Susan let out a tired sigh when the portal finally activated. Space and time flattened, then crackled as the spherical aperture slowly spread to meet the sides of the portal frame.

Taking a step back, she looked away from the portal and examined the frame where it met the walls around it. The Demon King's Castle, or as she had just found out, the Sun God's Temple, still somehow had the enormous portal crammed into its top room. She wasn't sure how it had survived the Temple's obliteration and subsequent repair, but she couldn't exactly complain as it was making her life much easier right now.

It had been a matter of minutes to get the coordinates to the Dawn Empire from Cato, and another hour to reconfigure. She now stared out over the pyramid filled landscape of Sunrest, the setting sun coloring the constructions black and gold.

"Alright, ready to go?" She asked, turning around to look at the dozen Guardians gathered behind her.

"Yes, thank you Ruin," Cato said, stepping forward. Then he paused and grinned. "Or should I call you Slayer of the Demon King?"

"Ugh no," Susan grimaced, "Ruin is fine."

"You will be gaining titles for your actions today whether you want to or not," Cato smirked, "the people of Sunrest have probably already taken to calling you the Dusk of the Dawn Empire."

"Nope, one title is more than enough!"

"Come now, there's no need to be embarrassed about it. Besides, we can work on it. How about the Downfall of the Demon King?"

"That is factually incorrect!"

"Upfall of the Demon King?"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

Cato chuckled, and Susan used the opportunity to move towards the portal.

"Aaanyways," she said, "I do need to warn you. Terminus is a serious wildcard, and we need to deal with him carefully."

She stepped through, feeling the cooler air of Sunrest's dusk on her scales. Still looking back at Cato, she kept speaking.

"Now he's probably already left the planet, through cancelling his summoning or-" She froze as her eyes locked onto a familiar form, "he's right here?"

The titanic Kirin was laying next to the portal, legs tucked up underneath him as he stared at the sunset. With a placid calm that seemed utterly alien to his usual furious energy, he turned his head to look at her.

"Greetings Ruin," he said, then turned to look at the Guardians coming through the portal, "and to you as well, Cato."

"…Hey?" Susan finally got out, still staring at him.

"I trust you have finished dealing with whatever problem took you away?"

"Indeed," Cato had to speak up as Susan was still tongue tied.

"That is good to hear. Sunrest has been mostly peaceful. The army remains pacified, and most of the Imperial Governors have been cowed by the threat of two Archdragons."

"Excellent news," Cato said, "were there any dissenters?"

"Yes, but they are dealt with."

"Ah," Cato winced.

"I did not kill them," Terminus huffed, "they are merely restrained."

"Really?" Susan broke in.

"Of course, I-" he paused, then sighed, "I suppose you do not understand the change that your Great Rune means for me."

He looked towards the horizon once more, before breathing deeply and beginning again.

"Five hundred years ago, I watched my world collapse beneath the thumb of madmen. So I worked, strengthened myself, and returned to show them the same misery I felt. It worked… and yet, within a few centuries, a new tyrant had risen up in his place. So I destroyed them. And the next one. And the next one. For all my bones ached at the end of each battle, for all the scars multiplied there was always another fool waiting to make the same mistakes as their predecessors."

He paused, then tilted his head so that his horn was pointed to the horizon. The light of the Guardian Rune was just barely visible there, shining in the coming dusk.

"But that Rune promises something new. A way for a just man, no matter how weak, to become a protector. I know many broken worlds, Ruin of the Atlans. I would bring them this Rune," he said, shooting a glance at Susan, "and have peace, true peace for the first time in my life."

Susan stared at him for a moment, watching him stare off into the horizon. Despite his history, she somehow found herself believing Terminus. She didn't like him, that was for sure. But he did seem willing to give up his insane plan to work with the Guardians.

Turning to the side, she looked down at Cato. His gaze rose to meet hers, and they locked eyes.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Well, I was hoping to spread the rune anyway," he shrugged. "Although…"

"What?"

"It looks like you're going to need another title for you."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes, "if you're gonna be like that, I'm heading back."

"Understood," Cato chuckled, "though do tell the rest of the Guardians to come over whenever they are done partying. We can begin the preliminaries but the bulk of the work will need to wait until they are here."

"Got it," Susan turned back towards the portal.

"Ruin?" Cato's voice stopped her.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. Truly, thank you. I never thought this day would come."

Her head turned to find Cato, head bowed towards her. Her feet shuffled as a hand came up to scratch at the back of her head.

"It was no problem," she said quickly, "see you later."

"Goodbye, Ruin."

"How about you just call me Susan?"

Cato raised an eyebrow at that. Then he smiled and nodded.

Susan nodded back, then turned and walked back through the portal. She watched Cato on his side of the portal walk away until he disappeared down the stairs. The other Guardians followed him, and after a moment Terminus rose and headed down as well.

