Warning…
Blood, gore and, for those who didn't get the hint…
02.
Also, OOC Zero because come one guys, how would you feel if you were in Zero's shoes right now.
0
In Lumine's mind, numerous streams of tough clashed and fought despite going in the same direction. Freezing him in place…
Or maybe it was fear, an emotion he'd never thought he'd had. (eurgh, emotions, what a waste of energy.)
He was perfect, emotions like fear, dread and anguish were not present in him…
And yet, as he watched the… Being, pulling himself out like a butterfly out of his chrysalis, of Zero's quiet body… and the sight of the peanut gallery having gone mute at the sight… His disturbingly human face was now blank from any emotions, blood dripping from all orifices.
At this moment, the perfect being...Lumine was scared.
He was… terrified… and it was in this state of shocked horror that prevented him from flying the coop and changing his tunes.
Then… Zero ripped his face and helmet off with a sickening crunch… Revealing a too smooth face with a bloody red smile and two blue dots for his eyes.
Add to that Zero's Iconic hair, and it... made the being look extremely... What was the word?
Right...
Derpy.
Well, it would be very derpy if not for the fact that the entire arena was filled with... something between a black gas and a black... liquid filled with angry eyes.
͖̜̥̻̮͊ͨͦͧ͠"̢͔̰̮̘̠̗̦̳̔͛B̠̞̩̹̯͗̀ͭͦ̕ê͉̘͟ ̵̲̖̰͆̀̂ͅn͍͕͔̝͕̻͐͘ȏ̼͍ͯ́ţ͙̬͇̠̅̊̎ ̯̲̬̲̼͖̤̝͐̀ȃ̘̰̭̾̊̌͢f̻̗̖͈̠̖̺̘͛̀f̛̺͉̥͓̐ͫr̤͔̹̉͐ͮ͢a̩̦͗͜i̪̪̻̪͆̚͝dͩ҉̝̮͍̩̮̥̠ͅ.͙͉̭͚̪̘͍̌̍͆ͮ̚͢͡"͍̭̗̰̽͞ the being spoke with a calm that really should not have been.
He tried to hide it, but a shudder course through Lumine's Liquid metal.
He'd never tough the senile commander had been right about Zero.
Lumine had believed that he was just as delusional as the rest of the old maverick.
The... Angel, Zero tilted his head as he angled his body forward, using his steady wings to glide towards the mechanical Angel.
The leader of the New-gen rebellion moved back until he hit... a wall of dark Matter, sinking into it until he was pushed out... right in Zero's face.
The Spreader of the hate plage caught the stumbling Maverick by the shoulder with Zero's severed arms, steadying him as if he was a friend.
Then... he opened his mouth. Revealing his true eyes. "So, are you scared yet?" He spoke normally. "Funny, I thought you knew who I was, since Sigma was with you. But I supposed you new-gens Maverick have forgotten where you came from."
"n-n-n-n-no... No this... You can't... The Virus is-"
"From me, 02... and what you call the Maverick Virus?" The Fallen angel chuckled darkly, running a claw along Lumine's jaw, lightly nicking the false skin. "Those are my children. Ghost gave a body that can easily possess whatever they so desire. And, as we have happily discovered, my Babies love to take control of those confined to metallic bodies." they chuckled, sending shivers down Lumine's spine.
And 'Zero' disabled Lumine's battle form. A prototype he didn't have the chance to arm properly, thinking that the whole paradise lost attack was all he needed to stop a fight.
How foolish of him.
"I am Zero. Some gave me the moniker Zero-two. But I was always Zero, the one devoid of feeling save all that is negative." The smile narrowed. " I cannot even feel anger, only the numb void, cold and ever-expanding… or I used to until X filled me up with another emotion, a pure emotion, a powerful energy the likes of you would never understand; Love."
" And his love filled the void, giving me life."
This heartfelt admission, spoken by a being as old as he states, was enough to break Lumine from his fear-induced paralysis.
He sneered in disgust. "Urgh... pu-lease, spare me those humanistic feelings. To feel nothing is the perfection, it is the goal and the key to our ascension, to go beyond what is human." He roughly shoved the disgusting Creature away from him. "I don't know how Sigma could have even thought of Worshiping such a weak, softhearted creature such as you..."
"because I have birthed him." The angel admitted. "I am the one who gave birth to Sigma, and I am the one who put him in the metallic body that now litters the floor." Zero gestured as the reploid bits lay here and there. Before returning his cold eye onto the Angelic Reploid.
" Trust me, my intentions have always been to spread my spawn to all. I am the source of what the so-called scientist called the Maverick Virus, and I am the one, who, once again, started it all."
"And then X's love." God, Lumine felt like Gagging over the word, such a vile concept unfit for any higher being. (who seemed to take pleasure in his discomfort.) "... Turned you to the light. Changed your heart, Made you weak like a mere human." Lumine spat, truly this being was truly a disgrace for any higher being that existed.
He had been defeated by some love. A wretched concept that had bogged down humans for millennia.
"You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?" Zero asked. " You are rather young, and yet. You want the edge, you want the void, and you think yourself all-knowing."
"You remind me of who I was in the past." Once again, Zero loomed over Lumine like the white wraith he was and opened his true eye, blood red and wrong on so many levels. "And I do not like what I see."
He grabbed Lumine's head. " If it is Godhood born of the void you want, Then the void thou shall attain."
And with that... Lumine grew...
Numb...
Devoid of everything... even a name.
~0~
Zero sighed as he let his hand fall from Lumine...
Lumine now felt... well nothing.
It was not quite a liberation, for he was still embodied... but his mind and consciousness would firmly be in the mode of ignorance, like a tree or e jellyfish.
Oh, how Zero would've loved to destroy this maverick like he did them all... but he really didn't want to have X's killer in his blood, even if he had recently spawned him.
After this deed was done, Zero² controlled the doll, leading him away and making him fall from the window and plummet to the 'lunar' ground below.
He could not bear to see his face, so young, and already something he hated.
Zero sneered as he watched Lumine fall and disappeared, he was meant to look like an angel, but even Lucifer (if the guy even existed.) Had never done such a wretched act.
The deed done, and Zero let himself fall on the unforgiving floor... finally letting the event of the past few days and the cold and unnecessary death of his lover wash over him.
He wept... hiding his face in his hands and covering the white gloves with his bloody tears.
He felt so alone... so small and insignificant.
