The remaining heroes continued through the fortress, trying to get to the center. “How much further?” asked Royal.
“Can’t tell,” sighed Kaitlyn in her Rider persona of Spark. “Dammit, and it’s almost time!”
“We can’t speed up, we can’t slow down,” grumbled Yufantel, “what do we do?!”
“Die!” came a voice. A wall separated the Realmers from the Riders.
“HEY! OPEN UP THERE!” called Arsha.
“Don’t bother, diluter of the bloodline!” snarled the voice. Everyone whirled around to see Intrag with Combatmen.
“Diluter?!” snapped Malnar. “The Emboramii bloodline’s still thick, thank you very much!”
“You mated with Out-realmers! You betray the Emboramii bloodline!”
“By the now mortal Ones, will you shut up about that?!” With that, everyone attacked. Intrag then swung his sword and threw everyone back. He stomped over to Arsha.
“In my day, people like you knew their place under my heel. They didn’t rule anything, they knew their position was as a servant race.”
“Screw…you!” hissed Arsha. Intrag grabbed Arsha by the throat and started squeezing.
“Everyone had best learn their place real quick,” he warned, “or this thing you care about dies!”
“YOU GET OFF MOM NOW!” shouted Geltar. She, Farmee, and Yufantel leapt onto Intrag.
“GET OFF ME, YOU HYBRID WORMS!” he shouted. He threw them off, then jabbed his sword into the ground. The floor then wrapped itself around the three Royana kids. “…The traitor said the Divine Ones were now mortal,” he chuckled. “That means their pathetic rules shackle me no more!” He slammed a fist into Geltar’s ribs, breaking them. He then grabbed Farmee by the hair. “They masquerade as the fiercest dragons of the Realms, but are mere toothless worms!” He slammed Farmee’s head to the floor. He then grabbed Yufantel’s arm. “It is the end of all things. An apocalypse on such an unimaginable scale!”
“Stop!” groaned Yufantel. Intrag then kicked Yufantel’s arm in a way that broke it. She howled in pain. Arsha and her spouses picked themselves up and were stumbling towards Intrag. He simply summoned energy spheres and threw them at the Royals, shocking them and knocking them back down.
“Your time has passed,” he said. “This age was spent in foolish resistance. Now is the dawn of a new era.” He then heard the kids say something in the usual magic language. “…Yes, children, pray to the worms. Pray…as your world ends!” He swung his sword down…then he was knocked back by an energy dome that suddenly surrounded the kids. The three of them were then healed, revitalized, and surrounded by an aura that flashed with all the colors of the Divine Ones. Arsha and Dr. Borg goggled.
“…You passed on the Champion’s Aura to your children?” asked Dr. Borg.
“I thought it was lost forever after we won the Final War,” replied Arsha.
“Champion’s Aura?! IMPOSSIBLE!” argued Intrag. He swung his sword at Yufantel, then she grabbed the sword with her formerly broken arm. Geltar stood up as if her ribs didn’t get broken and Farmee assumed a fighting stance with no wobbling.
“…That sword,” observed Farmee, “the shards that came from its forging were used to make the Talkwen Stone, yes?”
“True, but why talk about that rock?!” snapped Intrag.
“That’s all I wanna know!” cheered Farmee.
“Brother, sister, shall we?” asked Yufantel. The three of them grabbed the sword, then channeled energy through it into Intrag. The energy threw him back into a wall hard. He slid down…and felt something at the edge of his mouth. He touched the affected area, pulled his hand back…and saw that it was blood.
“…Impossible!” he breathed, a nasty thought forming in his mind.
“The Talkwen Stone stole the Divine and Titan mana from our bodies,” recalled Dr. Borg. “It rendered us mortal, giving Arsha enough time to land the killing blow. If a Champion’s Aura could alter the initial materials it came from to render any form of immortality granted by means outside our universe…”
“Bingo!” confirmed Geltar. “It can do the job of rendering a guy mortal and vulnerable to physical attacks!”
“Now’s our chance!” called Malnar. Intrag still had his beastly strength, so he tore down a wall and threw it at the heroes.
“HE’S GETTING AWAY!” called Endea.
“No, he’s NOT!” snarled Glanthel. “I’ve got a scanner lock on him! Follow me! Let’s finish this!” Everyone charged after Intrag.
While the fight was going on, Royal and her friends were pounding on the wall. “ARSHA! ARSHA, CAN YOU HEAR-?!” A Dalek gunstick then fired at Royal, making her scream and collapse to the floor. Thanks to her immortality, she wasn’t dead. Emily in her Rider persona of Touché checked Megumi over.
