Volume 42 - The End of the Guard

== Chapter 493 - Cowboy Meets Soldier ==
"So you're Grimwald, the galaxy's greatest gunslinger." Karim remarks. "Well, it's certainly interesting to meet you."
"...I'm not here for banter." Grimwald retorts, shooting Karim in the head. Karim merely smiles and takes out his own gun to fire at Grimwald with, Grimwald dodging the bullets and firing Karim's gun out of his hand, or at least trying to, but Karim was too strong for it to work.
The gunslinger leaps behind another crate and keeps firing at Karim, who takes the bullets and walks towards him to grab at his gun. Grimwald is quick to leap back and throw a piece of dynamite, reloading once more.
"Don't you wanna have fun with your last battle?" Karim asks.
"No." Grimwald answers flatly before firing at Karim's tendons in an attempt to paralyze him, but Karim just kept walking, the bullets being forced out of his body by his own biomass as he reloads his own gun to keep firing at him!
Grimwald once more dodges and throws a rope at Karim to try and restrain him, but Karim grabs the rope and uses it as leverage to swing Grimwald through multiple crates.
"Argh!" Grimwald shouts in pain, as he dodges a stomp from the terrorist and stuffs a piece of dynamite into his mouth, leaping back again as it explodes.
== Chapter 494 - Monster in Man's Flesh ==
Grimwald looked at the flames and smoke, pointing his guns just in case, as he saw Karim walk out, his head regenerating as he cracks his neck with the same smile as before.
"Got anymore tricks up your sleeves?" Karim asks, Grimwald looking on as he sweated a bit, before firing at Karim again.
Karim walks forwards, taking all the bullets, as Grimwald leaps back yet again and reloads while simultaneously dodging bullets from Karim, firing one of said bullets out of the air nearly the instant he finished reloading.
Karim notices, and raises an eyebrow, his smile becoming wider as he takes out his Helwan pistol.
Grimwald is quick to fire at Karim, who fires back with both pistols, still taking the bullets without a care in the world. The gunslinger dodges the bullets and throws six sticks of dynamite at the terrorist.
Karim catches it and tosses it behind himself, the dynamite exploding behind him as he kept walking towards Grimwald, soon raising his pistols to fire yet again. Grimwald is once more quick to dodge, and leaps onto a crate before firing into the barrels of Karim's guns to jam them.
"Oh?" Karim wonders, putting his guns away as he keeps walking towards Grimwald, who attempts to reload again, but he had run out of bullets.
"...Dammit..." Grimwald remarks. "...I guess I should've used this earlier..." And at that...he takes out his antimatter pistols, and points them at Karim.
== Chapter 495 - See You, Space Cowboy ==
Grimwald immediately fires beams of antimatter at Karim, who actually dodges them! He wasn't necessarily shocked, but now, he had no choice, not if he wanted to fulfil his mission, and see this through to the end.
He smiled, perhaps he had finally found something to fear again, or at least, the same thrill. His smile soon turned into a wicked grin, as he fires Grimwald's more rapid-fire pistol out of his hand!
He looked behind himself briefly at the sheer devastation it caused before ducking beneath a beam from the more concentrated pistol, and firing at that one as well.
Grimwald dodges the bullet and fires again, Karim dodging once more as the beam hits a building and makes it explode violently, Karim grabbing a fragment twice his size and tossing it at his opponent like a Frisbee. Grimwald blasts through it, as Karim leaps through the smoke, grabs Grimwald's arm, and tears it clean off, throwing it and the pistol it was holding to the ground before stomping it into scrap metal!
"GAH!" Grimwald roars, as Karim jams his hand into the gunslinger's heart.
"It was fun...but now it's over." Karim says. "Enjoy Heaven, or Hell, or Oblivion, whichever it is. I wouldn't know."
And then, Karim crushes Grimwald's heart, and takes his own bloodied hand out to let the greatest gunslinger in the galaxy fall to the ground, blood pouring out of his mouth, tears flowing from his organic eye.
"...I'm sorry..." Grimwald whispers weakly, his eyes beginning to close and gloss over. "...I...couldn't protect this world...like I had promised you...I couldn't...keep everyone safe...and happy...like I...I promised...you..."
