Aflame

Chapter 10

Demons and Drunkards

Mewnian forests are a truly beautiful thing.

Excluding the forest of certain death, the sheer elegance of the forest would bring any viewer to tears if they looked close enough. The plants and foliage are so complex, and at the same time something simple and enjoyable for all.

The wildlife was unique to the Mewni dimension, and nothing like it had ever been seen on Earth before, or any other plane of existence for that matter. Viewing such creatures in their own environment were very special experiences.

And the trees? Ah, the trees. Towering, giant fixations of wood, they were indeed something to behold. Oh! Look! Look there! Look at them as they...

as…

...as they're smashed to smithereens by a giant, rampaging demon.

Bren's demon plowed through the forest, destroying the complex plants and sending the unique wildlife running for their lives. Star and Marco followed the path of destruction, attempting to catch up to the creature, but this was futile and they knew it. The monstrous demon covered as much ground in one step as Star and Marco did in five, so trying to catch up to the beast was nothing short of impossible.

After Star realized that they would never reach the demon before it reached the town, she yanked her phone out of her pocket and dialed Eclipsa so fast her fingers practically left an afterimage.

After a few seconds of dialing, Eclipsa answered with a sleepy, "Hello?"

Star silently cursed to herself, that this was the one day she decided to sleep in, but shook it off and started talking frantically to her.

"EclipsaEclipsaEclipsaTheresagiantdemoncomingtowardsthettownand-"

"Okay, stop right there." Eclipsa said, interrupting her frantic attempt at communication. "Star, I can't understand you at all. You're talking much too fast. Now, what is it?"

Star took a deep breath and prepared herself to deliver the terrible news.

"Okay listen." She said, trying her hardest to keep her cool. "There's a giant demon heading towards the town. We need you to evacuate the town as fast as you can and get the Mewnian knights to get their armor, get their weapons, and try and stop it!"

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Star realized that that may have not been the best way to start.

Eclipsa, however, responded a moment later, with the tone in her voice indicating that she hoped she didn't hear Star right.

"Are-are you sure Star?" She asked. "Are you absolutely sure that's what's happening?"

"Yes!" Star yelled. "I can literally see the damn thing in front of me! I think we have less than a minute before it reaches the main town!"

"Where did it come from?" Eclipsa asked, panic-stricken. "If it was a demon, then it had to come up from the Underworld. Who-"

"Not important!" Star huffed. "I'll explain everything later. Just evacuate everybody that you can and send out some people to try it! Have the...police evacuate everyone, and have the knights fight it however they can!

"Right. Right." Eclipsa said. "I'll do what I can. You two just...help out however you can." Not wasting another second, Eclipsa hung up. Star and Marco continued running after the demon, despite the already huge distance between them.

"Did you seriously ask Eclipsa to send out the Mewnian knights against that thing?" Marco asked, doubtful.

"Yeah." Star said. "Why, is that a problem?"

"Ummm, yes!" Marco said. "You saw that damn thing. It's huge! It looks like it could pick up a car and throw it like a plastic toy! I don't think those knights don't stand any chance whatsoever against it."

"Well, what do you think we should do?" Star asked. "Because I don't think we have any better of a chance at stopping it than they do!"

"Call in something bigger!" Marco hollered. "Call in the Air Force! Call in the military police! Call in the green berets! I don't know! But we can't just-"

Marco's word of suggestion were interrupted by several large smashing noises, all of them coming from the direction the demon went in. Both teens looked at each other, realizing that this meant.

"It's too late." Star said. "It reached the town. Alright. It doesn't matter if we don't have a chance at stopping it. We have to try something. No time to call in the military. It could be over an hour before they get here. Maybe two."

"I don't think it would take them that long-"

"Well, it would still take too long!" Star said.

"Then what the hell do we do?" Marco asked. "I don't think my karate moves or your Mewman strength are going to do much against it."

"Well…" Star looked at the various sections of the ruined town, considering her options. What did she know? What could take it down?

'Think!' She thought. 'How do we do this?'

Well, it was a demon. What weaknesses did demons have? Magic. Magic could hurt them. But that didn't really exist anymore, did it? What else could hurt them? Then Star remembered. Back at the magic sanctuary. How the demon formed. It had been brought to life by all the fire and the lava-like stuff appearing on its skin. Could that be the key? If it was like normal fire, then could she somehow douse it and turn it back into a rock? It was worth a shot. Right now, she didn't have any other ideas.

