Viessa's breath grew ragged, each exhale echoing like a dying wind through the thickening mist. Her yellow eyes glinted with an unnatural glow, pupils dilating to a predator's slit. The air turned frigid, chilling Tarot's skin to the bone, yet sweat slicked his brow. The ground beneath him trembled as dark fissures split open like jagged mouths, belching out an unnatural crimson mist that swirled hungrily around them.
"You've danced enough," Viessa hissed, her voice layered with an otherworldly resonance, like dozens of tormented souls screaming in unison. "Now it's time you learned why you don't mock me." She raised a trembling hand, her fingers curling into a fist, and the sound of clanking metal chains roared like a funeral dirge.
From the fissures rose grotesque, nightmarish figures—distorted humanoid shapes with melted faces, hollow eye sockets that bled shadows, and mouths stretched unnaturally wide, filled with rows of jagged, gnashing teeth. Their skin was mottled and rotting, a sickly mix of black and gray, dripping with tar-like fluid. Their elongated fingers, ending in razor-sharp claws, scratched against the ground as they crawled toward Tarot, their movements unnervingly jerky yet calculated.
The chains that surrounded Viessa lashed out, embedding themselves into the monstrous figures. With a sickening crack and groan, the chains fused to the creatures' flesh, contorting their bodies further as they stood upright. The sound of tearing flesh and grinding bones filled the air as they twisted unnaturally, their heads snapping to Tarot's direction with audible pops. A low, guttural growl rumbled from their hollow chests.
"What in the god of peaches is this?!" Tarot yelled, his usual humor betraying a hint of panic. His voice echoed strangely, as though the mist itself swallowed his words and regurgitated them in distorted tones.
Viessa smiled, her teeth gleaming unnaturally white against her darkened visage. "They're hungry," she whispered, her voice carrying an eerie calm that only made the terror more palpable.
The creatures began to move, their clawed feet dragging against the cracked earth, leaving trails of blackened sludge that hissed and burned wherever it touched. Their distorted limbs stretched unnaturally, their fingers twitching as if savoring the idea of tearing Tarot apart. One let out a high-pitched screech, and suddenly they all rushed forward with horrifying speed, the chains clanging and rattling in unholy harmony as they slithered and coiled like serpents.
Tarot instinctively leaped back, his feet finding purchase on a jagged rock, but the creatures adapted, scrambling over each other in a horrifying frenzy to reach him. One of them lunged, its jaw unhinging to reveal a black void filled with faint, glowing eyes that stared into his very soul. Tarot swung his staff, striking it with a solid hit, but the creature exploded into a plume of ash and mist, reforming just a few feet away with its twisted body piecing itself back together like a macabre puzzle.
"Okay, this is officially too creepy for me!" Tarot shouted, summoning a swirling cloud from under his feet to gain some height. But even the sky wasn't safe. Chains shot upward like metallic vipers, their ends tipped with serrated hooks. One grazed his ankle, drawing blood, the pain sharp and immediate.
"Running won't save you," Viessa purred, her voice oozing malevolence. The mist thickened further, turning the world around them into a claustrophobic void where only the glowing eyes of the creatures and the glint of her chains could be seen.
Tarot ducked and weaved through the airborne assault, his duplicates forming and scattering to confuse the chains. But for every illusion he created, one of the monsters would pounce, dragging it into the ground with unnatural force and tearing it apart. The mist seemed to hiss and laugh every time a duplicate fell, as though feeding on the destruction.
One of the creatures lunged at him again, its claw slicing through his jacket as he narrowly avoided a fatal blow. The scent of decay and iron filled his nostrils, making him gag. "Great, now I smell like zombie sweat," he muttered, trying to mask his growing fear.
But his heart pounded in his chest, each beat echoing like a war drum in the oppressive silence that followed Viessa's every movement. Her chains began to twist and form symbols in the air, dark sigils that radiated malevolent energy, and Tarot could feel his cloud losing its buoyancy.
"You're not leaving this place alive," Viessa said, her voice a blend of mocking glee and unyielding wrath. "You'll become part of the mist, a memory lost to the abyss."
For the first time in the battle, Tarot felt the weight of true fear pressing down on him. But even in the face of pure horror, a grin forced its way onto his lips. "Guess I'll just have to make sure I leave an impression then, huh?" he muttered, sweating, readying his staff for what he knew would be the fight of his life.
Viessa's chains writhed in the air, their metallic surfaces gleaming with an otherworldly glow as they seemed to hum with dark energy. The creatures surrounding Tarot moved in a grotesque unison, their jerking, erratic motions now taking on a terrifying rhythm, as though guided by an unseen conductor. Their hollow eyes fixed on him with a predatory hunger, and the air grew thick with the stench of decay and rot.
