The three of them shoot out from the woods as fast as possible.
Das has his eyes locked on the figure he knows belongs to him, to that demon in disguise of an angel, the Phantom King. He can clearly see his white, ghostly visage atop the bell tower of stone.
As the town draws nearer and his heartbeat steadily increases his vision threatens to turn red when the memory of Eversmile strikes harder with each passing second.
He soon is able to hear the cries of the people who swarm through the streets in horror, running away as ghosts follow close behind, Das looks at them in equal amounts of shock and anger.
The ghosts are similar to the Phantom, but their ghostly bodies seem almost skeletal, with their eyes sunken and burning with red mana, their mouths agape as they catch people and suck out the life out of them.
"We have to save them!" He shouts at his two companions who fly next to him.
"I can deal with them faster, you two get to the Phantom!" Ann replies, her eyes burning with blue fire as her body gets swallowed by the shadows. She leaves their side and heads to the largest crowd of ghosts.
She strikes the ground and stretches on it like a puddle, black tendrils shoot from the ground and pierce through the ghosts, they scream as their bodies shrink and are sucked by the spikes, while Ann grows back and appears as a similar ghost, only that her ethereal appearance is black.
Knowing she will have things under control Das focuses on the Phantom, he is only a few seconds from getting to him, when Drachen tackles him to the side, making both crash on the roof of a house just as a few ghosts fly past where they just where.
"He is surrounded by his minions, we can't get close to him like this!" Drachen shouts, turning into her owl form and flying like a burning shooting star, piercing through the ghosts that quickly scatter in all directions "We have to be careful!" she says stopping next to the now standing Das.
Then they see dozens of ghosts fly from the streets, quickly getting surrounded.
"I can't fight on the air!" Das looks at his feet and pushes with his free hand, which immediately gets enveloped in mana forcing the roof to collapse.
He and Drachen fall through the building as Das creates holes for them to move, the ghosts swarming the place like ants getting inside a hole. Drachen strikes them with flaming feathers that pierce the ghosts and burn them, forcing them to escape. Das tries the same as they exit the building by the side with a powerful explosion, he points his staff and the large fireball harmlessly pass through the ghosts.
Now down on the streets, he hits a few fleeing townsfolk as he flies down, everywhere he looks there are ghosts, running for their lives, carrying goods or family in their arms as a few guards try to keep the ghosts away.
"Fight with mana, not elements!" Drachen shouts hitting multiple ghosts with a wall of fire.
Of course, he thinks. Any elemental magic Drachen uses is filled with mana, since she is a fairy, but his are simply summons or manifestations of the base elements. He grabs the staff with both hands and raises it high above his head, the orb glowing with overwhelming power for a few seconds and then he unleashes his spell.
A beam of light showers him in a circle, but then it grows in size swallowing several houses fully, and a good chunk of the ghosts with it, making them scream as they disintegrate into dust.
"Careful," Drachen says floating next to him "Don't use too much of your mana just yet, we still have to face the Phantom and I can only give you my mana twice"
Das nods, taking a deep breath already feeling the heavy strain on his body that such a spell caused. The confused people resume their escape as soon as they see the remaining ghosts fleeing.
"Hmm" the Phantom flies higher up, and sees the borders of the town quickly getting filled with the fleeing people, Ann quickly consumes all ghosts in her path like a loose arrow that reaps them as she flies by"Change of plans" he whispers as he closes his eyes.
In an instant, he feels the connection with all of his minions, his toys, and decides they no longer serve a purpose in the state they are, so he orders them to adapt. Every ghost stops for a moment, receiving the new orders of their master.
"Now..." the Phantom opens his eyes, the calm and thin grin on his face growing in size "What will you do?"
The ghosts resume their attacks, but once they catch someone and force their mouths open, instead of sucking their souls out, they are sucked into their bodies, the ghost disappearing inside them in a few seconds.
Ann stops when she sees this, and looks in horror how anyone with a ghost in them twists and yells in agonizing pain, their bodies turning gray as their mouths explode in a carnival of blood and flying teeth, sharp and long needles of bone taking their place as their jaws split open in the middle.
Their hands grow long and sharp bone nails like claws, their eyes bloodshot as red, bloody tears fall from them. The expressions of the monster are not one of anger or hunger, but pain, and misery as they scream in horror at what their bodies have become, the humanity in their voice disappearing into a terrifying reflection of what was once human.
"What have you become?!!" Ann shouts at the top of her lungs, looking at the Phantom from afar.
The Phantom simply watches her, his smile unwavering.
Das and Drachen witness the same horrible transformation when one of them pounces at a nearby man and his young son.
"NO!!" Das throws a fireball that strikes the body of the creature, sending it crashing against the wall of a building.
"IT'S BURNS!!!" the distorted voice of the woman now turned monster yells, to Das's horror, he sees it desperately try to stop the flames as she screams in pain "DON'T HURT ME!!"
"What..." his voice is a whisper as he takes a step back.
