A/N: And now we begin the next stage of the battle between William and Mike. Even if I wasn't busy with hospital rotations, I honestly think I would have waited two weeks before posting this chapter anyway. After all, we are in the middle of what could very easily and justifiably considered the most important arc in this entire fic, and you know what they say about rushing and poor quality.

As you've probably guessed by now, Mike is a man who doesn't give a single flying fuck about things like "honor" and "decency" when it comes to a fight. Any and all ethics and morals he would have otherwise held close to his heart have been thrown right out of the fucking window, especially against a depraved mongrel like William Afton. And if you thought the last chapter was bad…we're just getting started.

Also pre-emptive apology for the frequent use of the words "fire" and "flame" in this chapter. Because they WILL show up a lot.

Guest 1: Who says Ultimate Custom Night isn't in this fic? Maybe it merely hasn't occurred yet. 😊 It will almost certainly be in at least a slightly different form than what is in canon, though.

Guest 2: That's not a bad idea, though the pets will have to get used to being around ghosts though :P Funnily enough, one of my original ideas was for Mike to adopt a dog BEFORE the William Afton arc, which all the ghost kids would immediately love and cherish, especially Susie. And then when William Afton invaded, the dog would try to attack him to protect its new family…only to get violently and brutally torn to shreds by the bastard.

…you can see why I didn't include this version into the actual chapters.

Ghostlyassassin Jesse: I'm honored that you think this fic is good enough to warrant a TV Tropes page, but I don't know if I'm actually allowed to do that. From what I've seen, it's supposed to be OTHER people who make the tropes page for a work they like.

Rockstar Ballora: That's a good point, now that you mention it…

Anyways, let's get on with the battle!

Chapter 78 – Battle in the Mind Part 2

My entire childhood was one giant nightmare.

From the moment I saw my mother bleed to death in front of me, I never knew peace. I watched my family fall apart, watched my father degenerate from a hard but fair man into a wretched bastard whose only care in the world was the bottle and how much he could spend on it without bankrupting the both of us. I still remember all those terrifying nights when I hid from him, fearing for my life and trying to avoid getting beaten down during another drunken rage. I thought that when I finally ran away from our apartment, from him, I would finally be free of fear and pain.

I was wrong.

The streets of the city are unforgiving and dangerous to the unprotected and unwary, and I learned very quickly that if I wanted to survive, the only person I could trust was myself. I moved from block to block, always watching my back, making sure that nobody was following me. Any companions I made were temporary alliances, a common goal – getting food, clothes, or money by any means necessary – the only thing uniting us while we made sure that the other wouldn't plunge a knife into our back at the first opportunity. It was a terribly lonely existence by necessity, and I always kept an eye on the shadows for the first sign of any threat.

You could call this life miserable, but I consider myself lucky, for life in reality was nothing compared to the torments in my dreams.

A city, covered in eternal darkness, buildings and trees twisted and mutated in grotesque and dreadful shapes. I stood in abandoned streets, devoid of any cars or people, while all around me horrific creatures and monsters lurked in alleys consumed entirely by darkness. All my fears about living in the streets come to life and magnified a hundred times. I spent those restless nights running, running as fast as I could from shadowy abominations made from my own fear and the despair that I refused to submit to. I was certain without knowing how that the they day caught me was the day I would finally die.

Instead, it was the day that I conquered my inner demons for the first time.

When they cornered me in a corrupted alleyway, seconds away from pouncing on me and tearing me to shreds, I called on every ounce of my willpower to push those horrors away even though I couldn't do anything else except hold my hands out in front of me. I never expected a brilliant light to shine out of my hands, or for those shadowy monsters to be blasted back and sent fleeing in terror. None of them bothered me for the rest of the night, and that was the day I learned that I could shape reality to my will, fight back against the creatures formed from my own fears.

I could have simply blocked myself off from them. Created shields against myself, conjured up walls of unbreakable stone that would keep me safe. But what good would running away do when they would still be out there, waiting for me to let my guard down?

Instead of hiding away like a coward, I fought back. I didn't have nearly the imagination that I have now, with only video game storefronts as a source for creativity, but it was enough. I hunted down the monsters that once hunted me, and even though they tried to fight back with all their savagery and malice, I was already so much stronger than I had been only a few nights ago. With every fight that passed, with every creature I killed, the monsters in my mind became more and more desperate, and my attacks became crueler and more vicious. Why would I show them any mercy, when they didn't show any to me? I didn't stop until I destroyed every single manifestation of my inner darkness that I could find, and the abominations that once tormented my dreams fled in horror and dread at the very sight of me. Even back then, I understood that I hadn't truly defeated my inner darkness, in some ways I might have even made it worse, but I would no longer fear it like I had throughout my childhood.

