Finis had been searching for him for the past months. He investigated many clues just to be let on a wild goose chase. Now, he finally had him in his sights, and this time, he was determined to kill him for real. Previously, he made a black hole, swallowed him up, and destroyed him… yet somehow, he survived. Reconstructed himself back to perfection. He didn’t know how he managed to do that, but there wouldn’t be a second time.

His consciousness was merged with his teardrop-like ship, and Finis turned his attention to the army before him. He thought they were here to intimidate him. To fight him. A waste of space as he would simply disintegrate them. Yet when he tried to influence their strings, he found something that should be impossible. It made him understand what horrifying meant. He could not destroy them. He couldn’t break apart their string and influence them in any way. They were surrounded by some kind of energy that prevented him from hurting them. Focusing on that energy, following it back to its source, he discovered that it originated from Omega’s body.

“What did you do?” Finis asked, opening his eyes in his ship, standing at his empty, white bridge.

“Unlike you,” Omega replied, telling their own side of the fleet to turn towards Finis and open fire in the meanwhile, “I am not created by your overlord. I have none of your limitations….”

“Don’t even dare to speak about the Creator!” Finis answered back, filled with rage and disdain.

Roxo, watching as all of the Neo-Hegemony ships turned away from his fleet, facing one surprising newcomer, shocked him initially. But what was even more shocking was how they opened fire simultaneously. All were firing, whether long, blue ionized beams, torpedoes, superheated metal, or conventional projectiles shot from a railgun. Yet, no matter what kind of weapons they used, their attacks disintegrated before reaching the relatively small ship. Everything was simply gone as soon as they entered into close proximity.

“What the hell….” Roxo murmured, watching it play out.

“You wretched abomination!” Finis growled as his ship opened up, letting him fly out, but it was not the end. His ship slowly fell apart, morphing, transforming, taking up the form of hundreds of human-like entities. They were half the size of the Suits of Ares, flying forward, surrounded by an energy field, deflecting the incoming attacks. “I’ll let the drones kill your loved ones. This time they won’t have the mercy of a quick death then! Let them suffer!”

“The only one who will suffer is you.” Omega appeared right before him, grabbing the surprised Finis’s clothes, and simply headbutted him. It came with such a strong force it sent ripples through the fabric of space, shaking all of the spaceships as if they were real ships on the ocean’s surface.

By then, the drones reached the rest, engaging in a battle with not just the Neo-Hegemony ships but with those from Roxo’s side. They did not discriminate, attacking both at the same time. From up close, they used their bodies, made out of Finis’s previous ship, cutting through them like hot knives through butter.

“What the hell are those?!” Roxo shouted as more and more of his ships were disabled or destroyed.

“Our weapons can’t lock on them! They are too small and fast!”

“What about our fighter planes?” Roxo asked, but the answer was already before him, on his personal display. The enemy was way more mobile and way more quickly than they ever could match up to. They were getting picked off like sitting ducks.

“Need help?” Arrived a voice on an open channel belonging to Mirian. Soon, multiple Suits came, fending off the ‘drones.’ Their new machines could keep up with their speed, and with the enhanced reflexes, they could beat them back and even injure or destroy them.

“Thanks…” Roxo said, not foreign to the idea of working together. He was starting to believe. He didn’t want to, but the proof was right in front of him.

While their battle was going on, the Neo-Hegemony suffered fewer damages thanks to the Suits’ presence; Omega was having a literal brawl with Finis. They have already pushed far away, so the resulting shockwaves from their fight wouldn’t impact them. Finis couldn’t believe what was happening; he simply couldn’t influence Omega’s strings, no matter what he tried. They rejected him to the touch, just like those that made up his beloved and feared Creator. Worst, they shone in an even stronger light, looking at them.

“Die already!” He screamed, tearing space itself afar before Omega, so the coming fist would not hit him but be swallowed up by it. He did not even flinch, letting his hand disappear into the black nothingness right up to his elbow before Finis closed it up, severing his hand.

“You think this would hurt me?” Omega asked, standing still as his hand reformed itself in under a second. He simply raised it, moving his fingers, looking into his eyes. “I climbed out from the hole you made… no wonder the poor doctor saw my body and organs as if they were freshly made that day. You can’t destroy me by now… you and your Creator made a big mistake!” He stepped forward.

“Mistake? The only mistake was that you are here!” Finis shouted, distorting space around Omega, closing in his hands, clamping down as if he was trying to force him into an invisible box.

If it were anyone or anything else, they would feel the force of a collapsing star, pulling matter into a little point before everything would collapse, creating a true black hole in the universe. Yet Omega just raised a hand, tapping on the millions of strings, making them up, turning them into his own, and then simply dissipating all of it. Finis’s ‘spell’ was broken, throwing him backward, and making him puke up purple and gold-colored blood.

“You are right,” Omega spoke, walking forward, his presence slowly expanding, turning every and all strings around them into his own, creating thousands of new ones. “That is why I say that you both made a mistake. I should have been destroyed. Now I know the same secrets of the strings as your Creator. I am on the same level as him….” He smiled, already grabbing those that made up Finis.

“Lies!” He shouted, not wanting to even believe it.

“You ought to have a slow and painful end… So I will slowly deconstruct you. String… by… string…” He smirked, flashing a wicked smile as he started cutting them apart, one by one.

Finis never before knew what pain was, but he finally realized it at that moment. His very being was slowly broken apart, starting from his hands, legs, skin, hair, eyes, and senses… everything that could be considered what made a living being slowly was broken apart and destroyed. It took Omega almost half an hour to finish, leaving behind nothing but floating specks of unknown matter that once was Finis.

“Worry not…” He whispered, “Soon, your beloved Creator will be accompanying you… I’ll make sure of that.”