Chapter Twenty-Seven: Everything Collapses, Part 2

The tower's base had begun to crack even further. With all the Gems working together, even as their strength waned, its foundations were gradually worn away. Bits of stone fell to the ground, but it still stood, the Runestone that sat atop its height still enveloped in darkness.

The energy drain had taken its toll, with many of them growing weaker and weaker the more they pushed or pulled. Only one Gem still fought with the same ferocity she normally had, and that was Jasper. Even though it was clearly painful, she slammed her fists against the tower's side hard enough to shake it to its very core. Her mouth hung open like a wild animal, her eyes were glazed over, and even her gemstone seemed to grow paler, yet still she persevered. She would not allow herself to be bested by the First Ones, even posthumously.

But even her rage had its limits. Though her spirit never faltered, her body wasn't so lucky. Having used up just about all of her energy reserve, each punch started showing clear effects–namely, dissolving her fists. Each successive blow led to more and more of her arm dissipating, with a dim light shining through what remained. But even as her hands were reduced to stumps, she continued to drive her arms against the pillar, and when those too were gone, her shoulders. With nothing left to speak of for arms, she summoned her helmet, repeatedly hammering away at the cracks she had created.

"I don't know…how much longer I c-can keep this up…" said Lapis, all but collapsed on the ground. She too fought through the pain, lashing at the tower with all the water she could stand to control. But the more she did, the more her physical form began to shut down, slowly dissolving. "I think I'm…at my limit…"

Gems all around were experiencing the same. Fluorite fell to the ground, unable to keep herself upright. Bismuth got her armblade embedded in the stone, and trying to pull it out tore her arm clean off. Padparadscha had already been reduced to her gem. "Keep…fighting…" ordered Jasper, her voice hoarse. Although she continued ramming her head into the pillar, her pace slowed more and more. "Keep…" Her physical form began to falter as well "...going…"

Suddenly, amid the quieting commotion, there was a bright flash of light, rising above the scene as a pillar. A vast titan emerged from the glow, bellowing out a pained roar. With the last bit of her strength that remained, Alexandrite hurled herself at the tower. Three giant fists crashed into the stone, sending a shockwave all throughout Brightmoon.

And then…silence. The tower remained standing. Unable to hold herself together anymore, Alexandrite crumbled, reduced to her component Gems. Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, and Sapphire all fell to the ground, unable to fight any longer. "Well…I guess that's it," Amethyst said, accepting her fate. "We had a good run, didn't we?"

"All we can do now is hope the others shut down the Heart of Etheria," Pearl said. "Even if we aren't there to see it…"

"I… No, we'll be there!" Ruby shouted–or at least as much of a shout as she could muster. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't even crawl, let alone stand.

Sapphire was in the same boat as the others, laying on the ground, her consciousness waning. But a flicker of movement caught her attention. "Look," she said, raising her hand to point at the tower: slowly but surely, its weight started to shift.

With a soft creaking sound that grew louder and louder, the pillar began tipping over. Slowly at first, it gained momentum, until all of their combined efforts finally bore fruit. The tower collapsed, falling into the ground with an earth-shaking crash and a cloud of dust. The dark swirling void within the Moonstone faded, leaving the Runestone a faded gray. And with it went the vacuum draining their energy.

Lars gasped, sitting upright as he coughed violently. "I'm alive! I'm…I mean, not technically, but still!" He got to his feet, stumbling a bit, but able to hold himself upright. Looking around, he saw everyone doing the same. The princesses were recovering their energy, and the Gems' bodies were repairing themselves. He rushed over to help. "Is everyone okay!?"

"I'll live," said Mermista, propping herself up with her trident. "How about everyone else?"

Pearl did a quick head-count. "Everyone is accounted for," she reported. "What should we do now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Jasper approached, her rage not diminished in the slightest. "The other Runestones all across the planet are likely doing the same thing. We can't stop until each and every one of them has been smashed into powder!"

