"BLLLLAAAAAM!" A massive barrage of flames collided with ash, rock and rubble, as Swampfire hurled a set of long range fire balls at Van Kleiss. 

Van Kleiss hurled a punch with his metallic arm and his body smoking as he barely slashed through the flaming attacks. 

"Now now.." Van Kleiss muttered. "We haven't even started talking yet and you're already-."

"No need to talk.."  

Van Kleiss's eyes widened as right behind him, Hanzo appeared, his sword sliding out of its sheath. "You pretty much announced your intentions here. And given that you're not supposed to be in this time.. that makes this all the more necessary."

Hanzo hurled out a flurry of slashes that would've cleaved a building to pieces, but his blade was deflected multiple times in a flurry of sparks by a massive long katana wielded at insane speeds.

The man holding the katana was tall and slim, with long white hair, a black coat with armored pauldrons on the shoulders, like some sort of military uniform similar to Shi-Jian. He frowned, his yellow eyes eying the scene intelligently, one massive white feathered wing stretching out from his back... "While I admit we are working together.. I would advise you to realize that this man doesn't speak for all of us."

The man glared at Van Kleiss, who held up both hands in surrender, chuckling. 

"Apologies, perhaps I was caught up in the moment." said Van Kleiss. 

"The inability to practice patience on the battlefield, to sit back and learn from one's enemy only results in failure." said another figure behind The One Winged Angel. "Your blatant assault just now, Heroes of this Time Period, is a sign of your pure childishness"

Ophelia glared at the new speaker, her massive bat wings spreading from her back in a manner that suggested she was eager to dig her claws into the newcomers. "And yet, that statement is a failure to acknowledge that sometimes she who strikes first is also she who lives."

The figure stepped forward, revealing himself.  He was a massive man, with bulging muscles and purple skin, Hairless, his head bald. And strange scar-like lines going down his chin..  He wore battle armor of gold and silver over a dark suit..  

He smirked as he stepped forward past the now cautious heroes till he stood right in front of Erice, her head only coming up to just underneath his chest. 

"Now now child, what ailments have befallen you?" The large purple man asked. 

"Nothing that couldn't be cured by draining all the blood from your sad purple body.." whispered Ophelia. "Don't talk down to me big lug, I've at least lived 400 more lifetimes than you."

"Wait.. WAAAAIT.. I've seen him somewhere.. in a movie.." Swampfire muttered. "WAIT.. Th-THAT's..?!"

"Oh?" The large alien man looked at Swampfire. "Do you know me? I must admit, there was somewhat of a shock when I found out that in this world, media portrays me as-."

"It's MUTANT GRIMACE!" Swampfire stammered. "From that weird fan fiction I found online!"

"Ewwwww THAT one!?" exclaimed Shi-Jian. "Right, where they gave Grimace those super stronk muscles and made him have sex with the Burger King!! EWWWW EWWWWW I can't believe he actually exists out there!!"

"Well it is a big multiverse." said Erice with a sweat drop going down her forehead.

"Yeah, bound to be something weird out there." said Hanzo. "Who knows? Maybe the Marvel Cinematic Universe also exists out there somewhere.."

The Mad Titan sighed, looking down at Ophelia. "They're idiots aren't they?"

"Yes, but they're my idiots, step off, all three of you." said Ophelia, her eyes glowing dangerously. "Our business doesn't concern you."

"Perhaps." said the One Winged Angel with a serene glare filled with blood thirst behind its calm exterior. "But there is merit in trying every avenue when dealing with a crisis. The fact is, by bringing us to this time period to a point where all of us who are normally opponents could in fact work together for a greater chance at leaving the Radiant War behind for our own worlds, Maltruant has wisely gathered some soldiers who will inevitably work for the same goal, whatever our disagreements."

"Indeed." said Van Kleiss. "Rather this is a special occasion on all fronts. Maltruant wants time to make sure you don't interfere, ticked with all those fakes you keep sending his way. While we just want a way home so we can return to our respective.. business ventures. I'm afraid all of you are just in the way. Plus I here one of you in particular has met a good friend of mine. Mr. Tennyson, does the name Rex Salazar ring a bell?"

"Not at the moment, but it sounds familiar." said Swampfire.

"I see, the memories of your previous life are still steadily seeping in." said Van Kleiss. "I've gone through the same thing myself. But you needn't worry Ben, I have a rather fabulous proposition to this regard."

