This work is a piece of fiction. While inspired by real events, cultures, and practices in human history, the story blends factual history with fictional characters, dramatizations, and creative interpretation.
It is not intended to promote, glorify, or encourage any illegal activities, substance use, or harmful behavior. All depictions of sensitive topics are included solely for narrative and historical context.
For the effects of the story, all characters are to be considered above the majority age.
Reader discretion is advised.
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Earth-5H1N3, North Korea.
If Reality were a video game, or if Aragorn had had enough time to propagate his System, Yao, Doom, and the Order of Sorcerers would have seen notifications flashing across their System Panel about the plenty of debuff stacking one after another.
Maybe they would have also seen a notification informing them about their intrusion on [Krahllak's Dungeon], or something akin to that. It would also not have been out of place to hear some boss music in the background.
Doom acknowledged the situation for what it was and dispelled his barrier over Pyongyang. The dome was supposed to trap the demon and prevent its escape; however, with the entire country having been declared its territory, Krahllak could escape anywhere within.
"How much do we have before it cowers and allows free entry to the other Hell Lords into his territory?" Doom asked.
"If we push him hard enough and give him the chance to contemplate his options... He'll do it," Yao declared.
'I'll influence him.' They received Aragorn's message telepathically. 'He won't think of summoning help until the very last moment.'
Doom and Yao nodded. The plan was simple: set the demon up for a clean and swift execution. If they killed it fast enough, it wouldn't have the chance to fuck up the situation even more.
Still, even if Aragorn, their Deus Ex Machina, had addressed that 'little' concern, they were left with the problem that it was just them, a Goddess, Doom, and about 60 sorcerers facing an entire demonized North Korea, plus whatever infernal creatures Krahllak had with him.
Normally, a demon encroaching on Reality's first concern is the spread of the territory. So, the usual practice for dimensional invaders is to push against the borders between Reality and their territory.
Demons tend to this via sacrifices, miasma, or other arcane methods. Hence, they expected Krahllak to face them in Pyongyang while the remainder of his forces pushed to grow his territory.
But, well, this demon had been patiently spreading his territory for over half a century, and he went against the rule book.
With a snap of his fingers, he teleported his forces to Pyongyang.
Krahllak, going against his nature, focused on the invaders.
Yao, mouth half-opened in surprise, turned to Doom. "This is not going to be easy."
"Can you keep the insects away?" Doom asked. He was not belittling the demonized humans; they literally shared characteristics of infernal insects.
"Yes. Let me know when we have to deal the killing blow."
From behind Yao, her long tails gained an ethereal aspect before separating from her. The tails, each, shone in white, brilliant flames. When the light died down, nine massive silver-white foxes stood behind her.
Each dwarfed the buildings of Pyongyang, about as tall as the massive demon who grew after carving out this piece of the 'cake' for himself.
Their eyes shone with intelligence, given that each of them had a copy of Yao's mind, and their fur was sparkling with silver-white sparks.
The foxes step predatorily in the air, over invisible steps. They crouched low before jumping powerfully in nine opposite directions, attempting to surround the horde of summoned demons.
It was impossible, though, because there were too many demonized humans. They landed amidst the hordes of demonized humans and, with the mentality of ants, or perhaps under the dastardly influence of Krahllak, they immediately swarmed and tried to climb over the foxes, drowning them with their numbers.
Some of the demonized humans who could fly took to the skies and blocked the crimson skies with their numbers; they were not that different from locusts.
The foxes lit on fire, powered by Yao's White Magic in response. And the demonized humans, unknown if by their own will, cared not as they burned to dust.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! SWARM THE ANCIENT ONE!" With a demonic bass to his voice, which made the hearts of the humans watching from across the world tremble, Krahllak laughed.
From his laughter, madness spread, and the sorcerers steeled their hearts with spells and will. The demonized humans, emboldened by the infernal ring of his laughter, rampaged even more frantically.
Doom, with a calculating gleam, kept these scenes of madness at the back of his mind. He flew straight towards the demon that towered over the city.
His green cape and hood danced with the wild winds. The green protection he cast over himself covered him like a green hard light armor.
Green lightning snapped and thundered around him, automatically shocking and pulverizing any of the flying demonized humans that got in his way. All of this was captured and shared with the world across the Sat-Net, to any N-Tek smartdevice tuned to the live feed.
Krahllak followed his approach, even though Doom's speed was enough to leave behind afterimages, and spread his arms wide, challenging him. A grin almost split his face in half, and black flames covered his obese body like an aura of melevolence.
Green lightning coated him like a divine raiment. He pulled his right hand back and punched forward with his entire momentum. Krahllak clapped, and the world turned black and green.
A sphere of green light and demonic shadows was born from the point of collision, and it swallowed both.
