It's been a while, but I have another chapter at the ready at last!

Decided to give it a little bit of a break, you see. But as you can also see, I'm back to updating this. And with this slight hiatus, I was able to think of a few scenarios to use in the future in regards to the main cast, as well as some significant supporting characters. Alas, telling you right now wouldn't make them as interesting, would they? Probably not. Maybe.

Welp, in any case, enjoy the chapter, where the chaos continues!

Chapter Start!

[Music: Stronger Being]

Parvos was surprised by how quickly the tides turned on his allies.

Red was very swift, much more than she knew she could but didn't bother questioning; she leaps towards one of the surprised mages and kicked him in the chest with both feet, causing him to crash into the ground. Parvos, being far too relaxed for his own good, didn't have enough time to properly avoid or counter the attack, and she jumps off of him just as quickly as she jumped on him. H was completely caught off guard for the first time in a while, as he scurries back to is feet with eyes wide in disbelief.

All right. Perhaps I might have underestimated them just a little bit... Parvos thought, greatly dazed as he brushed himself off while his allies proceeded to converge on the Pack with Verena and Ace in tow. Papyrus and Asriel swiftly joined the Pack in their efforts. Dogressa releases a savage roar as she swings her halberd with the blades being vertical, leaving the flat blunt sides to smack most of them across the face, immediately knocking the weaker ones unconscious and the stronger ones back. The humans were definitely more vulnerable to the attack while Parvos barely avoids it by turning into a cloud of shadows and shifting away.

Asriel managed a quick look towards the Pack as they were now faring much better against the attackers than they were before. The tides have changed even more, and it's to their own favor. Though he didn't have any time to focus on that, as he turned towards Verena. She was shocked by the sudden development, but she was still insistent on fighting him. Though he didn't really have any intentions of doing so. But he also knew that he didn't have a choice in the matter because of her insistence; he confirmed this as he jumped up from a sudden sinkhole generating from underneath him due to her gravity magic. He had to be careful, remembering that Papyrus shaded his and Red's souls in a coating of blue magic. Verena couldn't use her gravity magic to move them to her will, but damaging them with the environment was fair game.

Speaking of Red's soul, he sensed her Magic Awakening bursting forth. Except it wasn't simply a Magic Awakening...it was like it was always there and she simply hasn't tapped into it. When he got a better sense on it, his eyes widened at the discovery; Red's silver soul was that of a monsters' surrounded by a human's. Geno Alphys said that a monster automatically achieves Magic Awakening through the absorption of a human soul. But ever since he freed her, Asriel has no knowledge of her ever absorbing a human soul.

"Does this has something to do with her hidden past...did she remember something...?"

He didn't have time to worry about it; he was still-reluctantly-in the middle of battle.

Ace wasn't distracted at all by this development, as he focused entirely on simply fighting the opponents before him. Especially Red, who seemed to be recharged and prepared for battle again. He rushed towards her with a speeding punch with his Tough Gloves. Red swiftly spun around and parried the fist with her saber. Ace's eyes widened, while Red's eyes were white with intense focus under her cowl.

"That's not gonna work this time." Red snarled quietly. When it comes to movement across the ground, Ace was admittedly faster than her. However, now that she allowed herself to compose and focus on the battle, she was able to react competently. Ace was simply rushing at her and landing multiple hits while she was still getting used to him; he wasn't fully thinking through his actions. And her sword was faster than his punches; she proved this when she parried the punch and them swiftly slashed his cheek, causing him to retreat backwards. for a few moments. This was good, her reaction time was faster than he was overall, meaning she could parry him whenever he gets too close.

But she'd rather push her luck and bet too highly on reaction time and counters alone. So she raised her paw, and two large imposing shadows loomed over her before they manifested fully and came into view. Asriel's eyes widened as the shadows looked very familiar; they were both large Delta Rune symbols with an eye in the center. And moments after she summoned the two beings, one of them glowed red and fired a multitude of red runes towards Ace. He narrowed his eyes as he attempted to parry most of the runes, even though some of them grazed him. While he did this, the other being glowed blue and sent a pulse that served as a shockwave as well, Ace was unable to defend from the blue runes and was sent flying back from the attack, having his back hit a tree.

W-What...? What happened?! I was able to easily overwhelm her at one point. But now she's able to stand on equal grounds with me while using both her sword and magic projectiles... Ace though with complete confusion on his mind. These were his thoughts as Red stayed where she was, her cape flowing. "Tch...you're much better than I thought...I probably shouldn't take you for granted. You're not as helpless as you look..."

"No one's gonna make a damsel outta me." Red agreed. "I'll eventually hone my magic a bit more. But for now, I have to keep dealing with you. Luckily civilians in the surrounding area of the park are gone, which means I won't feel bad about doing this." She snapped her fingers as multiple magic bombs manifested above Ace. His eyes widened before they all detonated around him, which he barely managed to escape with difficulty. She was quick to chase after him, jumping and parrying two magic blasts that tried to blindside her, kicking them down to the ground before proceeding to follow Ace. The sounds of fists and blade clashing against one another continued to ensue, neither willing to give in.

