Dan didn't have time to react. He was hurled through the nearest wall, and not in the intangible way, forming a hole in the piece of metal.

"Daddy!" Dani cried and clung to her father. "Mommy...she...she..."

Phantom kneeled near the girl, and even if they were still red, they held only worry. "Dani, I need you to get as far away from here as you can. Remember what I have taught you. We will meet later."

Dani nodded. "Please, be alright, Daddy," she pleaded.

"I doubt he can complete your wish, girl," Dan went out of the hole.

His appearance was different now. His attire consisted of the black and white suit, on his shoulders was a white cape with black inners. His boots and gloves were white. Dan's black haired beard became white, his skin was light blue, red eyes had taken a permanent character. Instead of the slick black hair, there was a raging white fire on top of his head. Danny immediately stood between them and flinched involuntairy. And Dan noticed that.

"Oh, what's this? The poison is still in effect?" He asked with a smirk. "I may have lied about the time it takes to kill you. You have about twenty minutes left, Danny-boy. You have to defeat me, and I am not a fool, I don't carry an antidote in my pocket. Looks like the girl is going to be an orphan."

Dani sobbed and looked up at her father, who soothingly stroked her pearly hair. She only hugged him tighter, looking away from the horrible monster. Older Phantom glared at the ghost in front of him, slightly pushing his daughter behind his back.

"If I'm going to die," he growled as his eyes glowed brighter. "I'm taking you with me!" He yelled.

Putting his hands together, Danny hurled the beam of red energy. Dan immediately summoned a shield, grunting under the monstrous pressure. He was even pushed back along with his own shield. Once the energy surge dissappeared, so did the block, but it was a grave mistake. With a roar, Phantom ran at him, and pushed them through the wall, not giving his enemy any time to become intangible. The metal bent and screeched as the two went through. To the street. Dan flew backwards, while Phantom regained his position.

"Of all places to choose, you have picked Coruscant," Danny muttered, shaking off the pieces of debris.

It was the Coruscant Underworld, the crowdy place by default and the crowd around screamed in terror and backed off. But once the initial shock eased, everyone realized who at least one of them was. But the image surely was different. His clothes were a torn mess, he himself seemed to be injured, but his face was what caused them to fear. Instead of a handsome young face was something terrific, not a bit lesser than that of his opponent. The crimson eyes had lost any pupils and seemed to radiate some sort of energy, the already pale skin was white just as the floating hair. The audience's eyes darted to another person, who rose back on his legs calmly.

"Alright, I must admit it was impressive, Daniel, but I have lost interest in this little game."

"A GAME?!" Phantom inhumanly roared.

Before he was even able to react, or before anyone could even blink, Danny grabbed Dan's neck, unknowingly repeating the same action the latter had done many years later. In a split second mostion, Phantom moved his enemy's head in an unseen motion, hitting the nearest metal beam.

"Still funny, you asshole?!" Phantom exclaimed, hitting the beam again and throwing the ghost away.

Dan fell on the ground ten meters away, with his eyes wide. Damn, the kid had become more powerful than he had expected. He saw that Phantom was approaching him steadily. The poison was supposed to be killing him! He was supposed to crawl and grief until his death came!

"You think that all of this was a game, does this hurt like in a game?" Danny growled. "Well then, I'm done playing games. I have only one hour to live, but I'm going to savor every second of ripping you apart piece by piece!"

"Try then, Daniel. Beating you in public shall be entertaining."

"Cease this immediately!"

Both ghosts turned to the side and saw the policemen droids. Phantom clenched his fists and cracked them in pieces, before throwing them away into the endless pit. The citizens scattered, realizing that it was dangerous to approach two beings. Two ghosts launched at each other, Dan was about to throw a punch, but hit only smoke. Phantom appeared behind him, firing energy ray his enemy was unable to block. Dan ducked aside, and the ray burned through another dark underground building. Once he turned around, there was no one there. Expecting a strike from behind again, the ghost was mistaken.

