"Ok, Susie, don't split me in half please," Kris asked her, and her rebellious streak was revealed along with the stroke of her axe bearing down on him. He reached out, and with his still shadowed blade, stopped the attack's arc with a clash of metal. Susie glared at him with pale yellow eyes, then sent a brutal kick to Kris' side. Gathering his courage, he dulled the blow's d, but the impact sent him hurtling towards the ground.

"Kris! Susie!" Ralsei exclaimed as he ran towards his two friends, his mind flipping through the minuscule amount of spells he knew, trying to find a way to stop the fighting. "Stop it right now!" His words rang hollow to the mistified monster, and Kris' current position wouldn't allow him to resolve it peacefully. Then, like the scratch of a record, Kris had an idea. Gasping for air, he called out to his still-sane friend.

"Ralsei! Hit Susie with Star Blast!" Kris' pride hurt a bit at having to have a friend fight for him, but his logical side didn't want to die and leave his friend with his broken body in front of her as she came out of her trance. But, it seems that Susie's trance was more lucid than he'd first assumed.

"Ral, don't listen to that thing," Susie spat out. Kris' eye twitched as he forced himself upright. "It took his body, just like that other time! Get him!" Kris was about to use her desperate ploy to get Ralsei to help her as a distraction. He was charging her front and then turned his head to see Ralsei send a little star hurtling into his side. He was sent sprawling back onto the ground, but the burning pain in his side was a great motivator to get up quickly. A glance told him that the spell wasn't as watered down as the last time Ralsei used it. He was hypnotized as well, and by the strength of the strike was very into the idea of beating him into submission. He looked into both of his friends' eyes and saw a strange dullness in both.

"Ralsei, what are you doing?!" He shouted as Susie closed their distance, and tried to make sure nothing was in between Kris and the axe. But, between the sparks that flew off because of the clash of iron, Kris could tell that Ralsei wasn't hypnotized at the moment. But, another call to arms from Susie ended with Ralsei's eyes dulling in color as another Star Bast was being charged. Kris saw through the power struggle and decided to cut out the middle man. Fending of brutal slashes and low kicks, Kris suddenly unleashed a burst of speed and aimed a knee into Susie's side. The attack, while spiteful, was strategically sound and made Susie attempt to grab herself in pain. In that second, Kris did three things. He summoned his courage and covered Ralsei with it completely. He struck Ralsei with a powerful blow to the stomach and sent him flying into the wall with enough force to embed him in said wall. And he reeled at the consequences of his plan as he turned back to Susie in time to see her Rude Buster split the air in front of him as it came towards him violently. As time slowed, he cursed heavily under his breath as he attempted another burst of speed. He could only diver his metal boot into the path at most as he felt his foot jerk back, throwing off his balance. He immediately knew the cause of this. He was running out of oxygen, and quickly. The room may be big, but the amount of air it takes to do his typically superhuman feats topples the amount he could consistently get in their confinement. He turned to the statue, which had gone silent, and back to Susie the Violet Berserker, who screamed in rage as she closed their distance and hit him with a faster-than-usual flurry of chops and slashes. Now, what he'd previously thought of as an inconvenient forced-pacifist fight against a manipulated friend had turned into a brutal fight against time and his morals as he had to decide if he had the power to knock her out in one blow. Because if not, she'd just go even more berserk and become even tougher to fight, as monsters didn't need oxygen or the like to survive. It's a thing they'd like to have though.

In this fight, Kris could feel himself becoming more and more apathetic towards just striking her down, though probably not killing her. Now, it was a battle of his willpower and integrity. At that word, he felt his soul convulse. He didn't think a soul that was Determined like his would hold up in an integrity battle. But, those thoughts of soul traits and impossible battles made him remember the toy he'd found in the Ruins. It was unmarked and worn down, but it gave him the strength to stand strong against temptation and back up what he said. Before he'd even noticed, a red dagger was in his left hand, and his body immediately readjusted to the assault. The knife was the weapon he'd practiced with and used the most; even if it was dulled, it gave him the strength to keep going.

His first surprise was what he'd immediately done with the blade. Susie charged a Rude Buster in the middle of her assault, then kicked up some stone shards off the ground to force Kris back a bit. Then, as the axe descended and glowed blue with magic, Kris' instincts took over and he slashed with the blade against the axe's arc. His determination overpowered Susie's magic, and he found he made a nice slash against the axe's edge. He was growing more confident, yet less strong. Eventually, the durability of the monsters overpowered humanity's weakness, and a blow Kris could just barely block sent him skull first into the stone. He didn't even realize he'd been bleeding until then, but now the crimson liquid flowed from his wounds freely.