"What? No way, it's too dangerous!" said Lars. "Need I remind you that we barely survived one Runestone? No, Adora told me to get everyone out of danger, and that's exactly what I'm doing! Everybody, on the ship! Let's get out of here before something else happens!"

One by one, everyone climbed aboard. "Captain? Are you sure this is the best idea?" asked Rhodonite, holding Padparadscha's gem. "Shouldn't we do something more to help?"

He looked away sadly. "I wish we could, but we're in over our heads here. All we can do now is hope the others can handle things on their end."

Once everyone was aboard, the First Ones ship took to the skies, blasting off into orbit.

In his new monstrous form, Modulok hurled himself at the heroes. They swung their swords as he approached, only for him to leap over them. A tentacle caught them as he passed overhead, knocking them both apart as he continued against the wall and onto the ceiling. Before they could get their bearings, he leapt down from above, pinning them both to the ground.

"Are these the invincible heroes I have heard so much about?" he snarled, holding them down. "Perhaps I over-prepared for this confrontation. I never expected you to be so weak!"

Adora's arm was pinned, leaving her unable to move her sword. "This fight only just started!" The sword transformed into a knife, giving her just enough room to jab it into his hand. Using it to gain leverage, she was able to push him off, escaping from his grip. Before she could follow up with a powerful slash, he held up Steven in the path of her blade. She stopped moments before accidentally hitting him.

Modulok then threw Steven at her, causing both of them to careen into the wall. "And this fight is about to end! I told you already: I prepared for every outcome! You cannot win!"

"Prepare for this!" Steven ran towards him, yelling a war cry as he swung his sword. Despite Modulok being larger, he was also much faster, darting out of the way of his every strike. Eventually, Steven slammed his sword against the floor, creating a shockwave that was successful in knocking Modulok back a small bit.

Adora got up, making her way over to the platform in the room's center while Steven kept Modulok busy. "How are things going here?" she asked Entrapta.

"Not too great," Entrapta replied, hesitant to touch her device again. Double Trouble still sat atop it, still catatonic. "If we can disconnect it somehow, we might be able to shut off the firing sequence, but…" She stared at the disk, looking helpless.

"Stand back!" Adora shoved the Sword of Protection underneath the disk, attempting to wedge it in further. The black dust trails rippled with energy as she pulled, though the device itself barely moved. Before she could make any progress in prying it off, a large clawed hand wrapped around her neck, pulling her away.

She felt herself being slammed against the wall, before realizing Modulok's eyes were inches away from hers. "According to the ancient legends, there will always be a She-Ra to protect Etheria," he said. Adora noticed he was holding Steven's sword, who had likewise been hurled away. "If one dies, another will be chosen to replace her. Perhaps we should test that?" He placed the sword against her chest, slowly pushing it further. She grabbed onto the blade with her free hand, doing her best to keep it away from her heart.

Entrapta grabbed She-Ra's sword, attempting to remove it from its current position. "Hang on, Adora!" Even placing her full body weight on the blade didn't make it budge. She pulled against it with every bit of her strength, but it remained firmly in place.

A short distance away, Steven got his bearings, seeing Adora in peril. He held out his hand, and the sword was pulled from Modulok's grip, freeing Adora. As it returned to its owner, it made a small cut on Modulok's arm. Only Adora seemed to notice this.

"You would stand against me, He-Man?" asked Modulok, looming over Steven. "You have seen the havoc wreaked by Gemkind yourself. I know you resent this destruction in your heart, no matter how loving you claim to be."

"Maybe," he replied, "but I would never wish for their destruction. Yours, on the other hand, I fully embrace!" He hurled himself at his enemy once more. Modulok was ready, throwing Adora as a distraction. Steven simply caught her, placing her down without breaking his stride as he hurled his sword towards Modulok.

The scientist avoided his projectile, readying himself as Steven prepared to throw a punch. His mouth opened wide, and he sank his fangs into Steven's arm before he could do so. Steven let out a cry, grabbing hold of one of the many teeth as Modulok attempted to shake him like a ragdoll.

