February 9th, 2054.

Somewhere in Florida.

The lake glowed a firey gold color with the reflection of the setting sun. A young man sat at the edge of a dock, fishing. He was a racially ambiguous young man, as most young men were in Neo-Medieval Florida. His teal-dyed hair was short and straight, his skin was a warm coffee color, and he had a deep sad look in his glistening emerald green eyes. He certainly wasn't muscular, but he wasn't overweight either. In fact, he was remarkably thin for someone who spent most of his time sitting and daydreaming. He wore a green T-shirt and black shorts. His iPhone 20 rested in the black satchel that he kept on him at all times. He had his earbuds in and was listening to a sort of symphonic folk music that kept the environment exciting without taking away from its natural feel. The brilliant green of the plastic on his earbuds was rivaled only by that of his dazzling eyes. His name was Daniel H. Descartes, and his favorite hobbies indeed were fishing and dreaming.

Daniel appeared to be in his late teens, but he didn't go to school. He dropped out when he realized how cold and monotonous the system was. His belief was that school kills dreams. Although he loved to sleep and dream, he could never actually remember what his dreams were about, interestingly enough.

Daniel didn't live with is parents, but most people in the Neo-Medieval times didn't. People had to learn to take care of themselves from a young age in case their parents were killed. Assassination was a common danger indeed with America in a state of anarchy. And as of this particular month, cult activity had certainly gone up in Florida. The Cult Of The Black Dagger was said to worship Drale, a legendary elven entity who betrayed her six benevolent siblings so that she could master the forces of dark magic. The White Inquisition were doing what they could to fight back against this cult, but they were fighting a losing battle.

As usual, Daniel had his music turned down low so that he could hear the sounds of nature. It was because of this that he was able to hear the rustling in the forest behind him. Interested in the source of the noise, he turned to see a manticore. The Horned Manticore was a common species in the forests of Neo-Medieval Florida. They were created in the 2020s by Shuijing Mei, a mad scientist and ex-wife of the ever-undying current Lich Dictator Charles J. Bloodhorn. The manticores inevitably escaped and formed a huge breeding population in the forests of Southern Florida. This one, however, looked unlike any manticore that Daniel had seen before. Its flesh was decaying in some places and writhing and pulsating in other places.

This manticore had clearly been corrupted by the Cult Of The Black Dagger. Daniel seemed to recall reports of wildlife corrupted by the cult. As a highly sensitive person, he felt deep sympathy for the creature. He could feel its pain. A chill ran through his body, followed by a sharp headache. He wished he could help the beast, but he didn't know how. The manticore, on the other hand, seemed to have no sympathy for the young fisherman.

The creature crouched down, readied its position, and pounced at Daniel. He thought this was the end of his life for sure when suddenly, water rose up from the lake and formed a protective wall of ice around him. Daniel had heard of hydromancers, but he had no idea that he was one. Never before had he been able to use any magical powers. But now that his life was on the line, his magic was awakening. Still, he didn't want to kill the creature.

"Don't just stand there." Said a cold voice.

Daniel's wall of ice dissolved around him, and he turned his head to see a young woman with long wavy blue hair, fair skin, and piercing blue eyes. She wore a white robe and held a glistening silver sword.

"Fine then." She said, annoyed, "If you won't kill it, I will."

She jumped on the mutant manticore and stabbed it in the back of the head, killing it without seeming to care about the blood that splattered on her robe.

"Who... are you?" Daniel asked as his emerald eyes widened.

"Sister Marielle of the Endless Iron Spire." the young priestess said somewhat arrogantly.

"I have a French name, too!" Daniel said with an innocent smile, "My name's Daniel Descartes! What's your last name?"

"I don't have one." Marielle said, "Or maybe I did and I decided to forget it because it wasn't important. Now, thank me without getting all flirtatious."

"You... killed it." Daniel said, his eyes glossy with half-formed tears, "Well, now that I think about it, I guess you did a good thing by putting it out of its misery. It was suffering."

"You believe animals have souls?" Marielle asked.

"Of course!" Daniel said.

"I don't believe in anything that I can't see."

"For a priestess, you sure don't have much faith."

"I have faith that my sword will vanquish all evil magic."

"But, I just used magic... I'm not evil!" Daniel panicked, "I swear! I didn't even know I could use magic! That was the first time I used it! If you know anything about it, maybe you could teach me how to use it better, and we can fight evil together!"

"I have no interest in the irrational world of magic." Marielle said, "Nonetheless, I guess I'll stick around to protect you from evil. I can't afford to have you die like the rest of my hunting party did."

"Come on." Marielle said as she lead Daniel into the forest, "I'll teach you how to fight. I won't be able to help with your hydromancy, but my sword has runes carved into its blade that allow for some scientifically developed rune spells. I'll let you borrow it if you promise not to break it."

"I'm not sure if I want to kill animals." Daniel said.

"What about all of those fish that you kill?" Marielle asked.

"I only take what I need to survive." Daniel replied, "The rest of the time when I fish, I'm just practicing. The lakes, rivers, and streams bless me with the right amount of fish that I need to eat to stay alive, and I release the rest."

"What about those worms that you impale with hooks?"

"I only use artificial bait. Real earthworms gross me out. I can't stand to look at them. They give me an uneasy feeling, especially since it's so hard to tell them apart from the self-reanimating intestines of electrically charged squirrels. I don't use hooks either. I use biomagnetic orbs to lure the fish in."

"Would you mind killing that lichsparrow?" Marielle said as she pointed to a small skeletal bird perched in a tree, "It's already undead, so I don't see how it would matter."

"I guess I wouldn't mind." Daniel said.

"My question was rhetorical." Marielle said, "Kill it."

Marielle gave her sword to Daniel.

"It's a short-ranged weapon, so you won't be able to reach the bird from down here." Marielle explained, "Luckily, it's not entirely a melee-based weapon. This sword is capable channeling several rune spells, but I suggest you start off with Death's Grasp or Deathly Mercy."

"Deathly Mercy!" Daniel yelled as he pointed the rune sword at the lichsparrow.

"You're supposed to point it at yourself." Marielle said.

"That doesn't make sense." Daniel said, "It sounds dangerous. I don't want to accidentally cut myself."

"But, that's the way that it's supposed to be done." Marielle said, "That's the way Archpriestess Sasha taught my entire faction."

"Deathly Mercy!" Daniel yelled once again as he continued to point the sword away from himself and at the bird.

The lichsparrow exploded into glowing purple dust.

"I did it!" Daniel squealed with joy.

"You did it wrong." Marielle said with a facepalm.

"But, it worked." Daniel said, "I believe that things don't have to always be done the same way. I also believe in myself, and that's why the spell worked."

"Scientific spells don't work that way." Marielle said, "It doesn't matter whether or not you believe in yourself. You just have to know the names of the spells and say them while performing the proper ritual movements with your weapon. And, that dumb sparrow was supposed to explode into gold dust. Now, give me back my sword."

"The details don't matter." Daniel said as he handed the sword back to Marielle, "What matters is that I was successful."

Daniel began to feel some light raindrops on his head.

"I should get back home now." Daniel said, "It's starting to rain, and I don't want to get too much mud on my shoes."

"I don't feel anything."

"That's because you're not in touch with nature."

"I'm not from Florida, but doesn't it rain all the time here?"

"That's why I usually stay inside."

"You're pathetic."

Suddenly, a mutant Silverfang Tiger jumped out and attacked the two of them.

"Rewind!" Marielle yelled as she drew a counterclockwise circle in the air with her sword that caused the tiger to go backwards.

She charged at it and tried to slice its stomach open, but it regenerated. She turned around to see if Daniel would put up a fight against the mutant tiger, and she was shocked to see him sleeping.

"You didn't tell me you were narcoleptic." Marielle groaned.

Daniel's eyes opened, but this time, instead of being a deep emerald green, they glowed bright turquoise. A somewhat insane grin spread across his face.

"I'm not." He said in a tone that Marielle wasn't used to him speaking in, "In fact, I'm an insomniac. But, my other personality doesn't know that. He doesn't even know that I exist. He thinks that he's asleep during the time that I am active. And now that I think about it, he technically is. Now, give me that sword. Actually, never mind. I don't need it."

As the rain began to pour down, Daniel crossed his arms in an X formation with four fingers on each hand pointing upwards like claws. Fleshy tentacles emerged from his shoulders. As the tentacles reached the tiger, crocodile heads began to form at their tips.

"Drowning Bite!" Daniel yelled primally.

The tentacles bit into the tiger and eviscerated it. They then quickly retracted back into Daniel's shoulders. Daniel leaped onto the dying tiger, ripped its heart out, and ate it.

"I'm going to have wipe this blood off of my face so that he doesn't find out." Daniel said with a slight chuckle, "Don't tell him if you value your life."

He tore a wide leaf off of a tree and wiped meticulously around his mouth. He then briefly passed out. When he opened his eyes again, they were the the sad innocent emerald eyes that Marielle was somewhat more familiar with.

"I killed the tiger while you were sleeping on your lazy ass." Marielle boastfully lied.

"Thank you so much!" Daniel said with a brief smile before the rain distracted him, "It's starting to rain heavily. I should get back home before the worms come out."

"That's ...fine..." Marielle said.

She was trying to hide her shock at what she had just witnessed, but there was still a faint hint of it in her voice that Daniel didn't pick up on. He waved bye and ran back to his cottage with a bit of a skip to minimize the encounters between his feet and the muddy ground. It was a small cottage, and very old, but nicely built. He spent the rest of the day playing video games inside. There was still electricity in Neo-Medieval America, but it was a free source for everybody to use. There was no money in America, and the idea of an economy seemed very restrictive to Daniel, but he decided buying things from stores was convenient for Europeans, who were often too lazy to hunt and gather.

Daniel went to bed at 11 PM or at least as soon as he saw a clock at at least 11 PM. That's what he would do every night. His bed was wide, soft, and filled with springs. It was far more comfortable than any one of those beds with adjustable sleep numbers. Although Daniel loved to sleep, he didn't like the boring nothingness that came before sleep, so he would always turn on the radio on his bedside table and listen to his favorite local station The Nightly Forecast. This, however, would often keep him awake all night. Daniel knew that the sleep deprivation caused by his addiction to the radio was a contributor to his narcolepsy, but he wasn't willing to give it up. When he turned on the radio this time, he caught a segment of something about bone divination. It intrigued him, but it was interrupted by a far more urgent message.

"A rift between planes has opened portals all around Blood World, allowing interdimensional creatures of immense power to cross from their planes into the world, spreading chaos and destruction everywhere they appear!" said the panicked voice of zany radio personality Aaron Fly.

Blood World was once known as Earth, but the name was changed in the 2040s possibly to avoid confusion with the rich nurturing feminine element, but more likely because infamous mutant terrorist Cain Cyrus performed a ritual that caused a large percentage of the world's population including many politicians to explode and everything was drenched in blood. This marked the beginning of the second Blood Age.

"No matter how terrible dragons can be, or trolls, or demons sprung from Hell, there will always be darker things coming from the other side!" Aaron went on.

Daniel appreciated Aaron's passion, but he wished someone more serious could have been picked to do his job. Aaron's annoying voice was probably what kept Daniel awake all night. Nonetheless, tonight, Daniel was able to drift off to half-sleep.

And then, he woke up. He opened his glowing turquoise eyes, got out of bed, and walked over to an inconspicuous wall. He turned his left pointer finger into a thin worm-like tentacle that traveled through a small hole in the wall and pressed a button. The tentacle then retracted back into his finger, and the wall opened up to reveal a secret compartment full of various exotic bladed weapons and a turquoise silk outfit with red trim that included a sleeveless embroidered vest and long gloves. He put on the outfit along with sheathed belts, which he filled with various knives. He then went out to seek Marielle to help him fight a certain man he was expecting to see tonight.

Daniel ran though the forest, brutally killing everything that stood in his way, until he came to a clearing where Marielle had set up camp. He crouched down and tapped her shoulder to wake her up.

"Watch it!" Marielle said impulsively as she woke up.

Then, she saw Daniel gazing down at her with his glowing eyes. She was too weirded out by what she had seen yesterday to even question his strange new outfit or the blood that was dispersed across about 50% of its surface area.

"Not this again." Marielle groaned crankily.

"I need your help." Daniel said, "A powerful sorceror has challenged me to a fight, and I believe that you will be a strong ally."

"So basically, you want the fight to be unfair." Marielle said, "You should be powerful enough to take him out on your own, and if you aren't, I'll finally be able to mind my own business without you. Now, let me get my beauty sleep."

The man who Marielle assumed Daniel was talking about appeared before them in a burst of flames. He was an older man but not a senior citizen. He was bald and had a red stripe painted across his eyes. His torn crimson robes were decorated with human skulls. His body was exhibiting early signs of mutation such as claw-like nails.

"I am Drexo Ignis, the most powerful necromancer in all of Europe, hailing from Nekropolis, Arcadia, the necromancer capital of the world!" He said in a flamboyant yet raspy voice.

Arcadia was a country that spanned an area once known mostly as Greece, Italy, France, and Spain.

"What an ugly man." Marielle said nonchalantly.

"Well yes, that's true." Drexo said, "I wish I could be more handsome like your Floridian Dictator Bloodhorn. I just don't get it! How can such an ancient lich be so well preserved!? Sure he's missing his eyebrows, but he has a full head of blonde hair!"

"Ok, somebody explain to me what's going on." Marielle said.

"Rexx Schwartz, the king of the necromancers, held a contest to see who was the most powerful necromancer in Europe." Drexo said, "And much to the disappointment of the Divine Russian Queendom's Nikolai The Tormentor, I won! After I won, King Rexx blessed me with amazing powers, and now, I think I am strong enough to defeat the Prince Of R'lyeh!"

"And, I assume that's Daniel." Marielle said.

"Actually, it's... Oh, I can't pronounce it." Drexo said.

"Xo'xkrhx." Daniel said with no problem at all, "You can call me Daniel."

"That's beside the point." Drexo said. "Mud titans, attack!"

Drexo's right hand glowed, and he pointed it towards the mud, causing it to form a small army of not-quite-living beings.

"Why couldn't you have been a pyromancer instead of a hydromancer?" Marielle sighed at Daniel, "Then, you could have dried them into clay and I could have cut through them with my sword."

"My other personality is a hydromancer." Daniel said, "I'm a carnomancer. Doesn't your sword have any fire spells?"

"No." Marielle said, "Only death spells, and those things aren't even living!"

"Then, it looks like I'm going to have to get my hands dirty." Daniel said, "I'll let you rest. I can handle these mud titans on my own."

Daniel's two crocodile-headed tentacles arose from his shoulders.

"Sih, Seikat..." He addressed his tentacles by the names he had given them, "Do your thing."

The tentacles snaked towards the mud creatures and sundered their limbs.

"Now!" Daniel said, "Enveloping Burst!"

The heads of the tentacles widened and devoured the mud titans.

"Well, that doesn't look very tasty." Marielle said.

Once all of the creatures were gone, the tentacles retracted back into Daniel's shoulders, completely defying the law of object permanence.

"You're next." Daniel said as he pointed at Drexo.

"Hold on." Drexo said, "I'm getting a call."

Drexo pressed a button on a device on his arm, and a hologram of a man appeared next to him. This was a handsome man in his early thirties. His blonde hair was neatly parted in the center, his lavender eyes were decorated with cyan eyeshadow, and he wore a periwinkle suit with glittery silver trim.

"It's my legislomancer!" Drexo said angrily.

"Oh, hello there." Said the deep melodramatic voice of the man in the hologram who was obviously aware of Daniel's presence at the scene, "I am Alessandro Alighieri, an archattorney from the glorious city of Nekropolis, Arcadia! Drexo Ignis has to see me in court now because he left Europe without telling me. It's unfortunate, really. I'd love to watch him stay here and mutilate you."

Drexo cursed and through a minor fit.

"This isn't the last time!" Drexo said before disappearing into flames and presumably teleporting back to Nekropolis.

"So, I guess I can expect stuff like this to happen every night from now on." Marielle said.

"Only if you're willing to help me." Daniel said.

"I'll think about it." Marielle said.

Daniel left Marielle's campsite, went over to a river, carefully washed the blood out of his outfit, and put it away in the secret compartment along with his weapons when he got home. He then got in bed, went to sleep, and immediately woke up without any memory of what happened.

Daniel spent the morning playing games on his computer. I didn't like hard games. He would always search the internet for games that were easy, relaxing, and non-competitive.

Later that day, he left the house to go fishing. But on the way to one of his favorite spots, he saw Marielle trying to fight a huge serpent made of water, so he rushed to help her.

"You're here just in time!" Marielle said, "I was hunting for cultists when an anomalous rift opened up and this thing attacked me."

"An anomalous rift?" Daniel asked.

"An uncanny valley, I suppose." Marielle said.

"I heard about those dimensional rifts on the radio last night!" Daniel said.

Last night... Marielle thought, Really? "I was sent here from Oregon to slay Black Dagger cultists and mutated wildlife." She said, "Likewise, my sword mostly just works against organic beings unlike this dragon. That's why I need your help. I think this will be an excellent chance for you to practice your hydromancy."

"I guess I could try something..." Daniel said, "Let's see here... Frost Cage!"

Daniel opened up his hands and caused the water serpent to freeze into ice.

"It worked!" Daniel squealed with a smile, "It looks like you'll be able to shatter it with your sword now."

"Ok!" Marielle said.

She jumped towards the creature can cut it up until it shattered.

"Thank you for your help." Marielle said, "By the way, I've decided that I'd like to move in with you. We need each other's skills to help each other survive."

"I'm sorry." Daniel said, "I only have one bed."

"I'm a traveling mercenary." Marielle said, "I'm used to sleeping on hard floors."

"Oh." Daniel said, "In that case, sure. You can move in with me. It will be easier for us to find each other that way. Here, I'll show you the way to my house."

Daniel took Marielle to his small lone cottage in the middle of the forest.

"Thank you." Marielle said, "Ok, I think I've got its location memorized, but there doesn't really seem to be anything exciting to do around here, so I think I'll stay outside hunting during the day and come here to rest at night."

"Ok!" Daniel said with a smile.

Marielle left to hunt for animals to eat and cultists to slay. Daniel went to the couch to watch his favorite pro-magic news channel. His iPhone was charging on a table next to the couch. He would often use it while it was plugged in there and have the TV playing for background noise to keep him from being too bored. This time, Lilith Void-Psychorax, a stylish dark-skinned half-demon anchorwoman from Louisiana, was talking about the probability of the sun disappearing. Daniel checked the messages on his phone as he listened. He stumbled upon a very interesting message.

"Greetings, Prince Of R'lyeh!" The message read, "It is I, the Nekropolitan bone heretic Drexo Ignis! It was hard, but I finally found a way to message you. How do you Americans do anything without video watches!? Anyways, I may have been unable to dismember you last night, but Alessandro and I have come to a general consensus that we should send an adept assassin from the Arcadian Illuminati to kill you. The helicopter containing this time-tested hitman is on its way to America right now! Ttyl, Drexo."

The creepiest thing about Nekropolis was that it used to be the Vatican. After the last Pope, who turned out to have been a Grizzly Bear all along, died, the state overthrew the church and religion was replaced with law and necromancy.

"He must have gotten the wrong number." Daniel yawned, "I'm tired."

Daniel fell asleep, but this time, he dreamed. In his dream, he was still his normal hydromancer self, but he didn't recognize where he was. He was in some sort of immense cyclopean building with walls made of clear glass and azure blue stone. He looked through the glass walls and saw that he was underwater. He walked forwards through the immense hall and came to a towering set of doors. He opened the doors to reveal a round room with some sort of octopus woman.

"Welcome to R'lyeh." She said, "I am the sibyl Uxa."

"Why do you have an octopus for a head?" Daniel asked.

"I was cursed by a tricky witch." Uxa said.

"Those tricky witches..." Daniel sighed.

"This is your first dream." Uxa explained, "Your higher self allowed you to have this one dream because he decided it was time for you to learn at least some of the truth. When you sleep, your higher self takes control of your body. I do not feel that you are ready to know everything that he does with it, but I will tell you that he is the Prince Of R'lyeh and that he chose to incarnate in America because although it is one of the most barbaric countries in the world, it is the least belligerent. Your higher self views himself as a bringer of peace, but I do not think you are ready to know his methods."

"So, that text message was for me!" Daniel said, "No wonder so many bad guys want to kill me! It's so cool to know that I'm a peaceful savior of the world!"

Daniel woke up and opened his glowing eyes.

"Time to kill an assassin." He chuckled.

As he had done every time before, Daniel unlocked his secret compartment where his gear was stored. He put on his turquoise princely regalia and strapped various shurikens, tonfas, khukris, sickles, and other weapons to belts on his arms, back, and torso. He left the secret door open this time. He wanted his other personality to know the kinds of things he had gotten himself into all this time.

He ran swiftly and gracefully out into the rain. With heightened awareness, he saw every raindrop glisten in the light of the setting sun. He climbed a palm tree and stood carefully on top of it to optimize his sight radius. He looked across the forest and the sky for any signs of a helicopter. He saw a black helicopter in the sky and began to judge its distance from the ground and calculate where it would land. He then flipped out of the tree, landed on his feet, ran over to the estimated location, and waited with his arms crossed.

The helicopter landed, and some armed guards nudged a conspicuous man out of it. This man had lavender hair, a tan complexion, and blue eyes. He wore a purple chrome leather trench coat and a pink and white plastic earpiece. After dropping him off, the helicopter left to go back to Europe.

"So, you're already here." The man in purple said.

"Indeed I am, Emilio Sophius Caius Montblanc." Daniel said as he read the assassin's mind to learn his name.

Daniel pointed his dominant left hand at Emilio, and his left tentacle lunged out of his shoulder towards the place where he was standing, but it was too late. Emilio had predicted Daniel's movement and was able to do a flip to roll to the side and dodge his attack. Daniel retracted his tentacle. Emilio opened up his trench coat, revealing at least 10 guns. Daniel quickly unstrapped the belts from his left arm and took off his left glove in preparation for his next move. Emilio took two pistols out of his coat and began to shoot at Daniel with them. Before the bullets hit Daniel, he was able to turn his left arm into an armored crab claw. The bullets hit the claw, and Daniel was unharmed. He turned his left arm back into an arm and used it to take a small bladed weapon from one of the belts on his right arm and throw it at Emilio. Emilio dodged it by running away.

"So, you're a coward." Daniel said, hoping that Emilio would hear him and feel ashamed.

Daniel put his glove and weapon-loaded belts back on his left arm and ran after Emilio. He chased after him through the forest. Once Daniel was close enough to to see Emilio, he was surprised to see him just standing there. Daniel noticed that Emilio was talking to someone through the microphone connected to his earpiece that allowed him to hear what the other person, presumably Drexo or Alessandro, was saying..

"So, should I kill her?" Emilio asked.

It was then that Daniel noticed Emilio had found Marielle. The person who Emilio was talking to must have told him that she was an ally of Daniel. Emilio pointed a gun at Marielle's head. She swatted it out of his hand with her sword. She tried to stab him in the face, but his reflexes were too strong and he dodged the sword with a backflip. He took another gun out of his coat and shot her in the arm. Daniel rushed over with a leaf he had already prepared to bandage up Marielle's arm. He stood in front of her with his arms spread out to protect her.

"Don't you even think about it." Daniel said.

Daniel unbuttoned his vest. He could afford to get a bullet in his body. As a carnomancer, he would be able to eventually regenerate. But, he didn't want any holes in his fine silk outfit.

"So, you're willing to die to protect the weak." Emilio said.

Emilio aimed a gun at Daniel's heart. Suddenly, a beam of red light cut across the back of Emilio's neck, and his head fell off. As his body fell to the ground, blood spurted out of his neck like a fountain. Standing behind the corpse was a man with short stylish brown hair, fair skin, and bright yellowish green eyes. His outfit was made of pleather, and it was white with red trim and included a sleeveless jacket with a red plastic zipper. He had all sorts of strange gadgets strapped to his arms.

