In the end, this was an outcome he had expected. Max had seen it. Since the moment he entered the vault and was told to stay away from the battlefield, he had seen a Path that stood before him.
Everyone had told him that he needed to stay alive. That he couldn't fall into the hands of the Emperor. No one knew what he had done to Sini, but it was known that he absorbed him in some fashion, sealing the Lord away. No one knew what his plan really was, but it was understood that in order to achieve his goals, he needed the power of the Lords.
The plan had been to keep him away from the Emperor for as long as possible, and if that couldn't be done, to kill him and stop the Emperor from absorbing his power. If the power were to flow into Lois or into a pod, then the villains would be forced to wait for the power to mature and grow before they could absorb it again.
And yet, Max knew that all the effort the people were putting into keeping him alive was pointless because the ability to read the Paths told him everything he needed to know.
Sections would be blank and gone because fate bent and was destroyed in the presence of the Emperor, but at a certain point after that, the Path would change. It would come back, and all he would see was darkness. He couldn't see past his story because, from that point on, it was over for him.
If fate and destiny were like words on a page and history was the book, then he was a character in the novel who no longer existed. Going forward in that blank Path meant he wasn't part of the story anymore.
His tale was about to come to an end.
And he was going to walk into it of his own free will.
If his story was about to end, he'd make sure it ended on his own terms.
That was why he now stood before the Emperor, and he stared at the armored man who was about to stomp out the life of the woman he loved. Jill was still on the ground, her body twitching and shaking. A sea of red filled the ground beneath her, and the top of her head was cracked open like an egg. Bits of bone, blood, and brain matter were twitching through the cracks.
She shouldn't have been alive. Even most Supers wouldn't be able to survive having their head cracked open and their brain crushed up, and yet Ruby Admiral had never been a normal Super. Since the very beginning, she wasn't even a Super. A grown creation. An experiment. A mistake when God gazed away from this planet. That was what Ruby Admiral was.
Even now, her brain was starting to somehow twitch and go back into her skull. The cracks that had been carved into her were glowing, faint bits of starlight seemingly pouring off of them as she repaired her head.
This wasn't a healing factor.
This was something else.
It was more like fixing a destroyed window. That day, it was less than a fraction, but the universe grew a little bit smaller.
Ruby spat up blood and vomit as she tried to speak. She then gasped and groaned as the Emperor's boot was planted on her skull, and he began to push down with his foot.
"Stop it!" Max screamed.
"Do you think you can make demands of me?" The Emperor's voice came out cold and icy and caused Max to flinch. "Who are you to order me?"
The fiery blue eyes blazed from beneath the helm, and Max felt the desire to flee, as all Supers did when they stood before this dark-clad warrior, but he managed to steel his nerves and forced a smirk. "I think I can order you." Max lifted his hand and pointed a finger at the Emperor. Lightning surged out and began to form into a small orb at the tip of his finger. A bullet that he could fire off at any moment.
"Do you think such an attack can harm me?"
"It isn't for you." Max pulled his arm back and bent it. Then he placed his finger to the center of his head. "I'll fry my brain." He declared.
"You'll kill yourself?"
"I will." Max nodded. "I don't care how strong you are or how fast you are. I can destroy my brain and die faster than you can act. You won't be able to get my power then and will have to wait to regain it."
The Emperor's boot remained on Ruby's head, and his hand gripped the handle of his sword. He kept his gaze locked onto Max. Then he spoke. "Do it."
"What?"
"Kill yourself." The Emperor began to press his boot down into Ruby's head, and there was a crunch as her repaired skull began to crack open once more. She let out a loud cry as he started to destroy her head.
"What are you doing!" Max screamed out in horror and rage. His lightning began to hiss and bubble, and his arm shook. "I'll really do it!"
"What a fool you are." The Emperor said in a loud booming voice that caused the ground to rumble and the clouds above to split open. "Did you really think such a threat meant anything to me? Think for one moment, no matter how hard that act might be for your minuscule brain to do. Why do you think you were able to stay hidden for so long? Why do you think we didn't come for you until now? Your power matured a while ago, and yet we waited to come and claim the power that is rightfully mine. It had nothing to do with you. Instead, the timing itself happened to match up perfectly. Listen well. Today the Beast will come."
