They say that, in the end, karma repays all its dues. If you were bad, it will find a way to bite you in the ass sooner or later. It always happens, even to those who thought they were once invincible.
Such was the case with Wolfchev, the corrupt and malicious officer of the Rekenber Corporation. After the horrific accidents at the Biolabs with his attempts at human experimentation ending in every subject's deaths, Rekenber and Wolfchev had tried their hardest to cover up their mistakes. It had mostly worked; the Biolabs were forgotten by the general public, and only a few foolhardy explorers dared to visit the remains. Most of whom never came back out.
After successfully covering up the incident, Wolfchev thought of himself as untouchable. He felt like he could get away with virtually anything, as his company would later cover him up and assist him. In some ways, he was right.
However.
Running away from his problems, Wolfchev took to hiding in the site of his past mistakes: the Biolabs themselves. Surely nothing would be here, he thought. After all, the experiments had all perished. Nothing could harm him here, so he thought.
He had hid here for weeks, maybe months, he had lost track. Staying in the dark corners of the biolabs, surrounded by the constant, lingering smell of smoke and chemicals, had taken a toll on his psyche. He could barely get any sleep; odd poltergeist activity had surrounded him since his arrival, but nothing serious for the most part.
Until now.
Wolfchev awoke in the dead of night, in pitch darkness. This was odd; he rarely awoke at such an ungodly hour, and was contemplating if something had awoken him when he heard a slight crack in the darkness.
The disheveled man barely had time to react before a whip shot out of the darkness and wrapped itself around his neck with perfect precision. The spikes that lined it dug into his throat as the coiled whip tightened, and Wolfchev, screaming and clawing desperately to remove the whip, was yanked forward and onto his face.
Bleeding profusely and having his windpipe partially crushed, Wolfchev emitted a disgusting gurgling noise as the blood started to collect in his throat and spill out of his mouth. He found it hard to breathe; no, he couldn't breathe at all. His death gurgles fell upon waiting ears, and he looked up at the owner of the killing whip.
The entity that stood before him was a young woman, with pink hair and a delicate face. She was the kind of person who would be the last to harm another; but, in the case of Wolfchev, she was the first. Giving the whip another tug, she stared down at him with timid red eyes as he gave his final breath.
Turning back to the other onlookers of the fourth floor with excitement, Trentini could barely get her words out.
"I...I did it!" She exclaimed, meekly but excitedly.
"Hmph. Serves him right." Chen, the champion, grunted out, his arms crossed and eyes giving the corpse a disdainful look.
A third spectral entity slunk out of the shadows, giving the body a quick, passing look before joining the other's sides.
"Good, good." Gertie praised the other. "But we're not done with him yet, oh no. Wait for it…"
And, as if on queue, Wolfchev's ghost materialized to the left of his body. He was in a daze, and still in shock from his sudden demise.
"You see?" Gertie continued, "He's trapped here now. Karma got him good."
"So that means…" Trentini trailed off.
"Yes." a fourth voice emerged, stately yet eager, as the great alchemist stepped out of the shadows. "We get to have a field day with his corpse. I've always wanted to try this concoction…" Emule eyed a potion that he had pulled out of his rucksack.
"You did get the kill, though." Emule motioned to Trentini. "You get the first...crack at it."
There were chuckles all around at the well-timed, but horrible, pun.
"O...Okay! Here goes!" Trentini exclaimed, turning to Wolfchev's ghost with eagerness as she readied her whip. It made, as expected, a cracking sound as it lashed Wolfchev's ghost for the first time, almost splitting his ectoplasmic head entirely open.
"Good shot!" Gertie praised. "Though, you better leave some for the rest of us!" she continued, teasing Trentini lightly while chuckling.
"That is no problem." Chen interrupted, holding his hand out in Wolfchev's general direction. His head wound healed upon the healing magic reaching him.
"He'll always be fit to beat up now."
"Okay! Well, uh, here goes nothing!"
Readying her whip and giving Wolfchev's stunned ghost a small grin, Trentini prepared to use all of her power to make him suffer.
"Night of a Thousand Lashes!"
Suddenly, her arm and whip became blurs, as the whip repeatedly lashed and struck at the ghost with unbelievable speed. Trentini's hair went flying as the spiked whip, creating mini sonic booms with each crack, almost entirely deconstructed Wolfchev's ghost and cutting pieces off in multiple parts. Ectoplasmic blood was left splattered around, and oozed out of his many, many wounds.
As the whole situation went down, the other ghosts looked on in awe. Celia, Randell and Alphoccio, drawn towards the commotion, were able to witness the final stint of Trentini's expertise.
"Whoa." was the collective response of the onlooking ghosts.
Huffing and puffing, Trentini put her whip away and fell backwards onto her butt. It took a lot of energy to use such a high-damage skill, especially when trying to harm another ghost.
