"I feel like I've been robbed, and I didn't pay anything." Abraham snorted as he rocked on the back two legs of his chair.

"I mean, it wasn't...it's not too bad?" Ted tried to say with a reassuring voice. But even he was doubting that. I mean, Lulu certainly milked their pockets for only touching it with one finger a little bit.

I wanna wear it. Death declared as he walked over and with one swift move grabbed the hat off of the hollow king.

Immediately the hollow king reacted. It was as if someone had touched his sword. The eyes on his right arm flew open, and his spectral form spread out over him.

Schwing

Before Death could put the hat on, the hollow king swung his sword with dazzling accuracy. The blade slammed into Death's arm right by his elbow, and knocked his forearm, and subsequently the hand that held the hat, clean off.

The hollow king used the momentum from his sword to swing around and held up his right hand towards Death. The eye on his palm stared directly at Death, and then the skeleton flew back towards the wall.

For a moment, the room was completely silent. The hollow king reached out and grabbed the hat while kit was still flying through the air. With a tender touch, he placed it back on top of his head. Then, he pulled the brim down below where his eyes should be and let out a slow hiss of air from his lungs.

"Okay," Ted gulped as he cut through the unnerving silence. "Why don't we take a step back and regain our bearings?"

The hollow king turned towards Ted. A shiver went down his spine as the man with both no eyes and far too many of them looked at him. He didn't charge at him immediately though, so Ted considered that to be a good sign.

Oh, it's on! Death screamed angrily as he appeared behind the hollow king with his scythe already swinging towards the emaciated man's neck.

The hollow king bent down at a seemingly impossible angle to dodge the attack.

Let them go! Death cried. Even now they still scream in my head! Just set them free, dude!

Death had no skin. He didn't even have any muscles, but even still his righteous anger was written on his face. And he attacked with equal fury to his rage.

For his part, the hollow king looked calm physically. Although his spectral visage was as angry as it always appeared to be. His counterattacks could be described by one word, heavy.

The two of them danced around each other, throwing attacks and dodging incoming blows.

I wanted to let it slide bro, I really did. Death claimed. But you just keep pushing. What else am I supposed to do?

If he wanted an answer, he wasn't getting one. The hollow king didn't say a single word.

You were already on thin ice, and then you lash out at me for something so petty? Death scoffed. Dude! Seriously?

"Come on, just stop attacking, he only wanted his hat back." Ted said to try and reason with them.

Dude, don't be so blind! Death explained as he dodged a sword slash by a hair's width. He's been waiting for an excuse to try and stuff me in there with the others. He spit in the face of death and that wasn't enough.

Death looked over at Og'drimun. He's done to himself what happened to that world we saw. The guy is a walking crime against nature, and he wants to push it even further!

Azrail seemed to be mulling over Death's words very carefully as he stared at the hollow king. "Spit in the face of Death? By attacking you?"

What? Nah man. He should've died a million times over. Death snarled angrily. But, he bound the spirit of death to his own body, dooming his world, and preventing him from being able to die no matter where he is. At least to old age...but it's corrupted him.

"Corrupted? How?" Azrail asked.

Like...like he was metal but was afraid of degrading. So he made a bucket of water part of himself, but now the water and the metal are gone, and completely replaced with rust. Death offered as an example. Bro's doomed himself long ago, he just won't admit it.

Abraham stood up and wiped his pants off. "A guardian of the afterlife fighting a man who refuses to die. Classic if not a bit cliche." He cracked his knuckles. "So why don't we liven things up a little bit!"

And with that, Abraham jumped into the fight.

"Wait, the shadowy man. We...he could be here any minute..." Ted tried to reason, but it was futile.

They were already determined to fight, and he couldn't physically stop them. The pit in his stomach got worse as he feared that the smiling man would suddenly appear behind him any moment, and then kill everyone in here.

His legs began to shake slightly as he felt paralyzed by the fear of the impending doom that he was sure was coming.