The corpse of the Golden Dragon was glowing out in front of us, but its light was slowly fading. Daniel fired a burst of his green energy at its side, finding that he blew out a large hole there. Little by little, the entire exterior of the creature was sloughing off to reveal that, inside the Kizmet-like form, there was simply a man. He was pale and naked, of Chinese descent, and he was completely lifeless. An arrow had been driven through his eye, no doubt fired from King Solomon on his chariot, right before he likewise was killed.

Now there was a straight sightline between our side and the enemy, with nothing to stop the conflict's return. The very first strike that came was devastating enough on its own to wipe out half of our remaining Martians. Less than a hundred now surrounded us.

We were in full sprint, Hickory, Daniel, Ironbolt, Avenger, and I. Though the distance across the entire glass platform was significant, we were altogether lightning fast. Between Ironbolt and Avenger’s uncanny speed and our enhanced biology, the gap was rapidly closed.

All we had to do was get the Blackhole Bomb to the Lich. Now that we were in close, however, the old man saw that he was actually in danger. For the first time in a very long time, he remembered that he was mortal. I could see it written on his grey, miserable face. Fear and apprehension.

I knew it was the same look we carried, faced against such Powerful enemies. There were just a handful of Thralls left, but they were each a nightmare on their own. One was flying through Martians as if they weren’t even there, leaving shredded mush in her wake. And that was just one of her Powers. The others came in the form of blue, green, and red projectiles, all bearing different effects. The red seemed useless on Martian biology, but the other two yielded spectacular and gory results. Just looking at them left me half-blind, scrambling my visual cortex.

I had to pull my focus from the spectacle and back to my own survival. I was quickly left behind by the Powered in our group, with only Daniel and I matching speeds while Hickory could launch himself forward to keep up with the two Heroes. I was not so fast.

Surrounded by so much chaos, the Blaster and me found ourselves face to face with one of the Super Thralls. It was not like the others, decked out in a combination of long-range offensive Powers and defenses. This one was a melee fighter. It had freakishly long-limbs, and when its attention turned to us, that only got worse.

Its grasping hands flew outward, stretching like taffy with open claws to kill. In the dwindling moments of horror, while those hands were an oncoming projectile, I knew for certain that there would be no surviving them. The palms each possessed in their center a sunken hole, whose sight was a glimpse into the infinite void.

I saw Daniel dodge out of its path, and the weapons retracted to fire again just as quickly. This time, the demon turned its grey eyes to me, and I prepared for what was about to happen. It moved in closer, assuring this time that it would not miss.

This was okay, I thought. It was all up to the others, now.

I just hope Creep can see what I've learned. We have to let history go, no matter what becomes of us.

So great was the loyalty of that young man, though. He only wanted to belong.

And somehow, at some point, I had gained respect from him that I could never have deserved. As he shoved me out of the way, it was Daniel instead of me that the long fingers ensnared. It was Daniel that felt the darkness curl into his skin and drain him of all life, rendering him a husk.

"What are you doing!?" I yelled.

And with his last breaths, he extolled me, “Make them regret it…” I couldn’t believe it, but he even managed a smile. This was what he wanted all along, I realized. Just to exist for something worthwhile.

With that, Daniel was tossed to the hard ground and the fingers recoiled. The creature shriveled up and moved on to stalk its next kill, seemingly having forgotten about us, leaving me to stare down at the corpse of my comrade.

I stumbled as if in a dream after that, looking for what I could possibly do next. The Martians were piling on every Thrall they could reach, but it was all in vain. They could wrap themselves about the undead and squeeze with their death-grip to their heart's content. It would not do anything but slow them down, buying precious seconds for the Heroes.

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That was right, I remembered. I have to help them.

Through the throngs, I caught sight of the Heroes' efforts as they were failing. The Lich was too fast for Avenger to catch. The last of the Hero’s knives had been exhausted, and all his effort now fell merely on the act of avoiding death at the hands of the Thralls. In an act of utter despair, he passed the bomb to his friend and fell to his knees, completely spent. Ironbolt kicked it into high gear, then, determination filling his movements to finish the job.

