(T/W for blood and death(>:3))

POV: Grian

Location: Hermitville

I smiled as I waved at Mumbo. Taurtis was resting inside Iskall's house and I was bored. I headed inside Mumbo's house and looked around.

Mumbo walked over to the couch and sat down. "Why are you here?" he asked, a friendly smile on his face.

"I was bored," I answered.

His smile faded slightly. "You could've gone to EX," he reminded.

I shrugged. "I figured I'd let him catch up with his brother," I answered, unaware of how wrong I was for doing that.

His smile faded completely and he raised an eyebrow. "So you haven't said hi to him at all?" he asked.

I glanced off to the side, feeling a bit guilty as he mentioned it. "No," I said, feeling a bit ashamed.

Mumbo sighed and stood before walking over to me. "You are going to go find him and apologize to him before spending time with him," he said.

I sighed and looked up at him. "Okay," I said.

He smiled slightly. "Go have fun with your friend," he said quietly.

I smiled back and nodded. "I will." I turned to leave but quickly turned back and gave him a surprise hug. The smile on my face grew as he stumbled back in surprise as I stepped away. I waved, saying, "Bye, Mumbo!" He chuckled and waved as I left.

I equipped my elytra and flew around town in search of EX. I checked Xisuma's house first but only found Xisuma himself inside with no sign of his brother. I asked him where EX was but he said he didn't know. I thanked him nonetheless and left to keep searching for him.

After a little while of searching with no luck, I landed and pulled up my communicator.

Grian: has anyone seen EX?

I waited a few moments and sure enough, some replies popped up.

Renthedog: no

ZombieCleo: I haven't

Tango: I thought I saw someone wearing red armor near the Shopping District earlier, maybe he's still there

Zedaph: can you message him?

Grian: no, he never got a communicator or a phone

ImpulseSV: well that's a problem

Grian: thanks for the info Tango

Tango: no problem

I put my communicator down and headed to the Nether portal before going inside. I began the long journey to the main island and arrived not long after.

I stepped out of the Shopping District portal and began to look around. I jumped out of the way just before a blast of red magic scorched the ground where I was standing. I spun around to see EX floating high in the sky, his expression unreadable.

I took to the skies, determined not to let anyone else get hurt.

EX continued to send blasts at me but I weaved skillfully out of the way. Thankfully, he wasn't using magic that would destroy any buildings, just hurt players.

My communicator buzzed. I dashed behind a shop and managed to gain a few seconds to check it.

Tango: hey Grian, did you find him?

I winced as a blast of magic landed near my feet. I dashed out of the way, quickly typing.

Grian: trying not to die

Tango: what?!

I grimaced as I realized I had said that in the public chat. Now everyone had seen it. I told myself I couldn't deal with that immediately and spread my elytra again.

As I took to the sky and circled around to face EX, I noticed something that scared me. Two red glows were coming through his black visor, positioned over his eyes.

I noticed hermits running out, worried expressions on their faces. I grimaced as I realized I was going to have an audience for what I had to do.

I spotted Xisuma, Iskall, Mumbo, and the rest of the people that were in Hermitville emerging from the portal, including Taurtis.

"EX!" came the shout. Both EX and I looked down to see Xisuma looking up at us with worry in his eyes.

The only response EX gave was a blast of red magic that Xisuma barely managed to dodge.

Before I could react, EX spun toward me, his large pale purple wings coming into view, and sent a blast of silver magic. It struck me in the chest, causing me to plummet to the ground.

With a reluctant sigh, I took off my elytra and let my wings show. Large white wings sprouted from my back and I caught the air, grimacing as I landed on my feet, my chest blackened where I had gotten hit. The hermits gasped as I saved myself and I looked away from them.

I pushed off of the ground and flew toward EX. He let out a growl that only I could hear and charged at me.

Xisuma yelled for us to stop but we couldn't. We didn't.

I raised my hand, a golden ball of magic forming around it. EX did the same only with a silver ball. Our magic struck together, a blast throwing us backward.

Iskall yelled my name as my white wings started turning pale purple. I let out a gasp of pain and plummeted to the ground as my wings stopped responding. EX just hovered midair, his merciless gaze trained on me as I dropped.

Xisuma raised his hands and a light purple glow surrounded me just before I hit the ground, preventing me from taking damage. He rushed over to me, Iskall, Mumbo, and Taurtis right behind him.

"Grian," Xisuma said, crouching down beside me.

I looked up at him, pain in my eyes, and on my expression.

"It's clashing, isn't it?" he realized in horror.

I nodded with a grimace and looked up at EX. He had started to attack the hermits but they were managing to get out of his way.

Mumbo and Iskall helped me up, my large wings only causing a hindrance to my balance. I concentrated and they vanished, making me stumble at the sudden change in my center of gravity. They caught me and we stumbled over to the other hermits.