Grimwald then fully closes his eyes, and exhales his last breath, as Karim looks on.
Before he can do anything else, however, he is punched into the forest!
== Chapter 496 - Brawler's Fury ==
Karim stood up, dusting himself off, and saw Dione standing there, in a fighting position, her face contorted in sheer anger and hatred.
"YOU KILLED GRIMWALD!" She roars.
"So?" Karim demands, before being punched in the face again, and sent flying through numerous trees.
He wiped blood from his mouth with a small smile, and blocked Dione's next punch by crossing his arms, before kicking her in the knee to sent her stumbling back. He is quick to stand up and throw multiple punches afterwards, at her face and stomach, causing her to stumble more.
She grunts in pain and delivers an uppercut to his chin to send him into the air, leaping up herself to kick him on the top of the head, sending him crashing down to the ground and creating a shockwave!
Dione rushes down into the resulting crater to throw dozens of punches at Karim in seconds, Karim taking most of the blows before grabbing Dione's arm and twisting it!
"Argh!" She growls, as Karim punches her in the stomach repeatedly and kicks her to the ground before she can properly react.
Dione feels Karim grab her by the neck and one arm to lift her up into the air, as she tried to attack him further, but he headbutts her, knocking her out, and throws her into a tree before walking away and snapping his fingers, a horde of zombies splitting to go after her, and Grimwald's corpse.
== Chapter 497 - Two Scientists Meet ==
Demetrius was continuing to work on a cure when he heard a door fall to the ground behind him. Pressing a button on a keyboard, he grabs a tube and spins around in a flamboyant pose, other arm outstretched, to greet Arthur and a group of zombies behind him.
"Long time no see, Arthur!" Demetrius shouts.
"Indeed..." Arthur replies. "We've caught word that you were experimenting on cures for my...gift."
"Caught word? You could just say common sense?" Demetrius retorts. "Of course I'd try to stop your virus from getting rid of individuality as a concept."
"It needs to die, for equality." Arthur growls.
"Is it you who's saying that?" Demetrius asks darkly. "Or the virus?"
Arthur's frown turns into a grimace, as he sends a tendril at Demetrius, who dodges and injects a syringe into it to seemingly rapidly decay it. Arthur notices and quickly detaches the tendril before he himself is decayed, before having his zombies rush at Demetrius, who fires a plasma cannon at the zombies to disintegrate it and then turns it on Arthur, who quickly dodges the blast and cuts the cannon's tube to render it useless.
"Woah!" Sciarhiel's scientist yelps, leaping off the cannon as Arthur slices it in half.
Demetrius then grabs his bow and fires multiple arrows at Arthur, who lets them pierce into his armor and smiles, before the smile fades upon seeing Demetrius smile as well, the arrows then exploding!
"GRAH!" Arthur screams, as he rushes out of the smoke to see Demetrius pressing a button to open a door to a room and leaping inside.
The zombies' leader follows as fast as he can and sees Demetrius standing on a metal platform, surrounded by numerous inventions, most notably some sort of cannon and a vat of acid.
"This is where I'm gonna imprison you in stasis until all your other biomass is gone." Demetrius explains. "And then I'll dump you into this vat of acid to finish you off."
"I'm not stupid!" Arthur snarls, leaping at Demetrius to slash down at him. Demetrius dodges and throws a test tube full of some kind of nerve agent at his opponent, Arthur blocking it and feeling his arm become paralyzed!
"Grrr!!!" He seethes, before blocking another arrow from Demetrius and whacking him into a wall.
"Guh!" He yells, falling on his hands and knees. "Well...guess I'll have to use it again." And then, Demetrius activates a device on his bracelet!
== Chapter 498 - Extinction ==
Standing there with holographic goggles and wings was Demetrius, who grinned almost maliciously at Arthur, who just glared back, as holographic, molecule-shaped lights surrounded them.
Suddenly, Arthur began to feel his arms and legs become extremely heavy!
"Wh-what?!" He roars.
