Sonic disappeared in running motion, shocking Lycoris with his speed. Sonic appears in the blink of an eye before Lycoris and lands a hard punch to Lycoris' face, sending him back a couple feet; the impact was so sudden that the gush of wind from Sonic's punch shattered the windows in the room. Lycoris' feet scraped the floor, but he took the punch well-standing upright without any injury after the impact. Sonic opened and closed his hand afterwards-expecting no less.

"So, you can take a punch." Sonic said sternly while studying the feeling he had when he delivered the punch.

"I didn't think you'd throw a punch like that so soon…but what's more interesting is that speed!"

Sonic looked at him with a scary expression, "Haven't you heard of me? I'm the fastest thing alive!"

Lycoris guffawed for a moment-wiping tears while doing so, "you...? I'll admit, you're fast. But you are not the fastest thing alive."

Sonic's dark aura expanded even larger, "You've got some nerve to say that!"

"But you aren't. I'd say compared to my seniors in the twelve…at best you're maybe three seconds as slower than the tenth saint-he's considered to be the fastest in the world."

"Ah, I was looking for you so I could ask you a few questions…"

"Ask away…"

Sonic peered at Lycoris, who was as calm as the slight breeze that began to blow from the outside; Lycoris stared at Sonic's red shoes and then returned his attention to his eyes- "Lycoris, you're a member of the twelve saints, correct?"

"Yes, I'm the Eleventh member. What of it?"

"My first question, tell me about the twelve saints. What are the twelve saints?"

Lycoris laughed, "First you have the audacity to ask me who I am? Haven't you heard of me?"

Sonic crossed his arms, "Much like how you haven't heard of my speed…"

"I see your point. Very well, then…"-he made a chair of his vines and sat in it- "The twelve saints are the strongest fighters within the United Federation, and in a way, are like the twelve knights who protect the president and the people. We're regarded as saints because we've gained the favor of the gods and were blessed to protect the federation. We are as close as it gets to touching the hands of the gods."

Sonic tilted his head to the side, "gods huh?"

"Yes, we're holy and we're deadly."

"Tell me Lycoris, have you heard of the name Spade?"

"Spade…?"-He crossed his legs as he tried to recall such a name-"I do remember encountering someone named Spade."

"So, you know him!?" Sonic asked with enthusiasm.

"He was a member of that cursed four…he was among the top two strongest of those outlawed kings."

"Strong…"

"Yeah, he was a user of Ice. His had incredible power and reaction, and his intellect…it was terrifying to fight against him."

"Sounds like a nightmare. Someone said that he was looking for me."

"To be honest, if he's looking for you-then your writing is on the wall, you'll die if you fight him…"

Sonic looked concerned for a moment, "Although Sonic, you won't get the opportunity to die by his hands…"

"Huh?"

"Because you'll die by mine…!"-A sharp poison tipped vine scraped sonic on the face from underground- "How did you like that? A blow for a blow…"

Sonic felt the painful scrape, and soon his face began throbbing in reaction to the poison. He didn't waver though, instead of worrying about what effects might take place with the poison-his mind stood firm.

I'll need to beat this guy right now…this poison should take effect soon, but if my dark form can sustain long enough for myself to grab a clump of his hair then I'll be set.

"You're probably thinking you just need to use that speed of yours to grab some strands of my hair, right?" Lycoris grinned condescendingly.

"What, think you'll keep up this time?"

"Silly Sonic, that first time was only luck…you won't land another hit on me if you're in that weird black state."

Sonic kept silent, My dark form?

"I noticed your fur turned black and that malicious aura sprouted once you saw that Pink hedgehog injured; that form you're in is easily influenced by your emotions, aren't they? And from that punch, I'd say they heavily increase your skills exponentially…but that must take a toll on you, so I'll patiently stall you long enough for your power-up to wear off."

Damn…He caught on fast; I can't let this fight be too long, the poison…I can feel it beginning to take effect.

Sonic channeled all the power he had and increased his dark form to its fullest, making his green irises disappear so that the only thing left in his eyes was the white space, his fur turned pitch black and the aura began to thicken; He took a deep breath, and as soon as he reached the climax of air inhaled-he vanished. Sonic appeared a moment later ready to land another powerful punch on Lycoris-this time at full speed-but his fist connected with a ball of Lycoris' vines.

W-what…!? I can't break free!? Sonic struggled as he felt his hand beginning to crush from the pressure of Lycoris' vise grip; Lycoris had a deadly smile on his face as he applied pressure.

Lycoris suddenly through Sonic against the wall, doing so repeatedly and violently until all the paintings and other objects on the wall fell to the floor and shattered; each time Sonic's back slammed against the wall there was a higher intensity than before, and he could feel more pain increase as he felt his spine fragment from the collision. Lycoris ended the brutal attack by viciously slamming Sonic's right onto the hard floor, forcing Sonic to feel unbearable pain as a sharp hit cut through his body, making him arch his back immediately as his back collided with the floor. Sonic rolled over to the wall, coughing up blood and leaving a trail while he tried to catch wind.

He stared at the floor with agony in his eyes as he got to his knees; Lycoris began to guffaw, "I thought you had more left in the tank!"