"Hh...That was...fun…!" Trentini huffed out as Chen, with his healing magic, began to piece together the mangled spectre of Wolfchev.
"Alright." he exclaimed, as he managed to reanimate him. "Who's next?"
"W-Wait, I…" Wolfchev was soon interrupted by a glass bottle shattering on his face, green liquid splashing onto him and eating away at his ghostly skin.
"You don't get to talk." Emule said, stepping into the front with a molotov in one hand and a red potion in another.. Wolfchev screamed as his face began to, quite literally, melt under the influence of the corrosive green liquid.
"You know, I could use my dagger. But that won't do justice for what I want you to go through. Besides, I gotta see these new potions in action, eh?" Emule explained as he tossed the burning molotov at Wolfchev's writhing form.
The acid ignited under the fire, causing chemical burns all over Wolfchev's body as green smoke obscured him. Emule and the others just simply watched and listened to his horrid screams as the acid ate away at his skin and, later, his organs and bones.
After a while, Emule heaved the red potion over at him, which reconstructed his body once more for the next ghost to take a swing at him.
"Tch. I could have done better." Chen muttered under his breath as Emule stepped back.
Gertie was quick to pick up on the seemingly turn-based smackdown that was happening. Quickly slinking her way behind the dazed ghost, she jumped up and stabbed both daggers into Wolfchev's neck.
"Now that's a Two-Shiv Poison!" Gertie jested as she pulled the daggers all the way down Wolfchev's back, leaving two long, deep gashes as they sliced through ectoplasmic skin and flesh. The poison quickly took effect, seeming to necrotize the skin and flesh that had been sliced open by the daggers. It looked especially gross; the skin turned jet black around the wounds, and as Gertie ripped the daggers out of Wolfchev's lower back, he just simply fell on his face.
The stalker kneeled down in front of the bloodied and necrosis-riddled ghost and pulled his head up by the hair, forcing him to look at her.
"Why so serious, Wolfchev? Liven up." She joked, grinning and slamming his face back down on the floor before backing off, taking her daggers with her.
Once again, Chen healed his wounds and stood him up, but was surprised to be pushed away by an approaching Celia.
"My turn." She said, giving Chen a wink. He just simply grunted.
Preparing her tomes, Celia first cast a spell to keep Wolfchev standing upright, but binding his feet to the ground so he was unable to move.
"Here's to you, you disgusting little man."
She began reading from her first tome, the pages flipping rapidly of their own accord as a storm of icicles barraged Wolfchev, piercing his body and sticking in place where they entered. The maelstrom continued on for several seconds, until Wolfchev's body was riddled with icicles and holes from said icicles. Then, Celia shut her book with force and shouted one word:
"Shatter!"
The icicles within Wolfchev's body then shattered into shards that further wounded him. He screeched as ice shards pierced both his outside skin and his inside organs, causing internal bleeding as well as shooting outwards through his skin.
"I think that's enough from me." Celia pocketed her tome as she released Wolfchev from his foot bindings, having him fall to the ground once more. And once again, Chen revitalized him.
"I'm gonna go last. I want to deal the finishing blows from floor 4, so someone else step up for this." Chen stated, looking around for potential volunteers.
Taking up the opportunity next was none other than Alphoccio, in one hand a dagger and in the other a sheet of music. On the sheet was the lyrics to a forbidden song, a song that would make any who listened upon it quiver and squirm in agony. The singer, however, would be unaffected.
Knowing this, Alphoccio took the precaution of pulling multiple sets of earmuffs from his backpack, enough to give one to every other ghost aside from Wolfchev.
"You're gonna need these." was all he said.
"You're not going to-" Emule started, but was interrupted.
"Yes, I am. I'm gonna sing that song."
"Oh my. Everyone, do wear the earmuffs." Emule suggested as he put his on. The others followed suit, and gave Alphoccio the thumbs-up he was looking for.
Reading the sheet of paper, Alphoccio began to vocalize the dreaded words that appeared on it...
"The man in gauze! The man in gauze! King RAAAAAAMSEEEEEEES!"
Wolfchev, upon hearing this, began to convulse on the ground and foam from the mouth. His ears also began to bleed, as well as his eyes.
"SANTA CLAAAAAAAAUS!" Alphoccio continued with the cursed song. He seemed to only get louder as he repeated the same phrases, as that was all the paper contained.
"THE MAN IN GAUZE! THE MAN IN GAUZE!"
Wolfchev's eyes began to roll back into his head, as he continued to writhe in agony on the ground.
"KING RAAAAAAAAAAAAMSEEEEEEEEEEES!"
The other bios, seeing what the song was doing to Wolfchev, were both amazed and extremely relieved that they were unable to hear it.
