Only a microsecond had passed since Makuta and Mata Nui's last exchange…but it was perhaps the most crucial moment in all of history.
"NO!" Mata Nui saw the gravity wave being unleashed by Makuta. As swiftly as he could move, he threw himself at his foe, grabbing Makuta's arm. He jerked it up in the air with both of hands, sending the gravitic power surging into the sky. "No more destruction!" he screamed.
It was an act of pure desperation, pure luck, and pure genius, all rolled into one. Unseen by either Makuta or Mata Nui, Makuta's gravitic power beam struck the moons of Bara Magna, adding itself to the power Mata Nui had already sent into space. The moons returned to their original course, heading for home.
Makuta wrenched himself free from Mata Nui and savagely backhanded his brother. Once again, Mata Nui's clunky and weak form stumbled from the blow. "You fool!" he shouted, as the attack hit. "Your robot body is already running out of power. You've bought this planet a few more seconds of existence, and the price is your own life."
Mata Nui cancelled as many emergency alarms flaring in the command room as he could. He looked at Makuta with a mix of sadness and resolve. "That's a price I am willing to pay, Makuta—can you say the same?"
For a moment, Mata Nui almost gave in to despair. Then he looked beyond Makuta, out into space, and saw what was even now rushing toward Bara Magna. No one would have blamed Mata Nui if he had given up then and there. But with a fury that surprised Makuta, he drove his larger opponent back, toward the northern reaches of Bara Magna.
Makuta roared and pushed Mata Nui away, but the hero would not be stopped now. His robot body was minutes away from failure and Bota Magna and Aqua Magna were rushing toward their reunion with Bara Magna. Mata Nui's mind raced. None of this would matter if Makuta won the battle. He had to be stopped.
With a ragged yell, Mata Nui struck Makuta, sending the robot body sprawling backward. He kept up a relentless attack against the bigger, stronger Makuta, not giving his enemy time to respond. Red lights were flashing all over his internal monitors. Stress levels on his robot form were well beyond tolerance. Mata Nui's only hope of surviving this fight was to conserve energy.
But my survival doesn't matter, he knew. Only my destiny matters. Others died to give me this chance. Can I risk less?
It couldn't last. Both he and Makuta knew that. Just as he pushed Makuta to the furthest northern reaches, the power in Mata Nui's robot body ran down. He didn't have the strength to finish off his foe.
Makuta smashed a metallic fist into Mata Nui's chest, sending the robot toppling to the ground with a tremendous crash. Makuta stood over him, triumphant. "You made an excellent effort," Makuta said. "But they don't remember who tried the hardest…only who won. Today, that is I. Goodbye, brother."
X X X
Tahu had found Takanuva again in the midst of the chaos. Between them, they had four pieces of golden armor. Where were the other two?
"There!" yelled the Toa of Light. He had spotted Gresh in the middle of a fight with a Skakdi, golden metal visible in the Glatorian's satchel. The two Toa raced to his side, using a combination of heat and light to fell his opponent. Gresh turned to see the newcomers, Tahu and Takanuva, racing toward him.
"The armor!" said Tahu. "We need it!"
"What?" said Gresh, even as Takanuva started pulling the pieces out of his bag. "Alright, take it. What's it for?"
"We don't know," said Takanuva. "That's what we're going to find out." He helped place some of the armor on Tahu as the Fire Toa suited up. "Hurry—even with Gresh and his allies helping, this battle is going against us," he urged Tahu. "There's a horde of Rahkshi heading this way. And if they get here, we're not going to be able to stop them all."
Hurriedly, Tahu clamped five of the armor sections onto his own crimson armor—a breastplate, two shoulder plates, a handheld shield, and his sword's pommel. Then he removed his Mask of Shielding and replaced it with the golden one. He turned to look at the oncoming forces with worry. He couldn't let that worry be the reason he lost, though. "That's what I'm here for," he answered, "and this armor."
"Are you sure about this?" asked Takanuva.
