The future had been looking bright for Kirby and his rescued friends; a grand total of four fighters and spirits were rescued through the heroes' efforts, and while they still had a way to go, each victory added up to their team's power. But now, Galeem had thrown a huge wrench in their game plan, splitting the fighters up between Mario with Marth, Kirby with Sheik, and the nameless spirit with the Smashville villagers. The spirits had also been split from one another, with Mario and Marth having Eevee in their possession, the Guardian Stalker being stuck along with Kirby and Sheik, and the Smashville villagers having the nameless spirit, the Smoky Progg, and Celeste accompanying them. Making matters worse was that they were all stuck where they were, making the fighting up ahead unavoidable; without time to retreat and rest up properly about half of the group was not particularly prepared for another fight so soon, but it was not to be with the hostile spirits closing in on them.

"Oof… These guys aren't gonna give us a time out eh…?" Mario panted. "That's-a fine, I'mma ready for round tw—" When he stood ready for another fight, he found a hand in front gently telling him to take it easy instead; Marth gave him a soft yet stern look meant to dissuade the man from doing anything reckless.

"You've done a lot for us Mario—both you and Kirby," Marth spoke, "but now it's time for you to take a short rest; you've earned it."

"I mean…if you-a say so, but, there's-a two of them and—"

"I know. However, you have fought in two battles without rest, against myself included, and I know that you do not have much energy left to spare after them. Please, allow me to cover for you this time."

"…Alrighty then. Just-a be careful okay?"

"Will do."

"Oh, and uh, Marth?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"You are most welcome my friend." The two men shared sincere smiles before Marth turned to the Eevee spirit. "Eevee, was it? Could you please lend me your strength?" The pokémon happily agreed and hovered near the hero-king, letting their spiritual tendrils take root and fill Marth up with new power. While it didn't quite measure up to the strength demonstrated by the spirit before him, it was more than enough to give him some staying power. "Hear me fair spirit: I, King Mars Lowell, appear before you not as an enemy but rather as a kindred soul who was once made to do harm by the self-styled "Lord of Light"—Galeem—and as such I beseech you with a final request."

"Do speak sir," the puppet Zelda spoke—the vessel's voice intermixed with that of its host. "You are armed and yet you implore me peacefully; I shall endeavor to listen."

"If there is but a shred of resistance left within you, I must urge you to use that resistance and fight against the control of Galeem, and with our combined might we may yet save our world from the never-ending glare of light that threatens to overtake us. Our worlds rest upon the cusp of change—a change that we may or may not live to see, yet one that will shatter the balance our worlds have between darkness and light. For the sake of not just all we hold dear—but for all that exists under our starry skies and beyond, we must band together hand-in-hand as brothers and sisters in arms and fight against the forces of Galeem. We may yet save all our worlds from a most terrible fate." Being the gentleman he was, Marth extended the arm at his scabbard and held his hand open—an act of inviting peace instead of violence, all while gently smiling at the trapped spirit who had continued to glare at him. After a few moments of silence, the puppet Zelda finally spoke again.

"You are more courageous and courteous than you appear—also a tad more foolish if I must add." Marth simply grinned at the remark; he'd been called many less flattering things before. Still, his eyes did sharpen and his brows did furrow ever so slightly in anticipation of a battle, chuckling in good spirit.

"I suppose that is due to my princely upbringing fair lady. So, I am to take it that we shall do battle?"

"Quite." To her own surprise, the spirit was smiling wide as well through the Zelda puppet she commanded. She was tasked by Galeem to eliminate the traitorous hero-king, but damn it if he wasn't the nicest and most respectful person she had met; perhaps Johnathan could learn a thing or two in manners from the hero-king after the battle was said and done—wherever he was. "If you are to sway me to your cause, then you must defeat me in combat fair king."

"A duel is it? It shall be as you wish, though I must warn you; I shall hold nothing back fair lady."

"Likewise." The princess puppet held her hands together and a blaze sparked to life. The fireball grew bigger and began to encompass the spirit, searing away at the very atmosphere as it expanded and transforming it into something new. Marth, Mario, and Eevee saw this blaze headed for them and braced themselves for the impact, though while Marth, Mario, and Eevee appeared completely unscathed, the others nowhere to be seen when the trio reopened their eyes. Rather than at the end of the crossroad they were at before, Marth realized that they were instead on an altered battlefield that resembled Eldin Bridge. The spirit's hands still burned much like her eyes did in determination.

