“You’ve stood in my way for long enough,” said the Librarian. “But you have still

failed. The Face of Ba’al is above us. It is time for my summoning. There’s nothing

you, or your comrade, can do to stop me.”

“I’m still going to try,” said Ray. “You can’t be allowed to risk a city full of people

on a mad scheme just because you think that will get you some kind of ultimate

power.”

“You won’t stop me,” said the Librarian. She raised her hand. A box of orange letters

appeared around Ray. “That is something I am sure you will appreciate.”

“I can’t believe this,” thought Ray. “Lamp, bust us out of here.”

Affirmative. Blue flame pushed against the orange letters. The box refused to give

under Ray’s will. Unable to comply.

“Suggestions?,” thought Ray. “She’s getting ready to do her spell.”

Negative. Blue flame pressed against every inch, trying to punch a single hole. A leaf

became a target but nothing happened.

Grenades dropped down out of the sky. A wave of a hand used orange letters to

redirect the explosives back where they came from as the Librarian smiled.

“Nothing is getting in my way now,” she said. She raised both hands. Letters warped

the air around her as she summoned energy to do her bidding to pierce the wall

between her and the Abyssals.

A line of symbols lit up in a circle around the courtyard. Ray cursed for missing those

during his earlier inspection. He should have known they were right there ready to be

used.

The Librarian smiled as energy channeled through her and into her spell. A dark hole

opened up in the courtyard. Something like a millipede with too many eyes and

mouths started lifting its body out of the hole. It made a screech that sounded like a

choir all screaming at the same time when it saw Ray in his box.

“Lamp, whatever happens to us, we can’t let that thing run wild in the city,” thought

Ray. “Maximum force is required even if we go down with it.”

Affirmative. Blue flame filled the cube as the battery readied to divert everything it

had into the looming monster.

The dome opened and peeled back to show the night sky. The Librarian looked up as

her power failed for the first time. The summoning slammed shut. It cut the Abyssal

monster in two with one section falling back where it came from and the other part

falling over in the courtyard and scrabbling around to start eating anything it could

reach.

“Blast the cube and see if you can get us out of here,” thought Ray. They might have

a chance to win after all.

Affirmative. Blue flame concentrated in one spot and punched a hole through the

orange box as the Abyssal pulled itself toward Ray. It would eat this enemy and

regrow the lost portion of itself. The stone from the courtyard already had divots in

it as the world eater went to work.

Rifle grenades dropped down on the Librarian as she tried to assert her control. She

raised her hands and created a shield to block the explosions from dropping her where

she stood.

“Lamp, give me a voice connection with Johnny Mac,” thought Ray.

Affirmative. A line of fire connected its wielder to the other champion across the

campus. Connection in progress.

“Johnny, shoot the monster in its biggest eyes,” thought Ray. “We have to get rid of

it before it does more damage.”

“What about the woman?,” asked Johnny. “How are you doing this?”

“I’ll distract her until you kill her pet,” thought Ray. “It’s our best shot to win at this

point.”

“Right,” said Johnny Mac. “Have to reload before I can do much.”

“Concentrate on the monster and try to stop it before it eats the university,” thought

Ray. “The others will be along to help us hopefully.”

“It seems we’re doing all the real work around here,” said Johnny Mac. “Fire in the

hole.”

Ray created a shield as more grenades dropped down. He moved away from the

target, pointing at the Librarian with his metal finger. A whip of fire wrapped around

the target as she tried to seize control of her familiar for the first time. She glared at

him as she tried to expand out of his grip. He fought the spell as explosions walked

across the main head of the Abyssal. Fire and black oil fell on the courtyard.

The Abyssal went wild and began to rip up anything it could reach so it could eat it

and regrow the lost flesh. Blue flame countered a tentacle as the human retreated from

the threat.

“Lamp, pour more power into the restraint,” thought Ray. “We want to keep her from

boosting her monster so Johnny Mac can’t kill it.”

