Chapter 88: The Phantom Lord

Perspective: Various/Narrator

Amanda knelt in the rubble. The others had left a long time ago. She had grown old. Only the light of a single purple lamp remained in the Tower's ruins. The rocks cut her hands and bit her knees, but she kept straining to move them. Kept forcing her eyes to search for a sign of him. Anything.

She wrapped her hands around a large, black stone and began to lift even though it felt like her arms would sooner come away than the stone would move even an inch. Eventually, she gave up. That's when the hand shot from the ground, brass and brilliant and burning, and grabbed her leg. Helix rose through the rocks as though it were water, purple fire streaming from his eyes like tears. She tried to scream, and then was dragged down through the stone into his scorching embrace beneath the earth.

Jennifer woke up in her house. Not Brine Manor, her own. A few cobwebs had grown. An enderman had placed a grass block in the middle of the living room, but it was unmistakably hers. She climbed out of bed and put a raw pork chop in the furnace. Through the window the sun, coloured like molten gold, beat down heavily. The pork chop finished, and she brought herself back up to full hunger.

She went to the door and stepped outside. All she saw for miles and miles was desert. The door slammed shut after her. She turned around, and on the other side of the door she saw the skeleton worker from the portal facility. He glowered at her, then the house sank into the sands. The sun beat down. She was alone.

I open my eyes, then shut them tight as the blizzard stings my eyes. Adjusting my hood allows me to see again. I am upon the Fields. The cold ignores my robes even more than usual, and I struggle to move. My very bones become glacial in their icy slowness. I hear the wind, but it is not the wind.

There I see a half-breed with a mace and a trilby, a crossbow bolt in his speckled green forehead. Here, a snapped thaumaturge's wand, next to a familiar purple breastplate. Then the old Guild-master half-frozen in the lake. Ozzy burned to a crisp. David's broken gauntlet. Warnado's tattered robes. Destiny ever-fading. Fristad's neck twisting still.

They lie around the battlefield as broken, blood-soaked statues. Slowly creeping. Wailing. Screaming. Keening. Why did I not help them? Where was the great and wise Astro when they died?

"What else could I have done?!" I shriek, tears streaming down my face.

"Tryon! Wake up!"

He lifted himself from the ground and rubbed the dirt from his fur. He felt clammy, almost feverish. His arms hung limply, and there was a pain in his side. Was that - he reached out to touch it - blood?

"Where are you, Kir?"

He saw the red blocks around him. The Nether. And yet, the Overworld's moon loomed over him. He had to be dreaming.

"Where are we, Kir?"

Flame burst forth from a shrine. A ring of gold surrounded a burning red brick. Herobrine, his old enemy, reborn and rejuvenated. He grinned. He held one of his glowing, dark blue scythes in one hand. Kir sat snugly in the other, moulded to his hand as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"We are at the end of your journey, Tyron!"

Shadow did not fall asleep like the others, she remained standing and stared up at Freak defiantly.

Freak stared right back. "Oh, of course. You don't get tired, do you? But that's not an issue. I'll let you in on a little secret, Shadow. I may have needed to directly touch a mind before my takeover, but now I can just draw out your biggest fears right out of your mind by merely existing, no need to do anything more! Enjoy!"

Shadow barely registered the transition, so unchanged was the scenery around her. Everything was the same, except that Freak was nowhere to be seen. But then as Shadow looked around, it was as if she felt her heart briefly beat, only to stop once more.

Where Fire had collapsed was now the site of a blazing inferno, at the centre of which lay the body of her brother, a large silver blade impaling his torso. Shadow watched in horror as Fire's flesh and organs burned up, leaving behind only an empty shell of scales draped over a skeleton.

There was sadness, then there was anger. Shadow had made a promise to herself, back in the command room. She was their apocalyptic insurance policy, she'd make sure that even if Freak managed to bring the worlds together, he wouldn't be able to enjoy it.

Shadow prepared to feel the Void rising up inside of her, to take away all feeling and plunge her back into that absence… but nothing happened. That was when Shadow had a terrible thought. Fire's death really was what would cause her to go over the edge, but this was not the real Fire she saw in front of her.

