Dread filled us as we approached the Moon. A desolate, lifeless expanse. What could Hex be planning here?

  The rocket fired again, slowing us down as we descended. We stepped outside. Phoebe and Lucina immediately noticed the lower gravity here, but there was no playing around anymore. This alien world would serve as our battlefield.

  It did not take much time to find Hex’s base. He had carved rooms straight out of the lunar rock, forming a kind of palace. The doorway was fairly simple, with two pillars and a small symbol at the top: an eye flanked with two wings.

  We walked through the door, coming into a large room. At the center was a large statue of a king slime, circled by a ring of caramel shards. Luckily for the memorial, none of us were hungry.

  To the right was an unfinished room filled with many small rockets, presumably the weapons Lucina had been told about. To the left…

  Hex finally emerged, eyeing us warily as he approached. I shivered. Out of all his appearances, this was undoubtedly the most eerie. Fitting that it was all unintentional.

  “Welcome to Heaven”, he intoned. “The kingdom of the righteous. It seems you three have already been misplaced”.

  “Kingdom of the righteous?”, Lucina snorted. “What do you mean, demon?”.

  Hex’s eye narrowed. “The old world is corrupt and chaotic. So from this day forward, it will be split into two: Heaven and Hell. Paradise and torment. Good… and evil”.

  I looked around the lifeless palace, devoid of joy. “This is your idea of paradise? Living over and above humanity? That seems lonely to me. I’d much rather live alongside people instead”.

  “Then all you have to do is leave”, Hex responded. “Fire will rain from the skies, but you will have your wish”.

  Lucina drew her sword and pointed it at the ghost. “Who are you to judge good and evil?!”.

  Hex stared at her coldly. “Me? I should be a nobody. But over the eons I’ve learned… that the only justice in this forsaken world is me. [Xix sl Gqkjxwxpv]”.

  A beam of light blasted forth from his eye. Despite our surprise…

  “[Holy Beam]!”. Lucina quickly blocked it with her own magic. The two beams struggled and fought for dominance, neither side giving an inch.

  Or at least it looked that way. It was hard to tell since they were the exact same color. If Hex had only chosen black for his shade of death ray, he could’ve made for a passable evil god, but alas.

  “How…”, Lucina grunted out. “How could a creature as wicked as you command the light?!”. Hex didn’t bother to respond. “Nevertheless… you are but a novice!”.

  Hex relished those words. “Hahaha. Maybe so. But your lifespans, your powers… All of you combined are still just a fraction of what I am”.

  A shard of glass detached from his wing, warping into a disc. It had a strange shape, though. The glass in the center bulged slightly outwards, almost like a…

  “Lucina!”, I shouted. “Look out!”. But it was too late.

  Hex slid the magnifying glass over his laser. At once it became thinner and more focused, piercing straight through Lucina. The light enveloped her, and without a sound she was gone, leaving nothing but a scorch mark on the ground.

  “Lucy, Lucy! LUCY!!”, Phoebe screamed as she ran towards the… spot her sister once stood. Tears ran down her face as she knelt over it, having nothing to mourn. Even her last words had been stolen.

  Hex floated over her. “So you truly cared for her. And yet, I killed her. Perhaps we’re not so different as I’d like to think”.

  She slowly stood up, glaring at him defiantly. “You kill without remorse! That is the difference!”.

  For a moment Hex looked shaken, but he quickly recovered. “I will build a just world, free from this madness. But I’m afraid Heaven cannot save every soul. [Pyjcvwzbx Bxzfw]”.

  We found ourselves in a now familiar void. Hex spread his wings, and I saw a ray of light bouncing between the mirror shards within. Soon it was joined by others, and before long his wings simply glowed.

  “Enough. [Z Pxm Rxjyppypj]”, his wings burst apart, releasing the holy light within. The sphere spread outwards, ready to engulf the whole dimension. There was nowhere to run or hide.

  “[Spookier Mazier]!”, I shouted, pushing back the darkness with a dimension of my own creation. The light rebounded off the mirrors now surrounding us, forced to cover the rest of the abyss.

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  “You improved your spell?”, Hex’s eye widened as he tried and failed to crush my dimension. Our two realms had stabilized, mine as a mere bubble. “And those mirrors… it’s like…!”.

  “Yep”, I smugly replied. “Since you won’t stop stealing my spells, I figured I’d copy some of yours too”. Indeed, what I created bore a striking resemblance to his perfect defense form, except made of gold since I couldn’t conjure silver.

  “Impressive. Still, you don’t have the telekinetic strength to maintain it”. He threw a glass shard towards us, ripping through our gilded shield like a bullet.

  His eye widened at what emerged. Phoebe pointed her sword straight at him.

  “Oh, forgot to mention”, I cheekily added. “That isn’t all I copied”.

  “[Holy Beam]!”, Phoebe’s laser passed through several magnifying lenses, amplifying its strength manyfold.

  “[Nxblxhv Wybbsb]!”. Hex hurriedly summoned his defense form. The laser bounced off but struck with such force that it singed the prism.

