We advance into the arena.

All the soldiers other than our primary, most capable fighters surround the foundation of Central Spire and take guard. They will defend us from third party intrusions... Because that may be all they can do. The U.S. military has encircled us, and the only thing preventing us from near-certain destruction is the fact that they are not actively attacking us. They are either busy fighting Sleeper Slayers in the outskirts of the valley, or they are simply standing guard and waiting for their leader to give his signal.

Their leader, President Joe Biden, sits on his throne, the only structure still standing in the arena.

In front of him, lying face-down and motionless on the ground, is the Demon Queen Mestopholees.

I look at her aghast with horror. Then I glare at Biden and his eyes meet mine.

I want to charge at him. To attack him with all my might and the full weight of my A-Rank [Adventurer] status. But he simply smiles at me and shakes his head to one side.

As if to say, “Down, dog. Stay put.”

Reluctantly, I comply with my enemy’s request. At least to wait for the others to ready themselves for the fight.

And we have a fine crew here. Some of the best of the best.

Along with me, we have Julie, Delta, Esther, Francis, Malia, G’L’K, Abby, Pablo, Rare, Guk, and the Beaver Hopper Clan led by Lumen & Tropy.

Eleven of our very strongest warriors, plus the beavers. In any other situation, we would be absolutely unstoppable.

But I fear Joe Biden is at a power level greater than almost all of us. Julie, perhaps, is stronger. But Biden is more focused. His aura rings out to me like a sharpened knife, held backwards and ready to swipe into each of our jugulars, just like that interesting Winter Soldier character in that one movie Francis showed me recently.

“Eryk!” Rare shouts. “What has he done to Mestopholees?”

“Same thing I’m going to do to you, you traitor punk,” Biden says.

“I’ll pulverize you into dust,” Rare says. “Mestopholees is one of my closest--”

I raise my hand up in the air and silence my sibling.

“Rare,” I say, “let me do the talking. I’ll lead the Systemless Squad here.”

They nod a few times and force themself to calm down.

Biden is baiting us into attacking. He knows he can defeat us if we are uncoordinated, if we fail to attack him all at once with our powers combined.

That is why it must be imperative that I have the Warring Core. Malia gave it to me in the heat of battle, and hardly explained it, but now I see what must be done.

This device has three magical powers that each act as counters to the Destiny Deck System. Red is for support, Yellow is for defense, and Blue is for draining power.

That last mode, Blue, is how we will defeat him. Joe Biden may be powerful, but if we capture all that energy, he will be no more than a timid old man with a big bald spot on his head.

I doubt he even knows the Warring Core exists. From what Francis and Julie told me, the devious and now long-gone Pete Buttigieg had snuck to that world in an attempt to usurp control with the device. So as long as we can delay him long enough to surprise attack him, he won’t have time to prevent anything.

With enough preparation time, even the mighty Superman can be felled. Joe Biden will be a piece of cake.

With enough preparation time...

I don’t know how well we will be able to coordinate this, though.

We just have to pray to The Goddess that we pull it off. Because we have just one shot. One opportunity to seize everything we ever wanted in one moment.

Will we capture him? Or just let him slip?

We shall see.

Everyone has entered the arena. Pink skies above us. Eerily quiet, distant gunfire and magic blasts in the distance aside.

“That’s quite a few of you,” Joe Biden says, still sitting in his throne. “You think you’re ready for this, do you?”

“We’re here to end your reign of terror on the multiverse,” I say.

“You and what army?”

I start to speak, but then he cuts me off with a flick of his wrist--

And suddenly he appears standing just a few feet away from me. He flashstepped so quickly even I couldn’t track it with my own eyes.

Biden snaps. A small explosion at the edge of the arena, knocking away a few of our troops encircling it.

“Like I said.”

“Your intimidation tactics are weak,” I tell him. “Everyone here knows you are one simple old man. You’re fighting for power, and we’re fighting for freedom. For survival. You shall fall because you are fighting for much weaker reasons.”

“If only it worked that way,” Biden says. “I wouldn’t’ve even been able to conquer Mystix. I’d be stuck running that idiotic reelection campaign and making gaffes on the trail and whatnot. My signature policies and cozying up to middle class voters. Bah.”

