The hive of eyes loomed over Meta Knight and his companions. While Six and Siete stood valiantly before it, the pair of town's guards seemed to be startled by the appearance of the creature. Even in a world accustomed to monsters, Meta Knight couldn't blame them: Nightmare's creations were unsettling.
The creature, however, ignored them. Instead, it started moving through the city streets, its eyes smashing several abandoned stands in their path.
The group began chasing the demon beast, puzzled by it's behavior but determined to keep it from causing harm to the city and the civilians. Fortunately, the creature was slow, and the narrow streets restricted its freedom of movement, so chasing it was very easy.
"Meta Knight, since you are the expert, can you share with us what do you know about thing? Have you fought it before?" Siete asked.
"While I have not fought it, I have read about it," Meta Knight answered. "It is called 'Hundstares' and, as you said before, it is the manifestation of the fear of being stared at. Its behaviour is similar to a swarm of bees."
"How do we defeat it?" Six wanted to know.
"In its centre lays an eye that would be the queen bee. It controls the rest of the swarm to protect itself. If we manage to defeat it, the whole hive will be destroyed, or at least its physical form will be."
Meta Knight's annoyance could be felt in those last words. He had always believed that he had successfully killed every demon beast he had faced. However, he discovered in the Sky Realm that the only thing he had accomplished was returning them to their core state. That explained why, over time, most of the beasts he had defeated came back: it wasn't just that Nightmare was able to resurrect or duplicate them; they also were able to regenerate on their own.
In the end, the fact that demon beasts depended on Nightmare's commands to function proved to be a benefit; otherwise, there would be a large number of these practically immortal creatures roaming the universe without any control, sowing chaos. Meta Knight wished that the inert cores left in the Gamble Galaxy hadn't reactivated with the villain's return, and that if they had... Well, he could only hope that their creator's orders couldn't reach them.
Meta Knight's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that the demon beast had stopped advancing. The creature had run into a dead end, allowing its pursuers to confront it.
One of the guards fired an arrow that struck the iris of one of the eyes squarely, attracting the attention of the whole hive. Without any sort of warning, the eyes tore from the hive and charged at the group like a swarm of angry bees. The five warriors immediately raised their weapons to repel the attack, but they quickly realised that it would not be enough to protect them.
Those things could shoot laser beams out of their eyes.
"Monsters that shoot lasers from their eyes are so cliche...Does Nightmare not have a single ounce of originality or creativity in that rotten brain of his?" Meta Knight internally snarled as he easily dodged the shots coming his way, as did Six and Siete. Unfortunately, one of the guards got hit in the leg while trying to protect his partner and was now writhing on the ground. Quickly, Six pulled the wounded guard out of the fight to check on him.
Although it didn't seem like the guard had suffered any serious injuries on the surface, he couldn't stop shaking and convulsing, nor did he react to Six's calls. The erune checked his heart rate: it was way too fast. Six wasn't a doctor, but he knew the guard's life was in danger if that if they didn't get help.
"Hey you," Six called to the other guard, who rushed over. "Take your partner to the nearest healer! He needs urgent attention!"
"Yes, sir!" the other guard obeyed, while grabbing his partner and taking him down the street.
Six soon rejoined the battle. With a quick slash of his claws, the Eternal struck an eye that was trying to sneak attack Meta Knight.
"Is the guard all right?" Meta Knight asked while keeping his focus on the battle.
"No. I hope they can reach a doctor in time," Six lamented. "Do Nightmare's creations usually cause those effects with their attacks?" the Eternal asked while he and Meta Knight covered each other's backs.
"Some do, while others do not. It all depends on the type of the fear Nightmare invoked when he created the demon beast," the knight replied as he slashed two of the eyes in half with a single cut. "The severity of the effects is solely determined by the victim's biological resilience. When the demon beast is defeated, the symptoms should go away."
"Then let us hurry and destroy it so that guard can return to his family."
Several eyes completely surrounded both warriors, charging up a new barrage of laser beams. However, Meta Knight and Six were too fast for the creatures. The two warriors leaped into the air, avoiding the attacks, and immediately descended on their opponents with a hail of slashes and cuts that finished them off.
