HuniePop Space Adventures

Chapter 19: The Beginning of the End

Obraxis. The very planet that Rhea was born on was the center of the Overlord's operations. It was almost impossible to believe and even more baffling that it was staring us in the face the whole time. A planet ravaged by countless attacks that left it torn apart and nearly uninhabitable. It was the perfect spot to set up an evil base. I was in the gym, repeatedly hitting a punching bag to prepare for the final battle and whatever lies ahead. But, as I kept throwing punches, I started to feel a bit uneasy, and it wasn't just because of the final battle. Yesterday when I was interrogating Ember, I could feel the darkness within trying to claw its way out. It had been doing so ever since that damned Infernite energy had gotten into my body and even after I had made peace with my inner demons, it was still trying to fight its way out of me so it could kill again. I felt that hitting things was the best way to help blow off some steam. But even that couldn't hold me together forever and I ended up punching the bag so hard that it ruptured, and it fell on the floor, spilling sand onto the floor. I just sighed in response and hung up another sandbag before I started punching again. But this time, Nikki's hand reached out and stop me and I turned to face her.

"Max, you need to stop. You've been going at this for hours!" she said before I looked down at my knuckles and noticed that they were bleeding. Or at least they were until they began to rapidly heal, making them look as good as new.

"Sorry, I just… lost track of time. I was… just trying to prepare," I said as I grabbed a towel from the rack and started to wipe myself down.

"For the final battle?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, everyone's been doin' a whole lot of that around here for the past few hours," Zero Two said from the door, where she was standing alongside Hiro.

"Really? What have they been doing?" I asked as I put my shirt back on.

"Odango's been busy giving herself some upgrades, Rhonda's been practicing her accuracy at the shooting range, Eila was playing with Goo as she was charging her electricity, and Rhea's been meditating. And there's been talk that Celeste and Selene were talking about having Malicus help us out," Hiro replied.

"At this point, I think that we need all the help we can get. Is he still mad at me about… you know, that number I did on his face?"

"Mmm, a little. But I think he's over it at this point," Zero Two replied with an awkward smile.

"And what about you two? Are you both OK?" I asked. Both Hiro and Zero Two just looked at me like I was acting abnormally.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Hiro asked.

"If this goes right, then you guys might be able to finally get home. But, if not, then you might not be able to return home at all. Are you OK with all of this?"

"I mean, we were OK with all of this when we decided to come back. And I think that it's too late for us to back out now, right?" Zero Two asked with a raised eyebrow. Well, she was right. They did come this far with us and helped us get this far.

"Look, the point is that we've saved so many people and we've come too far to quit now. Whatever lies ahead, we'll face it together as a team, just like we always have," Hiro said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I couldn't help but smile at Hiro's determination and fearlessness. He had certainly come a long way since we first found him. But before I could say anything more, Celeste's voice came over the Intercom.

"All crew members, we are on final approach to Obraxis. Grab your gear and put on your armor and then report to the bridge for mission report," her voice said.

"Well, I guess that's our cue. Time to get ready," Nikki said before we all left the gym and went straight for the changing room. As I slipped my armor on, I felt a sudden sense of dizziness rush over me and my mind began to wander a bit. What exactly would happen to us if we were to fail? What if I wasn't strong enough to defeat the Overlord? Who exactly was the leader that Aariv spoke of? But I just pushed those thoughts out of my mind and tried to remain determined. I was the Chosen One of Earth, chosen by the goddess Venus herself. I successfully defeated the Nymphojinn and saved Earth from total destruction before. I could most certainly do it again. After gathering my courage and getting the rest of my suit on and then making my way to the bridge. But, on the way there, I ran into Ayano, who seemed to be a lot less psychotic than she usually was. In fact, she seemed a bit… frightened to see me.

"H-hi, Senp… I mean Max! Max, yes, that's your name. Hehe…" Ayano stammered as she tried to keep her composure.

"Ayano… what's wrong?" I asked which made Ayano look down at the floor while a single tear slid down her face.

"I know that it's far too late for this but… I'm sorry for everything I did to you all those years ago. I was just jealous of Generica and… I robbed you of your happiness…" Ayano sobbed. I mean, that was true, but I just put my hand on Ayano's shoulder as a sign of comfort.

"Ayano… that wasn't completely your fault. Info corrupted your mind. Made you her puppet…"

"It wasn't just her! My mother forced my father to wed her even though he didn't love him that much! It was her own attitude encouraged me to follow the same path as her! I was a psycho from my birth, and I've remained one up until this day… Info just played on my love for you until she made me do whatever she wanted. Believe me, in the sane part of my mind, I wish I could take back what I did that day. I'm so sorry that I did this to you…" Ayano sobbed, the tears running down her face.

