The scent of death hung ominously in the air.

Corpses who a few minutes prior were living and animated, now brutalised and strewn across the barren landscape.

From the debris of a shattered and crumbled building a young man rose, he dusted off his golden suit and coughed loudly.

"Hmph, Monarch, you really shouldn't throw buildings at people, you're gonna hurt somebody!"

Another man, tall and imposing, dark eyes devoid of life, glared down at the one who stood against him.

"Regent, so you still refuse to perish?"

"Heh, you'll have to do better than throwing a building at me Monarch, how pathetic, you end the world but you can't even end my bloodline." Regent taunted, his golden hair blew in the wind.

"That's enough Regent, you've lost all of your allies, everyone you ever cared about is dead, I've brought the world to it's knees, now all that I need to do is dispose of you!"

Regent smiled. "Heh, it's entirely because you killed my comrades, my family, that I continue to fight, so that their deaths aren't in vain. Right Monarch, let's get this over with, this fight will either make history or end it."

"You're a confident one Regent, be careful, overconfidence can kill."

Regent grinned confidently. "I appreciate the concern Monarch, but I'm the strongest there is, I've not lost to anyone else and I'm not gonna lose to you!"

"Enough of this, time to end your foolish resistance."

The Monarch clicked his fingers and the ground beneath Regent began to shake and crumble.

Regent jumped backwards and landed on a small ledge. "Nice try Monarch, you're getting predictable."

Regent raised his right hand and extended it towards The Monarch.

"Heavenly Rain, come forth!"

A bright streak of light pierced the dim and gloomy clouds, they parted and illuminated Regent and The Monarch.

A bright blinding light shone down, daggers of light pierced the sky and shot towards The Monarch.

As the daggers rocketed through the sky, The Monarch chuckled and waved his hand, the daggers landed all around him and exploded on impact. "You'll have to do better than that Regent!"

"Oh don't worry, I plan to." Regent smirked.

He slowly levitated into the air beams of light bent and swirled around him, The Monarch followed, he began to levitate at equal measure.

Regent held his hands out and the swirls of light began to converge into a ball of light.

The Monarch clicked his fingers and an explosion hit Regent. He fell to the ground with a crash. The Monarch chuckled and lowered himself to the ground. "Your species truly is pathetic, you're only delaying the inevitable."

The Monarch extended his hand and Regent began to float towards him, The Monarch grabbed Regent by his shirt collar.

Regent spat at the Monarch. "Why don't you use that second power of yours? Holding back isn't very fun now is it Monarch?" He taunted.

The Monarch shook his head. "You underestimate me Regent, very well, I'll use my Abyssal Dominion."

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The Monarch raised his free hand and it began to pulse with a deep black glow, the darkness trailed up his arm, he wound his arm back and threw a punch at Regent.

Regent flew backwards after the impact, he crashed into a dilapidated building, the building creaked and shook.

Regent's body wobbled as he stood up shakily. He looked down at his shaking hand, pitch black streaks covered it as it was slowly engulfed, moving along his arm and beyond.

He coughed "Heh, so this is the Abyssal Dominion? What did you do to me Monarch?"

The Monarch laughed "Your power allows you to control light, what happens when I take that light away? All beings have a degree of light and darkness in their hearts, if I strip away that light then you'll lose what's left of your humanity." The Monarch glared at Regent.

Regent steadied himself and glared at The Monarch. "Looks like I'll actually have to try after all."

Regent extended his hand, a series of light beams darted into his palm, each moved faster than the last.

"By the Heavenly Blessing of the protector, I, the last descendant of the Regent Family, call upon your aid! Caliburn!! Blessed Sword of the Protector!!"

A swirl of light engulfed Regent's hand as the light transformed into a golden sword, the blade pulsed with white light as it warded away the darkness which covered Regent.

The Monarch observed the blade and chuckled. "So, this is the Regent family's Protector Artifact, interesting."

Regent pointed the blade towards The Monarch decisively. "This is where things end, the Regent family's Artifact shall turn you to dust."

The Monarch laughed. "You're a fool, the combined efforts of several of humanity's strongest couldn't stop me, your sword won't either."

Regent swung the blade forwards, the ground crackled and shook as an arc of light shot towards The Monarch.

The Monarch waved his hand and the arc veered off beside him, it crashed into a wall and dissipated, by the time The Monarch had looked back at Regent, he was already charging towards him, sword extended outward.

"Pathetic Regent, your existence ends here!" The Monarch grabbed the sword by it's blade, the light seeped from the blade and it became brittle, it shattered like glass in Regent's hand.

Regent chuckled. Suddenly The Monarch felt a searing pain on his back. Regent had fired a dagger of light into The Monarch's back.

"That's what you get for focusing only on my sword, you focused only what you saw in front of you, you neglected to believe any other possibility, you underestimated me Monarch, I have the upper hand here now!"

"Enough of this! Things end properly now! The conclusion of your species is at hand!"

The Monarch's once empty eyes began to glow, radiating malice as he began to float into the air.

Regent noticed and immediately moved to intercept. "Heavenly Fissure, rise from the ground and banish evil!"

The ground split open, divine light shot from it like a bullet, it pierced The Monarch through the shoulder, causing it to burn, The Monarch fell to the ground.

"Regent! This isn't over! You won't win!"

The Monarch began to mutter a phrase quietly, a phrase that shook Regent's very soul.

"I need to stop him before he activates that, or else everyone's sacrifice will be for nothing! I promised I'd never use this, I'm sorry everyone, I'm going to have to break that promise."

Regent uttered a phrase, one that sent a chill down the Monarch's spine, he froze in place as Regent began to levitate, a feint golden glow rose from within him, gradually it got brighter and brighter. A bright light engulfed both of them, The Monarch burned up, his skin peeled away into dust, he slowly faded to ashes in the wind.

"Regent! This isn't over! No matter how long it takes, I WILL RETURN!"

"When you do there'll be somebody waiting to destroy you, just as I did today, another hero will rise to defend humanity!"

The glow subsided and Regent fell to the ground, his breathing was laboured and he coughed up blood. He sat down against a rock.

"To my allies who fought bravely to get me this far, to those who lost their lives, to my closest friends, we managed to protect what remained of humanity, a new dawn is coming, rest now my friends, your families are safe."

He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry my friends, I broke our promise, I used my last resort and now I shall suffer the consequences."

"Humanity is at last safe, however this comes at a terrible cost, a price that I must pay for using this ability, I am the last alive who knows of such a power lying dormant within the depths of the soul, this terrible secret which shall never be passed on, none shall suffer as I will."

"I know a future of struggling against the monsters and remnants of the abyss will be awaiting humanity, I firmly believe in the next generation of heroes, I know they will rise to the challenge."

Regent coughed and with a shaky hand he pulled a communication device from his pocket, he put it to his mouth and pressed the button down with a click.

"This is the Golden Regent... Mission complete... Monarch of the Abyss neutralised... five squadrons deployed... no survivors..."

"Regent Squadron disbanded... three members... two deceased... all fought bravely to the end... both should be memorialized... if I manage to make it to the city I shall report to the new Hero Organisation... The Monarch damaged me badly... Golden Regent signing off..." Regent clicked the button on his communication device and his arm dropped down beside him.

"I shall rest now, the world stands a fighting chance, my friends, your deaths were not in vain."