Hope stood there for a moment as she processed what the number one hero just said. She was still a little taken aback by the fact that she was actually getting to talk to such a legendary being. She imagined anyone else would be freaking out, but to her this felt like seeing an old relative or friend. Someone she hadn't gotten to see in a while had returned.
"I did wonder a bit about what happened back then, but does it really matter?" She asked after some time. "Like, I get the gist of it. You died at the hands of the Emperor."
Full Monarch placed his hands on his hips, and he gave a nod of his head. "For the most part, the entire war could be boiled down to Nier's temper tantrum and doesn't matter, but the final part of the war is something that I think you'll be interested in." The hero explained. "I was teleported to the other side of the universe thanks to a sword known as Story Maker."
"That's Avalon. The magic teleporting sword."
"Yeah." Full Monarch nodded. "It was able to connect to the Lord of the Sea and Depths, which resided inside of Mr. Sini. Normally, the blade can only send someone to a place it has been or a place the wielder of it has been. The Emperor used his ability to change his shape and mass to devour the Lord of the Sea and the Depths. This didn't give him a power-up or any special powers, but it did allow him to trick Story Maker's ability into thinking that he was the Tallest Wave. With this effect, they could send something anywhere a Lord has been."
"So the Lords are aliens?" Hope asked, tilting her head to the side. "I mean, I always had the thought since they clearly aren't humans and came from outside our world, but if one really has been to the other side of the universe, then that means they'd be aliens, right?"
"Perhaps. In truth, even I do not know the full story on what the Lords are or where they came from." Full Monarch muttered, and for a moment, he remembered the first thing he had seen when he appeared on the other side of the universe. It was a wall of ice, bigger than any galaxy, blocking off everything past it, and in the center of the wall, bigger than he had been able to process, was the form of something massive, ancient, and very dead. "I appeared on the other side of the universe, and it took me four years to fly back to Earth. While I was attempting to fly back, the Emperor made his move. He started a war, one against the entire planet, which would go on for the four years I was gone. This war nearly brought an end to all life as we know it, but the Enforcers at the time managed to hold him back. This war was going on for one reason."
"To get Max Lightning," Hope stated.
"That's right." Full Monarch folded his arms. "The Emperor believed that if he could absorb a Lord, he could harness the power. This ended up not being possible, but at the time, he didn't know. His plan was to get access to Max and Sini. He thought that if he could use both of them, the combined power would be able to defeat me, and he would then be able to absorb me. Once all four Lords were connected, he assumed he'd be able to kick-start his plan, which was to turn all humans into a Super. This ended up failing, though, because in the final battle, he found out he couldn't take the power of a Lord even after absorbing them. Now, instead, his plan has moved to another great power. The Emperor now wants to gather the shards of the Ruler, which come from the Shadow. He thinks that if he can get all four pieces, he can do what he tried to do fifteen years ago and make a world of Supers. Unlike the Lords, the Rulers are made to recombine and become whole, so he might actually be on to something this time, but I fear what will happen should all four pieces come together."
"If the Rulers are using shards of the Shadow's Ego, then it could result in the return of the Shadow." Hope sighed. "Yeah, that sounds bad. If the Shadow shows back up, I think we automatically lose. After all, it sent humanity back to the Stone Age."
"That's why you can't let them collect any of the shards." Full Monarch announced. "Trust me, the Rulers are dangerous. It took all four Lords teaming up to defeat the Shadow, and its shards are just as strong. You need to be careful when the fighting starts. That's why I'm going to show you my fight with the Emperor and the Ruler form he entered. It is the same one Jack is becoming right now."
"And you said you were going to show me how to snap him out of it as well, right?" She asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
Full Monarch managed to give a small smile. "I will. I don't know if this will ever work again since it will require doing what you did to Wish. Right now, something like that is only possible if you have a soul-based power, which you lack, or a destroyed soul, which you do have, but it will eventually mend. Once your soul is fully healed, I don't think you'll be able to connect to any of the other Rulers. Still, if you can suppress the shard within Jack, it will prevent the other Rulers from getting their hands on it."
