The battle ended almost as quickly as it began once Mario discovered the Sumo Bros. were weak to fire. The storm cloud broke apart, it vanishing from sight.

Bowser's castle's main hall was overrun with Folded Soldiers, but thanks to the pep-talk Kemek said before they entered, all of Bowser's non-folded minions charged in and dealt with them as Mario headed for Kemek's room. The door to Bowser's throne room was locked, and Kemek had the key in his bedroom.

Kemek seemed to vanish from existence as he passed the pillars by the entrance to the rooms...

Mario found Luigi inside of one of the rooms, munching happily on a Shiny Mushroom. Olivia was convinced he was a ghost and refused to enter.

"Mario! I think I found it this time!" Luigi happily displayed a key above his head. "The key to Peach's castle!"

Mario stayed silent.

"It's still not the right key, is it?"

Mario shook his head.

"I should have-a guessed that. This isn't Peach's style at-a all. Also, it was inside of Bowser's castle, so I should have guessed it-a belonged here." He handed Mario the key. "Well, I'm off once-a again! Bye-bye!" He rushed out the door, Mario following.

"Luigi was here? He rushed out like HE had seen a ghost!" She ignored her fear and smiled at Mario. "Show me the key!"

She kept repeating "Show me the key" as Mario dug through his pockets for it. He held it up to her, except she had vanished-like Kemek had-from sight. Mario glanced around the room and pocketed the key again.

"Where did she-a go?" He noticed Stephen was nowhere in sight as well, as he had vanished around the time Kemek had.

Mario had no choice but to keep progressing. He unlocked the door, and Junior crashed through them, determined to rescue his father from whatever terrible fate he was suffering.

He slowed to a walk, then stopped. The floor was littered with the sliced-up pieces of Bowser's minions. Besides that, the halls were completely empty.

Something grazed his back, sending a shiver down his spine. He turned, hammer drawn, to find a paper-thin black hand attached to a long arm.

"Huh? What is-a tha-!"

It grabbed his face and tossed him into the air.

"Waaah!" Mario saw it slithered along the ground and walls as if it were a snake, for it didn't have a body connected to the arm's end. "What the heck is-a that?!"

It darted up the wall, up to Mario. It grabbed him by the foot.

"Mmrro!" The muffled shout sounded like Olivia calling his name.

"Olivia? Where are-a you?"

"Mmrro! Hhp mm!"

The hand reached for him again, Mario whacking it back with his hammer. It un-spiraled just enough for Mario to spot Olivia's crown within the depths of the curved body.

"Olivia!"

"Tht did smmn! Eep it up!"

A few more hits did the trick, as Olivia was released from the grip of the hand-snake creature. Mario caught her in his arms.

The snake, however, did not give up. It closed its hand into a fist and uncoiled its body towards Mario and Olivia. Mario smacked it away again, and it dropped a Magic Circle.

"Yahoo!" Mario jumped into the Magic Circle.

Just before he hit it, the snake's hand curled back into a fist and stayed still in front of Mario. Mario followed suit, and it began moving the closed fist up and down in the air.

"Wait, what is this? Paper-cutty-stone?" Olivia tried. "Oh wait, it's rock, paper, scissors! You've got this, Mario!"

Mario tied the first, lost the second, and won the third. Winning gave him a chance to freely attack the hand snake, defeating it.

Olivia brought Mario into an embrace. "Thank you, Mario. I was in trouble, and you saved me again. I..."

Mario pat her back. "Don't-a worry about it! That's what I-a do!"

She left the embrace. "I really need to stop getting trapped in awkward situations...First the wall, then the boulder, and now that weird slithering hand!"

Mario chuckled. "Should we continue? The throne's just behind the-a next door."

They went through the door, fought off a small amount of Lil' Cutout Soldiers, and spotted the streamer.

"Where's that Legion member at?" Olivia asked. "I know they're around here somewh-Hey look, there's Squareser!"

Bowser, still nothing but a face, was once again dangling defenselessly in the air by a clothes pin. The Green Streamer blocked access to him, so they would need to dispose of that first before saving Bowser.

"Watch out," Bowser yelled.

Mario jumped off of the stairs that led to Bowser's throne. He landed on the ground and watched the steps collapse.

