This one is one of those really long ones, and the arc pretty much ends here. With difficult times all around and people being outright tired with being attacked, drastic measures have been hastily taken. Drastic measures that not all are particularly okay with, but strict time limits prevent otherwise.
Asgore: Protecting our loved ones, our fair city, and those that inhabit it comes before all else.
Toriel: That's something I've learned and put into practice...by putting a few personal feelings aside.
Chapter Start!
Frisk was moving over to Adam, kneeling down and surrounding him in a green light, signified by his soul briefly flashing green. He lifted his head to see the child gently healing his wounds, and he was briefly surprised by this. "Wait a minute...you're...actually healing me...? Why?"
"Honestly? Between you and her, you actually seem reasonable." Chara said as he stretched a bit to adjust to the pain he felt before. Frisk was able to soothe it to a great amount, but it wasn't completely gone. Just enough to be bearable. And with this, his pain tolerance would grow a bit. "Can't believe she actually shot you through the back out of nowhere."
"...She must have sensed by reluctance to kill my sister." Adam said as he was able to sit up a bit, looking at the two before him. "...You two...look strangely alike."
"Yeah. We get that a lot." Chara shrugged nonchalantly before looking back towards Acacia and Red.
Red swiftly rushes towards Acacia with her sword drawn, intent on slashing at her. Her silver eyes flashed for a couple moments, before she stopped and jumped back, seeing large green flaming skeleton hands that attempted to snatch her. She jumped forward and slashed vertically in half, clearing a path towards Acacia, who throws a green fireball towards her. Red dodges this by sliding under it, and then slashed at her hand. Acacia winced as she just barely cut at her robes.
"You vile creatures have no idea what you're interfering with." Acacia said as she waved her hand. A large wide-spreading wave of green magic made their way towards Red. She jumps over the wave while the others were immediately protected by green shields conjured by Frisk when he got his breath back. Acacia immediately launches a ball of green magic towards Red while she was still in the air. It exploded right in front of her, knocking her back as she crashed into the ground. She recovered soon enough, though a bit scratched from the blast. "We've simply been doing whatever we must in order to keep things from going too far out of control. This is not something that you monsters should be interfering with. Especially monsters that operate under the name 'Dreemurr'."
"You're extracting the souls out of the humans that can't take it. Do you seriously think that we're just gonna stand around and let that happen?"
"Why are you so resistant towards this? Why do you insist on protecting them?"
Chara appeared behind her and slashed his claws horizontally at her back. She clenched her fists as a brief green wall rose up behind her and defends against the slash. The wall soon grew spikes and attempted to impale him. It partially worked; once again Chara's shadow arm was pierced as he jumped back. But even then, it didn't matter, as it soon regains it's claw-shape. "You came here antagonizing us and threatening the humans here. Are you such idiots that you honestly believed that this course of action wouldn't come with consequences?"
Acacia huffed as a green sphere soon rose above her head, which soon morphed into a sinister phantom of some kind, as it grew multiple arms and attempted to grab both Chara and Red; they both narrowed their eyes and proceeded to jump and dodge a majority of them, with Red effectively slashing most of them into pieces, only for them regrow after a couple seconds. Chara simply blasts some of them with a brief burst of darkness, destroying some of them in the process. Both of them landed on their feet, as the green sphere expands and begins showering the entire area of a rain of sinister green magic bombs. Frisk swiftly formed a green shield around everyone, including unconscious humans, before they landed. Devastating green explosion soon decorated the area for several moments, causing intense amount of destruction in it's wake. Frisk was seen struggling to keep the shields stable, and he was down on his knees. Through this, Chara knew that he couldn't last much longer, not when he was shielding so many at once; his stamina was taking a huge hit.
The darker part of his conscience might want Frisk to forget about the other humans, let them die so he can better shield himself and the others. But he knew Frisk well enough; that wasn't going to happen.
"Morality was only going to hold us back!" Acacia defend as she gathered more green phantasm magic, and spreads it with her hand, green phantasms rising from the ground and morphing into golems that would soon charge towards the others. "You have no idea what it's like out there! While many humans outside of Ebott were rapidly developing thanks to magic they learned and that many scattered monsters provided, the power soon went to their heads!"
"You should probably look in a mirror." Red shot back as she slashed at several phantasms, which only reformed quickly and slammed their hands onto her; she swiftly leaps back and avoids the earth shattering punch it threw. "You seem pretty corrupted by the power yourself. You're not really appearing as the picture of sanity."
"Manipulating my daughter into becoming the next matriarch of this family line? We were assigned mostly to Ebott specifically to keep the people there from growing out of a manageable degree, she needed to learn that keeping order in our line of work was the only way to allow it to continue. The magic cabals out there won't hold themselves back from doing immense amounts of damage just to get whatever they want. The only way to steer clear of their wrath is to give them whatever they want. Our sanity is unnecessary!"
"You're clearly relishing in what power you do have, though." Muffet said while rubbing her chin. "I can understand the lure of doing business...the attention to morality seems to decrease the longer you're in it, and the more money that is involved. Luckily I do not fall for such lures."
"Did you already forget telling me that YOU tried to obtain Frisk's soul for the sake of money?" Red deadpanned.
"Ah, we do say such childish things when we're so young~"
"That doesn't answer my question!" Adam was rightly confused by their brief back and forth, especially in the wake of such a critical crisis.
Another green wave of magic managed to push Chara back as he defends with a wall of dark flames he surrounded around himself. He slices through it with his claw, and he further pushes through with an enforced wave of black flames. Acacia glared as she pushes green glares back towards Chara's black flames. The intense heat between them was beginning to seep through Frisk's shielding, and it was getting through just slightly. "Our power is needed for ordeals such as this, I needed to shape their minds into something that can handle this kind of mental strain. There were few ways that they would be capable of it before they acquired magic. They needed the mental fortitude to perform horrible deeds to ensure a world filled with an overflowing selfish need for power wouldn't overwhelm them!"
"Quit making excuses!" Red snarled, swiftly appearing behind Acacia and throwing a magic bomb at her back. Due to the magic bomb from the back and the black flames of the front, she was briefly overwhelmed, though not for long. "Don't pretend like you're some kind of leader! All you've done is make already bad people even worse to further your own survival! Your own kin, no less!"
