Biden starts off the battle by flashstepping away from the rest of the group. He appears behind Abby, then in front of Guk, then right beside Francis.

My boyfriend tries to throw some rapid punches his way, but by the time he’s pulled back his shoulders, Biden’s already gone.

I’ve already poofed both sets of bows and arrows out of my inventory. I’m firing them both at the same time, as fast as possible. Some of the arrows are charged up with magical energy. Electric, fire, ice, ghost, you name it. They soar through the air at blistering speeds, but Biden is able to dodge each and every one of them.

Absolute chaos has broken out. A twenty-against-one duel, and the one is completely outgunning us.

I activate my card [Willpower Boost]:

Willpower Boost: Rank 4. Enhance the willpower of yourself and everyone around you for 120 seconds. Cost: 1770 LP.

Everyone is energized, better focused. And hopefully we will be able to coordinate better with this.

All I have to do is make sure we can pin this man down for just a minute. I can use the Warring Core and drain his powers in that time. That’s all it will take.

But the window is already closing.

Julie launches a volley of bright pink magical blasts. I have no idea what skill she’s using to summon them, but they look impressively powerful.

He flashsteps around them, weaving in and out of her ground-shattering attacks, and then ends up close to the lava girl G’L’K.

Bless her heart, but she’s not fast enough. He pushes her into the way of one of Julie’s attacks and she’s hit head-on. She falls to the ground.

A few beavers stand in his way. He uses [Instant Death] and obliterates one of them. The others launch their harpoons at him, treating him like an undersized monster. An accurate move metaphorically, but an improper move in this battle. He dodges and the harpoons land uselessly on the ground.

Biden tangles with Pablo Rosas for a second, but it’s already over from the moment it begins. He grabs him by the arm, jerks him around back and forth, then tosses him into the air like a ragdoll. The man lands on his face a few seconds later but Biden’s already long since moved on.

Abby and I push ourselves together, back-to-back, spinning and rotating around while she slices with her scythe and I send out kicks and punches. A few of them connect, but Biden does little more than flinch. He jumps over us in a somersault and kicks me in the face as his foot goes by.

I tumble to the ground and catch myself a moment later. But by the time I’m up, I see Abby stupidly throwing her boomerang scythe.

He catches it, of course. Grips it tight. Snaps it in half.

By the time she realizes what’s happened, he’s already elbowed her in the chest and knocked her out.

This dramatic diversion, though, has allowed the fearsome Chainer Barbarian Guk to legitimately sneak up on Biden and get an attack in. He bashes away with his two clubs and a fire-infused magic attack. It singes the back of Biden’s suit and knocks him forward.

He regains his balance, but this is the first real sign that he’s not totally--

Biden swipes with his bare hand into the air.

A second later, both of Guk’s clubs are cut in half.

Another second later, and Guk’s head falls off.

The body doesn’t even hit the floor, and Julie’s already up close and personal with Biden. Smashes his face against some rubble on the side of the arena. Tosses him into the air and shoots a beam up at him.

He catches the beam with his hand and sends it right back at her. Apparently, he’s just as good at levitation as Julie.

I can’t fly, so I can’t help fight. But I shoot an arrow at the beam and it collides at just the right angle to deflect it off to some random part of the battlefield. I hope it hits an enemy tank and blows it up. Something other than purely useless attacks. That’s all we’ve been doing so far, it feels like.

I just need him to be frozen for a moment. Something.

G’L’K, that poor girl, gets back up on her lava-based, uh, not quite legs, and looks at me.

“I’m sorry, I’m not strong enough,” she says sullenly.

“No worries. We can still work together. Can you get him to stay put with your fire powers? We only need him stunned for a single moment.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Biden and Julie are still fighting up in the air. Huge explosions, giant screams. She’s doing real damage to the man, but it’s a highly mutual situation right now. I’m not sure she realizes how much she’s being hurt, but I can’t bear to watch it.

Biden charges up his fist and lets out a [Megaton Fist] attack, something I’ve head only legends about up until now. He punches her in the face and she goes flying far past the bounds of the arena. She crashes through a mountain and keeps going until I can no longer see her.

Damn.

Biden lands with a thud, one knee and one fist hitting the ground together. He gets up from the kneeling position and deflects and attack from some of the beavers, killing two more in one blow.

Rare summons a familiar, a human-sized demon to attack, but it’s killed with just a few blows. Biden’s panting, tired out by just a little.

