The K-5, Marisa, Taissa, Alatar, and Harry walked on a long rope bridge in the middle of large waterfalls cascading over rocks. They came to a stop when they saw several worn-out boards in the way of their path.
"Harry, are you ready to handle this one?" Alatar asked.
"Sorry, Alatar. I still haven't unlocked my powers yet." Harry responded.
"Don't worry, Harry. You'll unlock them soon." Ezra encouraged.
"One step of these boards and it's a long way down to the water." Ariana said.
"I can handle it." Taissa said as she moved in front of Ariana and Camilla.
Taissa's eyes glowed brightly and the worn-out boards were reconstructed to fix the bridge as if nothing happened at all.
"Nice." Camilla said with a smile.
"Great work, Taissa." Talia grinned.
"But it doesn't matter." Taissa said with a frown. "Bad things are going to happen soon. Really bad things. My father will take control of me to his side. I thought I could handle his influence alone, but I was wrong."
Marisa landed her head on Taissa's shoulder, making the little mage girl look up to the weather gypsy.
"But that doesn't mean we still can't try." Marisa smiled softly.
Taissa's eyes lit up and gave Marisa a warm smile. The mages continued crossing the bridge as they were unaware that they are being watched from above the waterfalls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the mages trudged through the bridge safely, they began walking through the field of designated boneyards that was overrun by many skeleton warriors, animal bones and two-sided axes with bone dust raining down on them. Talia halted herself from following the others when she suddenly saw Slade standing on a massive distant skull.
"Hey, guys, look!" Talia gasped, pointing her finger at the massive skull. "It's him! It's Slade! He's right there!"
Marisa, Taissa, Alatar, Harry, Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, and Ezra looked at the massive skull to see no trace of Slade.
"We don't see anyone, Talia." Ariana said to Talia.
"But I'm telling you! He was right there!" Talia insisted.
"You really need to chill, Talia. This place is literally dry as bone. There's no one out here." Camilla said as she placed her hands on her hips.
"I do sense his aura sense, but I can't locate it." Kirana said. "But that doesn't matter. Slade must be messing with our heads with his demon magic, but he doesn't control our spirits anymore."
"I can still get visions about Laquinn, but I have to remember that she doesn't control me anymore." Ezra added.
"Your father's cruelty is legendary, even on my home tribe." Marisa said to Taissa. "We know he scared you, but we'll protect you at any price from his influence."
"If we can find that last shard, we can get rid of Laquinn." Alatar said to Harry.
"And maybe I can find it." Harry said, hopefully. "I believe that I can and we can stop both Laquinn and Slade."
"My father doesn't concern me." Taissa said.
"Is that so, daughter?"
The K-5, Marisa, Taissa, Alatar, and Harry looked around the boneyard in alarm to search for the source of that familiar voice. They turned around just in time to see nine large dark red flaming werewolf-like creatures popped out of the bones as they surrounded the mages in a circle.
"I told ya someone was watching us!" Talia cried as she and the others summoned their magic.
"Glad I wasn't the only one." Alatar commented.
Camilla charged forward to strike one of the werewolf demons with her red psychic energized punches, but the werewolf demon jumped out of the way and spun its claws into drills to attack the red mage kunoichi. Ariana began unleashing purple blasts of psychic energy at the werewolf demon, but the flaming creature dodged the blasts with fast speed and stood behind Ariana to strike her with its claws. But Ariana turned around and managed to knock the werewolf demon out with huge purple beams of psychic energy. Ezra fired teal energy balls at the werewolf creature, but the flaming creature dodged each energy ball and pounced on the teal mage ninja to pin him down. Suddenly, a purple blast of psychic energy hit the flaming creature to release Ezra and the teal mage ninja got up to see that Ariana had saved him with a smile.
"Thanks, Ari." Ezra said with a thumbs up.
"Happy to help." Ariana nodded.
Kirana, Talia, Marisa, and Alatar were trying to protect Taissa and Harry, who were hiding behind a medium-sized skull in fear. But one of the werewolf demons appeared above the mage children.
"Oh no you don't!" Kirana cried.
Kirana jumped up in the air and began swinging blades of bright blue energy at the werewolf demon. But another werewolf demon swiped Kirana away with its claws that sent her flying to the other mages. As the entire werewolf demons stepped close towards Taissa, she narrowed her glowing black eyes and black telekinetic energies started spreading across every square inch of the werewolf demons as her magic was destroying them off in a terrific explosion with a sweep of her hands.