"Hear me King Mars Lowell; I am Charlotte Aulin—aide to the holy church in service with the House of Belmont, and as an ally to light against the darkness of this world I hereby challenge you to a duel!"

Sheik stared down the metallic menace standing before her, her hand inching ever closer to the eightfold blade sheathed at her waist. Kirby and the Guardian Stalker likewise focused their glares upon the puppet fighter, the Sheikah construct and Kirby in particular finding themselves on high alert against the spirit their trio faced. The Guardian Stalker knew there was something truly malignant about the spirit facing them; it gave off an abnormally intense aura of madness and murder very much like the calamitous Ganon, almost as if the Guardian Stalker was staring right into a mirror—Kirby likewise was having dreadful flashbacks of the rogue, wish-granting supercomputer Star Dream after having its Soul OS program activated. Kirby and the Guardian Stalker cautioned Sheik with great concern against the spirit, and she gave an understanding nod as she fully unsheathed her eightfold blade and brandished it at her foe.

"Kirby, you have not yet fully recovered from your duel with me," Sheik explained. "Allow me to combat our foe while you rest." Kirby knew that Sheik was not going to take no for an answer on the matter, so despite his reservations on her fighting solo for his sake, he relented and allowed her to do as she pleased. Once the Sheikah warrior confirmed herself ready for battle, her metal enemy took a step forward and beckoned the warrior with a laugh. Soon after, the sky was riddled with storm clouds as the metal Sonic puppet fighter made grandiose sweeping gestures with his arms before pointing one to the sky and sending up a great lightning bolt. Moments later, it came back down with fell force and struck the puppet that called it forth, blinding the area in intense light. Sheik shielded herself from the blast, and when it died down she found herself standing in the Windy Hill Zone arena, and more to her surprise was that Kirby and the Guardian spirit was nowhere to be seen, leaving her utterly alone at the hands of her foe. Speaking of whom, the false Sonic stood before her not merely just lightly coated with metal, but rather he was made of metal from head to toe, and a rocket belt was strapped to his back. Even with these changes, his eyes still burned with the malefic light of Galeem's power, and as more of a machine than a manimal they pulsed with a cold killer's intent.

"All living things kneel before your master!" Metal Sonic boldly declared through Sonic's body, staring down at his enemy at the top of the windmill. The way he positioned himself—claws to the sky with a maddened smile on his face—rung Ganondorf-esque bells in Sheik's head, and realizing the exact kind of enemy she faced made her snarl through her scarf, baring her Sheikah's fangs in fierce determination.

"You are but a monster in the guise of machinery—under the thrall of yet another abomination," Sheik spoke. "No matter your transformation, I shall not let you claim victory over me! Shadows take you foul beast!"

Redd Smascevilla stood between the false Wendy with her R.O.B. lackeys and the vulnerable spirits of three, not wanting to lose his new friends to Galeem's puppets. Though he honestly wasn't a true fighter in the sense of martial arts, he had perfected his unique craft nonetheless and swore to put it to good use against the hostile spirits of the world. Seeing his sheer will to protect such flimsy looking spirits made Tron Bonne laugh through her new body, not taking him the least bit serious compared to the likes of Mega Man Volnutt.

"Oh~hohoho~! What, some shrimpy kid of a mayor thinks he can take me and my servbots?" Tron Bonne. "Please; once I waste you and take those spirits off your hands, Galeem's bound to grant me a huge bonus over those other losers! Maybe he'll even let me keep some of the loot for myself, heheheh…" Redd knew just what type of person he was dealing with: a pirate. This meant that Tron Bonne was probably more likely to pilfer his pockets in the midst of battle and high-tail it out of there with the spirits in tow, and that wasn't if she didn't just shake him down after beating him into the ground, so he had to be on his best guard.

"Don't you worry dearie," Celeste said to the boy. "We'll be right with you giving our full support, isn't that right fellas?" The Smoky Progg and Nameless Spirit bobbed their bodies in agreement, and in a flash all three spirits flew inside of the village boy's body. The sensation surprised him for a bit, and he quickly welcomed this new power coursing through him no matter how small it felt for the time being; his other villager friends could feel it too, and with their encouragement Redd turned to glare at Tron Bonne as best he could, warning her that she was in for a fight she would not win; all she did was scoff in response, arms folded at the lack of being impressed.

