Awesome Land VI: Dawn of a New Era

[Bruce Leroy]

"Never fear, ne'er-do-wells! I, Sky Captain Bactus Virerina Captain of the Skys, have arrived to help you in your time of peril. For you see I have traveled far and wide across all of the sky, in search of a new adventure. And what luck I just so happened to come across such a monstrous creature. Defeating such a beast shall surely be a tremendous and boastful achievement. I shall aid you in your rime of need and be seen as the savior of this battle and the glory of victory shall be mine. Not to worry no thanks will be necessary, just your unyielding admiration is all that I require. Now, first mate, turn The Foul Thunder portside and roast that beats with the flamethrower, use the gatling guns to contain that terror, and get ready to shoot the harpoons on my command."

As the airship began to turn in the air, the captain began to envision how this battle may go, all the men that could be lost, not knowing what exactly the thing was or what it could do. 'Never mind all that. This is going to be your moment of glory. Once it is all over, there will be wenches and rhum for everyone.' As the ship finished its approach, the captain let a confident smile sneak onto his face. "Alright lads Flamethrowers and gunners at the ready. THIS! IS! IT! FIRE!!!"

---

On the ground, Cod Commando had just finished enchanting Marcus' gun.

"So what is that think?" Marcus asked.

"It's something bad enough that I need your help to stop it. Does that answer your question?" Commando replied.

"NO! NOT AT ALL!" Cole yelled out trying to figure out what had been done to his gun. "AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR GUNS? WHAT ARE WE EVEN DOING HERE? WE CAN'T FIGHT THAT THING! WE AREN'T EVEN IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT!"

Cod walked over to Cole and smacked him upside his head.
"Get it together man! 1) I made it so your guns can shoot laser beams, don't ask how I did it. 2) We are soldiers, if you can't tell that that thing is bad news then you are a lost cause. Now lets go out there and help those folks and maybe save Baird."

With that the commando pulled out two modified AK-47's, and holding one in each arm charged towards the monster leading the Gears into battle.

[Mizagium]

“Sure as shit,” Knox declared, a little more confidently than he felt. Whatever was going on with Isla Umbra was fizzing up his powers. All the same, he took Dace by the shoulder and dragged on the flow of time around them. Time, in turn, slowed like a bow-legged puppy colliding with a ledge that was just low enough where it didn’t see it in time to jump, so it just tumbled on over, rolling and smiling, but full of panic all the while.

Knox nearly lost his balance, which was weird, because even in his days at the Organization, he hadn’t had that rough of a go. It was this place, he cursed. But at least, time was stopped. Or close enough. Stretched to the point where one second felt like ten years, it was whatever.

Tentatively, Knox release Dace. Thankfully, the other didn’t phase out of alter-time. “Alright, so that went well. I…didn’t teleport us, which was what I meant to do, but I think this will work just fine. Shall we?”

He jerked his thumb at Dark Beast Zais and casually strolled along. “So what’s the plan?”

[Myrdraxxis]

Dace stared at Dark Beast Zais for a long moment. "Hm." He approached slowly. "So what happens when he dies?" Dace asked, though he didn't look back at Knox. Really the question was more for himself. Now that he had a chance to just stop and think, Dace could hardly believe they'd gotten to this point. He'd all but given up on his original mission of killing Zais, even when he'd learned of the Immortal's inevitable fate from Sindri.

"Well, I think I'm pretty tired of this guy."

Dace reared back and with a big lunge, stabbed the Hero Sword through the Dark Beast's core.

There was a long moment.

Then the world started moving again as the latent corruption of Umbra Isla overrode Knox's control. FOr dramatic effect.

"Uh oh." Dace muttered.

Dark Beast Zais slowly looked down and saw the blade stabbed into his chest. Dace waited for the cry of rage that never came. Instead the beast was, for once, oddly silent, even as the rest of the protagonists rained attacks down on him and Sark made sweet love to his back.

Dace and Dark Beast Zais stared at one another for a moment and then the beast's mouth curved upward into a familiar, infuriating smirk.

A dry, guttural chuckle drifted out of the beast's maw, and then Dark Beast Zais dissolved into ashes. The Beast's form was gone, leaving behind the core of Zais' power: a hovering orb of pure Darkness that somehow absorbed all light but emitted an ethereal glow.

It took Dace a moment to realize that he still had his sword lodged in the thing. He sighed and tugged back sharply.

"Finally that guy-" His words turned into a cry of surprise as the core followed after him and struck Dace in the chest.

Dace convulsed and sank to his knees. His body felt like it was coming apart, yet he could feel power coursing through him. Somewhere behind him Dace heard Sindri say, "Oh hell, really?"

Then he heard Zais' voice in his head. 'Tag, you're it.'

That asshole.

Eventually Dace managed to stand. He looked over at Knox. "Uh. What."

Then he disappeared in a shroud of Darkness.

[Mizagium]

Knox eyed Dace warily, waiting. Waiting for…something. Anything.

Clara Lux fell to the ground and howled.

That, that was what Knox was waiting for.

Clara couldn’t see beyond the glowing Light seeping from her eyes, nose, mouth, ears. She practically oozed burning brilliance. Connected with the Earth again, power resumed its flow into her. Zais was gone, the Dark Beast defeated: her mission complete. But the Darkness remained. Her mission would never end, not until every last shadow disappeared and the Light of the Goddess filled the World. Dace, as the newest recipient of that Darkness, was her new enemy.

She charged at the wobbly man, a shining star of vengeance streaking across the dead land. Her passing scorched the earth and burned the air. She would tear right through Knox, right through Dace. She would tear him apart, piece by piece until only the Darkness remained. And then she would consume that Darkness until it filled her, and the Light filled her, too, and she and it burned away in a righteous blaze of –

Knox stopped her with an outstretched hand. He’d had enough of fighting Immortals for one day. With her frozen there, with everything stopped around him, he huffed. The dampener on his powers had faded somewhat, but he couldn’t wait until he was free of Isla Umbra. He eyed Clara with…something. Not hatred. Pity, perhaps? Understanding? He wasn’t sure, but he decided he couldn’t leave her alone, so, with a flick of his hand, he sent her away. He didn’t like the idea of casting her randomly away, but he was too distracted to fix a destination in his mind. She was gone, and time resumed.

“It seems,” Knox observed, giving no indication of what he’d just done, “that you’re the new Immortal of Darkness. Congrats, I guess. How do you feel?”

-

Somewhere, far away, Clara Lux reappeared and fell over herself. She scanned the area, screaming in rage, and found nothing. No one. She howled again and started running.

[Monika]

"Ah!"

A sudden disturbance jolted Artemis from the state of intense concentration she'd sentenced herself to for the sake of maintaining her dimensional seal. The shock was so great that her powers were disrupted for a split second - just long enough for her to be subjected to normal gravity and come falling down from her meditative position in the sky. Fortunately, Galro looked up from his magazine at the perfect time and caught her deftly in his arms.

"My, my..." he laughed. "I'm no stranger to women falling for me, but-"

Artemis teleported from his grasp before he was able to finish the line.

"Is everything alright, Artemis?" Scern asked, poorly suppressing his laughter at Galro (who looked more than a little irritated from being so coldly rebuffed).

"Did you not feel that?" she responded.

"Feel what? Is it raining or something?" Scern looked up at the sky; it was dark, but there wasn't a cloud a sight.

"No, but that's not a bad idea," Galro muttered, snapping his fingers. Clouds quickly gathered in the sky and let loose a light drizzle, with the cloud directly above Scern being particularly forceful.

"Zais," she said simply. "He's..." In typical Artemis fashion, she dropped the conversation without a second thought and moved on to confirm her suspicions. "Telepathy!", she shouted, homing in on Knox's signature. 'Knox...Is it over?'

---

Back in Really Cool Land (I bet you all had forgotten about it!), Leon was enjoying a cup of tea with Veritaz, presumably chatting about a day in the life of a palace ninja. It seemed like they were just getting into the heart of their conversation when a young woman suddenly appeared, clad in the black Omnistar uniform of Leon's Elite Corporate Espionage Force (ECEF).

"Mr. Veralice, sir!" she announced.

Leon sighed and turned toward the woman. "We were just getting to the good part. I hope this interruption is about something important."

"Yes, sir." She nodded. "We have finished placing Y-patches around the castle. The premises should be secure now."

"Should be?" Leon raised an eyebrow. "Did you test it?"

"We shall do so at once. Permission to call the Epsilon?"

"Is there any other way to test security?" Leon smiled.

The woman nodded. Withdrawing a two-way radio from her uniform pocket, she cleared her throat and spoke. "ECEF Transport Personnel. All ECEF Transport Personnel. The boss has granted us permission to use the Crimson Shadow Epsilon against the palace. I repeat: We may use the Epsilon against the palace. Summon it at once. Over."

Another voice answered from the radio channel. "Roger that. Calling the Crimson Shadow Epsilon."

Turning back to Veritaz, Leon grinned and said, "You're gonna love this. Watch!" He motioned toward a nearby window, one that had only just been repaired after the Lolandas incident.

At first, there was nothing. Just the silence one might expect from the castle grounds in the dead of night. But then...