“I know very little of the culture of politicans, but I know that when you apply it to the realm of war, it leads only to destruction and chaos.”

“Love, war, politics, sex, religion. They’re all the taboo topics Americans just hate talking about. But they LOVE reading about it.”

“Do they?”

“Obviously! Everyone’s huddled around their computers, scrolling down or turning e-reader pages, glued to their screens as they read about us.”

“About us.”

“Yes! Of course. It’s so damn exciting, you know. A giant battle between the forces of good and evil. Lots of big personalities and their dynamics clashing all over the place. RPG superpowers and lots of explosions. It’s the ultimate theater. Americans, and frankly the world, eats that shit up.”

“What are you even talking about...”

“That company I’ve been working with, those Quinwhatever guys, told me all about it. They created a bunch of multiversal cameras to broadcast the whole battle through metafictional quantum receivers or whatnot. It’s a bunch of malarkey to me. But what I do know is that hundreds of millions of people are watching us right now. This battle is showing up on videos. In podcasts. On social media. Even in the form of books and articles.”

“I do not consent to such madness,” I say. “I refuse to appear in some book. This is the fight of our lives, not a wrestling match.”

“This battle’s nothing more than high-stakes wrestling, if you ask me,” Biden says. “It’s all scripted, and the Montreal Screwjob’s right underway.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re going to lose, Eryk Solbourne. You were always going to lose here. Any dolt with half a brain knows that the entire U.S. military isn’t going to just lay down and lose in some epic final battle. We’re the most trained and organized fighting force in the fucking multiverse.”

“So what, is this a trap?”

Biden shakes his head. “That’d imply I knew you were coming. Nah. More like, I just didn’t care enough to do anything about you.”

Julie, who has been silent and steady up to this point, growls and then teleports right behind him.

The two North Spirans have Biden in a sandwich. We could take him if we just had a single element of surprise to distract him. I could use the Warring Core and...

“Don’t even bother, Julie Rafati,” he says. “You’re strong, but you don’t got it where it counts. You’re still so raw. Maybe in five years you’ll beat me, but you don’t have that kind of time. You lack experience, jack.”

She raises both her hands into the air. She’ll attack at any moment. And Biden knows that. He’s counting on it.

I try to calm her down with my glances alone, but it’s not working.

“Just give up,” I tell Biden. “We can give up on all this war stuff. Let us work out peaceful arrangements to let all worlds cooperate.”

“Yeah, I’m sick of war too,” he says. “I want to end all wars. Today, honestly.”

“Yes, then--”

“So, join me, you two,” he says. “The rest of y’all can burn for all I care, but you two? You’ve really got potential. North Spirans with that [Demigod] class. Hyper powerful, competent in combat. You can be, I don’t know, my angels or something.”

I scoff. “I turned that one down from The Goddess herself. I’m no assistant.”

“I’ll die before I work for you,” Julie says.

“I figured. I just wanted to extend the offer before I wipe you both from existence. You’d be a real big help when I start building my legacy.”

“You’re still focused on that after all this time?” I ask. “Legacy?”

“You’ll understand when you’re older,” he says. “But I think my idea of legacy’s expanded a little since the first time we spoke.”

A chill comes over me. Comes over everyone in the arena. I can hardly describe what it is.

“I’m done with the President shit,” he tells us. “I already control The Goddess’s Domain. I can’t actually do anything in there, but my guys will figure it out eventually. And that’s where the fun begins.

“See, I realized something pretty neat while y’all were coming out this way. I’ll be frank. If your army came to Mystix undetected, that means you figured out another way through. And I bet I can take it from you.

“Then it’s pretty much all straightforward from there. I’ll make my own domain. Build my own multiverse. Become a God. Soon as I kill all of you, that’s what I’ll do.”

This...

This is the end, then.

The most important of battles just became that much more important.

If we fall, Biden will gain access to the Quantum Decryptor that Esther and The Goddess designed for us. He’ll become a deity and disrupt the fabric of not only our multiverse, but even further beyond.

Joe Biden MUST be stopped. Here, now, and forever.

I glance at Julie again. No more holding back. No more considering one’s own safety.

A fight to end all fights is about to begin.

And we Systemless Squad heroes all leap into action at the same exact time. Weapons blasting, fists glowing, mouths open wide and screaming out loud.

Biden just grins.