Argus yawned as he sat in the clearing and used his sight to peer far off into the distance. There had been a group of waterfolk women playing around on the beach earlier, but they'd retreated back towards the kingdom a while ago. So now he had pretty much nothing to do.

Well, nothing to do but say here and sustain the spell Branch and Kruger had conjured up. It had honestly been fine by him. Keeping it sustained wasn't much of a difficult task for him, and it meant he got to sit here and relax a bit. He just wished he had a view to take in while he did. "Taking it easy again, huh Argus?"

Argus looked over and saw Glossaryck floating nearby. He smiled as he sat up and looked towards the smaller being. "Well, if it isn't Glossaryck. I was wondering when you would come crawling out of your hiding spot. How have you been, little brother?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Glossaryck smiled right back at him. "Oh, nothing much. Going here and there, trying to keep the kids in line, keep the stress down. Not really working too well on that last one. Things are pretty busy in my stomping grounds. You and your have caused quite a bit of buzz after all," he said shrugging. "But what about you? How you feeling big bro? It's been what, over two thousands years? You don't look like you'd aged a decade though."

Argus laughed. "I'd be pretty pissed if I did. Your children don't tend to get a lot of things right, so I was worried they would screw something up with the spell," he said as he began picking his ear. "I have to say though, I didn't think I'd be locked up for that long. And I certainly didn't think I'd wake up to a world like this."

Glossaryck rubbed his beard. "Really now? You didn't think with your boys gone it would turn out like this? Ty and Py were sort of the lynch pin for monster kind," he said.

"True, but with how bumbling mewmanity is, and being lead by those children of yours, I assumed that they would stumble themselves far more than this along the way. No matter though. We're awake and ready to course correct," Argus said flicking the bit of earwax he'd pulled out away. "I assume you're going to be standing on the sidelines again doing this little back and forth? You always were one to throw your children out to fend for themselves."

Glossaryck scoffed. "Excuse me. I know I'm not the perfect father, but what I do I do to make sure my children are capable of-"

"When's the last time you talked to them face ot face?"

"...it's been a couple of months I think?"

"You fucking deadbeat."

Glossaryck sighed. "You always judge me simply because I don't coddle them. They have to learn how to do things on their own. Holding their hands for them will only result in their downfall. You saw what happened when you and yours vanished." Every time he and his brother had this conversation about parenting, things ended up like this.

Argus clicked his tongue. "You've seen what happens when they are here though. They thrive. And now they're back. Can you honestly say your children will be able to hold up in the coming conflict?" Argus asked.

"Well, they have some help from quite a few of yours," Glossaryck pointed out.

"Oh, I'm aware," Argus said simply. "Either way, my children will come out on top."

"You have a very grim way of looking at things sometimes, you know that right?"

"Well, it might seem that way from your point of view. But don't forget, my eye can see quite a fair bit more clearly than you," Argus said. "I already know how this is going to play out… for the most part anyway. Sit back and watch how proper parenting is done."

Glossaryck rolled his eyes. His brother could be such a braggart… but he had to admit, he tended to have a certain sixth sense about these things. "I suppose we're just going to have to watch and find out," he said.

Argus smirked once more. "I'll be doing a bit more than watching. If it comes to it anyway. After all, what sort of father simply sits to the side when his family needs him...?"

Breeze stood before the floating husk that were her parents. They had kept the bodies and souls of the royals in the most secure room of the royal treasure chambers. Her father's face looked so drained of it's usual emotion. He was always boisterous and lively. Like River was. Her mother… she didn't look all that different honestly.

She kept thinking they would just pop up and go back to their usual business, but they kept floating there motionlessly. "They're not waking up." Breeze looked over her shoulder and saw her brother approaching. "Not until we take those pieces of shit down and reverse whatever is keeping their souls apart."

Breeze hummed. "Eclipsa and Corona were working on a way to reverse the spell themselves. There's a chance-"

"Stop banking on other people to fix this. Eclipsa and Corona are some of the smartest fucking people in mewni. If they haven't figured it out by now, they probably aren't going to. At least not before we have to deal with the Ten," Tor said bluntly. Breeze glared towards him. She hated to admit it, but… he might have been right.