Zero could spawn thousands of ghosts covered in Pradan in less than a minute, he could take over a planet in ten, and he had managed to evade the scrutiny and system alert of Lor-Nill-Mappop for close to a century.
He had learned what real love was, joy and bliss. He learned what sorrow felt like, defeat, despair and true sorrows.
He had managed to woo X... to make him fall in love with the one that had been cursed with being eternally alone.
Heck... he could eat planets!
But...
Just as reviving Iris was impossible for him... reviving X was but a dream.
A cruel dream...
Since it would not be X, it would never be him, for his spawn could never feel love, they were but drones.
X… did not deserve that.
And yet… Zero… Zero knew he could not live without him.
He was an old soul, a being so old, he had seen the partial dissolution of the universe many, many times over. And thus for him… his attachment for X was the same as those chaste ladies of old, those women who, seeing the death of their husband, would willingly follow them in the fire.
But… The Ancient being knew even the flames of the sun would not be hot enough to grant him this mercy.
He was alone…
Again…
And he had revealed himself to Kirby and his cohort…
Uhu, actually, he would not have to suffer for long then. Zero paused his sobbing as he realized that this would spit on his Lover's memory.
What would he think once He saw Zero?
No, This was not the moon, it was a Nova, meaning that this old and decaying clockwork star could grant him whatever he desired.
It would be risky, especially with Kirby and Lor-Ruah breathing down his neck, but it was still feasible.
But before Zero even had the chance to formulate a plan, a powerful light dispelled his hyper Zone, causing his skin to burn anew.
~0~
Outside of the hyper Zone, Vile and Axl watched in awe and fear as the Lor Starcutter, Lori blasted the black cloud with her powerful starlight.
The scream of pain and anguish that resulted from the act only added to the one he felt as he carried X's cooling body as far away as he could from the true expression of the Zero space.
And it was terrifying...
It was terrifying how death came so easily, how his illusion of what hunter life was like.
X was dead...
Zero... may be dead and the other Zero, Zero-two was back.
Thankfully, Magolor's ship was made to destroy the asshole...
...
...
"Axl, don't shoot like that... I know you want to look cool, but the way you do it will mess up with your elbow and shoulder joint eventually." Zero spoke as he gently adjusted the 'new' guy's posture.
"X... please tell me you refuelled today?" Rhetorically asked as he gently shook him awake.
"Um... shoot, I forgot again," X admitted as he sat straighter from his slumped position, only to lean back on the taller reploid. Catching his hand. "Now I have to suffer through your torturous training session."
"Oh... and you will feel it, X... I don't like seeing what's mine neglect themselves in the name of work, machine or not."
"X... Don't die, alright?"
"And how about me?" Axl asked.
Zero looked at him, his brows furrowed.
"Axl... don't do anything stupid." Zero scowled as he whipped Axl's forehead with the side of two fingers, causing the younger of the group to yelp, batting away at the offensive limb. Only to have the war machine ruffle his hair fondly. "Yo, what's up? Man?"
"I bless you with intelligence... since, you know, the return shuttle has three seats for us, and I would hate for one to be empty, it would waste fuel." Zero gave a cheeky grin... but Axl understood...
If he was built by the recently deceased X, Axl would be crying. For in the middle of what used to be the arena, the remains of his mentor decorated the ground, seemingly torn apart by... 0².
But... by the obnoxiously long blond hair that flowed beside it and the painfully familiar forearms...
"Zero's... 0..." Axl whispered shakily as she shook his head with horror.
Then he heard Meta knight gasp, the sight and sound something out of a well-written if absolutely bonker fanfiction.
Half of the throne room was gone, vaporized by Lor-Ruah's star beam. And what to say of the hyper zone.
Would he have a nose, it would be crunched from the offensive smell of burning flesh.
Zero's body had blackened and charred, and yet, he healed again under their eyes.
In the sky, Lor-Ruah floated menacingly, her oars detached from her main body, and all of them were aiming for Zero's true form, his hair flying in an imaginary breeze, the Z-Saber glowing green in his hand.
"you killed him... you killed Lor-Nila! I KNeW I NEVER SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED YOU, ZERO." the flying interstellar vessel shrieked through her fog horn. "A COWARDlY MONSTER LIKE YOU HAVE NO CHANCE AGAINST THE ANCIENT CHOZO'S GREATEST WORK!"
For his part, Zero... (2? 3?) remained silent as he lowered his head. Whether in shame, grief or anger
"FACE YOU END, ENDE NIRU!" She sent her sharp oars flying at the white being...
but instead of attacking, Zero dodged them all and flew away.
"WHAT! No THIS CAN'T BE... ZERO WOULD NEVER-" Vava yelped as he barely dodged an oar and the debris it trailed, still clutching X's remains in his arms.
Seeing that the shit storm was right upon them, Axl, shifting Meta knight so that he was situated under his arm, grabbed Vava (and X's body, by extension.) and flew out and away from the titan's fight.
And speaking of Titans, Kirby had boarded Robobo, the duo, plus Dedede were rushing in front, taking down any obstacles the two could have.
In the sky, Gooey had taken his Mock Matter form, and Magolor was trying to get his Daughter's attention.
But Lori's wrath's only target was Zero, and nothing could break her resolve to destroy the destroyer.
"Axl... Oh... Oh no." Meta knight spoke after regaining his bearings, thankfully Axl had hunched behind what was left of a pillar to catch his 'breath'. His gray eyes fell on X's broken form and on Zero. "This... oh Krishna Bhagavan... oh Gaura Bhagavan, this is bad." He whispered in a rare show of dismay. He jumped off and rushed off to take down... 0².
"Fuck... just..." Even Vava had no words for what had just happened. Currently, he also had to duck down to save his head from a piece of flying debris.
Suddenly, an unholy screech was heard, and the two reploids barely had the time to look up to see what the hell had done that...
only to see 0 flying at them, his red eyes stuck on X's cold frame.
The two reploids yelped as they started to run away from Zero.
Sure, Axl and Vava, especially Vava, were powerhouses... but they were nothing compared to the unknown 0².
Then a detonation was heard, and they felt themselves being picked up by the scruff of their neck and lifted off the ground. Now flying at high speed, they lifted off and flew around the spire of Sigma's old palace and down to the ground, and to the familiar well they had emerged from.
Then they were thrown clear from the dream water and to dry land, and apparently it was now time for AXl to hold a dead body.
Joy.
and he still held the hope that this was just a temporary setback, that X was not really dead and that Kirby could still repair him.
