Dead Simple:

Riding atop the monstrous, three-headed hellhound Cerberus, Marissa, Naraka, and Tamara all scouted the paths of Sarasa Field, Sarasaland Castle Town's outer boundaries. It was sometime in the early morning, but the sun was not up. The landscape was still under a dark indigo blanket, but Cerberus' tracking olfactory senses had caught a whiff of Daisy during the brief period of time the Kruna of Earth was in the Catacombs.

"I haven't taken you out for a walk in quite some time, have I?" Marissa cooed to her titanic hellhound. Cerberus was easily seven times the size of Marissa herself. Had Bowser been around, he would have been only a fifth the size of the fiendish canine.

"Why is Cerberus taking us down around Castle Town?" Tamara asked. "He's going in the direction of the Birabuto Kingdom!"

"Obviously, the Sarasa girl has gone down to the Birabuto Kingdom, duh," Marissa replied, trying to sound mockingly stupid. "Do you doubt my baby? He can smell whenever a cell of blood leaks from the microscopic tears in our skin that we as living beings are not even aware we get on a daily basis – I'm certain that he knows what he's smelling and where the scent is leading!"

"Why would she go down there though?" Tamara asked.

"Why does it matter where she goes?" Marissa snapped. "Why are you questioning it? Why can't you be a perfect little obedient slave like Naraka? If I wanted him to lick my calves, he would! No questions asked!" She turned to the black and silver-clothed Sweep. "Naraka! Lick my calves!"

Tamara started flailing his hands. "No no no, Naraka! I get it-"

Naraka knelt down and lifted up Marissa's dress, then began licking each of her calves. He showed no hesitation whatsoever while Tamara just stared, creeped out. He wasn't surprised though, because he had come to expect bizarre, unorthodox things from Lord Arkana. As Naraka kept licking Marissa's calves, Tamara thought back and remembered the time Marissa went into Castle Town on Halloween to trick-or-treat and smacked everyone in the head who put pretzels and Mushrooms in her bucket. She had said she was trying to gather Fire Flowers for a special spell, but Tamara knew it was just an excuse for her to go into town and mess with the populace. The only reason Marissa was able to get away with it is because people thought that she was wearing a costume.

"I haven't bathed in a week!" Marissa thought aloud. "Or was it a month? I don't know; I get those two confused a lot. Anyways, I haven't had a night out in a while, so please don't try to ruin it! Besides, we'll catch up to her not long after she stops wherever she is. Cerberus is a fast-moving hound." She peered down at her legs. "That's good, Naraka. As much as I'd love for you to continue, you've proven my point. You are my favorite of the Sweeps, you know."

"That's just demeaning!" Tamara cried out. "Have you no dignity, Naraka?"

"Lord Arkana's demands always take priority above all else," Naraka replied, shrugging. He stuck his hand in his mouth to pull out a few hairs that got caught on his tongue.

Tamara rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Kiss up."

"I can have him do much worse," the demon witch sang. "Since you obviously still need some more examples on how to act..."

"No, Lord Arkana!" Tamara exclaimed. "That's not necessary!"

Marissa cupped her hands and started batting her eyelids. "Oh, Naraka!"

"Hey look!" Tamara screamed, pointing ahead. "What's that down on the ground?!"

Several dozen yards in front of them were the disheveled remains of Metal Mario abandoned towards the side of the path. Neva's icicles remained intact in the metal figure.

"Heel!" Marissa commanded, bringing Cerberus to a stop. Marissa, Naraka, and Tamara dismounted the great hellhound to look over the discarded mess of metal.

"Is this linked to the Sarasa girl in any way?" Tamara wondered aloud.

"I don't know," said Naraka. "But then again, I recall having seen an animated metal form a little more than a week ago around here. Whether or not this is the same body is beyond me."

Marissa smirked. "Naraka, cast the Stealth Spell to conceal our energy signatures for the duration of the remaining darkness." The demon witch then snapped her fingers, causing a mystic book to appear in the air in front of her. Without even touching the book, she flipped through the pages to look for one of many magical skills to make use of. When she found her desired spell, she dismissed the book and made a quartet of hand signs paired with the word, "Reversion." A beam of golden light bolted from her left hand over the ruined pile of metal, pulling the pieces together and warping them back into place to recreate Metal Mario in its entirety.

