HuniePop Space Adventures
Chapter 20: End of an Era
I had failed them. We were so close to the end… and I had failed everyone. The Overlord used some kind of illusion to trick me into bringing out the demon inside of me… and I fell for it. I was the Chosen One of Earth, chosen by the goddess Venus herself… and now here I was… a failure to my own people. As I stared out at the bleak horizon of Obraxis, contemplating my own failures, both Celeste and Nikki came up from behind to meet me.
"Well, there is some good news… The QVE is intact and one of our communications systems is still working even though we can only receive communications now. But, other than that, there's not a lot in terms of good news…" Celeste said.
"I found your shotgun and helmet too…" Nikki added. But I didn't take my eyes off of the horizon nor did I even look back.
"Does it even matter?" I asked.
"Max… what happened back there wasn't your fault…" Celeste said.
"Yes, it is… I screwed up… I let him trick me… and he got what he wanted. Now the universe is going to become a complete hell because of my mistake…"
"Max, like you said, we have hope. There might still be…" Nikki started to say before I turned around and faced them both with an angry look on my face.
"What I said was stupid! Hope isn't going to bring back our ship! Hope doesn't change what happened!" I yelled as I began to walk down to them.
"Maybe not, but we can't just sit here and do nothing. If Eva can get the communications system to send out a distress beacon, then we might be able to get some help and then go after the Overlord," Celeste replied.
"And how long would that take? Even if we could get off of this rock, the Overlord will have completely taken over Earth by then. Rhea was right. I was the last hope we had to end this war… and we all lost. And now there is no hope left," I replied, as I started to walk away from them. But, without any warning, Nikki turned me around and then slapped me across the face, making me stare at her in shock.
"Would you get a grip on yourself?! OK, you screwed up! BIG DEAL! EVERYBODY screws up! IT HAPPENS! But you don't just sit here and mope about it! You get back up and keep going! Now… look. What Rhea said may be true, but we might still have a chance to stop him if we can just find a ship and fly it out of here. And the Max I know and love would want to stop him as much as anyone else, no matter what happens," Nikki said.
"Nikki's right. Probably everyone that has been on our team has made mistakes, some great and some small. I know that I have screwed things up before, like with what happened between me and Ember. But I didn't stay upset at myself for what happened. I kept moving forward. The point is, it doesn't matter if you screwed this up. The only thing that we can do now is try and make it right. We have done so much to help innocent lives across the galaxy and we can't just stand by and watch as that despot tears everything apart. Even if there's a fraction of a chance to stop him, we owe it to those innocent lives to try," Celeste added. I had to admit… they were right. We had come out all this way to stop a tyrant from destroying the universe and we weren't going to give up now, even if it seemed like the odds were near impossible. I just stood up straight and took a deep breath before strapping my shotgun to my back and staring up at the sky with a determined look as I held my helmet.
"What's everyone else doing?" I asked.
"We were planning to see if there were any ships around that we could jury-rig just in case if we can't get a distress beacon out. With any luck, we just might be able to get off of this planet and pursue the Overlord," Celeste said.
"The Overlord had better hope that we DON'T find a way off of this rock. Because when we find him… I'm going to make him pay for this," I replied as the three of us started to head back to the others.
Rhea's perspective
All my life, I was hoping that there would be some sort of peace throughout the universe. My mother often taught me about the sad history of my people. The violence. The bloodshed. The thousands of innocent Obraxian lives that were lost. That all changed the day Aariv became king. He showed the people of Obraxis that there was a better path to take and that we didn't have to always fight to obtain peace. The day when he deposed himself as king was the day that he appointed a leader to lead the people and uphold the peace. But the day my father entered the lives of our people was the day when our lives changed forever. After my father had become the Overlord, there seemed to be no hope in sight for our people, even though I had sent them into hiding. Max and his friends were the only hope that I had left to finally defeat my father and uphold the promise that I had made to my mother. And they had failed. The universe was doomed. As I stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking several destroyed ships that carried troops from Altus to kill my father, I looked at my staff my mother bequeathed to me the day she died for a while before I then threw it in anger to the valley below. After I looked back out at the entire valley one more time, I turned to leave… only to find that my staff was on a rock just behind me. Enraged, I picked up the staff and threw it out again, not leaving until I was certain that it had reached the ground. But, when I did, the staff was again placed on the rock. I picked it up again and angrily stared at the glowing blue crystal on top.
"WHY won't you just LEAVE ME BE?!" I yelled as I prepared to throw it again, but this time, someone reached out and grabbed the staff before I could. However, when I looked back, I saw that the person was someone who had been dead for a long time… my mother, Astra, looking like she did the day before she died. She was wearing a cloak similar to mine with long, lavender hair and purple eyes filled with sorrow.
"Mother? How is this possible? You're… dead," I said as my mother put her hand on my face.
"I may be dead, but my soul never left this place, Rhea. But, why are you out here, trying to dispose of your staff?" Mother asked. I just hung my head low and began to cry.
"I failed you, Mother…. Father has the Infernite energy. Nothing can stop him now. There is no hope left for any of us! I'm so sorry that I failed you!" I sobbed as the tears ran down my face. But Mother just gave me a sad smile and put both of her hands on my face and wiped the tears from my eyes.
"Rhea, what happened was a mistake. The human was not prepared for whatever illusions that your father would make him see. And that failure still weighs heavily on his mind. But, in truth, all of us have made mistakes that we regret. Even I have made mistakes," Mother said.
"H-how?"
"I always feared that those who sent your father to learn from us would not take his betrayal lightly. I wanted to send him back to Altus so that we would be safe, but I, as well as you and the rest of your siblings, loved him too much to let him go. That was a mistake that I carried with me until my death. Your friend is also racked with guilt from his failure… but he does not choose to fall into despair. He chooses to move on and continue forward, just like his friends have. They are all trying to find a way to stop your father as we speak. They haven't given up hope. Why should you?"
"Mother… we cannot stop him. He's become invincible. How exactly can we defeat him now?" I asked.
"You still have the Peacekeeper, yes? If you destroy the Crucible, the Infernite energy will dissipate into nothing. But there is something else that you need to help defeat the Overlord."
"And what is that?"
"It's the full extent of your power, Rhea. You've been holding yourself back for so long because of your love for your father. I don't blame you for it, but the good man he once was is gone. You must embrace your full potential and the power of our ancestors will make you stronger. Embrace your full power for the sake of the universe… and for your friends," Mother said before she disappeared. I took a moment to reflect on what she said as the earth around me began to rumble and the air around me began to whip up some wind. Mother was right… I HAD been holding back because of my love for my father. But he was gone. All that was left was the monster that took his place. And for my family's sake, I would not feel pity for that monster anymore. No more. As my thoughts turned to my family, my friends, and all the good that we had done to stop the Overlord, the ground began to freeze and a ring of fire formed around me until I raised my staff towards the sky and a bolt of lightning struck it, lighting up the sky as my eyes began to glow.
Max's perspective
The rubble amidst the hollowed-out ship once belonging to the Overlord seemed almost endless. I know that it was a large ship and all, but now that most of the midsection was gone, I was hoping that there would be something of value that we could find. But the command deck and the Overlord's throne room fell when he retreated and now the rubble was almost too vast to look through. But I wasn't going to let that stand in my way. As I continued to look through the hill of rubble that I was on, I noticed both Hiro and Zero Two sitting further down the hill, talking to one another and I knelt down to listen to their conversation.
"Did you… ever think that it would end like this?" Hiro asked as he stared up at the sky.
"Not really. I always figured that we would live to see another day, maybe go see what this dimension's Earth was like or instead die in battle and it would be all dramatic with me mourning your death and swearing to avenge your death. Either way, I'm glad that we're still together," Zero Two replied.
"Look, I'm sorry that I suggested staying with them. Maybe we would've lived a better life if we had stayed with our Squad…" Hiro said, making me feel guilty.
"Darling… I don't regret a damn thing after coming back here with them. We've saved so many lives, beaten so many bad guys… and all that matters now is that I'm right here by your side," Zero Two replied before Hiro put an arm around her waist and drew her in for a kiss, after which she rested her head on his shoulder. I was happy to see that Zero Two had no regrets and Hiro almost looked like he felt the same, but I was still distraught about my failure and how I let my friends down. But I continued to rummage through the rubble to see if there was anything that looked useful. As I continued to look, I finally found something that looked very interesting, only to find that it was the carving from the shrine that was on the Overlord's ship. I just stared at the carvings for a while before I suddenly noticed a faint glinting coming from the energy carving and rubbed it a bit to find that the energy carving was housing a red crystal. It didn't seem to be anything too important, but the answer suddenly hit me and I immediately raced back to the others with Hiro and Zero Two following.
