✧ Chapter 28 ✧

Although Styra was amazed at the diversity of universes that she could visit, there was only one that needed her attention. Or at least that's what she figured.

"So how exactly are we going to find the right one? They all look somewhat similar."

Omnikra began to explain this multiverse's inner workings to help her locate one for herself.

"Every universe has one timeline unique to its own as you can see inside and outside of each one. Out here, I called them timeline signatures. I remember all of the ones I've visited with relative ease just by looking at it. If you are looking for the Infinite Infernum, it is the deadly essence of The Eternal Light Of Death in every multiverse that connects to each universe which is of its own mind. They are altered by the different interpretations that Death created in their reality. You will see what I am saying."

Flying faster, Styra and Omnikra flew until they witnessed a large red beam of light shoot around one random universe. It hit the surface, indicating that there was something happening. They looked at where the source of the light could have been but it was too void to see any signs of the place from this distance.

"Follow where that light went Styra. We're getting close," said Omnikra.

The duo started venturing further and further into the unknown. When they saw the red fiery death world itself, different shots erupted from it in many directions that unintentionally missed hitting them. The weapon knew what was next to come.

"There it is. Be wary warrior. The moment we enter, almost anything could happen."

With a final push of hope, they descended into the Infinite Infernum. Their arrival was not promising much. The atmosphere was filled with suffocating fire and smoke polluting it. As for the land, its terrain held lava pools and oddly shaped cliffs that dipped down like playground slides. Heat enveloped the entire environment with echoes of screams and cries of the dead being heard without a trace to identify where they were coming from. Walking slowly on foot, they traveled for quite a while. Seeing ancient carvings that contoured the massacres of every universe's history. It was as unsettling as the smell which would make anyone's stomach boil with an unnerving disgust.

"Now I'm starting to wish I had taken Chelbie's offer on that mask. It smells more awful out here than in Aviatopolis's wasteland. For someone who controls universes, at least have some decency," whispered Styra.

Suddenly, a large thunderous noise came from the next corner they were approaching. Styra and Omnikra peeked in front of some fallen debris to figure out what was going on. According to what they could make out, there was another pool of lava; the biggest encountered by far. There was an eerie presence lurking around their proximity. Upon strolling to the edge, a ginormous entity rose out of the fiery lake. The Eternal Light Of Death shone out of the top of its wide head which had ten horns rising behind it. Under the Eternal Light was this huge conjoined eye socket revealing nothing but a set of red glowing irises almost touching the center symmetrically. It also didn't seem to have a mouth.

Besides its head were two floating hands; each having the form of a scythe's blade, as their chines lined with unquenchable heat. While the lava oozed off of its bloody body, the celestial being stared at them with minacious thoughts. "Styra. I have been expecting you for a while now. For what you have become, you are not anymore. That could be described with definitive dread from what you have experienced," said Strage as it stuck its two scythe hands into the ground precariously. The tension shook where they stood, as Styra came forward to express her concerns about Flight and the others. Omnikra watched with anticipation that they were alive as well.

"Where are they?! I already know Diamondion told you, so don't try to hide it!" cried Styra with aggressive intent.

Strage seemed at ease with the question she was presenting. "They are lost causes of your ignorance. Nothing more. Nothing less," it replied sternly.

These exact words shuddered her soul. Strage killed them. All of that time was too precious to recover. Even Omnikra started to shout against it as this was a disturbing play on words. "She is not the one who is heartless enough to destroy countless lives for the sake of a corrupted Omniverse! If you insist on toying with her emotions, our wrath will dismantle that."

Death came closer to where they were standing. Staring at them conceitedly to avail discomfort with their own words.

"Heartlessness is your wrath ruining the structure that I am building to balance everything. In a general consensus, I am what I am. Even here, the ones who rebel against their time shall be relieved of what they believed. That is what you wanted if I remembered correctly, Judgment Warrior."

Styra paused on that thought. It was tempting to consider the offer being made here. If they were safe, would her dying right now be the best choice? Everyone she cared about had died, except for Omnikra. Or the chie she left on Perenorbius. Or Snowflake who probably ran away into Frostice's forests. Or that tripedyra living in the Whimsical Woods despite her having seen their kind being obliterated by an asteroid.

If they died, it would frighten them. There was an injustice to not being able to choose how to begin your life. To not understand the essence of what makes up oneself and to therefore find freedom from it in some distinct way. Strage said there was a balance, but Styra knew something else too.

"You aren't wrong to not trust our decision. This was your choice to build what you wanted. To see fit how it begins and ends for what you helped to create because of Prism. When you saw what was changing you made sure the rules stayed the same. Even when you don't have problems like everyone else and you expect them to solve it for themselves in order to grow, is there even a balance in your authority? If Prism is the only one in complete power to decide for others, there is nothing about it that makes anything fair. You thought by giving us free will after the fact, that that was balanced."

Strage took pity on her reasoning.

"Inept child. Everything you hold dear has a speck of value in the grand variance of the Omniverse. Creatures like yourself think pain to be a great evil and you lash out because of it. Suffering shall always exist as causation for those who choose to harm themselves or their surroundings in being given the opportunity of free will. Death has no mercy for those who deny it. To what end will you realize, you can't win?"

