Beginning Of Multiverse Saga-Chapter 499: Defeating The Malachi Voss

Malachi looked around the battlefield.

Only one figure was still standing. Lightning split the sky. Mjölnir crackled with raw thunder as the storm gathered around Thoma.

"I WILL PUNISH YOU!"

Malachi tilted his head slightly, studying him. "The Power Of Thor."

Thomas’s eyes burned lightning-blue.

"RAAAAHHH!" He hurled Mjölnir with the full force of a thunderstorm.

BOOOOOM—!!!

The hammer struck Malachi square in the chest. For the first time, Malachi’s armor cracked deeply. He staggered backward. His smile vanished.

"You..." Malachi said slowly. "You hurt me."

Mjölnir returned to Thomas’s hand.

"And I’m not done!" Thomas shouted. He unleashed everything.

Lightning poured from the sky. Thunder roared without pause. Divine energy wrapped around him as he drove the storm directly into Malachi.

Malachi roared in response.

Zerg Titan power surged through his body. Spikes erupted from his spine. His chest split open as the King Zerg Core began beating louder, brighter, stronger.

The ground shattered beneath them.

Thomas charged again. Mjölnir slammed into Malachi with a direct hit.

KRAKATHOOOM—!!!

Malachi was sent flying, smashing through a building and burying himself in rubble. For the first time. He coughed blackened blood.

The wound was deep.

Zerg armor crawled rapidly over his chest, sealing the damage as insectoid plates locked into place. The second heart inside him thundered.

Malachi rose from the rubble, smiling again.

"You hurt me beautifully, Thor’s successor."

Thomas raised Mjölnir high. Lightning turned white-hot. The air turned blue. The sky split open. He released everything he had left.

THOR’S FULL POWER BLAST—!!!

The lightning storm slammed into Malachi and blasted him kilometers away, burning off armor, cracking his exoskeleton, and scorching deep into his body.

For a brief moment, Thomas stood alone, breathing hard. He lifted Mjölnir for the final strike.

"FOR ASGARD—!" He brought the hammer down. But Malachi vanished. His core pulsed violently. And then, his body exploded with mutation.

Flesh expanded. Armor thickened. Bone and crystal fused. He grew taller. And taller. And taller.

Until he stood in the same height as a ten-story building.

Zerg armor thicker than tanks covered his body. Six glowing crimson eyes opened across his face. Acid-dripping mandibles spread wide. A spiked tail burst from his spine. Plasma wings unfolded, blotting out the sky. Gravity vortices spiraled around his massive fists.

The King Zerg Core blazed like a star in his chest.

Malachi looked down at the battlefield.

"Apex evolution achieved."

He moved once. The battlefield shattered.

Thomas launched himself forward in a final attack. Mjölnir swung, but Malachi dodged it, and he caught Thomas in the middle of this, with one hand.

Then he struck Thomas once. The blow sent Thomas flying straight into a distant mountain. The storm died instantly.

In mere moments, everyone was down.

Malachi Voss stood alone at the center of the ruins, his massive Zerg-Human hybrid body breathing slowly, power radiating from him without restraint.

He hovered above them. Six eyes opened. Four insectoid wings spread. His voice deepened.

"THIS PLANET... BELONGS TO ME."

Ben Stark coughed, blood dripping from his lip. "...We can’t lose..."

John Smith, lying broken on the ground, forced himself upright. "Not after everything we’ve fought for."

Sasha pushed herself up, gripping the remains of her shattered bow. "I don’t care if he’s a monster," she said through pain. "We are the Guardians."

The Argos family, battered but still standing, gathered together.

Aric wiped blood from his mouth. "He killed my little brother. I won’t fall here."

Lyra trembled, her powers unstable. "He won’t take anyone else from us..."

Selene, barely conscious, whispered, "We fight together..."

Even the Forsaken stood again. Daniel leaned on his scythe. Lena wiped blood from her face. Iron Mammoth forced his armor back online. Marcus staggered to his feet, teeth bared.

Ethan Valor stepped forward, eyes locked on Malachi. "We don’t die today."

