The Ultimate Interdimensional War

Chapter 20: Hopeless & Crushed

Date: March 19th, 2024

We start running in pursuit of Exodia Necros. Sinon shouts: "We're getting closer and closer!" Just as she says that, some villains leap in front of us to stand in our way. Some of them are members of the Legion of Doom. Grodd smirks: "Are you surprised to see me here?! I made my escape from Gotham before any of those gods could defeat me. I can't hurt Batman here as he's still in Gotham but there's still some other members of the Justice League here in this city. I intend to make them pay for everything they've done against villains like me. Additionally, my plan to turn all humans into apes will not be opposed. You can't stop it! It's already too late! What's necessary to make it succeed is already in effect! Foolish BRAINS Collective members, you will soon fall to the power of the Legion of Doom! My intellect far surpasses that of any of you! It's hopeless. But you're welcome to try to stop me. We don't fear the number of you there are at all. You simply will not win no matter how many of you there are and what you attempt to do in order to win." Cyborg replies: "We'll show you what's hopeless!" Robin nods and shouts: "Titans, go!" Heathcliff speaks to the rest of us: "None of you have need to be told to attack. Just do what must be done to defeat these enemies and get past them in order to fight that giant creature of darkness." And so, we join in on what turns into a brawl very quickly. At first, things go well for our side. However, Grodd laughs: "Oh, you think you've won?! Think again! Allow me to show you just how outmatched you really are! Reveal yourselves, friends!" I'm not surprised as more of them show up.

There's all the classics. Bizzaro. Sinestro. Star Sapphire. Copperhead. You name it. But there's also some unexpected additions including villains from other worlds. Frieza laughs: "Oh how wonderful! This is like the best party ever in which pathetic monkeys and worthless heroes all fall at our hands! I'm going to enjoy this very much!" At that moment, seeing all of these villains together made me think of all the problems that have been created in this universe. There are so many. That's clearly designed to mess with our heads and make it much harder to win this whole battle in the end. Why else would they do all of this in one world? And now, I think of Covid. The hospitals worldwide are being destroyed or overflowed with patients. Some villains are apparently intentionally spreading it and conning people into helping them do such a thing. As a result, Covid really is spreading like wildfire. I shout: "Damn it! Every single person on this planet is in danger of being infected with Covid and we have to deal with all of these villains instead.. This is really bad. The hospitals in this city are probably completely overflowed with patients right now and there isn't a thing we can do to try to help them right now." Grodd overhears me and smirks: "Hospitals full of patients you say?! Follow me if you don't want the nearest hospital to be destroyed in an instant!" He is baiting me into following him because I dared to care about people coming down with Covid. Grodd wants me to make a difficult choice but I choose option c, teleporting straight to the nearest hospital with Quantum Leap.

Once there, I shout: "Don't be alarmed about my appearance. Yes, you can consider me a hero just like your resident Teen Titans. Now please listen carefully. A villain is on the way to this hospital. Please do what you can to calmly get to most optimal locations in this building. Use the basement if there's one. But be careful, the spread of disease here is so incredibly high right now so do your best to spread out. I will keep the villain busy at least until you're all safer. Now then, I will vanish from your sight as I confront this villain before he has a chance to get inside." I use Instant Transmission to get to Grodd who almost managed to reach the hospital. He's stunned for a moment only to laugh in amusement: "How interesting. You must have the Instant Transmission technique. This is going to be very entertaining. I'm going to still go into that hospital and destroy it. You will not stop me unless you can somehow defeat me. But your mind is no match for mine so that won't be happening, will it, human?" "Grodd. I will stop you and FYI, I'm a zombie right now. Not a living human being. Not in this body anyway." "You're a zombie? Now that's a new one. If that is true, then I must completely destroy you. After all, I do not believe a zombie would be affected by my plan to turn all humans into apes." "Oh but it is. Go ahead. Try to kill me." "If you insist, that's exactly what I'll do and you won't enjoy it." He starts firing a gun in one hand while attacking me with another.

He is well aware that it's pointless to try to kill me by puncturing my armor first at the moment. Grodd goes straight for my face and causes so much damage that I should have died. Instead, I'm still moving. I'm in agony and can't speak but I'm still going. I drink a bottle of poison to heal myself. "Would a living human drink poison to heal? Would they even be able to survive what you managed to do to my face?" Grodd briefly expresses anger before laughing again: "So you really are a zombie. At last, an opponent I can truly savor destroying completely. You will be much more fun to torment than any Justice League member." We start fighting. He manages to evade a lot of my sword attacks while hitting me with his own attacks. "That little toy of yours can never hurt someone like me! Go, Barian Battlemorph!" He transforms into a humanoid gorilla like Barian and laughs again. I speak: "You do not scare me. Should I endure or be destroyed, I will fight you until I can't anymore." Grodd pauses for a moment and flicks 2 of his fingers. The hospital blows up. He turns to laugh at me: "How are you feeling now?! I lied about going inside the hospital. I was always planning on destroying it. Oh and what's more is that it's not the only one I blew up." "Dont tell me.. You pulled an Israel and destroyed as many hospitals as you could within a short time?!" "Ah.. Israel.. Their cruelty amuses and inspires me. Actually, all sources and forms of human cruelty inspire me. Why do you think I keep saying I'm superior in intelligence? You're right. All the hospitals in this city have been destroyed."

