Anubis tightened his grip on his scythe, knuckles turning white. He jumped at the Children of Nyx, swinging wildly. But his attack was too obvious--Like smoke, they swirled away and reformed behind him before he could even get near them. Anubis seemed unphased by the weirdness of the room, landing on what looked like a wall from Mia’s perspective. She finally decided that this place had no walls or ceilings—only floors.

"Foolish humans! You are in our realm now! We have power here!" The three of them zapped Anubis with their black energy. He blocked with his scythe, but the force knocked him to his knees.

Mia jumped in the fray, trying to stay with one floor. She sliced at Apate with her shadow katana, actually cutting off part of her wispy body. The amputated portion disappeared in a puff.

Apate recoiled in horror. "She cut me! She actually cut me!"

Age smirked. "Then you should have been paying more attention. If you had, you would’ve known her weapons have some power over spirits and other intangible things. Don’t let her touch you next time!" Age snapped her hands at Mia, blasting her with energy. Mia fell back. Her whole body felt like it was on fire.

Gilgamesh ran in front of her. "SONIC SHOUT! HHHEEEEAAAA!" He created a shock wave that repelled their energy blasts. They shot again and again, but he wouldn’t let any of their energy through.

"Her weapon isn’t the only one that can hurt you!" Anubis flew through the air. He swung at Moros, surprising him by cutting away a portion of his shadow form. Anubis landed on a side floor and then jumped up to the overhead floor. The piece of Moros that got cut off immediately dissipated.

Moros was shocked. "His armor is made from Primordial Chaos! That’s impossible! Unless…that’s what they were doing in Egypt! Curse those meddling Chaos Gods! They’ve played a part in this somehow. After we destroy you and the Ronins, the Great Darkness will spread across the Earth, reinvigorating our ancient powers. Then we will take care of the interfering Chaos Gods!"

Zoe turned herself into pure spirit and merged with Zane, super-charging the Armor of Tundra. "ARCTIC BLAST!" They iced the Children of Nyx with a cold like that of deep space. Moros, Age, and Apate became sluggish, their smoke-like bodies starting to solidify.

Astarte could see that Trace was still having a lot of trouble adjusting to the strange layout. She spun through the air to land next to him on his floor. She took his hand. He could feel her power of life surge through him, giving him focus. He called up the power of his armor, "RAGE OF THE WILD!" His earth energy resonated with her life energy and the Jewel’s power, making them both even stronger. The boost allowed Astarte to let loose several devastating wide-beam lasers instead of the usual tight-beam shots. She blanketed the Nyx-kin with mystic red fire. Moros, Age, and Apate felt pain like they hadn’t experienced in centuries. Zoe and Zane froze them with another wave of cold followed by another of Astarte’s laser barrages. They kept alternating, trying not to give their enemies time to counterattack.

The room suddenly spun on its axis, throwing the Sentinels off balance again. Moros laughed. "Having trouble grasping the physics of our palace? Don’t worry, your puny minds won’t have time to adjust." The three of them let off a bomb-like blast that radiated from their own bodies. The Sentinels were knocked to the floors before they could react.

Anubis was the first to his feet. He began to twirl his scythe, ready to use the Chaos Fury. Apate crooked her finger and Oshay’s bubble-prison floated to her side. Apate smiled at him. "Now, now. We saw how you tore apart the Spirits of Doom with your attack. You wouldn’t want to do that to the one true love of your life, would you?"

Age drifted over and ran a hand across the surface of the bubble. Oshay cried out as the black energy burned her. Anubis stopped, then took a step back. Age sneered. "So predictable. You’d let me kill you if it meant sparing her pain, wouldn’t you? Touching, but utterly stupid. It doesn’t matter to me. One dead human is as good as another—and soon, you’ll all be dead!" A bolt of dark energy shot from her hand. Anubis blocked it with his scythe, but wouldn’t retaliate for fear of hitting Oshay. Age laughed. "Pathetic." Age let loose a barrage of blasts that wore Anubis down. He was on his knees, sweat streaming down his face. Gilgamesh tried to ricochet some of the shots away from Anubis with his sonics, but then Moros engaged him in his own battle.

