this being the chapter i publish on my birthday is very pog. i am now the same age as jack manifold, ayup! i am also dedicating this chapter to , my beloved, who reads this fic religiously and is my fellow techno kinnie. we miss technoblade tg lol that's it for the a/n lol

The Pogtopians, people who up to this point were allies, stare at Techno and Nia. The two exchange glances, nodding slightly.

"Listen, everyone!" Technoblade exclaims to get people's attention, clutching his crossbow and pointing it at the L'Manburgians standing across him.

"I did not spend months gathering supplies, planning this revolution and getting you guys gear to take down Manburg, just so you can go and replace one tyrant with another," he says, shaking his head.

"Don't you see what's happening here? Don't you see history repeating itself? You think Schlatt was the cause of your problems? No! It was government! Power corrupts!"

"I got your back," Dream whispers to Nia.

She turns to look at him, nodding with a weak smile.

"What— what are you saying?" Fundy steps forward, though Tommy and Tubbo are still the ones standing in the front line. He gazes at Technoblade, Nia and Team Chaos, just like everyone else, in shock.

"Are you against the government?" inquires Eret, as if that's not exactly what Techno just said.

"Are you drunk, too?" Quackity narrows his eyes at the anarchist.

Technoblade rolls his eyes, shaking his head. "I'm saying that we need to have no government." Clutching his sword tightly, he keeps eye contact with Tommy.

"Techno?" Niki's voice is barely a whisper.

Nia catches onto the scared and disappointed tone in Niki's voice, despite her being so quiet. And a frown crosses her face as she thinks of the many times that she spoke of being against the government alongside Technoblade.

Sara stares at Nia intently, the two women standing against each other this time around, the outcome of their differing opinions finally showing. They went from fighting together as allies to possibly fighting against each other.

Shaking her head, Nia glances at Dream, who sneaks up on Tommy. The blonde boy notices just in time to dodge Dream's axe, which would've possibly killed or severely injured the boy had he not ducked in time.

"I see I was wrong to rely on other people," Technoblade sighs, and another fight ensues, commenced by Dream who attacked Tommy.

Stela is gone. She disappeared around the same time Wilbur did, except Nia doubts that she would've gone to help Wilbur blow up L'Manburg — or stop him. If she left, then she'd have to be somewhere else.

Nia doesn't want to fight anymore. A lot of these people, she'd even consider friends, and fighting them would go against her skin. She'd already done terribly when faced against Dream.

For a moment, she stands frozen in place, watching as Dream and Technoblade fight against Tommy and Tubbo, others trying to run away from Punz and Sapnap. Sam shoots at people with his bow, and Bad, Antfrost and Skeppy join the fight not long after.

Nia takes a deep breath, wondering how they'd got to this point. Not long ago, they were fighting side by side. And now? Alliances changed once again. She watches Sara plow her way through to Techno, who is now fighting Purpled. Dream continues pursuing Tommy and Tubbo.

Finally, Nia decides to move, putting herself in between Technoblade and Sara. She purses her lips and shakes her head.

"You don't have to do this," says Sara, a pleading tone in her voice.

She gazes at Nia with a sort of disappointment in her eyes, which confuses the princess. Mostly because Nia has always been honest about her values and the fact that she wants L'Manburg destroyed. Tilting her head to the side, she draws her swords, listening to the terrible sound of metal clanking against metal.

Sara sighs, clutching onto her diamond sword. Or, to be more precise, Technoblade's sword. One of the many he acquired for the Pogtopians, because he thought they'd finally understood how destructive governments were.

"You know that I do."

Nia attacks first, her sword slashing through air as Sara barely escapes the sharp blade. Wide eyed, Sara defends herself and blocks the swing at her head, forgetting that Nia has two swords.

The princess slashes Sara's thigh as a warning wound. Not wanting to hurt her. The complexity of this war is something Nia didn't exactly anticipate — fighting against friends, allies and enemies alike, as well as with them.

The two women dance together, Sara tiring much faster than Dream even when being on the defensive. Nia gets an advantage when Sara wavers, letting Nia hook her swords around Sara's and yank it out of her grip.

Nia points the tip of her sword to Sara's neck with a glint of sadness in her eyes.

Sara merely shakes her head with a smile, her hand shooting up to grip at the blade of the sword. The redhead's hand glows in bright red, the metal slowly melting away under her touch, the entire sword heating up to the point Nia has to let go of it to not get burned.

She hisses in pain, the sword falling to the ground, partly melted.

"Sara—" Nia begins speaking, though something else draws her attention.

A loud explosion is heard from the center of L'Manburg. Both Nia and Sara look at the center, slowly falling apart as more blasts go off and tear through the country. It demolishes several buildings, others collapse from their very foundations.

The podium has been blown to pieces, Nia notices. She stares at Wilbur standing at the very center with a man — the same man she saw in the woods moments ago — except his cape is gone. Instead, his back is decorated with majestic black wings. But they're damaged.

