The first thing I see as my [Searing Rush] and [Irrational Force] skills run out is the destruction and ruin of Santa Barbara under siege. An army of U.S. forces, along with Mystix soldiers of various races and classes—forcibly conscripted New Slayers, by the looks of it—march on the city, but are held back barely by a legion of the finest warriors Earth has ever seen.

My men. My women. My others. My Santa Barbarans, doing their best to defend their homeland. And until now, I was not there to save them. That will change, starting now.

The siege has not yet broken. I was lucky that my incredible speed as a result of [Blinding Rush] and [Irrational Force] was enough to evade capture, or even possibly notice from the U.S. siege line, because that would not have been a battle I was ready to endure so far away from my allies.

I ignore the fight for now and dash into the palace, into the throne room where I once proved my worth in front of the former King Bodhi.

It looks practically the same as I left it, which is remarkable. The battle is just beyond the doorstep, and yet it still has that immaculate Santa Barbaran touch. In a more peaceful time, I would take a leisurely stroll and admire the designs.

Instead, I have to secure the stronghold before beginning any kind of counterattack.

One man sits on the throne, as if the ruler of the country. Technically, he is.

Brett.

Indeed, the very Brett who betrayed the former King Bodhi and tried to overthrow her, the one I forced to be regent and rule in my stead until I saw fit to return to my realm.

Unfortunately, I could not do so due to my abduction. And clearly, Brett was not the leader that Santa Barbara needed right now, much less the one it deserved. So here he sits, cowering in the throne room and shaking with fear.

He sees me and his eyes light up as if it was the first time he felt hope in a lifetime.

“King Solbourne!” he exclaims. “You’re back!” Brett hops off the throne, runs up to me, and then collapses at my feet. He wraps his arms around my legs and sobs loudly.

“I’ve returned,” I say. “But not in a good situation, I see.”

“Please, surrender for me!” he shouts. “Please, like, let America take us so we can get some peace and quiet! I just want to get outta this damn place, but the regency powers won’t let me surrender. Like, please, King Solbourne!”

“Bah, I knew it. You would never have stayed here of your own volition.”

“I tried escaping three times. The citizenry wouldn’t let me, dude.”

“As they should never.” I shook him free of my legs and stepped away. “You are a pathetic fool to grovel to an unsympathetic ruler.”

“But, dude...”

“You may not know about my past on Mystix. In fact, until recently, nor did I know about it. But I was once a fearsome, relentless conquerer known as Amaranth. I founded the army known as the Slayers and ravaged the lands. Still they speak whispers of my name on my home world, and those whispers echo to the warriors standing at our city walls. If you come crawling to my feet for mercy, you are crawling to the man who will cast you aside and throw you to the dogs. If there are no dogs, I will raise a herd of pups to adulthood and then throw you to them.”

At this, Brett stands up and bows his head down. He does not speak.

“Santa Barbara will not fall,” I say. “I won’t allow it.”

Without another word, the man slinks away deeper into the palace, probably to take a nap and dream that this whole thing is over. Hopefully, we’ll have the battle wrapped up and the siege broken to pieces by then, anyhow.

The royal guards enter the palace and find me here, and soon the mood picks up significantly. On sight of my pink hair, they become elated. They bring me out of the palace and march me to the steps, where hundreds of dirty, tired, and loyal soldiers gather.

They cheer me on, just as once those weary New Slayers did to my ghostly form back at South Spire all that time ago.

I was seen as a benevolent tyrant to ravenous warriors then. I am seen now as a benevolent tyrant to staving defenders. So much has changed, and yet so little has changed. Truly, in someone else’s story, I am the final villain, and this moment marks my resurgence. But for now, this is my story.

“Listen all of Santa Barbara,” I shout using a [Voice Projection] card to reach the masses without any sound equipment. “King Solbourne is back, and he is proud of you! The U.S. military thinks it can destroy us with its cannon fodder Mystix warriors, but it knows not the brilliant might we extreme sports lovers possess!”

Immense, upracious cheer.

“I, Eryk Solbourne, am a B-Rank [Adventurer] with the ambition of an S-Rank Hero. With your powers alongside mine, we will accomplish great things! Follow me to the city walls and we will destroy them all.”

A great march begins. We reach the city walls, reenergized and ready to begin a true counteroffensive. No more siege. We will instead expand Santa Barbara’s territory massively. First, all the way to Nevada. Then all of California. Then, the whole West Coast will become Santa Barbaran.

I climb up to the top of a tower overlooking the siege. The siege line itself is vast, mostly filled with beings of non-human existences, such as orcs, trolls, goblins, elves, sheet ghosts, murlocs, demons, angels, griffons, squidkins, and even a few beavers I can spot. Alongside all the Mystix creatures, I can clearly see a mix of modern American military technology as well. Tanks, supply trucks, and lots and lots of guns.

A general accompanies me to explain the situation and what to make of it all.

“It’s gnarly,” she says. “Like a hurricane off the coast you really wanna ride with, but that bad mojo’s getting all in you and you know you gotta lay it off.”

“Indeed, the vast majority of these forces are part of the New Slayers,” I say. “I used to be in control of them, you know, back on Mystix. But it seems they were conquered by the U.S. military very recently, and are being pressed into service here on Earth.”

“There’s only a few commandos out there, from what we can tell. But it’s hard to say. They love hiding in the crowds.”

“Commandos?” I ask.

“The military guys with the RPG system. Way trained up, with like superpowers and stuff.”

“Most Mystix warriors have the system in them too, you know,” I inform her.

“Not the same. The guys on Earth are just, like, better. The aliens just throw fireballs at you, but the commandos throw fireballs into cluster bombs and angle them right over our command towers. They got strategies.”

“Indeed, they do.” I refrain from mentioning that I was the one who trained most of them. “If we can target them and pick them off, the Mystix warriors will probably scatter. Their morale is surely the lowest of low.”

“That’s what our two champions have been doing,” the general says, “and they’ve been away for a few hours already now. Deep in enemy lines. You could join them, but I think you’re a better symbol for our soldiers here.”

“Who are the champions, again?”

“They’re A—”

A rumbling sound interrupts our conversation. The shaking becomes so violent that I have to grip onto the command tower walls just to stay on my feet.

“This is too familiar,” I say to myself.

And just as I realize what this situation must be, I look back to the palace in horror. Out from underneath the ground bursts a gigantic Skeleton Maw Dragon, flapping its bony wings and bellowing out an unholy screech the likes of which I dare not describe.

The palace is decimated. Brett, I hope, made it out alright, but it is unlikely.

“Yo, King Solbourne, I think a giant bone dragon just broke through our defenses,” the general says.

“No,” I say. “It just trapped itself in with us. That poor fool.”

With ridiculously unearned confidence, I face this Skeleton Maw Dragon and commence combat.