His breath labored, he turned onto his back to see a snarl on his friend's face as she looked down on him. He now gasped every few seconds, and he knew that this would be the place he died. He couldn't even waste oxygen on telling Susie to stop. So, he called out to her soul.

Hey.

She stopped snarling and looked up as if his voice were just some echo from the stone roof that seemed to grow and shrink before Kris' eyes.

It's Kris.

"Are you trying to lie to me right now? Kris wouldn't lose to me in a fight," She said out loud. "Kris wouldn't attack Ralsei. Kris would try to reason with me without a magic weapon in his hands."

That seems like an unrealistic expectation, as you attacked me first. Kris thought, but he understood the truth in her words. He'd never do that, and him doing it wasn't going to help his case.

"Kris would just use his special attack to show it was him. He doesn't care about what makes sense. He just does whatever works."

Ok, now that sounds like me. I wish I'd done that before I ran outta air.

"What?"

Humans need oxygen to stay alive. This closed room doesn't have that, so I'm probably going to go brain-dead soon. Can you do me a favor and make it quick?

"Wha- why the hell would I do that?!" She exclaimed.

Because, when the illusion wears off, I don't want you to be sad when you realize you killed me.

"... Okay, that sounds like something Kris would say."

Really? Why?

"Because only he'd say something so moronic and kind. Also, you always take on everything yourself, you workaholic."

I don't appreciate being insulted to my dying breath.

"Oh, right. How to I... pass this trial or whatever again?"

Oh god, that damn statue never told us that!

"Oh god damn it," Susie said, then smirked. "Well, I guess I got that sparring session you promised me, Blueberry."

Susie I'm going to die. But, you're welcome, Violet. Kris thought as his vision began to wobble. He'd survived falling down mountains, being shot with bullets, fire magic, tears, bones, spears, lasers, bones and lasers, magic rainbow lasers and swords, and he technically survived a reality-warping attack. And here he was, dying from lack of oxygen. At that moment, he realized how fragile humanity truly was. And now that he was thinking about his past feats, he was starting to think about how much he'd failed in this adventure. He's gotten himself almost killed thrice, and it's only been an hour or two. His powers, though extremely useful, weren't as all-powerful as he thought they were. Guess there was a reason he never looked through the code in the Underground. Now, Kris lay on the stone floor, looking over to his allies once more, and closed his eyes as his body went limp.


With an elbow suddenly thrust in his stomach, Kris launched himself upright and gasped. Then, when the sweet taste of air hit his tongue, he started breathing in as much as he could, as hard as he could, as fast as he could. In and out. in and out. In and out. He was willing to fill his lungs with enough oxygen to make them burst at the seams. But, he really couldn't do that with all the exhaling he needed to do as well. Instead, he breathed until he could realize his body was in shock, and he had probably sustained brain damage from the experience. So, he reached for his File and SAVED.

His body and mind restored, he could finally notice the rest of the Fun Gang standing in front of him. They both had a similar look of concern, though that may have changed, as Ralsei gave him a very strong hug. Kris still focused on his breathing, as he felt a bit nervous doing anything else, so he just gave Ralsei a reassuring pat on the back. Receiving a message Kris didn't know he sent, Ralsei let him go and Kris could breathe even better than before. He stretched himself out on the ground and looked up at the dark sky. It was impossible to tell the time, at least for a Lightner like him. Despite that, he felt the unavoidable weight of wasted time on his conscience. If he had to guess, they'd have an hour to explore this place before they had to race back to the castle before the King finds his favorite prisoner has escaped. Kris breathed harshly through his teeth and got himself upright to fulfill his role as a leader.

"Alright, guys," he said, looking at his friends from under his long bangs. "Welcome to the... Ral what's the name of this place?" He asked, and took a glance at the broken stone structures that covered most roads, and the same violet flowers from the room that sprouted everywhere in the kingdom. The place had been painted in bright blues that had dulled and flaked off over time. Kris had thought the takeover of Lancer's kingdom had been recent, but the things he saw were telling him otherwise.

"This used to be the Kingdom of Diamonds; Holders of Unbreakable Truth." The dark goat answered.

"Is... that the name?" Susie asked, with a light chuckle.

"There has never been a mention of the kingdom that didn't include the entire title, so yes." Ralsei shrugged, not having a better explanation.

"Well, welcome to the Fallen Kingdom of Diamonds, for all your monarchy-bribing needs." He said dryly. "We have an hour to tour this place and look for anything dangerous and/or useful here."

