Crimson Rebirth

The sun was just about to drop below the horizon when Finn finally kicked open his front door and lumbered inside, dragging along the sad remains of his most recent sword. The broken weapon scratched unpleasantly against the wooden floor, creating an ugly trail where the metal had dug into the ground. The human didn't really care; the place was falling apart as it is, mostly due to the actions of himself and Jake, sadly.

Speaking of which, the magical dog didn't seem to be home. The rooms were dark, the air was still, and the sound of someone eating was absent. Finn shrugged, then turned and added the busted sword to the rest of the pile on top of his mound of coins. It landed with both a clang and a clatter, disturbing the pile of gold and causing it to topple over, bringing the broken weapons with them. Finn groaned at the mess, knowing he'd had to deal with it eventually.

Not now though, he was too depressed about his blade, which had finally snapped during his most recent battle with an armored dungeon boss, who was equipped to the teeth with six arms, each sporting a broadsword that he could swing with a single hand. The human had won, not without minor injury, but lost his precious steel in the process, being snapped in half from the strain of pulling it out of his enemy's chest piece.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open again, this time by an enlarged yellow foot, which shrunk down to reveal the excited face of Jake the Dog. The stretchy mutt was nearly jumping up and down as he ran in and stopped next to his brother.

"Finn! Finn! You're not gonna believe this!"

The hero stared at his friend with bewilderment, wondering if perhaps Jake had discovered a new species of sandwich or something. Finn placed his hands on the dog's shoulders to calm him.

"Ok, dude. What is it?"

The magical canine stretched an arm behind him and rummaged around while Finn raised his eyebrow.

"What are you reaching into, man?"

Jake smiled and retracted his arm, revealing a small pouch that he'd apparently been concealing in his stretchy innards.

"It's this awesome magic sack I stol- I mean, found. It looks small but it can hold like a whole boatload of stuff. And check this out…"

He pulled his arm completely out, producing a sight that made Finn's eyes bulge and shine in awe. Held in Jake's grip was a spectral sword that dimly glowed in an ominous yellow light. Its guard was in the shape of a skull, while the handle appeared to be an actual bone. The blade itself was inscribed with various symbols that depicted a story of sorts, showing a battle between an armed warrior and a horrific monster. Finn finally found the voice to ask.

"Holy stuff! What kind of sword is that?"

Jake's enthusiastic grin faltered slightly as he scratched his head.

"Um, I don't actually know, I just guessed that you'd break another one soon so I grabbed it from this one museum- I mean, dungeon."

Finn was too caught by the glowing weapon to notice the correction from his bro. The human could swear he could feel the power of it resonating off the metal and into the room. Eventually, Jake held the blade out to him, which he gladly accepted. The young man studied the intricate piece, still holding his eyes wide. It was then that he noticed a multitude of tally marks scratched into the forehead of the skull. Curiously, he rubbed his finger over them, pondering their purpose.

"I bet this is how many guys the sword had taken down. It must be amazing."

Jake gazed at the marks along with his brother. There were 67 of them. Sets of four lines and then a fifth that struck through the others, arranged in neat rows that ran across the skull's surface. Jake then broke away from the peculiar detail and looked over to the mess nearby. His brow furrowed.

"Aw man, did you do this, Finn?"

The human lowered the sword and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, sorry. I was bummed out and didn't take the time to just set my busted weapon in the pile."

Jake groaned.

"I knew it; I knew that sword would be broken when I got back. Shoot, I was really hoping that one would last a while. It was your birthday present after all."

Finn walked up to his bro and gave him a pat on the back.

"Hey, don't worry, Jake. It was math when it wasn't broken. It's time to move on. Just like with all the others."

The magical dog stared sadly at the mound of coins and scrap metal. He sighed.

"None of these was ever as good as dad's sword."

Finn joined his brother in frowning before making his way over to the monster statue that used to hold the demon blood weapon in its jaws. What lay there now was a flat case, which Finn gently removed and placed on the ground. Clicking open the locks, he slowly lifted the lid, revealing the two halves of the once mighty crimson blade, now stuck in a dull shade of grey.

Jake walked over and joined his companion in a moment of silence. Finally, Finn resealed the case and placed it back in the statue's mouth, sighing.

"We'll never get it back, not so long as we don't have demon blood."

Seeing how down his friend was, Jake thought hard about an idea for what they could do to cheer him up. After a moment, he smiled.

"Hey bro, what do you say we go down to Marcy's? She might know what that glowing sword is."