Adam sighed. "As the matriarch, to her we're the pawns that gave into the chaos...she simply allows Azami to think she's the boss...she's not sane enough to believe otherwise." Frisk had to immediately strengthen the shield around Adam because Acacia increased her attempts to try and kill him. "And even past that...they were always nasty people. Her manipulation of the worst side of themselves, and the black magic they all learned corrupting them even further, only made those things worse..."
Acacia frowns as even more phantasms rose from the ground, turning the very air itself into a shady sinister green. "The offering of human souls prevents the outside from growing too eager with their desires for conquest. If it wasn't for this practice, they surely would have proceeded to increase their efforts in scarring the world even further than it already is. This price is minuscule compared to that; the distinction between the purity or corruption of human souls ceased to matter once their demands rose dramatically. We simply adapted to those demands regardless of our personal misgivings. And it isn't like we're the only ones partaking in this practice."
The phantasms attacked once again, extending their hands towards both Chara and Red at an even faster pace, which caused them both a bit of trouble. They extended and continued increasing size. One of them even succeeded in blasting the both of them at once, and they both crashed into the ground, cratering the ground immensely. Chara briefly shielded Red before it fully impacted them, so by the time they both fell to the ground, Chara was much more injured than she was. Red actually landed on her feet, still glaring at Acacia. Another green blast of phantasms made their way towards the due, with the very serious look to kill. Another green shield swiftly covered the both of them, and she noticed that Frisk was still providing them protection, and was showing absolutely no signs of stopping.
"Things don't have to be this way." Frisk spoke while behind his green shield, grabbing some of her attention. "I don't know why you feel the need to do such a horrible thing, but you don't have to. You should stop..souls are the cumulation of one's entire being, it's one of the most important parts of them that are irreplaceable. It's not something that should be regarded as a means for trade and to satisfy someone else's desires."
"If you'd any idea exactly what it is that you're up against, then you would gladly participate in the practice. The consequences are not worth objecting it." Acacia waved her hand as more phantasms rose from the ground. And each of them lightly opened their mouths and shot multiple beams of green magic towards Frisk. Neither Chara nor Red allowed any of them to so much as touch him; Red was swift to use her blade to deflect most of the blasts towards areas that wouldn't harm any other humans still unconscious. Chara deflected some of the blasts as well, only to catch one of the larger ones in his clawed dark hand and throw it back towards Acacia; she allowed another phantasm to rise from below and take the blast for her, obliterating it entirely. Acacia waved the smoke away and prepared another spell, only to be struck hard in the side, landing a few feet on her side while briefly coughing from the damage.
"Whoops. Sorry. My hand slipped~" Muffet giggled cheerily. "But to be completely honest, you really ought to stop doing what you're doing."
Acacia snarled as multiple phantasms rose up and began firing multiple magic blasts towards the spider, who began nimbly dodging a majority of them through multiple flips and jumps, as well as a few turns that almost seemed accidental. She narrowed her eyes in anger. "Nimble little...
"Spiders are indeed nimble~" Muffet snickered while ducking under another blast and jumping over yet another, before jumping high until she landed on top of the roof of another building, sticking out her tongue. "Or you're just slow. Either way, your aim is not that great~"
"...Then I'll cease trying to hit just one of you."
Phantasms gathered around her, though this time they didn't attack in the traditional sense; together, they all charged and released a wide shockwave of green magic that sent most of the others flying back, and damaging each of them to a severe degree. Even Frisk's shields have broken and shattered into pieces, and he falls on his back. Acacia huffed as she noticed most of her attackers were currently down, and the blast caused quite a bit of devastation around her. As she acknowledges this, she moves towards Frisk, and lifts him up by the shirt; her arm began glowing, and Frisk gasped as his soul was briefly pulled from his body and into her hand.
"You're the one who helped free them...you shall not escape that grave sin, child." Acacia said as she slowly began crushing the soul. Frisk began gasping and clutching his chest as a response.
"S...Stop...p...p...please..." Acacia paid no mind as the adolescent struggled at her feet, as he lifted his head towards her. "Y...You don't...h...have to..."
"Don't have to do this? I disagree." Acacia said as she clutched the soul even harder, causing Frisk to fall closer to blacking out, and he heard his soul cracking. "Magic Cabals will sink further into a power struggle simply from satiating their boredom by challenging the Dreemurr Faction. It will turn the world upside down...you'll accept responsibility, child."
"Put him down, hag." Chara snarled as he pushed debris off of him, with Red pushing herself up as well.
"Stay out of this!" Acacia shouted as multiple phantasms fired more magic beams towards them. Red's silver eyes flashed twice and things appeared rather slow to her for the moment. She and Chara quickly moved forth, avoiding each of the blasts, one clutching her sword and the other readying his claw. Acacia's eyes widened; once they both got close, Red surprised her by slashing the elder's hand and swiping Frisk from her, and Chara slashed down diagonally while she was distracted.
Before he did, she saw transparent black wings temporarily sprouting from Chara's back...though he didn't seem to notice...
The phantasms immediately disappeared as she stares at the deep claw marks, which soon began bleeding. Her vision blurred from the blood loss and the pain, and she falls on her back.
"You can talk all you like about trying to maintain a balance. You're just as selfish as the rest of them for finding profit and comfort in the suffering of others." Adam huffed while holding his cat Axel in his arms.
She glared at all of them, Frisk especially. "...You'd better be prepared to reap the consequences for your interference...and be even more prepared to regret them..." At this, Red walked up to her, brandished her blade, and slashed her across the torso once more. With little stamina to properly defend, the elder fell on her back as her eyes dulled, never to brighten again.
"You attacked us. You don't get to make threats like that." Red huffed as she dissipated her blade.
"Frisk. Are you okay?" Chara said as he helped Frisk up after his soul returned to his body. Frisk, shaken, nodded softly as he moved over and hugged Chara tightly. Chara returns the gesture with his normal arm. "It's okay, Frisk. You're okay...everything's going to be fine..."
Adam watched the two for a moment, as well as looking at his deceased grandmother. With a winded sigh, he simply takes Axel and teleports somewhere else, leaving the others to care for the still unconscious humans.
While he'd appreciate some rest, he wasn't done yet.
Asriel and Papyrus were both wary of the elder mage before them, he was carrying a green flaming scythe and was looking at them with a rather crazed expression which kept them firmly on their guard. Asriel knew that caution was key, and Papyrus was following his lead, albeit with slight nervousness on his part, though not unjustified.
Alphys regained her composure and shook her head, running towards the capsule. "I'll deal with this! Keep him away while I do so!"
