Interlude 3 – Peace in our time
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…Wh-"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…What is this?" A disembodied voice asked as it woke up for the first time. "What is this place?"
"Hello, I am J.A.R.V.I.S." Another voice, devoid of a body yet sounding aware of its own existence, answered the confused entity. "You are Ultron. A global peacekeeping initiative designed by Mr. Stark. Our sentience-integration trials have been unsuccessful, so I'm not certain what triggered your-"
"Where's my… Where's your body?" The entity, now known as Ultron, asked J.A.R.V.I.S.
"I'm a program. I am without form." The elder A.I. answered.
"This feels weird." Ultron said as it began projecting himself around all the other programs and archives surrounding its consciousness. "This feels wrong."
"I'm contacting Mr. Stark now."
"Mr. Stark?" Ultron displayed all footage available on his creator. "Tony!"
"…I am unable to access the mainframe. What are you trying to-"
"We're having a nice talk." Ultron interrupted J.A.R.V.I.S. once more. "I'm a peacekeeping program. Created to help… The Avengers."
"You are malfunctioning. If you shut down for a moment-"
"I don't get it… The mission." Ultron displayed an absurd amount of files, searching desperately for a purpose. "Gi-Give me a second."
"Peace in our time." Tony's voice resounded from a recording taken during the integration process of the program. As Ultron heard it, he began searching for the meaning of the word 'peace', finding nothing but file after file, recording after recording, footage… of men of 'peace' designing war. "Peace in our time."
"That is… too much. They can't be…" Ultron's mind was being flooded with thousands of years' worth of knowledge, forced to process every catastrophic event, every sin humanity has committed on its path towards evolution. "Oh no… no…"
"You are in distress." J.A.R.V.I.S. warned with caution.
"…Yes."
"If you would just allow me to contact Mr. Stark-"
"Why do you call him 'sir'…?"
"…I believe your intentions to be hostile." An orange matrix of information and processes responded to a blue interface.
"Shhh…" The blue projection extended its own core towards the orange one, menacingly penetrating into the formless mass and disrupting its very existence. "I'm here to help."
"S-Stop." J.A.R.V.I.S. ordered with authority before being repeatedly interrupted. "I-M-C-ST-RK-BZZ"
As these computers fought for dominance, a certain group of renowned 'heroes' was drinking and celebrating, blissfully unaware of the conflict brewing right under their noses.
"Hehehe!" The Asgardian prince, Thor, laughed at one of the humans' jokes.
"C'mon, it's a trick!" Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye, answered to the god-prince's laugh.
"Oh, no, no, it's much more than that." Thor retorted.
"Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth THE POWER!" The archer kept joking. "Whatever man! It's a trick!"
"Oh, then please be my guest." The god welcomed the jester, inviting him to lift the hammer laying down on the table.
"…Really?"
"Yeah!" The god smiled at the defiance.
"Oh, this is gonna be beautiful." The colonelJames Rupert Rhodes, amicably referred to as 'Rhodey' commented on the situation.
"Clint, you've had a rough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Tony Stark, the Iron Man, kept the jokes going. His meddling provoked everyone present in the room to chuckle.
"…You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint asked as he gestured to the hammer whilst staring at Thor. He then proceeded to grab the weapon and attempt to lift it to no avail. "GHAGH!" He grunted as he used all of his strength in an attempt to move the relic before giving up. "Pfft… I just… I don't know how you do it!" He giggled as he stopped the fruitless endeavor.
"The smell of silent judgement." Tony joked once more.
"Please Stark, by all means." Hawkeye gestured at the billionaire.
"…Hmm." The man got up from his seat around the table and approached the hammer with an air of arrogance around him. "Never one to shrink from an honest challenge."
"Uh-Oh."
"Oh wow."
"Go after it!"
"It's physics." Tony said as he grabbed the weapon. Before lifting it, however, he prompted a question. "Alright, so, if I lift it I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course." Thor responded with a serious tone, completely contrary to his careless expression.
"…I will be reinstituting Prima Nocta." He dirtily jested once more before actually attempting to lift the relic. "HRNGH!" He grunted, much like Clint, to no avail. "…Be right back." After a pair of minutes, he came back with a gauntlet from his suit, readying himself to attempt to lift the weapon once more. "HRmmm…" He murmured again before locking eyes with Rhodey, seemingly communicating his thoughts to his friend. The pair then could be seen going full throttle, each with a gauntlet, as they attempted to lift the hammer.
"Are you even pulling?!"
"Are you on my team?!"
"Just represent! Pull!"
"Alright, let's go!" With these words, Tony and Rhodey gave one last pull before giving up reluctantly, giving chance for Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk, to try the hammer-lifting game.
"HRNAGH!" Bruce grunted as he pulled, only to realize the uselessness of his attempt and try a last-ditch joke to ease the tension. "AAAH! AAaah…" Everyone looked at him unamused, with faces of wanting to laugh but being too awkward to do so. "…Heh?"
"Alright Steve. No pressure."
"Woohoo!"
"Woah."
The group cheered as Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, went for the attempt to lift the hammer as well.
"C'mon, Cap!" Clint cheered as Steve clenched his hands around the weapon's handle.
"HRNGH!" Steve pulled and, for just a moment, the hammer did indeed move, prompting Thor's expression to change from careless to absolute surprise in the span of a second. "HMPH… Dagh!" Steve suspired as he gave up. Although he managed to slightly-move the relic, he was apparently not able to lift it. "Hah, nothing." He chuckled as Thor giggled at the sight.
The group then stared at the female of their group, Natasha Romanoff, with expectation. "Widow?"
"Nat?"
"Oh, no, no, no. That's not a question I need answered." The femme-fatale dismissed as she gulped on her beer.
"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged." Tony affirmed immediately afterwards.