Eclipsa and Corona were going to be on the battlefield. They couldn't afford to spend time or resources on fixing this. "We still don't know if defeating them is actually going to reverse the spell," she said.

"Either way, nothing gets done until they go down. So get your head in the game."

Breeze turned towards him, an angry expression on her face. "Do you honestly expect me to just march along like a toy soldier?! To just not feel anything?!" she snapped angrily. "Our parents are vegetables! Don't you feel anything about that right now?! Any anger?! Any sorrow?! Anything at all?!"

Tor was always like this. Every time she lost someone or something happened to her, he told her to just move on. It happened when she lost Sarasim. After every mission gone wrong. He just expected her to… ignore it. "We don't do our best thinking when we're emotionally Breeze, you know that," Tor said, stepping towards her.

"Don't you tell me how-!"

"What would mom say?" Tor asked, glaring down at her. "You know her. She'd tell you to cool your head and think clearly. If you're pissed, then be pissed. But do it later."

"Do it later?!" Breeze asked in disbelief. "I can't just do it later! I lost them!"

Tor loomed over her, looking furious. "We didn't lose them! They're right here! We can still save them!" he said pointing at them. "But we're not going to do that by making mistakes, which you know damn well me and you do when we're like this! So stop sulking over what happened, and focus on how we're going to bring down the Ten!"

Breeze stared off against her brother for a few moments. She hated to admit it, but… when it came to losing their tempers, she and Tor were a lot alike. When they were calm and cool headed, they were on the top of their game. But when they let their emotions get in the way, they tended to slip up. Her mother had lectured her about it quite a few times when she was younger.

She was going to be headed to the Underworld to help the Lucitors and the Fire Nymphs battle whatever forces headed their way. If it was the same ones they dealt with as last time, it'd be Kruger and Kyu. None of the Ten would be easy to deal with of course, and she couldn't afford to underestimate them.

She let out a breath, and then opened her eyes back up. Her face was once again cool, calm, and cadulated. All the energy that had been building up in the form of anger and sorrow was now being redirected to somewhere else. Drive. She needed to think of nothing but bringing down the Ten, and saving their parents.

Like Tor said, her parents could still be saved. She needed to put all of her efforts into that, and that alone. "Don't lecture me," she muttered.

Tor grunted and then turned around and began to leave. "I'm going to head back home and start readying our defenses. Once you're done crushing their forces in the Underworld, report back," he said as he made his way out. Breeze noted that he didn't say if, but when.

As Tor left, another figure appeared in the doorway. Wyot froze when he saw Tor, who glared down at him with disgust. "Oh… uh, hey. I was just-" Tor pushed past him. "Alright then…" That honestly was better than most of the interactions they had in the past. Maybe the guy was starting to warm up to him.

Wyot kept walking and making his way over towards Breeze. She just turned around and was about to head out herself, when she spotted the septarian. "Wyot? What are you doing here?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Well, I saw you go off after we finished planning everything and… I guess I just wanted to make sure you were okay… are you?" He knew how things were between her and her brothers, so there was a good chance she was pretty pissed right now.

Breeze looked at Wyot and then hummed. "You're going back to the septarian kingdom, aren't you?" she asked.

Wyot nodded. "Uh, yeah. But most of our forces are probably gonna be mobilized. We don't think the Ten are really gonna target us. With us not being an official kingdom and all. Astro said we're gonna be back up for- Mmf!" His eyes went wide as Breeze suddenly stepped forward, pressing her lips against his.

Breeze held the kiss for a few moments, and then stepped back. Her expression was still rather stern, but there was a slight blush on her cheeks. "Don't die," she ordered.

Wyot blinked. "Uh… I'll try not to. Are you gonna explain what-"

"We're going up against the most powerful force mewni have ever seen. I don't feel like wasting time being coy. So don't pretend you don't know what that was about," she said, crossing her arms. "Now like I said. Don't die. Don't 'try' not to die. Just don't. I don't intend to lose anyone else important to me."

