Aflame

by Jknotdeadlol

6 months after the Merge, Star and Marco are finally together. But when an unfamiliar enemy appears and threatens everything, they'll have to face a final test together to make sure the conjoined world they brought together isn't consumed by flames.

24. Chapter 23: A Short-lived Reign

Aflame

Chapter 23

A Short-lived Reign

"What do you mean he has green eyes now?"

"I mean he has green eyes! And he may still be heavily injured! I'm calling you so I can tell you to keep an eye out for him. We don't know what his next move is, and we have all reason to assume that his plan to kill us all has likely changed. Bren is vulnerable right now, but he's also unpredictable. Do you understand that?"

"..."

"..."

"Hello? Are you-"

"I'm sorry...could you repeat all that? I'm still confused about all this."

Eclipsa groaned, flopped herself down in a chair, and prepared herself to explain the situation again, going on nothing but the notes that had been given to her.

It was bad.

Because as per usual, everything was going horribly. A lot had happened in the twelve hours since the meeting ended and she had fallen asleep. And "a lot" really meant "everything". Because so much had occurred while she was in dreamland, to the point where she almost couldn't believe it.

She had woken up a few hours into her nap, courtesy of Meteora slapping her face because of her insatiable baby hunger. Eclipsa almost fell down a few flights of stairs on her way to the kitchen, and she was glad that she had sent all the guards home earlier, because otherwise they would be put off by her zombie-esque appearance. Meteora followed her at the same time, crawling on the walls and hissing at people like a demonic spider, and the two of them made it to the kitchen after around thirty minutes, due to Eclipsa's pace of around 1 MPH.

Once there, however, they found a rather distressing scene. A small note was on the main table, with some odd blue liquid surrounding it that smelled like blood. Eclipsa hesitantly took the note while Meteora licked the blood before gagging several times, and then crawling over to the sink as fast as possible. The Queen ignored this dramatic display and gave the note a quick once over, which read as follows:

Hello Eclipsa.

I'm new in town.

My former name was Bren. But I'm not doing that anymore. I want to tell you-

That was as far as she got before Eclipsa scoffed and placed the note on the counter, deciding that it could be taken care of later. Maybe the note really had been from Bren, and it wasn't just some prank. But with Tom, she already knew that he could come and go wherever he wanted as he pleased, and all this note proved to her was that he had the opportunity to kill her and he didn't. As for the blue liquid...that could be identified later. But either way, the Queen was too tired to care at the moment, and would have probably fallen asleep again, right there on the floor, if Meteora had been babbling at her the whole time.

She then slipped the note into her pocket and went to go get the cans of baby food, Meteora still busy drowning herself under the flow of water. However, just as she was about to open the cabinet, her worst fears struck. The main door to the Temple opened, and Globgor arrived carrying more bad news.

"Eclipsa?" A sudden voice called out, which she instantly recognized as her husband's. "Where are you? I need to speak with you! Something happened...and I think you should know about it."

'Oh no.' She thought. 'Please don't tell me something else blew up. I can't go through that again. The next time someone asks me to pull an all-nighter to help with the town's problems, I'll-"

"Ah, there you are," Globgor said in relief, appearing behind her and looking slightly out of breath. He was about to speak again when he saw Meteora underneath the faucet, seemingly waterboarding herself.

"Uh...what is she doing?" He asked in concern. "I know she can get thirsty at times, but jeez, she is really-"

"She lapped up some of that," Eclipsa replied, turning around and pointing to the small blue puddle on the kitchen table, which Globgor looked at like it had leaked out of a nuclear reactor. "I don't know exactly what it is, and I'm too tired to try and identify it. But I did find this in the middle of it."

She then took the note out of her pocket and handed it over to Globgor, who began reading it while also staring at the puddle nervously.

"Hello, Eclipsa." He said. "I'm new in town. My former name is…" Globgor gasped and then read the rest at lighting speed, his expression growing more and more aggravated as he went on. Eventually, Globgor slowly placed the note on the counter and his eyes darted back over to the blue liquid. Without saying a word, he grabbed hold of a nearby paper towel and started wiping it up, being careful not to touch any of it as he did so.

"So what did he want?" Eclipsa asked, obviously still too tired to function properly. "I didn't read the whole thing. I don't think my brain has fully woken up yet."

After first, Globgor didn't directly respond, only mumbling things like "oh my god, he was in our house," and "is it poisonous? Am I going to have to take her to the hospital?," and other things that were too quiet for Eclipsa to hear. Eventually, he fell quiet and finished cleaning the table. He threw the paper towels in the trash, holding them as far away from him as he could, and then turned back to Eclipsa.

"Was this here when you woke up?" He asked, his voice deadly serious. If anything, this jolted Eclipsa slightly out of her stupor, enough to make her see properly, at least.

"It was. Why?"

"Because if it was, then he managed to do that in the span of five minutes…" Globgor mumbled. "And the blood means he hadn't healed his wounds by then. But...why was it only on the table?" He asked himself. "There's not a single drop on the floor. Did he make himself bleed on purpose?"

"What are you talking about?" Eclipsa asked. "Did you just see Bren? Today?"

"Technically, yes and no," Globgor said. "It's a...it's a long story."

"Feel free to tell me…" Eclipsa said. "Although I might fall asleep in the middle of it. I don't think that one-hour nap did me any kind of justice."

"Noted," Globgor said grimly, and with a sigh, he began to recount the long and winding tale…

One exaggerated, confusing, and nonsensical explanation later…

"And…that's the whole story." Globgor finished. "He's gone, not himself anymore, and we have no idea if he's going to stick with his original plan or switch to something...worse."

"..."

"..."

"So...Bren was possessed this whole time," Eclipsa said, wanting to confirm the rollercoaster of a story that she just heard.

"Yes."

"But his original self is actually a worse person that murdered his own family."

"Yup."

"And...Moon's hand is broken, "Bren" is heavily injured to the point where he should be dead, his blood is blue, three people at the hospital are dead, one of which was a knight from the Jaggy kingdom, River is receiving care for his fall, Zudo is missing again...and Janna hobbled off with one of "Bren's" fingers and said that "this is our game-changer". Eclipsa listed, reciting every major event just described to her.

"That...is everything that happened, yes," Globgor confirmed. "The knights are out looking for Zudo, and Janna is probably cooking something up for us. Hopefully some kind of weakness related to Demon Magic, as that is her area of expertise. But I'm still more concerned about "Bren" and what he's planning to do."

"Are we still going to call him by that name?" Eclipsa asked.

"Considering we don't know what his real name was, there's no other option besides numerous curses that I'd rather not say with Meteora right there," Globgor said. "It's all we have at the moment, and likely all we're ever going to have. He didn't tell us who he was back at the hospital, and the note didn't say anything about that either. So I think it's plain to see that he'd rather us not be aware of his true identity." He sighed again. "Not that it makes much of a difference, but still…"

"What did the note say by the way?" Eclipsa asked/pondered. "I assume he was just introducing himself, based on how it started."

"Something like that," Globgor said. "He talked about how he's not Bren anymore, and how he has a few new surprises for us in store that he's already thought of. But I think a bigger issue with that is how easily he infiltrated the Temple and just casually left this thing on our kitchen table." He stated. "We have to go to Janna. See if she can cast some kind of spell from her book around this place that denies him entry. It doesn't matter if he's not going to kill us that way, it's best for everyone if he's not creeping around in here. He could have killed you in your sleep, kidnapped Meteora...or worse." He grimaced.

"Agreed," Eclipsa said. "If I wasn't half-asleep right now, I'm sure I'd be freaking out about that. But what if Janna doesn't have a spell like that?"

"I'm pretty sure she does," Globgor said confidently. "Back at the hospital, Bren, the one with the orange eyes, mentioned how Demon Magic can create protection spells. Powerful ones. We can use those."

"It'll come at a cost." Eclipsa reminded him. "Remember, we had to use several objects to send that demon back to the Underworld. Marco's blood, Star's horns, and that tennis ball. We also had to make a giant circle on the ground. All that...just for one teleportation spell. I'm worried because I imagine that a barrier permanently keeping "Bren" and Tom out will come at a much greater cost."

"Duly noted," Globgor said. "But whatever it is, we'll pay it, unless it's someone's life or memories or stuff like that."

"You probably just jinxed us." Meteora said, although it came out as "u obely ust ink is" in her baby talk, completely incomprehensible to anyone. Seeing the stares from her parents after the fact and realizing that they hadn't understood a word she just said, Meteora huffed and went back to drowning herself with tap water.

"...Right." Globgor said. "But like I was saying, we should be prepared to pay almost any price. And if we have time, we should try and place barriers around things like the Diazes house, Moon's house in the woods, the council meeting place, and a few other buildings that we wouldn't want "Bren" getting anywhere near."

"It sounds like a good idea," Eclipsa said. "But one for later, unfortunately. For now…"

"Yes. How we should deal with all this is the main concern." Globgor said. "I'd call a meeting together, but considering that we just had one...I don't think many people would show up, even now."

"They would if you told them the story you just told me," Eclipsa said. ""Bren" is gone, someone more horrible and unpredictable has taken his place, and we may all be dead very soon, as this one might not have the same level of patience as his predecessor."

"Technically, as the original, he's the predecessor." Globgor pointed out. "But I see your point. However…" He shook his head. "I think it's best if we try and solve this right now, just the two of us. Like you just said, we may all be dead soon. We have to figure out a solution for this as quickly as possible. Before things get more complicated..."

"That reminds me…" Eclipsa mumbled. "Did...you investigate the buildings Janna told us to check out? The ones where she thought bombs might be placed in?"

"It's being done as we speak," Globgor said. "I sent a few knights over after giving them a map of the location, and if they find any, they'll ring the Temple and alert us."

"Okay...but what if they do find any?" Eclipsa asked. "They might be rigged to go off if we try to remove them, and with most of the police officers dead, Echo Creek is lacking in a proper bomb removal squad. And…" She winced. "You confirmed that "Bren" confirmed that the government is making sure nobody stops him, just like we suspected. We won't get any help if we reach out."

"We…" Globgor paused. "Then we don't try to disarm them. You're right. Without a proper way to do so, any attempt at disabling the bombs is far too dangerous. No, we'll just pick them up and take them somewhere where no one will be hurt if they go off."

"And that place is…?"

"...I haven't figured that out yet." Globgor admitted. "Janna suggested that we dump them in the Underworld during our mission to save Tom's parents, so we can take care of two problems at once, but I'm not so sure. I get that the whole sub-dimension is already on fire, but I'm not sure how happy the Lucitors would be by us literally dumping our problems on them."

"Saving their lives from Bren would make up for it," Eclipsa said, trying to keep her head from flopping onto the table. "But…" She halted mid-sentence and bit her lip. "Hmm…"

"What is it?"

"Just a thought. We can discuss it after the next idea." Eclipsa said. "Which is...what if the bombs go off when we're trying to remove them?"

"If all the bombs go off, and we're removing them, then suddenly it's not our problem anymore," Globgor said drily. "It's whoever's left."

"Sort of selfish, don't you think?"

"We'd be dead, I don't think being selfish would be that high on our list of concerns anymore." Globgor deadpanned. "But at least we wouldn't have to deal with any of it."

Eclipsa looked away forlornly. "That would solve matters, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah...but let's not get any crazy or stupid ideas, desperate as we are," Globgor warned. "But what were you going to say? That thought you had?"

"I was wondering if the situation with the Lucitors will change," Eclipsa said. "Bren no longer exists. That...thing you told me about had taken his place, possibly in a permanent way. And he's a worse person than his predecessor...successor...whatever." She waved it off. "But the point is that I wonder if he's going to treat the Lucitors and Tom the same way."

"Most likely. He still needs Tom to get around." Globgor said. "And I doubt he knows anything about the eyes and how "Bren" is a different person now. I think the orange-eyed one would only have seen it as a risk. But either way, I don't think it'd matter much. Bren or not, whoever has that trigger controls the Lucitor's fate, and therefore controls Tom. If "Bren" killed both his parents, then Tom would have no reason to not tear him apart right then and there. No more leverage, no more control, no more nothing."

"There's a problem with that," Eclipsa said. ""Bren" no longer has the trigger. It was smashed back at the hospital. Tom only assumes he has it. As of right now, "Bren's" got nothing to threaten him with."

"I'm not so sure about that." Globgor disagreed. "If you were Bren, and that remote was the only way to contact your cronies in the Underworld as well as control Tom, would you only have one?"

"...Definitely not." Eclipsa sighed. "I'd have dozens stored away, considering how important it is."

"Exactly. I don't think smashing that remote did anything." Globgor said. "Odds are he already has a new one. Went back to the Underworld to grab a spare right after coming here."

"If that's the case, then going to the Underworld truly is the only way to save Tom." Eclipsa leered. "But how do we even inform him if the mission to save his parents is successful? The second "Bren" hears of it, he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that Tom doesn't know."

"There's actually something I forgot to mention…" Globgor mumbled. "The remote he has. It's not a kill trigger that blows up a collar placed around the King and Queen's neck or something like that when you press the button. It's a communication device. He calls someone down in the Underworld and gives the order to execute one or both of them. Zudo witnessed it himself back at the mansion."

"Really? Then in that case…"

"Yup. We can just call "Bren" if we get our hands on the device belonging to his minions and scream at that thing that Tom's parents are no longer in danger the second he answers." Globgor said. "If Tom's nearby, which I'm betting he will be, he'll hear and burn him to ashes. Problem solved. Although there is a problem with that, as we don't want to kill "Bren" just yet. As much as I don't want to do it, we still have to charge him for all the crimes he's committed and set up a trial.

"Well, the Bren that committed most of those crimes currently doesn't exist at the moment, and might never again," Eclipsa said. "If we or he lets that slip during it, then the trial will be rendered moot. We can't charge him for something he technically had no control over."

"But it was still him," Globgor said. "He still made a deal with the Fire-god to kill Star. And if that doesn't work, then we'll charge him for the murder of his family, which he himself admitted to. There's no escaping that. Even if they're from another dimension, it's still murder."

"We don't have their bodies, how can we be sure he wasn't lying just to unnerve all of you?"

"He wasn't lying. He wouldn't lie about something like that for a reason like that."

"That's not the point," Eclipsa said, before sighed. "But all in all, it will be quite difficult to accuse him of anything at the current moment. Not while he's like…" She waved her hand around. "...this. And his lawyer could just plead insanity and get him free of the death penalty. He definitely fits the bill, if the insane giggling you mentioned is anything to go by."

"Then we'll hire a crappy lawyer for him on purpose. We're gonna make sure he doesn't receive much in the defense department." Globgor said.

"...I'm not sure if that's illegal or not…" Eclipsa mumbled.

"It probably is, but does it matter?"

"It does, due to what I just said," Eclipsa muttered. She rested her elbows on the table and facepalmed. "No matter how we capture him, it's all useless if we accuse him of crimes and can't prove he did them. First off, he doesn't have any documentation. We have no records of his date of birth or where he even came from. I assume we need those to throw a proper trail for him."

"...No, we don't." Globgor said. "We can just have the Mayor make a few laws just this once so we can punish him without any unnecessary legal shenanigans."

"Is this what it's come to?" Eclipsa asked out spreading her arms. "Bending the law so we can execute him? That makes us criminals as well."

"You know what?" Globgor said. "It does. It really does, Eclipsa. But at this point, I'm tempted to go against my reasoning and just throw him into a crowd like Moon says once we capture him. Because as bloodthirsty as she was, she made a few good points. He shouldn't be kept alive for any longer than necessary. He's too dangerous, unpredictable, and we can't take a single chance. He even said, "if I die, it won't matter because others will finish the job". Therefore, if we capture him, we have to get rid of him as soon as possible before his cronies come up and break him out or finish the job."

"Then why didn't you kill him back at the hospital?" Eclipsa asked, feeling like this conversation was going in circles. "You had the power to do so. The knights would have gladly torn off his head. For corn's sake, they probably would have fought over who got to do it!"

"If I had issued a kill order, then I wouldn't have stopped Moon and just let her finish him off," Globgor replied. "And I wanted to. Every fiber of me was screaming to not stop her. To just stay that you didn't get there in time. Nobody would argue. Nobody would complain. They'd all accept it as fact because they liked the outcome."

"Then why didn't you?" Eclipsa repeated. "You didn't answer my question."

"Because again...that's not the way we do things!" Globgor grumbled. "We can't just kill like that. We're better than him. We have to show that we are, and...and…"

For a second, Globgor lost his momentum. Then he exhaled and facepalmed just like Eclipsa had, shaking his head and wondering how this discussion turned south so quickly.

"Mom, Dad, please stop fighting." Meteora requested, coming out as "ma, da, pee sta faing". The two glanced at her again and saw the desperate/irritated look in her eyes, clearly not happy with the way her parents were conversing with each other. She climbed down to the floor and crawled over to her mother, leaning against her leg and staring up at her like a cat begging for attention. Eclipsa looked away guiltily before picking Meteora up and cradling her in her arms.

"I can't do this anymore." She said. "All this arguing."

"Is it arguing?"

"If it's not, it's going to be soon," Eclipsa said. "This is getting us nowhere. We have too many loose ends to discuss, and we need to come up with a proper plan that doesn't involve the legal system. Because all of that is something to deal with assuming we even catch him in the first place. We're getting ahead of ourselves."

"We're still aiming to catch him, correct?" Globgor said. "Our objective hasn't changed at all despite this little...development?"

"No. We want him alive." Eclipsa said. "Although you can approve of unnecessary violence in his capture and if he "accidentally" dies during it, we'll pass it off as just that. An accident."

"..."

"What is it?"

"Oh, Mewni…" Globgor exclaimed, suddenly burying his face in his hands. "I just remembered. I can't believe I forgot to tell you. He was able to survive all those wounds I was telling you about because he can't die."

"What do you mean?" Eclipsa asked. "Is-is his species incapable of dying through wounds or-"

"It's not that," Globgor interjected. "He commented on how the Fire-god won't let him die until he's completed his mission and killed us all. That bastard of a god-"

"Asturd!" Meteora exclaimed, causing Eclipsa to shoot Globgor a "really?" look.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly. "But that guy hates us just as much then. This means that even though we can injure Bren any which way, he'll just stay alive no matter what."

"...That just creates more questions." Eclipsa mumbled. "If we chop his head off, does the head stay alive, or the body, or both? Can he just reattach it like a LEGO set or something?"

"...I honestly do not know how to respond to that." Globgor said, struck dumb by the mental image. "But either way, I think we can assume that we don't have to be careful while taking him in. He may not have his possession powers...hopefully, but he's invulnerable to dying."

"Then that makes this much easier for us," Eclipsa said. "If we just chop off both his arms, then boom!" She threw her own in the air, causing Meteora to let out a tiny "wheeeee!" "He has no power. No device, no way to cast those one magic spells, and no leverage against Tom."

"Two of those were the same thing." Globgor pointed out.

"But you get it, right?" Eclipsa asked. "We make him helpless without any fear of killing him prematurely…...oh." She paused. "Then this means he can't be executed, at least not the way we want, and the citizens certainly won't be happy about that."

"Not a problem," Globgor said. "Janna mentioned to me before I left that there was a spell capable of completely ridding a person of the Fire-gods' influence. All we have to do is blast him with that."

"Well, that's convenient," Eclipsa said. "So...summing it all up, the next thing we're going to do is rescue Tom's parents, which will result in him beating "Bren" to the ground, he won't die, we can apprehend him, and then Janna will use that spell to get rid of his immortality so we can execute him and finally end this mess. Yes?"

"...That's probably an extremely abridged version, and I'm not so sure about the Tom part, but yeah. This seems to be the best way to go about things." Globgor said. "Of course, something's bound to happen along the way that'll cause that plan to take a turn."

"Most likely." Eclipsa agreed, knowing full well that nowadays plans like that rarely went as...planned. "Based on what you've told me, I suspect that the U.S. government, Bren's helpers in the Underworld, or the god of fire himself will swoop down and try to prevent this from happening. We have to find a way to permanently take care of them as well."

"The government's not going to be so easy, so I think we should handle them first," Globgor said. "Bren told us that they're not helping us in exchange for Demon Magic, which they're likely going to use for war methods. We have to stop that from happening. Normal magic was capable of wiping out an entire dimension. I can only imagine what magic that was made by a God who created hell itself can do."

"Don't forget about the price, however." Eclipsa reminded him. "If they want to use Demon Magic in wars, I imagine it will be quite difficult even if they know all the rituals. Attack spells like that take up immense amounts of energy normally, so I imagine attack spells with Demon Magic will take immense amounts of sacrifices and rituals and whatnot."

"True. But you're forgetting who we're talking about." Globgor said. "The government probably has more access to blood and sacred objects and whatever else they need to cast those spells than we could ever get our hands on. It might be irritating to cast the spells, but I'm sure that it will become a walk in the park when it comes to actually getting the sacrificial objects."

"...That is a problem, isn't it?" Eclipsa asked rhetorically, putting a hand to her chin.

"I'm sure it will be eventually. But let's focus." Globgor said. "First off, we're not trying to topple the government when we said, "we need to take care of them permanently". We're just trying to get them off our back and not interfere with "Bren's" matters. Also to get them to cut ties with him."

"I know. It's not like we'd be able to accomplish much anyway if we tried to advocate an actual overthrow." Eclipsa said. "Even the Royals wouldn't want to try and take over the country. That presentation I gave them on Earth weaponry would have them all running scared the second anyone pulled out a gun."

"Exactly. So we need to find a way to...peacefully convince them to help us and ignore Bren." Globgor said. "Preferably without a single drop of blood being spilled. I've already seen enough of that for one day. And the rest of my life…"

Eclipsa nodded after this, before glancing over and frowning at the bloody blue paper towels, now sitting in a nearby trash can. "Don't you think this is something we should take care of after we beat "Bren"?" She asked. "Not before?"

"How so?"

"I mean, look at it this way," Eclipsa said, who after so many explanations, was now only 25% asleep. "Let's assume for a second that the U.S. government had been spying on us and how we're dealing with Bren to make sure that we don't get too much of an edge on him so they still get their magic. If this were the case, don't you think they would have stepped in by now? Look at today. He's been beaten to a bloody pulp. You said all of his limbs were broken, bones were exposed, and he lost most if not all of his blood."

"Only most," Globgor said. "Some of it ended up on our kitchen table."

"Yes, well, a problem that has already been taken care of," Eclipsa mumbled. "But don't you see my point? If they want "Bren" alive, I think they'd have interfered to keep him that way once they saw we were winning."

"That would make sense...if Bren wanted them to interfere in the first place," Globgor said. "Remember, one of their agreements was that they shouldn't step in and get involved with his affairs. I don't think that just means they're not allowed to stop him. I think it means they're not allowed to try and help him either. Bren wanted all the-"

"Wanted?" Eclipsa repeated. "As in past tense?"

Globgor paused before shrugging. "Well, god knows what he's thinking right now." He said. "But like I was saying, he wanted all the glory for himself. Brudo, Tom, that giant demon, they all are or were just slaves to him. That demon was mindless. Tom doesn't have any free will at this point. And based on what Zudo told me on the way over to the hospital, Brudo didn't care about Star. Zudo thinks he was only after Ludo because of the "disgrace" he brought on the Avarius family." Globgor explained, air quotes and all. "None of them had a beef with Star. But...and god, I hope this ain't true, but the government might. For merging Mewni with part of their country."

"Why would they be angry about that?" Eclipsa asked. "It's raked in more tourism money, more taxes, and frankly boost-"

"It's more than that," Globgor interjected, using the same tone a professor might use while addressing a class. "How much do you know about human history?"

"...A decent amount."

"And how big a role did racism and all the issues we dealt with monsters and Mewmans play in that history?"

Eclipsa frowned and began to see what her husband was getting at. "...A very big one. To the point where it's still going on today, even in the most developed countries. That Earth history class was very informative about all of it."

"Precisely," Globgor said. "You think the government wanted to solve all the problems a whole new species showing up is going to cause when they can't even effectively help their own without the citizens stepping in? The answer, of course, is no. They didn't want to have to deal with us, but they were practically forced to. And this...is their opportunity to fix the problem."

"...I'm not sure I like the phrasing of this," Eclipsa said. "You're saying like they intend to let "Bren" wipe us all out. And if he doesn't succeed, then they'll swarm in here and finish the job themselves."

"That wasn't my intention, sorry," Globgor said, seeing the sudden horrified expression on his wife's face. "But I think they at least want us out of the way. Somewhere where we can't cause problems or start ruining things."

"Out of the way…" Eclipsa mumbled. "...I think I get it now." She said. "You're right. They don't want to wipe us out entirely. But you're also right in that they want us out of their hair." She stood up and started pacing around, spouting an explanation as she walked round and round the kitchen table. "They want Demon Magic. In exchange for Bren killing us all, or at least Star and the rest of the Butterfly family, they get it. But after they get their hand on such a power, what to do with the survivors…" She pondered, before snapping her head up as the truth came to her.

"That's it." She breathed.

"What's it?"

"They don't want Demon Magic for war," Eclipsa said. "They're not going to use it to blow things up. They already have enough weapons capable enough of doing that. They want to use it for the teleportation spell. The same one that we sent that demon to the Underworld with!" She explained. "That's what they're going to do with anyone who's left! Anyone Bren doesn't kill they're just going to send someplace else so we're not their problem anymore!"

Globgor was about to open his mouth and say something, but Eclipsa kept going in circles and talking, causing Meteora to clutch her head from dizziness as she watched her mother go round and round.

"It makes perfect sense." She stated. "They're scared because Tom has the same abilities, so of course they'd be most interested in that one! They won't even have to fight wars with that! All they have to do is show up in an enemy base, plant a bomb with a time limit of five seconds, and get out!"

"I think that's still technically a war-" Globgor started, but Eclipsa interrupted him again, not even appearing to have heard his words.

