I only have one thing to say this time. WiseGirlGeek, your PMs weren't working last I checked, right? Well, I'm not sure if that's been fixed yet, but just in case, I don't feel like breaking my 'reply to everything' policy so I'll type a (very) shortened version of my reply! So...

WiseGirlGeek: Thank you so very much! I actually do wanna be an author, so seeing any of that validation is awesome! And I don't exactly feel like waiting for eternity for it to 'one day*' happen when I'm good enough, so I do sometimes work on my own non fanfiction stuff. Why I'm not an author yet (apart from it being really hard) is because up until now though, everything I tried writing was either terrible or I could never focus enough to finish them and go back and edit. I came close last year with this cool story I was writing though, with cyborgs, fist fighting fortresses, and a homicidal imaginary friend! But I never really... I dunno, I never fell in love with the story I guess. I've only just recently developed my 'writing style' and learnt what I wanna write after this story so I'm gonna try write a publishable book again starting this April so I can actually plan it properly, and I'll stick with it until I have a terrible first draft that I'm proud of! Then I'll go back and edit it again... and again... and again... and again until I have something beautiful. So who knows? Maybe one day, you'll have a book on your shelf with my name on it! (err, my actual name, not this pen name) So wish me luck!

Oh, and PS: I love incorporating the canon wherever I can! That, and I really wanted to describe a Cloud Nymph. I dunno why that interested me so much, but it did.

Oh yeah, I've got a story to write. Whoops.

*'one day' is read as 'never'

CHAPTER 19: SILENT LIGHT, HOLY MIGHT/ WE ALL QUAKE AT THE SIGHT (Biko's journal)

With restocked provisions, healed wounds, and full stomachs (courtesy of Iris), we were just about ready to go. We'd spent three days at the R.O.T.F.L, a lot more than we would have liked. Iris said that we were in a safe zone, so for the first time since I'd arrived at Camp, I could actually get a full night's rest. We would have left earlier, but ambrosia didn't seem to speed up Zodiac's recovery a lot. Honestly, it was really freaking me out. He said that he couldn't move such massive distances before, and he could only go to places he knew. He must have remembered this place and warped us here, although how he survived the jump was beyond me.

Either way, he was looking a lot better now, even if his attitude was as grouchy as ever around his Mom. He was lying down on the grass just outside the store, looking up at the clouds while I was sat cross legged by a tree, snacking on some apples that Iris had packed for us in a basket. Ludmila was practicing with her poi, spinning them around herself in slow, measured circles—without the fire.

This was probably the last moment of peace we would get.

Honestly, I didn't feel up for the quest. I was starting to get used to hanging around the store and helping Iris out, being a fellow ROFLcopter (the title would take some getting used to). Iris's house was just out back and there were a couple of beds there we could use. Being a goddess, even a minor one, she didn't really need to use it much. The food was good too, when you weren't questioning what the heck it was. But we couldn't stay forever. We still had a job to do, and people were counting on us. There's no rest for the wicked apparently.

"So, are we ready?" Zodiac asked, still looking straight up.

"As ready as we'll ever get," Ludmila replied, also not looking, and with the enthusiasm of a corpse. Wow. Teammates were meant to have bonds of steel, but right then, they felt more like elastic bands. I had to do something to lighten the atmosphere!

"Alright! We've all gotten loads stronger since we started! All our enemies will tremble before us!" This was a moment for song! And my angelic (not really) voice was perfect for the job! "We must be swift as a coursing river! With all the force of a great typhoon! All the strength of a raging fire! Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!"

"Alright sensei Li Shang, I think we get the idea," Ludmila giggled. Zodiac sat up, frowning as he looked at the two of us.

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"When I was knocked out, I remember hearing you having a very incriminating conversation…. I'd hate it if you two were having fun without me." I stared at him aghast, remembering the convo he was talking about. Ludmila's face was burning, and apparently, so was the grass around her feet.

"No! It's not what you're thinking!" She squeaked, stamping out the tiny bushfire she'd started desperately.

"Yeah! You're taking that out of context!"

"Oh really? Then what were you talking about?" Ludmila and I looked at each other, a silent conversation exchanged between us in a millisecond.