"Guys! I found the answer!" I exclaimed, showing everyone the carvings. But everyone didn't seem to see exactly what I saw and just looked back at me with raised eyebrows.
"What exactly are we looking at?" Amki asked before I pointed to the red gem on the carving.
"It didn't matter what we did to try and keep the Infernite energy out of the Overlord's hands! He was always going to get it no matter what we did… but that comes BEFORE the second carving!"
"Again, meaning what?"
"Meaning that the second carving depicts the final battle… and that's what he's trying to prevent by leaving us stranded here. He KNOWS that the prophecy the people of Gaia Prime foretold has been true so far and he's trying to make sure that we can't stop him," Celeste said.
"EXACTLY! But he can't run from that destiny! Which means that we still have a chance to stop him!" I said.
"We COULD'VE had a chance to stop him… We can't find any salvageable parts from any of the damaged ships around here. And Eva just received that the Overlord and his forces have destroyed Altus. Several were able to escape, but… millions were still killed," Selene said. Everyone else had a look of horror on their faces from the news.
"We need to keep looking. There has to be some kind of ship here that we can jury rig to get us off of this planet. Maybe we can…" I started to say.
"NO, WE CAN'T! There is NOTHING here! We searched every inch of this place and there isn't a SINGLE working ship here! We have NO WAY off of this damned planet!" Amki yelled.
"There IS, Amki. It's just a matter of us finding it," Celeste replied.
"And how long would that take?! The Overlord's probably on his way to Earth right now and we have no way of stopping him! It would literally take a damn miracle for us to get off of this planet!" Amki shouted. As the two of them began to bicker, I took the time to stare up at the sky. I did understand everyone's frustration at the situation, but now wasn't the time to be arguing. Every precious second that we wasted was giving the Overlord time to get to Earth. But a sudden chill brought me out of my thoughts, and I noticed that both Nikki's hair and Zero Two's hair were rustling a bit. I was a bit confused, seeing as there wasn't any wind on Obraxis, but this "wind" seemed to be picking up speed by the minute and no one else noticed.
"Guys… hold up… HEY! SHUT UP!" I yelled, trying to get their attention, which I did. Both Celeste and Amki suddenly noticed the wind picking up speed until it began to swirl all around us. All around us, bits and pieces of the rubble that was once the Overlord's ship began to get sucked up, even though we were still safely on the ground. Eventually, the three pieces of the Centurion were sucked up into the vortex until they were levitating within the eye of the storm. Pieces of the rubble were then broken down and began to stitch the Centurion back together, making it look like nothing happened to it while weapons from the rubble were being added to the ship's arsenal. Once the ship was completely repaired and fully stocked with weapons, a pile of rubble was split in two, creating a place where the ship could be safely set down. Once the ship was placed on the ground, the wind began to die down and out of the storm came Rhea, who had her staff raised above her head while her eyes glowed. Everyone just stared in amazement at the sight we had just seen as Rhea walked up to us.
"Could she always do that?" Odango asked Hiro, who just shrugged. Rhea walked up to me and looked at me with a somber and apologetic look on her face.
"Max… everything I said to you earlier… it was…" Rhea started to say before I put my hand on her shoulder.
"Absolutely true. Rhea, you were right. I screwed up. But I can't just sit here and feel sorry for myself. We still need to stop him. And, thanks to you, we can do that now," I said with a smile.
"The fault is also my own. I have been holding myself back for so long because of my love for my father. I thought that if I tried to show him just how much I loved him and how far he had fallen, then maybe some piece of him might help him come back and I might finally be reunited with him. But my father died a long time ago. All that was left was the monster that took his place. So, I won't hold back any longer," Rhea said. Nikki, Celeste, Hiro, and Zero Two all smiled along with me as I put my hands on her shoulders and nodded with approval.
"OK, well we have the Peacekeeper, and we have the ship, but all we need is a plan," Amki said. I just turned to her with a smug grin on my face and a determined look.
"I have a plan," I replied before all of us got onboard the Centurion MKII and we finally escaped the atmosphere of Obraxis and sped off into the void of space. Once we got our gear in check, all of us headed for the main bridge and gathered around the holo-table.
"So… what's this plan of yours?" Zekxsie asked as I cycled through a bunch of planets until I found one that some of us knew.
"Zandor?" Amki asked.
"Exactly. Rhea, you said that the Overlord avoids that planet, right?" I asked.
"Yes. If he remains on that planet for more than five minutes, he'll be cut off from his own power," Rhea replied.
"So, all we need to do is get the Overlord to Zandor, and then trap him there for long enough. Once he's weak enough, we move in and destroy the Crucible!"
"Dude, he's literally empowered by Infernite energy. I doubt that Zandor's atmosphere will affect him now. Also, how the hell are we gonna lure him there?" Amki asked.
"We're not going to lure him there. My ancestors once had the ability to conjure up portals to transport themselves or other objects to a certain area. I can conjure up a portal to bring him and his army directly to Zandor. As for the Infernite energy, while it is true that he will still be empowered by it, if he his drained of his usual power on Zandor, he will have to rely on the energy itself to keep his powers in check and that will exhaust him if he uses it for too long," Rhea explained.
"OK, but he's still got an army behind him and there's only 16 of us."
"We have an army too. The Tendricites, the Stellanians, the Terrarians, the Ravagers… We've helped them in so many ways. And they'll help us fight wherever and whenever," Nikki said.
"Nikki's right. We've made allies all across the galaxy just from helping those in need. They'll help us win this war as well," Celeste added.
"And that Class 5 Battle Mech that's capable of wiping out an entire city's worth of people? What about that?" Amki asked.
"…Shit. I didn't think about that," I replied before the room went silent as everyone tried to think of a solution. After a few minutes, Hiro spoke up.
"How much energy is left in the QVE?" he asked.
"More than enough. Why?" Celeste asked.
"What if we use that to repower the Strelizia?"
"You mean the busted mech that you and Zero Two arrived here in?" Amki asked.
"Both me and Zero Two have a whole ton of experience fighting in that thing. If we can just get it repaired, we can easily stand up to that mech!" Hiro replied.
"Hiro, that mech will be armed with every lethal weapon possible! And I doubt that you and Zero Two would be able to handle it on your own!" Celeste objected.
"Then it's gonna need some upgrades. And some extra co-pilots. Rhea, can you do all of that?" I asked, making Rhea smile.
"I can. It shouldn't be too hard to repair and upgrade it," Rhea replied.
"But… Hiro, you're talking about using your only way of you and Zero Two getting back home. What happens if it gets destroyed?!" Nikki asked. Hiro just looked down at the holo-table for a minute in silence before he looked back at us.
"This isn't about us… It's about doing what we need to do to protect innocent lives. That's all that me and Zero Two have done since the beginning. And right now, we need every possible advantage that we can get to stop this monster," he said as Zero Two walked up to him and put her arms around his waist.
"Hey, if it means that we can relive our glory days of fighting Klaxosaurs for a little bit and save the universe in the process, I'm in," she said.
"Hell, I'm always up for a good fight. And there ain't no better way to do that than beside your team," Rhonda said as she also walked up to the holo-table.
"Goo! Goo!" Goo added as she and Eila walked up to the holo-table.
"This team has done so much to help us find the right path…" Selene started to say.
"…And we still have a chance to prevent him from hurting everyone else ever again," Zekxsie added before she put her hand in the middle. Everyone else stacked their hands on top of each other until I was the last one on the pile.
"Let's give the universe one more day," I said with a smile.
3rd person perspective, 10 minutes later, 240,000 miles away from Earth
"We are nearing Earth's moon, sir. We will soon be past it and entering Earth's atmosphere within the hour," one of the Overlord's soldiers said as the Overlord stared out at the blue planet. As he was admiring its beauty, Yoon entered the throne room and knelt before the Overlord.
"Report, Yoon," the Overlord said as Yoon walked to his side.
"Our forces are ready to be deployed. Philip is in the mech and ready to deploy as well," Yoon replied as he stared out at Earth with the Overlord.
