Hi everyone, thanks again for your patience. Things have gotten pretty bad for our heroes as they are not only separated once more, but their enemies now reveal they control a power that not even Ben could defeat with his most powerful transformations: the power of Dagon. How will the Avengers and their allies prevail? And what is the full extent of the Cabal's sinister plan? Find out right now!
(Also, if you haven't already noticed, I have uploaded a visual of Breach's new appearance on my DeviantArt profile, also named Iron117Prime. Take a look if you haven't seen it already)
Part 4
Earth KP – Pandarus Island
The team consisting of Danny Phantom, Jake, Sam Tasma, Dani Phantom, Maxmillion Ambro, Lao-Shi, Fu-Dog and Tucker Foley all ran or flew out into the open cave system underneath the island as multiple energy spheres were shot at them, exploding all around the walls and ground as they made contact. Danny, Jake, Danielle, and Lao-Shi all turned around to return fire with Ecto-beams and fire blasts at their attackers, resulting in a large explosion erupting from the cavern they had just left.
The group didn't get much of a respite as multiple magical creatures, now transformed into Esoterica, literally stepped out form out of nowhere and surrounded the group.
"Bad time to ask, but does anyone got a plan on dealing with these things?" Tucker questioned.
The Esoterica threw another volley of energy spheres at the group, but Max quickly slammed one end of his cane onto the ground to raise a large circular wall of stone from the ground around them and protect them from the energy blasts. Though the wall broke apart from the blasts, Max used this to his advantage as he telekinetically blasted all the debris at the Esoterica around them. Several were able to slip away in the same manner they appeared and void the debris, but a few did get hit and knocked away.
"Spread out and pick them apart! Don't get surrounded!" Max told them. "How's that for a plan?"
"Works for us." Danny said as most of the group shot forward to engage the enemy, while Fu-Dog slipped into cover behind a set of stalagmites.
"Yeah, you guys all have fun. I'll just… stay here and keep an eye out for any sneak attacks. Heh-heh." The magical dog said nervously.
Danny flew above two Esoterica as he fired a pair of Ecto-blasts at them, but they slipped away before they could get hit. One re-appeared in the same manner next to Danny to slug him across the face while the second ran up a pair of invisible steps behind him to jump and deliver a kick to his back and knock him to the ground. As he pulled himself up, he was surrounded by three more Esoterica as they threw some energy spheres at him, but Danny quickly erected a barrier of Ecto-energy to block it.
"I can't touch you…" He said before turning intangible and generating a bright, cyan-colored aura around him as his eyes changed to the same color. "Let's see you touch me."
The three Esoterica tried to come in and attack with punches and kicks, but not only did their physical attacks phase through Danny, they were instantly frozen once they passed through his intangible body.
"My turn." Danny then punched all three of them, shattering the ice around them as their bodies slid across the ground.
At the same time, Jake and Dani were forced to come back-to-back as four Esoterica ran up and down around them on invisible stairs while also throwing their energy spheres at them, keeping the half-ghost girl and American Dragon on the defensive as they used their long-ranged attacks to keep the spheres from getting closer. However, this only created a large smokescreen to blind the pair as those same four Esoterica suddenly popped up in between them to punch and kick them with enough force to knock them to the ground.
However, right as the Esoterica were about to come down with some devastating kicks, Lao-Shi flew in and snapped his tail at them to knock them onto the wall, where Sam quickly constructed a cluster of Ecto-chains to bind and ensnare them.
"Thanks, G." Jake thanked his grandfather as he and Dani got back up.
"Let's see you guys, slip out of that!" Sam said to the bound Esoterica, only for them to literally slip away just as they've always done, like the chains weren't even there. "Oh, come on!"
"Seriously, this is so freaking annoying!" Dani exclaimed as more Esoterica appeared around them.
Max used a mixture of magic and martial arts to keep the attacking Esoterica at bay, using his hands and cane to parry their physical attacks while directing blasts of fire and lightning to keep their energy spheres from coming any closer. He seemed to be holding his own, facing a group of six on his own, but he had yet to take a single one down permanently. When it looked like one was about to be defeated, that enemy just slipped away. But Max also observed their movements as one had just slipped away to avoid a lightning bolt that he had shot. And just as it seemed like that same one was about to slip in a punch, Max reacted quickly enough to grab that Esoterica by its wrist and pull him out of whatever kind of dimension he had emerged from.
"Alright pal, let's see what you got going on in there." Max said, quickly erecting a magic barrier to protect himself and his captive from the blasts of the surrounding Esoterica. Max then tapped his cane onto the Esoterica's forehead to try and channel his magic into him and get a good idea of what he was dealing with. However, just as the Esoterica was encased in a white sparling aura, it was blasted way before he vanished, much to Max's chagrin.
"Well, that's new."
"What's this?" Max turned to see Pandarus approaching him with a smug grin. "The greatest magic user in our world is on the ropes? Here I thought you were supposed to be a challenge."
"Keep talking, pal. Let's see you talk without your teeth!" Max slammed his cane onto the ground to send a wave of earth toward him, but two Esoterica appeared in Pandarus' defense to blast the earth wave away with their energy spheres.
"Sorry, I think I'll pass on that. The ladies do love a man with a smile." Pandarus maintained his taunting smirk as the Esoterica resumed their attack.
Most of Danny's team came together as the Esoterica all appeared in front of them, but despite the uphill battle they faced, not a single one of them was willing to back down.
"Not giving up?" Nocturne appeared above the horde of transformed beings. "I applaud your efforts, but you must see even your methods are futile."
"What did you do to these people, Nocturne?!" Danny demanded. "Turn them back, now!"
"I think not." The ghost of sleep replied. "But I will add a little something to the mix to make this fight far more interesting. Sleepwalkers! Form!"
Right as he said those words, a small army of green ghoul-like ghosts appeared alongside the Esoterica with moans, making the enemy force more than twice as big as before.
"You have got to be kidding me right now." Sam's eyelids lowered with a moan just as the Esoterica and Sleepwalkers charged forward to engage the heroes.
Meanwhile, Fu Dog continued to hide from his spot as he looked toward the fight with a wince. "Oh man, this isn't looking good."
"So, what do you say we do something about it?" Tucker asked, popping up next to Fu. "See that skull-thing over there?" He pointed toward the Nightmare Totem that remained where it was inside the cavern cathedral they just exited from. "How much do you wanna bet that if we smash it, this whole thing will end?"
A confident smirk fell on Fu's face. "I say, I like the way you think, kid."