You're ready. Show him.

I could feel the cool imperial gold of the lance around my neck, an ornately designed rosary hanging like a weight under my protection. If there was ever a time to see if I could control it, it would be now. I clutched it with my right hand, feeling the metal pulse beneath my palm as if it were alive with a beating heart of its own. I tore it off. In the blink of an eye, the trinket warped in my hands, elongating into a golden spear, blinding light shining off of it. I held it in both hands, the tip pointed up.

Zodiac whistled as he admired the weapon, getting up and walking towards me to get a closer look.

"I couldn't really get a good look before, but this is a pretty sweet weapon," he said. "It should just be an ordinary Roman heavy pilum, but it's been pretty well decorated. The wooden block has been replaced with a sturdier gold cross guard. It's a little less protective, but it's impossibly strong for the same weight. The fact that even the inlaid ivory is still in perfect shape after two thousand years shows how much love and skill the guy who forged it put into making this thing."

"That's nothing. Check this out." I stepped a safe distance away from him and flexed my knees, getting into a fighting stance. I didn't know the first thing about fighting with a lance, but after some practice with Ludmila, I was starting to get it. I held it just above my waist so the tip was always facing ahead of me, rising slightly so anybody trying to get in range would get run through in the sternum. I imagined that I looked a little bit like Soul Calibur's Kilikbut I probably looked a lot sillier than that.

I tried a few practice jabs at first, stabbing the air, and occasionally sweeping and swinging it around me. I could picture my enemies surrounding me now. I spun on my heel, sweeping it at my shadow's legs before rapping the weapon upside someone's imaginary head. I held my hands closer together and swung it behind me. If anybody was standing there, the blade would have decapitated them. I widened my grip again, thrusting it into my imaginary opponent's gut, just for good measure.

"So this is what you were talking about was so unsafe?" Zodiac asked, a sceptical eyebrow raised to the top of his forehead."

"Patience, young grasshopper. I'm just about to get to the best part." I could use it without the weapon turning back into a necklace. That was good. I turned my attention to a rock the size of my chest in front of me. I held the weapon so that the tip of the spear was facing the ground and angled slightly behind me. I felt a tugging at the pit of my stomach, as if somebody was trying to pull out my soul with a monkey wrench. I latched onto that feeling, and tugged. As if it was my old sword, I swung the lance upwards.

The rock flew into the air within a tiny green vortex, torn clumps of dirt and shredded grass rising along with it. I slapped my lance to the left, the vortex violently following it, chewing up the ground beneath it. I slammed my lance down, the tornado disappearing and dropping the rock into the soil. I could see the rock's once smooth surface had been completely defaced, shallow cuts and gashes in the rock's surface. Entire chunks of it had been torn off.

"So, whaddya think?" I lowered my weapon, tuning to face Zodiac. He was staring at me as if I'd just fallen from the stratosphere. "I know, pretty cool, huh?"

"He couldn't show his power to anyone before because last time he nearly tore off my arms," Ludmila added, "so while you were sleeping, we were practicing, trying to help him figure out how to use it."

"So we had to wait until we were sure I wouldn't kill myself before we showed everybody. Hey, dude, say something already. You're creeping me out…."

"What are you?"

"I thought we've gone over this. Demigod who's Mom seems to hate him, etcetera, etcetera-"

"No, no, don't give me that. There's no way you're an Athena kid! What was that, a tornado? Athena kids can't do that!"

I frowned as he said it. I'd been doing some thinking about it too. The Athena campers were sure that they never got any special powers, ever. But then again, the Hephaestus cabin was the same until this one demigod some time ago who was a human flamethrower. That, and I was certain that I'd felt something from Athena. Something vaguely familiar…. Did I even want to be her kid though? But if I wasn't, then who was I?

"I dunno, Athena's also the goddess of war, right?" I said, trying to rationalise it. "Maybe I've got the storms of war or something?" Zodiac shook his head, but if he was gonna say anything else, he never got the chance. Iris and Fleecy came out of the store. Iris was holding an envelope in her hands, and Fleecy was wearing an oversized backpack, probably stuffed full of curse talismans and a dream catcher.

