Vestiges

Here's the other 'half' of the chapter that should have been posted alongside 'Bishop'-… it's Marco's side of the conflict.

18.

\King/

He wasn't like his Knight, who relied on hormone control and incredible reflexes. He wasn't like his Bishop who had decades of fighting experience and regenerative powers. What the King had was martial arts. What he had was a gift, that being a hunting sword. What he had was no limits, courtesy of his inner entity.

Strength, physical and mental agility and dexterity, he had all of these and no mercy. It was only more of the same as time passed, as the more he experienced, the more improved he became. Combined with the fact that he had no inclinations of quitting before he got to his objective, had firm convictions enough to burn his bridges, Appendaxuz was sure that the King was a force that no one could reckon with.

The augmentations weren't done with magic. It was all done with the vestiges of Appendaxuz's former self. Marco was able to make full use of who Appendaxuz was before he fell from grace. His rational powers with constant physical gain was what Appendaxuz used to be, and the entity nearly marveled when he saw how the boy took to his abilities like a fish to water.

Like I was before, he has no limits because I've unlocked his potential. Alpha-…for his strength. Beta-… for his mind. Theta-… for his senses. Delta-…for protection. Gamma-… his convictions.

Couple that with his increasing, nearly irrational rage…

"Oh, Mewni, you threw away a lump of coal, but I have unlocked his potential to excel like a diamond. Go, Marco! Punish them for their insolence!"

Marco roared in effort as he streaked in a blur of red and and black, blood following wherever he went. His former friends could hardly even fathom how the boy became this powerful, and even as to how he had stooped so low as to kill people, those he seemingly had no reason to even fight with. It was with shock that most of them could only stare in horror and shock, despite Tom's attempts to stir them into action. "Damn it, can't you all see that he's evil?! He's LOST IT! He's killing people! Janna, Pony Head, Kelly! Star! We've got to stop him!"

"But he's-"

"Would you quit it with that dumb argument? He's evil." The Lucitor spawned a large ball of fire and threw it at the Diaz, but he failed to even leave a scorch mark on his target as Marco was long gone from the location before the fire even made contact. As if he wasn't even aware that Tom had just tried to burn him to ashes, he continued his relentless assault on the knights around him, bloodletting rapidly becoming the nightmarish theme.

"I remember you!" Marco growled as he recognized a hapless knight. The knight, seeing that he was about to be targeted, tried to muster a fight but ultimately failed. There was only the shortest of sword fights before Marco's sword spun the knight's own from his grip leaving him defenseless, before the Diaz caught it in his left hand. "Yeah, I recognize that ugly mug of yours. When I wanted to borrow a sword to defend myself on Stump day, you told me that I should go get my own sword! You can keep it!" With a swift jab, Marco stabbed the knight's sword through his chest, allowing the man to collapse on his side to bleed out. Another knight who saw the demise of his fellow knight tried to avenge him, but failed as Marco was too quick for him; the teen's sword stabbed through his eye, killing him instantly. In disgust, Marco yanked his sword out of the man's eye socket, letting the knight crumple lifelessly to the floor and 'flashed' the sword to shake off the excess of the dead men's eye-fluid and blood. Before he could sprint away, Kelly tackled Marco face-down to the ground, arresting his arms behind him and pinning them to his upper back.

"That's enough, Marco! You've gone too far! TOO FAR!"

Marco didn't reply. Before she could even think of tying his arms together, he threw her off with insane strength onto her back. He grabbed his sword that had spilled from his grasp and approached her, intent on finishing her off. "You know, I always liked you Kelly. But you just had to fall for Star's lies like everyone else!"

"Look, I'm sorry about that but you can't-"

"Don't care." Marco growled as he raised his sword. Never minding the look of unbelieving fear in her eyes, he was about to plunge his sword into her but courtesy of Tom, a massive fireball exploded at Marco's feet with enough impact force to knock him away from Kelly before he could harm her. Unexpectedly, a burly knight intercepted the still-flying Marco in the face with a powerful clothesline move, sending him to the floor. "Agh! Damn, who's the-…" Looking up, the teen frowned deeply. "Oh. It's you."

Above him stood Lady Whosits, armed with nothing but her fists. Even more noticeable than her apparent lack of a weapon were the tears streaming down her face as she glared at Marco. "Diaz! You murderer!"

