The king rubbed his cheek that was now holding a gruesome wound. He stared at Maria with wrath.

"You’ve lucked out. I have to deal with something more important right now."

The king walked over to Katra.

"Tell me everything you know. What’s the size of his army? Is my brother any stronger? How do our chances look?"

Katra’s eyes were dim and hopeless.

"I fought him for three days straight without a break. I unleashed the full power of my rend ability. And yet, it felt like I hardly put a dent in his numbers. There was no telling how many times he truly replicated himself."

The king looked away and cursed to himself.

"I have some more grim news if I may, your majesty."

"What could possibly be grimmer than that?"

"His ability seems to have evolved. I believe the killed duplicates can share the experiences they had with another. It’s allowing him almost infinite adaptability as long as he has the numbers."

The kings face grew dark. A strange tension settled in the room. Without making a sound, the king walked over to Jacob.

"The time has come for you to retrieve this charm from your uncle. I am willing to forgive and forget every single thing that has happened tonight between us if you bring this charm back. That includes your friend over there."

Jacob was still seething at his father.

"Oh? You had a change of heart so quickly. Why is that?"

The king looked utterly defeated.

"There’s no point in hiding anything anymore. Without the charm, this kingdoms destruction is inevitable. I understand you harbor ill will against me, but I know you care about these people. Without getting that charm back, their destruction will be assured."

Jacob hesitated.

"How do you know that? How do I know you aren’t just tricking me again?"

"There’s no point in me lying. Whether I go with you or not, it makes no difference this time. They will destroy us. However, I’m willing to bet that your uncle wouldn’t kill you if he didn’t think you were a threat."

"He tried to poison me numb nuts. How do I know that he won’t just kill me as soon as he sees me?"

"He knew you wouldn’t have died to the poison. Your blood is special because of me. If he did try to poison you, it was only an attempt to slow you down."

The king slowly started walking out of the throne room.

"Besides, I don’t think he would kill someone who looks like his sister. He doesn’t have the heart for it."

"So, you’re staking my life on a gamble?"

"Not just your life. My life, the lives of everyone in the kingdom, your friend’s life. I have no other choice. If Katra’s information is accurate, he will be in the forest to the west. Please go there as soon as possible. I’m begging you."

Jacob looked at Maria and grabbed her shoulder.

"Apologize to her first. Then I’ll go get your stupid charm."

The king nodded.

"I’m sorry. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to prepare some things. Grab whatever you need from the palace before you go."

The king walked out of the throne room rubbing his cheek. He was passing through a seemingly empty hallway when he strangely pressed a stone on the wall like a button. A small rumble spread through the cracks between all the stones and a passage was revealed. There was a flight of stairs leading downward towards a dark abyss.

The king slowly descended the stairs after closing the passage behind him with another click of a button. His footsteps echoed off the walls of the tight stairwell. After travelling downward for three moments, the king finally reached a massive, dim room lit only by torches. Sitting at a table close to the entrance was none other than Doc.

"Geez. What the hell happened to you?"

"A common blood struck me in the face."

"Do you need me to heal it for you?"

"No thank you. It will heal on its own time."

The king slowly walked toward some strange pool. It seemingly stretched for miles and there was no telling how deep it was.

"How has progress been, Doc?"

"Truthfully, I didn’t think what you asked me to do was possible. Yet here we are. Progress has been running smoothly. Our abilities make for one scary match, wouldn’t you say?"

"Indeed. I was glad to have found you when I did. We may just stand a chance now."

"Are you going to add more to the ocean today? I’m not doing anything better right now."

"Actually, I was hoping you would stay and help me for a full day."

Doc almost fell out of his seat.

"A full day?! Are you trying to kill me?! Besides, we’ve been doing this for years. Isn’t this enough?"

The king look into the lightless abyss.

"There’s no such thing as enough. Now come over here and help me."

Doc sighed and got up from his chair. As he walked towards the king he scratched his head, carrying a torch so he could see where he was walking.

"You’re one scary bastard. I’ve never seen someone use a curse so uniquely before."

The king took out a knife, held his hand over the strange ocean of liquid, and cut his wrist. Blood started gushing out of the wound like a waterfall.

"It’s because I am strong. I will make sure that as long as I am here, I will be at the advantage."

Doc put his hand against the kings back. When he did, more and more blood came spurting out of the wound. As his torch reflected on its surface, the strange liquid that seemingly went on for miles was revealed to be blood. Millions of gallons of blood were flowing underneath Iron Kingdom. All of it was under the king’s control.

"Say, I heard some scary rumors recently and I wanted to ask you if they were true. Of course, I really don’t care if they’re true or not, but I would be fascinated to find out."

The king glared at him.

"Go ahead."

"Are you sneaking your blood into all the food and water in the kingdom? I mean, you have to be, right? Is that why you sometimes make people drink that wine before entering the palace? To make sure your blood is nice and potent in their system?"

The king remained silent for a moment.

"Who did you hear these rumors from?"

Doc chuckled a bit to himself. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Just some crazy lady yelling in the streets. But the more I thought about, the more it made sense. And to be honest, that makes you all the more terrifying. I mean, you have this crazy river of blood flowing underneath your citizens, but the citizens themselves can become weapons of your destruction!"

The king stood still, staring off into the dark.

"I don’t know how powerful your brother-in-law is, but he’s in for one hell of a surprise when he gets back!"

"That’s the thing, Doc. I am almost positive he knows about those things, yet he is still choosing to lay siege on this kingdom. That is what I am frightened of the most."

A woman was slowly walking back to her home in the kingdom. Her hair was disheveled and her throat hurt from screaming all day. As she went to turn the doorknob to her home, she felt a pain spread through her chest. She clutched it and fell to her knees, gasping for air. Before long, she had died of a heart attack on her own front porch.