The ground shook, the clouds of miasma cleared away, buildings toppled over, and the locusts scrambled.
The cameras, protected by invisible barriers, focused on the debris rolling down a mountain of rubble that used to be an apartment complex. With a mighty blast of green lightning, Doom dug himself out.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Krahllak laughed rumbociously. He was no worse for wear, with a few scratches healing visibly due to the influence of his territory.
'What happened?' Yao reached into Doom's mind.
'Something is amiss,' Doom replied. 'It's those flames. That's not hellfire.'
'... There's something in them,' Yao acknowledged. 'Be careful.'
"A demon powered by a territory, and yet, against a simple mortal, could only do this much?" Doom asked, his tone derisive. "No wonder they call you the Beast."
"HAHA—" Krahllak's laughter died down in a snap. His eye narrowed like poisonous blades.
Doom didn't wait for the demon to explode after having his pride pricked. He pulled two crystals from his belt and cast a spell on each. With the crystals at the center, two neon green magic circles bloomed. He, gently, almost with disinterest, tossed the crystals up.
Hovering above his head, about a foot behind him, the crystals shone a green, gentle light on him.
He crouched, magic circles lit around his legs, and then he jumped and exploded forward.
Krahllak only had the time to tilt his giant body back and raise his left hand protectively. Doom landed, feet first, on the demon's hand, and the momentum transferred, making the demon hit himself.
Doom disappeared again, leaving behind a crest on the demon's hand, and reappeared below its knees. He kicked—a full-bodied kick—at the demon's shins, leaving behind another crest, before blinking away.
For over three seconds, which, in a fight like this, was about half an eternity, Doom blinked around the demon, kicking and punching under the gentle green light of the crystals hovering behind him.
Every time a hit landed, a crest was left at the point of contact, and the crystal's light dimmed.
Krahllak roared like a wild titan, its lanky arms waving violently, trying to snuff the life out of the 'mosquito' buzzing around. His black flames raged madly, yet Doom was moving beyond its reaction time.
When the light died, Doom appeared, heaving up and down at a distance from the demon.
Krahllak quickly, after realizing something felt off, noticed the green crest marking his body. Eons of experience would make any demon an expert sorcerer, even if that was not their main weapon. Hence, he panicked almost instantly after getting a read on the first crest he spotted.
"Suffer!" Doom declared, like a king stating his ruling.
Green lighting engulfed Krahllak, and his shrills of agony made a few idiots wonder if maybe Doom was taking it too far, if maybe he should consider that demons also have rights.
'It's there again!' Yao called out in his mind. 'I sensed clearly this time. Something is assisting him... It feels like divinity, but different.'
'It's his shadows,' Aragorn interjected. '... Kill it. Destroy its demonic essence.' He commanded.
Destroying his essence, for demons, was the equivalent of destroying their soul for a mortal.
'His shadows?' Yao wondered. 'I did not sense anything from his shadow. I sensed it from the flames.'
'Thats the divinity of war, but the thing in his shadows, I don't know what it is. It's shifting, escaping my sight,' Aragorn explained.
'War?' Doom asked. 'Ares'?'
'Yes, it appears Olympian,' Aragorn confirmed.
'Should we turn off the livefeed, then?' Yao asked. The last thing they needed was feed Ares the 'faith' of humanity.
'No, I'll have Seraph ready to censor him if he makes an appearance. I need this,' Doom declared.
Yao and Aragorn didn't argue with him; they both knew he was right. If Doom were to be the representative of Earth, he needed the public behind him. And what better feat for a political campaign than a livefeed demon slaying?
When the thunderstorm of green lightning settled, the blackened body of Krahllak was left leaning tiredly against a building.
"MAGGGGOOOOTTTTTT!" Krahllak roared and disappeared.
He made use, for the first time, of the omnipresence granted by virtue of his territory and teleported above Doom.
The shadow cast by the giant demon falling on him alerted Doom. He barely had the time to jump away and try to put some distance before everything exploded in black flames where Krahllak landed.
A wall of blackened flames rose like a tidal wave, consuming everything, even the demonized humans. Doom hesitated not and concentrated on flying away from the wall of flaming death.
Then, Krahllak teleported again above him, timing it perfectly.
Doom swerved left, the momentum crushing him inside his armor, and were it not for the enhancements he had done to his body, he would have passed out from the G's.
A second tidal wall of blackened flames rose from the explosion of the second stumping.
"He needs assistance." Master Wong informed Yao.
"Not mine," Yao shook her head. "I can't spook him yet. We can only wait and trust in Doom. He'll pull through."
Across half the planet, in the heart of Manhattan, Susan and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm watched, at the edge of their seats, nerves tensed, at the live feed of Doom evading walls of flaming death and the stomping of a giant demon.