"It is beautiful. I have always heard stories about the Earth and its vast beauty. And yet… I have also heard stories of the many wars that have taken place on it. Soon, only the beauty of it will remain. Everything else will vanish into nothing. All those who will not submit will be exterminated," the Overlord said.
"My lord… will my daughter…?"
"She will live. I promise you that," the Overlord said before the entire ship suddenly came to a halt and the entire throne room went dark.
"What has happened?!" Yoon asked as the soldiers began to try and locate the problem.
"All of our systems have been shut off and our engines have been shut off!" one soldier replied as he began to type on the console, only for it to do nothing.
"Have we been sabotaged?" the Overlord asked.
"No… but whatever it is that's affecting us is also affecting the other ships. We can't reach them!" another soldier said. Before the Overlord could ask any more questions, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head and clutched his head with his clawed hands before he found himself in a white area devoid of anything. After looking around questionably at all the nothing, he suddenly noticed Rhea standing in front of him, but he didn't attack. He just looked at her calmly as if he was expecting this.
"I do not remember the last time we have spoken like this. Have you reached out to ask for forgiveness?" the Overlord asked.
"You know me better than that, Father. I reached out to ask you to stop what you are doing," Rhea replied.
"Why should I? You should wish evil vanquished!"
"I do agree that there is a great deal of evil in this universe, Father. But there are those who are still innocent. The thousands that you slaughtered on Altus… many of them had done nothing to anger you."
"Do not patronize me, child. What has been done cannot be undone. There is no stopping my conquest. Not even you can stop me alone…" the Overlord said. But Rhea just smiled with determination.
"I didn't suspect that you would turn back from this nor that I could reason with you. But you of all people should know better… I'm not alone. And you WILL be stopped," she replied before the Overlord found himself back on his ship, surrounded by his own soldiers and Yoon, who had brought a medic to help him.
"My lord! Are you all right?" Yoon asked as the medic began to help the Overlord. Before he could answer, a massive portal suddenly appeared and began to suck in all six ships. All of the soldiers immediately went back to their stations to try and prevent the ship from getting pulled into the portal, but there was nothing that anyone could do now.
"What is happening?!" Yoon asked frantically.
"Rhea… she intends to take us wherever she and the others are… If it is a war that they want… then we will unleash hell…" the Overlord replied as the ships were sucked into the portal.
Planet of Zandor, FINAL BATTLE COMMENCE!
The winds of Zandor gently blew against Celeste's hair as she stared out at the desert's horizon, waiting for Rhea to return. Behind her was an entire army consisting of Stellanians, Tendricites, Terrarians, Ravagers, and a small handful of Zandorians, as well a few APCs that were armed with plasma cannons, while Amki, Eila, Goo, Rhonda, Odango, Eva, Selene, Malicus, Zekxsie, and Ayano stood in front of the army, awaiting orders. After a while, Rhea walked out of the dust storm that she conjured up and stood in front of Celeste.
"They've arrived," Rhea said.
"How far away?" Celeste asked.
"About ten miles or so. They'll send their armies first to fight us."
"Alright, listen up! We are all gathered here because beyond that storm is a fleet run a tyrant! That tyrant was responsible for the suffering that has afflicted all of us! The enslavement of the people of Stellan and Terraria! The invasion of Tendricide! The bloodshed that took place on the very soil of this planet! Him and his followers have incited war against those that he believes are guilty as well as the innocent! But we stood strong against his tyranny and right now, we are the only ones who are standing between him and universal domination! If we stand together, we WILL prevail against him! Our goal is to hold this line and destroy his army as much as we can! Keep a tight formation and keep your senses on high alert! Do we understand each other?!"
"HOO-AH!" the soldiers yelled as they readied their weapons. As Celeste stared back out at the horizon, she took the time to radio Max, Nikki, Zero Two, and Hiro, who were taking a lift up to the cockpit of the Strelizia. Both Hiro and Zero Two were wearing their standard bodysuits for when they piloted the Strelizia.
"Max, are you all ready to go? I don't know when the first wave is going to hit, but I need you all ready before it does," Celeste said.
"We're almost at the top, Celeste. We'll let you know when we're ready," Max replied.
"Hey… Look… Just in case if we don't make it out there…" Hiro started to say before Max cut him off.
"Don't say that. None of us are going to die here today," he said.
"How are you so certain?" Zero Two asked.
"You piloted this thing together. If you were that good fighting in it then, you're still good at it now. It's like riding a bike. You never forget how to do it once you learn how," Max said, only for both Hiro and Zero Two to give him raised eyebrows.
"Sorry?" Zero Two asked.
"It's a saying on our Earth. The point is, we're really glad that we have you two on our side," Nikki said.
"And we're glad to have you guys fighting alongside us," Hiro replied before the four of them finally entered the cockpit. As Max and Nikki set up the computers on both sides of the cockpit, Zero Two got down on her hands and knees while Hiro sat up against the cockpit's core. Once he was in position, a couple of handles came out from the rear of Zero Two's suit and he grabbed them, all while Max and Nikki were watching in both confusion and embarrassment.
"Well, that's… awkward," Nikki said as she stared at Hiro and Zero Two's positions.
"Hey, don't knock it till you try it," Zero Two replied before the hood on her suit came down around her head and Strelizia began to slowly power up. Back outside, Celeste was busy scanning the horizon with a pair of infrared binoculars until she spotted a bit of movement. At first, it looked like it was something alarming, but it was only a Stormhound, one of the planet's resident species. It was just casually sniffing around the terrain until another creature pounced on it and killed it. The second creature was similar in size and shape to an Imp, and it was followed by even more of its kind, as well as a whole bunch of different Infernites and soldiers that were running straight for them.
"We've got hostiles 10 klicks away from us! Weapons hot! Be ready!" Celeste yelled to the others. As the soldiers held their weapons up and prepared to fire, the first Imp came lunging at Celeste, only for her to slice it clean in half with one of her katanas. After that, several more came out of the dust storm only to run straight into the hail of blaster fire that came hurtling at them. Rhea used her magic to push the dust cloud back, revealing more of the enemy to them, and every single Stellanian and Tendricite began firing in every single direction while the Terrarians and the Ravagers took care of close combat and killed any Tyrants, Revenants, or Mancubi that they could. Amki used her flail to kill any Infernites she saw or throw any soldiers off balance while Eva used her concussion gauntlets to blast some of the enemies into the air that were shot down by either Rhonda, Odango, or one of the soldiers. Eila used her lightning to stun a whole bunch of soldiers that were then killed by Selene, who used her sharp teeth and whip to dispatch the soldiers, and Zekxsie, who used some vines to stab a few soldiers and Infernites in the backs. Goo's gelatinous body allowed her to absorb some of the blaster bolts that came flying at her as she made her way to a Tyrant and then went inside of its body. After she had gotten inside, she began to expand more and more until she made the Tyrant explode, sending its arm cannon flying into a few soldiers that got crushed underneath it. Ayano and Malicus both worked together to take down a Mancubus that had gotten too close and managed to kill it by severing one of the wires that was connected to its arm cannon, which made the entire Mancubus explode and kill several more soldiers. Ayano managed to jump off of the Mancubus before it exploded and jumped onto a nearby Cacodemon, stabbing it repeatedly in the eye. Once she was finished, Goo grabbed her on the way back and shielded her from enemy fire as she took her back to the others. Although there were losses on both sides, the Overlord's army was suffering the most as Rhea was shielding most of the soldiers with walls of ice that she conjured up, and the Ravager Queen and her kind used their tentacles to block out some of the enemy's shots as they slashed and teared their way through anything that tried to attack them. As the battle raged on, the Overlord and Yoon observed the battle from The Merciless.
"It's impossible… How is it that an army amassed in a short amount of time is able to destroy our army with ease?" Yoon asked, bewildered by the situation.
"It's because THEY told them," the Overlord replied angrily, pointing at Celeste and the rest of the team.
"…What do we do now?"
"Release the mech. Let us show these rebels just how outmatched they are…" the Overlord said. One of his soldiers immediately pressed a button and the Battle Mech then fell from the ship, creating a shockwave when it landed on the ground.