Adora returned to Entrapta, taking hold of her sword once more. "Light Hope, how much longer do we have?" she asked.

"Heart of Etheria ready to fire in…," the computer reported, trailing off. "Moonstone no longer responding. Firing time has been delayed to eight minutes."

The situation was still incredibly dire, but Adora couldn't help feeling slightly relieved at this. Did that mean everyone back at Brightmoon was safe? No, this wasn't the time to speculate–there were still many Runestones providing power to the Heart. "Can't you program in some kind of manual override or something?" she suggested.

"Not without anything to program it with!" Entrapta replied. "Modulok destroyed the console, so there's no way I can–" Her eyes suddenly widened. "That's it! Emily!" She produced a small device from her pocket, apparently containing Emily's mind. "You stop this guy, I'll stop the Heart!" Adora nodded, pulling her sword from the pedestal.

Meanwhile, Steven continued to struggle with Modulok. Luckily, his strength meant that his arm hadn't been bitten off, but it was still in Modulok's mouth. If he could just get the chance to summon his sword, he could…wait, that was it! From the depths of Modulok's throat, Steven opened his hand, focusing. The Sword of Power was pulled towards its master's awaiting grasp, but Modulok happened to be in the way.

There was a terrible screech as the blade plunged into the back of Modulok's head. Steven stepped back, freed from his many fangs. The monster writhed for a time, before finally going still. "He didn't prepare for that outcome," Steven remarked.

The two examined Modulok's inert form. "...Is that it?" Adora asked hesitantly. "Is he just…dead?"

"Pretty hard for someone to survive something like that," said Steven. They waited a few moments to confirm that he was really dead, before Steven walked over to retrieve his sword…only for Modulok's arm to shoot out, grabbing him by the neck.

"Have you forgotten that those swords belong to the Eternians?" came Modulok's voice from his damaged box. He lifted himself off the ground, hoisting Steven up with him. "Did you not think I would make this body immune to such things!? Your power is useless against me! I am indestructible!" He reached back, pulling the sword from his head and letting it clatter to the ground.

Adora charged again, which he attempted to counter by slamming Steven into her. Seeing this coming, she slid underneath his arm, grabbing Steven's sword in the process. Swinging both blades at once, she severed his arm, freeing Steven and causing Modulok to hiss in anger.

She tossed the Sword of Power back to its owner. "You realize Skeletor said something similar, right? And so did Horde Prime." The two of them pointed their swords at him. "It doesn't matter how invincible you think you are, we'll find a way to take you down!"

Modulok was more concerned with his arm than her speech, which was struggling to regrow. Tendons slowly slid into place, as though a barrier was preventing their movement. "How poetic…I believe Mara said something similar, all those years ago." He charged once more.

The pair were ready this time, rolling out of the way. He carried himself onward, smashing through one of the windows and climbing up above the command center. Back to back, Steven and Adora waited and listened as he rounded the bridge, occasionally rushing past a window.

"She really thought she could stop me…stop the revival of our great empire." Modulok's voice emanated from his voice box, laying on the floor. "All she did was delay the inevitable. Instead of fulfilling her duty, she passed the burden onto another She-Ra. It is thanks to her that everything turned out the way it did. She could not stop me…so what makes you think you can?"

Light Hope chimed in with a status update. "Heart of Etheria ready to fire in five minutes."

Meanwhile, Entrapta was busy trying to hook Emily into the remains of the control console. "Okay, let's see, this goes there, that goes here…come on, come on, where are you!?" Modulok had really done a number on it. This was going to be tougher than she thought.

"The longer this goes on, the more I'm starting to believe this guy," said Steven. "Any ideas?"

Adora glanced down at her own sword, and then over at Steven's. "The magic of our swords interferes with his regeneration," she realized. "He may have prepared for one, but with both at once…"

Realization dawned on Steven. "Are you saying what I think you are?" Adora grinned, determination all over her face. "Then let's do it!" The two of them clasped their hands together.

