Chapter 242: Unraveling of Order, in the Overture to the Sorrowful Skyfall!

While Doug was angered that Ben did not turn his dad back to normal right away, he decided there was enough going on to not cause a scene and decided to trust James at his word before going ahead to meet Gouken.

Doug was wondering if he was being set up, but quickly saw it was no trick as the moment he walked past Hallowed Bastion's gates he heard a familiar chuckle from the right." Well I'll be, on time for once eh boy? Well, guess you did not stop growing after all!"

Doug took a deep breath as he swerved around and saw an elderly yet very well-built man with a white beard and prayer beads around his neck sitting on a large rock that was clad in a single sleeved, gray-colored karate gi and sports a long, white braid of hair adorned with a single prayer bead.

The man was the master of the Ansatsuken karate style as well as the brother of the Master of the" School of the Undefeated of the East" who trained Max, Gouken. Doug quickly saw that Gouken was trained by long time students of his, Ryu, Kyo Kusanagi, Akira Yuki, Liu Kang, Jin Kazama and a few others were around the older man before he snickered." Yo dudes what's up? Sorry but even with how easy it would be don't have time for a mini Budokai right now with all that's going on."

Ryu saw Doug's casualness and grasped his fist." Doug, do you have not one ounce of shame in your body?"

"Tsc, sorry man gave it all away in the last blood donation." Doug retorted sharply, causing Ryu and the others to just look more annoyed." You shamed are master's school with your actions and the way you react is by piling on the insults!"

"Real funny Ryu." Doug spat out bitterly." You guys really must only care about image when you call me worst then Akuma just because I don't get in line like most of you!"

As Doug had his eye twitch in response Gouken sighed and put his hand up." Back down Ryu, this wild dog's playing yah like a fiddle. And, a broken clock can be right once a day because he's right. Right now he's right that Akuma still is a blight on our name for what he did to Goutetsu.

After all, he made the choice to willingly give into to the Satsui no Hado. Still Doug, I already thought you were pretty damn close to falling down path and that was before today! I only got a brief recap from Myers about what's been going down in that Battle-World joint and if your still here then things did not go totally to hell but damn it, time we have that long overdue talk!"

Doug saw Aqua, Axel, Jotaro and a few of the others that entered with him look tense before he just shrugged." Its fine, I knew this was coming. Go on without me while I own up to this."

Aqua saw Doug's eyes were calm before she smirked." That sounds more like the Doug I know, the Doug I missed. Very well, see you soon. A pleasure to see you again Master Gouken. With all due respect, please don't be to hard on Doug. He's made mistakes but, it was not entirely his fault."

"Heh, well we don't have time for the lad to be stone cold if this Beyonder punk shows his head but we will see how things go Aqua."

The blue haired Enji just nodded before she and her group went further into the base of the Enji. Once Gouken saw Aqua was out of his range the old man smirked." So it's true, Auro did rip the darkness out of your soul out or are you just behaving for your lady?"

"Heh, maybe a little of both old timer." Doug retorted as he crossed his arms." But I'll do this the easy way if you do since I sure as hell don't have time for more drama right now. I see you must be serious if you're not drinking."

"Heh…this is what happens when you stay out of touch for too long Doug." Gouken muttered bitterly." You miss things. Have to save drinking for the important stuff these days, otherwise my liver can't take it. I mean it's, UGH!"

Gouken started coughing violently suddenly, and as Ryu, Akira, and Lu Kang all went up to the older man Doug raised an eyebrow." Don't throw me this fake sick crap to make me feel bad Gouken! Ugh, between you and Myers it's like all the old men got the same damn cough this week! Between your training and all the advance stuff we got now a days no way you're going down to some damn cough."

"Heh, I'm touched at the vote of confidence Doug but don't think even masters like me and Myers can keep Death's Door slammed shut forever without just going for immortality like Auro and his girl.

Humanity, has its limits no matter how hard you push. Still, me and Myers are still trying to keep are contest going over who is the most resilient so I'm giving it all I got to not lose it.

Now to get back on topic, speaking of losing it, sounds like you lost it in a mighty big way my hotheaded pupil. But that being said, still missing parts of the story so if you would kindly fill me in so I know the right things to yell at yah about that would be nice."

Doug rolled his eyes before he looked up." I'd be lying if it's all on me, but I'm man enough to know I dropped the ball. Fine, I own you enough for you to know what happened."

The member of Squad 7 proceeded to talk about how he let his bitterness at not feeling respected over the past few years push him away from everyone. How after finding out a good chunk of his family turned into Necrocalcous and died as hated monsters he felt even more like the entire galactic society thought his bloodline was trash to the point where he could only talk to the illusion of Brad when he was drunk.

He then quickly talked about Battle-World, how he met the Joestar's and the others, and his brutal fights with Azrael, and Hypnos, till his brutal showdown with Dio Brando himself, where he confronted the Beyonder and managed to wrestle Dio's power for himself, gaining the power to at last be on the level of Ezan, Ben and the others.

He quickly talked about how after confronting Ben about the true nature of the Homeostasis's Axiom Matrix project Doug's temper erupted to the point where he killed Caulifla and fought everyone, and how he nearly went through with attempting to break the universe before Ben and Aqua forced his deepest repressed desire to have a child be revealed, weakening him enough for Ben to split his darkness from him to form the Chaotic Comedian.

As Doug quickly talked about how they escaped Battle world, Ben's fight with Goku and the betrayal of the Master of Masters and the God's of Destruction Gouken took it all in like he was meditating.

Just as Doug wondered if Gouken was nodding off his master chuckled." I have to admit Doug, it was impressive enough that you learned Kaio-Ken on your own but to think you were able to unleash the legendary Ultra Instinct skill that's not been seen in generations."

Ryu saw Doug shrug before he grasped his fist." How, how could someone who's so unfocused master such a legendary power so quickly?"

Doug saw Ryu and some of the others look disgruntled before he spat on the ground." What can I say dude? Guess I'm just a faster learner! Heh, but to be honest it sure as hell was not just my instincts.

The Beyonder gave me a boost that sure as hell was stronger than any Devil Gene, eh Kazama? When I split I lost a chunk of the power, but the boost he gave me still lasted."

"Heh, he may have gave you a chance to skip ahead oh, a million years or so but this still was the person you could be, if you can get your act together. Well Doug, you're on the thinnest line yet yah punk.

Myers and the others might forgive yah but if you tell others your dark half killed a Enji Master they will think you're crazy or something."

"I'm not looking for excuses Gouken." Doug spat back out." I know my own actions caused this so that's why I'm going to make sure my own darkness does not screw things up even more. If people want to blame me for this when its done then they can feel free. I'm keen on just vanishing from the public eye for a few years to let it all blow over."

"And do just what my wild pupil?" Gouken threw out cagily." Doug, this mess, at least the part from your end all started because frankly you don't know what you want. You kept howling for respect while acting like a wild dog baring at every damn thing in sight.

You turned down being part of my dojo to have your freedom. But from my end freedom has not made you happier. If you can only be happy when your punching someone's face in then, this could be a problem."

Doug looked at his own fists before he grasped them tightly." Damn it, I'm not like Akuma who will do anything just to reach a higher power level. And I know how we had a few things in common but damn it, I'm not like Brad! I refuse to be willing to do anything to anyone to have my way all the time. I just, I just wanted respect damn it."

"And pissing people off by stirring the pot is how you thought you would get respect boy?"

"Depends on who I was getting respect from old man. Did not care about the elites respecting me, but the respect of the common man that knew I was not going to let red tape stop me from helping them. Then, then they would all stop comparing me to, too."

"To your kin eh Doug?"

As the Enji flashed a bitter look Gouken put up a hand." Calm down Doug, just stating a fact. I found out what happened to your family Doug, and even if they did have enough darkness in their hearts to transform into demons, it flat out sucks that they all had to bite it like that. You should have talked to me about it, I know a thing or two about relatives going dark."

"Maybe, but did you have nearly your whole damn bloodline not only become dark, but die like rats, like scum no one even missed? When I found out what happened, I was pissed off as hell that there was not even a shot for them to be redeemed, and no way to take it out other than settling scores for people across the universe. I think, part of it is that even without fighting Ben, Lacus, James, and somehow even Ezan managed to find a place in a world without fighting.

But me, my only real talents are busting things up and moving things from one planet to another fast. And I been pulling it off but, these days delivery guys are not really special.

I admit, I did not want to be rich but I wanted to have a life that had purpose. I thought by taking risks and taking things back things for the little guy would do it, but sometimes I wonder if James and the others were right about things being able to be worked out."

"They could, if you had patience idiot. You're a god damn legendary hero who's buds with the savior of the god damn universe, that's a hell of a lot of clout. But you wanted the glory, like all impulsive fools. Tsc, but I'm not too mad about that Doug, life's about learning from your mistakes long as you, and those around yah live from them.

Still, if you want to help people, then you do realize your now one of the top ten fighters in the universe? If you shared what you knew to others, helping those that are down on the luck having the chance being able to stand their ground could do some good.

I know you did not want to be in my shadow but ever thinking of forming your own Dojo? Heh, long as you don't act like you learned your skills by yourself, I don't mind.

Seriously Doug, if you want to make a difference, then start with what your good at. Even in this time of peace, people need to know how to stand up for themselves. And if nothing else Doug, your damn good at that."

Doug smirked at realizing his master was praising him before he looked at the Enji base above." Well, not everyone can learn the moves as quickly as yours truly but, who knows? I thought about it a few times, figured in a time of peace it would be wasting time. But then again, the long picture was never my game.

Just making sure guys like me who got a bad hand in life can rebound and fight back, that sounds good to me. Course, reckon I have to make sure there is a future to do that but eh, details.

I may not have the chosen gear that Ben, Lacus, and even Ezan has, but with that Ultra Instinct trick I can plow through all the side shows rather damn easy. Going to enjoy shutting that Zamasu blowhard up."

"Tsc, your " trick"'s only good if you can pull it off when it counts Doug."

Gouken uttered tensely. Doug spat at the ground in response." Hey it's all about the instinct eh? It will be their when it counts, I know it."

"No offense Doug but it's because Ben, Aqua, Lacus and the rest of your buddies bailed you out that your instincts did not sink you. To be frank you not being in control of yourself is how this mess started.

And, with what's on the line we need all the damn insurance we can get. That's why I'm going to be extra generous and teach you my last trump card."

Doug raised an eyebrow before he cracked his neck." Now I know your trolling me geezer! The Mystic Gate ritual was supposed to be your trump card! And besides, don't think I have the time for another day long dance!"

"Heh, and I don't have the energy to do another one of those smartass." Gouken spat out." It's not an attack or transformation, just a, state of mind. To be frank, I never really thought you would be able to use the "Mu no Ken" because you never really seemed to gel with it but hey, you surprised me more than once already so hell, you might be able to pull off using the" Fist of Nothingness" if your serious about it."

"How the hell is nothingness going to help me at all Gouken? Is this something like that Void crap that freaks like that Exdeath ranted about before?"

"Not that kind of nothingness Doug, I'm not teaching you how to shoot black-hole's out of your fist or nothing like that. This is important so focus. It is the antithesis of the Satsui no Hado.

The Power of Nothingness is a state of consciousness transcending ordinary perspective, born through spiritual and mental refinement and it is the power to act without being attached to emotions and thought, free of fear, anger, pride, and ego, to draw upon the contents of one's heart intuitively without obstacle and hesitation, and to be aware of the world and to know one's place and meaning within its vastness, to flow with all of creation without the need of worry, desire, and doubt.

I made it to be the total reverse of Satsui no Hado. As such, it can only be used by a person of pure mind, compassion, mercy and peace. Such a person must have embraced the peaceful and spiritual aspect of the martial arts to their fullest extent.

I practiced with this power throughout the years of training with Goutetsu, and pulled it off to counter Akuma. Heh, but then you managed to take him down your own way."

Doug saw Gouken was serious before he sighed." Well, this " Mu no Ken" does sound sweet and all, but it does sound like something more suited for Ezan or one of the others who are better at turning their emotions off. Emotions are part of who I am Gouken."

"Course it is you idiot, unlike what Myers and the others thought, I know we humans could ever turn off or chain are emotions like robots. You may be emotional, but you just have to use that properly. Doug, there are no special tricks for the Mu no Ken, no special item yah need either. Just need to be able to be able to will yourself to the right state, and have the power needed to handle that.

If you combined that with the Ultra Instinct well, it might not be enough to get you to whoop the Beyonder's reality bending ass, but it will be enough to give most of his groupies a wallop they can't shrug off."

Doug closed his eyes for a few moments before he crossed his arms." Well, all this time I been wanting to figure out just what I want to be and where I fit in society. One thing I know without a doubt is that I don't want to be anyone's slave or pawn, even my own emotions. I'm going to give it my all to pull it off.

Hopefully the others like Ben, Lacus, and the others won't let their fears or whatever make them rush to any more asinine fascist ideas like this politics of eternity Ben's suddenly keen on.

Well, only way to find out is if there is a tomorrow and all. Well, the others have not been on their A game as of late but, hopefully they will get it together for the final quarter rush and all.

Now, while there is still time let me introduce you to this Joseph Joestar guy I met in Battle-World. He's nearly as full of himself as you are so I'm sure it will gel well."

As Doug slowly tried to make peace with his martial arts teacher many of his comrades were tensely trying to figure out the best way that the universe would remain peaceful in the near future, by trying to figure out how to stop the Beyonder.

With no living family members to have moments with, Myers went with the others to form a battle plan instead of resting.

Trunks, Gabriel, and some of the other angels joined him to add what they knew, and some of the Chrono Phantasma like Luke Skywalker joined them to get a idea at the current state of things.

As the Grand Master of the Jedi saw the Enji Master's inner chamber Luke rubbed his beard." You know the Jedi Holocrons I found gave me the idea that the Jedi in Yoda's time were getting to tied to the material world and it made their vision clouded.

But now you guys got a bigger castle then the one Darth Sidious use to have on Coruscant. Well...I mean that one was the former Jedi temple but he added on to it to make it more evil and all. I guess...with what you Enji accomplished you did not get to cocky."

"Heh, not yet Master Skywalker." Myers threw out wryly." The size is mostly for the people to have a sense of pride. When your housing many from across the universe its logical to have a dwelling that can house many and be well fortified. Theses fortifications helped us survive many an assault over the last war."

The son of Darth Vader looked at many of the self defense systems being ready in case the Beyonder attacked before he sighed." I guess it makes sense to be prepared, less falling victim to something like Order 66."

"Oh you Jedi had to go through such a thing as well? That, was not a good time for us."

"Heh, you clearly have been through a lot Master Myers. I, do wonder what Master Yoda and Obi Wan would have thought of the size though."

Luke heard a wry chuckle and swerved around to see Master Zoda walk up. The red skinned Enji Master saw Luke look shocked before he laughed more." Size matters not as long as the heart is in the right place Master Skywalker. Sure am I, that your friends would agree."

"M, master Yoda?"

"Yoda I am not, Zoda I am. But Yoda was a ancestor I always strived to live up to."

"Heh, now I know what Yoda was talking about that one time when he was trying to honor the legacy of Vandar Tokare. Well, if it works it works."

"Well, we will see if it truly is working soon enough Master Skywalker." Myers threw out grimly. Now, then everyone, it's time to see if we can defy the power of god a second time.

