“Sounds like things have gotten pretty crazy over there.” Kevin sighed.

“Yeah. Sounds like it.” Money Tree took a swig from the bottle of whiskey. “I’m not worried, though. Cinder is a member of Pantheon. My best friend would never take on someone who would lose.” He tossed the bottle over to Kevin, who caught it.

Kevin finished the whiskey off and walked over to a shelf, placing the empty bottle back on it. “Want me to grab another one? There’s still a bunch left.” He asked his enemy.

“Nah.” Money Tree shook his head. “That was plenty. Can’t feel the pain in my arm anymore. Thanks for that.”

They were far from the portal now. When the villain split himself in two, one of the Kevins had chased Money Tree away from it. They went even further when Cinder decided to turn the entire battlefield into an active volcano. Far in the distance, the remains of the Pallet Boys castle were slowly melting away.

They were at a different section of the realm. One which had a large stone building that had been mostly torn down in all the shaking. It had seemingly served as a sort of wine cellar for the Pallet Boys, though it wasn’t underground. A single shelf had survived the rumbling, and it allowed the two of them to take a much-needed break.

“Won’t your mistress get mad when she learns you stopped fighting me?” Money Tree snorted.

“Maybe.” Kevin cracked his neck, and his flesh bubbled. “You just looked uncomfortable. I’m not one to pick on someone who just lost their limb, so I figured you could use the break. Besides, you’ve been fighting all day, right? Got to be pretty tired now.”

“You can say that again.” He muttered. It was hard to think that they had been in this realm for less than an hour now. So much stuff had seemingly happened, and they were still nowhere near done. This break was very much needed. It allowed Destiny to go and back up Cinder as well. “So be honest. Do you have the thing in your head? The one Wish told us to break.”

Kevin gave a lazy shrug. “Nope.”

“Got it. Well, I’ll be seeing you, then. I need to go and help Snowdawn destroy that thing the psycho lord mentioned.”

“I don’t have one in my head because it doesn’t exist.” Kevin grunted. “She lied. There is a core that stops me from growing back, but it isn’t in my body. Sorry to say. If you really want out, you’re going to need to either somehow kill Wish or tear through the flesh wall I created.”

“Could you take it down?”

“No. I’m not programmed to.”

“Programmed- Ah. I get it.” Money Tree nodded. “I’m guessing you’re not going to let me just kill you and go help Snowdawn either, are you?”

“Yeah, I can’t do that. The moment you try to leave, I’ll go back into attack mode and try to kill you; the same goes for when you attack me. I’d say you have a single second to hit me with a solid attack. Either wipe me out fully or mostly. You can also try and convince me to take another break, but I’m not sure if it’ll work again.”

“That makes sense to me.” Money Tree gave a sly smirk. “The thing is though; I’ve already made my attack.”

“Huh-” Blood spilled down Kevin’s stomach as a blade of shimmering diamonds jutted out of his side. “How did you-”

“When you took a sip from the drink.” Money Tree raised his palm up, and more blades began to jut out of Kevin’s body. “I put a few strands of diamond dust into it. See, I create forms of currency. Few powers can just create things out of thin air, and I’m one of them. I can’t create stuff in places I don’t see or inside of objects. I can only create things out of my skin. I say create, but that isn’t really right. It’s less creation and more transmutation. I infect matter with my power and turn already existing matter into a type of currency. I can’t do this to living things, but the air around us is filled with trillions upon trillions of tiny bits of matter, all brushing my skin and being turned into dollar bills or shards of diamonds. This infection can then grow and start to infect other forms of matter. In other words, that tiny bit of dust you just inhaled is now changing into trillions of shards, growing larger and larger.”

Kevin’s body took a swing, his arm growing, but Money Tree easily sidestepped the attack. “How could you get so many in me? I’m a living person. Your power shouldn’t be able to infect me-” More shards started to stab out of his limbs, and his arms crashed to the ground, suddenly too heavy for him to hold up. A giant crystal jutted out of his back, forcing him to his knees.

“There are plenty of things inside of a person that aren’t living. Our hairs are made out of dead cells. Plenty of cells die. Of course, even with a massive number, they’re so small I wouldn’t be able to do this. That’s where your power allowed me to.”

Kevin's arm shattered to pieces as the crystals formed over part of his torso. He tried to stand up, but his knee exploded, and his leg was replaced with a large crystal. Slowly but surely, he was being replaced fully. Soon he would just be a pretty art piece. His neck bubbled, and it grew longer like a snake. His mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, and he tried to bite down around Money Tree’s neck, but the teeth shattered as the man’s entire outfit was replaced with a diamond suit.