"WILBUR?!"

Many people are thrown back by the force of the explosions or nearly buried under the rubble of the buildings that have given way.

Nia doesn't get to inspect much more as the building next to her and Sara explodes, chunks of bricks, stone and metal flying through the air. The blast forces Nia back, harshly landing on the ground, a block of building stone dropping on her leg. She protects her head with her arms, feeling the materials bore into her skin, leaving many cuts and non-severe bleeding wounds. She grits her teeth as she suppresses the pain.

Sara whimpers next to Nia. She's quite literally nailed to the ground by several metal poles that pierced through her leg and stomach, her feet buried under the residue of L'Manburg's buildings.

Nia groans, her ears ringing. Lifting herself on her elbows, disoriented, she stares at the piece of stone. Huffing, she screams in pain, forcing the rock off of her leg. Getting up to her knees, she slowly crawls over to Sara, who is staring off into the distance.

The princess follows her gaze, only to see the blonde winged man gripping Wilbur's diamond sword. He hugs Wilbur tightly, and one would think that it's a show of affection, a sweet gesture of greeting, maybe. However, the sword in the man's hands goes right through Wilbur's stomach, the blood dripping down the blade.

The man collapses with Wilbur — Nia would say they almost look like father and son — and she watches him hold onto Wilbur, mourning.

Something creaks above Nia's head, and her attention is brought back to her situation. Her head tilts to look up, only to see a chunk of stone looming above her and Sara, threatening to fall. Nia needs to get Sara out before it kills her.

Scrambling to her feet, stumbling towards Sara, Nia uses all of her might to lift the block of stone off Sara, who huffs in relief. Though there are still metal poles that unless they're taken out and her wounds treated — she'll bleed out on the spot. Though her powers might already be burning through them.

"Sara, I'll—"

"I don't give a fuck, just get it out of me!" the redhead exclaims, gripping onto the metal stuck in her stomach.

Nia nods, clenching her jaw. She does as she's told, and with Sara's futile attempt at helping her, Nia pulls the first pole out of Sara. She watches the wound burn itself to prevent bleeding out.

"One would think that being a living supernova, you'll also get invincibility or something," she mutters under her breath, obviously miffed, as the two women avert their attention to the second metal pole.

Nia chuckles. "One would think that would come with being a minor goddess," she remarks.

Sara laughs almost hysterically, instead of it being a cry, as the second pole comes out from her leg. "You're right."

Helping Sara up and moving just in time before the chunk of stone comes crashing down, Nia stares at the destruction and damage Wilbur has caused by pressing the button. His unfinished symphony will now be forever unfinished.

Nia watches Stela helping Niki, Fundy and Jack get out from under a pile of rubble. She must've come back after hearing the explosions.

"Tubbo!" Tommy shouts, seemingly unharmed by the explosion. He dodged most of the bad in the blast. His hair is gray due to the ash and his face is covered in dirt.

"I'm here!" Tubbo crawls out from under a heap of stone and metal. He looks fine besides the occasional cut here and there, and the clothes covered in dust.

"It's kind of lucky we decided to keep most of our important stuff in our ender chests, huh?"

Technoblade is also unhurt. He gets to the side Nia and Sara are stuck on, facing Tommy, Tubbo and the rest of L'Manburg.

Team Chaos joins Techno's side again.

"I don't want to fight anymore," Sara mumbles under her breath, fatigue crossing her face, her shoulders slumping.

She raises her head to gaze at Technoblade. He starts making a speech to Tommy and the citizens of L'Manburg. Something about a Greek hero named Theseus — comparing Tommy to the fictional man.

Nia blocks it out, remembering the golden apple she decided to keep on her this morning because she felt like she might need it. Pulling it out, she gives Sara the apple to take a bite. Or perhaps eat the whole thing — it will help her heal faster than a regeneration potion would.

Sara glances at Nia. "I can't take that."

"Just shut up and take it." Nia rolls her eyes. "Stela would kill me if you ended up severely hurt because of me."

"Why do you still care about that?"

"Because I don't have anything else to do, or anywhere else to go after this war is over."

"Oh, fuck! My house has been blown to pieces!"

"Exactly what I'm saying." Nia nods.

They stay quiet for a bit, listening to Technoblade's speech. Taking off the two iron rings on his fingers, Techno clutches the two wither stars within it. He catches everybody's attention as they realize what it is.

"Techno, don't do this!" the blonde winged man shouts.

"I have to, Phil!" Technoblade responds, shaking his head. "It's the only way to ensure that this country will never rise again!"

With that, he drops the two wither stars on the ground. They crack, a blinding burst of light coming out of them. Nia averts her eyes from the source of the light momentarily. When she turns around after the light dissipates, two creatures of mass destruction float before Techno.

Withers.

"You wanna be a hero, Tommy?" the anarchist questions, intently staring right at the blonde boy while the withers start tearing the country apart even further.

"Then die like one!"