"Philip… Destroy them all…" the Overlord said. Philip obeyed and used the mech to fire a few plasma bolts that nearly killed some of the soldiers allied with Celeste and the others. A few soldiers returned fire with the plasma cannons that were on the APCs, but they just bounced off of the mech's armor and Philip continued to move forward, killing anything that got in his way. Some of the plasma bolts scattered the fighters on Celeste's side and a few of the Zandorians were unable to escape from the gunfire and found themselves trapped with only a single Ravager defending them. But the Ravager was unable to withstand the blast of the plasma shot and was launched backward before she was knocked unconscious, leaving the Zandorians out in the open, totally exposed. Philip noticed the Zandorians out in the open and prepared to squish them under the mech's giant fist. However, just before it crushed the Zandorians, another giant metal hand grabbed the mech's fist and made the mech slowly stand back up before another metal hand uppercutted the mech backward, making it fall onto a large chunk of the Overlord's forces. As the Battle Mech got back to its feet, another giant mech walked out of the dust storm and stood triumphantly before the Overlord's army. It was the Strelizia, which was now upgraded and ready for combat once more. The Strelizia took out the "Queen Pike", the giant lance that was strapped to its back, and twirled it around as it prepared to fight.
"Relax, guys… We'll take it from here," Zero Two said as an arm blade sprung forth from the Strelizia's left arm. Philip made the Battle Mech charge forward with dual arm blades springing forth from both of its arms, but the Strelizia charged forward and swung the lance like a hammer, damaging a part of the Battle Mech's head as it was sent flying again, killing even more of the Overlord's army. A large horde of the remainder of the Overlord's army began to fire on the Strelizia to throw it off-guard and buy time for the Mech to get back up, but the FRANXX's armor was able to withstand the blasts from the plasma bolts and it raised an energy shield to protect itself from the rockets.
"Guys! Some of those soldiers are still firing on our own soldiers! We need to take them out!" Celeste yelled through the comms.
"Don't worry! I got just the thing!" Nikki replied. After she cycled through a few weapons on the hologram, she made a selection and the Strelizia's left arm became a giant cannon which fired a large plasma blast that created a large energy shockwave when it hit the ground, destroying every Infernite and soldier that was in front of them for a short distance. After the shockwave died down, the Strelizia fired another plasma blast at one of the ships in the Overlord's fleet, which caused it to crash into another ship, and both ships crashed to the ground before they exploded. The Strelizia's left arm then morphed into a rocket launcher similar to the Tyrant's and fired off a couple of rockets that made the remaining three ships explode before they also crashed to the ground, leaving only The Merciless left. Philip made the Battle Mech get off of the ground and went in for another attack, but the Strelizia was able to counter his attack by sweeping the Mech's legs and then slamming it into the ground, creating a monstrous shockwave that blew some of the Overlord's forces away from them. Just as Philip made the Mech get back up, the Strelizia delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of its head, further damaging the Mech, and then finished it off with a plasma blast that greatly damaged the robot, sending metal parts flying. As the Overlord watched the whole scene unfold, he became more and more incensed.
"Philip… I ORDER YOU TO TEAR THAT MECH APART AND KILL EVERYONE ONBOARD IT!" the Overlord roared. Those words triggered something inside of Philip that began to morph his own body, as well as the Battle Mech's own structure. Outside, the Battle Mech's mottled green color began to darken until the entire mech was jet black with red highlights.
"Uh… guys? What's going on with that thing?" Zero Two asked. Before anyone could answer, the Mech started to grow spikes on its arms and back while its hands grew claws. As the Mech stood back up, the lower part of the head split apart and made a sharp-toothed mouth with a long tongue before the mech let out a loud roar and then stared menacingly at the Strelizia.
"What the hell is up with that thing?" Nikki asked. Max just stared at the Mech before the answer suddenly hit him.
"We've seen this before… that Klaxosaur that we fought… I infected it with the Infernite energy… Whoever's piloting that mech must've been infected with the Infernite energy and it's mutating both the pilot and the mech," he replied.
"What do we do?" Hiro asked.
"We need to destroy it. The core must be located within the chest, so we need to weaken the armor before we can deal a killing blow. Try to wear him down!" Max said.
"Like you even need to ask! BRING IT, BITCH!" Zero Two yelled before the Strelizia charged toward the Mutated Mech, the "Queens Pike" in one hand and an arm cannon on her left arm. The Strelizia began to shoot at the Mech with its arm cannon, taking chunks off of the Mech, but it used its sharp claws to tear the arm cannon off before it then slashed the left side of the Strelizia's face, leaving three large scratch marks on the side of its face. The Strelizia then used its lance to try and trip it up, but the Mech slashed at the right side of the Strelizia before its left arm became a tentacle that wrapped itself around the Strelizia and then threw it backwards into more of the Overlord's forces. As the Strelizia tried to get back up, the Mutated Mech pinned it down and prepared to bite off the Strelizia's face, even though the Strelizia tried to hold it back, but a sudden proton blast struck the Mech in the back of the head, and it looked back to see Celeste and a few soldiers firing off the proton cannons from the back of an APC. The Mech let out another roar and proceeded to head toward the proton cannon, but the Strelizia fired a trio of grappling hooks from its right arm, which dug into the shoulder of the Mech before the Strelizia dragged it back and it began to pummel the Mutated Mech into the ground, destroying pieces of the Mech until its chest armor cracked and the Strelizia tore the chest armor off, exposing the core. As the Mutated Mech stood back up, an arm blade sprung forth from the Strelizia's right arm and it plunged the blade into the Mech's core. However, the Mech didn't go down as anticipated and grabbed the Strelizia's head again before it attempted to try and eat its head again, the tongue slapping against the Strelizia's face.
"OK, did nobody tell you that this NOT how you treat a woman?!" Zero Two yelled as she tried to hold the Mech off with the Strelizia's other arm.
"We can't get free! Do we have any other weapons on the right arm that we can use to get ourselves out?!" Hiro asked as the Mutated Mech snapped its jaws.
"We do… I've been saving this one for an occasion like this!" Max replied before he made a selection on his hologram that made a large cannon pop up out of the Strelizia's right arm. Just as the Mutated Mech looked down at the cannon, Max pressed a button that made the cannon glow green before it charged up and unleashed a blast of energy that tore through the Mech's chest and then struck The Merciless, seemingly destroying it. Once the blast died down, the Strelizia drew its arm back as it stared at the gaping hole in the Mech's chest before it then raised a hand and flicked the Mech's forehead, making it crash to the ground before it exploded in an eruptive ball of fire. With the battle fought and won, the crew onboard the Strelizia finally could relax.
"Well, I'd say that all BFG shots were well spent…" Max said before Celeste finally radioed them.
"Guys, are you alright?" she asked.
"We're fine. The Battle Mech is down, and it seems that the Overlord's ship is down too. How's everyone else down there?" Max asked.
"We're all fine. We've suffered only minor casualties and… What is THAT?" Celeste replied before the crew of Strelizia looked up to see an enormous cloud of smoke moving towards them, which was soon revealed to be The Merciless, except it wasn't being propelled forward by its engines and there was a whole bunch of red lightning surrounding it. As the crew of Strelizia stared in shock and horror, they noticed the Overlord menacingly walking on the deck of the ship before he stared straight at them.
"You have fought valiantly, 'heroes'… but my patience is at an end, and NOTHING will stop me from cleansing this universe- least of all, YOU!" the Overlord roared before he shot a bolt of lightning towards the sky that created a superstorm and broke apart the earth beneath the ship until it formed an astral form of the Overlord himself. After the Overlord's astral form stared down at the Strelizia for a minute, it grabbed the FRANXX by the neck and then held it high above the ground. The Strelizia immediately began to fire rockets and plasma blasts from both of its arm cannons, but there wasn't really anything for them to hit and the Overlord's astral form teared its way into the FRANXX's chest before then tearing out the QVE and crushing it, reducing it to nothing but ash. With the power source destroyed, the Strelizia shut down and Zero Two fell backwards into Hiro's arms before the astral form of the Overlord then began to claw at the Strelizia's head to try and dig them out.
"Max… Nikki… it was an honor to fight alongside you…" Hiro said as one of the claws of the astral Overlord tore through the top part of the head of the FRANXX.
"We're not dead yet, Hiro!" Max replied before he pressed a few buttons to the side of cockpit and both Hiro and Zero Two were encased in a metal pod and they were ejected from the FRANXX, the pod being jettisoned toward Celeste and the others. Max then pressed a button that did the same to Nikki and her pod was also jettisoned from the FRANXX, but when Max went to press the button for his pod, he suddenly stopped and thought for a moment before he decided not to press the button and just exited the FRANXX before he stood on top of the head, putting on his helmet and reloading his shotgun before he then jumped from rock to rock, heading into the storm. As he kept pressing further in, he used the Peacekeeper to slash apart the astral Overlord's arm that was holding the Strelizia and made his way further into the storm. Meanwhile, back with Celeste and the others, the two pods containing Hiro, Zero Two, and Nikki crashed into the ground and stopped short of the team before they opened and the three of them climbed out.
