Through flames and slashing talons, Shalazia manoeuvred awkwardly over the ruins. Even with multiple limbs at her disposal, it was hard to keep balanced in the fight. Something was wrong with that overgrown turtle, there was a wildness in his eyes that had been absent before now. Then again, what else would she expect from any kind of Koopa? They were little better than monsters as far as she cared, and like any monster she had every right to defeat it in combat. Shalazia ducked and dodged wildly as Bowser kept lunging and clawing at her like a savage beast. In the mess of it all she realised he had dropped Ludwig somewhere.
"Enough!" Shalazia snarled at Bowser, she felt her crystallised form twist and contort to ensnare her opponent. She lifted him with ease and growled "Where is he!?"
Bowser struggled against the tendrils choking the life out of him. It felt that wherever they touched they were leaching all his strength. His answer was to breathe fire in her face.
Shalazia spluttered and coughed as the flames rolled over her, more of an inconvenience rather than anything painful. However it had caused enough of a distraction that she didn't even see the following sneak attack. The red plumber had darted among the ruins and was now about to smash her in the face with his fist. She swerved her monstrous form to avoid the attack only to be met with Wario's fist. The sudden impact swayed her, forcing her to drop Bowser.
"You alright?" Mario called as he joined Bowser. Wario was frantically leaping, punching and kicking to distract Shalazia from them as he led her to the central podium again.
The Koopa King growled "I had her! …but thanks anyway."
"This is getting worse, the others are trying to figure a way out of here."
Bowser glanced to the edge of the chamber where Gallileo and Fandango were mulling over another runic circle. Opposite them were Peach and Luigi, who were tending to a disorientated Ludwig. He warned carefully "Don't let her grab you, it's like she absorbs your strength."
Mario nodded back "I suspected as much, Ludwig's not looking too good after all… and who knows how long he was subjected to her magic."
"Anyway, can't let Wario steal all the glory." Bowser dusted himself off and charged back towards the boss fight.
Wario was a surprisingly agile opponent, he darted between the deluge of raining crystal spears to bound up the side of her monstrous form. He'd then mockingly punch her and bound back to safety to begin another similar pattern of attack. At this point Shalazia found her form to be too weak, she was not used to commanding such a giant form and she was making simple mistakes. One of such was leaving herself open to a back attack, she cried out as something smashed into her back. She looked up just to see a giant, spiked shell spin past. It rebounded off Wario's kick and mowed through half of her legs causing her to collapse in a heap.
Shalazia began to panic, these dim-witted heroes were teaming together against her and where were her legions of pixelated minions!? The spawning towers had collapsed and she had little time to risk conjuring more. Had her intelligence lied to her? These idiots were assumed to be enemies so why would they be helping each other!? In frustration she let out a howling pixelated squeal.
Everyone instinctively covered their ears at the echoing cry coming from Shalazia. Peach nervously gazed upon her and felt pity for the broken princess of the Arcane Kingdom. She then noticed Ludwig weakly gesturing to her and Luigi to join the fight while he hobbled over to Fandango and Gallileo.
Luigi remarked nervously as he came to his brother's side "So I take it that we're going to be fighting rather crazily, like in those weird dreams with the floating hands and all those other people that seem really familiar but we have no idea who they were."
Mario snapped his fingers "Yes, exactly like that. We need to go that level of crazy."
Wario interjected "Wait, you guys had that same dream too!?"
"Yes, it was very weird and awkward and I still don't know how to feel about it." Bowser shook his head and folded his arms "I kind of feel like I need to get the contact details of that giant, boar monster guy with the red hair and dark skin but I can't remember his name."
Peach shook her head "Please don't."
Wario then pointed to Shalazia "On another note… what is going on with her?"
They collectively watched in horror as Shalazia continued to screech erratically. More arms, more legs, more eyes and mouths erupted from her disfigured body. The skeletal frame of wings emerged from what they assumed to be her back as they danced with pixelated miasma. The faint traces of her human form had been torn asunder by the polygonal mess she had become. The remains of her face were still concentrated at the head of this horrific, shimmering beast, only now they moved between cackling insanely and weeping inconsolably.
