- “You have absolutely no idea what it is like to lose everything. I lost my people, my planet, my family, everything I ever knew! I seek a path to cheat death, to grant myself eternal life, and to show how weak you all truly are. And to do such a task, I must tap into the Dark Realm, and fuel myself with the immortality every man seeks within!”
- ―Master Ronin[src]
Master Ronin was a ruthless and power-hungry warlord that appeared as a supporting antagonist in the movie special Universal Convergence, and served as the main antagonist of The Eclipse War saga of the Roach Chronicles and the movie special Balance and Order. He also makes a cameo appearance within the Age of the Soulless and The Sentinel Trials sagas, and serves as Rank I of the Thirteen in Boss Rush. He was the supreme ruler of the Goruxian Armada, and was the last of his entire species following the Aetherian War.
Due to his actions, albeit directly or inadvertently, Master Ronin has deeply affected the course of several key actions during the Roach Chronicles sagas following his introduction in Universal Convergence. Regardless of his prominence in the sagas he appears in, Ronin can be considered the overarching main antagonist of them.
Biography[]
Dark Ambitions[]
Ronin was born in the Goruxian capital region of the distant planet of Sparvis IX, which existed in Earth-81118 of the Roach Chronicles multiverse. Over the course of his life leading into adulthood, Ronin aspired to become the supreme leader of his homeworld and its army, seeking to establish Sparvis IX as the nexus of universal attention as the most successful and reputed empire of his universe. Joining the Goruxian Armada, Ronin swiftly rose through the ranks at a steady rate until he earned the distinguished title of Master, assuming complete control of the armada and his planet. Through his various tactics and leadership skills, the Goruxian Armada began expanding their influence from their planet, seizing neighboring planets and moons and uniting them under the Goruxian banner. For the next several years, Ronin and the Goruxian Armada began slowly expanding their reach across the universe, establishing the Goruxian Armada as the universe's most powerful army to ever exist.
One day, Ronin's personal guards would bring before him The Visitor, a Darkling that had escaped the confinements of the Dark Realm. Fascinated by The Visitor's origins, Ronin had him interrogated of all knowledge he could provide of both his home realm and the infinite dark resources that existed there, including the Matter Orb, which could remotely siphon the realm's power without directly accessing it. Once The Visitor had told all he knew, Ronin used the opportunity to induct The Visitor as a member of the Goruxian Armada, stripping him of his previous memories while augmenting him with Goruxian technology. With his induction into the army, The Visitor would become reputed as the Goruxian's most feared and powerful asset, as his combined Darkling physiology and Goruxian augmentations made him a looming force to be reckoned.
Having seen the power of the Dark Realm first-hand with The Visitor, Ronin made it his next goal to gain access to the Dark Realm to harness its power, allowing him to permanently cement the Goruxian Armada's position for eons to come. Through his searches, Ronin came to find fragments of Unistone, a rare material capable of splicing between realities and universes. As a result of his initial experiments with the material, Ronin came to learn of the Aether, a dimension that could allow access to each realm existing within the Roach Chronicles multiverse and the Nexus.
Aetherian War[]
Seeing that the Aether would be his best bet to reaching the Dark Realm, Ronin made plans to assault the Aether and gain full control of it, allowing the Goruxian Armada to expand their reach immensely. Using what little Unistone samples he had, Ronin created a portal to reach the Aether, tasking The Visitor to recon the realm and procure more Unistone. Unfortunately for Ronin, The Visitor would be captured by the resident Aetherians, who knew of The Visitor's true origins outside of his forced Goruxian façade. Knowing the power he possessed was too great for the Goruxians to keep, the Aetherians decided to encase The Visitor within a meteor comprised of pure Unistone and Aetherian light, which would mask his dark power from the Goruxians and keep him in stasis. Before the Goruxians could arrive to reclaim The Visitor, the Aetherians casted the meteor into the voids of space.
