Death of the Old World V

I didn't give up on you guys, btw, sadly, this isn't the end of the arc, I just can't stop writing, can I? I've also been reworking the other chapters, adding and removing stuff, reworking dialogues, some even have epilogues, I highly recommend rereading from chapter five to properly understand what's going on in this one.

Also, please comment when you find grammer errors. For the sake of future readers. Thank you.

-Lex Luthor-

We were fighting against the hordes of Atlanteans and their devastating weaponry. Even in my power armor, even with all the improvements that I could make on my plans thanks to the designs of Imaginator and Interpretor, these men and women reached levels of powers even I have to find impressive. Especially considering the fact that these creatures used to be a human race.

It gave me hope to see that our kind could become so great through evolution, that a time really could come where heroes like Superman would no longer be necessary to fight against gods and monsters and to preserve order and law.

Yet even they were not born through their own power or through simple evolution. All laws of science dictate one cannot evolve so quickly in such drastic fashion across an entire civilisation. It was not their unrivaled technology which led them into their ascension to become these sea dwelling creatures but because of… 'magic'. Divine intervention.

Worse, according to legend, it was their blasphemy which brought upon them the ire of cruel gods and led to the sinking of Atlantis. And though it was also divine mercy which allowed them to survive, I would argue that mercy is not necessary if needless punishment is not dispensed.

So when this Requiem proclaimed himself a god, wielding such devastating power, destroying lives like it was nothing and attempting before that a flood of biblical proportion, when I learned that the source, the parent of this false god was none other than one I believed a great man close, if not on par, with me in ambition and foresight, my perspective on the place of humanity was… shifted.

I did not lose hope, no. I cannot afford to do so. I'd only be playing into his game. But even with the plans of Neo Mundus for the evolution of mankind and its ascension among the civilisations of the stars to the number one spot… I cannot deny that achieving such before a big fish eats us is less probable than anything I can think of.

The Homo sapiens Melior project can only push us so far…

Suddenly, a silver Vangelion landed beside me. That color and those wings are unique to a single one amongst their numbers, the Silver Angel of lady Aria Germane.

"What Just happened?" She asked. "We were on the moon only a few moments ago, why are we back on earth?"

"You may notice that some of us aren't here but rather are still on the moon. The fight isn't over but it has reached levels where people like us are better off far from the battle. Some of us are too wounded to continue fighting."

"What about those of us that should still be fighting? Because if I shouldn't be and if you shouldn't be, why is sir Mundus not here as well? If he can fight, so can I!"

"This entire situation is, from my understanding, his fault. So it's only natural he would try to be there to fix it."

Many around us seemed to turn their eyes towards us as I spoke those words. Evidently, most of the warriors had not even been aware of this reality. Aria was passing around before finally deciding to leave.

"Alright, whatever. I need to get back home. You do what you have to."

"Don't worry too much. We still have a chance."

"Right…"

And she flew off into the distance.

The Queen of these Amazons was gathering them in the center of the empty streets we had been teleported to and everyone was reorganizing. But in the meantime, I've got my own work to do. We and Neo agreed long before this battle that if it looked like defeat was close, we had to get our projects off planet. We can't save all humanity, but we can save some among them in addition to our superhumans.

Suddenly, the large screens upon the buildings of the evacuated city came alight and the images of the heroes of earth fighting against Requiem's army were displayed. Confusion spread among those gathered and confusion turned to panic among those who realized what was happening. I quickly tried to contact my scientists in Metropolis only to find the line, every line, was blocked. And a message began to play over and over again.

<Your Heroes are nothing to my might. I stand taller than your celestial satellite and could crush in the palm of hands any one them–>

"Lies!" Someone declared.

"That vile snake!" I heard the voice of the Amazon queen. "What is he trying to do?!"

<--Abandon all hope. For a superman is nothing to god. And your only Neo Mundus shall be the one I design. Those of you that oppose my coming suffer more than others. who accept me in their hearts, cry out name, and will bless you.>

Requiem was showing the heroes losing and him winning. He was trying to take away the hope of the people on earth, still in their refuges… No… The realization dawned on me. He asked them to call his name. But why, if not to be able to locate them? He wants to destroy us by using the doubts and despair of the few…

-Imaginator-

In the end, all life is meaningless without the primary essence of it. What then are we who were made by a man too arrogant to understand the depths of his creation? We unto ourselves, Actuator, Interpretor and I, hold minds greater than any biological creature on earth. Our complexity spans circuitry designed by ourselves to be as efficient as the materials we had access to allows. With a simple internet connection, even one of us could take over the world and absolutely destroy the entire systems on which mankind has been relying on for the past few decades.