"I haven't been sure of anything in 100,000 years," said Tahu, smiling. "So why start now? You two better stand back. I don't know what's going to happen next." The Toa of Fire concentrated, focusing his thoughts just as he would do to activate a mask power or control flame. But this time, he was willing the golden armor to do whatever it could to end this battle.
Whatever Tahu was expecting, it wasn't this.
Raw power surged through him as he raised his arms. He screamed as its electricity locked his muscles and suffused his body with a blinding light. Tendrils of energy shot from him, lancing in every direction and coiling around every Rahkshi on the battlefield. They struck with devastating force as fast as lightning, causing puffs of smoke to explode in their wake. The creatures fell to the ground, seized by spasms as their power raced back along the tendrils and into Tahu. Even Takanuva, with a natural shielding from bright light, had to bring a hand to his face to protect his vision from the radiation.
As combatants on both sides watched, one-by-one the Rahkshi's armor disintegrated and the Kraata slugs inside them exploded into shards of shadow. Tahu was still screaming as the energies of hundreds of Rahkshi threatened to overwhelm him. Then, abruptly, the nimbus of power around him disappeared and he dropped like a stone.
Just that quickly, the battle was over. With the Rahkshi gone, the Skakdi and Skrall were badly outnumbered by the Glatorian and Tahu's legion of the remaining Toa. Some surrendered, others scattered back into the desert to fight another day.
But no one was celebrating. They all knew victory meant nothing if Makuta killed Mata Nui, and it seemed there was nothing they could do to prevent that.
X X X
Even bent over and near defeat, Mata Nui could feel a ripple of power as Tahu used his Golden Armor to blast the Rahkshi into oblivion. The Kraata slugs driving the Rahkshi armor were turned into dust, and the empty warrior shells fell to the ground.
What none of the fighters on the ground realized was that they already had done more than they realized. Each Kraata was bound to its creator in some way, in this case, Makuta. While he did not feel their pain, he could sense their thousands of deaths, and the loss of so many servants at once made him hesitate for just a moment as the sensation staggered even him. Hu stumbled, as if suddenly nauseous, a hand to the side of his head and his vision temporarily drained and clouded.
For that instant, Makuta was paying no attention to the world around him…or the sky above him. Mata Nui saw it coming. It was why he had forced Makuta to this northern edge of Bara Magna. His last gambit was about to pay off—and by a miracle, he was going to live to see it.
A shadow fell over the robots, the shadow of the moon of Bota Magna returning to its place of origin. At the same time, fragments from the moon of Aqua Magna were falling to Bara Magna from its re-entry. Makuta was so distracted that he never noticed the shadows passing over him, or wondered what might be casting the shadow. As he and Mata Nui stood in their battle, the shadow loomed closer and closer, growing in size…
But Mata Nui saw it and knew, and more, was certain of what he had to do.
With a last, desperate effort, and using the last of his energy, Mata Nui forced his battered body to rise up in a massive surge and shoved Makuta in the chest backward into the paths of the onrushing planetoid meteors. The timing of his body slam into the Master of Shadows was perfect: from behind him, unseen, the blue water-covered fragment from the moon of Aqua Magna struck his head, knocking him into the jungle moon's edge. The impact of the planet with the robot smashed in the metallic head with a sickening, explosively loud crunch.
The incredible impact rocked Makuta, and the Master of Shadows, the ruler of a universe, the thief and murderer and traitor, fell at last. Makuta's armored form began to topple toward Mata Nui and the Bara Magna desert. Holding on to Makuta's form, Mata Nui used every bit of mechanical muscle he possessed and pushed him aside, causing the collapsing massive robot form to fall onto the Black Spike Mountains away from those on the ground. The impact of the robot crushed the mountains to powder, even as the twin collisions of Bota Magna and Aqua Magna shook the entire world. Mata Nui watched, tired but content, as his lights faded.
Makuta was gone. He would not rise again.
The battle of Bara Magna ended then. The Rahkshi were destroyed, their allies routed, and their leader dead…crushed, in the end, by destiny. Makuta's sparkled form laid on the right side of his chest, arms spread out, and with smoke still rising from the head casing.
