Act 6: War of the Dead part 1

The Crucible (Shortly after the group's departure)

Wicked K drank his whine and eyed Kargon had his back turned towards him and asked "Kargon do you have something?"

Kargon lowered his head and stated "N..no!"

Wicked K raised a brow and ordered "Turn around Kargon."

Kargon was silent and obeyed as he turned around revealing him with the puppy that was with the group as Wicked K raised both brows and asked "You stole a mutt... from the reaper?"

Kargon lowered his finger near the pup petting him as stated "He's survivor master and I respect that."

Wicked K had a comical confused look and asked "You can speak dog?"

Kargon then claimed "No... not with words anyway his eyes they're quite determined..."

Kargon held up the pup who had given a serious look while Wicked K and Kargon were awkwardly silent until the pup barked cutely and leaped onto Kargon's shoulder and licked his helmet as Kargon begged with a serious tone "Can I keep him master?"

Wicked K was speechless as the pup panted with cute large eyes that gleamed while Wicked K palmed his face and said "Fine... hahahaha this is amusing beyond belief, I wouldn't have thought a big armored lad like yourself would be attached to a dog though."

Kargon scratched the pup's chin making his leg move in a rapid paced as a response.

The Eternal throne (Presently)

Artorus had summoned the Dead court to him, Basileus the Enforcer of the dead and Phariseer the Keeper of the dead were summoned by their new Lord. Artorus had to make sure that his rule was unquestioned and absolute and decided to "persuade" the Lords of the Dead court and asked "Where is Judicator?"

Basileus then stated as he crossed his arms "Carrying out his duties as he always does my lord."

Artorus then sighed as his breath made the air cold and snapped his fingers as his eyes glowed blue and asked "Ladies?"

Then four green summoning seals were seen as four wraiths emerged without their blades and began to belly dance in front of the Dead Court as Phariseer looked at his fellow court member as Artorus said "Tomorrow we shall make our appearance for the End war, so enjoy the entertainment I have granted you my dead court."

Basileus then grinned and said "Mmmm... wraiths."

The wraiths twirled around as they kept in a constant motion their hips would shake side to side as one made her way to Basileus and leaned on him as he looked at her with his helmet still over his eyes as she winked at him and said "Do I please you Lord Basileus?"

Basileus raised a brow under his helmet and asked "Not certain yet unless you can prove yourself?"

The Wraith smirked and raised her arms over her head and around Basileus' neck and rubbed her ass on his crotch and suggested "How about you prove yourself to me big boy? (Winks)"

Basileus growled seductively and said "This just got interesting."

Phariseer scoffed at his fellow Dead lord but then the three other wraiths surrounded him as one asked "Wish to have me my lord Phariseer?"

Then another asked "How about me?"

Then the last asked "Or you can have all three of us and see how well you'd handle?"

Phariseer looked at the three and squinted his eyes and gave a smirk and said "I'd take that challenge."

But Artorus stood up and said calmly "If you Necrophiliacs do it here..."

Artorus' eyes glowed brightly blue giving a intimidating stare and finished "I will have your souls in the palm of my hand."

And instantly the dead lords on their wraiths left Artorus' sight as he slowly sat down and palmed his helmet as he asked "What is the progress of my perfect warrior?"

Then a royal guard had stated "The Soul Arbiter has reported that the soul is already prepared to be trained my lord."

Artorus grinned and said "Good. Send him to the gilded arena... I have some business there with the Arena's caretakers."

In Judicator's tomb the Dead lord had been judging the damned but yet he noticed that a shortage of human souls as if someone had been illegally stealing the souls awaiting to be judged. Judicator had ignored it at first but as the End war on Earth wages on and on the damned souls that should have been sent to him for judgement have lessened more and more to the point of just a hundred souls per Earth day.

Judicator knew there must be someone stealing the souls and called for his guards to investigate and see where the souls have been taken, his guards a group of undead Demon Phantoms and Legionaries left Judicator to his duty while searching for the stolen souls. Upon reaching the Guilded arena an undead Demon Legionnaire saw the Lord of the dead, Artorus and saw that him talking to statues while one had said with a raspy voice "How honored we must be for the Lord of the Dead to be in our presence?"

Then another statue turned towards Artorus and deeper raspy voice "QUIET! Let the Lord of the Dead speak of what he wants."

