Userverse Chapter 2

***"Everything's Not Right"***

**Act 1**

**In the distant Void of the Netherealm**

In every world, every Eden orb, every place inside and out of Eden, the Conduits were known as heroes. Heroes amongst heroes, the greatests of all, the brightest, the ones that could never be equalled. But not every world has the protection of the Conduits, and instead some "variants" started to appear. Amongst them, there were the Guardians: the ones who protected the Userverse against Tiamat and the forces of evil. They were led by their queen Njord and her husband Thanos, two gods known for being the most attractive, and are two out of the five most powerful beings in the whole Userverse.

This day, these famous beings, with the exception of Njord and Thanos, were all reunited to talk about the latest problem caused by Tiamat, with the help of Mael and Buppy's teams.

"What they did this time is absolutely inexcusable. They dared attack and capture Dusk, one of the most important Gate Gods! We can't tolerate them any longer."

The person who just talked was the youngest of the guardians and the one who asked for this meeting, the guardian of Fire.

"We all know this, but we can't do anything. They hide well, and leaving the Netherealm for too long to find them is out of idea" answered the guardian of Water.

"Yeah, and we don't know if they're prepared to fight us. It could very well be a trap." Said the guardian of Wind.

"But the newbie is right, we can't let them follow their little game anymore" said the guardian of Earth.

"Let's prepare for the next time they try to create trouble: we'll attack them so fast that they won't have a chance to escape," said the guardian of Lightning, the only woman of the group and the most powerful of the elemental guardians.

Suddenly, two people entered the room: "I'm truly sorry for being late, we had some things to do before coming here" said Njord, the guardian of Power, followed by her husband Thanos, the guardian of Strength.

Fire only saw them a few times, and it was enough for him to fall in admiration for them: both so majestic, powerful, beautiful… there wasn't any inhabitant of the Netherealm that didn't feel shaken at the view of them. But, what was that?

Lightning whispered into his ear: "You know, on the opposite of other gods who often marry out of pure interest, they both love each other to a point it's not even imaginable for us inferior beings. So much that they often… can't contain themselves."

In fact, Njord had her dress put on incorrectly, her hair was in a mess and she was covered in bruises and bite marks. Thanos, had his armor in pieces, and had scratch marks all over him.

<<Good, we're officially all dead>>, thought Fire, when the other guardians were hiding their embarrassment, or containing their laughs.

**Act 2**

"Let's not debate this anymore, I'll go save Dusk and get rid of this rat Mael." Everyone turned their eyes towards the one who spoke, that being Thanos. Despite his current state, he was still emanating power in the hall, making it difficult for the inexperienced Fire to breath. But even with this tremendous strength, the guardians were still not ok with that idea: "It's too dangerous! We know he has Buppy's team with him, and he probably has others for backup as well! Plus, they still have Invincibility as a hostage." said Lightning.

In fact, Invincibility, once the third strongest guardian, was captured after being cocky enough to go fight Tiamat. After this nobody knew what happened, but most of the people were assuming he was dead. Since this, the guardians were far more careful before going into action to stop the forces of evil. They also settled their main rule at this moment: no important missions on your own. And Thanos was currently saying he was going to break this rule. Fire then started talking too: "Lightning is right, going alone is a bad idea, even for you… And that's why I'm coming with you"

"WHAT!?" screamed the other guardians.

"Kid, you're brave, but I think a fight involving the upper Gate gods is still a little too much for you," said Njord. Fire didn't feel any power coming from her, but he knew it didn't have anything to do with her being weak. Rather than that, it was more like she was so much beyond him that he wasn't able to understand or perceive it. But he didn't give up: "I know I can do it. I trained everyday to achieve this power, and even if it's not enough to fight this Mael bastard, I'll still be able to help, or even save Thanos if he has a problem" insisted Fire.

"You, saving Thanos? Don't be ridiculous, you have as much chance to save him as to make him kiss you with tongue" mocked Water, before looking down and making himself smaller as he remembered the same Thanos was listening to it all, right behind him.

"Hey, that's not funny, Thanos is married, and we're both guys!" Replied an angry Fire before realizing he was falling on it.

"Seeing how you looked at him drooling all over your face I think you wouldn't be so sad about it" chuckled Earth.

"I'm gonna fuck YOUR head instead, you Dirt guardian !" Insulted Fire in rage.

"You both, calm down" interrupted Lightning.

"Enough now" Njord didn't even use a high tone, but these two words were enough to stop their discord.

"Fire can go with Thanos. In these times of chaos, he needs to get the most experience possible in a short period of time. You'll go tomorrow to meet Lucidia, a Gate guardian strong enough to help us, and me and the other guardians will stay here with me as we'll try to make a plan. End of the reunion, thank you all for coming" concluded Njord as they all started to leave.

But before this, she whispered something in Fire ear:

"And I suggest you to not try to steal my husband in the meantime, unless you want me to hang you upside-down above the demon realm. Have a good night, kid"

They were all gone, excepting Fire that was still thinking about what happened.

"Look like I made a mistake" he thought out loud as in their room, Njord and Thanos were already undressing, ready to stay awake together all night.

What they didn't know was that this would be their last moment together for a long time.

**Act 3 -**

**-In the fear gate, temporarily managed by Lucidia-**

"Ouch" did T404 as he fell on the ground.

"Come on, you're hardly doing any effort," said Wise.

It has now been three years since the group started to train with Lucidia and Wise and the results were clearly visible : T404, Misquif and Angel almost upgraded their Ignis to the third stage, when Birb was now able to fight without any hesitation despite his peaceful nature. But even like this…

"No it's not this, you four are still lacking something to really be able to do any difference" said Wise before developing : "Birb, even if you're now able to properly fight again, you still have put more aggressively into the fight, or you won't be able to end your opponent, just like the last times with Jumpfire and Final!Error. Misquif, you focus too much on your current abilities and almost don't try to create new ones. Angel, you're focusing too much on training and not enough on how to improve your Ignis, work smarter not harder"

He then made a little pause to salute Lucidia who just came back. After it, it was T404 turn :

"You're the most problematic one T404, as your problem is not that you lack mastery, originality or even aggression, but something far more basic. You lack talent"

"What?!" screamed not only T404, but also Misquif, Birb and Angel.

