Handmaiden hurtled backwards through the air, colliding with one building after another. Masonry fell around her as she struck a steel beam, denting it before sliding off in a bloody heap. She felt her spine snap bato pce as she struggled to her knees, her limbs snapping and crag as her regeion immediately set to work. She rose to her feet and swayed a little, her vision blurring before being clear again. She looked down at her right hand, examining the armor on the gau. It was cracked in several pces.

  She frowned and spat a gobbet of blood and a tooth onto the ground that had already regeed. She stared at the pearly white bit for a moment, sn out a ugh, “Would give the tooth fairy nightmares,” she muttered as she walked towards the hole she’d left in the wall, wiping her lip with her glove. “Now where was I?”

  She stared through the dozens of holes that she’d been hurled through and spotted the agonized fad bnk eyes of a man staring back at her. She rolled her shoulders, the new joints popping and bounced on the balls of her feet. It’s strong. To for its tier. A Rare boss shouldn’t be this powerful, Heroic Strength isn’t doing much to it. The only reason I’ve sted this long is Baldur’s Body.

  She sighed, Should have taken Sonya up on her offer the other day. Could really use the extra hitting power.

  “Oh well,” she grunted and lowered her stahe muscles in her legs coiling like springs. That white light around her body began thten again, nearly f a halo around her. Her feet dug into the crete beh her and she was gone, a white et streaking through the holes she’d left behind and straight towards the titanionster.

  –

  Dame Ito crossed her legs as she lounged on the couside the bunker, her hands in her p. She watched the s with i as Handmaiden emerged from yet another deathblow unscathed. She raised a hand to reach for the woman through the s, twisting her fingers in the air. “She’s magnifit, isn’t she?” Ito said breathlessly, “Nigh immortal. The experiments I could perform ohe tests, and she’d just bounce right back. I could make so much progress…”

  “I don’t think Liberty would be happy to hear you say that,” a mog voice came from the other side of the small metal room. A perfect box, it had been structed entirely out of post-pandora materials over a meter thi order to withstand the bst of a dungeon break. It amused her that part of it was now stig out of the ground within the crater, the bst had been so intense. But that was it’s purpose after all. What didn’t amuse her was the man who y on a earby, nursing his injuries. She turned and scowled at him, “Shut up, Rivet.”

  Sir way, Rivet, sat up slightly on his cot, one arm ed around his baorso. He s her, “What? ’t take a joke? Everybody’s so grouchy these days.”

  “I don’t want to hear anything from a witless inpetent that couldn’t handle a few students. if they were truly that strong you should have picked up on it sooner areated, like Dame Song and Sir Pence,” she snapped and turned back to the s, satisfied with her rebuke.

  way wasn’t done, “Please, they just chied out. Pence barely uses his ability he’s so damn cocky and Song-”

  She was standing over him in an instant, gl down at him befrabbing his fad shoving it down until he was ying on his back. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she leaned down to look into his eyes, wide with surprise. “I told you to shut up,” she growled, “Say another word and I will dissect you, imbecile. You may still be human but your body is magical enough that my powers should work just fine on it,” she hissed, “I will twist you into something no one will reize and leave you to starve without legs or a mouth, do we uand one another?”

  He stared up at her with growing horror, his skin going pale beh her grip. He nodded quickly and she pulled her hand away with a cruel smile, “Good.”

  Her ph and she turned away from him, raising it to her ear, “This is Doctor Kaidan,” she said, walking back to her spot on the couch, bck hair fluttering behind her.

  “Ito,” Liberty’s voice came through.

  Ito went still, “My dy.”

  “You did well, mission aplished. This is our victory in Japan, the Iional heroes have arrived including many from the Uates and ada. Halloway is in position. You may tio dey them if you wish, but I doubt it will make much of a difference. I will personally deal with the mythic guarding the Seattle dungeon,” she paused, “As for your misinformation campaign. The footage you recorded is being distributed. Ishtar will be bmed. I am pleased.”

  Not pleased enough to make me your sed over Phillip, Ito thought bitterly, It should be me standio you, not him. I am the Mythic while he is nothing more than a powerful Heroic. Why do you lean on him so? She pushed the thoughts aside, “I am overjoyed, my dy,” she said with a forced smile, “I do have some unfortunate o report. A plication.”

