Delta absolutely hates that she’s such an important part of her fighting force. Why? There are so many reasons she can’t bear to list them all.

But she’ll definitely point out the main ones.

For one, being in a final battle like some stupid RPG game Francis rants to her about all the time. Being a hero in a fantasy world fighting monsters and armed soldiers.

It’s just so...

So...

Ugh.

It’s kind of fun, she has to be honest.

Her Balloon System powers help her protect herself against essentially all damage coming her way. They help her protect all the allied soldiers around her. And she’s really good at harmlessly knocking down enemies with giant balloon attacks.

Killing people? Basically impossible.

But that’s what her Persian Mob subordinates are for.

The gangsters rush in front of him and rattle the balloon’d out enemies with a bazillion bullets.

It’s a satisfying game loop.

Ugh, Francis. Why does she even know that term...

***

Rare participates in the battle in their own way. They could be out there, sending magic bolts flying around and dazzling everyone with amazing style.

Instead, they are conserving their power. Readying themself for the real battle phase to come. And letting the kaiju do all the acting for them.

They ride atop a massive, lumbering beast that rampages over the cliffs between mountains and strikes right into the heart of the U.S. military forces.

The attack is brilliant. Soldiers running for their lives. Tanks obliterated. Just one kaiju is enough to cause massive chaos on this battlefield, with its disorganized state and the rubble from the collapsed Central Spire dividing up the otherwise flat plane. However, there is not just one kaiju. There are four of them.

Rare looks back at the fallen kaiju that was bombed to pieces on the army’s approach to the battlefield. Its claws splayed out and huge body limp. That monster bore the brunt of the attacks, absorbed the pain and suffering that may have wiped out most of their allied forces, and it should be remembered as a damn hero.

These remaining four would continue its legacy by blowing up everything in sight.

Some system-using heroes attempt to scale one of the kaiju, but it spins around and thrashes about, throwing them off and onto the ground. It stomps on one, and then another, and then shoots some spikes into the ground to blow up a convoy of transport trucks approaching it.

Another one faces multiple rocket launchers firing directly towards it. It’s damaged, but not enough to deter it from lurching forward and breathing acid into the way of many troops.

Two U.S.-controlled maw dragons fly into the scene and grapple with the kaiju. It’s a fierce battle, one that threatens to completely take over the ground forces. Maw dragons are much smaller than the kaiju, but much fiercer, much faster. Two of them against four kaiju is more than a fair fight.

Rare communes with their four tamed beasts. Sends positive signals to them, encourages them to keep fighting, to avoid the poisonous claws that these maw dragons love to swipe with.

And they do their best. Fierce battling all over the place. The maw dragons are defeated, eviscerated with all the unpleasant imagery Rare hoped not to witness. But the attacks prove too much for one of the kaiju, and it falls to the ground with a thud. It is still alive, but losing consciousness fast, and there is nothing Rare can do to save it.

Even if they could, they now have much bigger problems on their hand.

A contingent of U.S. soldiers have arrived on the scene with giant staves and powerful magical energy. They must be rival [Summoners] using tricky Destiny Cards to control the situation.

Their magic is far too powerful when combined. Rare can no longer keep their grip on the kaiju other than their own.

The other two kaiju suddenly revert to the U.S.’s control. Try as they might to fight it, it’s worthless.

Which now means Rare and their kaiju have a very unfair brawl to deal with.

***

G’L’K shoots a bunch of fireballs at the enemies and wipes them all out. Wave after wave of skeletons rush the Systemless Squad, but she’s here to deal with them with no sweat.

Once the skeletons are out of the way, Abby jumps from behind her and tosses her boomerang scythe at the foes. Soldiers who thought they were safe thanks to the huge barrier of undeads they summoned. Soldiers who now no longer think at all.

They make a good team, G’L’K and Abby.

Also, they’re dating now. Isn’t that so awesome??? It’s kind of amazing???