Earth B10 – Naga Nest
Lance fired a barrage of missiles from his Manus armor's shoulders, but the Esoterica around him all slipped away before the explosive projectiles ever met their target. Two Esoterica came flying out from out of nowhere to land a pair of flying kicks strong enough to knock the Manus face-down on the ground, where a dozen Esoterica quickly surrounded him to unleash a volley of energy spheres, which appeared to strike the armor and engulfed it in a powerful explosion that shook up much of the nest.
However, as the Esoterica observed the resulting dust cloud for any sign of movement, Lance's armor flew straight upward and high into the air to open fire with its gatling cuffs on the Esoterica, but they were quickly able to slip away and avoid getting shot.
"Damn it! Just what are we dealing with!?" Lance exclaimed.
Octus moved below with his normal speed, easily avoiding all the physical and energy attacks the Esoterica around him all unleashed. He was able to even swiftly move in and grab one Esoterica and perform a quick scan before he slipped away from his grasp.
"These people have been transformed on an almost molecular level." Octus explained as he continued to move and avoid more of the Esoterica's attacks. "The same energy we've been tracking is directly affecting their minds, channeling it through the host's nervous system and allowing it transform into these 'Esoterica', granting them the same type of trans-dimensional ability which is likely how they keep disappearing and re-appearing around us."
"That's great!" Zak exclaimed as he used the staff of his Claw to parry the punch of one Esoterica while swinging the hook of his Fang out to snare another one, but that one quickly vanished just as the one in front of him did as well. "Any chance you can reverse it, because we're having a really hard time here!"
"I'm afraid I don't have a solution yet." Octus reported as he flew into the air to avoid more energy blasts. "I don't have a full grasp of this kind of energy so I don't have a means to counter it."
"Figured it wouldn't be so easy." Zak said with a growl as he saw Fiskerton being chased by a pair of Nagas, the Lemurian leaping and climbing up the odd buildings of the Nagas' home city while the humanoid snakes kept their pace. However, just as Fiskerton reached the top, he gave a scream as he saw two Esoterica appeared on the roof above him. They raised their energy spheres and were about to bring them down onto him.
"Fisk!" Zak quickly shot out the grapplers on his Claw and Fang to grab Fisk by his shoulders and pull him away just as the Esoterica threw their attack. But with Fisk out of the way, the attacks ended up hitting the pursuing Nagas, blasting and sending them crashing onto the ground.
Fiskerton ended up skidding as he landed next to Zak but quickly recovered as they came back-to-back to face the group of Nagas and Esoterica surrounding them. Fiskerton gave a distressed mumble to Zak.
"Yeah, you and me both, Bro." Zak replied.
Drew swung her fire-sword to send a wave of flame to carve away a piece of a building, causing it to fall onto a group of Nagas and Esoterica. However, it was quickly revealed that only the Nagas appeared buried and the Esoterica had vanished. But one suddenly re-appeared next to her to deal a kick to her side and knock her back, but she quickly recovered and blasted a point-blank fire stream from her sword to score a direct hit on that Esoterica. However, a second one appeared behind her, but it was quickly knocked down and pounced on by something invisible, which was revealed to be Komodo who hissed and snarled before trying to bite down on his neck, but the Esoterica quickly slipped away, causing Komodo to tumble a bit before growling in frustration.
Doc decked a Naga across the face before blasting it with a sonic vibration from his Battle Glove to knock it even further back. But the tail of another Naga wrapped around his neck from behind to fling him upward before slamming him onto the ground and pinned him down by his shoulders as an Esoterica ran up a flight of invisible steps to stand above him and get ready to unleash an energy sphere. But Zon came in from behind with a caw to slam into him from behind to knock him down, where he misfired at the Naga. This caused the Naga to release Doc, where he then proceeded to punch that Naga and knock it down. He quickly recovered to regroup with his wife along with Zon and Komodo as more Esoterica and Nagas appeared around them.
"The Nagas by themselves are one thing, but these 'Esoterica' are something else!" Doc stated.
"Yeah, kinda hard to hit if they slip in and out of dimensions!" Drew added.
As the Esoterica prepared a volley of energy blasts, Rani Nagi was perched on a temple rooftop just above them. "You Saturdays have interfered with us for far too long! And now, you shall face the full wrath of the power that even dwarfs Kur! Destroy them!"
Per Rani Nagi's orders, the Esoterica all unleashed their energy blasts upon the Saturday family, only for several red glowing portals to appear from all sides and suck in the energy blasts, protecting the family.
"What?!" Rani Nagi exclaimed just as another portal appeared above her, where all the energy blasts came flying out to strike and explode all around her, sending her flying and crashing along the wall. The Queen of the Nagas slid with a thud to the ground, looking up in shock to see the portal-user looking down on her with a glare.
"You talk too much. You know that, right?" Breach said.
Rani Nagi hissed as she lunged at Breach, but she vanished into a portal behind her and re-appeared at Rani Nagi's side to punch her before throwing out another punch into a portal, which appeared at Rani Nagi's face to slug her in-between the eyes. Breach then created several portals around herself and several more around Rani Nagi. She threw out all four of her fists and even several kicks through the portals around her, causing the attacks to appear and strike all over Rani Nagi's body so fast she couldn't even counter. She even threw out her two largest fists, causing them to appear and sandwich Rani Nagi's head before she fell backwards.
"Have I mentioned how much I'm glad you're on our side now?" She heard Zak told her as he and Fisk ran to join her.
"Let's save it until after we make it out of this." Breach said with a smile. "So, these things can travel in-between dimensions?"
"Yeah, kinda like you." Zak replied.
"Not quite… but it does give me an idea." A smirk fell on Breach's face. "I think I figured out a way to beat these guys."
Earth B10 – Residence of Hex
An explosion erupted from the large mansion as Kim, Ben, Illana, Ron, Gwen, Kevin, Rex, and Zed were all sent flying out and landing on the courtyard surrounding the mansion. They pulled themselves up to see Hex and Addwaitya hovering above them while multiple Esoterica surrounded them as well. The two evil magic-users opened fire, Hex blasting a red magic blast from his staff while Addwaitya shot dark pink mana beams from his eyes just as the Esoterica threw a volley of energy spheres at them.
Fortunately, Illana was quick to activate her Corus armor and project an energy dome around herself and her friends, shielding them from the blasts. "Ben, you and your friends know what these things are?!"