Wyot smirked. "I'm important to you?"

"Don't you want me to punch you?"

"No, no I'm good," he said holding his hands up. "And sure, I promise I won't die. I'd ask you to promise too but… let's be honest, you don't really need it. And just out of curiosity, when I manage to make it back alive, do I get another kiss?"

Breeze rolled her eyes. "Sure, fine."

"What if I take down one of the Ten?"

"If by some miracle you slay one of the Ten, you'll get far more than a kiss."

Fum felt a number of emotions right now.

One of them was anger. About what the Ten had done to the court, the other kingdoms, and his tribe. His father was apparently in rather rough shape after his bout with Matrona. It didn't look like he was going to meet up with them for the battle. He knew it had been a challenge. It was fair and square. But… he still wanted to confront her.

Not just to avenge his father, but… well… it sounded selfish given everything that was going on, but he wanted to confront a livin legend. Matrona was no less than a deity to giant-kind. Her tales were told to children being tucked into bed. To warriors before duels. To hunters before going off to slay a great beast.

His brothers had all gotten to battle against her, and from what they described she was far too strong for him to have a chance. But even still, there was something in him that was telling him he just had to try.

"Are you okay?"

Fum looked up and saw his brother Fee walking towards him. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm ready to head out when you are," he said standing up. He and the giants were going to go to the Jaggy Kingdom. It was the most likely place they were going to run into Matrona, and they were the only ones who could deal with her wide scale earth magic.

Fee reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "Good to hear. We're gonna need you at your full strength if we're going to stand a chance against Matrona." He, Fi, and Fo had barely even been able to slow her down. And that was with the help of some of the other warriors in the tribes. With Fum however, it would be the four of them working together again. And they just might have been able to pull it off.

Fum rubbed the back of his head. "I'll do my best, but… I'm not sure how much of a difference I'm really gonna make. If you guys couldn't beat her then…"

Fee let out an amused sigh. Fum had so much talent and potential, but he was still just a naive kid when it came down to it. He didn't realize just how much stronger he was. He still looked at his big brothers like… well, like they were stronger than them. He hadn't realized that he'd long since passed them.

"Trust me Fum, with the four of us together we should have a fair shot. If we pull this off we'll be known for taking down a legend… Nalfi is going to be pissed she's not going to be able to join in on the fun," Fee said crossing his arms.

Fum looked confused. "She's not coming?" Nalfi was always one of the first people to rush into a fight. That she would miss this one was strange.

"Well, it took some talking, but I finally got her to agree that it wasn't a good idea for her to be going into battle with her… condition." He gestured towards his stomach, and Fum tilted his head and looked at her confused. "You know… a lady condition."

"She's hungry?" Fum asked.

"She's pregnant Fum…"

Fum's eyes went wide. "What! Seriously?!" he asked shocked.

Fee nodded. "Matrona had a perfect shot to hit her during the fight. Didn't take it. And between what she'd said to her before she took the rest of us out, we thought something was up. We took her to the doctor and… yeah, you're gonna be an uncle soon little brother," he said.

A nervous expression made its way across Fum's face. "Oh man, a baby. That's gonna be a lot of responsibility… I'm not sure I'm prepared to be an uncle! I'm gonna have to take some time off from the Guard to help out," he said.

Fee blinked for a moment, then chuckled. Fum really was a dead ringer for their mother in the personality department. "Don't worry. I'm sure that Fo and Fi will help you pick up the slack. For right now let's just focus on the battle at hand. I want to be able to tell my kid their dad and uncles took down a legend," he said.

Fum beamed. "Yeah, that would be a pretty cool story to tell them!" He turned and began making his way off. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get Vincenza and the others so we can start moving out. Thanks again for helping us with this battle Fee."

Fee shook his head. "You know you don't need to thank me. I wouldn't want to pass up on a battle like this. And helping out Astro and the others is a bonus," he said. It was also probably what Rosetta would have wanted.