Siete wasn't having any problem dealing with monsters either. The human used his spirit sword to swiftly slay eye after eye, displaying the strength worthy of someone who held the title of "strongest warrior" with each movement. And despite such a remarkable display, Meta Knight knew that Siete was holding back. The only plausible explanation Meta Knight could come up with was that the human was afraid of causing collateral damage due to how narrow the area was. He was also curious about the full extent of said power. As much as Siete's personality irritated him, he couldn't help but admire the human's natural all that was over, he would undoubtedly challenge him to a duel.
"First things first though," Meta Knight said to himself as he returned his focus to Hundstares.
When one of the eyes was destroyed, another quickly replaced it. Meta Knight noticed that the new eyes were sprouting from the queen at rapid, regular intervals after analyzing the situation. How long could they go on like this before succumbing to exhaustion and making a mistake? Although Meta Knight had a lot of stamina, and he assumed his companions did as well, they couldn't stay locked in that battle indefinitely.
"We must leave the queen exposed with a single attack. Let's coordinate our attacks!" Meta Knight told his companions.
"Understood," Siete said as he summoned more spiritual swords around him. "Six, can you take care of..." he began, but before he had finished asking the question, Six had already run towards the swarm of eyes, using his speed and reflexes to attract every single one's attention as he dodged their attacks. Any eye that got too close was slashed in half by the erune's claws. "Well, he already knew what to do," Siete chuckled. "At your signal, Meta Knight."
Meta Knight charged energy into his sword and yelled:
"Now!"
"Infinito Creare!" Siete shouted.
The Eternal unleashed his spirit swords at the same time that Meta Knight released a burst of light beams by simply cutting through the air with Galaxia. The combination of attacks rained down on the swarm of eyes, that Six had strategically grouped together, destroying them on the spot and leaving the queen exposed.
"Punch it hard, Six!" Siete yelled to encourage his fellow Eternal, who was ready to deliver the final blow to the demon beast using all of his strength. Six pierced the creature with a cut capable of rending even darkness itself of his claws, destroying its physical form utterly. Once the dust had settled, all that was left of the monster was a small core of light encased in a deep purple crystal.
"Good job, guys!" the warriors head someone say behind them.
Just like when Siete had surprised him after his training with Six, Meta Knight automatically assumed a defensive stance and turned to the newcomer. He immediately relaxed, however, when he noticed that the two Eternals had remained calm. That could only mean they knew the person who had said those words and had just emerged from the shadows.
"Hello there, Zooey," Siete said the newcomer with his usual smug smile. She courteously greeted them back with a gesture.
"So this is the primal beast that has been traveling with Dedede," Meta Knight contemplated after recognising her name. With her youthful appearance, she didn't look much different from Gran and Djeeta. Meta Knight had to remind himself that she was in fact one of the most important beings in that world.
"How long have you been watching us?" Six inquired.
"Just long enough to see how you dealt with that thing," Zooey replied, walking over to the crystal containing the demon beast's core. "I decided not to intervene because you had the situation well under control."
"Were you afraid of disrupting our strategy, or were you just enjoying the show?" Six insisted.
"Actually, it was a combination of both," Zooey admitted, half-embarrassedly smiling. When the crystal began to shine in her hand, her smile faded. "Stop it. You're not going anywhere," she grumbled to the crystallised core as she used her power to keep it from teleporting back to its creator.
"Give it to me," Meta Knight offered, pointing to his cloak. "I will store it in my pocket dimension. There, Nightmare's magic will be unable to claim it."
Zooey quickly passed the crystal to Meta Knight, just in time to prevent it from vanishing.
"You must be Meta Knight, am I right?" the girl recognised him. The warrior gave a nod. "You're cuter in person than you appear in the pictures! You're like a miniature knight!" she exclaimed animatedly.
"He is even cuter without his mask," Siete remarked wryly. Upon hearing that, Meta Knight glared murderously at the human, who couldn't help but shudder as he nervously said:"Okay, fine. I'll keep my mouth shut."