Meanwhile, the Pack was doing well against Parvos and his reinforcements,with Papyrus lending a helping hand. Dogressa was the one who was leading the resistance against him, her every attack becoming ruthless. At one point, she jumped up high for a bit, before coming back down and slamming the flat side of her halberd down on one of them, burying them shoulder-deep into the ground alongside knocking them unconscious. She pulled back a little while snarling at the enemies surrounding her.

"You all had the gall, the audacity, to attack our home AND our pup! Did you really believe that such actions wouldn't come without painful consequences?!" Dogressa shouted before once again swinging her halberd, the flat side smacking into the enemies heads and sending them flying away from her due to the amount of force behind it. She was currently relentless...and Dogamy took several seconds to admire her for it as he briefly deflects one attack coming at him from the side, pushing the monster off and knocking them over. Greater Dog and Lesser Dog had little to no problem overpowering many of the human enemies that tried to gang up on them collectively. The normally cheerful canines were in a fit of rage after realizing that these people have tried to harm the pup of the back. This would not stand with any of them, not at all. Most of them were being knocked out without much trouble as the Pack fought together.

Parvos was in a bit of a difficult spot, though he was actually growing more annoyed than anything else. He couldn't quite understand how the Pack achieved Magic Awakening the moment that Red was put in serious danger. Though he supposed it didn't really matter too much, it wasn't an action he didn't expect. It was getting rather troublesome for him to deal with the likes of Papyrus, however. The skeleton was proving to release more and more of his restraint the the further Parvos proves to be utterly unreasonable. This was proven when Parvos felt his soul being grabbed, turning it blue.

"YOU'RE BLUE NOW..." Papyrus glared as he briefly pulled Parvos towards him, then attempted to punch him. Parvos disappeared in a shroud of shadows to effectively avoid the hit. As Papyrus tried to find him again, he remembered a vague feeling right as he grabbed Parvos' soul...it didn't entirely belong to him. It definitely belonged to a human. "YOU...YOU... ABSORBED A HUMAN SOUL? WHO'S SOUL IS IT? WHO DID YOU KILL?!"

"Would it really matter if I told you? You're still going to keep fighting me." Parvos shrugged. "Or are you gonna try the nice guy approach and attempt talkin' to me in order to solve my 'problems'? Hmmm...? I somewhat doubt that we're compatible enough on a mental plane for you to try to talk me down. I dunno if you heard this from Shamir or not, but I tend to be a terribly bad listener. I'm never gonna stop, so ya might wanna consider killin' me, instead. Unless you can do that, you don't have any chance of stopping me."

"NO. THAT CANNOT BE THE ONLY SOLUTION TO THIS-" Papyrus immediately bats away a dark shadow ball aimed towards his head. Parvos was seen smirking, having fired one while the skeleton was speaking. "THAT WAS TERRIBLY RUDE OF YOU! I WAS STILL SPEAKING!"

"Yeah? I wasn't listening." Parvos shrugged with a dark smirk. "Ya gotta realize that not everything can go your way. Didn't Sans teach you that while you were growing up? Did he allow you to become disillusioned in your own little world? A world where everything resolves around Pappy? Papyrus the Protector? Papyrus the Prestigious? Hehehe...more like Papyrus the Pretentious. Always boasting, always admiring himself in the mirror, always wanting other people to admire him...you believed you were the absolute center of the world because your bro refused to expose you to it's dark side...you were far too precious to him...that's why he kept secrets from you, isn't it? You aren't very mature. As much as he loves you, he can't really place his full trust in you, can't he?~"

"I..." Papyrus began, but then his thought process was shattered by Parvo's stinging words. He found himself lacking focus as he tried to regain it. "THAT'S...NOT TRUE. I'VE MOVED PAST THAT. I'M CONSIDERATE OF OTHER PEOPLE'S FEELINGS. AND OF COURSE SANS TRUSTS ME!"

"Can he trust you to stay alive when faced with an enemy like me? An enemy who spits on mercy and has no intention of stopping? Ya think your goody two-shoes act will work on me or others worse than me? Have you ever come across that one guy who simply doesn't see reason? Because they're either too evil, too crazy, or outright don't care about the concept of more chances?" Parvos grinned darkly.

Papyrus, after moments of hesitation, eventually answered Parvos as he extended a bone staff in his hands. "I DO BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES. EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A CHANCE TO PROVE THE GOODNESS WITHIN THEM."

"Even if it comes at the cost of the good people around them? Your judgement must be pretty cruddy if you'd allow something like that."