"The government could use this to make the country become the most powerful country in the world overnight! Anyone they don't want around, they could just assassinate. And nobody could ever track it back to them because one, they could just teleport in, two, anyone who knows about Demon Magic in this town will have already been killed by Bren and everyone else will have been sent to live in the middle of nowhere, and three, everyone thinks magic is gone anyway! We convinced them all of it months ago! And now because of that, we've doomed the rest of the world to live under a regime-"

"ECLIPSA!" Globgor shouted, causing her to freeze in place. Her gaze darted towards him, where she saw him standing two feet away from her, staring her down with a worried expression. "Please...stop. I get it. I understand how worried you are. I am too. But this is getting us nowhere, just like earlier."

"I...yes. I apologize." She said, finally catching her breath. "I just got a little carried away."

"It's alright," Globgor said, pulling her and Meteora into a hug. "Again, nobody is going to blame you for freaking out or being worried at a time like this. I'm barely keeping myself under control at the moment. I know it's all a lot to handle. It seems like the whole world against us at the moment."

"I fear that that's more accurate then we know," Eclipsa said. "Which is why we have to-"

A sudden ringing sound blared out before Eclipsa could finish her sentence, making both her and Globgor flinch in surprise. They both turned to the source of the noise, which was the phone sitting on the end of the kitchen counter, old and covered in dust. Globgor looked back at Eclipsa, who nodded at him. He grunted and walked over to the device before picking it up.

"Yes?" He said expectantly. "Who is this?"

"King Globgor." A voice said, which he quickly recognized as the voice of one of the knights that he had brought to the hospital. "It is me, Sir Wirae, the leader of the group you sent to investigate the bombs you believed were hidden in buildings. I'm afraid we have...urgent news."

'Well, this could go one of two ways.' Globgor thought, hoping that the second one wasn't the one that came to pass. "And what did you find?" He asked.

"..."

"..."

"Well?"

"...They're there." The knight said nervously, as if he had been worried to tell the truth. "All the buildings with those hidden rooms have bombs in them. Every last one, your majesty."

Globgor felt his breath being taken away at this, both by pure fear and terror. Even though he had been expecting the bombs to be there, hearing the news that they actually were was an entirely different experience altogether. Every last one he had said. Every building had a bomb. He couldn't even remember how many there had been. He was almost too scared to try and recall it.

"H-how many?" He asked shakily. "How many are there?"

"The total count is still partially incomplete, my king." The knight said. "There may still be more hidden in places we don't know about, so we decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to start making conclusions until-"

"Just tell me how many you've already found," Globgor demanded.

"...36." The knight said hesitantly. "The preliminary count so far is 36."

36. Globgor once again felt dizzy as the room started to spin. 36. Even if they were all only half as strong as the bomb that took out Mansion Avarius, it would be more than enough to wipe Earthni off the map, along with all its inhabitants. And right now, if "Bren" set off even one, it would be nothing short of chaos. The town was hanging on by a thread when it came to peace and riots, order and chaos. If another bad thing happened, then that would truly be the end. The citizens would rise up and take control of things for themselves. Assuming, of course, that there were any citizens left by the end of it.

"Damn it…" Globgor whispered. "He got us."

"What was that, my king?"

"Nothing," Globgor said, before taking a deep breath. "Okay. Here are your orders. I want you to move the bombs away from the buildings, but make sure to be as careful as possible. In fact, I think it would be best if you avoid touching them with your bare hands. It's possible Bren might have rigged them to go off if anyone other than him touches them using bare skin."

"I understand." The knight said. "And how far away should we move them?"

"Um…give me a second," Globgor said, before turning to Eclipsa. "Where's a place where we can set a bomb off safely and deal no harm to any buildings or citizens?"

Eclipsa looked at him strangely. "Why would you want to know…" She started, before groaning again and resting her forehead on the table. "Oh Mewni, the bombs are there, aren't they? Every last one of them?"

"...Yeah." Globgor said softly, looking away again. "But...where's a good place to set them off?"

"I think that would be…wait." She said, as a sudden mischievous grin came across her face. It was one Globgor had only seen once before, when she suggested that they start feeding vegetables to Meteora, after which both of them laughed. And considering the situation, this immediately made his heart jump to his stomach. "I have an idea. But first, do we still have a fire department? Did they take any casualties in the bombing yesterday?"

"Maybe one or two, but not as much as the police," Globgor said. "Why?"

"Because we might need them…" Eclipsa said. "Okay. Here's what we do. We don't move them to some remote area like the middle of the desert. Instruct all the knights to instead move them to the Sanctuary."

"The Sanctuary?" Globgor repeated. "In the middle of the woods, which will certainly catch fire and spread if those things go off?"

"That's why I asked you if we had a fire department," Eclipsa revealed. "We can have them at the ready just in case. Think about it. If those things blow up the Sanctuary, "Bren" not only misses the opportunity to kill more citizens, but he will also be destroying his church to that Fire-god! His own weapons turned against him. We're in due need for a victory, and that will most certainly be a good one. I think we should do it. Finally, strike back for a change."

"...As much as I'd like that to happen, it's too much of a risk." Globgor said, making Eclipsa's smile fade off her face in an instant. "For one thing, they may go off before we move them all there, which won't be good. For another, even if the fire department is there to put out the blaze, I don't think they're properly equipped for forest fires. I'm not an expert on that kind of stuff, but I'm pretty sure that the procedure when it comes to building fires and forest fires are two very different things. And since this town has never had a fire like that in all its history...they may not be trained for it. It could be a disaster, and we might not have time to pull in firefighters from other towns to help."

Eclipsa sighed and picked her head up slightly before banging it down on the table again, making Meteora jump and crawl down one of its legs onto the floor. "Well, I still think we should do it." She said. "If "Bren"-"

"He'd get Tom to kill us all immediately afterwards." Globgor said. "Remember the meeting he crashed? When he talked to Star about some mysterious place, and that if she damaged it or destroyed it he'd just come by and kill her? It took me a while, but now it's painfully obvious that he was talking about the Sanctuary. If we trick him into blowing it up, he'll have Tom teleport right in front of us and then he'll personally stab us in the face with a knife as revenge."

"Would he?" Eclipsa asked. "Remember what he is right now. He's not possessed. He's not under the control of the Fire-god. He's weak, and he's injured. Based on the descriptions you gave me, I'm not sure if he's even able to lift his arm, much less stab someone before they can stop him."

"He ran away in a full sprint even with both his legs bent in at least five different directions. It was like watching a puppet with a hundred strings attached to every inch of their body." Globgor said. "Trust me, he's still fully capable of killing people. And even if he wasn't, he'd just get Tom to blast them with a fireball. And…" He shook his head. "...He's still in control of the Underworld and has demons at his disposal. He could send a horde of them right now to wipe us all out if he wanted."

Eclipsa huffed. "Well, it was just a suggestion-"

"I know, and I get it," Globgor said, not wanting this to deliver into another argument. "We both want to make him pay for what he's done. But blindly doing stuff like this is not the way to do it. There are too many unknown variables, and where we are now, we can't afford to have a single one. We have to make sure that we're in complete control of the situation before we try anything Eclipsa."

"I'm pretty sure you've said that already."

"I probably have, but it just needs repeating," Globgor said. "So...do you have any other ideas for where we can move those bombs too?"

Eclipsa appeared to think about it for a moment before lifting her head and gazing upwards at her husband. "The hill of flags." She said. "There are hardly any streets or buildings nearby it, meaning we can move the explosives there relatively quickly without having to worry about rubble. And it's also completely abandoned. The town government abolished the holiday when they learned of the barbarism involved in it, and the hill now simply stands as a memorial to those who died participating in the game."

"Uhh...isn't the fact that it's a memorial a good example of why we shouldn't blow it up?" Globgor asked. "I mean, you're right, it's deserted and in the middle of nowhere to the point where there's nothing around it for almost half a mile, but wouldn't that be seen as disrespectful for the ones who died?"

"Possibly, but I don't think anyone is going to care at the moment. And besides, the only ones who will are the old Johansen Royals and some of the Butterflies, and nobody cares about what they have to say." Eclipsa said. "There was a reason, after all, why most of the regular noble families weren't invited to be on the council."

"I thought that was because we'd need a meeting building the size of a soccer stadium, and nobody wanted to build that," Globgor recalled.

Eclipsa shrugged. "That was only one of the reasons. But the other is that they have no power anymore. When I created the law that got most of the monsters their ancestral homes and land back, they lost most of their land as well. And after Earth merged with Mewni...they owned no more land than any common person, and really, that was where their power came from. The land. So another reason why we didn't put them in the council was because we felt the citizens would complain if they found out that these 100-year-old nobles who own no land and have no more influence get to help make all the decisions."

"Did the families themselves complain about this little arrangement?" Globgor asked.

"Yes," Eclipsa replied. "I believe most of their letters are still unread…"

"...Okay, then it's settled. We'll move the bombs to the back of the hill, placing them at a distance of around a hundred feet apart for each one. That should be more than enough space." Globgor announced, before turning to the phone. "Sir Wirea, we need you to place the bombs-"

"No need, I heard everything," Wirea said. "You didn't cover the phone after all. And yes, my king, we shall place the bombs there, at the Hill of Flags, at a distance of about a hundred feet apart. Leave it to us. We will not fail you."

"Well okay," Globgor said. "Thank you, Wirea. Good luck."

"We don't need luck, my king, but thank you anyway," Wirea said, and the phone line suddenly went dead as he hung up. Globgor stared at the phone for a moment before placing it on the counter and chuckling.

"That should be more than enough space…" He repeated. "Hopefully, at least. I should have said something else. I mean, the hill is pretty big, but to hold all those bombs…"

"If they run out of space, then they can place some at the bottom of the lake." Eclipsa offered. "Worst comes to worst, a few people get soaked."

"Yeah, along with the extinction of every fish species in the lake and a possible mini tidal-wave that could swamp the town." Globgor pointed out, before frowning at his wife. "Eclipsa...are you sure you're feeling okay? No offense, but ever since we started talking, you've been acting...odd. Like you're not fully thinking things through before the words leave your mouth."

"You can blame that on the sleep deprivation. Like I told you earlier." Eclipsa said. "The only rest I've gotten in the past two days is a one hour nap that I woke up from just a while ago. I'd fall asleep now, but I feel like I have more important things to deal with."

Globgor blinked twice at her and then sighed. "Eclipsa, what did I say at the meeting?"

"I know what you're about to say, so I'm just going to skip to the end," Eclipsa said. "You would have woken me up anyways to talk about what happened at the hospital, and we would've eventually come to this point no matter what."

"...Okay, fair. But I didn't know things were going to be dragged out for this long." Globgor said. "So...go back to bed. And this time get something more than an hour's worth. Even if there's an uncountable number of things to handle, Eclipsa, I can't have you so sleep-deprived that you're unable to do any of them without coming up with some crazy idea."

"But what if something happens while I'm-" Eclipsa started, before perking her head up and looking around. "...Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Globgor asked. "Because if you're hearing something strange, that could be the lack of sleep. I think that staying awake for too long can cause hallucinations, even auditory one-"

"No...I don't think this is imaginary." Eclipsa said. "It sounds like...yelling?"

"What are you-" Globgor said, before stopping short. Just like his wife, he started glanced around widely, like a person trying to find a fly that had flown in through the window. "...I...what is that?"

"It sounds like it's coming from outside," Eclipsa said, before getting up and walking out of the room. Globgor was quick to follow her, with Meteora crawling after them at a speed an infant like her shouldn't possibly be able to accomplish. The three made it to the front door and opened it, where they saw a large group of people, humans, Mewmans, and monsters alike, coming up the hill that led to the Temple. All of them were shouting, although, from this distance, combined with how indecipherable their voices were with everyone rambling on at the same time, Eclipsa and Globgor had no idea what they were saying.

Although they had a pretty good idea.

"Ah. Protesters. Wonderful." Eclipsa deadpanned. "I don't suppose I can say that we didn't see this coming. It was only a matter of time until someone got angry."

"It hasn't even been a full day since the explosion," Globgor said with a shocked expression. "Did they spend all that time organizing this, or was it just something they had planned before Mansion Avarius was blown up?"

"Either way, we should deal with it now," Eclipsa recommended. "Before things get out of hand."

"I'm not too worried right now." Globgor scoffed. "What are they even going to do? Storm the Temple? For all they know, there are a hundred trained guards inside just waiting for someone to pull something stupid."

"...We don't even have a single guard here." Eclipsa said. "We sent them all home after the blast to be with their families." She sighed. "I suppose I regret that slightly now."

"No, it was the right thing to do," Globgor said. "But either way, it's irrelevant now. I'll take care of this. Go back inside and find a place to hide in case things get messy. I'd recommend Meteora's nursery. Wait there until I get back, and-"

"I'm not doing that," Eclipsa announced, as the protesters turned the final corner that led up the hill. "It doesn't matter if we're undefended, I'm not going to hide away and cower in front of my own citizens. I am the Queen of Earthni, and if I ran and hid then I'd be nothing but a coward. I'll hide Meteora, but afterwards, I'm coming right back out, and then we're facing this together."

"Eclipsa, it wasn't a request," Globgor said. "I know you may disagree, I know you think you have to help, but I'm going to say what I've already said a countless number of times. Go back inside, hide somewhere, and maybe try to get some sleep. I know it's an odd thing to ask with a literal angry mob at our doorstep, but you're not going to be able to help if you suddenly collapse of exhaustion during a crucial moment."

"..."

"..."

"...Fine. I'll go get some sleep and hide Meteora." Eclipsa said, although now, what with the protesters and those new revelations from the hospital incident, she had no plans to do so. "But I'm trusting you to take care of the situation out here."

"I will," Globgor said, who started walking towards the protesters. "When you wake back up, I promise we'll start tackling things together, but for now, get some rest."

"If you say so," Eclipsa mumbled, before backing up into the Temple and closing the door behind her. She kept her eye on Globgor for a moment, just in case the protesters tried to hit him with a bat the second they got close enough. But they stopped as he approached, and once it seemed like a decent conversation was being made between the two sides, Eclipsa retreated away from the window and went back into the kitchen, where she found Meteora sitting back on the counter and chewing on the phone. She took the device out of the baby's mouth, who began making grabbing motions at it. Eclipsa simply took a Marco doll out of her pocket (she almost always had one on hand) and gave it to her child, who eagerly snatched it with what the queen was sure were stars in her eyes. She then bit down on its head and started ripping it apart with her teeth, and small bits of cotton and fabric began falling onto the floor as the doll met its demise.

Eclipsa, meanwhile, had grabbed a piece of paper that had been stored in one of the many drawers surrounding her. On the piece of paper was a list of the castle phone numbers of every royal family in Mewni, with the ones on the council being right at the top, below Moons's home phone, the Diazes home phone, and Star's cell phone number.

Eclipsa wasn't planning to just go back to sleep of course. She had a duty to carry out. She was still the queen, one half of the Duumvirate, and that job would always require staying up late and waving sleep off for days at a time. And this moment, right here, was a perfect chance for her to sharpen her skills in ignoring the constant sleep deprivation.

At least, that's what her exhausted, easily convinced, and worn-out brain was telling Eclipsa, which was good enough for her. First things first, she had to let all the Royals know what had gone down at the hospital. If "Bren" was a completely different person now, who may be using completely different tactics, along with the fact that all those bombs were confirmed to exist, then they had to be informed of it so they could prepare. She glanced at the first name on the list that she knew was available. Star and Moon already knew what happened, and Eclipsa figured that the Diazes would currently be trying to comfort their son after what happened yesterday. They didn't need any mention of "Bren" right now.

So she dialed the first number on the list, the castle number of the Johansen kingdom, and waited for it to ring.

---

Outside: Calm, polite, collected, and just wanting to make conversation to see what the problem is.

Inside: Nervous, sweaty, jittery, like a time bomb that was about to go off.

That was what Globgor was at the moment as he approached the crowd of protesters that were coming up the hill to the Temple. He planned to address them as politely as possible and listen to every word they had to say, and then respond in kind with reassurances and possible remedies to whatever problem they were having.

Of course, none of this mattered if one of them started attacking him. Mostly because he couldn't attack back. While Globgor could grow to the size of a skyscraper and simply stomp on all these people like ants if they became hostile, that...wouldn't look good in the PR department. Plus, he did not and never would have plans of growing to gigantic size and going on a rampage like a red-furred version of King Kong. If he fought back, he would not only make himself look like a monster, but he'd become one as well. The same horrible, evil, Mewman-terrorizing monster he was before he met Eclipsa all those hundreds of years ago.

And that was the last (well, one of the last) things he wanted at the moment.

So his plan if they started swinging at him? Grow until he was the size of the Temple and just let them swing at his ankles. None of the protesters seemed to have any sort of weapons besides their fists, so it's not like they could actually do anything to him. And if his sheer size didn't intimidate them to the point where they all scurried like rabbits, he'd give them "the speech" in a voice loud enough to shatter windows. He had been preparing it ever since the explosion, in the few precious minutes of free time he had had since then. It was to be used if the citizens ever started an uprising and stormed the Temple. He'd go on about how there's a baby inside, and how dare they attack and risk hurting her. And for the kicker, he would point out that hurting babies is exactly the kind of thing Mina would do. And almost did. So if they broken inside and risked hurting Meteora, then they were no better than the person who literally tried to genocide an entire race.

And hopefully, that would cause them to look at themselves in shame and walk away. Problem solved.

But of course, this was also something that Globgor didn't want to happen. He'd like to avoid any signs of aggression or intimidation if at all possible. Either of those things might make him and Eclipsa look like tyrants, which obviously, was something they were trying to avoid at the moment. He wasn't going to let these people put his family in danger, but he wasn't going to actively put them in harm's way either.

Globgor then stopped as all his plans finished being thought out. The protesters stopped a second later, only a few feet of space separating them. Both sides remained silent, as if they were waiting to see who would speak first. Finally, Globgor spoke, his voice low but courteous.

"How can I help you?" He asked, like the mob of people currently standing on his doorstep was a single salesman trying to sell him some useless product. The protesters were clearly surprised by this response, but the one at the front, a Mewman that Globgor didn't recognize, returned the greeting in kind.

"Hello, King Globgor." He said. "My name is Joseph. I am sure you are dumbfounded as to why we have organized this little protest today, since dealing with all your Royals matters must mean much more to you than dealing with ours."

'Well, if that isn't the most passive-aggressive response I've heard in my entire life.' Globgor thought, grimacing. The tone was polite like his own, but also smug as well, along with a little anger mixed in. But with a response like that, those emotions were to be expected. It was a full-blown accusation in its own way, and told Globgor exactly what he needed to know.

"I disagree slightly with that." He replied. "But as for this…"little protest" of yours, I hope you wouldn't mind telling me why you organized it?"

"Of course," Joseph said. He took out a stereotypical scroll from his pocket, unrolled it, and began to read it in such a way that Globgor was sure he must have practiced it a hundred times in front of a mirror. "King Globgor. We, the humans, Mewmans, and Monsters of Earthni and Echo Creek, come to you with grievances." He made sure to emphasize this word, speaking it only a single decibel louder than all the rest.

"...And what grievances are those?" Globgor asked, even though he was sure what the answer was already going to be.

"Simple," Joseph said, shoving the scroll back in his pocket. "Every single person here had a family member or close friend die in the explosion yesterday. An explosion which we believe you, your wife, the Mayor, and the rest of the Council could have prevented, but didn't due to incompetence."

'Yup. That's exactly what I was expecting.' Globgor thought. "I see." He said. "Well, I think I should inform you that we couldn't have stopped it, as we were not informed or tipped off about the blast in any way beforehand, and there were no signs that it was going to occur. The bomb that Bren set off yesterday was not targeted towards us or even you. He was getting revenge at Lord Brudo, and I guess he thought that blowing him and the mansion up was the best way to do it." Globgor took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what else to say. We simply didn't know, and we had no way to prevent it."

"You didn't know?!" Someone in the crowd shrieked. "Are you kidding me?! That's not good enough for us! My wife died yesterday, and the reason why is because you morons weren't even aware of what's happening in your own town?! I oughta-"

"Hush!" Joseph said, and the other person quickly fell silent. "We are not here to shout about our problems or solve this with force! We are not the Royals. We do things the right way! Raise your voice again and I will have someone else here drag you all the way home. Understand?"

"Y-yes." The protester said, looking away in shame.

"Good," Joseph said, before turning back to Globgor. "Please forgive him, my king. It's just that some people are a little...salty, shall we say, over the events of the past twenty-four hours. I assure you an outburst like that will not happen again."

"Glad to hear it," Globgor said, entirely without emotion. "Now please continue your grievances or demands."

"Very well," Joseph said. "As I told you, everyone here lost someone in the blast. And yet, over a day later, we still have no news. We've had a few official responses from the council, about how we should try to help the wounded, about how we should stay away from the main blast site, and as always, we should be on the lookout for Bren. However, there is a bit of a problem with these rules. Many people here have noticed that while us regular citizens are down there, cleaning everything up and picking up stones, building fragments, and body parts with our bare hands, you Royals haven't been seen doing much of anything. I haven't seen a single Royal helping with the cleanup, and frankly...we don't like that."

"We're not helping with the cleanup because we're trying to make sure that the town doesn't fall apart," Globgor said. "Most of the Mewman royalty have been working far into the night and today, giving out orders and trying to keep their kingdoms together. And you may be right. They're not down there, literally getting their hands literally dirty. But they're still helping out in one way or another. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they're sitting around doing nothing. Heck, just an hour or so ago, I was down at the Echo Creek hospital, attempting to capture Bren along with King River and Queen Moon!"

"Oh? And did you catch him?" Joseph asked, looking unimpressed. "Or did he manage to slip away again?"

Globgor reared back at the question, immediately regretting saying that. He was right after all. Bren did manage to slip away again, and now he'd have to admit it in front of all these people. Denying it would be pointless as well as idiotic, and if he just walked back inside that would only make him appear more guilty.

And Joseph staring at him like a predator that had cornered its prey confirmed that he knew this as well.

"I thought so." He said. "Let me guess. Something happened that prevented you from catching him. Maybe you were too distracted by something else. Or you just weren't prepared. Or maybe-"

"Enough," Globgor interjected, stepping forward and looming over Joseph, casting a shadow over them. He may not want to solve this with violence, but he was not going to stand there and let himself be insulted. "Get to the point. You're obviously angry about something specific. Just spit it out so I and the other Royals can try and fix it."

"Well, there's a few contradictions there." Joseph spat, clearly irritated with being interrupted. "You see, the Royals are our problems, as I'm sure you've guessed. You claim that they have been working into the night, trying to fix things. But don't think we're clueless in that regard either. Behold."

Joseph then stepped aside to reveal a large moose-like monster, whose arm was wrapped in a bandage covering what looked like several burn marks. The glare she was giving Globgor was so intense that if looks could kill, than Globgor would have been sent straight down to hell.

"This is Samantha," Joseph said. "She works at the Mayor's office, and was one of the people there that stayed up all night, trying to get things in order like so many other officials. Even with a freshly burned arm, she still did her job and did it without rest, without pause. Every important person in the town was there, restoring order as best they saw it…except for a very specific group of people. The Royals. Apart from your wife, Eclipsa, Samantha didn't see a single Royal there at any time. Even though the Mayor sent out an emergency call to "everyone important" informing them to come down to the office so that they could all work together. Yet the Royals never showed up! And neither did you! What were you doing that night Globgor? Tell me, or-"

"Or you'll what?" Globgor asked, taking another step forward as he began to lose his patience. "Remember what you said. You just told one of your followers that you want this to be carried out peacefully. Are you really going to go back on your own order that soon?"

"I...hm." Joseph hummed, as if he just remembered saying that. "...Fair enough. But still. Would you mind telling your citizens where you were that night?"

"I was here, at the Temple, taking in everyone who wasn't injured but whose homes were decimated. They had nowhere else to go, so I opened the doors and let them all in." Globgor explained. "I may not have been down at the Mayor's office, or on the streets, but I was still helping any way I could."

"I see. And where are those people now?" Joseph asked. "Are they still inside?"

"No," Globgor said. "All of them left by their own choice a few hours ago. They wanted to see what was left when it became day again. See if they could salvage anything. And I told them that they were welcome to come back if they wanted to. None have, but trust me, the doors are open to them."

"Oh! Well, then would you mind letting us in?" Joseph asked. "The "doors are open" after all. Why don't you show us an example of your famous hospitality? I'm betting it would be a lot more comfortable for all of us if we discussed this inside…"

'You little…' Globgor thought, before calming himself. Yeah...screw that. Letting them inside was not an option. They might be trying to do this peacefully, but it was obvious that most of them were fuming with rage, if the few dozen glares being pointed his way was anything to go by. Plus, the whole peaceful thing was clearly something they were not keen on doing and only saw it as a necessity, given at how their leader himself had freaked out just a minute ago.

"That's not happening," Globgor said. "I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you inside. The door is open to people whose homes are devastated and-"

"And you think ours aren't?" Joseph asked, spitting the last couple of words. "Why do you think we're here, instead of at home crying to ourselves over the loss of our loved ones? Because we have no home to go back to! Not only did we lose people close to us, but we lost all our houses and apartments and huts and everything else the people in this town use as living space!"

"Then why didn't you come here last night?" Globgor queried. "I don't recognize any of you, despite the fact that I had knights on the streets calling out to people that had their homes destroyed to gather in the Monster Temple so they wouldn't have to sit outside all night. Why...didn't you come in?"

"We were doing other things. Like...planning this protest." Joseph said. "You see, it wasn't just this incident that had us riled up. A few days ago we all met and discussed how this Bren problem seemed to be escalating, and the Royals were doing absolutely nothing about it. We came to a definite conclusion: Everything Bren has done could have been avoided. The demon attack was a perfect example. That thing caused god knows how much damage before it was stopped, even if that was a drop in the bucket compared to what we have now. It's a miracle that Lord Brudo did that tax day. If we all weren't in there at the time, then I estimate that most of us would be dead."