"What do you mean by pictures?" Meta Knight questioned Zooey. And her response was one he had expected. And her response was exactly what he expected. Dedede always went around showing off photos of his "precious" subjects just to brag. Meta Knight sighed, before asking her: "How is the king faring? Lyria saw through Kikuri that he was hurt."
"He's fine, don't worry. We managed to patch him up," Zooey reassured him. "Hey, if you are familiar with Six and Siete, does that mean that you're travelling on the Grandcypher?" she inquired. Meta Knight confirmed that that was true. "Does Kirby accompany you by any chance?"
"Yes, although we split up when we got to the city," Meta Knight replied. "Is something wrong?"
"We need to talk with both of you," Zooey replied, with such unexpected seriousness that it startled the knight.
.º·.·º
Kirby's group was gathered in the cabin, where Meg, Morphe (who was petting Ursula), and the sleeping Phoebe had been waiting for them.
The first thing Gran and Djeeta did was asking Morphe about he and his sister's wellbeing. Under different circumstances, the captains would have scolded them for lying, but that would have to wait until everything was back to normal.
The next thing they did was to check on Phoebe's condition. The primal beast was fast asleep, but judging by the calm expression on her face, her dreams were peaceful. Nightmare's power didn't seem to affect her in the slightest, though that didn't surprise the captains. They had experienced firsthand how powerful and terrifying Oneiros's magic was.
Kirby, on the other hand, was unaware of Phoebe's true nature, so for him, she was just someone who needed help. The curse that afflicted her was undoubtedly the same one that Meta Knight had mentioned. The pink puffball looked at her with concern, wondering what he could do to save her.
"Don't worry. We'll find a way to wake up your sister," Kirby promised Morphe, determined.
"Thank you," the boy said, a bit awkwardly. He found it hard to believe that little pink being was the hero who had killed Phoebe's creator once and was ready to go for the second round. He wondered what his sister would do if she knew the hero of Dreamland was in front of her.
Sandalphon, Morphe, and Dedede had not yet informed the twins or Kirby what they had discovered about Nightmare and Phoebe's origins. Sandalphon had told the captains that everything would be revealed later, when the main crew was reunited and they could properly discuss what they should do next.
"Well, let's not waste any more time and return to the Grandcypher," Gran said. "There's a lot to do, and we still need to decide what will happen to Dupler."
"Mmm, his aura feels a bit different from the demon beast that attacked us on the deck," Lyria commented. "Cagliostro will surely want to take a look at him."
"Keep that creepy girl away from me!" Dupler exclaimed, who had recognised because he had scanned Kirby's memories before he transformed into Dedede.
"Now that I think about it, shouldn't you be pleading for your release or something like that?" Vyrn asked the demon beast. Dupler was still trapped by Sandalphon's seal, but he wasn't resisting as hard as before.
"Perhaps I would if I had a better place to go. I doubt my creator will welcome me with open arms now that I've disobeyed him," Dupler responded. "Unless, of course, I bring him the Star Rod fragments," the slime added, looking mischievously at the angel and king, who had been conversing with Meg.
"Try to do something, jelly blob, and I'll cobbler you into a puddle!" Dedede threatened him. The king had put his coat back on, despite it having a gaping hole in the side where Nightmare's magical spear had pierced him. He'd have to find a tailor as soon as possible to fix it.
"Calm down, old man. I'd have to be very stupid try to fight all of you right now," Dupler replied. "I can't longer trick any of you now that you know how my powers work, and without having assimilated anyone, I have no other way of fighting."
"How about that tentacle you used to attack me?" Kirby recalled, slightly irritated. That devious attack had caught him off guard.
"AndhHow about that crab you made to distract me last night?" Sandalphon inquired. "You haven't told us everything you're capable of..."
"Do you expect me to reveal all my secrets?"
"We expect you to cooperate so we don't have to finish you off," Meg threatened, shattering the demon beast's bravado.