So Rare kicks up the heat. They summon a whole host of otherworldly creatures with different shapes and sizes. Imps and demons and djinn and fae. Tiny little dudes and big hulking dudes alike.

Biden dispatches each of them with little effort, but the sheer number of them threatens to overwhelm.

G’L’K is able to hold off the attack for now. We’ll get him when he’s even more tired than now.

The remaining beavers, including Lumen and Tropy themselves, surround Biden and prepare for another assault, as soon as the summoned familiars have time to wear him down.

Finally, he’s cut his way through the whole horde, and Rare works his magic to summon something even greater. But it will take some time.

Biden dispatches the beavers with little concern. He yanks the harpoon out of the hands of Lumen and shoots it directly at me. I dodge easily--

But right behind me, Francis--

No--

“NO!” I scream.

Francis is stabbed through the stomach with the harpoon. He lets out a guttural yelp like nothing I’ve ever heard.

Biden pulls in the harpoon and drags Francis up to him. Planning to finish him off.

But I’m faster than the harpoon line. I roll up to it and cut the cord with one of my sharpest arrows. Then as I keep my momentum going, I fire the arrow at Biden’s face. He doesn’t manage to deflect it and it hits him right in the arm.

Stab for a stab.

He’s disabled for a few seconds, but I have to tend to my boyfriend. I rush over to him. The harpoon is still in his stomach, and he’s gone completely into shock. Can’t even speak.

“Just hold on, just hold on, just hold on,” I say.

He shakes his body.

{Pain, pain, pain.}

I can sense his agony through our [Empathetic Link] and it is absolutely not helping me calm down here.

Behind me, G’L’K is no longer able to wait on me to begin her main attack. She breathes out a massive wave of fire that catches Biden just after he removes the arrow from his arm. He’s able to hold it back with both hands projecting a magical shield, but just barely. And he’s completely immobile while he’s stuck defending from the flames.

I realize it’s my time to act, but I don’t want to leave Francis here. I... I have to do it. But seeing him here like this...

Malia and Delta fire off their attacks now that Biden’s immobile. Malia shoots arrow after arrow, while Delta throws balloon-based projectiles that weaken [Sturdiness] with each collision.

But the man doesn’t even flinch. Doesn’t even seem to notice the attacks.

G’L’K is growing weaker. She’s giving it all she’s got, and then some.

I rush over to Biden and poof out the Warring Core from my inventory. I’ve never used this thing before, but it comes naturally to me as anything else.

Blue magic on.

Blue magic activated.

The magical energy of Biden’s shield gets sucked away, to his complete surprise. The flames engulf him and damage him heavily.

The Warring Core keeps sucking his powers away, making the flames hurt even more.

But then he catches on.

Biden uses a technique to divert the fires just a bit away from him, and the flames suddenly veer towards ME.

All of the fire sucks right into the Warring Core, powering it up and simultaneously weakening G’L’K.

I deactivate the orb’s attack but it’s already too late. The lava girl’s energy is spent, and she falls to the ground, doused of most of her heat.

Biden is injured as well. His suit is tattered. He throws the jacket to the ground, leaving only his tight-fitting shirt and suspenders.

And then he starts to sparkle.

I know these sparkles well.

He’s using [Major Heal] to restore his Life Points. Not once, not twice. Six times in a row.

He just healed 18,000 Life Points in one moment.

And now he’s back to full fighting force.

Pummeling the hell out of Malia. She can barely fight back.

I try to activate the Warring Core on him again, but this time he sees it coming a mile away. Slaps it out of my hand and it goes flying into the air.

I leap to try and grab it--

But Esther’s already caught it. She throws it back to me and shouts, “Not now, Eryk! Use it only when the time is right! You’ll know when you need to do this.”

I catch it and put it back into my inventory. “What do you mean?”

“Trust your instincts.”

Delta looks at her daughter and snaps, “Stop speaking in riddles. Just tell him what to do, Esther.”

Her daughter is stunned by this sudden rebuke. “I... Maman, I can’t. It’s not my place to--”

Biden reaches out to attack Delta, but Esther blocks it with a huge burst of Yellow magic. A temporary shield that absorbs the blow of an [Instant Kill] attack.

Those things are extremely costly to one’s Life Points. He knows he shouldn’t spend them carelessly, which meant he wasn’t just doing that for show.

Delta sees the waves of blue death from the attack reverberating off the Yellow magic shield and gasps.

And then the two of them exchange glances. Something clicks.

