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The Silver Surfer's cosmic blast carved through the Prague street like reality itself was being erased. Sue's force field caught the attack milliseconds before it would have vaporized the safe house, her defensive bubble flaring with energy that made the air itself scream. The impact drove her to one knee, the strain of blocking Power Cosmic evident in her gritted teeth and trembling arms.
"I've got the shield," Sue gasped. "Do something about him!"
Yasuo's dimensional manipulation exploded outward, not in a single technique but as fundamental reality shift. The space between him and the Surfer compressed, then inverted, creating a pocket where up was down and distance became meaningless. He crossed the impossible gap in a heartbeat, his wind-that-wasn't-wind carrying him through transitions normal physics couldn't accommodate.
His strike enhanced by dimensional compression that made his fist exist in multiple locations simultaneously caught the Surfer across the jaw. The herald didn't dodge, didn't block, simply tanked the hit with silver skin that proved harder than any substance Earth contained. But the force of impact sent shockwaves through the street, shattering windows three blocks away.
"Impressive," the Surfer said, his voice carrying no emotion despite the compliment. "You transition through dimensional states fluidly, making yourself difficult to target. But fluid defense means nothing against absolute power."
He retaliated with a speed Yasuo's Eternal MangekyĹŤ barely tracked. The Surfer's fist, wreathed in cosmic energy, slammed into Yasuo's chest with force that should have pulverized his ribcage. Would have, if Yasuo hadn't transitioned his body to a state between solid and energy at the last possible instant. The blow passed through him with only partial impact, still enough to send him flying backward through two buildings.
Yasuo emerged from the rubble, blood streaming from his mouth but his Eternal MangekyĹŤ showing him how to adapt. The Surfer's power was absolute within its parameters, yes. But parameters could be changed. Transitions could be forced.
"Sue, get Natasha out now!" Yasuo shouted, launching himself back into the fight. "I'll keep him occupied!"
Inside the safe house, Natasha had already assessed the situation with tactical efficiency. The windows showed cosmic-level combat beyond anything she'd ever witnessed Yasuo moving through space like liquid mercury, the Silver Surfer burning with power that made her instincts scream to run. When Sue's force field suddenly expanded to surround the building, Natasha understood immediately.
"Evac?" she said as Sue materialized beside her.
"Evac. Yasuo's buying time." Sue's hands were already forming a protective bubble around them both. "Hold your breath. This is going to be rough."
They shot upward through the roof, Sue's force field punching through solid matter like it wasn't there, carrying them into the sky above the battle. Below, Yasuo and the Silver Surfer clashed with forces that made the air itself burn.
Yasuo's Eternal MangekyĹŤ showed him futures timelines where the Surfer's cosmic power overwhelmed him, where his dimensional manipulation failed, where Prague burned and Natasha died despite his intervention. But it also showed him the thread. The thin possibility where he won not through power but through connection.
The Surfer wasn't just a weapon. He was a person, transformed and enslaved by Galactus, forced to scout worlds for consumption despite whatever moral objections he might have carried in his previous life. Reed's records had mentioned this Norrin Radd, the man who'd become the Silver Surfer, had sacrificed his humanity to save his world from Galactus's hunger.
And now he served the entity he'd bargained with, unable to refuse, unable to rebel.
Unless someone reminded him of what he'd once been.
Yasuo stopped dodging and started attacking not the Surfer's body, but his consciousness. His dimensional manipulation reached out, not trying to damage but to connect, to bridge the gap between two beings who'd both been transformed by cosmic forces against their will.
The Surfer's next blast missed by inches as Yasuo's perception shifted, showing him not just physical trajectory but emotional intent. And in that intent, he saw something crucial: hesitation. The Surfer's attacks were devastating but not immediately lethal. He was testing, evaluating, but also... reluctant.
"You don't want to do this," Yasuo said, his voice carrying across the battlefield with dimensional resonance. "I can see it. You're hesitating. Pulling your strikes. Part of you remembers being Norrin Radd, remembers choosing sacrifice to save your world."
"Silence." The Surfer's cosmic power flared higher, but his eyes burning with Power Cosmic flickered with something almost like pain. "I am Galactus's herald. His will is my purpose. Your deaths serve the cosmic balance "
"Cosmic balance is a lie told to justify consumption." Yasuo pressed the advantage, not physically but psychically, his dimensional connection growing stronger. "You know this. Deep down, beneath the Power Cosmic, you know that what Galactus does isn't balance it's feeding. Endless, insatiable feeding that ends civilizations."
The Surfer's attacks became more aggressive, as if violence could silence truth. Cosmic blasts tore through the city, each one forcing Yasuo to transition through increasingly desperate dimensional shifts. Buildings crumbled. Streets cratered. And still Yasuo pushed forward, his connection to the Surfer's buried consciousness growing stronger with each exchange.
"I was like you," Yasuo said, his dimensional manipulation carrying the words directly into the Surfer's mind. "Transformed by forces I didn't understand. Made into a weapon for cosmic purposes I never chose. But I'm still Yasuo. Still the person who values life, who fights to protect rather than consume. And you're still Norrin Radd, still the man who sacrificed everything to save his world."
The Surfer's attacks stopped.
He hung in the air, his silver form trembling, cosmic power flickering erratically as something some buried consciousness, some fragment of humanity struggled against Galactus's conditioning. When he spoke, his voice carried two tones the herald's emotionless declaration and Norrin Radd's anguished humanity.