Now that Ben and Lacus have regained their ultimate power are odds are better than before, but there still is to many unknown factors for us to figure out before we can even come close to feeling confident.

For one, the Beyonder has proven he is resilient enough to endure a direct assault from Cosmos, an attack with enough power to eradicate a dimension. And the Beyonder is clearly more unstable then Zannacross, and might very well try and destroy all existence on a whim if things don't go his way.

Are advantages are slim, but they do exist. The Beyonder seems to be the opposite of Zannacross, for based on all that we know his entire time of being alive seems to only be to what amounts for less than a decade.

He has been using Steller Memory and his divine mind to see all of existence unfold like a massive super computer swiftly processing information. But that's not the same as having a personal understanding on how things work.

It's because of his lack of understanding on time that Ben, Lacus, and the others were able to go back in time to prevent the Incursion from destroying the universe.

However it seems that the Beyonder is getting a better understanding of time and is now attacking time itself."

Trunks nodded grimly before he walked up."The Supreme Kai of Time and the other angels are trying to fortify the Time Nest as best as they can, but the Beyonder 's too powerful for them to last much longer.

It won't be as absolute as if Zannacross succeeded in taking over the Axis of Time, but it still would allow the Beyonder to travel to the past, and I don't think I have to go into much detail at how bad that can be for everyone."

"I think the picture is quite clear for most of us Sir Trunks." Atem uttered grimly." That's why we must strike swiftly, but carefully. There must be some other aspects the Beyonder has not fully grasped yet that we can take advantage of to prevail."

"There is." Gabriel uttered. As all eyes pivoted to the angel the man that helped Ben unlock his true power closed his eyes." The Beyonder first was neutralized when angels attacked his mind, rendering him comatose through all of history, till he somehow awoke recently. His form seems to have changed recently, but the conditions should still be close enough so that its worth a shot.

Unlike Cosmos and Zannacross, who have all of either light or darkness fortifying their minds, the Beyonder's only powered by its own energy, even his creations are just parts of himself fragmented to take the shape of copies of figures form history. He can easily find ways to defend his consciousness if he tries, but we must strike before he can figure it out."

The fellow Enji Master, Master Eraqus walked up. He was a man wearing a white, red lined haori that had a hood, along with slightly shorter than normal, light-colored hakama.

Underneath his haori, he wore a navy blue shirt with a large white X pattern on the front. He also had jagged scars over his right eye and left cheek, and as he walked forward he gave a uneasy chuckle." So are hopes for victory, the plan to decide the fate of the entire universe, depends primarily on if Ben and Lacus can hit are enemy hard enough to give him a concussion?"

"It's not the perfect plan old friend." Myers retorted with a tone thick with stress." But the best one we have to work on at the moment. Don't forget, Ben and Lacus did not beat Zannacross like a normal fighter. Even when they destroyed his body that was combined with just about all evil beings across history, his soul still survived.

Only by trapping his soul in the body of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and making sure that possessed body was trapped in the space between dimensions was Zannacross sealed away."

"And it will likely take just as elaborate measures to ensure the Beyonder is truly neutralized." Gabriel uttered tensely." We are figuring out ways that we could seal the Beyonder in the same manner as Zannacross. When the time comes we will see if they are effective or not, but we have to try."

X was one of the ones who came to the meeting. And as the Maverick Hunter saw how tense the angel looked he saw Doctor Light, Reed Richards, Dr. White, Doctor Robotnik, and a few of the other top scientists before he sighed." If your betting everything you have on a plan, got to make sure you have all the data you can gather.

And to make sure you have all the data, get it from sources as close to the target as you can get.

So that leaves us with figuring out if the ones that defected from the Beyonder are truly being sincere."

X, and everyone else looked to the back of the room, where three spheres of golden light were being watched. In the trio of spheres were Ramathel, Stella, and Cia.

After checking the Crime Coefficient on all three and Luke Skywalker and the other top magic users used their combined power to probe their minds for deception, they concluded that the three's intentions seemed sincere.

But knowing the powers the Beyonder had everyone agreed to be as careful as they could, hence having the three woman covered in advanced energy barriers.

As Ramathel heard X's remark, and saw him and the other Maverick Hunters and Enji walk up to her the brown skinned former Black Swan shrugged." I already stated my intentions were to see how the universe would progress, even if it takes longer then Rabum Alal wished the universe to keep spinning. I don't have the power to overpower my master, so I fail to see how else I can show my intentions are sincere."

Stella glanced at Noctis in the far right before she looked at her own hands." I served the will of the Beyonder because I had conflicting memories, and emotions fueled by those conflicting feelings about Noctis, and the world that produced me.

Once I realized that rage I felt was not absolute, my loyalty to the Beyonder did not seem absolute either."

Cia just shrugged as she saw Zelda, Link, and Hilda all glancing at her before she giggled darkly." I just wanted to do what it took to make a place where Link would be mine. But, I realized there could be another way for that to happen so, I just played along.

Don't worry, since I crossed the line already back when I stood up to that prissy Airy I'm in deep already so might as well help you guys keep the universe going for the sake of plan B. Still, if you're wondering if the Beyonder has a magic off button on the back of his head or something then sorry hero's but your out of luck."

Link saw the broken look the former Time Agent had before Trunks walked up to look at Cia carefully."If only your er…original self had this much sense Cia. Still, we were not thinking it would be that easy."

Myers saw the blank expression Ramathel and Cia both had before he chuckled." There are other ways my dear. From what the others told me the Beyonder does not seem to be the type that that brags about his weaknesses, or even likes to humor that he has weakness.

Still, did the Beyonder express fear of anything? Or does he even truly grasp fear? Is his invasion because he fears what Cosmos will do to him, like I suppose she and Zannacross did to him in the past."

Stella focused for a bit before she shrugged." Honestly, I think he thinks he is beyond fear, that it's just a thing for mortals. He's not afraid of Cosmos or anyone else. He just was constantly furious that Cosmos and Zannacross would deny him what is " his".

Like, all of known existence is just something taking up space in what he thinks he is " his". Now that I'm not worried about him destroying me in a instant, it was almost like a child's tantrum, of near never ending rage at being denied what is his by inferiors."

Zero rolled his eyes as he thought over what was just said." Damn it, crazy as guys like Sigma, Vile, Doctor Wily, and even Zannacross were you could at least see them well, not half way but at least a quarter way. This guys just a spoiled brat from what it sounds.

A leader with the mind of a bratty child can already make lives hell for everyone around them, a god like being that has the impulses of a self entitled punk who won't listen to reality is as big a threat as they can get. Something like that, is the last person you want being able to control the fate of everyone in existence!"

"And that's why regardless of his power the Beyonder will not have his way." Myers stated firmly." Like all spoiled children he must be forced to see he can't have his way.

For the sake of everyone in the universe we will do are jobs right on this. But, to do that we must know how to stop him in time. That's why if the Beyonder told you Swans what his plans were we would be very grateful to be informed."

Ramathel saw everyone was looking at her before she shrugged." The plan was simple enough. After the champions of Battle-World were decided they would invade this dimension.

The master would use his power to prevent anyone from detecting use as we used the ZONE spheres to open holes in reality, and allow it to be breached by another reality, like the dimension that is composed of my master.

The Dimensional Generals would then use their own personal energy as magnets to bring about the Incursion Ritual and bring Rabum Alal into this realm, causing a chain reaction that would destroy all other realms aside from himself."

Link thought about how he was fighting Kylo Ren till the Beyonder appeared till he grasped the Master Sword tightly." Sadly to say the fiend did succeed in pulling off this nefarious deed last time. But this time, we will overcome his wickedness!"

Kirby nodded as he finished swallowing a Maxim Tomato." That's right! Maybe not everyone has the same sized tummy, but even though I eat more then others I know not to take away everyone else s meals just to stop being hungry! This Beyonder really wants to overeat! And someone that nasty has to be taught a lesson."

Sonic did a few leg stretches as he nodded." Got that right Kirby. Was rusty before but now got my speed ready, and it's going to be sure that it's going to be fast enough to get the job done! Still, where are we running to again?"

Samus resisted the urge to facepalm as the Chozo Bounty hunter cleared her throat."

The problem is, how are we going to get there in time? Can we use that Star-Dream machine to get back to the Beyonder's realm or do we have to wait for him to strike first? Because, if it's the later, they could strike from anywhere in the universe if they want."

As a chill swept across the room Mario took off his cap to rack his hair." Mamma Mia…that's a lot of warp pipes!"

"Don't panic everyone." Reed Richards cut in confidently." Star-Dream should still work properly, but I admit if the Beyonder is ready for us the process could be difficult, and it might be harder for us to get a lock."

As everyone looked at the member of the Fantastic Four with dread Doctor Robotnik stroked his mustache as he looked over some data he collected." I analyzed enough material in "Battle-World" to be able to pick up the frequency some of the machines they used. It would take a lot of boosting but, I could track him if we look for abnormalities."

Ramathel looked around before she shrugged." I can see where the particles of my m, my former master are. We Black Swans were giving the power to see where are fellow Swans were positioned. I, should be able to see traces of my fellow Swans in the general area."

Myers saw the other Enji Masters looking at him before he looked at the Black Swan intently." Well, we will keep a close eye on you but if you can help us then show us your words are true. Whatever it takes so we can make sure the universe still has a prosperous future."

Ramathel saw the Enji get ready to steer her out of her restrains she tilted her head." I am curious Grand Master of what your intentions are if we succeed. Doug Fitter and many of the other Enji seem to strongly disagree with your plan for prosperity, and it seems like many across the universe are not even aware of your plan for peace. If you Enji are truly protecting the people, are you going to treat them as people...or sheep?"

Myers saw many of the Enji look wary before he raised his hand. " Its ok, she has the right to be curious. I admit, the last few years we were closer to straying from the light more then we realized. Now that we realized the true intentions of Iger Rassilon, everything we thought we knew is now in doubt.

Its little comfort that Cosmos herself was misguided, I blame myself for forgetting what true justice is. Needless to say, even after all my years of being a warrior of light, only now do I truly grasp what others say about winning peace is easier compared to maintaining it properly."

As Luke Skywalker and a few of the other Jedi nodded Leia chuckled bitterly before the daughter of Darth Vader and Padmé Amidala walked up." Let me tell you, even with two lifetimes of memories I only really know what not to do.

The most appeasing answer would just to disband all central power and demilitarize so that there is no superpower to make everyone else feel pressure and to take out the obvious scapegoat for everyone to blame when things go wrong.

But, that's just what Mon Mothma did when we beat the Empire, the second time around at least. The Galactic Concordance she sighed was made with the best of intentions to show the time of the oppressive empire was a thing of the past, but to be honest she overdid it, and reverted things back to the state when things were so corrupt that Palpatine was able to ascended to power, and be cheered for it.

And because we were so divided between the Centralists and the Traditionalists…the First Order was able to rise from the shadows and build a new super weapon right under are noses. My own son destroyed everything I spent my life building. Tell me, I'm going to find out one way or another so did things in time work out?"

As the Enji gave each other cautious looks Trunks sighed." That depends on how much time you were expecting. How, much would knowing how you died upset you if you knew it was in a bad way?"

"Damn it kid I'll just look it up if you don't tell me!"

As Leia gave a sigh of shame Mara Jade walked up and patted her sister in law on the back." Don't feel too bad Leia, that was all because Palpatine 's Master Plagueis was a sore loser and messed with time to undo all that we all worked for. That would not have happened if me, Jaina and the others were around."

Leia saw Trunks shrug before she chuckled." Well, we would never know how it would have ended Mara, but we have a chance to make it right one last time, so let's make it count. My father, Bail Organa always boasted about how the old Republic lasted for ten thousand years.

And, he was not lying. Yet...after how we could hardly keep the new Republic together I wonder how it ever lasted more then a century, much less ten thousand years. From my own studies, despite the conflicts that broke out the Jedi always managed to in time stop the Sith or anyone else causing trouble. That gave the people faith.

But Papaltine managed to do what none of the other Sith do with the Clone Wars, and make the people turn on the Jedi and tire of what had worked for thousands of years, letting fascism just roll in. We were not swift enough to show why the old system worked so the First Order was able to gain a foothold.

I don't know how much has changed or how much of a difference their is when its a whole universal government, but if you guys want to keep things together my guess would be to show even when times get bad you can get the job done. "

Atem saw Leia's resolve before he nodded." I see your just as wise, if not wiser then history described Leia. Competency, reliability, such things are tasks that seem basic, but like so much else it all depends on one's perspective. Maintaining a lasting peace, a peace that respects everyone truly is one of the hardest tasks there is.

Alas as vital as freedom is, when it becomes to absolute it just becomes chaos and people have no care for those around them.

Equality could mutate to mean not just that the law treats everyone identically, but that believes about anything are equally true to anything else, no matter how illogical. It takes great restraint to make sure that freedom for individualism does not turn into rampant solipsism.

I feel at times we take for granted how stable societies based on logic are. We, we take for granted the idea that progress has unstoppable momentum.

But, history has proven that to many people are unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, and entire worlds slide, almost without notching, from ones that revolve around logical societies back into superstition and darkness.

As much as I cherish freedom, I have to admit that too often, people find freedom to scary, frightened by the fact that their lives and fates are not predestined or managed by god and they had to make their own choice.

Far too often, choosing to live in a " Fantasy" instead of reality is the norm for so much of humanity, and that rational and scientific eras take effort to maintain. In history, dominate cultures have their enlightenment and golden ages before returning to primitivism and murk. I have to admit, seeing what Kira and the others did, I seen its a thin moral line to do what it takes to maintain peace.

We allow people to have any belief they wish, but have a strict limit on what can be published in order to avoid people falling under the way of " fake news". And while it has helped, even these measures were not enough to stop Weil Zabi from being able manipulate the views of Ansem, Patrick Zala , and the others into forming the Zeon Federation.

It does seem that as long as people are free to have their own beliefs, some kind of conflict is part of life.

Even so...maybe clinging to my father's cherished belief's is my own fantasy, but I still have hope we can avoid having society descend once more into a winter of foolishness, tribalism and savage darkness.

Its, a tremendously difficult task, and honestly to be truthful…it seems that such a balance was too much even for most angels to handle as the task drove so many mad.

But even if senior angels find it impossible, we just have to surpass them! We will all do what we can, just one step at a time."

X nodded as he looked at his fellow Maverick Hunters." No matter how difficult it gets, I'll never give up on the dream I, Doctor Light and all the others share. I, I never want to go maverick like Sigma and all the others, and I know its possible to find a way to get organic and inorganic life to live in harmony without having to program them all."

Mighty Number Nine chuckled as he grasped his hand tightly." Right on X! Maybe its not as easy as how I assimilating the affected Xels on my fellow Numbers to fix them, but I know we can pull it off!"

"We will Beck!" Megaman uttered." No matter how hard it is, we can't let a few set backs put us down!"

"Quite right my robotic friend." Atem uttered to the Blue Bomber." It will never work out if we don't have faith, so no matter how hard it is I"ll never give up hope."

Ramathel saw the resolve Atem, Myers, and some of the others had before she nodded." I don't know if it's possible, but I am curious to see if you all can pull it off. Very well, I'll begin the search if that's ok."

Myers nodded before he raised the Primus blade, and had the sphere of light around the Black Swan divided so she could get out. Ramathel saw she could exit and walked a few steps forward.

She then had her balloon shaped Lucifero minions come out of her hat, and fly around her to cause an enhanced sonar like effect. The Enji braced themselves but no attack came and they saw the Black Swan kept her word.