“Eryk, you and Malia get together. Attack him with whatever you’ve got,” she says. “Esther and I will cover you.”

Biden smiles. “What, just going to keep trying over and over until you’ve all died?”

I step over Mestopholees and take out my secret weapon--My M202 FLASH Rocket Launcher. Only Esther pimped it out before the battle with magical abilities influenced by the Warring Core. It has unlimited ammo and several hidden techniques I have yet to fully try out--Barrage Mode, Coolant Mode, and Final Mode.

Actually, wait a minute... Coolant Mode sounds like exactly what we need.

Oh yes, this is good.

Rare is still building up to their most powerful summon, but it looks almost ready. Until then, we’ll hold Biden off.

I meet up with Malia. The two remaining members of Team Fanghook, ready to duke it out like the good old days. We haven’t fought together since the Battle of the Tomb of Eryk Solbourne. This’ll be another one for the memory book.

I smile at her. “Shall we?”

“Yeah.”

We charge together. I launch missile after missile, while Malia shoots pinpoint accurate bow attacks.

Biden deflects the arrows and dodges the missiles, and counterattacks with three different skills at once--[Fireball], [Lightning Strike], and [Ice Spike]. Elemental attacks that threaten to eradicate us.

But that’s where Esther and Delta come in. Esther’s Yellow magic strengthens us, improves our resolve, protects us, while Delta’s flurry of magic balloons block most of the magic from even reaching us. Biden’s attacks do so little damage to us that we’re able to get right up close and personal.

And then—

Crap.

Biden snatches the rocket launcher from my hands and breaks it in half.

Well, that was a waste of time.

But no matter. I’m powerful enough on my own. With Malia by my side, I’m unstoppable.

We punch him out together. A hundred strikes. My [Kaio Blast] and a freshly drawn [Searing Rush] combine into the most excellent of attacks. He’s taking thousands of Life Points a second. He keeps healing, but Malia and I are going faster than he’s able to activate Destiny Cards.

The sheer speed of it is weighing him down, and his attacks against us aren’t working for the blocking.

Then, a sonic boom in the sky--

And a crash landing on the ground, two feet skidding on broken tile--

Julie’s back. And angrier than ever.

She blasts Biden in the back. Hurts him deeply.

And unfortunately that may be just a little too much power for our plan to succeed.

Because he flees--

Flashsteps away.

Malia and I stop our attacks.

We have no idea where he went.

Wait, flashstep...

No, not a flashstep.

“No, he couldn’t have...” I mutter.

Malia looks at me with confusion. “What?”

“I think Biden just Fast Traveled away from the battle.”

“...Huh?”

“He didn’t want to expend any more energy defending himself from us, so he simply ran away. Somehow, he’s able to draw [Major Heal] cards so consistently that he can heal himself from zero to full in just a minute. I don’t understand it.”

“So, is he coming back?”

“He better,” Julie says.

“I already have,” a voice booms from the edge of the arena.

A freshened-up, full health Joe Biden has already returned from Central Spire via Fast Travel.

And then he flashsteps back into the fight--

Appears by Esther and Delta--

And begins fighting them both.

They put up a good fight. Their defensive powers are excellent. But he fights with such calm fury that they are unable to put even a single dent in him. Malia, Julie, and I try to join in, but he moves so fast in fighting these two that we can’t find an opening to join in.

He focuses almost his entire strength on Delta. As if Esther isn’t even worth the effort. She lowers her own guard and tries to enhance her mother’s strength, to play both their powers against him...

But that was the plan all along.

Biden darts his eyes over to Esther, and with a wide smirk, backhands the young girl so hard she flies through the air. She crashes into Tropy, knocking them both out.

Esther slides to a stop on the floor right next to Francis, who is still conscious but holding on with a disconcerting faintness.

Joe Biden quite literally just attacked a toddler.

In the shock of the moment, Biden flashsteps again and appears just before Malia and me--

And with a single [Energy Hand] attack, slices Malia’s left arm clean off. She screams out in agony and falls to the ground. With her free hand she fires off a few more arrows but they’re all easily dodged. She goes unconscious a moment later.

There’s not many of us left. Julie, Delta, and I. Rare, and a few beavers. Everyone else is knocked out or worse.

Lumen, for his part, wants to help in the fight and avenge his injured comrade, but a single beaver with most of his clan massacred does not a fighter make. And Biden deals with him with a single blast of energy that vaporizes the beaver into dust.

What a monster.