Styra's eyes were closed shut, fists clutching onto a certain optimism, and her heart burning with determination. Omnikra could feel the pulse getting stronger with each passing nanosecond.

"I realized that you're taking advantage of those that can't defend themselves when they're born," she replied upon opening her eyes, revealing that brightness of a vivid violet expressing her deep hatred of its carelessness.

Styra hurdled Omnikra at Strage who countered all of its small attacks with the chines of its bigger blades. The Kra Blades returned back to her when suddenly a red beam of light shot out of Strage's Eternal Light Of Death at them. She deflected the shot for a few seconds by using Omnikra as a shield to do that before striving to fly and evade all of its shots. The blasts caused massive destruction to the surrounding rock formations which were tumbling down into the battlefield. Many began to break through the clunky terrain because the hot air weakened it. This gave way for some more lava pools to expand unnecessarily. Seeing the fragments of rubble coming their way, she used the strength against the asteroids as a tactic to shoot boulders at Strage. Unfortunately, it was too easy for him to destroy each one with little to no effort.

As things turned for the worst, she still couldn't use any of the Eternal Lights. No matter how hard she tried to bash Strage with a Kra Forcefield, it wouldn't work. Getting brutally smacked by the side of its blades cracked up the forcefield multiple times until she fell helplessly at the might of its whim. At best it sent her flying like a ragdoll only for this to lead to crash landings across the wreckage that was being flown around. Sometimes this would also cause Omnikra to try and save her, but it was becoming weak because the Eternal Lights inside of her were dragging her consciousness down significantly. This meant whenever she was down, the weapon most times followed suit. If she even tried to remove them, the pending consequences of that now would be much worse.

As Strage attempted to find the right time to land a finishing move, neither of them surrendered to any of its styles of attack knowing this guardian's capabilities.

"Styra, try unleashing your new form here. Strage may know most of your skill set but we have a better chance of at least taking that Eternal Light out of its head if we use that special technique," stated Omnikra in desperation.

Considering how she was able to obtain such a level of power in the first place, envisioning space was what activated that. When she did, it became substantially clear her abilities needed a revamp. Diamondion almost beat this form by simply shooting The Eternal Light Of Reality from her staff twice. She quieted her mind to focus on shooting the Kra Force inside of her with more control using this new transformation as well.

In a way, it was cosmical to expect such things to happen. By raising her hand with two fingers pointing outwards (much like how Amethion reversed the incendiary bullets) she was able to emit one Kra Beam by herself. It blasted through obstacles like they were nothing. An interesting advantage she started taking note of was being able to control when it dissipated. By experimenting with her newfound skills, she began to use both hands to aim her shots at Strage. In an unexpected way, this caused two balls of Kra energy to appear with instantaneous force and weaken the guardian to a certain extent.

She was amazed at what was seemingly a massive flaw that could now be exposed to get the Eternal Light out and destroy it. With settling confidence, Styra tried using four fingers from both hands which created eight streaks of Kra energy. They were much larger and deadlier enough to cause Strage's red churning blood to turn crusty white on impact. She screamed a battle cry as both Omnikra and her flew faster, sending blows from every position. Once she had kicked Strage down, the blood floating around as its body began to shape-shift into the malevolent figure of a human skeleton in a red robe with a hood hiding its face in obscure darkness stretching from the top of its head to the bottom of its feet. The unquenched fire in its eyes could be seen staring into her soul as it began to create a blood-ridden scythe with a snath attached to it. As for the Eternal Light Of Death, it was hidden within the scythe itself.

In this iteration, Strage used The Scythe Of Death to amplify its power. By slamming the blade into the ground, it caused a massive ricocheting explosion that blasted Styra out of the Infinite Infernum. Waves of red light flickered all the way to this multiverse's boundaries. The transformation deteriorated as she ended up floating in space paralyzed with dark scars tearing on her face and armor. Ommikra followed after her, trying to catch up while avoiding the red beams of death that were still shooting at different universes. Behind them, Strage threw the scythe. Defying all laws of physics established, it obeyed the guardian's commands upon swinging itself heavily towards their direction.

Three Kra Blades encapsulated Styra into its forcefield so they could fly to a safe universe while one more remained, handling Strage all alone. Thinking of a way to help them defeat it, the weapon could sense that Styra left the chie on Perenorbius so that it would be safe. This word subconsciously helped navigate Omnikra to the right universe in a matter of seconds. However, by the time the weapon came to Perenorbius it looked… uninhabitable. The Time Shield was down when according to her memories it was up. This didn't make sense until Omnikra remembered that the Eternal Lights were still disabled from all inputs of her actions when using them, including past ones. The Morskars had also delivered a surprise ambush. They destroyed over 1.37 million worlds and were now taking over this planet without her consent.

Sadness came over Omnikra, unlike anything it could have thought to happen.

"Styra! They are destroying your home! I know more than anyone you would not have wanted this! Please do not let your last memory fall before your eyes," said the weapon.