Seeing you here, William Afton, reminds me of those days. You are just like those predators, a beast made of pure evil who preys on the weak and helpless. But against those who actually know how to fight back, in one way or another…well, your track record against them isn't exactly very good now, is it? You might be the real deal instead of a figment of the darkest corners of my mind, a monster from without rather than from within, but the moment you tried to invade my mind, that became a distinction without a difference. You delude yourself into thinking that you are a superior being, but here you are just another nightmare, another monster trying to succeed where others have failed.

And now I will show you the only truth that matters here, William Afton: that you can DIE like the rest of them.

/

When William opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Hell.

Or at least, Mike Schmidt's interpretation of Hell. William knew he was still in Mike's mind, for he had not felt himself leave its confines, let alone the agonizing, excruciating descent into the abyss that he had experienced the moment Scraptrap had been destroyed. But the scene he found himself in now wouldn't have been out of place in the nightmarish realms and locales of the Inferno.

He was standing on a circular platform made entirely out of obsidian. A shadow head wreathed in flames with only two burning scarlet eyes had been carved onto the arena, with the letters "MS" engraved next to it with one letter on each side. All around the outer edge of the arena, black stone pillars rose from the floor, each with the head of a horned fiend whose eyes and mouth glowed with an inner fire. At each of the four cardinal directions beyond the edge of the arena, a much larger demonic head with burning malicious eyes hung from above, its lower jaw detached and suspended by black chains while monstrous metal claws held large black basins. Both jaw and basins held larger and much more intense flames like hellish torches, making it appear as though the demonic statues were alive in a twisted, malevolent fashion.

And all around him, beyond the safety of the circular arena, was an abyss filled with roaring, hellish flames that stretched as far as the eye could see.

For a brief moment, William wondered if this was what Mike had planned. To trap William's soul in the darkest corners of his mind, in his own personal version of Hell, all alone with nothing but the demonic statues for company.

Before he could dwell on this possibility any further, he suddenly began to hear the sound of something…or someone…falling from a great height. Realizing what was about to happen, William dived out of the way…right before Mike slammed onto the ground where the murderer had been standing seconds earlier, shattering the earth beneath his feet. William was about to snarl another threat at Mike, but the words died in his throat.

For Mike's appearance had changed again, evolving far beyond the shadows covering his upper face and the faint glow that had emitted from scarlet eyes. If William had asked the ghostly children what he was seeing and his victims had deigned to answer, they would have recognized what Mike had become. They would have recognized the dark purple robes, the only difference now being the hideous scarlet demonic skull emblem engraved on his torso instead of the sigil of darkness. They would have recognized the two hand scythes that Mike was now holding, their black metal blades flickering faintly with the flames of darkness, each with a head fashioned in the shape of a skull and a handle that appeared as though it were made out of a spine. They would have recognized how Mike's body was now covered in shadows as menacing purple and black flames glowed from his body, the only visible feature being the same blood red eyes that now glowed with greater intensity than they had been during the first stage of their battle. It had been the first real hint that the ghost children had received about the dark side of Mike Schmidt, one that had unnerved and even scared them even though they had never seen it in person. But this time, it was not merely a figment of imagination or even an illusion.

For William Afton, the menacing reaper and warrior of darkness that now stood before him was very real.

"Any of this look familiar, William Afton?" Mike asked, his voice now permanently emanating with the menacing echo that he had only intermittently appeared beforehand. "I wouldn't be surprised if it did. After all, you have quite the intimate relationship with fire and flame, don't you? Fazbear's Fright, the trap pizzeria…and let's not forget the fires of Hell itself. I thought I'd try to make things a little easier for you, show you something a little closer to home."

William felt his anger burn through his initial unease. "ENJOY YOUR LITLE GAME WHILE YOU STILL CAN, MIKE SCHMIDT!" he snarled. "FREDDY FAZBEAR'S PIZZERIA, A FIERY ABYSS, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU TAKE US! THIS WILL END ONLY IN ONE WAY: WITH YOU BEGGING FOR MERCY AS I BUTCHER YOU ON THE TIPS OF MY CLAWS, ONE PIECE AT A TIME!"

His only response was a bout of mocking, contemptuous laughter. "Really?" Mike sneered. "You've only managed to hit me exactly once ever since we started, and that was only because I got careless. You haven't given me a single good reason for me to even consider you a threat, let alone fear you. But I, on the other hand…"

Without warning, Mike suddenly stretched out his left hand, the scythe vanishing as he did so. William barely had any time to react before a huge blast of lightning erupted out of Mike's hand, engulfing Nightmare Springtrap's entire body. But this was not the same lightning that Mike had unleashed on him before. Despite the pain it had caused him, Mike's lightning strikes up until this point had been more of an inconvenience, having only minimal impact in terms of actual damage.

