Ragnarök WarPart Four: Serene Salvation; And the Old Gods wept...
The chiseled, bloody face of the Mad God stood in firm resolve to see things through. It was to challenge destiny, but to fulfill it in it's entirety - Darkstar would meet his end at the tip of Morningstar's fists. Tightening his own hands as Maxwell confirmed his pledge, he looked over at his opponent. He seemed less calm, more panicked yet still deranged all the same - his ability to keep fighting was all those he had slain to get to where he was now. To fight the battle for his lost loved ones years ago, and most of all, to fight what he had become. Darkstar wasn't completely blinded by his thirst for revenge, he knew what he had done and the pain he caused throughout the Multiverse, yet he would remedy it and soothe that pain with Morningstar's death.
A punch filled with anti-energy slammed into Maxwell's jawline with tremendous force, exploding outward as it came into contact with energy and annihilated itself in a fiery death. Maxwell's head was thrown back and to the side from the hit, but he used that to his advantage, charging a small sphere of energy in his hands and launching at Darkstar's body as Maxwell's own body flew away through space. Darkstar shielded himself from that ensuing explosion, but it still charred his forearms. Mad Max smirked, knowing Darkstar seemed to be on his last legs of Anti-Energy. "You came with such force..." Maxwell noted, righting himself in space, floating on the same plane as Darkstar, "You killed a Super Celestial with the snap of your fingers, even. You destroyed a world with a simple
touch."
Darkstar breathed deeply, staring daggers at Maxwell as he spoke in such a vile, grandiose manner. "But I realized it was all for show. Nothing but a fireworks display, something to make others think twice, three times even, of challenging you and your might. How many universes fell to such a ploy, I wonder, as Nul and All-Black slew their way across Gods and Man alike while you sat idly by. Tell me, Darkstar, are your hands even
dirty?" Maxwell taunted, finally sending Darkstar over the edge.
"WELL, WHAT ABOUT YOUR HANDS YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS PRICK?!" Darkstar demanded suddenly, catching Maxwell by surprise. "You...you..." He began, "You came to my world. We both wanted the same thing, and we both could have made it. But you came. You came to MY world, to MY home, to MY love....You came and played
God. You wanted to decide who lived and who died, and you picked yourself." Darkstar was nearly in sobs at this point, Maxwell lowering his head to hide his emotions. "Why did your world get to live while mine died?! Why?!" He demanded, "Why did I have to lose her..."
"Because I didn't want to lose my love." Maxwell spat, "I didn't choose myself, I chose everyone else I knew. But...I can't explain...I was scared. I didn't know what was coming after the Incursion. I just...I just acted before you did." Maxwell finally admitted, "I was paranoid, I didn't know if you were coming to kill us, so I did the job first. I made sure you couldn't - because I know who I am...Who I was...And in that same situation, would you have done the same?" Maxwell asked, two tears rolling down his cheeks, genuine sympathy for Darkstar.
"Oh bull-fuckin'-shit." Darkstar spat, "I would have worked with my counterpart to achieve a lasting, better result. Maybe you wouldn't have lost...What was it, 80, 90 percent of your passengers on the Ark? Maybe if we collaborated, we could have saved them all. No, you're not taking the high road on this, what you did was unforgivable. What you took from me was irreplaceable. In exchange for forgiveness and replacement, I want your
life." Darkstar howled, launching himself forward for a series of brutal attacks, each one more devastating than the last as each strike landed with explosive force, designed to wear down Max's energy reserves.
Maxwell blocked and dodged, but these attacks would land even before Darkstar threw them, and where only interrupted when Max returned one of punches given, a small window of time forming and allowing Maxwell to lay into Darkstar. But, the third kick Max threw was caught by the Dead God, whose hand glowed a sickening purple color and clamped down on Max's leg. "Matter is just...a condensed version of energy, no? Einstein and all that..." Darkstar commented, fully gripping down and tearing through Max's shin like wet paper. In place of a scream, Max's eyes grew wide with shock, blood spilling from the open wound rapidly. Both hands of Darkstar glowed with that purple light, anti-energy flowing through them like a surgeon's scalpel. "One limb down, three more to go."
Max thought quickly and jammed his hands forward expelling entire solar systems' worth of energy at Darkstar - the mad man simply sticking his own hands out and absorbing - or more like, annihilating - the attack with his condensed anti-energy scalpels. Though, that was merely to buy Maxwell more time - a resurgent, yellow glow encasing the stub where his ankle used to be. First, it sealed the blood supply from leaking further, next, it worked to rebuild tissues, though that would take a longer time to fully complete. Suddenly, Darkstar seemingly teleported from in front of the blast to Maxwell's side. "Not so fast." He said, throwing a weak jab at Max, whose only option to retreat and dodge - a block would just slice into his being even more. "Scared, Maxwell?"
"For you." Maxwell said slyly, dodging one by stepping back but immediately putting his foot forward - his open palm facing Darkstar's chest and avoiding both of the Dead God's hands as a small sphere of energy developed, compact, with enough force to power a red dwarf star. It exploded between the two violently, creating the star and ending it's life in fractions of a second, Maxwell absorbing the energy and re-directing at Darkstar - whose anti-energy reserves were continuously assaulted. "You come to a universe filled with energy, your very weakness, and expect me to just stand idly by?"