"You're only alive because of-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Globgor shut his mouth as quickly as he could, narrowly avoiding spilling the information that the only reason everyone survived the demon attack was because of Bren himself. That information hadn't been let loose to the public yet, because the Council believed that if everyone found out that the only reason no one died was because of the enemy, then that would only make them look more incompetent for not being prepared. As far as the townsfolk knew, the people that took down the demon were a group of brave knights sent out by the council, along with a few of their own members who later assisted the knights in taking down the beast.

But if the public learned that those knights had been nothing but a bunch of drunks and that Eclipsa, Marco, and Star were the "several other members" who charged in that day, then public opinion would turn around at an extremely fast rate. Those three might be praised, but everyone else? Not a chance in the world. They'd be condemned for cowardice for not jumping in the fray and fighting alongside their fellow members, even though they were at the tax day thing with everyone else and didn't even know that anything was going down.

However, this would only cause the citizens to dislike them even more. Once it was pointed out that the Royals were getting money at tax day and not staying at their castles, remaining ready to send out knights in case they were suddenly attacked by the enemy (as all the Royals were aware that someone with hostile intent was in the town, as per the previous meeting, during which they ignored Star's warning and ran off), there would be more protests. Riots. Calling for better leaders. It was a cruel example of the butterfly effect that all led to one thing: The dissolution of the town leadership, which would then be replaced with one set up by the normal citizens. And also one that had no chance against "Bren", since it would be mostly without any kind of military experience or even knowledge on how to properly run a town. The whole thing would descend into chaos, while the former council members would sit in a cell deep beneath the Earth for "crimes against Humanity, Mewmanity, and Monster...manity".

Or something like that.

But either way, telling the citizens any excess information about the demon attack was a poor idea, and everyone in the council agreed.

Unfortunately, back in the present, Joseph caught his slip up almost instantly and gave him a toothy grin.

"What was that?" He asked, leaning forward so much that it was almost a bow. "We're only alive because of what, Globgor?"

"I...you are not privy to that information," Globgor said. "If it gets out publicly, then it could be a risk because then Bren would learn it and cause more problems for us all."

"Oh sure, like he doesn't know already," Joseph said. "You know, Samantha has told me quite a few things. Things that I'm sure "the public" don't want to know about. Not seeing any Royals at the Mayor's office wasn't the only thing she noticed that night. She also...overheard a conversation between the Mayor and Eclipsa that might prove very interesting to us. Eclipsa was reminding the Mayor that one, Bren had apparently been planning this for months, two, he's likely bugged all the council meetings and thus knows every one of your secrets, and three...that the only reason any of us were still alive after the demon attack was because of Bren himself! The information that you just narrowly avoided giving us!"

"Wha-you knew?!" Globgor asked incredulously. "Then what was the point of even asking me in the first place?"

"To see if you would tell us the truth," Joseph said. "To see if our king would willingly lie about such a secret right in front of his own subjects, to their faces. What was it you said? If this secret got out, then Bren might know about it and cause more problems? Something stupid like that?"

Globgor didn't reply, sweat rolling down his brow as he realized that he had fallen directly into their trap. He shouldn't have lied, at least not with the official from the Mayor's office standing right there. That piece of info was practically commonplace when it came to those people! He had completely forgotten about this mob's most valuable asset in the span of five seconds, and now he was paying the price in full.

But still...maybe he could use this. Globgor turned to the official, who was standing there with the smuggest of grins on her face.

"You." He said, pointing a finger at her. "I could easily report this and get you fired, you know. Heck, you might go to jail for this! That information was only allowed to be known to the members of the Council via a document we all signed, and you just spilled them. You could very easily be trialed for this."

For a moment, fear flickered over Samantha's face, only to vanish a second later. Instead, she threw her head back, laughing hysterically.

"You think I care?" She asked. "I already knew that. I was fully aware that what Eclipsa said was something that she didn't want to get out. I knew just how bad things could get for me if I went around telling everyone. But I can say this: It was worth it. This town is falling apart, needs someone better and stronger to fix it, and that information getting out is what will lead to it! A perfect example of the Council's incompetence. Soon we will-"

"Do what?" Globgor asked, and before they even had a chance to respond, he cleared his throat and let loose with everything he had. "Tell me, what are you going to do once we're gone? You have no leadership experience. You don't know how to rule. Most of the knights in this town still answer to us. Even if you imprison all the Royals, you'll still have to deal with them, and I'd love to know how you intend too. Also, another thing you'll have to fix is the millions of dollars of damage the demon and the explosion caused. We're trying to fix that along with everything else. Get rid of us, and it becomes your problem. I don't think any of you have a chance at getting your hands on that type of money, and even if you do, I'm sure you wouldn't even know where to start."

"H-hey," Joseph said. "We were-"

"I'm not done," Globgor growled. "And even if we put aside the complete lack of leadership ability, the knights that you'll have to somehow convince to join your side, as well as all the money problems, there's still the overhanging crisis that's currently plaguing our town. Bren." He spat. "You're right. We haven't been doing a good job of taking care of him. We underestimated him at first. We didn't know who we were dealing with and might have grown soft in the months since the Merge. But if we have no chance at beating, what do you have? Again, the knights. They answer to us. The only way you could fight him is with a local militia made of the citizens, and you wouldn't last a few minutes if he decides to send prince Thomas, or any other demon for that matter, after you. Bren wants us Royals for himself. Take that away from him, and he'll go after the people who he thinks stole something that should have been his. So...how are you going to fight him? Go on, I'm listening."

"We…" Joseph started. "We can leave town. Pack everything up and start a new Earthni where Bren will never find us. We-"

"It won't work," Globgor said. "This is classified information I'm about to tell you, but since you're angry about the Royals keeping secrets, I think it's the best thing to do. And also to provide a perfect example of why this little…uprising is doomed to fail." He took a few more steps forward and loomed over them all, and everyone except Joseph took a couple of steps back. "Bren has infiltrated the government." He said. "The entire U.S. is technically under his control. He has been threatening them with Tom, saying that he'll teleport into the Oval Office or something and kill the president if they don't follow his commands. It's been extremely effective as far as we know. They now answer to him and him alone."

"Wha-what?!" Joseph said, looking like he was trying not to pass out. Meanwhile, everyone behind him shared a simultaneous gasp, clearly wondering if what Globgor claimed was the truth or not. "He's...infiltrated the government?! What does that even mean?! What does it mean for us?! Are we going to be attacked by the military one day right out of the blue?!"

"No," Globgor said. "And it means exactly what I told you. Bren has them under his bootheel. He can get them to do whatever he wants. But the only thing he does want is for them to not interfere with his little plan to kill us all. That it's. Nothing else. As long as they stay where they are and let him blow us all up, he won't do anything."

"But...if this is true…" Joseph said, now sweating profusely like Globgor had been. "Then that means we won't get any aid from outside. We won't get any money or support or anything! And the government will try to cover up the fact that something is going on! Even if we try to post it to that internet thing the humans invented, they'll just take it down and claim it was all a joke!"

"Jumping to conclusions, aren't you?" Globgor asked. "Well congratulations, because they're all correct. That is exactly what's happening. We didn't get any help for the damage from the demon attack and we're not going to get any help for this explosion either. And as for the hospitals from other towns that are taking people in, they're likely only doing so because they have no part in this. Bren didn't get to them. But other than that, we have nothing."

"N-no!" Joseph shouted, all previous thoughts of his protest gone and replaced with fear thanks to this new information. "There has to be something we can do! We can go to other towns and tell them what's happening! Raise a gigantic militia and tell the government that they either have to deal with him or us-"

"They'd much rather deal with us, no matter how many people we raise into a militia," Globgor said. "They know what we're capable of. They know what we can do. We informed them about every special ability that monsters and Mewmans have that set them apart from normal humans, and I'm sure by now they've figured out a way to counter them. But they don't have a way to counter Bren. They can't do anything against Tom's teleportation. Trust me, if we start raising arms and protesting, they'll just shoot nerve gas at us until we go away. They're never going to kneel to us unless Bren dies, not even if we tell the whole dang world what's happening."

"No...no," Joseph said softly, falling to his knees dramatically. "T-they wouldn't do that. They were so supportive of us. So eager to see what Mewni brought with it. They wouldn't just betray us like that! T-they couldn't!"

"Have you researched any part of human history?" Globgor asked. "They could and they would if it meant self-preservation. Heck, almost anyone would. Fear makes people do some pretty crazy things, and Bren's inflicted it upon them in droves."

"No…" Joseph repeated, like the word was some kind of mantra. "So...then we're on our own? No one's coming to save us? Not while Bren is still alive?"

"Correct," Globgor said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do than-"

"No! Hold it right there!" Joseph interjected. "We're not done yet! Do you think this changes our view of what we think about you?! You think we're just going to stop because of what you said?!"

"Yes," Globgor replied, wishing he could just go back inside. "I'm not sure how that isn't the end of this. If you take over the town, then Bren will try to kill you, and he will succeed in that regard. You won't get any outside help, most of the knights won't be willing to help you, and again, you have no real leadership or military knowledge. Earthni would become a town-sized kangaroo court, passing judgment and making laws with no real expertise in any of those things."

"I…it doesn't matter!" Joseph shouted. "You Royals still caused this to happen! You still failed your citizens! We're not just going to stop now! We'll find a way! The citizens of Earthni, not you, will find a way to stop Bren and restore order to our town!"

"Who's we?" Globgor scoffed.

"Are you blind? All my-" Joseph started to shriek, before he turned around and was met with an empty hill, completely devoid of people. Even Samantha. It was like his fellow protesters hadn't even been there to begin with, and they had all been a figment of his imagination.

"What the-where is everyone?!" He asked to no one in particular. "Where did they all go?! They were right here a second ago!"

"They left." Globgor deadpanned. "Right after I finished my explanation on how Bren has taken over the government. They all looked at each other, exchanged identical glances, and then walked away. Unlike you, I think they saw that they had a worse chance of beating Bren than us Royals do, and so they realized that there was no point in taking control if they were all just going to die in the end."

"Tho-those cowards!" Joseph screeched, now so red in the face that it looked like he had slathered himself with paint. "How dare they leave! All that organization! All that preparing! Just for them to call it a day five minutes into our first protest! If I had known that they were like this then I would have-"

"Bye," Globgor said casually, turning around heading towards the door.

"Wha-where are you going?!" Joseph demanded. "Get back here! We're not done!"

"Yes, we are," Globgor said, not even turning around to look at him. "This whole debacle is a waste of my time, as are you. It's clear you had no long term plans for this little protest of yours from the start, not to mention the fact that all your followers backed out at the first sign of trouble. The fact that I stayed here as long as I did to make you all go away is a miracle. Now I'm going to go do something useful, and you can stay out here if you like. But I recommend you go home."

"...You…" Joseph growled, before running towards him with his fists raised. "Don't you turn your back on me you monster piece of filth-"

Anything else Joseph was about to say was quickly cut short when Globgor whipped around and instantly grew to the size of a small house, casting a gigantic shadow over the hill and it's one other occupant. Joseph shrieked in terror and backed up at the sudden change, clearly not expecting Globgor to fight back in any way.

"So that's it." The Monster King bellowed. "Monster piece of filth? I should have known. This wasn't just about the Royals. This was also a ploy to get rid of all the monsters in town as well, wasn't it?!" He roared, shaking the entire area. "Let me guess. After you took control, you were going to recommend that they start their own community out in the world, weren't you? Get rid of them in a manner that made it look like you cared?"

"I…" Joseph started. "I didn't mean to say that. It's just that I was one of Mina's Solarians and she kinda made us all hate them, and then that hate became real, but when the magic went away it was still there!" He explained, still backing away as fast as he could. "I've been trying to get help, but-"

"I don't care," Globgor said. "I don't care if you've been trying to get help. You tried to attack me. You called me a piece of filth because of what I am. You sparked a protest and had every intent to storm the Temple if things didn't go your way. You may have been trying to be peaceful at the beginning, but it's plain to see that you're unhinged. Just like Mina was. And remember what I said earlier, how Bren would kill you if you took the chance to eliminate us Royals away from him?"

Joseph didn't say anything, but nodded, his back finally hitting the gate that was the edge of the property.

"Good. Globgor said. "Because he's already done it. Mina was killed by Bren because he didn't want to share. Because she would have killed the Royals and he didn't want that. Do you really think it's a coincidence that she died just a few days before he appeared? No. Her death was the start of all this, the first sign that showed what was about to happen, and if you keep this up and try to protest at another castle, then you'll share her fate. Does that sound nice to you?"

"..."

"Thought so." He said. And without saying another word, he shrunk down back to normal size, walked back to the Temple, opened the door, went inside, and slammed it shut behind him, leaving Joseph standing there with a stunned expression. A moment later, his face dropped and they walked away as well, having no further plans of any kind of protest and leaving the hill empty and quiet once more.

---

And while all that was happening, Eclipsa was here.

Making phone calls to the various Royals, alerting them as to what had happened, as planned. A half-hour later, she had only gotten the Jaggys and the Johansens fully informed, with several more still to go. Every now and then she covered the phone with her hand, screamed into a pillow, and then went back to talking. It helped a little bit, but not as much as she'd like it to. Meteora watched her the whole time, crawling up to her mother and hugging her every time she put the pillow down. That also helped. But even that still wasn't enough. Considering how sleep-deprived she was, and with Globgor unable to comfort her due to him still dealing with the mob outside, she was left to make these calls alone. And now she really started to regret telling all the guards to go home. Because while they didn't know her like Globgor did, they still would have been of great help

All of which led back...to this.

"What do you mean he has green eyes now?"

"I mean he has green eyes! And he may still be heavily injured! I'm calling you so I can tell you to keep an eye out for him. We don't know what his next move is, and we have all reason to assume that his plan to kill us all has likely changed. Bren is vulnerable right now, but he's also unpredictable. Do you understand that?"

"..."

"..."

"Hello? Are you-"

"I'm sorry...could you repeat all that? I'm still confused about all this."

Eclipsa groaned and flopped herself into a chair (although you already know that), and ran a hand over her face before looking over at her therapy pillow, which had a few stains on the edges where Meteora had chewed on it. The baby was now lying asleep on top of it, which Eclipsa was sure was a ploy by her child to encourage the queen to not use it anymore.

And it was working.

She shook her head and turned back to the phone, preparing herself to explain the situation again. It was King Ponyhead this time, and although she was grateful that none of his daughters, or god forbid, Ponyhead herself were the ones that answered, he still had trouble getting everything through his head. Eclipsa would have seen this as ironic if she was in a better mood, considering that he was just a head.

"Bren is heavily wounded." She repeated. "He attacked the Echo Creek hospital, killed two people, and then tried to talk with Star about...something. But River attacked him, then Moon did, injuring him greatly, then my husband arrived with a small army of knights, they heavily injured him, which caused him to be unpossessed by the Fire-god, the one who's behind this whole mess. He revealed that his unpossessed self is actually worse than his normal self and then fled. As of this moment, we don't know where he is or what he's planning." Eclipsa droned, before finally taking a breath. "Now...do you understand King Ponyhead?"

"...No, I'm still confused about something." The King said, causing Eclipsa to bite her bottom lip bloody. That was a phrase she had heard over ten times in the last hours, and one she'd rather never hear again now that it was burned into her brain. "Why would Bren just want to talk with Star? Doesn't he want to kill her?"

"Yes, but...but…" Eclipsa trailed off. "I don't know. Everything I'm telling you is what Globgor repeated to me, and he didn't get a chance to ask what Bren was doing in that hospital room, or what he wanted to talk about. If you want, you can call Moon or River and ask them."

"I don't know their number." King Ponyhead said. "I don't think they even have one. They live out in the middle of the woods, and-"

"Well, then send someone to go ask them!" Eclipsa said angrily. "Just...I have to go." She said, off-put by her outburst. "But just be on the lookout for him. His plans may have changed entirely, so be prepared to take action quickly if anything goes wrong."

"Should my family and I hide in the safe room under the castle?" He asked. "If he detonates another bomb, this time closer to the Cloud Kingdom…"

"You can if you want to," Eclipsa said. "Although I would recommend it. Those bombs mentioned during the meetings, the ones that could be hidden in the buildings according to Janna, they're all there. He may set them off at any moment. So...yes, I do believe seeking shelter may be a good idea until we get further information."

"Wait, WHA-"

Eclipsa hung up before she could fully hear what King Ponyhead was about to say and set the phone down on the counter, but not before quickly blocking the number. She wasn't about to explain another situation to him, because the one with the bombs was already nerve-racking. Janna had been right on the money. Every single building had one, and they were estimated to be half as powerful as the one that was set off just yesterday. If Bren blew them all up at the same time…

Well, as Janna put it, "bye-bye Earthni".

So Eclipsa would rather not think about that if she didn't have to. The original plan was just to quickly call all the Royals and tell them about the bombs, taking as many citizens into their shelters as possible, but with the riots outside, and the Royals being painfully annoying, the plan had taken a turn.

Because if the Royals were going to force people into those shelters, the citizens would want to know why. And the second they were informed about the bombs that could blow up the entire town, there would be a mass panic. Looting. More riots. People fleeing the town in a hurry. And not mentioning the numerous scores of deaths that'd occur from random people getting trampled under the mob, all this was sure to catch "Bren's" attention. Assuming he was following a similar plan as his predecessor/successor, he wouldn't want everyone leaving the town. Those people were gambling chips after all. The cards on the table. He played with their lives, and in the process, forced Eclipsa and the others to make moves that'd be beneficial for him, or else more innocents would die.

But if the citizens all left, then that'd mean "Bren" would have no more chips. No more cards. And that was something Eclipsa was sure he wouldn't let happen. If people started leaving, "Bren" was likely to blow up a few buildings on the outskirts of town, right next to the roads while everyone was trying to flee. Force them back. Send a message that said "stay or die, it's your choice", which would surely be effective.

And then they'd turn on Eclipsa even more for letting this happen, more riots would occur as they learned that no outside help was coming, everything would go to hell, yada yada yada. Same shit as always. Then "Bren'd" be free to do whatever he wished. And if worse came to worst, the knights and everyone else under their command would desert their posts to try and help their families, leaving them with almost no protection. At that point, the only option for the Royalty and any other leaders of the town would be to get inside those shelters to protect themselves. Mob mentality would take over, and Eclipsa and Globgor would become public enemy number two, right after "Bren", for "allowing" all this to happen and not taking any action.

And even if they did somehow flee the town, what then? The government didn't want them. They were on "Bren's" side. And it's like they could just go to another country either. Bren would get to them just as he got to the U.S.. As long as he had Tom he could do whatever he wanted. No weapon Earth had could stand up to a teleporter.

They had nowhere to go.

They had to stay in Earthni and finish the fight here, because every other option led to uncertainty, which usually led to disaster for all but one party involved.

Eclipsa grit her teeth as all those went through her head and felt an urge to slam her fist into something, before taking another deep breath and calming herself. Her normally dormant and relatively benign temper was getting out of hand quite often nowadays, and the fact that "Bren" had gotten through to her this much was disturbing. She took a moment and quietly banished him from her mind, desperate to focus on anything else.

Meteora suddenly made a loud cooing sound, sensing her mother's distress. Eclipsa sighed happily and scooped Meteora up in her arms, before holding the baby out in front of her. The two stared at each other for a second, Meteora looking at her mother in confusion.

"I'm sorry," Eclipsa said, sounding heartbroken. "If this all goes wrong, if we don't stop "Bren", I'm sorry for failing and I'm sorry for forcing you to grow up in this kind of world. I don't know what to do anymore. I...I'm just so worried. Worried about you, about Globgor, about the citizens and all their lives. If they die, it's on me. I should have seen this coming sooner, I should have…"

Eclipsa then brought Meteora closer and hugged her tightly against her chest, before sitting down in a nearby chair as tears started rolling down her cheek. "Maybe Mina was right." She said. "Maybe I'm not fit to rule. If I hadn't taken the wand from Star that day, if I had just forcefully given it back to her and then gone off with you, maybe things…"

Eclipsa gulped and set Meteora down in the table, where she quickly got on all fours and gazed up at her mother, now wearing an expression of concern like she understood everything.

"...Maybe things could have been better. After all, that's where things started. I became queen, I gave the monsters their homes back and displaced the Mewmans. Mina and everyone else got angry, Moon took their side, the Solarians came back, and...then we destroyed magic." She explained, as if Meteora hadn't heard the tale told to her before bed a hundred times before. "Which, of course, was the real start. Bren's home dimension was destroyed, and now he and the Fire-god have come for us. And I...still have no idea how to stop them, Meteora! I...I need help. I need someone to just tell me what to do, like my mother! She may have been a ruthless monster slayer, but she always had the best solutions! If she was here, then the problem would already be fixed! But because I...I…"

Eclipsa paused and then glanced back down at Meteora, who was tilting her head at the queen. They locked eyes and continued staring at each other in silence for a moment, before Eclipsa chuckled quietly.

"...What am I doing?" She asked herself. "I shouldn't be dumping all this on you. My mother would never do something like that to me. I shouldn't do the same to you. Oh, Meteora." She took the baby in her arms again and leaned her on her shoulder. "I hope you can forgive me if this world isn't the one I wanted you to grow up in. But I promise, no matter what, that you won't be forced to deal with the same things I did. Maybe...maybe I can't fix Earthni. Maybe Bren will beat us in the end. But I will find a way to save you from this life. From having to fight enemies like this. I...I promise." She whispered.

Eclipsa then smiled at her daughter before turning away and sobbing quietly, her whole world falling apart around her. Meteora didn't do anything but watch, until she crawled up to her mother and began tugging on her sleeve. Eclipsa looked down at the baby, who gazed upwards at her. She then lifted her other arm and pointed it out the window.

Eclipsa sighed. "Meteora, what are you-" She started, before her eyes followed where she was pointing. She stopped speaking mid-syllable, and without taking her eyes off the window she got up and walked over to it, barely even blinking as she focused on the object in the distance.

She then turned back to Meteora, who was smiling to herself.

"How did you…?" She asked, pondering how Meteora had seen this and she hadn't. "When…?"

Eclipsa stopped.

Then she laughed again. In such a situation, a laugh like that might make one assume that she had gone insane. But this was no laugh of insanity. This was a laugh of "I've figured it out". It was loud and seemed to echo across the entire Temple, and when she stopped going full-throttle she continued snickering, as if she was unable to stop.

Then she looked back at the window, towards the outside, towards the town square.

"That's it." She said. "That's how we can beat him."

---

"Have to teach them a lesson...have to kill them...have to come up with something…come on!"

And a furious cry of rage, "Bren" grabbed placed his hands on the end of the table that was in front of him, before sliding them to the right and catching everything on it along the way, resulting in several sheets of papers, dozens of devices identical to the one he lost, and a few parts for bombs that he had been building crashing to the ground. The cacophonous sound echoed along the walls and would have caused any of his demon cronies to come in and see what was happening...if he hadn't ordered them to not bother him under threat of death. They had already tried to help, after seeing the beaten and broken condition he was in, dripping what was left of the blood in his body on the ground, but he waved them off and practically ran into his planning room, wanting to be alone.

Because he was five seconds away from freaking out and losing control again. He could feel his other half trying to take over...the Fire-god whispering in his ear that he was making a mistake...but "Bren" ignored all of this, believing that doing so would somehow solve all his problems. It didn't, of course, but it prevented him from shouting back at the voices and looking crazier than he already was. Which was a gift. Because if any of them found out the truth...that he was no longer who he said he was...and that his powers were gone...then a full-blown mutiny by half of the demons in the castle was the next thing he could expect. Being fast enough to press the remote to talk to the execution so he could signal the end of Tom's parents was the only thing keeping the Lucitor soldiers under his thumb, along with threats of death for their own families, and now that that speed was gone, and he barely had functional thumbs as it was, "Bren" was in a rather tight spot.

"Idiot…" He seethed. "Should have thought this out more. Should have waited a little longer to break free. Should have...have…" He paused and then glanced over at Tom himself, the only other person in the room besides him. Despite his wish to be alone, "Bren" knew that not having him as a bodyguard at the moment was a foolish move, due to the fact that almost any person with the proper skills and a will to fight could take him out at the moment. He wouldn't be surprised if some of the demons he passed on the way here were already plotting how they could use this to their advantage, and for a moment, "Bren" almost considered actually letting the Fire-god back in, just so he'd have the proper strength to defend himself in case Tom was made unavailable.

But that was a terrible idea, because if he did that, then the orange-eyed Bren would return and that fiery prick would create countermeasures to ensure that he'd never lose control again. No more of the stunts he pulled back at the hospital. Letting himself get beat on like that, pretending to feel pain even though he never did in the first place, all to make Bren's mind weak enough that he could slip in through the cracks and forcefully take charge. He had been thinking about it for weeks...and could only thank some other god that a perfect opportunity presented itself with River, Moon, and the knights conveniently showing up just when he needed them.

He was still humiliated, however. Even with a broken arm, he could have taken most of them down with minimal effort. He could have snapped Moon's neck at any moment, had he used one of those divine speed bursts that allowed him to move from one place to another in a literal blink of an eye. But Bren wasn't in full control at that point, the brown eye being clear evidence of that, and it was so easy for his real half to get inside his brain and fool him into thinking he wasn't as strong as he thought. If the Fire-god had been paying attention, it could have been avoided. But like most gods, it was lazy and barely paid attention to its underlings besides making sure they didn't die and making sure it's influence remained in their bodies, and now it had paid the price.

"Bren" wet his lips as he thought this all over, the swelling from all the numerous kicks and punches enlarging them to almost comical proportions. Despite currently being immortal, "Bren" knew he'd have to fix that soon. The speed burst he had used to get away from Moon and the pathetic posse was the last scrap of divine power he had left in him. And while he may not feel pain, "Bren" knew that his body wouldn't like it if an infection sprung up and he started looking like a decomposing corpse, walking around with bits and pieces falling off him.

