Mario and Luigi looked at each other. Both brothers reached into their overalls pockets at the same time, pulled out Super Mushrooms, and swallowed them down.
The battle was completely unavoidable. For the future of the Mushroom Kingdom, they had to defeat Cyan and Nishi.
Infinite Style: Gale Slash!
Hamon Overdrive!
"Whoosh!"
The hard stone ground shattered instantly. Cyan's figure turned into a flash of golden lightning, materializing directly behind Mario as her blade, heavily coated in sharp sword qi, came slicing down.
"Bang!"
Mario felt a sudden cold wind brushing his back. Spinning his body mid-air, he leaped up dynamically just as the sword qi left a deep, jagged slash mark across the floor. Falling rapidly, he aimed his feet straight down toward Cyan's arms.
Hamon Overdrive: Rapid Rush!
(Please cue Star Platinum's ORA ORA ORA!)
Plunging her demonic blade firmly into the ground, Cyan unleashed a rapid flurry of punches at Mario. The overlapping shadows of her continuous fists completely enveloped him. Utilizing Hamon energy to drastically augment her arm strength, her punching speed per second reached a terrifying level.
So strong!
Mario looked at the countless fist shadows in utter disbelief. The ultra-fast fists pounded against his body, making time itself seem to freeze at this very moment!
So fast!
Sitting on her throne and enjoying the drama, Bowsette's blue eyes widened. She couldn't even clearly see the trajectory of Cyan's hands; she could only see a dense canopy of fist shadows enveloping Mario in an instant.
The Super Mushroom effect on Mario vanished under the overwhelming pressure, plunging him into a brief frame of invulnerability. He took this exact chance to pull out a Super Star.
The Super Star dissolved into a brilliant light, plating Mario's body like pure gold and radiating a shifting, multicolored glow.
When Cyan's fists struck Mario's newly empowered frame, an immense counterforce surged backward. Unable to control her momentum, she was forced to stumble back several steps. The very force of the punches she landed on Mario had actually been reflected straight back at her! If she hadn't been wearing several pieces of damage-reduction and defense-boosting gear, this reflected force alone would have stripped away over 100 points of her HP.
The Super Star...
Cyan calculated the remaining duration of the invincibility item while continuously evading Mario's counters. With Mario's enhanced speed, hitting Cyan—who was fully focused on dodging and stalling for time—was proving to be incredibly difficult.
Oh no! Bro is locked in a bitter struggle!
Luigi dodged a fireball thrown by Nishi. Seeing that Mario had used a Super Star but still couldn't do anything to pin Cyan down, his heart filled with panic. He desperately wanted to break away from Nishi to help his brother.
[Mud Throw!]
Seeing Luigi get distracted, Nishi took the opportunity to hurl a clump of thick, pitch-black mud onto the ground. She still remembered vividly how Erni had slipped and fallen on mud that day.
"Your opponent is me! Don't get distracted, big-nosed uncle!"
Having set her trap, Nishi continuously hurled fireballs, trying to force Luigi toward the patch of mud. As long as he stepped on it and slipped, the rest would be easy.
"Don't call me big-nosed uncle! My nose was born this way!"
Luigi leaped into the air, spinning his body to stomp down toward Nishi. Surprisingly, the fireballs Nishi threw were actually blown away by the wind generated from Luigi's spin!
Nishi quickly took two steps back. Just as Luigi was about to land, she rushed toward him and executed a sliding kick right to his shin. Unfortunately, the sliding kick failed to trigger a bone fracture effect.
However, that wasn't Nishi's true goal. Luigi was forced a step back by her sliding kick, and his foot landed right on the slick mud that matched the color of the ground. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped in panic as he crashed flat onto his back.
Taking this golden opportunity, Nishi rushed over, cast Steal on Luigi, and then delivered a vicious kick straight between his legs.
If Luigi hadn't eaten a Super Mushroom earlier, this kick would have probably turned him into the first man in the Mushroom World with no weaknesses. Under the effect of the Super Mushroom, the kick merely caused his power-up state to vanish. His body shrunk back to normal size, completely unharmed but stripped of his buffer.
Luigi tried to stand up, but stepping on the sticky, slippery mud, he fell face-first once again.
"Wait! I surrender!"
Luigi looked at Nishi, who was eyeing his lower half with a dark, sinister gaze. For the sake of his future marital bliss, he gave up. After all, continuing to fight under these conditions gave them a very slim hope of winning.