"Murderer?" Marco pondered a bit, trying to make sense of the woman's accusation as he got back to his feet, returning a glare of his own. "About this? Are you talkin' about your squire? Baby Man?"

"I'm talking about my SON!"

"He's your son?" Marco asked, confused. As if to answer him, Lady Whosits brought up her right fist in a curl, and decked Marco in the jaw and sent him flying through the arranged benches and smashing more than just a few of them to pieces and splinters. As the momentum finally brought him to a stop, he silently thanked his fortune of being far more resistant to damage, but cursed that he'd been unable to defend himself properly against the Knight. If he could get pummeled by a Knight, then what chance did he stand against the members of the M.H.C.?

"Get up Diaz, you dog!" Lady Whosits yelled as she watched him try to stand up, "I won't stop until you're dead in an unmarked grave!"

"And I won't stop until Mewni BURNS!" His sword was still in hand, and he dashed at the irate woman, intent on finishing this farce of a fight quickly. Swinging his sword wildly, he moved in to hack the woman by the neck, but he missed and his sword deflected off of her armor-… from the force, the intense vibrations were incredibly intense enough for him to accidentally drop his sword from shock. Capitalizing on his mistake, she nailed him with another punch, breaking through his attempts to block her fist and sent him flying away. It came to her notice that he didn't quite go quite as far as the first time and like a rampaging bull, he came running back. "Damn you!"

If he was eager to be pummeled into oblivion, she was more than happy to oblige him. It was what she wanted… She wanted him to die! "I'll put you down, you sick animal!" Rearing back her fist, she made sure it would be her strongest. He noticed this as well, and at the last moment in his rush, was forced to come to a halt to intercept her fist. He actually caught her strongest effort in one hand, but before he could counterattack, she grabbed him by the neck and started to choke him, so strong that his air was instantly cut off and his neck about to snap in on itself.

"It's over!"

"Bitch!" Marco mouthed angrily before grabbing at her fingers and in a show of how strong he was, actually slowly broke her fingers while pulling her hands from off of his neck. "Get your hands off of me!" As soon as he finished prying off of her grip, he grabbed her wrist and with a one-arm judo throw, pulled her over his shoulder and slammed her into the ground. In spite of the sound of her armor hitting the tiled floor, the sound of her arm breaking was clearly audible-…such was the strength he had. "You want revenge for your son? He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" He picked up his fallen sword and was about to move off, but she grabbed his leg before he could.

"Don't you walk away from me!" She pulled him off balance onto his belly, long enough for another knight close by to finally get his chance to finish the Diaz before he killed anyone else. He lunged forward with the spear, but before he could stake the boy with it, Marco managed to half-roll out of the way, his only way to avoid it since his leg was still in the woman's grip. "Kill him!" Lady Whosits shouted.

"Ain't happening!" Marco retorted. Before the knight could re-attempt to spear him, Marco grabbed the weapon at the last second and crushed the handle in his grasp, leaving the knight armed with only a common stick. With the spear head in his hand now, he threw it at the knight like a throwing knife, but failed miserably when it bounced off the knight's chainmail armor.

"For even a single second, I don't know why you thought that would work."

Marco yelled unintelligibly at Appendaxuz in his mind, and in the same moment, lashed out at Lady Whosits with his free leg to get her to let him go, the toe of his shoe walloped her in the temple. Getting up now, he surveyed the fact that that he was surrounded by a dozen knights, his former friends… and Star.

"Give it up, Marco!" Tom yelled. "You're surrounded!" But to his and everyone surprise, Marco started to laugh, albeit grimly.

"I'm surrounded? Well… that ought to even the odds…" His dark green eyes glared coldly at each of them in turn, and rested finally on Star, who slightly trembled under his gaze. It was easily noticeable that she still hadn't even fully recovered from when he had blatantly insulted her while she was trying to apologize, and she was trying to get over the fact that he'd moved on past her where their friendship was concerned. "Now… who's the first to go?"

