Master Elegant Katana stood in front of the young heroes. He narrowed his eyes at his opponent. The way she carried herself. The speed at which she moved. The chip on his katana from where he parried her strike.

He knew immediately.

This foe was beyond him.

He turned to the pair behind him.

“Can you boost my speed?”

Chronolock winced, but she nodded.

“Good. Voidspeaker, enchant my blade as well. Then you two get out of here, I’ll handle this.”

Voidspeaker began to chant. Master Elegant Katana’s golden blade was covered in pitch black. Chronolock extended her hand.

Suddenly the world slowed.

Master Elegant Katana frowned. The air was like molasses, it took great effort to even move. He took a few steps, and swung his blade a few times to get used to it, then heaved a sigh.

And then he rushed forward.

The swordswoman appeared before him.

“I will be your opponent! Let me show you what an elegant sword can do!”

----------------------------------------

The Titans continued their barrage, keeping the alien pinned down. Bullet casings clattered together in a growing pile at their feet.

But eventually, they had to stop.

Even Steel Bear’s minigun would run out of ammo eventually. And the barrels of the guns would overheat and warp if they kept this up.

So the barrage came to an end.

The alien was full of holes, looking more like a beehive than a living being.

And then those holes began to close.

The alien grinned.

“Resume fire!”

Tina ordered the barrage once more.

But it was too late.

The alien had already begun to move. The Titans wouldn’t be able to keep up the critical mass of damage required to pin him down once more.

He picked up speed until he was moving faster than the Titans could move the barrels of their guns.

And then he turned and rushed straight towards them…

----------------------------------------

Icy Falcon grunted. A mighty blizzard surrounded him, a roaring cyclone of wind and snow.

But still, the flames advanced. The snow hissed as it melted and evaporated all in one go. The cyclone grew ever smaller. Icy Falcon was breathing fog as his temperature dropped, yet he could begin to feel the heat approaching from the other side.

Captain Hot Devil did what he could, lobbing fire balls and fire blasts from the side, trying to offset the foe. But he was outmatched. It was but a drop in the ocean. He simply couldn’t overpower the foe in the same arena.

The fight was between Icy Falcon and the Vophae now.

And Icy Falcon was losing…

----------------------------------------

Master Elegant Katana and the swordswoman passed each other once more, their swords clanging in the middle.

And then Master Elegant Katana fell to one knee, grimacing.

He was bleeding all over, he could feel his sword begin to crack.

He was outmatched.

This foe had the skill and experience required to match Arvid’s entire saga, a thousand years of real combat. Master Elegant Katana simply couldn’t compete with that, even if he had devoted every waking moment of his life to the sword, which he had not. It was a credit to his talent and the skill of his master that he was even competing. But he was slowly taking damage with each exchange.

And he had yet to land a single blow upon his opponent.

He took a breath and closed his eyes.

He thought back to his life…

To his days training with his master…

He made a wry smile.

“Looks like you were right, old man.”

He pushed on his knee, rising to his feet on shaky feet. He steadied his breathing as he gripped his sword in front of him, eyes fixed upon it.

“Guess I should have trained more after all. I’m sorry, looks like I won’t be passing on your blade in the end.”

The swordswoman appeared before him, readying her stance. She stopped, observing him.

He took one more deep breath, then his eyes shot forward in a flash of intent. His trembling stopped. His heartbeat slowed. Gone were all hesitation and doubt. All else faded from his eyes, save for the blade in his hand and the opponent in front of him.

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“But…I will show you an elegant sight in the end. Even at the cost of my life.”

The swordswoman nodded at him. He nodded at her, and readied his stance.

The air stood still for a moment.

Then both figures traded places, the sound of rushing air following them.

Both stood still…

But Master Elegant Katana’s sword no longer had a blade.

Then his blood flew into the air as he collapsed.

“You were foolish to go against me…but I commend your bravery, if nothing…”

A black line appeared on the swordswoman. Her eyes widened.

The lines extended, rippling black cracks all over her. Black voids expanded out from a thousand sword shards all over her body. She screamed.

And then she fell to the ground, scattering into dust. Her cells were drained of their psionic power…and thus their life.

Master Elegant Katana smiled as he closed his eyes.

“To claim someone with your skill…my life is a cheap price to pay.”

And then he moved no further.

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The brawler rushed forward. Steel Bear moved to face him, holding her massive shield.

His fist dented the heavy metal.

And sent the bear woman flying with a cry.

Eagle Smasher swung his hammer but the Vophae caught it with a single hand. Eagle Smasher let go of the weapon and flapped his wings to take distance, but the alien was already swinging his fist. A mere glancing blow, and yet he was sent flying off into the ground in the distance.

Starbright and Nitromaker couldn’t even react, machines guns and explosives too dangerous to use on a foe in melee range. And so Major General Tina was left firing her pistols into the foe.

“That all you got?! Die you stupid alien!”

The alien rushed towards Major General Tina, his fist blazing as he pulled it back.

CRUNCH!

The fist smashed through metal armor.

Tina’s eyes widened.

Tesla Titan coughed up blood.

“Heh, I knew new suit is no good. Much too comfy, make me lose my edge.”

