All of all realities, devoured by a single act of terrorism.
The heroes and villains in all existence were powerless to stop it.
The Grand Prix destroyed everything in existence.
Except...
"Our ultimate wish is granted. Now... we rules forever. We are gods. We are now... from beyond."
The omniverse was destroyed.
The remnants of the old existence survived the absolute annihilation of everything, scattered throughout the END. Carrying heroes, villains and wild cards from all realities.
Now the survivors have awakened in Battleworld 52, a multiverse composed of the fragments of realities and timestreams that no longer exist and maintained by the iron will of its gods, masters and overlords, the Darkbolts.
Location: Latverion-3
"Rise up!"
Who used to be the survivors of the Taken Storm v. Mechas (*1) rose up to devastate this Battleworld with all their respective memories and their fighting will, as well as their own now-rusted mechs. The pilots knew full well of everything, and they all declared... "Take back our existence and our friends!" "Y'all crossed the line and you destroyed most of us!" "We'll not take it lying down!"
Here's the thing you need to understand about how this multiverse is different from everything that came before... Access explained, as narrated on this scene.
And because most of the barons and baronesses of the Latverion-3 had left to check the excavation, the entire planet was suddenly ill-prepared for this attack. One of the barons, D'Reema of the formerly New Genesis, were captured by an artificial android named... Autumn-4. (*2)
Location: Latverion-11
The residents of Akihabara, after comparing the Sinister incident with the comic series 2015!Secret Wars, immediately recovered their memories of the existence before and started a town-wide protest, demanding explanation about how this version of Akihabara is made to be, with even the journalists from other worlds resorting to becoming energy vampires out of defiance. Cue the multiversal paparazzi.
Multiverses that were... the reality that were... The omniverse that was... Access started yapping the Battleworld 52. These were all formed by some infinite Big Bang phenomenon - infinite burst of creation, in ethereal light of continuum lifeline teeming with absolutely literal infinite possibilities, forged by infinite rules that builds all of reality into a variety of existential and conception.
Location: Latverion-22
The fog is always in at Latverion-22, perpetuated by the Arche-Izanami - Marie of the Velvet Room. In the fog, the old Underground, gangs deemed as heretics of the Battleworld 52 - finally came out of said fogs and is about to find the new home in the very Starstorm, now led by Pechy Comet herself. Such heresy had doubts about the Darkbolts' reign, as well as the knowledge of one supreme artifact: a burning heart known as the Heart of Resurgence. (*3)
But this reality? The new multiverse? The 52? Access continued. It was formed from the shattered remnants of broken realities - I know, for we have watched the Darkbolts will them into singularity.
Location: Latverion-33. Formerly the real world, this planet is now home to many original characters former the now-lost worlds depicted in fanfictions, both old and new, coexisting under the otakus and fiction creators, the main barons and baronesses of this world. But now the Restore Reels is exposed, leading to extreme paranoia amongst the people which led to the barons and baronesses opening the stream of the excavation, and in turn... uh...
Is there's one thing you hear, let it be this: the new reality is unnatural. Access continued.
Location: Kingdom of Utopolis, Latverion-0
A brawl broke out between the team of Kado Thorne and Batman Who Laughs, and the members of Cult of Hope, with Relativistic Ops caught in the middle of it. Attempts of interesting this brawl quickly ended with a few dozens of barons (out of hundreds) accidentally joining into said brawl as well, causing chaos amongst the Wasteland.
Location: The Salvation Sphere of Agamotto
"As such, it is a place of controlled chaos. Of constant conflict yet unity. Of deliberately oxymoronic coexistence and accidental irony of life." Access continued. "And it needs the gods with a firm hand capable of both gentle touches AND absolute destruction. Thus, Battleworlds. Thus, Heart of Resurgence... returns, Zero Point. Thus, P-1 Special. Thus... Pandora's Box. Thus... Darkbolts."
"You got to be kidding me... why would the unknown and unproven gods... oppress even our existence?" The masked boy is disgusted. "Please don't tell us that they've become humans-"
"Long may they wear their Victory Crowns." Access concluded.
"Okay. When you talk like that, and this talk of mine coming from an insane queen... your talks, you do know you sound insane, right?" Amaya Shadow questioned.
"Exactly. You sound like a fanfiction character trying to rule over the real world, the reality be damned." Snoop Dogg shrugged. "Haven't you made sure you got the respect of all life?"
"How, mister..." The masked boy pleaded. "How did it happen?"
"Do you remember when the old Tartarus tower (*4) exploded, and the old existence fell down and sunk into true oblivion?" Access recalled. "Thanks to the so-called machinations from the rigged P-1, every single realities within every single timestreams, all crashing together into the scarlet of the red fog... you believed that the Darkbolts were using both the Zero Point and the Pandora's Box energy to hack existence itself so all that setup could be possible. Well... you're right."
I knew it... Amaya Shadow got it. The Darkbolts even knew what they were doing...!
"There was something behind it." Access revealed.
The last hour of before...
Location: The Final Shape, top, Tartarus
"Everyone... lend us your strength!" Yu roared in rage.
"It's too late! Hi-no-Kagutsuchi was dumb enough to not finish the shit fast enough, you FOOL!" Arche-Kandori - the transcended fusion of Nyarlathotep (Persona) and Philemon - scoffed at the seemingly-doomed heroes and allied villains. "I'm smarter than him! With that and the Darkbolts' help, I am now the herald to the last dream wish! There is no longer anything you can do!"
"It's still the end of all... It's over..." 2025!Ron fell down to the now-shaded radiolaria, to be consumed by glorified oblivion itself.
Aku as Bill Cipher emerged as the red mysterious eclipse the Persona users had been spotting prior in the hour, declaring his return. "Hello! We are back! We already have a deal, Black Hat and co. are sponsoring-"
"FUCK NO!" Deadpool objected. "How did you get into the Darkbolts!?"
"We came together and struck a deal." Aku-Bill confirmed he joined the Darkbolts. "Now more and more will fall down to all our mercy! All hail Darkbolts!"
And just like that, all the great majors of the Darkbolts transcended into the fourth wall, also dumping down the likes of X-Alliance's super-soldiers (Riders, Cures, etc.) and the Prismatic Fleet down, tagged as a bid to remake everything into their own image.
"The omniverse is dying. Only we remain, for we won this war." Arche-Kandori returned to the beyond. "Us Darkbolts dark (*5) now eternal. Today, everything ends."
"You might have won the P-1 Special, but we will destroy all from now on. Hahahahaha!" Magnifico declared he have the last laugh. "I avenged everything! I'm going to remake all of you and everything into our own image! Kneel! Kneel in Vex radiolaria!"
"Vengeance... complete." The New Pandora is whispered by the voice of Queen Amaya. The terrorism has worked.
All the oppositions now consumed in oblivion, in mercy of the oncoming recreation of all existence into a patchwork multiverse where nobody can oppose the Darkbolts anymore. The ultimate revenge against both the Redvengers and the CXA for everything. The END for all... except of course, Darkbolts.
We know so much more than we understand. But we know so little. Magnifico, narration. Many believe the infinite light you see when you die is the supercharged electric whimper of a desperate and dying brain. Synaptic death. But it's not.
The Darkbolts stands before... THE Big Bang. (*6) That brilliant, binding light is... THE Big Bang. And it always has been, all along.
The flowery pattern pulsed into epilepsy not meant for simply everyone (duh), but the effect of Darkbolts' terrorism stalled it glitched it within total symmetry. Magnifico, as an Exo initially powered by the same green forbidden magic, stepped ahead... and raised the body of the unconscious Ms. Continuum.
"Zero." The Big Bang let out an echo made of the collective sub-consciousness of all life in all of realities.
