The Healing:

"Max Mushrooms?" the merchant koopa offered to two Monty Moles. "You want some? They're yours, my friends – as long as you have enough coins!"

The bartering between the merchant koopa and the two Monty Moles was disrupted as several groups of people stormed through the Castle Town streets in panic and distress. A few people rounded the corner the merchant had his Mushroom cart set up next to and almost ran into it, only for a couple more to actually brush by it. A quick and timely move by the merchant koopa ensured that his cart remained steady and that its contents remained safely secured within.

"Hey; what's their problem?" the merchant koopa asked with annoyance. Immediately after finishing his statement, he began to hear deep, rhythmic thuds coming from just around the nearby corner where the townsfolk had been fleeing from.

It was then that a massive shadow loomed overhead. The merchant koopa and the two Monty Moles looked up just in time to see a huge leg come down and step on the Mushroom cart. The titanic hellhound and its four Black Mage riders did not experience any break in stride or even so much as stop to see what they had crushed. They simply continued on their way, leaving the merchant koopa to stare wide-eyed at his flattened cart and pureed Mushrooms. The merchant turned red and squealed in distraught anxiety.

"MY MUSHROOMS!" the merchant koopa screamed. "WHY?! WHY?!"

Atop the lumbering hellhound, Marissa's other four Sweeps – Machula, Maki, Solovar, and Tamara – scanned the streets with the intent of clearing out as much of the area as possible before Castle Town made any retaliatory effort. The less people roaming around the streets, the quicker the hellhounds could get inside and spread throughout the city.

"Cerberus here sure made short work of the south sector," said Solovar.

Maki sighed. "Yeah, that's a good sign, I guess..."

"What's wrong with you?" Tamara asked the white and silver-clothed Black Mage.

"Oh," said Machula. "I get it... You don't want to be here, do you?"

Maki shook his head. He looked depressed, even for a Black Mage's lack of facial features.

"Do any of us want to be here?" asked Tamara. "I think we all know that answer."

"I miss Marissa," said Maki. "The old Marissa. The fun Marissa. This Marissa now is just..."

"Broken," said Machula. "Erratic. Manic. Loony. Twisted."

"Gortox couldn't deal with her anymore," said Tamara. "So why are we still dealing with her? Aside from the possibility of her killing us, that is."

"But, she can change back, can't she?" asked Maki. "If we do what she says, and we have success here tonight, then, she'll go back to the way she was before, won't she?"

"I don't know," said Solovar. "I don't know if anything will ever be the way it was before."

"I think we're going to have to leave," said Tamara. "Maybe not right now, but, before the night's up. She just gets worse and worse by the day. I can feel she's on the verge of a breakdown at some point in the near future – and none of us wants to be around when that happens."

"But, friends stick together and are there for each other for the bad times, right?" asked Maki.

"Yes," Solovar replied. "But at this point, are we still her friends, or just a means to an end?"

"And do you really want to be a means to an end just to appeal to someone who's already dead?" added Tamara.


Daisy, Bowser, Warra, Athelstan, Marut, and Neva dashed towards the southern gate of Castle Town to find the entrance surrounded by rows upon rows of hellhounds. The demonic dogs had already started storming into the city, overrunning the minimal resistance from the townsfolk with ease.

"There they are!" Daisy shouted. "We're gonna break up that mass!"

Upon getting close, Bowser dove into his Whirling Fortress to tear along the ground and rip into the wall of hellhounds. A burst of air from Marut increased Bowser's velocity and torsion for an even more devastating maneuver that crippled dozens of the fiendish canines. Immediately after finishing his move, Bowser snapped up into the air and released a veritable portion of fire energy in conjunction with the cyclone Marut sent his way to create their Torch Twister and clear away an even larger faction of the horde. The Torch Twister created a large radius of cleared land and blasted a sizable pathway through the hellhounds back out to the other Kruna before disbanding into the ether.