He pointed to the phantom-like weapon the young hero still held. Finn gazed at it again before growing a hopeful smile and sliding it back into his pack.

"Yeah, alright, that sounds cool. Let's go."

As the two brothers walked out and closed the door behind them, night had already fallen. The sky was littered with enough stars and moonlight to remove the need for any light source to guide the pair of adventurers. The current time also meant that Marceline was likely to be awake. Making their way to the vampire's house, Finn passed the time by practicing some swings with the mysterious glowing sword.

A strong knock came to the door of a neat little pink dwelling hidden within a damp cave. For a minute, there was silence, as the duo of visitors patiently waited for an answer. Delightfully, a dark-haired girl turned the knob and swung the entrance open after a brief moment. She was still a little sleepy, evidenced by her drowsy features, but smiled regardless when her friends gave a wave.

"S'up, Marcy?"

The Vampire Queen floated aside and gestured for the two to come in.

"Not much, just waking up. What could you weenies possibly want at this hour, isn't it time for you mortals to go to sleep?"

Finn and Jake sat themselves on the rock-hard couch, shifting slightly in vain to get comfortable. Marcy hovered over as she finished sucking the red out of a tomato and tossed it in the trash. The human pulled out the sword and held it in front of him with both hands.

"We were wondering if you could tell us what kind of sword this is."

The vampire gave the weapon a curious look before leaning over to accept the blade from the young man. She turned it over and over, studying its features carefully. Finally, she held it up and grinned at the two visitors.

"Wow, haven't seen one of these in a few decades. What you've got here is a spirit sword."

Finn and Jake stared with renewed wonder at the glowing item, watching as Marceline took a few swings with it.

"Yep. They say these things are so powerful that they can even slice a soul in half."

The hero nearly jumped out of his pants as he got to his feet.

"Shmowzow! That's epic! I finally got a sword I could use to its fullest."

Before the young human could get too excited however, Marcy reached down and halted his joyous hopping by clamping her hand on his head.

"Hang on there, weenie, you don't just get this power for nothing. Spirit swords have one major limitation: they can only be used to slay 100 enemies. After that, it destroys itself."

The pair of mortals instantly lost their enthusiasm, frowning in disappointment at the sword. Marceline let herself down and walked over to the duo.

"Hm, looks like this one's already struck down 67 guys. You've got 33 left, then poof."

She dramatized the action of the weapon disintegrating. Afterwards, she tossed the glowing sword back to Finn, who easily caught it. The hero looked again at the tally marks, signifying each and every kill the blade had performed. Suddenly, an idea exploded in his head. He looked up to his vampire friend.

"Wait, Marcy, you said this thing could even cut souls?"

The girl nodded.

"Yeah. What are you thinking, Finn?"

The hero grinned as he raised the blade to do a few more swings.

"If I can't have this sword forever, then maybe it can help me get back the best one I ever had."

Jake raised an eyebrow.

"You mean the demon blood one? How?"

The dog's bro turned to him with an enthusiastic expression.

"Don't you see, man? We can take this sword into the dead worlds, find Kee-Oth, dice up a piece of that butt's soul, and use it to fix dad's."

Marceline and Jake stared in astonishment at the human's plan. The Vampire Queen walked over and gave a concerned expression.

"Finn, not even I would go to the place where demon souls go. It's crazy nasty, like, worse than the Nightosphere."

Admittedly, that statement was intimidating, even to an adventurer such as Finn. He faltered slightly, but nevertheless stood his ground.

"I don't care. I owe it to dad to make up for the loss of his awesome sword."

This time, Jake stepped up.

"Dude, come on. It wasn't even technically dad's. He just took it from Kee-Oth."

The human just shook his head.

"Doesn't make a difference. He entrusted it to us, and we failed to protect it. This is our chance to honor dad and fix the thing."

Understanding that the hero wasn't going to let it go, Marcy and Jake sighed. The vampire shrugged.

"Alright, if you're that determined to get double-dead."

She went over to one of the walls and held up her hand. Then, after swiping her index finger in several directions, the wallpaper peeled back and revealed a seemingly ancient rune carved into the wood underneath. Marceline then proceeded to hock a loogie onto the aged symbol, much to the disgust of the two adventurers.

However, upon contact, the glob of spit immediately soaked into the rune, which began to glow a blood red and form several cracks on the surrounding wall. The room also shuddered slightly as the rune instantly pried itself open, revealing a doorway that led into what initially seemed to be an empty space. Marcy turned back to face her visitors and gestured to the portal.

