Another chapter has begun in earnest, and by the looks of things, it's quite problematic for some of our heroes. The first two revived, puppeteered children-the weakest ones-have been defeated and are being cared for by Toriel and Gerson. Now it's time to move onto another duo and their troublesome powers.
Unlike the Underground, consequences for inaction and hesitation are no longer limited to the monsters, now innocent humans must be accounted for. With this in mind, some of the main cast lose their hesitation and try to handle serious threats as quickly as they can...and some of them are determined to not let them get a chance to try again later, especially if they refuse peaceful solutions.
Chapter Start!
[Integrity: Vetrom Remix}
Verena, to her credit, REALLY didn't want to continue with this chaos she was helping create, how she was assisting in hurting people. It would be better if she simply gave herself up. But her soul of Integrity has been twisted into Vanity. Vanity is quite similar to pride. She takes great pleasure in her beauty as a reborn monster with a human soul, and she also takes great pride in her power over gravity. But the worst part comes when she realizes that her soul trait wouldn't allow her to surrender herself so easily, even though she really wanted to. It's how she wouldn't allow herself to abandon the path that she's fully aware that she's being forced to partake in. Even now, she was silently pleading in her mind for Asriel, Papyrus...ANYONE, to save her.
With a troubled sigh, she proceeding on with her attacks, her eyes glowing dark blue. Since Papyrus made sure that she couldn't directly affect them with her gravity magic, she continued to manipulate the area around them to her advantage, as well as thinking slightly out of the box. Asriel can be creative, obviously she can to. Thus she began continuing her reluctant attack by generating a surrounding field of gravity around her. The air around her shifted, and many objects were pulled out of the ground and began to orbit around her, serving as both protection and ammunition. This action served to tear up the park even further than the battle has already managed to do.
Asriel...please forgive me. I can't back down, not the way that I am now. I can't abandon the path I've been placed on so easily, even if it was against my will. Verena thought regrettably to herself. Never had she thought that her Integrity might amount to something such as Vanity. Too prideful to give up even though she really wants to. With this, she motioned one of the floating objects-a larger piece of earth-and tosses it towards Asriel. It didn't amount to too much, as Doggo swiftly slices the object clean in two, not watching as both halves landed on either side of him.
"I can only normally see things when they're in motion...with all of those objects moving around so rapidly, this makes things much easier for me!" Doggo said with a wolf-like glare. Not towards Verena herself of course, but he was determined to see to the protection of Asriel Dreemurr while he was focused on his own goals. On his left, was Ice Wolf. On his right, was Greater Dog. Both of them had wolf-like glares just like Doggo's, and it was shared by the rest of the Pack. Verena followed up on her attack, tossing more large objects towards Doggo. This time Ice Wolf clenched his fist, the others feeling some cold air around it, and smashing the rock to pieces. he briefly nods to Doggo as they faced down Verena again.
Papyrus eventually recovered from the blow Parvos dealt to him, and struggled to his feet. He didn't have too much time to regain his bearings, as the one known as Owdium was quick to throw another powerful lariat towards him; he gasped before immediately ducking under it, his scarf flowing with the displacement of wind. From the brief time he's seen his face, he seems to be an avian-like monster, and he could see the wings tearing out of the back of his cloak. It seems he did this so he could increase his speed and mobility. Make no mistake, Papyrus can be pretty fast himself; but this one seems to be his better in that regard. The one known as Owdium slowly turned around and glared at the slightly nervous skeleton.
"You seem to be quite a warrior...but I can sense your self-doubt...it is quite great." Owdium says lowly, folding his arms as his wings flapped majestically behind him. "What is it that holds you back? It does not matter much to me, but it does make me wonder."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY-" Papyrus wasn't given time to finish, as Owdium's swiftly rushed past him. Papyrus winced as three claw marks appeared across his shirt, which caused him to collapse on one knee for a few moments. "NGH...WH...WHY ARE YOU ALL DOING THIS? I CAN SEE WHY VERENA IS DOING SO, SHE IS UNDER MANIPULATION. BUT YOU, YOUR FRIENDS...PARVOS..."
"We don't take kindly to you. It is as simple as that. You look like you're unable to comprehend something like that." Owdium glared as he rushed to strike Papyrus again, only to be interrupted by two others that have come to Papyrus' defense. He raised an eyebrow in reponse. "Feline monsters?"
"Versus an avian-like monster. Seems fitting!" Rasha declared with a snarl. She clenched tightly onto her halberd, which began coating itself in lava magic. Her mate Ribras did the same with his own halberd, narrowing his eyes towards Owdium, who seemed more impressed by them than Papyrus, by the fire in their eyes.
"Very well." Owdium narrowed his own eyes as he swiftly flew towards the both of them, his winds sharpening with magic and slashing at the both of them, which they were able to narrowly defend against together.
"Just noticed that your name does sound a bit like ours. Don;t tell me..." Ribras narrowed his eyes as he slashed his heat-infused halberd at Owdium, who deflected with his hardened eyes. "Does Ratoveros have something to do with this? That's the only reason I can think of for why Parvos would have your assistance. Why would Ratoveros do something like this?! What does he hope to accomplish from this?! Does he simply wish for us to suffer?"