Daisy shot into the gap and charged energy through a fist to release her Shotgun blast and smack back a wide swath of hellhounds on one side. Warra's Sonic Clap knocked back and temporarily deafened a partition of hellhounds on the other side. But even with their formidable attacks, hundreds of hellhounds still remained and stormed into the city, with thousands more further north along the eastern Castle Town border. Even worse, through the southern gate, the Kruna saw a larger, more imposing figure moving about through the streets.

"Looks like Cerberus is up ahead!" said Athelstan. He put a shoulder down and charged into a chunk of hellhounds huddled close together.

"Daisy, you go find Marissa," said Warra. "Don't waste your energy on all these hellhounds!"

"Are you sure?" Daisy asked. Her high-speed Crystal Kick cleared another line of hellhounds out of the way.

"Positive!" Bowser replied. "We can handle all of these mutts until Ramona and Andrew are ready!" A hellhound then leapt at him, but he caught the dog by its mouth and swung it around in an arc onto the ground.

Athelstan grabbed hold of Daisy and heaved her up overhead as he activated his Alkemei Odina. "Here's a boost to get ya through!" he yelled. With a running start, he wound up and launched Daisy over the hellhound horde. At the apex of her height, the Kruna of Earth curled into a rapidly rotating series of somersaults to propel her further past the demonic dogs and into a clearing beyond the southern entrance. The moment she touched her feet down, she pulled back to get ready to release another Shotgun, but before she could, Marut swept through the air and angled around Daisy. The Kruna of Air had his Lightning Blade technique ready and slashed it downwards to clear away and push back a significant portion of the hellhounds trying to advance past the gate.

"Awesome, Marut!" Daisy exclaimed with a thumbs up. "Keep it up! All of you!"

Daisy turned to sprint, but the moment she did so, a bright shine caught the the edge of her periphery. As she turned her head back around, she saw a wall of light energy rush through and widen the gap in the horde that Marut's Lightning Blade had created. Following the great beam of light from above, Geno led Bowser, Warra, Athelstan, and Neva through to rejoin Marut. Neva whipped around and fired off ice arrows at the dogs from her Frost Crossbow as if the tool was an assault rifle.

A series of cars and karts flipped into the air and came down on various groups of scattered hellhounds. The origin was unclear until Donkey Kong came rushing around one of the street corners with one final kart in hand and hurled it at the horde like a screeching, possessed fastball. DK then ran over to join the group of elemental wielders, ready to stand against the thousands of hellhounds with them.

"Like we said, Daisy; we got this!" Athelstan yelled.

"Just go on ahead already!" Neva barked. "I thought you were supposed to be a fast earth wielder!"

Daisy nodded, not wasting time to say anything as she turned and dashed ahead through the streets. She replayed what Arka Knight had said earlier, about Marissa wanting to draw from the Blood Moon at a special landmark of great significance. Then she noticed the shining assortment of rainbow lights overhead further north and decided to head straight in the direction of Bellbridge's main entrance.

The hellhounds had already started making up for the losses in their ranks. The sheer magnitude in number of the horde seemed overwhelming; not in power or force, for the hellhounds individually proved to be not too much more powerful than other common enemies that the Kruna have faced, but for what their scope and range meant. What Geno, DK, and the Kruna stood against at that very moment and would be encountering throughout much of the eastern half of Castle Town was the culmination of several hundred years of kidnappings and mutations through Marissa Arkana's Betedaimon venom.

"We must split up," said Geno. "From what I saw earlier, we're going to need to account for the north and east Castle Town gates as well as the south one here."

"Then since air-head and I are the fastest here, we'll sprint up and cover the north," said Neva.

"DK and I can stay here to manage the south gate," said Athelstan.

"Bowser, you and Warra will have to go cover the east gate," said Geno. "I will go find Cerberus."

"Hold on – you can't handle that beast alone!" Neva exclaimed. "You'll die! I've seen what that three-headed hellhound can do!"

