As they entered the courtyard, the sight that greeted them caused them all to pause.
"Good lord!" Giles exclaimed.
"Holy shit." Buffy said.
"Looks like you guys had quite the party in here." Minerva remarked sarcastically.
"Yeah, no shit, new girl." Hera commented dryly. Minerva gave Hera an annoyed look but held her peace, which caused Hera to smirk.
Before them was a pile of badly wounded monstrous corpses, stacked in the exact center of the courtyard. Among them were the bodies of Sandra, Neal, James, and Jesse. Standing near them were a number of animated statues of hoplites and centurions, clearly keeping watch, their steel heads looking back and forth.
"So they did try to get in. Shit!" Faith said.
"Good thing Neil bought those golems to stand guard a few months ago!" Helen observed.
"Well, I try to think ahead." Neil stated as he walked up to them. He paused and looked them over.
"You guys had all the same kind of fun we had. The guardians as bad as advertised huh?"
"Unfortunately, man." Apollo confirmed.
"We got our giant asses kicked." Bellona said.
"How did you guys win?" Neil asked.
"I destroyed them somehow. Just by ordering them to stop. I don't fucking get it." Athena responded.
"Just when we think we know everything about each other, all the hows and why...something like this happens." Artemis said, clearly mystified at this revelation.
"Athena destroyed the Replicators too. In kinda the same way." Ares explained.
Neil stared at Athena and she shrugged.
Before Neil could speak further, he noticed Minerva.
"Well, hello there." Neil said in a friendly tone.
Minerva looked Neil up and down and said guardedly:
"Hi."
Willow, Xander, Joyce, and Dawn chose that opportunity to make their entrance.
"Buffy! Giles!" Willow cried out. They all ran forward and threw their arms around Buffy and Giles, who embraced them back.
Giles grimaced, and everyone stepped back from him.
"Thank you for the warm welcome, but I'm afraid my body cannot withstand much physical affection at the moment." Giles explicated wearily.
"Wow, Giles, sure you don't need a stretcher? Or an ambulance?" Xander commented, stunned at Giles's appearance.
"Either would be a welcome sight at this juncture." Giles answered dryly. He held up an ornate and very thick book.
"But at least our toils bore fruit."
"That's the magic book the Council spoke about?" Willow asked.
"It is indeed." Giles replied.
"I think we need to get some food and sleep. Because we badly need it." Buffy said.
"This is one of those rare times we are in complete agreement Elizabeth." Lilith remarked.
There was no disagreement to be had, and they all turned toward the castle to do just that.
"This is fascinating!" Daniel said as he studied the writing on the wall.
"What do you mean friend Daniel?" Eppy inquired as it strode over to take a look.
"It's this language! It almost seem proto-Egyptian or proto-Latin, but it's not actually either. It could almost be an ancestor to human language. Incredible…" Daniel answered, clearly enthused.
"It also seems similar to ancient Goa'uld." Teal'c observed.
"Fascinating Daniel and Teal'c. What does it say already?!" Jack grumbled.
Eppy, Spidey, SG-1, and Jacob/Selmak were now inside the pit, accompanied by three squads of infantry. They had been searching the massive and very deep hole for several hours. On the moon's surface, a division of infantry with armored and air support were closely watching the surrounding area closely, maintaining security. They made for an intimidating sight, never mind the massive Retribution hovering right above the concavity. The guardian's corpse had been moved out of the way by the Retribution's tractor beam and deposited several miles away.
"It seems to be a magic spell of some kind, meant to keep the um, "Darkness" sealed up in this chasm." Daniel replied.
"Magic spell?" Sam commented doubtfully. "It's obviously some sort of strange technology we don't understand."
"I wouldn't be so sure miss Sam. We have sorcery in our reality." Spidey said. SG-1 and Jacob/Selmak turned and looked at Spidey in surprised confusion.
"You mean, actual magic?" Jacob asked in disbelief.
