Kandy frowned as he examined the battlefield. Things had greatly quietened over the last few moments, and not in a good way.

Many of the legends’ over-the-top, visually awesome skills were nowhere to be seen. Sure, Moon had just fired an ice blast over a large portion of the battlefield moments prior, but nothing had come after that, not even a single “Doooom!”

Where were Beth’s mana arrows? Where were Fluffy, Milton, and Dekkeron, stomping around in their oversized forms?

Where was Rudeus with his giant hammers, tearing open earth and raining down thunder?

Hells, where was Sweet? It surely was time for her mid-battle refreshments, no?

He spotted Boom blasting his way across the battlefield and pulled on his spear, which was still embedded in Gary the friendly abomination’s skull. “Onward, Gary!”

A few moments later, he and Gary caught up to the speeding Boom. “Mr. Boom?”

As Boom looked up at him, Kandy did a double take. What the hell had happened for the confident, happy-go-lucky Boom to have such a red face, streaked with tears?

He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“Get on, Mr. Boom! Gary here will take us wherever we need to go!”

With a curt nod, Boom jumped onto Gary and pulled Kandy into a bear hug.

“It’s good to see you, kid.”

Kandy returned the hug with one arm, “It’s good to see you too, Mr. Boom. Where are you headed?”

Boom pointed into the distance, where a dust storm had kicked up. Flashes of rainbow and purple-hued black shined through.

“Got it. Gary!” Kandy manipulated his spear in Gary’s skull until the abomination turned in the direction Boom had pointed at.

When it was facing the right way, Kandy pulled back on the spear and the abomination surged forward, far faster than he or even Boom could run.

“Do you need an energy or mana potion, Mr. Boom?” Kandy asked with one of each in his left hand.

“I’ll take them both, thanks.” Boom’s countenance had recovered in the last few moments, and his eyes were full of determination as he downed the two potions.

As they neared the dust storm, the abomination slowed to a halt and began to squirm, refusing to go any closer.

Boom jumped off and sprinted into the distance, but not before warning Kandy, “Don’t get any closer! This fight’s too much for you!”

Kandy and the abomination watched as Boom disappeared into the dust storm.

“You’re not going in there, are you?” Kandy asked Gary.

The abomination shook its head.

“Alright. You see those mountains?”

The abomination nodded.

“Head into them and make a life for yourself. You got a lot of arms, I’m sure you can do some farming or something.”

With that, Kandy pulled out his spear and jumped off the abomination before running into the dust storm as well.

The abomination stared after its newfound master, then turned to the mountains.

***

Kandy struggled to even approach the dust storm, but he forced himself forward nonetheless.

No matter what his father or anyone else might have thought of him, he wasn’t an idiot.

He knew that something had clearly gone horribly, horribly wrong. He also knew that despite all the help the legends of Boomtown had given him over the last few months, he wasn’t living in the same world as they.

Each of them could bring an entire country to its knees.

As for him? He was just the son of a bandit who fancied himself a hunter.

But despite that, Boom and the others had let him into their lives with open arms, even doing what they could to teach them what they knew.

Why they did it, he still didn’t know.

What he did know was that he owed a great debt, and that the key to taking the first step towards repaying that debt was likely right in front of him.

He dug the spear into the earth and used it to claw his way forward. A particularly strong gust of wind forced him to cling to the spear with all his strength, but after it subsided he doggedly trudged his way forward again.

After what seemed like an eternity, Kandy passed through into the eye of the storm to an incredible sight.

There was just a sliver of space under his feet before he’d enter what seemed like a swirling circle of darkness. Tori, Karasu, and Boom were all fighting in the midst of this dark circle.

Karasu was stuck between the two, suffering a pummel of attacks from Boom and the occasional wing slash from Tori.

At every chance Boom got, he unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks upon the crow’s rear. Kandy even might have seen him bite it once or twice.

For Boom, this situation was much like the one he’d been in just a few minutes ago with Fluffy. But this time, he was fighting the real Karasu, and his ally was one of the strongest true gods.

And this time, defeating his enemy would mean an end to the madness.

Karasu screeched, then opened a gravity well behind Boom to pull him away. At the same time, he rushed toward Tori and tried to cut the eagle’s face with his wings.

Pulled down as he was by Karasu’s gravity well, Tori was unable to escape as he usually would—by taking flight—and suffered a scratched just beneath his left eye.

He counterattacked with a peck of his own and was able to tear a bit of Karasu’s flesh off his wing.

Then, although he was unable to take flight while under the effects of Karasu’s gravity well, he flapped his wings several times, sending a rainbow of colored lights soaring towards Karasu.

Even the lights were somewhat affected by Karasu’s gravity well, but they still flew true enough to hit their mark, buffeting the crow god and blinding him momentarily.

This was enough for Boom to pull himself away from the gravity well and punch Karasu right in the chest, breaking several of the crow’s ribs and knocking him over. Tori took advantage and followed up by tearing Karasu’s right wing off his body.

“It’s over, Karasu! You’ve lost! Just surrender now and perhaps the council will let you live!” Tori shouted above the din.

Karasu, now on his back and immobile, stopped struggling and went limp.

He spoke, his voice quiet yet somehow still audible over all the explosions and wind. “So what? Do you think I’ve been doing this alone? Do you still not realize how long ago we started planning for this?”

“We? Weren’t you the one behind Zero?”

“You give me too much credit, Boom. No…haha. No matter what happens here today, war is coming, and you’re going to lose.”

Karasu began to cackle loudly, despite his grim situation.

Boom and Tori exchanged glances as Karasu spoke again.

“No, you’ve all spent the last few thousand years relaxing, enjoying yourselves. Even if you start preparing now, what can you do?”

Karasu’s eyes drifted for a moment. “I assume you’re going to head for the seven hells after this?”

Tori and Boom didn’t respond, but their silence was enough.

“In that case, I guess I should send the kid somewhere harder for you to reach?”

“The kid?” Boom’s blood ran cold and he twirled around as Karasu began to cackle madly.

He turned just in time to see Kandy, who’d been staying motionless by the inner edge of the storm, get sucked into a black hole that’d suddenly appeared just behind him.

The poor kid didn’t even have the time to scream before he was swallowed into its depths.

Boom turned back to Karasu and punched him right in the face, knocking him out. “What the hell was that?!”

Tori shook his head. “I don’t know. It seems that in that last moment he borrowed someone else’s power to forcefully summon so much gravity that he was able to open a portal from here to… somewhere.”

“I’m gonna kill this fucking crow.”