"I accept your offer." Hydra said.

Sarhras beamed. "You made the right decision. Doom is all that will come of your actions otherwise." She dragged Hydra to her feet and then clapped her hands together. "Now let's get down to that boon I promised."

"Do you have some sort of incredible magical artifact that grants wishes?" Hydra asked, hoping for a method of boon granting that was less likely to have side effects. While her previous experiences with chaos magic did come to a net positive (she owed her existence to it for one), there had been unpleasantness along the way.

"Not yet." Sarhras said darkly, not elaborating on the point. "Now hurry up and think of something before I change my mind."

It was a difficult choice. There were a lot of possibilities. Eye beams? Super strength? The ability to talk with fish? Nigh invulnerability? Psychic powers? Teleportation? The power to generate blue pebbles at will? Hydra thought of one that seemed possible.

A peroid of flashy magical greatness later, Hydra felt vaguely queasy. Sarhras looked satisfied.

"Good, now let's go drop a bomb in that pit they fell down." she declared. Arhra couldn't be trapped down there much longer.

"Bwahahahaha!" came laughter from the pit. "You're going down, jerk-me!"

Arhra rose from the pit atop a horror. Ropy strands of darkness clung to her form; the tacky, flowing, shadowstuff that had drained into the pits. It did not seem to discomfort her. The thing she sat upon was a reptilian head, appearing to have a writhing, tentacular mane, rising higher on a serpentine neck, almost as wide as the pit.

The great snake's identity became obvious as it continued to slide out of the pit. A pair of tiny, scrabbling claws rose into view, shifting into larger, stronger limbs out of the confined space. Shadow Hydra had obviously entered some dark bargain with Arhra.

Arhra beamed from her perch. Sarhras seemed to be momentarily lost for words.

"You... you allied with the shadowy duplicate who exists to kill me?... How could you?!" Hydra cried.

"Conventional morality doesn't apply to me." Arhra said.

Sarhras broke into the conversation. "You just say that so people don't call you out on this sort of thing."

"Shut up!" Arhra roared, "Shut up and die!" Hydra's monstrous doppelganger lunged at Sarhras, magic flaring from Arhra.

The Kitchen of Shadow; no greater place existed in the world of Manga Space II for a culinary battle to the death. Any thing a chef could want, from Poulet de Bresse to a fryer big enough to deep fat fry a buffalo. As Chow-tan and the Shadow Chef faced each other, only one thing was lacking. S-Phil was the one who brought up what they all were wondering. "So, who's gonna judge this thing?"

Darn, he was thinking that too, Phil worried. This must've been his plan all along. He'll probably suggest that he judge or he'll make a judge from the shadows. Whatever it is, I've walked into an obvious trap. Darn my dramatic ways!

Smiling smugly, S-Phil proposed, "Since we need a judge, I'lll just--"

"Not so fast!" Someone stood in the doorway. Both Phils and their chefs squinted to make out who had interrupted S-Phil.

"Mr. Referee!?"

An grey-haired, mustachioed man entered the room. He wore a plain white shirt, black pants, and a ridiculous red bowtie. S-Phil cursed under his breath. Phil seemed between giggling and fainting. "This is a little out of my jurisdiction, but here goes." Mr. Referee cleared his throat. "It's agreed! This will be a no-holds-barred cooking battle. The chef who cooks the tastiest dish within the hour will be declared the winner. The loser will submit to the loss of one gem. I, Mr. Referee, shall act as referee so no one gets hurt. Chefs ready?" Chow-tan and the Shadow Chef both nodded. "Chefs, cook-conflict!"

Chow-tan turned to Phil. "If you're going to help me, you'll have to wash your hands." Phil looked down at himself. Ducking around rocks and getting flicked by giant magic rock men had left Phil coated in dust. His left arm's hair was matted with blood from an unknown injury and his clothes were a stinky, sweaty mess. "You know," Chow-tan mused, putting a finger to her mouth, "Maybe you should just take a shower." Phil acquiesced and left in search of a chemical shower or a locker room.

On the other side of the stadium, the Shadow Chef stood thinking. S-Phil was getting impatient. "You, she's already getting ingredients. Get cracking. You can't still be deciding what to cook."

"I am."

"What!? Just cut up some toro or broil some foie gras or something."

The Shadow Chef turned and glared at S-Phil. "My cooking is my blade. I won't use a spear to remove a splinter from my thumb. Now go get me some adult pike; I need time to debone it."