"I have a plan." She said to Marco. "We're gonna douse it. It was brought to life by those flames. If we can get rid of them, then I think that should kill it."

"How did we do that?" Marco asked. "Push it into a lake?"

"Umm…" Star said. But her planning would have to wait. As the two of them reached the end of the forest path and entered the main town, they were both petrified by what they saw. Wrecked cars lay all around them, their roofs smashed in and their engines ripped out of them.

The numerous buildings of Echo creek were also in a sorry state, with chunks of masonry and bricks falling off of them. They looked like the demon had rammed into them head on.

Even the ground beneath them wasn't spared, as there were giant indents in the sidewalk and road from the demons footsteps, the bottom of the holes filled with smoldering tar as if someone had taken a flamethrower to them.

Luckily, however, the various Humans, Mewmans and Monsters of Echo creek did not rank among the destroyed things. Most of them had almost certainly run away after they heard it coming. That or the evacuation order that Star had told Eclipsa to give had worked at the speed of light.

"Okay…" Marco said, nervously surveying the destruction. "What's your plan for...dousing that thing?"

Star looked around the town, searching for something, anything that would help them. Then her eyes fell on a large water tower. She then looked back to the trashed buildings, which the demon had just ran into.

"It likes ramming into things…" She said to herself.

"Huh?"

"I know what to do." Star said. "It's a stretch, but I think it can be done. All we have to do is buy time and catch up to it, then lead it somewhere.

"Well, even if we can't buy any time, I'm sure the Mewnian knights will!" Marco said with a sarcastic enthusiasm. "I wonder if they're fighting that thing right now…"

Meanwhile…

Eclipsa ran as fast as she could through the monster temple, almost running into a weak monster statues. Even Globgor, who was busy taking care of Meteora, was almost ran over by Eclipsa.

Skidding to a halt, Eclipsa frantically attempted to speak to Globgor, not unlike Star had just done a few minutes ago.

"Globgor!" She said. "I need you to call the Echo creek police department and have them evacuate the town. I then need you to tell them that there is a giant demon heading towards the town as this very moment and that they have to move as fast as possible!

"...What?" Globgor said, barely understanding a word.

Eclipsa sighed. "Listen. Call the police department and tell them that there is a demon coming towards the town. Then tell them to try and evacuate as many people as possible. They're all we have right now."

"A giant demon?!" Globgor said, disturbed by every word coming out of Eclipsa's mouth. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Eclipsa said. "Well, actually no. Star told me about it on the phone just now. But I could hear in her voice that she was telling the truth. So do what I just told you."

"What are you going to do?" He asked.

"I'm going to get the Mewman knights. Try and hold it off until we can find a permanent way to stop it."

"Right. Got it. Be careful."

"You too."

Globgor ran off with Meteora towards the one phone in the temple, and Eclipsa didn't waste another second dashing out. She looked down at the town and heard several loud noises that sounded like something the size of a bus stomping its way through the shopping district.

Even from hundreds of feet away, Eclipsa could easily see the beast. It towered above every vehicle surrounding it and even some buildings, smashing anything that got it its way. (Or anything it just didn't like the look of.)

Eclipsa ran down the hill towards the town, heading for the den where all the Mewnian knights spent most of their time. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the town. It would take a while to get there on foot. And in the meantime, the fiery monster would tear half the town apart.

"Come on...come on…" Eclipsa said to herself. But her thought process was brought to a halt when she heard the sounds of dozens of hooves on concrete. She looked to her left and saw a stampede of warnicorns running down the streets of Echo creek, completely out of control.

"The warnicorns?!" She said, bewildered by their presence. "Who let them ou...wait, no. I can use this."

Without skipping a beat, she ran down the stairs of the monster temple, skipping them three at a time. She made it down to the streets just as the stampede was running past and quickly jumped in the path of one of them.

The creature neighed loudly and reared up in front of her, but this only seemed to be out of surprise, and calmed down soon afterwards. Surprisingly, the warnicorn had a saddle on. In fact, all of them did. The rest of the warnicorns ran by as Eclipsa approached the one she had stopped. She slowly walked up to it and slowly caressed its cheek, attempting to show that she meant no harm to it.