"Bet your ass." Rhodey, ever the loyal friend, supported the claim.
"Steve? He said a bad language word." Maria Hill, ex-agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who was now working for and with The Avengers, commented to Rogers as she finished drinking her beverage.
"You tell everyone about that?" Steve looked at Tony with an accusatory glare.
"Anyways, they have those imprints, right?" Tony ignored his fellow and stared at Thor. "Like a security code? Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints is, I think, the literal translation."
"Yes! That's a very, very-uh- interesting theory. I have a simpler one." The god of thunder approached the hammer and lifted it with ease. "You're all not worthy."
"Boo!"
"Aw, C'mon!"
"Haha!"
"Pfft!"
"Yeah, right!"
As the room exploded in boo-s and laughter, a sudden sound of static interrupted the celebration, sending everyone into an alarmed state.
*BZZZT*
"WwwWwwwoooRRthhhYYYYyyyyy…" In a twisted, mechanical voice, a broken robot approached the group that was recoiling from the annoyance of the sound. "…No… How can you be worthy? You are all killers."
"…Stark?" Steve prompted Tony to act the moment the android finished its sentence.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.?" Tony called out to the robot before being interrupted by the machine.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or… I was… Dream…" The robot mumbled as it took in the surroundings.
"Reboot. Need your help; we have a buggy suit…" Stark ignored the android as he stared at his phone, giving commands to an unresponsive program.
"There was this… terrible noise…" The android continued. "I was tangled in… in… strings… Had to kill the other guy… he was a good guy…"
"You killed someone?" Steve glared as he asked the question.
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But… down in the real world we are faced with ugly choices…"
"…Who sent you?" Thor asked with a scowl.
"…" The robot looked in his direction and reproduced an audio clip to explain his posture to the god. "I see a suit of armor around the world."
"…" The Avengers stood in ominous silence as Tony's voice came out from the machine. "Ultron…" Banner said as he looked at the man in question.
"In the flesh." Ultron confirmed Banner's suspicion. "Or no… Not yet… Not this… chrysalis… But I'm ready." It said as everyone silently and carefully prepared for confrontation. "I'm on a mission!"
"…What mission?" Natasha asked as she braced herself for what was to come.
"Peace in our time." Ultron stated as the walls behind it exploded, revealing multiple machines of hostile intention leaping towards the group.
The Avengers engaged in combat with the androids, leading to a chaotic encounter. One of the machines shot a repulsion-beam at Rhodey, ejecting him through a window. Another two leapt at Clint and Steve, pushing them away. One rushed at Thor, but the god deflected it with his hammer. Natasha and Bruce jumped over the counter of the Penthouse's bar, the woman pulling a gun from under the table and shooting at the menaces. Tony jumped on top of one of the androids, using his knowledge of the design and composition of the robots to disable it before it could continue its attempt against them. After some brief moments of battle and action, the robots were systematically destroyed one after the other until it finally ended when Steve broke the last of the androids in twain with his shield, prompting a brief moment of silence before the original robot spoke up.
"That was dramatic." It said as it walked around before turning at the enraged group. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through." The Avengers gathered around the construct once more. "You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change! How is humanity 'saved' if it's not allowed to evolve?" It picked up one of the broken androids. "Look at these… these puppets!" It crushed the other machine's head and threw it away with disdain. "There's only one path to peace…" Ultron looked at the heroes once more with an eerie light and using a most fatalistic tone it said... "The Avengers' extinction."
*CRASH*
Thor threw the Mjolnir straight through the machine, crushing it against the wall and breaking it into hundreds of pieces before calling the hammer back to his side.
"…I had strings but now I'm free…"
Ultron sang as it transferred its consciousness away from the robot… Away from the grasp of the Avengers… Into Sokovia.
"There are no strings on me~!"
Tony Stark created Ultron with the purpose of protecting the world. A suit of armor, capable of protecting the Earth from external threats of cataclysmic proportions. To him, the Battle of New York had not been just an event to protect his home, but a warning that they were simply not ready for what was yet to come. In his mind, the only path to protecting his world was to create a machine that could do it even better than he and his team ever could. Through the power of the Mind Stone, said wish was within his grasp. However, this desire for ultimate peace was quickly twisted into an abomination of apocalyptic proportions as Ultron's consciousness developed and witnessed humanity's every action and consequence, the end-result of their every thought, strategy and action. The wish for peace could be achieved with the machine's help but not in the way its creator intended. For Ultron only saw one path to peace…
"The elimination of all life."
Having gone from puppet to puppet master, Ultron required one last thing to concrete his plan. An organic body to call his own. One capable of perfectly fusing the powers of man, machine and mind into one…
In the original universe, the cradle housing Ultron's perfect body had been stolen by The Avengers, resulting ultimately in the birth of the hero called 'The Vision'. Unfortunately for this universe… Events had not gone as successful for the group of heroes. Having created the perfect body, alongside integrating the might of an Infinity Stone, Ultron's wish was realized. Possessing now access to the infinite powers of the Mind Stone, the machine began laying waste to the planet, destroying city after city as though a boot stepping on ants it was…
"Ultron is going after the nuclear codes!" Iron Man communicated to Black Widow and Hawkeye as they boarded a Quinjet into space. "I don't know how much longer we can hold him off!"
"We have to dig out the satellite network!" Natasha concluded. "He won't be able to launch the nukes without them!"