"Ayano, as far as I'm concerned, you've been using that insanity as a weapon to help us fight. And the girl that is standing in front of me right now has been a big help to the team and is much different from the girl I knew all those years ago. So, you don't need to feel bad about it anymore," I said before I gave her a hug to calm her down. Once I was done, I stepped back and looked at Ayano, who wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at me with a smile. Both of us then headed up to the bridge, where the rest of the team was waiting around the hologram of Obraxis before the entire ship stopped in front of the planet itself, with the earth seemingly stained blood-red.

"Everyone. This is it. Before us lies the location of the stronghold of the Overlord. We've fought our way through his armies, defeated those he put his trust in, and saved countless lives while doing so. And our strength and determination have brought us to this moment. Now, Rhea has told me that, while we will still be able to breathe on the planet's surface, there is no weather to help conceal us nor are there a lot of craggy rocks to hide behind, meaning we will have to be more stealthy than usual when we try to enter the Overlord's ship. Once inside the ship, Max will lead one team to head to the top so he can destroy the Crucible with the Peacekeeper while also destroying whatever's left of the Overlord's army. Selene will lead another team to disable the ship's propulsion systems so they can't escape. Eva, Ayano, Odango, Eila, and Goo will stay with the ship so we can either use the ship's main cannon to destroy the Overlord's ship or make a hasty retreat in case things go sideways. I would ask that everyone exercises caution as both Philip and Yoon are the last of the Overlord's enforcers and we don't exactly know what the full extent of the powers they were given are. But our primary goal is to destroy Crucible, plain and simple," Celeste explained.

"You sound so certain that you'll succeed," Malicus coldly stated from his dark corner, making all of us turn toward him.

"Why do you say that?" Selene asked.

"You've seen what he can do even without the Infernite energy. From what I heard, two of you couldn't even stand up to him even without him using his power," Malicus replied, making me turn to Zero Two and Hiro, who were both staring down at the floor in embarrassment. What Malicus was talking about was when Zero Two and Hiro both fought the Overlord back at the Phantom facility, which ended in defeat for the two of them. But I wasn't about to dwell on the past with everyone else and I stepped forward to be the voice of reason.

"It's true that there have been… circumstances that have impeded our progress, but we've overcome those odds before. And we've come too far to stop now. We're the only things standing between the Overlord and total universal domination. If we don't stop him here and now, who knows what'll happen after that," I said.

"Max is right. We have the one thing that can destroy the Crucible. The time to strike is NOW. Now, Selene, could you please walk us through the schematic of the ship?" Celeste asked before Selene stepped forward and a hologram of the Overlord's ship appeared.

"Our plan is to enter from the midsection of the ship. From there, my team will look for the propulsion system and shut it off. After that, we will head for the armory and destroy all of their weapons. Meanwhile, once Max and his team have taken care of the Infernite army, there's an elevator that leads to the floor where the Overlord's throne room is. Everyone knows the rest. But I suspect that the Overlord already knows that we're here, so we need to move fast and silent," Selene said.

"Seems pretty straight forward. We just blow up everything and destroy the Crucible and then we all get to go home happy, right?" Amki asked.

"It's not exactly that simple, Amki. But I have a feeling that we are more than up to the challenge. And I can't think of any other team that I would love to stand with," Rhea said as I walked up to the window and looked down at the surface of the planet.

"Let's go get this son of a bitch," I said as I put my helmet on.

Nikki's perspective

Well, Rhea was right about one thing. It felt completely barren on the planet's surface without the weather or any plant life. Hell, there wasn't even any wind. But I wasn't really concerned about that as much as being hidden. Max the rest of the team, and I immediately hid behind a few raised rocks as Max peeked his head out to see the hangar door to the ship's midsection opening up to reveal a few soldiers that were walking out. Max gave me a signal to take them out and I did so silently at superspeed, not letting a single one raise the alarm when they saw me. After I gained control of the door, I gave the others a signal to come to me and they all hurried toward me before I shut the hangar door behind us.

"Is it me, or did that seem a bit too easy?" Zero Two asked as Celeste pulled up a mini map of the ship.

"Yeah… it did," Rhonda replied.

"We can't worry about that right now. We need to remain focused on the mission at hand. Selene, are you certain that you and your team can handle taking out the propulsion systems?" Celeste asked.

"I am. Zekxsie and I have been through the whole of this ship several times, so it shouldn't be too hard to find the room where the thrusters are," Selene replied.

"And you're certain that you can handle your brother?"

"I'm certain. We should get going before the Overlord sends his soldiers down here. I'll contact you once we've secured the propulsion systems," Selene said before she, Malicus, Rhonda, Zekxsie and Rhea headed for the thruster room, leaving me, Max, Celeste, Zero Two, Hiro, and Amki to make our way through the ship to find where the Infernites were being held. As we ran throughout the dark hallways of the ship, I had to admit that the ambience was REALLY creepy, especially considering the fact that me and Max had already been here before. In fact, it felt much darker than it did before. But I just pushed those thoughts out of my mind and focused on the mission, dispatching a few soldiers that were in the hallway before they even spotted us. After running for a few minutes down the hallway, we finally reached a door that looked like it was locked electronically, the lines on the door glowing red.