Us. Darkbolts.
Flashback ends, back to present...
Location: The Salvation Sphere of Agamotto
"They looked into the abyss that was absolute omnipotence, stuffed within the effect of the Big Bang. Magnifico glared at it, and raised the ultimate sacrifice for the last dream wish." Access revealed. "Then the Darkbolts saved all that there was left to save. And recreated all that was lost. And finally... reshaped everything into perfection, like the Final Shape cometh."
"And now y'all serve him." Amaya Shadow got it.
"Now... they are GODS. All cap, gods. GODS." Access added. "Doubt them if you want. Defy them. Condemn them. Curse their very existence. Declared cessation of their existence... it doesn't matter. They reigns."
"You got to be kidding me. You're saying that you did karmic to me, with all that re-world like mine, but on an absolute infinite scale?" Amaya Shadow suspected. "And it's all gone? My world? Multiverse? Our worlds? My lost family? The future? EVERYTHING!?"
"Technically, not all of it." Access revealed. "Some small bits remain."
"Not the 2015 Secret Wars again, bro!" Snoop Dogg is bored. "And is that enough of a twisted recreation I have no idea came to be while I was missing?"
"There are times when each world falls far short of what everyone hoped it would be." Access added. "But it is real - it exists - and that counts for something."
"Then I have to ask, amalgam boy..." A horned guy with two different submachine guns and a sword, in what appears to be the costume of Drift of the Fox Clan (*7), arrived in the scene and heard. "If you had the power... if you had the means... if any of you were playing good and the world you want is not the one you have..."
The masked boy looked back again, this time recognizing him as a friend and companion.
"Don't you have the responsibility to raise up something better in place of the old, with care and all?" The horned shrugged. "Isn't that the real burden that comes with the kind of powers we recently found out those Darkbolts have?"
"That's something we would nev-" Access is baffled.
"Excuse me, my lord." Nyx just broken in the room and reported the shit. "I am sorry to interrupt. But I am newly raised in do not know the significance of this..."
"Huh? Are you kidding me?" Amaya recognized the entity. "How did you... have Hope's armor?"
"Our attention is needed elsewhere." Access declared.
Location: Kingdom of Utopolis, Latverion-0
"Take heart, brothers and sisters-" Vigil, a time-traveling silver-"nude" (now covered in the gold of Pandora's chosen) princess formerly from a distant future, now a baroness from Latverion-33. (*8) "I have sounded the alarm and set up a portal, and thus summoned the host!"
"This will not wait, sister!" Princess Lana, formerly of Videoland (now part of Latverion-27) dodged. "The battle goes poorly! Two of our number are badly injured! We cannot hold quarantine anymore, and if these rogues scatter, some will surely escape to other kingdoms... or worse... starting a reality-breaking paradox before reinforcements arrive!"
"Lawlessness is a disease. An infectious wound we cannot let rot the reality." Chris Redfield backed down for now. "We must take this matter to gods."
"Loopers all you want, ladies and gentlemen!" Kado chopped down some with his Blade. "It's high time we go the distance!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Laughs enlarged himself and tried to stomp down the Cult of Hope, clearly enjoying the fight. "Bring it on, heretics! I am the darkest! Can you burn brought enough to survive? HAHAHA!"
"HEAR OUR PRAYERS!" A bunch of Cult of Hope members raised their burned hands up, sending a burst of Pandora's Box energy up to the sky for the rifts to pick up.
Few minutes later...
Location: The Final Shape, Latverion-0
BGM: Halo theme
"Absolute Hope. I beseech you. Hear my prayer!" Thor Odinson of Reality-616, now a general of Cult of Hope, kneeled in front of Magnifico and friends.
"A supplicant? What's this?" New Pandora noticed. "All-Father (*9), can you tell us what's happening and why did you inform us?"
"I think I know. Earlier today, us forces informed Lord Access that my science team had found something potentially heretical in the Kingdom of Utopolis." Thor reported. "He sent your lawmen to investigate. I'm guessing things aren't going too well, All-Gods."
"Very well, Thor. Continue." Magnifico accepted.
"There is chaos in your kingdoms, especially in Utopolis, and we need your guiding hand, All-Gods." Thor continued. "I have no doubt we can prevail - regardless of the cost - but there's something unnatural at work here, and you needed to know."
"Perhaps. But most men cannot tell foolishness from foresight..." Magnifico stepped out. "So we judge things with our very own eyes... or the ones we have available to us."
Location: The Bridge. Formerly located in the center of the flipsides (*10), this place is now we'll inside the castle, just under the throne room. And in this is... the Big Bang, forcibly suspended as the makeshift Zero Point that accepts every power that ever existed, on top of the original nexus orb - all consolidated into a glowing lake.
"Show me what you see, Thor." N.P. goaded. "Show me this chaos."
The glow of the Big Bang received Thor's prayers, and showed what's currently happening at the Wasteland.
"That really is true. The outcome is so difficult to predict. I mean, we've seen something like this before. I'm showing recorded occurrences of multiple titans of this designation." N.P. searches. "But this? It's worth nothing that none of those extrapolate out to the energy levels this one is giving off."
"Mortal people fighting mortal people. Irritants that do not rise to the level of our direct consideration..." Magnifico dismissed. "I see gnats that do not concern me."
"I'm sorry, but you're underestimating this chaos we're looking here." N.P. refuted. "Even my very being is being exerted and stressed such... excessive Looping. (*11) Perhaps you should reconsider intervening?"
"That won't be necessary, miss." Magnifico suggested back. "Look... my beloved Amaya... has arrived."
In the Wasteland, Queen Amaya has arrived, and weaponized the rifts to try and shred to Kado and Laughs.
"This is more favorable, but actually... also less predictable..." N.P. continued. "Like I said before, we have analogs of many of the things we're seeing, but there are differences of varying levels... Call them variables."
Slowly but surely... Amaya Shadow has arrived. And with her, Snoop Dogg and a bunch of improvised fantasy... uh...
"See the same variable over and over, enough times and it becomes a constant." N.P. continued. "All of which sends me leaping to some pretty dramatic conclusions. I think I might want to take a much harder look at all this."
"I must confess... there's something disquieting and familiar about all of this." Magnifico commented.
And then... Makoto Yuuki has arrived. With his Messiah blasting away the Cult of Hope to save Kado and Laughs from the brutal brawl that came off the heretic discovery.
"Arche... Messiah... again?" Aku-Bill squinted.
"A traitor has returned. Furthering messing with our projection." N.P. targeted Yuuki. "We need the surgeons and medics from all 52 worlds, tell them to prepare for wounded!"
"My fellows will do it for you. Ping!" Aku-Bill suddenly disappeared.
"Has something caught your eye, Magnifico?" Asked the former 'breaker.
"Yes, my fellow empress. It stirs me to action. But fear not."
Magnifico glows green with stringy blue aura. "I will return shortly."
BGM stops.
Location: Kingdom of Utopolis, Latverion-0
The brawl has already become a massive fight, perpetuated with the appearance of Kado and Laughs. Magnifico arrived at the scene, seeing a brutal scene made out of the Wasteland. The appearance of the transcended king caused the fighting to stop...
-*beat*
-*beat*
...leading to the insurgents (except Kado) to point their combat at him.
"How did you... return as heretics?" Magnifico is disappointed.
Victor von Doom, again the God Emperor Doom, but this time as a baron in re-built Pandora's Armor (*7), approached to kneel down to the king. "Yes, my king!"
Beyond the smoke, Deadpool rose up from the forced grave, and is immediately aware of everything.
"My goodness..." Deadpool shook off. "Oh. Where exactly am I?"
"You... I know you...!" Makoto Yuuki threatened Magnifico.
