Secret Defenders, The (1993 series) #25

The upheaval last issue is felt all over the world: by Spider-Man in New York, by Lord Tantalus of the Deviants, by Sleepwalker, by Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan, by Psi-Lord of the Fantastic Force, by R.G. Mathieson of Bureau 18, affecting them all in different ways. So what is it?

It’s the freeing of the ultradimensional monster Slorioth from its prison. And the Secret Defenders have joined with the original Defenders (minus Dr. Strange) to fight against it and all of them making a poor showing….

The transformed Dr. Druid explains to Joshua Pryce and Al that he is an agent of chaos, which he believes is freedom, trying to create a weapon to slay the soul of the world. He is harnessing the energies of Slorioth not to subjugate or destroy but to dishearten, drawing the world into despair. Al accuses Joshua of inadvertently aiding Druid by saving the couple from death (in issue #22) and now the woman is going into labor. Joshua opens a portal to the real world and contacts Cadaver and Sepulchre, informing them that their leader Druid has gone crazy and asking them to join him against Druid. They readily agree, told that being dead is an advantage. They confront Druid is feels betrayed by his lover Jillian. He blasts Al who has been griping through the entire story to get him to finally shut up. Cadaver attacks Druid with his Sword of Bone so Druid melts him into a puddle of goo then causes Sepulchre to cease to exist so Joshua picks up the Sword of Bone and stabs Druid through the center. But it does no good. Al points out that Silver Surfer is being drained of his life so if he dies in this time not his own it will cause a supreme temporal crisis. Joshua draws on the energy of the newborn baby to gain the strength to punch Druid’s lights out; Druid recovers but Joshua revealed it was only to gain the attention of someone bigger. And so the Vishanti arrive to oppose Druid and Slorioth. And they summon the Living Tribunal who sentences Slorioth to exile in other vistas, meaning he vanishes from this one. The original Defenders vanish back to their own time. Tribunal and the Vishanti also depart but Agamotto pauses a moment to restore Cadaver to act as his agent on Earth—though Cody is staggered that this means a continued existence of five thousand years. And Joshua restores Jillian to existence….