"If I suppress it, though, that means I'll have to do what you did? I'd need to take the Cosmos half out of me and place it into him."
"It'll be more than the Cosmos half this time." Full Monarch's words shocked her. "His body and the shard within him have grown. The Cosmos half isn't at full strength, so for this to work, it's likely you'll need to give it all up."
"All of it," Hope whispered, and she glanced down at her hand. "So you mean..."
"Every drop of your power. You have to give up the Brightest Star. Only the full strength of it can put the Ruler shard back to sleep."
If she wanted to save Mr. Larison, she'd have to fully get rid of all her power. She'd lose her strength, her speed, her fire, all of it. She would no longer be a Super.
"There has to be another way..." She pleaded. "I-I don't want to go back to being a normal person."
"There is one other way." Full Monarch's face was almost grim. "You can end him."
"End him?"
"Kill him." Full Monarch corrected. "If four Lords attack a Ruler and finish the Ruler off at the same time, they will stay dead. You can free his soul this way as well. He'll pass on and finally be done. His mission will come to an end. At the time, when I first fought him, the other Lords weren't able to help me, making it impossible for me to kill him. That was why I instead did what I could to put the shard within him to sleep and revert the changes. Those are the only two options. You can either suppress the shard at the loss of your own powers or gather all the Lords together and slay Jack."
Hope shook her head. "No. I don't want him to die."
Full Monarch tilted his head, and he frowned slightly. "What exactly is your relation to Mr. Larison?"
"He's my—" What? She had no idea what she was supposed to say. It wasn't a connection through love, at least not in a romantic sense. So what was it?
Did she view him as a mentor figure? He had helped her use her powers, taught her how to fight, and some other stuff, but in terms of a good mentor, he kept a lot of things in the dark and didn't help her as much as she would have liked.
Did she view him as a friend? He was a lot older than her and kind of emotionally stunted. She doubted they liked a lot of the same things and couldn't really picture just hanging out with him.
Did she view him as a father figure? He was there when her father was in the hospital. He played catch with her, let her drive his car, and did his best to cheer her up. She didn't think he viewed her as a daughter, though. All of that stuff he had done was just because he felt bitter and hatred toward himself and was trying to pay back what he did to Full Monarch, since she was the Lord of the Sun. If she had never been born special, the connection they would have had would never have been forged.
So what was it?
What was the reason she cared so deeply for Mr. Larison?
"Because... he's my sidekick."
"Your sidekick?" Full Monarch looked almost amused by her answer.
"Yeah." Hope gave it some more thought, and then she nodded. "When I first decided to be a hero, I did it because he helped me. I told Mr. Larison I would help him with his condition. I promised him. I even decided he would be my sidekick, and he'd help me become a great hero. It's only natural that a hero does everything for their sidekick, right? So I can't let him die. I also don't want to get rid of my powers, though."
"So then what will you do?" Full Monarch questioned.
Hope shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just gonna do my own thing. Figure it out in the heat of the moment. I work best that way."
"That's... Sure. Maybe you can do it." Full Monarch thought about it for a moment. "I guess it isn't something I have a right to talk about. After all, I've long since died. My ability to affect the world should end with the me that died fifteen years ago. The next generation is the one in charge now. Do you think you can do it, though? Do you think you can be the hero that is needed?"
"I'm going to try."
Full Monarch gave another nod, and he lifted his hand. It glowed with a pulsing blue light, and imaginary energy began to seep out. "Alright then. Let's put an end to this. I'll show you the final battle. Be sure to watch closely. You'll need to study how the Ruler that Jack becomes fights if you want to have a chance to beat him. Is there anything else you want to see while we're doing this?"
"Well, I did want to ask. How exactly does this work?" She questioned. "Is it like Avalon's, where I'm going to become the person and see everything through their eyes and mind, or is it like Max Lightning's, where I'll be on the sidelines watching everything?"
