Cal chased the demon’s consciousness to a mountain ridge north of Rome.

It had fled the center of its power, which meant that it didn’t know he was right behind it.

The mountain side parted at a thought like the sea had in that old story.

Solid rock split like water in front of him.

He kept the way behind him open. A perfect cylindrical hole straight down into the depths.

The demon’s thread ended inside a lump of stone.

It was innocuous.

Visually indistinguishable from any of the thousands of lumps of stones around him.

Indeed, it took some effort to see the demon hidden within.

He ripped the stone out of the earth and floated it closer.

The demon was alarmed now.

It knew.

“I still can’t tell where you came from. Is it another physical world? But then you have no memories, no thoughts in the same way that we do. What I can get out of your thoughts is just what you took from your victims. You become them. They become you. But even that’s insufficient. You’re not entirely physical. Not even mostly. That much I’ve learned. Two demons. Each as alien from the other as you are to us. Singular entities? Conceptual existences?”

Things that didn’t fit with his understanding of reality.

Demons, the shadow realm, the fae lands, eldritch beings.

There were physical worlds, like Earth, the Threnosh world, the Dominion world his brother’s family had somehow managed to mostly conquer. An infinite number of worlds that might have a direct shot to Earth.

He needed to get to the spires and purchase that information.

“You’re bound to this… not-stone… I can see and, or feel you trying to push those tendons through my shields. Physically, mentally, spiritually, whatever… Goddamn it. I’m talking to myself.”

The demon was trapped so long as he focused his powers on it.

Obviously, this was an untenable situation.

Even he needed to rest and he had too many things to worry about without the potentially apocalyptic threat in the not-stone.

It had taken less than five years for the demon to subvert what was, by all accounts, a good version of the Catholic Church and turn it into the Inquisition, but worse. The echoes of what had been done to people within the walls of Vatican City had matched the worst things he had seen on two worlds.

He floated back to the surface, sealing the mountain behind him. It was as if he had never opened it up in the first place.

The demon fought, but it could do nothing as he flew into space and shot it toward the sun.

He waited, searching for the stretching of wet tendons.

They reached out from the void, but failed to reach the planet.

Physically, the Sun should destroy the stone.

Metaphysically?

Well… pretty much all cultures held the Sun as a cleansing force.

No evil shall survive the light of day and that sort thing.

From the memories of the corrupted, the demon had never ridden them during the day unless they were indoors or underground. It had only ventured out at night.

The rare occasions that it had revealed its body in its guise as God had always been deep in its necropolis lair.

“This is me speaking. Demon is off the board. I repeat. Demon is off the board. Blackstar, status report.” he spoke into the comms. He already knew, but it was good to pretend that he didn’t. Plus it showed that he cared.

“All prisoners secured and receiving medical attention. Minor injuries to team. All, except for Rynnen, are with the prisoners providing security. Scattered church forces attempted escape. Local forces engaging.”

“Where’s Rynnen?”

His nephew had that overconfidence that came with being strong enough to flip a tank and durable enough to eat a fireball.

“He went to support Relentless.”

“Thanks, Blackstar. I’ll be back shortly,” he almost called Rynnen to lecture him, but it was a tactically acceptable move.

“Understood. Will notify you if things change. Blackstar out.”

He waited a few more minutes to be certain that the tendrils wouldn’t reach before returning to the basilica.

Eron hummed a barely-remembered song as he burned a pile of flesh that sort of looked like a demented snowman with bits of bone instead of twigs for arms and he didn’t want to know what the nose was instead of a carrot.

“I’m burnin’ up, burnin’ up for—”

He remembered a few lyrics and most of the music.

The pop-y beat reminded him of simple, happy times.

One needed to remember those in the face of days like this.

When the world as terrible.

Otherwise one might lose the will to keep moving forward in the face of it.

Evil sucked.

This was pure evil.

The cruelty being the point and purpose of the whole endeavor.

To him it was a mark against the existence of God that things like the demon existed.

What thinking being would make something like that on purpose?

