Earth-7
The three Gentry stood amidst the ruins of Earth-7, Lord Broken, Hellmachine, and Demogorgunn.
Intellectron hovered above them, its single giant eye pulsing with a cold light.
"I can no longer sense Dame Merciless. She has been... removed. Erased. Her presence is gone from the universe entirely."
"How? She was one of us. She was eternal. She was..." Lord Broken asked.
"She was outmaneuvered." Intellectron said calmly. "The Shadow Monarch separated her from us. He took her to a realm beyond our reach, beyond our perception. He erased her."
Hellmachine said in a mechanical voice. "Then we must destroy him quick, I fear that..."
"We must be cautious." Intellectron's voice carried a note of warning. "He is more dangerous than I anticipated, much more.."
"What do you suggest?" Lord Broken asked.
Intellectron's voice was flat, "We hunt the Kryptonian together. We do not separate again. We find the real Kryptonian, and we destroy him. The Shadow Monarch cannot protect him if we are united."
Demogorgunn's voice was a distorted chorus of fury. "Then let us hunt together, it was my fault that he managed to get Dame Meciless, I knew he would appear to one of us just like you said, but he was faster.."
They moved together, their forms dissolving into the void.
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Arthur floated in the darkness of the Abyss, his eyes closed, his mind was already working through what to do next.
"They will not make the same mistake again," he said to himself, "But I got rid of a strong one. The damn intelligent bastard will be a problem." He paused, his eyes opening with a flash of violet light. "I'm trying to outsmart him but..."
His eyes widened.
"Right... I can use that."
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The Gentry had gathered in a different world, where crystalline structures that had once housed the power of will in this universe were now lay shattered and broken, their surfaces covered in a fine layer of ash that seemed to have settled over everything.
Their attention fixed on the shadow before them.
It was Korin, or rather, another shadow clone of him.
Lord Broken was amused. "He used quite a few decoys. Scattered them across the universe like seeds in the wind.."
Intellectron's eye pulsed. "Quite smart. We cannot distinguish between them and the real Kryptonian. Must have been a combined work alongside the daughter of Trigon. Their combined power created echoes that are nearly indistinguishable from the original..."
Then we destroy them all. Every last one." Hellmachine said.
Lord Broken's hand rose. "Isn't that what we are doing?"
But as his power reached out to consume the shadow, something changed.
The shadow's form dissolved, its presence fading in the wind. And in its place, something else appeared, something massive, something terrible.
Doom emerged from the darkness, his eyes blazed with violet light, his fist already swinging, its impact sending shockwaves across the world.
The punch connected with Demogorgunn, sending the massive eldritch beast hurtling backward, its form carving a trench in the ash-covered ground.
Doom roared and then he vanished as quickly as he disappeared.
Demogorgunn rose from the trench, its multiple heads snarling with fury, he was shaking with rage. "Coward... he won't show himself..."
Intellectron's eye pulsed. "Of course he won't. He would be a fool to do so. He is no fool."
Arthur appeared before them.
His form was translucent, his eyes blazing with violet light.
"And a fool I am."
Intellectron's single eye widened, in genuine surprise. "You... are not the real him."
Arthur's smile was thin. "That is true." He paused, his eyes meeting Intellectron's. "My, you really are a pain in the ass. You'd be so much better as my shadow soldier. Such a shame I can't claim you." His voice hardened. "You can only cease to exist."
Intellectron's voice was amused. "We are the Gentry. We have one goal, and we have one master. Naturally, you cannot claim us, Monarch of the Dead."
Arthur's smile widened. "Enough talk."
"What can a mere afterimage of yourself do when the real you cannot even face all of us?" Intellectron said.
Arthur's eyes blazed brighter. "It's not that I can't face all of you together. But you play dirty." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm more than capable of playing dirty as well."
And then, from within the clone of Arthur's shadow, something emerged.
Bellion appeared, his eyes blazing with violet light. Behind him, the Heavenly Soldiers materialized, a vast army of shadows, the soldiers of the Rulers.
The Gentry responded in kind.
Their army rose from the dead, foul, deformed creatures, their forms twisted by the Anti-Death Equation, their eyes burning with cold hunger. They were dead Lanterns of this world, their rings cracked and broken, their wills shattered, they were a tide of corruption.
Arthur was clearly disgusted. "The Black Lanterns were nicer compared to this. These are just... disgusting to look at."
Bellion clashed with the dead Lanterns, his form can't even be seen with the naked eye. The Heavenly Soldiers followed, their attacks coordinated, they avoided the Gentry themselves, following Arthur's orders, focusing instead on their dead soldiers.
It was a battle between immortals, absolute death versus anti-death.
But the Gentry were powerful. Their attacks tore through the Heavenly Soldiers, erasing them completely, their forms dissolving into nothing.
Bellion's voice echoed in the real Arthur's mind. "At this rate, my Monarch, we will lose a significant force of our soldiers. They will not regenerate."
Arthur's voice was flat, carrying the weight of cold calculation. "A sacrifice I'm willing to make. But I cannot sacrifice you, Bellion." He paused. "Grab Intellectron. I will not let him erase you. Fly him as far as you can in the sky, and then I will swap places with you and cancel all of my summons." His voice hardened. "I must kill him next. The others I can kill together just fine."
Bellion's eyes blazed violet. "As you command."
His wings spread wide, and he launched himself toward Intellectron. His greatsword stabbed into the floating being single eye, the impact sending shockwaves across the battlefield. Even though the attack did nothing, it served its purpose, it dragged Intellectron into the sky, separating him from the other three Gentry.
Despite all of this Intellectron was still calm. "What are you trying to do, Shadow? Fly me to a sun? Throw me into a black hole?" Its stabbed eye pulsed with cold light. "I see so many possibilities. None of them will prove efficient. We are the Gentry. We are the doom of the universe. And soon, you and your Monarch will..."
Bellion's voice was flat. "Will you be quiet, one-eyed bat?"
Intellectron was baffled. Its eye flickered. "Yes... it is time I remain quiet."
Its power gathered, ready to destroy Bellion completely, and then Arthur swapped places with Bellion at the last possible moment.
Arthur appeared in Bellion's place, his hand closing around the greatsword that was still stabbed into Intellectron's eye. His eyes blazed violet.
"Well done, Bellion. This is all I needed."
Intellectron's eye widened in realization. "This does not make any se..."
Before it could finish, Arthur and Intellectron disappeared in a gust of shadows.
The remaining Heavenly Soldiers faded, their forms dissolving into nothing.
The three Gentry stood in silence.
Lord Broken's voice was barely a whisper. "No..."
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The Abyss
Intellectron floated in the darkness of Arthur's Abyss, his body silhouetted against the violet twilight, it looked around.
"This did not make sense to me... what you just did.." He said in confusion, its eye focused on Arthur. "Well played. I did not expect this."
Arthur's laugh was warm, genuine. "You didn't expect a stupid plan like that to work, eh?" He shook his head slowly. "You are too smart for your own good, one-eyed bat."
Intellectron's eye narrowed. "Indeed... you could have done that without the aid of your shadows. But it would have been obvious." It paused. "You used a stupid plan to trick me. I did not account for that. Everything was a decoy. You sacrificed a great number of your own shadows to buy a few seconds of confusion... Just to get me."
Arthur's smile widened, his eyes blazing violet.
"It is time you die, smartass." He paused, his voice dropping to a whisper. "And I'll find out who you serve. Then I'll kill the others. And your master, eventually."
"You are a fool, Shadow Monarch. You are indeed powerful but this is far beyond what you can destroy." Intellectron said.
Arthur's laughter echoed across the Abyss. "We'll see about that."
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