Verse and Dimensions: Stories

Confronting The Hexagon Lords

With his capabilities having been increased from absorbing the many universes and multiverses thus far, Prismus was able to teleport Hyperman directly to The Wall, the exterior of The Folded Cascade. As Hyperman approached the Folded Cascade with Prismus by his side, he kept in mind all the security measures in place that The Seventh informed him of. Hyperman knew that direct and forceful entry into the Folded Cascade would require careful precise maneuvers. However, it soon turned out that it would not be not be an issue, as Prismus was apparently still registered as an authorized user of the portal systems. Prismus therefore was able to connect itself to the digital systems of the portal network and open an interdimensional gateway for Hyperman. After entering through the portal, Hyperman was expelled from the other side into a massive megastructure city, which he knew to be the Hexagon Lords’ base of operations. The layout of the city was very geometrical and incredibly complex, with buildings and even entire city sections moving round like a clockwork system. As Hyperman navigated the bustling megaversal city, he encountered incredibly bizarre beings which were alien by even his perception. Suddenly, Hyperman bumped into the shoulder of a passerby. After nearly tripping, Hyperman was about to apologize when he came face to face with the being he bumped into. Based on what The Seventh had told him, Hyperman instantly recognized the being as the avatar of One, a member of the Hexagon Lords.

Hyperman entered into a battle stance and formed a construct of zero-point energy as a weapon, proclaiming that the Hexagon Lords would pay for what they had done to his father. One shrugged away his suspicious civilian disguise, and nonchalantly proclaimed that they already knew. In fact, One said, all the Hexagon Lords already knew Hyperman was coming. Hyperman looked around to see all of the supposed citizens of the city suddenly disappearing en masse. They were merely illusions, generated by the mental manipulation of Five. Suddenly, the entire city began to mechanically fold inwards upon itself. The city had in fact been decoy, being a manifestation of Three. Hyperman realized that this whole thing had been a trap set for him, from the very moment he was teleported into the Folded Cascade. He had no time to dwell on this however, as his current focus was on killing the Hexagon Lords. As Hyperman scaled across one of the shifting edges of the Three, he attempted to strike One with his energy construct. Rather than striking One however, the construct instantly dissipated as it came into contact with Six, who’s manifestation appeared before Hyperman. Four then appeared next, and no matter what attack Hyperman tried to use, Four instinctively counteracted it as he already knew every possible sequence of actions Hyperman would immediately take. Hyperman instead resorted to ranged attacks and teleported a further distance away as he just barely evaded multiple dimensions of Three colliding. He directed streams of energy at the Hexagon Lords, and was surprised to see that it had turned a deep red, the color of his father’s essence. The Hexagon Lords were surprised as well and thus caught off guard, which allowed for the attack to strike them. One, Four and Six’s forms were scattered, temporarily incapacitated. It was then that a raging maelstrom of fractal shards, the manifestation of Two, appeared and shredded zir way towards Hyperman. Hyperman was overwhelmed by the shards slicing at him from all directions, causing him to lash out in a burst of red energy that dissipated the shards. Just as he was about to resume his attacks, Hyperman suddenly found himself overcome with dizziness and a tired feeling. He then collapsed into a deep sleep, induced by Five. The Hexagon Lords proceeded to envelop themselves and Hyperman within the holographic geometrical pattern of a star tetrahedron, warping into the Hexagon Lords’ base of operations.

Answers

The next thing Hyperman knew when he awoke, he was in a room surrounded by the six entities who had incapacitated him. He found himself restrained in specialized bindings that not even he could escape. Hyperman struggled in the binds, even despite knowing it was useless, and demanded to know from the Hexagon Lords why they had tried to kill his parents and stop him from being born. The Hexagon Lords merely looked sound at themselves and back at Hyperman in great confusion. One spoke up, and said that Hyperman didn’t know the full truth. When Hyperman asked how he knew he could trust the Hexagon Lords, Four grabbed Prismus and took it in his hands. Prismus loudly houted in protest, but Four ignored it as he performed a few subtle movements and instantaneously defragmented Prismus’ memory databanks. Upon this occurring, Primus seemed to gasp out as it proclaimed that “The Seventh was lying”. When Hyperman asked what this meant, One said that he owed an explanation to Hyperman.