'I'll have to use that spellbook. Heal myself.' He thought. 'Of course, I have to kill one of "my" cronies as a sacrifice, so…' He glanced at Tom. "Lucitor!" He said, catching the demon's attention. "Which of the demons under my control is the most useless? Which one can we do without?"

"..."

"Bren" sighed. "You can speak."

"Um…" Tom said, even his mere hum having a respectful and honorable tone, just like he had been ordered to have in the rare cases where he was allowed to speak. But he couldn't hide that one small hint of disdain buried in the back of it, and it was so heavy that it frankly drowned out any other emotions in his voice.

"...Nishum." He said, after some thought. "He's a lowering-ranking demon that was in charge of counting how many soldiers we currently have in the army on a daily basis, as well as other menial military tasks. If we're talking about demons that are expendable and useless, then he's-"

"Get him."

"Get...him?"

"Yes. Go and get him." "Bren" repeated. "But if you try anything stupid, your parents will die. Now shoo."

Tom raised an eyebrow at this, greatly confused as to why "Bren" was just letting him leave like this. While he wasn't in his sights every waking second, Bren never let Tom go off to be by himself. Even if he wasn't keeping watch, he usually had a loyal minion or two keeping an eye on his every move, and reporting back if the prince so much as breathed in a way that was different than the norm. It was embarrassing, humiliating, and a cavalcade of other words that ended in "ing". But after a while Tom had mostly gotten used to it, the only thing pushing him on being the knowledge that Bren would likely be stopped, and he'd get his sweet revenge for everything he had been put through. Those kinds of thoughts had, again, been the only thing keeping him going all this time, and so far it had been extremely effective.

But back in the present, Tom froze up at "Bren's" order, still clueless as to why his eyes were green or why he seemed more stressed out than usual. But an order was an order, and Tom had learned to never question one, no matter how weird or screwed up it was. Every member of his family had either been executed or had fled because of his disobedience, except for his parents and his grandfather Relicor (who vanished out of thin air one day, surprising even Bren), and he couldn't bear to lose anyone else. His parents were the only gambling cards Bren had left, but they were also the most important.

"Okay…" He said. "I'll just...be on my way then." And with that, Tom backed out of the room, leaving "Bren" by himself. However, the second the Lucitor was out of earshot, he bolted like a mad rabbit. Bren said he had to go get Nishum, but there was no way in hell that that was the first thing he was going to do.

"Bren" was completely oblivious to all of this, however, lacking the ability to stay calm, the planning skills, and the foresight of his predecessor/successor. He hadn't even heard Tom leave, much less run away. He honestly couldn't care much about the demon right now except for how long he was going to take to bring back whoever this Nishum was, his arrogance now rocketed to superhuman levels.

"Think…" He said. "How do I keep this going? I have to kill them. I have to find some way to kill them now. That stupid Fire-god...blocking off my memories!" He scoffed, talking in the same manner a lunatic trapped in an insane asylum would. "Not letting me see the plans we had made beforehand...trying to sabotage everything...you're not helping yourself! You're not helping yourself, you know that?!" He screamed at the ceiling, his voice echoing throughout the halls.

"And you're breaking the rules." A sudden thundering voice said, making it feel like the entire castle was on a fault line that just shifted. "Bren" shook and shivered under the voice, knowing immediately who this was. He didn't respond out of shock, wanting a response but never actually expecting to get one. If the Fire-god was contacting him directly like this, then they had to be nothing short of pissed.

"You disappoint me, Bren." He said. "You disappoint me. Your convincing of your better half that you were unable to defeat the false Butterfly matriarch at the hospital, your overtaking and theft of this body, and your forceful removal of my influence. This is going against everything you promised me at the beginning."

"Bren" took a deep breath, wondering if he should just ignore this or say something back. The Fire-god couldn't hurt him directly, or wouldn't, as it still needed him alive in some shape or form, but that didn't mean "Bren" didn't fear it. He was still a member of the divine after all, and could come up with thousands of ways to torture Bren without actually causing physical pain. And he was in no mood to find out the sort of things that he could cook up.

So he figured that he better say something. Something to ease the situation, like...putting on the same innocent act back he did back at the hospital. See where that got him.

"No." "Bren" said. "Not anymore. You've made me do things that I never agreed to. Blowing up ten percent of the town like that was something I didn't want to do. Why do you think your half's eyes turned green back at the mansion? It wasn't because of Brudo." He said with disdain. "It was because I was trying to convince him to not do that."

"Do you take me for a fool?" The Fire-god asked. "You'd have done something a hundred times worse if I had let you take control. "My" half is a saint compared to what you've done, back in your home dimension. All those people...all those innocents...your family among them...the people of Earthni remind you of them, don't they? And I can tell you're exhilarated to have another chance at killing like that again."

"You know nothing." "Bren" hissed. "Nothing about what I have planned. I might have been like that in the past...but your possession changed me. Altered my mind. I'm not the same murderous, psychotic monster that you met way back when. I'm better now. I'm not the same. Haven't been for a long time."

"Another lie." The Fire-god sighed. "Another future attempt of yours to try and get me to believe you. What are you hoping to accomplish? I'm better now? I've changed? Ridiculous. You are what you will always be, Wi-"

"Don't you fucking dare use that name!" "Bren" snapped, slamming his fists down on the table. "Don't you...don't you dare. I don't use that name anymore. I haven't got a long time, and I don't intend to now."

"Really? But it is your true name. The name of the person you currently are." The Fire-god pointed out. "Does it bother you?"

"You know it does. Don't be coy." "Bren" growled. "That name carries no meaning for me anymore. No worth. I truly stopped being that person when I murdered my parents and siblings. They were the last person to ever call me by that, and I'm sure as hell going to keep them that way."

"And how exactly do you intend to do that? I could say it a thousand times over, and you wouldn't be able to stop me."

"If you want me to continue going after Butterfly...to complete any aspect of your mission...then you will call me what I want to be called." "Bren" growled.

"...And what do you want to be called?"

"...What do you think?" "Bren" asked rhetorically. "Bren! What else?! And if you obey this wish, then I'll keep killing some people that I think deserve it. That I think need to die. Simple as that."

"So in exchange for me referring to you with this specific denomination…" The Fire-god started. "...You will complete my mission and finish what your possessed self started?"

"Wha-no!" "Bren" screeched. "I'm not completing your mission! I'm...well...I suppose I'm doing some parts of it. But sure as hell not for you! I'm doing this for me! For what Butterfly did to my dimension, without your help! Without your powers! Once Tom gets backs here with Niceham or whoever-"

"Nishum."

"...Yeah, that guy, whatever." Bren grumbled. "Once Tom gets back here with Nishum I'm gonna sacrifice him to you to heal my injuries, and then I'm using that other spell to cut all my ties to you! You'll never get in my head again!"

"Idiot. You idiot, idiot boy." The Fire-god said, sounding extremely disappointed in him. "I control Demon Magic. I control the spells. I created it. And if I control the spells, I also control who uses them. Every sacrifice made is made to me. The blood, the objects, the living beings, I consume them all and in exchange grant whatever the spell caster wishes. But I can reject those sacrifices if I so wish, and render the spell useless. Namely...yours."

"You won't." "Bren" said. "You need me alive if you want any hope in completing your little mission. And the spell that cuts all ties with you is special you know. I don't need any kind of sacrifice. I don't need your permission. All I have to do is say the words and boom, you're out of my head. And then without your magic to keep me alive, I'll drop dead on the spot from these wounds. You really wanna see that happen? You wanna lose your only pawn?"

"..."

"Didn't think so." "Bren" said. "So don't try and stop me. I'm on my own now. I'm getting my revenge on Butterfly, I'm doing it my own way without your help, and there is not a damn thing you can do to change my mind. Capiche?"

"...No."

"What?"

"I said no." The Fire-god repeated. "This is not a discussion. This is not up for debate. I have entertained your little attempts at negotiation for too long. Did you think you could block me out? Did you really think I would allow this to happen? I could wipe this all out in a few seconds you know. All of Earthni, burned to a crisp."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because that is not my mission. I do not intend to kill all life on Earthni. Just the ones who have wronged me the most."

"Then why didn't you let Marco stay dead?" "Bren" asked. "You brought him back to life after you had a nice and pleasant conversation with him, I'm guessing!"

"It was anything but "nice and pleasant". The Fire-god muttered. "But I only did that to take other players out of this game and allow me more space to make my own moves. With Marco currently being the depressed, traumatized, sniveling mess of a person he is, he is unable to help us, along with his parents. They will be focused on taking care of him and not interfering. This takes all three of them off the playing field."

"I still think it'd have worked better if you let him die."

"Bren" said. "Star would be a withering and angry mess, his parents would still be useless because they'd be too busy mourning, and everyone else like Eclipsa, Moon, Globgor, whatever, would focus on funeral preparations and give me time to screw things up further."

"No. They would not mourn first. Their initial reaction would be anger. Towards you." The Fire-god said. "When Star first found out that Marco had died, she threw up and passed out. But when she woke up, she had to be dragged away from the hospital door kicking and screaming to prevent her from going over to our Sanctuary and demolishing it." He paused and made a "tch" sound. "And by the way, you better make sure that place is-"

"Kept unharmed, yes whatever." "Bren" said, rolling his eyes. "But no. I know these people. Better than you. Sure, they'll be angry and want to kill me. And sure, a few of them will try to do that before any sort of mourning. But out of everyone...only Star did that when they found out. I'm betting Janna and Eclipsa didn't freak out and started screaming with rage. Same with Angie. None of them reacted with anger at first, only shock and sadness, right?! Star's a loose cannon, and Marco's her boyfriend, but that's the only reason she got angry first. Because she turns into a crazy person whenever things don't go her way!" He took a deep breath and sighed. "Just because you have had a bad experience with some people in the past doesn't mean everyone's like them."

"Do not mentor me on how people work." The Fire-god growled. "You don't get to. Not after what you've done. You slit your own mother's throat, and unlike the rest of your family, made sure she stayed alive for a little while afterwards because she didn't use the name you wanted. Because she kept calling you by your birth name. If you had any sense of morality, then you'd understand why that was an incredibly shitty and petty thing to do."

"Bren's" eyes narrowed. "You-"

"NO." The Fire-god interjected. "Do not try and place blame for me on that little incident. I never told you to kill them and you know it. No matter what you told them back at the hospital parking lot, you can't hide the truth from yourself."

"Keep repeating a lie, and eventually the person telling it will believe it themselves." "Bren" said. "Wouldn't it be better if I think you made me do it? So you can free me from that pain? The knowledge that I killed my own family for petty reasons?"

"...You're insane."

"Yeah. Maybe I am." "Bren" agreed. "But what are you, huh? You said it yourself. You could wipe out Butterfly at any moment. You could wipe out the entire damn Earth! Every Mewman, Monster, and human gone with a literal snap of your fingers! But no!" He shrieked. "You want it to last because you're bored. But that's not it, is it? You're doing this because you like watching them suffer. You enjoy having your cronies fuck around with these people's lives. That's borderline sadism, and if that doesn't make you insane then I don't know what does."

"...Gods, your knowledge about the definition of insanity is clearly lacking." The Fire-god replied. "But this is hardly important. We should-"

"Yes, of course, our little argument. Or arguments." "Bren" reworded. "Because we have quite a few going on at once. So why don't we solve the most recent one. I don't care what you say. I don't care what your opinion is on what went down that night. But I know that it wasn't my influence alone that drove me to murder my family. There was someone else there too. And it had to be you. The way I felt when I killed them...I got the same rush the first time you entered my mind. The first time you spoke to me. That's proof enough in my eyes. What else could that rush have been, if not you?"

"Euphoria, because you were and are a sociopathic narcissistic who enjoys killing things for the heck of it." The Fire-god claimed. "You have deluded yourself into believing a false reality. You feel the smallest amount of guilt for murdering your family like that, and thus you blame it on me so you can justify your actions."

"Guilt?!" "Bren" scoffed. "I feel no guilt. I don't regret what I did. When they died, I didn't care. Their deaths meant nothing for me except getting rid of the people who held me back, the problems in my life. They didn't accept me, and that's just the plain truth."

"Wrong. You didn't accept them." The Fire-god said. "Your parents loved you. Your siblings loved you. And what did you do with that love? You turned it into a knife and stained the walls with it. And in their final moments, I'm betting that they realized their mistake. And that their love for you drained out with their blood."

"Bren" sucked a breath in, unable to come up with a proper response. "You...you can't…"

"But there's more." The Fire-god continued. "I told you that you used me as a way to justify slitting their throats. But why is that I wonder? You claim you feel no guilt. That their deaths didn't affect you. But if that was true in any way, you'd take responsibility for it and blame me. So I think I understand. You're sad. You miss them. You miss all of them. And now they're gone, you're partially to blame, and the only thing left in your life now is this revenge-plot that I set up for you, simply because I don't want my flame to die out."

"What are you-"

"You think I give a shit about Butterfly?" He asked rhetorically. "You think I care that all of you died because the realm of magic was destroyed? That your dimension crumbled to pieces and ceased to exist? I don't. I truly don't. Even if your home was the last of the parallels, the last of the sister dimensions, it didn't matter in the slightest. There are a billion more just like it out there that I could access, and effectively make yours worthless in the long run."

"Stop...stop it you-"

"You assume I want to kill them all." The Fire-god sighed. "You assume I hate them because they destroyed magic. But again, I don't. When I first met you, I was going to tell you the truth. But then you assumed that I wanted to kill them because I hated them. I realized that if I went along with it, you'd be more eager to agree. So I did. I've been going along with this lie, even in the past ten minutes, but now I see…" He huffed. "...that it is no longer necessary."

"Then...then what is the truth?!" "Bren" screeched. "Why do you care about Earthni? You told Marco it was because you wanted to see what would happen! You told me it was because you hated them! So what is it really?"

The Fire-god spoke up almost instantaneously, sounding like it was grinning from ear to ear. "Simple. I've been looking for a new successor." It said. "Someone to carry on my legacy, and I chose this planet as the next dimension that would do is."

"Successor?"

"Yes. Like you were." The Fire-god confirmed. "You see Bren, there are many rules to the divine. We cannot bear children of our own, due to the whole...Zenrod incident, we cannot interfere in the matters of other gods, we cannot steal powers from other gods, although I myself am slightly guilty of that...in order to resurrect Marco…" It admitted sheepishly. "But then there is another rule. You see, by definition, gods can't die. And this is mostly true. Gods cannot die of aging, or disease, or natural causes, or anything of the sort. We are immune to every single power that a mortal being could get their hands on. Even if the smartest person in the universe created a device specifically to kill gods, it wouldn't work. Because the mortals are not allowed to stand against the truly divine. They have to know their place."

"Get to the fucking point!" "Bren" cursed.

"Fine." The Fire-god sighed. "The point is that while gods are extremely hard to kill, there are a few ways that I know we can die. Being destroyed by other, more powerful and ancient gods, being erased by the creator, but the most common way for a god to perish is by TLOF. Total Loss Of Faith." It stated. "This is when they have no more followers, no mortals that believe in them, no one that cares if they exist or not. The god will cease to exist without the spark that keeps them lit, which is why all gods make sure to have at least a few followers. Because without faith...what is a god? If you don't believe...what power do we have? We have nothing. Which is why I'm interested in Earthni."

"Bren's" eyes widened as he finally understood. "You're going to...to…"

"Yes. Just like your dimension was my last "home", the primary place where I created followers that worshiped me, Earthni will be the next. Obviously, not the entire planet, as there is too much competition from...other gods, but just Earthni for now. I will spread my influence, make people believe in me, and when this planet dies in...I don't know, a couple thousand years? Something like that?" It guessed. "Anyways, I'll just move on to the next. I've been doing that for billions of years, and I plan to do it for billions more."

"Then...who…"

"Will be my primary successor? I'm not exactly sure. I thought about the Lucitor boy...but he is a denizen of the Underworld, not Mewni. And to be frank, I'm done with this Underworld. People are always talking about how "He created the Underworld", or "He created Demon Magic"! It's obnoxious. Yes, both of those things are true, but they are minor achievements, at best. I created them because I was bored. Because I wanted my own type of magic and thought it would be fun to see what the mortals did with it. Contrary to what all those books say, all those rumors, Demon Magic...does not have a big impact on my life."

"You didn't answer my-"

"Ah yes, the successor. Well, the answer is simple. I'm not sure. I have a few options in mind. Marco was one of them. As I'm sure you've guessed, any reason I brought him back that I told him is a load of crap. That little possession thing was a bit of a test I ran, to see if he was worthy of becoming the next in line. But he was not, as he was unable to defeat you in that arena. Hell, he didn't even last five seconds. It was sad. I had such high hopes for him after hearing about his adventures in the Neverzone, but he...turned out to be a giant disappointment."

"Is that just everything to you?" "Bren" scoffed. "A disappointment? Something not even worth taking a second glance towards?"

"You're not far off the mark, and I can say that you are certainly on that list now." The Fire-god said. "But anyways, when Marco failed, I gave up on him. Used him a little bit later on, gave him one nasty nosebleed, but...I will have no further association with him. And honestly, he can tell anybody about me and what I told him during the meeting, I don't care. The more people that know, the more people that become potential followers. Just works out in my favor."

"...Then why did you even tell him not to-"

"Because I didn't need them knowing yet." The Fire-god replied. "I have planned everything out so that it works in my favor, and them not knowing I exist until the proper moment was part of that plan." It sighed. "Whatever. Back to successor. Marco was a waste, but I still have a few options. People that have impressed me, people that I have taken a liking too. Moon is one, due to her fighting spirit. When she started pummeling you like that in the parking lot, I almost showed up and asked her to be your replacement right then and there."

"She would have refused and told you to piss off." "Bren" said bluntly.

"Probably. But not after I told her I wouldn't take no for an answer and then go off to kill Star if she didn't agree." The Fire-god mumbled. "However, Moon cannot do it. She is too shut-in. Even after this incident, she will continue to ignore people the same way she did before. Heck, if not more so, since she will likely be ashamed at not being able to catch you."

"Poor pitiful her." "Bren" said, entirely without emotion. "Moon is worthless anyway. I mean what has she done for Earthni lately? I've done more good for Earthni than she has! She's just sat in her house all day and done squat! That little incident this afternoon was possibly the only time she actually got off her ass and went somewhere because she wanted to, not needed too! And I saw it in her eyes." He seethed. "The way she looked at me. She had some all-mighty "duty". Some drive to kill me, like she deserved to after everything I did. Like my death was engineered especially for her. Bullshit! She is easily the most deluded person I have ever met, and the events before today perfectly entail that!"

"...Since when did you develop such a hatred for Moon?" The Fire-god asked. "I've heard your real self talk about Star in better ways."

"Maybe it's because I'm still pissed that you screwed me over, and want to take it out on someone!" "Bren" shrieked. "I feel like you of all people would understand that…"

"I didn't screw you over. You screwed yourself over when you accepted my deal all those months ago." The Fire-god said blankly. "I'm the equivalent of the devil in hundreds of dimensions. You honestly should have seen this coming."

"Sure...and now you want to find another lackey so you ruin their life as well." "Bren" said. "Alright. Keep going with that. Who's gonna be next? Who are you going to trick and possess next?"

"Ah, but that is where you are wrong." The Fire-god said. "You see, I learned a lesson with Marco. And it is that unnecessary possession is a bad idea. He was too strong. His mind was able to resist me for too long, and it could not take the strain. Now he is this...little mess of a person, and I almost feel bad for him because of it."

"How nice of you." "Bren" scoffed. "But what does that make me? If that's the truth, then why didn't you stop possessing me after you tossed Marco away like trash?"

"Because your possession was necessary." The Fire-god sighed. "I mean, just look at you. You're this writhing angry thing without my help. A veritable psychopath who needs assistance even coming up with the simplest of plans. When Bren kills people, he comes up with intricate ones to do it. Trapping them, tricking him into fighting them, or outwitting them. But when you kill people, you slit their throats in the night, stab them from behind when no ones looking, and rarely, if ever, face an opponent head-on. No, you are more content to run."

"Are you criticizing me for running away back at the hospital?" "Bren" hissed. "Well, what the hell would you have done? There was no way I could fight any of them off, and-"

"I'm not talking about that." The Fire-god groaned. "I'm talking about overall. You are not a fighter. You don't know how to fight. You're the kind of person who aims for someone's jaw rather than their throat. There should be no "retreats" when it comes to Bren. If your better self was there, in that parking lot, he would not have run away. He would have fought until-"

"You're an idiot." "Bren" said. "He totally would have run away. You keep calling that despicable piece of trash my "better self". Well, if he's better than me, then he should be smarter as well. And if he's smarter, then he'd know that it's not a good idea to take on over four dozen knights at the same time that all our legs and arms are smashed to pieces!"

"Fool!" The Fire-god brayed. "Fool! Fool! He could have easily killed them all! But just like you admitted, you snuck in and made him think that he wasn't as strong as he actually was, subconsciously forcing him to hold back, and making him lose against Moon. Moon. And now look how you ended up. Broken, bloodied, and wasting time putting notes on people's kitchen counters like Eclipsa. Telling her that you're "new in town" and that she should prepare for something worse than the explosion. It was extremely childish."

"Says the guy who plans to make everyone worship him!"

"That's hardly a similar-"

"I don't care!" "Bren" screeched. "The point is that you don't get to insult the way I do things! You brought Marco back to life and possessed him only to drop him later! That served no purpose whatsoever other than converting him into a fragile and pathetic person. Admittedly, very amusing to watch, but still! That was your mess, and someone of your stature should have at least cleaned it up rather than left my "better" half…" He spat. "...to kill him so you didn't have to fix that problem. Why you didn't just abandon him after the beach dream is beyond me, but clearly you didn't think it all through."

The Fire-god sighed. "Okay, you know what? We're getting nowhere with this. I've had enough. So this is what's going to happen. Submit. Right now. Give up your control and let me back in, and I will heal your wounds and not punish you because of it. That is your first and only offer. Make it so that I don't have to find a successor for a little while longer, and maybe I'll be merciful when this is all over."

"Screw that." "Bren" fumed. "That's a shitty offer. If I do that, you'll never let me out again. I'll be stuck in this body forever, only able to observe but unable to do anything about it or offer suggestions."

"Your suggestions would be worthless compared to his ideas and you know it." The Fire-god said. "Look around you. Look at the plans on the walls. Look at the charts and graphs and photographs and documents. Do you have any idea what they mean? Do you have the faintest clue as to how important they are?"

"Um...well…" "Bren" started, before glancing around the room. Surrounding him were hundreds if not thousands of pieces of paper, all of them neatly plastered to the wall or stacked three feet high. "That one is just a simple map of the town, and-"

"Wrong. "That one" is a map of where the best places to place bombs and cause the most casualties are. The thumbtacks are where our current bombs are planted, although I suspect they won't be there for much longer. I believe Globgor had discovered them and they are currently trying to find out a way to either disarm or move them. Not good, and also something your better half would have taken care of."

"Bren" snapped you and his eyes narrowed. "Then why don't I just blow it all up right now?!" He said, before narrowing his eyes. "In fact...that's a fantastic idea. You want Earthni to survive. All your successors are in this town. And judging by how many bombs my "better" half planted…" He glanced over at the map and took note of how many thumbtacks there were. "...I think setting them all off at the same time will kill each and every last person in Earthni. Seems fitting after all that bullshit you were talking about, huh?"

The Fire-god scoffed. "Fine. Go ahead. Blow it up." He taunted. "I'll just find another dimension or city to use. And if you try to destroy that one, another. Despite what you think, destroying this dimension or even the entire planet won't stop me. I can move to another whenever I want. I'm only at this one because it was closest. But the second closest...is a walk in the park to get to."

"Fool." "Bren" said, throwing his own insult back at him. "I don't think you understand. Everyone that knows you exist is in Earthni. I know the formula. You only present yourself to a single dimension and then prevent everyone from leaving that dimension so they can't go screaming to another god to save themselves from you or your worshippers, if things go bad. Therefore, everyone that believed in you is dead. My predecessor likely came to my dimension hundreds of thousands of years ago, and spread the news. Then people got all excited and started worshipping you. However…" He stuck a finger in the air, which then flopped over with a soft cracking sound. "...Everyone there is dead. I am the only one left. The only ones who believe in you are a special few within Earthni. If I blow it up, then every mortal who knows you exist dies, after I kill myself. You'll die with me, and I will have won. I'll have beaten you for ruining-"

"Okay, that's enough of that." The Fire-god interjected. "A few things. First off, your plan is full of holes. The government knows about me, so you'll have to take them out as well. There are also several sects in other dimensions that believe in me, having heard of my existence through other gods who I have no control over. I'm only making this the primary one, as already mentioned. And...you won't die unless I permit it. You can't kill yourself to kill me. That spell to get rid of me won't work unless I allow it. Have you forgotten that already?"

"...I...um…"

The Fire-god sighed again, something that had practically become a habit. "Of course you did. Also, unlike the last bombs, these have to be remotely activated, and the only way to do that is with a retinal scan. And I can assure you that when you switch back and forth between your better half, that more than just your eye color changes! It won't work, and neither will most of the other toys Bren had whipped up. Did you really think we didn't see this happening as a possibility?"

"But I thought that-"

"The answer is no then." The Fire-god muttered. "Very well. I think it is time to put an end to this ludicrous conversation. You have threatened me, insulted me, and cursed at me with mumbles under your breath that you thought I couldn't hear. But I heard it. I heard and saw it all. So I'm going to make you that offer one last time. Take it, or I'll temporarily possess one of your guards and force you too. You have no power after all. You're not strong anymore. You're not fast. You're not anything. So...agree."

"Never!" "Bren" screeched. "If you think I-"

"Fine. Screw you then. I'll be sending someone after you shortly with the ritual to help put me back in place so we can get things back on track. I would suggest that you not resist so we can make this easier for everyone, but if you do then that's your choice. I can either repossess you by force, or of your own consent. Those are your options."