THWEWTHWEWTHWEWTHWEWTHWEWTHWEWTHWEWTHWEW

There was a deafening sound coming from right outside the palace, as if a hundred thousand rocket thrusters had fired off at once. Then came the sight: a massive red, black, and silver spacecraft descending from the skies, shimmering in the moonlight.

"Impressive, right?" Leon asked rhetorically. "Got it for hosting a particularly well-received tournament a while back. But you haven't seen anything yet. Ready all weapons!"

The female ECEF member repeated the command into her radio. "Ready all weapons."

CLICK! SCHWOOP! FWOOM!

The unmistakable sound of guns cocking and cannons swinging forward heralded the moment Leon was waiting for. Just beyond the window, he and Veritaz could see a million barrels of death pointed directly at the palace, staring them in the face.

Leon smirked. "Fire."

The command didn't even need to be repeated. The word hadn't even fully left Leon's mouth by the time every single weapon on his spaceship began to glow. And then.

BOOM!

There was no countdown. No beeps. No charging noises. Just a blinding light and the sweet melody of a million lasers hitting their target at once, utterly annihilating everything in their path...

...except, when the light cleared, it looked as if nothing had happened. The weapons had most definitely fired - that was certain - but the palace and the surrounding ground were completely in tact, the same as they were beforehand.

Leon didn't even need to see the look on Veritaz's face. "Impressed? With the work my team has done, there is absolutely no force that can penetrate these castle walls. The Epsilon's weapons are roughly equivalent to a few million atomic bombs," he said rather matter-of-factly. "Not even an Immortal would be able to break in now. Oh, and here's the clincher!" He turned back to the ECEF member and asked her, "You're one of the crew who can teleport, right?"

The woman nodded.

"Good. Turn your radio to channel 6."

"Yes, Mr. Veralice." She grabbed her radio and turned one of the dials, and immediately after doing so she was gone. Leon had snapped his fingers and teleported her outside the palace.

Grabbing his own radio, Leon said, "Alright, now try teleporting back inside."

There was a brief pause.

"I cannot, sir."

"Try again," Leon demanded.

There was another pause.

"Still unable to, sir."

"One more time. Quitters never win."

This time, there were a few grunts, the desperate sounds of someone straining to use magic. Then, another pause, longer than before.

"It is impossible, sir. I cannot teleport into the castle."

"Just what I wanted to hear!" Leon cheered. "Stay out there and help prepare the Epsilon for departure."

"Yes, Mr. Veralice."

Shoving the radio into his suit pocket, Leon glanced at Veritaz and grinned. "The palace can't even be teleported into, Veritaz. That's how good your new security is. I'd say I've really outdone myself this time. You may applaud at will."

---

Elsewhere in the palace, Amelia was waiting for Queen Francine to address her question. (SEE PAGE 7, TYLER).

[Monika]

"One, two, three...Looks like there's about a hundred left..."

In Super Land, Clyde had volunteered been roped into finding lodging and accommodations for all of the people that had been evacuated to the floating island. There were tens of thousands - no, that was a significant understatement. Millions of people had been teleported there (6,391,225 by Artemis' count), and somehow Clyde found himself playing the role of their lone shepherd.

"How did this even happen?" he grumbled, directing a family of four to a small cottage a few blocks away.


An indeterminate period of time earlier...

Clyde had been perusing the books in the Royal Library after his last encounter with Artemis, reliving some of the greater moments of Super Land's rich history. It was such a simple thing he took pleasure in; one would think a recently freed demon would be doing something a lot more exciting than sifting through old texts. But in the Fallen Paradise, Clyde didn't even have that luxury, so he was content to spend his post-liberation period this way.

"Besides," he said, placing one book back on its shelf and grabbing another. "Until Artemis and her Immortal pals show up, I don't have anyone to talk to up here. That gives me plenty of time to sit back, relax, and enjoy a nice b-"

There was a sudden rumbling outside and then a low, dull roar. Was it thunder? No, thunder tended to occur in short, loud bursts. This was a softer, more continuous noise. And Super Land hadn't seen a storm in decades, anyway. Previous High Seraphs of the country kept storms at bay with the Wind Orb, maintaining a sort of tropical island paradise.

Letting his curiosity get the best of him, Clyde set his book down on the table and pushed open the library's large double doors that led to the outside world. And that's when he saw the source of the noise: millions of people who appeared to be evenly spaced out in a thousand separate rows, all murmuring together incoherently.

"What in the-"

"Oi!" One of the men in line called out when he spotted Clyde. "Is you the guy we's s'pose to be gettin' our instructions from?" The rest of the murmuring crowd settled down to hear the response.

"Wait, what?" Clyde cautiously approached the massive group and eyed them with only the slightest hint of suspicion. "I'm not sure what-"

"Yeah, yeah!" A woman from the crowd piped up. "Artemis sent us up here to evacuate the city and told us to 'await further instruction!' You're the one she was talking about, right?"

Instructions? Clyde thought. Artemis, what have you gotten me into? "I think you all have the wrong idea. I'm ju-"

"Hey, there's no way that could be the guy who's gonna help us get settled here!" another man cried, pointing accusingly at Clyde. "He's very obviously a demon! Look at the horns and wings! And don't even get me started on the blond hair!"

The mass murmuring began again in earnest, the crowd collectively saying things like "Yes, this must be a mistake. That man looks very demonic." and "Artemis would never trust our fate to a blond guy."

With a heavy sigh, Clyde slapped his palm against his face and made a mental note to talk to Artemis about this later. "Alright," he said. "Look, I-"

But the people were now in a frenzy, screaming things like "Burn the demon!" and "Put a shirt on, hippie!", leaving Clyde's voice unable to be heard.

The Demon King took in a deep breath, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted, "I SAID LOOK! I AM THE PERSON WHO'S GOING TO GIVE YOU FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. ARTEMIS IS A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE. IF SHE SENT YOU HERE TO MY COUNTRY FOR SAFEKEEPING, THEN I'M GOING TO KEEP YOU SAFE. IF YOU'RE ALL WARTIME REFUGEES, THEN I'M GOING TO FIND YOU A HOME AT ONCE! NOW EVERYONE FALL IN LINE AND PREPARE FOR YOUR HOUSING ASSIGNMENTS!"

One crowd member raised her hand as if to object.

"FALL. IN. LINE. NOW!" Clyde repeated.

The crowd fell silent immediately.

"That's better," he said firmly. "Now let's get you all settled..."


And that is how Clyde found himself organizing the importation of several million Awesome Land evacuees, of which there were now just a dozen or so waiting to be situated.

"Almost there..." Clyde muttered, paging through an old Super Land real estate guide he'd found in the library. "Alright, there should be a house just large enough for a family of six about 12 verals from the old diner in Lestia City. Grab on and I'll fly you down there if the walk is too difficult to make. Women and children first."

Clyde was being very cautious in the way he sorted through the refugees. Restored or not, Super Land was still home to a bunch of corpses that Knox's time magic (thankfully) hadn't brought back. The Demon King made sure to take families with small children and the very squeamish into areas with abandoned houses or houses that had been put up for sale and were guaranteed not to have now-deceased tenants residing there. After dropping off this most recent family at one such location, he returned to the central plaza (though not before giving the people in that family a hug - they had warmed up to the demon rather quickly), where he found a married couple and a few loners, the last few people who needed to be housed.

"You guys aren't particularly grossed out by dead people, are you? There are still a few rooms left in the Ophanis Inn a couple blocks that way-" he pointed in the general direction of the hotel "-if you don't mind it."

"Pfft, dead people?" The married woman scoffed. "You know we came from Awesome Land, right? Dead people are an actual everyday occurrence. Most of us were desensitized to that stuff years ago."

Her husband nodded in agreement. "Leon was very good about keeping dead people around as examples. Very effective emperor."

The loners of the group, several of whom were dressed in all black and sporting obnoxiously dyed and styled hairdos, shrugged their shoulders. "We all die someday, man," one said. "In the end, it doesn't even matter."

"Uh-huh." Clyde sketched out a crude map and wrote down some directions, handing the paper to the group. "Follow those directions. Ophanis Inn has a huge sign out front. You can't miss it."

"Even if we do miss it, it doesn't matter."

"Just go," Clyde said sternly, waving them off. "Teenagers these days, I swear..." And as the last few of the evacuees departed, Clyde exhaled a deep breath and was about to congratulate himself on a job well done when someone suddenly whispered behind him.

"Wait. Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"Hmm? Did I miss-" Clyde stopped mid-sentence as the voice finally registered in his mind. Soft. Cold. Dripping with contempt. There was only one being in the world Clyde knew to speak like that. "Antitheon," he grumbled through clenched teeth, not attempting to conceal the utter distaste he felt right now.

"Congratulations," the angel said. "You guessed correctly. Would you like a prize?"

Clyde turned around to face the unwelcome guest and frowned. "Would you actually give me one?"

"My presence should be enough of a gift," Antitheon said, his tone actually managing some semblance of sincerity. "You don't seem very excited to see me, Clyde."

"Oh, no, I absolutely adore these surprise visits," Clyde assured him. "It's just that whenever you stop by, it's generally not for a friendly chat."

"Come now, Clyde. I am an angel. A messenger of good. My visits only ever signify that something great has happened or will happen, and today is no different."

