Word of the Splatterer’s return spread like wildfire, alerting heroes big and small all across the nation that it was time to act. Of course, even among heroes, few had the guts to take on a being so vile and notorious as the Splatterer. Even fewer had the means to make their way to the scene in time. One of the few who did was Lychinus, the guardian angel. When he heard of the ongoing massacre, he knew there was no time to waste, no chance to wait for reinforcements from his allies. Conjuring his radiant wings from his back, he roared off into the air with a sonic boom, heading straight for the scene of the attack. He arrived roughly in conjunction with the others, floating high above the demolished streets, looking down upon the devastation. He couldn’t see them, since there was smoke and debris everywhere, but he could sense that others had come to the rescue. He could see their souls, like luminescent wisps, cutting straight through the obscuring smoke. Among the dim signatures of the normal people – the fleeing and the dying – three powerful souls stood out. One was red: passionate and reckless, burning with the power of a primordial being. The other was blue: caring and resolute, thrumming with the power of unbound human potential. The last was green: scarred and terrible, an unnatural being of unparalleled hatred. The sight of it made him feel sick in a way he didn’t even know was possible. That was the Splatterer alright. Lychinus had never met him before, but from his uniquely vile aura, there was no doubting it. Remaining in the air, he thrust out his arm and caused a bar of radiant white energy to form in his clenched fist. The bar soon formed into the shape of a sword, three feet long with a broad, heavy blade and a sharply tapered point. He took a few valuable seconds to channel all the power he could into the sword, tempering it to maximum strength. He couldn’t take any chances against this foe. Then, with his weapon in hand, he flew down at great speed, into the billowing smoke, approaching the monster’s signature.