Merno floated silently through the endless expanse of the Negaverse, his radiant form a faint shimmer against the all-consuming negative void. 'I need to visit the 21st soon…' he mused inwardly. 'I still owe Son Gohan that gift.'
He twirled his staff with elegant precision, the ancient artifact humming softly in his grasp. Without warning, a faint but unmistakable pulse rippled through the Negaverse, like a distant heartbeat laced with divine wrath. Merno's teeth gritted sharply.
"Damn it, Morningstar," he growled under his breath and he glanced back into the Negaverse's depths. Nothing yet. But he could feel those golden eyes searching.
The wave of power was subtle yet unmistakable—Lucifer had sensed him. Merno immediately suppressed his angelic presence, folding his immense energy inward until he was little more than a ghost in the dark. With a powerful leap, he surged forward, cutting across the infinite layers of the Negaverse toward its farthest boundary.
In one fluid motion, he sliced through the fabric of the Negaverse's edge and emerged at the dark threshold of the Abyss, where even light feared to linger.
'I need allies,' he thought, his mind racing through possibilities and dangers alike. 'A fragment of Darkseid's true essence might serve… but his primary avatar no longer wanders these depths.' His golden eyes narrowed. 'The Beyonders, perhaps… yet they would demand a price of truly cosmic value in return.'
The thought lingered only a moment before he dismissed it. 'No. Better to secure the sorceress first. She remains sealed in her pocket dimension, and her unique power could prove invaluable before I risk bargaining with such entities.'
With a decisive flourish, Merno spun his staff in a brilliant arc. Pure celestial light erupted from its core, enveloping his form completely. In the next instant, he vanished in a blinding flash, leaving only silence behind in the Abyss.
Merno materialized within the sealed pocket dimension, the lingering traces of his earlier magic still humming faintly in the air. Enchantress sat upright, her breathing ragged but markedly steadier than when he had left her. She clutched the grimoire he had provided with fierce intensity, her eyes devouring its forbidden knowledge as though it were lifeblood.
"You seem better," Merno announced, his voice cutting through the silence.
Enchantress's head snapped toward him with such violent speed that she recoiled in fresh agony, her skin still raw and blistered from the catastrophic backlash of merging primordial Namekian and Kai magics. The moment her gaze registered the angel, her body visibly relaxed. Merno merely smirked.
"To think there would be a being who sighs in relief upon seeing me… I should be flattered."
Enchantress scowled, though the expression lacked its usual venom. "I thought that annoying Destroyer God had found me."
Merno gave a casual shrug and approached, tapping her lightly with the tip of his staff. In an instant, every trace of her suffering vanished—burns, exhaustion, and lingering pain erased as though they had never existed.
She stared at her restored hands, disbelief quickly twisting into sharp indignation. "You could have healed me at any time, yet you chose to let me suffer?"
"I had no further use for you then," Merno replied with another indifferent shrug.
A heavy silence settled between them as Enchantress stretched, testing her newly healed limbs. "So… what do you need from me this time?"
Merno raised an elegant eyebrow. "Do you know if Darkseid is truly defeated?"
She shrugged. "Last I heard, he was sealed away by the Destroyer God—Son Gohan."
"Interesting…" A predatory grin spread across Merno's face. "All I need to do is release the sealed aspect. His true avatar should begin reforming shortly after."
Enchantress turned fully toward him, suspicion darkening her eyes. "You seem to require more assistance than usual. Is there a reason for that?"
"I am being pursued by my equal. He's closer than I'd like. A direct confrontation would leave us both crippled – which is why I'm not going to give him one. I move fast, or I don't move at all."
Enchantress absorbed the revelation and gave a slow nod.
"Alright," she said, her pulse quickening with the boldness of her next words. "But if I'm going to help you, you need to help me first."
Merno's explanation halted mid-sentence. He fixed her with a flat, unreadable stare. For five long seconds, the two locked eyes in tense silence—Enchantress refusing to look away, heart hammering, while Merno assessed her with cool intensity. Then the corner of his mouth twitched upward into a genuine smirk.