"So you've brought good news, then?" Clyde frowned.

"You catch on quickly." Antitheon withdrew two of his trademark playing cards from his robe pocket and snapped his fingers. Instantaneously, a sword came from the surface of each card, one a deep red and the other a deep blue.

"Is this the good news?" the demon asked impatiently. "Two more of your magical, red and blue swords?"

"Falu and indigo," Antitheon corrected him. "Seraphina's Everflowing Time and Everpresent Space, to be specific. But the swords themselves are not the news. It is what I plan to show you with them." Antitheon pointed the two swords in front of him, where the space quickly began to ripple and distort. "I can allow you to see any event across any dimension that has occurred at any point in the past. Mother's magic truly is amazing."

Eventually the space in front of the two was opened into a perfectly ovaline one-way portal.

"Umbra Isla. Five minutes ago," Antitheon demanded.

The portal acquiesced and began reflecting an interesting image from its surface. There were perhaps a dozen noteworthy characters in the scene. Some Clyde recognized from the council meeting, like Knox and Heimrall. Others stood out to him because of their peculiar appearances. There was an angelic looking woman who seemed to literally be burning with fury, another woman who looked like Artemis but was definitely not Artemis, some kind of...walking, gun-toting fish and a floating ghost ship? And still, there was one being whom he was positive he'd never seen but was sure that he recognized. It was the massive dark beast that all of the other characters seemed to be fighting against.

"That's Zais," Clyde said instinctively.

Antitheon nodded in affirmation but put his fingers to his lips. "Shh. It's about to get to the good part. Volume increase."


The scene grew a bit louder as another of the characters Clyde didn't recognize began to speak.

"Well, I think I'm pretty tired of this guy."

The man took an impressive-looking sword and thrust it through the monster's - Zais' - core. There was a long pause, and then some dry laughter, and finally the beast turned to ash, leaving only an orb of Darkness behind.

"They...actually killed him?" Clyde said, more than a little surprised. He had fought Zais once, a long time before that, and recalled how much of a struggle it had been. And he was sure Zais had only been using a fraction of his power then.

Antitheon nodded again. "They did. Oh, I hate this part." The angel tapped the indigo blade like a remote control. The portal fast forwarded past the next few parts of the scene - Dace becoming the new Immortal of Darkness and Knox stopping Clara before she could kill him. "But that is the news I wished to share with you."

"And why's that?" Clyde asked.

"Is it not obvious? I want you to see for yourself just how fragile those pathetic Immortals are. Even with their false, imitative powers, they are still just human. And they bleed like everyone else. When last we met, I don't think I successfully managed to explain to you just how simple this mission was. I take full responsibility for not having been able to reduce the explanation to your level."

"Gee, thanks," Clyde replied flatly.

"Consider this a bit of a pep talk before it is time to go into battle," Antitheon said. "If they can get rid of an Immortal with their hodgepodge group of 'heroes', then surely there is nothing preventing you from the doing the same." Antitheon snapped his fingers again. The portal disappeared and the twin swords returned to their cards, which he swiftly put back into his pocket.

"You're too kind. Now I know you haven't sent me on a suicide mission."

"See?" The angel flashed a genuine smile. "I told you it was good news."

That's definitely one way to phrase it, Clyde thought. "Zais is gone now. So, what next? I certainly don't want to rush things, but I'd like a timetable for when I'm going to be dragged off to war."

"What next?" Antitheon looked at Clyde in confusion. "Did I not tell you before? Mother wants the mortals to enjoy a period of relaxation before she begins this campaign. Enjoy this reprieve while you have it. In the meantime, I'll be leaving."

"Where to?"

"I'm an angel, Clyde. I have angel business to attend to." The rings of light that prefaced his teleportation began to form around him.

Well, Clyde thought, that meeting went by much more nicely than I thought it would. He must have been in a good mood. He wasn't even overly sarcastic this time around.

"Oh, and before I forget, Clyde," Antitheon began, pausing the teleportation effect. "Since Zais is now dead and his war is over, some semblance of normalcy shall come back to Awesome Land soon. Your refugees will probably want to return home."

"But...But I just got them settled here!" Clyde protested.

"I know," Antitheon said, his voice thick with mock-pity. "And you did such a good job of it, too. Farewell." And with that, the angel disappeared in an explosion of light...

---

...reappearing somewhere far away, where he found an enraged, screaming Clara Lux running in a random direction. He gently put up a psychic barrier to block her path.

"Well, well," he called out to her, descending to a point just a few meters above the ground. "Someone seems a little upset."

[Mizagium]

’Seems that way,’ he replied, not turning away from Dace. ’Zais is out, but Dace was…chosen, I guess as the next host of Darkness, so we’ve got that going for us. Do you know where we are? We could use a portal to get us home. Oh, you, uh, can probably stop the dimension seal. We, uh, aren’t there anymore.’ He winced involuntarily, anticipating her mood knowing their plan had been so easily circumvented.

-

Despite himself, Veritaz clapped appreciatively. “I’m beginning to see why you were emperor.” Seconds later, a dozen Thundercougerfalconbird ninjas appeared in the room, babbling semi-incoherently about the attack on the palace (and subsequent collateral damage to the surrounding area).

Veritaz waved them quiet. “It’s alright, you lot, just a test of our new security system.”

“But, sir,” one ventured, indistinct among the other ninjas (you had to be at least rank 7 to gain a unique look), “we don’t have a security system besides us.”

“Well then good news everyone, we have a security system besides us. Now please, go see to the surrounding areas. Make sure nothing important was broken.”

And in a flash, they were alone again. “Mister Veralice, I must say, with all sincerity, I am impressed.”

-

Queen Francine finally decided to answer Emily. "This evening will do just fine, I think, provided he wasn't already scheduling other appointments. Johnny isn't going anywhere - or if he is, I couldn't really stop him, and judging by that explosion just now and the fact we're still alive, I think whatever Veritaz was up to worked, so...yes. This evening."

-

Clara’s fury melted away at Antitheon’s arrival. Rather, it seeped away. All the energy she siphoned from the earth through Malkuth was drawn away from her – and towards Antitheon. She resisted, of course, struggling to maintain her hold on the power, but eventually clarity returned to her.

Clara gasped as if needing oxygen for the first time in years, and collapsed to the ground. He connection to the Malkuth seal closed up, and all that power dissipated either into the earth or the angel before her. She struggled to breath and stand, feeling as though she had become an empty husk after an insect molted. Yet, she retained the presence of mind to recognize what had come before her.

“My…my lord…” she bowed as best she could. “I serve…the Goddess…”

[Myrdraxxis]

Dace just looked down at his hands. "This has to be a joke." He said flatly.

"I most certainly wish it was." Sindri replied, walking up to the newest Immortal. "Gods, this is going to be messy." Sindri rubbed the bridge of his nose. Which was odd because he generally appeared as a faceless being with a hood. So really it looked like he just shoved his hand into his face. "We have to spread the word to what little remains of the forces in Awesome Land. There's-"

"Waaaaait a minute." Dace stopped him. A slow grin spread across his face. "Does this mean I'm your boss now."

Sindri gave him a glare that could freeze lava, again rather odd for someone with no discernible face.

"It totally does doesn't it." Dace chuckled.

"So help me Dace, if you-"

"Oh this is going to be more fun than I thought." Dace was positively grinning. He turned to Knox. "So, how does this whole Immortal thing work? Are there perks or-"

He was interrupted by Sindri who grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and began shaking Dace. "Listen to me. You are the boss which means you are now responsible for every single Shadow Being. Zais created us, but I refuse to just let my people die along with him. So we're going to play this safe or so help me I will shit in your dreams."

[Bruce Leroy]

After witnessing the dark beast destruction right before his eye's, Captain Bactus took a moment to reflect on the battle. The ship and crew suffered no damage and they men deserved a reprieve.

"Men," the Captain started, "you fought bravely and had it not been for us, I don't want to think about what would have happened to those poor lads on the ground. We all deserve a drink don't you say? How's about we invite everyone aboard and find the nearest tavern?"

The men without a moment of thought let a triumphant roar, and the ship began to descend to the ground.

Upon reaching a low enough altitude the Captain grabbed a megaphone. "Do not fear, brave ... uh... folk. I, Sky Captain Bactus Virerina Captain of the Skys, am here to offer ye a ride to the nearest town and tavern for drinks, food, debauchery, and all the wenches ye could want. What do ye say? Also... we kinda would like directions to said town.. we stumbled upon ye only by chance. Me navigator got into the rum and got us lost. So how bout it mates?"

[Monika]

'Not there anymore? How?' Artemis intended for that thought to be kept to herself, but it ended up seeping through the telepathic link. 'Tell me, Knox. Am I so weak that I cannot even retain someone within the confines of my own element?' The question was only semi-rhetorical, and she gave Knox a few seconds to respond before continuing. 'I suppose it doesn't matter at this point. This just means I need more training. Fortunately, I am at least strong enough to tell where you are. I will be there momentarily.'

Scern noticed the Immortal of Space frowning during this period of intense thought and spoke up. "Is everything alright, Artemis?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" She waved her hand in front of her, creating a portal. "Zais is dead. A replacement has been found. This mission is complete."