  “Oh?”

  “Your sister is here” she said, “Apparently ovna is as well. She brought a few of the newly minted heroes on a trip to Japan.”

  There was a long pause over the call, “Did she see one of you?”

  “All but me, I’m afraid, and because of Pence’s big mouth, she knows I’m here as well,” Ito said cooly before shooting a gre at the still shellshocked way, “She aeam injured way. I’m treating him. They also drove off Pend Song,” she expined as she sat down and looked up at the s again, “Handmaiden is fighting my modified boss as we speak. She ’t do enough damage to break through its defehough.”

  “A plication indeed,” Liberty said after several heartbeats, “It's fihe majority of the popuce will tio think of her as going against her supposed ideals, breaking the illusion. Even if the ittee releases the truth, it means very little to most,” she said, “Signal Halloway when you’re ready to withdraw. I have a Guildmaster to kill.”

  –

  Brigid stepped out of the small room with a towel over her shoulder, her red hair tumbling down her back. The narrow white streaks running through it gave it the look of a dy e. She hummed to herself as she stopped in front of the mirror, looking herself over as she flexed her arms. The multicolored tattoos running up her arms and onto her shoulders and chest glimmered faintly with a light that people from the north would find familiar. She traced a finger along one of the curling loops before letting out a sigh, her fingers digging into her skin as the notification of the dungeon break in Tokyo popped bato her head.

  “Don’t get so worked up,” she murmured to herself, “There’s nothing you do to help.”

  Supplies had e with the scouting crew, portable showers and a geor among other things to turn the ie she had created into a geaging ground for the epigeoion. Of course, her favorite piece of equipment had to be the coffee mae. She threw on a shirt and stepped out into the on area, popping a pod into the devid setting it to pour a fresh brew. A few moments ter she was nursing a cup of coffee outside the dome, only a light jacket on her shoulders. “...never bothered me anyway,” she sing-songed quietly, watg the snow fall over the icy field that stretched out past the dome and into the trees. Far in the distance, she could see Mount Rairetg towards the sky.

  She tilted her head, If I were still a Ranger, I’d be pretty pissed off about this thi up in the middle of the forest. Especially the gas geor. She squi the peak of the mountain and sipped glorious coffee, Oh well.

  She gestured zily at the ground and a chair rose up out of it made of ice with a table to join it. Atop the table, small lumps formed and portions of the table darkened. Soon, a chessboard took shape. She lifted the pawn in front of her queen and moved it forward. “E Four,” she muttered before the table spun around and she reached for a piece. Her fingers stopped and she frowned, gng up at the mountain again and the sky beyond it. “They’re a little te getting back, I hope Bck Lotus found them okay.”

  The scouting team had gone in first, fully prepared to sneak around the epigeon and map it out. They sent regur reports back through a struct ability one of them possessed, but those reports had slowed after a point ending with a request for assistance. Apparently they’d had to hole up in one of the numerous structures in the massive dungeon, but were otherwise safe. Bck Lotus had gone in right away, determio rescue them. Given the hero’s itment to clearing the dungeon on her own (with the help of scouts), Evergreen was stuck outside. Bored.

  She huffed and reached for the piece again before stopping once more, her frown turning into a smile. She turned her head and looked into the trees. “You’re just in time! I was getting bored!” she said brightly, shifting in her seat to face the treeline. While she did so, she reached into the building behind her and flexed with her powers. Ice moved and something in her jacket oable inside clicked. She sipped her coffee again while fures stepped out of the trees. There was a grim looking woman in robes simir to the ones Bck Lotus wore but lined with red cloth and spttered with blood. ainfully thin man wearing light gear on his chest and capri pants that showed off his slightly malformed ankles. He had a sick smile pstered on his face. Another man walked between them, dark hair styled ly. He seemed most fortable in the elements pared to his two peers.

  The final person was a fay hero knew well. Blonde, blue eyed, over seveall, and utterly tyrannical in her presence. She wore a full suit of pte armor that glowed faintly and carried a massive two-handed sword in one hand.

