Apocalypse Reset: My Crab Can Heal the World!

The castle halls are silent. No guards, no staff, no movement - only the faint hum of something unnatural in the air. Barns can feel it, even before he reaches the throne room. The weight of an overwhelming force. Waiting.

Barns kicks open the doors to the throne room, nearly knocking the mighty doors off their frame.

"CAREFUL! MY THRONE ROOM!"

Clancy scuttles up next to Barns and the two stand defiantly before Nazakiel. Off to the side, Maria puts a hand over her mouth, shocked.

"Barns!" she cries, stepping forward. "You idiot, run away from here!"

He braces his new SSS Rank weapon in front of him, posing dramatically with Clancy.

"Don't worry, Maria. We got this."

Nazakiel smiles - a huge, wide grin. The first smile he's had since arriving at Dimartino. Perhaps the first smile he's had in years.

He rises from his throne, rolling his shoulders.

"You must be the two I've heard so much about," Nazakiel flares his nostrils, looking through them intimidatingly. "If you won't mind, please clear up a debate one of my associates had. Which one of you is Barnacles, and which is Clancy?"

"CLANCY IS KING!"

Barns raises an eyebrow. "I'm Barns. Seems like you Sentinels aren't all you're cracked up to be, if you can't even figure out a couple names."

"It would be more accurate to say none of us cared enough to get it right," Nazakiel says, his grin persisting. "But I am here now. I do not make mistakes. There is no job I have not completed. And now, Barns and Clancy, my job is your eradication from the face of the planet."

"If you didn't care enough to even know my name, then why's it so important you kill me, huh?" Barns goads. "Seems like you're afraid, to me."

"Afraid?"

Nazakiel pauses, and his eyes cast themselves upward. He reflects while his eyes slowly scan the ceiling, imagining all the ways the castle could come crumbling down. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"I suppose there is some fear, yes," Nazakiel admits. "Fear that your kingdom will grow large enough that it begins to affect the natural order of things. We are no fools, Barns. I know full well you are capable of destroying the First Vampire, the First Monster, The First Undead - and to do so would cause the Apocalypses they have wrought to meet tragic ends."

Nazakiel's eyes flickered back downward to meet Barns' stoic gaze. "And the Apocalypses are the wishes of Sentinels manifest. You would deprive us of our great contributions to Emperor Yharan. Steal away the proof of our convictions. And that, Barnacles, is what we fear. We fear that your antics would sully our honor. But as to what you can do against us - that has never been a question. Against the Sentinels, you are outclassed. Outsmarted. Outmatched. Outdated, even. For no Secret Arts can compare with the power we bring to bear."

"That's a lot of talk for someone whose crowning achievement is breaking a kid's arms," Barns spat. "How DARE you hurt Roscoe."

"Ah, yes," Nazakiel inhales, his chest widening. "There it is. Your hate. It is impressive. Perhaps I have looked at you all wrong, Barnacles. The fury in your heart could be cultivated. I could be convinced to let you live, if you surrender to that darkness. What say you, hm? You could become an Eighth Sentinel. All you have to do is wish - make a wish so dark and horrid that the devils cannot resist it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Barns snaps. "But I could never become one of you. My wish is to undo the Apocalypse and save humanity!"

"Would you stick to that conviction, if I killed your Princess?" Nazakiel spoke with thinly veiled intent - Maria, no, everyone in Dimartino is in danger as long as Nazakiel lives.

"If I killed your crab? The boy - Roscoe? How much killing would I have to do, to make you curse the world itself, and all life upon it?"

"As long as there is a single human who draws breath, I will never give up my dream." Barns' soul ignites with the strength of his determination. He feels more powerful than he ever has - ready to duel with the strongest of the Sentinels.

Nazakiel's face twitches. "Of course. You're a legendary hero, a descendant of the Flame Clan. You bear the same burdensome convictions as Emperor Yharan. It's as if that heroic energy is in your very blood."

Barns grips his cane-staff tightly. 'What does he mean by that?'

His wheels spin - Nazakiel is successful at one thing - distracting Barns. Has Nazakiel implied that Emperor Yharan is also from the Flame Clan?

"I am deeply fascinated."

Nazakiel raises his arms to the ceiling, looking almost lamentful.

"You, Barns - I could talk to you for hours. You are such an interesting man."

"Can't say the same."

"EVIL MAN!" Clancy shouts. "NO SPEAK. DIE!"

"Yes," Nazakiel says. "Fate would frown at me for overindulging. I did not come here to chat. I came here to destroy you."

The tone shifts. The room suddenly feels cold, and heavy. Nazakiel's insurmountable presence shifts existence itself as power begins welling up inside him - vast, inordinate power unlike anything Barns has ever experienced.

This is true power. A being unlike anything Barns has ever known. Even with all his power-ups, levels, and an SSS Rank weapon, he feels small in comparison to such deep, all-encompassing might.

The throne room trembles. The stone pillars groan under an unseen force. The air itself thickens, pressing against Barns' skin like a rising tide. Nazakiel isn't moving - he doesn't have to. His presence alone is enough to make the castle itself feel like it was shrinking.

"The three of us shall begin our dance, then," Nazakiel says wistfully. "It will be my honor to guide you into the darkness. Give me a good show, won't you? I fear if I am left unsatisfied, I may take my fury out on your kingdom."