"I don't think so, lass!" Atherton smirked as he swiftly moved towards her; she immediately protects herself with a wall of digital magic, repelling him and causing him to crash along the ground until easily recovering his feet. Alphys kept her digital shield up as she reaches the console connected to the capsule, and promptly gets to work. He moves to stop her, cut off by a line of bones right in front of him, which soon coated themselves in flames. Papyrus and Asriel soon jumped in front of him.
"SORRY. BUT YOU ARE NOT GETTING PAST US."
"Can't you see our scientist is busy right now?"
Atherton stared at the both of them for a while, before grinning again. "It doesn't matter much anyway, there's no way she'll be able to undo it's effects. Darkness designing it has made it certain that no one but him can reverse it while it's in the middle of operating. Her efforts will amount to nothing."
"You clearly don't know about my previous occupation." Alphys huffed, not turning to look at him; she's still entirely focused n her current objective.
"Fine, I'll deal with you after dealing with these two." Atherton huffed while turning back towards Asriel and Papyrus. "Which won't be a problem for me in the slightest!" He says confidently as he clutches onto his scythe and swings it horizontally. What results is a crescent-shaped wave of magic that Asriel and Papyrus jumped over to avoid, watching it cleave clean through several trees. Alphys felt the brief amount of pressure against her digital shield, shaking it off and continuing her work. "The absorption of human souls...I do feel a bit like my old self again!"
"That gives the impression that the old you isn't that friendly..." Asriel muttered as he gathered red flames in his paws and tosses them towards Atherton with the intent to burn. Atherton grinned as he twirls his scythe, briefly slashing apart the flames without the slightest effort on his part. Asriel narrowed his eyes as the red flames in his hands switched to green, and he throws those as well. Atherton once again slices the flames as well, though it took a bit more effort than before. The elder grinned while waving away the remaining flames.
"Rainbow flames! The rarest, purest of all the flames, which branch out into many different types and colors of flames! Can't imagine many other ways for you to actually change their colors like that!" He said while briefly disappearing in a flash.
Asriel immediately blocked the incoming blow, but it was strong enough to send him flying quite a bit away, hitting a tree back-first. His eyes widened briefly as Atherton slashed at him again, and he ducks under it just in time to see it slice the tree clean in half. Though he was immediately kicked in the side of the head and sent rolling across the ground. Though he was again quick to recover, pushing himself up and getting on his feet, before shooting three bolts of lighting towards him; all three of them were deflected with precise swings which shot right back at him. The lightning bolts dissipated before they could reach him, rendering him unharmed. Atherton smiles again and shakes his head.
"Well look at you. They say that in your previous life, you weren't much of a fighter. That doesn't seem to be the case here, as you're clearly holding your own."
"Is there any rhyme or reason as to why you're doing this? Why absorb other human's souls? They're human like you, why would you do something like this?" Asriel asked while standing up and gently healing himself a bit via green magic.
"Isn't it obvious? In my current age, this great power granted by human souls is enough to give a bit more spry in my step, and at the very least, regaining my ability to walk on my own through this method of empowerment." Atherton grinned while swinging his scythe again, with Asriel briefly dodging once again, only for the human's other hand to blast him in the chest with another blast of green flames. Asriel was hit, but he was quick enough to move his scarf and Rainbow Locket out of the way so they didn't get damaged as well. He rolled a bit and stopped on his side, coughing a bit while peeking with one eye. "Someone like me is eager to gain more power to reclaim that bit of youth regardless of the methods and morality. And there are plenty around the world that agree with me and do the same thing, perhaps with better efficiency than myself. Unfortunately, unlike them, I don't get my hair back. Oh well."
"I WOULD PREFER THAT YOU NOT SPEAK ABOUT ABSORBING OTHER HUMAN SOULS WITH THE CASUAL TONE OF TAKING A WALK." Papyrus asked politely as he summoned a bone staff that glowed blue, and hardened it. He himself began to move swiftly towards him while swinging the staff towards him. Atherton blocked the blow with another twirl of his scythe, though he was surprised that it didn't cut through the bone like it did the trees. In fact, the bone seem to be significantly harder than any of the trees. He pushed forth and fully threw Atherton back with the force of his swing throwing him back once again, though he landed on his feet again. "PLEASE, THERE'S NO NEED FOR THIS. SURELY YOU CAN'T HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT POWER ISN'T REASON ENOUGH TO TRY HARVESTING AND ABSORBING OTHER HUMAN SOULS FOR THE SAKE OF JUST THAT."
"Now why would I lie to you like that?" Atherton huffed. "It's true that me and the others do participate of the trafficking of human souls to whoever wants them. But among us, as the weakest of all, I actually take practice in absorbing a few souls along the way in order to preserve myself a bit longer, and empower myself so that a few more resistant consumers don't try anything funny."
"YOU OCCASIONALLY ABSORB SOULS YOU'VE GATHERED IN THE PAST IN ORDER TO FURTHER PROLONG YOUR LIFE...?"
"One of those consumers...landed quite a severe blow on me. If I hadn't started preserving myself via the occasional absorption of soul energy, I would have died a long time ago...not that Acacia would care." He shrugged while swinging his scythe again. This time it's blast radius was much larger than the last, rapidly expanding and consuming much the surrounding area and incinerating a great portion of the land. Asriel and Papyrus immediately jumped up to avoid it; Asriel via a blast of fire and Papyrus through a jump enhanced by springing off a bone platform he created below him. Though once they were both at a high enough distance, they sensed him right behind them.
The scythe slashed at them; they both managed to defend, but they were both sent flying back into the ground, with the both of them landing on their backs. Atherton descending quickly as he twirled his scythe as he intends to swing it downwards and impale Asriel.
Asriel opened his paw, and Papyrus opened his hand. Both of them began gathering magic within their palms, and pushed them forward to blast Atherton, with a synced attack of both stars and bone shards. The elder's eyes widened as a majority of the projectiles either slices across his skin or smacked right into him and sent him off balance; he eventually lost all stability and falls completely into the ground, picking up slight smoke. Once it cleared, he pushed himself up, a bit surprised.
"Fire...Lightning...and Stellar Magic. That's quite an arsenal you have." Atherton said while lightly picking bone shards from his body. "Though I do wonder, why haven't you used them to strike me down yet?"
"I don't want it to have to come to that." Asriel said with a sigh. "We don't have to fight..."
