The nonsensical inventor of a man used his nails to take off a cover from the wall, revealing a lever. His nails came off, and his hands bled to no end. He then pulled it before Arthur could stop him, even when he didn’t know what it was going to do, his guts told him that something bad was going to come out of it. And they were right, because… I’m not even sure if anyone could believe me if I mentioned what I saw and what I was feeling. Because in the middle of the night, the entire castle was shaking violently, the bricks cracking and releasing debris everywhere, he held himself together to the ground, as the skunk woke up jumping, scared.

“Huh…? What do you need the castle to shake for? You’re just gonna get us killed or something, man!”

“THAT’S EXACTLY THE PLAN!”

“W-w-what…?”

Chunks of the castle started to come apart, and when he took a glance at one that was about to hit his little skunk, he instantly rushed to stand above it, tanking the tough hit with his resistant magic and powerful body.

“Agh… You… You okay, little lad?” It just looked at its tall owner with complete fear in its eyes, this poor little animal had no idea what was happening, and it’s not like I knew the 6 month old King knew better either. He… didn’t know either…

Then… Without giving him any more time to process what was going on, with the loud sound of gears turning, bricks moving, and shaking… The floor had opened to raise a platform holding a massive gadget. An oversized crystal. Arthur extended his hand and aimed at the gadget and tried to fire to destroy it, but alas, nothing came of it, not even a puff of smoke; it’s like he wasn’t able to perform this action at all. “...What?...” Blinking, I then tried to take aim at the man, but it didn’t work either. Despite everything in his CPU telling him to end this right now.

He laughed and slowly approached the device. “What a pity, Mr. Arthur Gold! Sure, while I didn’t program you to obey every order of mine… I programmed you to not be able to harm me at all! So there’s nothing you can do about this all! Watch this event unfold before your very eyes; after all, that’s all you can do!” He pressed the button, and the device charged a beam from the looks of it. A bright, eye piercing red light that blinks in quick intervals. Not only was he forced to not intervene, but his eyes were also being bothered by these barmy lights. God, damn!

And then… Something incredibly unexplainable happened.

…The skunk went on to bite the Inventor’s leg! He yelped “AGH! you STUPID stinker!!” And he kicked it away.

Without thinking or time to process things, King Arthur, as he witnessed his pet be kicked off so aggressively and carelessly, fired a small bolt of lightning at the Inventor, which got his hands off the machinery and made him hold his arm.”

“YOU FOOL! What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re not supposed to work like that! I didn’t program you to work that way!!!”

His hardware trembling, his software buggy, King Arthur didn’t understand what was going on, just staring at his own body and the Inventor he had instinctively fired at. Just then… He heard the yelling of Cheong Gi from the other side.

“Arthur!! That guy’s a big baddie! He betrayed me! He used my own research for EVIL!!! You gotta stop him!! [Cough, cough, groan]”

As the Inventor reached in to pull a firearm, King Arthur fired another bolt, this time stronger, blowing off the Inventor’s arm.

He lied on his back in pain, groaning loudly, calling out every insult available in the English language at his rebelling creation, as it only got closer and set off the work he was trying to pull off while looking at him wondering if he was deserving of mercy.

“Mr. Arthur Gold! You don’t understand! This piece of work is able to give you eternal life! And unlimited power! Isn’t that something that sounds wonderful for you?! Quite an outstanding king deserves such force, isn’t that right?!”

“Sorry Sir… You were so set on thinking what you wanted for me, but… you never thought about what I wanted.

…Besides… Messing with a tiny harmless creature and a physically weak researcher? Really?

You’re a tricky coward to use people who couldn’t fight back, so I think it’s about time you reap what you sow.”

“YOU FOOL! YOU WON’T LAST A WEEK WITHOUT MY DIRECTIONS!! NOBODY TO GUIDE YOU, NOBODY TO MANAGE YOU, AND YOU’LL LOSE THE PERSON WHO KNOWS YOUR INNER WORKINGS. DOST THOU WANT TO LIVE THE REST OF THY LIFE WITHOUT ULTIMATE POWER TO DEFEND THYSELF AND YOUR LOVED ONES???!!!”

