Shaggy shoved a giant stone boulder out of the way and then picked up another. Next to him, Stanley and Cekrass were shifting the debris around as well. Vlad was making it look like he was helping while Maya was standing watch over Levy. Shaggy's wife was seated on the dusty floor of Cog's Lair with her eyes closed. Apparently, she was reworking a spell in her mind to help them out.

He shot Vlad a dirty look as he tossed another chunk of ceiling to the side. "Love, are you sure this is going to work?"

"Of course not, love. I'm reshaping a spell matrix to use an ancient Blood God's power. I'm probably about to blow us all up." Levy answered, her eyes still closed but a wide grin appearing on her lips.

Shaggy grunted at that but kept moving sections of debris out of their way. It had already been several minutes and the rest of the Legion were fighting for their lives in Under-Town. Shaggy could feel his blood boiling at missing the fight. An underground town under siege by a horde of robots. The first time had been a blast. So, this time was sure to be equally fun. He couldn't wait.

Vlad kicked apart a large piece of cement. Making the wall of debris shift dramatically toward Shaggy's side. He gave the vampire another dirty look before digging again. They were making good progress, at least. As near as Shaggy could tell, they were almost at the spot where he had died. The last two rooms had suffered significant damage, but at least they weren't completely buried. But the spot where Cog's laser blast went off was pretty much the center of the collapse.

"How close do we have to get again?" Vlad asked.

"The exact spot where Cog died. It needs to be exact, or the spell might not work."

"Why not where Shaggy died?"

"Because Korrigan's spell was designed to circumvent Cog's natural death and shunt him into the realm of a God. Shaggy, from what he's told and shown us, was accidentally dragged into that spell. I need to find the traces of Xang's magic while also seeing if the Mad Witch's magic is still around."

Vlad huffed. "And that will somehow get us home?"

"Less talking, more digging, Vlad." Shaggy barked as more debris fell toward him. "Stop distracting her."

"I just want to know how all of this is supposed to portal us home? It took two magical crystals to link Under-Town with your cave. Now Levy says she can do it whenever she wants."

Levy opened an eye and stared at Vlad. "A teleportation spell isn't hard, Vlad. It just takes a shitload of power. What I'm doing is borrowing a piece of Xang's power to call to the Artifact in my tower. The two forces should recognize each other and make a connection easier to establish. Once that's done, we can anchor the spell here and BAM! We've got another portal."

Maya looked down at Levy as she twirled her twin six-shooters. "It can't be that easy."

"It isn't. The portal won't be stable for long, and it will lose its stability with each use. But we only need to use it once. Afterward, we can send a team of mages and tech guys to build a better anchor."

Shaggy grunted as he moved more debris. "Will this one attach to the portal already set up in our cave or will it go straight to your tower?"

"The cave Portal hopefully. I'm familiar with that one's magical combination, so to speak. So it should go straight there. Unless Xang has anything to say about it."

"Why would he interfere?" Shaggy asked, stopping his digging to turn around.

He was in time to see Levy shrug, and Maya asked her own question.

"That's the Blood God guy, right? The one you were talking about? Doesn't he approve of you or something?"

"Well, I'm his head priestess, and Shaggy is his Champion. So, I think everything should be fine. Unfortunately, we aren't heading into a fight with sentient enemies. I don't think the Blood God enjoys robot oil as much."

Shaggy thought about it for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah, if we were attacking a bunch of K-Tech soldiers, Xang would probably transport us straight to the battlefield."

The four players shared a look considering that assumption. In-game Gods were always weird. They were, literally, AIs grown to be virtual gods. They developed their own quirks and intricacies in every game. But that meant they were trickery to deal with sometimes. Xang had seemed like a fine patron to Shaggy on the few occasions they spoke, though. He vowed that if this worked, he'd donate some K-Tech blood to the God the next time he could.

A tone resonated in Shaggy's chest. It was deep and ethereal. Somehow infusing Shaggy with both hope and dread. The feeling of Xang's eye upon him made Shaggy shiver, and he momentarily forgot he was in a game. When the feeling passed, he found Levy was staring at him. Both of her eyes were open, and she had a serious look on her face.