Ah, the Reversion Spell, Naraka noted in his mind. A spell that reverts inorganic objects back to a previous state. You've collected a lot of spells over the years, Lord Arkana. I hope to have my own Book of Spells like you one day, and perhaps become an even better spellcaster than you...

"There, I fixed you," Marissa said to Metal Mario. "Now get the hell outta my face."

Metal Mario flinched as if it were surprised, and then looked around the landscape before wandering off into the distance. It looked aimless and confused in its movements, but it was soon out of sight. Tamara then turned to Marissa and asked, "Why did you do that, Lord Arkana? That's completely unlike you."

Marissa gave a coy smile. "What? I've been alive for how long now? I can't do a little charitable thing for once?"

Daisy and Neva made good time dashing along the outer boundaries of Castle Town to get down to just inside Birabuto Kingdom territory. The transformation noticeably altered Daisy's gait. Her run imitated that of a feral beast, and now that she was walking, she was hunched over and lumbering ahead instead of making tall and upright strides. They were only a few minutes into the Birabuto Kingdom when they reached a small outpost tower covered overhead by trees and foliage.

"You think Marissa knows that we're here?" Daisy asked.

"Let's hope not," replied Neva. "It took too long for us to get here, even with us running."

Daisy suddenly gasped and reached behind her back. "My backpack! My backpack's gone!"

"What are you talking about?" Neva muttered. "You were never wearing one!"

"Yes I was!" Daisy snapped. "It was black, and I was wearing it when I met you! But then – damn! You know what; I didn't walk into Castle Town with it on! It must have ripped off of me during my tussle with Metal Mario!"

"What did you have in there?"

"Food, for one!" Daisy cried out. "Man, I'm starving! I could down a four-pound burger right about now! Oh wait, I'm a beast now... I could down an eight-pound burger right about now!"

Neva smacked herself in the face. "Anything significant?"

"Well, I should've had my World Map in there too, I think. Also had two spare sets of clothes just like the ones I have on now."

"Well, you're at a loss. We can't retrace steps right now! You're just going to have to go out and look for it at a later date and hope nobody finds it."

Daisy sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. There's more important and immediate things to worry about. So where are the other resistance members?"

"They should be inside," replied Neva. "I don't know how long we've actually been out, but I hope I don't have to go in and wake them up. They said they wouldn't sleep until I returned-"

A koopa poked his head out from one of the windows up in the tower. "Neva? Is that you? Who's that next to you? Hold on, we're coming down!"

"Wow," Neva muttered. "All the Teeheespressos in the world would not have been able to keep me up this late if I knew that there was a bed right behind me. Anyways, you'll see that the density of the forests starts dissipating around here. Further out west is where the desert begins and where the abandoned pyramids lie."

"Abandoned?" Daisy asked. "Interesting. I don't remember them being abandoned."

"Well, it's a pretty dead place," the ice wielder answered. "That's essentially where the stone environment begins, but, then again, you used to live in Sarasaland, so I'm sure you should know the general layout of the nation."

That's right, Daisy thought. Just because Sarasaland is an earth-dominant nation doesn't mean it's entirely an earth environment. The Birabuto Kingdom's strictly a stone environment once out in the desert. The Muda Kingdom is both a stone and water environment, but that's because it's made up of the mountain ranges that run along the southeast coastline that borders the sea. The Easton Kingdom is nothing but a collection of several dozen islands out in the ocean off the east coast, north of Muda, but south of Chai. Good to see I still remember all of this nation's core geography. As far as the expanded geography that is the consequence of my father, I have no idea...

"Not many people would like to inhabit an area filled with Boos, zombies, mummies, and Dry Bones all strolling around," Neva continued. "It wasn't always like that, but regardless, I'd blame it on Marissa's recent meddling. All the residents of the Birabuto Kingdom are more towards the boundary with the Castle Town district and away from the desert now."

"The more I hear about this demon witch, the more wicked she sounds," Daisy remarked as the doors at the base of the tower opened. "But that's alright – the more wicked the enemy, the more exciting the battle."