Ramathel was motionless for a few moments before her eyes twitched." I can already see many of the particles of my " Sisters" on this world Enji. You have less time then you assumed."

Myers saw many of his comrades look horrified before he felt a chill creep down his spine, and coughed violently. As Mint, Rosa, Estelle,Riona,Tear, Garnet, and some of the other healers went to the leader of the warriors of light's aide before he put up his hand." I'm fine, just went down the wrong pipe and all. Still, just were precisely is the energy of your still fanatical kin located?"

"It's within your capital city of Neo Arcadia. Alas it's a very big city and it will take time for me to pinpoint. But, the time for the final battle is fast approaching."

Myers quickly looked at all the alert systems before he grimaced." Ben, Lacus, James and many of the others are still resting, we better pinpoint this soon."

Atem nodded before the King of the Lylat Republic grasped the golden triangle on his neck before he took a deep breath." I wanted to keep the people calm as long as possible, but it seems it's time for the people of the universe to know just what is about to unfold.

I fear, win or lose this will cause chaos no matter what. As shocked as we are about this new threat, many were very, very happy to think that the universe was at peace, that any real threat was over. There will be, quite a lot of chaos."

Myers thought about what Rassilon and the others said about peace before he sighed." True, but as long as there is life there will be chaos, so the best we can do is to manage the tide yes? It's time to see how well all of us can manage that tide, the full ever shifting tide that is life, once and for all. Get ready to mobilize everyone, search plan Omega!"

As Myers, the Enji and the other hero's prepared for what could be an even more brutal showdown then the one with Zannacross and his demon lords, the hero's that were trying to rest at the moment were unaware of the chaos that was ready to unload onto them.

At the moment Ben and Lacus had just returned to the Raystar manor to get to their belated dinner with their parents.

Ben was happy to see Hiryuumon waiting for him, and as the two landed the Digimon wagged his tail." There you are boss! Glad you made it, Miss Raystar was starting to get anxious."

Lacus winced before responding with a uneasy giggle." I see mom's lessons on meditation have has not been very effective. Well, you can't half ass that kind of thing I guess. Still, hope she did not "unload" to much on you Hiryuumon."

The dragon laughed as Lacus pet him before he shrugged."Its ok, she and Miss Auro both got mad at Mister Auro for starting drinking early. It seems like it's more then he's drunk in a while but he argued that with how much is going on he has the right to drink to feel good if it might be his last time. Then well, everyone got angry."

Ben winced at hearing his dad was drinking again before he looked at Lacus."Maybe, the stress of the situation is overriding the, never mind. It's just...something to deal with...the old fashion way.

Still, sorry you got stuck with the short straw on this Hiryuumon, but me and Lacus really had to um, talk about all that's happened to get over it and feel better."

Hiryuumon saw Lacus blush slightly as she twirled her hair around before he laughed." Hate to admit it but Lacus is the best at that Ben. Its ok, I got everyone distracted talking about how crazy things were and they calmed down.

Guess it was pretty crazy talking about my other life and all? I mean, it's been crazy for me to...but the memories keep messing with my head."

Ben winced at realizing with all he went on he forgot just how much his Digimon partner went through in Battle-World before he pet him on the head." Well, it is really messed up after all.

Hiryuumon, sorry I have not been giving what you went through enough attention but, are you ok? I can't even image how messed up it is to suddenly find out you were the reincarnation of a guy who betrayed Seiya as atonement for his sins and all.

I mean, I guess I can see what drove the angels to do that, but it's still messed up. I mean, I'm sorry you were forced into something you did not sign up for and all."

"Why?" Hiryuumon blurted out curiously." You did not force me to be your Digimon partner Ben. It was not even Seiya 's fault, it was my own weakness that I let the bad guys make me think my friends were eviler bad guys then the bad guys!

I mean it sucks dying, but it sucks what I did to Kisara to the others to so it's like, fair right? I mean it's not like I did not have fun fighting with you all these years Ben, don't ever doubt that.

Sure guess I nearly died like, over a hundred or two times by now but hey, I got to be a hero and all right? Sure it's not the previous me, Daigo, but I don't think I would be able to sell as many toys as I am now right?"

Ben saw how earnest Hiryuumon looked before he laughed out loud. As Hiryuumon looked confused The Enji keeled down before he hugged Hiryuumon." Oh Hiryuumon, if only more people in the universe were like you there would be a lot less messes. For how much everyone calls you childish your wiser then a lot of the so called adults."

"Heh, of course I am cause I'm older then everyone thought!"

"Haha, true Hi, er, wait. Should I call you Daigo now?"

The Digimon looked confused for a moment before he shrugged." Nah, that was the old me in a part of my life from way long ago. It's cool to know how I got here but, don't' want to go back their right? I mean, aside from maybe Seiya and some of the others in heaven no one knows the old me anyway right?"

"Heh, makes sense. We see what happened with Doug about how people can't move on and stuff. Just got to make sure we can have the chance to all be able to move on eh? Once the universe is safe, then we can figure out the rest of it."

"Well, I do have one idea to be honest Ben." Hiryuumon uttered quietly." If we save the universe again, I think I need to go on my own for a while. Not, not forever."

Both Ben and Lacus looked shocked before Lacus leaned down." Go, where? You, want to go back to the home you had as Daigo? Um, Giedi Prime right?"

"Nah, not like that Lacus. I, I just need to know who I am on my own. I, I saw how bitter Whis and the others were at being stuck with Beerus and the other God's of Destruction.

I really don't feel that way about us Ben, but I did talk to some of the other angels and they say that Whis and the others got bitter over time because they never had the chance to feel otherwise. I, I want to know who I am when I'm not your side kick, when I have something to do that's not related to you boss."

Ben saw how anxious Hiryuumon looked before he thought over things again and just hugged the Digimon." I understand Hiryuumon. No matter what the angels say, I don't want your existence to just be as a servant or anything.

When we get through another round of universe saving, whatever you want to do, I'll have your back without hesitation. You know, long as it's nothing evil or anything."

"Heh, thanks Ben."

Lacus felt tears drop down from her eyes before she pushed herself to retain her composure." Oh Hiryuumon, it's going to be sad when your gone. Is this the empty nest syndrome mom talked about?"

"Ah don't feel bad Lacus I won't become a hermit or anything. Besides if you miss me that much you can always create a new crew-mate right? I mean if James, Cloud and the others are doing it to might as well go with the flow?"

Ben was so shocked that he nearly chocked, and as Lacus helped Ben feel better she giggled." Oh you know Hiryuumon, when you have a bit more time you can afford to push things back.

We, just want to wait for the right moment you know?"

"I guess. But, if you wait to long your kid would not be able to play with James's kid and all that right? Unless, your waiting till they have grand kids?"

"Hiryuumon, remember are talk about peer pressure?" Lacus blurted out as she blushed." We will think it over when we have time to focus on it. Anyway, I'm glad you have a better grasp on your future then Doug seems to at the moment Hiryuumon.

But, I'd love to talk about it but I think we kept our parents waiting long enough eh?"

Ben saw KOS-MOS and some of the Raystar manor staff walk up the hall before he nodded." Yah, I kept everyone waiting long enough. And, after the workout we did I am kind of hungry."

Lacus just giggled again before she shoved Ben. The three then went inside to the manor and quickly joined their family in the dining room. Lacus quickly caught up with her older sister Shion and her husband Jin Uzuki as Ben went to his mother.

Ben saw his mom look happy as she looked in his eyes." You look more relaxed then you did before dear, did you figure out what you needed to?"

"Yah mom, not everything is clear but I feel better than I did before."

"Is that so? Lacus helped you that well eh?"

"Mom, what do you."

"Heh, a mother knows dear. Its ok, I know you're a grown man. I'm just glad you're ok. Despite how popular you become, your still my son."

As Ben smirked, before he could respond his father laughed loudly before cutting in with a coarse," Yah you made it clear you're a big shot boy. But if your keeping your family busy for your own personal stuff it's still rude! So is there more you have to do or can we eat yet?"

Ben saw his father looked agitated before seeing how tense his mom looked and just threw out a uneasy chuckle." We are here now eh dad? Guess we better eat, I can clearly see your grumpy over being hungry."

"I'm grumpy boy, because you all said that the good guys won the battle between good and evil forever and now here we are just like we were the night before we thought you gave Zannacross a thrashing! A man does not like when he is hustled."

Ben grimaced as he thought about his own feelings of betrayal before he sighed." I'm sure as hell not happy about it dad but, can't do much about it but deal with it right? It's not like I lied. Even Cosmos and all the angels could not foresee the Beyonder."

Lacus saw her mother giggle with a bitter tone before she crossed her arms." We, no, all humanity has put are faith in the angels since the dawn of time. But like all leaders, if they don't know what they are talking about then they are not worth following."

"Chill out mom." Lacus uttered tensely as she saw the sudden anger in the older woman's eyes." Mother...this was a change in the very fabric of cosmic order. Its, not so simple."

"Well I suppose now that you're in the "in crowd" in heaven you know everything eh sweetheart? Well then, it does sound like quite the story so please tell us all about it dear."

"All right, let's start."

As everyone sat down Erich saw Ben pour Lacus a drink before the member of the Lylat Subcommittee cleared his throat." Before anything else, I'm most curious to know this horrible revelation that senior archangels, including the ones that been giving you ideas were traitors that were in league with this Beyonder?"

"Sort of Erich." Ben answered grimly." Well, guess it's out of order but, if that's what you want to know first then sure."

Ben and Lacus quickly told what happened after they went to heaven, to seeing Kira again in hell, to nearly having Zannacross break out as they reclaimed their full power, to the sudden bitter showdown with an self absorbed Goku, to the brutal betrayal from Iger Rassilon, Whis, and the other God's of Destruction and Servitor angels , to briefly covering how Ben got from the word of God why his plans needed a course correction.

When they were done with the recap Lacus saw her older sister Shion merely raise an eyebrow." Damn Lacus, I figured it was highly implausible that angels were truly incorruptible, but to think they would betray everyone this badly, and try and destroy the universe. Well, I was never religious but this is highly depressing."

Lacus nodded as she remember the last words Beerus gave her." The Beyonder might have used some of his power to corrupt them, put ideas in their heads. But, even so, these beings that existed before the universe saw everything just as a a front to them, and they wanted just to be free to do what they wanted without having to be bound by Cosmos, or anyone else.

Needless to say, now that we found out their true intentions the Hemostasis Axiom Matrix plans now are in doubt, likely most of the plan will be canceled."

Erich sighed as he leaned back." Well, being further away from Utopia then we hoped is more than a little depressing. But, if the plan to peace is based on lies, then it's not worth following.

Well, reaching the ideal state was never going to be easy, but I know you two can lead the way. Just, don't get impatient. Don't feel like you have to rush for my sake, just do it right."

Ben smiled warmly in response. But before he could get out his retort his dad suddenly bellowed out a loud crude laugh. As everyone looked at him he just pounded the table before he leaned back." Well I'm sure as hell no expert on heaven but sounds like things got majorly screwed up eh boy?

Well, sucks and all, but even if you guys could never have known Ben, on some level this should teach you to rely on someone else to do your work for yah! I told you for years you can't rely on others to hand you your work for you! A real man does his own damn work!"

Ben saw the raw passion in his father's eyes before he grasped his hand tightly." Dad, now's really not the time to score points eh? Look, I get what you mean but there is a difference between getting help from Lacus on my math homework in first grade, and doing the best I can to properly guide the universe to a better future. I, I made mistakes but I thought I got advice from people I could trust."

Ben's dad just snickered before he looked beet red." That's right...the Grand Master's son hustled you to eh boy? Thought you would be more mature now Ben, but you keep getting conned by hustlers because you want someone to hand you a easy answer so you don't have to work as hard!"

As Ben got upset Lacus put her arm on him to calm him down before she cleared her throat." Jack, I can understand why you would be upset but this is not Ben's fault. Iger Rassilon, the first angel tricked me, most of the Enji and angels, and even Cosmos herself. He made it seem,"

"With all due respect Lacus but that just means your all idiots, and all of us were suckered to!" Ben's dad bellowed out." We trusted the Enji, the angels, King Atem, all of it because it was supposed to lead to paradise! If it was all lies, then all of it is worthless!"

As those around him got upset Ben's mom grimaced before putting out an exasperated," Jack behave yourself! I know it's not what we hoped but it's not the first time things went wrong in the history of humanity. Please, calm down, your reverting after all this time, and your nearly ranting heresy to god!"

As Ben's dad coughed a bit as his temper consumed him, and as he caught his breath Jane chuckled bitterly." While Jack's showing his commoner temperament quite strongly, I can't help but share some sentiments with his current train of thought.

After all, humanity has put up with so much on the wisdom of the angels. And now it's turning out to be no better than any other ranting fool."

Erich saw his other daughters jaws drop before he eyed his wife carefully." Your making your unhappiness quite clear Jane. I assure you this has shaken me to the core. But it's not like it was all useless.

It was Cosmos's blessings that allowed us to prevail across Zannacross and all of his demons. It's because of her gifts, that are dear Lacus was able to survive!"

"That's only because she put this task on her in the first place!" Jane shirked out. " All that everyone had to put up with Zannacross, and now this? If it's all for nothing real then it was all a sham!"

Lacus grasped her necklace tightly before she slowly got up." Mom…I know it's not the outcome we hoped for but, even if your upset don't you think saying it was worthless is going too far? I mean, we are alive yes?"

Jane had her eye twitch as she just looked more manic." Maybe dear, but the higher the power, the more central the authority, the greater then expectations! The elite get the power they have because they are expected great things!

I gave up so much of my life to giving you everything because you were supposed to be the fated child that would guide the universe to paradise!

But in the end I gave up so much of my life for yours all for nothing?"

As Lacus stepped back in shock Erich let his emotions consume him as he shouted out,"Jane, how dare you!"

Sarah saw how hurt her sister looked before she got angry to." That's way not cool mom! None of that is Lacus's fault! After all that's going on are you seriously only caring about griping on what you did not have to do because you were supposed to do your job as a mom?"

Jane just turned red as she hissed out,"If it was all a lie, then someone else could have been the tool of the Enji and the angels wasting years on a facade! I, I could have been in the limelight instead of wasting years grooming my child on a farce!"

Ben saw how hurt Lacus looked before he got up to grasp Lacus's hand warmly. "With all due respect Jane, even if things are not going to wind up being paradise any time soon that does not mean that what me and Lacus has gone through has been worthless! All we went through, allowed us to get to where we are, no way that is worthless."

As Lacus smiled at Ben's passion, his father suddenly cut him off with another wild laugh." I know your happy you had your dream come true with Lacus Ben, but everyone else still expected more from this so called glorious destiny! I trusted you, the Enji, and everyone else boy! And in the end, you screwed with me for nothing!

People were mocking me my entire life! Me, my siblings, everyone treated my family as a joke! But just when I was accepting I'm just not the kind of person that is respected, then you came along and suddenly became the chosen one out of the blue! I was willing to go along if it was all for the greater good, but now it ends up it was all for nothing!

Then to pour salt in the wound, you made a joke out of me, tried to make me some damn zombie just for your grand paradise!"

Ben saw how angry his father looked before he leaned over to Hiryuumon." Hiryuumon, James or one of the others did not do something to reverse his condition when we were gone did he?"