After freeing Hyperman, the Hexagon Lords told him that The Seventh was once a Hexagon Lord as well, a very long time ago during a period where the Hexagon Lords were only just starting to establish themselves. He was very bright, and even developed most of their early gear and technology. The Hexagon Lords went on to further recount that, after failing to save others because of his hesitation and overconfidence, The Seventh was changed, and he began following a darker path. He became more violent, aggressive and greedy, losing himself in a quest for power. The Hexagon Lords eventually banished him from the group and tried to stop him. In the ensuing battle's climax, he tried to merge himself with Prismus cube as a last resort, but became overloaded and the cube rejected him, as its memory and data became corrupted and it was flung away. This incident nearly killed The Seventh, severely weakening him as he was banished from the Folded Cascade.

When the Hexagon Lords concluded their explanation, Hyperman was absolutely dumbfounded. He had difficulty believing their account, but at the same time all the details appeared to line up even more than The Seventh’s version of events. After being given time to process the revelation, The Hexagon Lords began trying to formulate a plan to deal with The Seventh. There was a vast disagreement among them as to how to approach the situation. Six had somewhat of an "I-told-you-so" attitude towards it, once again suggesting to just resort to killing The Seventh outright. Three, however, wanted to try again to simply try to talk sense into The Seventh. Arguments erupted among then all, as they were conflicted. Hyperman then spoke up, breaking up the arguments. He told the Hexagon Lords that he would first confront his father himself, to assess how he would react (as well as to secretly see if the Hexagon Lords were indeed right, as he did not yet fully believe them). All the Hexagon Lords decided that this would be the best course of action. Before Hyperman departed however, One chose to gift him some of the Hexagon Lords’ older-generation gear. It was the suit which had adorned The Seventh himself during his time in the Hexagon Lords. One claimed that the suit would enhance Hyperman’s abilities, which he would need in case anything were to go awry. Hyperman thanked the Hexagon Lords, before departing with Prismus to confront his father.

The Confrontation

Before Hyperman actually went to meet The Seventh again, he wanted to be completely sure of what he was doing. And so he requested that Prismus would expel the planet they had met on from its systems. Prismus obliged, and upon it doing so, Hyperman travelled to the planet. He returned to the complex in which he had found the research records, and it was there that a wall had seemingly come alive and opened itself right before him. Hyperman realized that it was a door, which somehow read him as an “authorized” entrant and unlocked itself. He would soon find out why, as he navigated the darkened passageways of the abandoned lab. He saw before him rows of incubation tanks. Each one of them were labelled with a strange sequence of symbols, almost as if someone had smashed random characters on a keyboard. This sequence of symbols was largely the same on each of the tanks, except each tank had a unique designation serial code at the end of the sequence such as “1a” or “2c”. At the very end of the hall, there resided a larger and more sophisticated tank which was marked “45b”, but it was vacant. Hyperman peered into one of the tanks, but then jumped back in shock after seeing what was in it. In the tanks were beings that were very Similar to himself. The similarity was not on a physical or superficial level – these creatures couldn’t be more different in terms of appearance. Rather, they resonated with Hyperman on a more conceptual level. They were almost “him” in a sense, but not quite. They were almost like…siblings.