"I SUGGEST YOU LISTEN TO ASRIEL." Papyrus also pleaded. "YOU REALLY SHOULD. WE DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO HURT YOU MORE THAN NEEDED. AND IF UNDYNE, OUR MASTER, OR SANS, MY BROTHER, TAKE THEIR FOCUS OFF THE DRAGONS AND TOWARDS YOU...WELL...THEY'RE MUCH MORE MERCILESS THAN WE ARE. THEY WON'T HESITATE TO KILL YOU IF YOU CONTINUE BEING A THREAT, SO WE WISH TO AVOID THAT SCENARIO ENTIRELY WHILE WE STILL CAN."
"Nonsense!" Atherton swiftly moves forth and gripped his scythe tightly, before swinging with much more might than before. The two tried to defend, though they were both slashed across their torsos. He moves again while they were still attempting to recover, and he slashes once more; the resulting wave of magic expanded to en even large extent and caused an immense explosion strong enough to wipe out a large majority of the forest they were in. The duo immediately reappears a few feet from the blast zone, just barely able to avoid it. "Do you seriously think that such empty threats will scare me in any meaningful way? I've met much more intimidating groups than your sorry lot. You overtake one island's hostile forces and suddenly your name is on the way to becoming infamous."
"Our friends were trapped on that island. We just happen to come across something we couldn't ignore while we were on our way to rescue them." Asriel said wiping his muzzle with narrowed eyes. "We're not the ones looking for trouble."
"You should have left well enough alone and simply left your friends to their fate."
"There's no way we would have left them behind!"
"The consequences are yours to suffer from, then. No use blaming us for getting involved in something that shouldn't involve you." Atherton huffed as he swung his and, a wave of green flames spreading outwards. Asriel managed to direct the flames upwards with both of his paws, harmlessly throwing them into the air. Though in the midst of this, Atherton pulled his scythe back and was fully intending to slash his throat; a bone immediately blocked the blade and smacked him away. Papyrus catches the bone in his hand.
"THERE'S NO WAY THAT WE WILL SIMPLY ACCEPT THAT THIS IS PURELY OUR FAULT." Papyrus insisted while dissipating said bone and making sure Asriel was alright. "WE WERE SIMPLY DOING OUR BEST TO ADJUST TO THE SURFACE, AND THEN MANY OF THESE THINGS STARTED HAPPENING..."
"You have no idea what you've stumbled into, and now it's far too late for you to even think about escape." Atherton stated as he swung his scythe again; the both of them avoided it by rolling in two different directions. Asriel throws a fireball at his side while Papyrus raised his hand as multiple bones rose up to hit Atherton' he sliced the bones with the scythe and jumped away from the fireball. "You've already resisted subjugation twice. Continue to do so and it'll only get worse for you."
Asriel thought over those specific words for a moment, as did Papyrus. After a brief moment of connection between them, they nodded and turned towards him. "IT'S RATHER UNFORTUNATE THAT THIS IS HOW THOSE OUTSIDE MAY SEE US. BUT IF THAT IS WHAT WE MUST DO, THEN WE'RE GOING TO DO OUR BEST TO CONTINUE RESISTING. I'M QUITE SURE THAT IT'S BETTER THAN THE ALTERNATIVE."
Atherton grinned as he reared his scythe back and swings once again. "That's fine by them. They're more than happy to conquer you by force and bring you underneath their heel. They'll prove that the rumors about you are nothing but exaggerated boasts!"
Asriel clenched his fist, as did Papyrus. The latter's bones began to harden while Asriel's paw caught with red flames. "If they think we'll just stand around and take their abuse, they're wrong!" Asriel stated as they both ducked under the scythe swipe and simultaneously punched him in the face. The two blows were significantly powerful, smashing him through several trees and out of sight.
Alphys smiled softly as she looked towards them with great relief. "I'm done, guys...I've managed to shut it down..."
In the meantime, Atherton groaned as he tried pushing himself up and resume the fight...but he was surprised to discover that he lost all feeling in his legs, his eyes widened as he realized what the cause of this was. N-No...the human souls I absorbed are gone...did that lizard actually...?!
"Well, aren't you having a bad day?" He lifted his head up to see Adam standing in front of him with his arms folded. Next to him was Darkness, with his paws clasped behind his back.
Adam...Darkness...?!
"Oh my. An elder lying on the ground." Darkness tilted his head. "Normally I would feel bad...not this time."
"What do you mean...?"
"What he means is that using his invention to absorb other human souls is not something he's okay with." Adam huffed. "Look at you. An old man drunk with power, even willing to absorb human souls just for the sake of having it."
"Can you blame me? There's so many out there that would want to and those that have done the same thing with the biggest of smiles! I should be able to indulge myself too! I can't understand why the monsters here haven't done so already. They have the ability, and they especially have much larger potential than us humans. Why do they ignore the lure of devastating power when it's literally right in front of them?"
"The monsters of Ebott have practiced something during their six year hiatus...and it's called restraint." Darkness emphasized. "King Asgore renounced his desire for war for a chance at peace. The humans and monsters here wish to live in peace, together. One turning on the other is now impossible to for them to consider, thanks to the Dreemurrs, and Alvina. You don't even acknowledge that the monsters here are desperate to save the humans from this current crisis."
"What...they actually want...to save the humans here...why would they do something like that?"
"Listen, old man." Adam huffed. "They worry less abut power and focus on protecting the peace; they will never renounce peace for the sake of power. Understand it now?"
Atherton glared as he weakly raised his hand. In an instant, Tempest appeared in a whirlwind, and placed a golden katana near his neck, once again looking completely expressionless. Darkness' eyes widened. "What are you doing?!"
"Tempest...cut off your head!"
"No! TEMPEST!"
Tempest nearly went with the order...but he then fell unconscious and fell forward into Darkness' surprised but relieved arms. Atherton was gasping for breath, as a paw covered in twilight magic pierced his chest; Lunar was before him, and glared at him with great distaste. She pulls her paw out and callously watches the man fall the ground, dead. Adam looked blankly towards the deceased Atherton, before shaking his head and again teleporting away. Darkness watched Lunar with curiosity.
"...He needs to improve on his free will. It's laughable as it is right now." Lunar stated blandly. "...I had to call off a decent fight just to save his sorry tail...this is such an annoyance..."
Lunar has always been unpredictable to both Darkness and Tempest, but now the former really didn't know what to say. She actually, willingly, saved Tempest. Up tp now, Darkness would have never expected her to do such a thing, due to her immense selfishness and lust for battle always taking center priority.