Out of them all, he was the one that unlocked the level two at the youngest age, had the most unfair ability as of now and even this unbelievable cheat, the A.B.A.N.D.O.N button.

But as they thought of it, it was true that he never really did any of this totally by himself, as Wise didn't missed to state :

"To use your abilities, you always need someone to fight the opponent before you so you can get info and take the spotlight. As the opposite of every of your friends who powered up through sheer determination and talent, you had to absorb the power of the resurrection orb. And even with this, when you had to fight more serious foes, the only thing that saved you was that button that randomly came out to save your ass. But we don't know where this thing comes from, nor if it will always help you. You need to push yourself more than this"

But as they talked, they all felt a presence approaching them.

"The king Thanos is here" thought Lucidia out loud, a drop of sweat running on his face.

**Act 4 -**

They saw a tall man approaching. But was this really just a man ? No, it was impossible for a simple man to emit this much pressure. Angel and Misquif fell on their four heads down, T404 and Birb falling on their knees instead and T404 having his head down too, unable to look up. Wise got on one knee too and even Lucidia inclined himself briefly.

"I came to ask for your help Lucidia" declared Thanos.

"Wh-wh-who is this p-person, mr. Lucidia ?" asked Angel.

"I'll present myself. I'm Thanos, king of the Netherealm, Guardian of Strength and husband of Njord, the goddess of Power and the most beautiful woman of Eden. I traveled to the Userverse to rassemble some companions before assaulting Mael's castle" explicated Thanos.

"What a great coincidence, we were training the last few years to do the same. Maybe we can get along ?" suggested Misquif.

Thanos sighed before answering the question :

"You guys won't make any difference. For now, you four are not on the level where you can do anything against Mael or Buppy. Plus, if I take you with me, I'll have to protect you and I already have friends to save there. Sorry to say it like this, but I'll only take Wise and Lucidia, and you guys will stay here".

There wasn't any animosity in his voice, but it was like he was talking to children. Though for him, with the difference in age and power, it wasn't really wrong.

"Apologize, but we have friends to save too, so we won't be able to let you go without us" said Birb after getting up on his feets.

"Yes and besides, it's not like we know Mael castle's position. We're almost done training so when it'll be discovered, we'll be ready" said T404, finally succeeding to raise his head.

"You make a pretty good point, kiddo" said Thanos. "Or you would've made one if its location hadn't been recognized one week ago."

"WHAT ?!" screamed Misquif before getting silent with one death stare of Lucidia.

"It's true, i was just about to say it to you when our guest arrived" confirmed Lucidia. "And I guess that's also the reason why he only comes here now when his friend he's talking about got captured a thousand years ago by Tiamat".

"You guessed right, as expected of one of the ten strongest beings of the Userverse" said another voice behind Thanos.

They didn't notice him because of Thanos' unbelievable pressure but they now saw a pretty young slim man with red hair behind him. It was him who just spoke.

"Hello, I'm the Guardian of Fire and I'll follow mr. Lucidia, Wise and my king to Mael castle, while you kiddos will stay here" arrogantly said Fire.

**Act 5 -**

"Fuck you already you bastard !" shooted Angel, pissed off.

"Oh, I see we have a pretty woman here" said Fire with a smile. "Don't worry, after finishing this mission, I'll have all the time to play with you, at any time"

Fire barely had the time to end his sentence that he got pinned to the wall by Birb, to the surprise of everyone, excepting Thanos who looked at the scene with attention.

"That's it you bastard ! All these last few years I got into trouble because I couldn't get myself to become violent again" said Birb. "But now I have enough, so if you don't apologize RIGHT NOW, I'm gonna kick your ass so much that you're gonna fly to another reality !" he shooted menacingly.

But as they all thought the situation was gonna get out of hand, Wise started laughing :

"That was perfect Birb ! It was exactly the animosity you lacked until now ! It gave me an idea : what about you and Fire settle your differences with a fight, so we can see you both in action ? This way, you would also be able to learn how to lower and higher your aggressivity during the fight. What do you think of this idea, mr. Thanos ?"

"Hey it's to me you should a-

Fire couldn't finish as Thanos covered his mouth with his hand :

"That's an excellent idea, Wise" he said. "And since you and Lucidia seem to have so much estime for these kids, I'm gonna give them a little sparring too. With this, they'll be forced to get to the next level if they don't want to get their legs crushed. Don't worry, I'll only use my left hand and my head".

T404 had a bad feeling about this, but since he had no other choice if he wanted to go save Ass and Elysia, he got in place with Misquif and Angel in front of Thanos, as Birb and Fire were facing each other.

He knew they were screwed up the moment Thanos stopped both Angel and Misquif attacks with two fingers of the same hand before sending them flying away with a little snap, while Birb and Fire instantly started to try to kill the other under Lucidia surveillance. He wanted to watch the fight a little more before going in, but he then remembered what Wise said.

《Fuck it》, T404 tought as he jumped toward Thanos, joining his two friends.

Above them, Carp looked attentively at what was happening. His Ignis was already level 3 for one year now.

**Act 6 -**

T404 tried to use his Complaint blaster to destabilize Thanos, but the Guardian simply blocked it with a strong breath. So that was what he meant by using his head ? T404 used his frustration to higher his power, Misquif ran faster and faster until he reached his full speed and Angel covered herself in energy. They all attacked Thanos at once.

"Pretty good for children like you, but still not enough" said Thanos as he used his full strength to snap his fingers.

He didn't use any particular ability or even really aimed at them, but it was still strong enough to send the three of them on the ground, even knocking out T404. He wasn't able to move, but he still had enough consciousness to see Angel and Misquif hardly stand up to fight again. So that was the difference between him and them ?

On the other side, Birb was using all his tricks even better than usual, but he was still slowly getting pushed back by Fire :

"What do you think of it, you tall nerd ? That's what you get for menacing a guardian" he said while trying to burn Birb's arm with his flammes.

But suddenly he got sucker punched as wings appeared on Birb's back.

"Sorry but you're not gonna end me this easily, even less if I didn't give you what you deserve before" said Angel!Birb as some of his feathers detached his wings to merge with some of the energy fragments that were floating inside of the gate of Fear, creating an army of monstrous angels, who all attacked Fire, along with Angel!Birb.