Alphoccio finished his song with a long, drawn-out opera shout, and quickly tossed his dagger with precision into Wolfchev's head, dropping his convulsing form like a rock.
"You can take 'em off now!" He reassured the others excitedly, retrieving his dagger from the Rekenber official's head. The other ghosts removed their earmuffs and returned them to Alphoccio, who collected them into his backpack.
"Wow!" Trentini exclaimed, as Chen began to heal Wolfchev.
"Multiple ruptured organs and internal wounds...but the majority of the effect seems to be within his psyche." Chen observed as he healed him. "Whatever that was, it seemed to blast his psyche more than anything. Hm."
"Well, that's the song for ya!" Alphoccio replied.
"Pff, sure. Next?"
Chen's question was answered by a shield that whizzed past his face and impacted Wolfchev's, leaving a deep gash running across the ghost's now-ruined visage as the shield bounced back and returned to its owner, Randell.
"How's that?" He chuckled, drawing his longsword and bringing it down on Wolfchev's legs. What remained were two stumps, and Wolfchev howled in pain, as well as anger over the fact that this was happening to him.
Randell, not wasting any time, stabbed the longsword directly through Wolfchev's soft abdomen, his guts hanging like festive garlands over the end of the sword as it left through his back.
"This is some good payback, huh?" Randell harshly whispered through his teeth as he twisted the sword lodged in the other's abdominal cavity.. Wolfchev just simply emitted a noise that sounded like a small "gruck!" as blood began to trickle out of his mouth. He stared down at the bloodied sword, lifting one hand and feebly attempting to take it out. In response, Randell just simply pulled the sword out himself, further mangling Wolfchev's entrails and causing the wound to bleed profusely.
"Here's one for the road." Randell said as he bashed his shield into Wolfchev's face, knocking him to the ground, before walking off.
Chen, once again, healed his wounds before cracking his knuckles.
"Looks like it comes down to me." He scoffed, standing over Wolfchev before lifting him up.
"You are truly despicable. You have killed us, you have ruined us. And now, I shall return the favor!"
Chen seemed to simply begin seething with fury as he threw Wolfchev back-first against a wall before making great strides towards him, fists ready.
"DRAGON'S FURIOUS BARRAGE! SLAY MY ENEMY!"
With that, he arrived at Wolfchev and unleashed a torrent of punches, with almost no down time in between, pummeling his entire body at once. He moved like a blur, and although he thought of the speech as childish, Emule couldn't help but be impressed at the powerful technique.
Meanwhile, the bios watched on as Chen continued to bombard Wolfchev with a flurry of punches, seemingly neverending. Balefire began to ignite on his fists as the technique continued, literally pulverizing Wolfchev with his own soul and fury, before a quick downward elbow thrust to Wolfchev's head sent the other through the floor and onto floor 3.
Chen, panting heavily, wiped his brow and turned towards the others. Celia was obviously amazed, speechless even.
"Nice speech." Gertie mocked.
"Yeah, to hell with you too."
Meanwhile, the now-mushy form of Wolfchev landed with a THUMP on the tiled floor of floor 3, attracting the attention of that floor's own cast of ghosts. They gathered around the mangled body with curiosity.
"Well, well, well." Margaretha, the high priestess, started with a chuckle. "Who do we have here? Could it be? Rekenber's serial douchebag? I recognize that face anywhere."
"Actually, I can't recognize it much at all right now." Margaretha joked.
"I did that." Chen shouted down from the floor above.
"We took turns beating him up!" Trentini exclaimed with excitement, peering down from the hole in the floor. "You do it too!"
"Well, let's get him into good shape, then!" Margaretha shouted enthusiastically, healing Wolfchev once more and propping him up against a wall.
"So! Who's first to represent floor 3?" she asked.
Surprisingly, the first one to step up to the plate was Kathryne, the high wizard. Margaretha had expected someone like Seyren to step up first to take a swing or two or five, but it didn't really matter exactly who came up first, so long as someone came up to show Wolfchev what for.
Kathryne said nothing; she immediately froze Wolfchev's feet to the floor, leaving him standing upright and forcing him to face the wizard. Her face seemed to be impossible to read; she yielded no emotion to the Rekenber official, but perhaps that was simply because she was angry at him.
She pulled out no tome like the mage of the previous floor; however, she seemed to channel energy for a few seconds before her eyes lit up a bright red, and her hair began to fly erratically around her as she cast one of her most powerful spells.
"Lord of Vermillion!" she shouted at a considerable volume, much to the other's surprise. Perhaps she was just passionate about this encounter.
Immediately, a raging tempest materialized over Wolfchev's head. Criss-crossing lightning bolts first struck him, leaving his hair singed and his entire skin blackened, but that was only the prelude to what was to come. The lightning bolts were followed by a series of ground-based explosions that vaporized the majority of Wolfchev's skin and portions of his flesh closest in proximity to the explosions.
