Eternal Sarasaland:

The snow had slowed its rate of precipitation down to flurries as a cascading green, blue, and purple aurora appeared all throughout the nighttime sky. The Bellbridge lights looked even more brilliant with the lights from above and with the scattered sheen of snow reflecting their luminescence. The night had taken on a dainty, elegant surrealism as Daisy and Marissa faced each other in a standoff. With the combined brilliance from the full moon and auroras above, the many rainbow lights of Bellbridge, the light from the Sarasaland Campanile's huge clock, and the thin, reflective layer of snow, the night had become unusually bright.

"Just look at Daisy," said Ramona. "How can she be so relaxed right now?"

"I wouldn't say relaxed," stated Bowser. "Calm and stable, yes. Definitely the exact opposite of Marissa."

"You know, it's kinda funny," said Andrew. "Marissa looked so cutesy and harmless before – even though we all knew that really wasn't the case – but now, she looks absolutely deranged."

"Yeah," said Ramona. "She was like some dark fairy, but now, she's starting to look like a demented monster!"

"She looks really mean!" exclaimed Marut. "And she's really popping some veins!"

"I'm not surprised," muttered Neva. "She's just showing the freaky psycho that she really is deep down inside..."

"Well, what do ya expect from a demon witch?" said Athelstan. "We were bound to see it sooner or later."

Marissa grimaced as her three eyes gave off a haunting shine, though it could also be said that she was grinning as well. Her fingers kept fidgeting and moving in the most bizarre, uncouth manner. The strain on her body had become more than evident – it was obvious.

Warra looked on at the Kruna of Earth and the demon witch. Be careful, Daisy... he said in thought.

Damn it all, thought Marissa. If I had just had a few days to let my body adjust to this influx of power, I could've handled this without issue, and these pathetic fools would be history. I didn't think I would draw as much power through the Blood Moon as I did, but I guess that's a sign of how far the world has fallen.

"...It's over," Daisy then proudly said. There was a serious sense of intensity in her tone that irked Marissa. "It all ends here."

"Who are you to declare such things, Sarasa girl?" asked Marissa. No longer was her voice as suave and playful as it had been before. Now, a certain grainy hoarseness had mixed in to her tone. "You last this long, and all of a sudden, you think you're in the clear."

Daisy chuckled a little before pulling back to get in position to ready her Seismic Wave. A silvery aura of seismic energy full of luster flared around Daisy and rotated counter-clockwise from her feet to up above her head. Her energy rumbled outwards from around her legs and thickened into a smooth, swirling cone-vortex. The Kruna noticed something different about this particular Seismic Wave, as glittering sparkles and glimmering streaks mixed in to Daisy's silver mist.

"What a night..." murmured Ramona.

Now look at her, Marissa thought. She's challenging me to match her attack. No doubt this one looks much different from the one before...

Daisy stared at the demon witch with nothing but seriousness now as she concentrated and focused more power through her stance. At no point did the Kruna of Earth appear pressed to release her technique. It almost seemed like Daisy hit a plateau and just held her energy there, waiting for a reaction before doing anything further herself.

"Now what is she doing?!" cried Polari. "She's wasting time like that! Rosalina! Tell her to hurry up and close things out!"

Rosalina kept her focus on Sarasaland. A handful of other Lumas had made their way to the Comet Observatory lookout to see what all the fuss was about and had directed their attention down to Earth as well. Lubba smiled, though it looked like he was trying hard to.

"This is not what I had in mind when we decided to let Daisy finish the battle against Marissa!" Polari exclaimed. "The more time this takes, the more of a chance Marissa'll come up with a way to beat them! Don't you get it? The longer Daisy lets the fight drag on, the more likely it'll be for either Marissa or King Boo to pull a critical reversal! King Boo's getting the best of Geno right now! Geno can't slow that ghost down anymore than he's slowing him down as we speak! And that's not much!"

