Diaz Plan Chapter 24

Star had found a spell in Mr. Diaz's book that was somewhat useful, one that summoned undead unicorns. She, Mrs. Diaz, and Janna had been riding these horrific steeds at full gallop across the burnt wasteland left behind by Mr. Diaz, but had never managed to catch up to him before he reached the city. Now, they drew to a stop atop a hill looking down at the Mewnian city, watching the humongous battle raging at the front gates, while Mr. Diaz and the Queen dueled in the sky, illuminating the ground below with flashes of green and blue.

"We're too late," whispered Star, surveying the carnage. She was about to take off at a gallop towards the battle when Janna caught her arm.

"Star, we can't ride into that," she said. "What would we even do? What's our plan here?"

"We...we have to get to my mom!" replied Star. In actuality, she wasn't all that sure what the plan was. "We'll ask her if she killed Marco. When she says no, Mr. Diaz will stop attacking!"

Mrs. Diaz looked skeptical. "And...uh...is that your mother in the sky?" she said, pointing at the blue light that her husband was currently launching a massive fireball at.

"Yeah, look, she's right over the battle. Oh wait, now she's over the church district. Oh wait, now she's over the castle," said Star, as her mother flitted back and forth over the city, dodging magical blasts. "Look, all we have to do is get down there and get her attention."

"Well, okay," said Janna, "But I don't think it's a good idea to ride right into THAT," said Janna, pointing at the battle at the front gates, where flaming undead were swarming over piles of corpses, while howling guardsmen, mad with bloodlust and adrenaline, hacked and slashed at them. "Is there another way into the city?"

Star considered this. "There is!"

She wheeled her undead unicorn around and began leading Janna and Mrs. Diaz to the eastern gate, away from the battle. I can fix this, Star thought. I'll find Marco, I'll stop Mr. Diaz, this will all end, everything will be okay.

It had to be.

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Captain TickTock stood atop the bell tower of Mewni's cathedral, watching the carnage of the battle.It was difficult to see in the total darkness, but enough buildings were burning that the battle could be seen from here.

As soon as the warlock had arrived and begun blowing holes in Mewni's walls, Captain TickTock had ordered his loyal guards to attack the King. In addition, the revolting peasants had been ordered to attack as well, while, at the same time, undead skeletons had had begun pouring through the holes in the wall. TickTock had expected the King to go down quickly, but apparently some loyal guards had made their way to him somehow, and were fighting tooth and nail for survival. The King was in fine form, as well, roaring, swinging his massive club around, clearing entire streets with one mighty blow. In the horror and din of battle, some of the undisciplined peasants had panicked, and were now attacking the undead, or attacking the traitor Guard, although they were all on the same side. TickTock shrugged. It barely mattered. The forces arrayed against the monarchs were overwhelming.

He turned his lamplight eyes to the skies, where the warlock and the Queen were flitting back and forth, a blot of darkest shadow and a nimbus of blue light, launching massive spells at each other that lit up the night sky like fireworks. Captain TickTock couldn't really say who was winning up there, but he intended to change that.

He glanced back into the bell tower. He had five of the finest archers in the guard there, all men loyal to him of course. The robot picked up a spear, one of three leaning against the wall, and motioned for the men to take up their arrows. "Begin firing after I throw," he said.

Then he leaned out of the window, spear against his shoulder, waiting for an opportune moment. The blue nimbus of the queen flitted back and forth, dodging dazzling green bolts of energy that landed in the city with huge explosions. Captain TickTock waited, waited, waited - There!

He flung the spear at the Queen. A volley of arrows followed.

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The Queen dodged a giant green bolt of energy fired from the warlock's wand, her wings fluttering as she flitted off to the side. The shadow whirled with a roar and sent three massive snakes of flame racing towards her. The Queen summoned a wall of ice and the snakes crashed into it, melting it in a burst of steam.

