Antasma sighed as he clicked off from the call, he was glad that a solution for the mind control problem was already laid out for him, but sometimes he questioned his luck. Was it possible that everything that had happened from the past two days was all staged by Dreambert? Hm, not possible, the agony of those iterations was very much real, maybe Dreambert just wrote the roadmap, but didn't build the racetrack. He was building the racetrack, and currently, it was going off-road.

The components that he needed for Mimi to upgrade his signal jammer were all conveniently located at the upper floors, once he got those down, he'd not only progress further back up towards the Pi'illo, but also receive additional tools in his disposal. The bat squinted at the prospect, everything was so appealing to him. Nothing was painted in shades of gray, it was either his, or the tool of an enemy, he couldn't refuse anything.

How odd…

Antasma shook his head from the thought as it brought back unpleasant memories, he should've cut it off sooner, he was a fool on agreeing with Bowser through and through, the hints were obvious, but he was too…infatuated, to notice.

The bat sighed, he was so lonely.

As he entered another hallway, a pack of Ku-Nines and a few Laughtrons and Futuristic Pi'illodium spawned in, making Antasma sigh with annoyance as he had to deal with these mechs once more. However, one of the Laughtrons was different, it sported a bright red and gold coloring as it glared at him with its horizontal lenses, the Laughtron also had a lot of different weapons that hung off from its sides, mimicking the appearance of a roulette as it unbuckled one of the attachments from its waist and snapped it onto its left arm in a robotic fashion before pointing the newly formed gun towards the bat. He could hear it begin charging up as the other normal Laughtrons and Ku-Nines lunged at him.

The scanner told him that it was a variant of Laughtron, specifically Laughtron X.

However, before he could get attacked, he noticed that one of the Pi'illodium was also different than normal, it sported a cyan and silver coloring as it rolled around the room with wheels instead of the flexible tube-like legs that its brethren had walked with. It also sprouted four cyan eyes instead of the usual one or three, he could see an electric bulb located on the back of the Pi'illodium as the thing began powering all the mechs and Beanish soldiers nearby with a blue energy source.

Antasma quickly scanned the new mech variant and found out that it was Futuristic Pi'illodium variant Z.

Judging by the increased movement of all the affected machines, it was safe to assume that the Pi'illodium boosted attacks as well as movement speed. Which meant that he'd be fighting an entire room of speedsters unless he dealt with the machine first.

He thus began to move towards the speedy Pi'illodium, but it seemed like all the mechs and soldiers knew about his intentions, so they all began to block his path towards the Pi'illodium, it was extremely annoying to say the least. When he managed to advance just a little bit, another soldier or mech would just slap him back, and due to the increased speed. It was difficult for him to react and parry against the incoming group as they all struck at him with lightning precision and barraging strikes.

Normal swings became as fast as automatic rifles, and machine guns gained the speed of lasers. Antasma struggled against the pounding force as he attempted to reach the speeding Pi'illodium, which itself was capable of avoiding him with its fleeing wheels. Its four eyes seemed to be looking at him with a gleam of mockery, as if it knew that he was going to die at this rate. The bat sneered with anger, this cheap tactic would not overcome him. He had taken down some of the most infamous villains in a matter of days, he would not be beaten by a couple of fast hitting mindless robots.

The bat parried a strike and dodged an incoming missile, it seemed like he would not be able to chase the Pi'illodium as much as he wanted to. So he hopped back and released a wave of dimensional blast from his sword, which effectively cleared a good chunk of the attacking soldiers and damaged the mechs heavily. The bat smirked, even though the group striked fast, he could easily retreat backwards and destroy them with ranged attacks.

So with some quick thinking and a few dodges, the bat managed to clear out the room fairly well. Or at least, as well as he could when the Laughtron X suddenly extended its arms and began rotating its upper body while marching towards him at high speed, no doubt further boosted by the Pi'illodium. The bat backed away from the incoming bot, its spinning frame mimicked that of a beyblade and the speed was increasing more and more until the bat was backed up into a wall, with no choice. He raised his hands and began parrying the blows. He had to parry each consequent hit instead of the fast deflects with machine guns as the bat grunted in annoyance while concentrating on the attacks, he was glad that he had cleared out the room before the mech started using this attack, if he hadn't, he would've been kicked around like a ragdoll before getting instantly stunned by the strikes and being mauled by wolves.

