"Oh, crazy bird lady, you're back." Ridge grinned that same shit-eating grin, before narrowing his eyes. "Alone."

"Well observed, Sherlock." Lomadia spat, brandishing her weapon. "Now, what did you say about my friends?"

"Simply the truth." Ridge said sneeringly. "That they – along with the rest of your pitiful species – are pathetic creatures, incapable of posing a legitimate threat to me." He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows smarmily. "Obviously that applies to you as well, Lomadia. Oh, and even more so to your primitive little friend there." He said, giving a jaunty wave to Mr. Owl, who puffed out his chest and hooted, clearly not amused. Lomadia gave him a reassuring stroke before glaring at Ridge.

"Leave him alone, Goldilocks."

Ridge narrowed his eyes, and Lomadia could tell that he had not expected such a relaxed response from her. His eyes flickered with confusion and irritation, but his voice remained level and maintained the same contempt tone. "I'm offended. I thought this vessel was rather dashing. Though it's all a façade, of course."

"Ridge always did have to be better than everyone else. Didn't you, Flyboy?"

Ridge cocked his head to one side. "Huh?"

"I know you're in there. Why can't you be the best now? You're just gonna sit back and let Israphel control you?" Her voice became strained with urgency. "Come on, Ridge, just wake up! Please!"

A smile crept onto Ridge's face, before his cheeks puffed and exploded with a manic and mocking cackle. "Oh, so that's why you're here! To try and coax him out? Oh, you mortals are so amusing!" he said, giggling. "Call him all you want, Lomadia. This vessel is all that remains. My eldest son gave himself over to me, so that my youngest might live."

"Yeah, I know. Just thought I'd give it a try." Lomadia grumbled, slipping into a fighting stance. Ridge eyed her curiously.

"So what are you going to do now?" he watched as Mr. Owl flitted off to the side, nestling in the relative safety of a gnarled old oak tree while his mistress prepared for battle. "Get your birds to tickle me to death?"

Lomadia gave a small, sanguine smile, which was surprisingly unsettling to the demon. "Actually, I was going to take this sword and stick it through your stupid smug face. Knock out some of your pearly whites while I'm at it."

Ridge was still smiling sweetly, though a new venomous edge was beginning to creep into his voice. "Interesting strategy. But you know…it wouldn't do much but upset Oracan a little bit. I mean, he tries so hard to look his best, even when he feels rotten on the inside." He smiled as he felt Ridgedog's presence shrink down into an even smaller corner of his own mind. "What I mean is, your blade cannot harm me. Your mortal weapons are no match for my power."

"Spare me the 'almighty power' speech. I don't have time for your shit." Lomadia spat. "Anyway, this sword seemed to do a pretty decent job of killing Xephos."

Ridge's smile faltered for a split-second. Lomadia felt a little more confident.

"Run that by me again?"

"You heard me. I went looking for Xephos, and when I found him, he was dead; lying at the base of a tree. Ran himself through with his own blade."

"Oh." Ridge said, genuinely unsure how to feel about this. "What a...pity. Then again, my seventh son was always weaker than the others. I can't believe I ever considered using such a weakling as my host – I mean, suicide? Really?"

"I think he did it because he was an honorable man." Lomadia objected. "He hated himself for serving a monster like you – so he took his own life."

"Touché, young lady, touché. But I'm afraid there is no room for weakness – or 'honor' – in my empire." Ridge said, matter-of-factly.

"Who says this is your empire? I don't know how you do things in Hell-Land, but here in Minecraftia you would need to discuss things with the head honcho around here. And since you're currently in the head honcho, I suggest you take this up with his second-in-command. That would be me."

The smile dropped off his face completely, his mouth curling into a threatening snarl; two of his pointed teeth hooking over his lips in a vampire-like way. Lomadia questioned whether demons sucked blood, but her confidence certainly felt like it was being drained away as his cold red eyes pierced her own. Nevertheless, she continued to stare back at him defiantly.

