Bloom looked off into the distance, a somber expression on her face. With her connection to the Great Tree, she could feel the conflict going on all through mewni. So much violence, destruction, and death. And the warriors who were being brought back from their rest. It just felt… wrong. So wrong.

She bawled her fists up, feeling quite a bit of frustration. There was one battle in particular that she couldn't tear her attention away from.

The battle going on at the Spiderbite Kingdom.

She could feel her uncle's magic even from here. His connection and control over the Great Tree was nothing to scoff at. And though she couldn't feel any magic from Slick, with how much effort her uncle was giving she knew it couldn't be anyone else he was fighting against.

She held her own connection with the Tree. She knew how powerful it was. How powerful someone would have to be to control it to such an extent. And that spear that had been hidden under the tree… the thought of all of that power being turned against Slick was terrifying for her.

She wished she could do something. She wished she could go and stop them. But she just couldn't. It wasn't their way.

"You're worried about Slick…"

Bloom looked over towards Bud, who was perched on his usual sitting spot. "I'm worried about Uncle as well…" she said. It wasn't a lie. Despite how calm he acted, she could sense something in him. Something… bad. Anger, and regret, and resentment. She knew why. Even after all these years he was still hanging onto.

It made her feel sorry for him, but also confused. How could someone who still had so much bitterness in them be able to maintain such a close connection with the Great Tree? It didn't make any sense to her.

Bud hummed. "As am I. But I have a feeling everything will find a way to work itself out," he said before lifting his fist and coughing into it.

Bloom looked worried. "Papa, Aae you okay?" She got up and made her way towards him, but he raised his hand and shook his head.

"I'm fine," he assured, looking back out into the distance. "I suppose all of the excitement going on around mewni is just rattling these old bones a bit." Bloom still looked more than a little concerned, but took a seat, this time a little closer to her father. The Elder Nymph reached down and patted her shoulder. "I think seeing you has brought up some memories for my brother."

She blinked. "Me? Why?"

"You look like your aunt Blossom," Bud said. "Did I ever tell you about that?"

"I don't think so…" He did mention her every now and then, but whenever the subject of her aunt came up he always seemed rather somber. So she avoided bringing it up.

"She was amazing. And when she was killed, I was devastated. But my brother… my brother was absolutely broken. He never learned to live with her death. Even if he said and acted otherwise. He just cared for her too much to let all of that hate go…"

Slick and Branch both glared as they pressed on with their attacks. Slick spun his spear around his body with god-like speed and skill, while Branch moved his hand, making the Great Spear spun about to counter every strike sent his way. Branch continued trying to jump back and maneuver the spear between them to get some distance, but Slick was sticking to him like glue.

When Branch had come here he had figured that Slick would be a minor annoyance at best. He didn't excerpt a legitimate threat. But here he was actually having to put some effort into this fight. "Blood Root!" Branch lifted his finger, and a number of crimson red roots shot up and stabbed through Slick.

Without missing a beat, he dropped his weapon and broke his body down into slime, reforming beside them and then catching it before it hit the ground. He stabbed at Branch, but the Great Spear moved in front of Branch and blocked it. The force of the collision would have blown lesser warriors back, but both the prince and earth nymph held their ground.

"You actually gonna pick up that spear, or just gonna let it zip around and do all the work for you?" Slick said, looking annoyed that he had yet to land a solid hit on the titan.

Branch narrowed his eyes. "Me being able to manipulate the Great Spear is a representation of my connection with the Great Tree. Not that you would be able to understand that," he said, swinging one of his arms. A thorn covered whip-like vine shot out and sliced into Slick's shoulder, but he quickly regenerated.

"You can throw whatever you want at me jackass, but none of it is gonna stick. I've been kicking the asses of the greatest around since I was a runt."

He jumped up and got ready to stab down at him, but Branch reached up and put his fingers together. "It wasn't the whip you should have been wary of. It was the seeds…" He snapped his fingers, and suddenly Slick's shoulder exploded. "Boom Blossoms usually only go off under very specific circumstances, but mix in a bit of the proper magic and…"

He continued to snap, and before Slick knew it his entire body was blown apart. Branch was as he began to quickly reform, and then summoned more plants to his side. They blasted out flames towards the chopped up pieces of Slick, but they all managed to move out of the way.

Branch scowled. "He's even faster when he's separated…"

Slick reformed to his right, and was immediately swarmed by more plants. He spun Poison Packer and easily sliced them apart. This wasn't getting him anywhere. He couldn't close in the distance between him and Branch, and poison wasn't going to get him anywhere. If it didn't work on Bloom, it damn sure wasn't going to work on him.