"It's about time that you carried on your journey," Iris said. "You said you needed to get to Philadelphia, correct?"

"Yeah, or something like that," Zodiac mumbled, his expression souring. For somebody who always seemed to be making snarky remarks and taking nothing seriously, he became surprisingly humble around Iris. I was still wondering what the history between the two of them was when she handed him the envelope.

"There's a delivery guy who brings us all of our supplies, sends products that people have ordered, that kind of thing. He's a pretty close associate of us, an ex-member of the legion. Take this note to him. It's a short letter of introduction explaining the circumstances. He'll get you to Philadelphia."

"So the goddess pays for our cab. Wow, I'm feeling the love now."

"You know how it is. A goddess can't help a mortal, but I can still get other mortals to help you, and I can pack your lunch before you go. Just keep walking about a mile west and you'll find a tiny airstrip. The pilot should be there by the time you arrive."

It looked like the show was over. With a little bit of dread, I clutched my lance tightly to my chest. In a flash of light, it transformed back into a rosary around my neck. Just as Zodiac was getting up and adjusting his own bag, Iris held up her hand. "Wait, before you go, there is one more thing we can do for you."

Fleecy had the air of nervous excitement around her when Iris gripped her hand, squeezing it tightly before sending her in our direction.

"I'll be tagging along too!" she said. "At least, until you get to Philadelphia."

"Huh? But don't you, I dunno, work here?" I asked.

"Oh relax, it will be fine! The staff rotates here anyway!"

"Any help is fine by me," Zodiac said. "It's all we can expect from her anyway." I was surprised that Zodiac was fine with this. Having four demigods in one place was a bit like slapping neon 'kick me' signs to our butts. Ludmila also looked a little worried, but we followed him anyway before he could get ahead of us.

The journey was surprisingly peaceful actually. There were no spontaneous monster attacks or exploding hotel rooms. An amusement ride from hell didn't suddenly rise up from the ground. The shadows didn't move and the flowers didn't whisper. After a while, we could even talk without fearing for our lives. If we ignored the inexplicable fog that seemed to engulf the plains, it almost felt like we were just ordinary hikers, with Fleecy as our overladen guide.

I really wanted to ask Zodiac what the deal was between him and his Mom, but he still looked like he wanted to punch something so I left him alone. Instead, I just stayed silent while Ludmila turned her attention to Fleecy.

"So, um, Fleecy, isn't this a bad idea? The more demigods are in the same place, the more dangerous it is, right? So, why are you also with us?"

"Oh that's easy. Because I'm not a demigod."

"Oh, I see…. Wait, really? So you're mortal?"

"Nope! I'm a nebulae!"

"A… a nebulae." She nodded her head with a sunlight bright smile on her face, her hair shaking as she did so.

"Yup, a cloud nymph. In fact, Fleecy is just a nickname. In our own language, my name is—" Somehow, some way, with vocal chords that made no biological sense, she made a bunch of crackling and blowing noises that sounded like a dissipating thunderstorm, getting replaced by a cool breeze. It was… the strangest sound I had ever heard coming from a human mouth.

"I'll just stick with Fleecy," Ludmila said nervously. "So, when monsters think they've found us, they just end up smelling nebulae?"

"Sort of. I can also 'spread' myself and mask your scents. That's where all the fog is coming from." It took me a second to realise the implications of that statement.

"Oh my gods…. We're breathing Fleecy…." The walk suddenly didn't feel so normal anymore.

"L-looks like we're here," Ludmila squeaked, trying her best to pretend I'd never said anything.

We were standing at the end of a long, grassy clearing, with a wide strip of perfectly trimmed and flattened grass right in the middle. At the end of the clearing was a hanger, probably complete with a tiny plane sitting inside it. Zodiac grinned as he picked up the pace heading towards it.

"Shotgun, called it!"

Demigod dreams suck.

I think, almost without exception, every dream I've ever had has been extraordinarily weird, and a little too crazy for my mind to even try to remember, but it ramped up to a whole new level once I realised that I was a child of the gods.