"N-no!" "Bren" protested. "Don't, or I'll…" He looked around frantically and then grabbed a nearby remote, his finger hovering over the button. "...Or I'll order for Tom's parents to be...executed? Make you...lose his respect...or something..." He said with uncertainty.

"...Wow. Really?" The Fire-god asked rhetorically. "That. That is your gamble? Using Tom's parents against me because I'll lose his trust? This is so pathetic it defies comprehension. Also, that remote is voice-activated. The button is just the switch for the real key, and it can tell if you're possessed or not. Just pointing that out, because apparently you didn't think that part through either, right?"

"You-"

"On second thought, I don't care." The Fire-god said. "Goodbye. You were a real pain in the ass. I hope that wherever you find yourself after this is all over, it's better than the life you were in when I found you. Although I suppose you should know this."

And with that, he vanished, leaving "Bren" standing alone. Nervous, jittery, and ready to scream in rage. He attempted to crush the remote he was holding in his hands but failed, even after slamming it against the table several times. Eventually, he just chucked it across the room at a nearby wall, sending it clattering to the floor.

'Think.' He thought. 'He's sending someone after me now. There's no way I could take even a normal person in the condition I'm in. There has to be a way for me to defend myself. A way for me to-"

He suddenly looked back at the fallen remote, lying vacant.

'Lucitor.' He seethed. He hopped over to the device and stuffed it in his pocket, and then headed for the door. 'I have to find him. Wherever he is. Make him get me out of here. He believes the remote doesn't have to be voice-activated, and that's good enough. We have to leave before fuckface fully manages to possess someone and send them after me. We can get out of here, and I'll set those damn bombs off remotely! Then I'll kill everyone in the government, kill Lucitor, kill myself, and erase him from existence! And he was obviously bluffing about the people from other dimensions believing him in. If that was the case, he wouldn't need to come here at all! He's…' "Bren" paused and grasped his hair. 'He's going down. He's going to die for what he did to me. My last act...shall be victory.'

And with that all settled, "Bren" hobbled off to carry out his idiotic and hastily-thought up plan, his insanity convincing him that it was the best idea in the world.

---

Tom bolted.

The second he had the chance, he ran away from the room "Bren" was in as fast as he could, dead-set on getting the hell away from him as quickly as possible. And while he had a perfect moment to blast him with some fireback there, especially considering all his remotes were lying half-broken in the floor, the demon prince wasn't even sure it'd have done anything. If "Bren's" was anything to go by, Tom figured that it was quite possible his "master" couldn't even die at the moment. Because if losing every single drop of blood in his body and getting his skull caved in ten different positions didn't kill them, then he didn't know what did.

So he ran. But he wasn't running toward his parents. Unfortunately, the demons who were guarding them were dead loyal to Bren and would likely take him down if they all worked together, given that there were over twenty of them. But his parents could wait, as Tom has a feeling that they wouldn't be prisoners much longer, if "Bren's" sudden insanity was anything to go by. He was very clearly losing control of the situation and himself because of the whole green eyes thing, and soon enough everything would fall apart. All Tom had to do was change a few things so that it all worked out against "Bren's" favor.

First up, destroying all escape routes to the castle. Being of his Royal blood, he was the only demon there that could teleport, and therefore if he destroyed all the exits then nobody could get out except him. "Bren" would not make Tom teleport all his lackeys out one by one. He was clearly irrational and unstable at the moment and trying to make too many decisions at a time. If the exits were suddenly destroyed, then he'd assume that someone was attacking them, and not suspect internal sabotage. After all, Bren had frequently said that Tom was too stupid to try anything like this, and after so long, the prince suspected that he truly believed that. Even if it had obviously been him, Tom was beyond suspicion.

The first exit was the front gate, guarded by two demons that were loyal like the twenty guarding his parents. "Bren" has made sure that every demon guarding something important was a loyal follower, ensuring that none of them would help somebody try to escape. Unfortunately, he'd have to kill them without using his pyrokinesis, because if he did then someone was bound to smell the smoke. (Despite everything being on fire, the Underworld had recently installed devices in every room that dispersed the constant smoke smell, at Bren's request. It was shockingly effective.)Then he'd have to kill them, another person would notice, and eventually, too many people would gang up on him and that would be the end of it. Beyond suspicion to not, Bren wouldn't buy that he was trying to do anything to help him by killing a couple of guards. And then that'd be the end of his parents. Or at least one of them. Bren would probably make him choose.

But Tom didn't care about any of that, because he didn't intend to let it happen. It was just two demons after all. Rather lower-ranked as well. And while his entire body still aches from being thrown into that wall earlier, along with the fact that he was sure he had a concussion, courtesy of Moon, Tom was positive that he could take them both out without them sounding any kind of alarm. Taking them both on with his bare hands wasn't the best idea, so…

He stopped and looked around for anything sharp, something he could eliminate the first one with, and while the other was still contemplating what the heck just happened to his partner, Tom would swoop in and snap his neck.

There. Perfect plan. Then he would hide the bodies, destroy the mechanism that allowed the gate to open, do the same thing with the rest of the gates, find Nishum, take him to Bren, and that would be the end of it.

He eventually settled on grabbing a nearby vase and snapping a piece off, the edges of it jagged and perfect for murder. He'd have to throw it like one of those shuriken things that in one of those crappy movies that Marco had shown him.

(The acting was nothing short of horrendous, and you could see cameramen at several points in the background, trying and failing to be inconspicuous.)

Tom then headed her to the front gate and behind the nearby wall when he heard someone talking in front of it, evidently the two guards. He peeked around the corner and spotted them, both of them shifting in place and looking bored.

'There's a small opening on one of their necks.' He thought, after scanning their armor for any holes. 'I can throw the piece of the vase in there and then kill the other one before he can react. Then I should be able to hide the bodies in the storage closet I passed on the way here.'

Tom then tightened his grip around the vase shard and prepared to throw it, but before he could one of the guards spoke up, and he quickly shirked out of view just in case they had noticed him.

"So what do you think is wrong with the boss?" He asked.

"Who? Bren?" The other said.

"No, the president of fucking Switzerland." The first one sighed. "Yes, of course I'm talking about Bren. Who else is our "boss"?"

"Oh. I thought-"

"No, it doesn't matter. Just...what do you think is wrong with him?"

"You mean why is he so beat up and looking like he was just shoved through a meat grinder?" The second one asked. "Yeah, I don't know. But he seemed pretty pissed. Guess someone tossed him around a bit on the surface."

"You guess? What the hell else would have done that to him, if not someone beating him up?" The first one scoffed.

"I...I don't know. I'm considering options here. I think it was Butterfly personally. I know the boss can take almost anyone on, but I've seen what Butterfly is capable of. I've seen the footage and heard stories of her when Mewni wasn't merged. And...she seems to be one hell of a fighter."

"Yeah, when Mewni wasn't merged." The first one pointed out, whose actual name was Screwtape. "But now, she has no magic, and she's just a normal dumb girl that anybody with something as simple as a rock could kill by hitting her in the head with it."

"I mean...we still have our demon strength, and that's because of magic."

"Demon Magic," Screwtape said. "It's in the name. It's not that complex you know."

Tom wet his lip and then drew his arm back, preparing to throw. As utterly fascinating as the conversation between the two worst guards the Lucitors has to offer was, time was still of the essence. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the vase shard flying toward the neck of Screwtape, who was now babbling about how productivity in the Underworld has gone up since Bren arrived.

"I don't know." His partner replied, looking away from him. "I mean, you're right, we're getting a lot more work done, but that's only because of fear. I already lost a brother to this guy. Heck, everyone in the Underworld has lost a family member! Remember the first night, where he snuck around and slit the throats of one member of each major demon family? Did you lose anyone?"

"..."

"What, did I not say it loud-" The second one said, before turning back to his partner and stopping short. Screwtape was frozen in place, the shard implanted deep into his neck, with several choking and gurgling noises coming out of his mouth. A second later he fell over and flopped to the ground face first, resulting in the shard being slammed into the floor and forced deeper into his throat. His partner stared in silent shock for a moment, before he heard what sounded like a person sprinting full-speed at towards him and turned.

Tom hadn't wasted a second. Before the broken vase piece had even reached his intended target, he took off and ran at the second guard with everything he had, eager to get to him before he had a chance to react. And just as planned, he was too in shock at the death of his fellow guard to put up any form of resistance, and the prince had no trouble grabbing the sides of his head and twisting it to the side as hard as he could. A terrific crack echoed across the room as the body slumped over, eyes glazed over and head twisted around like an owl.

As the body fell limp, Tom slowly lowered him to the floor before turning to the gate mechanism. He ripped it out of the wall with zero effort and crushed it beyond repair between his hands. He then glanced back at the gate, now forever locked. Tom grabbed the two bodies and slung them over his shoulder, albeit with some difficulty. A few small drops of blood were coming out Screwtape's neck, but there was really nothing he could do about that. Besides, if anyone saw it, they'd just assume it was Bren punishing a disloyal servant and not even bother to ask. That was possibly the only advantage to him taking over. Any demon could kill another around here, say Bren did it, and no one would question it. Especially the guards. Because of him, the castle had been rather...running low on those as of late.

Tom reached the closet and tossed the two bodies inside, taking the shard out of Screwtape's throat to use later. He then quietly shut the door and sighed, not sure if he should be feeling regret or relief at their deaths.

"One down, five to go." He whispered. And without saying another word, he took off towards the second gate. Unfortunately, this one would not be as easy. It was located in the dungeons, and while Bren didn't take any prisoners, but simply killed them, all the old prisoners were likely still down there, just locked away and abandoned with no warning. Of course, it would have been months since they were fed, but Tom had been around enough to know that some demons could easily last months without food. Sure, they'd go insane from hunger, but they would survive.

And so he really hoped that all of them were dead.

But in no time at all, he was there. Standing in front of the dungeon doors. There were no guards, thankfully, since no one went down there anymore, but there was still a giant steel door as high as the ceiling in the way. His demon strength would be useless against that, and he'd have a hoard of guards descending on him long before his fireballs melted through it. Tom cursed under his breath and looked around for another solution, his eyes eventually settling on the smoke filtration device, attached to the wall next to the door.

'There.' He thought. 'It's right next to the door. If I can get up there, I can break into the vent behind it and then smash through the wall that leads into the dungeon. Just go around the whole thing instead of through it. Can't fly using my fire, unfortunately...but it's better than anything else I can think of.'

Tom took a deep breath and gripped the wall with his hands, before starting his climb up it towards the vent, the various mismatched stones jutting out making it as easy as going up a ladder. He was at the filtration device in less than a minute, and he carefully and quietly took it off the wall, knowing that he couldn't just destroy it and hoped nobody would notice the noise. Tom just rested it on one of the rocks he had just grabbed onto, praying that it would balance himself. Behind the device was what looked like a miniature cave, dark and cramped and probably filled with all sorts of bugs and creatures. It was also a way to the outside, and Tom thought about it for a moment. Maybe if he was fast enough, he could leave, get to the surface, go get Globgor and that army of knights he saw chasing "Bren", and bring them back down here to end it. He knew his way into the castle. He could tell them how to easily break in. And before they attacked he could slip inside and pretend he hadn't done anything wrong. A risk, sure, but perhaps doable if he was fast enough.

But he couldn't. He couldn't risk the possibility that guards were overlooking the outside or motion sensors at the ends of the vents, in case anyone tried to escape. Neither of these things could exist or both of them did, but Tom knew it was too risky to take that gamble. He had to stick to the plan. He wasn't even a quarter done, and he was already wasting too much time.

Tom huffed and crawled in the vent, briefly stopping to grab the filtration device and put it back in place. It automatically stuck to the wall again and got back to work, immediately erasing the few clouds of smoke that gathered in its momentary absence. Tom breathed a sigh of relief and then moved forward, pausing again after he made it about six feet. He turned to his right and pressed his back against the wall, preparing to kick out the opposite one. On the count of "two", he thrust both his legs forward and smashed straight through the stone, creating a hole that was the size of a small car. Tom grinned but then grimaced as he peered into it and saw only darkness, black as night but with no stars to illuminate it. But there was no other way around it, so he grit his teeth and jumped down into the void, hitting solid ground after a three-second free fall.

But immediately after the sound of his feet stopped echoing in the dark, Tom started hearing whispers. He could barely make out what they were saying, but he did hear something that sounded like "meat" and "fresh". The prince took both of these things as very bad signs, and decided it'd be best if he hurried up and got the hell out of there as fast as possible. His entire hand was engulfed in flames a second later, as any smoke would simply float through the hole and eventually reach the outside like the rest. Now having a light source, Tom started speed-walking into the darkness, keeping his eyes open for any prisoners that escaped.

Thankfully though, when he looked into the various cells as he passed them, all he saw were discarded bones and rotting flesh, any prisoner far too dead to cause any harm to him. He almost felt a pang of sympathy for them, being left down here to starve and rot, before he reminded himself that most of these guys committed crimes that would cause a person to be killed on sight in most dimensions, and instantly any delusions of empathy he had vanished.

However, this didn't stop him from being anxious. After all, this was still only the start of the dungeon, where the inmates with the lowest chance of escape were kept. The weakest ones. The one that would die first if left alone forever. So unless Bren had secretly ordered for all of them to be killed, then the odds were that something was still alive down here, especially if those whispers he heard earlier weren't just an auditory hallucination. And while Tom could easily wipe the floor with anyone stored down here, insane as they might be, the last thing he wanted was to get ambushed and dog-piled. If they followed him back to the hole and into the castle…

'...Wait.' He thought, stopping short. 'Hold on just a second. That…that's actually not a bad idea. If I let those guys loose...if anyone's still down here and I set them free all over the castle...then I can easily destroy the other gates. All the attention will be focused on them, and it's not like they can say who set them free before they're killed on sight. And even if they try, I'll just kill before they can under the guise of "I was trying to protect Bren".'

"Alright then." He announced, grinning widely again as his voice echoing throughout the dungeon. "Come and get me. I'm right here."

The prince heard several murmured whispers in response, most of them seemingly arguing with themselves if they should listen to him or not. Tom just ignored this and pressed forward, knowing he still had to destroy this gate before setting all the psychopaths free. After a few minutes of walking, all the while hearing faint footsteps and voices behind him, Tom found himself in front of the date, several large dents embedded in it that showed clear signs of an escape attempt. At the foot of it were giant rocks with cracks in them, as well as bent metal bars that once entrapped the demons in their cells. No doubt the weapons they tried to ineffectively break the gate down with.

But just like the last gate, to the right of it was another opening mechanism, only this one looked like it hadn't been used in months. Tom started wondering why the prisoners didn't just open the gate using this once they broke out of the cells, until he realized that what he thought was the gate "mechanism" was just a trick of the light. On closer inspection, it was actually a vaguely shaped rendition of the mechanism crafted with what looked like chunks of stone, rotting flesh, and ribs. Tom nearly gagged at the grisly sight, not sure either it was meant to be macabre fun by the inmates or if they truly thought that creating such a thing would get the gate open.

But there was no time to dwell on that, as the footsteps behind him started getting louder. With no need to smash the mechanism, Tom turned around and cleared his throat.

"I know you're there." He said, entirely without fear. "So why don't we skip the whole "you attacking me or eating me " thing and you can just hear me out. I have something to say."

"..."

"..."

"We don't care." A raspy voice hissed from the darkness. "You demons...you who live in the castle..you abandoned us here. Left us to rot. The stones are too smooth to climb. The gates are impenetrable. You left us knowing that we could never get out!" They shrieked. "You...the ones who stayed outside...betrayed us."

"We betrayed you?" Tom said incredulously, almost forgetting what he was about to announce at this little claim. "That's a pretty odd thing for you to say, considering that I know most of you were put in here for treason." He sighed. "But you know what, I don't care. I'm here to make you an offer."

"We don't want to hear it…" The prisoner hissed. "We don't know why you came. We don't know why you were heading to this gate. But we do know who you are, Thomas." He spat. "One of the royals of the Lucitor family. One of the very demons that are the arbiters for our fate! It was demons like you who locked us in here."

"Okay, but like I said, most of you are in here for good reason," Tom grumbled, already beginning to grow tired of this whole exchange. "You have no one but yourself to blame for your crimes."

"No…" The prisoner said. "We were trying to do the right thing. We were trying to help the Underworld. We rebuked your rule because the Lucitors are weak. We have magic. We are the only kingdom that does, since the Merge. We should have taken it all over! We could have conquered Earthni with ease! We could have conquered the entire planet! The whole Earth...a dimension of demons. A sanctuary for our kind. No more loving underground like this. No more staring up at a sky that isn't a sky at all. No more weak rulers like you!"

Tom frowned and facepalmed. "We wouldn't have succeeded. The price for those spells would have been too high. We'd have run out of people to sacrifice long before we even took over one country. Demon Magic isn't like regular magic. It takes time and work. Two things that we'd run out of really quick if we tried to take over the world."

"Doesn't matter." The prisoner shot back. "Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter! We don't want your deal. Not if it comes from someone like you!"

"Someone like me-are you people insane, or just idiots?!" Tom yelled. "I'm offering you a chance to escape here! It doesn't matter who breaks you out, if you had any sort of sense you'd take it! So just follow me and I can get you back into the castle, and there you can kill as many people as you want!"

"Even if we did want to follow you...it wouldn't work." The prisoner said, putting on a mocking tone for the last three words. "There is no way out that will allow us to escape without being killed. The gate is impenetrable. Nothing we have can break it down. We would die of old age long before we managed to get through it. The same goes for the walls. Breaking us out is impossible."

"Wait…" Tom said. "How do you think I got in here?"

"You...teleported?" The prisoner guessed. "You are Thomas Lucitor, yes? You should have the ability to teleport. Unless my visit is getting cloudy with blood again…"

"No, it's me," Tom reassured him. "But I didn't teleport. I broke a portion of the wall that leads to a vent that leads to the inside of the castle. Didn't you hear that? I feel like all those stones hitting the ground would have made a decent amount of noise…"

"Sound travels differently in here." The prisoner said. "The warden sacrificed a few of us and cast a spell so that it makes things much harder to hear, especially from further away. Voices, footsteps, whatever. Made it so that we prisoners couldn't communicate with each other and think of a way out together. We have to be close to hear what others are saying."

"Fascinating. But…hold on. Real close? How close is-"

Tom started, before he surely felt a breath on his neck. It was warm and slow, and felt like the owner of said breath was no more than a few inches away. He gasped and whipped around, waving his flame-engulfed hand widely, only to see nothing. He waved it around more, spinning in a circle as he did so. But whoever was speaking to him clearly didn't want to be seen, and evaded his poor attempts at doing so.

"You can stop now." They said. "I've been practicing this kind of thing for months. We all have. And I can say with certainty that we will not be seen by you unless we want to, even if we are literally clinging to your back."

"Just...just how close are you?" Tom asked nervously. "Where are you?"

"Close enough that I could kill you at any time I wish." The prisoner said. "But...I will admit. Your words...had a bit of an effect on me. I am intrigued. I shall hear you out. But make haste. It's been weeks since we've eaten anything, and we're running out of straws to draw."

"Oh my god, you psychos do want to eat me," Tom mumbled, before realizing that he shouldn't have expected anything different, all things considered. "But okay. Like I was saying, I didn't teleport in here. And why would that even be a problem if I was going to break you out! The fire involved in that sort of thing doesn't hurt anybody unless I want it to."

"Fool." The prisoner seethed, still sounding a million miles away. "The warden, who is your grandfather, by the way, took special care ensuring that we can't get out of here, even with that. If someone tries to teleport us in, we will burn up quicker than a dried-up leaf lit aflame. Like the sound, we had a spell cast on us that makes us extremely vulnerable to any kind of fire, regardless of whether you "allow" it or not. If you want to break us out and prevent your fate, you must destroy that gate!"

"Relicor is the warden of this place? That's surprising…" Tom muttered, before shaking his head. "No, I don't need to do that. I didn't teleport in. And I told you all this earlier, but I guess it didn't stick." He sighed. "I broke a hole in the wall. I can toss you up to it one by one and you can escape through there into the castle. But only into the castle, because there are probably guards on top of the walls on the other side and they'll hit you with a crossbow if they see you."

"Lies!" The prisoner said, which was followed by many faint echoes of the word by other inmates. "There is no way to get in through the wall. No amount of fire will melt it. No amount of magic will pierce it. It has been properly enforced, and-"

"All I needed was a good kick." Tom pointed out. "It wasn't that difficult."

"...What? How did you do this? There should be no holes that lead into any weak spots, if such a thing even exists. How did you break down the wall with just a kick?"

"...You don't know that the smoke filtration system exists, do you?" Tom guessed. "You don't know about any of that…"

"What smoke filtration system?" The prisoner queried, confirming Tom's theory. "Wait, is this why the smoke smell suddenly disappeared one day?! That was the best part of being down here! The only thing that reminded us that we were in the Underworld and not hell!"

"Uh...the Underworld is hell," Tom said. "I mean, it's not called that but it's basically the same place in a lot of cultu-"

"Nonono!" The prisoner shouted. "They're not the same place. They're separate locations. Hell is hell for demons and mortals." They explained. "It is a place of unending darkness that anyone with a sliver of goodness in them cannot reach. Even we wouldn't be able to travel there, and that is how horrible you must be to cross into it. Didn't your parents teach you anything about this?"

"...No?" Tom replied, starting to regret bringing up this topic.

"Typical of royals…" The prisoner scoffed. "They lead these kingdoms, they judge their people, they sentence "criminals", but in the end they don't know anything. They may understand how to lead and judge, but it is us who have the true knowledge that they don't bother to learn because they don't see it as important! They are-"

"Okay, ENOUGH!" Tom shouted, his entire body erupting in flame. The entire dungeon seemed to light up, and for a moment Tom got a glimpse of the prisoners surrounding him.

They were everywhere. In the fleeting second where the flames illuminated everything, Tom spotted dozens of them, surrounding him on all sides like a horde of zombies. And they all looked like zombies as well. Most were missing entire limbs or chunks of flesh, some of the wounds clearly inflicted with their bare teeth or hands. They all shied away at the light, hissing like a group of snakes. Tom only had time to gasp before the fire engulfing him involuntarily died down, sputtering and fading like it was running out of oxygen. A second later, the only flame that remained was the one attached to his hand, and the darkness returned and hid the prisoners from him once more.

"Oh jeez…" He whispered, noting how much he had underestimated just how many there were. "Stay back!" Tom shouted. "I only need one of you to talk to me! The rest of you back off or you're getting a fireball right to the face!"

At first, the only response to this was a few discontented murmurs, but soon afterward he heard several scuttling sounds, all of them leading away from him. Tom could still faintly feel the breath of the one behind him on his neck, but he had a hunch that asking him to move was probably a bad idea.

"Okay, good." He said. "Now listen up. Like I was saying, there is a smoke filtration device that leads into the wall directly next to the gate. I broke into it and smashed part of the wall. I can help you get up to the hole, and then you can enter the main castle and take revenge. You don't have to kill me, and you also get what you want. Everyone wins."

"If there's already a hole…" The prisoner started. "Then what's stopping us from killing you now and just entering it without your help? You're not really needed anymore…"

"Can any of you jump twenty feet straight up?" Tom asked. "Because I'm betting that's how high that hole is."

Unbeknownst to Tom, a few of the demons actually could, but most of the rest were unable to and simply grumbled in the darkness, realizing that the prince was right. The one standing right behind Tom sighed dramatically and moved a little closer, to the point where he could feel his chin brushing the back of his head.

"Fine." The prisoner said. "But if you betray us...or try to leave without us...then we will tear you apart, carve out your ribs, stick them to the wall, and use them to climb up to that hole ourselves."

"Good idea," Tom grumbled. "But if you try that beforehand, then I'm engulfing my entire body in flames so that can't touch me, and then personally making a request to Bren that we should kill every last one of you due to being a waste of oxygen. Without telling him I came down here of course."

"Wait, you answer to who?" The prisoner asked. "Who's Bren? What the hell is happening out there?"

"You'll see," Tom said. "I'm not sure how happy you're going to be with the changes, but at the very least, due to how many insubordinate guards have been killed...let's just say that your takeover of the castle will be a lot easier."

"Good." The prisoner hissed. "That's all that's important."

Tom huffed and resisted the urge to laugh. Obviously, they weren't going to make it far. The second Bren heard about the prisoners breaking out, he'd send that unkillable war demon against them, the same one he had sent against the town a while back. It'd make quick work of all of the inmates, and allow Tom to disable the other gate mechanisms with all the commotion. He had no doubt that most of the guards would run and find the war demon to watch the carnage and bloodshed (it had been a while since they had properly seen any of these things, which was practically a drug to demons in their position), and therefore leave them open to sabotage.

All he had to do now was hope that these psychos didn't betray him…

"Alright then," Tom said. "Now follow me, and I'll lead you to the hole and toss you up towards it."

Tom then walked away and felt the breath of the inmate behind him disappear, although several faint footsteps followed after his, like the sound of a million little mice scurrying through the walls. It was disturbing to the extreme and gave Tom an immense sense of anxiety. Especially considering how close they had to be for him to be hearing those noises. No more than a foot away, at the very least. He briefly looked around, trying to make it look like a casual glance and not an inspection to see where they all were. But despite how close they should be, he saw nothing in the light of the fire. Only shadows, stretching up the wall.

"I can't wait to see for myself. What has happened?" The prisoner suddenly asked, making Tom jump slightly. "Who is Bren? Why were we locked away and abandoned one day without being told why? What is going on out there?"

Tom sighed and decided that it would be easier to just tell him and get it over with. "Nothing good." He said. "Basically, what happened is that one day, this teenager with white hair and orange eyes who looked like a human comes knocking at the door to the castle, asking to see my parents. The guards tell him to get lost, and I guess he took exception to that, so he killed them."

"Some human...single handily dispatched the guards at the front gate? All ten of them?" The prisoner pondered, sounding quite shocked. "What sort of weapons did they have that allowed them to perform such a feat…?"