She levitated herself from the medium-sized skull and then collapsed backward with a weak moan, but she was caught in Kirana's arms.
"I got you." Kirana said.
"Thank you, Kirana." Taissa said.
But one last werewolf creature came flying towards the two mages.
"Look out!" Harry cried as he held out his hands and a sudden blast of yellow psychic energy came out from his hands to hit the flaming creature to knock it off the edge.
Kirana set Taissa on her feet as Marisa, Alatar, Ariana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra joined them. Harry looked at his hands in surprise and smiled with excitement.
"I did it! I did it! I did it!" Harry cheered.
"See, I knew you could do it." Ezra said with a smile.
"Now that you've got your powers unlocked, they need a bit of time to be truly awakened." Alatar said. "Once we reach the temple pyramid, they will be unlocked."
"Alright!" Harry said. "But what were those things?"
"Let me guess. Your daddy's pets?" Camilla asked Taissa.
"His minions from his creation." Taissa answered. "He will send more to capture me."
"Then, we must keep moving." Marisa said.
Marisa walked forward as the K-5, Taissa, Alatar, and Harry followed the weather mage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the mages exited out of the boneyard, they saw an old ivory pyramid structure in the distance.
"The Pyramid Temple." Marisa said. "We've finally made it. We must keep moving before Slade heads there first."
"She's right." Alatar agreed. "Laquinn could also be there if we don't make it."
Alatar, Harry, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Ariana walked ahead while Taissa stood her place and looked down at the ground with a frown that caught Kirana's attention.
"Marisa, allow me to protect Taissa for a while." Kirana offered.
"Thank you, Kirana." Marisa said with a nod.
Marisa followed Camilla, Ezra, Talia, Alatar, Ariana, and Harry as they walked ahead to the direction of the Pyramid Temple. Kirana turned to place her hands on Taissa's shoulders, making her look up at the blue mage kunoichi.
"What's wrong?" Kirana asked.
"I'm scared." Taissa replied softly. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this. Any of you. I never wanted this day to come." She felt few tears gathering in her eyes. "I just...I just...wanna to go home with my mother."
"But you have grown to be very impressive girl, Taissa." Kirana said with a smile as she wiped the tears away from Taissa's eyes. "It's true you were born to do unspeakable things because you're the Demon King's daughter, but you wished for more and dared to hope that you could be good. Marisa, Alatar, Harry, my siblings, and I have faith in you. Now, you must have faith for yourself."
Kirana took Taissa's hand and walked ahead with the mage child, causing Taissa to smile thankfully at the blue mage kunoichi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mages finally reached their destination as they stood in front of the door with a small triangle at the center.
"Finally, the Pyramid Temple." Marisa said.
The door entrance slowly opened itself into a set of stairs. Taissa held Kirana's hand as she, Marisa, Alatar, Harry, and Kirana sensed something that didn't seem right about the Pyramid Temple.
"Let's be cautious." Marisa warned. "It's not right for the mage monks to not guard the entrance."
"Marisa's right. I've detected an uneasy aura coming up above the stairs." Kirana said.
The K-5, Marisa, Taissa, Alatar, and Harry entered inside the pyramid structure that led them into a large room. The room had a pedestal with a small floating pyramid and carved images of ancient mages and murals on the ceiling walls. They suddenly heard chanting and saw someone kneeling in front of the pedestal while wearing a black robe.
"Excuse us, sir. Are you the high priest here?" Kirana called out.
The person stood up on his feet and turned around to confront the mages as he took off his robe to reveal himself to be Slade!
"Greetings, mages." Slade greeted.
"Slade!" Marisa gasped in shock.
"Thank you for bringing my daughter to the temple." Slade said with a dark smile. "It is the only place we can perform this world's destruction."
Suddenly, a familiar centipede demon creature jumped down to land by Slade.
"Hello, Alatar." Laquinn smirked.
"Laquinn!" Alatar said with a glare.
"I must thank you for collecting the crystal shards for me." Laquinn said. "Now all three can be used to destroy you."
"Learn to count, loser." Harry chuckled. "There's only two that we have."
"Oh, no. I believe I meant three." Laquinn smiled as she pulled out a black crystal shard, making the mages gasp in shock. "With these three shards and my magic, you and your friends will be destroyed."