"Well, uh, if you say so," Scern replied. "You just sound kind of-"

"I've already gone through one emotional outburst today. I assure you that there is no anger left in my system. I will be back."

"Where are you going?"

"To congratulate the team on a job well done," Artemis said, "and to make plans for our next course of action. Stay here and guard the premises."

"You got it, boss!" Scern gave a faux military salute and waved Artemis off, watching as she disappeared into the portal.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

She reappeared from a portal on Umbra Isla just a foot or two away from Knox.

"Congratulations," she told him in her traditional, borderline emotionless style. Realizing that Knox and the group had essentially just been through the climax of a war, she deduced that it would be appropriate to inquire about their condition. "So...How are you?" she asked in a way that definitely did not feel forced. "Are you injured?"

---

"Ah, you're too kind!" Leon bowed slightly to his one-man audience, Veritaz. "Really Cool Land and I go way back, so I had to pull out all the stops to keep this place safe. You won't find a more protected stronghold anywhere on the planet!" He paced the room for a bit, knocking on the magically reinforced walls and marveling at his team's handiwork.

"Being such good friends with you all," Leon added, waving aside all the times he had directly or indirectly harmed the country, "I am obliged to ask if there is anything else that I can do for you or the Royal Family."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And while Veritaz chatted with the former Emperor of Awesome Land, Amelia found herself about to talk to the current. She a had a miniature heart attack when the words left Queen Francine's lips: "This evening will do just fine."

"This evening," Amelia repeated, using all of her ninja training to not let the panic show on her face. "Yes, this evening should work wonderfully, Your Majesty. Let me just run this by the emperor."

Taking a few steps away from the queen, Amelia placed her badge back up to her ear and spoke. "Emperor Awesome," she said tentatively, "Queen Francine would like to come over this evening." She drew in a deep breath as she awaited the response.

"This...evening?" Emperor Awesome replied. "Are you certain?" Some shuffling sounds could be heard coming from his end of the communications link, as if he were pulling some curtains. "Isn't it already night time?"

"Would you like me to tell her that, sir?"

"No, no, that's quite alright...If the Queen wants to come over this evening then it would be in my best interest to oblige. Tell her that we need just a few hours to make the castle presentable."

"Are you sure, Emperor?" Amelia brought the badge close to her lips and whispered, "What about the dinosaur person and the land ship captain? Are they still attacking the barrier?"

"No, no, I believe they're off in the war against the Immortal of Darkness somewhere in the Metro Dynasty City area. Unless the battle has moved elsewhere since then. Some of these Shadow Beings look like they don't even know what's going on, honestly..."

"Shadow Beings?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "And you're sure you want me to bring the Queen over there?"

"Yes, Emily. It should be fine. It looks like things have quieted down a bit. At least enough for a dinner with foreign dignitaries."

"If you say so. I'll tell her at once." Amelia clipped the badge to her suit and walked back up to Queen Francine. "Emperor Awesome would be delighted to have you over this evening," she told her, smiling. "He would like just a few hours to have the castle prepared for your arrival, and then we can be on our way."

---

"Oh, there is no need for such formalities, Clara," Antitheon answered her, descending closer to (but not actually touching the ground). "Though I am glad that you acknowledge me as an angel. I have dealt with some people who were...less than receptive to such an idea." He contained the mild irritation that was stirring up within him and kept smiling. "Your service to my Mother is greatly appreciated. She is very proud to have someone as noble and valiant as you fighting on Her behalf."

His expression changed to one of concern as he added, "I saw your battle with that wretched Immortal of Darkness. You were quite heroic. But you seem to have been injured rather severely. You found it difficult to maintain the connection to your Seraph powers, didn't you?"

[Mizagium]

“Uh,” no, Knox replied, a little taken aback. “None of us are, really. That General lady might be but, uh, she’s…anyway. Dace could probably use a once-over, considering. How did you know to re-establish telepathy, anyway?”

-

Veritaz clapped Leon on the shoulder. “No, my friend. You have done quite enough for them. For me. Come, let me show you out.”

-

Queen Francine nodded, as if expecting this answer. “Of course, of course. It is rather last-minute. You may rest here in the palace, if you need to. I don’t very well expect you to run back to Awesome Land, and then return to take us there.”

She paused, frowning. “Although, I suppose I wouldn’t be very surprised if you were capable of such a feat.”

-

Clara dropped her eyes. “I…somewhat, blessed one. Opening the Seal of Malkuth was…taxing. The power flowed into me so very well…but I could not control myself afterward. I would not have been able to open the Yesod Seal and continue as I was.”

She lowered her head farther. “Forgive my failure.”

-

After a grueling [INSERT APPROPRIATE TIME PERIOD HERE] Uggo and Mayweather stepped back, stained with grease, smelling of various gasses, but triumphant. Various other Imperial engineers cheered, but those two just nodded appreciatively.

“Never through I’d be working with an Octopus,” he said gratefully.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mayweather replied playfully. Absolutely no one in the Space Force division had noticed she was an octopus – and she hadn’t even tried to hide it, really. But natural camouflage was natural camouflage.

The ALI ParFunSpa wasn’t pretty, that was for sure; it looked like it had been assembled hastily and from whatever scraps had been lying around. Because that’s exactly what had happened. All the same, it was spaceworthy, durable, and could carry a crew of around thirty. Although most effective in a vacuum, the ship was able to function under pressures up to 1.5 atmospheres, and most definitely wouldn’t burn up upon reentry, which was important.

“Alastor,” Uggo called. “Alastor where’d you go? Ship’s ready. Got the blueprints so you and your Empire whatever can copy and modify what you will. Can I leave now?”

[Calefrun]

”You will pay.”

“Ah... Heimrall.” Sark said, finding speaking to be more difficult than expected due to the Immortal's hands around his throat. She may only have been a teenage girl, but she was stronger than she looked. “I've not seen you in a long time. It's been... what, maybe a few hours? Anyway, I'm terribly sorry about... whatever it is you're blithering about, but now isn't really the best time. I'm a little bust draining another Immortal's power at the moment, so I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait your turn.”

Darkness tentacles extended from the vampire's back and wrapped themselves around Heimrall's arms and waist, prying her off of him and tossing her to the ground. “Ooh, I couldn't do that before. I wonder just how much power I can obtain from this fool before those 'heroes' defeat hi-”

And then Zais crumbled into ash. “Dammit.” Sark fell to the ground, and landed just in time to see the Darkness orb enter Dace. “Double dammit.” He could attack in an attempt to take the rest of Zais' power for himself, but even with his newfound abilities he wasn't sure if he could take on three Immortals, the Efrun woman, and all of these other people at the same time yet.

And then Artemis showed up. “Yep, time to leave.” He turned to the Earth Immortal. “If you're going to attack me, Heimrall, you had best be quick about it. I don't intend to stick around for very long.” He held out his hands at his sides to show that he was unarmed as if to say, ”Take your best shot, fool.”

---

After the dust settled and Zais was no more, Kayla returned to her original form and let out a heavy sigh. Bit it was no sigh of relief.

“Maaaaaaaaan, I didn't get to do ANYTHING! And Sark is...” She looked around, but couldn't tell where the vampire had wound up when Zais died. “Well, he's somewhere. At any rate, I can at least still make myself useful by bringing everyone back to Awesome Land. I don't think there's anybody else here who can-”

”Congratulations,” Artemis monotoned as she stepped out of a portal that had suddenly appeared. “Fiz!” Kayla stomped her foot. “Okay, well at least I can still heal everyone's... injuries...” her sentence trailed off as she looked around the group, realizing that nobody looked to be particularly wounded. After all, most of the people that had been struck by Zais' attacks had died and respawned. She couldn't help but wonder if any of them had been in any actual danger to begin with.

She sighed again, and started walking towards the portal. “Anyone have anything they need healed? Bruises, scratches, papercuts, muscle aches, anything? I'll uh... I'll be on the other side if you need me.”

---

Cozal stepped out of the arena, absentmindedly toying with the phone Mareike had given him after the battle. Well, that was... different, he thought.

As it had turned out, the inside of the arena was a complex battlefield composed of walls, platforms, and a few small buildings, some of which rotated or moved along an axis. Like the surrounding area, the interior of the arena was only lit by colored, blinking lights that swept around at random. Luckily the edges of the structures in the arena were lined with glowsticks and the other combatants were easy to spot due to their glowing armor, so Cozal had only crashed a handful of times while running around.

As for the actual combat, it had seemed to Cozal to be reminiscent of laser tag, though with far more complicated weapons. Within Soundwave Machine, Mareike carried an automatic rifle, Bartosz a minigun, Kohaku a shotgun, and Kallie a sniper rifle, all of which fired colorful beas of light. Cozal himself had been using a pair of twin pistols, and he was pretty sure he had seen a few laser grenades being thrown (how that was supposed to work, he had no idea).

Still, despite the impressive array of weaponry, nobody else in the arena seemed to have any real fighting experience. Bartosz had made himself an easy target by charging ahead without his team, Kallie managed to snipe one enemy before she and Kohaku were taken down by another sniper, then Mareike went after the enemy sniper, defeating him but waking into a trap in the process. If not for the experience he had gained from the battle in Cloud Land, Cozal doubted he would have been able to beat one of the remaining enemies, let alone all three.