Furious over the loss of The Visitor, Ronin made drastic plans to launch a full-scale invasion of the Aether, despite the knowledge that the Aetherians could best them as displayed by the defeat of The Visitor. Before long, the Goruxian Armada crossed the threshold into the Aether, thus beginning the Aetherian War. For the next couple of years, the Goruxians fought hard against the Aetherians, though their strength would slowly dwindle due to the Aetherians and their vast power. Before long, the Aetherians launched a counter-offensive that sent the Goruxians back through the portal to Sparvis IX. Before the Goruxian Armada could recuperate, the Aetherians continued their assault, pushing into the heart of the armada and its homeworld. Soon, the panicking Goruxians found themselves target to brutal massacres by the hands of the Aetherians, who sought to dismantle the Goruxian Armada and their influence.
Knowing all was lost, Ronin attempted to escape Sparvis IX with his family, but they were intercepted by the Aetherians. Instead of killing Ronin, the Aetherians decided to spare the warlord only to let him see what his actions had caused. With that, the Aetherians slaughtered all he ever loved before his very eyes; Ronin was all but powerless to do anything to stop them. By the time Sparvis IX was completely decimated as a result of the Aetherian invasion, Ronin was all that was left of his species. To ensure Ronin could never venture back to the Aether nor reach the realms beyond his grasp, the Aetherians destroyed the gateway to the Aether he had constructed, leaving Ronin in complete solitude on his dying homeworld for years to come.
In his solitude, Ronin became fueled by thoughts of revenge. His previous goals of harnessing the Dark Realm's power to grow the Goruxian Armada only rotted away into a singular goal: to empower himself with pure darkness to the point where the Aetherians couldn't stand up to him alone; with that power, he would unleash the same that which the Aetherians wrought upon him moreover. While Ronin had managed to salvage the Goruxian flagship Sanctorium and a fleet of robotic drones hidden away in an underground hangar, he found himself unable to locate the Matter Orb, and continued his self-exile for years, waiting for the opportunity to locate the prize he sought.
Universal Convergence[]
Years later, whilst working on stocking up the Sanctorium with supplies, Ronin would witness the formation of the Convergence from Earth-81118. Immediately after the growing rift stabilized, the Sanctorium began detecting a dark energy signature emitting from one of the universes drawn into the Convergence, alerting Ronin. Before Ronin could look into the signature further, he is alerted to the surprise arrival of The Visitor, who was freed from his imprisonment and returned to Sparvis IX by utilizing the Convergence. Ronin would return to his former throne room and await The Visitor's arrival; upon his subordinate's return, Ronin somberly told The Visitor of all that transpired following the conclusion of the Aetherian War, including the Aetherian genocide of the Goruxian race. Seeing that Ronin was the only survivor, having lost everything he once held dear, The Visitor kneeled down and apologized, saying that everything was his fault and that he would do anything to appease his master one last time.
Unbeknownst to The Visitor, Ronin had developed intentions of using the Convergence to travel to the universe containing the Matter Orb, which would provide Ronin the Dark Realm's power for him to use; however, due to the relic's connection to the Dark Realm, Ronin feared that its power would remind The Visitor of his true past should he come along. Seeking to buy himself some time to pinpoint the Matter Orb's universe and further prepare his robotic forces and ship to travel there while simultaneously eliminating The Visitor from the picture, Ronin tasked The Visitor with a seemingly impossible mission: to completely annihilate the other universes connected by the Convergence as an act of vengeance for the massacre of the Goruxian people. Ronin tells The Visitor that his own raw strength and the Dark Scepter he procured won't be enough, saying that he needed to forge a weapon capable of doing the job more effectively. Ronin revealed to The Visitor that during a Convergence, a passage to the legendary realm of Uriqar could be opened, explaining to his subordinate that the forges of Uriqar, as well as the materials he has, would be enough to forge a weapon that will be able to destroy every universe linked in the Convergence besides their own. With his task set before him, The Visitor left Sparvis IX to carry out Ronin's mission, leaving Ronin to continue preparing the Sanctorium for travel.