"Those are solely for self-defense. I have to protect myself until I can steal someone's powers, right? Or do you believe my creator is so cruel that he doesn't give demon beasts with very specific abilities like me any way to survive on our own?" he questioned them, but then remembered who he was talking to and what they thought of his creator, and he quickly added, "You don't need to answer the last one."
"Wouldn't it have made more sense if, when you transform into somebody, you also got their powers instead of having to steal them from your victims?" Lyria wondered.
"Actually, yes. How did my creator not think about that?" Dupler realised.
"It would have made you way too powerful and hard to control. For the way Meta Knight speaks of him, Nightmare seems to be some sort of control freak," Djeeta theorized.
"I still don't get why you decided to disobey Nightmare if you were so afraid oh him..." Gran said to the slime.
"Well, as I said before, Nightmare summoned all the demon beasts back to the lab because he said that we were 'defective and in urgent need of fixing'. All the demon beasts left the island immediately, except me," Dupler revealed. "I had managed to track Sandalphon and the rest down and was waiting for an opportunity to strike them when the order came. I was really close to the objective and also didn't notice anything wrong with me, so I decided to prioritise the old command over the new one, and asked him to give me a chance. However, I wasn't able to trick Sandalphon and had to retreat. Nightmare called me once more, and he sounded very impatient and angry. I kept making excuses and asking for more chances, but that only made him even more mad, so I ended up not responding at all. I realised at that point that I had made a grave mistake and that the only way to avoid punishment was to flee, which I couldn't do because of my nature, or return with all the Star Rod's fragments I could find and beg for his forgiveness."
"So, in short, you've gotten yourself into this mess because you're a coward," Dedede sentenced.
"I can't believe the monster that has put the whole town on guard is something so small and skittish," Meg commented as she poked Dupler. The slime glared at her, but all he did was mumble something angrily under his breath due to Sandalphon's seal preventing him from retaliating.
"Anyway, Meg. Will you be fine protecting the city on your own?" Djeeta asked her. "If you need some extra help, we can ask for volunteers among the crew to assist you. After all, we have to fix the Star Rod before we can face Nightmare, and when we do, I suppose one person will be enough to deal with him," she added, looking at Kirby. The puffball nodded enthusiastically as if to say "leave it to me".
"Poseidon, the guards and I are enough to defend Auguste for the time being," Meg dismissed.
"Just hurry up and fix that rod, please. Summer is coming and I don't want that guy ruining it," she almost begged.
"Hehe, don't worry. We will begin the search as soon as we can," Lyria reassured her. "I'm pretty sure Kikuri will be able to locate the fragments without any problems."
"Unless they've fallen to the Crimson Horizon..." she worriedly added in her mind. However, she quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head. "Calm down, Lyria. Thinking about the worst-case scenario is not going to help anyone. Besides, if that were the case, wouldn't the Otherworlders have made a move by now?" she told herself.
After finishing packing, the group left the cabin to return to the Grandcypher. Gran carried Phoebe on his back, while Sandalphon dragged the still sealed Dupler around. Ursula played with Kirby and Morphe along the way, while the slime looked at them with envy from its captivity, as if he wanted to join them.
They were getting close to the city when Lyria abruptly stopped, causing everyone else to halt their march.
"Something is approaching," the girl in blue warned her companions.
"A primal beast?" Vyrn inquired.
"No. I'm pretty sure it's a demon beast!" Lyria confirmed, alarmed.
Djeeta, Dedede, and Sandalphon drew their weapons, and Kirby took a fighting stance. Gran, for his part, ran as fast as he could to get Phoebe and Morphe to the Grandcypher, closely followed by
Vyrn. He intended to rejoin the fight as soon as the two children were safe.
"And Sandalphon says that our world is crazier than this one; can you believe it?" Dedede told Kirby when he saw Meg's transformation.
It was then that a creature emerged from the water at full speed. It was like a giant electric eel, crimson-red in colour with black stripes running down its serpentine body. On the eel's head, there was a leech-like being.
"Hey, jelly blob..." Dedede began to say to Dupler when he saw the monster.
"My name is Dupler!" the slime abruptly cut him off.
"Whatever. Didn't you say the other demon beasts had all left the island?"
