They weren't the only ones who had been sent to die on this island, he just had the privilege of having a plane just for him and his team.

He could see the others, agents from other cities or countries, parachuting from their respective planes all over the island. He didn't feel like they were in this together, though. And not just because Ryan and Cynthia were the only ones running alongside him, while those agents were nothing more than specks in the endless blue sky. Mostly because even if they did end up coming together, not much would change. That was the sad truth.

Even Ryan and Cynthia couldn't do much here, perhaps they would be better off holed up in a bunker, waiting to see who would win, him or the Lunar Princess. But the fate of the world was at stake.

They had to throw everything they could at the problem or they would end up feeling they hadn't done enough, if they lost.

Would it be a comfort to most of the agents, once they died knowing that, whether humanity won or lost, their presence and sacrifice had most likely made no difference?

No, of course not.

But there was a reason they were here. There was a reason they hadn't backed down.

Sylvester supposed that alone made it worth it. They'd struggle to do what they could and even if that turned out to be nothing, at least they'd know they'd died with their boots on. He supposed that should be enough for them.

But not for him. Not at all.

He had to win this, he had to end this nightmare once and for all.

Maybe the real nightmare had only just begun. His vision was tinged with blue and for a moment he thought that the Moon Princess had arrived, announcing her arrival only with an earth-shaking blue attack that covered his vision, that the end had come so suddenly and decisively, like the fall of a guillotine.

But he rubbed his eyes and when he reopened them fully the only thing that had changed was that he was now alone.

"Guys?"

No one answered him. But they couldn't have just disappeared off the face of the earth, could they? Who was he kidding? He had no idea. That woman had crushed him mere minutes after she'd been born, now that she'd had four days to roam free god only knew what kind of abilities she'd unlocked and how much her stats had grown. He'd gained eight experience points and three levels in total, and it had ended in defeat! He didn't even want to imagine it.

The spectral blue glow clung to all his surroundings. It crossed Sylvester's mind that perhaps his teammates weren't the ones who had disappeared, but he himself.

A white wolf appeared out of literally nowhere. He didn't look away for a second, it wasn't there and then suddenly it was. With its back to him, facing forward, it seemed, tongue out and breathing heavy.

He turned his head back, pinning him with eyes like gold coins, and then looked away.

No aggression. Without even showing intent to attack.

He walked forward calmly. Sylvester decided to follow him, suddenly convinced that he would show him the way.

He was heading somewhere, but the path was anything but clear. As they went on his vision was tinged blue again. He knew he was undergoing a transition, so there was nothing to fear.

When the light cleared, the white wolf had disappeared. He also discovered that everything had changed, although everything remained the same at the same time. His surroundings were an inverted version of the place he had been a moment ago. Of the entire city, which the Lunar Princess had transformed into an island, separating it from the rest of the landmass, isolating it.

Sylvester took a step forward and everything changed again. It was still an inverted version of Kaleidoscope City, but also suddenly everything was made of glass floating in the middle of a cold, indifferent void, as if it could shatter at any moment.

As if something could shatter it at any moment.

So nothing has really changed, huh?

Sylvester bit his tongue to hold back the urge to laugh. There were truths so bitter they made you cry and truths so bitter you could only laugh to keep from going mad, from losing heart.

The white wolf, his guide into this strange and twisted version of the world, something like that void of mirrors but somewhat less sudden and without manipulating his memories, had abandoned his duty. He was nowhere to be found and it didn't look like he was going to change his mind, come back and take pity on him to show him the way out.

This had to be Princess Lunar's doing.

Who else? It was, whether this was one of the alien woman's abilities or one of the Lunar Remnants at her command.

Sylvester moved forward, hoping to be reunited with Ryan and Cynthia, hoping they hadn't died yet. Hoping in turn that they hadn't because he wasn't sure if they were dead.

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Sylvester moved forward, hoping to be able to meet Ryan and Cynthia again, hoping that they had not died yet. Hoping at the same time it didn't happen because he wasn't sure he could protect them and accomplish his mission at the same time and he didn't need distractions.

He couldn't even afford to be distracted, taking down some low level enemies in preparation for fighting the big boss.

At this point she was the only one who could make him level up.

Postponing the fight only made sense to the Lunar Princess, who still anything made her grow, since she hadn't even been in this world for a week.

He supposed that was why she had trapped him in this place. The how was unimportant.

The look could and had been a bit unsettling at first, but once he calmed down it was actually quite beautiful, like a magnificent crystal sculpture that even a team of hundreds of sculptors would have to devote their lives to build. And even then they wouldn't have gotten half of it done. In other words, he had a privileged view of something that couldn't be made by human hands.

But the tranquility went to shit when one of the trees transformed into the Lunar Princess, just as he was passing by, practically grazing it, and Sylvester jumped backwards as if propelled by a jet engine. He was lucky he didn't fall into the indifferent bottomless void, in fact.

"Shit!"

Not the best opening line for the fight that would decide the fate of the world, but it was what he had.