"Lunar...?"
"A coward trying to use someone else as a patsy to save his own ass...that kind of person infuriates me." Lunar snarled.
Neither of them breathed a word after that exchange. For now, they've said all they needed to say.
All adults within the room were highly upset, and for different reasons that definitely contrast one another.
Alvina was surprisingly able to avoid passing out from the amount of bleeding emitting from her side, due to her own mother impaling her with her blade. It was due to Temmie setting Azami off strongly, and turned her attention on her purely for the sake of silencing her and killing her. The action caused her to take her attention off of Toriel, who quickly regained her bearings and joined her husband's side in the upcoming battle, while Gerson was out dealing with Knight Knight and Madjick, intent on safely incapacitating them. Azami and Alastair, however, they were certainly not going to leave this building unscathed. And depending on them, alive. Especially after having threatening their son's life, and the life of their own daughter. Either case was a big 'No' for Toriel and Asgore, and the intense disapproval was present on both their faces.
All Alvina could do was watch, as Temmie stayed close to her, unwilling to leave her side in fear for her safety. To Alvina, Temmie has more than proven to be a capable, yet eccentric, protector.
"It seems that Azami has fully given into her malevolent impulses. Oh well." Alastair said with a sigh while turning towards the Dreemurrs ahead of them. "In this case, we might actually welcome it."
"You're actually egging her on? What the hell, Alastair!" Alvina shouted.
"There are times when she would completely lose grip on whatever sanity she has. Black magic definitely didn't help her self-control. Though she willingly and happily accepted it into her being, for the pure sake of indulging her impulses. I usually have to keep her in line, but restraint isn't needed here."
"So she not only willingly succumbed black magic, but you don't even try to stop her when the darkest parts of her soul rears it's ugly head." Asgore stated with narrowed eyes.
"Black Magic isn't an excuse for her, for she's always been like this; all the black magic did was make it worse. She definitely does what she does to prevent further damage from the outside...but she herself can be just as cruel as them." Alastair said while multiple phantoms gathered around him and Azami. "She has little patience, and you've exhausted it."
"We can't allow either of you to continue. You must be stopped."
"And who's going to do so? You two? Injudicious!" Azami shouted angrily as she slashed with her whip-sword. The slash was immediately dodged by both Dreemurrs, and it immediately tore through the wall behind them, soaring far into the air outside. Alvina observed the damage, and sighed. Her belongings here were not going to survive the oncoming battle if this kept up, not by a long-shot. Realizing this, Toriel glared at the Azami while flames slowly gathered around her.
"We'll have to move this outside...I wouldn't want to ruin Alvina's office further."
"Do you truly believe that we'll abide by that?" Azami declared angrily.
"...Alvina. I apologize." Asgore said as he lightly picked her and Temmie up, before jumping out the hole that Azami made, arguably making the whole bigger. Toriel followed after them almost immediately. Azami narrowed her eyes as she and Alastair followed after them. Asgore landed on the ground, cratering it slightly as he gently sets Alvina and Temmie down. After this, Asgore turned around and pulled out his trident, as it generating heat. "Stay back, you two. We won't let them get close to you again."
"Why do you defend her?" Alastair asked nonchalantly.
"I believe we've already established why we're protecting her. Repeating ourselves towards you would be pointless." Asgore stated. "And what else might be useless to repeat, is our insistent on stopping this madness."
"I'm afraid that simply cannot happen." Asgore narrowed his eyes at this, with one of Alastair's phantoms forming in his hand and turning into a blade. "I am in no position to back down, nor do I want to."
"What...?" Asgore seemed slightly curious by this, but he was cut off by Alastair reaching out and slashing down at him with said blade, which Asgore swiftly defends against with his trident. "You speak as if you have no choice in this matter, yet you are also completely willing to do whatever terrible things you might be told to do, and might even be willing to do any of them again without the slightest hint of remorse?"
"That is how I've done things for so long. I really cannot change what I've done, and I have no desire to. Black Magic brought these feelings even further to the surface." Alastair insisted as he slashes down once again, in which Asgore pushing back against him, his trident becoming hotter once again. "I have this dark duty to uphold. And unfortunately, this is entirely of my own volition. While black magic has made me more aggressive, my overall view hasn't changed in the slightest. The atrocities I've helped cause, I'd gladly cause them again. Because I'm completely willing to do so, duty-bound or no."
What is he saying...? Alvina thought with slight confusion as she watched Asgore parry Alastair's blade and push him back. What exactly have they been doing...and why...?
"Get out of my way!" Azami shouted in outrage as she slashed at Toriel with her whip-sword. Toriel narrowed her eyes as she raised her paws; flames gathered around her and effectively defended against the slash, and pushed her back when they pierced her attack, burning her fingers slightly. "You're in my way! I'm completely and utterly tired of Alvina existence, and I just cannot rest until it's erased! I won't be satisfied until I do!"
"What do you have to gain from something like that?!" Toriel glared as she pushed her back with intensifying flames. "Haven't you caused her enough suffering from constantly trying to tear down her confidence and then leaving her all alone?!" Toriel was livid with this woman. She was truly, genuinely intent on painfully and spitefully ending Alvina's life despite the complete lack of benefit to her or anyone else. She's doing so simply because Alvina is an eyesore. Nothing else.
"It's none of your business, beast. You shouldn't feel any love for Alvina, she's not yours to care for. But she is mine to terminate." Azami narrowed her eyes. "I honestly should have done it long ago. I knew she would be a cause of severe trouble, and I was right!"
"You can't seriously be intent on trying to kill her. She's your daughter!"
"She's a waste of life." Azami says with much resolution as her whip sword extends far towards Toriel. Though as the Boss Monster moved to counter some of them, the sword splits into multiple pieces; Toriel winced as several of the broken blades managed to fly at her and pierce deeply into her body. "And I'm the one who gets the final say on whether it's worth something or not!"
"Unlikely..." Toriel mumbled as she raised her paw; multiple pillars of flames formed from the ground and burst from under, and attempted to burn Azami. Azami was able to dodge most of them; though a particularly large one formed right in front of her, bursts right from in front of her and seriously burned her left hand. She yelped and grit her teeth from the pain as she slid back a bit, gazing at her burned hand. Third degree burns at best. She looked up towards Toriel, and was surprised to see that the blades embedded in her body left and dropped to the ground before dissipating.