"W-WHAT? NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I-"

"I don't think it's something you can answer competently. You'll be yourself no matter what harm comes to you. But when other people get hurt over your indecisiveness and constant refusal to see the darker side of the world for what it is...that's a different story, isn't it?" Parvos said while grinning and tilting his head. "You believe you've grown, but not nearly enough. If you ask me, your brother babied you for far too long~"

Papyrus was left speechless for a couple seconds, hesitant to admit that Parvos' words had some semblance of truth within them, even if he was fully aware that they were being used against him. Though he was forced to focus as Parvos pounced at him, just barely being able to parry the darkened claws attempting to cut him down. Parvos was also quick to pull out his dual daggers to slash at Papyrus's winced slightly, but he endures it and smashes his staff in the side of Parvos' head, knocking him down. Though the feline recovered quicker than expected, disappearing in a shroud of shadows and slashed at Papyrus again, this time coating his dual daggers in flames. That seemed to do much more damage, given how Papyrus nearly fell to one knee from the burn it resulted in afterwards. And before Papyrus could recover from that, Parvo leaps upwards as his paw clenched into a fist of dark fire, and uppercuts Papyrus in the jaw.

The tall skeleton soon finds himself lying on his back, wincing slightly from the pain and attempting to push past it. Parvos wasn't helping matters by pouncing on top of the skeleton and holding his dagger over his chest. Said dagger was coated in dark lighting, while his other dagger was coated in dark flames. He was grinning madly all the way as he was very close to wasting no time and simply driving the twin daggers into Papyrus's chest. He was blindsided by a fireball smashing into his face and throwing him off Papyrus near-immediately. Being the feline that he is, he landed gracefully on his feet. On his left, Verena levitated on his right, while Ace was thrown back on Parvos' left, courtesy of Red. He observed that Asriel was the one that threw the fireball, and Red was the one who threw Ace back. Greater Dog and Lesser Dog were quick to help Papyrus up, while the rest of the pack simply snarled at Parvos, who shrugged.

[Stop Music]

"Well what can I do? The whole cat and dog thing, ya know?"

"Shamir, RIbras, and Rasha are genuinely good felines who simply made terrible choices, and they actually regret their past actions. You however, are the type of feline that deserve the mistrust they're given." Dogressa snarled while clutching her halberd tightly. Parvos observed that most of his allies has been taken down with little effort. One of the human mages were recovering, and they actually made an attempt at attacking the Pack from behind. Ice Wolf, without looking, held out his paw and touched the mage on heir chest, freezing them in place with ice magic after a brief flash of light. "You are given a chance once again, Parvos. Surrender yourself, leave, or be cut down. That decision is yours to make."

"We'd much rather you either just surrender or leave, though." Asriel added cautiously.

Parvos rubbed his chin in mock confusion. "Ooooh...that DOES sound like a fun time. But I've got a better idea." Red snarled, disliking the sneakiness in Parvos' voice. She was right to dislike it as Parvos raised his paw as a signal. The three cloaked monsters nodded, and then they unceremoniously killed three of their human allies, immediately consuming their human souls afterwards. The large boost of magic was apparent to those with more grasp on sensory, especially Asriel and Papyrus, who were both rightly horrified by the act and how callously it was committed. Parvos was simply smiling. "There...that should make things slightly more interesting..."

"Parvos...what have you done..?!" Asriel said slowly with eyes dull with disbelief. "Those...those were your allies...!"

"They knew this was coming, Prince. You notice that brief flash of acceptance in their eyes before their souls are ultimately consumed? It's their final way they could be genuinely useful. Some people are very devoted to their Masters." Parvos smirked darkly. "Owdium, Mozif, Igbus...do give the lads a taste of your new power."

They didn't need to be told twice. In moments, the cloaked monster on the right appeared right before Papyrus. The skeleton's eye sockets widened as he tried to avoid it several seconds too late; he was struck by a powerful lariat that sent him flying a few feet, cracking the ground as well as some bits of his skull.

"PAPYRUS!" Asriel shouted in a slight panic as he and the Pack swiftly jumped over to help Papyrus. Greater Dog and Lesser Dog are the ones who helped him up. Asriel would heal his skull right away, but didn't want to risk Parvos and his monster allies interrupting and hurting him more.

Instead he simply leaves Papyrus in Greater and Lesser Dog's care as they retreat back to a safer distance so Papyrus can recover. In the meantime, Asriel just looked at Parvos, as well as the corpses of the three human mages. Parvos didn't look the least bit phased. Verena and Ace, on the other hand, didn't show any emotion...but he saw terror and shock within Verena's eyes. And that was enough for Asriel. There was a chance to help them, and he was more than prepared to wrench them from Parvos' sinister grasp. With his focus restored, Asriel took a deep breath, and flames began circling around his body; his eyes narrowed towards Parvos, who was simply watching him with an amused smirk.

Asriel wasn't amused at all. For the first time in a while, the Prince of Monsters was truly and genuinely angry.