Hyperman began to have a sick feeling in his stomach, and was about to run when he turned to see The Seventh standing right before him. Although his face gave no physical expression of emotion as a human’s would, Hyperman could understand that The Seventh felt very irate and frustrated. He demanded to know why Hyperman had returned without destroying the Hexagon Lords, and more importantly why he was wearing his old gear. Hyperman, put off by The Seventh’s sudden shift in demeanor, became confrontational and told him that he was his father – not his boss. He then told The Seventh what the Hexagon Lords had told him, and demanded The Seventh to tell him whether it was actually true. The Seventh unapologetically nodded, before vaguely grumbling to himself about how “the transition could have been easier” if the Hexagon Lords were already dead, but that he “would have to make do this way”. The Seventh then disappeared from sight as all the tanks activated and opened themselves. Several of The Seventh’s hybrid-clone servants, under his psychic influence, spilled forth towards Hyperman and Prismus liked a horde of zombies. As Hyperman befell his "brothers", he felt no sense of guilt towards it. As far as he was concerned, they were not his family, even if related by blood. The Seventh only cackled, claiming that they were never strong-enough beings to contain his power in the first place anyways.

This was when The Seventh revealed his true plan to Hyperman. He told of how he had transmuted a part of his essence into a human woman who lived in one of his universes, birthing a hybrid offspring. And this offspring – was Hyperman himself. The Seventh planned to transport the rest of his essence into Hyperman's body, essentially using him as a vessel with which to reincarnate himself, and return to his full power. At that moment, The Seventh's "physical" form appeared, and he proceeded to fight against Hyperman and Prismus himself. Hyperman was surprised by the amount of power and force that The Seventh was using, and then realized that he had been exaggerating his weakened state this entire time. As Hyperman fought his father, The Seventh went on to monologue about how he had been with Hyperman since the very beginning, guiding his path throughout life from behind the scenes without him ever knowing. He then went on to say that they were more alike than Hyperman wanted to think. Both of them desired power, and were willing to go to immense lengths to achieve their goals. This comment caused Hyperman to briefly hesitate, questioning if he really was in fact alike with The Seventh. The Seventh took advantage of this, pointing a singled finger at Hyperman. Hyperman was suddenly overcome with a crippling pain as he fell to his knees and retched on the ground. Red cracks of corruption appeared on Hyperman’s chest, as The Seventh claimed that either way, his influence was already taking root within Hyperman. He explained that the portion of his power he imbued in Hyperman earlier was also a way to exert his influence over him, incubating within him like a virus or parasite. Hyperman tried resisting against the invisible force, but he screamed in pain as he was pushed down even harder. The Seventh was amused by this sight, remarking that Hyperman may have been powerful but that power meant nothing to him, Hyperman’s creator. Hyperman tapped into his rage, and ignoring The Seventh’s taunts, he was able to muster all of his strength and willpower to deal a fatal blow to The Seventh, killing him.

As Hyperman looked on at The Seventh's dead body, he realized that the fight ended up being easier than it should've been. And it was then that The Seventh's remains liquified into pure essence, slithering towards Hyperman and crawling up his body. Hyperman realized with horror that The Seventh actually wanted him to kill him, as it was the key to The Seventh's essence being transferred into Hyperman's body.

Hyperman tried to stop The Seventh's essence from spreading onto him, but it was far too aggressive and invasive to be driven back. Hyperman began suffocating as the black essence spread over his face, and he felt his mind and soul slip away as it was replaced by that of another.

The Final Battle

The Seventh, now possessing Hyperman, was more powerful than he had ever been before. The Seventh's next course of action was to arrive to the Folded Cascade, where he planned to return to his position of power and reform the Heptagon Lords as their leader. This, of course, was not met without resistance. The Hexagon Lords enacted all of the Folded Cascade's security protocols, but to The Seventh such a thing was inconsequential. And in his display, The Seventh physically broke through the security systems, many of which he himself oversaw the installation of, and was able to gain entry into The Folded Cascade, showing that now he was finally at his peak power.

