Toku and Dario’s teamwork was far from ideal, but as the duel between them and fourteen continued, the two began to learn each other’s habits and movements.

As Dario went in with a slash of his sword, Toku executed a similar attack from the kid’s other side, forcing him to block both attacks with his spear at the same time.

Fourteen did so, but this allowed Dario to press forward and bash Fourteen with his shield, a move that Fourteen was growing frustrated with as he’d already suffered several similar attacks from Dario already.

“Hah!” With a quick shout, Fourteen took advantage of his spear’s range and stabbed at Toku’s leg, but the experienced warrior king simply raised his leg and stepped on the head of the spear, stomping it into the dirt.

Toku felt as if his blood were boiling; as if everything around him was happening in slow motion.

This had only happened three times before in his life. The first was when he’d fought against a mountain ogre when he was eleven years old.

The second was during the final duel of the Kaita’s warrior tournament when he was fourteen years old.

And lastly, the third, was when he’d led his first military campaign as Kaita’s warrior king and had faced a towering giant of a human known as the “King Slayer”, a title the warrior had garnered from killing Kaita’s previous warrior king.

Even then, he’d still been at the tender age of fifteen.

Each of those times, and now, he’d found himself in combat with a being stronger than he. And each of those times, he’d learned and improved as a fighter by leaps and bounds.

Perhaps that was the source of his arrogance, his pride, but recent events had opened his eyes, revealed himself to be a frog at the bottom of a well.

First it had been his duel with Hugh, then his meeting with the other legends of Boomtown… and now fighting this child. He no longer thought himself to be one of the strongest beings in the world, at the peak of martial ability—instead, he was now all too aware of just how weak he was. The road ahead was long and winding.

All the more reason he was so excited!

He bared his fangs as he stepped past Fourteen’s grounded spear and unleashed a flurry of slashes, all of which were dodged.

Toku grunted as Fourteen kicked him in the ribs, knocking him back.

Dario chanted with his hands raised towards the heavens, “Oh, Holy Truth. Rain divine retribution upon this juvenile sinner!”

A seal appeared overhead and a series of lightning bolts rained down upon Fourteen. He was able to dodge most of them, but a bolt or two shocked him—the smell of burnt hair wafted through the air.

Fourteen was paralyzed for just a brief moment, but that was enough for Toku to draw blood. With He finally managed to slice a section of Fourteen’s torso. Any deeper and the wound would have been fatal, but Fourteen was able to draw back just in time.

“They’re about to break through!” a shout sounded from the defensive line.

Dario and Toku both cursed under their breath, while the kid grinned—his hard work had finally paid off.

Toku was about to tell Dario to head back to the defensive line and leave him with the kid, but just before he did, a massive, multi-armed abomination drifted into view from the nearby treeline.

On top of it was another youngster, one Toku had spotted during the war council briefing.

“It’s okay! Gary and I are here to help out!” Kandy shouted from atop his steed.

At his behest, Gary the Unfortunate Abomination charged forward, drawing a line through the puppets just feet away from the defensive line.

It only bought the soldiers a few moments, but it was enough for the proud but tired soldiers of the Holy and Kaita Kingdoms to regroup and reform their defensive wall.

Toku and Dario looked back at the kid, who scowled. That damn teenager was ruining all his plans and efforts.

And these two fogeys were more than he’d bargained for.

***

Sweet ducked under the crow god’s wing, then dodged a meteor as it crashed in from the heavens.

“Pulling things in from outer space is cheating!” Sweet complained.

“I’m using my innate talent, you’re using yours. I would think this is as fair as it gets,” the fake Karasu responded.

“Besides, I don’t think someone with Conviction as their innate talent should be complaining about anyone else using theirs. How did such a powerful talent get assigned to one of the second generation instead of the first?”

“I was just lucky, I guess.” Sweet sent several blades of mana flying at the crow.

The first two were swallowed by black holes, while the third flew through.

The fake Karasu bit the mana blade, shattering it. “You don’t even believe in luck.”

Sweet backed up a few paces to catch her breath. “Fair enough. I’ll also admit that I misjudged you—you are indeed far stronger than the other clone…”

“We referred to each other as brothers. The… oldest, prefers himself to be referred to as the father.”

The giant crow and human exchanged a knowing glance of disgust.

“Sure. You are indeed far stronger than your brother.”

“Of course. He was lazy, young, and overconfident. Perhaps some of it was our fault, as we let him know too early in his growth that he was a god, destined to rule over the myriad worlds.”

The feathered god sighed. “After that, he never worked as hard. If only he’d been even half as strong as I, then—”

“Then nothing,” Sweet interrupted. “It wouldn’t matter if even the real Karasu was here fighting with you. Perhaps I wouldn’t be able to win in such a scenario…”

Sweet flashed a vicious grin. “But I wouldn’t lose either.”

She raised her sword and shield again, her eyes glinting over the shield’s rim. “I’m absolutely sure of it. Prepare yourself. I’m done feeling you out.”

The crow flapped its wings and took to the skies. “In that case, I shall take my leave. Without the warmind, you don’t have a way to get back, do you?”

“What?!” Sweet could only watch as the crow flew higher and higher, until it passed through the clouds and she could no longer see it.