"Their bare hands."

"What?! But how-"

"He's possessed," Tom explained. "And this possession grants him insane levels of strength, durability, reflexes, whatever. He easily wiped them all out and then forced his way into the castle, killing anyone who got in his way."

"What about the wall archers?"

"From what I heard, he caught all the arrows and threw it back at them," Tom said. "But after he got in, some of the guards abandoned their posts upon seeing what he did to the ones at the front gate. Most just let him walk by no problem. A few did try to stop him, but…"

"They met the same fate." The prisoner deduced.

"Yup," Tom said. "So after that, he found my parents and gave them an offer. In exchange for handing over their armies and giving tactical command of them to him, they'd survive and be placed somewhere in the outskirts of the Underworld, where they could peacefully live out the rest of their days while he wreaked havoc on the surface."

"Why does he hate the surface?"

"Because Star Butterfly and the rest of the Butterfly royal family, even though most of them are technically fake, destroyed the realm of magic which consequently destroyed his home dimension as well. I'm pretty sure he escaped through the use of the Fire-god, which is the thing he's possessed by the wa-"

"The Fire-god?" The prisoner grunted. "You're going to have to be more specific. There are many gods of fire. Dozens spread across hundreds of dimensions."

"No, there's just one, but he comes in many shapes and sizes," Tom said. "It's all the same guy, he just...appears different to each civilization. I don't know why, and I don't particularly care."

"Hrnnn…" The prisoner hissed. "But you say he is possessed? Then what chance do we have to stop him or even take over the castle? The divine might he holds is nothing compared to what we have…"

"Here's the thing about that," Tom said. "I'm not entirely sure he's possessed anymore. When someone is taken over like that, whether by something divine or not, their eyes usually change color. But...his eyes are green now, not orange. I think he's back to his normal, unpossessed self. Which means he had no powers. No super strength. No durability. No...nothing. And right now, he's heavily injured. Like, all his bones are broken, I doubt there's a single drop of blood left in his body, and I think that even some of his organs are exposed. It's not a pretty sight."

"To you maybe." The prisoner scoffed. "But...how is he alive. I don't believe humans possess that level of durability when it comes to surviving grievous injuries. Or any creature really."

"Well, he's not human for one thing, he just looks like one. I honestly don't know what he is." Tom said. "But for another, I think he's being kept alive by the Fire-god. I'm not entirely sure of this, but if he's being possessed by that guy then it's the only explanation that makes sense. He doesn't want to lose his pawn."

"So what you're saying is…"

"You can restrain him super easily," Tom said.

"Restrain…" The prisoner guffawed. "Ludicrous. You say he is immortal. That he cannot die. Well, we will see just how true this is. We will find him, cut him into a thousand pieces, and dump each chunk into the lake of fire one at a time. Let's see how "immortal" he is after that."

"Feel free to do that," Tom said. "But just make sure to grab him before he gets hold of a small black device lying nearby."

"Why?"

"It's...uhhh…" Tom stuttered, knowing that informing these inmates that he was working for Bren, even unwillingly, was a very bad idea. "It's a failsafe. If he presses the button on it, then it'll blow up the castle and everyone inside. Including all of you. So if you find him, you have to get to him before that if you want to survive."

"I see." The prisoner said. "But I have another question. What is your job in the castle?"

"My...job?"

"Yes. Your job." They repeated. "You must work for him in some form, unless you've been sneaking around and hiding in the walls or something. Which I sincerely doubt, considering that you don't seem very skilled in lurking around dark places. You didn't even notice us until we revealed ourselves to you! So...what is your job?"

"I'm...a janitor," Tom said. "I mop the floor. I pick up trash the other demons leave on the ground. All that. Bren thought it was humorous for the former prince to be assigned to such a low and menial task."

The prisoner laughed. A deep, guttural laugh that was shared by the other inmates. "Hmm...I might hate this person with every ounce of my being since first hearing of them, but it does seem we have a similar sense of humor. You. Doing janitorial work. That is hilarious. I'm sure it must be humiliating."

"It is," Tom growled. "I don't need to be mocked anymore for it than I already have, thank you. But you can see why I'm doing this now. No more humiliation. No more false rulers. No more Bren. I'm going to save my parents and get the hell out of here."

"Your parents…" They hissed. "I'm assuming that's why you're doing this. Why you didn't turn against him earlier. If you step out of line, he kills them, right?"

"...Yeah, actually." Tom said, surprised at how fast they had figured it out. "He has their heads on the chopping block at all times. I have to do everything right and never question an order, or they die. I've already lost a few family members to this. Everyone has. They're all terrified out of their minds."

"Interesting…" The prisoner hissed. "Then I'm guessing the real purpose of that black device Bren has is to alert the guard that has their head "on the chopping block" to kill them if the need arises."

Tom stopped walking like he had run into a brick wall after this sentence registered in his mind. 'W-what?' He thought. 'How does he know? I haven't said anything to suggest that's what the device does! I told him it was to blow up the castle, not that! How did he figure it out?'

"How did he figure it out…" The prisoner said. "That's what you're thinking right now, isn't it? And don't try to deny it. The expression on your face and the way you stopped moving confirmed it all. So...that is what you're thinking right?"

Tom nodded and gulped. "I never told you anything that hinted at that being the truth. How? How did you know so fast?"

"Well, I knew the second you confirmed that you had to do your work or else your parents would die." The prisoner said. "I was also aware of the fact that Bren's remote blowing up the castle was a total lie. He wouldn't do that. Based on what you've said, he's been working on...whatever he's doing for months, and there's no way he's going to destroy what I assume is his base of operations. It seems he's strong...or, at least, was strong enough to repel any attacker. So why would he need something like that when he can kill a person with a flick of his fingers?"

"..."

"Exactly. He doesn't. So, if the remote doesn't blow up the castle, why else would you tell us to get it? What's so important about it that you'd want us to retrieve it for you and smash it?" He asked rhetorically. "You gave us an answer yourself. Your parents. A kill switch for them. Case closed."

"...So what?" Tom said defiantly. "So what if that's what it does? This doesn't change anything. Yeah, I lied to you to protect my parents, but don't act like you haven't done things that are a thousand times worse."

"It's not that you lied to us...it's the other hidden truth that this one presents." The prisoner said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, obviously Bren has that device for a reason. To kill your parents. To make you do your job." The prisoner said. "But there's no way he'd have such a device for someone doing janitorial work. It honestly isn't that important. We didn't even have a janitor before! We just left trash and other garbage where we wanted it and the second after it hit the ground it burned up! So...he doesn't have that remote to encourage you to be a janitor. No, he's using it to encourage you to do something quite different…"

"Or maybe he's just scared of me because I'm the prince of the Underworld and have a lot of powers that he doesn't," Tom said, perfectly calm on the outside but panicking on the inside. "A guy as strong as me, you'd want a remote to rein me in no matter what job I'm doing. You're right. The remote isn't to make me do janitor stuff. It's to prevent me from attacking him. That's my job, and that's the reason. End of discussion."

"..."

"...We shall see." The prisoner said. "When we get to Bren, we will ask him what your job is, and if he says it is anything else but janitorial work, then we will press the button on that remote and kill your parents."

'Good luck with that.' Tom thought. 'It's not a kill switch, it's a phone you morons, and the second the person on the other end realizes that it's not Bren who's calling, they'll send an alarm to every demon in the castle. And then I'm sure you'll smash it out of anger along with the rest of the copies. Either way, I win.'

"Good idea," Tom said. "You do that. Now…" He glanced to his left as the door that led into the castle entered the light of the flame. "We're here."

"Ah. Where is it?" The prisoner asked. "Show us. Now!"

"Up there," Tom said, pointing a finger at the ceiling where the hole could faintly be seen. "Then you take a right and kick out the filtration device, and you've made it into the castle. Simple as that."

"Good…" The prisoner hissed. "Then go stand near the wall. You're going to give us a boost."

"Actually…" Tom said. "I have a better idea. One won't require me to touch any of that pale, diseased mess you call your body."

"What did you just say?!" The prisoner asked furiously, but by then Tom was already walking over to the wall right beneath the opening. He rubbed his hands together, causing them both to be engulfed in flames, before raising his arms and beginning a low and demonic chant that sounded like someone's garbage disposal attempting to speak.

"Summone torque daemonis!" He shouted, and instantly a bright orange light erupted from the hole and then solidified into a thin line. He heard more scuttling sounds as the inmates backed away from the light like a bunch of frightened rabbits, murmuring all the while. A second later, the line turned into a glowing chain and flung itself out of the hole, smacking against the wall and hovering an inch above the ground. Tom grabbed the chain and yanked it as hard as he could, but it stayed in place, showing all the inmates that it was safe to use.

"There you go." He said, moving back from it. "You can just climb up that and not have to rely on me at all."

"..."

"Don't even think about it." He said. "Just because I'm not useful to you anymore doesn't mean I can't kill you. The second I feel someone grab me I'm summoning a portal and burning them to hell."

"Your threat is duly noted." The prisoner said. "Very well. We shall take our leave now. Kill this Bren. But remember what we said. If you're not the janitor…"

"You'll kill my parents, yes I know." Tom sighed, knowing full well that the odds of them even reaching Bren in the first place were almost zero. "Now get out of here and go cause some chaos. I'm guessing it's what you people do best."

"As you wish, my prince." The prisoner mocked, before moving away. Tom stepped further away from the chain until it was engulfed in darkness like everything else, it's faint glow shining through. Shadows began to cover it and it rattled as the inmates began to climb it, and Tom heard several whispers as they did so, talking about where they should go first and who they should kill. After a few minutes of this, the chain fell silent and stopped moving, indicating that everybody had made it up. The sound of the filtration device being kicked out of the wall and crashing to the ground filled Tom's ears, and a second later a few squeals of surprise and pain were heard, no doubt from the inmates first victims.

"Well," Tom said, cracking his knuckles. "Time to destroy those other two gates before the guards mobilize and wipe them out. Hopefully, those idiots don't make too much of a mess…"

With no more need to worry about people smelling smoke, Tom's hands and feet ignited and he flew upward towards the opening, unsummoning the chain in the process. He made it back into the vent and crawled his way back into the main castle, only to be met with a trashed hallway. Destroyed pieces of art, mangled bodies of demons, a few of which looked like they had been the inmates, and bloody footprints leading in every direction.

"Morons split up," Tom commented, shaking his head. "If they stayed together as a whole, they might have stood a chance…"

He jumped down onto the floor and didn't waste a second before running along, unsure of how much time the little prison break he just staged had bought him. Everywhere he looked was more of the same as the first hallway. The inmates were certainly moving fast, but Tom still knew he didn't have anything to worry about. All they had was the element of surprise for now. Once word of their escape got out…

Well, Bren would be merciful to throw them back into that hole.

But soon, as Tom had so flawlessly planned, they'd all be dead and everything would be set into motion. No escape, no source of food. No source of food, nobody willing to follow orders. Nobody willing to follow orders, and Bren had no army. And sure, once the Mewnian/Earth army invaded the Underworld to kill Bren, he'd probably use Tom's parents as a last-ditch gamble. But he was confident that they'd be saved before that, so Tom wasn't worried. And even better, with Bren as he currently was, freaking out and possibly unpossessed (he actually wasn't completely sure of that, maybe only fifty percent), things would be all the easier as his master became more prone to making rash decisions.

And then Bren would be killed, preferably by his hand, he would be set free, pardoned of all the shitty things he did by either Eclipsa or Star because he was being controlled, and life would go back to normal. Albeit with much, much more defenses at the Underworld's disposal. Tom knew Bren was all pissy because his home dimension went kaput, so who's to say that the same thing didn't happen to another dimension?

They had to be prepared, just in case. And the first thing they were going to do was execute every guard whose loyalty went to Bren immediately without having to be threatened first. The ones who liked change. An example needed to be made. The Underworld would no doubt lose most of its reputation because of this whole incident, and they needed something to show that they were not weak and vulnerable. They were powered by fire and rage and-

"HEY!"

Tom stopped short and looked to his right, his thoughts thrown out the metaphorical window at the sound of someone's voice. Standing there, no more than a few feet away, was Nidhogg, a large snake-like demon who was in charge of sending out messages throughout the castle and the entire Underworld. He was also known as an all-around jerk, constantly ruining people's days with bad news and sending them messages at the most inopportune times.

So, basically, just doing his job.

But he was certainly not doing that now. Nidhogg had half of his entire family wiped out by Bren and their bodies sent to him by the Underworld's second-best message handler in a gruesome twist of irony. From then on the snake-Demon was fiercely loyal to the person who had almost wiped out his entire bloodline, to the point where Tom suspected that he was brainwashed.

And now he had to deal with him, causing Tom to silently groan and wonder how he hadn't been the first casualty in the prisoner break.

"Thomas?! Thomas Lucitor?! " Nidhogg exclaimed, staring down at the prince like he had seen a ghost. "What are you doing, not being at Bren's side? Haven't you heard? The prisoners have escaped! Don't tell me you've abandoned our master when things-"

"No, I was just fetching someone for him!" Tom said quickly. "Bren wants to see Nishum, so I'm fetching him for him."

"Bren sent you off on your own?" Nidhogg asked, suspicion coating every one of his scales. "I don't believe it. He never leaves you unattended. And while I have seen him take his eyes off you, Bren would never send you off on a mission without proper supervision!"

"Go ask him yourself," Tom suggested. "I have nothing to hide." He then turned around and started to walk away, hoping that the demon would just leave him alone, but Nidhogg leaned in and grabbed Tom by the shoulder, his grip cold and unmoving.

"I don't think so." He said. "You're not going anywhere. Your story is too radical to be believed. Do you really think that I'd be fooled by such a-"

"I'm on a timestamp here," Tom said, which was technically true, just not for the job Bren gave him. "Bren told me that I had to bring Nishum to him in fifteen minutes or less, and if I took any longer I'd be punished." He turned around and glared at the demon. "And I'm sure that causing me to be late would make you eligible for that punishment as well, Nidhogg."

Instantly, the snake demon let go of Tom's shoulder and slithered back like he was terrified of him, to the point where it looked like Tom's threat had worked a little too well. But a second later, Nidhogg hissed loudly and then sighed, before moving back over.

"Fine." He said. "But I am escorting you to make sure that you don't try anything stupid, and to protect you from those inmates running around creating a mess. If Bren's most valuable asset gets hurt and he knows that I could have prevented it, then my blood will be spilled next to yours."

"I don't need your protection," Tom said. "I could probably quell this outbreak single-handedly if I wanted to. And I can heal from almost any wound those morons inflict on me anyway. They're not particularly strong, and they're also moving in small groups. It's not like-"

"Wait. How do you know that they're moving in small groups?" Nidhogg asked.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Oh screw it, I'm not in the mood for any more of this" Tom said, his hand igniting in flame. Nidhogg's eyes widened and he tried to back away, but Tom was too fast and tossed a fireball at the snake demon the size of a small car. He screamed and the prince caught an outline of him before it practically exploded in a shower of ash. A moment later, the dust cleared and all that remained was a half-melted pile of armor and a small mound of what looked like ground pepper.

"Nosy bastard…" Tom growled, before moving on. As he ran, he cursed and chided himself for his foolishness, using so many definitions for "stupid" that one would think he made a few of them up. "Shouldn't have done that. Should not have done that. There was not a single demon in that prison capable of conjuring up fire. When they find him...all eyes will be directed on me. I'm the only one who could have killed him, and then everyone will discover that I was responsible for the prison break, and now everything is ruined!" He shouted, before stopping and leaning against a wall.

"No." He said. "Don't freak out. Not yet. There's still a way out of this. That Fire-god...he's no longer possessing Bren. His eyes are no longer orange. There's no reason for him to be doing that unless everybody he wants dead is killed. Which means...Bren somehow broke out of his control, and is now trying to do his own thing while simultaneously fighting to stay in control." Tom surmised, every single bit of information from this theory coming from the few passages he read from the book he loaned Janna.

"So if he's fighting to stay in control, then the Fire-god wants to get back in control, which means...which means…" He gulped and slid down the wall. "If I can somehow stage all of this, the prison break, me killing the guards, destroying the various gates, and whatever else I'm about to do next as nothing more than a ploy to allow the Fire-god to repossess him so that his plan can be once again set into motion...and then somehow get the Fire-god to do just that, then Bren might be merciful and not kill my parents once everything is said and done." He clutched the side of his head and growled. "It's the only way. If I teleport that ash out of here, they'll notice the scorch mark on the floor as one from me teleporting something, and I won't be able to fit that into the ploy plan without sounding suspicious."

Tom scoffed. "Impossible." He said. "How could any of this somehow allow the Fire-god back in? What could possibly-"

"RUN!"

Tom jumped again and looked to his right, expecting more unthinkable trouble, only to see none other than Nishum, a terrified expression on his face. Behind him was a small horde of extremely malnourished and angry looking demons, no doubt some of the prisoners that had escaped. Tom was about to let them pass by, until a smile spread to his face as a plan was formulated.

'Oh.' He thought. 'Now there's an idea.'

Without thinking, he stepped in front of Nishum once he had run past, cutting the inmates off from him. They only had time to glare at him in confusion before Tom raised his arm and summoned a portal leading to Earth, trapping them all inside it. However, just like they claimed earlier and Tom had planned, the prisoners weren't teleported but rather obliterated as the fire burned them to oblivion. One second was all it took, and then the portal vanished, leaving nothing behind by more ash in its wake.

"Holy…" Nishum started, coming up behind him. "Thank you, Thomas. I thought they were going to get me. But...hey. Aren't you supposed to be with Bren at all times? What happened to him?"

Tom quickly wiped the smile off his face and turned around, putting on an expression of franticness and pure fear. "He's in trouble! He's heavily injured, and he sent me to retrieve you!"

"What?!" Nishum screamed, still as gullible as ever. "What does he want with me?"

"I don't know," Tom said. "But it's really important. Now are you going to follow me, or do I have to tell him that you disobeyed a direct order?"

Nishum's eyes widened and a look of pure terror spread across his face, one that Tom had seen many times in hundreds of different demons in the past couple of months. "I...I'll follow you." He said softly.

"Good," Tom said, unable to suppress a smile at that. He turned and ran back towards where he last saw Bren, and Nishum followed close behind like a dog with its master.

His plan of destroying the gates would have to come another day, as the one of keeping his life was all that was important. It was a stretch, a long-shot, and would probably never work, but Tom knew he had to try. It all rested on a few assumptions he had, and the hopes that the ones up top were in a good mood once this was all over.

That was all he had.

---

"Bren" slowly made his way to the castle, covering his ears and attempting to drown out the noise of the siren that had just been set off a few seconds ago. He knew this alarm. It meant that there was a breakout at the prison. The inmates were free, and "Bren" had had to avoid quite a few already by hiding behind corners or in hidden rooms. He was in no condition to fight, and even if the Fire-god would keep him alive, he'd rather not get any more messed up than he had to be.

But every time he was in the clear, he kept moving as fast as he could, seeking out Tom. The prince had been sent off on a mission to find "Nishum" so he could be healed, something that "Bren" greatly regretted making him do. Because now, he was left to find him like this. A hobbling mess with no way of defending himself. Sure, he had one of the remotes, but it's not like it'd be any kind of weapon against anyone else other than Lucitor. If an inmate found him, he was finished, so all he could do was pray that they didn't.

But eventually, he heard two sets of footsteps coming down the hall. "Bren" quickly ducked behind a nearby pillar, peeking out from behind it to see who it was this time. And to his immense relief, possibly the first emotion he had felt beside irritation since leaving his room, he saw Tom there, with a rather short and weak-looking demon by his side, evidently the "Nishum" he had sent him to get. And even better, Tom was coming his way, and a few seconds before he passed the pillar, "Bren" stepped out from behind it. Tom was clearly shocked and froze in place like he had run into a wall, while Nishum merely gazed at him wide-eyed, no doubt shocked by how injured he was.

"Lucitor!" He shouted, making both demons tense up. "Good. I found you. Now quickly, open us a portal to the surface. We're leaving the Underworld. For good."

"For…good? What are you talking about?" Tom echoed, greatly confused as to why "Bren" had switched tactics seemingly out of nowhere. "What do you mean for good?"

"I mean for good." "Bren" repeated. "We're leaving and we're not coming back. I'm going to set off all those bombs we hid in those buildings by hand, using a countdown of course, and blow all of Earthni straight to hell. Then we're heading to Washington and taking control of the nuclear system. Destroying the world. Killing anyone left in Echo Creek. All that." He took a deep breath. "It's time, Lucitor. It's time we finish this. Once all is said and done, you can come back down here and live the rest of your life out, I don't care. But remember, until all that is finished, your parent's lives are still on the line." He held up the remote. "Got it? Good. Then let's go."

"..."

"I said, let's go." "Bren" repeated, before turning to Nishum. "As for you, your services are no longer required." He said. "But thank you for not being an idiot like most of the rest and trying to turn against me. For that, at least, you have some amount of my respect."

Nishum gaped at "Bren" like he was insane, but Tom merely tensed up again and started sweating, his entire plan falling apart right before his eyes. 'What...why...damn it!' He thought. 'Why is he doing this all of a sudden? Bren wouldn't do this. He wouldn't make such a sudden and rash decision, and...oh.' He then frowned deeply, a revelation coming to light that he finally got confirmation on. 'Bren wouldn't do that. But this probably isn't Bren anymore, is it? Yeah, this proves he isn't possessed. And...I wonder. If he's not possessed anymore, then will his remote work? Every time he puts his hand on it and starts another one of his annoying monologues, that button always lights up the slightest bit.'

Tom shifted in place and his eyes darted over towards the remote, which "Bren" was still waving around as he talked to Nishum about loyalty or some crap. 'But it's not lit up right now. I don't see any light coming from it.' He thought. 'Which means...I think it turns on whenever he touches it. It's hand-activated. And since it's not lit up, that must mean it can tell whether he's possessed or not. It must have been a fail-safe the Fire-god made him put in, in case something like this ever happened. And...holy shit.'

Tom's eyes widened and his fists clenched up as yet another realization struck him in the face. 'That means he's not any kind of threat to me right now. I can take him out. He...no!' The prince thought, gritting his teeth together. 'No, I can't just kill him. The Fire-god won't let me, and even assuming that he does, the amount of problems that would arise from his death would be too high to count. Bren has been in control of the entire Underworld for six months. Everyone is in his control. And it's split into two distinct groups. The demons that are fanatically loyal to him, and the demons that are only loyal to him because of fear. If I kill him, then the latter group will rejoice and thank me and whatnot. But the former group…'

Tom cursed under his breath as his eyes darted over to Nishum, following along with everything Bren said, a perfect example of the former group.

'...they're the ones that are going to be the problem. They're the ones who didn't like my parents. The ones who never liked Lucitor rule. The ones that were begging for change like those prisoners! And now that that change is here, they're not going to turn back simply because he's dead! They're going to live his legacy and try to take over and create a new empire! It'd be a civil war. An Underworld Civil War. And...huh.' He paused. 'Underworld Civil War. Why does that sound strangely familiar?'

Tom paused for a moment before passing it off and regaining focus, not allowing himself to be distracted by any trivial matters. He turned back to "Bren", babbling at Nishum aimlessly like a politician on steroids. 'Okay. That's going to be a problem. This backtracks my plan even more, because it means he can't die right now no matter what. If he does, then someone will just step in and finish what he started like no one's business. And if that happens, civil war. With the real Bren gone and likely without a teleporter, the demons that hated him will have no reason to fear him. If a full-on war breaks out between the two factions, at least half of all demons in the Underworld will die, and I'd rather us not become an endangered race because of this crap. Enough of us have already been lost to this psychopath, so at this point, every life counts. Well...almost every life.' He thought, gazing over towards Nishum.

'I have to deal with that and make sure it doesn't come to pass.' Tom then shook his head, before turning away from Bren, continuing to think to himself. 'But what's worse is that this means I have to do so many impossible things if I have any chance at beating him on my own, or even assist the guys up above in taking him down. I need to convince the demons that are loyal to him that following Bren sucks and get them to switch over to our side, cover my tracks in this prison break to make it look like I was trying to help thus carrying out my current plan, trick the possessed Bren that I was trying to help afterwards assuming everything goes well, I still need to-'

Tom suddenly gasped and all three of his eyes widened as a lightbulb lit above his head. He suddenly had a brilliant idea. Again. One that would surely solve most of these problems. Without warning, he turned back towards his master and cleared his throat, causing "Bren's" and Nishum's eyes to set themselves upon him.

"What is it Lucitor?" "Bren" asked. "What do you want?"

"...I have a suggestion to make." Tom said. "I think you should use the demons to help destroy everything, like the original plan was. But instead of setting off those bombs, I think it'd be best to mobilize the demon troops and send them off to destroy Earthni just like you originally planned."

"Bren" put his hands on his hips and looked at Tom like he was the lowest thing in creation. "And why would I do that?" He asked.

"Think about it," Tom said. "What do you want most?"

"As of right now, to screw the fire god over for being such a prick." "Bren" replied. "He's betrayed me. I'm not listening to him anymore. I got my own thing now."

"Ah…" Tom breathing, noting how this confirmed for the final his suspicions that he was no longer possessed. But he could still use this. "Okay...but what's the second thing you want most?"

"For Star Butterfly to die and for the entire town of Earthni to suffer." "Bren" said. "You already know that! You've been right by my side the whole time like a loyal dog!"

"Certainly not by choice," Tom grumbled, before speaking in his normal voice again. "Yeah, and there's always been one thing that I've noticed. You like getting your hands dirty. I know that the old you claimed that he didn't, that he only killed people personally when it became necessary, but I know you aren't him. You like killing people for fun, don't you?"

"Bren" thought about this for a moment before nodding, memories of the murder of his family and the numerous other atrocities he committed before the Fire-god stumbled upon him coming to mind. "Yes…" He whispered. "I suppose I do enjoy going into many a frenzy when it comes to killing. There's just something so satisfying about seeing the look in their eyes. The powerless look, that shows your in control, and they're nothing but a victim."

