Max could feel the weight of magic and expectations on his shoulders. This was it, a big moment. Something he could have never even thought about attempting before reaching a four star mana body.

  "Big day, huh, fellow Max? Big day!" Max the researcher looked the same as every other time Max had seen him. The tall thin man still wore a ponytail wearing a lab coat with mystic embroidery.

  “Leave Handsome Max alone, Dork Max.” Rissa was fiddling with some controls on what had been a computer at some point. Now the console was grafted to some sort of horrific amalgamation of bones and flesh. The heavy set, purple-haired woman absently pushed a bone into place in the nightmarish biotech contraption.

  “Hey, I resemble that comment!” Researcher-Max grinned and winked Max.

  To one side of the research room, in the corner, Lance was talking to the researchers Matt and Yukari. The tall, fair man standing next to the shorter Japanese woman in a white witch hat were a striking combination.

  Max glanced around, impressed by the work the Patriot Guild researchers had done. The large laboratory still looked somewhat similar to its appearance from his first visit, but now there was also a nightmare of blood, magic, and bone in the room. The only other people present were Max, Lance, and the four Patriot Guild scientists, each regarding the bone gate in the center of the room with varying degrees of uncertainty and excitement.

  Magical, biomech, and mundane machines made a hum around the large workspace. Others gurgled.

  Lance was currently talking to Yukari and Matt. Nobody was talking to Max anymore, so he returned to studying the bone gate. It was huge, at least twelve feet tall, and Max knew for a fact that at least one of the bones had belonged to the Ape King in the past. From what Max understood, the foundation of the bone gate had been created with farm animal bones, and the periphery was made with the bones of predatory animals, but the archway itself, with arms radiating in the four cardinal directions, had all belonged to monsters.

  Up until this point, Max had been supplying the Patriot Guild scientists with all the knowledge, everything he knew about teleportation and gates. He’d included all of his observations in the Quartet and the workers' quarters. On top of that, Max had worked with Saliron to determine how it might be possible to call his friends, summon them from other worlds. Lavinia had helped, too.

  On paper, it shouldn't be possible, but there was a very simple loophole involved; actually two things. First, Max had given his friends a way for bones to attune themselves to their aura, so that he could search for that specific, unique resonance in the universe. The second was that Saliron, at his core, and quite disturbingly, regarded all the bones he ever spotted or witnessed as his. His property. If he couldn't have them now, he assumed he'd get them one day. One of the most bizarre things about this was that, from a certain perspective, the dark spirit's logic might be sound. So, Saliron using a gate similar to, but not quite the same as, the gate that Max could use to pull items out of his dimensional storage, had the potential to reach into a universe of “storage” and pull out “bones” that Saliron considered his “property.” The fact that the bones in question were still surrounded by living tissue didn't seem to faze Saliron much. All of this meant that theoretically, the magic should work.

  Max began to pace around the room as Lance continued speaking to the scientists. Finally, he walked over and said, "Max, you good?”

  “Yes. Are we about ready to do this? My spirit is about chomping at the bit, or bones, I guess I should say, and I'm a bit nervous. This is going to use up as much power as I can possibly generate at this point. I’m storing it up like a capacitor…like a camera flash. It wouldn't even be possible if I wasn't using my spirits."

  "I know, Max. I know," said Lance. "We, me and the scientists, were just going over SOPs."

  Max frowned. "How can you possibly have standard operating procedures for something you've never done before?"

  Lance looked embarrassed. "Uh, I hadn't thought of it that way before."

  One of the scientists, Yukari, moved closer and said, "We were basically going over contingency plans with the guild leader. He'd brought up some good points that we haven't considered yet. But, to be fair, we do have automated defenses in all four corners of the room, and an entire squad of battle mages on standby in case anything comes through that we–and by we, I mean you–did not call."

  Max nodded. "Alright, so then what is there left to talk about?"

  Lance, with a serious expression, said, "Well, there's also potentially nuclear, biological, and chemical threats. If you try calling one of our friends and what comes through is some sort of giant radioactive slime, I'm not sure that the mages on hand are going to be enough or at least the right kind of tool to deal with that. So I've been brainstorming with the scientists, deciding what other crazy possibilities there might be and coming up with a game plan on what to do if it happens. Since it's not super likely, I'm not going to have people on standby, but having a plan in place will save us a lot of time and potentially a lot of lives."

  Max nodded, impressed. At times like this, he was reminded that Lance was a guild leader for one of the most powerful guilds in the world. "Alright, I'll leave you to it then."