Thomas limped forward, summoning Mjölnir with a trembling hand.

Malachi laughed, towering over them.

"You insects still don’t understand evolution."

Thomas narrowed his eyes. Then he reached into his cloak and pulled out the Aether Shard, the Shard of Existence.

Everyone froze. "You never used it..." Ben whispered.

"Thomas!" John shouted. "That artifact is dangerous—!"

Thomas smiled. "Danger is good." He raised the Shard. A blinding explosion of reality-warping energy erupted.

Everyone doubled over as power surged through them.

Strength flooded their bodies. Speed sharpened their movements. Wounds began healing. Awareness expanded. Cosmic energy amplified every ability.

They felt godlike. Even Malachi paused, confusion flickering across his many eyes.

And then he was struck in an illusion.

In his illusion, The Guardians lay dead, the Argos family crushed, Ethan was decapitated.

Thomas himself impaled on Malachi’s claws.

Malachi threw his head back and laughed wildly. "PERFECT! PERFECT! I AM THE FUTURE!!"

Behind him, the real heroes stood. Fully boosted, empowered and united.

Thomas shouted, "Guardian Charge."

The Guardians attacked together.

Ben Stark charged first, his broken blade reforming into a storm of blazing nanotech light that cut again and again into Malachi’s massive body.

John Smith raised his hand, and three mechs descended at once, surrounding Malachi and firing Aether-charged cannons from every angle.

Clint and Sasha moved in perfect sync, arrows and claw-wing strikes raining down without pause, each hit amplified by the Shard’s power.

Beast roared as his body expanded into his largest gamma form ever, muscles swelling as he slammed into Malachi with earth-shaking force.

The Argos family joined the assault.

Aric’s photon-charged fists struck like exploding stars, each punch detonating against Malachi’s chest and shoulders.

Lyra screamed and released her power fully, vibrating the ground until cracks spread under Malachi’s feet and his balance finally faltered.

Selene poured her power outward, amplifying courage and resolve, burning away fear and exhaustion from everyone fighting.

Alastor clenched his hand, crushing gravity around Malachi’s torso, compressing armor and flesh together with relentless force.

Black Scythe flashed forward, his weapon carving clean through Malachi’s armored tail in a single brutal arc.

Iron Mammoth tackled the monster head-on, fortress armor locking as he drove Malachi backward like a living battering ram.

Bloodweb sealed wounds and spun corrosive traps around Malachi’s legs, binding and burning at the same time.

Fangstrike leapt in, claws and fangs tearing into Malachi’s constantly mutating flesh, refusing to let go.

For the first time, Apex Malachi staggered. His massive form swayed. His many eyes narrowed. His footing slipped. But he did not fall. Not yet.

Ethan Valor, empowered by the Shard of Existence, activated everything he possessed at once, combining Crystal Freeze, Fireblast, Speed X, Swampheat, Diamondbody, and Telepathic Combat Sense into a single overwhelming state.

His entire body transformed into full diamond, but unlike before, glowing cosmic cracks spread across his form as star-like energy flowed through him. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

His left arm reshaped and expanded, growing into a massive diamond blade, a sword forged from psychic will and fire.

Behind him, the earth responded violently as thousands of vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around his body, growing, swarming, and expanding outward until they lifted him higher and higher.

When the growth stopped, Ethan stood as tall as Malachi himself.

He had become a Diamond Nature Titan.

Lyra stepped back in awe at the sight. "...Ethan... you’ve surpassed yourself..."

Ethan lowered his stance as Speed X activated, and in the next instant, he vanished.

FLASH. FLASH. FLASH. FLASH—!!!

A blazing circle of blue fire formed around Malachi as Ethan moved faster than sound, striking again and again in flashes that tore through the air.

Malachi roared in confusion and fury, shouting, "WHAT—WHAT IS THIS?!"

Ethan leaped higher and higher into the sky until his diamond blade burned like a white star.

Then came the final strike. "THIS IS FOR EVERYONE," Ethan declared as his voice echoed across the battlefield.