"He has no hold on us anymore! He should understand that!" Rasha snarled much more viciously, slashing at the avian monster, who was still able to deflect and dodge most of their attacks with practiced ease. Rasha was ruthless, managing a swift cut to one of his wings, leaving a heated scar. It didn't deter him too much, unless being annoyed counted as such.
"Ratoveros is done with you when he declares he's done...and he's clearly not finished with the two of you." Owdium said strongly and nonchalantly as he flapped his wings, the resulting gust forcing the both of them back a few feet. He moved swiftly again, this time managing a powerful lariat on the both of them, briefly knocking them both into the ground. They recovered quickly, ruling out of the way of an oncoming stomp towards their heads. They attempted to continue slashing at him, leaving behind slight heat trails that indicated their heat. There were multiple close calls, but Owdium wasn't getting hit as much as they might have liked for him to be. They were strong and skilled, but his absorption of a human soul as firmly placed him as their superior.
Verena saw what was going on, and was clearly troubled by how it escalated into something like this. She was a monster herself, a peacock. So seeing a fellow avian who's also closely related to a soul like her's relentlessly beating down his enemies was a bit hard for her to watch. But still, she was mostly focused on opposing the members of the back placed before her. The snarling Doggo and Greater Dog, as well as the stoic yet strong Ice Wolf. Large pieces of earth have been lifted up from the ground, enhanced by an increase of gravity. She tosses it towards them. Doggo managed to use both of his blades to slash it horizontally, jumping over the lower piece as it and the higher piece crashed behind him, creating large craters in the ground from the impacts.
"That's a rather proactive use of gravity magic. She throws heavy projectiles which also serve to keep us away." Doggo snarled as he eventually jumped upwards to avoid a lamppost being the next thing thrown at him. Once again, the enhanced gravity around it caused it to puncture through the ground. Verena was silently glad about Doggo's evasive action, but it did not show at all on her face. She waved her wing towards him, a black orb generating and gathering the many objects around it's own orbit. Most of them were unceremoniously thrown towards Doggo, Ice Wolf, and Greater Dog avoided most of the objects thrown their way, though a couple of them managed to hit Greater Dog. His armor prevented a majority of the damage, keeping him from being knocked over by the force.
Verena was honestly impressed.
In the meantime, Papyrus was standing by recovering for a bit while longer as he watches Ribras and Rasha clash repeatedly with Owdium, and seeing how much trouble they were clearly in. It was difficult to try and decide what his next course of action would be. Obviously he couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Not only were his comrades in serious danger, but civilians could still very well get caught in the crossfire by accident. That's not something he would be able to live with, no matter how much he didn't wish to fight. By the the time he might actually decide, his friends might get seriously hurt in the process, or something much worse could happen on his watch. If he could have done something to help and didn't do so...he might find that much more disturbing and a greater cause for guilt. Sans would do whatever it took to protect the civilians, and it was possible that he was doing so right now. And here was he, the Great Papyrus, allowing Parvos to get into his head when he thought he surely got over it. After some more contemplation, he made a decision.
NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR HESITATION. ESPECIALLY NOT WHILE THE ENTIRE CITY IS IN DANGER FROM THIS RECKLESS ONSLAUGHT. JUST FOR THE MOMENT, I MUST PLACE MY PERSONAL FEELINGS TO THE SIDE, AND FULFILL MY DUTY AS A PROTECTOR! Papyrus thought strongly to himself while shaking his head, along with removing a majority of his doubts on the situation relating to himself. He clenched his fist, and the soul within his chest slowly flashes rainbow for a few brief seconds, before returning to normal. His magic reserves have gotten a substantial boost, and he felt just slightly stronger. Just strong enough to attempt to take care of this situation before it got any worse.
It wasn't looking very good, for neither Ribras or Rasha. Owdium soon had little to no trouble when it came to dealing with them, and it showed with the damage they were gradually taking while he began taking less and less of it. When they did manage to get close enough to attack. he would either defend with his own magic-enhanced abilities or his wings would flap and he'd nimbly avoid them, only to come crashing back down. It came to an excruciating head as Ribras was barely able to move at one point, while Rasha was defiant yet just as exhausted. Owdium admired their tenacity, but it wasn't going to help them for much longer. Unfortunately proven to be true, as he easily pins down Ribras while he was still trying to recover, and Rasha was weakly attempting to stop him, with hints of desperation. It falls flat as he grabbed her much less heated halberd by the blade while his talons were set to crush Ribras' throat. It was then that the intervention finally happened.
A significantly less hesitant Papyrus hits Owdium in the chest with a with a well placed punch. The density of his fist increased, making it that much harder. Owdium was greatly pushed back by the attack, clawing at the ground just to keep from being knocked over, with a few wing flaps to accompany it. He huffed and regained his composure while he stare down Papyrus.