It implied a lack of thought or perhaps a mind so removed from sapience that it might as well not be considered sapient.

The spires had opened up the world into worlds, literally.

Humans weren’t the only sapients out there.

Fishmen, Bat people, not-Elves, Trolls, Euro-style Dragons, one Asian-style Dragon, Humans, but not Earth Humans, Faeran, which were different from the Fae… there was a whole lot of those, all sorts of different kinds of Fae, most were assholes.

And there was not-Santa Claus, that monster had seemed sapient, but he hoped it had been a one off like the Deep Azure. If there was an entire species just like that bastard, then he was going to have to add xenocide to his list of deeds.

And so he remembered sitting in a car seat, that made him feel like a fighter pilot. They sang songs along with the cassette at first, then a CD player. With his mom or his dad or his mom and dad.

That’s how it always worked.

With the music.

Kids grew into adults that knew music from two eras.

The ones their parents listened to and the ones they listened to as they grew older.

A long line going back to the beginning.

At least whenever music didn’t have to be listened to live.

Probably when everyone got the radio.

So, when was that?

The thirties… he hated that he had to specify that was the 1930’s.

There was no way he was ever going to switch to the P.S. system those nerds kept pushing.

“26 is how old someone is, not a year,” he muttered.

Footsteps echoed across the burned out basilica.

He had heard Rynnen coming since before Rynnen had probably decided he was going to the church.

That’s why he had sped up on clearing the last bits of wet flesh.

He had burned them to ash, then burned the ashes.

“Man, I hope the auto repair system is still working.”

There was nothing left inside the ancient church expect black soot.

The bronze canopy and the high altar had been melted.

Saint Peter’s Throne was swirling ash being pulled up through the gaping hole in the dome.

Marble statues had been transformed into shapeless lumps.

Golden decorations were melted puddles.

The friezes and the frescoes were unrecognizable.

“Relentless?” Rynnen strode over as Eron landed.

“Everything go good down there? Lost my helmet. Lot’s of blood on you,” he eyed his nephew critically.

“Not mine.”

“That’s what I figured.”

“We got all the prisoners out.”

“Good. So… why are you here?” he narrowed his eyes.

“I thought you guys might need backup.”

“Well, thanks. Could’ve used you out there.”

“The demon is…”

“Being taken care of. Probably already dead or what passes for dead for one its kind. You look disappointed.”

“I wanted to see how I’d do against something like that,” Rynnen shrugged.

“Be careful what you want. One day you might get that chance.”

“I’m ready.”

The forthcoming lecture was forestalled by Cal’s sudden, but inevitable arrival.

In fact, he just appeared behind Rynnen.

Even Eron hadn’t noticed his brother fly in.

“You lacked the means to truly damage it. The demon was an incorporeal existence. You have the strength to destroy the bodies it rode. You have the durability to withstand its physical attacks. However, both are rendered irrelevant since you lack the extrasensory perceptions and abilities to strike at its real self. Your superhuman nature provides greater resistance to its metaphysical corruption, probably. But I wouldn’t want to test that out. One, you’re our nephew and our cousin, your mother, would not be pleased if we were so careless with your well-being. And two—”

Cal’s lecture was almost too blunt.

“No, I get it,” Rynnen nodded stiffly. “If it’s possible, then someone like me, corrupted by the demon would do a lot a bad things. Then you’d have to kill me.”

“You did good in the tunnels. Blackstar said you cleared the rest of the necropolis by yourself so they could focus on getting the prisoners out. That was the most important part of this Quest,” Cal said.

“Yeah, you didn’t want to piss your mom off. She was like the honey badger, don’t give a shit,” Eron did what he could to soften the sting a bit. “C’mon, help me clear the rest of the Vatican and I’ll tell you about one of the many times she made me cry.”

Night turned to day.

The fires had been extinguished.

The ownership question in regards to Vatican City remained unanswered.

The demon-corrupted church was no more.

Iria and her band had killed the stragglers that had escaped Eron’s rampage at great cost.

