Star vs the Forces of Evil: The Ballad of Earth-Mewni

Episode 33: Endgame Endeavor (Part 1)

Star, Marco, & Cassandra returned to the center of the multiverse in quick haste. Now that the last wand was claimed, their chances of stopping Manfred shot up into the atmosphere. Sure, Manfred arguably had the better wand, but Star & Marco had the experience and the willpower to take him down. Now all they needed to do was find the rest of their group & track the former servant down. "Okay, does anyone remember who went through which door?" Star asked the other two. But neither of them could provide a satisfactory answer, resulting in a loud groan from Star. "That would've been too easy."

"Well, hey, look on the bright side," Marco said, reassuring his girlfriend. "Now that we have a wand, we don't have to worry about piggybacking off of Miss Cher; we can split up and cover even more ground!"

"Marco's correct. This is exactly the break we needed!"

"Wait, but...what about you?" Star stepped forward towards Cassandra. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

She knelled down & carressed Star's cheek. "Are you sure? I would've thought you would be angry at me."

"Angry?"

"Probably for keeping this a secret...you know, magic being back and all." Marco finished for her.

"Oh, I am." Star responded bluntly. "But like, only a little. It's not like you actually betrayed my trust & went around telling people some of the confidential crap I've been spilling in our sessions. But also this is so not the time for me to be petty about anything. I can be mad at you later if I want to, but right now we need to stop Manfred."

With a firm pat of Star's shoulder, Cassandra stood up and dusted off. "Alright. Pick your door. If you find someone from our group, bring them back here. If you find Manfred..." She took a deep breath. "Do whatever must be done to stop him."

"We're not going to have to...kill him, are we?" Star asked her; Mina's death occassionally crept its way into Star's psyche. Sure, it was deemed the right thing to do; it was literally the only way to stop magic the second time and Mina herself accepted her fate, but still: Star took the life of someone that had tried to show remorse & regret for their actions. It was one thing to kill Rhombulous, Hekapoo, and Omnitraxus, three douchebags that, by the end, showed themselves to be too far gone & permanently stuck in their bigoted, destructive ways. It was another to look someone that committed themselves to fixing their mistakes, redemption be damned, in the eye and then strike them down.

"...I'm certainly not rooting for the opportunity. But if that's the only way we can protect everyone, I won't hesitate."

Star gulped, but nodded. She agreed despite how much anxiety it brought her. "Alright...let's do this." With one more silent nod towards each other, they went their separate ways - Cassandra by herself, and Star & Marco together - to take a dimension for themselves. The quest to find Manfred was now ramping up.

==Page Break==

For Cassandra, the dimension she picked happened to be a lucky one. It was a mysterious Labryinth-based dimension. Literally the entire area was one giant maze, with walls constantly shifting & changing positions at random paces. Whosoever entered this dimension had to have incrediblely fast reflexes to avoid being crushed by the constantly moving walls, as was demonstrated by the other inhabitants of this dimension: Mariposa, Meteora, Eclipsa, Globgor, and one of the spider-bear hybrid creatures that was hunting them. Eclipsa was dangling off one of the ledges right above a bottomless pit, with the ledge constantly jerking up and about as if it was attempting to shake her off. Globgor was attempting to pull her up with his strength while also keeping his balance amid the shaking ground, while Mariposa & Meteora were fighting off the hybrid creature, who was proving itself to be a more-than-formidable opponent for them this time around.