DARKROOT GARDEN
Entering what had once been the Royal Wood was simple enough. With Andre a citizen of Izalith, he handed over the Crest of Artorias to the second prince without much fuss. Lex and Oscar would be going, of course, but everyone else seemed otherwise occupied. Laurentius had his studies, and the Catarina family still had to work out whether Sieglinde would return home or stay with her father. Now that Siegmeyer wasn't at risk of going hollow, Jeremiah had a lot of catching up to do with his Daughters – and especially Quella.
Solaire simply stated that he had an errand to run and that he would be back as soon as he could. All the others were important for the reconstruction process, so it was back to the two from the Asylum. After visiting the hidden bonfire outside, Lex raised the old, grimy medallion to the glowing double-door. The light faded, and the doors creaked inward.
"You know, I normally use the back entrance, so I don't remember exactly what we're going to be fighting through here. A bunch of half-invisible punks. I don't know if we can talk them out of it, so keep your eye out for the sorcerer and archer."
"Fair enough," Oscar said, nodding.
Instead of an ambush, however, they found corpses. The Clan of Forest Protectors was strewn about the Garden floor, with various equally-gruesome manners of death. Some burnt alive, some splattered, others seemingly reduced to dust.
"The… hell…? Why are there bodies? Only hollows leave bodies, right?" Lex whispered.
"Wouldn't you know more about it?" Oscar replied.
"Then only hollows leave bodies. But what happened here?"
"Velka's hunters didst slay mine own again and again until they couldeth rise in the forest's defense no more. Thou must hurry, Chosen Undead. Only Shiva remaineth between the beast and the Sanctuary. We cannot allow them enter, for that would allow them summoneth their master in our very midst. So long as her servants do breacheth not the gate, these Woods art warded against all but the true Dark."
The great cat Alvina had appeared from nowhere in a whirl of fog. Aside from the surprise, Lex recoiled from just how wide her fanged mouth was up close. It was honestly scarier than Quelaag's spider.
"You know, you normally don't recognize-"
"Run, human! Speakest not!"
She dissipated again without waiting for a reply, so Lex and Oscar sprinted down the stairs and to the back of the upper Garden. They slowed to catch their breath as they crossed the cat's bridge but then hurried down into the lower part of the forest.
"Straight to the back, Oscar! Ignore the shrooms!"
As the trees cleared, a walled enclosure could be seen in the distance, another sealed door gleaming through the mist. It was at the far side of a long bridge. On the cliff above stood a man in the shimmering, overlapping plates of the Eastern set, a plain curved greatsword propped against one shoulder. Lex briefly felt awkward as he realized that his own cuirass probably came from a dead Shiva in a parallel timeline.
"Oscar, wait here and watch your back," he whispered quickly as he continued to the edge.
"Stop!" the samurai shouted. "Are you the one for whom I have waited? Ah, yes. You fit the description precisely. Hurry, friend, the Blades of the Darkmoon have not yet found us."
"It seems strange that they'd take the long way around after having gone through the main gate."
"Perhaps they wish to ensure all our defenders are slain."
Lex looked about carefully. He wasn't exactly the best at visual puzzles, but he couldn't seem to find Shiva's bodyguard anywhere.
"I know it's not really the time for this," he said as he glanced back at Oscar, "but I figure some chatter will ease our nerves. See, I know you're a collector of rare weapons. I happened to have found a very special katana recently. The Chaos Blade, it's called. Interested?"
Shiva gasped.
"The legendary sword of the ancient Undead master Makoto! I had heard it was somewhere around here, but I could never find it… It's all I could ever wish for… I'd do anything to have it…"
He spaced out for a moment, then quickly snapped into action.
"Look out, my friend!" he cried, throwing Lex behind him.
Their ambush spoiled by the double-doublecross, three trees revealed themselves as blue phantoms. One was dressed as a ninja, save for a strange, flowing silver mask, and was armed with a long katana. The next wore the armor of one of Bishop Havel's soldiers and wielded a suitably large club, though this phantom too had a strange silver mask with three points. The last wore a downscaled version of the armor belonging to Anor Londo's giant sentinels and confidently brandished a zweihander, a bearded red mask covering his face. This one threw his arms up as a silent "what the hell?" to Shiva.
