...seeing that number just looks wrong. 

But at the same time it doesn't. 

False signalled for Pearl to follow as they finally found where Gem was hiding. The battle was still raging behind, and until they saw the messages in chat, they didn't think anything would be wrong. 

G̴̳̏́͂ò̴̧̦̘̙͔͐̒̋̌̍͠ơ̸̯͖̦͚̻͍̬͈͍͐͂̈́́͆͑̊d̸̯̼̯̝̠͍͔̮̀͐̒̀́͛̂͜t̷̛̮̖̭̜̼̫͕̭̓͆̃̋̅̊̔̇̎i̵̲̹̤̽̐͝m̵̠̮̩̟͕̘̠͎̓ĕ̸̥̬̆w̸̡̮̲̬̮̖͚͗͊̍͐͐̃̑́͌͜͝i̵̫̎̈́͆̿͊̆̽̿́̌t̷̡̺̘̮̗͚̖͍̽͊̓ẖ̸͈͎͕̖͂̈́͌̍̄͌͗̎̀̄ͅͅS̴̥̝͈̩̥̥͇͛͂̏͠͝c̷̗̯͎̯͙̄͂̂͌̊͑͘̕͠͝a̸̺̩̞͇͑̅͒̓̌͋̽r̸̛͇̤̦̭̟̯̗̉̋̏̈́̔̊̚̕͝ ̵̡̹̫͚͍͖̞͎͓̿̓̈́̊̌́͊̄̾̚l̷̯͈͓̦̼̄͑͌e̸̛͇̞̗͎̳͍͙͉͆͂́̈́͝͝f̴̛̮͒̒͑̀́͌ͅt̴͓̯̲̖͊͐̽̋͠ ̶̜̦͈͎̤͓͔͔̯͑̈́̿t̸̡͉͕͚̳͈̦̺̞̬̅͐h̶̛̻̺̮̑͒̊̈è̸̖̼̩̻̤̱̣̤̳̈́̇̈͒̋͒̚͜͝ ̶̖̺̠̈́̇̀̿̄̾͛͠ĝ̶͍͖̙͖͇͖͂̌͐̓̾͗͌͑̈a̸̧̯̰͓͉̅m̶̧̧̝̠͈̻̈́͋̔̑̓̈́͝é̸͕̫̜̞̗͓͓̘̑͆̽̑̈̚ͅ

Cubfan135 left the game

Grian left the game. 

'I'm not even going to question what's going on over there.' Pearl shook her head, closing chat, before joining False at the edge of the vex-cathedral. Gem was below them, alone, in what appeared to be a training area. With a nod at Pearl, False jumped down.

'Ooh! New friends!' Gem beamed as the blonde glided towards the ground, sword out, ready to attack. 

'Yeah, new friends. That's right.' Pearl leapt down on the other side, turning into a cat to land before shifting easily into a lion, snarling. Gem turned, wary. 

'Well, this isn't very nice!' She pouted. The staff she used to turn them and their friends into animals was in her hand. Pearl lunged straight towards it. 

Gem dodged, yelping. False ran straight for her, slicing. The ginger hermit replied with a tangle of vines, coiling swiftly up her leg and pulling her to the ground. False cried out as she hit the ground, wings raised, trying to fly out. Pearl yelled her name as she glitched back to herself, throwing a knife at Gem. It struck her arm, and vines disappeared, letting False escape, raising her sword, and knocking the other newest hermit unconscious. 

'That should do it.' 

Behind the chaos of the battle, Hypno crouched, safe behind a wall of vex magic Cub had hastily thrown up to protect him and TFC. He still watched Jevin, who was currently remaining true to his word of loyalty, attempting to kill Etho. Tango and Doc had arrived, looked comically between each other, and remained at the sidelines. Skizz hadn't noticed either yet, too busy recovering from a nasty cut down his shoulder. Hypno had decided against telling him. 

Vintagebeef was slain by ZombieCleo 

The message appeared in chat, right under Cub and Grian's departure from the server. Cowards, or trying to find Herobrine, who was also gone. Hypno fired another couple arrows towards the zombie as she looked for another challenger. Iskall quickly took Beef's place, fighting her and an armour stand bodyguard at the same time. Tango chose this moment to swoop down, joining him. Hypno glanced over at Skizz, who was preparing to head straight into the fight again, sword in hand. Still oblivious. 

