Roko woke back up in the middle of the fight. His body was weak enough to drag him down in the moment but his stored energy doing nothing all day was enough to revive him pretty much immediately when he went down. Though he wasn't sure how many times he can do that. Getting up, he noticed Corssia lying on the ground next to him, clutching her stomach in pain, having clearly been knocked back along with Roko by the undead Waur.
"Corissa." Roko grimaced as he slowly pulled himself up, "We're going to need to have a talk later about you not running from danger."
"Huh?" Corissa looked up, confused.
"Like, I appreciate it but if you get hurt any further, Varis is going to kill me." Roko said as he raised his sword and charged towards Waur.
This battle was much easier than fighting a live Waur. After all, this corpse was missing all of its cursed magic items so it was basically magic-less. And it was, well, a reanimated body. One that hasn't gone through a more complete resurrection like Kyousei to retain most of it's strength. Waur did look better than most of the other zombies to be sure but there was no dull, deceptive life to his eyes like Kyousei. Perhaps it was because they didn't have access to his actual body. Waur did die in Granreveria after all.
"At least we know you can construct corpses of people who died somewhere else." Roko growled as he deflected Waur's next club attack.
Waur was definitely weaker. Roko couldn't use scan on these monsters but if he had to put a number to it, Waur would be 20% weaker. But it turns out 20% weaker still meant that he had 80% of the strength of an orc at worst. Compounded against Roko's much weaker constitution at the moment and it was proving to be a fight that just seemed to drag on. Roko could defend but his body and mind lacked the health to execute or even think of more complex combat maneuvers that he usually used. And Waur had enough strength to force him to put all his focus into defending instead of attacking. Roko knew that if he could out maneuver this corpse once he would win but his mind and body refused to cooperate. Roko was getting batted around like a training dummy and whenever Corissa would find an opening to try and use holy on Waur, the orc corpse would immediately turn around and swing his club at her, forcing the princess to retreat. He was very keenly aware of the need to repel Corissa as the orc would twist and rip his body around in unnatural ways to keep Corissa and holy away from him before reforming. This all relied on Roko landing a decisive hit which was seeming more and more like an impossible task. If he could just pull himself together for just a moment…
Roko was knocked to the ground again. His will still hadn't broken but he was getting more and frustrated at his own weakness. From his viewpoint on the ground, Roko could see the ghosts around Ereshkigal lifting her to her feet and dragging her away. Forcing her feet forward one stagger after another towards the grave. And the lines connected in Roko's head. They needed her. She was the caster. Their anchor to this reality. They needed her to maintain the spell. They needed her to complete the resurrection of Brea.
Roko pushed himself. Tried crawling towards Ereshkigal but he felt a giant orc hand grab his leg and pull him away, flinging him over his head and onto the ground. Roko coughed in pain but he felt someone supporting him back up as Waur retreated.
"Roko?! Roko hang in there!"
Regaining his senses, Roko recognized Corissa propping him up and a small sanctuary field around him keeping him safe. Waur was standing back, just outside the range of the field but still in the way of Ereshkigal who was getting closer to the mess of zombies guarding the grave. Surely some of the combatants would notice and save her right? But looking towards the battlefield...
Momo was flying across the battlefield. Clashing with another figure in the air, a ghostly figure with white hair that looked a little bit like her. Momo was grinning like a maniac, deep in enjoying her little fight even as some of her moves caused a bit of collateral to the zombies around them. But that was the extent of her contribution.
Mikado looked to be doing fine. But around him were zombies that Roko recognized as Kaguya's family. Roko had seen Kaguya fight these corpses of her family before but it only stood to reason that her knight would be equally connected to them too. But Mikado seemed to be able to slice through these ghosts and zombies just as well. He was just as ready to kill the dead as Kaguya was but that didn't meant that he was happy to do so. It was hard to tell at first glance but even Roko could tell Mikado was in a foul mood. And more than anything, he had the most undead tailored to disturb him. There were both zombies and ghosts haunting him and coming back to disrupt him. He was the least affected but that didn't mean he wasn't affected. And at the numbers he was being tormented with, he probably wasn't going to be able to help. And if he was the least affected, then there was the most affected.
Varis was trying to strike at the undead around him but two figures clung onto his body. Reaching out to halt his arms. A mother and a father. Looking sad and literally trying to hold him back. There was no telling what the black knight's face was like behind that mask. But there was a heaviness to his blows. His strikes lacked the keenness that he usually had. There was an immense sadness to him that radiated through his expressionless armor. He couldn't seem to be able to shake the specters clinging to him. Roko knew that Corissa must not have noticed or else her heart would be broken.
