Vincent Koopa woke up and found himself bound and tied to a cross inside of a dark room. He felt a stream of water being poured on the top of his head and spilling onto the floor below before circling a bloody drain. What was this? He didn't know, but he did remember being captured by a pair of spirits before his memory blacked out. He guessed he was somewhere inside a fortress of the UmNaru, probably one of their dungeons. Multiple cries were heard through the stone walls...they were going to torture him, weren't they?

Vincent looked at his open palms. The marks seemed to be untouched by his captors and he wondered if he could unravel the ties around his arms and legs. The water was already beginning to annoy him. He quietly chanted a spell and waited, but nothing happened. The mark of Amura glowed then faded. "What's going on?" Vincent muttered.

A door opened on the far end with a metallic clang. "Magic doesn't work in this room." came a feminine voice. "I wouldn't try that anyway. That's for desperate people."

"Who are you?" Vincent asked, but the wrist straps suddenly tightened, cutting off a part of his blood flow.

"My magic works through." she mentioned. "Be careful with what you say. I don't like to be upset. I've been upset too much lately by these people who say bad things. You can ask me questions, but I better like them." She put on a creepy smile. "Just a warning."

"Okay..." Vincent managed to say as he struggled. "Sorry."

Her eyes suddenly bulged wide. "Never give that sorry shit to me!" she shouted and took a knife from her belt before launching it at the helpless Koopaling. It struck his right shoulder and Vincent gritted his teeth with a growl.

"Now you're gonna cry in pain, aren't you?" she shouted at him. "They all do that, they all cry. I was going to be nice to you because you're a relative, and I don't like killing relatives. So I got you with some simple water torture." While she talked, a poison had spread from the knife throughout the right side of Vincent's body, stopping short of the mark of Amura. His skin turned grey and seemed to slowly whither, but Vincent knew that he could not cry in pain. He could not show any emotion. "I will be fine." he said, almost growling.

"Yeah, dead people are boring." she responded as the straps loosened around his wrists. "They're more fun alive." Her personality suddenly changed and she laughed. "You can call me Tee by the way." she said, walking to the door. "I need to go for a bit. I hope you'll be in a better mood when I get back."

The door slammed shut and Vincent was left alone again, with the poisoned knife still in his shoulder. "I'll be in a better mood." Vincent spat. "Fucking psycho." He looked at the knife and the sickly skin surrounding it. He wondered how he could fix this mess, but the water wouldn't let him think correctly, as it was designed to slowly make him go mad.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Then, the sound of dull thunder was heard over the cries of others and Vincent saw a streak of white flash through the walls for a moment. White magic? How? It didn't matter. Inhaling, Vincent stretched his right hand and waited, hoping another would pass near him. A minute later another did, and muttering an incantation he drew the energy directly to his hand and it spread throughout his body freely. He winced as the knife slowly worked its way out of his shoulder on its own until it fell and clanged on the ground. His skin slowly returned to normal as the small amount of white spectrum tried to heal him. The poison was seemingly gone. However, the magic did not free him from the cross. For now, Vincent focused in healing his wound as his greater concentration was all but subdued by the water that continuously poured over his head.

Eventually, Vincent lost track of time as he became more focused on his stability and became more introverted within himself. He almost didn't hear the door open and close in front of him. Tee appeared with a large bucket in her arms. "Well, aren't you a magician." she flatly commented, noticing her knife now on the floor. "How could you do that with no magic allowed in here? Is there something you should tell me?"

Vincent looked into the bucket and saw a pile of bloody organs. He thought better of his original answer.

"Answer me." she commanded.

"I can't help it." Vincent finally said, unemotionally.

"Yeah, they usually can't." she remarked, walking towards a door to Vincent's left.

"I was born for it." Vincent added. Tee looked at him for a moment before entering the adjacent room. He guessed that Tee probably figured him out by now and would try to stifle the Mark of Amura at some point. In any case, it seemed that white magic had a way of entering the room and he knew that it would probably be his only means of escaping.

"I wouldn't bother trying to get out." said Tee, re-entering the room. "They're going to kill you anyway, in a few hours. I'm sure they'll have your dad watch."

"They will try." Vincent flatly replied.

"They'll cut off your other hand first." Tee said. "I would do it, but that would be boring and I'm in a good mood. Do you know how many I got to kill today?" she asked.

"How many?" Vincent asked.

"5." she said. "They failed us when they captured you, and we got attacked by that Spirit King. They had to be chopped up. They should have done a better job, but their organs are good quality at least. Would be useful for the next ceremony if that guy...didn't want this place destroyed."

Vincent did not respond. Turning, Tee walked back to the door. "Now I have to talk with father, and see where we'll go next. He doesn't like you very much, so...I don't think your treatment will go well when I get back."

"Who is he?" Vincent bluntly asked.

"His name is Narec." she replied before closing the door. She didn't see Vincent's eyes go wide afterwords as he realized the predicament he was in.

"This is bad...I need to get out of here..." he said to himself. If Narec didn't kill him, then she certainly would. Using black magic was useless in this room and so were the other spectrums, with the exception of white. What white spell could help now? White flame? Vincent wondered why he didn't think of that earlier, but the water answered that question for him. He cast the spell, but nothing happened. That's right, he didn't have enough energy. He needed to wait for another bolt. The sound of thunder rumbled through the walls, but Vincent couldn't see another bolt enter the room.

"Let me see him!" came a cry through the walls, sounding like Tee's voice.

"His orders are clear." came another voice, older and masculine. "Unless you are authorized to speak with him, please mind the statutes before I am forced to take you prisoner myself!" The voices died and Vincent wondered what had happened, but he was given little time to think as Tee walked back into the room with a dark, brooding look. She stopped at a desk near the door and did not say or do anything for a long while. After getting stabbed with her knife, Vincent found it wiser to stay silent.