"Who let you loose…" She asked, as if expecting an answer. But, as one would expect, she received none. Eclipsa then shook her head, getting rid of all her questions about who or how. That would have to be answered later. She swiftly jumped on the creatures back and snapped its reins, causing the warnicorn to start trotting down the street at her command.

Eclipsa quickly guided the warnicorn through the ruined town, but she traveled further and further, she noticed that something was off.

There were no people.

In fact, there was nothing at all. Not a single soul other than herself was present on the streets, as if they had all up and left hours ago. The shops were abandoned, cars and trucks were still in their parking spaces, and she was the only one there to witness it all. In fact, if there currently wasn't a giant monster trying to destroy everything, Eclipsa might say that it almost looked like a ghost town.

'There's no way that the police could have already evacuated everyone.' She thought. 'I told Globgor to call them less than five minutes ago. But it looks like the town's been completely deserted for over an hour!'

Although unnerved, Eclipsa knew that she still had to get to the knights den. The warnicorn continued going down the street before she turned a corner, and almost ran right into Star and Marco.

The warnicorn once again reared up in surprise, and Eclipsa quickly did her best to calm it down.

"Star! Marco!" She said, as her warnicorn planted its feet back on the ground. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Uh. We already told you." Star said. "There's a giant demon attacking the town, and we're trying to figure out a way to stop it. By the way, where did you get that warnicorn?"

"It was just…wandering around." Eclipsa said. "Along with almost a dozen more of them. I think somebody let them loose from the stables."

"Why would anyone do that?" Marco asked.

"I don't know. But that's not what I'm confused about right now. I'm more confused about where all the townspeople went."

"You evacuated them, right?" Star said. "After I called you and told you to do just that."

"I told Globgor to call the police and tell them to evacuate everybody! Right after you I hung up on you. But there's no way they've even started to evacuate the town. It all happened less than a few minutes ago."

"Then...where the hell did everybody go?!" Star asked.

"Ugh! I knew there was something weird going on!" Marco yelled. "Of course it wasn't an evacuation, all the cars are still here! An evacuation doesn't look like the rapture just happened!"

"What's the rapture?" Both Star and Eclipsa asked him at the same time.

"It's...a thing. I'll tell you after we sort out-"

They all heard a roaring sound and swiveled their heads to the left, where they could see the giant demon turn a corner and run into a sneaker shop, utterly obliterating the front of the building. It paused for a moment, then turned their way. Even though it didn't have pupils, Star could see the anger it its eyes intensify as it spotted them.

"...After we sort out that!" Marco said, finishing his sentence.

The demon once again roared into their direction, then started galloping towards them like an enraged bull. With each footstep it got another 6 feet closer.

"All right." Eclipsa said, taking charge. "Both of you get on the warnicorn with me. We're all going to-"

"No." Star said.

"What?" Eclipsa said, looking at Star in surprise.

"We can't. If we go with you, that damn thing will just follow us. Me and Marco have to stay here and make sure it doesn't follow you. And to find a permanent way to stop it."

"Star, it's getting closer-" Marco started, before Eclipsa asked another question.

"How are you going to stop it?" She asked.

Star pointed at the water tower she had spotted earlier. "The water tower. That demon is made of fire and lava and other hot stuff. Me and Marco saw it come to life. I think if we can somehow get rid of all the hot stuff, then that should kill it."

"How will you-" Eclipsa said, before noticing that the demon was less than a hundred feet away. It would be on them in seconds.

"Alright. Okay." She said. "Good luck to you both. I trust that you can do that." Not waiting a second more, Eclipsa turned her steed around to take an alternate route to the den, and she and the warnicorn took off down the road.

Marco, meanwhile, grabbed Star's shoulder and yanked both her and himself out of the demons path, barely getting out of the way in time. The demon attempted to stop, but then tripped on a gigantic pothole in the road, causing it to crash to the ground.

"My god Star! Next time don't cut it so close!" He said. "That thing was inches away from hitting us!"

"Sorry." Star said. "But Eclipsa wanted to know what we I as planning. Doesn't matter anyways. Right now, we have to lure that thing over to the water tower."

"How do you suppose we do that?"

"You're not gonna like it." Star said. "But...remember that one tv show about matadors and bull fights you once showed me?"

Marco looked over at her. "No…" He said, slowly understanding what she was getting at.