Suddenly two hands went from under the ground, grabbing the edge of his cape and pulling downwards. Dan hit the ground with an immense force, leaving several bend places on the metal floor. Phantom now appeared above him, before kicking him in the face. The power of impact alone made the crack beneath become bigger. The people couldn't even imagine how someone could be so strong like him, and as hardy as his opponent to stay alive after this and several more kicks to come.

Finally Dan managed to get back to his senses. His flung hand started to glow green, before a blast erupted from his palm and hit Phantom's chest. Danny flew several meters away, almost losing his balance. Dan leaped on his feet, fixing his head in the right direction with a cracking sound.

"Alright, that was not fun," he commented, before a burning green blade appeared in his hand.

Dan lunged forward, swinging his weapon. It was intercepted by the transparent lightsaber Danny had taken from under his clothes. The impact made the lightsaber sparkle and wheeze furiously, but it didn't shut down. Danny was being pushed back, but he stood firmly on his legs, and the metal screeched beneath his boots. Even they were stronger than the cheap material these constructions were covered in.

"Nice toy, Daniel, let's see how well it stands."

Phantom swung the blade aside, throwing a punch into Dan's face. The ghost ducked away from the strike, swiping the blade again, but it was blocked by Danny. The two started exchanging blows, but this was threatening to last forever. They both were seeing the opponent's movements beforehand, protecting themselves and trying to penetrate the enemy's perfect defense. They couldn't overpower each other. Phantom suddenly realized that Dan was pulling time, Danny didn't have time. He needed to think up something and quickly.

But in his thoughts Danny lost a part of his concentration, and Dan used the opportunity to get through, slashing the blade. Managing to redirect the hit, Danny wasn't able to prevent the enemy from slicing the lower part of his chest. They both knew that it didn't have any effect but sharp pain. Danny hissed, and Dan pushed him backwards. Phantom fell on his knees, wrapping his hand around his belly and his enemy leaped in the air to lend a final blow. Perfect.

When he was a few inches from the ground, Danny looked up and fired the energy surge he had prepared. It wasn't an ectoblast. It was more powerful than anything Dan had ever seen. The strike sent him several miles in the air, right into one of the buildings. Phantom jumped in the air with a loud sound, shocking everyone with his ability to fly. In a few seconds he got to the older ghost, who started firing down at him. In a midst of his rapid flight Danny was able to maneuver around the green blasts by turning his legs into the spectral tail. In his hands Phantom charged another red blast and for that purpose Dan created a shield to protect himself. It cracked, but the blast was absorbed. But the second Danny struck the shield with his fist, it finally gave up. They both crashed through the wall, landing inside.

That were common living barracks, which presented a big gray box, where people lived in one big room. And it just happened to be full of people. Even in his bloodthirsty state Phantom was not going to let the innocent people get caught in the crossfire. And Dan knew this, so he shot directly at the scattered crowd, causing Phantom to turn his attention away to make a shield. And the older ghost used this to land a punch to Danny's head, pinning him to the ground. Dan wanted to take revenge for the same recent action, but Phantom sprung his legs, kicking the enemy in the chest and sending him flying.

Danny rolled on his stomach, got into sitting position and then jumped on his legs. He then used the Force to take the opponent in a choking grip, before starting to thrash him like a ragdoll into the ceiling, floor, walls, the support beams' corners, until one of the walls broke under particular smash. Dan had tried to resist, but there was nothing he could do.

Phantom flew out of the hole, where he was attacked from below. He received a strike and was smashed into the wall as the harsh hand grabbed his head, before wiping the wall with it. Danny hissed in pain as the damaged metal pierced and scratched his skin. Phantom grasped the enemy's hand and sent an electric current. Dan screamed, and Danny didn't waste a second. He twisted the hand and threw the older ghost several meters away, charged the ectoblast and fired.

They ended up right below the Underworld's ceiling.