"Good," he said, voice laced with quiet approval. "You're finally growing a backbone and learning how to leverage whatever advantages you possess. I was beginning to think you'd remain nothing more than a pawn forever." He exhaled a soft sigh and shrugged. "Very well. Speak. What do you want from me? It had better not be something ridiculous, or I will kill you myself."
A low chuckle escaped Enchantress—not one of pure confidence, but one sharp with the taste of hard-won victory.
"I need you to stabilize my soul essence," she said steadily. "If I attempt to wield Namekian magic alongside Kai magic again, it will tear me apart. This grimoire…" She revealed the ancient tome in her hands. "It's incredible, but it offers no guidance on preventing my mind from shattering or my body from collapsing under the strain. The power has built-in limits I cannot carry alone."
Merno studied her for a moment, then stepped closer. Without ceremony, he brought his staff down against her chest with a heavy, resonant thud—forceful enough to knock her backward. A searing burn erupted through her entire being as a glowing sigil etched itself deep into her soul.
"Now you won't fall apart," he stated casually.
Enchantress smirked through the lingering pain, then tapped her temple. "My mind is still unguarded."
Merno let out a low, appreciative chuckle. "Very smart. You've truly learned."
He tapped her forehead with the staff, the impact snapping her head back slightly. The same intense burning sensation flared across her brow as an identical sigil slowly burned itself into place.
"Now your mind won't fall apart either."
She nodded, the weight of the new protections settling over her like tempered steel.
Merno leaned against the ethereal wall of the pocket dimension, staff resting lightly across his shoulders as he studied Enchantress with a calculating gaze.
"I've already begun thinking of what I need," he said casually. "Three individuals who can provide the necessary force to crack that seal Gohan placed on Darkseid's avatar without me personally doing it. First — the Anti-Monitor. His anti-matter hunger should make short work of divine bindings, even ones forged by a Destroyer God. Second — Yuga Khan. Darkseid's own father carries power that dwarfs most New Gods; he'll ensure the avatar reforms cleanly once the seal fractures, and he'll have access to Darkseid while he is reforming."
Enchantress raised an eyebrow, still testing the new sigils burning steadily in her soul and mind. "And the third?"
Merno's smirk widened. "This one is for me; Michael Demiurgos. Lucifer's twin. He'll be useful for… other complications."
He pushed off the wall, pacing slowly, his tone growing more serious as he peered into his staff. "The 'good protector' gods are already stirring. I can feel a few of them gathering like ants, forming little alliances to ward off anything they deem too powerful. They sense the instability. Without the Grand Presence holding everything in check, the Abyss has become a feast. Consuming entities are having an absolute field day — old resistances are crumbling left and right."
Merno let out a low, mocking cackle, unable to contain his amusement. "But as powerful as they are, they aren't the Grand Presence. Mistakes will be made, and those meaningless lives they care about so much will be lost. Operating on limited information and hubris has always been the weakness of these Destroyer gods — drunk on power and forgetting their authority anchor is no longer present to support their flimsy decisions."
Merno waved a hand with casual elegance, and faint illusory echoes shimmered into existence around them — fractured glimpses of distant, dying realities flickering like broken film reels before he stopped and peered deeper, Enchantress leaned in to watch as well.
The Burrow was warm and lively that quiet autumn evening. Harry Potter sat at the worn kitchen table, his arm draped comfortably around Ginny's shoulders while their three children — James, Albus, and Lily — argued good-naturedly over the last slice of treacle tart. Laughter filled the room, the kind of ordinary, precious laughter that had become Harry's greatest treasure after the war.
Suddenly, every wand in the house hummed at once. The ancient family wards flared bright red, and the old grandfather clock in the corner began spinning wildly, its hands pointing frantically toward "Mortal Peril."
Harry was on his feet in an instant, wand already in hand. "Kids, stay behind me."
Before anyone could react, the air tore open with a sharp crack. Minerva McGonagall appeared in the middle of the kitchen, her face pale and her emerald robes singed at the edges. The Headmistress of Hogwarts looked far older than her years in that moment.