"Sweet!" The stranger yelled with a tough voice but a childish inflection, "I just killed a guy!"

"Who the fresh hell are you?" Marielle asked.

"The name's Brad Deschain." He said as he blew the smoke out of his laser gun, "I'm a dimension-traveling sniper from Tennessee! I'm from the same time, but a different timeline. Who are you?"

"I'm Marielle." Marielle said, "I'm the last survivor of the Silver Gazelle faction of the Sisters Of The Endless Iron Spire. I'm on a quest to defeat the Cult Of The Black Dagger."

"Cool!" Brad said with an insane smile, "So if I join you, does that mean I get to kill more people?"

"I suppose it does." Marielle said, "I mean, it certainly would be better to have you as an ally than an enemy."

She hoped she wouldn't regret those words.

"And, who's the guy with the glowing eyes?" Brad asked.

"That's Daniel." Marielle said, "I really don't know what's going on with him."

"I am the incarnation of prince Xo'xkrhx of R'lyeh, but my other personality is just now finding that out." Daniel said, "My body is always awake, but my personalities take turns sleeping and controlling it. In fact, I think I've controlled it long enough. I should give the other guy a turn."

Daniel closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were no longer glowing. He looked around. He was wearing a strange outfit with a ridiculous amount of bladed weapons strapped to it. In front of him, there was a corpse with an equally lavish outfit full of guns. And standing behind the corpse was yet another guy in a strange flashy outfit made of a material Daniel had never seen before with strange gadgets all over his arms and an insane look on his face.

"Hi, I'm Brad!" Brad said as he waved to Daniel.

"Hi." Daniel said innocently, "My name's Daniel Hamlet Descartes."

Daniel looked down at the corpse of the assassin.

"I didn't do this, did I!?" Daniel said, "There's no way I could murder somebody so brutally!"

"Oh, don't worry!" Brad said with a thumbs up, "That decapitation was all me!"

Daniel turned around and saw that Marielle's arm was wounded.

"Oh no!" Daniel said, "I have to do something! I know... I'll try to use my hydromancy to heal your arm! Let me try this... Water Gift!"

Daniel formed an orb of sparkling clear water in his hands and placed it on Marielle's arm. The bullet fell out, and the wound regenerated.

"Thanks." Marielle said smugly, "It's getting late. We should get back to the cottage."

"Did that guy just use magic!?" Brad said as his eyes widened.

"It looks like I've got a lot to explain to you." Marielle said, "We'll talk about it over dinner."

Daniel and Marielle showed Brad the way to their cottage. Once they got there, Daniel went into his bedroom to change back into his normal clothes to feel more comfortable both physically and mentally. When he got there, he was shocked to see one of the walls was opened up and there were even more weapons stored inside of it. The more he learned about his other self, the more terrified he became of him. He put his weapons and regalia back in the compartment and changed back into his regular clothes. The three friends sat at a round table in a cozy corner of the living room, eating meat from an animal that Marielle killed and cooked.

"What exactly is this meat?" Brad asked.

"It's from a manticore." Marielle said, "They're very common around here, although non-mutant ones are becoming increasingly hard to come by."

"There aren't manticores in my dimension." Brad said, "I mostly survived by eating whatever rodents I could find. The aftertaste was like sawdust, but I usually downed them with beer."

"You know what sawdust tastes like?" Marielle said sarcastically.

"No." Brad said snarkily, "It's a common slang term in my dimension, I guess. When something tastes bad, people say it tastes like sawdust."

"Where are you from?" Daniel asked.

"Tennessee." Brad said.

"Ok, well then, when are you from?" Daniel asked, "Because nobody has guns in America anymore except for the cowboys in the South West."

"Present day, present time!" Brad laughed insanely, "Different timeline, though. Instead of magic and swords and manticores and stuff, there's zombies and robots and laser beams. And, what's this about cowboys? I'll have to go visit the South West some time and fight them!"

"Our first priority is to defeat the Cult Of The Black Dagger." Marielle said.

"Sounds fine." Brad said, "Their magic is sure to be no match for my lasers! I once cut a giant robot in half with one! ...Do you even know what robots are?"

"Of course I do." Marielle said, "They're those steam-powered things."

"Never mind." Brad said, "So, how exactly did your world end up this way?"

"According to the history books, Miley Cyrus had an affair with Kanye West, and she gave birth to a mutant albino son named Cain." Marielle explained, "Cain grew up to be an evil terrorist archassassin who nobody could stop until he did himself in when he placed the forbidden statuette on the Dread Altar in the center of the Pyramid Of Blades And Death in Mexico. Then, an eye opened up on his back and began to cry blood until he lost all of the blood in his body and died. But as he died, millions of people around the world exploded into blood, turning Earth into Blood World."

"Yeah, none of that happened in my world." Brad said, "There was just war and more war and no magic."

After dinner, they went to sleep. Since Daniel knew now that his body didn't ever actually spend long in bed, he let Brad use his bed. He wasn't tired anyways, so he stayed up playing games on his computer with the volume turned down low so that he wouldn't wake anybody up. The next morning, Brad came over to talk to Daniel. After playing games by himself for so many hours, Daniel was startled by Brad's presence.

"Ready to kill some cultists?" Brad asked.

"Maybe after breakfast." Daniel said.

Daniel, Marielle, and Brad ate a light breakfast and went out to hunt for the cult.

"I've memorized where their main base is." Marielle said, "Follow me. Most of them have already been taken care of. Only a small group remains, but it includes their leader Kariana Sunfire."

Marielle lead Daniel and Brad to a settlement full of cultists in black robes. The three of them could see two large beasts in cages. One of them was a beautiful white unicorn, and the other was an unspeakable hoofed horror with massive antlers, eight eyes, and glowing green stripes.

"I know that one thing's a unicorn, but what's the other one!?" Brad asked.

"That's a moose." Marielle said, "They're from a dimensional rift known as Canada. Anyone who crosses the Northern Border of the United States enters Canada, where everything is unspeakably distorted. Few ever make it out alive."

"Moose aren't like that where I'm from." Brad said as his eye twitched. "Oh well. Let's kill these people."

Brad shot lasers at several cultists' heads, causing their heads to explode.

"Your aim is amazing!" Marielle said.

"Zombies are great for practice." Brad said with a shrug.

Alerted by the fact that several of their allies had just gotten their heads blown off, various cultists turned to see the three unlikely heroes who had just entered their settlement. Their leader Kariana Sunfire stood between the two caged beasts. She had black hair worn in a ponytail, reddish brown skin, and green eyes. She wore a long purple dress with a belt made from the skulls of babies.

"Attack them!" Kariana commanded her cultists as she pointed at Daniel, Marielle, and Brad.

"Are all of the women in Blood World this fully clothed?" Brad asked, "Because in my timeline, it's usually the other way around."

"It varies." Marielle said, "It depends on a lot of things, but I'm certainly not going to say all of them."

The cultists charged at them with daggers.

"Daniel." Marielle said, "The mode that you're in right now is great for healing, but I need you to go to sleep. Your other personality is a more powerful fighter."

"I can't right now!" Daniel said, "I'm too scared to sleep!"

"Then, it looks like I'll have to take them out!" Brad said.

"Count me in, too!" Marielle said.

A cultist grabbed Daniel and was about to stab him, but Marielle shoved her sword through the cultist's back. Blood spilled onto Daniel's shirt.

"If I ever wake up with blood on me, I hope it's from something like this." Daniel said, "I don't want to think about actually killing people with my bare hands."

Brad took one of the strange gadgets that were strapped to his arms. He pressed a button on it, and it became a sword with three blades made of red light.

"Talk about overcompensation." Marielle said.

Brad used his three-bladed light sword to impale and behead several cultists at the same time.

"I've got your back!" Brad said as he ripped a cultist's spine out, "Ok, I think I've taken care of all of them! Wow, that was fun!"

"Ok, I'll try to go to sleep now." Daniel said.

Daniel closed his eyes and passed out. He then opened his eyes, and they were glowing turquoise.

"So, we're here at the enemy base." Daniel said, "An impressive amount of corpses, although I doubt my other personality was the one to kill them. He could have at least brought some weapons, though."

Another cultist in a black robe rushed into the settlement. This one was thin and pale with black hair and dark circles under his eyes. He was carrying the dead body of an elf.

"I brought food for the moose!" The cultist said to Kariana in an insane raspy voice.

"Not now, Jimmy!" Kariana said, "Right now, your priority is to kill these intruders!"

"But, the poor moose..." Jimmy the cultist said with a sad look in his droopy reddish eyes, "It's hungry!"

"You know what's ironic?" Brad said, "Dominatrixes are bitches."

Marielle glared at him.

"Well, it looks like I learned something new about you..." Brad said uneasily.

Kariana grabbed the elf carcass from Jimmy's arms and threw it into the eldritch moose's cage.

"Now, kill them!" Kariana said

"Yes, Lady Sunfire!" Jimmy said.

Brad aimed a laser gun at Jimmy's head and blew it off.

"Wow..." Brad said as he looked at the gun in his hand, "I've really got to stop shooting the heads off of major characters. It's getting kind of anticlimactic."

"What was that sound?" Daniel said, "I heard something crash. What was it?"

"Probably the glorious decrescendo of the fourth wall shattering before us." Brad said with a grin.

"Well, then." Kariana said, "It looks like you've given me no choice but to release the moose!"

She pulled a lever on the moose's cage, and it came running out. Brad shot it repeatedly, but his lasers did nothing.

"Let me try a spell!" Marielle said, "Soul Tempest!"

Marielle cut the air with her sword and created a small twister that went towards the moose. The creature stumbled a bit when it was hit, but it didn't seem to feel any pain.

"Leave it to me!" Daniel said, "Arcane Blast!"

Daniel's right arm became a writhing mass of trippy serpentine creatures that engulfed the moose and stripped it of its flesh before turning back into his arm.

"What the hell did you just do!?" Brad said.

"Carnomancy." Daniel said, "The four main branches of anatomical magic are hemomancy, neuromancy, osteomancy, and carnomancy. I'm a carnomancer, but my other personality doesn't know that. Don't tell him if you value your life."

The massive glowing green skeleton of the moose fell to the ground.

"Now, what do you plan to do to that unicorn?" Daniel said as he pointed at Kariana.

"I was going to mutate it of course!" Kariana said, "But since it looks like my life is about to end here, I suppose I'll just let it starve to death!"

"So, you're just giving up?" Brad said.

"No." Kariana said, "I'm sacrificing myself to summon the Elder Soul."

Kariana ripped her own eyes out and placed them on a stone slab with a forbidden sigil carved into it. Blood poured out of her eye sockets and filled the sigil as she dropped dead onto the slab.

"What's the Elder Soul?" Brad asked.

A huge fissure opened up in the ground, and a gigantic black golem rose out of it.

"That's the Elder Soul." Marielle said.

"That's it?" Brad said, "No problem! I've fought giant robots before!"

Brad shot several lasers at the glowing purple sigil that was where the Elder Soul's face should have been. Not much seemed to happen to it.

"It's not a robot." Marielle said, "It's a golem."

The Elder Soul began to take a step forward.

"It's going to crush us with its foot!" Daniel said.

"Not if I can help it!" Marielle said, "Rewind!"

Marielle drew a counterclockwise circle in the air with her sword, and the Elder Soul began to step backwards.

"My spell worked!" Marielle said, "But, it won't last forever. We'll have to come up with a strategy. Daniel, can you think of anything that you can do to defeat this creature?"

"There is one option that I think might work." Daniel said, "But, it requires extremely advanced carnomantic skills, and it's never been done before."

"Well, don't just give up without trying it." Marielle said.

"I wasn't going to." Daniel said.

Daniel climbed onto the moose skeleton and placed his hand on the back of its neck.

"Rejuvenation!" Daniel yelled.

The skin cells on his hand multiplied until they engulfed the entire skeleton, giving it a new and even more disturbing skin. Daniel laughed insanely at the new form of reanimation he had just invented.

"Damn." Brad said as his eyes and mouth widened.

"Now, charge!" Daniel commanded his newly created abomination to charge at the Elder soul.

He rode on its back with no fear of falling off. After all, he was attached to it by the hand. The reanimated moose rammed into the Elder Soul. The golem then punched the moose in the side, causing it to skid backwards.

"Now!" Daniel said, "Greater Flesh Lightning!"

His flesh moved up the moose's antlers, engulfing them as well. Then, it continued to spread outwards, moving quickly towards the Elder Soul in jagged antler-like forms. When the overgrown flesh antlers reached the Elder Soul, they latched onto the various black rocks that made up its body and pulled them apart. They then retracted back, exposing the glowing green bone of the moose's real antlers. Before the rocks could come back together to form the golem, Daniel controlled the moose to stomp on them and crush them. He then retracted all of its flesh back into his hand, leaving the only the bones of the moose on top of the black dust that was once the Elder Soul.

"Well, that just happened." Brad said.

"Get used to it." Marielle said, hiding the fact that she wasn't exactly used to it herself.

"I really exerted my magic there." Daniel said, "I'm exhausted. I can tell that I'm about to pass out. When my other personality awakens, don't you dare tell him what just happened."

Daniel closed his eyes and fell to the ground. Then, he opened his emerald green eyes and stood back up. He looked at the pile of dust and bones.

"Wow!" Daniel said, "My other personality must be a really powerful hydromancer!"

Then, he saw the caged unicorn.

"Oh no!" Daniel said, "I have to free it!"

Daniel ran up to the cage. He looked for a way to open it and saw that it had a lock. He didn't know where the key was.

"I'll need your help, Marielle." Daniel said, "I can't open the cage, but it's made of wood, so you should be able to cut it down with your sword."

"I'm on it!" Marielle said.

She went up to the cage and chopped the bars down, freeing the unicorn.

"Well, I guess that's it." Marielle said, "We defeated the cult and freed the unicorn. There's not much left to do now, is there?"

"We could just relax." Daniel said.

"I've got a better idea." Brad said, "Let's go to Japan and fight some ninjas! Or at least I assume that there are ninjas in Japan in Blood World."

"How are we going to get all the way there from here?" Marielle asked.

"With this!" Brad said, pointing to a gadget on his harm.

"What kind of device is that?" Daniel asked.

"A plot device!" Brad said with a grin and a thumbs up, "It can teleport us anywhere in the world, and always right in the center of action!"

"How does that technology even work?" Marielle asked.

"I don't know." Brad said with a shrug, "Things aren't exactly lovingly crafted where I'm from. They're just mass-produced. Most people don't really question how they work. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to set the location to anywhere within Japan, and then, I'm just going to press this button."

In a flash of light, Daniel, Marielle, and Brad were teleported into a big city full of skyscrapers.

"This actually isn't how I pictured it." Brad said.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you." Marielle said, "In Blood World, only America is Medieval."

One of the buildings had a screen on the side of it that was playing a news channel. On the screen was an anchorwoman with long straight cyan hair and deep black eyes. In her arms, she held a strange hyper-cephalic rabbit-like creature from the uncanny valley. Everything was in English in Blood World, so the three heroes could tell that her name was Yuki Aozora and she was talking about a serial killer on the loose in the city.

"See?" Brad said, "Right in the center of action! Not a ninja, but it'll do!"

"According to this news report, the killer calls himself Khamuel." Marielle said, "But, Khamuel is the name of the angel of mercy. What kind of name is that for a killer?"

"No idea." Brad said, "But, he should be nearby if my teleporter worked properly."

"That must be him." Daniel said.

The three of them spotted Khamuel. He had spiky black hair, a thick goatee, olive green eyes, and reddish skin. He wore a thick worn-out brown leather outfit with various pockets filled with small knives, and his face was locked in a ugly scowl that appeared to genetically be his natural expression since he was obviously half demon.

"We have to fight him?" Daniel asked timidly.

"He's a serial killer." Marielle said, "If we defeat him, we'll be doing everybody a favor."

"Whoa, wait a minute..." Brad said, "I'm a serial killer."

"You're different." Marielle said.

Khamuel pulled out a knife. To the heroes' surprise, it was mostly just a handle and had a very short blade.

"He expects to kill us with that thing!?" Brad laughed as he shot a laser at Khamuel's heart.

The laser burned through a patch of Khamuel's jacket, revealing his scarred skin. The leather was thick enough to keep the laser from being fatal, but it was able to leave a small bleeding hole in his chest. Khamuel stuck his small knife into the hole. When he pulled it out, a strange large floating mass of blood had formed around it. The blood around the knife then began to take the shape of a long curved blade, turning the knife into a sword made of blood. He then regenerated the hole in his chest.

"So, he's a hemomancer." Daniel said.

"This is what happens when you attack without thinking, Brad." Marielle said, "You just made things worse."

"Hardly!" Brad said, "Don't worry! I like to be challenged like this!"

"I'll try to help!" Marielle said, "Death's Grasp!"

Marielle stabbed the air five times with her sword, creating an ethereal hand that went to attack Khamuel. He cut through it with his blood sword, and it dissipated. Khamuel then charged towards Marielle, and the two of them clashed swords.

"Do you know why I kill?" Khamuel asked in his deep gravelly voice.

"Obviously!" Brad said, "Because it's fun!"

"No." Khamuel said, "Your mind is shallow like the wound you left in my chest."

"Why do you even call yourself Khamuel?" Marielle asked as she continued to block his sword with hers.

"Because I am the bringer of mercy!" Khamuel said as he continued to clash swords with Marielle, "This is the worst possible world! I am saving everybody's lives by freeing their souls from it!"

"What makes you think that!?" Daniel said.

"All I ever wanted was to make people happy." Khamuel said, "When I was a child, I just wanted friends. I wanted people to laugh with me, not at me. It's not my fault that I'm half demon. It's not even my mother's fault. She couldn't help the fact that she was born male and could only be impregnated by a demon. But I hate being half demon, so I changed my name to Khamuel, the name of the angel of mercy. I have such a loving heart. I want everybody to be happy, but my presence is so despised, and now I see that there's no way to enjoy life in this world full of hatred! That's why I kill people! To send them to Heaven, or even Hell, which is probably still better than Blood World!"

"That's so sad!" Daniel said, gushing genuine tears.

"That's nothing." Brad said snarkily, "I accidentally killed my mom when I was two. And no offense, but I still think I'm a more badass killer than you."

Marielle continued to clash swords with Khamuel until she was sure he was distracted enough by her sword, and then she kicked him in the crotch, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Nice one!" Brad said with a grin.

"Don't comment on my strategy like that." Marielle said, "Some moves just have to be made."

Khamuel slowly began to stand up again.

"I'll save you from Blood World for sure this time!" Khamuel said.

"Wait!" A high-pitched innocent-sounding voice said.

It was a teenage girl. Her black hair was worn in short pigtails and decorated with a big yellow bow. She wore a pink tank top, a blue denim miniskirt, and socks with kittens on them. Whatever weapon she might have had if any would have been in the lavender purse that was strapped diagonally across her chest. She ran up to the three heroes and the serial killer.

"Who the hell are you?" Marielle said.

"My name's Sachi Nakajima!" The girl said way too happily, "Sachi means happy! I also want everybody to be happy, but instead of killing people, I want to be a diplomatic motivational speaker! You see, Mr. Khamuel, life is a beautiful thing! A lot of people enjoy their lives! You don't have to kill everybody just because you don't enjoy your life! But if you really hate your life and believe that any afterlife is better than life in Blood World, maybe you'll finally be happy if you kill yourself!"

"...Was that supposed to be motivational?" Marielle asked.

"Who cares?" Brad said as he bisected Khamuel with his laser gun.

Khamuel's two halves fell apart, and his blood and guts spilled all over the road as Brad laughed.

"You could have let him at least choose whether or not to kill himself!" Sachi said.

"You know what?" Brad said, "I really don't like you. You're too passive."

"Don't shoot me!" Sachi panicked.

"Well, you see, that's the thing." Brad said, "If people don't make useful allies, I generally shoot them."

"I can be useful!" Sachi said, "I can be great at negotiating!"

"Yeah, we're more into killing." Brad said.

"No we're not!" Daniel said.

"Shut up." Brad laughed, "You should see the things your other personality does."

"I can kill, too!" Sachi said, "I have a powerful weapon in my purse! Just please, don't kill me!"

"Ok." Brad said, "I'll let you join us, but you better not be lying."

"Is there any way you can get us back to my house?" Daniel asked Brad, "I'm not particularly tired, but I feel like the rest of you need to rest up after those battles."

"Of course!" Brad said, "Let me just press this switch."

"This will be a good chance to acclimate our new party member." Marielle said.

"I wonder what this house will be like." Sachi said curiously.

"Don't get your hopes up." Brad said as he pressed the switch on one of his devices.

The four heroes were transported to Daniel's cottage in the forest of southern Florida. They went inside, ate, and rested except Daniel didn't need to rest because he had already rested while his other personality was fighting the moose and the Elder Soul.

It wasn't raining the next day, but it was cloudy and unusually cold for a day in Florida.

"So, where to next?" Brad asked himself as he went to select a location for their next fight, "I could just put it on random. Hahaha..."

"Wait!" Daniel said, "Why do we even have to fight?"

"Because it's fun to kill people!" Brad said.

"I don't think so." Daniel said, "At first, I thought it would be fun to be a hero, but that was because I assumed it would be easy to get fans. But now, I see it's a bit more complicated than that. And also, I don't really consider you a hero."

"I don't think any of us consider Brad to truly be a hero." Marielle said.

"To be honest, I kind of don't." Sachi said somewhat guiltily.

"Yeah..." Brad said, "I guess my world was so dystopian that I could act like a total dick and still be considered a hero, but it's different here."

"Hold on!" Daniel said as he pulled his iPhone out of his satchel, "I just got a message!"

"Wait, you have an iPhone!?" Brad asked, "Add me on Cyber-Realm! It's my favorite social networking site! My username is iKillPplWithMyLazerGunz!"

"What?" Daniel asked in a confused way.

"Oh, I guess you don't have that website in Blood World." Brad said.

Daniel read the message on his phone. It was from Drexo. His legislomancer Alessandro had finally given him permission to go to Florida and fight Daniel.

"Oh, that guy again." Marielle said.

"You know him?" Daniel asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." Marielle said, "But, not as well as your other personality apparently knows him."

"Maybe we could make a truce with him!" Sachi said.

"I don't know about that." Brad said, "He sounds pretty easy to kill."

The message specified a particular location in the forest where they would meet. Daniel lead his teammates to the location, and they waited for Drexo to appear. When he appeared, his robe was even more torn than last time, revealing his arms and chest, which were at this point, mostly missing skin because he had become more mutated since last time. He was somewhat confused to see Daniel in casual clothes and without glowing eyes.

"Well, well, Prince Of R'lyeh." Drexo said, "You look different."

"So do you." Marielle said, "Uglier than ever."

"That's very insensitive." Drexo said, "I happen to have necrocancer."

"Necrocancer!?" Sachi said, "What's that!? It sounds so funny!"

"There's nothing funny about it!" Drexo yelled angrily, "It means I'm turning into a lich! My legislomancer didn't want to catch it from me, so he sent me here to die at the hands your boyfriend! But, I plan on killing him instead!"

"I'm not Sachi's boyfriend!" Daniel said, "I just met her!"

"You could be..." Sachi said as her cinnamon eyes sparkled with hope.

"Give me some time to get to know you better." Daniel said.

"So, are we going to fight this guy or what?" Brad asked impatiently as he swiftly pulled two of his laser guns out of their holsters.

"I just don't see how I'll be able to defeat him." Daniel said, "Hydromancy is mostly just good for healing and defending."

"Then, I'll kill him!" Brad said as he shot Drexo in the eye.

"You fool!" Drexo said as he turned into a giant burning skeleton, "You have awoken my final form! The man who I was using as my avatar was merely a vessel! I am Mortos Rex, the god of the dead!"

"Challenge accepted." Brad said with a grin.

"Don't tell me you still feel too much sympathy to want to kill him." Marielle said to Daniel and possibly also to Sachi.

Marielle and Brad shot spells and lasers respectively at Mortos Rex.