And then there were the unaffected. Roland was struggling with the amount of zombies flooding him but none of them seemed to be holding him back that much. Same went with Brook though she seemed to be having more trouble with the mobs. Perhaps she wasn't used to this kind of combat being an assassin and all. But that didn't mean she wasn't getting help at least. Reaumur and her group had joined this fight too though they were pushed so far apart that they were mostly fighting alone and close to the edge of the mobs so they could retreat. Maybe they weren't helping quite as directly but there was one thing that was.
Brook slashed through the necks of those grasping at her but they fell only to make room for another wave. Each one came closer and closer to her, slowly overcoming her and cutting off any route of escape. These ones were getting much too close, she couldn't make a direct lethal blow anymore so she had to cut at the arms. But this lead to one of the arms grabbing onto her arm midswing and halting Brook's attempt to attack. She would try to break free but the undead coming from the other direction suddenly lunged forward, surprising her enough to drop the knife in one of her hands. It was then that a blink dog suddenly appeared and grabbed the knife out of the air, slashing into the stomachs of those holding onto Brook's arm and freeing her as she raised her other hand to slash at the lunging zombies, cutting off their arms. Klaus then slammed his body against those zombies, pushing them back before spinning and slashing into their stomachs, felling those zombies all at once.
"You want to help, Klaus?" Brook said as she took her mask off and drew another knife from her belt, "I appreciate it."
Together the two stood against the endless horde.
Roko pulled himself back up. Everyone's combined efforts were being swallowed by the infinite dead. They were scattered and distracted. None of them could help rescue Ereshkigal. He had to do it. He had to do something. He had to overcome this moving corpse somehow. He was one of the few the dead had no sway over. He had to succeed. But no matter how much he threw himself against this orc shaped wall, all he did was get thrown away. Roko still had hope but hope was virtually all he had.
Roko was pushing himself back up with his sword as a crutch when he felt something on his hand. Looking up he saw something that mortified him. The ghost smiled at him with the most gentle and guilt inducing smile it could possibly give.
"It's good to see you again." The ghost of Kitt said.
Roko stared, stunned, at the ghost for a moment before he tore his eyes away and finished pushing himself up, "You're not real."
"I always wanted to speak to you again." Kitt said, "I never had the chance to thank you."
"Go away."
"You were so kind to me at the party. I never forgot it for the rest of my life."
"Oh you can make jokes now?" Roko scowled.
"I loved being at that party you know. I found my corsage too. I wanted to give yours back but it was too late. You killed me."
Roko charged forward at Waur in blind rage. The orc easily batted him aside but Roko's emotions kept him on his feet as he blocked the attack and went back in to strike at the orc. His emotions poured an untold amount of strength into his blows, knocking away Waur's attacks and even landing a few sold hits on the moving corpse. But now he was too disorganized to land a proper finishing blow. The orc would suffer a gash on the side of his stomach but dodge a larger gash from tearing open his stomach. And then his body would just mend. Without so much as a tortured cry, Waur would recover and land a heavy blow on Roko who grew more more beaten yet still wouldn't let his assault down. Not so long as the voice of the one person he failed echoed in his head.
Roko knew he felt guilt for indirectly causing Kitt's death. It wasn't intentional, he didn't know giving her his Paradisea corsage would result in her getting parasitized nor could he have imagined she'd find her old corsage causing her to be doubly parasitized. He didn't even know about her condition when he was taking action to resolve the manor incident. Had he known he surely would have acted quicker. Her death was no fault of his. But that didn't matter. Because of his actions, as innocent as they were, he caused her death. Because of his ignorance, someone he could have saved died. Roko knew he wasn't at fault and that he still wouldn't forgive himself regardless. But he thought he had processed her death. No one blamed him. No one accused him. He didn't even have that much of a deep connection with her. It was easy to forget the person. But he never forgot his actions. He could never forgive his actions. No amount of innocence in the world would buy him a reprieve from his own guilt gnawing at him. This was his problem and his alone.
"Roko?!" Corissa cried as Roko suddenly began attacking Waur recklessly. For a moment she couldn't understand until she saw the ghost haunting Roko, "Is that...Kitt? ...Oh, Roko..."
Corissa had seen Roko be reckless. She had seen him blatantly disregard his life for some mission he only told himself. She had seen Roko when a hint of his genuine emotions would leak from his cool headed facade. So watching him now, she knew Roko was being genuine. He was genuinely angry. He was genuinely frustrated. He genuinely wanted to die.
"Roko!"