Kirby had repaired the rusted-out hull of Robobot... meaning X could be fixed... right?
Suddenly, a third crash was heard... it was Zero, the red part of his wing was gone, and his yellow halo had turned green.
Now lighted by the glowing water, Axl could now understand why the Kirby games had been changed to appeal to a broader audience.
0²'s body was riddled with scars and held together with wires and staples. And the place where his old eye used to be was sewn shut. His wings were singed in a few places and his one red eye never left X's form.
He made a sorrowful sound, his disjointed hand reaching out to the cooling body of the ancient robot.
Vava pushed Axl back and Aimed his cannon at the bloodied angel. "ONE MORE INCH-"
"I mean no harm... not to you, not to Axl... and not to him." 0 Spoke, his voice quiet, barely above a whisper. "Keep him safe... please." and with that, Zero 0² flew up and dove into the dream water with nary a splash.
Axl and Vava stared at the rippling water, not too sure what to think about. The green reploid opened his mouth to probably snark when…
When the Lor... the Lor Smashed her bow to the ground, causing the two remaining reploid to scream in Horror as rock, sand and other debris fell on them.
Axl barely had the time to throw X away before everything went dark.
Outside of their Rocky tomb, a reploid landed.
She was of the same size as X and of the same colour. Her hair was the same colour as X and long, almost sweeping the ground as she hovered. In her back, a pair of tiny cherub wings stood affixed, between them, the sail took the form of a star-bearing cape. The bow sat on her forehead like a tiara and she held an oar like a spear.
She hovered closer to the rubbles, looking them over with cold eyes before she noticed X.
Then she heard a gasp, it was Kamala-Kanta and Robobo. Dharadhara was nowhere in sight.
"Lori... what-"
"You see? I was right about Zero." She hissed, a victorious smile stretching her lips. " I may not be able to bring the beast down... but we still have X." She pulled the remains out and proudly showed them to the diminutive star warrior.
"But... how about Axl and Vava?" Kamala asked as he tried to look behind the ancient construct, the last artifact of the Chozo.
"We can deal with them later..." She kneeled in front of Kamala, looking somewhat apologetic. "Kirby, listen... we've been fooled by everyone. Magolor, Gooey, even Meta Knight."
"But-"
"We are the only ones who can Stop 0² and save the universe."
"... How? You told me we needed Nillor!" Kamala exclaimed as he flapped his little stump in distress.
"Lor-Nill-Mappop may have met with an unfortunate fate but his frame still holds the power to destroy the Fallen one," Lori spoke meaningfully as she encapsulated X, bringing his cold body to Kamala. "And this power, you can use it. You will use it."
Kamala looked at the body of his newest friend, hoping that after all this, he would not linger too long here.
And then he realized... that this was actually the best outcome he could have hoped for.
'Thank you, Krishna.' the tiny, ancient Vaishnava sent to his Lord and Master as he outwardly said, itadakimasu.
Once they were gone, swimming in the wishing well to reach its fabled bottom. Mangalanada floated out of his hiding spot, and, with a sigh, began to remove the rubbles that had trapped the last two reploids.
Lori would not like him, after that... for he was well and truly mad.
~0~
With Madan, Gandharva and Dharadhara, they were in hot pursuit of 0². But since Lori had blocked the one entry point they knew, they were forced to find another... not that it was hard since Dhara could smell dream water miles away.
Still... the atmosphere was tense and heavy.
"I can't believe I could not sense him," Madan spoke, in both betrayal and confusion. "I'm a star Warrior, I should be able to feel evil! Hell, the moment we approached the moon, I could easily pinpoint each and every Maverick out there, Lumine, Vile, Sigma... and their troops... So why?"
Gandharva, who had taken his form as mock matter, flew beside Madan as they approached the well's maw. "Madan... Do I feel evil? Do I trigger you?" He asked as he showed his true, baleful eye.
"No, of course not!" Madan vehemently denied it. "You are my Comrade, my friend! And you have no ill intention..." The last of the GSU's eyes grew wide. "Oh..."
"yeah... Zero Got himself about ninety years of Character development." Dhara drawled.
"He went to Jagannath Puri... but was kicked out," Madan spoke as he peered down the well's chasm. "... He lost his loved one."
"And yet, he didn't fly in a rage," Dharahdara spoke solemnly as he looked down the hole. "If yah want my expert opinion 'bout what Zero Prabhu's planning... well, ain't there a wishing tree in this here bottom center of the planet?"
"There is..." This was all Madan said before he, the king, and the dark mater jumped down the hole and dove into the dream water, exiting into a jewelled cave system...
thankfully free from funerary urns.
(0)
The cave system was, as expected, maze-like and filled with magical security drones most commonly called enemies.
And spikes...
and mini-bosses.
And so many dead ends.
And treasures... (a bunch of useless baubles, really. Nothing they could figure out a use for in Krishna Service, anyway. Save for the gold and jewels.)
but in the end, they managed to reach the core of Terra Nova.
But... no Kamala yet, and worst of all, they had lost communication with Axl and Vava.
And Mangala was... mum.
Meaning, that he was either planning something risky, or he had this type of news he didn't want to give on the Starlink.
Meaning that more reploid got forcefully ejected from their body and on their way to swarga... they hope.
Nevertheless, here they were in the spacious core floating on a reflective pool of dream water, the core itself was in the shape of a chalice, and over its overflowing brim, a mundane jewel-three tree stood.
Its' glow was practically all gone, meaning this particular Kalpa-Vriskha had maybe one wish left because this soul could move on to another, better body.
While the sight was something to behold, the Vaishnava group only had eyes for the white form praying there.
Zero² 'kneeling' in front of it reventialy, his blond hair pooling behind him.
With his wings, halo and luscious hair, one would ignore the spiny cactus replacing his legs and would think him a fluffy angel, an Apsara or maybe even a Gandharva... or a heavenly winged signer and powerful warriors who just so happen to have a potent fragrance able to enthralled earthly woman.
But no... it was Zero, the white angel of the black plague, the Planet Eater, the Progenitor of the Ghostly race of Dark Matter and their master.
And yet...
He had also been a Hero and X's long-time lover and life partner. But X, as it turned out, was the only living weapon able to truly destroy his body. And from what they had observed...
Zero² had no idea about this fact... and his feelings about X were... shockingly sincere.
Still, they could not stay idle, for they had no idea what Zero²'s wish was...
the last wish the tree could ever make true.
