Diabella hated this idea… to actually guarantee an attack on Rhapsody rather than leave it as a possibility. Prior to leaving, there had been a meeting between her, Gallileo and Fandango. Collectively they worked out that distracting Shalazia would make her magic less focused which meant it would weaken her. It would present a chance to thwart her and rescue her victims. After running the idea past Magnifico and Scaramouch, they oddly enough endorsed and set about preparing the town for the attack. Diabella knew that she'd made the right choice in indoctrinating Magnifico all those decades ago. She wondered how long it would be before Scaramouch finally took the plunge to pledge her allegiance to the Shadow Queen.

She wondered for a moment what her patron would think… this was by far a major distraction from the end game in mind. Although, in the scheme of things this closure to Diabella's abrupt death and betrayal had been a long time coming. She didn't care for these outsiders being involved, but Shalazia had played her hand and brought the Mushroom and Koopa Kingdom right into the middle of it all. It was all an elaborate distraction so Shalazia could complete her intended plans… no matter how foolish they were.

Casting an eye towards the wetlands bellow, Diabella heard Bismillah start clicking its mandibles. She noticed a shadow moving across the dampened earth leaving ripples in the shallow marshes. She recognised the rounded shape, reminiscent of a flattened Bullet Bill, as Scaramouch's hovercraft. It moved swiftly, skimming across the mud and opaque water like a dragonfly. The time to trigger the battle had come…

The hour was almost upon her. After so many eons of waiting and wishing and hoping… the time had come. Shalazia could finally win. All she had to do was return to the ritual chamber to cast a final incantation. Then she would finally be able to show how superior she was to her sister. As for the various monarchs and subjects of the Koopa and Mushroom Kingdoms, well, their noble sacrifices will not be forgotten. She danced around her grand, opulent boudoir and how it overlooked her frozen kingdom of crystals. She truly wanted a grand kingdom… to be a princess with a prince and subjects who adored her… it was so much better than the stuffy older archives she and her siblings watched over many eons ago.

Shalazia had a skip in her step as she waved her arms and conjured her armour to manifest. With each added piece of armour, the castle around her began to deplete; disappearing instantly in jagged pieces to reform perfectly around its caster. A full suit of plate made from crystal gently wrapped around her gown. The faulds layered upon her skirt to maintain a princess dress silhouette. She retrieved her staff from its pedestal and tapped it on the ground thrice. The staff contorted into a gold and sapphire halberd. Finally with an outstretched palm she conjured a shield of the same materials as her weapon. She marvelled at her perfect reflection in the mirror. A graceful battle princess stared back which made Shalazia feel ever so pretty.

She looked perfect, she would be a beautiful sight for her love…

The room then shook violently. Shalazia caught herself on a nearby table. From the gaps in the ceiling she saw the source of it all. Those wretched bugs were buzzing a little too close to her kingdom for comfort. Shalazia then incited a powerful incantation, the tongue of which spoke to very element of water no matter its current form. The castle around her began to stir… the Arcane Kingdom was slowly coming to life. At the last moment she ripped open a portal with her halberd and retreated back to the ritual chamber in the mountains.

The castle beneath them awakened, contorting its static form into a four legged bestial colossus. With shaky limbs it stood for the first time, part of it cracking open to reveal a twisting maw of icy fangs. Diabella signalled Silhouetta to ascend and conjure a lightning storm, she then charged forward on the back of Bismillah with Beelzebub in tow. The castle colossus lunged forward to swat them from the sky as it moved, Diabella saw her target; the slowly closing portal within an upper chamber. She knew she had one chance to leap into the colossus' maw to pass through it before it shut. The sky above rumbled with thunder, clouds darkening before unleashing a crescendo of lightning into the colossus. The frozen construct howled like the northern wind. Diabella leapt back mid-air to land on Beelzebub. Wings madly beating so she could get closer to the portal; narrowly manoeuvre between the layers of broken halls, chambers and corridors within the colossus.

