The fight between siblings didn’t begin right away. First, they had to clear the battlefield. And The Vixen didn’t even try to take advantage of the distraction. The pair worked together to ensure everyone was safe before starting. Phon teleported all the members to the edge of the room, and Drim would secure them with vines, more for their safety than anything else. There was no need to paralyze them or pin their nerves. Because all they could do was watch and hope.
When everyone was secure, and the Drazah Duet were all that remained, they stared at each other for just a moment. There were no more words left to say. They knew each other too well. Just that glance was all it took for their positions to be made clear. Drim would not stop, and Phon would do anything to stop him.
In an effort to end it quickly, The Slayer sent a dozen giant vines at his sister, to try and overwhelm her. Frankly, he didn’t expect it to work, since she could just move herself out of harm's way. But to his surprise, she didn’t budge. Instead, the woman only stood there still, never breaking eye contact as the plants swarmed her—wanting to weigh on his sentiments as much as she could, ensuring he felt the guilt of his actions.
And it was effective. Her brother’s body quivered from the terrible act he was trying to commit. But at the same time, it made him want to subdue her faster, so he wouldn’t have to stare at her judgmental face any longer. Soon, The Vixen was entirely encapsulated by the vines that had started to form a cocoon. And since they were infused with Drim’s aura, she wouldn’t be able to teleport away. But the imprisonment didn’t last.
All the confining vines split to shreds at once, ripped asunder by the whir of mechanical blades. The cocoon was replaced by a barrier of metal with strings leading back to their wielder, one yo-yo on each finger. And before Drim could attempt a follow-up attack, Phon had vanished.
She reappeared behind him, but didn’t target him directly. Instead, she severed the wily plants at their base, and even went deeper. The yo-yo’s went straight into the portals that let the floral appendages be created perpetually and destroyed them at their source. She hopped around from place to place, trying to wreck as many of the trunk-like vines as she could as quickly as possible.
But Drim wasn’t just going to let her do as she pleased. New portals spawned around her wherever she appeared, sending a barrage of bladed gami leaves at her, ready to rip her to ribbons. It meant she often only had a second or two to accomplish her mission. And she often had to abandon an attack, only to come back and finish the job later. Though she would often turn one of her yo-yos into a shield to defend one angle and buy herself just a bit more time.
Then in retaliation to the constant tracking assault, every so often, she’d suddenly appear next to her brother and attempt to slash away at his cloak. The Vixen could only get one good hit on him, or maybe two if she was lucky, before he’d counterattack and force her to depart. But each bout was effective, managing to cut some of his defenses.
She certainly knew what she was doing. Drim only had a limited amount of nature energy, and any of his plants that she destroyed beyond salvation couldn’t be recovered. The vines she’d wrecked already had eaten a good chunk, and in the stone room, it wasn’t like there was a way for him to really replenish it. So the man needed to be more sparing.
The king despawned every portal around him, because the massive vines were more of a hindrance than a help. And most other special tactics he could try wouldn’t be too useful. The sleeping spores wouldn’t work again because she could just teleport away and get a protective mask. Free of Rathe’s encapsulating aura, she could go anywhere in the world.
It begged the question why she hadn’t. Phon could go get any of their powerful weapons or gadgets to try and subdue her brother, or even try to get Nathym to come and convince him as his best friend. But it was likely a risk she wasn’t willing to take—refusing to let Drim out of her sight for even a second. Because a few seconds would be all he needed to throw away his life.
The man could try to force her away, but he doubted it would prove effective. She really would fight him to the end, even if it cost his sister her own life. And that was something he couldn’t accept. No one else would die except for him. That was his commitment—frustrating as it may be since it meant he had to hold back. But that meant they’d have to settle things more directly.
Sparks flew as their weapons finally cashed. Phon was wisely keeping her distance, knowing that a single prick from a plant would end the fight immediately. Still, Drim tried to send a few more vines after her, but she was on guard, always teleporting or slicing them to bits before they could reach her.
Time and time again they clashed, their emotions crying out through the rings of battle, each hit carrying the burden of their beliefs. It felt like they would go on forever. Maybe that was for the best, since Drim was confident he could outlast her in a battle of energy, able to replenish it whenever he needed from the unwitting sources around the edges of the room, and possibly steal some from her as well.
But it seemed she recognized that too and became bolder with her actions. Phon started teleporting closer for faster and more abrupt attacks, well within the range of being captured. But she just had to be quicker on the draw, moving again before she could face retaliation.
And annoyingly, her blitzing tactics were working. Drim was being punished from all sides. His cloak took the brunt of any damage, but it wouldn’t be able to save him forever. He needed to overpower her, predict where she’d be, find some way to take her down. Yet that was proving far more difficult than he’d imagined.
The Fiendish King had committed a grave sin: underestimating his sister, the person closest to him. Perhaps because he had a set view of her, how she’d been changing, improving, constantly forging ahead had escaped his notice. Phon was a far superior fighter than he remembered, unimaginably improved since the last time they’d sparred.