Here, The Hexagon Lords attempted to ambush The Seventh with a trap they had set for him, not unlike the trap they set for Hyperman, but this only angered The Seventh more as he broke from the trap. If he had still planned on showing any form of mercy to the Hexagon Lords before, those chances were completely diminished now. The Seventh fought hard against his former teammates, those he once helped in their time of need. The Hexagon Lords viewed The Seventh as their friend who lost himself in power, while The Seventh viewed the Hexagon Lords as being too soft to rule "properly" like him.

The battle eventually began causing collateral damage to the Folded Cascade, damaging its structures. But The Seventh was too caught up in his bloodlust to notice or care. Then, one of the Cascade's prisons were destroyed, releasing all the dangerous entities contained within.

The escaped monstrosities began causing chaos and carnage all throughout the Folded Cascade, and the Hexagon Lords looked on in horror. Even The Seventh stopped his fighting to stare in shock at the sheer destruction. Not even the combined effort of the Hexagon Lords were enough to stop the invaders. As The Seventh watched in disgust and mortification, he realized that this sight was all too familiar. He suddenly remembered why he wanted this power in the first place: he wanted to protect the Folded Cascade. The Seventh looked down at his hands, hands which weren't actually even his. He found himself sobered all of a sudden. He realized just how much of his existence he wasted on his cause, and how truly horrible acts he committed. However, there was at least one thing that could redeem himself. Clenching his fists, The Seventh took a deep breath, savoring these few fleeting moments which he knew would be his last. Then, he turned back to the Hexagon Lords, and quietly asked them to take care of Hyperman for him. Suddenly, he charged forth at the monsters and detonated his essence into a nova blast, which lashed out into a series of bolts that systematically struck and destroyed every threat within the Folded Cascade, killing them all and himself at the same time. Hyperman's body was left behind, and was intact but still heavily banged up and damaged from what it had been put through.

Hyperman remained in a short temporary coma, and was soon nursed back to full health by the Hexagon Lords. Upon coming back to, and hearing of the events which the lords relayed to him, Hyperman felt an emotion which he had not expected to: he grieved for The Seventh. He grieved for his father, or perhaps he grieved for the lack thereof. He didn't exactly know, but at this point it was moot. The Seventh was gone as far as everyone knew, and was no longer a threat.

A new chapter

Hyperman then realized that now, he finally had free will for the first time in his life. No longer was there an invisible guiding hand manipulating every circumstance of his life. At this point, he was free to choose how to live and what to do. Hyperman immediately realized what it was that he wanted to do. In a way, he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, but he wanted to do it in a more noble way than him. He wanted to be a protector of all of existence, or at least as much as he could access. He wanted to be a beacon of hope to all those he could reach, and mediate between the forces of good and evil. For he was one of the very few to walk the fine line between these two opposing powers.

Prismus asked to stay with Hyperman in his journeys, wanting to have more adventures and discover more things with him. With a chuckle, Hyperman agreed. But the story was not yet over. After he recovered, Hyperman would face a brand new threat. And like the last one, it was a family matter…

Ultraman is a grudgeful defective clone of The Seventh, who harbored a bitter resentment against both his "father" and his perceived "favorite son", Hyperman. He attempted to kill Hyperman and take his place, using Demon Thread to achieve this, but his plan was foiled when Creator banished all Demon Thread – and him by proxy – into the Outside. As a result, he became a Devil and was rescued by Destroyer, who increased Ultraman's power and made him his champion. Still, in the end, Ultraman was ultimately defeated by Hyperman, and sent into a state of eternal recession.

Ultraman

The being that would become Ultraman began his life as a creature named Æ-45b, or just “45b” for short. 45b was just one member of an entire race created by Seven, all made from Seven's own essence and thus, in a sense, offspring of him. 45b was a more experimental clone, who was created by one of Seven’s attempts to create a failsafe for transferring his essence, should his original manifestation have ever been too severely damaged. 45b had all the attributes of a standard member of Seven’s created race, except all of his genetic traits were enhanced to the highest possible degree. As part of the failsafe, 45b was suspended in stasis within an incubation machine, remaining unconscious until the failsafe hypothetically being activated in response to heavy damage sustained by Seven.