As Fum walked off, Fee turned and looked off in the distance. A while ago when he felt the warriors of the dead all waking up, one of them felt… familiar to him. It was quite a ways off, so it was hard to tell, but it was possible they could have brought back someone he knew.

"This is gonna be a hell of a time for the giant brothers to reunite…"

Slick sharpened his spear, a relaxed and almost calm look in his eyes. He was going to be headed back to his kingdom soon with some of the other tribe and guard members. "Are you okay?" Slick looked up and then saw Muddine standing nearby. It was off for her to see her brother like this. Usually before a fight he was so… well, not this.

"I'm fine," he said simply. He really was too. It was odd. Earlier he had been filled with anger and rage. All he wanted to do was find and take down the Ten.

And he still wanted to.

But now the rage and anger was more focused. They had a plan, and as long as he followed it he would get his chance to find one of those bastards and putting a spear through them. He didn't care who it was. He would beat the answers of fixing their parents out of them, and then take the rest of them down after.

"If you say so…" Muddine said wearily. "When are we leaving."

Slick scoffed. "I'm leaving a bit. You're staying right here." Muddine looked at him surprised, and looked like she was going to say something, but he cut her off. "I'm not arguing with you on this. It's an order. You're gonna stay here in the Butterfly castle, and if something goes down you-"

"That's not fair!" Muddine shouted. "I-I should be able to go back home too!"

Slick scowled. "Muddine, we're not just going home to go home. We're going home and getting into a war. There's nothing you can do there that-"

"I can be there for our people!" Muddine said, glaring at him. "Just because I can't fight doesn't mean I shouldn't go! I'm still a part of the royal family! If… if something bad does happen, I want to be there to help in any way I can!"

Slick raised an eyebrow at her. "You serious?"

"I am!" she snapped. "And I know you just want to protect me, but-!"

Slick held his hand up. "Okay, you don't need to give me a damn speech about it. If you wanna go, then go. But if they get to the castle you take the evacuation portal with everyone else. You got it?" he asked.

"I'll make sure to lead everyone to safety."

"That ain't what I said, but whatever."

Muddine smiled towards him, and then Reishi walked over to meet them. "Hey you guys, just wondering… if I take down some ancient zombie or one of the Ten, I'm gonna get paid double right? I mean, it might be a bad time to haggle, but that'd probably be a lot of work," she pointed out.

Slick smirked. "Take a big name down and I'll triple what we're paying you."

Muddine looked at her brother surprised. "What? But we don't even know how much mom and dad were paying her now," she argued.

"Which means we can afford it," Slick said, shrugging. The fact that Reishi stuck around at all was honestly surprising to him. She had her own village to worry about, and if they stayed neutral then the Ten weren't likely to mess with them. "I'm curious. The hell are you still here?" he asked.

Muddine scoffed. "Slick?!"

Reishi hummed and rubbed her chin. "Honestly… I don't know. I guess I could say something cheesy like I've grown to like you guys. But I think it's probably because of the steady paycheck," she said waving her hand.

Slick laughed. "Well, at least you're honest!" he said before standing up. "I don't even blame you. Got to make that money somehow, right? Do me a favor and hang back with Muddine during this whole thing. Just in case," he said.

"Babysitting duty, right," Reishi said, giving a thumbs up.

Muddine frowned. "Hey! You don't need to have someone stay back to watch me. Reishi will be more useful with you on the battlefield," she argued.

"Then if shits hits the fan send her to back me up. Look, you're tagging along and talking about leading people. You need at least one fighter around to back you up," Slick said as he began walking. "Besides, it's not like I need any healing…"

He wasn't worried about getting injured, or anyone even making it to the castle. He damn sure wasn't gonna let it happen. What he was worried about was the fight spilling over towards a certain territory. The Earth Nymphs had made their neutrality clear, and he didn't want to risk dragging them into it.

Bloom was planning on staying out of the fight, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Astro sighed as he finished playing on the last of his armor. He looked around and saw everyone else getting ready to leave too. This had been the largest and most organized force he had ever been a part of. But even with all these bodies, he couldn't help but feel they were the ones at a disadvantage.

"You looked worried."