Shadow realized that her biggest fear was not simply losing her brother but being unable to help him when he needed help. He had done so much for her, even while he himself had suffered. All she had done during her time in Nexus was to destroy, and no amount of destruction could ever repay the life she had been gifted, even if it happened to save the world from a worse fate. She threw herself to the ground in despair, with no way out of the nightmare and no way to ever set things right.

Steve and Ozen returned from the expedition. They had conquered the Nether. Returned to the End. And Steve had finally learned the secrets of the Ocean Monument, while Ozen waited on the shore. Ozen sat astride a fully-grown Drake. Jennifer would be waiting for them. Mom, too. Maybe Mark would stop by like he said he would. Maybe not.

He threw a pearl as Brine manor's roof rose from between the trees. It shattered and he stood before them. Mom, grey-haired, was sitting in her bench, waving. Dad slept, lying against a cushion on the other side of the bench, looking frail enough that a light wind much break him to pieces. Jennifer stepped outside. It had been weeks since he saw her, and though age had come upon them both, she was still quite beautiful. Out from behind her ran his son and daughter. Then at least two more sons for good measure. They hugged his legs and drew his body inside for dinner.

His soul remained without. He reached into his ghostly pocket and pulled out three grey skulls, and four blocks of soul sand.

"Is it all you ever wanted?" the skulls sneered. "Does it make you feel whole?"

He looked through the window. Jennifer pecked him on the cheek and returned to setting out dinner. His sons had a million things to show him. Dad had woken up and was distracting Steve's daughter with a story more interesting than anything he could ever tell.

I feel empty. It is not enough.

"Then follow in his footsteps," said the skulls.

Steve placed the four blocks. He affixed two of the skulls to the sand.

"This is what you need," they told him. "What will always be."

He placed the final skull. The Wither arose and rained black fire upon the Manor.

Fire found himself on the familiar gold-decorated white wooden bench, around him was only blackness. He slowly turned his head and was faced with a near-exact mirror image of himself, with the only difference being that the mirror image had pitch-black eyes.

"Claw." He said.

Claw replied: "Other one."

Neither of them said anything more, both contemplating the situation they were in.

Finally, Claw spoke: "I must say, I was not expecting this when he said, 'worst nightmare'."

Fire shook his head. "No, awkward conversations with my alter ego don't exactly fit that description."

Claw stood up from the bench and brandished his namesake at Fire. "Then why are we here?"

Fire thought for a moment.

"It seems like currently, my worst fear is letting you back in control, and once you are back out there, yours is to return to here."

Claw suddenly laughed. "So, the phantom trapped us in an infinite loop?"

Fire simply shrugged. There was something oddly calming about finally meeting Claw face-to-face. He'd always been this unknown thing, a boogeyman almost.

For lack of any other topics, Fire asked: "So, how do you like the manor?"

Claw shot back: "Better than the cage, that's for sure."

"You know that it was you who built the cage, right Claw? Just like I built the manor."

Claw huffed. "Don't give me the 'it's all in your mind' speech, I wasn't even a proper person until the Entity brought me out."

Fire raised his hands. "I didn't intend to." he added: "But now that you are a person, you'll listen to reason."

"Not from you, other one."

It was almost funny, the mirror analogy proved to be true on more layers than physical. Fire stood up as well to face Claw.

"I'm not really the other one, Claw. You aren't either. That's because we are the same."

Claw huffed again. "Really? The 'not so different' speech?"

Fire shook his head, memories flooded out from him and into their shared mindscape. A classroom, a city apartment, a lecture hall, an empty warehouse.

"I meant what I said. Back when I was younger, I was how you are now. Headstrong, defiant, even a bit selfish. You came into existence when my bad tendencies were at their peak, further fuelled by the trauma of having lost my friends. It took a lot of work to get to where I am now, and even still, the temptation to go back is always there. A lot of things would be easier if I did."