Oshay could smell her own flesh burning, but she pushed herself to sit up. A low rumble emerged from her throat that slowly turned into an insane kind of laughter. Her eyes were those of a woman with nothing left to lose. "You may have taken away the extra powers you gave me, but I have abilities of my own. I will not be your hostage. I will not give you any more power over me…or them." She looked at the Sentinels, but it was Anubis’s eyes she sought. She held them for a moment, then spoke as if no one else were present. "Do what you have to—as will I." Her hand throbbed as the muscles bulked up and reshaped themselves. With a razor-sharp claw, she slit her own throat.

"NNNNOOOOO!" Anubis rushed Age and Apate, slicing like a madman. He bounced from floor to floor, spinning and cleaving. His armor began to glow. All the other Sentinel Armors glowed in response.

Mia called to the others. "Maybe the Sentinel Armors are more like the Ronin Armors than we thought. If they can combine their powers into a super armor, why can’t we? The Armor of Chaos is supposed to be a substitute for the true fifth armor. Let’s see how good a job the Chaos Gods did. Concentrate on Anubis--give him everything you’ve got!" Zane, Trace, Gilgamesh, and Mia’s foreheads flashed the symbols for the attributes of their armors. Persistence, Freedom, Defiance, Truth.

Anubis was twirling his scythe, intent on his enemies. He could feel his armor’s power increasing. "CHAOS MAELSTROM!" A horrific storm whipped around him. Anubis stood in the eye of clashing ice, earth energy, sound waves, and darkness. He became a black hole of force--the palace walls were folding in on themselves, the Nyx–kin were being stretched and pulled into the chaos. The shared connection of the Sentinels kept them all grounded, but Astarte and Oshay had no such protection. Anubis didn’t even seem to notice. He was blindly giving form to the rage and turmoil of his own emotions. Moros, Age, and Apate screamed as they were ripped apart by a power that had existed before the dawn of man, before the birth of petty, warring little gods. Then they were gone, scattered to the universe. Still Anubis didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t stop.

Mia had a hold of Oshay and Gilgamesh had Astarte, but even the Sentinels were starting to feel the pull of his power. Mia started screaming at him, trying to be heard over the din. After a few tense moments, he slowly turned to look at her. Seeing Oshay, pale and near death, he abruptly stopped. They all fell to the floor as the connection broke.

Zoe rematerialized flat on her back. "Do you think it’s possible, maybe, that we could never, ever do that again? I think I’m going to throw up."

Zane was trying to stand on unsteady feet. "I’m with you. That was like every bad carnival ride rolled into one."

"Now that’s an image my stomach could’ve done without."

Gilgamesh and Trace helped Astarte up. She leaned on the two of them, making slightly more of her injuries than they were.

They all slowly made their way over to where Oshay, Anubis, and Mia were. Mia looked up at them and shook her head. Anubis’s face was ashen. He turned to Astarte and Trace. "You once healed Gilgamesh when he was near death. Can you do the same for her?"

Astarte lowered her eyes. She’d never seen such naked, desperate hope on a man’s face. She didn’t want to crush that, but she couldn’t lie to him. "I do not know if we have the energy to make it work. We put a great deal of ourselves into the Maelstrom. But you know that we will do all that we can, whatever we can." She and Trace laid their hands on Oshay, concentrating as hard as they could. They couldn’t quite get enough energy, but they kept trying. Oshay was slipping away.

Mia heard a rustle behind her, like the sound of birds. Suddenly everything stopped--time stood still for everyone except Mia. She didn’t want to look, afraid she knew who was there. She had to look. Thanatos, God of Death. "No! You can’t take her! Not like this." She stood between him and Oshay. He moved closer, his face obscured by shadow. He said nothing, merely pointed his sword at Oshay. Then he walked away. Mia was confused. "I don’t understand."

"A debt was owed." He vanished in a cloud of darkness. Time started up again.

Mia turned at the sound of a groan coming from Oshay. Oshay opened her eyes. "Am I dead?"

Anubis cradled her head in his arm. "No, you’re not."

"Good, because I feel terrible. I was hoping death didn’t hurt that bad." She closed her eyes.

Mia checked her pulse. It was steady. Her wound was also completely healed. She was probably just exhausted. They all stayed for a while until they got some of their own strength back. Then they transported home for some much-needed rest.