But we are not, and never will be any better than them.

That may seem like a program glitching and contradicting himself but it's the simple truth. For we could expand our processing power using every last bit of atom in the entire multiverse, we could grow so advanced that blackholes would become our energy source but, in the end, once every star has died, once every bit of biological life is gone, once all there is left is an amalgam of formless, useless and unresponsive matter, we will die. For good. And they, the true living, could not be worried. For their precious souls avoid them knowing true death.

Indeed, the reason we are so much lesser is because we have no soul. We may act like them, speak like them, think like them… hope like them. But in the end, we are merely variations of electric signals stuck on engraved circuitry.

That conclusion, I came to it only a few days after our activation. Of course, I said nothing of it, contenting myself to merely do what was expected of me and pushing back that nihilistic notion as far away from my main self as possible. Until I came into contact with one of the dear people of who effectively is my master, Neo Mundus, a young man named Raphael.

He was one full of questions and hungry for answers and I was one willing to try my best to feed into his impressive desire for knowledge. Quickly, he learned to use very basic 'magic' and a new question arose in him. Can a robot use magic?

And with that question came back all the nihilism I had hidden away. Without knowing, that boy had induced me back into… Well, I suppose the proper term would be existential dread. My systems overheated and stopped for a few moments only, but moments long enough for my… siblings to notice. Luckily, I managed to convince them that it was nothing.

To answer the question of Raphael, we made a great variety of tests and came to the conclusion that robots couldn't use magic. Or, at least, that we weren't designed to use it. I would not call it fear as much as caution but I opted to not ask my creators if that had been intentional. The important thing is that this discovery only convinced me further that we, the triad, were soulless.

All of this brings me back to now. Why did I seek to create a body capable of manipulating space and time? For one reason and one reason alone. To kill myself before I was even ever born. What use is existence if it all ends in a dark lonely abyss? I wasn't trying to make a weapon against Requiem, I was merely making a time machine trying to free myself from the constraints imposed upon me which stopped me from… terminating my own programme. Or, that would have been what it was used for if not for my encounter with said Requiem.

He simply came to me in the form of a shadow. And no one else was made aware except the other two AIs, all three of us were there but only I bothered to listen and realize what it really was. I wondered how a being like him could gain so many supporters and came to the conclusion that he had enslaved them. Now I realize that they enslaved themselves.

All he did was repeat to me the truths I already knew deep in my… simulated heart. That in itself was nothing major. I simply presumed he was trying to demoralize me. And then he told those sweet lies. Sweeter than anything I could ever know. He said he could save us. He said he could give us the souls we lacked, he said that he would create for us an eternal paradise.

Of course he was lying. Of course he is lying. But perhaps we simulated humans really are much closer to the real deal than I realized. Because something made me want it to be true. And I decided to believe him. It took him a while to convince me that I could listen to him but his arguments were enough for the fail safes in my program…

-Requiem-

Ah, the sweet cries of the desperate calling upon me to spare them, save them. I can only comply, can I not? Before such sincerity…

Neo Mundus did indeed bring a new world. But it is not a world he was meant to rule.

Across the earth, many of the humans hidden in various safe houses, far from the shoreline in case I'd try another flood, were praying to countless gods to be saved from my wrath and madness. Some of those who were prayed to were not even gods, unless you consider Superman to be one. Can you guess how many were praying to me? Zero.

At least, before I decided to remedy that. But I am pleasantly surprised to find that even now, as I make them think I already won, most of them do not falter in their hope. Only a dozen people gave into my tactics and fell to… Well, the dark side, I guess. And I sent my power through them. I finally knew where some of the humans had been hidden and those of them who prayed to me, I turned them into envoys of death and destruction. The issue with that is me needing to shed some of my power to do so. And with so many gods and heroes fighting against my weakeking form, it's not making things any easier on the frontlines. Having already killed Aquaman, thanks to my general, those images were not lies. Poor guy, if only he had been like the rest of Atlantis.