"He's on fire, so I think my hydromancy will be effective this time." Daniel said, "Wait, that's it! His soul is angry because it's on fire! Maybe I can calm him if I put the fire out! Monsoon!"

Daniel's spell caused it to rain, and Mortos Rex's fire was put out. His bones however, remained intact, and his anger didn't seem to decrease any.

"Now, let me show you just how it feels to be dead!" Mortos Rex said, "Luciferian Hypernova!"

Mortos Rex sliced through the air with one of his giant arms and caused a wave of fire to spread across the forest, burning it down.

"Song Of Affection!" Daniel said.

Daniel spun around gracefully and created a dome of water to protect himself and his allies from the fire.

"How dare you destroy the forest!" Sachi said, "Think of all of the poor animals whose habitats you destroyed in an attempt to kill just one man!"

"The end justifies the means!" Mortos Rex laughed evilly.

"Nobody destroys forests and gets away with it!" Sachi said, "I want to protect all animals! First the rainforest, then the world! Isn't that right, Margarita!?"

"Who?" Marielle asked.

"My pet Panama Golden Frog!" Sachi said as she opened her hands and revealed a tiny gold frog, "She's always with me because she knows I protect her!"

"I thought those things were extinct." Marielle said.

"Not in captivity!" Sachi said, "And one day, they'll be in the wild again, too! I'll make sure of it!"

"If that's how you feel, can you at least try to do something to defeat this guy before this gets any cheesier?" Brad asked.

"Ok!" Sachi said as she pulled a coin out of her purse.

"That's your weapon?" Brad asked in a clearly unimpressed way.

"Yes!" Sachi said, "Watch what it does!"

She flipped the coin six times.

"Sky Above, Mountain Below!" Sachi said.

A small mountain suddenly rose out of the ground beneath Mortos Rex, scattering his bones.

"Just when I thought the geography of Florida couldn't change any more." Marielle said, "I wonder how many habitats you destroyed there."

"So, your spells are randomized?" Brad asked.

"Yeah!" Sachi said, "And they can sometimes be really powerful like this, but I don't usually like to use them because they can also be really destructive."

"Well, at least you defeated him." Daniel said.

"No you didn't!" Mortos Rex said as he came back together even more malformed with the wrong bones in the wrong places.

"This guy sure is tough..." Daniel said, "I don't think my hydromancy will be able to damage him."

"Well, he is the god of the dead." Marielle said.

"I could try to awaken my other personality." Daniel said.

"Yes, let me fight the Prince Of R'lyeh!" Mortos Rex roared.

"Nah." Brad said, "You don't even deserve that privilege. In fact, Daniel and I have both taken out enough bosses. Let's give the chick a chance."

"Actually, I'm kind of afraid to randomize another spell." Sachi said, "I might just end up making things worse again."

"Not you." Brad said, "The hot post-pubescent chick."

"Don't talk about me that way." Marielle said, "I'm not an object."

"Well, you sure don't seem to have a personality." Brad said.

"I wonder what I could do to defeat Mortos Rex." Marielle said, "My sword has access to every death spell that has been discovered so far, including the four forbidden ones, the strongest of which is Deathly Presence, but that would be too dangerous. It could kill everything within this area that Mortos Rex's Luciferian Hypernova might not have already killed, and it might even heal or strengthen him since death energy makes him stronger. I'll need to use the second most powerful forbidden death spell, capable of shattering everything it its path. Death Rage!"

Marielle aimed her sword at Mortos Rex and cut the air vertically down to the ground, sending a wave of air that grew as it got closer to him. Once it reached him, it shattered the bones of his giant malformed skeleton.

"You did it!" Daniel said in awe.

"Let's go back to the house and celebrate!" Sachi said cheerfully.

The four of them went back to the cottage and relaxed some. Daniel played games on his computer while listening to the radio. A man's voice on the radio said something about the kingdoms of Kaldecia and Dorandale fighting for control of the city of Egoria. Brad overheard the radio program and perked up.

"There's a war!?" Brad asked.

"Sure there is." Daniel said.

"Where!?" Brad asked enthusiastically.

"It's between Dorandale and Kaldecia." Marielle said.

"I'm not familiar with those countries." Brad said, "They don't exist in my world."

"Well, they were once known as Scotland." Marielle said, "But, it became separated into two countries."

"Oh, I see!" Brad said, "Well, let's go there and fight!"

"What you mean to say is let's go there and make peace!" Sachi said.

"Whatever." Brad said, "As long as I get to shoot some heads off."

Brad set the location on his teleporter to Scotland, and the four heroes were teleported there. They found themselves at a camp that was probably set up by one of the two opposing armies. It was dusk, and the dew was fresh on the grassy moors.

"Let's look for somebody who can explain what's going on." Daniel said.

"We should search that big tent." Marielle said, "That's probably where this army's leaders are. They should know what's going on."

The four heroes made their way to the large red and gold tent and entered it. Inside, there were two people. There woman with long red hair, silver eyes, spiky iron armor, and a red cape. And, there was a man with short blonde hair, green eyes, and a brown and green robe.

"Can you help us?" Sachi said in an irresistibly innocent way, "We're lost. Could you tell us where we are?"

"You've made it to the edge of Dorandale." The woman said in a strong voice, "I'm Margoline, the most powerful assassin in Dorandale. And, this is Dascalos, an apprentice to the greatest healer in Dorandale."

"Well, I was his apprentice." Dascalos said in sort of a shy whimper, "But, he was killed by Kaldecians. I guess that makes me a true biomancer now instead of just an apprentice, but I wasn't quite ready for it to happen this way."

"Anyways, the army of Dorandale is stationed here." Margoline explained. "The two of us are its leaders."

"Can we join!?" Brad asked enthusiastically as he grinned and twitched his right eye.

"If you can prove that you'll be useful." Margoline said.

"How can we be useful?" Daniel asked worriedly.

"I guess just stick around until the enemy comes to raid our camp." Margoline said, "They're bound to try. If you survive, you're hired."

"Can we get something to eat?" Sachi asked.

"As if!" Margoline laughed.

"Are you ok, Margoline?" Dascalos asked, "I've never heard you laugh before."

"You're really naive when it comes to war, aren't you?" Margoline asked Sachi.

"Oh." Sachi said guiltily, "Well then, I guess it's a good thing that I didn't ask for drugs or alcohol. I was actually about to..."

"Just be quiet." Brad said, "You're embarrassing me. Although, this stuff about drugs and alcohol is new. Maybe we'll get along better than I thought."

"What kind of warriors are you?" Margoline asked in a perplexed way.

"My name is Marielle." Marielle said, "I'm a warrior priestess from one of the many secret sisterhoods of Oregon, America."

"Oregon!?" Sachi said, "Isn't that the place where marijuana was first legalized!?"

"No." Marielle said wanly, "It's not. Just shut up."

"My name's Daniel." Daniel said, "I'm a hydromancer, but I don't really like to fight that much. I'd rather just catch fish and daydream."

"The name's Brad!" Brad said with a wink, "I'm an expert sniper, and I don't know what's with Sachi and Daniel, but I love to kill people! After fighting a giant skeleton god, I'm really looking forward to getting to kill something that actually bleeds!"

"Like he said, I'm Sachi!" Sachi said cheerfully, "I don't really like to fight! I'm an aspiring diplomat! I actually came here because I was hoping I could help form a truce between Dorandale and Kaldecia!"

"That's highly unlikely." Margoline said, "Especially if your friend Brad likes to kill as much as he says he does."

"Do we have to wait!?" Brad asked, "Why can't we just venture forth and raid the enemy territory!?"

"It's better not to exert energy." Margoline said, "Let the Kaldecians come to us."

"And, how exactly do you expect to take over their territory?" Marielle asked.

"What's more important is that we defend ours." Margoline said.

"Can we at least wait inside this tent?" Daniel asked, "I'm from the South, so I'm really not used to cold air."

"You really are pathetic." Margoline said.

"Don't say that." Dascalos said, "You can stay in here with us."

Dascalos set up a fire to keep them all warm, and he used it to cook a sheep for them to eat. The four traveling heroes and the two leaders of the Dorandale army conversed and got to know each other as they ate and rested. Daniel got so bored that he passed out. He awoke immediately with glowing turquoise eyes.

"Daniel!" Sachi said in a worried tone, "Your eyes are glowing!"

"This is my other personality." Daniel said in a more serious tone than what Sachi was used to.

"So, you have multiple personalities." Margoline said, "That's very intriguing. I hope this personality is a better fighter than your other one."

"Saying that I am a better fighter than my other personality would be an understatement." Daniel said, "Wait, I can hear footsteps. Then enemy is approaching."

The six warriors rushed outside to fight the opposing army. A legion of enemy soldiers reached their camp. Margoline immediately rushed towards them, unsheathed a sword that was made from the horn of a unicorn, and started clashing swords with enemy soldiers and impaling and beheading them. Her armor protected her from most of their swords, but when she ran out of energy, she retreated back to Dascalos.

"Now would be a good time to practice your biomancy." Margoline said.

"Sure thing." Dascalos said, "Healing Song!"

Dascalos pounded the ground with his staff, and beautiful music came out if it and re-energized Margoline.

"We'll have to take out their healer first." Said an eerily sophisticated male voice from somewhere in the mass of soldiers.

The man stepped forth from his legion. He had short black hair, tan skin, and silver eyes. He wore a fancy white suit and a top hat.

"And, who might you be?" Margoline asked.

"Trent Nephrite." The man said, "I am the leader of this legion."

"You!?" Brad said, "You don't look like much of a fighter!"

"Looks can be deceiving." Trent said.

"Yeah, I figured that out already." Marielle said, "I live with Daniel."

"Now, what will be your last words?" Trent asked all too calmly.

"That land ain't your land~" Brad began to sing as he shot at the heads, hearts, and crotches of the rest of Trent's soldiers, "This land is our land~ We'll kill your army~ And then we'll party~ I'll shoot your head off~ If you don't get off~ This land ain't made for you, just me~"

"Impressive." Trent said.

Everyone had been distracted by Brad's song. When they turned to look in the direction of Trent's voice, they saw him standing behind the decapitated corpse that had once been Dascalos with blood-stained white jade katars in his hands.

"I should have known Dascalos wouldn't be able to defend himself." Margoline said.

"You're not even sad that he died!?" Sachi asked.

"Everybody dies." Margoline said.

"Yeah, especially this guy's entire army!" Brad said, "What did you think? I'm pretty good at murdering people, huh?"

"You lack self control." Daniel said.

"Self control?" Brad asked.

"The difference between a carnomancer and a wereblob." Daniel said.

"Yeah, but I'm not a carnomancer." Brad said.

"Self control applies to snipers as well." Daniel said.

"What's a carnomancer?" Sachi asked.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Daniel said, "Have at it, Sih!"

A fleshy tentacle burst out of Daniel's left shoulder and formed a crocodile-like head at its tip. It bit Trent's arm off before retracting back into Daniel's shoulder.

"Oh my god!" Sachi squealed, "You're so cool! You're like that schizophrenic boy who became an ascended master and destroyed my country in 2019!"

Blood dripped from the stump of Trent's arm, but all Trent did was laugh and then shapeshift into a pterodactyl.

"Try to catch me now!" Trent said as he flew off.

"Warp!" Marielle said as she swung her sword vertically backwards.

The spell caused the pterodactyl to fly upside down and backwards.

"Now, Brad!" Marielle said, "Shoot at him before the disorientation wears off!"

Brad shot holes in Trent's wings, causing him to fall to the ground. He then jumped onto his writhing pterodactyl body, activated his three-bladed laser sword, and used it to impale him through the stomach.

"Will Dascalos be ok?" Sachi asked innocently.

"He's dead." Marielle said.

"Where will he go!?" Sachi asked.

"It's impossible to know for sure." Margoline said, "There's still no scientific proof of an afterlife.

"Oh well." Sachi sighed, "At least my frog and I are still alive!"

"Anyways, the four of you have proven yourselves to be powerful warriors." Margoline said, "Ok, maybe just three of you, but still, you are all helpful to have around. Together, we might just be able to lead our army to defend Egoria from the Kaldecian King."

Margoline blew a trumpet to signal her soldiers to come out of their tents.

"Now is the time to move out!" Margoline commanded her army.

"Awesome!" Brad said, "Let's go kill some more people!"

"I've never met a man so willing to fight." Margoline said, "I could use more allies like you."

"Just my luck." Brad said, "The one woman who likes me has the least revealing outfit yet."

The four heroes, their ally, and her army all carried onwards together. They eventually made it to a forest.

"These trees are pretty!" Sachi randomly declared after about an hour of silence from everybody.

"They're just trees." Marielle said.

"But, look at their fruit!" Sachi said, "I've never seen anything like it! It looks delicious."

"It looks like the kind of fruit that would cause hallucinations." Marielle said.

"Exactly." Sachi said with a devious smile.

Sachi reached out to grab a fruit.

"Stop it!" Margoline said.

"Why?" Sachi asked innocently.

"You'll anger the Kaldecians." Margoline said.

"Why do the Kaldecians care that much about fruit?" Brad asked, "And, don't we want to anger them so that they'll come out and put up a fight?"

"The Kaldecians will do anything to protect the forests of Kaldecia." Margoline said, "And, it is best that we don't damage the forest because if we don't cause chaos, we will be able to infiltrate deep into their territory without them detecting us."

"Hey, I also like to protect forests!" Sachi said, "I love animals! That's why I take care of one of the last Panama Golden Frogs! I'm beginning to think we sided with the wrong army..."

Without talking for a while, they continued deeper into the forest.

"Hey look, a bunny!" Sachi unnecessarily pointed out a rabbit that hopped across their path.

"Dinner is served!" Brad said with a wild smile as he shot the rabbit.

"You didn't have to kill it!" Said a girly voice that everybody assumed was Sachi, but it wasn't.

It was a female centaur galloping towards them. She had long braided reddish hair. She was lightly armored with silver, and her weapon was a long staff sort of like a scythe but with a very short blade.

"We don't want to destroy your forest!" Sachi said in a panicked way.

"That's right!" Margoline said, "Your country attacked mine first!"

"I am the forest ranger Drusella!" The centaur said, "I will defend all of the plants and animals of Kaldecia from the likes of you!"

Drusella spun her scythe around, and a long blade made of purple light extended from its short blade. She charged at the Dorandale army and beheaded several soldiers. But before she could kill any important characters, Daniel turned his right arm into a crab claw and used it to knock the scythe out of her hands.

"For a horse, she's actually really sexy." Brad said, "But, only if the horse part is also female."

Everybody ignored what Brad said. Daniel turned his arm back into an arm and picked up the glowing scythe.

"Hey, let me have it!" Brad said.

"No." Daniel said, "You cannot be trusted with this weapon."

"Wait, Daniel!" Sachi said, "Don't kill Drusella! I think I can try to negotiate with her!"

"Then, you're stupid." Marielle said.

"No, hear me out!" Sachi said, "We don't want to destroy your forest!"

"Then, why did you shoot that rabbit!?" Drusella asked.

"Because we were hungry!" Brad said as he smiled at his own statement that only he thought was funny.

"Sh.. sh..." Sachi began to say something, "Shut up!"

That was the first time any of them had heard Sachi so angry.

"Just to be clear, I'm not with them." Margoline said, "So, I don't know what their deal is. In fact, I'm the only one here who is actually from Dorandale. Well, me and all of these background characters."

Margoline pointed to whatever soldiers remained.

"You just broke the fourth wall!" Brad said as he high-fived the unwilling Margoline, "Awesome!"

"Anyone from Dorandale must pay for starting a war on Kaldecia!" Drusella said as she trampled the remaining soldiers.

"Wait, we started the war?" Margoline asked.

"Yes!" Drusella said, "Your society thrives off of the destruction of our forests! Just think of the poor unicorn that was killed to make your sword!"

"Well, yes, people hunt animals." Margoline said, "But, I still think you're the ones who started the war against us."

"No!" Drusella said, "An evil sorceress declared war against the Kingdom Of Kaldecia! She said she was from Dorandale!"

"She must have been lying about being from Dorandale!" Margoline said, "My people would never start a war!"

"No kidding!" Brad said, "I mean, I don't know what all Dorandale people are like, but the one's I've met are way too cautious!"

"Well, in that case, maybe we can join forces to hunt down this evil sorceress and fight her together!" Drusella said, "You have my trust!"

"It worked!" Sachi squealed.

Brad shot a laser through Drusella's exposed torso, incinerating it. Drusella collapsed to the ground and died.

"Was that really necessary?" Marielle asked.

"I had to!" Brad said with a shrug, "She was lawful good! I couldn't resist!"

"I'm lawful good." Marielle said.

"Ok, then." Brad said as he pointed a laser gun at Marielle, "But, you asked for it."

"Don't." Marielle said coldly as she put her sword up to Brad's throat.

"Ok, fine." Brad said uneasily, "Let's just both agree that we make better allies than enemies."

A dark firey portal suddenly opened up, and a demon stepped out. She had long horns, long white hair, and red eyes. Her skin was dark grey and spiky, and she wore a white dress with gold trim.

"So, you've found out the truth." The demon said.

"Who are you!?" Sachi asked.

"My name is Nekris." The demon said, "I am the one who started this war!"

"But, why would you want to start a war!?" Sachi asked.

"To cause chaos, of course!" Nekris laughed.

"That's a stupid reason." Marielle said, "In fact, I don't think it could even be called a reason. I certainly can't comprehend how anyone could be evil enough just to cause chaos of the sake of it."

"Why not?" Brad said as he nudged Marielle.

"Oh, right." Marielle said, "You. Never mind."

"As a demon, I feed off of the negative emotions of humans." Nekris said, "I need you to be in pain so that I can survive! And, what better way to cause suffering than to start a war!?"

"In that case, you are the enemy of humanity." Daniel said, "We must defeat you in order to bring peace to the world!"

"Why!?" Sachi said, "Can't we just convince her to stop!?"

"Demons cannot be negotiated with." Daniel explained.

"I should be the one to defeat Nekris." Margoline said, "After all, it was my country that she tricked into going to war."

With her unicorn horn sword, Margoline charged at Nekris. Margoline tried to gash Nekris's stomach, but Nekris jumped backwards to dodge the sword.

"Demonic Presence!" Nekris called out the name of her spell.

Red flames shot out of Nekris's hand and engulfed Margoline, causing her to become petrified. Nekris walked up to Margoline's immobile body and ripped her head off with her bare hands.

"Did you just see that!?" Brad exclaimed, "That was awesome!"

"Whose side are you even on?" Marielle asked.

"Oh, right." Brad said, "Well, you're hotter than that demon anyways."

"If I can combine the centaur's scythe with my carnomancy, I might be able to defeat her." Daniel said.

"After witnessing the 'carno-moose', I'm afraid to ask what you mean by that." Marielle said.

"Observe." Daniel said.

Daniel held the scythe in his left hand, which was his dominant hand. He used his carnomancy to make his skin stretch across the pole of the scythe and engulf it so that only the blade of purple light was exposed. It became part of his body like a mantis's claw.

"Wow, that's badass!" Sachi squealed.

"There's something hilariously adorable about you when you curse." Brad said to Sachi.

"Greater Flesh Lightning!" Daniel called out the name of his spell.

His scythe arm rapidly lengthened so that it reached Nekris. He tried to cut her horizontally in half with it, but the blade of purple light went through the demon without doing any damage.

"So, she's immune to light." Daniel said as he retracted his scythe arm to its normal length, "Makes sense."

"Let me try!" Brad said as he shot several red laser beams at Nekris.

The lasers did nothing.

"You idiot." Marielle said, "Lasers are light."

"Yeah, but they're not magical." Brad said.

"Is that so?" Marielle said, "I'll be impressed if you can tell me the actual physics behind lasers."

"Good point." Brad said with a weak attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Leave this to me!" Marielle said, "Timelessness!"

Marielle drew a counterclockwise square in the air with her sword. Everything other than Marielle herself became frozen in time. She charged at Nekris and impaled her in the stomach. She then moved her sword upwards through the demon's chest and head, cutting her body in half. A bright red flame rose out of Nekris's chest.

"That must be her soul." Marielle said before running back to her party.

Marielle drew a clockwise circle on the ground around herself to end her Timelessness spell.

"Whoa!" Brad said when he saw Nekris's mutilated corpse, "What did I miss!?"

"I was able to destroy Nekris's body, but my sword would be useless against her demonic soul." Marielle explained, "I need Daniel to destroy her soul."

"Me?" Daniel asked, "With my carnomancy?"

"No." Marielle said, "With your hydromancy. I need you to go to sleep and let your other personality fight."

"The other Daniel!?" Brad said, "He'll probably be too scared to move!"

"That is a possibility, but I can't think of any better strategy." Daniel said, "We'll just have to hope for the best."

Daniel retracted the flesh from around the scythe, turning his hand back into a normal hand and dropping the weapon. He then closed his eyes and fell to his knees. When he opened his eyes, they were his normal innocent green eyes, which soon widened when he saw all of the mutilated corpses scattered around him and his friends.

"Did I do this!?" Daniel cried.

"You wish." Brad laughed.

"No, I don't." Daniel said, "I just want peace."

"So does your other personality." Marielle said, "That's why we need you to destroy that flame."

"What is it?" Daniel asked.

"It's the soul of the demon who started the war." Marielle explained, "If you destroy it, peace will be restored to Kaldecia and Dorandale. We're all counting on you to destroy it because only water can destroy fire."

"In that case, I will destory the demon's soul." Daniel said as his voice became gradually more confident, "Greater Ice Star!"

A star-shaped ice crystal fell from the sky and onto Nekris's soul. When it came into contact with the flame, it melted into water, putting out the fire and destroying the soul.

"So, the war's over now?" Daniel's voice was still shaking with trauma.

"I guess so." Marielle said.

"I just destroyed a soul." Daniel said, "But, I guess that's not so bad since it was a demon's soul."

"Now, where too next?" Brad said as he booted up his teleportation device.

He was tempted to press the random button.

"We could go back to the house to rest up." Daniel said.

"Most of the Floridian forest was destroyed in our fight with Mortos Rex." Marielle said, "That most likely includes your house."

"Oh, right." Daniel said sorrowfully.

"Is there any way you can teleport us to an inn somewhere?" Sachi asked Brad.

"Nice!" Brad said, "A classic epic fantasy cliche!"

"Is it?" Sachi said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"No, it's fine." Brad said, "I'll search for an inn."

Brad pressed some buttons on his teleportation device, teleporting the heroes' party to what appeared to be an ominous wasteland. The ground was black and barren, and the four heroes found themselves standing next to a large and sinister-looking spire.

"That's an inn?" Sachi asked.

"It should be." Brad said, "But, it doesn't look like one. Huh. That's strange. Oh well. Let's explore it."

"Wait a minute." Marielle said, "We don't know anything about this place."

"Hold on." Brad said.

Brad pressed some buttons on one of the gadgets on his arms and opened up a hologram of a map.

"It says we're in Germany." Brad said.

"Where?" Daniel asked.

"I believe it's part of the Kingdom Of The Dead." Marielle said, "Practically all buildings in the Kingdom Of The Dead are ominous spires, so this could very well be an inn, but we wouldn't be able to stay here because it would cost money."

"Don't you have money?" Brad asked.

"No." Daniel said, "There is no money in America. Everything is free where I'm from thanks to the great philanthropist Charles J. Bloodhorn."

"You man your state's dictator?" Marielle asked.

"Just because he's a lich dictator doesn't mean he's evil." Daniel said.

"What about you, Sachi?" Brad asked, "Don't you have money?"

"Just a little bit." Sachi said, "But, it's not the same type of currency that's used in the Kingdom Of The Dead."

"It looks like we'll just have to set up camp on our own." Marielle said.

"Nothing I'm not used to." Brad said, "But, why is this place called the Kingdom Of The Dead anyways?"

"Well, it's ruled by the lich king Rexx Schwartz." Marielle explained, "And, it's full of liches and vampires of all sorts."

"And zombies!?" Brad asked a bit too excitedly.

