The cave entrance suddenly burst apart as Momo, Kaguya, Brook ran out while carrying Enlil. The on field combatants all turned to see what had appeared from the cave and to their surprise, a giant skeletal hand burst out from the dust and pulled the torso of an even bigger skeleton out from the insides of the cave. Free from the confines of the caverns, the skeletal torso rose to it's full height and let out a roar that shook the earth and filled the air with a thin mist.
"So that's what we have to kill this time?" Roland pushed his fedora down on his head, "All it has going for it is it's size."
"That mist saps away your spirit." Momo said as they regrouped away from the skeleton, "Though its effect should be lesser now that we're in open air."
"I'm more worried about the repairs we're going to have to do." Helena remarked, "We're gonna need to remake the entire entrance."
"I'd be more worried about something else." Brook pointed at the base of the skeletal torso. A strange blue fire that had some wailing ghosts circling it was burning there in the middle of the skeleton's torso like a heart. And below that was Ereshkigal, hunched over, clutching her body as she seemed to be struggling to breathe.
"Eresh!" Enlil ran forward to try and get to his adopted daughter but was quickly stopped with an army of undead shuffling into his path.
"Stay away old man." Brook said, pulling him back once more, "You can't fight these zombies with spunk alone."
"I can't stand here while Ereshkigal's suffering!"
"Ereshkigal will only suffer more if you recklessly die trying to save her." Kaguya stated, "Leave this to us."
"Ghh...you better do it soon. The moment I see that I can get to Ereshkigal, I'm taking it!"
"Man, how did Roko ever deal with you?" Helena smirked.
"I'm not sure it's relevant, but he did say something about telling people what they want to hear or something." Brook said.
"Huh. What does that mean, I wonder?"
"It means focus!" Enlil snapped, "Or I'll get out there and fight them myself."
"Don't tempt me." Helena smirked, "Right, so our goal is to get to Eresh. Should be pretty easy. The undead aren't of particularly high quality. It's really the skeleton we have to worry about but I think Momo can still run circles around that thing."
"I can." Momo nodded, "Want me to?"
"Well, we're not getting a better idea."
"Alright then." Momo drew her sword back, "Be right back then. Haste."
Momo disappeared into a blur, running straight at Ereshkigal and slicing through any zombies that stood in her way, even flinging some right up into the air. The giant skeleton moved to try and block her but Momo simply vaulted over the boney arm and continued on towards Ereshkigal. It was then that two ghosts drifted down from the central flame, circling the tortured elf before Momo ran into them and was throw away into the air with surprisingly force. Momo twisted her body around in the air to try and land but the skeleton's arm quickly snatched her out of the sky and held her with astonishing strength.
"Momo!" Helena tried throwing some ice spells at the skeleton's arm but none seemed to make much of a difference.
Momo struggled against her captor but wasn't able to quickly get out. Below her, Ereshkigal was still holding her head, trying to keep herself together.
"No..." She said, "No, this isn't what I want..."
The two ghosts that came down to protect her now floated around her, taking the shape of her mom and dad again as they looked down at her,
"You asked for us to teach you and we're here to teach you." Her father said.
"To remind you of what we taught you long ago. Teach you how to get rid of your enemies." Her mother continued, "To purge the world of its impurities, as is the duty of an elf."
"I don't want to do this..." Ereshkigal whimpered.
"You called us back for a lesson and you SHALL be taught. You shall be reminded of your mission."
"I don't want it!" Ereshkigal cried, "I never wanted this!"
"Pathetic." Her father scowled, "Whoever bestowed such feelings onto you was a fool beyond words. No wonder your nature was twisted so much that you became a dark elf."
"What?" Ereshkigal looked up, shocked.
"Do you not understand?" Her mother gave a disgusted frown, "You became a enemy of all of elvenkind, a dark elf. At the very least, you should use your new base and violent nature to massacre your own kind. That is the only way you'll be useful to us now."
"I...I won't do it."
"Typical." Her parents floated closer, "Then at the very least...you should die."
The two ghosts reached out their hands and grabbed onto Ereshkigal's neck, choking her with an unnatural force.
"Eresh!" Corissa yelped.
Her body began moving without her even thinking of it, vaulting over the makeshift fort they had to run into the battle. Momo was still struggling to escape the skeleton's grip, the unnaturally large undead even seeming to crush her a little with just one hand. The reinforcement magic that was left on Corissa was flickering but pulling it together, Corissa made a surprisingly large jump that brought her close to Momo. No amount of reinforcement magic would have let Corissa pull Momo from that skeleton's hand but it didn't matter. All she needed to do was touch the boney hand even if just briefly.
"Holy!"