"Why does father do this?" she asked out loud. "Why is he a hypocrite? You wanted unity, but you still keep us apart. You lie. They all lie. Why do they lie?" She went quiet as if expecting a response.

"To take advantage of you." Vincent replied cooly.

Tee snorted and looked down. "What would they want with little old me...a butcher, a killer, an unwanted child born to hate..." She suddenly unsheathed a knife and slammed it on the ground. "I would carve them all out myself and plaster the Vice on his own door." She went silent for a moment, then picked her knife off the ground before re-sheathing it. "He is a relic that should be used for art."

"I have beaten Narec once." Vincent boldly said. "When he tried to beat me and my father, I blasted him from John's Castle and watched him fall to the great below. He should not be alive. I will do the same to the Vice if I had the chance."

Tee looked at him but said nothing.

"I am...tired of being used as a plaything for these adults and their games they play. I beat Narec and made my own path where I would not be controlled by anyone but myself. I would gladly kill the Vice and destroy this place before any of them saw it coming."

Tee remained silent and unwavering.

"Like the rest of them, they underestimate my potential. I have already killed more UmNaru than I can remember. What is holding them back? What I say now can kill me. You could kill me right now if you wanted. What will you do?"

Tee finally turned and walked up to Vincent until she came face to face with the youth. "I will prepare for your execution." she quietly said before turning and heading back out the door again. Vincent hung his head and laughed. "I am screwed..." he muttered to himself. So much for talking his way out of it. Unless another white bolt happened upon the room, his only chance now was at the chopping block. Maybe then he could plan something and fight his way out, but doubtless the UmNaru would have a failsafe against that sort of thing happening. If he could pull that off, then he would have to rely solely on white magic which they were not used to.

Some time passed yet again and Vincent felt his mind slowly slip into madness. The water was effecting him now, but he needed to remain focused if he was going to survive. A white flash went through the room then, and Vincent stretched his right palm as much as he could and managed to make contact with the bolt, sending a jolt of energy through his body. Now he had the power to free himself, but his heart told him to not use it yet. Indeed, the executioners were coming and he would be better off using it there. Vincent kept the white magic stored inside the mark of Amura as a battle plan unfurled in his mind.

The door opened again and Tee reentered the chamber once more. She walked forward until stopping a few feet in front of him. "I want to tell you something." she said. "I took care of the recorders. They can't hear you now. They can't hear me. They can't know what I am going to tell you."

"Then tell me." Vincent said flatly.

"You get a choice." she said, walking up to him. "You can remain here and I'll let the executioner take care of you, like they wanted and you'll die ashamed with your name damned in the registry forever. Or you can go and...destroy whatever is left of my father. Destroy this place if you want to and kill everyone inside it. I won't stop you from doing it." She paused.

Vincent exhaled. That seemed too easy. "What's the catch?" he asked.

Tee smiled, the first time Vincent had seen her smile. "You have to go through me first." she said.

"Do you really want to die that much?" Vincent asked coldly.

"Yes..." Tee suddenly untied her robe and it fell to the floor, revealing her nakedness which Vincent had hardly expected. He barely managed to keep face as Tee walked up to his face again. "Yes, I want you to kill me." she said tenderly, caressing his cheek. "Hurt me, cut me, use me, kill me and throw me away. It's all I ever deserved, and there's no one here that can beat me like the useless doll I am."

Vincent's marks went haywire and he felt his mind quickly being torn apart, nevermind the sensations he felt in his nether regions. Unable to rely on intellect, he trusted his heart to speak for him. "When I become free...I will put you back where you belong." his lips ended up uttering.

"You can do that yourself." she remarked. "I know you can, with that white mark of yours."

The idea of escape came to Vincent's mind albeit briefly, but he could no longer think logically and he had only one objective in mind now. Whether the mark of UmNaru was influencing his decision was not known and neither did he care. Vincent stretched his right palm and a white explosion erupted from his hand, breaking the ties around his appendages and sending him to the ground on all fours. The water torture device splattered everywhere, drenching the majority of the room. At length, Vincent stood up. While the door remained an option, something told him that running from her might be unwise especially in a place like this. She could have killed him many times over, but had not and he wondered where her allegiance really was. Vincent also noticed his wand was missing, likely taken from him after capture. That made escaping past Tee and into the UmNaru enclave much more risky.

"I am free..." Vincent said. "...but you stand in my way, Tee."

"It's what I was born to do." Tee responded. "To stand in people's way and make them suffer."

"Here's what I was born to do." With his left hand, Vincent wrapped a cloth of darkness around Tee's chest which lifted her off the floor in a suffocating trauma. With a wave, Tee was thrown through the doorway into the next room before slamming into the far wall on the other end. Sliding to the ground, she moaned but said nothing else.

Vincent walked into the room, an old freezer of some kind for organs and body parts. The bucket that Tee had brought in beforehand lay on a table on one side of the room, and was now empty. The side walls were lined with stone doors, though the room did not feel cold at all. He turned his attention back to Tee.

"I was born to destroy the UmNaru." Vincent said. "And I will destroy you."

"Yes, please..." she whispered, trying to maneuver herself on the ground, but Vincent wouldn't let her and another band of darkness forced her back to the floor. She lay there helpless and Vincent had second thoughts as he did not like to be the one to harm others, but it was clear that he did not have much of a choice. If he stopped now, then she could haunt his life for a long time to come. With his wand gone, the only way to escape the UmNaru was to be an UmNaru, and Vincent could tell she had been abused by them in the past. Yes, he would destroy her, the UmNaru part of her. Something told him that she hated the place too.