The King didn’t even flinch. And fired an intense wave of electric magic at the inventor. Unexpectedly though, the inventor rolled quickly to dodge it.

“If it’s a fight you want, then it’s a fight you’re getting for standing in the way of progress, you utter fool.”

“You’re MY creation! You don’t stand a chance against your own master!” The Inventor snapped one of his own horns and held it tightly in his non-wounded hand, taking a pose of utter and complete desperation and fury. It was the only improvised weapon he could carry at the time, and despite the lack of eyes, King Arthur knew full well that under that mask there was nothing but hate in that unknown body and empty soul.

The King held a firebolt in his hand, and adjusted his crown. “Let’s dance, cowboy.”

The King summoned a ring of fire surrounding the two of them. As the castle collapsed, the Inventor took advantage of the breeze getting inside to shove it with telekinesis towards the fire. It extinguished, but let out plenty of smoke. The Inventor coughed, realizing the weakness of his flesh, envious of the fact he was yet unable to obtain Arthur’s body. As Arthur was so determined to fight back: A fighting spirit within him being created out of his human and fluffy friend getting betrayed, hearing and seeing them in pain… This Inventor was gonna pay for his past and current sins, he thought.

King Arthur reached in to punch the Inventor of the face, several pieces of his fist and the Inventor’s mask came apart, scattering everywhere. The King didn’t mind the pain one bit, the adrenaline making him ignore it, and the Inventor went on to stab the King’s head, aiming for the CPU.

King Arthur barely dodged the stab, part of his hair, head and crown getting torn off, he kicked the Inventor away. The Inventor coughed and coughed, blood came up from his mask.

“Giving up yet, ya twat?” Replied King Arthur charging electric shocks with both hands.

“Haha, not yet…” The Inventor took a few steps back, and as a piece of rubble went on to fall onto Arthur’s head, a ray hit the rubble, coming from Gi’s side. It bounced to hit the Inventor, who was so smugly trusting the rubble was gonna hit his former invention. “OW, YOU WITCH!” As his vocabulary of swears expanded towards other European languages, King Arthur changed one lightning charge into fire and fired it mixed with the lightning onto the Inventor.

The Inventor stumbled, and the skunk went on to give him another bite, which King Arthur followed with an uppercut, which sent the Inventor flying towards a big chunk of the castle’s bricks, which hit his head, and then descended to and crushed his body immobile. Yet, he was still alive, not giving up.

“Nice teamwork, buddy. Oh?”

The Inventor tried to crawl away from the chunks, but it was too futile. His body was too wounded to continue. He even considered taking a brick to give Arthur another hit, but his strength was lacking. His blood had decorated the castle from purple to red, marking his defeat and Arthur’s new reign.

Arthur crouched and looked at him. Despite the total backstab he had received, he couldn’t help but feel some sort of pity; he questioned himself if it was even right to feel. Alas, he thought of ending the poor man’s misery.

“I can’t say I am not grateful for being created, however, had I known I was being fabricated and then groomed into power to be a host for you and the kingdom’s villagers souls for ultimate power, I would have run away or ended my own life. While you have a lot of potential, skill and intelligence, you have used it towards evil and your own goal. No benefit for the people and future.”

The Inventor just stared, not saying anything, he knew he was a goner, instead, he considered silently accepting his fate, before he just laughed, much to Arthur’s confusion. He decided to face death with dignity and gave Arthur a sentence he would never forget for the rest of his own life.

“You have greatly surpassed my own expectations and skills, I am proud of you, King Arthur, you will be a fine ruler and I couldn’t be happier to have my life taken away by none other than you.”

King Arthur couldn’t comprehend if his words were manipulative or genuine in his last moments, instead, he replied, getting ready to charge another shot of his magic.

“For every burn and shock you feel as you breathe, I hope that at least your soul finds peace in the afterlife, if your misery doesn´t sting for all eternity, that is.”

