Scorpan and Pandora were advancing toward the location of where Gentle Light was. It wasn’t difficult for them to know. It didn’t take long for them to arrive to Arimaspi’s territory.
“She’s close” Pandora said on Scorpan’s back.
“Yeah, I can feel her too” Scorpan replied.
They arrive to the entrance of the villains’ hideout, with Pandora getting out Scorpan’s back. They got in and, after walking for a while, their arrive to a dead-end.
“It’s barrier” Scorpan said. “She isolated herself.”
“Not for long” Pandora replied.
And, charging her horn, she launched a blast of magic that blew up with the stone wall, revealing a hidden chamber. They walked in, finding Gentle Light with her back at them. She said:
“I’m impressed you were able to pass the barrier and find this place.”
“When you were controlling us, we were able to pin point where we’re energy signature was coming from” Pandora replied. “That’s another risk of the Reincarnation Curse.”
“But you already knew that, since it was you who allow Prince Star Knight to release us from your control” Scorpan replied.
“Yes, your right” Gentle Light replied, turning to them. “That’s what I did because I knew you would come and try to release me, so the Reincarnation Curse can have its end.”
“We know that you’re under the Lord of Chaos’ control, but you have to find a way to resist him and allow us to break the binds he has on you” Pandora said.
Gentle Light made a small smile and replied:
“Nothing would give me much happiness than having my will free from him. But there is a small setback in my plan.”
“And what’s that?” Scorpan asked.
“My actions didn’t escape the Lord of Chaos’ attention” Gentle Light replied.
“Yes, they didn’t” a voice replied.
Pandora and Scorpan turned, taking a defensive position, while the Lord of Chaos appeared beside Gentle Light.
“Just look who they are” he said. “My dear former slaves…”
“You think your presence will prevent us from stopping the Reincarnation Curse?” Scorpan asked. “You’re terribly wrong.”
“And do you think I will allow you to stop it?” the Lord of Chaos asked. “Most of the reincarnated beings had been sealed, but there are still a few that are still there. They are keeping a part of the Alliance’s forces at bay. After all, we’re getting closer to the climax… the final battle. I can’t let the enemy using their current full force against me.”
“Do you really think you can win this war?” Pandora asked. “How many times you tried to defeat your brother and everything backfire to you?”
“Pandora, you should be ashamed talking to your former master like that” the Lord of Chaos replied. “Have you forgotten all the things you did to me? Do you remember when you and Rothbart tried to invade Coltypt a few years after I lost it? You two ended up killing one of the Golden Warriors. Now that was fun to watch.”
“I’m not the same as before” she replied.
“Yes, maybe, but that doesn’t change all the things you did for me” the Lord of Chaos said. “In fact, it doesn’t change what you two did for me. But answering to your question, I do think I can win this won. This time, I planned it for years. Beyond my master plan in resurrecting Ten-Tails, I also acquired a great army to fight the one of my brother’s followers. Beyond the villains I already had at my service during the capture of the jinchuriki and their respective tailed beast, what also includes my own General of Chaos, I also had an army of dragons, changeling, Petal Sprout’s clone and, of course, the reincarnated beings that Gentle Light collected for me: Gavin and Grant, the former members of the Seven Swordsponies of the Mist, King Platinum, King Alder, King Gusty Blizzard, Chief Sandstorm and many, many others. Frankly, the time is short to mention them all, but you two should also be on my army. You should be helping my General of Chaos with Project Eye of the Moon. You should be helping capturing Hawthorn and Star Knight.”
“Yes, we should, but not any longer” Pandora replied.
“Our only desire right now is to end the Reincarnation Curse” Scorpan said.
“This curse only exists so that a balance between light and darkness can exist” Pandora said. “It is foolish to use it.”
“But it is thanks to this curse that you can be here right now” the Lord of Chaos said. “If it wasn’t for this… little quest of yours, you, Scorpan, could have meet with your deer older brother.”
Saying that, Scorpan’s expression became harden.
“Tirek…?” he asked. “He’s here?”
“Grogar went to take him” Gentle Light told him. “I had them teleported to the Fourth Unit’s battlefield and he’s now battling some of the regents.”
Scorpan didn’t know what to say or what to feel. On one side, he had a certain hatred for him due to the fact he killed him, but he also loved him because he was still his brother. It was Pandora who got him out of his thoughts, saying:
“Don’t listen to that, Scorpan. The Lord of Chaos only wants to deviate you from our mission.”