Instead of regular lightning tinged with purple, the lightning that Mike fired now glowed the same bloody red as his eyes with a black core. And the moment that it hit William, he felt his entire body explode into atrocious agony the likes of which he had not experienced since he had first escaped Hell. He could feel the hideous energy tear into his body, mind, and soul, feel it slowly tear away the tiniest fragments of the demonic essence he had stolen, piece by piece. Mike's mouth stretched into a grin, revealing two rows of fangs that were smaller but still just as razor sharp as Nightmare Springtrap's, and hurled William away from him. The demonic murderer slammed into one of the pillars with a sickening crunch and he fell onto the floor, still reeling over the unexpected torment he had just experienced.

"You have all that power at the tip of your fingers," Mike sneered, "and you have no idea how to use it. A wild animal from the desert could have pulled off what you have done up until this point, and probably done a better job. Nightmare seemed to think that you were a threat, at least to me. I can only imagine how disappointed he will be that you proved so INCOMPETENT!" he finished the last word with a snarl.

William climbed onto his feet, breathing and growling heavily. Though he loathed to admit it, he knew that what Mike had claimed was the truth. If he continued the way he had, Mike would inevitably defeat him, especially with the massive surge in power that he now enjoyed. And he couldn't flee either to destroy his enemy in the real world, for if Nightmare had decided to abandon his duties in pursuit of revenge then he would be simply be trading an enemy for an unstoppable tormentor.

That left only one option for him. To call upon the full extent of his demonic power, and fight Mike Schmidt with all his might and from every possible angle. Vucarik had warned him against this very action, for the very power that gave him strength would consume him and leave him a charred, broken husk once it finally burned out.

But that too would be his fate if he did nothing. And if William was going to be destroyed no matter what happened, then he would make sure to at least take Mike down with him.

Reaching deep within himself, finding the core of his demonic power and seizing it, William let out a feral, bestial scream as he channeled the essence he had stolen and released it throughout himself. Nightmare Springtrap's infernal aura flared out like it had done in the living room against the Rockstars, but instead of receding, it enveloped his entire body in unholy fire and fueled his form with malevolent power now fully unleashed. His eyes and maw began to first glow, and then burn frenziedly with hellish flame that made them seem like pits from the darkest reaches of the Inferno. William began to laugh maniacally as he felt the rush of power, his vitality and strength restored, fully confident in a future victory once more.

"PRAY, MIKE SCHMIDT!" he cackled. "PRAY FOR GOD, FOR NIGHTMARE TO SAVE YOU! THEY CANNOT HELP YOU NOW! YOU WERE A FOOL NOT TO FEAR ME!"

"Oh, I'm sure they could," Mike retorted. "God speaks for Himself, and even at your best you wouldn't ever come close to the power that Nightmare wields. I'm sure that either of them would be more than happy to deliver me from you if I asked. But that's not good enough for me. I'm not going to wait for God or a demon to save me. I swore that I was going to tear you to pieces myself for all the horrible crimes that you've committed…"

His eyes flashed, "…AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M GOING TO DO!"

William reared back and thrust his head forward, opening his jaw and released a stream of hellish flame that roared and snapped viciously as it headed towards Mike. Mike snapped his fingers and a wave of fire erupted from the abyss beyond the arena, crashing down between the two enemies and intercepting William's first offensive. But William was learning despite his arrogance, and took advantage of the distraction to initiate a hidden offensive. Even as the two attacks crashed into each other, Nightmare Springtrap rushed forward and around the wave of fire, hoping to ambush Mike from either the side or from behind for the man could react.

But the man had seen it coming, for he would have done the same in his enemy's shoes. Instead of dodging away like he had always done, however, Mike swung his scythes in front of him, right as Nightmare Springtrap brought down a claw wreathed in flames. Claw and blade crashed against each other with more force than either of them expected, and both of them stumbled backward as they got over their surprise at each other's power. Both quickly recovered from their shock, and two proceeded to trade vicious blows in the darkest corners of Mike's mind.

William first tried to target Mike's left side and strike at it repeatedly, having seen him use his right hand more often in the few minutes that the two had interacted. A strategy that might have been effective in the real world, but Mike could simply will himself to use both of his arms with equal proficiency, and he easily blocked every attack that William attempted with his scythe.