"Come on, dude! You can do it!" Johnny muttered, his jaw clenched and his hair on fire.
"Ah! Victor!" Susan exclaimed when Doom barely scraped through from under the demon.
"What is happening to the world?" Ben asked no one.
On the other side of the country, in an undisclosed lab, Reed Richards followed with silent somberness the same feed.
And at the base of the Arbor Mundi, Aragorn stared through space, his cosmic eyes flickering back and forth, trying to identify something in the demon's shadow.
"Annoying," he snarled, and his eyes flickered red for a moment.
"Can I be of assistance, Master?" Irina asked.
"It's hiding from me by escaping," Aragorn commented, absentmindedly.
"Is it on purpose?" Yelena asked.
"I think so... I think whoever is acting from the shadows knows a great deal about me," Aragorn confessed.
"... This is problematic," Irina pointed out.
"Yeah, and I currently only have six eyes. My other eyes are on Noona, Gaea, Seraph, and Mindee. I only have this pair free," Aragorn pointed at his eyes with his flaming tail.
"... Why..." Yelena tilted her head, thinking carefully about how to ask the question. "... Why does it feel like whatever/whoever it is, they have plot armor?"
"Plot armor?" Aragorn asked, mostly to himself. "Plot armor..." he repeated.
"Thanos?" Irina asked.
Her assumption came about from the fact that Thanos was not called Destiny's Child for nothing.
"He doesn't have any shadow powers, does he?" Yelena asked. "Is it different in this Reality?"
"... No, but if the actions of this new player help Thanos, maybe, as you said, that granted them plot armor," Aragorn surmised.
"..." Irina and Yelena processed the idea. The more they thought about it, the more their faces contorted in disgust.
"Maybe we should have killed Thanos when Kitty encountered him," Yelena spat.
"I'm not omniscient," Aragorn said in his defense.
"So, can Doom pull through?" Irina asked, worried. In the projection of her P-Link, Doom could be seen taking to the skies and putting distance from the hazardous zone the surface had become.
The city was flooded with black flames, and the demons had not stopped for even a second. After the instant it would take to locate Doom on his territory and then teleport above, Krahllak would repeat the process again and again.
"He should be fine," Aragorn reassured the bunny. "Doom has a few trump cards stored in his P-Link, but he is trying to pull this with minimal assistance from us or our tools."
"Is he an idiot?" Yelena asked. "Is he trying to get himself killed while proving a point?"
"I support his recklessness," Aragorn commented. "If he is meant to be the future 'Emperor of Humanity', then this is a simple obstacle in his path."
With Pyongyang becoming a sea of blackened flames, the risk of interference from the demonized humans was nullified. Yao and the sorcerers took this chance to set up the stage for a cleansing ritual.
The sorcerers divided themselves between Yao and her nine fox-selves and spread across the demon's territory.
Wherever they passed, the white flames and spells killed the demonized humans, and slowly they began to set up anchor points for the ritual.
Depending on the ritual, the anchor points would vary. They could come in the shape of human sacrifices, which was normally the case for anything demonic in nature, gems, zones of power, like the leylines, locations of importance, or prearranged foci.
For this ritual, given that they knew the nature of their opponent beforehand, Yao and the order had prepared a few foci gems in advance. Unfortunately, not even with all of their preparation did they consider that the entire nation of North Korea would need to be cleansed.
Still, it was best to reduce the amount of territory Krahllak had available to draw power from.
Things were not that easy, though.
So far, the only opponents they had encountered had been demonized humans, but after Krahllak understood the sorcerers' intentions, he mobilized the demons under his thrall. Those born in hell.
With six arms, a lamia's body, pale, unhealthy skin, and shrouded in the miasma of corruption, a Marilith snaked its way to one of the foxes.
Demons were vastly different from demonized humans. A demonized human was a corrupted being that could only wield its demonic body as a weapon during the early stages of its life. This meant, so far, the sorcerers and Yao had been fighting hordes of superhumans, but not demons.
Demons, unlike demonized mortals, could wield their demonic essence, that which made them demons.
In simpler terms, infernal magic, demonic sorcery, and even authorities for the most powerful demons.
Now, this did not mean that a single demon would be enough to oppose even one of Yao's fox-clones. The problem, again, came down to numbers and resources.
Numbers, because evidently Krahllak had a few thousand demons under his thrall, and resources, because although demonized mortals could not wield their demonic essence, they still had it, and demons could make use of it.
So, as Mariliths, Nightmares, Cerberian Hellhounds, Pit Fiends, and Gelugons roared and attacked the fox-clones and sorcerers, they absorbed the demonic essence of the demonized mortals to power and bolster themselves endlessly.
