The plan had sounded simple when it had first been pitched. Royal used explosions, so Cinder should have fought him; Glacier used ice, so Phoenix would fight him. Finally, for Shift, he was going to fight Phantom. His powers and hers didn't really match all that well, but it was the best they had.

He really should have known better...

Of course, things wouldn't work out that way. He had hung around Hope long enough to know that, somehow, the perfect plan would always explode.

Things went horribly wrong right away.

They all came crashing down through the roof, following after Cinder. She had led the charge, using her insane strength to literally jump above the top of the castle and come down hard with a single powerful kick. Her leg shattered the roof and allowed them all to fall through the ice castle, which began to shatter and break apart. As soon as they appeared above the dining area, they all got ready to strike but were instantly thrown off as the music that had been playing cut off.

Pied screamed for help, and that caused the other three villains to snap out of their stupor. Glacier was the first to act, and without hesitation, he jumped toward Pied, attempting to grab at the boy's face. Before the villain could, though, Cinder managed to use the roof as leverage and jumped down with great speed.

Her arms wrapped around Pied, holding the boy tightly, but as soon as she grabbed him, Glacier's hand landed on her back. There was a bright white flash, and then, in an instant, Glacier, Cinder, and Pied were all gone.

Shift felt his eyes go wide, and he crashed through the shattered table and hit the ground hard. "W- Where the hell did they go?"

Phoenix let out a loud curse and grew a pair of wings, stopping his fall. "Shit! Glacier must have had a realm power or something!"

"Why weren't we warned about this before!"

"Because clearly, I didn't know! It's the first I've seen him do something like this!"

Shift went to say something, but he felt a sharp pain as something smashed into him and exploded. He felt himself get flung back, and he rammed into the wall of the ice castle, breaking through it. Before he could recover, something smashed into him, and he looked up, seeing the rage-filled eyes of Royal. The two of them tumbled out of the castle and began to fall to the snowy lands below.

Phoenix went to fly out, but before he could, he noticed the people that had been serving the villains food. Now that Pied was gone, everyone suddenly regained their sense of self and began to panic or scream as they woke up in an unknown place. Phantom jumped toward one and grabbed a man by his head. Her hand sank into his flesh, and she twisted her body and threw the person as hard as she could at Phoenix.

Phoenix flung his arms out and caught the man, but as he was distracted with that, Phantom ran toward one of the walls that was still intact. The villain ran up it and flipped off the side of it, twisting her body. She brought her foot down hard and rammed it directly into Phoenix's head. The boy's body was insanely durable, but it caused him to lose his sense of balance, and he slipped. He crashed into the ground with a painful thud. He rolled the civilian he held out of the way of harm just in time as Phantom dropped down and landed on his gut. Both of them glowed, and he felt himself suddenly fall through the floor. It was breaking apart, though. Instead, he was being phased past it.

His body got about halfway through the floor before Phantom jumped off of him, and her power wore off. Suddenly, matter twisted and overlapped, and the next thing Phoenix knew, he was no longer intangible, but he was still in the wall. Pain exploded through him, and he screamed out as the ice tore into his body.

It was the same form of attack Mister Man used. It didn't matter how strong someone was. When matter overlaps due to a form of phasing, both parts are destroyed. In a single instant, Phoenix felt his lower half burn up and vanish as he was torn in half from the waist down. Phoenix's upper body fell forward, both his arms and everything past his waist totally gone.

Outside, Shift felt himself smash into the ground. The snow broke most of his fall, but before he could fully recover, Royal rammed one of his cards down and smashed it directly into Shift's eye. The card glowed and exploded.

Shift felt his head be blasted into dozens of pieces, but he was fine. Unfortunately, that allowed his passenger to make an escape.

"Freedom!" Druid's arm shot out of the red mass that made up Kevin's form, and she dragged herself back. Her prison tried to grab hold of her, but Kevin was too badly damaged, his body slowing down so it could heal. She dug her fingers into the ground and ripped her way out. "Yes!"