"Well, that looks important," Zero Two said as I tried to hack the console beside the door. But it seemed that the console was designed to keep hackers out, because no matter how many times I tried to break in, it kept pushing me out.

"I can't hack this. Seems like the Overlord's technicians have stepped up their game," I said.

"Clearly, they haven't met me," Max said before he put his hands on the door and began to draw electricity from it until pieces the door sank into the ground and it finally opened, revealing a large room inside full of Infernites either suspended in the air, not moving at all, or in cages, constantly roaring at us or gnawing at the glass to try and break out. We all walked through the room to try and find a good spot where we could set up the explosive charges and blow the whole joint. But as we continued to walk amongst the hordes of Infernites, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched by something. On top of that, I could swear that I could hear some sort of chittering coming from… somewhere.

"Anyone else hear that?" Hiro asked, holding his shotgun high. Well, nice to know that I wasn't the only one hearing it. But what got everyone's attention was when we saw a giant mech in the next room that we could see through a window in the side of the room. The mech had a somewhat striking resemblance to Gypsy Danger from Pacific Rim, but it was a mottled green color with the Overlord's symbol on its chest and black shoulder pads.

"That's a Class 5 battle mech. Something like that could easily decimate an entire city if the pilot wanted. They must've been building it for the Overlord's crusade to destroy any city they want…" Celeste said.

"Pfft. Amateurs. OURS looked way better than that lousy hunk of junk," Zero Two said, making me chuckle at how true that was.

"Can't we set any charges in there and destroy that thing?" Amki asked as Max and Hiro were busy setting up charges along the base below the glass cage in the middle of the room, which housed a Tyrant that was not moving at the moment.

"We don't have enough demolition charges. And even if we did, our charges aren't strong enough to destroy it. As long as Selene and her team are able to shut down the ship's propulsion system, we shouldn't have to worry about that thing going anywhere," Celeste replied before she joined Max and Hiro. As I was waiting for them to finish up, I began patrolling the room to see if there were any possible hidden traps within the room. But as I was searching, my eyes suddenly fell upon an empty cage that looked like it had been opened properly. But whatever was in that cage was probably nothing good and I began frantically looking around the room for anything that looked out of the ordinary. However, it turns out that I didn't need to look far because when the chittering came from above and I looked up, I saw a very large Infernite hanging on the ceiling. Just as it dropped down to pounce on me, Max bolted over to me and got me out of the way before the monster landed on the floor, which gave us a better look at it. The beast was literally a large brain on four large mechanized legs with two "fingers" at the front of its head, a row of launch ports on both sides near the back, and a large turret on its rear. An Arachnotron. The creature then roared a terrifying roar and began shooting at us with its turret, forcing all of us to take cover to avoid the blasts. But Max didn't stay hidden for long and used his shotgun to grapple onto the Arachnotron's leg and try and close the distance. But the Arachnotron just bit down on his arm once he got in close and then chucked him away before Zero Two came in and poked her electrostaff into the creature's side, electrocuting it for a bit before the Arachnotron knocked her away with one of its legs. Amki then came in from behind and tried to lift the monster up so she could flip it onto its back, but the Arachnotron fired a couple of shots from its turret, which broke open two cages containing a Hell Knight and a Pinky. The Hell Knight tackled Amki to the ground while the Pinky came charging at us, only for Max to grab it by the horns and then stab it through the side of its head with his arm blade. As Amki wrestled with the Hell Knight, Hiro fired a stickybomb that landed on the Arachnotron's turret and blew it to pieces while also blowing a chunk of its back off. The Arachnotron angrily roared at Hiro and began to run toward him, firing a few grenades to throw him off balance, but once it was within striking distance, Zero Two took out her pistols and began to fire at the monster. One of the bolts managed to hit the monster right in the eye and as it roared in pain, Max jumped on its back and split the Arachnotron open with the Peacekeeper, spraying blue blood all over me and Zero Two before it collapsed. As for the Hell Knight, Amki managed to get the Hell Knight into position so Celeste could come in and decapitate it with her katanas, its head falling to the ground with a splat.

"Seems like the Overlord's stepping up his game a bit," Max said as he wiped the blood off of his visor and helped Celeste to her feet.

"Either way, the charges have been set. I can remote detonate them at any time once we get out of range. But right now, we should make our way to the Overlord's throne room and destroy the Crucible before things get too out of hand," Celeste said as she put her katanas on her back.

"Next stop: The Overlord," Max said before we exited the holding room and made our way down the hallway.