The Cult of Hope whispered out at the scene and the mess that ensued during the battle. Deadpool stood up, aware of all the shits.
"Magnifico... you're... back! Look. You just did... this guy!" Deadpool then pointed at Doom. (No, really) "It's amazing. Artificial construct of reality, coexisting from day zero. A multiverse where there should be nothing! Look at what you've made, Magnifico. Duh duh duh, you just did a Doom many times over. 52 worlds! But wait... you did this and saved us all... just to rule over us like a tyrant? Like... uh..."
"Yes, We had to destroy you to do what you and your ilk could never." Magnifico revealed. "We saved the unsavable... We avenged the no-venged... We saved everything in the face of superior absolute total annihilation! I am a miracle worker, capable of destroying everything and then rebuild everything in one fell swoop, with a little help. Tell me, who's another miracle worker!"
"No. We merely rebooted. Remember that Reboot Card?" (*7) "Or anything... reboot like reviving a dead player?" Deadpool shrugged.
"If that's true, that explains why... all we saved was ourselves." A feminine, fake Bushranger with a tactical google.
"Can't help but notice, in hindsight, that you did all this just to get back at the ruined throne. Dooming us all." Makoto Yuuki shook his head.
"Call us heretics, but that's so shocking. Just floored us. Us." A white bat-like creature on an exoskeleton with feudal clothes throughout.
"Essentially, you took the throne. You took ALL thrones." The masked boy refuted.
"A throne? All? We've had our throne for quite some time. Especially me." Magnifico dismissed. "A throne... My property. One that I can only share with my true inner circle. I've placed myself a good bit higher than just what you just said."
"Oh, really? That's not so sure of any." Laughs scoffed, shrinking and doubting Magnifico. "If one plays at being gods like me, one would never shy away from saying it. HA!"
"I am GOD!" Magnifico pulsed forbidden magic.
This dark magic, green as ever, appears like the flames of the Maleficent, the hellfire of judge Claude Frollo, and the smoke hands of Ursula. The magic spiked from the ground and tethered the relative suspects, including all the masked and even Amaya Shadow.
"I understand this must be confusing for all of you. But take heart, for while I am mighty and I am brutal, I am also merciful." Magnifico declared. "I will give you a moment to... readjust your olden thoughts and olden beings. Then, you'll will bend your knee and bow your head at my feet. Believe in me... for this reality... is MINE."
"Why are you so sure about 'tis?" A messy short-haired elf, red hair and salvaged streetwears holding that halberd and two shotguns, objected.
"Because I AM GOD!" Magnifico declared.
"I do not need a moment. Nor do I, mercy. For holding things - shaping, shifting - it isn't forever..." Laughs targeted Magnifico. "Except... Chaos! Reaction! HAHAHA!"
Cue Laughs tearing the dark magic off the bodies, freeing all and horrifying the bystanders. "What a fool. So cringe too, it's worthy of more laughter! More laughter! I am a god too... In fact, I am better than you. You're just a king who don't have any idea of even his innate magics!"
"No no no nonononono-" Kado realized the moment of disaster.
"This time, I will sure be a reaction. You will be- ARGH! Hurk!"
Magnifico choked Laughs with his own hand. Laughs tried to flee as a god-like maniac, but Magnifico's dark magic wouldn't let him.
"I've seen a lot over the years... now listen..." Queen Amaya just watching, undisturbed by the horror of what's happening.
"Are you sure about that, outdated edgelord?" Magnifico refused. "Don't you know even an empowered woman (*12) could and already have ended you? You're a pathetic Joker. How did the chemical go so deep into your brain the first time around without killing you?"
Batman Who Laughs tried to do the godlike tricks all over in a last ditch effort to escape, desperate raising. But Magnifico didn't care."
"You are over. You have ended."
Cue Magnifico burning Laughs completely within the combined Zero Point and Pandora's Box energy, killing him forever on the instant.
"Why did those trash keep pestering us?" Queen Amaya pushed the relative suspects away from her, before approaching.
"But why would you do that, Amaya?" Magnifico noticed.
"Because we all know what was about to happen." Queen Amaya revealed. "They would've refused to bow before us, and then you would've felt compelled to eliminate such behavior yourself. I couldn't allow that."
"You think that's an indulgence. But you know what they are going to try to do." Magnifico responded. "They won't be able to help themselves. It's their nature."
"Those are people who fully remember the old existence. And I have lived having to find out you were a tyrant." Queen Amaya recalled. "We still did great things together."
"That's sus." Amaya Shadow suspected. "And it seems... that woman and I have the same name. Like what?"
"How did... wait... Are you also telling us that the concepts are implemented into this situation!?" Deadpool realized.
"And I have we not done great things together, my beloved?" Magnifico yearned.
"Of course we have... But I won't have anything to do with this." Queen Amaya resorted.
"Call them back or execute them. Your choice." Magnifico suggested on the fly.
"No." Queen Amaya refused.
"Please... don't defy me!" Magnifico pleaded.
-*sigh* "He's gone from a good king to a pathetic tyrant. He fell off his morals." Deadpool commented. "That magic was the last straw."
"I never told anyone but the Uber circle what you've done. And I'm sure they're going to be hard at work figuring everything out around you." Queen Amaya agreed. "How much harder and further do you think the likes of Asha are going to try when they finds out that you got your revenge in full?" *sigh* "Looking back... One wish really did change it all. In fact... it changed an entire existence."
Queen Amaya got so conflicted, that it prompted Kado to... well...
"I saw the movie with you from old existence. It was among my prized collections, despite what the real world thought about it." Kado confessed. "So now... hear me!"
"No, you don't!" The horned guy objected.
"What're you doing!?" Makoto Yuuki realized.
Cue Kado Thorne shifting into his revenant form immediately... and pierced his hand through Queen Amaya's heart.
"ARGH!" Queen Amaya suddenly writhed.
"In actuality, Queen Maya hates Magnifico! Magnifico becoming a god let him recreate her into his beloved, locked in his philosophy! Magnifico already got the forbidden magic!" Kado exposed the spoilers. "I'm here to collect the truth, right here, right now! And also... this is PAYBACK for taking away my collection!"
Literally everyone is shocked at the scene, especially Magnifico and Amaya Shadow, who were horrified.
"Even with infinite powers in infinite scale and numbers each, you're still afraid of the truth and the freedom! You're still traumatized of miss Asha from the wishes, Magnifico!" Kado angrily declared. "I learned of the truth through the Velvet Room. The heresy here is necessary! Magnifico is a built tyrant! He is secretly oppressing, and he's defacing and desecrating all that WAS! And I think Magnifico should be afraid! AFRAID!"
Magnifico blasted Kado with Anti-Imagine, blasting the revenant away into a homogeneous explosion that whiplashes the nearby surroundings. With his bare hand. The dying queen Amaya collapsed, and Amaya Shadow realized...
I and Pechy and teams are not alone...
A multiversal funeral is held across all 52 worlds. In Latverion-0, all the remaining leaders and rules of Battleworld 52, as well as Lord Access and the Cult of Hope.
"Before the reality, there was the magic... Literally magic... We cannot call it heaven, or forever, or even Retconnian. Or any other joyful thing... for it was NOTHING. And in this ocean of absence, there was only the gods, Darkbolts, the king Omega Magnifico, and his beloved: our fallen great queen, named Amaya." A now completely elderly Geno - who shouldn't have aged any further at all - "Think on it, brothers and sisters: the war Nothing, and then... there was Everything. And the only witness to the infinite miracle of creation besides the Darkbolts themselves was the good queen Amaya."
What an honor. What a life. What an existence, even. The funeral is broadcasted to all of existence. If Valhalla is for the brace, Amaya... then there you will be a new queen.