Her losses weighed on the woman, but they spurred her on rather than slow her, like it did for him.

The avenger added them to her grievances.

“She leveled up twice.”

“Who?” Eron dropped an entire side of frozen beef near the line of fire pits and grills.

The first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon.

Eron seemed to bask in it like a lizard.

“Iria.”

“Dude, I heard she basically took out an inquisitor by herself. That’s an advanced class, plus the bastard had to be at minimum Level 40.

“44.”

“Too bad I don’t level up like them. I killed a bunch of inquisitors and all the cardinals.”

“You didn’t struggle anyways. No struggle, no levels,” Cal started thawing the beef by exciting its molecules. There was almost a ton of frozen meat underneath the pop-up canopies.

Wounds had needed healing.

They had pulled in every single person with a healing ability from all of the scattered communities in and around Rome.

The speed at which they had been able to get people the healing they needed made a great difference in the final tally of the bloody night.

Lives almost certainly lost had been saved.

Not a single prisoner they had rescued died.

The healers had been spent.

They needed sustenance to recharge so that they could continue their work.

Many were still in critical condition.

Those out of immediate danger needed to eat to fuel their recovery as well.

“Want to talk about it?”

Eron hesitated.

“… I guess. I did get a little… affected… by the boner magic, but it wasn’t my fault. It was the church’s fault, so, maybe I don’t need to talk about it.”

“I didn’t mean about that.”

“What then? The hundreds of demon-corrupted I killed?”

“Well… yeah.”

“Listen… you don’t have to worry about slippery slopes and the whole gazing into the monster abyss thing. Do I feel guilty? A little. Do I wish I could just not do this?” Eron gestured toward Vatican City in the distance. “Yeah. I’d rather spend time with my not-wife and our kid. I can take them literally anywhere. See the sights, experience the world. Instead, I get to deal with boner magic-wielding priests. So, don’t worry. The killing won’t change me. It hasn’t… so far…”

“Well… it’s good that you’re dealing with it in your normal way.”

“If it’ll make you feel better I give you permission to do a deep dive,” Eron tapped his head. “Find out if there’s a monster waiting to explode. Honestly, I’d rather know so we can take care of it before it becomes an actual problem.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“I do have one complaint about the boner magic. Your intelligence gathering on it was lacking.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Yes, it was. I heard Drake got blue-balled.”

“It was in the briefing!”

“I know, I did read it,” Eron shrugged. “Just thought that it wouldn’t affect me. I can count on my hands and feet the number of times the weirder spells actually did more than annoy me.”

“I’m glad that you’ve finally figured out how to count to a number higher than 10. Now, what’re you going to do when you need to go over 20?”

“I can count to 21… make that 23.”

“Well, then my briefing was fine. Drake was the only that had a significant issue. That’s almost a 90% success rate.”

“Can’t argue with statistics. So, what else do we need for the too-early celebration?”

“Sauces for the marinade. Some rub. Fruits and vegetables. Drinks. Snacks. Plastic utensils and paper plates.”

“Booze?”

“I guess.”

“Alright, I’ll be back,” Eron zoomed into the sky.

As the morning wore on the elements of a day-long party came together.

Cal took care of everything, while he sent Eron out to collect what they needed.

By the time their work was done they had cleared out most of the stores and markets in the area.

Grill smoke soon filled the air, joining the remnants from the fires that had razed Vatican city.

Meat sizzled as Cal flipped them on a dozen grills.

Veggies hovered in midair while flying knives chopped.

Chairs and tables set themselves.

Cal conducted the buzz of activity from a chair in the shade like a conductor.

Eron returned with one last delivery just as people started to stream into the park.

“That took a suspiciously long time.”

“Like you didn’t know there was a giant monster flying this way,” Eron snorted.

“I knew that you noticed. What’d you do with the corpse?”

“Tossed it into space. It had acid blood. The melt your face and bone kind. Too risky to let people try and get something out of it.”

“The magus has a standing bounty on powerful monster bits.”