Jimmy crashed into the defences, and Hypno shot back to focus. He and Martyn were still fighting somehow, despite severe injuries from the former that most hermits would've found healing for by now. TFC threw a potion at him, and it splashed, giving off a quick relief. Skizz jumped over the vex-magic battlements, distracting Martyn while Jimmy recovered. 

'Gem's been dealt with, what else should we do?' False arrived right next to Hypno, spooking him. Startled, the black-clad hermit turned. 

'Wait here until anyone needs help. Beef's already down.'

'We saw.' Pearl landed next to her, turning back to herself from a bird. Fire was now quickly spreading across the battlefield from Tango's rather dramatic powers. All three were momentarily distracted by it, before looking back at each other.

'Our side or theirs?'

'Don't know. Jevin's not done anything against us yet, which is good. Doc's not joined in. Cub and Grian are gone...

ZombieCleo was slain by Iskall85.

'Cleo's dead...' Hypno continued as part of his list. 'I guess we just wait here.' 

It would've been a normal day in the land of the Vexlings if A: they hadn't found their leader dead and B: if they hadn't been attacked by 2 other vexlings and a watcher. 

'Well, this isn't good.' @rain_55 looked down at the dead body of their dead leader. Their fellow Hermitpad ConVex member and author of this story stood next to her, poking the corpse lightly with their foot. 

'Yeah... I knew someone would find it eventually.' 

'You killed them?'

'Nah... I just watched Scar do it, and we're not allowed to be mean to Scar.' 

'True.'

'What's going on over here?' @_The_Unnamed_Watcher and @Stressed-Bean entered the room, saw the body, then stopped. 

'Well, this isn't good.' @Stressed-Bean quickly broke the record for understatement of the year. Ember nodded back.

'Yeah... oh, look, Scar's back! Hey Scar!' 

Herobrine walked down the centre of the Cathedral, towards where the four cameos were. Before there could be any kind of explanation, or moment of peace, Cub and Grian appeared as well, clearly hiding. 

'Hey Cub!' Ember continued to cause chaos by yelling. 'How are you doing?' 

Herobrine turned, and Cub hid back behind the entrance, swearing to himself. Grian was next to him, nervous but impressed by the place. 

'What's the plan?'

'Uhh... fight?'

'Good to know. But aren't you going to die if you kill Herobrine?'

'Jevin forced me to wear Scar's necklace. Hopefully it should stop me from dying. Or it'll create a huge paradox. We'll just have to see.' Seemingly unfazed by the latter option, Cub ran into view, while Grian pondered it for a moment longer. He eventually ran out to join his friend, still hiding behind him. 

Herobrine smiled.

'You're here.'

'I noticed.'

'And so's Grian. How's he enjoying this place?'

'Hi Grian!' @Ydhghf yelled over, having just joined Ember, Rain, @_The_Unnamed_Watcher, and @Stressed-Bean. 

Cub didn't leave a chance for any further introduction, running at Herobrine. A jet of Vex magic shot from his hand, and the glitch teleported out the way, surprised and annoyed to find himself not where he wanted.

'Yeah... us Vexlings don't really appreciate other types of magic here.' Cub explained. 

'Especially Watcher magic. We don't like Watchers.' Rain called over. 

'Some of us fought a war against Watchers...' @ydhghf added lightly. 

Herobrine didn't listen, charging straight at Cub. The vexling sliced at him, kicking him to the ground and holding a sword to his throat. 

'You can't kill me, remember.' 

'Let's see about That.' Cub stabbed down, but Herobrine dodged out the way at the last second. Grian swiped at him, blocking his way. Cub attacked again, and this time his aim was true. Blood sprayed, and Herobrine screamed, glitching so much it was like there were two people. Then there were. Cub remained standing, not yet dead, the necklace almost burning, letting off a searing blue light. He tore it off, throwing it across the room. Another glitched-out figure appeared next to Scar. A figure in a cyan top and dark blue trousers. A figure with pure white eyes. 

Herobrine.

Cub dropped the sword, Scar standing in front of him for a moment, gasping, before collapsing onto the ground, fatigue and pain filling him. Herobrine watched for a moment longer, before he disappeared. 

Herobrine left the game.

GoodtimewithScar died