The field of smooth snow had turned into a killing ground. Ice spikes jutted about everywhere, massive humanoid shaped sculptures of ice y in pieces here and there, trees were uprooted, some burning with an eerie blue-white fme. A portion of the space had been crushed by peared to be a gcier that had been pulled from the very ground itself, dirt and debris tossed about. Phillip y against one of the pilrs of ice as he caught his breath, putting pressure on a wound. His eyes flicked to a frazzled Kant, who watched from afar as two figures cshed.

  Liberty was actually breathing a little hard, though any injuries were superficial. The red-haired guildmaster, Evergreen, was bleeding from her arms and face. One of her hands looked to have beeached with a sheath of ice. She pulled back from another swing from Liberty and whipped out her hand, a razor thin wave of ice flying out just as a fresh pilr shot up beh Liberty’s arm to throw off her block. Liberty took the hit with a roar, crushing the pilr with her elbow as she brought her on to bare and shattered the ice bde.

  Evergreen nded and threw out her hands, the light on her arms growing bright. Something in Phillip's gut twisted, “Liberty!” he shouted, “Don’t take that one!”

  Liberty let out a snarl and threw herself to the right as a multicolored beam of aurora erupted from Evergreens palms. The air itself froze in its wake, light sucked out of it, the trees it struck withered and froze over, curled into pale mockeries of what they once were. Liberty darted low and swung upwards as Evergreen recovered from using such a clearly taxing attack. The Guildmaster blocked, but only barely, and was sent crashing through the wall of the dome she roteg.

  “It’s over,” he said and g Kant, “Help me up, I’ll call the faithful t the crystals.’

  Kant pulled him to his feet with a glower on her face, “She was strohan Halloway said.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Phillip grunted and pulled out his phone.

  “Doesn’t matter? Ellis is dead!” Kant bellowed.

  He ignored her and marched past, following Liberty into the dome. There, he found Liberty standing a few meters away from the Guildmaster who had e to a stop in front of the portal. Evergreen was a bloody mess, but still stood defiant, her cold stare unfling. He dialed out and the men they’d brought to transport the mana crystals answered. “Get moving, we’ve secured the dungeon portal.”

  Evergreen s him before looking back at Liberty who pointed her sword at the Guildmaster. “I’ll kill you quick,” Liberty said breathlessly.

  Evergreen raised an eyebronted her feet, ice rose behind her before pletely encapsuting the dungeon portal. Phillip stiffened, but Liberty did nothing, just watg unbothered as the woman used her st gambit. Evergreen reached down to her severed hand and fiddled with it for a moment before raising it up, making a rude gesture with all the pride she could muster iate. “How about no?” she said and stepped bato the ice, moving through it like it was fluid before vanishing into the portal.

  Liberty lowered her sword before turning her eyes on Phillip. “Get rid of that ice. Today, the northwest bees a wastend.”

  –

  Crusader and the others stood atop the ruined building as fshes of white and gold lit up the sky. It was a surreal experience, bearing wito two mythics doing battle with a moaller than many of the buildings there. The enormous tipede let out another mournful, croaking howl that stung her ears just as a ughing Sapporo nded on its head, one fist ched iher as he drove them down into the skull of the human face set where its mandibles and eyes should be. The impact followed by a thundercp. Down below, Handmaiden struck its legs, ripping one off and using it as a spear to pierce its thick hide. The creature shrieked, thrashing about in rising agony.

  She gripped the handle of her sword tighter, her jaw set, her eyes fixed otle. She felt like an i in the world of humans, hopelessly small in the face of the onsught of power on dispy. She flicked her eyes down to her feet just as Bandit stepped up to stao her.

  “Reminds me of Vegas,” he said with a heavy sigh and crossed his arms, standing up straighter as he watched the war escate. She g him; Inky had taken a smaller form. A cute little round-headed cartoon character sat on his shoulder. For all its usual madness and snickering, its expression was remarkably stoic as it watched alongside its partner. She instinctively reached up to her shoulder and ran a finger dohonse’s side before looking towards the battle again.

  “Should we go? We’re no help here,” she said.

  He shook his head, “No,” he said, “We stay and watch.”

  She turo look at him and she could feel her friends do the same. They all were silent for a moment before BLF spoke up, “What? Why?”

  “Something else you probably didn’t learn in the camp, it’s not curriculum, just tradition,” he said and jerked his towards the fight, his deep set eyes unblinking as the lights fshed in them, “Something I learned from Sonya.”