"...Yeah. Sure." Tom said quickly. "But if you enjoy doing all that, then why are you setting off the bombs and killing everyone at once? Wouldn't it be better and more enjoyable for you to kill them by hand?"

"You make a decent point Lucitor, but ironically, you seem to lack eyes despite having more than me!" "Bren" shouted. "Look at me! I am in no condition to fight! Even if I am unable to die, I'm no stronger than a cocker spaniel. I'd be swiftly defeated by any opponent." He then glared at the demon and held up the remote. "And don't even think of-"

"Yes, I know!" Tom said. "But...this is why I recommend you heal yourself first! That way, you can go out and kill everyone by hand! Just like you want! It'd be so much more satisfying than blowing them all up from afar!"

"..."

'Come on, please work.' Tom thought. 'Come on, this is my only chance! He has to get back to the book and sacrifice Nishum to heal himself, then I can call the prisoners over so they can beat the absolute shit out of him, and hopefully, that will disorient him to the point where he can be repossessed! Then the prisoners will be killed, I can leave under the impression that I want to kill the rest of them, and then burn them all to the hell they were talking about, thereby giving the impression that I only left to mop them up for him because I was worried more might come in and harm his unpossessed self. Then because of all the demons they killed, the castle may finally be given an example at just how incompetent he is for allowing this to happen, and everything will start fall apart. It's...it's only a step, but it could be worth it in the long run.'

"..."

"..."

"...You make a compelling case…" "Bren" said. "Alright then Lucitor. Lay out your plan for me. What do you think I should do to achieve this little objective? And make sure not to leave anything out. Whatever idea you have for victory, I want to hear every last bit of it.

'Oh, thank god that you're so stupid.' Tom thought, struggling to hold in a sigh of relief. 'The old Bren would have never even let me speak, much less listen and then commit to a suggestion I had. Is he so desperate for something to do without the fire god that he's forgotten that I still hate him?'

"...Well?" "Bren" said expectantly. "Lay it out for me. We don't have all day."

'Huh. Guess so.' Tom thought, before clearing his throat. "Okay. Here is my plan. We go find that book you have that had all the spells in it and heal you with...you know. Then we gather up all the armies of the Underworld that are under your command and send them off to the surface to start slaughtering people. We'll have a few hundred form a ring around the town so that nobody can escape, and also to kill anyone who tries."

"I like where this is going…" Bren said. "But then what? We still have to take down over all the nukes in this country and blow everything to hell. This is the way it has to happen if we're aiming to piss off the Fire-god."

'In your dreams. Also, blow everything to hell with nukes? What is he even trying to accomplish here? I thought he was made at Earthni, not the entire damn planet. Is there some alternate motive here that he hasn't informed me of…?' Tom pondered, before shaking his head and resuming his explanation. "I know. I'm getting to that. But I think we should finish up Echo Creek. So, after we kill all the citizens, then we can set off the bombs and destroy Earthni. But...those nukes you mentioned, I don't think we should use those."

"Yes, I am beginning to see the logic behind that," Bren said in an almost robotic manner, as if Tom's word was law. "After you mentioned how I like to do things with my bare hands, I began to have doubts about whether I should use those or not. But after what you just said...yes, I think I see where you're getting with this. You plan for us to go from town killing people just like Earthni I presume. It will be much more fun that way. Both for me and the armies of the Underworld."

'Actually no, but sure, let's go with that.' Tom thought. "Yeah, that's the plan. Now, I think we should start with small towns, and then work our way up to it. That way, we can train ourselves and figure out strategies to take out bigger and bigger areas before moving on to the major cities. And as for the military...well, they shouldn't be a problem. I'll just teleport in and take them out. It may be a bit off-track compared to what we're doing here, but I think it's necessary."

"No, I disagree on that." "Bren" said. "We can handle the military. We have many more of those demons that he...that I attacked the town with a few days ago. Not even a nuclear bomb will heal those things. Earth can't do anything to them that will permanently destroy them. We will fight the military, and you shall be on the front lines."

'Sure, whatever.' Tom thought. "If you say so, sir. But this is a good plan, right? This way you get everything you want. Everyone up there dies, and you get to slowly relish it all. And not only that, but you also get to…um…"

"Show the Fire-god that I never needed his help with this." "Bren" said. "Show him that he's worthless, and neither me nor anyone else requires his assistance in this crusade against the ones who destroyed my home and ruined my life!"

'Oh my god, he has not thought this through at all.' Tom thought. 'That's literally the opposite of what's happening. I don't have my powers without the Fire-god, and the only reason he's gotten anywhere and is going to get anywhere is because of me. That is the…' He closed his eyes and then shook his head, shaking away his thoughts. 'No. That's not important. Make a note on how much he's gone off the deep end later. You're so closer. Just a little bit more…'

"Sounds brilliant," Tom said. "And the first thing we have to do, again, to get you in that condition…" He jerked a thumb over towards Nishum, who was standing nearby, still clueless as to why he was here. '...Is to heal yourself with that so you are fully presentable to your armies. They're not going to listen to you while you look like that of course. You need to-"

"Alright, I get it." "Bren" said. "I don't need you lecturing me on physical appearance, Lucitor. You make a good point, but just say it once and get it over with." He then walked past Tom, who was clearly resisting the urge to blast him with a fireball for that remark, and glanced towards Nishum. "You!" He said. "Follow me. We're going back to my quarters. There's something I need you to do."

"Yes sir!" Nishum said eagerly, finally happy to get a chance to do something important. Tom rolled all three of his eyes at this display of enthusiasm, fully aware of the demon's fate as well as the fact that he was probably going to be the one to kill him. Again, he didn't feel particularly bad that he was going to die for this plan to succeed. One less Bren sympathizer was good news for him in the long run, even if they sympathized was nothing more than, quote-unquote, "cannon fodder".

But just like that, "Bren" turned around a second later and started hobbling back the way he came, Nishum following close behind. Tom did the same, once again mentally shaking his head at how trusting "Bren" was being right now. If he didn't have to worry about an Underworld civil war right now…

"Just what are you planning to do, boy?"

"AH! What the hell?! Who-!" Tom exclaimed, stopping in place and nearly tripping over his own feet at the sound of the sudden voice in his head, one that was most definitely not his own. "Bren" and Nishum turned around to face him, with the former glaring at him intensely.

"What's the problem?" He asked, clearly peeved at this outburst. "Did you sprain your ankle or something?"

"I...um…" Tom stuttered, practically unable to form a coherent sentence as he tried to figure too many things out at once. "Y-yeah. I tripped over one of the stones. It's fine now though." He said quickly. "I'm a demon. I healed it up pretty fast."

"Bren" huffed in disappointment. "Yeesh. Be more careful next time. My condition is a thousand times worse than yours and you don't see me complaining." He then faced forward again and moved on, Nishum giving Tom a suspicious glance before following along again. Tom remained in place for a few moments, wondering if that voice had been real or just some kind of hallucination, and he was about to pass it off and move on as well when-

"I asked you a question."

Just like before, Tom stopped like he had run into a brick wall at this statement, only this time without making any noise. He stood trembling in place, actually afraid of whatever this was. But only because of the voice itself. It wasn't some mundane, average, small-talk sort of voice. It held power. Authority. It was the kind of tone his dad would use while addressing the armies of the Underworld, only this one sounded like he was speaking to a crowd of people that numbered in the billions rather than the thousands.

"Wha…" He began softly. "Who are-"

"Keep walking." The voice commanded. "You'll make yourself look suspicious if you don't."

Tom gulped and then obeyed this order, quietly following "Bren" and Nishum again, but this time keeping his distance, getting the feeling that he was about to have an extremely unpleasant conversation with...whoever this was.

"Good." The voice said. "Now, I am going to ask you again. What are you planning boy?"

"What?" Tom whispered. "Okay, first off, who are you? What's going on? And did you seriously just call me "boy"?!"

"Shut up!" The voice hissed. "You are not the one asking questions here, Lucitor. I am already angry enough with you as it is."

"Okay…" Tom said nervously. "But could you at least grant me the honor of knowing your name, so I'll have something to call you?"

"With your vocal cords, you would be unable to pronounce my true name." The voice said. "But I suppose there is no harm in revealing who I am to you, as I suspect that you would figure it out anyways. I am the god of fire. The creator of Demon Magic, the Underworld, the last of the parallels, and the one who gave Bren his powers."

"..."

"..."

"...Oh my god."

"Yes…?"

"No, I meant…" Tom started. "I-I can't believe I'm really talking to you. I've heard about your existence my whole life. I've told so many times to keep you a secret, that only the most prestigious of Royals in the Underworld or the oldest of scholars are allowed to know who you are, and what you've done." He gulped. "Of course, that's turned out to be rather ineffective, as you're practically a public figure because of this whole mess, but it's just...wow. I'm not sure what to say."

"Good. Because I do." The Fire-god said. "Now, what were you-"

"Oh, wait, yes I do. I know exactly what to say to you." Tom interjected. "You goddamn asshole."

"What?! What did you just call me?!"

"You asshole," Tom repeated, as nonchalantly as possible. "That's what I see you as. Because all of this is your fault, isn't it? You gave Bren his powers. You gave him the resources needed to blow up the town, to summon that demon, to go to the hospital and kill people. That was all you. I don't care if you're a god or the creator of my home. Do you…" He lowered his voice and started speaking under his breath, his eyes flashing in anger. "Do you have any idea how much pain and suffering you've caused to come to my friends? To come to me? Are you even sorry for any of that, or do you see it as necessary for whatever reason?"

"You disrespectful little…" The Fire-god started, before huffing. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to? You may claim you don't care that I'm a god, but I'm pretty sure you will when I kill your parents with a literal snap of my fingers. Do you want that to happen? If not, then you will listen to what I have to say and speak when I want you to. Recognize your place, boy. Which is beneath my feet."

"You won't kill them," Tom said, in a way that showed he completely believed that statement. "If you do, then "Bren" has nothing to hold against me. And you still need him alive."

"And you won't kill him." The Fire-god claimed. "Don't think I didn't hear your little internal monologue earlier. You need Bren alive and well otherwise the Underworld gets plunged into chaos. Even if he kills your parents, or if I do, you still have to serve him if you care the slightest about your home dimension."

"Then it looks like we're both bluffing," Tom said.

"No, I'm not. Did you not hear what I just said? If your parents die, you'll still follow Bren to save your dimension. It's either that or go to the surface and let the Underworld tear itself apart. No matter who wins, it could spell the end for your race. With no way other than you for them to get to the surface, and with Demon Magic and portals being unknown to everyone except the royalty, who will either all be dead or missing, they will be stuck done here to fight amongst themselves for whatever resources are left, while those on the surface prosper and live on."

"..."

"Finally shut up? Good. Now I-"

"One last thing," Tom said. "I know you told me I'm not allowed to ask questions, and that you're in complete control here, but I have to know. When did gods become such huge jerks? Why are you like this?"

"...We've always been that way." The Fire-god said with a sigh, seemingly accepting that Tom wasn't going to listen to him if he didn't answer this question. "You mortal beings always portray us as these entities of ultimate wisdom and power, fearing nothing and no one. We are made of shine and might and put down evil wherever it is found, and we graciously reward our followers for worshipping us with gifts and bountiful harvests."

"Just listing off stereotypes there…" Tom mumbled. "And…?"

"And that is not the way it is." The Fire-god said. "We gods are not beings of infinite wisdom and power. Yes, we are stronger than almost any other living being. No mortal could come close to reaching our level of power. But it is not infinite. If that was the case, then why would I be doing this? If I could do absolutely anything I wanted, I wouldn't have sent Bren to do my dirty work. I'd have waved my hand and taken care of the problem myself in a fraction of the time."

"I think I've heard of this before," Tom said. "In a book in my grandfather's library. Gods are powerful, but they all have to follow-"

"The rules, yes." The Fire-god interjected. "Those accused rules. Created by the first one. Don't know where they are now, probably off ruining more people's lives, but the rules they set in place are still here, and will always be here. They are the rules of physics, of magic, of biology and neurology, and every other "ology" out there. They are how the multiverse stays together. No one may break them. For me, the rules dictate that every single living creature, god or otherwise, needs something to survive. For us gods, it is belief. We need people to believe in us so that we can survive. For what is a god if they have no followers? Just a ghost, which is what we become."

"Oh...that's why he wants to set off all the bombs." Tom realized. "He wants to kill everyone that knows you exist, then kill everyone in the government who also knows you exist, and then I'm guessing he's going to try to kill me and then himself."

"Yup. And these rules are something I lied to him about earlier. I claimed I could kill everyone whenever I wanted. I have no idea what his reaction will be if he finds out I can't…"

"Interesting...although I never fancied him as one for suicide…"

"He's not." The Fire-god said. "I think he's gone crazy with rage. And I mean even more crazy than usual. Without my influence, he is a psychopath. But also an amateur, as I'm sure you've seen. Without me, he would have never gotten far in this crusade."

"No doubt about that," Tom said. "But go back to what you were talking about a few seconds ago. About how gods really are."

"...Very well. My next point is the followers." The Fire-god scoffed. "People worship us. They call our names to the heavens and beg for gifts that are neither theirs to receive nor ours to give. I care not for the lives of the literal little people. If they worship me and keep me alive, fine. Do whatever you want. Sacrifice people in my name. Burn entire planets and dimensions in my name. Do whatever the hell you want, I don't care. As long as you're aware I exist, that's good enough for me."

"Boy, this would probably screw up every single religion out there…" Tom said. "Assuming all gods are like this."

"Most of them are. We keep to ourselves whenever necessary. You mortals are all so...complicated."

"You're one to speak," Tom muttered. "From the sound of it, gods are even bigger jerks than "us mortals" are. I'm not sure whether to be disappointed at this revelation or impressed by it. Probably both."

"You can think whatever you want of it. Again, I don't care. And now you know why gods are such jerks. We just want to survive, and we don't care how. We've been alive for billions of years and each one is the same as the last. And when all the mortals die, we do as well. Everything ends, the multiverse is fake and cold once more, yada yada yada. You get the idea."

"Uh...I guess." Tom said, still working all of that through his head.

"Good." The Fire-god said. "Now, I'm going to ask you again. What...ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Ah! God, you don't have to shout!" Tom complained, covering his ears as if that would make a difference. "I'm pretty sure you're inside my head. Stop freaking out."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that I'm a little bit ABSOLUTELY LIVID." The Fire-God growled. "What are you doing exactly? What is your plan here? You've been causing chaos everywhere you've gone. Destroying one of the gates, a plan that I've noticed you've abandoned. Freeing all the prisoners. Tricking "Bren" into healing himself before he sets off on Earth omnicide. What are you doing and why are you screwing everything up?"

"Okay, before you freak out again, I think I should let you know that what I'm doing works out in your favor," Tom explained. "You want "Bren" back under your control, right? Well, my plan will help with that. I need him back because I can't...do other things with this psycho running the show, and you want him back because that same psycho won't listen to you and wants to erase you from existence."

"Explain then." The Fire-god demanded. "And this better be a damn good plan."

"It is, trust me," Tom said, before taking a deep breath. "Okay, so originally, I was going to destroy all the gates and seal all the exits in the castle to create chaos. With no way out, the demons inside would start rioting and no longer listen to Bren as they slowly realized that they were trapped. I got the first gate done pretty quick, but then I had to go to the prison to get to the second one, and that's where things...fell off the rails."

"You mean you let everyone out and started a riot on your own for whatever reason." The Fire-god scoffed. "And by the way, most of those prisoners are still lurking around somewhere, so I'd recommend you keep an eye out. I don't want you dying before you finish this explanation."

"Thank you for your weariness," Tom said sarcastically. "But anyway, I went in there and let them all out because I saw a way that they could help me, and also for the fact that I didn't want to die because of demons like that. I abandoned the gate plan soon after because it was no longer a viable option, and then I set them all free. I stumbled upon Nishum after wandering around for a while...and that's when I came up with my new plan."

"I already know all this." The Fire-god growled. "You're just repetitively repeating the events of the past. Get to the point and explain your plan or I will-"

"I was just about to do that." Tom hissed. "Like I said, we both needed Bren back for our own reasons. And when I saw Nishum, I came up with a way to do it. The first step would be to find "Bren" and convince him to heal himself by killing Nishum. After that's finished, I blast him with a fireball or something to momentarily incapacitate him. He can't hurt me or anything, because of the whole voice activation on the remote and stuff, so there would be nothing I'd have to worry about there. Then step three. I call the prisoners. I shout and I bring them all to where we are, and I tell them to go at "Bren". They get mad, start beating him up, with you keeping him alive with your powers, and just like last time at the hospital, all those people assaulting him should provide a big enough emotional discharge for you to take back control and for the original orange-eyed bastard to come back. There. That's my plan."

"..."

"..."

"...Okay."

"Wait, seriously?" Tom asked incredulously. "You're going along with it? Just like that? I was sure that you were about to yell at me or keep berating me for the plan being so stupid or having such a low chance of success or any of that sort of thing…"

"Oh trust me, I want to." The Fire-god reassured him. "That is one of the worst plans I have ever heard. It does indeed have a low chance of success, as while "Bren" is stupid or just insane enough to fall for most of what you just said, there is no guarantee that I will be able to "take control" again while he is being beaten into a bloody paste."

"Then why are you going along with it?"

"...Because I want to see him be beaten into a bloody paste. For no reason than the fact that it will entertain me after all he has done. And if I can repossess him, then that would be nice also."

"Wha-what he's done?! But didn't he accept your offer to possess him from the start? And...and…" Tom then paused, realizing that he really shouldn't be shouting a gift horse in the mouth. "Okay, you know what, nevermind." He said. "I have a lot of questions concerning that statement, but if you're going along with it and don't have any objections, then I'm not going to start complaining."

"Smart boy."

"Please don't call me-"

"Don't tell me what to do." The Fire-god pouted, almost like a child. "But I suppose that I will be taking my leave now. I have no further obligation to provide you with more information, and you have given me what I want to know, and I have found it to be acceptable. Adieu Thomas Lucitor. And for what it's worth, I wish you luck with your plan. Although I only agree with it because of the entertainment benefits, I will try to regain some sort of control over him. If all else fails, just take the book of Demon Magic spells he has, kill him, which I will allow by the way, I no longer care if he dies or not, and go to the surface. The Underworld might be beyond saving at this point." It sighed. "You know it to be true. Everything ends."

"Excuse me?!" Tom exclaimed, frankly both offended and stunned by the advice the Fire-god gave him. "You...you knew he could...and you never mentioned...and that advice is the worst you could possibly give me, what is wrong with you?! You...you...you're not there anymore, are you?"

A momentary silence followed, answering Tom's question. He shook his hands in rage and then groaned, before glancing forward at "Bren" and Nishum, who were a good twenty feet ahead of him at this point. Conveniently, in the time that conversation took they had just about made it back to "Bren's" room, and Tom's anger switched to mild panic as he realized that soon it would be now or never. The two of them turned and entered the room, Tom jogging slightly to catch up with them. "Bren" went straight for the book that was located on a shelf, covered with a thick layer of dust a few thousand years in the making. He blew on it and it all flew off, and instantly the cover of the book became visible.

All three of them peered down on it in curiosity, with "Bren" frowning deeply, Nishum looking like an intrigued child, and Tom having a weary expression on his face. The cover of the book was a deep red in color, with several symbols etched into it that resembled Norse runes. Tom didn't have the foggiest idea what any of them said, which alerted him to the fact that the manuscript was probably much older than it looked. On the spine were more symbols, although there was one he recognized. It was a straight line with another, shorter line crossing through it.

"Nauthiz…" He whispered, almost on instinct. He only remembered it because of his father, who had a collection of books with similar symbols. For some reason, that one had caught his eye, and he had asked what it meant. His father gave him the name, but not the meaning behind it.

The book in question his father had was apparently about how the suffering of sentient beings was an inevitable truth, so Tom suddenly felt an urge to hide behind a pillar the second "Bren" opened this book. Demon Magic books were like mystery boxes. You knew what you wanted, and what you were looking for, but in the end, you were never quite sure as to what you were going to get. It could burst into flames, start speaking an ancient tongue, or melt your face off with a beam of light if you so much as looked at a page the wrong way.

Or it could just be a regular book with no magic powers. Who knows.

But "Bren" obviously didn't care about the risks, casually setting the book down on a table and flipping it open to the front cover. Tom winced and stepped back, and once he confirmed with a quick glance that nothing appeared to be off, he moved forward again to help with the healing ritual. And to help "Bren" find the correct page in the first place.

"Are you sure this is what we should do Tom?" He asked. "Your plan is a good one, but if we're going to take over and then kill the world, I personally think it'd be more...intimidating for the leader of said conquest and slaughter to look like this. A true monster that can't die."

"Well…" Tom started. "That's an interesting idea, but I think we should stick with this. Besides, why not let them find out you can't die in the middle of battle? Say someone stabs you in the heart with a sword. It will be a lot more entertaining if you casually pop it out and smile or something."

"That...does sound like it could be fun." "Bren" admitted, before starting to flip through the book. "Very well. Guard the doorway then. That prison riot is still going on after all, and I'd rather not have any of those bottom-feeders interrupt this ritual."

"Understood," Tom said, walking backwards towards the door. He briefly glanced around the corner once reached it and saw exactly what "Bren" had feared: A group composed of about ten of the escaped convicts, covered in blood, and Tom couldn't tell how much of it was their own and how much belonged to other people. But once they spotted him, clear confusion plastered itself on their faces, and they started to approach.

"No. Don't." Tom mouthed, causing them to halt. "Not yet. If you really want revenge for what Bren has done to you, wait there until I give you a signal. He's in here, but you have to wait."

"Why?" One of them mouthed back. "If "Bren" is in that room, then I think It'd be in your best interest to get out of our way. Finally, he will get what's coming to him for locking us away like that. And we will kill anyone who tries to stop us."

"I know," Tom replied, wetting his lips in nervousness. "But please just wait. I promise that it will be more satisfying that way."

The prisoners all exchanged glances for a moment, as if silently communicating with each other, before the one at the front of the group slowly nodded. Tom breathed a sigh of relief and then turned back to "Bren", who was reading over a page that Tom couldn't see any part of.

"Here it is." He announced, holding up the tome. "According to the spell, I need to draw a specific symbol in the ground with several of these runes inscribed inside it with the blood of a slaughtered and helpless demon, and then stand in said circle." He shrugged and set the book down again. "Seems simple enough."

"It would seem that way," Nishum said, still clueless as ever. "So how do we go about that? Are we going to have Tom drag one of the prisoners over here? Sacrifice them and heal you? And then I'll draw that circle for you?" He shifted in place, eagerly awaiting the answers to his many questions. "That is what you brought me here for, yes?"

"Yeah…" "Bren" said, before looking at one of his fingers. With a sharp tug, he ripped off the remaining skin and muscle off the end of it, revealing a long and jagged piece of bone. Nishum gasped slightly at this macabre act, looking at "Bren" like he was crazy.

"Um, what are you-" He started, but by then it was already too late. "Bren" drew his hand back and quickly slashed Nishum across the throat with it, his fingerbone/makeshift dagger cutting it open in less than a second. Nishum only had time to widen his eyes and gasp for the final time as he fell to his knees, blood pouring out like a river. Tom looked away from the scene, feeling slightly sorry for Nishum. Even if he had supported "Bren" to the end, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty for his death.

But if "Bren" felt any guilt from this murder, he didn't show it, and calmly waited as Nishum bled out on the floor next to him, reaching out for the person he had obeyed so obediently.

"It's okay." "Bren" said. "You should be happy...um…"

"Nishum," Tom said, mentally facepalming.

"Right. Nishum. You should be happy." "Bren" repeated. "From what I've seen, you always wanted to serve me. You wanted change. You wanted to get rid of the Lucitors. And when I came along you got your chance. And now you can die knowing this. Your sacrifice will be of great use to me in the future. Let that be the last thought that passes through your mind. For your hard work and deed, I grant you my permission to die happy."

'Jeez.' Tom thought, as Nishum finally went still. 'I think that's the first time since his eyes turned green that he actually sounded like Bren. Does killing people just make him more composed or something? Because if so, then that's...intriguingly disturbing.'

As Tom continued thinking to himself, "Bren" sighed as Nishum because a corpse, his neck still dozing copious amounts of grey blood. He then glanced at the book and started dragging the corpse over to the center of the room, before walking over to one of the shelves and grabbing a brush-like instrument, no doubt something his predecessor/successor had placed there in case of a situation like this.

"You know something, Lucitor?" He asked, making Tom snap to attention. "I think this is the first time in years where I've felt something that wasn't hate." "Bren" started slathering the blood all over the brush as he spoke, occasionally glancing back towards the book to check that he was getting everything right. "I wasn't a happy kid, as I'm sure you've guessed. Not many friends in the plains of fire. Of course, there weren't many opportunities to make friends…"

'Annnnnnd there is it.' Tom thought, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. 'I was wondering when he was going to get into a backstory monologue. I figured that it was inevitable, considering the kind of person he is. Desperate for attention, maybe. He wants to be remembered. Although considering that he's trying to kill everyone…' He sighed and looked away, his own thoughts making him feel bored. 'Oh, forget it. I'll just listen to his little story for now. Maybe there's something in there that I can use against him if…when the Fire-god takes control again.'

"...But I coped." "Bren" continued. "You see, religion was our culture in my dimension. The religion dedicated to the Fire-god. All the so-called "elders", who I'm sure were nothing but senile old men, spoke of a time where the entire dimension fell into darkness, but the Fire-god raised us back into the light. It was cheesy as all hell, but it was a story told to us almost weekly. To make us remember what he did for us and why we should praise him. I hated it."

"Bren" grit what remained of his teeth as he began painting a circle on the ground, using such a nonchalant tone that one would assume he was shopping for groceries. After the circle had been completed, he inspected it for a second, the same way a teacher might inspect an answer on a test.