Hatred and rage fueled both Mike and William as they savagely attacked each other, wanting nothing more than to overwhelm and crush the enemy through sheer force and raw power. But even then, there were subtle but important differences in their fighting styles. William had seemingly abandoned any form of strategy or even a proper defense in favor of a pure, unrelenting offense, every attack with his claws and fangs driven by the sole purpose of delivering death and destruction. By contrast, Mike chose his attacks with careful precision and thought despite his rage. Knowing that William was stronger than he was in terms of brute force, Mike devoted most of his attention to deflecting William's attacks rather than actually trying to strike his enemy, only going in for a decisive offensive strike when he felt that he could do it without opening up vulnerabilities for William to exploit. The two clashed in a deadly dance of claws and blades, even managing to score a few minor hits on each other. This time, it was William who had claimed first blood (outside of Mike's surprise lightning attack) by successfully tearing his claws through Mike's shoulder inches from his head, and Mike had retaliated by slicing at William's chest plate, creating a shallow but visible gash with his scythe that did not fade.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Mike had put enough focus on defense to prevent himself from being overwhelmed or even hit significantly, but he knew that he couldn't win in a straight-on fight, at least not at the moment. Now that he was fully channeling his demonic essence, William had the advantage in terms of raw strength and endurance. In prolonged close-quarters combat, the murderer would slowly win.

But Mike had absolutely no intention of fighting fair. As claw met blade yet again, Mike suddenly let go of the scythe he was holding in his right hand. Incomprehension flashed through William's face, which only intensified when the scythe continued to fight and block his attacks as though Mike were still holding it. He was so taken aback that he failed to notice Mike raising his hand towards his face, and by the time he noticed it was too late. Mike unleashed another blast of nightmarish lightning, this time straight at William's face. William screamed in horrific agony as he stumbled backward, trying desperately to block the lightning off with his claws. Mike took full advantage of his cruel distraction, rushing forward and slamming his scythes straight onto William's head twice. Fiery essence and ichor spewed out from both wounds, and the only reason why Mike didn't try a third time was because William had recovered and tried to grab his arm, and he wasn't going to allow that to happen.

Still, he wasn't going to give William the protracted fight that he wanted. Mike's body vanished into shadows and reappeared several feet away, giving him more breathing room. Remembering how easily Mike had made a fool of him whenever he had blindly charged, William instead raised a flaming hand and slammed it onto the arena. The arena rumbled as a molten fissure began to snake through the arena from where Nightmare Springtrap had hit the ground, aimed straight at Mike's feet. Mike threw himself to the left as the ground erupted, unleashing a plume of lava where he had been standing seconds earlier. As Mike dodged, William held out his claws and began to channel his power into creating a massive, hellish fireball. While Mike was getting to his feet, William threw the fireball at him, giving him no time to dodge or teleport away.

But Mike didn't need to do either. He raised his hand in front of him and clenched his fist. The air in front of him began to distort and swirl around, creating a vortex that led straight into a black void. The vortex hungrily devoured William's fireball and formed a ring of purple flames around its circumference, almost as though it had claimed the hellish energy and transformed it for its own use. The flames began to spin frenziedly as Mike hurled the vortex right back towards Nightmare Springtrap, who only barely had time to dodge it. He could feel the raw power in the vortex as it zoomed past his left and exploded far behind him, and despite his hatred couldn't help but feel a grudging respect for Mike's ferocity.

Still, he had work to do, and an enemy to break. William hadn't missed how Mike had deliberately broken off their close combat duel earlier, and he knew that he had a much higher chance of winning if he could continue to force such fights. He reared his head and let loose another stream of hellfire, closely watching Mike to see how he would avoid the attack and to identify any opening for him to attack. Mike raised his scythes, and the dark flames that surrounded the blades seemed to flare and intensify. The scythes caught the fire blast head-on, capturing and absorbing the infernal energy. With a yell, Mike slammed the ground just as William began to charge towards him, unleashing the murderer's attack right back at him in the form of a transformed but equally demonic arc of energy. William laughed, surprised that Mike would be so foolish as to attack him with his own tools. He lunged towards Mike despite the fact that the man's counter-strike was directly in between them, confident that he could easily ignore the damage caused…and was blasted backward the moment the hellish energy bolt hit his chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"WHAT?" Nightmare Springtrap asked incredulously. "THAT WAS MY ATTACK, MY POWER! IT SHOULDN'T HAVE HARMED ME!"

Mike smirked underneath the cover of the shadows. "There is so much that you don't know or understand," he taunted. "You lost the moment you tried to invade my mind. You just haven't realized it!"

William let out a frustrated snarl and rushed at Mike, momentarily forgetting how fruitless such attempts had been in the past. Mike's smirk grew and he vanished into the shadows, leaving William to look around frantically and furiously for the next sign of attack. Familiar mocking laughter suddenly echoed from behind him, causing him to stop in his tracks and turn around slowly, a chill crawling through his spine.

For it wasn't Freddy's laugh that had reached his ears, nor was it Freddy's or even Golden Freddy's head that now accompanied Mike.

It was Nightmare's.

