Changes
The Crushing Fist, as first named by a deceased [[Sentient Flame]] during interrogation by [[Cristina Thompson]] with the [[Soul Reader (Book)]], is considered to be a series of apocalypic events that will result in the destruction of the human populated area of the multiverse. The Crushing Fist originated from the destruction of a vast number of realities by [[The Mad GodDevastation]], and is caused by the destroyed fragments of realities being drawn to the [[Outer Shield]]. The result of the accumulation of the [[Inter-reality Dust]], or ashes of these destroyed realities is to create a literal crushing force on the entire shielded structure, which causes earthquakes and dimensional rifts to [[The Raving In-betweens]] to appear between different parallel realities. The warping and spatial anomalies caused by this pressure is the cause of the loud metallic screeching noises heard on many worlds affected by disasters.
The Crushing Fist was reported by [[Higgins]] to [[Conn Thompson]] to have been brought on by the actions of [[Ward Shaw]], a brigadier-general commonly known as [[The Sword]], and later as The Double-Edged Sword. [[Higgins]] believed it to have been caused by [[The Sword]] going too far with his brutal tactics during the engagements in [[The Ink]] on [[Earth 44]].
Subsequent observation of the damage to the [[Outer Shield]] by [[Ward Shaw]] after passing through the [[Shadow Sphere]] identified that the damage appeared to have been caused by the flailing of [[The Mad GodDevastation]], which seriously compromised the [[Outer Shield]] and triggered various readjustments of the positions of various universes within, along with the buildup of the pressure later known as The Crushing Fist.
[[The First World]] has attempted to put both [[Ward Shaw]] and a group of [[Brownshirt]]s on trial, accusing them all of bringing The Crushing Fist down on the multiverse, however the subsequent escape of the [[Brownshirt]]s from [[Teskoy Prison]] and their capture by [[The Black-eyed Army]] changed the nature of the trial, which was then held against [[Cristina Thompson]], [[Conn Thompson]], [[Ward Shaw]] and [[Vasiliev Blaku]].