When the time finally came, and Seven was gravely wounded in his fight against the other Heptagon Lords, the failsafe was activated. Seven had prior stored a part of his essence within the machine, which upon the activation of the failsafe infused itself into 45b. The problem, however, was that the massive environmental destruction caused by the battle affected the machine, thus also damaging 45b’s body as well as making it so that the machine did not fully activate and release 45b from stasis. To add to this, The Seventh’s original manifestation was still active and not completely destroyed, and thus his consciousness was not transferred into the form of 45b. With 45b no longer being an avenue to gain a new vessel, The Seventh forgot him, especially after abandoning his pocket dimension and going into hiding elsewhere. Eventually, a disruption in the pocket dimension had inadvertently activated the incubator, finally releasing 45b. Given the damage to the machine from the Seventh’s battle, as well as prolonged environmental exposure, 45b exited his stasis as an oozing mass of sludge and gunk. He struggled to keep his form intact, and he was barely able to mobilize himself on his heavily deformed limbs. As the pocket dimension was completely desolate and abandoned, with Hyperman and Prismus having already departed, 45b was completely lost and aimless. He was left with no prior context as to who he was, why he was here and what his purpose in life truly was. However, he still held faint memories that didn’t belong to him, those of The Seventh. Because of that, 45b at first believed himself to have truly been The Seventh, or what memories of The Seventh could be remembered. However, after searching the pocket dimension, 45b uncovered The Seventh’s laboratory. Examination of the left-behind research and equipment revealed to 45b who he was. He was not in fact The Seventh, but rather a failed experiment intended to replicate him if The Seventh's original form needed a replacement. 45b’s life was turned upside down already, and he had only been born mere hours ago. He could not remember any of his own memories before waking up, so he was clearly not The Seventh. Therefore, 45b technically was a mistake, who wasn't even supposed to exist . And judging by the pocket dimension’s derelict state, his "father" obviously didn't know of or care for him.

45b's next goal was to find a way to reconstitute his body into a more stable form. He discovered a spool of thread attached to a contraption, vaguely resembling a sewing machine, left behind by The Seventh. 45b discovered through rereading the research records that this thread was yet another attempt by The Seventh to extend his lifespan. He had captured a multarach and extracted its silk, experimenting on it and modifying the substance. Through the experiments, the Seventh had optimized and repurposed the multarach silk into a new material, dubbed “Demon Thread”. However, it seemed that the demon thread was not effective enough for The Seventh’s methods, and thus he abandoned it as a potential method of extending his lifespan. To 45b, however, it was priceless. He spun and wove the demon thread into his very being, shaping his body into a more stable structure. Over time, as his physical body became increasingly deformed, he became more dependent on the demon thread. Eventually, the demon thread comprised a large part of 45b’s very being, so deeply interwoven into his essence in hypercomplex knots that it was impossible to remove them without destabilizing, even killing him. Compensatively, he went on to achieve a skillful manipulation of demon thread to deadly and devastating capabilities, turning what was originally a necessity for living into a tool that made him feared. 45b largely lived a nomadic and quiet lifestyle in this time, until he heard of a certain being called "Hyperman" by many. 45b believed himself to have discovered The Seventh’s "golden boy", the one who came out "right". 45b begrudgingly watched from a distance as Hyperman seemed to perfectly achieve everything The Seventh intended for his plans. 45b wondered why that couldn’t be him. He felt that he was just as entitled to everything that Hyperman had. Because of this, he grew to deeply resent The Seventh, and to an even greater extent Hyperman. It was to 45b's pleasure when The Seventh finally died, which gave him the satisfaction of knowing his father never achieved his plans. With the Seventh dead, an open spot presented itself for 45b to reside within his life, finally giving him a true sense of self-identity. Still, however, there remained one loose end: Hyperman. 45b had an even greater bone to pick with Hyperman than he did The Seventh. If there was anyone more likely to replace The Seventh than 45b, even indirectly, it was Hyperman. He was the one threat to his goals, and 45b would not let it stand. He found that this would be the perfect opportunity to prove himself, and come into his own. He named himself Ultraman, and forevermore dedicated his existence to overthrowing Hyperman, and taking his place as the supposed heir of The Seventh.

