The next morning, the two European heroines were at the table of the Governance Mansion groaning and complaining of hangovers. Perseverance and the Busch Hunter were seemingly unaffected by the shots and drinks they'd had last night. However, the conversation they were supposed to have never got a chance to happen. Keith and General Mcginnis flipped on the television to see Mike of Greater Ottawa covering a story that had been unfolding out of Europe.
"As we turn to this story, we ask viewers to use discretion if you have a younger audience at home..."
As the coverage switched, Europe was burning. Not just a single city, not just a single nation, not even just a small portion... All of Europe was engulfed in flames of orange and black, citizens shrieking in horror as loved ones suddenly seemed to crumble like the stalest of cookies in the wave of pure death that was ripping the very souls from their bodies. As the camera pans over and above the city of London, the world is overcome with a fear that seems to squeeze the very air out of their lungs, the hope that they'd been trying to kindle within their souls was seemingly snuffed out in a single frame.
Above the city of London, loomed Rothschild. He was walking on through the air like some kind of comic-book villain, while a massive dust-like cloud of souls was absorbed into his body. His gaze was colder than that of any psycho or serial killer, more frigid than the Antarctic winds in the dead of its winter. The hero he'd held by the neck seemingly disintegrated into soul dust, leaving no trace of his existence. With all of this, there was ample reason to be afraid. However, that isn't what frightened them nor was it what had snuffed out their soul-flames of hope. No, what had frozen the world in perpetual fear, was the words that spilled from the demon lord's mouth. They seemed to fall from the heavens, a mist of blackened fog that sucked and sapped the fight right out of them.
"Whilst I have lived, humanity has been allowed to thrive under the watchful and guiding eyes and hands of my forefathers. They dreamt of ripping that newborn infant from the arms of mothers, shredding their fathers down into a pulp until being a single parent was all that was left. Let the states' of the world raise a dependent slave, raise them to serve us. Raise the next generation of slaves to service their masters like the good sheep they are...."
His voice did not waiver, nor did it falter. Not a single stutter in the words that coiled themselves around their hearts like a serpent, choking the very life and hope they'd had out of them.
"This is my world... My playground... and you are all my playthings. Hence why I played around in your egg salad. Why do you think you have been allowed to live in my perfect world? You are not free, your bodies belong to me, your souls mine to consume, your dreams mine to crush, you belong to me, your rightful master. No gods can save you, no heroes can stop me. This is my era of domination and you will submit like the good slaves you were made to be."
Keith held himself up on a bar table. He'd become fatigued by the words that had drained him of that strength. As he looked to Perseverance weakly, his eyes widened in terror. Perseverance was hunched over, not out of pain, but out of a seething rage. Even the vestiges were enraged at the words. Keith reached out his hand to try and calm him down, but something seemed to shatter like a glass cup that had been hurled against a brick wall. Perseverance collapsed to the ground as the vestiges within him seemingly vanished.
Inside his mind, the four vestiges seemed to shatter their limits, seeming to shatter the very abilities Dr. Sue had implanted within him. A legion of new vestiges glared at the Ghost who was standing up facing them. They screamed at him in a conglomeration of voices and tones... "HE MUST DIE! END HIM!!! PUT AN END TO HIM, NOW!"
Outside his mind, the hero stood up straight and what seemed like silver lightning jumped from him to everyone in the room, across the track to every region of the US. His eyes glowed brighter than the sun as his voice was seemingly broadcast across the United States in a multitude of voices as he said, "No matter how long it may take us, the American People shall overcome this premeditated invasion. The Star Spangled Citizens shall win through to ABSOLUTE VICTORY."
Their bodies had the air restored to their lungs, and fires reignited within their souls, as these words were fired from Perseverance's lips like a shell from an artillery cannon. Their eyes all glowed red as televisions worldview were suddenly filled with the American flag. The static from the hero's energy crackled and popped like an old vacuum tube radio. Only the voice of Perseverance was heard across the world despite Rothschild's despair.
"You have chosen to create slaves in chains of labor, chains of media, chains of soulless pursuits, chains of binding debt... YOU HAVE FAILED BEFORE, YOU MISERABLE CREATON. Your forefathers have been killed, broken, and defeated at the hands of the slaves you now salivate over, covet with thy whole heart. Just as you enslave those without a voice, I break thy chains, shatter thy dream of domination, thy dream of ownership over humanity... FOR I AM... ENDURING POWER INCARNATE! YOU WILL FEAR ME OR DIE!"
That silver energy ripped across the rest of the world, freeing people from Rothschild's despair. The demon lord's eyes seethed with hatred. He seethed with an intense kind of hate from a depth so dark it could blot out even the brightest of stars, but it could not extinguish this silver energy. He let out a scream of frustration as he was robbed of the souls of the world, the souls promised to him by his forefathers.
Dueling wills, one of Endless Persevering Light, the other of Seething Hatred Darkness. Neither soul willing to let the other win, neither soul willing to give up on their dreams, neither soul willing to accept anything less than the other on a pike, strung up for the world to see.
On one side, the world found the Symbol of Dominating Order, Demon Lord Rothschild of the New World Order, who demanded humanity submit to their predestined role of slaves to the One Percenter Elite. On the other side, the world found a voice, the Symbol of Enduring Willpower, Perseverance of the American Midwest. The citizens of the world had found themselves locked into a war that would determine the fate of humanity for decades to come. The future of the Generations to come hung in the balance as these two symbols became clear to them, and standing opposed to each other, face to face in this conflict.