On the shore, Toriel jumped up, eyes narrowing as she sent down a fire attack on a beast monster. It was irritating that her flames wouldn't light up the area, so she had to be careful of where the wall was so that she didn't get wedged into a corner by the beast. It had just happened so fast…all the sudden they were just swarmed by beast monsters that had been freed from their visions.
She blasted it in what she assumed was its face, and then dove to the side as it plowed forward, ramming into the unseen wall within the black abyss. She rose fully, her fingers twitching as a fireball appeared over her palm, the flames licking at her. She looked over her shoulder, waiting, with an ear listening to the rest of the chaos. Almost everyone was locked in combat at this point.
It moved—just a twitch—but she didn't let it stay like that. She raised both arms with a shout, summoning a much larger attack, and then blasted it. "Stay down!" she shouted, enraged at the creature for attacking them. She knew it was a poor soul, but it was dangerous in its mindless state, and had to be put down. There was no other way, and this was the only mercy she could give it.
It was durable however, slowly getting back up, despite her frantic attacks. It staggered, and charged at her. Toriel risked it, diving under its feet, rolling, and blasting its stomach, knowing that tended to be a weak point. It shrieked, the flames launching it slightly into the air, allowing Toriel to scramble up and away from it.
She whipped around to face it, breathing heavily, the flames surrounding her hands. This was just one enemy…out of goodness knows how many that were down here. She gave a low growl of warning as she watched it start to get back up, even though the scorch marks on its body were rather obvious.
Toriel's face darkened and she moved over to it, the flames growing larger and larger, and the rest of the chaos suddenly sounding far away as she focused solely on the one creature. Once, it had been a monster like her, alive and well, but dark and negative emotions slowly ate away at them, turning them into this monstrosity…and then they died like that.
She wasn't quite sure what would happen if she somehow 'killed' it here, but it had to be better than suffering as a mindless beast for the rest of eternity. "Forgive me, lost one." She raised her hands, and then sent down a large amount of flames. It screeched and cried, wailing loudly, but she shut her eyes, trying to deafen herself to the sounds.
The flames ate at it as it rolled about in agony, but soon enough, it would all end. The physical and mental suffering would draw to a close in just a few more moments, then, perhaps, this soul could find silence and peace in whatever came next after that.
There was the sound of breaking glass.
Toriel's eyes opened in surprise, and she looked at the beast that had spider web cracks spreading over its form, like a cracked window.
Then, the cracking stopped. However, she took a shaky step back, unsure of what to expect. Without warning, the creature shattered into tiny shards, the sound like someone slamming something through a window. The shards fell, glistening, but crumbled away into nonexistence before they even touched the ground. Toriel panted, wide eyed, before slowly turning to survey the battlefield she had ended up in…it was far from over.
Elsewhere on the shore, Gaster raised a Gaster Blaster into the air, taking out a small beast monster. However, while he didn't have to worry about size, he did have to worry about sheer numbers as the small beast seemed to have come with a large pack. Thankfully, Gaster could hover out of reach of them, and so he attacked them from above.
Like him though, his Gaster Blasters seemed distorted, melting in some places, like an Amalgamate almost. Parts of their upper jaw melted into their lower one, and one of their eyes wouldn't fully open, and cracks were upon their skulls. They blasted forth, their aim never fully true, but not by such a margin that they were dangerous to others.
Thankfully, they had a wide hit range, so Gaster just tried to aim for the center of the pack, knowing he'd at least hit a few of them. He felt exhausted though, he wasn't meant to be doing this anymore. After the accident…it was hard to just keep from distorting more than he already had, this…this was beyond taxing.
However, there were souls to protect, so he held on, blasting the beasts as they neared him, and sometimes, he sent different colored bones flying out to hit other beasts that were fighting the others.
It was hard…his energy was depleting faster than ever now. He slowly lost his altitude, and ending up hitting the ground on hands and knees, his body quivering, but he kept his Gaster Blaster up, incinerating beasts foolish enough to run toward him.
Apologies… Gaster murmured. But we didn't come this far to let it all go to waste, now did we?
