The celestial sun was finally setting over the Sapphire Expanse, painting the divine ocean in stunning shades of violet and gold.
It was time to pack up.
Demon Lord Kaelen was meticulously shaking the magical sand out of Maya's designer towels, making sure not a single grain remained. Generals Pavan, Karthik, and Aman were currently locked in a desperate, sweaty wrestling match with the massive mythril beach umbrella, trying to force it to close.
"PULL THE LEVER, AMAN!" Karthik yelled, his boots sinking into the sand.
"I AM PULLING IT!" Aman roared back, his spiked armor straining. "It's jammed! Just break it!"
"Do not break the Lady's umbrella!" Pavan shrieked, swatting the back of Aman's head.
Maya stood by the cooler, sliding her Tom Ford sunglasses back into place. She adjusted her wide-brimmed sun hat. "Alright, wrap it up. I want to be back at the resort before the volcanic ash ruins my blowout."
Down by the shoreline, little Elara was saying her goodbyes.
She stood ankle-deep in the water, her hands resting against the massive, iron-scaled snout of the Jörmungandr-Class Abyssal Leviathan. The 500-foot, world-ending terror of the deep was completely docile, resting its chin on the sand.
"Bye-bye, big fishy," Elara smiled, patting its cold, dark scales. "You were a very good ride."
The Leviathan let out a sound.
It wasn't a world-shattering roar. It was a high-pitched, pathetic, vibrating whimper.
The sheer bass of the whimper caused a localized earthquake, shaking the pearl throne of Okeanos, the Sea God, who was currently hiding behind it. The massive sea monster nudged Elara gently with its snout, acting exactly like an overgrown, scaly golden retriever that realized its owner was leaving for work.
Elara giggled, but the Leviathan's massive, abyssal eyes welled up with actual tears.
WHIIIIIINE.
The sound generated a thirty-foot wave that crashed against the shore. The Leviathan curled its massive, razor-sharp tentacles around Elara in a protective, entirely non-threatening hug, refusing to let her go.
"Oh no," Okeanos panicked, rushing forward with his hands raised. "No, no, no! Release the child, you overgrown guppy! If she starts crying, the mortal woman is going to make seafood out of my entire kingdom!"
"Mom!" Elara called out, looking back at the patio. "He doesn't want me to go! Can we keep him?"
Maya paused. She looked at the 500-foot mythological apocalypse monster currently wrapping its tentacles around her daughter like a needy puppy.
"Absolutely not," Maya said flatly. "We already have a dog. I am not house-training a Leviathan."
Marshmallow the Fenrir pup barked in agreement, puffing out his little white chest.
Elara pouted. The Leviathan whimpered louder, the resulting shockwave shattering a nearby coral reef.
Leo sighed. He tossed an empty coconut shell into the magical trash bin and cracked his knuckles. He walked down to the shoreline, his floral shirt blowing in the evening breeze.
"Alright, big guy, break it up," Leo said, tapping the Leviathan on its iron-hard snout. "Vacation's over. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay wrapped around my kid."
The Leviathan growled defensively, tightening its grip on Elara.
"Wrong answer," Leo muttered.
Leo reached his hands out and grabbed the empty space on either side of the Leviathan's massive head. He didn't cast a shrinking spell. He didn't use divine magic. He simply applied overwhelming, physics-breaking kinetic pressure to the monster's physical form.
With a sound like a balloon rapidly letting out air, Leo squished the 500-foot Abyssal Leviathan.
The monster shrank from the size of a skyscraper, to the size of a house, to the size of a carriage, and finally... to the size of a large goldfish.
Leo casually scooped the now six-inch-long Leviathan out of the air and dropped it into Elara's bright pink plastic sandcastle bucket, filling it with a splash of seawater. The tiny, travel-sized apocalypse monster swam around the plastic bucket in confused circles, letting out tiny, bubbling squeaks.
Okeanos stared at the plastic bucket. His brain completely short-circuited. "You... you just compressed a Primordial Calamity into a child's toy."
"Boom. Travel size," Leo grinned, handing the bucket to Elara. "Don't tell your mother. We'll sneak it into the hotel bathtub."
Elara beamed, hugging the bucket. "Thank you, Dad!"
Smash cut back to the Tropical Sunrise Resort.
The spatial rift deposited them safely back onto the obsidian balcony.
The moment they arrived, the sheer volume of the resort hit them like a wall.
In the courtyard, Vermithrax and Ignis were loudly arguing over who was better at roasting marshmallows. Inside the barracks, King Aldric, King Vane, and the Demon Generals were screaming at the top of their lungs over a highly contested game of magical Uno.
"DRAW FOUR, YOU HUMAN PEASANT!" Aman roared from the other room.
"I CHALLENGE THE PLAY!" King Aldric shrieked back.
Demon Lord Malakor bumped into a table, trying to carry fourteen different pieces of luggage at once, while Kaelen aggressively played the lute in the corner to try and drown out the noise.
Maya stood in the center of the chaos, her eye twitching violently. She looked at the Dragons. She looked at the yelling Generals. She looked at the plastic bucket Elara was carrying, which contained a tiny, squeaking Leviathan.
Maya slowly turned to Leo.
"Leo," Maya said, her voice dropping to a terrifying, absolute-zero whisper. "I have a headache."
Leo immediately understood. The Vacation Mode was reaching its critical limit. The massive, chaotic entourage was funny for a few days, but this was supposed to be a honeymoon.
"They're too loud," Maya continued, rubbing her temples. "The demons are loud. The dragons are loud. The human kings are pathetic, which makes them loud. I want a real vacation. A quiet one."
"Say no more," Leo nodded. He quietly grabbed Maya's hand. He leaned down and whispered to Elara. "Grab the puppy and the bucket, kiddo. We're going rogue."
While the Vanguard of the Apocalypse and the Human Monarchs were entirely distracted by their Uno game, Leo casually slashed his finger through the air. A small, silent portal opened up—one completely untraceable by gods, demons, or dragons.
Maya stepped through, her designer bags floating behind her. Elara skipped through after her, holding Marshmallow and her Leviathan bucket. Leo gave the chaotic resort one last amused look, tipped an imaginary hat to the shouting generals, and stepped through the portal, snapping it shut behind him.
The three strongest beings in the universe had officially ditched their own overpowered entourage.