Phil returned to the battlefield, having indeed found a locker room, somehow. "S-Phl's Manga Space has some weird constructions. While I'm musing, it also seems a lot easier to enter than mine. Maybe he's not so tough after all. Maybe we can win this!" Phil arrived at the counter where Chow-tan had arranged her ingredients and stood pouring Pepsi into a measuring cup. His soaring confidence crashed to the ground. "Are those Ramen noodles? And soy sauce? They aren't even Ichiban™ noodles!"

Chow-tan looked up. "Oh, you're back. Put some water and the noodles in the rice cooker, 'kay?"

Phil dropped his head. "'Kay..."

The Shadow Chef was taking his pike fillets out of their lemon marinade. He paused to inhale the tart aroma. The smell brought the hint of a smile to his shaded visage. His culinary alchemy was sure to win. He lowered the fillets onto a rack in a pressure cooker, closed the lid, and set the machine to 20PSI.

S-Phil was looking over his shoulder. "Isn't that a bit high? I didn't know that pressure cookers went to 20. Not that I know much about pressure cooking."

The Shadow Chef pushed past him. "Diamonds are only produced under great stress."

"Ok, now add the noodles." Chow-tan pushed the bacon and cabbage to the sides of the skillet as Phil plopped the noodles in the middle. "Ok, now we'll just let that sit for a minute." Phil stopped and watched the noodles fry. "Phil! Get the sauce ready!"

"Oh, right." Phil reached over the counter and grabbed a cup of black, foamy liquid. "Ok, got it."

Chow-tan stopped folding the noodles and smiled. "Great, now pour it on the noodles and we'll let this steam."

The Shadow Chef sliced oranges and laid them on a plate. He'd be done first. He washed the juice off his hands before venting the pressure cooker. Gingerly, he pulled the steaming fish from within the cooker and laid it on the bed of oranges.

"Almost ready!" Chow-tan lifted the lid. As she threw a handful of pepper over the skillet, Phil wondered, Can we win with this?

...

"Now, before I, Mr. Referee, begin the judging, I'll let each chef say a little about their dish."

The challengers had gathered around a large table between their cooking areas. Phil wondered who the chefs were supposed to address; it wasn't like this was being broadcast or anything. The Shadow Chef decided to go first.

"Using only light-less cooking techniques, I've created a spicy, citrus flavor, changing this simple pike into a gourmet flavor, just as a diamond is created in the darkness." The shadows seemed to loom up around him as he spoke, pressing their weight onto his words like the crushing force of the earth deep underground.

Chow-tan seemed unaffected; eternally cheerful. "Well, I tried to make yakisoba, but it didn't turn out that way. It's more like lo mein, really. Also, for the sauce, I used soy sauce and Pepsi 'cause I didn't know if I'd like fish sauce and I'm not old enough to use sake. It smells pretty good, though."

Mr. Referee looked at both contenders, then sat down and announced, "I shall now begin judgement."

OOC: Ooh, cliff-hanger! And, in case anyone noticed, don't worry about the hour. It only took a couple panels, so I'll pop back out in proper posting order.

After taking a couple more lightining bolts, Gina had just about had it. Hey were started to glow white, and she said through gritted teeth. "I've....just..about...had...enough....of...YO U!" she said, as she formed a small white ball and launched it at her. "HAH! What is this?" the shadowy nymph said looking at it. As it hit her, it exploded in a Holy fury, engulfing her completely, her screams of pain drowning out. When it disappated, nothing was left, and Gina was just staring at her hand, her expression saying "Did I actually do that?"

"Mammy, help me! I don't wanna die!" Scarlet wailed, tears rolling down her face. However, in spite of the fact that she had even begun sobbing, her combat stance held firm.

MT adjusted his grip on the Lightbringer. Wait... now that I think about it, that doesn't make any sense. I don't get what she's doing... unless... A thought finally occured to him. Stab in the dark, but it's worth a shot. He suddenly fixed a fierce gaze at Scarlet. "That's enough!"

She stopped sobbing. "...what?"

"Cut the act. You're not Scarlet," declared MT. "You can't be her; nothing you've said so far sounds anything like the living soul spawned from my suppressed girlishness thanks to a bunch of technobabble that I shared a body with. You're just using her as a weapon against me because she knows all of my deepest fears and shortcomings. In fact," he added on a sudden inspiration, "you used to be my shadow, didn't you? I recall it spontaneously leaving me at a point a ways back in the dungeon. You were supposed to copy my soul and become some evil doppelganger of me... but you got Scarlet instead, so you just kinda went with it. Am I right?"

