Chapter 158: The Demon
The group passed the portal which closed behind them. Now, they were back in the secret underground room with the demonic pool. Ai was nowhere to be found. Instead, they heard the pool’s liquid move. Upon closer look, they saw that Ai was sitting in the center of the pool, holding the now reformed Demon Star, which the blackness was graying, then turning white. The pool’s liquid was entering her. Ai's body was more and more engulfed by a black aura that eventually hid her completely.
“What is she doing? That’s not reviving Pazall, right?” Goombella asked.
In a few more seconds, the pool was entirely emptied, and there was a flash of light before the black aura abruptly disappeared. At the same time, Ai flew up, her body now possessing wings of pure darkness. Her fur was now black, and her eyes were glowing red. She had long, very sharp claws, the ones of her feet going through her shoes, her tail was pointed like the head of a spear, and she had a crown of black horns on her head, the horns on her forehead longer than the others on the sides.
The Demon Star, now a pure white, was left in the middle of the pool, on the ground.
As she flew, Ai looked down at the group, smirking.
"Pfff, revive him? Now why in this world would I do that?" Ai responded with a grin.
"Huh? Ain’t that what you’re just doing?" Bowser asked, confused.
"Oh c'mon, do you believe for a moment a creature like Pazall would spare me just because I revived him? I am NOT setting myself up to be just another bad guy that gets taken out by the bigger bad one! Nuh-huh! Screw Pazall!" Ai said in a fit of anger, getting her hair spiky, then she quickly summoned a hair comb of darkness to smooth her hair.
"No… I am not a moron. I have a way better idea," she said as she finished combing her hair back and discarded the comb. "I am going to TAKE Pazall's power for myself! I am gonna be the new Pazall, entirely in control of my own actions, and I am gonna bring destruction with my own paws! Nyahahahaha!"
"But I don't get it! Why!? Why would you do this all in the first place? What could bring you to go through all this?" Goombella asked with desperation, wanting to reason with her.
"Yeah, what was yer deal with Bao Leo? He called you a friend and yet…" Apple Death also questioned Ai.
Ai let out a dark chuckle. "Why indeed…? Then, if it would ease your souls before your demise, I guess I got time to humor y'all with a tale. Care to hear it?"
The heroes all looked at each other, then Apple Death nodded.
"Sure, there's no rush to kick yer butt," Apple Death replied.
Ai's right eye twitched a bit. "Cocky little.... Ahem, alright! If you want to know, this is the whole truth."
Ai looked at them for a moment before starting.
"So, like I said before, the truth is mostly what I already told you all before but with things either skipped or just sliiiightly changed… For once, yes, Bao Leo was in fact my friend. Childhood friend to be precise. The greedy, power hungry ruler I talked about? That actually would be his father, who at the time was the actual emperor of the Felinois."
"So he was your friend for so long, and yet you…" Kooper said, his fists tight.
"I did what I had to do, now shut up and let me keep going,"Ai told him, cutting him, but not meeting his eyes.
"Anyways, one day, Bao told me about his father's intentions with the Demon Star, so naturally, I told my parents who by the way were its Guardians, meant to keep it safe from 'the wrong hands'.... Heheheh… Nyahahaha!" Ai said, starting to laugh as if she just heard a joke, unnerving some of the heroes.
"Guess what?~ Turns out, said wrong hands were way closer than anyone could have anticipated… They were none other than those damned, hypocrite LIARS! These very Guardians were conspiring with the emperor to fully abuse the star’s power to rule with iron fist, and none would have realized it until it was too late! Hah, who would have thought? Hehehe…. heh."
Ai looked at the heroes, her expression… hard to comprehend.
".... Still, innocent and dumb as I was back then, I tried to do 'the right thing' and stop them. I ignored the words they were trying to convince me with, lied and told them I was with them, and when they let me attend the reunion where they were going to give the emperor the Demon Star to kickstart their plans, I leaped out for the Demon Star and used a shockwave to stun everyone and made a run for it. I thought…I really thought I could just do it y'know? Get away with the Demon Star and hide until Mama and Papa stopped thinking and saying mean, hard to understand words and just… wait until they were nice again. Damn I was such an utter idiot!"
A really bitter tone could be picked up in her voice.
"Turns out I didn’t make that far before being surrounded by a whole platoon of corrupted guards that didn’t think twice about skewering a little girl for power, and leading them were none other than that megalomaniac emperor and my own parents. They literally were going to stand there as right in front of them their own daughter was about to get killed, and they had the GALL to look completely guiltless! I WAS GOING TO DIE AND THEY JUST CARED FOR THEIR STUPID POWER! I-I was!- And they just-ugh!..."
Ai suddenly turned around, not looking at anyone.
A single sob was heard.