Dan kicked his opponent in the face. Danny staggered backwards in the air, before they started fighting hand to hand several miles above the nearest ground. No cars were flying through that place. Danny grabbed the ghost's hands, before pushing forward. He had seen what was above them. The flame haired ghost was caught unprepared, and screamed in pain once he saw how the pillar, standing under the ceiling, was struck through his chest. Phantom panted and flew a meter away. Dan looked at him with a deadpan expression.

"You didn't think it would be that easy?" He asked, without a single sign of dying.

"No, but you should stand still."

Electricity started to jump between his fingers. It cracked and wheezed, before concentrating in a single lighting bolt. The entire process took a couple of seconds and the green charge was unleashed with another thundering rumble. Dan screamed in pain, not having enough concentration to phase off from his capture. The electricity jumped from the rod and traveled much further down the wires, causing minor explosions to happen all along.

Phantom wasn't about to stop, but when a sudden stabbing and burning pain broke his own concentration, he couldn't maintain it. Dan used this opportunity to phase the pillar out. He immediately fired and Danny, still in pain, wasn't able to block it. He flew backwards, and the older ghost lunged forward, the hole in his stomach forgotten. It was already healing. Phantom grabbed the enemy's fist, but he was sent back. Danny suddenly stopped flying, descending to the ground on a rapid speed in a laying position. Looking up, Phantom charged the energy in his hands.

As was said, it was not an ectoenergy. In his moment of hatred and sorrow, the Dark Side was growing more and more powerful. And in these power waves he was releasing the pent up energy, which completely obliterated everything on its way, except the ghost, who was pushed away. Dan roared in anger, for his shields were too weak to hold back such attacks. The ghosts started exchanging monstrous blows, the thunder of which could be heard on a large distance around.

"What are you talking about?" Chancellor Palpatine asked the hologram.

"There is a havoc in the Underworld, sir, several buildings were destroyed," the police officer informed.

"How many terrorists are there?" Yoda asked, grasping his cane. Why was everything happening when he was at the Chancellor's office, he wondered.

"Those are not terrorists. The destruction seems to be...collateral damage."

"What's that supposed to..."

Another loud sound outside made Palpatine spin around and look out of the window. His eyes widened in shock as Yoda slowly stumbled next to him. They saw the two fighting titans, who were still trying to kill each other. Their battle had taken them to the surface, destroying everything on their way. It was hard to see who exactly they were, the observers only saw two streaks of black and white, red and green thrashing from one point to another. Once the large building came crashing down, Palpatine snapped out of his trance and looked at the Jedi.

"Master Yoda, you must do something with this. I don't think this is something our police can handle."

The small green alien nodded. "Indeed. Send the nearest Jedi, I will," he said, walking away.

Palpatine looked out of the window again. "So much power," he mouthed.

Phantom fired more ectoblasts at the opponent, who was avoiding them with a little to know. Danny's own supernatural reaction was getting blunted from the poison, which kept draining him of any energy. It was clearly visible, his veins had become red and swollen. Dan got closer again, not caring much about the tactics, knowing that he only needed to last for another ten minutes. Danny knew that as well, so he needed to finish this quickly. His train of thoughts was interrupted when he was punched hardly and launched into the surface, creating a small crater.

"My, my, you are losing touch, Daniel," Dan mocked as he softly landed on the ground.

Danny somehow managed to stand on his legs. With how hungry the reporters were, now thousands of Republican worlds were seeing what was going on in the capital, with only one question in mind. How was he still alive?! The wounds weren't healing anymore, and each scratch, each broken limb were in the same condition as in the second they were inflicted. Yes, Danny was still more hardy than any mortal could even imagine, but he wasn't fighting with a normal man either. His clothes had been a mess already, now there weren't many places covered by the black rags, showing his horribly scarred skin.

"You are pathetic," Dan commented. But from his appearance it was clear that this fight, unlike their last one, was exhausting for him. He knew that he didn't need to hurry. "You are weak both inside and out."

Phantom didn't say anything, as his chest started to burn from inside out. Danny automatically wrapped his hand around it. He didn't have time, the poison would kill him off soon. He wasn't sure if he would make it.

