The beach felt different as I walked along it. The grains of sand feeling coarser and more annoying than ever before.

Appropriately so, given the way I was passively disrupting the Intruders and bits of unreality that made up the liminal space.

Ahead of me, my power affected the fake people, so that they all retreated a few steps with every one I took.

Behind me, my own Intruders glared and smiled and jeered from the hole I'd torn in the fabric of this place. Their forms subtly twisting and churning as if they were being passed through several washing machines before settling back into shapes that suited them.

A few Solomonlings attempted to follow me, drawn by a mixture of instinct, primal fury, and ravenous hatred for the usurper.

'No. Not usurper.' I reminded myself. 'He is a bastard and an evil bastard at that, but he was telling the truth. He never tried to supplant me.'

That fact was not going to stop me from making the last few moments of his misbegotten existence a living hell, but I had to note it.

The Solomonlings tried to push through again. Their little white suits erupting in clouds of gore as slimy red tentacles began licking at the air and sniffing through newly grown noses. Their bodies transforming into grotesque and misshapen parodies of human forms.

Eyes grew on their little faces and on every feather of their stark-white wings. So that they appeared as squirming masses of tubes held aloft by the mere power of their gazes.

"Do not be afraid." They breyed. "Do not be unhappy. We come to help help. We come to save save. We come in peace peace. We come to fix that which is broken and console the lost and meeeeeeeeeeeeeekk."

The last words became scrambled and confused. Drawn out and jumbled around by the very fabric of the space, even as I walked along the grains of sand and felt their own makeup screaming and recoiling in pain and disgust.

An Intruder I could not place, not one of mine, attempted to speak to me, but I waved him off. His body exploding into a dozen writhing tentacles that soon took the shape of the gored Solomonlings.

The beach screamed. As this the space and time within it. The very walls that made it up bleeding from the edges as my own influence grew and pressed in from all sides. While it pushed out and overwrote the lies.

Not-Slab was there, staring at me as if I were a circus show. Not Charlie and not Boris stood next to him. All frowning while not Dusty and not Monique shook their heads in disappointment.

"I really thought better of you Sully." Not Monique said while I passed by her.

"Yeah. I feel that. I really thought better of me too." I told her bluntly.

Not even bothering to look in her general direction as I made my way up to the house.

The steps were cold where the sands gave way and I looked up to see the structure once more to take my mind away from the way they were slowly beginning to disintegrate again. The light of the false twilight dyeing the structure a gorgeous golden hue straight out of a painting.

It was all very magical, in a fairy-tale sort of sense. Which was disquieting, given the things I had just recently learned of my host and the nonsense he'd gotten up to when he was on Earth.

A few steps later, I forced the door open. My insides writhing with agony as I did so. The pressure of several quintillion voices crashing into me like a tsunami. And those were just the human ones.

Other sentient beings crashed into me as well and within their dreams I saw the horrors of war and the shadows of grief. The scouring of a million different plagues on a million different worlds and the crimes of a few against the many they were supposed to be protecting. The hunger of animals and the desperation they had to remain living. To follow their instincts and to thrive and procreate.

It all mixed together again in my head, like a single day forever trapped in amber. Only this time I was strong enough to call my own Intruders to me and have them take on some of the load. Some of the horrors.

Serpent-tongue and Mittens were the first, though not the last. A crowd of Solomonite Inquisitors falling in behind them. With Randall at their helm.

Behind them were Solomonlings and Solomonite Anchorites. Their wings still as they floated just above the not real ground beneath them.

They said nothing. Nothing at all.

But they did stare at the other Intruders here in silent triumph. Recognition that they would get to stay, while the others would be made to leave.

The pain soon subsided and Mittens grabbed a hold of my shoulder. Helping me back to a straight posture as my Psy and my Types recovered.

I walked through the entrance a different man. A stronger man.

One who was even less likely to flee than before due to the things he'd been made to do and the choices he'd been forced to make.

Contrary to my expectations, Surfer Sully, or rather, Cult Leader Sully, was merely sitting there. In his main comfy armchair overlooking the open floor of the mansion.

He was sipping on something else, a purple drink with traces of golden light, when he finally acknowledged my presence in the room.

"Sour Sully!" He called out. "Always a pleasure! I'm so glad you could make it! How's the family?"

He smirked. Leaning forwards.

"How's the wife?"

"Alive. No thanks to you. Ass." I said out loud. "Also, she's not my wife yet. Also also, I'm gonna kick your motherfucking ass!"