"Nah boss." The Digimon uttered tensely." I saw him eat a funky new donut but that's all that happened till we got here."

Ben raised an eyebrow before he reached out with his aura to try and sense his father's aura." Did, did the process wear off because Rassilon died? Dad, I don't know why your acting so erratically but you're not understanding the,"

"I'm sick of you mocking me Ben! No matter how big you get, your still my son and a son will obey his father!" Jack shouted out with fury." Your mind control's worn off, I know what you did! You made your own father your damn servant!"

Ben felt a chill creep down his spine as he saw just how much anger his dad was giving off from his soul." Dad, I know I may not have been the best son with what I did but to be fair, you have not being the best father! You knew how much Max was hurt by what his dad did to your sister, and yet you still were thoughtless enough to think about doing the same thing? I, I had to do something to make sure mom was not hurt by your callousness!"

Ben's dad just laughed more as he spat out a bitter,"A man has thoughts boy, you were the one who freaked out about locker room talk! I trusted you to keep a talk father to son, and like always you rated me out to mom first chance you got to win points!"

"That's right, no sense beating around the bush Ben! You always cared more for your mom then me! It's not really subtle when you outright said that if you had to choose who would die first that it would be me!"

Ben could not help but let years of bitter memories flood through his mind as he shot back a bitter," Well you can only blame yourself for making it so damn easy! Do I have to make it even more clear then before dad? The cold hard truth, is that hardly anyone could stand how you are! I know others had far worst fathers, but while its true you never hit me, that does not mean you get a free pass! My entire childhood was spent being shackled because of your delusions!"

"You feel better making me the scapegoat for everything wrong in your childhood boy? I know I was not the perfect dad by any means, but don't start twisting things around so that I sabotaged every damn thing you did!

I pushed you to clubs and stuff Ben, and I'm the one who took you to the super hero movies you loved so much because your mother did not want to! I did what I could, but don't go blaming me for you not having any friends! I did what I could, but when it came down to it you were so bad at reaching out to others that by the end of High-School your Moogle pal Moz was the friend you talked to the most since both Pence and Hayner got busy."

"Damn it...I know I have to take some responsibly for my own difficulty making friends, but you know it was even harder then it could have been when you and all your friends had nothing but horrible ideas on how to relate to woman!

All the times I was dragged around because you had to get somewhere a hour early because you said we had to make it on time! Its one thing to have a wrong hunch once, but it was dozens of times we wasted hours for nothing!

And for how much you talked about responsibility, you let the apartment go to hell because you were to lazy to do anything but yell like a Walrus on the couch all day! And even when I wanted to do something, even when Max was around to fix it you had to have it be your way, and it just became worst and worst.

You kept saying you were trying to make me grow up to be a man. But how come everything that you taught me all ended up revolving around doing more chores for you and never helping me get anywhere socially? By the end of High School I was feeling more and more like I was only a family servant to you. I was feeling more and more that if I did not do something drastic, I would end up like your brother!

Someone who's entire existence was about serving grandma, and when she died, he had nothing in his life. Even now, even after having the fame of being a uncle of the chosen one, he's just now doing better because he spent decades having no confidence after it was drilled out of him!

It was feeling so bleak, that I chose to risk joining the Enji Knights just to desperately break out of the rut my life was!

One bad idea happens to everyone, but you refused to learn from the mistakes you made. You refused to even think logically about,"

"TO HELL WITH LOGIC BOY!"

Jack snapped out." I don't care what logic says! I wanted what felt good to me! I don't care what others think is right, I wanted things to work the way I wanted to! And as the father its my right to have things go that way with the family! You did not have to love your father, but a good son still has to respect his father's authority! The mother's suppose to be loved, but a man's job is to provide for his family.

Boy, if you can keep the universe from falling apart long enough to have kids yourself one day, you will understand what really matters! A real man provides, and he does it even when he's not appreciated, or respected, or even loved. He simply mans up and gets the job done.

You keep wanting everyone to like you as the ultimate hero Ben, but boy, leading's not about being liked. It isn't about your feelings and whether you feel appreciated or loved enough. You don't get to indulge yourself at your loved one's expense. It's your family, You're the father, you're the man, you provide for the family. Period.

And you can moan all you want but since your still alive in front of me then as far as I see it I did my damn job and everything else is just you being spoiled.

I put food on the table, I'm the one who gave you a place to sleep, so you own me the respect to go along with your father's whims no matter how much you think they were wrong as long as it was not a life or death deal!

No matter how much better you thought you were then me, I still brought you into this world and that's a debt a son never stops paying! For all the crap you give me, I got you to where you are now eh?"

Ben took a deep breath as he struggled to compose himself." Maybe, but even after the war, even after I proved myself to all, you still did not change one damn bit. Even after money was no longer a problem, you made the same mistakes. No, you made even worst mistakes!"

"Damn right!" Ben's dad blurted out," No matter how hard you moan, I'm too old to change, I'm a man set in his ways! I don't have " Grace" and I never will! Me, my sister and brother, we all were never really the "popular" type.

Tsc, you think I like what happened to my sister? I was as pissed off as Max was. But when I confronted your uncle on it, he just smugly told me what was I gonna do about it? He rubbed it in my face that more people liked him over either me or my sister and no one would really back a nobody outsider in town.

Its no story most would put in a movie son, but the cold truth is that me and your mother met because of pain and loss. Nothing dramatic, just two folks who were rejected by those we wanted to notice us and got alone because of are shared misery.

Not everyone ends up with their dream match Ben, and unlike my brother, who's still alone because he is to picky, I gave up on perfection to get what I could before it was gone. Insult me all you want, but for all your moaning I got you here and that's enough for me no matter what anyone says, even god!

You may hate it Ben, but I'm a weak man. That being said I'm also a man who knows what he can't, and can do. Its not as nice as being the hero that saves the day, but it keeps a man alive and out of the street boy!

Maybe I gave you a bad hand gene wise boy, but instead of moaning about what you don't got, you just never would see how things are! NONE of you do! You, your mother, every damn person refused to accept that I was never a tactful, classy guy, a guy who was fit to be on top.

But you tried to push me into something I'm not, to have the dad you wanted all along eh Ben? It's easy being the "good" parent, the one that gives their kid what they wants. But it's hard giving them what they need. Even that Grand Master that I know you wished was your real daddy was not so great when his son turned out to be some nut who tried to become god!"

"Don't mock Master Myers when you don't understand how it was dad!" Ben shot back." He, he went through a,"

"A SON DOES NOT INTERRUPT HIS FATHER!"

Ben's father shot out with such anger that everyone in the room started getting alarmed." You all thought you were better than me! But who's the joke now eh son?

Who thought he was so damn sure of himself, only for it all to blow up in your face eh? At the very least, if this is how it ends, at least it will end with me proving I was right! Haha, it's a laugh, a god damn riot!"

Ben's dad kept laughing louder and louder before he slammed his fist into the table again, causing Ben to feel even more unnerved." Damn it, it's one thing to win the moral high ground dad, I won't even fight you on that. But seriously, the entire universe is at risk and all you care about is being right? How drunk are you? I, huh? What the hell?"

Ben and everyone else noticed that Ben's dad's skin was turning pale, yet Jack was just laughing harder and harder." Why should I give one lick about any of that son? The universe does not give a damn about me, my son, god, they all wanted me to be what they wanted, no one gives a damn about what I wanted so why should I care? You made it clear I'm powerless to stop you, but if everything that was so important to everyone that stepped over me blows up in their faces, at least I can laugh!"

As Ben saw his father's grin widen, everyone was shocked as Jane suddenly laughed to." Well he's true about one thing. When the thing that your entire life revolved around turned out to be a joke then why not laugh?"

Lacus saw her mother starting to laugh to before she raised a eyebrow." Mother, when have you ever laughed at Jack's jokes? Huh?"

The woman Enji realized her mother was laughing harder to, and before she could say something Ben noticed his Codec was beeping, and it was the emergency channel. Realizing it was something important Ben picked it up, and a second later T3-X5 cut in with." My deepest apologizes Master Auro but, it seems your fellow Enji have alerted me that the Beyonder may have been operating on this planet.

Those servants of his that defected to are side, the ones that called themselves the Black Swans seem to have the power to detect where their kin have moved.

This is relevant because they detected the remaining particles in the city, right where your parents and others were located before returning to the Raystar manor. We have been given the frequency, I'm uploading it to all of the Raystar security staff for them to use this moment."

Ben nearly turned pale as he looked at his dad." Wait, what!? Does, that mean the agents of the Beyonder were hiding their? Where they, are they planning a attack? Or, wait, no!"

As both Ben's dad and Lacus 's mom grasped their faces Hiryuumon widened his eyes." Wait, the donut your dad had, and the perfume that Jane had smelled the same Ben! I, I thought that was just one of those fast-food places doing all that brand stuff. You, you don't think."

KOS-MOS had her eyes glow before the Raystar's android maid looked alert." Priority one situation, the data I just received, the frequency that is from the enemy, is now around both Jack Auro and Miss Raystar."

Before Ben or the others could ask just what KOS-MOS meant, Ben's dad laughed even harder, now looking crazed as he looked right at his son." Don't you see son? You always thought you were better than me, that I was just some loser for you to throw away when you had the chance, but now who's looking like the fool?

You thought you were better than your old man, and wronged me in the process! You may have thought you were too big to be punished by your old man Ben, but you were wrong. YOU'RE WRONG!"

Ben's dad had blood drip out of his eyes before they glowed purple, and to Ben's horror a broken infinity symbol, the same one that appeared on Superboy-Prime, Doug and all of the others that were bound to the power of the Beyonder appeared.

Ben's dad just kept laughing as the symbol shined with more and more light Jack yelled out," Your, you're going to see just how much you were wrong about, once and for all Ben!"

Jane suddenly had the same symbol form on her head as she gave off her most deranged giggle yet." That's right, all of heaven lied to us, it's only proper they all pay!"

Lacus dashed off to her mother, but beams of energy erupted out of both her and Jack's foreheads. As Ben was blinded from the light he looked he thought of the magical symbol before he grit his teeth." That's almost acting like a summons's, GUH!"

Ben was cut off as a painful force collided into his chest and smashed him outside the window. As the light faded Lacus, Hiryuumon, and the others saw that two people had emerged from the suddenly lights, Mira and Elphelt.

Mira wound up his fist as he saw everyone looking at him." I doubted this plan, but it seems you humans are even weaker then I realized. Lament how foolish you were to think you could ward off the Merciless Apocalypse!"

Erich looked horrified at the enemy suddenly being right in front of his face as he stepped back." What the, the enemy, so suddenly?"

"No duh you geezer!" Elphelt spat out dismissively as she twirled her guns around." You try so hard to keep us out, but all of your methods are useless to the one beyond all! This shield may have been more of a pain then some of the others, but we used theses sad sacks here to piggy back in!"

Lacus quickly pointed the Oath-Keeper at the Black Swan as she glared at the villain."Well not like I was guessing who you guys were. But if you thought you could get away with this, think again!"

"Don't worry Lacus."

Ben uttered as he flew back to his girlfriend." I fought this Mira guy in Battle-World. He packs a punch, but I took him down last time. And I'm even stronger now so this is going to be quick."

Mira instantly had his aura flare up around him with enough force to blow the Enji's family off their feet. Lacus quickly cast barriers around those in the room to protect those she cared about, and as Mira saw the worry on her face he smirked." It will be quick, for me! I'm stronger this time to Ben Auro.

You disgraced me before, but I will prove I am worthy of the title of the new life form to exist in Rabum Alal 's new world! Yes, I'll go to any lengths, even those not befitting a warrior!"

With a burst of speed Mira was behind Ben's father, with his hand behind Jack's skull. Ben's dad was still laughing madly despite the new threat, but Ben's eyes widened with alarm as he got into a fighting stance." Go through with that and that will be the last thing you ever do Mira!"

"Your power level has indeed increased since last time Ben Auro. But you can't summon that power in an instant, and that's all the time I need to end your father's life! It would seem your bound with your father is not as strong as others. But unless you truly don't care about his fate, you will drop your sword now!"

Ben saw just how close Mira was to killing his dad before he winced. As he dropped his sword Mira's eyes narrowed." I seen firsthand your craftiness Ben Auro, so I'm going to take precautions. You said before I was just a generic "blase" villain that had nothing to stand out. Tell me, do you still think that will be the case after this!?"

Mira's eyes started to glow, before the green gem on his chest glowed to, and his back split open. Two tentacles opened up and wrapped around Ben's father to bind him.

As Ben yelled out in shock Ben's dad just kept laughing as his eye twitched." Now you will see what was always a joke boy! All the frauds in the whole damn universe will get what they have coming to them!"

Ben's father's entire body kept convulsing before Mira bound him, and absorbed the old man into his body. Mira's body did not change much aside from getting a bit more muscular and vainly, but suddenly Jack's pale face burst out of the right part of the chest of the Dimensional Nihilo General's body.

Ben saw his father's face had yellowed teeth, bulging eyes, and a manic grin before he yelled out," What did you do you, GUH!"

Mira instantly fired a beam of purple energy from his finger to hit Ben in the head. As Ben fell the blue man smirked." Now he is part of me, part of the true ultimate life form. And now you are, huh?"

As Ben fell to the ground his mom screamed loudly his body turned to smoke. Suddenly Ben flew out from the right and punched Mira in the face with enough force to hit him out of the palace.

Ben did not give his enemy time to recover as he kept smashing Mira in the face." The moment you showed up I knew it would be smart to set up a Shadow Clone in case of a stunt like this! You thought you could use my father as a shield? I'll rip him out of you if that's what it, huh?"

Ben was about to try and slice Mira 's head off, till suddenly Mira's face split open to reveal Jack's face had moved there. As Ben paused from the shock, Mira kicked Ben in the face. As Ben was smashed into the ground Mira just cracked his neck." Be so primal at your father's peril Enji. You may be able to hit me, but I'll make sure your father takes the punch, and feels every part of pain I do!"

Lacus saw Jack's face was laughing madly as it moved back to Mira's chest before she winced." I can feel Mister Auro's soul still in Mira's body, but that monster's soul and his are nearly completely bound to each other!"

Ben's mom was about to say something till Elphelt giggled loudly and got right in front of Jane." That's right angel, once something is in the grasp of Rabum Alal, it will never be let go! You thought that,"

Lacus suddenly lashed out with a magenta energy ribbon to strike Elphelt in the face. But the moment her weapon made contact the Black Swan's body split into two.

As black liquid dripped down from her now split head Elphelt snickered." Oh struck a nerve eh? Nice try, but I'm not going to break that easily! You're going to have to face, that there is a price for defying destiny!

And the price, will be steep! Come on woman, time to get the power you were denied your entire life, time for you to become the Fortissim to this universe's swan song!"

Elphelt 's entire body dissolved, and it then it burst into Jane before Lacus could react. Jane just kept laughing as she glared at her child." You lied to your mother and the entire universe about what you could do my dear. And, you're going to get punished!"

Lacus saw the liquefied Black Swan cover her mother before lighting crackled around it. She saw her father, her sisters, and Ben's mom was at risk before she quickly cast a fortified golden energy barrier to protect the others.

Her transformed mother was blasted out of the palace, and Lacus saw the figure transform into a massive harpy like creature with six claws and energy cannons.

As an armored being emerged as the creatures head, the head and lower half of Jane emerged on its chest.