Artorus then pointed at the statues and ordered "I want the Bounty hunter you have imprisoned here."

The statues were quite but one stated "The Knights of Soul fire had payed quite handsomely for his imprisonment but you are our Lord..."

Then the statue that had a sitting robed skeleton spoke "Enough! Take him as you please Lord Artorus as a tribute to your rule."

Then a red portal opened up as two stone pillars slowly rose up with a demon legionnaire skeleton was seen chained to the pillars with his head dropped down as he chuckled and asked "So Purple you'd couldn't stay away?"

But when the skeleton saw Artorus his head erupted into red flames and joked "How... that hurts Purple. That really fucking hurts my feelings HAHAHAHA!"

Artorus then asked "Red, the Chaos Knight of soul fire I presume?"

Red then tilted his head and asked "And who the fuck are you snowman?"

Artorus then warned "Careful I would keep that jaw shut if I was you, for you speak to the new Lord of the Dead."

Red then yawned and asked "So?"

Artorus then cracked his neck as he raised his hand and made it into a fist making Red gargle and said "So... Obey me!"

Artorus released Red making him laugh and shouted "OH THAT WAS SOOOOO GOOD! DO IT AGAIN!"

Artorus sighed and scoffed at the demon skeleton and said "That's... disturbing your feel pleasure from my soul grip. Anyway I have an job for you Red."

Red then asked "What kind of job?"

Artorus then stated "I want you to go to Earth and bring your former Knights of soul fire to me."

Red the joked "You wouldn't happen to want them alive would you? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Artorus then growled annoyingly and said "Hilarious... but if you bring me the knights I assure you that you can have chaotic satisfaction on Earth."

Red looked at Artorus and joked again "Ohh I might as well drink some cyanid too for my health."

Artorus didn't know how to respond to the joke and simply asked "Do you accept?"

Red then shrugged and said "Sure boss I've got nothin better to do anyway."

Artorus then smirked and said "Very well then I shall..."

Red shook his head around and said "YAP, YAP, YAP! You talk too much."

Artorus then growled annoyingly and said "Very well... guards take this one to the portal and leave him to fulfill his desires of chaos and destruction."

Then the royal guards pulled the chains leading Red away as Artorus looked to the side as the dead demon ran away and said "It would seem that Judicator is suspicious of the missing souls."

Then the area around Artorus went dark as the mysterious figure appeared before Artorus and asked "Will this Dead Lord be a problem?"

Artorus then pointed at the figure and stated "That is of no concern of yours I will keep my end of the bargain, so long as you keep yours."

The figure's eyes glowed yellow and warned as he slowly floated around Artorus "Careful, Lord Artorus... I have seen kings fall, self proclaimed gods die, and mortals rise against those who are deemed... Corrupt, and your are no different."

The figure waved his hand through Artorus causing him to fall to his knees as if he was weakened and the figure floated above him and continued "If you fail to keep your end of the bargain... you shall pay dearly... with your soul and tenfold."

Artorus then claimed with pride "I will ensure that you'll have the souls that you require."

The figure then leaned forward and simply finished "We shall see... We shall see."

The figure disappeared as the area returned to normal as Artorus sighed in relief and stood back up as he ordered "PREPARE FOR THE INVASION!"

But then a royal guard bowed and reported "My lord the Demoness Lord, Lilith has come and asks for an audience."

Artorus gave a unamused cold look and asked "So?"

The guard then stated "She has stated claim over the soul of Belial and seeing how you haven't decided his soul's fate yet..."

Artorus then stated "I shall what I please with the soul of Belial the Dark Prince and his Whore of Babylon can either accept that..."

The guard then asked "My lord?"

Artorus gave a grin and said "Or they can just try an take it from me, leading to more dead to our armies hehehe. Yes I like that one. Tell Lilith that she can meet me in the throne room."

The guard bowed in respect as Artorus thought "So that's why you wanted me to keep Belial's soul... to wage war against Hell."

Later in the Eternal throne Artorus sat on his throne as a womanly figure with hip length raven hair, yellow eyes, upside down wings with piercings on them, demonic knee high boots had entered the throne. Lilith wore black leather with a lock and chain as a belt, her horns curving around her face making it appear like it was fashioned that way to resemble hair she had a lizard like tail and of course the most prominent feature; her large breasts which could compete with Shizuka's.