Selene's perspective

Spending time on the Overlord's ship was probably my favorite past time while I was in his service. I usually watched as his army was put together piece by piece and often listened to Info explain the science of her inventions. Training was also an essential part of my routine while in the Overlord's service and training constantly with my brother made us some of the most terrifying assassins the universe had ever known. But today, our power would be the thing that would help take down the Overlord for good. As me, Zekxsie, Rhonda, Rhea, and Malicus ran through the hallway to the engine room, I tried to remain calm despite the fact that I felt as if we were being set up. Once we reached the door to the engine room, Rhonda placed a small device on the door's lock, and it began to cut through the lock. As we were waiting, Malicus took me aside.

"Sister, are we even certain that this plan will work? The Overlord surely must know that we are here by now," Malicus said.

"I am certain that the plan will work, brother. Even if the Overlord knows that we are here, we are all well-equipped to handle his army. We need to have a little faith in our abilities so we can get through this," I replied before the device on the door lock finished cutting through and the lock fell to the floor. After opening the door, a swarm of blaster bolts came flying through the door, forcing us to take shelter on either side so we didn't get injured. But we still needed a way to get inside so we could gain access to the ship's propulsion systems. Rhea managed to get us an opening by raising a shield of ice for us to hide behind until Rhonda threw out a flashbang and stunned the soldiers before she landed a few headshots on at least 6 of them while I grabbed another with my whip and broke his neck. A few more took aim at us while we were distracted, but Zekxsie launched a few explosive pods that blew up two of the soldiers while Rhea fired an ice dagger that pierced through the final soldier's head and killed him instantly. With the battle fought and won, we finally got to the task at hand and began to work on deactivating the propulsion systems. But as I was trying to find the right program, I noticed something that seemed a bit off. The engines were off, and the fuel tanks were at full capacity, but they were slowly decreasing by the minute and the fuel was being rerouted to somewhere in the midsection of the ship.

"We have a problem…" I said as I tried to stop whatever was happening.

"Whaddya mean 'we have a problem'? I thought that this was easy!" Rhonda said as both she and Zekxsie walked over to me.

"The engines were filled with fuel not long ago, but it seems like the fuel's now being diverted to someplace within the midsection of this ship!"

"Wait, you're saying that the ship was just sitting here with a full tank the whole time? Where exactly in the midsection is the fuel being routed to?" Zekxsie asked.

"I'm not sure… But our plan to sabotage the propulsion system isn't going to work. We're going to have to…" I started to say before I heard a thud and saw Rhea knocked out with Malicus standing over her, pointing a rifle from one of the fallen soldiers at us.

"Step away from that console… NOW," Malicus growled.

"Malicus… what are you doing?" Zekxsie asked.

"What I've been planning to do from the start. I'm going to hand you all over to the Overlord and he might just allow me to rejoin him so I can survive his wrath. And you will all die along with your so-called 'hope' while the universe is shaped to our master's liking."

"I never thought you gullible, brother. Do you honestly believe that the Overlord will welcome you back? He cut ties with you the moment you failed him, and he'll never accept you back in. He'll kill you just like he'll kill us if he wins…" I said, trying

"DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME! He took us in! Trained us! And you chose to abandon him! You would rather be prey than predator?!" Malicus yelled, pointing the gun at me as I walked around him, waiting for him to make a move.

"Were it not for Max and the team's courage and compassion, me and Zekxsie would still be on the wrong side. And it would be better to die as martyrs than be slaves to a tyrant such as him…" I said before I threw my whip out and wrenched the gun free from his hand while Zekxsie grabbed Rhea and moved her out of the way as I tackled Malicus to the ground and began to fight him. Malicus angrily tried to bite at me but I threw him to the other side of the room before he then took out both of his knives and got ready to attack again.

"I thought that you were better than this, sister. But these… heretics… they've corrupted you. I will do us both a favor and end your suffering for you," he said before he lunged at me and tried to slice me up, but I was quick to dodge it and I wrapped my whip around Malicus' neck before then delivering a kick to his side which audibly broke some of his ribs, making him fall to the ground in pain.

"Do you know what the saddest part about this is? Both Celeste and I knew that you would try something like this. That's why she brought you along with us and put you with my team. To test your resolve and see if you would choose the right side to be on. But it seems like you have made your own choice… as I have made mine," I said before Malicus got back on his feet and once again tried to cut me with his knives while also throwing in a punch that knocked my mask off. As I was recovering from the blow, Malicus managed to cut my stomach and my upper left arm even though the cuts weren't that deep, but before he could gut me, Rhonda shot him in the left shoulder, giving me time to recover before I leaped over him and onto this back to bite into his right shoulder, making him fall over in pain as I grabbed his neck and began to choke him.

"You have fallen, Selene… You're not a hero… You're a coward… who kills her own kin…" Malicus said as he choked. But I just gave one final punch and knocked him unconscious, proving his point to be wrong. As I picked up my mask and put it back on, Zekxsie put a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, are you gonna be OK?" she asked as Rhonda picked up Rhea and carried her over to us.

"Let's go. We need to find the others," I replied before Zekxsie picked up Malicus and we exited the engine room.