"I WOULD MUCH RATHER NOT DO THIS...BUT YOU HAVE MADE YOUR INTENTIONS VERY CLEAR..." Papyrus muttered while gently helping an out-of-breath Rasha and a battered Ribras to their feet. "VERY WELL. IF THIS IS REALLY WHAT YOU DESIRE, THEN I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SOUNDLY DEFEAT YOU!"
"Hm..." Owdium briefly acknowledged Papyrus' awakening, and simply prepared himself to retaliate. He spreads his wings outward as he moves swiftly towards the lanky skeleton to attack with a slash of his sharpened feathers. His eyes widened as Papyrus quite easily dodges out of the way, and was even quicker to counter with an uppercut to his beak. He was sent spiraling in midair, before he stopped himself with his wings again, regaining his composure. He could have sworn that Papyrus has just gotten even faster in those few seconds, and then hardened his fist again the moment he attacked. He watches the tall skeleton below him, who stared at him defiantly with his scarf flowing in the wind.
He made his body somewhat hollow. His body became lighter for a few moments, thus became faster. This one actually knows what he's doing.
With this, he pursues Papyrus again, diving down towards him and placing strength into a punch. Papyrus again moved quickly to avoid the attack, increasing density within his fist again and punching. Owdium learned, spinning horizontally to avoid the punch and respond with another, faster one. What he didn't entirely expect was, while his punch did land on Papyrus' skull, said skull also hardened with increased density, which only served to make him hurt his own hand. He swiftly moved back as he nursed it slightly, narrowing his eyes towards the skeleton. He was more skilled than he gave him credit for. Either he was easy to read or Papyrus seems to be more defensive while taking very brief shots of offense before switching right back. That was actually pretty smart of him, battle-wise.
Of course he didn't really have much more time to praise, given how Papyrus made himself hollow again, thus became faster. He swiftly rushed towards Owdium with a staff made of hardened bone forming within his hands. Owdium's eyes widened with surprise as he felt the greatly hardened bone staff strike him hard in the chest, sending him flying back, into a tree. Not wasting time, Papyrus follows up on this, moving quickly as he raised his bone staff and slammed it down on his wing, causing him a great degree of pain. Though to his credit, he didn't flinch too greatly.
"THERE. NO MORE FLYING FOR YOU AT THE MOMENT." Papyrus commented solemnly, his staff dissipating when he was done with it. "I WAS HOPING WE COULD RESOLVE THIS WITH MUCH LESS...FORCEFUL METHODS, BUT YOU'VE MADE IT CLEAR THAT WASN'T AN OPTION. SO YOU MUST BE INCAPACITATED."
Owdium winced as he clutched his broken wing, forcing himself to stand back up, glaring at the skeleton. "Aye...I've clearly underestimated you...I shouldn't have let you regain your momentum..." Papyrus sighed. He still refused to surrender. This was troublesome.
With Verdana, she was growing slightly restless with her current situation. No matter how many times she threw the members of the pack back, they refused to stop pursuing her. Granted, they were not going out of their way to seriously hurt her for obvious reasons. Though she was still steadfast with her refusal to allow their victory over her to be easy. But it became clear that they were catching onto her gravity magic, which was gradually and noticeably taking a grave toll on her overall stamina. She made an attempt to crush them all in another method sense Papyrus adjusting their personal gravity kept them from grabbing them with gravity and throwing them around. No, she needed to crush them with as much force that the objects she affected can muster.
She raised her wing as more objects began gathering together above her head as smaller ones launched at them. Doggo and Greater Dog slashed most of them away with dual swords and lance alike, while Ice Wolf glared up towards the avian child gathering gravity magic. Though he wasn't going to give her the chance if he could help it; he raised his paws as ice magic generated from them. She was far too busy trying to use gravity magic to charge the objects and make them significantly heavier so she could drop them all on the canines. Ice Wolf proceeds to fire two separate balls of ice magic towards her. Doggo nods quickly towards him as he looks towards the young peahen. Doggo slashed at the child with both blades, each sendng a magic slash towards her. The first one succeeded in somehow slashing through the field protecting her, and the second one weakened just enough to slash her wing so she could stop charging. The two balls of ice magic eventually met their mark, hitting her dead-on. She gasped slightly, before her magic dissipated and she fell towards the earth.
As she loses consciousness, she actually expressed gratitude for being defeated...she didn't have to fight against the friendly monsters anymore.
Ice Wolf was quick to catch her, very gently. He soon turned towards Doggo, who sighed in relief.
"It's too much to hope for the others to be doing any better...we'd better get to them and see what's up."
[Bravery: Vetrom Remix]
Asriel wasn't in the best of moods. Everyone could tell by the growing intensity of his rainbow flames. He was a very angry prince, and the ones who instigated it were not going to be walking away from this unscathed, he'd make sure of it. Even Parvos was a bit intrigued that Asriel took on such an angry persona, seeing how the adolescent was the one who kept trying to push for a peaceful resolution, only to immediately drop the desire after Parvos sacrificed three of his human allies so his monster allies could become powerful enough to compete. It was a curious turn of events that he didn't fully expect.