"This is a waste of time and effort you know," Branch said, sending the Great Spear after him again. "You're a monster. Or at least half of one. I'm sure that even as a royal you've faced more than your fair share of problems and descrimination from-"

Slick swung Poison Packer at his head, but he ducked down and avoided it. "Right now the only problem I'm worried about facing is one of the pieces of shit who kidnapped my parents!" he shouted angrily.

Branch spun the spear towards Slick again, and thought he blocked it, he pressed on the attack and forced him to slide back. "Your parents are still alive! And you could have had them back by now if you weren't so stubborn! Is your foolish pride really worth their lives?!" he asked, starting to get annoyed with the boy's attitude.

"Why in the fuck should I trust any of you to keep your damn word?! Why the fuck should I let you chase us out of our home?!"

Branch growled before sending a wave of petals out towards Slick. They circled around him, a few of them brushing by him and slicing into his body. Slick began moving, but they followed after him. "This isn't your home! Your family took this from those who it truly belonged to!" he yelled.

"This land, and so much more, belonged to my tribe! But your family and others took it from us!" he yelled, making roots grow up from below to cut Slick off. "All mewmanity knows how to do is take what isn't theirs! Resources, territory, lives! And in our absence you've continued to take more than you ever dared before!"

Slick spun Poison Packer above his head, cutting away the roots and sending the petals away from here. "I'm not interested in a history lesson or your sad ass backstory!" Slick countered, rushing right back at him. "Mewmans screwed you over! I've heard that shit a million times over and over again from too many damn people! It's got nothing to do with me!"

Branch called the Spear before him again, and they clashed once more. "It has everything to do with you! Your family is responsible for, and you reap the benefits! You can't expect not to reap the downsides as well!" he shouted.

Slick clicked his teeth. "Don't feed me that shit. You're not here to exact some fucked of sense of justice or to make things right. You're just pissed about what happened to your sister, ain't you?" Branch's eyes went wide. "I don't know all the details, but this ain't gonna bring Blossom-"

"YOU KEEP HER NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!"

The Great Spear pushed Slick back again, this time pushing with much more power. He went shoot off of the top of the root, flying back down towards the battlefield below and slamming into the ground. Everyone moved out of the way to avoid the impact of his crash.

A number of people looked up towards the root where Branch was still standing. He raised both of his hands, and suddenly the ground began rumbling.

An absolutely enormous flower grew up from the ground behind him, it's bud blooming and glowing with a bright light. "Enough of this. I'm going to eradicate you completely," he said, pointing down to where Slick had landed. The flower looked like it was charging energy, and more than a few people looked panicked.

"I-is he firing on us?!"

"Get out of the way! Hurry!"

"Move! Move!"

Everyone began scattering out of the way, friends and foes alike. Branch continued to charge the flower, intent on wiping out the entire battlefield. He didn't care for these rebels or raiders under their ranks. From the very moment he'd met them he thought of them as little better than the mewmans.

Just blood craving violent thugs.

But Python had insisted on adding them to their ranks to bolster their numbers.

Him wiping out the battlefield was the easiest way to end this. Python wouldn't care about the loss of numbers so long as the kingdom fell. Besides, this one was simply too much of a potential threat not to take precautions.

As everyone rushed to move out of the way, Slick let out a breath and sat up in the crater he had crashed landed into. He reached over and grabbed Poison Packer, kipping up to his feet and then walking forward. "Seriously. Knocking me all the way over here? What a pain in the ass. But if that's how you wanna play it…"

He raised his hand, tossing Poison Packer up into the air and catching it by the bottom of the handle. He continued to walk forward as he flexed his arm, shattering his already damaged armor into pieces. He planted his feet, and then brought his arm back and let out a breath.

Then he stepped forward, swinging Poison Packer downward in an arc.

The result of the attack left everyone downright stunned.

"Whoa…" Oswald muttered, his eyes wide. He knew that Slick was strong. One of the only people who could give Astro a real run for his money. But this?

Lilli was shaking in shock. "Oh man! He really is strong!" She didn't think she could pull something like that off even in her giant form.

Reishi clicked her tongue. "Okay then." She didn't know if Slick really needed to do that, or was just showing off. Honestly she was just thankful to avoid whatever Branch was about to throw at them. And Arty just smiled, feeling pride in his knight swelling up in his chest right now.

A large slash had been formed in the ground, starting a few feet in front of Slick and going far past the gargantuan flower Branch had grown from the ground. Said flower had been slashed right in two, it's sides falling away from each other. But it wasn't just the ground and plants. Even the clouds above had been parted by the force of the attack.

Branch had a look of surprise on his face, though it wasn't brought on by the sundered flower, earth, or sky.

His arm, and a good portion of his shoulder was missing.

