The alien landscape shattered as Emperor Thragg seized the Grand Regent by the back of his head, his newly enhanced strength making his previous power seem insignificant by comparison.
The difference between them was no longer subtle - it was absolute. For finally, the true purpose of their battle could be addressed.
"Let me show you what true leadership means," Emperor Thragg stated, his voice carrying both authority and an underlying current of frustration.
Without further warning, he drove his counterpart's face through a mountain range, pulverizing solid rock into dust.
The trench he carved dragged on for miles, visible from orbit as a testament to his overwhelming power.
The Grand Regent attempted to resist, his own considerable strength meaningless against his enhanced counterpart.
Emperor Thragg lifted him from the devastation only to hurl him skyward with casual ease.
Before the Grand Regent could stabilize himself, the Emperor appeared above him, his speed making his previous movements seem as slow as a snail.
The downward strike that followed sent the Grand Regent plummeting into the planet's surface with such force that the impact reshaped the continent.
Mountains rose and fell as tectonic plates shifted under the tremendous force, creating a new valley with the Grand Regent at its center.
Emperor Thragg descended into the crater, his enhanced frame casting a long shadow over his fallen counterpart. "Submit," he commanded, "Accept guidance. Follow the path our father would have wanted for both of us."
The Grand Regent struggled to his feet, blood pouring from numerous wounds that would have killed any lesser being.
His uniform hung in tatters, yet his eyes burned with undiminished defiance. "Never," he spat, blood staining his mustache. "I am Thragg. I bow to no one - not even myself."
"Why do you persist in this foolishness?" Emperor Thragg demanded, crossing the distance between them in an instant.
His hand closed around the Grand Regent's throat, lifting him as easily as one might lift a child. "Why cling to methods that have failed? That would make our father ashamed?"
He began using the Grand Regent's body as a weapon against the landscape, each impact reshaping the terrain.
Mountains crumbled as he slammed his counterpart through them, valleys formed where he drove him into the ground.
The planet itself seemed to groan under the assault, yet the Grand Regent's defiance remained unbroken.
"Our father wanted elevation, not stagnation!" Emperor Thragg roared, his frustration building with each futile impact.
"Progress, not mere conquest! The Empire should evolve, not simply endure! Why can't you understand this simple truth?"
The Grand Regent's response was to spit blood in his face, a gesture of such profound disrespect that Emperor Thragg momentarily froze in shock.
Then his expression darkened, and true fury began to build in his eyes.
"You speak of father's path," the Grand Regent snarled through bloodied teeth, "but where did that path lead him? To death! Betrayed by those he sought to elevate!"
His words carried the weight of millennia of bitterness. "I watched him die because he was too focused on 'evolution' to see the daggers aimed at his back!"
Emperor Thragg's grip loosened slightly, understanding flickering in his eyes. "So that's it," he said softly. "You abandoned his vision not just out of pride, but fear. Fear that his way would lead to the same end."
"Fear?" The Grand Regent laughed, a harsh sound that carried no humor. "No, brother. Understanding. The strong survive. The weak plot. That is the only truth that matters. Your way - his way - will end as his did. In betrayal and death."
With a roar of frustration that shook the alien world, Emperor Thragg hurled his counterpart to the ground with devastating force.
The impact created a crater miles deep, the planet's crust fracturing from the sheer power behind the throw.
"Then you understand nothing!" Emperor Thragg declared, descending into the crater.
"Father died because the Empire wasn't ready for his vision. But now, with my power, with my understanding, we can make it ready. We can fulfill what he started!"
"You're a fool," the Grand Regent spat. "As he was a fool. And you'll die as he died."
"Very well," Emperor Thragg snarled, his patience finally exhausted. "If you only understand strength, then I will show you power beyond your comprehension."
Emperor Thragg's massive frame began to change as he accelerated his atoms to impossible speeds.
The air around him started to shimmer, then ignite, as his body generated heat even more than the sun's core.
His form transformed into living flame - a being of pure white fire that still maintained his distinctive shape, his mustache and features visible in the inferno.
The planet's surface began to disintegrate instantly. Rock melted to magma, then vaporized into nothingness.
The atmosphere itself started to burn away as Emperor Thragg's mere presence rewrote the laws of physics in his immediate vicinity.
