Author's Note: I own nothing, shit will be getting real here.
30 On The Battlefield
They reached the battle a little late, the war was already in full swing, Forever Knights clashing with the Esoterica. The knights seemed to have been expecting them. Kevin landed the Rustbucket as close to the cavern holding the seal as he could. Jen turned to Gwen.
"Stay in the Rustbucket." Gwen shook her head.
"No way, I'm not letting you go to war with Just Kevin for backup, you'll need both of us." Kevin nodded.
"She's right, we don't know what might be waiting for us there. You'll need us. Both of us." Jen shook her head.
"We still don't know if the Dagon can control you anymore or not." Internally Jen was hoping their short brush with death in Ledgerdomain had at least freed her cousin from that but there was no way to tell. Jen took off down the ramp before they could argue further, wielding the sword she'd held when she returned from the past. It was a wicked piece of steel coated in Taydenite, capable of cleaving through metal and stone alike. She was gone in the blink of an eye, the knights parting for her like the red sea. Kevin took Gwen's hand.
"Let's go help your idiot cousin." Gwen pulled him into a kiss.
"You have no idea how much I love you." They raced off together out into the fight.
Jen wasn't sure what she'd find when she reached the cave. The fallen Forever Knights weren't a shock. Finding Conduit Edwards run through was less than pleasant but she had to keep moving. She did stop to check the pulse on Squire Winston. She closed her eyes for a second, finding no sign of life in the boy, he had to have been a few months younger than her. She moved on, catching up with George who nodded to her as she whirled her sword. The slimy glowing Vilgax was a bit of a surprise she'd sort of assumed that the Dagon would have killed or consumed him. He laughed when he spotted her.
"Ah my greatest enemy! It is so fitting that you will be here in my greatest moment of triumph!"
"You really think we're gonna let you win, even if you've decided to bow to the Dagon. I can and will still beat you, just like I always have." Vilgax laughed loudly.
"You understand nothing child. This fight is already over." The wall around the seal began to crumble. But instead of the cave simply collapsing on all three of them the rocks fell to reveal a swirling mint green sky. A temple, tall as the empire state building rested under that sky, though there seemed to be no life there. The seal was all that still stood in the way of the world beyond.
The rumble crashed across the battlefield and Kevin snatched up a fallen weapon from one of the Knights, it was a surprisingly green blaster. He frowned pulling his badge out of his pocket and clicking it into place on the blaster.
'All functions now available.' He grinned.
"Forever Knights have been raiding Plumber tech." A resounding crash echoed around the field and Knights scattered away from the entrance. Gwen glanced at Kevin, true fear in her eyes. He grabbed her hand. "We can do this." She nodded and they took off at a run to the cave.
When they got there, past several dozen fallen Esoterica and Forever Knights, there was a scene to behold. A battle raged between Vilgax, who looked like he had been fused with a Lucubra and Jen fighting alongside George. The seal was glowing a sickly yellow. Jen was throwing fireballs at Vilgax. Kevin shook his head.
"I thought Vilgax was dead!" He called out. Jen shook her head.
"Which time?" She seemed resigned to their presence here, knowing there was nothing she could do to truly prevent them from fighting at her side.
"My master grows ever closer!" Vilgax laughed stepping through the fire. "Your world will be his!" Gwen threw up a shield around them, which was lucky. A wave of light came from the seal. It sounded as though something was beating against the seal. But the light washed over the Mana shield and out of the cave. Vilgax laughed riotously.
"You are already too late! Every living being on your world has become a servant of my master, an Esoterica." Jen glanced at Gwen for confirmation and Gwen's eyes flashed pink. She shook her head in disbelief.
"He's not lying. I can't sense billions of lives that should be there. Some of the knights are still out there but not all of them." It seemed that Charmcaster's theory was correct, the iron in their helmets had saved them. Gwen's own Mana shield had stopped the transformation for them. Jen's hands shook with rage and she glared daggers at Vilgax.
"See the true power of the Dagon!" He cried out as he attacked shattering Gwen's shield. Jen and George wasted no time in attacking. Jen called back to the other two.
"Gwen reseal him! Kevin help her, we've got Vilgax!" They nodded racing away from the fight to regroup. George and Jen had fought together for six months, he'd taught her everything she knew about swordplay and she'd showed him that improvisation had a place in war. He'd been regimented in his training, inflexible in his ways. But no more. He'd been practicing over his long life. A solid hit from Eatle's blast sent Vilgax hurtling through the line between worlds and George and Jen followed him. The air on this side of the line was colder, stiller almost dusty as though it had been a very long time since anything living had walked on this world. It was unsettling to say the very least.
"What is happening Slave? Speak to me!" The voice of the Dagon rumbled from the seal.
"Your servant speaks no more foul beast!" A rumble caught their attention as the building Jen had thrown Vilgax through lifted off its foundations.
"I speak for my master and that makes me more powerful than I have ever been!" He threw the building and Jen transformed back into herself, grabbing George and throwing both of them to the ground. She shouted something as the building came crashing down on top of them but when the rumbling stopped both of them were buried under the rubble. Vilgax laughed. "Silenced at last child!"
"Enough of your vendetta Slave! Free me!" Vilgax grinned.
"Consider it done, Master."