His thoughts were suddenly pulled back to the present by someone tapping on his arm, and he turned to find Mareike standing beside him, projecting a message from her phone.

“why the serious face? we won, all thx to u, ya hero! XD”

Cozal clumsily typed out a response and pressed the “send” button, then watched as his message appeared a foot in front of his phone in a big, blocky font (and continuously changing color, of course). “Those guys were amateurs. We got lucky.”

The pink-haired girl shrugged. “well, maybe our luck will hold. cmon, the next fight is about 2 start”

The pair made their way to the edge of the arena, pushing their way past the crowd so that they could get a better view. They watched as the two teams entered from either side, all dressed in similarly-styled armor to what Cozal and his team had worn. All except...

“what. the. HELL???” Cozal could see Mareike's message out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn't look away from the arena. Rather, he couldn't look away from the figure that had just entered the arena.

While every other fighter wore the standard Rave Battle armor, this guy... well, he looked like he was straight out of a mariachi band – complete with an oversized sombrero with decorations dangling from the brim (you know the kind). Focusing on the outfit, Cozal realized that it was actually the standard armor modified to look like a Mexican musician's outfit, and that all of the glowing bits were still visible. He tried to catch a glimpse of the person's face, but found that it was covered by a skull mask.

Finally managing to tear his eyes from the scene, Cozal typed out a message, “Is... is that even allowed?”

“he doesnt have any of the lights or sensors covered up so... technically I guess? but look – his team is missing 2 people”

Chacking again, Cozal saw that, while five people from the other team had entered the arena, Mariachi Guy's team only had three. He looked back to Mareike to find that she had already typed another message.

“thats allowed 2, but missing 1 person puts you at a BIG disadvantage, let alone 2. wtf is going on here?”

He looked around, and saw that people throughout the crowd were projecting messages, all equally confused. And that's when the music stopped. Every head in the pocket dimension turned towards the DJ, who was frantically fumbling around with the turntable, desperately trying to get it to start working again. At first, there was only shocked silence. Then, seconds before mass panic broke out, music began to play once more. Only his time, it did not come from the speakers. It seemed to be emanating from the arena- rather, from Mariachi Guy himself.

At this point, all attention was on the fight. The team of five was moving as a group, keeping low while making their way towards the opposite side of the arena. One member of Mariachi Guy's team, a sniper, took off running towards the tower on the far side of the battlefield, while the other member darted forward, appearing to make a beeline straight for the enemy team. As for the man himself, he stood his ground and started... dancing.

Mareike furiously tapped at her phone, “what the fuck What the fuck WHAT THE FKUC IS HAPPENING”

Cozal had no answer. Instead, he typed, “He's uh... very good at that.”

AND YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS HE WAS RIGHT. THIS GUY WAS SO DAMN GOOD AT DANCING THAT THOSE WITH WEAK HEARTS SHOULD STOP READING RIGHT NOW. NO SERIOUSLY, GO AWAY. I'LL WAIT.

...ARE THEY GONE? SWEET. ANYWAY, the sniper extended his right arm and shot a hook towards the tower and pulled himself up to the top. As soon as he landed, he whipped around with his rifle raised and fired, landing a solid headshot on one of the opponents. They crouched down, out of his line of sight, when the second member of Mariachi Guy's crew appeared behind them, weapon drawn.

“thats a sword,” Mareike's message read, her face devoid of expression.

Cozal nodded. “ye.”

The enemy team opened fire, and the girl moved her laser sword in front of herself and began blocking their attacks. Several shots were reflected into the chest of one of the opponents, and he was warped out of arena. The girl dove out of the way and ran off, stowing her weapon.

“...where did Mariachi Guy go?”

Mareike was right. Cozal looked, but the man in question was no longer at the entrance of the arena. He had been so distracted by everything else going on in the arena, he hadn't even noticed that the man had moved.

“THERE!”

He followed where she was pointing, and saw Mariachi guy dancing on top of a rotating platform, slowly moving towards the other team. They looked up and finally spotted him, but it was too late. In one fluid motion he leaped from the platform, drew two weapons (they looked like ornate pistols, but were far too large. Small shotguns, perhaps?), and rolled between the three remaining enemies.

Without wasting any time, he stood up, still dancing, and began firing in every direction. As he did, a deep voice blasted through the room, somehow audible over all of the music and other noise, “¡BAILE!¡BAILE!¡BAILE!” Before the other team could even react, they had all been shot and warped out of the arena.

The music ceased momentarily, then the previous song picked up again as though nothing had even happened.

“what the actual fuck did I just watch” Mareike typed without looking away from the arena, as the victors started walking towards the exit.

“I don't... who is that guy?”

“hell if I kno. lets head to the exit and see if we can catch up with him”

The two of them walked over to the arena's exit, but found the crowd was thick with people trying to catch a glimpse of the group that had caused so much chaos. Cozal could see Mariachi Guy and friends walk through the door, but as they disappeared into the mob of people trying to get close to them the only thing he could see was the long, silver hair coming from under Mariachi Guy's hat, and the words emblazoned into the back of his outfit: “Numero Uno.”

[Sariel of Tevet]

Heimrall began to lash out violently at the shadow tentacles with little sense of control. Sark's words were also lost on her, as she was simply going berserk in her fully elemental form. Plus her Ipod was blasting like crazy to whatever it is teenage girls fight to when they are angry.

She reached down to the ground and pulled up the earth into a massive spirit bomb style boulder and threw it straight at Sark, screaming unintelligibly the entire time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captain Albert Alexander steered his ghostly galleon down near Captain Bactus's ship and the rest of the group.

"Drinks sound like the perfect end to what may be my greatest adventure yet! Too bad I will need a new chorus to follow me around. Ghosts can't exactly play many instruments, they don't breathe you know. No matter! We will just get so drunk that a new song will come out eventually."

Captain Albert Alexander walked off the bow of his ship, and the planks began to take off piece by piece and line up under his every step, as per usual. He made his way towards Artemis,

"If I'm not mistaken, the only casualties sustained were of my crew...and my ship. But they seem to be enjoying their lives as ghosts. Right, men?"

He turned around for reassurance, but was met with vague ghostly stares and silence.

"...Right. Also...I think they might be injured soon." He pointed at Sark and Heimrall somehow fighting right next to everyone.

[Monika]

"I am...sensitive to the signatures of the other Immortals," Artemis explained, glancing over to where Sindri and Dace were arguing with each other. "I can feel when one is nearby and when one passes from the world. I assume it is one of my ancillary Space powers. Even while my dimensional seal was blocking me from sending and receiving signals, I was still able to feel when Zais died. So, when that feeling came over me, I dispelled the seal and reestablished the telepathic link."

She looked back at Knox and added, "Of course, I've never actually felt an Immortal die before, so I had no idea of knowing exactly what the feeling was. It was entirely possible for me to have misinterpreted the feeling. I ran the risk of getting rid of the seal prematurely and letting Zais back into the outside world." Her eyes narrowed. "But I suppose that doesn't matter, since the seal was apparently worthless anyway." She found herself becoming more than a little irritated and was secretly hoping for a diversion before Knox could present her with any more frustrating news.

And that's when it came.

"...I think they might be injured soon."

She looked over in the direction where Captain Albert Alexander was pointing and saw it: The Immortal of Earth and the self-proclaimed lord of all vampires, fighting each other in the distance. Her eyes narrowed. She was ashamed for not having seen it sooner. But she could chastise herself later. She wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

"Spatial Seal."

The portal Kayla had just disappeared through vanished. Teleportation of all kind was blocked.

"Heimrall, get back! Your recklessness is going to get you killed!" Artemis ran over to the battle and pushed the teenage Immortal out of the way with her gravity powers. Once Heimrall was a safe distance away, Artemis approached Sark (maintaining her own distance) and used those same gravity powers to lift the vampire up into the air. He's...different now. His signature is similar to Zais', but less intense. He must have absorbed some of his powers right before the end.

Artemis took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and exhaled. Stay calm, Artemis, she told herself. Artemis didn't have a lot of moods besides neutrality and mild irritation. But she hated Sark. The mere sight of him brought all sorts of anger to the surface. But she couldn't risk going into an enraged frenzy like Heimrall. At best, she'd inadvertently let him escape. And at worst...the results could be catastrophic.

When she opened her eyes again, they were glowing, and she spoke in her usual cold, collected way. "Tell me, Sark. Is this the real you or another waitress who needs to be tortured?" She closed her hand slightly, constricting the space around Sark's throat. "Either way, give me three reasons why I shouldn't snap your neck right now."

---

"Certainly wouldn't want to overstay my welcome!" Leon followed Veritaz as the ninja guard escorted him outside. "But, if there is ever anything else I can do for you, don't hesitate to let me know. You'll find my business card in your front pocket. Now, if you'll excuse me, the Omnistar board of directors insists that I give them a report anytime I take on a new business venture, and opening a security division probably falls under that category. And I thought running a billion dollar corporation was going to be fun!" He snapped his fingers and a portal appeared next to him. "Toodles!" And he teleported away.

