"Stop! You *cough cough* don't need to do this."
"Why wouldn't I do this?" I ask as I strut towards the downed antichrist. It was a bit annoying trying to beat him on his home turf, but it's nothing I can't manage now.
"We've finished clearing out the castle ma'am." A Netherborn Commander informs me.
"Fortress is secure, member!" A member berry on the guy's soldier cheers as he hops and flips around.
I give a slight smile towards the berry's antics before turning around to finish the job.
"And with this, I now control four dimensions as well as life and death. Seriously, how could you not take over Heaven before I came along? They barely had a hundredth of the forces you have down here!
Well, I guess it doesn't really matter, now does it? I'll be sure to remember you, Satan. I'll remember you as just another failure. " I fire a Prominence Burn at the antichrist, wiping both his body and soul from the face of the Ear- oh, right. This isn't Earth, now is it? My bad. Point is, he's gone for good.
"I'll leave you guys to finish the indoctrination process down here. Humans, spirits, demons, it doesn't matter to me. The more forces we have, the better. We still have Cthulhu to deal with after all."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I member!"
After making sure the order was passed on, I returned back to my castle on Earth. An empress is basically required to have one after all.
"Member when the White House was here?"
"Member Garrison?"
"Oh! Oh! Member Mr. Slave?"
"Oh, I loved Mr. Slave. He was fantastic!"
The member berries and superpowered security around the area are all chatting away but make sure to shut up and bow down as I pass by.
I make my way inside and head up to the main meeting hall where I can overlook the entire city surrounding my castle. Right out the window is my city, my country, my world. Everything I've built and everything I've accomplished since then...
"Take over Hell... check. Kill Satan... check." I mutter as I take a dry erase marker and check a few more boxes off the whiteboard I set up a while back. Most have been checked off already which provides me with plenty of satisfaction, but then again, it's not like it was ever a matter of if I would accomplish them, only when.
"Yous certainly been *cough* busy lately, my lady."
"Hey, Memberboss. Shouldn't you be in bed right now? Or a fridge? Whatever keeps you guys from spoiling, I mean."
"Nah, I'd rather take one last *cough cough* look around the place. Doesn't hurt to member it all, right Karen?"
"Yeah... yeah, I member."
I remember demolishing practically all my enemies in the Nahkriin war after they were kind enough to basically destroy each other for me.
I remember the changes that came to the United States with the excuse of preventing another calamity like this from ever happening again. People wanted safety and we gave them that in exchange for freedom.
I remember learning as the member berries started to extend their influence all over the world.
I remember not just learning how to be a powerful warrior, but also a good leader. I learned everything I needed to about politics from the best humans and member berries around as I grew older.
Turns out that South Parkers finally began to physically age like in the Post Covid specials a bit after the war finally ended. It lined up pretty well with Season 24 when those specials happened, or rather, when they were originally supposed to happen.
The future isn't a sad one where most of the main South Parkers are pathetic failures or general disappointments; the future is a bright one where not even the sky's the limit. I proved that when I completely took over Heaven a while back.
I remember becoming president of the United States at 18 which wasn't hard when I was basically groomed for the position, and in less then a year after that, all the strings made and plans formed by me and the member berries came together to grant me complete control over the entire world.
That soon extended to other worlds and even other dimensions like Heaven, Hell, Imaginationland, and R'lyeh although the last one is still a work in progress at the moment.
I remember becoming the ruler of the world. The empress of the world. Memberboss was pretty much just my advisor at that point as I took the reins and went full speed ahead. He didn't need to influence me to do anything beyond that slight push at the beginning. He never did, really.
I remember doing a better job at creating and maintaining peace than my brothers ever did. I remember becoming better than my brothers ever were at everything, even what they stood for.
I'm not the atrocious looking deadbeat I was in the Post Covid specials. I'm the beautiful, powerful, unrivaled empress of the entire world and so much more!
I remember it all.
I remember imagining it all.
I have a pretty crazy imagination, don't I?
"Like I said, it's quality vs quantity and unfortunately for all of them, we have more than enough of both. Their story is coming to a close, Karen. Ready to start a new one?" I smile after Memberboss extends the offer to me.
"Yeah, I'm ready to start a new story. One where me and my allies are the ones who come out on top and stay up on top. It's like a dream come true for me and I know I can accomplish that with your help."
Memberboss smiles as I tell him this.
"Though there is one important thing to note and it's the reason why I can't accept this. Even if doing this means losing out on my dream, I don't really mind, because at the end of the day...
I just love my big brothers too damn much."