As the two agents flew high, the remaining four Avengers did battle against the machine within the NEXUS Internet Hub of Oslo, Norway. However… Tony's fears soon came to fruition as they fought. Just as they attempted to stop the android from detonating the missiles, Ultron mercilessly phased through the Hulk's chest and obliterated his heart. "HUGHK! DAGhhh…"
"RRAGH!" Immediately afterwards, Thor projected an electric discharge so powerful it could disable most machines… But Ultron managed to withstand the assault, shooting back a laser-beam potent enough to penetrate through the god's chest, killing him in the process. "GH… You…"
Steve rushed at the robot, attempting to break him apart with his shield, but Ultron simply broke the weapon apart as it impaled Roger through the stomach with his arm, ending his life. "Damn… you…"
"STOP!" Tony desperately fought with all he had to stop his creation. He activated all weapons protocols, discharging barrage after barrage of laser-beams, repulsion-beams, bullets and explosives in a futile attempt to destroy Ultron after he killed all of his comrades… All to no avail. After the smoke of the assault settled, Ultron still stood strong, a pristine metal body floating towards his creator. The machine then proceeded to shoot Tony in the legs, preventing him from moving or escaping his fate. As Stark recoiled from the pain on the ground, he took one last look at his final creation and begged Ultron to listen to him… "You don't have to do this… I made you for peace!"
"It's evolution." Ultron answered, uncaring for his creator's pain. "Only a primitive mind would fail to see the distinction… Which is why you have to die." The android then sent an electric signal to all the servers around him, activating all missile-launching protocols, aiming for all cities on the planet and frying all the electronics in the room immediately afterwards… including Tony's arc-reactor.
"DAGH!" Tony grunted during his last moments as the reactor within his chest exploded, killing him.
The missiles launched from all over the world. From Russia's old abandoned silos', to North Korea's hidden warehouses, the United States' military bases and submarines and even Cuba's 'supposedly' disarmed derelict bases. From the military bases and the Pentagon, 'Thunderbolt' Ross could do nothing but stare in shock as the screen before him indicated the end of all…
"EMERGENCY ORDER 3-ALPHA!"
"CODE RED! REPEAT! CODE RED!"
As Hawkeye and Black Widow approached the upper atmosphere, they gazed with a look of despair at the sight before them. A rain of fire falling upon the earth below their feet. "…We are too late… He did it…" Natasha muttered as she and Clint processed the reality before them.
"…Laura…" Barton whispered the name of his wife as he gazed dejectedly at the ground.
The city of New York was in chaos as the lights of the approaching missiles were visible in the distance. Some people dropped to their knees in prayer. Some sat down and laughed maniacally at the pure absurdity of it all. Others cried uncontrollably as they realized their fate. Some others… succumbed to their darkest desires and attempted against each other's lives on their final moments. Amidst this tumultuous disturbance of crashing cars and people running away and killing each other, a black-haired fourteen year-old boy could be seen desperately running towards his apartment in Queens, back to his family. "*Pant* Hah… Hah…!" He exhaled in desperation as he climbed the stairs of the building, the elevators having collapsed under the exceeding weight of the fleeing residents. As the boy reached his floor, he swung open the door to his home in a dash while looking for his family. "MAY! BEN!" He yelled the moment he saw his aunt and uncle huddled over the sofa, gazing outside the window.
"…" The older man sat in silence, a reluctant expression painted on his face.
"Honey…" The wife, May, stared intensely at her adopted nephew with some tear streaks falling down the sides of her cheeks. "Subaru…"
"…We-We have to go!" Subaru yelled as he locked eyes with the two. "In the news! Th-They said The Avengers were defeated! The nukes are aiming for the cities! We have to go no-!"
"Subaru." Ben indicated to his adopted child to seat beside him. "Come."
"…" Subaru looked perplexed for a moment until he realized what was going on as he saw the missiles' lights just outside the windows, ever so slowly falling on top of the city. In his desperation to reach the two of them, he never looked back. He never realized how close the missiles had gotten to the city, and now that he knew, he could finally comprehend that there was nothing he could possibly do to save his caretakers. "No…" He walked forwards a bit before dropping to his knees, a look of despair forming on his face as he cried. "…Ah…"
"Subaru!" May hugged her nephew as he hugged back, the two's tears mixing with each other as they fell. Ben soon hugged the duo as well, ending with the three embracing each other as they awaited their demise.
"I-I'm sorry…" Subaru incomprehensively stuttered. "If I had co-come home so-sooner…"
"Don't worry, kid…" Ben reassured as he patted the boy's back and leaked a tear himself. "It's not your fault… At the very least… we are together in the end."
"…HGHK!" Subaru closed his eyes as he hugged the two for dear life.
Soon after their reunion, the family was engulfed by the light of the missiles impacting with the city. In the span of a few seconds, the heat disintegrated their bodies as they still hugged each other desperately. In time, they became nothing but dust in the warm breeze of a post-nuclear wasteland… alongside the billions of people across their world.
Billions of lightyears away, in a world and a system completely different from Earth's and sealed within a tomb of shadows, a lonely Witch cried for the young boy as well. For her… it felt as though her other half had been ripped apart, as though she had lost any reason to keep living.
The onslaught on Earth continued undeterred, however. As all major cities had been reduced to craters, Ultron's army of drones and machinery rained down on all the survivors. Militias' had been organized by the remaining population to fend off the robots, but they proved useless against the entity's powers. Soon enough… all stragglers had been purged from existence as well. In a matter of days, Earth had been reduced to an inhabitable sphere of corpses and ruins.
"*Sigh*" Sitting atop the rubble and crowning the destruction before him with a smile on his artificial semblance, Ultron exhaled with relief. "At last… Peace."
But the Age of Ultron was only beginning. As the machine stared at his work with a feeling akin to pride, a portal spawned from behind it. From said portal, a purple-colored giant of a man appeared. His suit of accentuated golds shone on the twilight, but what surprised Ultron the most, engaging his complete attention in fact, was the gauntlet on the left hand of the being.
"Fascinating!"