"And so have I," Geno replied. "Far more times than you have. I will be fine, and we have no time to bicker or raise dispute."


"I am here," Marissa said to King Sarasa. "I'm the one that you fear most. My coming was foretold. I've been working under your nose the whole time, and now that I'm here before you, I am going to show you what I am truly capable of. Bow down and submit to me, for I am taking control of Sarasaland. I am the true Alpha, and the ultimate Omega. There's contenders that wish they had power like mine, a lot of pretenders that try to emulate power like mine, a lot of wannabes that wish they had power like mine... Those fools don't know what they want; they don't know what they're trying to be, or who or what they're trying to surpass. You are one of those fools."

"Excuse me?" King Sarasa grumbled.

Before the king said anything more, a militia of elemental wielders and guards ran over and gathered around him. The group of twelve looked ready to defend their monarch, their tools, rifles, and elemental energies up and ready for a clash. King Boo and Naraka both kept quiet and still. Marissa looked unimpressed; bored, even.

"And just what do you hope to accomplish with these noobs?" asked Marissa. She opened her Malocchio Eye as she charged a burst of mystic energy through her palms and fired it at the militia. Though she aimed at the ground, the nature of the magic created a concussive effect that scattered and launched the elemental wielders and guards all across the street. Judging by the content look on her face, she had no intent to kill any of them.

When the elemental wielders and guards all returned to their feet and got a good look at the demon witch, they turned tail and fled. King Sarasa watched as his people utterly abandoned him without much second thought of leaving their leader unguarded.

"Cowards!" King Sarasa shouted back. "The whole lot of you! You're all useless to me!"

"You see that, King?" asked Marissa. "They don't care enough for you to stay and fight."

King Sarasa then felt a sudden shift. It was as if a weight that he had been shouldering since childhood was slipping away and eroding from his consciousness. But before long, that pressure returned and pressed down on him once more as it had done for so long. He refocused his concentration on the witch, ghost, and Black Mage before him, not acknowledging the brief but surreal inner disturbance.

Marissa turned to address King Boo and Naraka. "You two can regroup with the other Sweeps and Cerberus. I'm going to handle this man...myself."

Naraka nodded, rising into the air alongside King Boo. The two drifted away towards the southeast of Castle Town where they caught sight of a faint silhouette of the titanic hellhound under the ever darkening sky. That left Marissa and King Sarasa alone with each other.

"Now then," Marissa murmured with malice. She spread her shoulders and deepened her voice as low as it could go. "As I was saying earlier... You do not yet realize your unimportance, but soon, you will discover how insignificant you are. Bow down to me so that I may sit on your face like the seat cushion you will become once I steal the throne from you."

"Never!" King Sarasa grunted, pulling out his Quake Breakers.

Marissa held up a fist. "If you only knew the power of the Arkana name-"

"Your power is fraud!" snapped King Sarasa. "I have dominion over these lands, and soon, much more! You are nothing!"

"But, King," Marissa said. "It runs in the family...for I...am your sister."

King Sarasa stumbled backwards in horror. "No... That's not true! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" He dropped to his knees, too shocked to stand on his legs. "I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD A SISTER!"

Marissa didn't say anything for a moment, then replied in her normal voice, "Yeah, no. Not really. Just playing up the drama of the moment is all. Oh, and, obviously, thanks for bowing down to me like the little submissive pawn you are."

King Sarasa looked down and noticed his stature. In an instant, he shot back to standing, angered and vexed. "Are you toying with me like I'm some sort of imbecile?" he snarled.

"Yeah," Marissa replied with a shrug. She then tried to cover her mouth as she giggled.

A stray rock soared through the air and struck Marissa square in the jaw. Her head snapped around a full ninety degrees, putting a stop to her merriment. When she turned to look at her aggressor, her eyes narrowed in with hate on a small boy in tan and brown no older than thirteen. The boy was already set to throw another rock, though the sight made Marissa grin.