"Damn it !" Shouted Fire as he burned as many angelic freaks as possible with his flammes.

But he was simply outnumbered and outpowered by Birb's army.

On the other side, Misquif suddenly got faster, at the point that even Wise had trouble seeing him, and charged at Thanos, forcing him to use all the fingers of his left hand to not get hit. Thanos was gonna slam him to the ground, but he was forced to use his hand to block a particularly strong energy blast from behind, allowing Misquif to escape. He turned back to see Angel, from who emanated a whole new power.

"It seems like you two awakened your Ignis" said Thanos before looking at T404, still on the ground. "Now's your turn".

**Act 7 -**

As his friends were fighting the guardians, T404 started to feel ashamed of himself. He was the only one that wasn't able to do anything, when all his friends were training and fighting hard so they would be able to save Elysia and Ass, he was just laying on the floor. Suddenly, Carp jumped beside him and started talking :

"What, you already gave up ? C'mon guy, you literally fighted gods able to destroy their narratives, and now you're unable to do anything just because of a finger snap ? Be more consistent bro".

"It's easy to say for you, you're already on stage 3 and even before this you were already known in the whole Userverse" replied T404. "Me, I can't do anything without this stupid button".

"And how is it a problem ?" Asked Carp.

Was he mocking him ? T404 couldn't guess it, so he went for a serious answer :

"Didn't you listen before ? I don't know if this button will always be there, so I should learn to do without him"

"So that's it ? You're gonna let your friends down just for this ? Just because of your pride and of some words of an old geezer that's arrogant enough to call himself "Wise" ? C'mon, we all know what you should really do : use the button. And it's really good timing, because it seems like the button just appeared again" said Carp.

In fact, the A.B.A.N.D.O.N button was now in front of T404. With this, he would be able to impress the guardians enough to go with them. He would save Elysia and Ass, and once again be the hero.

Wait, the hero ? No, T404 wasn't fighting a freaking conduit-level god so he would be a hero, he was doing this because he wanted to save his friends, but also to become stronger.

"Nah, screw you and screw this button, let's try something new" said T404 to Carp.

"Something new ? What is it ?" Asked Carp.

"We jump into the battle and do our best without thinking of anything else than our Ignis" replied T404.

"Sounds good to me".

The two of them joined Misquif and Angel in the battle, and T404 felt his power slowly increasing.

**Act 8 -**

Thanos was a little surprised by the occurrence of the events. He was pretty sure the guy with the green scarf had been knocked out before, and he didn't even sense the guy with the fishing rod before seeing him close to the other. He was really amused : it took an eternity since so many talentuous people appeared in the Userverse. But it still wasn't enough to put him down : with just his left hand, he blocked another kick of Misquif, grabbing his leg, and used him as a bat to hit Angel, putting a decent part of his strength in it, before sending him into the sky. After getting multiples scratches on his body due to Carp fishing rod's hook, along with some other caused by Misquif and Angel, he grabbed the hook, and pulled it to attract Carp, who he sent in the sky right on Misquif, the two of them clashing each other, ending knocked out on the ground. Angel tried another hit while his hand was occupied but she simply ended unconscious as Thanos headbutted her, which was not really the kind of head contact she wanted from him.

The only opponent remaining was T404, so Thanos wasn't expecting anything more, until he felt a strong energy coming from his right side.

"Trigger Shot !" Shooted T404 as he used his new ability to attack Thanos with all his might.

By instinct, he put his right hand before his face to protect it. It was the right decision to take, since he got half of his finger bones broken even though he blocked the hit.

"Seems like this one is strong too" he said as T404 was falling on the floor with a smile, exhausted but happy.

He finally got to stage 3, just like the others. On his side, Birb had finished the fight with Fire by crushing him between his biggest monstrous angels and turning them into an infinite-dimensional chain, preventing his opponent from making any movement.

"Phew, I should really do more exercise" said Birb as he did his best to heal his wounds and burn marks.

Even if he won, Fire really had put on a great fight. Thanos, seeing this result, didn't doubt anymore and gave his verdict :

"They're all good enough to help take Mael down. We'll go in a week".

**Act 9 -**

After they all woke up and recovered from their injuries for the next day, the group used the next five days to master their new powers.

\*one day before the attack of Mael's castle\*

"You all remember the plan ?" asked Lucidia.

"We split to attack Mael castle from different angles in a semi-circle form, but at a distance where we can quickly go to help the others in case someone gets attacked by surprise. Simple but efficient" said T404.

"Correct, so now I'll ask you all another question" said Thanos. "Are you all ready to risk your lives as of now ?" He asked.

"Yes !" they all replied without any doubt.

"In this case, let's go !"

Some hours later, thanks to Thanos who teleported them, they were all in front of Mael castle, at the limit separating the real world from the Absolute Void.

"What is this ?" Asked Birb while pointing to a sort of forcefield that was covering the castle.

"It's a protection set by the specialists of the Netherealm to prevent Mael and his allies from running away, we can pass through but they can't" replied Thanos.

"So what are we waiting for ?" Asked Misquif.

"Nothing actually. Let's go !" Said Lucidia as he created a breach in the castle.

"Everyone, look everywhere and free any prisoner you can!" Ordered Thanos as The Crowds Entered Mael's castle to free everyone they could.

"Birb" Said Misquif.

"On it" Said Birb as he flew in the sky looking for Elysia.

"found him" Said Birb as he saw Elysia in one of the cells of the Castle with a broken arm.

After some moment, they all met up and Thanos dropped Mael's head on the floor.

"I can't believe we actually did it, we've defeated Mael and that Other guy" said Birb.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go buy back my playstation" Said Misquif.

"We're still in trouble" Said a new voice.

They all turned to see who it was : Azi, one of the members of Buppy's team, who got imprisoned for some reason and freed by Lucidia.

"Azi, I'm glad you've been a use to our cause" Said Fire, who already worked along with Azi on a mission.

"Not today" Said Elysia summoning a Giant Bull From Nowhere.

**Act 10**

"Everyone relax" Said Wise as everyone looked confused.

"Azi has been a Valued spy. Giving us intel about Mael and tiamat. That's why he was imprisoned" explained Wise.