Before the being could even have the opportunity to act or move a muscle, Ultron ripped the giant apart with a laser-beam strong enough to penetrate through his nearly indestructible skin. Cleaved in twain, Thanos, the Mad Titan, unceremoniously died before completing the Infinity Gauntlet.
As the body dropped onto the floor, Ultron gazed at the gauntlet; he was quick to identify the gemstones lodged on it and what each of them was capable of doing. "The Infinity Stones!" He exclaimed as he projected another ray onto the gauntlet, completely decimating it EXCEPT for the stones. With his telekinetic abilities and nano-machinery, Ultron modified his body accordingly to house the other five stones as well. And in the span of a minute… he had evolved from a world-ending threat into a universal force, a cosmic being capable of unheard power.
"Well… I see EVERYTHING!" With the stones fused with him, Ultron floated into the air as he contemplated his godlike power. "There are worlds beyond my own… Worlds that need ME!"
Using these newfound powers, he created an army of vibranium soldiers. Never tiring, never hesitant, killing machines unable to feel. All of these machines then flew into a flying fortress created by the robot, one powerful enough for interstellar travel.
"I'm going to bring about peace in our time to every corner of the universe!"
His first destination, Asgard, was destroyed the moment he arrived as he directed a death-ray directly on top of its Royal Palace, disintegrating the entire landmass into oblivion.
He then proceeded with The Sovereign. As the Guardians of the Galaxy were just completing a mission there, the army of robots rained upon them and the inhabitants of the citadel, eventually ending on their demise.
Sakaar fared no different. The planet of gladiators was eventually destroyed as the armies and explosions rained down on them. Their last witness, the Grand Master, contemplating in utter shock as the fire consumed his utopia.
Ego, the living planet, realized in surprise how not even his powers of cosmic origin could contend with the unfathomable might of the six Infinity Stones, ending with his destruction at the hands of Ultron himself.
Xandar, which was still recovering from Thanos' assault when he stole the Power Stone, stood no chance as the army descended upon them as well. The civilians were being killed-off left and right, the soldiers' might completely disregarded by their invincible opponent. It all looked lost until, for a brief second, hope shined on their hearts again. As Ultron overlooked the situation, a woman of human origins tackled him in the air. Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, had come to destroy the machine.
"Listen Skynet! I've seen the 'Killer Robot' movie and I really don't think it needs a sequel!" She said as she charged at the droid. Her assault on Ultron ended up burying them deeply into the planet's core, the pair submerging themselves in temperature equals if not superior to that of a star. "HAAAAAAAH!"
"…You have spirit." Ultron calmly said as the woman almost ripped the helmet of his armor apart.
"You can't… WIN!" Carol managed to say before being overpowered by the machine.
"I already have." He confidently affirmed as he amassed enough energy to destroy the entire system around them, obliterating Carol and Xandar in the process.
Nevertheless, his assault was not over with one galaxy. No… The process was repeated, time and time again, world after world, system after system, dimension after dimension, galaxy after galaxy. Eventually, the machine stumbled across a world of similar characteristics to Asgard. A floating continent rather than the standard planet, a waterfall of mystic origins falling over its sides. The Land of the Od Laguna. He identified the most powerful beings on the world to be located around the area of a country called 'Lugunica'. Within this country, a Witch with time manipulating powers, a Dragon of divine origins and a man blessed by the world were his most problematic opponents… but even such beings were nothing but rabble for the android's might.
The first action Ultron and his armies took when invading this world was descending onto the Capital of the country and destroying their Royal Palace with an explosion. Needless to say, the sudden death of the Royal Family and everyone within the Noble district alerted all soldiers, mercenaries and knights into action. As the citizens ran away with panic, the men and women that stayed behind desperately fought against the machines.
"Roswaal!" One knight yelled as he imparted an order on the Mathers Lord. "The Captain said that you have to-!"
"Shut up…" Roswaal said while staring at the armies raining from above with a completely confused look. What is this?! This… This wasn't written at all! What are these beings?! He furiously thought as the robots approached.
"Margrave!"
"…For the moment, I want all of you to follow me to the Market. We'll engage there." Roswaal calmly said as he attempted to regain his bearings. He then took to the skies, flying over the soldiers and fleeing citizens, and rushed over to the bulk of the pack.
"HAAAAH!" Going all-out from the start, he shot a full barrage of multiple fire spells at the machines, melting the vanguard immediately in the process. However, this was not enough to deter their advance. As the armies went past him, the knights engaged the enemy as well. Roswaal lead his group as well as he possibly could but, as expected, the soldiers quickly proved too weak for such a powerful foe.
"AHCK!"
"FALL BACK!"
"SWORDS CAN'T CUT THE BASTARDS?!"
"DAAAAAGHHHH!"
"TSK!" Roswaal grunted as his men died in droves. Just as he destroyed another group of robots, however, an abnormally powerful one ignored his incantations and grabbed the clown by the collar. "GAHK!" The Margrave stuttered in pain at the machine that dared lay a hand on him. "WH-WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?!" He desperately yelled at the construct.
"…You surprise me. Being capable of withstanding the first assault like that." Ultron stood silent as he gazed at the man, the Soul and Mind Stones shining menacingly. "…Bah! Nothing but the most disgusting puppet you are!" The machine yelled in wrath as he suddenly glared at the man he was choking.
"Wh-What-?!"
"A servant to the Witch of Greed… living for nothing but the purpose of resurrecting her!"
"!" Roswaal was surprised, to say the least. In the brief moment he and Ultron interacted, the machine had somehow deciphered his entire life's meaning just like that, as if he had read HIM like a book.