“Yeah, sure, but that meant I would’ve had to take it to her and make sure that they didn’t accidentally kill themselves or pollute their surroundings. I’ve seen bullshit like that happen. A few gallons of the wrong blood seeping into the water supply can ruin the entire thing and then spread out for miles. So, that’s it then? You don’t need anything else?”

“You’re not staying? At least stay for lunch. I bet there are a lot of people that’d like to thank you.”

“Nah. I’m good. Been eating all morning. Besides, that’s not my deal. And I’m burning vacation time.”

“I hope you can actually relax.”

“Same. My gut’s twisting right now, but I’m going to do my best to not listen and see beyond what’s in front of me. I don’t want to waste the time you’re giving me.”

“I’m not as fast as you, but I can do a good enough job taking over your route for a few weeks.”

“Are you sure? This terminus thing is—”

“We don’t know what it means, so it’s pointless to freak out until I can purchase more info from the spires. Which, I will do once I’m done with all this,” he gestured toward his cooking.

“I’ll do it before I head to Wytchraven’s.”

“If you want, but remember, vacation.”

“Yeah, yeah. Say, what’re you going to do here? There’s a power vacuum now and—”

“Not your problem while on vacation, which you are. Right now.”

“Yeah, but—”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I’ll stick around the area for a few days to make sure nothing pops up. I’ll visit the regional powers. Influence them to stay away. The team’s going to stick around for a few weeks for added protection and I’ll convince Iria to stay for a few months and help stabilize the situation. There’s a handful of church people that escaped the demon, so I think they’ll want to pick up the pieces and atone.”

“Yeah, okay, that sounds fine. I’ll just have to keep a closer eye on this place for a few years until people get strong enough to protect themselves again.”

“And to avoid repeats.”

“Yeah. Oh, one last thing, here,” Eron flicked a folded up piece of paper.

Cal plucked it out of the air and read it.

It contained names and places.

Some of the latter were specific addresses, most were cities or a general description of an area.

The entire list was organized by world regions.

“GPS coordinates would be better.”

“That’s too much work. Besides, you don’t need them. You’ve got enough info on there that you can find them.”

“What’s with the red and black numbers?”

Each name had two next to them.

“The higher the number the stronger. Red is my thought on their suitability for joining. Black is if I was being objective about it.”

Each person had a short description.

“This one has a Full Release? Like the anime?”

“Yeah…” Eron scowled, working his mouth. “Full Release. Full Release. Damn it!”

“Universal translation system…”

“I’m trying to say the actual word in Japanese,” Eron kicked the grass.

“I guess you need to learn the language in full. There’s a ranger that when she says technique I hear the word from the anime, but when I try to say it it comes out as technique. The inconsistency of it irks me. I’m trying to learn other languages, but the system makes it harder.”

“Full Release gives the wrong impression.”

“So the star next to his name means he’s good?”

“Yeah, but as you can see by the red number, I don’t think he’d be a good fit. Kind of a dick. One of those ‘I must gain strength at all times. I will try to fight anyone, even the person saving my ass’-types. That girl is better,” Eron pointed.

“Magical girl?”

“Did you say ‘magical girl’ or magical girl?”

“The latter.”

“Met her from that time I got Rayna that small herd of Wagyu. She’s a ‘power of friendship’-type. It’s been awhile so she might have rebuilt her team by now. Conversely, the reasons she’d be good make it less likely that she’d be willing to leave the area she protects.”

“Alright, thanks… what’re you still doing here?”

“I’m gone. I’ll see you at the end of summer. I’ve already got something in mind for Boy’s gift.”

“Nothing dangerous!” he called out, but Eron was already beyond the clouds.

“Um… excuse me,” a small child gawped up at the sky with wide eyes, “was that the flying man?”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

“Constancia, don’t bother the busy man,” her mother rushed over.

He didn’t need to scan her thoughts to see the fear.

It might have something to do with the hundreds of things flying.

One would be a fool to not want to keep their distance from fast moving knives.