After the explosions concluded, Kathryne unfroze Wolfchev's feet and her eyes returned to their normal colors. She observed his body, smiled, and just simply took a few steps back.
"Atta girl!" Cecil, the sniper, congratulated the other with a hearty pat on the back.
"Thank you." she replied meekly, in a voice so quiet that the others could hardly hear it at all.
Wolfchev, having been healed by Margaretha and taking advantage of the state of celebration, attempted to escape the hellish environment of the biolabs. The third floor's residents were not paying attention as Wolfchev attempted to slink away into the shadows, behind experiment tables and through corridors, making sure not to bump into any noisy equipment along the way.
Or, well, all but one were not paying attention.
As Wolfchev was unable to really see in the darkness, he did not notice the lithe figure quickly approaching him from the side until it was too late. A blade quickly and silently pierced his back, and he fell to the ground as the fast-acting paralytic agent coating said blade took effect.
"Enjoy the taste of steel, you swine." the assassin whispered harshly into Wolfchev's ear. A second katar was slipped into the side of Wolfchev's neck with deadly precision, and his escape attempt was inevitably foiled.
Eremes, dragging the paralyzed body back to the group, just simply removed the two katars and tossed it towards the confused ghosts.
"I found him trying to slink away. You're lucky I was more alert than you all, so I could stop him." Eremes scoffed, turning and walking back into the shadows from whence he came.
The other bios just simply watched him as he walked off.
"Jeez." Cecil sighed. "What a jackass."
"I know." Margaretha concurred, healing Wolfchev without paying any good amount of attention to him. "At least he caught this douche, so we can keep the vengeance chain going!"
"Yeah! I'll take a shot at it now, if ya don't mind!" Cecil said eagerly, kicking Wolfchev against the adjacent wall while readying her bow. Just before taking the shot, however, she lowered the bow.
"Wait. Something's missing. Watch him, I gotta make this good."
Searching the area around the biolabs, Cecil looked for her unknown quarry while the other ghosts watched on, confused.
"There's gotta be one around here somewhere…"
After a minute or two of rummaging around, Cecil finally found what she was looking for.
"Aha!" she exclaimed, holding up an apple in her hands.
"An...apple?" Kathryne piped up, confused.
"Yeah! Ever heard the story of William Tell?"
Holding Wolfchev against the wall in a chokehold, Cecil carefully positioned the apple on top of his head while Kathryne, picking up on what was happening, froze him in such a fashion that all movement was prohibited.
"NOW I got this. Watch, I'm gonna shoot the apple off his head, just like William Tell!" She boasted, aiming her bow from a distance and firing a single arrow in the direction of Wolfchev.
Instead of hitting the apple, the arrow directly pierced Wolfchev's eye, going right through his brain's gray matter and getting stuck on the other end of the wall.
"Oops." She said flatly. "I missed."
A moment of silence, followed by a chorus of raucous laughter from Cecil, Margaretha and Howard, soon filled the entire floor. Even Seyren, the normally stone-cold lord knight, let out a small chuckle.
"Aha, he- I knew it would be good, haha! I'm glad I found the apple!" Cecil choked out between laughs.
"Yes! That was good, haha!" Margaretha agreed as Cecil ripped her arrow out of Wolfchev's head, letting his ghastly body slump to the floor while Margaretha revived the spirit once more for further punishment.
"Alright, so there we have it! He's good as new, kinda." Margaretha boasted as Cecil took a step back to stand next to an amazed Kathryne, who was in awe over the other's ability to shoot him directly in the eye from such a distance. She said nothing, however; she just simply looked at the other, eyes gleaming.
"So, who's up next? Howard?" She asked, motioning over to the ghost, who was leaning against a nearby wall with his hands in his pockets.
"Yep. Oh, I've been waiting for this." Howard let the words slip off his tongue carelessly, standing up straight and brandishing his hand axe and spinning it a bit as he took a few steps towards Wolfchev, who was still dazed from the arrow's impact.
"Hey, think fast!" Howard shouted as he threw the spinning axe at the other. It landed perfectly in his forehead, a deep wound forming from the impact.
The whitesmith then ran over to the stunned Rekenber official, removing the red axe from his forehead while kicking him against the wall. The wound split his skull and revealed his now chopped up brain matter. Spinal fluid mixed with blood began to trickle from the wound, giving it a greenish coloration.
"Looks like I cleaved ya good there." Howard noted, poking a bit at the wound with his axe in his other hand. "Though, that's just the beginning."
Howard then drew his axe back and slammed it into Wolfchev's stomach, the blade effortlessly dicing flesh and stopping with a CRACK at his spine, which stalwartly absorbed the blow.