"You should listen." said the Mad Titan. "This proposition is the only reason we let you live for the moment."

"And that is?" Swampfire asked. 

"Join us, crush those allies who surround you in favor of the stronger team." said Van Kleiss. "While we all have differing goals, by defeating the other 6 with us, you ensure yourself the winner of the Radiant War, and through this, I can also provide you with more details about Rex, and your past."

Swampfire paused for a moment, then began to chuckle. "Oh man.. I bet that whole join me line worked wonders on whoever was in your world. Didn't it? Or did it usually fail? Honestly  where did you go to Super Villain School? The mid 2000s Academy For Stereotypical Madmen Who Know the Hero's Past?"

Van Kleiss's smile slowly disappeared. "I see.. so I take it that you're going to refuse our generous offer? How interesting, I wasn't under the impression that any Radiant War Contestants ever stuck with alliances for long due to their- lack of benefit to victory."

"We're not here to win!" Swampfire declared. "We're here to kick Shub Niggurath's ass, and by the way, you're not the stronger allies, they are!"

"Well they're arrogant.." said the Mad Titan. "Fascinating."

"And proclaiming to fight a spawn of Azathoth and Yog Sothoth." said the One Winged Angel.  "Their arrogance doesn't just border on dangerous, it is stupidity incarnate. They aren't just children, they're infants. And I don't have time for infants."

"Now now Sephi-" Van Kleiss began

https://youtu.be/hlbEKXc8jJQ

But the One Winged Angel was already snapping his fingers.

"Above..?" Hanzo's eyes flitted upwards as the clouds started to apart to a tremendous blaze..  a colossal meteor rupturing through the atmosphere at deadly speed. 

"Tsk, he's the impatient one this time around." said the Mad Titan. 

"WHAT THE HECK!!" Swampfire roared as Mika le out a squeal and fell over at the sigh of the approaching meteor.

"A dark corner, a dark stage, here is where the gods practice their foolish ritual." Hanzo chanted as his eyes blazed furiously. "And here is where the ultimate cut is born. The slash that carves through Karma itself-"

" My epithet is the One Winged Angel.." said the man as the meteor's orange light further approached the earth. "I do not give my name to inferior fools.. I will wipe you out here and now, and then I shall attend to unfinished business with that boy-.."

"-The Slash of Infinity is here.. AMATERASU'S CLEAVE!!" Hanzo slashed his sword out to the sky, and a silvery sheen shone for just a brief moment before the entire meteor was suddenly slashed in half.. and then into multiple pieces.

"BOSS!!!!!!!" roared Hanzo

"ULTIMATE SWAMPFIRE!!!" Ultimate Swampfire emerged, hurling out a giant blue flame at the scattered meteor pieces, blasting them into cinders in an instant. 

The Angel glared at Hanzo and then his mouth gave way to a smirk. "Interesting. That swordsman is mine."

"SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNN!" The sound of multiple claws raking across the earth resounded over the din as suddenly Ophelia hurled forth at inhuman speeds, her hand shape shifted into a massive set of shadowy talons, sparks flinging out with the rubble as the tips of the claws grinded with the very pavement outside. 

The Mad Titan's eyes flashed as he clenched his muscles and grabbed something on his back. A large double bladed  sword, shaped like a propeller blade spun into view in the alien's grasp as he hurled a powerful slash down at Ophelia as she moved towards the Angel.

"KAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!" A shockwave exploded out as Ultimate Swampfire's fist, blazing with a tremendous blue inferno, slammed into the Titan's jaw, sending him flying backwards. 

The Mad Titan gritted his teeth as blood gushed out from the side of his jaw. "Well that's more than a drop that's for sure.

Ultimate Swampfire slammed both hands into the earth, and a giant tidalwave of huge petrified branches erupted out of the ground towards the large purple being. 

The alien warlord launched himself a massive distance into the sky, avoiding the branches as they raged forward and he hurled his double ended blade down at Ultimate Swampfire.

Ultimate Swampfire hurled a massive wave of blue flames at the being, but the Titan cleaved his blade through the blue fire with a large warcry.

Ultimate Swampfire side stepped aside as the Titan's blade cleaved the street and the Evolved alien hurled a kick into the behemoth's chest, causing him to skid back just as a blur appeared behind him and Shi-Jian appeared, pointing his gun. 

"Cheap shots fired!" said Shi-Jian with a grin, firing his gun. 

The Titan narrowed his eyes and stepped aside as the bullet suddenly appeared in mid air where his heart had been a few moments earlier. 