Eleven battlefields bloomed explosively.
One sorcerer bound a hellhound with crimson bands, another ran through the air and descended with a cleaving strike, decapitating two of the three heads of the demonic pup, only for the last head to pull demonic essence from the horde of demonized mortals to regrow and regenerate its decapitated heads.
A pit fiend had its wings punched through with a myriad of arrows of arcane light, lost an arm and a leg, and, just like the demonic pup, it pulled the unused demonic essence from the demonized mortals and recovered in a snap.
"THIS IS ENDLESS!" Wong yelled.
"It has always been!" A master relied with a serene gaze. "It only got better after he arrived."
In another of the eleven battlefields, one of the foxes sparked with white lightning coiling across its fur before releasing a breath of light that was akin to a white laser. It swept from right to left, evaporating anything that crossed its beam-breath.
The logic was simple: if there were no more demonized humans to work as batteries, then the problem would be solved.
Again, the problem was the scale. There were simply too damned many.
It was almost like trying to evaporate the water of a lake. It was not impossible, but still...
In Pyongyang, or what was left of it after Krahllak's rampage, Doom was zipping and zooming across the demonic sky with several crystals hovering behind him.
Initially, with his unfair advantage, Krahllak was bulldozing through the fight; however, Doom adapted. Doom understood the demon and began to anticipate his movements, and that allowed him a chance to summon his crystals.
↓Part 2━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━Part 2↓
In Earth-5H1N3, mortals facing deities was absurd, and mortals facing demons, while not equally despairing, was absurd. Doom was not a mortal who accepted this 'fact' and moved on.
When facing a problem, one that may appear insurmountable, few paths existed. Some recognized and accepted the problem for what it was and learned to live with it or around it; these were those who professed the old saying of if you can't beat them, join them.
Most humans, across the twists and turns of life, leaned towards this mentality. If you can't change the world, then learn to live in it.
Then came the other type, the ones who sought change, no matter the cost. Like Reed Richards, who, faced with an 'obstacle' like Aragorn, decided that they would fight back. Like Anthony Stark, who, despite knowing his life was on the line every time he made sparkling eyes to Seraph, continued pursuing her.
There was nothing wrong with being part of the first type; in fact, from this type came those monsters who wielded adaptability like a weapon, like Charles Xavier, Katherine Pryde, and even Jean Grey.
But Doom was not sane like that.
He needed power, power to call his own. Not like regular spell-casting that relied on the assistance from greater beings or access to larger dimensions, he wanted his own source.
The 'simplest' solution was to achieve apotheosis and gain his own source, but this was not something he could achieve in the short term.
His solution came in the form of crystals. Back in Latveria, deep underground, a complex spell circle was carved by his Doombots. A network of tunnels that encompassed the entirety of the country.
At the center, in Doomstadt, the capital of his kingdom, all the untamed, wild energies converged and trickled like viscous fluid into a core. This core grew in size until a crystal was born.
These crystals were collected by the hovering Doombots and stored in prearranged cabinets. Each cabinet was inscribed with a summoning circle, the other end of the circles leading to Doom.
Faith, dimensional energy, terran energy, lingering divinity, emotial energy, psionic energy, any and all forms of energy that Doom could capture were routed through this nation-wide matrix, and it all trickled down into a highly energetic and unstable mixture.
Yet, after the accident that elevated his talent for energies beyond the norm, it was not a task for Doom to wield this unwielding energy into his spellcasting.
Still.. Even while Krahllak's cries of agony rumbled through Pyongyang, even while more than a few mortals spectating the fight through the live feed winced in sympathy for the demon, it was not enough.
The sea of blackened flames burst like solar flares and boiled over like a volcanic eruption. Ropes of these flames took to the crimson miasmatic skies, and Doom had to swerve randomly to avoid the demon and the flames.
It was too much.
Doom, aside from a few enhancements he gained from his serums, was still a human. How much perception and awareness was needed to keep avoiding Krahllak in a three-dimensional setting, like an aerial fight? And for how long could he keep at it with the addition of the boiling flames?
Not long, that was the answer.
All it took was an instant. It was not an instant when his concentration faltered. It was simply that he was concentrating on too many things at once.
"AGH!" He cried as the outer edge of his left shoulder was hit with a splash of black flames.
The flames stripped away any protection he had cast over his mortal flesh after they had burnt through his armor.
'Cutting it!' Aragorn exclaimed.
Doom hesitated not and made a slicing motion with his right hand. His left arm, from the socket of his shoulder, was cut cleanly.
His face contorted in a grimace of pain, but he did not allow his focus to waver. A single slip was enough to end him; he knew this.
