The ground, the empty disintegrate of this wide scorched pit, baking with a fire that could not last. But burning itself in as hard as it could. The air was dry, fried crisp, and wavering in its refraction. That thunderous pillar of light and sound had been quieted down to just an image imprinted, and a tone still ringing every bone and trunk for miles in all directions. Its duty had been fulfilled.

Glutinously stolen power, ripped apart souls for lack of better terminology, too much energy to just outlast with opposing strength and skill. A brilliant bulk of it all given back to the world. Given a peace, a heaven to go to all their own. To release to entropy and shine away. Whether this feat was enough had yet to be determined, but that opposing strength and skill wasn't going to delay their exacting of justice.

The drone of vertical jets filled in the space left over, their cargo deposited and their own duties done. The swath of colors and revenge bound faces converging on the lip of that vast dust bowl, right behind Aegis and Seth landing down to take their places in this only just forming assault. Those faces, those new heroes who had seen him as pretender and competition in one. Fellow challenged and questioned in another. Too many competing views all boiled away now. As all they saw now was a monster. One they were conscripted and brought to counter. Prove the worth they'd showed when he had made a stain of their struggles. The pain and turmoil his revealed existence caused now felt in full.

Alongside barely placated veterans, seeing the monster they though to only ever see again in their nightmares. Undeserving of existence for but one moment more. Their own hardships just as varied and caustic. Sadness and loss in timescales the same. Hate and begrudgment meeting his slit eye offered. So just the same old same old. Just more for Seth to take in stride.

The lightest and yet most scarred hefting to take the place beside him. Massive sword and massive ego tempered both. The hard edges remained, he had taken from her a friend and that was not easily washed away. Not that he would ever seek to. But she had been given anew a closer one, that stared in its own way through vibratory air and whispered word finally heard. Not blaming him for the missing arm that she sought to sidle up beside him with. But Buster and her sword would not be placated so easy by the realities they both knew now.

A reality paired in darkened focus and held back hate, holding a more regretted facet. That brief moment of comradery over a shared lunch and respectful demeanor. All of it burned away. Forgotten. But stayed of hand as Kaz held his place by his father's side. The already met and known hate doing its best to keep a peace that he knew would break with just one word. Too much emotion expressed to dare say sorry. His wife, his mother, taken by the monsters his family became. The same that he had pressed away and driven. Forgiveness wasn't what he would ever receive, and he knew it.

A different peace hard pressed on the other side, a quartet of eyes in varying states all locking on their former comrade turned monstrosity they knew too. Maya's the brightest and hardest to avoid, demanding he take from her and leave the rest out of even his sight. As he had already with her brother in that same countermeasure drive. But they didn't know that yet. They shouldn't. It was all a failed gambit anyway, as David fought forward against himself and the slightest penitent glance. A still beaten in fear soaking him to the bone and threatening to light on fire like nitrous to a campfire. His father lost to the whole rather than any cause he could claim. But still this was overwhelm.

'Why the hell did he get dragged out here?'

'Because he's braver than he looks.'

Aegis had found her mental voice, or Seth had just been too starved for an inner audience. Either way, the connection still held. And fears were taken in with brighter outlook. Because Aegis was better knowing than he was. So she could counter the dour of their place in this.

Zeleny keeping close with her own, but the outlook was more outward than personal. She was insulated, far and away. But something had happened while Seth was gone, given how Jacob added to Maya's dissuading glare in a way too similar fashion. He had taken from both their trusted mentors, but this was far closer. They both had something, someone to defend as well.

'You'd be surprised how common stuff like that happ-'

Aegis catching herself mid internal banter. Side eying the culprit damn near influencing her thoughts by simple proximity and a metaphysical connection that had paid dividends. And would be needed should the worst come. Still, her glare was in common. Especially with the fiery portion taking up the rear, but with added on revenge turning glares to death.

Kabar keeping lowest, but hardly without shine. Seth didn't really know if he saw him as a rival or just didn't like him after the midterm disparity. But condemnation filled in for the unknown. Nothing taken but maybe pride. Unless he tallied Hot's death on to him by his own unknowns. A blaring sentiment shared with his fellow fires flanking, Cauterizer the hottest with hands flaring to white just to add to his ward off. More bluster at losing and not knowing what the hell he was with any certainty. But Phoenix Tech, barely a match, carried the blame to level. Leaving only the last in line to darken the rest in more than abstract metaphor.

The chosen of Zeus, whose son had been forced to learn empathy at last. Shining torrential with built up power, with a sonorous call to action only he could hear. A judgmental hymn of energy gathered to his will, to his vengeance for his own flesh and blood. But deferred at the last moment from under that golden rueful glare. Because, one electric to another, he knew that Seth was not the more deserving monster here. At least he could heal Ohm afterward to make this point stay. Because his target still lived for him to bury alive.

The crater below them all boiled like it was steaming away what humidity was left in it. Upward drafts roiling dust to billow, the heat of that gargantuan lightning rod still glowing its center to glassy concentric rivers. But Seth could still see what this cloud hid. He could still feel Resent in that roiling center. Just like the heroes marching up to the lip aside him. A line up too ingrained in their pride, too necessary to not face this terror down, and see this result for themselves. Even if it meant they were not spared from what laid ahead. What still stood ahead of them.