I was standing in the middle of some kind of weird looking temple. Everything was made of pristine white marble, with burning braziers all around me. I guessed that I was probably in a throne room, but instead of a big, absurdly decorated seat at the end, there was a giant slab of decorated marble in its place. It was as tall as a double decker bus, and as wide as a garage door. Some kind of writing was scratched into it, but they were all in different languages. Some were hieroglyphs, others were Greek symbols. One section was even written in Japanese katagana (or at least I think it was katagana). There were loads of pieces missing, like somebody had been taking a sledgehammer to them.

Standing next to it with his hands in his pockets was my old buddy, Jordan Flair.

"Our power has grown immensely in the past few weeks," he said. "You managed to escape from Hades last time, but it looks like we've been discovered again by the gods. Regardless, it's already too late. No mortals can harm us now, and the gods are obliged to never directly interfere. They were too slow and too late. Nothing can stop us!"

"That complacency will be what gets you killed." I heard the voice all around me, deep and condensed, like gravity in sound form. "We cannot underestimate the creatures that roam this modern age. Just look at what happened to yourself. You lost The Holy Spear to children! If you weren't still useful, this less-than-perfect display would be inexcusable."

"I apologise, but there are hundreds of alternatives that we can use. Still, I'll make sure to retrieve it at our soonest convenience."

"Hmm…. It looks like we'll be able to retrieve two ancient relics in one go then." All of the letters on the tablet scrambled, shifting like spiders on a wall and rearranging themselves until they looked like a pair of etched artistic Egyptian eyes, a little like the Eye of Horus Dad told me about. The worst part was, they were looking right at me. "Child of the old gods, you're wading in deep waters. Begone from my sight!"

What must have been a ten million gigawatt lightbulb lit up from within the tablet, the light growing brighter with each passing moment, burning through my like a blowtorch. I closed my eyes, holding up my hands to protect myself until the light started to calm down. Slowly, I opened my eyes, just to see the scene had shifted.

I was back at Camp Half-Blood, standing in the middle of all the cabins. Everything was in sepia tones, and it was like somebody pressed the mute button, because I couldn't hear a thing. In the middle of it all was Zach, pointing a revolver at somebody who looked remarkably like myself. A crowd had gathered around them. It looked like they were shouting, but I had no idea what they were saying. I definitely heard the sound of a gunshot though. My doppelganger staggered backwards. His face was away from me, but I was sure that it was wide with shock and horror. He collapsed onto his knees, then fell flat on the ground. Then chaos broke out.

Monsters streamed in from all angles. From the shadows, under the ground, swooping in from the skies, everywhere. The ground roared and groaned, tectonics shifting and upheaving it beneath our feet. It was like the ground was getting shoved through an intergalactic cheese grater. I probably screamed as the ground disappeared and was replaced by an endless void. I wouldn't know though. I couldn't hear my voice as I fell through it. I did hear other people screaming, and a lot too. It actually sounded a like….

… My friends. I was officially never going to sleep on another plane again. We were originally just crashing out on the passenger seats in the back, minding our own business, dreaming demigod dreams. It wasn't too big or comfy, but it worked. But now? We were crashing, this time literally.

The front of the plane was gone, like somebody had sawed it in half. Where the pilot, or the whole cockpit had went was not something I wanted to think about. Fire and burning fuel was spilling everywhere, igniting everything that it touched. It was still night outside from the few glimpses I could catch as we spiralled out of control. The seats were getting torn out of the plane like they were nothing more than paperweights, and we would be next.

"Grab on!" Zodiac roared, gripping my shoulder with one hand. I couldn't see Ludmila or Fleecy. I just had to hope he had them with his other arm. In a flash of light, the world changed. We were no longer in a burning half-a-plane from some unknown height. We were now outside, and about to crash into a noodle stand.

We slammed into it with the sound of splintering wood and spilt ramen, rolling over as we came to a very bruised and broken stop. On the plus side: all four of us were there and alive. On the downside: everything hurt. Oh yeah, and there was the sound of an exploding plane in the distance, like it had slammed into a skyscraper. We were in that just a second ago.

