As I had predicted, the first person Dimentio went after was Wendy. Before the flames exploded in front of her, Waluigi got in the way and drowned them with a blast of water. Using his darkness, Eugene was the bait for Bonechill as he kept casting different spells in his general direction. He was distracting the monster from trying to destroy Peasley, who was guarding Wendy as well. As he dodged an ice attack, the prince inhaled, placed his fingers in his lips, and let out a shrill whistle. A few seconds passed, and his flying bean flew past him at an alarming speed. Before it passed him, he grabbed a hold of it and was soon skyrocketed into the air. After a few terrifying moments of uncertainty, Peasley managed to get on and stand up. Soon, the bean was flying circles around Bonechill's head, causing the monster to swat at the duo. When he would miss, Peasley would take to opportunity to take a stab at the monster and fly away again before getting hit.

Fiamo was standing next to Eugene and was taunting the ice demon by shooting arrows at him every time he lashed out and tried to hit someone else other than Peasley. It came to a point where Fiamo would aim at Peasley, and release an arrow. Just before it hit him, the prince would dodge the attack, and the cautiously aimed arrow would hit the target behind him. Both the men shifted their attack position, moving to the back of the head as Eugene would pester him up front while luring him towards the portal.

Mario and I were busy with Dimentio. Every time one of us would get close enough to hit him, he would disappear and we would end up hitting the other brother. Thankfully, it was only our flames, so we could easily counter one another. I had just dodged a fire attack from Dimentio when he disappeared, and he reappeared in between Bonechill and Eugene. With a demonic laugh, the jester blasted his power at Eugene, causing him to crash into Fiamo in the process.
"You call yourselves heroes?" he asked his voice thick with wicked, deathly glee.
Before he could attack again, Peasley just shouted "eyes". Knowing what this meant, all of us shielded our eyes as a blinding light filled the area. It was worse than last time because it was nighttime and the light reflected off of the ice. Once I could see, my power changed, and I shot lightning bolts at Dimentio. He was still recovering from the blinding flash, so my aim was perfect. The thunder echoed off the icy terrain and the jester hit the ground.
"I will not go down without a fight!" Bonechill screamed, his demonic voice booming.
He roared in anger as he shot ice from the cannon that was located on the lower part of his body. Not only that, he breathed a haze of icy cold flames all around him, preventing any of us from getting close. Any attack that we would try to use would only end up freezing and never touching him. We were forced to retreat back, fearing that we would become frozen.

An idea hit me there and then.

Pulling my brother with me, I started to retreat. Mario didn't pull away or argue with me; he saw the determination in my eyes and knew that I had a small idea. I got in between Bonechill and the portal. He roared and started charging after me. Mario nodded, now knowing what I was doing. He called the others to us silently, and we were all in a small cluster, slowly backing away from Bonechill and towards the portal. He let out a hearty roar of deadly desire, and charged straight for us. Right before he could hit us, we all jumped out of the way, causing the demon to crash into the portal himself.
As soon as he hit the portal, Rose shot Wendy in the air using her magic and kept her afloat. Eugene casted the stakes to encircle the portal, and the air vibrated and hummed with darkness. As Wendy was casting spells one right after the other using the Dark Ice, Mario was summoning flames and added his spells to the seals. I snapped lightning into my hands, and started firing off bolts into the portal. Not only did they add to the seal's strength, they also hit Bonechill as he was trying to climb out. His roars of pain and rage were deafening as the portal began to close.

"Go back to which you came from." Wendy called out over the sounds of the battle. "And never return. By the power of the Dark Ice, I damn you back to the Hell of which you were birthed from!"

"As long as the sun rises, your icy breath will never bathe these peaceful lands!" Peasley screamed from his perch on the bean.

"With all of our powers combined," Mario whispered in anger, "This seal will never break. You will forever suffer within the darkest and deepest reaches of the Underwhere."

Wendy screamed a bloody battle cry as she released the last of her Dark Ice. The impact it made on Bonechill was majestic yet a scarring sight to behold. The Ice had hit the monster square in the face, causing his head to whip back with the impact. The crack of his neck echoed off the silent ice, and it felt like a gun had been shot. The sound faded into the night, and everything was still. The only sounds that could be heard after the crack was the flames dancing in Mario's hands and the wind gently caressing my ears. A few seconds passed, and Bonechill let out a wail of sadness and pain.