From behind Marco and still with her vengeance unfinished, Lady Whosits tried to get back onto her feet. Blood ran down the side of her face; she had severe head trauma, her arm was broken and her earlier tossing to the floor had left her feeling like her insides were reduced to mush. This was no ordinary boy before her; she was the strongest person she knew, but the boy had manhandled her as if she was nothing at all. She'd vowed to avenge the death of her son, and had fallen short. She cringed in her grief as she recalled seeing him the day before, lifeless in his arms. Today, he would have been honored like the others in his generation but the Diaz had ruined that too!

In anger, she rushed forward, and captured the Diaz in a bear hug of sorts, strong despite the fact that one of her arms were broken. He struggled to get free, but had to strain. "Kill Diaz now!" Whosits bellowed, grimacing as the pain of her broken arm threatened to make her falter, but fought against it. "Kill him, even if it means killing me too!"

"To hell with that!" Marco yelled before they could react and make good on the opportunity she was giving them. She was still armored, and the only place he could attack to get her to release him were her arms, but his own upper limbs were pinned at his sides. In a moment of quick thinking, he tilted his head forwards before slamming it hard backwards into her face, breaking her nose in a bloody mess and making her squeal in pain. It wasn't enough to make her let him go, but it was enough to loosen her grip enough for him to muscle his way free. Hardly was he back on the ground on his feet did he dart around the big woman; now behind her, he kicked the back of her leg to make her fall to one knee before he clambered up on her back and pressed his sword to her neck.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Janna yelled. "Marco, don't kill her!"

"…" Marco cocked up an eyebrow, hesitating for a moment. But this was a costly mistake, as a fireball exploded in his back. "Gah… DAMN IT!" In a split-second, he had caught on fire and he had to leap off of the woman's back to throw off his ignited black robes before all of him started to burn. It was too late to stop himself from sustaining a couple of burns, the agony of which infuriated him. His eyes searched around him for the instigator, and his fury only spiked when he saw the Lucitor who was still in the pose of having thrown an object, that being a fireball. "I've had enough of you, Tom!"

"Bring it on, MARCO!" Glancing at everyone who was more or less dormant, he tried to spur them into action. "C'mon people! Are we just gonna let him walk all over us?!" Flaring himself on fire as he began to use his arcane powers, Tom started to chant in his demonic tongue. Unexpectedly, the ground opened up beneath Marco's feet suddenly and he fell into the scorching fissure. Without even wasting a second, he closed up the crevice again, sealing Marco inside. "Instant burial, Marco!"

There was no more sound, no screams, nothing. Everything was silent for a moment before one could hear what sounded like muffled curses as the ground began to shake a bit as if there was squirming within. In shock, everyone gaped as the very same faultline that Tom had created was re-opened, forced open by Marco who was exercising what appeared to be pure brute strength. It would've looked more comical to see the Diaz spread-eagled as he pushed the faultline apart with both his arms and legs, but that was spoilt by the time they saw his face. He was gripping the bloodstained blade by his teeth alone, and nothing but hatred and wrath in his eyes. In a flex while dipping his body downwards, he threw himself up with core-strength alone and as soon as he did, the fissure clapped itself shut allowing for him to fall harmlessly to the ground above where it had been.

"You think you can get rid of me so easily?" Marco asked rhetorically as he got up, and spat out the lingering taste of blood in his mouth before taking his sword back in hand. "Did you hope that I'll be taken care of just like that? Just like when you all thought I was full of shit and had to be thrown out of Mewni?"

"I was hoping to shut your mouth! Take a good look around you and see how many people you've killed… throwing you out was the best thing we probably ever did!" Tom roared. First to act, he started throwing a volley of fireballs, forcing Marco to evade if he wanted to avoid getting injured. Tom wasn't going all out; it was mostly a skirmish tactic to keep Marco from counterattacking, and it was working well. Still surrounded by the knights, it was that much easier for them as they all pressed on the offensive. More than once, their weapons carved away at his flesh in his failed attempts to avoid all of their killing attacks. Despite the wounds not being as bad as it could be due to his body's heightened resistance to damage, Tom could see that their foe was weakening-... Marco was close to losing, but they needed to push harder a little more.

He could tell what was wrong… some of them still weren't committed to taking him down. Janna was expected, as she didn't really have any fighting experience. Kelly was unarmed and still somewhat unwilling to fight their former friend. Pony Head wasn't all that committed, but she was still firing her horn laser, and her conviction continued to rise with each blast she fired. That was the most that could be said from their group.