"Yeah, the Esoterica. Really bad news." Ben said as he activated his Omnitrix to transform into Chromastone right as Illana dropped her shield and he opened fire with his own multi-colored energy blasts at the Esoterica. A few hits were scored while most of the transformed people slipped away through the invisible dimension.
"Best way to handle these things is to hit them hard and fast. Don't get surrounded." Chromastone advised.
"Got it." Rex said as he formed his Smack Hands and went on the attack with everyone else.
Kevin quickly came up to Illana and grabbed her Corus armor's side. "Hey, mind if I borrow some of this?" He absorbed the material from her armor around himself, coating himself in golden-colored metal before rushing out to engage the Esoterica. He decked one and punched another while a third tried to slug him from behind, only for him to hold his wrist in pain and leave him open for Kevin to knock him down with a punch. "Huh, this stuff ain't half bad." Kevin admired the armor he copied.
"Glad you like it." Illana said as she flew next to him to blast a energy beam from her forehead to intercept two energy spheres thrown by a couple of Esoterica. "But let's stay focused on the fight, shall we?"
"Right." Kevin nodded as Zed ran past him to leap and tackle an Esoterica, but he vanished underneath her, and just before the second could attack her, Kevin quickly came to slug him and knock him back before he vanished.
Kim was in quite the predicament as she used her own martial arts skills to block and parry the attacks of one Esoterica, but when she tried to go on the offensive, the enemy slipped away and vanished from sight, later to reappear behind her and deck her across her face, though she reacted quickly enough to return a kick to his own face, but he quickly slipped away to recover just as two more emerged to throw energy spheres around her. Fortunately, Ron came in, his body glowing with his Mystic Monkey Aura, and just as Kim ducked, Ron landed in front of her to throw out both his fists and punch the energy spheres, causing them to explode but Ron was left unharmed as his Mystic Monkey Aura seemed to protect them, but the Esoterica vanished once more.
"Aw man! I hate it when the bad guys teleport!" Ron complained.
"So unfair!" Rufus squeaked.
"I don't think it's teleporting Ron." Kim said as she pointed up to see a group of Esoterica running around Rex as they threw a volley of energy blasts at him, which he tried to shield himself from by covering himself with his Smack Hands.
"Okay, ya know what?! That is just cheap!" Ron complained as Rufus spat out raspberries in disapproval.
Rex, meanwhile, had flew up with his Boogie Party into the middle of the Esoterica that ran on the invisible steps around him. He formed his Fun Chucks to fling and smack at them, but they were quick and nimble enough to not only jump and leap over his attacks, but also slip away into another dimension.
"Come on! Why don't you guys quit your tricks and fight for real?!" Rex exclaimed as an Esoterica appeared out of nowhere to punch him across the face before another appeared to deliver a kick to one of the wings of his Boogie Pack, breaking it and causing him to fall back toward the ground where he was quickly surrounded before they threw more energy spheres at him. But Rex was quick enough to throw up his Block Party and shield himself for the most part. "Damn, these guys are annoying!"
Gwen, meanwhile, threw several mana-disks at Hex, but he parried them by swinging his staff before landing on the ground to face her and blast her with a dark magic stream, which Gwen countered with a shield before rolling across the ground to blast at Hex, which he countered with another blast of his own. Both magics collided in a beam-struggle as they pressed against one another.
"Hex, why are you doing this?!" Gwen questioned. "You hate Addwaitya! But more importantly, you know what this power is and where it comes from! Why would you use it?!"
"Do you know what your problem is, little Gwen? Your naivety." Hex replied. "You see the good in everything, even when it's not there." As he continued to clash his magic with hers, Addwaitya appeared behind Gwen to blast her with a pair of magic-eye beams, sending her rolling across the ground. She struggled to pull herself up as Hex addressed her again.
"We've been enemies since the moment we met, child. Long have I tried to take your world and make it my own. Though my distaste for Addwaitya is Brobdingnagian, I do have my reasons. Reasons that you will sadly not live long enough to see."
"Time to die, you meddlesome Anodite!" Addwaitya declared as he and Hex unleashed their magic blasts upon her, but Chromastone quickly appeared above her to stretch out his hands and absorb both their blasts before re-directing them at Hex and Addwaitya, knocking them both back.
"Nobody picks on my cousin, but me!" Chromastone declared as he helped Gwen up. "Look Gwen, how about we question these guys after we beat them up because I don't think they're in the mood for discussion."
Gwen gave a sigh, knowing Ben had a point. "You're right." She got serious and channeled as much Mana as she could as Hex and Addwaitya recovered to face the cousins of the Tennyson family once more.
Ghost Zone – The Realm of the Far Frozen
Frostbite stood in the treasure room as he continued to observe the open Infi-Map, with several more of the glowing doors being projected from it changing from purple to dark red as they continued to crack. Already, it seemed more than two thirds of all the doors were compromised in this state.
"Hmm, this appears to be getting worse." Frostbite said to himself in a grave tone. "I pray the Great One and his friends are able to find a way to stop this, or else the entire fabric of reality itself could be in danger."
"Frostbite!" A yeti quickly entered the chamber.
"What is it? Another beast?" Frostbite asked urgently.
"No, sir. It's Plasmius."
Without a beat, Frostbite ran out as quickly as he could. In record time, he made it outside where half a dozen of his fellow Yeti glared upward toward the descending ghost from of Vlad Plasmius.
"You are unwelcomed here!" Frostbite declared. "Leave now, or I promise you never will!"
"Glad to see I've left quite the impression if you are making death-threats to me, Frostbite." Vlad said with a smug grin as he hovered a few inches off the ground. "But I'm afraid I'll be making the demands here, and there is but one I wish to give. Hand over the Infi-Map."
All the Yetis growled, as did their leader. "Are you responsible for the malevolent force that is tearing through the border between dimensions?!" Frostbite accused.
"No, that very force is actually acting on its own, being the essence of a sentient being." Vlad explained. "You see, some time ago, that very sentient being was made entirely out of energy before being cast out across the universe from its first defeat. Due to originating from a creature that can pass through whole realities of its own power, that very same force had been scattered across the multiverse. But now, it's seeking to reform itself, being drawn to not only the universe of its previous defeat, but also those with an abundance of mystical energy, or those that are connected to other worlds naturally."
"Such as the Ghost Zone and your Earth." Frostbite realized, his eyes narrowing.
"Indeed." Vlad confirmed. "If this power happens to come back together and manifest itself into the original entity, I guarantee the result would be catastrophic even genocidal on a multiversal level. But, I may have a way to control it. If you help me Frostbite, we can potentially save all of existence." He offered his hand with an evil grin. "So what do you say? It's not that bad of an offer, is it?"