"Druid!" Royal's eyes were wide as he saw the other villain. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Got eaten by this red fucker. Thanks for busting me out!"

"Sure thing. I guess?" Royal shrugged and then flicked his cards down into Shift's body. They stabbed all across the red monster. "You might wanna take cover."

Shift tried to move, but he suddenly found himself being tackled by dozens of bears as Druid grabbed her staff and spawned them on him. Druid and Royal ran for the hills, dozens of the dazed civilians doing the same thing. Kevin managed to get out a single grunt before the cards that were all stabbed into him glowed and then exploded in a massive fireball.

It should have been simple. Phoenix would take on Glaicer, Shift would take on Phantom, and Cinder would take on Royal.

Oh boy, did things go very wrong very quickly...

Cinder suddenly found herself facing a powerful chill as she began to fall. It surrounded her on all fronts, and right away, she could tell she was in another realm. Glacier had summoned a realm within a realm. She hadn't actually ever thought about what would happen if someone tried to do that, but here she was.

She broke her fall into a roll and clutched her arms tightly around the boy who had screamed for help. "Are you okay?"

Pied clutched onto her like a lifeline and shook his head. "Y- You gotta help me, please! T- This guy is crazy! H- He killed my parents and kidnapped and forced me to do so many things-"

It wasn't some villain that she was holding in her arms. She found herself looking down at a crying child whose world had been totally shattered. She held the boy closer and stood up slowly. Just like outside of the castle, she was in a field of snow; only this field seemed to go on forever, having no end in sight. A heavy sky swam above, filled with dozens of bright stars that took the shape of boxes for some reason. Her eyes finally locked onto the man who had brought her here.

Glacier stood dozens of meters away, casually leaning against a large pole that came out of the ground. The pole was a mix of red and white and, strangely enough, smelled of peppermint. Glacier had a large, goofy smirk on his face and threw his hands out in either direction. "Welcome to the North Pole, hero!"

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me..." Cinder sighed, and her eye twitched a bit.

Glacier's smirk only grew, and he pointed toward her. "Hohoho, you've been very naughty. Worry not, child. I'll fix that. You see, we're about to play a game. Oh, I'm sure you'll love it."

"I highly doubt that." Cinder groaned.

Glacier gave a casual shrug. "Well, that's too damn bad." The ground around them began to rumble. "Are you into fantasy books?"

"Why?" She took a nervous step back and put Pied behind her.

"Well, I was just wondering what you thought of elves." A blue hand shot out of the ground. Dozens more soon followed, and then, from the snow, tall blue-skinned men began to rise out of it. They had long, pointy ears and wore armor forged out of solid ice and all carried swords or bows. Ice Elves. A classic fantasy monster made real by whatever this place was. "Get her, my helpers!"

The elves all let out a hellish scream and charged forward. Cinder took a steady breath and then stepped forward, throwing out a punch. Her fist instantly exploded one of the elves' heads, and the creature instantly shattered to ice and exploded. Before she could throw out a second strike, though, a new hand was rising out of the ground, and the other elves reached her. One of them swung a sword toward her, but she raised her arm to block it. The blade wasn't able to cut her, but the ice instantly clung to her skin and caused it to crack, making her wince. Another elf rammed its axe into her shoulder, and once again, her skin froze and cracked, breaking from the intense cold.

"That's enough of that!" She smashed her leg down, kicking the ground and sending out a shockwave in front of her that blew several of the elves apart. As she did that, though, more elves in back drew bows and began to fire. She went to dodge but then heard Pied scream. The arrows were raining down toward him as well. She kicked off of the ground and launched toward him, scooping the boy up in her arms. The arrows smashed into the ground and converted the snow into ice, which spread out, but she was already miles away. "This is just like those damn golems all over again!"

All around her, more elves were created and began to pull their way out of the ground. There were already hundreds of them, and every second a few dozen more would be created.