  "No, no, that won't be necessary. We were just wrapping up." Then the man swished his cape—he was wearing an honest-to-God cape today—and moved over to an observation point, the scientists following him. All the scientists had their own special tablets that were synced to the electronic security systems and also to communication nodes with the teams outside. Max didn't understand all of it and didn't really care, but apparently, the technology had multiple redundancies in it now. Some of it was tech that hadn't been possible before all the Challengers had started coming back to Earth. Apparently, there were a few Paths of people that specialized in tech, which was one reason–on the verge of extinction–humanity had been going through effectively a technological renaissance over the last few years.

  Only a few minutes later, Max found himself standing in the middle of the room, facing the gate, his stance square. Internally, he asked, Are you ready, Saliron?

  The bizarre spirit chuckled in Max’s mind, then his low, ominous voice rumbled, I am always ready for a boning.

  That's not the right word, replied Max.

  I'm aware. That's why I said it. Your consternation brings me joy…sometimes. Perhaps all the time. Did you know the animal called a walrus has bones in their penises? Fascinating. So scandalous.

  Max sighed and wished for the days when Saliron was merely disturbing and creepy, back before he decided that he wanted to try being funny too. Perhaps others would find the spirit's antics amusing, but Max did not, which he suspected was part of the reason Saliron kept doing it. He mentally addressed all of his spirits, I'm about ready to get this thing started. That means I’m going ot use the Mana Vault, too. I'm going to be handling a lot of juice, the most mana that I've actually handled in this life.

  Anansi's voice came through the bond. I've got you, boss. If anything gets too hairy—

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  At the same time, to his vision alone, a little spirit appeared and bowed to him, letting him know that her power, her suppression field that he constantly had around his body should also help him control and maintain mana. She didn’t have to speak for him to get the message. Max smiled and nodded back in genuine appreciation. Thank you, Trill. The little spirit bowed one more time and disappeared back into Max's soul space.

  Wait, why aren’t you thanking me? demanded Anansi. I’m a divine remnant. What do I gotta do to get some respect around here!?

  Max ignored the spider god. He knew from experience now that Anansi loved attention and feeding him any, just made him crave more.

  He sighed. At this point, there wasn't anything left to do but try summoning his friends.

  Now he had to choose who to try summoning first. After some thought, Max decided to try bringing Gantry Pliss to Earth.

  He didn't flare his mana at max power all right away. From experience, he knew he could coax a little bit more out if he took it slow, and that's exactly what he did. Taking his time, Max flexed his mana, running it through his mana channels. When he was at about half capacity, he used every tool at his disposal to supercharge his abilities. Now that he was a four-star mana body in a rich mana environment like Earth, with a mana pill, a mana vault, and every trick he knew, he was able to get up close to six stars of power. The power was almost more than his supernaturally strong body could handle. He shook like a bicycle doing sixty down a hill. This level of power wouldn't last very long, and he'd have a hard time controlling it, but it was amazing that he could actually achieve it now.

  The entire room seemed to waver like it was going through a heat wave as Max unleashed his mana. The scientists, at least some of them, were having a hard time staying upright without nervously stepping back, even though Lance was covering for them with his own power. Then, Max reached out to the bone gate in a way that Saliron whispered in his ear.

  He made contact, syncing his mana with the gate. Then Max gave Saliron partial control of his mana as it ran through the complicated gateways of bone, constructed like mystic logic system, like a 3d magic circle. Being connected like this, he could feel the dark spirit manipulate the mana as it touched the gate in a way that Max couldn't recognize and wouldn't have been able to explain with a gun to his head. It was like Saliron was playing the bone gate like an instrument at the same time as caressing it and taking little bites of its essence. It was one of the strangest supernatural experiences Max thought he had witnessed in his life, but he was also starting to have a hard time keeping track.

  The space between the gates suddenly, instantly turned opaque. Instead of being able to see through it to the other side of the lab, now it was pitch black, darker than the darkest night. Saliron whispered in Max’s head, "Reach out to one of your favorite, pet collections of bones and try drawing them through now."

  With an effort of will and a grimace, feeling almost like trying to turn an ocean liner’s rudder with no power steering, Max began imagining the connection and specific resonance that he had with Gantry Pliss. After wearing a bone necklace in the quartet, Gantry had impried the necklace with the aura of his soul, transferring it to Max’s mystic memory, perfectly preserved.

  He reached through the gate, feeling like he was fumbling around in a dark room for a pair of shoes on the floor… but the room was the size of a stadium. It was agonizingly slow, but finally, Max began feeling a vibration, a similar resonance. He reached out to grab it, but when he did, suddenly his soul and his senses went cold. The feeling was awful, like being stabbed in the face with a million needles, and Max recoiled, yelling. But as he did, the attachment he’d placed on the aura he’d located came with him, jerking back.