Artorus slowly clapped his hands with a grin and said "It's the Whore of Babylon herself, your kind have made a great mess with mine. Axe lords treated as mere foot soldiers, skeletons reduced to mindless pawns, and of course the Wicks are mere slaves."

Lilith squinted her eyes unamused as Artorus continued "I know such painful subjugation when I was alive."

Artorus waved his hand as green flames erupted in front of Lilith showing Artorus before he became Argul's loyal servant, he was once a slave born into the Roman empire. Artorus' human name was changed for every new master he was sold to, however he would simply rebel against every last one of them before being taken as a Gladiator and fought for his life every day to entertain the crowds of the Roman empire.

Artorus would learn from his many battles within the arena however the public had high views of the slave as to the nobility who viewed that he was a symbol to slaves to rebel and had planned for his eventual downfall. Artorus was poisoned in his sleep and had died before his next fight in the arena as Artorus wave this hand and said "I know subjugation Demon."

Lilith then simply stated "I don't really care, I'm only here for Belial's soul the Dark Prince has demanded it."

Artorus then summoned five Undead Generals with demons of varying breeds and ages as prisoners while Artorus stood up and summoned an ice sword and pointed it at the youngest demon who was consider a child and said "And I know pain Lilith..."

Artorus stabbed the demon child in the throat while the General let go and let the demon bleed to death as Artorus looked at Lilith who was beginning to get uncomfortable as he slashed another demon in half. Artorus then said as he stabbed another demonic the face "I won't give you Belial's soul for that now belongs to the Kingdom of the Dead."

Lilith then stated "That would break the treaty between the Kingdom of the Dead and Hell."

Artorus then stated as he wave this hand as the two remaining Generals broke the necks of the last demons "I am aware of the treaty but I am not my predeccor, I am Artorus the Lord of the Dead! AND I SHALL WAGE WAR UPON HEAVEN AND HELL! ALL LIVING THINGS MUST DIE AND FOR THAT THE KINGDOM OF THE DEAD IS NOT CONSIDERED AMONG THE GREAT KINGDOMS?!"

Lilith widened her eyes as Artorus sat upon his throne and warned "I am not intimidated by you or the Dark Prince... and I'm especially not afraid of your favorite child, the Hollow Lord, the Kinslayer, your son Death!"

Lilith turned away but then stated "You should be."

Lilith walked out of the throne room without arguing any further leaving the Lord of the Dead quiet until one of the royal guards asked "My lord I may be overstepping my boundaries but shouldn't we allow a few humans to survive seeing how you were once human?"

Artorus clenched his fist as The royal guard fell to his knees in pain as he stated "Life is cruel. Why should the afterlife be any different?"

The undead demon had returned to his master and reported "Master Lord Artorus has sent the Chaos knight to bring the other knights of soul fire back to him."

Judicator then sighed and asked "What is our Lord up to?"

With Shido's group

The bus needed to be refueled and Shido along with his silver tongue had asked "My male students I require a volunteer to refuel the bus and check the station for supplies do this and I am sure the ladies will reward you profoundly."

However with most afraid to go outside only one Tsunoda the boy who fought with Taskhi before he and Rei got separated and had met Death stood up and said "I'll go Mr. Shido."

Tsunoda then walked near the door as Shido warned "Now Tsunoda you know if you are caught..."

Tsunoda nodded and finished "I'll be left behind."

Shad's eyes flashed yellow as he said "Good."

Tsunoda walked out as he saw a body of the man whose heart was literally torn out of his chest by Death and thought "The fuck happened to you?"

Tsunoda began to refuel the bus as a raspy chuckle was heard and Tsunoda turned to see a green misty trail that quickly dispersed as Tsunoda took it as a means to be cautious and took the hose of another fuel tank and sprayed the ground around the station as far as he could. Tsunoda then went into the gas station and gathered as many snacks and supplies as he could carry and hurried back to the bus handing the supplies to the others from a window.

Shido then checked the tank and saw it was nearly full as Tsunoda turned to see a wraith chuckling at him and said "Gone gone the boy needs to be so go now run, go and flee!"

Shido saw the wraith and was prepared to drive th bus out of there while it was still being refueled however the voice he heard before "This human boy has some potential..."

Shido turned to look at the wraith as his eyes glowed yellow and the wraith noticed and her eyes immediately glowed the same as Shido's and floated away in fear and said "You humans aren't worth the trouble!"