At the Emperor's words, Max's face paled. "T-The Beast?" The Beast hadn't been on Earth in years. Not since Full Monarch took the battle to it any time it woke up. The last time it had been awake was four years ago, and Full Monarch had stopped it and then flown back toward the planet just in time for the start of the Emperor's invasion, which is what led to him being teleported away in the first place.
"The art of absorption is not so simple." The Emperor growled. "It is, in a way, considered a Calamity. The energy the Beast gives off erodes causality, and thus, when it is up, the impossible becomes possible, for there is no meaning in the end effect from the start of a sequenced event. The last time I had absorbed the Lord of the Sea and Depths, I did so only after the Beast was defeated, while its wave of causality was still traveling through the universe. The start of this wave is also what allowed me to gather the atoms of Lucifer, Full Monarch, scattered to the winds, putting him back together. Such an event should have been impossible, yet it was not during such an event. The same goes for the absorption and holding of a Lord's power. Even sending Full Monarch away should have been impossible, yet I did so only because of the Beast's energy."
Max's arm shook, and he gritted his teeth. "So that's why? It took you four years to start your plan because you were waiting for the Beast to awaken?"
"Indeed." The Emperor pointed his sword directly at Max. "When I first came to you after my battle with Full Monarch, I left. Not because Lucifer sent me away; beating a fool like that is child's play. Instead, I was forced to leave because I missed my window. Full Monarch was able to hold out long enough for the last of the wave's energy to vanish. So I waited and waited, and at last the universe is filling up with the Beast's energy. Universal Mimicry. The power to cause something to happen. That is the strength he has. That is what the last of its kind holds. Ironically enough, the Beast's power will also be what brings about its own end."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you see!" The Emperor's voice rose. "With his energy, I'll be able to absorb you, and then I'll absorb the Lord of the Land and Life and will use my blade to bring Full Monarch back! Not even he can stand before the might of three Lords within me! I'll take his power as well, and then with it all I'll truly defeat the Beast and create a world—no! A universe in which Supers thrive! His energy will be mine, and I'll set forth an event of motions that leads to the newly born Super-race to stand at the pinnacle. Not even the Lordians nor the Almighty will be able to stop me then!"
Max's arm shook as he stared at the armored man. That was the Emperor's plan? To absorb the Beast? Was he insane? Even if such a thing could be done, the Emperor's very monsters were proof that holding multiple Egos wasn't a good idea. He was holding together well now, but would such a thing last if he absorbed a second or third Lord's power? What about the power of all four? The Egos that Lords had were vastly different from normal Super Egos. Surely such a thing would drive a person insane.
Even then, the idea of absorbing the Beast was something that simply shouldn't have been thought of. If a person were able to hold all four Lord Egos, then they'd surely be driven to the breaking point from the Beast's Ego.
Who knew if it would even be possible to create a world like that with all that power? Even the death of the Shadow and all four Lords failed to create a world entirely of Supers, and yet the Emperor thought he could do that with four Lords and the Beast? Such a plan was already proof of insanity due to its impossible nature.
More than anything, though, Max became convinced this idea was terrible and should not happen, for the amount of fear that appeared in him when he heard the plan had been enough to make him wet himself.
His power to see the Paths had gone wild and untamed. He saw that, should such a thing happen, without a doubt, this world would be put onto a bad ending.
The Emperor's plan would bring about total destruction.
Of course, convincing this insane fool of that plan was not going to be possible. Max knew that.
"Y- You're insane!"
"I am the one who will stand at the pinnacle." The Emperor declared. "Heaven and Earth and even Hell itself, none can contain me, nor can Fate hope to stand in my way. I built Storymaker using the Beast's Calamity creation wave. I even used the wave most recently to create a soul."
"A- A soul?"
"That's right." The Emperor's armor creaked as he lifted the sword and pointed it to the sky. "The one known as Sky Nier. The one who died long ago. Though her body lives on, her soul has long passed. That was until today. With the energy of the Beast's wave effect, which had started at the crack of first dawn, before the heroes even attempted to fly to the moon, I used my own strength, and I made the impossible possible. I created a perfect copy of the soul that was lost. The child Nier loved, implanted into a new body he grew. She was born today. Born on the day that I am to become the Beast!" The Emperor outstretched his arms as if to bring all eyes upon himself. "Don't you think this is a fitting way to start such a being's life? She will be born into a perfect universe!"