  Crusader looked back at the others whed at one another. Snow moving up to stand closer, her hand on Crusaders arm. Bandit remained silent for a moment before speaking again. “We are witnesses. Whether the fight against the boss is ihe dungeon or outside it. You stand, you watch, and you bear wito their struggle,” he said, “Even if it's a pair of mythics versus a modified rare. When the pylo to the anchor beast utack, you get on your feet and you show them the respect they deserve. Hero, scout, support staff. Everyoands to watch,” he said reverently, his jaw set tight as he crossed his arms.

  Crusader looked at him again. He seemed so easygoing when they’d first met, but she’d e to learn that his experiences had hardened him. This was the man who had fought itle of Vegas alongside her hero, Firestorm. It hadn’t much crossed her mind during the dungeon break, but she could feel that background in him as he made his way through the age aru. He didn’t blink, he didn’t bend, and he did not step back. She let out a sigh and looked towards the battle again, trying to see it through the perspective he gave.

  Sapporo hopped away from the monster as it opes mouth, a spray of glowing green fluid erupting from its jaws and coating the ground in a line. Smoke rose from where it struck, the deadly fluid disiing crete. Sapporo nded on the ground and brought his hands together in a thunderous cp that sent a ripple of golden light out towards the spray and the beast. The spray vanished and the beast’s head was thrown back, its carapace cracked and ruined. Just as it tried tht itself a white streak nced up from the ground and struck it again, Handmaiden ripping away a whole k of armor before she began to punch, over and over, faster and faster like a piston.

  They’re giving it everything they’ve got, even against a weaker foe, she realized. She swallowed, They may not care if no oheir struggle. A real hero wouldn’t mind. But they deserve to be seen. They deserve to have people know what they did and how hard they fought. She set her jaw and slipped her sword into the scabbard on her back. She crossed her arms as well, squaring her shoulders. I get it.

  Bandit gnced her way and smiled at her, he sniffed and shook his head, “You know,” he said, “It’s kind of crazy.”

  She didn’t tear her eyes away as she responded, “What is?”

  “I feel like I’m standio him again, after all this time,” he said, his words wistful and remi.

  It didn’t click right away, “Who?”

  He snorted, “Firestorm of course.”

  She went very still and looked at him. He met her eyes and raised an eyebrow, nodding to her. “It was really good w with you, Crusader. You and your team are going pces. It sucks that your first real experience as heroes was this mess but,” he shrugged and looked back to the battle, “Sounds kind of familiar to me,” he let out a breath and crossed his arms again. “I know you’re doing all you to not think about what you’ve seen. Bravado be good for that in the moment, but when you , rest. Let yourself feel. That's important too.”

  She swallowed hard, something stinging behind her eyes. It was a feeling she hadn’t ever felt before. It was a raw emotion. An ache and a joy and a sorrow all mixed into one. She lowered her head for a moment and took a shuddering breath before f herself to tilt it up and watch the battle reach its climax. The monster had stopped healing itself at some point, and with Sapporo there, it was only a matter of time. In that moment, amidst all the horrors, with the reition of someone she could only have thought of as a legend barely a year ago, she fully grasped what it all meant. Being a hero, not just the good and the bad, but the truth of it.

  A tear streaked down her face, “Thank you,” she croaked.

  He chuckled, “I like your jacket by the way.”

  She ughed.

  –

  “Sapporo! Now!” Handmaiden shouted as she finally forced the beast to the ground, its broken legs writhing as it tried to get up. She held it down by its shell, pnting her feet in the grouh her and grittieeth. Her bloody arms flexed, sweat dripping from her fad jaw, her brown hair a horrid mess. Her gown was in tatters, and it was only thanks to her power that she was still alive and unscathed. She held the creature steady as Sapporo leaped once more into the air, ughing riotously before seeming to reato space itself. His arm disappeared and he pulled something out, a mug. He drank from it deeply and threw his head back.

  Get away.

  Instinct told her that it was time to move. She ripped her feet free and released the anohrowing herself out of the way as far as she could. The creature tried o time tht itself before a wave of luminous fire cascaded down from above. It wasn’t colorful, not in a normal way. It looked bd filled with motes of starlight. It was like the void itself had bee fme and was now p do the helpless boss monster. Everything in her core told her that there were now two things in this world that could kill her. Mistletoe and that.

  The fmes ed everything, the stone around the monster and the monsters body. They left nothing, not ash, not bone, not even dust. Gone in an instant. Annihited.

  Sapporo nded in the hole left behind by his attack, the golden halo around his body flickering and dying. He dropped to a knee, and she moved to catch his bulk, his body shrinking but still dwarfing hers by a signifit degree. He y there for a moment, resting his head on her shoulder as he breathed. What kind of attack was that? It was like he expended everything. We could have just killed it the normal way.