Shido's eyes stopped glowing as Tsunoda asked "Did you scare her off for me Mr. Shido?"

Shido shook his head and then noticed what he was asked and said "I uhhh... Yes of course I did no need to worry I'll protect you!"

Tsunoda and there other followers of Shido had a major morale boost from Shido's promise to keep them safe while he held his stomach and looked at the mirror to see a sign with a Hotel name on it and said "We'll rest in a hotel tonight... Tsunoda, you and the girls will have your own room, Kurokami, Miura you should learn that volunteering for such a task like Tsunoda'sto gain rewarded by the girls."

Kurokami then nodded and said "Yes Mr. Shido I understand."

Then Miura then responded "Of course Mr. Shido."

The city of the dead

Hisashi's soul was cast into the city of the dead while traditionally was meant for those who had earned their place within it's walls those who are not proven their worth face a fate worse than their eternal torment. Hisashi's soul walked but his sight was blinded with a green mist while the other souls walked with clear view of where they were going Hisashi's soul was driving mad from the lack of sight and constant voices of the dead all around him.

All the while the Soul Arbiter watched him from above keeping a close eye on the chosen human soul of the Lord of the dead, Hisashi would run what felt like a straight line however the Soul Arbiter would simply palm his face pondering why he witnessed the soul run around in circles. Hisashi's soul would often sit down for breaks and after days of the same cycle a single change was seen, he would now talk to himself constantly catching the Soul Arbiter's attention.

But Hisashi's soul would need to "improve" much more than he already has, and after a few more days the soul of Hisashi had made it's final change and just stood still without emotion. The Soul Arbiter sighed in relief and took the soul from the city back to the Eternal throne and was asked by Artorus "And how is my... perfect warrior in training?"

The Soul Arbiter then stated "His soul was driven mad and now his soul is just a shell of what it was, full emotions, fear, madness, love, now... emptiness. A need to fill the void will be present my Lord I recommend training."

Artorus placed his finger tips together and crossed one leg over the other and ordered "Bring him out."

The Soul Arbiter bowed his head as the doors slammed open as the royal guards pointed inside and ordered Hisashi's soul "The Lord of the Dead shall give you a purpose human maggot!"

Hisashi' soul walked in, his face emotionless and his eyes devoid of any life the soul had prior long isolation and magic of the City of the Dead, as Artorus was seen very impressed and asked "So who do you recommend to train this new recruit?"

The Soul Arbiter then stated "That would depend of the new body the soul will have to choose and be capable with."

Artorus turne this head to see the bodies of the Demon spawns and Angels and raised his hand as the bodies floated up with blood still dripping and ordered "Now recruit choose your body."

The soul walked towards one pf the Angel bodies and touched it as was instantly flung back as the Soul Arbiter said "He was rejected by the body."

Artorus then said "Clearly."

Haste's soul stood back up still quiet as it walked to the next Angel body and placed his hand into the body indicating he wasn't being rejected as Artorus grinned and said "Perfect. Now finish your possession of the body human soul! Show me that human souls can posses bodies that were not intentionally for human kind."

The body yelled in pain as the armor began to darken and rust, the wings began to rot and finally the body fell to it's knees as Artorus congratulated "Congratulations human, you have achieved a common dead trait; possession."

Artorus stood up from his throne and summoned his sword and said "Now I shall train you how to fight in that body. Are you prepared?"

With the group

Shizuka had shouted towards the surviving humans "PLEASE WE NEED A MEDICAL BED!"

But then a woman with dark purple hair had then walked out from the crowd appearing to be leading the survivors and ordered "Of course... anyone with past experiences as a firefighter or doctors any advice?"

Then one and stated "We don't have a doctor here or a firefighter here ma'am."

Saya saw the woman from inside the humvee and smiled as she climbed out and lunged at her into a hug shouting "MOM!"

Kohta then shouted "MOM?!"

Takashi then stated still next to Rei and stated with enthusiasm "Yeah that's her mom, Mrs. Yuriko Takagi, and she's whom Saya gets her quote on quote "intelligence" from."

Then a blue serpent hole appeared as Vulgrim slowly emerged and ginned as Saya saw and pointed at him shouting "AND WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN JACKASS!"

Vulgrim placed his hands over each other and simply stated "I have costumers to attend to human... not that your feeble mind could understand being an business demon."

