut, while he tore through Cristina's chest and ripped out her heart.

His satisfaction only lasted for a second, however, before Ronnie Anne bloated and burst into confetti, the real Ronnie Anne waving her hand at him soon after.

Then, the heart he ripped entered his arm and slid right into his chest, Cristina grabbing it in order to keep the entity in place, stunning him long enough for Clyde to summon the crystals again, this time being used to pierce and break Sincoln's arm.

The embodiment of evil howled in pain, but he could only stand frozen in place and in pain as the Wild Cards reunited, ready to continue their fight against him.

As this happened, Leni reached the throne room, and floated down.

"Hello there, Lute."

The Lily lookalike opened her eyes and glared at the fashionista.

"Hello, Leni."

The fashionista took a deep breath. "It's been a while since we last talked... are you good?"

Lute stood up and shook her head. "I don't have time for this."

Lute flew past Leni, prompting her to say:

"Lute, please, let me help you-"

"Just like how you helped Neo-Carol by sending her off to Lisapolis to be tortured and experimented on?" Lute harshly pointed out. "Or like how you helped Stella by sealing her inside a crystal that wiped her memories?"

Leni fell silent, lowering her eyelids as Lute continued:

"The world might see you as a lovable idiot who's too dumb to hurt a fly, but nothing can deceive me. I know how many people you've hurt, Leni Loud, and I know you let the world's projection get in your head. But just because you act stupid and the world sees you that way doesn't make you innocent. You're as guilty as everybody else in the Loud family, and you've been ignorant of that fact for far too long!"

"And I agree."

Lute's eyes widened as the fashionista added:

"I've gotten so use to, like, being the "dumb sister" of the Loud family, that I tricked myself into believing that this role that was forced on me was all I could be. That as long as I stuck to it, everything I did would be justified... but it wasn't. I was an idiot, and got away with things I shouldn't have. I was so dumb to think that everything would be better at the end of the day..."

Leni faced Lute, visibly remorseful.

"And I created a life, and chose to abandon it to the universe's whim."

Lute avoided eye contact, and Leni put a hand on her shoulder.

"But this isn't the Prototype Reality anymore. Nobody is being forced to follow a specific role anymore. We can be whatever we want to be, do whatever we want to do, and no matter what, we have to face the consequences of our actions... and, like, let's not stall anymore."

Leni made Lute look at her.

"Is this what you wanted, Lute?"

Lute paused for a moment, and began shedding tears as she answered:

"I just wanted someone to do something for the mortals. I wanted to be able to help them without being reprimanding for caring about them. I didn't want to stand back and watch them suffer, I wanted to go to them and help them get better. Help them heal."

Leni frowned. "But the corruption won't give you that, will it?"

"... It won't. It'll only make things worse."

"Well, you have the choice now," Leni said as she stood up. "You can keep spreading the corruption... or you can get rid of it."

Lute lowered her head, and Leni scratched her cheek.

"Now, I'm sorry if, like, this seems mean, but I really should go back to Purgatory. We're getting ready to strike Planet Tokyo and-"

"Go."

Leni looked at Lute, who wiped off her tears and flashed a confident smile.

"I'll take it from here."

Leni smiled back, and nodded before teleporting out of the Non-Canon Continuum.

With that done, Lute flew to the sky, and raised her arm, summoning a giant sigil with the Lily Caste symbol inside.

"Lute! What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

The embodiment of Corruption looked down, and saw the weakened Sincoln glaring at her, gritting his teeth as he yelled:

"You're the embodiment of Corruption! You should be spreading it across the multiverse, not get ready to erase it!"

"I'm making my own decisions now, Sincoln," Lute bluntly stated. "I've allowed the Corruption to justify my suffering for far too long. I'm gonna erase it now, and give the multiverse the choice of being corrupted or not-"

"Just who the hell do you think you are, you rebellious little twat!?" Sincoln yelled. "Making my own decisions?!" Since when do you have the right!? Since when does anybody have that right!"

"You need to get it off your head that life is just one big script everybody has to follow," Lincoln stated. "The Prototype Reality is no more. The Maker is no longer around to force everybody to follow his vision. Nobody has to follow a script anymore."

Sincoln remained silent... then began laughing.

"Tell me... What do you think is the reason that you've managed to get so far?"

"Um, 'cause we're awesome?" Ronnie Anne chuckled. "And being main characters surely doesn't hurt."

Sincoln laughed like an utter maniac, and faced the Wild Cards.

"No, you fucking idiot! You're only alive right now because I've been forcing myself to follow a script!"

Clyde raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Don't act dumb! You guys should know better than anybody how this shit works: Villains overpower heroes, the heroes get stronger, the heroes defeat the villains that gave them so much trouble earlier only to realize there's a bigger villain, and then repeat the training until the heroes get stronger again, and defeat this new villain. Maybe add a musical number or two to distract the audience from the insipid story while you're at it."

Lincoln's eyes widened and he scratched his chin. "That does sound just like how we've been dealing with the Progenitors until now."

"You see? The story will always favor the main characters, while the villains are left in the dust," Sincoln smirked. "You were always going to reach the final boss. You were always meant to win the final battle. You were always meant to come out victorious..."

Then, he grabbed his head.

"But is it really fair that only you get to go off-script!?"

"What are you doing?!" Leni exclaimed.

"I'm done playing by the rules! I'm done giving you a fighting chance! And I'm most certainly done using this weak, worthless puppey body!"

Lincoln flinched. "Puppet body?!"

"I just said I was giving you a fighting chance, didn't I?"

Sincoln ripped his head off, and a giant torrent of blood erupted, a flash of light enveloping the entire realm for a moment.

But once the light had dissipated and everybody could see again, they saw Sincoln was no longer standing where he stood.

Instead, he had been replaced by something far worse: a seemingly infinite set of clones of everybody in the New Reality, colored red and black, with a Lincoln lookalike standing at the front.

"How do you like our true form!?"

Lincoln shivered, but quickly regained his composure.

"Who... What are you?"

The clones laughed out loud until the Lincoln lookalike gestured them to stop. And it was then that he decided to drop the bombshell:

"We are the rage of all living creatures in the universe! We are a being that existed LONG before this universe was created, and will exist LONG after it's been erased and forgotten! We are a being so horrible, even The Maker cowered in our presence! We are the Wrath! We are the Suffering!"

The lookalike grinned widely.

"We! Are! The Spite!"