[Eldritch Mass]
The ritual activates and Memberboss along with every other human and member berry in a mile-long radius around me falls over lifeless.
Their lifeforce then all gathers towards me and I scream as cracks in thin air begin to form.
Next thing I know, the Elder God Cthulhu smashes through the roof of the facility with me appearing on his shoulder.
I can see why Kenny and Dovah nearly pissed themselves in sheer terror back when they sensed his energy for the first time. It's completely overwhelming with even Nazi-Zombie ManBearPig being dwarfed in power by the Dark God.
(("That future could have been yours if you so desired it. Why give it up?")) A deep voice echoes in my mind and I answer who I'm assuming to be Cthulhu.
"Dovah and Kenny... they've taken care of me for so long. They raised me and protected me from the cruel, unforgiving world out there.
I want to be better than them, yeah. I want to surpass them one day and accomplish more than they ever could. But I also want them to be there when I do that. I want them to tell me how proud they are of me and ruffle my hair while recounting embarrassing stories of me as I cringe in embarrassment because that's what families do."
(("...I see. Very well then. I'll help you save your family from their enemies and themselves."))
"Thanks, Cthulhu." I say as I lay down and hug a bit of his massive shoulder.
"So who do you think we should save first? Kenny or Dovah?"
(("My followers are already in the process of taking over the member berries' operations. Their plan was a clever one, but they made a big mistake using my power to fuel their forces."))
As Cthulhu tells Karen this, multiple other weapon factories belonging to the member berries explode from the eldritch energy they tried to control and all the pseudo-netherborns scattered around the globe are encompassed by the very flames they tried to store and wield.
Various cults around the country then make their move at their god's orders with dozens of true Netherborns like what Kenny and Karen are and creatures they summoned from R'lyeh leading the charge against the member berries' other secret facilities.
It helps that DOTM already knew where they all were considering Timmy was behind the construction of them. It also helps that Timmy kept the Elder God up to date with his latest plans before he died.
Santa and what little is left of his forces are saved by them and healed before fighting alongside the cultists to avenge the many that have fallen already.
As for the secret facility where Kenny was being kept at, the storage tanks holding the drained energy burst from overflow and the Netherborn self-destructs, taking a huge chunk of the facility with him.
He then respawns a minute later after receiving a message from the Elder God. He now has green eyes, light green hair, and is completely pissed as all hell.
(("We shall head to your surrogate brother now. He has utilized the power of Imaginationland and exploited certain loopholes in that realm to wipe out the majority of his current enemies."))
"Yeah, that definitely sounds like something Dovah would do. He's been backed into a corner before and always finds a way to come out on top in the end." I tell the god as he begins to fly towards Dovah with me now being on his back.
'I can see why Cartman enjoyed riding Cthulhu so much during the superhero trilogy. This is so cool!'
(("Watching from that perspective certainly made some things... noticeable.")) The Elder God mutters in my brain.
"It's ok. I can't think of anybody who hasn't been manipulated by Eric Cartman at some point." I comfort him while patting his back and he seems to appreciate it.
With how fast Cthulhu is flying (he made sure to protect me from being blown away and other stuff that becomes a problem when going super fast), it isn't long before we arrive on the battlefield.
All I can see are gigantic craters and clouds of smoke covering almost everything. Just what did he do here? Did Dovah drop like a hundred nukes or something?
(("It wasn't quite a hundred."))
"..."
(("I believe it totalled at 46."))
"...Thanks."
'I hope Dovah at least got his army out of there. I know that they may be just annoying followers to him, but...'
(("From the look of it, very few, if any, managed to escape the blasts. Dovah likely took the other native South Parkers such as Cartman, Kyle, and Butters away before leaving both armies to their fate."))
"...I need to stop him." I know he's angry and lashing out. I know he's doing this to protect me and the other people he really cares about (that he has left), but this is going too far.
Another explosion catches our attention and Cthulhu flies in a bit further to see what looks like the remains of a giant... ginger robot?
(("So he's surpassed his limits yet again..."))
I then see Dovah crawling out of it with blood all over him that I'm willing to bet isn't his own.
"CTHULHU!!!" Dovah screams before rocketing towards us, blasting a wave of flames behind him to increase his already crazy levels of speed. Does he think the god is holding me hostage or something? This isn't the final boss fight in your war campaign, Dovah!
"WAIT, BIG BR-"
(("Don't bother, he isn't thinking clearly. I'll incapacitate him for you so you can go talk to him."))