Extending magic as a part of himself wasn't as easy as it sounds, since Chara wasn't a monster. He needed a few moments to adjust to having literal darkness generating from his missing arm and serving as a replacement, which was already proving to be quite effective at assisting him in resisting Justin and the other mages continuing to attack him. He didn't shift his focus from the battle, however. it was quite clear that they would be increasing their efforts to kill them. This was most obvious as Justin fires a barrage of bullets towards him, and he used his shadow arm to swipe away at the them, destroying them. Justin narrowed his eyes, and Chara returned the favor.

"You're not going to do any damage with weaker magic bullets like that." Chara deadpanned as he jumped upward with the darkened arm, and smashing it downwards on Justin. The black shockwave sends Justin flying back, rolling across the ground for a bit before recovering back to his feet in defiance. to his enemy. "Or you can, ya know, stop trying to kill me, period? That'll be appreciated."

"I can't do that, Chara."

"Can't...won't...it's alright. Those words used to blur together for me, too." Chara said with a cynical laugh as he rushed towards Justin and slashed at his chest, tearing three long holes into his own poncho. "Regardless, it's time for you to stop, Justin. Your recklessness is going to get innocent people hurt. Getting justice over me can't possibly be worth getting others killed in the crossfire? And you have the gall to say that all of this is really for Frisk's sake? Why the hell would Frisk want something like this? You know how he is, so why would you think this is best for him?"

"Frisk doesn't know what's best for him."

"You're only saying that because he's connected with me. You're immediately connecting my name to sin. I don't disagree with you, but that doesn't make Frisk wrong to stay with me. With Asriel, Toriel, and Asgore. What you're doing is based on your own sense of blind action. I thought you would be smarter than me in that regard." Chara rolled his eyes while raising his shadow arm. "Guess not. Unless your actions aren't truly your own...or your soul trait has been overblown to be a bad thing instead of a good thing...hmph. Unbelievable. The rest of you have been turned into your traits version of me when I was corrupted by power. That's unfortunate. On a more fortunate note, it means we have a chance at saving you."

Justin didn't respond right away. He instead allowed his actions to do the talking; they were in the form of much more magic bullets towards Chara. Chara was prepared to deflect them again, but he was surprised to see that the bullets began to change direction before reaching them, greatly confusing him for a moment. He regained his composure and did attempt to deflect some of them, but two of them managed to strike their make. One yellow magic bullet pierced right through his flesh arm, and the other mark was his left leg. He winced greatly, very nearly falling to his knees but refusing to allow it. He was nonetheless able to feel the pain coursing through him, and was again surprised as the magic bullets returned to Justin, and then remained manifested, simply levitated in place. Chara narrowed his eyes cautiously.

He's mentally directing the magic bullets...that's going to be a problem unless I can adapt quickly to it...without dying. Chara grunted as he pushed back the pain so he could move quickly again. Justin wasn't having that so easily. The magic bullets flew towards Chara again. He was able to dodge most of them for a moment, and even able to dodge a few that rounded back for him. He was even able to slash a few of them out of the way. Though one of them stopped right in front of his chest, brief;y confusing him...a yellow explosion resulted too afterwards, sending him flying into the rubble of one of the wrecked buildings, grunting painfully.

"Bet you thought that dodging would be a quick fix to this solution, did you?" Justin said sternly. "My magic bullets can be infused with a number of different natures to give them various effects. That includes infusing them with explosive nature." Justin raises his gun and shoots again. Chara readied for the impact, only for the magic bullet to disappear while space around it warped. He was briefly confused again, before he snarled angrily at the pain in his shoulder. it had warped right towards his shoulder and pierced straight through it. Chara held the wound as it proceeds to bleed and drip onto the ground. He grunted in annoyance.

Magic bullets...some explode...some warp...I get the feeling I'll be finding out what the hell else he can do with them...Chara thought with a shake of his head. He was fully aware of the creative flexibility of magic, something that the gang has exploited to their advantage. Unfortunately, it appears that their enemies are taking advantage of possible creative points as well, and it was just as deadly as he might feared. His eyes widened as Justin once again shot a magic bullet and watched it disappear via warping. he moved a few feet to the side as quickly as he could, though could feel another bullet pierce him through his side, his pain ever increasing. But he again chose to mostly ignore it due to his high pain tolerance, and swung his clawed hand; a wave of black fire spreads towards Justin and succeeded in knocking him over. Both of them recovered quickly, neither willing to back down.

The antagonizing glares they sent towards one another was agonizingly suffocating.

Shifting to the less intense opponents, Muffet was looking curiously towards the one known as Lisa, who still had Frisk trapped in glowing purple magic chains. She was wary of the notebook in her hand, which very much might was well be a magic tome of sorts. She was able to focus and quickly deduce that Lisa channels her magic through the spells she has written within the notebook, which is mostly through magic traps she has prepared ahead of time. And knowing a soul of Perseverance, however overblown it may be, still makes a point of being a soul that is most adept at problem solving, note-taking, and quick thinking. Fortunately for Muffet, she can easily do both of those things when properly motivated.