The devastation spread outward in waves, the planet dying by degrees around them.
The Grand Regent's uniform burned to ash in seconds, his Viltrumite flesh beginning to char and blister despite their race's legendary durability.
Yet he stood his ground, watching his own skin begin to melt from his bones with an expression of grim fascination.
"This is your final chance," Emperor Thragg's voice boomed through the inferno, carrying both power and regret.
"Submit to my guidance, or be destroyed. Choose now. Let me show you that father's way can work - with the proper strength to enforce it."
For a moment they stood there in silence, as everything was obliterated around them, the star of this solar system even being subtly pulled towards the Emperor because of the gravitational field he now generated.
Though after the moment passed, to his shock, the Grand Regent didn't retreat.
Instead, he stumbled forward through the devastating heat, throwing himself against Emperor Thragg's burning form in a final, defiant embrace.
His flesh sizzled on contact, yet he held tight, refusing to let go even as his body began to dissolve.
"There can be only one ruler of Viltrum," the Grand Regent stated, his flesh melting from his bones, yet his voice remained unwavering.
"I accept my defeat, but not your way. I die as I lived - unbowed, unbroken. Perhaps father's way was right, perhaps yours is. But I'll never know, will I?"
Emperor Thragg's eyes widened in shock, immediately trying to decelerate his atoms, to stop the heat that was destroying his counterpart.
But it was too late - the process had gone too far, the Grand Regent's body was already breaking down at the molecular level.
"Know this, brother," the Grand Regent continued as his body burned away, his skeleton beginning to glow white-hot.
"I will be watching from whatever hell awaits me.
Perhaps we'll meet again, and I'll see if father's vision - your vision - truly was right.
But I'll never submit - not even in death. The weak die, the strong survive. That's the only truth I've ever known."
"You fool," Emperor Thragg growled, his voice carrying both fury and respect as he watched his counterpart choose obliteration over surrender.
"Your pride condemns you. Your fear blinds you to the possibility of something greater."
"My pride... defines me," the Grand Regent managed, his skull beginning to melt. "As it... defines... us. Remember that... brother... when those you elevate... turn on you... as they did... father..."
Those were his final words as his body disintegrated completely, leaving only a partially melted skeleton that glowed with residual heat.
The bones themselves began to liquefy under the continued onslaught of Emperor Thragg's power.
Emperor Thragg returned to his normal form, naked but unharmed, as he caught his counterpart's skull before it could completely liquefy.
He stood there in the devastation, holding all that remained of his other self, his expression a complex mixture of anger, respect, and something almost like grief.
Around him, the planet continued to die. His brief display of power had destabilized its core, and now the surface was breaking apart.
Magma burst through massive fissures in the ground as the atmosphere burned away into space.
Soon, nothing would remain but scattered debris - a cosmic grave marker for the Grand Regent's final act of defiance.
"Rest well, brother," Emperor Thragg murmured to the skull, a rare note of genuine respect in his voice.
"You died as you lived - unbowed. Perhaps that, at least, would have made our father proud."
His grip tightened slightly on the skull. "But you were wrong about one thing - I will not fall as father did. I have the power to enforce his vision, to make it reality."
The planet's death throes accelerated, great chunks of its mass beginning to tear away into space.
Emperor Thragg launched himself skyward, the Grand Regent's skull held securely in his grip.
He accelerated to speeds that made light seem sluggish, leaving behind the dying world as testament to their final confrontation.
The universe had room for only one Thragg, and he had proven himself the stronger. Not just in body, but in vision.
Now it was time to show all realities what true elevation meant - even if he had to burn away the old to make room for the new.
But his counterpart's final words echoed in his mind as he flew through the void: "Remember that... brother... when those you elevate... turn on you... as they did... father..."
-------------------------
(Author note: So, the fight ended with the Grand Regent's demise. I don't think that was really a surprise.
Also, yeah, I know this was pretty short, chapter, but I couldn't logically see it become any longer. Both Thragg's are to the point people, they don't dance around words, because of them being focused on efficiency.
So yeah, do tell me how you found it and do tell me what you think of the Grand Regent's final words.
Is it paranoia or is such a thing really possible despite the Emperor giving the worlds in the future a far better life?
Well, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)