[Another shorty but a goody. Hope you all enjoy.]
Chapter 19 Crota's End. Part 3.
We walked into the mile-long hallway. Before we went much further I whistled and got everyone's attention.
"Okay, this one is really simple. Kill the two shriekers, which you can't miss since they're floating and shoot purple energy bolts at us, and trying not to die to all the thrall that flood in here." They nod, understanding my explanation. I jump over all my summons and land just ahead of them.
"Well let's hurry up and complete this easy section." it was then I realized how badly I screwed up. I just invoked Murphy's law by saying this would be easy. All the doors opened and the howls of hungry and vengeful hive filled the hall.
"Ok! Time to run!" I exclaim, no one needed to be told twice as my entire party sprinted forwards. I nearly got trampled, but I grabbed onto Cerberus's fur coat and hauled my ass up on his back. Pulling Death gun, Eleanor and Remains seconds after I got on.
"First shrieker coming up!" Nokris bellowed, quickly firing upon what I can only imagine is a giant wall of ascended thralls and knights after our asses. Looking up the shrieker seemed to glare down at us and was about to fire. However, Deathgun got to it first and shot it right in the eye. Making it explode, I pat my summon's back but end up looking behind me. A, I shit you not, a twenty-meter wall of hive were chasing after us, angry claws and hissing fangs was what awaited back there, along with certain death. I calmly turned around, feeling the blood draining from my face, and scooch forwards. As far as I could without slipping off, the three-headed doggo. I watched the ceiling looking for the last shrieker, trying to ignore the howls of the hungry hive behind us.
{Mores? You seem spooked.} Bahamut helpfully pointed out. I nod, who wouldn't be a little nervous of a twenty-meter high wall of thrall, in a narrow long hallway, where they easily replenish their numbers and overwhelm us. 'If I wasn't spooked, I'd either be an idiot, or a psychopath.' I told my partner, and I'm not either of those…most of the time.
"How much longer till we see the next shrieker?" Nokris asked me, how he managed to retain his calm tone is a mystery.
"Any time now! They shouldn't be this far apart." I tell Nokris, eyes drifting behind me once again to see the wall of hive has gotten bigger somehow. I take a glance up and see the hallway ceiling was ever increasing in size, was this Crota's doing?! I..don't know. 'It's possible, he does supposedly have complete control of his ascendant realm. Guess he's flexing that skill.' I mused, glancing up I try and spot the shrieker, we may have past it. In the corner of my eye, I spot purple energy beams shooting down at us, from right above us.
"Clever." I murmur. Quickly activating Angel of death I sprout my wings and fly straight upwards. The shrieker quickly came into sight, it seemed to glare at me as it fired upon me. Years of virtual battle against these bozos allowed me to easily predict and fly between the steady stream of purple bullets. I land on the bone shell of the shrieker and reach inside the shell with my left hand. Unfortunately, my timing was a bit off and my entire was blown to pieces by the hive.
"Owch! It's a good thing that I'm a righty!" I yell and latch onto its eye crystal and yank it out. The shell falls away and the corridor ceiling, and probably length, starts to return to normal. I dismiss my wings and free fall back down. The wall of hive was right under me, I smile, this would be quite the gamble but I do so love to gamble. While gravity pulled me back down I began focusing every last drop of control over the shadows and fire. The closest thrall on top reached out with mangled hands, so I put a small dark orb in its hands and launch off its chest. I quickly reactivate my wings and book it, reuniting with my summons as we make it to the end of this damnable hallway. The door swings open and we make it out before the hive gets to us. However, the door was still open and the hive wall was still coming for us. I didn't need to say anything as my party, myself included, grit their teeth and slowly started to push the massive doors shut. The doors creaked and scraped against the floor, I briefly wonder how it even managed to open so smoothly before but I couldn't afford to think, I just had to do.
The hungry screams of the hive grow ever louder as we slowly push these damn doors close. Moving a mountain might've been easier than pushing these damn doors close. Cerberus briefly stops pushing and backs up, he sprints into the door. Slamming against it, it shook and moved a large amount.
"Keep it up!" I order my summons, they roar affirmatives. I unfurled my wings and used them as extra arms to help push against the door. Little by little the right door closed up. I couldn't breathe just yet, all of my summons ran over to the left and pushed, well beyond their limits. The howling of the hive grew closer and louder by the second.
"Cmon ye bastard. Shut already!" I berated the door, the door didn't respond of course. I growl and try to push harder. The door was close to closing but the hive was to close, so close I could smell their breath through the small crack. Arms, by the dozens, swing out and try to tear us apart. They manage to squeeze part of their bodies through but couldn't reach us, not yet at least. We struggled to keep the door from springing open, and because they were blocking the crack with their bodies we couldn't close the damn door. We're at an impasse, one that won't last for long by my reckoning.
"Perfect. Just, perfect." I managed to say between grinding teeth. My summons agreed with me, all our bodies straining to keep this up. My wings start to shake from the pressure and I felt one of them begin to crack, and it was more painful than being split in half. My teeth may as well be powder from how hard I am grinding them against each other.
