The Guardian Of The Multiverse: A Hero's Burden

For The Monster I Was

(Marvel, DC, and all other images, manga, manhwa, anime, and intellectual properties referenced in this story belong to their respective owners. The main character, Karito/Adriel Josue Valdez, and this story's original elements belong to me.)

Miles away, the mountain Peter had kicked the Red Surfer into exploded.

Crimson cosmic power tore through millions of tons of stone and climbed into the sky as a pillar of red and silver light. The clouds split around it. A delayed shock wave rolled across the mountains surrounding Viktor's commune, rattling every window in the settlement.

Artoria and Adriel both saw it.

Adriel clenched his fist and looked beyond the pillar, toward the distant region where Piltover and Zaun waited.

The war had reached the commune.

Artoria stared at the destroyed mountain in alarm. She had sensed the Red Surfer strike Ace and drive him through one house after another. From this distance, she could not determine how badly he had been injured—or how many civilians might have been caught inside the buildings they demolished.

"We must secure the civilians immediately," Artoria said. "Ace was driven through several homes. We do not know how many people were inside them."

"We do."

Artoria turned toward him.

Adriel appeared almost unfazed by the destruction. His clenched fist and rigid posture betrayed the anger beneath that composure, but there was no panic in his expression.

"The moment I sensed something preparing to attack us, I activated my Barrier skill across the entire commune."

Artoria's eyes widened.

Adriel had not enclosed the settlement beneath one massive barrier. That would have turned the commune itself into a target and trapped everyone inside if the shield failed.

Instead, he had surrounded every individual resident with a separate protective field.

Every man, woman, child, and infant within the commune was now protected—including Vander, Vi, Jinx, and everyone else who had relocated to the mountains.

"Each barrier can withstand the combined force of at least five Hiroshima-scale detonations," Adriel explained. "With the kind of enemies invading this dimension, that might be as easy to break as flicking a finger. But falling rubble, collapsing houses, fire, and ordinary explosions won't get through them."

Artoria looked toward the damaged section of the commune.

"Then the residents of those houses..."

"They're alive. Even a baby would survive being buried beneath one of those buildings."

That knowledge eased some of the tension in Artoria's expression.

Only some.

"The barriers will not protect them indefinitely."

"No, but they buy us enough time to evacuate everyone without causing a stampede."

"To the underground bunker?"

Adriel nodded.

He had constructed the bunker shortly after helping establish the commune. At the time, its defenses had seemed excessive.

They no longer did.

The structure rested deep beneath the mountains and had been reinforced against physical, magical, cosmic, and conceptual destruction. It contained enough supplies to sustain the commune's population for an extended period.