Soon enough, the Laughtron had stopped spinning and idled for a moment while recuperating from its dizzying attack. But the bat showed no amount of courtesy as he charged up his blade and unleashed a devastating rail blast. This time, showing the amount of power that the attack held as it shredded through the tron's armor plate and burned a hole right through its core. The tron shuddered as it began to tilt backwards due to its destroyed power core, the Pi'illodium desperately tried to buff the tron, but it was no use. The mech slowly shut down as it fell backwards and onto the floor, completely deactivated.

And now, only the Futuristic Pi'illodium was left.

The mech stumbled backwards in shock as the bat started approaching, the usual mocking glance now replaced with a frightful stare. Antasma didn't really expect machines to show any type of emotions, but it appeared that this one emitted a lot more compared to the others, mainly because it showed fear.

The bat could feel himself grinning underneath his mask, how long had it been since he'd been able to back a snarky fighter into the corner ? How long had it been since he was able to show someone, or something, what he was made of ? With a last desperate attempt at avoiding its fate, the Pi'illodium began revving up its wheels as it attempted to run Antasma over. But the bat saw the attack coming from miles away and quickly lassoed the head of the Pi'illodium with his whiplash, before tearing it off entirely with one fell swoop.

The body however was still revving from its previous command and instantly launched itself towards the bat, who stylishly deflected the attack by whipping the head of the Pi'illodium into its own body, colliding it with a huge explosion. Leaving only debris in its original place.

The bat scoffed at the remains, "Vhat a joke…" he muttered before leaving the room.

After a few more similar rooms, albeit with even more of those variants, including the variant Y Pi'illodium, he finally reached the floor where he first woke.

The First Floor, as his system had called it.

And it just so happened that one of the components was located down the hall. Like straight up, down the hall, on the floor. Antasma felt his eye twitch in annoyance at the obvious bait, the suspicion of everything happening being staged was still echoing at the back of his mind. But, the need for the extra parts was calling to him on a spiritual level, it seemed like he had no choice but to take the bait.

The bat sighed and shrugged, whatever, he'd just beat up whatever spawned in and continue upwards.

So Antasma quickly approached and picked up the parts, and as soon as he had collected the item, he instantly whipped around and summoned his sword, fully expecting another group to spawn…and…

…

….

….

"Did you really think I'll pull the same trick again?"

Antasma could feel the Pi'illos' voice rattling through his head as a giant blur suddenly emerged through a portal, the bat yelped in surprise and dodged on instinct at the incoming machine. Antasma quickly backed away from it, he snapped his head towards the offending machine, only to be met with a grisly sight.

The machine that attacked him was a robotic, unpainted, Pi'illodactyl, the creature lifted its head up and glared at him with mindless hate. What did Dreambert do to these dragons? The bat swallowed with disbelief as the reptile snarled with malice, its silver mechanical claws tapped against the metal floor as it prepared to lunge at him once more. The bat quickly scanned the creature as he dodged the attack, the silver Pi'illodactyl was called...well….

Futuristic Pi'illodactyl.

…

If it weren't for the intense battle, Antasma would be laughing his ass off right now. Dreambert was never good at naming things, in fact, it was Antasma who made up names for the creatures on the island back when they were still friends, this way, Dreambert would appear like a creative kid in front of his parents when he took the credit. But now? That infallible skill was clearly falling through as he named the only two things that came from his homeland with only the word Futuristic in front to somewhat differentiate the difference between the ancient original and the reconstructed machine.

But it seemed like Dreambert didn't even bother to fully complete the Pi'illodactyl as it was not painted, and some parts of the thing didn't even look finished.

But one thing remained clear, the mind of the creature was clearly imbued into the robotic body, Antasma could see its brain through the transparent glass that made up its head, the thing was so painfully incomplete that even the nightmare felt pity for the creature.

"I vill put you out of your suffering soon." Was all that he said.