Yuriko climbed over the fence and looked at Rei and saw Takashi and gave a gentle smile and asked "Hello Komuro I missed seeing around the house it's been quite, quiet without some shouting from you and Saya."

Takashi then turned to Rei as Yuriko looked up to Vulgrim and asked "Saya who... or rather what is this?"

Vulgrim placed his right hand on his heart and spoke with sarcasm "You wound me like your daughter human... must run in the family I assume."

Yuriko then stated "Well I'm just more experienced at it than my daughter is."

Saya pouted as Vulgrim gave a creepy chuckle and asked Takashi "Is the young lady alright?"

Takashi then stated "A... what did Death call it Saya?"

Saya then stated "He called it an abomination... also anyone else hear that fucking thing call out to Rei and saw it put her back down without killing her?"

Then Takashi remembered the Abomination did say Rei's name and thought "How did that thing know Rei's name?"

Vulgrim grinned and said "I'm willing to use some of my power to get her and one other to where ever you need her... at a prize of course..."

Takashi then asked "What's the cost?"

Vulgrim then joked with a creepy tone "Your soul!"

Takashi dropped a sweat and stated "I couldn't tell if your were actually joking or being serious... either way that's was disturbing to hear."

Vulgrim then chuckled and stated "Good it was an amusing demon joke... no I am willing to accept anything I may see value of."

Kohta then showed the weapons in the Humvee and said "Just take one... please."

Vulgrim looked at all the guns and said "Pitiful human weapons are of no value compared to the Demonic Fracture cannon and of course the Angelic Redemption cannon... so unless you..."

But Aiko interrupted and asked innocently "Excuse me Mr. Vulgrim?"

Vulgrim looked at Aiko and placed his golden gauntlet on his chin and thought out loud "Mr. Vulgrim... sounds so professional... I like it."

Aiko held out a amulet that a red gem in it and said "Could this be worth something... it belonged to my mommy."

Vulgrim looked at the amulet and moaned with bliss and asked "Where did your mother get this child?"

Aiko simply shrugged and stated "I don't know Mr. Vulgrim."

Vulgrim took the amulet and said "You my dear have a deal... now whose is coming with this one?"

Saya stood out and stated "I will..."

Takashi then shouted "LIKE HELL YOU WILL!"

Saya back handed Takashi and stated "Death put you in charge idiot and I'd figured you of all people shouldn't piss off Death!"

Vulgrim then chuckled and said "She's right I admit begrudgingly..."

Saya then pointed at Takashi and stated "And plus I've noticed Death would rather keep the children safe (Whispers) Especially Aiko."

Takashi then remembered Death saved Aiko from dying a slow death and said "Ok... I get it if I go with Rei Death will more than likely kick my ass."

Vulgrim palmed his face and stated "No more than likely he'll simply kill you without a word ahahahaha!"

Then Vulgrim raised a finger as Rei floated in the air towards him as he said "Stand next to me human."

Saya then stood next to Vulgrim as the two slowly sank into his serpent hole and vanished without a trace as Yuriko ordered "Alright everyone let's move out!"

With the Necromancer and Frostbane

Frostbane and the Necromancer had gone to the Highscool where the group had fled from days ago as the Necromancer laughed at the sight of walking dead teenagers and said "AHAHAHAHAHA! THEY NEVER SAW IT COMING HA!"

Frostbane then stated "We are here to create a portal to the Ice caverns so that this place can allow the Ice undead not to mock the already dead human teenagers."

The Necromancer then chuckled and said "Yes, yes of course but can I at least search for some survivors it's quite a long time since I had some quality music."

Frostbane then blunt answered "No."

The Necromancer looked away and joked "Cold hearted bastard."

The Necromancer cracked his neck and began to order a few of the undead "HEY ALL OF YOU ROTTING BASTARDS LISTEN UP! YOU'RE ALL WORKING FOR ME NOW AND THAT MEANS I TELL YOU WHAT TO DO AND YOU DO IT OBVIOUSLY! SO NOW THAT IS OUT OF THE WAY... I WANT YOU ALL TO CUT YOUR ARM OFF DOESN'T MATTER WHICH ARM JUST CUT THAT FUCKER OFF AND BRING IT TO ME!"

Frostbane sighed while palming his face and said "This is never going to work."

But then a large group of undead limped their way to the Necromancer who nodded at the sight and ordered "OK TOSS THOSE BABIES IN FRONT ME AND... JUST WAIT FOR MY ORDERS!"