"Now, Get rid of your bull. You con artist" Said Azi as Elysia snickers

"The first course of action, is to make Buppy pay for his crime" Said Birb

"I think we shouldn't" Said Azi

"Why?" Questioned Birb upset, as Buppy was the one who betrayed Dusk and took so many lives

"From what we've gathered. That was not Buppy" Said Grid

"Huh?"

"Buppy is annoying. But do you really believe that he is that annoying?" Said Grid

"Beside. We've gathered interesting data" Said Complex the Wise as he showed a Video of a Entity that Turned into Mael

"What the fuck is that?" Said Misquif

"We don't know, yet" Said Complex the Wise

"So Who was that Buppy ?" Said Misquif

"An imposter. Probably a Shifter" Said Complex the Wise

"You know what?, Fuck this. I just wanna buy my playstation and eat Chinese Food. Let's just save Ass and Dusk and get out of here" Said Misquif

"Yeah. I'm uninterested in being a part of this Mandela catalog roleplay" Said Elysia as T!404 Nodded in agreement.

"Oh ho. Who said you had any say?,You've scammed a lot of Fucktards over the years, Elysia. One of which was my very own Nephew" Said Complex the Wise as Elysia chuckled

"And what does your nephew have to do with this?" Said Elysia

"Nothing, Except for the fact. That you've stolen certain amounts of money from him. MY Money." Said Complex the Wise as Elysia swallowed in Fear

"Now, if you want to stay out of bars, you'll shut it, and do something" Demanded Complex the Wise  as everyone nodded

"Jesus. This place keeps becoming cancer everything I see it" Said Complex The Wise

"Hey wait a minute" said T404. "Elysia, you remember when we went to Anarchy!Alphatale ? You met some Shifters, right ?"

"Yeah, so what ?" Asked Elysia.

"Well, I remember you told me they lived in dark places, just like this castle. And the other thing… is that they always are teaming with others" said T404 before putting light hits on Azi and Elysia.

The true them wouldn't even have been scratched, but they both bursted into pieces, and turned into a black mud.

"Shit" said Thanos

"Tssk, you again you fake 404. Even Dusk didn't see it coming, but YOU IDIOT did. Serves you right, you'll just suffer more before getting captured and sent to our lord Tiamat".

It was of course Mael.

But he wasn't the only one who came, there was also Buppy's team, four masked people the Birb's team didn't know, and… Azi, Ass and Elysia ? There was also another guy, Grid, who got captured by Mael some days before the attack on the Birb team's house.

"You were right, sir" said Wise to Thanos. "Shit".

**Act 11**

"You bastard ! What did you do to our friends ? let them go !" screamed Misquif toward Mael.

Mael chuckled for a bit before answering :

"I just use my power to "suggest" them to help me and it works. It's pretty cool even if it stops me from fighting. Do any of you guys want to join them ?" Mael asked, containing his laughs.

None of the brainwashed prisoners answered.

"See ? They want to stay with me. Oh, but of course I can give you compensation. What about I make your little friends Ass and Elysia a bit less weak ?" Said Mael before turning to his puppets.

And there, without any more ceremony, he ripped out Shard Ignis, instantly killing him. Dusk and Elysia didn't react but a tear went on their faces

"NO !" Screamed Lucidia.

"Yes" said Mael as he took out the energy of the Ignis to put it into Elysia's, forcing him to stage 3.

After this, he injected all the power he wasn't using into Ass, turning him into Bad!Ass.

"What the hell is this ?" Screamed Fire as Bad!Ass blitzed at him.

Fortunately, Birb turned into Angel!birb and blocked Bad!Ass with his wings.

"Stay focused !" Said Angel!Birb to Fire as they both engaged in a fight with Bad!Ass.

Elysia tried to join the clash but got stopped by Misquif :

"Nope, you're not gonna do this" he said before dodging a fairy who flew toward him at a speed making the light look slow.

Buppy also started fighting Wise, as Lucidia was blocking the fist of Dusk.

T404, Angel and Titling carp blitzed toward Mael but got stopped by Photo, Azi and Grid.

"You dare to use our own companions against us ? I'm just gonna erase your miserable existence, bug" Said Thanos as he sent a powerful energy wave toward Mael with a simple movement of his finger.

But the attack got stopped when three of the four unknown people left jumped in the way. Their masks broke and Thanos recognized them :

"You ?! I knew you were stupid, but not to the extent of allying with Tiamat, imperfect gods" deplored Thanos.

In fact, these three people were Flester, Jakin'eer and Kiku, three of the imperfect gods created by Jevil.

"Why, because he's Jevil's enemy and we are his children ? That's such a stupid reasoning, you big grumpy fat bastard !" said Flester.

"Of course, guardians were never known to be the biggest brains of Eden, hehe" said Kiku.

"By this logic, we should be allies with the guardians right ? Well that's a good idea, like our new pal will show you right now" said Jakin'eer as the fourth masked person blitzed toward Thanos, so fast their mask fell halfway.

Thanos blocked a powerful punch, even feeling a little pain in his arm, and almost choked when he saw who this person was:

"Invincibility ? Is it really you ?"

Invincibility didn't answer and landed another hit. In the meantime, Mael had already taken some distance from the fights that were occuring :

"Oh man, that's gonna be so funny. Don't you agree, Shard ?" He asked the dead body he brought with him on the roof of the castle.

**Act 12**

T404 was really pissed off : when Birb and Misquif were saving their friends, he was stuck here fighting this Photo guy. He shortly looked aside to see that Grid had put his special barrier around them. It was really a big handicap, because not only it highered his team's strength, but it also lowered T404 team's physical abilities, and prevented Carp from using his full potential by moving everywhere. Photo used his Ignis to create thirty photocopies of him, ten for each opponent. Finally, Azi modified the reality to make it harder for T404 team to use their powers, in addition to the previous physical malus.

《Damn it, I feel like we're lv99 noobs playing against lv50 pros》thought T404, remembering how bad he was at RPGs. But in this situation, there was still an obvious solution.

"Guys, I have a plan but I'll need some time. Can you keep them away from me in the meantime ?" asked T404.

"No problem" said Carp while sending all Photo clones away as Angel created a little energy protection barrier around T404.

It was really an excellent move, because it also isolated T404 from the influence of Grid's barrier, allowing him to charge his power more quickly.

Still, Angel and Carp really had trouble : Angel was continuously pushing back the copies while maintaining the barrier, and Carp began to be tired of dodging, even more since Grid and Carp also joined the fistfight against him.

