“I don’t have much time to talk,” the Everblood said. “I have incantations to chant and cakes to bake and ultimate shade to cast over zee land. Men will you kindly take care of these felons.”

The men lurched forward as Bunting stood upon the black gold. His head tilted with a crack very similar to Rosemary and his eyes rolled into his head as he gave a gleaming smile. The storm clouds swirled ominously above him as lightning flashed and wind blew his hair upward. When he spoke, his voice was no longer high pitched but gutteral and raspy.

“Black gold, black velvet abyss

Swallow up the land of light

Grant the world your devil’s kiss

Bathe the land with eternal night”

Antonio, Van and Jetta all ran into battle. Antonio and Van stood back to back, keeping men on both sides at bay, while Jetta dashed back and forth, throwing knives as she dodged the swings of swords and staffs.

Archibald whispered to Cyrus. “Quick, princey. We need to sneak around them and melt the black gold before that crazed chef finishes his incantations. Fortunately, for us, we have distractions.”

Cyrus and Archibald crept around the battle as Van and Antonio cut down their foes and Jetta threw knives in hers. They soon became adjacent with the Bunting and his black gold. Archibald tossed Cyrus a bag of dragon powder and Cyrus consumed it, ready to do his job. Cyrus’ belly filled with fire and he blew an enormous blast towards the gold. The chef’s pupils quickly returned to his eyes and they shifted to Cyrus. He broke incantation to shout, “Antonio!” Bunting cried. “Zee lard.”

Antonio jumped forward, slipping two magical purple pot holders on his swords and deflected the blast. The fire shot back at Cyrus and blasted him off his feet, setting the prince’s clothes on fire and burning his skin. He rolled around frantically, only stopping when Archibald quickly doused him with dragoon water. Cyrus’ whole body was singed and the burns stung him badly. The only relief he had was knowing Antonio had finally shown his true colors.

“Cyrus!” Vanessa screamed, holding her hands in front of her face.

“Zat was too close,” Bunting exclaimed before he growled. “Antonio, you ‘ave not earned your keep with me. I cannot give you what I promised unless you protect me.”

Vanessa’s eyes shifted to Antonio. Shock froze her body and Cyrus could tell-even as he writhed on the ground- that she still wasn’t prepared for his betrayal. “Antonio, why did you just do that?! Was Cyrus right about what he said about you? Please answer me.”

Antonio stared directly into her eyes with a brooding pain on his face. His normally cool demeanor was strained with a grimace. When he looked up at her, his eyes were filled with a cutting disdain. “My sweet Van. Like a lot of chicas, you have a simple mind that thrives on pure emotion.”

“What?!” Van exclaimed, giving a look of tender fragility. “Why would you say something like that?”

Corazon walked with his arms outstretched towards Van as the Majester ran to take care of Cyrus. “Van, Van,” he taunted in his teasing, but cold voice. “ Mi corazon was broken a long time ago and since then, I’ve had nothing but love for manipulating a pure hearted chica like you.”

Van was silent but watched with trembling eyes as Antonio’s frozen brown eyes offered her no console. Her tough demeanor lay stripped and bare, ready for Corazon to give the death blow to her heart. “I know it may seem like I loved you, but in reality, you were nothing but a trump card for me.”

Tears flowed from Van’s eyes like Cyrus has never seen before. The pain from his physical wound seemed just as raw as Van’s emotional wound. Antonio mockingly blew a kiss to her and laughed as she gave nothing but congested sobs.

Jetta stepped beside Vanessa and gave Antonio a death glare even harsher than the one she had given Cyrus. “I may not know much about love,” Jetta growled in her prideful, husky voice. “But I know what a good man looks like, and you’re the furthest thing from it. I can’t even believe the words coming out of your mouth.”

Antonio smirked and raised his hand. “What can I say, life has been unceasingly cruel to me so I can only give back what I get. Until I get what I was promised, I will never be happy.”

“Life’s going to get even crueler for you, when Archibald and I are finished with you, scum,” Jetta shouted.

“Oh, but wouldn’t it be more fitting if this naive chica got a swing at me?” Antonio said. “After all, I broke her heart, wouldn’t she love a chance to stab mine?”

Van looked up with rage burning through her tear filled eyes. She held a shaking hand forward and pointed her sword right at Antonio. “I….will….” she said.

“Are you in any shape to fight?” Archibald asked.

“I’m…not…but….” Van stammered, before her eyes went wide and she belted out a piercing scream. “ANTONIO!”

Antonio grinned and unsheathed his other rapier, positioning it playfully in his hand. “It’s my pleasure then. There’s nothing my corazon loves more than to go heart to heart with another sword swinger.”

Van let out a cry and swung her sword right at his head. Antonio blocked it with one sword and mischievously jabbed her breastplate armor with the other one. She flinched and he let out a boastful laugh. “This is what happens when you let pure emotion drive you,” Antonio said. “You leave your heart open to all kinds of attacks.”

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As he dodged another swipe by sucking in his stomach, he smirked. “I’m honored to be the one to teach you this lesson in life, my sweet Van. Before this, you were so naive, sweet and innocent. I’m happy to make your corazon as black as mine.”

Van didn’t humor or retort his banter like she normally would. Her eyes were tear stained and her face flushed with embarrassment, sadness and pain. Cyrus could tell she wanted nothing more than to run her sword through Antonio’s gut.

The two swords-people were evenly matched despite handling their form in two vastly different ways. Van, even in spite of immense grief had a discipline instilled in her from both her teacher and the knight academy. She always made sure that every move from her sword was the best it could be, and it was only her visible display of emotion that kept her from using them effectively.