“Your organs are unscrambling themselves,” she said, “but it’s gonna be painful.”
“I’ve noticed!” gasped Royal.
“I just needed to cause pain,” said Ex’s voice as she and her fellows stepped into the room.
“You’re losing, Ex!” snapped Death.
“I think you’ll find I’m still winning, even after all these setbacks!” retorted Ex.
“No more talking! DAI SUPER CHARGE!” shouted Hiro in his Rider persona of Rogue. His armor then changed into its final form and he became Rift while charging at Ex.
“HIRO, NO!” called Royal. Rift charged at Ex with his weapon out, but she side-stepped and fired on him. Rift collapsed in pain.
“As stupid as Igura was,” snarked Ex.
“Oh, come on, Boss!” complained Katie in her Rider persona of Glam. “Let’s just deal with these nitwits quickly!”
“The dame’s right,” agreed Captain Don Shinobi in his Rider persona of Threat.
“Yes, she is,” agreed Ex.
“YOU WON’T WIN!” shouted Spark as she attacked.
“KAITLYN, STOP!” called Royal. But Spark DIDN’T stop. She decked Ex.
“Bah! Insect!” snapped Ex when she recovered. That…was when ten streams of light appeared from nowhere and surrounded Spark. “What the?” asked Ex. The streams of light circled Spark, then floated in front of her and formed a strange device with all the Sources in a circle. It looked like it could fit over her belt!
“…Nothing ventured, nothing gained!” said Spark. She then grabbed the device and slotted it over her belt. She then tapped each Source and then a crown with the Sources appeared on her head with her skirt gaining a long train in the colors of the Sources. Gauntlets appeared with the Sources of Life and Death, then her calves were armored with the Sources of War and Peace. Her shoulders gained pauldrons with the Sources of Pestilence and Health and her torso was adorned with the remaining Sources of Famine, Bounty, Order, and Chaos.
“Primal Spark!” announced the device.
“Wh-What the?!” spluttered Spark. “How did-?!”
“Of course!” breathed Death. “Kaitlyn has always understood that all ten of us are necessary! She uses all of them in her daily life! That’s how she stays sane!”
“It doesn’t matter!” snapped Glam. “I’ll beat her and show her that she made a mistake in resisting me!” Glam charged forward, then Spark slammed her fists into Glam’s torso. The Sources on her gauntlets glowed and projected an energy wave that knocked Glam into a wall. Death then got a notification on her smartwatch and checked it.
“…I don’t believe it!” she whispered.
“What is it?” asked Royal.
“Megumi, your daughter…has made Katie Barker mortal!”
“YOU LIE!” barked Ex.
“She…She doesn’t!” gasped Gi in her Rider persona of Adaptus.
“…I can make the immortal…mortal?!” realized Spark. She then clenched her fists. “Round 2!” She then went on the offensive, dodging enemy attacks. Benjamin, in his Rider persona of Tombstone, fired his gun, but Spark rolled out of the way. She then tested something with just striking with one fist. Nothing happened. “Gotta use both, huh? Makes sense.” She then drove both her fists into Tombstone and rendered him mortal. This went on and on until every single member of the enemy’s army was mortal. “NOW’S OUR CHANCE!” called Spark. She then pressed the crystal in the center of her belt as Rift pushed the wings of his belt down while Royal posed spun the wheel on her belt twice.
“DAI SUPER CHARGE!” She shouted. She became Vortex and spun the wheel again.
“Final Attack!” it announced. The three Riders leapt into the air.
“RIDER PRIMAL SPARK KICK!” called Spark
“RIDER RIFT KICK!”
“RIDER VORTEX KICK!” The energy of the three Rider Kicks caused tremendous feedback when they struck Adaptus, Tombstone, and Erika that it spread out to all enemy Riders. Everyone collapsed, then Death swung her arm scythes. Erika, Captain Don Shinobi, Auriella, Cyber-Priestess Gi, Benjamin, and Phury had expired. Katie and Metaltron, having been merely knocked out of their transformations, groaned and picked themselves up. Katie saw Auriella’s body.
“AURIELLA!” she wailed. She tried waking her up, but it was no good. Metaltron then grabbed Katie. “NO! WE HAVE TO-!”
“WE CAN’T!” argued Metaltron. “WE’VE LOST TOO MANY! WE’LL RESSURECT HER AND OUR FALLEN COMRADES WHEN WE START THE NEW MULTIVERSE! LET’S GO!” She pulled Katie away from the battlefield at high speed.
“QUICK! AFTER HER!” called Spark. The heroes then rushed after the two villains.