"It's more like Max's. I learned how to do this after he used this power on me to show me some of his memories. Since I was a holder of the Lord of the Cosmos, I was able to use my ability to see through the stars in the universe, using them as eyes. This power allowed me to see everything that light touched, which allowed me to gaze at Earth and see what was going on despite the fact I was on the other side of the universe. Because of that, I'm going to use the method I learned from Max and create a false world showing you images of the final battle."
"I get it," Hope threw her arms behind her head and grinned. "Just like how Max Lightning took me back in time to see Lucifer. Sweet. In that case, can we skip to the end? I don't want to rush you, but the sooner I can get back to the battlefield, the better."
Full Monarch's smile returned. "Fine. In that case, let's go all the way to the last day. The final day that I was alive. This is the final battle, and the way that I died."
"Let's get this over with." Hope breathed out, and everything around her began to crack and break as reality shifted and reshaped.
In a single moment, she was no longer in the black void that made up the realm Full Monarch's soul resided in. Instead, she appeared in a meeting room...
***
Fifteen years ago...
"So, what's the damage?" Hands asked tiredly.
"Eh, da biggie strongs done went an blew up ma ome' they done did." Omega nodded as if what he said made any sense.
Tamer pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Anyone else that can actually speak?"
"We lost Sun City." Golden Weaver replied. He kept his head on the table and tried to stay awake.
Young Dog's glass mug shattered as his hand squeezed around it. "Great. What caused it to fall?"
"The same way the last three cities fell," Gorgeous began. "A horde of dragons appeared and burnt the entire place down to ash."
Ferros rubbed away some tears, and her liquid metal splashed down her hair as she sniffled. "We can't keep being pushed back like this. We're going to lose at this rate."
Feast picked up the table and tilted it above his open mouth, allowing all the food to fall into it along with the plates and any other junk that wasn't strapped down. When he was done, he let out a loud, monstrous burp. "Well, get used to it. Nothing we can do about it, sadly. Any time we try and get involved, those damn portals throw us away."
"It's like they're programmed to grab us anytime an Enforcer shows up," Mermaid muttered, and she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. "Other heroes can get into cities just fine, but we can't. That Emperor bastard will just show up and start attacking a city with an army of those dragons, and if we get close, bam! We get teleported to a different city. We're losing good heroes who can't fight threats this big, all because none of us are able to get around the portals."
"You guys are pathetic." Legend spat out, and he glared at the nine other heroes that were in the room with him. None of the heroes met his gaze. "We're the best of the best. With Full Monarch gone, I'm the one in charge, yet I can't do anything because all of you are so fucking useless! How am I supposed to win this war when I have slackers like you on my team!"
The world was falling apart. The number one hero, Full Monarch, had seemingly lost for the very first time. Four years ago, the villain known as the Emperor appeared out of the blue, along with an army of monsters that came swarming out of glowing blue portals. The Emperor declared himself as the enemy of man and announced that he was going to wage a war with planet Earth itself. That same day the hero known as Full Monarch vanished, and no one knew where he went or when he would show back up. People prayed for his salvation, but over four years of nonstop combat have now plagued the world, and still, there was no sign of the number one hero appearing.
During this time, the Enforcers, the world's strongest hero team, were being pushed back. For the past four years, they have tried to make an effort to battle the Emperor. However, it has failed each time. This is because the Emperor would randomly select a city to take over and bring his entire army to it in an instant, thanks to his access to the portals. Any hero that was connected to the Enforcers would instantly be teleported away by the portals, leaving just inexperienced heroes behind who would have to single-handedly fight off an entire army. Naturally, they lost. Over and over again.
One by one, city after city, everything was slowly falling.
Despair was winning.
Things were only made worse by the disappearance of Mr. Sini, leader of the Hero Branch and owner of Sini Corp. Both Avalon and Director Ward were seemingly doing their best, but both men were failing to make any meaningful moves that would give the heroes an advantage.