Glacier remained pressed up against the pole and was holding his belly, letting out a deep laugh. "Hohoho! Yes! Keep dancing! How long do you think you can keep this up for, I wonder!"

"I really hate him," Cinder groaned.

Fighting the golems had been easy compared to this. These guys didn't explode like the golems did, but there were so many of them, and they kept spawning in even faster than the golems. Not to mention their attacks hurt, each one freezing part of her body. She also wasn't exactly equipped for the cold the way she was dressed, and that was starting to slow her down and chill her lungs. It was a deep, painful cold that really made her wish she had her fire powers back or even a realm of her own. It'd be pretty cool to spawn guys into the sun or something.

"Y- You're letting him distract you with his soldiers! You need to take Glacier out and fast!" Pied said through chilled teeth.

"Yeah, I guessed that." She snorted. "He's spawning these guys, and this is his realm. It's sort of like what Sky did when she made all those clones of herself. If I take him out, we can get out of here. I just need to come up with a plan and-"

"You don't have time!" Pied said, shaking his head. "You're going to die if you stay here too long! He's already pulled you into his trap!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Did you see that pole that was behind him?"

"Yeah? What about it?" She glanced back across the battlefield and allowed her enhanced eyes to zoom in. Glacier was still casually leaning against the pole, but something had changed. It was more white than red now. The red lines were slowly vanishing, getting thinner and thinner. "That's not good, is it..."

"It's a time limit! There's a reason he's not fighting us! His realm is a double-edged sword! I've seen him use it dozens of times now! It's how he killed my parents! Once you're trapped in here, time begins to run out, and when that pole turns white, whoever is damaged the most dies! It doesn't matter how durable or strong you are; your heart and brain will instantly freeze and shatter! You have to beat him before that time runs out!"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Whoa, seriously! That's so unfair! Why are realm powers so op! I gotta get me one ASAP!"

"Why aren't you more worried?" Pied asked, making a face. "Time's running out!"

"There's a reason I took us out this far." She twisted her body and watched as the army of elves charged at her. They were all coming toward her, and not a single one remained behind near Glacier. She was miles away, so he likely thought he was safe. They weren't spawning near him either. All the new elves instead appeared out of the ground around her. In other words... "It's perfectly clear where he is now."

"So?"

"So, I haven't been running; I've been getting jump distance."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, hold on."

One of the elves reached her and swung out, but its sword went through empty air as she was suddenly gone. In an instant, she took off, crouching low and blasting high into the air. She kicked her legs out and sent herself smashing toward the direction of Glacier, whose eyes went wide. The man screamed something out and raised his arm up, firing out a wave of ice blades, but she drew her sword and sliced through them. Pied screamed and held onto her back tightly, the boy squeezing his eyes shut as they came down hard. She smashed into the ground, and before any more elves could spawn, she kicked off of the ground and launched herself at Glacier, now much closer.

Glacier gritted his teeth and smashed his hands into the ground, summoning a massive wall of ice, but she cleaved through it in an instant. As she reached the man, she went to punch him as hard as she could, but the ground suddenly began to shake, and she lost her footing for a moment. She recovered fast, but it gave Glacier enough time to make his getaway.

From the snow around them, something rose up. A large sled made totally out of ice. It appeared beneath Glacier, and he stood on it, letting out another laugh. "Hohoho! Nice try! The only other hero to get this far has been that brat's parents!" He smashed his fist forward, and a block of ice smashed into her head. She tore through it with a simple headbutt and came out the other side, finding Glacier was gone. "Up here!" She glared up, and her eyes went wide for a moment. Large reindeer were pulling the ice sled, and they flew through the air at insane speeds. "Catch me if you can!"

"I seriously hate him!" Out of anger, she punched the pole, but it was apparently unbreakable, and she just hurt her hand. "Ow!" The screeching of the ice elves caused her to stand up and begin to run after Glacier, who was getting further and further away, getting as high as he could. She jumped for him and almost reached him, but the sled was just out of reach and rose up even higher. She crashed back down to the ground and cursed. "Damn it!"