"Of all of us, you were truly the most worthy." Geno of the Imagined Order continued.
"My... dear..." Nyx whispered, having been shaken by the appearance of Makoto Yuuki and the sudden assassination of Queen Amaya.
"Shhh, we'll speak later." Vigil shushed.
"There's going to be a public memorial later where all the various world barons and citizens of all reality can pay their respects..." N.P. revealed. "But you are her lover, Magnifico. And I thought you would appreciate something more... personal."
"Of course. Thank you, miss." Magnifico thanked for this simple.
The Great Warlock returned with a bunch of different flowers, telekinetically moved to form a large flower ring on the neck part of the statue of Queen Amaya.
"We're sorry you died, miss Amaya." The Second Knife bowed, followed by their Prismatic Fleet. "You're a kind person and a good queen."
Unfortunately for the Second Knife, what they said next... exposes their backstory.
-*flashback*
BGM: Make Your Own Fate (Destiny 2)
Location: The Last City
"The Crucible has calciforms! Calcified Guardians reported!" The citizen of the Last City noticed.
Across those live-fire training areas, calcified remains of various Guardians were spotted, covered in Light flora. These paracausal statues were brought to the City for investigation. However, today, the Vanguards are missing. Ikora Rey, Commander Zavala, and Crow were not found.
I'm the Warlock, and we're Young Wolf and friends. The greatest fireteam ever lived. It's the Great Warlock. At the time, they were just fresh from the end of the Witness. (*13) Last week, I suddenly got myself calcified by my own power, and then my inner Light freed me. I've discovered the most advanced paracausal tricks any living being could ever master - some of them I recognized. So we experimented with it, and wouldn't you know...
The core three of the fireteam that led the big effort against the Witness, walking amongst the Last City, secretly with their own shit on paracausality. A finger on who would become the Great Warlock is calcified and shifting out with Darkness, and some Light petal emerged from a palm in one of their hands, self-imbued with Prismatic.
Whoever would become the Godhunter is holding on their knife, which was calcified into a blade of infinite sharpness, crystalline and hyper-stiff, but extremely durable. The one that would become the Arch-Titan simply has their first filled with cosmic glow that's very much made of the Light itself.
That was so cool! No force without this combo can match this! So the Godhunter thought.
The Last City is almost ready. Just in time for preparation for our next adventures. Together. The Titan relaxed, depowering the first for now.
Few hours later, the three called the fellow Guardians to gather at the Tower to not only address the Crucible statues and the disappearance of the Vanguards, but also reveal what's up. Lord Shaxx, Osiris and Saint-14 were among the Guardians summoned to the Tower.
"We are deeply sorry that the Vanguards have disappeared without a trace. We are also sorry that the Crucible would have such casualties under our very own noses." The Great Warlock announced. "It sucks to see the Vanguards suddenly absent in our life. Especially not long after we have stopped the Witness from completing the Final Shape." (*13)
The three activated Transcendence, finally ready to reveal their strange discovery. "During the days where the poor Guardians got calcified, we've learned some more advanced manifestations of Light and Darkness. With these, you'll understand how and why those calciforms came to be. But first..."
"Ummm... Saint-14, can you give me a dead pigeon?" Arch-Titan asked.
Saint-14 just so happened to trying to find a burying place for a dead pigeon. (Yes, Saint-14 loves pigeon) "This pigeon's dead. Poor one."
Arch-Titan took the pigeon's body, and gave it to that Warlock friend. The Great Warlock then held the body into the palms.
"We already know the Light. After all, we are Guardians... the Lightbearers. Light forms and nurtures, and can even resurrect life itself. We are chosen by the Traveler, so..."
The Great Warlock imbued Light into the pigeon, reviving it. The Guardians applauded, and Saint-14 is relieved, as this Warlock freed the pigeon, allowing it to fly away.
"The Lucent. The most extreme manifestation of the Light. With this, we can garden the fabric of reality itself. The Light terraformed planets and uplifted us and numerous civilizations, regardless of... good or evil." Arch-Titan explained. "If you remember the story of the rise of us Guardians, or the days the Lucent Hive were born... (*14) Now thank your Ghosts for the Light. We have risen further."
"What are you doing?" The Great Warlock's Ghost questioned.
The Great Warlock shushed.
"Next up... psychic, thoughts, consciousness... sword." The Godhunter handed. "Can anyone give me an... apple?"
A stressful Shayura the Warlock gives up an uneaten but ripe apple she was going to bite. The Godhunter quickly took the apple, and pointed the knife at it. That knife seemed unusual though.
"Huh? What's going on?" Exo Stranger - Elizabeth Bray, 1 (designation) - finally arrived.
"Lucent, the extreme Light. We saw a dead pigeon resurrected... by this Warlock's hands." A random Titan revealed to Stranger.
This prompted Strange to swivel to clear her sight, to see the core three - the three legendary Guardians leading the war effort - demonstration. "Excuse me..."
The Godhunter tilted the knife, and the apple gets calcified. "The Final Shape. If the Witness can do it... we can do it. Darkness isn't inherently evil, after all."
This came as a shock to all the Guardians attending the bullshit-in-hindsight event, as only the Witness could really do the Final Shape, and they were stopped and got unmade, ending the threat of a Second Collapse. Understandably, some Guardians got suspicious.
"The Darkness is not inherently evil. The Witness tried to force it into reality itself. They tried to calcify the Light, reshape the universe into its horrific image." Arch-Titan shrugged off the suspicion, and spoke valiant shit. "We can do better. We've already unmade them and save the universe from forced paracausal splice and torture."
"That's right. With the advanced manifestations of the Light and Dark, we can make the universe great." The Great Warlock declared. "If we can make our own fate... well, anyone can! We'll help them out, and engrave our legend into the very fabric of reality!"
"Paracausality rocks!" Godhunter gleefully shouted. "Go on! Bless everyone!"
The Arch-Titan immediately concentrated the harmony of the Light and Dark enhanced, into the ground. Cue the entire Tower being turned into a colossal temporary Prismatic well... but also spikes a bit of calciforms across the areas in the process.
"Wow... This is..."
All the Guardians in the Tower can feel the. advanced manifestation. The effect is begging each and every Guardians to embrace the advanced, and be further empowered by the superior power that the core three now possesses.
Half of the Guardians in the announcement, including Lord Shaxx himself, fully accepted the power. But the other half have suspicion, while Stranger just ran away to report about the shit that the core three got.
"I love it! This is so powerful!" Shaxx exclaimed. "With this, nobody can stop us! Good work, Guardians!"
"Uhhh..." A bunch of suspicious Guardians rolled their eyes.
"Ugh... you want to know how?" The Godhunter rolled eyes back. "Fine. We'll make this quick. Firstly, we discovered the advanced manifestations provided by Lucent and the Final Shape last week. The Warlock accidentally discovered that with the hands. We caught on, and we learned how to deal with it."
BGM ends.
"What?" The suspicious heard.
"We experimented the powers on the Crucible, secretly targeting certain Guardians. It worked wonders." The Great Warlock revealed. "And today, we want to immortalize the Vanguards for their heroics and adventures, and so much more. To keep them from going insane, we even granted them the same temptations the Witness gave them... but as a gift. A reward for their efforts. May they rest-"
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Shayura screamed.
"What the!?" The other suspicious are shocked.
"Are you sure about that?" Saint-14 questioned.
"Saint-14, I hope you understand what we're up to." The Arch-Titan moved forward. "We're making our own fate. Together, nothing can stop us. Especially not ANYMORE!"
Saint-14 headbutted the future Arch-Titan, but the Titan not event a dent at all, while Saint got electrocuted by Arc Light.
