Noir extends his fingers into long claws and drags them across the floor of the room as he slowly makes his way over to what remains of the heroes involved in this attempted ambush.

 

“Even though I will enjoy killing all of you no matter what, doing so would be even more satisfying if you at least put up a fight. So don’t make this too easy for me.”

 

“...What…what do we do now?” Ezmeralda says as she glances at the throne room battlefield around her.

 

“...I don’t know…I can’t see anything…” Pythia says as she tries and fails to use her powers again. “...If we do something about the Bishop then we might have a chance…but…I don’t know how good our odds of doing that are right now…”

 

“...Come on…don’t lose hope…” Pat says as he raises his fists in a defensive stance with a determined look on his face, but it was honestly just an act to keep his team from losing even more morale than they already have. “...because if we don’t keep our spirits up, then we…we don’t have anything…”

 

Thomas isn’t able to say anything though. All he is able to do is hold his skateboard in front of himself while hoping that will make some sort of difference.

 

“...I can handle this…” Juanita says as she glances back at the currently conscious members of Team Prism. “...Thomas…use your power to get the others out of here…”

 

“...Juanita…” Pythia says with a worried expression on her face. “...Are you sure about this?”

 

“...No…I’m not, but I need to show these villains the power of the CHS…because if the leader of the organization isn’t able to do something about this…then who would?”

 

Noir finally made his way over to the heroes as Juanita snaps her fingers and sends her copies towards the grayscale serial killer.

 

Even though Noir is quickly able to slash through and despawn the first half dozen copies, he is eventually overwhelmed. Two of the Juanita copies grab his arms from behind and hold him back as a third starts to batter him with a barrage of punches and kicks.

 

“...Okay…” Pythia gives an unsure response, but does what she is told anyways. “...Thomas…create an escape route for us…please…”

 

Pythia wasn’t sure if Thomas heard what she said because he is still looking forwards like a deer frozen in the headlights of a car while clutching his skateboard against his chest.

 

“Thomas!” Ez yells as she shakes his shoulder until she is able to get his attention.

 

“...What?” He looks over at the purple haired psychic with the expression of someone who was just snapped out of a trance. “...What was that?”

 

“Create some boost arrows so we can get out of here!” Ez shouts.

 

“...Oh…okay…okay!” Thomas says as he smacks himself on the cheeks a couple of times as he tries to focus. “...Come on…You can do this…”

 

Thomas puts his hands forwards and creates a path of speed boost arrows that lead towards the front door of the throne room.

 

“Pat!” Thomas shouts at the bear themed hero to get his attention. “Use these arrows to get you and your partners out of here!”

 

“What about you? Shouldn’t you be leaving too?” Pat asks with a look of concern.

 

“Just go! I need to get Fran and Ilma!” Thomas shouts as he creates another line of arrows for himself that lead towards the unconscious couple.

 

“...Okay…If you’re sure…” Pat responds as he lifts Pythia and Ez onto his shoulders before running as quickly as he can with all of this additional weight towards the door.

 

“Do you think I’m just gonna let you leave, mate?” Joan says as she snaps her fingers, transforms into her gargoyle form, and quickly flies towards the door to cut them off.

 

When she gets to them they are almost to the door, but weren’t quick enough to make it all the way there.

 

Pythia and Ez jump off Pat’s shoulders as he puts up his arms to block the imminent divekick from the stone Brit.

 

Even though the attack was strong, she wasn’t able to do more than just slide him slightly backwards.

 

“Oh, you’re surprisingly sturdy!” Joan says after landing onto the ground in front of him. “But everything has a breaking point!”

 

Pat cracks his knuckles as he continues to stand his ground.

 

“You’re one to talk! It's not that hard to break stone!”

 

“Oh! You’re a feisty one!” Joan says as she flies back up into the air. “Let’s see how long your hope lasts!”

 

“....So…” Piper says as she approaches Pythia and Ez as she places her baseball bat against her shoulder as she slowly bounces a bomb with a lit fuse up and down in her other hand. “You’re just gonna hide behind a man, huh? Are you damsels in distress or something?”

 

“No!” Ez shouts. “...It’s just that…we don’t have our powers right now…”

 

“So you just rely on your powers then?” Piper says with a devious smirk. “Meaning you two are completely defenseless without them? Is that what I’m hearing right now?”