"I can't do anything," said Rosalina. "She won't listen. Daisy won't listen."

Polari quivered and trembled. "Oh...why does it have to be like this..."

"Why ask why, Polari?" asked Lubba. "Why is the sky on Earth blue? Why do mammals have toes on their feet? Why do cheerleaders cheer, but a ringleader doesn't ring? Why is Waluigi so damn skinny, but somehow as heavy as Donkey Kong? There are some things we just can't find the answers to! Believe me; I'm doing my best to try and stay optimistic, but I understand how you feel."

"Grand Elder," said a yellow Luma. "I hope the Kruna win. I don't wanna see what would happen to the Earth if that nasty witch beat them."

Rosalina's expression looked intensely anxious. She had worked up a mad nervous sweat from watching everything in Sarasaland. Please, Daisy, Rosalina said in thought. Hurry up... You don't have all night!

Daisy still stood with her Seismic Wave ready to fire, but didn't do anything. Her energy continued to swirl around her, and though she could release it the very next moment, she felt compelled to hold it. The Kruna didn't have a clue as to what Daisy had in mind, but the earth wielder looked confident enough for them to know that it was all intentional.

"What's the deal, Sarasa girl?" Marissa hissed. "Why are you just standing there?"

"Why are you just standing there?" replied Daisy. "Shouldn't you be worried about getting overrun by my attack?"

"Huh?!" cried Marissa, a sharp twitch jolting through her face. "Have you been condensing power this whole time?!"

"That's a good question..." said Daisy. A few moments passed, but she added nothing.

Marissa scowled, taking a step back but then stepping forward and grunting with animosity. Within seconds though, she cooled herself down and grinned at Daisy again when she looked back at the earth wielder. "Oh, I get it," said the witch. "You can't charge any more because that's all the energy you have left!"

"...Let's find out," replied Daisy.

"What? How dare you!" screamed Marissa. "You are in no position to toy with me!"

The amount of times Marissa's voice cracked in her previous statement made Marut, Ramona, and Neva all shudder. Again, Daisy stood there with no response, maintaining her Seismic Wave charge and what had become an eerily muted death stare. A couple moments later, the Kruna of Earth pulsed a quick burst of energy out and tightened her stance. To Marissa, Daisy almost seemed too focused.

Oh yes, I can see it now, thought Marissa. You're charged and ready to fire, but you don't wanna waste your shot...

The demon witch grinned and let a loose, stratified aura of red flow up from around her legs. Paired with her manic appearance, not a person or thing in any of the Kruna's minds or memories looked more hellish, twisted, demonic, and downright creepy than Marissa did at that very moment. It was then that the seven Kruna watching Daisy and Marissa all had the same freezing chill shoot through them. They assumed that Daisy likely had to have felt it to, but she had displayed no recoil and stayed put right where she was.

Clearly, she didn't think this through, Marissa said in her mind, giggling. In trying to make sure she wouldn't miss, she set herself up way too close to me to leave herself wide open like that! She held her right hand up near her head and flared a red-pink-black orb of energy. As it hovered over her palm, blade-like lightning ran through the perfect sphere, and her Malocchio Eye glowed in tandem with it.

Daisy quickly glanced up at the oversized ball and its lightning before looking back at Marissa, whose many protruding veins thickened and darkened. Marissa's giggling slowly turned into demented cackling as her energy orb expanded. The orb doubled in size twice in rapid succession. She had to raise her arm over her head to allow the ball to expand even more. Again, the orb experienced a large influx of power, becoming almost twice the size of Bowser. Her hat casting a shadow over her face, she put up a unique hand sign not seen before with her left hand.

"I call this one the Orb of Mortal Decay," murmured Marissa. "Or, for the basic teenage idiots of the world, the OMD!"

"I don't like the look of that spooky thing," mumbled Marut. "And why do I hear moaning coming from it?"

"The souls of the departed shall take care of this particular earth wielder," said Marissa. "Just try and fend off their hunger, Sarasa girl!"