"... I don't want to ask, but why?" The dinosaur said reluctantly.

"Well, I don't want to give this guy anything that'd help him. And if there's something dangerous here, who's gonna be here to take care of it? The Ruddins?" He asked, and the others all shook their heads, knowing exactly how useful the Ruddin soldiers were. "No matter how dumb or asinine the King is, I don't want their deaths on my conscience. So, we're having a little field trip in the meantime." Susie immediately raised her scaly arm into the air, and Kris regretted calling their mission a field trip.

"Will there be a lunch break?"

"We can probably pick more dark candies from the trees in the park," Ralsei added.

"There ya go. Now, let's finally get this done. I feel like we've been waiting to get here for months..." And the gang was off to make sure they could leave that god-forsaken place. All over, they found rubble and ruins, but nothing too dangerous. A broken building here, some shards of glass there, but nothing anyone with a brain wouldn't be able to avoid.

In the end, the road to getting to the Diamond Kingdom was more interesting than the Kingdom itself. Or so it seemed.


After they had finished exploring the kingdom that lacked anything noteworthy, Kris found himself sitting on a bench surrounded with violet flowers, as Susie lifted Ralsei into the trees in the hopes of finding fruits or candies. Kris' flowery nightmare may have made him a bit uneased by wildflowers. Though, he couldn't stop rubbing his throat while he was around them for some reason. It may have just been another nervous tick. As he shoved his thoughts of flowers out of his mind, he felt his nose tickle and found the flowers were giving off dark, dust-like pollen. Kris ended up inhaling it because he was fairly fond of breathing after the day he'd been having. Then, he was in a familiar-looking cage, the bench still underneath him. A figure stood before him, a scythe in his grasp.

Faster than expected, Kris had taken a swipe at the Jevil's neck, which was blocked by the scythe's spine, and the Darkner's jovial, spontaneous voice sprung from his throat.

"Whoa ho, settle down Lightner! Let's have a little chat before you try and win this game!" A second scythe appeared and hurled itself at Kris. He dodged and created distance in a moment's notice.

"Fine then fool, what do you want so bad you're risking your neck for it?" Kris' overwhelming irritation and frustration were springing loose, now that he had an outlet. His grip on his sword's hilt was tight, a painful attachment to reality.

"How are you having so much fun?!" Random bullets began to swirl around the room he was trapped in, so the human danced between them as he watched the Jevil with an indifferent stare.

"The mage is less uptight, but that still isn't right! The kingdom's throne is hollow, yet there isn't enough sorrow. So, how can you be having a good time, while committing crimes? You should have to be as bored as me, or else I won't feel free!" Kris interpreted his words as Jevil not liking the semi-peaceful state the Darkworld is in at the moment, and why they were having the most 'interesting' time out of everyone else.

"Why would I tell you?" Kris closed the gap between them and had his brutal slash taken by one of Jevil's scythes. The breaking of the weapon satisfied Kris, for some strange reason. Maybe because he knew it was a clone of his opponent, and it was essentially an alternative to murder. Kris stopped thinking about that for the moment and went to kick the Darkner in the side.

But, with a knowing smile and thanks, the cage faded away with Jevil, and Kris found himself kicking a tree instead. Dark candies fell out, and the other two scrambled to catch some before the fell. Kris stared at the tree, and the slash mark that matched the swing he'd done perfectly. Kris knew exactly what it was. An illusion. But Jevil was nowhere nearby; he could feel it in his soul. He was almost never unaware of an attacker. So, he looked towards the last place he'd been sitting; the bench, surrounded by the flowers. And their pollen. Their shadowy, dust-like pollen. The pollen that looked more and more familiar as he looked at it. Then he remembered something about the castle he'd noticed and written off when he and Susie had first arrived.

He cut one of the flowers and picked it up in his hands. He could almost see a face in it. A sneering face, mocking him and berating him. He cast the flower aside and turned to the other two.

"We need to get back. I figured out how DK's illusion make is structured. I'll explain on the way, but we need to go."

"Can we eat first?" Susie asked, not teasingly but more embarrassed.

"We can eat on the way. But we're getting the hell out of here."

[Oh sweet Jesus, finally finished this one chapter. I'm so sorry I've been so inactive, but I just haven't been feeling this lately. Not this story, but just this one god damn chapter. I wanted to do something so much cooler for it, but my apathy towards this just made me unable to bring myself to care for this. I have to say this chapter has been the least fun thing to write in this story and it shows. Well, the not-dead guy is hopefully going to continue not being dead, no promises. Thank you for reading, and see you next time.]