Slick rushed across the battlefield with purpose, seeing out the magical power he felt on the other side of it. That bastard Branch was hiding out in the back, but he wasn't going to let him stay there for long. The sooner he sniffed him out and took care of this, the sooner the battle would come to an end.

Arty and Reishi ran alongside him, their weapons at the ready. "You sure we should be ignoring the others?" Reishi asked. She saw the logic in trying to take down Branch right off the bat, but if the others couldn't hold their own then there wasn't much of a point to it, was there?

Slick snorted. "It's not just the Spiderbite guard here. The Queesnguard is with us too. They can handle their own shit. But if you're worried about them feel free to go help. I can deal with this Branch guy on my own," he said. He didn't give a damn if he was Bloom's uncle. He was going to take him down and end this.

Reishi and Arty shared a look, but then kept moving along with him. They knew how strong Slick was, and if anybody could take down one of the Ten it was him. But they weren't willing to underestimate the enemy. If the Ten could take both Typhon and Astro down, then Slick was going to need backup.

A rebel rushed at them from the side, and both Arty and Reishi got ready to intercept him. But Slick swung his spear and slashed him down before he could even get close. "I don't have time to waste on you," Slick said as he continued on. They kept on moving, until another figure made its way in front of them. Slick looked annoyed. "Damn it, how many of these guys are gonna get in our way!"

He swung at the figure, who managed to nimbly dodge before rushing at him. Slick got ready to take another swing at them, but the figure rushed past him and towards Arty.

Slick turned around just as Arty was tackled by the figure. He got ready to go after them, but Reishi called out. "Wait, you keep going!" she said, pulling out her staff. "You sensed that magical power right? That's probably one of the warriors that was brought back. Let me and Arty deal with it. We'll catch up to you after."

The acting king looked over his shoulder where she sensed Branch, and then back towards where Arty was. "Hey, you were the one who said taking him out was the most important thing, right? Me and Arty will handle this. So go on. We'll catch up soon," she said.

Slick hummed. "Don't keep me waiting long. I want you guys to be there so someone can see when I kick his ass," he said before turning around.

"Right."

Reishi and Slick split up, the prince continuing on towards Branch, while Reishi went after Arty.

Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield, Lilli stepped back and narrowly avoided a slash aimed for her neck. She blocked the blade of the oncoming rebel, and then struck back with a jab of her own. The rebel managed to block it, but then was slashed from behind. Oswald let out a breath as he watched the foe fall to the ground.

"Thanks," Lilli said, nodding towards him.

"No problem," the captain said, quickly turning around and swinging at another rebel. This one managed to dodge the blow, but Lilli stepped forward and jabbed him in the chest with her needle. She drew her sword back and Osward knocked the enemy over.

Lilli looked around again. The way Slick had told them to organize their ranks had really given them an advantage. Oswald may have been the captain here, but since this was Slick's home territory and he was more adept to large scale battles, they decided to go with his judgment.

It looked like it was the right call. If they kept this up they'd be able to overwhelm the enemy forces. "Wait… did you feel that?" Lili suddenly asked.

"Feel what?" Oswald asked, confused.

"I think she means me…"

Both of them jumped, and then looked down towards their feet. A shockingly tiny figure stood before them. Lilli easily recognized it as one of her own, a brownie. But… there was something off about them. Their magic felt strange. Like… like some of the ones that they'd sensed earlier.

"He's one of the warriors!" Lilli shouted.

"I am. And sorry about this."

The brownie spread his arms out, and suddenly he began multiplying. Two, four, six. He just kept on splitting up into bigger and bigger numbers. Lilli and Oswald swung at the copies that began rushing at them, as did everyone else around them. There were so many that it was only a matter of moments before the sway of the battle seemed to completely turn around.

They had gone from corralling the enemy forces to being overwhelmed themselves. "Who is this guy?!" Oswald asked, swinging his blade at another of the tiny figures. Their numbers were bad enough, but they were so small and agile as well.

Lilli was being swarmed by a number of them, but quickly shrunk down to avoid being dogpiled. When she did, she found herself face to face with another of them. "So, another one of us was brave enough to leave the village huh?" he asked.

Lilli narrowed her eyes and raised her weapon. "Who are you?!"

"You can call me Borro," he said, raising his own weapon. It was a needle sword, just like hers. "I really hate to have to fight someone from my tribe, but I really can't control myself. So you're going to have to take me down."

Lilli raised her weapon and pointed it towards him. "I was planning on doing that anyway," she said, a determined look in her eyes. She didn't know how, but… she got the feeling that this one was the real one.