"Hey, you!" the boy screamed. "Your stupid dogs killed my mom!"

"Oh, did they?" Marissa asked. "I know they're probably causing plenty of havoc throughout the city here as we speak, and it's hard for my Eye to keep track of everything-"

The boy threw the second rock, hitting the witch's chest but not eliciting any reaction from her. King Sarasa watched, silent and unsure of what to do. Part of him didn't care about the child, but another part of him wanted to intervene and get the child a chance to escape. Marissa could easily kill the little boy, and yet that boy did not seem deterred at all. The boy stomped his foot into the ground to kick up any loose rocks and stones he could, then pulled them into his hands in a frantic effort of repeated peltings on the witch.

"Amateur stone wielder," Marissa said, getting hit with a rock every few seconds. "Can you at least try to summon rocks bigger than your undeveloped nether regions?"

The boy kept pulling up and throwing rocks and chunks of stone at the demon witch, but even though every last one hit her, they appeared to accomplish nothing more than minimal, barely noticeable damage. Marissa marched towards her adolescent aggressor as he continued throwing rocks at her. Although he did not give up on hurling the stones, he started crying when he saw how ineffective he was. It was not until Marissa had come to a stop right in front of his face that he finally ended his assault and bowed his head in sobbing defeat.

Marissa averted her gaze to the edges of her eye sockets but did not turn around at all to King Sarasa when she addressed him. "Anytime you want to step in and help a dear citizen in need, Kingy."

King Sarasa knew that Lord Arkana had just called him out, and yet, he still did nothing. He found himself frozen in place, wanting to run and round up the whole Castle Town Guard, but he felt compelled to defend the young boy from the imposing six-foot demon menace.

"Well, kid..." Marissa said, leaning over the boy's head. "You want your mommy back so bad? I'll do you a favor and send you on your way to her."

Marissa raised a hand and whiffed it around in the air a couple times to flare what appeared to be some form of golden magical energy in the shape of electricity. With her other hand, she snatched the boy by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up to eye level so she could stare straight at him. Tears streamed down the boy's face as his legs flailed about. He tried pulling Marissa's hand off him, but couldn't overpower her grip.

"Here's your right of passage, Rambo," said Marissa. "You get to go straight to the afterlife!"

Just then, a palm strike came and slammed into the side of Marissa's face. The attack sent her hurtling at a nearby building in a twisting bullet, though she expelled a burst of energy and caught herself in the air just before crashing. Even though she hovered practically upside-down at that moment, she did not doubt what her vision discerned.

Just in front of the boy who lay on the ground, Daisy stood, Nova Form eyes exhibiting laser-like focus on Marissa. King Sarasa didn't recognize the Kruna of Earth at first, but frowned the moment he did. What happened to her hair? he thought. And why is her skin so shiny? I thought she was a beast the last time I saw her! Has she uncovered a secret within the human body? Perhaps...an immortality secret? Is that what one looks like when one is immortal?!

Marissa slowly rotated around as she floated in midair until she was right-side up, then touched her feet back down on the ground. "Ah, yes," she said with a sigh. "It's about time you showed up...still in Nova Form, no less."

"I haven't transformed out of it since the day I changed back to normal," Daisy said.

Nova Form? King Sarasa thought. My own daughter? So this is what Nova Form looks like? On my own daughter, no less!

"Go on," Daisy said to the boy, not turning to face him. "Get out of here. Now."

Without hesitation, the boy scrambled to his feet and fled away from the standoff between Daisy, Marissa, and King Sarasa. He dashed around a corner, disappearing from sight.

Of course, the king mused, sweat beading on his head. Why would I think that anyone would be closer to immortality than I am? But still, how does my daughter have such a potent ability?

"I'll be honest, Sarasa girl," said Marissa. "I was expecting billowing rage from you and screaming fury, but although I do see some anger, you're a lot more tame than I thought you would be."

