The giant mecha craned its head back as dark masses of whirling death essence began to form at the tips of its skeletal wings. However, within the heart of the evil beast Waldo could not help but notice several oddities about the elf witch whom he now faced. Her body glowed with an awe-inspiring power. Several spells caught his eye in the scant few seconds that it took for her spell and his dark power to be brought to fruition.

"That golden glow... Vartaenia's Eternal Spring? Can't be... Where would she have gotten the still-beating heart of a heroic troll maiden? It took me over twelve years to find one, and it's difficult to keep the damned thing from regenerating into the troll it was taken from."

That was not all. He instinctively recognized the other spell effects, effects that were well-beyond the casting capacity of a simple hedge witch. "The Dark Queen's Tyranny and Damnation's Reward? Where did that bitch get a fragment of a leaf from the world tree, or the crystalized soul of a corrupted high-priestess of Heros?"

Waldo's eyes widened comically as he realized the truth. Each of those spells required rituals that used incredibly rare legendary materials. It was ridiculous that she would know those spells, and it was impossible that some low-class witch would have access to the necessary reagents. Those ingredients represented decades of research and exploration on his part to acquire! If she did originally have access to such powerful tools and knowledge, she would have done far more than summon her stupid onion minion.

"You thieving bitch!" he roared. Half a dozen beams of pure death shot upward from the whirling masses of energy at his wing-tips. They were not fully prepared, but he did not care. What she had done to him was obvious. The bitch had stolen the fruits of his labor brought about by decades of his tireless effort and used them against him!

Saelil screamed an incomprehensible word that caused the world to ripple then the space around her to tear asunder in several jagged cracks similar to the appearance of a beast attempting to claw its way into reality. Jet black smoke poured into the world. Waldo's death beams struck this billowing mass of darkness and were consumed by it.

"No..." said the red robed necromancer, both his and his mecha's jaw dropping in shocked awe. "This—" he began, the massive monstrosities head shaking from side-to-side to showcase his wonder. "It's not possible!"

High in the sky, Saelil gestured downward with her staff. The billowing darkness rushed down toward the incarnation of sorrow and suffering. Waldo feebly fired off another round of death beams but the darkness consumed them all. Soon, he was engulfed entirely.

A euphoric look appeared on Saelil's face as she continued to pump more and more of the essence of pure darkness down atop her enemy. Her face became flush. Her breathing became deeper, and she began to make soft moaning noises. "So long..." she whimpered petulantly as the power coursed through her. Though it was impossible to remember much of her life with distinct clarity, she remember the feeling of power, of acquiring absolute dominion over her foe.

Her leg rose up and she pressed her body against her staff. "Yes, this power!" she cried before she bit her lip a little. She thrust her hips forward and ground herself against her staff even as her back arched.

"Ahn!" she cried in a high-pitched tone that quickly became a pleased moan.

While Saelil underwent a disturbing erotic reminder of her glory days, Waldo suffered a far different fate. His power kept the darkness at bay for the most part, but the oppressive nature of the spell used against him was too much for even his current existence to completely resist.

"Dammit!" snapped Waldo, "The shield's down to eighty percent already?"

He redirected the power that he'd collected from the thousands of souls in the area. "I need to weather her attack. The spells propping her up are ridiculous, but they won't last long," he muttered.

A sibilant whisper entered his ear. "Jussst give up. You're not good enough. No one likesss you anyway..."

Waldo snarled angrily. "Get out of my head, you stupid cow." The dark power that Saelil had brought down upon him was a thing of purest nightmare. It sought to rip apart every aspect of another creature's being. The body, mind, and soul were all under attack. As his shield weakened, the whispers would grow stronger and more invasive. Without his shield, he would have suffered severe physical and psychological injuries already.

The shield continued to weaken. His mecha fell to its knees as an oppressive downward force pressed it to the ground. A legendary spell that combined mental destruction, soul desiccation, entropic mutilation, and gravity manipulation, it was a power straight out of world mythology.

"How can this bitch possibly know this spell? No one knows this spell!" snarled Waldo as he sat helplessly inside his rotting beast and watched his shield continue to lose power despite the soul energy rerouting that he had just completed.

Saelil cried out ecstatically and spun around in the air as another wave of euphoria washed over her. The more her enemy suffered, the greater her arousal became. It was one of many beautiful side-effects of the power that she now wielded.

Waldo's shield continued to weaken. It dropped to seventy-five percent, and then slowly it dropped again to seventy. The battle between the other companions and the remaining spider things continued unabated, though Chaine and the others did occasionally glance over to see what was happening.