"Do not underestimate these foes," the samurai said seriously, ignoring the gesture. "No doubt their masks look strange to you. Do not be fooled! They were forged with powerful magics in the time long ago when Men turned against the Lords."
"No, I know what they do," Lex said, sighing.
He unslung his new sword and stood at the ready, pacing around Shiva. Oscar approached from behind carefully, his shield raised. The group of Darkmoon Blades formed a circle, and their leader drew something from a belt pouch, tossing it to the forest floor.
"Very good!" a wooden echo of Gough's voice rang out as the trio charged.
The leader took a wild, two-handed swing at both Lex and Shiva with his zweihander. They backed nearer the cliff to avoid it, but the phantom swung again, forcing them to move in opposite directions to avoid the cliffside. While they were evading, the heavy knight had circled around, and Shiva's evasions had left his back open. The second phantom smashed the tree trunk into the back of his head, staggering him, then threw all its might into a second swing, crushing him against the ground.
"No… I was so close…" the samurai fumed as he erupted into souls.
Lex quickly backed up a few steps further and raised his sword high with both hands before slashing the open air. A bass roar exploded and blasted back the two phantoms in front of him. While they staggered, he drew up his talisman and began to chant.
Wieso siehst du so traurig aus?
When his armor began to smoke and snarl, the phantoms retreated carefully, pacing away from one another so that they wouldn't be caught in the same blast again. Then abruptly, the heavy knight staggered again and collapsed. Shiva's mostly-invisible bodyguard flicked the blood off his katana, then leapt into a nearby tree. Instead of rising, the injured phantom rolled sideways to get away, then flipped to its feet, far more agile than someone wearing solid rock had any right being. The leader decided to press forward to avoid a surprise attack and quickly rushed the cleric before the ninja could get close.
The final phantom was toying with Oscar. The elite knight had remained cautious, but all this did was allow it to run gleaming magic crystals along the obscene length of its blade. When he defended, it cartwheeled around him like a buffoon, trying to get behind him, and when he tried to attack, it used its katana's extreme reach to keep him from closing the distance. He scowled and looked at the other fights beyond.
"Lex, switch with me!"
The prophet hopped over a low swing and hacked at the phantom's shoulder, but it only sidestepped and transitioned into a decapitating homerun swing. He rolled under the blade now and backpedaled toward the other fight.
"Yo dawg, I heard you liked duels, so I put a duel in your duel so you can duel while you duel."
He slid under the crystal-buffed washing pole and quickly rolled to his feet beside Oscar.
"That means it's not a duel anymore!" the knight complained as he began to pace around the approaching phantom.
It would be forced to fight him or be flanked, and if it tried to fight them with its teammate, it would risk getting bass cannoned again. Unfortunately, the third phantom joined them, with the ninja nowhere to be found.
"Oscar, can you hold them off for a second? Thanks."
He took a few steps back as the trio rushed forward. Oscar screamed something incoherent in frustration and readied his shield. As the three long weapons crashed down at once, he stepped into the combined attack, brushing it aside like grass. He stepped forward again and drove his demon-slaying sword through the already-injured Havel phantom's stone armor with all his might. By the time the other two had regained their balance, the third member of their team had dissipated.
"Holy-! Well now it looks like I'm compensating for something!" Lex complained as he walked forward with his living armor eating away at his flesh and his ornate sword burning with Chaos flame.
He raised the sword overhead as he chanted, then unleashed another sonic boom to separate the phantoms. He charged the katana wielder while Oscar drew his rapier and patiently followed the swordsman. The crystal-covered washing pole flitted from side to side, forming a wall of razors, but Lex quickly rolled under, rising beside the phantom and cutting a burning hole in its side. It quickly flipped out of the Chaos cleric's range, only to receive a cut to the shoulder as it only barely dodged the ninja's surprise attack. It retaliated in a flash, but the ninja quickly deflected the brunt of the blow with his katana.
The crystals lightly scraped over the blade, and the ninja was sprayed with tiny shards. The attack did little damage, but that was enough. Shiva's bodyguard looked at his hands in horror as his whole body slowed and was overrun with crystal growths. In mere moments, he had frozen solid, and the phantom ruthlessly shattered his fragile body.
"Is that really necessary?" Lex said nervously. "You don't see me running around giving people egghead, you know. I bet I could if I wanted to."
