The Crestfallen:
"What is that thing?!" Marut asked.
"It looks like it's caught between life and death," said Athelstan.
Elkon looked on at his bewildering titan with content before addressing the question from Marut. "It is an amalgamation of souls that have been lost through the senseless war of elements. I opened the dimensional rift at the Stone Shrine so that I may enter the Dimension of the Lost and gather all these souls, and the portal I created just before leaving you to deal with Necromancer and Necropaladin was for transporting these souls here where I have fused them all together into this grand entity..."
"You're a mad man..." said Daisy. "Absolutely sick."
Elkon tilted his head up a bit, making his appearance more domineering. "Am I mad? Or perhaps the whole world is mad..."
Daisy growled in an angst of anger at Elkon's words. She clenched her fists as her muscles tensed, ready to spring at the dark fiend.
"Why do you think I wanted to gather these souls?" Elkon continued. "These spirits need to vent their sorrows and pains upon mankind for what it has done both to these spirits and to itself."
"You better start making sense right now!"yelled Athelstan.
"I make all the sense in the world," Elkon assured. "You're the one getting flustered with my intentions. Nobody told you to become involved."
"Destiny did!" Daisy proclaimed, raising a fist up in front of her face. "Like it or not, we're all here for a reason and I'm right behind it if I get to stop you and your insidious actions!"
"Really? Did 'destiny' tell you what you were fighting for?" asked Elkon. "What about what you're fighting for makes it so righteous and destined to protect the interests of those wishing to take advantage of nature itself to gain world power? You're protecting tyrants and dictators, villains and gangs, all who seek to prey upon the young and helpless through abuse of the very nature that gave them life."
"Alright, enough of this," Daisy grunted. Glaring at Elkon, she thrust a fist forward. "For the sake of everyone and everything on this planet, human and non-human, I vow to defeat you! And since this is the Earth Shrine, I'll be handling this colossus." She cracked her knuckles. "I represent the black and silver of earth! So you better be ready Elkon, because once I've finished this giant off I'm coming after you and ending your madness!"
Instead, Marut jumped out to the front and threw his ninjato at The Crestfallen. A wickedly erratic rotation took over his blade as it scythed through the air, fortified by an updraft he brought in.
"HEY!" Daisy yelled.
"Sorry, but looks like I made the first attack," said Marut. "So it looks like I'll be taking this fight."
"What the... Oh YOU BASTARD!" Daisy shouted in comical anger.
"Meh – all you would've done was throw dirt and jewelry at it anyways," Bowser said.
"I'll throw you at it, ya beanhead!" Daisy snapped back.
The ninjato struck The Crestfallen in its chest but did not seem to harm it at all. That's when Marut dashed ahead and leapt up with his incredible agility right to where the tool was stuck in the giant and slammed it down further into the earthy flesh with his foot. Before descending, he grabbed his weapon and ripped out as the giant being moaned and stumbled backwards. Chunks of its chest fell off, letting loose the sound of moaning souls that had been released as a result of the combined damage.
"Decent aesthetics but I think your necro-guys looked better," Marut said as he eyed the giant lifeform up and down.
"I can see that your confidence is no facade, Daisy," said Elkon. "However, confidence does not automatically guarantee victory in any conflict. And it for sure does not guarantee victory against an embodiment of suffering. Step up and show me how well your confidence fares against the vengeance of over two million innocent souls and counting who have lost their lives at the hands of the countless individuals who used the eight elements for slaughter."
"Two million..." Daisy said under her breath.
"Are you surprised?" Elkon asked. "You shouldn't be. I've only gathered a meager fraction of the total death toll caused by elemental warfare..."
The Crestfallen raised its large arm and slammed it down in the direction of the Moirai, forcing all five of them to scatter in evasion to different areas of the room. The titan keyed-in on Marut and lumbered over in his direction.
"Marut, get back!" Daisy shouted.
