Chapter 22: Hunted

"God's on holiday. Somebody else is gonna have to sort 'em out today."

-Northernlion

Helsing slithered though the shadows at breakneck speed, with his remaining troops following closely behind. There were barely even fifty of them; a skeleton crew compared to his army's former glory. They restlessly prowled about the streets of Hometown in search of the Fun Gang.

"Sir, I know this is urgent," one of his soldiers panted, "but can you please slow down? We can barely keep up."

"No, I cannot slow down," he repeated in a mocking tone. "The Delta Warriors have made us look like fools from the very beginning. I'm pretty damn sick of it, and I'm sick of everyone's complaining, too. So shut your mouth."

"Yes, sir…"

They carried forth until they approached the police station, at which point Helsing came to a halt and reformed. He directed his troops' attention to the window, where the Fun Gang could clearly be seen. They were blissfully unaware of their presence.

"Form up behind the building," Helsing commanded. "On my signal, move in and attack. Separate them from each other. Unity is their greatest strength, so stop at nothing to isolate them."

He once again took to the shadows, darting forth and ascending to the roof of the building. His soldiers followed their orders, congregating around the building with their weapons at the ready.

Helsing's grip on his scythe tightened. His soul stirred in anticipation – it felt as if it were about to tear itself from his chest. Certain victory was at his fingertips; with a singular strike, he would slay the human and take his rightful place as the ruler of the new world – a world he paved himself.

'No one can stop me. No one.'

Down below, the Fun Gang stepped outside, with Undyne still accompanying them.

"Alright, Ralsei, what next?" Susie brandished her halberd. "I'm guessing we're not just gonna wait around for Helsing to show up."

"Definitely not," Ralsei said. "Now, we start hunting him down. If we don't find him soon, then we keep knocking out any of his soldiers we find. Eventually, he'll have no choice but to show up."

"Sounds good to me. Let's go!"

"Hold on," Frisk stopped her. "Is it just me, or do the shadows here look a little darker than usual?"

Asriel studied the shadows closely. "Now that you mention it, they really do."

"What do you think that means?" Noelle asked.

Frisk looked in every direction. "I think it means Helsing's already here."

"Brilliant deduction," Helsing spoke.

They barely had any time to react before Helsing leapt from the roof, slamming his scythe into the ground. A torrent of black flames billowed around him as he stood upright.

"You really are very impressive," he said, smirking as his troops encircled them. "After everything you've done to undermine me, you're still alive and well, coming after me." He pointed his scythe at Frisk. "I should've killed you when I killed the other human. Kris, I think was his name?"

Susie bared her teeth. "Don't you dare say his name, you son of a bitch."

Helsing laughed humorlessly. "After cutting him down, I think I've earned the right to speak about him however I wish."

"Not as long as I'm still breathing."

"Well, that's an easy problem to handle."

Helsing rushed forward, dragging his scythe along the ground and leaving a trail of dark flames in his wake. As he closed the gap between him and Susie, he swung upwards, narrowly missing her as she stepped to the side.

She wound up a counterattack, only to be knocked off balance by one of his troops coming at her with a sword. Several more surrounded her within seconds. She swung at them with the handle of her weapon, knocking a few of them aside. The rest of them attacked from all angles, and were soon threatening to overwhelm her.

Nonetheless, she endured their blows and hit back just as hard. Glancing slashes that cut her skin, heavy bludgeoning strikes, even crossbow bolts and magical projectiles – she powered through them all. Soon, however, her movements began to grow sluggish and labored.

A Shadowborn soldier thrust his sword into Susie's abdomen, causing her to collapse to her knees. He stood over her triumphantly, raising his sword overhead to finish her off. He fell and died when Undyne fired several shots into his back.

Ralsei fought through the crowd to reach Susie, repelling her attackers with a veritable wall of flame. He cast a healing spell on her and helped her stand. The Shadowborn soon reoriented themselves, and surrounded the two.

Asriel fought through the legions surrounding him with a ceaseless magical assault. Sparks of multicolored lightning surged throughout the crowd. Blazing stars rained down from the skies. He dueled anyone that came close with his chaos sabers.

Noelle, meanwhile, was still unarmed. She hid behind Asriel whenever possible, desperately searching for anything with which to defend herself. Eventually, Asriel knocked a crossbowman's weapon from his hands, which Noelle wasted no time in taking for herself. She also helped herself to the few stray quivers lying on the ground.

Helsing himself gave Frisk no amount of breathing room. He attacked her relentlessly, slashing at her with his scythe and employing the writing tendrils that had all but consumed his left hand. It was all she could do to dodge; her barriers couldn't withstand the force of a single blow.

Undyne dedicated her every effort to protecting Frisk. She dueled Helsing with her spears, but he tended to ignore her in favor of targeting Frisk. Every so often, he would stop to rebuke Undyne's assault and force her back into the crowd of his soldiers.

With a single strike, Helsing split one of her spears in half. "You need to learn your place. My quarrel is with the human, not with you." He kicked her in the chest. "I suggest you stay out of my way, because I have no problem killing you."

"Gonna have to pass on that." She unleashed a storm of spears in his direction. "As soon as you start involving innocent people, it becomes my business!"

"Innocent?" Helsing laughed. "You lightners abandoned us, left us to rot in the dark! You have a lot of nerve calling yourselves innocent!"

Undyne parried an incoming attack from a Shadowborn troop and shot him dead. "You know I've never heard of you before, right? What do you call yourselves, darkners?"

Helsing gave her a vicious glare. "I should've known abandoning us in the darkness wasn't enough for you. You even went as far as to forget about us completely."

She took aim at him. He dissolved into the shadows, reemerging inches away from her and slashing at her arm. Her pistol flew from her hand, clattering to the ground. He skittered to the side, slicing the pistol in half as he moved.