There were three of them, larger than William had ever seen in the past, 1 directly above Mike and 1 at each side. Their eyes glowed scarlet with hatred, malice, and contempt, all three of them glaring directly at William even as their mouths were twisted into amused, bestial grins. Even with their fangs clenched, William could see unholy flames burning in their mouths. Before the murderer could get over his shock that Mike had actually invoked the visages of his demonic tormentor, the Nightmare heads opened their jaws and unleashed a torrent of hellfire, more intense and much larger than anything he himself had used before now. Nightmare Springtrap managed to dodge the flames from all three of the Nightmare heads, but to his shock instead of disappearing the heads began to turn in his direction, continuing to breath hellfire all the while. Knocked completely off-guard, he failed to avoid them in time, and was engulfed in the very same hellfire that he had attempted to utilize against Mike. And just like the malevolent lightning that Mike had been wielding ever since they had arrived at the pit, the Nightmare heads' flames threw William into atrocious agony and devoured at the core of his being with a power and cruelty that hadn't originally been present.

As the flames finally subsided, he noticed with a feeling of dread that only two of the Nightmare heads had vanished following the attack. The one that had been in the middle had stayed, and it seemed to Nightmare Springtrap as though it had grown larger while he had been distracted with his suffering. The demonic head opened its mouth again, but this time of breathing fire it began to accumulate infernal energy in the form of a steadily growing meteor. William tried to breathe his own stream of hellfire at Mike to try and interrupt the attack, but the Nightmare head simply absorbed the attack into the meteor. Nightmare Springtrap braced himself to dodge the now gigantic meteor, but instead of firing it directly at him, the Nightmare head tilted upward and launched the meteor high into the sky. William switched his gaze between both meteor and his enemy in confusion, just in time to watch Mike raise his right scythe and fire a particularly vicious blast of his corrupted lightning. The moment the lightning struck the meteor, it began to crack and shatter into smaller fragments, each piece as large as Nightmare Springtrap's head and glowing with both energies. Just as the fragments began to fall, the flames on Mike's scythe intensified, and they stayed suspended in air. With a vicious growl, Mike threw his arm forward and downward, causing the small meteors to descend with much greater velocity and force than they would have if he had simply allowed them to fall.

William didn't need to be a seasoned fighter or an expert strategist to know that allowing himself to be bombarded by an attack imbued with both types of malice would be very bad news. Just as he had done in the past, he dodged every projectile that he could, and the experience he had gathered throughout the course of their battle allowed him to evade most of them with surprising agility and skill. He wasn't completely successful, however; two of the meteors landed directly on his head, racking his body with agony as the effects of two potent curses struck him at once. Nightmare Springtrap's endurance was still powerful enough to keep him on his feet and the pain, as excruciating as it was, only lasted a brief moment. But it was enough to distract him from the fact that Mike still hadn't banished the Nightmare head that he had summoned yet, and it had one more unpleasant surprise for William.

The moment the murderer fully recovered, Nightmare's eyes flashed the entire battlefield with a scarlet light, just as Bonnie had done, before it finally vanished. Only instead of merely being blinded, Nightmare Springtrap's mind and sight were drowned in a thousand visions of his own horrific death, all differing in nature but equal in their brutality and cruelty. Though they caused no actual pain to him, the torrent of horrendous illusions was enough to overwhelm even a soul as twisted as William's, giving Mike plenty of opportunity to attack. By the time William tore his mind away from the malefic visions, Mike was already charging at him, and with his scythes he hacked straight at the monster's skull. Ichor and demonic essence spewed out from the wounds as William staggered backward, his head reeling from the vicious wounds Mike had inflicted. But the man had opened himself up to close quarters combat in the process, giving William the first opportunity that he had been hoping for in a while. Nightmare Springtrap ferociously swung his claws at Mike in retaliation, narrowly missing the man's chest but still successfully tearing through Mike's arm. The two re-entered their deadly dance of claws and blades, continuing the duel that they had broken off what seemed like an eternity ago.

In his frenzy and desperation to crush his enemy, William hadn't noticed how the wounds on Mike's arm barely seemed to slow him down at all…or how the man was wielding his scythes with more speed and power than before…

/

Nightmare Fredbear let out an amused laugh. "WELL, NOW THIS IS A SURPRISE," he hissed with delight. "I KNEW THAT YOUR FATHER WOULD SPARE NO QUARTER AGAINST THE MONGREL. BUT I WAS NOT EXPECTING HIM TO INVOKE THE IMAGE OF OUR BROTHER AND LORD AS PART OF HIS ASSAULT."

