End of Infinity IC

Traveling along Mallis heard a distinctly icy, feminine voice in his head.

"Tsk tsk, you really shouldn't say aloud what you might not want others to hear. Unfortunately for you the real darkness already resides here. Now's the part where you convince me that this realm is big enough for the two of us."

Zal-Tek steeled himself for a moment longer, then stepped through the portal. He was immediately struck by the carnage around him, something he hadn't personally seen in a long time.
Well, except for just a few minutes ago.
Right.

He snarled at the ruins, but for the moment he didn't see any towering robots. Where had they gone? He wasn't sure he really wanted to know, but at the same time he really disliked not knowing. The could be anywhere.
He kept his eyes peeled and began picking quietly through the rubble.

As the Eradicators on the surface of the planet they were on were finishing slagging the surface, several Eradicators were completing their final scans of the planet. In one area that had not been completely destroyed yet, they noticed several bio signatures that were not their own. They immediately began to descend on the anomalies, while contacting the other Eradicators in the area.

On the surface, all the characters sensitive to the subatomic vibrations started to feel an increase in the buzzing as the Eradicators communicated with each other

Mallis almost felt like ignoring the person that was sending him telepathic messages. He rolled his eyes. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to? I'm not talking about some silly little darkness age you made up, I'm talking about a mass of dark magic the size of entire universes capable of eating planets in a matter of three seconds, capable of consuming galaxies within an hour, universes within a day, realms within a week! They are burnt up and never to return. Do you really want me to make you go through that? I'm sorry, but this realm is mine. Your welcome to join me" Mallis sent in a dark tone. "But if you're not willing to submit to me, my armies are coming here to eat everything, everyone, anyone, and anything" he added.

He felt the power of Sairei drawing even nearer. He growled with frustration. He sent another message to the stranger sending him messages, "Now if you will excuse me, I have a dragon to kill."

He closed the portal tightly so that nobody would be able to get into Keros. He floated above the ground. His corrosive aura made the plants around him suddenly melt and then reform into black weeds that grew tall and flung about trying to grasp and kill any living animal that happened to walk by.

"Sairei..." Mallis said. "I know you can hear your name... Little Sairei... Where are you hiding?" he called out.

Zal-Tek was not finding anything of much use in the ruins, so he quickly got bored. It wasn't like he had some sort of mystery to solve, he knew what had caused this. His serious expression stayed exactly the same when he felt it.

As a master of mind magic, Zal-Tek could tell when people were speaking telepathically nearby, even if he wasn't involved in the message. It was faint, they were right at the edge of his range, but if he reached out-

Veriska? And... Someone else. He decided not to get too involved, but kept his attention just slightly on the pair of them. Enough to have a vague idea what they were talking about, but not enough for them to notice. Now that was something he was good at.

Mallis's head sent a throb through his body. He held a palm to his forehead and then released. He looked out at the ruins. He detected someone nearby. His sensory magic was always something he was proud to brag about.

"Who is with you Sairei?" Mallis sneered. "They're walking nearby, I can feel their physical presence."

Mallis floated out, he began to move toward whoever this was, waiting for someone like Tharan or Ariana to jump out and claw him or shoot him with some of that girly blue fire. He wasn't afraid. They were all just annoyances to him. He wanted Sairei to be alone so he could kill her while her friends weren't able to save her. He knew that she couldn't die normally but he'd find a way to cause her to somehow be... destroyed. He was desperate to find something at least. He wasn't afraid of her. She couldn't kill him--unless she went to Keros to find out all his little secrets.

She'd never make it past the Dark Mass... Mallis thought. Not even a god would. He kept floating out, trying to sniff out this being.

"Oh yes, dear, I missed you so much. Now why don't you come out here and give me a hug?!" Mallis said as purple flames engrossed his body. His eyes lit up with rage and his body lengthened. He began to suck away energy sources, traces left behind from the vaporization and fuel himself. Energy was just as good of food as regular life source or souls.

"If you must know my little dragon friend, I am here for another realm. I have to eat, we all do. I mean, I won't die from it. No... I can't die. The hunger is just really annoying. Plus I have to keep myself and my armies healthy. I'm sorry, I know I'm rambling about things you're too stupid to understand. Now before I beat your sorry butt out of here, I'm going to give you a chance to escape. Go on, go back to where you and Twilit and Tharan, Bella, Shadow, and all those other dragon freaks come from!" Mallis hacked.

As she said this, the Eradicators opened fire on the creatures below them. As they approached, they also recognized the two reptilian creatures that their counterparts had encountered on another world. They relayed this to each other and diverted fire from Sairei, instead trying to smash her with their large foot blades.