I take a few deep breaths and try to keep myself calm. After a few moments, I calm down. Grodd raises an eyebrow: "How strange. I thought that would have been enough to lose your cool and fight me rashly and without thinking." "You know Grodd.. I am angry but I'm controlling it. I hate you even more for what you just did but I'm going to do my best to handle you calmly yet passionately. You haven't gotten me yet and I don't plan on ever letting you do so. Instead, I will make you regret ever messing with anyone." Grodd pulls out a gun and fires an unseen blast at a nearby tree. The tree explodes. He laughs: "You can forget trying to fight me now. I no longer have any interest in fighting you because I was unable to completely rile you up and I am losing my patience. The anticipation for turning all humans into apes is affecting how I think about dealing with you. You would be still very entertaining to fight but I'm afraid my excitement makes me just want to end you right now with this antimatter gun." "..Antimatter gun? Oh no.. Not even my armor stands a chance against it." "So you're familiar of what anti matter does to matter, are you?! HAHAHAHA! That's right! I can truly end you with one push on the trigger. That's all it would take to destroy you. I will savor your reaction for a few more moments. After all, it is very amusing especially because you were doing so well at staying calm on the outside." I try to destroy that gun and when that fails, get it away from him but nothing happens. Grodd's got it firmly in his grasp and I can't hardly do anything to damage him at this point.

Even with the wind and darkness enhancing my attacks now, I am simply dealing no damage. He laughs once again: "This is the end for you, Swiftdrawer. I can't wait to pay a visit to one of your comrades who was lucky enough to face off against one of my friends who is unable to beat them after I'm done with you. They won't die if they're a human. If they're a human, I will crush them nearly to the brink of death and keep them alive until they feel the agony of being turned into an ape by force!" "You are truly a monster, Grodd. Mark my words, I know that gun was invented in response to our antimatter bombs. But know this, you can destroy me but that won't stop someone from eventually bringing you down after getting rid of that gun of yours." Grodd prepares to pull the trigger only for a familiar voice to yell: "Go, Magnet Warrior Sigma Plus! Attack Gorilla Grodd!" That's followed by: "Cyber Angel Benton, you too!" Grodd loses his gun while evading those attacks. "Damn you duelists!" Daichi smirks: "We will be your opponents from now on. Oh hey Swift, it's good to see you. It's been a while. We will take care of this villain for you while you help many others defeat Gozaboro Kaiba who is in fact merged with Exodia Necros. Believe me, we wish we could help but you're better suited to fighting such a foe than we are as cards have no effect on him. Sorry for being so late, we had to do a lot of work in our own world." Asuka adds: "That's because a few situations come up. But don't worry, it's alright over at Duel Academia now. I just know we will be more than enough to bring down Grodd through the bonds we share with our monsters."

"Thank you so much. I'm glad to see you doing this sort of thing. It turns out that duel monsters fight better when they're fighting alongside the duelists who usually call them to battle only in games of Duel Monsters. That find was pretty significant not to mention vital for us. Now that it finally has more evidence and justification, we are using that to up our chances of victory like never before. It's true it was always better that way but now, we see that the bonds between duelists and monsters are key to bringing out the best in both. I will leave this gorilla to you." I then teleport straight to Gozaboro and meet up with those I split from to go to the doomed hospital. We are now poised to join the fight against him which is mostly being waged by Domino City's best duelists, their monsters, and the other shadow users who use monsters but aren't from Domino. "Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Neutron Blast!" "Winged Dragon Of Ra, Blaze Cannon!" Asuna yells: "There's no time to waste! We have to help them no matter what happens next!" We hear Gozaboro laugh: "That's right, come at me with everything you have! It will make no difference in the end besides amusing me. It's been a long time since I've had any entertainment and it's all thanks to Seto! Not only that but the Big 5 and I were crushed again 2 months ago and I desire revenge for that too." Kaiba replies: "You can go to hell, Gozaboro! I don't need you anymore and I won't allow you to get anything you want ever again!" Currently, Gozaboro is taking no damage. We join in without any hesitation.

Lizbeth grins: "I'm still more of a blacksmith than a fighter but I will still give it my all like always!" Silica adds: "I won't stop until he's gone! Let's go, Pina!" "Chirrrrp!" Alice speaks: "Soon, we shall slay this foul beast!" I just get on with attacking. Gozaboro laughs again as he somehow responds to all of our attacks and acts accordingly. But it gets worse as it turns out, we are dealing no damage which should be impossible against someone like him even though he's one with Exodia Necros. But this is how things are right now. It's as clear as the bright blue sky. I yell: "Damn it! I'm really giving it everything I got but nothing is happening except pain and misery for us all!" Llenn shouts: "We need to figure out a different way of doing things because this isn't working at all!" Pito laughs: "Here's an idea! What if we got up close and personal with our foe's weak spots?! Maybe that will be enough for us to deal some damage at last!" M speaks: "That's a pretty reckless idea, I don't think it's a very good one but it's worth a try in the midst of the fact nothing has worked so far." Leafa yells: "Let's do it!" Sinon sighs: "But what kind of a villain fused with a legendary ancient beast would have any weak spots?" I add: "Exodia Necros is a dark attribute. It may look rocky but it is not a creature of stone. Therefore, light attacks would have the best effect on Gozaboro since he's one with it instead of wind or water attacks. Here's a thought. What if we went onto our foe and went for potential weak spots? The fusion of ex billionaire and ancient sealed creature still has eyes and other features a human has too." And so, we end up attacking Exodia Necros/Gozaboro more directly.