"Hunger?!" asked Warra.

Marissa's laughter echoed when she chucked her ball. Strangely enough, Daisy broke out of her Seismic Wave stance in utter surprise and pulled her energy back inside of her. She then wound up and swung a hook to deflect the incoming Orb of Mortal Decay on impulse, but just a mere second after contact, the ball exploded over Daisy and flared up into the air above where she stood. From the outside looking in, one moment Daisy was there, and then the next, she had been consumed by the searing orb. Though the explosion was small, its thick smog lingered for a while and obscured a large portion of the Bellbridge Terrace.

"There, now you're dead for sure!" Marissa declared. "This is where magic shines over any and all of the eight elements. I have unleashed upon the Sarasa girl a burn far more deadly than the average fire by channeling into the eternal famine of lost souls. Just one of the many perks of the Arkana bloodline and Malocchio Eye combo! Not only is her life force consumed, but so is her mortal form..." She chuckled a little before adding. "Or maybe just part of her mortal form, leaving just enough for her to live for a little while in agony as a partially decayed corpse..."

"C'mon man! That sounds so broken!" exclaimed Marut.

"Just like nearly every ability considered immoral by your society," replied Marissa. "You guys banned all the cool stuff! Why would you even prohibit such awesome powers? Why deny yourselves such impressive techniques?"

"Because of people like you who'd abuse them!" said Bowser.

"And look what's happened as a result," said Marissa. "Maybe the Sarasa girl could've had a proper defense without castrating herself worrying about what's moral and immoral. Honestly, for society to prohibit and restrict the usage, learning, and teaching of so many staggering abilities and techniques – some of which peons like you can't even fathom – is beyond laughable-"

"Look alive, Marissa!" shouted Daisy. "If I were a Thwomp, I would've crushed you by now."

"What?! No!" Marissa cried, turning her head. "How?! How could you dodge at THIS RANGE?!"

When the occlusive explosion settled, Daisy stood a good distance away from where she was when she hit the Orb of Mortal Decay. She looked virtually no different from when she did before Marissa had thrown her attack.

"How did she do that..." murmured Marut. "It's crazy... That has got to be the best luck ever..."

"I would have to say that that's the most clutch thing she's done all night!" exclaimed Athelstan. "She dodged it all somehow," said Bowser. "It's fast. It's hard to imagine. She's really pushing herself..."

"But she needs to remember that she's wearing down faster than Marissa is," Warra added.

"Even so, it feels like that Orb of Mortal Decay took a large shot at Marissa's power," murmured Ramona. "Her energy signature has dropped off quite a lot."

"I bet she won't try that attack again," said Neva.

"It seemed odd that for my continuous attack, you chose to counter with a single burst," Daisy said to Marissa. "I merely hit it and backtracked away and to the side right after contact. It's a good thing I did. That's some pretty nasty stuff you let loose-"

"Things you say when someone walks out the bathroom – HO!" Marut hastily shouted, slapping fives with Athelstan and Neva.

"I can do without the commentary from the peanut gallery!" snapped Marissa. "I am still in control here! I have been in control here this whole night!"

"Are you sure about that, Marissa?" asked Daisy. "It sure would suck if you lost it and got beat at the last minute..." She cracked a smile. "By a mere mortal. A human, at that..."

"Yes, well..." Marissa said, giggling as sweat ran down her protruding veins. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it..."

A short, uncomfortable pause followed. Daisy kept smiling, feeling no need to reply. Marissa smiled for a few moments too, but then frowned and flared her teeth with a furious grunt. "...THAT IS IF WE EVER GET TO IT, FO-OL!" the witch screamed.

Right away, Marissa hopped in the air and flew at Daisy head-on. In rapid succession, Marissa kneed Daisy in the abdomen – not once, but twice – punched her in the face, twirled around to kick her in the back, and rushed at her when she stumbled to ram an elbow into her back as well. Daisy staggered ahead and regained her bearings just as Marissa leapt at her again, but swiftly dodged the handful of punches and kicks the witch threw.