"Wait... wait... wait..." Shaxx got conflicted.
"The Young Wolf... the Great Guardians... they've!" Osiris warned Shaxx.
A veiled bunch of props covered by a black veil. A bunch of Guardians collided with it, only finally knowing these were placed here all along during the announcement. The veil is quickly off, and...
"No!" Osiris is horrified.
"Fuck!" Shayura finally profaned.
The calcified Vanguards. Zavala, Ikora and Crow, all three turned into marble slices in the spirit of the Pyramid, appearing much like the Witness's Final Shape applied to them. Embedded with the exact same temptations the Witness tried to respective three, hence the extra splices.
"You calcified the Vanguards! You betrayed us for real!" Shayura flipped off.
Shayura tried to Nova Bomb the core three, but the Great Warlock teleported the Nova Bomb to outside without flinching. That Nova Bomb exploded mid-air, further alarming the outdoors. Cue Shayura being stuck down by Threadlings.
But not just any Threadlings - the Lucent Threadlings, the Threadlings infused with Light. Shaxx is too scared to deal with all this, and he fled. The rest of the Guardians ended up split and fighting each other in the area, with only Shayura, Osiris and Saint-14 caught.
"How dare you!" Shayura is enraged.
The Arch-Titan froze Shayura. "Stay there. Don't move, or you're gone."
The fight broke out of the room and down the Tower, leading to not only physical property destruction, but also causing some Guardians to go insane in the process. The core three did telekinesis and carried the Vanguards away, going outdoors and throw the calciforms for all the Tower residents to see... just as a bunch of Guardians picking up the advanced manifestations and receive the power the core three have.
The three descended, and declared: "We are to become legends! We will make our own fate, no matter what! The entire universe will know our names, for all eternity, from here on out!"
Those who accepted the powers first lost much of the concern about calcification of the Vanguards, and raised their support to the core three, simply because turns out they're the ones discovering those advanced manifestations. Those who neither knew of the announcement nor accepted the extra powers were horrified by the calciforms. This, along with the newly pre-existing fight going outdoors, dragged many Guardians into the fray.
By this point, the future Second Knife has become so obsessed with the Light and Dark, that they became evil by now. It took any realization of what happened to the Crucible and the Vanguards for a Guardian to turn against the Young Wolf and friends.
The next day, everything broke out onto the rest of the City, causing chaos amongst the entire City, mainly because of the Guardians who accepted the powers and the new bullshit are fighting against the Guardians who learned the truth and abided by it instead. The City has suddenly become a big Crucible arena, and no one is safe. Even the revelations the core three spoke of immediately tipped off the Coalition that would soon cease to be.
"You got to be kidding us!" Luzaku, a Stormcaller Wizard on her way, noticed the chaos.
Anastasia "Ana" Bray immediately revealed what the core three said, and... "...we're screwed. Doomed, even. I never thought some Guardians would still become... evil. I know about the time loop (*15), but this is ridiculous. At this rate...!"
"The Second Collapse... it's coming." Eris Morn hunched her thought, suspecting the newly-exposed villainy.
With superior power of advanced paracausality, the Guardians under the core three are winning. A bunch of opposing Guardians were slain, with their Ghost destroyed. The Ghosts noticed everything, and finally had enough.
"What have YOU DONE!?" The Ghosts of the three objected.
Cue those Ghosts getting tangled in Strand, preventing them from flying away. And then forcibly slowed with Stasis, preventing them from speaking up.
"Stay. We're making our own fate." The Great Warlock refuted.
"Our powers really made people shocked, huh?" Arch-Titan looked around. "At least we still have some of our friends. Now... we can lead them and..."
The three remotely detonated the Tower with the Lucent manifestation, exploding the entire place with pure Light. They did it as a demonstration of power, which the rebelling Guardians took so horribly.
"The Tower! The TOWER!" Some Guardians are traumatized by what's happening.
The Second Collapse has started. The core three, with the Guardians accepting those powers, as an army, they immediately started scalping the Last City and nearby zones, with the civilians and the defeated Lightless on the deadly crossfire. Sure, they are stocking everything from the Last City they can get and need, but within the week, the Last City is reduced into a wasteland, with most of its non-combat population wiped out in the process, and almost all of the rest injured. The Traveler didn't seem to move even an inch, at least not yet.
The core three appeared remorseful for all of this, but they've been consumed by their obsession. They are now abusing both the Light and the Darkness, setting them to a path far crueler than even the Witness (the Penitent)'s from eons ago. And of course, they could leave this ultimately-dying planet, Earth - they have some jumpships.
"And now, it is time to leave this place. This punishment has already been for those who don't know... how to make-" The Great Warlock...
...suddenly got ambushed by a few Lucent Hives, sent to by Luzaku for help. The Lucent Hive were immediately calcified mid-combat, and then shattered into Darkness corruption by the fist of Arch-Titan.
"Oh. And I knew it. Not only they would send help, but... some of our jumpships were stolen." Arch-Titan noted.
Indeed, the surviving rebels went to their jumpships and fled the planet. However, the future Second Knife simply commanded most of what would found the Prismatic Fleet to attack those flying rebels.
Getting into their respective jumpships once more, the future Second Knife set their sight to the Traveler with the craved way to the Pale Heart. Of course, the three went straight to...
Location: The Pale Heart
"The Pale Heart. We have to do what the Witness tried to do, but better." Arch-Titan pointed up in the zone.
And so, we have truly linked the Traveler and the Veil together. It's the easiest way to become gods who uses the Traveler's ability to project possibilities contained within thoughts and memories and the Veil's ability to grant those possibilities physical form. Just like what the Witness's intended, but much better. Narration from the Great Warlock. We had succeeded. We now rule over the entire universe. With a single thought, we can do anything. We now rule over the Light and the Dark, together. We can now rig the universe, the garden, the flower game. (*16) Whatever we want. We could make our own fate, forever. We got to crave our name and our legends into this very fabric of reality.
The universe started changing, starting with the sudden spread of knowledge about the Guardians' adventure and up until the Second Collapse now, all to literally every single corners, pixels and life of the universe, all at once.
So we did. And the one familiar force who took our rise most seriously... the Vex. Narration continues. That leads us to the Vault of Glass. And to the Corridors of Time. But first, we have to keep the Elliskni, the Hive, and all other species away.
Tethering the new link, the future Second Knife then flew to...
Location: Vault of Glass
BGM: Chronologies (Destiny)
Calcifying the gates and straight out cracking the way in, what would become the Prismatic Fleet immediately raided the way to the Vault itself - with the advanced manifestations, the now-evil Guardians easily cleared the way and effortlessly broke in. Of course, the Vex is no match to the fleet, and literally everyone else arrived far too late. The core three cracked the glass, and...
Location: Corridors of Time
"Finally..." Arch-Titan stepped in, with the Travel and Veil combo also dragged to the now-blocked entrance to the Vault. "We've arrived, and our link has been brought safely."
"This is finally...!"
The future Fleet celebrated the accomplishment, only to meet an Osiris with his Ghost, Sagira, running around.
"Guardian?" Osiris noticed.
Osiris and Sagira are quickly deported into an alternate universe coming from another timeline. Of course the Vex would put up a fight, but it's no use as even one empowered Guardian is now too much for even an army of Vex, Taken or not.
BGM fades.
Flashback continues... Location: the Final Shape
"Ahhh... We have, at last. A purpose. A greater purpose, craved unto being."