“You see.” Money Tree casually batted the head off of him, ripping off most of its face. “Your body grows and expands rapidly. You’re creating new cells in order for your bones and muscles to take up the space of the new limb; same for the skin. New cells that then have to go somewhere when your body pulls itself back to its normal shape. Cells that will quickly die off. Your body is like a mini-universe filled with the dead. Matter my virus can infect easily.”

Kevin’s neck shrank back down, and he stopped fighting. From the head down, he was entirely made of diamond now, as it grew across his skin and connected with the parts inside of him. “I see. This is quite the power, Mister Hero. I ain’t done yet. I might not like the side I’m on, but I still have my pride.” He opened his mouth as the virus expanded over his face. His tongue blasted out, growing massive, and he bit down on it, severing it just in time.

The diamond finished growing, leaving him frozen in place, but his tongue started to slither like a snake as the front of it grew a mouth of its own. It darted through the tall grass of the field they were in, getting longer and thicker. Money Tree slashed out with his sword, but the thing dodged it and curved past him. An arm grew out of it, and the hand took hold of his ankle. Even with his armor, he grunted as he felt it shatter part of the bone in his foot.

He twisted and broke his leg further, forcefully dragging it out of the grasp. His costume expanded and almost seemed to grow a flapping pair of wings made out of cash, which lifted him off of the ground and away from the beast.

The tongue got even larger, reaching the size of a bus. The arm that had formed out of it grew larger as well, and it sprouted a second limb. Legs started to form out of its side, and large fleshy wings sprouted from its back. Its front seemed to morph into a head as well, which lifted up and growled. It almost looked like a large, fleshy dragon. The pink beast lifted up with its wings, and Money Tree narrowly dodged the strike.

“So, you took my lesson to heart, huh?” The thing was made entirely out of muscle cells now. It didn’t have eyes, ears, or even a brain. It was just solid muscle forced to work from the boy’s mysterious power. It didn’t recycle any of its cells or create new ones once it was finished changing. No dead cells at all. An almost perfect life form. “This might be harder than I thought.”

He twisted and dodged as more limbs grew out of the beast, and it created another set of wings to better support it. The thing chased him up higher towards the sky, and he formed one of his platforms. Spinning blades of pennies were thrown at the monster, but its form was insanely thick and easily deflected them. Even when he made diamond blades.

Dragons were mighty beasts, most having been real beings that once existed due to the power the Emperor held. Kevin had seemingly stepped closer to being more dragon than man as his new form roared and howled as it caught up to Money Tree.

The hero flew past the clouds and could feel ice start to crawl up his skin. His lungs started to burn as well, and it was getting harder to stay awake. Still, he fought.

He and the dragon got even higher, more limbs clawing through the air hard enough to send out shock waves while the hero fired more spears and blades of cash. Pink and white filled the sky as muscles and diamonds clashed. Money Tree started to form animals out of his creation, bombing the dragon with crows made of gold or hawks made of diamonds. Kevin’s form grew tons of mouths and teeth made of muscles that crushed the beasts.

The air got even thinner, and Money Tree felt his eyes grow heavy. He slipped and paid for it, not reacting fast enough as one of the dragon’s many arms wrapped around his waist. He screamed out as he felt dozens of his ribs shatter. Despite that, though, he still managed to chuckle.

Kevin couldn’t see or hear him, lacking eyes. Instead, the muscles all formed and moved on instinct. Even if the man could hear, he lacked a brain, not allowing for thought. Because of this, it never bothered to actually notice that the further they got up, the more the wind beneath them began to bend and twist.

“Now’s your time, BB!” Money Tree’s outfit erupted, growing larger, and it forced part of the dragon’s hand open. He slipped out of his outfit and began to free fall down past it. The beast’s body tried to turn in the air, but it was too late. As Money Tree fell, he passed BB, who began to gradually revert back to her normal size. “You got this.”

BB had followed the duo of bad guys in the portal when they had first arrived. The monster that was Wish had forced her to hide before she could sneak close to Money Tree, ready to help when he needed it. This dragon, though, was something she wasn’t scared of. BB gave a grin and held her hands out. She thought back to what Cinder had done and copied it, forcing all the wind she had created as she followed after Money Tree and Kevin to form into the center of her hands.

“Take this!” The hero yelled.