Then, on a block, Daisy pushed Marissa off balance and returned the favor with a combo of her own. The hook, spin kick, and Flurry Punch the Kruna of Earth unleashed all connected with Marissa and stunned her long enough for Daisy to grab hold of her and slam her down in a double somersault suplex. But when Daisy shot back to her feet and sprang away, Marissa laughed and flipped back to standing herself. The spellcaster's amusement made Ramona, Neva, and Marut shudder again and turn pale. Bowser, Andrew, Athelstan, and Warra all looked at Marissa like they were expecting the witch to turn into a hundred snakes and fly in all directions. Daisy's expression increased in intensity as she stared at Marissa, who had begun licking blood off her fingers – likely both of their blood.

"This witch is unbelievable..." Warra murmured, somber and rattled.

"Superb, Daisy; really!" Marissa hollered, clenching her raised fist and grinning. "You're beyond proficient. You're magnificent. Stunning... But I am still better. I am Lord Arkana – Lord of the Arkana demon bloodline. I go on and on...but you are finite. I remain untouched compared to you, but it's a true wonder how you're still even standing. I am on a divine level that you can't hope to comprehend. You, them, everyone; you all crumble and decay, wither and die. But I...I live on. You don't understand the gauntlet that I've gone through to transcend the mortal body. I have torn myself apart to rebuild into the most powerful being in existence! Nothing can stop me, get it? I go on and on, and eons later, I will remain, as youthful and as powerful as ever."

"...I just want this nightmare to be over," murmured Ramona, twiddling her fingers.

The Kruna had grown more anxious and tense than ever as they watched Daisy and Marissa face-off. Bowser and Athelstan could not take their eyes away from the two. Andrew and Neva had their hands tightened and were ready to leap into action the instant something went horribly wrong. Warra had got down on one knee in an attempt to steady and calm himself. Marut could feel his heart beating in his neck.

"Tell me, Sarasa," said Marissa. "How you can stand there without a care in the world knowing you are facing the very definition of 'limitless?' "

"For a limitless person, you're looking more strained by the minute," said Daisy. "Do you even have any power left?"

"Of course I still do!" snapped Marissa. "I've got all the power I need!"

"Maybe we should just stop and let you rest up," said Daisy. "Then we can try again in a couple days. I think you're too worn out."

Shock came over Marissa and made her dumbstruck. "What...I...uh...ahhh...?"

Daisy said nothing and stared at the witch, waiting for a response. Marissa gritted her teeth as her face furiously constricted and twitched. "Don't you patronize me!" screamed Marissa. "I am in a league above you and your kind!"

Flaring her crimson red energy around her body, Marissa charged at Daisy again and attacked with more ferocity and wildness than anyone had ever seen before from her. Punches and kicks flew from Marissa's arms and legs, and though Daisy blocked them all at first, it took every ounce of speed in her to be able to keep up with the witch.

"I did not spend centuries as an immortal just to get beaten in my most powerful state ever!" cried Marissa as she dealt out her blows. "You will not do this to me! You can NOT beat me! You're nothing but an imperfect, fatally flawed mortal!"

Marissa's attacks then broke through Daisy's blocks and hit her one after another. After a little more than a dozen strikes connected, Marissa made a quick draw with her broom to bat Daisy a good distance away from her. The earth wielder came to a stop face down on the terrace floor and didn't move for a few moments, a sight that raised alarm in the Kruna. But when Daisy got up on her hands and knees, the alarm left the Kruna and rose within Marissa.

"Oh, come on..." grumbled Marissa. "YOU JUST WON'T GO AWAY!"

"...Is that the best you can do..." murmured Daisy, getting to her feet.

"What..." Marissa said, almost choking.