"Are you all alright?!" Celeste asked as she helped Nikki out of her pod.
"My whole body feels like jelly, but I'm fine," Hiro replied as he helped Zero Two. But Nikki suddenly looked all around her and found that Max was nowhere to be seen.
"Wait… WHERE'S MAX?!" she yelled before she looked towards the storm that was raging on. She tried to start running toward it, but Rhea stopped her with ice before she could get a head start.
"Nikki, you can't… this is what he needs to do…" Rhea said.
"HE'S GOING TO DIE OUT THERE!" Nikki said as she broke the ice around her feet and prepared to go after Max, only for Celeste to tackle her.
"Nikki, YOU'LL die if you try to go after him! We need to trust that he can handle this," Celeste said before they stared back out at the storm that was still heading straight for them.
Max's perspective
There used to be a time where I was once afraid. I think it was back when I was still in high school, when I was often a target for bullying. After that, most of my fear usually stemmed from losing my loved ones. Right now, the fate of the universe hanging in the balance trumps all of that. I quickly jumped from rock to rock within the storm until I finally found what seemed to be the ship's deck and jumped down to it. Once I was down, I noticed that this must be the eye of the storm because the wind seemed to be less violent here than it was on my way here. But the Overlord was nowhere in sight. As I kept looking for wherever the Overlord could be hiding, Nikki suddenly stopped right in front of me and took her helmet off. Or at least what LOOKED like Nikki.
"Max! We can't stay here! We need to come up with a different plan!" Nikki stated. But I wasn't easily convinced that she was actually Nikki and just continued to walk forward, trying to see if this was another illusion.
"I can't. The long fight needs to end HERE and NOW…" I replied as I continued to look around for the Overlord.
"Max, it's pointless! He's too powerful to stop now! We need to head back to the others and come up with another plan!" Nikki insisted as she walked in front of me. Now I was confident that this was just an illusion and began to look around again.
"Hiding behind your illusions again, Galaxor? I thought you were more honorable than that," I said, trying to call him out. Sure enough, the illusion of Nikki suddenly disappeared, and both the Overlord and Yoon appeared out of thin air, staring at me with anger.
"You DARE call me dishonorable?" the Overlord asked.
"Your illusions won't work on me twice, Galaxor. This fight is between you and me and I will free this universe from your madness."
"YOU gave me the energy, human. YOU doomed the universe. And yet, I am the one who will rid this universe of all that is evil and bring peace to everyone. And you wish to deny them that peace?"
"You don't fool me, Galaxor. Committing mass genocide isn't the actions of a savior. They're the actions of a tyrant. I get that you're doing this because of what you lost, and I understand that. Believe me, I've been there. I know what it's like to lose someone you loved so much. But all of this isn't going to bring your wife back. And she wouldn't approve of any of this," I said. The Overlord angrily threw a bolt of lightning at me that I was nearly unable to avoid if I didn't dodge out of the way in time.
"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT MY WIFE WANTED! She too wished that this universe was free of all evil and I am honoring her memory by doing so! YOU brought mere soldiers to oppose me! To DENY what this universe needs!" the Overlord roared as I got back on my feet.
"Maybe things would be different if you attacked only the wicked. But you destroyed an entire planet that had several good souls that lived there. Innocent people that had nothing to do with her death. You honoring your wife's wishes is understandable. But this isn't the way she would want it. And the brave men and women who are fighting against you would rather die as martyrs than be slaves to a tyrant," I said. The Overlord just scoffed and began to use magic that made some of the wind swirl around three separate spots until zombified versions of Taarkin, Info, and the Hive appeared in their places.
"My followers… Teach this dog his place," the Overlord commanded before Yoon, Info, and Taarkin ran at me while the Hive tried to trip me up using her vines. But I was able to avoid the Hive's attacks and counter each of the other three's attacks while the Overlord just stood back and observed. I will admit that four against one wasn't exactly fair, but I wasn't really expecting a fair fight. Plus, I had fought against three out of the four and WON. And now, I had more power than I did before. I periodically breathed fire at the Hive to keep her at bay while I used my ice powers to freeze Info in place. Yoon then telepathically wrapped a few chains around me to restrain me so Taarkin could strike me down, but I used my electric powers to teleport out of the chains and then throw a bolt of lightning at Yoon, which knocked him down. As for Taarkin, I punched him in the gut before then delivering a double axe handle move to knock the general down before I then grabbed him by the throat and prepared to stab him with my arm blade. But before I could, something hit me from the side and sent me flying a few feet toward the bow of the ship, knocking my helmet off. After I recovered from the hit, I looked up to see Philip standing in front of me, but he looked way different than he did before. His body looked like it had mutated to look like the body of a Hell Knight, with pieces of his armor coming apart due to how big he had grown, and his face didn't look too much different, except he now had partially sharp teeth and his eyes were red with black sclera. After I had gotten to my feet, Philip roared at me and charged at me before he took a swipe at me. I was able to stop the punch with my hands, but I was unable to get him off fast enough before the Hive stabbed me with one of her tentacles and then grabbed me by the leg. I managed to cut myself free, but it wasn't fast enough before Info slashed at my face and Taarkin uppercutted me. I managed to heal myself of my wounds, but Yoon then telepathically threw a boulder at me, which threw me off balance before Philip began to pummel me into the ground, his punches audibly breaking my bones with each strike. I tried to get back up, but my body got weaker and weaker after every punch Philip threw at me until I was too weak to get back up. Philip just stared down at me before he picked me up by my throat and then punched me one final time, creating a small crater where I was lying.
"You see? You may think that you are something, human, but you are NOTHING. You are less than nothing. The Council of Light made a mistake entrusting their power to the likes of you. What made you think that you were worthy?" the Overlord asked as his followers walked back over to him and then kneeled before him while I was lying in a pool of my own blood. But, as I was sitting there, my thoughts turned to Nikki and the others, who were right in front of us. They were relying on me. If I didn't stop the Overlord here and now, everything that we had been fighting for would've been lost. I couldn't give up now. And I sure as hell wasn't going to start now. I slowly got up from the dirt as my body healed and I got to my feet just as the Overlord and his followers turned to me.
"You're right. I wasn't exactly the best choice for them to give their power to. But the Council gave me their power because they had hope. They believed in me. And I'm not going to stop until I do what I promised them that I'd do," I said as I balled up my fist. Philip growled and began to walk toward me as my arms became surrounded in fire, ice, and lightning. Just as Philip threw a punch at me, my entire body suddenly exploded into a mix of fire, water, earth, lightning, and souls as my skin became light blue energy and my head became engulfed in blue flames. My entire body felt like it was letting out a whole bunch of energy that was making me more powerful than I ever was before. The Overlord and his followers just stared at me in disbelief as I stared down at my own hands in shock.
"So, death is what you wish for? So be it," the Overlord finally said, giving the command for his followers to attack me. Taarkin was at the front and, in the blink of an eye, I grabbed his head and violently snapped his neck before he had a chance to react. After that came the Hive, whom I froze before then unleashing a clap that produced a sonic boom which shattered her into a million pieces. Then came Info, who tried to stab me with a knife, but the blade broke once she hit me with it and I picked her up before I then tore her in half as she screamed in agony. After that, Yoon threw a boulder at me, which I easily shattered before I then blocked a punch from Philip and then grabbed a couple of chains that I wrapped around his body and neck before I held him down. Philip desperately tried to get himself free by repeatedly punching my face, but I grabbed his elbow spike and then stabbed him in the abdomen before I diagonally sliced his chest, making Philip roar in pain before I then kicked him away. Yoon took advantage of my vulnerable position and telepathically made a bunch of rocks cover me, as if to crush me with them.