The dragon roared, and the wind formed into a beam-like state as so much air pressure fired out. It punctured straight through the monster and forced it up higher into the air, lifting it up further and further. It tried to fight back, but it was too late. As the wind stabbed through it and lifted it, it also began to wrap around him. The further he got away from the planet, the colder it got, and soon he was about to be launched into outer space!

His body began to rip off chunks and try to throw them away before it froze fully. “Oh no, you don’t.” Money Tree created a new platform for him and BB to stand on. As she sent the big one up higher, he used his power on the falling chunks, wrapping them up before they could grow and forcing the makeshift cages to fly past the beast and into space.

BB let out one final yell as all the wind was fully unleashed and the flesh dragon broke past the atmosphere. Its wings started to shatter, and its body became coated in a thick layer of ice, slowly twisting through space and getting further away from the planet.

“Yeah!” BB yelled. “We did it-” The platform beneath them broke apart, and they suddenly began to fall. “Money Tree?” She called out, forming her wings. The man didn’t answer her, his costume breaking off of him. His eyes were rolled to the back of his head, and she realized he had blacked out. “Oh crap!”

She tried to use the wind to stop his fall, but it didn’t work. She had used up a ton of energy creating the gate and then that massive beam. The wind barely had enough control to form into small puffs of air. Her wings couldn’t lift her up either, while she was big and while small, she wouldn’t be able to carry him.

“What do I do, what do I do, what do I-” She stopped as she stared down at the man’s face. The face of a hero. The face of the man who kept the Sub Enforcers held together.

Money Tree had been there when Myth left them all. He had been there when their former leader died. He had been the one to take it over and rebrand it to what it is now. The one who helped get Lily and Ken back into society as well as dozens of other heroes who had their lives changed by the Calamity event. He was the one that helped her to grow her powers, helped Rowan to build better suits, helped Wasp Nest learn, and brought Oxide out of her shell.

Money Tree was a hero.

One who the world still needed.

BB body shrunk down, and her wings unfolded as she flew past Money Tree. She turned around and grew back to her full height, wrapping her arms around him as he crashed into her. The ground was coming up fast, and soon both of them would be a stain, but she could at least make sure one survived. “You were a good teacher.” Her body began to expand as she inverted her power, getting bigger.

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She would shield him from the fall and take all of it onto herself. She became big enough to wrap her hands fully around his body, and she closed her eyes. Then suddenly she saw it and felt something seep over her body. A bright, warm glow. BB’s eyes shot open as she felt a wave of energy going through her.

“Looks like I made it in time.” Despite her massive form, BB could feel something wrapped around her. It wasn’t arms though. It was pure golden light. Something had stopped her fall moments before she hit the ground. The light carried her softly down and gently placed her on her feet. “You okay?”

Her body began to shrink, and she still gripped Money Tree. She looked up at the beaten face of Battery. She blinked a few times, still in shock. “You made it.”

“Yeah.” Battery brought a weapon up. A sword that was solid white and danced with the symbols of hundreds of runes. He placed the edge of the blade on her throat, but she felt no sense of harm. “Take them to Sky.”

Her ears popped, and in an instant she and the unconscious Money Tree stood in a hospital room. “More of them—Oh my God, that’s Money Tree!” Lily said in horror.

The room was fairly crowded now. Ocean Empress stood off to the side, and there were several doctors and Hero Branch workers trying to cut Rowan out of his armor while Sky worked on Ken, who had seemingly woken up and was shivering, his face pale due to the amount of blood he was losing.

BB placed Money Tree on the ground, her eyes wide. “I- I was brought here by Battery, I think—Paragon, please help Money Tree!”

“I’m working on it.” Sky muttered. She placed her second hand on Money Tree. “Oh God. Just who the hell have you guys been fighting!”

“I- I don’t know.”

Ocean Empress stepped forward, placing her hands on BB’s shoulders. “Listen. You seem to be fine; are you hurt?”

“No. I-”

“Okay then. Do you think you can tell me where this is all happening? Battery left without answering. I’m getting involved now.”

BB gulped the image of Wish coming to her mind. “I don’t know if you could win.”

“They’re fighting something mom can’t handle.” Lily’s eyes narrowed. “It’s a Lord, right? Sun or Life? Which one is evil?”

“Why do you think it’s a Lord?” Sky questioned. “Mom’s strong, but there are threats besides the Lords out there that can beat her.”

“I just know it. I don’t know how, but I do. Mom, take me with you-”

“No.” Ocean Empress shook her head. “I need you to stay here. We have three unconscious heroes and Sky. You need to keep them safe. I’m going.” She turned to look back at BB. “Please. Tell me where it is.”