In an instant, Daisy straightened herself out and looked directly at Marissa, full of fury. "I said, is that the best you can do?!" she yelled.

"You..." Marissa grunted. "You better WATCH YOUR TONE!"

A sudden ambient shift in momentum occurred when Marissa channeled into her Malocchio Eye in an attempt to control Daisy's mind. Through her mindsight, Marissa saw her influence shoot through the air towards Daisy in first-person view as she forced her will at the Kruna of Earth. To the Kruna, they couldn't notice anything other than the witch's Malocchio glowing. Unknown to the witch, however, Daisy could see the red light of Marissa's influence flying at her. So when Daisy's hair parted to reveal her forehead, Marissa had no response for the teal light that flared above the Kruna of Earth's eyebrows.

The witch saw the red light that represented her will hit Daisy's forehead and disband upon contact, only for the elliptical teal light to remain untouched. All that the other seven Kruna saw from that exchange was a teal flash in front of Daisy that looked like a puddle stabbed with a twisted blade. Daisy's hair returned to its normal Nova Form position, hanging out and over her forehead as the teal light faded.

"Woah! What was that flash?" asked Marut.

"What just happened there?!" Marissa said, practically screeching. "Why are you not crippling under my influence?!"

"My third eye protects me from the effects of yours," said Daisy. "Your mind control tactic failed before it even had a chance to get started."

"Ridiculous," said Marissa. "I see no third eye on your face! I see no eyes in your hands! Are you mocking me?!"

"Inner eye, then," said Daisy. "Semantics. The fact of the matter is, you can't do anything to my mind or spirit with that Malocchio of yours because my inner third eye negates the effects of your physical third eye."

Having heard enough, Marissa growled and screamed into the air, her voice echoing throughout the sky. "That wooden troll Geno taught you that, didn't he?! It figures he would try to pass it down to someone! I should've known! The next time I see him, he's dead!"

"That depends," said Daisy. "You can't kill him if you can't get to him."

"Wha-?!" Marissa shrieked as utter disbelief and shock took over her face. Her mouth hung open as she tried to grasp an adequate response, but after several gasps and grunts that were failed starts of a sentence, she replied, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It's over!" exclaimed Lubba. "Marissa has only a fraction of the energy she started off with! And what an awesome reversal with Daisy's inner eye, am I right?"

The Lumas all waited for a response from Rosalina, but the Elder of the Cosmos said nothing. Her concentration remained on the planet below. She looked well-beyond stressed out.

"King Boo has spread himself out from Geno," said Rosalina. "The Kruna need to hurry up. I'm not kidding. It's amazing how much of a jump in power King Boo has made over the last few weeks."

"Surely they can put an Elemental Seal over Marissa before then," said Lubba.

"They need to be careful," said Rosalina. "Marissa still has some energy left. She's getting desperate, and that means that she's not going to hold back any extreme measures she may have tucked away in her manic mind. Remember; she's been around for centuries. There's no telling how many spells she has learned or what unholy techniques she has kept under wraps; and she has already shown that she has delved deep into the forbidden arts to utilize immoral powers and abilities."

"What kinds of immoral powers and abilities?" asked Lubba. "Would they actually help her in a situation like this, as some sort of last ditch effort?"

"Who knows," said Rosalina. "I believe a better question would be how much energy she has left to utilize the spells she intends to use..."

Marissa gritted her teeth in ever-mounting anger. The fight had dragged on for too long. For her Orb of Mortal Decay and her mind control to both fail was nothing short of frustrating and infuriating. Nothing about Marissa seemed relaxed then and there as she and Daisy stood-off.

"Bah, foolish Nova Form earth wielder..." grumbled Marissa. All of a sudden, a smile crept on her face. "Heh, heh, heh...ironic how it came to this..."