Then Ai continued, her voice completely neutral. "And that moment… was when I was shown the Truth! The Demon Star… its power… it showed me ALL the truth of this world!"
She turned around, but this time, her bright yellow eyes glowed brightly, and her grin was wild and unrestrained, showing a pair of sharp canines. "This world we are in is filled with filth and corruption! Nothing but people that would sell their very souls at the promise of absolute power! Even the brightest souls can be corrupted…" Ai said, looking at Mario, who just looked back defiantly.
"...And the vilest of villains will stop at nothing for their ambitions, no matter how hard and how many times they have to try." She wiped her head to look at Bowser this time, who looked at her not with the same confidence for her words struck true, yet still he didn’t yield his gaze.
"So I just said screw them!~ They want the world that bad?~ Well then, why don't I just BREAK IT BEFORE THEIR EYES!? AND BREAK IT I DID! ...Shame tho, the ever total softy he was, Leo just had to come and caught me off-guard at the end just as I was gonna move on to the actual rest of the world. He got the Demon Star shattered and me locked away. But hey, at least I got back to the emperor and those traitors…."
Ai then became silent for a moment, just looking sinisterly at everyone before her, how she 'got back' to them going unsaid…
She then spoke again. "And after that? I snuck in a piece of the Demon Star that I managed to hold on, and because nobody hardly knew anything about it, everyone assumed that using its power once granted me immortality. And then Leo… After everything, could you believe he still visited me in my cell? We talked a LOT across the years, and soon enough it was just too easy to snuck details out of him. Hah! And I am the foolish one? He just let out after long enough that the places he hid the Demon Star were none other than our old hangout spots! Really, he was just too… too… trusty and… sentimental. Kinda like you were…" she let out in a softer voice.
She shook her head. "Anyway, there you got it. The whole, unadulterated truth. So? Maybe with this, you can understand what needs to be done? I give you one more, LAST chance: turn back now or… I am not gonna take responsibility for what happens to you all," she said, looking at them. And for a moment, there was a glint of hope behind her eyes.
But everything she got back was the same from everyone: defiant, determined stares.
"So that's it? You think you have the right to be the judge and executioner of this world just because it wronged you?" Apple Death said
"Yeah! What gives? I ain’t gonna lie: what you went through is something I can't begin to imagine… but to say the entire world deserves to be destroyed for that? That can't be right!" Kooper said.
"There's way too many good people out there! Mario, Princess Peach, the Professor, all the friends I've made… They deserve to live too!" Goombella said.
"Not to mention, even we bad guys have those we look out for! Those parents of yours? Real garbage, not discussing that. But I personally would pummel ANYONE daring to touch my Junior! And I also got my kingdom! So I am stopping you right here and now for them!" Bowser said.
"We cannot just allow ourselves to get lost in the dark, because of everyone that is counting on us. You aren’t the first to threaten us and I am positive you aren’t the last. We are beating you all the same!" Mario said.
Ai Looked down, her gaze downcast and, for a moment, she seemed to falter. Yet quickly she scolded and looked back at them with renewed anger. "Then so be it! If you wanna hold and stick to those pathetic ideals, you can do so from your graves! Come at me if you dare!" Ai said, ready for battle.
"With pleasure!" Apple Death said, she and the heroes equally prepared for blows.
Apple Death began the fight by firing a large purple beam that Ai avoided by teleporting before she sent two giant balls of darkness. The group quickly dispersed to avoid them, the balls exploding upon impacting the ground.
Because Ai was flying, there was no way for most of the group to reach her. However, thanks to the Lìliàn Armor, Mario was able to jump high enough to hit her with his hammer, and he hit her with such force that she was sent crashing into the floor. While Ai recovered from her crash, Goombella and Kooper took the occasion to attack her. Bowser also breathed fireballs at her.
Ai got up and sent a small shockwave that pushed Goombella and Kooper back. The wounds she gained closed in a few seconds. She then materialized two black swords that she swung to send black waves, targeting everyone randomly. Apple Death sent sharp bones to destroy the waves targeting her, then sent many more at Ai. Despite her attempts to avoid them, there were too many, and some of the bones pierced her. Ai quickly removed them however, and again, her wounds healed rapidly.
“Regenerating is cheating!” Bowser shouted. “How are we going to defeat her if she constantly regenerates?”
Apple Death rubbed her chin, then looked at the pool, at the Demon Star. “Ah think Ah know how! The star!”
“Oh! Of course! The Demon Star was made to fight Pazall. We can certainly use it to defeat Ai,” Kooper said.
“I heard you, you know?” Ai shouted at them before she moved closer to the Demon Star. “I won’t let you get it!”