Susan waited until he had fully disappeared down the steps, then turned and headed towards the edge of the ziggurat. She stopped there, looking down over the city below.

It had taken the better part of an hour to return it to Earth and lower it back into place. By then the entire planet had been made aware of what was happening, and a fleet of news vehicles was assembling to record the city-sized hole in the ground.

They had watched in stunned silence as the spell to revert the damages had finished, and the Guardians arrived to return the citizens to their homes. Afterwards the army of reporters had apparently just decided to camp outside the city. Sending in small groups of interns to make quick interviews before fleeing.

Susan smiled at their wide eyed shock. At the rate things were going, flying cities would probably be pretty normal in a few years. She would love to see their reactions then.

Beyond that, she found herself surprised at how small the military presence was. Sure, there were a few fully blacked out helicopters, and fighter jets flying by every few minutes, but nothing beyond that. Someone in charge must have realized that invincible magical warriors probably wouldn't mix well with trigger happy soldiers, and turned a blind eye to the entire situation as a result.

That all left the entire city relatively calm, probably a relief to the people currently living in it. Most of them seemed perfectly happy to ignore what was happening, and Susan saw quite a few cars heading towards the local bars. Though quite a few people were camped outside and watching the flying ziggurat with binoculars.

She grinned as she spotted Andrew, the young conspiracy theorist sat perched on a chair with a pair of binoculars in hand staring up at the Ziggurat. His jaw dropped open when she waved at him, and she chuckled as he fell out of his chair in shock.

Then she caught the flicker of movement in the corner of her eye, and looked up towards the horizon. The enormous flying rug of the Thunderbirds flew there, rapidly approaching the Ziggurat.

The group must have managed to make their way back from Europe, as she could see hundreds of figures moving around atop it. She waved towards the collection of enormous fighters, the Treant, Cyclops and Barbados the T-Rex. After a moment they waved back.

She looked over the crowd as the carpet drew close. Both John's stood at the front of the group, while her parents were stuck at the back. Then the carpet drew close, turning to the side so that the corner was touching the stairs where Susan stood.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon," she said, looking down at John Smith.

"Well, we weren't expecting to have several hundred captured vampires teleported into the middle of our headquarters," he shot back.

"That-" Susan froze with her mouth open, "That's where they put them?"

"Yes," John Hunt grouched.

"Oh, sorry. We can move them-"

"No, it's fine," Smith broke in, "it will be a great tax write off."

Susan and Hunt both raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged.

"Anyways, the Demon King's dead now?"

"Yup, took a few days, but we got it done."

Smith frowned at that.

"Days?"

"Yeah, there was this whole thing where we got summoned to another world to overthrow an evil empire, things got a little crazy, and… well we got around to it eventually."

Smith stared at her for a moment, before slowly leaning over to Hunt.

"Please tell me the rest of her family isn't this bad," he whispered.

"You haven't met her grandparents."

"SUSAN!" A yell interrupted them, and Susan turned to see both of her parents forcing their way through the crowd toward her.

"Mom, Dad!" She shouted, reaching out with her tail to snag them one at a time and drop them on her back.

"Are you alright?" Chay asked, looking over her worriedly.

"Yep," Susan said, "not a scratch on me."

"You're sure?" Martin broke in, "what about Elizabeth?"

"She's fine," Susan chuckled, "we're both Guardians, why wouldn't she be?"

A pained wheeze came from one or both of the Johns, but she ignored it.

"Why don't we just go see them? They're actually-" she paused to think for a moment, "you know what?"

She looked over the crowd of Thunderbirds. They looked exhausted from a day of travel and fighting. Injuries were everywhere, arms and legs in slings and improvised bandages on every free inch of skin. It wouldn't be hard for the Guardians to help them, and Hilda had been complaining that there weren't enough people to hear her stories so…

"Hey," she shouted, "you guys wanna party?"

"Uh," Hunt looked taken aback.

"YES," the crowd roared over him.

"Great, come on in," Susan said, waving them along behind her before heading further down the stairs.

She had to take a turn to the left, marching down one of the twin sets of stairs that framed the Ziggurat's front entryway. Making her way around the platform that sat beneath the door, she paused just long enough to take a second look up at the carving above the door.

Before it had been a snarling face, looking ready to consume whatever fell into its maw. But after the Temple's impromptu restoration, it had been replaced with a raised mural. Colored tiles depicting a kindly old man now filled the space above the entryway. A serene smile and a becoming hand welcomed the visitors in.

Susan smiled at it, before continuing on. It was a short walk through a hallway filled with statues and more murals, then the space opened up into the cavernous room from before. The sound of shout and cheers echoed from further in, and a short walk was all it took her to find the party.