  “Wow!” Evergreen said brightly, “Liberty, in the flesh!”

  The Supervilin drove the bde of her sword into the ground and tugged on her gaus, popping her neck as she did so. “Guildmaster Evergreen. I have business with that portal.”

  “Really? That’s ,” Evergreen said, sipping at her coffee, “ I ask what?”

  “No.”

  Evergreen narrowed her eyes and pouted, “Don’t you supervilins usually monologue or something? Tell the hopelessly outmatched hero your pn before the iable battle?”

  “I am not a vilin,” Liberty growled.

  “Uhuh, okay,” Evergreen ughed, “Whatever you say,” she sipped at her coffee again, she was almost out. I should really get a refill. She looked up from her coffee, “So… iing timing by the way. Did you know that there was a mysterious seventh dungeon in Tokyo? It blew just a little while ago.”

  Liberty’s face was stony, unmoving, but the fellow to the woman’s right smirked darkly at Evergreen. She met his gaze and took the st sip of her coffee, setting it down on the chessboard. “I see. So you want to do it here too?”

  Liberty’s expression darkened, “You’re remarkably calm for someone in your position, given what’s at stake.”

  Evergreen pced her hands in her p and brandished a brilliant smile, “Why would a queen feel worried ihrone room?” she asked merrily.

  The woman in robes took a hostile step forward but Liberty gestured for her to stand down, “I think you’re overestimating yourself, hero. What’s more, yas Act is still in effect.”

  Evergreen raised an eyebrow, “I think you’re misuanding two things, Miss Liberty,” she said with a slightly widening smile, “Sorry. Mind if I clear that up for you?”

  Liberty’s face made its first ge as she gripped her on and pulled it from the snow, “You have seds to live, might as well speak.”

  Evergreen held up a finger, “First, I am very much allowed to defend myself,” she held up a sed finger and her joviality vanished without a trace, her eyes going hard as she tilted her head forward, “Sed,” she flexed suddenly with her powers, her will rag through id snow, spreading through the area as her awareness bed every inch of the space. With a siwist of will spears of ice shot up from the ground. None shed out at Liberty, she didn’t bother attempting to pierce her armor. The woman in fighting robes mao move in time, as did the dark haired man. The thin man was not so lucky. Shafts id cold stabbed through his legs, his shoulders, and his arms. Grizzly wounds that immediately dragged a shriek of agony out of him. He vanished with the sound, appearing only a few feet away in a bloody heap.

  In an immediate respohe dark-haired man threw out his hand and she felt his power try to touch the id snow around them. She tilted her head to the right and shot a gre at him, his power retreating like a child that had been struck across the face. She flicked her eyes back towards Liberty.

  “I don’t py fair. if you want to get past me, yoing to have to work for it, Vilin,” she said as she slowly rose to her feet, “And giveuation, I’m exerg my right to kill if necessary.”

  Liberty’s nostrils fred as she held Evergreen’s gaze, then a smile crept onto her face. “Finally, someone worth my time.”

  –

  Handmaiden fell from the sky like a meteor, a white streak made ever brighter as the sun had begun to set. Hair whipped around her snarling face, her eyes wide with focus. She drew her fist back just before she collided with the beast, the blow sending a shockwave out from the point of impad crag meters of armored flesh. She drove her fist all the way into the soft muscle beh as the anonster let out a mournful cry and whipped its entire body back. She held on for dear life, grittieeth against the forces w on her body. She reared back with her other fist and began pung, over and over.

  Why. Won’t. You. Stay. Down?!

  GROOUUUUUAHHHHH!

  The beast howled again before throwing its entire body back towards one of the buildings. She gnced over her shoulder and ripped her hand out of it’s carapace, kig off and nding on the ground just before it collided with the structure. She huffed out a breath and wiped her lip, “Starting to run low on stamina,” she muttered.

  The anchor beast writhed for a moment, struggling tht itself as its hundreds of massive legs wriggled and twitched. She eyed its underbelly but stopped herself. A trap. She thought and instead prepared to unch herself at it as soon as it pulled free. Just as she did, a chime rang in her ear.

