The dimensional rift tore open above Chicago's skyline, a jagged wound in reality that pulsed with otherworldly energy.
Four figures emerged from the swirling vortex, hovering in the air as the portal sealed behind them with a thunderous crack that echoed across the city below.
Goku, still radiating with the rose-colored aura of his transformed state, held the three teenagers within his protective energy field as they oriented themselves to their new surroundings.
The wind whipped around them, cool and unfamiliar - the air of a different universe.
"We made it," Mark whispered, his eyes scanning the familiar skyline. The buildings, the streets, the distant lake - all exactly as he remembered them.
His gaze drifted toward the mountains in the distance, and his expression hardened. "There. That's where he killed me."
Lelouch followed Mark's line of sight, his analytical mind already processing the tactical situation. "Are you certain? It looks peaceful from here."
"I'm sure," Mark replied, his voice tight with emotion. "I could never forget that place."
Mikasa moved closer to Mark, her eyes never leaving the distant mountain range. "What's the plan? Do we approach together or observe first?"
Mark didn't immediately answer.
His attention was fixed on a small figure kneeling amidst the rubble on a distant mountainside - a figure in a white and red costume, hunched over something on the ground.
"That's him," Mark said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "That's Nolan. My father."
Goku narrowed his eyes, focusing his enhanced vision on the distant scene. "He appears to be... mourning."
"Mourning?" Mark's laugh was bitter and disbelieving. "The man who just beat me to death is mourning? I doubt that."
"Let's get closer," Lelouch suggested. "But maintain enough distance to assess the situation properly before engaging."
Goku nodded in agreement. "We'll approach cautiously. Mark, stay close to me. Your emotions are understandable, but we need to be strategic about this."
Mark clenched his fists, his aura flickering white around his body. "Fine. But I want to hear what he's saying. I want to know what excuse he has for what he did."
The four of them moved through the air toward the mountain, maintaining enough altitude to remain unnoticed by the figure below.
As they drew closer, Nolan's words became audible, carried to them on the mountain wind.
"I'm sorry, Mark. I'm so sorry," Nolan was saying, his voice breaking with each word as he cradled the bloodied body of his son. "I didn't mean to hit you so hard. I was just surprised - I couldn't control my strength."
Mark froze in mid-air, his eyes widening at the unexpected words.
"You weren't supposed to die," Nolan continued, unaware of the audience above him. "You were supposed to join me. We were supposed to be together."
His words tumbled out in hysterical bursts, punctuated by ragged sobs. "What am I going to tell your mother? How can I face Debbie now?"
Goku felt a sudden shift in the energy beside him. Mark's Ki was changing, becoming wild and turbulent - a reflection of the rage building within him.
"Mark," Goku warned, recognizing the dangerous emotional state. "Remember why we're here. Control your emotions."
But Mark wasn't listening. His eyes were fixed on his father, on the broken body in Nolan's arms - his own body, lifeless and shattered.
"He's lying," Mark whispered, his voice trembling with fury. "He's putting on a show. He beat me to death without hesitation. He told me I meant nothing to him."
Lelouch studied the scene with his Geass-enhanced perception. "His grief appears genuine, Mark. The physiological signs of-" He began, not in defense, but merely explaining a fact.
"I don't care!" Mark's shout cut through the air. "He killed me! He was going to kill Mom! He murdered the Guardians of the Globe!"
Without another word, Mark enveloped himself in a brilliant white aura and shot forward like a missile, leaving the others hovering in stunned silence.
"Mark, wait!" Mikasa called after him, but it was too late.
Nolan never saw the attack coming. One moment he was hunched over his son's corpse, the next a blinding force slammed into his face with the impact of a meteor.
The punch sent him hurtling downward, his body carving a deep trench into the mountainside before embedding into solid rock.
Before the dust could settle, Mark was already there, crashing down onto Nolan with both feet. The impact shattered the surrounding stone, creating a crater that expanded outward in jagged cracks.
"Get up!" Mark roared, reaching down to grab Nolan by his uniform. He yanked him upward so violently that the fabric tore. "Get up and face me, you monster!"