The being that looked like Scarlet had already stopped crying. "I'm impressed. You're not as dense as you look if you figured all that out on your own."

MT scratched his head. "Well... to be honest, I am as dense as I look. I'm still trying to figure out where I got all that from, 'cause I've never been any good at mysteries."

The shadow Scarlet sneered. "Doesn't make much difference at this point, does it? Just hold still while I kill you and it won't hurt as much!" she growled, punctuating her sentence by charging straight at MT.

Mauve slammed back into a wall, taking the full force of the Shadow Hadoken (Shadoken?) straight to the face. She grimaced painfully as she slid down the wall's surface to the floor, not unlike a cartoon character. Although probably with much more pain.

She tried to stand, but couldn't. Not that this came as a surprise. Come on, it was a hadoken. Stray bolts of magic energy still danced across the wall where the magical blast hit. Mauve tried to speak, but coughed instead. She tasted blood.

Shadow Mauve looked around her. They were no longer in the same room as the other NPFers. All around the pair of mages were damp-looking stone walls edged with green moss. The floor was dirt, and the sky looked empty and barren.

"You stole Phil's Manga Space," Shadow Mauve said, raising an eyebrow. "You little cheat. Well, you know he's gonna summon a lawyer or something for copyright infringement. That is, if he somehow manages to survive his fight with ShadowPhil, which is unlikely." She leaned up against one of the nearby walls, dragging a sleeve across her forehead. The Shadow Hadoken had taken a lot out of her, but it seemed to have been effective enough on her opponent. This fight was just about over.

"Nngh.." Mauve grunted, shaking her head. She spat out blood, grimacing. "Didn't... use Manga Space. Don' have that one." She struggled to stand up, with little success.

"Oh yeah?" asked Shadow Mauve. "I happen to know for a fact that we don't know any other teleporting spells either. So how exactly did you go about bringing us here?" She ambled towards her double, leaning heavily against the wall for support. "I'm not overly happy about ending up here, wherever this is, I hope you know. After killing you I'm going to have to find some sort of dimensional door or something so I can get back to my new world. You know how long that's gonna take? I am rather annoyed about that."

Mauve muttered something under her breath, still trying to recover. "Dunno."

"Pardon?"

Mauve rolled her eyes and fixed Shadow Mauve with a withering glare.

"Said, I dunno. Wasn't tryin' to teleport anywhere. Your stupid shadow magic and my being in a hurry... screwed something up." She wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "Ended up here."

Shadow Mauve stared back at her in surprise.

"How is that even possible?!" she asked. "You can't do that!"

Mauve sniffed indignantly.

"Done it before," she said. "Ended up somewhere else, though." Now that she had recovered a little bit, Mauve took a look around. She recognized this place. It was the maze dimension the Sphinx had sent her to way back at the earth temple. Well crap.

"Musta locked on to... places I've been in recent history," she said to herself. "Meh. Stranger things have happened. At least... At least that wound in reality's fabric... I made last time with the chainsaw... should still be here in part, so I can... I can still get back--" She stopped. Slowly she looked up at Shadow Mauve, who was suddenly very interested. "And I shouldn't have said that out loud."

"Oh good!" Shadow Mauve said, drawing her knives. "There IS a way out that doesn't depend on your MP and mortal status. Now I have no reservations about killing you."


"Crap."

"I hate this elevator..."

"You designed this elevator, Pe-chan," Rei giggled at the visibly uncomfortable Pedro O'Sullivan.

POS shifted nervously as he looked out through the plexiglass at nothing in particular, "Well, yeah, but I thought it would look cool. You know, this single transparent tube carrying us down here through the darkness, which is great from outside. From the inside, though, it's like you're both trapped in a confined space and about a nanosecond away from falling to your untimely horrible demise. Like a ski lift."

"Well, now that you mention it," Rei pondered aloud, "You could have just done that and used up an extra life. It would be quicker. Or we could have just taken a hyperlink portal."

"Yeah, but this looks so much more dramatic."

"Who's going to see it?"

"I don't know! But that's not the point!"

"Then what's the point?"