Ace didn't seem to really care about any of that, though. He was soon moving swiftly towards Asriel readying a punch; he was immediately denied said attack by the even swifter Red. Her eyes were a serious blank white as she pushes back against his glowing orange fist. She initially didn't give in by even an inch; only when she felt herself being pushed back did she manifest a glowing magic bomb right by Ace's side, forcing him to abandon the clash and jump back to avoid it. She pursues him quickly and slashed at his chest, briefly drawing blood from him. She was trying not to do much damage, as it was clear this person was important to Asriel. Though that didn't mean she had to be too easy on him.
"You're really pushing your luck, Red! You should get out of my way already!" Ace complained while he rushed for another flurry of attacks; Red was countering nearly every one of them with swift blade strikes of her own. Though within the confusion, a smaller magic bomb manifested right in front of Ace, escaping his attention. It was far too late for him to avoid it as he was pierced in the arm by her before she jumped back, and the bomb exploded in front of his chest, sending him flying; a trail of smoke followed him for a few moments before he landed on his feet, feeling the burnt mark in his gi.
"You want to mess with Asriel? Fine. You'll have to get past me, though. Which means it's never going to happen. He's busy." Red declared seriously as she held her saber with both her paws and prepared herself to continue her attack. Ace grumbled at her impertinence as he gets back up and readies himself as well. Red blinked once, briefly returning her eyes to their usual silver as she turns towards Asriel. Reassured that he could handle himself, she turned back towards Ace and blinks again, her eyes returning to blank white. He attacks recklessly, not really putting too much thought into his attacks...that makes it much easier for me to counter and turn the momentum against him...! She reassures this as she swiftly leaps towards Ace to attack.
Asriel was still glaring at Parvos, the heat around him growing as both Mozif and Igbus stared the adolescent down with rather smug expressions. They were each fellow monsters like Parvos, a boar and a cheetah respectively. "You just absorb the souls of your human allies without any sense of remorse...? How can you be so cruel to them? Did they even matter to you at all?"
Parvos shrugged. "To them, human souls are simply another means to power. Nothing more. Some of our human comrades have been told to their faces that this might be their final fate should things come to it, and they're ultimately fine with it. Not that they really have a choice in the matter, it's just an outcome they'd like to avoid, but don't really have a problem with."
"How could they possibly be okay with this?!"
"Well...I don't really know how some other cabals do it. But I know for sure that from my specific division, they truly didn't have a choice in the matter." Parvos rubbed his chin. In a moment, he fired a strong blast of black fire towards the three corpses, burning them to cinders and shocking Asriel. "No return policy for them!~" Mozif and Igbus each snickered in a sinister manner, which only made Asriel angrily clench his fists. The heat around him increased even more, to the point that the grass around him began to burn ever so slightly.
"Awww...the young goat is pissed! Let's see how much!" Mozif chuckled.
"Yeah...you look and sound angry. Bet it's a joke!" Igbus supported gleefully.
Asriel said nothing, as both of the monsters lunged at him with an enhanced fist and sharpened claws. They grinned sadistically with the intent of tearing the Prince...only for their eyes to widen as Dogamy and Dogressa swiftly intercepted them both, holding them at bay with their halberds.
"Don't you know any better?" Dogamy snarled.
"That's our Prince you're attacking!" Dogressa snarled just as loudly as they were able to push them both back forcefully. They both spun their halberds once before proceeding to follow their respective opponents.
Parvos was briefly surprised by this, until he turned around to see Shamir standing before him, his dual swords drawn with an angry glare. He lowered his eyes and raied his paws slowly in greeting. "Ahah...Shamir, old pal. I knew you'd butt back in my life, sooner or later..."
"I grow tired of you and your cruelty, Parvos..." Shamir glared angrily towards the feline, preparing to attack.
In the meantime, Red and Ace had once again jumped away from each other. Red's pink hair was slightly messy from the entire exchange, and there were a few bruises on her face and arms. Ace was covered with slash marks, some were openly bleeding, his knuckles being one of the clearest indicators of this. Their fight was mostly even so far, with Ace's rather complex, extended, as well as powerful close combat; while Red had her excelling swordsmanship, her 'Delta Guardians', her bombs, and her chakrams. Though it was only a matter time before one of them broke the stalemate.
"You're really persistent for a pink haired canine, aren't you?" Ace remarked with an agitated huff. Red didn't respond. She simply kept her focus on him, signifying that she was not going to be very audbile during their altercation. Only her expression told him what he needed to: She was taking this very seriously, and was acting as such. With this mindset seemingly not changing, Ace shook his head as he glared at her. "Fine. You don't have to say anything much. All tha matters is that I do everything in my power to bring you and everyone else down!" He shouted loudly, charging at the young canine. Red narrowed her eyes while he came at her. Ace swiftly punched at her, and Red swiftly deflects it so she can slash at his chest, which he ducks under and responds with a leg sweep. Red tripped, but she snapped her fingers as three small glowing magic bombs formed in front of him and detonated, sending him flying backwards with a very pained grunt. "I'm getting tired of those bombs!"
"I bet you are." Red responded bluntly as she got back to her feed, holding tightly onto her saber.