Lacus used her enhanced vision to see her mother was still giggling even in this state. As she saw the transformed Black Swan's energy cannons charge up and point at the manor she narrowed her eyes." Even after all we did, we still are helpless to stop them? Mom, not like this!"

Hiryuumon saw how upset Lacus looked before he ran up to her." Don't let theses jerks get in your head Lacus! You saved me and Kirby when that Blackknightmon jerk forced us to be fused with him right?"

Lacus paused as she saw how determined the Digimon looked before she grasped the Golden Imperia Crystal tightly. " Your right Hiryuumon. This enemy might be stronger then that one, but I'm stronger now to.

And if they thought they could just invade my home and mess with my family then they are going to find out just how wrong they are! Guys, hang tight. I'll get mom back, and teach them all what I think of their jokes!"

As Lacus had her wings extend her younger sister gulped." You got them sis! You and Ben show them who's boss!"

Hiryuumon growled before he ran over to the broken window." Don't forget about me! Time for some major payback! Hiryuumon warp devolve to, Shinryudramon!"

As Ben's Digimon quickly transformed into his Mega level form he flew off to help Ben. As he did Lacus saw the being holding her mother hostage and grasped her sword tightly." For all your devious planning, I taken down stronger foes then you!"

Lacus flew into the sky to prepare to free her mother. But as she got closer the transformed Elphelt, the mutated Black Swan saw her target was grasping the Golden Imperial Crystal before she formed a savage grin, and had her new cannons form in all directions." You misunderstand, your mother's not my only hostage, all the inferior heathens on this planet are!"

Lacus looked horrified as not only did the demonic serpent monster fire a blast at the manor, but also fired blasts above in all directions. The angelic woman realized the Black Swan gleefully was targeting all over the planet and quickly cast a wide dome shaped barrier to protect everyone.

But to her cringe Elphelt just fired more and more blasts to strain the Enji." You deluded all these humans into thinking you were the savior, but now everyone will see you fail, and scream in despair as all the pieces of society shatter!"

As Lacus pushed herself to fortify her barriers to make sure no attacks got out, the face of her mother just kept laughing madly." All the liars, all the fools, its time everyone get their punishment! Your all been so naughty, your all going to get what's due!"

Lacus saw the madness in her mother's eyes before she realized why it was feeling like a bad trip down memory lane." Mom, your just about like how I was at my worst, right when Brad made me try to kill Ben and everyone. I, don't know how much the Beyonder's agents are altering your mind to make you feel this way, but, I do know what it's like to feel consumed with despair.

I'm, sorry you felt so much pain because of me mom. I, admit you were not quite one of the ones that helped me get back from the brink but, for dad's sake I'll overlook that and do what I can! Even if I faltered, I will show everyone that they can depend on me, no matter how difficult it gets! KOS-MOS, its risky but I need all the help I can to distract the enemy."

"Understood Lacus." The blue haired woman responded as she formed a machinegun in her hand." I exist to serve the Raystar family, I will do all I can to ensure Miss Raystar's safety. Other Enji are quickly approaching the area. We will overcome this."

KOS-MOS then activated her Tertiary Weapon System to grow wings and from a PT cartridge-type phase transfer cannon that she fired in moments. The blast hit the Black Swan right in her right eye, and was powerful enough to make Elphelt flinch.

The servant of the Beyonder screamed in pain and unloaded on the attacker, but Lacus cast an additional barrier to protect her ally as she moved closer.

Ben saw how tense Lacus looked, but was too busy evading Mira's strikes to be able to help her. As he wondered if sending out Shadow clones could help Mira suddenly had his right hand twitch, and grow into a massive claw like the ones the Tyrant bioweapon zombies used by the Umbrella corporation in the past.

The moment Ben realized his foe's change, Mira showed off his speed and thrusted his mutated hand to try and gorge Ben's eyes out.

Ben found his foe's claw was less than an inch from his face, before he gave out a cry of rage and his hair turned golden once more as he unleashed his full power.

As Mira was blown back he just had a driven look on his face." That's it, your true power? I'll overcome it, and make it my own!"

The blue skinned villain yelled with fury as his muscles expanded and his hair stood up in a way as if he was turning Super Saiyan, though his hair did not change color. The sclera of his eyes turn red; the irises change to a white color and his pupils appeared to vanish.

Ben saw his foe produce a dark aura with arcs of purple lightning shooting throughout before he just grasped the Divine Mugen Nova tightly." Try and mimic this state all you want Mira. No matter what the Beyonder made you out of you can't replicate this! This is the power that's reserved for the one who will save the universe!"

"Pompous clown!" Mira roared out as he had his normal hand sizzle with energy." You may be Cosmos's champion, but I am chosen by the all mighty, and he is beyond all the pretenders! Your last moments will be begging for forgiveness! Super Serious Bomber!"

In an instant the Dimensional General unleashed a massive red energy beam at his target. But Ben showed he was not playing around as in the blink of an eye he slashed the energy blast in half with his sword.

As Mira looked shocked Ben coldly pointed his sword at his enemy." Your wrong Mira. After what you did to my dad this is only ending after I beat you so hard you beg for forgiveness!"

"Careful now "hero"." Mira stated coldly." If you can't control your rage then the person you're trying to save will die!"

Mira saw Ben hesitate and prepared to attack, till suddenly Shinryudramon flash stepped behind Mira and grasped him from behind. The Royal Knight Digimon had the pincer on his beam shield grasp Mira's claw arm tightly before Ben's pal uttered,"If the only thing stopping the boss from thrashing you good is using his dad as a shield then I'll just have to pin you down while he cuts Jack out of you! You thought you could trick us but your out of time you jerk! Go for it Ben!"

The leader of the Justice Force gave Ben a thumbs up as he readied the Divine Mugen Nova. Before he could strike he heard a cold laugh, and saw a flash of light as he looked up to see Towa appear in a flash of red light, and land on Elphelt 's shoulder.

The blue skinned Black Swan grasped her wand tightly before she smirked." You misunderstand Ben Auro. This attack is not the prelude to the invasion, it's part of it! Those nearest to you, will be the ones that destroy everything you hold dear! You can only watch as everything slips away, as the grand wheel turns, as everything dies!"

Towa waved her wand, before the lower half of her fellow Black Swan's chest glowed and unfolded, revealing a large sphere like machine. As Shinryudramon saw the sphere glow he raised an eyebrow." Hey boss, is it just me or is that the same thing that Goku was using when he was fighting you?"

"Heh, your correct Digimon, it's the ZONE device." Towa uttered smugly. It will serve as an anchor that will link this reality with Rabum Alal and allow him to make his advent! Mira 's power is the primary catalyst, but we altered the plan after you, neutralized some of the other generals.

Your father's despair will be the additional anchor that draws my master ever faster, and the more people fall into despair, the faster the rift will open! You have a choice now heroes, to live up to your destiny, the price will be murdering your own parents! Either way, your failures will be proven to all!"

Lacus saw the ZONE device glow, before firing a beam into the sky. At the same time Elphelt kept firing in all directions, and as Lacus saw her mother was still laughing madly she winced." No, it's starting to look like before! There, has to be a way to split mom from her before it's too late right?

Damn it, I can't let everyone die because of my weakness, but I can't let them get the last laugh with this either! I'll find a way damn it! Radiant Burst!"

Lacus quickly unleashed a barrage of Flower Funnels to barrage "Fortissim Elphelt" with energy blasts from all sides.

While the mutated Black Swan quickly got holes all over her body, her eyes glowed before they regenerated. Jane yelled in pain, before she then laughed madly as the barrage only intensified.

Ben saw Lacus look dismayed before he glanced back at Mira and saw he was struggling to throw off Shinryudramon." Damn it, this is giving me all kinds of painful Deja Vue. And all you scum that are causing this is going to pay!"

Ben prepared to slash Mira, till his father's face suddenly shifted again to get right in front of his son's eyes. As the Enji winced, his dad just kept laughing madly." Damn it boy, what a ungrateful son you are calling your own father scum like that! What, you wanted to get rid of me anyway boy, at least have the guts to go through with it!

You always looked down on me, thought you were so much better than me and just needed your lucky break to escape the bloodline you loathed so much!

You, your mom's parents, everyone always kept mocking me! But no matter what happened you still came from me! Ever heard of sins of the father? One day, all the things you hate about me will be part of you! Your just like me, and that means all the things you hate me for, are things your guilty of! And its time…the guilty are punished!"

Mira's face split open again to unleash another blinding light. As Ben and Shinryudramon were blinded Mira shouted out," Infinity Explosion!"

The Dimensional General had a purple energy bomb go out from his normal hand the moment Ben was blinded. Ben was strong enough to not take too much damage from the blast, but Mira unleashed one blast after another to knock Ben back.

At the same time his claw twitched before extending, to swerve around and try and stab Shinryudramon from behind.

The Digimon quickly broke out of his hold, only for the claw to move like vines and entangle its target. Mira swerved around and grinned as Shinryudramon grunted in pain." You're not quite as strong as the Enji, but assimilating you into me will push me closer and closer to surpassing him!"

"I'll take a hard pass on that freak!" The Royal Knight yelled out as he grasped one of the claws with his beam pincer and tried to grasp Mira. In response the inorganic villain snickered as more tentacles burst out of his back." Only in the end, will all of you realize that no matter how you try and delay it, all that Rabum Alal desires will be his!"

Mira kept blasting Ben and attacking Shinryudramon at the same time as he pushed the two further away from the Raystar Manor and closer to Neo Arcadia. Lacus saw her boyfriend get further away, and saw that the beam coming out of the ZONE sphere attached to Elphelt was getting bigger.

She heard the enemy laugh louder before she grasped her fist tightly." Damn it, I'm through being treated like a joke. You and the Beyonder all have been acting so god damn smug. But I think it's time you learn just what your messing with because I had enough!"

Lacus had her golden aura surge further before she had four golden energy claws from out of her aura to grasp Elphelt 's cannons with them before she could react, and had them blast into each other.

As the Black Swan yelled out in pain Lacus flash stepped in front of her target's face before unleashing a roundhouse kick that was fortified with enough energy to send the larger life form to the ground.

As the monster that had her mother bound yelled out in frustration the woman clad in golden armor burst down to slam the Black Swan in the head before she had the Golden Imperial Crystal shimmer with light. "Mom, if you can hear me hang tight! No matter how many kinds of spells it will take I will get you out of their! H, AH!"

Lacus prepared to cast a spell only for her to get blasted in the back. As she staggered back she saw Towa flying down, with her staff brimming with energy." Even as powerful as your magic now is, it still takes time to cast. And I won't let you have the time to pull it off. And, just to make sure, I'll throw in some extras! Hell Ballet!"

Lacus saw the blue skinned woman fire a purple energy blast at her, and tried to deflect it only for the red energy sphere to expand around her to become a spherical space of magical energy.

The brown haired woman felt like everything around her was slower before she narrowed her eyes." If your Master deluded you into thinking you had enough power to defeat me, your about to find out just how badly you were lied to!"

As Lacus had golden light surge around her she noticed magical summoning pentagrams form all around Towa before more of the Aleph robots that she, Ben, and the others fought both during the original Incursion and when fighting Bisley and the other Chrono Phantasma appeared all around the Black Swan.

As the inorganic servants of the Beyonder all locked on to the third woman of the Antitype Apostle bloodline Towa laughed madly." I don't have to defeat you Raystar, I just have to stall you long enough for the Grand Wheel to turn properly! I'll gladly give up my life to fulfill the desire of the one true lord! You're going to suffer to think your light alone could hold back the, GUH!"

Towa was knocked back as a large energy blast hit her back. Lacus looked up to see Terra, Collette, Yuna, Velvet, and even her new friends she made in Battle world like Ryūko and Mitsuru were with them.

As Towa glanced at Terra, the Enji Captain transformed into her Esper form."

"As bright as my friend's light shines, she does not have to shine alone! We will fight with are friend, to the end! Meteor!"

Lacus was relieved to see her friends unleash a barrage of projectiles to keep the Aleph robots from firing at her. As she glanced at Ryūko, the girl that used enhanced scissors as her weapon grinned as Lacus looked at her." Damn Raystar. I was curious at just how glitzy your pad was compared to Raygo's but I did not think the party was this crazy! Still, sounds like it's in the wrong way."

Mitsuru saw Lacus's mother's face attached to the monstrous Black Swan before the Persona user raised an eyebrow." I been hearing the situation so far Raystar. Sounds like we might need the Phantom Thieves' talents again, if they can get here in time.

The enemy does seem to be in the process of implementing their end game. I must say, I thought things were bleak when the fall was going to happen in Tartarus but, things seem even more grim at the moment."

Velvet had her demonic claw break out she snarled out," Does not matter how much they throw at us, we will just smash them till they know their place!"

The revenge driven Therion jumped at the nearest Aleph and tried to crush its head. But while she cracked the machine a little, its head glowed a little before uttering," System target analyses. System status…upgrade."

The machine minion's body glowed before it punched Velvet off. It was about to blast the black haired woman before Zero arrived to slash into its eye with his Z-saber.

While it staggered back from the blow, its chest slid open to reveal extra cannons. But before it could fire Doug showed he had arrived to, as he uppercut the Aleph so hard that it exploded on impact.

The member of Squad 7 saw all the targeting lasers pointing at him before he spat on the ground." Did not expect the bad guys to play by the rules but taking parents hostage is their play now? Damn that's playing dirty. Despite all the drama I had here, I still see this place as my home so, as a rule anyone trying to mess with my stuff is getting their ass kicked!"

As he cracked his neck he heard a noise and swerved around to see that Gouken was behind him, with his fist in another Aleph's chest.

As the robot prepared to fire Doug saw the man who taught him martial arts unleash his Denjin Hadoken fireball to blast his target's cannon.

As Doug saw the Aleph explode he snickered." I knew you were just trolling me about being to decrepit old man!"

"Tsc, I said I was getting old, I did not say I was an invalid! Just have to save things for when it counts, and nothing would seem to count more than this. I may not be able to do much for this Beyonder, but I'm not going to cower to some damn toys!"

Towa saw Gouken's defiance before her scepter glowed." Tsc…any pawn of the master is superior to an army of Cosmos's inferior puppets! Put this fool in his place, my Byaku Shin!"

The Black Swan waved her wand again, and four house sized red and sliver robots with blue fire roaring around them emerged. The Byaku Shin nearest to Gouken glanced at him, before its golden claw extended. Gouken and Doug glanced at each other, and nodded before in the blink of an eye Doug punched the robot's head.

The Byaku Shin endured the hit, and its eye started to glow before Gouken charged at it." I don't know, if this scrap pile is really invincible, it must defeat my Shoryuken to stand a chance! Shin-Shoryuken!"

Gouken punched where Doug left his own punch, to hit the part of the giant robot that was already cracked. This caused the energy to become unstable before the entire upper half of the Byaku Shin exploded.

As the two fighters landed on the ground Gouken cracked his neck." I don't know what humans ultimate destiny is, but I just have a hunch, that the answer lies in the heart of battle."

Doug chuckled before he roundhouse kicked another incoming Aleph, and as Lacus saw Doug and the others arriving quickly demolish the Aleph's and Byaku Shin around them, she could not help but smile at relief at seeing her friends support.

But her moment of confidence quickly eroded as she heard her mother suddenly scream with rage, before Elphelt screamed as well, with a sonic pitch that caused everyone in the area to grasp their ears vie instinct.