"Hohoho!" Glacier was now well beyond the clouds and glared down at her from his sled. She was only able to hear him thanks to her enhanced hearing. "Sorry, but unless you can fly, I doubt you'll be able to reach me! Why don't you lie down and die?"

She flipped him off, but while she was in the middle of it, she felt a sharp pain in her leg as one of the elf's ice arrows hit her thigh. She fought through the pain and took off running at her top speed, staying below the sled. "I'm seriously going to beat the shit out of him!" Pied silently clung to her back and looked back at the pole, which was starting to get smaller and smaller. Despite that, he was able to tell it was nearly out of red.

"Hohoho! I'm honestly pretty ashamed of you, Pied!" Glacier sneered down from the top of the sled and held his hand out, firing more blades of ice, but Cinder easily dodged them as she chased after him. "Your parents tried to fight me, but after your father died a foolish death, your mother begged me not to hurt you. I thought I was doing them a favor by taking you in. I treated you like my own son! All of you stupid brats are my kids, and children don't betray their parents! You shouldn't have done this! Naughty boy, now I have to punish you and replace you! Do you have any idea how useful your powers are! Why did you have to be so stupid like your mom and dad-" Glacier managed to twist his head to the side just in time, dodging a snowball that Cinder launched at him.

"Shut up!" She screamed out. "Seriously, stop talking!"

Pied looked down and fought off the urge to cry. "If you put me down, could you jump higher and get him?"

"Even if I could, I wouldn't." She casually reached back and flicked the boy on the nose. "You'd be killed by the elves. You asked me to save you, so that's what I'll do."

"T- Then hit!"

"Huh?"

"If I take more damage than you, then when the time runs out, I'll be the one to die! It happens one at a time! The time limit will reset, and you'll be given more time to catch that bastard!" Pied's eyes were filled with anger as he glared up at the sled with hate.

She kept running forward and stayed quiet for several seconds. "Is that how your parents died?" She asked quietly.

Pied let out a weak whimper of rage. "M- My dad was the hero Stone Fist, and my mom was named Birdsong. I took after her, power-wise... They weren't strong heroes, but they were still heroes. Then they ran into that bastard and..." Pied felt the tears in his eyes freeze, and he let out a frustrated hiss.

She reached up and placed a hand over one of the hands that clutched into her shoulder. "Want to help me take this guy down?"

"H- How?"

"Well, I need you to take off your shirt."

"What!"

"Just trust me." She smiled. "I'll get up to him this time for sure."

Up in the air, Glacier frowned and looked down. He didn't see Cinder anymore, which likely meant she was running beneath his sled, about to try for another jump. He had made sure his flight was sloped upwards so he'd keep getting higher, but he was at the point where the air became too thin to go up further. Luckily, it was about ten feet out of the girl's reach, so nothing she could do would work. He just had to stay safe for thirty more seconds, and he'd win.

"It's over, hero! I have the high ground! You can't win-"

Cinder jumped up as hard as she could. She came as close as she could to the bottom of the sled, but just like before, it was completely out of her reach. As soon as she began to fall, though, she threw her sword out, using it like a spear. It stabbed directly into the bottom of the sled, providing some extra length. It was still too far, so that's where Pied came in. Tied directly to the sword handle was Pied's shirt. One of the sleeves was wrapped tightly around the bottom of her handle. At the other sleeve, Pied held on for dear life with one arm as he dangled above. His other arm held onto one of the sleeves of her jacket, which she had taken off.

Between the sword, Pied, and the two articles of clothing that had been stretched out to their limits, she had given herself just enough length. She let out a cheer as she grabbed hold of the sleeve of her jacket, which Pied held. She didn't hold on for long, though, because Pied wouldn't be able to support her full weight. He just needed to keep a good hold for a single second, though. She swung herself forward using the jacket as a rope and kicked out with her legs. She let go of the jacket, and with the extra momentum, she was able to come up alongside the edge of the sled, which she grabbed hold of and pulled herself in. She ignored the chill that tried to eat away at her and instead focused on the pissed-off villain who was now glaring at her.