"I get credit for that," Bowser claimed.

The giant pair of scissors from before floated down from somewhere above, landing near the steamer beyond the collapsed steps.

"Hey, it's you!" Olivia said, pointing an accusing hand towards the blades. "What happened to following my brother around? Does he not need a bodyguard anymore?"

"Fortunately, yes. However, I originally the duty of protecting the streamer long before I was made his bodyguard." The scissors sounded as monotone as ever, but a slight bit of annoyance was hidden in his tone. The tulip still sat within his sheath.

"So you're the last one, huh?" Stephen stated. They had found and recovered him from the cutout soldiers they battled within this room.

"I wish I could say yes," he began, "but also am glad I can say no." His gaze, despite not having eyes, shifted to Mario.

Mario shuddered.

"I'm so glad we get to officially meet, Mario. I apologize for those...other encounters. I was told to guide my king otherwise he'd get lost somewhere. He has a very terrible sense of direction despite his Fold of Life working somewhat as a map."

"Okay, I clearly don't want to fight you." Olivia held out her hand. "So if we can call a truce, we'll let you li-"

"I shan't surrender!"

Mario flinched back at the sudden angry outburst from the scissors. He was usually so emotionless, and bringing up defeat was his breaking point, apparently.

"But I don't wish to fight unfairly." Scissors cleared his throat. "I have a pet I would love to test on you, Mario. If you don't mind, I wish for you to meet the Paper Mistake Buzzy Beetle."

Black pointed borders slid into a square around the group, and a Buzzy Beetle waddled over. It was coated in the faces of Bowser's minions.

"Aah! What is that thing?" Olivia screamed. "It has so many faces, and they're all so chatty!"

Magenta swirls surrounded it, and a mock-up Dry Bones head made out of faces appeared above the Buzzy Beetle.

"With magic?" Stephen asked.

"Kemek?!" Mario exclaimed upon noticing Kemek's face placed directly onto the Buzzy Beetle's face atop all of the other body-less faces.

"Mario! I have no idea what happened! What is this thing and why can it use my magic?!"

Scissors clicked his tounge at them. "Touchy, touchy, people. You're still very much alive, so why must you fear? My blades don't hurt unless I make them hurt, so you have no business to sound so terrified."

Destroying the Dry Bones head make the Buzzy Beetle weaker, as it was created from its face armor. After destroying nearly all of them, it began charging some sort of powerful move as Mario was in the process of trying to tear Kemek's face off of the monstrosity.

"Mario, this doesn't look good!" Stephen replied.

Scissors stayed still the entire time, keeping a close eye on Mario's fighting style and skills. Mario ducked under the magenta wave shot at him from the Buzzy Beetle and began tugging at Kemek's face again.

"Almost-a...there!"

Kemek's face flew off, the rest of the remaining faces following suit. Mario handed Stephen the Magikoopa's face and defeated the Buzzy Beetle as he normally would. Scissors remained silent as the borders refolded into their self and fell to the ground.

"Take-a that!" Mario cheered.

"That was easy," Olivia bragged, despite not helping in any sort of way whatsoever.

"I should have expected as much, you ARE the legendary Mario." Scissors floated up, and thudded harshly onto the ground in front of them. "That would have been no fun if it had ended too quickly. Now it's time for your final battle, your battle against me."

Junior finally entered the room. "Hey! You're the guy who sliced me up!"

"That was you?" Olivia asked. "That actually makes more sense...How were you so quick?"

"I hardly weigh anythi-Wait, what is this? You're trying to distract me? I shan't let that get in my way." His gaze went up and down Mario's short stature, him looking like a child compared to Scissors' towering height. "Hmm...how about this? Since I want a fair fight, I'll let you land a few hits on me first. Make it even."

"Who is this guy?" Olivia asked. "He's got such a big ego!"

Mario was quite proud of himself for being able to hit Scissors' handles as Scissors attempted to dodge him as much as possible. Scissors had stopped, so Mario did as well. He was having a fun time battling this member of the Legion, especially since he seemed to understand Mario pretty well.

"Now we're done with playing," Scissors said.

There was a small click, and Scissors slid out of his safety cover. The torch lights flickered off the shiny blades as Scissors floated in place, blades away from the floor.