Claw stared at Fire. "Then why don't you go back, if it'd be so much easier?"

"It'd be easier in the short term, not in the long term. The biggest lesson I learned from living five thousand years on the server was that if you live that long, you cannot ignore the long term. Not for your own sake, and not for the sake of others. You see, if you only live a hundred years, you can do all manner of 'evil' things and die before the consequences affect you. But if you live long enough you will see the effects of your actions in the world, and they will come back to you, and often in ways you don't expect."

Claw clutched his head. "Gah, stop making sense damn it!"

Fire chuckled. "The reason I'm telling you this is because I reached that conclusion on my own, now I'm helping you reach it too. We are the same after all."

Claw glared at Fire for a few moments, even raising his hands as if to strike, but gradually a look of resignation settled on his face.

"Alright, alright. What's your point?"

Fire took a few moments to contemplate his next words. "I don't hate you Claw. I hate that you came to be in the first place, but that's hardly your fault, it's mine. My point is that we can find a way out of this situation, but we can't be enemies for that. Besides, you already helped me against Freak once, back when you gave me that memory proving that it was him who usurped the Entity."

Claw sighed. "I suppose I did. But what do I get out of it? I'm sure as hell not content sitting here in your mind for the rest of our life, even if the manor is better than the cage. And I'm not content with fading out either."

When given the question "what would you tell your younger self", many people would give advice on how to live life. This situation was similar, though not quite the same. Fire had to show Claw that there was a path he hadn't considered, one that would help them both.

"That's where the long-term thinking comes in. During my time in Nexus, I discovered some… concerning things about myself and about Shadow. Once this situation is resolved I plan to do something about these things, find a solution, and now you are part of that solution too. You might have to endure for a while longer, but not forever."

Fire extended his hand. He let his thoughts flow freely for Claw to pick up on what he meant, what he had seen, and what he planned. Claw contemplated, then nodded and shook the hand offered to him.

Claw said: "Alright then, Fire. Just one question remains: How do we get out of here?"

Fire replied: "Look outside through our eyes, our opportunity is about to present itself."

Weariness was like a weight upon me, dragging down my eyelids, threatening to tear me apart if I did not succumb. I could not keep my sword-arm raised for longer than a second, but I struggled on.

"You know, the slumber is supposed to be a mercy."

Freak now swayed before me, level with my eyes, breath like corpses. I turned away from the repellent stench and fell on my front.

"It doesn't actually need you to be asleep to work. A waking nightmare could be fun, too."

I wrenched myself forward, away from the phantom, into the inky void with its yellow flames. A second lunge brought my fingertips into contact with the firesteel armour of Fire, still warm from his last overcharge. The armour slipped away as Fire tried to pull himself up. With my subsiding eyes I saw his own flicker from red to black, and then snap shut. He collapsed and tried anew.

"Ah, this one I couldn't have predicted. He's so afraid of Claw getting control, he triggers the transfer of power by accident. Unfortunately, without the Entity to save him, Claw is so afraid of losing control he hands it back to li'l old Pete. The coin flips away."

He lifted me up by the scruff of my neck, the talons grazing my skin. I saw the wound I'd left on his forehead sealing up. The blood remained like a crack in his nose.

"Listen, I'm being real nice right now by giving you a chance to pass out on your own. I haven't come across someone able to resist me like this in a while, so consider it an apology for writing you off as the weak one. But don't misunderstand, when I decide so, you will enter my domain."

He was right. I could feel his spell run across my mind like a spider looking for a crack in a wall. Sooner or later, he would find one. But not yet, I gritted my teeth and continued to harden my mind against his efforts.

"Very well. A spider, I like that image."

My eyes briefly shot open as I envisaged the arachnid, now with Freak's face, bite into my mind, spreading venomous fear throughout. My head fell forward.

All was blackness. North, South, East and West revealed only darkness. I recalled my training and reshaped it. Now, it was a dark hallway, then, I was at the end of it, a door behind me. Only I had the key. Simple rules. Whatever Freak wanted to throw at me, it would come directly from the front.