"Ooh, you've got a spirit empowering you now; I'm so scared…! Pffft, yeah right bumpkin brat. You wanna look remotely intimidating? Ditch the tee, please; it makes you look like a random convention lurker." Redd really didn't like being talked down on the basis of his humble village beginnings, and he could tell the others were upset by Tron Bonne's remarks too. Slowly he felt his hand inch close to the lumberjack's axe stashed in his pocket, clenching and unclenching his fist while fighting the urge to go full "Killager" on the brat. "Aw, am I making you upset? Sorry kiddo, it's not my fault you don't have thick enough skin. Bet'cha they didn't teach you how to grow a spine back in the backwater woodlands huh?"

'…!' The spirit felt Redd's will to kill Tron Bonne bubbling up at an alarming rate until it spilled over, the last restraints the boy had snapping like a twig as he instead yanked out his survival hatchet and blindly bolted at Tron Bonne with a decapitating swing. He missed of course, with Tron Bonne ducking into her mech and blowing a raspberry at him before disappearing into the shining clouds. His violent persona taking over, the villager gave chase.

When Redd finally made it through the clouds, he found himself in a completely different area than where he thought he would be, standing near the edge of Wuhu Island's Talon Rock. Waiting for him at the other side was Tron Bonne and her servbots, thumbing her nose down at the boy.

"Took you long enough," she scoffed. "And here I could have been prettying myself up for when I whoop you and deliver you and your loot to Captain Galeem." Redd said nothing in response to the girl's taunts, instead letting a slasher smile creep onto his face as he tightened the grip on his hatchet, to which Tron Bonne only smiled wider herself. "There it is—there's that killer I was looking for. I knew he buried somewhere under the layers of goofy cheers and smiles. Maybe now I'll get an actually challenge out of this! Servbots!" The two yellow R.O.B.s saluted their leader and stood at attention. "Slow him down and take him for all his worth, but leave him to me. I'm sure Captain Galeem'll be pretty generous with us after we hand over the kid's body…now march!" Tron Bonne commanded her minions and they obeyed, darting off toward the kid casually twirling the hatchet in his hands. Tron Bonne was going to get a challenge she wanted alright, whether she was ready for it or not…

'Is this…truly the Hero-King?' Lucina mused. 'Goodness, the portraits and stories do not do him justice.'

'I must say, he's far more impressive than I'd have ever imagined,' Chrom chimed in.

'Feh, he's not so imposing—far less than even the impotent king of Hyrule,' Ganondorf sneered. 'How anyone respects such a baby-faced lad as a king is beyond me.'

'The boy could stand to put on a few more pounds if you ask me,' King K. Rool remarked. 'Being so spindly must be taxing with the many battles I'm certain he partakes in.'

A king is to maintain a steady and strong rule over his nation efficiently before other more trivial concerns are to be considered, and Mars Lowell manages this with little issue.

'A king is to instill a fear of rebellion and maintain absolute power over his sovereignty, lest he grow soft and weak like the boy.'

'Precisely. If a king cannot keep an iron grip over his rule he cannot call himself a true king. A king does not need to be remotely friendly with his minions, only make sure that they don't rebel against him or his rule. Shame that the kid doesn't seem to understand that.' Ganondorf and King K. Rool's negative remarks about Marth only earned them scathing glares from the hero-king's friends.

Worthless advice from two utter failures of "kings" whose reigns of terror only served to undermine their power.

'What?!'

'How dare—'

You both have severely abused and manipulated your subjects for the selfish purpose of advancing your sole power, and what did you get in return? You were both betrayed at crucial points by your own subjects while the only minions that were loyal to you proved to be too ineffective to stop your enemies, a flaw that you should have had corrected instead of grandstanding in your supposed invincibility. For all your boasts of power and grandeur you have not once had a lasting victory. You are no kings—only overconfident thieves and bullies with delusions of meaningless conquests.

'You've some nerve to call us failures of kings when you tout yourself as a god who will rule this universe absolutely, all the while continuing to ignore your own failure of not having eliminated Kirby when you had the chance, and now that very same "hero" has managed to free enough of your captives to mount an attack upon you.' Ganondorf didn't think it was possible for anyone to make him hate them more than the hero of Hyrule but Galeem had managed to do just that, and the king of evil had everyone's attention turned to the reflection of Kirby's allies taking on their foes with little issue; Marth and Mario were handling Charlotte Aulin and her body doubles just fine, Sheik was making short work of Metal Sonic with her speed and weaponry, and Redd Smascevilla was letting his wild side loose against Tron Bonne and showed her just how much of a killer he could be much to her shock and growing worry. 'What was that about Corrin living in a glass house? A failure is a failure "Lord of Light", and even though you had nearly conquered the entire universe, your failure will be the end of you.'