Glacier screamed at the top of his lungs and flung his hand out toward her. Before he could create any of his ice, though, she punched out. In almost every fight she got in, she would pull her punches and hold her strength back, even with guys that had insane durability. Glacier had an enhanced body and could normally take a lot of damage, but not this time.

This time, she didn't hold back.

Her fist met his arm, and red filled the sky as she punched through it, tearing the limb clean off. Glacier's eyes filled with pain, and he dropped to his knees, screaming. "You bit-"

She smashed her hand into his mouth and gripped down, shattering his jaw and several of his teeth. "I told you to shut up." His head smashed through the bottom of the sled as she broke through it, using him, and they began to fall. She let go of him and wrapped her arms around Pied as they dropped through the air. They hit the ground, but she landed with ease.

Glacier smashed onto his back and gurgled, his eyes wide and filled with horror.

"There's not much time left." She yelled out. "You're more damaged than me! I'm guessing you'll be the one selected now! Turn your realm power off! I have a friend who can heal you and will stop the blood loss so you won't die, but he'll only do it if you shut this down!"

Glacier's eyes were filled with fear, and he nodded, trying to scream with his broken mouth. The area around them cracked, and then, before the timer could reach the end, they were spat out, dropping down onto a floor made of ice. They were back in the real world, or rather, Legend's world. Glacier rolled onto his back and clutched at his missing arm, freezing the wound shut as he sobbed.

She ignored him, though, and instead felt her face go white. "Phoenix!"

Phoenix was torn in half, his upper body resting on the floor. There was so much blood pouring out of him, though, that it was pretty clear he was likely already dead. "Don't worry." Phantom appeared behind her and reached out to grab her head. "You'll join him-"

A wave of blue and green fire blasted out of Phoenix's back and rammed into the head of Phantom, who was caught off guard. "Got you!" Phoenix smirked and opened his eyes. Before Phantom could even think of using her phasing powers, her body froze as the fire formed a tight bubble around her, and the girl was placed into a state of suspended animation. "I knew if I played dead, she'd eventually let her guard down, and I could grab her!" The boy announced proudly.

Cinder looked a little sick at her stomach as she stared down at the boy. "You're kind of missing half your body..."

"Yeah, I know." Phoenix winced and grunted. The fire that came out of his back twisted and formed a pair of arms and a lower body. The fire clung to him, and he used it to stand back up. A second later and the fire vanished, and his body was fully healed, outfit and all. "I'm better now, though."

"Whoa! How'd you do that? You can heal!"

Phoenix shook his head and stalked forward to look down at the whimpering Glacier. "No. I didn't heal. I really did get sliced in half. I sort of just negated that, though, by inverting my power. Normally, I expand space rapidly with my flames, but this time, I caused it to do the reverse and shrunk space down. I grabbed molecules and other things in the air and smashed them all together until they were in the shape of my missing parts and then sealed the space between them and my body until they were so thin it was like they were actually connected."

"That's badass! I wish my fire did that!"

"Yours doesn't do stuff like that?" Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "That's weird. Full Monarch was able to bend space with his fire and control matter. It's part of the power of Cosmos. I was actually considered to be a holder of the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos before the heroes found out you were actually the one who held it."

"Oh? Sorry, I guess?"

"Don't be." Phoenix shook his head. "I'm over it."

She nodded. "Could you use that power to heal him? He might bleed out." She gestured down to Glacier. "I was going to get Kevin to do it, but I have no idea where he ran off to."

Phoenix glared down at Glacier. "I can't heal other people; that molecule stuff just works on me. If I tried to do it to another person, I'd likely crush or pop something. I know my body well enough, though, and have done it plenty of times, so it's fine if it's me. Even if I could, though, I wouldn't heal this guy."