"More! Give me more!" cried Saelil. Her breaths came in short, hot, intakes of air as she panted out, "I want to feel you suffer more!"

Waldo, unable to do anything else besides make a concerted effort to fight off the mental assault that grew by the second, could not help but wonder about the nature of his opponent. How could she possibly know so many sixth level spells? Most magical researchers were heralded as a genius if they could unearth or create even a single spell of such magnitude.

He named them aloud, the spells that she had used to make her current assault possible. "Vartaenia's Eternal Spring, a spell that grants the obscene regenerative power of a heroic troll maiden..."

"The Dark Queen's Tyranny, a spell that allows the caster to use any known spell without the need to cast a ritual," he said, "The only weakness was that it costs more life force to cast spells than usual, but that's not a problem for the knife-eared slut because of the first spell and Damnation's Reward..."

The final spell was one of the biggest problems that he faced. Damnation's Reward drastically reduced damage taken when attacked by the powers of both the darkness and the light, while it also granted an obscene boost in overall life force. The caster basically rejects the light of the gods and the darkness of the underworld and becomes a power unto themselves. Only someone who did not fear the destruction of their soul would use it.

"That bitch is clearly mortal flesh and blood. She's no lich that I can see, but using that spell would destroy her unless she had secreted her soul away inside of some trinket or other," said Waldo in a thoughtful tone. How did she manage not to destroy herself while casting it? How does she even know the spell? Those were his thoughts as the power she brought to bear continued to tear at his very existence.

A sibilant whisper assaulted his ears, "Your magic isss a joke, a thing fit only for children'sss birthday partiesss or entertaining a bar full of drunken idiotsss."

"Damn this bitch!" snarled Waldo. He fought down the images of failed experiments from his past. Imaginary children appeared inside his mind and began to laugh at the clown that called himself a necromancer.

"Waldo. Waldo. Can barely cast a spell. Waldo. Waldo. He really does smell!" crowed the hateful hallucinatory children before they pinched their noses closed with their fingers.

"Hey kids! Is that a dumpster fire? No, it's just Waldo's magical career!" called the announcer voice. Whether the announcer actually said it, or it was a product of Waldo's growing madness was a thing easy to debate. The sweet laughter of happy children that echoed inside his head did not help the situation.

"Fuck off!" snarled Waldo. Enraged by the voices, he drew up enough willpower to cast off the depression tearing at his mind and soul long enough to think clearly once more.

He began to try and talk to himself in order to fight the madness and make his situation become more coherent. "Out of the four spells I recognize her using, three of them are all creations of the dark queen. That's bad enough, but how can she know the one she's using against me now? No one knows it!"

The shield continued to weaken. The madness grew even as the secret gnawed at him. How could she use so many of the dark queen's spells? He only knew one, himself, and that was her greatest spell creation of all. "Never met anyone who could use more than one of her spells, but this random slut knows three of them? How? Is it because of her association with that champion?"

"Damn it!" snarled Waldo. "I have to know."

He gave up on his attempt to slow the degradation of his shield, briefly, and redirected his soul energy in a new direction. He wanted to speak and be heard. His shield strength began to decline rapidly once more as he exclaimed, "How can you possibly know this spell! No one knows this spell!"

Saelil stopped grinding against her staff then blinked owlishly, "Wazzat?" she asked as her euphoria began to die down. The spell continued to depress the giant mecha. Its effects became more pronounced by the moment as the skeletal wings began to bend downward at an unnatural angle due to the gravitational forces applies to the area.

"This spell! It's a myth. No one has ever been able to recreate it completely! How do you know it?" demanded Waldo.

"It's just-a... a spell I know," said Saelil before she shrugged beautifully at nothing in particular. Her lower body pressed against her staff tightly once more and her eyes began to roll back in her head. Making magic felt simply wonderful.

"Stop your pointless masturbation and answer me, you damn knife-eared slut! The only one who has ever cast this spell successfully is the one who created it and she died thousands of fucking years ago!" snapped Waldo. The mecha was forced so far toward the ground know that he had to use its hands to keep it from falling into the dirt.

His words stopped Saelil cold at that moment. The spells that bolstered her abilities would soon run out anyway, but in that moment she did not concern herself. Waldo's words had sparked a strange image that rose inside her mind. It was of a cloud of darkness sweeping across the land, one that devoured everything that the eye could see.

"What—" she asked, "What did you say?"

"Don't act dumb, you damned flying whore! You used three of her spells to try and take me down! Where did you learn the one you're using now? It took me decades to find this one!" demanded Waldo.