"Ok, but be careful. Dovah as he is now can-"
(("Don't worry. He's become quite strong since he arrived here, but if beings such as Lucifer and I could always exert our full strength in this dimension, several of his past battles would have gone very differently.")) Cthulhu informs me as he stands upright and lifts his right arm up to his chest.
Dovah's left arm begins to sprout bone hands, mist, flames, and chains while meteors that begin to fall are pulled into the growing arm as well.
'It's the Ultimate he used during his first fight with ManBearPig!'
Dovah's purple pupils grow even brighter as he boosts his speed with what I'm pretty sure is his Nagasaki fart ability before purple flames and mist cover the massive amalgamation where his right arm used to be.
"MANBEARPIG NEARLY DIED TO THIS AND SO WILL YOU! ARM-AGEDDON!!!" Dovah roars as I brace for impact.
A single backhand is all it takes.
A backhand swing from Cthulhu shatters Dovah's strongest 'Ultimate' and sends him careening miles away, breaking the sound barrier several times over before slamming into a crater with the shockwave from the blow extending even further.
I didn't notice it at the time, but Cartman, Kyle, and Butters were present as well and the looks on their faces were of indescribable shock and terror as they saw who they probably assumed to be invincible at that point get swatted away effortlessly.
(("So it wasn't time yet after all...")) Cthulhu comments as the trembling and shockwaves disperse and I look towards him in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
(("The first time Dovah came to my realm alongside Kenny McCormick and Timmy Burch, they stopped by my castle and asked me to send them back. Before Dovah left, I had a vision."))
(A/N: Chp 37 "Dealing with Dark Lords")
"A vision?"
(("The powers of an Elder God are vast, but not always controllable. Slight precognition is one of the rarer ones to appear and I have no control over when or how it happens. I've only ever gotten a few throughout my life."))
"So what did you see then?" I ask as the remaining dust starts to clear.
(("Back then, I foresaw my death at his hand."))
You're kidding me. Does Dovah eventually take this war to Cthulhu too? I know he was a threat during a few episodes of our show, but Cartman of all people was the one calling the shots back then.
This just confirms what I need to do. I have to stop Dovah before he takes this any farther.
"I'll convince him to stop. He is down, right?"
(("He is, and while the vision wasn't very clear for me, I do know that the location of it wasn't on Earth. It was most likely in my own realm. I also believe he was accompanied by several others, but it wasn't clear who they were. I just remember seeing a child with white hair at some point."))
'A kid with white hair? I don't remember seeing or hearing about anyone like that. Well whoever it was doesn't matter because I'll make sure that vision won't happen. If Dovah can change the future, then so can I!' I think to myself.
(("And that's why I didn't kill him after I saw it. The future can be changed, Dovah is proof of that. Not all prophecies are set in stone."))
"Well I'll be sure to change it again so he doesn't do that. I'm going to go talk him down before he does any more stupid stuff." I tell him before flying over to where Dovah landed and then gasp as I see the state he's in.
His left arm is straight up gone. Probably obliterated along with his Ultimate when he was backhanded by an arm the size of a small skyscraper. His other arm and legs are completely mangled, there's probably more of his blood on the outside of him than there is on the inside, and I would have just assumed he was dead if it wasn't for the quiet groans coming from him.
I immediately power-up into Grim Fate and start to heal him. At least Cthulhu kept his promise and made sure not to kill Dovah, albeit barely.
Holy crap... I just realized that Cthulhu was probably holding back during that one attack. Thank god or uhhh, him? Or Freeman? Thank Freeman he's on our side.
"Hey, big bro." I whisper as Dovah's wounds begin to close.
"K...Karen?" He mumbles.
"Yeah. Don't worry, Cthulhu is on our team. I got him to help us."
His left arm starts to slowly regrow as I comfort him.
"I know that you're mad. You feel like you failed despite having everything you could've ever needed to succeed."
He begins to tense up but I gently hold his remaining hand with both of mine.
"And that's okay. You don't and never will know everything Dovah, so stop convincing yourself that you should. The reason things aren't going like they did in the show is that you helped to make things better. You can't always predict what will happen next, so let us help you deal with it."
"I just wanted to prevent the bad guys from coming back... the show was far from finished when I left."
"You can't solve all those problems by preventively striking them. That usually only makes things worse in all those tv shows and movies we watched together, remember? And I know that those are all fantasy worlds, but wasn't this world a fantasy for you too before you came here? We don't know what will come in the future, but we can face it together, okay?" My eyes and hair glow light green as the rate of healing from Dire Shroud increases rapidly.
Dovah then stands back up at full health and looks at me with turmoil in his eyes.