Getting on them and attacking right then and there. Kaiba was not happy about this as it made it harder for him to attack with his dragons but desperate times call for desperate measures. So we made do with what we could do in an effort to bring this to an end faster than otherwise. We want to end the grueling prolonging of agony caused by this fight in particular as soon as we possible can. It just has to end already, damn it. This is our time to try to bring down the enemy and bring us a major victory. And so, we keep on fighting by attacking and working hard to stay on as Gozaboro tries to keep shaking and knocking us off. It felt like we would never be able to beat our foe. However, Yugi's grandfather with his grey hair, light skin, purple(or brown?) eyes, black bandana, and typical outfit with some kind of overalls or apron and all literally runs into the middle of the fight with the Millennium Key in hand. This situation is too serious to be laughed at plus it wouldn't be nice to laugh at him for putting in so much effort to make a difference despite his advancing age. He raises the Millennium Key and shouts: "I, the reincarnation of Shumon, advisor of Pharaoh Atemu and his father before him release the true seal on Exodia to summon his real spirit to this world with the power of the Millennium Key! Exodia, show yourself!" Atemu follows up: "I see what you desire to do. Very well. I fuse the 3 Egyptian Gods together in order to summon the Creator Of Light, Horakhty!"

Quattro/IV laughs: "It's time! Gimmick Puppet Destiny Leo, I use your last overlay unit at last!" Gozaboro staggers: "What is this?! What are you doing?!" But that's all that he could say before Ryou Bakura smiles and plays all 5 cards of the Destiny Board. All of these instant win conditions from Duel Monsters are too much for our foe to handle. He screams as he is erased completely. Once that's done, J'onn telepathically contacts us: "Attention BRAINS members, you need to head to Metropolis if you are able to immediately. The situation there is even more dire than it was in Jump City until just now and Gotham City before it." A lot of us sigh but immediately teleport there immediately. I find myself around those I have now fought alongside with a substantial amount of time today. It's best to stick with the Titans and individuals who are stanch friends and allies of Kirito and co as well as Kirito and co themselves. Teamwork is vital to so many major issues such as an evil god using villains and others to try to takeover the multiverse and wipe out all resistance in the process of doing so. That alone is reason enough to keep fighting and stay together with all of them until the entire battle finally ends and we can go back to our various worlds. Looking around, the situation really does look incredibly dire. There's so many villains that there's got to be one for all of us right now. "Damn it. I have no words to express just how bad all of this is. We just have to fight as soon as possible. Darkseid, Doomsday, Cadmus, you name it. All here to cause problems and hurt others. This is just wonderful.."

I soon find myself facing off against Doomsday because we reasoned we need to keep him away from Superman. Not to protect Superman but to make sure Superman is free to fight other foes while also being able to exploit Doomsday's obsession with Superman that was largely formed artificially by human influence. Doomsday is a big creepy looking gray yeti like creature. He speaks: "Where is Superman? I must.. destroy Superman." I shake my head: "Not telling. I'm your opponent so prepare for a solid fight that you might end up actually enjoy." "Superman. I will only fight Superman." I start to consider just distracting him until things finally were settled in terms of the fate of this universe. But then, someone said: "Doomsday, you will destroy! All enemies in your way will be destroyed especially if they come between you and Superman." I sigh: "Oh boy. Someone has Doomsday on strings. This is great. Very well. I shall fight you then, Doomsday." He attempts to ignore me as well as his orders from whoever is trying to control him. Doomsdays prepares to chase after Superman no matter the cost. But I stand in his way. "Doomsday, we will fight now. I don't care about whoever is trying to use you right now. Let's fight." "You are not Superman but you bother me. I will kill you." "I'm already dead." "I will still kill you." And so, my fight with Doomsday begins.

Despite the fact that he's not a strategic fighter in the least, he easily overpowers me with his enhanced strength that was already very large. As I hear my bones crack even under my armor, the screams of the innocent and my comrades fill the air. Finally, the battle has reached a point where it is now a truly brutal one like never before. All around me, I see my comrades get hurt more and more. For a while, I was able to at least stand up to keep trying to fight and my comrades were constantly being healed whenever they got hurt. But then, our foes just got more and more ruthless. In a very short amount of time, so many were harmed and the healing was no longer enough. Damn it. So many individuals are going to die.. The aliens who invaded Earth, causing the Justice League to be formed are currently doing so much damage alone amongst all of the damage that's being caused. I notice the Daily Planet newspaper's building be destroyed in a fight involving Superman briefly before Doomsday hits me hard again. It's like my sword is just plastic to him. He doesn't react to it nor does it hurt him. I can feel my weapon fail to actually deal damage. It's like I keep hitting a substance harder than anything I can comprehend. But wait, there's more. Those who took over in taking on the Legion of Doom(yes, other Legion of Doom members also found themselves confronted by some of our reinforcements) are suddenly seen falling into Metropolis while the villains all pursue them with grins on their faces. It's like all the evil around is coming straight to Metropolis. This is really really bad.

I sigh: "I don't know what to do anymore besides hold you back, Doomsday. I will keep fighting until I can't even if it just helps buy a few more seconds for the multiverse.." To add to all of that, the sky suddenly gets replaced by a huge video screen of some kind. It's Don Thousand. He is on his throne and calmly staring at the camera. Images are displayed showing various worlds being invaded and conquered. The villain soon speaks: "Mortals of the multiverse, I am Don Thousand and for now on, the entire multiverse is under my rule and solely mine. Abandon all governments you have for they are now null and void. I have now stripped them of all of their power. Now that the multiverse is mine, any and all dissent against my rule will be tracked and severely punished. I demand that our heroes give themselves up and accept their fates of death and despair in a multiverse where they are no longer welcome. Soon, all universes will be merged into one by my growing powers. When that is finished, my goal will be completed and there will be few left still trying to stop me. Bow down before your new master. No one is as supreme as I am anymore. Further resistance against me is hopeless. This is where free will ends and my perfect universe truly begins." It's like the entire multiverse itself just stopped moving for a few minutes. Don Thousand speaks again: "Do you doubt the power I have? Very well. Tell me, can someone far too weak do.. this?" He effortlessly erases an entire universe after quickly charging up some kind of attack made up by Barian energies.

