[Aria's POV]

It takes a few more minutes before we near a large staircase down deep into a large mountain of netherrack. It was deep within the Basalt Deltas. The change was rather nice, actually, as the temperature seemed to drop just a bit. It was enough to make Mobius slightly relax and Alexa took a deep breath of relief. I let out a slight sigh as well but suck it back in at the sight. 

We were walking up to what once had been Bastion Remnants, but they were completely repaired and restored. The entrance stood before us, many blocks high and glowing with lanterns and glowstone. Piglin lined walkway, armed with golden enchanted swords or netherite pickaxes. Their armor was something I have never seen. It was dark like netherite, but gold flecks were scattered on the armor and lined the edges. It glowed slightly like an enchantment, but the glow was orange instead of purple. 'Fire resistance.' I muse. That was something I would need to think about before our match.

Lava pits.

I shake my head as we enter. I needed to focus on our surroundings now. As we entered, lava was pooling from the sides in intervals, and I barely catch a hidden lever poking from behind the last set of pillars that separated each flow. I narrow my eyes and keep moving. 'Need to remember that.' Once we leave the entrance hall, we walk down a large staircase that is slightly spiraled. Lanterns lined the walls, letting off an eerie orange glow. At the end of the stairs is a massive hall with a high ceiling and hanging chandeliers made from netherrack bricks and glowstone shards. Doors led to other places in the castle, and mobs were walking in and out until our little caravan enters. They all stop to look towards us, and I withhold a growl.

A nudge on my side makes me turn to Alexa. She gestures ahead of us, and I feel my eyes widen at the sight. The Wither King's throne was massive, made with pure netherite and inlaid with gold. A massive statue of the wither was directly behind the throne, with the middle head above it. The other two were on either side of the chair, and the eyes glowed brightly with glowstone. As we approach, the Wither King rises to the throne and the guards make us stop. "Take them to their quarters. We will.... commence the arrangement  when you are ready." I slightly lower my head, and he does the same. The guards move towards the right of the throne and lead us down a hall and to a set of doors. As we near the end, the guard leading us turns, and my eyes narrow at the cracked ribs. "You will be staying here. Rest well..."  As we enter, Anthony locks eyes with the skeleton and he glares. The skeleton shows no emotion until Alexa walks up. She nods to it, and it returns the nod.

