The universe was shattering.
Every time Elias clashed with Darkseid, a star went out. They weren't fighting in a location anymore; they were fighting across the concept of distance. A punch thrown near Pluto landed its impact in the Andromeda Galaxy.
Elias, in his Omni-form, was a god. He wielded the reality-warping fire of Darkspine, the digital deletion of Cyber-Space, and the invincibility of Hyper.
He slashed Darkseid with the energy-Caliburn. It carved a deep gash into the New God's Source-infused armor.
He hit him with a Cyber-infused Spin Dash that deleted Darkseid's left arm.
But it didn't matter.
Darkseid simply... reloaded.
The Source Wall energy flowed into him. His arm grew back instantly, made of grey stone and red light. The gash healed.
"You are fighting Eternity," Darkseid boomed, catching Elias's energy blade and crushing it. "I am not a biological entity you can wear down. I am a fixed point in time. As long as there is Evil, I exist."
Darkseid backhanded Elias.
The blow hit with the force of a collapsing timeline.
Elias flew backward, crashing through three dimensions before stabilizing in the void. His Omni-form flickered. The white light dimmed. The digital glitches turned red.
"He's right," Elias wheezed, wiping blood from his mouth—actual blood this time. "He's infinite. My forms rely on energy. His form relies on a concept. I can't punch a concept to death."
He checked his System.
Energy Reserves: 15%.
Fusion Stability: Critical.
"I need something else," Elias thought frantically. "Something that doesn't just rewrite reality, but controls Fate itself."
He thought about the lore. He thought about every comic he had ever read in his old life.
"The Game canon isn't enough. Darkseid is too big for the games."
He remembered the comics. The Archie comics. The continuity where Sonic wasn't just a hero; he was the embodiment of Chaos itself. The version of Sonic who could rewrite the multiverse with a thought. The version who moved so fast that time became irrelevant.
"System!" Elias screamed internally. "Access the Archie Archives!"
Searching Database...
Accessing: Pre-Genesis Wave Continuity.
Accessing: Chaos Knuckles DNA.
Accessing: The Billionth Ring.
WARNING: ARCHIE PROTOCOLS ARE UNSTABLE.
RISK OF TOTAL EXISTENCE FAILURE.
RISK OF RETCON.
"I don't care about a retcon!" Elias shouted as Darkseid charged a blast of Omega energy the size of a nebula. "Give me the Ultra form!"
Requirements: 1 Billion Rings (Virtual Equivalent).
Or: 1 Super Emerald of Pure Chaos.
Elias didn't have a billion rings. But he had the "Infinite Source" passive. He was the battery.
"Convert everything," Elias commanded. "Take the Hyper energy. Take the Dark energy. Convert it all into pure Chaos Potential."
Converting...
Darkseid fired. The Omega Nebula enveloped Elias.
"Goodbye, glitch," Darkseid muttered.
But inside the red cloud, something changed.
The white light of the Omni-form turned... Green. Not the soft green of the Emeralds. A deep, vibrant, cosmic Green.
The Omega energy didn't kill him. It swirled around him, sucked into a vortex.
A figure emerged.
Elias looked different. His quills were longer, wilder. Two glowing circles of pure magic appeared on his palms. His eyes were black with glowing green irises. He wasn't wearing shoes anymore; his feet were wrapped in energy.
Ultra Sonic.
He didn't float; he stood on the fabric of the narrative itself.
"You talk about Fate," Elias said. His voice was calm. It sounded like the turning of a page. "You talk about being inevitable."
He raised a hand.
"I change atoms into water. I change stars into snow."
He snapped his fingers.
The Omega Nebula surrounding them turned into flowers. Billions of red roses floating in space.
Darkseid paused. For the first time, the God of Evil looked confused.
"Magic?" Darkseid hissed.
"No," Elias smiled. "Chaos. Pure, unfiltered, comic-book-logic Chaos."
He moved.
He didn't use speed. He used plot convenience. He appeared instantly behind Darkseid.
"I can manipulate the fundamental structure of matter," Elias whispered.
He touched Darkseid's armor.
The Source-infused metal turned into bubbles.
Darkseid roared, swinging a fist.
Elias didn't dodge. He turned his own body into a portal. Darkseid's fist went through Elias's chest and came out five miles away, hitting himself in the face.
"Stop mocking me!" Darkseid screamed. The Source Wall runes flared. He began to grow, becoming the giant cosmic face Elias had seen in the Abyss. He tried to override Elias's reality with his own.
"I am the Tiger-Force!" Darkseid chanted.
Elias grew too. Ultra Sonic expanded, matching Darkseid size for size until two giants stood astride the Milky Way.
"And I," Elias said, gathering a sphere of green energy that crackled with the power of a thousand rewrites, "am the guy who runs fast."
He didn't throw a punch. He threw a narrative change.
He grabbed the concept of Darkseid's invulnerability.
And he turned it off.
"System," Elias commanded. "Solaris Mode."
In the Archie comics, Ultra Sonic adapted to his environment. In space, he became Solar Sonic.
His green fur turned into blazing white plasma. He became a living sun, but sentient.
He tackled the giant Darkseid.
"Let's see if you can survive the Big Bang," Elias shouted.
He grabbed Darkseid in a bear hug. He pulled all the Chaos energy, all the Ultra magic, into a single point between them.
"Chaos... CONTROL!"
But he didn't teleport. He detonated.
A white light consumed the universe. It washed over the Justice League on Earth. It washed over Apokolips. It washed over the Source Wall.
For a single moment, everything was white.
And then... silence.