Whisperer propelled himself towards Gumball with the momentum gained, wielding energy around his right fist and threw the energy directly at Gumball. The energy barely hit Gumball as it caused a small explosion on the ground beside him, shrouding them in a cloud of dust. The dust slowly fading way. They both exchanged an unfriendly glance; Whisperer showed extreme indignation, his eyes were dreadful.

At the moment they were close to each other, Whisperer landed a direct hit. Gumball blocked it with his arms crossed, but the force didn't keep him still, pushing him slightly back. Gumball's hands engulfed with flames with both hands in front, readied to block any attack. "It's better to run," Cain suggested, sensing a disturbance presence.

"For me, it's better to try," Gumball said reluctantly. He threw numerous fireballs at Whisperer, but it didn't inflict any harm.

"Told you," Cain retorted.

Before Whisperer was about to charge at Gumball, he fled with his friends and Whisperer ended up chasing after them. They went deeper into the maze, taking any quick option to try to confuse Whisperer which path they took.

"Did you, just now, shoot fireballs with your hands?" Jason asked out of curiosity while keeping in pace.

"I'll explain later," Gumball replied.

They lost sign of Whisperer, but unfortunately, ended up in a dead end. Whisperer was yelling at Gumball furiously as it gets louder, notifying his distance towards them getting closer. When the sound coming near to the group, Gumball thought they were hopeless. Suddenly, it echoes further from them, Whisperer had taken the other path.

It was a sort of relief, but they're conscious of Whisperer whereabouts. Whisperer's shout fainted off, giving Gumball an eerie feeling. They walked away to take another path, the wall behind them shattered as Whisperer emerged with a sword in his right hand.

"I found you—"

The ground quaked again as the maze slowly merged into the earth, letting the group an opportunity to flee from Whisperer.

"I had told you, that, you will regret it," Zach muttered in his subconscious.

Whisperer clutched the sword tighter as he charges at the group, but especially at Gumball and forced him to fight, denying his chance of escaping. Cedric and Stella were looking for them. Students left the open-field slowly until they were the only few remained with Gumball, Jason, and Carrie.

"Look…" Cedric pointed at "Zach" from afar, who was desperately trying to hit Gumball with his sword.

"Is that…" Stella noticed. "Zach?"

"Looks like him." Cedric pulled out of a dagger from his back. "But, something strange…"

"What?"

"Cyrus knew about it," Cedric guessed. He probably had figured out it wasn't Zach but something else.

"There's an unusual amount of demonic aura surrounded him. Few days ago, Zach showed no sign of this phenomenon. But today…" Cyrus implied in a spiritual, light yellow glowing form of particles.

"We noticed strange presence in the atmosphere since after recess," Eldred finished.

"Are we going to stand here or help him?" Stella cut in.

Gumball was dodging every strike by Whisperer with his quick reflexes. Whisperer swings faster as Gumball was unable to keep up. Just as Whisperer was about to sever Gumball's left arm from his body. Stella delivered a flying kick to his stomach, sent him flying to a certain distance away. Whisperer roared and gave her a deadly gaze. Cedric arrived at her side.

Gumball, Jason, and Carrie just stared at them. "Are you okay?" Carrie asked, worried. Jason was studying Zach. Black sclera with red glowing iris and his behavior was different than usual.

"Is he really Zach?" Jason concluded. "I mean—those eyes and behaviors."

Gumball stopped. "Who are you?" he asked. Whisperer laughed maniacally.

"Don't you remember me?" Whisperer said. "You stepped and killed me in the process four years ago. Have you forgotten?"

Gumball shook his head, clueless. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"That paper girl washed away my entire army on your hand that was going to infect you. If you remember," Whisperer smiled grimly.

Gumball thought for a moment. Teri? Virus? Slowly, he began to remember everything. "How are you still alive?" he said.

Whisperer clutched his sword followed with an energy charging sound from the sword. Cedric and Stella heighten their awareness.

"A warrior spirit never dies. They will only reborn and become stronger than the last time they make their appearance," he said gloriously with a grin.

"Then, what are you?" Cedric asked instead.

"A possession spirit," Cain and Whisperer said in unison.