Corissa ran forward, trying to reach out to Roko but the dead broke out of the ground, multiple hands cracking the earth and grabbing onto Corissa's ankles and holding her back. She cried out in surprise and fear and tried to shake the hands off until she remembered she had a spell.
"Holy!"
The hand disintegrated but even more hands, even bodies burst out of the ground to hold Corissa back. To make things worse, an army of more zombies rose out of the earth to put themselves in between her and Roko. She couldn't fight all of them but she didn't need to. Corissa created a sanctuary, annihilating all the undead around her but Waur remained ever out of reached, throwing and luring Roko away from her. All the while a group of undead had risen to suppress her. Corissa cried out to Helena but she was busy trying to hit the ghosts carrying Ereshkigal and freeing any of their vanguards who were getting overwhelmed. She did fire an icicle or two at Waur but even obliterating his head and destroying his sight didn't stop the orc. He continued to fight without missing a beat or showing any openings as if his head and eyes were just a decoration, a puppet moved by the will of a force they could not blind.
Corissa was safe. She could save herself. But she remained too weak, too inexperienced with combat to help anyone. She couldn't even use her spells properly. If she could remember the incantation, everything would've been fine. If she had known how to use holy properly back then she could have saved Kitt. Saved everyone. The only person she could ever help was herself. No matter how much she wanted to be like Roko, be like all of her friends, she could only watch. Like some sick twist of fate was determined to save her and only her. She didn't want to be saved. She didn't want to stay in the background. She wanted to be able to stand alongside her friends proudly. But she could never match up to them. Even now, she was just short of saving Roko. There was nothing she could do.
Corissa's hand tightened as she gripped her skirt. But she couldn't just give up. If all of her experience had taught her anything, it was to never give up. She wouldn't be strong if she gave up. She wouldn't achieve anything if she gave up. If she wanted stand alongside Roko, she couldn't give up. He wouldn't give up.
Corissa gasped. That's right. Roko might be in despair but he knows that dying wouldn't solve anything. Some part of him wanted to survive, she just needed to remind him of it. Why he continued. Why it was worth it to keep living. That's right, if she lacked the power to save someone then she just needed to give them enough strength to overcome their problem themselves. That was Corissa was always good at. But words wouldn't reach him now. She needed some way to remind him and quick. She thought and thought and she came up with a plan. It was stupid. It was dangerous. It was suicidal. And it was exactly the kind of thing Roko would do. So Corissa released her sanctuary spell.
"You were my savior but you failed to save me. But that's okay. I'm still glad I met you. Even if it meant you would kill me."
Kitt's words came clear in Roko's mind. Even as he was beaten and battered by Waur, he could hear this specter's voice in his head. He knew better than to listen to it but it was hard to not let her words get to him. She had her face. She had her voice. She knew very well what Roko did to her and even if the words coming out of her might've been manipulated, it was impossible for Roko to not believe. Because it was exactly what he believed she would say. What she should say to him. He couldn't forgive. He couldn't forget. This was no atonement. This was just what he deserved. Dying wasn't a concern. If he deserved it then he'd accept it. His life was not a valuable chip. It couldn't replace hers. But that also meant there was no value lost losing it.
Waur smashed Roko into the ground with his club. Roko's adrenaline was running out. He didn't think he was going to die today but he probably was now. Kitt's words had grown distant. Roko could feel himself slipping away. And there was a peace to that. The heights of anger and despair was fading with him. It may not have been a glorious death. But he never did anything to deserve a hero's death. He was just a human who got in over his head. He could only do so much.
But in the fading void in his head, he heard someone crying out. He could tilt his head up a little and see in distance. A horde of zombies. They were tearing away at something. Biting at something. And when he realized who it was, the voice suddenly came in crystal clear.
"Roko!" Corissa cried, the zombies swarming over her, "Help!"
Immediately the void pulled away and some sort of energy took over Roko's damaged body as he lunged forward. Pushing past Waur, Roko slashed apart the zombies attacking Corissa with one clean stroke. Skidding to a halt right next to her, he reached out a hand and caught Corissa as she fell.
…
Roko sighed, "Who taught you to do something like this?"
"You did." Corissa replied with a mischievous grin, turning around in Roko's arm to look up at him.
"This isn't funny. I told you, Varis is going to kill me."
"Well then I'll just make sure he doesn't." Corissa laughed.
Roko sighed again but even he couldn't help a hint of a smile forming on his face, "Whatever. Thanks."
"Always a pleasure." Corissa replied.
"Roko..."
Kitt's ghostly hand reached out to try and grip Roko's shoulder but Corissa reached out her hand first to stop it. With a whispered "Holy", the false specter disappeared like another memory. Roko may never let this failure go but it didn't have to stop him from everything he could still do. Corissa just hoped he would remember that.
