The ship halted, the shockwave from the Solaris Vengeance's destruction slamming into it like a giant's punch. Talon gripped his seat so tightly his knuckles turned white. He felt the impact deep in his chest, his breath catching as the entire hull groaned.
Out the viewport, he saw it.
The dreadnought mothership, their last hope, was gone.
It crumbled into glowing debris, pieces scattering across the void like dying embers. The space around it felt darker, emptier, as if the universe itself was swallowing the light.
Then his eyes moved to the planet.
Academus.
Where cities once stood, there was now only a massive, gaping crater in the planet. It was so large he could see it from space, a wound carved into the planet's surface.
Everything was gone, every person, every building, every memory.
"No," he whispered, barely able to breathe.
The word grew louder in his throat. "No. No! NO!"
He pounded his fists against the viewport, his voice breaking with raw, helpless rage. He wanted to tear the sight away, to make it disappear.
Talon slumped back, shaking, his mind racing. The realization hit him like another shockwave, heavier than the first.
It was all gone. Everyone. Everything.
Jason... Alice.
They were dead.
He screamed.
"AAAARRGGHHHHHHHH"
He did not care anymore, he slumped back into his seat, his eyes vacant.
A desperate voice broke through the static-filled comms, "Command is down! Repeat, command is down! We've lost control of the battle—what do we do?"
Talon could only watch with tear filled eyes as the battle around them transformed into utter chaos.
The space above Academus churned with the constant arrival of new ships, a torrent of reinforcements from both the Concord and unknown factions.
Dreadnoughts, cruisers, carriers, and many more emerged from FTL with bursts of light, joining the fray with weapons blazing.
The destruction of the Solaris Vengeance had signaled a renewed frenzy for Talon. Without its commanding presence, the remaining Concord fleet struggled to maintain any semblance of order.
Fighters and gunships weaved through the wreckage, beams of energy lancing between ships in deadly exchanges. Debris rained down toward Academus, lighting up the night sky as it fell.
He caught glimpses of energy barriers flaring to life over cities, straining to hold back the impacts.
"Where do we go now, Sir!" one of the crew members shouted, desperation cracking through their voice.
"...Pray," came the grim reply.
A shudder ran through the ship as a nearby explosion sent a shockwave through space, shaking them to the core. Talon looked out the viewport briefly, trying to make sense of the chaos outside. But the sheer scale of it was overwhelming, ships clashing like swarming insects, distant flashes of energy lighting up the darkness.
Then... he saw it, a dark shape cutting through the void, moving with a precision that bordered on unnatural.
The figure was surrounded by an aura of crackling energy, too fast for Talon's eyes to fully track.
It was the same force that had destroyed the Solaris Vengeance.
It was the person who killed everyone he loved.
Hate.
A soldier next to Talon muttered under his breath, voice barely audible. "It's clearing a path... straight for us." His face had gone pale, and Talon could see the terror in his eyes.
Talon looked on with hatred to that person. The S-ranked Super moved methodically, each flash of power wiping out a ship in a blinding explosion.
Within moments, a wide, empty sphere had formed around Talon's vessel, devoid of any other ships. The Super's mere presence drove away the other opportunistic forces, no one wanted to challenge a World-Ender, not when survival meant pulling back.
Yet the Concord wasn't retreating. They threw everything they had left into the fray, desperate to hold their ground. A Mythical had too much worth to them.
More Titans had arrived by now, their auras blazing as they clashed with the unknown forces, but their power seemed dull compared to the blinding sun that the World-Ender was.
Talon caught a glimpse of Loren, the Concord Titan who had fought earlier, charging into the void with other Titans at his side, aiming for the S-ranked figure.
It was over in an instant.
The World-Ender barely shifted, raising a hand wreathed in shadows. A wave of energy erupted from their palm, sweeping through space like a scythe.
The Titans never even had a chance to counter. Loren and his allies disintegrated under the blast, their bodies turning into glowing motes scattered through the vacuum.
Talon felt the breath leave his lungs, frozen in terror and hate as he watched the effortless display of power. The ship shuddered again, the hull groaning as if even the metal felt the dread pressing down on them.
Without warning, the S-ranked Super surged forward, closing the gap between them in a heartbeat. Their hand reached out, brushing against the hull, and with a sickening crunch, the entire side of the ship buckled inward.
Air hissed out into the vacuum, the pressure shift making Talon's ears pop. The protective emblem on his chest activated, sealing him in a bubble of life-supporting energy.
The energy swept past him, he was not targeted in the slightest.
But the crewmates weren't so fortunate.
The B-ranked Supers who had been guarding him tried to flee, panic overtaking them. They launched themselves away from the breach, but the World-Ender's power lashed out with a flick of their wrist, cutting them down mid-flight.
Talon watched, numb with hate, as their bodies crumbled into dust, scattered by the vacuum of space.
He saw the man who had handed him the emblem earlier, looking down at where his lower half should have been. His body ended at the torso, guts cauterized by the heat of the blast. He let out a silent scream before drifting lifelessly into the void, never to be seen again.
Talon felt his limbs lock up in fear, unable to move as the S-ranked figure hovered in front of him, staring through the broken hull. Even through their helmet, he felt the weight of their gaze, a force that crushed the air from his lungs.
He never wanted this, he just wanted to get away from it all, to gain the favour of the Solaris concord, to watch as his family realised they could not control him anymore.
He closed his eyes, wishing that all of this was just a nightmare, that he would wake up, find out he'd awakened a normal power.
Why did he not just THINK before pressing that button, a mythical? for fucks sake use your brain for once Talon OFCOURSE THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.
The incessant urge to die grew stronger and stronger.
Why did this fabled Mythic power want him to die so badly?
Why wouldn't it just SHUT. UP?!
He tried to scream, but his voice was hoarse, making no sound in the silence of space, amidst the war and destruction raging around him.
A presence loomed closer, but Talon closed his eyes, afraid of what might look back.
A voice, not spoken but pressed directly into his mind, echoed through his thoughts.
"I do wonder... just what power you hold," the World-Ender mused more to himself than to Talon.