"Okay, can you guys keep this door from flying open? I have an idea." I tell them, they looked skeptically between each other but they nodded.
I jumped away, my wings taking me high in the sky. I chug down an elixir since I was running low on mana. I crack my hands and flap my wings with as much power as my stats and affinities would allow. A sonic boom echoes across the ascendant plane as I propel myself towards the door, black flames jutting out of my heels as my air element hold back the wind from slowing me down. I lean with my shoulder and, once I was sure I wasn't gonna miss, I close my eyes.
I slam into the door with everything I have, my shoulder explodes into viscera upon contact, my neck is cracked up, and my wings were more than a little broken. Even through the pain, I smile, as the door was firmly closed. I reach into my inventory and pull out another of elixirs. Pulling off the cap with my teeth I drink the entire bottle down. My body violently repairs itself, though that part didn't hurt. We could still hear the hive scratching on the door and their angry yelling now.
"Ok, the door should hold for now. We should probably get away from it." Death gun suggested. I didn't agree.
"That won't be needed Death gun, I have a slightly better idea," I tell him, reconnecting with that small little orb of fire and darkness. Before he could ask, hell before any of them could ask, my right hand finally healed and I snapped my fingers. The hive's screams intensified but they weren't of hunger or rage, their screams were of terror. Sweet, sweet, terror.
New skill created. What would you like to call it?
I looked at the screen, then the door where the hive wall now scratches at the door to try to get it to open.
"Shadow Molotov." I named it.
Shadow Molotov. Active, level 1(25%). Mp cost 3750: Fire and Dark are often seen as being diametrically opposed, like light and fire. But in reality, it's often quite the opposite. Flames consume whatever they may touch, just like darkness. As such, they make quite the duo. This skill creates a small 'remotely' detonated ball of darkness. Once detonated the flames inside will only stop when there's nothing alive left to burn.
I dismiss the screen and stand up, not wanting to listen to the annoying cries of the hive as they burned alive. We were in Crota's palace now, which means we just need to kill three witches and then Crota comes to play. Wraith joins me, as does Death gun. Guess they were also tired of hearing them scream, plus, it's a good idea for us to rest a bit.
So I pull out my phone, slide down the wall until my butt is on even enough ground, and I start to play on it. Surprisingly I have spectacular service in this dimension, so it doesn't stop me from playing a new gacha game I got a little while ago. FGO, which is both hilarious and sweet….I already spent fifty thousand won trying to roll for Jeanne D'Alter...she has yet to be summoned. Yet I got King Hassan and an archer named Emiya when I first started this a week ago. This game is weird, it supposedly takes inspiration from heroic stories and legends yet I don't half these people, and the other half, half of them have their gendered bent. For instance, King Arthur is a woman named Arturia, which is a little weird because how do you explain Mordred? The son, who is also a girl, that is Arthur bastard child. As I said, this game is fucking weird. I heard there was an anime series with the same name but I've never seen it, weird. I try and obtain her with fifteen ten summons, still no Avenger. Just a bunch of servants I already have, and already maxed out their noble phantasms. I sighed but didn't pay it to much thought, at least I'm supporting the game.
"Um, Mores?" Eleanor poked me. I looked up at the big sister, cocking my head in confusion. Is something going on? I was rather absorbed into the grind of summoning.
"Yes?"
"Shouldn't we continue onwards?" She asked me, I blinked in a little surprise. Only now do I notice that all my summons were all healed and ready to rumble. I looked down at my phone, then back up at them. 'Either they drank elixirs when I wasn't looking, or I was staring at my phone for hours trying to get that servant?' I thought to myself, not letting Bahamut tell me the answer. I slip my phone back into my pocket and look down into the hole.
"Okay, this next one is going to be tricky, because we're gonna have to race against the clock. A wizard, a death singer to be specific, will sing a tune that will kill every one of us if she finishes it." Nokris, in particular, pales at the mention of a deathsinger, so he knows how important they are, and how we need to kill that one as quickly as possible.
"However, it's protected by a barrier that will only break once we kill two more witches and two more shrikers. We can only kill the witches once they get outside, but they shouldn't be any stronger than the enemies we've faced so far. After that, we kill the last two shriekers and then slaughter the deathsinger." I explained to them. They nod, grinning ear to ear with excitement.
"So more of the same. Well, let's get on it." Death Gun said, hopping down into the hole first. I was a little shocked but followed my subordinate down to the ground. Static echoed in my ear, a small humming could be made out.
"Ok people, we're on the clock now. Let's do it!" I yell, my summons fell on the ground and shouted their roars of agreement. A wave of shadows appeared under my feet and carried me out of the long hallway, right into the atrium for the final battle. As I was on the clock, I can't take in the hauntingly beautiful architecture, nor could I enjoy the great orange arches that jutted out the center. However, I could enjoy the great shattered emerald orb that hovered in the background. Not sure what it is, but I'll be damned if it's not pretty looking.