The Crestfallen made a small jump and moved its body through the air to try and land on top of the green fighter, though Marut just dashed out of the way. Even with his impressive speed, he still only barely dodged before contact could be made. On landing, The Crestfallen stepped backwards to try and see where Marut had gotten to. Instead, the titan found Daisy standing in front of Marut, her fist up and crackling with seismic energy.
"Marut, you're too fatigued from the battle at the Stone Shrine," Daisy told the panting Moirai of Air. "I need to be fighting here."
"Sorry," Athelstan shouted from the distance. "But I need to make up for my defeat at said shrine. So if you all don't mind-"
"What – sit down!" Daisy yelled. "You're still recovering from yesterday!"
"Yes, Athelstan," said Bowser. "You should let me deal with this overgrown, hardened play-doh."
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE – HAVEN'T YOU EVER HEARD OF LADIES FIRST?!" Daisy screamed, flailing her arms. That outburst infuriated The Crestfallen and lured the titan towards her. Daisy jumped up and clung to the cavern wall with her right hand using her Crystal Grip ability, her other hand still holding the charge of seismic earth energy, but by that time, The Crestfallen had already gotten close enough to swing its arm around in a massive sweeping motion at the black-clothed fighter. The Moirai of Earth had to cancel her attack and jump up to a higher portion of the wall to avoid getting flattened by the tremendous arm. She then shot back down to the ground before The Crestfallen could make another attack and dashed from point to point to ensure that the titan could not spot her as she gained some distance.
The Crestfallen moaned again, struggling to keep its form stable as it twisted itself around to try and spot the rapidly moving earth wielder. An incoming slash of air made a slice into a portion of The Crestfallen's arm, courtesy of Marut, who refused to hand over the fight to Daisy. Once more, a piece of its body came out, and a handful of souls escaped from the titan's form.
"Marut! Get back now!" Daisy yelled with anger.
"No!" Marut shouted. "I need to fight this thing! Just trust me!"
"What do you mean, 'You need to fight this thing?' " Daisy grumbled.
Marut took his ninjato and began concentrating air around the blade. Rotational forces accumulated around his weapon, forming a vicious funnel of air. Once he thrust the ninjato forward, a horziontal tornado emerged around the blade, extending itself outwards and towards The Crestfallen. The fierce winds did not seem to do anything but stun the giant, but after a few moments, the winds began to slowly eat away at the titan's body.
"Oh, I think I see what he's doing," Bowser said. "Marut recognized the composition of the monster and realized that he'd be able to chip away at the earthen structure with his air abilities!"
"But he's too tired!" Daisy yelled. "This is a very good example of why we can not rely on elemental matchups for these fights! But Marut wasn't around for that conversation, was he?"
"Nope," Athelstan replied. "Neither was I. Quite frankly, I wasn't ever thinking about that."
"No, this has nothing to do with elemental matchups at all," said Warra. "Just look."
Marut took it one step further and laced his horizontal tornado with lightning, the advanced form of air. The lightning boost added further damage to The Crestfallen's form, but the attack only lasted a few more seconds before Marut pulled back and disbanded the twister. He had become too tired to keep up the attack and looked completely gassed.
The Crestfallen moved itself towards Marut, looking to land a solid blow on the fighter. The Moirai of Air took three long lateral leaps and then jumped into the torso of the titan to deliver a swift kick to its abdomen. A few more chunks of its body fell off and a few more souls were heard and seen escaping from the giant. The Crestfallen did not flinch from Marut's kick however, and instead attacked with a kick of its own. Marut blocked with his arms, but there was plenty of force left over to send him hurtling into the cavern wall. The cumulative fatigue prevented him from being able to brace against the collapse, causing Marut to fall unconscious seconds after colliding with the wall. The Crestfallen seemed content with just that, as it was having its own issues to deal with. Several chunks of its body were lost, exposing the yellow light that appeared to be its collective essence.
"Damn it..." Daisy muttered. "Just what I thought; He didn't very last long at all..."
"But now we know how to beat this monstrosity," said Bowser. "We need to keep chipping away at its body, Doing so will do damage to its yellow inside and release more and more of the souls that are giving it life."