Removing the axe, now stained with blood along with its natural red color, Howard devised a plan.
"I'm gonna have to use two hands for this one."
Putting his other hand on the axe, Howard swung it once more into the same wound in Wolfchev's stomach, further cleaving his intestines and smacking it against his spine once more. He repeated the motion again and again, as if he was trying to cut down a tree, until finally the spine gave way and Wolfchev's upper half fell to the floor, his legs slumping down with it.
"Timber!" he shouted.
The others just simply watched on at Howard's brutalization of Wolfchev in surprise.
"I didn't think he'd have that kinda stuff in him to do that." Cecil remarked.
"Anger will do that to you." Margaretha replied, putting Wolfchev back together as Howard began to wipe off his axe, going back to his slouching position against the wall.
"I gotta clean this guy's blood off the axe." Howard stated. "It's an insult to the axe to leave it there."
The joke was met by chuckles all around. The third floor was seemingly more laid-back than the fourth, in general.
"I guess it's my turn." Margaretha began to prepare herself to call down holy might onto Wolfchev, as was her main damage-dealing skill.
"Prepare to feel the wrath of Odin, you dirty sinner! Holy light, purge his form!"
Her staff began to emit a bright, white glow as she smacked it against Wolfchev's head, the holy magic literally beginning to turn him to dust. Though, of course, Margaretha wouldn't let him COMPLETELY die, but she'd get him pretty damn close.
Retracting her staff, she then drew back another powerful blow, cracking it against Wolfchev's side and possibly breaking a few ribs, which also soon began to crumble to dust.
"See? See this reaction? It means you're evil. Hear me? E-V-I-L. Evil." She taunted the other, popping him one more time in the head with the staff, causing him to tumble over and land on his back. A good portion of Wolfchev's body had crumbled to nothing more than white dust at this point, and naturally, it was an agonizing process. He did not scream, however; his vocal cords had succumbed themselves.
"Now, I think I'm forgetting someone, hmm?" Margaretha joked as she began to reconstruct Wolfchev's body. She knew exactly who was left, and the sound of metal dragging against the floor signaled his arrival.
"Seyren, it is your turn! Show him the full power of floor 3!" She cheered the lord knight on as he slowly approached Wolfchev, longsword dragging behind him. Wolfchev was scared out of his wits when faced by this specific ghost, as he knew what he had become after the experimentation. He fell on his back and began to scramble backwards, facing the now quickly advancing knight. Eventually, he hit a wall, and began to breathe heavily as Seyren met him face to face.
Getting down on one knee, Seyren stared directly at Wolfchev with an expression that just simply screamed 'murder'. His brow was furrowed and behind his eyes blazed his own righteous fury.
"Wolfchev." he said in a guttural tone. "My name is Seyren Windsor. You killed us all. Prepare to die."
The next thing that was emitted from Seyren's mouth was a raging, furious shout, as his eyes began to blaze with white-hot fire, the embodiment of his fury. In a beserker-style rampage, he heaved his sword up and brought it down on Wolfchev's shoulder, shearing off and crushing his arm. He then set up a great swing, smacking Wolfchev all the way to the other side of the lab, smashing through several tables and equipment as he went.
Seyren was quick to catch up with his quarry, hitting Wolfchev with a shoulder bash as he attempted to stand up, sending him back-first to the other wall. Stomping towards him, he swung his sword again, pressing him against the wall by the chest, shattering multiple ribs on the inside.
Letting out one last furious bellow, Seyren readied his sword and plunged it directly into Wolfchev's stomach, skewering him on the sheer size of the weapon. Lifting the long sword up, Wolfchev writhing on it, he then slammed it against the ground with great force, breaking the floor in a grand cataclysm that also saw Wolfchev flying off of the sword at high speeds and breaking through the floor of floor 2 as well, delivering him to floor 1 in a massive cloud of dust and blood.
The first floor's ghosts, startled by the sudden arrival as well as being pelted by debris and pieces of Wolfchev, had to momentarily take cover before they approached the crater. Wolfchev had been horribly disfigured upon landing; assumedly, every bone in his ghostly body had broken. They stared down at him for several seconds; how did he get here, why was he dead, and how did he get to be like this?
"Yoo-hoo, down there!" Cecil shouted down from the third floor, peering into the chasm through two floors created by a rampaging Seyren. "We've got a present for ya! Have at him!"
The ghosts of floor 1 stood around like stunned deer for a few more seconds, until Wickebine, the thief, broke the silence.
"This is who I think it is, isn't it? Heehee! I got no qualms hurting this guy!" she chirped, dagger in hand.
"Hold up!" Margaretha shouted from above. "Make sure to heal him after every turn. Just so you don't forget."
That job, by nature, fell upon Errende. "I can handle it!" he boasted. The others simply rolled their eyes at Errende's attempt to be mature, when it was known that he was simply just a kid.