"YOU WILL NOT TAKE WHAT WAS PROMISED FROM ME!" Yoon yelled as he tried to push the rocks further together. But I unleashed a burst of energy that freed me before I threw a bunch of ice daggers that struck him in the chest, making him scream in pain before I dragged him down with a chain and then dragged him over to me before I uppercutted him. As he was still in the air, I jumped up and delivered a swift elbow strike to his back, which audibly broke his spine, before then slamming him down into the deck, creating a small shockwave. Even though he was still alive, I was certain that he wouldn't be giving me anymore trouble, meaning that I could now focus my attacks on Philip, who let out a loud roar before he charged at me again, baring his teeth. I was able to block his punch before then hitting him in the chest, making him stagger backwards as I grabbed a chain and wrapped it around his arm before I pulled him to the ground. But Philip got back up quickly and tore apart the chain before he threw another punch at me, which I swiftly blocked before he threw another punch that I also blocked. As we struggled to match each other's strength, Philip managed to get me on one of my knees and I was nearly brought down completely as I tried to hold him back.
"You're gonna die here! And after I've killed you, I'm gonna kill her and everyone else that knows you!" Philip roared in his demonic voice as I struggled to hold him back. But I began to get stronger until I was finally able to get back to my feet and I stared at him.
"No… you won't," I said before I then headbutted him in the chest and knocked him to the ground. Before Philip could get back up, I swiftly grabbed his leg and stomped down on it, breaking it. Philip roared in pain before he tried to grab me in a fit of rage, but I was able to dodge his attacks until I grabbed his arm and broke it as well. Philip was left with only one arm and one leg to fight with, but it didn't really matter at this point because after I made a bunch of rocks surround my fist, I punched Philip's chest so hard that his ribs audibly broke and he vomited up a bunch of blood before he landed flat on his back. As he laid there, bleeding profusely from his mouth, I angrily walked toward him and then picked him up by his throat. I wanted to kill him so badly. I could just do it right here and now and not feel anything at all. But, as I stared at him menacingly while he tried to get free, I didn't feel vengeful. I only felt pity for him. Philip may have been a monster on the outside, but he was still human on the inside. And he was just letting the Overlord control what he did. Instead of killing him, I gently placed a hand on his forehead and began to purge his body of the energy. As I did so, Philip began to scream in terror while his chest healed, both his arm and leg were set back into place and his body began to revert back to its original human form. Once it was over, Philip, who was now a normal human being again, passed out and I dropped him on the ground. But I wasn't about to drag him to safety at the moment, because I turned my attention back to the Overlord, who seemed to be impressed by my show of power.
"You waste mercy on those who don't deserve it. They are complete failures, every last one of them," the Overlord said as he stared at me in anger.
"No, Galaxor. They are capable warriors. But you chose to hide behind them," I said.
"You DARE accuse me of being a coward?!"
"You are a coward. You tried to rewrite your own destiny by leaving me and my friends to die on Obraxis. You chose to hide behind your illusions and those that you trusted rather than just fighting me yourself. All because you want nothing to stop you from ridding the universe of what you think is evil. But the sad truth is that everything that you ever fought for was all for naught. You say that you're doing it for the ones you loved, but you betrayed them when you chose to embrace evil. You live a lie… and that's the difference in you and me," I said. The Overlord angrily stared at me before he activated the Crucible and took up a battle stance.
"I will take pleasure in torturing you as you watch your loved ones die in front of you when I am through with you," he snarled. I just stared back at him and then took out the Peacekeeper before activating it as well.
"Then come forward… and let us settle this once and for all," I said. The Overlord then leapt into battle and we clashed swords with each other as we began to fight for the fate of the universe. I could swear that every time we clashed swords, the sound could be heard reverberating far beyond Zandor's atmosphere. After a while, I put the Peacekeeper away and began to attack the Overlord using various elemental attacks. I first started by trapping him within a sphere of water which I then struck with a bolt of lightning, electrocuting the Overlord. After I released him from the sphere, I then sent an army of souls to fight the Overlord while I used my earth powers to make the earth from beneath the ship rise up and bring the ship down, setting it on the ground. The Overlord then shot a bolt of lightning at me which I deflected towards the sky before I threw a fireball at him. The Overlord lividly hurled a boulder at me, which I shattered before I threw a bunch of ice daggers, one of which actually managed to wound the Overlord. We were both evenly matched and it looked as if the Overlord actually was getting exhausted. But I didn't really have the time to make a witty remark or anything like that because the Overlord came full force at me with his powers and he wasn't about to let up. However, I was able to match him step-for-step as I looked for an opening to destroy the Crucible. But, as I was busy looking for an opening, the Overlord finally caught me off-guard when he threw an ice dagger that hit me in the shoulder. I tried my best to keep up, but the Overlord then struck me with a bolt of lightning and hurled a fireball that knocked me backwards. I tried to trip him up by creating a tremor, but the Overlord turned into lightning and slashed at my face before then throwing me back toward the bow of the ship, knocking the Peacekeeper out of my hand. Before I could retrieve it, the Overlord grabbed me by the neck, extinguishing the flames around my head before he held me off of the ground.
"You weak pathetic fool… You thought that you could defeat ME? Not even your gifts are enough to stop me now! And now all of creation will suffer because of you! It was NEVER your destiny to stop me…" the Overlord said as he taunted me. But I just whispered something to him in reply that he couldn't understand.
"What?" the Overlord asked, putting his ear closer to me.
"Who said it was MY destiny to stop you?" I replied with a grin. The Overlord just stared at me in confusion before an ice dagger flew from out of nowhere and struck him in the shoulder, making him drop me. Both of us then looked behind me to see Rhea walking out of the storm with her hood over her head and her eyes glowing an intense white. The Overlord angrily walked toward Rhea to try and put her down, but Rhea shot a bolt of lightning from her staff that knocked the Overlord back while also scorching the front part of his robe, revealing metal armor beneath. As the Overlord was recovering from the hit, I got back to my feet and stood beside Rhea as the flames surrounded my head again.
"It took me a while, but I figured it out after I studied that carving you had on your old ship. It showed a robed figure overseeing our battle. And Aariv told me that a true leader would help me defeat you. But the truth is, your own daughter was the one who was destined to defeat you from the start. I was just here to help her do so," I said. Enraged, the Overlord got back to his feet and created a tremor that nearly threw us off balance if Rhea hadn't created a couple of platforms for us to stand on so we could avoid the tremors. Once we had avoided his attack, Rhea threw a trio of ice daggers at the Overlord, two of which hit him in the leg, before I then breathed fire on him to distract him before I slammed my fist on the ground, which sent him flying before Rhea summoned a lightning bolt from the sky that forced him to the ground. After he got back up, the Overlord activated the Crucible and tried to cut my head off with it, but he was far too exhausted to land a lethal blow and I punched him over and over as he tried to hit me until I landed a punch that broke a part of his mask, revealing a red eye underneath. In a fit of rage, the Overlord used the Crucible's power to shoot a bolt of lightning toward the sky, which made the sky turn red, which I assume had nullified the planet's ability to render his powers null, seeing as he was being enveloped by his own elemental power. He was literally overcome with rage, and he was past the point of no return. But both Rhea and I worked in tandem to match his own power and block each of his attacks as we looked for an opening to counterattack while also avoiding lightning that was striking random spots on the battlefield as the storm raged on. But the storm ended up being the Overlord's undoing, because one lightning bolt struck the Overlord, which stunned him, and Rhea swiftly passed me the Peacekeeper. With a swift leap and a yell of determination, I swung the Peacekeeper and sliced the handle of the Crucible in half. The rest of the Crucible's blade then crumbled to pieces and the blade snapped off before it then shattered on the ground. Once the Crucible was destroyed, the Overlord's body suddenly lurched and the Infernite energy was suddenly sucked out of his body, which collected into a red orb until it dissipated into nothing when it was finished. But that didn't stop the Overlord from trying to attack us with whatever strength he had left. He ran right for me, only for me to dodge his attack and then stab him in the side with the Peacekeeper. As the Overlord staggered back, his side bleeding from the stab wound, I began to surround my arms with souls, each of them begging for their vengeance.
"You massacred millions of innocents souls without any mercy, Galaxor. You will now feel their pain and suffering," I said before I commanded the souls to attack the Overlord. All of them pounced on top of him and began to gnaw at his body as he tried in vain to get them off of him. Pretty soon, he was yelling in terror as he fought for his life, killing some of the souls as more and more slashed at his face and tore at his robes. As the souls continued to hold the Overlord within their grasp, Rhea began to spin her staff around, making a ring of fire, water, lightning, earth, and souls that swirled along with the vortex of the storm. As they began swirling faster and faster, the Overlord managed to destroy enough souls so he could fire a bolt of lightning to stop her, but I quickly caught the lightning and threw it back at him, harming him even more as Rhea began to levitate off the ground.