"Listen, dear. I can tell by the look in your eyes that this is not something you agree with." Muffet began, raising her top hands slowly. "So why don't you be an even better dear and simply let Frisk go? Then afterwards we can talk this over with a calming cup of tea and warm crumpets?" She requested calmly.

"...I can't." Lisa shook her head in defiance. Muffet could see how much she really did not want to do this, yet she also wasn't interested in backing down in the slightest. "I'm sorry...I really am. But I just can't."

"Why can't you...?" Frisk asked, lifting his head towards her.

"This is the reason why I was brought back...I was meant to do this. This is my purpose...I couldn't defy this path even if I wanted to."

"But you do want to, don't you?"

"...It doesn't matter what I want. I know what I've done, and there's no taking it back...this path of mine is resolute whether I want it or not." Her eyes glowed purple, as well as her notebook/tome. Muffet was instinctively able to tell that she's already cast a spell. A Delta Rune appeared above Lisa's head, and it shoots a bolt of purple lightning bolt towards Muffet; the spider dodges it while keeping her eyes on the rune floating above her reluctant enemy's head. The rune glows again, and glowing purple air blasts shoot out from it, and Muffet was barely able to avoid that as well, via jumping right over it and watching it devastate a bit of the street behind her while mid-flip.

Oh dear...that looked quite unpleasant. I best not get hit by that. That won't do any good at all...

Muffet regained her focus while Lisa was intent on keeping Frisk restrained when he tried to break free for a moment. She appeared to be preparing for another spell, which consisted of spiral shadows lashing out at her; Muffet narrowly avoids each one of them, the last one just barely slicing a piece of her hair. While she was recovering from the near-miss, one of the other monsters tried to entangle her in a series of purple chains. She sensed them coming, jumping high over them to evade them, and spinning a series of enhanced webs that proceeded to trap the monsters and have them fall to the ground helpless. Muffet lands gracefully on the ground and sighed a bit in relief. Their numbers were slowly dwindling, and she managed to restrain most of them. There were still a few left standing, though.

Frisk once again turned towards Lisa. "Lisa...why do you feel like there's no going back for you? You clearly want to back out of this, yet you are feeling completely certain about not being capable of it? What did these people do to you...?" Lisa didn't answer him, which caused him to sigh sadly.

Over towards Alphys and Undyne, they were both surrounded by numerous enemies, monsters and human mages alike. Undyne had multiple spears levitating around the both of them,while Alphys' paws were constantly generating electricity. They were both gazing towards their enemies with serious expressions, with Alphys' expression even more so; it was reflected via the glare of her glasses and the slight snarl on her snout. Their very next action proved just how much patience they had left for this, and it was not something their enemies would expect from them; which would be a very clear representation of who they were dealing with.

Alphys raised both paws and shoots large amounts of lightning towards the spears, charging them with the magic energy. When they were sufficiently covered, Undyne shoots the lightning coated spears right at their enemies feet; the large amount of electricity within the spears connected with them struck them mercilessly, the couple being ignorant of their screams. They soon fell to the ground, badly electrocueted from the attack but nonetheless alive. Alphys slowly raised her head as she and Undyne glared at the main three human mages who were still wrapped in cloaks.

"There's your warning. Take your allies and leave." Undyne snarled angrily, the spears growing sharper with her increasing killing intent.

"Now why would we do that? Some of our superiors are growing rather annoyed with you lot. The Dreemurr Faction." The center mage said smugly. "First you emerge from the Underground, preaching peace. Then you chase off our scouts and steal three of them. And now you sabatage operations from Seloms Archipelago and place it under your protection...most are far too afraid to go near it, wary of the Dreemurrs striking them down. In short, you're gaining quite a notorious reputation with your consistent defiance."

Undyne took a deep breath, then sighed. "Listen...the monsters of Ebott...after spending so much time under a freaking mountain...we're just trying to enjoy our new lives on the Surface." She narrowed her eyes, her left one sparking. "You're the ones who decided that messing with us was a good idea. You were proven wrong the first time. The second time, you discovered what happens when you mess with our friends. So you see, we aced your asses twice already. And now...NOW...you decide to outright attack us in our own city. You guys know how strikes work, right?"

"We are aware of how they work, yes."

"Good. Then you know that you're on your third and last one." Alphys stated dangerously, her paws pulsing with magic once again as her glasses glared. "And this time, you're in our turf. You walked in here, fully expecting to do some serious harm and ignoring all consequences that might follow it...that's a very critical mistake." She turned towards the earth mage. By all means, he might have turned on them simply for whatever profit he was offered. But as she looked a bit closer, into his eyes...she could see an inner struggle. As if something was trying to break free, yet the chains were far too tight. She guessed that his free will was being completely repressed, and he's not in control of himself anymore. This mage, who has previously assisted them with information that'd help them save Mettaton, Shyren, and Napstablook, was being forced to cooperate with something as terrible as this. The leaders of this attack, however...she could sense how much they were enjoying the suffering around them, no strings attached. They had no such excuse. "What are your names...?"