"You should give Marut more credit Bowser, once we're finished here and he's awoken," said Warra. "He figured that out the moment he saw that titan emerge. In fact, he may have very well known that he wouldn't be able to stand against it. And since there was no time to try and explain it to us, he wanted to be the first to fight so he could show us how to beat it. Very instinctual."
"But risky," Bowser added.
"He gave us the template, so let's use it," said Athelstan.
The Crestfallen did not make any further moves. Instead, it curled itself into a ball, glowing and pulling in earth elementals from all around the room. It looked like it intended to fortify its body and replace the pieces of itself that had been knocked off.
"Alright," said Daisy. "I'm up."
"No Daisy, this thing is too large and too fast!" Warra shouted. "Fatigued or not, Marut could not handle it by himself! We must all attack it together!"
"I said I'm up!" Daisy quickly yelled back at the Moirai of Water. "I'm fighting this giant and I'm not going to be able to give it my all with you guys all over the place!" She then cracked a smile. "Not only that, but it's the honorable thing to do – one against one, not four against one!"
"What are you saying? Do you see the size of that thing?" Bowser asked.
"Did you not fight the Flame Behemoth head-to-head at the Fire Shrine?" Daisy asked. "It wasn't that much smaller than this giant, was it? You all have already fought before, and I don't need you all getting in my way here!" Her tone then grew dark. "Or do you all think I'm helpless?"
Warra jumped out and got right in front of Daisy with his arms flared out. "Stop and think about what you're saying for a moment! This thing can easily flatten any of us in an instant!"
Bowser had no response for Daisy. His gaze was focused on The Crestfallen, who had finished up its repair. It was now back to standing, but seemed to be a little smaller than it was when it was originally summoned. He thought back to what Daisy had told him at his palace, how much emotion she had put into her words, the seriousness in her stare; it was that same steely resolve that she had carried the whole time they've been on this mission, and the same one she had on at this very moment.
"Let Daisy fight it alone, okay?" Bowser finally said to Warra.
"What? Why?" Warra countered. "That makes no sense! This is not a conventional fight! We have to-"
"Just let her do it, okay?"
Warra was silent. He didn't do anything for a few moments, but eventually moved out of Daisy's way. The Moirai of Earth didn't utter a word. Her eyes said all that needed to be said. They gave off the kind of glow that guaranteed that the beholder would not disappoint far more than words could ever express. She gave a short look to Bowser, Athelstan, and Warra each in turn before darting to the center of the vast room to confront The Crestfallen. All three of them got the message, and watched Daisy come to a stop a good distance away from the titan.
"Bowser, I don't understand why you allowed that," Warra said, sobering in tone.
Bowser kept his gaze on Daisy when he responded. "Ever since she was a kid, she's been intent on being as independent as she could. She's always had issues trusting people – and even with what you'd said last night, she still doesn't trust us – so we need to give her more reason to trust us by fully entrusting her with the task of defeating The Crestfallen. And not only that, but from what I've seen, she's a heavily offensive fighter. That means she needs to be on the offense as much as she can, and that also means that she needs to be able to fight and attack unrestrained without having to think about if she's going to be hitting us by accident."
Daisy had an exaggerated forward lean in her attack-oriented stance, one foot forward and the other foot very far back, no guard up whatsoever, relaxed and with a confident smile in her expression. The Crestfallen lumbered a little closer and came to a halt to set its arms down on the ground. Lost in the whole exchange was the fact that Elkon was still levitating in the air above the room and had been viewing all that had transpired.
Daisy leapt forward at The Crestfallen, full speed, going at the giant with no hesitation. The lumbering titan raised its body up and brought its arms up into the sky as Daisy sped towards it. Once she got close enough, the giant slammed its arms down, making direct contact with both limbs and delivering a smashing hit to the Moirai of Earth. A thundering thud echoed through the air as everything came to a standstill, Daisy appearing to have been crushed to death.
"Not a good start at all," said Athelstan.
