“This is a huge mess,” said Buble. Ray heard the complaint from Johnny Mac’s end

  of their communication line.

  “I’m open to suggestions,” said Johnny Mac.

  Ray pointed his metal hand at the Librarian. His people were here. They knew what

  they were doing. He could go on the offensive.

  Saving the world looked a whole lot easier now.

  Blue flame reached across the campus. Once they took out the Librarian, the rest

  would be that much easier.

  Orange letters blocked his wrapping as they exploded up from the ground. He

  frowned. He should have known she would build a virtual bunker as a shield so she

  could finish the job.

  Lightner had grabbed a piece of metal from somewhere and circled the monster. Eyes

  popped as he flew by on a trail of lightning and thunder.

  Ishvar walked toward the library. She raised her hands to summon her own energy to

  the front. Gold letters negated effects trying to block her passage. The Librarian

  glared at her in midspell, unwilling to stop what she was doing.

  “This is impressive,” said Ishvar. “But I think it is time for you to stop and

  reconsider.”

  “I should have known this was your fault,” said the Librarian. “You’ve always stood

  in my way.”

  “No,” said Ishvar. “Ray asked me to take a hand. I should have known it was you.

  Changed your appearance again? What do you call yourself now?”

  “I don’t think that matters,” said the Librarian. “Everything is in place. All I have to

  do is send the Abyssal back to garnish my power. The plan is complete.”

  “You monster is dead, Chevren,” said Ishvar. “Your plan is undone.”

  Chevren, the Librarian, looked at the battlefield. Her summoned creature had

  collapsed on itself. Blue flame and physical weapons had destroyed most of its eyes.

  The world was invading its body and killing it with reality.

  She thought she could still win if she put one twist on her spell. It would take her

  longer to complete her goal, but she had time. She glared at Ishvar. She had to buy

  time to reverse the summons and send her changed creature back to the Abyss.

  “Don’t think you have a chance to defeat me now, when you never could before,

  Chevren,” said Ishvar. “Let your magics cease and I will allow you to leave the field

  so you can restart your scheme to be opposed by others in the future.”

  “There is no way I am going to let you and your misfits get in my way any more,”

  said the Librarian. “I have spent too much time growing my power for this. Go and

  I will spare you for old times sake. Oppose me, and we will see who the better is.”

  “Do you really think so?,” said Ishvar.

  A blue box of light surrounded the Librarian before she could start her first spell in

  their duel. She snarled as she shrugged out of the containment.

  Ishvar sent a golden blast across the space. The ground came apart under the pressure.

  The beam hit the orange bunker and bent it for a moment before splitting around the

  obstruction.

  The Librarian sent a counter wave from spinning her shield spell in place. Orange

  letters marched away from the spin, shrinking with distance. They hit Ishvar’s shield

  and pounded on the golden letter and drove her back.

  The Librarian only needed a few minutes to finalize her control. She surrounded her

  enemies in orange boxes of letters. That should give her time to alter her creature and

  send it back to do her bidding.

  It might not be big enough to do the job she wanted, but it could grow if it ate the

  smaller creatures one by one until it could take on bigger monsters and feed on them.

  And every Abyssal it killed, would give her power in this world.

  Executing these meddlers and her sister would just be icing on the cake as far as that

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  went.

  If she had time, she would send them all to the Abyss with her monster. That would

  be the perfect revenge as far as she was concerned.

  They could be the prey being hunted by living planets roaming the dark plains of

  entropy.

  “How do you do?,” said a giant rabbit in a pink suit. “I see that you’re busy. My

  friend thinks you need a relaxing flight.”

  The Librarian lifted a hand to brush this pest away. The world changed and she was

  falling through the sky again. She cursed as she saw the battlefield far below.

  She raised her shield to absorb any impact and summoned a cloud to catch and lower

  her to the ground. She scanned the ground and screamed as her almost traitor

  vanished under a fusillade of flame, lightning and gold letters.

  Everything was gone.

  Ishvar had ruined everything for her again. Every time she wanted something, the

  other was in the way.

  This was the last time that would happen.

  All of them would be executed for getting in her way.

  Ishvar looked up from the courtyard. Magic enhanced her vision. She didn’t need

  much to see the comet plunging toward them.