Ace snarls angrily at her as he charges her again. Their clash continues, in a flurry of swift punches and sword slashes. The magic residue from the both of them filled the air. After the parry ends, Ace placed a well-timed punch to her abdomen, then swiftly punches her right cheek. Each of them strengthened by magic, and she crashed against the ground from the latter attack. Ace moved siwftly to catch up with her, his entire body still glowing orange, especially his gloves and bandanna. Red briefly shook off her headache and hopped upwards, barely dodging a punch that greatly cracked the ground and causing orange shockwaves. Red waved her paw; more bombs immediately surrounds Ace, two of them on the front and back of him. Both of them exploded simultaneously, and she heard him scream with pain, but mostly anger.
"I'm getting really sick of your magic bombs! It's a coward's move!"
"It's only cowardly because you're the one who's losing." Red commented with a very brief raspberry, before shfitng back to seriousness as one Delta Guardian formed right in front of her; she accurately predicted that Ace would react negatively to her taunt, charging up his fist and aiming to punch her. The Delta Guardian immediately flashes blue and forms a shield around the both of them; Ace's punch was immediately left with heavy resistance from said shield, but was ultimately proven ineffective as he was thrown bac from the ensuing shockwave, knocking him on his back. While she had the sentinel summoned, it turned it's self around, charged purple, and fires off a purple ball of energy; this succeeded in hitting Mozif in the back while he was distracted, making him yelp in pain.
"GAH! That's a cheap move!" Mozif complained, only to briefly block a strong blunt strike from Dogressa's halberd with his hardened arm. They pushed against one another, making skid marks across the ground. He smirked. "You're wasting your time! Absorbing a human soul has made us tremendously strong! What makes you think that you'll be able to stand up to us!?" He declared confidently, throwing the halberd off and smack Dogressa hard in the muzzle. The dog breifly stumbled back a little, lowering her head with a brief whine. "Awww, did that hurt, little doggy? Did I hit you too hard?~"
Dogressa took a deep breath, gently wiping away the magical blood from her mouth. "You hooligans remorselessly take human lives to receive the power you're currently high on. While we monsters of Ebott, we've unlocked our magic potential without that!" Dogressa was not blind to the fact that both Asriel and Red both had human souls pulsing within their chests, with Asriel's being very special in particular. She didn't know how or why those things happened, but she DiD trust that there were reasonable explanations for it. It won't stop her from loyally helping the Royal Family, or loving her new daughter. "You think you can just march into our home and use your stolen power to harm everyone within it? That is something we simply will not stand for!"
Mozif huffed as he clenhed his fist, which began glowing with orange magic. "Here's something you're failing to realize, what you stand for doesn't mean anything to us!" He swiftly punches downward, with Dogressa parrying with the flat of her halberd. The impacted created a crater in the ground, though only Dogressa budged backwards slightly. In response, she pulled back a bit, opening her jaws, and chomped down on his wrist. His eyes bulged and he immediately jumped back with a loud yelp. "GAH! W-What the hell is wrong with you!? Did you actually just bite me?!"
"You act so surprised. Dogs we may be, but we have the souls of wolves." Dogressa snarled, gripping her halberd. "And wolves do not take kindly to those that attack their territory so senselessly!"
Igbus was busy with Dogamy, who was admittedly wasn't faring as well as his more agressive wife. Igbus wasn't much in overall strength, but he was certainly fast and agile, befitting a cheetah monster. When he tries slashing with his halberd, Igbus swiftly dodges and claws at his face, causing him to yelp and step back, lightly pawing his face. Igbus grinned and rushed forrth again, hitting him hard in the chest, causing him to fall over on his side. He grinned as he swished his tail arrogantly.
"Hehehe. I can feel that you're not really as fierce as your mate over there. That's going to serve as a rather unfortunate handicap for you." He huffed while moving again and kicking Dogamy in the stomach. The canine yelped again...then promptly chomped on his ankle. The reaction was instantaneous. "OW! Dirty little-"
"You assume a lot about me. That's an unfortunate handicap for you." Dogamy narrowed his eyes as he clenched his fist and smashed it into Igbus's feline face, them smacked him away with the blunt side of his halberd. "Unlike felines like you and Parvos, the feline monsters WE know are actually decent people!"
"Why the hell would that matter to me?!" Igbus huffed as he slashed with his claws, which was easily parried by Dogamy's halberd.
Back with Red and Ace, it seems that the former was finalkly gaining the upper hand, despite the latter's best efforts. She briefly parried a kick from him and slashed at his leg, causing him to wine but carry on nonetheless. "This is getting ridiculous. Why are you even with these guys?! They're deliberately hurting innocent people for kicks! You don't seem like the kind of person who would do something like that, so why?"
"This is my new purpose, the purpose behind me and my comrades. We had no other purpose, nor do we need any. This has been and always will be our new purpose. There's no reason to consider any other!" Ace snarled angrily while he leaped forward and punched even harder, his fist still glowing bright orange. Red parries the blow once again, feeling herself skid back from the amount of force put behind it. Still, it was not enough to overthrow her. She stood her ground while she glred back into his glowing orange eyes. She briefly kicked him back, and she manifested a bomb right in front of him before it exploded. Ace actually screamed in aggravation from how many bombs she's thrown his way instead of staying close for combat. "You sneaky little...stop hiding behind your bombs! STay and face me, close-quarters!"