"Cover me, I'm going in." Madan spoke under his breath as he unsheathed his sword. "but whatever you do, do not come in the core release he loses whatever shred of sanity he has left."
"But... Daddy's sane... just grief-stricken." Gandharva warbled softly as Mandan-Mohan das entered the arena-like confines of the Nova's core.
He quietly glided until he was at the rim of the chalice, the power flowing from it was impressive for a dying wishing star.
The knight purposefully stepped into the rainbow-hued water, making the noise as intrusive as he could, without being obnoxious, it was just a means to warn the towering beast of his presence.
And, as he had planned, Zero's hairs and wings flared as he whipped his head around to face the noise.
Remaining calm in the face of the planet eater's state of unrest, Madan opened his right hand forward in a sign of 'wait' and put the Galaxy down on the ground...
Then he removed his mask.
A foolish move, where this be any other eldritch abomination, but Madan was completely fearless, and he wanted to give Zero the benefit of the doubt.
"Zero, It's just me," Madan-Mohan spoke soothingly. "I came as a friend, not as a foe."
A̪͉̠̝̼͉̟ͩ̽̀ͅņ͖̭̃d̷͎͇̥̭̫̥ͪ̿̏ͬ ̢̫͕͕̗̝̤̟͛̐h̨̫̺͈̻͇ͣͮ͑o̠̭̫̳͗̇̏̅͞w̙̲̞͓̲̭̰͊͢ ̹͈̠̐̑̍͘ͅa͌͏̻̫m̢̬̮͈̜͕̾͌͌ ̧̘͔̜̮̠͚̐ͣ̿ͬͅI̢̦͎̾ͅ ̦̪̩̺̺̠̥̘̔ͯ͑͡s̵̻̼͉̹͐ư̠͖͎̙͔̭͕͎̔̈́̎͛p͙̦̬̪̲͍̩͛͐͐͝p̦̙͉͍̬̩̈͑̀ō͍̜̟̕s̰͇̭̙͙̖ͨͭ̍̅͜ͅę̼̟̾̃d̛̞͙̩̥͇̞̋ͤ̽ͤͅ ̃̒͏͇̼̩͚̩͔ẗ́̉̔҉̺͙̤̺̟ͅͅo̧̖̳̥̯̹̯ͬ͑̓̿ ͌̂͏̤̥̺͉̖t̶͈͙̭̙̟̙̜̭ͨ͆ͭ̚r̘͓̪̻̠̃͟u̢̖̲̜̬ͣͪ̽s͖̱̦̮͉̠͆͝ṱ̨̳̳͎̙͔̝̾ͩ̒ ̰͙̽ͭͬͪ͢ẏ̷͓̖ͪͅoͦ̂̌͏̖̠̫ͅu͆͗҉̺͉̥̖̣?̍̅͗҉̡͖͚̦̺͖̄ͅ"̢͈̹̤̪ͥ͂͑ Zero² asked, sending shivers down Madan's spine.
Zero may not be a psychic, but damn if his voice was not the stuff that made Nightmare who he was.
"I told you, Zero. I see you as my fellow warrior, and you have proven yourself to be a Heroic fellow too." Madan stated. "I know what you are going through, grief is never easy to live through, but having a person with you will help... trust me, you don't have to be alone anymore."
Zero's one eye grew wide before he closed it and turned his back to the star warrior. Once again, a powerful sorrow washed over Madan-Mohan, one that was as deep as the ocean.
"Huh... A hero... How can I be called a Hero when I failed in protecting the ones I loved?" He quietly stated after some time, shocking Madan at how... mundane he sounded... and heartbroken. "Madan... I just lost everything, X is dead, 'Zero' the reploid is no better than shards at this point..." He sighed heavily. "Just... I have this one last thing I have to do, then I'll you… may try to slay me… just make sure this time's the good one."
'and thus is the fate of all materialists attached to their spouse.' Madan was glad that he had taken the same vow of Grandfather Bhishma and remained a celibate.
Not that this pain was unknown to him... but with his Divine Knowledge, he knew that he had already taken birth again, and hopefully, had come in contact with the Holy names of Krishna... somehow.
But Zero... was not as Lucky.
Madan took his sorry state as an invitation to come forward.
Grief was still hard to deal with, and even if those revelations reduced the pain to practically nothing... Having those ties severed, especially so brutally was not something someone, no matter who they are, should deal with alone.
And thus, Madan-Mohan Das sat beside his friend, looking at the nearly dead Kalpa-Vriksha.
After some time, the blue knight spoke once more.
"You did your best."
Zero scoffed. "It wasn't enough... It's never enough."
"We are not God, Zero. All of our endeavours are filled with faults and imperfections. The only thing we can do is to do our best, and let Krishna to the rest."
The ancient angel remained silent as he mulled what Madan had told him... but he was most likely brooding.
Who could blame him, really?
"Zero, what you want is to enjoy the fruit of your labour, but as with every fruit, there are the sweet ones, the bitter ones, and the poisonous ones," Madan explained. After the war, the crap that had happened with Nightmare and the rest of his pre-devotional life, the most rebellious of the NME-born Demon beast knew the truth of this world.
"I ate a bushel of poisonous ones then..." Zero sighed. "I... I should've remained drifting in space, sleeping until the end of times instead of trying to take earth over... or better, yet, I should have stayed dead after I blew myself up... and never fall in love.." The seraphim lamented as tears of blood drifted from his one eye. "I've seen so many relationships fail and end with death... it's always the same thing... It's my second lover that dies in front of me and... I could do nothing but watch." He let out a shuddering breath as he turned to Madan. "But... I... Can't really regret it though." He admitted sorrowfully. "I've learned so much from my X..." A small sob escaped from him.
"You found Happiness in X."
Zero nodded, his tears gently floating about like garnets and rubies.
"I... Ah, I never thought I would experience love... It's so sweet... so sweet to know that someone out there, someone you know cares so much for you that they are willing to sacrifice everything for you, and that they want your happiness... they want to keep you safe and..." More tears fell. "I had that with X, he made me grow Madan... Without him... without him, I would still be a monster feeding off of other grief... I would still be the heartless 0²."
Madan watched on as the great beast began to shake in both rage and grief. "Lumine... He killed him... he killed him so callously... He didn't-" he sobbed. "I knew this day would come. I'm not stupid to think our love would be eternal and shit... but this... that this disgusting piece of college keyboard slime did..."