Helping Corissa to sit back up, the undead Waur walked up to them, raising his club to smash the both of them. Roko moved smoothly stepped up and swung his leg up, kicking into the orc's elbow and stopping his attack mid-swing. With a slash of his sword, Roko lopped off the hand and weapon before using his high leg to step on Waur's shoulder and leaping up, jumping off the monster's shoulder. With his sword in both his hands, Roko slashed down on the former orc leader, cutting his corpse cleanly in two. The bisected orc stumbled back, both halves still animated by some unnatural force trying to put itself back together. A silent holy field spread out underneath his feet and the body slowly fell apart. Felled at last.
Roko stumbled forward, stabbing his sword into the earth to prop himself up and keep himself from falling again. Corissa was quickly by his side, now fully concerned again but Roko pulled together every ounce of strength left in his sick and beaten body to try and stand up.
"Roko, you're not in good shape!" Corissa yelped.
"That doesn't matter." Roko gasped, "We still have to save Ereshkigal. At this point she..."
The two turned their attention to the battlefield but all they could see was that it was too late. The spirits had lifted Ereshkigal over the warring armies and dropped her straight on top of the grave. The sobbing dark elf child placed her hands onto the surface of the stone as the light of the magic circle came through the grave itself to wrap itself over her arms again. All the while, the image of her parents whispered in her ears,
"There is no place left for you."
"You betrayed us. You betrayed the dark elves. You betrayed your human. You have done nothing but fail everyone's expectations."
"The only thing left for you to do is die. Die and join us again. Only then will you be accepted again. Only then can you be with us again."
Ereshkigal sobbed over the grave. It wasn't certain if she even heard them. If she even knew what she was doing. Perhaps her mind was too broken to do anything anymore. Perhaps the evil force she summoned had taken over her body. Or perhaps she truly thought there was nothing left for her. So with a cry that resounded through the entire encampment, the light over Brea's grave shot up, an ominous lavender light that towered up into the sky as the grave broke apart. And from the fading light...stood a dark elf.
From the eyes, Roko could tell this was a much more complete resurrection. There was a life like luster to her eyes, similar to Kyousei. Brea herself stood tall and expressionless, holding an elaborate staff and looking out at the sky as if she was unaware of the chaos around her. Speaking of, said chaos had come to a complete halt. Even the dead had come to a halt to stare the dark elf along with the living. The immense power that slender frame held was palpable. No one had to even move to tell this being was powerful. The field was in complete silence in awe and horror. The only sound that continued was Ereshkigal's stifled sobbing. So when the ancient dark elf finally decided to move, a horror took over the living as Brea glanced down at the child in front of her. Slowly she knelt down and Roko's group all tried to move. Tried to go in to rescue the child but they could only remain still. Still in awe or horror or perhaps even fear of what kind of magic this dark elf that used to be part of a hero's party had. Each of them tried to move but they could do nothing as Brea knelt down and reached out a hand towards Ereshkigal. She reached out...and pulled the child close to her chest for a hug.
Ereshkigal's sobbing slowly resided as she slowly returned to reality, realizing she was in someone's comfort. Looking up at Brea, only she could see the gentle, warm and very human smile she was given. Without even looking away, without even acknowledging anything else around her, Brea tapped her staff on the ground and the thin stems of a plant spread out explosively around her. These stems crawled over the still dead and wrapped all over them before blossoming a field of flowers over them. A flower that Roko recognized from his Hero's Trial, the Sanctuary Lily. Roko's party, finally able to move, looked around in confusion but none of them knew how to interpret the scene. Ereshkigal herself wasn't sure of anything either. But she buried her head in Brea's chest, buried herself in the comfort that she was being given. Soft sobs still came out from her but it had lost the despair from before. The raving madness and the hopelessness. She was just like a sobbing child in their mother's arms.
With Ereshkigal in her arms, Brea looked up at the rest of the field, to one person in particular to give them another comforting smile and a nod. People turned to see who she was looking at but the person in question already understood. She brought her hands together and chanted,
"I reject you now. God of a foreign realm. Your creatures will shatter, your arms repelled and your sight blinded. No longer will you threaten the realm of reality. Here and now, I reject you from this space and time. I give blessings to humanity and will to the earth. So that all of that which you threaten can reject you. Sanctuary."
Holding out her hands, Corissa send out a gentle wave of light, sanctifying the ground, destroying the magic seal, annihilating the dead and eventually, even Brea disappeared again. Leaving the night still and quiet once more for the sun to finally break over the horizon.