At the last moment, Diabella leapt from Beelzebub, just in time to fall through the portal before it shut. Another lightning strike from Silhouetta allowed Beelzebub and Bismillah to retreat to a safe distance. The lumbering colossus was stunned temporarily…

However, while the castle had awoken early… the rest of the kingdom was catching up. The buildings and gilded streets slowly unhinged and built themselves into vague humanoid shapes. Their composition varied greatly on what they formed from, yet the city had turned itself into an army of faceless golems. They began to march towards the Malevolent Mires… the hate of their summoner willed them forward…

Mud and earth cracked asunder with each step of the mighty army. The golems were unlike the ones that attacked the Mushroom Kingdom. They appeared less composed, slowly falling into abstract machinations and faceless figures far removed from the familiar. The magic that powered them were weakening as they mindlessly lumbered. Some even stumbled in their stop only to rise again. An army of mindless frozen golems trudged towards Rhapsody. Amidst the lumbering steps skimmed a small hovercraft, manoeuvring and circled between each wavering limb.

Roy braced himself as they skimmed over another golem's sunken leg; causing their vehicle to shake erratically "Sure you know what you're doing?"

Scaramouch revved the hovercraft up another gear, boosting them further along at a higher speed "Plan's still the same, we're just working with a moving target now."

Waluigi appeared less perturbed by their ride, although that was an elaborate ruse. He was actually terrified of the magical mayhem around him. To remain calm, he said "So uh… how is this plan still the same?"

"I say we crash the castle." Roy smirked, getting on the same level as Scaramouch "If you crash into it, I'll grab you both and we can climb inside it."

Scaramouch nodded as she swerved through another tangle of icy golems; miraculously missing a collision. "I know it'll trash my ride, but… hey, these things can be rebuilt."

"Can't be too hard, it's probably got a vulnerable spot that glows at convenient moments to tell us to hit it. Usually three times does the job." Roy tapped a talon on his chin "Suspiciously like every single giant boss monster we ever face…" He then noticed Waluigi freeze up completely, his eyes wide with horror as he stared blankly ahead. Roy tapped him on the shoulder "Look, we get it. You're not the adventuring type, but relax. You're with us. We'll make sure you get back safely."

Waluigi sighed "Why should I trust either of you anyway? We're all going down in a frozen game over…"

"Look, my uncle seems to like hanging out with you and Wario, so… I'm not going to put directly in harm's way? If you end up in it, you did it yourself."

Waluigi rolled his eyes to sarcastically remark "Thanks, that sounds fantastic!"

Scaramouch added "Besides, you agreed to help. You could've just left and gone to Rogueport."

Waluigi admitted bluntly "I regret my decision. Any chance of turning around so I can warp home?"

"Nope. Here we go!" Scaramouch revved the engine a final time as she twisted around. The hovercraft was heading right for a supportive leg of the walking castle. Waluigi covered his face while Roy cheered with excitement.

Amazingly… Waluigi did not find his game over in that moment. He imagined he would awaken somewhere in the Underwhere because who was he kidding? He'd never be allowed in the Overthere. Instead he thrown over Roy's shoulder, amazingly not impaled on any of the Koopa's shell spikes. The hovercraft was a smouldering wreck bellow them, a massive crater was blasted into the castle's leg making the giant, moving monolith crash to the ground on its side. It flailed weakly with its other limbs but alas, it was too heavy to get upright again. Roy was now scaling the side of the castle, claws digging easily into the ice, as he ascended higher and higher to a gaping maw of open doors upon a balcony. Scaramouch perched on the back of his head, a few explosives tucked haphazardly into a satchel that was nearly as big as her. After a few moments, they made it to the balcony and entered the crippled colossus. The other golems marched on, leaving their kin behind without so much as a thought.