SLICE!
Ace briefly dodged, feeling his cheek sliced upen just slightly as a chakram flew past him, and returned to Red's paw. She shook her head as another chakram manifested in her other paw. "Why would I listen to the requests of my enemy, who is deliberately trying to kill me? You're an idiot." Red scoffed as she tosses both of her chakrams towards him, which succeeded in slicing his left leg and right arm. He was slightly disoriented, as she then summoned the Delta Guardians. One sent a powerful blue pulse to push him back, and then a glowing purple energy ball slammed into his chest, sending him skidding further back. He dissipates the attack with his bare hands, trembling in frustration.
"I swear I'm going to beat you down, you frustrating dog!"
Red swiftly appeared in front of him, the tip of her saber pointed directly at his chest. Said tip was beginning to glow brightly. "Do us both a favor. Stay down."
BOOM!
[End Music]
Ace was once again sent flying, a very pronounced smoke trail covering and following him, until he landed harshly on his back. His Tough Gloves and Manly Bandanna were in tatters. He grunted in pain as he took a final look at Red, who was staring at him silently with her cowl and cape flipping slightly with the wind.
"You...you can create explosions...in conjunction with your saber...?"
"I can do many things. Though what does kinda help a little is that your Rashness makes you forgo effective defense." Red admitted almost stoically. Ace grunted again, before he closed his eyes and fell on his back.
He was alive, but he wasn't getting up again.
Shamir glared at Parvos with Asriel by his side, watching the feline adversary with extreme hostility. "I always knew you were a malevolent person to some degree, Parvos. But this, it's like you're going out of our way trying to make people suffer!"
"It's a decent way to pass the time." Parvos smiled.
"Parvos...you absorbed a human soul before this incident...who's soul was it...?" Asriel asked slowly, his eyes narrowing.
The feline shrugged. "Eh. It was just some guy who left his wife a long time ago, no one was going to miss him. Think his wife was named...what was it...oh right, Helen! The soul of her ex-husband. Honestly, I did that woman a favor, he can't plague her life anymore." Parvos grinned. "Though if that isn't enough for her, I can just kill her and get it over wi-" He blinked a few seconds afterwards, confused by how he found himself crashing into a tree so hard the trunk snapped clean in two. The cause was Asriel punching him with a fist covered in burning rainbow flames. The glare he sent him afterwards was one of fury. Yet that was the only way he was able to tell that Asriel was angry at this point, because the Prince didn't raise his voice in the slightest:
"You'll do no such thing." Parvos could hear the tone of royalty that Asriel took at that exact moment. It was not a threat, nor was it a request. With the way he said it, it was clearly an outright command.
Parvos was actually impressed. This child was clearly no crybaby like he's heard. He's changed, drastically. Look at him, acting so tough...not bad at all...
CLANG!
"You're not escaping punishment, Parvos! I won't allow it!" Shamir growled after slashing at his former accomplice with both of his dual blades. The opposing feline immediately countered with both of his daggers, succeeding in partying both blades. They soon jumped back from each other. Asriel did a following attack; appearing before Parvos in a flash of lightning and striking him in the chest with the same lighting. His chest was scorched slightly as he landed in his feet, skidding backwards until he stopped himself.
"Geez. BOTH of you are gonna attack me at once? That doesn't seem very fair."
"You're the ones attacking our city. Unless you intend to surrender, battle fairness is out the window today." Asriel responded blankly. He once again vanished in a flash of lightning, appearing before Parvos and punching him with a fist coated in the same element; then pushed his other paw coated in flames into his chest. A fiery explosion ensued after this, and Parvos ended up skidding backwards. From this, Shamir would jump up and slash at Parvos with his dual blades. The feline growled in annoyance when he realizes that Shamir wasn't letting up after that.
"I can't even recognize you as a comrade anymore! I allowed you and your father to brainwash me, make me think I was doing the right thing for all of those years." Shamir snarled as he slashed Parvos across his cheek, leaving slight magic blood and bits of dust. "There was no wonder that Ribras and Rasha were absolutely hesitant about following us through all of those assignments. They've known all this time that what we were doing was wrong, but were too afraid to say anything! They're better felines than either of us!"
"You're the one who wished to be the 'hero' of the pride, Shamir. You were willing to do anything for the sake of looking like a hero. And the easiest way to use someone like that is convince them that everyone else is a villain." Parvos snickered while casually ducking under Shamir's slash, which was coated in a bit of lightning.
"So we were simply puppets, and you both were puppeteers?! And you allowed other magic cabals to do the same to others?!" Shamir snarled, his tail holding a throwing knife and tossing it into Parvos' leg, making him wince slightly. "Did we not mean anything to you besides that?!"