While shooting away, making sharp turns in the air to avoid the flames, he tossed his severed arm forward and made another cutting motion, severing off the part that was still burning.
He caught the 'healthy' leftover of his arm and made use of short-range teleportation to escape a column of boiling flames from devouring him whole.
With the leftover of his left arm held in his right hand, he reached out to Yao and said, 'It's time.'
'Roger that,' Yao replied.
"You truly are a disgrace to your kind!" Doom roared, his voice echoing loudly via sound magic.
To the audience, it might have looked like the ramblings of a dying madman. In Latveria, where Doom was truly loved by his subjects, tears marred the faces of his people.
Some superpowers gloated happily at the upcoming death of a contender for the Sapling of Discord. Some worried about the falling of another of Earth's heroes.
But Doom knew the situation was not as dire as it looked. It was almost a show. He would not be so arrogant as to claim his life was not at risk, but he still enjoyed a safety net.
"THE BUZZING OF A DYING FLY IS NO CONCERN!" Krahllak bellowed.
Still holding his severed left arm, green crystals glowing softly with a starry hue began to appear around him, like in orbit.
The demon narrowed his eyes in disgust and wariness. He had been suffering from the aftereffects of these crystals' spells, and he was not in the mood to take so many at once, even with the advantage provided by his territory. The reason was simple: he had not forgotten that another Goddess was rampaging in his land.
So he made a move. He allowed himself to fall into the sea of blackened flames below and disappeared under the cover of the sea's impenetrable umbra.
For a moment, the flames stop boiling and coiling, then a towering demonic titan of flames rose, dragging with him the sea of certain death.
"ENOUGH, MAGGOT!" Krahllak roared. His voice came out distorted, like the air refused to transmit his words fully.
The towering titan of black flames broke through the lower clouds of miasma and spread his arms wide.
Doom felt his instincts warning him of certain death and smartly teleported at a distance. Then the titan clapped.
The shockwave was colored by black flames, and a wave of destruction and corruption obliterated all in its path.
Doom had not teleported far enough and had to spend fifteen crystals to power a longer-range teleportation.
When he turned towards the demonic titan of flames, who was far away enough for his waist down to be covered by the horizon, Krahllak was already done spreading his arms wide. Ready for another clap.
Clap, clap, clap. Krahllak clapped three times in succession. From space, under the satellite view of the Sat-Net, the north of the Korean Peninsula, tainted red with black clouds, flashed three times.
Four trenches so vast they could be considered canyons appeared on the screens of the viewers around the world. From witnessing this destruction alone, many understood the danger of demons.
It went beyond the common lore of demonic rituals requiring sacrifices. This was destruction, almost of the apocalyptic type.
West of North Korea, beyond the limits of Krahllak's territory, in the Yellow Sea, a throne of waters rose to the surface. Poseidon sat imposingly on the throne with Ares, holding a lightning spear, to his right.
"Be ready, the human is preparing something," Poseidon commanded.
"I'm more concerned about the dragon," Ares muttered, lightning cracking dangerously off Zeus' lightning bolt.
"Unless we release the titans and giants, Olympus only has me for a Skyfather," Poseidon commented. "We need you and your generation to grow stronger."
"Let's not go about releasing Gaea's children, please." Ares shivered at the thought.
"I know, I know!" Poseidon sighed heavily. "After me, there's Aphrodite, but do you think the Goddess of Love would do for a fitting fighter?"
"I don't know, maybe she can charm the dragon into her bed. It would not be the first time," Ares shrugged.
"If only it were that easy," Poseidon grimaced.
"Don't worry, uncle. I've got this," Ares said while producing a tablet and following the fight through live feed. "I just need a few seconds of fame. That's all that's needed with these many mortals."
"Humans were always particularly good faith generators," Poseidon added, pleased.
The fight raged on; each of Krahllak's claps made the viewers flinch. And after each shockwave died down and Doom emerged like a flickering green firefly, followed by hundreds of green-hued crystals, humanity's heart blazed with hope.
With Doom's successful evasive maneuvers, Krahllak grew impatient. The number of crystals kept increasing, and that did not bode well for him.
Then, a green light seeped out from somewhere around Doom's midsection. The demon focused on it and spotted Doom's severed left arm glowing, fully covered in runes.
"Sacrifice holds the greatest source of power," Doom commented, almost as if replying to the question the billions watching had.
"YOU WRETCH—"
The demon's voice was cut off when the arm disappeared and reappeared right in front of its face.
Krahllak tried to teleport away, but the hundreds of crystals hovering around Doom reappeared, surrounding him.
BOOOOOM!
There was a flash of green light and lightning followed by a deafening shockwave that pushed even the caster back.
Still hovering, Doom braced himself and pushed back against the explosion. Wrapped around his head and right arm, runes of control could be found.