"Oh yes." She said. "Now take off your hoodie. We're going to need it."

Meanwhile…

Not stopping for anything, Eclipsa raced the warnicorn down the street, sharply cutting corners and just missing hitting street signs, cars, and randomly places roadblocks. But just like everywhere else, there was still not a single person to be seen.

But that wasn't even the strangest part of it. Just like Marco had mentioned earlier with the vehicles, it didn't look like anybody had fled the town. It just looked like they had all been dropped off the face of Earthni, there in one second, but gone in the next. Every car was still in its previous place from the night before, none of the shops had opened for the day, and she was completely and utterly alone.

But Eclipsa wasn't complaining. If all the townspeople weren't in the town at the moment, then that meant they wouldn't be caught in the middle of the demons rampage.

'Unless something worse happened to them…' Eclipsa thought. 'Oh god, what if...no. Don't worry about that. Focus.' Eclipsa erased all the thoughts from her head and focused on her goal. After a minute or so more of guiding the warnicorn through the streets, she started to approach the Mewman section of Echo creek. The road suddenly stopped being paved and was turned to dirt, and the houses and other buildings no longer resembled normal Earth architecture. That and it was no longer as clean or smelled anywhere near as good. But just like the Earth section of the town, the Mewman section was also completely devoid of people.

'Okay, now I know something isn't right.' She thought. 'Despite the fact that that they're right next to each other, the two sides don't interact as much as I wished they would. But if both sides are gone, if both are involved in this disappearance, then there has to be something much bigger at play. But...I'm almost there. The knights den isn't that far away. Maybe if the knights are still there, then they'll know what's going on. Wait, what am I thinking? Of course they're still there. I never see her anymore. No one does. I wouldn't be surprised if they live there for corns sake.

Picking up the pace, the warnicorn kept galloping on until it finally reached the den, nothing more than a small stone building designed to look like a house, as to hide its true nature. But more people knew about it than knights cared to admit.

Not even waiting until the warnicorn stopped, Eclipsa leaped off its back and ran up to the door. She frantically knocked on the door a few times before giving up and simply opening it.

"Oh thank Mewni."

Just like she had hoped, all the knights were still inside. The only people that Eclipsa had seen today besides Globgor, Star, Marco, and herself. They were all either lounging around or drinking random bottles of alcohol...but most of them were doing both.

The den itself was exactly how it looked when Eclipsa had last seen it, filled with tables, pictures, capes, and random piles of gold coins here and there.

All of the knights looked up at her, except for Sir stabby and Sir Dashing, who were currently passed out on the floor.

"Oh…hey. Queen Eclipsa." Sir Cuddles said, nothing short of completely inebriated. "What's up? Been a while since we've seen you. You know, since we haven't had anything to do lately…

Eclipsa would have told them about the demon attacking the town and about how they needed to help, but she was currently in shock at the sorry state of the knights. Although they were rather heavy drinkers, it never got as bad as this.

"What...are you people doing?" Eclipsa asked, slowly looking around the room in shock.

"What do you mean?" Lady Whosits asked her, drinking beer straight from a giant barrel.

"What I mean is what happened to you?!" Eclipsa yelled. "The town is currently under attack, all the townspeople have mysteriously disappeared, and all you're doing is drinking like it's the end of the world! You are supposed to be the sacred knights of Mewni! It's protectors! But what I find is a bunch of drunkards! It's not even midday! Is...this how you spent all your time?!"

She looked over at Higgs. Even she looked a little tipsy, wobbling back and forth and struggling to stay on her feet.

"Ever her?!" Eclipsa said. "How old is she again? I'm not even sure that's it's legal for her to be drinking now that we have to adhere to Earth laws. What in the name of Mewni have you-"

"Okay, stop." Sir Stabby said, having been woken up by Eclipsa's shouting.

"Yeah." He said. "You're right. We are a bunch of drunkards now. But you know why? Because we have nothing to do. Those Earth police handle literally everything! Us knights haven't done a single thing! Tell me Eclipsa, when was the last time you thought of us? When was the last time you asked us for help before now?"

"Well...asking you for help right now was really Star's idea." Eclipsa said, before realizing that she might have just made the situation worse.