At this, Ai sent a powerful shockwave that covered the whole room, sending everyone crashing while attacking and weakening the surfaces. The whole room began to shake, and pieces of the ceiling began to fall. Quickly enough, the pool, and the Demon Star, was buried under a pile of debris, pieces of the manor above. Ai then teleported out before she was herself buried.
“She’s collapsing the whole place!” Goombella shouted.
“Let’s get out of here!” Mario said.
Apple Death grabbed everyone in her telekinetic grip as she opened a portal leading to in front of the manor, and threw them in as she flew through as well. Kooper and Goombella landed roughly on their backs, Mario managed to catch himself with a handstand flip, and Bowser was sent sliding in his shell until he was suddenly lifted into the air in a massive hand of shadows surging up from the ground. The ebon limb threw the paper Koopa King at Apple Death who stopped him in her telekinesis, correcting his position to place him on his feet.
While this happened, Ai reappeared in the sky above the heroes, her right eye twitching as she trembled in barely contained fury. Mario drew his hammer, Apple Death manifested her scythe, and Bowser readied himself, as Kooper managed to convince Goombella they’d be better off trying to dig out the Purified Demon Star, when they could reach the manor.
With a growl, Ai shot towards the ground like a comet, causing a wave of dark flames and dark spikes to erupt around her on impact, the heroes running, jumping and floating as able to avoid it.
Bowser spat fireballs at the fallen Felinoi, only for a dome of darkness to appear around her, blocking the blasts. The flame still obscured her ability to see Apple Death’s approach, the ghostly filly breaking the shield around Ai with the tip of her scythe, only to be parried by Ai with a sword made from darkness. The two exchanged strikes and parries for a moment, only for Mario to strike Ai with a horizontal hammer swing from behind, sending her flying, thanks to the added strength of the Lìliàng armor.
Recovering midair, Ai then sent a storm of sharpened waves of darkness-infused wind with swipes of her claws, Apple Death quickly summoning a bone wall to protect the others while she approached the Felinoi from beneath.
Just as Apple Death was about to hit her, Ai teleported back to the ground, threw her arms to either side, charging dark lightning into orbs in her hands, then launched it as a beam putting her hands in front of her.
Apple Death managed to shield herself from the blast long enough to teleport herself back down to the ground as well, but she still had to recover from a nasty shock as she reappeared on the ground as well.
Princess Peach sipped her tea, only to nearly drop it as she heard a sound like the crack of thunder, despite the lack of a storm.
Looking towards the sound, she saw what appeared to be a giant beam of black and purple lightning coming from somewhere around the old manor!
Oh no, the Princess thought, as she began to run towards the battle, hoping she could do something to help.
As Apple Death shook off the dark electricity, Mario and Bowser charged at Ai, dodging and deflecting Dark Fireballs and boulders covered in dark energy. The paper plumber reached her first, jumping up to smash her with his hammer, only to strike a dark shield summoned by Ai. The Felinoi forced him to jump back to dodge a dark fireball, only to herself be forced to jump away by Bowser attempting to crush her from above, avoiding the shockwave by launching herself into the air.
Apple Death managed to intercept her with a slash from her scythe, sending her sprawling to the ground. As Ai got up from the strike, the heroes regrouped behind her, facing the Felinoi’s back.
Ai turned around slowly, revealing the glowing slash mark along her left eye just as it finished healing.
With a small growl, Apple Death sent waves of purple energy from her scythe while Boswer kept breathing fire at Ai while Mario jumped up to strike from above. Jumping over the barrage, the Felinoi clashed a large fist made of darkness against Mario’s hammer, interrupting the clash with an uppercut from the other hand made from darkness.
Apple Death then took pieces of the destroyed manor and sent them at Ai, only for her to teleport to avoid them, reappearing next to Apple Death with a sword of darkness in hand.
As the two started exchanging strikes and parries with their respective blades, Princess Peach came running up, desperately calling out.
“Wait! Ai, ple-” But her words were cut off by a loud crashing sound, as Kooper could (barely) be heard in the manor beyond.
“WE’RE ALRIGHT,” he called out, despite the remnants of the manor falling around them.
Ai’s eye’s widened as she heard that, realizing that they were going for the star, but before she could react to stop them, Apple Death and Mario struck from both sides, the filly impaling the Felinoi through the torso on her scythe, as the plumber slammed her head from the other side.
Forcing the two away with a quick burst of dark flame, she broke the scythe still impaled on her with a darkness-covered limb, then pulled the tip from the other side of her body, then threw it at Apple Death while sending more dark flame at Mario, only to be forced to teleport away by Bowser trying to ram her in his spinning shell.
Reappearing as her wound finished healing, Ai then heard Princess Peach calling out.
“Ai wait! Please listen to me!”