If the spell were only a larger explosion, then it would not have been worth the maiming. The initial explosion was the result of the first stage of the spell; he still needed to control it to make sure the demon's essence was cleansed for sure.
The ball of green light and cackling lightning pulsed a few kilometers (miles) above what once was Pyongyang. Then, from ten different opposing directions, spears of silver-white light shot forth and impaled it.
White magic combined with Yao's own divinity was possibly one of the deadliest combinations a demon could face.
"How is it? Have you found the source, Master?" Irina asked, eyeing worriedly at Aragorn.
His pupils moved so fast that they would appear absent to the common observer. He was trying to locate the source of the empowerment in Krahllak's shadow.
"No, it is not staying put!" Aragorn snarled. "I can only catch its traces. I will teleport there. Please look after the entrance," Aragorn pointed at the entrance to Gaea's dimension encrusted to the Arbor Mundi's trunk.
"No, no, that's a terrible idea," Yelena shook her head. "After Odin's stunt, everybody knows Goddess Gaea holds your weakness in her womb. This is possibly part of their plan."
"Master, Yelena is right," Irina added. "Even if we have to let them get away this time, what matters is keeping Goddess Gaea safe.
"... Yeah, okay, I can't be reckless, not while I'm recovering," Aragorn assented.
The ball of green light began to contract, and every viewer instinctively understood that the cataclysm was coming to an end. Then came the lightning.
In an instant, Aragorn's position had shifted, and he was extending his right hand and grabbing onto something invisible, his hand trembling.
"Go, Yelena," Aragorn ordered.
The vulpine maid disappeared in a flash.
When the lightning cleared, most of the world gasped at the scene. One moment, Doom, a mortal, was triumphing over the demon; the next, a deity was spearing him through the chest. And this deity was recognizable to all in just an instant... it was Atum, God of the Sun.
"What?!" Poseidon roared.
"It's obviously not going to be that easy, Poseidon," the mocking voice of a girl called out from the tablet's speakers. There was a flash of light, and then Seraph appeared in front of him.
Seraph was vicious; she didn't waste time with greetings and whispered, "Night, night, Posedion. I blessed you with blissful [Dreams]."
His eyes flickered slowly for a moment before he stabbed his foot with his trident and roared himself awake.
"AGGGGGGGGGH!" He shouted before elementilizing his body into water and sinking into the water.
"Shit, he escaped," Seraph lamented.
Back above Pyongyang, Ares noticed that something was holding the Masterbolt from fully spearing through Doom's heart. It was of no concern to him, though. He smirked at the floating cameras and then teleported away before the massive telekinetic force of Yao grabbed hold of him.
Yao appeared next to Doom and immediately covered the hole in his chest with her hands glowing with green life force, or Chakra as they called it in the Imperium.
"Cough!" Doom coughed blood, and his body spasmed for a moment before he forced it back under control. "S-Spell," he stammered out.
"Don't worry," Yao reassured him. "Just keep it running for a few seconds more," she eyed the runes coiled around his right arm and approved of his commitment and will. "Krahllak is almost solved," she added.
The sphere flickered for a moment, as if the demon inside was putting up a fight, but soon the temperature lowered, and it stabilized.
'I'll help from the shadows,' Yelena's voice chimed in. 'Aragorn said to remember to smile for the camera.'
'Was it covered on time?' Doom asked.
'Yes, our Cute Blue was on it,' Yelena nodded.
'Which god did she use?' Yao asked, her eyes focused on regenerating the nick on Doom's heart and closing the cut arteries and veins.
'Atum. She figured that since he was in the Sun, and technically he is on Gaea's side, it didn't hurt to grow his infamy,' Yelena explained.
'That's good,' Doom agreed.
The green sphere pulsed one last time before compressing to the size of a marble and disappearing. Doom then, powerfully, raised his fist up and declared, "We are not helpless!" and the feed ended.
His P-Link flashed, and the cameras were stored, then he passed out.
"For all of his flaws, I think I'm starting to see what Aragorn, Spark, and Kitty see in him," Yao commented.
"He is a cool mortal," Yelean said, appearing next to Yao and the passed-out Doom. "Now, what do we do about this mess?" she observed the infernal landscape.
"There's only one option, isn't there?" Yao asked.
"... Scorched earth?" Yelena asked with a scowl.
"Yes, this place has been demonized for far too long," Yao explained. One after the other, her fox-clones flashed and appeared behind her before transforming back into her tails. "I've already inscribed the formula. Help me pull out my sorcerers."
Yelena nodded and flew away with her psionic field blanketing the surface. A few minutes later, Yao and Yelena were above the ceiling of the demonized landscape, high enough to get a clear view of the north of the Korean Peninsula.