Frostbane crossed his arms as he stated "We must make haste for my master does not wish any more delays."

But the Necromancer held his middle finger at Frostbane and said "Fuck off ice lizard!"

With Death and Saeko

Death and Saeko had been retreating from the Serpent hunters as one of the riders' wailing serpents flew at Death but he jumped over the serpent and quickly unsheathed his scythe and slashed the rider in half as and sliced his scythe into the serpent's back and ran down it's tail cutting most of it in half. Death jumped off the serpent as Saeko complimented "Nice."

Death then summoned a hammer and shouted "GET ON!"

Saeko jumped onto Death's hammer then Death swung his hammer with Saeko on and flung her at one of the serpent riders as Saeko had bashed him with her wooden katana and quickly stole his dagger and stabbed it into their rotting skull. Saeko jumped off the serpent as the lifeless body went limp and incidentally rode the serpent into a building killing it.

Death used his Death grip and pulled Saeko to him safely as he pulled out Redemption and quickly shot a serpent in the eye causing it roar and crash as the rider flew off and hissed as Death pick him up by the neck and shoved redemption's barrel down his throat and blasted a hole through the back of his head. Death then turned to the last Serpent retreating for now as Saeko said "He's running away. Coward."

Death then stated "He'll be back no doubt about that."

Then Saeko noticed that the slow walking undead were drawn by the sounds and said "Guess we're got a crowd of fans."

Death then joked "Then let us entertain them."

Saeko held onto her wooden katana as Death clamped his scythes together and made a larger scythe, the two charged at the undead as Death sealed his arms back and threw his scythe in a spinning fashion slicing many of the undead. Saeko had bashed her wooden blade cross a zombie's face breaking a few of it's teeth but then a zombie which had gotten behind her and was prepared to lunged at her.

Saeko had her eyes closed as she quickly pointed her blade's wooden tip at the zombie'r throat and said "Hold it!"

The zombie stopped and moaned in fear as Saeko scoffed at it and said "God you smell bad, I know your dead but at least you could have taken a shower before that."

Saeko quickly based the zombie's chin up and quickly bashed it's kneecap and hard a cracking sound as the zombie moaned as it fell on it's back and Death warned "Behind you!"

Saeko quickly turned prepared to strike at the undead behind her, however she widened her eyes in fear as she saw that the zombies behind her were undead children catching her off guard and shivered with frighten eyes. The zombie children slowly walked towards Saeko as she lowered her gaudy as Death had slashed a Ghoul in half and noticed Saeko's hesitation and sighed annoyingly but notice that the undead she was facing were children.

Death remind of all of the times he had condemned entire worlds an his own people to genocide, all the sins of humanity could bare paled in comparison to all the sins Death had committed. Saeko fell to her knees and closed her eyes as the children were within grabbing distance however a metallic slicing sound was heard along with blood being spilled were heard as Saeko looked up too see Death with one of his scythe pointed out dripping with blood.

Saeko then looked straight to see the undead children all decapitated with a single swipe as Death remained silent then Saeko asked "Death?"

Death turned around showing his eyes were not that serious intimidating stare he normally had, it was an emotionless glare as if it was the only way for Death to cope with his action. Death walked away Saeko heard a wailing serpent and saw that the serpent rider had seemed to have returned but failed to warn Death as she still was speechless from the undead children.

However Death had quickly changed into his reaper form and turned around slashing upwards cutting the serpent in half making a bloody mess as Death changed back as the two halves of the serpent crashed into the ground. However the Serpent rider was nowhere to be seen as Death looked around but just when he had his guard up the Serpent rider floated behind Death quickly avoid his gaze as Saeko shouted "DEATRH BEHIND YOU!"

The rider quickly revealed his three clawed gauntlets and slashed at Death's back and ribs as Death yelled in pain and fell to his knees as had covered up the wound on his ribs. Death then noticed his healing factor wasn't working as the Serpent rider gave raspy chuckle and showed that his claws were enchanted to steal the life force of others and said "Your healing factor won't work for sometime but long enough for me to finish you off."

The Rider sealed his left arm in the air preparing to finished Death off while Saeko swiped her wooden blade at him but he chuckled before blocking her attack and quickly slashed her blade into wooden pieces and kicked her away and taunted "Stupid fleshling."