Before long, The Visitor would ultimately fall at the hands of the United Heroes. With The Visitor out of the way, Ronin carried on his true mission, where he would come to identify the Matter Orb's presence in Earth-111517. Once Ronin had finished preparing the Sanctorium and its robotic forces, he bid his homeworld goodbye before departing Sparvis IX aboard the Sanctorium, crossing into Earth-111517 through the Convergence. Upon arriving in Earth-111517, Ronin was able to learn of Vault Zero, the holding chamber of the Matter Orb, after raiding smaller planets that had connections to the Eclipse Military. Knowing that he would have to directly engage a key Eclipse Military base in order to obtain the exact location of Vault Zero, Ronin waited until the Convergence ended before setting his eyes on the Oracle space station, an Eclipse Military base that served as a mobile server farm for some of the Eclipse Military's most prized secrets, as well as a testing facility for weaponized Hybrillium projects.
The Eclipse War[]
After successfully attacking and raiding the Oracle space station and signaling the start of his brutal campaign, Ronin learned that Vault Zero was located on the Eclipse Military fortress world of Luna. Learning that it was heavily guarded, Ronin used the intel recovered from the space station to devise a plan to infiltrate the planet under the guise of Eclipse Navy warships. To help with his plans, Ronin attacked the Ravenclaw Blacksite on Europa, where he obtained experimental weaponry and super soldier serums being produced at the facility. Ronin then attacked the Red Tern shipyard, where he forced the workers at the shipyard to digistruct Eclipse Navy warships that would typically be deployed from Luna. After raising the alarm at Red Tern, Ronin and his fleet of puppet ships left for Luna while the responders from Luna traveled to Red Tern.
Upon passing the Luna Defense Fleet's defensive perimeter around the planet, Ronin's armada began their surprise assault. As the decoy ships attacked the Luna Defense Fleet and Eclipse Navy, Ronin and some of his forces gained access into Vault Zero, where they were able to locate and secure the Matter Orb. After Ronin's forces were defeated by the four heroes of Earth-111517, Ronin fled back to the Sanctorium after escaping with the help of the Matter Orb, where he departed from Luna while the rest of his forces were destroyed by the Allied ships. However, he was confronted by the heroes, who were able to board his ship while he began to unlock the relic's full power. Knowing that there was no turning back, Ronin began the process of siphoning off the Matter Orb's dark energy, and although he showed signs of extreme pain, he was able to control the energy he absorbed.
However, as the battle raged on against the heroes, Ronin's behavior began to become more and more aggressive the more he siphoned off more dark energy. Using this to their advantage, the heroes were able to trick Ronin into a rage, to which he responded by throwing the Matter Orb onto the ground, causing it to shatter and for him to absorb the remaining energy within it. However, this proved to be a fatal mistake for Ronin, who collapsed onto the ground from his excessive use. As a portal to the Dark Realm opened behind him, Ronin's soul was ripped from his body, unable to sustain the overloading darkness within his body, and was banished to the Dark Realm, where he became a fixture of the realm itself, ultimately granting him the dark power and eternal life he sought, but at a serious cost. Ronin's body soon melted down into the Cube of Darkness, which soon entered the portal to the Dark Realm, causing the portal to disperse shortly afterwards.
Age of the Soulless[]
Master Ronin is seen in a vision created by The Librarian in order to show Umbra Ops of the recent events in Earth-111517 leading up to the creation of the Cube of Darkness.
Wishing to escape his fate as part of the Dark Realm for all eternity, Ronin sought to find a way to escape before he completely lost what little willpower he still harbored. Simultaneously, Echthroi and the Prophets of the Soulless were in the middle of opening a gateway to the Dark Realm in order to begin the process of resurrecting Erebus. After Echthroi released the souls of Roach and Xarcoh from the Soul Jar, they entered the portal, catching the attention of Ronin. Seizing the opportunity to escape, Ronin immediately exited the Dark Realm through the portal in the form of a purple lighting bolt, striking the Cube of Darkness on the ground below, allowing his soul to reunite with what remained of his body within the cube.