Scar and Cub stepped forward, their eyes glowing white. They glanced at me and they both gave me a small nod. I nodded back and they turned back toward EX. In a flash of light blue, their Vex wings came into view and they launched themselves at EX to protect the other hermits.

I noticed with a flash of pride that Doc was standing near the Nether Portal with Stress right beside him. I knew his bones were still mending but he had managed to get all the way here.

I turned my focus back onto EX and watched as Cub and Scar attacked him, drawing his focus away from the unprotected hermits.

I glanced at Xisuma and he gave me a small nod. We turned back to EX and turned our admin energy on him. Golden and light purple light streamed toward him. He spun just in time to raise a silver shield that somehow managed to block the attack.

Since my feathered wings were no longer usable, I summoned a pair of golden wings that were made out of light and flew into the sky. Xisuma gave himself a pair of transparent violet wings and followed me.

Even though he was being attacked from all sides, EX held his own against us.

Faster than anyone could react, a blast of red magic struck Scar in the chest, sending him falling to the ground. Cub barely managed to surround him in a light blue glow that prevented him from taking damage. While he was distracted, EX struck him from behind and he barely managed to land without taking damage.

EX turned to us, the red glow of his eyes more evident than ever before.

"You have betrayed the Watchers, Xelqua," he said in Galactic.

I narrowed my eyes. "Verix, this isn't you, you aren't choosing this," I told him.

He cocked his head in amusement. "Oh really? Didn't you know that 'Verix' was the strong one? I am a Watcher, Xelqua, and so are you," he said, pointing at me with a sword.

I let out a sigh. "EX, you don't have to do as they say," I said, regret showing in my voice.

"But I want to!" he responded. "It's just so much... Fun." The red glow surrounded his diamond blade as he uttered the last word.

"Evander, please don't do this, not now," Xisuma spoke up from beside me.

He just let out a chuckle and sent a blast of silver magic toward us, channeled through his sword. We split apart to dodge the magic and raised our hands to launch our own attack.

Before we could, he thrust his hand down and a wall of magic forced Xisuma down to the ground. He landed hard, dust gathering around him and blocking him from view.

I turned to EX after looking at Xisuma, worry filling my eyes.

Just as I raised my sword to launch my own attack, the battle being waged inside my body magnified. I let out a yell, my admin wings vanishing from my back. EX watched as I fell to the earth for the second time with no one to save me.

Iskall, Mumbo, and Taurtis all yelled as they tried to run toward me, but it was too late. I hit the ground hard, dust floating up from the soil and surrounding me. Darkness crept around the edges of my vision as I looked up at my friends.

"Grian?" Mumbo said, his eyes wide with horror.

I let out a small cough, my face twisted up in pain.

Taurtis turned to look at EX, a dark purple glow surrounding his eyes. My eyes widened as I realized what he was about to do. "Taurtis, don't," I called weakly. He looked back at me with the same old eyes I knew him for.

"I have to," he said. With that, he let out a blast of magic that healed his wing completely. He tore off the bandages and flew toward EX.

I looked up at Mumbo and Iskall as the darkness continued to fill my vision.

"I-I'm sorry," I weakly said.

The darkness consumed me and I fell unconscious.

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~POV CHANGE~

Iskall and Mumbo stared down at their friend, their eyes wide in horror.

Taurtis fought hard against EX but knew he couldn't keep it up for long.

Stress reluctantly left Doc and went to go help Taurtis, her pale purple wings spreading wide behind her as she fitted on her mask and made it invisible.

EX did not yield to the two Watchers and fought hard against them, slowly gaining the advantage.

The non-magical hermits were in hiding. Cub was lying defeated near an unconscious Scar. Xisuma was barely managing to sit up and looking around. Grian was unconscious, his two sides battling inside of him. Stress and Taurtis were close to defeat.

Iskall stared around, still unsure of what to do. He looked down at Grian and suddenly realized what action he had to take.

He glanced at Mumbo. "Get back," he said, his expression serious as he said the order. Mumbo stepped back, eyes wide as he realized what Iskall was about to do.

A light green glow surrounded Iskall's human eye as he looked down at Grian.

Xisuma stood with a wince of pain and ran toward Iskall. "Iskall, don't!" he yelled. It was too late.

The light green glow flowed from Iskall and down onto Grian. It was the final piece. The Listener spirit that was filling the unconscious hermit's body settled the battle inside of him. His eyes flew open and he looked around before seeing Iskall above him.

"Remember," Iskall said quietly enough for only Grian to hear.

The glow stopped flowing from Iskall and it was absorbed by Grian. The short hermit let out a yell of horror and sat up as Iskall fell to the ground.

Xisuma stopped beside them, his eyes wide with horror as he stared down at Iskall.

Mumbo ran forward and tried to shake Iskall's body before realizing his friend's eye was wide open, staring unblinking into the distance. Tears filled his eyes and he began to sob.