"How could you aim and kick there?!" Luigi couldn't help but complain. He had never seen someone so shameless; even little kids don't fight like this! It completely lacked martial ethics. And she was a girl—was it reasonable to kick a middle-aged man right in the groin?
"It doesn't matter how dirty the method is, as long as it works!" Nishi said with a laugh. In the era she came from, plagued by famine and war, just surviving was a luxury. It didn't matter how low-down the tactics were, as long as you stayed alive.
"You lose."
The Super Star effect on Mario finally wore off, and Cyan's demonic blade was resting directly against his neck. The Mario brothers had never shown any malice toward them, which was one of the reasons Cyan didn't unleash a killing blow. The second reason was that the Mario brothers were the protagonists of this world, and it was still unclear what catastrophic consequences would occur if a protagonist were killed.
She sheathed her demonic blade. Looking at the slightly unwilling Mario, Cyan pointed at Prince Peach, who was still unconscious on the floor. "Take him and leave. Otherwise, die here."
"I understand."
Mario sighed and walked toward Prince Peach. He and his brother had done everything they could; things had reached this point, so they could only accept it. If they didn't, what else could they do? After all, they had been utterly defeated by Cyan and Nishi. Allowing them to leave the Bowser Queen's castle with Prince Peach was already incredibly merciful.
Mario and Luigi walked over to Prince Peach and hoisted him up. Looking at Prince Peach's face, covered in fist prints and swollen to twice its normal size, his mouth open and missing a front tooth, the brothers' expressions turned highly eccentric.
They desperately tried to hold back their laughter; it wasn't that they wanted to be mean, but Prince Peach's current appearance was just too hilarious. Fortunately, they remembered their grim situation, making the struggle to hold back their laughter extremely painful.
Too funny! No, wait, too cruel! To beat Prince Peach into this state, how excessive!
Holding it in with great difficulty, Mario and Luigi carried Prince Peach out of the grand hall. Cyan sat on the ground, feeling a bit exhausted from the high-intensity engagement.
"Master! We won~! I was a big help, right!" Nishi happily ran toward Cyan, and then... she stepped right on her own mud on the ground.
Slipped!
With a loud thud, Nishi landed right on her bottom over the jagged stones. The Fire Flower and Super Mushroom effects running through her system instantly vanished.
"..."
Cyan stared blankly at this scene, turned her head, and spat out a single word: "Idiot."
"I didn't do it on purpose! Who knew this mud wouldn't disappear?!" Returning to her normal size, Nishi looked completely deflated and gloomy.
"Thank you both for temporarily resolving my crisis."
Bowsette walked over to Cyan and Nishi. A grateful smile appeared on her pale face, and the small fangs peeking out from the corners of her lips gave her smile a touch of cuteness.
"Hehehe~! It's nothing. I wonder what kind of reward the Queen can offer us?" Nishi looked at Bowsette with pure greed in her eyes, as if she were looking at a mountain of glittering gold.
"Mm."
Cyan glanced at Bowsette, but felt a slight pang of doubt in her heart. Bowsette's crisis should be resolved by now, so why hadn't Survival Quest 2 been marked as complete?
Temporarily?
Cyan recalled Bowsette's words—she said "temporarily resolved my crisis." Could it mean Bowsette still had other enemies heading their way? Thinking of this, Cyan grew alert, stretching her senses to monitor everything around them.
"I will not shortchange you on your rewards."
Bowsette looked at Cyan with intrigue, a hint of curiosity in her eyes as she wondered what that pale-golden fire was all about.
"When you say 'temporarily resolved my crisis', do you mean more enemies will attack?" Cyan stood up, staring directly into Bowsette's blue eyes.
"Exactly. Until my injuries are fully healed, I wish to hire the two of you to protect my safety." Bowsette revealed her true objective.
In other words, Survival Quest 2 will only be completed once Bowsette's body fully recovers.
"Alright."
To finish Survival Quest 2, Cyan agreed to Bowsette's request.
On the other side, having walked out of the castle, Luigi patted his pockets and suddenly discovered that his prized 1-Up Mushroom was gone!
Did it accidentally fall out somewhere? No way! I distinctly checked that I had it on me! Did it drop on the ground when I fell earlier?
Realizing that the 1-Up Mushroom had probably been swiped by Nishi, and remembering her terrifying, predatory grin, Luigi felt a sudden chill between his legs. He instantly abandoned any thought of running back to demand it. Completely devoid of soul, he wobbled as he carried Prince Peach's legs, his entire world turning grayscale.
What a massive loss! My 1-Up Mushroom!!!