But G’L’K knows she can’t let herself think too much about that. She has to avenge the destruction wrought on her home of Lava World. She has to make sure the Americans know what it’s like to get a face full of molten hyperstone. Then they’ll never mess with her or her people ever again.

Abby isn’t distracted, or at least she isn’t fighting like it. The way that woman takes out enemy after enemy with absolute remorselessness... It makes a lava girl swoon.

The pleasant feelings go away once they come into contact with the boss of this area.

“Agent Miles, nice to meet you,” the purple mountain of sludge in humanoid form says. “First and last time we’ll talk.”

Abby growls. “What kind of being are you?”

He is grotesque. A face that looks just human enough to put one at unease. Sunglasses that seem permanently affixed to the man’s oozing head. A misshapen body that looks well into rot and slime. But none of the putrid smell one would expect from such a hideous being. Utterly unnatural to look so gross and to smell so normal.

This man sold his soul to the Destiny Deck System... He is a [Toxin] now.

“I’m the boogeyman,” he says. “The monster under your bed. Kiddo, you’ve met your end.”

“Don’t call me a KID!” Abby jumps up in the air and prepares a slash, but Agent Miles dodges it. He sprays the girl with slime and gets her all covered in goop.

She screams. It burns, it burns. In another few seconds, Abby is going to die from the pain.

But G’L’K won’t let her. She grabs her and holds her tight. She lets the ember of her heart radiate without being overbearing--and flashes away the impurities and pain.

Abby is freed of the slime and has to take a few moments to regain her composure. Then she’s right back in the fight. A little more nimble, a little more careful. Agent Miles attacks even more sloppily than ever. Unpredictable moves that become increasingly hard to dodge.

G’L’K shouts at her, “Lead him over here!”

She does. Agent Miles is pushed closer and closer to the lava girl, until--

Another hug. This time it’s much harder. The [Toxin] tries to squirm out of her grip, tries to cover her in ooze. But she lights herself up as hot as she can get. The ooze melts off the man, the screams fade into nothing--

And now all that’s left of Agent Miles are his clothes, falling gently to the ground now that they are no longer attached to anything.

The two girls realize they have just destroyed a very significant part of the occupation force. They’re just as much of heroes as everyone else.

***

Wredd Shire was taught by her grandmom and grandpop to always do the right thing. To fight as hard as she can for what she believes in. To make sure Eryk Solbourne is safe and sound for the final battle.

She’s trained for so long. And she’s gotten so close.

With Eryk leading the way, she feels like she really can accomplish anything. He’s an amazing leader. And an amazing fighter.

They’re deep into the small mountains of rubble caused by the collapse of Central Spire. They’re climbing over debris and winding in and out of close-quarters combat situations. Wredd would be terrified about this if she were by herself. With Eryk here, she feels totally at ease.

He gets in a battle with some [Warriors] and dispatches them with a few [Counterspell]-then-throat-bash combos, a classic North Spiran combat technique.

Wredd wants to do the same thing. She tries her best. An enemy elven archer faces her, bow drawn. She selects the [Counterspell] skill from her Destiny Deck and prepares to cancel any magical arrow strike that comes her way. Then, she can show Eryk that she, too--

The arrow, totally normal and not part of any Destiny Card skill, shoots through her torso, passes clean through her heart. Stops it dead.

She falls over and struggles to move even a single muscle. Blood covering her shirt, covering her entire body. Everything blurry.

The last thing she hears before she dies is Eryk’s screams of agony. Sure was nice knowing him. Training with him in the time bubble. A good time, for sure.

If only he knew about her grandparents... She never got the chance to tell him about...

***

Lumen and Tropy are the best of comrades. Family beyond description. In the Beaver Hopper Clan, all members are equals, and all members love each other very much. But there is something about the bond between these two beavers that transcends the normal quadrants of love that all beavers tend to abide by.

They’re positively inseparable. And that shines through best when the entire clan has banded together to coordinate an epic monster hunting assault.