Apparently, there wasn't even time to be glad we were still alive. Zodiac pulled me up off the floor. Still sitting in the shambles of the stall, perfectly untouched amongst the ruins was its owner, a young guy with a ginger moustache, holding a bottle of salt and completely speechless as he examined the destruction. He was probably about to pack up and go until we made his job a thousand times harder. I would have apologised if I hadn't seen the loping strides of our old friends.

"Hellhounds!" I cried. Ludmila beat me to the punch, turning on her heel and running in the opposite direction, closely followed by Fleecy who kind of 'broke' into a thundercloud and flew after her. Zodiac must have teleported because I didn't even see him move. I followed suit, turning and legging it.

"Head to the light," Fleecy crackled as a streetlight came into view. We sprinted for it and ground to a stop, drawing our weapons with the spark of celestial bronze and imperial gold. Fleecy recollected herself and held up her fists. The three of us stood back to back as hellhounds leaped for our throats.

Using the lance was easier when I was practicing than it was in reality. It was slow and heavy, nothing like my old short sword, and more than once a stray hellhound leaped past its range and almost flattened me before it would inexplicably burst into dust. Zodiac must have been nearby, sniping them out, but it would be a lot more comforting if we could see him.

That said, Fleecy was a more reliable replacement. Anything that even got close to her was punched to dust, accompanied by a bright blue flash like lightning was in her fists.

"Over here!" I heard him yell. My neck snapped to the left around the corner, following his voice. He was standing by another light, taking pot shots at all the monsters he could see. He pointed towards a massive building behind him, probably the town hall. "That way!"

We abandoned our post (our very literal street post) and followed him as he began sprinting towards it. Every couple of feet I would have to slash my lance sideways and disembowel any hellhounds that got too close.

We reached the door and forced it open, scrambling in and barring it shut behind us. Apparently, the hellhounds were gracious enough to knock. Unfortunately, they used their claws to do it, piercing the door with their entire paws.

Surprisingly, there was nobody in the building. Besides a front desk, there were stacks of books lining the walls, and a bunch of tables in the middle. It looked like an eighteenth century conference room.

"Welcome to Independence Hall my peeps," Zodiac said. "Now I've just gotta perform the ritual. Keep this place covered." He teleported out of sight, leaving us to keep the door blocked as the monsters slammed against the door.

"I'll help him out!" Fleecy yelled, turning into a cloud and dispersing all over the hall. Now it was just Ludmila and I versus a dog pound from hell.

"This is ridiculous," Ludmila asked. "We can't hold them forever!"

"Yeah, well, between fighting them outside where they can spawn from darkness, I'll take the well-lit hall any day if we have to fight them." Suddenly, it felt like the thermostat was being possessed by a demon, because the temperature went way up.

In just a few seconds, I collapsed to my knees, feeling like I was sweating out my flesh. Ludmila didn't seem too affected though. She crouched down next to me, calling my name and trying to wake me up, but already her face was starting to fade away. Actually, it was more like it was getting brighter. Like, somebody turned the contrast on a TV way up. And was there always a giant halo above us?

Ludmila seemed to notice it, looking above her in horror. She grabbed me and pulled us both out of the way. A second later, I heard a thunderous boom, like a lightning bolt had struck where we were just a second ago. It looked a bit like that too, except it was bright yellow instead of blue, and as thick as an oak tree.

It blasted us across the floor until we slammed into a bookcase. I was actually kind of grateful. The air wasn't as sweltering there as it was over by the charred remains of the door.

Oh. The door. Son of a hellhound.

I got to my feet and thrust my lance forward, stabbing a hellhound right through the eye, the beast disappearing. I swung it to my left, slicing apart two more, then slammed it over my head, smashing a fourth one to bits. It was swing, swing, stab. Swing, parry, stab. A dozen hellhounds turning to ash around me. I was starting to get the hang of it when the temperature spiked again. This time, I was ready for it.

My muscles turned to jelly and I stumbled on my feet, but my powers would work just fine. I held my hand behind me, resting it on the bookcase, and fired a blast of wind, launching both myself and Ludmila across the room. The bolt of light struck, blowing the whole bookcase and the hundreds of books on it apart.

"Return the lance to me and your demise shall be painless!" a voice said, the same one I'd heard in my dream. "Refuse, and you shall die a thousand deaths!" I resisted the urge to ask if he was making an Akuma reference from Street Fighter 4 with that line.