The clouds diminished, the heat stolen away by this broken open matter. The sole figure of their focus flickering in the mirage and waves of what heat remained. The light of midday up and away, filtering through the clouded arena created by this crater's creation. Glimmering the plates and paling the remainder of its creator for the rest to know. Its form crooked, slumped, the lichtspeer that had pierced it long dissipated yet still hunching it as if still skewered through. But despite its state…

Both were far from dead.

That gaunted frame inside, that stolen body, that wreathing ooze, and those burning red eyes. It was still in there, still holding greedily to Para, keeping him alive and keeping him down. But the damage was clear. No more sun to rend apart this material world, no more gravity to exact its pull. Just a malformed consciousness wrapped around an idiot too stubborn to take what he'd been owed.

For denying him even the modest amount of respect in what he'd bared. In what he'd been pushed to break. In what he'd been thrown against time and again to no fan fair but at his expense. He'd deserved worse in Seth's mind, but he couldn't hold that. Because he didn't know what was his own justice, and what was blackened mark on his mind from both of their machinations combined. Now though, they were both together to bear the weight of their crimes.

But this… this was not Seth's fight alone. Not his condemnation alone. He had his own duties to uphold. His part to play. And that meant stepping back and letting the League have their pound of flesh. Let them see what he has fought against in its highest form.

Triumphant heavy plate mail and kevlar and sandal alike taking their places. Titanic steps putting all in line on the edge of the abyss now made real. A kindred fire burning every heart enjoining, evaporating back fear where it tried to dampen and weigh down. A true line of heroes wanting for nothing but to avenge those taken from them. Fire and heat, water and concrete, ice and light and electrical strike. And sword after sword after sword called to cut back this rot. All held harsh, tightened in grips and in veins, around points and aloft. A varied menagerie of colorful death, of elemental destruction, of skilled evisceration, of revenge for the fallen both recent and past. And all of it waiting for the one thing holding it all back. That flaming molten blade of signified command.

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All could feel its weight, its tension, its ripple, its form. The underslung buzz of the air and tensing prickle was its ignition. The shared feelings and enflamed hearts its commanding presence. Interlocking their fury as just more proof that he was their leader. That he was the strongest one here willing to carry that mantle. And he needed to have his peace heard for all to know this fury genuine and justified. That they were going to allow this abomination-

"NO MORE!!!"

"No more... shall you threaten this world!! No more... shall you escape the judgment you are due!!

"You have taken enough from us!! Enough of our friends!! Enough of our comrades!! ENOUGH!!!

"You will die this day!!!"

Those plated boots cracked the lip backing away under them.

"You will pay for what you have done!!!"

The Eschenwald rippling like before, but staying it molten self. Smoke and fire flaring from its volcanic awakening.

"You will suffer for every crime unjustly wrought upon this once peaceful world!!!"

And both hands found their seats as it rose high on Erdwut's shoulder, the flaming beacon of vengeance for all to see and follow.

"And we will be forever done with the hell that bore you!!!

"ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!"

The ground, the air, all snapping to melt to ejecta! As that mountain of earthen fury burst forward into the open air below! No stops, no compensation, no more holding back for others' sake and others' need! Not that this fury was alone anymore. The other Elite, old and honorary, burst into line, burst their own lips to blackened back blast! Four swords in unison now, equal in this condemnation and hell bent on its exaction!

Then broke the rest! Flyers paired exploding up, rainbow flames and streaking green. The brand new heroes throwing themselves into the thick of this charge, kicking back their own marks and grouping close with their teams. The veteran cohort kicking off with their revenge and duties, electrical bursts and held back readiness adding themselves to this grand display. This mass call to war! This once more into the fray!

Those plated boots slammed down with gravity's denial of Erd's flight, but it did not stop their molten path. Dust and chunks! Empty, wasted, and pushed about in drifts! All were crunched and melted and glassed apart! The dazzle and shimmer reflecting in brief, as that dust caked all billowed to contrail! The rest of the force following in kind, following the line becoming a heart seeking chevron, the tip of their own spear more earthly. Water and fire, stone and electric charge, every power blaring and roiling and accepting no peace on offer! That burning leading edge guiding this stampede of vengeance to its only destination! A flag of fire and volcanic soot to rally around and follow into the breach!

The distance, that crater disappearing in a wake of dust kicked skyward and terminal velocity accelerating further. Wrath and fury too locked and shared to keep track and worry. And that burning flag too bright to see anything but its unsheathing gleam. As billow and smoke became unbroken light! That metallic core rising over this hardened glass battlefield, signaling its ultimate place in putting this hell to rest! The hell now too close to ignore, too close not to feel it and want for nothing but it end!

That gleam, that guide pulling deeper into his shoulder. Those plated boots chipping ruts into the glistering black below. Momentum shifting, a massive swing set, the strike to end this abomination and make it feel the pain felt by all here. Cleaving flash, armor and flesh gone in sweeping take. A glistering burn to open the salvo. As the spear tip buckled around his terminal point to crush this thing between all of their might.