"He'll die, though," Cinder argued.

Phoenix shook his head. "No. I'll put him in suspended animation. He won't bleed out. After we're out of this place, the Hero Branch can decide what to do with him-"

In an instant, something rammed into Glacier's eyes and broke past it. Both Cinder and Phoenix stared in shock as Pied rammed his pipe straight through Glacier's skull and impaled it into the man's brain. Glacier spasmed and twitched and then fell back dead. Pied sat on the man's gut and breathed heavily, his arms shaking as he glared down at the dead villain.

Phoenix was the first to recover. "Never mind... I won't be putting him in suspended animation. Shit..."

Cinder stared down at the corpse of the villain and sighed. What's done is done. She didn't really feel bad he was dead, but she didn't feel happy either. "Where's Kevin?"

Meanwhile, outside of the castle, Shift growled and tried to reform. Now that he had lost Druid, his shape was awkward, and it was getting hard to maintain a proper form. Every time he managed to pull himself together even a little bit, though, he'd be blown up once again.

Royal let out a mad laugh and watched the red sludge struggle to piece itself back together. He raised up one of his cards, forcing his power into it, and threw it out again directly into Shift's form. The card exploded and blew the red blob up even more. "Isn't this so much fun!" He cheered. "Look how he tries to put himself back together! Over and over again! Doesn't he know it's useless? I'll just keep exploding him with my cards until not even his atoms remain!"

Druid stood on the sidelines and watched the mad villain have his fun. She held her staff tightly against her and frowned. Her missing eye was back. Shift had kept his word and fully healed her. She glanced down at the smoking crater, watching as Shift tried to piece himself back together, only to be blown up once more. Then, her eyes slowly trailed up to the ice castle.

"By now, Cinder has likely beaten Glacier." Druid sighed and walked toward Royal.

Royal chuckled and shook his head. "Nah! Pops is strong! No way some little girl can beat him-"

Druid swung her staff out as hard as she could. She rammed the wooden stick into Royal's head. Despite being made from a random twig, she had found her staff was shockingly durable, and her strength was quite high. Her attack caused Royal's eyes to roll into the back of his head, and the villain collapsed forward, landing face-first in the dirt, unconscious.

Shift groaned and finally managed to form back together into the shape of a ball. He grew a pair of eyes and stared down at the body of Royal, which was in front of him. Then, his eyes slowly looked up to Druid. The older woman stood in front of him and held a heavy frown on her face.

"Why?" He asked quietly.

"Because," Druid sighed once again. "I want to make a deal."

Meanwhile, far, far away, Metal Ronin collapsed to his knees and groaned. His suit's power was almost out, and he was tired after flying for what felt like days. He collapsed onto his back and let go of Kyle. They were somewhere on top of a mountain, nearing the peak, when his body finally gave out.

"J- Just go on without me, bro." Metal Ronin coughed out.

"Like hell, I will!" Kyle shook his head and stood up. He reached down and grabbed one of Metal Ronin's arms and began to drag his friend with him. "You're coming with me!"

"That rock villain might be back." Metal Ronin groaned. "Or other bad guys could show up. You don't have time to worry about me. Just get yourself to safety."

"I won't leave you! You've been flying for days now, keeping me safe!" Rowan used all his strength and carried Metal Ronin across the ground. It was made all the worse by the fact he was climbing uphill. He didn't stop, though, and kept marching forward. "We're going to get to safety together one way or the other- Whoa!" He had just reached the top of the mountain when he suddenly came to a stop.

"What is it?" Metal Ronin asked.

"Look for yourself."

Slowly, Metal Ronin forced his suit to move. The head twisted a bit, and he stared down at what rested at the bottom of the mountain. It was a massive city, one with giant stone buildings and an enormous wall around it. And there were people running around the streets?

"What are people doing here?" Kyle asked in awe.

"I don't know." Metal Ronin said, equally stunned.

Unknown to both boys, they had just stumbled into Magnolia Tree City.