“Yes, you’re right…” he said. “We have to stop this curse. We can’t let him desecrate souls that had been purified and make them spread unnecessary sadness and hate. Can you even understand the pain of the dead you’re forcing to fight, Lord of Chaos? The pain of the living whose is even greater than them after recovering from their grief and sadness?”
But that only caused the Lord of Chaos to laugh and then replied:
“Please, I don’t give a damn to anyone but myself. Anyone else is just pawns that I can use at my own will. I don’t care if they are alive or dead, as long as they are under my control. Beyond that, I’m really surprised by those words, after everything you and Tirek did under my name.”
“What I did I did out of blind love for my brother, because I looked up to him” Grogar said. “I hoped I could make him return to what he was. How foolish I was. But I paid the price for that and now it’s to compensate the ones I hurt not with words but with actions.”
“Too bad you’re going to disappoint them” the Lord of Chaos said, directing his words then to Gentle Light. “Put them under your control again and then send them to give support to my General. I don’t show them any opening by purpose. I’m not letting your little plan to get real. Did you understand?”
“Yes, I did” she replied. “I’m not stupid.”
“Well, then, I’ll leave you to it” the Lord of Chaos said, disappearing.
After a pause, Pandora said:
“Gentle Light, I know you don’t want to do this…”
“But I don’t have any choice” Gentle Light said. “I will have to try to control you. And, in order to release me, you’ll need to get close.”
“That’s not a hard to thing to do” Scorpan said. “Have you forgotten what I can do?”
“Oh, yeah, your pulse nature where you combine wind, light and earth to manipulate kinetic energy” Gentle Light said. “That’s the secret behind your ability to attract and repel objects. But I can ensure you that won’t work.”
“That’s what we’re going to see!” Scorpan exclaimed.
And he extended his hand and started to pull Gentle Light over to him and then Pandora approached to hit her. It was then that she charged her horn and then Pandora fell a pain that made her fall on the ground, while moaning.
“Pandora!” Scorpan exclaimed, while releasing Gentle Light, who teleported to a safe place.
The gargoyle turned to Pandora and saw her how body decaying, like a reverse process of the Reincarnation Curse. It was then that he felt that something over her and then, on an impulse, he used his nature to repel on her. A brown dust came out from her and, immediately, she stopped moaning and her body regenerated.
“Thank you, Scorpan…” she said, while rising up.
“What was that?” Scorpan asked.
“That’s my own triple nature” Gentle Light replied. “It’s rust nature. With earth, water and wind, I can cause rust and decay. It feats me very well, don’t you think?”
“I see now…” Pandora said. “I inhaled that dust and then my reincarnated body started to degenerate.”
“But it wouldn’t undo it” Gentle Light said. “My curse wouldn’t allow it. But it would give me the opportunity to put you under my control again.”
That was a problem for them, as they wouldn’t be able to release Gentle Light without approaching, what would be hard with her rust nature being more effective at close distance.
“How will we be able to subdue her?” Scorpan asked. “There must be a way to do it.”
“Well, we know that your magic works on that rust nature” Pandora said. “That’s a start.”
“Yes, but it only gives her the defenses we need, not a way to stop the Reincarnation Curse” Scorpan said. “What if we put her under an illusion spell.”
“I’m sure she has ways to protect herself” Pandora said. “My illusion spells use the sense of vision and she knows that.”
After a moment, Pandora reminded of something that could work.
“I may have something, but I cannot risk for her to know what I’m planning to do” Pandora asked.
“I have a way to have some privacy” Scorpan replied.
And, using his pulse nature, he pushed Gentle Light against a wall and then, inducing kinetic energy on the rocks above, he made them fall on the General of Death.
“You have to hurry” Scorpan said. “I don’t think that will hold her for much longer.”
“Did you ever hear about a special illusion spell that can put someone else under a deep illusion at the cost of the light of the eye that cast it?” Pandora asked. “It’s called the Infinite Loop Curse. It’s a curse that can decide someone fate.”
“What do you mean with that?” Scorpan asked.
“You’ll see…” Pandora replied. “I just need you to caught her attention for a while.”
At that moment, a blast of magic caused the rocks over Gentle Light to be thrown away, some hitting Pandora and Scorpan who quickly regenerated.
