Chapter Text
The morning sun hung high above the village, casting a warm golden glow over the rooftops. Villagers moved through the streets carrying crops, trading emeralds, and tending to their farms. Children ran between houses while iron golems patrolled lazily through the pathways. It was one of those rare days where everything felt peaceful.
Unfortunately, peace never lasted long.
In the center of the village stood two very well-known players facing each other.
Wemmbu tightened his grip on his mace, its metal head glinting in the sunlight. Across from him stood FlameFrags, confidently holding a netherite sword at his side. Villagers quickly backed away, then scurried off, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.
This was not the first time that this had happened. It was almost a routine occurrence for the two to be seen fighting each other.
They then kicked off, charging at each other; the sounds of metal striking metal rang across the town. The ground started to break, and debris flew in different directions.
They then broke off with a final slam as Flame blocked Wemmbu’s attack with his shield, creating space from each other as they now stood at a stalemate once again. Wemmbu swung his mace over his shoulder, and Flame lifted his sword up, preparing for another attack as they stared at each other, catching their breaths.
Wemmbu then stood up straight and tall, an imitation of the other as he spoke up,
“You shouldn’t have come to fight me.” He paused for a minute before continuing, “You know how this ends.”
Flame scoffed.
“There you go again,” he replied, “Always acting like you're the strongest person on the server.”
Wemmbu hummed as he narrowed his eyes, locking onto Flame as he shrugged with that stupid goofy look on his face.
“Maybe because I am,” he retorted before he assumed a fighting stance.
Flame prepared himself as he brought his sword up more, grounding himself on the pavement before pushing off with immense strength. The floor broke and split from the force of his shot towards Wemmbu, his sword dragging on the floor, destroying it further as he created debris to block Wemmbu's vision. All the while, Wemmbu was prepared for this as he quickly popped more potions onto himself before readying for Flame's attack.
CLANG!
Sparks flew in every direction. The force pushed both players backward. But neither was willing to back down. They continued to trade blows again,
and again,
and again.
Each strike came faster than the last.
Wemmbu dodged one swing before he leapt forward, bringing his mace downward. FlameFrags barely managed to avoid the attack as the weapon smashed into the ground, leaving a crater in the dirt path.
“You're getting slower, bro,” Flame teased.
"And you're getting predictable," Wemmbu shot back.
The battle continued.
Totems popping, more potions being used, and their gapple supply depleting every minute the fight stretched. No one would win at this point. Either that or one of them admitted defeat.
The two, too engrossed in their fight, failed to notice the atmospheric change. The surroundings got quiet. The temperature cooled a few degrees, yet they continued their clash without a heed of nature's warning.
But that was quickly changed when they both heard something in the distance,
Something wasn’t right.
Both stopped mid-clash as their attention turned to the said noise. A dark figure emerged from behind one of the houses.
Then another.
And another.
Dozens of players clad in netherite armor appeared throughout the village.
All invisible…
A shock of recognition hit the two like a train wreck.
“It… It can’t be...” Wemmbu muttered before a final figure emerged from the crowd.
It was as if time stopped.
The laughter came first - a low, distorted chuckle echoed through the village streets.
His dark purple combat boots struck against the stone path with deliberate precision. A long dark-purple coat billowed behind him as he emerged from the line of soldiers. The golden epaulettes rested proudly upon his shoulders, like a general returning from war.
Pieces of armor gleamed beneath the sunlight, and a sword hung at his side.
Finally, the figure fully stepped into visible view. Medium-length dark purple hair framed his face, several strands hanging loosely over his eyes. His condescending, cocky smirk was plastered onto his face as he looked at the two.
The glitching matter on the left side of his face confirmed the two's fears, but before they could do anything,
“Oh, hello there…” he greeted, “missed me?”
Wemmbu, finally disengaging from Flame, turned to fully face the commander. Flame was doing the same, as his disgust and rage radiated from beneath his blindfold.
“Ashswag...” Wemmbu snarled at the man. Ashswag’s smile widened.
"Well..." His voice was smooth. “It has been a while. Hasn’t it? Wemmbu. Flamefrags.”
They both tensed when they heard Ashswag say their name. Wemmbu took a glance at the strain on Flame’s face, his tightly clenched jaw, before turning his attention back to Ashswag. The grip on his mace tightened.
“It sure has…” he threw a dark, nervous smile towards Ashswag, “but that begs the question… Why are you here?”
Ashswag folded his arms behind his back, maintaining his gaze as he smiled at the pair,
“Well, isn’t it obvious?” he answered, “I've come back to continue my plan, and...”
There was a pause. Nothing needed to be said between Flame and Wemmbu before they got into a defensive stance.
“I've also come back for revenge.”
With that last sentence, Ashswag quickly signaled to his soldiers to prepare an attack. In unison, they obliged.
Ashswag, standing still in his place, watched with a sadistic smile.
“And the war begins…” he uttered before turning away from the battle.
-
The moment Ashswag disappeared into the crowd, the Invisible Mafia surged forward like a tidal wave of armor and steel crashing toward them.
"Here they come!" Flame shouted.
Wemmbu grunted in response as he spun his mace around before dashing forward himself. Equipping his elytra as he shot up with a rocket before removing it, and barreling down onto the soldiers, slamming and eliminating some as Flame just rolled his eyes under his blindfold.
“Always running into stuff headfirst,” he mumbled to himself before he too charged in to join the battle, smashing potion bottles onto the ground and slashing at the soldiers.
If they wanted a fight—
They'd get one.
The first soldier lunged toward Flame with an axe.