Zach and Hilda had broken open their wine cabinet for the occasion. A collection of casks and bottles large enough to fill an entire room that had vanished within the hour, but had served to get the army of Guardians well into a party mood.

Susan took a step to the side to allow the Thunderbirds entry, then smiled as she watched the Guardians notice the newcomers. It took barely a moment for them to notice the injuries, then a hundred of them were breaking off from the party to descend on the Thunderbirds like tipsy angels.

The flash of healing spells began to light up the room behind her as she headed to the side. There was the junior party there, mostly made up of the younger Guardians and the teens that had helped fend off the rogue vampires during the battle. Hilda had procured snacks and entertainment from… somewhere, Susan was half convinced she had a magical artifact entirely devoted to throwing parties, but there was a good amount of festive spirit as a result.

Including a small gathering of familiar faces off to the side. Grandpa Zach was there, along with Cole, Mattie, Ruth and Anne.

Susan raised an eyebrow at the scene, Cole was looking mildly terrified while everyone else looked like they were very entertained by the ceiling. Slowing a bit, she listened in.

"Hilda's going to be so excited" Zach was saying, barely hiding his smile. "It's not often one of her students announced such good news."

"What news?" Cole squeaked, sounding mildly terrified.

"Of your courtship, of course."

"Well wait a second-"

"Yeah, what about it?" Mattie interrupted Cole, a dusting of red coloring her cheeks, "we're already dating."

"Of course, of course, but he saved your life. That's practically tying the knot in Hilda's book," the old man's eyebrows waggled as he grinned.

Mattie reddened at that, and both teens broke into shuddering denials. Susan couldn't help a chuckle, and at the sound Zach turned around to see her.

"Susan," he grinned, "already done with the portal?"

"Yep," Susan said, then gestured to her back, "we also have new arrivals."

Chay was sliding off her back the moment after. Landing on the ground, she rushed over to Zach and swept him up in a hug.

"Dad, you're alright!" She shouted.

"Of course," he smiled as he patted her back, "an army of vampires isn't nearly enough to bring us down."

"We couldn't get any news," Martin spoke up, jumping down from Susan's back as well, "we just heard the city was attacked."

"Well, things certainly did get dicey for a bit, what with vampire armies, mana eaters, and such," Zach shrugged, "but with the number of Guardians showing up it certainly didn't stay that way.'

"Yep," Elizabeth spoke up, having wandered over from where she had been chatting with one of Ruth's brothers. "We got the vampires locked up and Susan suplexed the mana eater into the moon. Plus-"

She was cut off as Chay snatched her up in a hug, quickly joined by Martin.

"You're okay!" She said breathlessly.

"Yeah, duh!"

Chay chuckled at that, and Susan watched the tension leave her shoulders. She drew in a shuddering breath, and the hug softened enough for Elizabeth to wriggle her way out of it.

"Ah, but what about your poor mother?" Zach asked, a smile quirking his lips, "she'll be devastated to hear that you haven't thought of her at all.

"I saw mom five minutes ago, running out of a Walmart with a shopping cart of what looked to be the entire liquor section," Chay deadpanned, "I think she's fine."

Susan chuckled at that, then used the lull in the conversation to turn to Elizabeth.

"Oh yeah, about the vampires," she asked, "did you guys really stick them in the Thunderbirds HQ?"

"They did?" Elizabeth sighed, "ugh, someone probably got desperate when you ripped the city out of the ground."

"You what?" Chay broke in, head whipping towards Susan.

"Uh," Susan gulped, "yeah, kinda?"

"Kinda?" Both parents exclaimed at the same time and he grimaced.

"I mean it was nothing much. I just needed to, uh, isolate the problem and that was the best way."

Chay just gave her a look, and Susan had to look away again.

"Susan," Chay began, but paused as she struggled with what to say. "…that's a lot of power."

"I know," Susan gave a halfhearted smile

She could understand her mother's concern. Even now every inch of her body thrummed with power, the magical might of so many worlds flowing through it each second. It was a heady feeling, one that was easy to get lost in.

And she would know, she had felt it before when she first became a dragon. But she had the help of the Wizards Congress then, and the weight of experience now.

"I'll deal with it though," she finished.

Then she grinned.

"Besides," she continued, "it does let me do one very important thing that I couldn't before."

She raised a hand and began sketching a rune in the air. Her family watched on with interest while she did, until Elizabeth's head tilted to the side.

"Hey, isn't that the shr–"

The rune completed, and Susan heaved an ocean's worth of mana through it. The spell hummed as it was pushed to its very limits, and she laughed as it activated.

Overcharging a spell was possible, but usually led to an exponential decrease in returns for the amount paid. Susan wasn't usually one to waste mana in such a frivolous way, but with the torrents of mana supplied by the Guardian rune she felt this one was worth it.