At that moment, Modulok rushed in through the broken window, ready to deal the final blow while they were distracted. Instead, just before he reached them, a blinding light filled the room, emanating from their bodies. He was forced to stop in his tracks, screeching as he skidded to a halt.

Entrapta too covered her eyes, peeking out once the light had dimmed. "Wow…" she said, amazed by what she was seeing. A single figure now stood where Steven and Adora once had. Silver and Gold armor melded together, they stood almost as tall as Modulok's monstrous form. Pure white hair descended down to their ankles, the same color as the aura they emitted.

"It's true that you prepared for much of what has transpired," the being spoke. "That is why, in order to save the day, we must embrace the unexpected." They held a sword in each hand. Raising both blades, they slammed the two together, forming them into a single sword that glowed just as its wielder did. "Now, the only thing you can prepare for is your defeat! For now, you face He-Ra!"

Modulok scoffed. "A Crystal Gem utilizing fusion? Yes, truly unexpected!" He leapt up to the ceiling, crawling along until he was above He-Ra, dropping down on them. One of his arms caught their sword before they could strike, wrapping himself around them. "I always knew I would have to rip you apart, I never thought it would be literal!"

He-Ra strained against Modulok's grip, before transforming their sword into a whip. A flick sent the tip wrapping around his neck, which allowed them to easily pull him off. They slammed Modulok into the ground, following up by driving their sword into the ground, though he rolled out of the way before being impaled.

As Modulok darted along the walls, He-Ra threw their sword, in shield form, at him, embedding it into the wall. Now that they were unarmed, he leapt back onto them, only for them to call back their shield. Its sharpened edge left a small cut on Modulok's side after brushing against him–a wound that noticeably didn't repair itself.

Modulok snarled when he realized this, ducking out of the way of the next sword strike. He continued to dodge, but He-Ra was growing wise to his maneuvers, cutting him off with a beam of searing hot light launched from the tip of their blade. Falling to the floor, he looked up just in time to see He-Ra plunging their sword down once again.

A flurry of tentacles shot up at the fusion, but each one was sliced off with ease. He-Ra was a bladed tornado, moving too fast for even Modulok's enhanced eyes to see. Seeing that this method of attack was proving fruitless, he crawled away, his eyes falling on Entrapta.

"Heart of Etheria ready to fire in two minutes," announced Light Hope.

"I know, I know, stop rushing me!" Entrapta shouted. The device containing Emily had been hastily wired into what remained of the console, as Entrapta desperately tried to get her into the system. "Emily, if you can hear me, this is gonna come down to the wire!"

But Moduok wasn't about to take that chance. He hurled himself at Entrapta, fangs bared. She shielded herself, but there wasn't much she could do against his sudden attack. Then, his jaws snapped shut…just inches away from her face. "You will not win today!" shouted He-Ra, having grabbed hold of one of his remaining tentacles. "We will fight to ensure that you see no successes, no matter how small–of that you can be sure!"

The beast in their grasp turned around, pivoting his attack to face them instead. He-Ra held back his massive jaws as he bit and clawed at them with the ferocity of a true monster, a role which he was embracing very well. They held him back, but his augmented body was strong enough to give even them a hard time.

"You thought you could drain the life from our home…now we will show you what it feels like!" He-Ra tossed Double Trouble aside, slamming Modulok down on the pedestal. However, rather than ending up in a similar condition to his creation, Modulok simply lay still, as though waiting for something. In any case, his energy certainly wasn't being drained.

"Just as predictable as ever," he drawled. Though his severed tendrils still hadn't regrown, he sprouted multiple new ones that began to wrap around He-Ra's form. "Did you honestly assume I would not prepare myself to be immune to the Heart's effects?"

He-Ra's assumption cost them the upper hand, resulting in Modulok hurling them over to a broken window. They tried to strike with their sword, but he caught their arm, twisting it and making the weapon fall to the ground. As he pushed them closer to the opening, he picked up the blade, tossing it down below as it vanished into the dark.