"Because I began thinking to myself." He said. "Why should I praise this being? Why should I have anything to do with them? I don't see them. "Do you see them?", I asked the elders. I wanted to know what their answer was so badly, Thomas. I had waited days for a proper chance to talk to them, to get time to ask just one question, and what I did when the chance finally came...was to challenge their thinking." "Bren" wet his lips and chuckled softly. "They weren't happy about that one. But the answer did satisfy me. Because they didn't have one. Their god of fire wasn't in front of them, patting them on the heads for doing a good job of worshipping him."

He suddenly flicked the brush over towards Tom, causing some blood to splash across his cheek. He flinched at the sudden spray, and glanced at "Bren" like he had just murdered an entire litter of puppies right in front of him. (So, shocked, but not that shocked.) He then gulped before wiping the blood off his face, frowning as he heard a chuckle from the prisoners once they realized what had happened.

"Sorry." "Bren" said. "I saw you spacing out. I had to make sure you were paying attention. But back to my story, that was when my disdain for following this person that I had never even seen in my entire life went public. People started hating and shunning me for it. I thought it was completely justified. They said I had to have faith. I told them that once their precious god came down here and yelled "WORSHIP ME" to my face, I'd start to consider it. They were a bunch of brainwashed freaks. Blindly following whatever the elders said, and they themselves blindly followed the books, one of which…" He turned towards the spellbook and shook his head. "Was that one over there."

"Why didn't they just show you Demon Magic then?" Tom asked, his earlier attitude of frustration gone and replaced with minor genuine curiosity. Mostly because he was bored out of his mind, but also due to the fact that he hadn't expected "Bren" to be one to hate the Fire-god from the very start. "Bren" glanced at Tom like he had just insulted him, before shaking slightly as if a cold breeze had just passed by.

"They believed that it was...unnecessary." He replied. "Like I said. They told me that all I needed was faith and faith alone. They didn't want to show me actual proof because that would be breaking their word, even though if they had...I would have joined their little cult right on the spot. They were fully capable of casting the necessary spells. They just...refused."

"I thought elders were supposed to be wise." Tom snarked. "But you're making it sound like they were just lazy at their job and didn't want anything to do with you."

"I'm sure those things were true as well." "Bren" said. "When they discovered that nothing short of seeing the god himself or showing me the spells would convince me to turn to their side, they gave up. It was the first and only time anyone in our dimension had ever refused to follow that religion of the Fire-god."

"Something before you go on…" Tom mumbled. "If you hated your local religion so much, then why did you praise the Fire-god so much? You were practically ecstatic anytime he was so much as mentioned."

"I was possessed, remember?" "Bren" said. "There were definitely parts of me in there, the main driving personality, but the influence of that ego-driven fool always managed to take hold whenever I started getting "ideas" that he didn't like. And I did eventually start worshipping him. Once I discovered that he was indeed real, at the very end of it all, I did exactly what those elders had wanted me to all this time. It was just that easy. Appeared in the sky, explained the situation, and I believed in him. Of course, now I realize that if he had done that earlier, then none of this would have happened. I understand him a great deal...but I never truly understood why he waited until then to show himself to me."

"Getting the feeling that he planned this all out from the start…" Tom whispered to himself. "Although if that's true, then he's the real bad guy here, isn't he? Guess that's all we've been reduced to. Pawns in the game of a god…"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," Tom said. "Continue with your story."

"...Very well." "Bren" said. "And so I was left alone. Nobody wanted anything to do with me. Again, they saw me as a heretic. They threw things at me on the street. They mocked and cursed because I didn't follow their pathetic little religion. I made an argument to those who would listen, told them that if the Fire-god is real, then he should show himself to us to prove it, but in the end, they turned away. They didn't like the idea of their entire culture being nothing but fraudulent. Because that's what happening when it comes to things like this. They don't like the answer they're given, and so they refused to believe any of it."

"And let me guess," Tom said. "This is the part where you killed a bunch of people? Because they threw things at you for not following their religion?"

"Oh no, that came later. And it was for an entirely different reason." "Bren" said. "But soon, I was nothing more than an outcast. The only people left that wanted anything to do with me was my family. And even then they treated me like I was diseased. I stayed in my room all day because I didn't want to see their stares, or hear their words of how I should reconsider joining the church in the most obnoxious tone possible. They said it with anticipation and kindness in their voice, although underneath it I could hear anger and disappointment. The twin villains of my early life."

Tom didn't say anything but nodded along to this, knowing exactly the kind of tone that "Bren" was talking about. It was the same one his father used when he was much younger, when he didn't want to go to balls or parties or all the other Royals duties. He'd rather stay home and torture his servants with fire. But his father always had a way of making him go, and it was his voice. The same one "Bren" had just described. Kind and understanding on the top, but underneath it was such a grave level of disappointment that it'd make any person feel like they had just been punched in the face. And since disappointing his parents was the last thing young Tom had wanted, he always gave in in the end. Eventually, he stopped arguing and just went along with them without any hint of rebellion, knowing that even if he tried his father would just get him to go eventually.

Tom then suddenly felt ill as he thought about this, disgusted with the fact that he had basically just compared himself to "Bren" of all people. He shook his head and looked back to the prisoners, who were growing restless.

"But as you mentioned…" "Bren" continued. "This is the point where I finally lost it. You see, "Bren" is not my real name. Early on I told Mina and a few others that it was merely a nickname, a shorter version of my real name. A lie, of course. My real name…" He looked away and grimaced. "...Is something else. But I decided that I wanted to go by "Bren". Because if my family didn't accept the old me, then maybe they'd accept the new one. A new name. A new person. They don't even have to acknowledge how the old one turned away from their religion. Because this new one hadn't believed in it in the first place. And I thought that maybe I could change their views as well. Make them see the truth. Make them stop believing in this little charade of lies that the elders were feeding us day after day, night after night, for our entire worthless lives." He sighed sadly. "Obviously...they didn't go for it. They told me that while I was allowed to choose my own path in life, changing my name, my identity, was something they could never allow."

"Sucks that you weren't on Earth." Tom snarked, not sure if his interest in this story was real or faked anymore. "All you need to do that is a stack of bills and a quick walk to a government building. Then boom, new legal name."

"Yes, I was quite impressed upon learning about this." "Bren" said. "I believe it is the only part of Earth culture that the...orange-eyed fool truly liked. You can become someone else in mere minutes. It's a shame that no other dimension had those same rules. But then again, most people in other dimensions are brainwashed and told never to become a new person, so…"

"I've never heard of anything like that."

"Well, you live in the Underworld. Literally Hell to the people above. Unless you're a Royal, nobody gives a crap what you do down here. Give yourself a new name, a new gender, it doesn't matter to them. As long as it doesn't interfere with their business."

"That is...surprisingly accurate," Tom admitted, recalling all the times he had seen demons doing some of the most profane things in public and everyone just passing by like it was the norm.

"Every time." "Bren" said, before clearing his throat and continuing. "So, they kept calling me by my fake name. The one I no longer wanted. I pleaded with them countless times. I begged them to call me Bren. But they refused. And after about...I don't know, forty? Fifty tries? Something like that…" He mumbled. "I finally realized that they were never going to understand. The brainwashing had consumed them entirely. They were too obsessed with the rules of the elders and their society to even consider accepting a new name from me. Because once a person fully accepts something, they can never look back. And they had accepted it since birth. So I did what I had to do. While they slept, I cut their throats as revenge. One by one, watching them slowly bleed out each time. I had restrained their arms and legs beforehand of course, but I could still see their faces perfectly. Pleading, terrified, and with some other emotion mixed it. I think it was either guilt or betrayal. To this day, I'm still not sure which."

"..."

"..."

"...You killed your entire family…" Tom started, his mouth hanging open. "...Because they refused to call you Bren?! If they were never going to understand, why didn't you just run away? Why'd you have to murder them?"

"Why did you care?" "Bren" asked. "You're a demon. Like I said, literally Hell. You've had to have seen things ten times worse than what I've described, nevermind the stories you've probably been told."

"That's not the point," Tom said. "The point is that I think you overreacted and-"

"Careful…" "Bren" growled, snatching the remote off the table and reminding Tom that he was still a prisoner under him. "I've been entertaining your comments for some time, mostly because they're...entertaining, but don't get too comfortable. I know you still hate doing this. I can't imagine how much it must suck for a prince of the Underworld to be forced into slavery because of a little button."

"I've gotten used to it." Tom seethed, so tempted to tell "Bren" that he knew he couldn't operate the remote that his hands were shaking from it. "But let's not ruin the mood that your story's created. We can talk about this after you heal yourself."

"A novel idea." "Bren" said. "Because I do think we have a lot to discuss. I think I'm going to need more leverage. We're invading the entire Earth, and it's going to be fun ordering you to do things that most demons only have nightmares about."

'...God, can you get any more corny and cliche?' Tom thought, narrowing his eyes out of boredom. 'At least that's one thing this one and his counterpart have in common. They both think killing large amounts of people in tornadoes of blood is cool or whatever. It's really not, Bren! It lost its flavor with Mina! At least then it was actually interesting to watch.'

"Now, back to my story like you said." "Bren" sighed. "So I killed my family. I did it because they didn't accept the new me. I did it because they would never accept that person. But you already know that. But what happened after…" He shook his head and smiled lightly. "I started going down the line. First all the elders. Then the ones who threw things at me in the streets. Then everyone else who had tried to convince me to join their little club. I remembered their faces, where they lived, and how to get into their homes. You see, I had planned it all out from the...sorta start. I made sure to kill my family during the week of Agnej, which was a holiday in my dimension."

"What was it celebrating?"

"Something about an artifact that had the word "Agnej" in its name. Apparently, it was given to us by the Fire-god as a gift, but it was always kept under lock and key, where nobody was allowed to see it. It's gone now. It was destroyed when my dimension was, if it ever existed."

Tom put a hand to his chin and glanced at the spellbook on the table. "That sounds familiar for some reason…"

"Doesn't matter now." "Bren" said. "But like I was going on about, during that week nobody is expected to leave their homes. Which meant nobody would be checking up in my family. Which meant I could come and go as I pleased, killing anyone I wanted, with no chance of being caught as long as I did it carefully."

"So you just killed everyone then?" Tom asked. "The entire dimension?"

"I would have liked to…" "Bren" scoffed. "But unfortunately, someone named Star Butterfly ruined that for me. She destroyed my dimension. Took away what should have been mine. I wanted to kill the ones who had ruined my life, and she took that opportunity away from me! And so….I'm sure you can guess what happened next." He said softly. "The Plains of Fire started to fall apart. I saw everything dying around me, and only wished to take revenge on the person that had stolen my chance. Then the God of Fire appeared and offered that revenge to me. I accepted, and you know the rest…"

"Hold on," Tom said. "The possessed version of you claimed that you hated Butterfly because she destroyed your dimension and killed everyone you knew. He claimed he was doing this because he cared about them. But now you're spouting off about how your reasons for wanting to destroy Earthni is because Star killed your dimension before you could?!" He asked incredulously. "I...I'm not even sure what to make of that. I mean, I suspected that there was more to it, but I didn't know anything about this."

"Technically, "I" hadn't been lying." "Bren" said. "I told them I got mad because she blew up my dimension and its inhabitants. I just failed to mention the part that I wanted to kill them first. Same reason, different perspectives. I let their minds fill in the blanks. They can believe that they want to believe, doesn't matter to me in the end." He straightened himself and stepped away from the now complete circle. "And look at that. Perfect timing. The circle is finished."

'You crazy…' Tom thought, before shaking his head. 'No. Forget about that story for now. This is it. The second he heals, I'll call the prisoners over so they can beat the crap out of him. Hopefully, the Fire-god is on standby. I'll only have one shot at this, and afterwards…' He took a deep breath as "Bren" grabbed the book and headed towards the circle with it. '...I'll have to convince the orange-eyed one that I was doing all this to help him. As for the gates...yeah. Given up on that. Which sucks. I was really looking forward to carrying out the rest of that plan.'

"Alright. Stay there, Lucitor, and remember to not interfere." "Bren" said, standing in the middle of the circle and squinting at the page. "Now let's see here…" He looked down and placed his legs in two of the smaller circles that were contained inside the larger ones, dozens of the odd Norse-esque runes inside them. Once he did this, the circle started to glow a dull red, except for the runes, which shined in every color of the rainbow, like a wheel of colors brought to life. "Bren" glanced down at the runes nervously, before turning back to the book.

"Confervo…" He started, placing the book on the ground in front of him. "Sānāberis...ossium…"

Instantly, several loud cracking sounds came from "Bren's" body, and Tom watched in amazement as he saw his bones mending themselves, the broken pieces being forced back together and the missing ones appearing out of thin air. "Bren" grit his teeth in agony but continued reading, hardly even pausing.

"Sānāberis…" He said. "Incarnationem…"

As he said this, the circle glowed even more brightly, and "Bren" fell to his knees as the countless split and missing skin that ran across his entire body began sealing itself up. The chunks of flesh that were missing altogether shared the same fate as the vacant pieces of bones, forming out of nothing and covering everything up. This went on for about thirty seconds, until "Bren's" body looked exactly how it did before, with no injuries or outward signs of distress visible. Except for an unusual paleness, which Tom paid no mind as he tensed up and prepared to call the prisoners over.

"One more…" "Bren" gasped, causing Tom to stop short. "Sānāberis...sanguis!"

At this, Tom thought he heard a sound that was like the rushing of water, and "Bren's" paleness vanished from the feet up as the demon realized that he was filling himself back up with blood, something that he had been lacking for a good half-hour. Once the effect reached his head, "Bren" finally fell to his knees again and lay there panting, before arching upwards and grinning.

"It is done." He said, while Tom silently motioned for the prisoners to approach with his hand. "And now, Lucitor, it's time. I have healed myself as you suggested. It is time we invade the surface, and take revenge on the Fire-god."

"Yeah...about that," Tom said. "You know, while I think I actually prefer you to the one with orange eyes, and that story was actually really interesting, I'm going to have to say no. And by no, I mean hell no."

"What?" "Bren" seethed. "Have you already forgotten? I can go over there and grab the remote. Order the deaths of your family and-"

"No, you can't," Tom said. "I figured it out. You can't activate the remote. Only the possessed version of you can. Which excludes you from the equation. There's not a single thing you can do to me, but…" He cracked his knuckles and took a step forward. "...there is so much I want to do to you."

For a moment, fear flicked over "Bren's" eyes, and he stepped out of the circle away from Tom. But a moment later, he stopped and chuckled to himself, before looking the demon directly in the eye.

"Alright then." He said, outspreading his arms. "Come on. Kill me. Do whatever you want. But know this. When I die, the Underworld will fall into chaos. Ever since I came here, it had been split in two. A civil war like that will doom your entire species. So go right ahead, Thomas. But do it knowing that you're murdering all of demon-kind in the process."

"Well, here's the thing about that," Tom said. "As much as I'd love to beat the absolute hell out of you...I'm not going to do that."

"Ah." "Bren" said. "So you are not as insane as I had thought-"

"They are." Tom interjected, making "Bren" tilt his head at the demon. But before he could do anything else, a sudden swarm of demons flowed into the room, shouting and shrieking at the top of their lungs like a bunch of maniacs.

"KILL HIM!" One of them screeched, and without waiting another moment, the entire group charged "Bren" and tackled him to the ground. And then it was the same formula as before. Just like how it had been with the knights, the prisoners began beating on him with every ounce of their strength, and this time "Bren's" skin wasn't as hard as stone, he had no super strength to defend himself with, and Tom was standing by and watching the whole thing with glee. It was a brutal one-sided massacre, and every person there was enjoying it save for one.

But Tom knew that he had to be careful. He couldn't let this go on forever. If the Fire-god was in position to do his thing, then he needed to be ready to open a portal around the whole group and burn them to ash. A portal that would transport Bren a few inches to the right, providing no consequences for himself but plenty for the prisoners. He just had to wait for the right moment…

"Now!" One of them yelled, stepping back slightly. "We have broken his bones and snapped his skin. Time to finish it! Help me tear his limbs right off his body!" He shouted, leading to an enthusiastic whoop from the other inmates. Tom realized that now would be a good time to take action, and he stepped forward and began raising his arms.

"I'll get his right leg! And you...huh?" The lead inmate started, before he noticed Tom approaching and readying himself to summon a portal. His eyes widened and his lips curled into a thin scowl, before he spoke for the final time. "You traitorous little-"

Too late. Before another word could leave his mouth, Tom thrust his arms upwards, and immediately a giant pillar of flame erupted from the floor, consuming all present. The prisoners let it a primal scream as they were brutally turned to ash, their outlines flashing against the flames before vanishing entirely. A second later the only sounds heard were the fire itself, and Tom let his arms fall back to his sides as the pillar vanished and revealed "Bren" laying there, unmoving and as mangled and hurt as before.

Tom sighed and approached him, praying to the Fire-god that he had managed to take back control. Once he got close enough, he saw "Bren's" eyes twitch open, and was greatly disappointed to see that they were still green.

At least, at first glance. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that they were rather flashing between green and orange, like a pair of traffic lights. "Bren" coughed weakly and glanced up at Tom before chuckling weakly, blue blood pouring out of his mouth along with his laughs.

"...Huh. G-guess that it's then." He said, smiling slightly. "I can already feel it. That annoying and pestersome god...he's trying to take control of me again. Against my will. So much for sending someone up here to restrain me. I'm guessing he had just planned this out the whole time to throw me off the trail. Although I guess that still means he sent someone. Just one I didn't expect."

Tom sighed in relief, realizing that the beating had done the trick and that it wasn't long before things went back to "normal". He kneeled next to "Bren" and smirked at him with such smugness that one might assume he had pulled the greatest trick of all time.

"No, actually." He said. "The Fire-god didn't send me to do anything. This was all me. He just...asked what I was doing at one point and decided to go along with it. I'm sure it was the best chance he had at repossessing you. And besides, I'm sure he was happy that someone else was doing his work for him. From what I heard, the gods are…"

"Lazy." "Bren" finished. "Yes. They are. But they are still greater than any of us. I suppose if I had realized that sooner, this could have been avoided. It's ironic. All my life I refused to believe in him, all my life I was told that I would be punished for my transgressions, and each time they told me that I laughed in their faces. Then I became his one and only disciple. And now...I suppose they're right. I'm never getting the controls back after this. After what I tried to pull. This...is my punishment. The death the elders spoke of. Lying on the ground, they said. In a pool of my own blood, with someone looking down on me, after a failed attempt at Demon Magic." He coughed and sputtered, briefly licking his lips clean before shaking his head. "I suppose that since the prisoners completely undid the spell, it could be considered a failure."

"Yeah…" Tom mumbled, before pushing himself back up. "But you know? You deserve it. You don't want to believe in a religion because they didn't show you any proof? Fine. You have free will. You should be able to believe whatever you want to believe. Heck, I may even say that you're in the right in that regard. But…" Tom scoffed and clenched his fists together. "You killed your family. You tried to commit a genocide of your own race because they refused to follow your own beliefs in yourself. You were the multiverse's biggest hypocrite in that moment, Bren, and now...you're just a murderer. You never accomplished anything in your home dimension that the destruction of magic wouldn't have already caused. You did nothing worthwhile in the past few hours of free rein on Earthni and the Underworld. I'm sure that if you had been in charge since the beginning, you'd have-"

"Screwed it all up before the first day was even over?" "Bren" said, rolling his eyes. "I know. I think deep down I knew that from the very start, and so that's why I let the Fire-god possess me right off the bat once he explained the whole situation. But now...I thought maybe I could do it. Everyone was right where I wanted them. True, I failed even now, but it didn't hurt to try."

"It did," Tom said. "I released the prisoners and they've likely already killed dozens of your followers. You've been beaten to a bloody paste, just like the Fire-god wanted. And me...well, I suppose you haven't hurt me much. Just some empty threats and small talk."

"That's the thing though." "Bren" said. "I respect you more than he ever could. You're a prince of the Underworld. But you still try to do your own thing most of the time. You didn't care about your duties at one point in your life. I respected that. The refusal to follow the rules. To go against the grind. I thought...you were more than a slave. Maybe one I would have even freed you."

"No." Tom disagreed. "You would never have freed me. You were out to kill everyone who believed in the Fire-god, myself included. In the end, you would have tried to kill me just like the rest. Although I'm sure I would have rebelled against you far before that."

"Probably…" "Bren" said, before coughing again. His left eye was now a permanent orange while his right one had reverted back to half-green, half-orange. He smiled again and clenched his fists, hitting the bottom of his lip so hard that it bled. "Tom...I have one final piece of advice for you. We may not have known each other for that long, and you may hate me, but no matter what you do, make sure that the Fire-god pays for what he did by the end of all this."

"And why should I do that…?"

"Because." "Bren" said. "All this is his fault. Ever since the destruction of the Plains of fire, everything that has happened in Earthni is because of him. All the suffering, all the death, it's all linked back to him in some way. We've been doing nothing but acting like puppets on strings, and unless you do something to make sure that this world is free from his influence, you'll remain that way."

"I see…" Tom muttered, before shoving his hands in his pockets. "So...then everything's that's happened in Earthni's history is because of the manipulative powers of this god?"

"Are you kidding?" "Bren" asked, as his right eye went fully orange. "Everything in the history of the multiverse is because they want it to happen...that...way…"

"Bren" then fell silent, almost in a dramatic manner, and that same silence fell over the entire room. Tom waited for a few seconds before looking left to right, and was about to open his mouth when-

"Ow." Bren said, and just from that one word, Tom knew that he was back to his "old" self. He stepped back nervously and placed his hands behind his back, hoping that the Fire-god would still be grateful after doing this for him. Bren then groaned and got to his feet, looking quite disappointed at the fact that he was still quite injured. His eyes then settled on Tom and he frowned deeply, like the demon boy was the last person he wanted to see at the moment.

"Lucitor." He said.

"You," Tom replied, before turning around and lifting his head. "Well, you're welcome. I got you back in his body and you're free to carry on with your plans of whatever. I don't expect a thank you, but...no, wait, I do. Talk to me again. I want to hear it. After all that, I want to hear."

"What the...who are you talking to?" Bren asked, looking genuinely confused. "Are you ignoring me?"

"One minute," Tom said, putting his hand up. "Well? Where's that thank you? After all I did, you-"

A sharp whistle from behind Tom caught his attention, and he turned to see Bren holding the remote, his finger hovering over the button, a sight he had once dreaded but was now quite used to.

"I don't know what you're doing…" He started. "But I remember what just happened. And while I am the tiniest bit grateful that you brought me back into the light, that doesn't mean you get any special privileges, Lucitor. Nothing has changed. You don't get to go off doing whatever you want, or anything like that. Which includes talking without permission, or quite frankly talking at all. You-"

"Oh, give me a fucking break!" Tom swore, finally losing his temper. "You're the tiniest bit grateful? Are you kidding me?! I know that even when you're "possessed", you and the Fire-god are still different people, but even so, you should know just how much I risked and how much I accomplished so I could get to this point! Don't start that crap again after what I just did for you!"

Bren stared at the demon in surprise, no doubt shocked by his sudden rebellious nature, and his finger moved away from the device, intrigue over what he was going to say next clouding all other thoughts.

"Sneaking away from that green-eyed fool." Tom began listing. "Breaking into the dungeon to release the prisoners. Getting them all out. Searching the castle and finding Nishum. Bringing him back here while convincing that same green-eyed idiot that I wasn't planning anything bad. Talking to the Fire-god and making him agree with my plan. Having to listen to that story, which admittedly was pretty interesting. And then having to kill all those prisoners. All this just to bring you back." He stopped for a moment and caught his breath, before powering on again, still as angry as ever. "And now when you're back? When I completed my mission and did my duty to you, were you grateful? No! You're just-"

"Thank you." Bren sighed.

"..."

"..."

"...What?"

"Thank you, even though I'm sure that I'm not the one you wanted a thank you from." He repeated, before setting the remote down on the table. "I know just how much you despise me, Thomas. The constant glares you give me behind my back are proof enough of that. I'm sure you've never hated anyone in your life as much as me. But still, because you were worried about what would happen to the Underworld, that my death would cause it to spiral into a civil war, you actually sacrificed a great many things just to bring me back to this body. And so… I thank you for that. You're still going to hate me and want to kill me. And I still hate you. But just this once...thanks."

"You…" Tom started. "You know I was doing this only for-"

"An idiot could see it," Bren said. "What, you really think I believe that you were doing this for me? Hell no." He chuckled. "I'm sure you ran off in the first place to sabotage everything. Isn't that right?"

"What...I…"

"Yeah. It is." Bren said. "Now, if you could be so kind, go off and kill the rest of the inmates, and bring another useless person here so I can heal myself. Again. And don't try anything like you did an hour ago. I'll be watching. Don't ask how, but I will."

"..."

"Now," Bren growled, returning to his demanding self in a second. Tom reared back slightly from this before submitting to this. He turned around and was about to leave, but couldn't stop himself from asking one last question.

"Your backstory…" He started. "About how you killed your family. Is that true, or just something the insane one made up?"

"...It's the truth." Bren said, after some hesitation. "Although personally, I wouldn't have killed them. There would be no point." He turned around. "No-"

But by then, Tom had already left, and Bren paused before sighing again.

"Alright." He said.

"I think it's time we go to phase two."

End chapter 23

A/N: Yeesh, what a chapter. A mess, as usual. We got shown the problems occurring at the Temple, the utterly useless note that "Bren" left there for no reason other than the fact that he wanted to (like most things he did), finally a few riots that have been talked about, Eclipsa's sleeping problems, a few more insights on how life in the Underworld is with Bren around, and a nice little thank you. And those two still despise each other. This little incident changes nothing.

Mostly.

But next chapter we'll be going back to Janna and what she's going to do with that finger she took from the parking lot, as well as a few moments from Star and Marco. Maybe a little visit.

Until...next time.