I restored my heavy, obsidian armour. Apotyre, my blade returned to my hand. Voidfire flared in my eyes. Whatever he had sent would overpower me eventually, but I would give it a challenge.

"Come then, Phantom Lord," I strain, forcing myself to say it aloud as well as in my mind. "Send me your worst."

Freak scoffed. His voice seemed to echo from out the walls. Thorn-filled roots started to spread across the walls.

"It's really not up to me what you see, Kay."

The briars receded.

Suddenly, a footstep. Then another. A brisk, stumbling pace began, with the feet sometimes sliding rather than lifting fully across the ground. And glowing through the dark, a lone purple eye. I recognised it immediately. My armour started to fade, my beard receded, voidfire snuffed out.

"No, it can't be," I insisted, "It's not you, Hamish!"

My defences returned, I envisaged a lamp. I caught a glimpse of him as he once was. Of his ochre scarf, his short black hair, his heavy trench-coat. He slipped back into darkness.

Another lantern. Light glinted off a glassy purple eye. Half his face and one of his hands was gnarled and black and twisted. He wore the armour of a Divine officer, one gauntlet discarded to unsheathe a taloned hand which burned anything it touched. A light golden sabre sat snugly in the other. As he had been on the bridge. Hamish grinned wildly at me.

Back into darkness.

"Hello Kay," he sneered.

I summoned a final lantern. It revealed no one. The point of my sword dipped.

A full-grown Endling, with teeth like swords, leapt from the shadows. All of him was gnarled and burned and smoky. His talons swiped down not to cut but to grab. The burns on my neck screamed out anew.

I opened and locked the door, staggering into my office. The fire burned, the wallpaper was green, my desk was just as I left it, but this was no comfort. Already, his talons slammed into the door, tearing away the wood.

"What do I do?" I ask.

The Book's fluttering mass of pages cocked its head.

"Other than join me in death?"

I went up to its armchair. The door rattled.

"Don't grow a sense of humour, now. You must have noticed something I missed."

"I am dead, Kay."

"Yes, and it's my fault, but what did Freak say?!"

The Book glared at me.

"He said he did not choose what you saw. Meaning…"

It rolled its hand in expectation.

"...He's using my own fears."

"Hamish is no interloper."

"He's a local!" I howled with laughter.

I looked down at the Book. Voidfire began to spread across it.

"Thank you, Book," I said. "You always were magnificent."

It glared back in silence, and then was gone. Crack! Hamish's hand went through the door. I moved, quickly, knowing my window was limited. I envisaged Freak in the Book's place, but he was nothing more than a shell, unmoving. So, I opened one eye in the waking world, and saw him dangling before me again.

"Freak," I oozed, aloud and in my mind. "Would you spare me a moment of your time?"

He shot to life in my office.

"What do you want?" The phantom asked.

Realising he was in an armchair he adopted an aloof smile and leaned back slowly. He scrunched his features and looked over at the door Hamish was destroying.

"Oh, this is where she sat," Freak nodded. "And advised you. Are you lonely in here, Kay?"

I pulled out a bottle of whiskey I remembered enjoying one time and poured us both a glass.

"I wanted some company, Hamish will break in momentarily. I don't intend to wait out eternity with him, so I'll probably just off myself. Give you one less mind to worry about tormenting."

I laced my tone with acid. He needed to believe me. Hamish tore a hole large for his glassy purple eye to look through.

"How considerate," Freak smirked. "You'd best hurry up then, I won't let you die once I'm a god."

My nostrils flared and my eyes burned.

"I have time enough," I said. "I wanted to compliment you on your spell. You really have gotten to the thing I fear most."

Hamish rattled the lock, then drew back.

Freak lounged back. His arms extended to impossible lengths as he stretched.

"Well, I can't take full credit for that, can I? You see-"

"-Yes, getting the mind to produce its own worst fear, very efficient. Of course, that must also feel a little impersonal, mustn't it?"

Freak glared and sat forward.

"I'm on a tight schedule, I'll put my own spin on it later."

"If I live that long."