"Yes." Marielle sighed, "And zombies."

"Awesome!" Brad said, "You know, I was thinking about finding a better place for us to rest, but now I think we should stay here and fight zombies!"

"But, I don't like this place!" Sachi said, "Everything's all dead here!"

"Look on the bright side." Brad said, "That just means there will be plenty of flies for your frog to eat!"

"I guess you're right." Sachi said, "But, where should we rest?"

"I suggest we keep walking until we don't see any more spires." Marielle said, "The farther away we are from the undead's civilization, the less chance they'll have of finding us."

"I guess you're right." Sachi said, "I think I still have enough energy left to walk a bit farther."

The four of them walked onwards into the barren wasteland where they set up camp and rested. They didn't have the comforts of an inn or even those of Daniel's cottage, but it was the best they could do. Daniel wasn't as tired as the others since he had already rested while his other personality was doing most of the fighting in Kaldecia, but he got so bored that he fell asleep anyways and had his second dream.

"Where am I!?" Daniel panicked within his dream.

He seemed to be floating, suspended in a field of silver light. Then, he noticed somebody standing across from him. It was a woman with long pink hair, bright green eyes, and tan skin with white markings painted on her face. She wore a white outfit that was sexy but fancy and elegant, and she had glittery rainbow butterfly wings. She looked like a goddess.

"This is your second dream." She said, "Or rather, your second astral projection. This time, you are in the astral dimension."

"Who are you!?" Daniel asked.

"I am the goddess of life." She said, "I have gone by many names, but my true name is Verchiel. Your other personality wanted you to have this dream so that I could communicate with you and bless you with his weapons."

"Weapons!?" Daniel asked.

"You left his gear behind in Florida." Verchiel explained, "It's harder for him to fight without it. He needed me to visit you in this dream to return his weaponry to his body."

"Umm, ok..." Daniel said, still confused.

Verchiel stepped forward through the field of silver light and touched Daniel's forehead, causing him to wake up as his other self. He opened his glowing eyes to see that he was now wearing his turquoise silk outfit with all of his weapons strapped to his arms and torso with leather belts. He waited patiently for his friends to wake up. When they woke up, they were surprised to see that his outfit had changed, except for Marielle, who had been around him long enough to know not to question anything strange that happened with him.

"Daniel!" Sachi exclaimed, "Your outfit is different!"

"This is really the look that I prefer." Daniel said, "I couldn't stand my other personality's redneck clothes any longer, so I channeled the goddess Verchiel to return my weapons and princely regalia to me."

"You can do that!?" Sachi said, "That's so cool!"

"She's got a point." Brad said, "You look pretty badass with all of those weapons! Now, let's go hunt for some zombies!"

The four heroes carried on through the wasteland and eventually came upon a small village.

"Excuse me!" Brad asked various random strangers in the village, "Do you happen to be under attack by zombies? We can help you fight them off!"

"Not zombies." One of the villagers said, "A dragon lich."

"What's a dragon lich?" Brad asked.

"An undead half-dragonic mage." Marielle said.

"Yeah, the only part of that I understood was undead." Brad said, "Still, it sounds pretty badass. I don't know about you, but I sure am up to the challenge!"

"We have to fight the dragon lich?" Sachi asked.

"Duh." Brad said.

"Well actually, I was thinking we should hide from it." Sachi said.

"Hide from it?" Brad asked.

"You know." Sachi said, "Find shelter."

"Do the two of you ever agree on anything?" Marielle asked.

"The best way to make a compromise would be to explore the town." Daniel said, "Inevitably, we will eventually either find the dragon lich or a place to hide from it."

The four friends began to explore the town.

"Look at all of these shops!" Sachi said, "Let's check this one out!"

"We're not here to go shopping!" Brad said.

Without listening, Sachi ran towards a shop with a large red ovular sign that said "Ralph's" in upside down white letters.

"What's even in there?" Brad groaned.

"Ideally, shelter." Daniel said.

Daniel, Marielle, and Brad followed Sachi into Ralph's. When they got in, they saw that all of the walls and shelves of the store were lined with bizarre magical trinkets. The merchant, whose name was presumably Ralph, was a tall albino man with short white hair, and he was wearing a blood red leather trench coat and black sunglasses. Sachi was already talking to him.

"My shop offers the widest array of arcane fineries." Ralph explained to Sachi in his ominous voice.

Sachi turned around and waved to her friends.

"Hi!" Sachi said, "I want you to meet Ralph Drakarian! Isn't he so dreamy!?"

"He's kind of creepy if you ask me." Marielle said, "Are you really into guys like that? Oh, wait. Of course you are. You like Daniel."

Daniel chose to ignore the fact that Marielle was using him as the butt of her joke.

"What kinds of things do you sell here?" Marielle asked.

"Well, let's see here." Ralph said, "A chainsaw engraved with quantum runes, the robes of an ancient queen of R'lyeh, the meat of extinct cryptids..."

"Marijuana?" Sachi asked.

"I don't think so." Ralph said.

"Never mind." Sachi said, "Your shop's actually kind of lame."

"What are these!?" Brad asked as he ran up to a jar that appeared to contain a pair of severed boobs floating in formaldehyde.

"Flesh orbs." Ralph explained.

"I don't know." Marielle said, "They look kind of counterfeit if you ask me."

"There's blood on this chainsaw..." Sachi said after finding the runic chainsaw sitting on a shelf.

She poked one of the runes, and a purple spark flew out. The frog on her shoulder caught the spark with its tongue, swallowed it, and briefly turned every color of the rainbow before going back to being gold.

"Well, yes, the chainsaw is used." Ralph said.

"By who exactly?" Marielle asked skeptically, "And, might it have any correlation to those flesh orbs?"

"You catch on quick." Ralph laughed ominously, "The truth is that I used it!"

"I there was something creepy about this Ralph guy." Marielle said, "We have to get out before he kills us!"

"You mean we have to kill him before he kills us!" Brad said as he grinned and pulled one of his laser guns out of a holster.

"First, we should ask him if he knows anything about the dragon lich." Daniel said.

"Dragon lich!?" Ralph laughed as he took off his sunglasses and trench coat to reveal red eyes and a spiky red suit of armor, "I am the dragon lich!"

"Still think he's hot?" Marielle teased Sachi.

"Not as hot as Daniel!" Sachi said as she hugged Daniel against his will.

"Well, that's unfortunate." Ralph said, "I guess I'll just have to eat your corpse!"

Ralph aimed his hand at Sachi and shot a fireball out of his palm at her. Daniel, with his amazing reflexes, saw it coming and pushed Sachi down to the ground so that the fireball wouldn't hit her.

"So, this enemy also uses fire." Daniel said, "Since my other personality is a hydromancer, he would have the advantage of using water against fire, but he's also not a good fighter, so I better not risk it."

"Daniel..." Sachi moaned as Daniel noticed that she was blushing.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked in the usual stoic tone of his carnomancer personality.

"Nothing." Sachi giggled, "I guess I just wasn't expecting to end up like this so soon. You know, with you on top of me like this."

Daniel noticed the awkward position he was in. He got off of Sachi and stood up to defend her. He began to laugh somewhat insanely as he made the fingers of his right hand elongate into worm-like tentacles. With his left hand, he took five knives out of his belts and fused each one to one of the tentacles that were the fingers of his right hand so that each tentacle ended in a knife.

"So, it's you." Ralph said.

"You know of me?" Daniel asked.

"Of course." Ralph said, "I am a well-read man. But, I never thought I'd meet you in person, Xo'xkhrx, God-Prince Of Flesh. So, the four legendary princes have finally incarnated into Blood World."

"Four!?" Marielle said, "You mean there are others like Daniel!?"

"Yes." Ralph said, "That is correct. There are four legendary princes."

"So, the others incarnated as well." Daniel said.

"What are you talking about?" Sachi asked, "Who are the legendary princes?"

"They represent the four elements of bone, brain, flesh, and blood." Ralph explained, "They are advanced spiritual beings with power beyond human comprehension, and they are the first four of an entire dimension of such beings to incarnate into Blood World. Eventually, more higher-dimensional beings will incarnate. One day, they will outnumber regular humans. When no more mortal humans remain, Blood World itself will ascend into a higher dimension."

"What's so enlightened about Daniel?" Marielle asked, "His 'flesh prince' personality is kind of belligerent if you ask me."

"He is a living weapon against evil." Ralph explained, "He is the chaos to end all chaos. Like a white blood cell, he exists to extirpate all of the corruption in Blood World."

"But, why does he have two personalities, one of which is completely clueless of anything?" Marielle asked.

"That is the greatest defect of the four princes." Ralph said, "Think of them as glitchy prototypes of what is to come."

"No!" Sachi yelled angrily, "I'll think of them as human beings! How dare you treat Daniel like a machine!"

"Your friend Daniel is by no means a machine." Ralph said, "He's actually a fascinating biological specimen. Never in my 800 years of undeath did I ever think I would have a chance to experiment on a fabled savior."

"You bastard!" Brad yelled ,"I won't let you experiment on my friend!"

Brad shot a laser at Ralph's face, but before it reached him, Ralph's armor expanded so that it covered his head.

"How the hell did he do that!?" Brad yelled as he stomped the floor of the shop.

"My armor is made of a dragon's hide." Ralph explained, "As a dragon lich, I have the power to control it. Now, come to me, prince of flesh."

"You want my flesh?" Daniel snickered, "You've got it!"

Daniel extended his knived tentacles towards Ralph, but his armor was too thick for them to cut through.

"Flesh Lightning!" Daniel yelled the name of his spell.

His worm-like tentacles branched out into more tentacles and grabbed on tight to Ralph's armored body. Ralph raised his hand towards the ceiling and shot a fireball out of his palm, burning a hole in the ceiling. He then used his dragon magic to manipulate his armor so that it grew wings. Ralph flew out of the hole in the ceiling to try to shake Daniel off of him, but with his flesh tentacles, Daniel was still able to cling to Ralph's dragon armor. Daniel slightly retracted his tentacles to bring his body closer to that of Ralph. Once his feet landed firmly on Ralph's thighs, Daniel used his non-tentacled hand to take a knife out of one of the belts on his tentacled arm. With the knife, he stabbed Ralph's exposed throat. Blood sprayed out of Ralph's throat and onto Daniel's face. As Ralph began to lose control of himself and fall, Daniel rode his dying body back down into the shop. With Ralph pinned down to the ground, Daniel fully retracted his tentacles, turning the fingers of his right hand back into regular fingers. With both hands, he ripped Ralph's helmet off. Daniel then put both of his hands in Ralph's mouth and pulled his upper and lower jaws apart, unhinging them and ripping off the upper part of his head.

Once Ralph was undeniably dead, Daniel stood up and turned around to see his friends, but there was one other person standing with them who he didn't recognize. It was a short and thin girl with short curly pale pink hair. Although her facial features were Jewish, her skin tone was very light, and she had big blue eyes. She wore a black and white plaid dress and a lavender rabbit-shaped barrette.

"Hi." The girl said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "My name's Anja Nachash. I saw you fight that dragon lich! You were so cool, and you saved our village! Can you please be my boyfriend? I'll do anything for you!"

"No way!" Sachi said, "Daniel Hamlet Descartes is my boyfriend!"

"Oh yeah?" Anja said, "Well, I love him more, and I'm probably more protective and responsible than you anyways!"

"How do you even know Daniel likes girls like that!?" Sachi asked.

"Everybody should!" Anja argued, "It's important to have somebody to take care of you! Please let me be your salve, Prince Daniel!"

"What do you girls even see in this guy?" Marielle asked, "I mean, look at him! He just ripped a guy's skull in half!"

"If I had to choose between the two of you, I would choose Sachi." Daniel said as he wiped the blood off of his face.

"Why her!?" Anja asked, still retaining her innocent voice through her anger.

"She's more caring." Daniel said.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Anja said, "I'd do anything for you! What would she do!?"

"I didn't mean caring for me." Daniel said, "I meant caring for nature and for Blood World."

"You expect me to care for every single person in Blood World!?" Anja asked, "Isn't it enough that I care for you!?"

"Daniel doesn't want an over-protective girlfriend whose hair looks like cotton candy!" Sachi yelled, "Get that into your stupid head!"

"Fine then." Anja said as she pulled out a knife, "If I can't love Daniel, no one will!"

"You're crazy!" Daniel said, "I'm not even interested in you!"

"Then, I'll make you love me!" Anja said.

Anja pinned Sachi to the ground. Sachi struggled to try to push Anja off of her.

"It's no use!" Sachi said, "I'm too weak!"

"Aren't you going to help out?" Brad asked Marielle.

"This fight is none of my business." Marielle said, "A more relevant question would be why you haven't tried to shoot that girl's head off yet."

"I don't know." Brad said with a shrug, "I guess when two girls are fighting, I'd rather just watch than interfere."

"Then, I'll help." Daniel said.

"Because you want to prove how much you love me!?" Sachi asked.

"Because I have the strategic advantage." Daniel said coldly.

Daniel kicked Anja off of Sachi.

"What did you do that for!?" Anja asked.

"You were interrupting our adventure." Daniel said, "That's right. You're not even a formidable enemy. You're just an interruption."

"I'll make you pay for calling me that!" Anja said.

With her knife, Anja charged at Daniel. Daniel turned his left pointer finger into a tentacle and used it to snatch the knife out of Anja's hand and fuse it into his own.

"Without your weapon, you are defenseless." Daniel said.

"Please don't kill me!" Anja panicked, "I want to be able to make it to Akelarre!"

"What is Akelarre?" Daniel asked.

"Once every year, all of the witches of the Kingdom Of The Dead meet in the Black Forest!" Anja explained, "And, whoever is the most powerful is given the title Mother Of Sorcery!"

"So, you're a witch." Daniel said.

"Well, only sort of." Anja said as her voice lost its perkiness and began to fill with sadness, "I'm not very good at using magic. You see, my parents didn't have magical powers, and they didn't support the fact that I had them either, so they disowned me at an early age. Since then, I've been barely surviving on the streets of the Kingdom Of The Dead. I've never actually been to a magic class because I could never afford one, and my only power so far is the ability to talk to trees, so I've relied more on my knife than my magic."

"And yet you expect to be elected Mother Of Sorcery?" Daniel asked.

"Not really." Anja said as she began to cry, "I kind of just want to be able to go there and see all of the magic and feel like I belong somewhere for once! Maybe I'll find someone who can teach me magic for free!"

"If you're that excited about Akelarre, then won't you be happy enough without me?" Daniel asked.

"No!" Anja whined, "I need you to be my handsome warrior prince!"

"You know what?" Sachi said, "I was just starting to feel sympathy for you! You see, I feel sympathy for almost everybody who I can tell has feelings, and I hate having to kill people, but there's just one exception. Nobody who tries to steal my boyfriend from me will live to tell the tale!"

"But, how are you going to kill her?" Marielle asked, "Your only weapon is that coin."

"This shop is full of weapons that I can use!" Sachi said.

"Oh, I know!" Brad said, "You could unleash those spiders on her!"

He pointed to a cage full of large black and red spiders.

"Those are Peruvian Pyroclasm Spiders." Marielle said, "If we release them, they'll burn us all to death."

"Peru?" Sachi giggled, "Isn't that where ayahuasca comes from?"

"What's ayahuasca?" Marielle asked.

"Tea that gets you high!" Sachi cheered, "But, it also makes you throw up..."

While the heroes were distracted, Anja had picked up a sword from one of the shelves in the store.

"Thanks for giving me the idea to use the store's weapons!" Anja said, "After all, they're all free now that the merchant is dead!"

"Oh yeah?" Sachi said, "Well, let's settle this!"

Sachi picked up the chainsaw that she had examined earlier. She clashed weapons with Anja.

"Wait." Sachi said, "Ralph said this was a rune chainsaw. But, I don't know any spells! Do any of you know any?"

"Well, the runes on the chainsaw are green, suggesting that's capable of casting life spells." Marielle said, "Try using Poison!"

"Ok!" Sachi said, "Poison!"

The green runes on the chainsaw glowed, and Anja dropped the sword as her hands began to wither.

"I hate having to do this, but I have no sympathy for anyone who tries to force Daniel to love him!" Sachi said.

"That's kind of hypocritical if you ask me, but all right." Marielle said.

Sachi plunged the chainsaw into Anja's stomach. As the blade spun, chunks of Anja's dying flesh began to fly everywhere.

"Well, well." Daniel said, "I'm impressed."

"That was awesome!" Brad said, "Now, how about we go to the Black Forest and hunt for some more witches! I can teleport us there!"

"Ok, but I'm leaving the chainsaw here." Sachi said.

"Why!?" Brad asked.

"It's kind of heavy, and I really don't want to get into the habit of killing people."

"Oh, come on!" Brad teased, "The next thing you know, you'll be addicted!"

"That's kind of the point." Sachi said, "To be honest, I don't want to end up like you."

"I don't think it's necessary to teleport to the Black Forest." Marielle said, "It shouldn't be too far from here if that girl was planning on making it there by foot. We should ask around for directions."

"Great idea!" Sachi said.

"I could use my radar to generate a map, but all right..." Brad said.

The four of them left the shop. It was already night time by then, and there was a thunderstorm.

"Oh, let's ask that guy!" Sachi said, pointing to a man with blonde hair, strong features, and a black leather outfit.

"I don't know." Marielle said, "He looks like he's probably a thief."

"But, he's so handsome and edgy!" Sachi said.

"Fourteen-year-old girl logic." Marielle said with a facepalm.

"For your information, I'll be turning fifteen this week!" Sachi said.

Sachi ran up to the stranger.

"Excuse me!" Sachi said, "Which way is the Black Forest?"

"It's just north of this village." The man said, automatically assuming Sachi was a witch because of how awkward she was, "But, haven't you heard? Akelarre's cancelled because of the thunderstorm. And, shouldn't you know the way to the Black Forest?"

"Well, actually I got drunk and forgot the way." Sachi improvised in an attempt to sound badass.

"Well then, I guess you also forgot about Dorn Blitzdrache." The man said.

"Who?" Sachi asked.

"The vampire who comes out during thunderstorms in the Black Forest." The man said.

"Thank you so much!" Sachi said with an instinctive bow.

She ran back to her three friends.

"If we keep going down this path, we should make it to the Black Forest!" Sachi said excitedly, "Akelarre is cancelled, but there's a vampire there that we can fight!"

"Sounds like a nice challenge!" Brad said.

The four heroes left the village and crossed some plains until they reached the forest.

"It's kind of hard to see in the forest at night..." Sachi complained.

"Here." Brad said as he pressed a switch on one of his gadgets, activating a flashlight.

"Thank you!" Sachi cheered.

"I still can't see much." Marielle said, "Nothing but trees. Not even any animals."

"The animals are probably hiding from the vampire." Daniel said, "Or from the light. They've probably never seen anything like it before. Wait, I hear something. It's coming form this direction."

Daniel and his friends turned to see a man who was probably Dorn Blitzdrache the vampire. Dorn had long pale blonde hair, pale skin, and he wore a long black coat with red buttons. One of his red eyes could be seen through his sunglasses, which had one lens missing.

"Omg!" Sachi squealed.

"Let me guess." Marielle said, "You think he's also hot."

"Well, yes..." Sachi said guiltily.

"He looks like an easy target if you ask me!" Brad said.

Brad took out one of his guns and shot a laser at Dorn. Dorn removed one of his black gloves and absorbed the laser into the palm of his hand.

"But, I thought light killed vampires!" Brad said.

"I am an electric vampire." Dorn said in a voice that was somehow deep and raspy at the same time, "Instead of getting energy from blood, I absorb plasma such as electricity, fire and light. That's why I awaken during thunderstorms!"

"You know what?" Sachi said, "I take it back. His voice is too annoying."

"But if you only need light to survive, then why do you kill people?" Marielle asked.

"Because it's fun." Dorn said with a shrug.

"I like the way this guy thinks!" Brad said with a grin.

"And, I like the way you drew me in with that light, only to energize me with your laser!" Dorn said, "Now, watch this!"

Dorn shot a small lightning bolt out of his hand. It hit Sachi, leaving a burn on her arm.

"No!" Daniel said, "How dare you harm the one who loves me the most!?"

"Why should it matter to you!?" Dorn asked.

"Because the truth is that I think she's also the one who I love the most!" Daniel said.

"Daniel!" Sachi said as she blushed and her eyes sparkled.

"I will protect you, Sachi!" Daniel said.

"Can you heal my arm first!?" Sachi asked, "It really hurts!"

"In order to heal, I would have to go back to being a hydromancer, thus activating my other personality." Daniel said, "Theoretically, I could stay a carnomancer forever since my carnomancer personality is immortal and doesn't necessarily need to sleep. But although my hydromancer personality is weak and not good at fighting, there are times such as this when it is more strategic to be the hydromancer and let the carnomancer sleep."

Daniel sat down and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were no longer glowing and his face returned to its normal innocent expression.

"Daniel!" Sachi said, "You have to heal me!"

"Wait, where are we now?" Daniel asked innocently.

Daniel looked down at his outfit. He was wearing that exotic turquoise silk outfit again with all of those small weapons strapped to it. He struggled to stand up because he wasn't used to the weight of all of those weapons on him.

"What happened?" Daniel asked, and then he noticed Sachi, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll heal you! It's just that the more I wake up in random places, the less I know what's going on. At least there aren't dead bodies everywhere this time..."

"Water Gift!"

The crystal-clear healing water formed in Daniel's hands, and he applied it to Sachi's arm, curing the burn.

"Thank you, Daniel!" Sachi said happily.

"So, who's this guy that we're fighting?" Daniel asked.

"His name's Dorn Blitzdrache." Marielle explained, "He's an electric vampire. Brad's lasers are useless against him, and since he's undead, my death spells probably won't work very well either."

"What about my water?" Daniel asked.

"That might amplify his electricity." Marielle said, "Your best option would be to use your knives."

Daniel looked at all of the small bladed weapons that were strapped to his body. He still wasn't used to them.

"I'm not sure I know how to use them." Daniel said.

"Amazing." Dorn said, "You really do have two entirely different personalities."

"Yeah, and this one's really disappointing." Marielle said, "And now that he's made it clear that he could actually stay in his other personality forever if he wanted to without sleeping, I don't know why he ever even tries to use this worthless one."

"I'm sorry." Daniel cried guiltily, "Wait, are you saying you hate me?"

"I don't hate you." Marielle said, "I just don't like you when you're all weak and cowardly like this."

"So, you don't hate me, but you hate everything about me that makes me who I am." Daniel cried, "Well then, forget it. There's no way I'll help you out!"

Daniel stepped away from his allies and sat down, crying in a fetal position with his back turned to them.

"Fine then." Marielle said to Dorn, "It looks like I'll have to use my sword to defeat you!"

Marielle unsheathed her sword and charged at Dorn, but he dodged.

"I don't just have lightning powers." Dorn said, "I also have lightning speed!"

"I didn't count on that..." Marielle said.

Suddenly, where Marielle's sword had failed to impale Dorn, another sword impaled him, killing him. This sword was entirely black, including its blade. As whoever was standing behind Dorn pulled the sword out of the body and silently sheathed it into his belt, Dorn's body fell to the ground, giving Marielle, Brad, and Sachi a view of the man who had killed Dorn. This man was wearing a black trench coat, sunglasses, and black gloves. He had black hair an dark skin. One of his eyes was covered by his bangs, and he had a big creepy smile.

"Hey, I know that guy!" Brad said, "That's Indrid Cold!"

"How do you know him?" Marielle asked.

"He's the one who I was sent to this timeline to kill!" Brad said, "But, why did he help us out!?"

"I wasn't helping you out." Indrid said in the almost disturbingly calm voice of Morgan Freeman, "I was merely getting rid of the distraction. And by the way, I'm not here for you. In fact, I find it hard to believe that they sent a the likes of you to kill me."

"How do you know what I'm like!?" Brad asked.

"I'm psychic." Indrid said.

"Oh yeah?" Brad said, "Well, I'm a sniper!"