However, Frostbite wasn't fooled. "How many times must you repeat this same mistake? You've meddled with forces beyond your understanding or control on multiple occasions: Vortex, Pariah Dark, the Disasteroid, now you wish to bring a malevolent inter-dimensional monster under your command?! I think the multiverse would be safer if that power were in anybody else's hands but yours! We will not let you take the Infi-Map again and use it for your own delusional purposes!"
With Frostbite's declaration, all the Yetis around him readied themselves for battle as one pulled out a horn and blew through it, sounding an alarm that alerted the other inhabitants of the Far Frozen Realm. They immediately responded to the call and assembled all around the area, forming a large circle around Vlad as he appeared to be surrounded by an army.
"We've been prepared for you return, Plasmius." Frostbite said to him. "Even you must know you cannot face the entire Far Frozen population and be victorious."
"True. There's no way I can defeat all your people by myself. Fortunately for me, I'm not." Vlad pulled out a Dimensional Converter, pressed a button, and opened a bright white portal behind him. Stepping out of the portal and standing beside Vlad were General Modula, Vilgax, Drakken, Argost, Van Kleiss, and the Dark Dragon. "Young Daniel has undoubtedly told you of his new friends, the Avengers; allow me to introduce you to mine: the Cabal."
"Hand over the Infi-Map, now." Modula demanded Frostbite. "You do not want to challenge us."
Such tension filled the air, so thick one could cut it with a knife. The army of the Far Frozen stood ready to attack at a moment's notice, with each member of the Cabal ready to do the same. Nobody made a move, both sides undeterred and unflinching, waiting for a response from the leader of the Far Frozen.
"We are sworn allies and friends of the Avengers." Frostbite began. "We will do everything in our power to assist them in their battles, even if it means standing before their greatest enemies. If the Infi-Map is what you desire, then you must go through all of us! ATTACK!"
With that, all the yetis roared and gave warrior yells as they charged toward the Cabal, who immediately went on the attack themselves, turning the once quiet and peaceful Realm of the Far Frozen into a heated warzone.
Earth KP – Pandarus Island
Fighting the Esoterica alone was one thing, but the Sleepwalkers added on top of that was something else entirely. While the Sleepwalkers were easy enough to take down on their own, their vast numbers combined with the Esoterica's frustrating powers made it a near impossible fight.
Sam had materialized an Ecto-construct of a large gatling gun in her hands and opened fire, tearing away many of the approaching Sleepwalkers and even a couple Esoterica that weren't able to slip away. When a few Esoterica tried to come at her from behind, Danny flew to his girlfriend's aid to blast a beam of cryo-Ecto-energy to freeze all the Esoterica behind her, but he was quickly flanked by Sleepwalkers from above, which he tried to shake off by flying upwards and slamming them into the wall.
Jake and Lao-Shi flew and circled above a group of Esoterica and unleashed their fire breaths to form a ring of fire around them and keep them trapped, but of course, they were able to slip away through their crossing of dimensions.
"I don't know why I thought that would work." Jake muttered before three Sleepwalkers flew in to tackle Jake and pin him to the ground.
"Jake!" Lao-Shi was unable to help his grandson however, because four Sleepwalkers all appeared to grab Lao-Shi, which he struggled to shake off.
The American Dragon struggled to get the three Sleepwalkers off him, he blasted the one in the middle with his fire breath to destroy it before pulling back his feet to kick the remaining two off. However, two Esoterica appeared behind him to throw their energy-spheres at him, but Dani flew forward to blast her Ecto-beams at the spheres to intercept and destroy them, creating a brief smokescreen which she and Jake used to fly forward and knock both Esoterica down with punches.
"These things just keep coming!" Jake stated.
"And Nocturne can make as many as he wants!" Dani added.
"How right you are." Nocturne said as he continued to hover above the struggling heroes. "Sleepwalkers, form!" Upon command, even more Sleepwalkers appeared, adding to the number of enemies the heroes continued to face as they found themselves completely encircled.
"This isn't going well." Danny said. "If this keeps up, we'll loose the energy to fight."
"Got any ideas on how to not do that?" Jake asked.
"I got one. Take down the head honcho!" Maxmillion appeared as he rode a cloud of sparkling dust straight toward Nocturne, spinning his cane to generate a surge of lightning, which he shot at the Ghost of Sleep to score a direct hit as he was sent crashing into the wall. Max hovered above him as he saw the Ghost of Sleep quickly recover.
"You'll need to do better than that." Nocturne said as he blasted a bright blue energy blast at Max, which he shielded himself from with an energy barrier from a wave of his cane. "By channeling my power through the minds of the Esoterica, I am able to achieve just as much power as I could in the realm of dreams. And this is only a taste of the power I will soon wield once the Cabal have the Dagon's full power!"
"Then I better put you to sleep quickly so we can knock the 'Legion of Delusions' down a peg." Max cracked with a grin as he flew at Nocturne, throwing an energized punch, which he avoided before slashing at Max with his claws, but Max was able to parry the strike with his cane before spinning and delivering a kick to Noctrune's face.
As Danny, Danielle, Sam, Jake, and Lao-Shi used their respective ghost and dragon powers to keep the surrounding Esoterica and Sleepwalkers at bay, Pandarus continued to watch at the entrance of his altar from a safe distance.
"Oh, this is most entertaining." Pandarus laughed. "Wish I brought some popcorn."
"You like the show? Good." He turned around to gasp in shock as he saw Tucker holding the Nightmare Totem above his head with Fu Dog next to him, holding a broken stalagmite like a baseball bat. "Cause you're not gonna like the ending!" Tucker smirked as he threw the Nightmare Totem hard to the ground, causing it to crack. Fu Dog immediately brought his makeshift weapon down onto the totem to break it even further as Tucker did the same with a large rock.
"No! Get away from that!" Pandarus tried to run and stop them, but it was too late. With one final strike from their rocks, the Totem broke apart, freeing the two Cassiopeian Dream Eaters inside. Fu brought his broken stalagmite onto one to crush and kill it, while Tucker did the same with the rock.
The second the Totem broke and the Dream Eaters were killed, all the Esoterica suddenly stopped, their bodies flashing white briefly before turning back into normal forms as dwarves, elves, mermaids, and other magical creatures before falling to the ground, unconscious.
"What?!" Nocturne exclaimed in shock as Max smirked and the other heroes looked more than a little ecstatic.