Fandango dumbly remarked "Wow… Gaia I think you went a little crazy with the design of the Prism Star. I've never this level of abstraction in magic before…"
Gallileo continued sliding panels in the floor to rearrange the runes "All the more reason to get in touch with the one person who wasn't broken by being trapped in it."
"Perhaps a beacon of darkness needs a spell of that element in play." Ludwig offered, wincing as he knelt down to Gallileo's level. He helped finish shifting the runes then chanted to himself softly in a long forgotten language. The runes ignited then dimmed with inky blackness as they began to twirl like the combination lock of a safe. The space within the ring began to collapse in itself finally erupting in a vortex or spiralling darkness.
Mario couldn't believe it as he saw the pillar of shadows engulf a third of the chamber "What now!?"
Bowser stamped his feet "Ludwig! STOP PLAYING WITH SHADOW MAGIC!"
"Wait a minute… something is coming out of it!?" Peach nearly fell back as she same something moving within the vortex.
The first to emerge was Diabella who was more unimpressed rather than horrified by the state of the chamber and her sister. She sighed to herself "Shalazia… I told you not to reform the Prism Star, but no, you didn't want to listen, did you?" She pulled off one of her gloves to reveal a crystallised hand "You knew what you were in for when I showed you this a few centuries back!"
Shalazia growled then turned to face her sibling with a cold, seething rage "I thought that was because you're not good with magic."
"True, but even I could see that your obsession with the Prism Star was not going to end well." Diabella attempted a different way of reasoning with her sister "Shalazia… we don't need to do this. You have nothing to prove to Lentinellus and I don't get why you're so obsessed with him. Please just stop all of this. Let these bystanders go home so we don't ever bother them again. We can just talk and work things out from there. I'm sure you'll be welcome in Rhapsody, even as a giant crystallised creature. We don't judge."
"Oh dear sister, I don't think you have any right to comment on my choice in men." Shalazia's brow furrowed like someone was urinating in public "After all, you loved Agaricus… you loved that short, fat, ugly, albino hack of a magician or was he a painter? I don't know or care!? With a pointy tooth that stuck out of his mouth and that ghastly cackle. Come now, he didn't even lose weight until you were dead."
"Is now really the best time to bring this up? I mean with everything… right, fine, you want to talk about this, fine." Diabella blankly replied "That was because he was worshipping the Dark Star and the Dark Star… takes a lot from you so you end up really physically sick by the end of it." She tried to give her sister a last chance to see reason "What about Agaricus? What are you trying to say?"
"That because you loved that repulsive, fat, disgusting, useless, slob of a man that you have no right to comment on matters of the heart when clearly yours is so misaligned. There's no way you could ever understand my love for Lentinellus when your ideal man is so warped and ugly."
"You did not just say that." Peach warily commented, seeing the rage build in Diabella's face as she grit her teeth.
Gallileo sighed "That is a low blow. Even for you, Shalazia."
Ludwig growled "You do realise you've literally become a giant crystal horror beyond comprehension for that guy."
Fandango nodded wisely "I know, no one should make that change for someone else. You should be doing it because you want to."
Diabella shook her hands but found herself unable to keep calm. Instantly she lunged forward, bounding over all manner of fallen crystals and ruins with ease, clambering up Shalazia's twisted form to meet her face to face in a matter of seconds. Diabella then clenched a fist and smashed her sister right in the face… then did again… and again… and again… while cursing her sister in a stream of rage filled gibberish.
Wario tilted his head as he watched with mesmerised curiosity "This is brutal… even by my standards."
Bowser nervously chuckled "She is not getting tired or losing her balance at all… it's impressive."
"So… your sister and this Agaricus guy…" Luigi glanced over to Gallileo and Fandango for answers. The pillar of darkness didn't appear to be receding any time soon.
Fandango laughed and announced "Let's put it this way, if things hadn't gone crazy in the Era of Ire, they would've been married."
Gallileo added as she floated towards them, guiding Ludwig and Fandango away from the mysteriously unstable portal they had just ripped open. "They were very much in love with and dedicated to each other."