The skeleton's hand began disintegrating, releasing Momo who quickly grabbed Corissa as she prepared to let them land safely. The disintegration carried on, continuing to eat away at the skeleton's arm and would have eventually disintegrated the body had the whole arm not simply detached from the body, saving it from Corissa's spell. As soon as they were on the ground, Corissa blurted out a plea for Momo to rescue Ereshkigal but the knightly princess was already well aware, giving Corissa a nod before she rocketed back towards Ereshkigal, weaving through the army of zombies to reach out towards the only living being among their ranks. In their desperation, they didn't notice the fire in the skeleton's rib cage pulse and something large burst out from it, running into Momo and pushing her away from Ereshkigal again. Momo tried her best to push against this thing that was forcing her away but whatever it was, it was spinning at a shockingly high speed, throwing Momo away from it as it unraveled and they witnessed the return of one of those manticore monsters from their memories. It was a bit decayed and it's unique parts were a bit muted but it still seemed like a threat. In fact, it was leaking more undead monsters from it's body. The skeleton trust his chest forward a few more times, sending more spinning manticore monsters out to face each of their enemies.
"This isn't good!" Helena cried as she quickly ran away, the manticore sent after her spinning directly to her location before unfurling and chasing her on it's limbs, ignoring all her ice spells along the way.
"Hang in there!" Momo cried as she clashed with her manticore, "We already know their weaknesses so we can take advantage of them!"
The manticore's stinger impacted Momo in the stomach, interrupting her as it threw her up into the air. With quick hands, Momo undid the sash around her scabbard and stabbed her sword through the stinger, wrapping her sash around both ends of the sword as she was thrown away. And she was thrown away but...not far enough away. Momo ended up falling and pulling the stinger back down towards the ground instead of ripping the entire appendage off. The princess stood confused but not for long as the stinger lashed out to smash into her once again.
"Momo?!" Brook called out.
"I'm okay!" Momo grunted as she pulled on her sash to dislodge her sword from the stinger, "But...these things are much weaker now."
"That's a good thing right?"
"Well, they don't have the strength to pull themselves apart anymore." Momo winced as she held her stomach, "So I guess that trick's not gonna work anymore."
"They don't seem that weak to me!" Roland called, struggling to push the snarling face of his manticore back, "They're still stronger than than a normal human that's for sure!"
"The components seem to be more muted." Kauya observed, "Perhaps it's incomplete reconstruction left it only weak enough to not rip itself apart from it's own power."
"How ironic." Momo grimaced, "Who's ever heard of becoming weaker in order to become stronger?"
"Never mind that!" Helena cried, "Roland, come cover me so I can fire at the ghosts trying to kill Eresh!"
"You want me to fight two of them?!"
Everyone was struggling with these new enemies. Everyone except for one girl. The manticore sent after Corissa spun towards her at breakneck speed and the princess nervously braced herself in anticipation. Stretching her weak arms out, she caught onto the spinning monster and tried to hold it back. If it wasn't for Momo's reinforcement magic, she likely wouldn't have held out at all and even with the reinforcement magic, the manticore's hide tore at her hands as she continued to hold it back. Long enough for her to shout out,
"Holy!"
And the manticore spun itself into non-existence as it was almost instantly disintegrated but not without leaving her hands bleeding from various cuts. The princess had rarely been hurt before so she was unused to the stinging pain that jolted her brain whenever she tried to move her fingers. But she still forced herself to move forward, taking one steady step after another towards the ghosts that were slowly choking Ereshkigal with their incorporeal hands. The undead elves were no threat to her and it seems they knew that as they regarded her warily instead of attacking her. Rubbing her injured hands to try and calm the pain, Corissa made slow efforts to come to terms with this feeling she wasn't used to. Until she suddenly bumped into something and stumbled back. Looking up, she recognized the enormous build of an undead orc looming over her.
"H-Ho-"
The orc swung a wooden club right into Corissa's stomach before she could complete the spell, spilling her spit and knocking her up into the air before landing and tumbling a few feet away. The orc zombie took one more step towards her but was instantly taken out by Varis who arrived in a blisteringly fast speed and burned up the orc with a single slash. Without even taking a moment to acknowledge what he did, he quickly ran over to Corissa and pulled her torso up against his leg to check up on her.
"I...I'm okay." Corissa coughed, her mouth bleeding a little from the attack, "Momo's magic protected me. Please...go help everyone else. Go...help Eresh."
Corissa coughed again but the knight remained still, remained by her side, unwilling to leave his charge.
"Varis, please." Corissa winced as she tried to pull herself up.
The dark knight slowly helped his princess up to her feet before staring at her as she caught her breath, unsure of how to handle this situation. His hesitation was palpable. But eventually he turned his back on his princess and faced the long path to Ereshkigal and the ghosts. With a single step, the black lunged towards them only for the giant skeleton to move at a surprisingly fast speed, bringing it's only arm around to swipe at Varis, destroy much of its own undead forces in the process. Varis jumped up in response, easily clearing the massive attack as he now flew on towards Ereshkigal. The skeleton lifted his arm again to grab Varis like it did with Momo but this knight was well prepared for this attempt, slipping out from it's boney grasp and running down it's arm before jumping right at the head. With an explosive draw, Varis struck the head of the skeleton with his sword, cracking the skull and smashing it into the earth with frightening power. With the skeleton out of commission, he began to fall down towards Ereshkigal but the skeleton wasn't done. From the earth itself, it pulled a brand new arm out of the dirt and punched the black knight squarely across his entire body with it's giant fist. Varis was sent flying away from Ereshkigal again but he landed with no problem and proceeded to return to combat the skeleton.