Daisy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Neva..." breathed Marissa. "She was sure that she'd have figured out the Nova Form by now and have stopped me all by herself. Before you lot came here, she swore up and down that she'd be the one to beat me... But instead, now she's on the sidelines." The demon witch then stared at the Kruna of Ice. "I bet you're bitter that you're not in Daisy's boots right about now, huh?"

"I don't care," Neva shot back. "As long as you're taken care of and out of the way for good, that's all that matters!"

Marissa narrowed her eyes. "Of course, of course... What was I thinking... Oh, how's the Alkemei Hien treating you?"

Neva gasped and clutched at her pendant. She looked spooked out, for she didn't think Marissa could've noticed. The Alkemei are easy to tell apart when close up but hard to differentiate at a distance.

"Yeah, that's right," said Marissa. "Don't think I didn't notice that pendant around your pretty little neck. Although my Sweeps...well, former Sweeps...did alert me to your affairs in my mansion yesterday. That is to be expected, don't you think? I normally have a stiff penalty for trespassers, you know, but I feel I need to make this verdict a little different-"

"That's enough, Marissa!" Daisy yelled. "You leave everyone out of this! Keep your focus on me!"

Marissa's Malocchio Eye glowed again, accompanied by reverberating laughter. Everything in Neva's vision went negative in color, but only for a moment. As Marissa's will sped toward Neva through the witch's mindsight, a teal light caught it and disbanded it again. Marissa recoiled and staggered a step back as her mindsight snapped back to her normal vision. When the witch looked at Daisy, she saw the earth wielder's forehead reacting the same way it did earlier.

"What? Now what happened?!" Marissa cried. "Don't tell me you protected her too?!"

"I did," said Daisy. "You can't turn any of us against one another! We are not your puppets! We all have free will, just as all the people of Sarasaland do!"

"Only because of me!" snapped Marissa. "I did the dirty work and eliminated your father, liberating them! They will all grovel at my feet just for that one deed I carried out!"

"My dad's still alive, Marissa," Daisy sharply replied. "Donkey Kong got him to a hospital, so he will be back on his feet. He won't be holding any of Sarasaland back anymore."

"Oh please – you honestly think things are going to be better around here with him in charge?" asked Marissa. "How could you possibly think that? We were all against him this whole time."

"...Because for the first time ever... I saw my dad," said Daisy. "I didn't see anyone or anything else but him. And, while I may not understand the how, the why, the when, and the what of it all, I don't need to. In him...I saw a human. He's on the road to recovery, I believe. It's going to take a lot of time and effort to put the past away, but this is a good first step."

Marissa glanced at both Bowser and Andrew and smirked, but said nothing. I can sense that those two would be the easiest to take control over at this present point in time, Marissa thought. But if Daisy counters with her inner eye again, then it won't matter. I can't waste my remaining reserve of energy like that. She put her focus through her Malocchio Eye's Remote Viewing for a little bit before quickly coming to a decision. Let's just draw this out then; just for a few more moments. I can stall for a little while longer...

"You idealistic sap," said Marissa. "Even at the end, you're still Miss Fanciful Little Hero. Always trying to see the good in every little thing will get you nowhere."

"It's gotten me further than you," replied Daisy. Bowser, Warra, Athelstan, Marut, Neva, Ramona, and Andrew all trotted up to stand with Daisy in a semi-circle. "Here's my proof," the Kruna of Earth said. "Yours left, didn't it..."

"How can you stand there and spout such nonsense?" asked Marissa. "I have been around for ages! I have advanced far beyond you! I am better than you! That's it! Nothing else to it!"

"You're right, Marissa," said Daisy. "You are better than me. On any other night, you are. But not tonight. No, I bested you tonight; for my friends both here and in the Mushroom Kingdom, for Sarasaland, for the Comet Observatory and the Great Beings of long ago, and all the Kruna who came before us...and all the Kruna who came after you."

"You want to know why you lost tonight?" Andrew said to the witch. "You brought all this on yourself. If you don't get it or understand, maybe you should think about what you've done over the course of your life. You'll have eternity to do that."