Reconstructing Wolfchev's wraithlike corpse for yet another run, Errende gave the taller man a heavy shove, throwing him against the wall and stunning him.
"So who'll go first? If nobody volunteers, I'll just have to introduce him to floor one myself." Errende offered, motioning for someone to take a shot at the Rekenber official.
And the shot was taken. An arrow from the murky darkness found itself lodged in Wolfchev's mouth, piercing out the back of his neck. He began to choke as Kavach, the archer, emerged with a drawn bow and plenty more steel arrows in the quiver.
"Cheap shot!" Wickebine chastised the other, grinning.
"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Kavach gave the thief a nod before shooting a second arrow into Wolfchev's throat from a closer distance. Blood began to spurt out of his mouth and trickle down his chin, and he was pinned against the wall.
"Watch! I can do it without looking, too. I'll even put a little marker here for myself!" Kavach bragged, walking up to Wolfchev's awaiting body and, with a marker he produced from a pouch on his quiver, marked an "X" right between his eyes.
The archer then backed off, turning away as he aimed the bow at Wolfchev.
"Steady…"
THWACK. The arrow hit its mark directly, and the force caused one of Wolfchev's eyeballs to literally pop out, hanging by the optic nerve near his lower cheek.
"Told ya," Kavach said smugly as he went to retrieve his arrows.
"Looks like Kavvy is certainly savvy with the bow!" Armeyer, the merchant, quipped as she stepped out of the murk of night herself, surveying the damage to her killer.
Walking beside her were Laurell, the mage of floor 1, as well as Egnigem, the swordswoman.
"Har har." Laurell said dryly, but in reality, he was thinking to himself how to step up his future pun game, since Armeyer had just completely showed him up with that play on words.
Meanwhile, Errende was busy piecing together Wolfchev's three holes in his flesh, as well as put the eye back in place with his healing magic. Wickebine tossed her dagger from hand to hand, seemingly eager to get in on the action.
"Healing magic takes forever." she muttered under her breath.
She could hardly contain her excitement to sink her dagger into Wolfchev's vulnerable form and, as Errende finished revitalizing him, she immediately sprung into action, slipping the dagger right into his craw and towards his heart. Wolfchev let out a slight "hurk" as a few drops of blood spurted out of his mouth.
"Feel that?" Wickebine asked, twisting the dagger plunged into Wolfchev's chest. "Hey, do you? Speak up, will ya?"
Wolfchev did not respond. He simply turned his head and gave her an odd expression, one that mixed fear and anger.
Wickebine met his eyes with her own, and a crooked grin crossed her face as she devised an idea, one to embody years of preparing for the very moment she would be able to face her killer one on one,
"I have a special knife for this!" she exclaimed gleefully as she unsheathed a long skinning knife.
"Oh no." Laurell knew what was coming.
"Cover your eyes, kids. This is gonna get brutal." Egnigem stated, covering Armeyer's eyes for her.
In the course of a few minutes and with the noise of Wolfchev's guttural, gurgling screams ambient in the background, Wickebine had managed to skin Wolfchev's entire body, leaving the scraps of skin in a pile next to the now-bright red Rekenber official. The loud "SSHICK" of the knife as it scraped against Wolfchev's skin in almost rhythmic motions. Through the whole time, Wickebine hummed a little tune to herself, one that she'd heard a traveling bard play once from the first floor.
"Voila! A masterpiece!" Wickebine blew a kiss at the skinned Wolfchev as a taunt.
Egnigem was the first to open her eyes. "Well, uh, I guess I couldn't have expected anything less from you."
"What is it, Eggi?" Armeyer asked, her eyes still covered.
"Er. Wolfchev's seen better days, haha." was all the explanation Egnigem would give.
"Alright, Errende, let's ready him for the next one."
Errende, without uncovering his eyes as he was quite scared to look, cast his magic in Wolfchev's general direction, applying new skin to his form and healing his many, many stab wounds.
"Alright, you all can look now." Egnigem said, and the ghosts looked upon Wolfchev's now-healed form with curiosity.
"What'd you do to him, exactly?" Laurell asked, his arms crossed and his face shooting a quizzical look over at Wickebine. The thief merely smiled and pocketed her skinning knife.
"Who's up next? Step right up, one and all!" Errende exclaimed enthusiastically, eyeing the others, looking for a sign of movement.
The merchant and alchemist-in-training, Armeyer, was the one to step up to the plate. Giving Wolfchev an innocent smile, it seemed like she had nothing to do Wolfchev in with at all.
Then, without warning, she summoned an axe of unprecedented size, rushing Wolfchev down and slamming it right into his forehead. Wolfchev's eyes immediately glazed over, and he did not have any time to even get a single word out.