Sonic could feel everything begin to pile up, the immediate pain form the attacks and the poison were rapidly draining him down, if he tried to stay in the dark form any longer, he might die. I can't fight him like this…he's clearly expecting me to fight at full strength like this. He knows that my body will collapse if I try to tough it out and continue fighting like this…I'll have to switch it up. I'll need to…-His eyes opened wide as he vomited blood-I need to take care of those vines…I must find a way to break through that fortress of his before I can engage in close quarters combat. If I use my homing attack, maybe that'll help in holding them off until I plan on how to approach him…-his arms wobble as he struggled to his feet with a stream of blood running down his mouth-I won't last too long…If I can't beat him soon…I'll die…

Sonic took a calm breath and powered down, returning to his base state; the pain was so strong he could barely keep his eyes open. He held a hand to his mouth as he spewed more blood that passed through his white gloves; Lycoris could smell death knocking at Sonic's door, "You won't last much longer in this condition…I'll give you this once chance to run away now and fight me when you're stronger, as you are right now isn't enough…"

"Shut up!" Sonic yelled, gritting his teeth.

"Your loss…"-Lycoris mumbled, raising a dozen of his vines high to the ceiling-"Die!"

The vines aim at Sonic, and then swarm at him at a ludicrous speed. He only sits there and watches as the vines come closer to him, feeling as though it was all in slow motion as he felt danger approach him closer.

Back outside in front of the castle in the garden, Lily, Tails and Richard continued to defeat the overflowing number of foot soldiers. Lily slashed away at their bodies mercilessly as Richard provided defense for her in her blind spot. Tails stunned another group of enemies, "When is that backup going to arrive? We could use them right about now!"

"They'll be here soon…just hold on long enough until they come!"

The trio rallied through and managed to overpower their enemies, leaving their dead corpses and paralyzed bodies scattered all over the garden. Just when they thought they found victory and were ready to enter the castle to provide support for Sonic and Amy, a new problem came out the castle; the twins applauded slowly and rhythmically as they both had the same dead expression, and following them was another larger army of foot soldiers behind them. The trio's eyes dulled once they saw what they were about to deal with; the twins surveyed the area, seeing their men all over the place, and both clenched their fists-"You have some nerve…killing all of my soldiers!" Sera said with a deadly glare sharpening in her eyes.

Lily felt her body tremble, because never before had she met someone as dangerous as her so close; Richard stood before Lily firmly staring down the enemy, "I'll handle them…"

Lily looked dumbfounded for a moment after seeing Richard display such courage in a situation he knows he can't win, "No, you'll get yourself killed like that…I can fight them too."

"Are you sure…your body language told different."

"You're a butler…"-she looked down at her feet and grinned, regaining her composure-"Worry about how you'll prepare my tea later on. I'm confident in my abilities!"

Richard understood, "As you wish…"

The foot soldiers filed out and charged before the twins could move a muscle, and the trio found themselves having to deal with overflowing numbers; the twins walked back inside, choosing not to participate.

"If they somehow manage to make it past those numbers, we'll be waiting for them in the lobby right here…"-Penny said as they both took a seat in chairs that were towards left side of the room-"And we'll exterminate them before the don even raises a finger."

Lily gracefully slashes another dozen foot soldiers-gradually making her way to the entrance; Richard shielded Tails away from the swarming enemies-knocking everyone out with his shield. Tails continued his efforts with the stun gun, but unfortunately the numbers-gain was beginning to play a role in the possible outcome.

"We can't continue to fight them like this in these numbers!" Tails yelled in frustration closing his eyes; Lily and Richard kept silent, knowing deep down inside that they couldn't keep this up.

Just when it seemed like it could only get worse for the trio, the foot soldiers began to overwhelm them with the sheer numbers. A dozen of the enemies began to pile on Lily and subdue her to where she couldn't breathe from all the bodies stacked on top of her, we're running out of time! Lily thought as her mind began to go blank from loss of oxygen, we're out of ti-she begins to shut her eyes and accept her fate, feeling regret for not going with her sister to fight. She hears an agonizing scream from one of the soldiers and then she slowly begins to feel air come in through the pockets of enemies. She saw an axe in one of the soldier's heads; the axe was big and shiny, with a green leather grip.

that's…! -Lily was too shocked to even finish her thoughts; she heard more voices coming in from behind her, familiar voices.

"Take out those guys and help our cousin Lily and her friends!" commanded one of the voices; the others responded positively and sprang into action.

When Lily looked up, she saw a myriad of different hedgehogs leaping in the air with their weapons in-hand and a fired-up expression as they dived into the battlefield-dust clouds everywhere. As the dust settles, the three of them look to see these hedgehogs taking down all of the enemies that were troubling them earlier. Lily looks over to one of them who had green fur and wielded the axe that she saw earlier.

Lily beamed, "Cousin Percy!"

"Yo!" Percy greeted holding up two fingers.

Finally, the change in the tide of battle had arrived. Reinforcements had arrived, and in the flashiest of ways. Percy gave her a nod and a thumbs-up, and signaled for Lily to march ahead, knowing from the look in Lily's eyes that she'd wanted to fight the executives for the longest of time. Lily smiled and nodded, sprinting at full speed through the mayhem and arriving at the lobby in the castle; Awaiting her are the twins, who're expecting her.

"So, it seems the long awaiting help has arrived for you…" Penny said with a smirk.

"Such a shame that you'll have to face the both of us!" Sera added.

Lily's expression turned cold, and her smile became sinister. She held out her blade and pointed it at the twins, marking her targets. "You both are about to die…"