"Way to go Tucker!" Danny called to his friend.
"Nice, Fu!" Jake gave a thumbs up.
"Time to turn this around." Sam smirked wildly as she materialized two machine guns made of Ecto-energy in her hand, her eyes glowing orange as her Ecto-constructs lit on fire before she pulled the trigger, unleashing rapid-fire flaming bullets onto all the Sleepwalkers around her to gun them down.
Dani threw out a series of Ecto-disks with her hands, and even delivered a kick to send a wave of Ecto-energy to cut down another group of Sleepwalkers while Jake flew upward to unleash his fire beath once more and incinerate even more of remaining Sleepwalkers while Lao-Shi swiped his tail at the remaining five to send them crashing and breaking apart against the wall.
"No! My Sleepwalkers!" Nocturne exclaimed, leaving him open for Max to flash behind him, pulling back his cane which glowed with bright white energy.
"Better pay attention to yourself, sleepyhead." Max cracked before slamming his cane into the back of Nocturne's head, just as Danny flew forward to deck Pandarus across the face, both sent flying and tumbling into each other near the altar they were originally in.
Both foes groaned as they looked up to see the entire group surrounding them with glares. "I think a tactical retreat is in order." Pandarus suggested.
"Agreed." Nocturne replied, grabbing Pandarus and turning intangible to sink into the ground and disappear.
"Oh no you don't!" Sam turned intangible herself and flew in after them, with Danny and Danielle doing the same. But they soon came up empty handed, literally.
"They're gone." Danny said.
"Well that sucks." Jake muttered.
"Hey, at least the people are alright." Dani said, motioning to the group of uncioncious magical creatures. "They are gonna be okay, right?"
Max looked toward them for a moment, waving his hand to cast up a form of magical veil to check for anything foreign that may have been left behind inside them, but he seemed to have found nothing.
"They'll be okay, probably save for a splitting headache they'll get when they wake up." Max said.
"Yo, Fu, G, got any idea what these things are?" Jake asked as the group gathered around the dead Dream Eaters.
"I have never seen anything like this before." Lao-Shi said. "These things appear to be parasitic in nature."
"Those Esoterica-guys turned back to normal after these things died." Tucker pointed out. "So maybe they're the cause of it?"
Fu Dog sniffed them for a second. "I ain't sniffing any magic from them." He said before moving to the broken remains of the Totem. "Seems like this is where the magic happened."
"If these jellyfish things aren't magic, then what are they?" Sam asked.
"Let's take these things back to the Mansion with us. Maybe we'll get some answers there." Danny said.
Earth B10 – Naga Nest
Fiskerton gave a series of screams as he ran to avoid the energy spheres thrown at him by the Esoterica, this appeared to heard him toward two Nagas. However, a serious look formed on Fisk's face as he charged at the Nagas, leaping toward the one on the right as he wrapped his arms and legs around its neck to try and cut off its oxygen while it struggled to get him off. Fiskerton released his legs and pulled them back to slam them both into the back of the Naga's neck to send it crashing into the second before landing on the ground, only to gasp as three Esoterica surrounded and prepared to attack him.
Zon quickly flew in to grab one by his shoulders, pull him up and throw him toward the ground while the invisible Komodo pounced onto a second and bit into his shoulder, before that Esoterica threw him off and slipped away. The third one had his wrists tangled from behind with the Claw and Fang grapplers from Zak before he pulled back on them to pull the Esoterica in toward a kick to the face and knock him down.
Drew and Doc were both on the defensive as several Nagas and Esoterica began to surround them, the married scientists using fire blasts and ice-beams from their respective weapons to try and keep their enemies at bay, but this only seemed to work on the Nagas as the Esoterica slipped out of their dimension to avoid it before re-appearing closer to the pair.
Fortunately, Octus came in at his accelerated speed to deliver precise punches to knock them all down. "I've been able to time their dimensional-slipping to the point I can intercept them." Octus informed as Lance landed on the opposite end and continued to shoot his gatling cuffs at the Nagas in that direction, but they were able to slip away via the holes along the ground and walls, allowing more Esoterica to appear.
"Breach, whatever you're doing, I suggest you do it now!" Lance urged.
Standing in the middle of the city, Breach stood as she kept her eyes closed, focusing on her powers. She then shot them open as she extended all four of her arms, creating a dome around herself made from the same swirling red energy that her portals were made of before it grew and engulfed the entire city. When the dome vanished; all that was left were the Nagas. The heroes and the Esoterica vanished completely as the Nagas hissed in confusion, including the recovering Rani Nagi.
"What sorcery is this?!" The Queen of the Nagas exclaimed.
Breach, the Saturdays, Lance, and Octus, along with all the Esoterica, all appeared in some glowing pink pocket dimension with multiple stars and galaxy-swirls around them. Everyone looked more than a little shocked at what just happened and where they were.
"Um… Breach…?" Zak looked toward her, hoping for an answer.
"A pocket dimension… I was able to make on the fly…" Breach struggled, her arms still being held up and around, as if this entire reality was being maintained by her power alone.
"Wait… did you just… create a pocket dimension?!" Doc questioned.
"Yeah…!" Breach grunted. "These guys can't slip through… so… now would be a good time to punch them… while I try to keep this up…!"
No time to question it, Drew was the first to get everyone onboard. "You all heard her. Take em down, but don't kill them! Remember, these are innocent people!"
"Understood." Lance deactivated his Manus Armor and was the first to attack the Esoterica, decking one across the face as seven total surrounded him, but Lance moved faster and more ruthlessly than they could anticipate. He delivered an axe-kick to the shoulder of one, multiple rapid-punches to a second before moving to grab a third by his head and slam his face into his knee, then ducked underneath the punch of a fourth to sweep his feet and knock the remaining Esoterica around him down, where he proceeded to finish them off with punches and kicks to their faces and knock them unconscious.
Zak held and spun the Claw and Fang like a pair of batons before moving to strike four Esoterica in front of him. Even as they tried to punch and kick, Zak proved he was a master combatant in his own right as he slammed his weapons into the faces of two Esoterica before kicking a third in the chest and ensnaring a fourth in the extended cable of the Fang, which he used to fling and toss that Esoterica into two more that tried to gang up on him. When one tried to sneak on him from behind, Zon flew in to grab the Esoterica in her talons and slam him into the ground.
Doc caught the fist of one Esoterica himself before punching him to knock him down, while a second tried to grab him from behind, but Doc escaped his grasp and grabbed him by the shoulders to slam his knee into his gut before throwing him at a third. As a fourth tried to leap and tackle at him, Fiskerton grabbed that Esoterica by his ankles and spun him around before sending him flying into two more.