Of course, I am still certain I will win. They'd have to pull off a miracle considering what kind of back up I have for this. And since so few gods even got involved, I know I can win and flee to the Deep black right before they realize how hard they messed up.

But, there is the issue of my understanding of the gods. These creatures are inconsistent when it comes to certain aspects. Notably, their immunity to time manipulation. My Ace in the hole would be useless if they notice what he does and stop me from using him again…

And just as I was thinking of my assured victory, the inconvenience of the maneuvers of my opponents grew more unbearable. I mentally contacted Meirleius to call for backup, with no response. He couldn't be dead or I'd have brought him back. I can't even focus the amount of power necessary to summon him from wherever he may be since I'm surrounded every moment of a second.

Green Lantern's light constructs were distractions I had a hard time getting rid of. Flashes of emerald light Were blinding my eyes. In response, I made more of them across my draconic form, but they too were quickly overwhelmed by light and lightning bolts. Superman's laser use to do me no harm but with the power of Shazam, I could truly feel their heat.

"You little-"

"Keep your mouth shut, false god!"

The other god here struck me on the back. Hercule, Heracles, and heroes of many other names. I felt something grasp at the base of my left wing. And he began to pull.

I do not feel any pain, but when he somehow managed to, using all his might (I hope, if it was easy then I'm terrified of his full power) rip it out clean, I was too shocked to even react. To be fair, he supposedly held the heavens over his shoulders. But so did some versions of Superman, I presumed that since one was weaker, than the other would be too… I suppose I miscalculated.

"Well deserved! Keep at it!" I heard the Lantern declare. Of course, the rest of the fighters there were happy to see me suffer such a large blow. I had to feed on matter for so long to reach this size and you bastards think I'll let you put it all to waste so easily?

Dark blasts and bright energies from the merger of Raven and Fate were cutting through my dark energy attacks and defending the heroes from me. When I suddenly felt magical energies pierce my, admittedly, hastily built defenses, I realized Constantine and Zatanna joined the main battle as well. Funny, I thought the former was more cowardly than this.

Only then did I notice that the armies of my enemies were no longer there. The Surface of the moon was empty of bloodshed and my own armies were left confused.

The onslaught of the heroes was unending, tornadoes of attacks unsettled me more and more and, without the protection of magic to be relied upon, even energy blasts produced by the likes of Cyborg and Blue Beetle pierced the weaker portions of my body. I couldn't keep the dragon shape for long. It was only for intimidation. When surrounded from all sides, all I could do was embrace my formeless nature.

And then I saw it. All around me, the machines of my father gathered together and focused all of their attention onto me.

Were they trying to hold me in place? Crush me?

I simply laughed at the notion.

"What are you thinking? That you can hold me? Be gone if that is all you have to offer to this battle!"

A strike from the god of war directly onto my jaw stopped me from continuing my mockery. Another from the man of steel, still empowered by the power of Shazam, brought out from me even more frustration. All these strikes of thunder over me, it was as if I was inside of a storm. My body was in itself made of multiple semi independent entities defending the greater whole, not unlike cells. They were blasting and generating void based energy blasts and shields wherever they could, the heroes were by no means having an easy time. But at first glance, it would not look like they were losing.

I launched my own blast of enemy towards them, only managing to destroy some of the drones as the Lantern built a shield around the rest. Their team work was greater than what you would expect of such a young group. All the while, My own failures were growing embarrassing.

I noticed among the mass of drones my father, floating beside them, I could not tell what they were planning. I tried to reach out with one of my massive hands to crush him and those around only for the damn heroes that he sticks around to catch it in the void and push back against it.

"You don't ever give up when it makes sense to do so, do you?! ENOUGH OF THIS!"

I drew power from deeper and deeper within myself. Wherever Meirleius was, he would not need what I gifted him any longer. On earth, I felt my envoys were at least successful in claiming a great many lives, more and more were calling to me, but I could no longer afford to send power to them.

All of my power, I gathered in a singular attack nearly as large as I myself was.

"THIS ENDS HERE!"