As if that weren't enough, Don Thousand destroys a few more universes to get his point across. I stagger: "No.. I don't know how we can even possibly win now.. Just look at all of this around us.. Don Thousand has now established a multiverse wide fascist dictatorship but with countless land disputes for obvious reasons.. *shakes heavily* Is this how this ends for us all? Is this truly the real end to everything we've worked for? Doesn't this mean that the cycle has now been broken? This is.. I'm at a loss of words." That's right. I don't see any way we can win now. Don Thousand has the power, confidence, influence, and territory needed to make a claim on the whole virtually limitless multiverse. So this was his plan all along? Conquering countless universes while we were kept busy with too many problems in this one and using that as the final piece he needed in order to bring about his twisted goals and claim dominion over all realities. You'd have to be a true monster to pull something like that and he fits that description perfectly. What's more is that there's literally nothing most of us can really do about the foes we are facing here in Metropolis which is a nicer and more cleaner city than Gotham is by far. It looks sort of utopian futuristic to some extent. My heart is no longer truly in my fight with Doomsday who keeps insisting on fighting Superman by speaking his name over and over again. I just really feel defeated. I dont want to give up but at the same time, I feel like there's nothing I can do to change anything anymore. The odds have stacked against us in a way that looks impossible to get past at this point.

Fusion won't be enough to change the circumstances. As if in response to my current defeatism, the 12 Gods of Destruction appear and start trying to erase all of our foes from existence with Haikai but nothing happens. Frieza laughs, "You fools! We're now immune from being erased from existence! Our bodies now operate outside of space and time thanks to the recent increase in Don Thousand's power! Just surrender, none of you can stop us now. The embodiment of the multiverse has even fallen to Don Thousand! It's over for all of you! That's right, it's the end for you all and your pathetic attempts to bring about useless things like peace, equality, diversity, and harmony! I was tormented in Hell for years by those kinds of disgusting and worthless things." Even Abstractoa is shaken as they say: "This has never happened before in any cycle. Yes, this battle was still incredibly difficult in past cycles but Don Thousand was never able to make a claim like this before. Something changed because The Plot did something again to try to get away from how things have always gone for so many cycles. Even I can't stop Don Thousand now. His powers along with his taking over of the embodiment of the multiverse just before we heard him speak have tipped the balance in his favor.." The Plot appears again and speaks: "I should have known changing what I did would lead to this. I don't have much choice but to help. After all, the Ultimate Battle can never happen as long as Don Thousand keeps what he's now doing up."

Various dead villains also appear. POH laughs: "I never expected to be told to help KIRITO AND HIS SIDE! THIS IS GOING TO BE SUCH A THRILLING TIME!" Don Thousand appears too: "You gods choose to oppose me as well? How foolish. I will end all of you right here and right now. All the problems as you call them that erupted today were due to that certain someone from before as well as I. Do you see that it's useless to try and stop me?" The Plot replies: "I do not enjoy saying this but Blacklight must return." Abstractoa solemnly nods: "Don Thousand, you have interfered in matters of inevitability as well as the cycle. You are poising us for an age of control as well as endless conflicts unlike any seen before now." Not long later, there's only one being facing off with Don Thousand and all his forces in this universe. Blacklight. The ultimate fusion stares calmly at their opposition and speaks: "Don Thousand, your control and dominance over the multiverse will now end. I will relish in your agony." And then, just like that.. Don Thousand and his forces are easily destroyed by Blacklight in a single attack, freeing the entire multiverse in the process. Don Thousand has pulled in all of his remaining forces as Blacklight spoke in order to try to use all of them as body shields but it didn't change anything. Instead, he was completely crushed by the power of Blacklight along with all of them. Blacklight unceremoniously splits back into all of us only for something to happen.

Yami Bakura shows up in the sky and laughs: "You think that was the end of all of Don Thousand's pawns and allies?! You're wrong! I survived because I happen to have some sense of self preservation at all times. Being a part of Zorc The Dark One for over 3,000 years really makes one realize that they should always have a plan in place in case each and every one of their plans fails! Now, watch as time rewinds to mere moments before Don Thousand declared dominion over all of existence!" A huge hourglass appears and flips. The villain laughs: "Did you know that this entire war has all been one big Yami No Game?! I bet none of you were aware of that! It gets better! You can do nothing to stop what is about to happen now! And since this has all been a Yami No Game the entire time, I have been able to manipulate certain events behind the scenes! Don Thousand is unaware of what I've been doing. He's lucky that my interests align with his so closely!" And then, time rapidly rewinds to the point he said it would. Beerus yells: "Damn that Don Thousand! We have to get him!" And so, many of us end up temporarily leaving the universe behind with plans to return 1 second in the future of the universe, myself included. Where do we go? All over to stop all of this. I hear PIXAL remotely communicate with us all: "Attention, all members. The secret contingency plan to destroy Don Thousand's Castle using antimatter bombs is now being launched." What our foes don't know is that such things were planted on a stealth mission by some BRAINS members. So it goes without a hitch.