Drew, having put away her fire sword, used her own martial arts skills to block and parry the strikes of two Esoterica, before ducking as they each tried to punch her, resulting in them punching each other and leaving them disoriented to grab one by the arm and haul him over and into the second one. Komodo moved to cover her flank before rushing an incoming Esoterica to bite his ankle and pull to slam him down, which Drew moved to finish off with a chop to the neck. She smiled as she patted the Komodo dragon, who purred in response.
But there were still more eighty Esoterica left, but without their dimensional-hoping powers, they were easy pickings for Octus. Seven tried to pile on him, but he was easily able to shake them off before moving with his super speed all around the area to bash and knock down each and every one of them.
It didn't take long for all the Esoterica to be defeated, lying unconscious on the ground thanks to all their combined efforts.
"Breach, it's done! You can let go now!" Octus told her, seeing how hard she was keeping the pocket dimension together.
With a yell, Breach released her powers, causing the entire pocket dimension to shatter, and everyone to reappear in the middle of the Nagas' nest, much to the humanoid snakes' surprise as they saw not only the heroes still standing, but all the Esoterica lay beaten. While Breach fell on her knees in exhaustion; Fiskerton, Zon, and Komodo came around her to her defense, while Zak and his family readied their respective weapons as Lance reactivated his Manus armor.
"Your move Rani-Nagi." Zak told the Naga Queen. "But I think surrender's your best bet."
She glared and hissed before taking the Nightmare Totem in one hand, and pulling out a Dimensional Converter in the other. "This is far from over!" She declared as she activated the device and disappeared in the portal behind her, while the remaining Nagas slipped away into whatever tunnels they were closest too.
The second Rani Nagi vanished, all the Esoterica had turned back to normal humans, all still lying unconscious.
"They're back to normal?" Lance asked as Octus performed a quick scan.
"Whatever energy was used to transform these people is now gone." He reported. "Though they all appear to suffer from minor injuries, there is nothing serious and would only require minimal medical attention."
"That's… good to hear…" Breach breathed as Fiskerton helped her to stand. He gave a consoling mumble, concerned for her well-being. "I'm fine, thank you."
"That… was incredible." Doc walked up to her with an amazed and impressed look on her face. "You were able to create your own pocket dimension… one that negated their own dimensional-traversing powers!" He laughed in excitement. "I've never seen anything like that before! I'd like to learn more about your powers!" Drew elbowed her husband slightly. "With your permission, of course." He said in an understanding tone.
Breach smiled. "Sure thing, but how about after we solve this crisis."
"Sounds like a plan." Drew agreed.
"Speaking of which, anyone got the slightest idea what just happened?" Lance questioned as he deactivated his armor.
"I don't know…" Zak said with a grave expression on his face. "But I have a feeling we won't like the answer."
Earth B10 – Hex Residence
Rex formed his Block Party to shield himself, Kim, and Ron from the energy blasts of several circling Esoterica, though his shield would soon crack from the bombardment.
"I am really getting sick of this!" Rex exclaimed as he formed his Boogie Pack and turned up its turbines to maximum to kick up the dust around him and his friends, blinding the Esoterica and creating a smokescreen. One was ensnared by Rex's Blaster Caster whip, before smacking him into two more while Kim and Ron moved to attack the rest.
Kim leapt into the air and fell down to slam both her feet into the face of one, landing on him before flipping to land on her hands and perform a split-kick to knock back two more. Three Esoterica tried to get her from behind, but Ron appeared in-between them. Still coated in his Mystic Monkey aura, Ron threw his hands forward to generate an invisible force that sent all three Esoterica flying.
"Charge!" Rufus called out as he rode on top of Zed's head, who rushed and knocked down one Esoterica that had tried to get the jump on Kevin. "Good doggy." Rufus scratched Zed underneath her chin, which earned a tailwag from her.
"That's one crazy rat." Kevin commented before going at two Esoterica, still coated in the armor he got from absorbing Illana's Corus suit. He punched one in the face and just as the other was about to slip away, Kevin quickly grabbed him by his foot. "Oh no you don't!" He pulled that Esoterica back out and slammed him on the ground before throwing him away.
Five more Esoterica appeared around Kevin, but before they could make a move to attack, a blue energy beam shot at them, circling around Kevin before the ground exploded to blast all five Esoterica back. Illana landed next to Kevin, still clad in her golden armor.
"Thanks for the help." He said.
"You're welcome, but these are still innocent people." Illana replied. "There has to be a way to change them back."
Zed quickly came up to them with a bark, getting their attention as Rufus squeaked and pointed back toward the hole in Hex's building, specifically the hovering piece of the Nightmare totem that still remained inside.
"Yeah, pretty sure it's the evil-looking rock that's hovering in the middle of the room right there, too." Kevin said.
"So, it would seem." Illana added before turning back to Rex, Kim, and Ron. "We have a plan to win this! Can you guys hold things down out here?"
"You even need to ask?" Kim smirked as she kicked down an Esoterica, but two more appeared in front of her, forcing her to block their punches and kicks.
"Might wanna hurry up though! These guys aren't playing around!" Ron said as he and Rex came back-to-back as ten Esoterica encircled them.
"Got it." Illana nodded. "Let's go." She flew straight toward the building with Kevin, Zed, and Rufus right beside her.
Meanwhile, Gwen and Ben, still in his form of Chromastone, continued their tag-team battle against Hex and Addwaitya. Chromastone flew straight toward Hex, who blasted him with dark magic, but Chromastone was able to absorb the energy, allowing him to get closer and deck Hex across his face, sending him crashing to the ground. Though he quickly recovered as he formed a dark magic barrier to protect himself from Gwen's mana disks that she threw at him.
Addwaitya attempted to blast Gwen from behind with his eye beams, but Chromastone quickly flew in to blast his own energy beam to clash against Addwaitya attack. Both pressed against each other for a bit before Chromastone's attack won the day and pushed Addwaitya back. However, the magical tyrant wasn't done yet as he dug his claws into the ground, channeled his magic into it, and created a tremor that broke the ground underneath Chromastone, which also rose and engulfed him to pull him down.
"May you take your last breath as you are buried alive." Addwaitya spat. However, the ground underneath him began to shake as well before it exploded outward, much to his surprise, and leaving him open for a large fist to punch and send him reeling high into the air.