"You don't understand what you're asking. The Master's will isn't just command it's fundamental to my existence now. Rebelling would mean death. Worse than death. Complete dissolution."
"Then die free rather than live enslaved." Yasuo's Eternal MangekyĹŤ showed him the path forward, the exact sequence of words and emotional resonance needed to break through. "You made a sacrifice once to save your world. Make another. Break free. Help us fight Galactus instead of serving him."
"I... can't..." But the hesitation was growing stronger, the flickering more pronounced. Something in the Surfer was responding to Yasuo's call, to the recognition of shared transformation and cosmic burden.
Then Sue's voice cut through the moment, carrying urgency that made both combatants turn. "Yasuo! Something's wrong with the Surfer's energy signature. It's like he's being pulled "
The Surfer's body convulsed, cosmic power surging beyond his control. His eyes widened not with aggression, but with genuine fear. "No. He senses my hesitation. He's "
Reality itself seemed to press down on Prague as something vast turned its attention toward Earth. Yasuo's cosmic awareness screamed warnings, showing him a presence that made Annihilus look like an insect and the Devourer's previous signatures seem small by comparison.
Galactus wasn't just approaching. He was already reaching toward this location, perceiving his herald's moment of rebellion, preparing to punish and reinforce control.
But in that moment as cosmic pressure built and reality strained the Surfer's conditioning broke just enough for truth to emerge. His voice, speaking with Norrin Radd's desperate humanity, delivered words that changed everything.
"Galactus isn't coming to Earth just to feed. He's running. There's something chasing him something worse, older, more fundamental. The Devourer is being devoured, and he chose Earth as his final battleground because..." The Surfer's eyes locked onto Yasuo with horrible recognition. "...because you're here. The four Catalysts. He's not fleeing to Earth despite your presence. He's fleeing here BECAUSE of it. You're weapons he wants to claim before his pursuer arrives."
The revelation crashed through Yasuo's mind like breaking glass. Every calculation, every probability, every defensive strategy had been built on the assumption that Galactus was coming to feed, nothing more. But if the Devourer himself was being hunted, if something existed that made even cosmic entities flee, then
"What's chasing him?" Yasuo demanded. "What force makes Galactus run?"
The Surfer's mouth opened to answer, but cosmic power flooded through him, reasserting control. Galactus's will crashed down like a hammer, driving Norrin Radd's consciousness back into imprisoned darkness. When the Surfer spoke again, it was with the herald's emotionless tone, all trace of humanity erased.
"This conversation is concluded. Earth will be evaluated. Galactus will arrive in three months earlier than your projections because the Master's timeline has accelerated. Prepare yourselves. Make your peace. The feeding is inevitable."
Then the Silver Surfer simply vanished, transitioning out of reality with casual use of Power Cosmic that made Yasuo's dimensional manipulation look primitive by comparison. The pressure of Galactus's attention withdrew, and Prague was left in ruins, the battle's aftermath smoking in the evening air.
Sue descended with Natasha, both safe but shaken. Emergency services were already mobilizing, heroes arriving via various methods to assess the damage. But Yasuo stood frozen, his Eternal MangekyĹŤ processing what the Surfer had revealed, calculating new probabilities and finding them all catastrophically worse than before.
"Yasuo?" Natasha's voice, concerned. She moved to his side, her hand finding his. "What did he mean? What's chasing Galactus?"
"I don't know." Yasuo's cosmic awareness reached out, searching for the signature the Surfer had hinted at, trying to perceive what could make the Devourer flee. "But if something exists that hunts Galactus, something that makes him desperate enough to seek out Catalysts as weapons rather than eliminate us as threats, then..."
He trailed off, unable to voice the conclusion because speaking it would make it real. They weren't just preparing to face one cosmic entity. They were about to become the battleground for a conflict between forces that made their previous cosmic concerns look small.
Earth wasn't just threatened. It was the prize in a war between titans.
And Yasuo along with the three other Catalysts scattered across the universe was apparently the weapon both sides wanted to claim.
Sue's voice was quiet but steady. "We need to tell the others. If the timeline's accelerated, if there's something worse than Galactus, then everything changes."
"Everything changes," Yasuo agreed, his hand tightening around Natasha's. "And we have three months instead of six to find answers, unite the Catalysts, and prepare for a war we don't understand against enemies we can't fully perceive."
Around them, Prague burned. Emergency services worked frantically. Heroes secured the perimeter. And somewhere beyond Earth's atmosphere, the Silver Surfer reported to his master while fighting a losing battle against cosmic conditioning, trying desperately to remember being Norrin Radd despite forces determined to erase that humanity.
The war had begun.
But the combatants were far more numerous, and far more terrifying, than anyone had imagined.
And Yasuo stood at the center of it all a Catalyst, a weapon, a person trying desperately to maintain humanity while cosmic forces tried to reduce him to a strategic asset.
Three months.
Three months to change everything.
Three months to transition from inevitable defeat to possible survival.
The Wind entity had told him he was change incarnate.
Time to prove it.
Time to show the cosmos that Earth didn't just survive impossibilities.
It transcended them.
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🌟 If you'd like to support me or read EARLY ACCESS Chapters, you can find me on Patreon 🌟
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