The Hunt For Hyperman

Ultraman eventually tracked down Hyperman. However, he did not immediately strike. Instead, he stalked his target, learning everything he could about Hyperman and his weaknesses. When he felt that the time was right, Ultraman finally revealed himself to Hyperman. He did so by destroying a monster that Hyperman had been assigned to kill by the Hexagon Lords, as part of his training. Ultraman politely introduced himself to Hyperman, and then attempted to kill him. A brief duel ensued, and Ultraman had almost managed to kill Hyperman by tearing him apart from multiple directions with demon thread. However, before he was able to, The Hexagon Lords appeared. They teleported Hyperman away from harm, back into The Folded Cascade. Ultraman was angered by this setback, however he realized that it was only just that – a setback. He then also realized that the Hexagon Lords, who had so rudely interrupted him, were responsible for this setback. Ultraman then knew what he had to do next. Later, upon returning to The Folded Cascade from another mission, Hyperman found himself ambushed by the Hexagon Lords, who violently and aggressively attacked him out of nowhere. Hyperman was incredibly confused and bewildered as he fended off the rogue Hexagon Lords, and his confusion only deepened when many of the Lords were shouting to Hyperman that what they were doing wasn't voluntary, that they weren't in control of their forms. After Hyperman blasted an energy beam, it highlighted the outline of an odd cord-like object near one of the Hexagon Lords in its trajectory. Intrigued, Hyperman sent out a wave of non-harmful energy around him, which revealed many of these cords attached to the forms of all the Hexagon Lords. Hyperman traced the cords, following them until he saw the source behind it: Ultraman. Ultraman's hands maneuvered themselves in complicated and impossible positions, as he pulled on the strings to control the Hexagon Lords as if they were puppets, laughing maniacally all the while. Hyperman was infuriated to see his friends being helplessly exploited by Ultraman, and so he lashed out at him, severing all the strings in one swift motion with his folded stringshard blade. The Hexagon Lords, with their will once again returned, wanted to join in the fray and fight against Ultraman too, but they found themselves too weakened from the possession to do so. What nobody failed to anticipate nor notice in the midst of their fight, was that the demon thread which had been severed from the Hexagon Lords and lost from Ultraman was now loosely drifting throughout archversal space. It found its way into the ownership of many beings in many -verses, many of which utilizing it to deviant ends. It rapidly spread like a plague, and an omniscient being would have been able to observe countless archverses rapidly becoming entangled in a vast interconnected array of the demon thread. Hyperman and Ultraman's fight progressed throughout the Omniverse. They climbed up the Archverse chain together, riding on the power and momentum from destroyed -verses which they channeled into devastating attacks against each-other. With each level they rose through the infinite chain, the more devastating each being's attacks were. They lost focus of all other things in the environment around them, only immersed within their battle with no regard for collateral damage. Finally, at the climax of the fight, a large divine light ruptured above the two. Ultraman and Hyperman looked at the light, and immediately knew that they were in the presence of a god. Not a god in the way The Seventh had been, but a True God. The light, who called “himself” Creator, stated that the battle between the two brothers had caused far more trouble in The Omniverse than it should have, and that the massive instability caused by the spread of Demon Thread warranted his intervention. It was Creator's decision, therefore, to resolve the dilemma by removing all instances of Demon Thread from the Omniverse. And so, Creator willed all Demon Thread within the Omniverse to be gone.