This time, we didn't have to go anywhere. The fight would be here, in the Kobold King's throne room. I had been through this room so often, running to get to one instance or another thousands of times over the past weeks. It seemed fitting.

We spread out in front of the throne, waiting. At last the great door at the far end, the one through which we never came, opened. Mak'gar and his team paraded inside. They stopped short as they saw us.

"Should have known you would be here,” Mak'gar said.

I stepped forward, holding up my hands. "We're here for a fair fight this time."

"How so?" He peered suspiciously at me.

"Give it a try and you'll see," I said. "No traps. No gimmicks."

I could see the suspicion all over his face, but they didn't have much choice. The team entered the room, arraying in five rows. The door clanged shut behind them.

A moment later, the figure on the throne rose. The system launched into a detailed explanation of the evil that Chernabog had wrought in this place and how his power had corrupted Castle Byalgrad and the lands around, and now we would witness his fall.

The shadowy king stepped down. He looked like a man now, just twice as tall as man should be. There was something of Kronos in his face, but he was sad and old.

He passed through our ranks. I gave way and let him make his way to the center of the room. He wasn't targetable yet. This was still all part of the preamble.

"So you have come.” He lifted his hands. Chains dangled from his wrists. I Inspected him. He had a health pool now, the highest I'd ever seen, at 40,000 health, but it wasn't his max. No, his max was 100,000. The [Imprisoned] debuff said that he did 20% less damage while wearing his Jailer’s chains.

I made a note of that, because the other one probably would have no such handicap.

"You call me evil," he said quietly. "Yet you have come into my home and disturbed my rest, taking my followers and children from me and leaving me nothing but a kingdom of ashes. So be it. Today it ends. But before I go, I have one last trick to play."

He gestured, and then suddenly in the room were two tall, 12-foot-tall old men, one wearing black, the other white. The one in black, who bore the chains, wore a crown on his head.

The one in white held an enormous key. He honestly looked surprised. I stepped forward. "Hello, Belabog," I said. "Nice seeing you here.”

For the first time ever, the System's narration faltered and died. When the second man spoke, it was with the voice of the System.

"How can this be?”

“When you chained me, you chained yourself," the reality engine’s manifestation, now labelled as “Chernabog”, said.

“Everyone be careful,” Juana said in our ears. “We need to see what sort of abilities we’re dealing with here. Play it safe, and once we have a strategy we’ll tell you.”

I targeted Belabog. His information read, [Belabog, the Jailer. 80,000 health. Buffs: Key holder. +10% damage while wielding key of the progenitors.]

“He’s our target," I told my team.

“We figured that out,” Grandpa said drily. “When you’re ready, then.”

I targeted him and fired a Trick Shot with a round I had chambered just for this. It hit him, center of mass, and only did 5 HP, which was absolutely nothing. But it outlined him with a clear glitter. It was a round Dwight had made for me when we faced some bosses with a disappearing act. No matter where he went, we would all see him as our primary target. It also gave us a buff toward landing hits. We’d need every bit of help we could get here.

"Get him!" I shouted, and we rushed forward.

For a minute, Mak'gar's team stood staring. Then Mak'gar shouted, "Kill the one in chains!" and they hurried to engage Chernabog.

Javier threw a taunt, and we pulled Belabog off to one side where we could get a good surround on him. His key extended into a long staff, bronze in color, flashing with blue light.

"You focus on Belabog!” Juana yelled in our ears. "We're watching. If we need you to intervene on the other side, we'll shout it out. Just everyone follow orders."

"I hope you're right about this, Shad," she added, only speaking to me.

"So do I," I said grimly.

My team unleashed hell. We threw out abilities and combos I'd never seen before. The Grignarians had these portable flamethrower backpacks with nozzles that spouted gouts of flame that did fire and acid damage both. They ate away at Belabog's health pool.

Juana whispered to me, "We've got to get a look at some of those. From what I'm reading here, they are not system-made, and they're extra effective against reality engine constructs because of that. I'd love to see what Grignarian technology is really like."

"Focus," I told her.