I heard a sound like sprouting in the real world. I felt cold roots wind about my wrists and restrain them.

"You will."

"Blast, there goes that plan!" I laughed nervously.

A strange look spread across Freak's face. I mustn't have been very convincing.

I mused: "It must be strange though, finding what your subject's afraid of, but not knowing why?"

"A little, but I have eternity to learn all that."

I smiled coldly as I heard Hamish's footsteps pounding down the hall. He was going to charge his way in. I clapped the Phantom Lord on the shoulder.

"Well, it might help you to learn that as much as I fear being tormented by Hamish for all eternity, that is eclipsed by how much Hamish would hate being trapped in here with me."

Freak's eyes widened and the door exploded. Hamish' burning, black hands wrapped around his face. My eyes shot open.

I slammed into the floor as Freak swung away from me. Smoke was rising from his face, and I could see Hamish still wrapped around him. The darkness withdrew and the torches turned back from yellow to orange. The leader of the Mencur-Besh was still next to me. I grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

"Fire!" I screamed.

His eyes shot open.

Fire leapt up at the howling phantom in a mighty spiral, then severed the fleshy limb on his back from the rest of his body. The limb and its near-unbreakable wall of talons immediately began to shrivel away into nothing as, while Freak himself hit the floor in a continued howl. For a few moments he seemed to grapple with an unseen figure, until he made a motion like throwing and then struck the ground nearby. He rose, feeling his face for burn marks which did not exist.

"Sorry, Fire, you have my undivided attention."

Meanwhile, Kay looked up from his efforts to wake a trembling Shadow and sighed:

"I need to invest in a more durable nemesis."

Fire rushed at Freak, launching a burning, overhead swing of his zweihander, only for the phantom to turn intangible and invisible at the last second. Freak then became solid again, standing atop the edge of Fire's blade and clawing at his visor. Fire swung the sword back up at the last moment, throwing Freak away from him. The two then engaged in a flurry of blows, Fire dodging and swiping as the Phantom Lord phased through every blow.

Away from this duel, Kay continued to shake Shadow. Her eyes were now open, but she was still seized by terror, looking this way and that.

"Shadow, wake up! Come on, I know I'm not your favourite person but-"

"-Where's Fire, is he safe?"

"No, he needs your help."

"Fire, where are you?"

Kay gritted his teeth and looked around for Astro, hoping another wizard might be able to help more. He then heard a warping sound.

"What in tha Great Underking's Beard happened 'ere?"

My eyes lit up. Urist stood over me gawking, where Voidblade was already looking around and nodding at the scene.

"Urist, start getting people back on their feet. V, get out and help Fire."

"Understood," said the enderman.

He teleported away and narrowly missed Freak's head with a spinning swipe of the halberd. Urist's eyes ping-ponged back and forth between Jennifer and Astro before turning the other way and shaking the fallen Tyron. Kay looked back to Shadow.

"Peter needs you."

The tiny mage's eyes became clear, then began burning with newfound determination. She floated to her feet and hovered a short distance above the floor. Shadow balled her fists as her hair began floating upwards.

Meanwhile, Freak parried and phased through an endless torrent of attacks from Fire and the teleporting Voidblade. The phantom cast an eye over at the slow resuscitation of the rest of the party which had come to slay him.

"You know, Fire," he sneered. "I was quite enjoying our duel, but then you had to go and cheat by inviting this hyperactive beanpole."

Freak feinted a parry then turned intangible, leaving Voidblade to stagger through him. He shunted the enderman aside. Fire swung again, but Freak caught his blade in a nest of indestructible, extended talons. With his other hand, Freak swung up and caught Fire on the forehead.

"Take a rest, little hero," cackled the phantom.

However, his laughter died on the vine as Fire's eyes flickered from red to black, then back again. He did not fall. He wrenched his sword from Freak's grip and sent the stunned phantom spinning.

Phasing through another strike from Voidblade, Freak steadied himself, gearing up to extend his arm out and pierce Fire right through his insolent chest. How dare he resist!