"I already know that." Indrid said, "And considering that I'm an assassin, a mercenary, and a tenebromancer, that's really not all that impressive."

"Who are you here for anyways!?" Marielle asked.

"The Prince Of R'lyeh." Indrid said.

"No!" Sachi said, "I won't let you take Daniel!"

"And yet after carefully scanning your capabilities, I can't think of a single thing you can do to stop me." Indrid said.

Indrid walked up to Daniel and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Come on." Indrid said, "We're going to Arcadia."

"Arcadia!?" Daniel asked, "You were sent by that Alessandro guy, weren't you!?"

"Actually, I was sent by Cassandra Lamina, the Dictatrix Of Arcadia." Indrid said, "Although, Alessandro does also work for her, and he will be there to watch you either kill or be killed by another one of the four princes."

"There are four princes?" Daniel asked.

"Apparently so." Marielle said, "Some guy who your other personality killed said the same thing."

"I killed a guy!?" Daniel asked.

"Yep." Marielle said, "You stabbed him in the throat, and then you ripped his head in half with your bare hands."

"I did that!?" Daniel cried as he looked in horror at his own hands.

"That's one of the least disturbing things that your other personality has done." Brad said, grinning widely at the expense of Daniel's trauma.

"Wait, there are three others like me?" Daniel asked.

"Yes." Indrid said, "You are one of four young men born in 2035 with two personalities: a gentle personality and a dangerously powerful personality. These four princes are prophecized to overthrow all government to make way for a new Blood World, but we can't have that happen in Arcadia. That's why we must capture all four princes. We already have the princes of bones and brains. Now, we just need the princes of flesh and blood. Since the prince of blood is the most dangerous, I decided it would be safer to search for the prince of flesh first. And now, I finally have you, and I'm taking you with me to Arcadia."

"Can we come with him!?" Sachi asked.

"No." Indrid said, "I only need Daniel."

"Don't worry, Sachi." Brad said, "I can teleport us there."

Indrid grabbed Daniel by the arm and began to drag him off to a black helicopter.

"So, you're taking me to Arcadia..." Daniel said.

"Yes." Indrid said, "That is where I said we are going. Now, get in the helicopter."

Daniel didn't really have a choice. Indrid practically pushed him into the black helicopter. Once the two of them were seated, Indrid spoke to the pilot.

"Take us to Nekropolis, William." Indrid said.

Daniel noticed the pilot William. William had long stylish sandy blonde hair, intense silver eyes, and a silvery white leather outfit.

"As you wish, Indrid." William said as he made the helicopter take off, "But, aren't you at least interested in the newly discovered Valley Of The Great Lizards?"

"More than you know." Indrid said, "But right now, the priority is getting this young man to Arcadia. After all, he is now property of the Arcadian government."

"I'm property?" Daniel asked shyly.

"You have to be." Indrid said, "We cannot allow the four princes to run free in Blood World. You're too dangerous."

Daniel didn't know what to say. He broke down into tears for a while before coming up with a comeback.

"You keep saying 'we.'" Daniel said, "Do you ever think for yourself? Or are you scared that your dictatrix will have you executed if you form your own opinions?"

"You don't know what's best for me." Indrid said, "I'm psychic. I know more than you ever will."

"The more you say you're psychic, the more it sounds like an excuse." Daniel cried.

"If you're trying to say you're smarter than me, you're not." Indrid said, "You just think everybody should put their own original flair on everything. In the end, that's pointless."

"In the end?" Daniel asked.

"Once everybody is dead." Indrid said, "Probably thanks to the four of you."

"There you go with your plurals again." Daniel cried, "Referring to me collectively with three other guys who I haven't even met. And also, flair has nothing to do with it. I just think everybody should be free to do what they enjoy."

"And, that is what makes you an enemy of Arcadia."

"So, am I your property or your enemy?"

"Don't talk to me again."

Terrified by Indrid's solemn statement, Daniel stopped talking. He just cried and whimpered because of how he was being treated and because of all of the violence he had witnessed and all of the people who he didn't want to think he had killed. The ride was long and boring, and he eventually cried himself to sleep.

And then, he woke up. Daniel opened his eyes, which were now glowing turquoise. His once-pitiful expression had changed into a twisted smile.

"Where am I!?" Daniel asked angrily as he looked around the helicopter, "Where have you taken me!? Where are the priestess and the sniper and the girl who loves me!?"

"Unbelievable." Indrid said, "You really do have a short attention span. I should have read your mind more carefully. I had no idea you would fall asleep so easily."

"What do you plan to do with me!?" Daniel asked as he turned the fingers of his left hand into worm-like tentacles and wrapped them around Indrid's throat, "Are you going to experiment on me!? If you can read my mind, you should know what happened the last time somebody tried to experiment on me!"

"I see." Indrid said as he read Daniel's mind, "Well, that other guy wasn't as prepared as I am."

Indrid teleported out of Daniel's grasp and ended up behind him. He pulled out a syringe and jabbed it into Daniel's arm, using it to tranquilize him. As Daniel fell asleep, his tentacles began to retract. But once he woke up and opened his normal innocent green eyes, he caught a slight glimpse of the tentacles before they had fully retracted.

"My fingers!" Daniel screamed, "There were worms coming out of my fingers! I hate worms! What did you do to me!?"

Daniel's emerald eyes gushed tears.

"I didn't make those worms come out of your fingers." Indrid said, "You did."

"No!" Daniel cried, "That's impossible!"

"Oh, I see." Indrid said as he read Daniel's mind, "You think your other personality is also a hydromancer."

"Of course he is." Daniel said, "You mean he's not!?"

"Haven't you wondered why I called you the prince of flesh?" Indrid asked.

"Oh my god..." Daniel said, "I'm..."

"A carnomancer." Indrid said, "And, your other personality has twisted your own flesh in unspeakable ways."

"My flesh!" Daniel cried, "No!"

The helicopter landed in Nekropolis. It was a high-tech city, but most of the buildings were black and had an organic and almost skeletal look to them. The one that they had landed next to appeared to be a colosseum. Indrid shoved Daniel out of the helicopter.

"Follow me." Indrid said.

"Why should I?" Daniel cried.

"Follow me." Indrid repeated in a more stern tone, slightly unsheathing his sword.

"Ok, fine." Daniel cried.

Daniel followed Indrid into a cold steel room that was located where a waiting room would normally be in a colosseum, but this room was devoid of comfort. There was a young man in there who appeared to be about Daniel's age. He had long wispy pale blonde hair, fair skin, and brown eyes. His outfit was strikingly similar to Daniel's but white instead of turquoise and with slight variations in detail such as long sleeves whereas Daniel's outfit was sleeveless with long gloves. This man was tightly shackled to a wall.

"Daniel Hamlet Descartes." Indrid said, "Meet Leon Candide Locke."

Daniel stared at Leon.

"Is he one of the other princes?" Daniel asked Indrid.

"Indeed he is." Indrid said.

Leon didn't say anything. He just cried silently.

"But, why is he chained up like that!?" Daniel asked.

"He's more dangerous than he looks." Indrid said, "In fact, as the Prince Of Brains, he has the potential to be even more dangerous than the Prince Of Blood because he has the power to make other people go mentally insane. However, while the Prince Of Blood is the most violent and spontaneous of the four princes, the Prince Of Brains is the most intelligent, so he has the most control over his powers, making him the least dangerous. However, since his aeromancer personality is the exact opposite of his neuromancer personality, he is currently very stupid."

"Don't call me stupid..." Leon cried.

"So, you're an aeromancer." Daniel said, "I'm a hydromancer, but this guy just told me I'm a carnomancer. But, all I really wanted was to be a fisherman."

"Oh, really?" Leon said, "Well, I actually only ever wanted to be an artist. I have air powers, but I don't usually use them. I also have this problem where I wake up in random places that I don't remember going to. People say that I'm a dangerous neuromancer and that I've escaped from over ten Arcadian asylums. But, I don't want to hurt anybody. I just want the government to leave me alone."

"Fine." Indrid said, "If my presence makes you feel uncomfortable, then I'll leave the room. But remember, there are still security cameras in here."

Indrid left the room. Daniel was still trying to take in everything that Indrid and Leon had said. He had tried to listen to them, but he was distracted by the obnoxiously noisy footsteps and chatter of the security guards in the halls of the building.

"It must be hard to live in Arcadia, huh?" Daniel asked, "I'm from America, and there isn't really a government there, so my life was more peaceful until lately. I had no idea I had another personality until recently."

"You're lucky." Leon said, "I've always been on the run from the Arcadian government. I never even asked to be an enemy of the state. I don't know why my other personality hates the government so much."

The door of the room opened up once again, and a blonde girl walked in. She appeared to be in her late teens, and she was wearing a t-shirt and a long denim skirt.

"So, you must be the new prince." Her monotone voice mostly concealed her excitement, "How fascinating!"

"Who's she?" Daniel asked Leon.

"That's Alexis Alighieri." Leon said, "She's not a professional scientist or anything like that, but she seems to like to research unusual things. She'll probably try to experiment on you like she tried to do to me."

"Alighieri?" Daniel asked, "So, she must be Alessandro's daughter..."

"You know my dad?" Alexis asked, "You poor thing. That guy's a dick, isn't he?"

"I guess so." Daniel said, "I mean, I wouldn't phrase it that way, but he did send a necromancer and an assassin to kill me."

"Well, he also always calls me useless and pathetic because I can't fight or use magic." Alexis said, "But, that stuff just doesn't interest me. My mom's even worse because she calls me stupid even though she's the dumbest bimbo I've ever met. Anyways, I guess you're familiar with the prophecy. The two of you and two other guys are apparently destined to come together and overthrow the government of Blood World. What I can't help but wonder is what would happen if one of you were to die, which is why I begged my father to send you to this colosseum. I also thought it would be a fun way to elect the next Mayor Of Nekropolis. Practically nobody could decide between the cyberlich Dracon Argentum and the vampire witch Circe The Undying anyways. So, I've decided that if Leon kills Daniel, Dracon becomes the new mayor, but if Daniel kills Leon, Circe wins."

"But, we don't want to kill each other." Daniel and Leon said.

"You don't." Alexis said, "But, your other personalities probably will."

"How do you know that?" Leon asked.

"Because I've seen you brutally murder everybody in your sight." Alexis said.

"Really?" Leon said, "Wow, my other personality scares me."

"Mine scares me too." Daniel said, looking at his hand and remembering the worms.

"Come on." Alexis said as she unlocked Leon's shackles, "Let's go."

Alexis lead the two boys out into the colosseum, where they were expected to kill each other.

"And, there they are!" Said the announcer.

The announcer was an almost entirely skeletal lich. What remained of his skin was very pale, his hair was long and black, and he wore a cheesy pinstripe suit.

"Hundreds of Nekropolitans have gathered here to watch what happens when two of the legendary princes clash with each other!" The announcer continued, "Even the legislomancer Alessandro Alighieri is here with his wife Selena Alighieri!"

Daniel noticed Alessandro in the audience. This time, Alessandro was wearing an iridescent white tuxedo. His wife was sitting next to him. Her pink hair, orange skin, and turquoise eyeshadow were all obnoxiously neon, and she wore a slutty outfit made mostly of purple sequins.

"Hey, Daniel!" It was Sachi's voice.

Daniel turned around and saw that Marielle, Brad, and Sachi had also somehow made it into the audience.

"You know, we're not actually supposed to be here..." Marielle reminded Brad.

"I don't care." Brad said, "If the law expects me to answer to it, it can answer to my weapons!"

"Those poor security guards..." Sachi said.

"I refuse to fight Leon!" Daniel said, "He's innocent! He doesn't deserve to die, and neither do I!"

"Then, I'll just have to make you fight each other!" Alexis said.

Alexis placed collars around Daniel's and Leon's necks and pressed a button on a device, activating needles inside the collars that injected a tranquilizing fluid into the boys' necks, causing them to fall asleep and their other personalities to awaken. Daniel's eyes glowed turquoise. Leon's eyes glowed white, and his hair became spiky.

"Now!" The announcer, whose name was Simon Pestilence, said, "Things are about to get interesting!"

This was the first time their awakened personalities had seen each other.

"So, it's true." Daniel said, "The others did incarnate as well. But, why did you choose to incarnate in Arcadia? It seems like a foolish choice for the Prince Of The Sky Of Brains."

"No." Leon said, "You are foolish to condescend me. I know what I am doing. Do not provoke me, Xo'xkrhx, Prince Of The Sea Of Flesh."

"I see." Daniel said, "And, I agree that the best choice is to not provoke you. In fact, I see no reason to fight you. If one of us dies, the prophecy will be altered."

"Come on!" Alexis yelled, "I need you to kill each other so that we can decide which Nekropolitician becomes the Governor Of Nekropolis!"

"You don't need a governor." Daniel said, "Government is oppression. Anarchy is freedom!"

"This is boring!" Selena complained, "There's got to be something we can do to make them fight!"

"You have my permission to intervene." Alessandro said.

"All right!" Selena yelled as she pulled out a pink AK-47 decorated with stickers of flowers and kittens.

"Something tells me she'd be more at home in my timeline." Brad said.

"Don't get any ideas." Marielle said, "She's taken."

"Aww, come on!" Brad said, "That guy doesn't even look straight! But then again, practically everybody in Blood World seems to have reversed gender roles anyways!"

"You cannot alter the prophecy!" Leon said.

Leon glared at Selena and used his neuromancy to make her head explode.

"Okay, that was actually kind of awesome." Brad said, "But, it would have been more awesome if it wasn't happening to a hot chick."

"You think I give a damn if my parents die?" Alexis asked, "Are you kidding me? I hate them anyways! Go ahead, and kill my dad, too. The guy's a bastard."

"You know what?" Leon said, "I was going to kill him, but now I think I'll keep him alive just to make sure you suffer."

"Aww, damn..." Alexis said, "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Let's escape!" Daniel said to Leon.

"Good idea!" Leon said as he ripped his collar off.

Daniel ripped his collar off as well, and the two of them ran out of the arena and into a hall. As Daniel and Leon ran through the hall, they ran into a laser, causing alarms to go off. Red lights flashed all over the walls, and security guards surrounded the two princes.

"No problem!" Daniel said, "Arise, Sih and Seikat!"

Daniel's eyeless crocodile-headed tentacles emerged from his shoulders and began to eviscerate some of the guards. Leon controlled some other guards' minds to make them kill each other. Marielle, Brad, and Sachi came running in to help the two of them out.

"If you can't handle all of these enemies, just leave it to me!" Brad said.

Brad pulled out his three-bladed laser sword and began to fight the guards.

"On top of a mountain~" Brad began to sing, "All covered in blood~"

"Do you always sing when you kill hoards of enemies?" Marielle asked, "Besides, we're not even on a mountain."

"There once were some people~" Brad continued, "But, I killed them all~"

"That doesn't even rhyme." Marielle said.

"I chopped all their heads off~" Brad sang as he beheaded the guards, "And shot them off too~"

"Am I the only one wondering how he can even improvise like that?" Marielle asked.

"I blew up their corpses~" Brad sang as he threw a grenade at the already-dead bodies and then put his arm around Marielle's shoulder, "But, I didn't kill you~"

"Aww, how romantic!" Sachi cheered.

"If you ask me, it's not very strategic to waste a grenade like that." Marielle said, "It's only possible to carry a few at a time, and they're very hard to come by in Blood World."

"I know." Brad said, "That's why I was saving it for this song!"

"Who are these people?" Leon asked Daniel.

"My allies." Daniel said since he would feel embarrassed to call them his friends at this moment.

The five of them continued to run through the hall until they ended up running into Alexis.

"You aren't going anywhere!" Alexis said, "I could care less about whoever you other three people are, but we can't have any of the legendary princes running loose and causing chaos in Blood World!"

"If anything, this guy's the one you should worry about causing chaos." Marielle said as she shoved Brad in front of Alexis.

"Oh, hey there!" Brad said as he waved to Alexis, "You know, your face is kind of ugly, but I bet you'd be kind of hot if you took the time to wash it. Still, I just can't resist the urge to shoot it..."

He pointed his gun at her face.

"Control yourself." Marielle groaned, "You've killed enough people here. Leave this one to me!"

"Aww, come on!" Brad argued, "I've got her right in my crosshairs!"

"Haven't you killed enough people today?" Marielle asked.

"There's no such thing as killing enough people!" Brad said.

As the two of them continued to argue, Alexis pulled a lever that opened up a wall and unleashed a hoard of zombie squirrels.

"How dare you zombify squirrels!" Sachi said in an angry yet adorable way.

"I like to be creative with my defense mechanisms." Alexis said.

"Those squirrels are fast!" Marielle said, "We'll have to take them down before they eat us! How about this! Torturous Path!"

Marielle swung her sword, sending a shockwave at the encroaching zombie squirrels. Once they were effectively slowed down, Brad began to shoot at them with amazing accuracy, even cutting one directly in half with a laser.

"Headshot!" Brad yelled as he shot a squirrel in the head.

"Don't kill them all!" Leon said, "I have a plan! Moonlight Sonata!"

Leon's spell gave him control over the squirrels' minds. He controlled them to make them charge at Alexis an devour all of her flesh until she died.

"Fatality!" Brad cheered.

"Now, it's time to finish them off!" Daniel said.

Daniel's tentacles engulfed and swallowed the remaining zombie squirrels before retracting back into his shoulders.

"That's the most messed up food chain I have ever witnessed." Sachi said.

"So, where to now?" Marielle asked.

"Do you know where any of the other princes are?" Daniel asked Leon.

"I know where the Prince Of Bones is." Leon said, "Like you, he was captured and taken to Arcadia. He had originally incarnated in India, but he now lives in the mansion of the dictatrix Cassandra Lamina where she keeps him as a butler and makes sure he stays sedated in his obedient geomancer personality. His osteomancer personality is just the opposite, making him the most rebellious of the four princes. Since we are already in the country of Arcadia, the mansion shouldn't be too far from here. There is a stable nearby where a billionaire named Chuck Halcyon keeps giant mutant rhinoceroses. If we were to steal one, the five of us could easily fit on its back and ride it over there."

"Or we could just do this!" Brad said as he pressed a button on his teleportation device.

He had been fiddling with it the whole time Leon was talking. They now found themselves inside a fancy mansion.

"Sorry." Brad said, "Your idea sounded slow. That is unless rhinos in Blood World have some kind of nitro setting."

"As opposed to those outside Blood World?" Leon asked.

"Brad's not from around here." Marielle explained, "Apparently, he was sent from an alternate timeline to assassinate Indrid Cold."

"Well actually, Indrid's also from my dimension." Brad said, "But, he escaped through a portal in Area 51."

"So basically, the man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Marielle said.

"Well, what's important now is that we unite the four princes." Daniel said.

"The four princes, you say?" A man's voice seemed to come from the ceiling.

Whoever was up there threw a shuriken down at Daniel, but Daniel was quick to activate one of his tentacles and use it to catch the shurken in mid-air.

"Show yourself, coward!" Daniel said.

"Wait, does this mean we get to fight a ninja!?" Brad said, "Sweet!"

The ninja jumped down and landed on his feet before them. He was a Japanese-looking man with long black hair and dark teal clothes.

"That's Shu Kiriyama." Leon said, "He's Cassandra's husband who she kidnapped from Japan. Of course, naturally, she kept her own last name."

"I won't let you lay your hands on our butler!" Shu said as he pulled out a sword.

"Two can play at this game!" Marielle said, pulling out her own sword.

"There's going to be a sword fight!?" Sachi asked.

"Nope!" Brad said as he pulled out two laser guns, "Just a couple of idiots bringing swords to a gun fight!"

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Marielle asked, "I'm the smartest member of our entire- Ok, I was the smartest until Leon joined, but I'm not even sure if he's officially one of us. And if all of the four princes end up joining us, then I quit. As a former member of a feminist sect, I'm really not that fond of having too many males on my team."

"Your team!?" Brad asked, "Aren't I the leader!?"

"Daniel?" Leon asked.

"Yes?" Daniel replied.

"I've come to the conclusion that the best option would be to start our own party and leave these three to die." Leon said.

"I'm torn between the decision." Daniel said, "Let's just give them more time and see how things turn out. What happens happens."

"Umm, does anyone else realize that the ninja's gone?" Marielle asked.

Daniel looked around, but Shu was nowhere to be seen.

"He must have escaped while we were talking." Daniel said.

"But, why would he act like he was about to fight us if he was just going to escape?" Leon asked.

"You might want to look at this." Marielle said, pointing to Sachi's impaled corpse.

Sachi's confused frog began to lick its owner's dead eyes.

"Oh my god!" Leon said

"That guy actually just killed Sachi!" Daniel said.

"That bastard!" Brad said.

"Well, it's not like she was ever really useful." Marielle said.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now!?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know!" Brad said, "Major protagonists aren't usually supposed to just die like that!"

Suddenly, one of the walls of the mansion collapsed, revealing a secret room full of rare artifacts.

"What just happened?" Marielle asked.

"I just broke the fourth wall!" Brad said.

"That made no logical sense whatsoever, but all right." Marielle said.

"I wonder what's inside that secret room." Daniel said.

"It looks like treasure." Leon said.

"Let's go look in there and see what we can find!" Brad said.

The four of them went into the secret room. It was full of artifacts.

"Amazing!" Leon said.

"What is it?" Daniel asked.

"You see these three items?" Leon asked.

There was a red wand, a green coin, and a blue chalice.

"Unbelievable!" Daniel said, "That must really be them!"

"Do you know what these are?" Leon asked Marielle and Brad.

"All too well." Marielle said.

"Well, what are they!?" Brad asked.

"The Wand Of Fire, the Coin Of Life, and the Cup Of Water." Leon said, "There's actually a fourth legendary artifact, but it's missing."

"What's the fourth one?" Brad asked.

"The Sword Of Death." Marielle said, "And actually, it's right here."

"Your sword is the Sword Of Death!?" Daniel asked, "But how!?"

"You know how I told you that I didn't know my last name?" Marielle asked.

"No." Daniel said, "You must have said that to my other personality."

"Well then, I lied to him." Marielle said, "My last name is Deathrider."

Even though Daniel was normally serious in his awakened personality, his heart pounded because he knew what this meant.

"As in Beleth Deathrider!?" Leon asked.

"Yes." Marielle said, "My father was one of the four horsemen. The Horseman Of Death."

"Then, that means I'm your father's reincarnation." Daniel said.

"What!?" Marielle asked, "No way!"

"He's right." Leon said, "The four princes are the reincarnations of the four horsemen. I'm the reincarnation of the Horseman Of Conquest."

"I don't know what to believe now." Marielle said.

"Well hopefully, you'll have more respect for me now what you know I'm your father." Daniel said.

"Ok, fine." Marielle said, "But, only when you're in this personality."

"So, what do we do with these artifacts?" Brad asked.

"I think they would be of use to you and Daniel." Leon said, "Marielle already has the Sword Of Death, Daniel should have the Cup Of Water because his other personality is a hydromancer, and the Wand Of Fire seems to match your personality, Brad."

"No it doesn't!" Brad said, "Wands are gay!"

"What about the Coin Of Life?" Daniel asked, "That would have been perfect for Sachi. Her weapon was already a magical coin, and she loved life."

"Well, I guess it's too late now." Brad said.

"No, it isn't." Leon said, "The Coin Of Life can be used to resurrect the dead!"

"Well then, we have to use it to save Sachi!" Daniel said.

They turned around to leave the room, but there was somebody standing in their way. It was a beautiful woman who was obviously Cassandra Lamina. Her blonde hair was pinned up elegantly, and it was mostly wavy but her bangs were straight and flat. She wore blue eyeshadow and red lipstick and a white silk dress with fishnet leggings.

"Wow!" Brad said, "If that's Cassandra, then she's rich, powerful, and hot! Talk about motivation to kill Shu! I gotta steal that guy's wife!"

"I forbid you to talk about me in such a way!" Cassandra said.

"Damn!" Brad said, "Why is every woman in Blood World such a bitch!?"