"Potter," she said, voice tight with urgency. "Something is very wrong. The castle's wards just screamed. The same feeling we had months ago — that terrible day when the sky cracked and everything felt like it was falling apart… it's back. Only this time it's worse."
Harry's scar prickled faintly, an old phantom pain. He exchanged a grim look with Ginny. "We need to see it."
They stepped outside into the garden. The night air was unnaturally still. Then the sky began to darken — not with clouds, but with something far more absolute. An impossibly vast shadow slowly blotted out the stars, growing larger and larger until it swallowed the moon itself.
Hovering high above them was a colossal metallic figure, its body crackling with anti-matter energy that made the very fabric of reality bleed at the edges. The Anti-Monitor's glowing eyes burned like dying suns as he looked down upon the wizarding world with cold, indifferent hunger.
From every direction, the magical community responded. Apparition cracks filled the air as hundreds of witches and wizards appeared — Aurors, professors, Order members, even students who had snuck out. Spells of every color lanced upward: Patronuses, Fiendfyre, ancient curses, and powerful transfigurations. The air thundered with shouted incantations as the greatest magical resistance the wizarding world could muster was thrown desperately at the intruder.
The Anti-Monitor didn't even flinch.
Bolts of magic splashed harmlessly against his colossal form, dissolving into harmless sparks of light. Fiendfyre washed over him like water. Even the most forbidden dark arts simply faded into nothing before they could touch him.
The Anti-Monitor's voice rolled across the sky like grinding tectonic plates.
"Your guardian deity is dead, I consumed him. He fought. He failed. Now I have come for the scraps."
He raised one massive hand. A wave of anti-matter energy began to spread downward, slowly but inexorably erasing color and substance from the sky itself.
Harry gripped his wand tighter, heart pounding, as the greatest heroes of the wizarding world continued their futile assault. McGonagall's voice rang out beside him, steady despite the terror in her eyes.
"Potter… whatever that thing is… it's not like anything we've ever faced."
The Anti-Monitor's glowing eyes narrowed slightly as another barrage of powerful spells disintegrated harmlessly against his armor.
"Your resistance is noted," he said, almost dismissively. "But it changes nothing. Your world is next."
Even as the wizarding world faced the devourer directly, the shockwaves of his feast rippled outward across the Abyss — distant tremors that destabilized other realities still clinging to fragile balance.
Central City was unusually quiet that evening. Edward Elric stood on the balcony of the rebuilt military headquarters, arms crossed, staring out over the sprawling capital. Alphonse, now fully restored to his original body, leaned against the railing beside him. Winry was inside with the kids, her laughter occasionally drifting out through the open windows.
The peace had lasted for years now — ever since the Promised Day and the final defeat of Father. Life had slowly returned to something resembling normal. But tonight, something felt… wrong.
It started subtly.
The street lamps flickered in perfect unison, even though there was no wind. Then the transmutation circles etched into the foundational stones of the city began to glow faintly — not with purposeful alchemy, but with erratic, unstable pulses. Somewhere in the distance, a car alarm blared for no reason before dying with a metallic screech.
Ed's golden eyes narrowed. "Al… you feel that?"
Alphonse nodded slowly, his face serious. "The flow of energy is off. It's like the ley lines are… trembling."
A sharp crack split the air. Roy Mustang appeared on the balcony in a burst of flame, his expression grim. Behind him, Riza Hawkeye materialized a second later, pistol already drawn.
"Fullmetal," Mustang said without preamble. "Every alchemist in the city just reported the same thing. The Gate is… restless. The laws of equivalent exchange are fluctuating wildly. Some transmutations are requiring far more than they should. Others are producing backlash for no reason at all."
Ed's automail hand clenched. "This happened once before. Months ago. That day when the sky tore open and it felt like the entire world was coming apart at the seams… then everything suddenly snapped back to normal, like nothing had happened."
Mustang's single eye darkened. "Exactly. We thought it was over. But now it's starting again — only this time it's worse. The ripples are spreading faster."