"So, Daisy," Neva began, pointing to each person as they walked out from the doors of the tower. "These are our current members; including myself, he's Darmani, an earth wielder and the one who called out to us from the window. She's Jade, a stone wielder. And he's Elliot, a light wielder."

There were no surprises in the appearance of any of two of the three elemental wielders just introduced. Darmani was a large koopa who looked to be in the same apparel as Daisy, except he had a more even distribution of black and silver as opposed to Daisy's almost exclusively black outfit. Jade was a typical stone wielding girl in a brown jacket, tan pants, and gunmetal gray shirt and boots. Elliot, however, looked like a classical god in his white, black, and gold ornamental attire. The sparkle in his eyes and on his teeth were visible even in the darkness of the early morning much like his glossy, flowing blonde hair. Daisy couldn't help but notice Neva's coquettish gaze fixed upon Elliot and had to suppress a laugh.

"You made it back so late!" exclaimed Jade. "We started to wonder if Marissa killed you or if you got caught by King Sarasa's police!"

"Is this a new recruit or a new pet?" asked Elliot.

"Nah, it doesn't look like a pet," said Darmani. "Rather, it looks more like a severely deformed human."

"You know, nine hours ago, I looked nothing like this," muttered Daisy.

Darmani pointed a finger in surprise. "It talks!"

"Of course she does, bonehead," said Neva. "She's just a human who's been mutated by Marissa."

"Ouch," Jade whispered. "That sucks."

Daisy raised an eyebrow when Jade didn't say anything more. "Yeah. It sure does suck." Out of politeness, she refrained from adding the extra sass that was just itching to come out of her.

"So, Daisy was it?" Darmani asked.

"Yeah," Neva answered before the Kruna of Earth could reply herself. "She's King Sarasa's daughter."

"Is she our hostage?" Elliot asked.

Neva nodded. "Yeah."

"What?!" Daisy shouted.

"Well, technically!" Neva muttered. "I did say that you either had to join us or die, so that's not too far off from being a hostage, is it not? You're just not held down and cuffed."

Daisy sucked her teeth and then grunted and shook her head. "Alright, you know what – fine. Whatever. Can we just move on?"

"I sense some impatience," Elliot murmured. Daisy just stared at the light wielder with a blank expression, holding back another snappy comeback she knew she wanted to let out.

"Darmani," said Neva. "I was just telling your fellow dirt-eater here about some of the changes that have been made in Sarasaland during her absence."

"There's definitely been some changes around here in the handful of years I've been gone," stated Daisy.

"You say 'fellow' as if she's my equal," Darmani muttered. "But I am an elite earth wielder, far more experienced and tested than she could ever be, I guarantee that! I'm named after an ancient hero, you know!"

Daisy flicked her now clawed hand at the koopa to dismiss his statement. "That's your opinion. All I'm concerned with getting done right now is taking down that witch and getting my father off the throne."

"And you probably want to change back to your normal self, right?" asked Elliot.

"Yeah," replied the Kruna of Earth with a nod.

Neva turned back to Daisy. "So returning to the subject matter, that's the whole deal with the Birabuto Kingdom here. Birabuto Kingdom's deserts are a bad place to be. Too much open space; keeping a base concealed is not possible unless built underground, and we already decided that we weren't going to go through that route. So our current spot here is the best place to set up HQ for now."

"The Easton Kingdom has quieted down, so that could be a future possibility," Jade said. "Ever since King Sarasa began expanding Sarasaland out west, people have moved inland and deserted the islands. Even though the population is now pretty low and the area has been reserved primarily for wildlife, Easton Kingdom still remains one of the prominent features of Sarasaland."

"And we should all know the deal with what's going on deep within the Chai Kingdom's Deep Wood region," Elliot added.

"And what about the territories my dad has taken over?" asked Daisy.

"Still just that," replied Elliot. "Territories. They've been annexed, but have not been formed into new kingdoms...yet, that is."

"He'll get around to it," Neva muttered. "It's what he does best."

"If you're the king's daughter, then where have you been all this time?" Elliot asked the Kruna of Earth.