"Lomadia, my dear, I am the ruler of all darkness, conqueror of this realm and the next. I do not have time to engage in diplomatic discussions with you about whether I am fit to rule the world."

Lomadia grinned, entering a defensive position, sword extended. "Hey, I didn't say anything about diplomacy. I was just thinking we should let our weapons do the talking." Lomadia said, gripping the sword, feeling the energy ripple through the blade.

Ridge smiled complacently. "I like how you think." His eyes lit up with mischief. "I can see why Xephos is…was…so fond of you."

Lomadia maintained her hard glare, her eyes fixed on Ridge. "Enough talk. We both have weapons that will kill our opponent, and we both have the skill to make this a good fight. So let's end this, demon."

Ridge tilted his head upwards, as though he were inspecting his opponent. His familiar curl of hair bobbed slightly as he touched down to earth, quitting his slight hovering in favor of standing solid, and equal to Lomadia, on the ground. He mimicked Lomadia's movement, bowing his head deeply before pointing his sword at her.

Without words, the two charged at one another, but this was no barbaric brawl – these two fighters were poised and precise in their movements; their swords did not clash violently against each other, instead, Lomadia sidestepped Ridge and he went whizzing past her, his sword almost close enough to eat fabric. She spun round on the balls of her feet, but Ridge was even faster to recover, whipping round to face her, but he did not strike – this was a test of sly tactics, not brute strength. The two paced around the centre of their makeshift arena, circling each other patiently – Ridge's steps were exaggeratedly dainty, elegant and rhythmic, while Lomadia was more planted, haphazard and yet still she was poised and precise in her delivery of damage.

The two of them made a move at the same time, and the swords clashed uselessly together in a parry, but Lomadia was the faster one to pull her sword out of the knot and strike Ridge in the hip. As she had promised, it cut through his coat and sliced through his marble-like skin with ease; and though he didn't react as though he felt pain, instead he responded merely with anger, lashing out with his own blade, but Lomadia was fast and had already darted out of the clash and had her sword ready to block any incoming attack the demon could offer. After glancing at Ridge, and how his burnt bittersweet eyes glowed slightly brighter as he disregarded the trickle of blood beginning to ooze from his wound, she decided an adequate description for his mood would be 'very much pissed off.'

Zoeya, who had quietly drifted away from the rest of the group, had briefly considered either slowly creeping or quickly dashing into the centre to try and bring Rythian back to the edge of the forest, but had determined that either one of those actions would have resulted in either her or Rythian's death, or at least injury, as she flinched as Ridge's red matter blade fizzled furiously against Lomadia's crackling electric sword, sparks flying as the two blocked and bashed with their weapons, locked in combat. She was completely willing to give her life for Rythian's safety, but not in such a fruitless maneuver. Perhaps there was some other way – surely she must have a spell that would be able to make it a little safer, or even remove the need for the journey? Rythian, whether he liked to admit it or not, was a master of teleportation; he must have taught her a spell for situations like this. Well, not quite like this, but similar enough – someone in a dangerous position who needed rescuing. Zoeya fumbled around in her pockets for some Ender pearls, and for the first time ever felt a surge of joy as her fingers brushed against their familiar wet and slimy shapes, as well as a single healing potion. She had two Ender pearls, just enough to make it to Rythian and back, though she might suffer a little fall damage both ways, it was worth it to save Rythian's life. She crept a little closer to the opening, watching as Lomadia was holding out against Ridge's increasingly frenzied and powerful attacks, blocking every one of them with surprising precision and speed, though it was concerning that she was barely able to sneak in any attacks of her own since her initial hit. Zoeya caught sight of Rythian's unconscious form and prepared to throw the Ender pearl, before a sudden rustling behind her made her whip around, making her realize how far away she must have drifted away from the rest of the group, without even being aware of it. It was then that she remembered that she had no weapons of any kind, and while she had a healing potion, she certainly didn't want to use it on anyone or anything other than Rythian; so for all intents and purposes she was completely inadequately equipped to deal with any mob that came charging out of the brush.

