Brendel didn't even see me. She was too busy setting the ghoul on fire. The creature whined and screamed in agony as Brendel covered him in furious orange flames.

One shot.

That was all I needed. She'd been weakened already, unable to hold the teleporting block on us anymore.

I fell. The ground had opened beneath me, but I was too close to ending her, once and for all. "Not today, dammit!" I shouted and zapped myself right behind Brendel. "Not today!"

She turned around, suddenly aware of my movements.

I slashed across her flaming torso with all my might and strength and will, and Thieron burst in a flash of blinding white light as it cut through her.

She gasped.

Unable to move anymore, both hands still gripping Thieron, I could do nothing else but look at her. Her white eyes were round, echoing shock. She hadn’t seen this coming. I'd finally pulled one on Brendel—big enough to take her down for good.

"You… You worthless sack of…"

Her voice faded, as did her fire. Wisps of orange turned to billions of sparks that vanished into the night. Suddenly, I was on my own, and Brendel was gone. I'd killed her. I'd killed Brendel, and, for the life of me, I could not believe it.

Thieron buzzed with delight. Both of us had been waiting to do this for a very long time, it seemed.

"Holy hell," I heard Soul exclaim.

Looking around, I realized that everything, not just my heart, had come to a pause. A freezing moment in time, where everyone stared back at me, unable to believe their own eyes. Even the Hermessi were astonished, no longer moving.

I could breathe again. "I did it…"

I'd done it.

The world was finally rid of Brendel. And it was all the better for it.

It only needed saving now.

Taeral

The Hermessi seemed as though they'd been frozen in time. Only the flames of their energy bodies moved, burning and heating everything around them. Phantom, Soul, and Widow were speechless. The ghouls could be seen, too, silent and staring, much like Kelara, Seeley, Dream, Nightmare, and a very confused Time Master.

Raphael had reached Amelia, keeping her close. His wings were spread and his fists were on fire, ready to hit back at any of the Hermessi coming their way. Lumi helped Nethissis, Varga, and Eva back to consciousness with a combination of swamp witch magic and whatever was left of our healing potions. Riza and Herakles gawked at me, smiles drawn widely across their faces. Eira was still, much like Kabbah, both of them glowing blue and green, respectively, and panting. Something had changed about Eira—not that it was the first time she'd transcended her nature as a Hermessi child. She'd taken a step deeper into elemental territory, that much I could tell from her appearance and the stern look on her face.

I, on the other hand, wanted to speak or do something, but nothing came to mind. The ghoul that Brendel had tormented was alive, but its once-translucent skin was charred and crusty. It didn't move, but I could see its chest swelling with each ragged breath.

Perhaps the most important part of this picture was that Brendel was no more.

After everything she'd put us through, I'd finally gotten to her. The ground was no longer shaking. The night sky was clearing up. The winds had stopped raging. It was as if the entire battle had been canceled, now that the leader of the enemy forces had been killed.

Thieron was still humming softly in my hand. Whatever sentient force ran through it, I figured it was overjoyed at paying Brendel back for her thievery.

"What will you do now, brothers?" Kabbah shouted at the other Hermessi. "You've seen what the boy can do. Will you stand in his way?"

One of the Water Hermessi burned brighter and bluer than the others, as if summoning our attention to him. "It's too late," he said. "The ritual is about to unravel. Our job here is done."

"Huh?" I mumbled. Was it over that quickly for the Hermessi?

Without another word, they moved back and took flight, shifting into colorful fireballs as they zoomed away and vanished into the night sky. All of a sudden, there was silence on the battered mountain peak, and we were baffled.

"We still have to find Death," Eira said to me. "Brendel is gone, but the ritual is a mechanism of its own. We all knew that the moment we first crossed paths with her."

"That being said, well done, Tae!" Raphael exclaimed, beaming at me.

"Yeah, we were all getting tired of that maniac," Amelia added.

I pointed a finger at her. "Maybe next time try something less suicidal. You could've gotten yourself killed."

"You needed help. I helped," Amelia ended the conversation right there. Raphael opened his mouth to object, but she shot him a cold stare, and he abandoned the idea altogether, settling for a kiss on her forehead, instead, which she welcomed with a smile.

"So, would anyone mind explaining what a horde of ghouls is doing here?" I asked.

Kelara nodded at the burnt ghoul. "That's Herbert. I believe his name will ring a bell to most of you."

"Oh, damn." Riza gasped, her eyes wide as she rushed to the creature's side. "Is he… Is he okay?"

Herbert whispered something, but none of us could understand him.

"He'll recover, eventually," Kelara said, translating his ghoulish speak. "He can still move and fight. All the ghouls are here to help us," she added, then quickly proceeded to explain how she and the Reaper twins found the Time Master, along with the conditions of his captivity.

"So we have a Time Master, but without the ability to… you know, master time," Lumi concluded bitterly.

"I need my scythe," Time said. "Spirit will have it."

"And we need a bunch of ghouls to keep his specters at bay. All right." I sighed. "It could be much worse."

"It already is," Seeley replied, showing us the pebble he'd found up here, with Death's markings on it. Her breadcrumb. "We're literally running out of time."

"Reports are coming in from the other Reapers," Kelara confirmed. "Only a few fae remain to fall under the Hermessi's influence. The people are panicking. GASP officers left for The Shade."

We knew about the last part. We just hadn’t been ready for its consequences. There was bound to be mayhem without us there, on every single planet of the federation, trying to keep some form of control over the situation. Despair had struck, and the people were likely losing their minds, faced with complete annihilation.

My heart throbbed angrily as I looked at Seeley. "How do we find Death? You've got that thing she left. What do we do now?"

"We use a tracking spell," the Time Master interjected, his voice remarkably calm. "Your swamp witch can blend it into an interplanetary travel bubble. Kelara said you've done it before."

We had, indeed. But would it be fast enough?

"We're on our last legs here. What if we get there too late?" Nethissis asked, having trouble standing on both legs. She'd gotten herself injured, and it would be a while before she'd be back to full strength.

Herbert managed to get himself back up, his burnt skin crunching as he moved. I could only hope it didn't feel as painful as it sounded. A low growl slipped from his throat as he looked at Kelara.

"Are you serious?" she asked him. "Well, yes, technically that's how it would work, but would any of them be willing to do it?"