"In EarthRealm's hour of need, you are the only one we can turn to, Silverfang."

Garou yawned. "Find someone weaker." He said dismissively, waving his hand to the side. "I'm not interested in anything not on my level."

The man glowered at him.

"The defense of EarthRealm is of the utmost importance." He snarled. "It is the only thing keeping the Realm from being merged with Outworld. If you do not compete, we will lose. And this realm will fall."

"A merger sounds more interesting than a tournament." Garou said. He ducked. Bang's long, powerful leg had just kicked at him.

"Hey, old man, what gives?"

"You don't have a choice in this matter, Garou." Bang told him, as he lowered his leg. "Consider it a part of your probation. Go and win the Mortal Kombat tournament. And then you can clean the entire dojo."

"Oh, come on." Garou complained. "I want to fight off the invasion!"

Bang kicked at him again, and he dodged, scowling audibly.

"Fine." He snarled, as he shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked forward, head bent. "I'll go win your stupid tournament."

"You mustn't go into this battle unprepared." The man said, alarmed. "This is the most dangerous tournament in all of the realms. Some of the most powerful fighters in the multiverse are there. Even you will-"

Garou shoved him to the floor as he stalked past, still scowling. "An invasion sounds way more cool." He thought to himself bitterly. Not for the first time, he resented his place in the world. Bang watched him leave, his brow furrowed.

"Oh, Garou…" He murmured. "Don't be careless."

…

The strongest being on Earth, Omniman, descended into the arena with nothing but a smirk. He knew full well that he was the strongest: in his Earthrealm timeline, he had conquered the entire planet, subjugated the entire universe, and had never even broken a sweat to do so. No hero who would ever fought him had even scratched him.

The young man standing before him, Garou, looked no older than Mark looked now… perhaps eighteen years of age. He was lean and powerfully built, for a mere human. He scowled at him.

"You a hero of Justice?" He rasped.

Omniman smirked. Even those from other timelines who had never heard of him before fell for the tights and suit routine. This Garou had never even heard of him before, and yet had easily fallen for his façade.

"Yes." Omniman said. "I'm here to save every timeline. Step down, hero, and I won't have to hurt you."

Garou cracked his neck.

"Hero?" He repeated, glowering at him. "I'm a monster."

Omniman smirked. His species was capable of flying faster than light. With One Punch, it would be over. He bent his knees and with one mighty leap, leapt forward.

Garou raised his fist and punched his head off.

The crowd roared as Omniman's body, stood stock still, unable to process what had happened as Garou turned away, scowling darkly.

"That's it?" He asked darkly. "This is the strongest you got?"

Shao Kahn leaned over from his throne to glance at his right hand man, Shang Tsung.

"Was he the strongest we had?"

"Uhhh…." A bead of sweat ran down Shang Tsung's face. "According to our intelligence…. Yes."

Shao Kahn scowled.

"But our information was likely inaccurate." Shang Tsung said quickly. "There are so many timelines… perhaps he was far weaker than we were led to believe."

"Yes… perhaps." Shao Kahn rasped. "Summon the next fighters."

Garou ignored those around him as he found his seat among the audience, scowling. The God of EarthRealm, the God of Fire and Thunder Liu Kang, shot him a look.

"That is one who has clashed with gods." He has commented. "He has no place here."

He was quite right. The next fighter to throw himself at Garou was the unstoppable Homelander. Garou's fight with him was even shorted than the first. They had not even exchanged words before Garou's fist had penetrated his chest, ripping out his heart.

Next was the villainous Joker… the greatest threat known to the city of Gotham. Garou grabbed his face and twisted his jaw, forcing his expression into a permanent frown as Garou beat him within an inch of his life.

The one after that was not part of the tournament, but a strange man dressed in a Bat costume who descended upon the scene and challenged Garou to a fight. Garou killed him too and left the bodies to rot.

The next real fighter was a robot cop, a man that had been converted into a machine against his will to enforce law and order. Garou tore him apart with his bare hands and left his body there, still sparking.

The one after that was an alien that had infested the body of Superman and burst out of his stomach… in other words, a Kryptonian Xenomorph. Its power was incomprehensible to most mortal men, its poison had quantified in potency, it was far faster and stronger than most of its other brethren… the Super Xenomorph, too fell.

The legendary super killer Jason Vorhees approached him next. In a matter of moments his hockey mask was shattered into pieces and he curled up into a ball, crying for his mother who, he admitted between sobs, was the real killer.

It was not long until he stood at the pinnacle of the tournament. He stood with his arms crossed as Geras, on bended knee, presented him with the Hourglass of ages.

"The universe is yours to command, master." He rasped.

Garou rubbed his ear with his palm. "Can I get some tougher fights?"

The image of a bald man began to appear in the hourglass.

"Not him." Garou said quickly, and the figure dissipated. Instead the image of all seven members of the Justice League surfaced… a much easier target. Garou looked at them. He didn't even have to fight to know that they were far beneath his level.

"You know, it isn't even worth it."

He took the hourglass and destroyed it. Forever preventing any universe from being remade, rebooted, or reused.

He was relieved when he finally made his way back to the dojo.

'How was the tournament?"

Garou raised a cup of tea to his lips. "Pretty boring." He said dryly.

Bang kicked out at him and he went sprawling.

"Good. Now clean the dojo."

Garou cursed to himself as he bent over. As much as he had been let down by the Mortal Kombat tournament, there was no denying that he preferred it to chores. He found himself thankful that he lived in a universe with such strong, powerful heroes. Once the cleaning was done, the next big fight would be right around the corner.