Star, as it so happened, was locked in her own head and hearing the voices of mixed arguments she'd been in.

"…But at the very least, I know it's still him. I couldn't reach out to him, and while he was forcing us to leave, the same aura that I was sensing from him changed a little. I know that I felt sorrow and regret in it… He's capable of doing bad things, but 'Marco' is NOT doing these things…"

"… Fine. But I should have you know that Marco isn't your only friend? What were you to do if he should commit harm to the others?"

She still didn't know what to do. How could she bring herself to harm her closest friend, even if he was bringing destruction and death to Mewni and those around her? She needed to act!

They had him on the defensive. He was about to lose. They were attacking to kill him. She most certainly did not want him to die, but she didn't want to see him kill anyone else, either! There were already so many casualties just from his own hands, not even counting what his friend Higgs had done, not to mention Toffee…

'He's evil, Star!' she yelled in her mind. 'He's evil! Do you need any more proof than this? If you don't stop him, then he's going to kill-… No… He's the one about to die. The knights are gonna kill him! And Tom and Pony Head are helping them! But if I stop them from killing him, then he'll kill us!'

It was the last. Marco had incurred too many injuries. Weakened by blood loss, dazed from a war-hammer blow to his head and numerous low-key stab wounds from spears, pikes and swords, he stood shakily as if the floor beneath him was moving. His red sweater had been reduced to tatters, showing his wounds for all to see. Crimson dripped to the floor, the only sound that seemed to permeate the scene. However, it could be said that the only thing that remained strong was the anger in the King, and his grip on his sword. On every breath he exhaled, he muttered curses. On every breath he inhaled, the fires of his wrath grew. Yet, Star looked at him with a measure of pity.

I don't want him to die… I don't want any of my friends to die.

Finally, Star made up her mind.

"Everyone, capture Marco Diaz!"

No one moved. In her own downtime of trying to pull herself together, Lady Whosits had figured out why she'd been superior to Marco for only the shortest while before his strength quickly surpassed hers. In her mind, it was for the very reason why it seemed that he was incurring less and less wounds, getting less and less injuries that weren't as deep as they since the start of the battle. "NO!" the woman yelled as she tried to get up. "You need to kill Diaz! This is no time to be trying to capture him!"

"Everyone!" Star repeated her earlier shout, "capture Marco Diaz!" Everyone was mostly conflicted between whose orders to follow; the tactics that were originally being carried out and being authorized by an elite knight, or the orders from the princess, who likely knew nothing of fighting strategy and was having her judgment clouded by her emotions.

"Don't! We need to kill Diaz now!" Whosits yelled. "As much as I can admit that I want to see him dead because of my son, Diaz has to die now, or we'll never be able to stop him! He's growing stronger with each conflict, with each effort he puts out, with each fight! At first my strength was greater than his, and now it's as if I'm a lamb to him! And look! The wounds he got at first… the very same wounds that he's still getting aren't doing as much damage! Yet still against his bare flesh, swords don't even cut him as deeply!"

It was true. All eyes were focused on him now, and they observed him more closely. Even Tom noticed that the fireballs that he threw at Marco was hardly even leaving scorch marks at this point. Everyone gawked as they realized that he was becoming steadily more tolerant of damage and stronger with each encounter, though at the moment, he was still fairly weakened from his wounds and blood loss-…only his earlier wounds from their killing circle were still keeping him somewhat on their level. Star herself was bewildered about this new critical information, and becoming unsure now if her decision to keep Marco from being killed was still the best one. "Mom ordered for him to be detained! That's what we're doing!"

"Knights! I'll take responsibility for all that happens henceforth!" The elite knight bellowed. "Your orders are to KILL DIAZ!"

"Capture Marco!" Star screamed, trying to the knights to follow her.

"He's too great a threat to live, and if he doesn't die now, he could be impossible to deal with later!"

Star had reached her limit. "If you guys won't capture him… then I will!" Raising up her wand, she aimed it at Marco, who glared back at her with a downright spiteful look. "Raspberry Ribbon Lasso!"

Nothing happened.

"…Hmm?" With a look of confusion on her face, Star repeated the same spell but once again got the same result. Marco lumbered forward a moment towards Star, then another step. On his third pace, his stride became straight and steady. He no longer had the wavering look to him, but what unsettled everyone including the princess was the fact that she seemed to be his sole target now. She didn't quite know why, but after what he said next, she knew.