Max nearly vomited as more visions of this "perfect" universe invaded his mind.
Space itself was on fire; a wall at the edge of the universe was melting and burning down; stars were exploding; planets were screaming and crumbling; and something was waking up. Something with more eyes than stars and bigger than the universe. Something beyond time and space and all logic and reason.
A Calamity for the entire universe.
The first Calamity.
The Shadow.
"You can't!"
"I will!" The Emperor roared.
"You'll destroy everything!"
"I am the hero of the cosmos!"
"You're insane!"
"I am salvation!"
"I'm telling you, this won't work the way you are thinking!" Max screamed out. "The Paths are telling me that this outcome won't end well!"
"I am unbound by destiny and fate!" The Emperor stated. "Such fictional concepts do not dictate the will that I exert!"
"Why risk it, though! What if you're wrong? Are you willing to let this entire planet suffer on a chance?"
"If such a world cannot handle the fruits of my labor, then let it all burn away!" The Emperor's body ignited in flames, and he waved his hand out, setting everything around him in a fiery blaze. "I either create my perfect world, or I am done with this false one that causes only suffering and despair! No matter what, I win!"
There really was no reasoning with such a madman. He was already convinced that his method was the correct one. That he would bring about the world he wanted, and even if he didn't, destroying everyone and everything was just as good in the eyes of the Emperor.
Max felt blood pour down his chin from how hard he gritted his teeth. "You still need me!" He roared, and his lightning flared up again. "I told you! I'll kill myself!"
"How pathetic." The flames on the Emperor went out, and Max could practically hear the sneer in the voice. "You are such a fool. If you die, all you do is halt my plans for a few years. The Beast will come to this world, and while it causes havoc and destroys a city, I'll find the next Lord of the Sky and Weather and take them. It'll take a while for their power to come back, but eventually it will, and then all I have to do is wait for the Beast to wake up again. Maybe it'll take ten years. Maybe twenty. Maybe even one or two hundred. Rest assured, I'll win in the end. Today is special. It is the newly born Sky's birthday. I'll find another present for her, however, if you do kill yourself. She won't mind."
Max realized the insane monster before him was right. If Lois got the powers, it would likely take her five or so years before they fully awakened inside of her. Maybe ten at most. The Emperor wouldn't die of old age. He could get around such things surely, thanks to the Lord of the Land and Life's powers. He'd stalk this world until he got the Lord he needed, then it would simply be a matter of waiting for the Beast's return.
"W- What about Full Monarch?" Max questioned. "If I die, you might run out of time, you know?"
"No. It will not take me more than two hundred years at the most to get the outcome I want." The Emperor stated in a blunt tone. "I sent Full Monarch away, over sixty sextillion miles across the universe, using the power of Storymaker and the energy of the Beast, which allowed me to connect with the will of his Lord's power. It will take him at most five thousand years to get back here. Three thousand if he keeps his current speed up. One thousand if he performs a miracle. No matter what, the game will be over by the time he arrives. So go ahead. Blow your brains out. See how little effort it has on the grand scheme of my story."
Max nearly deflated. He had lost. Of course, he saw his loss from the very beginning, but it still somehow stung. It just wasn't fair. Even after all of this, even after all the effort he made to grow, in the end, his death meant nothing.
The Emperor truly was going to win.
A miracle would have to happen for that to be stopped.
"I get it." Max sighed. "In the end, all I am is someone who just stalled you for a bit of time."
"Oh? You're going to do it." The Emperor questioned.
Max's eyes narrowed, and his energy built up. "I am. It won't be much, but I hope you know that the extra time you'll have to wait is all your fault! Remember, I gave you the chance to get your happy ending earlier, and you threw it away because of your pride!" His energy flared, and he got ready to kill himself. "I'll see you in hell!"
The lightning fired, and then—
"Bring him here." Then Max felt a hand wrap around his throat. His eyes shot open in shock. He wasn't dead. He was in front of the Emperor!? The Emperor's hand crushed Max's throat, stopping him from speaking, and he casually lifted the man up. "I really could have waited." The Emperor spoke casually now. "Your death truly would have meant nothing, other than wasting a bit of my time, but I also have the means to prevent you from killing yourself."
Teleportation.