Nolan's eyes, still wet with tears, widened in shock as he stared at the face of the son he thought he'd killed. "M-Mark?" The name escaped his lips in a disbelieving whisper. "How... is this possible?"
Mark's grip tightened, his knuckles whitening as he pulled Nolan closer. "I overcame death itself," he snarled, his voice trembling with rage. "I traversed time and space to make you pay for what you did. To me. To the Guardians. To everyone!"
With savage force, Mark slammed his forehead into Nolan's face. The impact shattered Nolan's nose, sending a spray of blood across both their faces.
"That's for the Immortal," Mark growled.
He headbutted him again, harder.
"That's for War Woman."
Another brutal strike.
"For Darkwing. For Red Rush. For Green Ghost. For Aquarus. For Martian Man. For all the innocent people you killed."
Each word was punctuated with another devastating blow, until Nolan's face was a bloody ruin.
Mark released his grip on Nolan's uniform only to seize the back of his head, forcing his face down into the earth with crushing pressure.
"And this," Mark said, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper, "is for me."
Then, activating his flight, Mark dragged Nolan face-first through solid rock, carving a path of destruction across the mountain.
Dirt and stone tore at Nolan's skin, ripping it away in bloody strips as Mark accelerated, pushing him deeper into the earth.
"How does it feel?" Mark shouted as they plowed through the mountain. "How does it feel to be helpless? To be treated like nothing?"
With a roar of effort, Mark changed direction, launching them both skyward. When they cleared the atmosphere, Mark released Nolan, then shot past his tumbling form.
"You told me Earth wasn't my home," Mark said as he positioned himself above his father. "That humans were nothing to us. Well, guess what? I am human. More human than you'll ever be!"
With both hands clasped together in a sledgehammer strike, he smashed into Nolan's back, sending him plummeting back toward Earth.
"And humans fight back!" Mark screamed after him.
From their position high above the battle, Goku, Lelouch, and Mikasa watched the violent confrontation unfold.
"Should we intervene?" Lelouch asked,
Goku shook his head, "Not yet. Mark needs this. He needs to confront his father on his own terms."
"But what if he kills him?" Mikasa asked. "Is that what we came here for?"
Goku's eyes remained fixed on the distant figures. "Mark will make his own choice. Our role is to support him, whatever he decides."
Nolan crashed into the ocean with enough force to create a massive tidal wave that spread outward for miles.
The impact sent water shooting skyward in a column nearly a mile high before it collapsed back into the churning sea.
Before Nolan could recover, Mark dove into the waters after him, moving so fast that the ocean parted before him.
He found his father struggling to orient himself in the dark depths and drove both knees into Nolan's chest with crushing force.
The impact expelled what little air remained in Nolan's lungs, replacing it with seawater that flooded his respiratory system. Mark's hand closed around Nolan's throat, squeezing with merciless pressure.
"You don't need to breathe, right?" Mark snarled, bubbles escaping from his mouth as he spoke. "That's what you told me. That we're better than humans. So prove it!"
He squeezed harder, watching as Nolan's eyes bulged from the pressure. Then, with a sudden burst of strength, Mark hurled his father skyward, sending him rocketing through the water and into the air above.
As Nolan broke the surface, he coughed violently, expelling water from his lungs in desperate gasps. He tumbled through the air, disoriented and weakened, unable to stabilize his flight.
Before he could orient himself, Mark was upon him again, his face contorted with fury.
"FIGHT BACK!" Mark roared, delivering a devastating punch that sent Nolan flying northward. "FIGHT BACK, YOU COWARD!"
The impact when Nolan hit the ice of the North Pole created a shockwave that cracked the polar cap for miles in every direction.
Chunks of ancient ice the size of buildings were sent flying into the air, only to crash back down into the freezing waters.
Mark landed beside the crater, breathing heavily, his white aura flickering with the intensity of his emotions. Steam rose from his body as the intense heat of his Ki melted the ice beneath his feet.
"Get up," Mark demanded, his voice hoarse from shouting. "Get up and fight me, you pathetic excuse for a father!"
Slowly, Nolan rose from the shattered ice, his uniform torn to shreds, his face a bloody mess. But instead of anger or defiance, his expression held only joy - a broken, tearful smile that made Mark's rage burn even hotter.