Buster flanking right with her own slab of metal swinging round in the one hand she was left with. Coming down on that bisected torso to cave it to ground. Twisting armor inward before cutting microscopic, oscillation still too biting to be stopped. Yet widening in its tacit words yelled to only her, reeling out of the light!

As twined swords in their own unison slid into battery on the left. Makani Samurai and Shimakaze, father and son both sharing stance and burning hate for this personified reminder of their loss. Taking what they could out of the space below Erdwut's swing. Taking for what had been taken from them. Maybe not by this thing, but catharsis held no discrimination for its want of release. As arm and hip sliced and a hand rounded back. Breaking their unison.

M.J.D.+Z splitting up and wrapping around to the open corners of this bladed trifecta. Charging colors back down to an icy spear, laden and sharpened by travel time. A separate spike of refuted dust filled concrete up to battery in two more hands, with water jet set to skewer it hard from their tandem battery. Simultaneous harpoons of teamwork and support, crushing and skewering the ignored lower legs out from under what was left. And dazzling the flesh beneath with close range amplification. Ice refracting and melting to shot, kicking one leg out from it all. But refracting out wrong as it shattered on.

Flames held high left took the disparate pieces into the sights of their rainbow menagerie. Phoenix set to burn and cauterize what was bared to the air. Kabar trying to round behind with whip already away to lock what flung wide. Pull it to Zeus' Strike drawing in beside him. So he and Cauterizer could crush what excess tried to sizzle back to life. In the moment they had no say in.

As it all came down, came hard as it deserved. Crashing and bashing and slicing the armor apart. Taking and setting to leave nothing to chance. Striking as one after another and another. Till the feeling that this really was an end come upon them as a whole. To all… but the one yelling out the truth seen in vibrating silence. To those seeing the truth... too late to stop.

Because it was not its end...

His end...

As that world of perceptive shared slowness, that diced blender of heroic cacophony, edged to a stop. Against all this shared and bound will.

As it came to false senses. Intercepted connection. A frail lie broken open…

As that metallic broken grin though sent to the winds…

Broke wider.

Movements too fast even in this slowdown, a blur of retaken stature, of sizzling remake and reform too fast to counter. Standing upright and solid as even the slightest movement became impossible to make out. A lurching, a realigning, that maw whipping open over and over again…

Laughing!! Cackling like the mad monstrosity he was! A trap, more bait come to him! More power to replace what had been ripped away! All without lifting a finger. All without even trying. They just all ran straight into his arms! Straight into his reach! Straight into the event horizon awaiting them! As that blur slowed… and the truth fell upon those frozen in their vengeance.

Resent had learned one lesson, and they had just walked into their own deaths.

That gleaming follow through sent low and wide crunched, shifted, reaction speed closing what line divided. That slab of metal Buster had named herself following suit in its own seeing of truth, wrist straining to not rip it out of her hand but vibration pushing it to where it had to be right now. But coverage was only affordable where it could be had. And only to those who could react and shadow who could be spared! As that menace star reignited in front of them!!

Corona of wanton siphon, plasma roiling to raking life! Red arcs of creeping death bulging, blisteringly impossible to catch up with! Only do what you can to save those too slow!! That disharmonious hand slamming back against floral patterns beside it. A wall of water shooting early, bulking to blockade before the second salvo it would carry. That heated whip yanked out of the air against its will. And that a wall of ice flung high… between red and green.

Sacrifices made without thought, without regard, without self-service or intent but to save who they could! All for just the slightest hope that it will not be in vain. As that red oozing fire found its mass in critical!

With nothing left to hold him down.

Ground turned to air, dust to accelerant, bolts of solid crimson fire ripsaw! Through all the vengeance and pride that tried to break it! That frozen moment detonating on gleeful thunder frequency, in the existence ripping apart this world!!

Concrete ceased! Ice shattered! Blood and water boiling instant! Flesh and muscle strained and split! Exploding to broiling black and red confetti! Limbs cleaved off, sides burned away, organs caved and burst and spilled out what was unmercifully spared searing to nothing! Bones splintered and burned and popped! Bodies thrown and crumpled and rent asunder! Death had become the catharsis brought. To those whose lives they fortified.

That oscillating sword slammed Buster's side, cracking her only wrist and sending her ricocheting as a bolt washed over that defiant surface. Kaz and Samurai were thrown together into a heap opposite. Shattering ice and superheating water threw Zeleny and Maya away from the bolts seeking them. And Kabar was pulled into the shade of one already too knowing of this loss.

Those too slow, those not knowing and here without someone choosing sacrifice over loss. Those sent spiraling like their paragon into unending secession, with as little as they could manage to save themselves.

All the while that gleaming blade bore its opposing bolt of rending siphon and physical consumption! Its bearer pushed back as a freight train crashed into his wrath with more force and more substance. Plate mail ripping away as boots tore through ground, desperate to keep his stance upright until that caustic red carve finally found its limit. Until there was something left to feel other than thunder buzz and burning light. Until near half the distance charged through was returned with interest. So the results could be seen by those left in its wake.

In its...

burning…

familiar…

wake.

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