“What are you…”

He reached out with his hands and grabbed the alien’s arm.

Tesla Titan’s whole body began to glow and crackle.

“I’m going to win, like always, Tina. You know, Soviet scientists always told me never do this. It will be very bad, Comrade Titan, they say. But I think…I want to try, at least once.”

Tesla Titan let out a shout as the light around him grew. The light blinded all who looked at it, the sound of crackling lightning drowning out all noise.

Tesla Titan brought up his power to the max…and then focused it as small as he could.

Reaching all the way down…to the molecular level. To overwhelm the electromagnetic forces holding molecules together.

The lightning surged, illuminating the alien’s entire body.

He grinned at first.

Then his eyes widened.

And he began to scream.

Psionic powers beyond the limit. A biology that allows for individual control over every cell. The power to regenerate from fatal wounds.

Even these things were irrelevant when the very molecules making up those cells began to fall apart.

The alien disintegrated, fading into ash within the crackling blue light.

And then it was over.

But there was a reason Tesla Titan never did this.

He simply couldn’t control his powers with any accuracy when using that much power at that small a scale.

And so his arms disintegrated as well, fading to dust.

The rest of his body was scorched and smoking, his power burnt out once and for all.

Tina’s eyes began to shake as she looked at him. Her mouth dropped open…but no words came out.

It was Tesla Titan who spoke first.

“I think…I am done now.”

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The cold cyclone died down as the flames began to wrap around Icy Falcon.

“Captain!”

“On it!”

At Icy Falcon’s command, Captain Hot Devil rushed behind him and picked up Icy Rose, pulling her away from the danger zone.

Icy Falcon couldn’t win this fight, but at the very least he could give them the chance to get away.

As the flames engulfed him, he closed his eyes.

He heaved a sigh.

So this was it.

And in the end, what had he really accomplished?

Everyone called him this great hero…but it was never about justice. Or saving lives.

He just wanted to get back at the cartels.

At first while being better.

Then by any means he could.

In that war…he had barely made an impact, the entire time he fought.

And now…

Now…

He thought of Director Green, shouting him down and getting him back into the fight.

He thought of Captain Hot Devil taking him down…and then inviting him into his home.

He thought of Constanza…that tear-filled smile she made as he reconnected with her once again.

And he thought of other faces.

Faces he had not seen in a long, long time.

A man with a wide grin on his face, always laughing at his expense.

A boy with red hair, reminding him of his childhood as he proclaimed how he would be a hero.

A woman with sharp eyes and straight black hair, his comrade in the crusade for justice.

An old man in his favorite car, always stopping him for dinner right when he was about to collapse.

And a girl. Just a bit older. Always taking care of the sickly kid with white hair.

Grinning in the sun as she talked about her dream of being a hero. Of making a difference. Of kicking the bad guys to the curb and protecting the weak, like him!

And when those bad guys came to their little town…

How she hadn’t hesitated to save that sickly little kid no one else cared about.

How she had looked at him, blood dripping down the side of her face and tears filling her eyes.

But with a bright smile still on her face.

The girl who created the Icy Falcon.

“Please…live…”

For whom the Icy Falcon had lived at all. Long and hard had he fought to fulfill that girl’s dream in her place. But he never seemed to figure it out, to get it right. And so he fought, until he had forgotten the dream, the moment that started it all.

Icy Falcon glanced back. He saw Icy Rose behind him. He closed his eyes and smiled.

“...So that’s how it is. How has it taken me this long to understand? Sorry, Mercedes, you always complained I was a slow learner. But I get it now. And now, I know what to do.”

Icy Falcon was engulfed in the flames.

Icy Rose screamed his name.

Everyone knew Icy Falcon was one of the stronger heroes in the League. But how powerful, was he, really?

Icy Falcon’s powers had several components with two major foundations.

The biggest and most obvious was his control over temperature, specifically the ability to lower temperatures at will. This is what gave him his name, what everyone saw when they thought of him.

The second most important component was an ability to resist the cold. It was not like his body was just straight up immune to cold, it took a portion of his power to strengthen himself whenever he was using his ice, to avoid damaging himself. Which is why his body temperature often dropped when he overexerted himself.

So how powerful was Icy Falcon, exactly? How low could he drop temperatures at his peak?

No one knows.

Because his ability to resist the cold always capped out long before his ability to lower the temperature, so he never went as far as he could. Even he didn’t know his real limit.

Today.

In that moment.

As his skin and hair burned.

He decided to find out.

He abandoned resisting the cold entirely.

And he put everything he had into lowering the temperature.

As low as it could possibly go.

And in the end…he couldn’t resist saying it…

“Absolute Zero.”

A bright blue star burst out of the midst of the flames, forcing all present to shield their eyes.

And when their eyes opened once again…

No sign of the flames remained.

In its place, snow had begun to fall all across the battlefield.

Icy Rose’s eyes began to water.

Because a block of ice now stood at the center of the field.

A block of ice that wouldn’t melt for centuries to come.

A block of ice with two men on the inside.

One, now completely black, with barely any features, save for a mouth frozen in a scream.

The other…

A handsome, muscular man.

With a smile on his face.

The most sincere and peaceful smile he had ever made.

Icy Falcon.

A hero to the end.