"RHEA! YOU UNGRATEFUL CHILD!" the Overlord roared as he once again tried to get free. But he was too late to get free and he could only just watch in horror as the sky began to brighten until it was almost too bright to see, and I got into position to deliver the coup de grace. Before I did though, Rhea looked back at the Overlord with a somber expression while the Overlord looked at her with a fearful look in his eye.
"Goodbye, Father," Rhea said before she raised her staff towards the sky and a bright pillar of light came hurtling down toward me. Just before the pillar hit me, I held my hands up toward it and caught it in my hands before I began to absorb the light, growing more powerful by the minute as I absorbed more and more of it. Once I had finished absorbing the pillar of light, I then held out my hands in front of me and unleashed a powerful blast that enveloped the Overlord and the souls were attacking him until it all ended in a powerful blast that dissipated the storm and made the sky clear again. Exhausted from how much power I just expended, I collapsed to my knees and I reverted back to my original form while Rhea collapsed behind me. After a few minutes, Rhea finally spoke up.
"…Max? Are you OK?" she asked as she stood up shakily.
"I'm gonna be sore tomorrow morning," I replied before I got back up and turned to the bow of the ship. The battlefield below was littered with the bodies of Infernites and soldiers everywhere, but I could see that our allies were still alive and well and that they were cheering now that the war was over. But I couldn't look for too long because the rest of the team came running up to me and Rhea with smiling faces.
"We did it! Come here you!" Zero Two yelled before she gave me a big hug, followed by Amki, Goo, Eila, and Rhonda.
"That was one hell of a light show, partner! Really wish we had been up here to see it!" Rhonda added.
"Guys… my body aches a little… could you take it easy on the hugs, please?" I asked as a smile crept onto my face. But Celeste joined in on the hug and had Rhea join us, even though I could swear that I heard one of my bones popping.
"I'm so proud of you two… we all are," Celeste said as she rested her forehead against mine.
"They're rejoicing… everyone down there is cheering…" Selene said as she hugged Rhea. But I suddenly noticed Nikki standing in front of us with her arms crossed and an upset look on her face. That really didn't come as a surprise to me, seeing as I didn't tell her that I would be going it alone for the first act, and I walked over to her and we just stared at each other.
"Look, I just…" I started to say before Nikki angrily slapped me across the face. And it hurt.
"OK, why?" I asked. But Nikki replied by grabbing me and kissing me and I just wrapped my arms around her, passionately kissing her for a while before we broke off the kiss and looked into each other's eyes.
"Is it over?" Nikki asked with tears of joy.
"Yeah. It's over," I replied as I kissed her again. But it turns out that I had spoken too soon because we all suddenly heard wheezing and I headed toward the source. And there, laying on in a pile of rubble just a few feet in front of me, was the Overlord, badly wounded and breathing shallowly. The Overlord then turned himself over until he was on his back and weakly took his damaged mask off, revealing a middle-aged man underneath. But the man's face wasn't one of rage or fear. It was one of sadness, complete with tears streaming down his face as he stared up at the sky.
"My wife… Forgive me…" the man who was once the Overlord sobbed before he extended an arm toward the sky, as if he was reaching out to someone. But, after he gasped one final time, his arm fell limp to the ground and his eyes closed. He was dead. All of us just stared at his body in somberness until Rhea walked over to the body, knelt down, and took her father's hand before she then rested her head on his chest, tears running down her face.
15 minutes later…
After we had made sure that our allies had gotten back to their home planets, the team and I followed Rhea's directions to an unknown planet that she had kept a secret from the Overlord. It turns out that she had sent the rest of her people to a planet that could sustain life and regain what they had once lost. A place where they could start over. New Obraxis. Rhea's people took the body of her mother to this planet so they could properly bury her. And Rhea wanted to bury her father at that same place. Once we had landed, her siblings and the rest of her people were elated to see Rhea safe and sound. Even though she felt happy to see them, she only had a somber expression on her face, and the rest of her people soon understood why when I carried Galaxor's bandaged body out. They took us to where Rhea's mother was buried, and we put Galaxor's body right beside her, after which we held the funeral. As everyone just silently stood around his grave, I decided to speak up.
"You know, I know why he did all of this. It was because he lost someone who was very dear to him. That loss was… too much for him to handle. Because of that, he decided to act for the greater good of the universe. But he didn't realize that the actions he took were steering him down a path of tyranny and evil. But all the evil that he committed shouldn't outweigh the good he did before he became the Overlord. He protected all of you despite everything the empire of Altus threw at you. He was a wonderful husband and a loving father. And it was his wife that brought out the best in him before he lost her. My only hope is that he finds his way back to her," I said, making everyone empathetically nodded in agreement. After we left the grave, I stood on top of a hill in silence as I watched the team talking with Rhea and the rest of her people. After a few minutes of silence, a faint blue glow from behind caught my attention and I turned to see the spirits of the Council of Light standing there.
"Words cannot express how grateful we are, Maxwell Smith. You have brought peace to the entire galaxy," Aariv said with a smile.
"At what cost? I know what Galaxor did was evil, but he did so out of anger. Deep down, he was still a man who wanted to do the right thing," I said as I stared back at Rhea and the others.
"We are saddened by his death as well, brother. But his soul is at peace now. And what you said is true. All the evil that he did does not outweigh the good he did," Tempest said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. I then turned back to them and held out the Peacekeeper to Aariv, but he just closed my hand and smiled again.
"Keep it. You may need it again at some point in the future," he said before Erebus stepped forward as he began to turn to dust.
"Farewell, mortal. We will never forget what you have done," he said before he disappeared.
"Never stop fighting for what you believe in. Your will is your rock, and it will always be as strong as your heart is," Cephas said before he also disappeared.
"The Council will always be indebted to you, brother. Farewell," Tempest added before he disappeared as well. After he was gone, Thalassa walked up to me and kissed me tenderly on the forehead.
"Cherish every moment with your lover. Never let her go for as long as you live," she said before she disappeared, leaving only me and Aariv left.
"Can I ask you something? You knew that it was Rhea's destiny to defeat the Overlord, didn't you?" I asked.
"I did. Rhea was the next in line to be the leader of our people. But she could not do so without unlocking her full potential. But I did not know how that would be brought about or how she would do so. I only knew that she needed help from those who were willing enough. And now, she has a new destiny ahead of her," Aariv replied before he also began to disappear.
"…She's a part of your lineage, isn't she?" I asked. Aariv just smiled in reply before he soon faded away, with not a trace of him left. I just left the hill and headed back to the others, who were packing up and getting ready to go while Nikki gave Rhea one final hug.
"Thank you all for everything that you have done. I will never forget this," Rhea said before I gave her one final hug goodbye. After that, the rest of us got back onboard the Centurion and we sped off towards Earth. The ride on the way home was really silent and none of us really knew what to say until Celeste spoke up once we were outside of Earth's orbit.
"So… both Yoon and Philip were sent back to Earth. Max tells me that he healed Yoon's spine and erased his memory of all of this," she said.
"And what about Philip?" Nikki asked.
"It's up to him to make the right decisions now. I'm not going to force him to do the right thing," I replied.
"Ayano, I managed to create some documentations that have declared you cured and sane again, so you'll be able to return home without any trouble at all," Celeste said.
"Thank you," Ayano replied.
"Hiro and Zero Two, I'm sorry that we couldn't find another way for you home for the two of you, seeing as the QVE was reduced to ash that Rhea couldn't rebuild, and she wasn't powerful enough to push past the dimensional barriers so she could open a portal back to your dimension. With that said, I've decided that you will return to this Earth with Max and Nikki and that you'll be given enough resources to help the two of you start over."
"Well, it'll be nice to see what this new world has to offer. Besides, I think we'll get along just fine," Hiro said as he held Zero Two's hand. Me, Nikki, Hiro, Zero Two, and Ayano then packed up our things and prepared to return home. But, not without a few goodbyes first. First up were Eila and Goo, who eagerly nuzzled up to me as I hugged them both.
"Both of you be good now, OK?" I said as they both nodded happily. After that came Rhonda, who grabbed my arm and tipped her hat.
"Safe travels, partner," she said. After he came both Selene and Zekxsie, who tenderly hugged me.
"Thank you for everything that you've done, Max. We'll never forget you," Selene said.
"Where do you go from here?" I asked.