BB nodded slowly. “I’ll take you there. Cinder and Snowdawn haven’t made it out yet.”

“Okay. Let’s go-”

“I’m coming, too.” From the doorway, dressed in his hero costume, Old Dog stood with his arms folded behind his back. His body shook, and his eyes looked tired.

“Dad-”

“I’m coming.”

Ocean Empress sighed. “Okay. Let’s head to the roof. BB, lead the way to this place.”

***

Snowdawn screamed and rammed his fist into Kevin’s face. The massive brute stumbled back and swung his own arm out, smashing it into Snowdawn’s stomach and causing the hero to gasp.

The two of them were in rough shape. They were miles away from the forest, the castle, and wherever Money Tree had ended up. The fighting itself had taken a bit of an odd turn. This second Kevin seemingly had been inspired by the arena Wish had made and created one of his own. It wasn’t very big, only ten feet wide, and was a perfect circle.

That was where the two of them stood. Kevin’s body was covered in shards of frozen skin, and he was bruised and battered, stumbling and struggling to hold his arms up. Muscles poured out of his fists, making them larger and giving him fleshy knuckle dusters. Across from him, Snowdawn had similar weapons made out of bits of solid snow and a tiny amount of ice. His snow armor was mostly gone and cracked, revealing the black bodysuit he wore as well as his very bloody face. His glasses had broken a while ago in their fist fight.

Kevin took a step forward and threw a right hook out. Snowdawn barely blocked it and groaned as he felt the muscles in his arm scream out. More of his snow tumbled off his body, and his fingers grew tighter around his weapons, which he raised up, slamming into Kevin's jaw and cutting away flakes of flesh with razor-sharp droplets of water.

“I have to say, Moore.” Kevin wiped at his bloody nose and gave a smirk. “I’m a little impressed. I never knew such a scrawny nobody like you could be a hero. I really did get unlucky, not getting a power, didn’t I?” Unlike the other Kevin, this one held more of the original body's pride and hatred, as opposed to the hopes and dreams the dragon body had.

“Shut the hell up.” Snowdawn grabbed Kevin by the hair and smashed his forehead against the man. He ripped out the villain’s hair when Kevin stumbled back and hit his foot with a leg sweep. “I’m not in the mood for talking to a selfish jerk like you!” He tried to elbow-drop Kevin, but the villain rolled out of the way and was back onto his feet.

“That’s fine with me. Honestly, I never liked you, so the idea of talking to you makes me sick.” Kevin grabbed Snowdawn by the ankle and forcefully lifted and swung the teen. He let go and sent Snowdawn spinning and crashing headfirst into a large tree. Blood poured down Snowdawn’s face, but his eyes were filled with pure rage as he struggled to stand back up. “Besides. Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

“Figured what out?” Snowdawn spat. He raised his leg up and kicked the ground, shooting out a wave of snow that took the form of a giant tank-sized fist that slammed into Kevin.

Kevin’s left arm grew, and the muscles formed a shield of flesh, which he used to block the fist. The shield covered his entire arm, and he held it out, running forward. He smashed through another wave of snow that Snowdawn shot at him and tackled Snowdawn, breaking several trees as he tore the boy through the wood.

“I’ve been going easy on you.” Kevin smirked. He grabbed Snowdawn by the front of his suit and pulled the hero into his other hand, which grew larger. His fist rapidly smashed into Snowdawn until the front of the boy’s costume tore apart and the kid was sent flying further into the woods. “I haven’t healed since we began fighting here. I’ve been letting you hurt me and stopped my healing all so we could have some fun. At any time, though, I can get rid of all these wounds. You don’t stand a chance of winning.”

Snowdawn hit the ground, rolling across it, and began throwing up blood. “You’re lying.” He groaned. He stared up past the section of the woods they were in and spotted the large castle in the distance. It was almost gone now, and even with how far it was, he could still hear the sounds of Cinder’s battle.

“Am I?” Kevin walked behind him slowly and raised his foot, smashing it down into Snowdawn’s back. All his wounds began to rapidly close shut and heal as he fixed all the damage. “It kind of pisses me off. I was strong without power, but then people like you get them! I mean, you’re able to hurt me in this form and actually put up a bit of a fight. I bet you’d have easily killed me if I were my old self.”