CRACK!
Wemmbu's mace slammed directly into the player's chestplate, launching them backward into a nearby market stand. The wood exploded into splinters as the soldier disappeared into the debris.
A second soldier immediately took their place. Then a third. Then five more.
"Since when did they recruit this many people?!" Wemmbu yelled before he grunted from a strike, quickly turning around and kicking the attacker. “Bro, this is like double the numbers they had last time!”
"No idea!" Flame answered while struggling with his own battle. He narrowly ducked underneath a swing before driving his netherite blade upward. Sparks erupted as armor shattered. Another soldier dropped, but there was no time to celebrate. More fighters rushed at him, replacing the ones he defeated.
It was chaos. Suddenly, Wemmbu and Flamefrags were cornered with their backs pressed together. Surrounded and without supplies, the realisation dawned on them that they were not winning this fight.
This wasn't the same Invisible Mafia they had faced before. A crossbow bolt unexpectedly whizzed past Wemmbu's head. Another struck the ground beside him. A third struck his shoulder.
"Gah!"
“Dude!” Flame shouted worriedly for the purple demon. He turned back at the soldiers in front of him, then to his inventory. “Tch.”
Wemmbu stumbled back into a fighting stance before flying upwards in the air with his wind charges. Those will have to suffice. But as they killed the players, the number of enemies kept increasing.
“I hate to say it, but we're not winning this, man,” Wemmbu called out breathlessly. Flame grunted as he was slammed down on his shield with a mace.
“Agreed,” he strained, “any ideas how to escape...?”
Wemmbu grinned like a madman, “Glad you asked.”
Flame just then felt his soul internally groan as he thought, ‘this idiot is going to do something stupid.’
And boy was he correct. Without elaborating, Flame saw the familiar fishing rods. His eyes widened behind his blindfold as he cracked a chuckle, grinning as he turned away from Wemmbu, getting ready to peel away.
Wemmbu cast every rod he had in all directions. The hooks whistled through the air before snagging onto rooftops, lampposts, trees, and abandoned houses throughout the village.
Several Invisible Mafia soldiers hesitated.
"...Why is he using fishing rods?"
"I... don't think they're for us."
A soldier looked up. His eyes widened.
"Oh no."
High above the village, tiny glowing particles began to shimmer against the bright afternoon sky.
One. Then another. Then dozens.
The familiar sound sent a chill through every veteran on the battlefield.
SSSSSSSSSSS
One of Wemmbu’s signature weapons… The Orbital Strike.
“Could’ve warned a man,” Flame huffed, all while using the moment to attack the distracted soldiers. Wemmbu smiled, doing the same,
“Nahhh, you would’ve figured it out.”
The TNT rained down as the heavens themselves split apart, as enormous rods of energy descended toward the village. The mafia soldiers immediately scattered.
"Move!"
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
The first impact shook the entire village.
BOOOOOOM!!
A crater erupted where dozens of soldiers had been standing only moments earlier. Before the dust could settle—
Another.
BOOM!
Then another.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions ripped through the village in every direction. Killing and injuring many soldiers in the process. Buildings collapsed under the force of the impacts, market stalls were launched into the air, and clouds of smoke engulfed entire streets.
Flame didn't waste another second. Using the pearl that he’d been saving. Wemmbu was doing the same, as he used one of the two last pearls he had to then throw a wind charge in the air, pearling to it and finally macing down one last player with his elytra boosted by the momentum.
He rocketed into the sky just as another orbital rod tore through the space he'd occupied a heartbeat earlier.
Below, the Invisible Mafia scrambled in every direction.
"Scatter!"
"Move!"
As cannons continued to rain down from the unfathomable amount that Wemmbu had on him for some reason, as he hadn’t brought them out earlier, the battlefield was thrown into complete disarray. Soldiers who had been relentlessly pursuing the pair only moments before were now scrambling in every direction, desperately trying to avoid the devastating impacts. The perfectly coordinated formation had dissolved into pure disarray.
This was the ‘perfect escape '; some soldiers still followed them on their trail as they escaped, but most were caught in the chaos of the orbital strikes. Wemmbu twisted midair, the wind roaring past his ears. Without looking, he slung his bow over his shoulder and drew an arrow. The bowstring snapped forward. One pursuing soldier disappeared from his peripheral vision before he had even watched the arrow land.
Flame then ambushed the rest of them, successfully getting the last of the soldiers off their trail. Flame then continued to escape. Wemmbu followed suit…
-
Far below the smoke-filled sky, Ashswag stood atop the remains of a village watchtower; his dark purple coat swayed gently in the wind. Around him, the mayhem continued unabated, while he watched from a distance. Soldiers shouted orders. Buildings collapsed beneath the final orbital strikes.
He held an unreadable expression on his face as he analysed the scene. His eyes then fixated on the tiny figure gliding across the horizon, and the other, lost.
Wemmbu…
One of his commanders landed beside him, kneeling immediately.
"My lord."
Ashswag didn't answer.
"Their escape route has been identified. Shall I send a pursuit squad?"
For several long seconds, he didn't answer… Then Ashswag smiled.
"...No." The commander blinked in confusion.
"But, sir, they're getting away."
He clasped his hands behind his back, eyes still glued to where Wemmbu took off; he held his eerie calm smile in his reply.
“It doesn't make a difference. We’ll get them one way or another.” Finally, he turned away. Walking off. “Round up the remaining soldiers. We have things to work on…”
Leaving, his eyes held a manic glint as he muttered to himself,
“This is only just the beginning.”