“What spell is that?” Constancia said as she tried to get a closer look despite her mother pulling her away.

“Telekinesis.”

“Can you teach me?”

“Not right now, but who knows, maybe in the future,” he smiled at the two. “The first batch of food will be ready in a few minutes,” he directed them to the serving section. “It’s self-service, buffet style. Just start there and follow the signs. All different kinds of food. Drinks are at the exit. Don’t worry about germs. That’s taken care of.”

“A spell or Skill?” the mother said.

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” she blushed and finally succeeded at tearing little Constancia’s attention away from the intricate dance of the knives and vegetables.

Apparently, curiosity and wonder were a match for a child’s hunger.

And from the looks of them, there had been too much of that of late.

The demon-corrupted church had been to blame.

They had squeezed access to most of the food stores to tighten their hold on the local populace.

“It takes evil to force people into hunger for your own selfish ends,” he said to the shadow.

“How do you do that?” Tabitha stepped out.

The monster head hood of her cloak was pushed back to reveal a leaner, harsher look than that of the kid he had first met in that disgusting slaver’s mansion.

“You don’t do shadow magic,” her face was a stone mask.

By all accounts her therapist was pleased with their ongoing work at processing the trauma of enslavement and all the horrors that entailed.

Tabitha was simply a taciturn person.

This was her truth.

The smiling, bubbly one created by the collar was just that. A fabrication. False.

It was always better to be one’s true self.

If one didn’t feel like smiling, then it was wrong to tell them to do so.

“Good job last night. I heard you were instrumental in defeating the templar.”

Tabitha nodded.

“Anything you want to talk about?”

She shook her head.

“Want to help? Eat?”

“No. I’m going to sit and watch,” she gestured toward the expansive cooking station.

Thus proclaimed, Tabitha pulled a chair deeper into the canopy shade and allowed her inky black cloak to engulf her in its protective embrace.

They gathered around the portable fire pit Rynnen had carried a ways away from the hundreds of others.

They had done it for two reasons.

One was for a bit of privacy and distance from the curious looks and questions.

The other was to place themselves in the best spot in case monster trouble arrived. Although, Cal had promised that wasn’t going to be an issue.

Night usually brought monsters and mutant animals unless the community’s level of control and strength was high enough to keep them from crossing the territorial borders.

“Feeling relaxed, kid,” Howard grunted.

The hairy man was shirtless, lounging in a chair with a cold beer in one hand and a lit cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah?” Drake sensed the trap.

“Good, good… glad you found relief.”

“I’m confused because I definitely don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know, the thing you had to do,” Howard jerked a fist up and down.

“Heh,” Rynnen grunted.

“Still don’t get it,” Drake shrugged.

“It’s alright, man. We get it,” Howard smirked.

“They’re talking about your masturbation!” Emma snapped.

“I’m not admitting to anything, but if I did it, then I would’ve done it in a place where none of you, even you Howard, could’ve possibly heard.”

“Didn’t say I heard or saw,” Howard tapped his nose.

“Seriously?”

“Animal-level senses ain’t all roses and rainbows. Let me tell you about it.”

“Please don’t, Mr. Howard, I’m trying to concentrate,” Emma scribbled in her fancy spellbook with an actual feather quill thing. It had to be magic cause the young woman didn’t have an ink pot.

“Let me just say that a hundred percent of you people aren’t fooling anyone when you walk away pretending you want a look at something interesting. Shit, at least stand downwind of me when you rip off those meat farts,” Howard snorted.

“I haven’t been doing that,” Rynnen grinned.

“Get that smug look off your face,” Howard laughed. “You’ve got good ass control, but even that superstrong asshole isn’t airtight.”

“Gross,” Emma sighed.

“Relax, Em,” Rand said. “And stop doing that. It can wait. Boss said everything’s cool until tomorrow.”

“Then that means this is the best time to replenish our spells.”

“I still have my attack spells. I only used my eyes and the battlefield link. Didn’t even get to fireball anyone,” Rand pouted.