"Yes. All the others responded to our creator's call," Dupler confirmed.
"In that case, what is this thing doing here?!" Dedede yelled at him.
"Do you think I know, old man?!" he argued back.
"Don't call me 'old man', little brat!"
"This is not a good time for arguing, you two!" Sandalphon angrily scolded them.
The argument between the three drew the eel's attention towards them. However, it only lunged at Dupler, ignoring the rest. Seeing this, Sandalphon immediately flew up, sword in hand, to intercept the creature before it could reach the slime. However, when the angel got too close, the eel attacked him with an electric shock, forcing him to stop.
"Djeeta! Don't let that thing get close to Dupler!" the angel told his captain while enduring the electric attack. The girl nodded as she ran to cover the slime.
"That's strange. This demon beast resembles and acts like the local eels. The only things that are wrong with it are the colours and the size "Meg said this as she fired a cannon shot at the creature, interrupting the electrical discharge that had paralysed Sandalphon.
"The thing on its head is the true demon beast!" Lyria informed after inspecting the creature's aura
"The eel must be parasitized and controlled by it."
"Oh, poor thing. We must save it!" Kirby exclaimed.
"I'd rather destroy them both... I hate those eels," Meg grumbled.
The pink puffball ignored Meg's cruel remark and took out an axe from his pocket dimension that Gran and Djeeta had previously given him. This allowed him to transform into Kirby Berserker once more.
"Wait, is that a new copy ability?!" Dedede expressed surprise at his rival's new transformation. Kirby vigorously nodded. " me what it's capable of !Charge!"
The fated rivals leaped towards the demon beast with that cry. However, when they were about to hit the leech, it forced the eel to discharge an electric shock at them, making them them to fall back into the sand.
"Are you two okay?" Lyria asked as she reached out to heal them with the power of Leviathan.
"We've had way worse," Kirby dismissed to not worry the girl.
Kirby observed the monster's behaviour while Lyria healed him and Dedede. After repelling its attackers, the demon beast resumed its attempts to attack Dupler, but Djeeta and Sandalphon blocked its advances. Meg kept shooting at it with her shark-arm to keep it from electrocuting the captain and the angel, even though the hits had no effect on the creature.
"That thing won't let us get close to it easily, poyo," Kirby complained.
Despite being stopped each time it tried to reach Dupler, the demon beast did not give up.
They couldn't get close to the leech, and Meg's ranged attacks were ineffective, so what could they do to defeat it? It was at this point that the Kirby had an idea. It was risky, and Dupler would be furious, but it was the only way.
"Sandalphon! Release Dupler and throw him at us with all of your strength!" he ordered the angel.
"Are you crazy? He'll escape!" he said as he blocked another eel attack.
"Trust us," the puffball requested. "We won't let him go, right?" he added, turning towards Dedede as he winked at him. The king nodded, preparing his hammer. He'd been fighting with and against Kirby for so long that he could already tell what his rival was up to without using words.
And, unfortunately for him, Dupler was also aware of what the little hero had planned for him.
"I'm about to be used as a cannon ball, am I right?"
That is exactly what occurred. When Sandalphon freed Dupler, the angel grabbed it like a baseball and tossed it to Dedede, who smashed it straight into the eel's head with a sharp swing of his hammer.
The demon beast forced the eel's jaws open in order to trap Dupler, but it was so focused on capturing his kin that it didn't notice Kirby jumping after it. The pink puffball hit the leech hard with its axe just before the eel closed its mouth, causing an explosion that not only launched the little ball and Dupler into the air, but also successfully separated the marine animal from the beast that parasitized it. Kirby landed several metres back with a resounding thump. Dedede ran over to check on him, but other than being dazed and losing his copy ability, the puffball appeared to be unharmed.
"You need to improve your landings, Kirby" Dedede teased his rival.
"Then teach me. You are the expert on being launched around, so you must have a lot of experience in landing," Kirby joked back with a smile as he shook himself up.
"Shut up, rascal," the monarch replied, softly rapping his adversary on the back of the head.