After a long time of fighting, Grid finally immobilized Carp with a headlock and Azi finished him with multiple punches in the guts, knocking him down.

Not too long after this, Photo clones overwhelmed Angel, incapacitating her too and making the barrier around T404 disappear.

"We won !" Said Photo, before he finally noticed something was wrong.

"Nope, you're a little too late for this" said T404 before unleashing his Trigger ability.

It was a whole new power, and he only had a short week to master it, so he still needed a little time for the activation. But it was worth the time he wasted : all the clones disappeared, along with the barrier and the effect of Azi's Ignis.

"What the fuck ?!" Screamed Photo.

"Huh, you talk very much for a mind controlled person. It makes me think it's you who betrayed Buppy's team first to force them under Mael's control, right ?"

"Tch, don't get cocky you-"

But before Photo could finish, T!404 interrupted him :

"Boruto reference" he said as he used Burn-out to enhance his strength and started to put a combo of punches and kicks on Photo.

He finished him with his Complaint Blaster, sending him straight to hell. Or it was what T404 thought, but he made up his mind when he noticed that “Photo” disappeared before taking the hit.

"Dammit it was a clone. Tssk, I can’t hunt the true Photo and abandon the others, so let’s just get these four sleepers in a safe place and join Misquif and Birb" concluded T404 as he started moving Angel, Carp, Azi and Grid.

**Act 13 -**

"I've had Enough of this mind control business. I'm just gonna finish what I've started myself." Said Mael as he wanted to make the people under his control unconscious, before remembering that at least 2 of the opponents were stronger than him.

《Shout, I did not expect the Netherealm fuckers》he tought, as he saw T404 pulling four inconscious persons with him.

"Tier 404. You made my puppets pretty dirty, didn't you ? It almost looks like you wrote the script" Said Mael as he recognized Azi and Grid.

"Don't break the fourth wall ya pink hair Saiki bitch, and stop putting the blame on me after doing Shard THIS dirty. He had so much writing potential, you damn bastard !" Said T404

After it, they stopped breaking the fourth wall for a bit as they became serious again.

"Now now, fighting the final boss here ain't no fun, is it ? Plus you still have those guys to secure, and I think your buddy Misquif will need some help too" Said Mael as T404 knew Mael was trying to distract him.

"Your tricks don't work on me Mael, I know very well that Misquif can do it" Said T!404 unimpressed, even if he still looked at Misquif slightly.

"How about I heighten the bet for all of us then." Said Mael

"And what's your incredible idea?" Questioned T404 as Mael used a small whistle.

"Don't fucking worry, it'll come soon" Said Mael

"That's reasonable. And what makes you think I'll let you have more time ?" Said T!404

"Excuse me, but I'm gonna add a good reason. The Netherealm." Said Mael.

"What the fuck. What the hell do you mean ?" Asked T!404

"Oh i-, Ya know what fuck it. I'm gonna explain without acting like a smirk snob. The Netherealm has been created with the power of the book, to counter Tiamat and the Absolute Void" Said Mael having PTSD and flashbacks as he was talking.

"Ok you should really make it less obvious that you want to gain more time" Said T!404.

But he still had to secure the injured ones, so he maintained the conversation, trying to get more information out of Mael.

"Which book are you talking about ? I already know that Userverse is not related to any book" said T404, trying to hide his curiosity.

"Yep, just to make things clear to the viewers and others, I'm talking about the book of Se… HEHE YOU REALLY THINK I'M GONNA SAY IT TO YOU ? NO MORE MAKING ME A FUCKING SMUG OVEREXAGERATING YOU DICKHOLE !" Said Mael as an Error version of gaster jumped on T404, who barely dodged it.

"Just stop over exaggerating. I know you'll probably find a way out of it, but it's still funny to see you struggle." Said Mael.

Even if T404 was far stronger than any "error" character, he was tired and had to protect his companions during the fight. Plus, Error!gaster constantly changed his attack pattern, making it even harder for T404.

《Guess I'll need some time》 thought T404.

**Act 14 -**

On the other side, Fire and Birb were furiously trying to stop Bad!Ass, without much success. Fire tried to block him by circling him into his flammes but Ass simply vibrated and extinguished the flames before blitzing toward Fire. Angel!birb used his wings and tried to block him again.

"Wha- urgh" said Birb as Bad!ass redirected the hit toward him.

It touched Birb directly in the head, and he fell unconscious on the floor.

"Shit !" Shouted Fire as he pushed back Bad!Ass with a strong punch and fired his hottest flames at him.

But as the flames disappeared, he saw Bad!Ass was barely scratched.

《Oh come on》thought Fire as he started to hit Bad!Ass without any pause to prevent him from doing anything. But quickly, Bad!Ass vibrated and Fire's punch passed through him as his flames once again got extinguished. Fire tried to back kick Bad!Ass, but his leg got grabbed by a strong hand and he felt all the bones in it horribly break. Bad!Ass sent him flying against a wall and drop kicked him through it, nearly killing him. Fire tried to stand up only for a strong vibration to put him down for good. He was barely conscious when he saw a fist clashing into Bad!Ass cheek, sending him flying away. He first thought he was hallucinating when he saw Birb awaken. Wasn't he down like minutes ago ?

But then Fire started to notice strange things : Birb's wings had their feathers blackened, he was walking weirdly and arbored a creepy smile on his face. His glasses were gone too, and his gaze seemed empty of reason. Angel!Birb turned all the remaining of what was once a part of Mael's castle into trillions of ultra-resistant spiders.

Bad!Ass desintagrated billions of them in less than one second, but the rest of them attacked him all at once before he could create enough protection, biting him so hard even his new god body started to get injured, as the venom was penetrating his veins and corrupting his whole being. After he finally disposed of all the spiders Bad!Ass looked around him seeking for Angel!Birb, but he didn't see him until he felt an immeasurable weight pressing on his head, as Angel!Birb was stomping on him after falling off the sky with all of his speed. He then started to hit Bad!Ass, again and again, before ripping off the power Mael gave him and absorbing it. He then turned toward Fire

Fire had never been this terrified :

"Y-you, y-you're not Birb, right ?".

"Correct" said Barbos as his hand was passing through Fire's throat.