  “I didn’t want anyone else to see,” he grunted into the silence, “His face, on that thing.”

  Her lips pressed together and she nodded, patting his muscled back, “I uand.”

  The ground shook behind her and she gnced over her shoulder. He pulled himself off of her and rose to his feet. The two of them turo see the portal, unleashed from the shattered pylons, flicker and crackle in the spot where it floated above the ground. She felt a wind that wasn’t wind start to wash over her and towards the portal. Mana. Mana rushed towards it in waves, pulled in like whirlpool, draining out of the world and into the tear iy. Then, with a low thrum the portal pulsed and burst like a dandelion. The st wisps of its glowing shape scattering into the air.

  Something took shape at the heart of the spot where the portal was ao the ground. A gentle presence rippling off of it before fading as well. It was motherly, kind, and very very sad.

  Pandora. Sonya said she is hiding in the ending rooms of each dungeon. That was her presence. She reached up to touch her chest, It makes your heart ache.

  o her, Sapporo swallowed and cleared his throat. “I will tell you, I have not cleared a dungeon before,” he said.

  She turo him, “What?”

  He stoically stared at the obje the distance, “My powers are unsuited for a pce without people. I charge myself up befoing in, but cut off from the people it will only st so long,” he said and shook his head, “I am meant to defend, not attack,” he looked down at his hands, “Despite sying the beast, this feels like a failure,” he let his shoulders sag before turning to her and nodding, “I leave the dungeon reward to you. I… do not ,” he said and turned away.

  She whirled on him, “Sapporo!” she barked, “You could-”

  “No,” he shook his head, “It is not for me to take,” he said and walked away.

  She closed her eyes and ched her fists. Liberty, you have a lot to answer for, she snarled inwardly before turning back. She hopped from where she stood and nded o the epiter of the bst. There, on the ground, was a small box of sto was gilded and smooth. She squi it. I’ve seen this before. A memory. She k down and ran her fingers along its marble-like surface. There were words engraved in a nguage she didn’t know, a single sentehat for some reason made her heart ache.

  She tried to pick up the box, but it didn’t move. She strained for a moment before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. She ope instead, and the box glowed before turning into light. The light ged shape; it ged and shifted until it took the form of two objects. The first was a bolt of bck silken cloth that glimmered despite the fading sunlight. The other was several ptes of an eerie blood-red metal. The tipede’s chiton, she realised as she pulled them out.

  She smiled, Amos is gonna love this.

  –

  Sonya was standing with Setsuna in the hall outside the cult leader’s room when a chime rang out in her head. Shuta shifted a bit when he saw her read she held up a hand to calm him down. He was on edge siurning from corralling their people. She rubbed her wrist irritably and o Setsuna before she answered the call. “Go ahead,” she said.

  <“It’s Amos,”> Amos came through, breathless, <“roblems, big problems.”>

  Her eye twitched, “What? Is everything okay with the dungeon break? How are the kids?” she asked, her chest tightening, “What’s going on?”

  <”Dungeon break is fine, Sapporo and Handmaiden just ed up. The boss is dead, and the portal is closed,"> he said hurriedly, <”That isn’t important.”>

  Seems pretty important to-

  <”The i just got flooded with reports that Ishtar is responsible for the Dungeon Break and that her associates were there holding off the heroes to allow the situation to escate, even if they ultimately failed,”> he said quickly.

  Her eyes went wide, “What?!” she shouted and turo march bato the hall behind them, away from the crowd, “How? Who?” she blinked as she felt a suspi from earlier e r bato her mind. That rage roared back like a hungry behemoth and she smmed her fist into the wall, denting it. “Liberty.”

  <”That’s my bet, probably got something to do with the other, way bigger problem,”> he said quickly before tinuing, not letting her ask any more questions, <”Evergreen kicked off the emergency arm back at the Seattle dungeon. There was a huge fre up of mana around it before her tracker disappeared at the portal coordinates.”>

  Sonya felt her entire body go numb. She sagged as Setsuna and Shuta hurried to her side. She rested her head against the wall. “hua is in there,” she said, “That dungeon is Epic,” she added, “There have to be dozens of dungeons in range of the bst radius, and hundreds more brang out from them if they burst,” she breathed, her heart rag, panic rising ihroat.

  We’ve beehe heroes are still w to stabilize things here in Japan. There are other iionals but… if it's Liberty. She has Halloway, Ishtar said as Sonya felt her strength leave her, her mind rag. That woman is trying to set off the apocalypse early and y it all at our feet.

  Sonya held her head, I won’t let that happen. I ’t let that happen. Think, Sonya! Think!