"...What if we fail again?" It barely comes out as a whisper but I can hear it loud and clear.
"Then we'll find a way to win whether that's through a random plot point on the show that we exploit or something entirely new. Point is, we'll figure it out, big brother." I hug him and he hugs me back with tears beginning to stream down his face.
I know that sometimes, people put on a mask to protect themselves.
It isn't about being fake or dishonest, but about finding a way to survive in a cruel, unforgiving world. The same world Kenny tried protecting me from for so long.
He, Dovah, and Timmy would always do their best to convince me that things would be okay, that they would make sure I never had to fight myself, but there are some things that even they can't change.
As I held on to him tightly like he would always do with me, I could feel the weight of his frustration, the depth of his pain and sorrow, and the regret of not being able to change some things and changing other things that never should have been changed these last few weeks.
But I didn't need him to open up to me right away. For now, right at this moment, I was content with just being there for him like I should've been right after the funeral ended and offering him comfort and support in any way I possibly could.
"I'm so proud of you." He mumbles. That had to have changed the future, right?
I can feel the tension in his body begin to ease. That has to mean something, right?
It may be a small victory, but it really meant the world to me.
This is what my bond with my surrogate brother is all about. Same goes for the bond he and I have with Kenny and the three of us had with Timmy. It wasn't always having all the answers or fixing all the problems out there. Sometimes... sometimes, it was just about being there for each other and holding onto each other when the other person felt like they were falling apart.
"Thanks, Dovah. It was a bit tricky sneaking around the bad guy-infested South Park and going undercover for a while was a little scary, but I won in the end."
"...Huh?"
"I'll uhhh... I'll tell you later."
For now, this is enough.
The next few days went by in a flash with the member berry-controlled government becoming a cultist-controlled government after the successful coup d'etat that really didn't change much all things considered. The public never found out about it with the distraction provided by Nahkriin unintentionally helping out immensely.
The few military guys in South Park that weren't killed during Kenny's rampage when he broke free packed up and left and all the guys who were brainwashed by the sentient fruits (and weren't murdered) were freed from their influence thanks to the Cult of Cthulhu.
The town began to rebuild itself yet again (pretty sure we've reached triple digits by now), what was left of the various armies like Santa's and Nahkriin's went back to their homes, and Dovah was confronted by a very pissed off Kenny.
"So Dovah, care to explain why that while I was imprisoned and tortured while having my energy constantly siphoned away by the member berries to create an army of eldritch super soldiers, you were off running a terrorist campaign with Cartman that was plowing through entire countries and organizations, none of which being the ones who were CURRENTLY BETRAYING US?!?"
"...In my defense, I thought you would have had the situation handled. You're an immortal with a very short respawn time as a Nazi Zombie so I assumed you couldn't be-"
"KAREN MCCORMICK, OUR LITTLE SISTER, WAS FORCED INTO FIXING OUR FUCKUP AND SAVING OUR STUPID ASSES!!! WE'RE THE ONES WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTI-"
"That's ENOUGH, Kenny! You can't coddle me forever! I told you that I wanted to help you and Dovah and that hasn't changed one bit!"
"Karen..."
"She's got a point there, Ken. Isn't this what we were training her for? I'd say she's more than proved herself."
"..."
"I know you don't want me to grow up Kenny, but people change. We may not age physically, but mentally is a different story. You've been protecting me for so long... so please, let me have a chance to protect you."
"...My little sister is growing up." Kenny whimpers before hugging me and starting to cry.
'Yeah... I guess I am.'
As things finally begin to die down and the transition of governmental power from the fruits to the cults is completed (and the vamp kids are dealt with as per the goths' request), Cthulhu thinks back to what he saw after checking in with his cults he had help deal with the remaining member berries.
Most of it wasn't very clear, but one scene in particular...
"Nowhere to run." He hears himself say as he raises his fist which slams through the various shields Dovah set up before reaching him with multiple of them being abilities he's never seen the transmigrator use before. Dovah crashes through the castle ground he was standing on and is submerged in water as the Elder God's castle rapidly floods.
Cthulhu then pulls his fist out of the water with a drenched and clearly pissed off yet determined Dovah hanging onto it.
"You are resilient. Though sadly, STILL MORTAL!!!" The Elder God roars as he slams his fist against one of the castle walls and Dovah barely flips over to the top of Cthulhu's hand in time to avoid being crushed.
"That problem will be fixed soon enough..." Dovah ominously replies as he glares at the god.