Deep beneath Lillian City, a secret base had been created. One that currently housed the ten strongest heroes in the world. Golden Weaver, Ferros, Young Dog, Hands, Omega, Feast, Tamer, Mermaid, Legend, and Gorgeous. They resided in a small and dark room that was lit up only with a red light. Above them, all along the walls, were dozens of maps and images created by Ferros that showed the many lost cities and towns.
With the loss of Full Monarch, it was up to the ten of them to be the saviors of the world, and yet it was clear none of them were up for the task. Running around the room, constantly in a state of panic, were Hero Branch workers who kept reporting new sightings of the Emperor and his army.
Legend folded his arms, and he quietly glared at his 'teammates'. "I won't stand for another piece of bad news. Bring up something good. Now."
"Who made you boss?" Golden Weaver asked, and from beneath his mask, he raised an eyebrow.
"Ye," Omega nodded. "Who' done, 'ent an gave ya, a promotion? Ya ain't even da 'umber one 'ero, now are ya, ma lad?"
"What?"
"He said you're not even the number one hero." Young Dog said awkwardly.
"Like hell I'm not." Legend growled, and he stood up. His dark skin glowed, and his outfit shifted and changed. Long, flowing white robes sprouted around him, and a deep gray beard twisted out. Lightning crackled in his hands, and his eyes blazed with a wave of power. "With Full Monarch gone, I'm the strongest hero on the planet!"
"Second strongest." Mermaid managed to let out a giggle. "Or did you forget about—"
There was a horrible ripping sound, and suddenly the door to the room, which was massive and locked with dozens of giant bolts, was blown back, smashing into a nearby wall.
The world was put into a wave of despair, but there was one person, and one person alone, who was managing to fight back the wave of chaos that was going to devour the world.
The new number one h̶e̶r̶o̶ (villain). The one and only...
"What's up, bitches!" Ruby Admiral casually walked into the room and flipped her long scarlet hair. Tucked under her arm was a large, decapitated head of a very dead dragon. "Managed to kill one of those lizard fuckers that are always flying around the sky." She not-so-elegantly smashed it down onto the metal table, causing the structure to shatter and break. "Lois and I had a great time killing it!"
"Lois?" Mermaid made a face and looked a little sick. "Jill, please don't tell me you brought your daughter to the battlefield again?"
Ruby Admiral placed her hands on her hips and smirked. Gone was her basic schoolgirl uniform. Now she was dressed in a black military outfit that had once belonged to her dad, though she had modified it a bit, not with a cape, but instead with a baby holder that was strapped to her back. Turning around, she casually pointed her thumb back at her four-year-old daughter, who clung to her back. The little girl had messy and long blonde hair and bright eyes, along with the biggest smile on her face as she clung to her mother and giggled.
"She likes it when we go to war together." Ruby Admiral said flatly.
Mermaid let out a growl and stood up, grabbing her friend by the ear and twisting it, causing Ruby to let out a loud yelp. "How many times have I told you? Stop bringing your kid to crazy, life-and-death battles!"
"Ow, ow, ow, River, let go!" Ruby slapped at the hand and let out a low huff. "It's fine. I can always kill any of the lame-ass villains we fight in one punch. Besides, I need to take Lois to the battlefield. Supers awaken their powers during times of stress, and I know it's only a matter of time until my little girl gets her very own set of powers." Ruby gave a large grin, and she punched her fist into her open palm hard enough to create a shock wave that blew several of the Hero Branch officers back. "I just know she's going to have some seriously badass powers! After all, she's my daughter, and the daughter of a Lord, and the granddaughter of the number one hero! She's going to be such a powerhouse when she's an adult!"
Young Dog folded his arms and stood up, now that the table was destroyed. "Nice of you to join us, Ms. Number One Hero. We were just talking about how we're getting our asses handed to us. Want to weigh in?"