Two giant magic circles flashed into existence. One was horizontally below Yao, the other vertically behind her. The circles spun until the runes and features blurred, and they took the form of halos. Then North Korea flashed in a silver-white light, akin to that of a star.
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"Ugh, Father~" Seraph complained with a scowl while floating around the still figure of Aragorn. "I had him for a second! Then he pulled a main character move and powered through my divine authority. Totally not fair!"
It had been a day since the fight, and humanity was still reeling back from what they witnessed.
Demons were real, after Aragorn dealt with Mephistopheles, and there was an announcement that the events of the Goblin Force had been originated by infernal intervention; there were some skeptics.
Whether due to religious affiliation, disbelief, denial, or simply because it was an absurd tale too fantastical to swallow for the mundane average Joe and Jane, many believed that demon was a word for a race of aliens or the name of a species that had yet to be defined by science.
And let's not forget that the WSC was initially fueling the propaganda to deface Aragorn Abner, so many of them simply thought of demons as another subspecies of mutants. It didn't help that someone spread a picture of Azazel, a known mutant terrorist who had been Magneto's right hand during his early years in his international terrorist career.
So, when many heard of demons, they imagined a definition that their sensibilities could accept. No one thought of a giant, fat, dark grey-skinned monster towering over most buildings, transforming an entire country into a hellish paradise.
But any misconceptions had been wiped away by the immersive, 4K, 120FPS feed caught from multiple POVs.
"I told you, Seraph, the deities here are not like the ones in 199999," Aragorn patiently replied.
"But still!!!" Seraph bemoaned like a petulant child.
"By the way, Princess," Irina intervened, coaxing Seraph with a sample of flan she had prepared. Seraph immediately perked up at the sight of the dessert.
"Go on, lovely bunny," Seraph happily chirped.
"What was the response?" Irirna asked.
"Let's see," Seraph projected a curved screen with a few articles, videos, and blogs. "From the major news channels, we have:
"The religious side with: Demons on Earth? Has the Bottomless Pit been opened?"
"The political side with: Commies and Demons, all that you need to know of this infernal association!"
"From the perspective of the world powers: North Korea, the first loser of the race for the Sapling of Discord."
"Oh, and Doom's team has already begun publishing some articles about our guy that paint him in an almost divine light. Some are pushing an agenda painting him as a dangerous individual, the usual one about too much power in the hands of a single individual," Seraph explained, projecting forth each category she spoke of.
"The last group belongs to Fury," Aragorn revealed.
"Fury?" Seraph tilted her head. "Is this about controlling the opposition?"
"Mhmm," Aragorn nodded.
The truth was that pushing Doom as the representative of humanity was an ambitious project, one that would displease many of the 1%, to not say all of them.
When Aragorn Abner rose in fame—Aragorn's mortal persona—as an all-powerful, genius, rich, and charming mutant with the appropriate connections and political pull, many were irate.
Suffice it to say that Aragorn received more visits from assassins than days there were in a year.
So, this time, Doom enlisted Fury to run his opposition and to herd the dissenters smartly. It's better to know from where the attack would come, no?
"Also, I found some curious threads," Seraph added before opening one of these threads.
Was it magic or technology? The thread read.
"Uhmm, weren't the runes and the magic circles tell enough?" Irina asked.
"Some skeptics claim that it could all be cloak and dagger," Seraph explained. "Using perceived magical projections to hide groundbreaking tech."
"Using tech to deal with demons? Is this Doomslayer?" Aragorn chuckled. "What about 'Atum'? What's the response about that?"
"That's actually going just as planned," Seraph beamed. "No one suspects I edited the live feed to make Ares look like Atum."
"Won't the influx of faith awake the Godeater?" Irina asked.
Atum, the Godeater, the Demogorge, was Gaea's offspring conceived to deal with the Demon Elder Gods, her brothers and sisters that succumbed to the corruption. While resting, the Godeater sleeps in the Sun.
"Atum is not like other deities in that regard," Aragorn explained. "He can be considered the mutant of the deities."
"Aren't we the mutants of deities?" Irina asked.
"... Maybe, but I see you more as humans turned mutants, turned mutates, and then deities. Atum is a deity that was born a mutant," Aragorn explained.
"By the way, Father," Seraph interjected. "There are some humans interested in learning magic. What do you think about that?"
"Aside from the obvious, like how that's giving a loaded gun to a child?" Aragorn asked.
"Yep," Seraph smiled. "If it had to be done, how would you do it?"
"It depends on the purpose," Aragorn said, pensive. "If it were to grow the magic field, then I would go about as irresponsible as possible. That way, they would try to kill each other and eventually progress the field. Like they have done with warfare."