Antonio, on the other hand, was wily and swung his swords in a chaotic and unorthodox, if still talented manner. Cyrus could discern that his sword play was learned on the streets and often relied on trickery from his wit to be truly effective. Cyrus knew Antonio was using Van’s heartbreak in order to prolong the sword battle so Bunting could accomplish his deeds. But Cyrus did not dare point that out, for he feared he would unleash the black gold inside of Vanessa.

Bunting begun to chant again but just as he did Jetta threw knives at him and he leaped off the black gold. He snarled at her, “Eet seems you do want your revenge for vat that gold made you do?”

“Of course,” Jetta yelled. “For everything you did to me, to my father, to our home. I want nothing but vengeance.”

“So be it, leetle Jetta,” Bunting smiled and he whipped out a darkly colored frying pan. “You will be a fine appetizer before my main course.”

He used the pan’s wide circumference to block the knives thrown at him before dashing towards Jetta attempting to whack her over the head with it.

The battle continued on the edge of the graveyard with neither side prevailing. Van was harboring too much emotional pain to bring Antonio down and Antonio lacked the coordination to truly bring down an elite knight from the Toccata kingdom. Instead he started to rely on taunts.

“Maybe you’ll understand true loss one day, Vanessa,” Antonio said, running from another blow aimed at his vital organs. “This is nothing compared to what I’ve lost. You’re a frivolous teenage girl obsessed with love, but me, I’ve lost everything. I lost the woman who brought me into this world.”

Van began to shake and speak for the first time. “Antonio, you’re a stupid, cold hearted fop. At least you had your mother in your life. When I came into this world, my mother died shortly after.”

Antonio’s eyes widened from the shock and he felt Van’s sword slash across his chest. It slashed across his red carnation sending flower petals scattering through the air. Antonio fell to his knees from the pain. She pointed her sword right at his head.

“And you know what,” she said. “The fact that I could love someone after that says more about my strength compared to yours.”

“May you never love again,” Antonio growled.

“I won’t,” Van said raising her sword to decapitate him, but before she did, she froze in place and quickly dropped to the floor.

“Vanessa!” Cyrus screamed. “Archibald he poisoned her with black gold.”

“Correct,” Antonio laughed. “She’s my trump card. After all, if you try to stop Bunting I’ll just kill her right on the spot.”

Archibald having finished rubbing healing powder on Cyrus’ wound, lifted the prince to his feet They both ran over to Vanessa who had begun to twitch violently on the ground and moan. Cyrus cried. “He’s summoning a monster inside of her!”

“Correctomundo,” Antonio said, rising to his feet. “You wouldn’t dare harm me when I can destroy your precious little friend.”

Cyrus gasped as he watched Van’s face change to a singular eye and a wide snout much like Maddie did. But it gave him an idea. “Archibald, do you have a transcendity?”

“Coming right up,” Archibald said and quickly handed him the uppercase T. “My one and only transcendity.”

Cyrus ran to Van and quickly knelt over her. Van attempted to bite Cyrus and flail around. The young prince realized he had no choice but to sit on her with his bulk. Archibald got out his spell book and quickly started to chant.

“Begone foul creation

Back to your wicked land

Which begat you

And a thousand abominations”

Cyrus followed his words as he placed the T on the top of her head. He was so happy he could save Van and once he read the words, she would be back to normal and they could stop Antonio and Bunting. Archibald started the next stanza but as he did, Cyrus watched as the wooden T was chopped in half by Antonio’s rapier.

“I hope you didn’t forget, cerdo, that I was there when you cured that wench. I won’t let that happen again.”

Cyrus let out a whimper as he realized that Van was done for.

Antonio boasted and angled his sword at Van and Cyrus. “Now if you would kindly get off of her before I cut you into slabs of pork, bacon boy.”

Cyrus flinched as he avoided a swing of Antonio’s sword, grabbing onto Vanessa’s long pointed snout and holding her down. Cyrus looked into her blood red eye hoping to see traces of his friend rather than a monster. When he couldn’t see any traces of her humanity, he began to cry.

“Get off of her!” Antonio howled. He slashed Cyrus’ back and blood began to seep from it. He cried and held Vanessa even tighter.

Losing blood, Cyrus opened his eyes one more time to look wearily into Vanessa’s and to his surprise, he saw two eyes instead of one. He embraced her hard and he watched as a golden light enveloped her in the same way when he read the chant to Maddie. Her snout slowly changed back to female lips and the specter inside of her escaped into the open where it quickly flew into the black gold.

“What happened?!” Antonio said dumbfounded.

Cyrus didn’t know either and the world was rushing around him. Archibald quickly sprinkled powder on Cyrus’ new wound causing it to scab over. As Cyrus felt Van’s gentle hand on his face, and looked into her soft eyes, he realized that it was never the transendentity or the words he said- he had a power all his own that could free people from the wickedness of the shadow lands.

Cyrus could see the sweat on Antonio’s face as he realized his plan failed. He ran to the black gold and stepped upon it, “Bunting,” Antonio shouted. “If you won’t use the gold to power yourself, I will.”

“Huh?” Jetta said, stopping to turn her head away from Bunting.

Just as she stopped, Bunting turned around and smacked her upside the head with his frying pan. She fell backwards, knocked out completely.

“Jetta,” Archibald exclaimed as Bunting hoisted up Jetta’s limp body.

“You’ve done a fine job, Antonio,” Bunting said as he held Jetta’s unconscious body in his arms. “Your ruse is as smelly as a clove of garlic and just as potent. Now ‘eef any of you move, this lady will die a quick but painful death as I suck out her life blood.”

Archibald, Van and Cyrus remained where they were. No one wanted to hurt Jetta or provoke Antonio to use the devil’s gold.

With his right hand, he patted Antonio on the back. “Antonio, you ‘ave now earned your keep.”

“Yes!” Antonio cried, raising his hands to the swirling skies above. “At last, we will finally bring back, mi madre!”