"How should I punish you?" Vincent asked aloud. "I could cut off your head since you freed a prisoner, but that's not very fun. I want to have some fun with you like you had fun with me." He raised her up again with his black magic spell and slammed her against the back wall, this time her body being held in place. Her small teenage breasts stood out to Vincent and he became more aroused, much like the time he and Ashley had a little "Q & A" together not too long ago. With some knowledge of the feminine anatomy, Vincent moved in and clasped her breast with her right hand. "I know exactly what I'm going to do to you." he said before jamming several claws up her pussy. Tee moaned softly, well adjusted to the pain that her abused life had brought her. While he finger banged her violently, his other hand glowed briefly before relaxing and she seemed to relax somewhat with her breathing growing more regular. He hoped that she could be turned around and maybe this was the way to do it...

But heightened voices on the other side of the wall made him stop abruptly. It seemed that Tee noticed as well, looking towards the same direction. Needing to keep his face up, Vincent violently threw her to the ground. "Looks like they want me. Get changed. It's time to destroy this place." But after saying this, he noticed something shining underneath Tee's clothes. On instinct, he used an attract spell and sure enough his wand flew back into his hand. "Do not even think about using this against me, Tee."

"It's Tyrendil." she muttered, getting back onto her feet. "You didn't finish."

"Because those guys are coming to get me for my so-called execution." Vincent explained. "If I wasn't stopped by them, then I would have. But now I have to destroy them and this whole place before I can."

"Do it quickly." Tyrendil said. "I am getting tired of them ruining my dreams." She walked past him to her robes in the other room.

"What are your dreams?" Vincent asked.

"To be free." she responded, putting her robes back on.

"I'll give you that if you come with me." Vincent said.

"Only if you finish what you started." Tyrendil said. Vincent felt a little conflicted with her, but destroying the fortress was the greater priority and he needed all the energy that he could get. Wasting it now was a bad idea.

There was a pounding on the door in the main room. Vincent prepared himself while Tyrendil fixed her robes before opening the door. A hooded UmNaru was revealed and he simply walked past her uninvited into the room. "Where is the prisoner?" he asked. "It is time for the execution."

"Your prisoner is right here." Vincent walked into the room with his new wand in hand, already ready to cast a spell.

"What is this-" but his words turned into an agonizing scream as a white flame surrounded his body, reducing him into bones and ash.

"Where is the closest exit?" Vincent asked, stealthily looking out of the door.

"That way..." she pointed down the hall to the left. "I'll show you." The coast was clear for the time being, and so the two stepped out into the hallway with Tyrendil leading the way.

"I must find my father and free him before we leave." Vincent mentioned.

Tyrendil hummed. "That's a little tricky. He's shackled up and monitored every hour of the day."

"So? I'll just kill them." Vincent claimed, but then heard voices erupt in his head. "Iggy?" he thought. It sounded like him.

"Yes, can...hear me." came the garbled response. It seemed the fortress had some kind of telepathic blocking spell around it and Iggy was trying to overcome it.

"Sort of." Vincent replied.

"We...coming. Get...trust...show you...the meantime...the white magic in...wall...the wand." It was very garbled.

"The Amura are coming." Vincent said aloud. "Even if I don't destroy this place, they will. Show me where Roy is, and I'll free him."

Tyrendil merely nodded and turned down a corner into another hallway lined with prison cells. Vincent tried to decipher what Iggy was talking about earlier. Was he saying that Vincent could use the magic in the wall with his wand? Of course, why couldn't he? He should have thought of that earlier. That gave him an idea.

Ahead was a cell guarded by two UmNaru and they noticed the pair approach. Sensing something amiss, they each drew a wand but had no time to cast anything as a white flame overcame them just as before, and their robes dropped to the floor covered in ash. This time however their cries alerted others to the scene and Vincent was kept busy. He took a quick glance inside to find Roy chained to the wall with many bloody gashes across his chest. "Get him out." he commanded, too busy.

Tyrendil took one of her knives and, casting a spell enchanted it with a purplish hue before fiddling with the lock. A crack was heard, and with the lock broken the door easily swung aside. Roy did not immediately look up as she quickly unlocked his braces. A part of the outer wall suddenly exploded with a burst of white magic and a dead UmNaru came to rest in its place. This woke Roy up, and he recognized who was freeing him. "What? Why you freeing me?" he asked.

"We're getting out of here!" Vincent called back, dodging a spell. Roy stood on his legs but was otherwise clearly in pain from the immense amount of lashing he had received, with dried blood covering much of his chest. He was in no position to fight and Vincent realized that he going to have to defend them both. But with a squadron of UmNaru coming down the hallway, it became clear that he was going to have to try his idea from earlier if they were going to make it.

"After I do this, we run!" Vincent said as he charged up his wand with white magic. Several UmNaru disappeared in the distance, cloaking themselves as those behind them conjured up a pair of spells; it was a typical UmNaru attack pattern. The tip of Vincent's wand shined bright, and with a bolt of white magic flowing through the walls at that moment, he gave a cry and plunged his wand directly into it with a shove. Immediately the entire complex shook and the white magic coalesced and spread outward in all directions, eventually cracking the walls and the ceiling above them. Chunks of stone fell onto the floor and the UmNaru fell back from their initial attack, instead deciding to flee.

"Run!" Vincent cried and Tee took the lead as they chased after their former aggressors down the hall before turning another corner. It seemed the entire place was slowly falling apart with sections of wall collapsing around them. Many UmNaru were trying to chase them towards the exit, but were instead caught in the falling debris that surrounded them. Despite their advantage, Roy had a hard time keeping up with them; every step the Koopaling took was a ripple of pain that shot through his body. Vincent fell back and tried to protect his dad from incoming UmNaru attacks from behind. A small UmNaru envoy suddenly appeared in front of them, but Tee was quick on the offensive and with a wave of her hand, several knives in the purple spectrum appeared around them and proceeded to stab and cut through their bodies until their bloody pieces fell to the ground.