The center mage was briefly confused by this, but complied. "Ciras. The one on my left is known as Gitaz, and the one on my right is Zevia. The earth mage mercenary we've claimed from you is known as Eyus. And dare I ask, why might you wish to know this?"

"Nothing much. It just helps that you're somewhat polite about this entire thing. Just a little." Alphys mumbled quietly. She then narrowed her eyes as her sparked more lightning, while Undyne's eyes narrowed dangerous towards her enemies. Their patience has been worn out, now they would retaliate with force, seeing that their intentions were very, very clear.

They would be stopped in their tracks.

[Kindness: Vetrom Remix]

Asgore and Gerson never knew the versatility of force-fields until Richard had kindly showed them how. With a bit of creativity, he became a truly deadly force. Multiple green walls rose from the ground, and the front of said wall formed multiple spikes, before swiftly moving towards the both of them in hopes of impaling them. Gerson puts a stop to it, tightening his grip on his golden hammer and swinging against the spiked wall, shattering it into pieces like glass. Given no time to brief, there was another force-field construct right above them, this time it was a large spiked ball. Richard jumped up and used his frying pan to slam the spiked ball down on them. Gerson once again swung his golden hammer and sent it flying away before it ultimately dissipated.

"Richard! You must stop this at once!" Asgore pleaded with the boy, effortlessly shattering another green spiked wall sent his way. He then turned around and batted two oncoming mages with a wave of fire, blasting them back while knocking them unconscious simultaneously. "What you're doing isn't right! Please don't let this continue!"

"I don't see why I have to stop. I'm simply following the wishes of my master. The one responsible for my revival. I'm repaying him in the best way I know how." Richard said as if it were the easiest answer in the world. His next response involved summoning another object, this time his force-field molded into a large cube, which he sent crashing down on them. Asgore and Gerson worked together to smash this one with their trident and hammer together, shattering it. Richard smiled. "You're much better at this than I thought!"

"It's no use, Asgore. The child's soul of Kindness has been overblown to Sycophancy. He has no sense of self-preservation, nor a sense of entitlement to himself. He believes himself to be a loyal slave." Gerson narrowed his eyes as he twirls his hammer, multiple green spikes being sent his way, which shattered as he hits each of them. "We have to defeat him before we even think about returning him to the way he was!"

"Tch..." Asgore didn't like this scenario one bit, but he wasn't given a choice. Richard constructed and sent more glowing green spiked balls towards the duo. This time Asgore countered via multiple large fireballs that matched the green projectiles in size, knocking them aside from the loss of momentum."His projectiles are much more menacing than they appear, given how they require a powerful degree force to actually cause something resembling a dent in them. Luckily your war hammer seems to be more effective in outright shattering them. with the proper timing." Asgore informed while tightly gripping his trident and gazing towards the child on question. Though more mages decided to stand in his way to assist the child, but Asgore wasn't having it. "MOVE ASIDE!" He roared impatiently as he horizontally swiped his trident, a trail of fire following the swipe and pushing against the human mages, knocking them over.

"The magic cabals commend you all on one thing: You're all growing stronger at an extraordinary rate." Richard smiled. "A bit too much for their liking." He pushes his hand outward, a quick green bubble shooting out of it; with Gerson trying to recover from the previous barrage of attacks, was struck in the chest by said magic ball. He grunted while sliding back a few feet. Richard grinned as a green frying pan coated in green flames materialized and swung into Gerson, knocking him a few feet to the side, his shell being slightly scorched in the process.

"*Cough*...I've gotta admit, you're definitely a creative whippersnapper, using a magic that's thought to be purely defensive for offensive purposes. Impressive indeed. However...I don't believe that prowess extends to your endurance." Richard's eyes widened as he watches Gerson slam his hammer on the ground. The resulting shockwave was a burst of golden magic that managed to shatter most of Richard's constructs to pieces. With most of the distractions gone, Gerson charges towards Richard, who panicked and attempted to block his path with more strong pillars attempting to impede his progress.

Asgore noticed the obstacles, charing a powerful fire ball, and throws it towards the walls with a roar. The fireball was highly volatile, crashing into the green walls and exploding violently, destroying most of the green obstacles outright. Richard was blinded by most of the smoke that resulted from the blast, and tried to clear as much of it as he can. What he got for his troubles is Gerson appearing right in front of him. Richard panicked and rose a field around his being. Gerson huffed in response.