"The Heart is hungry," said Modulok, holding them out over the abyss. "Feed it!" With that, he shoved them out, sending them hurtling over the edge. However, He-Ra managed to grab one of Modulok's tentacles just before falling, pulling him with them. He managed to grab onto the ledge just before falling over completely, holding them both up.

"You now hold both of our lives in your hands," said He-Ra. "If you let go, we will perish, but you will as well. Is that truly the outcome you desire?"

Modulok only sneered, releasing his grip. The two of them hurtled downwards, only stopping when He-Ra was able to grab another ledge, pulling themself up. Of course, Modulok had grabbed them as well, pulling himself up and over, attempting to push them off.

But He-Ra stood their ground. Feet firmly planted, they fought against his grip, the two of them entangled like a snake constricting its prey. Modulok's voice box was now too far away to hear his thoughts, fully completing his bestial transformation. His teeth snapped before He-Ra's face, barely held back from biting down.

Unable to throw him off, He-Ra instead fell to the floor, slamming their body weight into Modulok. This didn't deter him for more than a moment, with one of his arms grabbing He-Ra by the back of the head and pulling them back. Forcing them back to their feet, he continued forcing them closer to the edge.

Something in Modulok's mutated biology must have allowed him to increase in strength to match his opponents. Without a way to end this fight soon, He-Ra felt they soon may be overwhelmed. There was only one way to end this: they allowed Modulok to lead them further, before turning to face him towards the darkness, pressing their hand against his chest.

From out of the abyss shot a streak of silver: He-Ra's sword, returning to its master. He-Ra pulled away their hand, and the sword continued blade-first along its path. Like a shining beacon, it sprouted from Modulok's chest, the beast letting out a primal screech before going silent. And then, everything was still. Slowly, Modulok's limbs went slack.

He-Ra then easily freed themself from his grip, grabbing the hilt of their sword. Modulok's lifeless body slid off of the blade, tumbling down into the abyss below. "At last…the fight is over." The fight may have been over, but the danger had not yet passed. They looked up to see the Heart of Etheria, still glowing brightly. "We cannot afford to rest now. Not until Etheria is saved!"

Getting back up to the control center was easy for He-Ra. A single leap was enough to carry them up most of the way–after a few jumps, they ended up back up top, entering through the same window through which they fell. Inside, Entrapta was frantically finishing up her patch-job wiring.

"Heart of Etheria firing in ten…nine…e-eight…sev–seven…s-s-s-s-s-s–eight…fourteen…" Light Hope's voice distorted, but the countdown was still proceeding, though delayed.

"Emily's doing the best she can, but we have to destroy that device!" said Entrapta, rushing over to He-Ra. The two of them met in the center of the room, once more trying to remove the disk allowing the Heart to function. He-Ra was able to make it budge, but the black dust had all but sealed it in place.

Light Hope continued to fight through Emily's interference. "Te-te-ten…nin-ne-ne-ne-ne…eigh-eigh-eight…" Behind them, the Heart glowed brighter than the sun, its energy reaching its peak.

In the tenseness of the moment, neither of them noticed as something large and heavy slammed into the door, despite it being powerful enough of an impact to leave a large dent. At the second impact, however, Entrapta peered over, running through possible causes in her mind. By the third, a large enough gap had appeared for a red eye to peer through. "Watch out!" she shouted, diving aside at the last moment.

Megator burst through the doors, sending both flying across the room. He-Ra had heeded Entrapta's warning similarly close, managing to swat them aside. The mutant continued forward on his path, slamming his fists down on the first thing he saw: which happened to be the central platform.

The disk broke into pieces, scattering the black dust and miniature Runestones across the floor. "Th-th-threeeeee…twoooooo…" said Light Hope, her voice slowing down. "Firing sequence aborted. Heart of Etheria dormancy protocols reactivated." Above them, the Heart's light dimmed, as its spinning gradually slowed to a halt.