Max had been teleported faster than the energy could have fried his brain. The Emperor had just stopped him from killing himself.
From the very beginning, there had never even been a choice. Max never held a single card. He had been captured before the fight even started.
The Emperor won.
The Emperor choked Max and gazed at him boredly. He could have done this at any time and had simply been playing. He wanted Max to understand. He wanted all the heroes to understand. From the very start, they never had a chance. No one did. He was the strongest. He had overwhelming power. Enough power to force the world to bend to his will and bring about the outcome he wanted.
He hated all these people for being so weak yet still holding hope.
Every time he saw them struggle so much, it reminded him of himself. Not the current him, but the version of him that existed in the dark. The one beneath the ground in a dirty little room. So cold and alone and in pain.
Everyone had Full Monarch. They all got to be saved by that God. Why didn't he, though? Why was he left alone? Why did he suffer? What did he do that caused him to be placed into such a hell?
Why was he born?
That last question was easy to answer. He was born for this moment. Born to inherit all the powers of the Lords and the Beasts and create a perfect universe. He was born to be the villain. From the very moment his soul formed, he was nothing but a wretched little goblin who had spawned from the mistake that a butterfly made. He wasn't a caterpillar that could evolve. There was no cocoon for him as a way to get better.
This was all he was.
He was just a villain.
He was also a hero, though.
The hero of the cosmos.
The child born to save the universe.
Max gasped and groaned. As did Ruby. The Emperor kept his boot planted on her head and his hand around Max's throat. His other hand was clutching his white sword. His eyes were lazy and dull, and the fire had finally gone out.
"It seems we've reached the end." The Emperor mused. "You were… entertaining. You filled your role perfectly. Perhaps if it wasn't me that you faced against and it was the 'other one,' you would have even won. Alas, how unfair that it was I who stood before you now." The Emperor pulled the arm holding the sword back and aimed for Max's chest. "The Beast will soon head for planet Earth. Already, its waves are at their peak. Anything can happen now. The power of a miracle is strong indeed, able to make the impossible happen. I will absorb you, and then I will absorb the power of the Lord of the Land and Life. Then I will use my blade to bring Full Monarch, and he, too, will be absorbed by me. I will become the Lord of Lords, and not even the Beast will be able to stand before me. Do not worry, Max. There might perhaps be a place for you in the next world. When you open your eyes again, you'll gaze upon a grateful universe—"
'Bang!'
The sound of a gunshot filled the air. It was rapidly followed by five more.
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
"Drop him, and get off of her, then put your hands in the air!" A voice announced.
The Emperor blinked and then slowly turned. Ace Ward stood, the man reloading a smoking gun. He didn't have any power armor, he didn't have any Mental-based gun or tech on him besides a remote that was at his belt, and he didn't have any powers. He was just a mortal with a regular handgun.
Ace finished reloading his gun and pointed it at the Emperor. "I won't ask again."
"What are you doing?" For the first time ever, the Emperor's voice seemed confused and baffled.
"I'm the director of the Hero Branch." Ward declared.
"Okay?"
"Those two belong to my Branch," Ward explained. "I'm their boss, and that means I look after them. So move."
"What?"
'Bang!'
The bullet uselessly bounded off the Emperor's armor.
"I'm serious," Ward said.
The Emperor remained frozen in place, his mind trying to process what was happening. This wasn't even an ant challenging a giant. This was a single cell declaring war on God himself. There was no way it could win. Such an entity had to know from the start that it was doing something foolish, and yet here Ward was, with a gun that still had five bullets.
"What are you trying to do?" The Emperor asked. "How do you think this will end for you?"
"I have to do something. What sort of person would I be if I let others die in my place?" Was Ward's simple response.
"Are you really playing the hero now?" The Emperor asked. "You worked with me."
"Because my family was in danger." Ward sneered. "I'd have sooner killed myself than give you a single piece of information. Now that they're not in any current danger, I can finally act against you."
"You're going to die."
"So are you." Ward fired his gun again!
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
'Bang!'
Each bullet caused the Emperor's rage to double. Why was this foolish creature even standing before him? He felt rage at the thought that Ward, of all people, was making a stand. He had no powers. He was just a mere human. Yet even he was doing something.
So why?
Why didn't he make a stand?