This warlock was probably the most powerful the Queen had faced, but he was flagging, she could tell. None could stand before the might of the wand. He was in a blind rage that fueled his power, but made his attacks wilder, and he was burning himself out. The Queen would continue countering him, making opportunistic attacks, keep her composure, and then, when the warlock was spent, she would unleash all the bottled up rage she had from the death of her daughter. It took discipline to maintain herself. She wanted nothing more than to pour all her magic, all her strength at the shadow until he was erased from existence. But if she fought like that, she might lose. Such was the price of control.

The warlock soared up into the night sky above her and began launching humongous green bolts of energy at her that exploded, taking out entire blocks, when she dodged them. She was low, close to the ground now, putting as much distance between herself and the warlock as possible. The Queen smirked, seeing an opening, and raised her wand -

And then a spear, traveling through the air so fast it hummed, tore a hole through one of her wings. The Queen screamed, beginning to fall, struggling to stay aloft. Her wing was torn, but if she flapped them faster, she could still stay airborne -

She just managed to summon a protective blue sphere around herself as one of the warlock's bolts of hellish flame enveloped her. Small tinking sounds alerted her to the fact that people were firing arrows at her from the ground, as well. She couldn't tell where the fire was coming from. She healed her wings with a wave of her wand and dismissed the blue sphere. No sooner had she done that than another spear came whistling through the dark, this time striking her in the stomach and exiting out her shoulder, tearing off one wing entirely as it did so. It had been thrown with such force that it completely exited her body and continued sailing off into the night, trailing an arc of her blood behind it.

The Queen plummeted from the sky, smashing through the roof of a building, landing broken and shattered on the top floor. Breath ragged, burning with pain, the Queen healed herself with a flash of blue light. She looked up at the hole in the ceiling that she had fallen through, and it looked as if the entire sky was flame.

A massive fireball, launched by the warlock, crashed into the building she had fallen through. The Queen summoned a protective sphere around herself, but it could not withstand the severity of the explosion. It cracked and collapsed. For a few moments, the Queen's entire world was flame as she was tossed and battered. When, at last, the world made sense again, she was laying on her back in the rubble of the building. And the entire sky was winged shadow as, framed against the hellish burning eye, the warlock hurtled down towards her, his eyes hypnotic molten gold, his smile needle-sharp fangs lit by hellish light pouring from his throat, green wand lifted high above his head, blazing, this was it, she was going to die, he was coming too fast, he was going to tear her apart, she was too weak, too broken to lift the wand, oh god the roar, the noise, she was going to die in horror -

The Queen just barely managed to lift her wand in time, pouring all the energy she could summon into a magical blast that took the warlock in the chest, sending him hurtling backwards hundreds of feet, smashing into the wall of a building that immediately collapsed on top of him. The Queen sobbed with relief. Maybe that had killed him. But she couldn't be sure. She tried moving, and found that she couldn't. Her wand sputtered with blue light as she tried to summon the energy to heal herself.

Suddenly, in the darkness, there were two yellow, glowing lights. The Queen moaned in terror, thinking it was the warlock again, but as they came closer to the burning rubble surrounding her, she saw it was only her Guard Captain. "TickTock," she croaked. "Oh...thank god. Warlock...send men..."

Captain TickTock cocked his head to the side, regarding the broken form of the Queen coldly. Then, quicker than her eye could follow, he slammed his metal foot down onto her hand, the one that was holding the wand. The Queen screamed as she felt her bones shatter, the wand falling from her grasp, clattering against the ground. "What are you doing?!" she gasped, reaching out for the wand with her good hand. With a contemptuous sneer, Captain TickTock kicked her away, sending her slamming into a pile of rubble.

A crowd had gathered. Some of TickTock's guardsmen, and some of the revolting peasants that had fled the battle, were watching the Captain, staring in awe at the broken Queen, the woman that had ruled over them all for so long, the royal family that had been in place for generations.

TickTock, drawing himself up, bent and picked up the wand. In his hand, it transformed, becoming a cold steel rod with a metal cube at the end, surrounded by a huge, ticking gear. The metal cube cracked, and from it wormed a small, thorny rose.

"You stupid robot," said the Queen, barely conscious, "What are you doing?"

Captain TickTock smiled.