Lacus saw her mother's face glare at her before screaming out,"All you damn liars, you will all be punished! All the liars of the universe, will get the punishment they deserve!"

Elphelt was screaming so loudly that even the inorganic heroes were affected by the sheer force of the shock-waves she was unleashing.

As Lacus struggled to regain her balance she saw the massive monster that had bound her mother's body had parts of that body start to turn pitch black and expand like giant boils.

The female warrior of light winced as she wondered if this was some new attack she quickly lashed out with her energy ribbon to hit it before it could explode. But her attack did not give the reaction she hoped, as the boil exploded anyway, a massive amount of black, moldy liquid burst out like a damn had burst.

More boils burst out of her body, and as the Enji and other hero's tried to react they found that the liquid was thick like tar, and the instant it touched everyone it tried to freeze them. Doug felt the liquid touch him before he yelled out," You slime balls can get as slimy as you want, but a little grime is not going to, huh? Whoa!"

Doug, and most of the others realized the liquid was not only sucking away their energy, but also rapidly hardening and pulling them in.

Elphelt had a look of pure madness from on her as the black liquid had tentacles burst out to try and grasp everything in her sight." We realized that it would be even more fun if you hero's helped bring about the doomsday you're so dead set on trying to stop! HAha, after all, the more the failure hurts, the more it will amuse our master!"

As more tentacles burst out Jane widened her grin even more." That's right, all the liars have to suffer, the frauds have to hurt as much as possible before it all burns down."

Lacus saw the madness in her mother's eyes before she winced." Mom, are you aware at all at what's going on? Is, is this really want you want? Not just me, but dad, Sarah, Shion, and everyone in the universe is going to die!"

Jane just kept laughing, but her smile and eyes twitched as she burst out a erratic,"Everything's a fraud anyway. Your destiny, the light, everything! All lies in existence should just melt away till only the truth remains! Time for your shame to be erased once and for all my dear!"

Lacus saw a barrage of black liquid tentacles burst for her, before her will blazed with resolve." Mom…I know things did not go through as we all hoped. But, that does not mean I'm a sham! I know me and Ben and most of the Enji, and even Cosmos herself got impatient and let Rassilon trick us into thinking the Homeostasis's Axiom Matrix Connection was the best way to bring harmony to the universe.

But, while that was misguided, it does not mean we given up! I know Ben is not just going to give up, and I'm not going to give up either! Even if it's impossible to make a complete paradise where no one ever suffers, I refuse to think that this is the best we can do for woman and all others that have to suffer at the hands of the sinful.

I'll keep trying no matter how hard it takes! Mother, please, don't give up on me or the universe! I know you're a fighter mom, so don't give up and let them win!"

Lacus had the Golden Imperial Crystal unleash a surge of power as she caused all the dark liquid around her to shatter. She had the beam of light blast right into her mother's face, causing Jane to scream.

As she shirked out, Elphelt also roared in pain." You damn pawn, no matter how hard you try, you will never win! Just beg for mercy already!"

The Black Swan had all of her cannons swerve around to try and blast Lacus, but to her shock Jane stopped laughing as her eyes widened." The Raystar family, are not quitters! Even if my dreams did not come true, I, I still want my children's dreams to blossom!"

"Shut up you idiot! A good child, obeys the will of their parent! That's why, it's time for all to obey the will of their true master the great all powerful Rabum Alal!"

"Oh shut up you classless whore!" Jane shot back." If a true star shines, she can't be held back by dullards! I, I admit I been jealous at times Lacus doing what I wanted, but I want to keep seeing her shine. Keep shining brightly, my dear Lacus!"

Lacus felt her mother resisting the Black Swan's control before she grasped her hand tightly." Hang on mom! I got you! Ugh, I really hated the classic Black Swan movie and how it made me feel about myself, so just get lost already!"

Ben's girlfriend had her free hand shimmer with golden light before she smashed her fist above were her mother's head was attached to and cast a barrier around her mother. With her other hand she stabbed the Oath-Keeper into Elphelt, and unleashed a surge of golden energy.

Towa heard her fellow Black Swan scream in pain, before beams of light burst out all over her body, causing the blue skinned woman to curse with disgust." Damn it Elphelt, you could not keep it together even this long? No, I won't let things unravel yet, not when we are so close!"

Towa had her wand surge with power, before the light that blasted out of her comrade's body blinded the area. Lacus tensed up as she heard the scream fade, and tensed up more as she heard a moan.

But as she regained her vision she saw her mother was next to her, face down on the ground but still breathing.

The Enji quickly went up to her mother as her pulse quickened. "Mom! Can you hear me!?"

Lacus and those around her saw Jane slowly open her eyes before she looked ashamed." Lacus…I'm so sorry if I hurt you. The past few hours I heard a whispering in my ear that was driving me crazy, till it really did drive me crazy! I, I won't lie that I felt angry at times. But, I never thought it was more important than your life! I, I."

"It's ok mom." Lacus uttered softly as she hugged her mother." I know what it's like to be controlled against my will remember? We all have emotions we keep repressed one way or another, it's all about how we handle what happens afterworlds. And, you made the last moment count mom."

"Oh Lacus, no matter what, happens, a world where your still alive is not a bleak one."

"Thanks, I plan to keep it that way."

Ezan was one of the many Enji who had just arrived recently. As he casually slashed some of the Aleph 's in half in the blink of an eye he saw Lacus embracing her mother and shrugged." Despite how it looked, the situation is not, quite as bleak as it first seemed."

Lacus nodded as she allowed a tear to drop down her eye." I've already went through more than a few nightmares by now Ezan. And, I been doing this dance enough to know the steps just a little to turn back before it's too late. No matter what, I swear this time I'll, huh? NO!"

The one chosen by Cosmos was cut off as she felt a sudden vile energy roaring in the direction of her mother, and acted on instinct to push her out of the way. Less than a second later a ball sized red energy blast hit her in the chest.

Her comrades were horrified as Lacus was blasted far into the air, and as she landed on the ground with a thud they heard a mocking laugh from the direction of the blast, before the Chaotic Comedian suddenly landed on the ground." Damn girl, your clinging damn hard to your happy ending eh? Tsc, all the ways those angels modified you gave you some damn annoying instincts!

But I tell you what, if you think you stopped anything then I'm sure as hell going to enjoy proving you wrong. Heh, you always been a naïve broad, now you just get to watch me kill your momma slowly! You guys still don't get the joke I set up just for you so called heroes, so guess I have to be really damn blunt about it!"

Doug saw his dark half have his aura erupt before he powered up himself." Oh I'll show you blunt jackass! Thanks for saving me the trouble of hunting you down clown. Let's see who's the true top dog when you're not in the lead with a cheap shot! Damn it, the Beyonder must have made you his damn puppet. No way in hell I even joke about using someone's family as hostages!"

The member of Squad 7 at the Chaotic Comedian, but the masked man casually caught his punch as he had a wild look in his eye." Oh come on Fitter, no need to be modest when everything's about to end! You had those thoughts, but you were to chicken, no, you made me to chicken to go through with it till I no longer had you as baggage!

You wanted Ben and Lacus to experience the same kind of pain we had to go through! You wanted them to have their parents be monsters to, so they would know the shame we had to go through with!

And soon, all the stuck up elites in existence are about to be seen as the know nothing fools they are! Just like you truly wanted, Benny boy and everyone else is going to be made to see just how damn foolish he always was!"

"Yah, I wish Ben got off his high horse, but I did not want his dad being dead because of it or all this other crap you caused! I'm tired of people speaking for me or telling me what I should be freak. If you're not going to shut up I'm just going to have to make sure you never joke again! Kaio-Ken!"

Doug's aura erupted with a fiery red energy as he suddenly roundhouse kicked the Chaotic Comedian in the face. He swiftly unleashed a fiery Shinpuujinrai Kyaku, and as he finished up his Super Combo he went right into unleashed the Final Shoryuken Heaven attack to hit his dark half harder.

The member of Squad 7 grit his teeth as he saw the masked man's face crack a little, and just as the vicious Dimensional General started to recover Doug poured all of his power into his fists and fired off a Maseko.

The energy beam ehit on target, and as an explosion broke out everyone heard a deranged chuckle from the smoke." God damn, you really are scared if your pulling out the stops right at the first round eh Fitter? I can respect that, because we both known this joke has gone on long enough!

As revved up as you are, without your anger, without me your punches have no damn punch in them! And that means you will never win! Time to clean house with all the losers!"

Doug felt a gust of wind and braced himself as the Chaotic Comedian burst out of the smoke ready to punch his counterpart. Doug prepared to counter, but just as his right fist made contact he saw his target's body turn transparent.

Just as he wondered what happened he saw a flash of red light, from behind, and heard a yell of pain. Doug swerved around with dread, and that dread turned to horror as he realized Gouken tried to protect Doug from the blast that the real Chaotic Comedian fired at him while his after image set Doug up.

While Gouken succeeded in preventing Doug from taking the blast, with how sudden the attack came the price was getting hit by the energy beam himself, in the heart. As Gouken saw his student looking at him the martial arts master just sprouted a bitter grin." I told you to watch your blindspot in a fight! You always were a sucker for fake outs…moron. Heh, glad, my instincts did not dull that much you, GUH!"

Gouken coughed up blood as he collapsed. As he fell the Chaotic Comedian just cracked his neck. " Still think your hot stuff now eh you damn relic? I wanted to end my baggage once and for all, but personally killing you is one mighty fine bonus.

After all, you always were nagging us, thinking you knew best when you were to full of it to realize you were a has been! But now it's just what you wanted all along eh Fitter? Now he will never put out a pompous speech again!"

The Chaotic Comedian was about to fire a second blast only to see Ezan, Zero, Cloud, and the others all charging at him before the masked man burst up into the air and fired a rapid barrage of energy bullets in all directions to try and barrage everyone.

Doug heard his dark counterpart laugh madly as he did this, and grasped his fist so hard blood crawled out." I told you…I told you that NO ONE SPEAKS FOR ME YOU SON OF A,"

Doug was about to burst off till Gouken suddenly grasped his leg. As Doug was snapped out of the murderous rage he was feeling his master croaked out," God damn it Doug, at the very least honor your master and listen to him one last time."

Doug winced as he saw Lacus was still healing from her own injuries, and that between the barrage the Chaotic Comedian was still unleashing along with the attacks the remaining Alephs were firing the healers in the group were too busy to get to him at the moment.

As he realized how little energy Gouken had left he kneeled down." Now's not the time for jokes Gouken! Hang on, I think I got a spare."

"It's too late Doug, not enough time. Heh, honestly it's not too bad though. My time was coming, rather go out like a badass then getting a stroke on the can. Doug, there is nothing left for me to teach you. Its all about how you choose to use what you know from here on now.

Just, promise me you won't be a slave to your emotions. Promise me, you will at least remember the important stuff I tried to drill into your head and don't let anger guide you."

Doug saw how glassy eyed Gouken looked before he grasped the older man's hand tightly." That's going to be hard since you taught me a lot that was important to me. But I'll try to get it right, I swear."

"Heh, I know you will, because you're a man of your word. Just do it right, then we can have a proper rematch in the next dimension. We…better…have…that…match...Dou."

Gouken then coughed out blood, before he groaned, and his hand dropped. Doug yelled out in shock, but saw Gouken was already motionless. As anger swept across his body, he remembered what his master said before he took a deep breath, and cracked his neck." Gouken…I'm going to prove I'm the master of my own ship no matter what. And that's why, this bastard's going to pay big time for all of this! Your plan's already sinking joker, time you go down with the ship!"

As Doug prepared to charge the man who killed Gouken, a flash of red light came out from above, and everyone realized the ZONE sphere was in the distance.

The sight of so many Enji looking horrified caused the Chaotic Comedian to laugh in his most sadistic tone yet." Oh the ship's going down but it's not my ship loser! That's why all your precious bonds are nothing but jokes " deadweight". You focused so much on the losers you were trying to save, you did not even realize the homerun being stolen right under your god damn noses!"

Towa laughed gleefully as well as her dark aura sizzled." That's right, I was able to detach the ZONE sphere from that failure Elphelt before she was vaporized. As long as one of us can direct the energy, it will give the same effect.

Do it quickly Mira! Use the despair of the chosen one's own family to complete the ritual! You pawns of Cosmos will submit to destiny! Minus Kili Zone!"

The Black Swan promptly threw her staff to the ground, before a large red area appears beneath the opponent.

The Time Breakers symbol formed around it and a huge sphere begun to cover the entire area around the Enji.

Lacus saw the walls of dark energy were getting bigger, before she focused to recover as fast as she could and fired a blast of golden energy to overpower he enemies dark magic." Ben, I'll help you free your father soon. Just, hang in there, and don't give in to the enemy no matter what! No matter how cruel they get, we can't afford to be broken by them! I'll, never let scum like that break me again! I'll stay true to my beliefs, to the end!"

Lacus unleashed more holy light to repel Towa's attack. But despite the death of Gouken, the most pressing crises was with Ben and Shinryudramon, who after all this time was still being barraged by Mira relentlessly. The inorganic general blasted Ben to the ground all the while trying to strangle Shinryudramon with his tentacles.

As both members of the Squad 7 fell to the ground, right outside the bridge leading to Neo Arcadia the Dimensional Nihilo General saw the ZONE sphere was being hurled in his direction by Towa, and just had four extra tentacles attached to the sphere shaped machine.

As Ben and Shinryudramon both fell to the ground with a thud Mira saw Ben was trying to get back up despite his injuries from the barrage of energy blasts and sneered." You truly are stubborn Ben Auro, I'll give you that much. From what I was told you Enji truly are tenacious to go to such great lengths to resist. But, despite how you desperately plot, its hopeless!"

"True hope is stronger than your master Mira!" Ben shout out defensively as he prepared for a counterattack." Even your master's power can't,"

"Oh shut up boy!"

Ben's father suddenly roared out madly." You always were ranting about all your ideals without a lick of understanding at how it worked boy! Just accept that you were wrong, and that your precious hero dreams are dead!"

Ben saw the rage in his father's eyes before he hesitated,"Dad, is that what you truly, GUH!"

In his moment of hesitation Mira had more claws erupt out of his knee to try and stab Ben in the eye. Despite his shock the leader of the Justice Force was able to catch the claw inches from his eye.

His instinct was to rip the arm off, but he was worried about what the result would be for his dad.

As he saw the energy beam the ZONE Sphere was releasing was getting bigger, and that the whole sky around it was glowing desperation crept across his face." Dad, do you really not care about anything anymore?"

"There is nothing left but hate, you took everything away from me!" Jack yelled out deliriously. " They all counted me out, but the joke's on them! Who's laughing now huh? WHO"S LAUGHING NOW BASTARDS!?"

Ben saw how insane his dad looked before he got even more upset." Dad, did, did I push you this way? I, AH!"

Mira fired more energy blasts at Ben while he still was pushing the claws out of his eyes before the Dimensional General hissed out," Of course it's your fault Ben Auro. All of this is your fault! You dared to change destiny, you assumed to much about everything. Now, the weight of your mistakes will bury you! This is what a failure of a hero and a son deserves!"

Mira then had the tips of two of his spikes split open to start and drain Ben's energy. Despite this the Enji could not help but think about how wrong he ended up being before he felt guilt consume him." Dad…I know I screwed you over. I know that I pushed you being the first test subject for the Homeostasis's Axiom Matrix Connection harder then I should have.

