(Dammit. I screwed up again. This world, like every other I've failed. But I'm still holding onto a shred of control. I protected Bunnygirl, but she left. I need to master this. But how?)
(How did I stop before? What did Viir yell at me?)
(Think.)
(One word.)
(One name.)
(…Willow.)
****
Flashback: The Dragon Knights
"Dragonspire!" Willow twirled with his arms wide, eyes lit with excitement.
"We finally made it," Sylvia said, smiling.
(Wow this tower is colossal, taller than any structure I'd seen since arriving in this world. It even pierced the clouds.)
(Wait a second-)
"Wasn't this first on your list? Why'd it take us three hundred years to come here?" Rhenvar said crossing his arms.
(Not that I cared about the order, it was just odd.)
"Well, between the wars, random dungeons, you wanting to pet every animal- oh, and also your monthly drunken benders, I'm surprised we got here at all," Sylvia quipped.
"Pfft. Had to throw me under the bus, huh?"
"Hey, we partook in drinking too!" Willow said, hands on his hips. Head titled.
"You mean YOU did. I rarely saw the need." Sylvia raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? Who drank so much they challenged the dwarven king to a fistfight?"
"A minor event," Sylvia's crossed her arms clenching her teeth. "One I'd rather forget."
"Then it's forgotten," Rhenvar said flatly.
(If they start bickering again, we'd be here all week.)
"Hey! She holds everything against us. You can't just let go of our only trump card!" Willow grumbled, nudging him,
Rhenvar shrugged. "I like it when she brings up our flaws. Makes the memories last."
Willow tilted his head, smiling. "Yeah! Heh. Hear that, Sylvia? Our mistakes are our bond!"
"Enough. Let's move," she muttered coldly.
(Fucking Finally…)
****
Dragonspire Tower.
"No stairs…" Willow noted, looking up.
(He was right. The interior stretched up forever, an endless vertical shaft.)
"More adventurers. Seek our tomb. Attempt to rob our grave. Fools." A voice echoed ominously.
The floor began to descend, slowly.
"So, this is it," Sylvia muttered. "They're leading us right to the treasure. Idiots."
"I've got a bad feeling," Willow said, uneasy.
(Me too. The air reeked of death and lost souls.)
(Feed.)
The platform stopped. Around them: nine tombs.
"You have come for the Dragon Knight's grand treasure. You will share the fate of those before you. Thousands have tried. All have failed."
Willow groaned. "Wait, there's no dragon? I wanted to see a dragon."
"Willow, focus," Sylvia said, summoning ice daggers. "This magic… it's different."
(She was right. This was soul magic.)
Sylvia's eyes flicked to Rhenvar.
(I never thought I'd meet others like me, a shame they are dead.)
"Rhen."
(Just like the Skeleton King, am I alone? Can no other living being use soul-)
"Rhen, focus!" Sylvia shouted. "Goddess, what's wrong with you?"
"Two souls stand. Two souls we will claim," the voice declared.
Sylvia's eyes widened as she stared at Rhenvar. Her eyes watery.
"Enough! Face us!" Rhenvar shouted.
Nine armored knights floated from the tombs. Headless. In its place smoke, glowing teal.
"Red one," they all pointed at Rhenvar, "you do not belong here."
"Pfft, as if. Let's go!"
They struck. Fire, frost, fists.
Nothing landed.
(Phantoms.)
"They're not ghosts, their phantoms!" Rhenvar yelled. "We need to destroy their source!"
"On it!" Sylvia ran for the tombs.
"I'll back you up, Rhen-" Willow was interrupted. A knight appeared behind Willow slashing at him. The teal ghostly blade carved through Willow.
Willow collapsed.
"W- what?!" Rhenvar froze.
"One soul claimed, one remains."
(No. No. No.)
Rhenvar reached out his hand. Souleater was summoned in a flash of red light.
"Willow!" Sylvia screamed.
Another knight appeared behind her.
Rhenvar shadow-stepped, blocking the strike with Souleater.
"Check on him! I've got this!"
She hesitated, staring at his sword.
"GO!"
She ran to him.
"He's not breathing! Rhen, he's not breathing!" Her voice cracked. "Willow- oh- my- no-"
Sylvia cracked. With no regard for the battle they were in she cried.
"Red one," the knight whispered, "you should join us."
Crack.
"WILLLOW!" Sylvia screamed.
(My seal.)
Crack.
"WAKE UP!"
(Not here.)
Crack.
"M- my heart… hurts…" Sylvia clenched her chest.
(Willow...)
Crack!