Antasma drew his blade in a pitiful manner, and the Pi'illodactyl lunged once more, he easily dodged the pounce and sliced off one of its wings. The thing howled in pain as it stumbled backwards, blood flowing freely from the wound as it continued to shriek on no end. The dragon had pain receptors as well as having actual blood instead of Castaphrose, Antasma squinted at the implications as he drifted away from the reptile.

Was…was the Pi'illodactyl just armored? Like, did it only have a metal plated skin without any of the essential cybernetics that would usually accompany such a build? Antasma snarled in disgust when the dragon continued to cry pitifully while attempting to appear tough towards the bat, did Dreambert not even bother to implement such things into the Pi'illodactyl? Was it only called "Futuristic" as a buffer?

The bat felt even more rage compiling up in his chest, this wasn't a Futuristic Pi'illodactyl, this was just an armored Pi'illodactyl with barely any of the mechanical functions that an actual cybernetic machine would have. The reptile had literal steel embedded into its skin with no relief whatsoever, which explained why it was so aggressive while appearing to be limping in agony.

The hate was imbued into its mind, but the pain was what held it back.

…

He needed to end this evil incarnate now, something this inhumane is only reserved for the trenches of nightmares. His domain, a reminder of the beauty in reality when compared to what it could've been.

The agonizing Pi'illodactyl tried to spit flames towards the bat, but ended up with only a weak sputter as the nightmare slowly drifted towards the reptile, his blade extended, ready to end its life.

The creature was obviously scared as it continued to retreat backwards, even though it had not lost any of its claws or teeth, it had lost too much blood for it to continue fighting, and the pain that it experienced every waking hour had finally overwhelmed it.

It couldn't move anymore.

But just before the bat ended its life, he placed a gentle claw on top of the dragon and lightly petted the beast, he had known these Pi'illodactyls ever since he was a baby bat, even before he consumed nightmares, he remembered the awe-inspired feelings during infancy of these magnificent dragons. Before he consumed nightmares, he loved them as a child and had once dreamed of riding one. It was a saddening sight to see how they turned out now, so he'd do what's good for them. Ending their existence.

With one strike, the Pi'illodactyl was no more.

Antasma released a shaky breath as he glanced towards the ceiling, he stared at the camera that was built into the structure, he glared at the device with only one message in his eyes.

I will end your reign

And with that, he snapped his head down and continued upwards.

But just as he was about to enter the second floor, the door to the hallway suddenly shut close.

The bat blinked at the sudden interruption, the second component was to the right of another hallway, but he was effectively trapped in the staircase as the first floor entrance was also shut off. He vaguely wondered why there was no elevator in this ship but quickly came to the conclusion that Dreambert must've disabled it while he was traversing. He probably didn't want to give the bat an easy way out.

So with a flick of his wrist, he summoned the sword once more and faced the incoming horde.

But this time, amongst the spawned Pi'illodium, Laughtron, Ku-Nines, and soldiers, more "Futuristic" Pi'illodactyls were presented too, many of them roaring in rage and agony for the suffering that befell them. The bat clenched his fist tightly, he would not let Dreambert get away with this, why did the Pi'illo have the privilege to commit these heinous acts while he was condemned for it? He growled angrily at the unfairness as he leaped from the top of the stairs and aimed straight at the Pi'illodium Z that spawned at the bottom of the stairs. Piercing through its metallic frame and tearing it from the head up.

However, just as he stood upright and faced the robots, he noticed new variants of a Laughtron and Futuristic Pi'illodium.

The new variant of the Laughtron looked much slimmer and lankier while sporting the same cyan coloring as the variant Z Futuristic Pi'illodium, except this time, it had an additional golden highlight that the Pi'illodium did not have. Regardless, the scanner told him exactly what it probably was.

The variant Laughtron Z.

Interestingly, unlike its supportive counterpart, it did not possess any wheels or other means of fast transportation, it still had a pair of relatively normal, albeit skinner, legs. The bat squinted at the lanky Laughtron, was this thing going to attack him super fast or what?

But before the bat could predict what it was going to do, the Laughtron suddenly gained a red aura, Antasma blinked at the sudden boost, it engulfed the Laughtron and swirled around its joints as it turned its eyes into a red glowing abyss.

The bat slowly turned to follow the red smokey trail, only to see the new variant of the Futuristic Pi'illodium that he is less than enthused to see.