"Ah come on, slow down already!" I called back with false courage. "This is just the first date! Well, second if you count the—"

"Biko!" Ludmila yanked me out of the way as the spot I was standing in lit up like a candle. A bolt of light struck it, boring a hole straight through the building's foundation.

This is starting to get ridiculous, I thought to myself. It was bad enough that I was dealing with hellhounds, but now there was a magic stone whose attack range was freaking everywhere? It was only a matter of time before one of us tripped up and got vaporised.

"Biko, look at the scorch marks!"

"It's kind of hard not to notice them when they're big enough to be seen from Mars!"

"There's a pattern!"

"Huh?" It was hard to focus when a hellhound the size of a rhino broke through a wall and challenged me to a stare down (it won of course), but I tried anyway. There didn't really look like there was a pattern. Until I looked up at least.

Above all of the scorched areas and craters was a broken lightbulb, or at least it was close to one.

"No, please don't tell me…." I looked up, and sure enough, there was a dim copper light dangling over my head. I held my hands in front of me and pretty much Iron Manned my way out of there, flying from whirlwinds in my hands and feet, backwards and straight into a wall.

The air rushed out of my lungs as I slammed into it. Pain filled my whole torso, tingling up and down my spine as I slumped to the ground, my vision blurry. I must have used a little bit too much kick, but it was totally worth it. A bolt of white and yellow light struck where I was standing just moments ago, the light above it exploding.

"It can only attack where there's light!" Ludmila yelled.

"So we shoot all the lights. What then?! Hellhounds will just start spawning everywhere!"

"You wanna fight the laser instead?"

"Okay, point taken."

I looked up at all of the lights around me. Taking them out would be child's play. Letting go of my lance for a second, I slowly raised both of my hands into the air. The furniture in the room all rose with them, hovering a few centimetres in the air. It was the coolest, I was like a freaking Jedi!

I flicked my wrists up. The furniture all flew straight for the ceiling, obliterating all of the lights, bathing the room in darkness. The only sources of light were Ludmila's poi, burning as she spun them around in a flaming tornado, and the eyes of the hellhounds, including the rhino sized one that charged straight for me.

I picked up my spear and launched it at the creature like a javelin, the weapon going straight through and out the other side. It didn't stop there either, as I could hear three more howls before they all exploded into glittering clumps of dust.

I stretched my hand in front of me, willing tornadoes to erupt on the floor and return my lance to me. Sadly, even though I could see my weapon clearly, I couldn't really see my hands, and the weapon nearly impaled me as it rammed through the wall right next to me, its blade next to my stomach. I was so glad I hadn't drunk anything recently because I probably would have peed a little as I pulled out the tool that nearly killed me.

I heard a cataclysmic roar, the whole building shaking down to its foundations in fear. The room lit up in a glorious blaze of light. I could see everything clearly again.

I could see Ludmila standing by the wall, fending off a small platoon of slobbering demon mutts. I could see Zodiac standing in the middle of the room, the table kicked to the side, and drawing some kind of pentagram. I could see Fleecy next to him, adding weird signs and symbols inside it. I hadn't noticed before, but all the walls were covered in them. They must have been going around drawing them, although I had no idea what for. Oh, and I saw the guy who was makingthe light.

Actually, I'm not even sure what it was. It was vaguely humanoid, and made entirely out of blazing yellow and white plasma, sometimes leaping off of its body and setting whatever they touched aflame. It glowed like burning magnesium, and I couldn't look at it directly for more than a few seconds at a time.

It took slow, measured steps towards us, but it was like it couldn't control its body properly, like every step was a struggle.

"You demigods infuriate me," he said, his voice echoing everywhere with just barely bridled anger. "I only wish to amass my power, and yet you dare to challenge me? You, who are little more than specks on the timeline, the refuse of creation, choose to oppose me, who is timeless?!" He took another step forward, then abruptly stopped. I'm not sure if beings made of pure energy can frown, but he was changing colours and looked pretty confused so maybe that counted.

"I think we're doing a pretty good job," Zodiac said. "What about you, Fleecy?"