Astro was snapped from his thoughts when Maria approached him. "Just a bit," he admitted. "Even with all these people, I'm not sure that… wait, why are you in your armor?" he asked suddenly. She was carrying her trident too. "Wait, Maria… no! You can't be serious! You're not going into battle!"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "I most certainly am. We need every fighter available. I won't leave all the fighting up to my brother and the others," she said sternly.

Astro stood up and walked towards her. "Maria, please don't do this," he said, grabbing her shoulders. "This isn't just some rebel or raider force, this is the Ten. You don't know all the stories, you haven't seen-"

"I've seen and fought one of them. I know what we're up against," Maria said glaring. Her and Hody's fight with Scylla was still very clear in her mind. "And it's because of that I'm still going to fight. I'm no match for them, but I still need to try and help. And I have every bit of a right to fight for my kingdom as you do."

Astro hesitated for a moment. Logically, he knew she was right. There were weaker fighters than her getting ready for this battle at this very moment. But… he just couldn't bring himself to be okay with this. "Maria, as king I order you to-"

"Before you finish that, I want to let you know that Hody tried the same thing not ten minutes ago. I want you to guess how that worked out for him," Maria said, a dangerous look in her eyes.

Astro paused, looking worried. This was going to be one of those things that was a no win situation for him. "Maria, just… please be careful," he said, grabbing her shoulders. "I need you to be okay when this is over. Please. I don't want to lose anyone. Promise me you'll be okay. Promise me you won't be reckless."

Maria softed a bit at his expression. He really did seem scared something was going to happen to her. "I'll be fine Astro. I promise… by the way, you telling me not to be reckless is a bit condescending, isn't it?" she asked.

"Then it's karma I suppose. Still, please don't make a habit of it," Astro said, leaning his forehead against her.

Maria hummed before leaning up and giving him a kiss. "No promises. And you should be careful too. Your uncle is… he's dangerous. Don't try to take him on by yourself. Remember, you have no shortage of people willing to fight alongside you. It's all of these people and the loyalty you earned from them that makes you not just a king, but truly strong," she said sincerely.

Astro nodded, and saw Nia approaching from the corner of his eyes. She was dressed in her own set of armor, and had a determined look on her face. "Astro, I'm going into battle," she said sternly.

"I know."

"And you can't stop me."

"I know."

"I know you want to protect me, but I'm strong. Stronger than almost-"

"Nia!" Astro said, cutting her off. "I said I know. I'm not trying to stop you."

Nia paused for a moment, and then her eyes went wide. "Wait, really? Just like that?" she asked. She had been expecting an argument. She had prepared a whole speech and everything.

Astro frowned. "Even if I wanted to stop you, I couldn't. Besides, I can't afford to have you sitting on the sidelines. Like I said, I can't stop Python by myself. But maybe between you and me, we can bring him down. So you're with me," he said.

Nia blinked. "You… you want me to help you fight Python?" For her brother to not only allow her to fight, but ask her to go after the greatest of their enemies. It was something she never ever saw him doing.

Astro nodded. "Yes, I do. Will you help me?""

Nia looked like she was about to tear up for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah! Let's do it! Let's take him down!" she said.

Maria scoffed. "Wait a second! You tried to order me to stay behind, but you're willing to allow Nia along just like that? When did I start becoming the only one you became overprotective off?" she asked, almost offended.

Astro turned towards her and rubbed the back of his head. "To be fair, I watched Nia beat up a god. That in itself is a pretty convincing argument."

"I did fight a god," Nia said proudly. She then noticed the blade sitting at her brother's side. She could tell with a single glance it wasn't a normal sword. There was so much dark magic coming off of it. "Where did you get that?"

Astro looked down at Black Bane, and then hummed. "An old keepsake…"

A/N: Sorry Astro, that crown doesn't carry as much weight when it comes to your girlfriend. The Calamities and the others are all ready to get out there and confront the Ten and their forces! Next chapter the war finally begins! We'll get the start on the conflict, some focus on some more characters, and some battle galore! Hope you guys enjoyed!