With the castle tipped over like a turtle, the architecture of the castle was warped to say the least. Less actual rooms, more organic lattice of webs and curves like the innards of an insect's nest. Roy carefully studied the drop below, noticing how most of the bridges and tendrils of swirling ice were too delicate to support them. One even cracked under his gaze and dropped into the darkness bellow. Amidst the shadows was a glowing icicle that appeared much thicker than the others. Roy was thankful that all suspicious things that needed to be struck always conveniently glowed brightly. He asked "Do we separate or continue as one?"

Scaramouch peered over his head into the abyss below "I know there's a glowing thing down there, but how do we know where your cousin is?"

"I reckon I can climb this, want me to scout ahead?" Waluigi offered after surveying the eeriness of the castle's innards.

"Yeah, probably won't be easy for us." Roy released Waluigi on a lower web of ice. He then remained still as the lanky electrician scaled the various arcs and curves of glaciers without fear. "You're pretty good at this."

Waluigi's voice echoed back "Part of the job, you need to be pretty good at going through stuff to fix wires." He carefully manoeuvred down the crystal organs of the golem. Although, it reminded him more of a wild forest that had been untouched since time immemorial. Delicate crystals would flitter out thin as spider's silk then weaved back into the thickness of trees. The single glow gently emanating down below reflected spectrums of red and purple light, illuminating the way downwards. If he wasn't in a monster's gut at that point in time, Waluigi may have described this place as beautiful.

Scaramouch's voice alerted him to his temporary partners in crime "I take it that Wario is not a good electrician."

"He knows how it works, but he's lazy and selfish and doesn't want to do anything for anyone."

Scaramouch sighed and rolled her eyes "And yet, you're still friends with him?"

"Yeah… I know right. But it's not so bad."

Roy bellowed "How far down are you now?"

"Near the glowing thing and yeah, looks like Bowser Junior is in there." Waluigi slumped down on a nearby branch of ice; he wiped the mist and condensation from the glowing nucleus to see the familiar silhouette. "Sort of like the thing powering this thing."

"Look out! We're on our way!" The sound of Roy cracking his knuckles and Scaramouch cackling madly echoed above him; Waluigi felt his blood turn colder… and not just because he was inside a giant, dormant ice monster.

The delicate crystalline forest of vessels and capillaries began to shake. Waluigi instinctively climbed atop the frozen nucleus as the delicate of web of ice began to fall around him in a violent blizzard. The rumbling grew then came a grand crescendo. He looked up to see the flames engulfing the heights of the chamber from detonated explosives. Roy was free falling, thrashing wildly to break the creature from the inside out. Scaramouch feel slower, behind him, her sack of bombs was empty now. The serene crystal forest shattered out of oblivion as quickly as it had formed.

A cold wind blew through the fields that night, the collapsed castle golem had remained motionless for too long. Strange lights flashed wildly within, finally erupting in a plume of fire and smoke that smashed through the golem's body from all angles.

The decimated husk of ice lay melting in that field. Three survivors and a frozen heart remained within the miniature snowfield created by the golem's eradication.

Waluigi complained, feeling that he was soaked from head to toe "My shoes are too squishy! I'm going to have so many blisters…"

Roy proudly admired his handiwork "That's one way to crash a castle." He knelt down to high-five Scaramouch "Nice work short stuff."

The Toad smirked back "You ain't so bad yourself. We ought to destroy more things together."

"I'm still amazed the brat is still on ice after all that." Roy picked up the icy prison of Bowser Junior, realising he greatly appreciated not having to put up with his younger cousin.

"Magnifico can unfreeze him back in Rhapsody."

"Oh, there's no rush."

"Speaking of Rhapsody," Waluigi wrung out his hat to remove some of the excess water "How are we getting back?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Scaramouch tilted her head "We're walking and dragging that icicle with us."

"Seriously?"

"You think this is the first time I trashed my ride and had to walk back?" She pointed in a general direction towards the mires "Now let's march!"

Roy chuckled as he positioned himself behind the frozen nucleus. He then prepared to push the giant hunk of ice of the sodden fields. Waluigi continued complaining loudly while Scaramouch led the way. All in all. Mission accomplished.