Suddenly, the mages turned around to see Adeline dropping slowly through the ceiling behind them.
"What do you want me to do with them, masters?" Adeline asked Slade.
"Destroy Marisa! But don't harm Taissa. The K-5 sisters are mine." Slade ordered.
"Kill Ezra and don't harm Harry. I shall fight my brother." Laquinn ordered.
Slade charged forward to swing a giant ball of flames from his hand at the K-5 sisters, who jumped out of the way and summoned their magic in offensive stances. Marisa, Alatar, and Ezra dodged numerous fireballs shooting out from Adeline's hands as Taissa and Harry ran away to hide behind the pedestal. Marisa moved away from Adeline's incoming fireballs and manage to bombard her with shards of ice that knocked Adeline our cold to the ground. Alatar fired a blast of indigo magic to levitate Adeline in the air and Ezra performed a powerful drill kick to knock Adeline to the ground. The K-5 sisters continued to fight Slade with their magic, but Slade was proven to be too strong for them to defeat. Ariana and Camilla stopped fighting as they suddenly started to feel a change within them.
Suddenly, a blazing purple clover-shaped emblem appeared underneath Ariana and a blazing red heart-shaped emblem appeared underneath Camilla. Two swirling columns of red and purple energy rushed up around the two mage kunoichis. Ariana's gypsy clothing was changed into a skintight black bodysuit that has light purple sleeves with attached gloves and black and purple striped heels connected to her bodysuit. Camilla's gypsy clothing was changed into a skintight black bodysuit that has light red sleeves with attached gloves and black and red striped heels connected to her bodysuit. Bright red and purple energies began surging around Camilla and Ariana's bodies that only made Kirana and Talia smile for their advantage. But Slade swiftly unleashed two large powerful blast of flame from his glowing eyes that hit Camilla and Ariana at full force before producing a ball of flaming energy to attack Talia and Kirana.
"Excellent. You four have unlocked your full potential." Slade said with a smile.
"What the heck are you talking about?" Kirana asked with a glare.
"After my daughter broke all of you from my spell, I never give up my control over you." Slade explained.
Slade snapped his fingers and summoned a large red pointed pentagram at the mages' feet on the ground that made the K-5 sisters stare at the Demon King in shock.
"I've been spying and watching you four from the trace of my magic." Slade continued.
Slade snapped his fingers again and a huge column of red energy rushed up around the mage kunoichis, who were trying to resist the Demon King's hypnotic magic. Taissa and Harry gasped in shock and fear as they watched the K-5 sisters struggling to resist Taissa's father's demonic magic.
"Girls!" Ezra cried as he tried to run to them, but Marisa and Alatar held him back
Then suddenly, the K-5 sisters slowly were transformed back into their demonic forms.
"Now, Mage Demons, destroy Marisa!" Slade ordered.
The Mage Demons turned around with their blazing magic and sprinted forward to attack Marisa, who dodged away from them.
"Girls, snap out of it!" Alatar said.
"Please, you're my sisters!" Ezra begged.
Camilla sprang into the air with a twisting reverse back flip and swiftly launched a giant bright red multi-hit energy sphere at Marisa from behind. Ariana then attacked Alatar with spinning kicks in an upside-down position before finishing him with a flying upward drill kick with both legs. Talia delivered a series of ten bright orange high-damage somersaults to Ezra. Three evil mages' attacks caused Marisa, Alatar, and Ezra to fall weakly to the ground. Marisa looked up to see Kirana pointing giant bright blue energy constructed claw on her right hand at her. Alatar looked up to see Camilla pointing a red psychic energy knife on her left hand at him.
"Marisa! No!" Taissa shouted.
"Alatar, look out!" Harry shouted.
Just when Kirana and Camilla were about to deliver the final blow, she and their sisters were surrounded by a sudden black and yellow aura that disabled them from striking Marisa and Alatar.
"What?!" Slade gasped in shock.
"Impossible!" Laquinn said in shock.
Taissa and Harry levitated themselves above the mages with glowing black and yellow eyes and the K-5 sisters yelled in pain as four huge red-orange flames reached forth from their chests, returning them to normal once again. Taissa and Harry's eyes stopped glowing as they levitated down to help Ezra, Marisa, and Alatar on her feet and watched the K-5 sisters rubbing their heads with groans thanks to Taissa and Harry breaking Slade's spell over them.