He looked disappointed.

"Oh come now Sour Sully. Is that the best you could come up with on short notice?"

I balled my hands into fists. Stewing on the cocktail of pent up fury as this bloody bastard mocked me.

I supressed it for a few more seconds. Taking a series of deep, calming breaths despite my Shifter side being perfectly capable of handling such nonsense.

"You're right. I can do better. How about this?"

I stepped closer. Marshalling my Psy as I did so.

"I am going to rip out your spine through your pitiful manhood." I said while pointing at him.

He arched an eyebrow. Then he pulled on his Buddy shorts and looked down, before glancing back up at me.

"I wouldn't call it pitiful." He argued. Before snorting. "All my wives have liked it at least. Though I will give you credit for that one."

He grinned an impish grin.

"Sounded appropriately badass."

"You used your [Presence] on my family!" I shouted.

Kicking away a nearby couch and relishing the echoing screams of the Intruders as they attempted to flee, only for my own to snap into existence and devour them whole.

"Okay. First of all. Our [Presence]." He corrected. "We're all a big happy family here comrade Sullynov. And second of all…"

He let the words trail off. Before shrugging his hands in what he must have thought was a comical manner.

"You kinda didn't leave me much of a choice. What with you trying so hard to keep the funny parts of [Eternal Silence]. I must have told you to exorcise that cancer like, what? Fifteen times? Not my fault you're so pigheaded. I had to do something."

"You brainwashed! Our! Family!"

I stomped my foot and the floorboards grew mouths with which to wail and beg for mercy. The Intruders once more disintegrating and giving way to my own influence. My own realm. My own Lakeside Estate. The couches now turning to the luxuries and overly decorated ones I was used to in the manse. The walls being cracked open and severed to reveal the tinted windows and tapestries and finery that the old image of the Drake had so pretended to enjoy.

The spreading influence stopped at the feet of the bastard. His own armchair vibrating softly, but staunchly refusing to turn back.

He went for a sip of his drink and groaned as it did disappear. His face twisting into a mask of self-pity.

"Well, technically I saved them." He retorted. "I think you ought to be thanking me."

"Thanking you!?"

"Yes, Sour Sully. Thanking me. That's what you usually do when someone steps in and saves your family without being asked." He bit back. "It was hard too. Had to stabilize this mess of a place long enough for my own Veiled Prince to get out. Not the Tall Man, but the Troubadour. My own darling version of him."

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He chuckled to himself in self-deprecating manner.

"You know, like in my cult's teachings? The horror that will fly down from the heavens and play his song to herald the end of the world? It seemed appropriate enough. Though he was here to stop the world from ending. I guess you can't have a perfect round of symbolism these days. Though you can get away with a significant amount of irony."

He rolled his eyes. Waving about.

"Shame about my realm of course, but it was all going to disappear anyways. Might as well put it to good use while I had some control left."

I lunged at him, only to be intercepted by another being. Not an Intruder, but something that felt similar.

I felt an overwhelming strength smacking me down into the space that used to be a floor. A fist crashing into my torso while a series of blades skewered me open in the fractions between fractions of a second.

By the time I activated my Projector powers to try and stop the attacker in his tracks, he was gone.

"He's not going to let himself be caught that easily." Cult Sully clicked his tongue. "Nor is he the kind to let you see him. He's kinda shy that way and I had to say a lot of things to bring him here without letting you get out."

He waved his hands again.

"You have no idea the kind of effort it took to stabilize this freaking place enough for that to happen by the way. I'm fairly certain Pandemonium is in far more chaos now than before and that is saying something. Not only that, but I had to borrow help from all kinds of nasty folks. People you wouldn't even want to look at lest they give you and yours the evil eye or something. Blegh."

I felt a pulse of irritation hitting me, all while my anger overpowered my Shifter abilities and expressed itself as a nervous tick. Like the heartbeat of a bug right underneath my right eye. Throbbing like a water hose about to burst.

"You… you! You dare say that you… you…!"

"Saved mom and dad." He finished. "Yeah, I don't like that I had to do this, but you kept insisting on keeping [Eternal Silence] my good fool."

He said casually. Before he stood and allowed the chair to be transformed.

"Do you have any idea how many people you killed across three different universes and no less than eighteen Labyrinth Instances? I'll give you a hint, it was a lot of people. Control my hot wet ass. I don't care what you said or thought, but you were the equivalent of an idiot child playing with nuclear launch codes. And you've been that for the past five months. Someone had to put a stop to it. And that someone turned out to be me in this case."

