Emerald Crusade
At Crusades' End
At Crusades' End
The vicious toxins of the daemon prince poisoned the planet of Mobius without regard, Maelstrom's presence turning the earth barren, making it's air unbreathable, and evaporating it's oceans away completely. But now, just the sight of him lying firmly on his ass with a dislocated jaw was enough to inspire hope. The waves of energy Mad Max gave off began to fade, however, as the Mad God reigned in his excess waste in order to manage his stamina and strength easier. He didn't wait for Maelstrom to reply to his comment before, either, and simply grabbed the daemon by the neck and lifted him over Max's own body in a fluid, arcing motion, slamming him neck-first into the mud hard enough to create a crater.
At such close spaces, Mad Max excelled at hand to hand combat, but felt that skill alone would not give victory in the face of Maelstrom Claus. Still holding the giant's neck, a bright band of orange glowed under Max's palm, rapidly expanding and engulfing the rest of the daemon's head. Moments after the energy attack appeared, it exploded with incredible, earth-shaking ferocity and destructive power as the plasma reached critical mass and expelled it's energy outward. Before Max was a mile long, several meters wide trench carved from the attack, the body body of Maelstrom Claus lying at the very end of the trail of destruction. Slumped against a sturdy rock, the daemon's head was singed, scorched, and bloody from the attack, but he opened a single eye, and gave the most defiant smirk he could manage.
Maxwell walked through the still-smoking scene toward Maelstrom, his super state clearing the way of dust and other particles thrown into the air by the swift move. A soft click signaled the return of Maelstrom Claus' infamous mouth healing back into place, "That it, Maxie?" Maelstrom said, throwing himself onto his feet, "Was that you're ultimate, honest to God, best shot at beating me?" Maelstrom asked, "Because it sucked. Just like your wife." He further taunted, Maxwell stopping several meters from the Daemon. "Oh, whoops, hit a nerve? How about I just hit you?" Maelstrom hollered, rushing at Mad Max quickly and landing a serious blow to his abdomen, the Mad God barely budging, but beginning to fall forward from the force regardless.
Maelstrom held a look of glee at the action, but that face was wiped away as Max landed a solid blow to the side of his head. Not only that, but the Mad God followed up and slugged the daemon prince with his other hand, combined with the force from the first hit and this new one, Maelstrom felt every bone in his face yearn to shatter and splinter. His regeneration was too great, though, and he was able to just shrug off the blows and throw both of his hands out in front of him, a small sphere forming in front of his palms. The sphere grew exponentially and shot out at Maxwell, almost dwarfing him, and holding enough power to take half of the planet with it whenever it explodes. Mad Max dug his feet into the ground and leaned forward with his own hands out, the energy ball slapping into his palms readily. His feet dug into the ground further, but slowly, the ball diminished in size, until finally disappearing.
Max didn't have a moment to rest though, as Maelstrom's fist was waiting right behind the energy attack. The beastly fist struck with incredible weight and power, Maxwell trying to move his hand up to block a follow up, but found his arm being held down and to the side by one of Maelstrom's other hands. Max moved his other hand to strike Maelstrom, but the demon caught that one as well, and held both arms out and away from Max's body, leaving him defenseless. "Allow me to sing you the song of my people." Maelstrom declared, using one of his hands to hit Max's face, doing the same with the other hand, back and forth in close, highly powerful swings.
"A Beast am I!" Maelstrom sang with course, screeching vocals, "So vicious and grim, they fear my mean, grinning teeth!" Against the backdrop of Maelstrom's lovely ballad, the wet smacks of his fists raining upon Max could be heard like thunderous cracks as the Mad God struggled to break free from his constraints, "I bide my time...My sweet revenge!" Maelstrom continued, "Soon my ties will fall...And I will finally be free!" Before he could finish the last syllable, Max screamed in primal rage and twisted his wrists, breaking from Maelstrom's claws and grabbing them instead.