Charlie stared at the battle unfolding in the scrying portal. She let out a gasp of horror as she watched Nightmare Springtrap slash his claws against Mike's chest twice, but it seemed that the attacks had barely hindered her father's capabilities at all. If anything, being attacked in such a manner had only enraged Mike and increased his viciousness. "And will Nightmare…be okay with this?" she asked nervously. Whether she liked it or not, the demon lord was their most powerful ally at the moment, and if he chose to abandon them…

"HE WOULD BE INSULTED IF THE INDIVIDUAL INVOKING HIS IMAGE WAS INCOMPETENT OR DISRESPECTFUL," Nightmare Fredbear answered nonchalantly. "BUT ANYONE CAN CLEARLY SEE THAT YOUR FATHER HAS UTILIZED ANY ATTACKS REPRESENTING MY BROTHER WITH PROFICIENCY AND SKILL, FAR BEYOND WHAT I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED FROM A MORTAL WITH NO COMBAT EXPERIENCE THAT I AM AWARE OF. THAT'S NOT TO SAY THAT HIS PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN PERFECT…WHEN HE RAINED THOSE SMALLER METEORS DOWN UPON WILLIAM AFTON, I WOULD HAVE REFORGED THEM INTO A STORM OF KNIVES OR ARROWS THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN BOTH MUCH HARDER TO DODGE, AND OF COURSE MORE PAINFUL WHEN THEY IMPALED THAT WRETCH." The golden bear demon tapped his chin thoughtfully with a single claw. "IT ALMOST MAKES ME WONDER HOW SCHMIDT BECAME SO PROFICIENT WITH SORCERY AND BLADE IN THE FIRST PLACE…"

Charlie looked back at the battle raging onward, paying more attention to Mike. The more she thought about it, the more she noticed that Nightmare's words seemed to ring true. The way he battled against William made it seem like he had years of training and experiencing under his belt. And much more disturbingly, Mike seemed to show absolutely no hesitation or regret whatsoever in attacking William as cruelly and as viciously as possible. As if he was familiar with such brutality, possibly even embracing it.

She knew that Mike hated William just as much as the rest of them, and she herself was no stranger to violence and vengeance. After all, she and her siblings had plenty of blood on their hands, or would have stained them in Liz's case. But for the first time in months, she wondered if there was anything that her father was still hiding from the rest of their family…

/

Mike grimaced as he parried yet another vicious flurry of claw strikes from Nightmare Springtrap. Even though he felt much more comfortable matching the monster in close quarters combat now, he knew that he still had a much greater advantage when he could strike at William from a distance. The moment that William's attacks subsided, Mike took his chance. He called up the swirling barrier of shadowy wind that he had utilized earlier, only now it was charged and crackled with tainted electricity. Recognizing it for what it was, William retreated slightly, giving Mike enough time to vanish and reappear several feet away.

Unfortunately, his strategy gave William an idea of his own. Focusing on the infernal energy that gave him his strength, William seized it and expanded it around him. The flames on his body erupted from a mere aura to a miniature firestorm that raged around him, and Nightmare Springtrap grinned as he saw Mike's eyes widen in surprise. Now all he needed to do was get close enough to force another fight, and he would be the one to seize control of their battle.

Mike quickly got over his shock, however. As if he had heard Nightmare Fredbear's critique in the real world, he conjured up a hundred floating knives that crackled with malicious power and fired them all at William. Though several of them impaled themselves into Nightmare Springtrap's body, the fiery tempest surrounding his body destroyed them almost immediately afterward. Mike followed through his attack with another direct blast of wicked lightning from his hand, but William had grown wise to his methods, and deflected the bolts off his claws. His sadistic grin widening with every failed attack, William lunged at Mike with his claws outstretched, finally ready to wipe the smirk off the man's face and introduce him to a world of pain.

And then the space in front of Mike distorted tore open into a portal opening into the void, and a simulacrum of Nightmare stepped outward, with his full body and in all his unholy glory. William immediately panicked, but he had no way of stopping his own momentum. Caring nothing for the firestorm that swirled around Nightmare Springtrap, the Nightmare copy reached out and grabbed the demonic rabbit mid-air, sinking his claws deep into William's body as he did so. William let out a pained yell as Nightmare picked him up like a rag doll and savagely threw him across the arena, causing him to crash into one of the demon pillars with a sickening crunch. The murderer had no time to recover as the Nightmare clone barreled towards him and began to swing giant claws burning with hellfire, effortlessly tearing two deep and vicious gashes in his chest with far more success than the Foxy clones ever had. The Nightmare clone raised both his arms and swung them downward, which William was only barely able to avoid by rolling away as Nightmare's fists smashed the already damaged pillar to rubble. It was only when the Nightmare clone faded away, its power spent, that William dared to breath a sigh of relief and climb back on his feet.

Despite everything, William couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "SUCH SAVAGERY," he mockingly complemented. "SUCH VICIOUSNESS. I WONDER, SCHMIDT…DO THOSE LITTLE BRATS KNOW JUST HOW VIOLENT AND BRUTAL YOU CAN TRULY BE?"