"Presenting, the 6th Dead World. Have fun, weenies. And try not to die."

Nervously, Finn and Jake took a few steps toward the opening, now sensing the stench of pure horror seeping out of it. It sent a shiver up their spines. However, Finn shook it off and continued forward. His bro though, held him back.

"No way, man. We're not going in there."

The human turned to his companion and frowned.

"Jake, I'm going, whether you're coming or not."

The magical dog groaned helplessly as he stared into the young man's determined eyes. Finally, he was forced to give in.

"Fine, but I'm going with. I can't lose you, dude. You're all I've got left."

With that, he shrunk down and lifted himself up to Finn's shoulder, then slunk in under his hat, poking out only his flattened head. Satisfied, Finn nodded and looked back to the portal, still standing silently. He took one deep breath and suddenly charged; sword raised in preparation for what evils lay within.

As the young man cleared the opening, Marceline immediately sealed it back up. The vampire stared at the wall for a minute before sighing and shaking her head.

Let's hope Ooo didn't just lose its last human.

Finn groaned painfully as he pulled his numb arm out of the rock face he'd been slammed into. It only took three seconds for him to be smashed in the gut by an enormous black tail upon exiting the portal. His whole body felt broken, although not enough to stop him. As the hero struggled to remove himself from the impression in the solid rock, he groaned again and fell to the ground, causing more pain.

Once that had passed, he got to his feet, surprised that his legs could still support him. From above, Jake poked his face out, completely terrified.

"Dude! We can't stay here!"

Finn shook his aching head.

"No way, man. I made a vow. We're finding Kee-Oth."

A split second later, the demonic dragon that had smashed the hero roared loudly, returning attention to it. The beast hovered in the air a few hundred feet above the adventurers, flapping massive wings composed of fire. It glared at the two before rearing back its head and charging a blast of unholy flames. Finn braced himself, only to realize he'd dropped the spirit sword.

Looking around in haste, he spotted the ghostly blade stuck in the ground a few yards away. With one final look at the dragon, he sprinted for it. The demonic being noticed his destination and fired its inferno straight at the wedged weapon. Although Finn was fast enough to reach the handle first, he didn't have the speed to escape the flames that followed soon after.

The winged horror waited patiently, wanting to see the crisp corpse of the human below. Unfortunately for it, the scene below was anything but. Finn had spun his weapon at great speed, negating the flames with the mysterious power of the spirit sword. Grinning at the enraged dragon, the young man took a stance.

"My turn."

With incredible speed, the human reached up and plucked Jake out of his hat and flung him behind. The dog understood his bro's plan and quickly stretched his limbs to form a slingshot for his friend to load into. Finn jumped back, dodging another fire blast, and landed in the seat of his companion's sling. Immediately, the magical canine released the tension and flung the hero towards the demon flier.

The dragon attempted another fire strike but it had little effect once Finn began spinning through the air, rebounding the flames with the force of his twirling momentum. As he cut through the attack, the young man aimed his sword for the beast's chest, preparing to make the finishing blow. Unable to evade, the demonic being screeched in pain as the tip of the sword pierced its scales.

Finn dangled by the handle of his blade while the weapon remained lodged in the dragon, whose skin suddenly began to crack, revealing a strange light within each miniature fissure. Soon, the beast's body illuminated, consuming its form and blinding Finn. The last thing he heard was a shattering sound, signaling the destruction of the winged monster's soul.

As the human fell, he first though the impact would end his already damaged body. Luckily, Jake was right there to help his brother, catching the falling hero in his giant hand. After making sure Finn was alright, they both looked up to where the dragon had been. It was gone, the area it occupied now a field of raw, chaotic energy, which aimlessly drifted around seeking an attraction.

Finn held up his sword and looked upon the skull. Slowly, an invisible force carved a line next to two others.

"68. Let's get to our target before we run out of strikes."

Jake nodded and shrunk himself back underneath Finn's hat. The hero then shook off the remaining pain and scanned the area. The entire environment was composed of jet black rock, with not a hint of any other element or scenery. The 'sky' was entirely red, like blood. Undeterred, Ooo's human pressed on, taking a run at the clearing ahead.

As Finn reached the opening, he spotted a multitude of deep caves scattered along the jagged peaks of the realm. Within each one likely rested another demon, eager to rip the young man to pieces. Acting carefully, Finn snuck over to a darkened portion of the rock, hoping to stay hidden as he searched for his quarry. Most of the monsters were sleeping, releasing putrid breath with each snore.