"That nerve agent doesn't just paralyze." Demetrius explains. "It also functions to make your body react in certain ways, in conjunction with these holographic lights. Such as your nerves thinking your arms and legs are made of lead or something equivalently heavy, and so not being able to lift them."
"Damn...you..." Arthur groans, as Demetrius flies over to grab the stasis cannon and point it at him.
"I'd say this is the end." He remarks. "Of course, I'll need to do this quick, before you pull some bullshit power out of your ass."
"...That's not...a bad idea..." Arthur remarks, as Demetrius fires the stasis cannon at him, but he dodges!
"Huh?!" Demetrius demands.
"I reshaped my nerves!" Arthur howls.
"...Of course you did." Demetrius groans, going to fire at Arthur again, but being grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground, the stasis cannon now pointed at him!
And then, before Demetrius can react, the stasis cannon is pointed at him, freezing all of his nerves and bodily functions in place.
"It was fun..." Arthur remarks, tearing the stasis cannon out of the ceiling as he grabs Demetrius by the neck. "...but I cannot allow your cure to be known."
"...Too...late...doofus..." Demetrius groaned weakly, as Arthur dropped him into the vat of acid, and turned to see that the scanner and simulator had been sending out a blueprint!
He smashes it, but knew that there wasn't much time. Demetrius wasn't the only scientist...and Arthur had just nearly been checkmated.
== Chapter 499 - No Obstacles Left ==
Karim had just planted the last bomb when he hears a thud behind himself, and turns to see Rosenstock standing there, unscathed, not a drop of blood on him.
"Well, if it isn't the glorious King Philip Rosenstock." The terrorist remarks. "So famous for overturning his corrupt father's rule and laws, and for defending humankind against the Netraxians."
"...And you are Karim Kouri." Rosenstock replies. "The most wanted man in the galaxy, and clearly suicidal."
"How'd ya know?" Karim asks with a smile, as Rosenstock crosses his two blades together, glaring at Karim with a face who's fury he had never seen before.
"Because you attacked this castle, killed my subordinates, and are attempting to destroy my kingdom." Rosenstock retorts.
Rosenstock immediately rushes at Karim, slashing an X shape across his torso and kicking him into a car before he can react.
"Well, then--" Karim barely had time to say, as Rosenstock slices his head off and stabs him through the heart, leaping back and grinding his blades across the ground before he even lands, leaving all of Karim's blood spattered and dried on the pavement below.
Karim's wounds regenerated, and he stood back up, wiping blood from his mouth again and taking out his Helwan to fire at Rosenstock with, but Karim's arm is sliced off, and then he is diagonally bisected.
Karim begins to regenerate again, right as he is once again cut across the head, and attempts to grab Rosenstock by the neck, Rosenstock leaping to the side while cutting Karim's legs in half as well, his swords cutting into the ground as he landed.
Karim had fully healed in the time it took Rosenstock to land, and was barely able to dodge a slash from Rosenstock that cut through a space pod and slashed a mark into the wall, sending dust and bits of concrete everywhere.
Karim draws his Khopesh and slashes at Rosenstock with it, Rosenstock slashing through both Karim and said Khopesh with ease before kicking Karim's top half back.
Karim's bottom half crawls its way back to his top as the two merge and he regenerates once more, narrowly dodging another slash and leaping next to a door, throwing down a bomb that explodes an instant before Rosenstock slashes it, Karim taking advantage of this to grab Rosenstock by the arm and throw him down into the transport area below, feeling his own arm be sliced off in the process.
Rosenstock stands back up, not seeming much worse for wear due to using his swords to slow down, and sees Karim leap down from the hole in the wall to stand next to a broken-down train car.
== Chapter 500 - Kings of Combat ==
"This must be where you put all your broken toys." Karim remarks with a chuckle.
"You're quite talkative..." Rosenstock retorts. "...for a man who would have died three times over by now if not for his regenerative abilities."
"It's like you said." Karim explains. "I seek death, death at the hands of a worthy opponent, death while knowing I died a legend. I only joined this little operation so I could take all the credit. That way, even if it fails, I'll have died as the most feared man in history."
"...You are truly a madman." Rosenstock retorts
"Nah." Karim retorts back. "Just an immortal who's already seen it all."