From what Cthulhu saw, Dovah somehow makes good on that promise and he can only hope Karen's words managed to stop that future from ever happening as just like his power at that moment, the anger and darkness in him was larger than ever before.
Author's Notes:
The war is finally over, but the Nahkriin Arc isn't quite finished yet. There are still a few chapters to go.
Just for the record, if Tenorman had been able to go through with the final phase of his plan, Dovah and Cartman would've been completely screwed. There's no way the former can repel several dozen copies of the Super Best Friends team, or rather, people possessing all their powers and abilities.
Even if both Timmy and Kenny were with Dovah and Cartman (and the former was still alive), they still would've lost as Tenorman could just use the Goo Transfer Machine to make copies of the various deities until Dovah's team collapsed from exhaustion.
Now in case it wasn't already clear why things progressed the way they did during the war, a lack of information was the key factor. For example, Dovah (through Cartman) found out about the member berries betraying them but they didn't know that Kenny had been captured as well.
Dovah and Cartman were under the assumption that Kenny was fighting the member berries back at South Park and most of the other South Parkers that he cares about like Team Craig were hiding at Dovah's base which to be fair, is pretty reasonable to assume considering that Kenny always keeps a vial of Nazi Zombie goo on him to transform if need be and he is unkillable in that state without a Dragonborn to fart on him.
Cartman getting Santa to send some of his own troops to South Park took away what little unease Dovah had left since he figured both them and a Nazi Zombie Kenny would be able to crush whatever soldiers invaded the town.
Karen is a similar story since she assumed that the member berries had brainwashed Kenny as soon as they captured him and were preparing to fight him as well as the member berries and Nahkriin through Cthulhu. She didn't know that they were using Kenny as a battery instead. Essentially, Karen automatically assumed the worst case scenario and Dovah didn't, and while their reasoning for such was logical, they both ended up being wrong.
As for the start of this chapter, I wanted to explore the possibility of a "Bad Ending" if you could call it that as well as diving into Karen's goals and motivations here. She isn't the scared, timid little girl she was in the show anymore; both the influence of and time with Dovah and the others allowed her to really come into her own over these last few years.
She wants to be better than her brothers one day and with the slight influence of the member berries in her along with seeing her brothers' failures in rapid succession, she considered using this chance to rise up and make that ending she imagined come true, but it's going to take more than that for her to betray Dovah and Kenny while taking over basically everything.
Granted, if Dovah and Kenny were the ones taking over the world, Karen would have a lot less reservations about the idea. The war along with what she went through changed her a lot and while she was ultimately opposed to Dovah's brutality here, there are plenty of less bloody and genocidal ways of taking over the world. That's assuming she doesn't eventually accept more bloody and extreme methods to accomplish this goal herself (which she probably would do over time).
I personally am a pretty big fan of the 'Pure of heart character losing it and becoming the most terrifying villain' trope. There's just something so satisfying about seeing a character who's been through so much shit finally stop reacting in a 'everything is fine and dandy' way and instead react in a 'you fucked up your last chance at my forgiveness, so don't even try asking for my help' way. Those kinds of people or heroes honestly deserve more than anyone else to let their anger out and get payback for all the shit they've been through.
Karen McCormick fits that label to a tee considering both her personality and the horrible life she lived before Dovah came along and I honestly considered having her go through with this and rise up, but as long as she wasn't completely brainwashed (which she wasn't here; only slightly influenced), she wouldn't betray Dovah and Kenny and accomplish this dream by working with their enemies. Like I said before though, if Dovah and Kenny were in on it, there would be much less hesitation on her end.
Dovah himself during this war, or rather, his actions during it were meant to explore what would happen if a person in this situation (isekai'd to South Park or another world where they know what's going to happen in it) were to use more extreme methods in ensuring peace and a better ending to the story.
There have been several comments so far on the various sites I have posted this story on asking why more extreme actions aren't being taken at certain points such as Cartman being put on a much tighter leash throughout or just straight up killed before he possibly fucks everyone over and while I agree that extreme actions are sometimes necessary, there is also the morality of doing so to consider.
Superman from the Injustice games is a perfect example of this kind of thinking. Homelander from 'The Boys' is another good example. You can ensure peace and stop the villains for good, but what's the point if you become a villain yourself in the process?
Exploring that side of this hypothetical situation was one of the main goals for this war arc. There was also touching upon the various evil organizations shown throughout the South Park series that were never properly dealt with and having an epic climax for what was originally supposed to be the end of the first book that makes episodes "200" and "201" look mild in comparison.
Thanks again for all the support so far, there's plenty more to come.