After holding his nose for several minutes, Finn came across one cave entrance that produced a growling. The tone of the sound was somewhat familiar, causing him to stop and listen closer. An agitated voice came from inside.

"That stupid…jerk…face…little…agh! When I get the chance I'll…agh!"

Recognizing it at last, Finn grinned and swiftly entered the opening before another demon attacked him. The bowels of the cave had very little ornamentation, not surprising figuring that demons wouldn't really care about interior design, well, except one. As Finn cleared a corner, he at last laid eyes on the crimson demon he had vanquished over a year ago. Kee-Oth was busily clenching his fists in anger while staring out of a small window that showed another distant cave.

Finn came closer and took the spirit sword in both hands. Jake stretched out and took position next to his bro, for backup.

"Hey, loser!"

Kee-Oth was slightly startled but regained his composure and swung around, only to glare with hatred at the pair of intruders.

"You two! Why have you come here!?"

The human stepped forward and pointed his weapon at the winged being.

"Oh, well, I'm gonna slice off a part of your soul to fix my dad's sword- Oof!"

Jake had elbowed his friend in the gut before angrily staring at him.

"Dude, why would you be that truthful about why we're here!?"

Finn groaned as he rubbed his aching stomach.

"Sorry, I guess I've been spending too much time in the Fire Kingdom."

The magical dog crossed his arms.

"Pssh, you practically live there, dude. Just ask FP to move in or something."

The hero blushed slightly before eyeing his bro back in retaliation.

"Shut up!"

"Hey man, no need to get all defensive."

"Well you're one to talk about moving in, when was the last time you and Lady discussed it?"

"Whoa, stop right there! I ain't going there till marriage, bro."

"Then ask her, or are you too chicken?"

"Chicken? You want me to show you just how un-chicken I am?"

"Bring it!"

"Oh I'm bringing it!"

"Let's settle this, dog."

"Same to you, huma- aah!"

Both guys were grabbed by their necks, struggling to breathe as Kee-Oth smashed them into the wall of his cave, giving the duo a death glare.

"First, you keep my blood from me, then, you kill me, now you've come all the way here to mutilate my soul!? You two are bigger jerks than I am!"

The crimson demon slammed them again against the rock, making both shout in pain. Finn dropped his sword from lack of energy. As the blade clanged to the ground, Kee-Oth eyed it carefully before having his sight go wide.

"Spirit sword…!"

After a few more moments of gazing at the weapon, the demon looked back to the struggling heroes still held in his grip. They were about to pass out. Slowly, Kee-Oth loosened his claws just enough for both to remain conscious. Then, he brought them closer to his face, encompassing their whole vision with his massive green eyes.

"Alright, here's a deal for you."

He threw the two adventurers to the ground, who once more shouted as their buns hit the hard ground. Standing up weakly, they set their sights on Kee-Oth, who had taken hold of the spirit sword. The vile being pointed a demonic finger at the duo.

"I'll give you two a piece of my soul, infused with my blood, but, first you must retrieve my yoga mat from the butt that lives in that cave over there."

He motioned to the window, where the black structure still stood. The Ooocians raised an eyebrow at the red demon.

"Your…yoga mat?"

Kee-Oth threw the sword at Jake's feet. The dog yelped and jumped into Finn's arms as the blade buried itself into the floor.

"That's right! I can't do my routines without it, and the stay here becomes that much more stressful. So, do we have a deal?"

Finn stared hard at the being, who held out his large red hand to shake.

"What's stopping me from just kicking your butt here and now?"

Kee-Oth glared back.

"You can chop me into as many pieces as you want, you'll never get any blood, just soul shreds. Don't try to bluff me, fool, I know the way things work."

Cursing on the inside, but still determined, Finn took hold of the demon's appendage and shook. Afterwards, Jake took his bro by shoulders and gave him a disbelieving look.

"Dude! You can't just go around making deals with demons!"

The human brushed off his companion and gave him a hard gaze.

"Chill, Jake. This'll be a piece of cake for me."

The magical canine's eyes grew wide.

"You're going by yourself!?

Finn gave the dog a scratch on the top of his head. The stretchy being eventually was calmed by the action.

"No need to risk both our lives. It'll be fine, dude. Before I go though, can I borrow something from you?"

Small footsteps were heard from the entrance of the cave, causing its owner to shift its gaze to the source of light. After another moment, a relatively short figure was seen entering the lighted portion of the rock-composed dwelling. The being who resided inside narrowed his glowing red eyes at the arrival.