"You mean why won't women let you treat them like property?" Marielle asked, "Because we know we're superior."

"According to my husband, two of the four princes infiltrated my mansion." Cassandra said, "He also said they were traveling alongside a know-it-all with a sword and a retard with guns. I take it he meant you two."

"Actually, I prefer the term 'dangerous psychopath'." Brad said, "It has a more badass ring to it, you know?"

"I don't care-" Cassandra began to say before being interrupted by a boy's voice.

"A badass ring, you say!?" The voice said.

It was the Prince Of Bones. He was an Indian-looking boy with black hair and a black silk outfit. In his awakened form, his eyes were completely black.

"Chandra!" Cassandra said, "I thought I remembered to give you your daily shot!"

"How's this for a badass ring!?" Chandra said.

He unbuttoned his long sleeveless black silk coat, ripped two of his own ribs out of his chest, and fused them together into a chakram. Spikes formed around the bone chakram's edges as Chandra held it in his hand.

"I don't have time for you now!" Cassandra said, "Go away!"

"And, you honestly expect me to listen to you!?" Chandra said as he threw the chakram at Cassandra.

With amazing accuracy, it hit her right in the neck and decapitated her. Her dead body fell to the ground as blood spurted out of her neck. Chandra rushed over to his bone chakram and caught it in mid-air. He then pulled it apart and turned it back into his ribs and put them back in his body as his skin regenerated over them.

"Well, there goes the Arcadian government!" Chandra laughed with a grin.

"Excellent." Daniel said, "Now, let's resurrect Sachi!"

"Who's that?" Chandra asked.

"My girlfriend." Daniel said, "Cassandra's husband killed her."

"Oh, I see." Chandra said, "And, you found the coin of life, so you're going to use it to bring her back. I seem to remember something interesting that happened to a shaman who tried doing that to himself, but whatever."

"This has to work!" Daniel said.

He placed the Coin Of Life on Sachi's body. She stood up with the ninja sword still impaling her stomach. She looked down at her frog and stepped on it, splattering its blood and guts.

"Sweet!" Brad cheered, "Now, were's all cold-hearted sociopaths!"

"She's not the same!" Daniel said.

"I tried to warn you..." Chandra said, "But, look on the bright side! At least she's more badass now!"

"I liked Sachi better when she was loving!" Daniel said, "What have you... No, what have I done to her!?"

"Don't call me that." Sachi said coldly, "Call me Saeko. Saeko Path."

"It seems as if she no longer has a soul." Marielle said.

"That is correct." Saeko said, "My soul has become a part of the goddess Esmodel, and it can no longer return to my body."

"Then, that means..." Leon began to say.

"She's a zombie." Chandra said.

"Wait, does that mean I can-" Brad began to say.

"No." Marielle said as she glared at Brad.

"I must kill the man who killed me." Saeko said, "He must pay for what he has done."

"You mean Shu." Chandra said, "If you ask me, he'll be hard to find since this mansion is so huge and he's so good at hiding."

"I don't care." Saeko said, "I have to kill him."

"Don't worry." Brad said, "There's a plot device for that! With this gadget, I'll be able to sense his heat signature. Now, all we have to do is search through all of these rooms until we find him!"

The six of them began to travel together through the mansion in search of Shu. Once they finally came to the room where he was, Brad didn't even notice because he was too busy looking for his heat signature. Chandra tapped him on the shoulder.

"There he is." Chandra said, "Sitting at that table. Right in plain sight. It looks like we didn't need that gadget after all!"

"What at idiot!" Brad said, "Although, I guess it was kind of dumb to assume that just because he's a ninja, he's always hiding 24/7 just for the sake of it."

"I've found you!" Saeko said as she walked up to Shu, "Prepare to die!"

"Your friends may have killed my wife, but I won't let you kill me!" Shu said.

He threw a shuriken at Saeko, but she dodged it.

"That's interesting." Brad said, "She seems to be smarter and faster as a zombie than she was when she was alive."

"Our zombies are different." Leon said with a shrug.

Saeko jumped on Shu and pinned him to the ground. She took the sword out of her stomach and impaled him with it right where he had previously impaled her.

"Daniel." Saeko said, "I'll need some of your knives."

"I suppose I have quite a bit to spare." Daniel said.

Daniel handed Saeko two knives, which she jabbed into Shu's eyes, killing him.

"My goal has been accomplished." Saeko said coldly.

"So, what do we do next?" Brad asked.

"What we really need to do is to fulfill the prophecy." Leon said, "That means that all four princes have to come together at the last pure place in Blood World. But, the Prince Of Blood and the Last Pure Place could both be anywhere, and I don't know where to look."

"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." Marielle said, "If you don't know, then who would?"

"Somebody psychic." Leon said.

"Indrid Cold!" Brad said angrily, "But, there's no way he'll give us the information!"

"So, what exactly will happen when the prophecy is fulfilled?" Marielle asked.

"All of the government in Blood World will be destroyed." Leon said.

"But, that makes us..." Marielle began to say.

"Chaotic evil!" Chandra boasted.

"But, not without a reason." Daniel said.

"I can't believe I ended up serving this side!" Marielle said, "And, what will happen to Arcadia now that it's not longer being governed?"

"Isn't it obvious!?" Chandra laughed, "It'll fall into chaos!"

"If you ask me, it's more likely that they'll elect a new dictator." Leon said, "But, who?"

"I don't know." Daniel said, "None of us, other than you, are from Arcadia, so we don't know anything about Arcadian politicians. The only famous Arcadian I know is the legislomancer Alessandro Alighieri."

"That's it!" Leon said, "Knowing him, he'll probably take control of Arcadia and occupy the position as its new dictator to enforce justice on all of Arcadia and maybe even all of Blood World!"

"We have to stop him!" Chandra said.

"Wait, what's wrong with justice?" Marielle asked.

"It's oppressive!" Chandra said.

"What's so oppressive!?" Marielle asked.

"You are!" Brad said, "Now, we have to find Indrid Cold and force him to tell us where the Prince Of Blood and the Last Pure Place are!"

Brad began to fiddle with one of his gadgets.

"Let me guess." Marielle said, "Indrid radar."

"Now, you're using your brain!" Brad said, "That's exactly what I've got right here! According to this radar, he should be in the Court Of Nekropolis right now! Since he's psychic, he probably knows that we killed Cassandra and Shu, and if he's in the Court, then that mean's he probably telling Alessandro what happened! Now, all we need to do is teleport over there!"

The six warriors were teleported into a large dark courtroom with the darkly futuristic yet organic type of architecture that was characteristic of Nekropolis. They could see Alessandro and Indrid in the room. This time, Alessandro, whose outfit was different every time Daniel saw him, was wearing a fancy blue velvet suit.

"So, you've finally made it to my glorious courtroom!" Alessandro said, "I knew I would be seeing you again, but I had no idea it would be by your own will!"

"I'm not interested in your pompous ass!" Brad said, "I'm here for Indrid!"

"So, you actually think you can defeat me?" Indrid said.

"No, well, yeah, but that's not the point!" Brad said, "I need you to tell us where the Prince Of Blood and the Last Pure Place in Blood World are!"

"You honestly think I would just give that information away?" Indrid asked, "I can't believe I actually overestimated your intelligence!"

"Hey!" Brad yelled angrily.

"I knew your plan wouldn't work." Marielle said.

"Oh yeah!?" Brad said as he pointed a gun at Indrid, "Well, I'm just going to have to make you tell me!"

"If you were to shoot a laser at me, there are several ways in which I would be able to dodge and/or block it." Indrid said, "However, from what I'm reading from your mind, it appears that you don't actually want to shoot me because you're afraid that you'll accidentally kill me before I give you enough information, which is nonsense because there is absolutely no way that a single weak laser could defeat me."

"Weak!?" Brad yelled.

"The two of us are definitely destined to fight, but at another time." Indrid said, "Or rather, in a dimension in which time doesn't exist, within a universe that no longer exists."

"Not even I know what you're talking about now." Marielle said.

"This universe was created by Advakhiel, the god of justice." Indrid said, "The previous universe had become too chaotic, so he destroyed it and created this new one. But in the previous universe, there was a legendary hero who died. His corpse became possessed by Zuriel, the god of chaos, and he became Hastur: the malformed chaotic god of everything that is never meant to be. Advakhiel tried to create a peaceful universe without entropy, but he was unable to because of the existence of Hastur. In our current universe, Hastur created the four princes, and Advakhiel created the two of us."

"You mean me and you!?" Brad said, "But, why would the god of justice create such conflicting forces!?"

"He created us subconsciously from his memory." Indrid said, "He once knew a prophet just like me and a sniper just like you, albeit much more mature. And maybe once you become more mature, you will be ready to fight me. But for now, I will be leaving this dimension, aware that we will meet again. Alessandro, open the portal."

Alessandro pressed a button, and a portal opened up on one of the walls. Indrid began to run to the portal.

"Hey, wait up!" Brad said, "I'll be coming with you, and I'll be taking Marielle with me!"

"Why me!?" Marielle asked as Brad grabbed her and ran with her to the portal.

"Oh, nothing!" Brad said as he began to blush, "I just... think you'd make a good meatshield! Yeah, that!"

After Indrid, Brad, and Marielle had made it through the portal to another dimension, the portal closed, leaving Daniel, Leon, Chandra, and Saeko in the courtroom with Alessandro.

"What should we do now that Indrid's gone?" Daniel asked.

"We could try asking Alessandro where the fourth prince and the Last Pure Place are." Leon said, "It's worth a shot."

"Hey Alessandro!" Chandra said, "Do you know where the Prince Of Blood is!?"

"Indeed I do!" Alessandro said, "Indrid told me. But, there's no way I would tell the likes of you! In fact, I'm going to capture him right now and keep him with me to make sure he never joins your team!"

Alessandro opened up another portal and ran into it.

"We have to follow him there before the portal closes!" Saeko said.

The four warriors were able to run into the portal right before it closed. They ended up right behind Alessandro in a small desert village that appeared to be in the Middle East. Alessandro was already conversing with the villagers.

"Who are those people who just appeared behind you?" One of the Middle Eastern villagers asked Alessandro.

"They aren't people." Alessandro said, "They're simply biological weapons without souls or consciences!"

"Are they your weapons?" A villager asked.

"No." Alessandro said, "They're my enemies! And, if I am correct, you have one similar to them in your village! Could you tell me where he is?"

"Well, he doesn't actually live here." The villagers explained, "He was exiled to a nearby cave because he became too violent."

"All right." Daniel said, "Let's look for a cave!"

"Did the Legislomancer Of Nekropolis seriously just practically give away the location of the fourth prince!?" Leon said.

"I know, right!?" Chandra said, "What an idiot!"

"We have to find the fourth prince before Alessandro finds him!" Daniel said.

The three princes and Saeko left the village to search for a cave while Alessandro left in a different direction to search on his own.

Daniel, Saeko, Leon, and Chandra searched the desert for the cave where the fourth prince was said to live, but they didn't see anything but flat plains full of sand and mutant animals.

"I sure am hungry!" Chandra said.

"Now that you mention it, I am as well." Daniel said.

"I suppose we could kill one of those animals and eat it." Leon said.

"How about that one!" Chandra said as he pointed to a mutant giraffe, "Can't you give it an ulcer or an aneurysm or something like that!?"

"That would be too easy." Leon said.

"Well then, what about you, Daniel?" Chandra asked, "Can't you rupture its flesh!?"

"So far, I can only bend my own flesh." Daniel said.

"Then, I'll kill it." Saeko said.

"Be careful!" Daniel said as he gave some knives to Saeko.

"Don't worry." Saeko said, "I'm already dead. It's not like I can feel pain."

Saeko ran towards the giraffe. It seemed even more immense in comparison to her body. Its hooves alone were half her height, but she was able to cut its ankles. The giraffe collapsed and died as its ankles gushed blood. The ground shook, causing most of the other animals in the area to run away. Saeko cut the giraffe's skin off to get to the meat, which the four of them ate together. After they had eaten the meat, Chandra was able to reshape the bones into armor and weapons for himself.

"Oh yeah!" Chandra said, "I look badass now!"

Once their food settled, the party of anti-heroes returned to their search for the cave.

"We don't have time to sit around." Leon said, "We have to find the Prince Of Blood before Alessandro finds him."

Eventually, they came across a beautiful woman with long black hair and a stylish dark purple outfit decorated with aquamarines.

"Who are you?" Leon asked her.

"My name is Kailyn Aran." She said, "I am the Countess Of The Moor Of Dorandale."

"What are you doing in a place like this?" Chandra asked.

"A meteor fell here in the Desert Of The Black Sun." Kailyn said, "It contained a virus that mutated the animals that live here, making them more dangerous. I was sent here along with my older brother, Daryus, a knight of the Brotherhood Of The Chains Of Death, but he has already been killed by a dangerous mutant animal that I was fortunately able to eventually defeat. But, what really interests me is who the four of you are."

"My name's Daniel." Daniel said, "These are my new friends Leon and Chandra and my girlfriend Saeko."

"I know this might sound crazy, but I'm fascinated by the prophecy, and I'm just wondering if you know anything about the four princes." Kailyn said.

"We are the four princes!" Chandra boasted, "Well, three of them. Saeko obviously isn't one because she's a girl. And a zombie. But, we came here to look for the fourth one!"

"Wow!" Kailyn said, "I never thought I'd actually get to meet the legendary four princes! I had a feeling that you were them, but you seem different from how I imagined you. I guess I expected you to seem more peaceful and less belligerent or at least to not have so many weapons."

"We are what Blood World made us." Daniel said, "We reflect the hell that we have been through."

"But, don't you have a second personality that's innocent?" Kailyn asked.

"Yes." Leon said, "And, that exists to give us a chance to start anew because our minds have become corrupted with dark memories. However, at this point, innocence has not proven to be useful, and since we can theoretically stay awake in our true personalities forever, there is no need for me to ever be unintelligent, for Daniel to ever be cowardly, or for Chandra to ever be obedient."

"Look out!" Saeko said.

The three princes and Kailyn turned to see a mutant gryphon swooping down towards them.

"That's the most dangerous-looking animal I've seen here yet!" Kailyn said.

"It will be hard for us to fight a flying enemy, but I can try this!" Daniel said as he threw a knife at the gryphon.

The knife hit the gryphon, but not in a particularly weak spot, so it didn't do much damage.

"So, how did you manage to defeat the rest of the animals you've fought here?" Chandra asked Kailyn, "You don't appear to have any weapons."

"I possess the Sacred Eye." Kailyn said.

"What's that!?" Chandra asked.

"I, too, am a legendary figure of New Age prophecy." Kailyn said, "I am the only person in Blood World who is able to see into the Akashic Record."

"You're psychic!?" Chandra said, "Awesome! Maybe you can tell us where the Last Pure Place in Blood World is!"

"First, we need to defeat this gryphon." Saeko said.

"I can help with that!" A strange voice said.

The entire gryphon exploded. Its flesh, blood, and organs fell down upon an unusual-looking person who Daniel and his friends noticed was standing under where the gryphon was. This person was apparently male, but his body was covered in stitches. His head was albino with white hair that covered one of his glowing red eyes, but other patches of his skin were brown. He wore a red silk outfit.

"That guy looks messed up." Kailyn said, "You know, some humans were effected by the virus from the meteor. They're called Star Ghouls. They're terrible, soulless, and often fleshless beings."

"No." Leon said, "That's no Star Ghoul. Look at the outfit he's wearing. He's one of us."

They had finally found the fourth prince. There he was, standing in the middle of the desert, covered in stitches and blood.

"What happened to you!?" Chandra asked bluntly.

"It's a long story." The Prince Of Blood said, "I was the first of us to incarnate. In fact, I was so eager that I incarnated without any forethought. Instead of waiting for a more suitable body, I chose the first one that I saw available and ended up as an albino girl in the Middle East. Once my true personality awakened, I never let go of it. I was able to modify my body to a more fitting form for the Prince Of Blood by cutting off parts of it and replacing them with parts from people who I had killed with my hemomancy. And as a hemomancer, I can also control my own blood so that it doesn't send signals to my brain to make me feel pain. So, all of the surgery that I performed on myself was virtually painless. I still continue to kill whatever people I can find for the most part, especially if they're mages so that I can gain power from their blood, but I promise not to kill any of you."

"Interesting." Leon said, "So, do you have a name?"

"No." He replied, "But if you have to call me something, I guess you can call me Sorath because it means Black Sun and I live in the Desert Of The Black Sun."

"Do you know where the last pure place in Blood World is?" Daniel asked.

"No." Sorath said, "But, I do know where the Temple Of Esmodel is. It's in this desert. Maybe if we go there, we'll be able to find some answers!"

Daniel, Leon, Chandra, Saeko, and Kailyn began to follow Sorath to the Temple Of Esmodel.

"Esmodel!?" Daniel said, "That's the goddess that my girlfriend's soul fused with! Maybe if we go there, we can get her soul back!"

"I'm not sure if I want to have my soul back." Saeko said, "In fact, I really don't see what difference it makes. If anything, all of that empathy got in the way and kept me from killing."

"No." Daniel said, "Blood World needs more caring and empathic people like the person you used to be."

"What about you?" Saeko said, "You're not caring. All that any of you four princes do to people is kill them. Brutally."

"It's because we are the guardians of nature." Daniel said, "All that nature does is provide, and all that humanity does is pollute its seas and skies, cut down its plants, kill its animals, and split its atoms. The four of us are like atoms that were split. We are only brutal because human society changed us into what we are today. We are the revenge of nature, and we're trying to cleanse Blood World of closed-minded people to pave the way for a new world order where everybody is loving and caring like you were when you were a living girl. I truly believe you were ahead of your time."

They all kept walking until they saw the Temple Of Esmodel. It was beautiful and white with a pink iridescence, but it was being attacked by an army of crusaders.

"No!" Sorath said.

"Who are those people!?" Chandra asked.

"They're not my allies." Kailyn said, "They're a secret Arcadian order. They call themselves the Children Of The Gods because their leaders are two sisters who believe themselves to be descended from the blacksmith goddess Hamaliel. Supposedly, this temple contains a legendary suit of armor that was created by Hamaliel, and so the Children Of The Gods went on this crusade to steal it and claim it as their own. Crusaders always talk about how honorable they are, but when it comes right down to it, they're just thieves."

"Well, what are we waiting for!?" Sorath said, "Let's kill them!"

"I don't think my knives or my carnomancy will be able to penetrate their armor." Daniel said, "But, maybe you can do what you did to that griffon with your hemomancy."

"Good thinking!" Sorath said as he made several crusaders explode into blood.

"Two can play at this game!" Leon said as he made the remaining crusaders' heads explode.

"Aww, I didn't get to kill anybody!" Chandra said.

"There are probably more inside the temple." Kailyn said.

The six anti-heroes climbed up the steps and into the temple. It was even more beautiful on the inside. The interior design seemed to capture the feel of love itself. It was clearly the temple of the Goddess Of Love, and it was breathtaking. After exploring several rooms, Daniel and his friends came across the two leaders of the Children Of The Gods. The younger one had long brown hair and was wearing grey armor. The older one was fully covered in a gold suit of armor with a red cape, a long gold sword, and a large shield. That was probably the legendary armor of Hamaliel.

"Those are their leaders." Kailyn said, "The older one is named Lynette, and the younger one is Selvina."

"Who goes there!?" Lynette asked.

"I am the guardian of this desert and everything in it!" Sorath said, "My friends and I won't let you ruin this temple!"

"Try and stop us from burning it down!" Lynette said as she held her sword up in the air and fire formed around its blade.

"You have no idea just who you're up against!" Sorath said, "Let me show you what happens to anyone who attempts to desecrate the Temple Of Esmodel!"

"Hold on a second!" Chandra said as he pushed Sorath out of the way, "You've killed enough people! Give me a chance!"

"I can make people explode into blood!" Sorath said, "What can you do!?"

"This!" Chandra said.

Chandra clenched his fist, causing spikes to form inside of Selvina's skull. She bled to death as the spikes poked into her brain and out through her eyes. Chandra laughed as he made Selvina's teeth fall out so that her gums bled as she fell to the ground dying.

"Nice going, but you killed the wrong bitch!" Leon said.

"I've got something else planned for the older sister!" Chandra said, "Besides, she deserves worse than death!"

Chandra formed spiked knuckles on his gauntlets, which were part of the suit of armor that he created from the giraffe's bones. He punched Lynette in the head. Her helmet fell off, revealing her face and her short brown hair. As she fell to the ground, her flaming sword fell out of her hand, but the fire around it went out before it hit the ground, so it didn't burn the temple. Chandra took two daggers that he had made from the giraffe's bones. He made them grow into swords and planted them into the ground on both sides of Lynette. Then, he reshaped them into a cage, leaving her trapped inside to starve to death.

"Now, let's look for a way to bring Sachi back!" Daniel said.

Daniel, Leon, Chandra, Sorath, Saeko, and Kailyn continued to explore the temple until they came across a large, beautiful, iridescent room with a tablet in the center of it.

"Hey, what's this?" Sorath said as he noticed the tablet.

"You should read what it says." Kailyn said.

"In order to summon the Goddess Of Love, fill this room with that which the heart is full of." Sorath read.

"Hearts are full of love." Kailyn said.

"Yeah, but none of us have any love in us except for maybe you." Saeko said.

"Yeah." Leon said, "We're trying to summon Esmodel because we need love, and yet love is required to summon her, but we wouldn't need her if we already had it. The whole thing seems counter-intuitive."

Suddenly, Lynette came running into the room.

"You honestly thought that flimsy bone cage would be enough to stop me!?" Lynette said.

"Oops..." Chandra said, concealing his panic with a fake chuckle and a grin.

"Searing Sword!" Lynette called out the name of her spell.

Her sword caught fire again, and she charged at Chandra, but he dodged it by jumping back and up into the rafters of the temple.

"My osteomancy won't be any use after all!" Chandra said, "My bones won't be able to penetrate her armor!"

"Well then, leave it to me!" Sorath said, "After all, I'm the defender of the Desert Of The Black Sun!"

Sorath thrashed an X in the air with his arms, and Lynette's body exploded within her armor. The blood oozed out all over the floor of the room. Suddenly, the tablet glowed pink and a pink orb of light rose out of it.

"I am the goddess Esmodel." The orb said in a beautiful female voice.

"It worked!" Daniel said, "But, how!?"

"Hearts aren't full of love." Sorath said, "They're full of blood!"

"Esmodel!" Daniel said, "I need you to return Sachi Nakajima's soul to her body! She was too young to die! Blood World is still in need of the wonderful gift that is her loving soul!"

"I am sorry, but your girlfriend's soul cannot be separated from mine, for she has become a part of me." Esmodel said.

"Damn it!" Daniel said.

"Are you sure there's no way to separate her from you!?" Leon asked.

"Well, actually, one thing did happen, but I would rather not talk about it." Esmodel said.

"Tell us anyways!" Chandra said with an eager grin as he jumped down from the rafters.

"Well, Hastur, the God Of Chaos, raped me." Esmodel said, "He made me cry, and part of my soul came out as a tear that fell to Blood World and became the soul of Sachi Nakajima. But, I would rather not lose that part of me again. However, I can use my entire soul to possess her zombified body and give her new life and even more power than ever before."

"Do that." Daniel said, "Do whatever it takes! Your tear - your soul - my girlfriend - was a gift to Blood World!"

The orb of pink light that was Esmodel's soul entered Saeko's body. A blinding pink light appeared around her, and by the time it was gone, her hair was pink, her eyes were blue, and she was wearing a pink and turquoise ballet outfit. She was no longer Saeko or Sachi. She was now Esmodel.

"It's you!" Daniel said as he hugged her, "You're back!"

"Yes!" Esmodel said, "And together, we will make Blood World a better place as the Prince Of Flesh and the Princess Of Love!"

"Thank you, Esmodel!" Daniel said.

"You can still call me Sachi if you'd like." She said.

"All right, Sachi!" Daniel said, "Let's go!"

