"Outta the way, fairy princess!"

"Rosalina is the keeper of the cosmos. She isn't a fairy-"

"Ha! Got'cha, Sayla!"

"Lamy! You let Torafusa get away!"

"What game are we playing again?"

The Tartaros demons rarely did any activities as a group. Usually, they split off to do Zeref's dirty work, occasionally in pairs. Getting eight of them in a room at once was a miracle in itself. An even greater surprise was that they all agreed on their activity: a Mariokart tournament. It didn't take very long for them all to be arguing and spouting at each other overtop their handhelds' screens. The matches were always heated. Jackal was the first one to start screaming when Lamy tailgated him, or worse, used a bomb and blew up his car. That gave Kyouka the advantage, whose kart maneuvering skills were superior to the rest of the group's. Sayla usually followed closely behind, however, and she pulled ahead when Kyouka wasn't paying attention. Torafusa was silent, but deadly, winning the matches without all the smacktalk that everyone else participated in. Tempesta was usually in dead last, not remembering how to play the game in the first place.

"You guys started the tournament without me?"

"Your pointless bickering is getting us nowhere."

And then there were eight—just enough to fill up a race roster. Ezel was known for selecting the largest character on the roster, then targeting all of the smaller ones, while Keith played it cool and cruised the entire way. He had no interest in the tournaments, after all. He was only there because he had nothing better to do with his time.

"Alright! New game! Winner gets—"

"A promotion!"

"Don't you dare give that little fuzzball a promotion!"

"I'm not! Calm down, idiot!"

"What Kyouka-sama is trying to say is that we're about to start. Please select your karts."

Sayla usually calmed everyone else down, mainly because Kyouka was a bit too hot-headed for her own good and couldn't do much to alter the attitude of the room. The group settled down and waited for the signal to start. When the light that the flying turtle-thing was holding turned green, all eight of them slammed their fingers down on the acceleration button, and the competition started all over again. It didn't matter what race they did—anything from the infamous Rainbow Road to the small circle of Baby Park was fine. The room was so filled with yelling and bickering that it gave the Mard Geer a splitting headache.

"Nothing could be more annoying than those hooligans playing their idiotic racing game…" he sighed, rubbing his fingers against his forehead. "Perhaps I should find some other suitable form of entertainment for them."

So that's what he did. He strode confidently into the room filled with the angry demons, and he almost got hit in the head when Ezel threw his handheld at Torafusa, missing of course. "I brought something new for you to all play together," he said, handing Kyouka a game case. Her eyes practically jumped out of their sockets.

"He brought us the new Smash Bros! With eight player smash!"

"I knew you would be pleased," Mard said just as arrogantly as ever. He thought he was a genius, coming up with the idea to give them some other game to occupy their time. This one was bound to be quieter and less competitive than the other one. Or so he thought.

"Quit playing as Shulk, Fuzzball! He's so annoying!"

"But he's such a hunk! Quit playing as Megaman…he's so boring!"

"My spiked shell will destroy you al—" Ezel was cut off as Torafusa's Greninja used a smash attack, demolishing the Koopa King.

"Try again next time," Sayla said offhandedly, moving her Robin character and shooting Keith with a tome, not that he cared much. Unfortunately, he used Ness's PSI ability to absorb the attack and regain some of his health.

"Watch out for that move, Sayla!" Kyouka coached, moving her equally suited Wii Fit Trainer across the map to aid her. Tempesta made his Kirby fall off the stage again. He forgot the controls again. The bickering continued into the night, keeping the Mard Geer up far past his bedtime.

"That wasn't the smartest decision I've mad…was it?" he asked himself with a sigh, twirling his hair around his finger and clutching the E.N.D. book closer to his chest. "Ah well…soon these buffoons won't matter. They're merely pawns that I will use to destroy Zeref…"