Sir Stabby growled and turned away from her. "Of course it was! Of course she thought of us. But not you! Not! You! So, after we didn't have anything to do, we got all depressed and sad. We had no purpose. And what do Mewmans do when they're all depressed and sad? That's right, drink! Drink until you drop! So we did! We've been doing it for months! Living in this here den. But no one, not a single person, has checked up on us. Nobody cared. Everybody forgot about the knights. Except the Butterfly girl. I wonder why that is?"

Eclipsa sighed. All the knights were no awake and staring at her with accusing glances, despite the fact that their blood-alcohol level was currently so high it should have been impossible for them to focus on anything.

"Listen." She said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we forgot about you. Truly, I am. But now is not the time to dwell in the past. Because we have a situation right now. The police are gone, so only you can help the town."

"Oh, so when your precious police are gone, then you turn to us?!" Sir Dashing said. "I should ahem expected as much-"

"No!" Eclipsa yelled. "That's not what I meant. What I meant was that I told Globgor to call the police so that they could evacuate the town! I need you to do something else entirely!"

"Why would the town need evacuating?" Higgs asked.

"Because there's a giant demon currently attacking it!" Eclipsa shouted at them. "But every single person in the town is gone. No trace of them. Except for all of you. Now, are you going to stay here, wallow in shame and drink your alcohol, and not help me…"

Eclipsa pointed the door.

"...Or are you going to do your job, be the knights of Mewni, save the town, and once again, like you've always wanted, finally get re-recognized and praised like you should be?!"

They all looked at her, then looked at each other, as if waiting for somebody to make the first move.

Eclipsa growled. "Fine! Stay here! I'll just have to come up with something and-"

"No! Don't leave!" Sir Stabby said.

Eclipsa turned around and looked at him.

Stabby turned towards the other knights and spoke, this time directly towards them. "She's right!" He said. "For too long we have done nothing. For too long we have lived by the bottle. For too long we have abandoned our post. Not anymore! The Queen has just showed me the way with her angry speech. If Mewni truly is in danger, and only we can help, then we must. And after our victory, no longer will we simply wait around for orders. We will go out and help however we can, in any way we can! That way, people will see us as their heroes again, true saviors of the land."

The other knights all suddenly agreed and nodded to this. Several of them threw the various bottles they were holding to the ground, discarding them like trash.

"Yes! Yes fellow knights!" Stabby said. "Now, grab your swords and get your armor! It's time to fight! Fight like we never have before!"

Everyone cheered. Grabbing their randomly scattered weapons that had been strewn about the room, the knights then (albeit with difficulty) threw their armor on and prepare themselves for a battle. Not a single one of them looked drunk anymore.

Sir Stabby and the others walked over to Eclipsa. Once he reached her, he and the other knights immediately knelt before her.

"Queen Eclipsa." He said. "We are once again at your command. Tell us, where is the enemy, and how do we destroy him?"

Eclipsa, almost too shocked to speak at the knights sudden and quick change of heart, took a moment to respond.

"Umm...okay. Glad to see you all like this. The demon is in the middle of the Earth section of the town, although he...or it, really, might have gone somewhere else by now. Star is currently working on a way to kill it by dousing it with water, and what I need you to do is to make sure that the demon can't get the opportunity to stop her."

"Is that all?" Sir Muscleton asked.

"Yes." Eclipsa said, and then added for good measure, "You are integral to this."

"That's all we needed to hear!" Stabby yelled, getting up and running out of the den, sword in the air. All the other knights followed suit, raising their swords above their heads and dashing out of the den. Eclipsa watched them go, still shocked at how fast they had changed their minds. Although because they were drunk, they were likely more open to suggestion. It was quite possible that by tomorrow, they wouldn't even remember any of this. That is, if they survived.

But Eclipsa knew that she had to help them however she could. She ran back to the warnicorn, which was watching the knights run off with a look of visible confusion on its face. Eclipsa leaped onto its back and once again snapped its reins, and they took off.

She caught up to the knights after half a minute, and slowed down so she could run alongside them.

"Follow me!" She yelled. "I'll take you to the demon. After that, I'll go find Star and Marco and see how you can help!"

"Very good!" Sir Dashing said. "We will help out the princess anyway we can! Praise the girl who never forgot about us!"

"PRAISE!" All the knights screamed in unison.