He glanced at his shield strength, now down to eighteen percent, then said, "Did you find an intact grimoire? One of her underworld storehouses? Answer me, dammit!"

"It... took you decades to find ... a spell? What spell?" asked Saelil slowly, some of the light dying in her eyes. She began to acquire a glassy-eyed expression as the spells supporting her began to weaken. Their time was almost up.

"Don't play coy with me, bitch. I can see the spells that you cast earlier are wearing off, and I'm going to get some fucking answers for all the reagents you stole from me," said Waldo heatedly.

"I... I don't—" began Saelil, but she was silenced as another strange image invaded her mind. It was the sight of a city that had become a charnel house. The remnants of bodies ripped and torn were strewn haphazardly about as though some giant had used them as a plaything then discarded them. Fires raged throughout the city and the few survivors cried out in weak and desperate voices that sought aid. As the image began to fade she asked, "What spell do you mean?"

"There's no way that you can know the trinity spells of the Dark Queen's lost gospel and not know about where I got my power!" exclaimed Waldo.

The images of destruction rose up inside of Saelil's mind once more. Undead monstrosities poured into the city, their rotting teeth and claws tearing at the still-warm flesh of the recently deceased. Tiny specks of light began to drift up out of the corpses then slowly formed together in a singular mass of energy before streaming toward the darkest spot in the sky. The point of convergence for all of those souls was a shadowy silhouette that held the vague image of a jet black skeletal dragon that held a humanoid posture.

"No," she whispered hoarsely as the image deepened. She could see more devastation, more destruction. At the center of it all was that same skeletal beast, and the sound of an all too familiar voice crying out in pain. It was her voice, the voice of someone suffering something so profound that nothing could penetrate the emotional walls that she had erected.

"Stop acting the fool. Answer me!" snapped Waldo.

"The spell... what spell? Who made it?" asked Saelil, her voice trembling slightly in the process.

Waldo snorted derisively. "Fine, I'll play your little game."

The spells bolstering his foe finally wore off, and the spell assaulting his position died away. The mecha, ripped and torn in hundreds of places, rose shakily to its feet once more. His shield energy was all but depleted, yet Waldo remained to tell the tale. It would only be a matter of time now for it to completely regenerate. He could afford to play games with a flying sow while that happened. It might even prove useful to do so.

"Deny it all you like, we both know the answer. The spell I'm using is the one you see before you. The spells you are using, save for Vartaenia's Eternal Spring, all came from the same source," said Waldo.

"Who—" began Saelil.

Waldo's mecha cut her off with a wave of its oversized hand, "Like you don't know."

He waited for her to answer but she said nothing. Finally his mecha threw up its hands and shook its reptilian head. "The Dread Bitch? The Great Whore? The Begetter of Suffering? Going to pretend not to know even though you used three of the most important spells in her world-conquering arsenal?"

Saelil's free hand flew to her mouth briefly and she shook her head fiercely from one side to the other. More images of suffering and death assaulted her mind. All the while that same voice continued to cry out alone from the center of its spot of impenetrable darkness, a deep hateful despairing series of sobs that would not cease. The world around the sobbing voice burned. Souls were torn from the ruination that used to be their living flesh, but the wailing sob continued unabated. Finally, she dredged up enough willpower to ask, "Her name... Tell me her name."

"Seriously?" asked Waldo before he took in and blew out a great breath with his giant mecha. However, a crafty look came to his oversized reptilian face. "If you truly don't know, you'll have to pay me to find out."

"Pay? You?" asked Saelil.

The battle beyond them began to die down. The summoned monstrosities were already dealt with for the most part and the embattled companions were close to finishing their current trial. They could not help but try and draw closer to hear more, however. Something was happening, and it was no doubt important.

High overhead, the cloud cover continued to thin. Rays of moonlight slipped past their former blockade and began to spear the ground below in ever increasing numbers.

"Yes, bitch. Pay me. If you want to know that name so badly, give me the rituals for the trinity spells of the Dark Queen's Lost Gospel," said Waldo.

"Giving you such a thing for a name," said Saelil slowly. She was sorely tempted. But even in her current state, her mind was not completely gone. Giving up sixth level ritual knowledge for something like a name, in their current situation, was the height of a bad trade.

Waldo's mecha smirked derisively for a moment, but then the expression shifted into a toothsome predatory grin. "I'll sweeten the deal. I promise to end this fight. I won't harm you and your friends any further. I'll even find the nearest warp and leave this planet forever."

"How could I trust that?" asked Saelil, a little more energy coming to her words. It sounded like she could end the battle at this very moment simply by capitulating and granting the fiend what he wanted. The idea was loathsome, but even her best efforts had done little to turn the tide. She bought a bit of time at most, but time for what? Saelil looked to her embattled comrades, and then to the pile of rocks and debris that might very well be Scott's tomb.

