A/N: Argan and Conquest fight. It goes about as you'd expect… until it doesn't?
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Conquest. Easily the most unstable Viltrumite still alive today. Every Viltrumite had the capacity for ruthlessness trained into them. Every Viltrumite understood the necessity of cruelty at times. But Conquest was ruthlessness personified. He was cruelty manifested.
As one of the most powerful Viltrumites still alive, he served as their heaviest of hitters, only deployed where maximum force and pure sadism were deemed necessary. His missions were oftentimes the bloodiest, most wantonly destructive missions that any within the Viltrumite Empire undertook at this point in time. And he reveled in it. Sadist that he was, Conquest took deep, immense satisfaction in the things he did in the Empire's name.
And yet, even among other Viltrumites, he was considered a brute. General Kregg often said that Conquest was little more than a blade without a hilt, a weapon to be pointed at the greatest concentrations of the enemy and expended time and time again.
Anissa likened Conquest to a toddler on a rampage from time to time, though never in his hearing. She feared him, after all. They all did save for the likes of Kregg and Argan's father. After all, for the longest time, Conquest was considered the second most powerful Viltrumite by a wide margin. Only Thragg was his superior in combat and physical might. Only Thragg kept him in line.
Much like many of the other prominent Viltrumites who had survived the Scourge Virus such as Kregg and Anissa, Conquest was also one of Argan's instructors when he was growing up. Only, unlike Kregg and Anissa, Conquest's entire purpose was to break Argan again and again, to rip him down until there was almost nothing left so that he could heal back stronger and more durable after every fight.
The greying, balding Viltrumite Warrior had shattered Argan's bones, ripped his flesh, and carved lesson after bloody lesson into his body in those early days. Argan had survived each and every encounter with Conquest by the skin of his teeth… just as his father had instructed.
"We never did get to have a proper battle, boy! Thragg saw to that! But he's not here anymore, is he?!"
Over time, Argan had gotten stronger and stronger. By his twentieth year, he had been nearing Conquest's level, extending the time in which the older Viltrumite got to beat him into a bloody mess longer and longer. By the end, he could almost give as good as he got, making Conquest bleed for the torture he put him through.
… But it's just as Conquest said. One day, Thragg had ordered Conquest back to the front and taken over Argan's remaining training himself. He had cut off the bloody fighting right when Argan felt like he was on the cusp of overcoming the challenge that Conquest presented.
"You know what I think, brat? I think Thragg thought I was going to finally kill you! I think he stopped me just before I could finally wipe away the weakness you were staining our species with! You're nothing, boy! You'll always be nothing!"
No. Conquest is wrong. Thragg didn't end his lessons with the older Viltrumite because he was worried or afraid or anything as pedestrian as that. He took over Argan's training himself… to send him right back into the pit he'd just been about to climb out of.
Instead of getting even one victory on Conquest, Thragg had taken Argan and made him fight his father… to show him how far he had to go. After all, if he had won against Conquest, he might have felt satisfied. And he might have settled then and there. The title of second strongest Viltrumite would have been his and that would have been good enough.
But of course, Thragg didn't believe in good enough. Not when it came to the Viltrumite Empire and certainly not when it came to his own flesh and blood. He'd done more damage to Argan in the days that followed than Conquest had ever managed. He'd taken Argan to the brink of death a multitude of times and left him wishing that it would just take him so the pain would stop.
Thragg was worse than Conquest had ever been. And in doing so, he had forged the greatest warrior the Viltrumite Empire had ever seen. One that would never give up on growing stronger too, because unlike with Conquest, Argan had never even gotten close to defeating his father. Not until last night.
Here and now though, between him and the grizzled, sadistic Viltrumite Brute? It's not even a contest. For all that Conquest's words are joyful and triumphant… their fight is a farce as Argan easily blocks every single one of the older Viltrumite's blows.
Thragg was ten times the warrior Conquest could ever hope to be. And Argan had already proven himself his father's better.
Finally, he stops holding back and reacts. Conquest's mechanical arm comes rocketing towards his face, so Argan leans into it, slamming his forehead forward and shattering the prosthetic in its entirety. Conquest roars in anger as broken shards of metal dig into the stump where his arm used to be. He snarls, his flesh and blood hand coming around in a clawing gesture to swipe at Argan's neck… but Argan's hand snaps up and grabs hold of Conquest's wrist.