Meanwhile, once released, the eel returned to its original colour and size and immediately plunged back into the water, causing Meg to sigh in relief because eels always brought back bad memories for her. Ursula separated from her hand and nuzzled her.
The leech-like demon beast was quickly dispatched by a swift slash from Djeeta, destroying its physical form. Lyria carefully examined the crystal that contained its core. The shape was similar to that of a primal beast, but the colour and sinister energy she could feel dozing inside made her shiver. "This energy somehow feels like dark essence, but at the same time it is different... Why haven't I sense this coming from Dupler? Could it be that it can only be felt when demon beasts are in their core form, or is it caused by something else?" she couldn't help but wonder.
Lyria cast a glance at the slime, who had been captured by Sandalphon's seal yet again. First there was all that he said about being incomplete, and then there was that strange difference the slime had from the rest of his kin. Was something wrong with him? No, her instincts told her otherwise: Dupler was fine, but the rest of the demon beasts were not.
"When Nightmare creates a demon beast, the first thing he does is take away their will and their emotions in order to make sure they will never turn against him. He does that before they can even process that they are alive. Tell me, would you like to live an existence like that?"
Meta Knight's words echoed in her mind. Did that mean that Dupler wasn't defective, but Nightmare considered it so because he had emotions?
"Lyria, are you okay?" Djeeta called her, snapping her out of her musings.
"Oh, yes. I was just thinkg about Dupler and..." Lyria began to say, but the crystal suddenly shined on her hand, startling her. The girl in blue dropped the crystal but it never hit the ground because it vanished in midair.
"Uh, that was unexpected..." Djeeta remarked.
Meanwhile, Dupler was ranting about the rough treatment he was receiving, which irritated Sandalphon. The angel finally snapped and asked the demon beast:
"Would you rather have been captured by that thing?!"
"Well, I'm not really sure. I have a feeling they wouldn't have treated me nicely either," he replied, his voice filled with doubt and concern. "I don't understand why my own kin would attack me..."
"Isn't it obvious? Nightmare sent that demon beast to hunt you down." Dedede pointed out. "I'm 100% sure that he considers you a traitor and wants to get rid of you."
"Wow, that's fantastic. Being on my creator's hit list is exactly what I needed," Dupler replied sarcastically. "Well, this is the point at which any hope of ever being forgiven dies. Can I live with you now, guys?"
"We'll have to think about that..." Sandalphon replied. "I don't trust you at all."
"Come on, you lot have mocked me, trapped me, and even used me as a cannon ball. Cut me some slack..." the slime tried to persuade him by playing victim.
"Of right. I'm so sorry about that, poyo!" Kirby apologised to the slime. "I couldn't think of any other way to make that monster lower its guard. Are you injured?"
"The only thing that got hurt was my pride," Dupler sighed. "My day has been terrible because of you three," he blamed them.
"How is this our fault? You are the one who made the decisions that caused all this mess!" Dedede reminded him.
"Touché," the slime conceded grudgingly.
At that instant, a portal opened in the midst of all those present. Gran emerged from it sword in hand, heavily breathing because of how much he had run. Behind him stood a very confused Wilnas. The captain looked around quickly and said, somewhat dejectedly:
"The fight is already over, isn't it?"
Happy New Year. I want to offer my sincere apologies for the delay in the translation of this chapter. Multiple factors have caused it to come out this late:
-Pokemon Scarlet completely absorbed me in November.
-The holidays. I thought I was going to have time to write, but my family and the preparations for the celebrations made it almost impossible.
-Because I rewrote many scenes while translating, I had to change several parts of the Spanish version of the fic, which took a lot more time than I had anticipated.
-The other Kirby fic I'm working on and its translation also take a lot of time.
-I dislike the original version of this chapter, something that severely impacted my motivation to translate it.
Also, the scheduled revisions to the early chapters will come later. I'm so sorry about that too.
Anyway, today is the first day of the first Guild War of the year and... oh, what is that? Geo broke the servers again? What a good begining of the year for Granblue! Also, the "Return to Dreamland" remake comes out next month and I am really excited becuase I wasn't able to play the original!