Suddenly, the angel of destruction let out a howl of anguish and rage, and it was only due to the fact that it was not directly aimed at Madan that the diminutive knight did not die on the spot.
He quickly sent Dhara and Gandhi a sign that all was fine despite the blood that flowed from his eyes, turning them gray, he was fine.
"He did not get it... He saw emotions and existence as useless and superfluous... as trash." he sobbed, his voice warbled in anger and grief. "He wanted to become the new God... and he had..." he shook again. "He saw me and X as an obstacle to himself... he may say he was doing this for the new gen's but, that guy is a selfish little bitch who wants to rule everything... and he... He k..."
"It's alright Zero... just breathe."
"He... He didn't even let X fight! He just..." Blood flowed from his eyes and the wound on his chest. "That was an execution... the coward didn't even let my X fight for his life, he just..."
"I know, I saw it... and what did you do to him?" Madan asked after he waited for Zero to compose himself.
After a minute or two of shuddering and attempting to stain the water red with his tears, Zero was calm enough to speak.
"I wanted to kill him... but I... I realized he would be reborn as a dark matter... I... I want nothing to do with him... So I just made him numb of all emotions. No better than a dull tree."
"Like how you were in the past."
"Yeah..." He let out a shuddering breath. "If it's Buddhist ascension he wants, becoming like a rock, then fine, may he be a rock for ten thousand years." he flicked his hand. "He doesn't deserve death... not after what he did... and I made sure nothing short of his body's completed destruction could free him," he growled wetly.
"I see." Madan nodded. Really, despite Zero being a being of pure destruction, truly was a hurting man.
True he was living in the delusion that all of this was real when all that was material was but a temporary illusion that had nothing to do with the soul...
but at the same time, when one dreams of a monster about to eat him, in his dream, it is completely real.
Still... Madan thought it wise to remain on a more... mundane plane since this was 0, A demon whom even Galacta and Morpho were wary of.
Besides, Madan had to admit that he was curious about who 0 was and why he did what he did. Unlike the rest of the Divine allies... the old crowd, that is, the old knight never had to deal with the Dark plague, too busy building, and rebuilding the Halbert to care.
"Zero... What can you tell me about your past? How did you come to be?" Madan asked. "
I was bioengineered by Nightmare as an answer to Kamala... but I broke out and was found by a group of warriors. Eventually, I began to serve Dedede, Dharadhara das as his knight. And after numerous adventures across the universe and its numerous dimensions, we met the Devotees and... as they say, the rest is history. How about you?" Madan kindly asked, hoping that the eldritch being born of fire would take his invitation.
"I...was born of a sacrifice by this one demoniac brahmana, don't even remember his name... my duty was to kill this one sage but... the sage left his body before I could even gain his darshan."
"I see. That's... rather unfortunate."
"Yeah, So... I just traveled around, acting out on my propensity to destroy. And since I had no goals to fulfill..." Zero sighed. "I never found a reason to be happy, and I never managed to have anything as close as an acquaintance, never heard of Narada muni until recently and... I was never big enough to have Bhagavan destroy me."
"So, you are tasked with destruction and death."
"Yeah... It's... to fight and kill, that's my nature. And when I return to the tantric, he didn't believe me and began to summon more of us like Miracle, Dark mind and its cursed mirror, Dark nebula, the dull one, Ende-Niru, Elfilis and his Brother Elfilin... poor sweet thing was eaten by his brother soon after his birth, I have no idea what the ass was thinking, but one thing for sure, he failed hi Mantra badly."
Madan winced, yes, Mantric science was an exact one.
"So… long story short, me and my sibling just did what all asura did, we destroyed as much as we could, without restriction."
"and why is that?"
Zero² shrugged. "What's the point of waiting when everything will perish anyway. I just destroyed what was in front of me, and spawned my children in the hope that my loneliness would stop. Since none of my siblings were interested in forming a group."
"but it didn't."
"no." Zero sighed. " Those are ghosts with the same intelligence as animals, and even fewer emotions save for rage, greed and hunger. Then I grew envious of all who lived in the light, of those who had love and friends while I had nothing... then I began to hate myself... so much so that I began tracking down the Chozo, the Ancient Ones from the forgotten land in the hope that they, with their amazing technology, could make a weapon to end me..." He sighed again. "and they did."
"X... Lor-Nill-Mapop. The empty hope of Heaven..."
"Or... Zero's heavenly hope." Madan provided, only to see Zero's wings droop down dejectedly.
Zero snorted. "So much for this hope..." He looked back at the old Kalpa-Vriksha
" this... hope... This hope for freedom, this hope for death... I ran after it for so long, thinking it was just a mere crystal." The Ophan's voice wavered as more tears fell from his eyes. "I attacked Ripple Star in the hope that those Fairies would use it on me, I even took over their queen, Chi. She was... a pacifist at heart, a lot like X, really and she tried to empathize with a heartless monster. But in the end, her soft words meant nothing to me, and Kirby used the Crystal to end me..."
He breathed deeply as he released a rather wet huff.
"and then I woke up. My wings and Halo were gone, my body reduced to an orb."
"meaning that the game got the sequence wrong," Madan commented.
"Yup..." Zero gave a mirthless laugh.
"And you longed for death. Something that has eluded you again."
"I am destruction personified, the end, 0... for me, at that time. It was all I knew... and After the Pink Puffball... wounded me, I knew what anger and thirst for vengeance were... and I acted upon them."
"So... when you attacked Pop star... it was to kill Kirby, not to turn everything to zero."
"Yeah, that too... and once Again, Kirby ended this game, with" the great angel shuddered. "Gratitude."
"Let me guess, it wasn't Gratitude?" Madan asked his friend.
"No... the 'love love' stick... has a very misleading name. Instead of absorbing love and gratitude, it absorbs the negative thoughts of other toward what they hate, turning it into-"
"Hearts."
"I was about to call them Silphinium seed... but ok, let's go with that." Zero deadpanned, but Madan could hear the humour in his tone.
It was heartening.
"Still... it... enraged me on top of weakening my body... the pain I felt at this time was the worst I had experienced, and my anger was such-"
"That you burst out of your white body, becoming nothing but a bloody eyeball."
"And Kamala didn't stop..."
"He was merciless."
Beside Madan, Zero shuddered. "My son, my Rimuro, was at his side... he was helping Kirby kill me..."
"You felt betrayed."