"Thanks, Taissa. I really felt really evil for a minute there." Talia said.
"Taissa and Harry's advanced magic definitely got hit so hard that it knocked the evil right outta us." Ariana added.
"We owe you, kids." Camilla said to Taissa and Harry with a smile.
"Now, that we're back in action, let's finish this once and for all." Kirana declared.
The K-5, Marisa, and Alatar only sprinted forward to attack Slade and Laquinn with their magic, but the Demon King was able to knock Kirana and Ariana back with a large, bullet-like stream of fire. Laquinn then unleashed many fierce red flames in the form of elongated circles that knocked Camilla and Talia away before attacking Ezra with giant fast-moving fireballs.
"Time to finish this!" Slade hollered.
Slade unleashed a cataclysmic red laser-like beam from his eyes that hit Marisa and the K-5 sisters in one clear shot. Laquinn used her tail to hold Alatar and Ezra in a tight spot before she grabbed the two shards from the satchel.
"No!" Taissa cried.
"Guys!" Harry cried.
Five mages were lying painfully on the ground out cold while two mages were grunting in pain by the centipede demon's hold. Taissa and Harry ran up to their friends and looked at them with a terror gasp. Taissa headed straight for the unconscious Kirana and Marisa as she knelt between them while Harry looked at Alatar and Ezra in worry.
"Get up! Kirana, Marisa, please! Get up!" Taissa cried as she was trying to shake Marisa and Kirana awake with tears in her eyes.
"Ezra! Alatar!" Harry shouted.
Slade's footsteps approached Taissa, who closed her eyes and hung her head in utter dejection.
"Your friends were still no threat to me, dear daughter." Slade said with a malevolent look on his face. "But remember this, little girl. I am your creator, your master. You exist only to serve me. No matter how hard you're trying to avoid evil, there's no hope for a mere child like you that could ever defeat your all-powerful father."
"Give up now, boy." Laquinn said. "While you're friends are down and out."
"I am not backing down to you, freak!" Harry snapped.
He jumped up to deliver a roundhouse kick to Laquinn's face, that caused her to drop both Ezra and Alatar to the ground and Harry used his powers to grab the shards. His glowing palm made the crystal shards illuminate in a bright yellow light that caused Laquinn to watch in shock.
"Now it ends for you, Laquinn!" Harry said.
"I will not be beaten by another mage!" Laquinn snapped.
Laquinn charged forward to attack with her left fist, but Harry blasted her fist to turn it into ash. Laquinn gasped in shock and growled with anger. Laquinn tried to attack with her other fist, but Harry blasted her fist to turn it also into ash. Harry pushed Laquinn back to the wall and the crystal shards' power fired at the centipede demon, that completely disintegrated her into nothingness.
With Laquinn gone for good, the crystal shards stopped glowing and rested on the floor before the mage boy fainted in exhaustion.
"Harry!" Taissa cried as she ran to her friend.
Taissa's face went into a grimace of the purest anger and opened her eyes to stare at her father as bright white light were pouring from her sockets.
"You may have created me." Taissa said as she stood up with light shining around her body.
As Slade backed up a bit in genuine fear, the mage child's dark magic was replaced with light magic.
"But you were never my father." Taissa said.
Taissa combined her hands together and fired a huge white energy beam directly into Slade's chest that drove him back away from the mages. Marisa, Alatar, Kirana, Ariana, Harry, Camilla, Ezra, and Talia slowly got back on their feet as they watched Taissa kept blasting Slade in a fast succession while approaching him with a fierce face until the last white energy blast left Slade immobilized and straining against the crackling energy that has begun to run up and down his body. Eight mages stared at the battle with shocked eyes as Slade dropped on his knees with a loud scream.
"I was protected by my friends. I was raised by my mother." Taissa said. "They are my family. This world is my home. And you are not welcome here!"
Taissa started rising above Slade into the air and unleashed a pure white energy in shape of a large phoenix rearing up in Slade's face that slowly and steadily swallowed him up by the blinding radiance, that caused him to voice an agonized scream.
With Slade dead for good, Taissa descended to the ground on his feet. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Marisa, Alatar, and Harry moved up to the mage child.
"Taissa...that was..." Talia spoke.
"Unbelievable!" Ariana and Camilla exclaimed softly.