Armadrillo climbed up from the crater and looked up to see Addwaitya was already recovering. "Gwen, I'll take care of turtle-face. Think you can handle Hex on your own?"
"I've been handling him since I was ten, of course I can." Gwen said to her cousin with a confident expression and a nod. Armadrillo nodded back as he ran to engage Addwaitya again as he descended toward the ground while Gwen turned to face Hex again.
"Your every bit as arrogant as the day we met, child." Hex glared. "How I despised that arrogance."
"Confident for a good reason." Gwen said. "I'm not just 'lucky' anymore. Now I'm a master!" She shot several beams of mana from her fingertips toward Hex, who created a barrier of dark magic to block it before hovering above Gwen to rain down fireballs from his staff, which she intercepted with a larger mana-blast that would have engulfed Hex had he not shielded himself once again. Though he extended the dark magic so much that it exploded and blew away Gwen's attack before Hex flew down to try and smash his staff onto her, which she blocked with a barrier of her own.
Armadrillo rushed Addwaitya, using his armored body to endure the magical blasts before getting in close enough to punch the evil magical tyrant all over his body and bring him down to his knees with a strike from above with both his fists. However, Addwaitya quickly recovered and blasted Armadrillo with his eye beams. Though it didn't seem to break through Armadillo's armor, it did push him back and allow Addwaitya a chance to retaliate by blasting him with magic and imprisoning him in crystal. However, Armadillo's body shook as his whole body vibrated and shattered the crystal around him.
"Your mastery over your transformations is indeed impressive, but no match for the combined strength of my power and that of my minions!" Addwaitya declared as seven Esoterica appeared all around Armadrillo.
However, right as they appeared, their bodies all flashed as their forced transformations appeared to wear off, turning back into normal men and women as they fell flat on the ground, unconscious.
"What?!" Addwaitya exclaimed.
All over the courtyard, every single one of the Esoterica had turned back to human, falling unconscious in the process, even those that Rex, Kim, and Ron continued to fight. It even drew the attention of Gwen and Hex as they broke off their clash.
"How can this be?!" Addwaitya questioned.
"Ahem!" Everyone turned to the entrance to see Kevin smugly holding the empty Nightmare Totem while Illana had created a small shield with her armor to contain the living Cassiopeian Dream Eaters. "Really should have left this thing guarded, pal." Kevin smirked as he crushed the entire Totem with his armored hands.
"You loose!" Rufus stuck out his tongue as he stood proudly on Zed's head.
"No!" Hex flew straight toward them in a rage. "You will not deny my vengeance!" He was about to attack, but Gwen had managed to stop him by ensnaring him in mana-bindings, allowing Illana to blast him with a point-blank energy beam from her armor's forehead, knocking him down and allowing Kevin to finish him off with a punch to the face to knock him unconscious.
Addwaitya growled in frustration as Armadrillo crossed his arms expectantly. "You were saying?"
"This is a pyrrhic victory, Avengers!" Addwaitya declared as he flew high into the air. "Your war is already lost, and you don't even know it!" He used his own magic to teleport away.
"Says the turtle that's running like a chicken!" Rex called to him.
"Oh, that's a good one." Ron laughed.
"No, it really wasn't." Kim shook her head.
Armadrillo turned back into Ben as the whole team regrouped. "Well, at least we know what the Cabal's up to now." He commented
"Yeah… Dagon." Kevin said in a mixture of a growl and a shiver. "Really hopping we wouldn't have to deal with that again."
"Um, you guys might wanna explain what you're talking about?" Illana asked.
Ben then noticed the creatures she had contained. "Where did you get those?"
"They were in that totem thing. Why?" She replied.
"Are those… magic jellyfish?" Kim asked.
"Not magic, aliens." Kevin said. "Real nasty parasites."
"We'll take them back to the Mansion for study." Kim said.
"Forget the bugs, we got ourselves a prisoner." Rex looked with a grin, looking down to the unconscious Hex. "Bet old skull-face here can tell us what his bosses are up to."
"Come on, let's get going. Hopefully the others made it back too." Ben said as Kevin picked up Hex and carried him over his shoulder. As the group proceeded to leave, Gwen couldn't help but look toward Hex with concern. There were many questions surrounding him, and she would hope that he would have the answers.
Ghost Zone – Realm of the Far Frozen
More explosions erupted across the frozen land as the Cabal continued their battle against the Yeti inhabitants. Though calling it a battle may be something of a stretch. Even though the Yetis had put up a considerable fight and were unwilling to give up, they were unable to match the raw power of many of the villains they faced, evident by all the broken and unconscious forms of the Yetis that littered the area.
Seven yetis combined their powers to freeze Vilgax in his place, but he was easily able to escape from his predicament before rushing them. Three yetis tried throwing large pieces of rock at him, but Vilgax easily batted them away with one arm before punching a Yeti so hard he sent it flying through the face of a mountain. He grabbed the one on the right by the foot and slammed him down on his friend before throwing him away. As the other four tried to surround him and create blades of ice with their powers, Vilgax drew his massive broadsword and quickly moved to not only obliterate their weapons with a single strike, but even smash them into the ground with it in the most brutal way possible.
The Dark Dragon flew across the sky as he lit the ground ablaze with his dark fire, causing an avalanche to bury several of the Yetis alive. Most of them recovered as a few tried to blast beams of their ice energy at him, but the Dark Dragon clashed their attacks with his dark fire breath, which proved strong enough to overpower and blast them away. He quickly landed on the ground around a group of four Yetis, grabbing two by their faces and smashing them into each other before throwing them away, he then swiped his tail at the third to knock him back before slamming his claw to smash the last one.
Van Kleiss dug his hands into the ground, using his superior strength to pry out a large piece of it and flip it over to three charging Yeti, crushing them underneath. Two more climbed leapt onto the slab of earth that Van Kleiss stood over, but he quickly extended his gauntlet to grab one by the face, lift him up and slam him into the other before pulling him closer. Van Kleiss tried to infuse a set of nanites into his captive, but found he was unable to, and simply punched the Yeti in the gut before kicking him away.
"Interesting. It seems I'm unable to transform Ecto-matter." Van Kleiss observed. "This will warrant further study."
Vlad Plasmius, who had split himself into four copies, had laid an assault on several Yetis. One blasted a violet-colored Ecto-beam to knock down one Yeti before moving the beam to carve a line through the ground as a second flew up to rain fire of multiple rapid-fire Ecto blasts on a trio of Yeti before they had a chance to shoot him down. The third copy generated a sword made from his own Ecto energy and moved to cut down one Yeti, though he was quickly frozen from a blast of a Yeti in front of his fallen comrade, that one was quickly blasted away by the fourth and final copy before all four copies merged back into one Vlad.