"The gate is ahead." Tee said without looking back. As they passed through the exiting arch of the room, Vincent looked behind him and saw a very large contingent of UmNaru making their way towards them, many of them paired with creatures he had never seen before. Entering a narrow hall, a pair of creatures suddenly leaped from the ceiling and attempted to land on Vincent, but he dodged and sent a white shockwave through the floor which sheered off most of their flesh, killing them.

"Iggy! We need help!" Vincent telepathically pleaded.


"I want to go help him!" Elizabeth pleaded.

"No, no and no!" Kylie insisted. "You could get killed in these kinds of things. You would wind up like your dad or worse."

"But Vincent's out there fighting them by himself!" Elizabeth reasoned. "Why can't we do that?"

"Because Vincent's not like you guys..." Kylie trailed off.

"So?" Similar shouts went up and Kylie shook her head. She was sick and tired of seeing them getting hurt when they could easily avoid it altogether.

"There is a line of UmNaru filing out of the crags." said Iggy who was present with them. "They are going after Lemmy's Castle as a diversion."

"Oh you're kidding..." Kylie muttered.

"I'm sending a batch of Amura to defend this place." Iggy continued.

"I want the high rollers by Roy and Vincent." came Larry's voice. "This needs to be nipped in the bud or they'll keep coming, even after they destroy the fortress we hit."

"What?!" Kylie exclaimed. "Are you-"

"That's that." Tommy said as he walked out of the room.

"Hey, wait!"

"I shall go with them." Ludwig suddenly announced. "As this is my opportunity to exact revenge from their countless horrors done upon the family, along with the world at large."

"Anyone not an Amura will have a hard time with them." Iggy exclaimed. "Your skill alone may help you live, but they will always be a notch above you."

"Do you think that my person has been idle since my supposed incapacitation?" Ludwig asked. "A foolish assumption. Undoubtedly their skill is great, however it is my belief after my intense studies that they have a few...holes within their defense. These may be exploited with or without the power of the Amura, though their presence would be helpful."

Iggy saw what his brother was planning. "That hasn't been proven on the field yet." he replied.

"Unsurprising, however the experiment must be carried out in some fashion." said Ludwig. "And with the lack of the...old world's supply of laboratory equipment, more crude measures must be taken."

Iggy sighed. "I'm not going to stop you from trying, but please try to cooperate with the main group."

"And I shall." Ludwig responded.

"Why are you letting them go die?" Kylie said in disbelief.

"You must forget that we Koopalings were from the age of 2 forced to train and fight our enemies." said Ludwig. "Such is the case to all those born in the royal family as my siblings may attest to, which is why I did not object to our children's training within Erzembar. Our generation has been considerably lucky as all of us survived into adulthood, but the same can not be said of Bowser's generation. Many of his siblings were killed in adolescence."

"That's barbaric." Kylie muttered.

"This practice is done to ensure that that strongest survive, and the best genetics are passed to the next generation." Ludwig explained. "But I digress. I shall protect them against the UmNaru threat as long as they are willing to fight said threat."

Kylie was silent for a moment, aware that everyone was against her, even her supposed husband. "Listen to me." she started. "If anything happens to any of them, then you're a dead Koopa. I'm not kidding, I will kill you. I am sick and tired of seeing my kids being played like chess pieces..." She rambled on, and it was becoming clear to even Ludwig that his wife was undergoing issues with dementia of some form. After the shift, she seemed excessively afraid of everything around her, especially around Amy's death.

"Your concern is well understood." Ludwig began, "being the mother, your protection is paramount in comparison to our petty selfish motives."

"I think you forget about the souls that inhabit them." Iggy interrupted. "And why we are born in the first place. They are sacrificial by nature and willing to help their fellow Koopa out no matter what the cost is to them. To a service to others soul, the other is more important than they. That's what being of service means, to think of others at least half of the time, to be of service to others at least half of the time or more. They want to go out there not because they hate their lives, but they want to help make a safer future for everyone else and they don't care how much that will cost them. I think you need to understand this."

Kylie fell silent and looked at her kids with thought. It seemed Iggy's speech finally broke through her fearful madness.

At length, she shook her head. "I told you I'm not cut out for this job. If I knew, that this was going to happen, then I wouldn't have had-"

Ludwig patted her shoulder. "Not in front of the kids." he quietly said. Kylie hunched over and shook her head again. She reached for something inside of her shell. Grabbing it, she tossed her Earth Wand onto the floor. "I don't want it." she muttered and said nothing else. Upon hearing that, Larry warped into the room next to Iggy. This was bad timing. "I'm not going to stop you." said Larry. "But I would rethink it over."

"No." She sat looking at the ground. Larry and Iggy looked at each other. "This sucks." Iggy muttered.

"We both saw it coming." said Larry. "It's the timing of it that sucks. We're about to go into a battle that will decide a lot of things and this happens."

"There is the replacement the Kappur talked about." Iggy mentioned.

"Her spiritual maturity isn't the problem." said Larry. "It's her lack of experience, real world experience. She's too young to know how the politics work, how to deal with major kingdom wide issues, the strategy because she hasn't been here for that long yet. I'm not saying she's not my pick because she is, but we're also right before a fight and you can't just get used to one of the three wands in less than an hour. They would probably take the wand from her which is why Roy gave it up in the first place. Giving her the wand and then her losing it would make us hypocrites."

"Yeah, you're right." Iggy sighed.

"We need to get Lemmy in here." Larry said.

"He's outside." Iggy stated. "But should be in here in 3, 2, 1..." A flash and Lemmy appeared with a small dance. "Hey guys! Whats...up...?" he fell short after seeing Kylie downtrodden.