From inside the building, a young alchemist burst onto the balcony, pale and breathless. "General! The research labs just lost containment! The Philosopher's Stone fragments we were studying… they're dissolving on their own. And the Gate — it's screaming."
Alphonse closed his eyes for a moment, reaching out with his senses the way he had learned to do after years of studying the deeper currents of alchemy. When he opened them again, his face was unusually pale.
"Brother… something happened to the guardian."
Ed turned sharply. "Guardian? What are you talking about?"
Alphonse hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "After I lost my body… when I was trapped on the other side of the Gate, I didn't just see Truth. I met something else. A presence that existed beyond it. It never gave me a name, but it spoke to me. It told me that the God sustaining all of existence — the one holding countless universes together across distances mortal minds can't even comprehend — had either died or simply left. That's why everything started falling apart. The laws of reality began to unravel on a scale far beyond our world."
He swallowed, his voice growing quieter, heavier. "A few months ago, during that first catastrophe — when the sky tore open and it felt like the whole world was coming apart — the being came back to me. It said it couldn't keep sustaining even our small corner of existence much longer. It told me it was going to offer itself up in one final equivalent exchange… sacrificing its own existence to stabilize our universe and pull everything back together. It could only save our world. Everything else outside our reality would fall away into nothingness. It wanted at least one living soul to know the truth, so that when the time came, someone would understand what had really happened. We're all that's left."
Alphonse's hands clenched at his sides. "That's why everything suddenly went back to normal that day. The guardian is gone now. We're standing on borrowed time — a universe with no one left to hold it together."
Ed's face twisted with fury. His golden eyes blazed as he stared at his brother, voice rising sharply.
"You knew?!"
The words came out like a gunshot. Ed took a furious step forward, automail fist clenched so tightly the metal groaned.
"You knew our entire universe was being held together by some… some guardian that was about to die, and you didn't say a single damn word?! Not to me, not to Mustang, not to anyone?! This isn't some personal secret, Al — this is the whole world! Our reality could've collapsed at any moment and you just… sat on it?!"
Ed's breathing was ragged, anger and betrayal mixing heavily in his chest. "We've been living like everything was fine while the foundation of existence was rotting away, and you decided — what? That we didn't need to know? That it would be better if I stayed in the dark?!"
Alphonse flinched, guilt flashing across his face, but he didn't look away. "I… I didn't want to cause panic. The being asked me to wait until the time was right. I thought… I hoped it wouldn't come to this."
"Hope?!" Ed snapped, voice cracking with raw emotion. "We're alchemists, Al! We don't get to 'hope' when the laws of reality are falling apart! This changes everything!"
He paused, breathing hard, then his eyes narrowed as a new, urgent thought hit him.
"Wait — if that being gave itself up in equivalent exchange to stabilize our world… why the hell is everything falling apart again now? Shouldn't the exchange have kept us safe? Shouldn't it have held?"
Roy Mustang, who had been listening in silence with a cigarette burning between his fingers, finally spoke. His voice was low and edged with bitter calculation.
"Because the exchange only patched our universe, Fullmetal. It bought us time, nothing more." He took a slow drag, exhaling smoke that curled unnaturally in the disturbed air. "With no supposed guardian left to maintain the balance, we're exposed. If something that vast could die or leave… then perhaps other things out there are finally noticing us. Things that were previously kept at bay. And now, with the walls thinning, they're looking straight at us."
Riza Hawkeye's hand tightened on the grip of her pistol, her expression cold and focused. "That would explain a lot. We're no longer hidden. We're just… prey waiting to be seen."
Winry stepped out onto the balcony, wiping her hands on a rag, her face tight with concern. "Hey, what's going on out here? I could hear shouting from the kitchen."
No one answered her immediately. The adults were too wrapped up in the gravity of the moment, their eyes fixed on the increasingly unstable sky.
Winry's expression shifted from concern to clear irritation. She planted her hands on her hips, voice rising sharply.
"Excuse me? Don't just stand there ignoring me like I'm one of the kids! I live here too, and I'm part of this family. If something this serious is happening, you don't get to shut me out!"