"Excellent job if I do say so myself," she replied with a brilliant smile. The monster looked up, and I followed. Above him, drawn on the ceiling next to where the chandelier used to be, was a big chalk circle with funky cursive writing written into it.

"Enochian sigil. Zach taught it to me for sealing divine entities, like the Rain Bow. Turns out it works just fine on you too, Samael."

That got him mad. He roared, blazing streaks of fire shooting everywhere off him like he was a living firework.

"Guys, buy me time!" Zodiac barked. "I have to finish this ritual to summon the Rain Bow!"

"Dude, no, we've gotta run while we can!" I yelled back. "He's gonna tear down the whole building!"

"That's the problem! This is the only place that we can…." He was interrupted by a fireball streaking towards his face. Fleecy had him covered, literally, expanding into a thundercloud and zapping the projectile to pieces with a blue bolt of lightning. "The bow can only be summoned here! If this place blows up, then we lose the weapon forever!"

"Well that's good, right? The bad guys can't get it either!"

"They can't get it, in the US! But they can still summon it in other countries. We lose this building, and Samael wins!"

"Oh…. Oh that's bad."

"Help!" Fleecy enveloped Zodiac in a protective cloud while Ludmila and I rolled into the way, standing next to each other as we blocked the energy monster, Samael, from proceeding any more. He didn't seem to care, firing a beam of molten lava straight at us. Ludmila stepped in the way, holding her palms in front of her as the lava spread like a giant glowing umbrella.

"Ludmila!"

"It's alright…. I resist heat." It sure didn't look like it though. She was glowing red instead of white, and her arms were starting to turn black, and that was ignoring how her clothes were catching fire. I looked around for something, anything that could make a difference. I held my palm out, re-summoning the Lance of Longinus to me and started generating a constant breeze around the whole room.

If too much lava filled the room, it wouldn't even matter if it touched us. The heat alone would turn us to barbecue. I had to keep everyone (relatively) cool until then. I jumped to the side, away from Ludmila and the lava, and charged at Samael with a roar, my spear pointed in front of me, ready to skewer him.

He didn't care. Of course he didn't care. This was a final boss! What the heck were we doing fighting the final boss already?!

He held his other hand towards me and let loose a second stream of lava. I tried covering myself in a funnel of wind. It made sense in my head, right? After all, it's just a liquid.

Wrong! Geography class kicked in a little late in my brain. Sure, it's liquid, but it's still molten rock. Holding up a whole torrent of the stuff was like bench pressing bricks. I could do it, but flecks of lava were flying everywhere, some even catching on the hem of my shirt, tearing straight through it and to the ground, leaving the flesh there with a lot more than a sunburn. I couldn't imagine myself surviving for much more than thirty seconds, even with my breeze.

No. No! I can't die just yet, I thought to myself. If I die now, my winds will drop, and the others will be vaporised! I just have to get through this magma wall. Just distract him long enough to give them a chance! If I can just….

"Mine is the drill…." I felt stupid. I looked stupid. I was always stupid. I wasn't a genius like my siblings, and I wasn't cool and collected like Zodiac. I didn't have Ludmila's courage. I was no hero. Heck, half the time I couldn't even talk to people without freaking out! I was just a scared kid who didn't know how to grow up. And now I was going to die. Well, if I really was just a dork, then I could at least let my dorkiness save everybody else. Heck, maybe it would be the only 'heroic' thing I would do in my life! "Mine is the drill… that will pierce the heavens!"

I guess invoking the power of Gurren Laggan was enough to make something really cool happen. My spear broke! Shattered in my hands, like it was made of glass! But instead of exploding into a billion pieces like my sword, it restructured itself almost instantly, warping around my arm, even as I was already swinging my fist at the lava in a storm coated punch. It warped and clicked and connected until covering my arm was a massive golden drill, the size of my chest, spinning like a black hole as it shredded through the magma.

Samael caught his breath as he stared at me in shock. I must have caught him off guard, because the torrent ebbed in intensity, just for a second. It was more than enough. I held my left arm behind me, propelling myself towards him.

"Giga, Drill…." Whoops. I spoke too late. My drill slammed straight into his body, shredding through his stomach and spitting flames and lightning everywhere. My one chance to scream out the name of a finishing attack, and I blew it.