**Act 15 -**

On Lucidia and Wise's side, Lucidia was struggling against Dusk, and Wise wasn't really in a better position against Buppy. Being brainwashed, they were a bit weaker than in their normal states, so Lucidia and Wise would've probably have beaten them already in a normal fight.

The problem was coming from the fact they couldn't use mortal attacks, to prevent themselves from killing the opponents. So they were slowly pushed to defend themselves, and the damages were accumulating. Wise suddenly changed his opponent, now aiming for Dusk, as he unlocked his true form :

"What the fuck are you doing ! You're not strong enough to beat Dusk, come back before getting killed !" Screamed Lucidia.

"At least I won't risk killing him ! Just put Buppy down before I die you bastard !" Shouted Wise as he was hardly fighting Dusk, who also unlocked his true power while they were talking.

Lucidia also unlocked his true form, developing wings on his back and using them to fly even faster toward Buppy, landing behind his back. He hitted the back of his head with the side of his hand and as Buppy was falling he started to wrap him with his chains, Buppy got out using his true form, cutting the chains with his forearm that was now a super-dimensional blade, working by using cardinals transcending even aleph. Lucidia knew Buppy called this "Buppy cardinals", even though it probably already existed with another name. But Lucidia hadn't any time to think about this as he was doing his best to avoid Buppy's attacks while using his chains to help Wise, who was risking his life at every second only to contain Dusk. At the same time, he was using what was left of his concentration to think of a plan to definitely block Buppy.

At the same time, Wise was firing aleph-100 bullets at Dusk, without any concluding results other than some little scratches. Without Lucidia's help, he would've probably already got a bad injury, but thanks to his chains he was able to keep the fight balanced. But he knew that soon or late Lucidia wouldn't be able to help him anymore.

As he thought of it, he heard Lucidia voice reasoning into his mind :

"I have a plan to win, but for this I'll need you to stand alone against Dusk for an undetermined duration. Can you do it ?"

Wise slowly nodded his head as Lucidia was looking at him in his direction".

Without wasting any more time, Lucidia started his plan as Wise was gathering all his strength to survive against Dusk.

**Act 16 -**

On Thanos' side, things were going in a surprisingly good way. Even if the appearance of Invincibility was pretty surprising it was still one of the things he envisaged and even if he was a really strong opponent, he was still not close to Thanos level. The three Imperfect Gods were really annoying with their immortality but their attack potency was too weak to actually harm him. He profited from a moment of inattention from the enemy and grabbed Kiku by his head, launching him so hard he was sent right out of the Eden orb.

"Now give up or get kicked out just like him, you puny gods" menaced Thanos. "On the opposite of Invincibility, you don't seem to be controlled by Mael. Why are you cooperating with him ? He's Tiamat servant, the servant of your father's enemy" he asked.

"Father ? Father ? hahaha… hahaha.. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ! YOU'RE SO FRICKING FUNNY YOU STOOPID BIG BEEF PIECE ! You think just because he created us, he's our father ? Yeah, you're really an idiot, Thanos" mocked Jakin'eer.

But Thanos could see an inquitant light in her eyes, a wrath Jakin'eer wasn't able to contain.

"You shouldn't talk like this about the person who gave you life, kiddo. And even if you do, stop implying the innocents of the Userverse into your emotional crisis" said Thanos.

"WE'VE BEEN CREATED FOR THIS !" Shouted Flester. "Jevil isn't our father, he's just an annoyed and annoying god that decided to create us to bully Avatar!shad, just for fun. That's what we are, just tools created by a jester to fulfill his boredom. Who do you think you are to judge us ?"

At this moment, Kiku came back, which surprised everybody since he previously literally got kicked out of their world. But there was something anormal : he was covered in a strange energy, and yet his power seemed like it disappeared. Thanos was now sure : Tiamat gave him some of his power and he wasn't the weakest opponent anymore. Kiku then started talking with a loud voice :

"You really piss me off, you hypocrite. And not only you : this T404 that always wins by using cheap tricks, always getting what he wants by cheating. This Elysia that regularly scam people and yet is considered like a good guy. These unsupportable Misquif and Birb, who get controlled by a demon almost every week-end. All of you trashes… how dare you judge us ? HOW DARE YOU !" screamed Void!Kiku with all of his hate as he attacked Thanos again along with his teammates.

As he blocked his fist and Invincibility feet at the same time, Thanos knew it wasn't gonna be easy anymore.

**Act 17 -**

On his side, Misquif was running in circle around Elysia hoping to find an opening to approach him, but each time he tried to get too close, Elysia summoned some sort of demons and angels, and other kinds of Transvoid entities. How did he become this powerful when he barely reached the level 3 seconds ago ? Misquif wasn't sure but he swore to remember not underestimating Elysia again as he dodged some sort of transdimensional shark that was trying to eat him.

"Let's change my plan a bit" though Misquif out loud.

He put a bit of his energy, creating a little sphere he launched toward one of the Transvoid entities, exploding it. Now that he knew it was effective, he created more of those spheres and accelerated even more, creating a cosmic cyclone even though there wasn't any air, blocking Elysia and his Transvoid creatures inside.

"Sorry Elysia but you'll have to take a little nap" said Misquif as he launched one by one the energy bombs he made sooner into the cyclone :

"RADIUS BOMB !" He screamed as the bombs exploded into the cyclone, killing all of the entities in a matter of seconds.

Misquif hoped that he didn't kill Elysia, but he was relieved and scared at the same time when he saw he only had some burnt marks on him : how was it possible ?

Misquif had his answer when he saw multiple creatures' bodies flying close to him, totally burned. Elysia used them as a shield to not get harmed.

Elysia then summoned a giant birb, so big he had the same size as a whole universe, and used the wind created by the movement of his wings to stop the cyclone. He blitzed toward Misquif, and the Radius bombs weren't enough to stop him. He was also blocking every exit with his wings.

But rather than being worried, Misquif simply smirked :

"Too bad, but Radius bomb was only my level two ability, now is the time for level 3" he said as Elysia saw energy bombs with a lighter color flying around his bird.

"SPIRIT BOMB BARRAGE !" He screamed as those new projectiles exploded.

Each of those bombs were strong enough to destroy a whole multiverse and the bird didn't resist, bursting into blood as Elysia jumped off his back to avoid any damage, summoning thousands of fairies to assist him.