"Man, if only Mr. Emmy was watching!" Armeyer noted as she began to remove the axe from Wolfchev's head, letting his body slump to the ground in a contorted heap.
"I am."
Emule had, apparently, come all the way down to the first floor, drawn by a desire to watch his apprentice's progress, whether it be in alchemy or the art of carnage. Emule would normally not condone such an action; but it was Wolfchev. He did it himself, and he'd make an exception for his student.
Armeyer's eyes lit up as she heard the familiar voice, and her head whipped around to face the alchemist. A small, slightly embarrassed smile crossed his face, and Armeyer was filled with determination.
"I'll make you proud, Mr. Emmy!" She shouted with glee as she heaved her axe up and brought it down on Wolfchev's neck, decapitating him with a clean strike.
She did not stop there. Raising her axe for a second time, she halved Wolfchev at the diaphragm, his deflated lungs looking like old balloons in his chest cavity. The halves soon became quarters, and then eighths, as Armeyer repeatedly brought the axe down on her killer, sending blood and chunks of flesh flying with each swing.
Finally, leaving what was left of Wolfchev into many small pieces, Armeyer, breathing heavily, dropped her axe.
"Did I...do good?" She asked, turning to Emule.
"Well, let me see." Emule replied as he slowly walked over to the scene, surveying the bits and pieces strewn about as he approached the many large chunks of Wolfchev's main body. Picking up one with both of his hands, he examined the flesh.
"A clean cut. A bit slanted, but hey, I can't fault you on that. The flesh is still smooth along the edges, and not raggedy like a botched cut would be. It's perfect."
Armeyer beamed with happiness.
"I'm proud of you, Armeyer." Emule said with a soft smile.
The merchant, still somewhat bloodied from the slicing up of Wolfchev, ran up to her mentor and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. She had never been more excited to hear him judge her work.
"Thank you, thank you, Mr. Emmy!" She chimed with glee. Emule returned the embrace, gently holding his student in the hug, while Armeyer squeezed him like a bear. He didn't mind, though; in fact, he was quite flattered she was so excited to hear his verdict.
"Hehe." Emule, flattered, patted the merchant's head before the crushing bear arms of Armeyer let him go.
"I'd best be headed back to floor 4. Good work today, Armeyer." The alchemist bid the others farewell, taking his leave.
Armeyer, in a state of joy, retrieved her axe from Wolfchev's bloody remains and joined the group of ghosts while Errende healed him once again. Egnigem gave her a hearty pat on the back and a friendly smile.
"And he's back at it again in the Biolabs." Errende jested after completing the puzzle that was Wolfchev's spectral body. "I think I'll show him what I can do now!"
Errende rummaged around in his rucksack, pulling out both a mace and a rod.
"Mace or rod, mace or…"
"Rod." Errende decided, holding the wooden rod out in the air in front of him. "The ultimate disrespect!"
The acolyte, rod in hand, began his charge towards Wolfchev. He had planned it all out in his mind, and knew exactly how his minute to win it would work out. It was a flawproof plan…
That is, until, he attempted to shove the rod into Wolfchev's gut and didn't even pierce his ectoplasmic skin.
"Ehh…" Errende was obviously embarrassed. The others were watching him, waiting for the next death of Wolfchev.
"Errende. Killing Wolfchev. Wowzors." Laurell mocked from the sidelines, in good nature.
"Er…" Errende, resourceful as ever, picked up the mace and quickly smashed it into Wolfchev's face, making a concave crater and caving his entire face in.
"First try!" He bluffed.
"Sure." Laurell quipped, as Errende removed his mace from Wolfchev's face and began to heal it.
"Guess it's my turn. Be careful I don't show you up." Laurell prepared his magic for Wolfchev's now-ready form.
Materializing three tomes in front of him, Laurell began channeling energy for a massive blow. The pages of the tomes began to ominously turn themselves, and soon enough, they were blasting through as if a gust of wind had been blowing them.
"Tri-Elemental Attack!"
From Laurell's fingertips first emerged lightning, which arced off and electrocuted Wolfchev's ghost in a mesmerizing display of lights. Electricity rippled over his body, and his blond hair frizzled out in static-induced spikes. He was obviously in agony; burn marks began to appear all throughout his body as the voltage was pumped through him.
Then came ice. When the electric barrage ended, icicles began to shoot out of a glyph that Laurell had drawn in the air with his fingers and bombard Wolfchev, piercing him through his legs, arms, torso, head...anything that was in their path, highly reminiscent to another spell, used by another biolab ghost…
Lastly, fire raged from Laurell's open palms to incinerate Wolfchev's already beaten form. The fire was hot and lethal, and was enough to make Wolfchev's blood boil and the oils on his skin sizzle. The icicles embedded within him melted, and every wound was instantly cauterized by the intense heat produced.