But then, perhaps nothing could have equipped her for what she saw next.

From out of one of the towering trees dropped someone she was familiar with, but certainly not someone she had expected to see anytime soon.

"Xephos?!" she said, completely forgetting where she was for a moment. Thankfully, nobody else seemed to hear her surprised squeal.

He spun round, blinking in confusion before he noticed her. "Oh!" he exclaimed, unsure whether to make a break for it or approach her. "Uh…hi, Zoeya. I, uh…I didn't expect to find you here."

"I'll be honest, I didn't expect to find you here either." Zoeya said, giving a warm smile, to assure Xephos that she meant the comment in a joking way, and to make him feel a little more relaxed. "I mean, not because you ran off or anything. I mean, Lomadia said you were dead. How are you…not dead? I mean, not that I'd want you to be…" she said, trailing off into awkward silence.

Xephos scratched the back of his head awkwardly, rocking from one foot to the other, watching Zoeya closely, as though he expected her to suddenly draw out a sword and run him through. Zoeya noticed his uneasy look, and gestured for him to come over. He did not move. Zoeya sighed.

"Look, Xephos, I'm not freaking out about anything to do with you right now. As far as I'm concerned you're still a cool dude, and I'm still a cool dudette. Let's just leave it at that."

"I wish everyone else shared your views on this subject." Xephos said, in a small, sad voice.

Zoeya gave him a smile, and he drifted a little closer, more at ease as he crouched down beside her. "So…how are you still alive?"

"I'm the ambusher element in this plan."

"This plan?"

"Well, mine and Lomadia's plan."

"Oh, I get it. But why the suicide thing? I'm gonna have nightmares about the way she described it for ages now."

"So the element of surprise is a little more effective. If he thinks I'm dead, he won't be expecting me to pop up again and take him out." Xephos said knowingly, moving towards the edge of the forest. Zoeya noticed him fix his eyes on Lomadia, and saw him flinch and tense whenever a hit was scored on either side, his fists clenching desperately as he waited. Zoeya clutched the Ender pearl and made a move to throw it, but Xephos caught hold of her arm.

"What are you doing?" he asked, concerned.

"Look, Rythian's still out there – he was hit by the mega-awesome sword Ridge has. I need to get him out of there. He's already lost a ton of blood."

"You can't just wander out there, it's too dangerous!" he said, pulling on her arm a little tighter.

"Well, I can use these Ender pearls…"

"No, you can't!" Xephos insisted, his tone upset. When Zoeya looked at him, a little startled at his response, he blinked and looked at the floor, loosening his grip on her arm. "I mean...I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Well, I don't want to get hurt either, Xephos, to be completely honest, but I can't just leave Rythian out there. Look, I know you might not like him, but that doesn't mean I can just sit by and watch…"

"I didn't suggest that." Xephos said irritably. "Anyway, I don't hold anything against him…"

"So help me help him!" Zoeya said, tugging her arm away. Xephos seemed hurt.

"Well…what am I supposed to do?"

"You can stop me using these Ender pearls by giving me a suitable alternative in the next ten seconds. Or you can sit there and do nothing." Zoeya suggested, readying herself, preparing to throw one once again. "Five…four…three…"

"Well, Rythian knows other ways of teleporting, right?!" Xephos gabbled urgently. "I mean, he doesn't always use Ender pearls, does he? Can you cast a spell or something?"

Zoeya lowered her throwing arm, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "Well, I could, but those spells are only used to teleport the person who casts them. If I casted a spell, it'd be easier to just teleport Rythian over here directly. But the only person..." She furrowed her brow in concentration, before snapping her fingers victoriously. "Got it! Uh…" she closed her eyes and murmured something to herself.

/tp rythian zoeya