Magiswords Darker

Magiswords Darker is a miniseries set in Toon Wars: Legacy's Tales of the Toonverse line following an alternate timeline where *Mighty Magiswords* became the multiverse's greatest threat instead of it's savior. It is heavily inspired by *Marvel What If...* and introduces the new prose format after Dark Disney's release. The story was first posted globally on Halloween 2021.

## Development

The name "Magiswords Darker" originally belonged to a pre-existing miniseries set during the time of Toon Wars: The Final Days, where Captain Zange along with her pirate crew traveled to an alternate timeline which follows the same premise. Only in said timeline, Cattus, Bimm, Familiar, and Phibby remain good and team up with Zange to stop Vambre and Prohyas' evil plan to nuke CN City and it's popular cartoons. Though the story was complete, the scripts were unfinished and only told within The Final Days.

In 2021, Frozarburst began working on a Halloween miniseries for Toon Wars: Legacy, no longer than The Watterson's run. He borrowed the title "Magiswords Darker" and revamped the original premise of the story to have Magiswords completely go rogue in the multiverse, eventually leading to it's downfall under a power-mad Cattus. It also introduced the prose format Dust and the Sweeper would be using on release. In June 2022, the story was added to Toon Wars: Legacy's Tales of the Toonverse line as a way to distinguish it from the mainline longer crossovers.

## Plot

Much like the main Toon Wars timeline, the Syndicate had arrived to CN City to manipulate as many cartoons in one place immediately following *Crossover Nexus*. However, in this version, Prohyas from *Mighty Magiswords* stayed longer to hear about the Fourth Wall and the real world before returning to Lyvsheria to relay the message. Like all the other cartoons, this sent shockwaves to nearly every character in *Magiswords* and led to the Warriors for Hire to become the Warriors for Evil, plotting to use a superweapon to destroy the worlds that pushed their series to the wayside and left them frozen in time from cancellation. Despite Witchy Simone's protests, the two went through with their plan with help from Bimm, Familiar, Phibby Croax, and Cattus the One Blade, killing Simone to prevent her from interfering. In search of a weapon, Catty-Rumpus and Phibby wandered successfully into The Void like the Syndicate before them, stumbling upon the Fourth Wall Controls and confirming all that Prohyas had learned. With the knowledge of every cartoon (even the ones in development) at their disposal, Bimm using the controls pinpoints the Ruby Heart from *Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart*, allowing the Warriors for Evil and Cattus to enact their master plan. They then quickly began instantly nuking every possible target in the CN Universe, including *Steven Universe, Samurai Jack* (to keep Aku from interfering), *The Amazing World of Gumball* (thus preventing anyone from getting into The Void), *Teen Titans Go*, and lastly *OK K.O. Let's be Heroes*, which once crossed over with Magiswords. Although KO, Radicles, and the villains of Boxmore besides Fink had fought back, they were each overpowered by Vambre and Prohyas' arsenal and Enid was still on her way, prompting Boxman, Carol, and even Cosma to step in. With no way for Vambre and Prohyas to escape in time, Cattus, still at the controls of the Ruby Heart, was then ordered to proceed with the bombing anyway and continue the Warriors' vision without them.

Following the death of the Warriors for Evil in the sacking of Lakewood Plaza, Cattus and Bimm returned to Elmore to mourn and ponder their next objective when the Nicktoon Toon Force arrives as per the original order of events. They explain they sought to confront the Syndicate in Elmore before they could cause anymore trouble in the CN side of the multiverse. However, Cattus falsely claims they had already begun their invasion and that him and Lyvsheria were aiming to stop them. Without the exploits of Gumball, *Teen Titans GO*, and Samurai Jack like in the main timeline, the Toon Wars only lasted a year before the final battle with the Syndicate in the intergalactic Enterra Drive Yards. Thanks to the leadership of Cattus and Jimmy Neutron, the multiverse had effectively won by a landslide against the villains. But just as everyone began to celebrate, Cattus betrayed Neutron in the control room, holding him at gunpoint with his Magisword. However, Jimmy himself had secretly anticipated this since the day they met in Elmore, leading to a standoff between the two of them. Both were able to predict each other's motivations over the course of the year with Jimmy not only deducing Lyvsheria's bombardment of all the worlds supposedly attacked by the Syndicate but also their goal of doing the same to certain targets in the Nicktoons Universe, including and especially *Spongebob Squarepants*. Before he could prevent them from enacting their final order, he is incapacitated by Bimm from behind with a custom staff imbued with a Ruby shard. Now fully embracing the dark side, she reveals she had already bombarded Bikini Bottom and sets her and Cattus' sights on the rest of the Toon Force and the Netflix Omniverse. Jimmy himself is executed by Cattus after he told him he wasn't a hero, to which he angrily scoffed and claimed that all who opposes Lyvsheria are the real villains of the multiverse. While playing a facade, pretending Jimmy was killed in action along with the Syndicate's leaders, Cattus approached Danny in Amity Park and told him he would rebuild wherever possible now that peace has been restored. However, *Loud House* is then bombarded despite no other villain being around to do so. Everything points to the chance of someone from the CN Universe seeking revenge, forcing Cattus to return there to investigate. Unbeknownst to all in attendance on the planet, this was the final step in the Warriors for Evil's grand design, gathering everyone in the Toon Force in one place so that the Ruby Heart could nuke them along with their world.

The result of the invasion left only Jenny, who was out in space in pursuit of the Ruby, alive and able to fight another day. Very swiftly, the multiverse fell under the hands of Cattus, now fancying himself a God seeking to rule all known reality so that no cartoon ever suffers the same fate as his own. Seeing both him and his sister fully succumb to evil, and feeling a wave of regret for aiding them in destroying other worlds, Familiar returns to Lyvsheria and encounters Fink, who was sent by Venomous to steal whatever she wanted from the Warriors for Hire while they were away. This wound up saving her when Boxmore and the rest of the world were destroyed. And with no one else to turn to, she and Familiar decide to work together to overthrow the growing regime.

## Timeline

Unlike every fanon project in relation to Toon Wars, Magiswords Darker takes place entirely in it's own continuity following the same premise as the main timeline but with major alterations. The biggest one being that Magiswords became one of the shows that were manipulated by the Syndicate, resulting in many events being dropped altogether, including the Gumball and Samurai Jack Sagas. It can be inferred that nearly everything prior to and during the start of the war from Wrath of the Phantom and the Nicktoons Saga also occur. But in regards to Magiswords, there is virtually no mention of Fusion Wars nor hints of the Final Magisword existing at some point.

## Trivia

* This story had the shortest development time second only to Magiswords Fusion Wars and Nicktoons Wrath.
* Like just about any story it's featured in thus far, Loud House is treated as the Red Shirt of Toon Wars.
* Not everything from the main timeline applies here like Plunderbite and Professor MaBarnacle being the parents of Bimm and Familiar, or the Final Magisword ever existing.
* It's interesting how dependent the Syndicate must've been on Gumball and Samurai Jack's worlds, as without them, the war only lasts a year.
	+ It's also odd that the BorgCys project and other contingency orders weren't in place in this timeline as if they were either drafted in the first few months of the Toon Force's formation or timeline exclusive.