Affirmative. The blue wrapping charged up into large ribbons of fire. When Ray

pulled, that sent the Librarian toward him. She screamed at his interference as she fell

to the ground.

Ray didn’t care about how she felt. She had decided to kill an unknown number of

people on a gamble. Her personal feelings about getting dragged along the ground

didn’t matter that much to him at that point.

Orange letters sliced through him. That broke the connection he had to the wrapping

as he staggered backwards. Blue flame worked on the stabbings as he fell behind a

bush.

“Ray!,” called Johnny Mac.

“I’m alive,” thought Ray. “Keep working on the monster. I think you have committed

a ton of damage to it. It’s bound to fall over any second.”

“It’s taken a ton of grenades,” said Johnny Mac. “I don’t know how many more I can

get for it.”

“Switch to a rocket launcher,” thought Ray. “Maybe that will take care of things for

us.”

“Can you do anything?,” asked Johnny Mac. “I have to ask Buble for another weapon

from his boss’s inventory.”

“I’ll hold her off,” thought Ray. “Do what you can.”

The Librarian glared at the bush he was hiding behind. He raised his shield. He didn’t

know if it would protect him, or not, but he wasn’t going to give up. He had to hold

her until help arrived.

He smiled as he contemplated her rise to the queen of existence had been stalled by

a game developer and a Call of Duty ace. If Mickey Mouse jumped out of the

woodwork, he would tell himself that was a logical conclusion to things and roll with

it.

“Flare her,” thought Ray. He might as well make it as hard as he could for her to kill

him.

Affirmative. An explosion of light filled the courtyard. Ray turned his head to protect

his vision. Blinding himself with his own tactic wouldn’t be bright of him.

“Lamp, give us a turret gun,” thought Ray. “Let’s see what that does.”

Affirmative. The stone of the courtyard formed into a machine gun with a shield in

front of it. Ray grabbed the handles that directed the barrel to the target. He lined up

with the bush and pressed the fire button with his thumb. The heavy thump of the

bullets burning the air made him smile.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

“Walk it to the right, Ray,” said Johnny Mac.

Ray held on the fire button as he turned the turret in the indicated direction. He

couldn’t see through the bush, but thought he was cutting into the Abyssal with the

turret gun.

“Excellent,” said Johnny Mac. “Just keep it going for a few more seconds.”

Ray ran out of ammo and had to take a moment to look around. The bush that he had

used for cover had turned into one stemless trunk sticking out of the ground. The

campus had holes in its buildings where he had missed with the turret gun. The

Abyssal had holes punched through it at the midline from where he had started his

assault. He didn’t see the Librarian.

Rockets streamed in from Johnny Mac’s side of the school. He fired them as fast as

he could reload the launcher. Streamers of smoke led to holes being ripped out of the

Abyssal’s front. One of its major eyes went up, and then the other.

It remained in the courtyard, still trying to eat everything in sight.

“I thought blowing up the eyes was supposed to kill it,” said Johnny Mac.

“So did I,” thought Ray. “Unless we have to blow up all of the eyes.”

“There’s eyes everywhere, Ray,” said Johnny Mac. “Look at it.”

“I know,” thought Ray. “I also lost the Librarian while I was using the turret gun.

Keep an eye out.”

“That’s not good either,” said Johnny Mac.

Ray agreed with the assessment. The two of them could handle the monster given

enough time. The Librarian was far more mobile, and trickier. Fighting on two fronts

was bound to lead to someone getting killed the way they were going.

“Lamp, locate the Librarian,” thought Ray.

A line of blue flame reached out and covered the university. A marker pointed to the

Librarian going about her business at the door to the library. Obviously she was

trying out any control spell she could on her minion.

None of them seemed to be working.

Lightner dropped out of the sky, Ishvar in his arms. Lightning rolled up his alternate

form as he grinned.

“There’s no need for worry,” Lightner said. He let Ishvar get her feet under her. “I’m

here now.”

“Oh, good,” thought Ray.