(Fuck it!)
Rhenvar screamed.
(Feed. Consume. Devour.)
"Join you?" Rhenvar's skin split. Blood poured from the black cracked skin. "No, you will join my abyss."
A blood soaked rabid beast. Nine knights turned to him. They knew what he wanted.
Their souls.
He tore one apart.
Then another. Then another.
His claws howled with grief.
The last-
He ripped apart with his teeth, shredding the soul into pieces. Devouring them in a frenzy.
He ate them all but one soul remained.
Willow's. He walked to his lifeless body. Sylvia looked at him. Eyes widened, pure fear on her face.
The soul pulsed in his palm. Warm. Beautiful. And-
(Delicious.)
(No.)
"R- Rhen…"
(Feed.)
(Mother please.)
"Are you… a monster?"
(Devour.)
(Let him live.)
"Rhen, you're scaring me."
(Love.)
(I love him.)
He clutched Willow's soul and slammed it back into his body.
Willow gasped awake.
Blood dripped from Rhenvar's eyes. His horns and claws melted into red ooze.
Sylvia stared at him. Then back at Willow. Then back are Rhenvar.
"What… are you?"
Rhenvar looked at her. Now she has seen it. The soulless eyes of a monster.
"I'm your friend," He smiled as his form melted in red goo. "I'll never let anyone take my friends away."
"Rhen, thank you." She said nothing else. But Willow stirred beside her. She let it go.
She always let it go.
****
The Battle in Super City.
(So that's it.)
(My love, for Sylvia and Willow.)
(The ballroom… It was the image of Sylvia that turned into Willow.)
(Is that really how this works? That simple? That cliché?)
(Viir had mother and me, her anchors.)
(And now, I have my own.)
(Hope.)
Rhenvar's monstrous form melted away. The black spikes broke. The blood calmed into still puddles.
He was a man again.
The heroes and villains still fought. Some are against him. Others to each other. It was a war zone.
But the smart ones paused.
He rolled his shoulders, flexed his fingers. He was ready to answer them.
Then he remembered.
(I've got a job to do.)
(But how?)
(I have to leave.)
He dropped into a shadow but was pulled out and slammed onto the ground.
(Someone else has shadow powers? How inconvenient.)
More came. He grabbed a man by his head and ripped it off. Then threw that head at another who was rushing him.
They were relentless. Rhenvar was being electrocuted but he didn't flinch.
(So many powers. I can't keep up. Viir? No it's hard enough to resist this world, Viir will transform and with her… me. And we will be complete.)
His movements slowed.
(I'm getting weaker… is this another superpower?)
He fell to one knee.
(I'm fucked.)
Another super human hit him. He blocked. Then another and another.
(I'm alone. The numbers are too much. How many souls did Viir consume keeping me alive?)
An odd looking object pieced his neck. Blood fell but snapped back. Healing his wounds.
(Fuck I hope she didn't get careless and eat Sin's brothers…)
(Dammit, I hope not. She hates me enough. I need help-)
"Oh, my King Crow!" Violet flamed crows and feathers appeared beside Rhenvar. "I will earn your love! You will be my crow!"
"What the? Corvessa?" Rhenvar said surprised.
She sliced a man in half. Giggling like crazy.
(She's… helping me? No time to think. This is an opportunity.)
His fisted went through a person's gut. I blast came from the corner of his eye and he blocked it with the body.
Corvessa's skin split open. Crows poured out. Each glowing violet fire. The crows landed on a nearby man in green spandex. The fire engulfed him and left charred black bones.
Corvessa and Rhenvar are like a whirlwind of death. Heroes and Villains fell. In mass numbers.
The battlefield turned into another field of blood. Few super powered humans remained from Rhenvar and Corvessa's slaughter.
"Well damn, the others backed off." Rhenvar said throwing up a thumbs up to Corvessa. "Thanks!"
"So you're the new Ultimateman I've heard about." Something like a meteor crashed. Sending them flying.
The aura was massive. Power that both never felt before. A soul so strong even Ultimateman and Starwoman's together, paled to compare.
Rhenvar stood before a massive red monster-like creature with spikes towered over the battlefield of blood, death and destruction.
"I am Calamity. Ender of all. Without Ultimateman, none stand a chance."
(Just where the fuck did they dig up this thing? Urithax said they were powerful but this thing is on another level.)
"Oh my, you're going to be my new crow!" Corvessa danced to Rhenvar. "Shall we, my king?"
(Her soul is so fucking beautiful.)
Rhenvar cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah, let's fuck him up!"