Without any warning, two of Rare Solbourne’s kaiju have suddenly turned against them. The entire Systemless Squad army is at stake here, and the beavers jump into action immediately.

Lumen and Tropy take their monster hunting equipment out of their inventory slots and get ready to roll. Harpoon guns, static electricity bombs, rocket jetpacks. They zip around the kaiju, wrapping them in metal wire and tying their legs together. These things are so big that a normal attack of this style wouldn’t work--the monsters would simply snap the cables with the flex of some muscles. So they have to zig-zag around in patterns, to create a design so sturdy that neither of the monsters can break free.

They manage to tie the kaiju to each other. They want to move in opposite directions like the [Summoners] controlling them wish to make them do. But they are completely unable.

With enough harpoons plugged into the beasts, and enough wire preventing them from moving, the monsters start to get angry. They turn on each other, blasting each other to pieces.

And that’s where Rare’s own kaiju comes in. Lumen and Tropy and the other beavers dash away from the scene just as the third kaiju rams into these two trapped ones. A furious battle plays out.

Soldiers are thrown all over the battlefield in the chaos. The [Summoners] are stomped.

The beavers watch in shock as all three kaiju are injured to the point of death, having destroyed each other so thoroughly that nothing at all is left.

Without the beavers, Rare would have been dead, and the Americans would have been able to advance and take back the positions they had lost. Not happening anymore.

Now it is time to get to the throne room of the former Central Spire. A great battle has already begun, and the beavers are needed there. Lumen and Tropy especially.

***

Mestopholees stands in the makeshift arena, panting. Nursing her wounds. Her dragonsword shattered, but still holding onto it anyway in case the sharp edges can do another good stab.

Across from her stands Joe Biden. Calm, collected, and one gash across his face.

“All that fighting,” he says to her. “For a drop of blood.”

Mestopholees doesn’t take the time to banter back at him. She folds up her wings, builds up energy, and blasts in his direction, spinning around rapidly and shooting dark purple energy beams.

He flashsteps around, completely dodging every attack. When her body reaches his position, he’s already long gone. Her sword swipes at air.

She teleports behind him. He teleports behind her. She teleports behind him. He teleports behind her. She teleports behind him. He teleports behind her. She teleports behind him. He teleports behind her.

She attempts a teleportation, but she’s not fast enough this time.

He’s grabbed her by her skinny little neck. squeezing tight. Her broken sword is too short to reach his body.

And, with no effort at all, he slams her into the ground, cracking and eventually shattering the tile beneath them with each successive attack.

He lets go of her neck and tosses her aside. She skids along the cracked floor and tumbles to a thudding stop.

Mestopholees props herself up on her broken sword and stands up. She throws the weapon aside and raises both fists.

Spits out a tooth.

Broken, bloodied, and demoralized. But not out. She’s going to finish her ultimate betrayal of Biden. She’s not going out unless she’s a hero.

Mestopholees stands up tall. Lets her hair flow in the wind.

Biden stands still. Puts his hands in his pockets and pulls out a handkerchief. He wipes the blood off.

She’s had enough. Time to finish this.

She opens her mouth wide as can be, then a little bit wider.

Another [Hyper Beam] attack. A laser that destroyed an entire airfield just minutes before, headed right for Joe Biden. He isn’t flashstepping out of this one.

Biden tosses the handkerchief aside. Holds up a single finger--

And the beam is cut in half. Two smaller beams shoot off in opposite directions and collide with pieces of debris from Central Spire. They explode and dust goes flying into the air.

Mestopholees coughs. Her throat’s killing her. And her body’s spent.

Joe Biden calmly walks up to her, looks her in the eyes, and then backhands her in the face. He swats her down to the ground.

She stops moving.

***

Malia leaps from rubble to rubble, staying above the fray just enough to avoid gunfire and [Fireballs] trained right on her. She’s got a destination to reach, and dying is no longer a part of her plan. Master Keitou saw to that much.