Borro smiled back at her. "Good. I know it's been a long time, but I want to see just how much stronger the warriors of my tribe have gotten."

Arty felt more than a little dizzy by the time he had managed to find his feet. The figure that had dragged him off finally let go, and he had tumbled and rolled up to his feet, finding his weapon as quickly as he could. They were quite a ways away from the main action on the battlefield.

He looked around to see just who his kidnapper was, but still couldn't find any signs of them. "We can talk here safely, little one." Arty jumped and quickly turned around, pointing his weapon at the figure standing near him. His eyes went wide when he looked up at the 6'1 blue skinned tiefling.

She had sharp teeth, and dark blue hair styled in locs, and her eyes were a solid gold. She had two sets of horns coming from each side of her head, as well as pointed ears, and a pointed tail. She wore white battle armor that consisted of a chainmail jacket, a hand dyed silk tunic, chainmail leggings, combat boots, and 2 armor plates that interlocked. She carried a large shield in one hand, while her tail wrapped around and held a spear in the other.

"When I saw you with the mewman prince, I knew that I had to separate you. I don't know how he and his kind tricked you into fighting for them, but it's over. Whatever magic they're using to control you or blackmail they have, it'll come to an end. With the Ten here all the kingdoms will be toppled, so there's no need to serve them."

Arty looked more than a little confused. Did she… did she think he was being controlled by Slick somehow. The look on her face and the way she was standing didn't seem hostile, so at the very least she didn't see him as a threat.

He reached back to grab his notebook, slowly so she wouldn't be startled. If she thought he was up to anything, she didn't show it. He wrote down in his notebook and then showed her what he wrote down.

"I'm not being controlled or blackmailed. I'm a knight of the Queensguard."

Her eyes went wide. "What? No. That can't be true. I'm sure they told you to say that, but you can't possibly be willingly fighting for them," she said, shaking her head. He wrote down in his notebook again.

"I am. I'm the squire of the knight I was running with."

"What?!" she asked, a look of disbelief on her face. "No! That… that's not right!"

"Listen, I don't want to fight you if I don't have to. Is there any way-"

The woman slapped the notebook from his hands, reaching forward and grabbing her shoulders. "No, I refuse to believe this," she said, leaning down over him. "Let me look at you closely. There has to be some magic controlling or swaying you."

He tried to back away from her and get to his notebook again, but she wouldn't let go of him. Her grip was like iron. When he tried to get free by pushing her back, it only got tighter. "I'm not letting you go. Branch has given us enough free reign for us to more or less act freely, and I refuse to let you go until-" A blast of air suddenly struck her in the side of the head, making her lose her grip on Arty.

The younger tiefling quickly jumped back, grabbing his weapon as he did. He looked off to the side and saw Reishi approaching, her staff raised and ready to shoot another blast. "Lady, he's not interet. Take the hint and give him some personal space."

She glared and turned towards him. "Another monster fighting for the royals? Why? I don't understand. What possible reason could any of you have for defying us? For defying the Ten? They're going to liberate monster kind for everyone," she said, unable to understand just why she was being opposed by them.

Reishi and Arty both raised their weapons. "Well, I could spout something about us being friends and uniting monsters and mewmans. But I'm honestly only here because I'm being paid," she admitted. Arty spun his halbert around his hands and pointed it at her, a determined look in his eyes. "For him I think it's the friendship thing though…"

He tightened her grip on her weapon, an angry scowl on her face. "So the mewmans have tricked you into thinking they've changed. Things are even worse than I thought. But fine." She grabbed her spear from her tail and got into a fighting stance.

"I'll have to snap you out of it and show you the truth. I am Luna Sigrin. I'm going to use my power to bring down the kingdoms, and return mewni back to monster-kind," she said, getting ready for battle.

Reishi and Arty both braced themselves. "Get ready kid…" Reishi said.

Branch sat with his arms crossed as he watched Slick approach. The young royal had a fierce look of determination in his eyes. Not that he was at all willing to entertain it. He moved his hand, and the two figures beside him stepped forward. "Go…" he ordered.

They jumped down from the large roots Branch had grown to watch the battle from above. The two warriors, who looked like former knights, drew their weapons. Slick saw them up ahead, but continued running. "Get the fuck out of the way!" he shouted, not wanting to waste anymore time on this.

The first of the knights scoffed. "Well, aren't you the rude one. But what should I have expected? How could our line have the audacity to spawn some filthy half-breed, and to keep him and name him heir at that," he said, disgusted. "I'll gladly correct this mistake."