Max's perspective

Y'know, you'd think that the Overlord would've been able to afford better security for his own ship to prevent anyone from getting to his throne room and destroying his stuff. But apparently all he could send were a bunch of Imps, Cacodemons, Prowlers, and a few soldiers. And, needless to say, we pretty much mowed them down and tore them apart like it was nothing. However, it was still pretty tiring, and I think that the others were thinking that as well.

"Are we done yet? I'm getting really worn out here!" Zero Two complained as she wiped the blood off of her arms.

"Just through the elevator doors and then we head up to the throne room, Zero Two. After that, it should be pretty straightforward," Celeste replied.

"Yeah, I don't buy it. How come he's sending the weak minions after us instead of the stronger ones?" Hiro asked as I began to walk up to the elevator door.

"Actually, he has a point. How come he's not using any of the heavy hitters?" Nikki asked as I rested my hand on the elevator. But before anyone could answer anything, the door to the elevator suddenly opened and something hit me backwards into the wall behind me before I then landed on the floor. Once I had gotten up, 5 soldiers upgraded hi-tech armor walked out, each of them different in size and stature while each of them held a different weapon. The first one was normal in size with dark blue highlights on his armor while he was holding twin swords. The second was much larger and bulkier, had red armor with black highlights, and was holding a large hammer. The third and fourth both looked like they were twins that had jet-black armor with purple highlights and claws on both of their hands. The fifth had white armor but it had two large cannons in place of its arms with flamethrowers underneath. Standing in the center of the group were Philip, who had a plasma cannon strapped to his back and a Marauder's axe in his right hand, and Yoon, who had a trio of orbs hovering just above the palm of his hand.

"You've made quite an impressive effort getting this far. But I'm afraid that this is as far as you go," Yoon said, before he commanded the soldiers to attack. Both Zero Two and Hiro took on the Twins while Celeste took the Swordsman and Amki took Blaster, leaving me and Nikki with Hammer and Philip, who was cracking his knuckles with a sadistic grin on his face.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," Philip said before he tried to punch Nikki, only for me to catch his fist.

"Then you're going to have to wait a little longer," I said before I punched him away, only for Hammer to hit me away as well, leaving Nikki to fight Philip alone. Meanwhile, both Zero Two and Hiro were busy trading blows with the Twins, who both managed to cut into Zero Two's side and Hiro's arm. But both Zero Two and Hiro were a formidable team together and they both worked in tandem together until Zero Two electrocuted one of the Twins until his head exploded and Hiro shot the other point blank in the head with his shotgun. Celeste was also able to handle her opponent as they were both evenly matched with twin swords, but the Swordsman nearly got the upper hand when he slashed Celeste's stomach, which made her fall over in pain. However, before the Swordsman could finish her off, Zero Two rushed in and poked her electrostaff into his abdomen, giving Celeste enough time to get back up and then drive her katana blades up through the Swordsman's head. Amki was having a bit more trouble due to the fact that her opponent had blasters on his arms and was shooting blaster bolts all over the place, some of which actually hit her in the arm and left visible wounds even though she could take it. Once she got the chance, Amki grabbed a severed Imp head and threw it at Blaster, distracting him for long enough so Amki could jump onto her opponent, grab both his arms and legs with her four arms and rip them all off at once, killing Blaster. Before she, Zero Two, Hiro, or Celeste could come and help us, Yoon fired a bunch of orbs at them, which produced a few mini explosions that kept them at bay, leaving me and Nikki to fight alone. Nikki was busy fighting Philip, who was trying desperately to land a killing blow on her, but Nikki used several different means of defending herself. Iron Spider legs, mace hands, sword hands, arm cannons- she was one step ahead of him as she continued to fight. Meanwhile, I was busy trying to take down Hammer, who was trying to bash my head in with his hammer. Just as he was about to bring it down on my head, I grabbed the head of the hammer and then wrenched it out of Hammer's hands before hitting him repeatedly with it, ending it off with me bringing it down on HIS head. After that, I grappled Yoon and brought him down to the floor while Nikki continued to fight Philip. Just as he was about to cut her head off with his arm blade, Nikki dodged under it, created an arm cannon, and then shot Philip straight in the back, launching him straight into my arms so I could freeze him on the spot and render him unable to attack. Yoon was the only one left and Amki managed to hold him down while I walked over to him, blood dripping from my armor as I stared down at him.

"You are… a formidable warrior, Max… I'll give you that much. But how long do you think that you'll last against him? His power is unfathomable. And he WILL get what he wants. He WILL have the Infernite energy," Yoon said before I kicked him and knocked him out. With all that said and done, we got on the elevator and made our way up to the Overlord's throne room. However, when we got up there, the throne room was completely empty and there was no sign of any soldiers, pilots, or even the Overlord himself. In fact, the Crucible didn't seem to be in plain sight either. But, looking forward, I saw that the throne was turned toward the window and slowly walked up to the throne until I was right behind it, only to find that nobody was sitting in the throne.