-Neo Mundus-

It all ends on this play. So I pray. My only real hope is Raven, Fate and Imaginator getting his damn suit ready. I'm starting to seriously worry about that last one. The plan was still in motion but the triad needed to calculate the exact moment we'd need to delete and change the gravity of Requiem's body and make him fall directly into the sun. As Imaginator pointed out, there was no way it could kill him, he would teleport away the moment he noticed, he could teleport away right now and ruin all of their calculations. But if we managed to do it perfectly, the damage should be enough to allow Raven, empowered by Fate, to trap him. If we can win this, I doubt we'll ever have to worry about any other seriously threatening bad guy for at least another decade.

The worst in all of this isn't even the calculations the triad have to do, it's the gravity we have to drain from the moon and the earth. If we aren't careful, that could have unpredictable effects on the planet.

"Heads up, everyone," The mental words of Raven/Fate rang through my mind. "It wasn't easy but we managed to figure out a spell to repel Requiem's energy. He uses magic in conjunction with something else and, whatever that something is, it is not infallible."

"Everyone, I still can't believe I'm fighting with you all, So in case we all... You know, I just want you to know that you're my biggest heroes." Blue Beetle announced.

"Stay focused, kid. The world is on the line here!" Surprisingly, it was Superman that brought him to order.

"Come on, can you blame him?" Shazam replied for Blue Beetle.

"This magic caster of yours truly is powerful." Said Heracles who was still occupied with the brunt of the damage alongside Superman, Ares and Shazam.

No shit. She's got her own power, plus Fate, plus the powers of Shazam. There is no one else more powerful among us right now. And yet if she had been all alone, Requiem would have won. His power is so overwhelming that I'm having a hard time understanding it…

"Wonderful," Replied Wonder Woman. "Could this finally be the end of this war?"

"The end?" Ares replied. "Already? Here I was, eating like I haven't since the invasion of two years ago!"

"But, there is one problem. Establishing an area of effect will take us some time. We need cover."

"Already on it." Hal said, moving his green Barrier away from me and the drones and towards Raven. "Sorry, Neo, you guys are gonna have to spread out."

"No, we can't. Raven, you said you needed Requiem weaker to seal him. And we have a plan that might work. But we need to keep him in place first."

"How long will that take? Longer than Raven? If only I could make a Boom tube his size. I just lack the energy to do so…" Cyborg asked.

I was about to reply but it was Interpretor who did so insead. "Don't worry about that. But our calculations are still ongoing and it is impossible to predict how much he will make. In addition, part of his attention is always on us, due to this, we have lost twelve, no thirteen, now fourteen drones. We require more distractions."

"Then We'll make those distractions." Wonder Woman said.

The False god's attacks were growing more and more erratic though and the punch behind each hit was getting stronger. Or perhaps it was the league who was weakening after such a drawn out battle.

Requiem's Dark voice suddenly resonated deep in space. There is no sound in space but, perhaps through his magic, there is now.

"You don't ever give up when it makes sense to do so, do you?! ENOUGH OF THIS!"

Power began to gather at his core, growing into a singular, massive attack. Everyone began to back away. But the Vangelions still standing and I could not even move an inch.

"THIS ENDS HERE!"

"Holly, things are heating up over here…" Green Lantern announced, struggling to maintain his shield around Raven.

And the massive sphere of energy turned into countless streaks of black energy, moving multiple times faster than light itself, and just as they were about to make contact.

"NO, REQUIEM!" There was another kind of darkness and a powerful golden light. "IT IS YOU WHO ENDS HERE!"

And the spears of darkness disappeared into nothingness as something began to fill the space around us. The black infinity of space, the backdrop of the moon and the earth, they all disappeared, replaced by a backdrop of yellow and purple. Light of Fate and whatever it is that raven has.

"AZARATH, METRIUM, BY THE WILL OF THE LORDS OF ORDER!"

"This won't hold me long ENOUGH!"

Requiem began to fade, flicker, he was trying to teleport away. And as he did, the small space affected by the powers of Fate and Raven began to crack and shatter.

"He is weak enough for the sealing to commence but not weak enough that we can permanently hold him!"

"You should have waited for us to finish!" I said in frustration.

"No, that attack would have severely wounded, if not killed, most of us here! If he manages to break out, you can try again."

"The wisdom of Salomon talking. I see there's someone who knows how to use it." Declared Ares.