As that went on, I went back to Miitopia to help repel the invasion force intent on conquering it. The people of Mii World(which btw also includes alternate versions of nations such as Japan alongside the Tomodachi Islands, Miitopia, and the areas in which Wii Sports and other things have homes. I forget to mention that until now) are already largely organized into a worldwide resistance force alongside comrades who were never called to action to help in the DCAU. All of our efforts to get the people to fight for themselves have not been in vain. And with the help of myself and some others, they will push back the invaders completely. In fact, we use some high tech weapons to quickly clean things up. I end up fighting in Neksdor Town with my sword in one hand and BRAIN blaster in my other hand. I use both of them to help take down enemy after enemy. Antimatter bombs are also deployed in Mii World. I could feel the ripples of their explosions. A whole hidden arsenal of high tech weapons placed in Mii World's Moon is being unleashed. We have made countless plans to counteract invasions by our enemies. Therefore, when Don Thousand's face appears on a screen in the sky, he does not have a victorious expression. Instead, he is standing amongst the ruins of his castle with a furious expression on his face: "Mortals of the multiverse, you are lucky. Thanks to a secret plan of one of my allies failing, I can't claim rulership over the multiverse or take over the embodiment of it as I originally did before time was reversed. But know this. I am issuing a threat to each and every one of you. You will conform and become one of my Barians or you will vanish forever. Not even the afterlife will be safe for you."

The screen then vanishes. Barla shouts: "Damn it! He never stops making everything worse, does he?!" I nod: "That bastard.. Once we're done here, we're heading straight back to Metropolis. Maybe it's time I change tactics on how I use my strength and abilities. I've been too reliant on the style I've been using to fight for quite some time. I need to take the things I've recently learned or mastered more into consideration. We mustn't retreat. Changing how we fight and using our brains more in the midst of fighting is how we may be able to turn the tides. And I'm far from the only one to realize that. I know you realize that too, Barla." "I do. We're in this together. You need to stop relying on only yourself so much. Swift. Try to fight with others more often against the same opponent." "You're right. No one can defeat a great enemy alone unless they're OP or something. Thank you for your words, Barla. I really appreciate it." It takes some time to finish up in Mii World but once the invasion force has been completely crushed, we head back to Metropolis where I'm once again face to face with Doomsday. Seeing me, he attacks straight away but I dodge. "If I can't beat you with mostly sheer force through my sword swings empowered by the wind and darkness.. It is time I start using everything I got with my thinking more in play." "Superman. Get out of the way so I can destroy Superman." "Not going to happen. You're going to have to go through me first. Haaaaaaa!" Not reacting to my words at all, he prepares to punch me with an incredibly powerful punch.

But I pull out my shield and dodge after summoning some winds to push me from behind in order to increase my speed slightly. I put more power into my sword and block another attack with my shield. But then, he starts hitting me a lot harder. So hard in fact that it would have been enough to break my armor before the recent upgrades to it were added. My armor still cracks under the force of the attack as does my shield which I tried to block with again. "Damn it.. I didn't know you could be this powerful until recently and I'm only now just remembering that." But before I could say or do anything more, he goes in for an attack so intense and fast that I couldn't even see it coming. My armor breaks apart into pieces. I cough up blood and get sent flying into an apartment complex. The force of the impact crumbles it and I should be been reduced to undead meat paste if it weren't for the fact that I drank a ridiculous amount of poison and withering potions and concoctions. Doomsday is ruthless. He doesn't waste any time and immediately attacks me again. My shield breaks as well along with my chainmail. I completely underestimated him and now, he's only showing himself to be so incredibly strong more and more. With the Dark Factor, Barian power, and more boosting his strength, he has exceeded even his previous maximum strength with ease. I consumed all of those potions in order to ensure almost nothing could destroy me if my armor wasn't enough to keep protecting me.

I cough again and speak weakly: "Doomsday. It's going to take a lot more than that to destroy me. And at this very moment, my armor is regenerating on its own. In time, it will return to me at once. I.. am a knight and I'll make damn sure you remember that by resisting to the very end. Go, Artist's Eye!" With Artist's Eye, I create an almost mind boggling amount of things in seconds as Doomsday continues to pound me into the very ground itself, destroying even more than just the apartment complex in the process. I stare at him with a pained but defiant expression as he experiences some trouble getting me with everything I'm creating with my imagination. Whatever comes on the top of my head is created until I'm forced to close my left eye for exerting it so much. Because it is still as dead as everything but my right eye is, its limit is shorter than it would be otherwise. That's something else I forgot to mention. I get up and continue my defiant expression: "Hurt me as hard as you'd like but for the next hour or so, you will have to hit so much harder to damage me seriously enough to eventually destroy me." That causes him to start hitting so much harder that I think the entire planet is feeling those punches too. I'm using my own energies to help maintain my body and the damage is putting a massive strain on me. "I have to stop you. Someway, somehow.. I have to even if it means I pay a great price.. If I have to give up all of my strength and power.. If that's what it takes.. I'll do it." I do what I can to avoid getting hit when possible while I think of any way no matter how nuts it is to actually beat Doomsday.

I don't stand a chance against him with my level of strength. There has to be a way for me to win. I think of all of my gear, skills, and abilities. I think of the ways I can use each against Doomsday and consider whether or not such actions would actually work, eliminating each one by one until I got some solutions that might just do something. It was really difficult to think with Doomsday not leaving me alone so I did a lot of teleporting with my Quantum Leap band, forcing him to come find me over and over again. When I'm ready to try the first one, I contact Dominic through my phone. I ask him for a a big bucket of the substance I always keep my daggers coated in. By warping reality around him, he is able to quickly get to me with such a bucket in hand. "Take it, Swift! My foe will catch up to me before long! Not a nap causation!" "My foe is close too. Thank you so much. I can't believe you actually have this." "No big deal, I carry around a lot of dangerous things in my ender pouch these days." I accept it and he turns to the villain he's fighting: Black Mamba, one of Aquaman's enemies whose power comes from their humanoid black sea creature suit with glaring red eyes. I teleport to the ground below before Doomsday could hit me and dumb the bucket all over myself. The substance sticks to anything it touches, that's a feature I never really covered in the past. Because of my potion debuffs, the substance cannot eat me alive. It tries to but doesn't succeed. It helps that I still have my red cape, robes, and tabard cloth on me. They weren't destroyed unlike my armor.