"What did you do?" she asked slowly.

"I just promised Xang some blood if this whole thing worked."

Levy blinked as if that thought had never occurred to her. Then, her own slim dark hand rose and slapped her forehead. "Sonofabitch! Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

Shaggy gave his wife a questioning look, but she was already back to working her spell again. He waited a beat before sighing loudly and going back to digging out the wall again. It was slow going, and Vlad was more of a hindrance than a help. But soon Cekrass shifted an enormous chunk of cement out of the way. The resulting cascade of falling dirt and rock revealed a wide empty spot at the center of the room.

There was a long maroon smear on the floor to the right. Shaggy immediately recognized it as the place where he had dragged his bifurcated body. His lower limbs were long gone, though. Having been cubed with the rest of him. Looking to the left, Shaggy found the spot where Cog had been standing when the ceiling came down. Another large slab of the ceiling was in the way. But he, Cekrass, and Stanley lined up and lifted the sizeable chunk out of the way. They pushed it against the rest of the debris and stood it up as best they could. Once that was done, Shaggy spun to tell Levy they were ready.

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His wife was already on the spot. With her staff in her hand and her magic flowing all around her. Behind her, Vlad and Maya walked into the small space, looking antsy but ready. Shaggy made as much space as he could for Levy, but she seemed focused on the exact spot where Cog died. Like Shaggy's spot, there were the dark remains of viscera and blood but nobody. He assumed that Korrigan's spell had drawn the old man's body all the way down to Xang's domain. Levy placed the bottom of her staff on the spot where Cog died.

"Love, shouldn't we do a test run first?"

Levy looked across at him, her eyes alight with magic. "Not really. Either this works or it doesn't. All testing would do is slow us down."

"What happens if it doesn't work?" Maya asked.

"Best case? Nothing. Worst case? My staff and I implode. Bringing down the rest of this lair."

"Great." Vlad whined as Levy's staff grew brighter.

Shaggy sucked in a breath as Levy said a word that was unintelligible to Shaggy's ears. That dark tone thrummed within Shaggy's chest again, and for a moment he could see the air shiver. Then, the scent of blood rushed into the room with them. The smell was oppressive as purple magic swirled about Levy. With an otherworldly shriek, a blood-red oval popped into existence in front of Levy. The scent of blood increased a hundredfold, and Shaggy saw Cekrass, Stanley and Maya all gag at the same time. For some reason, Vlad seemed immune. In fact, the vampire looked like he was in heaven as he stared at the blood-red portal.

"Ugh!" Levy grunted as she took a step away from the portal and nearly fell to her knees.

Shaggy practically leapt to her side as the portal wobbled for a bit and then stabilized. The scent of blood decreased fractionally. But it was still pushing in on their senses. Levy collected herself as Shaggy helped her stand.

"I think it worked. This should be connected to our cave under Austin now."

"'Should' doesn't inspire confidence." Vlad mumbled, still enthralled by the portal gate.

Shaggy was about to charge through first to test the portal. But Stanley and Cekrass beat him to it. They both physically pushed him back as they ran forward and through the blood-red portal. Their bodies were wrapped in a cloak of blood before they disappeared entirely. Shaggy growled under his breath as Levy patted his shoulder.

"They are just protecting their pack leader, dear."

"Damn pups." was Shaggy's only response.

Levy grinned at him as the portal flashed bright red, and Stanley's head poked back through. The boy's face and hair looked like they were covered in blood, but the boy's mouth worked fine.

"It works, boss. But you'd better hurry. There's a lot going on over here."

Shaggy nodded, and Stanley dragged his head back through the portal. He helped Levy get situated and then looked to Vlad and Maya. The vampire and the gunslinger were already marching toward the portal. Shaggy let them go first as he waited with Levy. The two other Players were sucked into the blood portal and whisked off to their destination. Shaggy was about to link arms with Levy and rush through as well, when his wife stopped him.

"Wait! Before we go, you need to know something."