"You wouldn't happen to be trying to use magic… would you Star?" Marco growled. If he wasn't angry before, he was now.

"Stay back Marco!" Trying to ignore the fact that one of her spells weren't working, she tried another. "Ritzy Rainbow Rope!"

Still nothing. Marco continued to approach her unhindered.

"Um… Star?" Janna asked worriedly. "The wand isn't working. Maybe we should try something else-"

"Kill Marco!" Lady Whosits yelled, trying to rouse her knights into action. "He's an enemy to all, and friend to none! Put him down before he kills the princess!"

"He's MY BEST FRIEND!" Star yelled, trying to keep them from attacking Marco so she could try again. "Embracing Bestie Binds!"

"I'm not your damn bestie!" Marco yelled. He'd gotten fed up of the situation, and charged at the princess. Finally, in a bid to do what Star had ordered, the knights dropped their weapons and threw themselves at Marco. A few holding each of his arms, and a few holding each of his legs. They'd slowed him down to a crawl, and additionally, Kelly and Janna had to help holding back the King from getting to Star. Even Pony Head helped to intervene; she grabbed on to the back of Marco's collar with her teeth and strained to pull him back. With every fibre of Tom's being, he wanted to finish off the Diaz while he was still restrained but in a split-second decision, placed himself before Star and Marco, and pushed back on Marco's shoulders to keep him from getting any closer to his girlfriend.

"Stay away from Star, Marco!"

Marco paid him no mind. He only continued to give Star a glare that was nearly enough to kill a lesser person. In this moment, Star recalled all of her happier moments since meeting the Diaz, all of her regrets, the pain…

For all the magic in the world, she was willing to trade it all for it to go back to the way it was.

Trying to find the hope now, she tried to fan the flame of it, and pointed the wand at the only part of Marco that was still visible from the crowd of people holding him back, that being his face. "Marco… I… I miss the old days…" Star whispered, as if her heart was about to break, "when we could go on adventures… beat up monsters who wanted to steal the wand… have friendship Thursdays…" A tear dripped from her eye as she thought of all she'd been through, all they'd suffered, all that they'd carried on past. "Can't we have those anymore?"

Marco said nothing. In his rage and his limits still being constantly surpassed, he started to squirm against those who held him. He dropped his sword to the ground to pry and heave them from off of his arms, and kicking off those who had grasped his feet. There was only Tom, and only the Lucitor stood between the King and the object of his wrath. "Let go of me, devil!" Grabbing one of the Lucitor's arms, Marco then smashed his fist into the boy's elbow; with a cruel snap-and-break, he broke the Lucitor's arm at the elbow before kicking him down as if he were nothing but garbage, the devil howling in pain as he went. Down but not out, however, Tom tried to get back onto his feet to defend Star, flaring himself on fire to augment his abilities. Not intimidated, Marco brought up his fists and prepared to break down the fiery devil.

"This isn't going to even be nearly like the playground fight we had in my room…" Marco grunted.

"I'm not afraid of you, Marco!" Tom grunted, though his speech was unclear due to the pain he was already in.

In a roar akin to a wild animal, the King feinted a left punch to Tom's midsection and as the Lucitor tried to defend himself there with his last good arm, Marco nailed him with a jab to his unguarded neck. In severe pain and reduced to a choking mess, Tom should've backed away from Marco but didn't; it was his undoing. Marco then kicked Tom in his side, right in the liver, making him collapse face down. Not yet finished, Marco reached behind himself and tugged off the seemingly forgotten Princess Pony Head (who had been still clutching his collar) and snapped her horn off before backhanding the screaming princess away with a mean fist. With the horn in hand, he stabbed the Tom in his upper back and raked it viciously down his back to worsen his wound, never minding the Lucitor's anguished groans and cries.

"You poor little devil…" Marco whispered in a mocking tone, before he picked up his adversary bodily, and threw him as hard as he could at the knights who were struggling to get back up. With that out of the way, he was about to turn back on Star, but a right hook slammed into his jaw as he did so. It was more surprising than it was painful, and the instigator was none other than Kelly.