"I've been over on the western continent," Daisy said. "I've done a lot of training; general, sport-specific, combat; you know."

"My parents actually came from the West," said Darmani. "I was too young to remember much about what happened or why, but we had to move out here to the eastern side of the world to the area just west of Sarasaland."

"All of us are former outsiders of Sarasaland," Elliot said. "We're from regions that used to be neighboring sovereign countries to Sarasaland before King Sarasa moved in and took over. You can say that we wanted to get our independence back in the beginning, but we've since seen that Sarasaland itself is suffering from the king's actions and therefore decided to take the initiative ourselves to remove him from office."

"He's expanded to take up just over half of the East," Jade added. "He doesn't have any plans of stopping, and few have any intentions of intervening."

"We had a fifth member with us, but he was killed a few weeks ago," said Neva. "Anton was his name, an ice wielder like me and the most powerful person of our group when he was alive. He was an awesome friend."

"It was a shame to see him go the way he did," Darmani muttered. "Marissa Arkana restrained him and ripped his head off in front of all of us. It was our first encounter with that demon witch, and man, that image is plastered in our minds!"

Neva took a deep breath. "I don't wanna think about it, Darmani. Too depressing. Besides, we've got someone we need to meet with now that can be a valuable asset to our cause..."

Peach leaned over the balcony on the top level of her castle, staring out into the setting sun. Things had been real quiet for her and the Mushroom Kingdom for weeks. It felt like ages to her though, because her kingdom had been through so much over the years that it was hard to just slow down and accept that there was an ongoing pleasant period for her and her people.

I should not take for granted these peaceful times, she thought to herself. It's times like these that need to be treasured. The whole kingdom is at rest, but yet I don't feel it myself. There's so much that needs to be done. The current state of the Mushroom Kingdom does not reflect the state of the entire world.

Princess Toadstool cupped her hands together in front of her chest, sending out a prayer. "The world is so cruel, the world is so unjust. Please, let it all end. Please, bring an end to the vile malevolence that plagues our planet. Let these peaceful times in our kingdom expand out into the world around us and extend throughout time."

A translucent image of Bowser faded into Peach's vision over the horizon. The Koopa King looked tranquil and serene. All the confined tension was gone from his face and body. He looked no more menacing than Mario or Luigi or Toad or Yoshi.

"You've taught me a lot, Bowser," Peach murmured. "I feel like I am a much better leader now than I was in the past. Actions have repercussions. Actions have consequences. Both the aggressor and the effected need to be aware of such things. I'm grateful that you had an understanding of my circumstances and why I did what I did years ago. The world could use more people like you." She paused for a brief moment. "The past me would have never said that because she was too self-absorbed, more concerned with what happened to her kingdom and what happened to herself than she was with being considerate of those outside of the Mushroom Kingdom. The Mushroom Kingdom was doing too much of all the wrong things to try and remedy its dark times, and you and your Koopa Clan got caught in our crosshairs. You sought revenge for so long, but you've managed to let it go..." The image of Bowser faded away several seconds later.

Maybe I should stop by Bowser's Palace again tomorrow, she thought. I haven't seem him since last week, and I didn't get to finish talking to him or saying everything I wanted to say. I wonder what he and his group of friends have been up to since then.

"So we need you all to come with us!" Neva declared. "We have to go to the base of the Muda Kingdom mountain ranges!"

"And if this Geno guy is an enemy?" Darmani asked. "Or better yet, if he's an accomplice to either the king or the demon witch?"

Neva smirked. "Even if he does turn out to be against us, we can all take him down, right Elliot?"

"I'm pretty sure I can handle anything this time," stated Elliot. "I think you guys should leave Marissa to me when next we come across her."

"With all due respect, Elliot, I need to take my shot at her," said Daisy.

Neva gasped and raised her leg to stomp down on Daisy's foot, drawing a dog-like whimper from the mutated Kruna of Earth. "You had your shot at her, Sarasa, now leave it in the hands of someone more capable! This guy is the strongest, fastest, toughest, most powerful, most agile, and smartest one we've got on the team, you hear me? He's becoming a true asset the better he gets!" With a sharp raise in her tone, she added. "Don't question him!"