He winced in pain, reaching up and clutching what was left in his shoulder with his good hand. "You've got to be kidding me…" he muttered. He had that much strength the whole time? He really was more dangerous than he'd imagined. Moment after moment, he was finding this boy even more dangerous.

He quickly calmed his nerves, and then focused. His arm and shoulder quickly grew back, and he glared back down at Slick. He was too dangerous. Far too dangerous to let live. He was done playing. He needed to end him right now. "Gatling Seeds…" A row of flowers popped up from his left and right, all taking time towards Slick.

The prince scowled and then began moving forward. "Everyone clear out! Get away from me," he shouted. The few people who still remained around him barely had a chance to do as told before the flowers began firing off a shower of seeds at him. They rained down on him like a storm of bullets, and he began spinning around Poison Packer to deflect them.

He continued his charge back towards Branch, deflecting as many of the seeds as he could while ignoring the ones that slipped through. Branch fired even more, but Slick managed to power through and made his way back to the base of the root Branch was on. He lifted his spear and then swung, slicing it down.

It started to tumble, and Branch leapt downwards to meet Slick. He pointed down, and the Great Spear shot down towards Slick, who raised the Poison packer and blocked it.

The attack struck with such force, a crater formed underneath Slick. But he held his ground. Fire Buds sprouted up around him and shot a streak of flames. Slick released Poison Packer, moving out of the way before the Great Spear could pierce him, or the flames could catch him.

Branch's healing abilities were on par with his own, if not better. Cutting him up wasn't going to work. He was going to have to beat him unconscious…

He turned to make his way up the foot, but a flower floated down in front of him. It glowed brightly. So brightly it was blinding. He winced, and when the light died down he found himself surrounded by a circle of plants.

"Slime monsters aren't just weak to fire…"

He felt the temperature drop around him, his body slowly starting to freeze. He moved as quickly as he could, breaking off as much ice as possible, only to be struck from behind by the Great Spear. "I'm sure my niece has shown you a bit of what nature is capable of…" Branch said, making a bed of flowers form beneath Slick.

He looked confused, but then saw a few sparks coming off of the flowers. He quickly tried to get up, but before he could they gave off a blast of electricity. "But I'm willing to bet you haven't even scratched the surface of what we can do…" Branch watched as Slick continued to be electrified, his body unable to break down and escape.

When the shocks stopped, Slick was on his knees, looking unconscious. Branch walked towards him, reaching out his hand so he could take his soul. Right before he could touch him however, Slick's hand shot up and caught him by the throat. "I got you, you bastard," he said, glaring angrily.

He yanked Branch forward, pulling his right arm back and then swinging down at him. His fist came crashing down on the side of Branch's head, and the Earth Nymph grunted in pain. Slick yelled as he continued punching, getting in as many blows as he could while he had the chance.

Branch's head snapped back, blood flying from his mouth. Before Slick could land another hit, he moved his finger and the Great Spear came down between them. They were both knocked back, and quickly got up to their feet and got ready to attack again. Slick ran in, fist raised and getting ready to strike.

Branch raised his own hands and prepared to summon another plant, but then… his expression changed. He moved out of the way of Slick's attack, landing on part of the root that had toppled and looking off into the distance. "What…? No, that shouldn't…"

Slick scowled and looked up at him. "Hey! Get back down here! It's too late to start having second thoughts now motherfucker!"

Branch glared back down at him, his gaze shifting between Slick and whatever he seemed to be sensing in the distance. This boy was an incredible threat, and ideally he wanted to finish him here and now, but…

He cursed under his breath. "I'll come back to deal with you later…"

Branch leaped away, a bud forming underneath him and spouting into a flower pad which floated off. Slick looked after him in disbelief. "Hey! What the fuck?!" he shouted angrily. "Get back here! Where the hell do you think you're going!" he yelled angrily.

They all watched as Branch took off, and Slick considered running after him. But then a nearby rebel lounged at him. He turned to strike him down, but Arty moved in and blindsided him before he could. His squire turned towards him with a concerned expression, and soon Reishi joined the two.

"Let him go. It's one less enemy to fight," Reishi said, shooting a fireball at another enemy. "He might be gone, but we still have a battle to fight."

Slick grit his teeth. She was right. There were still plenty of enemies around. And he couldn't just leave everyone here to chase Branch to who knows where. But he was still pissed off. One of the Ten was right here and in front of him, and he couldn't finish the job. And he didn't know if he was going to get another chance at them. Or to free his parents.

"Fuck…"

A/N: Slick and Branch's battle concludes, though not in the way either wanted or expected! And what exactly has Branch (and the others) running off the battlefield so quickly? Will have to keep reading to find out! This concludes the battle of the Spiderbite Kingdom! Next comes the Johnsen! Where the Johansen brothers will clash with Echidna and her forces!