"You're alive," Nolan whispered, tears streaming down his battered face. "My son is alive."
Mark's jaw clenched so hard that a muscle twitched in his cheek. "No thanks to you," he spat. "You beat me to death. Or have you conveniently forgotten that part?"
"I never wanted to kill you," Nolan said, taking a shaky step forward. "I lost control. When you said you'd always have me, I... I just reacted. I hit you too hard. I never meant to-"
"SHUT UP!" Mark screamed, the force of his voice creating a shockwave that pushed Nolan back.
"Don't you dare try to justify what you did! You murdered the Guardians in cold blood. You were going to subjugate the entire planet. You told me I was nothing to you!"
With a guttural cry of frustration, Mark lunged forward, seizing Nolan by what remained of his uniform and lifting him off his feet.
"Why won't you fight back?" Mark demanded, shaking him violently. "I came here for vengeance! To stop a monster! A father who killed his only son!" His voice cracked with emotion. "I didn't come for some remorseful killer!"
Nolan made no move to defend himself. "I won't fight you, Mark. Not again. Never again."
"COWARD!" Mark released one hand only to deliver a devastating uppercut that sent Nolan flying backward. "FIGHT ME!"
He pursued instantly, unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks that Nolan made no attempt to block or evade.
Each impact drove them further across the landscape, leaving craters and destruction in their wake.
"You were ready to kill me before!" Mark shouted between blows. "You said Earth wasn't worth saving! That humans were like pets to you!"
Nolan absorbed each hit without resistance, his body being flung around like a rag doll by the force of Mark's attacks.
"I was wrong," Nolan managed to say between blows. "I was so wrong, Mark."
"LIAR!" Mark grabbed Nolan by the throat and slammed him into the ground, creating yet another crater in the already devastated terrain. "You're only saying that because you lost! Because I came back stronger!"
Their violent journey across the planet had brought them full circle, back to the mountain where it had all begun - where Mark's original body still lay, broken and lifeless.
Nolan crashed into the ground beside the corpse, creating yet another crater in the already devastated terrain. As Mark landed nearby, Nolan pushed himself to his knees, blood dripping from his mouth and countless wounds.
"Look at what you did to me," Mark said, gesturing to his own dead body. "Look at it! That's your son! That's what you did!"
Nolan's gaze moved from the soul he could, to the corpse, and fresh tears welled in his eyes. "I know," he whispered. "And I'll never forgive myself for it."
"I don't want your remorse!" Mark shouted. "I want justice! I want you to pay for what you did!"
"Then do it," Nolan said, his voice raw and broken. "Kill me, Mark. I deserve it." He looked up at his son, his eyes filled with genuine remorse.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill you. I was just surprised when you refused to join me. I was going to knock you out, until..." He swallowed hard. "Until you told me you'd always have me. It made me lose control, put more force into the blow than I meant to."
He shook his head, tears mixing with the blood on his face. "But that's no excuse. I understand now. In the moments after I lost you - moments that felt like centuries to me - I realized that you and your mother were all I had. And after killing you, I had nothing."
Nolan spread his arms wide, offering himself. "So end it! I deserve it!"
Mark stood frozen, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails cut into his palms. His aura flared wildly, causing the entire continent to tremble beneath the pressure of his power.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Mark finally screamed, his voice echoing across the mountains. "I've thought so long about what I would say when I saw you again, what I would do to you - all thinking that you were some monster!"
He took a step forward, his body shaking with emotion. "Why did you do this? Why did you make me do this? WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST BE MY DAD?"
Mark's voice broke on the last word, the rage in his expression cracking to reveal the pain beneath. "I looked up to you my whole life! I wanted to be like you! And then you showed me what you really are - a killer who would murder his own son for not following orders!"
Tears streamed down Mark's face now, matching those on his father's. "Do you have any idea what that did to me? To Mom? She loved you!
I loved you! And you threw it all away for what? For some empire that doesn't even care about you?"
"You're right," Nolan admitted, his voice barely audible. "The Viltrumite Empire doesn't care about me. About any of us. We're just tools to them. Weapons to be aimed at the next conquest."