Her gaze turned to the thing down below her and she shuddered slightly. The hideous damage done to the monstrosity was already healing. Cracked wings had become smooth. Torn flesh had been restored to its former disturbing glory. It would not be long before everything she had done would be undone. There were no more high-grade reagents to work with that she could use in this battle. Her trump card had been played, and it failed to do more than heavily distract.

"I swear it on my soul, in sight of those bastards who call themselves gods, I Waldo will abide by the covenant that I have made with you," said Waldo.

The announcer spoke up at that moment. In a tone of voice that was far more grave and sincere than previous announcements he intoned, "The Lord of Infinite Sorrow, Waldo, has made an offer. The gods have born witness."

A message screen appeared before Saelil.

[Message]

The new Lord of Infinite Sorrow, Waldo, has offered to quit the field of battle. He has promised to spare you, your friends, and this world. He has also promised to reveal the name of the individual previously discussed. You, in turn, must grant him the true ritual knowledge needed to cast the following sixth level necromancer spells:

- The Dark Queen's Tyranny

- Damnation's Reward

- Lamentation of the Unrequited

Acceptance of this agreement will end the battle. The current mission that you are associated with solely requires the safe return of Princess Vita to the obelisk area. Acceptance of this agreement will not change the mission parameters. It will count as neither the successful completion nor the failure of the mission.

Warning: You are currently engaged in an important trade negotiation during a highly important mission that can alter the fate of several system worlds. In order to ensure that your decision is one that you truly desire, you must not only vocalize your answer, but take a small amount of your own blood and directly touch the decision option with your bloodied finger. This will truly seal the contract.

Do you accept the offer?

[Yes | No]

[--]

"I—" began Saelil as she stared at the message screen.

"What's there to hesitate about?" asked Waldo.

Saelil's body lost all tension and she floated limply in the air for a moment. After that brief space of time passed, she pulled a small piece of glass from a pocket of her robe and pierced her index finger. She stared at the drop of blood that formed there then sighed dejectedly. "I suppose there is no choice."

Waldo threw back his head and laughed obnoxiously, while the announcer spoke up. "Well, there you have it folks. It seems this battle will end, not with a bang, but with a reasonable compromise that makes logical sense! Who woulda thunk it?"

A warbling sound accompanied by a buzzing noise echoed through the area. The announcer snorted loudly and said, "Oh please, Perival. How could you have seen that coming a mile away? You have no eyes."

The warbling and buzzing sounds came again, but brought only laughter from the announcer. As the cloud cover continued to part above her, Saelil raised her finger and pressed the bloody tip against the yes button. "I do so agree to your terms," she said.

Chaine hissed loudly from down below. Samantha kept her own council. Kitty, for her part, was once again busy trying to dig Scott out of his tomb. No matter what happened now, they at least needed to take his body back to the obelisk for the promised resurrection.

Kitty moved a large chunk of rock, just as a bright ray of moonlight shined down behind her. As the clouds moved, that ray of light slowly crawled forward. The rocks she had been moving shifted slightly, but it was no doubt solely the effect of removal of such a large slab of material from the mix.

"Tell me the name first," said Saelil. "Then you'll get your spells, villain."

Waldo's mecha smirked in the way that only a giant reptilian hell beast could smirk. "Certainly. Those spells were all the creation of the Dark Queen of Infinite Sorrow herself, Saelil Lothuialeth."

Upon hearing those fateful words, her staff fell from numb fingers and crashed down toward the gore strewn earth below. Her hands flew up to her mouth just in time to muffle her scream. Some part of her had known that truth, but she did not want to admit to it. The images that assaulted her mind, and the new ones that rose even now, they were memories of what came before during a period of time so far removed from the present that even time itself had nearly forgotten them. What she now endured was the last vestigial reminders of the terrors she wrought across the land thousands of years ago. There was no context. She did not know why she did such terrible things, and yet she knew that she did do them.

The cloud cover dispersed rapidly now as the magic swirling in the air began to settle due to long moments of inaction. No one paid it any mind, however. Waldo saw the despair on his opponents face and laughed obnoxiously. "You made the right decision, you knife-eared slut."

Saelil's eyes narrowed even as the hot tears fell freely. The idea that such a vulgar creature had bested her, she would never be able to accept it despite the contract. She vowed in that moment to find him someday and show him the true meaning of despair.