"I don't get how you guys can suck so bad." Ruby cocked her head to the side and made a face. "I mean, I just dodge the portals anytime they try to send me off."
"Well, not all of us can dodge instant teleportation." Hands said bitterly. "Seriously, are we sure she's not a Lord? I mean, Young Dog and Mermaid are both related to the Lords as well, and yet they're still nowhere as strong as Jill."
"Hey!" Mermaid sounded a little offended. "I could totally take Ruby in a fight."
"No, you can't." Everyone responded flatly, making the water-based hero pout.
Legend let out a growl now that the attention was no longer on him, and he glared at Ruby. "It doesn't matter how strong she is. She still hasn't been able to do shit! She shows up too late and only manages to stop a few of the monster attacks! Why don't you go ahead and take out the Emperor!"
"Believe me, I would if I could, but that armored jerk is always gone by the time I show up." Ruby sighed and let out a growl of her own. "It's not fair. I've worked my ass off for the past four years, and yet he won't come and fight me because he knows I'm going to totally kick his ass!"
"It doesn't matter now," Feast grumbled, and he was already halfway through eating the dragon's head. "No more cities have been under attack since the Emperor pulled his little stunt last week."
"That doesn't mean we can let our guard down, though," Tamer said, shaking her head. "Besides, we all know where that villain is staying." She looked up at the roof. She couldn't see it, but she could picture the moon. "How are they even surviving up there?"
"Magic?" Golden Weaver offered, in an unsure tone.
"Works for me."
Gorgeous turned to look at Ruby, and the world's prettiest man managed to give a small smile. "You should go and take a break, Ruby. You've been working nonstop. Besides, I'm sure you'd like to spend some time with your child. And I don't mean on the battlefield."
"What about you?" Ruby asked, raising an eyebrow. "Your son is five now, right?"
"Don't remind me." Gorgeous shuddered and fought back a groan. "He's already decided he's going to be a hero when he grows up. Picked out the name Pretty Face. I still can't believe I actually gave birth to a hyperactive child like him. Damn you, Mpreg, and your gun that makes men pregnant."
"...What?"
"Nothing." Gorgeous shook his head. "This meeting is over." He was one of the first heroes to leave the bunker room.
Ruby wanted to say more to the other Enforcers, but most of them gave her the cold shoulder and brushed past her. She always got the feeling they were a little jealous of her and how strong she had become. After her father vanished, she had stopped holding back and worked out as much as she could, getting hundreds of times stronger. She made a promise to herself that next time she fought the Emperor, she wasn't going to lose.
Once all the heroes left the room, she also stepped out. The bunker they were in was massive and built below Lillian, using dozens of abandoned train stations. It was only known by a few Branch members and the Enforcers. This was because it held one of the most important people in the world within it.
A person that Ruby was about to go see...
She made her way through the bunker halls, weaving in and out of the way of the Branch workers until she eventually reached a section all the way at the bottom where a massive vault door resided. Giant guns were stationed all around, along with massive monsters that Tamer had tamed and put out as guard dogs.
Ruby ignored all of them, though, and simply used her Godlike strength to tear the vault door open, allowing her to step past it. Once she did, she then forced the metal back in place and squeezed so hard she rebonded the atoms and connected the metal back to where it belonged. "I'm back!" She called out.
"Welcome back, Jill... How was your day?"
"Still boring."
Past the vault door was a large room. One that had a carpet that was constantly being cleaned and free of stains, as well as walls that were covered in dozens of different pictures that hung up. A TV rested in the middle of the room, and on one end was a kitchen. On the other end was a bedroom and a bathroom that were both built into the walls.
The entire room was constantly moving deep beneath the Earth, shifting around and never staying in any one place for long, in the hope that it would be impossible for the Emperor to spawn any of his portals within the space.
Standing in the center of the room, wearing his apron, was Ruby Admiral's husband and best friend.
Max gave a tired smile. "Did you and Lois have fun?"