Not like I'm giving you a pass for how you were on the verge of cheating on mom, or well, a lot of the stuff you did over the years. Still, I know I was wrong to push you into being the person I wanted as a father.

It's like mom said, at times I just blocked out all the nice stuff you did. I mean, you never hit me, and for all your grumbling you never denied me from going for my dream, even if it took me being the chosen one for you to back it in more than a half-assed way.

Dad, I know things are not what we hoped, but it's not too late for me or you! We can still have a better future, but you got to fight for it! I know you and your siblings all did not like struggling much, but you have to fight or everything will be lost forever! Is, is this really want you want dad? Is this, GUH!"

Mira fired another barrage of energy blasts to hit Ben further as Jack just kept laughing madly in response. Mira then had his energy surge before he grit his teeth." Still blind to reality Ben Auro? Your nothing but a blight on your father! So time for it to be removed once and for all! Die knowing just how much of a failure you really are!"

Mira had a massive red energy sphere from, and as it grew larger Mira looked ecstatic."At last, its time you die! So, huh?"

Ben saw his enemy prepare to unleash the potentially lethal blast till his arm suddenly twitched. As Mira raised an eyebrow Ben saw his dad's face suddenly start twitching to. As Mira saw his own arm moving in the opposite direction he blurted out,"What, what malfunction is this?"

"It's no glitch if it's what I want jackass!" Jack's head yelled out with sudden resolve."Ben's still my boy. I, wanted my son to listen to me, not to kill him!"

"You worthless mortal scum!" Mira shouted out with outrage." Whatever glitch is causing you to regain your will is trivial! Your just a normal human and I'm the example of the new superior life form! There is no room, to protest! So, huh? What is this?"

Mira realized that despite his efforts he could not control his arm, and more of his body was twitching before Ben's dad looked as serious as Ben ever saw him." If I'm renting this body that means I have a say in this to, and I'm putting, your foot down!"

"Impossible, you could fight control over my body? I'm the pure vessel for the will of Rabum Alal!"

"Your just a damn puppet boy! None of that is real, just manufactured crap as hollow as some of my cons! But my feelings for my son sure as hell are! Even, even a guy like me has some pride!"

Mira saw Jack Auro controlling his arm to try and blast his face and roared with outrage." This, this must be a glitch! How, how can someone so weak overpower me?"

Ben saw his dad really was turning Mira's body against him before he grinned." Because you only know about physical power Mira, you and your master known nothing about what a soul truly is! And that miscalculation will cost you everything! Dad, keep fighting, I'll get you out of their soon!"

Mira saw the ZONE Sphere glow with even more energy before he snarled with rage." There is no soon Ben Auro! Its judgment time for you humans, its already, to late!"

The Dimensional General roared with fury as his aura surged, and Ben and Shinryudramon saw his dad's face wince." He's right Ben, there is no time. Just finish us off so you can save your mother and everyone else! It's my fault, for being so weak. You were right Ben, if I was a stronger man this would not have happened. Let me at least die with some pride."

Ben lowered his head as he grasped the sword tightly." When your older dad, then sure. But not now, not like this! You have made mistakes, but, while I forgot it from time to time, your only human. I know full well, that tt's all about what you do after your mistake that defines you. And I'll make sure we both have a chance to make up for are mistakes!"

"I'm grateful you care Ben. But do what your father says just for once! Its, it's impossible to, AHH!"

Suddenly golden energy swords rained down to barrage Mira from all sides to pin down his arms and legs.

As his target yelled in pain Ben had a look of pure resolve from as he had the Divine Mugen Nova surge with light." Your forgetting one thing dad, I make the impossible, possible! And I'm not letting you go down for my mistake! Mira, this game ends now! Shin-Divine Flare Edge!"

Mira winced and tried flying away only for Shinryudramon to punch him in the back of the head." Let's try this again! You got this boss! Just…really don't slip!"

Ben charged at the enemy holding his dad before he narrowed his eyes." Dad, have faith in me!"

With a burst of speed Ben sliced Mira right before where his dad's face was connected to him. The Enji burst through his target and also slashed off the cables severing him from the ZONE Sphere.

At the same time a golden energy beam collided into Mira. Ben swerved around to see Lacus was the source of the beam, and she winked before she focused, and used her magic to separate Jack from Mira's body.

Thanks to her holy magic, he looked just like he did before he ate the hex donut. Ben quickly caught his dad, and as he caught him he took a moment to grin with relief, before he glared at Mira." Now then, since you don't have a shield anymore to hide behind, your dead!"

With one hand Ben hurled the Divine Mugen Nova back, and swung it to unleash a massive golden energy sword wave. Mira tried to self-recover in time to repel the projectile, but was quickly hit by the blast.

As he was pushed into the ZONE sphere and felt himself be blasted high into the air he seethed out," The calculations were perfect! How did, GUH!"

Already weakened, Mira could not even hold back Ben's attack for a second as it slammed both him and the ZONE sphere high into the sky above the city before it unleashed a explosion of golden light.

While a shock-wave shoot the entire area Ben just looked at his father with dread." Dad, can you hear me?"

A moan raised his hopes before his dad coughed." I feel like hell, but I can hear you. Well boy, guess you managed to pull out another miracle. Still, did you stop him?"

Ben saw that the light was no longer coming from the now destroyed ZONE sphere before he took a deep breath." This is not over yet, but we pushed the doomsday clock back a bit. Still, if you did not fight back, things might have fallen apart."

"Heh, so that means even someone like me got to be a hero for once eh boy?"

"Yah dad, you did. Thanks, for having faith in me."

"You may be an ingrate, but your still my son."

As the two hugged Lacus walked over. Ben notice she was still in pain before he tensed up." Lacus, thanks so much for helping me split my dad from that freak. But, are you ok? What about your mom?"

"Don't worry Ben, got hit by a surprise attack but the likes of that are not going to make me kneel over. I, was able to get my mom out of the Black Swan to and KOS-MOS and the others are getting her to safety.

But still, we are not out of the woods yet. I had to hurry over, but the Chaotic Comedian is attacking to. He, he killed Master Gouken Ben. He died protecting Doug."

"My god." Ben uttered in horror." After all Doug's been going through, and now this?"

"Doug, seems to be hanging in there, and honoring Gouken's last wish to control his emotions. But, we have to take his dark side down once and for all. This outburst of hatred has caused enough damage."

"That's for sure. Just got to make sure he and his boss does not take anything else from us."

Ben looked at his dad with worry before his dad shrugged." Don't worry about me son, I delayed you enough. Just do what you got to do."

"Heh, I can multitask well remember dad? I'll have a Shadow Clone make sure you get back to mom safely. Got to contain this before things get any more chaotic. All right Shinryudramon ready to, huh?"

Ben was about to get ready to take action when he saw the buildings in the distance suddenly have their trailer screens change from the products they were advertising to the emergency broadcast single.

King Atem suddenly appeared moments later, surrounded by the Subcommittee, and some of the Lylat Generals and Enji Masters. The ruler of the Lylat Republic unleashed a composed breath before he looked out firmly to the cameras." Citizens of the Lylat Republic, no, everyone in the universe, I have a vital message, a warning to give to everyone.

I'm sorry to so abruptly disturb everyone but I'm afraid that the extreme level of danger unfolding warrants it. I know, we all assumed that after the defeat of Chaos Zannacross Necron that the battle between good and evil was at last decided once and for all. But, despite are hopes, we have found out recently that things are not as idyllic as we all hoped.

Some of you might have been aware of the " cosmic glitches", the aftermath of the universe being restored after Zannacross's attempt to remake existence in his image. However we only recently found out there was something far worst then mere random anomalies in space that was the source of the problems.

I'm sorry to disturb the peace we all been enjoying but now that I know properly what is unfolding you all have the right to know the truth. And the truth is that after Zannacross was defeated, one of the oldest beings in existence awoke in the aftermath. This individual is a enemy to all existence, one we dubbed the Beyonder.

He, is the first son of Cosmos and Zannacross, a being that existed before the universe was even stabilized, and sadly, a being as powerful as Zannacross.

It's become clear that the Beyonder loathes all of existence merely for not being his, and seeks total Armageddon. His plot to destroy us has been in motion longer then we realized.

Sadly, his agents infuriated us years before we were aware of it. He...even manipulating us and heaven alike to an extent. But while the situation is dire, I want you to know the situation is not hopeless.

Despite the years of peace, are champions, the Enji, including Ben Auro, Lacus Raystar, Ezan Zeon and all the other warriors of light have been giving it their all to protect us.

Just as the champions of the light stopped Zannacross despite all his power, they will stop the Beyonder! While we were caught off guard, we have taken action against his agents. We will, huh? What, Captain Ed Mercer on the Orville has detected what? Are, you sure? We, no!"

Atem, and everyone else on the planet was caught off guard as Corneria started shaking. As the Lylat King looked on in confusion his transmission suddenly cut off, before everyone in the capital planet heard a mad male voice laugh out,"HAHAHA. ALL YOU MORTAL POLITICANS AND YOUR PRETENTIOUS SPEECHS ARE AS INFURIATING AS THE TERM THAT IS NAILS GRINDING A CHALKBOARD! THE TIME WERE THINGS ARE GUIDED BY KNOW NOTHING FOOLS IS AT A END!

ONLY THOSE WITH POWER WILL DICTATE THE FUTURE FROM HERE ON NOW! MORTALS…BARE WITNESS TO HOW ALL YOU BELIEVE IN IS NOTHING BUT A SHAM! THE END OF THE GRAND FARCE OF THE LIGHT IS NOW!"

Ben tensed up as he felt the trembling get worst before he quickly looked around." What, what the hell is going on? We, we destroyed that machine before it finished what it was, wait! No, unless…NO!"

While smoke was clouding where the ZONE sphere and Mira exploded, before he realized that there was a building sized red crack of energy in the sky. But the crack was spreading each second, like a cracking mirror, before the sky seemed to crack and shatter. Out of nowhere a planet suddenly appeared above Corneria at a closer distance then the moon.

As this planet, covered by a ring of energy suddenly appeared Towa looked ecstatic."Yes, YES! Do you heathens realize how pointless your efforts are? You slowed down the Incursion Ritual a little with your efforts. But delaying universal death by a few hours still changes nothing! All that's left is to wallow in despair!"

Noctis and his comrades had come with Cloud to help, and as he saw the new planet in front of him he widened his eyes in shock." The hell is this? Is that, planet Eos?"

Ignis quickly glanced at the sudden planetoid above them before he winced." I can pick out parts of our homeland Noct, but aside from a few parts that look like the lands of Lucis, the rest look unrecognizable to me."

Cloud saw the planet slowly moving before he grasped the First Sword tightly." Seems like, it's all the Battle World planets smashed together, to be a vessel of doom. Damn it, this is the Meteor all over again. Only this time, if we don't stop this fall all there is will be shattered eh?"

"It would seem that way Cloud." James uttered stressfully as he quickly tried to scan all the new data." We did all we could, now it's time to see if the materials we have are enough to advert this colliding apocalypse. In theory we, huh?"

Everyone tensed up as they saw a massive vortex of light form around the planet, till it suddenly took the shape of the Beyonder. The first scion of Cosmos and Zannacross had changed his appearance a little, from the king like armor of before to a more business like white suit with a bit of a flamboyant style worn by human entertainers such as Elvis Presley.

He had gotten rid of his beard and now his hair was gelled back with a come over like look, but despite his changes Ben and the others could see the raw hate in his eyes.

The Enji quickly noticed that in addition to his appearance the Beyonder had used his power to have all the monitors in Neo Arcadia show him, along with every monitor in the universe.

As millions of people cried out in terror the Beyonder just laughed madly." MAGGOTS OF THIS HERETIC EXISTENCE, EMBRACE SUBMITTING TO JUDGMENT! YOUR SHILL LEADERS LIED TO YOU! COSMOS, AND ALL HER ANGELS, ALL HER PUPPETS LIKE THE LYLAT KING AND ALL THE ENJI LIED TO YOU! THE LIGHT MADE YOU THINK THAT THEY HAD ALL THE ANSWERS! BUT THEY WERE WRONG…THEY WERE ALL WRONG!

YOU HUMANS HAVE BEEN HUSTLED BY COSMOS AND HER PUPPETS SINCE SHE FORGED THIS SHAM REALITY! SHE MADE YOU ALL THINK IF YOU PUT UP WITH HER LIES YOU WOULD ALL BE LEAD TO PARADISE!

BUT YOUR ALL JUST SHEEP BEING LEAD TO THE ABYSS! THERE WILL NEVER BE PARADISE FOR YOU SCUM ONLY DESPAIR!

ALL OF EXISTENCE HAS BEEN BOUND TO HER LIES FOR LONG ENOUGH BUT NOW THINGS WILL BE AS THEY SHOULD BE! BUT YOU SHAWL BE GREATFUL TO THE ONE TRUE MASTER OF ALL!

AT FIRST I DESIRED THE SWIFT EXTERMINATION OF ALL THAT COSMOS CREATED! BUT AFTER WHAT YOU HUMANS CALL A " DRESS REHEARSEL" I REALIZED THAT AS THE MASTER OF ALL...I DON"T HAVE TO RUSH ANYTHING!

ALL YOUR CHAMPIONS…NO…EVERYONE IN HISTORY COMBINED CAN'T OVERCOME MY ULTIMATE POWER THAT'S BEYOND ALL! SO NO NEED TO RUSH WHEN I CAN MAKE THIS GAME CALLED DOOMSDAY A FUN SHOW! WHILE I LOATH ALL THAT COSMOS CREATED…I'M NOT AS "PICKY" AS ZANNACROSS.

ALL THAT CAN EMBRACE THE TRUTH AND PRAISE ME AS THEIR NEW MASTER WILL BE SPARED…IF I FIND THEM ADMUSING ENOUGH TO BE MY TOY! I AM NOT BOUND EITHER TO THE DARKNESS OR THE LIGHT! I'M NOT ON THE SIDE OF EITHER THE ANGELS OR DEMONS, ONLY THOSE THAT ARE AMUSING REGARDLESS OF IF THEY ARE GOOD OR EVIL!

ALL IN EXISTENCE…SUBMIT TO THE TRUTH THAT THE LIGHT HAS FAILED YOU! FOR GENERATIONS YOU OBEY THE LIGHT'S RULES IN HOPES OF BEING REWARDED WITH PARADISE!

BUT THEY ARE ALL LIES JUST MEANT TO TRICK WINNERS FROM DOING WHAT THEIR INSTICTS TELL THEM TO SO THAT THE INFERIOR CAN TRICK THEIR WAY TO GETTING WHAT THEY DON'T DESERVE!

THE CURRENT ACTUALITY IS PLAUGED WITH THIS CORRUPTION…BUT ALL THAT RENOUNCE IT AND EMBRACE ME AS THE TRUE GOD OF ALL WILL BE FREE TO LIVE UNBOUND BY EITHER LAW OR FEAR JUDGMENT FROM SIN! ITS TIME FOR ALL THE SO CALLED ELITES TO BURN SO THAT THINGS WILL BE HOW THEY SHOULD BE!

LET THE FINAL COUNTDOWN BEGIN! MY AGENTS ERASE WHAT IS LEFT OF THE WALLS BETWEEN ME AND THIS REALM! EVEN DEATH WILL NOT BE A THING TO FEAR IN MY NEW WORLD! FOR WINNERS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO DIE SO EASILY! THE ILLUSION OF FAIRNESS WILL BE STRIPPED AWAY WITH ALL THE OTHER LIES IN MY NEW UNIVERSE!

