Kars the Superbeing Is Born (story arc)

Kars the Superbeing Is Born (超生物カーズ誕生) is the fourteenth and final story arc in Battle Tendency.

It narrates Kars's triumph at his newfound invincibility and Joseph's desperate struggle to somehow defeat his enemy.

Summary
Exploiting the eagerness of the Germans to finish him off, Kars completes his evolution as the Stone Mask shatters and the Super Aja falls to the ground. Kars stands up, all nervously watching him. At first, Stroheim notes that Kars's arm is still melting and assumes that nothing about the Pillar Man has changed. But Kars suddenly transforms his hand into a squirrel, which after a brief frolicking, tears through Stroheim's chest and decimates his soldiers. The flesh-eating squirrel returns to Kars and is reabsorbed while morphing into a butterfly and then a flower, Speedwagon realizing that the Pillar Man can now manipulate his body at a genetic level. Everyone is horrified when Kars stands before the rising sun and exults at his newfound greatness; everyone present realizes that their enemy is now invincible.

In the midst of his companions' despair, Joseph reveals that he still has his all-or-nothing gambit: Joseph runs away, having grabbed the Super Aja. Kars sees that and sprouts wings, flying after Joseph because he finds it fitting to now end the greatest thorn in his side and avenge Esidisi and Wamuu. Smokey, running after Joseph, tries to tell him that Lisa Lisa is his mother. But Joseph is too distracted to listen before he steals one of the Germans' airplanes and lures Kars away from the others.

Joseph shoots at Kars with the plane's machine guns, but the Ultimate Thing answers with by firing his feathers as flurry of razor-sharp scales. Joseph decides to simply fly away with Kars on his trail, but realizing he cannot keep up the distance forever once the fuel is depleted. Speedwagon contacts Joseph by radio and tries to formulate another plan, but Joseph interrupts him, stating his strategy to make Kars plunge into the lava of the Volcano Island near Italy. Speedwagon protests that it is suicide, but Joseph is resolved to take the risk. The scales from before suddenly transform into piranhas and octopus tentacles that proceed to dismantle the plane. It begins to crash as Kars spots a parachute and intercepts what he thought to be Joseph escaping. But Kars realizes that it is only a decoy: Joseph has stayed inside the plane as he slams the aircraft into Kars, bumping him with the nose with intent to dive bomb into the lava.

Kars tries to escape from the force of the nose but is stopped by Stroheim, who is flying in a small aircraft. Before the plane crashes, Stroheim orders Joseph to jump. Falling through the air, Stroheim catches Joseph and gracefully lands on the rim of the volcano, destroying his prosthetic legs. Kars lands in the lava, slowly burning to death, as not even the Ultimate Thing can survive the raw power of Mother Earth. However, while the two men rejoice their victory, Kars's Light Blade pierces through the ground, severing Joseph's left hand. Kars then emerges covered in a lava-proof shell constructed of miniature air pockets. While all known life came from the Earth, and the Earth is capable of taking it all away, not even the Earth itself could defeat the Ultimate Thing, Kars.

A flashback details the past of Kars's ancient tribe. They lived far longer than humans could, but were unable to step into sunlight. Primitive humans worshiped them as gods. They lived peaceful lives, however, when the genius Kars was born, everything went downhill. Believing that these people had untapped potential, Kars created the Stone Mask and used it to strengthen his own abilities. The people feared him and tried to stop him, but Kars killed all of them, even his own parents. Afterwards, Kars, along with two babies (Wamuu and Santana), and his comrade Esidisi set off to learn the secrets of the Stone Mask.

Joseph tries attacking Kars with a Ripple Overdrive, but the Ripple has no effect on Kars now. In fact, Kars is now capable of generating his own Ripple. Kars attacks Joseph with a Ripple a hundred times stronger, melting Joseph's flesh. Joseph, realizing the situation, along with Stroheim, give up knowing that the god standing before them is truly unstoppable. Kars decides to kill Joseph using a Ripple of his own. Kars strikes, but Joseph instinctively raises the Red Stone of Aja. Kars hits it, his amplified Ripple causing a massive eruption.

Kars and Joseph are blasted away on a large rock. Kars attempts to fly away, but is struck by Joseph's severed hand. This act seals Kars's fate, as he gets blasted further up by volcanic fragments. Joseph proclaims that this was his plan from the very beginning to taunt Kars. Launched into space, Kars tries to blow air to propel himself back to earth, but the void of space freezes him from the inside out. Having become the Ultimate Thing, he cannot die no matter how much he wishes for it, thus he eventually stops thinking.

Two weeks later, Joseph's family, Smokey, and Speedwagon are attending Joseph's funeral as he is believed dead from the battle with Kars. However, Joseph shows up to his own funeral, alive and well with a prosthetic hand made by Stroheim's allies. Joseph reveals that he married Suzi Q during his absence. Suzi Q was supposed to send a telegram to everyone telling them that Joseph was alive, but forgot to do so.

In the epilogue, Lisa Lisa finally revealed to Joseph that she is his mother and later remarried. Erina continued to teach until she died peacefully at age 81. Speedwagon made monumental progress as an oil tycoon and died as a bachelor two years after Erina's death. Smokey worked to pay for college, where he studied politics and became the first black mayor in his hometown in Georgia. Stroheim never saw Joseph and the others again. He died at the battle of Stalingrad as a proud Nazi soldier.

Fifty years pass and Joseph has grown old, with a dislike of Japanese people because his daughter had married a Japanese man twenty years prior. He has not lost his overall attitude, however, as he walks over to his flight, Walkman in hand, to see his daughter Holy and his grandson Jotaro.

Chapters

 * 065 (109). 
 * 066 (110). 
 * 067 (111). 
 * 068 (112). 
 * 069 (113). 

Volumes

 * 08 (12). 

Anime Episodes

 * 16 (25). 
 * 17 (26).