Argan's fingers dig into the other Viltrumite's wrist, finding bone with ease and snapping it like a twig. This time Conquest cries out in real pain, rearing back as he cradles his shattered arm.
For a moment, silence reigns. Argan remains untouched, Conquest's attack not even managing to draw a single drop of blood. Meanwhile, Conquest has been thoroughly disarmed… literally. Heaving breaths leave the greying Viltrumite's mouth as he hunches over, glaring at Argan with his one good eye.
"Stand down, Conquest."
"I REFUSE!"
Snapping all over again, Conquest roars as he charges forward once more. With his arms disabled, he instead focuses on fighting with his powerful legs. Argan just blocks with his forearms, barely even moved by the massive amount of force behind each kick. Conquest's eye widens in disbelief at this, before narrowing in determination. He tries to redouble his efforts, even as his injuries slow him down a fraction of an inch at a time.
Argan sighs. Truth be told, he'd known he might have to kill more than just his father when he made his decision. Conquest was the most likely to force his hand, but there were others Argan intended to keep an eye on and remain wary of, even as he sought to save each and every one of them from themselves.
And yet, even now, even knowing it was unlikely to end any other way… something in Argan balks at the idea. Conquest wasn't just one of their strongest warriors. He was a veteran Viltrumite who had survived countless struggles. The Great Purge, the Scourge Virus, a thousand battles across a thousand planets. He had even survived the Rognarrs, though he'd lost his arm and eye in the process.
For him to die here and now… on the one hand, it felt a bit like putting down a maddened, unreachable animal. And perhaps that was all it was. But Argan's own pride rebelled at that idea. Conquest was more than an animal. He was a Viltrumite. And every Viltrumite life was precious.
"I do not want to kill you, Conquest."
Snarling, the balding Viltrumite redoubles his entirely ineffectual assault at those words.
"You're going to have to, boy! I will never accept you as my Grand Regent! I will never turn my back on the Empire's expansion!"
Catching Conquest's leg in his hand but not ripping it apart as he could have, Argan frowns.
"Why?"
Growling, the disarmed Viltrumite twists his body, attempting to put his other foot through Argan's head. Argan catches that one as well.
"It's in the name, brat! I am Conquest! I am inevitable! You would neuter that? You would have me sit with my hands in my lap and do nothing while the Empire falls apart around me! No! Where is your Viltrumite heart?! If you are so confident in your way that you would kill your father, then you should be confident enough to kill me too!"
Argan's jaw clenches… and his hands squeeze. Bones shatter further as he breaks both of Conquest's legs as well. A hoarse shout of agony leaves the older Viltrumite's lips, even as Argan thrusts him away, leaving him floating in midair with four broken limbs, every breath a labor for him.
"My father forced my hand. I could not convince him and if I could not convince him, then he had to be put down. He was too powerful to do anything else. You… are not."
Conquest pauses, blinking his one working eye in disbelief at Argan's words. Then, he lets out a bark of raspy laughter.
"You sure got full of yourself, boy. Your father should have let me finish your training… or finish you."
A manic glint appears in Conquest's eye.
"Do you remember, brat? Do you remember the feeling of my hands in your guts? Of my fingers ripping at your jaw? I broke every bone in that body of yours a hundred time- no, a thousand times over. I made you bleed oceans and I enjoyed every moment of it!"
Argan tilts his head to the side.
"To tell you the truth, I barely even think about it."
That gets another harsh bark of laughter from the crazed Viltrumite.
"You repressed it. Of course you did. Couldn't handle the memories, could you? Couldn't handle the pain I put you through!"
"No… that's not it. My father just put me through far worse, in the end."
That gives Conquest pause. He stares at Argan for a long moment, seemingly unable to comprehend what he's saying.
"… What?"
Argan just shrugs his own massive shoulders, ultimately unbothered by this play for his emotions.
"My father did not send you away because he feared you would kill me, Conquest. He sent you away because he believed I might kill you. He didn't want me to have that taste of victory. He wanted me to continue to hunger for it, to starve as I lost again and again… and you simply couldn't ensure that any longer. So he took me in hand himself and visited far worse upon my body than you ever managed. You only ever brought me to the brink of death… my father made me wish for it several times over the course of my training."
Silence reigns once more as Conquest just stares at him in disbelief. Argan arches a brow back.
"Did you think reminding me of our times together would enrage me? Did you hope to take advantage of my reckless anger or something? No… that isn't it. You don't have the strength for such a maneuver, even if I forwent all defense and came at you with all my power."