He looked up at Mark, his expression haunted. "I believed in it for so long that I couldn't see what was right in front of me. A son who loved me. A wife who gave me a real home."
"So why?" Mark demanded. "Why throw it all away?"
"Because I was a coward," Nolan said simply. "Too afraid to question what I'd been taught. Too afraid to admit that everything I believed might be wrong."
He gestured weakly at Mark's corpse. "It took losing you to make me see the truth."
Mark raised his fist, energy gathering around it in a blinding corona. Nolan closed his eyes, acceptance written across his battered features.
"Do it," Nolan whispered. "End it."
But the killing blow never came.
Mark's hand trembled, then slowly lowered. "No," he said, his voice barely audible. "I won't do it. I won't let Mom see me kill you. I won't make her witness her son become what her husband was."
Nolan's eyes snapped open, confusion replacing the acceptance. "What? What are you saying? If you won't kill me, then what will you do?" His voice rose, becoming almost frantic. "I deserve to die! Kill me!"
"No," Mark repeated, more firmly this time. "Death would be too easy for you. Too clean." He stepped back, his aura dimming as his rage gave way to exhaustion and grief.
"You have to live with what you've done. You have to face Mom and tell her what you did to me. You have to face the world and answer for the lives you've taken."
"I can't," Nolan said, his voice breaking. "I can't face Debbie after what I've done. She'll never forgive me. She shouldn't forgive me."
"That's not for you to decide," Mark replied. "It's her choice whether to forgive you or not. Just like it's my choice whether to kill you or not." He turned away. "And I choose not to be like you - blind to what truly matters."
Nolan stared at his son, disbelief written across his features. "After everything I did to you... you're showing me mercy?"
Mark looked back over his shoulder, his expression hard. "Don't mistake this for forgiveness. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for Mom, and for myself. I won't let you turn me into a killer."
"What happens now?" Nolan asked, his voice small and uncertain.
"Now I go find Mom," Mark said. "I tell her I'm alive. I help her pick up the pieces of the life you shattered." He paused, then added,
"What you do is up to you. But if you ever hurt her, or anyone else I care about, I'll find you. And next time, I won't be so merciful."
Without another word, Mark lifted into the air and flew back to where Goku, Mikasa, and Lelouch waited, their expressions a mixture of concern and relief.
"Mark," Mikasa said as he approached, her normally stoic demeanor softening with concern. "Are you injured?"
Mark shook his head, though his body bore the evidence of the intense battle - torn clothing, bruises forming on his skin, blood on his knuckles. "I'm fine. Physically, at least."
"You showed remarkable restraint," Lelouch observed, his analytical eyes taking in the distant figure of Nolan, still kneeling beside Mark's corpse. "Many would not have been able to stop themselves in your position."
"I almost didn't," Mark admitted, his voice hollow with emotional exhaustion. "I wanted to kill him. Part of me still does."
Goku placed a hand on Mark's shoulder, his touch gentle but grounding. "The hardest battles we fight are not against others, but against ourselves. The choice you made today - to show mercy when vengeance would have been easier - that was true strength.
I won't say vengeance would've been unjust for it wouldn't have been, but mercy is always the harder path."
Mark looked up at Goku, finding understanding in his guardian's eyes. "I just... I couldn't do it. Not like that. Not with so much anger. It would have made me just like him." He looked toward the city in the distance. "I just want to see my mom now. I need to tell her I'm alive."
"Then that's where we'll go," Goku said, his voice warm with approval. "Your mother deserves to know her son has returned to her."
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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter!
Do tell me how you found the fight scene - or Mark stomping Nolan scene, cause that is a more accurate description.
So to clarify, for those who haven't read my other Invincible fanfic, I have Viltrumites be far more knowing of the spiritual since demons, Hell and all that exist, so Nolan here was able to see Mark's soul, was able to recognize it was his son truly.
Well, I hope that clarified that. Also, like I said in earlier chapters, this Mark has studied the dictionary, and his speech pattern has been influenced from living with Zamasu for so many years.
Also, before I forget. Viltrumites can think at the speed of light, so for Nolan those minutes, were truly like centuries for him where he killed Mark.
Well, again I hope you all liked the chapter and I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)