---Next Morning---
Waking up early, I slipped out of bed without waking anyone and headed downstairs. Having breakfast alone, my goal today was to do further exploring on the other side of the GATE. After finishing my meal, I teleported to one of black spots on my map and noticed a portal surrounded by Demons and Waves.
Wiping them out in short order with the BFG-9000, I approached the portal cautiously. The portal wasn't like the usual ones the Demons used, it was more like a flamboyant Gate Portal from Stargate. There was no way a Titan would fit through, but the other Demons could easily pass without any issues. Taking a leap of faith, I jumped through the portal with my weapon drawn ready for a potential ambush.
As soon as I set foot on the ground, I used the mini map to load a map of this world. Taking a few seconds to load I confirmed that I was in the Shield Hero's world. Since the portal was in a cave, I went outside to scope out the damage and frankly it was really, really bad. Unlike Piña's world and mine, this world had been heavily mined and drained of it's resources. More than a quarter of the population was alive but most had the starvation debuff on them.
"This is really shitty...", I said to Midna.
"Yeah it is, I can't believe how much damage they have done to this place. It used to be a thriving civilization, now it's just a wasteland.", Midna replied standing on my helmet, "What could Davoth have use of with raw materials? His Demon's live on Argent Energy, there isn't even a speck of that here. Could be whomever pulled Davoth through that portal that needs the resources?"
Testing the air to see how bad it was, the atmosphere was beginning to become toxic as they were stripping trees and plant life from this world. In a few weeks it would become unbreathable, and the people would die a painful, slow death. Keeping my helmet on, I started running towards the nearest group of people which was Castle Town. Being careful not to get spotted, the populace were all being treated as slaves and were being forced to mine away their own resources.
'This situation is far worse than Piña's world.', I thought seeing several familiar faces, 'Why the hell didn't they kill Malty!! Out of everyone they could have killed, they didn't kill the backstabbing bitch!!'
Thinking about things carefully, I definitely wasn't going to let her leave this world alive. I would personally bury her here because I knew how cruel she was behind that smile. As I was moving in for a closer look, I noticed a familiar group of soldiers walking in unison towards the miners. Their classic white armor, laser weapons, and uniform height were all dead giveaways.
'What the actual hell?', I thought making myself invisible, 'Why is the Star Wars Empire here!? Just who the heck is Davoth working with?'
Watching them march down towards the mines, I spotted a single trooper dressed in all black at the end of the group. Carrying a large book with them, it appeared things were going to get interesting. Watching them gather up the hostages, they forced all of them to line up into rows. Once everyone was in line, the man started to speak.
"It's come to my attention that over the past few days the production of this mine has dropped by ten percent, that is unacceptable. You all are to continue meeting the goals set for you, or you will die by firing squad.", the black armored man told them, "If you think I am bluffing, where do you think the miners that used to share bunks with you went. As the Adjudicator of this city, it is my job to ensure that production doesn't drop below the Emperor's decree!"
"Please...we are working as hard as we can.", Melty pleaded, "We have several sick people, and many people are fainting as they-"
"I didn't ask for an excuse.", the Adjudicator said raising his hand.
Lifting her off the ground, Melty started grabbing her throat as she was unable to breath. Pleading for him to stop, the Queen said they would increase their work speed to meet the demands.
"Of course you will, but talking out of line is a crime punishable by death.", he told her in a cold tone, "The Emperor's word is law, no one is allowed to question it!"
Not waiting around for this shit to go down, I jumped down with the Crucible in hand and bisected three of the troopers in short order. Seeing me there, the Adjudicator released Melty who fell into her mother's arms. Staring at me like he had seen a ghost, the Adjudicator dropped his book and started backing away.
"You...you shouldn't be here!!", he stuttered, "Lord Davoth assured us you wouldn't come here for another few weeks!!"
Not giving him an answer, he ordered the remaining troopers to fire on me. In typical fashion, the troopers couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with their aim. Putting points into the
"No!! It's not possible!!", he said drawing his lightsaber, "It takes years to master the Force, there is no way you can just use it!!"
Trying to use Force Lightning on me, I put pointed into the resistance skill I got and casually walked forward. Increasing his output to maximum, his eyes went wide as I didn't even react to the change. Dropping the use of the lightning, he activated the saber and went on the offensive. Unfortunately for him in a sword match he wasn't even close to being my equal. A few steps from me, he went to swing and watched his forearms fall away from him.
It took a moment for things to register with him, but when it did he screamed out in pain as he fell to the ground. The last thing he saw before I killed him was my boot caving his skull in.
"Midna, can you do some scouting around and see what the situation is? Based on what I am seeing, I think the Empire was using this place to take resources for their starships.", I told her, "With that being the case, they must have something going on that they need the resources so badly for."
"On it, go get'em...Milf Killer.", she laughed as she flew off.
Sighing at that, I walked over to the hostages. Backing away from me, they weren't entirely sold on me being a good guy at the moment. Popping my helmet off I gave the Queen a nod and a smile.
"Greetings, is a Filo-chan here?", I asked.
"What do you want with Filo!", Melty shouted.
