Vilgax defeat

Mordred drew Excalibur one more time. She put both hands on the hilt. And so did Tatsumaki. Knuckles put both hands on Mordred's shoulders, and the circuits of Excalibur's mana, the skeleton of its power source, lit up like Christmas lights.

It was something Vilgax couldn't have accounted for. It went against all knowledge of their character, intelligence, and battle strategy. Performing an action like this would have required them to be mad, a truly suicidal gambit.

All three of them were going to pour their energy into Excalibur, all at once.

It went without saying this was a risky maneuver. Forcing that much energy into Excalibur was more than even the great fairy vessel could take. It would erupt in one single, resplendent outburst of supercharged magical energy, and then no more. That was the whole tradeoff, creating an even more powerful version of the Noble Phantasm by overclocking its magic circuits.

In other words, Mordred would shatter Excalibur. The last remnant of her father's legacy in this world would be destroyed.

Was that something she was willing to do? Did Mordred even know the answer to that question?

Hell, she was absolutely going to do it. Not in the footsteps of King Arthur, but a hero forging an entirely new myth and carving her own path.

Plus, someone really needed to put Vilgax in his place. Might as well be her.

Even now, even despite his condition, the battle was on Vilgax's side. He was still simply stronger. He had the unlimited adaptability of the Omnitrix. If he ran now, he would heal, and he would develop a greater immunity to what had injured him before. He would grow one step closer to immortality as soon as he escaped the battlefield and the Noble Phantasm about to delete him from the universe. They had to charge up Excalibur. They couldn't move while they were doing it. And he only had to make one motion, to move his arm, and he could act again.

When he made that motion, the pain of a heart attack seized him.

Something was lodged into his aortic valve. Every time his heart tried to beat, it struggled achingly to grind past this painful foreign object piercing into the tissue. What was halting him? Why?! He pounded his fist into his own chest, trying in vain to force the blockage out of him to no avail. Get it out! Get it out! It was some kind of barb, a claw scratching at him from the inside-

The drill. It was the damn DRILL that Simon stabbed into him. His flesh must have regrown around it! The spiral energy burned into that keepsake had poisoned him, it still contained the embers of that brat's lingering will! He couldn't move! He couldn't move an inch!

All three of them together weren't doing much better with Excalibur. Mordred had never found it hard to lift before, but with the three of them overcharging it with so much magical energy, it developed its own unbearable density. It was almost impossible to hoist it overhead even with their combined efforts.

Tatsumaki knew that this wouldn't fix things with her sister, or put her life together back on Earth, although she wished it would.

Knuckles knew that fighting Vilgax wouldn't bring him happiness if he had nothing afterwards to strive for, although he was still looking.

But they'd still do it. They had to. Nothing would get better if they didn't. Nothing would get worse if they didn't. Everything would stay the same if they didn't, for eternity.

The clock had to start again.

Excalibur's blade scraped against the sky, reaching miles overhead, cutting through the clouds before it was even swung. Its fiery colors painted the horizon. Everyone on every side of the planet could see how night turned to day and the day burned even more fiercely than ever before.

Roger saw it, from the safety of the Big O's cockpit.

A trio of demons saw it, hoping the two brave idiots had made it out okay.

Denji saw it, and he waited patiently for Mordred's return that would never come.

Viral and Gura saw it, healing in the ruins of their hut, tending to their frogs.

Slayer saw it, as he tidied up in his volcanic home, gathering together the friends he had left for their next adventure.

Tsunade saw it, digging herself out of the sand in the ruins of an artificial tomb.

Broly saw it, wandering through Battleworld's cold and treacherous places alone.

Even Fubuki might have seen it. Wherever she was.

They were all there to see the moment the world moved forward.

Closest of all were Mordred, and Tatsumaki, and Knuckles. All three of them brought it down at the same time, although only Mordred spoke the words. They just came to her.

"EXCALIBUR LUMINA!"

That light crashed down in a wave that shook the stars, and Vilgax looked into it with his final gasp. He looked until his eyes burned blind in the glory.

I never had enough time to-

That was the last thought that ever passed through his mind. His brain and his body extinguished simultaneously, leaving no trace. There wasn't even a cell sample. Every bit of his being was annihilated, until the only vestige of Vilgax left was the Omnitrix itself.

- Round 5