"You can grin all you want," Viessa said, her voice dripping with malice as her chains circled around her like vipers. "But that bravado won't save you when there's nowhere left to run." She raised her arms, and the chains shot forward, twisting and spiraling toward Tarot in a deadly dance.
Tarot spun his staff in a blur, summoning a dense cloud around him as a shield. The chains struck the mist, their edges sparking with unnatural energy, but they could not break through. Viessa hissed in frustration, her glowing yellow eyes narrowing.
The mist around Tarot began to swirl with increasing intensity, a vortex of white and gray that pulsed with his energy. Yet, as he held his defense, the creatures clawed and scraped at the edges of his cloud, their disjointed limbs writhing as they tried to find a way in. One of them screeched, a sound so piercing and inhuman that it sent shivers down Tarot's spine.
"Alright, I've had about enough of this zombie demon nightmare," Tarot muttered, his voice betraying a flicker of unease. He twirled his staff once more, and with a sharp motion, launched a burst of compressed cloud energy at the closest creature. The attack hit its mark, sending the abomination flying backward, its body disintegrating into a swirl of ash and shadows. But as soon as it vanished, another crawled from the ground to take its place.
Viessa laughed, a bone-chilling sound that echoed through the battlefield. "You can fight all you want, but they'll keep coming. They're born of the mist, and the mist is eternal."
Tarot gritted his teeth, the humor fading from his expression as he realized the gravity of the situation. He had faced strong opponents before, but this—this was something else entirely. His mind raced as he dodged another chain strike, the serrated edge narrowly missing his face.
Suddenly, Viessa thrust her arms outward, and the ground beneath Tarot began to quake. The fissures widened, and more of the grotesque creatures crawled out, their twisted forms dragging themselves closer and closer. But this time, they didn't attack. Instead, they surrounded him, their hollow eyes locked on him as if waiting for a command.
Viessa smirked, her chains lifting high above her like the heads of a hydra. "Do you hear them, little monkey? Do you hear their whispers? They're calling for you. They want you to join them."
Tarot froze for a moment, his ears catching a faint sound beneath the eerie silence—a low, guttural whisper that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. It grew louder, the voices overlapping and blending into an incomprehensible cacophony.
Join us... Join us... Join us...
The words seeped into his mind like a venom, clouding his thoughts and making his vision blur. He shook his head violently, trying to dispel the intrusion. "Nope! Not today, creepy ghost things. I've got enough voices in my head already!"
But the whispers persisted, growing more insistent, more invasive. Tarot felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead as the creatures began to close in, their clawed hands reaching for him with agonizing slowness. The chains above him descended like serpents, their points aimed directly at his chest.
Just as the first chain struck, Tarot vanished in a burst of cloud, reappearing several feet away. He staggered slightly, his breathing ragged. "Okay, that's it," he muttered, his voice shaking. "You want to play horror movie? Fine. But I'm not going down as your cliché victim."
He planted his staff into the ground and channeled his energy, the clouds around him thickening and expanding. The creatures hesitated for a moment, their hollow eyes flickering uncertainly. Tarot took the opportunity to summon more duplicates, each one taking a defensive stance as they surrounded him.
Viessa snarled, her chains lashing out wildly, destroying several of the clones in a single sweep. But for every duplicate she destroyed, another appeared, their forms shifting and swirling like living smoke.
Tarot's real form leapt into the air, his staff glowing as he prepared his next move. With a sharp dive, he landed behind Viessa, his clones swarming around her in coordinated chaos. Each move they made created gaps in her defenses, the chains whipping through empty air as they narrowly missed their targets.
One clone dove low, slamming its staff against the ground to release a burst of cloud that obscured Viessa's vision. Another clone vaulted over her, slashing at her with its own phantom staff, only to dissolve into mist when she struck back.
The real Tarot circled her rapidly, striking when she was distracted, then retreating before she could retaliate. The sound of chains crashing and clones dispersing filled the air, a chaotic symphony of battle. Viessa's frustration grew with each missed strike, her movements becoming more erratic and desperate.
"You're just smoke!" she screamed, her voice cracking with fury. "You're nothing but tricks!"
Tarot grinned, leaping high into the air once more. "Tricks, huh? Guess that makes you the fool!" With a spinning motion, he slammed his staff into the ground, releasing a shockwave of compressed air that sent Viessa staggering.
For the first time, the confidence in her yellow eyes began to falter. The creatures around them writhed in response to the disruption, their forms flickering as though they were tied to her weakening will.
Tarot stood tall, twirling his staff casually as he locked eyes with her. "You're not scary anymore, Viessa. Just a bad memory waiting to fade."
To be continued...