She shot upwards, propelled by a set of leathery demon wings, taking the Mechanic with her.

"After her!" William cried.

He leapt up the hole, his Frozen Wings carrying him upwards. He hurled out his grappling hook to the walls to help propel him up faster, to catch up to Robyn.

He blasted out of the surface and landed on the ground next to the hole.

Right as Robyn stabbed the Mechanic through the heart with a sword made from Titanium. She slumped forward.

With 0/250 life.

Robyn looked up, and their eyes made contact for the first time since the day of the Guardian's defeat.

He couldn't believe this. The mechanical bosses... they'd been nothing but a distraction! She must've sent them and watched them fight.

We led her straight to the bunker!

"Why did you kill the Mechanic?" William seethed.

"She is no longer needed for our plans," Robyn said, her eyes glowing with their evil red radiance. "But... she still needed to be silenced."

William lunged at her, prepared to try to take her down, to try to find some way to lift her curse. She pulled out a white bow studded with crystal shards and pointed it at the sky.

He suddenly found his path being bombarded by volleys of glowing arrows being fired down from the heavens, followed by an onslaught of magical stars, so he turned around, dashing away with his Shield of Cthulhu to avoid the attack.

Turning back to Robyn, he saw she had taken to the skies.

I'm not letting you get away this time!

He flew right after her. If he followed her, she was going to lead him straight to wherever the Cultists were hiding.

More arrows and stars began storming from the sky. Robyn was flying backwards, facing him with her bow held to the sky. It seemed like the bow itself wasn't actually shooting arrows, instead using it seemed to be causing the arrows and stars to fall from the sky, which reminded William of the Starfury sword he'd once used.

He threw Shadowflame Daggers in her direction as he dodged and weaved around the glowing projectiles. He made sure a few hit her, but not too many. He would never kill her.

Her wings ran out of flight and she landed on a rocky basin close to the jungle, then began to sprint away with her Frostspark Boots. William followed her path and continued his attack. His advantage was that the arrows from her storm-bow took some time to fall from the sky, so by moving unpredictably enough he ensured he would never get hit. Unfortunately, Robyn had the luxury of running in a straight line, now far enough that his Shadowflame Knives were falling too short. He was no longer a threat to her, and she was going to get away if William didn't catch up.

What I wouldn't give for Meg's Rod of Discord right now!

They entered the jungle. Giant Flying Foxes flew through the skies and Angry Trappers reached upwards, more menacing versions of Man Eater plants. Robyn was forced to stop her horizontal movement and fly upwards at the foot of a hill, and William increased his altitude likewise, his more direct route bringing him closer.

But that was when the flying tortoise hit him out of the sky.

It struck him like a reverse meteor, hurling itself from the ground.

235 damage.

23 life left.

The wind knocked out of him.

He felt himself falling. Muddy, grassy walls rushed around him. Down, down, down.

Onto a grassy surface laced with vines.

Dazed from the long fall, he had the sense to drink one of the Greater Healing Potions that the Destroyer had dropped.

But even that wouldn't protect him from what he'd landed on.

The vines began to untangle and stretch out, wrapping around his ankles and wrists.

Folds of grass and plant matter began closing in, all around him. He was enveloped by thorny jaws and pink petals.

Before too long the pink and green got replaced by black.

Darkness.

Gone.

***

Meg and Sid still hadn't found William or Robyn after a day of searching.

"I think it's about time that we consider the harsh reality," Meg said. "That Robyn killed William, and crawled back into whatever cave the Cultists are hiding out in."

"But he can't be dead!" Sid exclaimed. "He's been here since the beginning. First Robyn got taken by the Cultists, and now..."

"This isn't a game, Sid. It never has been. You're not invincible, I'm not invincible, William and Robyn never were."

"Or maybe William's cursed too."

Meg groaned. "Whatever happened, we're down to just the two of us. And all we can do is your favourite thing."

"Get stronger?"

"Yup. The mechanical bosses dropped quite a lot of new items."

She considered it to be lucky that they'd decided to deposit everything into the chest-house before heading off to the bunker, otherwise the items that William had gotten from the Destroyer would have been lost. Especially since the three mechanical bosses each dropped a different type of soul, and there were many items that required all three.

"Hey, I remember William once telling me about these items!" Sid exclaimed. "Souls of Sight, Might and Fright. They would have upgraded his Night's Edge." He sighed. "Man, he would have been so stoked."

"The Night's Edge is even still in storage," Meg said, pulling it out of the chest that contained William's old weapons.

Sid took it from her hands. "Might as well upgrade it. In his honour. He would have wanted it."

One craft later, the Night's Edge was now a True Night's Edge, still a dark purple blade, but the edges were now lined with green radiance, and swinging it launched forth a spinning green energy sword.

The two of them then consulted the Guide for other things that the souls and Hallowed Bars could be crafted with. The latter item had been dropped in an ample amount by all three mechanical bosses, and Sid crafted it into a Durendal whip, a Pickaxe Axe, and two sets of Hallowed Armour.

"It is grimly fitting that we only have enough Hallowed Bars for two sets of armour," Meg said.

"Oi. Don't make a bad situation sound even worse!"

She just shrugged.

The last two items they crafted primarily came from Souls of Sight. The first was the Optic Staff, a summon weapon that summoned an army of miniature Retinazers and Spazmatisms that would attack enemies in the same way the big eyes themselves had done. There had then been two different magic weapons that Meg could have chosen from, the Magical Harp and Rainbow Rod, but there were only enough Souls of Sight left over to craft one, so she picked the Rainbow Rod.

"I guess now we should try and figure out how to start exacting revenge," Sid said.

That was when the Witch Doctor burst into the room.

"I feel the jungle is growing restless."