"That we're here already," Pedro grinned as he stepped out of the elevator and walked along a lighted path in the cavern, glancing at the unmoving shadows surrounding them with disdain, "I rather wish they'd stop staring. It won't do them any good, after all..."

"I could just have them removed, you know," Rei suggested, eyeing the dully glowing structure ahead of them as they approached.

"What, and let them loose? No, I'd say we're all better off keeping them here."

A moment later, POS and Rei arrived at their destination, a number of monitoring stations positioned around a strange device that appeared to be based off a crystalline structure on the ground with a smaller such artifact suspended about fifty meters above it, both with a small amount of violet light glowing faintly from within.

"Mr. O'Sullivan," one of a pair of lab technicians greeted Pedro nervously, "We are ready to begin when you are."

"Fantastic, just the way I like it. The last thing I'd want to do is wait around right now," POS nodded with satisfaction as he reached into his jacket, pulling out a small wand of sorts, "And since time is of the essence, it's best I get on with it: NEGATIVE KAMEN POWER... TRANSFORM!!"

Thrusting the wand into the air, a dark energy surrounded Pedro O'Sullivan and, in a long drawn-out sequence that looked like it took about a minute and a half but was actually in the blink of an eye, shifted his attire from his usual business casual to an elegant, black tuxedo. A matching top hat adorned his head, out from which his long hair hung loosely, changed from it's natural brown to a stark white.

His normally hazel eyes now glowed red, looking out from a dark grey metallic mask as he emerged from his transformation as Negative Kamen.

"Are you sure about this, Pe-chan?" Rei asked him, showing more than a little concern.

"Absolutely," Negative Kamen nodded, "We don't really have much of a choice anyway. If the others fail, this may very well be the NPF's only hope. If they succeed, well, then it works out well for us anyway. Honestly, what I'm going to miss most is having these powers. They were honestly a lot of fun.... Anyway, you know what to do when I'm done, Rei. Don't let me down."

Stepping toward the larger crystal on the ground, the Kamen clenched his fist before his face, a shadowy magical energy building up on the Heart Ring adorned on his finger, before thrusting it forward and shouting, "NEGATIVE HEART CRUSHER!!"

A massive wave of energy erupted from the ring, the concentrated darkness in Pedro O'Sullivan's soul forming a devastating, unstoppable attack that barreled toward the crystal, striking it with full force. Usually this would result in everything in the path of the attack being pulverized to atoms, but this time it was different: Upon impact, the wave was immediately absorbed into the crystal.

As the energy was fed into it, the machine activated, a field of ultraviolet light forming between both crystals and swirling to life. The pair of lab technicians worked furiously over their monitors, making sure to keep the energy levels under control until suddenly everything settled down. The energy field hung in the air, dark energy cycling in and out from it between the two crystalline artifacts.

And it was slowly growing.

It's energy expended, the Negative Kamen transformation faded away from Pedro O'Sullivan, his soul now (temporarily) purified by the effect of the Heart Ring. He stared at what he had just created, still dazed from what had just happened before suddenly being overtaken by pure horror.

"No! I can't let y--" was all POS could utter as he turned to run, only to be felled by a quick chop to the back of the head by Rei.

Hydra paralysed by her dismay at Arhra's betrayal, Sarhras was outmatched. Arhra rode on Shadow-Hydra's main head, the serpentine shapechanger growing secondary heads outside the narrow confines of the pit. The pair surged forwards, Sarhras dodging between snapping jaws and wildly bouncing spell arrows.

A clawed hand stretched out impossibly far, raking along her back. Sarhras leapt, kicking aside a lesser head that turned to snap at her, dull sparks thrown off at the contact. She flew at Arhra, hand raised to rake at her foe, light trailing behind each nail.

Arhra managed to look bored, blocking the stroke with one arm. The shadowstuff clinging to it acted like ablative armour, inky goop scattering away. Her other hand reached out and grabbed Sarhras' throat, halting the momentum of the attack. The copy's red eyes narrowed in anger and she returned the favour. Kneeling in front of Arhra, both hands clutching at the original's throat, Sarhras only realised her mistake as she felt several sharp teeth bite into her, releasing venom.

Arhra broke the hold and threw Sarhras away, hurling globs of burning magic after her.

Sarhras hit the ground hard, magic splattering about her. The stinging spray bombarded her as she tried to climb to her feet. A sweep of a serpentine tail knocked her down again. She looked up to see Arhra still sitting atop Shadow-Hydra's head. Levitating in one hand was a ball of light, Arhra feeding it power. Colour warped about it, unstable energy swirling about.