The new Pi'illodium variant now prompted a bright red coloring with a silver body and two glaring red eyes, the mech also had two pairs of what appeared to be spears attached on either side of its head, the tool glowed with a red aura as it empowered various enemies nearby, including Laughtron Z.

As its appearance would have suggested, the scanner told him that it was the X variant of the Futuristic Pi'illodium.

Antasma twitched slightly in rage, he'd have to go through this crap again but with different parties, at least they weren't super fast now, which was always a relief. And not to mention, variant Y Pi'illodium was also here, ready to heal any damaged machines that the bat would wound up attacking.

He sighed deeply in annoyance, if Dreambert were to throw him into a room with only these variants, he would be bullied to no end, or he would overcome them like he did before. Whatever came first he supposed.

So with a quick shift in the module, he lashed onto the Pi'illodium Y and proceeded to fling himself up towards the ceiling before dashing forward and destroying the Pi'illodium Y with the modified Flame Eruption variant of his module.

Before he had retrieved the first component, he fiddled around with the supportive explosive module that he took from King Boo, only to discover that he could make it so one of his combat modules could create an explosion once it landed on an enemy, Antasma was slightly disappointed to find that only the special dimensional blast and rail cannon, or the rifle's close ranged grab and AOE attack could proc the explosion. Even though it was incredibly satisfying to see enemies being exploded and shredded to pieces with the rippling blast, it was far from convenient to say the least.

That was until he applied it onto the Burning Thunder module.

Oh boy, the options on how much he could modify each attack variant was extremely expansive, he could create an explosive whip that produced an explosion at the strike of the attack, or he could completely reverse the effect by using it to launch himself into the air with a detonation and granting him an easy aerial boost or escape if he was to be overwhelmed. He could even select which variant would proc the explosion and which wouldn't, the customization on this thing was crazy. He felt like he had unlocked an infinite amount of potential with this insane module.

All of which came back to this combo that he had made and tested by himself, by using the explosive module on Flame Eruption, one of the module attack variants that it had, He could make a really fast double AOE explosive strike that could fling anyone or anything that wasn't heavy enough to withstand the explosion. Then with another fast whiplash strike, he hooked onto a random Beanish Soldier and swung across the room like a spiderman while dispensing explosive fire bullets at the crowd below.

He didn't even bother activating his wings, by using the unpredictable momentum alone, he was able to dodge various attacks from the bots below while being able to strike at the normal Laughtrons and Futuristic Pi'illodium with little to no risks, obviously the soldiers themselves were capable of dodging his whiplashes, which did lead him to miss a few swings from what he intended, but the dodges only added to the unpredictability as he would easily hook himself onto the wall with his claws and launch himself to the other side as he whiplashed onto a Laughtron and swung a perfect one-hundred-and-eighty degree before pulling towards the mech and cleanly slice the head off the Laughtron with a clean strike from the instantly summoned sword.

Now that he had dispatched all of the bots and soldiers on the upper part of the staircase, the new variants no longer had a group to cover against. The bat grinned with glee as he stared down towards the dumbstruck variants at the bottom of the floor, gripped the railing of the staircase and hopped over it, then cleanly landed back at the same spot as he had first dispatched the cyan Pi'illodium.

The lanky Laughtron glared at him with its red voided eyes, the boosted aura from the Pi'illodium X was still prominent but it was clear that the speed he had taken out their planned squadron was a surprise to them. None of them could see his shit eating grin, but he didn't need them to. From starting on getting his ass kicked to now finally executing combos with satisfying smoothness, the reward of finally being able to fight was good enough for him, at least for now.

The Laughtron gripped its fists tightly as it shifted into a curled stance, before hopping into the air and starting to spin like a wheel. Antasma narrowed his eyes as the thing began revving up and charging at him with full speed.

Normally something like this would've been preferable to dodge, however Antasma was built different.

As the incoming wheel of death approached him, he held up his hands..and parried the rolling steel. Which effectively brought it to a stuttering stop as the strike had killed all of its momentum and stunned the rolling mech, the bat used this opportunity to snag onto the cyan mech and proceed to stab out its core the moment he made contact with the machine.