"Is he there?! Please tell me he's sleeping! Or dead!" Zero Two whispered from the elevator. I didn't answer her, and I turned to head back to them, but I noticed something just off to the side. It was a shrine that looked similar to the one I saw on Gaia Prime back when me and Nikki first started the adventure. But this time, the energy the stone carving of the Overlord was wielding was now stained red and there was a second carving that showed two beings locked in combat while a mysterious robed figure was floating above them, overseeing the battle. All of the others came over to me and looked at the shrine with complete confusion, but we didn't have a long time to look because a voice suddenly came from behind us. A very familiar voice.

"It's intriguing, isn't it? The people of Gaia Prime actually predicted my time of leadership and the very goal I was meant to achieve. And yet, they also predicted that someone would deny me that very goal. All of you have repeatedly got in the way of my plans time and again and I will no longer allow you to resist me," the Overlord said as he walked out of the darkness with the Crucible in hand. But all of us just took out our own weapons and got ready to fight him, only to earn a slight chuckle from the Overlord before he held out the Crucible.

"Is this what you came here for? To destroy this? Then come forward if you dare… and let us see just what you have learned," the Overlord said. After the words left his mouth, Amki, Celeste, and Hiro charged forward to try and hit him or at least take the Crucible from him, but he was able to block all of their attacks until he grabbed Amki and then threw her against the wall, knocking her out. He then activated the Crucible and got into a one-on-one fight with Celeste, while dodging blasts from Zero Two's pistols until he managed to grab Celeste and threw her against Zero Two, knocking them both out. Hiro fired a bunch of stickybombs at the Overlord to try and throw him off-balance, but he just deflected them back at random points of the ship until he deflected one back at Hiro, which thankfully didn't harm him, but it still launched him back towards the wall and knocked him out. With only me and Nikki left, I decided to finish this once and for all by throwing an ice dagger at is head, but he caught it just before it could pierce his mask.

"You've been blessed with the power of the Council of Light… I'm amazed that they would entrust their own power to the likes of a human. But then again, they did so with me as well," the Overlord said before he threw a cluster of ice daggers at both me and Nikki, which I was able to shield her from, and then created a large blast of wind that blew the ceiling and the front of the throne room off of the ship, exposing us to the outside. I just drew both the Marauder's Axe I acquired from our fight on Tendricide and the Peacekeeper and engaged in a full-on hand-to-hand combat with both of us constantly clashing swords (and axe) with each other. Nikki tried to take advantage of the distraction and began using her super speed to fire blast from her arm cannon at every angle that she could until the Overlord fired a bolt of lightning that hit her in the back and sent her flying over the edge of the platform

"NIKKI!" I yelled before I managed to throw the Overlord off balance and ran to try and get Nikki, only for the Overlord to grab me by the collar and slam me against the ground, knocking the Peackeeper out of my hand before it too fell over the edge. I angrily spewed a bit of fire into the Overlord's face to get him off and tried to at least hit him with the axe, but I only managed to shred off a piece of his robe before he sliced open a pipe with the Crucible, which sprayed steam all over the place and reduced my visibility to zero.

"This doesn't seem very honorable, Galaxor! Come out and fight me!" I yelled, trying to locate where he was. I tried using my Soul Sense to find him, but for some reason, I wasn't able to detect anything. And I was unable to do anything when a bunch of chains came flying out of the steam and wrapped themselves around my arms, legs, and neck before they attached themselves to the ground, keeping me restrained even as I tried to wriggle free. I expected that the Overlord was going to try and execute me on the spot. But, as he walked out of the steam, I saw that what he was planning was much worse. Clenched within his grasp was Nikki, who looked extremely scared and had tears running down her face while her armor looked badly damaged. I immediately began to thrash wildly to try and escape so I could rescue her, but the chains were hard to escape from and it seemed like they tightened every time I made a move.

"You have remained a thorn in my side for too long, human. I warned you that if you continued to follow this path, there would be consequences. And now, sadly, you must pay the price," the Overlord said before he began to freeze Nikki's neck as she cried.

"PLEASE! LET HER GO! I'M THE ONE YOU WANT, NOT HER! JUST LET HER GO!" I pleaded as I tried harder to escape, tears flowing down my face. But the Overlord didn't stop, and Nikki's breath began to show as it grew colder and colder around her neck.

"You are begging me to show mercy? I expected more from someone such as you…" the Overlord said. Before Nikki could call out my name, an ice dagger came out from her neck and blood spilled onto the ground, leaving me horrified. Right after Nikki coughed up some blood, the Overlord dropped her lifeless body onto the ground, her blood beginning to blood beginning to form a pool as I sat there, helpless and sobbing. She was gone. My girlfriend… my love... dead in front of me.