"You focus," she retorted as I dodged to avoid a blow from Belabog. His key staff dished out a ton of damage, and the throne, where we usually respawned, had gone dark. I suspected that just like the Proxima all-stars, if we died, we wouldn't be able to get back in.

On the other side of the room, Chernobog threw out a fancy move, lashing out with his chains. Eight spots on the floor started to glow. He shouted aloud, “Heavens look upon my plight! Sky and storm, answer!”

Lightning flashed down from the ceiling, striking the glowing spots on the floor. One of the wolf-men hadn’t moved fast enough and took a ton of damage, though it didn’t kill him outright and they healed back up.

“Ok, watch for that sort of ability,” Juana said. “We’re guessing they’re twinned in a lot of ways.”

Sure enough, a minute later Belobog shouted “Rulers of the waters, aid my righteous cause!” and from six blue-tinged floor tiles, water erupted. We had all dodged aside. A debuff appeared over Belobog [Rebuffed! Temporary Dodge Chance Reduction!] He stood still, weaving slightly.

“Hit him hard!” Juana urged, and I used my Aimed Shot which took thirty seconds to charge up. When it went off, it dealt almost 200 HP to Belobog at once. My allies unleashed their biggest moves too. The debuff only lasted about 45 seconds before Belobog recovered.

“Great! Keep it up,” Juana encouraged. “Allison says it’s a common game mechanic, that if everyone avoids a special attack there’s a reward like that.”

“Should we do something about Proxima?” I asked. They were spread out around our boss but I saw how Mak’gar kept looking over at us.

“Hold steady,” Juana counseled.

We kept on. I focused on my damage. I was falling into the rhythm, avoiding Belabog's attacks, anticipating when he would be vulnerable, figuring out my own optimal DPS rotation. A couple of times, Allison came on, whispering in my ear directly, telling me to use a particular sequence of rounds or abilities. I had to think she was doing the same for everyone, because our damage was increasing as we went. It was kind of fun, honestly, and I had a brief flash of regret for the path we’d taken. Just focusing on the boss fights would have been a lot easier.

Across the room, Chernobog roared. “My father has left me, my sons betrayed me!” He lifted his hands toward the ceiling and a bright light enveloped him. The Proxima team backed away.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“It’s some sort of immune phase!” Allison yelled in our ears. “Stay clear, watch for adds! The other team can’t target him right now, be careful, they may attack you while he’s busy!”

I think some of Proxima made the same calculation because four of the dwarves broke off and surrounded Lakshmi. She threw up a purple crystal shield around herself as they attacked.

“Shad? Smith? Will? Target the blond Dwarf," Juana ordered. “Frank, keep the boss’s attention on you.”

I leapt away from combat with Belabog and switched my target to the blond dwarf. I shot him three times.

"Colonel Twofeather? Scalp him, then a coup on the Redhead."

Grandpa Shadow Stepped in behind. He hit the blond Dwarf with a Scalp. I had just stunned him, so the Scalp was double effective. The dwarf's health pool plummeted.

Grandpa Shadow Stepped away and appeared behind the redhead Dwarf. I was emptying a Barrage into the blond. A second later, he dissolved in a shower of sparks.

We converged on the redhead. The other three dwarves retreated back to their raid as Chernobog came out of his immune phase. There were no new adds. I suspected we’d broken something about how the fight was designed, that if this had been a single boss instead of twins he’d have summoned minions. Or maybe the kobolds were all hiding.

"Don't chase them," Juana said. "Get back on Belabog. Every second we’re losing ground."

It looked to me like we had a greater raw damage output, but the difference in health pool was stark enough that we were fighting to burn our boss down. Ours was at 66,523 health, while they had taken Chernabog down to 31,417. Our rate was better, but they had a huge advantage.

I told myself that wasn't my job right now. I was here to follow orders and trust that our command team knew what they were doing.

Our boss threw another big attack, this time dropping boulders from the ceiling. We all dodged handily and were rewarded with a debuff on Belabog.

"Lakshmi, we need your second raid buff now," Juana said, relaying, I had no doubt, an order from Allison.