"I possess and harvest the person's vitality to become stronger," Whisperer divulged.

"And after that, he will take form into a more monstrous appearance with supernatural abilities." Cain continued in Gumball's mind.

Whisperer bolted towards them, wielding his sword intensely. Cedric stepped forward, holding his dagger. The grip reversed, blade pointing downward as the edge oriented away from his body. As they collide, their blade crossed, clinking on every strike. Cedric was simply overpowered and almost pushed off his feet. Stella had been readied to aid him.

"Gumball," Cain called in his energy particle spiritual form like Cyrus but in bright blue color. Jason and Carrie seemed to stare at him as his voice echoed.

"You have to extract him out of Zach," Cain added.

"Zach has shown an intention of ruining my lifestyle. Why would I do so? As a matter of fact, he might work with that "Thing" against us!" Gumball retorted, still couldn't put Zach out of his mind.

"If that "Thing" harvests Zach till dry, he will become a greater threat than any being in this world."

Gumball hesitated, clenched his teeth. He thought for a while before considering and finally; he decided to do it.

"How…?" he muttered, unwillingly.

"Just get your paws on him. I'll force him out," Cain replied.

Gumball stared at Whisperer, confronting Cedric and Stella without difficulty. He grasped, ignoring them while charging towards Whisperer and held him firmly around with his arms to prevent him from breaking free.

Whisperer snarled, struggling to free himself. He struck Gumball's shoulder with his elbow several times, but Gumball just held tighter.

"Now Cain!" Gumball shouted in pain but ignores it.

Energy particle surged into Zach's body. Cain was forcing Whisperer out of Zach; Cain managed to extract Whisperer out of Zach, but Zach merged back into Gumball as his alter ego. Gumball felt an instant sharp pain, followed a strong wave bursting out to the surrounding. Another mark was burned onto Gumball's left arm.

Standing in front was a nine feet tall shadowy figure, full of malice, anguish, and hatred. Gumball slowly backed off to his friends' side while keeping his gaze at Whisperer in his true form. "That's wasn't something I would expect…" Cedric muttered in shock, pulled another dagger with his left hand out of nowhere.

Six shadow tentacles motioned around Whisperer readied to strike on any given commands. Zach's voice rose in Gumball's thoughts. "The more energy he drains, the more powerful he gets. If you know what I mean…" the sound slowly faded as Gumball ignored.

One of the tentacles lunged towards Gumball, ripping the earth apart as it missed. Whisperer gave a loud shriek, causing reverberation in their ears as if their eardrums will rupture at any moment. All the tentacles began attacking simultaneously in long range from preventing them getting close to Whisperer.

While dodging from been hit, Cedric managed sliced off some the tentacles into segments but only grows back instantly. Gumball, Carrie, and Jason retreated away from Whisperer been confronting Stella and Cedric.

"What can we do?" Carrie cried, wanting to help the dual.

Gumball stood still thinking that it was all because of him that caused everyone to involve in his problem. He looked at Jason then to Carrie. "I have to fix this…" he said, running back to face Whisperer recklessly.

"Wait!" Carrie called, but he was far standing only a few meters away from Whisperer.

"Hey! You want me?" Gumball yelled. "Then come and get it!"

Whisperer looked at Gumball as all tentacles stopped and motioned around him. Suddenly four tentacles lunged towards, aiming directly at his body. Unfortunately, Gumball didn't have the time to react as it pierced through. His friends were petrified. Carrie sobbed as she looked away from Gumball's direction.

The tentacles hauled out; Gumball lay dead in a pool of blood next. Cedric was boiling, audacious; he charged at Whisperer without a second thought, wielding his daggers furiously. Stella bit her lip trying not to let her emotion overrun her consciousness and aid Cedric on confronting Whisperer.

Hope was diminished long after Whisperer turned into his actual form. Even Carrie skilled in umbra magic knew that she wouldn't inflict any harm on Whisperer due to him being something more potential . Whilst, Jason only realized that he has supernatural ability few days ago and has no idea what he could do other than teleportation.

Finally after so long, this chapter took the longest time to figure out how everything goes according to the story. It was truly a relief. Well, Merry Christmas!