  Out of the gate came a solid wave of dark malevolent energy and a few rocks that bounced off the floor of the lab. The energy hit Max like a freight train, and immediately a shield generated by multiple spirits manifested around him. Max's mana was already at its absolute limit at this point, which offered some protection, but his spirits probably saved his life in that moment. On top of his head, Anansi held his spider legs wide, casting a literal web of power around him.

  The connection with the resonance Max had found was served, and the ominous, harmful energy was instantly cut off.

  Fore a few seconds, he just stood there, happy to still be alive. Max had weathered the storm, but it gave him chills to know that he'd come so close to his end yet again, only a short time after fighting the Ape King.

  However, he didn’t stay still too long. Overcome by curiosity and foreboding, he walked forward to see what had come through. When he got closer, with a sinking feeling, he realized that what had come through were not rocks, but pieces of bone.

  Saliron, said Max quietly, mentally. Does this mean what I think it means?

  It does, Contractor, said Saliron. The situation would seem to be an outcome that was not as you’d hoped. I regret your disappointment.

  Max nodded, knowing that was about the most sympathy he was ever going to get from the dark spirit, actually appreciating it greatly because of that. He turned to Lance then flatly informed his friend, "Gantry Bliss is dead."

  Lance merely nodded, his face impassive. Max was sure that Lance was sad, but he also understood why his friend seemed to be handling it so well. No only was Lace a true warrior now, but for him, it had been years since he'd seen anybody in the Quartet. Not only that, Max's group of trainees in the Quartet had become Lance's friends, but they'd still never been super, super close. Max suspected that Lance’s obvious sadness now was as much about the fact that now, the Earth would have one less powerful protector.

  Max needed a few minutes to shake his own grief off, to get his head back in the game. So he did some light exercises and stretches. Moving his body helped while he waited for his mystical power to settle and his body to stop feeling like he'd just been thrown under the ice of a winter pond. The scientists looked on with concern but otherwise did not get involved, which Max appreciated. Finally, he felt like he was ready again and called out, "I'm giving it another shot." Lance and all the scientists let him know that they were ready.

  Then Max repeated what he'd just done before. Part of him was terrified, scared that the same thing would happen again. And although he couldn't deny to himself that this person he was calling this time was probably the most important to him, he steeled himself. With the voice and the help of Saliron, and the freaky bone gate, Max reached through the universe, through time and space, found Momo's resonance, and pulled.

  This time it felt different than before. On top of that, Momo's resonance, or her…soul song…maybe, actually fought against him for a while before suddenly, immediately, helping him, pulling towards him. Despite the sudden fight and the stress, he breached easier. Max assumed that she hadn't realized what was happening at first and fought back, which is exactly what he would have done. He was glad that she was helping him now because he wasn't sure he would have had the strength to pull her in against her will.

  Suddenly, the bone gate flickered, and just like that, Momo stumbled out before the black expanse between the bones vanished as well.

  Momo looked much as Max remembered her, but with a few changes. She was still pale, with red eyes, elf-like ears, a heart shaped face, attractive features, and sharp little fangs. But now, she was wearing battered armor, and her eyes practically glowed with restrained, hair-trigger violence.

  She looked around, confused and wearing a couple of other emotions that Max couldn't immediately place. Momo didn't look much older than before, if at all. However, even in the second that Max actually got to study her before she began running at him, he could see the scars that the last few years had left on her soul. Then, suddenly, Momo threw herself at him. Max reflexively caught her around the shoulders and the waist as she clung to him and buried her face in his shoulder..

  "I was beginning to lose hope," she murmured. "Don't ever go away again."

  Max wasn't sure how to react at first, and the situation wasn't helped when one of the scientists, Max, whooped and said, "You go, other Max!"

  Rissa murmured, "Shut up, didn't you see those videos of what he did to the Ape King?"

  Max tuned them out, pulling away from Momo to look into her red eyes and said, "Hello, you."

  "Hello, you," she said back, and she smiled. There was real pain under the expression and melancholy, but in real time, as Max watched, joy grew on her face, similar to the way a sunrise lights up the sky.

  "You were just in time," she said softly. "Maybe not as down to the wire as you described ‘movies’ back in the Quartet, but my world was about to end in a few more months. In another year, I might be the last of my kind."

  Max blinked, not sure how to respond to that. "I'm sorry," he said. And as he did, he let his tone convey that he remembered what a complicated relationship Momo had with her race. Somewhat contrary to his expectations, a look of brief but total heartbreak crossed her face like a cloud.

  "So am I," she said.