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‘Something is different,’ Dan squinted his eyes as his body ripped through rank after rank of alien soldiers. Gore slipped over his body, held from his skin by his biolfield. ‘I’m less concerned with death than I was before…’

Perhaps it was a side effect of Nolan’s memories. He had full scale genocides in his mind, vivid pictures that came with Omniman’s emotions. A frown pulled at his lips as he hefted a tank into the air. A flick of the wrist accelerated it into a streak of light that ended in a chain of explosions.

“I need to lock this down, or I’ll become a psychopath,” Dan drew in a deep breath, more air than he’d taken in before. A hurricane poured from his lips as he released the captured storm, tinted blue as it froze the water in the air. Sub-zero winds sheared the flesh from all who stood before him, while he delved into the labyrinth of his mind.

Besides his main efforts toward controlling his ki and the physical training with Goku and Etrigan, Dan still had time for Merlyn’s classes. His only focus had been the reinforcement and control of his own mind and self. Mental magic, spells to block outside influence and master inner demons.

Dan weaved a net of runes around the part of himself that held Nolan’s legacy and pulled it tight. The spell captured any emotional bleed through and left the memories sterile. Knowledge was there, but events had lost their vivid edge.

“Better…” Dan let a sigh pass his lips as he surveyed the devastation around him. These aliens had it coming, what with invading other worlds and all, but… “I should give them a chance to surrender.”

“You think!” Mark choked out from the sky behind him. The young man had stepped up to fight, but Dan’s efforts had rendered him irrelevant. “I think you’ve slaughtered their entire army by now…”

“These people have made their intentions clear,” Dan turned a critical eye to Mark. “My actions here today DO ride the edge of the line, but this isn’t a game.” He pointed a finger at the ground. “I could shove this planet into its parent star, but instead I decided to disarm their civilization.”

“Yeah… by culling their warriors,” Mark snorted as he waved at the devastation. “Why not give a non violent display of force?” The young Viltrumite’s face tensed with anger. “What makes you better than my father?”

“Better than Nolan?” Dan tilted his head. There were a number of obvious answers, but they all rang hollow in his heart. “I’m not going to debate which of us is the lesser evil,” he flicked his fingers and sent one of Venom’s clones straight into the boy's chest. “Give him the cliff notes of his father’s and my life, let him decide for himself.”

“Hey-ugh…” Mark dropped to the ground, consumed by visions from the symbiote in his body. Dan would leave the boy here to digest and find whatever was left of this planet’s leadership.

“Keep his body safe, and make sure you leave out the bulk of the emotion,” Dan gave Venom an idle command. He didn’t want to change Mark’s personality, just fill him in on the truth about his father, as well as himself.

“We will guard him,” Venom groused. “But nothing remains to fight in this world…”

“Yeah-yeah,” Dan rolled his eyes. “I got carried away, just drop it.”

“It’s not arrogance…” May tapped her staff on the ground. A buried rune - planted when she first displayed her strength - blossomed into an invisible wall of power. “Your methods enslave you to the Force, while mine free me from its shackles.”

Her studies with Merlyn had taught her much about the natural order, the source of magic. The Wizard’s way directs one to place themselves apart from the greater source, subverting their own connection to it, to forge a permanent access to its power. Both the Jedi and the Sith accessed the source directly, without any protection from its influence.

“HA!” Dooku let a laugh fall from his mouth as he cartwealed back, clear of the pulse of force. He came before Anakin, lightsaber thrust toward the boy’s eye. “Then enlighten me, young one, what is the correct path?”

Anakin’s staff battered aside the Sith’s blade, much to Dooku’s shock. The boy wasted no time with words and summoned a serpent of fire from the tip of his staff. Dooku slipped past, hand extended as he suppressed the flame. His blade reached out to touch the side of Anakin’s knee, a surprise for them both.

The lightsaber failed to sever the limb, but a deep wound caved itself into Anakin’s flesh. His bone held the red hot plasma, helped by the rush of his symbiote. A bellow forced itself from his lips as Famine revealed his face to the world.

Hands extended toward Dooku, the symbiote filled the air with webbing. The Count retracted his blade and weaved a box of light around his body, breath enough for Famine to heal their wounded leg. May suppressed a grin of satisfaction at Anakin’s discomfort. Maybe now he would be more serious.

“I’ll take it from here, Famine, you just keep poor Anakin safe,” May rose into the air, a light behind her eyes. Staff held across her body, she began to manifest an aura of runes. “We’ve come to give you an offer, as well as a display of the truth behind it…” Tension touched at her face, the start of a throb behind her temples. She drew runic scripts on the air with her mind alone, eyes locked with Dooku’s heavy gaze. “You want a test of our power, so I’ll give it my all!”

A sweep of her staff cast the formation to the ground, an eruption of green light that rivalled the sun. A groan echoed from the depths, a twisted crack followed by a deep rumble. The Royal Palace shook on its foundations, heaved up and down on the waves of the earth. Anakin turned and ran, full tilt until he was clear of the hanger, while Dooku gaped in horror.

“Rise up, Yggdrasil,” May gripped at the air, a final rune, larger than the rest. “Tree of life and protector of the realm!”