UNDERDOG FOREVER
I woke up to Entropicus hoisting me above his head with one hand. I could barely breathe and I felt like most of the bones in my body were broken.
“Now, you die,” Entropicus said.
“Do…you have to…sound…like…an Eighties movie…villain?” I managed to grunt out.
Entropicus drew his fist back as he caused it to glow with an unholy purple light.
That was when I used the Ultra-force to jam the shards of Caliburn into his back wound, shoving them in deep before conjuring a glowing alien laser that sealed up the wound.
Entropicus hissed before dropping me. “What have you done?”
“I figured putting some magical holy items in your body would fuck your shit up,” I said, trying to figure out Nightwalker’s last words.
“I can heal anything,” Entropicus said, his skull-like visage contorting in just enough of a manner to let me know he was in agony. “This is my place of power.”
“Not the best thing for you to say,” I said, slapping my hands down on the ground and drawing from the magical energies below. It was just like when I stole Merciful’s entire power source and used it to make Opposite Earth.
In seconds, I felt myself charged above and beyond anything I’d ever felt. It was vile, evil, destruction energy, but it was also the essence of Death. I felt my muscles grow thicker and my eyes glow as Entropicus’ power became matched. If not for the fact he was here, he would have been clobbered by Ultragoddess of Guinevere.
“Thief!” Entropicus growled and blasted me with is Hate Beams.
I blasted them back, managing to hold them back until the pawn of his injury caused him to stop. Which was good because he was winning the contest.
Entropicus laughed. “This might actually prove interesting. You are still surrounded by those who would bring about your end. Even if I should fall, you will be torn to pieces by my subjects. Your loved ones will die and their death cries will be the last thing you hear.”
I looked over to see Mandy and Cindy fighting against the Hellazons with a depowered Gabrielle who’d managed to steal an energy staff. The others were unconscious on the ground, having expended their power fighting Entropicus.
“Yes, well I suppose that means I have to think outside of the box,” I said, turning back to him.
“Century Box, does this planet have a core? The spinning metal kind or, I dunno, Death Star reactor?”
“Affirmative,” it said, projecting a bunch of information into his brain.
“Gotcha,” I said, aloud, before channeling every bit of stolen energy in my hands down through the ground into the heart of Abaddon.
Entropicus blasted me with his Hate Beams and sent me flying through the air, but it was already too late. The entirety of the coliseum shook as towers began to fall and I felt earthquakes start spreading throughout the planet.
“What have you done?” Entropicus shouted, growling.
“I’m pretty sure I’m causing the planet to blow up,” I said, pausing. “You know, the one you’re drawing all of your power from.”
“You don’t have the belly,” Entropicus growled.
I stared at him, ice cold eyes. “Villain.”
Entropicus wasn’t the kind of guy who would let his power base die, even if he could rebuild it. He also couldn’t take me seriously enough to believe I could possibly pose a threat, stolen energy or not. If I was wrong, well, then I was about to kill however many billions of people on this planet as well as all of my loved ones.
But I wasn’t wrong.
“Damn you,” Entropicus snarled, blasting the ground with his power to deal with the damage I’d done even as it prevented him from drawing from the planet’s power.
That gave me one shot.
So I hit him with every single bit of Ultra-Force in my body. The energy poured forth and struck Entropicus in the chest, burning the remains of his flesh as well as weakening the Nega-Force in his power. They weren’t opposites, though, but opposite sides of the same coin. So I drew from the power I’d stolen and converted it into Ultra-Force to continue the attack. I’d stolen as much power as I could from Abaddon and it was enough to shatter planets.
This was much-much more.
In the end, though, I felt the Ultra-Force dissipate from my body. I had exhausted every bit of power in my body as well as all of the magic. It would regenerate in my friends as our connection to it was severed.
Smoke, flame, and ash covered Entropicus in a cloud before it dissipated. There, on fire, stepped out the naked form of the evil god. Looking tremendously pissed off.
“Well, that sucks,” I said, staring at him.
Entropicus charged at me, his face absent of anything but pure rage. I ducked under his blow and ran out underneath his fists to the other side of the coliseum, the ground cracking beneath us and opening up to burning lava miles below.
“Get over here!” Entropicus called.
I couldn’t help myself and burst out laughing, pointing at him, despite being more scared than I ever was in my life.
“What are you laughing about?” Entropicus screamed.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that’s what Scorpion in Mortal Kombat says whenever he throws a dart at his enemies before drawing him back,” I said, pointing out. “It’s just hilarious. I mean, are you doing this deliberately?”
“Argh!” Entropicus leapt into the air at me, the chasm between us widening tremendously until it was half the length of the coliseum. The heat grew hotter and hotter as the lava raised up into a lake of fire.
He was going to make it, though.
“Century Box, can you make a gun?” I asked. “A really-really big gun?”
“Affirmative,” the Century Box said.
“Do it.”
An Ultranian gravity gun appeared on my shoulder and I fired it, sending a blast of energy that struck Entropicus in his chest. It increased his gravity a million times and sent him falling into the flaming horror below.
“I cannot be destroyed!” Entropicus shouted, slowly falling like it was an action movie.
“We’ll see about that,” I said, blasting him a second time and causing him to sink into the lava.
I threw down the gun and then blasted the lava with my ice powers, drawing on the energies of Abaddon for a second time. They sealed Abaddon within as the massive crater became an enormous lump of igneous rock.
I took a deep breath. “Finally, he’s dead.”
“Negative,” the Century Box said.
That was when a glowing fist smashed through the top of the rock with Entropicus bashing his way through.
“Oh come on!” I shouted, staring at the sight. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Round three!” Entropicus hissed.