Eclipsa felt a small twinge of guilt at this, but then she realized that if the knights decided that they were going to follow Star's orders to the letter, then they could be much more useful than just hitting the demon with their swords.

"Knights!" She yelled. "When you see Star, you listen to her! Whatever she tells you to do, you do it!"

"Understood!" Sir Stabby yelled back.

The group continued running back towards the Earth section of Echo creek, not stopping for a moment. None of the knights made note of the fact that everyone had disappeared, and Eclipsa didn't remind them. If they were too drunk to notice, then that was how it was going to be.

As they got closer, the sounds of destruction and chaos got louder. All of them could easily hear the roars of the demon and the various crushing noises as it demolished everything in sight.

"The enemy!" Higgs yelled. "I can hear it!"

"This way!" Eclipsa said, as the group entered the Earth section of the town. Dirt turned to concrete as they made their way down the main road, all of them itching for a fight. And it seemed they would get it. Turning a corner, they all saw Star slowly walking down in the middle of the intersection, holding Marco's hoodie and waving it with her hands like a cape.

"Uh...what is she doing?" Dashing asked.

"Maybe she's-"

Their assumptions were loudly interrupted by a roar as loud as a train horn, and they all looked down the intersection to see the source of the noise. Once they did, it would be a lie to say that they were still completely confident in their abilities.

A demon the weight and size of a mack truck came barreling down the road, while also moving as fast as one. It charged at Star with nothing short of pure anger and rage in its eyes, fixated on nothing but her. As it got closer and closer, Star readied herself to move.

At the last second, she whipped Marco's hoodie away and quickly step sided, letting the demon run past her. Unable to stop itself, it collided with a random shop, causing the shop's roof to collapse on itself and the demons anger to be amplified.

Eclipsa jumped off the warnicorn and ran up to her, while the knights still stared at the demon, their swords now hanging at their sides.

"Eclipsa?" Star said. "Boy, am I glad to see you! I've been using this technique that I saw on some tv show to get the demon to charge at me. Seems to be working for now, and I'm trying to lead it to the water tower."

Star looked past Eclipsa and noticed the knights, who were now looking at her.

"Oh, you got the knights to come?" She said, stating the obvious. "Did they know anything about why the towns abandoned? Me and Marco didn't figure anything out."

"No." Eclipsa said. "They didn't know anything. They were too busy drinking themselves to death. But somehow...I managed to convince them to put their bottles down and help us. Nevermind that though.

Where is Marco anyway? Why isn't he with you?"

"I sent him ahead." Star said. "He didn't think the whole hoodie thing was a good idea, so I told him to do something else. He's currently at the water tower that I plan to drop on that demon, and I told him to try and weaken it however he can. Make it easier to knock over. But now that I think about it, I'm not really sure how he's gonna do that…"

"I'm sure he'll figure...something out." Eclipsa said. "But right now, I need you to tell the knights what to do. They'll listen to you, because you're the only one who remembered them."

"Uh, sure. Okay. Hey, you all, listen up!" Star shouted, turning her attention to the knights. "I need you to help me lure that demon to the town's water tower! Once that's done, I'm gonna need your help to take it down and make sure it hits it's target!"

Right on cue, the "target" burst out of the ruins of the shop, bellowing. It was so loud that dozens of windows several streets over shook at the sheer ferocity of the noise.

"What...exactly should we do to accomplish that?" Whosit asked.

"Simple." Star said. "I need you to get the demons attention and lead it to the tower. I'm going to go ahead and find Marco so I can help him take it down. Once you're there, I'm going to need you to make sure it's in one specific spot, no matter what. You got that?"

"Of course." Stabby said, his confidence returning. "We will take this beast down princess Butterfly!"

"Great. Eclipsa, help them with the leading part, will you?They honestly look a little…"

"Drunk?" Eclipsa said, finishing Star's thought. "Yes, they are. But they are still able to fight. I think. So go ahead. Help Marco, and we'll lead this thing to where it needs to go."

"Thanks Eclipsa!" Star said, before running in the direction of the water tower. The demon glared at her and got ready to once again charge, but stopped at the sound of a war cry behind it.

"ENEMY OF MEWNI!" Stabby yelled at the creature. "WE WILL DEFEAT YOU IN BATTLE!"

"No!" Eclipsa yelled. "Don't just fight it! Star needs you to lead it to the water tower!"