Zero nodded. "But... living with X and, you know... living as close to a human life my Karma would afford, let me understand a few things. Kirby is a Hero, for him, his one goal is to protect those who can't fight... as with every other warrior that is worth their salt."
"Indeed."
"And Rimuro had better standards than me... either that, or I screwed up with his brain too much." The Ophanim... or was he a Seraphim sighed as she rubbed his face, clearing it from the drying blood.
Silence once again befell them, this was certainly a hard topic for Zero to breach, and while Madan would love to bring Zero to earth and have this talk here, in a better situation, he knew the Angel would not be willing to leave his place quite yet, not before making his one wish.
The blue knight turned to Dharadhara and Gandharva, the poor blue blob was extremely teary.
"Gandhi... Gooey's feeling overwhelmed and... he wants you to know that he understands where you're coming from, and that he's sorry for having broken your heart."
The angel turned to his last surviving spawn, who took this as permission to hop in his arm for a cuddle.
Zero stared at the fragrant blue blob... and held him closer.
"I'm... sorry... I..." More tears fell from Zero's eyes, only to be licked by Gandhi.
Some communications happened between the spawned and the generator, the psychic pressure building up.
" I... Madan-mohan, you have told me you had your past as nightmares prized Demon. A Clone of Kamala-Kantha infused with the blood of the great Halcandrien dragon; Landia."
Madan-Mohan whirled to face his friend, staring at him with deep surprise, making his bright yellow eyes as wide as Jagannath. "H-How do you know that?"
"I'm old, remember? And the Master Crown was... an attempt at controlling me by those damn ancient Chozos." The fallen Angel chuckled darkly. "Well, as Axl would say, I pulled a reverse Uno card on them."
"Huh..."
"and this means that I saw the first step in your conception, Madan... I'll spare you the details," Zero assured, his whole body more relaxed than what Madan-mohan had seen since his landing and consequent fight. It must be Gandhi, he had that effect on people. "Still... no matter how much I hate the guy, Nightmare did one good thing for the world." He turned to his diminutive friend, giving a clear eye-smile. "You."
If Madan-Mohan resembled an unripened blueberry, only he, Zero² and Krishna would know.
And the Material Kapla-Vriksha tree, of course.
But not Ghandi, Ghadni was practically purring on Zero's lap.
"But despite your past, despite being a Demon... you still chose to fight for the good of all, to go against your demoniac creator and fight." he clenched his fist, aggressively squishing Gandhi, to his great pleasure.. "You chose the light... while I, Born from a sacrificial fire lit with hatred and envy... I chose to hurt, to go Against God... I killed so many innocents, Madan. Planets worth of them."
"If you were acting under material nature, then you were but an instrument," Madan explained. "Only Humans and some other species with human-like intelligence and the grace of God do have a bit of leeway, and a way to ask why they exist and who is controlling everything."
"and yet, I've acted no better than an animal... a demon. I don't... I don't know what changed but... Maybe I didn't change." Zero spoke sadly as he gently patted Ghandarva das, who had apparently taken the role of an emotional support blob.
"How many days old are you?" Madan asked.
"not even one... I was born during this day of Brahma. I don't remember what Manvantara it was though.."
"I see, so you have seen many ages of Kali then."
"Yeah...it always ends the same. Well sometimes, Vishnu descends as the golden avatar to bring a selected few back home, back to Vaikuntha..." The fallen one let out a heavy sigh filled with frustration. "But this time... I missed him by a decade."
"... that's why you were in Jagannath Puri, but could not read anything." Madan hit his fast in his palm. "You were looking for Sri-Krishna-Chaitania-Mahaprabhu during his final pastimes in the Ghambira."
Zero's head whipped in the direction of his diminutive friend, and his bloody red eye opened wide. " Krishna-Chaitania? Not Gaura-Narayana?
"No, this time, it was not Vishnu, it was Radha and Krishna descending personally with all their associates to free us all," Madan explained as he kept his ecstasies well under control. "SO, have you visited the Ghambira?"
"Yeah... I saw the room and smelled his aroma. I tried looking for his remaining associates but... with me not knowing a shred of Odissi, I ended up triggering the new king and was run out of town."
"because you tried sneaking into the Temple of Jagannath."
"Because I tried sneaking in the temple of Jagannath."
obliviously, this was a sore subject for him and thus, Madan elected not to dig any further. Still, it meant that he had seen Orissa way before the damn Britishers destroyed this beautiful and close-to-perfect culture.
(well… not the Sati, of course, but they were the ones who made the Muslims hate the Hindus and vice versa.)
Bunch of gundas.
"And then... What happened? If you were already on earth, how come you fell on doctor Wily's island and..." he gestured at Zero². "Why were you stuck in a robotic body?" he asked, hoping that this subject was a less... sensitive one, yet knowing it must not be so, for, let's be honest, Zero² had clearly been grafted with numerous electronic components not meant to reside in wetware. As Madan knew from his unfortunate experience.
It was also a way to let Zero work out through his numerous emotions. He had gone through so much trauma and pain... no wonder he was constantly on edge.
"Oh, that!" The great being rubbed the back of his head... his old arms still useful despite being severed from the main body. "Well. I hung around for a few centuries... then I tried leaving the planet only to be smack down again by this other guy... think he was made by the Chozo too..." he winced "hit like one too..."
"And thus, you once again fell on earth, on Wily's private island."
"Nah... it wasn't wily's island until that guy discovered a sample of by spawns, called it-"
"Dark Energy."
"Got it in one." Zero² gave a sardonic smile... or, his eye did. "Just being close to it was enough to turn an angry man into a mad scientist... then he found me, Not what I wanted... I was happy being... as dead as I could be in the bottom of a bog. I was finally at peace... more or less."
"So, you didn't process Wily?"
"Nah... but this one spawn did. And Wily arrived on my island, began cutting down the trees and killing the wildlife, turning my paradise into an industrial hell."
"And you just wanted to be left alone."
Madan gave Zero a silent request for him to continue his elaboration.
"That dumbass comes, destroys my new home, manages to find me and, of course, I decided I'd rather play dead than have this one guy survive and start a cult on me..."
"You don't want to be worshiped?" Madan asked.
Zero turned to stare at his friend. "Have you seen what they have done to my Brother?" He said with widened eyes.
"Your... brother?"
"Void Termina."
It was now Madan's eyes to rival the Lord of the Universe's own. "Oh... ooh."
"So no... One of us was enough."
Madan let the silence speak for a bit as he digested the numerous implications this little tidbit provided.