"Oh sure, Mr. Jacob, it can be dangerous to use though." Spidey confirmed.
"This binding magic is very potent. I can still feel its power. Its dark energy radiates from the runes." Eppy said suddenly.
"It's very old thaumaturgy too. I can smell its age." Spidey added.
Jack and his team and Jacob all regarded each other, baffled.
"Actual magic? Like wizards and dragons?" Jack said questionably.
"Oh yes, friend Jack. This information is exactly what we need to stop this entity." Eppy replied. Then it looked back at them curiously.
"Why are you so dubious?" Eppy wondered.
"Well, we've never seen the real thing. It's always been fake or something else entirely, like advanced technology." Daniel explained.
"Interesting." Eppy responded, with a thoughtful expression.
"Trust me, it exists. We come from magical places and beings, like gods." Spidey stated.
"Real gods?" Teal'c inquired.
"Oh yes, Mr. Teal'c. They're pretty scary though." Spidey answered.
"Scan this incantation and copy it to our data-banks immediately." Eppy ordered into the communicator.
"Roger. Beginning transfer." Dante replied.
Eppy turned to the others and said:
"We have what we came for. It's time to leave. Our window to stop this beast is narrowing."
The others nodded, and Daniel responded:
"Once we stop this thing, I hope we can come back and study this city further."
"We will friend Daniel. Promise." Eppy replied.
And with that, they moved to depart the fossa.
"So Rupert, what have you discovered?" Diana inquired, with a cocking of her beautiful head.
"Well, this book is written in a very ancient proto-Latin dialect. And it has answered much about what is happening. There is a being, a True Demon, known as Karash, who was imprisoned on our moon by his fellow Old Ones for hideous crimes too awful even by demonic standards. They set a beast to guard him, as well as powerful wards to keep him contained inside a great pit. However, if there was a great metaphysical disturbance, Karash could be set free." Giles explained, placing his hand on the closed book in question.
"Interesting. What sort of metaphysical disturbance?" Lilith wondered.
"A crossing from one world to another could cause it, I'm afraid." Giles answered.
"In other words, you think when Mothra sent us back home from Eppy's and Spidey's world, it allowed Karash to escape eventually." Athena observed.
"Wait, but that place wasn't even real! How could that cause Karadish to get free?!" Buffy asked, baffled.
"Karash, Buffy. Karash." Giles stated.
Buffy rolled her eyes at Giles.
"I'm guessing Karash did escape and is responsible for all this craziness happening in Sunnydale and across the world." Bellona said.
"That is what I believe. Karash has power over the spirits of the dead and can metamorphose them into creatures under its dominion. They then seek out their loved ones and attempt to slaughter them to increase the size of Karash's army." Giles explicated.
"Metamorphose?" Xander asked, puzzled.
"Transform, honey." Willow translated.
"Oh, okay." Xander nodded.
"So Karash got out. Where did he go afterwards? Is he here on Earth or elsewhere?" Apollo wondered.
"Good question." Hera said.
"I confess ignorance as to his whereabouts. But this monster is bigger than our Sun, and would be impossible not to notice, so most likely, he is elsewhere." the Watcher answered.
The others stared at Giles, shocked at this revelation.
"This thing is bigger than the Sun?! Goddamn!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Oh my God!" Joyce shouted.
"I think this demon is a little above my pay grade!" Buffy yelled.
"Mine too! Jesus Christ!" Faith agreed.
"How can we possibly stop it?!" Helen almost bellowed.
"Fortunately, there is a solution. The tome tells of a great temple underground, as well as an imprisonment spell. We must go there and cast this incantation, as it is the only place on Earth with enough magical energy to successfully perform it." Giles elucidated.
"This "Karash" probably has countermeasures against this course of action." Minerva pointed out.
"I would think so as well, but we have no choice, I'm afraid." Giles responded.
"Then let's get to it." Neil said.