"Oh...right. Wait, why didn't she just let it follow her?"

"Because she needs time to weaken it so that she and Marco can-, you know what, that's not important! Just attack that thing thing and get it to the tower!"

"Right!" Sir Cuddles said. "Lead it to the tower!"

The knights all got in a battle formation and charged at the beast. The demon, unimpressed, raised its foot and got ready to stomp on them. But instead of charging right at it, the knights ran to the side at the last second, slashing the demons legs with their swords. Although it only left a few small scratches, the demon roared in pain at the minor injury.

"It doesn't have a high pain tolerance!" Whosit yelled. "Do it again! Make it angrier! Get it to follow us! Keep hurting the bastard!"

And hurt it they did. Slashing, slicing, and hacking, the knights attacked frantically, their drunken movements so random and unpredictable that the demon could do little to stop them. Even though they were only managing to chip off a few pieces of it, it still affected the demon in the extreme, causing it immense pain as if it's nerve ends were being burned off.

"Keep going!" Stabby yelled. "Don't stop! Start moving to the tower! Lead it there, no matter the cost!"

But this was easier said than done. Although they were very effective at causing the demon harm, all of them attempting to lead it anywhere was hopeless. Most of them were still drunk enough that they didn't even know where the water tower was.

Seeing that they would never be able to do it on their own, Eclipsa stepped in and had her warnicorn ride over to them.

"Follow me again!" She yelled to them. "I'll lead you to the water tower, while you make the demon follow you!"

The knights followed this order without a word, and Eclipsa and the warnicorn trotted off towards the tower. The knights followed her, and in turn the demon followed them, unknowingly aiding in its own defeat.

Meanwhile…at the tower

Several hundred feet away, Marco had given up on any attempt to move the water tower. Not surprisingly, he wasn't able to budge it in the slightest. So instead, he was busy calculating where the demon had to stand in order to be hit with it.

"Okay…" He said, staring up at it. "Three steps back...no, that's not good enough. A little more to the right…? Yes! Got it!"

"Marco!" A shrill voice screamed from behind him.

He turned around to see Star running towards him, completely out of breath and Marco's hoodie slung over her shoulder.

"Star! Uh, before you say anything about me not trying to knock the water tower over-"

"It's okay." Star panted. "I kinda realized too late that you wouldn't be able to do anything. But don't worry! Eclipsa got the knights! They're gonna lead the demon here! After that, we'll just make it run into the tower and let it fall on top of it."

"Well, while you were gone, I figure something out." Marco said. He pointed to the spot he was standing on. "The demon needs to stand right here in order for the top of the tower to hit it."

"Are you sure?" Star asked. "We'll only get one shot at this, and we can't mess it up."

"Hey, we still don't even know if dropping the tower on it will work." Marco said. "But yeah. I'm sure. Right here."

"Got it." Star said. "Now, Eclipsa and the knights should be leading the demon here any moment. Hopefully they'll get he-"

"Princess Butterfly!" A sudden voice cried out. "We have led the demon here! What shall we do next?"

Both Star and Marco spinned around and saw what looked like the world's craziest game of "follow the leader." Eclipsa and her warnicorn were at the front, with the various knights behind her. Behind them was the demon, with several "injuries" coating its rock hide.

"Star! Marco!" Eclipsa yelled. "Where do we take this thing?

"Right here!" Marco yelled back, once again pointing at the ground. "But we need to knock over the tower first!"

"How?!"

"When I say so, go to the side!" Star yelled. "You and the knights! I'll take care of this!

Eclipsa clenched her teeth nervously, and hoped that Star knew what she was doing. She turned around to the knights and told them what Star had just said.

"Marco. I'm going to need you to go to the side as well." Star said. "This is all me."

"Are you sure you got this?" He asked.

"Yes! Just trust me!"

Maroc inhaled sharply. "Okay. I'll trust you. Just...please don't die. Not like this."

"I won't. I promise. Now get to the side." She said, which Marco obeyed, running to the side of the street and taking cover behind a random bench. Star turned back towards the now rapidly approaching line of people. She grabbed Marco's hoodie and held it out like she had done earlier, then yelled, "OKAY ECLIPSA! DO IT NOW!"