  “This is going to be bad,” said Ishvar. “She looks angry. I think you four should stand

  back and let me handle this.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to have a choice,” said Ray. “We’ve ruined her plan,

  destroyed her cover and much of her gathered belongings, and basically screwed up

  two hundred and fifty years of effort in a couple of days. I don’t think she’ll let that

  slide unless she calms down enough to think about getting away. And she still has

  two more nights to try her scheme with what she has left. We can’t let that happen.”

  “So even if we ran, which I am not suggesting, she’ll come right at us any way after

  this?,” said Johnny Mac.

  “We’re the only ones who have seen her face,” said Ray. “She can’t let us live now.”

  “That’s not such a big thing since she can change her appearance,” said Ishvar. “The

  fact is she can’t let us live because we’re in her way, and you three have no intention

  of moving out of the way. Before she can try to continue, or escape to restart, she

  knows she has to remove you. If she can kill me, that will be extra pleasing for her.

  I don’t think she cares about Buble one way or the other, but as long as he is helping,

  he is a target.”

  “I guess I’ll hold her down while you guys come up with a plan,” said Ray.

  “Not this time,” said Ishvar. “Support from me has been what was needed, but now

  it is time I become the sword. You will have to support my efforts.”

  “Are you sure about this?,” asked Ray.

  “It has to be done,” said Ishvar. “She can still do what she wants to the rest of you.

  I have some equal footing to defend myself. Just look for an opening and be annoying

  to her. The rest will work out.”

  “If you can knock down her shield, we can take her,” said Johnny Mac.

  “All right,” said Ishvar. “It is not much of a plan, but this has turned from a planet

  shaking scheme to a personal duel. I can’t complain that much about the results of our

  actions so far. You three should all be dead now, especially you, Ray. It’s

  extraordinary that you aren’t.”

  “I have always been lucky,” said Ray.

  “That’s something else my grandma used to say,” said Johnny Mac. “Going to need

  my number one for this, Buble, since my number two is toast.”

  “Very well, Master John,” said the butler. He pulled a rifle out of his jacket as they

  peeled off and headed for cover.

  “What did your grandma say, Johnny,” called Ray as they walked away.

  “Better to be lucky than good,” Johnny Mac called back.

  “That’s what I thought,” said Ray. He glanced at Lightner. The other champion

  watched the sky with an intent face. “You’re not backing off?”

  “My exceptional abilities rely on close quarters,” said Lightner. He frowned at the

  sky. “I suppose I could fall back and catapult boulders at our adversary, but that

  would be an unsure course of action.”

  “So you’re punching,” said Ray.

  Lightner grinned at him.

  “I’m punching, Ray,” said the champion.

  “Here she comes,” said Ishvar. “Stand behind me, and let me lead. Look for your

  openings, but don’t get in my way.”

  “We’re ready,” said Ray.

  “This is the perfect situation for your skills,” said Lightner.

  Ishvar nodded, her golden helmet covering her expression. She raised her hands and

  produced a shield. Attack from above was something to be worried about if her sister

  decided to attack while coming in for a landing.

  An orange lion head tried to devour them before the Librarian floated to the ground.

  It bit on a block of gold and couldn’t get through before it vanished.

  The next few seconds were filled with clashing lights being thrown across the

  courtyard. Stone and dirt flew from the devastating impacts of near misses. One

  orange blast struck Lightner and sent him into a nearby building.

  Ishvar made a ripping motion with one hand. A gold symbol punched aside the

  Librarian’s shield, blasting it into an opened dome. A single shot cracked the air. The

  enemy went down with blood flying.

  Ishvar walked over, spell fire glowing around her hands. She dropped her hands when

  she saw the Librarian struggling to breathe, blood running from the wound in her

  chest.

  “Why do you always ruin things for me?,” the Librarian asked. “Why couldn’t you

  have stayed in your tower?”

  “Why were you trying to become a goddess?,” asked Ishvar.

  “I have a better question than both of those,” asked Ray. He hunkered down over the

  fallen magician, looking at the wound. “Do you want to live?”

  “I can’t live with this failure,” said the Librarian. “Let me die.”

  “I would love to,” said Ray. That earned him looks of varying degrees of exasperation

  and puzzlement. “But I can’t. I still have to pay off my marker. And that means you

  are going to have to sit down in front of my creditor and explain everything to him.”

  “I don’t think the Duke wants to keep her around,” said Johnny Mac. He held his

  number one iron on his shoulder.

  “He’ll have to wait in line,” said Ray. Blue flame put the Librarian to sleep and began

  working on the holes in her torso. “I have to get home before I care about what he

  wants.”