Clothes is something the substance can't get past on its own. I smirk as Doomsday punches me only to find himself covered in that substance. He actually feels it and tries to get it off, allowing me to use magic to retrieve the fallen scabbards containing my daggers which fell when my armor was destroyed and the belt around my waist along with it. "Doomsday! I'm going to get you!" Using the daggers, I stab him at his weak points now that I'm fast enough without my armor to be hard to follow with one's eyes not to mention teleportation. I manage to confuse him long enough to get a lot of hits in I normally wouldn't be able to. It's only a matter of time until Doomsday falls to the power of the substance now. Not even he, a genetically engineered creature made from something of Kryptonian origin. In fact, the substance works well against a creature made with science especially given that a genetically created organism's genome is easier to understand for many of the great minds within BRAINS and thus, when the substance was created, unknown to me, it was designed to exploit the perfections and weaknesses of creatures that were created by science. But I'm not done. Once Doomsday figures out what I'm doing in full, it becomes impossible to get him again with my daggers. However, I just switch to something else I thought of. I put my daggers into pockets added to my robes sometime after I received them. I then find my sword which I had to drop to the ground earlier and pick it back up.

With my sword back in my right hand, I raise it so that it's over my shoulder before moving my left arm in a position so that it could protect my right arm from being hit or worse by Doomsday in case he somehow overcomes everything I have going on to prevent him from destroying me. I am gradually getting injuries that aren't so easy to quickly heal now after all with all the force he's putting into attacking me. I end up yelling at the top of my lungs as I prepare to put just about everything I have left except for mana into one single sword attack: "I'm not destroyed yet! Haaaaaaa!" I do all I can to evade and endure hit after hit from Doomsday until it's ready. I scream in pain as I unleash the full power of my sword again: "Release Recollection!" Back when many of my comrades and I were using our DHIs, we had to switch back to our physical bodies before we ran into Grodd. I should have brought that up sooner but it just didn't come to mind. So yeah, I'm really not using my DHI. I'm risking just about everything I have except for my original body and everything I have in relation to it. And now, I wait for the moment just after Doomsday punches me hard again. This won't finish him off but it should greatly weaken him. I'm stabbing one of his eyes since the eyes are a weak spot for most creatures because they are usually very sensitive and squishy. A typical eye is directly connected to the optic nerve which feeds visual information into the occipital lobe of the brain from what the eyes see. The camera is based on the functions of the human eye. Eyes have lenses too.

I have to be precise and catch him off guard for this to work. He attacks again, not caring about what my sword now looks like at all. My armor then ends up just going straight up on me. It has finished regenerating and a return spell cast on it has compelled it to put itself back around me. The same goes for the chainmail which returned almost at the same time. Return spells are used on all armors possessed by BRAINS members at this point. Now that I'm fully armored again, that gives me an opening as Doomsday reacts to seeing this unfold right as he punches me. The punch landed before my chainmail(which was given regenerating abilities by magic not long ago) and metal armor fully clasped themselves around me. So the impact got me but my gear wasn't harmed again. Worth the pain at this point. Now, it is time. "Take this! Air Break Slash!" I use that attack of mine with everything I got put into it. I go for his right eye as he has mostly hit me with his right hand by a slight margin. I impressed myself by noticing that small detail. I put my full concentration into it and even used teleportation to get right up in his face the moment after my armor returned to me and I felt it. I had a clear target, no way I could miss it now. And.. direct hit. He screams as his right eye breaks under the force of my sword slash that was executed as a stab instead. I pant heavily and collapse to the ground: "That's it.. I'm done now.. But Doomsday. I have another surprise for you." I manage to perform one last thing against him before I completely run out of energy. I pull out my BRAIN blaster and directly hit his left eye with it set to disintegrate whatever it hits. It fired so fast that he couldn't get out of the way in time.

Doomsday is now blind with his eye sockets dripping some kind of fluid. He may still have his other senses but he's gotta be reliant on his now lost sense of sight. Even if he destroys me, whoever fights him next will be able to finish him off thanks to all of my efforts. After he punched me only to get that substance on him, I used wind magic to get that substance off of me and onto him. Why do I keep forgetting so many details about what happened? Oh well. It doesn't matter. I'm finished. Right before I'm about to completely lose consciousness, all of my efforts succeed at last. The substance I transferred to him through wind magic easily seeped into his skin because unlike me, he is wearing nothing. That really helped speed up the process. Dominic would later tell me that the bucket of it he handed me was full of a more efficient and dangerous version of it that's been worked on for over a year. He is eaten alive by the substance. And some villains are pushed into the goop that remains of him by some of my comrades. Those villains die quickly in agony. Liten who has been pushing back her foe further and further back until she noticed the goop. She then forced them to get stuck to it by suddenly switching from defending to actually attacking and knocking them right into the goop, somewhat uncharacteristic for her notices me. Every BRAINS member is well aware of the substance. Many members now use it at least every once in a while. That means we all know how dangerous the left behind goop is. She runs over to me as my eyes begin to close: "No! I won't let things end for you like this! No one gets left behind!"