Everyone, even the giant mutant, was still. "Hey, it worked!" Scorpia peered in through the newly-opened doors, examining the scene. Her eyes fell on the stunned forms of Entrapta and He-Ra. "Oh, uh, sorry, are we interrupting?"

"Light Hope…?" said He-Ra. "Is it truly over? Has the crisis been averted?"

"Indeed," the computer replied. "Returning planetary shell to base orbital configuration."

A growl coming from the room's center interrupted everyone's relief. Megator stood up, red eyes scanning the room as he prepared to seek out his next target. Everyone readied themselves for a fight…but then, Megator's anger disappeared. He knelt down in front of the pedestal, staring at it as though it was familiar to him. He reached his hand out towards the jewels in the center, and one of them began to glow.

A similar-colored glow came from his chest. Both sources of light were red in color, pulsing at the same frequency. A palpable sense of calm washed over the room, as though everyone's worries were melting away.

Partly due to this calm, partly due to exhaustion, He-Ra split back up into Adora and Steven. "Is that…Bow?" asked the former, horrified.

Glimmer teleported in front of him, grabbing his head. "Bow, whatever it was Modulok did to you, you're still you. Ever since the beginning, you've been there to support us–well, now it's our turn to support you. Fight it, Bow, fight Modulok's influence! Take back control, we'll do whatever we need to do to help!"

Megator's monstrous expression softened into one almost recognizable as his previous form. The red glow spread across his body, carrying the soothing feeling with it. It then spread beyond his body, filling the entire room. They could feel Bow's pain, his fear, just as clearly as they felt their own. But they also felt his desire to help them. And that desire strengthened their own resolve to support each other.

As the light filled the room, Adora stepped forward. She held up her sword, and in a flash of light, a crystal appeared on the hilt. From it came a beam of blue light, washing over Bow's form and mixing with the red.

But Steven was the one most affected by the light. He could feel fear inside of him, fear that the Sword of Power would control him…but it soon vanished. With it came a sense of overwhelming love and devotion, the source of which he had only felt from one place in his entire life. He looked down to see that his gemstone, for the first time in months, was glowing. "M-mom…?"

The pink glow spread up from his gem, covering his form. He placed his sword on his back, reverting back to his usual appearance as he approached Bow. Leaning forward, he planted a kiss on his forehead.

Red, blue, and pink light all intertwined, seeping directly into Bow's very essence. Replaced by a pure white glow, his form body began to shrink. As the light dissipated, there he was, good as new. "Glimmer? Adora?" he asked weakly, looking up at them with his non-red eyes. "Did…did we win?"

With tears in her eyes, Glimmer burst out laughing, throwing her arms around him. "Bow! Yes, we did, we won! We stopped Modulok, and it's all thanks to you!"

"It is?" he said, as the last few minutes were a bit foggy. "What exactly happened? Why do I feel so…warm?" He looked down at his chest, the red glow finally subsiding.

Micah looked over the pedestal, then back to Bow, focusing on the reddish gems. "Each of these seem to correspond to one of the planet's Runestones," he said. "The same ones that give the princesses their powers, and that only they can use. I think there's only one explanation for how your young friend can do what he did."

"You mean…I'm a princess?" said Bow, looking at his hand. "But I'm…I'm not even…how!?"

"Who cares how!" cried Glimmer, teleporting herself and Bow over to Micah. "We'll figure that out later! You're a princess! My friend Bow is a princess!" Overjoyed, she continued to laugh, the other two also joining in.

Entrapta was similarly overjoyed, rushing over to Emily to tell her what a great job she did. Scorpia had pulled Steven into an enormous hug. Adora, with a relieved smile, sat down with her back to the wall. "Light Hope…what's the status of everyone's energy?"

"Life energy returning to its original source," she reported. "No casualties detected."

Adora looked down at her new sword, tracing her thumb over its brand new runestone. "Then we really did do it. We saved Etheria…Homeworld…maybe even the whole universe."