The Felinoi turned to Peach while sending a wave of dark fire with her arm at her, the Princess jumping back to dodge it, as she yelled her response. “You’re just like me all those years ago! So naive, thinking things can be settled easily and peacefully!” She was forced to turn her attention to Bowser, who had taken the time she was talking to Peach to approach Ai and try to punch her.
Blocking the punch with a darkness-enlarged arm, she then began an exchange of blows with the paper Koopa King, the two trading fists at rapid speed for a moment before Ai sent Bowser flying with a powerful punch. Princess Peach then looked at her with pain and confusion in her eyes, asking, “What do you mean? Why are you doing this?”
The Felinoi swung a sword of darkness at Peach, only for Mario to parry it with his hammer. Following his parry with an overhead swing, Ai dodged it with a slight jump back before sending a dark fireball at the plumber. Destroying it with a hammer swing while Apple Death reengaged Ai with a new bone scythe in hoof, Mario then took a moment to explain what Ai had told them about her history.
Princess Peach was heartbroken by what she learned, but also affirmed in her sudden resolution that she needed to talk Ai out of her end goal.
While Mario recounted Ai’s story, Apple Death and Bowser continued the fight, gaining Ai’s attention. Bowser constantly breathed fireballs while Apple Death sent spinning scythes made of purple energy. Ai either dodged or blocked all that before she countered by growing dozens of spikes out of the ground, forcing Bowser to jump and Apple Death to fly up. Teleporting behind Bowser, she put her fists together in a ball and slammed the back of his head, causing a burst of dark energy and sending him crashing to the ground.
She then spun to dodge a spinning scythe from Apple Death, sending a dark fireball back at her. Intercepting the fireball with one of her own, the filly charged at Ai with a hoof covered in purple fire, slamming it into her jaw and sending her crashing into the ground right next to Bowser, as he was recovering.
Taking a quick moment to stop coughing and get the dust out of their eyes, Ai and Bowser noticed each other, and Ai jumped back as Bowser spat a fireball where she just was.
“AI!” The Felinoi heard Princess Peach call her name as she landed and looked at her.
“You don’t need to do this! What happened to you is horrible, but it doesn’t mean you need to punish everyone for the actions of a few people. I know the past can’t be changed, but we can still make sure there’s a brighter future for all! And we can do it together!” The princess called out, hoping that Ai would listen.
Ai gritted her teeth, looking aside a bit before she glared at Peach. “I’m working for a brighter future where the world will be free of everything that is wrong!” She punctuated her statement with a lunging punch at the Princess, only to be intercepted by Mario, the plumber swiping the punch away with one arm as he swung his hammer with the other, sending Ai stumbling with a blow to the side of the head. She recovered in time to block a fireball from Bowser then dodge a spinning scythe of purple energy with a jump.
Jumping back to avoid the scythe himself, Mario jumped above Ai to stomp on her head, only for her to shift slightly, letting him drop past as he swung his r wave of earthen and dark spikes around her, forcing the heroes to jump over it.
“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! I can’t go back now! I’ve come too far to start having second thoughts. Now that I have lost my best friend… This is all I have left!”
With that, Ai teleported next to Princess Peach, dark sword in hand. With a cry, the Felinoi swung for the Princess’s neck.
Only for her blade to snap as it made contact, with a burst of pink magic coming from the Princess.
The magic sent Ai reeling with a hiss of pain, covering her eyes with one arm.
As the magic faded, Ai saw the Princess standing before her, still smiling her hopeful smile.
“It doesn’t have to be.”
Everyone was silent as Ai stared at the princess, panting as her body healed.
Peach held out her hand.
Ai reached forward to take it.
And fell forward with a cry of pain, the darkness she commanded now seeming to rebel against her.
As suddenly as it started, it stopped a moment later.
Ai stood up and opened her mouth to speak.
What ended up speaking didn’t sound like Ai.
“Her intent for my power was humorous, but this farce has gone on long enough.”
It was a dark, booming voice, not at all what usually comes out of the mouth of a young girl.
Suddenly, Ai’s body was entirely covered by the same liquid darkness that had been in the pool in the underground. The liquid solidified into the shape of a humanoid male body three times the size of Ai, keeping the same body elements that she gained upon absorbing it-the crown of horns (bigger), the wings (larger), the pointed tail, the sharp claws-but removing any presence of fur or hair. Two eyes that were nothing more than glowing yellow lights appeared, and a mouth of sharp fangs formed. It didn’t have any clothes.
The demon admired his claws. “Aah. It’s good to be back.”
“The heck happened?” Bowser asked.
“It seems… that Pazall took over Ai’s body,” Apple Death answered, glaring at who she presumed was Pazall.
The demon grinned at her. “The equine is right. I am Pazall. The Living Calamity. And this pawn turned out to be a disappointment. I thought that I would be in for a show, letting her use me to do my job, but in the end, she was too weak. As they say, you are never better served than by yourself.”