"Ah, it feels so good to finally raze this frozen forsaken place." The narcissistic half-ghost mused with an evil smile. "The screams of agony and warfare are such soothing sounds."
"Indeed, they are." Argost agreed from nearby as he threw a few razor-sharp feathers at some icicles from a cliff's edge that fell down to knock out two incoming Yeti. "It's a pity I cannot control these barbaric creatures but tearing them limb-from-limb is equally ecstatic."
One Yeti tried to blast Argost with his ice-powers, but he quickly covered himself with his cloak to shield himself before moving in to leap forward, grab it by the shoulders and strike his knee into his jaw to break several of his teeth before landing behind as the Yeti fell down.
"Just out of curiosity, as a Yeti yourself, aren't you a little upset about fighting your own kind like this?" Drakken asked.
"Humans slaughter each other on a frequent basis and don't even shed a tear for their victims. Why should I be bothered by such trivial matters myself?" Argost replied. "And I have killed one of my own kind before, so this is nothing new to me."
"Oh, that is just evil." Drakken snickered as multiple plant-tendrils had extended from his body to ensnare two Yetis and slam them into the ground, while two more from his back had pulled out a flame-thrower to keep two incoming Yetis at bay, while Drakken himself pulled out a pair of incendiary grenades from his coat. "Fight ice with fire, I always say!" He laughed as he threw the grenades at a group of Yeti, which exploded and began to spread fire around them.
The cave shook from the fighting outside as Frostbite himself stood guard over the chest containing the Infi-Map. He glared at the intruder that slowly and menacingly walked toward him.
"I will be taking that map now." Modula subtly demanded. "It's rather crucial to our plan."
"Never!" Frostbite shot a pair of ice blasts from his eyes, which Modula quickly avoided before rushing Frostbite, drawing his sword, but Frostbite was able to quickly create an ice-sword with his powers to parry the strike before the two clashed blades. As their swords locked, Frostbite raised one hand to bring down on Modula, but he leapt backwards to avoid the devastating strike.
Believing he had the advantage, Frostbite tried to go on the offensive, swinging his ice-blade at Modula, which he blocked before swerving around to kick Frostbite in the back and knock him down. When Modula swung his sword toward Frostbite's neck, he grabbed the sword with his frozen-bony hand and used his own powers to freeze the sword and shattered it in his grip before swinging his ice-sword at Modula, who leapt and flipped mid air to avoid the swing. Frostbite tried to rush Modula again, but as Frostbite swung his sword, the general struck with a kick to shatter the ice-sword and delivered multiple rapid-punches to Frostbite's chest and knocked him against the wall. Before Frostbite even had a chance to get back up and fight back, Modula had already slammed his foot into Frostbite's gut, knocking the wind out of him just as Modula grabbed his frozen-bony arm, lifted his foot, and delivered a strike so devastating…
It broke off Frostbite's entire arm!
The leader of the Far Frozen gave a cry of agony before Modula finished him off with a kick to the face to knock him out.
Still holding the severed frozen arm in his grip, Modula noticed the handprint on the chest in the center of the chamber where a keyhole would likely be. He walked over and pressed the severed limb up against it, and opened the chest, revealing the sacred map within.
Modula had exited out of the cave with the Infi-Map in hand to see the rest of his cohorts had already finished the job. Most of the area had been completely destroyed as all the Yeti laid scattered and in piles, broken and beaten beyond recognition while the rest of the Cabal gathered at the entranceway.
"Do you have it?" The Dark Dragon asked.
"I do." Modula confirmed as he opened the Infi-Map, which once again, to show various transparent doors, most were still being corrupted.
"It would seem that Dagon's power is further being drawn to the Ghost Zone." Van Kleiss noted. "It will inevitably cause irreparable damage to the stability between this realm and the Earth it is connected to."
"Let it." Vlad dismissed. "Both the Ghost Zone and my Earth have caused me nothing but pain. It's time to shake up the multiversal order a bit."
"So, how exactly does this Infi-Map thing work again?" Drakken asked.
"By saying the destination of your choosing, the Map can take you wherever or whenever you want." Vlad explained.
"But it seems rather confined to this universe only." Argost said. "Seems rather finite than infinite."
"However, with the power of Dagon, which can traverse entire realities…" Vilgax took out a small container that carried a tiny surge of bright yellow energy, the energy of Dagon himself, and opened it while aiming it at the Infi-Map. The energy was immediately drawn toward the map like a moth to a flame before enveloping it, casing the Infi-Map to glow before transforming into a bright sphere of golden energy.
"It can take us to anywhere in the multiverse!" Vilgax finished.
"And there is only one place we wish to go, one place that would normally be inaccessible to others save one, but with this power… that no longer applies to us." Modula was the first to place his hand on the orb, followed by Vlad, Argost, Drakken, Van Kleiss, the Dark Dragon, and Vilgax before Modula spoke their intended destination.
"Take us to Legerdomain!"
In that one instance, the entire Cabal was enveloped in a bright golden aura before transforming into a single surge of energy that surged and shot straight upward in flashing beam of light, which pierced through an invisible barrier that separated the Ghost Zone from the rest of existence, before vanishing entirely.
However, unbeknownst to everyone else, there was one more soul still present within the realm of the Far Frozen. Someone who had been drawn by the sounds of fighting and had witnessed everything that had just transpired, hearing every word the collection of villains spoke before they left this plane of existence.
"Well… that can't be good." The Box Ghost observed.
Done.
So, good news. The Avengers and their allies were able to pull through and defeat the Esoterica, and even managing to capture Hex and some of the Dream Eaters he and his comrades were employing. We even got to see Breach with her mastery of her powers, Paradox has taught her well.
Bad news, the Cabal had attacked the Realm of the Far Frozen (don't worry, Frostbite's not dead) and stole the Infi-Map. Combining it with the power of Dagon, they are now on their way to Legerdomain. Normally one can only enter that realm if they know its true name, which changes every few seconds thanks to Charmcaster; but with Dagon's power (that can pass through realities naturally) and the Infi-Map combined, the Cabal are able to bypass that measure entirely as they head to the realm of magic. But for what purpose do they go there? And what does the Box Ghost have to do with this?
Things are only going to get more intense from this point forward. Can our heroes figure out what's going on and be able to stop the Cabal in time? Find out in the next update. Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there.
