Rufioh went through the gate back to his own planet, glad to return to a world full of nature instead of machines. But now the forest was much more silent than it had been before. No birds chirped or flew beside him, no wind blew through the air. It seemed as if everything was dead now, or at least barren in anticipation of his arrival.

As he neared his hive something on the ground caught his eye. He touched down to the ground and found that it was a mutilated frog, whose poor limbs had been severed along with its head in an apparent fit of rage by some vile creature. Its blood was dried and spread out in a trail leading back to his hive. Rufioh was filled with shock, sorrow, and anger, but he felt that it was best to steady his nerves on the way back to his hive. He'd have to deal with whatever was there at some point.

Although he didn't need to, Rufioh followed the trail home until he saw Damara sitting with her legs dangled over the edge of the roof of his hive. She jumped down to the ground in front of him, not bothering to conceal her weapon, the Blade of Bitterness.

"(Why did you have to betray me?)" Damara asked him.

"Hey, doll…what are you talk1ng about?" Rufioh asked nervously, knowing that she knew. Damara scowled at his horrible lie, drawing her weapon so that it almost touched his throat.

"(Do you really think you can feign stupidity? No. Ignorance is your specialty! Your ignorance of how strong and powerful I've become, for example. If you really loved me, you'd care to know what I've been doing while you were having fun with the horse-boy.)"

"Uh, you've just been ch1ll1n', r1ght?" Rufioh guessed weakly. "And, just putt1n' out there, what 1 d1d w1th Horuss wasn't all that fun. He got 1n a f1ght w1th Porr1m." Damara chuckled.

"(Oh, you wretched ex! I pity you and your new love's trials!)" Damara said sarcastically. Then she grew serious again, pinning Rufioh to the ground. "(It's time for you to attempt combat as well.)"

"Wa1t, l1sten, 1'm sorry 1 went beh1nd your back. Just let me expla1n what happened…" But of course Damara had had enough of the excuses. Damara immediately moved the Blade of Bitterness down Rufioh's body and slashed at his chest, immediately strafing to Rufioh's left so that he couldn't strike back. She then slashed at his side before moving on to his back and other side. Her goal wasn't to kill him just yet—to do so would be unsatisfying—but instead to make him bleed out as much as possible. Rufioh backed up after Damara's quick minor cuts, flying away and activating his juju. He couldn't fight her; his mind and his body told him to run away from this madwoman.

"(Death cannot be fled from!)" Damara cried as she rushed after the numerous Rufioh clones.

"Eggs, help! Use the clones to f1ght her off!" Rufioh whispered as he flew skyward. He could see Damara running as fast as he was on the ground, slashing viciously at the Rufioh clones, knowing that they most likely weren't the real deal.

Uh, sorry, Eggs can't do that! It would make the fight overeasy and make my boss hardboiled!

"What are you talk1ng about, man?! 1'm gonna get k1lled 1f 1 just let her hunt me down!"

Uh, yeah, that's the idea. I'll make you 500 clones, but that's it! You're on your own from there!

Rufioh felt dozens of clones leaving his body to go down and confuse Damara. Most of them had lances with them, but on the ground Rufioh could see that Damara was dodging each one and slicing off their heads, showing no mercy until she could reach the one true Rufioh that still eluded her. Rufioh tried to fly even farther above the woods, but Damara leaped onto a tree branch from above herself as she became surrounded by Rufiohs, not losing sight of her target. The Rufiohs followed her through the trees, but by this point she had stopped paying attention to them. He couldn't fly forever, he knew, and sooner or later he would begin to sink, his wings tired and needing a rest.

Minutes passed, but Damara seemed to have limitless reserves of energy. Finally, Rufioh stopped flying over a pond, falling to land in it. Damara dove in as Rufioh plunged underwater, hoping that maybe drowning himself would be a better fate than getting killed by her. By the time he got to the bottom of the pond he was losing his breath, and he had lost the will to run. When he felt her hands grab his shoulders a chill ran down his spine, but he didn't struggle or fight back.