He landed back on the ground and glanced at the last enemy of the room, the Pi'illodium X.

The machine stumbled backwards in fear as the bat approached the machine with a menacing stance, it tried to attack him like all the others but he simply sidestepped the attempt and sliced one of its legs off. The mech twitched in shock as he jumped up and stabbed it in its core, twisting the blade and spearing the energy part out from the red Pi'illodium. And then with a beat, the machine shuttered and fell down lifeless.

The bat heard the door to the second floor open as he soaked up the remaining Castaphrose, the bots were problematic, but the difficulty had yet to truly ramp up.

He entered the second floor, spotting the familiar hallways and corridors that he had once explored at the beginning. But of course, more enemies spawned, more variants spawned. At this point the machines were just annoying him rather than putting up a challenge, but fortunately, two of the parts he needed were on this floor. So with a speedy strike, he destroyed all the squadrons of machines and Beanish soldiers before he managed to pick up both of the pieces.

Antasma stretched his back as he finished his task, the entire thing was both exhausting and rather tedious, even though he had previously considered it to be annoying, the amount of techniques and strategies that he had to come up on the fly was exhausting nevertheless.

The bat cracked his neck once more, oh well. He got the parts anyway, time to visit Mimi.

So with a swift dive into the nearest vent, he quickly emerged from the other side and came face to face with the green spider once more.

"OMG! You're back!" Mimi exclaimed, "And you already got everything? Whoa, that's a new record right there hehe~"

Antasma exhaled deeply as he faced Mimi's playful attitude, he really didn't want to deal with any of her banter, and certainly not her teasing. So he decided to make this a quick visit.

"Yes yes indeed, anyvays, here's the stuff you told me to get." He muttered before handing over the parts.

Mimi examined the three components carefully before beckoning him to open up his chest compartment, the bat lazily opened up his chest as the spider began attaching the new stuff into his body. Mindlessly, he zoned out while she worked and thought back to the armored Pi'illodactyl that he had "fought".

He remembered that Dreambert had really liked the Pi'illodactyl a lot when they were children, even though Antasma was in awe of the adult beasts, Dreambert was the most gentle towards the younger ones and even cuddled with them when they were playing in the woods. So what had happened that led him to treat them like this? He had searched the terminal entry for the Pi'illo, but nothing came up. So he had no idea what turned him into this, was it the mental strain of the cybernetics? Possible, considering that Dreambert most likely had a very old version of the cybernetics he was using. But…the problem was that both of them were beings of mind, their mental fortitude was incredibly strong, in fact, Antasma would've argued that Dreambert was even stronger than him since the Pi'illo did not collapse into despair during the one thousand years of never ending nightmares that he had trapped him in. The bat was comparably more susceptible to deception and corruption than the Pi'illo, and yet Dreambert had fallen, and now Antasma had to take him down.

The bat scowled deeply at the thought, the Pi'illo was more talented than him, he was more privileged, and he was even more powerful . Dreams are beloved by all, everyone desires to have a sweet plentiful lucid reality that they could retreat to whenever tiredness befell their form. No one wanted a hellscape of unending fears and their own insecurities presented in the worst possible form. No one would support an entity that represents that.

Antasma clenched his fists tightly.

Just…why? Why? Why did Dreambert let this happen to himself? He knew damn well that the Pi'illo would overcome whatever trouble plagued his mind, the prince had managed to deal with some of the most troubling events of his entire life, ranging from being kidnapped and ransomed from other kingdoms as a child, to leading armies and defending the island from invasions. The Pi'illo had done it all, and he had witnessed it all.

So why did he fall to something as simple as a mind plugged machine? He did not even feel the supposed mental strain of the cybernetics, and was even hailed to be the only one that had not gone insane from the side effects.

…

…

The only explanation that Antasma could come up with is that Dreambert was always like this from the beginning. From his childhood, to his adult life. Dreambert always had dark thoughts and desires ever since he had an inkling of knowledge about it, but he just hid it underneath his fluffy appearance and status. Never showing his true face until he could find an excuse to act on his darkest dreams.

The bat growled at the realization, Dreambert had never fallen, he was already in the ditch in the first place.

