The Rise Of A Porter

"As you wish, master." Talos bowed and instructed everyone to back away immediately. Their job was done there.Â

Once all of them were gone, Arnold turned his attention towards the primordial once again. For the first time in his life, the primordial was afraid of a being that belonged to a universe other than his own.  For the first time in his life, he was being overwhelmed and manhandled so... easily.

"How..."

"Because this is my universe. Not the one... your lackeys... created." Shiva replied with a weak smile, "Everything I have done this time was a result of how powerless you made me seem. Now it\'s your turn to feel the same powerlessness against the man who is free from the shackles of creating the perfect universe."

Arnold did not care about the conversation these two war buddies were having. What he did care about was the fact he needed to get rid of the bastard in front of him. He curled up his fingers and threw a punch at the primordial.

The latter tried his best to block the strike but failed miserably as the tentacles in the way got obliterated effortlessly. However, after thoroughly punching the shit out of the primordial, Arnold let go of the creature.

"I-It makes no sense." The primordial mumbled, unable to grasp that he had been granted his freedom.

"Run."

"W-What?"Â

"Killing you like this is getting boring. For my last fight, I want it to be exciting. So... run."

The primordial gritted his teeth together. Never in his entire life, someone had humiliated him like this. Telling him to run away like a coward. However, the thing was... he knew he had to get away from there.Â

As long he as could get back to his universe, the primordial would definitely return stronger than before. If... only he could get back. He knew the human wouldn\'t let him go so easily, but the situation was desperate thus he needed to act before Arnold could.Â

The Primordial began crawling away, and to his surprise Arnold stood in his place, staring at his retreating form.Â

"I can\'t care about what that human is planning to do. I have to get out of here if I don\'t want to die a gruesome death... that\'s what you were thinking right?"Â

Arnold suddenly disappeared from where he had been standing and teleported in front of the primordial.Â

"I might actually let you live but only if you are willing to cooperate."

"Cooperation?"

"Why are you attacking us? Our universe has never done anything to you. For fuck\'s sake, we never even knew beings like you even exist, then why are you so dead set on destroying our universe?"

As soon as those words fell on the primordial\'s non-existent ears, he once again began laughing like a maniac. However, this time he wasn\'t laughing because he was so sure of his victory. But because he knew he wasn\'t going to live much longer and the human thought he would answer him.Â

"You think I\'ll believe you? We both know you are going to kill me regardless of what I say." He scoffed, "But I\'ll tell you this, your universe isn\'t the only universe we want to destroy. We want to destroy every single universe that exists alongside ours."

He continued, "There should only be one universe that\'s the way it would finally be called an \'uni\'-verse. However, we know the beings of the other universes would be tough to deal with in our current state. That\'s how my kind came up with the idea of assimilating every universe into ours to make sure our universe flourishes while the rest of them wither away."

Arnold nodded, bringing up his arms to finish the creature with a final blow.

"You are correct. You are stronger than us. All of you. But you know why you\'ll never win against us?" Arnold looked down upon the creature, "Because as long a single one of us lives on, the universe will live as well."

"Cut the crap and kill me already. I\'m not interested in your weak monologue of success blah blah blah..." The primordial smiled again, "You might have killed me, but I\'m not the strongest of among the 12 generals. When my brethren arrive here, no one would be able to save you or this pitiful universe-"

"No monologues, remember?" Arnold whispered slamming his fists down on the primordial, destroying him to bits.

It was done. The last battle was finally over...Â

Arnold had wondered how it would feel to win the fight against the Primordial. Now that he had done it, it felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He was finally free... no more dungeons, no more gods, nothing. The universe had returned to the state it should have always been.Â

As the glow surrounding his body faded away, the earth slowly turned back to as it had been before the war, peaceful and full of life.Â

"You did it." Shiva mumbled in his weak voice, "I had faith in you more than I had faith in myself."

"None of it would have been possible without you." Arnold smiled before bowing his head in front of him, "All of this only happened because of your sacrifice and nothing else."

Watching their master bow his head, Arnold\'s summons followed suit along with every single person present on the battlefield, it didn\'t matter whether they were human, god or a demon, all of them had nothing but respect for Shiva in their eyes.Â

"The fight is not over yet... more of them will come... you will need allies... by your side."Â

"I know. Your followers will guide us, while your wisdom would guide me."

Even in his final moments, Shiva had no consideration for himself and only wanted the best for the universe. Arnold knew what the task ahead of him was, but he did know whether he was up to it or not.Â

Shiva had taken the burden of the universe on hsi shoulders, and now it was Arnold\'s turn to do the same. Live a life dedicated to the universe and die protecting it.Â

"Then I shall... fulfil my promise..." Shiva smiled gesturing for Arnold to look behind him.

A portal was open behind all of them, blinding everyone but Arnold... someone seemed to be walking out of there.Â

"Brother?"Â

Tears flooded Arnold\'s eyes as he realised who it was. He got up and rushed to embrace Nicole.Â

"W-What\'s going on here?"

Nicole was surprised to see everything in front of her, but she was most surprised to see her brother cry. Someone who had been the strongest pillar in her life had turned into a crying mess. But he wasn\'t alone, Nina and everyone who had known her were crying as well.Â

"Could someone stop crying and tell me what\'s going on?" Nicole asked all of them, but no one replied as they were busy hugging her, "The last thing I remember was fighting alongside Johnny and now I\'m here and... you know what, I\'m not gonna ask shit from now on."

Arnold turned towards Shiva whose body had begun to fade out of existence.

"A life... for a life... is a law of the universe even I cannot escape." Shiva smiled for the last time, "If I\'m dying... I better make it amends... don\'t you think? Also... you don\'t need to join me... unlike the future you saw... Live a life that I couldn\'t and learn the virtue of forgiveness... that\'ll bring me peace."

"Thank you... for everything." Arnold thanked the god who changed his life one last time before he was gone forever.Â