The battlefield got very quiet after a while, the shadow legion hunted every last one of the enemy, the army of the monarch of the monstrous humanoids were no more.
Arthur approached a structure that had just been built, at first glance, it looked like a war tent, but that description barely held. It stood at the center of the battlefield, it stretched and anchored by pillars. Dark banners hung from its edges, each one bearing the insignia of the Shadow Monarch.
Two lines of shadow Heavenly soldiers stood at attention on either side of the entrance, unmoving, their presence forming a silent corridor leading inward. And at the center, just before the entrance,
Beru knelt,
The moment Arthur came into view, the ant marshal lowered his head further, one claw pressed to the ground.
"My liege," Beru said, his voice carrying that familiar reverence of his. "I realize this structure may fall short of what is worthy of your greatness… but I have prepared it to the best of my ability. I hope it pleases you."
There was pride in his work, something crafted with absolute devotion.
A step to the side, Galatea stood with her arms crossed, her weight shifted onto one leg as she looked at the structure with disinterest.
"Ugh," she muttered, not even bothering to lower her voice. "This ant really outdid himself this time… and I don't mean that as a compliment."
Her eyes flicked toward Beru briefly before returning forward, unimpressed.
Arthur didn't react to either of them.
He simply stopped in front of the entrance, his gaze lifting slightly as he took in the scale of the structure, then he gave a small nod.
"It's overkill," he said calmly. "But it'll do."
Beru's head dipped slightly lower, clearly taking the words as approval despite their bluntness.
Galatea let out a quiet huff as Arthur stepped past them, falling into stride behind him without another word. Beru rose immediately after, following just a step behind, he was unmistakably pleased.
Crossing the threshold felt like stepping into another world.
The interior was vast, far larger than the outside suggested, pillars lined the interior, and at the center stood a massive war table, carved from dark stone, it wasn't static, its surface shifted and moved, terrain forming and reforming in real time, reflecting the battlefield outside and beyond. Markers of violet light represented the Shadow Legion.
Around the table stood the Marshals.
Bellion stood at the far side, his posture straight, his blade resting calmly at his side as his sharp gaze studied the shifting map. H'El stood slightly apart, arms behind his back, his expression composed. Ultra stood closer to the table, his glowing eyes flickering faintly as he observed the terrain. And Doom..
Doom's massive form crouched slightly, his glowing eyes tracked Arthur the moment he entered, but he made no sound, no movement beyond that subtle shift of attention.
Arthur walked forward without hesitation approachinh the table. His gaze moved across each of them, he came to a stop at the head of the table.
For a moment, no one spoke, every presence inside understood that something important was about to be said.
For a long moment, Arthur said nothing.
Then Arthur's voice broke the silence,
"We're not done yet here."
His eyes shifted briefly to the map,
"The Chaos World…"
His voice wasn't loud,
"…is a grave."
The words settled heavily, drawing every eye toward him.
Arthur lifted his gaze slightly, not to meet his Marshals just yet, but to look past them, as if he were seeing something far beyond the tent, beyond the battlefield, beyond even the present.
"Even though some remnants of the Monarchs' armies can be still found, there is no life here," he continued. "Not even the smallest trace of it. No grass. No water. No growth. Nothing that belongs to a living world."
"This place is what remains after war has taken everything… and still refuses to end after an eternity."
Bellion's posture straightened further, his grip tightening ever so slightly on the hilt at his side.
Arthur finally looked at them.
"All of its denizens," he said, "without exception… are remnants."
The word lingered.
"Fragments of armies that lost a fight."
He paused, letting that settle before continuing.
"They fought. They fell. And instead of being allowed to end… they were taken."
A subtle tension crept into his voice now;
"They are forever bound."
His fingers curled slightly against the edge of the table.
"Captured by the Rulers, forced to exist, forced to fight again and again, for a war that should have ended long ago, the Rulers are also a big part of the problem."
"For an uncountable number of years," Arthur said quietly. "They have been dragged through cycles they never chose and battles they never escaped. I do somewhat pity them, these races... never really had a choice to begin with."
He exhaled slowly.
"There is nothing honorable left in that sort of cycle, Ashborn himself almost forgot the reason of his whole fight, his reason for battle.. Because he got tired, of this endless struggle, and I'm not planning to prolong it either."
The words cut deeper than any blade.
Around him, his Marshals remained silent, but their reactions were there in the smallest details. Bellion's gaze lowered slightly, in acknowledgment and memory. Even Doom, crouched in his usual stillness, seemed to shift faintly, as if something in Arthur's words resonated even within him.
Arthur's gaze moved across them, steady and unwavering.
"We are not here to continue that cycle. We are here to end it."
"There is no victory in prolonging this," he continued. "No glory in dragging out a war that has already destroyed everything it touched."
Arthur's gaze drifted again, not to the map this time, but somewhere distant.