Daisy stood tall and proud, stance spread just a bit and fists clenched with low tension. "Get ready, Marissa. I want you to know that you brought this upon yourself. It's because of you that I now have Nova Form mastery. I am the Nova Form. It's all thanks to you."

"I...can't believe..." King Sarasa stuttered, staring wide-eyed at Daisy. "...How much you've changed..."

"Thanks to me?" Marissa asked.

"I would not have been able to reach this level if it weren't for that Betedaimon body," said Daisy. "That was the key to unlocking the Full Power Nova Form!"

Marissa chuckled a little. "Really, you should've turned into one of my hellhounds, not that half-whatever-it-is that you were when you were first introduced the venom. It would've been great to sic you on your dad over there."

"I'm not one of your tools, Marissa," said Daisy. "Nor am I yours either, Dad. I'll deal with you in a minute."

King Sarasa gasped and then grimaced. "Why you ungrateful little..." His voice trailed off in uncertainty as feelings of faintness and fatigue began running through him.

Daisy crossed her arms, a smug grin ever so slightly easing its way on her face. "I bet you think you've got a pretty good stranglehold on Castle Town right about now, huh Marissa?"

"I reckon I do," Marissa responded.

"Hey – if anyone's in control of this city and this nation, it's me!" exclaimed King Sarasa. "I am the king here!"

"Hmm... Yes, you are, aren't you?" Marissa asked, smiling and batting her two normal eyes.

"You're not going to be in charge, Dad," said Daisy. "Not unless you can change your ways, and even then, you've got a long way to go!"

"Look at you and your cheeky bravado!" Marissa shouted with glee. "It almost sounds like you're up to something!"

Daisy gave no reply. She kept her eyes narrowed, grinned, and began chuckling.

"You are up to something, aren't you?" Marissa coyly asked. "I almost wish I had a Pendant of Telepathy to figure out what you're not saying! C'mon, be a sweetie and tell us what you're hiding!"

Daisy tilted her head up, replying with quiet simplicity, "Nothing anymore."

Marissa and King Sarasa both perked up, sensing an energy signature they had previously not encountered before. Not only was the power massive, but it had a special mystique to it that set it apart in a class of its own. Daisy started giggling again. Her giggling eventually evolved into laughter, making Marissa wonder if the energy signature she sensed was coming from the Kruna of Earth.

"Just what are you laughing about, Sarasa girl?" asked Marissa.

"Why don't you shut up for once and look up?" Daisy replied.

Marissa and King Sarasa glanced directly up into the still darkening sky and saw a shape, part-humanoid, part-other, hovering in the air high off the ground and higher than Bellbridge. Neither of the two appeared to have expected such a sight, nor did they have any clue as to what it could possibly be, but Daisy looked as comfortable and confident as either one of them had seen her, if not more.

Somewhat annoyed, Marissa activated her Malocchio Eye to get a better view of the figure overhead of Castle Town. What her Remote Viewing showed her did not sit well with her.


Warra's Aquavado pushed back a mass of hellhounds through Castle Town's eastern gate as Bowser followed up the great column of water with his Tavado to wreak even more havoc on the horde. The amount of hellhounds spread up and down along the eastern boundary of the city made the two Kruna question if they would run out of energy too early. Their concerns went away when they saw two large bursts of light and shadow blast away more from the wall of hellhounds. Ramona and Andrew came up from behind Bowser and Warra, neither of them worried about the vast number of hellhounds.

"We ran into several hellhounds running amok throughout the city as we looked for you," Ramona said. "I take it that you all split up?"

Bowser nodded. "We had to – the scope that these hellhounds have forced it. So did you guys get it done?"

"I'm starting to pick up on a familiar energy signature!" Warra exclaimed.

Andrew pointed up into the sky towards the center of Castle Town. A large, vampiric-looking being high above had his arms spread out as a wave of translucent white and silver light emanated from and around his form.