She jumped forward as it activated, only for her body to almost vanish as it shrunk into almost nothing. A Dragon barely the size of a poodle landed awkwardly on top of Elizabeth's head, only to begin jumping up and down on it.

"Hows it feel!" A shrunken Susan shouted in a voice like a whistle, "didn't think you'd be the one with your head jumped on, huh?"

She paused when she realized that Elizabeth wasn't moving. Frowning, she leaned over the side of Elizabeth's head to find that her sister had frozen, eyes gone wide.

"Elizabeth?"

"Elizabeth!" A shout cut her off.

Elizabeth jerked, and both sisters turned to see Abana walking towards them with Hilda alongside her.

"Yeah?" Elizabeth called back.

"I need you and your sister…" Abana slowed as she caught sight of Susan, then gave a sigh and slumped over. "Why must you two do this?"

"Do what?" Elizabeth asked without a hint of guile.

Abana just shook her head in response.

"Whatever, we need to give an interview."

"Uh, why?"

"Sorry, that'd be because of me," Hilda spoke up, "I was going to get more bo- party stuff when one of the reporters managed to corner me. Turns out they're willing to clear out if we give them an interview. I would have handled it but-"

"I wanted an interview that was slightly less off the cuff," Abana finished for her, rolling her eyes. "And to prevent any misunderstandings, I wanted the Guardians native to Earth to do it."

Hilda looked mildly affronted at the assumption that she couldn't show a good face to the reporters. But it only took one look at the enormous suit of black armor she was wearing for Susan to agree with Abana.

"And me?" she spoke up, "I'm not exactly a friendly face."

"We were actually going to discuss that, but it doesn't seem to be an issue anymore."

"That's fair."

Susan shrugged, then the chimes echoed from each of the Guardians.

"We're all ready here," Nora's voice echoed from the communication crystals.

"Right," Abana nodded, then turned to Cole, "you in?"

"Sure."

"Then we are too," she said, "Elizabeth, mask."

Elizabeth nodded, pulling some fabric from her dress and forming it into a domino mask. Abana did the same, while Cole grabbed his helmet and put it on.

A portal opened behind Abana. Cole and Elizabeth walked over to stand on either side of her, then they walked through together.

They found themselves on the interstate on the far side of town. A horde of news trucks populated the concrete roadway in front of them, and cameras began flashing the second after they arrived.

Abana quickly took a few steps forward, before launching into a speech. 'They were Guardians, here to protect the innocents of the world', et cetera. Susan mostly tuned it out.

Instead she focused her attention on properly positioning herself on top of Elizabeth's head. Then with careful movements, she sat down on top of it.

"That's a new look," Miura spoke up, and Susan turned to the side to grin at her.

"It's revenge. Served like a perfect ice cream."

"Is it?" Miura asked, her helmet tilting to the side, "I think revenge is supposed to be like ice cream in that it's cold, not that it delights the person it's being served to."

"What, no-"

Her head twisted around to look at Elizabeth, only to find her beaming.

"Really?" Susan squeaked, stomping a foot.

"We have a mascot now!" Elizabeth whispered with undisguised glee, and Susan froze in wide eyed horror.

"I am NOT a mascot!"

"You so are."

Miura nodded along. "You really are."

"WHAT, that's impossible-"

"What about the Dragons?" Susan cut herself off as she heard one of the reporters throw out a question.

Turning towards Abana, she found that the crowd of reporters had drawn closer. At some point in the interim Abana's speech had finished, and she seemed to be taking questions.

"Which Dragons?" Abana asked.

"Which dragons? The ones from a few weeks ago!"

The reporter asking was a taller woman who seemed rather ill at ease with the entire situation. She looked a moment away from bolting, and Susan wasn't sure she wanted to applaud her courage or find her a paper bag.

"One has been banished back to its former world, while the other has joined our ranks," Abana answered smoothly. "She was actually instrumental in our defeat of the Demon King earlier today."

"And where is it now?" The reporter asked almost immediately. From the barely disguised fear in his eyes Susan doubted he had heard anything other than, 'there's still a Dragon on Earth'.

Abana seemed to notice it too, as she hid a smirk before gesturing back towards Elizabeth.

"Right there."

Susan had to hold back a laugh at the utter confusion on the woman's face, before she caught herself and asked another question.

"Thats- you're a dragon?"

"Yup."

"Uh?"

"I'm bigger than I look."

As the reporter's brain seemed to crash and burn behind her eyes, another one spoke up.

"And what will you do now that you have removed one of your greatest rivals?"

Susan shot them a glare for that.

"What I've been trying to do this whole time. Relax."

With that, she turned and curled up on top of Elizabeth's head. Then, despite the ongoing roar of questions from in front of her, she fell asleep.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.