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm that good in all those areas," Elliot replied. "I will say though that I pride myself in being an expert with a sword, spear, hammer, ax, tonfa, shuriken, recurve bow, rifle, lance, and the occasional nunchaku – which I happen to have holstered to my belt right now!"

"Interestingly enough, he seems to pick up anything and everything very fast!" Jade added.

Darmani nodded. "I have to admit; if there's anyone on the team to lean on and trust with our fates at this point, it's Elliot. This guy's a beast."He paused and looked at Daisy, thinking he needed to correct himself. "Figuratively, that is."

"Really, I've achieved too many accolades for my efforts," Elliot remarked with remorse. Though he seemed at least a little humble, Daisy could tell that he was relishing all the praise. "I can't remember most of them because there's so many! That includes certificates, awards, prizes, trophies, and all the like. Most of them were unearned. I could have done better to achieve them."

"What have you accomplished in your time, earth-digger?" Neva asked Daisy.

"Well, I have one Striker Cup Championship title," Daisy noted.

"Oh, just one?" Elliot asked. "That's alright. You'll get your time to shine."

"Hey! I also have a couple Olympic gold medals!" the Kruna of Earth added.

Jade almost sounded like she was trying to comfort and support Daisy, saying to her, "Oh, good for you!" Darmani put two thumbs up and grinned with his mouth wide open.

"Unbelievable," Daisy muttered. "Look, I'm sorry I'm not perfect perfection! I don't feel bad because I'm not as awesome as he is, you know!"

"Good to know that you've come to terms with your mediocrity," said Neva.

Daisy started growling. I swear, I haven't gotten a break ever since I arrived here, she scowled in her mind.

"How about we get as much rest as we can while it's still dark and then head out to see Geno during the day?" Elliot suggested. Without any surprise, no one objected to the light wielder's statement. Daisy wanted to object and demand that they all go to Geno now, but with the way everyone was idolizing Elliot, she decided to just keep quiet out of pure annoyance.

Jade started to lead the way to the tower doors, followed by Darmani with Neva and Daisy both close behind. Elliot took one step forward, and then none more. Everyone turned around to see what caused the light wielder to let loose a painful, disgruntled shriek. At that moment, a long, brown metal pole stabbed through Elliot's chest from behind him. No one was able to pick up on any hostile energy signatures, so all were in shock when Elliot stumbled forward several steps to reveal Marissa Arkana standing right behind him. The demon witch yanked on her broom to pull it free from the light wielder's body, causing him to let out an agonizing scream. Marissa was grinning, her fangs visible and flaring. From behind the demon witch came Naraka and Tamara riding atop the monstrous Cerberus. The fiendish dog's hot breath was clearly discernible in the darkness. No one else dared move.

"How..." Neva whimpered. "MARISSA!"

"We've never seen THAT before!" Jade cried out, pointing at Cerberus.

"Hey man!" Darmani called out at Elliot, the light wielder struggling to stand up. "Turn around! Say something!"

"For what?" Marissa asked. "He's dead. Get over it. You bunch of babies."

"I'm...not...dead yet..." Elliot grunted out before finally collapsing onto the ground. He was motionless the moment he fell, and remained on the ground.

"I'm not dead yet," Marissa nasally repeated. "Last words spoken by Mr. Perfect. Yeah, my Sweeps and I heard his bragging and gloating, but apparently, we're the only ones who did."

Like a flash of lightning, Neva pulled out her Frost Crossbow and shot two large ice arrows at the demon witch. They punctured and stabbed into her upper chest much like the witch's broom went through Elliot, but didn't accomplish much else. Marissa simply stripped out the ice arrows and crushed them in her free hand.

"You call that an attack?" Marissa taunted. "Dear lord – get it together." She turned to Daisy, who looked like she was trying to manipulate the ground around them in some kind of way. The Kruna of Earth was having obvious difficulty trying to do anything with her element. When she finally got some control, all she could muster was a floating, clunky mound of mud, clay, and soil. Marissa watched Daisy's struggles with squinted eyes and conceitedness. "Having problems, Sarasa?"