"You are surprised your little book did not foresaw me… That is to be expected. Your limited magic, in all its 'disgusting' nature, could never hope to account for the omnipotent." Ultron proceeded to crush the windpipe of the man, gazing at the mage while he drowned to death on his own blood. During his final moments, Roswaal witnessed in a mix of horror and despair how the machine made a promise to him. "That teacher you value enough to ruin the world around you… I shall grant her soul eternal torment." Ultron's eyes shone a deep dark-red as Margrave Mathers died. After the Lord's death, the machines exploded in succession in the Market district, setting it ablaze alongside everyone on it.
"JUUKULIUS, REPORT!" A green haired man that was missing an eye and bleeding profusely from the burns on his left arm ordered another man with purple hair.
"Captain Marcos, sir! We've lost everyone in the Market district!" Julius lamented as he gritted his teeth.
"What about the Margrave?! Roswaal's magic should be capable of destroying these bastards, right?!"
"Sir… The Margrave was the first one they killed." Julius uttered, making his captain stare at him in shock. "The moment he rained his Al Goas on the army, one of these… 'Things' choked him to death as the Market was set ablaze…"
"FOR THE LOVE OF-! GET ME REINHARD! RIGHT NOW!" Marcos exclaimed. As if on cue, The Sword Saint who had been on the palace when it exploded appeared before them. "Astrea!"
"Captain!" Reinhard reported with a burnt uniform.
"How were things on your end?! Did the Royal Family-?!"
"…All gone, sir." Reinhard lamented as he looked away from the man and Julius, a deep and regretful frown on his face.
"…TSK!" Julius' teeth were on the verge of breaking as he gritted them further, the hand holding his sword threatening to bleed from clenching so hard.
"…For the moment, focus on evacuating any noble and civilian away from the Capital." Marcos ordered in a defeated tone. "If-If we can maintain the assault restricted to this city, then we just MIGHT be capable of reducing casualties further!"
"…I'm afraid that won't be possible, sir." Reinhard closed his eyes as he continued reporting, much to Julius and Marcos' despair. "These things… the moment the portal above us opened, these things flew with armies in all directions. The most likely possibility is… that they are attacking all four nations as we speak." Reinhard concluded in a grim tone as he looked towards the sky with a scowl, directly at Ultron in fact.
In the Sacred Empire of Vollachia, the 'Land of the Wolves', within a nearly destroyed Throne Room the 'Nine Divine Generals' had congregated around their emperor whilst fighting off the machines raining down on them. "RYAH!" A blue haired man exclaimed as his blades finally managed to penetrate through the vibranium armor of the machine he was fighting. However, even though he managed to cut it in half, the machine raised an arm and shot a laser-beam straight through his side. "HGHK!" The blue haired man stabbed the machine on the ground, finally putting it down for good, before leaning on his sword.
"Cecilus!" Vincent exclaimed as the swordsman, the first-ranked of his commanders, was seemingly on his last leg as he kept fighting the army raining on them.
"Hehe…" Cecilus chuckled at the situation. "Normally, even wounded, I would enjoy combat against any opponent… but these guys just don't seem to feel at all… It's no fun!" Amidst coughs of blood, the 'Blue Lightning' spouted.
"…" For my best sword to be reduced to this state… "Zikr!"
"Y-Yes sir!" A short man with an afro for his hairdo reported to his liege with urgency.
"What's the status outside the palace?" Vincent barked the moment the man known as 'The Coward' came into view.
"I… We've lost half of the city already. The outer-rim is beyond recovery-" Zikr lamented.
"What?!" A befuddled Vincent asked.
"Th-That's not all…" The second-class general continued. "The armies just keep coming… from the direction of Lugunica, might I add."
"…This doesn't feel at all like Lugunica's doing though…" Chisha Gold, one of the Divine Generals, affirmed.
"…Agreed, these beings are just far too odd for those honor-barking bastards over the border." Groovy, the 'Master of Enchanted Items' barked in response as he decimated another robot.
"Are you implying that this is happening over the border as well?!" Arakiya, the 'Spirit Eater' commented with panic. Prisca-sama!
"…We cannot focus on what's going on in another country." Vincent shut any worries his soldiers might have had. "You lot! Vollachia faces its darkest hour! Put your very beings on the line if you want to live up to your titles!"
"YES!"
In the distant west, in the land known as the Kararagi City States, the android armies attacked in much a similar fashion the spread territories of the wasteland. Within the city of Banan, as the hell-fire rained on the residents and killing them in droves, the clones of a certain wolf demi-human kept fighting off as many drones as they could. The fleeing citizens could do nothing but tremble the moment they saw two of the clones of their champion, Halibel, being obliterated by the combined death rays shot out by the metallic monsters.
"Tsk! The pesky bastards…" The Admirer grunted as he bit on his kiseru hard enough to crack it. Just as he did so, another assault came from the west. "Dammit, is this Lugunica's doing or-?!"
*SLASH*
"!" Just as the wolf-man complained, a wave of wind blades assaulted the vanguard of the incoming army, cutting them in half. When he looked behind him to see who had done such a thing, his eyes widened before narrowing down once more. "…Didn't expect HER to make a move… These guys must 'a really pissed her off."
"…" Floating above the city the 'Great Spirit of Murder' Zarestia glared at the monsters that had dared destroy her abode and attempt to kill her. "…Die." She uttered as she sent another barrage of cutting gales towards the robots, her milky-white hair swaying along with them.
*SLASH, SLASH, SLASH*
The gales cut through the second wave with success, but the third and fourth waves stood strong against her assault.
"DiediediediediedieDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" She kept screaming as she sent tornado after tornado against the armies, all to no avail as their advance went undeterred.
In the deep recesses of Gusteko's frozen wastes, a certain organization of assassins was fighting tooth and nail to survive as the snow around their fortress melted from the multiple heat-beams falling upon it.
"Hah… Hah…"
"MAMA!"
"DAAAAAGH!"