"See what I was trying to tell you!" Warra yelled at Bowser. "Daisy's been flattened!"
"Warra," said Bowser with the utmost seriousness in his voice. "Stop being so overprotective."
"What?" Warra asked in startled confusion.
Just then, shafts and mounds of large crystal shot through The Crestfallen's arms. Chunks of its body were pierced and torn away as crystals continued to shoot upwards from underneath. Both of its forearms were sliced through, the massive gashes releasing souls by the hundreds. The Crestfallen pulled back and moaned in ever increasing agony. At the center of the crystal uprising, Daisy stood, unharmed.
"That was her Crystal Smash," said Bowser. "She must've caught and blocked The Crestfallen's arms before they were able to actually crush her, and she used the opportunity she had underneath it to call forth the attack."
"Crystal Smash," Athelstan said. "A technique like that exhausts a lot of energy. Make no mistake; she's considerably powerful."
"You think so, Athelstan?" asked Warra.
"I think, that you two have been underestimating her the whole time!" said Athelstan. "I've never seen her fight, but when I first met you guys, I noticed that she had this radiant glow about her and a kind of vibrant energy that you don't come across very often!"
Warra did not respond at first. All he could think about was how easily he was able to injure Daisy's arm when he had mistook her for an enemy. The prospect of Daisy being able to take down a titan like The Crestfallen just seemed too overwhelming to him.
"I don't know, it just seems like too much," Warra mumbled.
"I believe in her completely! She'll bring that titan to its knees!" Athelstan cheered.
"I mean, any one of us could have done it too, I'm sure," said Bowser. "But yes, she will."
Daisy devolved the crystals back into standard earth and dashed towards The Crestfallen's right leg. She landed a heavy kick on its calf that sent the giant reeling backwards in a haphazard flip. She then followed that up by jumping up and jamming her elbow into the titan's abdomen. The section that took the attack collapsed inwards and let loose thousands of souls.
The Crestfallen toppled forward and moaned in anguish and torment. Daisy made multiple backflips out of the way to avoid the collapsing giant. It landed on the ground with a crash but wasted no time and began to do the same technique it did earlier to deform and refortify itself with even more earth elementals. Daisy simply stood in wait, seeing that any attack made at this time would just be nullified by the titan's reconstruction. The Crestfallen finished and reemerged in moments, albeit now only eight times larger than Bowser. As expected, the gaps and breaks in its body that exposed its endogenous yellow form were now covered up and repaired, but it had lost a significant portion of the souls it had started out with.
Bowser looked on at what was unfolding. "I'm starting to believe as well," he said. "I joke around a lot, but she just seems to be teeming with hope...and determination...and so far, neither this journey nor even this threatening giant have done anything to dim either one."
Warra didn't say anything at first, but then thought about it for moment before bowing his head in response. "Then I must believe as well. I will go and get Marut."
Daisy charged at The Crestfallen again and leapt up into the air to deliver an uppercut into its torso, but the titan spun around to bat Daisy away and save its abdomen from being reopened. As she shot through the air backwards, she made a quick reverse somersault to regain control of her body and jammed her feet and hands down to put the brakes on her velocity. The earth wielder calluses on her palms protected her hands from the friction. As soon as she stopped, she dashed forward again. This time, she made separate dashes crisscrossing from point to point until she got right underneath The Crestfallen's left leg. As she delivered a leg sweep to its ankle, she encased her leg in earth to give her attack extra strength. The titan's ankle practically became disconnected from its body as a result of the kick and once more, The Crestfallen was upended.
Daisy focused a markedly high amount of energy into her fist and jumped high up into the air. As she reached her apex, she pulled her charged fist back and down as far as possible and aimed for The Crestfallen's back. Once she was about to land on top of the titan, Daisy swung her fist up and around in an arcing overhead punch. The impact of her punch fractured The Crestfallen's entire back, causing tens of thousands more souls to escape from its crumbling earthen encasing. The titan quickly reached around its back with its right arm to grab Daisy and whip her across the battlefield. She crashed into one of the cavern walls far away from the titan and flopped onto the floor.
