“Those nine are extremely strong, but the rest are of little concern,” a man on horseback commented from the midst of the Null Empire’s army. “I guess it would make the most sense for our youngest to be the one to bypass the fighting.”

Clad in all black, his outfit was one mostly of cloth, with bits of leather strategically sewn in. In the night, this man would be nearly impossible to spot just because of his clothing alone—with his skills, unless he chose to be seen, most people would be unable to even catch his shadow.

He then looked across the battlefield at the one who was to be his foe. It was a massive human, perhaps nearly seven feet in height. Curiously, while he did wear armor, this warrior’s entire midsection was bare, save for some tattoos.

In each of the warrior’s hands was a warhammer. In the right was a giant stone hammer, six feet in length. In the left was a comparatively smaller one, with a gilded wooden handle and a steel head with numerous runes etched into it.

“A strong brute. Not a bad matchup. I shall proceed.”

The man dismounted his horse and approached. As he did so, the human puppets in the area paused their advance and formed a perimeter around the massive warrior.

The massive warrior turned and looked the masked man up and down. “I take it you’re one of the numbered fellas I heard about. I’m Rudeus. What number are you?”

“Four.”

“Oh?” Rudeus scratched his chin. “Are you the harbinger of death, then? I was told to ask for help upon meeting one of you…”

He grinned. “But I don’t plan on missing out on the fun.”

“I do not blame you. Proper matches are hard to come by. I can only hope that your ability will not disappoint me.” Four drew a pair of daggers and stepped backwards, fading into the air as if he’d never existed in the first place.

“Oh? An invisibility skill?” Rudeus closed his eyes. “And you’ve managed to erase your presence, even your bloodlust. Haha! Quite impressive! But…”

He smashed the ground with his hammers. Jagged rocks burst out of the ground to his right, while thunder and lightning rained from the heavens to his left.

“...I don’t need to see you to attack you.”

Several of the jagged stones were cut through, and a single speck of blood caught Rudeus’ eye.

“Found you!” Rudeus turned to his right, but not in time.

Having been caught out before he could find a suitable path of attack, Four tried to regain the advantage by throwing a flurry of throwing knives toward Rudeus, who simply batted them away with his giant hammer.

As the giant hammer passed in front of Rudeus’ field of vision, Four appeared from right behind it—he’d predicted Rudeus’ counter to his throwing knives and had used Rudeus’ swing to conceal his approach.

Surprised, Rudeus tried to swing his left hammer back across his body, but with his right arm still extended, he was unable to do so smoothly and Four’s knives cut through his arm and abdomen.

To save himself from being cut too deep, Rudeus let go of his giant hammer and twitched backwards, saving himself from much of the damage, then used the momentum from swinging his left hammer to duck under Four as he soared past, saving himself from further hits.

The mountain of a man almost seemed like a dancer as he contorted his body.

“You’re quite agile for your size,” Four commented.

Rudeus grinned and responded, “Thanks. I do yoga.”

A strange numbness began to spread through his body and right arm. Rudeus growled, then grabbed his giant stone hammer.

As he did so, his tattoos and eyes began to glow, and his substantial beard began to sway in the wind.

“Ah… so you’re the ancient son of the north.”

Rudeus raised an eyebrow. “Indeed I am. Truth be told, I did not expect for one so far south to know of me, especially after so long.”

“So long?” Four tapped his chin with a knife. “Yes, I guess for some that was a long time ago. So I take it you activated your tattoos to heat your blood to counteract my poison? It seems I will not be achieving an easy victory today.”

“You don’t seem so sad about that,” Rudeus dryly remarked as he smashed his hammers into the ground towards Four, who swiftly sidestepped the resulting lightning and spikes.

“I’m sure you’re feeling the same. Rudeus, was it? Beings like us do not meet many people worthy of a good fight. It is even rarer that we are able to fight one to the death.”

Four grinned, then continued as he stepped back into the shadows again. “Whether I live or die, I plan to enjoy this fight to the fullest.”

***

Just as Rudeus had met a worthy adversary, so had the rest of the Boomtown legends. Each and every one of them encountered a strange, masked man capable of pushing them to the brink of their fighting capabilities.

Every single one of them but Boom and Sweet. Which wasn’t to say that they didn’t find enemies… they had just found different enemies.

The man in front of Boom looked unassuming, as ordinary as ordinary could be, but there was just something about him that Boom found familiar.

The two simply stared at each other for a few moments, eyeing each other.

“Well, I guess since the battle started, I’m allowed to smoke again.” Boom slowly pulled open his coat jacket and reached inside for a cigar, then pulled it out and lit it with a snap of his fingers.

“After all this time, you’re still the same old Boom, huh. Addicted to your smelly cigars,” the familiar man stated.

“You know me?” Boom coughed as he choked on the cigar smoke. “Or did Sweet tell you to say that? I’ve told her time and again, you want me to quit smoking, then stop drinking. I hate double standards.”

“So the defender of humanity is here too? Perhaps that’s where it went,” the man muttered, then projected his voice so that Boom could hear it. “But do you really not recognize me? Come on, we fought the Mad Titan together! Heaven’s final hour? This world’s primal dawn?”

“I, uh.” Boom scratched his head. “I mean, that was a long time ago. Were you one of my men?”

“Was I—ha!” The mysterious man’s voice changed from low and controlled to high-pitched and frantic.

“Was I one of your men?! Boom, you’re an asshole! I was one of your best fighters! One of your prized followers! I was practically your right-hand man!”

Boom smacked himself in the forehead. “Oh, my right-hand man! You should have said so! Chak, you look so different! Don’t tell me you quit smoking?”

“NO! I’m NOT Chak!”

The man furiously reached into his pocket and pulled out a painting several feet in length and width.

Pointing at a specific point on it, he shouted, “See! We posed for this painting after killing the Mad Titan! You can see me! It’s me! I’m just three rows behind you! Do you see it! Do you recognize me yet?!”

Boom shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know man, I got hit on the head pretty hard that day, and like you said, it’s been a few thousand years. I don’t remember most of the people we fought with.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as tears welled up in the man’s eyes and he dropped the painting.

After a moment, the man caught his breath and began to slowly speak.

“You know, Boom. Once upon a time, I’d hoped that you could recognize me as a friend. I’m very glad that you did not recognize me, for it proves that I made the right choice.

“You see, like you, I decided to ensure my future livelihood by working with a god. Only instead of Tori, it was Karasu. And with my immortality, I’ve worked day and night for the last few thousand years so that I might surpass you when we met.

“So here we are, Boom. You and me. Two choices, two gods. Let’s see who made the right choice. And as for who I am?” The man raised his chin and flared his nostrils.

“You once knew me by another name… but now you can call me Zero.”