The message I received came from Jasmine. It read: "Help is on the way. In the meantime, since you're a civilian, I believe you need this."

This was followed by a number, which I dialed in my phone. Upon doing so, rather than someone picking up on the other side, something came out of my phone. Whatever it was, it engulfed itself around my body, until it formed a sort of suit. That's when I realize what it really was. She explained to me once before (or chronologically speaking she will explain to me later) that this was the same sort of suit that agents from S.P.D. use. My guess is that much like regular cops giving bulletproof vests to civilians, she decided to give me S.P.D.'s version of a bulletproof vest. Once I was in that suit, I suddenly felt I had all the power I needed to fend off these people. So I ran towards them, punched my way through the Gathering, and helped my allies who were in their tight spot. With this, they could pick up their weapons again, I thought. But as soon as that thought crossed my mind, the Witch had raised her staff, conjured up a spell that knocked us all down. In my case, the suit took most of the blast, causing a huge tear on its back, and me to instantly lose whatever strength I have left.

"You still don't get it, do you?" the Witch spoke, "I tried to conquer the world once before. Me and my husband. But we were stopped by mere infants."

Was that an insult, I wondered. Was she trying to say that we were failing where little children succeeded? Then again, she looked like an old woman, so in her eyes a man in his thirties may be a child, so I took no notice of it.

"It cost him his life..." she almost sounded sad as she continued, "... and now, the whole world will pay for this!"

"Say..." Ghostface tried to bring up, though with obvious difficulty, "... aren't you... supposed to be a... man of god? What... do you think... he'll say..."

"It has all been foretold." Bibleman replied, "That the dead will rise when the world ends. I am merely here to see that it happens."

"What about you?" Saya addressed Malfoy, "I've heard about you before. You were always a dog that obeys its master without question. Do you really want to go down that way!"

"Enough!" Malfoy shot another green light at her, and although I think he already knew it didn't have the desired effect, at least it did hurt her a little, and he wanted that satisfaction.

"Johnny." the Witch turned to him, "Roast them!"

"With pleasure..." he said, as he was charging up.

Several thoughts ran through my head. At first I thought the five of us weren't enough against these people, but then I realized this wasn't entirely true. Two of us were immortal, or at least close to it, while the other two were serial killers. What does that make me? An amateur martial artist, a guy with access to magic, but unable to use it, and a suit that merely protects, but doesn't help enough in combat. In fact it shouldn't even be me to wear it, but Morgan, or Ghostface. Or even both. But since both wanted to keep much of themselves to themselves, they couldn't give their phone numbers to Jasmine, who did have access to my number. So if it wasn't for me, she'd have been forced to ask them for their numbers, so they'd have the suits, not me. On the other hand, if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. If Johnny Ohm was to roast us, at least I can say I tried to correct my mistakes, and I just failed. I'd have no regrets...

Or do I?

Melinda flashed through my head. If I were to die here, it would mean that I failed the one chance I had in saving her. She died saving my life, the least I could do is return her the favor. She was after all the one girl I could truly talk to, whom could truly understand me, the one girl... that I love. I realized I couldn't leave it here. And suddenly, I found my motivation again. The Necronomicon may be safe, but who's to say that these clowns won't try and steal it again? Or find some other way of destroying the world? I could feel my hand forming a fist, and grab hold of some of the sand.

Johnny Ohm was about to shoot his electric charge until he caught something in his eyes. It was sand, which I threw in his face, temporarily blinding him. Both Bibleman and Malfoy raised their weapons to retaliate, but that was when a blinding light engulfed me. That light, not only seemed to give new energy to my allies, it also seemed to change something with me. Once the light had vanished, I stood erect. I was wearing my regular clothes, as that suit I wore had suddenly vanished. My gloves, while still retaining their normal colors, seemed to glitter, much like that protective suit did. My phone had... magically appeared in my hand, which i then opened, only to find that I had received another message. Given the light that the message gave off (not the screen, the actual written message), I assumed that Magiel (who gave me that phone in the first place) had something to do with it. The message read "555", which was a number I immediately recognized.

"What's going on!" the Witch demanded to know.

"Hey!" Deadpool cried, "What sort of Deus Ex Machina did you just pull out of your ass?"

Everyone not familiar with the Latin words he just used looked at him, so Deadpool responded: "What? Always wanted to say Deus Ex Machina."

I knew the answer to his question, but I didn't think the explanation would mean anything to him. Daizyujin told me before that I didn't have the necessary courage to wield magic, which was why he and Magiel decided to take it away from me. But in doing what I just did, they found me worthy of one magic spell. One, which from what I can gather, seemed to be a combination of a lot of things. Those gloves that come with my Jyuken practices, that metallic suit from S.P.D., the magic from my phone, which in turn was powered by one of Daizyujin's medallions, and judging from the number on my screen, it even had something of that Faiz-suit.

"Well..." I said, suddenly finding the courage I never had before, "... time for my nightmare to end, and yours to begin."