"Don't you talk to me like that!" yelled Marissa. "You have not beaten me! No bloodbound mortal will! I can not be defeated!"

"We can all sense it," said Daisy. "Your energy signature has faded to a meager fraction of what you had started out with after the Blood Moon. There's no point in continuing this battle any longer-" She swung her right arm up in an arc and thrust it in Marissa's direction. "YOU'VE LOST!"

A collection of Daisy's remaining earth energy flared from her hand and projected itself a short distance away as the rest of the Kruna held out their arms to pool their energy together with Daisy's. In the center of their semi-circle, a glossy, metallic sheen overtook the conglomeration of elemental energy. Marissa tried leaping up into the air but immediately recoiled and flopped onto her butt as a strain in her thigh hampered her mobility and almost paralyzed her with pain.

"Prepare to spend the rest of your infinite immortal life encased in this Elemental Seal!" Daisy yelled. "You will never escape the energized crystalline-metalloid structure of this impenetrable prison!"

Unable to come up with anything else to do, Marissa knelt on one knee and focused her remaining energy through a single hand sign. When she turned to look at the Sarasaland Campanile, she took a deep breath and concentrated her mystic power harder. The eight Kruna had gathered a massive, rainbow-colored spheroid of elemental energy in front of their outstretched hands, and it continued to grow.

There's but one thing I can do now, thought Marissa. But I need a lot of luck, and I have to do this perfectly...

As the Kruna's collective elemental energy took on a bright shine, Marissa began to execute a series of hand signs while reciting specific syllables. It seemed on every exact second that passed, she switched to a different hand sign and uttered another syllable different from the previous one. The sound of bells filled the air as a white circle appeared around Marissa and counted each hand sign she made with a dash just within the outside of its border. But in her hesitation, Marissa both said a syllable out of turn and didn't switch her hand sign. As a result, the circle around her cleared the circumferential dash marks.

Damn, I already messed up! Marissa screamed in her mind. Start over!

While Marissa did her best to execute her divine spell, the Kruna readied their combined elemental powers and took aim at her. Marissa had only finished her twenty-sixth hand sign when the Kruna all looked at her. She was too late to do anything.

"It's over!" yelled Daisy. "You're through!"

Just then, a whirl of white blur streaked in front of Marissa and drifted to a slow hover before releasing a swath of darkness that rose up from the terrace floor. The wall of red and green melded shadow cut off the Kruna from Marissa and rose high into the air. Unable to see either Marissa or the newcomer, the Kruna withdrew their remaining elemental energy back within themselves and stared at the wildly flaring dark barrier.

Before any of the Kruna could do anything further, a colossal, dark Shocker Sphere ripped through the shadow wall. The attack moved too fast, and the eight elemental wielders stood too close together. As a result, the powerful technique struck all the Kruna and blasted them toward the end of the Bellbridge Terrace opposite the Sarasaland Campanile. All of a sudden, the momentum had made a complete reversal yet again as it had done numerous times already that night. When the wall of shadow eroded, Umbra King Boo hovered just offset of Marissa, who now knelt in a circle with sixty evenly-spaced dash marks glowing in her white circle.

"Hurry up, and finish whatever it is you're doing!" King Boo said to Marissa. "I ditched Geno, but I bet he's rushing over here as fast as he can!"

The Kruna all were slow to get up. They tried forcing themselves back to their feet as quickly as they could, but King Boo's attack had dealt a number on all of them. The ghost could not have placed a more accurate, well-timed burst.

Only making it to a foot, a hand, and a knee, Daisy looked down and saw an identical circle form around her and her team both in the terrace floor and overhead. The other Kruna had begun to notice the same thing. A sheath of streaky, ethereal yellow light emerged from the clock of the Sarasaland Campanile and extended down and across the Bellbridge Terrace to connect with the two circles over and under the Kruna.

"What sorcery is this?" asked Bowser.