This is the Witness, from a now-doomed timeline. It have won, and the Final Shape is complete. This alternate universe, turned into a more orderly state in which nothing could exist without its consent and no actions could be taken by any other sentient being, thus halting what it perceived to be the "meaningless cycle of action and reaction" that inevitably led all beings to experience suffering. The Witness achieved this by using the Veil's Darkness in combination with the Traveler's Light, using the former's ability to project possibilities contained within thoughts and memories and the latter's ability to grant those possibilities physical form. With this timeline's Final Shape completed, this is a calcified, frozen, timeless version of reality, in which all sentient beings would be immortalized at the moment of their greatest triumph or most profound regret, unable to perpetuate the cycle of suffering which the Witness viewed to be the supreme injustice of existence.
The Witness is ready to re-integrate its dissenters within its mind, and is ready to rule over the Final Shape as its one true god. However...
"Long time no see, Witness!"
The Great Warlock just infiltrated this timeline. "So you too, have become the god of this universe?"
"How... How...?" The Witness couldn't believe it. "How!?"
"We came from another timeline. If you don't cooperate, you will be destroyed. Again."
Of course, the Witness never cooperated with us. They knew we were against them. From the start. (*13)
With the harmony of the Light and Dark, the Great Warlock easily overpowered the Witness with the Darkness, nuking all the dissenters all at once with the Light, thus instantly unmasking the Witness from the inside out... without even moving out of the steps. Cue the Echoes bursting out of the body, free for the Great Warlock to hoard.
That was not only the first time we wiped the Witness out... but also the very first time we hoarded the Echoes. All those Echoes... foundation to Take reality itself. Everyone who doesn't make their own fate would kneel to us forevermore.
Taking all the Echoes, the Great Warlock rises up, and the Vex kneeled down in total defeat, secret shame and complete despair. Thus, the Vex are enslaved, and all the alternative timelines and universes were taken over. Also at this moment, they learned that...
We could even Take. So we took the Osmium throne that we've left after slaying Oryx (*17), and made that our throne. In the Pale Heart, our ultimate castle. We conquered space and time. We even took over the same time loop Elsie originated from. (*15) We kept destroying the Witness. We got our reimagined City. And the best of all: We truly have become legends. Forever.
The narration is over, the newly-fortified Pale Heart is shown while the Veil-Traveler floats across timelines, and...
-*flashback ends*
"All Fallen and all Cabal and all Hive, and especially all Vex, all bowed and kneeled under us! We uplifted timelines and universes, and calcified the rebels that we've spotted and caught!" The Great Warlock continued. "Our conquest also provided us with the opportunity to join the glorious Darkbolts! Magnifico is our friend, and so is the good queen, Amaya. The Darkbolts granted us absolute conquest. We could never have moved far beyond that Island (*18) without you, Magnifico! Queen Amaya! You are the best! When we find out the full truth and capture all heretics, we will end the rebels and the insurgency, once and for all! Absolute heresy will not be tolerated! Just you watch... Queen Amaya."
The Dark Hour. Location: the Final Shape, Latverion-0.
"You know, we didn't alway see eye-to-eye with any of the Prismatic Fleet..." N.P. sitting in front of the statue of Queen Amaya. "But there's no arguing whether or not Amaya of olden Rosas were good. No doubt about it."
"I'm sorry for this loss of life." The Godhunter bowed. "Anyways, how do we... exactly handle the public mourning? It's personal, after all."
"We live our lives defined by the choices we make." Magnifico approached the scene. "And in the end, the high cost of living is death."
"We all deserve better." Responded the Godhunter.
"Once I noticed my original targets were still lingering, trying to ruin my vengenance, I buried the reels down and vaulted everything before any could left it. But maybe that wasn't enough and I should've just taken away it all." N.P admitted. "But you know us... I have to ask... Why are you tasking the main office with tracking down the sources of heretic phenomenons? More than that... WHY AREN'T THOSE ACCURSED ISLANDS DIE!?"
"No one has escaped anything, Pandora." Magnifico refuted. "But it is unwise to pursue them immediately at this time. I'm upset. And in such a state... I just might break reality itself."
"So you're telling us to find out. To know everything about them. To expose the unexpected."
"Undying love and eternal patience are not the same thing, my dear. Do not confuse them."
Magnifico gave N.P. a shakedown tablet (*7) for her to use. "I need you to find these. I need you to catch all subjects and find the truth. And I need you to do it without asking any more questions."
"Yes, sir."
"Then find them."
And so under the command, N.P. ran away with the tablet. Magnifico then noticed the statue, which moved a bit and gazed at him.
"Damnit, Amaya..."
Cue a bright flash engulfing the Exo.
Find the quietest place in all of existence - call it here, call it now - and if you close your eyes and listen carefully and clearly, you still won't even be able to hear a thing, even if you have the highest super-hearing possible... Not one thing, Magnifico. Like most things that preceive, our ears lie so much.
The enhanced Throne as seen on the murals, fused from that one used by the late Shatter and the Mobius Chair of the Queen of Hearts (*19) into a hodgepodge of supreme reality warping all of the Darkbolts benefitted from. And on what used to be the Chair... a blonde girl in a black bodysuit with an emerald green glow plus golden glowing armors throughout, making her look like a much sleeker palette-shifted Mu-12, only with Murakumo-suit under.
"But if you sit still - unmoving, at peace with your place in the multiverse - you can feel it. A slight rumbling in your stomach, if you have any. A disturbance in reality. One resonating in your guts." Her glitched-glowing blue eyes glared at Magnifico, and she speaks as echoes. "We have the appearance of peace... of divinity... of being whole... But I think it all might just fly apart if we're not careful. I'm hungry~ Did you bring-"
"I'm sorry. I didn't. Nothing to bring this week." Magnifico shook. "I had other things on my mind."
"I devoured everything, Magnifico. But I'm still hungry." Said the girl. "From the top of my super head right down to the very metal tips of my little toe. Countless sub-atomic particles swimming in the sea of Saya and each one craves nourishment."
The girl glared her eyes. "If I don't eat something soon... this stuff will go out of control."
"My beloved Amaya... is dead."
"Oh well, now... was it? It's cancer? Starfleet (*20)? Cancer! Even those so called 'OG' fuss? And it's always cancer. Cancer!"
"No. It was inner decay of a different sort. Her doubt stopped her, and she died for it."
"Interesting. Surprising. Unexpected, even. How is that possible?" The girl named "Saya" scoffed. "Because she knew. She was there. She saw it. But then, our eyes are like it ears. They lie too, don't they?"
"We were only there at the end, miss Saya." Magnifico responded. "And I was not even there at the start. In the beginning, it was just the wish and the Big Bang."
"No." Saya refuted. "It was just the Big Bang."
Cut to the flashback of the Big Bang and the rage of the Nothing (*7), with narrative from the two.
The Big Bang. In the beginning, there was literally Nothing. Just... nothing. Then in a pure burst of creation, the Zero Point came into being. Countless realities sprang to life, each started with a full timeline and a living space-time continuum. Not all were the same, but all definitely are from one common origin: Zero. (*7) Universes and each its associated dimensions, contained within multiverses in greater realities, all with varying rules and life and stuffs to be had, in all shapes and forms. The Nothing saw it all, and now seeks to annihilate everything that be. The only things we did was to use it the pickaxe, and then tear all Zeroes (*21) apart and with it, everything down and start over.
So we made contraptions to pull this off. You're the hands holding both that one pickaxe and us builds blueprints, reshaping all existence into perfection yet.
Yes. The hands. Hands. Inventory. Abstract. It was good. You really knew your stuffs... and you went through it with flying colors. You made the P-1 to detonate all of existence. And all of the Big Bang to rise the greatest reality ever. Infinite realities consolidated into 52. Just 52 Earths, now interconnected with more than just red threads.