"It's such a pity that you brought her into all of this. She was a good soul. And your foolishness ended her life too quickly. You did this. Not me," the Overlord said. But my ears began to block out his speech and my heart began to pump rapidly. There was no stopping what came next. My anger and hatred all began to rush back, stronger than ever, with the intent to murder that tyrant once and for all. I couldn't stop it now. And after I looked back at Nikki's corpse lying in front of me, the demon came out roaring bloody murder as it got me free of the chains that were holding me and then made me lunge forward and slam the Overlord into the ground before I began to wildly punch him over and over without stopping. The Overlord tried in vain to get me off, but I was far stronger, and I even ripped off the arm that was holding the Crucible before then tearing into his abdomen and ripping out his guts. All the Overlord could do was scream in pain until I finally crushed his head, ending the nightmare once and for all. As I stopped to take a breath, I looked down at the Overlord's corpse, which had been reduced to nothing but a bloody mess, and then looked back at Nikki's corpse, which was still lying in a pool of blood. This war… everything that we had done… the cost was too high. So many innocent lives were dead, Nikki's own life among them. And I could never get her back now. All I could do was walk slowly over to her corpse and kneel down in front of it. Even in my berserk state, I still felt sad that this had happened to her. I went to pick up her body… and my hands went right through her. I was confused at first, but I tried to pick her up again, only for the exact same thing to happen. As her body and the pool of blood began to disappear, I saw the real Nikki, who was alive and well, climbing up with the Peacekeeper in her hand. Once she had safely gotten onto the platform, she looked up and saw me kneeling on the ground, blood dripping from my hands while I had a sad and confused look on my face.

"Max?" Nikki asked as we both looked at each other in horror and confusion. It suddenly all made sense to me. This was a setup. The Overlord WANTED us to come here, so he could finally finish what he started. And I was too slow to respond to what came next. It was quick, but I could feel the blade of the Crucible tearing through my body until it came out through my chest, missing my heart by an inch. The blade was searing hot, but my entire body went cold once it impaled me. Nikki could only scream in horror as the blade began to tear the demon out of me and a familiar clawed hand grabbed me by the throat. And, out of seemingly nowhere, the true Overlord appeared, his eyes glinting red as he held my neck and I felt the inner darkness being pulled out of me. As I looked back, I saw that the 'Overlord' I had killed was just a lowly soldier.

"Do not look so shocked, human. You knew that this would eventually happen, did you not?" he said before he pulled the blade of the Crucible out and I fell to the floor, blood coming out of my chest wound. I no longer felt like the evil was inside of me, but I honestly felt like my entire life was starting to slip away. Looking back up at the Overlord, I saw the Infernite energy surrounding both of his arms before he raised a hand toward the sky and shot a red bolt of lightning that lit up the sky, red marking appearing on his robe and chest armor as he released it.

"Yessss. This… is everything that I hoped it would be. This power… it is wonderful…" the Overlord said as Nikki came over and cradled my body. As the Overlord looked down upon us, a sudden proton blast flew into the wall behind him and Nikki and I looked back to see the Centurion firing its cannons at the Overlord to try and stop him. But the Overlord deflected one of the blasts with just his hand and then used his newfound power to strip a few fallen ships in the distance of their metal plating before creating two large metallic blades that he then commanded to slice the Centurion in three. All three pieces of the Centurion fell to the earth below, though thankfully we saw Goo jumping out, no doubt with the rest of the crew safely within her, but me and Nikki had an even bigger problem when the Overlord stood over us with the Crucible still in hand.

"I promised you that she would remain unharmed until I had gotten what I needed, did I not? Those things that I said to you while you were on Tendricide were only wind and air. I knew that your conscious would tell you to come here and finish what you started and that is exactly how I predicted it. I just simply had to nudge you in the right direction to finally obtain what I've needed. Even so, you were still pests, you and your crew. You have cost me so much in this war and I will not allow you to interfere any longer," the Overlord said as he raised the Crucible high above his head, preparing to strike us both down. But, as Nikki held me tightly and waited for the inevitable to happen, he suddenly lowered the Crucible until he completely deactivated it before a few sparks of electricity struck my chest and healed my chest wound completely, leaving the two of us stunned.

"…But then again… death would only be a kindness to you. I will let you and the rest of your team live… to mourn your failure and witness the end," he said before we heard a loud clanking behind us and we saw the entire midsection of the ship starting to fly upwards towards a much larger ship than the one we were just on, while flying next to it were 5 more ships that looked exactly like the one that we were on. Once the midsection had been locked into place, a pillar of light came down around the Overlord and he was teleported up, leaving us to die. Once the ships flew away into hyperspace, the platform we were on began to fall apart until it gave way and me, Nikki, Zero Two, Hiro, Celeste, and Amki began to plummet towards the ground. Nikki held on to me tightly as we fell, and I weakly tried to use my wind powers to try and at least slow us down, but I didn't have enough strength to do so and we were all completely helpless as we continued to fall. However, just as we were about to hit the ground, a gust of wind surrounded all six of us and we were placed gently on the ground. Me and Nikki turned to see Rhea, along with Selene, Zekxsie, Rhonda, and an unconscious Malicus, standing behind us. We also heard some crashing and saw an enlarged Goo rolling towards us before she split apart, revealing Eva, Odango, Eila, and Ayano inside, completely unharmed. As I stumbled to get to my feet, Celeste, Zero Two, Hiro, and Amki stirred awake and looked around to see the destruction around them.