Daisy didn't answer verbally, instead opting to hurl the mass at Lord Arkana right away. Marissa shot a bolt of power from her broom to blast apart the earthen heap with minimal effort. Disappointment and confusion continued easing their way into Daisy's psyche.

"So I am the better earth wielder!" Darmani proclaimed.

"This transformation's been a real pain!" Daisy grunted. "Damn, I never thought I'd say this, but I hate my body!"

"Aw, sweetie," Marissa began as she floated into the air. "You just gotta accept who you are!" She drifted backwards towards Cerberus and perched herself on top of the monstrous creature, joining her two Sweeps.

I can't go into Nova Form, and my control over earth is limited, Daisy mused. How do I fight in this bestial shape? I'm vulnerable...

"Hey koopa!" Marissa called out at Darmani. "Where'd you get that shirt of yours?"

Darmani pulled on his cloth. "Uh...let me think-"

"Just kidding!" Marissa cackled. "I don't care." She poked the bristles of her broom into Cerberus' skin. The great hellhound charged up a devastating sphere of energy through each of his heads and fired the three orbs of power at the tower. The elemental wielders all dove forward and away from the tower as the blasts rocketed through the air, blowing the construct and its surrounding trees into oblivion.

"No!" Jade shouted. "Why the tower?!"

"Nice devastating monster," Marissa cooed, stroking Cerberus' back. "That's a good nightmarish creature. Who's my favorite harbinger of destruction? You are! Yes you are!"

"First you kill Elliot, then you ruin our base," Neva snarled, her volume increasing with each word. "No more from you, you damn witch! Jade; let it loose!"

Jade pulled out the massive hammer she had strapped across her back and dashed forward at Cerberus. Daisy followed, flanked by Neva with her Frost Bayonet readied on her crossbow and Darmani with two mounds of earth trailing him. In a simultaneous offensive, Jade slammed her hammer into one of Cerberus' legs, Neva slashed at another of Cerberus' legs, and Darmani slammed the two heaps of earth into one of Cerberus' heads. Daisy put together what was supposed to be her high-speed Crystal Kick that instead ended up being a collection of shards and soil suspended around her foot and landed a hit on the same leg Neva slashed at. The attacks angered the great hellhound, who charged more spheres of power from his mouth to blast at the elemental wielders. This time, one head of the hellhound created a spheroid of fire, the other made one of ice, and the final head made one of gusting, shredding winds. The hellhound released the blasts, prompting the elemental wielders to evade and cut out of the way. Neva countered the fire blast with a stream of snow from her Frost Bayonet while the other two blasts hit the ground. Cerberus then leapt high into the air and slammed his legs onto the ground, creating a massive shockwave that knocked all the elemental wielders off of their feet. With the momentary cease in action, Cereberus lumbered over to Elliot's dead body and scooped the light wielder's entire corpse up into one of his heads. The elemental wielders returned to their feet with the sound of crunching bones in their ears.

"Hey!" Marissa screamed at her hellhound. "What do you think you're doing? You know I like the thighs!" Cerberus took a couple more chews with its full mouth and swallowed, inciting frustration from Lord Arkana. "Why didn't you save me a thigh?!" she hollered, flailing her arms.

Jade's mouth was agape after witnessing Cerberus devour and swallow Elliot's body. "Okay... I did not need to see that. Not at all..."

Neva took aim with her crossbow and fired an ice arrow at Marissa's head, but Cerberus' shift in posture angled the demon witch just out of the way. Off into the distance went the arrow, having came closer to striking Tamara than Marissa.

"Hey! You almost took off my head with that!" Tamara screamed.

"No one should wish to antagonize me when I've just been denied a meal," Marissa snarled. "Cerberus!"

The monstrous hellhound howled into the sky. Three large prisms of lightning appeared high overhead and began rotating around the battlefield. Energy crackled, and within seconds, bolts of electricity bolted down to the ground. Neva, Daisy, and Darmani all slipped to the sides of the columns of lightning as they struck, but Jade was not so lucky. The stone wielder got caught and was zapped for several seconds on end before the lightning prisms ceased their fire and dissipated. Charred and burnt, Jade was still alive... but only barely.

