They all appeared in the city. They looked around to see people lying in the streets, shivering with fear as the Spirits of Doom touched them, filling their hearts and minds with feeling of hopelessness and despair. Others had reached a state of catatonia—the Spirits of Doom had been busy. In the middle of it all, Nemesis used her naginata to slice and destroy everything around her. She looked like a madwoman, her long green hair flying with her furious blows. She seemed to sense their presence and looked up with a smile, cold and mock-sweet. "How very predictable you are. Attack the city and you come running every time. Are you ready to play some more? Or do you fear my sting?"

Zoe snorted. "Honey, we’ve seen scary. Believe me—you’re not even in its league!" Mia, Zoe, and Anubis concentrated on the Spirits while the rest of them took on Nemesis. Zoe borrowed a little energy from Zane to throw off small daggers of ice. As they passed through the Spirits, the cold caused them to slow down. Mia then sliced them with her shadow katana, absorbing them into it.

Meanwhile, the others were working on Nemesis. Zane was throwing ice-storm spears right and left. She dodged most of them, melted some of them, but she was wearing down. Every time she jumped out of the way, Gilgamesh was waiting to blast her with his Sonic Shout. A few times, he managed to hit her, knocking her against a building. Dazed, she got up as fast as she could only to find that she was running out of room to dodge. Trace was weaving a net around the area with magically strong vines. She was having a hard time maneuvering in the tighter spaces. She was starting to consider just teleporting away to fight the others.

Gilgamesh could see she was tiring and laughed. "Not as strong as you thought, heh? If you cannot defeat us three, how will you ever punish the world? What about Anubis?"

Trace caught on and joined in the taunts. "After we defeat you, we’ll have to share news of our victory with Anubis. I’m sure he’ll find it all very amusing. He’ll probably laugh at the fact that you couldn’t even take the three of us, let alone all of the Sentinels."

Just the mention of Anubis’s name drove strategy from her mind. The thought of retreat was impossible now. Her head was filled with anger. Punish the guilty! Anubis and his friends must die! With a wild, screaming battle cry, she attacked head on.

Mia and Zoe were taking out the Spirits, but it was slow going. Anubis knew they needed his help. "ARMOR OF CHAOS!" The armor exploded across his skin, raw and wild. It gleamed with the dark purple and black of a nebulous night sky. In his hand he held a scythe. He spun the scythe in front of him. "CHAOS FURY!" A vortex of dark energy formed. He aimed at a group of Spirits coming at them. The chaos energy pulled them in like a tornado ripping trees out of the ground and whipping them around. The Spirits were stretched and crushed, punched and pulled by one of the great forces of the universe until they were finally ripped apart by the scythe’s power.

Mia and Zoe were awestruck.

Nemesis brought down her naginata, fury guiding her hands. Gilgamesh blocked her with one battle-ax, hitting her in the stomach with the blunt end of the other battle-ax’s head. She fell back, the wind knocked out of her. Gilgamesh looked down on her with disgust. "Hah! Anubis was right. She’s weak—just like the rest of the Clan Kataran!"

Nemesis was blind with rage. She leaped up and swung at him with wild, erratic moves. He easily countered each one. She was so distracted that she didn’t notice the vines coming up through the ground. They started to twine around her legs. As she looked down, ready to use her fire breath, Zane pierced the ground with a spear, sending a trail of ice towards her. She glanced up to see it coming for her, but by then the vines had already firmly imprisoned her. Then the ice shot up to encase her as well. She was frozen in a green cocoon, a look of surprise and outrage on her face. It would take her a while to get out of that—by then, Mia should be done with the Spirits. Maybe Mia could help her now that she couldn’t go anywhere.

Mia and the others ran over to them. "Quick! We have to get in a circle around her! Astarte and I will get in the middle with Nemesis." A low rumbling sound startled them. The ice cocoon began to vibrate. Suddenly it blew apart, fragments flying in all directions.