"And then... What happened? How did you get from... a one-, angelic cursed... blob to a robotic Aryan?" Madan asked quietly.
The Great one let out a long and heavy sigh. "Told you Wily found me... well, they guy was absolutely out of his mind, a true mad scientist with enough wit to escape prison and the madhouse again and again... and, of course, since he realized that just having my spawns take over robotic bodies didn't do much, he realized that he needed... me, to control them." The white angelic being gave a shudder very reminiscent of Ghandi, who was cuddling with his progenitor. "I... have no idea how he figured out I was still alive... or maybe he didn't and just... one day decided he wanted to..."
"It's alright, Zero. It's in the past, he can't hurt you now."
Zero² let out a shuddering breath. "I... I know... But I've been stuck in this humanoid form for so long, Mada. Twisted, crushed and compressed until I was a tenth of my size. He kept cutting and cutting more of my body until..."
"Until you could fit in 'Zero.'"
"When he... activated me." The Seraphim curled his wings around himself. "Pain... just pain. He used electricity and magnetic pulses to make me move. Sound also... it was horrible." He hid his face with his old Armor's arms. "It drove me mad, the pain never stopped… even now, I can feel it." More tears fell as Gandhi gave the psychic equivalence of a great big bear hug.
"And then, what happened," Madan-Mohana asked in Sympathy, knowing how it felt to be forcefully robotized. He gently touched the healed scar that formed a divot between his eyes.
Nobody but him could feel it.
"And then... I managed to break out, causing all the current Robot-Master to turn rogue, even the blue one." Hw smirked. "They were just dolls... the first to third generation anyway. Apparently, I was not the only ancient thing that fell on earth, if you know what I mean."
"Yes, because the earth is an Alien artifact magnet." Madan deadpanned. "Can you tell me more? What happened after you began your conquest?" Madan asked, willing to move the narration along.
"Nothing much, Wily stopped me before I could do any more damage... Never thought he had the morality to do it, but he did... he drugged me up and then cryogenically froze me... not that I was asleep... I remained awake, stewing in my wrath. My pain... and my sorrow." he huffed as he hugged Gandhi closer.
"Being frozen… burns…"
Zero sighed. "So... after... give or take a hundred or so human years, a bunch of replicated divine dolls loaded with the ghost of humans who couldn't move on, woke me up, I destroyed their vessels, absorbed them and I convert them all as my spawns while I insert the angriest one back in the body of sigma, then I played dead again, fooling everyone into believing that Sigma was the one who defeated me, breaking this stupid bobble on my head. Got fixed up by doc Cain and started my role as a maverick hunter while in reality-"
"While in reality, you were infecting more and more appliances, killing countless lives and starting the war."
"E-yup!" Zero Crowed. "Now, do you still think God will give me his grace?" He challenged.
"Of course, he will," Madan-mohan assured the source of the hate plague. "Just look at me, Nightmare's strongest Demon and the prince of the nightmare realm. Do you know how many planets me and Morpho destroyed? How many lives have I ended?"
"Not as much as me there, kid."
...
"point taken... but still, despite all of my crimes, I have still received his causeless mercy, and am now a part of those angels we commonly call the Vaishnavas." Madan proudly declared. " Just as Gauranga told Jagai and Madhai, the worst sinners of their time and the recipients of the Lord's causeless mercy, just take up Krishna-Consciousness and stop sinning."
Zero stared owlishly.
"Really? That's it? Just... chant, dance, eat prasadam and... I can get... Self-realization?"
Oh, the hope that danced in his voice, so fragile yet unyielding. Desperation the ripest of soul would hold when given the opportunity to get out of this miserable existence and back home, back to Godhead.
"So, what else did you do?" Madan continued, knowing that he really wanted his friend to gain the wealth, he, Madan-Mohan Das, born as Madness knight, then Meta knight and finally renamed Madam-Mohan das by the causeless mercy of his Guru, had gained.
"Fake my amnesia and fooled everybody into thinking I was an unwilling instigator of doom...Feh, they all fell for it, save for a lifesaver and his hundred bodies."
"Oh my."
"It was fun at first, you know. I got to fight using awesome moves and got praised for it, I was the best, the star of the show... I had the look, the style... the fame, the name, the 'wealth' and adoration. And, on top of that, I could spawn and infect others as much as I wanted and no one was the wisest..." His previous joyful mood evaporated. "and then, because I was so awesome... and the second oldest maverick hunter 'trained' under Sigma... I was given a student of my own, an annoying and overly sensitive Kohai."
"X, I take it." Madan spoke without any judgment. "you... didn't like him at the start."
"Oh hell no. I hated his guts the moment I met him... or, I thought it was hate... he was just... so weepy and jumpy." Zero sighed at the memory. "but by God's holy names, he was determined. If there was a hurdle in front of X, even an impossible one to go over, X would find a way to overcome it." Zero²'s eyes filled with tears. "It took me weeks to have him use his buster. And two whole months before he finally shot the damn thing... and that's when I realized why he was so afraid of himself."
"Which is?"
"X was seriously overpowered. Where talking, the shooting range I took him to could withstand my own, shakti-powered buster shot. But when X shot him, the whole back wall was gone and the mountain it was on had a whole from one side to the other."
Madan let out a low whistle, no wonder he fears himself more than he fears his worst enemy.
"Yeah... trust me, though, it used to be worse... way worse." Zero sighed... and Madan-Mohan das felt the pressure of an eldritch being pressing a memory to his mind... rather politely.
He let it in...
Through Zero's eyes, he could see X, practically catatonic and he mumbled about how he was not supposed to hurt other, he was too powerful and he would hurt others, he would eventually hurt humans and the pain, would be back, he was a bad son for letting others being hurt, he was bad, bad, bad
"Ok... and what was I seeing?" The blue knight asked with a quirk of his nonexistent brow.
"X's panic attack after he blew this particular mountain... he had the same reaction when he destroyed his first maverick, just a mechaniloids... he... almost ended himself when he considered his actions to have caused some civilian's casualty."
"Oh Krishna..." Madan Gasped in horror. "But why? Isn't he a warrior? I saw him destroy mavericks as X, and I know he's not afraid to use his power!"
"Yeah well... After his attempt at self-deletion, I infiltrated his system and mind to see what the fuck happened to turn the most powerful being alive into something that's afraid of his own shadow."
"And then? You worry about his health and looked inside his mind, what did you find?"