Karim grabs the train car and throws it at Rosenstock, who seemingly just stood there, but right before the train car could hit him it was cut into fours.
Rosenstock sharpens his blades against the ground while the train explodes behind him, and then rushes at Karim to slash at him, Karim catching the blade and, with barely any effort, snapping it in half!
Rosenstock is quick to cut Karim's arm off, and leaps back to avoid a kick before throwing his remaining sword at Karim, who grabs it and slams it against the ground to shatter it, tossing the grip aside and being cut across the chest by two katanas.
Karim swings a kick upwards at Rosenstock, who once more cuts his leg in half and dodges said leg, decapitating the terrorist yet again and leaping back to avoid a slash from a knife, said knife's blade falling off a moment afterward.
Karim regenerates once more, grabs a plane, tears a missile off, and throws it at Rosenstock, who just cuts it in half and lets himself be boosted by the back-blast of the explosion, right into the plane Karim threw at him, yet said plane was slashed so thoroughly that it was damn-near dismantled, Karim sliding beneath Rosenstock while throwing a grenade up at him.
Rosenstock leaps out of the explosion and slashes down at Karim, who barely dodges and takes out both his pistols to fire at the King of Sciarhiel with. Rosenstock deflects every last bullet, slashing again as Karim's Helwan is cut in half and his M1911 narrowly avoids the same fate.
Karim swings a kick at Rosenstock, who slashes his leg off once more and kicks him in return, Karim blocking with his forearm as he's sent sliding back and between two cars, which he promptly kicks at Rosenstock, who weaves around and between them and slashes again at Karim.
Karim dodges, and the sword cuts down a crane!
== Chapter 501 - Situation Intensifies ==
"How about that." Karim remarks, catching the crane while Rosenstock leaps back to avoid it, the terrorist throwing it at him.
Rosenstock leaps over it and deflects more bullets from Karim, who kicks a bomb at the King while reloading, Rosenstock slashing the bomb in half in a way that prevents it from exploding before cutting Karim's leg off once more and whacking him into a bulldozer with the grip of his blade.
Karim prepares to fire yet again, right as his arm is cut off yet again and then he is horizontally bisected, Rosenstock kicking him in the side of the head to send his top half into a cement truck.
Karim, regenerating once more, notices the cement truck, and punches a hole in it to cause cement to spill out towards Rosenstock, who spins his blades to slash and fan the cement back while Karim throws an old gasoline truck at him and fires at the bomb he placed on it, causing it to explode right next to Rosenstock and engulf the room in flames.
Rosenstock, his uniform now damaged and part of his skin burnt, walks out of the flames, now holding two rapiers.
"You're running out of swords." Karim taunts.
"Hardly." Rosenstock retorts, rushing to stab at Karim, who manages to dodge both stabs and kick him back.
Rosenstock lands on his feet, letting out an exhale of pain, but seemed otherwise alright, as he rushes to stab at Karim again, Karim ripping a door off a regular truck to block said stabs before kicking said door forward to send Rosenstock back again.
Karim fires through the window of said door as Rosenstock narrowly dodges the bullets, letting the door slide off his rapiers and stabbing Karim in the heart and throat, kicking him back to try and stab his feet. The terrorist dodges this as well, and fires at Rosenstock once more after having reloaded, Rosenstock deflecting some bullets and dodging others.
Rosenstock rushes to stab at Karim again, Karim dodging to let the swords stab into a news van as he leaps onto it, rips the satellite dish off, and throws it at the King, who leaps back from it, letting out another exhale of pain while Karim grabs the van to throw at him.
Rosenstock dodges the van and stabs Karim in the arm to flip him into the air and into a spaceship. Karim barely has time to stand up before Rosenstock had leaped into the same spaceship, and went for his feet once more.
Karim kicks him in the face, sending him into the console and denting it, as he leaps back and fires at him again.
== Chapter 502 - Carnage ==
Rosenstock dodges the bullets, seeming a bit strained as he stabs at Karim again, Karim dodging the slashes a bit more casually as he grabs Rosenstock by the neck and slams him through another door, Rosenstock grunting in pain before dodging a stomp and going for yet another stab.