And that had been years ago now. Though he hated to admit it, they’d been unconsciously drifting apart. Not for any specific reason besides the business of their lives. And he regretted it now. He should have made more time for her, paid more attention to her, been more cognizant of her needs and life rather than perpetually expecting her to stay the same reliable confidant at his side.
Because that’s exactly what she’d done. Always watching, always observing every detail. Constantly trying to improve herself to be of more use, to tailor their situation to be the best possible for her brother—truly selfless. That was her life, her own commitment from the very start. And now her resolve was proving stronger than his.
It finally happened, a decisive blow. Phon had been placing floating shields around her brother to create more footholds, more surprise angles she could attack from. He’d been trying to destroy them whenever he had a moment to spare, but those were too few. And he was eventually caught off-guard.
While Drim had been pulling his punches, his sister didn’t offer the same courtesy. A bladed yo-yo whirred forward, slicing through his thigh, severing his left leg entirely. The limb flopped to the ground and green blood spewed into a puddle on the floor. Though The Vixen’s commitment was to save him, it meant she might not be able to save all of him, but she’d take what she could get
Yet despite it all, the ensuing blood less, the agony he felt, The Slayer didn’t miss a step. Instead, he leaned into it, pushing down with that limb as if it was still there. And it virtually was. Wood and vines sprouted immediately, crafting into a new leg in the blink of an eye. And he carried through the pain to make a deep cut of his own, slicing into Phon’s side.
But she too wasn’t going to let it bother her and pushed ahead. If anything, the anguish only spurred her fury further. Her attacks became more wild and sporadic, crazy and random. And at last, victory appeared in her grasp.
The woman managed to snag both of Drim’s blades at once. The strings of her yo-yos wrapped around them and the whirring metal flew off to each side, dragging his arms apart and turning into floating platforms that anchored them in place. Phon took the opportunity, likely the only one she’d get, to completely exploit that single moment of weakness.
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Every remaining yo-yo she had wrapped around her brother's body, completely entangling him in the strings. They outright destroyed his protective cloak, and then to ensure he couldn’t brute force his way out, the metal teeth of the buzzsaws dug into his skin.
Drim collapsed to the ground, trapped and defeated, writhing in the sheer ache of his confinements. He’d undeniably lost. But in her victory, Phon fell victim to her biggest folly. She went to check on him.
The moment his sister was in range, Drim suddenly sprung from his confinements. He’d spawned portals over every inch of his body, each just wide enough to spawn thorns to cut through the strings. And he lunged forward with one final motion, the only one needed to turn the tides. Even all these years later, his sister had lost to the same trick.
Drim wrapped his arm around her back, to stop her fall. And he removed his other hand that was holding the larger thorn he’d dug into the earlier gash in her side, being overly considerate as always, not wanting to wound her a second time. He’d coated it with a paralysis agent, enough to stop her entirely and prevent her from moving. But once more, she surprised him.
With the last of her remaining strength, Phon was able to fight through the effects just enough to raise her arms. But it wasn’t to try to attack her brother, to try to stop him. No, she just wanted to hug him back.
And when Drim felt the embrace, he finally dared to look at his sister's face. Of course, tears were streaming out of her eyes, but he found himself greeted by a sad, yet accepting smile. Even now, as she knew she was going to lose him, she still tried to protect him in her own way, by sending him off with kindness.
That was what ultimately broke him, and Thorn was overcome by his own humanity. Every emotion he’d been repressing came flooding out all at once. The man hugged her back, his own face becoming disgusting as he began to sob, crying his heart out as his own chest was soaked with his sister's tears. And the two stayed like that for just a while, longer than they should have as everyone was forced to watch, but it just couldn’t be helped.
Yet eventually, the tears ran dry, and The Fiendish King was hit with a moment of clarity that it was finally time. He wasn’t going to be so callous as to let Phon’s stiff body hit the floor, so he wrapped her in vines and sent her to join the others.
Then all that was left was the slow walk to Rathe’s workshop. Each step felt heavier than the last, as the reality of what he was about to do really started to sink in. But there was no turning back, no room for hesitation. All he had to do, like in every other situation he’d overcome, was press forward.
It got easier as he went. The man’s wounds quickly started to heal, and his stride got stronger. He could likely use another new change of clothes, but may not even need them soon, still a bit unsure how it would all work. The most random questions came to his mind during his unpleasant stroll, and they were a welcome distraction as the time drew near.
And there at the end he came face to face with his fate. Drim stared at the stone core of the world resting idly in its small enclosure. He hadn’t gotten a good look at it before, but honestly, it didn’t quite meet his expectations. Cosmos had been right, it was rather unremarkable, and the man likely would have just thought it a strange chunk of black rock rather than anything special if he didn’t know better.
Perhaps after he touched it, the core would look more interesting—change color to match his aura or light up with his divinity. Or maybe it would still look bland and boring. That might be for the best so that others wouldn’t seek it out. But ultimately, that was all pointless random thoughts that delayed his actions. What mattered was the core’s functionality, and what it needed to continue its good work: his soul.