"About a hundred years' worth of Gaslighting and moral conditioning,'' Zero revealed as he clenched his fist. " Apparently, doctor light held little to no faith in X's moral code and thus, decided to teach him through 38 years of simulations... nothing too bad, just X going through normal human development... but at the end of the program, the machine glitched and-"
"And Traumatized him in fearing his power."
"He saw himself turn into a monster... also, X was the only reploids none of my spawn and myself could control... so-"
"You wanted to see if you could take him over."
"Yeah, me fixing him was not from the goodness of my black, shriveled heart."
"he got under your skin, didn't he? Found this one soft spot in your 'black heart' and made his permanent home there." Madan-mohan das spoke knowingly.
Zero gave the tiny blue knight an unimpressed stare... then he turned away.
"Not... at that point. But he was starting to make his home there." Zero sighed. "But... I realized that I... that I love... loved him at the end of the first war." the fallen Angels' voice turned thick as reddish tears pooled in his one eye.
"As I said, I had been infecting as many mechanical beings and dolls as I could, destroying them and sowing chaos in the land... but eventually, I noticed that things were escalating without me wanting such things."
"Your spawns rebelled." It was not a question on Madan's part.
"Sigma rejected me." Zero² spat. "For him, I was just playing house, losing myself in the Identity of Zero, the reploid and not as the eldritch conqueror hard set as turning everything into him... and you know what? Maybe I'd rather be this dumb hunk of metal? Maybe I liked not being me and living the life of a robot destroying monsters and you and all Heroes would. Maybe I liked the tentative friendship I had with some of them? And maybe, just maybe." he flapped his wings agitatedly. "Maybe I loved my friend, the affection I had with X. And Maybe... Maybe I wouldn't have minded if would grow into something more." He clenched his fist in rage. "But no... no, that spawn... this one, rebellious, hateful spawn wanted to see everything returned to Zero, to be liquidated, to return to pradhan as I respawn those unfortunate souls as more Dark Matters, more drones."
"He wanted the world to be... just you. To take over the universe and fill it with impersonal darkness."
"Yeah... which was what I wanted at the start..." Zero let out a shuddering breath and he dragged his hands on his face. "But... that was before X became important to me... I gave up my desire for taking over everything when I saw X crying in the bathroom, blaming himself for the carnage." He closed his eyes as he hugged Gandhi. "I... That was the time I realized I loved him, and it was the time I realized that I'd fuck up! I made a huge, unfixable mistake."
"When X was fighting Vile, Sigma had stuck me in a cage made of positive vibes. I have no idea how he managed, but... there I was, in a painful cage, bombarded by pseudo good vibration while X fought against Vile, still holding back since I was in the way." tears spilled from his ruby-red eye. "He... Vile had been about to kill him. Oh, Madan, my X fought so well, he did all he could despite his fear of killing me. And he wasn't pulling any punches either, he went all out!" Zero's voice faltered. "But Vile, now controlled by one of my spawns..." He closed his one eye. "I had to intervene. I didn't want this anymore. I wanted the war to stop, and X to smile again, to be able to make friends without fearing the day he would have to end them..."
"So you sacrificed your life to save him."
"I found a reason to live beyond simply destroying and conquering... It was to make X happy. Alive and happy... but for that..." There was a sniffling Madan chose to ignore.
He gave Zero some time to compose himself as he looked back towards where the rest of the Gang, san Kamala and Gandhi, watched in silence as Zero relieved his explosive dismemberment.
Better still would be for them not to overhear... and they seemed to understand that as they left quietly.
"The... The next time I woke up... I'd apparently gone crazy cu's of a chip. I don't really remember much but... apparently, X went through hell just to get all my body parts, and this despite it being a very oblivious trap for him..." He snorted despite his lack of nose... it even sounded wet. "I... I'm still mad at him for this stunt. He really didn't have to do that."
"He Cared for you... He loved you."
Those few words, spoken gently and kindly, were apparently powerful enough to push Zero² past his emotional barrier.
The angel collapsed on himself, sobbing Painfully as his grief overtook him. His loud wails would've killed anything less than the Divine Warriors.
Thankfully, Gandhi was there, it was amazing how holding something soft and squishy helped with grief.
"That's good, Zero. Let it all out... let it all out. Don't bottle it up, friend." Madan said as he let the bleeding angel, the white angel of the black plague cry and weep, to live his brief one moment at a time. Patting what he could reach as Ghandy became drenched in his Sources' bloody tears.
It was hard to watch, hard to hear... and for Madan, an empath...
He felt it... he felt Zero's deep, deep pain.
And thus The angel cried and cried for his lost lover... for he had chosen to use the final wish of the clockwork star to fulfill X's own.
Eventually, Zero's sobs and wails petered off, and silence once again filled the cavernous room, only the occasional sniffle remained.
Zero looked at the three, then at Madan-Mohan das, quietly begging the Vaishnava for support as he would fulfill X's final wish.
Madan-Mohan took Zero's severed hand and gave it a squeeze. I'm here, I won't leave you.'
Taking another fortifying breath. (what did he breath, Madan could only Hope Krishna could whisper the answer in his heart.) Zero2 Approached the three, who started to glow.
A few more tears fell from his eyes as he folded his palms together.
"Oh Nova... oh Kalpa-Vriksha. My desire and dearest wish..." Zero faltered for a bit. "I wish the earth to be-"
"ZERO! MOVE!"
And this was the only warning Zero got before a spear pierced his chest. And five energy orbs destroyed Nova's heart, plunging the sacred place into complete darkness.
Save for Lori and Crystal Buster Kirby, to Madan-Mohana's great horror.
"Ah-ha! We stopped right on time, 0²! Your plan for the destruction of the earth is as dead as you!" She declared with her cape/sail dramatically floating in the wind. "Isn't that right, Kirby?"
By the look on Kamala-Kantha's face... no, and he wasn't happy about this.
Lori rolled her eyes, her human form so expressive despite how plastic it felt. "Listen, this is 0 were talking about, all he does is destruction. Better we end his suffering now and avenge X, c'mon Kirby, just shoot him. Quickly before he-" But Lor-Ruah could not finish her phrase as the white angel of the black plague roared in pure, unadulterated fury, ripping out the Bloodied oar from his wound, his blood giving birth to Dark Matter.
The shock between sorrow and acceptance to pure, unbounded rage was too much for Madan, who once again collapsed, the last thing he heard was Dharadhara and Ghandarva yelling for him.
The beast had awakened... the end was near.