  “That’s it! That’s his flaw!”, I cheered her on. “Hex can’t attack and defend at once! Just keep him on the defensive…”.

  My words froze as I saw Hex’s prism unfold into a flat sheet facing us. It blasted towards our puny mirror ball, hurled with the strength of a god.

  We both took cover inside, expecting it to send us flying. Reality was crueller. The sheet wrapped around us and started crushing inwards, constricting us like a snake.

  “You were saying?”, Hex mocked us. “Come on, Count Boogula. Your luck can’t last forever… but I can”.

  “[Holy Beam]!”. Lucina continued burning through the mirror. The light could make it through, but it would never hit…

  I smiled. Her strategy had just given me an idea. “[Spooky Illusion]!”.

  Hex blinked in confusion as he saw a thousand lights burst through, creating what was basically a holy disco ball. The lights began converging towards him, and he cursed under his breath.

  “[Nxblxhv Wybbsb]”. With no other choice, he was forced back on defense. Phoebe continued her relentless assault, pinning him down. As long as her stamina could keep up…

  Light was already starting to break through his barrier. I could see faint glimmers of it bouncing around within, burning him. I frowned as the light grew stronger.

  “Phoebe!”, I yelled out. “He’s attacking again!”. She turned towards me in confusion, as Hex’s mirror prism hissed and smoked. “Get us out of here!”.

  “[Z Pxm Rxjyppypj]”. Hex’s prism exploded, simply unable to contain the power within. He had turned his own defense form into a bomb, capable of wiping away any obstacle.

  “Su-[Sunrise Break]!”. Even in death Lucina had saved us. The world around us swirled and broke apart, dumping us back outside the palace. We saw a light like a second sun erupt out of the doorway, slowly fading into the starry night sky.

  Hex quivered as he left his stronghold and flew above us, his wings burned and blackened. Down but not out, we met a glare filled with new fury.

  “Come on, Hex”, I reasoned. “Without your wings, you’ve lost your defense form and all your fancy holy magic tricks. Plus, your pocket dimensions are basically useless now”.

  He glared at us like a fallen angel cast out for wrath. “What I have left”, he spat, “is still more than enough. [Xix sl Gqkjxwxpv]”. “[Holy Beam]”.

  The two rays crashed together in a repeat of the first scene. I shook my head. He had been so creative until then, too, all just to throw it away in the end.

  Hex whipped his wings forward, launching all the shrapnel within towards Phoebe. My breath caught in my throat as I watched it descend upon her. There was no escape, no counter I could think of, and neither could she, judging by her expression.

  Completely oblivious to everything, our pet slime Globert emerged from his sack. The countless shards in the air suddenly froze.

  “What? A slime?”. His expression of bewilderment soon changed to one of rage. “You would use one of my own kind as a SHIELD?!”.

  “He’s a pet!”, Phoebe cried out. “My sister gave him to me!”.

  Hex was now clearly losing the beam struggle, but he still did not dare attack with his wings. Doing so would only provoke the wrath of the dangerous monster now licking Phoebe’s face and begging her for food.

  “You… You MONSTERS!!”, he screamed as the light washed over him. “I won’t forget this! …Wh-Why doesn’t it hurt?”.

  To my utter disbelief, Hex was not vaporized. Instead, he plopped to the ground… as a slime. “What did you do to me?!”.

  Phoebe calmly walked towards him. “Well… it didn’t feel right to kill you. Sure, you’re a threat to all of us, but in the end you’re doing what you think is best for your own people, right? Just like most humans are doing. Besides, if we kill you, you’ll just come back stronger again”.

  She knelt beside him and gave what she thought was a comforting smile. “So, I decided ‘justice’ would be sealing all your powers and watching over you carefully. You’ll adventure with us and learn to see things from a human perspective. It’ll be fun!”.

  “[Pyjcvwzbx Bxzfw]! [Xix sl Gqkjxwxpv]! [YPLYPYVX OSBBSM]!!”, Hex screamed into the wind. Suddenly he adopted a serious expression as he was picked up. “You know this is all pointless. Eventually, someone will come along and break the seal. I guarantee it”.

  Phoebe just smiled at him again. “And that’s exactly why we need to change your mind, Hex. Now, let’s introduce you to your new friend!”.

  Globert was too busy clinging atop Phoebe’s head and shivering in fear. Hex oozed after it and tried to say hello, but it darted off. In the end she had to carry them in different bags.

  “What am I, just toting around slimes now?”, she asked bitterly.

  “Well you did basically ask for it”, I pointed out. “Come on, admit it~! You like them, don’t you?”. Phoebe stuck Globert in my face and I yelped in surprise.

  “Hahahaha… Never change, Count Boogula. Never change”.

  “I’m proud of you, Phoebe”, a voice whispered. She turned, but there was nothing there.

  “What is it?”, I asked, curious. “Oh, nothing. Just the disembodied voice of my sister. But we’ll pretend it’s the wind”. I nodded sagely.

  And thus, the story concluded for now. Humanity nearly met its end at the hands of the slimes, but thanks to the actions of one brave Globert, we were saved from ruin. Just as I predicted.