“What are you, twelve?”

“Well, I might’ve gotten more than one level if I actually fulfilled my class. I was hoping I’d finally hit 40.”

“Being close at your age is good,” Drake said.

“Did you level up?”

“Same as you, just one.”

“Did you get a good Skill or spell?”

“Yup,” Drake didn’t elaborate.

“I need to hit 40 for a spell slot in the next highest tier.”

“Rand, stop it!” Emma scowled.

“Relax,” he rolled his eyes. “I’m not giving out details. Just like Ms. Teacher taught us. Are you gonna tattle? You love being a tattletale, don’t you?”

“Kids are annoying,” Howard grinned.

“I could see some uses for a tattletale class,” Drake mused.

“Ignoring all of you,” Emma said as she renewed her focus on her spellbook.

Drake belched, thankful that it hadn’t gone out the other way.

The pounds of food and the dozen beers he had consumed throughout the day sat heavy.

He pondered the wisdom of making a quick deposit to clear some space for more.

Then decided against it.

It was time for dessert.

Blackstar, Diana when off mission, returned with Tabitha in tow.

The pair had gone to secure graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows.

Tabitha flicked a pint of gelato from underneath her monster cloak.

The container struck Drake in the face.

“Ow!”

“Sorry. You caught it last time.”

“Yeah, my fault. The buzz isn’t good for my reflexes.”

Tabitha shrugged and claimed the chair next to Howard.

“Alright, listen up. We’re off duty tonight. So no orders from me. After this last one,” Diana said. “Relax. That’s all,” she distributed the goods. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret in the harsh light of day,” she added.

“Caramel stuffed chocolate?” Howard raised a brow.

“I got all different kinds we can try,” Diana said.

“It’s s’mores. Don’t complicate with your fancy bougie chocolates.”

“Spoken like a truly simple man.”

“I’m the best at keeping myself simple,” Howard nodded.

“I remember doing this with my parents,” Tabitha murmured.

Silence.

“Me too,” Rynnen said.

“We do this, like, every Saturday or Sunday back home,” Rand said. “Not a big s’mores man, myself. Gets my fingers sticky. But I will try at least one of each fancy chocolates,” he plucked one from the bowl.

“White chocolate? Gonna be way too sweet with the marshmallow,” Howard said.

“Hey, you got something harder on you?” Rynnen said.

“The draw backs of superhuman constitution,” Howard sighed. “The buzz doesn’t last long for me. You can’t even get one without drinking a couple of gallons quick.”

“It’s only a bad thing sometimes.”

“Yeah, but after what we saw underground I’d bet you wouldn’t mind getting wasted right now?”

“Even if I could. I wouldn’t. My strength is too dangerous to let slip out of control.”

“True that. Well, ain’t no rule against drinking for the taste.”

“Just like there’s no rule for drinking to get drunk,” Diana said.

“Um… that’s like the whole point,” Rand said.

Howard stuck his entire arm into his bag of holding.

“Here you go. Canada’s finest whisky.”

Rynnen snatched the bottle of amber-colored liquor out of the air.

“This is Canada’s finest whisky?” Rynnen said dubiously.

“It is to me,” Howard said flatly. “Anyone want a cigar?” he held out a pack.

“I’ll take one.”

Drake couldn’t remember the last time he had smoked anything.

Probably, back at home. Not at his actual place. Smoking was banned on account of his pregnant wife and their kid.

This time he caught the projectile.

“Cuban?”

“Hell if I know. Got it from a cigar shop over there,” he waved in a vague direction. “I just grabbed a bunch.”

“Thanks, Howard. And, Rynnen, Canadian Mist is shit. In case you didn’t know.”

Rynnen took a long swig, wrinkling his face.

“This is Canada’s finest whisky?”

“That’s all I got,” Howard shrugged.

“Then, thanks for your generosity,” Rynnen said.

Drake settled in to relax in the warm glow of the fire.

The next few weeks, maybe even a month, was going to be busy.

He already missed his family.