"Five…months?"

"Hmn? Oh, yeah. It's been a little under five months out there." He clarified. "I know it has been a bit longer on our side. Kudos on the progress by the way. You really have come far."

He snapped his fingers then, flexing his will and the delicate balance I had between my new power and my existing Telepath abilities collapsed like a bridge made from rotting straw.

At once, my Intruders lost their grip on the voices. At once, I was drawn back into the swirl of emotions and desperations and loves and old hatreds. Unable to claw my way out.

"But see that? That right there? You just gave up most of the power and merged it with your old [Prescence] and you're still fucked up. And that's after I pushed your hand to give up most of that to go and undo my little tricks back in the real world. How are you planning to go around fighting the Dragon when you can barely use Telepath abilities Sully? Did you think of that? Hmn? Did you? How are you, the main man of this little freaking conspiracy, going to stand up to Hazimon when you've got no access to [Domination]? Or to [Omniscience]? How are you going to succeed when your greedy behind couldn't give up and purge the power from yourself altogether? Did you ever think that I was messing with mom and dad to save them? Hmn? Did you think that maybe, just maybe, you put them at risk by refusing to let go of that universal nuke you strapped to yourself? Hmn?"

He came closer. Leaning over me.

"What do you think would have happened when, not if, but when, you lost control of your own Psy again and blasted [Eternal Silence] all over our Earth? Do you not realize I had to do this to get you to finally act? To finally give it all up? To make you see reason?"

"I'll…kill…you!"

He made a rude noise with his lips.

"Sully, come on. I was always dead. I've been dead. Ever since I decided I wasn't going to try to hijack your body."

He took a few steps back.

"But anyways. I realize that you don't realize how power-hungry and overconfident you've become. So, I've gone around and arranged for an intervention with the guys I had to work with."

He waved to an empty corner. Or at least, what I thought was an empty corner. There was a curtain there, where one wasn't supposed to be. Drawn over what appeared to be a statue.

"As I said, my friend here is a bit shy, so he won't be showing his face until he's ready. Regardless, I'll be introducing him. Coming straight from his own corner of the southern US! Please say hello to… drum roll please!"

He waited, and no sound came forth.

"Leatherface Sully!" He announced.

The curtain jostled a bit.

"The guy who single handedly brought down five governments without using [Domination] even once! Instead using stealth through [Obfuscation] and committing a long, long, LONG list of murders at the behest of his adoptive family! Before then coming to the Tutorial and meeting people who loved him for who he was for real!"

Part of a face poked out of the curtain. An owl mask covered in scratches and a single eye beneath one face hole.

He did not move. He did not breathe. He did not even blink.

Instead, he stayed perfectly still for a few seconds, and then retreated back under the curtain.

Cult Sully turned to me.

"He's the one who smacked you down by the way. His adoptive parents were crazy about martial arts and fighting skills. On top of being crazy in general. Aside from knowing to how make pipe bombs on demand, he is crazy good at fighting. Even without Enhancer abilities."

He smiled wickedly.

"Aside from being, you know, crazy in general."

"I'm not crazy." He said from behind a curtain. Speaking from the first time, in a voice so thin and fleeting that it barely counted as a whisper.

"Sure you're not friend." Cult Sully said softly, before then turning to me and twirling a finger over his ear.

"I'm serious." He spoke again. "I'm not crazy. I'm a good person."

Then he began to mutter to himself over and over again.

"I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I believe in good, so I'm a good person. I know I believe in good, so I'm a good person. I don't listen to bad people, so I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I don't let evil go unpunished, so I'm a good person. I don't let ladies walk home alone, so I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I believe in good, so I'm a good person. I know I believe in good, so I'm a good person. I don't listen to bad people, so I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I don't let evil go unpunished, so I'm a good person. I don't let ladies walk home alone, so I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person…."

"Huh." I spoke out loud. "He doesn't seem that crazy to me. At least, I'll take him over you any day of the week."

"I like gnomes, so I'm a good person."

"Never mind. He's out of his fucking mind. He's a danger to himself and others and he needs to be medicated immediately." I corrected myself.

"I'm a good person."

I didn't even bother replying. Instead turning to Cult Sully.

"And over there, you'll find our second most fashionable member…"

He waved over to an open doorway, where reality shifted and opened up. My own realm being pierced by another one. Several Intruders in beige suits walking past. Medals clinking in their chests.

They turned to us as they passed and addressed us all as they did so.