"Can't you see this? You are so keen on protecting these weaklings, but what can they do for you in exchange? They fear you, they fear me. We are gods, Daniel! With a single move of the eyebrow we can kill them all. Why shall you care about the mortals? Probably because you are just as vulnerable as they are."

"Well, that's one big ego you have here."

Dan looked to the side with a corner of his eye. He saw two Jedi, with whom Danny was way too familiar. His sight was getting worse, so he was unable to see who exactly that were. The healthy ghost raised his eyebrow, but then decided that he had no reason to hurry.

"It's not an ego if that's a fact," Dan crossed his hands. "Why would you save Danny-boy of all people? He is your enemy, isn't he?"

"Phantom will be judged by the Supreme Court," Obi-Wan said.

"And so far you had been destroying the city together if you hadn't noticed," Anakin added, before activating his blue lightsaber. "Now, I suggest you come willingly."

Dan raised his hands slightly with an innocent expression. Meanwhile a huge piece of debris started to float behind the two Jedi, surrounded by a green glow. He managed to keep a smirk from crossing his features. But the Jedi managed to predict the attack and sidestep the projectile. Dan easily grabbed the piece of debris which now flew at him, before throwing away the two ton piece of junk. He gave a wide fanged grin.

"Now, let's play," he said, charging the ectoblast. And unlike Danny, he wasn't going to hold back.

Speaking of whom, Phantom's legs gave up. He fell on his stomach as his muscles refused to move. He could only pant for breath as his natural reflexes tried to grasp the unnecessary oxygen. Danny tried to stand, but it felt like a damn dreadnought was put atop of him. Phantom closed his eyes, trying to figure out what to do. But he wasn't that worried for himself. He would never allow his daughter to be left alone in this world. Never.

"Admirable."

Danny blinked and noticed that everything around seemed to be frozen, with a blue tint everywhere. And the familiar Time Master was standing in front of him.

"That's all because of you," he whispered, even if the quiet phrase was filled with venom just as strong as the one made from Blood Blossoms.

Clockwork looked at him sadly. He started to look like a mid aged man. "If there was a better opportunity, I would have done it, Daniel."

"You call this BETTER?!" Danny said, raising the voice. But he didn't sound menacing at all, he was unable to.

"Yes, there were things much worse. You just never see the bigger picture, as much as I would like you to. I have a way to save you, but there is a condition."

"What kind?"

Clockwork took something from below his robes, and with a loud clanging sound, something fell on the ground near Danny. The young ghost's eyes widened in shock. It was a ring with an image of red gemed skull. It was glowing with an ethereal color.

"Why?"

"The Observants have been killed off by you. Without them, the anarchy in the Infinite Realms increases. My job is to maintain order everywhere. And who is better for this work than you?"

"And if I don't want to?"

"The Ring of Rage can save you. Not many things will change. You will secure the position of your Empire in the Ghost World, the ghosts will look up to you. But most importantly, your daughter will still have her father. If you don't do that, she will be put under the Council of regents. They will fight each other, ravaging your Empire and destroying the innocent and kind girl you know. And once she becomes an Empress, Danielle won't be at all like you. I don't think that any father would want his child to suffer like this."

Danny turned his eyes away. The decision was obvious. He loved Dani too much to leave her alone. It was probably a test from the old Stopwatch. Phantom looked up at the ancient ghost.

"Fine. I agree."

The ring slipped to his finger by itself. In a matter of seconds all effects from the poison dissappeared. A gust of red gas went out of his mouth, fully leaving his body without any pain. He suddenly felt a power surge through him, it was a strange feeling, Phantom felt tingly at first, before a sudden void inside filled like a glass of water. With a push, Danny slowly got up on his legs. He noticed that his clothes were alright, and even his white cape was hanging off his shoulders. But there was something he still needed to do.

Phantom punched the Time Master in his jaw. Clockwork rubbed the hurt place, he had never felt pain, but he guessed he deserved it.

"That was for keeping Dan safe and sound. How...is this possible?" He asked.