A blackness fell over him. He looked up. Shadow had floated higher, her skin beyond darkness and her eyes like stars. A pulse emanated from her, first darkening everything it crossed, but once it passed it was as if the contrast on reality had increased. Colours were more intense, sounds clearer. Freak was violently pushed back into physical space from his ethereal state.

"Hah!" he scoffed. "Contesting me for control of the local reality, very well. If I cannot be ethereal, then let's see what I can't do in the physical world!"

He shot an arm out past Shadow and cut the air above her. Hundreds of spiders and scorpions and other poisonous beasts cascaded over her.

He had no time for triumph or even a snide remark, though, as a dwarf-operated diamond mace immediately collided with his jaw and sent him reeling. Two glowing yellow teeth flew from his mouth before dissipating in the air and regrowing. A quick glance revealed the entire group back on their feet. Overhead, the storm of worlds became still fiercer. The mechanism's defences were still operational.

"Very well," Freak grinned. "Let's do this."

A great storm of battle erupted in the throne room, to rival that which unfolded overhead. Rose hurled wave upon wave of knives while Amanda swooped this way and that to fire rockets. Freak blocked all these by summoning strange stone birds into the air. Jennifer and Voidblade circled the melee, looking for ideal moments to hurt Freak with a well-timed strike of the halberd, or to put some room between him and an ally with an explosive impact from the ghastbone bow. And in the centre a great ruck had formed as Freak slashed to and fro at the other champions.

Fire and Tyron proved most able to go toe-to-toe with the Phantom lord, hacking away with the Entity's zweihander and Kir respectively. However, as much as they tore away at the phantom's body, Freak always managed to avoid a decisive blow by contorting his body as though it were that of a serpent, or by manifesting some fleshy limb to push him out of the way.

Only shortly behind them was Steve, who caught Freak's every blow with his impossible shields and swiping away with Excalibur. Kay clung closely to Steve, trying to remain out of Freak's line of sight until he engaged the adventurer, then bursting out with a strike of the sword or a heavy punch.

Urist followed a similar tactic with Astro. As the wizard flew around at low altitudes, trying to find a person to shield, or a limb to break, Freak sent out briars to creep along the ground and bloom into thorns which would strike him from the sky. Urist, however, had seen what had been done to Herobrine's party by these briars, and closely followed these creeping strands of death, crushing the thorns with his mace before they could do harm.

Shadow's role may have seemed less active to an onlooker, but every time Freak attempted to push the boundaries of his influence, she was there to push back with greater force. Still, the phantom had considerable strength that could not be quelled in the metaphysical realm, so Shadow occasionally used conventional spells to assist the others, burning away Freak's limbs or magically enhancing her allies.

However, the storm above continued to rage. The yellow lights shone brighter. And Freak only seemed to grow stronger and bolder.

A briar shot out and pierced Fire's breastplate and, while not piercing his ribcage, left a large gash across his chest. A fleshy limb caught Rose's knives, then spat them back out, striking her in the leg. Freak carved the air and out jumped a huge, black wolf who began to maul Urist until Kay and Amanda came to his rescue. A blow from his talons split another of Steve's shields and sent him flying. A second blow would have killed him, had Astro not summoned three closely-packed shields to stop Freak. And every wound they inflicted on him seemed to have less and less of an effect, knitting back together faster and bleeding less when open.

"Okay, killing him quickly so we can get to the mechanism unopposed clearly isn't working," opined Tyron over the telepathic network maintained by Kir.

"You're right," agreed Fire as he cut through a horned, lion-headed beast which dissipated into smoke thereafter. "So long as the machine is operational, he'll only get stronger and I hate to say it, but I'm not sure we can keep pace. Jennifer, Steve, get to the switch."

With a shattering noise, Jennifer arrived at the machine and began to hammer away with two enchanted diamond pickaxes.

"Back to plan A, I guess," answered Steve.

Herobrine's son then bashed Freak in the face with his shield, then threw an ender pearl over at the obsidian shield guarding the mechanism. However, a stone bird twirled into its path, dropping Steve into a patch of briars which he hurriedly began to block with his shield.