Surprisingly, Galeem did not have an immediate response to Ganondorf's retort, partially because the being knew that Ganondorf was right on some level; Galeem had failed to specifically eliminate Kirby and Shulk first when it had the chance—the two of them being the biggest threats to Galeem's goal next to Palutena and Bayonetta—instead opting to wipe out the entire universe first in the hopes of snuffing out any immediate threats in one fell swoop. As Galeem watched the freed fighters and spirits battle against its own forces, Galeem knew deep down that it was only a matter of time until Kirby and his allies had finally caught it if it didn't act soon enough, but Galeem still couldn't afford to expend too much of its energy so soon after obliterating all but one planet in existence. Galeem decided to carefully watch Kirby and his allies to look for anything that will give it an advantage to use for later.

'Hmph, nothing to say for yourself? Typical of you cretins of light to act high and mighty when you're really no better than the rest of us. You parade about wearing your gold and ivory silks as if nothing can touch you because you are so pure and holy, like you do not cast such a great shadow yourselves.'

'He's got a bit of a point,' Dark Pit chimed in. 'Light's been used for evil just as much as darkness has by countless people so it can't be as good as people say it is. Galeem right here is a shining example of how bad light can be.'

'Are you trying to say that the light is no different from darkness?' Zelda said, not liking where the discussion was headed. 'Without light, life cannot survive. The same cannot be said for darkness.'

'Yeah,' Ken said in agreement. 'Everybody knows that light is our biggest source of energy. Plants need it to make their food, and many animals eat these plants for energy, including us. We can't live without it.'

'That's not even halfway true,' Ridley argued. 'We don't all need light to live, we just need food to get up everyday, and our food does not necessarily have to have been juiced up by light.'

'He's actually kind of right there,' Wolf added. 'I guess being a space dragon means he'd know exactly what does and what doesn't need light. Hell, vampires can't stand light with it burning their skin and all.'

'That's because vampires are not even supposed to exist in the first place,' Richter shot back. 'Ghosts and goblins and other sorts of unholy demons are of course going to be weakened by the light. And besides, anything that doesn't need any sort of light to survive clearly doesn't exist in our worlds.'

'THAT IS A FALSEHOOD,' R.O.B. countered. 'SEVERAL WELL-KNOWN ORGANISMS WITHIN PLANET EARTH ARE ABLE TO SURVIVE IN ENVIRONMENTS THAT LACK ANY FORM OF NATURAL LIGHT, WITH MANY OF THEM RESIDING IN APHOTIC OCEAN ZONES.'

'The hell's that supposed to prove?' Incineroar barked. 'Just because a few species don't need light after all means that we should scrap the whole system just for them? I don't know about you all but I very much appreciate having the sun on my planet!' Several of the captive fighters continued bickering back and forth about the impact light and darkness had on their worlds while others either merely drowned out the heated debate or watched on with interest. Cloud for one was more interested in what Kirby and his allies were doing, silently relieved to see that Marth and Mario now had a two to one advantage against Charlotte Aulin while Sheik had already demolished the Metal Sonic puppet fighter. Dark Samus was keenly listening in on the argument the others were having without involving herself, already formulating a plan in her head on how to get some of them to side with her against Galeem if emotions continued to run high. Kamui and Corrin were busy trying to defuse the situation by appealing to each of the different sides of the argument with mixed success while others such as the Koopalings and Bowser Jr. merely fanned the flames for their own amusement. Much to Bayonetta's curiosity, Palutena had chosen not to partake in the argument despite being the goddess of light herself, only half-heartedly staring at where their friends were wrapping up their battles.

'Something the matter Goddess?' the witch asked. 'Surely, you're not bothered by the bickering going on, are you?'

'No,' the goddess quickly answered. 'Well, maybe just a little bit.'

'Aw, their fussing must be making our goddess of light feel bad, the naughty little children. Well, you shouldn't worry so much dear; we all know better that we can't have one side without the other can we? It'd be far too dull for everything to be one way or the other you know.'

'I know that, it's just…' Though she didn't mean to, Palutena found her eyes drifting up to Galeem's silent form, the god of light watching the heroes with great intent. A few seconds later and Palutena could feel her features twisting in hateful disgust at the mere sight of Galeem, something Bayonetta picked up on quickly.