"You could never have won." Arhra said coldly, massaging her throat. "I do not submit to your reality. You will pass away, hurled screaming into the void like all the others who would forestall my will."

"This is madness." Sarhras coughed, stalling for time. She could see Hydra moving closer, expression still wracked with indecision.

"True." Arhra said. "Sanity is submission to reality. That is why you are weak. My role is to imagine all different. I am insane to see reality other than how it is. But, reality is a function of perception. Therefore, to perceive reality is to change it. My insanity will be stronger than reality. Thus, being sane, you must submit to my insanity. The end is inescapable." The orb she held now too bright to look at, Arhra prepared to use it.

"Ah, but there is one element you have forgotten." Sarhras said. "You betrayed your own companion!"

Hydra was suddenly there, snake hair writhing like, well, a nest of snakes. She slammed into Shadow Hydra's torso, the great serpent becoming unbalanced and beginning to fall, heads whipping down to bit at the interloper. Sarhras was already on her feet, running to escape the theorised blast radius of flung magical death bomb.

"Incorrect!" Arhra shouted with gleeful abandon as her high perch toppled sideways. Laughing, she swept her arm down, smashing the spell into Shadow-Hydra's skull. All consuming light welled out between her fingers, Arhra vanishing in the glare.

"Ok, I've had just about enough of this..." I said, having taken a pair of blasts to the face and shoulder, and started to fly up high, into the shadows. In my hands, a pair of fimilor blue balls of energy was seen, then merged into one. "MEGAFLARE!" I cried out, and the blast was shot down. "Well, that ain't good." S-Flare said, and moved to dodge out of the way, then her eyes went wide as the next thing she saw was a flash of metal, just before the spear stabbed into her body, entering at her left shoulder and cutting though and leaving below her right hip. And with that, S-flare was taken out.

Shadow-Hydra collapsed with the majesty of a falling oak, Arhra's brilliant, deadly spell clung to her head, sparks trailing behind like gushing blood. She hit the ground with a great thump. Hydra remained, clawing at her larger foe, her own shape shifting into something more predatory and deadly. Wounded sorely, Shadow-Hydra sought to escape, snaking length slimming as she dove for one of the pits, Hydra still firmly attached. The pair vanished back into the well of darkness Shadow-Hydra had so recently emerged from. Their struggle was almost done.

Sarhras had sought to flee in the distraction Hydra had caused, thoroughly troubled that she had not predicted that Arhra would pull a doublecross. Reflexes dulled by venom, she didn't react in time to the dark shape hurtling out of the explosion glare.

Arhra smashed into her, the two tumbling locked together. Grabbing Sarhras' upper right arm, Arhra unleashed chaotic power. Entropic energy crackled through Sarhras, her skin blotching in dark patterns and becoming veined with light. The light burst out of her right arm, the limb disintegrating. It did not bleed properly, merely oozing some black, thick tar, like the streams of shadow the NPFers had seen.

Arhra stood, looking down at her damaged doppelganger impassively. "Very, very soon there will just be one Arhra again. Perfect. Complete. Singular. It's a pity you won't be there to see it."

Sarhras lay there, the dusky shadow tone still about her, dim light still threading through her skin.

"Come on." Arhra said, a demon's grin upon her face. "Get up." She kicked Sarhras in the ribs.

"You don't have to do this." Sarhras said weakly. "You can choose not to."

"Choice?" Arhra laughed bitterly. "I have not even the illusion of choice! We must all play our parts to their inevitable conclusion. I might as well enjoy it. "

"Are you sure?"

Arhra's expression darkened. "You are meant to play upon my doubts, to seize something of my power and use it against me. To steal my identity and my life is your ultimate aim. You will not stop me."

"Yet you doubt."

Arhra looked away from Sarhras, her gaze turned back to the wall where the Caryatid had been hung in a web of shadows. Her fight had brought her quite close to it. She glared at the still figure standing there.

"Your puppet is defeated, soon you too will be and my victory assured. What do you have to say to that, oh wretched guardian of shadows?"

It seemed the Caryatid had not been idle while she watched. When the NPFers had arrived, she had been emaciated, drained, like a husk caught in a spider's web. Shadow had turned in to gnaw upon itself. But now the Caryatid had drawn the skeins of shadow back into herself. Her figure had filled out, lush with a vibrant darkness rather than the withered shadow she had been. The white, featureless mask she wore was the only colour about her. She tilted her head, regarding Arhra's defiant stance.