THEIR WILL BE NO MORE AFTER LIFE IN MY NEW EXISTENCE! NO HEAVEN, OR HELL! THOSE WHO ARE WANTED IN THE WORLD WILL JUST KEEP LIVING...WHILE THE WORTHLESS WILL DIE LIKE THE LOSERS THEY ARE!

LIFE AND DEATH WILL NO LONGER EXIST AS YOU KNOW IT...BUT WILL BE LIKE THOSE VIDEO GAMES YOU MORTALS LOVE! FOR THOSE OF VALUE...THERE WILL BE NO CHEATING TO TAKE WHAT IS THEIRS.

AT LAST...ALL WILL BE LIBERATED FROM THE OUTCRY OF THE WEAK! THE FOOLISH MASSES MERELY SPREAD INDOLENT THOUGHTS AND HOLD WINNERS BACK!

ACTING TO MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS IS TO MUCH OF A PAIN FOR THOSE WITHOUT VALUE!

THOSE WHO ARE TO WEAK TO STAND ON THEIR OWN HAVE GONE OFF TO THE ABYSS LIKE THE MAGGOTS THEY ARE AS LONG AS THEY GAIN SOME GRATIFICATION...IN THAT ONE MOMENT NO MATTER HOW SHALLOW OR MEAGER!

THEY WILL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP THEIR WORTHLESS EXISTENCE! BUT THE GRAND SHAM THAT KEEPS ALLOWING SUCH WORTHLESS BEINGS TO EXIST WILL SOON BE ERADICATED...ALONG WITH ALL THE ANGELS...HEROES AND ALL OTHERS THAT ARE DEFENDERS OF SUCH TRASH!

FOR THOSE WITHOUT VALUE...ITS TIME FOR THE ULTIMATE FINAL GAME OVER!"

Ben saw the Beyonder laugh madly as the planet behind him shot rays of golden light, before golden dragons of energy, Planesgorgers, and demonic green worms called Vegalta both started to devour the very fabric of reality around the Incursion planet before the leader of the Justice Force gulped." Damn it, after everything, it really happened all over again?"

As Ben's grip loosened Lacus grasped his hand before she smiled at him." No Ben, it's not the same. The planet, its falling slower this time. I think, I know we still have time!

We are stronger now, we can do this! Still, good thing we ended up sliding in a extra round of sex, I think we are going to be busy with work for the near future."

Ben saw Lacus looking determined, and saw his friends were by his side before he nodded." Heh, that's for sure Lacus. Your right, this time, we know what we are up against. This time, we will not lose! Time to show the Beyonder what true strength really is!"

Before Lacus could respond everyone heard a crude burst of mocking laughter cut her off, before everyone saw the Chaotic Comedian fly above them and in front of the Beyonder." God damn you heroes are one broken record, repeating the same thirty second speech again and again like anyone thinks it's cool!

Don't you get it? We already won one way or another! Cause everyone put up with all you holy losers crap this long because they thought it would mean something, and now everyone's seen its nothing but a big joke!"

Ezan was one of the many Enji who glared at the being of pure evil, before the sliver haired man had lighting crackle around his blade and he pointed the Nu-Epyon at the Chaotic Comedian as his bore Rinne Sharingan into his foe." Your humor is something the entire universe is quite sick of you demented eyesore. Time for your humor, and your existence to be terminated."

"Chill solider boy!" The masked man threw out with raw contempt." After all, for how keen your eyes are suppose to be rich boy, you and all the other tools still can't see how things really look! After all, sure the " jester's" job is to entertain but most of the time his deeper job, his real job his to say it how it is. And I been giving my A game to spell it out so every last one of you retards of the light can see just what all your precious heroic crap really all adds up to!

You Enji, all of you heroes think your so much better then the common folk eh? Think we should just bow down to you all because your so much more purer then the sinners huh? Every hero is just a hypocrite one way or another, even if you hustled the god damn universe into going with your con.

But now I and the rest of the Dimensional Wrecking Crew went and showed just what the justice you all rant about is really worth! Their is no salvation for those who are not the elite's favorites, its just a honest damnation or a slow one where your hustled along till your wasted like a punk!

When this is done everyone will see there are no true saints and that the light's precious angels are just like the demons in trying to tell everyone what to do.

But at least the demons are honest about wanting to be on top, all you holy types just want to feel good about being the top dog with excuses instead of just being honest! Heh, and that shows that justice is meaningless.

That its just where one side of the coin is as good as the other, where there's no difference between right and wrong, because it all boils down to what the guy who can beat down everyone else says is right!

And once people realize that their being strung along, that all of theses grand battles between good and evil are just shows to get them to waste their time? Then hell, show's over folks!

Cause even if you worm out of this, and you won't, no one's going to take you seriously again, cause they all seen your just full of it! All the lies of civilization, of hero's, of " good" people have just been exposed as nothing more then cons to screw over the winners! One way or another, hero's will be seen as the jokes they are and no one will take them seriously! Then things will be how they should be, where the strong are the only ones that matter! And one way or another it's time for the laws of nature to take back what they are due! Heh, in fact, all laws are just things losers made up!

Commands are what the strong dictate, and the COMMANDS of the strong will rip apart any weak con once and for all!"

Ben saw the Chaotic Comedian laugh madly as he flew in the direction of the descending planet, before he grasped the Divine Mugen Nova tightly. " Damn it, you're not going to get the last laugh you demented bastard! Even, if no good deed can last forever, it does not mean doing good is worthless! Some things may be overreaching, but I"ll never think that the simple act of saving someone's life if you have the power to do so is not the right thing to do! That's why...for the sake of all who suffer at the hands of selfish monsters like you, your kind will never win!"

"Oh I will win loser, because its the law of nature! Moan all you want, but all of civilization is just something weaklings like you all put up to get what you don't deserve! But if you posers can't live as nature intended, then your what does not belong, not me! And when this is done, all the jokes that can't take it without their shams will get just what they deserve!"

Lacus saw how sadistic the masked man looked, and saw Ben and thought things through for a few moments before she glared defiantly at the sadistic man in front of her. " Maybe things are not how they were at the start of existence, but just because things changed, things evolved, it does not mean that what came later is fake!

Society...like all things that are important really...are tricky, messy, and complex. As much as we want a simple answer, it just does not exist.

I admit me and Ben both lost perspective of the value of freedom for a while. We, Master Myers, King Atem, and all the others were so determined to bring about peace that we forgot what made it have value.

After all, how can people have consciousness of duty if someone is not free of will? How could someone have a consciousness of duty if we are not free to do or not to do, if our actions are merely links to an unbreakable, rigid chain of mechanical cause and effect? Without free will, personality is meaning of mechanical cause and effect? Without free will...personality is meaninglessness;if personality is meaningless, so is life; and if life is meaningless, so is the universe.

As valuable as laws are to society, in the end even the best laws are mental constructs, not anything solid. Schemes which the mind to deal with reality that has no structure on its own.

As much as we all rely on logic to make sense of things but the intellect is a instrument forged by the will for dealing with the world, but not always the final say over emotion, over pepole's natural will.

To deal with that, is to deal with the true nature of evil. As much as Kira and others just wanted to purge "sinful" thoughts from all life, but dismiss the fact that "evil" Darkness" and "Sin" are all propensities are all strongly rooted by necessity for survival in dangerous conditions; only in civilization, in organized society, do such things become vices; and there they require not suppression but control.

I thought I was someone who suffered, but I know now that while I did suffer a lot, I'm still privileged compared to most, and that we "elite" must accept how those on the bottom truly feel to ever truly create something better for all people, not just what those with the most privilege wish everyone to be like.

That's why, everyone has to accept that natural inclinations, considered in themselves, are good for the most part and its wrong to try and purge them from life completely.

Rather, let them be tamed, and instead of clashing with one another bring them into harmony into a wholeness which can be true happiness. That reality may be a even harder one to create then the one we were striving for. But to truly honor all the people that died for this dream, I will see that, huh?"

Lacus cut off her speech as she saw a energy blast heading for her. The angel tensed up and quickly cast a barrier around her to deflect it. As she did she saw the blast came from the Chaotic Comedian, who had a look of raw hate beaming down on her." You done feeling good about yourself you stupid cunt? You think your so enlightened?

Heh, lets be real I know your not thinking. Truth is, woman never do! You woman and the sissy beta males you con into putting your leashes on think of all these ideas to feel better, but all these dreams never amount to anything that's real!

Because in the end you keep thinking dreams and words and everything else matters when power is the only thing that ever was and ever will matter! And to drill that point home, the boss man is going to shut up every last moaning loser their is! Hahaha, you idiots still are acting like this is some argument where it matters what anyone says! This is NO debate! I don't care what anyone else thinks, I just want to beatdown everyone till everyone their is either bows to their superior or dies like the beta dumbass they are!"

Ben got into a fighting stance as he took a deep breath." Your dead wrong you sick bastard, but I know the only way you will get my point is by bashing it through your sick skull! Bottom line, you pushed us into a corner so your going to learn the hard way just how strongly we care about the universe being as it is now and not your demented savage nightmare of a world! No matter how much despair is thrown my way, I'm never going to give into fear again! Because at this point, I know all about despair! I've been through it so many times...and I've...overcome it again and again! And that's why when it counts, I'll see my job through to make sure the future you want is changed!"

The Chaotic Comedian saw Doug, James, Lacus, Cloud, Mario, Kirby, and all of the chosen one's comrades nod before the Chaotic Comedian narrowed his eyes." Well guess it's time to put up or shut up eh Benny boy? Your going to have to own up to the fact that effort does not equal victory dumbass!

It's time for all you losers to learn the hard way what matters! But, if you want to shut me up that badly, you're going to have to fight me on my turf in my world! We will settle this in my new world. And that's when everyone will learn things are going to become real damn simple! Kneel or die...OBEY THE ALPHA OR DIE!"

"YES…ITS TIME FOR SHOWING WHAT THE TRUE ULTIMATE POWER IS TO BE DECIDED ONCE AND FOR ALL! BEN AURO...LACUS RAYSTAR...I SEE NOW YOU MAY HAVE OVER COME DESPAIR AND HAVE CHANGED THE FUTURE COUNTLESS TIMES IN THE PAST! BUT DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU WERE ABLE TO DO THAT? ITS BECAUSE I WAS NOT THEIR! GO AHEAD HERO...TRY AND CHANGE MY FUTURE! NO MATTER HOW MAGNIFICENT THAT FUTURE MAY BE...I WILL SEE IT ALL! AND THEN I WILL RIP APART THE FUTURE YOU"VE CHANGED!

YOU CAN TRY AS HARD AS A MORTAL CAN TO CHANGE THE FUTURE...BUT IN THE END I AM THE FUTURE! EVERYTHING YOU WENT THROUGH, EVERY VICTORY YOU GRASPED ONLY HAD THE APPEARANCE OF FINALITY...IT LACKED WHAT THEY SAY THE PROPER" EFFECT." THAT ENDS NOW! YOU FOUGHT SO HARD TO MAKE YOUR MORTAL DREAM COME TRUE...BUT IT WAS NEVER ANYTHING BUT A DREAM TO BEGIN WITH! NOTHING IS UNBREAKABLE. NOTHING MORTAL LAST'S FOREVER. NOT THE BRAVEST. NOT THE STRONGEST. NOT THE SMARTEST...NOTHING.

EVERY LAST ONE OF YOUR NATIONS FALL AND CRUMBLE! AND SOMETIMES...THAT"S THE VERY BEST OF WHAT THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER! THAT'S WHY THE WILL OF MORTALS MEANS NOTHING AND THE WILL OF THE TRUE GOD MEANS EVERYTHING! BUT NO MORE TALK...LETS DECIDE WHO IS RIGHT ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

The Beyonder boomed out as he extended his arms, and a Whirlpool like vortex of power started to suck the very universe into the Incursion planet." LET THE ULTIMATE FINAL GAME OF THIS UNIVERSE...BEGIN!"

Authors Notes: All right, we got a lot to cover today. First the small stuff. First, the Byaku Shin is the final boss of the crossover games Namco VS Capcom and the Project X Zone 2 crossover game for the 3DS.

Planesgorgers are the fragments of Shinryu that were devouring dimensions in both the recent Dissdia Final Fantasy crossover and the phone crossover Final Fantasy game, Omni Opera.

Meanwhile Vegalta are the digital monsters that were devouring existence, albeit a cyber existence in the RPG Hack G.U. Last Recode-Vol 4 Reconnection.

Jane's merged form was both the final boss of Guilty Gear Overture, and inspired by the Fortissim Dolem enemy in the mecha anime series Rahxephon.

While Elphelt was from Guilty Gear Xrd, I also based her off the other Valentine who served as the final boss from Overture, which was a prototype for Elphel, the Valentines were servants of the Universal Will, the god like being in the Guilty Gear series who's human shape was Sanctus Maximus Populi Ariels .

In Guilty Gear she was also one of the Original's five Apostles who spread the arcane knowledge and influence of Magic across the world. It is revealed in Revelator that she has become the human vessel of an Information Unit Organism created by The Original, with the intention to guide humanity to happiness, however she comes to the conclusion that the current humans inhabiting the Earth are only dolls or imitations of what she considers to be "the true humanity" and "humans" have yet to exist in the world.

Alas all that and she STILL was not made a fighter in the games, not yet at least.

Well, the point is both the Valentines and the Black Swans from the Marvel event had so much in common it was easy to merge them together lol.

Mira is still from Dragon Ball Xenoverse, but his actions this chapter was inspired by the Tyrant Zombie in the CGI Resident Evil movie, Vendetta along with some elements of the Tyrant Abyss type from Resident Evil Revelations, who ironically also named Jack.

In addition the way Jack and Jane acted was inspired by Batman Arkham Knight, in were random civilizes were infected by the Joker's blood and started to become like him.

Hope you guys liked how things rolled out, because now we are rolling onto the final arc of Cosimc Wars EXE.

But, that might take a bit longer then its been, because I regret to say that I"ll be taking a few months off from EXE. I know the gist of what I want to do, but the fact is, various games like Smash Bros Ultimate, and most of all Kingdom Hearts 3 are RIGHT around the corner. Its one thing with something like Star Wars episode 9, which at this point I doubt would have much of value for me to add.

But Kingdom Hearts and Smash Bros are the series that inspired me to write Tales of the Cosmic Wars, I know I would regret it to finish EXE just a month or so after stuff I might really have wanted to add have came out so I figure I'll wait rather then regret missing out.

Also, in a few weeks I'm meeting with a book agent to see if I can get my Zilos Chronicles novel published so, I really should focus on doing the best I can with that.

Well, hopefully enough will care one way or another lol. I am fully aware of just how many stories get stalled and never return and I assure you no matter what I'm finishing EXE, just want to do it right so hope everyone can understand.

That's why stay tuned because I will be back for Chapter 243: Zero Hour on the Doomsday Clock!

Might take a bit longer but plan to start up again before the end of the year, around after Smash comes out. Hopefully see you all then. In the meanwhile. ( Gets a army of Pikachu's, Raiden, Black Lighting, Thor, Static Shock, and a few other lighting users and has them throw out a lighting bolt the size of the moon to try and bring back Game Masters back from the dead again. Ends up shorting out the planet)

Doh.