*AN* I'm back, slightly sooner than I expected, with chapter 25. I did my best to update in less than a month, and it seems I've reached that goal, though only by a few days. I'd like to thank B1BL10PH1L3 and Wingedmidnight88 for reviewing my story between these two updates. You guys were pretty much the reason I tried to update this quickly.

Also, if you haven't noticed, I've just reached 25 chapters! That's a quarter of 100 for people not well-versed in the field of mathematics. Honestly, I never would've gotten this far without all of the positive reviews that inspired me to become a better writer and storyteller. Originally, this story was going to be relatively short, and the plot was much worse and less original. My first ideas involved Finn becoming another embodiment of The Lich shortly after he woke up, and having him trash the Candy Kingdom before he was killed. If you've read this far, then you'll know that that is not the case. Also, at this point, I have a pretty good idea of my intended ending and most of the details leading up to it, so hopefully it won't seem like I'm pulling this story out of thin air. There is a point to it, I promise.

As per usual, I don't own Adventure Time, that honor belongs to Pendleton Ward and the folks at Cartoon Network. The only thing I own in relation to this fan fiction are the Original Characters and the plot. I don't profit from this story in a monetary way (unless you count increased writing skill as a profit), and I don't ever intend to. If you enjoy this chapter or the story in general, leave me a review telling me what I did right. If not, leaving a review will help me understand how I can improve this work of fiction. If you really like it, you can follow/favorite this story at the bottom of the chapter.

Okay, the formalities are over. Without further ado, I give you chapter 25 of The Wrath of The Lich.

It was just problem after problem for Princess Bubblegum that day.

First, she was robbed of an important artifact that could be possibly be used against The Lich. Next, her kingdom was blown up, not leaving a single survivor, then her butler was killed, then she was chased down... It was more than enough happening to make even the best of them crack under the pressure. However, she was better than that. Even while Marceline was attempting to carry them across the vast ocean of enemies, she was devising a backup plan in case her old friend failed. And sure enough, she was quickly inundated by assassins in the middle of the sea of killers. If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself she thought, angrily. Her plan was risky, but would surely save them if she had enough time. However, if Marceline and Finn couldn't hold their position in the eye of the storm for too much longer, they would all be dead before they hit the candied ground.

"I have an idea!" called out the desperate princess, barely being audible above the roars of thousands of opponents scrambling to gut them like fish, "I'm going to need you two to keep them off of me for at least two minutes or else it won't work!" After she heard the compliant, albeit annoyed grumbling of her allies, she began to work. She sliced into her battle suit, revealing an array of wires in her left arm sleeve. She carefully plucked a green wire, creating a fizzling sound inside of her ears. The countdown had begun.

"Princess!" yelled Finn, "Look up!" Bonnibel obeyed, temporarily looking up from her mission to observe several airborne enemies heading to their location. The problem which was pretty bad on its own got infinitely more difficult with their current team. All three of them, Marceline, Finn, and Bonnie herself, were mostly close range fighters. They couldn't stretch up and punch flying assassins like Jake could, or hurl ice beams like Ice King could, and were sitting ducks to the elevated foes. Marceline could potentially float up their and deal with them, but that would leave Finn alone to protect the Princess and to repel the oncoming army.

The leader of the flying enemies, a green-skinned humanoid with large, demon wings, was extending the claws at the end of his fingertips, despite the fact that he was about 100 yards from their location. Suddenly, Bonnie was face to face with the grinning face of the green-claw assassin, with no apparent transition between being far away and being at point blank range. She felt several gashes materialize in her battle suit, just barely missing her gummy skin thanks to her tough battle suit. The impact alone knocked her onto her back, landing with a wince. Her enemy was on top of her in moments, raising another clawed hand to strike.

It was then that Bonnie realized how monstrously big their quest was. Even if The Lich didn't conquer Ooo, how would she and her friends defeat such an opponent? They could barely defeat The Lich in his weakened state several months prior, and were getting overwhelmed by his nearly limitless supply of soldiers. If they somehow escaped this nightmare, there would be no Ooo to return to. At least, not the one they had known. She was just about the last remaining political figure left in the continent, with all of the other kingdoms falling apart due to the loss of their rulers. If they ended up winning the war (again, against impossible odds), Ooo would never recover fully. Her mission was pointless, any way she looked at it.

Then again, she did love a challenge.

With lightning fast precision, she launched her knife (which was hidden in her sleeve) into her right hand, primed and ready to strike. Her fast slice was aimed at her attacker's jugular, tearing a large chunk of flesh and letting loose a large supply of blood. She knew that this would take several seconds to kill, so she aimed a secondary stab at his forehead. In the end, a full five seconds passed between PB spotting the winged troupe and the leader slumping dead off of her abdomen. She turned to face the remaining airborne assassins and shot them looks that could kill. Despite their unflinching loyalty in The Lich, they took one look at the seemingly-psychopathic princess and turned around to avoid her wrath.

Satisfied, she continued to fiddle with her battle suit in hopes of saving herself and her friends.

Roughly 1 minute and 30 seconds until my plan can work. Finn and Marceline sure have their work cut out for them.

