Fell's POV:

No.

Impossible!

She was finally mine, finally in my arms where she and the treasures she held belonged. Oh, she fought me, of course; I wouldn't expect anything less from my fiery little thing. I loved it though, I always do. It was all fun and games between predator and prey...

Until he showed his irksome face.

Antioch was a variable I hadn't counted on, a loose cannon that I never would have thought capable of helping his past enemies. I cursed my own troublesome hubris bitterly as my plans fell apart, my one chance at my true power ripped from my clutches in an instant. The barrier had been tailored specifically to Dark, designed to show him his own powerlessness in changing Jericho's fate. I wanted him to know her suffering, wanted him to burn and have no way of intervening.

But Antioch... The irony of his fame as The Snake didn't escape me. My betrayal had come full circle with fangs bared, fueled by a wrathful venom of my own creation. The serpent appeared when I least expected it, and now I was paying the price threefold.

"This should be killing you!" I exclaimed as I backed away, "No Druid can take that much power in one vessel!"

Her frightening appearance would surely bring any lesser being to their knees; her eyes shone brightly with a pure and righteous white light that outshone both Anjali and the very sun itself. Her aura was a wild maelstrom of uninhibited power, a storm of black, silver, green and blue that burned both hot and cold, bright and dark. And her Caduceus...

Her previously bostaff-esque weapon was now a bladed caduceus that was terrifying to behold, gleaming with the same awesome power that radiated from every inch of her being.

"What was that you said earlier, Fell?" She asked, her tone confident and smug, "Oh, that's right... Child's play. "

Her voice was truly horrifying, even to my seasoned ears, an abominable mixture of three separate tones:

The deep, growling burr of the Blood King that was hated and feared by so many.

The venomous, higher pitched tenor of the traitorous thorn in my side.

And at the forefront was her, confident and commanding and powerful; not a princess, but a Queen. Her words carried a deadly promise, an audible warrant for my death. I was filled with an unfamiliar emotion that shocked me. For the first time in over two hundred thousand years...

I was afraid.

Jericho's POV:

I grinned and flung my hand towards him in a blur, summoning a mass of deadly light that shot straight for his snarling face. Fell's eyes widened as he realized that he couldn't hope to block the attack and escape with his life. He leapt to the side at the last second, already dissolving into shadows in a desperate attempt to regroup. He never got the chance.

I flung myself at him Before the light dissapated, flying straight through the blast with my Caduceus raised high above my head. I swung it down full force with a snarl, smiling smugly at him when he grunted with the strain of his blades meeting mine.

My smile darkened into a wicked grin as the borrowed power surged inside me, mixing with my own. I removed one hand from the Caduceus, knowing I didn't need both to hold him. I summoned a ball of compacted light in my free hand and thrust it towards him. He abandoned his shaky hold and dodged to the side just in time, but I was ready.

I raised my weapon and spun towards him, once again bringing it down with all my power in another brutal downward srike. I increased the pressure as Fell grimaced, a bead of sweat rolling down his pale face.

I raised my leg and kicked him in the gut, sending him flying back. I burst into a cloud of shadows and shot behind him, reforming as he struggled for breath through his broken ribs. Once again gripping my weapon with a single hand, I spun it gracefully towards his face, relishing the way he flinched.

I leapt back to examine my handiwork as Fell slowly opened his eyes and lifted his fingers to the shallow cut that marred his cheek. He clenched his fist around the blood that dripped into his hand, pushing himself to his feet to glare at me through the hair that had fallen into his face. I smirked.

"Where's that cheeky grin now, Fell?" I teased.

I cocked an amused eyebrow at him in silent question as he was rendered speechless for the first time, unable to retort through his labored breathing. His face twisted into a ferocious snarl as he charged with an angry roar that would have been frightening three minutes before. This time, I knocked his blades aside with a single swipe and launched myself into the air, planting my foot against his throat. He gagged and stumbled back, nearly falling to the floor. He growled and charged again, locking his blades with mine.

"STOP TOYING WITH ME!!" he screamed, aura flaring powerfully with the intensity of his rage.

"No."

My expression turned cold as I knocked his swords out of his hands before concentrating my energy into my forehead and headbutting him. He stumbled back with a cry of pain as his skull audibly cracked. I slashed his ankles, severing the tendons there and bringing him to his knees. Weaponless. Hopeless.

At my mercy.

I returned his glare stonily before slowly sauntering around him in a casual circle, leisurely twirling my new weapon with a single hand. Dark, Anti and I spoke as one.

"Are you ready to give up... "little thing?" We asked in our threefold voice. Fell's eyes darkened.

"You will regret this, Jericho. Soon," he hissed lowly as he slowly began to dissolve, too weak to hold a solid form with the extent of his wounds.

We cocked our head as we stopped in front of him, fixing him with a look that one usually reserved for naughty children. It was unfortunate that we couldn't destroy the creator in his own dreamscape...

But that didn't mean we couldn't have a little fun.

We swung once more with a feral grin. Our victim threw his head back and howled as the gash spurted blood that immediately turned black and evaporated, disappearing into thin air. We watched in satisfaction as he writhed and choked on his own blood for awhile.

But that got boring.

We thrust the Caduceus forward one last time...

Straight through his throat.