"Well I saved a young girl named Raphtalia the other day, and I believe she is friends with her.", I told her.
"Raphtalia-neechan?!", Filo replied jumping over the others, "Where is she?"
"She is currently unconscious and being treated for her injuries on my world.", I informed her, "If memory serves you have a master named Naofumi, right? I was wondering if he was still alive."
"He...he is dead.", Melty choked up.
"Do you have a moment sir? I can explain what happened.", the Queen told me.
Explaining to me that this all started nearly five months ago. All the Heroes showed up for a Wave Invasion like usual, but it was anything but normal. When the attack started thousands of Demons and Waves poured into their world the likes of which they had never seen before. Monstrous sized Demons appeared that trampled the military forces they had mustered to fight the Wave. Falling back to regroup, they saw massive flying ships come through that started firing on every city they saw.
Not one city or village was spared from their fury all the way to the capital. By the time they reached Castle Town, the Queen and the survivors were desperate for the fighting to stop. In a last ditch effort to stop the fighting, the Heroes did a a suicidal attack on the enemy commander. The Bow, Spear, and Sword Heroes were all brutally killed in short order, but Naofumi managed to hold out.
"I...I tried to help because he couldn't fight. All I wanted to do was be of assistance to him, but...", Melty cried, "He died saving me!!"
"The black suited man threw an enchanted sword at my daughter, and Naofumi tried to block it. It went right through his shield and pierced his heart.", the Queen said, "After that we lost all hope of pushing them back, and surrendered to them."
"It would have been better if you kept the fight going. In a few weeks this world won't be habitable anymore, you would have suffocated to death because there wouldn't be any air to breath.", I told them all.
Dropping to her knees the Queen gave me a broken expression.
"So that's why...they agreed to leave after taking what they wanted...", she cried, "I was so hopeful they would take the resources they wanted, and left us alone. They never intended for us to live once they were gone."
"You can't blame yourself, you did what you felt was right for your people. All you did was try to ensure your survival, no one can blame you for that.", I assured her, "I will take you all back to my world, and get you looked at. Now that I showed up they aren't going to stay long."
---Few Hours Later---
After bringing the survivors of that world back to mine, I helped the medical teams we had start looking at everyone. Giving Clark a call for some extra support, he and his wives came over to help along with bringing extra supplies like food, water, and shelters.
"Give me a straight answer, why the hell are Darth Vader and Davoth working together? They are from two different universes, and I am at a loss for how this happened.", I told Clark.
"Long story short, when I killed Nekron it caused the world barriers to collapse for a while. Not only that, it mixed up a lot of storylines which is the main reason I have the five of you helping me. Davoth and Vader met up thanks to their universes being next to each other. They fought for a while then became allies.", Clark told me, "You should know this Vader isn't the same one you know, he beat Kenobi on Mustafar and killed the Emperor. He is complete control of the Empire, and no one questions his authority."
"You know, you could have told me I'd have to fight him.", I sighed with a chuckle.
"I didn't expect you to meet him so soon. If you haven't noticed, I am kind of new to this whole God thing. I am learning the ropes quickly, but I am nowhere as good as Presence is. He's been doing this since time began, I have only been doing this a few decades. My main concern has been making sure entire timelines don't get wiped out.", he replied.
"Fair enough.", I said realizing he was still a fledgling like myself, "Thank you for coming over to help. I could have used magic to heal them, but I think right now they need the mental support of someone being there for them."
"I understand, believe me I have seen a lot of devastated worlds myself. I've even seen another world just like mine that didn't have a Superman to protect them. They were invaded by a group of villains that enslaved all of them, it took years for them to mentally recover but even now some of them still have nightmares of the ordeal.", he informed me, "All we can do is help them to move forward."
Walking through the temporary shelters we had erected to house the new refugees, I saw Ilulu, Zero Two, and Lucy playing with the children. They didn't have the skills necessary to help tend to injuries, but they could entertain the children easily enough without any problems.
Meeting with the Queen and Piña, the two of them were working through unification plans for their people. At this point, both sides wanted to make sure they hammered out the major issues now while the iron was hot.
"Everything okay?", I asked Piña.
"Yes, we were almost about to wrap up.", she said, "I had no idea that our world was going to end up like theirs. Victor, I would like to send messengers to the various settlements and have them move to Alnus Hill. You are busy, I understand, but I don't want to leave anything to chance."
"I can take care of that, you focus on helping organize things here.", I told Piña, "That will be my number one priority right now, and I will get in done in the next three days."
Thanking me, she looked back to the Queen.
"I'd like to formally request sanctuary for my people here. We'd like to have your protection so we can rebuild.", she told me bowing her head.
"Not a problem, I will expect your people to help out around the city once they are healthy again. We will need to expand the farms, pastures, and other necessary things to support a larger population.", I replied.
"Of course, we will be happy to help and become a part of the group.", she said.
'I will deal with Malty later...', I thought, 'The civilians take priority right now, but I have her marked on my mini map so there won't be anywhere for her to run. If she is as big of a bitch as she was in the series, she most certainly had a hand invasion efforts against her world.'