"I'm getting real sick of him doing that!"

"Hang tight Steve," instructed Fire, narrowly dodging Freak's latest attack. "Jennifer, can you break the machine alone?"

"Just a sec…" The sound of obsidian shattering rang out. "Crap! There's at least twenty layers of this stuff! Alloyed sheets. I can only break one at a time, I need backup."

Shadow swooped to and fro above the battlefield, trying to get a good shot on the briars harassing Steve, but being perpetually harassed by Freak's extended talons, fleshy limbs or summoned beasts.

"Urist?" Fire asked.

"Out of commission," answered Astro.

The wizard similarly lurched around the battlefield, carrying the dwarf under his armpits in search of a safe spot to heal him.

"Aye, me arm's broken," confirmed the dwarf hazily.

It occurred to Fire that he might have to pull out a trump card. They needed a ringer. And that ringer might just be Claw. Unfortunately, that would mean he couldn't coordinate the others.

"Rose?" he tried.

The assassin steadied herself, and focused. A single dagger came shooting out in a burst of energy, the sharpest she had ever thrown. It shattered against the obsidian alloy, leaving only a superficial scratch.

"No dice," she said aloud.

"Guys, have idea," chirped Kir, surprising even Tyron.

A few moments later, the plan was fully relayed. Kay ran forward and launched a flying punch at Freak. The Phantom Lord dodged easily and turned to strike Kay in the back, only for one of Amanda's rockets to explode against his head.

With his concentration broken, the stone birds began to flicker out of existence. Shadow fired out her disintegration beam and burned away the briars around Steve, who immediately pulled out an ender pearl. However, this time, instead of throwing it at the mechanism, he threw it at Tyron.

The second Steve materialised, he threw Excalibur to the Dragoknight, before throwing a second pearl at the activation mechanism and rematerialising there. Tyron caught the blade with his free hand and assumed a dual-wielding fighting stance.

"Now!" Tyron roared.

Shadow and Astro landed behind Fire and immediately began to channel their energy into Tyron, joining Kir in enhancing his reflexes and taking up the duty of maintaining the telepathic network. Tyron's eyes and the vortex on his back shone like beacons, and blue light pulsed through his veins, so bright it even shone out through his fur. Icy tendrils wafted from the surfaces of Kir and Excalibur, and rocks rose from the floor to build a set of mighty stone wings on Tyron's shoulders. He ascended from the floor, Kir held forward and Excalibur drawn back for a downward thrust.

Freak's neck snapped back into place, and he rounded on the source of the shadow which had now fallen upon him. Steve and Jennifer hammered away at the obsidian. Rose, Kay and Voidblade took up positions around him as Amanda circled. He heard the sound of flames igniting and glanced back to see Fire rise on his flaming wings. As he arose, he saw Astro and Shadow behind several layers of shields, still channelling energy into Tyron. Freak chuckled.

"Never to be outdone, are we, Pete? You couldn't even let the furball have the high ground?"

"And you can't go ten seconds without running your mouth, Freak!"

Freak ran a set of talons up his face as though pushing up a pair of non-existent glasses.

"No, and in a little bit, I'll never have to go that long again!"

A taloned hand burst out from either side of Freak's elbow and began to soar straight at two targets: Steve and Jennifer. A sickening grin spread across Freak's face. Then, a brilliant blue flash. Unable to see, Freak lurched forward as his two new limbs were severed from him in quick succession. He retracted the bleeding remains, and as his eyes cleared, he saw ice spreading across them. New talons broke through, but he still felt the chill. He looked out at Tyron, who was already gearing up for another assault.

"Very well, little hero, let's have-"

Before Freak could finish his thought, Tyron's wings had beaten, propelling him forward along a path of ice rapidly forming before him. Kir caught him on the leg, then Excalibur on his hip. Ice began to creep. He moved to scrape away the ice, when - boom! - Fire's zweihander came down on his wrist, scorching his flesh. He leapt away from the flame. Still, the ice crept.