Why did he leave that basement when he had a chance?
Why did he return to it?
Why couldn't he do what so many of these other people did?
The Emperor shook his head. "Die—"
"You first." Ward dropped his gun and pressed a button on his belt.
"Storymaker."
In an instant, everything exploded. Every bomb they had and every bit of Super tech, all went off. They had been planted through the base and, using various other techs, were rapidly shunted to the surface the same way Ward had used to get here.
It was doubtful the bombs would work or even harm the Emperor, but it was the final, desperate effort to kill Max off and make sure the Emperor had to wait. It would at least buy time.
That was all they could do.
Yet, they couldn't even do that.
Ward felt his feet touch down, and he gasped as he stared at a field of flowers in which he now stood. At first, he thought he might have been in heaven, but then he saw dozens of bodies lying around him, all covered in the same blue glow they had been in.
The Emperor also stood several meters in front of him, Ruby still dying on the ground, and Max being choked. He had teleported everyone away before the blast went off. Yet again, they couldn't decide how this story ended. The Emperor did that.
Blood flowed down as the Emperor stabbed his sword out and rammed it into Max's stomach. The man's eyes went wide, and he spat up a wave of red as the Emperor impaled him on the sword.
"No!" Ward screamed.
Ruby tried to surge up and fight back, but the Emperor lazily kicked her away, sending her flying over. He twisted the sword and slammed Max down. "Now Storymaker. Finish it."
There was a flash, and space cracked and twisted. A silver pod appeared, the very same that had belonged to Wano and was now owned by Max. It beeped and twisted as Max's form was shoved back into it, and it began to hiss and steam, lightning surging out wildly.
The Emperor ignored the bolts of energy, and instead he ignited in a blue glow. The Pod flew into the air and began to try to escape, but before it could, the Emperor's true form appeared. Standing so tall, he reached the clouds, and forged out of thick blue energy, a Giant reached its hand out and grasped the fleeing pods. The mouth of the Giant opened up, and it tilted its head back. Then it dropped the pod down, swallowing it.
The Emperor rapidly shrank back down and broke out of his energy construct. The energy had been what devoured the pod, and that energy now began to go back into his body, becoming part of him.
The energy began to meld with him, fusing together to his very form and settling inside of him. He felt a new weight press down on him from above, but the Emperor withstood it. It was the Lord's power surging wildly and trying to rip its way out of him as his energy pulled it deeper and deeper into his form. Soon it would stop, and it would truly be one with him.
Doing this event wouldn't have been possible unless the Beast was waking up. By using the Calamity Wave, events that are considered impossible can suddenly happen.
It was like the hand of God or even an author, writing out a new page for the story and changing the direction of an event. By using Imaginary Energy, he could harness the Beast's power and direct the events that should have happened. Thus, that which can't happen could happen.
The Emperor flexed, and he felt lightning surging through his body as the last of Max's power tried to fight back. Soon, the power would fully be his.
He won.
Max felt himself slowly sinking into a sea of darkness. He felt bits of him starting to break off, and he could feel his form starting to flicker. He was fading away. Ceasing to be. The thing he saw happen, the ending, was finally occurring.
He was about to die.
The Emperor was about to win. He was going to get his way.
At least, that's what the Emperor thought.
There was still one thing Max could do…
It wasn't much; he didn't even know if it would work, but he had an idea. Faint and breaking to bits, he tried for one last thing. He tried to make a miracle happen.
He could bend space and time to a small degree. Using that power, he once tried to bring Full Monarch back, but it was impossible. Even now with the Beast waves, such a thing was impossible, as he couldn't control them. He did have one last card to play.
He wasn't as useless as the Emperor thought.
He was about to make a miracle happen.
The Emperor flexed his arm and was about to teleport back to the moon and finish this little game, but suddenly his body jerked up. His nerves ignited, and he felt lightning surge through him. It barely tickled, but it caused a slip-up. The nerves in his mouth and his tongue. They flared up, and he spoke as Avalon glowed. The words that came out of his mouth made his eyes widen, but it was too late.
Max's last act.
His final effort.
He had caused the Emperor to use his teleportation in the wrong way.
A surge of blue filled the air, followed by a golden light, and the field of flowers began to shake. Ward's eyes widened, and then he laughed as Full Monarch looked around.
A miracle was here.