"Give her one from me!" Peach exclaimed a little too enthusiastically, she noticed the eyes of her companions fall on her. She shrugged "I have faced similarly cruel comments for my choice in wanting to be with Mario… but I've never been one to erupt like that so… I feel for her… alright."
While all were distracted, the one conjured from the Underwhere had finally arrived. It was a female Koopa, probably taller than Bowser but much lither and leaner. Her body was more serpentine than dragon as it was slender yet muscular. It curved in the vague form of an hourglass to denote her femininity. Yet she still looked terrifying with her menacing talons and claws. A large armoured spiked shell was perched on her shoulders and followed down her spine. It appeared that she had some sort of horned head dress on that divided into tails of false dreadlocks and plumage. Her whole form writhed with shadowy energy, occasionally swirling with violet and red runes. It trailed behind her, giving the illusion of the trail of a gown.
Gemstone studded gold bracelets, armbands and necklace adorned her body. Her headdress was festooned with leather and gold plating bearing the same jewels. Her face was peculiar, a reduced snout to make it seem wider and she had three sharp fangs poking from her upper lip. Two smaller ones were in the corners of her mouth while one poked through in the middle. She narrowed her eyes framed with black ink, slit pupils adding to her intimidating appearance. She stalked forward as the darkness faded, all eyes fell upon her with curiosity while Diabella and Shalazia continued squabbling in the background.
Wario picked his nose casually "And she is? Well, I'm guessing she's a big deal because we've all dramatically stopped what we're doing."
Gallileo bowed to her then announced "This is Lucia, the Champion of the Shadow Queen."
"In the Underwhere, they call her the Onyx Witch." Fandango dramatically bowed.
Ludwig added "My mother…"
Bowser nervously remarked "My older sister."
Peach was surprised by this revelation "You have siblings!?"
"Yeah…"
"How come you never mentioned it? I mean, we've known each other for ages!"
"You never asked so I didn't think it was important."
Lucia carefully surveyed the entirety of the chamber with a bored, dismissive face. She let out a dramatic sigh as she waved her hand to conjure darkness to do her bidding. The umbral talons lashed out to pry Diabella off Shalazia until she hovered face to face with Lucia. "She bad mouthed Agaricus, right?"
Diabella pouted "Yes. It was very much uncalled for."
"Right, well, you have a little time out and calm down, you're no good when you're angry." Lucia turned her attention to Shalazia "And you, look, nice mutation into a horrific monster, great body horror. I almost envy you, but really, did you need to make such a spectacle of it?"
Shalazia fumbled over herself in a sense of whimsy and terror "That power… that aura… you're… are you really the-"
"Yes, your sister was never lying when she said the role of champion had already been taken." As she spoke, Lucia stepped forward to close the gap between her and Shalazia.
Shalazia edged backwards "Then… why are you here?"
"At first I was going to just tell everyone to calm down and do damage control… but, you actively hunted my son." Lucia counted the offences on her claws "Then you disrespect the powerful artefact your sister made all those years ago. Then you irresponsibly used magic beyond your control. Then you annoyed my idiot, little brother but hey… that happens a lot."
Bowser rebuked "I had this whole thing under control before you got here!"
"No you didn't. Why don't you go go-karting or something while I clean up this mess?"
With attention diverted from her, Shalazia found herself phasing out and fading to invisibility, another mysteriously new power from her merging with the Prism Star. She cackled as she vanished into the ether. "It doesn't matter what you are, I'm going to the Star Road to tell Lentinellus all about it and you'll all be sorry you messed with his true love."
Lucia rolled her eyes at Bowser "Well… great, now I have to hunt her. But the Star Road, we could get trouble there."
"I have an idea, but, we're going to need to get out of here first." Diabella offered as she finally freed herself from the shadow talons.
"Alright, you have an idea of where to warp?"
"Rhapsody, dead centre of the Malevolent Mires."
"Oh, I've always wanted to visit your little town." Lucia cracked her knuckles as her form blazed with shadows "Anyway, off we all go!"
The darkness flickered and whirled from Lucia to engulf everyone in that chamber. All senses were snuffed out in a wave of darkness.