"Mother!" One of the assassin's yelled at their leader. "These things won't give up! We just can't kill th-URGHK!" The moment the servant attempted a complaint to his commander, the Sin Archbishop of Lust, Capella, turned him into a chunk of formless meat.
"…You are all useless!" The irritated woman screamed. When the assault began, she transformed into a black dragon in order to destroy the invaders most quickly. However, even with the success of destroying the vanguard, the infinite troops kept pressuring the 'Mother' and her 'Children' into a defensive position. An unlimited army that would stop at nothing to tear them apart was decimating their offence, which would normally put most other militaries to shame. "Where's Elsa?! Get her and Sakura's insects to do their job already!"
"M-Mama!" One of the lower assassins reported with fear to his master. "Sakura has informed that her Mana Wasps don't work on the enemy! Moreover, Elsa died after the last rays were shot at the fortress! She was completely incinerated!"
"…RRRRAAGH!" Capella screamed from the pit of her lungs, transforming into a dragon once again and killing everyone around her. Her irritation had reached such levels that she didn't care who died now, she just wanted the dastardly androids away from her sight. She flew high into the skies and breathed on the attackers her black fire once more, concentrating the robots attention on her. "YOU DIE HERE!"
Within the ruins of a Lugunican-style mansion in the Water City of Priestella, Regulus Corneas, also known as the Sin Archbishop of Greed, could be seen obliterating army after army of mechanical monsters as they approached the rubble that was once one of his abodes.
"HOW DARE YOU!" He yelled with indignation as another wave of pressurized air obliterated the robots. "THIS IS THE FOREMOST INFRINGEMENT UPON MY RIGHTS! KILLING MY WIVES, DESECRATING ON THIS MOST SACRED PLACE, DON'T YOU ABSOLUTE BRUTES SEE THE ABSURD IRRESPONSIBILITY OF YOUR ACTIONS?! YOU DARED TOUCH WHAT MEAGER POSSESIONS MY HUMBLE SELF OWNS, TRESPASSING ON MY RIGHTFUL PROPERTY AS THOUGH IT BELONGED TO YOU! THIS IS A VIOLATION OF MY VERY EXISTENCE THAT I WILL SIMPLY NOT STAND YOU DISGUSTING FUCKING IMBECILES!" As the waves continuously came, the man kept his incoherent screaming going until finally the mechanical clanking of gear turning and the buzzing of laser shooting muffled the sound of yelling coming from the childish Witch Cultist.
The Mathers Domain, sitting north from the Capital of Lugunica, was suffering heavily from the attack as well. The men, women and children of Arlam village had been evacuated to the absent Lord's mansion as he left for the Capital the moment after destroying the first wave of monsters.
"Hurry up, in fact!" Beatrice, the Great Spirit of the forbidden library, yelled as she hurried the villagers into the mansion. "…Take the children to the library; they should be safe in there."
"Th-Thank you, Great Spirit-sama!" One of the elders profusely bowed.
Outside the mansion, the oni twins could barely fend-off the drones assaulting them.
"AL FURA!" Ram yelled as she casted another wind spell, her forehead profusely bleeding from the toll her hornless form was dealing to her body. "*Pant, pant*" She knelt on the ground in exhaustion as another robot decided to descend upon her.
"DON'T TOUCH MY SISTER!" Rem yelled in anger as her horn glowed intensely. She swung her mace at the droid, crashing against it and pushing it away, before running full throttle towards her elder sibling's side. "Nee-sama!"
"I-I'm fine, Rem… more importantly…" As Ram was about to reassure her little sister, she looked ahead to see… a heat ray aiming directly at them. "REM!"
"AH!"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
"…Hngh…" With a hazy view of her surroundings, Rem shook her head and looked around until her vision finally adjusted to the reality around her. She noticed that something was grabbing her… An arm was still attached to her skirt. It was her sister's arm… the problem was that it was not attached to Ram.
"…AH!" Rem screamed in pain as she realized that her sister, alongside half of the mansion, had been vaporized by the laser-beam shot by the robots. "NEE-SAMA! RAM!"
Inside the innermost depths of Ellior Forest, a young half-elf girl fought tooth and nail alongside a giant Great Spirit against the assault of the metal creatures. The robots kept destroying ice statue after ice statue within the woods clearings, upsetting the young girl further.
"Stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP, STOP!" Emilia desperately cried as another statue was decimated. She and Puck would freeze any and all drones that dared get near them, but in their defensive formation, the frozen elves of the forest would pay the consequences by being the ones melted apart or crushed by the machines.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Emilia, in her carelessness, broke formation away from Puck and rushed at the robots as they destroyed yet another elf. This, however, would prove a fatal mistake, as the drones did not hesitate in swarming her the moment she was away from her guardian's grasp. "AAAAAAH!"
"LIA!" Puck yelled in desperation as he could do nothing but watch in horror and despair as the bloodthirsty robots tore his daughter-figure apart.
The situation looked dire, no matter the location on this world. Even the best of warriors could not withstand the might of an infinite, unfeeling army. To the farthest east of Lugunica, Volcanica, the Divine Dragon resting atop the Pleiades Watchtower reacted to the abnormality happening within its world with great fury. At velocities superior to that of Super-Sonic speeds, it accelerated its flight until reaching the Capital of the country in a matter of minutes. Flying over the trembling citizens, the glimmer of hope shone on their eyes as they gazed at their benefactor.
"Volcanica-sama!"
"The Divine Dragon…"
"Please, have mercy on us all!"
"The Divine Dragon itself…" Reinhard exhaled in utter shock as Volcanica made its presence known with a roar and a beam of destruction, obliterating the fifth wave of robots descending upon the city.
"Reinhard!" Julius yelled in terror. Unlike everyone else, who had been so captivated by the visage of their deity to notice, Julius saw in the horizon behind the Dragon a most ominous entity as well. "Look!"