He crashed down from above as the massive vines tightened around Malachi’s body, holding the monster firmly in place.

Ethan’s diamond blade arm, charged with pure fire and cosmic force, pierced straight through Malachi’s chest.

The impact shattered everything.

Malachi froze as the King Zerg Core cracked open, and uncontrollable light burst outward from within him.

"No... impossible... I am evolution..." Malachi whispered in disbelief.

Ethan leaned closer and replied calmly, "Evolution ends here."

He shattered Malachi’s heart completely.

The moment Ethan’s diamond-fire blade pierced Malachi’s heart, the King Zerg Core ruptured.

There was a soundless flash, and then a terrible roar tore through the air.

RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!!

A miniature star exploded inside Malachi’s chest.

Ethan realized the danger instantly.

"NO—THE CORE—!!"

A massive shockwave of Zerg plasma, gravity distortion, and cosmic mutation energy surged outward like a dying sun.

Everyone on the battlefield braced themselves, but the epicenter of the explosion was Ethan.

Ethan roared and forced every power he had to its absolute limit. His Diamondbody expanded into full crystal armor, his Nature powers surged into a maximum vine fortress, Fireblast formed a pressure field of intense flames, and his Telepathy erected a powerful mental barrier.

Using both hands, he slammed them into the ground.

"VINE SHIELD — EMERALD DOME!"

Thousands of vines erupted upward and wrapped tightly around him, encasing his body in a glowing cocoon. Thick diamond plates grew over the vines, forming a multi-layered fortress of crystal and nature reinforced by fire.

The blast hit.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM—!!!

The world turned white.

The dome shook violently as cracks formed almost instantly across its surface. Ethan clenched his teeth and held on.

"JUST... A FEW... SECONDS...!"

The vines twisted tighter, the diamond thickened further, and the fire hardened the outer layers. For a brief instant, Ethan held back the explosion of a miniature sun.

But it was not enough.

CRACK— CRACK CRACK— SHATTER—!!!

The dome shattered around him like glass, and the shockwave struck at full force.

Ethan’s body was launched across the battlefield, tumbling through dust and broken stone as the ground ripped apart beneath him. He coughed blood as his vision flickered, his armor cracked, and his diamond form began to fade.

He was moments from losing consciousness when, FWOOOOM!!!

A surge of vibrating force erupted beneath him.

Lyra Argos appeared, her arms glowing blue-white with oscillating energy.

"I GOT YOU!!"

Ethan slammed into a cushion of high-frequency vibrations that softened the impact and slowed his momentum. Even so, the force was too much, and he slipped from her grasp.

Then, Sasha dove in.

"LYRA—HOLD HIM STEADY!!"

Sasha sprinted forward, leaped from a broken pillar, and caught Ethan mid-air. She rolled across the ground with him to break the remaining force, finally bringing him to a stop.

Ethan collapsed against her, barely conscious.

Sasha gasped and muttered, "You reckless idiot... you really went full Sharky mode..."

Ethan managed a weak smile.

One by one, the others approached.

Thomas arrived first, lightning still flickering faintly around him. Ben Stark limped closer, battered but conscious. John Smith followed, his mech half-destroyed.

Clint stood nearby, wings shredded. Beast panted heavily in his massive form. The Argos family gathered together, wounded but standing. The Forsaken came as well, burned and battered but alive.

They surrounded Ethan and Lyra.

Selene rushed forward, emotion-energy glowing around her hands.

"Hold him," she said urgently. "I can stabilize his pain."

Aric clenched his fists, his voice shaking. "We saw the explosion... I thought you were gone."

Ben Stark looked around the ruined battlefield, searching for any trace of Malachi.

"He did it... He actually killed that monster."

Thomas knelt beside Ethan and placed a steady hand on his shoulder.

"Kid... You saved the world."

Ethan barely whispered in response, "...Dad... is gonna kill me... for almost dying..."

Sasha laughed weakly.

Lyra’s expression softened as tears filled her eyes. "You saved my whole family. You saved all of us."

She leaned down and pressed her forehead gently against his.

Ethan finally lost consciousness in her arms.