As it was, Styra didn't seem to respond. Subconsciously she was stuck. Meanwhile, Strage had come to collect what it figured was rightfully its own after being chased down by Omnikra's other blade.

"You cannot stall the inevitable. I will have The New Guardian at my disposal. Now give her to me or you both will perish."

At that moment nothing would make Omnikra give up. Styra may not have been The New Guardian it thought her to be, but regardless of that, its loyalty became selfless. It saw who she was and didn't fight it. Judgment Warrior or not, all the blades had left was to tend to her aid. This wasn't even about being friends. They had already gained a significant bond since sharing one another's experiences. There was something else missing.

"Fine, this is your doing," said Strage.

It started to use the power of its Eternal Light to cast the Sun Of Death (one of its all-powerful attacks with red fiery flares that could wipe entire galaxies if it wanted to without much thought). It began to notice the planet they were next to from a distance. Perenorbius seemed like a perfect target.

Drawing the conclusion that this was where Styra lived for a time, it threw the Sun Of Death at the world. Omnikra with all of its might, created a Kra Forcefield over the planet itself before the sun made contact. The two colliding muted the colors of Perenorbius to dull. This also destroyed some of The Morskars that were completely consumed by the sun's heat. Knowing that it couldn't destroy Perenorbius with Omnikra in the way, Strage's scythe appeared again, swinging rapidly towards the weapon. Omnikra's blades simultaneously defended Styra while getting knocked back. Eventually, the blades crossed paths. Wrestling with one another, Strage downplayed the weapon's beliefs.

"I will put it simply. The truth is, I despise Prism. After all these centuries I have been waiting to see the downfall of this Omniverse. Once that happens, realities will bend to my desires. My freedom to feast upon all flesh in infinite droves has long been overdue, especially after dealing with your pesky antics. You and your little girl have caused enough trouble as it is. Don't worry. Once I have you in my grasp, I will be your executioner and give what is rightfully deserved of those who rebel. Death."

Just as Strage said those words, it flew back to create one more Sun Of Death which was stronger than even the largest of GN-z15's stars put together. In a final attempt to destroy them once and for all, it flung the blazing ball of death their way. What was left nearly destroyed the entire universe. However, instead of vanquishing Styra to be left for dead while the forcefield finally gave in, something changed. A zip of bright light rushed by Strage's body. The guardian looked down only to find that crusty white corrosion appearing again. Turning its attention to what had caused that to happen, it saw that Styra had returned.

She stared at Strage who tried to make her look like she didn't understand what she was saying.

"You will never beat me. Nothing can. I am the ender of the living. In that sense, all of you are the same. Living life's pathetic lies. You've lost everything before your very eyes that mattered to you. Broke the promises made, laid your purpose bare, and let your home go to waste. Surely you will see that there is as much to be grateful for in your demise. They suffer no longer when it is their time. Never will they understand why the end plays out for them."

Omnikra regained its strength upon seeing that Styra was healed, but it also saw some sort of confidence that she displayed from a sense of not knowing herself.

"Life can be meaningful as it is meaningless Death. No matter how small someone feels they are, there is still a choice to dream for more than themselves if they push for what is beyond possible. It's that fear of never knowing who you are that keeps someone from accepting what they could become. I used to feel like everything was pointless when it made no sense. Now all I can do is embrace it. That is what makes the mystery of life just as compelling as death," she replied.

Strage became angry at the denial in her words as if she didn't learn from having seen the recent destruction that took place.

"How can you side with life after all that it has done to you?! Prism may have esteemed life as essential but there is a reason why my role is above it! You cannot say I am no greater than what scars your selfish ambitions that you constantly crave to get rid of! Life doesn't care about you! It doesn't want you! You are just a sickness that it will dispose of without any hesitation! All you are is a forgotten memory to temporarily amuse! Come. Let me show you true peace as it stands before you."

In the midst of this divine insanity that Strage's viewpoint offered, Styra's power began to brighten. Her next words contemplated a confidence unseen before.

"My name is Styra. And I am The Judgment Warrior."

Death flew at her, only to be hit unexpectedly by a firestorm of Kra energy. She began to send vigorous punches and kicks with more of her new powers, diversifying moves she had previously used with the Eternal Lights that no longer lit on her star. Instead, it remained a luminous white for the entirety of the battle.

Spinning the scythe with excessive speed didn't do much for Strage. It too started to build more of the unidentifiable crust that froze the coursing blood on it no matter how many times that ended up colliding with Styra or Omnikra. Sound waves sent the guardian flying around, making it unable to fight back because of how much more was forming. This stiffened Strage so much to the point where not even the Eternal Light Of Death could save it from being obliterated. All the while, Styra recreated and put on the mask Chelbie had made for her as a sign of respect to its creation. Assuredly, Strage could do nothing except float in the vastness of universes. Charging all of her power that had been stored since recently being unconscious, Styra used her two feet to strike Death with all of her might back down to the Infinite Infernum with ease where it could remain for as long as it was undisturbed.

Strage fell, but not without a cost.