The six of them made their way out of the temple. But once they got outside, they saw Alessandro, and he was holding a large and unusual book.

"Well if it isn't you!" Leon said, "I'll have you know we already found the fourth prince! He's with us now, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Where!?" Alessandro asked.

"Me!" Sorath said, "I am the Prince Of Blood!"

"You!?" Alessandro said, "You look like a damn crackhead!"

"Is that book what I think it is?" Kailyn asked.

"I don't know what you think it is, but you don't look very intelligent, so I am going to assume that you have never even heard of the book that gives me control over all of the government in Arcadia and soon all of Blood World!" Alessandro said with a laugh.

"How dare you insult my intelligence!" Kailyn said, "I possess the psychic power to access the Akashic Record! I know exactly what that book is!"

"Well, then yes!" Alessandro said, "That's right! This is the Economicon!"

"It's just as I feared!" Kailyn said, "He's going to use the Economicon to keep Blood World in a dark age of justice and order! No free will, no entropy, no chaos!"

"That's terrible!" Chandra yelled.

"And, that is exactly what I shall do!" Alessandro said, "I am going to scatter the four of you across Blood World so that you will never be able to reach each other again and you will absolutely never be able to reach the Last Pure Place! Observe!"

Alessandro opened the Economicon to a specific page. He unbuttoned his suit and began to carve a sigil into his chest.

"Even if you separate the four princes from each other, I refuse to leave Daniel!" Sachi said as she held tightly onto Daniel's arm.

Alessandro's blood fell onto the page in the Economicon, activating a spell that teleported everybody to a different part of Blood World.

Daniel found himself on a glacier with Sachi, who was able to stay with him by holding on to him.

"Where are we now!?" Sachi asked.

"If only I knew." Daniel said.

"Let's look around!" Sachi said.

"Are you sure you aren't cold or tired?" Daniel asked.

"Not at all!" Sachi said, "Now that I'm a goddess, I'm always full of energy, and temperatures don't bother me! But what about you, Daniel?"

"Things like that don't get to me either as long as my true personality is awakened." Daniel said.

"All right, then!" Sachi said, "Let's look around for somebody who can tell us where we are, help direct us to the Last Pure Place, and hopefully help us find the other three princes!"

Daniel and Sachi explored the glacier until they came across a large group of penguins.

"Aww, look at those penguins!" Sachi said, "They're so cute!"

"I'm not sure about that." Daniel said, "It seems like there's something wrong with them."

Once they got closer to the penguins, Daniel and Sachi could see just what was wrong with them.

"Those are zombie penguins!" Daniel said.

"Oh no!" Sachi said, "Never mind what I said! They aren't cute at all!"

"I'll protect you from them!" Daniel said, "Royal Wounds!"

Daniel's tentacles came out of his shoulders. The eyeless crocodile heads formed on the ends of them and began to rip the zombie penguins' stomachs out, but the penguins continued to waddle towards Daniel and Sachi.

"Here, I think I can help!" Sachi said.

"Really?" Daniel asked, "I've never known you to enjoy killing animals. Well, except for when you were Saeko."

"I'm not going to kill them!" Sachi said, "I'm going to use my love goddess powers to free them from zombification so that they can die peacefully! They're already dead!"

"Oh, I see!" Daniel said, "You must have amazing powers now that you're a goddess!"

A pink light appeared at the end of Sachi's right pointer finger, and she drew a heart in the air with it.

"You poor lost penguins!" Sachi said, "May your souls finally be free to live in peace on the astral plane!"

Sachi sent the heart towards the zombie penguins, and several of their dead bodies fell to the ground and stopped moving.

"That was certainly impressive, but you missed some." Daniel said.

"Don't worry." A voice said, "I'll get those!"

The voice was male, but it wasn't hostile. In fact, it was almost sickeningly calm. Daniel and Sachi noticed the man who had come to help them. He didn't seem human. His body appeared to be made entirely of a black stone that glistened purple when the sunlight hit it.

"Purity Of Yin!" The stone man said.

A flash of blinding white light shot out of his right hand, and when it was gone, so were all of the zombie penguins. Not even their bodies remained.

"Now, would you be so kind as to tell me exactly who you are?" He asked.

"You tell us who you are first!" Daniel said.

"You can call me The Collector." He said.

"Well, in that case, you can call me Daniel, and this is my girlfriend Sachi." Daniel said.

"I see." The Collector said, "Tell me more about yourself, Daniel."

"Not until you tell me what the hell you are!" Daniel said.

"Well, you see, I come from another dimension, but I now live here on this southern island in Blood World." The Collector said, "Patagonia, I believe it's called."

"So, that's where we are!" Sachi said, "I think I heard that there are llamas in Patagonia! Are there llamas here?"

"There are all sorts of animals in the collection that I keep here." The Collector said, "Although, only a few of them are from Blood World."

"Why do you collect animals?" Daniel asked.

"So that I can bring life to the next universe after this one ends." The Collector said.

"That's a strange thing to obsess over..." Sachi said.

"Well, I suppose I've always wanted to go down in history as the good guy." The Collector said.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm all confused about who's good and who's evil." Sachi said, "My boyfriend is one of the four princes, and they incarnated to destroy all of the government in Blood World, but he seems like a good guy to me!"

"The four princes, you say?" The Collector said.

"Well, yes, I am one of the four princes." Daniel said, "In fact, the four of us had united, and we had a mage with us who was able to access the Akashic Record."

"The Akashic Record, you say." The Collector said, "Come with me. There's something I want to show you."

Although The Collector's stone face was expressionless, the inflection of his voice hinted at some sort of grin or suppressed chuckle. Daniel and Sachi followed him across the glacier.

"Yes, the Akashic Record." Daniel said, "She was going to use it to tell us where the Last Pure Place was. But before she could, the Legislomancer Of Nekropolis, who is now probably the Dictator Of Arcadia, was able to separate us all with a spell from the Economicon."

"Well, it's a good thing he did." The Collector said.

"Why do you say that?" Sachi asked.

"We can't have your boyfriend and his friends destroying Blood World, now can we?" The Collector said.

"Destroying Blood World!?" Sachi said, "I thought he was only going to destroy the government to make Blood World more peaceful!"

"Well, it's more complicated than that." The Collector said.

"Do you know where the Last Pure Place is?" Sachi asked.

"Yes." The Collector said with that same hint of a smile in his voice "Why yes, I do."

"Where is it!?" Daniel asked.

"I have no reason to tell you." The Collector said, "I'm trying to preserve everything that is precious to this universe. After all, I failed as the destroyer of the previous one."

"You tried to destroy the previous universe?" Sachi asked.

"But if I remember correctly, the previous universe was destroyed by the gods of justice and chaos." Daniel said, "I believe they were called Advakhiel and Hastur."

"We can talk about that later." The Collector said, "Now that we're here, I would like to show you my collection."

They had arrived at a large black fortress. They entered through its immense gates, and it was even bigger on the inside. It was like some kind of zoo or aquarium. There was a hall with glass walls with all sorts of strange animals living in replicas of their environments on the other sides of the walls.

"I call it my Archive." The collector said, "I am keeping all of these animals preserved so that when Blood World is destroyed, I can use them to repopulate Flesh World."

"Flesh World?" Sachi asked, "How do you know what the next world will be called?"

"I see you still don't know the entire prophecy." The Collector said, "Well, I better save the details for when your boyfriend's true personality is dormant again. That way, he'll hear what he must do, and it will make him too discouraged to carry on with destroying Blood World."

"That's not going to happen!" Daniel said, "My true personality is capable of remaining awakened for eternity!"

"I know several methods of putting a person to sleep." The Collector said, "But just to be sure, I think I'll have you killed instead."

The three of them went through a door. On the other side, there was a wide room like some kind of arena.

"Oh, good." Daniel said, "I get to fight something!"

"Yes, and then all of Blood World's government officials will thank me for saving them, and I will finally be a hero!" The Collector said, "Now, excuse me while I get my ultimate weapon."

"Oh, so I'm going to fight you." Daniel said, "My pleasure."

"Not exactly, which is actually fortunate for you because I'm immortal." The Collector said.

The Collector left the room. A few minutes later, he came back with a gigantic black bear. The bear had spikes on its back and horns and claws made of purple crystals.

"Meet Grondo." The Collector said, "He is my most powerful weapon!"

"How dare you call a living animal a weapon!" Sachi said, "He's so much more than that, and he's probably sad! I bet you torture him!"

"Nonsense!" The Collector said, "You care too much, little girl!"

"Well, maybe that's because I'm the Goddess Of Love!" Sachi said.

"Esmodel!" The Collector said with shock in his voice, "I thought that outfit looked familiar. I almost didn't recognize you, and I'm sure you don't recognize me, but we can catch up with each other after my bear kills your boyfriend."

The Collector let go of the leash by which he was holding onto Grondo, and Grondo began to charge at Daniel. Daniel dodged by jumping up onto the bear's nose and running across his forehead and onto his back. Instead of pouncing on Daniel as planned, Grondo ran into a wall, leaving a crack in it.

"No!" The Collector said, "My Archive is no longer perfect! But, I suppose nothing is meant to be perfect, and that's something that the King In Blue could never understand."

Daniel took off his right glove and turned his entire right arm into what resembled the head of a sea serpent. The fangs of his arm clamped onto Grondo's neck. Then, he expanded the flesh of his arm even more until it consumed the entire bear. For a minute, the mass of flesh pulsated around the bear's body. And then, Daniel retracted it all until his arm went back to normal and he put his glove back on. All that remained of Grondo was his skeleton. As the bones began to crumble beneath Daniel, he jumped off, did a flip in the air, and landed on his left foot, right knee, and right hand.

"Well, well." The Collector said, "You know, I was going to destroy you, but now that I see just how valuable you are, I think I'll keep you as part of my collection as my new most powerful weapon!"

"No!" Daniel said, "I refuse to be a part of your collection! I am my own person, and you can't treat me like an object! I don't know what the hell you are, but I know that I am more of a human being than you'll ever be!"

"Come on, Daniel." The Collector said as he began to lead Daniel and Sachi to another room, "Admit it. You're just a weapon. Yes, there may have been a time when you had feelings, but over your many lifetimes, your soul has forgotten how to do all but destroy."

"That's not true!" Daniel said, "I still have feelings! I have love for Sachi and hatred for you! And, I'm only as much of a weapon as what Blood World has made me!"

They entered an enormous room that contained a replica of a rainforest that looked and felt exactly like the real thing.

"What's this supposed to be!?" Daniel asked.

"Your habitat." The Collector said.

"I won't stand for such condescension!" Daniel said.

"Well then, you won't have to." The Collector said, somehow maintaining the sickening politeness in his voice.

The Collector tapped Daniel on the forehead. Daniel blinked his eyes, and they stopped glowing and went back to their normal green color. His true personality was now dormant, and his innocent personality was forced awake. He had no idea where he was. He just knew it looked and felt like a rainforest, and he didn't appreciate how moist it was. He recognized Sachi, but at the same time, he had never seen her as a pink-haired goddess before. And, he had no idea who this purple-flecked black stone being, The Collector, was.

"Where am I now!?" Daniel cried.

"This is your sanctuary." The Collector said as he patted Daniel on the shoulder to try to calm him down.

"How is this a sanctuary!?" Daniel said, "There are worms everywhere! I hate worms!"

"How ironic." The Collector said with a smile in his voice, "I guess you really don't know the whole prophecy."

"Well, what is the whole prophecy!?" Sachi asked, "Tell us! I want to know, too!"

"Well, as you know, the four princes will meet at the Last Pure Place." The Collector said, "And then, Blood world will implode, everybody will die, and only the purest of souls will get to reincarnate to Flesh World."

"Flesh World!?" Daniel asked.

"Well, you see, the four princes, including you, will create a new planet." The Collector said, "The Prince Of Blood will give his own blood to serve as the lava within the planet, the Prince Of Brains will create the atmosphere from his brainwaves, and the Prince Of Bones will create mountains and other rock formations from his bones. Those three will be able to retain their bodies and regenerate their respective elements within themselves, and afterwards, they will live in peace within their new world. However, you are the most special one of all of the four princes. In fact, by the time Blood World is destroyed, you will already have transformed into the Conqueror Worm."

"The Conqueror Worm!?" Daniel asked.

"Yes." The Collector said, "The giant worm that will encircle Blood World and cause it to implode. And afterwards, you will give up your entire body to become all of the continents and oceans of Flesh World."

"No!" Daniel cried, "This can't be the prophecy! I refuse to believe it!"

"It is unwise not to believe me." The Collector said, "After all, I, too, have access to the Akashic Record. In fact, I created the Akashic Record."

"But, that means you're..." Sachi began to say.

"The first god ever to exist." The Collector said.

The Collector took off his head, which was actually just a helmet. His face was revealed to be organic and human-like with pale skin, long blonde hair, turquoise eyes, and a teal diamond on his forehead.

"Jophaniel!" Sachi said, "But, why are you trying to preserve all of these animals!? I mean, not that I'm against it, but in the previous universe, all you did was distort everything and make it look all trippy!"

"Well, you see, I am the god of light, time, and evolution." Jophaniel said, "I created the Akashic Record, but there was still no universe. And then, the second god came into existence. His name was Kambiel, and he was the god of darkness, space, and creation. He was the archetypal adversary, and he existed to oppose me, but as the God Of Creation, there was one thing that he did that I could never do. He created the universe itself. But because he was so evil, he made it a terrible place with no magic. That's why I distorted everything. I was trying to make it a better place that would be more fun to live in. But of course, I was framed as the destroyer just because I was the one who opposed the creator. And while I am still unable to create life, I will be able to do the next best thing. I can bring all of the most magnificent life forms from this universe into the next one, thereby giving life to the new universe after this universe is destroyed."

"And, I'm going to destroy the universe?" Daniel asked with a timid unsureness in his voice.

"No." Jophaniel said, "You're only going to destroy Blood World. Or actually, you would theoretically destroy Blood World if I wasn't around to save it by keeping you here in my Archive. So basically, your choice is to either stay here with me in this rainforest paradise or become a giant worm and destroy Blood World. Which will you choose?"

"Neither!" Daniel said.

Daniel unbuttoned his jacket. He took a knife out of one of his belts, shoved it into his throat, and cut all the way down his stomach, spilling his guts onto the fake rainforest floor.

Daniel's innocent personality died, but his true personality remained within his disemboweled body and re-awakened. He could have used his carnomancy to regenerate his organs and flesh, but he didn't need to. He was immortal.

Suddenly, Daniel blacked out. Everything around him was gone.

"You were not supposed to do that." Said a raspy voice that sounded like a cross between a growl and a hiss.

Daniel found himself sitting at a fancy table made of wood painted gold. There were three other seats at the table with people sitting in them, and each person, including Daniel, had a cup of tea in front of them to drink from. There was nothing else around the table. Everything else was a pitch black void. Daniel recognized two of the people as Sachi and Jophaniel The Collector. They were the ones who were with him in the Collector's Archive when he died. The other person was a man who wore a gold silk robe with a golden suit of armor over it that resembled a dragon's bones. His gauntlets had long pointed claws, his epaulettes had ridiculously long spikes, and his helmet covered his entire face and had long black hair and a jaw that moved when he talked. It was definitely Hastur, the god of entropy.

"Life." Hastur said in the same hissing voice that Daniel had heard, "The void winds where it will, but meat husks must sojourn the planes of torment, bereft of justice, chaos, and anything else other than forced courage. Forced to live. Not allowed to dream. Now, let me tell you a story about a dog and a cat."

"Wait, I have a question!" Sachi said, "Can we drink this tea?"

"Go ahead." Hastur said, "If stars are angels and black holes are demons, then all seraphs will inevitably fall."

"Wait, is this ayahuasca?" Sachi asked.

"No." Hastur said, "It is the blood of every hero who defied his archetype and died to destroy the world that he was born to save. Including Daniel and I."

"Well, I'm going to pretend it's ayahuasca anyways." Sachi said disappointedly, "Because you know, this whole experience is kind of trippy. Ok, so tell us the story about the doggy and the kitty!"

"Well, you see, there was once a dog and a cat." Hastur said, "But now, they have become so distorted that they are no longer a dog and a cat. Yet, here they sit at this table. There was a time when they would fight demons together to try to save the universe. Or, at least, that is what the cat told the dog. However, the 'demons' that they were fighting were actually the guardians of the universe. They were created by the God Of Creation to defend the universe. But, the cat wanted to destroy the universe, and when the dog saw the cat's white wings and the God Of Creation's red eyes, he believed the cat. And, as a loyal dog, he obeyed him, until one day, he finally found out the truth. And on that day, he stopped being a dog and became a peacock, and on that same day, less than an hour after he became a peacock, he was killed by the Grim Reaper. And so, his soul went to the astral plane and met with the Goddess Of Wisdom and a god who no longer exists. That god no longer exists because his soul became fused with that of the peacock, who still had the memories of the dog. And together, they formed a soul that was never meant to be. This soul possessed the corpse of the dog, leaving him undying yet perpetually dying."

"But, what did you mean when you said that the dog and the cat are sitting at this table?" Daniel asked.

"Let me guess!" Sachi said, "Daniel's the dog and I'm the cat!"

"No." Hastur said, "I am the dog, and Jophaniel is the cat. He was the one who failed to destroy the universe because he could not control me. However, there was another cat. A blue cat named Advakhiel. And, he had a dog of his own, and that dog became the Grim Reaper. Advakhiel was the one who was truly able to destroy the universe. It ended, not in chaos, but justice. But still, chaos remained because of my existence. And so, a new universe was created, based on the principles of justice and chaos, just as the first one was based on the principles of good and evil."

"But, what does this have to do with me?" Daniel asked.

"I created you." Hastur said, "And, you defied me."

"It sounds like you defied Jophaniel!" Daniel said, "So, this whole thing sounds like karma if you ask me!"

"I created you and the rest of the Four Horsemen to help bring about the Bloodpocalypse." Hastur said, "And then, I had you reincarnate as the Four Princes to create the Fleshpocalypse. You were supposed to travel to the Last Pure Place together and let the energy of that sacred site give you the power to become the Conqueror Worm and destroy Blood World."

"Well, if you really are the God Of Everything That Was Never Meant To Be, then you of all people should know that things don't always go as they're planned!" Daniel said, "But, maybe if you reunite me with the other princes and tell us where the Last Pure Place is, maybe we will go there!"

"Don't tell him!" Jophaniel said.

That was the first time Daniel had heard Jophaniel lose his calm and express anger.

"Ayers Rock." Hastur chuckled at Jophaniel's pain, "Australia."

"Now, take me there." Daniel said to Hastur.

"But, I thought you didn't want to become the Conqueror Worm." Jophaniel said.

"I have other plans." Daniel said, "Now, take me there or else!"

Daniel regenerated his internal organs and turned them into large worm-like tentacles that shot out of his stomach and lashed at the table, knocking it over. The table fell down into the void. Only the four chairs remained suspended in the abysmal space with Daniel, Hastur, Jophaniel, and Sachi sitting in them.

"Please don't knock down the chairs, Daniel." Jophaniel said, "If you do, we'll all be falling for eternity unless you actually expect the King In Yellow to warp us out of the Abyssal Dimension."

"If you care so much about that, then you can go back to your Akashic Plane." Hastur said as he teleported Jophaniel to another dimension.

"There are ways around that as well." Daniel said.

With one of his knives, Daniel cut off the tentacles that he had turned his organs into. Even though they were severed from his body, he could still control them. He used them to create a platform of flesh for Hastur, Sachi, and himself to stand on. He got up out of his chair, and one of his crocodile-headed tentacles emerged from his left shoulder and lashed out, knocking all of the chairs over and forcing everybody else out of their chairs before retracting back into Daniel's shoulder.

"What are you doing!?" Hastur asked.

"I thought the God Of Chaos would understand." Daniel said, "But, I suppose you're more like the God Of Entropy or the God Of Randomness. But, what I am creating here is actual intentional chaos. And also, as you can see, I can still control my flesh after it has been separated from my body, Which means that I don't have to become the Conqueror Worm. In fact, if I knew how to get back to Blood World from here, I would turn this very platform that we're standing on into the Conqueror Worm and ride it to Ayers Rock. And as for you, Hastur, the only thing you're useful for is getting me back to Blood World!"

"Not if you talk about me in that way!" Hastur hissed.

"Well, well." Daniel said, "Like prince, like king. I see you can't stand to be condescended any more than I do. Well, that's too bad because if you don't take me to Ayers Rock, I'm going to kill you!"

"You cannot kill me." Hastur said, "It is physically impossible, for I am undying yet perpetually dying. You cannot kill the undead."

"I can!" Sachi said.

"That's right!" Daniel said, "You were able to kill those zombie penguins! Still, I don't want you to kill Hastur yet. We have to keep him alive for now so that he can take us back to Blood World!"

"So, you're not actually going to kill me until I take you to Blood World." Hastur said, "So, your threats are empty. Therefore, I have no reason to ever take you back. In fact, by keeping you here with me in the Abyssal Dimension, I am preventing you from killing me. In fact, right now, I have a higher chance of killing you than you have of killing me."

"But, why would you kill Daniel!?" Sachi asked as her eyes became glossy with tears.

"Because he is my second worst mistake." Hastur said.

"Then, what's your worst mistake?" Sachi asked.

"Myself." Hastur said.

"Then, why don't you kill yourself!?" Sachi asked.

"Oh, Sachi Nakajima." Hastur said, "You really are the same as you've always been. Making Blood World a happy peaceful place by convincing all of the killers, terrorists, and abominations to kill themselves. Just like you did when you first met Daniel. In fact, I'm surprised you weren't the one to encourage Daniel to kill himself. But, I suppose he didn't need you to encourage him since his other personality was already a suicidal coward."

"That personality is dead now!" Daniel said, "Just like you're going to be! And, you know what? Maybe I don't need you to take me to Blood World! Maybe I'll be able to create Flesh World right here by myself in this dimension and rule it together with Sachi!"

"Yay!" Sachi cheered.

She hugged Daniel, but she quickly let go when the blood from the gaping hole in Daniel's stomach got onto her arms.

"Wait a minute, Sachi!" Daniel said, "You're a goddess! You should have all sorts of powers! Maybe you can take us back to Blood World! Can you do that!?"

"Actually, I think so!" Sachi said cheerfully.

"Excellent!" Daniel said, "But first, let's take care of this guy!"

"I refuse to perish!" Hastur said as he unsheathed a sword with a gold dragon-shaped blade, "Discordian Paradox!"

Fire and ice formed around his sword's blade and he began to walk towards Sachi.

"No!" Daniel said as he stood in front of Sachi to protect her, "I won't let you kill my princess!"

Daniel twisted the surface of the flesh platform in a way that caused Hastur to trip and fall.

"Now, that's what I call trippy!" Sachi said.

"I need you to kill him, Sachi!" Daniel said, "Or make him dead or separate his soul from his body or whatever it is that you did to those penguins!"

"All right!" Sachi said.

She walked up to Hastur and got down on her knees to talk to him.

"Your soul is so full of chaos." Sachi said with her voice on the brink of crying, "You've become so broken. And while you may take pride in having successfully become the most broken of archetypes, you really can't go any farther. You've gone so far and become so intense that you can no longer feel any desensitization to anything. Don't you miss that feeling of discovering something new? But now, you've seen it all. You've perpetuated entropy. You've prevented the universe from being saved or destroyed. You saved your friends, and then, you went back in time to kill all of them. But, the one person you haven't killed is yourself. But maybe if you kill yourself, you'll be able to start over. And then, you'll be able to feel again."

A blood red tear flowed out of one of the eye sockets in Hastur's skull helmet.

"I see now." Hastur said, "Finally, I have reached the truth. Finally, I will know the feeling of peace. Only in demise is justice eternal."

He sat up and impaled himself with his sword. Daniel walked over to Hastur's body. He removed Hastur's armor, revealing the decayed face of a forgotten hero. And then, he put on the armor.

"Why are you wearing his armor?" Sachi asked.

"Because I am no longer a prince." Daniel said, "I am a king. A lich king!"

