POV: Sango Jr_
The first shot didn't hit us.
It hit the sky.
The Masked King's fleet fired as one.
12,000 beams.
And the sky answered.
It bent. Like glass. Like water.
Old Taju's road was holding. For now.
"NOW!" Kunle yelled.
*THE FLEET MOVES*
40 Tome ships rose.
Kwesi was in the lead ship, the `Anansi's Revenge`.
"Y'all ready to commit tax fraud in space?" he screamed over comms.
"SHUT UP AND FLY," Tsehay said.
Crimson Sky cultivators flew out on swords. 20 of them.
Elder Bai Chen at the front. "For the Sect. For the world."
The Guardians moved too.
Lion. Jackal. Tide-woman.
They didn't fly. They _walked_ on air.
And us. The 12.
We didn't take ships.
We ran.
On Old Taju's road. Straight at the enemy fleet.
They met us 10km out.
Dele hit first.
Lightning.
Not bolts. A storm.
50 ships died in 3 seconds. Their hulls melted.
Iyanu took the air from a whole squadron.
They spun, crashed, burned.
Zainab was in their heads: "Your king is lying. Retreat."
100 ships turned and shot their own side.
Ọmọ didn't miss.
Every arrow was a thread cut.
Pilots blacked out. Weapons jammed.
Amina was behind us, pulling wounded from the sky.
Chike made a cloud that only killed masked soldiers.
Fatima and Nala?
They brought the ocean to space.
A wave. In vacuum.
It hit 200 ships and froze them solid.
Juma was calling shots. "Left! That one's aiming at Kunle!
Now! That cruiser is going to ram!"
And Kunle.
Kunle was building as he fought.
Metal from dead ships flew to him.
He made spears. He made shields.
He made a dragon and rode it.
Tsehay was a blender.
8 spears. 1000 kills.
"IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE?" she screamed.
Me?
I was the thunder.
I met the Masked King's generals.
*THE 12 VS THE 12*
They dropped from the big ship.
12 figures.
Same masks. Same armor.
But bigger. Older.
"The Court of the Throne," Old Taju said. "Shango's bosses."
General 1 came for me.
Axe made of black fire.
I met it with lightning.
"YOU ARE NOT A KING," he said.
"I'm not trying to be," I said. "I'm trying to kill you."
We traded blows.
He hit me with gravity. I hit him with thunder.
He broke my ribs. I broke his mask.
Under it: nothing. Just stars.
"WHAT ARE YOU?" I asked.
"WE ARE WHAT COMES AFTER," he said.
And died.
Dele took General 2. Lightning vs Void.
Dele won. Barely.
Tsehay took 3 at once. Lost an arm. Grew it back with spears.
Ọmọ kited 2 across the battlefield. Shot them both in the thread.
Zainab and Iyanu teamed on 1. Made him see his own death 100 times.
Kunle and the spear took 2. The spear drank them.
Amina and Chike held the line. Healing. Poisoning.
Fatima and Nala drowned 1 in a sphere of water.
Juma didn't fight. He pointed. "That one. Now."
And he fell.
Old Taju?
Old Taju fought the Masked King.
They met in the middle.
Stick vs Staff.
The Masked King was fast.
Too fast.
He hit Old Taju 12 times in 1 second.
Old Taju didn't block.
He stepped.
Like he knew where the hits would be before they came.
"Èṣù," the King said. "Still running?"
"Trickster," Old Taju said. "Still stealing?"
They clashed.
Reality cracked.
Where they fought, space turned to desert. To ocean. To fire.
"You should have joined me," the King said. "We could have ruled."
"I don't rule," Old Taju said. "I open doors."
He hit the King's staff.
The 12 eyes on the mask cracked.
The King screamed.
And the fleet stopped.
*THE TURN*
"RETREAT," the King ordered.
"NO," we said.
The 12 of us moved as one.
Kunle threw me the Spear.
I caught it.
It was warm. It was angry.
I flew.
Not on wind. On lightning.
Straight at the King's ship.
"STOP HIM," the King screamed.
1000 guns fired.
They didn't hit.
Tsehay's spears. Dele's lightning. Iyanu's wind.
All of them between me and death.
I hit the deck.
The King was waiting.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN WIN?" he asked.
"I think," I said, "that you're tired."
I drove the Spear into the deck.
The 12 tokens screamed.
The Spear drank.
From the ship. From the King. From the Court.
Power flooded me.
All of it.
12 demigods. 1 weapon.
I raised my hand.
Lightning.
Not from me. From the sky. From the sea. From the desert.
From all of us.
It hit the King's ship.
It hit the fleet.
It hit the crack in the sky.
And closed it.
Silence.
The King's ship was falling.
The King was gone. Dust.
The fleet was retreating. Or dead.
We stood on the road.
12 of us.
Breathing.
Below: Earth. Safe.
Above: stars. Back.
Old Taju lowered his mask. He was bleeding.
"Good job, kids."
Sango Jr collapsed. The Spear fell from his hands.
Kunle caught it.
Juma looked at the sky. "Gate's at 0%. Again."
Cheers. From the Tome. From the fleet. From the world.
We won.
We lost 3 Crimson Sky cultivators.
We lost 2 Tome ships.
We lost sleep. We lost time.
We didn't lose anyone.
Not one of the 12.
That night, we sat around the table.
12 tokens. 1 spear.
Kwesi was crying. "I thought we were gonna die."
"Me too," everyone said.
Old Taju poured tea. "So. What now?"
Sango Jr looked at the stars. "Now we watch.
Because if there's one King, there's more."
He held up the Spear.
"And we have this."
Outside, the sky was normal.
For now.
But in the deep dark, something else opened its eyes.