Not willing to wait for another attack, Freak shed his arms and formed new ones, these each having three branches, each ending in a hand that was more weapon than organ. He rushed at Tyron and swiped down with his right arm, only for his new claws to stick in one of his wings, which bent forward like a shield. Freak lashed out with his left arm, yet more talons branching off from it, now creating weapons for the sake of weapons in the hope of finding some flesh to hit. He could feel the fear pouring into him from all around. How could his body not match this level of strength?

In a surge of energy, Freak found the ever-branching arm spiralling away from the rest of him. Rose had sent up a spray of daggers, and a spare one has stuck in his torso. Ice crept over it.

Freak snapped his neck to move out of the way of Tyron's next slash of Kir, only for Excalibur to catch him on the knee. He rolled and evaded another slash from Tyron, only to be greeted by Voidblade's halberd piercing his neck. He attempted to lash out with his remaining arm but found the ice had stuck it in place. Kay's blade shattered the limb, then the General grabbed Voidblade's arm. The two teleported away just before Freak's new arm could cut the air and douse them in poisonous bogwater, resplendent with leeches. Freak straightened up just in time to see Fire's reflection in the murky surface.

The Entity's zweihander pierced his chest and Freak immediately manifested small tendrils to reach from his back and begin to lash away at him. They cut armour, picked away scales, drew blood, but still the great leader of the Mencur-Besh held firm. As Freak thrashed and contorted his body, all Fire did was slowly shuffle his feet into a new position. The phantom cracked his head around like an owl to look Fire in the eye. Before he could speak, Fire smirked.

"Not me you should be looking at."

Freak turned just in time to see Tyron, like a missile of ice, stone and diamond, shooting down a path of ice towards him. First Kir cut him, then Excalibur. Then Excalibur, then Kir. Across the torso, across the head, arms, legs, every piece of him. Fire's boot shunted him from the blade and the assault only became more intense. And from every wound upon his smoky skin, ice formed faster and faster. He couldn't move his legs, then his arms, until finally, it was creeping up his face. With Shadow contesting him for the local reality, he had ceded the aethereal and relied upon his body. And his body, despite all the fear in all creation reinforcing it, had failed. Ice spread across his eyes, and he saw his enemies breathing a sigh of relief. The blows stopped.

"Is he down?!" Steve called out.

"For now," Tyron gasped, keeping his swords raised.

Steve exhaled sharply, then continued to slam his pick into the obsidian.

"Hope it hurts," Kir trilled in Freak's mind.

But Freak had no interest in the sword's petty revenge. His eyes drifted over to the shield dome protecting Astro and Shadow. He surveyed the little mage with hate, thinking on how she had shed her form to contest the Entity. Very well. Then Fear would mimic Entropy.

He looked up through one of the portals and saw a large, pillar-like structure in the midst of a city coming to rest above the Tower, a blazing white inverse to Nexus. Freak cast his mind out to the people of the city, and felt their fear, anxieties of war, inquisition, the mundane terror of being, and he began to fashion a vessel of it.

A small appendage like a scorpion's stinger sprouted from the back of his skull. He angled it above him, so as to best crack open the cocoon that he was.

"Um, guys…" Amanda called.

Freak struck down. Ice, skin, skull all shattered. Down and down until nothing remained to break. And from the destruction of his body emerged a skeleton of briars, around which smoky flesh and glowing, golden fear began to entangle and disentangle. An ever-changing tangle of fear. He struck out with talons like rays of sunlight.

Astro and Shadow's shield dome shattered. The two mages went flying. Tyron's wings crumbled, and his swords lost their frosty aura. Fire stepped out, a jet of flame spewed from his hand and Freak simply caught it and made it sturdy as a rope. With a tug he hurled the Mencur-Besh aside, bowling over Rose and forcing Voidblade to teleport Kay away. Amanda's rocket glanced harmlessly off his shoulder.

Freak smiled and it stretched like a dread horizon.

"Know this, I am Fear." He began to howl with laughter. "And I am all that awaits you!"