The second drew his bow and arrow back. "I really don't care about whether or not he's a half-breed. I just don't want any weaklings in the family. C'mon kid, show me what-"

"I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!"

Slick raised Poison Packer and spun it in his hands, rushing at them with blinding speed. He jabbed the spear twice, and each one shattered both of the knights' weapons, and left two gaping holes in their chest. They both fell to the ground, wide eyed. It had happened so quickly that they barely even registered what happened.

Even Branch looked surprised at how easily they had been dispatched.

As their bodies hit the ground and began to vanish, Slick jumped up the massive root and into the air, up above Branch. The titan frowned when he saw him. "There you are, you piece of shit!" he yelled, stabbing Poison Packer down at him.

Branch jumped out of the way as the root was stabbed straight through. He landed and stepped back, looking annoyed. "I really shouldn't be surprised you opted to fight given what I saw of you earlier. But since you were so close with my niece I had hoped to avoid this," he said. "I'm asking you to go. You're clearly someone important to Bud and Bloom, so I'd prefer to-"

"You're threatening my goddamn home. Don't feed me that peacemaker bullshit," Slick said, raising his weapon again. "And I don't give a shit if you're related to Bud and Bloom. Once I kill you all this bullshit comes to an end."

Branch scoffed. "It's very bold of you to assume that you CAN kill me." He raised his hand, and suddenly roots shot up and began wrapping around Slick. The speed at which the plants moved was shocking, and Slick was completely enveloped in a matter of moments. "I no longer hold myself to the same restrictions as the rest of my tribe…"

Crack…!

Branch raised an eyebrow. He could feel Slick thrashing inside the roots. Did he really think it would be that simple? The plants he created and controlled were far more durable than naturally grown ones. With his magic infused within them they-

CRACK!

Poison Packer smashed right through the ball of plants, and went flying towards him. He just barely moved out of the way, but when he turned back towards where Slick should have been, he found the young warrior already in front of him. "How did-?!"

Slick yelled out before landing a punch to his face, knocking him back and sending him crashing into the ground. He glared down at him before grabbing his spear and rushing after him once more.

Branch got up and raised his hand again, this time growing two large plants which sprewed what looked like gas towards him. They hit Slick dead on, but he didn't seem at all affected by it. He swung Poison Packer, sending a slash which sliced right through both the plants.

Then he swung down towards Branch, who stepped out of the way just as Slick sliced into the ground, leaving quite a large mark behind. "Stay still you ass!" Slick growled.

Branch grunted as he jumped back to get some distance. He was right about what he'd guessed the first time he ran into this boy. He was dangerous. "I see…" He raised his hand once more, and suddenly Slick saw something from the corner of his eye.

The Great Spear came shooting at him, spinning and taking off both of his arms before he could react. Slick knew he had to have been hiding the weapon somewhere, but he'd been trying to take him out before it came into place. "You have my apologies. I won't be underestimating you this time around," Branch said.

Before Slick could reform his arm and regain his weapon, Branch spun his finger, and the spear flipped around and cut him right down the middle. He continued moving his finger, and the spear spun around at a blinding speed, slicing Slick into pieces.

"Slime monsters are admittedly tricky to deal with, but I've dispatched more than my fair share. I'd hoped not to have to kill you since you're a friend of my niece, but you're the prime example of why mewmans need to be wiped out from mewni."

Another larged flower grew up behind him, once that had flame-like petals. It opened up before shooting a streak of flames down at the chunks Slick was sliced into. The heat was rather intense, and some of the other warriors nearby could feel it prickling their skin. "I hope you can find some measure of peace and calm in-"

Poison Packer suddenly came flying out of the flames, stabbing right through the stem of the flower and tearing it apart. Branch looked shocked as Slick leapt from the flames, his armor partly melted and charred. "I said stop with all that peace and love bullshit!" Slick punched at him, but he quickly called the Great Spear in front of him to block it.

"I don't want to hear that kind of crap coming from someone trying to commit genocide! You can spout how much you hate having to do this all you want! If you're still doing it it doesn't mean shit!"

Branch narrowed his eyes. This child wasn't just dangerous. Dangerous was an understatement. If he was given enough time to grow and keep opposing them, he could become a serious problem to them.

He had to die, here and now…

A/N: The battle of the Spiderbite Kingdom kicks off! Lilli and Arty are both going to have to deal with some past ancestors, with some help from Reishi and Oswald! And Slicks for right for the big boss and tries to bring down Branch! These battles will probably be a bit shorter than the others, but I'm still excited about them since I've wanted to give these characters some time to shine for a while now and want them to really to deliver! So I hope you guys enjoy!