“Let her go!” Peach yelled.
Pazall laughed. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t let her go. Her body is now mine. She is stuck with me for eternity.” He then looked at the heroes with sadistic glee. “And she will get to witness as I finish what she started and destroy this world once and for all.”
“We won’t let you!” Mario said.
Pazall looked at him with amusement. Then, he raised a hand toward the sky and sent an electric ball into the dark clouds. A rumbling followed, and suddenly, black lightning began to rain all over the kingdom. Unbeknownst to the heroes, the dark clouds began to expand beyond the borders of Felina.
“I would like to see that. I’m immortal. And as long as I’m alive, this world’s time is limited. Already, as we are speaking, my clouds are spreading destruction.”
“We have the Demon Star!” Apple Death exclaimed.
“Which is still buried under the manor, and I doubt that your two friends will manage to get it by themselves. There are tons of debris on the way.”
Oh, he had a good point.
“Ah’ll need to go help them get the star,” Apple Death whispered to Mario and Bowser. “Ya’ll have ta fight him without me for a small while.”
Mario and Bowser both nodded.
Pazall grinned, hearing her. “Oh? You three already had difficulty against the girl. How can you think that these two will last even five seconds against me by themselves?”
“Well, ya’ve the same powers than Ai, since she used yer powers, so the fight shouldn’t be harder.”
Pazall chuckled. “With these powers, she was like a baby. I’m a fully experienced adult. Observe.”
He then stomped his foot on the ground, and the next instant, dark fire spread out, then gathered and elevated before spinning, forming fire tornadoes that began to move in circles around him. Mario quickly lifted Peach bridal style before the three heroes jumped (or flew in Apple Death’s case) away to avoid one of the tornadoes. With a wave of his arm, birds of dark electricity flew after the heroes, forcing Apple Death to intercept them with her own electric blasts, only for them to be caught from below by shadowy tendrils coated in spikes.
Pazall tightened the tendrils’ hold, then made them slam everyone on the ground three times before they disappeared. Mario quickly took out and ate a Mushroom, then gave one to Peach before he went to give one to Bowser. Meanwhile, Apple Death made bones come out of the ground under Pazall, making the demon fly up only to find himself in the path of purple fireballs, getting hit by several of them.
Pazall quickly recovered however and sent spears made of dark ice at the heroes. Peach ran away, allowing Mario to dodge the spears while Bowser destroyed them by punching them. But then, Pazall created wolves made of darkness that began to attack the heroes while they were still busy with the spears. So Bowser placed himself between Mario and the spears, shell facing them so they shattered on it, allowing Mario to focus on the wolves alongside Apple Death. Constating that his spears weren’t working, Pazall stopped sending them and instead materialized dark hands to throw pieces of the manor, so both Apple Death and Bowser had to work to destroy them and protect Mario as he dealt with the wolves. With his hammer, Mario only needed one hit to destroy them. When only one remained, Mario grabbed it by the tail and spun before throwing it toward Pazall who had no problem dodging it.
Apple Death suddenly teleported beside Pazall with a bone scythe, and the demon quickly materialized a trident made of darkness to block her. Pazall then created a second trident in his other hand to attack her, only for Mario to jump and hit him with his hammer on the head, sending him crashing. Pazall got up, only to be rammed by Bowser in his spinning shell.
Pazall got up again, now getting annoyed, only to be engulfed by a laser coming from… Magolor, surprising everyone, especially Apple Death.
“Magolor? What are you doing here?”
“What? Not even a thank you for the help?” Magolor asked jokingly.
“Uh… Thank you. So, uh, why are you here?”
“I decided to check your progress. You have been gone for a while. So, since you went after Peach, I asked where Peach went, followed the direction, saw the fight, and decided to join. You looked like you were doing alright, but the more the merrier.”
“Actually, we really need the help. This guy is one of these guys who can’t stay down, and we need some special artifact to deal with him for good, so Ah must go search for it in these ruins. But Ah couldn’t leave Mario and Bowser alone. But if ya’re here now, Ah can do that now. Uh, watch out, Pazall has finished regenerating from yer laser.”
Magolor looked back toward the demon and saw that Apple Death was right. The laser wounded him very badly, and yet, here he was, as if he didn’t just take a super-powerful laser to the face.
Magolor deadpanned. “Oh. I don’t think that I will like this guy very much.”
“Opinion shared. Stupid regeneration,” Bowser said. “I don’t know who you are, but you have come at the right time. Now let’s kick him to next week.”
