Max raised an eyebrow. "Really? You still want to throw down after all that?"
"Who I am doesn't matter," she snapped, voice cracking with emotion. "But if you must know…"
She took a step closer, the mist around her pulsing with emotion—rage, sorrow, defiance.
"I'm the edge between dreams and death. I'm the cursed shadow who couldn't escape… until he found me. Until he freed me from a life of suffering."
Max blinked, caught off guard by the rawness in her voice.
"I was a weapon. A possession. Tortured for years in the name of science and control. Apocalypse didn't enslave me. He gave me freedom. Gave me purpose." She narrowed her eyes, stepping over Apocalypse's fallen form, shielding him with her own body.
"So if you plan to kill him," she said, her voice trembling, "you'll have to kill me first."
Max stood silent for a moment, watching her—her stance was shaky, but her spirit didn't waver.
He lowered his hands.
"I'm not here to kill anyone who doesn't deserve it," he said quietly. "Apocalypse is done. I beat him. He's not a god anymore."
The Nightmare Woman didn't move.
Max gave her a small nod.
"You're loyal. I respect that. But if he rises again… he becomes a threat. A war between mutants and humans will follow. Millions—maybe billions—will die. There won't be a second chance."
She looked down at Apocalypse, then back up at Max, her expression unreadable.
"So?" she said flatly.
Max blinked. "What?"
"I said… so what?"
He stepped forward, confused and incredulous. "Are you even hearing yourself? I'm talking about genocide. Cities burning. Entire nations wiped out."
"I heard you," she snapped, eyes glowing red. "But so what?"
Max opened his mouth, but no words came out. For the first time in the entire battle… he hesitated.
She continued, voice trembling with something darker than rage—grief. "I was used my whole life. Tortured. Broken. All by the same people you're now trying to protect. So what if Apocalypse destroys them? So what if they burn?"
Max stared at her. "Not all of them are like that."
She laughed bitterly. "No, most of them are worse. The ones who did nothing. The ones who watched and turned away. The ones who saw what I was going through and let it happen. The ones who only help when it's safe."
Her aura flared—dark tendrils of energy writhing around her like a living shadow.
"They let me rot. They called me a monster. But he—Apocalypse—he saw me. He gave me strength. Purpose. I matter now."
"You were tested," Max said gently, "but not everyone failed you."
"And how many have to die to protect their second chance?" she screamed. "How many times do I have to be the sacrifice for their comfort?!"
Before Max could reply, Apocalypse stirred beneath her.
"That's my child," the old mutant rasped, blood trickling down his lips. "That's what she truly is. Beautiful rage. Unshackled power."
He placed a hand on the ground—runes flaring faintly—and Nightmare Woman's body surged with strength. Her form rose into the air, energy doubling, tripling, feeding off his last reserves.
"You won't kill him," she said, floating now, voice echoing. "Because I won't let you."
More of Apocalypse's fallen army, still dazed, began to rise—drawn by her call. Their broken forms healed, eyes glowing. They stood behind her in defiance.
Max stared, his body glowing softly in contrast to her chaotic blaze.
"You're really doing this for him?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm doing this for me."
A thick silence fell.
Then Max cracked his neck and slowly took a stance. "Man, I swear… this is starting to feel like one of those old Dragon Ball finales."
He gave her a sad, sideways grin. "Guess I'm playing the Villain today."
She didn't smile.
The wind picked up.
Energy pulsed on both sides—Max glowing with controlled brilliance, and Nightmare Woman engulfed in a swirling void of black flame.
Then it shifted.
From within her shadowy aura, something began to rise—formless at first, until it solidified into a massive beast, glowing with constellations embedded in its hide.
It took the shape of a black lion, each pawstep leaving rips in the fabric of space.
Max took a cautious step back, eyebrows raised. "The hell…?"
He could feel it—a presence that didn't belong to any mutant he'd fought. This wasn't just power. This was force. Something more primal. More ancient. Something beyond classification.
"The Force of Annihilation…" he muttered.
A deep chuckle came from Apocalypse, still weakened, but smiling faintly through bloodied lips.
"Ahh… so the beast chose you," he rasped, watching Nightmare Woman ascend. "The gift of the Annihilation Force… not just power, but a fundamental truth. Like the Laws in your Earth's old stories… cultivation novels, or the phoenix flame myths."
Max didn't answer. He was staring at her. At the black lion. At the Force itself—because that's what it was. Not energy. Not magic. Not mutation.
A sentient, cosmic law.
Apocalypse coughed, struggling to lift himself.
"This… this is the final stage of evolution for mutants who've come into contact with the universal forces that govern reality," he said. "It doesn't come from science… or X-genes… it's something deeper."
The sky warped above them. Stars flickered unnaturally, as if the cosmos itself were responding.
"She has become more than a mutant," Apocalypse said, voice trembling with awe and fear. "She is a chosen bearer of one of the fundamental truths. She has become… Annihilation."
A low whistle cut through the air.
Max tilted his head, grinning.
"This… is beautiful," he said with a smirk, eyes gleaming.
And then the ground trembled.
From deep within Max's core, a storm erupted—his own Force awakening. Reality bent around him as an enormous, ancient presence emerged behind him.
A black dragon—vast, coiled in shadow and starlight, eyes burning like twin eclipses. It roared in absolute silence, its wings unfolding across the sky like endless night.
From Max's body, a chorus of Forces began to resonate.
Dark Force. Soul Force. Time Force. Space Force. Mind Force. Infinity Force. Life Force. Chaos Force.
Each one, glowing in a different hue—each one orbiting him in sacred rings like planets around a star.
"I told you I was only fighting at 10%," Max said casually, brushing dust off his jacket. "Let's fix that."
Apocalypse's eyes widened, the weight of what he was witnessing settling in. "Impossible…"
Max floated upward, the dragon behind him letting out another silent roar that cracked the sky.
The Drgaon wasn't manifestaion of any Sentient Force but it was symbol of his Night monarch Legacy.
***
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