"Who might you be?"

Its voice pierced the visitor's heart with a touch of fear, but he was strong enough to not back down. Taking another step forward, the human made his presence fully known and looked up to the humanoid demon perched on a massive stalagmite in the middle of the room. It was casually lounging while it stared predatorily at Finn, who kept up his bravery and continued coming closer to the being.

"My name is Finn the Human, and you've got something I need."

The dark entity tilted its head in curiosity before suddenly allowing itself to plummet to the ground, landing on its feet. In this lighting, Finn couldn't see its whole form. However, the same was apparently not true for the evil creature, which revealed a hideously vile smile as it took a step towards the hero.

"Oh? And what might that be?"

Finn was admittedly intimidated by the being, who was still cloaked mostly in shadow.

"I'm here for Kee-Oth's, uh, yoga mat."

All at once, the demon burst out into horrific laughter, which echoed relentlessly off of the cave walls, pounding into Finn's eardrums.

"That moron got you to come get it, eh? How pathetic. To send a mere human to oppose me."

Finn raised a fist.

"Hey, you're in this place because you were killed, so don't get too cocky."

The demon gazed back at the hero.

"And what makes you think a second death will be any less difficult to pull off?"

The young man narrowed his eyes and pulled out his glowing weapon, directing its tip toward the dark being, whose own peepers grew wider.

"I see. So, you plan on erasing my existence entirely. Well, let's find out if you can even make it to me."

With that, the demon raised his arms and emanated a black aura from them, prompting Finn to raise his blade in defense, ready to block whatever was thrown at him. Instead however, the demon's form seemed to destabilize, turning fuzzy and distorted. Before the young man could react further, the dark being split off, creating dozens of duplicates of himself that quickly surrounded the hero.

The human bared his teeth at the grinning army of demons, who all laughed bitterly at the single enemy. The actual demon, meanwhile, jumped back up to the top of his earlier seat, gazing down with glee at the utterly outnumbered outsider. He was quite amused how Finn did not look afraid.

As if on a signal, the mass of demonic projections charged, eager to tear the young man to pieces with extended claws. Unflinching, Finn swung his sword to bisect the nearest enemy, which fizzled out of existence. Behind him, another two sprang at the human, who slid underneath and tore open their chests, causing them to explode a moment later. The rest of the horde took their shots as well.

A few of the copies got their fair hit on the hero, giving him a couple nasty cuts and bruises. Ultimately though, they were all sliced apart, either detonating or simply fading out of reality. Exhausted, Finn leaned on his blade to rest up as his breathing attempted to get into a normal cycle. As he did so, his gaze drifted to the spirit sword's skull. His eyes went wide as he noticed the change to the empty bone's forehead.

"99 tallies!? Those illusions counted? What the junk!?"

The vile laugh returned as the demon descended once again from his heightened position.

"Did you really think I didn't know what that weapon was? Don't underestimate me, boy."

He held up his hand, which charged a dark red sphere.

"Now that the sword is close to destruction you don't stand a chance!"

With that, the demon released a blast of evil energy straight at Finn, who didn't have time to dodge, instead being forced to block the shot with the spirit sword. As a cloud of dust followed a loud explosion, the demon gave his horrific grin again as he waited for the dirt to settle and gaze upon his defeated opponent. Upon unshrouding the hero within, the dark being was delighted to see that the sword was nowhere in sight.

"Haha! What will you do now, human? With your weapon destroyed you'll perish with seconds."

Finn raised his fists and narrowed his eyes.

"I can still knock your lights out, punk."

The demon laughed once more before charging at the hero with incredible speed, barely giving him the time to block a punch to his face. The force did, however, push him back a few feet, followed by a blow to his stomach and a swift kick to the side, throwing him to the wall. The impact disoriented him further, allowing the demon to grab his throat and lift him into the air.

Those petrifying red eyes mocked him as the being held him high, not giving any room for throwing a return punch.

"Now, young human, you will die for your arrogance."

The evil entity drew back, then flung Finn's helpless form into the air, nearly smashing him into the ceiling from the force. As the hero limply fell back down, the demon sprung up, aiming to slash the young man's life away when he met him halfway. It raised a bloodthirsty claw, prepared to finish the fight. Its smile shinned wickedly through the low lighting as Finn's eyes weakly gazed at his attacker.

"This is the end, fool."