"Heil Sully!" The first one called out.

"Heil Sully." Cult Sully said in a monotone voice. Barely raising his hand to wave as he did so.

"Heil Sully!" The second one repeated.

"Heil Sully." Cult Sully said again.

"Heil Sully!" The third one shouted.

"Heil Sully." Cult Sully said again.

"Heil Sully!" The fourth almost sang.

"Heil Sully." Cult Sully said again.

"Heil Sully!" The fifth one screamed violently. His arm shooting up to the sky.

"Yes yes. Heil Sully." Cult Sully repeated, his eyes glazing over.

"Heil Sully!" The sixth one bellowed.

"Yeah yeah. Whatever." Cult Sully said at last. Before turning back to the rift where another version of me was walking out.

He was much like me, only, his suit was beige instead of stark white and it was created in the style of a certain old military. Complete with the funny looking shorts and the ridiculous amount of medals.

Also, he had a long scar along his right cheek. One he obviously refused to heal with his own Shifter powers.

"He fenced growing out. With actual fencing swords." Cult Sully explained. "And then he put horse hair into the wound. Like the old Germans used to do to get grisly looking scars. It's a point of pride for him."

"I do not need you to explain my life to this undisciplined degenerate." The newcomer snapped. Looking all kinds of angry all by himself. "I am perfectly capable of explaining myself if I so choose."

I stared at him. Then at Cult Sully.

"You got Fuhrer Sully to help you?"

"You've killed more people than he has if we're counting non-humans." He informed me. "Prejudice aside, you're worse."

"Don't be ridiculous." Fuhrer Sully snapped again. "I am not prejudiced against anyone anymore. I've grown past such simple ideas. Unless we're counting gnomes. You are making me out to be a villain for no good reason. What's wrong with cleansing gnomes from the face of reality?"

"You know, maybe he's not so bad after all." I admitted.

"Yes he is, get your focus away from gnomes for a second and think about it." Cult Sully interrupted. "But the point is that I had to bring him along to have enough power to affect your reality a bit more. Because someone needed to stop this madness you've gotten yourself into man. Think about it. You've wiped out universes dude. Entire universes! You're worse than him right now and you wouldn't listen to me at all! Think of how much you suffered because of this freaking power! Think about all the harm you caused! Someone needed to put a stop to you."

"Bad person." Leatherface Sully spoke softly once more.

Fuhrer Sully didn't even acknowledge him. Instead turning to me.

"In a way, I almost understand." He said. "If anything, the pain made you more determined didn't it? You felt that you were sacrificing yourself for others, in that you were hurting now so that you could have an ace with which to kill Hazimon later. It makes sense, in a twisted sort of way." He nodded to himself.

"But this other one is right. You are only making things worse. You are not ready to handle that power. No one is. There is no point to have it if even if the creator could not handle it properly. You will only find yourself in his shoes, and he is even worse than how you perceive me to be. I changed my views when I met more people, when I was thrown out of my universe and into the Labyrinth."

He went quiet for a second, but then kept talking.

"But he did not even have the chance to do that."

He stepped around me.

"You are barreling towards destruction, Solomon Carter. And the total destruction of the human species. You were so focused on the threat of Hazimon that you almost became such a threat yourself."

He began to flicker in and out of this reality. His body turning to smoke as I stared.

"And it would seem that you finished overturning this place to your own colors. Congratulations. The winner takes all and I suppose it could have gone worse."

His legs disappeared. Then his left arm and part of his torso. His stooges all but bursting into pure Psy and being absorbed into my realm.

"Do not make the same mistakes I did. Fool. Expand your mind. Listen to others. Don't just hear them, but listen to them. Think about what you are about to do before you do it and don't assume you know everything. You may have gotten off lightly this time, but if you'd lost control of the silence in our…"

He was gone in one last burst and then there were three of us left.

Cult Sully turned to me. Sighing.

"Well, I did hope to have more time, but them's the breaks I suppose."

He walked closer to me.

"Listen bro. Yeah. It's true. My parents died and I was picked up by a doomsday cult. Yes I took advantage of people as some sort of idol. Yes, I messed with people like you wouldn't believe and like that guy, I do regret it."

He pointed at me.

"But I really do hope you've learned something during your stay here. You are way too strong to be pulling irresponsible crap like that. And you still have a bit of that [Silence] in you. Take my advice and get rid of it as soon as you can. Otherwise, you're risking the lives of all…"

He burst apart in one bright blast. His body shuddering out of existence.

And then there were two of us.

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