The beasts lunged for him, his Gaster Blaster handling most of them, but one plowed into him, sending him onto his back. He reached forward, and they bit his hand, though because of the gaping hole in his palm, it didn't hurt as much as it should have when some of the teeth ending up getting nothing.
Gaster hissed in pain, but he wasn't down for the count just yet. He reached out with his other hand, and the creature jerked, bones of varying colors piercing though its body, sticking out of its back. Cracks started to spread across it, and then, it too, shattered into nothing. Gaster raised both arms in front of himself on instinct, but the shards vanished before they could cut into him.
Shakily, he rolled onto hands and knees, his Gaster Blaster taking the initiative, attacking beast monsters, and keeping them at bay while Gaster tried to recover. He breathed heavily, his form distorting horribly. It was so hard to keep a hold on his true shape as he started to melt once more. Gaster shut his eyes, focusing. If he melted, he wouldn't be able to help at all! He had to trust the Gaster Blaster to handle itself for a little while.
He closed his eyes, breathing slowly, focusing on his form as he did so. With each breath, the melting slowed…stopped…and then started to reverse. He had to hold onto this form a little longer, though, considering the commotion that was caused; he was sure someone capable of handling these beasts would arrive soon enough. They just had to hold out until they either grabbed the flower and defeat the beasts or miraculous back up arrived.
A beast got past his Gaster Blaster, and came charging at the recovering skeleton monster. Gaster breathed out, and then looked up, his left eye blazing blue as he launched a pale bone at it. Then he stood, turning slightly, his right eye dimly glowing orange. He wasn't down just yet.
Elsewhere in the chaos, there was a loud shout, and Papyrus was sent flying out of the fray, however, he was quick, and flipped himself upright, sliding back as he summoned his weapon back to him. Twin beast monsters turned with low growls, and moved toward him, fangs somehow gleaming in the dark.
Papyrus slowly stepped back. As innocent minded as he was, he was well aware of what a beast monster was…and what had to be done to them. Things like this were told to monsters at a young age so that they would know to run away if they ever encountered one, and to get help.
Yes, Papyrus knew that, but, if they were already dead then…maybe he could manage something else. He didn't want to hurt them if he didn't have to—though these two were making it increasingly difficult. He glanced around, but to his light frustration, he couldn't see his surroundings, and was therefore unable to utilize them.
One of them snarled, and lunged at him, very cat like in its nature. Papyrus jumped to the side, and as it leapt at him, Papyrus grabbed at it, and shoved it away, and then swung his arm, clocking the other one on the head.
The other got back up, but Papyrus dodged it by jumping over the second one as it recovered from the self-defense the skeleton monster was utilizing. Papyrus moved back, and felt water sloshing up against his boots. He smiled, realizing what he had, and remembering when he covered that puzzle, he lowered his weapon down. They came at him, and he swiped forth, sending the black water into the air, hitting them both.
Using the distraction, Papyrus rushed forward, and leapt, a free hand using one of their heads to propel him. He landed behind them, whipped around, and formed a bone wall that they crashed into before he ran in a wild circle. Each bone a different color than the one next to it to enforce a barrier as he swiftly caged the temporarily blinded creatures.
When they realized what he had done, they tried to jump out, but he was one step ahead as he created a roof to the cage of bones so that they ended up ramming their heads against it and falling back down. "Foiled by the Great Papyrus!" he exclaimed, pointing his weapon at them, slightly tired by the ordeal.
The feline beast monsters hissed angrily, clawing at the bars, even biting into them, but the different colored bones proved to be difficult to break through, and at the very least, would take some time to reclaim their freedom. Papyrus breathed out softly in relief, knowing they were taken care of for the time being.
He turned, looking around at all the chaos around him. This wasn't the type of fighting he was used to…this was a battle, like Undyne had described to him so many times…something that a Royal Guard could end up in one day. He understood some of what Undyne meant. It wasn't fun, it wasn't glorious, or an adventure…it was horrible.
