Location: The Underground Cathedral (Central Chamber)
Time: 9:45 PM
The chamber wasn't just a sewer. It was a grotesque parody of a dining hall.
Massive pillars of bone held up a fleshy ceiling that dripped neon slime. In the center, a table the size of a football field was set with silver platters.
And sitting at the head of the table was Cardinal Gluttony.
He wasn't just fat; he was a mountain of pale, undulating flesh. He had four mouths—one on his face, one on his stomach, and two on his palms. He wore a bib made of human skin that said "KISS THE COOK."
Squad 1 was fighting him. And they were losing.
Kai was flying through the air, his solar sword blazing. He slashed at Gluttony's shoulder.
"Take this, foul beast!" Kai shouted, striking a heroic pose mid-air.
Gluttony didn't dodge. He just opened his stomach-mouth.
SLURP.
Kai's sword beam was sucked in. Gluttony burped, a shockwave of green gas that sent Kai crashing into a pile of rotting meat.
"My hair!" Kai screamed, checking his reflection in his sword. "It's frizzy!"
Jinx unloaded her minigun into Gluttony's side. The bullets bounced off his blubber like pebbles.
"Damage report: Zero," Jinx droned. "Target is... chewy."
Silas fired his sniper rifle from a high ledge. The blood-bullet hit Gluttony in the eye.
Gluttony blinked. He plucked the bullet out like a piece of popcorn and ate it.
"Spicy," Gluttony rumbled. His voice shook the cavern. "More... seasoning..."
Roxy was the only one still standing. She was zipping around on her plasma-skates, dodging Gluttony's massive, flailing tongue.
"You guys suck!" Roxy yelled at her squad. "Get up! He's just a big marshmallow! Zap Zap!"
She fired a beam of pink starlight into Gluttony's face. It burned him, but he healed instantly, the flesh knitting back together with a wet squelch.
"I am... eternal..." Gluttony laughed. "I am... the hunger..."
He raised a massive hand to swat Roxy out of the air.
Suddenly, a black umbrella blocked the blow.
WHAM.
The impact drove Dante's feet into the ground, cracking the stone floor. His piercings flared white-hot.
"Table for four," Dante grunted, straining under the weight. "Sorry we're late. Traffic was terrible."
"Crow!" Roxy yelled, landing next to him. She grabbed his arm. "You're late! I almost broke a nail!"
"You're welcome," Dante wheezed.
Sora strolled out from the shadows, eating a bag of chips he found in the van.
"Looks like the Varsity Team needs a sub," Sora called out. "Vane, your kids are sloppy."
Commander Vane (who was currently unconscious under a pile of rubble) did not respond.
"Squad 4!" Sora ordered. "Formation: Buffet Breaker!"
"On it!" GiGi screamed.
She leaped onto Gluttony's back. She didn't use her wires. She used Benji's drone.
"Delivery!" GiGi shouted.
She jammed the drone directly into Gluttony's ear.
"Benji! Detonate!"
"I hate destroying my tech!" Benji cried from the tunnel entrance. He pressed a button.
BOOM.
The drone exploded inside Gluttony's head. Not with fire, but with Type-Neuro Mist.
Gluttony roared, clutching his head. His vision blurred. He started hallucinating. The pillars turned into giant cheeseburgers.
"Food..." Gluttony moaned, stumbling. "So much... food..."
"He's distracted!" Sora yelled. "Kai! Jinx! Hit the stomach! Dante! The mouth!"
Kai scrambled to his feet, his ego bruised but his sword ready. "I shall deliver the final blow!"
"Shut up and hit him!" GiGi yelled, riding Gluttony like a rodeo bull.
Kai and Jinx unleashed a combined attack on Gluttony's stomach-mouth. The solar beam and minigun fire tore through the blubber, exposing the glowing green core.
"Now, Dante!" Roxy shouted. "Blast him!"
Dante closed his umbrella. He pointed the tip at Gluttony's main face.
He didn't fire a beam. He reversed the polarity.
Type-Null: Inversion.
Instead of pushing energy out, he pulled it In.
"You want to eat?" Dante whispered. "Eat this."
He created a localized vacuum—a mini black hole—at the tip of his umbrella.
Gluttony's own mass began to suck into the void. His fat, his muscle, his slime—it all swirled into the umbrella tip.
"No..." Gluttony gurgled. "I am... full..."
"There's always room for dessert," Dante said.
He snapped the umbrella shut. The vacuum collapsed.
POP.
Gluttony imploded. He didn't explode outward; he folded in on himself until he was nothing but a tiny, dense sphere of green slime on the floor.
Dante fell to his knees, exhausted. Steam rose from his piercings.
"Clean up," Dante panted. "Aisle... everywhere."
Roxy walked over to him. She kicked the slime ball.
"Not bad, Crow," she said. She leaned down and wiped a smudge of green goo off his cheek with her thumb. "You missed a spot."
Dante blushed. "Thanks."
"You still owe me dinner," Roxy winked. "And not from a sewer."
Sora clapped slowly. "Good hustle, team. But you forgot one thing."
"What?" Dante asked.
"The bill," Sora said. He pointed to the ceiling.
The cavern began to rumble. The structural integrity—held together by Gluttony's magic—was failing.
"Run!" Benji screamed.