After one more deep breath, Thorn raised his hand and outstretched his fingers, roughly taking the shape of the rock about to be in his grasp. He jutted it forward. Yet somehow again, he grabbed nothing but air.
Suddenly, he was hit with a bit of force that made him stumble backwards. It wasn’t a lot, just enough to stagger, to hesitate for but a moment, caused more by his surprise than its strength. And the strangest sense was how cold the push had been.
The ghost of Eleen Drazah had appeared directly before him, using all the power she could muster to halt his progress by even a single step. And it was all she needed to change the course of history, to save her son from the gruesome fate, and snatch it with her own hands.
Before Drim could even process what had really happened, to understand that his mother was still alive and had mustered enough strength to attack him, Eleen made her move. She turned around and grabbed hold of the core.
“Wait, no!” her son shouted as soon as he realized. But he didn’t get out anything else, pushed back and silenced by the sudden pulsations, eerily similar to when Cosmos had appeared in their world.
“It’s what the god said, wasn’t it?!” The specter was a bit more chatty as light bloomed around her hand, causing both her figure and the stone, their very reality to distort. “All the core needs is a soul with a strong will! And my soul is still here, too stubborn to pass on! So I’ll do it. I’ll complete my journey and finally take over this world!”
The room was suddenly filled with gasps at the revelation of what the Fiends were witnessing. Though Drim was more taken aback by the fact that there was noise or movement at all. The control over his friends had been broken, and some were starting to free themselves. Yet there was nothing any of them could do but stand there and watch, gawking as the greatest villain in history was on the precipice of ultimate power.
But the dictator’s bravado didn’t hold out, and like her daughter before her, she turned to Drim with a sad smile. “Thank you, my son. You gave me my revenge, saved this world from Rathe’s control, and now Relyk and Writ’s souls can be at peace. So let me do this for you! This is my way of paying you back, for putting up with me all this time.”
“I might have the power, but this world will be yours, just as your father and I always dreamed. However you want to change it, whatever edicts you want to write, I will be your catalyst, your servant, your mother until the end!”
Eleen’s ghost then exploded as it had before when squished by Rathe, but every ounce of her essence was consumed by the core. There was a moment where nothing happened, nothing changed, allowing for a fleeting moment to think the merge had failed. But then there was an explosion of divinity to prove them wrong.
The entire atmosphere of the room changed. It all became more… ethereal, for lack of a better descriptor. The ancient stone sconces turned to torches alight by wisps. And the walls changed color to more of a pale, dingy blue. A haze filled the room to the point that it was practically blinding, obscuring the Fiends’ vision to where they couldn’t even see inches in front of them.
But the mist all flowed to the center of the room, as if drawn by a strong vacuum. It swirled and spun, forging into a figure that resembled the human form. A bit of stone lifted out of the ground and dotted the edges. But unlike Rathe, it became more likely thin igneous garments rather than the being’s very existence.
Eleen’s new body solidified as she remained floating in the air, though never quite all the way. The newly reborn woman took a glance at herself, frowning as she literally looked through her own arm. “I guess I was a ghost for so long, this is the form I would naturally take. Oh well, it will do for now.”
The crowd remained speechless, unsure how to process the new demigod that had been birthed into the world. They certainly quite weren’t sure how to feel, whether to start attacking again, or if it was okay to suddenly trust someone they’d been taught to hate all their lives.
Though there were a million burning questions, the leader of the Fiends For Hire only had one that took precedent. “Can you stop it?” Drim had to ask. “Can you stop the creation of new Fiends?”
“Oh geez, give me a moment,” the just-ascended divine being grumbled like she’d just been rudely woken up from a great nap. “Okay, let me see here…” Eleen then couldn’t help but frown. “No. I’m sorry, Drim, but no I can’t. It would appear that Cosmos’ curse on Rathe affects me as well. I cannot undo anything that she has done.”
“I see.” Though the news was disappointing, the Fiendish King didn’t let it break his spirits. More than anything, even though he was still bursting with energy, he just suddenly felt very tired. The man took a moment to collect his thoughts and then finally turned to the others.
“I know this turn of events is a bit shocking,” Drim had to admit. “None of us, not even me, would have expected my mother to return as the new ruler of this world. I’m sure this has uneased some of you, as did my actions when I tried to sacrifice myself. But please believe me when I tell you that this fight, this day, all this insanity, it is now well and truly over.”
“Yes, this situation is something that we’ll have to adjust to, but that’s a battle for another day. For now, let’s go home. What happens there is up to you. I wouldn’t blame you all if you arrested me, dethroned me, prosecuted me for what I did. But here’s what I’d suggest. Let’s just rest. Let’s tend to our wounds. And let’s get some mawhging sleep.”
“Because we don’t have long. Ultimately, nothing has changed. The world out there is still as it was, and we, or maybe just I, still have an obligation to save it. Frankly, I don’t know what the outcome of the election was, and I’m a little nervous to find out. But either way, we’ll proceed regardless.”
“Project Fiendless will launch as planned.”