"What if it were for self-defense?" Irina chimed in.
"Like against demons or in general?" Aragorn asked.
"In general," Irina replied.
"Then I would have them sign several soul geasa with rigorous regulations, to ensure they don't kill each other with it," Aragorn stated. "Probably through [Script]. Why? Are there humans interested in learning magic?"
"Yep, yep," Seraph nodded. "There's this thread about learning magic where users are pooling all data they have about magic or anything remotely related."
"That's a recipe for disaster, no?" Irina scowled. "All it takes is one demon or dark sorcerer dropping a few real tomes and then chaos."
"Actually, I'm filtering all harmful data," Seraph said. "It's mostly rubbish, but I have, as you expected, located a few malign spells and rituals."
"Who would have thought sorcerers would also join the tech movement, huh?" Aragorn said.
"Why?" Seraph asked.
"My image of magic is that it doesn't go well with tech," Aragorn said.
"Eh?" Seraph tilted her head in confusion. "You must be missing the memories of the Imperium, Father."
"No, well, I know what you mean, but I meant it as in my image from my days as Lucian," Aragorn explained.
While Aragorn, Seraph, and Irina went over the outcome of the televised fight, in the Royal Hospital of Latveria, Doom was finally waking up.
"Oh, sleeping beauty is waking up!" Doom heard an annoying voice. "I told you guys, all he needed was the kiss of Prince Charming."
That did it! His eyes snapped open and glared vociously at the annoying voice. "Storm, not even your sister would stop me from killing you if you did!"
"Nobody kissed you, Victor," Cynthia von Doom chuckled from his left.
Doom took a moment to get a grasp of his room. Johnny, Susan, and Ben were surrounding him with worried looks. His mother was not concerned, but he could sense some unrest from her.
"Victor, you worried us," Susan said, her voice cracking slightly. "Could you not ask help from Aragorn?"
"You should have asked that Duchess of yours," Ben Grimm added, referring to Kitty.
Doom took a moment to bask in the emotional support the people around him provided. A deep breath to realize he had achieved his goal and that he had come out of it no worse for wear... Well, almost unscathed, he thought after trying to lift his left arm.
"You'll need a new arm, dude," Johnny said. "But an arm for a demon's life isn't a bad deal, right?"
"Just don't go around trading limbs for demons, you only have three left," Ben chuckled.
"Yeah, think about who would have to wipe your royal asshole if you're left with no arms," Johnny mocked.
"Shut up!" Susan slapped them both on the back of their heads.
"They are a roudy and sweet bunch," Cythia commented.
"Kahahaha! Your favorite Duchess is here!" Kitty called out with aboisterous laughter, coming through a portal.
"Pryde," Doom said, he almost felt like sighing.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't give me any of that, my King!" Kitty waggled an eye at his face. "I brought you a present!"
"What's up, cat?" Johnny raised his hand. "Are you here to bully our demon slayer?"
Kitty high-fived Johnny and said, "Not this time." She pulled a glass container from her storage and gestured to it. "I truly did bring presents."
"What in the name of space tentacles is that?" Johnny asked, fidgeting away.
Inside the glass container, a mass of something metallic black with multiple tendrils could be seen squirming and pulsing.
"The present is appreciated, Pryde," Doom replied, pointing his stump at the container.
"I knew you would accept it." Kitty made the container float towards the stump, and Doom pressed it against the lid of the container.
The substance wriggled towards the lid before it opened and connected to the stump before taking the shape of an arm.
"I imagine you'll grow yourself another limb, but in the meantime, while you play your hero role, you can use this one," Kitty said before turning to Cynthia. "Hello, Roya Mother. Nice to meet you. I'm Duchess Pryde."
"My Goddess," Cynthia bowed her head politely.
"Right, I'm also the Goddess of Laws and Emancipation/Adventure and the ruler of the Cat's Eye System," Kitty introduced herself with a beaming smile.
"Hey, Cat, aren't your titles changing with every introduction?" Johnny asked. "By the way, where's Lena?"
"Well, this old lady has too many titles. If I want to use them all, I must change them," Kitty said. "And Yelena is currently busy cooling North Korea."
As Kitty had said, after North Korea had been 'purified' by Yao's scorching flames, to not heat the planet, Yelena stayed using her powers to cool the land.
And while this was happening, in a faraway galaxy, Jean faced her first challenge in the erasure of the Shi'ar... Their deities came out.
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{A/N:
Please check out my P@treon account! There are already 10 chapters ahead for premium members, which is at least 100,000 words. Premium members also gain access to a new chapter every week.
[email protected]/ExistentialVoid
Free Members get access to all free chapters, and I upload free chapters about 12 hours earlier on P@atreon.}
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