The phantom only swung in response, and he was forced to roll again, this time with a bit of desperation. Oscar was facing the opposite situation. Though he'd changed to a faster weapon, the lead phantom kept rolling out of his reach and taunting him. At last, the phantom grew tired of that game and took a wild swing, spinning around sideways with the force of the blow. The elite knight saw the attack coming from a mile away and simply raised his shield.
Strangely, he nearly taken off his feet as a phantom blade slammed into his side. As another drunken attack came, he threw himself to the ground, going under it and rising to face-to-face with the horrid mask. Quickly stepping back to give himself room, he unleashed a flurry of blows inside the phantom's guard. Yet on the fifth attack, he was suddenly blasted back and through the air. A swirl of Dark energy evaporated around the phantom as he rose.
It waved its free hand tauntingly. On its finger was a ring of black iron set with a black diamond, the seal of the true Darkmoon and all the unsavory magics of Velka. Oscar breathed deeply and set aside his swords and shield. The phantom shrugged tauntingly, waiting for him to close the distance, but he held his ground. At last, it rushed him, feinting to one side and then spinning to attack from the other.
The knight caught the attack with his body, hungry Chaos flame eating at a gash in his chest. He locked his hands onto the burning-hot blade even as it dug into him. He pivoted on his back leg and he took the blow, twisting the sword with arms like pistons and stomping forward. He'd felt from the last blow that like Lex, the phantom made up for physical weakness with a magical heavy weapon. Oscar was no Siegmeyer, but winning in a matter of pure strength was simple.
The zweihander wrenched around, and the phantom was dragged behind it. The knight smashed the phantom into a nearby tree and yanked its sword away while it was stunned. He tossed the long, unwieldy thing over his shoulder and waited for his opponent to recover. The phantom wasted no time in rolling around him like a human wheel, clearly making for its sword. The instant it reclaimed the blade, it swung defensively in a circle, but it has misjudged Oscar's distance.
The elite knights of Astora were trained in all forms of combat and nothing to be made light of. He guided the phantom's attack with his hands as it reached the end of its arc, and with a slight tug downward, he'd dug the end of the blade into the dirt. His elbow snapped into the side of the phantom's mask head, and he kneed it in the stomach as it staggered. At last, he grabbed its tunic and took it to the ground, pinning it. If grievous harm would trigger a counterattack, then he simply had to immobilize the enemy – which was a hell of a lot easier than immobilizing Artorias.
"Lex, how are you doing?"
The prophet had been playing the dodging game with the other phantom. They alternated between rolling in circles while taking pot shots and strafing each other faster and faster in the hopes of getting a backstab opportunity. Unfortunately, the battle was taking its toll on the cleric, whose enhanced armor was eating away at him constantly. At last, he took his sword in two hands and made a heavy overhanded swing. The phantom easily flipped to one side and started to counterattack, but Lex hadn't finished yet.
He leaned hard into the swing and swept his long curved sword in an arc in front of him. While this too was easily evaded, a stream of Chaos flame suddenly burst from the flat end of the blade. Quelara's Chaos Fire Whip extended from the end of the weapon, drastically extending its reach and washing lava over the phantom. As it dissipated, Lex sighed.
"Man, I thought the cast time on that would kill me like it usually does. For future reference, if anyone dies to that horrifying crystal stuff, you need to go harass Seath for purging stones. Though using them may count as a crime against humanity."
"I don't think I want to know," the knight said, shaking his head. "What should we do with this one? Interrogation? Would that even work?"
"Honestly? I don't think Velka's the type to share her plans."
"I think you're right."
Oscar shifted to snap the phantom's neck, but he'd underestimated its equip load. It stood up suddenly as if he weighed nothing and shrugged. The knight struggled to keep his hold as it ran full bore toward the bridge. It hopped over the short ledge and tumbled forward, throwing Oscar from its back as it rolled through the fall. Lex lunged after it, but it had too much of a head start.
It quickly reached the end of the bridge and kicked at the sealed gate. As the double doors slowly began to creak open, it turned around and taunted again. Abruptly, it jerked forward. There was the sound of flesh tearing, and it dissipated without any obvious injury.
"By the Lord, do I have to do everything myself!" Ciaran hissed, flicking the phantom ichor from her knives.