However, Papyrus hadn't sought glory from being a Royal Guard—true, he sought recognition, but he didn't join simply for that. He didn't expect battles to be…'fun'…he knew a little better than that. He joined, because he was the Great Papyrus…and therefore, it was his duty to help protect the monster kingdom.
It wasn't going to be pleasant…it wasn't going to be glorious…his orange eye began to glow, and he ran back into the chaos. He didn't care about any of that anyways; he just wanted the safety of his friends.
While he rushed off, someone wasn't having as much progress in the fight. Alphys gasped, crawling up and unseen boulder that thankfully gave her a decent vantage point. For the most part, Alphys used her far ranged magic to take shots at beast monsters that were troubling the others. However, once in a while, she would send blasts of lightning like energy down on a beast that would dare climb the boulder she was perched upon.
However, she was no fighter, not like the others. Unlike Papyrus, she never really honed her fighting skills, so her healing abilities were far stronger than her attacks. She already felt herself tiring, but…everyone else was trying so hard…what was she, if she couldn't hold out longer than this?
Shakily, she continued, though she rested on hands and knees, breathing heavily. She was a scientist—somewhat of a doctor—she was not meant for battle—then again, quite a few monsters here weren't. She had to think—improvise—what could she do!?
She didn't have her inventions, her machines…all she had was herself… She paused, and then reached into her pocket. Right. Well, it was worth a shot wasn't—Alphys scrambled back as a flying beast monster nearly grabbed her in its talons.
Alphys gasped, watching it as it came at her again. Instantly, Alphys turned, jumping, managing to scramble up the wall that had been behind her. She wasn't much of a climber, but currently, she had a decent motivation to scramble up as high as she could.
The creature came after her though, and Alphys risked hanging on with one hand, sending magic bullets at it, hitting square in the head. At least her aim was true—as each shot managed to hit it right between its eyes. It let out a pain filled screech, falling back, but it managed to save itself, and come back up at her.
Alphys screech in alarm, and sent her energy attack at it. The creature jerked, the energy dancing over it, before it fell, and this time, it hit the ground, much to Alphys's relief. However, her relief vanished a moment later when it began to move. "No! Stay dead please!" Alphys cried out. She couldn't keep fighting it! She was running out of magic—how else—she paused. There was one other way to deal with this one. Alphys gulped, and waited.
The creature got back up, and then took flight, racing for her. Alphys moved slightly, curling her tail up as she waited. It came close…and then she tail whipped it, smacking its face. As it steered off course, Alphys lunged with a scream, landing on its back, latching her arms around its neck. Then, she raised her hand, energy dancing along her fingers, before she slammed down on its scrawny neck.
It screamed, flailing and jerking as it tried to escape, but with the cause latched onto its back, freedom wasn't an option. Alphys kept at it, eyes shut as she refused to relent. Then, she heard the cracks. She nervously opened her eyes to see them spreading along the flying beast. Then, it shattered, and Alphys found that there was now nothing but air between her and the ground.
Alphys screamed as she fell, limbs flailing in the vain attempt of grabbing hold of something. She fell, fell, and fell…
And a pair of strong arms caught her.
She looked up to see a stunned Asgore who instantly tossed her up on his shoulders, taking his trident back into view as a beast monster came at them. This one looked like some horrid mash up of a crab, a lobster, and a scorpion. "Good gods…" Asgore murmured warily as he slowly stepped back, trying to see just what he was up against.
Instantly, it lunged, and Asgore jumped back, swiping at a claw with his trident to avoid being hit by it. He lowered his head just slightly with a snort of warning. This wasn't like when he fought the humans. This was nothing but a pure threat without redemption, and he shall end its misery.
There was an odd rattling sound, and Asgore looked up to notice that the tail was moving just slightly as it prepared to lunge forward with its deadly stinger. Asgore lunged to the side just as it struck, and ran along the side of the creature. As it started to scuttle around, Asgore lunged with a mighty roar, his trident piercing the base of one of its many legs.
The creature screeched in agony, but Asgore didn't stop. Once the weapon dug deep, he pulled back in another direction. No one needed to see, to know what came next. There was a horrible sound, and the creature's wailing somehow became louder. When Asgore turned to it, it was moving wildly, trying to balance itself now that it was missing a leg.
