Without warning, the Smashers were all warped to the Final Destination stage. Floating above them was the same scar-faced man in black robes that had appeared to Link and Princess Zelda at the fairy-fountain in Hyrule shortly before killing Zelda.
"Nephorius…" breathed Link in anger.
"That's right, you lovelorn fool, I was the one to dispatch a few of your fellow so-called Smashers," laughed Nephorius triumphantly. "And what easy pickings they were, especially the prissy princesses—Zelda no more than target practice for me; Peach laid low by a little sting…"
At these words, Mario spat on the ground exactly where Nephorius would have been had he been standing on the stage instead of floating. Link resisted the urge to fit an arrow to his bow with great difficulty; Kirby puffed up indignantly, as did Pikachu.
"No point in getting angry over the deaths of your loved ones and friends; in fact, I think you all should be thanking me in advance for sending you to meet them—HAAAA!" called out Nephorius suddenly, cutting off his jibe.
Roy of Phaerae let out a low but sharp cry of pain as he fell prostrate in death—Nephorius had released a great beam of evil energy that killed the young redheaded swordsman on the spot as he drew his Sword of Seals. The sword dropped from Roy's hand and fell to the stage with a sickening clatter that reminded Link forcibly of Princess Zelda's death at the Hylian fairy-fountain and for Mario brought to mind the shattered-sword part of the dreadful prophecy that came to him in a dream. Samus Aran alone did not appear to react: Donkey Kong appeared dumbstruck; Yoshi, Kirby, and Pikachu all jumped back in alarm; Luigi, Fox, and Marth each let out a barely-audible gasp. Ness flinched and cried out in fear, and Captain Falcon, with his hand on Ness's shoulder, struggled to remain still as he felt the violent tremor through to his own heart.
But the Sword of Seals remained intact.
"So Mario, you're even more of a lovelorn fool than your fellow Smasher Link here," Nephorius sneered, "that you would fight to the death for your beloved Princess Peach? Well, of course she's dead now, but you'll be fighting to the death for her and all the others who died anyway—and taking ALL of your surviving fellow Smashers with you!" were Nephorius's savage words before he descended from his floating platform and formed a large fireball in one hand to throw.
Instantly Captain Falcon shoved Ness to the ground as the fireball narrowly missed them both and eventually landed just short of Mario's feet. To this affront, Marth and Link drew their swords at once, and Fox likewise readied his blaster. Samus fired a charged energy beam at Nephorius, and the battle began.
Each of the surviving Smashers fought with everything he or she had: Mario and Luigi with their own fireballs, Yoshi and Kirby doing all they could to throw Nephorius's attacks back at him, Donkey Kong with powerful pummeling attacks, Pikachu with its electricity, Ness with his psychic powers, Link and Marth with their swords, and the space travelers with every attack in their arsenals. It was twelve against one, but Nephorius had no intention of losing his ground: no sooner did Link or Marth rush in to carve the enemy to ribbons than Nephorius used spells to throw them back; it seemed that Samus was doing more dodging than shooting, able to fire power-beams or missiles only when Nephorius turned his attention to Yoshi, Kirby, or Pikachu, the latter three able to score "diversion hits" at irregular intervals.
After a particularly narrow escape from an energy beam like a whip crack, however, Mario caught sight of the Sword of Seals still lying near Roy's body. Somehow knowing that he might, at least, stand a better chance against Nephorius with a fellow Smasher's weapon to wield, he took up the sword and returned to the fray. And not a moment too soon—Nephorius's energy-whip had just wound itself around Luigi's left ankle, and the evil sorcerer was now using the whip to drag Luigi over the stage.
With an impressive stroke for one unaccustomed to using a sword, Mario cut his brother free of the whip in one swift motion. Mario swung again—and this time managed to deal Nephorius a cut on the arm that spattered the wizard's sleeve with blood as black as tar.
Just when Nephorius knocked Mario back with an energy beam that rattled the entire stage like a sonic boom, Pikachu got a hold on the sonic-boom-tossed sword. It was then that Donkey Kong took it into his head to throw the sword-wielding Pikachu at Nephorius and do damage that way—a plan that succeeded, very nearly cutting Nephorius's leg off.
The wizard cast a spell that threw Pikachu across the stage, depriving it of the Sword of Seals—but an airborne Kirby inhaled the sword and quickly spat it out at Nephorius, grazing his shoulder and impaling the ground with the sword. From there, as the enemy's attentions were turned upon Mario again, Samus wrenched the Sword of Seals from the stage floor and swung, giving Nephorius a slash across one ear. Then Yoshi snatched the sword with his tongue and swung with his mouth and head, slashing Nephorius's other ear.
Nephorius, apparently immune to the pain in his ears, dealt Yoshi a punch on the nose that knocked the Sword of Seals out of his mouth and across the stage again, narrowly missing Link. The Hylian swordsman seized his chance and grabbed the Sword of Seals, cutting Nephorius across the back with a spinning attack and then passing the sword to Luigi, who attempted to finish Donkey Kong and Pikachu's job of cutting the wizard's leg off but merely grazed the leg above the main wound.
With another whip-crack attack, Nephorius knocked the Sword of Seals out of Luigi's hands—but Captain Falcon caught it perfectly and instantly made a powerful thrust attack, dealing Nephorius a wound to the left side. When Nephorius took a moment too long to recover from this blow, Ness, the next fighter to take hold of the sword, wounded the sorcerer on the right side.
"That'll teach you to play with a sword, you little brat!" roared Nephorius in a fury, delivering a hard punch to Ness's forehead that knocked the boy almost over the edge of the stage. But Fox saw his opportunity, when Captain Falcon ran after Ness to help him, to seize the Sword of Seals and make a powerful swing—this time succeeding in deeply slashing the sorcerer's previously uninjured leg, effectively crippling Nephorius by knocking him down and rendering him unable to stand.
"That's for Falco!" Fox shouted at Nephorius, then to Marth as he tossed the Sword of Seals to the blue-haired swordsman, "Finish him off!"
Marth obeyed, slashing Nephorius repeatedly with his own sword, named Falchion, and his late companion's Sword of Seals—finally ending the battle with a powerful stab to Nephorius's heart with the Sword of Seals. At last the vile sorcerer gave one last moan of agony, and his body crumbled to dust that blew off the stage and into the abyss below.
But was it really over?