Following the destruction of Erebus and Umbra Ops, the Cube of Darkness was able to survive the explosion caused by Erebus' death, having been thrown under some rubble of what remained of the Chamber of Darkness located in Earth-61017. As it began to pulse and flash once again, the faint laugh of Master Ronin could be heard from within the cube.
Balance and Order[]
Following the CIA's acquisition of the Cube of Darkness, Project Tenebris was established to create weapons and technologies utilizing the dark power possessed by the cube. Upon making contact with the soul of Master Ronin within the cube, Doctor Nathan Daniels, one of the leads of Project Tenebris, began working with him to design and create new weaponry and tech for the CIA, which he described in his journal as "revolutionary" and "capable of making the United States the world's dominant superpower forever". In spite of Ronin's assistance, Daniels grew weary of his true intentions, fearing that Ronin was manipulating them for his own gains. After the CIA decided to extract Ronin's soul from the cube and implant it in the nigh-complete robotic body designed for Project Pax, Ronin soon betrayed the CIA after fully taking possession of the robotic vessel, murdering most of the staff working on Project Tenebris and Project Pax before escaping with the cube.
Upon his escape from the CIA, Ronin ventured to Shop 8, an abandoned naval facility in the Caspian Sea. Having become stronger than ever and armed with the dark power he once dreamed of, Ronin sought to use his newfound prowess to recreate a new galactic empire in place of his disbanded Goruxian Armada, one that would one day crush the Aetherians that started it all; to that end, Ronin used the cube's dark power to summon a legion of Cube Monsters to serve as the primary army of his new empire. To ensure his army remained on top, Ronin created Project Medusa, a polarization doomsday weapon capable of sending out a powerful psionic blast designed to target select organic life at random within a global range, atop Shop 8. However, to complete the weapon, Ronin would need to procure the Cortex, an Aetherian bioweapon created during the Aetherian War to combat the Goruxians that was lost after its transport ship became lost in space. Thanks to his connection to the United States government's database, Ronin learned from a classified report that an alien ship resembling the Aetherians' design crash-landed in Ball's Pyramid hundreds of years ago, though archaeology teams had been unable to gain access into the ship nor retrieve it.
Knowing he would eventually catch the attention of a group of heroes like the ones he encountered before, Ronin decided to use this to his advantage; Ronin would force an entrapment, forcing the heroes to unwillingly retrieve the Cortex for him. To draw their attention to him, Ronin began a series of global attacks with his Cube Monsters and a captured warship. As he predicted, Ronin would catch the attention of Amici whilst they fought the Cube Monsters in Australia. Once Amici had boarded his ship with a group of SEAL Team Six operatives, Ronin and his forces quickly ambushed them, dispatching the SEALs and leaving Amici to be captured. Knowing the US and Australian Navies would target his ship once they lost contact with Amici and the SEALs, Ronin, along with a small group of his monsters and the imprisoned heroes, quickly transferred over to a smaller submarine hidden within the ship's hold, allowing them to escape unnoticed as the warship is soon destroyed by an artillery barrage.
While Amici were imprisoned in the submarine's brig, Ronin would formally introduce himself to them as the leader of the New Goruxian Armada, saying that they would serve him for a recovery mission of a powerful relic. Before Ronin could leave the room, Gary called him out, questioning what another powerful relic would achieve if he already was in command of the most powerful dark army. Ronin explained that victory was never ensured if defeat was still a possibility before using his robotic form to project his memories of the Aetherian War; Ronin revealed to the heroes of what befell him and his people during the war, saying that the fear and trauma of what the Aetherians did was enough motivation to procure more than enough means to end their race like they did to his. Mac asked if what happened was merely a lesson to teach him the wrongs of universal conquering, though Ronin, in a fury, aggressively banged on the celldoor, stating that no one in his race deserved to suffer through the hell and torment brought upon the Aetherians, including his family. Calming down, Ronin explained that he intends to give the Aetherians a taste of their own medicine with the Cortex, saying that its genetic structure could be modified to target any type of living species. Confused, Doc questioned what the Cortex was, though Ronin merely chuckled, saying that they would soon find out as the submarine surfaced just off the coast of Ball's Pyramid.