And when she dragged him to shore and attempted to shake him dry, he didn't run away, even when she gave him so many opportunities to do so.

And when she lay him down on the soft grass so that his body faced the sun, he didn't try to get up.

And when she kissed him passionately and for the last time, he wasn't afraid of her slitting his throat. He learned to accept his death, even welcome it.

Damara lay down in the grass next to him, smiling at him sweetly while a look of passion blazed in her eyes. Whether it was lust or wrath, he didn't know.

"(In spite of everything, I still love you. I will always love you"), Damara said with surprising sincerity. Rufioh didn't listen. He could only watch as the Blade of Bitterness wedged itself into his neck with a smile.

How better to die than in the arms of the girl who loves you?

. . . . .

Cetaceous Catastrophe (CC) began trolling Arachne's Gift (AG)

CC: yo serket you wanted contact breached beachween us whale here ya are

AG: Yes, I was just curious as to see—er, sea-what you were up to. I've 8een trying to keep ta8s on everyone in hopes that when we start coordin8ing together I'll know what every8ody's doing—or at least what they did 8efore.

CC: yeah i know you just wanted to hi, no need to complicate

Or complic8 or waterever floats yer boat

AG: Ok, yes, so I did want to say hi a little. It's just that I've 8een having to help out with some other stuff that's 8een really hectic on their end. Did you know that Mituna, Latula, and Kurloz all fought Mituna's Denizen? And that Porrim and Kankri had to fight Rufioh and Horruss due to some 8lackrom shenanigans, and I went God-tier!

CC: Holey carp I reely missed out on stuff

Actually I just saw the clown weirdo wreckin' Derse. Didn't pay much attention since I was wreckin' the Queen

AG: Wrecking the Queen? How so?

CC: Krilled her, took a ring, betrayed her minnowins by not givin' it to them

Stuff like that

AG: Oh…I see. I saw some visions about that in Skaia. I've 8een getting a lot since I went God-tier. 8ut they didn't show me that it was you. I suppose you're living up to your name as the Thief of Life, huh? Stealing and taking lives?

CC: yeah. Sounds like you gotta problem withat.

AG: No, not at all! It just seems like killing and 8etrayal were a 8it too much. I mean, I would have done it differently.

CC: course you would. But you ain't me. I am!

AG: I know. Well, thanks for giving me an upd8! Where are you now?

CC: Back at the hive why?

AG: Just trying to keep ta8s on people. See you later! I need to go see what happened to Cronus. He's 8een really inactive l8ly.

CC: man don't waste your time with him

Ugh he's pathetic and briny 38(

AG: True, 8ut he's in the game with us. Need to see he what's going on. Who knows, may8e he discovered something useful.

CC: Doubt it. Sea ya!

AG: See you too!

Cetaceous Catastrophe has finished trolling Arachne's Gift

Aranea had been telling the truth when she told Meenah she wanted to keep tabs on everyone, and she had been truthful when she said she was going to see Cronus next. But to say that she didn't have a problem with Meenah was a lie.

Cronus was outside in the street of his planet, trying to make sense of that thing the humans called the "Guitar" when a presence came over him.

"Cronus, don't try to struggle. I need you for something."

"Me? For vwhat?"

"You'll see. I'm going to make you do something that I can't and won't do, 8ecause if I did I'd regret for the rest of my life, which I'm 8eginning to think is eternity."

Author's note: Come on, how come nobody's reviewed this yet? This is my most popular story, and still no reviews?! It makes no sense...oh well. Please review! I need to know how I'm doing on this. I need opinions, criticism, praise, etc. Say whatever you feel about this!

Also, I've gotten the general plot of this mapped out, so now progress should be a bit less slow. The first 25 chapters were made a while back, but this one was recent. Just wanted you all to know that so that you'd realize I'm continuing work on this. I can't abandon the work with the most views, after all!