Ed flinched, the heat of his anger toward Al momentarily interrupted. "Winry, it's—"
"No," she cut him off firmly, though worry still flickered in her eyes. "I'm not some fragile civilian you have to protect from the truth. After everything we've been through, I deserve to know what's going on."
The group eyed each other wearily before Edward began his explanation.
The sky above Central City began to warp subtly, colors bleeding at the edges like wet paint. Buildings groaned as if under invisible pressure. In the distance, a transmutation circle on a nearby tower flared violently before collapsing into black ash.
Mustang lit a cigarette with a steady hand, though his voice betrayed the tension. "Whatever is coming… it's not something we can fight with alchemy alone. But we've beaten gods and monsters before. We'll find a way."
Ed cracked his knuckles, golden eyes burning with determination. "Damn right we will. But first… we need to figure out what the hell is eating away at the foundation of our world."
Far away, though separated by incomprehensible distances within the Abyss, the distant echoes of universes being consumed were beginning to leak through. The Anti-Monitor was still busy devouring the wizarding world, but the shockwaves of his feast were already rippling outward — destabilizing realities that had lost their anchors.
Enchantress watched the visions for a moment, her expression unchanging as fractured realities flickered and died in the illusory echoes. She twisted her neck with a sharp crack.
"The strong consume the weak. I've seen it before." Her eyes lifted to Merno. "What exactly do you need me to do?"
Merno's lips curved into a matching, predatory smile at her casual cruelty.
"I need you to return to the 21st and be my eyes," his voice smooth but laced with command. "With the enhancements I gave you, hiding yourself should be child's play now. However…" He paused, his gaze sharpening. "Should you try anything foolish, my younger brother will notice immediately. Not even I can fully hide from his staff if I leak even a trace of power in that universe. You, on the other hand… you're far weaker and far less important. That works in your favor."
Enchantress crossed her arms, irritation flickering across her face, but she kept her mouth shut.
"I can only take you as far as the edge of the 21st," Merno continued. "After that, you'll be completely on your own."
She nodded slowly, but a practical concern quickly surfaced. "If I need to contact you, how am I supposed to do it without announcing my presence? Any burst of magic will be like lighting a beacon."
Merno gave a small nod, as if he had been expecting the question. He reached into the folds of his radiant form and produced a small, unassuming object. "This is for you. It's linked directly to my staff through the Sixth Dimension — it completely bypasses conventional magic. To use it safely, you'll need to combine both Kai and Namekian magic. Small, localized wishes only. Nothing flashy."
He studied her carefully. "I assume you read the entire grimoire? You understand the spell I'm referring to?"
Enchantress gave a slow, reluctant nod.
"I can only cast it if the two magics don't reject me again," she said, her voice tight. "And if that happens inside the 21st… I'll be as good as dead."
Merno shrugged, utterly unconcerned. "Do you not trust me?"
Her expression went completely flat. "No. Not unless you can guarantee my escape. I've seen what you do to people once they stop being useful."
Merno let out a soft, almost amused sigh. "Fine." He tossed her a small, sleek button. "This is a one-way emergency conduit. Press it, and it will violently rip you back to me."
"Violently?" she repeated, eyeing the device with clear suspicion.
"Oh, relax," Merno said, waving a hand dismissively. "When I say 'violent,' I mean my staff will force whatever is holding you to release its grip and pull you straight to me. If the restraint is particularly strong, it may drain some of my own power in the process. Satisfied?"
Enchantress tested the button cautiously. The moment she pressed it, Merno's staff glowed with a soft light. A pulling force wrapped around her, yanking her forward until she stumbled directly into the angel's arms.
Merno glanced down at her with mild annoyance. She quickly stepped back, brushing herself off. "Good. I just had to be sure."
Merno turned away, raising his staff in a fluid motion. A horizontal, rainbow-colored rift tore open in the fabric of the pocket dimension, shimmering with iridescent light.
"We're leaving," he said curtly. "I have to drop you off and set the rest of my plan into motion."