Samael howled in pain as my whole body followed, forcing its way through him (ow, ow, and ow! Sprinting through fire, lightning, and plasma was a stupid idea) and stumbling through the other side, rolling to lessen the damage. I looked back at Samael, a gaping hole through his body and one of his arms torn off… and how he instantly regenerated himself.

"Wh… what the hell?! D-don't take away my victory like that!" I shrieked. Samael twisted his now regrown arm backwards so it was facing me. Nope! I was not gonna try that again!

I dashed around it, flying out of the way as a torrent of high pressure lava destroyed half the building in one go. No, I'm not exaggerating. Apparently, he was holding back, or else that magic circle was limiting his strength until I destroyed it with my last attack (oops) because the entire front desk, the door, and half the building was gone!

Right then and there, I questioned my life choices.

"Biko! Get down!" Zodiac roared. I obliged, flying towards the ground and landing next to Zodiac. Ludmila had used the time I'd bought to retreat back to his side too. Fleecy had turned back to human form and was apparently catching her breath. Zodiac held up his bow and arrow—wait… what?

There was no sling shot in his hand. Instead, he was holding a bow made entirely of glamorous rainbow light, a little like Samael actually. The string was made of pure white light instead, and its quiver and arrows looked like they were made of some kind of never-melt ice. He nocked one in his bow, taking precise, measured aim as he pulled it back (that was trippy too, his arm, just his arm, kept teleporting to pull the string back so it looked like he was having real life framerate problems), and fired.

I was not expecting the tsunami that followed, nor was I expecting it to destroy the other half of the room either. Honestly, I'm not even sure why we were alive after that shot! The arrow flew like a rocket, slamming into Samael like a blast from a cannon, accompanied by an entire typhoon, complete with thunderclouds (now with real lightning!), rain, hail, and a twenty foot tall wave that swept up everything in its path, all while the storm blasted the rest of the building apart. Samael howled before the water drowned him out, the wave rolling away and through the city streets, sweeping up cars, street lights, and the trashed aeroplane as it went on its way, causing untold destruction.

The collateral would be staggering.

"Now's our chance! Zodiac, let's run! Zodiac?" There was nothing left where he was standing. Instead, the 'recoil' from his bow had launched him backwards and into the next building, across the remainder of what was once Independence Hall, across the street, and through a glass window. A few seconds later he had teleported back, still clutching his bow, but now lying in a bloody puddle and breathing heavily, his eyes wide as he looked up at the now raining sky.

"My luck this week…. It's just… sucked," he wheezed.

"Guys, we cannot stay here," Ludmila said.

"I concur. Zodiac!"

"Right…. Grab onto something…." We did as he said. He shut his eyes, and the world around us flashed. And then again…. And again…. And yet again…. …. ….

Until we were away from the rain and well out of the area, even seeing police cars and ambulances streaking past us, sirens screaming and tires screeching as they headed for the disaster zone. A few people who were out late stared at us, but none stopped or asked questions. That would change real quick if they saw Zodiac bleeding out on the floor.

"Hey, dude, hang in there!" I yelled. He wasn't breathing.

My blood turned as cold as ice.

Fleecy crouched down next to him and placed her hands on his chest, pushing down on it rapidly. It took me a moment to realise she was trying to perform CPR. By now, a small crowd had gathered to see what was happening. I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry for help or punch someone for just staring, but then a woman in a trench coat rushed towards us to help. Thankfully, she didn't assault us with the storm of questions people usually asked. Instead, she called an ambulance first thing and explained the situation as rapidly as she could.

"That's twice he's been critically injured," Ludmila said bitterly. By now, Fleecy had pinched his nose and was blowing into his mouth just trying to get his breath back. "Twice we should have been able to help, and both times we failed…."

Zodiac gasped back to life, pushing Fleecy away as he began to cough up a storm, choking up globs of blood.

"Damn straight," he croaked, his voice raspy. "Next time, no noobs allowed…." He then promptly proceeded to shut his eyes, and lay still, blood pooling all around him as we stared dumbly at his body.

The rain began to pour.