"Oh boy," Stephen gasped. "That's NOT good!"

"Take-a Kemek's face out of-a here," Mario told, and Stephen complied.

"Your death will be so swift, you won't even be able to scream."

"That's definitely a threat," Olivia pointed out.

"Leave, Junior."

"But my dad!"

"Leave!"

Junior sighed and exited the room as well. Scissors quietly chuckled to himself.

"I mean, I'm not called the Silent Slasher for nothing." He turned in a quick circle, staying in place. "Now, you die." Green energy began gathering around him. "Nobody can survive this, not even my king's best Folded Soldiers."

"Mamma mia!"

Scissors dashed forwards, almost quicker than Mario could react. Time seemed to move at slower speeds as Mario, airborne from a jump, saw Scissors slide underneath him, blades shut. Mario landed on the floor behind the scissors.

"What?!" Scissors turned. "How?! My Final Cut in unavoidable!"

Mario, heart racing, panted as he stood there, shuddering lightly. He was almost killed, and very slightly had avoided death. A few strands of Mario's mustache fell a few inches shorter, fluttering down to the ground.

Scissors smirked. "Now I know you're not invincible."

"Mario?"

Mario forced his hands to stop shaking. If he died now, it was over for everyone. He faced Olivia, worry spread all across her face.

"Are you okay, Mario?"

Scissors began gathering energy again. "That's fine, I'll just try again."

"Wait, that wasn't very long at all! How much energy does this guy have?"

"Now, you die."

Scissors tried the attack again, Mario coming even closer to being sliced in half. Scissors skid to a stop against the ground and raised off of the stone floor again. There was a thin line of missing floor where Scissors had landed from when his blades had scraped against the stone.

"Again? What is he made of? He can't possibly be that quick," Scissors muttered angrily.

Mario touched a hand to his nose to find a gentle stream of blood coming from it. He wiped the blood off and stuck a spare band-aid onto his nose. Thankfully, he learned to keep band-aids on him from how clumsy Luigi could end up being sometimes.

"Mario, are you okay?" Olivia asked, returning to his side.

"I'm-a fine," Mario responded.

Scissors began again. "One last time should do it, he's not fast enough for this. He can't keep up with my speed."

Mario prepared to jump again as Scissors slowly moved away from Mario a bit.

"Ooh..." Olivia muttered, and flew off.

"Say your prayers, Mario, as you will never see your precious Princess again."

Mario jumped, but Scissors had not moved. Instead, he waited until the plumber landed back on the ground before charging.

"Oh no-!"

Scissors stopped inches from Mario. Mario pulled his hands down to find the blades frozen in the air, trapped within a block of ice.

"I got him!" Olivia flew over to Mario. "I found one of Kori's Magic Circles in here, so I froze him for you!"

"Great!" Mario ate a mushroom to recover is health. The scratches vanished.

The ice began cracking. Mario flinched, bringing out his hammer.

"Mario! Thousand-fold arm him before the ice breaks!" Olivia was floating over a Magic Circle.

Mario rushed over to her as the block of ice began shuddering, the cracks becoming more prominent and spreading further through the block.

"If he breaks that, his swords will shatter," Olivia said.

"I don't think he's-a thinking right. He seems pretty mad right-a now." Mario stepped into the Magic Circle and reached for Scissors.

He grabbed the block of ice and lifted it to the ceiling. He slammed it down, the ice around Scissors shattering to splinters. Mario hit the handles a few times, until his arms returned to normal.

Scissors stumbled a bit before straightening his stance. "I...shan't lose...!"

"Give up, Scissors."

Panting, he looked at the princess. "What...? I shan't lose...must less give up...!"

"You have no chance, Scissors."

Scissors eyed the gift he made for Peach that sat silently on Bowser's empty throne. His gaze moved to a crack forming on his left blade, and a few smaller ones near Olly's insignia on his handle.

"B-but..."

"Scissors, we don't want to fight you, or any of the Legion! We just did because that's what we had to do in order to make them understand. You're different." She eyed the tulip within Scissors' cover. "Not only did you create, you also had the even balance of destruction. Colored Pencils and Rubber Band were too focused on creation, Hole Punch and Tape on destruction." She gave him a calming smile. "You're like my brother, in a way. How's he doing, by the way?"