"RUN!!" the voice of another monster draws his attention, his head snapping in its direction to see one of the creatures pierce a woman in her chest with his arm "LINA!!" the monster screams.
Das can't move, his mind almost shutting down like that of many other people around him. The screams of horror coming from the fleeing townsfolk are joined by the screams of terror from the monsters birthed from the possession of a ghost.
Among the screams names are shouted, pleas to stop, nicknames like "Love" are thrown around, "Dad", "Mom", "Brother". But the same voices are soon silenced, replaced by the laments of their murderers.
Drachen reacts first, killing a few nearby creatures by piercing their heads with her fiery body, burning them from the inside out, she quickly joins Das's side "Don't stop now, we have to fight! We can't help them!!"
Das just stares past her blankly, his ears filled with the cries of help from both humans and those that used to be. Drachen returns to her human form and slaps him on the face.
"Snap out of it Das! I need you with me!!"
Das blinks a few times, his expression still filled with horror, but now back to reality, he rushes past Drachen and throws several fireballs at the creatures. Setting them ablaze, making them scream in pain.
Once they fall to the ground lifeless, the ghost exits their body, unaffected by any and all damage, quickly searching for their next victim. Das hurries to try and stop them with a light spell when several beams of light hit the ghosts, forcing them to retreat.
"The Lightbringer is with us! Within us! What do we have to fear?!" A priest shouts, his hands raised as he is followed by a dozen of other priests, a crowd of townsfolk cowering behind them "Save their souls, my brothers, and sisters! for the Light!"
The priests rush forward, their eyes glowing with yellow energy as yellow rune circles appear in front of their open palms, creating beams or balls of light that strike the ghosts, clearly harming them and making them scatter like clouds of flies.
"For the King!" A guard shouts, carrying her spear in hand she pierces the skull of one creature.
Another tries to cut her head off with its sharp claws, hitting her on the steel helmet, opening it, and forcing it out of her head. But with a spin and expert movement of her hands, she pierces the chest of the creature, kicking it with inhuman strength sending it flying several meters away. Das recognizes her as the guard he accidentally hit earlier that day...but not only that.
"Follow Petra and save as many people as you can! For the King!" a more properly dressed guard, probably the one of higher rank, orders as more guards pour from the surrounding streets, carrying their spears and shooting their crossbows.
Her blonde, wavy short hair and sapphire eyes, he knew he had seen her before, heard her name somewhere else. But now was not the time to think about that.
"We must force them out of their bodies" Das whispers as he shoots a beam of light at a few of the creatures, making them scream and lash out in all directions. Once the beam is done their bodies are steamy, yet barely harmed "They...They are safe within their hosts, we have to kill the ghosts!!" He shouts as he shoots more fireballs at the creatures.
Soon the streets of the big town are swarmed with fighting, guards facing against the ghoulish monsters while priests harm or outright disintegrate the ghosts inhabiting the bodies of the doomed possessed.
Das and Drachen fight side by side, Drachen killing the monsters with her mana fire and the young archmage turning the fleeing ghosts into ashes, along using some of his beams to heal the wounded guards and priests joining the fight.
Ann is filled with rage and grief, so she shoots through the air directly against the Phantom. Her ghostly scythe manifested in her hands and clashed against the Phantom's ethereal sword with such force it send a shock wave several meters around them.
"Why?! Why are you doing this?! For a God, you know nothing but tales about?!!" she asks striking several times against him, but he floats atop the tower seemingly effortlessly stopping her attacks with his sword.
"I'm doing what you wanted me to do. To save people, I'm going to save them from a threat far greater than anything they could ever imagine in their lives" the Phantom replies with his own strikes, so fast and powerful Ann can barely manage to intercept them.
"What are you talking about?! You-" she is cut short by a particularly strong attack from the Phantom, making her crash on the ground loudly dozens of meters away from him.
"You wouldn't understand" he whispers, turning around and looking at Das "Only he can" Closing his eyes he sends another order to someone in specific. Stopping Ann's blue fireballs with his sword, hitting them, and being unaffected by their blast.
Once he opens his eyes he turns to his old master, teacher, mother...and meets her mid-air with a series of swift and precise attacks. The cloud of black smoke and the cloud of white mist clash against each other atop the town.
Suddenly, among the chanting, screams, and war cries, a chilling singing from the beyond can be heard by everyone nearby. Das is the first to see her.
Her black hair waving slowly around her as she descended on the street turned battlefield, glowing red eyes, and a young, beautiful face, she is far larger than any human should be. Bloody tears like that of the creatures fall from her eyes.
The song turns into a wailing screech, a cursed melody, a scream of nightmares that forces everyone's souls out of their bodies, some immediately turning into ghosts while others manage to fight back, their souls latching onto their bodies.
Das, unaffected, reacts quickly and shoots a powerful beam of light at her, forcing her voice to go silent and everyone's souls return to their bodies, so long they have not been turned into ghosts already.
The woman screams once again, but this time enraged as she flies to Das, her arms stretched forward.