Waldo raised up the hands of his giant mecha and unleashed a maniacal laugh. A look of insane joy arose upon its reptilian visage as Waldo Triumphantly called out, "Your spells are exhausted. Your champion is defeated. Your companions are feeble, and the gods won't help you."

He threw back his head and cried out, "With the trinity spells I'll finally have the complete power of the dark queen! The true power of that evil whore was enough to plunge the world into darkness and bring it to the edge of eternal night. Heroes were devoured by the thousands. Champions fell by the dozen."

The look on his reptilian face became one of absolute euphoric bliss, but his outcry was the deranged ranting of lunatic who finally achieved his most important life goals. "The power of Waldo will grow without end. I'll be truly unstoppable! No weapon will find me. No spell will break through my shields. The power that could slay even gods? Nothing, there is nothing to stop me! What force exists that can overcome Saelil Lothuialeth's Infinite Sorrow!"

Waldo ignored the feminine yelp of surprise that emanated from behind not long after his tirade occurred, but his eyes widened slightly as a massive spike of energy appeared behind him in the square where the companions of the fallen champion were gathered. "More than all of their feeble powers combined, that stupid Onion included."

He considered it a moment then ignored it in favor of receiving what he deserved for all that he had done to reach this moment. The power that appeared was nothing compared to what he had just endured. Though, the energy level did seem to rise steadily.

His musings were cut short by the sudden appearance of a strange sound that joined with the spike of energy. "Isn't that what they call a chainsaw?"

He turned toward the source of the energy spike and quickly realized something. "Isn't that where the fool champion was buried?"

A bright golden light flared brilliant from within the rocks and debris followed immediately by a thunderous sound. It was a strange combination of ear-splitting shriek and primal roar that ripped through the area. Rocks and debris exploded outward from the fallen champion's tomb with an obscene amount of force. Chunks of building material ranging from pebbles to heavy slabs of concrete pelted Waldo's shield with incredible ferocity. His shields lost most of their recently regenerated strength in the process, but remained intact. The buildings closest to him, however, were shattered by the raw destructive power of those projectiles.

Waldo barely had time to register the sight that appeared in the center of the former tomb. It was a creature that walked upright like a man. That was where the human similarity stopped, however. It seemed to resemble both a dog and a cat, but it also had horns like a bull and a bright red mane similar to a lion. The sensors on his mecha showed that the power level of the new arrival had spiked once more. Even now, it continued to grow at an exceptional pace. While it was not yet an actual threat, it was rapidly reaching a dangerous level of potency that could overwhelm his currently weakened position if he were not careful.

The lord of Infinite Sorrow snapped his head toward Saelil. "Make good on your promise. Give me those spells. Now!"

Saelil looked down at him in a cold, calculated manner. "Of course I will. I made a promise, after all. But spells of this magnitude require detailed rituals with exactly worded instructions. Don't you think it'll be a little difficult for me to share them while you're facing that thing?"

"You bitch—" began Waldo, only for his words to cut off. The moonlight streamed down brightly from on high, but he was suddenly cast into darkness. "Where did the light go?"

Waldo looked up just in time to see two massive feet streaking down toward him like a flaming meteor. He barely had time to widen his eyes in shock before taking a double flying drop kick to the face. The Lord of Infinite Sorrow was sent hurtling back toward the ground. The flaming feet followed his downfall and drove the reptilian head into the street with a resounding *boom!*

The surface of the street broke beneath the fury of the blow causing debris to fly in all directions. The force of the blow was so potent that the motion continued for a short distance, actually dragging the gargantuan body of the mecha along the surface of the street like the world's most disturbing surfer had chosen that moment to hang-ten while riding out an epic wave.

The cat-dog thing with the bull horns reared its own head back, while it continued to stand atop the reptilian beast, and unleashed a blood-curdling howl at the full moon hanging majestically in the air over head.

Despite the victorious pose and outcry, however, the battle was not over. Mecha Waldo's hands clamped around the beasts ankles and then his legs shot up in a bid to remove the obstruction from his face. A short scuffle ensued that resulted in the two combatants separating at a short distance. For the briefest of moments Waldo eyed the beast, and the beast eyed Waldo.

Then, after unleashing a primal scream, the beast hurled itself forward with one clawed hand outstretched. Madness blazed in its eyes and flecks of foam fell from its open maw as it sought to destroy its prey.

The announcer voice called out, "Looks like we spoke too soon, Perival. It seems there will be a round two after all!"

The two titanic juggernauts slammed into each other with enough force to cause a small shockwave throughout the area. A street sign that somehow managed to remain upright until that moment chose to fall to the ground in defeat. Yet, the true battle had only just begun.