Pazall sent fire shaped like dragons, and everyone worked to avoid them, excepted Magolor who used his Ultra Sword to cut the dragons in two. Bowser fired back fireballs, and Mario tried to approach Pazall to hit him with his hammer. Apple Death flew into the ruins of the manor as soon as she could to help find the Demon Star. Pazall teleported into her path to stop her, but she simply teleported to pass him. Before Pazall could give chase, he had to create a dark shield to avoid being cut in half by Magolor’s sword.
Giving up on Apple Death who was gone by now, Pazall made his palm face Magolor and made tendrils of darkness come out of it to wrap Magolor and slam him right into Bowser’s fireballs. Pazall then threw him toward the approaching Mario who caught him.
Pazall then gathered darkness into a ball and sent it toward the heroes, the ball beginning to suckup everything, revealing itself to be a black hole.
“Hey! That’s my move!” Magolor shouted.
Everyone had to run or fly away from the black hole to avoid being sucked in. Bowser was revealed to be too slow to escape, so he entered his shell and moved in it, which was faster.
While they moved away from the black hole, Pazall attacked them with projectiles of darkness that snaked toward them. They didn’t do much while Bowser was in his shell, but Mario had to avoid them while running, and Magolor simply decided to disappear into a space hole to get away from all that. Then, once the black hole disappeared, he returned, moved close to Pazall, and created his own black hole. However, Pazall easily avoided it by teleporting away.
Pazall created a giant ice ball that he sent to the sky before he threw an explosive dark ball at it. The dark ball made the ice ball explode, dividing it into countless smaller ice balls that rained everywhere. Bowser took a deep breath and let loose a powerful stream of flame that he swept across the sky, destroying enough of the ice balls to allow Mario to make a charge for Pazall.
The demon simply raised an amused eyebrow before, with a clap, producing a dark gale which started sending the debris scattered around the battlefield flying around him, Mario and Bowser being forced to cling to pieces of the debris or be swept away in the gale.
Magolor had the advantage of flight, and utilized it and his magic to combat the wind, and approach Pazall enough to impale him from below with a Spike of Dark Matter, then unleash a storm of electricity focused through both the spike and the demon.
Apple Death found Kooper and Goombella in what remained of the room with the pool. The two were currently trying, in vain, to move the debris from on top of the Demon Star.
“Oh, hey! How are things going out there?” Kooper asked as he noticed the ghostly filly.
“MOVE ASIDE!” Apple Death shouted, the paper Koopa and Goomba barely jumping out of the way before she blasted the debris with a blast of telekinetic power.
Also sending the star itself flying into a small hole in the floor, by accident.
“MOTHERBU-”
Pazall teleported to escape the spike as he shook off the electricity. Immortality did not include pain immunity, but he had a high tolerance for it.
Raising his fist to the sky, the demon charged dark electricity within it, then with a wave of his arm, sent a wall of dark lightning at the heroes, the ground tearing apart where the wall met it. Magolor managed to dodge it with a space hole, but Mario and Bowser were forced to tank the hit, but managed to make their way through, powering through the wind to approach Pazall.
At that moment, a wail could be heard from the ruins of the mansion, the volume of which sent even Pazall for a loop.
“MOTHERBUCKER!”
Shaking off the wail (he’d heard similar in his time as a salesman in that other Dreamland, and quite a bit), Magolor sent a trio of spiraling fireballs at Pazall, struck the demon in the eyes, and sent him stumbling into an uppercut swing from Mario’s hammer, with Bowser crashing into the back of his legs with a spinning shell tackle to send him crashing to the ground.
With a growl, the demon turned over and slammed fist into the ground, sending pillars of dark flame and lightning alternating in a wall, the lightning arcing between the fire.
Bowser went onto his shell and spin-charged through a pillar of fire, slaloming between the alternating walls while Magolor carried Mario up and over the walls, about twice as high as the demon itself. Magolor coated Mario’s hammer with electricity and tossed the plumber towards Pazall to attack from above while he dove to attack from behind.
Their attempted assault was thwarted by the demon summoning a new hurricane around him with a roar of fury, the summoned dark beasts now coming in tandem with the attack, and empowered by them.
As Bowser mowed his way through pack after pack of dark wolves, Mario and Magolor worked their way through the dark birds and Pazall’s own attacks, still managing to strike the demon every so often, but his regeneration kept him in top form, despite their tenacity.
But Pazall, though powerful beyond his opponents highest potential, was still beginning to lose his patience.
Within the demon’s body, another fight was playing out.
One between the Demon and the one who he overtook.
Ai struggled within the demon, each successful strike against Pazall allowing her to fight back more.
It would still take a long while before she could help in any manner, however.
Apple Death searched the small cave at the bottom of the hole the Demon star had fallen into. Looking high and low, she couldn’t see any sign of it.
However, a glint of light then caught her eye. Turning towards it, she spotted the Demon Star now floating and approaching her.
She took the artifact in her hooves, and felt herself warped to the remains of the room with the pool.