"It appears Kylie no longer desires to be the Queen of the Earth." Ludwig stated. "If I were to guess the next order of events, then the polarities of the Earth Wand must be reunited, hence the monarchs requested your presence."

"That's exactly it, actually." Larry said.

Lemmy frowned for a moment, then smiled again. "Don't worry about it Kylie. You should help us the way you want to help us." Kylie sniffed but did nothing else.

"Penny would rather see her stay put, but it looks like she made up her mind already." Iggy mentioned.

"Mona says the wand is too much for her mind right now." said Larry. "And I agree with her. For now, I think it's best to reunite the polarities and leave it as one wand until we can find a new queen sometime after the battle." With no objections, Larry took the Blood Wand and fired it at the negative Earth Wand on the floor. The wand glowed until it seemingly dematerialized and merged with Lemmy's wand, which then transfixed itself back into its old familiar shape. Kylie horns "ungrew" until they shrunk back inside of her head and her height shortened somewhat, but the process was less gruesome than before, albeit with some restraint that Larry learned about from the spirits of Genlic.

"Now it's really dad's wand." Lemmy said, looking at the unified wand. "But yeah. Just know I don't think any less of you Kylie. If you don't want to do a job, then that's okay with me."

"I do believe this is about our children forcing themselves upon the enemy." said Ludwig. "And Kylie's disapproval of such a practice, despite the traditional upbringing and their own willingness to undertake such tasks."

"I went over how the new souls coming in now are different and more inclined to take action to help others rather than just help themselves." said Iggy.

"Yeah, that is what it is." Lemmy said, turning to the children. "It looks like you guys want to go against the UmNaru coming at us now, huh?"

"Tommy's already getting ready." Elizabeth said. "But..." She looked at her mom who now had a defeated look on her face. A part of Elizabeth wanted to help calm her mother down, but her gut told her to leave them alone for now. She turned around. "Okay, let's go."

"There's a squadron heading down on one of the paths in the southern crags." said Iggy. "I would join you guys, but they're trying to lure Larry and myself out there to try and destroy us, so due to those politics we're better off not being out there right now since one of us dying would be far worse."

"Fine." Elizabeth muttered.

"I will teleport you guys close to where Roy and Vincent are." Iggy said. "And Ashley should be there too. Good luck guys." With that, the Amura including Ludwig disappeared in a flash and reappeared in a dark landscape surrounded by black rock and magma. They were in a carved out path with steep cliffs on either side and Ludwig already worried about being ambushed. His recent practice with newer magic however made him feel more confident in his abilities.

Moments later the sounds of screaming and explosions were heard not far in the distance. Ludwig pushed forward followed by the other Amura and around a bend they came across a battle between Vincent and a hoard of UmNaru trying to defeat him. Alongside was Roy who looked in terrible shape, to Ludwig a victim of torture. Another girl was with them, one that Ludwig could not identify. Upon seeing the Amura force arriving, she turned to Vincent.

"I already know." Tee said. "You must fight for the other side. Go...don't worry about me." She suddenly disappeared from reality in the blink of an eye, but a moment later and Vincent felt a kiss on his lips. He grabbed her invisible self and forced her away. "Stay by your word. Go." he commanded, and he heard her footsteps jump up above them until they were inaudible. Ludwig scratched his chin and wondered how the youth pulled that off, but then again, he was an UmNaru and not to be trusted.

"Trent, please tend to Roy's wounds immediately." Ludwig commanded, and he signaled to his younger brother to get his attention. Roy hobbled over to the group as Ludwig pulled out his wand. "Draw weapons and-"

An explosion nearby cut him off, sending a rain of debris in his direction. The children took out their wands and began firing blasts at the incoming waves, sending some of the enemy off of their feet. Ashley deployed a protective radial spell that surrounded their group in white light and protected them from incoming magic attacks. Ludwig cast a blue spell (his favorite spectrum) upon the majority in front of him and dozens were sent flying backwards, with some even passing over the northern cliff face. They were too easy so far.

Pushing forward, the northern wall dropped until the view of a volcano dominated the sky above them, with rivers of lava running down its banks. In the distance, across a lake of lava was a large castle built into the side of the volcano. To Ashley, it was the place uncle Iggy was talking about earlier. From its gates came multitudes of people, but not all seemed to head toward them. Indeed, most seemed to be fleeing in a number of directions. One of these directions, Ludwig thought was probably the attack force headed towards Lemmy's Castle.

"That castle must be destroyed." said Ludwig.

"They're going to destroy it themselves soon." Vincent replied.

"It would be more effective if the castle is demolished with as many UmNaru inside the complex as possible." Ludwig clarified. "Therefore, a method of remote destruction must be deduced."

"Earth spells would be really good for this." Tommy pointed out. "Or fire spells."

"Yeah, use the volcano and flow them over with lava." said Elizabeth. "That's the easiest way I think."

"This will require an individual well suited in fire magic." said Ludwig. "As this is not an ordinary task. If your grandfather were alive, then this would be a simple matter. However, such a master fire user has passed and we must make with what he have. I do believe your magical prime Tommy is fire, is it not?" He spoke of the natural skill set one was born with in a certain magical spectrum.

"It is..." Tommy muttered. "I don't think it's that good though. Well, not good enough to control lava."

"Wouldn't that take sometime skilled in both Earth and fire like you said?" Ashley asked. "Since that's what lava is, right? Who's strong with Earth magic?"

"Earth magic would certainly expedite the process." Ludwig said. "I do believe that your uncle Roy has some skill in regard to this." He looked over for a moment to see Roy being healed by Trent with a white aura, then turned around again to see more foes arriving on the scene. "It would depend upon his condition, however. Regardless, it will take more than one person to achieve such a task."