Just as I enter, the skeleton mutters, "You'll need it." I slightly stop, feeling my ender-half growl. Instead, I turn to look at it with narrow eyes. I say nothing and continue inside the room. He closes the door behind me and I sigh. When I lift my gaze, I see all three of my friends staring me down, and I know there is no getting out of this one. "Alright... This is what's going on..."

~~~~~~~~~~

Within an hour, I have told them everything and we are now all sitting down. Somehow the Wither King was able to retrieve packed ice and offered some to Alexa and Mobius. However, that was all he offered us besides a safe place to rest. I only had my sword still, and a few items in my inventory.

"What's your plan, Aria?" Anthony asks, and I look away. I really never had a real plan...

I just wanted to save my friends.

"I... I don't...." I look up and gaze at all my friends. 'Oh God, I don't have a plan... What was I thinking?!'

'I had no choice-'

'He would've kill us-'

'We were going to die-'

'We are going to die-'

'Not if you let me in-'

'No! You nearly killed my friends-'

'A small price for free-'

'My friends are not a pawn in a game to free you! NOW GET OUT OF MY HEAD!'

"ARIA! SNAP OUT OF IT!" I feel hands grab my shoulders and violently start shaking me. It takes all the strength I have left in my mind to stop me from slamming my fist into the face of Alexa, who was the one standing right before me. I find myself holding my face with both hands, one almost covering my ender eye completely. I had pushed my hood and helmet off somehow, maybe from rubbing my head. Another shake snaps me back to the present, and Alexa eyes me with caution. "Hello? Earth to Aria!" I blink rapidly again and suck in a breath. "Yeah... Yeah I-I'm here... I'm here, Alexa." I look down only to have my head lifted again. Alexa stares at me, and I can't help but smile. She returns it and finally lets me go.

"Now, as we were saying before you went all whacky on us-"

"You mean him," I interject without realizing it. That makes everyone turn to look at me again. I just shrug and point at my eye. "Well, apparently this eye was another endermans, and when he died, they shoved it in my eye and so he's been talking to me and trying to take over and he's the reason I can speak to the mobs and teleport occasionally. Oh yeah, and if something happens and I get too injured, he will take over and literally go berserk and he's the reason I almost relieved Mobi of his head."

All I get are three pairs of eyes blinking at me in shock. I just shrug and lean back against the wall. 'Wall?'

'Your friend brought you here while we were speaking.'

'Ah, thanks.... uh...?'

'You may call me Reginald.'

'Good to know you have a name, Reggie.'

'It's Reginald.'

"Okay, we'll come back to that, but we need to get a plan together, and fast. I'm sure we don't have as much time as we thought." Anthony says, and he leans against what looks to be a chair. Mobius leans against his ice and starts. "Empty our inventories, let's see what we have." I walk over to the table and start doing what he said. I empty out a few diamonds, some iron ingots, steak, and a few tools. Anthony also drops a few diamonds, iron, gold ingots, and some steaks. Alexa has the same, a few apples and some seeds. Mobius has nearly the same, with a few melons, some stone, and...

"Blaze rods?!" We all shout, including Mobius. He looks at his hands, then tosses the rods in pain. "Hot! Hot! Hot!" His hands slightly steam, and I walk over to the table. "So... I figured out you can just, kind of... grab them. But, I was only able to get a few."  An idea starts to form, and a sly grin plays on my face. "Alright... I have an idea, team."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[3 hours later]

I try to not keep the King waiting, and we are out heading to the field once the plan has been set up. I was now wearing a diamond chest plate, leggings, and boots. I decided to keep the iron helmet, as we didn't have enough diamonds for that as well. My weapon was a diamond sword. I didn't want to use my sword for the time being as the eye seems to resonate with the one in my head and...

No one wants that right now.

Not yet at least.

As the guards lead us through the halls, we enter the throne room, and I see the throne was empty. We continue past and head down the hall to the left of the throne. The first door we come to opens up to reveal what appears to be our battleground. Stairs lead down to the center of a massive ring that was littered with pits of lava and netherrack bricks. Stalagmites rise from the ground in random areas. We slowly walk down the stairs, and I can see the Wither King waiting for us near the center. We near him, but the guards stop my friends from following.

"What?!" Alexa shouts, but I wave a hand at her. "Don't worry. It's better this way. You guys will be safe." I can tell she didn't like that, but Mobius grabs her arm. "C'mon, Alexa. We can't help her." He gives me a nod, and I return it. Anthony looks at me, then the King, and smirks. "Besides... she doesn't need our help." I give him a sorrowful smile, and he returns it as well. 

Once I know they are safe, I turn back to the Wither King. My gaze narrows and I walk over towards him. He turns to me fully, waving his to send his attendants away. He was still wearing his armor, and his crown was still resting on his skull. His enchanted sword was in his hands, and he gazes at me in mild shock. "I am impressed. I did not know you had such items on you." I try to keep my cool by shrugging. "I told you not to underestimate me."

"And I said the same."

He gets in a ready position and I do the same. I pull a shield from my back and it glows a slight orange. The King gazes at it before taking a closer look at my armor. 'Now!' While he's distracted, I lunge and slice towards him. He barely retracts in time, but my sword slices across his arm. Black smoke emits from the cut, but it dissipates quickly. He looks at it in slight surprise, and I try to not smirk.

I fail.

He glares at me, and before I know it he is before me in a spin. I raise my shield and feel it already begin to crack as his sword slams against it with a force that craters the ground beneath my feet. I grunt and push up, shoving the King up off the shield. I take a slice at him and miss. He counters easily and the strike on my sword is much stronger than I anticipated. I grit my teeth and go on the offense. Using the momentum from his hit, I twirl and slice up. Our blades meet, but I hold it steady against his. My arms shake, but I refuse to back down.