"…What happened? Where is the Overlord?" Celeste asked, completely stunned that her ship had been sliced up.

"Gone…" I said, staring up at the sky. As the others all got up, Rhea noticed the whole in my armor and stared at me in disbelief.

"He has it… He has the Infernite energy, doesn't he?" Rhea said. I just nodded in reply and tears began to run down her face while the others looked on in shock.

"…But we can still stop him, can't we? We still have a chance, right?" Amki asked. But nobody answered her and just remained silent until Rhea stepped forward and slapped me, tears still running down her face. Both Selene and Rhonda grabbed her arms to try and restrain her, but Rhea angrily wrenched herself free of them and stared at me in anger.

"We had one shot at this! You were the universe's last hope! And you let him HAVE it?!" she yelled.

"He used an illusion… to make me think that he killed Nikki… He wanted to coax the demon out, so he could finally get the energy from me. It looked so real… and I couldn't sense that it was a trap," I said in sadness as I stared out at the horizon.

"…Everything that we had been trying to do… Everything that we have done to try and stop him… You've dashed it all away… I trusted you… And now there is no hope."

"Rhea, that isn't fair. You never told us that he could do something like that!" Celeste retorted.

"We can't give up. There may still be a way for us to stop him and end this war…" I said, turning back to Rhea.

"You believe that? You actually think that you can stop him when he's completely unstoppable?" she asked, walking up to me.

"I do. Because I have hope," I replied, hoping that was the answer she was looking for. Everyone else seemed to, but Rhea just angrily pushed me aside and started to walk away.

"Maybe to you that seems like enough. But the universe as we now know it is dead. I no longer want any part of this…" she said as she started to walk out into the abandoned wasteland.

"RHEA!" Celeste yelled, trying to get her to stop. But she didn't. She just left us all there, to figure out what we should do next.

3rd person perspective, The Merciless

The impossible had finally been achieved. He had done what others thought was insane. The Overlord's body was now the new home to the Infernite energy he had long sought since he began the Crusade. And all of his followers were amazed at his immense power as he stood before them. Both Yoon and Philip were also among the followers, but Philip wasn't the least bit happy with the events that had occurred.

"My loyal subjects… What we have achieved so far has been brought to fruition. The Infernite energy is mine now. With it, I shall purge this universe of the evils that it contains and bring about a new era of peace and tranquility. Yoon, Philip… Step forward," the Overlord announced. Both Philip and Yoon did as they were told and stepped forward before the Overlord placed his hands on their shoulders.

"Both of you have served me well. Despite the losses to our army, you both persisted in this dream of mine, and you both will be rewarded for your loyalty," he said before he turned back toward his throne.

"I am humbled, Your Majesty," Yoon said as he kneeled before him.

"Well, if you're gonna talk about rewards, then you better turn this ship around and take us back…" Philip said, earning a look of confusion from Yoon and a look of disappointment from the Overlord.

"What is it that you speak of?" the Overlord asked.

"Oh, don't act like you forgot our deal! You said that if I help you and I let them live until you got what you wanted, then you would let me kill his little bitch!"

"Philip, this is not…" Yoon started to say before the Overlord raised a hand to silence him.

"I let them live because death would have been a kindness to them. They failed to stop me. And now, they will live with that pain until I have cleansed this universe of its evil," the Overlord calmly said. But Philip just gritted his teeth and clenched his fist in anger.

"THAT wasn't our deal! YOU STILL OWE ME BLOOD!" he yelled, making the entire room fall silent for a brief moment.

"I would watch your tone, boy… before you force my hand…" the Overlord replied in a low, angry tone. But Philip just walked up to the Overlord until he was right in his face.

"Oh… I see how it is… You're afraid of him, aren't you? He actually gave you a challenge and you left him there so you wouldn't have to face him again… All hail the mighty Overlord… the coward who's afraid of one little hu…" Philip said until the Overlord stabbed his throat with two of his fingers, injecting him with some of the Infernite energy.

"I have been patient with you despite your arrogance, Philip… but my patience is at an end. And I will not tolerate subversion within my ranks. Especially from someone like you. Do you understand that?" the Overlord asked as he continued to pump Infernite energy into Philip blood vessels until his eyes became red and his sclera became black and Philip stood up straight with a less angry look on his face.

"Yes, Master…" Philip said in an obedient tone. The Overlord then nodded, and Philip stepped back before then kneeling before him alongside Yoon.

"First… we will destroy Altus and all the evil that walks upon that planet… and then we will take Earth."

To Be Concluded…