I lose consciousness only to wake up inside of Metro Tower. Some of my comrades are around me. Wonder Woman speaks: "I'm glad to see you're awake." "I was taken here after losing consciousness, wasnt I? This must be Metro Tower. Yeah, I get it. I need to rest here until my strength is recovered enough for me to move on my own again without trouble. Just focus on whatever else you were doing before this all. I'm sorry if I've done a burden in any way." "Do not worry, Swiftdrawer. We were already here when Liten brought you here. Metro Tower is the only safe place around. We are using it to help keep communications stable as well as house anyone we can find who are in serious danger. I am helping guard this building until the chaos outside finally ends." I nod at that and just focus on resting for now. I may be undead but resting still replenishes my energy gradually over time. My magic is almost completely out though so I'm feeling exhuasted on several fronts right now. My head is foggy and so tired. I soon fall asleep for some time only to be woken up by an enemy attack on the building. I get back up, my mind now alert thanks to the attack: "Damn it. They broke through." I look around to see many comrades unconscious or seriously injured. It's clearly that the latter group have been trying to defend the tower while the rest are in the situation I was. But they all wake up too. Liten coughs and stands firmly in front of the enemies who broke in. Goku Black smirks: "You pathetic mortals think you can stop us? Do you have any idea of how many of your fellow pathetic mortals have died in this city today?"

Kirito yells: "Damn it! No.. This is a disaster! But that doesn't mean we'll give in just like that! We'll fight, you hear me?!" I notice that all of my gear was taken off of me and placed on one side of where I was resting. I put all of it back on and walk to join my comrades even though I feel weak. "That's right. We're not done yet. And now that I've rested, I can try to help fight you off too. You haven't won yet. You can kill as many of us as you want but as long as one of us is still out there fighting, there is hope for us all." Frieza grins too: "Oh so you're the one who killed Doomsday! My, I must admit that I'm impressed but there's nothing weaklings like all of you here can do to stop us from killing and destroying all of you. It's too bad Grodd's plan to turn humans into apes was foiled not too long ago but that doesn't matter even though that Covid virus was stopped from being spread in many places in this world also not too long ago." He was about to say sone more but then, space-time literally collapsed around all of us. A battered and exhausted Blaze teleports to us and speaks weakly: "We.. The Clock Guardians.. failed.. Something crushed all of us and prevented us from stabilizing space-time in this universe. All time and space is beginning to converge and soon, this universe along with all of us will be torn apart. Time is now only an illusion here. Space is meaningless." From the remaining windows which we can see out of clearly, we can see the fights outside only get worse.

The aliens who tried to take over this world in the past are now in a long line in the distance carrying bodies to a mothership that is only growing and growing bigger as we speak. Our comrades for the most part are losing and dying quickly now. I'm too shocked to move now. Frieza laughs again: "Do you see what's happening outside?! Now you just see how hopeless it is to defy us now!" Star Sapphire who has black hair, tan skin, masked eyes, a star shaped headpiece, and a largely magenta supersuit laughs: "None of you will be able to survive our combined power! You don't stand a chance!" Barla appears to fight alongside us: "I am up to date on the situation here. Like hell I will let you villains kill more of my comrades if I can help it! We're in this together!" I add: "I'm too weak to attack but not too weak to act as a body shield for my dear comrades. Listen. Just let me take the pain. I know none of my attacks will be able to do much to our foes. Therefore, I must be a shield instead and believe me, I will make sure I am the more enduring shield I can possibly be right at this moment." Heathcliff speaks up: "I will also act as a shield. No damage can be inflicted to me." Goku Black laughs in mockery: "You think that that status of yours will hold up in the face of me, the god who seeks to destroy all mortals?!" The Gods of Destruction suddenly appear. Beerus grins: "So that takes care of more foolish villains. Now then, it's time to end all of you as well." "*unison* Haikai." Before our eyes, they try to erase all of the villains who have come to kill and destroy us all.

However, nothing happens and I realize I forgot they failed to do that previously as well. Frieza laughs: "Didn't we tell you that Haikai no longer works on us? I suppose not. Or maybe we really did. I've had too much fun to recall. But that's not my problem, is it? In fact, it's actually yours, you fools who dare to defy us even now!" I put myself in harm's way as Star Sapphire launches the first attack of the fight. "You will not hurt them! For such a long time, I was molded into someone who could never criticize or speak out against cruelty in my world. And now that I'm fighting here today, I choose to defy that negative socialization as I have been doing for several years now to differing extents over time! You won't beat us so easily! I said it already. I will be a shield!" The fight soon gets very chaotic. I do everything I can to block and endure every attack sent anyone's way. My armor is taking a lot of damage but my efforts are paying off. I will do whatever I can to make a difference no matter how weakened I may be at times. I feel like such a hypocrite. In my other body, I keep putting off trying to make a difference beyond writing and boosting mutual aid posts. There's so much I can do in that body that I don't do. Nag representatives about Gaza, KOSA, and more. Join and actively participate in organizations fighting for things to get better. Finding and joining local actions and protests. You name it. And yet, here in this body, I'm fighting almost every single day with my sword and other weapons.

I watch Blaze and others die around me. Frieza laughs: "And there goes another! And another! And another! Oh and look at those weakened fools over there! They must be so easy to kill! I'll just start killing them right now!" I get in his way: "You can forget it, Frieza! Hurt me as much as you like! Leave them alone!" "Sorry, not interested!" He blasts me to the other side of the big room we're fighting in which normally is calm and quiet as it serves as the command center on Earth for the Justice League. I run at him and try to tackle and stab him but he just keeps blasting me away while killing the others one by one before they even have a chance of resisting. I keep trying and failing as more and more comrades lose to our foes and die. I sweat heavily as fear really sets in. I find myself losing it more and more as things worsen even further. And once I see Liten and a few others die at the same time while I keep trying to act as a shield, I completely break and my inner darkness takes over my body. "Well well, now it's my turn! Hello enemies, I'm going to kill all of you now! Blood Demon Sword, appear!" With the Blood Demon Sword in hand, my inner darkness engages the enemy with ruthlessness and cunning tactics. But that doesn't last long and I regain control as my armor is destroyed once again. "Not again.. Damn it! Shadows, I call upon your aid. Help me stop at least one of these villains with a judgement style Yami No Game! Take us to the Shadow Realm!"