Rare is ready. They a gigantic beast, thirty feet tall, emerging from a giant netherworld portal with its long bony claws. This monster looks to be from another world in the multiverse. Somewhere none of us have ever visited. It looks almost two dimensional, with jagged lines making up its form and some dark energy binding it all together.

Julie and Delta, once they’ve made sure Esther is safe, try for a redo of the strategy they employed with Malia and me. Julie flies into Biden to get up close, personal, and highly combative. Delta uses balloon powers to soften any attacks against her.

It sort of works. Julie gets hit after hit in. Biden strikes her, but her rage and heightened defenses keep her going strong.

I take out the Warring Core again, ready to try and use it, but there’s no space for me to get in.

Rare’s gigantic monster, only emerged up to the torso by now, grabs Biden and takes him from Julie’s grasp. She flies up to keep beating on him, but unfortunately the monster’s move was just the moment Biden needed to heal himself and begin powering up his abilities. He can’t get free of the monster, but he can deal with it in an entirely new way--

He casts the skill [Transmigrated Fiend], a skill I knew existed but saw only twice before now.

A large summon, much bigger than the [Transmigrated Spirit] Matt I summoned back on Santa Barbara, appears from a vortex and obeys Biden’s every order.

It hops up the giant monster’s body and grabs onto its head. It makes a snicker--

And self-destructs in a violent explosion.

Rare’s monster is killed and Biden is released. He drops down on Julie and begins pummeling her.

Now with no summon to control, Rare shoots the non-system equivalent of a [Psybeam] at Biden. But he simply grabs it from behind, absorbs the attack, and unleashes it right in Julie’s face.

She fought as well as she could, but she’s down now. Right next to Esther and Francis.

“Rare, watch out!” I shout.

But it’s too late. Biden beats them up for a brief moment and they collapse on the ground as well. They’re not fully knocked out yet, but they’re struggling.

Rare was always a little weak defensively, and they knew it. Why did they have to try for the flashy summon...?

Biden laughs. “You’re tenacious, traitor. Don’t worry; you’ll get a fair court martial before your execution.”

He activates an area of field wave attack that knocks all of us back. I fall to the ground and skid right up to Esther and Tropy. Rare falls on their back and no longer attempts to get back up. Delta stays standing, using her balloon magic to prop herself up. But she knows she’s not useful enough here. She simply grits her teeth and swears.

“Eryk, do something!” she shouts at me.

I get back up. “I don’t know... I don’t know what to do.”

“Use some idiotic Destiny Card you pull out of your ass or something, I don’t know! This is what you always do!”

I look at my Destiny Cards, the few that remain.

Inventory Slot: Rank 4. Store an item here to retrieve for future use. Current item: Bow and arrow.

Inventory Slot: Rank 4. Store an item here to retrieve for future use. Current item: Bow and arrow.

Inventory Slot: Rank 4. Store an item here to retrieve for future use. Current item: The Warring Core

Inventory Slot: Rank 4. Store an item here to retrieve for future use. Current item: (Empty)

Counterspell: Rank 5. Counter target magic. Scry 1. Cost: 188 LP.

Ultra Reverse: Rank 6. Reverse the entropy of target. Cost: 800 LP.

Major Heal: Rank 4. Gain 3,000 LP. Cost: 0 LP.

Time Acceleration. Rank 4. Speeds up time x5 for what feels to you like 5 minutes. Cost: 800 LP.

Cancel: Rank 2. Stop the effects of an ongoing Destiny Card skill you have activated. Cost: 39 LP.

I draw a few more, not enough to replenish all the empty slots but only because I’m running low on Life Points and there’s not a good opportunity to level up right now:

Major Heal: Rank 4. Gain 3,000 LP. Cost: 0 LP.

Sparkle: Rank 1. Flash and glow in blindingly dazzling lights. Cost: 30 LP.

Irredeemable Force: Rank 10. Inertial mass is cut by 1562.5 KG/s for 100 seconds. Cost: 6000 LP.

Double Dip: Rank 3. Doubles the effects of the next Destiny Card you use. Cost: 600 LP.

But I’m not seeing a miracle. Not seeing anything that will trip Biden up enough for me to complete the Warring Core Blue magic attack on him.

I feel utterly useless.

Biden looks barely fazed by the entire battle up to this point. Tired, yes, but not injured, not damaged in any significant way. “He’s not going to beat me,” he tells her. “Nobody is. I’m an S-Rank [Demigod]. Strongest being in the multiverse.”