"No. It wasn't." Taissa said with a smile. She wrapped her arms around Marisa and Kirana's necks to hug them. "Somebody believed."
Kirana and Marisa returned the hug with warm smiles as Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Harry swept Taissa into a group hug. Ezra held out his hand to Alatar, who took it with a warm smile. Alatar got startled as he was pulled into a hug, but he smiled as he enjoyed the moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the K-5 sisters pointed their magic at themselves to alter their black clothing into their gypsy clothing, they turned around to see Adeline returning to her senses from Slade's evil influence.
"Forgive me, friends." Adeline apologized. "You broke Slade's spell and freed my temple, and for that I am truly grateful."
"Wait a minute. This place is your temple?" Ariana asked in surprise.
"I am the head mage of the Pyramid Temple." Adeline explained. "Now that Slade is gone, I will send for the return of my fellow mages so that we may care and protect both Taissa and Harry."
"I think it's about time we get rid of these shards." Alatar said as he held them in his hands.
"Leave that to me." Harry announced before he took the shards and used his glowing palms to turn the shards into specks of light that vanished out of thin air. "Now nobody can use them for darkness."
"But we still have one problem. How are we gonna get home?" Ariana pointed out.
"Not a problem." Adeline replied. "The spell that brought you here is the key to return to your home dimension and only Taissa can do it."
Taissa closed her eyes and concentrated on her magical powers as she slashed the air with a swipe of her glowing white hand and created a large portal in front of the mages.
"I will miss you, K-5. And I am thankful to you for helping me on my journey." Taissa said with a smile.
"So long, Taissa." Camilla said with a smile as she hugged Taissa and walked into the portal.
"You did good, Taissa. Your mom would be so proud of you." Ariana grinned as she waved Taissa good-bye and followed Camilla through the portal.
"We'll miss you, Taissa. You too, Marisa." Talia said with a good-bye wave as she followed Camilla and Ariana through the portal.
"Goodbye, Alatar and Harry." Ezra said.
"Farewell, my brother." Alatar said.
Ezra and Alatar bowed their heads with respect. Harry ran up to give Ezra a high five.
"Goodbye, Ezra." Harry said.
Ezra smiled at Harry and followed after Talia, Ariana, and Camilla into the portal.
"Goodbye, Marisa." Kirana said.
"Farewell, my sister." Marisa said.
Kirana and Marisa bowed their heads with respect. Taissa ran forward to hug Kirana with a tearful smile.
"Goodbye, Kirana." Taissa said.
Kirana hugged Taissa back with a smile and then moved into the portal before it closed behind her.
Marisa stepped away from Taissa and Adeline as she was heading down the stairs and out into the open field outside. But she stopped herself when someone touched her hand. She looked behind her to stare at Alatar.
"We always have to go different ways, don't we?" Alatar asked.
"Seems like it and it won't get any older." Marisa admitted with a smile. "But I promise that we will see each other again."
Marisa leaned to Alatar's face and planted a soft kiss to his cheek before she walked away. Alatar blushed pink and touched the spot where Marisa kissed him with a soft smile. Taissa ran to Marisa and grabbed her hand.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" Taissa asked with a frown.
"Indeed. My task to take you to the Pyramid Temple is complete." Marisa said.
"But you don't have to leave. You can stay here. This temple can be your new home." Taissa pleaded.
"I know, Taissa. But you have your whole life ahead of you. You can decide your own destiny." Marisa said with a soft smile. "In the end, there really is no end. Just brand new beginnings."
Taissa caught Marisa by surprise with a tight hug and Marisa softly hugged Taissa back. Marisa raised her hand and and magically generated tremendous amount of clouds to a large cloud. She stepped on the cloud as it took her towards the sky.
"Good-bye, Marisa! Thanks for everything! I'll never forget you!" Taissa shouted as she was waving goodbye to the weather mage.
With a soft smile, Marisa departed high into the sky to ensure her sense of honor.
Alatar walked to the exit and Harry stopped behind him.
"You don't have to go, Alatar." Harry frowned. "You can stay."
"I must go." Alatar said. "Others need my help. But if you ever need me, I will return. So long, Harry."
Alatar ruffled Harry's hair with a smile and walked out on his own.
"Thank you, Alatar!" Harry called out. "Sayonara, my friend!"
Alatar smiled as he continued on his way and looked to the sky in hopes of seeing Marisa again very soon.