Snowdawn screamed out, feeling his spine almost snap as Kevin began to apply force. The villain’s body started to grow larger and Snowdawn gritted his teeth. He tried to push himself up with his hands and feet, feeling the ground begin to crack beneath him. His arms and legs shook, feeling like they were going to give out, and the last of his snow dropped off of his body.

A pillar of fire blasted high into the sky, ripping through the roof of the castle. “Looks like she’s putting up more of a fight than I thought. I told Wish it wouldn’t end well for her. She’s too naïve for someone like Cinder.” Kevin muttered. “After I kill you, I’ll have to go and help Wish finish her off.”

Armin felt his teeth begin to shatter as he gritted them, and his bones started to snap. “G- Get real.” He let out a loud scream, and suddenly a blade of ice stabbed out of his back, ripping Kevin’s leg off. It wasn’t made of snow but rather fully ice, just like Ocean Empress would create. It didn’t last long and quickly shattered, but it had been enough to get him back on his feet. His arms dangled at his side, and he looked like he was on the verge of blacking out. “You really think you can beat Cinder. As if. She’s too cool for someone like you. Besides, I’m still standing. I’m not going to let you reach her.”

“Do you really think you can stop me?”

“I have a foolproof plan.” Snowdawn raised one of his fists and snow coated it as he balled it. “I’m just going to win!”

Kevin didn’t seem amused. He sighed, and his skin started to rip as his muscles began to spill out. They coated his form, growing larger and forming armor. A tail whipped out behind him, and the top of his head formed into a set of large red horns. He stood up to his full height and folded his arms. He looked almost exactly like Mars King now. Maybe a little slimmer and younger, but the look was there.

“Die.” Kevin blasted forward with new godlike speed and rammed his fist into Snowdawn’s arm. The entire limb shattered and broke like a twig from the force of his punch. His arm easily slammed through the defense and smashed Snowdawn back, sending the boy crashing and rolling out of the forest. Despite that insane blow, though, Snowdawn climbed back to his feet on wobbling legs. “Seriously! Stay down!”

Kevin sprouted a set of wings and flew through the forests, ripping the trees apart. Right before he reached Snowdawn, he curved his body and twisted it around, coming feet first like a rocket. Snow formed around the hero, bringing his armor back, but it barely blocked the attack, the rest shattering all of the kid’s ribs and causing a massive sonic boom to go off that likely broke Armin’s eardrums. Again, he was slammed back and smashed into the ground hundreds of feet away.

And again, Kevin’s eyes went wide as the hero shakily stood back up.

“W- What the hell is with you?”

Snowdawn didn’t speak, barely able to keep his eyes open. He couldn’t even raise his arms anymore. Despite that, though, he took a step forward. A shard of ice formed between his teeth, making a dagger, and he gripped it with his mouth, ready to keep fighting.

His mind couldn’t help but race back to his best friend. Growing up, he sort of knew he was going to get powers. His dad had them, the same for his grandfather and his grandfather’s father. The Moore’s always seemed to be blessed with the gift of the cold. Despite that, though, none of them ever bothered trying to become heroes or doing anything with their powers. After all, heroes like the Lord of the Sea could do what they did, but on a much grander scale and more. Even people like Ocean Empress were hundreds of times above them.

He had been the first to look at his power as something more than a cool trick. He was the first who actually viewed it as something that could make a difference.

Growing up, he had a mother. She was no longer with them, though. Two years ago, she had been away on a business trip and was caught up in the attack from the Calamities. Like the millions of lives that were lost every time they showed up, she didn’t make it. That was sort of when it clicked. He would be a hero. He didn’t have to be a good one, a popular one, or even a strong one. He just wanted to be a hero that would help when the world needed them most. When the world was on the brink of destruction, even if it would be wiped away, he wanted to help.

‘She’ would have called him stupid. Hope hadn’t been happy when he told her. She was always saving him back before he had his powers. Keeping him safe from bullies. Keeping him safe from the pain of losing his mother. Keeping him safe from the endless wave of being alone. Even when he got his powers, she was keeping him safe. She acted at the bank. She was the one who fought the big threats. Even now she was still doing it.

“I guess I was left in the dust a while ago, wasn’t I?” Snowdawn dropped the dagger and gave a sly grin.

Kevin launched at him, this time ready to tear the hero's head off. “You’re dead!”

“Yeah... Maybe I am.” Armin smirked as the fist soared at his face. “But you’re coming with me. I still have one trick up my-”

The attack never landed. He never got to do his finisher move. Kevin’s arm was sliced apart, and a golden chain grabbed Armin, moving him away. “No one’s dying on my watch.” Battery sighed.