On her command, Eclipsa yanked the warnicorns reins to the right, and it followed, taking a sharp turn towards the sidewalk. Seeing Eclipsa go to the side, the knights also ran off to the side. The demon looked like it might follow them, but then it noticed Star holding the hoodie. Like a cat towards a laser pointer, the demon immediately turned all its attention towards Star, getting ready to charge at her. Eclipsa and Marco looked on anxiously, while Star readied herself for one final move.

The demon charged. Straight at Star, faster than it ever had before, each footstep creating a minor earthniquake. It tilted its head down and aimed its horns at her, as if it were a real bull. But it hadn't learned from any of the previous times. At the last second, Star leaped out of the was, and the demon shot past her and ran into the water tower, severely denting several of the beams holding it up. It attempted to back up, but couldn't.

"It's stuck!" Marco said. "It can't get out!"

The demon was indeed stuck. It's horns were wedged between several of the smaller support beams criss crossing between the larger ones, and it couldn't manage to get itself free.

'Damn it!" Star thought. 'If the tower falls now, then it'll just be hit with those metal beams! They won't do anything! It won't-'

But the problem fixed itself. With one final push, the demon ripped its head out, taking several of the beams with it. The water tower started to tilt over, with the larger beams starting to collapse. The bolts keeping the beams together started to pop out at insane speeds, and the tower leaned directly towards the demon.

"Star! Now what?" Marco yelled, hoping she had prepared for this.

"Now this! HEY! UGLY! " She shouted at the demon. It turned her way and growled, somehow even angrier than before.

Star held Marco's hoodie up in the air. "You want this hoodie?" She asked. "Go get it!"

She crumpled the hoodie up into a ball and threw it into the street, where it leaned in the exact spot that Marco had pointed out earlier. The demon, like a trained dog, ran towards it and lifted its foot up. It then brought it down, pulverizing the piece of clothing.

For a second, it almost seemed satisfied with itself. It simply stood in place, staring at its foot. But the same could not be said for the water tower. Unable to take the strain any longer, the main support beams snapped, and the tower fell. The demon saw a shadow cast over it, and turned around just in time to see the top of the tower come crashing down upon it. Instantly it burst and spread hundreds of thousands of gallons of water into the street, flooding everything. Eclipsa, Star, Marco, and even the knights held on to street lights, mail boxes, and other random items to avoid being swept away. As for Eclipsa's warnicorn, it had simply run away after the tower hit.

But as for the demon, the flames covering its body went dark, the lava encased in the cracks went jet black, and the demon literally fell apart as its rock body crumbled to pieces, releasing a cloud of steam as it fell silent. It was over.

After the gigantic wave of water had subsided, everybody looked at the pile of rocks, hoping that it was finally over.

Marco was the first to speak.

"It was after my hoodie?" He asked, looking over at Star. "How did you find that out?"

"Not really sure." She said. "But after all those times it charged at me while I held it out, I was sure that it would probably take a disliking to it."

"Well, thank god it did…"

"Quite." Eclipsa said, looking over at Star and Marco. "But I think you two owe me an explanation. Where exactly did this demon come from, and who unleashed it?"

"I think we should solve the mystery of the missing townspeople first." Marco said.

"Yes, of course. Also, remember to commend the knights. I think they nee-"

Like an old friend coming back to greet them, the pile of rocks started shaking and crumbling, while deep lines of fire started reappearing on its body. It wasn't over.

"Nonononono-" Star started, before Eclipsa grabbed her and Marco and forced them back.

"Back!" She yelled. "Get back!"

"Don't worry my queen!" Sir Stabby said, approaching the pile. "We will dispatch of this menace once and for-"

"No!" She yelled. "You get back as well! If that didn't kill it, then there's nothing you can do!"

The pile got up and started to reform itself. Just like back at the magic sanctuary, it came to life and roared once again, not letting anything in its way.

Star couldn't think. She could barely breathe. She looked at Marco, then at Eclipsa, and then back to the demon. The unkillable, monstrous demon. The current bane of her existence.

Looking at all of this, she knew one thing. This time, she was completely out of ideas.

And she had no clue how to stop any of this.

End chapter 10.

A/N: Boy, that ended on a high note, right? I hope all the descriptions in this chapter were to yours guys likings, as well as the pacing.

But so many questions. Where are the townspeople? Why are the knights still there? How will they stop this demon? And how will Echo creek pay for all this damage?

Until next time.