Darkstar's body was badly damaged, burned to almost a crisp, and his anti-energy reserves were simply not enough to continue regenerating. He had resort to drastic measures to achieve victory, and smiled weakly as he thought of the perfect solution. All he needed was a lure...
Bingo. Darkstar raised his hand in front of Maxwell defiantly, or so it seemed, like he was still willing to fight. Maxwell lowered his shoulders, ready for whatever his evil counterpart could throw at him in this state. Instead of a ball of anti-energy appearing, the Mobius Chair materialized from an anti-energy portal, and floating off to the side in a nigh-inescapable bubble, was
Val. Maxwell's heart sank immediately, having thought she was taken to a more secure location out of Darkstar's reach, but that clearly wasn't the case.
"With you, Morningstar, I can't really expect anything." Darkstar said sourly, phasing onto the Mobius Chair, the machine connecting him with tons of wires and connections to provide life support. Behind the Chair, a rip in space-time formed, spewing an ungoldy amount of sickly purplish miasma into the surrounding space. "My home awaits, and your love will accompany me there..." Darkstar said weakly, the Mobius Chair trying to keep him conscious, but eventually moving through the portal on it's own.
"Don't you fucking touch her..." Maxwell said, a blazing hot fury brewing in his belly, a passion ignited to the utmost extreme as the Ragnarok War brought love into the equation, Darkstar purposely toying with a man's heartstrings to get under his skin and hurt him in anyway possible. Maxwell ran forward after the Mobius Chair, crossing into that sickly portal, immediately realizing where they were. An entire universe, empty and devoid, except for one small aspect - it housed Anti-Energy instead of normal energy. Darkstar sat some ways away, wheezing as pieces of himself slowly reformed and regenerated.
"In here, I am the sower of life and death." Darkstar declared, holding his hand up, a swirling mass of anti-energy coalescing and suddenly becoming bright - a star forming, with small discs spinning together to form planets, moons, and the like. "Here, you intrude upon my home. Here, you are the outsider, and my anti-energy will consume you whole. Your death here is imminent." Darkstar said, with each word, his strength coming back fuller and in greater quantities. "Here, catch." He said sarcastically, flinging the bubble that housed Val forward toward Maxwell, but sadistically popping it before it reached him, exposing Val to the hellish environment.
"NO!" Maxwell screamed, catching Val, putting her under his own energy shield that kept out the anti-energy for now. She looked frail, weak, and gray as the anti-energy worked to assault her very cellular level. Her eyes peeked open, smiling as Max cradled her in his arms. "Val...I'm sorry." He said, gasping at what she had become in so short of a time. Maxwell began to feed her his own energy, but the anti-energy was too deeply entrenched. She was dying an agonizing death, but kept a smile on for Max. "I..."
"There's...not much, Max." Val said, incredible weak and pain-filled, "When it's...Over....Live." She pleaded, "Live...For both of us." Her words echoed around Max's mind, numbing him completely. He screamed and screamed at her, telling her to hold on, flooding her system with his own energy, trying to keep her alive for just one more second, but before Max knew it, he was sending energy to a dead body, the life gone, the soul already in paradise. A calm, collective silence overtook the Mad God as he lowered her body gently, the sheer indescribable pain and anger he felt unbearable.
Life itself was unbearable - Existence a struggle. Maxwell didn't even look up at Darkstar, refusing to look her murderer in the face. "I can't keep that promise, Val." He said quietly, tears streaming like a flowing river from each eye socket. Darkstar began to rise form his chair, eager to continue the fight, but stopped as he looked at Max. His energy shield became unstable, moving in and out erratically like a bubble ready to burst. "The only place I want to be is by your side." Maxwell said, speaking only to himself, not caring if Darkstar heard or not. "My life...I haven't been the best man that I could. Maybe...Maybe I can make up for it. Just a bit. Please, wait for me. I'll only be a minute."
"Wha..." Darkstar began, confused as Maxwell spoke in an irrational and emotional tone. "You can't be serious...No, stop!" Darkstar yelled, gathering a cloud of anti-energy back and around himself. Maxwell began to radiate a bright color, turning from yellow to white in mere seconds. "If even just a few anti-joules remain, I'll survive, Maxwell, and you can't get all of them! It's hopeless, accept it!" Darkstar cried out over the ever deafening noise Maxwell was emitting from his being. "She's gone!"
"If even just a little remains..." Max began, "Then I'll make sure to get it all." Before Darkstar could speak, the floodgates opened, and into the Anti-Energy Universe poured another universes' worth of energy and matter, straight from Maxwell's body like an open faucet. It rippled across space and time in that ghastly universe, moving faster than any speed imaginable, and annihilating the Anti-Energy Universe and all of it's inhabitants in mere moments. The cycle was both ended and complete - Morningstar having fulfilled his destiny, and with his death, no universe may suffer under Darkstar. Gone even from the Multiverse, the Anti-Energy Universe, and Darkstar, were no more.