While the Serpent rider distracted Death had summoned the Aftermath hammer and with one hand had swung it upwards forcing the rider to fly upwards with a few broken teeth. The Rider landed on his back as Death glowed purple and quickly jumped and spun in midair and smashed the hammer's head onto the rider's head splattering blood all over the hammer and ground as Death bled some more and fell to his knees again while Saeko helped him up and joked "Well you got them."

Death groaned and said "Should have known they would use life stealing weapon enchantments... gahhhhh."

Death began to cough blood from under his mask as Saeko widened her eyes as Dust flew by and cawed as Death ordered "Dust you now what to do."

Dust nodded and cawed as he opened his beak and green souls erupted from his mouth and exerted Death's body healing his wounds as Death sighed in relief but he fell to his knees again and stated "Damn it... stop Dust we need to preserve the rest for now."

Dust closed his beak as Saeko asked "What was that?"

Death then breathed heavily and could barely keep his eye open but tried to answer and said "Souls of healers..."

Death snapped his fingers summoned Despair and ordered "Let the human be your guide Despair."

Death fell unconscious as Despair turned towards Saeko and sniffed her before nipped at her hair and laid down and waved his head away from Death to himself but Saeko raised a brow in confusion as Despair neighed annoyed as he did the same gesture again.

Saeko looked at Death and Despair's saddle and said "Ooooh I see now... smart horse."

Despiar snorted at Saeko as she picked up Death though could he struggled to get him to mount on Despair she was able to manage with him laying on his belly on Despair's saddle and sighed in relief before stating "There's a temple not too far from here we could make shelter there."

But the two never stayed to see the soul of the last Serpent Rider flying away with a raspy chuckle.

The airport

The portal flashed as Red leaped out of it and breathed fire on the ground as he chuckled while falling at the flames before a demonic bike erupted from the flames as he landed on the seat and snorted with flames blowing out of his skeletal nostrils and shouted "I'M BACK BABY!"

Red started his bike's engine and heard it's purr and rode with red flames erupted from his wheels and rode forth leaving a trial of molten magma behind however when he met with the water she laughed as his bike just rode above the water making a heated stone bridge from the magma and water. The bridge had an appearance of demonic origin with spiky sides that made it appear like a incomplete giant stone rib cage.

Allowing the undead on the airport an easier way to reach the mainland as the Wailing Host emerged from the portal and began to crawl out revealing it's snake like lower half body. The Wailing Host's tentacles all spread out as he roared summoning Hosts, Undead Generals, Liches and even armored bone giants with rusty maces all emerged as Red had reached the main land without even looking back to see the bridge and chuckled excitingly.

But while the undead marched across Red's effortless made bridge Rika who stole a bout saw the entire thing and had her mouth dropped with her cigarette dropping out of her mouth.

Rika shook her head and drove the boat away from the bridge and shouted while flipping off the entire undead army "NOPE! NO NO NO!"

But while Rika drove the boat away she could hear the Wailing Host roaring as it used the souls it had within itself and manifested huge bat-like wings and flew over the bridge and army as the undead all gave battle chants as the Wailing Host raised it's fist into the air giving a might roar as it shook it's head violently. The undead all raised their fists in the air and gave their own battle cries as the Wailing Host flew towards the city when the Serpent Rider's soul was seen and merged with the Wailing Host which in turn gave it information on where Death was and gave a growling noise.

The Wailing Host flew in the same direction of where Death would be as it was determined to kill Death before he could fully recover, ensuring that the list of contestants for the throne of the Dead is shorten to a shorter number.

To be continued

Next time on The Lord of the Dead;

Artorus' plan to wage war upon the Three Kingdoms continues, however the Charred Council with the information from an unknown source that Aiko and the Necromancer's Fallen Angel heritage send a warrior to prevent imbalance of the joining of Humans and Fallen Angels, Strife younger brother of Death and the owner of the handgun Redemption.

Death's healing factor haven't fully been restored will have to make sure he doesn't loose too much blood as the Wailing Host's attack, while the Knights of soul fire offer him their assistance... for a price of course.

But will the Knights of Soul Fire prove themselves worthy as Death's employees?

And will Artorus rise from the land of the eternal rest?

(I apologize for taking so long I hadn't been feeling so good and I had ideas for this chapter that didn't feel quite the same tone so, again I apologize and hope you'll enjoy what I did instead.)