She activated her communication crystal. “Tin? Tin? Bring me back!”

When no response came, a pit formed in her stomach.

“Anyone?! Can you hear me?” Sweet yelled into the crystal.

“Yes, dear, I can hear you. Just a little busy fighting Karasu.” Boom’s voice sounded in her head.

“The real Karasu?”

“The one and only. Where are you?”

“Stranded on some other planet. Was fighting two Karasu puppets. I killed one but the other flew away and said something about Tin?”

“Did something happen to him?” Boom’s concerned voice came through.

“I wanted to ask you. You’re the one still on Aarde.”

“I’ve been busy fighting this entire time. I’ve no idea how the others are doing.”

The pit in Sweet’s stomach grew again. The fake Karasu was right. Without Tin, she had no way of getting back to Aarde. Unlike the winged gods of the first generation, she had no wings and was incapable of traversing between the myriad worlds.

She’d been too overconfident. But what else could she have done? If she’d allowed the two Karasu puppets to wreak havoc on Aarde, the others would have been caught in their gravity fields, and they wouldn’t have been able to resist them like she had.

No.

She’d made the right choice.

Sweet threw down her shield and sword and fell backwards, sprawled out as snow slowly recovered the ground.

She would have to trust her friends to win this battle. And whatever happened, she’d go through the seven hells to rescue the souls of the ones who fell.

Even if she’d have to do it alone.

***

Boom grimaced as he looked past Karasu to see Dekkeron’s massive form stagger and fall.

Karasu noticed this and shifted so that he could keep one eye on Boom and the other on Dekkeron as his body collided with the ground and sent up a giant cloud of rocks and dirt.

“So. Your wife is stranded on another planet, and the only remaining legends on this battlefield are a great wolf who is about to be hunted down like the beast he is…”

Boom watched as Milton was chased around the battlefield by an assassin and a dark pool a dozen feet wide.

“...a bastard child…”

Boom’s eyes flickered toward Fluffy, who to his credit, was still wreaking havoc but was starting to bleed from the sheer amount of spells, wyvern bites, and spear thrusts he’d suffered through.

“...and a madman.”

Boom didn’t even need to look up to know that Karasu was talking about Moon.

“Quite a fall for the first legend, no?”

Karasu’s voice was dripping with derision and mockery.

“All this for what, Karasu? Because you’re jealous? Is it me you’re jealous of? Or is it Sweet, or Tori? Or perhaps all three?” Boom’s entire body tensed as he spotted Milton being cornered by his pursuers.

He tried to rush past Karasu, but the latter quickly darted to block his way.

Boom jumped in the air and punched Karasu’s head. The explosion scarred much of Karasu’s face, but as he landed the crow’s wing clipped his left shoulder.

“Aaagh!” Boom involuntarily cried out from the pain, but continued to rush forward to save Milton.

As he ran, he reached into his pouch and pulled out fistfuls of hair and with a twist of the hips, threw them at the assassin.

“Run, Milton!”

Try as the great wolf might, though, Four’s knives stabbed into his right flank and Milton tried to bound away—as the poison spread through its body, Milton returned to his typically cute form and took a few steps towards Boom.

Boom heard Milton’s voice in his head, courtesy of the communication crystal. “Do not grieve, human. This is a battle you must win.”

The life left Milton’s eyes and he keeled over, his white fur dirtied by blood and dirt as his skin underneath cracked with purple energy.

For the first time in his life, tears welled up in Boom’s eyes—he saw red.

Moving so quickly that even Karasu was shocked, Boom leapt forward and grabbed Four before he could fade back into the shadows.

With two quick jabs, Boom blew off both of the assassin’s arms, then grasped the screaming man’s head with both hands.

Boom shouted his grief, his frustration as Four’s skull imploded between his hands.

Before he could lunge toward the dark pool, however…

Skreeeeeeeee!

Tori’s cry pierced through the battlefield—soon after, a flurry of rainbow-colored lights showered from the heavens, killing countless puppets.

Karasu’s head whipped up towards the sky. “No! How did you get here so quickly?!”

A moment later the eagle god pierced through the clouds and tackled Karasu. The force of the collision formed a creator and sent a shock wave coursing through the battlefield, blowing over trees and sending the water in the river over its banks.

“Go help your friends, Boom! I can handle him!” Tori shouted from the bottom of the crater.

Boom turned towards the dark pool. “You best turn back into your original form, unless you want to eat my explosions to destroy you from the inside out.”

The dark pool shook a bit, then shrank and built itself upwards like a slime until it mimicked a humanoid shape.

“You must be Boom. I’ve heard much about you…” Two seemed apprehensive of his new opponent, and for good reason.

“What number are you?” Boom growled.

“I have no reason to tell you. But, woah, woah, wait!” Two backed off and raised his hand as Boom began to advance.

“I’m not strong enough to fight you, and I don’t want to die like this, so how about we come to a deal?”

“...I’m listening. You have ten seconds to convince me.”

“You let me go and head towards your demi-god friend there.” Two motioned with his head towards Fluffy, who was several miles away.

“If you leave now, you still might be able to save him.”

“Save him? From what?” Boom questioned.

“The other Karasu. He’s approaching, and fast.”

Boom instantly turned and sprinted towards Fluffy.