Time slowed down as I watched the Hero lurch forward in a blast of enormous electricity. He gave it everything he had, and the crack of the wind sounded in his wake. He had lined up a straight shot between him and the wretched Lich. Each of his footfalls was an explosion that he rode forward to victory.

Between the glance we shared, a series of lights shone on his mask and back from my chest. Both of us could speak at this speed, just fast enough to share an acknowledgment.

“If he doesn’t die now, this fight will end in the next ten minutes,” Ironbolt said.

With the adrenaline and my enhanced physiology, it would take an hour for a pen to drop from my perspective. My mind was disturbingly calmed by seeing so much death rendered almost to a still image. But I replied with doubt, “Can’t you throw the bomb?”

“No. We only have one shot and we can’t take any chances. I have to end this.”

“There’s no one else like you,” I said. “If the world survives tonight, no one else could lead it.”

“I have to do this. You can survive, Walter, and become the force this world needs.”

I'm too far gone to lead them. You don't understand.

Yet, that was all the time we had, and my words would go unspoken. The moment had arrived.

The old man turned in fear to realize that in the milliseconds he was catching his breath, death had appeared inches from his person. None of his minions could save him now. The air of superiority he had worn was shattered into a million pieces as the man who’d been untouchable for more than half a century met fate in the form of blue lightning.

He should have been dead right then and there... But there was one man who could stop that.

He appeared in the midst of Hero and Villain to ruin everything. For the first time, Seraph took physical form on the battlefield then, and he put a stop to our triumph.

If only Ironbolt could have taken out both of them in one swift move, but no matter how fast he’d been, nothing could beat an instantaneous attack. So, at that moment, the bomb was thrown aside, landing fruitlessly by the wayside, undetonated. Ironbolt’s arm was broken by the swipe used to sever the device from his grip, and he scrambled back in pain.

Standing between the Lich and Ironbolt, Seraph nodded solemnly. He had a sepia tone aura that surrounded him, and Power crackled in the space above his head. He moved with purpose towards the Hero, outstretching his hand to display what he was capable of.

“You think that killing my Lich would be enough to give you a chance?” Seraph asked.

I was running as fast as I could at this point. I didn't know what I was thinking, but I had to stop this.

Ironbolt was ripped forward by a telepathic pull, bringing his throat into the Immortal’s hold. In a flurry of blue light, I watched then as the energy was drained from him. He was left weakened on the ground, crawling slowly away at the mercy of those around him. It was clear enough what Seraph had done.

Ironbolt's Power had been taken from him.

“None of you understand what is happening here, nor what you possess,” Seraph explained. “You see that I take his Power, but what do you imagine? That now I too could move as quickly? The Power is cultivated from birth and expressed as a personal force. Inside me, it is made impersonal, for I am one who renounces all in the name of transcendence.” Then, he turned his same hand, still crackling with energy, and pointed it at Ironbolt.

It was possible that I might have thrown myself between the blast and saved his life at that moment, just as Daniel had done for me. Every fiber of my being wanted to pay that favor forward to the man who had given me every opportunity. Despite all the fear I felt, I was certain in my bones that I would regret living more than dying here.

But I knew that in the next few minutes if I didn’t act, all of us would be dead anyway. I made the conscious choice to abandon Ironbolt to his fate on those grounds, and it killed me. I didn’t bother looking at what happened. I only heard the scream of defiance he bellowed out.

“Do your worst!”

For all of us, there was just one last hope.

I dove for the bomb where it lay abandoned on the ground. Just as quickly as I had it, I scrambled to my feet and threw myself at the villains. The distance between all of us had grown so tight that they could not react to stop me.

Seraph’s eyes widened. He knew he was in the blast radius, as was the Lich, as was Ironbolt. He had a choice to make, and being the man he was, he chose to flee. He vanished back into the ether from which he came, a deep scowl marking his face.

That left his shining prodigy undefended.

And though my eyes locked with Ironbolt in those last instances of existence, we couldn’t speak as we had before. He was no more and no less than a regular man, now. Through his mask, I could determine nothing. There was only the resolve in his shoulders. The same one that was always there, through good times and bad, with or without hope of a victory. He was steady.

So I pressed the button, and all turned to black. The Lich was killed, as was Ironbolt.

For my part, this was not to be the first time I had died, nor would it be the last.