Asgore gripped his bloodied trident—though it was hard to tell, due to the red color it held. He breathed slowly, steadying himself. He had already been fighting a few beast monsters, and while he could take quite a bit of damage—especially when he was unwilling to succumb—this battle was still taxing on the king.
However, he was willing to fight every step of the way if it could get everyone back to the surface…back to a world where one might see the sun—but at this rate—he'd be happy to see anything other than the color black that threatened to swallow them all.
The creature moved awkwardly, trying to catch Asgore in a claw, but the King swiftly side-stepped, before jumping, landing so that he was facing it head on again. It lunged; its claw swinging out once more, but this time, Asgore thrust his trident forward, imbedding it into the inside of the claw, forcing it to stay open.
It screeched, as the trident became lodged, refusing to release, even when the king pulled back on it. The creature swung its other claw, but Asgore jumped, landing on the limb, before leaping onto its back. It screeched, trying to see him, and then went to hit him with its stinger. He dodged it once…twice…
The tail came down again.
The tail didn't draw back to strike a fourth time.
For Asgore had grabbed it at the base of the stringer, wresting with it, using brute strength to his advantage. He struggled with it, groaning, his toes grasping at ridges on the creature's back to avoid sliding. Then, he finally got enough force to slam the stinger down, lodging it into the creature itself.
It shrieked and wailed, and the king slid down, ducking under it due to its missing leg, and with a low snort, he rammed his head up, his horns lodging into the beast's underbelly. It started to crack, then, it too, became nothing but shattered glass.
Asgore panted, before moving over, and picking up his trident. Then, he turned slowly, looking for whatever poor beast would challenge him next. He may have fallen once, but, he wasn't about to do it again anytime soon.
The chaos continued, and elsewhere, someone was victorious. Sans stared silently, his blue eye blazing, his pupils otherwise missing as a beast monster fell to the ground, and shattered.
The small skeleton turned slightly, glaring harshly at everything around him. "So, is this really how you're gonna play your cards? Heh…" The blazing blue vanished.
"Good…It gives me no reason to spare someone like you."
Sans paused, hearing a loud hissing. He turned, instantly on guard. The small skeleton wasn't surprised when he had to look up at a massive, snake like beast. Monsters that were lost to beast forms were never consistent in how they looked, typically taking attributes from the monster they had been.
Some were still more humanoid than feral as well, but this one…this took the cake. The closest they had to snake monsters, were reptilian monsters with snake attributes, or slime monsters, but that was still another category all together. So this one…had to have really lost it to go so far from what it used to be.
Sans didn't know what level of grief could have caused this…what devastation in one's life could leave them so warped from what they had been…he didn't know…and if it wasn't about to try and kill him, he would have cared a little, however, this beast was like all the others. They were trying to kill his family and friends, and Sans wasn't about to let that happen.
The snake lunged with a ferocious hiss, and Sans leapt casually to the side, watching it go past him. He turned, and raised a Gaster Blaster, striking it squarely. It screeched, writhing around, and then reared up, lunging at him again. Sans jumped, only to gasp in surprise as the snake's tail wrapped around him. Sans kicked, remembering being in a similar situation—if just faintly.
At least this time, there weren't thorns piercing into him, or jolts of electricity, that allowed him to think more clearly as it tried to crush him. At least he didn't have lungs, or this would have been a real hassle.
"Sorry, Bud…" He looked up as several Gaster Blasters warped into existence.
"You're about to get dunked on."
With that, the Gaster Blasters came forth once more, the creature screeched, sliding back, but refused to relinquish Sans's freedom. Bones were summoned, and the snake went right into them with a loud, hissing shriek.
Sans tucked in as much as he could as he started to release more of his magic at once. Blue energy started to swirl around his body, and then with a shout, it blasted out, cutting into the snake's body, separating the tail from the rest of it. The moment Sans was free, he dropped down, ignoring the blood on his hoodie as he sent a bone flying into the snake's chest. It jerked, writhing about in pain.