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Haha, I don't think I could run to the front door of the palace, let alone all the way to Awesome Land," Amelia laughed, lying through her perfect ninja teeth. "I actually pride myself on being a 'normie', if you will. Emperor Awesome isn't particularly fond of people with absurd magical powers," she explained. "He thinks they exist only to cause trouble. He dreams of a world where everyone is normal. Then we might be able to make progress toward some real peace."

Amelia yawned - a genuine one, in fact - and nodded toward Queen Francine. "I guess I am a bit more tired than I thought. A little rest might do me some good. Is there a spare bedroom I could take a nap in, if it isn't any trouble?" she asked.

---

"Your failures are not entirely your own doing," Antitheon said, his voice soft and his tone almost one of pity. Almost. "The power you and the other members of your Order draw upon is but a pale, man-made imitation of Mother's true might. You could train for a thousand mortal lifetimes and still come no closer to being able to control it. The ritual you all have devised to access Her power is inherently flawed. A passable facsimile but nothing more. As long as you cling to this method, you shall never feel Her true grace."

Antitheon came even closer to the ground, psychically lifting Clara's head so he could look into her eyes. "I believe I have a way to help you, Clara," he said. "A way for you to be enveloped by Her Light and truly become one with my Mother, but..." He turned away from her. "I don't know if you are ready. If you are worthy."

---

"You'll never get his attention that way!" cried Eva, who had been working side by side with Captain Uggo for the past eleven months [APPROPRIATE TIME PERIOD]. Her already messy lab coat now had grease and oil residue to complement the coffee stains, and her glasses were broken in at least three places, but she seemed as excited as ever. "AAAAAAALAAAAAASTOOOOOOOOOOR!" she shouted. "AAAAAALAAAAAASTOOOOOOOOOOR!!!"

"There is no reason to shout, Evangeline," Alastor replied, walking into the fabrication area. "I was ten feet away in the room across from you. You were looking right at me."

"Yeah but shouting was the only way to show my excitement!" Jumping up and down, she ecstatically pointed at the ParFunSpa. "Look! It's done!"

Alastor cautiously approached the spacecraft and walked around it a few times, analyzing every possible aspect of it. "You can barely tell that it was made out of a bunch of scrap metal," he said in a valiant attempt at complimenting Uggo. "But as long as it flies, the appearance is irrelevant. I will run some simulations shortly and-"

"Simulations?" Eva frowned, knocking on the ship's hull a few times. "This baby isn't meant to be tested on your silly computers! It's meant to fly! We gotta take it into space!"

"Evangeline, you can't be serious. One cobbled together shuttle does not make an entire space program. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done before we can make our first trip. I estimate another 6 months of testing, minimum, before we-"

"But! But!" Eva ran behind Captain Uggo and pointed at Alastor. "Tell him we're ready, Captain!" she pleaded. "Tell him it's ready to fly!"

---

"A few hours to get the castle ready...A few hours to get the castle ready? What was I thinking?" Emperor Awesome buried his face in his armor plated hands and sighed. "I can have the tower ready, sure, but what about the rest of the town?" He stood up from his desk and pushed aside the curtains covering the back wall, reeling as he saw the outside world. Metro Dynasty City was in complete disrepair, the natural conclusion of any place turned into a makeshift war zone.

"There don't seem to be any injured out there, at least," he observed, noting the relative quiet of the scene. "But I'm guessing they were all evacuated. I don't think a vacant city would look that much better than one full of corpses in the eyes of foreign royalty. Ah..." He sighed again, solemnly pulling the curtain closed and sitting back in his chair. "I can restore some of the structural damage with the Alspire, but getting this place to meet the standards of a queen...I simply don't have enough time. I need help, loath as I am to admit it. Perhaps a team of talented, upstart mages willing to serve the empire. Yes, that would do the trick nicely..."

DING!

A soft chime accompanied by the swoosh of sliding doors marked the arrival of Asher, who came casually strolling through the elevator right into the emperor's office. He was carrying a jar of coins shaped suspiciously like a human woman and appeared to have no regard for the person whose room he'd just barged into.


"Whose idea was it to build a tower over 9,000 floors anyway?" he thought aloud. "That elevator ride took forever. That's the last time I use that thing. I pity the guys who actually have to make that walk...Oh! Emperor Awesome! So good to see you!" He sprinted over to the emperor's desk and extended his arm.

"Ah, yes, I'm sure..." Emperor Awesome gingerly shook the man's hand and, after an awkward pause, asked "Who exactly are you?"

"Name's Asher Blackden!" he said with a bow. "Mom usually calls me 'Ash', 'Little Ash', and 'Precious Little Ash', among other things." He frowned. "I'm not gonna tell you what my dad usually calls me. I honestly don't think I can say those out loud."

"Right. And what exactly brings you here, Asher?" Emperor Awesome reopened the curtains and motioned outside. "As you can plainly see, now is not exactly the best time for visiting. The town is in shambles and we may or may not still be in the middle of war."

"Ah, don't worry about all that. I know how things are here. I actually helped with the evacuation effort."

"You did?" His expression couldn't be seen (what with being helmeted and all), but Emperor Awesome was probably shocked. "That's over 6,000,000 people you helped save. Thank you. Sincerely."

"Oh, it was nothing!" Asher grinned. "I had a few teammates help me out. Couldn't have done it without them. That's actually why I'm here today."

"Oh?" Emperor Awesome (presumably) raised an eyebrow.

"Yep! I was thinking of how awesome it would be to establish an organization for talented, upstart mages like me and the ones who helped me clear out the city. We could help out the government by day and advance the study of magic by night! Nifty idea, right?"

I can't help but feel as though an organization like that already exists, Emperor Awesome thought, but he quickly dismissed the notion. There are so many files I've had to go through that it's entirely possible I just thought I saw a group like that. "I certainly appreciate your enthusiasm, Asher, but I am trying to keep the empire organized - something my predecessors did not do very well." He reached into a desk drawer and withdrew a thick, leatherbound tome coated in dust. There had to have been at least 10,000 pages in it, and there was a thunderous roar as he dropped it upon the desk.

"These are the rules for the governance and maintenance of the Awesome Land Empire, as written - and never followed - by Leon a decade ago. There are so many hoops and hurdles you need to jump through, so many rules and regulations to abide by in order to create this little club of yours-"

"Try me," Asher dared him.

"Alright then..." Emperor Awesome (with considerable effort) opened the book to a page in the middle. "Chapter 237: Formation of a New Venture," he read. "The establishment of all for-profit enterprises is strictly prohibited. Any exceptions must be preapproved by the emperor while he is in a state of rational thought. Enterprises found in violation of this rule forfeit all assets to the empire and their founders shall be charged with treason. See also Chapter 2: Crimes Punishable by Death."

"I guarantee we aren't trying to make any money," Asher said. "We're in this solely to help our fellow man."

Emperor Awesome continued. "Nonprofit entities shall be subjected to a separate set of terms and are permissible under the following conditions: The founder is an Awesome Land Citizen and has been so no fewer than thirteen years..."

"Born and raised!" Asher opened up his wallet and flashed his ID.

"-has submitted the Articles of Organization for the new venture-"

"Got 'em!" He reached inside his suit jacket and withdrew a packet of papers. "Filled out everything so you don't have to!"

"-pays the 50 Verabuck filing fee-"

Asher shook the jar of coins he was holding before gently setting it upon the emperor's desk. "All the coins I've managed to save up over the years."

"-has at least two other founding members-"

As if on cue, two women showed up in Emperor Awesome's office. One, a short, rainbow-haired girl dual-wielding a pair of scissors and a roll of fabric, came prancing through the elevator doors.

"I'm Cydney!" she cheerfully announced. "I'm going to make our uniforms!"

The other did the sensible thing and mysteriously appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Janine," she muttered. "I'll be leading the new group's intelligence division."

Emperor Awesome snapped his fingers and a heretofore unseen portable fan switched on, blowing away the smoke. Speaking up, he said, "and a principal location in which the organization's business shall be conducted."

"36 Imperial Boulevard, Retro City. Psi District, Awesome Land. Bottom floor," Asher replied.

"His mother's basement," Janine snickered.

"At least until we get enough to move here!" Asher tossed the emperor a photograph of a large industrial warehouse, the same one from which he'd been moving just a few pages ago. "Lease on that place is crazy. Like, 50,000 Verabucks a month crazy."

Emperor Awesome caught the photograph and looked over it for a bit before going back to his tome of rules. "If the above requirements are met in their entirety by the organization, it shall be approved after being subjected to a thorough review period of no fewer than 36 weeks and no greater than 52 weeks, dependent upon the amount of items currently in the queue for the emperor to review." Emperor Awesome nodded as if in agreement with the book and prepared to close it.

"You see, Asher? Even if your group does meet all of the requirements, I would still need to be given 9 months to a year just to review it, and that time frame would probably be closer to the latter with all of the other stuff I need to look over." He spread his arms out as if to indicate the entire empire.

"Aw, come on, Emperor. Are you sure there's nothing we can do to change that? Expedite the process a little?" Asher asked. "Pleeeease?"