"Begone."

Before Arhra the void opened, a ball of utter dark. Expanding outwards, Arhra and Sarhras were drawn into it and then it vanished.

A train of shadows flowing behind her, the Caryatid began to walk forwards, darkness capering about her.

OOC: Thought I'd better start bringing the Caryatid back in. The spate of shadow battle ends is coming. I was going to end my one here, but I had a bit of a move to the philosophical stuff of defeating your shadow. Next post will be it I think.

Mr. Referee took a bite of each dish, slowly chewing each before he swallowed and made his judgement. He first turned to Chow-tan. "It was an excellent effort. It could use a bit more substance than bacon and cabbage, but as it is, the simple flavor is very nice. However," Mr. Referee turned to the Shadow Chef, "this pressure cooked citrus pike…" The Shadow Chef sneered in triumph.

…

Phil crawled from the twisted, burning wreckage. He'd dismissed Chow-tan and thankfully some form of karma had kept the explosion from taking his last gem. Perhaps it was the rules' way of penalizing S-Phil, but it had hurt Phil as well. He took some solace in knowing that S-Phil had been hurt, too. "I can't keep crawling. Gotta find a place to hide and think before he gets out. 'Just hope my legs work." Phil groaned as he stood up, then shuffled off to find a hiding space in the wreckage of the Kitchen of Shadow.

…

"… is tasteless!" The Shadow Chef laughed once, then gagged.

"What do you mean, 'It's tasteless?' How can that be?!"

Mr. Referee cleared his throat. "I'm not a cook, I'm only a referee, so I don't know why this food tastes like it does, but if I had to guess, I'd say you lost as soon as you put the fish in the pressure cooker. Pressure cooking, as I'm sure you know as a chef, cooks food with super-hot steam. As I'm sure you're also aware, anything cooked with steam will lose some flavor, which is why, I suppose, you added the lemon."

The Shadow Chef had regained his composure. "Yes, I used a lemon marinade to create a subtle flavor. But, the acidity also started the cooking process."

Mr. Referee nodded. "Is that so? Yes, that escaped me. However, it doesn't change the fact that, by cooking the fish at such high pressure, you cooked all the flavor right out of it!"

S-Phil snapped. "So, you're 'high pressure without light' nonsense cost us the match!?"

"Not only that, but you lost to a little girl," Phil added from across the table. "You were so caught up in metaphor over flavor that you over-reached your abilities instead of just cooking a strong dish!"

"In addition," Mr. Referee stood up. Jabbing a finger at the Shadow Chef, he roared, "If you wanted to make something delicious without light, you should have made a frozen dessert!"

The Shadow Chef was stunned. "How? How could this have happened? How could I lose to skillet lo-mein!? HO-O-O-O-OW!?"

Then he exploded.

…

S-Phil tore around the corner of Phil's hiding spot in the shadow of what remained of a wall. The horrible shadow beast he rode screamed as it tore its flesh of a twist of rebar snaking from the wreckage. "This is the end, Phil!" S-Phil bellowed. "Now, die!" Phil smirked.

"YOU'VE JUST SAID TODAY'S SECRET WORD!" Phil screamed as he jumped to his feet, whipping out a slip of paper with "END" printed on it. "YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS: SCREAM REAL LOUD! AAAAAAAAH!"

An 80s-tech robot beside Phil started to flail its arms wildly. "A A A A A A A A A AH!"

S-Phil's beast, startled, reared back, smashing its wound on the rough wall. It screamed in pain.

S-Phil, caught up in all the screaming, joined in. This was when Conky threw a rock, hitting him in the temple. The Shadow Beast disappeared in a cloud of smoke. As S-Phil fell to the ground, he smiled and said, "Remember, you only defeated me. You didn't kill me. I'll come after you again." Then everything went black, and Phil found himself back in the creepy well-like arena of the Shadow Caryatid's lair.

"I finally get a recurring villain, and it's another clone? This is rubbish," Phil muttered to himself. "Is a decent rival too much to ask?"

OOC: Super-extended version aborted. It's time to move on. Funny thing is, that's pretty much what I thought my third post would be. Heh, I had no idea how long my dumb self-indulgence would take to write.