The ground began to quake, and he realized that he was sinking into the portal. He let out one last cry that was filled with desperate freedom as the seal took form of different inscriptions. The words sparked and burned him as he tried to escape. That cry turned into a desperate shout of agony and rage as the seal took form and the land was refurbished. The pattern glowed for a few minutes before fading within the ground; the traces of its birth no longer visible.

There was a moment of silence that was filled with uncertainty of what to do next, but it was murdered when the explosions of war echoed off of the surface of the ice shattering the moment. Eugene sighed, and approached Dimentio. As the jester floated to the ground, he bowed graciously.

"Did you honestly think that Mr. E had changed?" Dimentio laughed. "King Boo was right; you are truly gullible."

"But…" I whispered in shock and terror.

"I'm sorry." Eugene whispered. Gently, he raised his hand towards us, and Darkness encompassed it. As it grew in intensity, Mario jumped in front of us all with his magic dancing wildly in his hands. Eugene closed his eyes, and let his hand fall. The black orb was floating in the frigid air as he gently pulled out his katana. "Please…forgive me."

Before anything else was said, the orb continued to grow in intensity. Mario powered his flames brighter and bigger, but the light was diminished as the Darkness absorbed it. Using his shoulder, Eugene gestured for the power to attack. It shot forward, and I swear that everything was in slow-motion. I watched as the power closed in on Mario, and then…

…it stopped.

Well, not really; it more did a sharp U-Turn than anything else. When it turned, the slow motion stopped, and we watched as the Dark Orb collided with Dimentio's face, knocking him back a few feet. When he hit the ground, Eugene pointed his blade a few inches away from the mask. They stayed in that position for a few seconds.

"You were wrong." Eugene shouted in anger. "You were wrong about everything! Not all people who can control the Dark Arts have to be Dark themselves. You lied to me!"

Eugene thrusted his sword down, but Dimentio disappeared, causing the sword to bounce off the ice. He stood back up, and Dimentio appeared behind him. I saw Fiamo draw an arrow from behind him, and I ducked, hearing it slice through the air. Eugene dodged, and a white rose stuck itself into the jester's shoulder. Regardless of his injury, the battle still ensued.

Knowing that she couldn't fight because of the overuse of her power, Wendy stayed in the back and out of the way. Rose started casting healing spells and Wendy casted light protection spells so we wouldn't get poisoned or couldn't see what we were doing. Brian stood his ground as each spell was cast on him and I jumped in front of him, defending an attack in the process. I shot a few lightning bolts of my own, but they missed their target. Dimentio flew up to Brian, and his hand engulfed in flames. The pirate jumped out of the way in time, and knelt so the last spell could be cast in quick time. Standing, he dodged another attack from Dimentio, and tried to cut him to no avail.

Knowing that something had to be done, I turned to Waluigi, and he nodded lightly. Soon he had a small amount of water dancing through his fingertips. The water snaked out of his hands, and it slithered across the air until it got to me. I jumped back, taking Brian with me. The water attached itself to Dimentio's feet, freezing him to the ground.

"This is the end…" Eugene hissed at Dimentio.

Suddenly, the katana pierced through the front of Dimentio's chest, and his blood escaped in every direction, hitting Brian, Eugene and I in the process. Wasting no time, the blade twisted, and was pulled out, causing the wound to turn into a black waterfall. Dimentio collapsed on his knees.

"This…this is only the prelude." His laugh was weak and feeble as tar dripped from his lips. "The…the opening Act is yet…to come. Ahahahahahaha…"

He collapsed, and his body faded into nothing, leaving behind only a puddle of tar. Gently, I grabbed the bandana that was in my pocket and cleaned off my eyes so I could see, and then offered it to Brian. He nodded, thanking me, and cleaned his face so he could see as well. Once he gave it back to me and I placed it back in my pocket, a wave of fear filled me when Wendy began to cry. Gently, Waluigi approached her and held her close.

"There is no need to cry." He soothed. "The Reign of Ice is over…and will never return."