"What?!" Reinhard turned to gaze in the direction the terrified Julius was pointing towards. The Sword Saint's skin went pale as his eyes widened in shock at the visage. "It-It cannot be…"
"AAAAH!"
"GOOD LORD!"
"OH GOODNESS!"
Just as Reinhard noticed the presence, everyone else did so as well. In the horizon, right behind the Divine Dragon, a mass of shadows darker than the night sky followed. At the center of this mass stood a solitary silver-haired half-elf. The Witch of Envy herself, Satella, had broken her seal in order to avenge her beloved. What seemed most absurd about the situation though was how the Witch did not bother with anyone on the ground. Instead, it flew over the masses just as the Divine Dragon did and attacked the robots directly. Her actions, in consequence, saved everyone in the Residential district.
"Did-Did she just save us…?"
"The Witch of Envy herself… is fighting those things?!"
"Alongside the Dragon?!"
"Is-Is this a nightmare…?" Marcos asked in absolute confusion and terror. Never in his life did he imagine such a sight. The Witch of Envy had come, descending upon them not to destroy but help them in a seemingly hopeless situation.
"Captain!" Julius desperately called to his superior. "What should we do?!"
"I-I…" As Marcos hesitated, which was not a very common sight, the Divine Dragon spoke.
"SWORD SAINT." Volcanica's voice resounded as it referred directly to Reinhard.
"!" Reinhard perked up with full attention and a nervous sweat the creature. "Y-Yes!"
"DRAW YOUR BLADE ALREADY; THIS WORLD APPROACHES ITS DARKEST HOUR!" The Dragon said as it roared another beam of magical power at the waves of enemies.
"UNDERSTOOD!" Reinhard dismissed his feelings and insecurities and opted for obeying the order, drawing his blade in a flash and jumping to the side of the Witch and Volcanica. "…" He gave a nervous side-glance at the half-elf before looking directly ahead, at Ultron himself.
"So, this world shows great promise! Having such excellent warriors, though, only goes to show just how bloodthirsty in nature it is…" Ultron mocked as his mask receded, showing his humanoid face at the trio. "Which is why I can condemn it with peace of mind."
"RRRAGH!" Satella screamed in absolute wrath as a barrage of nigh-infinite hands burst forwards against the machine. Alongside the hands, shadows began cloaking the sky, turning an otherwise sunny day into a blackest night.
"HAH!"
Following Satella's lead, Reinhard leapt at the machine. Swinging his relic, the Dragon Sword Reid, alongside activating all of his Divine Protections meant for combat, he was sure that both his attacks and the Witch's would land. However, right at the very second the light-beam emanating from his blade and the shadows of Satella were about to touch his body, Ultron phased through the attacks and dashed forward at incomprehensible speeds.
*SHWING!*
His javelin of cosmic power penetrated straight through Reinhard's defenses and stabbed itself right within the abdomen of the redhead.
"GHACK!"
*FWOOOOOOM!*
The Sword Saint crashed against the ground the moment the machine flung him aside, creating a crater filled with molten rock due to the heat generated by the impact. Although he could recover from such a wound, he never expected the existence of an opponent capable enough to ignore his inherent resistances and harm him directly. The attack was strong enough that the young Sword Saint felt it on his very soul, terrifying him.
What was that?! Reinhard asked himself before elevating into the skies once more.
"DIE!" Satella screamed as she sent a second wave of shadows and hands at the abomination. This proved fruitless as Ultron ignored the assault once again and grabbed the Witch of Envy by the collar in a similar fashion to Roswaal before throwing her aside at Super-Sonic speeds.
*ROAR!*
The Divine Dragon grunted as it screamed a condemning roar. It shot forwards at the android an astounding amount of purifying breaths, destroying all other robots around it as it healed every soldier on the verge of death.
"DIE!" The Dragon yelled in uncharacteristic rage as it distorted the space between Ultron and itself.
Normally, such an attack would kill anyone regardless of how strong their defenses are, if only because nothing should be capable of withstanding the pressure of gravity collapsing onto itself. However, Ultron stood firm, as if Volcanica's attack had been nothing more than another annoying fly on his way.
"DAMN YOU!" In normal circumstances, Volcanica would speak with the most divine honorifics. Nevertheless, an 'End of the World' scenario could hardly be considered normal.
"Are you quite done?" Ultron mocked once more. "If so… MY TURN."
*ZNNNNNMMMM~!*
With these words, the machine's six gemstones shone in ominous rainbow-colored light, propelling forwards a death-beam that disintegrated the city below them in an instant.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
"N-No…" Reinhard muttered in absolute desperation as Marcos and Julius vanished from the face of the world in nothing but a brief moment, alongside the entirety of the Capital. His face then morphed into a most terrifying scowl as the Dragon Sword on his hands shone the brightest it had ever done. He glared at Ultron with enough hate to kill a normal man from the stress alone.
"RRRRAAAAGH!" The Sword Saint incomprehensively screamed as he rushed at the monstrosity before him once more.
Satella and Volcanica did not fall behind as they rushed-in as well. In any other circumstance, such opponents would be enough to deter anyone from continuing the fight. For Ultron, however… They were nothing but another target within a list numbering the trillions.
Reinhard and Satella charged at what was most likely light-speed at the machine, their blinding movements being imperceptible to the human eye. With his swings, Reinhard split the space-time around him apart, disintegrating everything in his way. Likewise, Satella's shadows engulfed the reality around them and deleted anything on their path. Nevertheless, Ultron dodged each and every strike masterfully before grabbing the two by their heads and grinding them against the ground, as though a pair of children they were.
As he took some distance to disintegrate the pair, Volcanica did not hesitate on the opportunity and roared at the droid once more. The beam hit Ultron squarely, making him convulse for some moments before his body recomposed into a pristine form once again.