Even though she’s trying to move through the battle, that doesn’t mean she is simply some passive carrier. She’s holding her bow and arrow, shooting enemies in the face when needed and distracting them when able. As many of these soldiers go down now, the less they’ll need to worry about once the cleanup is around. She may be an old woman, but she is a capable fighter through and through.

Finally, she reaches her target--Eryk Solbourne. He’s just a minute’s advance away from reaching the middle of the Central Spire, the throne room area that Biden and Mestopholees are currently fighting in.

She leaps down, lands in a roll, and puts away her bow.

He’s absolutely elated to see her. The feeling is mutual.

They hug it out like dear friends.

“Malia, it’s so good to finally see you,” he says. “I’ve waited for this moment for so long.”

“Eryk.” She breaks away from the embrace. “I have something for you of vital importance.”

“What is it?”

She poofs the item out of her inventory. A large glowing orb. “This is called the Warring Core. And apparently you need it more than anything. You won’t defeat Biden without it.”

“I see... Thank you for the message. Is there anything else?”

“Wait for the others to come. You can never defeat him alone.”

“Then I will.”

What that message means for Mestopholees fighting him now, neither of them are sure. And they don’t wish to speculate.

Eryk poofs the item into his inventory, but now is holding dozens of grenades that were in the inventory slot he just filled up. “Want to throw these around the place to waste time until everyone has gathered here?” he asks.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

They blow up a lot of soldiers and equipment.

It’s as fun as any war can be. Reminds her of those fun days on Team Fanghook. She’ll never get it back, but this moment is good enough.

***

Great. The plan worked.

Esther is ecstatic to know that Malia is delivering the Warring Core to Eryk. The man absolutely needs it on his person. He just must. She already possesses the yellow defensive magic within her person, thanks to accepting the system. There is no need for her to be holding the artifact herself in any capacity.

Right now, she is advancing along with her Mom, Julie Rafati, and their army has almost completely captured this quadrant. Mom’s just that good at what she is.

Ever since she unlocked her system again, she has been even stronger than ever. She currently soars above the rest of the army, guiding it from above and sending down psychic attacks to any Americans who get to close to her precious daughter.

Esther isn’t worried, though. She knows she won’t fall today, not more than once anyway. She has plenty of defensive powers to protect her systemless friends, too.

All these other soldiers are doing their best despite the massive gulf in power levels. To her, that’s the most remarkable thing about these beings throughout the multiverse. No matter the odds, no matter the pain, they fight for what they believe in.

Mom up above isn’t fighting for a belief. Freedom is nice, but it’s a long way away from her main priority--love. Her family is all that matters to her. Saving the multiverse is pointless if Delta and Esther aren’t around to celebrate.

And so Esther knows that, when things become as drastic as they very well may, Mom isn’t going to hesitate to take actions the idealists aren’t willing to embark on.

Whether that is a good or bad thing has yet to be seen. But Esther is confident her Mom will pull through.

She’s one of Esther’s favorite two people in the whole multiverse, after all. And, if not for that distressing distant aura nagging at the back of Esther’s mind, she’d call her Mom the strongest being in the whole multiverse, too. Biden simply has nothing on her raw strength.

***

Far from the battle, watching events unfold from a special screen, is The Goddess. She’s leaned back in her reclining chair and blinking slowly, trying to absorb all the information.

Eryk has been holding position just outside the throne room area for a few minutes now. Cute little Pablo’s just joined him. Delta’s forces are pinned down, but they’ll be around soon enough.

Everyone is converging on Eryk’s location, and the U.S. forces are too disorganized and panicked to actually realize that yet.

But once they do realize, the Systemless Squad is going to be massively thinned out. There are simply too many system users. Too many powers. And the bulk of the armies simply can’t keep up. The main heroes can, but that doesn’t mean nothing.

They’re all about to fight Joe Biden. What’s going to happen then?

For some reason, The Goddess feels very uneasy about the events that are going to transpire in the very immediate future.

And unfortunately, there’s nothing she can do to stop them.