It lunged down at him as a Gaster Blaster flew in the way, facing it head on. The snake bit down on the creature's skull. The skeleton seemed to just keep smiling though, the expression eerie on his shadowed face and empty eyes. The Gaster Blaster quivered, struggling to open its maw, and slowly it managed to open it enough. A glow appeared, and then, it blasted forth while still trapped in its jaw.
Then, it went still as cracks ran along it, and then, like all the other beast monsters down in the black, it shattered. Sans sighed in relief, and turned, only to groan as he saw more. How many could there possibly be!? Then again, as he thought about it…there could be an infinite amount of beast monsters in a place like this, but if that's the case…would they ever see the end of the swarm?
It was around that time that Frisk had crawled back to their side of the crevice, still battered and wounded. They crawled to the edge, only to stare wide eyed. They panted heavily, looking at the insanity that had continued while they had been fighting the corruption. How could there be so many souls like this…?
"Human!" Frisk jerked up to see Papyrus. "Oh gods, you're hurt!" He swiftly scooped them out of the crevice, slipping a glove off before lightly touching their chest, closer to their collar bone where a long gash was. Instantly, orange magic began to seep through into the bleeding cut. However, Frisk was still covered in a lot of other wounds, but Papyrus didn't get time to tend to them as beast monsters circled in on him.
Realizing the issue, Papyrus jumped up. "SANS!" he exclaimed, tossing Frisk into the air. His brother turned, quickly realizing what was going on, and snagged Frisk with his levitation ability, drawing them over to where he was.
Sans jumped away from an attack as he brought a hand to their arm. "Sorry, kid, not a healer," he murmured, his blue magic seeping into a line of red on their elbow and a bit of their fore arm. He hopped from one direction to another, and then looked up. "TORI! KID INBOUND!"
She gasped as Sans stepped forward, vanished, and then appeared nearly on top of her, falling while putting the child in her arms. It seemed that ability was completely unpredictable in this place. Sans vanished, and then appeared again in the midst of the chaos, going all out. She looked down at Frisk worriedly. "Oh, my poor child." She brushed their face, red magic flowing into the wound on their cheek as Asgore came to her side to defend her.
She finished healing the wound, and with a gasp, basically shoved them into Asgore's hold as she summoned flames to blast a beast monster away. As he shoved at another beast, Alphys leaned over his shoulder, healing a wound on their neck, her magic leaving it glowing yellow. Then, she started shooting beast monsters, allowing Asgore to heal another wound on their head, the red glow seeping into it.
"ASGORE!" The king looked up to see Undyne waving frantically as Muffet fought behind her. "Toss me the kid! You're gonna get swarmed!" Without delay, Frisk found themselves in the air again, but Undyne caught them. "Got ya, punk—and oh, you look horrible." She placed a hand on their shoulder, healing a gash with green magic.
Undyne's back was to the water, so she didn't see it. Not until a tentacle wrapped around her. Undyne cried out as she was yanked back. Muffet screamed, and on instinct, grabbed Frisk, snatching the child back as Undyne was dragged into the water. Muffet scurried away, panicking. "Where is it safe, where is it safe, where is it safe!?" she shrieked, her magic healing a wound on Frisk's wrist.
Frisk pointed back toward the crevice, and Muffet caught a glimpse of it in the mess. She shot out a web, letting it latch onto the wall, and had it work almost like a grappling hook, sending them in the air, and somehow, she landed neatly by the crevice. "Stay safe," she managed, not realizing there was danger that Frisk planned to face again on a rematch.
Frisk squeezed back in, pausing when they felt a hand touch them. They glanced to see a skeleton hand. Gaster. Aqua magic seeped into the wound on their palm, and then he vanished. Frisk sighed, and drew something out of their inventory. The locket. They slipped it over their neck, and then nervously pulled out something else. The dagger.
After that, Frisk refilled their inventory with healing items, and then looked down at themselves, finding that they were covered in glowing wounds from their friends' healing magic. Frisk smiled slightly. Knowing that they had so many friends' magic flowing through them…
It filled them with Determination.
And with that, they opened crimson red eyes.