With a shout, I push back again and duck as he swings. His speed is unnerving but anticipated and I jump as he spins and slices at my feet. As I land, I feel heat grow near my foot and gaze down to see the crater was starting to fill with lava. As I look back up, a skeletal leg slams against the side of my face. I stumble to the side from the impact, and I try to regain my footing. However, the Wither King does not stop his attack. He swings at me, his boney fist connecting with my face, and as I stumble, his leg connects with my back and causes me to fall to my knees.

I grunt and roll to the side as his shadow covers me. His sword slams into the ground, making lava erupt from the impact area. I step back a few times, lifting my shield to cover me from the splatters. Thankfully, the fire resistance on it stays in tack, and it doesn't start to burn. As I lower the shield, I raise my sword and catch the King's just as he swings it. Twisting around, I slam my shield into his side, making him slide across the netherrack. He straightens, and I ready myself. This wasn't going to be easy...

Within moments, he is moving again. I raise my shield and block a kick once again. However, when I go to slice at him...

He's gone.

As if I have spider senses, I duck and feel his sword scrape against the top of my helmet. I swing my leg out, barely catching his. This gives me enough time to roll forward and turn to face him. He was already rushing me, and I try to counter each swing of his sword with my own. He was much faster than I imagined, and I felt mild fear starting to form. 'This wasn't part of the plan....' A growl slips from me, and I slam my sword down against the Kings. He returns the look as we stand there with our swords locked. Quickly, I kick his knee out and slam my own knee into his ribcage. He grunts, but he doesn't move back from his kneeling position. I knee him again, feeling his sword start to give against mine...

Until I hear the crack.

One look at the diamond sword in my hand is all I need to see that his sword was not just locked with mine but fully embedded in it. Cracks were forming and snaking down my sword. My eyes lock with the Wither King's eye sockets, and I see something ripple across his face as he smirks. Before I can react, his fist is in my gut, slamming into the breastplate and slightly lifting me off the ground. I land a few feet back, staggering and holding my gut. My sword was in my hand, but I could see particles falling from it.

It was already almost broken.

I could feel the chest plate cracking as well, and my legs were wobbling. He was holding back this whole time, and I hadn't expected it. Quickly, I reach behind and retrieve a Golden Apple. We had made a few in case something like this happened. I try to be quick and take a bite, but a skeletal arm intercepts and stops me. I gaze wide-eyed and the Wither King as he slightly shakes his head. "And just what are you doing with that?" He asks before slamming his skull into my head. I stumble back, dropping the apple. He kicks it aside into lava, and I feel true fear start to sink in.

'That was my only backup...'

I take a deep breath. I couldn't get rattled now. I had to stay focused. I could do this, for my friends. With a shout, I charge him instead, but he seems to anticipate this and side steps. I swing to the side, and he blocks it easily. His movements were smooth and seemingly effortless. This made my nerves go on edge. I couldn't beat him... He had many more years over me in experience...

As he grows tired of parrying, he grabs the hilt of his sword with both hands and swings up. His sword crashes against my own...

And shatters it completely.

I feel his blade then continue upwards and slice against my chest plate. The force behind the swing catches me off guard, and I am thrown backward. I slam into the ground and feel the diamond chest plate rupture on my back. Warm liquid was draining from my lip, and I felt a new slash on my face. Blood is falling from the wound as well, and I huff. My eyes open and I see the Wither King was slowly advancing. My body had made a deep ravine-like crater. I felt bones broken in my body, and I cough up more red. 

But I couldn't give up.

Not now, not ever.

Carefully, I lift my hands and pull myself up out of the crater. As I rise, my chest plate crumbles to pieces. Ignoring the pain, I push myself forward and huff. One arm covers my chest, which was bleeding profusely, and the other dangles at my side. The shield was on the ground ahead of me, must have fallen off when I was thrown. I gasp for air and try to stay steady. The King was looking at me, some sort of unreadable expression on his face. I take a step forward, slouched over.

'Let me help-'

'Not yet...'

I lift my gaze, only to be met with a fist to the face. I am slammed against the ground again, and my vision darkens. I feel the ground around me grow warmer, but I don't think it's from the lava. I can hear the Wither King kneel closer to me. "I admire your courage, but you are not strong enough. You fight the creature within instead of learning to control it." Something sharp presses up against my chest, and I groan in pain. Pressure is applied to it, and I feel my skin start to break. Out of instinct, I raise my hand and try to stop the sword. My eyes are still closed in pain, but I find the sword and try to push it away in vain. 

'I don't have a choice....'

'This wasn't part of the plan...'

'Nothing ever is. Will you allow me to help now?'

'.... I don't have a choice... do I?'

'Not if you wish to live, no. I don't believe you do.'

Suddenly, I feel the sword leave, but when I open an eye I realize why it left. The King raised it, preparing to strike. I feel the eye widen, and power flows from it. I feel my body shift and particles cover me. In a panic, I realize what I had started to do.

Teleport.

Within a moment, I am on the other side of the arena. Pain floods my head and I collapse to my knees. I struggle to let go of control and trust the Enderman within. He coaxes me, but I make him promise not to harm my friends. He agrees, and I finally let go. The moment I do, I feel my body release a scream. A new pain floods me as my body is repaired and half of my being is already changing. My eye burns, and I feel something near my back. I swiftly reach up and retrieve my sword. Instinct tells me to strike behind me, and I feel another sword hit my own. Calm suddenly fills me, and I hear Reginald speak.

'Finally....'

'Remember our deal.'

'Don't worry, your friends will be safe... for now.'

I turn to face the Wither King. His gaze tells me all that I already know. Half my face was most likely changed already, and I growl. I kick out, nailing him in the ribs. He slides away with a grunt, and I stand straighter. I keep my eyes locked on him completely, and he looks at me with irritation. I will not lose, not with their lives on the line.

I will never lose.

"Never."