FINN THE HUMAN'S POV

Sometimes, he really hated Princess Bubblegum.

Regardless of his love of fighting, there was a limit to the amount of fighting one can undertake before it becomes too much. He was damn near reaching his limit. He was already worn out from his duel with Red the assassin, so the task of holding off waves of enemies was not the most enjoyable thing he ever had to do. A positive to this, however, was how easy each of the assassins went down. There was a severe drop in quality fighters as the quantity increased. The really powerful cult members were most likely leading the charge, so the eye of the storm was surrounded by relatively weak opponents.

A slash here, a parry there, three stabs to the right, Finn was expertly fending off hordes of hooded weirdo who fought with all manner of unique weapons. Sure, there were dozens fighting with swords and daggers, but many were wielding magical projectiles that often veered way off from their target. The Brotherhood of The Lich doesn't have a cut for its tryouts, thought the teenage hero.

Something told him to look up. He did, relying on his instincts to continue to fend off the assassins. Sure enough, there were about half a dozen flying enemies closing in on their location. One of them was specifically locked on to PB. He had to warn her.

"Princess!," he yelled, hoping his voice was louder than the collective noises of thousands of warriors, "Look up!" That was all he could manage to say before being knocked by a powerful blow to the stomach. He growled in pain, letting only moments pass in order to keep his opponents off of PB. Squinting through pained eyes, Finn was able to make out a tall, stocky looking assassin with a large mace following through on a hit. Even with the combined smell of thousands of assassins, this one was easily recognizable and putrid. This didn't matter to Finn, as his sense of smell wasn't that powerful to begin with. What did matter was his size. The ogre easily surpassed 8 feet tall, brandishing a mace nearly half that size. He smiled a toothy grin, which disturbed Finn. His teeth were rotten yellow, with mold growing throughout. Honestly, it was one of the most disgusting things Finn could remember. The other assassins back off, obviously knowing how powerful the large assassin was.

Using Finn's momentary disgust as an opportunity, the ogre swung the giant mace like it was made of paper. Finn, however, was prepared. He raised his Demon-Blood Sword to block the attack. The giant assassin wasn't expecting this, so Finn used the chance to throw the ogre off balance. He pushed against the blunt weapon with vigor, easily causing the stocky assassin to tip onto one foot. His weight pulled him to the ground, landing with an audible thud. The teenage swordsman capitalized and rushed the ogre. The ogre was struggling to get to his feet, allowing Finn to cock his sword back for a powerful headshot. Then something happened that he hadn't expected.

Instead of decapitating the ogre like he expected, the repulsive giant had raised an arm to defend himself, using it as a buffer between his face and Finn's crimson sword. The hulking assassin had been disarmed from his elbow down. Blue blood sprayed from the wound, forming an ever-growing puddle below the two fighters. The ogre shrugged it off, using his non-damaged arm to smash the mace against Finn's body once again.

Finn was knocked to the ground, kicking up candied dust in the process. The blow had torn part of his sky-blue shirt, revealing a large bruise on the Hero's ribs. One of my ribs is probably broken, thought the human, Its like this guy can't feel pain. He managed to stand in spite of his injuries (his ribs weren't actually broken, just bruised) and ready himself for round 2.

The ogre ripped off his hood to use as a tourniquet for his stumped arm. Still able to wield the mace like it was nothing, he was able to push Finn back. The hero was using this time to devise a strategy to kill the giant while wasting as little time as possible. He had backed up several yards by the time he remembered to steer clear of the Princess's business. By then, he had a makeshift strategy. It wasn't brilliant, but it would have to do.

Finn ducked to avoid another swing from the repulsive assassin, immediately shifting his weight forward into a charging motion. He pulled his crimson sword back and drove it through the giant's chest. The ogre coughed in pain and realized his defeat. Finn had won, but he wasn't in the best fighting shape after that.

Unfortunately, Finn had grown complacent during his one-on-one fight with the hulking assassin. He felt a sharp pain erupt from his left side. He looked over to see a little assassin, no more than 3 feet tall, had stabbed him in the side with a jagged dagger. He relied on his instincts to bash the little assassin over the head with the pommel on the hilt of his blade while his mind had gone into shock.

He knew that he shouldn't pull the knife out, that would cause more bleeding, but he couldn't keep fighting in his condition. If he kept on this track, he may have to resort to releasing The Lich's power that lay dormant inside of him. However, he needed to hold out as long as he could. The teenager stood back up and showed a brave face to his incoming wave of opponents.

"Peebles!" he yelled, out of a tired desperation, "How much time until you've finished!" He didn't get a response. Instead, he was being pulled from behind. He looked behind him to see that he was being sucked into a huge, inflated pink ball where Princess Bubblegum had been standing.

*AN* That's the chapter! I managed to reach my goal of posting in less than a month by about 15 hours. I was cutting it close, but I wanted to make this chapter as well-written as I could. The next chapter is chapter 26 (obviously), which I hope to release in less than a month.

Thanks for reading this! If you liked it, tell me why in the review section, so I can deliver more enjoyable content. If you didn't, tell me how I can further improve my writing.

I'll keep this concise, so I hope you all have a great day!

~da br0909