Not losing time, she teleported back up to the battle, hoping to get it to Mario.
Kooper and Goombella, meanwhile, blinked the spots out of their eyes, and wondered what just happened with the bright flash of light they just saw.
Reappearing in the front of the manor, Apple Death took stock of the situation.
Pazall was in the center of a massive hurricane throwing fire, lightning, ice and dark beasts at the heroes, who were trying to do their best to fight back.
The Demon Star suddenly burst into a bright light, banishing the gale, and forcing the demon to recoil as its light washed over him.
Spotting the Star and filly, Magolor shoved Mario in Apple Death’s direction, then charged and fired a beam at Pazall, hoping to keep his attention away from them.
Apple Death caught Mario with her telekinesis and put the Demon Star in his hand. As soon as the star touched Mario, it brightened even more.
“As Ah thought, the armor is multiplying the star’s power. Now hit Pazall as hard as ya can with it! We’ll do our best to help ya.”
Mario nodded, and Apple Death let him drop back on ground before she flew toward Pazall, quickly followed by the plumber on ground.
Seeing Mario approach with the Demon Star, Pazall panicked and teleported away before he unleashed hell to stop him.
“I won’t let you come close to me with that thing!” he shouted as he sent another hurricane filled with ice, fire, and electric projectiles, without forgetting the dark beasts.
However, he was so focused on Mario that he didn’t see Apple Death teleport behind him and blast him toward Mario who almost hit him with the Demon Star. However, he was able to put up a dark shield that the star touched instead. The shield was quickly destroyed by the star, but it gave Pazall enough time to teleport away. He then resumed trying to stop Mario from approaching, but this time, he kept an eye on the others, calming down from his panic.
Magolor created a black hole that sucked up Pazall’s projectiles, but there were still many for Mario to dodge. Bowser got an idea then and approached Mario, running alongside him.
“Climb on me,” he said before he entered his shell. Mario understood and jumped on the shell, and Bowser began to move as rapidly as he could while in his shell. He also moved left and right to avoid the projectiles.
Pazall flew backward to keep his distance, but he was then stopped by both Apple Death and Magolor who moved in his path and attacked him. However, instead of remaining to deal with them, he teleported away again. But Apple Death teleported after him and sliced him in half with a scythe. Surprisingly, however, while Pazall’s lower body dropped, the upper body continued to fly and blasted Apple Death before it flew away, starting to regenerate. Mario hit the lower body with the star just in case it could regenerate too, destroying the darkness covering it and leaving behind Ai’s lower body which was back to normal (without the black fur and all).
Pazall avoided Magolor trying to ram him, then sent more projectiles at Mario and Bowser before he had to block Apple Death’s scythe with a trident, only for her to hit him with purple eye beams. Pazall decided to teleport again, but this time, he teleported far away from the manor, attempting to escape.
“I will destroy this star another time. For now, I will focus on destroying the world,” he said before he began to fly away, only to suddenly stop. “Ugh… W-what? What’s going on? Why can’t I move?”
“I won’t let you!” came a female voice from within him.
“Girl? How are you-?!”
His arm suddenly began to move against his will, palm pointed toward the sky. Dark energy charged into a large ball that was sent, and the ball exploded not long after.
“Everybody should be here before long, now.”
“Stupid girl! If I die, you will die too! Let me go!”
“No! I refuse! Return to the hell you come from, demon, and leave this world in peace!”
At this moment, a portal opened not far, and out of it came the heroes, as well as Peach, Mario still riding on Bowser’s shell. It didn’t take them long to spot Pazall, and they immediately moved toward him. Pazall tried to move, to teleport, but nothing worked.
“NOW!! KILL HIM!!!” Ai yelled.
“RAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” Pazall roared as he used everything in him to free himself.
“NYAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Ai roared as she used everything in her to remain in control.
It didn’t take long for Mario to be close enough to jump and reach Pazall.
“Let’s GO!”
The Demon Star hit Pazall right in the torso, and right away, the star exploded, liberating a huge quantity of energy that engulfed the area in light.
“NOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” the demon’s screech of agony was heard all over Felina and even beyond.
The dark clouds in the sky began to disappear, and the light disappeared, leaving behind nothing of Pazall. For the first time in over one thousand years, the sun shone on Felina.
All that remained of Pazall’s body was Ai who began to fall, but she was quickly caught in Apple Death’s telekinesis. The filly slowly moved her down toward the ground where everyone waited.
Ai stirred slightly, slowly managing to lift herself up.
Mario went and helped her stand, bracing one arm over her shoulder.
Ai looked at him and then passed her gaze over Apple Death, Princess Peach, Bowser, and even Magolor, and said, “Thank you.”