"Damn it!" Marissa shouted. "If you're going to cook the meat, don't burn it! Bad dog! Naughty, naughty boy!" The demon witch proceeded to wag her finger at her frowning and whimpering hellhound.

Jade staggered around in haphazard fashion, too dazed and confused to make out anything. Seeing the vulnerable stone wielder wide open to attack, Daisy, Neva, and Darmani all rushed in front of Jade to defend her.

"Oh please!" Tamara shouted. He and Naraka both stood up on top of Cerberus' back to fire off two bolts of erratic energy. Daisy and Darmani combined their efforts to raise a wall of earth up from the ground, the Kruna of Earth's handicapped elemental capacities this time offset by working in conjunction with another earth wielder. Upon contacting the barrier, the blasts created an explosion that pushed back and scattered the elemental wielders. Unable to defend herself, Jade was left vulnerable to a finishing blow. Through the residual haze and dust, Cerberus dashed to the stone wielder and threw two slashes at her with his claws. Her severely debuffed body could not handle the ripping from Cerberus. By the time Cerberus leapt back and away, Jade was no more.

"Rest in pieces," Marissa murmured, waving her hand.

"You're gonna pay for the tower, and you're gonna definitely pay for Elliot and Jade!" Darmani howled. The koopa pulled out two bunches of bob-ombs – four to each hand – and got set to hurl them. Neva shot a round of four ice arrows from her crossbow at Cerberus' feet, pinning the hellound's two front limbs to the ground.

"Whoa, we gotta move!" Tamara yelled to Naraka. The two Sweeps disembarked from Cerberus' back, but Marissa oddly decided to stay atop the great hellhound. Lord Arkana watched as eight bob-bombs soared through the air and made contact with Cerberus. Unable to move, Cerberus could do nothing to save himself from the highly volatile explosives.

Bright colors lit up the sky, and clouds of smoke and ash billowed from the site of impact. Daisy, Neva, and Darmani all put up their guards to minimize any collateral damage from the massive eruption of gaseous flames and combustion. Darmani was impulsive and chucked the bob-bombs when they were just inside the radius of the explosives' range. Tamara and Naraka were behind where Cerberus was and were kept out of range and safe. By the time the atmosphere settled, a mottled and gory corpse of half of Cerberus remained, while the other half was pulverized and liquefied. Marissa did get caught up in the blast, but the battlefield had cleared to reveal that she had a shielding outline around her body. Reveling in the looks of indignation and furious disappointment plastered on the elemental wielders' faces, the demon witch started chuckling a wicked chuckle that escalated into laughter and finally strengthened further into maniacal cackling.

"Why are you laughing?!" Daisy shouted. "Can't you see what just happened to your beloved pet?"

Marissa's laughing transitioned into a sly, devilish grin. "I could have easily saved Cerberus with one of my spells; I could have saved him just as I saved myself. You gave me enough time to react, but he was too weak for my tastes as he was."

Darmani's eyes went wide. "You intentionally let him get wasted like that? But why? Because he wasn't as powerful as you wanted? That's beyond cold. You're just a sociopath!"

"I prefer the term, 'unique,' koopa," Marissa said with the most fiendish arrogance Daisy ever heard. "Cerberus can not be defeated, just as I can not be defeated."

"What are you saying?" Neva demanded.

"Fools," Marissa snarled. "Cerberus is birth, Cerberus is life, Cerberus is death. You destroy him now, he will be revived at a later date more powerful than before. All you did was delay your fates as his meal." She paused, putting up a hand across her chest with two fingers up. "But then again, who said I was gonna let you live long enough to be eaten?"

A quick flash occurred in the irises of the demon witch. Her bangs underneath her hat parted down the middle to fully expose her fleur-de-lis marking on her forehead. The X-marking on her forehead fleur-de-lis horizontally split, easing open to reveal a slightly larger third eye. Daisy wasn't sure of it, but there was something particularly malevolent about Marissa's now revealed eye, a kind of vile malevolence that she was able to sense and feel on a level beyond the physical realm.

"The Malocchio," Darmani murmured. "The Malocchio Eye..."