Susie slammed a Shadowborn troop face first into the pavement. "Ralsei, we're getting killed here!" Another soldier slashed her across the face, and she retaliated by hitting him in the leg with her halberd. "We're not gonna last too much longer like this!"

"I think you're right." Ralsei cast a healing spell on her, raising a defensive barrier. "There's too many of them. We'll never beat them if they keep us apart like this." He ducked under an incoming attack and countered with a blast of fire.

"So, what's the plan?" She struck another troop with a right hook to the face.

"I think we need to retreat. Split up, and regroup somewhere else."

"Really? You know that's how people die, right?"

He sent a wave of flames at his attackers. "I know that, but I don't think we have another choice. Besides, we're already separated as it is. I don't think we're breaking through their lines anytime soon."

A soldier bashed Susie with his shield, and she forced him back. "Alright, fine. If you think it'll work out, I'll trust you."

Ralsei nodded. "Everyone retreat! Split up and run, and we'll regroup later!"

Helsing laughed maniacally. "Yes, go ahead. Run away. Cower. Wherever you hide, I'll find you."

Susie threw a rock at him. "Dude, we get it. You're dark and edgy. Give it a rest."

He glowered at her. "I ought to kill you first, you wretch."

"I thought you wanted Frisk first."

"Shut up! I don't remember asking for your criticism."

"No, but I'll offer it anyway because it makes you upset." She punched one of the Shadowborn troops in the jaw, before swinging his body at his comrades to knock them to the ground. "For the record, whenever you get mad, that just means I'm winning."

Helsing's grip on his scythe trembled. "I'll take great pleasure in killing you." He shifted his gaze to Frisk. "Almost as much as killing you."

Frisk glared back in defiance. "I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be."

Undyne grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back as Helsing brought his scythe down. "Follow my lead. I'll keep you safe," she told Frisk.

Undyne threw a series of spears at the soldiers surrounding them, causing a few to scatter. She and Frisk took off running through the newly formed gap in their line. Frisk raised a barrier to cover their escape, while Undyne continued bombarding their opponents with yet more spears.

Helsing's eyes flashed white. "Get them! I want their heads on a plate!"

A rock struck him in the back, and he whirled around to see Susie waving at him with a crooked grin. She and Ralsei had already slipped past his soldiers, and were swiftly retreating.

"Pursue them, too!" he growled. "Kill the hellion first."

"For fuck's sake, does anyone have a different insult?" Susie remarked. "Have some goddamn originality!"

Helsing narrowed his eyes. "Kill her slowly."

Noelle shot him in the back while Asriel cleared a path for them to retreat. Helsing watched them depart, his eyes darting back and forth between the three groups that had so easily escaped his grasp.

He could contain his anger no longer. He let out a guttural, almost primal scream of rage.

"You are not fighting like Shadowborn, people! In case you've forgotten, we do not have any room for error. And you just let the Delta Warriors walk away without a fight! Is it time already to cull the ranks?"

He slammed the snath of his scythe into the ground, producing a loud, sonorous thud.

"Fan out! Do not return until the Delta Warriors lie dead at your feet. I'll accompany you on the hunt for the human, because I clearly can't trust any of you to do anything but disappoint me."

Out of shame or intimidation, the Shadowborn followed orders and charged after their targets. Helsing himself dissolved into the shadows and ventured forth.

"Ralsei, did you hear that baby rage?" Susie laughed. "He really is losing it, huh?"

"Clearly," Ralsei agreed. "All the more reason to stop him."

"How hard can that be if I'm tilting him so easily?"

"Remember that he killed Kris," he chided. "Anything could happen, so we need to be careful, no matter how many temper tantrums he throws. If anything, I think him being so unstable is a reason to be more careful."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

They stopped in their tracks when a band of Shadowborn troops appeared before them. Behind them, more troops moved in to surround them. There were slightly over a dozen of them in total.

"Well, isn't this lovely…" Susie brandished her halberd. "Looks like we gotta throw down."

Ralsei took up a position behind her, flames burning in his hands. "Let's do it."

A crossbow bolt whizzed through the air, striking Noelle in the leg. She let out a scream of pain as she collapsed to the ground.

"Oh, fuck!" Asriel pulled her up, throwing her arm around his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"No, I don't think I can walk…" she winced.

"Damnit…" He called down a rain of blazing stars upon their attackers, maintaining the attack until a dull ache manifested at the base of his skull. While the Shadowborn were reorienting themselves, he took off running with Noelle in tow.

They ducked into an alleyway, where he set her down on the ground. He looked over the bolt that was still stuck in her leg and let out a sigh.

"Try not to move around too much," he advised. "Just keep your head down and let me handle those guys."

"You can't take them all on by yourself!"

"And you're in no shape to fight. Just stay down, please. I can't let anyone else die."

Before she could protest further, the Shadowborn arrived at their location. Lightning crackled in Asriel's hands as he stood up to challenge them.

Frisk raised a barrier to defend against the approaching Shadowborn. Maintaining a solid defense had proven to be a physically exhausting task; it took a great deal of effort to create a barrier that could withstand their merciless assault.

Undyne returned fire with her spears, but found limited success. The Shadowborn suffered minimal losses as they continued their inexorable approach. Curiously, Helsing himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Frisk, you doing alright?" Undyne tossed another spear.

"I-I think so," she replied, breathing a bit heavier than normal.

"Stay on the lookout for that Helsing guy. He could be right around the corner for all we know."

"Close enough," Helsing's voice came from the shadows. He darted into the open, leaving a trail of black flames in his wake. He glared daggers at Frisk and Undyne, waving his scythe menacingly.

"This time, human, I won't make the mistake of letting you live."