Apple Death looked at her with a somber smile, answering, “We wouldn’t have been able to get him if ya hadn’t fought back like ya did… Though I think we should go back to the Felinoi settlement n’ tell ‘em that Pazall’s dealt with.”
Ai nodded, her muzzle slowly acquiring tinges of grey, “You’re right. My aging should be prrr-oof enough for them that the Demon is no more…”
Apple Death gave a side eye to Bowser, who simply kept panting, seemingly oblivious to her gaze, then opened a portal back to the Felinoi settlement’s Throne Room, where Qiang Claws was still waiting for their return, having put the dust of Bao Leo into an urn and now simply sat in front of them.
Hearing the portal opening, he turned his attention to the heroes, gaining a light glower at the sight of Ai, but also seeing the signs of age taking its toll on her, just as it did his liege, he understood the answer to his question.
“The demon is gone? Pazall is no more?”
Apple Death turned back to her filly form and answered. “Yes. He is.”
QIang Claws put one hand on his heart and kneeled before the heroes. “You have done my people a service that can be repaid in no small measure. You have our thanks and our aid, if ever needed.”
As Qiang stood upright, Ai started to cough, dust coming from her body. She looked Qiang in the eye as best she could, in her state.
“I’m sorry for what I did. But I’d like to tell you my reason for my actions, if you’ll hear me out.”
Qiang Claws eyes narrowed, then he nodded, “Very well.”
“Without me,” Bowser said. “I’m done here. Where did you put Kammy? The world isn’t threatened by some schmuck anymore, so it’s time for me to go.”
Qiang told Bowser the directions to the chamber where he placed the still unconscious Kammy, and Bowser left without another word.
“Thank ya for yer help!” Apple Death shouted after him.
“I DIDN’T HELP YOU! OUR GOAL JUST HAPPENED TO BE THE SAME!” Bowser yelled back.
It wasn’t long before a Koopa Clown Car flew out of the palace.
Within ten minutes, many in the town were told the tale of what truly happened on the night Ai summoned the demon Pazall, the corruption of Bao’s father, her own parents’ betrayal, and the Demon Star itself compelling her to break it.
At the end of her tale, Ai was now at the end of her life.
“Well this is it… Eh… This adventure really gave me gray hair, uh? Eheheh… I’m really sorry… for everything I did…” a very aged Ai said to the heroes and Peach, on a bed in the palace.
“It is alright. In the end, you did the right thing. This is what matters,” Peach reassured.
Ai chuckled before coughing. “If only… I had known you… earlier… Bao... I'm so sorry... I can't wait to see you again... old friend..."
As she said these words, she faded to dust, the final word echoing throughout the room.
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So what are you going to do if you reach the 1,000 chapter limit and this story still isn’t complete?
11786277
I don't think I will ever reach it. But if it happens, then I will simply continue this in another story.
Instead of ‘Admire,’ I think a better word to use would be ‘Observe.’
11786304
Alright. Thanks.
In English, we usually specify iron fist. Specifying the way your hand is being used makes it more menacing. (The only villain emoji we have is Trixie, who doesn't work here. Stupid emojis being stuck in Season 1, a Sombra would be really effective here!)
I mean, Bowser is kind of a jerk but his kingdom isn't any worse a place to live than the rest of the world (unless you count the volcanism which probably isn't his fault and volcanic ash is a really good fertilizer anyway).
Again, I'm not sure the world could do much better than letting him win. Half the time he's the one who ends up defeating the real villain anyway!
Or Apple Death can do ghost things. Would Ai even be able hit her through all the rocks? I can just imagine the "and you accuse me of cheating?"
In multiple senses of the word.
Don't you hate it when a boss moves on to their next attack at exactly the wrong time?
Turning towards him after that line would have illustrated her point even if he hadn't decided to attack right then.
We usually call them gray hairs in English, at least if this is meant to talk about signs of aging and not simple color.
11786770
Can you blame Apple Death, considering she was a little heated over being tricked for an extended period?
Also, for the Bowser thing, I just had the mental image of brief JoJo's Bizarre Adventure style punch rush clash.
11786770
Thanks, corrected.
And in recent games, he even puts on shows for everyone involved. I would have personally loved to see his concert in Mario Wonder.
Always.
True.
11786775
Took me a moment to realize that you were specifically riffing on "the world" here. I'll be honest, I wouldn't be surprised to see Bowser being able to cast Time Stop but his preferred throwing implements are arc-based.
11786878
I actually wrote that part of the fight, and in my head, I was imagining him just suddenly appearing, like DIO, but the scene playing out more akin to All Might vs Nomu, in My Hero Academia, but significatly shorter, as you can tell.
EDIT: Also, Bowser is probably strong enough to send a hammer like to one the Hammer Bros use spinning like a buzz saw disc.