An impressive defense...too bad it's against it's worst counter. Someone who's abilities shatters defense! Gerson swung his golden hammer as another shockwave resulted from the strike. Richard's defense held out for a few moments before shattering instantly, and the remaining energy behind the shockwave sent Richard flying back, until he crashed back-first across the ground. He struggled to remain standing and attempt to summon more of his shields to lash at Gerson. The elder reptile sighed as his hammer taps the ground, sending a much smaller shockwave that was still strong enough t knock Richard off balance and make him crash back into the ground. He groaned slightly and attempted to recover. But he ultimately couldn't recover, and fell face-first into the ground, unconscious.

Asgore sighed while walking up to Gerson. "*Sigh*...that wasn't completely painless...but nonetheless, it had to be to be done. I do hope he isn't seriously harmed."

"I went for incapacitation only. He won't be waking up for a while." Gerson sighed as they both hoped that the child would be alright. At the same time, they hoped that Sans and Toriel were having a better time than they were.

They still had to apprehend Lizzie, and quickly.

[Patience: Vetrom Remix]

Sans was incredibly glad that Chara didn't get this creative when it came to using magic knives. Lizzie however, had plenty of creative ideas that would surely result in his pain if he doesn't polish up his evading skills. Toriel didn't have the same issues since she was much more durable than he was, and her flames could also be used in a few versatile ways that could possibly counter Lizzie's abilities. She was more focused on stopping Lizzie than actually fighting her. But right now, she wasn't providing that choice for them.

"Here we go..." Lizzie said slowly, not really putting much soul into her words. At her command, multiple glowing blue knives surrounded her , and all of them were pointed directly at Sans. Said skeleton sighed a bit at the predicament he now found himself in.

"ah geez..."

Most of the knives shot swiftly towards Sans, which he countered via raising a bone wall between himself and the barrage, hearing them pierce into the bones but not going any further. Lizzie wasn't impressed; demonstrated by her grabbing one of her knives and slashing horizontally. Said knife extended and sharpened while in use. Sans could sense it coming, and preemptively ducked under the slash in order to avoid being cut down alongside his bone wall; the glowing blue blade soared right over his head while he watched some of the bone wall splinters falling to the ground. That was a bit too close for comfort, but he managed regardless.

Toriel was making sure that none of the human mages tried to blindside Sans while he handled Lizzie for the most part. Most of them were also using glowing blue knives, though nowhere near to her extent. It was easy for her to briefly counter a brief barrage of knives with her own wall of fire, which shifted into ice for a brief moment to stop them in their tracks. Her eyes turned blue with her shift in magic, as her cold flames briefly pushed against some of the human mages, and they found themselves trapped in ice with only their heads remaining unfrozen.

She stayed vigilant, however. As she expected, more of them tried to press some sort of advantage by overwhelming her through numbers. They were immediately proven wrong as they were all blown back by a wave of cold flames. She could see how the bright blue flames were making them shiver despite how hot they seemed to be. With another wave of her paw, they too were encased in ice up to their heads. She turned around to see more of them throwing blue knives towards her. One was close enough to briefly cut her cheek and jab into her side. She winced, but was still able to fire three cold fireballs that smashed into each of them. They too were frozen in a block of ice aside from their heads.

"That should hold them for a while..." Toriel mumbled quietly as she lowered her paw, the knife stuck in her side slowly dissipating since the casters have been defeated. "Hopefully things don't grow any worse than this...Lizzie and Sans are still in conflict..."

"Tell me, Sans...how does it feel, being significantly more active?" Lizzie questioned, multiple glowing knifes manifesting once again and shooting towards Sans. Some of them extended their blades to extend their reach and impale him. He avoids most of them through very precise dodges; he jumped over swipes at his feet, ducked under swipes at his skull, and skipped back from lashes at his ribcage.

"didn't ya hear? i'm not that lazy anymore. certain events in the underground taught be that being proactive can be a necessity when dealing with certain things...not carin' tends to be a detriment rather than a strength." Sans said while swiftly avoiding most of the slashes, both of his eye sockets flashing cyan. "ya don't seem like you're puttin' your all into this...i can relate to that. but it doesn't seem like you care much about what's going on or what you're doin'."

"There's no use in doing so. I didn't even care about this assignment, but I have to do it anyway. I didn't have a say." Lizzie mumbled while more knives rose from the ground, attempting to impale Sans from below; he simply jumped up and landed on the skull of a Gaster Blaster. He sweatdropped a bit as the knives continued rising, extending upwards at almost building height to try impaling them both.

ya gotta be kiddin' me. Sans panicked slightly while avoiding most of the knife blades extending far more than they should be. "so if you don't really care about this 'assignment', then why are you goin' along with it?"

"I just said I didn't have a say. Besides, I'm not in charge." Lizzie said. She waved her hand as more knives appeared, and they merged together to form a rapidly spinning blade; she mentally tosses the spinning blade towards Sans and his blaster. Sans jumps off the blaster as it was vertically slice in half. He falls painfully on the ground on his spine, groaning at the landing. Lizzie was now above him, one blue knife materializing over Sans' skull. "This is it for you, Sans."