"We go wherever we're needed. News of the Overlord's death will reach every corner of the galaxy. But some will still assemble to finish what he started. We need to go wherever they are and make sure nothing like this ever happens again," Zekxsie replied. I then turned my attention to Amki, Odango, and Eva, who all hugged me goodbye.
"Be safe. Don't do anything stupid," Amki joked.
"Thanks for everything, Max. I hope that you have a wonderful life," Odango said.
"Yes. It was truly an honor to work by your side," Eva added. After I was finished saying goodbye to them, me, Nikki, Hiro, Zero Two, Hiro, and Ayano all huddled up and prepared to go back home. But not before Celeste gave both me and Nikki one final hug goodbye.
"I promise that this won't be the last time we meet. I hope to see you again soon," she said with a smile.
"You too Celeste. Take care," I said before Celeste pressed a button and we were all sent back to Earth.
Zero Two's perspective, two days later
A month and a half had passed since me and Darling were found. The date was now April 16th, 2020. Two days ago, we both set foot on a new Earth that was completely alien to the two of us and now, we were heading to an event that Max and Nikki had been invited to a while back. After the four of us arrived at our destination in what was called a "car", we all sat in silence for a while until I decided to break the silence.
"Sooooo… what are you all thinking about?" I asked.
"Just… how crazy everything has been this past month. I mean, we all saved the universe. That's not an average thing that happens to everyone," Nikki replied.
"Are you… sure that's all that's on your mind?" Darling asked.
"I… just can't imagine how hard that this must be for the two of you. I mean… being on this Earth where everything is different and…" Max started to say before I cut him off.
"OK, could you please stop acting like this is the worst thing in the world for us? We could be dead instead of being here with the two of you. And we have you guys helping us adapt to this new Earth. Besides… as long as I'm with my Darling, I think that we'll be perfectly fine," I said before I grabbed Darling's hand and rested my forehead on his, making him smile in agreement. Both Max and Nikki also smiled as they looked back at us. However, Max's smile didn't last long because something suddenly slammed against the car door and he angrily got out while a familiar voice rang out.
"DUDE! It's so great to see you again!" the voice said with a familiar annoying tone to it.
"Justin, I thought I told you not to bang on my car like that!" Max yelled. Both me and Darling were confused as to what was going on, but before we could ask Nikki what was going on, the car door on my side opened and both me and Darling were absolutely stunned by what we saw. Greeting us was a boy with purple eyes and unruly light brown hair which flared out on the sides and back and long bangs which mostly covered his forehead. I don't know if it was my eyes playing tricks on me, but I could swear that this guy looked EXACTLY like Zorome.
"Madamoiselle. Shall I escort you to the party?" he asked with a slick grin, holding his hand out to me. But before I could answer, someone suddenly grabbed him by the ear and pulled it. That someone was a girl with auburn red hair and sea blue eyes, her hair done up in girlish pigtails, with a small cowlick at the top of her head. She was wearing a simple pink dress.
"Would you cut that out?! Why do you have to be so embarrassing?!" the girl asked as she tugged on the boy's ear.
"OK, Mikayla! Jeez, let go!" he said before they walked away. Both me and Darling got out of the car in confusion before we noticed Nikki talking to two more people who looked very familiar. The first one was a girl wearing a violet dress that had deep purple hair tied into a short ponytail with a blue butterfly clip and bangs on either side of her weary green eyes, which had a pair of black-rimmed glasses covering them. The second person was a boy with a hefty build, short auburn-brown hair that hanged lightly over his forehead and thick, stumpy eyebrows. We also noticed Max talking with another person, who was a tall and averagely built man with blond loose-spiked hair styled into an undercut and blue-rimmed glasses over his striking golden, olive-green eyes. As the two were talking, two more walked up to them, the first person being an attractive fair-skinned girl with wavy hip-length ashen-blonde hair that had long bangs framing her forehead on either side with a lacy blue headband to keep her hair out of her face while she also had chest-length hair strands hanging on either side and calm, rich blue eyes. She was holding a toddler that looked a lot like her, except she was wearing her hair in two small pigtails. The second was a man who had a clean and proper appearance with piercing green eyes and olive-brown hair that was slicked back. Both me and Darling could barely believe our eyes. Our entire Squad was standing right here in front of us. Or so it seemed. Both me and Darling were then approached by a girl with soft green eyes and a petite build, her straight and short blue hair in a razor-cut hairstyle, where her hair hanged lengthier on the right side of her face that mostly covered her right eye and one long strand of hair on the left side of her face, with a white hair clip holding back the bangs on her left side. The girl smiled at us and extended an arm toward us.
"You two must be Hiro and Zoe. Max and Nikki said that you'd be coming here. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ichigo," the girl said with a cheerful attitude. Both me and Hiro just stared in disbelief for a few seconds before my eyes became wet with tears and I embraced the girl, happy to see her. After a few seconds, I suddenly realized that this was probably becoming awkward since we had never met before and I backed off, wiping the tears from my eyes.
"Sorry. It's just that… you look a bit like someone I once knew," I said, straightening myself out. The girl just smiled at me again in reply.
"I get that a lot. So, you guys ready to head in?" Ichigo asked Max.
"Yeah. Just give us a minute. We'll be in shortly," Max replied before the others began to head in, leaving him with me, Darling, and Nikki.
"Our Squad… exists on this Earth?" Darling asked, completely dumbfounded.
"That's the thing about alternate Earths… if someone exists on one Earth in a certain role, there's bound to be a doppelganger on another Earth with a different role. In this case, your Squad members were childhood friends of ours," Nikki explained.
"We… didn't really tell you guys because we weren't sure if you were returning home with us or not. But… there you have it," Max said. I just smiled and grabbed Darling's hand before I started to head in with him.
"Well, let's not leave them waiting then, shall we? Let's party!" I shouted as we all went in.
Max's perspective
I quietly stared up at the starry sky in deep thought as my mind turned to the memories of everything that had taken place. We had fought through monsters and tyrants alike just to save the universe, and now, here we were, talking amongst our friends as if nothing had happened. As I kept staring up at sky, Nikki walked over to me and stared up at the sky with me.
"What are you thinking about?" Nikki asked.
"I don't think I can ever look at the stars the same way after everything we've been through this past month," I replied.
"I know. It's all so weird how we much we've seen and how many planets we've been to. Makes you really think about how small we are in the universe."
"Yeah… it's a hell of a thing," I said. After I said that sentence, Nikki's face suddenly became sad, and she looked down at the ground in thought.
"Max… there's something that I've been meaning to tell you for quite some time now…" she started to say.
"You're pregnant," I said, making Nikki look at me in alarm and shock.
"H-how did…?"
"Back when we were on Tendricide when I was confronting my demons… I could sense it when you were trying to save me," I replied, smiling.
"M-Max, I really wanted to tell you… I just… couldn't find a time to do so…" Nikki said awkwardly.
"I mean, given the circumstances, I can understand why you couldn't tell me. But, if I'm being completely honest here, I really thought about how much we've gone through while we were up there. And it made me think about how lucky I am that I had someone like you in my life. And the only thing that I want now is to be by your side no matter what," I said as I kneeled down in front of her. Nikki's face immediately turned bright red as I took out a small black box.
"M-M-Max?" Nikki asked before I opened the box, revealing a beautiful ring with a sapphire on it inside.
"Nikki Ann-Marie… will you marry me?" I asked, making Nikki's eyes well up with tears of joy until she knelt down and hugged me tightly.
"YES! Yes, I will marry you!" Nikki said cheerfully as we both stood back up and passionately kissed each other. But, as we were kissing, a sudden flash grabbed our attention and we turned to see Justin with his phone in hand, as well as the rest of our friends, who all had smiles on their faces.
"Aww… that's so sweet," Zero Two said. I just smiled and turned back to Nikki before I kissed her again. I know that this sounds kind of like a fairytale ending, but we both knew it would be anything but that kind of ending. There would still be challenges along the road. There would be obstacles that we would have to overcome. But I was confident that whatever life threw at us, no matter how good or how bad it was, we would face them together.
And it was up to us to make the right decisions down the road we paved.
The End.
Editor's Note: I want to thank you all for reading HuniePop: Space Adventures. This story was really fun to make, and I really appreciate the feedback and support that you all gave me. There will still be an epilogue that will set up the next story arc and I will be working on it once I finish the Double Date arc. Thank you all for your loving support and I hope you enjoyed reading this story!