"Only I have the eyes to oversee Sarasaland," Marissa taunted, charging energy through her Mystic Broom. With a slash from her broom, a bolt of energy flew free from the bristles and struck the ground directly in front of Darmani. The blast sent the koopa airborne and rocketing far away. Darmani was still soaring when he flew off into the distance and out of sight.

"Darmani!" Neva screamed.

"My aim with three eyes is a little rusty," muttered the demon witch. At the snap of her fingers, Tamara and Naraka ran over to stand to either side of Lord Arkana. "I don't like to use such an energy-expensive ability in combat, but it doesn't matter. I love instilling fear almost as much as anger and distaste. If he's smart, he won't make his way back here."

Four ice arrows formed on Neva's Crossbow. "If you're smart, you won't move and you'll let me fire off as many arrows as it takes to render you and your two Sweeps an equal or greater mess than your overgrown, 'roided-out dog!" She aimed her elemental tool directly at the demon witch.

"Comical," Tamara snided. "But then again, isn't she the one that did away with Kenn and Cephas?"

"She is," said Naraka. "To me, it seems that this little ice wielder is a far more significant threat to us than that Sarasa girl."

Marissa began laughing once again. "I find it funny that the Sarasa girl has been mostly ineffective for the duration of our conflict! What's wrong? You're not taking the Betedaimon venom well? I wonder if using it on your father would invoke a similar effect!"

Furious and loathing of her new body, Daisy could not come up with any kind of response to the demon witch. The Kruna of Earth was entirely outmatched and accomplished next to nothing in this battle. Self-hatred bubbled and churned within her with the awareness of what transpired and what she was unable to do. Two people were stripped of their lives in front of her and another was blasted out of the area; all she perceived to be preventable had she not failed to respond. But what can I do in my current state? she wondered. I'm not at all used to this form and I can barely manage to wield the earth! Is the earth betraying me now? Why is it resisting me – or am I resisting it? Or maybe the earth's just not accepting me and my tainted self anymore! She gazed down at her hands and started to quiver with rage. What's going on?! What's wrong with me?!

"A pitiable being," Lord Arkana cooed. "Too bad I don't believe in pity..." Her Malocchio eye produced a shining glare even in the darkness of the early morning hours.

Feeling ever so helpless, powerless, confused, and even more furious than ever before, the bestial Kruna of Earth emitted a harsh, grating growl from deep within the soul far more savage than most of the other wildlife inhabiting Sarasaland. The animalistic behavior managed to incite fear within Neva, who looked back at her remaining partner and wondered if she better aim her arrows at the raging beast near her.

"That's just what an animal would do," Marissa said in between chuckles. "Once there's no escape, the feral beast cries out to the heavens through an enraged outburst in the hopes of freeing itself from its dangers, but to no avail, for you see, I am the ultimate hunter. I am superior to Fawful, I am superior to Dimentio, I am superior to Osiris, and yes, soon I will be superior to even the Shadow Queen herself!"

Neva peered back at Marissa. "You're a madman – I mean, woman!"

"You're damn skippy!" the demon witch replied. "And I'd make a much better overlord than King Sarasa! I'm adorabubble!"

"Daisy..." murmured Neva. "Is that you in there?"

Daisy was hunched forward on all fours, almost to the point of imitating Donkey Kong. Profuse trembling dominated her body, a certain calling trying to overtake her. But she retained control of herself and didn't give in to that invasive, primal urge that would have likely lashed out at Marissa and Neva both.

"Daisy..." Neva repeated.

"...I'm fine," the Kruna of Earth grunted out.

"Not for long," Marissa said in a near whisper. "Now feel the wrath of my Malocchio Eye. Allow me to work you two to the brink of insanity...and beyond..."

Marissa was ready to exploit one of the Malocchio Eye's abilities, but did not activate her eye fast enough. A beam of light shot down from the air, serving as the vessel upon which a figure touched down to the ground in front of Daisy and Neva. As the light evaporated, the earth and ice wielders both recognized the newcomer as Geno. The cosmic being's arrival drew a scowling bout of anger upon Marissa's expression and caused Tamara and Naraka both to take a couple cautious steps backwards.

"Stay behind me, you two," Geno said to Daisy and Neva. "I will take over from here."

"You..." Lord Arkana hissed at the newcomer.