Nemesis stood in the middle of them, steaming from the heat she’d used to weaken her prison. Her eyes burned with emotion. "I will kill you all at once or one at a time! It doesn’t matter to me!" She snapped her whip at Anubis, but he sliced the air in front of him with his scythe. Over half of her whip fell to the ground, chopped off by his razor-sharp blade. She threw her stubbed end of the whip aside. Baring her teeth at him, she hissed her words. "Fool! I need no weapons to defeat you! I am a weapon! I’ll flay the skin from your bones with my bare hands if I have to!" There was no plan to her actions, no strategy. She was running on pure emotion. Her hate made her stronger, but it also made her sloppy. All she could see now was Anubis’s face. "My people weren’t known as the Dragon Clan for nothing!" The bones and muscles of her hands stretched and pulled until her hands burst through her gauntlets. They were large with green scales and razor sharp claws. Nemesis jumped at Anubis, tearing at him. She managed to slice through his armor, leaving four long gashes in his arm. The armor was already starting to fix itself, but that wouldn’t stop his bleeding. She pulled her naginata from her back and alternated slashing and clawing like a madwoman. Anubis blocked her with his scythe, but she was pushing him back towards a wall.

Mia knew Anubis wouldn’t use the Chaos Fury. He had no desire to hurt Oshay. So far, he’d only defended himself. Nemesis was going to do her best to kill him. He would try to stop her, but he wouldn’t seriously hurt her to do it. Mia looked over to Astarte and gave her a nod. With surgical precision, Astarte shot several tight laser blasts at Nemesis. Zane and Zoe followed her lead with a volley of ice darts. Their combined shots got her in the shoulder and the leg, ripping through her armor. She fell back in pain. Astarte nodded at Gilgamesh, who got off a quick Sonic Shout. Nemesis flew back until she skidded to a stop on the concrete. Her shattered mask fell off. Her face was cut and scraped, blood staining her cheek. She started to get up, breathing in short furious gasps.

Mia drew her shadow katana and approached her slowly. "Oshay. Please listen to me. We don’t want to fight you, but we will. We won’t let you keep hurting people. We can help you if you’ll let us. You’ve been manipulated. The Children of Nyx are just using you to do their dirty work. Once they’re done, they’ll kill you."

"Stupid girl! They’ve given me power. The power of retribution! The power to punish the guilty!"

"What gives you the right to pass judgment on others?"

"I am the Nemesis."

"And that makes it okay? The title of Nemesis makes you innocent of sin? Tormenting people, razing the city, killing us. Those aren’t crimes? Who punishes the Nemesis?"

Oshay faltered for a moment, uncertainty in her eyes. "You…you’re just trying to confuse me!" She took a faltering step towards Anubis.

Mia moved in front of her. "We’re trying to help you. Please stop and think about what you’re doing. Isn’t there any room in the universe for repentance, redemption?"

Nemesis raised one clawed hand, gleaming with blood. "The monsters must be punished. Anubis will be the first to fall!"

"Maybe you’re right and there are monsters in this world. But not everyone is a monster." She glanced at Anubis. "Some of them just lost there way. Are they monsters?"

Nemesis was sweating, straining to hold on to…something. "Monsters kill, maim, and destroy. They hurt those who never did them harm. They have no feelings or mercy. They must be punished!"

Mia’s voice was quiet, but stern. "Then look around at the devastation you’ve caused. These people never did anything to you. What mercy did you show them? Who is the monster here?"

For the first time, Oshay looked around her, really looked. Fires, alarms, twisted metal, screams. Bodies lay on the ground, shivering in fright. Her mind went back to the night her village was destroyed. Disregarding the modern trappings, the scene was much the same. Homes burning, people screaming. Children curled up in terror on the ground. No one knew why the village was being attacked—just as the people here didn’t know why their lives were being turned upside down. Her voice was a harsh whisper. "No…it’s not the same…I am the Nemesis…I never meant…the guilty must…Oh, ancestors! What have I done?" She staggered back. "Spirits! To me!" The Spirits of Doom swirled around like a tornado.

Mia quickly snatched a shuriken from her gauntlet and threw it at Oshay, striking her in the leg. Mia smiled. Her shurikens could dispel illusion—she hoped they would be able to help Oshay in some way. She also now had a connection to Oshay through the shuriken. "Yes! I got a lock on her! Now we can follow her and take out the creatures behind this whole mess!"

Anubis merely leaned on his scythe, staring at the ground.