"It's a trap!" screamed Marut. "We gotta move!"

"Too late!" Marissa howled. Her Malocchio Eye flashed, and for a split second, the witch's body took on a double-vision appearance in the eyes of the Kruna before everything in their sight doubled on them.

Then the Kruna froze in place; not for any other reason besides the fact that they couldn't move under their own will. The circles beneath and above them drifted upwards and downwards respectively to faze through each other, then they faded away as they continued on their path. Without any further delay, the Kruna got flung at the Sarasaland Campanile's clock as a gear-shaped portal emerged and opened in front of it. In just seconds, the eight helpless elemental wielders passed through the portal and entered the dark, windy passage within.

"See you all in eight years!" shouted Marissa, waving her hands at the campanile's clock. "Bye-bye for now!"

The portal shrank and close, diminishing and disappearing after having served its purpose. No trace of the Kruna remained. Not even their energy signatures could be sensed. For a while, silence dominated the scene. Marissa stood up, the clock-like circle around her already gone. She and King Boo stared at the campanile's clock for a couple moments. The flurries had stopped falling, and the auroras overhead brightened even more than before. A long, stretched-out cosmic nebula became visible in the sky behind the full moon and all the auroras.

"Wretched young blood rebels," the demon witch muttered. "That Chronos Aeon spell exhausted all of my remaining power. For it all to recharge and restore is going to take a while, but it had to be done."

"Recovery items are in abundance down in the streets," said King Boo. "That oughta...expedite the process. It's not like any one of those pedestrians or soldiers or rouge vigilantes down there who stayed behind would be able to stop either one of us."

"No one," replied Marissa. Her rate of speech slowed, as if a sort of stoic euphoria took over her being. "The dark arts, forbidden spells, powers deemed immoral and too dangerous for the public... Pursuing these has got me this far...but only a few have I mastered. Learning more will open the way to more possibilities... And I will have all the time in the world to learn them all...and to create new ones."

"That's all well and fine, but there are two certain specific people I'm looking to eradicate sometime soon."

"Of course, you've spoken of your hate for them many times. But after that, then what will you do, King Boo?"

The ghost paused for a moment before giving his reply. He wondered where Kokoro was, for the Soul Stealer still had the Master Pendant in his possession. "We'll just have to wait and see what time does."

Marissa smiled and licked blood off one of her arms with her tongue in one long trace of the limb. She then sucked on her lips and took a deep breath, looking satisfied. "Now I am free to smite and conquer as the Shadow Queen and Osiris did so many centuries ago," the witch murmured. "Every last inferior, meek, feeble little mortal on this rock will know my name...forever... And I will be the one to usher in and establish a new world order. They should have seen it coming. This world has bred evil since its inception, but now, it will submit to the combined might of the malevolent forces of past and present that have contributed to my power through the reservoir that is the Blood Moon."

King Boo wasn't sure, but Marissa's tone did not sound as triumphant or proud as he expected it to be. Though she sounded glad, she also seemed so muted that it was as if a somber, forlorn undertone lay hidden in her voice and mannerisms. To King Boo, it had only served to make the already creepy, demented demon witch all the more disturbing and deranged. No telling what she's got in store for this world, King Boo thought. But whatever it is, I can safely say that it's not going to be anything short of horrendous... Maybe when I steal the Master Pendant from Kokoro, I'll hightail it outta here. I've already developed more than enough power with her help...

Marissa turned away from the Sarasaland Campanile to stare out over the central and southern portions of Sarasaland. Stretching her arms out to her sides, she looked out into the distance, and then up into the sky. Though the Nirvana Barrier wouldn't be noticeable for at least a few days, it was well underway in building up and spreading out to be exactly what she had described earlier.

Marissa closed her eyes for a little while and took another deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she gazed upon the land below and ahead with a steady but dangerous simper. "Time to do something about this eyesore of a planet," she said. "...Let the future...begin..."