Yes, and we still decided to make us... men. We retained choice. We live our lives defined by the choices we make. And in the end, the high cost of living is-
The Nothing! Yes! You wield the Nothing like a build pickaxe, using us as a way to swing it and end the olden resistance! Tell me, Magnifico. Do you ever wonder who exactly used which? Was it the Nothing chose us to help your collective vengeance, or was it you who mastered the Nothing?
The order is of little consequence. What mattered is us Darkbolts, and that we all knew what had to be done. We shotgunned the fourth wall, and picked the realities down, using one wish to start...
The flashback fast forwards to the last moments of the P-1 Special. (*4)
So we got tricky. Despite all the hardships and setbacks, we finally pulled it off. And that's when queen Amaya joined us - right at the very end of the old. Hell, the process even took pages from the past incurrences (*22). And finally... the Anti-Imagine, enslaving the Nothing itself. Equipped we went.
"Zero." The Big Bang.
"Us. Darkbolts." Magnifico declared in the flashback.
Continuing the narration, Saya states: A new Big Bang. Bludgeoned by us swinging the Nothing right at the very spiral of a start. And with that... we stole both of the pures... and stored it someplace safe. Where it could be used to preserve what had been lost.
"We got the previously-trashed Divine Throne and the salvaged Mobius chair (*19) as conduits already!" Said Magnifico.
"The scale of it... the scope... Who's gonna choose exactly what lives and dies?" N.P. was overwhelmed.
"We're doing this together."
The flashback ends, as Magnifico droops down in a bit of sorrow.
"But now, we've lost a goddess. Queen Amaya is dead. Gone. Goodbye. Farewell, even." Saya sighed. "Her remaining bits buried deep in the ground."
"Yes. I want you to know that it was me who put her there." Magnifico nodded.
"I know. So sad after you've lost your beloved wife yet again."
"Amaya may not have fully comprehended anything we've been through since that fateful trick, but she made her final decision." Magnifico added. "But in the process, she faltered at the end. She suddenly became too vulnerable. That revenant overstepped his welcome, and has gone too far even for a stranger."
Magnifico turned around and leaves. "And so our good friend and my beloved, the queen..."
"...had to go. I think you've started something, mister. An unraveling that just might take us all down." Saya added. "Makes me wonder which of us is next? If we kiss the divine Darkbolts goodbye, then say farewell to all this existence also, as you guys are the ones holding it together."
"And what if it's the CXA's influence instead?" Magnifico suspected.
"Well... won't that be ridiculous?" Saya shrugged.
Magnifico just left, moving upstairs back to the surface.
"Hmmm... Just how we like it." Saya yawned. "Next time being me something to eat."
Location: The Department of Science (The Future Foundation), Latverion-22. Amidst the fog, the New Pandora has something to say...
"The God has a job for us - and when I say the God, I do mean BFF, or best-friend-forever." N.P. commanded. "We're gonna play a game of hide-and-seek with a bunch of bad guys, including old nemeses of stupid Zero and likes, all whom present a threat to the kingdoms, the worlds, the realities, and possibly the existence itself. Darkbolts, especially Magnifico, want us to find these rebels."
The entire Justice Division, which now includes virtually all of the New Pandora's past henchmen as the Zerobreaker, including even the likes of the very son of the Singularity (*23) himself.
"So, as of now, all other projects, including all the ongoings of the Weapon Z facility, are suspended. No deep diving in the negative zones inside galaxies, no cataloging objects of power, no more SCP containment (*24), none of it." Then N.P. glared at her old god-scientist, now called Singularity Jr. "And my old science, that includes your little experiments within the realms of the OG."
"Seriously!?" Singularity Jr. is baffled.
"Life's tough, but existence's tougher." N.P. then spread her focus to continue her command. "Snapshots... fill everyone in on what we know about the crime scenes."
A snapshot of the Rift Warden, Stellan, approached to bow, and then...
"Well, as you guys know, we've developed some pretty specialized equipment for detecting and differentiating specific versions of specific energy signatures." The snapshot reported. "I mean, it's always been hard, because our collective reality natural gives of so much background radiation, even from within local areas of a single world of ours. You know, pantheonic particles... the stuff off supercharged heavens. Which, as you also know, radiates from the points of its highest concentration: the kingdoms. Especially the highest concentration of them all, in... the Final Shape."
"Now... this is the basic energy found at the heart of literally everything that be on all realities. We're all made of this stuff - which is why until we built our latest and greatest of equipments, we couldn't tell any of it apart." Singularity Jr. added. "Obviously, now we can. And since we've been recording readings, we've all noticed there are energy spikes popping up when one of their agents-"
"Oh, c'mon!" The villainous snapshots except Stellan's complained. "Who cares about what Hunters!?" (*25)
"-any time one of their agents are deployed, these are pretty easy to pick out. As are major incidents of pantheonic craps." Stellan added. "Like when the gods themselves act, the readings are way off the cart - like a small start lighting up not only the whole world, but the entirety of the eternal void from beyond."
"Excuse me? I'm not sure I recognize the significance of this information, guys." Dimentio shrugged. "All of what you're saying are so expected in tone and science, it's so boring! Such datas would be more amusing if the tone gets funnier!"
"What's interesting, Doctor Dimentio, is that we've been documenting all this for the last century, and in all the existence there's been only a few... few sides whose power... we're completely independent of the Darkbolts." N.P. revealed. "Most of it were from those dream teams who we never thought would survive what tales told us all. Their power spiked on the negative side... It always read as no Darkbolts. Redvengers-level of no-Darkbolts, even."
"Oh... So it's really dark matter?" Barbatos the Bat-God, now a member of the Justice Division, asked. "And then... it spiked for a few days, around the time the rebels started emerging. We believe that a girl known as Pechy Comet and a woman known as Amaya Shadow are among the ones who scattered whoever those subjects are. Which implies what?"
"I foresee something... worse than most of us mortals would've imagined." Singularity Jr. suggested.
"So do I, my old science. So here's what we're going to do..." N.P. opened up the plan. "We're going to take this all the way to the end of the line. No matter where it goes... and when it comes."
Flash sideways, the Cult of Hope are celebrating their jobs with a booze party, the Great Leader of Shocker are sending their super-soldiers to combat the paparazzi on Latverion-11, a World War happens in the cartoonist Latverion-26 involving mutated xenomorphs slaughtering god-like soldiers from the kingdoms, the expanded Green Lantern Corps. struggling to fend off bribes across all 52 worlds, and there's insurgence within south of the Shield, causing the fog from 22 to seep into the worlds like 12, 33 and 51 as well.
"I'll handle any noise from the throne, but for now what we learn stays with us... Understand?"
Few hours later...
Location: the Shield
"I want to know what really happened." Said N.P.
"How dare you... How DARE YOU!" The Paradigm, one of the Seven. (She looks like Brie Larson in a futuristic armor)
"I want to know who these people are." N.P. cut to the chase. "I want to know where they all disappeared to. I want to know what they're capable of... bitch."
"You still do vengeful destruction out of spite, even after we've-"
"Nuh, uh, and more than anything else... We have to find out what they want. And why it scare gods so badly."
Note: My pace is now more relaxed, because I don't want to be stressed with all the real-life obligations and potential future writer block. Well, that's 2015!Secret Wars issue #4 and #5's worth of omniversal plot done. After finishing hearing the Lord Access, the gang went to Latverion-0, and kinda crossed paths with both the Batman Who Laughs and Kado Thorne themselves, both villains being pitted against the Cult of Hope right before the very eyes of the former nemesis, Amaya Shadow. Even Deadpool woke up and Makoto Yuuki finally returned - this Makoto from Persona 3 (2006, 2024) actually left the Extracurricular Empire because he remembered the true existence of his own and his friends', leading to him being cast out to the Shield and Kotone Shiomi replacing him as Arche-Messiah, one of the baronesses from Latverion-22. In the meantime, chaos started getting in between the entire Battleworld 52, and... yes, finally, WesleyTRV: Warzone series (the WarzoneVerse, and by extension, the WesleyVerse) has the Heart of Resurgence. Redvengers had to get the Heart to save Verdansk before the Darkbolts destroy the Heart to ashes - now the Heart is back to discussion.