"We will remain here a while longer before we head out to the Dimensional Crack where some of the Monarchs hide," he said. "Long enough to be certain… that nothing remains here."
There was a faint pause before he added, quietly.
"I have no intention of returning to this place… Every second I spend here," he continued, "reminds me of what this war has become."
A flicker of something crossed his expression, gone almost as quickly as it appeared.
Disgust, at the history of the conflict.
"At all of it."
His hand tightened briefly against the table before relaxing again.
"This… endless repetition. The same battles. The same outcomes, over and over again."
He exhaled quietly.
"I'm done with it."
For a moment, no one spoke, because they understood the task at hand.
Bellion was the first to move, stepping forward slightly,
"Then we will see it through to the end, my king."
Ultra followed with a small nod, his tone steady.
"We will give this world the mercy it deserves."
Galateal's gaze sharpened,
"We will ensure the cycle breaks my king."
Arthur looked at them one last time, the violet glow in his eyes intensified.
"Good, because I have faith in all of you."
There was a sense of direction that went beyond victory, this wasn't about winning anymore, it was about ending it.
****
EARTH - GOTHAM
A Gate appeared in the middle of Gotham, illuminated by the flashing red and blue of emergency lights scattered along the perimeter. Military vehicles, containment units, and a handful of hastily assembled barriers marked the area, holding back a growing crowd at a safe distance.
Supergirl stepped out of it, her boots cracking what little intact ground remained beneath her. Her cape settled behind her in a slow motion, stained darker than usual, streaked with grime and something far less clean.
In one hand, she dragged a corpse.
It was enormous. The creature's body scraped across the ground with a grinding sound, its grayish skin rough like stone, its limbs far too large to belong to anything that should exist on Earth. Its face was frozen in a scream, massive tusks jutting from its jaw, one of them shattered clean in half. Even in death, it looked like it could level buildings.
Kara didn't struggle with it. But she didn't make it look easy either, behind her, a group of men and women stumbled out of where the gate had been moments before. Their armor was mismatched, some pieces modern, others clearly designed for this. A few clutched weapons that still faintly glowed with residual magic. They looked exhausted. Shaken but alive.
These are the Hunters, the newly awakened.
They watched Kara with awe, like they still hadn't fully processed what they had just survived and witnessed.
One of them dropped to a knee, breathing hard. Another leaned against a broken concrete slab, hands trembling slightly. None of them spoke.
They didn't need to, because the giant alone said enough.
Kara didn't look back at them. Instead, she gave the corpse one final pull before letting it drop.
It hit the ground with a thunderous thump, the impact sending a small tremor through the already fractured street.
That was when he stepped forward.
Batman had been there the entire time, the white lenses of his cowl flicked briefly from the corpse… to Kara.
He took in everything in a single glance. The blood. The damage. The state of the hunters behind her. And her.
Kara rolled her shoulder slightly, only then did she glance in his direction.
"That's the last of it," she said, her voice steady, though quieter than usual. "Gate's cleared."
She nudged the giant's corpse lightly with her foot, like she was confirming it was really done.
"This thing was the boss, big, ugly, hits like a truck… almost killed some of those idiots." she added, a faint exhale escaping her as she brushed a strand of hair back, only managing to smear a bit more blood along her head. "Might be something useful in there. Materials, cores… whatever these things leave behind."
Batman's gaze shifted briefly past her again, toward the hunters. One of them met his eyes for half a second before looking away, straightening instinctively.
"They survived, how did they do?" he said finally.
Kara glanced over her shoulder this time, her expression tightening just slightly.
"Barely," she admitted. "They're not bad. Not for their first real run... but they're not ready."
Her eyes hardened a fraction.
"They would've died in there without me."
Batman studied her for a moment longer, his voice lowering when he spoke again.
"Are you upset, Kara?"
Kara blinked once, caught off guard, not by the question itself, but by the way it was asked.
She looked away briefly, exhaling through her nose as she rubbed the back of her neck. For a second, the weight she carried inside the gate seemed to linger on her shoulders.
"No," she said at first.
Then, after a beat
"Not really."
Her tone softened, just a little.
"…Just tired."
She glanced down at herself, at the state of her suit, the dried blood clinging to it, the faint smell that even she couldn't ignore.
A small, almost amused breath left her.
"I'm gonna go home," she said, a hint of her usual lightness creeping back in. "Take a shower. I smell like I lost a fight with a slaughterhouse."
Batman could respond, she bent her knees slightly, then lifted off.
The ground cracked again beneath the force, dust scattering outward as she shot into the sky in a blur of red and blue. Within seconds, she was nothing more than a streak against the fading light… and then she was gone.
Batman remained where he was, his gaze lingered on the empty sky for a moment longer than necessary. Then it shifted, back to the hunters being escorted away, to the corpse of the giant lying broken at his feet.
Everything was changing, faster than anyone could control.
/-\
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