Grian stared at Iskall in horror. His gaze slowly trailed up to Xisuma, who was already looking at him.

Grian reluctantly stood and allowed his white wings to emerge. "The battle within me is over," he told Xisuma. His regretful gaze fell upon Iskall's unmoving body. "He gave up the rest of his spirit to save mine," he said quietly. "No more respawns," he whispered.

"We need to stop EX," Xisuma told him. Grian nodded, his gaze not leaving Iskall for a few moments.

Finally, he tore his gaze from the dead hermit's body and spread his wings. Xisuma allowed his violet admin wings to come out and they flew up to EX.

————————————————————————————————————————————————

~POV CHANGE~

Taurtis and Stress bore the marks of the battle, blood seeping out of several cuts on their bodies.

EX's gaze snapped to me as I flew up on the white wings. His eyes grew wide, the red glow fading enough for me to see his expression under the visor. It immediately took over once more and he sent a blast of magic at me. I easily blocked it, the Admin energy and Watcher magic working together. The Listener spirit now inside of me created the balance I needed.

EX effortlessly sent Taurtis and Stress to the ground, defeating them. Xisuma barely managed to stop them from taking damage.

We faced the powerful Watcher, determination in our eyes.

"Finally figured out how to make the balance?" he sneered. "Too bad it required the death of your best friend." I gritted my teeth in anger.

"Why are you doing this, EX?" I yelled in reply.

The amusement on his expression vanished as the red glow faded. "You didn't want me in the first place!" he yelled back, acting more like EX instead of Verix.

"That's not true!" I replied.

Xisuma's gaze flashed between us. "Uhm, Grian," he said, looking at me. "You did stop paying attention to him when Tarutis came back." I froze as I realized he was right. I looked up at EX, guilt filling my gaze.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel that way," I said.

He sneered, the red glow returning. "Too late," he said.

Moments later, he launched himself at us, his sword at the ready. I raised my sword and blocked his attack. Xisuma went to attack him but EX easily struck him out of the sky once again. I effortlessly stopped Xisuma from taking damage and focused back on EX.

"Three forms of magic flowing inside of me, do you really think you'd be able to take me?" I asked, raising my eyebrow slightly.

He let out a chuckle. "I don't need to," he replied.

EX raised his hand and a silver glow surrounded it. A portal appeared below him, causing cracks in the sky to appear around it.

Xisuma tried to type in the commands that would stop him from leaving but it was too late.

"Toodles!" he called before folding his wings. He dropped into the portal and vanished through it. Moments later, the silver portal also vanished along with all of the cracks it had caused.

I breathed heavily and looked over the area. I realized for the first time that all of the hermits had seen me for what I was, an Admin with Watcher magic.

Good thing they don't know I'm the Prime, I mused with a slight smirk.

I calmly floated down to the ground in front of the hermits, my gaze sweeping over them. "Is anyone hurt?" I called.

"Not too bad," False answered even though she had a decently bad magic burn on her sword arm.

Xisuma came up near me and reminded me of Iskall by whispering, "What do we do about him?" I looked at Xisuma, sorrow filling my eyes.

"We return him to his home," I replied quietly.

Xisuma and I turned to Iskall and headed over to where Mumbo was still silently crying beside him.

I turned and swept my gaze over the hermits. They understood and departed to their homes, grief filling their hearts.

I turned back to Iskall and was about to pick him up when Mumbo stopped me. "I want to take him back," he said, his gaze trained on his friend.

I frowned and nodded. "Okay," I responded.

Mumbo lifted his friend and flew off toward his base.

I turned to Xisuma and we went over to where Stress and Taurtis had landed. To my relief, they weren't dead, just injured.

Stress managed to stand, her gaze wide as she stared after Mumbo. "No..." she whispered in horror. She spread her wings and flew after him, tears beginning to stream down her face.

Xisuma and I exchanged glances and we helped Taurtis up.

"We didn't even get him," Taurtis said quietly, his voice filled with regret as he stared shamefully at the ground.

"Iskall sacrificed himself so that I could live to fight him," I said quietly. "We won't let his sacrifice be in vain."

He fell silent.

"Come on, let's go to my base," I quietly told him. He nodded slightly and we flew off toward my futuristic base.

Xisuma watched us go and then seemed to remember something. He pulled up his communicator and typed something in before leaving to go to his base.

More than one thing was lost that day.

(2928 or so words)

(Tadaaa~ I just edited it and I shall now publish it the same night as the last chapter c:)

(Plz don't kill me, I has plan for this)

(Also, this book will probably end up being 50 chapters so I'm just gonna aim for that)

(Reminder for the fourth time, plz lemme know if I should share my reasoning behind making the creature Iskall's shadow, I wanna share it and idk if you guys want me to share it)

(Hope you enjoyed, bye~!)