Lakshmi threw her Good Vibrations. I felt stronger and empowered.

"Colonel Twofeather, you're going to throw Warchief's Aegis in three, two, one, now!"

Grandpa cast his blessing, and I felt strength flowing through me. I felt taller, stronger. My aim was better, even without the aid of spells. I pulled out the biggest shells I had, loaded them, fired them. Belabog's health dropped and dropped.

The Aegis wore off just a second after Belobog’s debuff. I stumbled and nearly fell, but caught myself.

"Behind you!" Juana warned, and I spun. Three orcs, two dwarves, and a wolfman had nearly snuck up on me. I’d been so focused on our dance, I hadn’t noticed them breaking away from their raid.

I cast Fastest Gun in the West and blasted straight through them and out the other side. Four of my team converged on them.

They were unwisely all using guns. Mitch tossed Spike Their Trunks, and the guns exploded in sappy residue in their hands. So did the weapons of four others of their team. Swearing, the all-stars team switched up weapons. In the confusion, we swooped in and took down two more of them.

Not without incident. Will came in with his firefighter axe to try to take down one of the dwarves who was low in health and took the full brunt of three grenades to the face. He disappeared.

"We're about to get a new phase on Chernabog," Juana warned. "Expect their raid to react. Annie, I want you standing by with hat for my rabbit.”

Annie tossed a pack of playing cards one at a time at Belabog, each card sliced through his robes, dealing damage. “Ready when you are.”

Chernabog was on his knees, immune and glowing, which explained why Proxima had attacked us. He cried out. He was at 25,000 health exactly. A new phase was beginning. "My children!" he cried. "Why do you turn against me?"

It was a scripted act of some sort, probably impossible to hurry along. “Wait," Juana said. "Wait!" I tried to focus on our own boss race as we hacked and slashed, shot, hammered through spells and techniques.

Then Chernabog, embodiment of our own reality engine, threw back his head and roared. His shout shook the place. A debuff appeared briefly on my status bar. [Debuff! Terrified!] then was overwritten due to the fact that we were Chernabog's allies in this fight. The Proxima All-Stars staggered back.

"Now, Annie, now!"

Annie leapt forward. She cast Hat For Your Rabbit on Chernabog, buffing the boss. It doubled the strength of his attacks for the duration of its effect.

The boss surged to his feet. One end of the chain wrapping his arm was loose. He swung it now like a sickle, lashing out through the crowd of alien miners, and knocked down three of the closest, two lizardfolk and a wolfman, then leapt and brought his body down to bear against the wolf, crushing him. The wolfman disappeared, leaving only a smear of blood and dark fur on the floor of the throne room.

We were chipping Belabog down. We had him nearly halfway.

"Be prepared for a transition on your boss,” Juana said. "Allison says she thinks it's likely."

When Belabog reached 40,000 health exactly, he raised the key into the air. A blinding radiance shot out from him. I turned away just in time. Three of my team yelled, "Blinded! Forty-five seconds!"

"Protect them!” I shouted as five Proxima fighters detached to attack us.

We rebuffed their attack. They were playing more cautiously now. They had lost four to our one, and we were starting to catch up on the damage race. Mak'gar was acting as the tank, keeping Chernabog's attention focused on him. As he danced away from another attack, we neared each other about 20 feet apart.

"This is better," he called.

"Better than an honest duel?”

"Nothing is better than that," Mak'gar said. "But this is how the game is meant to be played."

I had to admit Mak'gar had a point, but now wasn't the time to have a philosophical debate. We pressed on, dodging attacks, watching each other. I promised myself that if I saw an opportunity to get a final shot in on one of Proxima, I'd take it no matter what. But with my attention focused on doing as much as I could to Belabog, there wasn't much I could do.

Annie missed a step. She stumbled, and Belabog's attack hit her. She vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"Everyone be careful.” I checked the time. We'd been at this for 45 minutes. No wonder people were starting to make mistakes.

We ground on. Time inched by. The bosses dipped low. 5,000 health on Chernabog. 9,427 on Belabog.