"Marco… you need to stop!" The girl cried as she tried to stop the King. "Stop!" She dodged his counterattacking kick to her groin, and started wailing on him as best she could, though it had no effect. "Stop, stop, stop!" With each time she cried the word, the weaker her blows got as she lost the strength and willingness to fight her former friend, but her tears ran harder, burning her cheeks. He wasn't softened by this; no, he only became more frustrated.

"You're annoying!" Before she could 'hit' him again, with a powerful low-sweep, he kicked her legs out from under her and while she was still caught between heaven and earth, elbowed her in the chest and knocking her to the ground. Amidst the sound of cracking of ribs, the back of her head thudded against the tiled floor, brutally knocking her unconscious. Without even a second mind, he stepped over her prone body, and ran at the princess in a dead-on sprint.

Still, she couldn't find it in herself to do harm to the boy who she'd bonded with for eternity.

There was a spell she used to use. It had long gone from memory until now; it was the spell she used to de-transmutate objects that she had transformed.

That's right. She still believed that it was her fault that he had turned out like this, and with this spell, she hoped to revert him back into her best friend.

He thundered after her. She needed to remember the name of the spell! Aiming her wand again, she started to articulate what she could remember from memory, but Marco finally caught up to her, shouting his hatred of her.

Too late to even change her stance to something else to defend herself, he grabbed her shoulder before smashed the hardest haymaker fist right into her solar plexus, so hard that she coughed up droplets of blood and her blue eyes rolled up to whites. The blow would have been strong enough to send her flying backwards because of his enhanced strength, but his grip on her shoulder kept her from doing so, ensuring that she had to weather the full brunt of the attack to a standstill. Not yet finished and with his arm still on her stomach, he heaved her up over his head before throwing her down as hard as he could on the ground, back first. Never minding the fact that she'd most likely incurred an injured back, her head had also hit the concrete, her skull cracking in the impact.

She didn't move anymore.

With a grim nod, Marco stepped away from her to go pick up his sword. After stepping over the limp bodies of those he'd defeated to get to it, he knelt to pick up the hunting sword. However, as he did so, he heard movement coming from where he'd left Star, only to see the girl he'd presumably left unconscious or dead. Even more so, despite her heavy breathing and the blood that she seemed to cough up every few seconds, there was even more of the scarlet life dying her blond hair from where she'd hit her head on the ground. She seemed to wobble from leg to leg, and her eyes glazed in and out of focus. She was also suffering from an extreme concussion, and it was taking every bit of willpower for the girl to stay on her feet. In the midst of all these difficulties, the princess finally remembered the words to the spell she wanted, and struggled to raise her arms to point her wand at Marco, even as he ran back at her with his sword in hand.

For her final attempt, her hopes and dreams… she placed it all into the wand, hoping that it would not let her down, yet fearing that it would. There would be nothing more if and when it failed. Nothing. She could only hope in the last spell, hoping that Marco would revert to his old self.

For his final attempt, his hatred and his anger… he placed it all into his sword, trusting that it would not let him down, yet worrying that it would. There would be everything more if and when he succeeded. Everything. He could only trust in his final slash, trusting to cut her down before her magic affected him and the universe.

"Mending Heart Hurricane!"

"You and your magic can GO TO HELL!"

Yet again, there was nothing. The spell did not work. It did not work. But that wasn't what flagged his perpetual anger. It was the fact that Star had tried to use magic… she had tried to use magic on HIM!

Prepared to end this farce, he lunged forward, blade first. Barely having the presence of mind to even remain standing, much less fight back, Star could only watch as she was only a few seconds away from dying. However, this was not to be, as intervention came from an unlikely source.

It was Janna who found herself in front of Star; a split-second later, instead of shedding blood, Marco's sword had sparks gash instead. It was in this moment that Janna stopped Marco from killing his best friend, and the King glared at the forgotten Ordonia. She returned the stare from over the top of the shield she'd picked up to defend Star with, and did not flinch.

"Janna…?!"

"Cool it, you hothead."

"Get… out… of… my… way…" Marco said lowly, as if every word was difficult to say. When she didn't obligate his order, he started hacking away at her shield as if he'd lost his mind, punctuating each word with his sword, thought it was a fruitless action. "GET… OUT… OF… MY… WAY!"