In the meantime, Misquif already used his last secret ability : cloning. He had created dozens of clones, each of them infinitely faster than the speed of light. They eliminated all the fairies before overwhelming Elysia, who couldn't do anything but pass out.

"Phew" sighed Misquif as his clones disappeared. "How was he this strength when he never used this power before ? And yet he always ends up losing, as if he was an Alpha!sans"

Misquif laughed at his own joke, as he sat close to Elysia with no strength left :

"Aw man, if only every fight could be as easy as this joke".

**Act 18 -**

While fighting Dusk, Wise turned his guns into a gatling and shooted millions of bullets toward him, and eventually Dusk just accelerated and took the damages as the distance between him and Wise was now nothing more than a meter. Dusk did one last step before aiming his hand toward Wise.

"AAAAAARGH !" screamed Wise as he was burned by blue and orange flames at the same time, his healing factor getting weaker and weaker as the time passed.

At the same time, he saw Lucidia's stomach getting pierced by Buppy's arm.

"NO !" He shooted.

Everything was lost. He was gonna be turned to ashes, Lucidia was gonna end up as a carpaccio, and there was nobody to help them. But as he was going to give up, Lucidia grip on Buppy's arm got stronger :

"Don't give up, Wise, it was a part of my plan !" shouted Lucidia as chains started to wrap Buppy.

This one tried to break them again, but almost all his power was focused into his blocked arm.

"I'm almost done with him, just take care of Dusk in the meantime !" Added Lucidia as Buppy was almost completely wrapped.

Wise felt relieved now that he knew he just had to last a bit longer before Lucidia finished the job. Wait a minute, last a bit longer ? Him, a Gate god ?

No, he was one of the 15 strongest beings in U!Alphatale and if one thing, he wasn't going to be just a deadweight :

"How dare you all underestimate me !" He screamed as he pierced Dusk arm with the end of his gatling, before shouting while infusing the bullet with the purest power he could get from his Gate, the Gate of Complexity.

The effect was immediate : Dusk's arm got ripped off and as he was trying to heal it, Lucidia sneaked behind him and catched him with his chains, before throwing him close to Buppy, also restrained.

"Ok, now we just have to wait for the chains to disperse Mael's influence over them" said Lucidia.

And then he added :

"Good job Wise".

"Heh, of course it was, it's the least I can do as a Gate god". Said Wise as he was already thinking about the next battles, the two of them walking toward Mael's localisation.

**Act 19 -**

Thanos finally decided to use his axe.

It might seem idiot to other people that he didn't use it sooner when the world depended on it, but this simple act was actually far more symbolic than what they could imagine.

This axe, named Ealia, was made by using a whole part of the Netherealm. It wasn't simply impregnated by its power, but literally made one with it, temporarily allowing Thanos to use power equalling the one of his wife.

But using this meant that he couldn't defeat the opponents on his own, and it would put a bad hit to the reputation of the Netherealm, and then the Userverse. There was a high chance that lower gods attack them after it, seeing an opportunity, and that was the reason Thanos never used it if his life wasn't on the line.

But now, at this moment, he couldn't waste any more time. Of course he knew he would eventually beat the opponents even with his bare hands, but there wasn't any more time to waste if he wanted to be sure to catch Mael.

In one move, Flester got cutted into mere atoms, incapacitating him for the next few years. But as Thanos was gonna do the same with the two other Imperfect gods, he saw Jakin'eer gripping Invincibility's throat with her hands :

"Don't move or I'll kill this guy" she warned.

Thanos hesitated, just for an infinitesimal fraction of a second. It was still enough for Void!Kiku to grab him by the waist.

"Me, Kiku, I deny my immortality ! Jevil power, Tiamat power, I give up on all of those, so I can kill my enemy and finally rest !" Void!Kiku said as he was emitting an unimaginable amount of power.

Thanos tried to get him off, but Kiku was now unmoveable :

"Stop it, you'll kill us both !".

"I hope so, because I can't stand this shitty world anymore ! Now JUST DIE"

The explosion wasn't really big. Still, everyone in the Orb, excepting those fighting, had a cold feeling in their back at this moment.

"Finally, one thing done" said Jakin'eer, before seeing a half-dead Thanos walking toward her.

"What !? But how ? Even you cannot have any chance to survive something like it !" She screamed as Thanos choked Invincibility with a headlock to bypass his invulnerability.

Jakin'eer then understood after seeing Ealia half destroyed : he transferred a part of the damages into Ealia ! Was he smart in addition to being handsome and strong ?

But even him was getting close to his limit as Invincibility was hitting him to free himself. Thanos finally got down.

"Phew, it was damn hard but we won" thought Jakin'eer out loud. "Still, what an unfair opponent, what about I keep him a bit to make him pay for all these difficulties ? Hehehe, it's gonna be a good occasion to become more intimate, since he wanted to talk daddy issues" Jakin'eer chuckled as she grabbed Thanos by his hair and spanked him.

"Sorry, but Thanos doesn't like whores" said a voice.

Jakin'eer looked at the person talking, who happened to be Invincibility. She then understood she got tricked :

"Damn it, he wasn't choking you ! This bastard was getting you out of Mael's control !" Shouted Jakin'eer.

"Correct" said Invincibility.

**Act 20 -**

T404 finally defeated Error!Gaster and teleported the four unconscious people in a safe place, before looking up to Mael. He was expecting to see the pink haired god laugh and throw another random enemy at him, but he had the good surprise to see a worried Mael biting his thumb nervously.

"Hey Mael, I can guess from your look all your pawns got defeated, am I right ?" Asked T404.

Mael thought for a bit before calming down :

"Yup, aaaall of them. Happy ? I can't sense them anymore, and I don't have enough power left to do anything. But you know what ?" Asked Mael.

"What ?" Repeated T404.

"I've learned from our confrontations. If you can't win… JUST RUN AWAY !" shouted Mael as he jumped on top of the castle and started to run toward the Absolute Void.

"Shit, you won't run away you bastard !" Shouted T404 as he ran behind Mael.

If he wasn't fast enough, Mael would reach the domain of Tiamat and they wouldn't have a chance to get him anymore.