"And why would I show this to them?" Mike replied with deathly calm. "Unlike them, you deserve every bit of pain and suffering that I've thrown, and am going to throw at you. Do you still honestly believe that you're going to win? Even though it might just be the two of us down here, in this fiery pit formed from the darkest corners of my mind, I am not alone. I have never been alone."

"SPARE ME YOUR LITTLE SPEECH ABOUT THE VIRTUES OF FRIENDSHIP AND FAMILY," Nightmare Springtrap sneered. "OR PERHAPS YOU REFER TO ASSISTANCE OF A DARKER NATURE. I CAN SENSE NIGHTMARE'S HAND IN THIS BATTLE, THOUGH EXACTLY HOW HE IS INVOLVED I CANNOT BE CERTAIN. I MUST CONFESS THAT I AM QUITE CURIOUS, SCHMIDT…WHAT BARGAIN DID YOU MAKE WITH ONE SUCH AS HIM? WHAT DID YOU OFFER HIM IN YOUR QUEST FOR REVENGE?"

Mike smirked. "Not much at all, really. All he wanted me to do was make you suffer in exchange for his guidance, and it's not like I wasn't going to do that even without his help. Hatred is such an excellent motivator for cooperation. And speaking of which…"

A Nightmare head suddenly appeared in front of him and Nightmare Springtrap immediately tensed, waiting for it to breathe a stream of hellfire or torture his mind. Instead, the head opened its mouth and let out a terrifying roar that echoed across the battlefield. The demonic rabbit covered his ears immediately, but the roar did more than just deafen him. He could feel the infernal storm surrounding him dissipate and dispel into nothing but impotent wisps of flame, its power destroyed by Nightmare's unholy roar.

His surprise at having his infernal protection dispelled was nothing compared to his astonishment as the blades of Mike's scythes suddenly shot outward from their handles, stretching far beyond his expected melee range on chains that seemed to writhe in the air like a torturer's whip as the dark flames surrounding the blades themselves flared and intensified. The two blades snaked through the air and sliced right across Nightmare Springtrap's throat, and as he instinctively grabbed his neck to stem the essence bleeding out of the new gash, Mike swung the blade of his right scythe and impaled it straight into William's head. Without even pausing for a second, the man violently ripped the scythe away, causing corrupted ichor and essence to spurt out of the gaping wound left behind as a mind-splitting headache joined Nightmare Springtrap's list of woes.

It was nothing compared to the havoc that Mike had wreaked onto William Afton's pride, however. The wound itself was nothing particularly meaningful in the grand scheme of their battle; many of Mike's earlier attacks had been more brutal and more damaging. But all throughout their battle, the one advantage that William had focused on outside of his endurance was his superiority over Mike in melee. And the fact that Mike could have invalidated that advantage from the very beginning, faking a weakness yet again…that was a severe blow to both his pride and his confidence.

As if he could sense William's faltering morale, Mike decided to twist the knife a little further. "You are running out of time, you fool…" he taunted, his voice dripping with contempt. "The longer you take to destroy me, the closer your doom approaches. Whether you defeat me or not, they will be here soon to drag your worthless carcass back down into Hell where it belongs. For all that we know, they could have been here from the moment our battle began, watching from the shadows, waiting to snatch you from the jaws of victory. Either way, you certainly do not live up to your boasts or reputation, William Afton."

William bared his teeth in fury, but as much as he hated to admit it, he knew that Mike was right. He was running out of time. Mike seemed confident that the Nightmares would rescue him soon, and William had little reason to doubt him. Especially since he had given Nightmare a very personal reason to come howling for his blood. He needed a way to end this quickly, much more quickly than a slow victory in close combat that seemed harder and harder to obtain with each second that passed.

Fortunately, he still had one major card left to play, one that would be impossible for Mike to see it coming.

"YOU SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN ONE…MINOR DETAIL, SCHMIDT," Nightmare Springtrap hissed as he slowly got to his feet. The collective damage that he had taken throughout their battle was beginning to take its toll on him, and not even the healing factor from his demonic essence could fully heal those wounds anymore. "I HAVE AN ALLY IN HELL, JUST AS YOU DO."

Mike snorted. "If you honestly think that your demon ally will come help you out, then you're even more of an imbecile than I took you for."

"OH, I KNOW FULL WELL THAT LORD VUCARIK WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HELP ME DIRECTLY," William replied as his mouth stretched into a menacing grin. "BUT HE DOESN'T NEED TO. HE LEFT ME ONE FINAL PARTING GIFT APART FROM THE OPPORTUNITY FOR VENGEANCE…AND IT IS THIS GIFT THAT I CALL UPON NOW!"