Astonishingly, the hero cracked a grin, staring fearlessly at the demon with what little energy he had left. The dark being was caught off, but still kept his momentum to end the intruder. As Finn drifted within feet of the claw's reach, his eyes bulged.

"Psych!"

With lightning fast reflexes, Finn reached to his hip and shoved his hand into the magical pouch Jake had acquired. Out of the enchanted sack came a blur of light, which cleanly slashed across the demon's chest as he stared in disbelief at the act. Dark red blood sprang from the wound before the opening was suddenly filled with light that grew until cracks appeared all over the demon's body.

"AAAGGH!"

As Finn regained his own momentum and landed back on the ground, he swiped the blood off of his spirit sword. A second later, a detonation illuminated the cave, acting as a beacon to signify the destruction of the evil soul that the human had been fighting. Finn stood up straight and gazed up at the peaceful shower of twinkling remains of his enemy's existence. He smirked, then looked back to his weapon.

Before his eyes, the hundredth tally was scratched into the skull's surface. Instantly afterwards, the hollow eye sockets glowed a bright yellow, followed by the rest of the blade. Finn watched sadly as his incredible weapon slowly vaporized into the air, starting from the blade down until he felt that there was no longer a handle within his grip.

The hero tightened his fist and stared at the shimmering sparks of the spirit sword as they scattered into nothingness. He smiled.

"Thanks for the assist, you were one righteous sword."

With that done, Finn scanned the room, finding Kee-Oth's mat lying at the foot of the stalagmite, apparently being used to give the jerk a softer landing when he jumped down from the towering stone pillar. Finn shook his head.

What a pansy.

Marceline struck another cord, frowned, then returned to tuning the ax bass as she floated above her couch. It had been a few hours since Finn and Jake had left for the 6th Dead World and she'd been keeping herself occupied by playing some songs. Sadly, the vampire just couldn't fix the last chord so that it sounded right. As she sighed, a crack suddenly sprang through the wall opposite the couch. Marcy stopped her strumming and gazed with anticipation as the wallpaper peeled back and the wooden surface underneath began to split open.

A moment later, the hole grew large enough for a person to walk through, which was fitting as the two adventurers next appeared in her living room. Marcy grew a relieved smile.

"Guys! You made it back!"

She then sighed.

"Guess I owe Peppermint fifty bucks."

Finn frowned.

"What?"

The Vampire Queen waved him off.

"Nevermind. So, did you get what you needed?"

The human triumphantly held up a glass container, which held a crimson swirling mass of blood-like substance.

"Yep. Just had to do the loser a little favor."

Jake scoffed.

"I still can't believe he kept his word. I guess he's pretty tired of us by now, always jacking up his life. And un-life."

Marceline landed behind the duo and placed her arms across their shoulders.

"Wow, you two actually survived through that crazy place. I might not be able to call you weenies much longer."

Jake smiled.

"Well that would be nice."

Marcy cackled.

"Ha, just kidding. It's too fun to give up."

Finn examined his prize.

"We'll see you later, Marcy. There's something I've got to do."

With that, the vampire escorted her friends out of the house and gave a wave as the brothers disappeared into the night.

A strong voice interrupted breakfast.

"Hey, Finn! Come out here you sissy!"

A moment later, the very same human opened the door to the treehouse, only to see a multitude of the guys he beat up on a daily basis glaring at him maliciously. A few of them cracked their knuckles. The swamp giant that occasionally caused trouble for Ooo stepped forward and pointed mockingly at the young man.

"We heard your latest sword busted. So we're here to take advantage and beat the crud out of you!"

The other villains laughed mercilessly as they began to approach the hero. Finn just stared back, cracking a wide grin. He stepped forward, leaving the confines of his home and facing the group out in the open. Suddenly, he reached back and grabbed an object in his pack.

"You guys sure get some bad information. I'm not even close to disarmed."

The villains were momentarily confused, giving time for Finn to swiftly pull out a magnificent weapon from its holder. Crimson, powerful, and fully restored, Kee-Oth's demon blood sword glinted in the morning sunlight, firing several beams of the illumination into the evil guys' faces, blinding them. The hero intensified his determined grin as he took a stance to charge at the mass of bad dudes, who by this point all gazed in shock.

"Bring. It. On."

With one blurring motion, Finn sprinted straight at the villains, who all raised their own weapons and returned the charge, preparing to do battle against the newly equipped hero, now once again wielding his most trusty blade.

By request of my awesome fellow author/reader, Riset36.

Hope you all enjoyed!