 

“While I currently don’t have my powers, I wouldn’t exactly say I’m completely defenseless.” Pythia says as she spins her cane before pointing it at the anthropomorphic possum.

 

“Alright!” Piper says as she throws the bomb up into the air before batting it towards the genderfluid fortune teller. “Let’s see if your bark is as strong as your bite then!”

 

Pythia uses her cane to bat the bomb back towards the possum.

 

“What?!” Piper shouts in a panic as she quickly sends the bomb back. “How did you know that they wouldn’t explode on impact?”

 

“I don’t know! Maybe this one is a dud!” Pythia responds as she continues the rally. “Or maybe it’s because the fuse hasn’t reached the bomb yet! We won’t know until it explodes!”

 

Piper panics again as the bomb flies back towards her and decides to bat it out of a nearby window instead of sending it back towards Pythia so there isn’t a chance of it being sent back at herself again.

 

Slightly after it flies out the window the bomb explodes while severely damaging the outside wall of the castle and shattering all of the windows in the radius.

 

“Oh, so you are crazy?!” Piper is about to throw another bomb in the air, but hesitates when she sees Pythia in a batting stance again.

 

“Or maybe I'm just lucky! Who knows?” Pythia says with a smug grin. “Come on, throw another!”

 

Thomas makes it to Ilma and Fran who were still out cold.

 

Since Thomas wasn’t strong enough to carry them he had to quickly think of another plan on the spot.

 

“Hey kid, what are you doing here?” Ori said with a grin that displayed her sharp teeth.

 

“...I…I can ask you the same thing?” Thomas says as he tried his best to remain as composed as he somehow managed to be.

 

“...Oh, okay…” Ori says with a scowl. “...I’ll show you why I’m here!”

 

She quickly transformed into her red oni form and slams her fists together.

 

“Any more questions?” Ori asks as she slowly makes her way over to the visibly scared teenager.

 

“...No…that’s okay…” Thomas said as his mind raced for an answer to his current problem.

 

“Fair enough.” Ori says with a shrug as she continues to make her way over to the skateboarder. “Aside from the fact that I can hold my own in a fight, do you want to know why else I’m here?”

 

Thomas shakes his head no as he becomes noticeably anxious again.

 

Ori stands face to face with Thomas and looks down at him as her psychotic smile only grows wider.

 

“It’s because I enjoy fighting! I don’t care who I’m fighting against or why I’m doing it! Any excuse is a good enough reason for me!” She crouches down to match his height. “I don’t care if someone gets hurt or even dies in the process! As long as I get the adrenaline rush that comes with it I could care less about the outcome!”

 

Thomas was on the brink of a panic attack and closed his eyes to try his best to think of a plan.

 

‘You’re out of time Thomas!’ He thought to himself. ‘You have to come up with something right now!’

 

Right as he was about to be sent over the edge and into the abyss he finally thinks of something. It was as if a lightbulb appeared over his head and gave him the idea. It wasn’t the best idea, but it was better than nothing.

 

“...Okay…” Thomas responds as he steadies his breath. “...I’ll fight you, but there is something I have to tell you first though…”

 

“And what would that be?” Ori asks as she crosses her arms in annoyance.

 

“...You’re shoes untied…” Thomas says as he points down at the Oni’s feet.

 

“...What?” Ori says as she looks down in confusion. “...I thought I wore sandals today?”

 

When she looked down she was right. She was still wearing sandals, but she also saw something else…

 

…There was an arrow below her feet.

 

Before she could react Ori flew backwards and into a nearby wall.

 

Thomas quickly turned around and used all of his strength to drag Fran and Ilma onto his skateboard before creating more arrows and sending them off to the door of the throne room.

 

He then turned his attention back toward the demon girl.

 

Even though she had to be in a lot of pain that was made evident by the large crater in the wall behind her she was somehow still conscious.

 

“...Huh…” Ori said as she got back onto her feet. “...So you can fight?”

 

“...Yeah…” Thomas responded as he assumed a combative stance. “...I guess I can…”

 

“...Okay…” Ori said as she cracked her knuckles. “...Let me see what you got kid…”