Using a dinghy, Ronin and his monsters forced Amici with them onto the island, where they would eventually gain access into the island's caverns. Ronin then forced Amici to traverse the treacherous caverns before him, where they would narrowly avoid various geographical obstacles leading to certain death. Eventually, waiting at the end of the caverns would be a massive chamber containing the crashed Aetherian ship, which Ronin effortlessly broke into using his robotic strength. Taking point of the group while his monsters escorted Amici from behind, Ronin led the party into the ship's central storage chamber, where they would find the Cortex suspended in air within a glass case. Before reaching out to claim it, Ronin noticed that the case was connected to a central console; Ronin deduced that retrieving the Cortex from its stasis would most likely trigger something. Knowing that Amici had served their purpose to him, Ronin quickly broke into the case and swiped the Cortex, triggering a lockdown that began to seal the ship up from the inside. Activating his foot boosters, Ronin bid Amici farewell as he quickly escaped the ship with the Cortex, leaving them trapped in the ship to fend off against his monsters.
Returning to the submarine, Ronin began to sail away as he prepped the Cube of Darkness to manifest a dark corridor to the Caspian Sea. However, he would be caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of the Aetherian ship as it burst out of Ball's Pyramid; within the ship, Amici had allied with the Aetherians that had preserved themselves within the ship through cryostasis, which had been disabled when the Cortex was stolen. Before Ronin's submarine could teleport away through the corridor, Amici were able to board the submarine after being airdropped by the Aetherians. As the submarine soon materialized within the Caspian Sea near Shop 8, Ronin rallied the remainder of his Cube Monsters to fight the intruding heroes. Despite their efforts, Ronin's forces were soon defeated by Amici, having been armed with Aetherian weaponry gifted to them by the Aetherians. Upon breaching the bridge, Amici fought against Ronin for the Cortex; however, while Ronin was distracted, the submarine would collide with one of the Shop 8 support beams, throwing everyone across the bridge. While Amici were temporarily stunned, Ronin seized both the Cube of Darkness and the Cortex before ascending the wreckage of the submarine to Shop 8's lower levels.
Upon reaching the roof where Project Medusa awaited on standby, Ronin placed the Cortex in a slot designed to siphon its power. Announcing that humanity would be the first to witness the power of Project Medusa, Ronin attuned the Cortex via a control console to target human DNA cells at random, which would kill a random variable of humanity while leaving its survivors to be slaves of his army as it advanced through the cosmos back to the Aetherians with Project Medusa in tow. While the Cortex charged up with power, Ronin would be confronted by Amici one last time. Revealing that they would serve as an example for the captured humans in regards to heroes, Ronin unveiled a slot within his chest, to which he inserted the cube into. Now amped with dark energy, Ronin fought aggressively against Amici as the Cortex steadily charged up in the background. As the battle drew closer to Ronin's favor, he would be ambushed from behind by Peterson, who managed to blast him with a shot from his Aetherian shotgun; the shot would decimate Ronin's torso, but ultimately pierce the cube, causing it to crack up and surge with pure dark energy. In his final moment, Ronin sadistically laughed, mocking the heroes that they were out of time as the cube within him exploded, completely destroying him.
Unfortunately for the heroes, Ronin's final words rang true, as the Cortex finished charging with energy. In a last-ditch attempt to stop it, Mac shot the Cortex, though he would be a moment too late; the Cortex had managed to send a powerful charge through Project Medusa, which triggered a massive psionic blast that rippled across the surface of the globe. In the aftermath, the Cortex was destroyed due to Mac shooting it, while roughly 75% of humanity was randomly liquified by the blast, including Doc, Gary and Peterson.