"I see an opening," Juana said. "That clump of miners on the left, by the big blue circle on the floor. Two orcs and a lizard out of position. Shad, you're going to catch them with your Call ‘em Out, then drag them into our melee. I think we can get them."

"Right," I said.

I waited, timing my move. As Belabog attacked, I dodged sideways, then ran forward 15 feet, to the edge of the Chernabog fight cluster. I tossed a Call ‘Em Out, carefully aimed so it caught the three Juana wanted and no one else, then raced back to the side of Belabog. The enemy, who were all wielding melee weapons, chased me, compelled by my taunt, right into the melee.

Belabog brought down his key staff on top of one of the orcs, who screamed and then vanished. Everyone on my team paused and took a couple of hits on the other two. They were gone in seconds.

I gave a whooping cheer. Now we were really ahead.

"Don't get cocky," Juana warned. “One wipe and we've had it."

But now our damage was really pulling ahead. I could see the other team glancing at us, making the same calculations we were.

When both bosses were below 2000 health, I could feel it coming. I stepped out between bosses. "How about it now, Mak'gar?" I shouted. "How do you feel about an honest race?"

But I wasn't really taunting him. As I stepped out, most of Proxima's all-stars focused on me. I didn't need Call ‘em Out for this. I just needed to be an asshole, and I knew how to do that.

“You came 50 thousand lightyears or however far it is from your home, to make a quick buck. Sorry to disappoint you. We were here first. We'll be here when we've kicked all of you out. This is our home, and we're not letting anyone take it. And if anyone was going to manage it, they'd need to be a hell of a lot better than you no-account, useless, pathetic, corporate lackeys,” I spat.

That did it. Eight of Proxima's team rushed at me, but I was waiting. My team pounced. We tore them apart.

Grandpa threw War Chief's Aegis again, using the peace pipe we picked up back in phase two to let him cast the buff a second time in a single day. With that roaring in our system, we were unstoppable. The Proximans were so focused on me, they didn't bother to defend themselves from my allies.

My health was dropping fast, even with Lakshmi and Esma's focus. I popped a health potion, bringing me back up. We took down three, four, five Proxima's miners. My health dropped farther. I was at 30 HP, 25. One of Esma's heals landed on me, bringing me back up to 80 HP. But a second later, I was at 72, 64, 59. I fired into every enemy I could see. Another dropped down.

I was at 20 health, 18, 17, 16, 12, 9, 8, 3.

I fired a Barrage into the orc in front of me as he landed the killing blow on me.

A moment later, I respawned in our town square. I threw my head up and shouted defiance at the sky. I screamed frustration, rage, and triumph until I was drained. Juana poked her head out of the headquarters. "If you're done shouting, come in here and we'll let you watch the rest of the fight.”

I mounted the steps two at a time, came to stand beside her. Juana projected the view from the all-seeing eyes around the room. She pointed. "They're down to four. Your friend Mak'gar's trying his best." She shook her head. “But the math's on our side."

I put a hand around her waist as we watched. Belabog was down to a few hundred HP. My team darted and wove around.

"I really hate not being there for the final blow," I grumbled.

Juana laughed and leaned against me. "It's a good sign when you can take one for the team, Shad. Gives me hope that you're not completely hot-headed and selfish."

"I thought that was what you liked about me."

She snorted.

"What does this mean?" I asked. "I mean, I know what I hope it means, but..."

"I guess we'll have to find out," Juana said. "Is it really possible to kill the system? I know that's what you were hoping, but..."

We held our breaths. Grandpa stepped in and delivered the final blow with his tomahawk. Belabog fell to the ground in a heap of white robes.

Across the room, Chernabog straightened up. His chains vanished. He regained 20,000 health. With a roar, he lashed out, striking Mak'gar in the chest with his fist and sending the orc flying across the room. Mak'gar crashed into the stone wall and vanished.

Chernabog leapt to one of the few remaining Proximans, tore the poor dwarf limb from limb. In seconds, it was over. Only my team remained, panting in the room, looking at Chernabog.

The manifestation of the reality engine raised his hands, wonderingly staring at them. "It's gone," he whispered. And then he was gone, too.