I floated down into the middle of the crater before shaking my head. “Come on, E, you can’t be that mad for destroying the universe! I mean, it’s got all manner of cool stuff! Ice cream, sex, and puppy dogs! Objective goods!”
Entropicus started walking toward me but he stumbled with every step, swaying back and forth as if he was drunk. “I am Entropicus, I am the end of all things, and I am the horror that makes humanity fear the dark. I will not be defeated….by….a wannabe comedian and his shitty plan to stab me with fragments of a holy sword!”
That was when glowing blasts of light shot forth out of holes that appeared across his skin, one after the other. Light started pouring out of his eyes and mouth as he came within ten feet of me before falling to his knees. The monster tried to mouth something before aiming his hand at me then clenching into a fist.
Before exploding.
Burning pieces of dead deity showered over my face and body as I tried to cover myself with the edge of my cloak.
“Holy shit, did that actually work?” I asked, looking at the remains of the Dark Lord.
“Affirmative,” the Century Box said.
“Wow,” I said, looking at the coliseum’s fans in the stands. There were only about half left, the others either killed or having fled during the battle. They were silent in pure, stunned disbelief. I could empathize. Raising my hands, I addressed them, “Okay, by the sacred rules of action movies, I am now your king!”
“Kill him!”
“Avenge Lord Entropicus!”
“Ah fuck,” I muttered.
That was when a glowing ball of Ultra-Force appeared around me as Gabrielle hovered above with a second one nearby containing the others. Gabrielle had gathered us both up, even the false Mandy.
“The tournament is over!” Gabrielle said, addressing the crowds around us. “This fight is over! The Tyrant God is dead! You are all free!”
“Yeah, because that worked in Iraq,” I muttered.
“Technically, there were a wide variety of factors in the failure of Operation: Iraqi Freedom including the dissolution of the Iraq military, the failure of rebuilding, corporate malfeasance, and—” the Century Box started to say.
“Shut up, Box,” I said.
“Shutting up, sir,” the Century Box said.
Cindy called up to Gabrielle. “Ultragoddess, there’s something you need to know. I’ve always loved you! I mean that sexually!”
Gabrielle looked down, a confused expression on her face.
That was when the skies opened up and the seven Primal Orbs descended. A glowing light covered us all and everything went white. The light faded away and I was surrounded only by blackness.
Leaving me alone with Death. She was standing there, a few feet away, appearing to be Mandy.
“You don’t have the right to wear that form,” I said, numb.
“I am all dead, everywhere. I am the person who remembers them when they are forgotten and their loved ones are long dust themselves.”
“I’m not going to make the wish,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I can’t lose her.”
“You already did, Gary.”
I cried in the dark, for I don’t know how long.
“Mandy is now reunited with her loved ones. It is a timeless place where you will someday join her. It is a place of no pain, no hatred, or suffering. There is nothing but joy and everything will be alright for her from now on.”
“Is that true?”
“Would you want to know if it was not?”
“I guess I’ll just have to have faith.” I took a deep breath. “So, there’s no resurrections from this point on? Death is final. Time and casualty are permanent?”
“Mostly,” Death said.
“Mostly?” I asked.
Death gave a sad smile. “The rules are still folding into place. You wouldn’t be much of a necromancer if you couldn’t speak to the dead and time will always be a river. Even in worlds where magic doesn’t exist, life is merely a place in space and time rather than a candle that flickers out then ceases. The future will be open to you as well as the past for future adventures.”
“Screw that,” I said, looking at her. “I am done.”
“I’m afraid that bell can never be unrung,” Death said, her eyes sad. “Your daughters will both be superhumans and at the center of the conflicts that are coming in the future.”
“The racist assholes coming for superhumans,” I said.
“And aliens who sense blood in the water now that the majority of Earth’s most famous defenders are dead.”
“And the fact there’s still many more supervillains than superheroes.”
“Power doesn’t corrupt absolutely, but it has a very high success rate.”
I felt my face in despair. “I don’t want any of this.”
“You did, once.”
“I don’t anymore!” I shouted at her. “You lied to me! You said Mandy was back.”
“I did,” Death said.
“Why?” I asked, betrayed.
“Because you needed to be strong and angry for this final battle. Because you needed to make the wish to set your wife free. Because no one should ever love Death.”
“I certainly don’t,” I said.
Death closed her eyes. “I’ll give you one last freebie.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, too devastated to care.
“You killed one of my champions, Gary. The rules are clear. I have to take from you your power and never associate with you again.”
I thought about that. “Good. What sort of freebie?”
“One last favor.”
I thought about it. “Anything I want?”
“You could spend the rest of your life with your wife if you want then both die at ripe old ages.”
“Is Diabloman actually damned?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Undamn him.”
“That’s not really a thing, Gary.”
“Make it a thing.”
Death nodded. “All of the evil that he has committed, the murders, the torture, and the destruction of worlds is wiped away as if it had never happened. It is the ultimate act of mercy and you may have to choose another name after this.”
“I won’t tell if you won’t.”
Death waved goodbye. “Farewell, Gary.”
“Is he going to heaven or resurrected?”
“Good luck, my love.”
Death vanished and I remained in the darkness of the void. I didn’t see anyone else around me but felt my cloak disappear and all of the power I’d stolen vanish. I was a normal, ordinary, all too mortal human.
That was when there was a pulse of light from the ground where Death had once stood. I walked over and reached down, finding a single marble sized orb on the ground. It was the Death orb. I closed my fist around it and channeled the power within.
Sending Mandy’s spirit one last ‘I love you.’
It was now time to confront her imposter.