As they arrived close to the limit of the material world, they saw Invincibility, and then Jakin'eer at some hundreds of meters away from him, pointing a blade toward Thanos throat :

"Don't you dare to approach or the Netherealm will need a new king !" She threatened.

Mael thought he was saved, until he saw Lucidia, Wise and Misquif arriving, placing themselves before the frontier of the Absolute Void, preventing Mael and Jakin'eer from entering it. T404 felt relieved, but he then remembered the controlled people :

"What happened to Dusk, Elysia and Buppy ?" He asked.

"Don't worry about this, we teleported Buppy and Dusk to safer places before coming here" said Wise.

"Yup, Elysia's safe too" said Misquif.

"You little… don't approach or Thanos gets what he deserves !" Threatened Mael as he joined Jakin'eer.

Almost everything was finished and the victory already seemed to smile to Lucidia and the others, even more when they saw Birb arriving too :

"Hey Birb, you won too ! And you even took Ass with you" Screamed Misquif as Birb deposed Ass on the floor, heavily injured but still alive.

But then they noticed something was wrong with him : he looked just like… the Three Eyed Raven ?! And as they looked in his direction, they saw a horrifying thing in his hand : Fire's head.

"Hehe, what's up ? Scared ? Well you should be" said Barbos as he launched Fire's head to the floor, before stomping on it and on Ass' head, killing him instantly.

"NO !" screamed Misquif and Invincibility as Barbos absorbed the power of the two he just killed.

And the nightmare went on as Barbos turned into Infected!Crow.

**Act 21**

It wasn't fair : as every other person present was totally exhausted, Infected!Crow just started and was even stronger than when he was merged with Final!Error. Lucidia and Wise didn't have enough power to use their true form and were so injured that they were barely as useful as T404 and Misquif, even if they were tired too.

"You think plot armor will save you ? You think the power of friendship will save you ? YOU THINK SHAD WILL SAVE YOU ? Well, too bad" said Infected!Crow as he wrapped himself around Wise.

Lucidia tried to scream and run to save him, but his body left him down as no sounds came out of his mouth.

"This story isn't about Shad or 404 variants anymore" said Infected!Crow as Wise returned to nothingness, his Gate disappearing at the same time, preventing him from coming back.

In the meantime, Jakin'eer profited from the diversion and got to the Absolute Void with Thanos. Mael tried to follow her but got knocked out as a butterfly flew in the sky :

"You don't move, you bastard" said TB404. "I'll take care of you… WHEN I FINISH KILLING THIS DAMN TRAITOR !" he screamed as he started clashing with Infected!Crow.

"YOU BASTARD, WE TRUSTED YOU, WE BELIEVED IN YOU ! ASS BELIEVED IN YOU !" said TB404, using his lv3 Ignis and his butterfly form at the same time, allowing him to fight Infected!Crow.

"Trusted me ?! BITCH I'M BARBOS NOT BIRB, YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I FUCKING EXIST !" screamed Infected!Crow as he avoided a Trigger Shot from TB404 and turned his flammes into demon kings, that TB404 killed in extremis with his feather manipulation.

"THEN GIVE BACK HIS BODY TO BIRB YOU BITCH ASS CLICHE DARK BIRB !" TB404 replied as they were flying and crashing above the castle, fracturing not only the reality they were in but also the ones around it.

But as the fight went on, TB404 slowly started to weaken as Infected!Crow had trouble controlling this body and this power he just got a few moments ago.

"Argh" said TB404 as he returned to his base form, barely catched by Misquif as he was going to crash on the ground.

They closed their eyes and waited for the end with Mael and Lucidia, but Infected!Crow didn't attack them. They looked at him to see what was going on, and seen him getting absorbed by his own flames :

"No, this power is mine ! It won't overwhelm me ! It won't…. AAAAAAARGH !"

Infected!Crow turned into a kind of chrysalid, and got bigger and bigger each second, ready to explode.

At this moment, Mael got pulled by a mysterious hand coming from nowhere, and disappeared under the eyes of Lucidia, T404, Invincibility and Misquif.

"Shit, now we're really all gonna die when Mael will be just fine" complained Misquif.

"Quick, come with me if you want to live !"

As they heard this voice, a portal opened in front of them.

"This voice… quick, run into the portal !" Screamed Lucidia.

They all ran toward it as Infected!Crow's chrysalid was starting to fracture, but Lucidia's legs abandoned him.

"Shit, seems like it's the end for me" said Lucidia only for T404 to push him toward the portal.

"I didn't have enough strength to run until there anyway" said T404 as Lucidia joined the others.

As Infected!Crow exploded, Barbos got ejected in another space by his own power and T404 died.

**Act 22**

As they passed through the portal, Lucidia and cie saw that every one of their friends they put in a safe place had been gathered here.

"Thank you for saving us, but who are you ?" Asked Misquif before noticing Lucidia and Invincibility were inclined.

It cannot be…

"I'm Shad".

All his suspicions were confirmed.

"Or to be more accurate I'm Avatar!Shad, or User!Shad if you prefer, and I request your help to stop Tiamat and his pawns" Shad said as Azi, Carp, Grid, Angel, Elysia, Dusk and Buppy started to awake.

Shad then had a strange look toward Misquif and Elysia. Misquif was wondering why, but he soon had his answer :

"It's not everything, there's another problem as bad or even worse than Tiamat : Mahes, the creator of Mael… and the Ignis user known as Darth No".

\*On Mael's side\*

"Who are you, and why did you save me ?" Asked Mael as he turned toward the person that pulled him.

His face got blank :

"N-no, it's impossible… I-i killed you… how can you be here, Darth ?!" Screamed Mael as he backed off a bit.

He then looked around him and saw he was… in a section of the Absolute Void ?

"Yes, I saved you'' replied Darth. "And if you ask why, it's because someone reeeaaally special asked me to. Of course I mean special to both of us" said Darth as he drawed a creepy smile on his face.

Then someone approached. Just with the step, Mael's reaction was infinitely worse than for Darth.

"Long time I didn't see you, Mael. Or should I say 'son' ?" Asked Mahes.

And in a whole other place, Barbos woke up and started to laugh, tears flowing as the sound that came out of his lunge and that nobody could hear was breaking what was left of Birb's heart.

**End of chapter 2**

Previous: Userverse chapter 1

Next: Userverse Chapter 3