"Younger subordinates like to ask me that. It's usually the last thing they ever say..." Parvos grinned slowly, confusing Shamir for a couple seconds...though his eyes widened as he found himself yelping in agony as Parvo's shadow stretches from the ground, manifesting into two feral shadowcats of himself, and both of them bites down deep into his shoulders. He dropped his dual sabers and fell to his knees. Parvos didn't provide anymore fanfare; he caught one of Shamir's dual sabers, twirled it around a bit, and shoved it right through his chest. All while smiling, as Shamir gasped and looked pale.
"SHAMIR!" Rasha and RIbras howled in outrage, trying their hardest to force themselves to stand.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Papyrus was closest to the both of them and heard their plight, turning towards them with concern...he took his eye sockets off of Owdium.
Owdium didn't bother announcing Papyrus' grievous error, he simply took the opening it made; he enhanced his punch and smashes it into the back of Papyrus' skull. With his distraction, he didn't have time to make his skull hard enough to take the blow. The skeleton's light in his eye sockets dimmed for a moment, before he was sent flying across the ground, before coming to a stop. His scarf came off and laid next to him. His skull was even more cracked than before.
The Great Papyrus wasn't getting up.
"PAPYRUS!" Asriel and Red shouted loudly. Most other members of the pack howled and growled to voice their disdain for the soldier at the moment. Ice Wolf and Doggo had their fangs bared, but dared not leave Verena's side; she'd be stolen back the moment that they moved away. The same went for Ace, which came up to Greater Dog and Lesser Dog to get out of the way and protect. Asriel growled in response, but he was closer to Shamir, who took a similarly bad injury. He removed his own sword from his chest and attempted to heal him, but Parvos slashed at him before he could get the chance, causing him to retreat a few steps back with an angered glare.
Asriel took a long and deep breath. With this breath, his Rainbow Soul pulses for a few moments, being visible from his chest. Then it hides itself within said chest again as he makes his command impossible to mistake: "Parvos...move aside. I'm not asking you again."
"Really now? And what if-" Asriel didn't give him a chance to finish; he swept him aside with a powerful burst of flames. Parvos was admittedly caught off-guard by this, attempting to regain his bearings as he landed on all fours with singed fur. Asriel gave him even less of a chance to at least finish getting back up; he throws his paw downwards, and what follows is a powerful bolt of lightning. It crashes down hard on Parvos, creating a large crater in the ground. He didn't bother waiting to see if he regained his footing, he simply snapped his fingers as three more powerful bolts of lightning crashed down hard onto his back, just to make sure he's delayed enough for him to proceed.
Parvo's found the Prince's sudden ruthlessness...surprising. And very painful. Then he remembered that Undyne was his combat instructer.
Mozif found himself gravely irritated by Dogressa's persistence...not out of fear, not at all. He wasn't afraid in the slightest. It's just that, when Dogressa has begun parrying more and more of his attacks and landing more strikes with her halberd, it was becoming quite clear that he might just be in trouble. For Dogressa, however, it was quite clear that how and why she had the upper paw. The boar monster may have more endurance than her, but she has plenty of endurance herself, and she also has durability and stamina-her mate can happily vouch for the latter-which are both far above his. Overpowering him was out of the question, but outlasting him was puppy's play.
"You're...such...and annoying...DOG!" Mozif exclaimed irritably, lifting his head and bringing it down with a forceful headbutt. She grunted from the strain, but ultimately resisted, and stood her ground while baring her fangs. She soon howled as she forcefully lifts her head up. She clutched tightly onto her halberd and slashed at his legs. He yelped in pain and fell to his knees; this left Dogressa with enough time to jump upwards with her halberd raised high. Then she slammed the flat side of it down on his head, the force causing slight fissures across the ground.
"And you're an annoying boar monster. We're even."
Dogamy found himself swooning at how amazing his mate was, but refocused himself as Igbus refused to give up on his assault, repeatedly hitting him in multiple directions faster than he can react. His speed was clearly superior to his own. He wouldn't give up though. There had to be a way to overcome it. He'd use his arrogance to his advantage; eventually he'll slow himself down to gloat in his face, that's where his chance lies.
"You're quite slow, doggie! You must feel completely helpless right now!~" Igbus succeeded in multiple simultaneous slashes to his back. At this point, Dogamy whined slightly and fell to his knees, feeling cornered by the much faster Igbus. After five more rounds of simply running around him in circles, sizing the canine up, he then decides finally strike him down where he lay. With this in mind, he stops just in front of Dogamy and brings his claws down on his head. It seemed that Dogressa would need to force Mozif back and help her mate...but there was no need. When he got close enough, Dogamy swiftly lifted his halberd and swung the blunt side upwards, having it uppercut Igbus hard in the chin, sending him flying and tumbling right next to Mozif, groaning.
"I'm not as helpless as you might think."
Mozif and Igbus both stood up, panting and injured. Dogamy and Dogressa were standing before them with fierce glares. They both huffed, while the former smiled smugly. The Dogi glare at them for a few more moments, before the former turns towards his mate.
"What do we do with them, love...?"
"...The other unconscious human mages and monsters around us...the subordinates...they shall be spared. I do not smell intense evil from them, they have a chance at redemption. These two, the monster leaders of this attack, however...they're a different matter entirely." Dogressa tightened her grip on her halberd. Dogamy nodded solemnly and did the same.