"Are you ready to go back to Blood World now?" Sachi asked.

"What other choice do I have?" Daniel said, "I was literally born to destroy Blood World. That is the sole purpose of my incarnation. If I didn't destroy it, my life would have no meaning. Now, let's go to Ayers Rock!"

In a flash of pink light, Sachi teleported Daniel and herself to the top of Ayers Rock. The sky was dark, and it was raining.

"I'm sorry, but I won't be able to bring the other princes here." Sachi said, "I can only teleport people who are already with me."

"It's ok." Daniel said, "Maybe some of them have already made it here. I think I see some people in the distance! Let's see if that's them!"

When Daniel and Sachi got closer, they saw that it was Alessandro with Kailyn unconscious in his arms.

"What are you doing with her!?" Daniel asked.

"Isn't it obvious!?" Alessandro said, "After I scattered you and the other princes across Blood World, I took Kailyn here with me to make Ayers Rock impure!"

"Impure!?" Sachi asked.

"A location becomes physically impure when the blood of a virgin is spilled upon it." Alessandro said, "Ayers Rock as the only place where this has not happened so far! But once I sacrifice the Messiah herself, this place will lose its sacred energy, and you will no longer be able to access enough energy to become the Conqueror Worm anywhere in Blood World!"

"But, why do you have to kill her!?" Sachi asked, "She doesn't deserve to die! Kill me instead! Kailyn has her own prophecy to fulfill, just like Daniel, and I am willing to give my life to help both of them!"

"There's just one problem with that." Alessandro said, "The sacrifice is required to be a virgin!"

"Are you saying I'm not a virgin!?" Sachi asked, "I'm much younger than Kailyn!"

"Oh, come on!" Alessandro said, "You're a 15-year-old girl from Japan, and your boyfriend is an 18-year-old boy with tentacles! Put two and two together!"

Alessandro took out his knife and carved a sigil into Kailyn's stomach, killing her. Her blood spilled onto the rock.

"So, you did it." Daniel said, "You altered the fate of Blood World. Now, what do you plan to do!?"

"That's what I should be asking you!" Alessandro said, "But since you asked me, I'll tell you! I am going to summon Advakhiel! The King In Blue! The God Of Justice!"

Alessandro flipped through the pages of the Economicon until he found the one that gave instructions on how to summon Advakhiel.

"What does it say!?" Sachi asked eagerly when she saw Alessandro's concerned expression.

"I have to sacrifice a lawyer." Alessandro said, "Well then, in that case, I am willing to sacrifice myself! Anything for the glory of Advakhiel!"

Alessandro unbuttoned his jacket and carved a hole into his chest. He reached into the hole, ripped his heart out, crushed it in his hand, and died. But before his body could hit the ground, his hair turned blue and his body came back alive as a vessel for Advakhiel.

"So, after centuries of incorrect use of the Economicon, somebody has finally dared to summon me." Advakhiel said, "Blood World's idea of justice disgusts me."

"Then, what's your idea of justice!?" Sachi asked.

"Oh, hello there." Advakhiel said as he noticed Daniel and Sachi, "You must be the ones who summoned me. To be honest, I can't believe that I was summoned by two teenagers dressed up as Hastur and Esmodel."

"We aren't the ones who summoned you!" Daniel said, "It was the guy whose corpse you're possessing. He sacrificed himself!"

"Oh." Advakhiel said, "Well, then. That's even more screwed up."

"So, wait a minute." Daniel said, "If you don't like Blood World's idea of justice that what is justice to you?"

"It's really not something that can be achieved in any imperfect world." Advakhiel said, "Fortunately, I have my own dimension for that."

Advakhiel teleported Daniel, Sachi, and himself into a big fancy room. The walls were deep colors such as crimson, moss, and navy, and they had gold trim. There were shelves full of books and games.

"So, this room is justice!?" Sachi asked.

"It's not just this room." Advakhiel said, "This is one small part of my mansion, which is constantly growing with my imagination. It has everything that anyone could ever want because justice is what happens when everybody gets their way all the time. The governments of Blood World believe that they are trying to bring justice to a chaotic world, but they are only making it more chaotic because they separate the rich from the poor, creating a conflict between multiple orders. They believe that chaos it the opposite of order, but it is not. It is the conflict between multiple orders. Chaos is what happens when some people don't get their way, and that is why people fight. And, that is why Blood World is full of violence. But, there is no violence here because everybody here is able to have everything that they could possibly want."

"That's a really nice explanation of justice." Daniel said, "But, I just have one question."

"Go ahead." Advakhiel said, "Ask away!"

"What if I want violence?"

"I find it hard to believe that you would actually want violence." Advakhiel said.

"After spending several lifetimes in Blood World, violence is all that I know anymore." Daniel said.

"Well then, you just need to have faith that there are better things than violence." Advakhiel said.

"Like what?" Daniel asked.

"Like games." Advakhiel said, "I have all kinds of games in this mansion. I have card games, board games, and even video games. In fact, if you're interested, I even have violent video games. That way, you will be able to cathartically let out your violent urges without killing any actual people."

"My other personality would have loved this place." Daniel said, "Too bad he's dead now."

"You had another personality?" Advakhiel asked, "Then, you must have been one of the fabled Four Princes, and that means that Hastur created you. But, why are you wearing Hastur's armor?"

"He's dead." Daniel said.

"He's dead!?" Advakhiel said, "But, the only weapons that can kill a god are the Sword Of Death, the Black Talon, and-"

"The Paradox Blade." Daniel said as he showed Hastur's sword to Advakhiel, "It's mine now. I killed him."

"Actually, I convinced him to kill himself!" Sachi said, "But, don't worry! We didn't kill Esmodel! I just look like this because I'm her incarnation!"

"So, Hastur is dead." Advakhiel said, "Then, that means it's just me now."

"What do you mean it's just you?" Sachi asked, "And, why do you sound so disappointed? I thought he was your rival."

"Hastur and I were the two main creators of this universe, just as Jophaniel and Cambiel were the two main gods of the previous universe." Advakhiel said, "We were like this universe's parents, and it needed both of us to help it develop correctly. But now, I have to do all of the work."

"Is there really just one correct way for a universe to develop?" Daniel asked.

"Not necessarily." Advakhiel said, "But, there are many wrong ways."

"Like what?" Sachi asked.

"Well, ideally, there would be no universe." Advakhiel said, "When I destroyed the previous universe, I did not plan for there to be entropy in this one. But, Hastur ended up surviving the end of the previous universe and co-creating this universe with me, and that is why things still don't always go as they're planned."

"But without entropy, nothing would move." Daniel said.

"And, nothing would have to because everything would be at peace." Advakhiel said.

"Well, in that case, everything might as well be dead!" Sachi said.

"Precisely." Advakhiel said, "Only in demise is justice eternal."

"Then, why don't you die!?" Sachi asked.

"Because I'm a god." Advakhiel said.

"Daniel has the Paradox Blade!" Sachi said, "He could kill you with it!"

"Daniel has his own prophecy to fulfill." Advkhiel said, "He wouldn't be able to do anything if there was nothing left to destroy."

"That sounds like an excuse!" Daniel said, "And besides, Blood World has been altered in a way that prevents me from destroying it, so the prophecy is broken, although I had probably already broken the prophecy when I killed myself! I understand that if you die, there will be no more universe, but it sounds like you don't even want there to be a universe, so why exactly don't you want to die!?"

"Because I want to have fun." Advakhiel said, "That's why I created this entire dimension. I just want to be able to play all the time without anything disturbing my peace. I wouldn't mind the existence of a universe as long as it's perfect like my dimension."

"But, there's nobody else here!" Sachi said, "Doesn't it get boring when you're always playing card games with yourself?"

"It did at first." Advakhiel said, "At first, I was very lonely. But then, I got used to it. And now, I can hardly stand the presence of anyone else."

"Then why did you bring us here?" Daniel asked.

"To show you what true justice is." Advakhiel said, "Here in this sanctuary, everybody can have as much candy as they want or whatever else they might ask for."

"Except for violence, apparently." Daniel said.

"Are the games not enough?" Advakhiel asked.

"Damn right, they're not enough!" Daniel said, "Only through real killing can I get the adrenaline rush that I need!"

"Well, then." Advakhiel said, "You really are following in the footsteps of Hastur."

"I suppose angels fall because Heaven isn't intense enough." Daniel said, "Your mansion is the perfect place to satisfy your wants, but different people want different things, and you just have to realize that not everybody thinks like you!"

"I never noticed that." Advakhiel said, "But, you're right. People do think differently, and that is a perfect example of chaos."

"So now, you want everybody to be the same!?" Daniel asked.

"Wouldn't everybody get along that way?" Advakhiel asked.

"I guess, but there would be no individuality!" Daniel said.

"Yeah!" Sachi said, "Daniel may be different from me, but that's why I love him!"

"I don't understand." Advakhiel said, "All that I want is someone who shares my interests. All that I want is somebody to play games with. I'm bored of playing by myself all the time!"

"If you think that's rough, you wouldn't last one day in Blood World!" Daniel said, "Where I'm from, nobody is even able to play all the time because life is full of responsibilities! You call your dimension a sanctuary, but it's not. It's an asylum."

"Well then, I guess that's it." Advakhiel said, "If I am not free, then nobody is!"

Advakhiel began to chuckle insanely and cry blood.

"I think you just broke the God Of Justice..." Sachi said.

"Well then, I guess that makes me the God Of Chaos!" Daniel said.

"Not quite." A voice said.

It was Indrid.

"How did you get here!?" Daniel asked.

"Come with me, and I'll explain." Indrid said.

"Can I come too!?" Sachi asked excitedly.

"No." Indrid said.

"Aww..." Sachi said disappointedly.

"Don't worry." Indrid said, "This will not be the last time you see your disemboweled boyfriend wearing the armor of your rapist."

Daniel began to follow Indrid through the mansion, particularly going down many flights of stairs.

"I thought my friends followed you into another dimension!" Daniel said.

"Indeed they did." Indrid said, "And, this is that dimension."

"So, Marielle and Brad are here!?" Daniel asked.

"Yes." Indrid said, "In fact, I am taking you to see them right now."

"But, that doesn't make any sense." Daniel said, "I thought you were their enemy. What's going on here!? What the hell are you!?"

"The same as what you are." Indrid said, "The same as what Hastur was before he became possessed by Zuriel and the same as Mortos Rex. I am a Demiurge. A false god. Not only that, but because I have this sword, I am also a Godslayer."

"I have a sword that can kill gods, too." Daniel said.

"Then, you are also a Godslayer." Indrid said, "The two of us really do have a lot in common. The difference is that I am the Demiurge Of Darkness and you have become the Demiurge Of Chaos."

"If I must be chaos, then let me be the chaos to end all chaos!" Daniel said.

Indrid continued to lead Daniel to the lowest floor of the mansion. This floor consisted only of one immense room. The floors, walls and ceiling were entirely black. The room itself was mostly empty with the most noticeable thing in it being the disemboweled and chopped up corpses of Marielle and Brad.

"You did this, didn't you!?" Daniel yelled angrily.

"Why are you so upset?" Indrid asked, "I thought you wanted me to take you to see your friends."

"I didn't know they would be like this!" Daniel said.

Daniel walked over to their corpses, picked up Marielle's sword and one of Brad's guns and put them in his belts.

"Interesting." Indrid said, "You consider it disrespectful for me to kill your friends, and yet you loot their corpses."

"I can't afford to let these weapons fall into your hands!" Daniel said.

"So, now you have two god-slaying weapons: the Paradox Blade and the Sword Of Death." Indrid said, "Although, I suppose the latter is rightfully yours since you are the reincarnation of the Horseman Of Death. And now, you want to kill me and take the Black Talon so that you can have all three god-slaying weapons to yourself because you believe that those are the only weapons capable of killing a Demiurge. They aren't. But, why do you need that gun? Oh, I get it. You've already been every other type of dere."

"No, I need this gun to help avenge my friend who was supposed to kill you!" Daniel said.

Daniel shot a laser at Indrid, who dodged the laser by teleporting behind Daniel.

"You said it yourself." Indrid said, "Brad was the one who was supposed to kill me. Not you."

"Yeah, but you killed him!" Daniel said, "And, I was supposed to destroy Blood World, but that can't happen anymore either! So apparently, fate can be altered!"

"Well, yes, it can." Indrid said, "But, do you know how?"

"All that I know is I'm going to kill you!" Daniel said as he charged at Indrid with the Sword Of Death.

"Really?" Indrid said as he blocked the sword with his sword, "Well, first of all, technically speaking, that's not all that you know, or at least I hope not, and second of all, I happen to know that you won't kill me, and I'm psychic. Oh, and by the way, you're still going to destroy Blood World and everything else in the entire universe."

"How!?" Daniel asked.

"By finding out exactly how fate is altered." Indrid said.

"When!?" Daniel asked.

"Now." Indrid said.

Indrid took off his sunglasses, revealing one of his eyes, which was black. His other eye was still covered by his hair.

"If you're wondering why I keep this eye covered, it's because anyone who looks into it usually ends up killing themselves and/or thousands of other people." Indrid said.

"I've already done both of those things." Daniel said.

"Yes, but the place that I am about to take you to is a place where only true gods are supposed to go." Indrid said, "In fact, normally, not even all true gods are allowed to go there. Usually, only Jophaniel can handle that place. Every mortal who has been there has ended up going insane. And yes, that is what happened to you friend Brad before you met him. And yes, I am talking about the Akashic Plane."

"I don't need the Akashic Plane to drive me crazy!" Daniel said, "I'm already insane thanks to Blood World!"

"Actually, right now, you are very sane compared to the way that you'll be after you come back." Indrid said.

"I'll be coming back to this dimension?" Daniel asked, "Well then, it's a good thing this whole dimension's an asylum!"

Indrid pushed his bangs back, revealing an eye that glowed redder than anything Daniel had ever seen. It was the reddest of red, and it was blinding as if somebody was shining a red light on another red light. The next thing Daniel knew, he was in some kind of void that was completely empty of anything other than bright red.

The overwhelming red that surrounded Daniel began to fade into a bright turquoise color, accompanied by what sounded like thunder. Suddenly, Daniel had an agonizing headache. There was nothing he could do about it because there was nothing around him but endless bright turquoise. He remembered everything that anyone had ever said to make fun of him, and this filled him with rage. After a while of floating in the turquoise void, he began to see something swimming, or rather, flailing slowly towards him. It was a dinosaur of the carnivorous sort. It was orange with blue stripes. At this point, Daniel was enraged from the headache and from seeing that Indrid had killed his friends, so he took out Marielle's Sword Of Death to kill the dinosaur. Upon seeing the sword, the dinosaur opened up a frill around its neck and shot fire out of its mouth. Daniel flipped to the side to dodge the fire. He jumped on the dinosaur's back and twisted its neck. To his surprise, there was no snapping sound, but the neck remained twisted. Now that the dinosaur's head was facing Daniel, it coughed up blood at him. The blood caught fire in mid-air, but Daniel leaned backwards to dodge it. The burning blood ended up landing on the dinosaur's back, causing its back to mutate into a mass of tentacles. Before the tentacles could catch up with Daniel, he ran down to the dinosaur's back until he reached its tail. Then, he pulled out Brad's laser gun and shot the dinosaur in the mouth, causing its face to mutate into more tentacles.

"What the hell is this thing!?" Daniel yelled, "Why can't I kill it!?"

"Because it isn't alive." Jophaniel's voice said.

Suddenly, Daniel felt Jophaniel tapping him on the forehead. Daniel's headache went away, and he began to feel calm. The turquoise faded around him, and he found himself standing on an invisible floor in an endless white void with random animals, plants, and minerals floating everywhere, most of which he had never seen anything like before. Jophaniel was standing right in front of him, but he wasn't wearing his Collector armor anymore. Now, he was wearing a fancy white outfit that reminded Daniel of a jester.

"So, this is the Akashic Plane..." Daniel said, "But, if that thing isn't alive, then what is it!?"

"Not dead." Jophaniel said, "And, not undead either. It is merely the record of the existence of an extinct species."

"Then, why did it breathe fire at me!?" Daniel asked.

"It saw your sword and felt threatened." Jophaniel said, "Attacking the Akashic Records won't wound them, but arguably, it will do worse. Each record represents the DNA of its species. By damaging the DNA of the Fenrra Kan, which is the dinosaur that collided with you aura, you altered its DNA, thus forever changing history."

"I changed history, huh?" Daniel said, feeling empowered by that notion, "Cool! But, what did you mean when you said it collided with my aura?"

"That turquoise field surrounding you was your aura." Jophaniel said, "It is turquoise because you use mostly your heart and throat chakras. And, it is painful because you have let so much anger build up inside of you. Your aura is so intense that it would have blocked your view of the entire Akashic Plane, so I removed it."

"You took my aura!?" Daniel said as he noticed a turquoise orb in Jophaniel's hand, "Give it back to me!"

"But, if I gave it back to you, you wouldn't be able to see anything in this wonderful museum of a dimension." Jophaniel said, "Besides, you wouldn't want to feel that headache again, now would you?"

"Wait a minute." Daniel said, "I see that the records of life forms are kept here, but what about the records of worlds?"

"I do have a room for worlds and dimensions in here." Jophaniel said, "And, I also have one for multiverses."

"Show me to the worlds." Daniel said.

"Why do you want to see the worlds?" Jophaniel asked.

"I want to purify Blood World." Daniel said, "I want to make it peaceful."

"Well, that does sound like a good thing." Jophaniel said, "Sure, I'll show you the Record Of Blood World."

Jophaniel took Daniel to a large white room full of tables. Most of the tables had bowls on them, which were full of orbs. Jophaniel took a dark red orb out of one of the bowls.

"Is that Blood World?" Daniel asked.

"Indeed it is." Jophaniel said.

"Give it to me!" Daniel yelled.

Jophaniel began to hand the red orb to Daniel, but before he could gently place it in his hand, Daniel snatched it from him. With the force of Hastur's gauntlet, Daniel was able to crush the orb in his hand. It shattered like glass.

"What have you done!?" Jophaniel asked as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"I made Blood World peaceful." Daniel said with an insane grin, "It was the only way."

"This is all my fault!" Jophaniel said, "I shouldn't have taken your aura!"

"Oh, so now you want me to feel the headache!" Daniel said.

"No, it's more than that." Jophaniel said, "Without your aura, you have no soul."

"Really?" Daniel said, "I don't feel that much of a difference from when I had it."

"That's probably because you barely even had a soul to begin with." Jophaniel said, "Still, that is not how you purify Blood World!"

"Really?" Daniel asked, "Then, what's your idea of a pure world?"

"Well, if I had to give an example, it would be Advakhiel's dimension." Jophaniel said.

"You mean that overgrown asylum!?" Daniel laughed, "Where's its record!?"

"I'm not telling you!" Jophaniel said, "I can't afford to let you destroy it!"

"That's it, isn't it!?" Daniel said as he pointed to what resembled a large miniature tower on one of the tables.

Jophaniel said nothing. He didn't want to lie, but he didn't want to confirm that the tower was, in fact, Advakhiel's mansion.

"It is!" Daniel said, "I can tell by the look on your face!"

Daniel walked over to the model tower and slammed the palm of his hand down on it, crushing it. Then, he removed the gauntlet, belts, and glove from his right arm, took out a knife, slit his wrist, and let his blood pour onto the rubble of the mansion.

After spilling his blood onto the Akashic Record of Advakhiel's dimension, Daniel watched as the rubble of the mansion began to change into flesh, blood, and other organic matter. Then, Daniel realized that the flesh on the table was his own. He began to bend it, causing it to form the familiar shape of a worm, but larger and gorier.

"By altering the Akashic Code of Advakhiel's dimension, you have changed it into..." Jophaniel began to say before falling speechless.

"The Conqueror Worm!" Daniel said, "Now, watch this!"

Daniel split the worm in two. The two worms circled around each other, forming a double helix.

"The society of Blood World has turned life into death." Daniel said, "And now, I am turning death into life!"

"You want your aura back?" Jophaniel asked, "You can have it. You deserve all of your pain."

"But, then I won't be able to function on the Akashic Plane!" Daniel said.

"I don't want you on the Akashic Plane." Jophaniel said, "You must leave now before you destroy anything else!"

Jophaniel threw Daniel's aura back at him and teleported him to the dimension that was once Advakhiel's mansion.

Daniel looked around. The sky was entirely black, for there was no data for a sky in the Akashic Record for this dimension. The ground was made of flesh, blood, and gore. Daniel could see several tentacles rising up from the ground and moving on their own, but he also found that he was able to control them. Although there was no sky, there were human corpses, limbs, and chunks of flesh perpetually raining from above. And since this entire dimension was now part of Daniel's body, he could feel all of the pain in all of its open wounds. Daniel was normally very tough and didn't let pain get to him, but this was too much. Still, he managed to limp onwards until he came across Sachi. She was covered in blood, holding a pink wand, and facing a crowd of cultists.

"Daniel!" Sachi cheered, "You're here just in time for the mass suicide!"

"Eternal glory to Esmodel!" The cultists chanted, "The Goddess Of Blood!"

"Blood!?" Daniel asked.

"That's what hearts are full of!" Sachi said in a singsongy way.

"What is this!?" Daniel asked, "What are you doing!?"

"I can send out the luster of the beauty!" Sachi said cheerfully.

Sachi waved her wand around. Insane laughter emanated from the wand, causing all of the cultists to take out knives and kill themselves in various ways.

"What have you done!?" Daniel asked.

"The same thing that I've always been best at doing!" Sachi said with a smile, "Making people kill themselves! I know I've always wanted to be a diplomat, but if you really think about it, a cult leader is a type of diplomat!"

"No!" Daniel said, "You've become too corrupt! You were the one loving person in my life, but now, you've become corrupt, and it's all my fault! And now, only I can fix my mistake!"

Daniel grabbed Sachi.

"What are you doing, Daniel!?" Sachi asked timidly.

Daniel shoved the claws of his gauntlets into Sachi's eyes, causing them to explode into blood.

"What was that for!?" Sachi cried out in pain as the blood erupted from her eye sockets.

"I have no use for you anymore!" Daniel said.

Daniel shoved both of his god-slaying swords into Sachi's stomach, killing her. He took the swords out of her corpse and put them back into his belts. Then, he slowly limped through the crowd of dead cultists. He recognized some of the corpses as the other three princes Leon, Chandra, and Sorath. Once he reached the end of the crowd, he saw Advakhiel, still standing there inside of Alessandro's dead body with his crushed heart hanging out of his chest.

"Was all of this really necessary?" Advakhiel asked.

"Was your fucking asylum necessary!?" Daniel asked as he limped up to Advakhiel.

"At least my mansion was designed to make everybody happy." Advakhiel said.

"Really!?" Daniel said, "Everybody!? Or just you, you selfish antisocial bastard!? Ever wonder why you were always so lonely inside of that asylum of yours!? It was because you assumed everybody liked the same things as you! You thought everybody would love you and want to play with you! Well, guess what!? We're not the same!"

Daniel shoved his hands into the hole in Advakhiel's chest and ripped his entire chest open.

"Why would anyone want this kind of world?" Advakhiel asked, "All I ever wanted was a peaceful world. That's why I created one."

"Peace is always nice, and I am definitely a peace seeker, but first and foremost, I am a truth seeker!" Daniel said, "And, I have seen enough to know that freedom is a lie! However, peace is possible. You said it yourself! Without a universe, there is only peace! And, you know exactly what will cause the entire universe to cease to exist!"

Daniel caused five tentacles to rise out of the ground. One of them held Advakhiel's torso in place, and the other four ripped his arms and legs off.

"I know that you detest me, although I do not know why." Advakhiel said, "But, you need me. I am the one who manages this universe. Without me, there will be no more dimensions of any sort. There will be nothing."

"I know." Daniel said, "And here in this universe, nothing is peaceful! Only in demise is justice eternal!"

Daniel took out Hastur's Paradox Blade, and with it, he cut Advakhiel's head off.

And then, there was nothing.