Corissa watched her knight fight with surprise at how fierce and powerful he truly was. Most of the time, he dispatched his opponents with a single strike. Most of his human opponents anyway. That was just how much stronger he was compared to everyone else. He may be a bit paranoid about her safety but he was always someone Corissa knew she could trust. He was always there to protect her but this time, Corissa felt thankful that Varis could act beyond just his duty and support her. It was a tiny thing but for someone as remote as Varis, it was very telling. That the child she had befriend, who would support her all those years ago was still behind that armor. Corissa felt immensely grateful that they had found each other again.
"Hey."
Corissa cried out in shock and turned around to find Roko standing behind her, outside of the fort and with his casual unnerving smile.
"Roko?! What are you doing here?!"
"Well, Reaumur and her friends said I should go out and help you and just kinda forced me to join the fight with them."
"O-Oh."
"So...anything I can help with?" Roko grinned.
"...No, it's fine." Corissa replied, "Just go back to the fort or uh...stay here. And stay out of trouble. You can do that can't you?"
"I mean, I can."
"Good." Corissa nodded with a pleasant smile, "Then I'll have to get back to the fight then. Be safe."
"Kay!" Roko waved as Corissa staggered off.
Roko stood there, mostly ignored by the undead army as he looked around the battlefield. Undead orcs had popped up everywhere else along with the elven zombies and manticores but the primary threat remained the manticores. The orcs were more of a threat than the elves and could pose a risk if they had to fight them along with the manticores but there just weren't enough of them right now. A few of his companions had dispatched the manticores sent after them only to have to face the zombie orcs in their way. In particular, Helena and Roland were having trouble with both their manticores as Helena tried to maintain an attack on the ghosts attacking Ereshkigal while Roland struggled with both their manticores. Reaumur's group had arrived to try and help but they weren't able to do a whole lot against the monsters.
"Hold on back there!" Helena cried as she did her best to aim a shot across the entire field, "I'm trying to rescue Ereshkigal right now!"
"Will a shot of ice even work against some ghosts?!" Roland shouted as he slashed at one of the manticores, forcing it back.
"I don't see anyone else doing anything! Besides, I'm sure I'm like...distracting them or something!"
"You THINK?!"
"I don't see you getting results!"
"You try fighting two manticores!"
"Oh, you have help!"
"Yeah, and they're doing so well." Roland muttered.
"To be fair, we probably would be doing better if we had some weapons." Drift admitted as he dodged the second manticore's stinger.
"And some armor would be nice." Ohm added as he ducked under one of the manticore's swipes.
"And you've got both so I don't know what you're complaining about." Reaumur said as she did her best to hold onto the back of the manticore, tearing away at the back of the manticore with a kitchen knife that Klaus had fetched.
"And you've got numbers so-WHOA!"
Roland ducked as his manticore pounced on him, barely dodging it by quickly ducking, letting the monster soar over him as it crashed headfirst into the second manticore, throwing Reaumur off.
"Ha! Take that, you...monsters! It's a cold night for fools like you to be butting heads."
Roland reached up to pose with his fedora again...only to find that it was gone.
"Wait, wha-"
Roland spun around, looking for his hat only to find it being munched on by the manticore that had pounced on him.
"YOU SUNNAVA- I SPENT THOUSANDS OF GOLD ON THAT HAT!"
"WHY ARE YOU SPENDING THOUSANDS OF GOLD ON A FLIPPING HAT?!"
"SHUT UP, HELENA, I'M MOURN-"
Roland was interrupted as one of the manticores suddenly threw his stinger forward and he was forced to bring his swords up to block it. The stinger clashed against the swords but suddenly flicked upward, throwing Roland's arms up and dislodging one of his swords from his hands as Roland swore and tried to regain his composure.
Roland's sword flew through the air and lodged itself into the dirt not far from Roko. Intrigued, Roko walked over to it to look at it. It was a really cool sword, though nearly all weapons looked cool to him since he had never even held a weapon until he arrived in this world. It was a cool sword but he wanted to see the rest of the battles so he turned away. ...He tried to turn away. ...He couldn't turn away. His body refused to move. Even his eyes remained on the sword. It was weird. Like he was trapped in his own body. He tried to move his body in all sorts of ways and eventually something worked. His arm rose up. Towards the sword. Some part of him wanted him to fight. To join the battle. But battle was scary. He could die. Why would he want to fight? Everyone else was strong. Much stronger than him. They could win without him. There was no reason for him to fight. Yet his own body wasn't letting him turn away. Why? He didn't have to fight. He could just remain behind, safe and happy.
…
"Yeah. I can't stay like this..." Roko sighed.
Roko pulled his arm back...and slammed his hand on the gem around his neck, releasing a magic seal and injecting the cure into his body, the green of the emerald draining away to leave a clear gem. Without any more hesitation, Roko drew the sword from the ground and spun around, charging onwards to save Ereshkigal.