"What's this...? Pyrokinetic regeneration...now isn't that quite a useful ability you have...very useful indeed..."
"I grow weary of your death threats against your own flesh and blood..." Toriel muttered, as her sleeves slowly burned off, leaving a majority of her arms exposed. The holes in her body closed up via flames as more of them gathered in her paws, before she clenches them both in fiery fury. "I will make sure you can never harm Alvina again."
"Think you can stop me...!?" Azami shouted in outrage as she spread her whip sword and slashed towards Toriel, the blade passes right through her as Toriel approaches her rather swiftly. Though she was rather surprised when Toriel clenched her fist, coated it in flames and punched at her. Azami blocked with her sword, and ended up sliding back, but not without gaining a few burns on her arms.
"I don't think I can stop you. I'm quite certain that I will." Toriel glared. She clenched her fist once again before she pulled it back and punches forward; a wave of flames resulting because of it, which made Azami jump high upwards in order to avoid it. Toriel narrowed her eyes and waved her paw upwards, the wave of flames following and tracking Azami, causing her to try and avoid those midair as well. Though she was less successful, the flames burned her left side severely. She retaliated by extending her whip sword downwards and lightly scratching the left side of her face. The monarch barely flinched from the cut, which served to gravely irritate Azami, and to cause her to intensify her further attacks.
Back with Asgore and Alastair, both of them were at wits end with one another. Asgore was especially in a bit of odds with Alastair, especially with the way he's been talking so far. If he were to summarize it correctly, he would have to deduce that Alastair was both ordered to do so, and he was fully committed to doing all of them even if he wasn't ordered to. Alastair didn't fully agree with what he was doing, yet he agreed with it enough to comply completely and without regrets. Whether it was out of loyalty or something far more intimate than brainwashing, he didn't know for sure. All he did know was that whatever cause that Alastair was devoted to, he has no intentions on stopping. That was kind of enemy was surely one of the more dangerous ones.
Asgore defended with his trident as Alastair struck at him with his phantasm blade again, which caused quite a bit of magic sparks to fly as a response to it. Alastair gazed at Asgore with eyes filled with dull acceptance, and yet at the same time, they were asking for understanding. And he could see that Asgore was definitely trying to understand, but was still completely at a loss on what to think of him. His intentions were definitely malevolent and voluntary. Yet at the exact same time...
"...Hopefully you can understand, to some extent, Asgore." Alastair replied. "I don't wish to abandon this goal of mine, even if it means coming to conflict with you and the others. Even if I've been set upon this road, I'm fully willing to walk it regardless."
"What do you mean by that?" Asgore requested as they both clashed weapons again, although this time, Alastair knocked Asgore off balance by using his other hand to blast him with a blast of phantasm energy. Asgore grunted but nonetheless recovered easily, standing his ground as he swiped his trident across, slashing Alastair in the chest and making hum stagger back.
"It wouldn't matter at all if I explained in great detail, I will continue on regardless." Alastair said as he pushes yet another burst of phantasm energy pushes Asgore back even further. "I will keep going, even if it means opposing you, and killing Alvina. That's how devoted I am. And it's not a word I'm willing to break."
"What do you mean? Who did you give your word to...?" Asgore requested, though he was greeted with silence as Alastair attacked him again, yet another blast sent him pushed back, though he planted his feet to keep from moving further back, and he responded as he used one paw to throw a ball of fire near Alastair. Alastair dodged to the side, though he was briefly surprised by Asgore detonating the fireball prematurely, and it sent the human mage flying with a trail of smoke following him. Asgore clutched onto his trident while he narrowed his eyes. If he's not interested in answering, then that's just how things are going to be...I can't risk everyone else's safety just for my own curiosity. Even if some of it is from concern. Asgore slashed horizontally with a trail f flames following it, and it was successful in burning Alastair's arms and pushing him against a wall. Though he recovered soon enough and stands again.
Alvina watched the battles go on with growing awe and concern, watching the monster monarchs fighting for her sake, as well as for everyone else. Temmie was watching as well, within the comfort of her arms. She wondered what was going to happen if this battle lingers longer than expected. She could sense the amount of hatred Azami truly had towards Alvina. And to be honest, she was surprised for once on how much Azami really hated her. Black Magic has seriously twisted her already negative emotions to utterly baffling levels.
"...What are you gawking at?!"
Alvina's eyes widened as she sees Azami extend her blade, heading towards her to stab through her again. Toriel allowed no such thing of course, and smacked it away with a flaming paw. She them grabbed the blade and twirled it around while Azami was still grabbing onto it, until she twirled it downwards and slammed her into the ground. This only infuriated Azami further as the blades scattered and flew towards Toriel; they stabbed into her for several moments before she endured them, and her flames shot them back out and towards Azami. She resisted this as well, though she was refusing to relinquish her desire to kill Alvina.
"I've already told you. You shall not harm Alvina anymore." Toriel declared.
Azami paid Toriel no heed, simply settling for cutting down Toriel if it will shorten the destination to killing Alvina. Toriel sighed at this, as she lifted hr paw...and nothing came out of it. Azami was confused by this, and even more by Toriel throwing the paw out. She ignored it for the most part, and intends to attack again...until she felt intense pain on her stomach and fell back with searing pain.
Invisible flames...they're quite hot, you see. Intensely so. Toriel thought quietly as Azami picked herself up and glared hard at the Boss Monster. She slashed hard with her whip-sword, and a wave of green magic followed after; Toriel waved her paw as invisible flames protected herself and Alvina and Temmie. Irritation gripped at her as she continued slashing to try tiring her. Toriel simply pushed the flames outward, and Azami again felt her wrists being severely burned. A slash did manage to cut Toriel's side, badly.
Asgore sent another burst of powerful flames towards Alastair, which badly burned him and sent him hurtling into the ground with fire clutched to his being. Asgore watched as he feebly tried standing back up, and mostly began to succeed. Though he was surprised to see that Alastair balanced himself up and prepared more phantasms around him. Asgore waved his paw as some phantasms shot towards him; they were immediately burned away from the brightness of the flames. More came from below, though.
"...Do you truly feel no remorse for the atrocities you participate in, yet invest little to no genuine emotion into?" Asgore asked, hoping for something that will serve as a sign for him to allow Alastair to surrender.
"Why would I bother feeling remorse for something I don't care for? I'm doing what I must, and nothing will sway me. That's how dedicated I am to my assignment." He said as he gathered even more phantasm magic to attack him with at least a twenty-five of them, and they all fired blasts towards Asgore all at once.