“B- Battery?” Armin looked up, blinking. Mr. Larison didn’t look too good. His costume was a mess, and he wobbled, but his eyes were filled with a determined blue glow. “How did you get here-”

Battery placed the blade on Armin’s shoulder. “To Sky.” There was a silent pop, and suddenly he stood alone in the field with the monster. Kevin glared at him, still in the shape of Mars King. “Hey.”

“So, you came back? You should have left when you had the chance. Wish won’t be happy, and I won’t be able to stop her from-”

“Put me in front of him.” Battery literally vanished and reappeared in front of Kevin, stabbing his sword into the monster’s gut. Kevin gasped in shock and winced.

“I can heal. This won’t-”

“Send him to the bottom of Earth’s ocean.” Kevin vanished in a pop, and Battery gripped the handle of his sword tighter, his eyes burning. “Put me behind the Lord of Life.”

At the battle in question, Wish scattered to ash. She had lost count of how many times it had happened now. “Okay, fine. You want to play unfair?”

“Not really.” Cinder winced. Her vision blurred, her ears rang, and her skin felt like it was going to fall off of her any second now. Parts of it were no longer red, having morphed into a nasty black. Her hair was a mess as well, part of it having been burned up in the lava. “Can we just agree that I beat you?”

“Like hell you did! Look at you!” Wish growled.

“Yeah. Look at me.” Cinder brought her fingers to her lips and whistled. Wish felt a massive block of stone smash into her skull as up above Destiny dropped the cinder block that he had picked up. He landed down on Cinder’s shoulder, and instantly her body began to mend. It was still damaged in parts. Any damage Wish had made with physical contact remained, as had much of the damage she had inflicted on herself with her abuse of fire. Despite that though, she felt way better and felt her stamina shoot back up. “Oh, hey, it looks like I can heal, too. Guess you aren’t that special.”

“I’m going to kill you.” Wish screamed, her skull putting itself back together. “I- I- You’re cheating! This isn’t fair!”

“Fair?” Cinder blasted forward with her fire, ramming her fist into the girl’s stomach. “What isn’t fair is harming my friends!” Her elbow came down on the girl’s head, caving the girl’s skull in. “Wasp Nest! Metal Ronin!” She kicked the girl up with her leg and blasted a wave of fire, catching the girl on fire. “And Battery!” She sidestepped just in time as the floor exploded into another hail of bone-like spikes. Wish’s upper body grew out of the spikes, and the girl’s mouth produced more of them that tried to stab into Cinder. “What isn’t fair is you hurting the people that are on your own side! You didn’t even bother using that sword and shield you created out of your own grunts!” She raised her arms up and blocked a wave of spikes that were barely able to pierce her skin and quickly shattered. “What isn’t fair is you being the only person who can save my dad, and you’re nothing more than some crybaby with a God complex! You’re no better than Polaron and Green Wolf!” A blade of fire formed into her hands, growing longer and longer as she sliced it out and split what was left of the castle in two. “I am seriously getting sick and tired of villains like you!”

Wish collapsed to the ground, her body slowly mending together. “I’m not Green Wolf! Don’t compare me to him!”

“Yeah. You’re right.” She glared down at the girl. “I was scared of Green Wolf. You aren’t him. Honestly. I’d take Red Ape over you.” Wish threw out a punch, and her entire arm shattered against the block Cinder brought up. “And the thing I hate most.” She blocked another strike, but a third got through, and she collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. “Even after all of that. I’m still not strong enough.”

Wish pulled away, watching as Cinder struggled to breathe. Destiny had his limits. The damage she had received was massive. Beyond what most should have taken. All of it centered on her lungs. Forced around layers of smoke and fire and then further being dunked in lava. Something that produces great toxins. She coughed, covering her mouth. She could feel Destiny’s power trying to heal her, but any damage that was fixed was replaced by something new or came back seconds later.

A Lord’s energy was vast, but she still lacked the full body of a mature Super. It didn’t matter how explosive her growth was. She had gone further than her current state could follow.

“I won?” Wish blinked and then laughed. “Y- Yeah! Of course, I won.” She stabbed out with her hand and rammed it into Cinder’s face hard enough to throw the girl back and send the bird on her shoulder flying off. “I told you I would win! I’m-”

A white blade jutted out of her mouth as Battery shoved his sword through the back of Wish’s head. Wish’s eyes met his, widening as he twisted the weapon.

“My turn.” The man growled.