“You got it!” he exclaimed, while advancing and using his pulse nature to attack Gentle Light, both directly and indirectly.
Meanwhile, Pandora was trying to execute the Infinite Loop Curse. She tried to charge the energy she need as quick as possible before Gentle Light was able to subdue Scorpan. When she was ready, she exclaimed:
“Scorpan, retreat!”
He did so at the moment Gentle Light used the light blade and Pandora teleported to his place, where she was hit by the General of Death’s blade.
“Do you think you can trick me with a clone?” she asked, while looking at her.
It was then that she noticed one of her eyes becoming white, becoming blind. At that moment, the clone was undone, blinding her for a moment, what allowed the real Pandora to attack, what forced Gentle Light to dodge, but not before the tip of her horn being cut off and fell on the ground.
“I don’t know what you’re planning, but it won’t work” Gentle Light said, while her horn returned to how it was. “I know all of your tricks Pandora. Beyond that”
“That’s where you are wrong” Pandora replied. “Not even the Lord of Chaos know all of my abilities.”
After a drop from a stalactite fall over Gentle Light’s shoulder, she replied, while creating a light sword:
“Well, let’s then see what you can do!”
And she advanced, crushing a stone. Pandora tried to retreat, while Scorpan used his pulse nature, what Gentle Light defended. The General of Death then hit Pandora again, who disappeared like a clone, just like the last time. That seemed strange to Gentle Light, who then sensed Pandora advancing for a new attack. Even if she dodged, the tip of her horn was cut off, just like last time.
“How did she…” Gentle Light started, while a drop from a stalactite fell on her shoulder. “Is she doing an illusion spell? But I would notice.”
Looking to Pandora, Gentle Light prepared to attack her again, only to crush a stone with her hoof and having Scorpan attack her again. She dodge the attack and hit Pandora, only for her being a clone again. And the same thing started to happen over and over again. It was like she was inside and endless loop. It was at that moment she understood what Pandora did.
“The Infinite Loop Curse…” she said. “Well played Pandora. Well played…”
“I told you didn’t know all my tricks” Pandora said.
At reality, Pandora had her hoof over Gentle Light’s head, with her horn being untouched.
“Impressive…” Scorpan said. “I didn’t know you could use something like that.”
“Like I said, it’s a curse” Pandora said. “And now Gentle Light is trap inside an endless loop in her mind, fighting against us.”
“And that’s the reason why this curse decides the fate” Scorpan said. “But when did you cast it?”
“At the moment she impaled me with the light sword” Pandora replied.
“Way back then, uh… But how? You said you could only use visual illusion, so how did you manage to cast this one?”
“The Infinite Loop Curse works with the physical senses of you and your opponent.”
“The physical senses of both?” Scorpan asked.
“As you’re battling your opponent, you use your vision to take a record, like a picture, of the sensations you and your opponent are feeling in that moment” Pandora explained. “As time progresses, you find more important moments that you also record and then you recreate those exact feelings, using your power to recreate the first moment. By overlaying and connecting these two exact moments, the curse also links the path that includes the other moments in between to create fluctuations within a fixed time. In that way, you can create an infinite loop, in the exchange of an eyesight, of course.”
“So Gentle Light’s consciousness is trapped in the loop you created” Scorpan said. “She’ll fight a phantom of both of us for all eternity.”
“Not quite” Pandora replied. “There is an escape route built into the curse. After all, there’s no curse that cannot be broken. We are an example that not even a powerful curse like the Reincarnation Curse is invincible.”
“What is that escape route?” Scorpan asked.
“The only way to escape it is by accepting the outcome of the battle” Pandora replied. “Only after the victim is able to deny the fate they desire is that the curse will end. And since the Lord of Chaos’ binds force her to fight us…”
“She won’t be able to break the loop and release herself from the curse” Scorpan said. “That was really well played…”
“And now it’s time to complete our mission” Pandora replied.
She turned to Gentle Light and, charging her horn, made her binds to appear and then, with a move, he broke them. It took a moment, but then Gentle Light was able to break free.
“Ah, finally!” she exclaimed. “I was done seeing the same thing over and over again and being forced to continue that, even knowing perfectly well the curse.”
“We’re glad we were able to help you” Pandora said. “Now you can undo…”
“Yes, yes, the curse” Gentle Light said. “But first, let’s go to a safer place before I end up being enslaved again.”
And, saying that, they disappeared in a burst of light.