Mozif and Igbus paled considerably as they watch them raise their halberds. They weren't really going to kill them, were they?! There was no way they were capable of such a thing, especiually when they're under the moniker of the peace-loving Dreemurrs! Surely they were bluffing...!
A very swift yet strong slash from both Dogi ended their lives. Fortunately, they didn't have time to register the pain, they were already dust in the wind. The human souls they carried cracked, and shattered into many pieces, before disappearing completely.
Owdium was the last one remaining. Any chances of him leaving this situation in one piece has just shattered. The skeleton has already shattered his wing, and any of the others are fast enough catch him if he tries to flee on foot, so he didn't bother trying. There was only one end for him. He did not regret the duty he carried, and he wouldn't back down from it.
Nor would he allow himself to be captured.
He swiftly moved towards the unconscious Papyrus on a last-ditch attempt to kill him. The quickest one to react was Red, moving right in front of Papyrus. Thinking only of Papyrus' safety and nothing else at this moment, she thrusted her sword through the avian monster's chest, some of it actually exiting out of his back. She didn't hesitate, not for an instant. He didn't see even a semblance of regret in her silver eyes.
The avian monster simply smiled at this. He gently reached forward with a talon, and patted Red's head as if to commend her for her committment to defending her home and her comrades, before crumbling to dust, the human soul he absorbed shattering.
The Pack immediately went to her side, with Dogressa and Dogamy embracing her in a hug. She assured them that she was fine. Ribras and Rasha looked on with slight nervousness, but stayed close to Asriel and Shamir, the former doing his best to heal the wound. He wasn't ignorant of what had just happened, and was slightly bothered. It was then that he sees a flash of cyan by his side. Moments later, he could see Sans immediately moving towards Papyrus's side, desperately hoping he was alright. Asgore was right next to Asriel, placing his paw on Asriel's head.
"Asriel, my son...are you alright...?"
"I'm...I'm alright." Asriel said, his facial features turning back to normal. "But I can't say the same for Shamir or Papyrus...they were very badly hurt..."
In the meantime, Parvos eventually recovered from the three lightning strikes crashing down on him. He soon crawled out of his crater and held his side, grunting and shaking his head. Welp...the kid got sick of my nonsense very quickly...yup...think I'm done here... He mentally pouted as he stood up and prepared to walk through a shroud of shadows. He was only stopped by the sound of Sans' voice:
"parvos...you'd better be damn grateful that papyrus is my priority right now..." Sans started slowly, not turning around. "however...the next time we meet...you're not walkin' away alive."
"Oh? Is that a threat?~" Parvos scoffed.
"no..." Sans then turned his head, both of his eye sockets glaring furious cyan. "that's a promise." Parvos just shrugged nonchalantly as he turned and disappeared into the shroud of shadows, which dissipated soon afterwards.
Asgore took an overview of the scene: Verena and Ace were revived as well. Human and monster subordinates laid scattered across the ground, alive but unconscious. Rasha and RIbras were badly injured, Papyrus and Shamir even more so. The Pack has killed the three monsters who absorbed human souls and thus posed the biggest danger to everyone around them. The Dogi only achievd victory by working in unison, and Red ran Owdium through when he was too occupied on attempting to deal the killing blow to Papyrus. He faulted none of the Pack, he was simply glad they're alright.
Asriel seemed to be bothered by it, especially in regards to Red's lack of hesitation. Even if she did save Papyrus's life...he didn't know what to think.
Those three monsters were the most powerful during this attack, added by being human-soul powered, were seeking destruction within the city, and were not interested in surrendering or receiving mercy. Red and the Dogi acted accordingly. He could hear his Hyperdeath conscience mentally telling him this. You warned Frisk about scenarios where kindness is ineffective.
I know. I didn't forget about it. I just...need to collect myself, that's all.
As he thought about this, his father placed a paw on his shoulder. "Asriel...we must continue on. Your brothers are still very much in danger, as well as our friends. We must go to them at once."
"...Okay." Asriel nodded. Seeing that Sans would be preoccupied with Papyrus, the Pack with Verena and Ace, and Ribras and Rasha with Shammir, only he and his father would Be going. He held his paw and they both vanished in a bright flash of rainbow.
He hoped that they were all okay.
Shamir and Papyrus were gravely injured, Parvos once again gets away, three human subordinates were cruelly sacrificed to empower monsters...and those same monsters were killed without hesitation by the Dogi and Red before they could hurt more innocents. Undyne spread her beliefs to them: They don't-and won't-go easy on either human or monsters endangering the city with great malice. She was NOT bluffing when she stated that loud and clear, and made sure the Pack remembered it and understood it. The Dogi and Red certainly did...
Asriel isn't entirely comfortable with that last bit, but Asgore doesn't flinch. Wonder how that difference will portray to you all...?
The one surely good thing about this is that Verena and Ace were subdued safely, if a bit roughed up.
The next chapter shifts to Chara, Frisk and the others, and the events taking place in it are happening simultaneously with this chapter; which means that by the time it's over, both fights will be over and done with. Hope that makes things more understandable.
Until next time!