I eventually manage to send Grodd to the Shadow Realm after playing a mind game type game against him with the shadows as witness. Emerging from the Shadow Realm, I see even the Gods of Destruction on the ground, completely defeated. But it only gets worse, I feel a great power emerge outside. Frieza laughs: "That's our cue to leave! Enjoy the torment of Hades Gate!" "..Hades Gate?! NO! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?!" Goku Black laughs at me: "We're going to take over other universes now. You BRAINS members are finished!" And with that, they vanish just like that. Beerus gets back up and exclaims: "The HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?!" I shake in fear: "Beerus, Hades Gate is capable of instantly defeating most beyblades and dragging the consciousnesses of people alongside strong enough beys into a realm of torment and anguish. That means that cruel blader Damian of Team Starbreaker and Hades Inc is here along with his bey Hades Kerbecs. We can't chase those villains who just left in the state we're in. I don't think we can win. So many of our comrades have already died.." He just glares at me: "Don't you dare lose hope! I've been around you enough to know that you're pretty stubborn for a mortal who is nowhere else Goku's level!" "You're right. I can't lose hope. It's just hard to have hope when it seems like there's no way for a conflict to be ended in our favor. How can one have hope when they can't even imagine any kind of solution that would help solve whatever bad thing is going on? If they can't smile, that's even worse."

"Your words are true, mortal. Don't you dare tell anyone I said this to you. But even when things get this hopeless, there is always a damn way to overcome such hopelessness! Even when the entire multiverse is on the verge of destruction, there is a way out! If you tell Goku I said this, I will destroy you!" "I get it and I understand. More like I forgot that's true and I understand better than ever now that there's no good reason to give up on hope." Right as he's about to respond, everything around us literally balls together and becomes impossible to recognize before the entire universe explodes as Blaze stated it would if nothing was done to stop that from happening. Now, there's only a vast void in all directions and yet, I can still breathe and feel? My body's intact. How is this possible? I am suddenly teleported to a small stretch of Earth that survived thanks to a great power. Abstractoa speaks before myself and the others who have sent here: "You are what remains of the entirety of the forces of BRAINS who came to this universe to fight. But worry now for I will bring all of those we've lost and restore this universe to what it was before as well as restore all of you to your full strengths." Before I could even think on what they said, I'm back in Metro Tower with no signs of any villains around. I see Blaze get up and hug them tightly: "BLAZE!" The wolf furry aka my fursona playfully licks my face: "Swift! Don't worry! I'm alive again!" "I'm so glad.. I watched you and others die.. I tried to stop them but I just couldn't.." "You did your best! Now come on, stop being like that! That's not how you roll!" "You're correct on that front.. Well, I guess it's over. Our remaining foes were destroyed when this universe blew up due to time and space collapsing. I had no idea something like that could cause a universe to blow up."

We all leave Metro Tower to see what the damage around it is like. And.. It's like nothing that transpired today ever happened. But something told me that this universe was not out of danger just yet.. Call it a gut feeling formed by years of writing and consuming what is considered fictional media to the tune of thousands and thousands of hours. I remember writing about all of this in my original body over a week in advance of the moment I came to this universe to help out in Gotham. I remember vaguely that I wrote about more happening after this very moment in this universe. But all of it is not coming to me like my own mind is betraying my recollection subconsciously on its own. What the hell is going to happen?! My questions are answered in the form of the sky shattering to reveal all kinds of cosmic horrors and other massive monsters and other enemies in the Earth's orbit. The Flash yells at the top of his lungs: "Hey, is that a horde of giant monsters coming after the Watchtower or am I seeing things?!" Superman replies: "No! ..Superman to Watchtower! ..SUPERMAN TO WATCHTOWER!" The superhero who looks like a typical Wild West cowboy with red, white, and blue as well as a red bandana over his lower face and neck, Vigilante replies: "Well, ain't that a problem? We've lost contact with the Watchtower! Y'all best be ready for the worst case scenario. I certainly am. This ain't gonna be pretty. I reckon the enemy has tampered with communication and already infiltrated the Watchtower."

Wonder Woman speaks: "That can't be possible.. The universe was only just restored.. Unless.." Hawkgirl finished: "They had a backup plan in case the universe was destroyed before they could kill and destroy all of us and the universe was then restored by Abstractoa." O'Brien nods: "We have fought them on and on for months. It wouldn't surprise me that they had all of this planned out from the beginning. They may have even had this plan in place since this war itself began. I wouldn't put it past them." Stargirl, a blonde haired individual with tan skin, a staff of sorts, and star themed outfit shouts: "What are we standing here for?! The Watchtower is like a second home to me! We have to get up there immediately!" Without another word, all of us teleport there with or without help from others. The situation is worse than we thought. The power in the Watchtower is completely out. In secret, it has been expanded and increased in size since the Justice League agreed to become a part of BRAINS so it has had a lot of tech upgrades as well since. If the power is out despite all that, that means we have a serious crisis on her hands." Aquaman who has a hook for a hand, blonde hair, a beard and mustache, blue? eyes, and a yellow, green, and orange outfit(though he often goes shirtless) speaks: "This is not good at all. The enemy must be everywhere on board. But what I don't understand is why they would attack the Watchtower instead of us." To be continued..