She couldn't even waste any effort trying to talk. Most of her energy went into holding up the heavy shield and actually trying to weather Marco's attacks. However, as she looked at him over the shield, she saw what looked like he was covered in green flames like a second skin, and so did his sword, though it did not seem to burn him. Not as alarming but still surprising nonetheless, the boy spoke in a voice that commanded nothing but respect and order.

"Quod inquit rex," he yelled in a strange language as he drew on his inner entity's power, "REND!"

In that moment, the shield that Janna had been using to defend herself and Star instantly fell apart in two when next the sword sliced at it. Not only that, but blood came after; following through, Marco had re-angled the sword and stabbed her right through the chest. It'd happened so swiftly that not even Janna had seen what had happened… until she felt the cold steel pierce her heart-… all twenty inches of brutal steel cut its vicious way through it. In shock, Janna looked down to see the sword hitched all the way to the hilt in her chest, her own lifeblood bleeding over it and onto Marco's hand. The agony following it was unbearable-… it was as if the green flame wasn't hot around the sword wasn't heat, but only an extension of the boy's aura, something she was sure hurt even worse. It had contaminated her body from the sword, increasing her anguish with its cruel malevolence. Despite the pain and the cold numbness that was spreading through her veins, she tried to remain strong by trying to take a deep breath, but found that it came in a hollow gasp. The exhale only made it that much worse as if her body was giving up on its last chance for life, no matter how futile it was. Her slowing heart was on its last.

Nothing helped.

"Janna?" Star said softly at the blurry image of the girl before her. She thought that she could see what looked like a bloodied blade sticking out through her back with green fire all over it, but couldn't be sure. Even as her mind tried to process this, Star toppled backwards, blacking out, her inner wounds and head injury having finally pushed the Butterfly to her cutoff point. The wand ultimately spilled from her grasp as she fell, but the sound of what had happened to the Butterfly did not grab Marco's and Janna's attention.

In her own world, trying to look away from the object that caused her pain, the Ordonia's eyes looked upwards and found Marco's own, them being mad with fury. She didn't respond in kind, nor did her eyes radiate some sort of regret for stopping him like this.

Her blood-covered hands the gentlest they've ever been, not stealing as they usually were, not grabbing or being rough, she placed them on Marco's hand on where it held the sword before she slowly pushed it back, the sword retreating out of her. The pain was unbelievable with the aura making it worse, but she didn't squirm. She kept on until she had eased all of the murderous blade from out of her chest and at the last, she finally gave up the ghost, the light leaving her eyes as quickly as she collapsed. As she died, so did the green flames around the Diaz.

Odd as it were, she fell to her knees before him with her arms encompassed around his legs, as if her last testament was to prevent Marco from getting to Star, even begging him not to. As it may be, however, he thought of that she'd only shoved her nose into matters that didn't concern her yet again, and had gotten herself killed.

"No matter how many times, you never really learnt to mind your own damn business…"

With this in mind, he pried her lifeless hands from off of himself, before irreverently writhing his legs to get her body off of him. He was about to ponder his next move but was interrupted as a fiery portal opened in the hall only ten feet behind him. Turning around to see it, Marco's heart dropped when he recognized the nature of the warp entry, knowing of whose nature was affixed to them. And true enough, there she was, stepping out of the portal gateway before closing it behind her.

Slowly, the demigoddess averted her eyes to survey the damage, the casualties and the destruction. With each new facet she saw, Marco got the innate sense that Hekapoo's own righteous fury was rising and that there would be nothing to quell it. In a tense silence that could be cut with a knife, she parted her scissors in preparation for a fight.

"And in all of this... the one who declared war on the Magic High Commission is the only person left. Soon, he won't be."


Marco's got bloodlust. He's gotten into serious trouble too. As for cliffhangers, we're three for three, people! I'm such a heartless bastard.

Latin: Quod inquit rex - That saith the King.

I think I've finally gotten the emotions just right with Star. Doesn't want to fight, but not completely passive, either. That's a bit useless against Marco, but don't worry, they'll have opportunities to really fight in the future. About the spell she was trying to use, it's from Season 1; it's the spell that she used to turn transmutated magical objects/animals into their original forms. Anyway, what did you think?

Valete omnes,

MRAY 4TW.