Shaggy raised an eyebrow and looked up at his wife as she straightened up. "What?"

"I had to make an offering to Xang as well. It's probably why the spell went so smoothly. I was able to pull in Xang's power as if it were my own. It was both intoxicating and terrifying. While our powers mixed though, I noticed something."

Shaggy stayed quiet, waiting for his wife to continue. But Levy was clearly wrestling with something.

"I think he wants to talk to us. So just be prepared."

Shaggy smirked as he clasped Levy's hand. "Love, I've been in his presence a bunch of times. It's not that bad."

"In-game Gods, Shags. You know how they can get."

"I do. But Xang seems like an alright deity. Let's go see what he wants."

Levy blew out a breath and nodded before grabbing Shaggy's hand tight. The two of them marched to the edge of the portal together. Its bloody surface seemed to reach out to them, and Shaggy desperately wanted to cover his nose. But instead, all he did was look up and smile at his wife before stepping into the portal. Levy stepped with him, and they were both covered in a cloak of blood.

Shaggy felt his senses go haywire as the feeling and smell of being covered in blood overtook him. He held on to his wife for as long as he could through everything as he thought he could hear voices whispering at him. His vision was obscured by swirling lines of blood flowing all around him. But suddenly everything stopped, and Shaggy found himself suspended in a dark void, Levy still grasping his hand. A shiver went up his spine as he felt as if something was watching him. Shaggy recognized the feeling though and mustered up his courage.

"Xang?! What's with the theatrics?!"

"As this is the first time you have made me an offering, I thought it best to go with tradition."

"What about the Artifact? Wasn't that an offering?"

"Not really. That was a magical totem. Anointed in my name and placed with my Champion and Priestess. This is your first offering to me, and I thank you for it. However, I have a request."

"What's that?" Shaggy asked as he floated in the dark void.

Xang's voice echoed around them as Shaggy felt like blood was seeping across his body. "I want you to wait one hour before you return to Under-Town."

"Why?!" Levy asked, mirroring Shaggy's own feelings.

"The oil and metal of the nonliving do not entice me. But your foes are readying to unleash a surprise. Foes worthy of the champion of the Blood God. When they take the field, that's when you shall march out in my name. When that happens, you shall bathe in their blood and devote a portion of your harvest to me."

Shaggy glanced over at Levy as they both floated there. His wife was wearing the same expression he was. One of surprise and partial excitement. The K-Tech bots were only the first wave. After that, something new was coming to Under-Town, and Xang wanted its blood. A deep rumbling laugh echoed through the void, and Shaggy felt his feet sinking into something warm.

"It seems I have chosen well. You both shall honor me greatly in your battles to come. Either that or you shall join me in the realm of blood."

Shaggy wanted to ask another question, but he quickly sank into nothingness, and the color red flashed by his eyes. The next thing Shaggy knew, he was standing in front of the portal in his underground cave. He was quickly pushed to the side as more people came out of the portal, carrying him and Levy with them. Getting their feet, Shaggy and Levy dipped out of the crowd of people and looked around.

Their cave was bustling with activity. Legion members and civilians were pushing into the furthest reaches of the cave. Shaggy even spotted a few Earth Mages digging out tunnels for more people to hide in. Lackeys in Legion armor were moving crates of weapons and food all around the place as others shouted orders. He and Levy searched around for someone they knew, but Shaggy's pack found him first.

"Boss! Slink needs you inside the house!" Sybil shouted over the noise of the bustling crowd.

Shaggy found the short blonde woman spotted the short blonde woman just beyond the moving crowd. She was covered in dirt and oil as if she had just finished fighting. He wanted a full debrief from his pack soon. But first, they needed to talk to Slink. Levy squeezed his hand and smirked at him.

"One hour, my love. Then we can go."

Shaggy gave his wife a tooth-filled smile. "I hate waiting. But if Xang's excited about what's coming, we can't miss it."

With that, the two of them rushed back into the crowd and angled toward Shaggy and Levy's house. It made sense that was where Slink had set up a command center. He couldn't wait to tell the young teen about what was coming. It was bound to be a hell of an event.

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