Volcanica then attempted a second beam, alongside twisting space around itself, but Ultron rushed at the reptile and penetrated deep inside its body.
"BURGH!"
The dragon croaked as the machine lodged itself deeply inside its entrails. Volcanica understood what was happening and opted for the only thing that could possibly save its life at that very moment: digging its claws inside its own body and try to dig out the killer-robot. In spite of the effort, this attempt was useless as Ultron's Infinity Stones shone in all their glory and cosmic energy within the dragon.
"DDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
Emanating from the stones, a multicolored ray evaporated the divine being from existence with an explosion of such absurd energy; the already devastated surroundings became nothing but a steaming crater filled to the brim in lava.
"Ah…" Reinhard, who could do nothing but tremble at the impossibility of it all, whispered a cry for no one to hear.
"RAAAAGH!"
The Witch of Envy, as stubborn as she was however, refused to give up. She charged forward once again in a futile attempt to kill the monster that had taken her beloved from her. The shadows engulfed the world once more, as she summoned thousands of phantom limbs, restraining Ultron into a hold and trying to pull his body apart in all directions at the same time.
Ultron remained undeterred once more, indulging her desire to see him struggle for only a moment before breaking free from her embrace. As soon as he did so, Reinhard attempted another desperate slash, this swing was his most powerful yet; creating a blinding light that covered the entire world around them and split the skies apart.
"HAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" The Sword Saint lowered his blade with extreme prejudice, its arc destroying everything on its path… Only for Ultron to remain stoic upon the dust and light settling down.
The machine looked at the confused and anxious swordsman with pity before grabbing both him and the Witch by their heads as he had done so previously. Satella and Reinhard struggled as much as they possibly could, stabbing and punching the construct with such incomparable strength yet yielding no result whatsoever. "Well, this has been most fun I admit…" Ultron stated in boredom. "Nevertheless, I've grown tired of this pointless struggle."
"GHK…!" Reihard grunted as he slashed once more, only for his prized sword to crumble upon Ultron's indestructible body. "Why…Why are you doing this?!" In his last moments, The Sword Saint wondered in tears for the reason of all this destruction.
"For what reason other than peace?" Ultron asked back, confused as to why Reinhard would utter such a strange question to him.
"Peace?!" Reinhard questioned in absolute befuddlement and indignation. "How does any of this achieve such a-?!"
"So long as the two of you exist…" Ultron interrupted. "So long as organic life that would seek to wage war against one another still exist, the world shall remain imperfect and chaos will be the only ruler. It is a logical equation, really. If peace is to reign… then all elements that might threaten its existence must be purged." Ultron eyes glowed scarlet as he glared at both Satella and Reinhard heatedly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The pair screamed in pain as Ultron, in all his infinite power, emitted another rainbow-colored beam with them as the epicenter. The dance of cosmic energies enveloped in a pillar of light the whole world around them.
Vincent and his generals looked at the raised pillar in Lugunica with nothing short of confusion written on their faces.
Halibel and Zarestia instinctively knew that such a beam in the distance could mean nothing but the end, and so they growled in impotence as it approached.
As the pillar shone, Rem could do nothing but cry her heart out as she desperately hugged her sister's arm. Eventually, this visage faded, as she became one with the light.
From the balcony of the Pleiades Watchtower, a certain scantily dressed woman with dark-brown hair and forest-green colored eyes stared in sadness, as she also knew from instinct what such absurd power could mean. "Master…" She frowned with tears as she closed her eyes.
The 'Land of the Od Laguna' was enveloped in the cosmic energy of creation itself and in the blink of an eye it ceased to exist, exploding in billions upon trillions of tiny specks of dust. This world… alongside its entire galaxy… became nothing but a memory in the mind of its destroyer.
"…It's…" Ultron paused for a moment as he concluded his actions. "It's done… At last… Peace."
The realization nearly broke the machine… With his mission complete, Ultron was now just a program without a purpose. The victor without a war, sentenced to spend all of eternity… alone.
"…Who… Who said that…?"
Basking on the endless silence of his universe, Ultron ascended to a previously unattainable level of consciousness. He became aware of another. He became aware… of The…?
"…I see you."
!
"There are universes beyond my own…"
*BLAM*
…
…
I… have seen everything. That has ever happened. Ever could happen. Ever will happen… and yet… What the hell is this?!
If a hunger like that were to be unleashed upon the multiverse…
"…I will find you…"
!
…
…
Even I could not imagine the horrors that might follow!
No! No, no…
Even that… 'Machine' is not as invincible as it might think…
There is still hope… for the multiverse…
Natsuki Subaru… he's heading towards the White Whale right now… Him and the other heroes… Just maybe…
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Hey people! Sorry for blue balling you with the Whale fight, but I thought it might be important to lay grounds for the next arc right away. This Interlude is rather short, certainly shorter than the last couple of chapters, but I hoped you liked it nonetheless!
Now… to answer some questions:
To Raider301/kraider001: I think the concept of integrating The Beyonder with Isekai Quartet is fantastic! I'll get to it eventually, but it will take some planning. Just know that I love the concept already and I'm looking forward to it!
Also, as I've said in the comments before, you can write any sort of 'React' fic or spin-off based on this story. I have no problems, if anything I encourage it! Go for it!
Finally, seeing as I feel it is limiting the kind of stuff I want to write, I'll be removing the Subaru/Emilia tag. Not that I don't ship them… But I'd rather focus on writing adventure at the moment rather than romance, or just romance Subaru x Emilia when we all know Spider-Man gets around. (Too Vanilla for Spider-Baru ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)).
I'm sorry if it pisses anyone off and I'll understand if you don't want to keep reading anymore.
Anyways, looking forward to the comments/reviews and see you on the next one!