The Sentinel Trials[]
Master Ronin was mentioned by Mac while he recounted the events leading up to the "Day of Medusa" event to Novus after venturing to Earth-31218 for help.
As part of the ultimate Sentinel Trial for control of the Prima Materia contained within the Sentinel Artifacts, Master Ronin would be resurrected in his original form by the ancient substance at a facsimile of Shop 8, where he would act as the guardian of the fourth and penultimate trial room.
Ronin was initially shocked at seeing Mac again, saying that it wasn't possible that he was still alive. Mac told him that he knew what this trial was asking for, saying that it wanted him to get revenge on the man that destroyed 75% of life on Earth. Ronin chuckled, asking if achieving revenge was actually worth the effort he was going through. As Ronin fought Vindicta, Mac called out Ronin as a hypocrite for his flawed beliefs, though Ronin justified himself, saying that Mac would never understand what it was like to suffer if he never suffered. Mac explained that suffering, while inevitable, wasn't something that needed to be enforced on others if possible, though Ronin refused to listen, claiming that it was those who cause it that deserve suffering the most.
Tired of Ronin's words, Mac stopped fighting, much to everyone's confusion. Mac angrily yelled for Ronin to open his eyes, saying he was literally describing himself with his outlook. Before Ronin could counter, Mac advanced, saying that he understood the suffering Ronin went through, though he told the warlord that it wasn't something that he needed to equally respond with. Ronin asked what Mac was doing then if not getting his revenge, though Mac explained that he was undoing the suffering Ronin caused, explaining that all those innocent lives he took held no quarrel with him, much like the Aetherians before he provoked them. Ronin grumbled that the Aetherians were an obstacle for him to protect his people, though Mac told him that he was full of it, saying that Ronin had lost himself in his thoughts for power to the point where he no longer saw the difference between protecting and endangering, using the concept of revenge as hollow justification for getting more power.
Enraged by his words, Ronin leapt towards Mac with a hidden dagger, though he quickly responded by shooting him in the chest. Mac explained that he understood it; the trial wasn't to get revenge on the man that caused his suffering, it was to reveal his errors and get him to admit it, something Ronin did with his hostile response. Ronin denies, though Mac tells him once again to open his eyes and reconsider his outlooks, saying that he sees what Ronin cannot admit verbally. A bitter Ronin solemnly told the four that they had passed the final trial room before dying of his wounds and fading away, creating an exit portal for the four to move onto the final trial room.
Boss Rush[]
Master Ronin appears as a boss in Boss Rush, and is fightable in his own solo fight or as part of the "Power Hungry" and "Unlikely Alliance" group fights. Due to his allotted time being up, Ronin is forced to use a reflection body to house his strong lingering thoughts in order to be present.
After being defeated one last time, Ronin finally accepts Mac's words, admitting that he had indeed succumbed to the corruptive nature of the concept of power, which had blinded him into going down a path of villainy against those who were innocent and sought to live their lives their own way. Having finally seen the errors of his past in a new light and atoned to them, Ronin apologizes to those he caused suffering to before peacefully fading away for the final time. Of the thirteen Roach Chronicles bosses present in the tournament, Master Ronin was the thirteenth and final boss to be eliminated.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ronin, despite his fate, is one of the few antagonists in the Roach Chronicles to have successfully completed their goal, the others are Gruntijackal (Rebirth of Gruntjackal), Omnitron (The War Machine), Ataraxia (in an alternate non-canon ending of The Greatest Threat of All), and Nictis (Eternal Despair).
- Ronin is also the only villain to have completed his main goal twice, the first being during The Eclipse War, and the second during Balance and Order.
- Ronin is one of the most encountered villains, having made an appearance in a total of five different sagas.
References[]
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