  <”Handmaiden! It’s Crusader!”>

  Handmaiden paused and reached to tap her ear, taking a few quick steps bad getting some more distance, “Crusader? What’s your status?”

  <“We’re here. We’ve cleared out most of the monsters, the JSDF is moving and things are getting under trol at the dungeons. This wasn’t an act, Liberty’s people are here pretending to be Ishtar’s people for some reason,”> Crusader said quickly.

  Handmaiden spun, looking around before spotting the small gathering of shapes on a building distant from her fighting area. She felt her guts go cold even as rage bubbled in her chest. Someone did this on purpose? Why? She looked around at the nightmare around her. Horrible. Does Sonya know? This is bad. If Ishtar gets bmed after everything she’s said publicly- she bit her lip. I ’t ask probing questions. Damn. “Good work. What’s Sapporo’s status? I felt him earlier but-”

  “WA HA HA HA HA!”

  BOOM!

  A golden streak arched through the sky over her head in response before crashing into the anchor boss with a thundercp of force. A golden, shirtless man standing on its underbelly with his fists raised over his head. Her face went deadpan, “Nevermind,” she muttered as the gleaming guardian of Japan drove both fists down with wild abandon, crushing armored chitin and sending waves of golden light through the cracks that sent the beast into a frenzy. It thrashed and Sapporo leaped off the creature to o her. He was a behemoth in this form, tall and mighty with a smile pstered on his rugged fabsp;

  “Sapporo,” she greeted him.

  He turned his golden eyes on her and pat his belly with a jolly ugh, “I owe you one for keeping this thing tained until I got here, Handmaiden!” he ughed, “Drinks are oer!” he tilted his head, “Though I am a little surprised that you haven’t sin it yet.”

  She gave him a wry smile, “Good to see you too,” she said and popped her knuckles, “I’ll expin-”

  <”Before you start!”> Crusader shouted, <”There’s something you should know! We faced three of Liberty’s people, but there’s a fourth called the Doctor. Harbinger says st she khey had an ability that could temporarily dominate monsters. She says the other’s abilities have evolved since she st met them.”>

  Handmaideated and reached up to tap her ear, “Is she sure?”

  <”Yes ma’am.”>

  Handmaiden cursed, That’s how the boss is s! Some sort of monster modification fun or something. I’ve been fighting a losing battle. Handmaide her eyes over the ruins around her before turning to Sapporo, “There’s a monster maniputor here. I’ll track them down. you finish that thing off?”

  He turo her for a moment before looking back at the boss, his jolly expression faltering as it righted itself and the agonized face of his haurning to look on him. He let out a breath, “Leave it to me.”

  The two one another and darted off in separate dires. He let out a whoop of ughter as he charged the beast while Handmaiden leaped into the air, quickly sing the surrounding area as she started to e back down. Where? They should be close if they’re using their ability to heal it. Where are you? She searched the exterior of the ring first. It had to be a building with a retively good vantage, but the structures both whole and tall enough were too far away. She looked back at the portal as she he ground and squihe hell is that? It looked like a box stig partially out of the ground, while everything else around it was bsted or melted, it was still in one piece.

  Her lips formed a line. Found you!

  As the ground began to tremble beh Sapporo’s onsught, she crossed the distaween her and the huge metal box in a matter of seds, sliding to a stop and finding a door on one side. She snapped her hand out and grabbed the circur metal ha in the ter, not b with pleasantries as she ripped the door off its hinges and tossed it aside. Red lightning fshed and she blinked, squinting before she made out the shapes of two people standing in front of a very familiar rip iy. Rift!

  There, standing in front of the portal was a wiry man with metal cws for fingers slung over the shoulder of an asian woman in a white b coat and bck hair. She had a thin nose and cold eyes with pupils just a little too small to belong to someoirely sahe woman looked over her shoulder at Handmaiden and gave her an almost longing smile. “Maybe ime, Handmaiden,” she said with resignation.

  They’re just going to leave? After everything they’ve done? Like hell! Handmaiden roared and unched herself forward, fist raised and collided with the rear wall of the buhe portal was gone. She pulled herself free of the metal wall and spun. They were gone. She caught her breath just long enough to let out a roar of frustration.

  “DAMN IT!”