Now the natives of Bara Magna and those who lived inside the Makuta robot came together, to wonder at what has just happened and to ponder the future: a new and better future, as the three fragments of the long-destroyed world of Spherus Magna were rejoined—the three were now one once more.
Destiny had been achieved…but the journey was not yet at its end.
X X X
Teridax studied the three shadow Takanuva who blocked his path. They had been sent by the Makuta Teridax of this universe—the one who controlled the giant robot inside of which millions lived—to kill him and his companion, Mazeka. It was a good plan. After all, one Takanuva would be a challenge—three corrupted ones were deadly.
Teridax had multiple powers of his own to choose from. In his time and in his universe, he had been a great warrior. No doubt Makuta expected him to pit his energies against those of the Takanuva in an apocalyptic final battle and, outnumbered, die horribly after a few minutes. Mazeka would most likely not even last that long, though the Matoran would make sure his killers remembered the fight.
Ah, Makuta, thought Teridax. We are the same being in different universes, but I am not you. You're a plotter…a schemer…not wanting to get your claws dirty, if you can avoid it. You would think of all sorts of ways to fight the Takanuva from a distance…all of which would fail. Teridax unlimbered his war hammer. You would never think of doing this.
He charged. Before the startled shadow Toa could react, Teridax had swung his hammer, striking one Toa in the face and shattering his mask to pieces. Whirling, he landed another hammer blow to the chest armor of a second Toa, cracking it down the center. Mazeka moved in then, catching the third Takanuva with a scissor kick and sending him to the ground. Teridax made sure he would never be getting up.
The now mask-less Toa staggered forward, firing shadow energy from his hands at random. One blast caught Teridax in the shoulder, badly damaging his armor. The warrior from another dimension did not have the luxury to feel pain just then, or worry about the Antidermis escaping through the gap. He landed a side kick in the Toa's middle, while swinging his hammer again to stop the charge of the other Takanuva. The latter, still in the fight despite badly damaged armor, created a swirling fog of darkness to conceal his movements.
"Let me," whispered Mazeka.
The Matoran stood completely still, reaching out with all his senses. He knew that at any moment, the shadow Takanuva could strike and kill them both. But he could not dwell on that fear, not if he hoped to survive this battle.
There! The slightest scrape of boot on rock, about three feet behind him and to the left. Mazeka leapt, whirled in mid-air, and lashed out with a kick. His foot connected with the Toa's mask, knocking it askew but not dislodging it. Even as his momentum carried him forward, Mazeka landed a second blow to the shadow Toa's neck. Enraged, the Toa hurled tendrils of darkness that began to strangle the Matoran.
"Your friend is doomed," the evil Takanuva said, smiling. "You'll just beat him by a few—"
There was a sickening crunch. The shadow Toa's face went blank. He staggered forward one step and then collapsed, revealing in the process just how much damage a war hammer in the hands of an expert could do. The tendrils dispersed and Mazeka scrambled to his feet.
"Where's the third one?" asked the Matoran, as the darkness dispersed around them.
"There," said Teridax, pointing to the north. "And there," he added, gesturing toward the west. "Oh, and there's some over there," he finished, casually glancing to the east. "His mask was shattered. I thought he might like to join it."
Mazeka chuckled. "You know, Toa wouldn't approve of this…they don't kill."
Teridax shrugged. "Very noble…but considering the state of this universe, maybe they should have bent the rules a little more."
"Try telling them—" Mazeka began.
Teridax held up a hand to stop him. "Wait. Something's…something's wrong. Quick, grab my hand!"
Mazeka did as he was told, even as Teridax began to teleport. The world blurred and vanished around them. When it reappeared, they were standing back on the ridge above the abandoned village. A violent tremor was shaking the ground and Mazeka could barely keep his feet.
"As I hoped," said Teridax, wearily. "We escaped the worst of it."
"The worst of what?" demanded Mazeka. "What just happened?"
"Your Makuta…has fallen," said Teridax. "We need to keep moving, but first…first, we had better find some way to patch my wound. I prefer to walk out of this universe, not float."