"Valiant effort, Daisy," Elkon said, breaking his silence. "But you see, this entity is fueled by the suffering and pain of souls too vast in number for you to ever hope of putting an exact count to. Even though many have been released through this battle, a substantial amount still remains within this great earthly form, driving it on. Will you now see the faults in your ways and yield to both these souls and to a greater cause?"
Ignoring Elkon, Daisy calmly got up on one knee and spat out some blood to the side. She saw that The Crestfallen was having a very difficult time trying to bring itself back to its feet, courtesy of her back-crushing maneuver. The thing's got plenty of fight in it, she thought. Now's my chance; I'm gonna have to go for the proverbial jugular, otherwise it's going to just keep reforming, and I'll eventually run out of energy.
"Time for ol' reliable!" Daisy shouted, raising her left hand to eye level and forming her Crystal Fist. With blazing speed, she sprinted towards The Crestfallen, got up underneath the titan as it balanced itself on its hands and knees, and delivered a powerful, crystal-enhanced uppercut to its abdomen. The force lifted the titan off the ground and flipped it onto its back. Daisy made several jumps backwards until she was about thirty yards away. Elkon showed no emotion at the sight of his creation being brought to defeat. The Crestfallen was now damaged to the point that souls were essentially leaking out of its form.
"It didn't counter the attack..." Elkon whispered to himself. "And now it's losing souls by the second... It's going to be destroyed..."
"And now to finish this!" Daisy yelled as she retracted both her arms as far as possible. Large amounts of seismic energy began to crackle and rumble around her hands. The Crestfallen writhed in an erratic fit that was equally as depressive as it was traumatizing. For a brief moment, Daisy did not want to destroy the entity. She paused herself, maintaining her charge but not building on it. Questions of what would happen to all those souls flooded her mind. What would happen to all those souls that had already been released? she thought. If I bring my hands forward and unleash my Seismic Wave, do I prove everything that Elkon had said earlier? Would letting loose this attack make me a hero...or a villain? Who really is the bad guy in all of this...
Elkon noticed that Daisy was stalling. Interesting, he thought. If she keeps stalling like this, then The Crestfallen should have enough time to repair and reform itself...but why are you stalling now all of a sudden, earth wielder?
"Why is she not firing her blast?" Bowser asked in frustration. "There's more than enough charge – just do it already!"
The Crestfallen attempted to repair itself, but the overwhelming damage it had taken proved to be too much stress to overcome. The titan's sullen and dejected expression and posture was conceding the fight, so the outcome of the conflict rested in Daisy's charged and rumbling hands.
Is this right? Daisy wondered. If I destroy The Crestfallen with this attack, I might also be destroying the countless souls gathered within that have already suffered through enough elemental onslaught. These souls experienced all the suffering and pain they could tolerate in their living bodies, so why am I about to deliver more? The Crestfallen was not bad at all; it was just venting its pains and tribulations at us. Elkon, this is everything that you were trying to tell us earlier, but I was too angry to actually listen to what you had to say... I don't know if I can-
"GET OUTTA MY TOWN YOU GOTHIC PUNK!"
"What – WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Bowser screamed with surprise.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Daisy exclaimed.
Waluigi stood at the entrance to the gemstone room, a loaded Bob-omb Launcher in his hands aimed squarely at The Crestfallen's vulnerable opening. Nothing was stopping him from firing his weapon, nor was there any obstruction in his line of sight. All he had to do was pull the trigger.
"Waluigi, wait!" Daisy yelled, dispelling her charged attack.
"Hakuna matata," the Mayor of Maralah echoed, firing off his launcher.
"Get out of the way now!" Daisy angrily screamed at the downed giant. In that moment, time seemed to slow to a fourth of its normal rate. Four bob-ombs flew through the air and made direct contact on The Crestfallen's exposed torso, blitzing and bombarding the titan and causing an earthshaking explosion that dismantled it in its entirety.