My summons got to work, they ran inside each of the halls. Two explosions answered my question if they killed the first two shriekers. They ran out only for me and Nokris to run back in, we split up to each grab a wizard. Surprisingly he found his before I found mine.
"You worthless larva, your research upon the sword logic, and the logic itself is stupid and flawed just like your lord and Oryx." I couldn't help but burst out laughing, it was so stupid yet I can tell was effective since every knight that would've gone after me ran right past me to deal with the heretic. Leaving the last wizard hopelessly exposed, how did I draw it out? Well…
"Crota sucks his father's dick and your the one who sucks his." was what I said, then I flipped it off, needless to say, I was running away within the minute. Bolts of lightning on my heels as I ran the fuck out of there, the fool gave chase only to see my summons waiting for it. It tried to bugger off but I got behind it and cut it's bloody head off. From the scattered remains of hive soldiers, I could tell the other wizard was dust as well.
"Charge!" I yelled, and they followed roaring their own battle cries. The static humming was growing louder by the second if I had to guess how much time we had left...three minutes at most. The first shrieker didn't even get the chance to fire upon us, as the moment it opens its shell I launched a spear of dark laced with black flames struck its core. The second shrieker didn't open his shell as my shadows devoured and ripped it's shell open by force before crushing its dust. We bust down what little of the shield was left, and the death singer shrieked and actually began to sing. The static in my ears grew worse, but we're only dead once it finishes singing. Cerberus roared and tried the smash the death singer, it gracefully dodged and stayed out of its range. Nokris and Death gun attempted to shoot it down, but still, it dodged, even the flames of Cerberus were worthless if they didn't hit anything. The summons who specialized in melee tried to scale the walls to jump on it, but the ranged attacks of the other summons made that all but impossible. Eleanor tried holding it down with her telekinesis, but the Deathsinger was stronger in the arcane arts and shook her off with practiced ease. I tried my bindings but they disintegrated the second they came out. A screen popped up and I dismissed, reading it within moments.
The use of bindings is considered cowardly, and Crota will not allow such tactics
The screen told me, shit. I pulled Willbreaker from my inventory and the Deathsinger screams in abject terror and sings even faster than before. The static in our ears overpowered my summons, making them collapse on their knees and try to block their ears. The only reason I didn't collapse as well, is because of the two skills every Gamer starts with. Gamer's body kept me from collapsing, Gamer's mind kept my mind focused on the death singer.
I gripped my blade and flew up to the Deathsinger, who was scrambling to finish her song. She tried to flee again but a shadow of Oryx created out of my own shadow, held her down as I brought up the taken king's sword. She stopped singing and screamed, begging her god to save her. I swung down, and she stopped screaming. I watched as the light faded from her eyes as she fell apart after being split apart.
A lance of pure agony surged through me, the agony was so strong that it interrupted my flight and my wings disappeared, it was worse than being disintegrated by Sirzechs. That was how bad the pain was. Cerberus caught me as I tried not to scream from the overwhelming pain surging through my body. Jagged crimson lines of pain bore through the arm that swung Willbreaker. The lines went up past my shoulder and halfway up my neck. The pain, well, it felt like my entire body was stuck into a meat grinder, tossed into the core of the sun, cut into tiny bite-sized pieces and doused in salt and lemon juice, squared by five. With my free hand, I brought my stat page and was horrified to see my hp had gone down by a perfect third, the culprit a debuff.
Curse of the weak. For you have tried to channel the energy of a deity through your weak body. You are not ready for such power. Demerit, 1/3rd of health for each swing of Willbreaker and unimaginable agony that not even Gamer's Mind can repress. Debuff can kill.
Thankfully the debuff was fleeting, as was the pain. I sat up on Cerberus's back, the arm was sore but it'll hopefully fade. I slide off the doggo's back and pet all of its heads. That was when I noticed something, it was too quiet. Far to quiet, no noise whatsoever. Except the ones coming from my summons, then the sound of a portal through space being ripped open. A giant creature of emerald bone walked out, hefting a mighty sword. Three pale blue eyes stared into mine as it walked upon its bridge. I pull out the beacon for my AC and I activate it, this is where Crota falls, I'll make sure of that myself.
A familiar drop ship emerged from the skies and my AC landed just outside the door, I and my summons walked out. I was still holding Willbreaker, even after such painful debuff. I need every resource I have available, and climbing into that AC I never felt more terrified, or more excited, than before now.
"Time to slay a god." I whispered, my AC roared to life and my summons were right behind me. {let's do this partner.} Bahamut said, and I agree. Time to end this farce, one way, or another it ends today.
[and so the climatic battle arrives next chapter, a battle between gamer and deity, this will be fun. Oh and to all those struggling with the gacha of FGO. *snaps his fingers as catalysts for every servant rained into the comment section.* here's hoping those help. Hope to see you soon.]