"...any chance that you're impassive enough to not go through with it?" Sans smiled. The knife spinning downwards on him like a drill was his only answer. "welp, it was worth a shot..." The knife seemingly drills through Sans' skull...only for him to seemingly teleport at the last moment. Lizzie showed mild surprise as she sensed him right behind her, his hand on top of her head. "patience and impassivity are not the same thing, liz. take it from me."

That was the only warning she got before her vision ultimately goes black...

[Music Stop]

Sans sighed tiredly as Lizzie fell limp in his arms. A brief yet strong wave of telekinetic force to her mind was enough to knock her out. Though he did feel a bit exhausted after the use, as well as trying to fight someone this dangerous without seriously harming them. And Lizzie was definitely not easy to dodge around with her having such a proficiency for knives that puts Chara to shame and then some. Someone deliberately trained her magic to be lethal. She had her soul of Patience twisted to Impassivity, which would make her completely numb to whoever she might have been told to kill.

As for Richard...well...his soul trait was twisted into Sycophancy. He is utterly devoted to whoever gave him order to do what he was doing, out of what he perceives as 'Kindness'. Sans had no idea that soul traits aside from Determination could be twisted so darkly. It made him worry about how the others could have been twisted.

"Sans!" Toriel exclaimed as she, Asgore, and Gerson made their way over to him. Gerson was holding Richard over his shoulder, though wasn't too rough with him. Helen, Linda, Diana, and Gloria were coming out of hiding after the chaos seemingly ended. Toriel gently took Lizzie into her arms while gazing towards her friend. "I'm you're not harmed...and that you did your best to not harm her too badly..."

"it wasn't easy. had i not been workin' on my mad evasion skills, she surely would have killed me." Sans sighed, simply being glad that his side of the ordeal was somewhat over. Though he did know that he would soon need to be on the move again, which prompted an annoyed yet knowing groan from him. That is, until three flashes of light could be seen deeper into the city. The monsters' were slightly shaken by the large amount of power that seemed to accompany the flashes of light, and were quick to assume the worst. "don't tell me...did some of those hostile monsters absorb a human soul...?"

"And now they're going to be rampaging through the city...the kids will be endanger." Asgore frowned deeply as he looked down towards Sans. "Sans. We need to get to them as soon as we can. DO you have enough energy to teleport us close to them?"

"i might have enough magic in the tank for that. besides, paps might need my help." Sans nodded.

"You two go. Me and Gerson shall stay behind and tend to the young ones. And if the others truly are revived as well...please, make sure they aren't too heavily harmed." Toriel pleaded with them. The duo nodded as Sans waved his hand, and they both disappeared in a bright flash of cyan light. She sighed as she turned towards Gerson and the others. "Come. We must find a safer area for you all. And they'll be coming with us as well." Toriel said as her eyes shifted to blue. The mages trapped in ice blocks rose with the action as she carried Lizzie in her arms, while Richard was carried by Gerson.

"...You're sure that keeping them alive is a good idea?" Gerson muttered, respecting her choice but was also cautious about it.

"I can feel it in their souls...their will wavers at the thought of participating in this attack of theirs. They might have not have had a choice in the matter, and are simply following orders from their superior." Toriel explained. "Best to spare them and see if we can change their minds about where they stand later."

"And...what of those who are fully meaning to simply cause harm and destruction to Ebott?" Those who Gerson was most likely referring to the ones mostly responsible for the attacks as well as being fully committed to their actions-unlike the six revived, manipulated children-, and the ones who go as far as to absorb human souls in order to seek destruction just for destruction's sake.

Toriel releases a deep sigh, shaking her head solemnly. "...I'm afraid they won't be provided with the same kindness."

For half a second, Linda saw something flash across Toriel's eyes. Behind them, was a woman fully capable of making difficult decisions and following through with them. This was the woman who was as kind as she could be, yet less merciful than Asgore. This was the woman who thought of the plan to simply take more six human souls after the first one and simply be done with the Barrier without delay. And she then remembered that she continuously tried to antagonize this same woman...

Linda wisely decided to reevaluate her relationship with Toriel Dreemurr after all of this chaos ends.

That's another chapter done, yet the chaos continues. And it grows even WORSE at the mention of some human mages being sacrificed to the leading monsters of the attack so they could increase their own power. No sendoff, no warning, yet they calmly accepted it as it was happening. To monsters like Parvos...that is their greatest contribution. And the humans leading the attack alongside those same monsters...they hardly care about them at all.

As you can see, Ebott's monsters and humans find this attitude utterly unacceptable. They're pissed that the enemy seemingly revived the six children against their will and are manipulating them to their twisted ends. Now THIS. They're just pushing their luck at this point.

And you'll further see their reactions in the chapters to come...