With a triumph burning in his gaze, William began to chant words in the unholy language of the demonic and the damned. Behind him, at the edge of the circular arena, a gigantic fiery portal began to distort and tear itself into existence, spanning from one edge to the other. Hideous roars, shrieks, and snarls echoed from within, and it only took Mike a second to realize that Nightmare Springtrap was summoning an army straight from the depths of Hell.

The demonic warriors that marched out of the portal and into the abyss of Mike's mind were hideous creatures, one and all. Some of them seemed to possess some form of discipline, as they marched like rank-and-file soldiers, complete with armor and weapons that at the very least seemed well-made and functional. Others were little more than savage beasts with only the desire to main and kill on their minds. Part of Mike wondered just how exactly William was able to convince another demon to loan him a small legion, while the Game Master in him would have labelled most of the demons as lower-tier D&D creatures, with a few mid-tier demons scattered amongst them.

But this was no game. This was a true army of the accursed and the damned in front of him, and yet more proof that William Afton did not possess a shred of honor within his wretched, rotten soul.

"Well, well, this surprises me less than it probably should…" Mike mused aloud. Before the demons that crossed the threshold of the portal could charge at him, he snapped his fingers and a wall of black flame erupted between them, preventing the demons from charging close to him without being instantly incinerated. "Trying to change the rules of the game to skew the fight in your favor? I wouldn't have expected anything else from scum like you, Afton."

William didn't bother with a response, but he hadnoticed that Mike didn't seem even remotely bothered by the unexpected development. "All right then. I'll be happy to play along. You summoned an army to do your dirty work for you?"

His scarlet eyes flashed. "IT'S ONLY FAIR THAT I GET TO DO THE SAME!"

/

A/N: Yeah, Mike and William both certainly turned up the heat, haven't they? Mike's attacks have gotten a hell of a lot darker and more vicious, and William has actually been able to (a) land in a few hits of his own and (b) come up with other strategies besides "Attack! Attack! Attack!" all the time. Mike's dark side is inspired by a combination of a few iconic villains, see if you can tell which ones I used.

Those of you familiar with "God of War" probably recognized Mike going Kratos when he used his scythes like the Blades of Chaos before William summoned his army. And you're probably going "Wait WTF? Mike can go Kratos with his scythes and yet he only uses a single light attack and a semi-fierce attack that didn't even slam the ground? Why did he do something so basic when we all know how much of an insane badass Kratos is? This is lame!" And to that I say: next chapter, friends. Next chapter.

One thing I particularly enjoyed coming up with was the Nightmare attacks. Just like in FNAF4, Nightmare has replaced all of the other animatronics in Mike's "animatronic attacks." What makes the Nightmare attacks so much more dangerous than the regular animatronic attacks is that not only are the attacks themselves more powerful than their counterparts, but they can (a) combo with each other and (b) make it impossible to tell which attack a Nightmare head will use before he uses it. Whether Mike simply invoked the image of Nightmare as part of using his imagination in a dark way, or whether Nightmare gave more help than just advice the night that he came to warn Mike of William's arrival…that, readers, is for you to decide.

I was originally going to have the battle be only two chapters, but after this chapter approached the 12th page on Word I realized that two chapters wouldn't be enough. One more chapter in the battle left to go, and both characters will have an army at their backs. It's clear what William's army is, but I'm going to keep what Mike's going to bring to the table hidden for now 😉.

Sorry for the long wait, hope you guys enjoyed! Here's a list of Mike's Nightmare attacks.

Nightmare Flamethrower - Mike summons a Nightmare head that unleashes a stream of hellish fire towards an enemy, causing atrocious agony to any consumed by the inferno. The Nightmare heads can follow an enemy's movements. Based on Freddy's attack.

NOTE: This attack can also take the form of a giant fireball instead of a stream of flames.

Tormentor's Gaze – Nightmare's eyes unleash a cursed light that bombards the minds of all who see it with horrific visions of their own death and torment. These illusions stun all those affected and lower their defenses until they recover. Based on Bonnie's attack.

Demonic Roar – Nightmare's head lets out a devastating roar that deafens all those who hear it. The roar also briefly silences enemies and destroys any positive enchantments on them. The latter effect cannot be avoided regardless of whether an enemy successfully covers his ears in time. Based on Chica's attack.

Infernal Charge – Mike summons a copy of Nightmare to charge at an enemy. The simulacrum will savagely attack any foe in its vicinity, finishing with a particularly devastating and unblockable attack before disappearing. Based on Foxy's attack.

Avenger's Malice (passive) – Mike completely ignores all damage resistances and immunities when attacking enemies. (I know, not technically a Nightmare attack, but still worth noting if you're wondering why Mike can seemingly attack a demon with hellfire without any issues).