However, before Arthur could fire his magic to put him out of misery, another chunk of the castle landed on him to finish his head off. Nothing was left of him… and without even daring to mourn him… “...Poor prat. Now… Are you okay?”

The skunk, after calming itself, climbed on Arthur’s shoulder. “Haha… I’m glad… but we have to get Cheong.”

King Arthur rushed his way to see Cheong, he found him with a stab so deep in his body it was a wonder he was still alive with all that blood everywhere.

“Arthur… Arthur! I’m so glad you’re okay. It might not be long for me, though…”

“Ah, Cheong… nonsense. You can still make it. Reality is a lot less dramatic than your inventions.”

He crouched and recycled some of the nearest materials to heal and restore the body of his friend. That is to say, healing wounds required the use of pre-existing resources, and King Arthur couldn’t care less about the shape of this castle at this point.

“Hah… hah… that feels… weirdish…”

“We still have a lot to do.” He said it with lots of determination in his voice. Aiming to fully vitalise him.

Now that he was partially recovered, he picked up Cheong and put him on a surgery table, his pet skunk watching from the side.

“This might sting a bit.”

“...Not to worry! I’m ready, Arthur! Give me all you’ve got!” With his friend’s permission, he put that machinery to work, mixing the wonders of magic and science. And after a few minutes, his friend recovered physically, Though, of course, still left with the mental scar. King Arthur then put his palm on his forehead and rested his face on the table.

“Arthur! Are you alright??” Cheong said, looking at him with shock and horror in his eyes.

“...I’m alright… I’m just glad I got a couple of friends after all this.”

Cheong’s worry quickly shifted to an awkward smile, and then, inevitably, he started laughing! Arthur lifted his face off the pillow and laughed too. And the skunk’s purring added to the ambience of happiness. But still… Lots had to be done, so the two of them decided to work together to announce the end of the Inventor, reveal the truth of the previous king, and bring balance to society.

And so, despite everything, and after all was said and done, King Arthur went to live a very peaceful and happy life. Everyone praised him after he revealed the truth of the previous king and how he took action on the malicious Inventor. Cherishing his best and happiest memories, every second he got to spend time with his friend Cheong, every minute he spent helping the townsfolk, every hour he spent with his pet skunk, and eventually nature’s gift for his calming, serene aura. After a good talk, Cheong also returned his erased memories. And the two documented their shared history for the generations to come to prevent more tragedies.

Things would continue more or less the same, with the world eventually taking its biggest, most heated situation in the year 2.000.000.000.000. When the shielders had a meeting where the unknowing Ace Architect, known here as the Super Architect, went on to discuss matters with his childhood friend and boss, the Super Manager, alongside re-encountering with the Super Scientist and finally: Meeting the Super Assistant for the first time.

Unfortunately, the room was filled with complaints, fear, anxiety, despair… everything negative possible combined into one cold, grey, and formal room. This room was located in a building that was supposed to protect the people and the world.

All hope was lost, as no matter how the group tackled things, no solution to fully stop the emptiness was provided. While yes, of course the plasmatic blood served to stop the usurpers, it didn’t stop the emptiness.

Much to the Super Architect’s objections, the Super Manager lied to the people and downplayed things, trying to calm down everyone and give everyone a quick and sudden death that nobody would expect. For that was the best solution they could possibly think of… quite the tragedy indeed.

Eventually, the entire universe was completely consumed by emptiness. There was nothing left; it was all consumed by a hungry parasite, a dark goop, that had finally been satiated. There was no living being left, not even the usurpers, as they died one by one from hunger, before eventually there was absolutely no sound left in this universe… and all was lost.

…Maybe… just maybe… Some sacrifices are required for the greater good, or perhaps poor King Arthur’s happiness was destined to be lost for the survival of the universe? ... I guess we’ll never know…

About The Author:

This story has been written in Venezuela by Zahid Armando “Residays” Diaz Pino and illustrated by Brazilian Artist Lucas Eduardo “Chazster”.

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