"It would appear that all of the belligerents have come together in one spot." came a voice. Ahead of them on the path stood a tall UmNaru in a black cloak, surrounded by dark hooded figures with glowing hands. His skin seemed scarred as if burnt in the past. "Good. This will be quick work. Sentinels, capture Vincent and reprocess him. Kill the rest."

"And he's probably the bad guy." Elizabeth muttered. The Sentinels moved in quickly, unleashing a variety of black magic spells upon the group who defended themselves in short order. A pair of UmNaru wielding mind magic of the purple spectrum in their hands cast a spell on Vincent who suddenly felt weak and nearly fell over at their attack. His mind drifted into a dark place and he did not know the white spell equivalent for ridding himself of such a darkness. "Can't...stay...up..." he muttered.

After incinerating one UmNaru, Tommy noticed Vincent behaving strangely and quickly put the pieces together. With the others busy, Tommy tried shooting them with fireballs but invisible barriers around them disintegrated the spells. One UmNaru moved in on him but Tommy had the greater agility. He sidestepped him and set him aflame with relative ease, but more were coming in. In the distance he could see the bad guy ordering more in his direction, while noticing a purple aura around one of his hands. Elizabeth soon took hint of the situation. "I'll distract them while you get that bad guy." she suggested.

"I shall go alongside you." Ludwig said to Tommy. "As he is far more powerful than yourself and one of the puppetmasters of this war. Such persons must never be underestimated."

Elizabeth, using her limited knowledge of green magic cast a spell at the UmNaru next to Vincent and several large piranha plants came out of the ground and bit the UmNaru in place, breaking their hold over Vincent. The confused youth was dazed for a moment but caught sight of Tommy running towards Narec a short distance away, followed closely by Ludwig who was casting a spell in the blue spectrum. Narec merely held out a hand, intending to stop the youth in place through mind control. Tommy staggered for a moment but held out his hand in turn, the white magic of Amura letting him break the elder's hold on him and press forward. Snorting, Narec's hand suddenly changed color and Tommy felt his weight being driven backwards into the air as he was hit with a wind spell that sent him over a cliff face and tumbling down towards the pool of lava below. He managed to grab hold of a rocky outcrop and break his fall, and teetered along the edge as he struggled to find a way back up.

Narec sneered. "It would seem that the victor is-" he was cut off as he was suddenly sent backwards into the air and was smacked against a rock cliff in the distance before falling to the ground.

"Only fools boast of their victory before the battle is concluded." Ludwig said. "It is no wonder the UmNaru has tolerated your presence for so long."

Narec growled and with a leap soared through the air back to his former position, albeit more bruised than before. To Ludwig, it seemed that his enemy's magical prime was the same as his: wind magic. This would not be an easy fight.

"It would seem the same arrogance makes its face here as well." said Narec. "But unlike my uncle, I have all the resources to tame a beast such as you. You are now nothing, dethroned by that weakling of a Blood King who still refuses to show his face. Self pride, classic example of dethronement. But the process was never finished, and I will speed that along now." With that, the winds suddenly picked up around them and Ludwig found himself inside the middle of a Tornado, but being a blue magic user, was unaffected. What worried him more was how he was going to defeat this menace. It was going to take several disciplines at once and he knew that trying his idea from earlier would be most unwise, given that his opponent was also a blue magic user. With that, he rushed forward with his wand and the two began to battle.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth had caught sight of her brother being thrown through the air and over a cliff. "Oh god. Tommy!" she screamed, but she was held up by the advance force that kept her at bay. They were beginning to wear her down. "I need help!" she shouted.

"I'll get Tommy." said Vincent. "They're after me anyway, so that should lessen your load."

"Well hurry!" Elizabeth said, choking one with vines coming out of the ground. Vincent looked towards his father, who was still healing via Trent, though he looked better than previously. "The girls need help." he said to him.

"So? Why don't you help them?" Roy asked.

"Because Tommy fell off a cliff and I need to get him." he said. "I need to break their ranks anyway." Roy grunted, and struggled to get up. Trent, now understanding his work was done, made his way to Elizabeth to support her while Vincent jumped up on top of the rock face above him and looked down. Far below, he saw Tommy attempting to crawl up the cliff face without much success. A few UmNaru attempted to scale the cliff behind Vincent, but the youth fired a black magic spell, Discarnate Dead that killed the two and instantly sent their appendages in multiple directions. It was similar to what he had used in the Valley of the Koopas.

"Tommy!" Vincent cried, and jumped down onto a ledge below close to Tommy. He reached with his hand and after some hesitation, Tommy reached up and their claws met, and Vincent pulled him straight up until Tommy landed next to him with a thud.

"Thanks..." Tommy said, breathing. "I didn't think Narec would even show up to this."

"How do you know who he is?" Vincent immediately questioned him.

Tommy laughed. "I saw a lot of things that uncle Larry didn't want me to see. Well, too late. He did the same thing my age so it all comes around to him, so he says. I'd tell you, but there's no time. Our parents world was completely messed up." He got up and looked at the cliff above him.

"This one isn't?" Vincent asked.

"Oh no, it is." Tommy reassured him. "But the games they played and all their politics was just stupid. I'll have to tell you later because we need to get back over this cliff."

Vincent nodded. "I know some basic wind..." He quickly cast the spell he used on himself moments earlier and Tommy was sent shooting upwards and back over the cliff face. Vincent follow suit right behind him, and upon landing at the top he found that most of the UmNaru had already been defeated with bodies littering the ground all around them. No new sentinels seemed to come out of the fortress, but Ludwig and Narec were engaged in an intense duel and Vincent noticed their group trying to figure out what to do next. Tommy was already down on the ground and talking to Elizabeth.

"We got what we came here for." said Tommy. "We just need to leave."