Karim is quick to dodge this as well, and kicks Rosenstock through the wall and into the main corridor. Rosenstock glares at Karim for a moment, before running into the darkness.
"Being a coward now, are we?" Karim demands, sounding disappointed as he walks into the darkness as well and looks around.
Karim points his gun every which way, staying alert for Rosenstock, who he knew could be around any corner, behind every door.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." He remarks, before seeing a blur out of the corner of his eye and just barely leaping out of the way of stabs to the feet.
Rosenstock is quick to slash at Karim with his rapiers, Karim being cut once more as the King manages to kick him into a wall. The terrorist stands back up and fires at Rosenstock again, Rosenstock weaving around the bullets to stab at Karim again, Karim dodging once more and attempting to reload again.
But he was out of bullets!
"Damn." Karim remarks, dodging yet another stab before kicking Rosenstock through another door and walking after him. Rosenstock leaps back from Karim's next kick and exhales more violently, a bit of blood trickling from his mouth now.
"You seem to be in a pretty rough shape." Karim mocks. "Want me to help ya get a workout?"
As he was saying that, however, he noticed Rosenstock rushing at him again, and, pocketing his gun, tried to grab him by the face, but Rosenstock cuts his arm off and jams both of his rapiers through his throat and his spinal cord, briefly paralyzing him in place!
"Do you have...any idea...who you're fighting?" Rosenstock demands. "Do you know just who it is who's anger you've provoked?"
"En...lighten...me." Karim retorts, as he tears Rosenstock's eyepatch off.
His left eye was robotic.
"I am willing to tear every last one of you to shreds, down to individual strands of DNA, to protect my people." Rosenstock declares, quickly stabbing Karim in his tendons with his rapiers and two spadroons, slamming him into the ground as he draws a saber off his back, said saber's blade seeming to vibrate as his eye glowed red in the dark. "Now, Karim...how many times do I have to kill you before you STAY dead?"
== Chapter 503 - Doomed Gambit ==
"...So..." Karim remarks. "...How are you gonna do this? You can't kill me with any of your swords, and any attempt you make to do so will free me from this."
"That's not an issue." Rosenstock retorts. "Demetrius has completed a stasis cannon that will perfectly freeze every last one of your bodily functions, including your brain activity, in place. We merely need to wait until your army is destroyed, and then we can either cure you and execute you by normal means, or dump you into a vat of acid to execute you regardless."
"Sounds like a plan..." Karim remarks. "...or it would, if the stasis cannon wasn't destroyed."
"...What?" Rosenstock demands.
"Yep, Arthur destroyed it while killing Demetrius." Karim explains. "That's what he told me while I was planting that last bomb, anyway."
"...He was ordered to send the schematics over if anything went wrong." Rosenstock says.
"Yeah, well, Arthur destroyed his computer before he could." Karim replies.
Rosenstock didn't respond for a while, right as he notices Karim's biomass pushing and pulling the swords out of his body so he could leap at him! Rosenstock quickly slashes Karim into dozens of pieces, but those pieces come together behind him, and right when Rosenstock whirls around to slash again, Karim stabs him in the chest!
"...Gu-ugh!" Rosenstock wheezes, blood spurting from his mouth, as he tried to slash at Karim, who grabbed his sword and ripped it out of his hand.
".........Long...live...the King." Karim sneers, staring into Rosenstock's tear-covered face, before slicing him diagonally in half, and tossing the sword aside, walking away as Philip Rosenstock...
The King of the Human Star Realm...
Hero of the Netraxian War...
Fell to the ground, dead.
== Chapter 504 - The End of Sciarhiel ==
Arthur and Karim walked out the south gate of the castle, drenched in rain, as the blood of corpses on both sides surrounded them.
"Would you like to do the honors?" Karim asks.
"...Gladly." Arthur replies, taking the the detonator and pressing the button on its top. He and Karim continue to walk away, every last part of the castle violently exploding behind them.
Sciarhiel was no more, the Human Star Realm had lost its leadership. Now was the time for the true apocalypse to begin, for everything, and everyone, to lose all individuality and gain eternal equality.
Soon...all...would become one.