"Hey! Cool!" Donkey Kong exclaimed, pointing to the sky. As Athelstan kicked another car at the increasing hordes, he sensed what DK was talking about and looked up after he watched his makeshift projectile knock out a large partition of hellhounds. They both saw the imposing saint up in the sky whose presence had alarmed the hellhounds before them.

"Well, looks like Ramona and Andrew are back," said Athelstan. "They made great time!"

"They went and got him up there?" DK asked.


Neva and Marut only had to deal with about a third of the hellhounds that the rest of the team had to deal with, but the dogs had all stopped in their tracks just as the figure hovering high over the center of Castle Town increased the size of his misty light. The two Kruna looked up in the direction the rest of the hellhounds were staring in and caught sight of the same figure.

"Man, still just as scary as before," Marut mumbled to himself.

"Alright; we're not wasting any more energy on these mutts," said Neva.


Several of the guards, sentries, and vigilantes battling the hellhounds that breached through to the Castle City interior all stopped and looked up to see the figure and his expanding light high in the air. None of them had any clue as to who it was, but they all noticed that his presence distracted the hellhounds they had been fighting.

"What's going on?" one of the guards asked.

"Maybe this really is doomsday!" another cried.

"No, that's not it," said another. "I don't think, at least..."


King Boo put up a veil of darkness to absorb the laser Geno fired at Cerberus to protect the great hellhound while it prepared its special Column Lightning technique. So far, Geno had been very cautious in confronting Cerberus, but King Boo and Naraka's recent appearance meant that the cosmic being was outnumbered seven-to-one. The battle had not lasted too long before the five Sweeps atop Cerberus and King Boo glanced up upon sensing the formidable energy signature to catch sight of the saintly being in the sky.

"Well, it's been quite a while since I've seen him," said Geno.

"Who the hell is that supposed to be?" asked King Boo.

"No... Why is he here?!" asked Naraka.

"How is he here?!" asked Tamara. "I thought he was a myth!"


The silvery energy around the Dark Knight, Culex, expanded like a veil towards the outer regions of Castle Town. With every hellhound within or near the Sarasaland capital, Culex was in prime position to use his powers to quell the horde once and for all. His vortex of energy continued to grow until its scope extended well beyond the Castle Town boundary. The mystical, translucent hue drew the attention of all beings within Castle Town and all those throughout Sarasa Field.

Culex's gathering and charging went on for several moments before the massive sheet of blurry white and silver light descended down onto the town. As the mystic swath drifted over the area, the hellhounds all collectively buckled and collapsed. Cerberus seemed unaffected, but the rest of the horde contorted and twisted around in place as their bodies began to shimmer and glow.

All throughout the area, the hellhounds trembled and shook. Their bodies transformed and morphed into their prior states before the introduction of their venom; regular people of various races and walks of life, some who had just recently succumbed to the venom and others who had transformed centuries ago. Everyone in Castle Town watched as more hellhounds reverted back to normal. Soon, all the unrest that had been caused by the hellhounds ceased to exist. The people cured of the Betedaimon venom and hellhound forms rose from the streets in a daze, none of them remembering anything past their initial mutations.

In one section of Castle Town, a hellhound had cornered a little girl in an alleyway. The girl had been screaming and crying throughout the mass purification, unaware that the fiendish dog before her had been healed until she heard it stop growling. When she opened her eyes, she cried even more once she saw who it was.

"Dad! Daddy!" the little girl cried, running to her confused and faint father. "It's been so long!"

"What?" the father said. "I don't understand... Am...I alive?"

Thousands and thousands of people now back to normal stood or sat in wonder and dizziness. They knew not what they had done as hellhounds nor did they have any understanding as to why they were all where they were at that very moment. It seemed as if time had froze for them for the duration of their mutated states. Everyone in some form or another just wanted a return to normalcy, but as long as Marissa, her Sweeps, King Boo, and Cerberus still lurked within Castle Town, normalcy would have to wait.