Argan is still mulling over Conquest's motivations when the older Viltrumite solves the conundrum for him.
"… Kill me."
Blinking, the new Grand Regent of the Viltrumite Empire furrows his brow as its his turn to stare at his opponent in disbelief.
"Please… kill me."
"Conquest… you're crying."
It's true too. As impossibly ridiculous as it sounds, there are tears leaking from Conquest's one working eye. The broken warrior hovers there in midair, his limbs mangled, and stares at Argan through his tears.
"I have no place in your new order, Grand Regent. So please… just kill me."
For the first time since this battle began, Argan is disarmed. For the first time, he is rendered speechless.
"I am… so lonely. All of the other Viltrumites fear me, as do the lesser races in our Empire. No one speaks to me except to give me orders. No one wants to be my friend. You think me unstable. You think me a monster to be used and sent from planet to planet to commit atrocities in the name of Viltrum."
What was this? This… this was real. As absurd as that seems, Argan fully believes this is the real Conquest.
"Conquest…"
That prompts a weak laugh from the bigger Viltrumite.
"And there's that too. I don't even get a real name, only a purpose! But what is my purpose if the Empire is to be no more?! What is my purpose if you are suspending all expansion across the Empire? Once I thought I was capable of more than this… but I cannot see it anymore. What's the point? Nobody in this universe would care if I died! So end it, Grand Regent! Send me to my grave and let me finally be at peace!"
From the moment that Conquest had shown up and picked a fight with him, Argan had thought the other Viltrumite to be a maddened fool. A predictable maddened fool at that, because he'd known their first encounter after killing his father would result in them coming to blows.
Only now though does he see the truth. Conquest isn't as stupid as he thought. The older warrior knew that Argan was his better. He knew that he was likely to die at Argan's hand. This entire fight… had been assisted suicide.
"You must kill me! I am weak! Look at me crying! Look at me sobbing! I am nothing, Grand Regent! I do not belong in your vision for our people's future! Please!"
Argan slowly floats forward, until he's closed the distance between them. Rather than tense up, Conquest actually relaxes in what he sees as his impending demise. All the fight has gone out of the bigger man. All the anger, all the rage, all the sadistic desire for bloodshed… is gone. What remains is a broken, lonely individual.
Reaching forward, Argan slides a hand around to the back of Conquest's neck. And then he places his forehead against Conquest's forehead.
"I refuse… brother."
Conquest jolts as if slapped, but even as he tries to pull away, he cannot escape Argan's ironclad grasp.
"You say you are alone and friendless. You say you have no place in my future plans. I disagree. You are a Viltrumite. And that makes you mine. I have won you, first through the defeat of my father and now through your own defeat. That means your life and death belong to me. I decide when you go to your grave, not you."
Looking Conquest right in his eye, Argan grits his teeth.
"My father misused you for thousands of years. He treated you as a weapon first and a person second. But I swear this to you here and now, I will not. You are a Viltrumite, the same as anyone else… and you will serve me, the same as the others will. Not as a tool, not as a conqueror… but as I see fit and in a way that utilizes you properly."
The older Viltrumite stares at him in something akin to awe, even as Argan finally pulls his forehead away.
"From this moment forward, you are no longer Conquest. It is a title that suits you no more."
The old warrior's breath hitches.
"What… what will be my name then? What will I be called?"
Argan had not planned to rename the battle-hardened elite today. He casts about for something, anything, and ultimately goes with what comes to mind.
"From this day forth… you will be known as Carl."
It has a good sound to it. And it begins similarly enough to the start of Conquest that the Viltrumite might have an easy time adjusting. In the end though, the reaction from the now dubbed Carl is enough answer to know he likes it, as his lips slowly curl into the widest, least sadistic smile that Argan has ever seen the older Viltrumite sport.
"Yes… Grand Regent."
He could only hope this would be the biggest issue he'd have to deal with before he could finish gathering up his people. Soon enough, every living Viltrumite left in the universe would be on Viltrum for the first time in a thousand years. And then they would be ready to figure out what they were doing next.
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A/N: Lmao yes, I just did that.
This chapter I took inspiration from Conquest's little canon confession to Invincible and Rorschach in the Watchmen breaking down and begging Dr. Manhattan to kill him. How'd I do?
Feedback is GREATLY appreciated, every comment helps me shape the story with a Daily Story like this one!