"Oh, whoa, are you ok Tassy?" Mimi asked.

Antasma blinked and glanced down, the spider had already finished upgrading the signal jammer and was just staring at the bat during his entire mental spiel.

But the only thing he said was.

"...Vhat did you just call me?"

However Mimi pointedly ignored the question and began to talk about something else.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt for you to tell me what's on your mind, we're both in the same sinking boat…ya know…"

The bat stared at her while processing her words as a bewildered conclusion came to his mind.

Is she…offering to be his friend?

The spider twiddled with her front legs as she waited patiently for his response, it was clear that she never had asked for companions as she always had company around her due to her playful boisterous personality. Her vibe had always attracted her tribe, and that tribe was almost always seeking, or welcoming new members. She was an extrovert who gained friends by either inserting herself into the conversation, or being invited into the conversation.

Antasma could tell that she had all of those traits the moment he had interacted with her, he knew what this woman was like and immediately disliked her for it. Hobgoblins, no thank you. He would like to keep to himself…which was pretty ironic considering that bats are the most social animals to exist, but he had his preferences now.

So when Mimi had actually asked him to be her friend, he was noticeably stunned at the request.

"Yo-you don't have to actually tell me, I just wanted to know what's been going on in your mind, I mean…you're essentially fighting your bff, and I know what it's like to be going through that…ever since mine betrayed me too…."

The bat said nothing, but he was conjuring up a response, a part of him wanted to just tell Mimi to forget it, he was really not up for any personal conversation. Especially with a giant spider.

But another part of him…also desired for this moment, he felt like he was trapped in his own head with these thoughts. There was virtually no one on this ship that would be of any form of comfort towards him, and all that he received here was angry glares, insults, and tragedy. Everything that had been happening up until now was a painful reflection of the Pi'illos' treatment towards him. During those times, Dreambert was his only beacon of light before it was extinguished with the squelching coldness of hate from all the heretics that surrounded him.

And now he was going to extinguish this one too, with his own fearful hate.

….

The bat sighed at the realization that he would be Dreambert 2.0 if he cut her off again.

…

And so, with a very shaky voice, he began to tell her about his experiences, obviously he left some of the darker parts out, but for the most part, he told her the truth. What he had been through, what Dreambert was like before this, what it was like in the Underwhere, and the villains that he was forced to fight.

However during this, Mimi, upon hearing how brutally Dimentio was killed, cut his retelling off by suddenly bursting into cries of painful sobs that shook her entire frame as she wailed in disbelief of what happened to her best friend. Which in turn, caused Antasma to start mentally berating himself for telling her this information, he should've left that part out like the countless iterations that dwelled in the storage bay. But something in him had him tell her the truth. It was better to let her know and grieve than letting her wander aimlessly in search of closure. At least it was a quick death, his suffering has ended now, he'd be back to the happy-go-lucky jester that he'd known while he was dead.

Once he finished telling her almost everything, she exhaled a shaky breath and looked at him with a tearful expression on her face, even though she had no tears to cry, her eyes told him everything about how she'd been feeling, and the only thing that he could see…was gratefulness. She was grateful that the bat had finally opened up, grateful that he had finally chosen to befriend her, when it was not in his nature to.

"...Thank you for telling me this...at least Dimmy was somewhat happy in his afterlife now. Thank you…thank you so much." She sniffed.

Antasma smiled warmly at her as she settled down, the bat felt a weight off of his shoulder as he was finally able to express his trauma without any type of destruction at all, either towards himself, or to others.

"...I suppose I vould thank you too, I vasn't really much of a..talker vhen I died…considering the amount of times I vas told to shut up. So…thank you too for this opportunity." He confessed.

The spider nodded happily as the bat turned to leave the room.

" And thank you for giving Dimmy a chance! I know he could be RE-ally annoying at times, cuz you know…boys…but thank you for treating him better than what the others would have….…I…know what he has really been through, so thank you so much." She expressed happily.

Antasma smirked in mild joy as he began to crawl into the vent, "Goodbye Mimi, vonce I defeated Dreambert, I vill come back for you… I promise."

However, Mimi simply waved at him and said, "Oh please…don't promise anything, goodbye Tassy!"

And then he was gone.