Upon finishing the spell, Wolfchev's battered form fell to the floor once again, still smoking from the fire and electricity still coursing through his veins.
"And that is the full wrath of a mage!" Laurell gloated. Egnigem simply rolled her eyes as Errende, similarly put off by Laurell's bragging, began to revive Wolfchev once last time. Only one ghost was left to show him what for: Egnigem, the swordswoman.
"I'm gonna put on a real display for you guys." Egnigem stated, cracking her knuckles and neck in preparation as she heaved her sword up over her shoulder, ready to strike.
Then, a slight pause. A reconsideration. Egnigem dropped her sword with a clatter to the ground, much to the surprise of the other ghosts.
"The sword won't do him justice." was all she said.
Wolfchev, speaking for the first time, spat on the floor to the side of him before facing Egnigem.
"You...You're just a brat. I've died more times than I can count today. What new thing can YOU bring to the table? You ridiculous little gi-"
Wolfchev was interrupted by Engigem, who had acquired a running start during his speech, and immediately landed a wicked lariat on him, slamming him to the ground with a heavy blow.
"That's just the beginning, old man!"
Standing him up, Egnigem hopped up on a nearby table while Wolfchev stumbled around in a daze. With little delay, Egnigem hopped off the table, did a little spin in midair, and managed to grab onto Wolfchev, reversing him over her shoulder and throwing him head-first into the ground in a perfect 720 DDT.
The move effectively broke Wolfchev's neck, shattering multiple vertebrae and paralyzing him. This, however, only served to make him more vulnerable to Egnigem's further moves.
Picking up the now-inanimate body of Wolfchev, Egnigem was able to heave him over her back and throw him down in a near-pitch perfect suplex. The others were in awe at her sheer strength, as well as her eagerness to perform such moves on Wolfchev.
"FINISH HIM!" Wickebine shouted from the sidelines, and Egnigem gave her the thumbs-up.
"I've got a special move for you on this one. Watch this!"
Egnigem heaved the dazed Wolfchev up one last time by the legs, holding him in a chokehold as she prepared for the move.
"Be ready, here it comes! NEW YEAR'S PILEDRIVER!"
Quickly reversing Wolfchev so that his head faced the ground, Egnigem let her legs give out from under her as she slammed Wolfchev head-first into the tiled floors of the lab, the resounding CRACK heard throughout the entire building.
Wickebine threw herself onto the floor, sliding next to Egnigem as she dropped Wolfchev and slapped her hand hard on the floor, counting, like a true referee.
"ONE! TWO! ...TEN! IT'S OVER! EGNIGEM WINS BY KO!" She shouted, as the others gave their applause.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" came a voice from floor 3, unmistakably Cecil's. The use of Egnigem's finishing move had stirred commotion in the other floors as they anticipated the loud crack of Wolfchev's head hitting the floor, not quite splitting open, but getting pretty damn close. Margaretha tossed celebratory confetti down the hole that Seyren had created earlier, and it trickled down to the first floor and fell on top of Wolfchev's broken and mangled form.
The residents of the first floor, calming down from the flashy finishing move, turned to Errende expectedly. He looked back, with an expression of smugness and confusion.
"What?" he inquired. "I'm not healing him again. Everyone got a chance to rip at him, and now we can keep his body as a trophy or something! We killed him many times over! Huzzah!"
Armeyer, who was normally off-put by such a loud and rowdy scene, began to meekly cheer with the others with a small "Woo! Woo!" and the pumping of her fists in the air.
"What're we gonna do with him now?" she asked. The other bios had made their way down to the first floor as well to see the final and everlasting death of Wolfchev.
"I propose we put his body on a pike and stick it out front." Chen suggested. "It'll be a warning to Rekenber. 'Do not mess with us, lest you end up like this'."
"I…" Emule tried to disagree with Chen, but was unable to. "I agree. We shall stick him there as both a warning and a fitting prize for our conquests."
And so, with each ghost pitching in a little bit, Wolfchev's broken and battered ghost, having died a total of nineteen times over, was put on public display on a pike in front of the biolabs' entrance. It served as a grim reminder that the spirits that resided within meant business, and were completely serious in response to any threat thrown their way…
As soon as the bios left the pike unattended, a final visitor, the ghost of a man long since killed by Rekenber's cronies, approached the body of Wolfchev. Giving it a triumphant grin, he kicked it once right in the groin.
"Take that!" Varmunt shouted, before running off one more into the shade outside the biolabs.
Meanwhile, within, Alphoccio had made a song off the fly to celebrate the victory, and the silliness of it caused mass laughter within the group, and later on he himself was laughing too hard to finish the song. Serious, indeed. The bios had gotten their revenge at last, and their spirits may rest peacefully...Well, as peaceful as it's gonna get in there, anyway.