"That is a unique ability to pass your bullets through an alternate timeline to pierce any armor and circumvent any defense, but it still means nothing if you know how to avoid being hit by normal bullets to begin with." said the Titan as he hurled a massive fist down at Shi-Jian, using his gargantuan strength to hold up Shi-Jian by the throat.

"You.. agh.. nng... ag.." Shi-Jian gasped.

"What? Too close to death to have your final words heard?" asked the Titan. 

"You.. really.. should.. look.. at the bullet.." Shi-Jian managed to gasp.

The Mad Titan looked down at the bullet casing on the ground. The bullet itself let out a popping noise as suddenly a hologram appeared of a cute girl in a bikini, thrusting her chest forward. "Hi there big boy.. I'm a distraction!"

"Wh-!?" The Titan was sent flying as another giant flaming blue blast from Ultimate Swampfire sent him flying and Shi-Jian got to his feet laughing. 

"That's right sucker!  They NEVER see that one coming!" Shi-Jian said as he gave Ultimate Swampfire a high five. 

"Only you man, only you, and probably some famous anime ninja in some anime somewhere." said Ultimate Swampfire with a chuckle. 

Shi Jian grinned as he fired his gun into multiple points in the sky.

"What is he-?!" the Titan growled as he got to his feet. 

The bullets all shimmered and rippled as they appeared in the sky, and suddenly, multiple doppelgangers of the same bullet started appearing everywhere at once. 

The Titan stepped back as he was forced to whirl his blade around him to deflect bullets being fired from literally all around him, all of them letting out ripples that seemed to bend space and light itself as the blade barely held them back.

"Alter Timeline Manifestation Bullet." said Shi-Jian. "Not only do they have Temporal Rift exploding tips, but they can summon all possible versions of themselves from every timeline where I ever fired the gun from a different place. Normally it isn't possible to fire these in the Radiant War due to Shub Niggurath being present in every other timeline, and therefore leaving this timeline as the only one with a version of me and this gun..  but it appears by messing with time, Maltruant's accidentally changed a few things."

Shi Jian whistled as he fired his gun repeatedly at random points, and thousands of bullets all appeared firing from multiple directions, forcing the Titan to keep deflecting with his double blade. 

"YOU PIECE OF-!" The Titan's eyes flared with rage as he threw his massive blade at Shi-Jian, the weapon cleaving through all the bullets like butter. 

"SHEEEN!!" The double blade was cleaved into several pieces as Hanzo landed in front of Shi-Jian, his blade shining with lethal skill. "Heh, you alright Time Boy?"

"Whatever Samurai, go Johny Silverhand it up somewhere else." said Shi-Jian as Ultimate Swampfire stepped up next to him. "You and Ben have more important places to be don't you?"

"What are you-?" Ultimate Swampfire began. 

"Deca is out there.. she is the only one who knows where that guy is, the guy we need to defeat to end the loops, to finally defeat Maltruant." said Shi-Jian. "We'll buy time, all of us. But Deca's out there waiting for you to reach out. Take Mika.. I'll see how good Samurai here is at teamwork.."

"Tsk, like I'm fuckin' gonna take orders from you." said Hanzo. "As far as I'm concerned, the one givin' out the orders is Boss. So whaddya say Boss? Want us to take Gross Grimace here?"

"You know I'm not actually Gri-" The Titan began. 

"Yeah.. YEAH! Take him to the cleaners!" said Ultimate Swampfire. "I.. I trust you guys!! MIKA LETS GO!!"

"You aren't going anywhere!" Van Kleiss appeared in a flash behind Ultimate Swampfire, the needles on the tips of his glove extending as he made to inject the powerful alien.

Suddenly, a  massive fist made of water hurled straight into Van Kleiss, catching him off guard, sending him exploding through a building with earth shattering strength. 

Erice floated down next to Ultimate Swampfire as the alien stared, bemused. 

"U-Uh.. thanks.. I didn't see th-.."

"Don't bother thanking me now. You can do that by finding Deca and getting out alive!" said Erice.

"SHEEEN SHEEEN SHEEEN SHEEEEN SHEEEEN!!" There was a massive dust cloud and a flurry of silvery slashes as Ophelia erupted into the scene, leaping back with multiple bleeding scars on her beautiful body, a massive serpent's head hissing on her shoulder, and a huge dragon's flaming mouth on the other shoulder, both her hands morphed into shadow claws, 

She grinned, her eyes flashing red as her fangs extended with bloodthirst. "OHOHOHOHO!.. now THIS one is exciting.."