Interesting... Mallis noted. He let out a "RRAAAKATAUUGGHHHH!!!!" howl that sounded warped and distorted, stretched and scrapped in every way possible. He summoned a massive swarm of purple flames from the ground, blasting them into the machines and trying to get Sairei a little lit up by them on the side.

The flames swarmed at the Eradicators as they landed. As their feet touched the flames, they began to slowly burn and melt. The other robots that were approaching behind them took note of this and remained hovering in the air, and they began to focus their fire on this new being that was somehow burning through the armor of their bretheren

Mallis laughed. "Nice try metal-heads!" Mallis steamed and transformed into a massive black fog that lit up with a few flashes of what looked like purple lightning. It rose up, fires began to swirl with it.

"SUUPPLLLAAAUUUGGHHHHH!!!!" he screeched sending a whirlwind of black winds across the sky at them, flying them around and scrambling them.

The whirlwind pushed on the Eradicators with the force of a small tornado, but did little to move their huge bulk. The thousand foot tall machines kept firing at Mallis, their beams traveling at the speed of light right into Mallis's center, where they focused the heat of a nuclear bomb into one spot.

Mallis balled up and came together where they had fired the heat. A large blinding purple light flashed for a moment, finally the blast was contained and consumed.

"Thanks for all the energy!" a dark voice rang out of the fog. "I'll spend it well!"

Fiery purple eyes blazed from the fog and glanced at the robots. "Give up..." he relentlessly said.

"You don't have MY power! You don't know how to do these types of things little girl!" Mallis growled. He began firing black and purple soldering fireballs from the flaming eyes projected in the smoke.

"I've fought waaaaaay harder creatures! This will be a piece of cake!"

Mallis's beams lanced toward the Eradicators, but then merely impacted their projectile shields.
After Mallis spoke, something strange happened. For the first time, the robots halted their approach and stopped firing. The five of them formed an arrowhead, two to a side with one at the head. The subatomic buzzing began to increase tenfold, and from the leading Eradicator, a thunderous voice that shattered any intact window with the bass issued.
"Give up? You are the one who should be giving up. Our numbers alone can darken skies of every world in this galaxy. Your powers are so insignificant to our countless units alone that it is laughable that you try to resist. And even if you do destroy us all, more will come. There is no fighting us. Every ten of us you manage to destroy are replaced by ten thousand. You cannot escape your fate."

Zal-Tek sat down calmly and chuckled. As difficult as it had been to destroy only one Eradicator, he couldn't help laughing. He had heard that speech many times before, and every time it had either been pathetic or from the mouth of his brother. Why should this be different?

He watched Mallis not just with his eyes, but telepathically. It was barely noticeable, but Zal-Tek was watching Mallis' every move, noting how much power it took and what effect it had, down to the very specific element used. He wouldn't be caught unawares if Mallis decided to attack them. By the time Mallis was done with the Eradicators, Zal-Tek was confident he would know nearly all his tricks.

He smiled casually, as if watching some sort of performance, and curled his tail around his feet.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't have a Fate! I am an Immortal, I literally cannot die. Besides, I assume you've never heard of what happened to Keros. Otherwise you wouldn't be saying such rude things to the ruler of all the universes. Now step aside so I can finish off Sairei. I'm not letting a few metal-headed pawns get in my way of killing her. She is MINE! MINE! MINE! She will never be yours, she is MINE!" Mallis said, his voice darkening.

Zal-Tek gave up trying to keep a vaguely straight face. This, this sad excuse for 'evil' was so set on a single person and it was just- hilarious. He fell over backwards laughing. His tail lashed around somewhat dangerously with the blade on the end, but he didn't care.

For all he cared, any so called darkness paled in comparison to his brother. And Mallis was no exception. He was trying so hard to appear powerful, but what was he really? Zal-Tek couldn't stop laughing. He knew if Shallno ever started acting like that he would give him a good whack upside the head. It simply was not a good way to go about things. But whatever Mallis felt like doing was fine, he didn't intend to correct him, just keep laughing.

"Ruler of the Universes? There is so much more than petty universes, more than you can even comprehend. If you were so powerful, you would know that. Your petty obsession with getting revenge against this other beings is pointless and irrelevant, a waste of time. As for Keros, you have sealed its destruction. You, through your own carelessness and lack of control over your emotions, have betrayed it. Now behold the consequences of your actions!"

The Eradicators withdrew into orbit and all began to fire at the ground at once. The ground split, churning, and began to melt beneath their feet. The city also began to collapse around them, as everything began to turn to molten slag.