The end result of the skirmish of Latverion-0 is a horrific sight to the inhabitants: Queen Amaya gained actual doubt, and thus started realized she's been brainwashed and changed by her evil husband, Magnifico, and she fully remembers the events of Wish (2023) for real. Cue Kado Thorne piercing her heart - it's one of the easiest possible ways to defeat her too because she's become a Rift Goddess. Kado and Laughs are easily annihilated, showing just how puny a super-god and time traveler are to the gods, the Darkbolts themselves. Magnifico still loved Queen Amaya, albeit in a now twisted way because he got the dark magic - a funeral was held and broadcasted, and finally...
Finally... Finally! The Second Knife's backstory! I finally got to show the backstory of the Second Knife! I promised I would get to tell you how exactly the Young Wolf and friends became evil and rose up as the Second Knife, and finally I delivered. Worth both the plot and the wait. The main point of divergence is between Excision (final mission for the base The Final Shape) and "Frontiers" (after Episode: Heresy), meaning it's somewhere within the interludes between Episodes: Echoes, Revenant and Heresy. Before that divergence, the timeline is virtually and very much practically identical to the game canon - it's a literal What-If, not an extra universe like Destiny: Rising (2024) or the rescue of Saint-14 (see Episode: Echoes).
In actuality, the Sankishin seen in the mural from chapter #12 represents one person only: Saya from BlazBlue (2008-), now possessing all three Original Units while sitting in a makeshift throne combined from the designs of Shatter's empire and the Order of Pariah (see Successor of Anti-Life and Sonic Prime Overclocked). Saya is the Molecule Man stand-in, down to even hunger and the Big Bang exposition. And we even got more elaborate on the cosmology to boot, with the involvement of the Nothing as well. Seems that the Darkbolts have Taken the Nothing and picked down the P-1 Special to reshape everything. Saya's hungry too.
After talking to Magnifico after the funeral, New Pandora herself commanded the Department of Science, specifically the Justice Division which now includes her old henchmen and servants. Yes, the Arch-Singularity is back! And now, New Pandora is charged with finding the survivors of the so-called Last Dream Wish, which includes Pechy Comet and Amaya Shadow. It seems Queen Amaya's last doubt before the Battleworld 52 has slightly tampered with the Big Bang in her process of becoming the Rift Goddess, which would scatter the unconverted survivors across. Was Magnifico going to give said survivors a chance to surrender!? And just how did Magnifico rise up to lead the Darkbolts to true omniversal terrorism!?
Next up: Reality-783! 2015!Secret Wars #6 (coincidence or not?)! And more! Be sure to promote the entire crossover project as well! Confused? Here's how you can do it: share the project and the fanfiction to social media, TV Tropes pages, appropriate forums and conversations, and get everyone to know and help! (No drama please!)
Until next time...
Cross-trivia:
(*1) - See prologue #2 and the chapter #3.
(*2) - Another Century's Episode: R (2010).
(*3) - WesleyTRV Warzone: Dawn of the Hearts.
(*4) - See all three: Persona 3 (2006, 2004), Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (ペルソナ4 ジ・アルティマックス ウルトラス―プレックスホールド, 2013) and then chapter #11.
(*5) - Originally an autocorrect typo, this wording is now repurposed by myself into a parasitic extension of Darkseid's will into the Absolute Universe of Absolute DC. Again, not only Dreamcatcher: Warzone takes place after DC All-In (2024), but also that now, Darkseid are reshaped as well (in this case, he's now a baron of Latverion-51, ruling over the designated remnants of what's canonically the Absolute DC, just like in canon).
(*6) - That live event ending Fortnite Battle Royale (2017) Chapter 4. Also, Zero Point explosion.
(*7) - Fortnite!
(*8) - Vigil, by Kostmeyer. Her ability is teleportation across space-time and dimensions. (And yes, DeviantArt Secret Wars (invited by Kostmeyer) is canon to "The tales between worlds"!)
(*9) - Thor Odinson is the All-Father from chapter #12. He's in the Omega-based armor of Fortnite, themed after his appearance in Fortnite and tie-ins.
(*10) - See Chapter 2 (2019-2021) and Chapter 3 (2021-2022). (*7)
(*11) - Zerobreaker hate Loopers because they didn't befriend her properly. This contributed to her vengeance as seen in Beyond the Edge, explaining why she would also tamper with the Big Bang or steal the Zero Point for herself.
(*12) - At the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal (2020), Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira) of Earth-0 pushed Laughs down the sun, burning him to death. This mention is also a jab at the "go woke go broke" cases from across media in mid-2020s.
(*13) - See Destiny 2 (2017): The Final Shape (2024).
(*14) - Savathun, the Witch Queen, finally got the Light when the Traveler finally came to uplift the Hive (originally the Krill) leading to Destiny 2 (2017): The Witch Queen (2022) expansion. Hence the Lucent Brood and their Hive Ghosts, much to the Vanguards' frustration upon the revelation. Also, the Guardians getting the memories because Savathun forgot her old life the first time she was resurrected by Immaru, her Ghost.
(*15) - In the time loop Exo Stranger came from, her sister Ana, and all the other surviving Guardians (including the Young Wolf themselves) became evil after earning Stasis. The timeline following Destiny 2 (2017): Beyond Light (2020) shows how to safely wield Stasis, which would turn out to be one step closer to defeating the Witness and averting the Final Shape.
(*16) - See "Unveiling: Gardener and Winnower".
(*17) - References to Destiny (2014): The Taken King (2015).
(*18) - References to the Fortnite and Destiny crossover collab.
(*19) - The Mobius Chair (DC Comics) was modded by the Order of the Pariah as part of the Anti-Imagine incident, specifically the Project Mobius, in Successor of Anti-Life. Shatter the Hedgehog took the fractured mix of the Divine Throne System (神座システム) and later assumed both Ultima (Final Fantasy XVI, 2023)'s form and the energy of the Zero Point (*7) for himself, empowered the system even further as a result. The darkbolts ended up scavenging both systems and merged them into a new throne directly tethered into the Final Shape itself, giving the inner circle extraversal-level (as in tier 1-A of power scaling) power.
(*20) - References to My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic, by Dakari-King Mykan, a hater of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010-2019). Formerly known as My Little Unicorn: Magic is Believing, this seeing features the Starfleet, a team of Winged Unicorns, led by main character Lightning Dawn, must save the land of Unicornicopia from various monsters, while learning about the power of believing (what they are supposed to believe in is stated just once: themselves) from the king of Unicornicopia, The Grand Ruler (a three-horned Alicorn).
This fic got its premise tampered with by others due to its hypocritical writing and natures, which the deconstruction fics picking up on things such as the (in)competence of the Starfleet, the Unicornicopians and their morality, the racism towards Equestrians and so much more.
(*21) - It's the Hypertime (a.k.a. Gallifreyan Mean Time), containing all timestreams, full of timelines, and explaining why there would be more than one versions of the Zero Point all at once when there can only be one Zero Point (see SoAL and the basic cosmology).
(*22) - All the previous installments of "The tales between worlds", and so much more.
(*23) - See Bayonetta 3 (2022) and Beyond the Edge.
(*24) - SCP Foundation.
(*25) - They meant Chapter 6 Season 1: Hunters (2024), released in December 1st, 2024.