"But what about that castle?" Elizabeth asked. UmNaru were still pouring out of it. Apparently it was one of their larger fortifications.

Vincent jumped down from the cliff face. "Vincent said they're going to blow it up themselves." said Tommy.

"Heard the same." Roy admitted. "They'd do that if found out. I say leave it. They're visible now. Can come back later if they don't do it."

Vincent nodded, agreeing. But the problem still lay before them and their duel didn't seem to end. Suddenly, a force above Ludwig slammed him to the ground with tremendous force that cracked the rock all around him. He did not move afterwords. Narec grinned and Tommy already started, not accepting the result. "I'm going to kill him!"

"Hey, wait up!" Vincent called, running after him.

"Guys, no!" Elizabeth shouted, fearing the worst.

Ashley shook her head. "They're guys, let them go." she muttered. "We'll cover them from here I guess."

Elizabeth sighed. "You would think Tommy would get a clue." They cast a white protection spell on them. Roy however knew the kids couldn't do it alone, and so getting up he followed them with a plan.

Narec began to cast a paralysis spell, hoping to deal with them all at once. But Vincent then walked into shadows and Narec was forced to draw his own wand. The girls in the background were casting protection spells on the incoming Koopalings, which would lessen his spells effect. He cast his paralysis spell on Tommy while conjuring another spell for the other two. Tommy's movement slowed but otherwise continued. Roy suddenly disappeared from Narec's sight and now realizing their intent, changed spells mid cast but it was too late. He sidestepped Vincent's magic attack, seeing it from a distance but was instead body slammed by an invisible Roy which sent him careening through the air again and he slammed against a rock wall before slumping to the ground.

Tommy had slowed to a crawl and Elizabeth ran up to try and heal him. But no one noticed the appearance of a figure on the cliffs above them. "It's time to put this petty fight to an end." he said.

Roy knew who it is."Get back!" he said to the others. Vincent reluctantly obeyed while Elizabeth tried to help her brother to his feet, with Ashley and Trent coming to help. But The Vice's hands glowed pitch black, and with a twirl of blue he launched the concoction of magic at them. They were all helplessly launched into the air and thrown backwards down the path they came, feeling their life-force being sucked from them. Vincent was given special attention and he soared above the cliff wall and was sent plunging toward a lava flow dozens of feet below. But a short outburst of blue magic diverted his direction moments before impact, and Vincent instead landed mere feet from the lava flow instead and he went black.

Indeed, they were all unconscious and Iggy was dismayed, wondering what to do now. The Vice was simply too powerful, even for him. Vincent woke first with pain throughout his body, but his limbs were intact and not broken. Trent woke next and looked at the devastation around him. Everyone was unconscious and next to the cliff face he saw his brother Tommy with a large chest wound, and his blood was quickly spilling onto the ground. Ludwig did not look much better with multiple injuries. The rest did not get up and Iggy knew he had to do something. Tommy was quickly dying. Aside from himself, there was only one other person who could counter The Vice and that was a risky move.

Vincent slowly crawled up the cliff, his bruised legs managing to maintain his balance. Reaching the top, he slowly peered over the edge to find his cousins lying sprawled across the ground in various states of injury. Across from him on an opposite cliff was The Vice with his back now turned. He didn't seem to notice the youth.

"Vincent." said a voice inside his head. It was Trent's. "Tommy wants to talk to you. He is hurt...bad." That's when he finally noticed Tommy's state.

"Shhh-" Vincent hissed and immediately hid, fearing being spotted. But after peeking again, it seemed The Vice didn't notice, too busy talking to someone out of sight.

"Vincent, Trent." came another voice, this time Iggy's. "We need to teleport you guys out of there ASAP. This guy is beyond any of us, including me. We can't just cast it though, he will cut off the spell mid cast so I need to distract him. You know how to teleport Trent, so teleport everyone out one by one to the med bay at Erzembar. You know where that is. Start with Tommy."

As Iggy talked, Vincent had quietly slipped down from the cliff top and crept over towards Tommy. His entire chest was covered in blood along with the ground around him. Vincent reached down to cast a healing spell, but Tommy suddenly grabbed his wrist. "You..." he muttered, blood in his throat. "You're...gonna need this..." He reached into his pocket and handed Vincent a device wrapped in what felt like a rough cloth.

"What-"

"It's got everything. Dad can't know..." Tommy glanced at Ludwig who was lying unconscious next to him. The Vice had noticed them however. "Hmph." He readied another spell, but was stopped suddenly by a stream of white that came from the dark volcanic sky. "It's too late for that, Spirit King!" The Vice boasted, blocking the attack easily.

Sensing doom coming upon him, Tommy ripped off something around his neck. "Here are your answers." he said, handing Vincent some kind of media card on a small chain. "Go to my dad's castle. It's all in there, in the core. The core..." Tommy struggled to get up, but Trent backed him down. He pointed to his wand and began to cast a teleport spell.

"I did not say you could leave." The Vice said, and then he suddenly channeled Iggy's attack through himself and unleashed a stream of fire at all three of them. Trent attempted to shield Tommy but there was simply not enough time. Trent and Vincent were blasted to the ground with Vincent's hastily cast shields taking the brunt of the damage. But Tommy became engulfed in flames from Iggy's own spell.

"Son of a bitch!" Iggy threw the Spirit Wand across the room in anger. "Fucking asshole." His own spell was used against him and now Tommy was incinerated. He could not reincarnate him now that his body was reduced to ash, let alone getting through the black magic shroud that covered the whole area. "He will die." Iggy told himself. "Oh he will die. I will take him and Koopa himself and put them to the white flame. You hear me? You will die before I do and I will make sure of it!"

