etoN s'rohtuA: W el l, it seems like t h e y a r e close by.... h e h e h e h e h e h e.... Lovely. Oh, s o v er y l ov ely....

  ...deracs er'eW ?su reah enoemos naC

-----------------------------------------------------

 Iskall:

 " Oh my god.... " I whispered as I put my hand to my mouth. I was the first to walk into the destroyed room. Mumbo came in behind me, " Oh... Oh my goodness...." he looked around, " It's an utter wreck..." 

 X ran up to the edge and took out a telescope. He lowered the scope and looked back at Mumbo and I. X shook his head and looked again, " That is incredibly terrifying." he put his telescope into his bag. 

 Tango hurried into the room, " He... God no...." the hermit whispered as his tail lowered to the ground. I looked at him, " What is happening Tango?!" I stared at him, " There isn't any use in keeping the secret now!" I told him as my hand clenched.

 The hermit sighed and pointed off into the distance. The evening sun made his eyes glow brighter, his eyes were like fire as he explained the situation. It turns out that our friend from another server was secretly a demon. Of course, the word 'secretly' meant that he never wanted his friends or us to now. 

 Mumbo, Iskall, and I looked at each other, " He did that to himself? To keep his friends alive?" Mumbo's voice was low. Tango nodded as his tail twitched. 

 " Poor guy..." Mumbo's voice got low as he looked up towards the castle. I crossed my arms, " Well, I suppose that now is all good as a time to head up there. " I nodded my head. I looked over at the others, " We need to block the bathroom door when we get back inside." I told them as they nodded. 

 The four of us hurried inside and explained to the Evolutionists what was happening. Martyn rubbed his forehead, " W-wait... I think I heard about that....." he mumbled as he looked in my general direction. The Evolutionist explained that the creature was talking about how there were multiple timelines where Rik failed to save his friend's lives, and how our Rik was one of the few to keep them alive.

 " I thought that they could automatically just respawn..." Netty frowned as Martyn leaned back. Martyn frowned, " That's what I thought, but I suppose that those Alabastor Brothers can lock them out of the game permanently..... " he crossed his arms.

 " Perma-death.... Rik got his powers to protect his friends from perma-death... " Zee muttered with a shake of his head. Martyn crossed his arms, " You three should get going. The rest of us will block the bathroom door and normal door until you return." he sighed as Netty stood up. 

 I looked at X and Tango as they gathered their supplies. Tango crossed his arms over his chest, " I'm ready." he snorted as his tail twitched. The three of us nodded at the Evolutionists and Mumbo before leaving the house.

 My eye glowed as I scanned around, " The creature is at the castle, and so are the other prisoners." I frowned. X walked up next to me, " What about Rik?" he questioned as he took out his telescope. I cocked my head to the side, " Rik has managed to burn his way through to the prison area, and he took down Solidarity. " I narrowed my eye.

 X tensed up slightly, " Is... Is Solidarity alright?" he questioned as I straightened up. I told him how Solidarity was on the ground, and how he was most likely unconscious. X and Tango both let out sighs of relief. 

 The three of us quickly snuck up the hill and over to the hole in the wall. I kept watch over the guards and creature. They were talking about something, and I wish I had the tech in my eye to figure out what they were saying. 

 Tango looked into the hole, " Yep... I'm made a hole like this before." he narrowed his eyes. Tango touched the walls as his tail twitched, " I highly suggest that you two get your flame resistance armor on... Rik is highly unstable..." he put his hand on the smoldering walls.

 X and I got our respective armors on as Tango quietly let the way inside. Tango was in a low prowl as he raised his hand. The two of us stopped as Tango pointed forward.

 In front of us, Solidarity was unconscious; his body almost freed from the black ooze. He was breathing slowly as the spikes on his head were bleeding. Solidarity breathed slowly as his chest raised up and down. He was mumbling inconsistent pained rambles to himself as his hand twitched.

 My eyes glanced up towards the black containment chambers. The ooze inside was purple and held the rest of Stumpt inside. Rik, a more animalistic version of him, was clawing at the containers. He twitched and made a crackling noise as fire came out of his mouth and onto the first container.

 Tango looked over at X and me, " You two drag Solidarity behind here. I will handle Rik." the two of us nodded our heads. The demon hermit snuck out of the hiding spot and moved to the side of the room. 

 The container that Rik was burning soon turned to a molted brown color as it made a hissing noise that sounded like a snake. Rik clawed into the container causing Ash's limp body to slump out. 

 X and I snuck out and picked Solidarity up. His body felt like a pincushion as we laid him down behind the collapsed wall. The evolutionist's eyes twitched as he slowly opened an eye; they were back to normal. 

 " Xisuma...? Iskall? " Solidarity tried to move, but his body laid there weakly. Solidarity was about to say more, but X quickly cut him off, " I know that this may sound rude mate, but you need to be quiet." he frowned. The evolutionist nodded as his hand twitched. X continued to nurse the blood that Solidarity was dripping as I looked back at Tango and Rik.

 The two demons were staring at each other. Rik's tail was thrashing as he protectively stood in front of Ash and the other two containers.