"O-Ophelia.." Ultimate Swampfire stammered. 

"I'm fine.." said Ophelia as her shoulders and arms morphed back to normal, her wounds regenerating in an instant. "Just a long time since I've met somebody with quite an intent to kill since the Vampire Hunters I once encountered. But no worries.."

"Sh-should I really be going yet!? We're a team, I gotta help-" Ultimate Swampfire began.

Ophelia and Erice both looked at each other and nodded.

Together they both moved in and kissed Ultimate Swampfire on either side of his blue blazing face. 

"Ah.. ahhh.." Ultimate Swampfire froze, stunned. 

"E-Erice-chan.. Ophelia-chan.." Mika squealed, her face going red. 

"Just go." said Ophelia with a smile. "You who once saw me fight for real, do you truly doubt my power my Darling Benjamin?"

"C'mon! Who do ya think we are!?" Erice growled. "I'll have you know, I held BACK on Shocksquatch back then!"

Ultimate Swampfire turned solemn and then nodded. "Mika!"

"R-right!" Mika said as a flash of green light exploded out, and Astrodactyl carried her into the sky in a burst of green cosmic power. 

"You take Van whatshisface.." said Ophelia as Erice levitated into the air once more. "I've got that Angel.."

"Why?" Erice asked. "I mean I know we kinda started going at them on our own but.. I am not a fan of EVOs, they're a headache where I'm from.. how that guy even manages to keep his nanite supply-."

"The man bores me." said Ophelia with a shrug. "That one with the sword however, his blood smells exquisite.. ufufufu.."

Ophelia smirked and licked her lips, her eyes glowing as the One Winged Angel emerged from the dust, approaching the vampire and magical girl at a leisurely stroll. "I want to play with him a little.." 

Erice sighed and began floating off in the direction of where she had sent Van Kleiss. "Alright then. Jeez, I forgot how creepy you can be."

"Have fun.." said Ophelia as she approached the Angel steadily, her arms slowly morphing into  curved blades made of shadows. 

"Your wounds, they've healed." said the Angel, smiling back at Ophelia with immense interest. "Well if I can say one good thing about the Radiant War, is that it was never a bore. Opponents from different Universes with different methodologies for acquiring the power to fight, it was a fascinating concept. Do you find it fascinating as well young one?"

"Young? Oh deary me, you're the child here I'm afraid One Winged Seraph. You are 10,000 years too early to be talking to me like that." said Ophelia. 

"Says the woman following a silly arrogant boy who wishes to fight gods." said the One Winged Angel. "It's quite certain that you just sent him to his death. If you truly think that he can save a sad little homunculus, then your judgement is truly clouded by idiocy. That homunculus is broken to not fulfill its primary function. My Backer never did something so pathetic, even up to the point where my opponents in the Radiant War killed it, it never complained. A meaningless drone shouldn't complain, and Ben Tennyson is risking his life for a mere tool."

Ophelia's smile slipped away and suddenly the earth began to tremble around her..  shadows exploding through the ground and hurling into the sky like a deadly nightmare.

The Angel stepped back, looking shocked. "This feeling of overwhelming bloodlust..?"

"Arrogant..? Foolish? Perhaps he is these things, but to suggest that it is for the reason you proposed?" whispered Ophelia, her fangs gritted as her eyes sent out such vicious daggers, that the Angel could even feel it in his very soul at the core of his being. "Don't you DARE insult him in front of me.. child..  At first I thought I might end this quick and test your skills, but now, I'll take it slow. I'll rend your flesh properly so you scream your apologies for the insults to his name."

"It seems you are obsessed." said the Angel. 

"Perhaps I am, but I was once just as broken as Deca. I walked through shadows and darkness like a horrid perpetual nightmare, convinced that none could truly love me and see what I was and truly still care enough to die for my sake." said Ophelia. "To suggest that he cannot save her the way you did is an insult to me in the deepest of ways."

The angel grinned as he held up his blade, and his coat billowed in the wind. "Ophelia Anderson, Maltruant has told me your name, now I shall tell you mine, be it so you may no who finally put an end to you.."

"Don't bother." said Ophelia coldly, a shadow crossing her face.  "I will ensure your end is nameless and without memory, while Ben Tennyson's name continues to endure... You poor One Winged Wretch.."