"I'm afraid the rules are rather clear." Emperor Awesome opened the book back to the appropriate section and tapped his finger on the paragraph he had just read. "36 weeks to 52 weeks, depending on how much I have to do." He continued reading, anticipating that the next few sentences would reiterate the point. "Special priority shall be given to organizations whose stated duties include serving the empire-"

Asher pointed accusingly at the papers he'd put on the emperor's desk. "Which they do! All there in the Articles of Organization! Magical research and helping the empire!"

"-and instant approval shall be given to organizations that have already done service for the empire."

Janine approached the emperor's desk and handed him a sheet of paper. "I went ahead and collected government approval ratings for you," she explained. "Has the numbers for you and the highest ranking imperial officials."

Emperor Awesome quickly scanned the paper and frowned. "I'm at 87%? Is that good?" he asked.

"A record high, according to the archives," Janine answered.

"And you're only, what, a day on the job? Pretty impressive!" Asher added. "Ratings aside, though, I'd say the rules are pretty clear..."

Defeated, the emperor let out a sigh and put all of the documents they had given him into a manilla folder. "I suppose they are. Your organization is now officially registered with and approved by the government of the Empire of Awesome Land. I shall mail the certificate of registration to the principal address by the end of the week."

"Awesome!" Asher shook the emperor's hand again and then high-fived the other two members of the group. "We're back in business!"

"And since 'serving the empire' is a listed part of the responsibilities of your now legal organization," Emperor Awesome said, "I have a request for you."

"You name it!" Asher exclaimed. "We'll get it taken care of, no problem!"

Emperor Awesome nodded. "The Queen of Really Cool Land will be visiting to have dinner and discuss the future of our two countries. I need your organization to make this place look suitable for her arrival. The damage needs to be repaired. The corpses need to be removed. The town needs to be reanimated. Dynasty City cannot look like a war was just fought here."

"Is that all?" Asher chuckled. "Sure thing. Just give us a few days-"

"You have three hours." Emperor Awesome grabbed the hourglass from beneath his desk and set it down for them to see. "She's coming tonight."

"...Three hours? Emperor, that's-"

"You said 'no problem', didn't you? I'm trusting you to get this done. Expeditiously. The clock is ticking." He tapped the hourglass for dramatic effect.

Asher nodded. "Right! We'll have it done in half the time, guaranteed! Janine, get the cleanup crew to start fixing
the buildings and removing bodies. Cydney, stay here and decorate the tower. I'll find the Illusion Squad and see if
they can't make some fake people to populate the place. We'll have this place looking like paradise! Everyone, let's roll out!"

Janine disappeared in a puff of smoke, Asher ran past the Emperor's desk and jumped out of the window, and Cydney...went back into the elevator.

"I really gotta learn how to teleport," she grumbled (albeit cheerfully) as the doors closed and she descended to the bottom.

"That certainly went well." Emperor Awesome sighed, burying his face in his hands again. "Maybe this will only be half the disaster I thought it would."

[Myrdraxxis]

"So is it over?"

Amidst the debris-ridden streets of Dynasty City, the door of a nondescript office building slowly slid open. Styx poked his head out and glanced around. Then took a cautious step outside. "Yeah, looks like it."

Ixeel followed him out, glancing around at the damage. "Well there goes the neighborhood." the mighty Shadow rumbled in irritation. The fighting had long since stopped. After the group of "heroes" had left to confront Zais, Styx and Ixeel had heroically and nobly gone back inside and locked the door. After they fixed the door because someone had kicked it down.

"Zais is dead." Ixeel continued. "I can feel it."

"Oh. That's, uh, good?" Styx still didn't really know who Zais was.

"Sup nerds, we're back." Both looked up to see Xaadm and Myrxxan walking back down the street.

"There was a crazy fight, then people left, then we got bored and came home." Xaadm filled them in (more or less) to what happened.

"So anything happen here?" Myrxxan looked around. Styx shrugged.

"We ordered pizza, but it's late. Dunno when it will be here." Myrxxan glanced over his shoulder and noted the sight of a crashed vehicle further down the road. Still on fire. There sign 'Papa Leon's' was displayed proudly on top.

"I wouldn't hold my breath." the young mage said.

"So what happens now?" Xaadm asked.

"Guess we could help clean up the city. That's why we founded this detective agency after all-"

"Crime." Ixeel cut in. "We were going to clean up crime in this city."

"Well looting is a crime and it sure looks like that's going to be happening when people come back. So let's get to it." Myrxxan ordered.

---

All of the Shadow beings that had been left behind on the wounded battlefield of northern Awesome Land felt their master die. It was depressing for them (except for Havoc squad, who had turned traitor at some point but they were kinda scary to the regulars so nobody pointed it out.) and it had fallen to Captain Neero to lead them.

He needed to raise their spirits, and nothing cheered his crew up like a good luau.

"Thank Zais someone managed to pack the luau gear into an escape pod." Neero commented to Ydda as the two sipped martinis, watching as Corr and Taler fought to win the impromptu limbo contest.

Their wonderful ship was no more, but Neero wasn't deterred. Anymore.

"This is uh, something. Is this okay?" Leske had stayed behind as well. Honestly he wasn't sure why he was still here. Maybe he should have left with those two other guys.

"You learn to just kinda roll with this stuff." Gree replied. His own (surviving) crew had joined in the party after some reluctance. "I'm more worried about this place." He waved an arm around him.

Zais had left his mark on the land. The ground itself was blackened and dying, and fissures cracked the earth, where Darkness wafted to the surface like smoke. Gree wasn't sure what Zais had been trying to do here, but the area was literally bleeding Darkness in some places. "Er, are feeling okay?" He asked Leske. This much concentrated Darkness couldn't be good for someone not Darkness aligned. He thought. He wasn't actually sure how that worked. Like, Light attacks damaged them, but stuff like Time magic or Chaos weirdness didn't do any more or less than any other attack would have. Was it because they were polar opposites?

"Hmm? Oh, I'm like, seventy percent robot so I'm fine." Leske didn't seem concerned. Gree just stared at him.

"Ooookay."

Then, from the portal that Zais had escaped from, a figure emerged. Leske recognized Kayla.

"You look frustrated." He tried not to chuckle, seeing the very familiar look on his former apprentice's face.

---

"Please. Stop. Shaking. Me." Dace's words were each punctuated by a fierce shake from Sindri as the Shadow being demonstrated his lack of respect for his new boss.

"Is that an order?" Sindri replied coldly.

"Yes." Dace said quickly. Sindri actually stopped and Dace took the opportunity to escape. "Okay first of all, fuck you." He glared at Sindri. "Second of all," He teleported in a burst of Darkness, reappearing beside Knox. "What the actual fuck?" He posed the question to the Immortal of Time. "Also what's ip with those two?" He motioned to Artemis and Sark. "Wait, is that guy using Darkness?"

[Mizagium]

Knox spared Artemis and Sark only a passing glance before deciding it wasn't any of his business. "Yeah, it happens. People like Darkness. It's edgy. Anyway, so you're all down to take Zais' place in the Council, right? I'm going to assume so, but we haven't finalized the rules yet, so right now we're doing the old-fashioned way." He grinned at Dace in a way that showed he really wasn't asking and expected an affirmative.

-

Clara bent over until she got dangerously close to pressing her face into the dirt. "No one is truly worthy of such an honor, great heavenly lord." Humility was a respected trait in the seraphs, but Clara felt she could afford a little more...confidence in the presence of Antitheon

"But I do desire to be one with the Goddess. She is the All-Mother, the Light of Creation, the Hand of Salvation. Whatever I must do to prove myself worthy of her affection - I will do it."

-

Captain Uggo shrugged. "I'd fly it without much grumbling. Won't be much good in a fight, but then I just needed it to fly." He scratched around his mask. "Takes a team of three to pilot, though. Most ships...out there..." he gestured vaguely at space "use an AI pilot program to handle most background systems and minutiae. But you've got sea vessels and air vessels on this world, right? Won't be much of a stretch, then. Unless you've got an AI we plug into the ship."

-

"Of course, dear." Francine barely had to wave her hand and a ninja appeared. "Please escort out guest to aspare bedroom. She's had quite the day and will be staying with us until it is time to go."

"Of...course, Your Majesty." The Thundercougerfalconbird eyed Emily suspiciously, but still indicated her to follow.

[Calefrun]

“Oh, Master Leske!” Kayla looked up and, seeing the man, tried to look a bit less irritated. “I uh... well, Zais is dead, and that's all that really matters. I just wish I could have done more to help during the fight. It looks like I still need to get stronger.” She smiled dryly. “I bet my brother could have kicked that Immortal's ass. Well... maybe put a scratch on him, at least.”

“Oh!” She slammed her fist down onto her palm in a classic gesture of “I just remembered something!”

“I just remembered something! Do you remember that Vampire guy from way back? Goes by the name Sark, you fought against him once or twice. Apparently he's still alive and is possessing Cale's body, so if you see him... please don't kill him. I want the satisfaction of doing that myself.”

As she spoke, the portal she had just exited closed. “Huh. That's probably not good.”

Meanwhile, Al was playing limbo with the Shadow soldiers or something I guess.

---

"Either way, give me three reasons why I shouldn't snap your neck right now."