'It's this Galeem fellow isn't it?'

'You sure don't miss a thing do you? Yes, Galeem definitely has a part in it. Being the Goddess of Light, I feel that it is my duty to ensure that I bring life and order where it needs to be, and in my world I did just that. Here, in this world I feel a little, well…'

'Unneeded?'

'Yes. Many of our new friends from their own worlds don't strictly have gods or goddesses of light to keep their balance in check. Rosalina's a goddess of the cosmos for all intents and purposes whether she cares to admit it or not and she's done a pretty good job of keeping watch over things, Zelda's a literal reincarnation of a goddess of light who wasn't even the goddess meant to oversee her world—that falls to the golden goddesses who are more aspects of nature itself rather than light, and the Belmonts have the whole "Holy Trinity" thing going on with the "Father", the "Son", and the "Holy Spirit"; I'm a pretty smart goddess if I do say so myself, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around that last one.' Bayonetta laughed in response to that remark knowing full well how confusing it was even for her to understand, yet the Christian warriors explained it as though it was the simplest thing in the world. 'I guess what I'm getting at is that…where I come from light and darkness are the most important aspects of maintaining the balance, and yet there's quite a few things that don't strictly need light in order to be; at one point in all of existence there was no light, and the universe at that point was quite fine. Though all I've ever known darkness to be was simply the lack of light and thus the absence of life, whenever I look at something or someone using what I've known to only ever be good for the express purpose of ending life, I just…' Palutena had to stop herself from continuing and took a deep breath, knowing she was on the edge of flying into an unpleasant tirade. '…I just feel all sorts of conflicted to put it lightly—pun acknowledge but not intended.'

'Oh I know exactly what you mean Goddess.' Bayonetta would have put a reassuring hand on the goddess's shoulder had she been able to move, having to settle for a more soothing tone and some words of comfort. 'The universe can be a harsh mistress, especially when we're brought up into understanding it to be one way and she comes and slaps us right in the face to make us question everything we thought we knew. Life can be quite tragic.' Palutena only let out a soft sigh at the witch's words, unable to argue against what Bayonetta had said. 'And yet, all we can do—what we ought do—is simply be the best we can be no matter what is thrown at us. The world isn't all black and white, light and darkness, but rather all of the beautiful and ugly things in the world that we cherish and take for granted.' Palutena perked up at Bayonetta's words as the woman continued. 'I'm not much of a heroic person myself mind you, but even I can recognize and appreciate the efforts of those who earnestly try their best to make the world a better place for us all, and as such we ought do the best we can when we are needed to do the same. Even if the light is not as holy and benevolent as you would have liked, you could still stand to be that light if that is what you really want. Tell me goddess: what is it that you really want?' Palutena—at a loss for words—couldn't really say anything; Bayonetta knew this and simply allowed the goddess time to think it over for herself. 'Do let me know when you've found the answer won't you? I'm simply dying to see what you'll come up with.'

Bayonetta had redirected her attention to the arguing fighters who were simmering down thanks to some of their fellow prisoners calming them considerably. Palutena let herself drift back to her own thoughts about everything that had happened so far and about what Bayonetta had told her. Galeem, meanwhile, had watched as all three of the spirits stationed at the edges of the crossroads had been defeated, their prisons having vanished after the battles and happily (begrudgingly in the case of Metal Sonic and Tron Bonne to a lesser extent) joined the fighters in their crusade against the lord of light. Despite Galeem's best efforts to craft the many puppet fighters to be as powerful as their bases, in the end they were still falling one by one, and while splitting them up meant they couldn't regroup immediately and strengthen their entire force, it gave them more ground to quickly cover should they continue their streak of victories. Against Galeem's predictions, the rescued fighters had somehow become more powerful than what they originally were, and worst of all was that nameless spirit that had eluded Galeem and its myriad of skills that it granted to whichever fighter held it in their possession. The spirit had some sort of effect on Kirby that the star warrior passed on to others and that they would pass on to others they encountered like some sort of empowering virus. If only Galeem could understand exactly what it was Kirby had done to Mario so that Galeem's own forces would stand a better chance, and until then Galeem would carefully analyze every move the fighters and the nameless spirit made…

Kirby, you may have had an early lead against my army, but make no mistake; I shall find out the secret to your power, and when I do you will be hard-pressed to earn another victory against me. Your trials have only just begun…