174 Phase 135: ...

The unbelievable happened.

"Oh. My. God." Alicia's jaw dropped.

Rita was in full agreement. "Ohmygod, omygod, omygod, omygod...!"

Fenria was there. The world was filled with dark miasma at her coming. A terrible, sinister growl emerged from her throat, a rumble that curdled the blood every human who saw her and caused them to shiver just to hear it.

Shiro, very likely the smartest of all Comrades present, let out a whimper and backed away very, very slowly.

Turtle Island was sinking. Not at a sedate pace like when Philip first woke Landho. Sinking fast, because of the sheer creature that now stood on the turtle's back. Landho just couldn't stay afloat with something the size of Fenria on his back.

Paladius and Cygniva and Deeproot all stood side by side and gawked up at the massive form that loomed over them. Even Grand Kraken paused to give her a good look as if wondering which of them was bigger.

And truth be told, Alicia didn't know. "Colin... what have you done?!"

Colin, not one to lie when he got in trouble, said it plainly.

"I summoned the Lord of all Frenzieds. The heart of the Uber Marshes is the Howling Forest... and the Heart of the Howling Forest is..."

"Fenria." Katrin whispered, but in the sudden, absolute silence that fell over Turtle Island, everybody could hear it.

Colin stepped forward with a gulp. "Um... Fenria...?"

Fenria roared. It wasn't a Howl as most wolves were liable to make. It was a full out, wind-screaming roar. The very sound of that roar made the air shake like a curtain and killed just about everyone and everything outside Kyria's protective aura, causing mass-respawning so thick Alicia worried they'd be buried alive in sick people there for a moment.

The flying saucers shot at Fenria. They fired on her with beams and bolts and missiles and energy bombs. They threw everything they had at her.

Fenria roared back, and her roar tore apart three saucers who were clustered too close together. Armor, metal, Gaians... everything was disintegrated near-instantly. All three exploded in rapid succession.

And then her tail thumped down and just about half the people in the respawning area were killed on the spot, crushed by a furry tail the size of a commercial block. Alicia eyed furs large enough for her to walk on as she stood there expecting to see more and more sick people respawn...

Only they didn't. The reason why was obvious. "It looks like the warp barrier is gone now. Whatever was making it had to have been destroyed. We can all go kill ourselves and respawn someplace safe..."

"But..." Colin hesitated.

"Turtle Island can't become like the Uber Marshes, Colin." Alicia said. "It's the back of a giant {Turtle}."

"Um... that's not... that's... not..." Colin struggled, eyes shut tight.

"Colin? What's wrong?" Alicia asked.

"It's... aaaaaAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!" He screamed and his eyes burst open with red light spilling out from within.

"NO!" Sora shouted, but his eyes, too, were turning red.

"Stop!" Philip held his head in both hands. "Don't do it!"

Shiro howled, and Alicia saw him suddenly growing in size. His eyes, too, glowed red, and even his fur was starting to change color. Kyria's protective aura, once made of white light, was turning into a different color, something darker, like purple...

{I am SO glad Ian's dragons aren't around right now!} Alicia thought even as she looked around for a weapon. {I've got to kill Colin. And Philip. And Sora. I have to kill them so they can respawn somewhere safe before something really, really bad happens!}

She didn't know how she knew, but she knew it to be true. Fenria being here was affecting all the Wilds, all the Comrades... and the three boys who had called them all in. Even Alicia's own birds were beginning to lose it.

Abruptly the foolishness of what she was trying to do struck her. She wanted to smack herself in the head. {I'm so dumb. What am I doing? What am I trying to prove? I'm looking for a weapon to kill Colin?!}

{What sort of Dreamworld am I in anyway?}

"Dirge Squad!" Alicia pointed. "Kill Colin!"

{Who needs a weapon in Nakama World?! My Comrades are RIGHT HERE.}

But Colin said, "NO! Shiro, guard!"

Shiro barked, and dashed in with Raiki at his side. They stood between Alicia and Katrin, their eyes starting to glow red. Faced with those two, Alicia's birds hesitated.

"Colin! You gotta die!" Alicia protested. "You gotta respawn somewhere {safe}..."

"NO! If I die here, Fenria will...!"

Sora shouted. "Kill everyone!"

At first, Alicia thought he was giving an explanation of what Colin was about to say. But no; the Wilds under his command suddenly turned on the Travelers, Gaian, Knight and bystanders alike and blasted away indiscriminately. People died out in a flash and vanished from Turtle Island completely.

{Well... at least HE gets the idea!} Alicia dodged a stream of Bomb Bubbles and winced as the explosions behind her all but knocked her flat on her face in the dirt. {But even so... his eyes are turning red too... I have to stop it. I have to kill all three of them.} "Dirge Squad... hurry up!"

"Kill everyone!" Phillip ordered the Wilds of the Ocean and explosions redoubled. {Wait. Maybe the Wilds will be enough to kill the three boys and we can all get away safely...}

But Colin shouted, "NO! We can save her! We can end it!"

"Are you {crazy}?!" Katrin shrieked before one of Sora's birds crushed her with a Sky Hammer made from a piece of falling sky, complete with clouds.

"Kill them!" Alicia pointed with three fingers, one for Sora, one for Philip, one for Colin. "NOW!"

Alicia saw lightning flood the world and knew she was as good as dead, but even as she died, Philip vanished under a bird's claws, and some gigantic crab shot Sora with a Grav-beam. Two of Alicia's Comrades, Ode and Requiem, both tried to kill Colin with Hypersonic Bolts, but Raiki intercepted their shots with H-bolts of her own. Foreshadow tried to swoop down on Colin from above, but Shiro battered the bird aside with his tail, knocking her into Blackswirl and both went tumbling aside.

"No! Colin!" Alicia gasped but it was too late. The lightning was doing its work. The world turned white.

Next thing she knew, she was back at Burrow Hollows.

"NO!" Alicia slammed her fist into the snow and dirt at her feet.

But again, she had forgotten something. Something very important.

"Alicia..." the voice behind her was soft, but filled with dread. Alicia turned, wide-eyed, to see him there at her back, his eyes still glowing red. "What have you done?!"

{Of all the things I forgot... I should have remembered this one. If he dies, I respawn with him. And when I die...}

Alicia had failed to kill Colin, but succeeded in getting him away from Fenria. All she had to do was die herself.

"I did it...!" Alicia sagged with relief. "You're safe!"

But the glow in Colin's eyes did not fade. In fact, the red light that shone from them seemed to increase further.

"What have you {done}?!" Colin screamed, and something so big appeared, Alicia's entire Home Base was destroyed just by its appearing.

"N-no way...!" Alicia gasped.

Fenria had respawned with Colin, and she now stood tall and furious over the village of Burrow Hollow.