Sark coughed. “One... while this form isn't nearly as gorgeous as my original body, I'm still far... too good-looking to die. Two... just look at poor Heimrall over there. You wouldn't... want her witnessing something so... gruesome, would you? And three... I'm not so sure that youcan.”

Darkness tendrils extended from the vampire lord's neck, pushing away the constricted space. He fell to the ground, and with a wave of his hands more tendrils arose from beneath Artemis, wrapping around her ankles and wrists, rooting her in place. He snapped, and a sword appeared behind the Immortal and thrust towards her back.

“Don't get me wrong... I'm fortunate that your rage blinded me and allowed me a lucky shot, but I'm not fool enough to try fighting you again. I wanted to face Heimrall to test my new abilities, but you're... what, nine slots above her on the Official Power Ranking? I'll need to absorb some more Immortal power before I'm ready to take you on.”

He dashed towards Heimrall, materializing a sword along the way, then slashed at the Earth Immortal. The attack was deliberately easy to avoid, but actually striking her was not his aim. The blade sliced through the air itself, tearing open a Rift in the dimensional fabric. On the other side, there was only... the Void.

“Those twins... somehow, my actions inadvertently gave them the ability to travel between worlds... no, universes. Even I'm not entirely sure how it works, but it seems to be different than teleportation or portals. A spatial seal has no effect, because I'm not traveling through space, I'm traveling outside of it.” He posed for a moment, then more Darkness shot of the ground and grabbed Heimrall.

“Come along now; this place has far too many distractions. I think you and I should pay a visit to an old ally... one that I haven't seen in far too long.”

He snapped his fingers, and the tendrils tossed Heimrall into the Rift. “Farewell, Artemis. I look forward to our next meeting.” Sark stepped into the Rift, and it closed behind him.

[Monika]

"Add: Five energy blades." Four ethereal swords shot toward Artemis, severing the bindings around her wrists and ankles. The fifth appeared behind her, parrying the sword that was flying toward her back. "Seal Release." The Spatial Seal was dispelled, and with a wave of her hand Artemis banished all of the swords to another dimension, reopening a portal so the rest of the protagonists could escape.

She felt like she should be angry that Sark had escaped. Again. But she had already mentally prepared for this outcome. After seeing that Zais effortlessly bypassed my Dimensional Seal, she thought, it was almost inevitable that Sark would do the same after absorbing some of his power. I'll have to research the nature of the Void at a later date. With a heavy sigh, she casually walked back over to Knox and pals, cleared her throat, and introduced herself to the newest Immortal.

"Hello. You must be Dace," she said, extending her hand. "I am Artemis, the Immortal of Space. I sincerely apologize for that interruption." Glancing briefly at the scene of her almost-battle with Sark, she turned back to Dace and added, "Thank you for your part in defeating Zais and taking on the role and responsibilities of the Immortal of Darkness. I understand that you must have a lot of questions about your new position right now, and I trust that Knox-" She pointed at the Immortal of Time. "-has explained our Council to you already. At our meetings, we discuss the most effective use of our abilities to maintain peace and security across the world. We would love for you to join us so that we may address any concerns you may have regarding your newfound powers."

Like Knox, Artemis wasn't really asking, and the entire thing was just a necessary formality. In truth, she was only half paying attention to what Dace's answer was going to be; she couldn't stop worrying about Heimrall, who had just been kidnapped. Effortlessly. In full view of a dozen so-called heroes. How could we have let this happen? she thought, sighing again.

---

Amelia nodded to the queen and followed the palace ninja to the bedroom they had prepared for her. As the Thundercougerfalconbird clan showed her the way, Amelia couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. "I'm sensing a lot of tension," she noted. "You guys don't seem to trust me."

---

"Oh?" Antitheon waved his hand in front of him. The stagnant air around the two was whipped into a violent storm, and the space around began to distort. The very ground burned away to reveal a hellish, otherworldly landscape upon which they now stood. "Would you be willing to give up your sense of self? Sacrifice your mind, body, and soul?" he asked. A shadowy image appeared before Clara, one that looked almost exactly like her, charging into battle. But it felt...off. This other Clara seemed cold. Impersonal. Inhuman.

"Would you be willing to fight alongside demons, the once-sworn enemies of the Light?" Another image appeared, this one of Clyde, the Demon King, leading a small group of soldiers in combat with the other Clara at his side.

"Would you be willing to kill your own flesh and blood, all in the name of serving as a weapon on my Mother's behalf?" Antitheon waved his hands and the image shifted again. This time it was not one of Clara, but of her younger sister, Ollie. The picture started off innocently enough - an infant Ollie shortly after being born. Then time went forward, and the image grew in tandem. Ollie went from infant to toddler - from toddler to teenager - and then from teenager to adult all in a matter of seconds, ending with a broken, battered Immortal of Light lying motionless at Clara's feet.

"If you cannot answer 'yes' to all three of those questions," Antitheon said, his voice like ice, "then the Goddess has no use for you."

---

"Ah, unfortunately I think it will take some time before we've got an AI suited to piloting a spacecraft," Alastor said. "Most of the robots we do have around the empire are only suited to basic household tasks."

"But! But! Alastor, what about that holographic Aurora dating sim you were working on!" Eva shouted. "That seemed pretty smart. I bet you could-"

Alastor gently put his hand over Eva's mouth and brushed her off to the side. "Ha. Ha ha. Engineers these days, right?" he laughed awkwardly. Clearing his throat, he replied, "If what you say is true, it shouldn't be too difficult to retrain some of the Imperial Navy personnel to-"

Evangeline came bouncing back as if nothing had happened. "Ooooh! You said team of three, right? We've got a whole three right here! One!" She pointed at Captain Uggo. "Two!" She pointed another finger at Alastor. "And me makes three!" She pointed both thumbs at herself. "We can go right now!"

[Mizagium]

Clara faltered only slightly when confronted with the likeness of her sister. She could – would – perform the first two tasks. If the Goddess decreed that a demon was to be tolerated, Clara would oblige. If she must surrender physicality, well, wasn’t that the ultimate goal anyway? But…Ollie?

“I…Lord Antitheon, if I may ask: what has Olivia…what crime has she committed to warrant such judgement?” It was old, she knew, to question an Angel of the Mother, but questions were not forbidden, and Clara was not questioning the wisdom of Seraphina, merely asking for clarification. Surely this was allowed?”

-

The Thundercougerfalconbird ninja (who I guess I’ll name…Hrathen) didn’t look at Emily. Instead he replied, “You arrived at the Palace without advance notice and without detection by my clan. We are ninja, miss. We are not so lax that a girl could sneak up on us like you did.” He stopped and this time did face her. “We are not sure exactly who you are, Miss Robertson, but know that you will be watched very closely as long as you are in the presence of the Royal Family. Here is your room.”

He unlocked and opened the door for her. It was a nice room, far better than one might find at a hotel or inn or whatever Really Cool Land has. “Rest well.” And he vanished.

-

Uggo tapped his mask, frowning – or making a goofy face – who knew what was going on with that ugly mug of his. “Do either of you have any flight experience? Sailing? Video games? Giant robots?”

-

Knox eyed the space where Sark had just been. “So we should totally go after him, right? He kidnapped Heimrall. I mean, that makes it the Council’s business now. Doesn’t it?” Honestly, he wasn’t sure. The first and only act of the Immortal Council was to murder one of their own members. Which had technically been a success, so they were batting 100 so far.

[Myrdraxxis]

"Think we should have placed a familiar in her room?" When Hrathen reappeared in some other random room in the a place, Azzi was waiting for him. Azzi hadn't been back at the palace for all that long. When he'd returned after his adventure in Awesome Land (with a vampiric balloon dragon in tow), Azzi had realized that he was bored. Normal duties protecting the royal family were very tedious and bland compared to his time with Stella, Cale and GOLDBEZ.

So he was more or less really ancious for something to happen around here. Hrathen was a distant cousin that Azzi only saw occasionally, but the guy was sharp. And he was acting suspicious of their new guest.

---

"Sure. Happy to be here." Dace replied dryly. "So what's supposed to happen next? Cause if nothing, I'm just gonna head back to Awesome Land. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of shit I need to clean up."

"Zais funneled all of our people from his other world holdings." Sindri added. "Most of which are either in Dynasty City or the northern border of Awesome Land that we left behind to come here."

"Oh, wonderful."

---

Leske stared at Kayla for a good minute. "That seems like something very important to just forget." He said after a moment.

"Who is Sark?" Codex chimed from within Leske's implants.

"Some guy who did some stuff." Leske replied. "But if this asshole is possessing Cale then it sounds like he needs a good asskicking."

"You're getting distracted again." Codex replied, as if chastising a child. Leske resisted the urge to sigh. "Magnus is still out there somewhere. THe longer we wait, getting wrapped up in things here, the longer its going to take to find and help him."

"I know." Leske growled. "I have my own reasons for finding Magnus." At this point Leske was ignoring the others, and Neero and Ydda were shooting him odd looks for having a conversation with a voice coming out of his head. "Have you managed to contact any of the others?"

"No." The AI's voice was sad. Leske muttered a quick swear. This mess would be going a lot smoother with Ash and Desmond were here to help. He would even have accepted that asshole Septimus' help, but he wasn't even sure if that guy was still alive.