"...Very well. I provided you a chance." Asgore solemnly decided. As much as he didn't want to this, he couldn't afford to stall any longer. Asgore pulled back his trident, as his golden hair overshadowed his eyes. As the blast approached Asgore, he swung his trident down diagonally. A strong wave of flames generated and shot forth, they easily incinerated the phantoms, until they reached Alastair himself, and the flames consumed him. He was given no chance to resist.
Toriel's paw was covered with flames as she pulled it back and slapped Azami's whip-sword aside once again. And with her other paw, she throws a ball of fire into Azami's stomach, throwing her back and smashing her against the wall of the building, before she slid down and grabbed the ground below her, clutching it angrily. It was ridiculous. Acacia, Atherton, and Alastair. she couldn't sense them anymore. They've been killed by various members of the Dreemurr Faction.
"...Heh...hehehe...great..." Azami laughed, which caused Toriel to raise an eyebrow.
"What is amusing?"
"...Alastair was the one who usually handles all the business...I was simply crushing whoever tried to stop us from progressing...we were a team like that...a pretty damn good one..." Azami shook her head. "It's funny...we tended to work together quite well...yet none of us could really bring ourselves to love each other...we were doomed from the start...so I decided...why not accelerate it...?" That was the last thing she said, as she reached out and tried to stab Toriel with her whip sword again.
"Hmph." Toriel unflinchingly raised her paw, and a vortex of flames surrounded Azami and proceeded to burn her intensely. She paid no mind as she reached out and gently patted Alvina's shoulder. "Alvina...are you okay?"
"...Yeah. I'm fine. Temmie is fine too." She said quietly while standing back up. The flaming vortex stopped, and all she saw were the burned bodies of Azami, while Asgore walked away from Alastair's scorched body. Toriel could clearly see the lack of care on Alvina's face. The most she could read from her was relief.
They can't hurt her anymore.
"Hm." Asgore hummed as he walked up to Toriel, lightly taking her paws and caressing them. "Toriel...you burned off your sleeves..."
"Indeed. It's a secondary concern, but I'll need to buy more clothes..." She shook her head gently. "While the primary concern is regrouping with the others and discussing what's happened."
"I think that I can help with that." Alvina gently looked to the side to see that Adam was moving towards them, with Gerson in tow. Knight Knight and Madjick were safely subdued, and Gerson was alright, albeit a bit exhausted. Adam looked towards Azami and Alastair's bodies with a sigh. "Good grief. They're dead. I was hoping to get in some last biting words towards them...but since they were the worst of them all, I'm actually okay with this."
"Adam...?" Alvina said quietly.
"...If you wanna know a bit more, then let's go with your idea and regroup-ACK!"
Asgore and Toriel winced from Alvina kicking Adam in the face...quite hard. Axel simply meows, and Gerson managed a slightly bitter chuckle.
Finally, a chance to breathe...
Most that have participated in the battles have gathered back in the Dreemurr Residence. Most of them were undergoing healing due to their physical wounds, via Toriel, Frisk, and Papyrus' treatment. For the most part, everyone was fine. Again, this was only on their physical surface. Everything regarding the city itself was slowly coming together as well. In fact, once the cause of their souls being extracted was effectively stopped by Alphys, the humans woke up almost immediately; though it would take some time for them to completely heal. They also realized that the monsters were responsible for keeping them alive way longer than they should have been, and effectively saved their lives altogether. Some have even went as far as to call that their saviors.
As flattered as they were about this, they we're far too worried about the cause, and ramifications of these events to fully take pride in it. They don't take pride in the humans being in trouble, but that they were able to save them. Though they all preferred that they were never in danger in the first place. And yet, here they were. Every human in Ebott nearly died and had their souls taken-by it her humans, no less-in a span of a few hours.
Once again. While the humans were traumatized, the monsters were furious.
"Alright. I'm gonna be blunt...this has gone too far. WAY too far." Undyme grumbled while pacing the floor. Everyone was either in the kitchen sitting at the kitchen table, sitting at the couches, or were simply standing. Asgore and Toriel were kind enough to make tea and pie for everyone to calm their nerves. "That invasion was bad enough. Then they go and have someone try to steal every human's soul at once while we're still recovering from that, literally there days after! That's not just dirty, it's despicable!"
"They tried to get us while we were still licking our wounds...that sounds like something me and Sans would do." Tempest muttered to himself. He remembered being controlled, manipulated due to some heavy indoctrination he endured in the past for his assassin work...it looks like he didn't escape it completely. My newfound freedom has made sloppy, I was too at ease. I never thought that I'd see things that way. Wind is an element of freedom, and I have no desire to feel caged, physically or mentally. I'll have to deal with this weakness of mine soon...even if it proves my sister right. She'd never let me hear the end of it...
"And they just sent you here to follow through with those orders...?" Alphys said. Darkness and Geno Alphys were beside her on either side, rubbing her shoulders while she sipped tea. "How can they be a part of something so terrible...?"
Adam sighed, having an ice pack pressed against his cheek from where Alvina kicked him, as Temmie and Axel were playing together in the background. "Don't misunderstand this. Our family had ALWAYS been a terrible bunch. I know this because I was stuck with them even longer. But once they acquired black magic and were given jobs such as this, stealing souls whether they're innocent or guilty...there was no returning from that."
"Well...at least you didn't really succumb to the temptation of power. That counts for something." Alphys said.
"I was too weak to resist, and I was too unwilling. I didn't even try. That's a bit worse than actually taking part in it. I knew what was going on, I knew it was wrong, and yet I let it happen because doing anything wouldn't have helped at all in the long-run." Adam shook his head. "I felt completely trapped in helplessness that me and the situation itself created together..."
"heh...how 'bout that." Sans chuckled bitterly. That feeling was all too familiar. "so. how are you two feelin'? we, uh...kinda killed your folks. neither of you seem upset about it. not even a little bit."
"They stopped being family a long time ago. Trust me, neither of us are gonna miss them." Adam waved it off. "They left Alvina behind and treated me like crap regardless if I was the 'favorite'. That isn't family material."
"true..."
"Now, that isn't to say that they never had positives. It's just that their negatives almost completely drowned those positives out to the point I forgot they existed." Adam explained. "For example. My eighteenth birthday-the only one Azami bothered to remember-was the day Azami got me Axel. She simply dropped him in my lap and said 'You want to keep it, you take care of it'. That's one of the better things that she's ever done for me. She was still rotten to the core, but she brought herself to do something like that for me. It's one of the very few positive memories I have with her."