Clockwork didn't need elaboration. "The Crown of Fire isn't an artifact of its own. Plasmius needed it, because he wasn't a King from the beginning. You have beated Pariah, so for you, the crown is nothing but accessory. You can summon it."

Danny raised his eyebrow, but his mind was on something else. But Clockwork was first.

"I'm sorry, Daniel, this is something I cannot do."

"Why? The Observants are dead! What's stopping you from saving the person I love?!" Phantom shouted all of a sudden.

"The rules weren't set by Observants, but they were the only ones who could allow to break them. I must follow the laws. And one of the rules, I can't interfere in such matters."

"FINE!" Danny shouted, but Clockwork could see a small tears in the young ghost's eyes. Phantom was used to keep his emotions inside, even if his limbs shook a little.

"Time In!" Clockwork shouted, hitting the button on top of his staff. He vanished.

The time returned to its usual pace. Danny could see that Obi-Wan and Anakin were about to be beaten up.

"Turn around, Dan, and fight someone of your league!" Danny yelled.

Dan was stunned. The time had run out by now. He slowly turned around and looked wide eyed at the sight of the completely healthy ghost. Phantom's hair kept flowing, but the eyes returned to their green color. Along with the hair, his pearly cape was thrown around slightly by the wind.

"How is this possible?!" Dan asked.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "I think you recognize this," he said, showing the ring.

And Dan recognized what it was. And he didn't like it at all. Did the air become colder?

Phantom did as he had been told. Immediately the crown of the Ghost King appeared on his head. But it was completely different now. Instead of piece of black metal flickering with green flames, there was a regally made of ice shards. It was similar in shape, but the ice was still shining with bright light. Danny's eyes became the coldest shade of blue anyone could ever see. And the pupils were gone yet again.

"Now," his voice gained a loud echo as the wind around became stronger. "Bow before the Lord of the Dead!"

No one could understand where the soul freezing blizzard came from, it covered the distance of twenty miles around, and Phantom was an epicenter of the snowstorm.

Dan realized that he had to get away. He flew off, but the cold was getting under his skin. Phantom appeared in front of him, before the ice brass knuckles appeared on his hand. Danny kicked Dan in the face, spitting the ectoplasm around and on the weapon. Phantom grabbed the edge of the ghost's clothes, in a split second the ice dagger came out of nowhere, before he started slashing across the enemy's chest. Dan screamed in pain, tried to get out of the grip, but Phantom had become too strong for him to struggle against. Danny kept holding him, before flipping him over and throwing him against his own knee, breaking the spine in the process.

Moreover, Phantom launched Dan downwards, right on the ice spike which grew out of nowhere. It pierced through, but the core seemed somehow undamaged. The spike disappeared once Danny landed on the ground. Dan flew in the air, but an ice beam impaled him. His chest was frozen, but after another strike, the ice cracked, stabbing his body in many places. Dan yelled again, but was pinned to the ground, when he felt a hard boot on his chest, pressing so hard that it could even leave a footprint. He hissed in pain.

"Hey, Daniel, let's not be overdramatical," Dan laughed nervously.

Phantom was silent, only piercing him with his cold eyes. "Your plan is ruined on many levels, Dan. You wanted me to hate you, and that's the only thing you have succeeded in. But I'm not going to be like you. I have given a promise to my loved ones that I will never become a piece of filth you are. I'm going to kill you now. Be happy that I will make it quick, as much as I would love to do otherwise for taking my love from me."

An ice lightsaber materialized in his hand, ending near Dan's core. The ghost gave a dry chuckle.

"Our father wouldn't have approved."

"What Jack has to do with this?!"

"Oh, you mean you don't know? Our ancestry is more interesting than you think. Too sad that you want to kill me."

His hopes of prolonging his existence were pointless. Immediately the blade pierced the ghost's core, splattering the ectoplasm and a glowing blue liquid, the contents of his core. Dan slowly dissipated into nothingness, a gust of green air. Phantom panted, but then, surprisingly to everyone, he fell on his knees. He cried, for his emotions couldn't be held inside anymore.