Erik's cyborg parts had changed. His mechanical leg and face had vanished, and the machinery that had once been there had seemed to have consumed his left arm. Long scthye-shaped blades had somehow sprouted from the back of his elbows, wicked-looking weapons over five feet long. From his new mechanical twin hands sprouted twin sets of enhanced talons, two feet long and cruelly barbed. He seemed to have gained six inches in height and a hundred extra pounds of muscle, and his long black hair had blanched blood red and now extended down to nearly his knees in a long flowing mane. But the most impressive thing was the wings. They had seemingly grown from the flesh of Erik's back, night-black metal appendages that extended in a massive wingspan of several metres that were sharpened to a razor edge and point. The edges scraped the buildings around him and melted away the brick there in thin, oozing streams.
His head lowered, and Redemption regarded Karnage with a look of pure hatred and kill-lust.
Karnage took a step back. His energy bomb, growing within him, faded and died.
"You.....hurt......my.....wife." Redemption hissed.
In a move was was too much like a flail for his liking, Karnage tried to aim his arm to shoot a new blast at the thing Erik had become.
It never happened. One moment, Redemption was standing 50 feet from Karnage. The next moment he was right in Karnage's face. His metallic fist clamped on Karnage's own metallic arm even as it drew forward to fire.
Panicking at Erik's speed, Karnage drew back his other fist and punched Erik as hard as he could right in the gut. Redemption didn't even flinch.
"What makes you think you have the right to hurt people? To hurt children, on this special night? To make an event that gives them happiness one that gives them fear and pain? HOW DARE YOU THINK YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT!" Redemption screamed.
Karnage yanked his arm free and took a step back as he swung a huge roundhouse blow at Erik that would have taken a normal man's head clear off.
It just hit air. Redemption had vanished from where he had been standing. Karnage only had time to blink. He had an idea. He would threaten to blow up a house if this new creature did anything.
This thought was still turning itself into neural impulses when a blur streaked towards Karnage.
And then Redemption struck, smashing Karnage with an energy-charged dashing uppercut.
"SHO-RYU-KEN!"
Then the full force came to bear apon Karnage. The bottom part of his metal jaw crumpled like paper as the insane power of the blow launched Karnage skyward once more. The blow send him soaring like an angel as he flew nearly a mile up in the air.
Down on the ground, Redemption gathered within him the power that was his to command. His wings snapped out and he leapt skyward.
Like an angel himself, Erik lanced towards the heavens as if returning from a mission on earth. The wind whistled around his ears as the village grew smaller.
As he drew equal with Karnage, Erik's eyes fixed onto a isolated mountain range ten miles from the village. He sucked in air as he completed his power-up and lined himself up with Karnage.
"ENDGAME!!!!!!!!!!!"
And as Erik yelled to the stars his Ultimate Technique, his body was enveloped in dark fire and he flew at Karnage like a bat out of hell. There was a loud bang that reverated throughout the night as the sound barrier broke.
Karnage's journey was abruptly stopped as Redemption slammed into him full force, nearly breaking him in half. Then burning fingers fused themselves into his body and ensured there would be no escape.
Like a comet, Erik's streaked across the sky and slammed back to earth into the mountain range.
The air sang with power.
Then the mountain range exploded in an apocolypse of fire and a massive explosion blasted up and out, completely and utterly vaporizing everything it touched. Flaming rock rained for miles as people as far away as fifty miles heard the echo of the boom. Fires broke out in small isolated forests. Many birds probably died. No one cared.
And then, once again, as the last debris crashed to the ground and the fire burnt itself out as fast as it started, the night was quiet.

In the heart of the extinguished firestorm, a mangled twist of metal stirred.
Karnage's body had been smashed to pieces. His legs, torso, and most of his left arm had been broken apart and vaporized in the massive blast and explosions. His remaining body and systems had been fried, and his mechanical skull had been cracked open, exposing his pulsing brain, which were now hooked to systems that had been barbacued.
But even in his destroyed state, the Anti-Klaus still tried to get away, pushing aside shards of rock and trying to crawl along the ground with his remaining two fingers.
Then he heard a faint cracking, and his lone remaining eye turned upwards.
Erik stood there, back to normal. His mechanical hand clutched his side as he half-walked, half-limped over to where Karnage lay. But despite his pain, Erik's face was still set in determination. He reached the side of Karnage and kicked the ruined machine onto what remained of it's back.
"No........please..............." it whispered. Erik's eyes flashed in anger, and he lifted his arm as his palm opened.
"Merry christmas to all, and to all a good night."
And the blast from Erik's hand burnt the exposed brain to ashes.
Finally, the creature Nicolas Jenson had become was no more.

Celeste grimaced as Erik dabbed antiseptic onto the last of her deep cuts.
"Ah fuck, that hurts!"
"It would hurt less if you didn't squirm."
"Yes, mother."
Erik allowed himself a smile. It had been several hours since he had left the small town of Bulc with Celeste. Celeste had been able to heal her major injuries via the small amount of magical talent she possessed, but it had only taken care of her major internal injuries. And thus the couple had spent the last few hours cleaning and dressing each other's wounds as they sat on the large bed their shared in their isolated mansion in the mountains.
"You know, I bet Ash and Christine spent tonight sipping wine and making love. We spend it battling an insane cyborg who think's he's Santa Claus. You said it best: it's a wonderful life." Celeste muttered as she shrugged her shirt back on.
"Well, look at it this way. At the very least, all those sleepy-eyed children will talk about how we killed the "bad imposter Santa Claus" for the rest of their lives. Those kids were a lot smarter then I gave them credit for. I thought they were going to have their parents lynch us at first." Erik smirked. "At least Christmas will leave them other memories other then flashing video games and getting sick off candy."
"Yes, and speaking of video games, I think Capcom is most likely going to sue you for yelling what you did when you set Jenson up for the Endgame."
"Yeah, well, I always wanted to yell that."
Celeste shook her head and smiled seductively at Erik.
"Well, it's Christmas morning. Early morning anyway. You want to unwrap your present?"
"My present? What's that?" Erik said absent-mindedly as he checked a cut on his bare chest to see if it had stopped bleeding.
Celeste didn't answer, but merely shrugged off her shirt and tossed it aside.
"Me."
Erik chuckled.
"I thought so. Come here, Raven."
Celeste crawled onto Erik's lap and Erik brought his lips to hers. She parted them and slid her tongue in.
"Mmmmmmm. You're a saint." she murmured. "I'm yours, hero."
As Celeste began removing her remaining clothes, Erik immersed himself back into the kiss, and with a flick of his wrist, shut the door with a bang.