Scissors chuckled, which turned into laughter. "Lose? Me?! Balance?! I don't care for balance! I'm only doing what I was made to do! I shan't let you trick me!"

"Scissors..." Olivia held out her hand to him.

"No! I won't surrender-!" His blade shattered, causing him to lose his balance and fall. More cracks spread across Scissors' body and remaining blade. The piece that broke off remained stuck in the ground.

"You can't survive much longer in this condition," Olivia told sadly. "Why won't any of you see? What Olly's doing is wrong! And you, of all people, should have seen that by now. You don't need to be a slave, blindly following orders. Go out and see the world! It's a beautiful place! I'm sure you'll find some artistic inspiration out there somewhere, Scissors." She smiled.

Scissors looked at the gift again. He was now unable to deliver it, much less move. Olivia was right, his decisions were stupid, and following Olly's orders took him nowhere. He let out a sigh and fell to the ground instead of fighting to remain standing.

"I made a gift for the princess...A pink rose. She loves the flower and the color so I thought...Ooh, now I can't give it to her. Such a disappointing day to be alive, even if it's only for a few more short moments."

Olivia peeked over the streamer to lay eyes on the rose. "Wow...that's really good. You can be an Origami Craftsman too, Scissors."

"Heh...I couldn't do that. It looks terrible, my princess. I appreciate the compliment though, I worked hard on that one. All of my others? Mm...not so much. The Handaconda was my favorite." The blade stuck in the floor turned to ash.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Scissors."

"Don't be." He coughed harshly. "Ow, heh..."

Mario walked over to them and pat Scissors' handles. "There-a there."

Olivia resisted the urge to laugh.

"Olly...I really do wish you won't be too upset about this...Could you open the window for me, somebody?"

Olivia slid open a nearby window. "Too hot in here?" She joked.

Scissors' colors faded to grey. "Tell Olly that I'm proud of how powerful he's gotten, and that I'm happy he was able to teach me something."

"Wait-!"

Olivia couldn't speak to him any longer, as he fell into ash and gracefully flew out of the window, leaving behind the rest of his energy. The rose began fluttering in the wind. Olivia watched as the minion faces on the floor suddenly had bodies again and the sliced floor rejoined back together.

The rose lifted from the throne.

"Wait! No! Mario, we have to catch it!" She tried to reach for it as it blew out the window, but fell short of it as it floated out of her reach.

Mario jumped for it, but it slipped away from his grasp and out the open window. Mario watched it blow against the streamer as it faded into the distance.

"No...I wanted to give that to her..."

Mario rubbed her head, messing up her hair and crown. "We have bigger things to worry about right-a now, Olivia."

"Right." She faced Scissors' energy. "The final streamer." She touched it gently. "Woah! So much power! He wasn't kidding about being the strongest!" She guided it to the Magic Circle. "Alright, Scissors. Thanks for helping us get rid of this streamer."

Mario destroyed the streamer, the confetti falling gracefully to his Confetti Bag. Junior re-entered the room upon hearing the streamer being destroyed.

"Dad!" He flew to his father and began pulling at Bowser's trapped square. "I'll save you!"

Kemek rushed in next, followed by Stephen. "Lord Bowser! Move, young master, I'll free him!" He also failed at freeing Bowser, so they began pulling at the king together.

"Mario, help us!" Junior called.

Mario pulled at Kemek, who was tugging at Junior, who had a tight grip on his square-dad. Bowser muttered "ow" a few times, then flew loose. He landed on his face, the quickly hopped back up.

"Mario! You saw what that guy did to me, right? Uhg, that guy was such a weirdo! Creation this, creation that!" Bowser huffed.

"We need to-a get to Peach's castle," Mario explianed. "And you know how it's-a on that mountain now."

"Grahaha! That's where I come in! Follow me!"

Mario, Stephen, Junior, and Kemek began following Bowser.

Olivia exited Mario's pocket. "Where are we going? Somewhere cool? It is Squareser, after all."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"Okay, Bowser! Sheesh, he could have at least asked."

"I HEARD THAT!"

"He has great hearing."

"Right now? I-a don't know."

"Aww."

"But in general?"

"Yeah? We're going to the castle, right?"

Mario nodded. "We're going to take-a back our-a home."