Jumping upward and bringing his legs high up, Max shot his lower limbs forward against the chest of Maelstrom in a dull thud, pulling back the daemon's arms as he did so, and effectively tearing Maelstrom's lower arms out of their sockets...and after a brutal, agonizing second, tore them completely from his body in a spray of acidic blood and putrid, hellish fire erupting from the daemon princes' mouth in response. Max tossed the arms to the side and let Maelstrom have no quarter to rest, launching himself forward head-first into the daemon, connecting his forehead to Maelstrom's nose in spite of the endless stream of hell fire.
Broken, bruised, and bloody, the face of Maxwell Morningstar was not the sight to behold, but his intent was clear: He intended to win this fight one way or another, and to that end, waved his hand drastically, opening a fissure in space-time with the sheer weight of his power behind Maelstrom Claus as he flew back, disoriented, from the previous hit to the nose. The daemon disappeared from view, leaving the fissure, but Max feeling the effects of the Chaos Emeralds begin to wear away, his increased power dropping back to normal levels, and his body returning to normal. He gave a content sigh, knowing the fight was over, but his work was to begin.
"LIKE HELL!" The booming voice of Maelstrom called out, a sickening clawed hand grabbing ahold of the portal's edge, "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Morningstar! Mad God! The only thing you're mad about is cocks!" Maelstrom further declared, pulling forward with heavy strain to bring his head into view, "Since I can't have the Emeralds, I will simply have this world and everyone in it! Those furry-looking things better learn to clean daemon shit, because my ass is a delicate rosebud!"
"God damn it..." Max muttered, tightening his fists and getting ready to face Maelstrom head on without the aid of the Chaos Emeralds, but a sudden flash of red light zapping one of Maelstrom's fingers, causing it to disappear back into the fissure in space time. He whipped around quickly to see who came to support him at a time like this, and found not one, but two allies to aid him, both as torn apart as Max was, but ready to stand together even in the end. Mir and Ralph, the former unleashing a steady stream of optical blasts to ruin Maelstrom's hold, and the rat steadying a rock between his thumb and middle finger. Maelstrom saw this as well, his eyes widening.
"Wait, no, let's be civil about this!" Maelstrom pleaded.
"There's nothing civil about you, Maelstrom. Now, get the fuck out of my dimension." Max answered, Ralph flicking the small pebble at incredible speed like before, Maelstrom not having even a nanosecond to react as it slammed into his face, which disappeared behind the swirling vortex, taking the brutal aftermath and carnage with it. Mir unleashed his most powerful blast yet, and began to seal the fissure in space-time with his own eye energy, collapsing to his knees in order to do so. As the portal closed, so too did the fight for Mobius and the Chaos Emeralds, but what else was left but ruin? A calm silence took hold of the trio, with Max walking over to join his companions.
"Ralph," Max began, lowering his face down to look at his feet, "You may have stopped Perfect Chaos and I might have stopped Maelstrom, but Mobius is left in devastation." He said, looking at the still burnt-orange sky and raging fires occurring globally, the lush vegetation being consumed by the mystic fires of the daemon prince still, even after his departure from this planet and plane of existence. "I'm sorry." He said solemnly, unable to assess how Ralph felt about the battle's outcome.
"But one thing I need you to know, though, is that I came to Mobius for the Chaos Emeralds, too." He admitted, "But I never intended for this to happen, never to meet Maelstrom Claus or destroy a biosphere. I came for them, but I intended to ask to use them. You see, my own world is in disarray, a state of perpetual confusion and disorder caused by a Multiverse reborn, but reborn wrong. I heard of the Emeralds and their powers to re-write reality, and I intended to use them to correct my own world, but now, it seems like two worlds need to be set right."
"This place is not safe anymore if Maelstrom knows where it is, so I have a solution to our woes. Using the Chaos Emeralds, let's both make a new world for the Mobians in my universe, put all of the Mobians from here onto this New Mobius, and then fix what is broken in my universe. It may be hard to trust me after hearing that I came for the Emeralds, too, but my cause is noble, and I can't do this alone." Max further said, his hair blowing graciously in the wind, opening up his clenched hand and presenting it to Ralph, "So let's do it together, then."