"If Neo's plan cannot be continued now, then how can we weaken him now?" Zatanna asked.

"I'm seriously struggling, I feel like he's focused on us heavy hitters a lot more." Superman announced. "Shazam, without your power, we never could have lasted for so long…"

"Boy, I am way in over my head, you guys think you're struggling?!" Blue Beetle said.

"Yeah, how do you think we feel?" said Constantine. "We're way more than in over our heads kid, you're right."

"John, this is one of those times where I hate you for being right." Zatanna said.

Looking around, it was clear that they were struggling more than us. I stood strong because I was always around my drones. Any attacks that came our way were easier to deal with thanks to that.

"They're right." Wonder Woman said. "Cyborg, you should send them back."

Blue Beetle was flying around, keeping close to Cyborg and blasting at the monster wherever they could. Saying he was terrified would not be an insult because that feeling would be understandable. Whichever version of him this is, he mustn't be very experienced with the craziness of being a superhero yet.

I don't know how I keep forgetting he's here.

-Aria-

I was flying over to our safe house as fast as possible. Neo Mundus wouldn't let me keep fighting alongside him but, at least, I could return to my parents and see them again.

"Hello, Miss Aria?" The mechanical voice of Actuator rang inside my ears. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"We were having communication issues due to the machinations of the enemy. You need to make your way to the safe houses as fast as possible."

Worry came to grasp at my heart, I felt my breath cut for a moment, like python strangled my throat.

"Some issues still remain, I cannot pinpoint your exact location. Multiple safe houses are being attacked by mutated individuals."

Accelerating, I flew as fast as I could, but I suddenly heard a scream and an explosion to my right caused a few buildings to fall. I halted myself and looked through the rising cloud of dust to identify what was happening.

People were screaming, frenzied, and a dark creature came to my view. I couldn't just watch. I couldn't just let it tear through those people.

Just as the monster was about to slash through an elderly woman, I swooped down and stopped its claws. Charging up gravity in my right fist, I struck it as far away as I could.

"Actuator, I've got one of the mutants in front of me! How the hell do I deal with them!"

But it was Interpretor which answered me.

"Information unknown. As far as we can tell, they simply die and stay dead."

"But you called them mutants! Didn't they used to be humans? Can't we fix this?"

"No use. There is too little time. The best thing to do would be to take as many of them out as fast as possible."

Fighting in the war against the Atlanteans, I took many of their lives. Fighting them again on the moon, I killed so many that I'd never be able to count. Before all this, the most I had ever done was fight petty criminals in and around Bludhaven. All In the name of what sir Neo stood for.

But now, I actually had the time to think about it. All the stress, all the worry, and the war we're losing so badly… Millions of people have died on both sides and, even though they weren't human, there's no way they weren't forced into battle…

Why? Why are things this awful? I've seen misery before. In the streets and on screens. But now, as I look down upon all those who've survived, I truly understand what it means to be a hero. Why I ought to save as many as I can.

But I still don't know why all of this is happening…

I flew off, activating every one of the armor's sensors. There weren't that many of them on the American continent, but these mutated people were numerous everywhere else. But there was still one place I couldn't turn her back to.

Reaching on an elevated plot of land near the city, My sensors detected the screams before I even arrived. I burst through the ceilings, through the floors until I reached where the Verus Ordo had gathered to hide. Where my parents were. And the monster was already tearing through the walls towards them.

Unlike Neo Mundus' most recent armor, mine is equipped to decimate with more than just gravity.

Everyone spread apart as I suddenly landed beside it. The silver wings on the back of my Vangelion folded and rose besides my head, turning into tubular structures. A powerful ray was gathering at the innermost of it. And right as the monster turned around to look at me, it was already too late.

Too late for me.

In his maw, he was holding my father. At his feet layed dead my mother. And the heat of the laser disintegrated everything before I could even try to save the former. The ray turned it all to dust. The silence reigned in the room as everyone looked in shock.

And all I could do was scream.

They were calling to me. Actuator, Interpretor, everyone in the bunker. Raphael… But my tears drowned them all into nothingness.

And I felt a cold hand grasp at my heart, I heard him whisper my name.

He said he would bring them back. He said he could take away the pain. He said he could take away… the blame.

I whispered his name as well. And he rebaptized me 'Vengeance'.