Iggy was now too angry to take stock of the current situation. Vincent stared at Tommy's ashes in mild shock and was reminded of the day he was forced to watch his siblings burn in flames. He could do nothing then, but what about now? He could stand against Narec but this guy...and what about everyone else? They were still knocked out cold and needed to be teleported. But there was no way to get them all out of there at once without being attacked again, and after that last one...

"Vincent." Trent's voice came again. "Go. Get out of here."

"But you can't fight him-"

"Go." he repeated. "It is the only way you will live. I have this." Trent was seen walking towards the Vice with an angry look on his face. Vincent shook his head at the apparent martyrdom, but there was little he could do as the Vice was also now aware of his awakening. Thinking quickly, Vincent jumped up and cast a healing spell on his unconscious father in hopes to wake him up before being forced to dodge an explosive attack, leaping over the cliff and down the other side from where he came.

The Vice turned to Trent who stared at him with anger. "Your pleas for mercy are worthless." he said. "As this day has already been decided upon."

Iggy snapped out of his anger upon hearing that. "Huh? Trent?" This was all the doing of Koopa, wasn't it?

Trent could not say anything, but eyed his wrist monitor which showed him in the upper yellow zone with increased heart pulse and blood pressure. It was good enough. There was no other way they were going to live.

The Vice unleashed a powerful black spell intended to choke the life out of the youth. To his surprise, the spell slowed in motion as it approached Trent until it stopped completely in mid air. Moving his hands, Trent manipulated the spell into a spinning sphere, then launched it at a high velocity back at The Vice. But he merely smacked the orb away from him and the spell exploded in the air seconds later. Deciding to erase the youth from reality altogether, The Vice conjured up a high level black magic spell in the form of a large black wall that rapidly approached Trent, but the wall came to a ceasing halt as Trent manipulated it sending white magic into its core. The two struggled to maintain control of the spell, but this only served to fuel Trent's anger. With only sheer will power, Trent took the magical remnants within Tommy's ash and fused it with his own magic. Upon doing so the ground around them began to rumble and cracks began to form in the rock. Vincent, still hoping he could save a few more people, noticed the lava flow suddenly running backwards, back up the slope and into the mountain. What kind of magic was this? The rumbling woke up Roy who immediately furrowed his brows at the sight.

"Trent, this might kill you!" came a voice. It sounded like Iggy.

"I...don't...care." Trent thought, ignoring his beeping wrist band. He thrust his free hand towards the fortress in the distance. A moment later and the rock surrounding it suddenly imploded and the entire structure began to fall apart as bricks loosened and fell upon those hapless UmNaru below. Towers imploded and soon the entire complex was seen collapsing upon itself with a large rock slide flowing behind it. The entire volcano was suffering landslides and rock was seen tumbling everywhere. Vincent peeked over and cast a healing spell on the girls before the shaking forced him back down again.

The Vice, wanting to end this cast a mirror spell and soon the same spell appeared all around Trent. But Trent was unfazed, knowing full well of the dark side's trickery, but he too needed to end this fight soon or be killed. Given the enormous pressure being brought upon him now, he could think of only one thing to do.

With little notice, the ground under them suddenly cracked open and a huge surge of lava burst forth high into the air, making The Vice lose some of his concentration. The mirror spell failed, and Trent with his remaining strength infused the wall with a white Darkness Cleanse spell before pushing the whole spell complex towards the lava flow. The lava reacted by shifting direction and hosed itself towards the Vice who was then forced to flee and hide behind a rock wall as the lava and the spell blasted him inches away. Turning around, The Vice saw the crack had grown wider with the ground falling into a fiery abyss below. The whole volcano was erupting, and a pyroclastic plume was seen rising from the top of the cone. The Vice noticed that it suddenly plunged downwards towards them at rapid speeds as if controlled. This was not the magic of the world.

"Narec." The Vice said. "Order a retreat to the next one."

Narec who had watched the battle injured looked surprised. "You run from the enemy that is lesser than us?" he asked. "This plume can be stopped."

"This one wields the magic of the Naru." The Vice explained. "As stated in the founder's protocol, we must yield before the magic of our fathers. How it was obtained is uncertain, but Naru or not, this will turn into attrition and is something you are not prepared against. Now retreat!"

"As you say." Narec responded and limped away to the survivors of the castle's destruction. The Vice took a moment to look at the immense fountain of lava again, now shooting straight into the air before turning and leaving the area.

Vincent could only shake his head as an immense pyroclastic flow shot down from the mountain and headed straight towards him. Not sure what was happening beyond the cliff, a part of him wanted to try and save as many as he could, but he didn't know how to teleport. His thinking was cut off as a landslide approached him as well and he was forced to run. Knowing it was going to outrun him, Vincent cast a wind spell and jumped up into the air as the gravity around himself lowered significantly. The rocks tumbled harmlessly below him, but he was now falling off the face of the volcano and the pyroclastic flow was catching up. Taking a risk, he canceled his wind spell and tumbled through the air until he was out of sight.

Roy wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not, but as far as he knew, this was better than what his dad could have done, if only by a small margin. But his thoughts ended when the pyroclastic flow suddenly hit him and he winced, then felt surprised as he still seemed to be in one piece. Indeed, he was surrounded by a white radial that circled the fallen group. It emanated from Trent's wand, whose owner now lay face down on the ground with the lava flow still bursting upwards in front of him.

"...Trent? Trent!" Elizabeth awoke and started towards him, wondering what had happened. Roy got up and shook Ashley's shoulder and she seemed to stir to consciousness. Nodding, Roy then turned to his brother Ludwig and shook his. He stirred but did not respond. He was still alive, at least. "Iggy, where the hell are you?" Roy said aloud.

"Trent!" Elizabeth reached her brother and shook him, but he did not respond. She grabbed his wrist but went into a state of shock when she saw nothing but a pulsating red light.