——

"He disappeared. Suddenly, yes. I don't think he's dead. No, that's not a good way to start this, but what can I say," Cynthia was saying. She had never acted in such an unprofessional manner before, but she felt that the current circumstances warranted it and that everyone had bigger problems to worry about. "Yes, you do that. We'll do... We'll do what we can."

The person on the other end of the line, surely in some organization bunker billions of miles away from the action, wished her good luck. Wished for her to survive.

Cynthia felt like criticizing them for no reason, as if they were to blame for what was happening. As if that person had an obligation to go to the island to fight, even though they could not contribute anything, because they weren't equipped to fight, those weren't the skills they had been refining.

But in the end she overcame that petty desire for revenge, she sighed.

And thanked them.

One small gesture in return for another. Words repeated so often that they should mean very little, but they made her feel as if the weight on her shoulders was a little lighter anyway.

Just a little, but when the weight of the world threatened to crush her like a gnat on a cosmic windshield wiper, any reduction was worth it.

She cut the comms. Or the other agent did, it had happened seconds ago and she no longer remembered. Cynthia shook her head; she had to focus, it didn't matter that Sylvester had disappeared. That humanity's greatest weapon had disappeared was catastrophic, but she couldn't let it matter to her if she wanted to retain the strength she needed to keep going.

"At least we're in this together," Ryan said.

That wouldn't have comforted her at all just a few days ago (more likely it would have made her watch her back carefully), but a lot could change in a few days.

"Yes. I'm worried about Sylvester, but I doubt he's gone down that easily."

"And if he has, we're screwed and there's no point in worrying about anything anyway."

"Yeah. That's right."

They advanced through the forest carefully. That spawn, the self-proclaimed Lunar Princess, had defeated Sylvester decisively, so none of the agents on the island dreamed that they could succeed where he had not. They were here, above all, to serve as a distraction and to take care of that monster's army while the two of them fought.

Now with Sylvester god knows where, the plan had a huge and very obvious hole in it, but they couldn't just sit around either.

So they went looking for trouble and that's what they found.

A Lunar Remnant came out of the undergrowth. A creature like the parasites that had attacked the hotel. She thought they had taken care of those bastards, but apparently she had suffered a rare bout of optimism. Cynthia raised her revolvers, ready to not pay for it.

She stopped suddenly.

The parasite had changed, regaining its human form. A woman.

"She's like me," Ryan muttered, his voice barely audible.

"I don't want trouble," the woman, that is, the thing said. "I want to help."

"Why should we trust you?" Cynthia asked.

"You have no reason and I can't give you one, but it's the truth. I just want to help. What I definitely don't want is to die. That crazy bitch doesn't want to take humanity's place in the food chain, she wants to destroy the planet. I don't like the planet, but I live on it and I'd like to remain alive."

That sounded like a great motive, the problem was whether she was telling the truth, but she didn't have to convince her right now, she realized. If she was telling the truth, they potentially had a lot to gain. If it was a trap, well, they could take care of a single Lunar Remnant, especially knowing that it was one of the parasites that had escaped them that day. Like any parasite, they weren't very strong.

Besides, she didn't think they needed traps when they had every possible advantage.

"Are we going to listen to her?"

"Yes. But be prepared." Cynthia lowered her guns. For the moment. "How do you think you can help us? That monster, the Lunar Princess, seems invincible."

"And she is. At least for insects like us, but if she could do it all on her own she wouldn't need an army of monsters."

Cynthia thought about it, but not too much.

"Okay. Explain yourself. Directly, no beating around the bush or I'll blow your head off."

"I'd better show you," said the little monster.

"Haven't I made myself clear?"

"Okay. All over town that crazy bitch had them... built altars, I guess, because there's always other Remnants praying in front of them. I told you, I'd rather have just shown it, this shit is hard to explain. Anyway, it has something to do with her plan to destroy the world. I know. They give off an energy that... I don't know, I think they're drawing it directly from the planet."

Okay. She probably hadn't made all that shit up just now and was telling the truth. Probably.

She wasn't as sure as she should be, maybe, but at least Cynthia was willing to go along with that creature to see if she was telling the truth and they could cooperate on this instead of ripping her head off and burying her in the woods.

Metaphorically, not literally. They weren't going to waste their time on shit like that.

——

His sword pierced through the Lunar Princess as if she wasn't there.

Not in the same sense that his sword hadn't done much to that monster even when he'd managed to hit, but as if she were a ghost.

"Relax. I've made sure that you can't hurt me in this place. Of course..."

She ran a hand across his chest cleanly, without him feeling even a tingle.

"The same is true the other way around."

"Why?"

"It's the only way we could talk."

"What do we have to talk about? We're natural enemies, destined to fight until one of us is dead. Completely irreconcilable."

"Are we, or don't you know enough about me? About us? About this game that started that day ten years ago?"

Sylvester frowned.

She was tacitly offering him answers to the questions he'd been asking himself for what he felt was his whole life. How could he resist?

"Okay. Let's talk."