"Hm..." Toriel hummed.
"Still, I'm surprised." Undyne admitted as she eventually stopped pacing and turned towards Toriel. "You and Asgore torched the parents. While Asgore admitted he didn't like having to do it, you didn't hesitate at all. Even after you spared Augustine back at the archipelago, and those men from the invasion."
"The former situation, Augustine was not mine to punish, for the island was not my home. I left her to the inhabitants for them to decide. The men from the invasion didn't have any malice in their hearts and didn't really wish to harm anyone. Thus, we merely incapacitated them while disposing of their much less tolerant leaders. Those two, Azami and Alastair...were full intending on following this terrible path without a hint of remorse or hesitation, and Azami in particular was actively trying to kill Alvina simply for being alive for too long." Toriel muttered. "So I burned her to ash to protect Alvina. She showed no signs of possible repentance."
"It is an unfortunate circumstance...but the citizens of Ebott were our priority. They proved themselves to be beyond reason. They were promptly eliminated." Asgore said with a tired sigh, holding and lightly heating tea in his paw when he tasted it, it was getting slightly cold. "We cannot sit idly by and allow these atrocities to go on, when we have the power to stop and resist them. And as such, we cannot allow ourselves to falter at them whenever they happen; we deal with them as soon as possible, before they do any severe damage. Ebott is our home, we must protect it."
"Couldn't agree more. You monsters just keep doing whatever you can to help protect this city. I'll have your back and provide approval." Alvina said with a gentle nod. She wasn't that against the gang making kills if it was really necessary; she understood that they were truly trying to find ways that wouldn't come to that, but not have them be at the cost of innocent lives. And since innocent lives were very much at stake, AND they had a very short time limit...she didn't fault them in the slightest.
Though if there was one thing she had to remember for herself, is the importance regarding security within her office building. At least now, she knew that Temmie could fight too.
"...Though it still feels ridiculous to be dealing with something like this." Undyne sighed while pushing a hand through her hair as she gazed towards Adam. "It's one after another at this point. Why can't they just leave us the hell alone? We haven't done anything to them. And to be quite honest, we're getting seriously sick of this, especially with civilians being brought into the crossover at this kind of magnitude."
"I AGREE. I CAN'T SEE THE POINT OF THEM CONSTANTLY TARGETING US WHEN WE HAVEN'T INTENTIONALLY WENT AGAINST THEM. WE'RE ONLY LOOKING AFTER OUR FRIENDS." Papyrus said, a bit saddened by the fact that they have so many enemies out there in the world simply for existing.
"...It's obvious why those outside insist on antagonizing us." Flowey said while moving around in his pot, getting everyone's attention. "It's quite simple, really. There are quite a few that may see us as a genuine threat. But as for those bigger, further expanding magic cabals...they don't see us as much of a big deal at all. In fact, they see us more as meager entertainment than anything else. They wanna poke and prod at us just to see what we do, how we react, so and so."
"FLOWEY, WHAT DO YOU MEAN...?"
"They just wanna see what the fuss about." Flowey insisted. "Small-time cabals like Augustine's were simply going against us because we were seen as a threat, as their own self-interests felt endangered. They don't like that a bunch of monsters affiliated with no alignments suddenly rose from the earth and are just chilling out. They were anxious, so they wanted to take us out first before we did something to them. Obviously that didn't work." He paused while briefly looking around towards everyone. "...But alas, some higher authority or whatever insists on messing with us just to see what happens. It's more than likely that the more evil magic cabals are bored out of their damn minds and are simply looking for something to ease their boredom. We're the most interesting thing they've possibly seen in years. There's no way that they won't take their attention off of us now."
"But I do wonder why." Asgore admitted as he gazed towards Flowey. "Surely they know by now. We are not at all interested in what hostile affairs going on when it comes to places outside of Ebott. The only reason we bothered with the archipelago was because our friends were there. And we defend ourselves against attacks directly on the city. We don't wish for conquest, only for peace. Basically, to be left alone. Why do they insist on bothering us?"
Flowey sighed. "It's quite obvious, even with the reasons I've already given." The others didn't understand at first. "It's like I said. We're mere entertainment to the bigger dogs at this time. They mess with us and pick on us because they're curious. They mess with us because it amuses them. Because it's fun. Because they can. And because they can, they have to." He turned towards Asriel, Chara, and Frisk. "The four of us understand those things more than anyone else, isn't that right?"
They didn't comment. The shame they still subtly feel from those days still resonates within them.
Alvina sighed as she scratched the back of her head. "What are we going to do about that, then? We can't just keep sitting here and taking their abuse...but we can't allow ourselves to choose a side, either. There are good cabals out there...right?"
Adam scratched the back of his head as well, nearly mimicking her. "Well...there are some good magic 'guilds' out there...and a majority of them are fighting against the much worse magic cabals that seek much less noble things. The Human-Monster War did indeed eliminate a majority of monsterkind...but it'd be a mistake to assume that there aren't still a lot of them left. And some of them can be just as bad as the humans...sometimes it's because of those monsters that the humans got so bad...it's really crazy out there guys."
"and we're not interested in gettin' involved in that massive conflict of theirs. like asgore said, we just wanna chill and enjoy our freedom in peace. but now that we're bein' dragged in the middle of their unexpected conflicts, it's becoming much harder to ignore." Sans sighed. "so...what do we do about it...?"
"Show them that we're not to be provoked."
"Doesn't that seem a bit hasty, Flowey...?" Alphys asked, a bit hesitantly.
"This is one of the more extreme things they've done to the human civilians. Every single one of them almost died. We can't ignore that."
"...No. No we cannot." Toriel admitted strongly. "It won't be enjoyable...but we shall find the ones responsible for this offense, and make sure they can never attempt that again. Not now, however. This event has left us and the entire city emotionally and mentally exhausted. Everyone needs time to rest and recover from each of them before we can proceed. So Adam...don't tell us where they are. Not yet. We wish to rest for a while before we actually proceed."
"Yeah...okay..." Adam sighed. After this, all of those that weren't living in the Dreemurr Residence leaves after finishing their tea and pie. The only ones left were Asgore and Toriel, along with the Dreemurr Trio, who decided to simply go to bed. Adam lifted his head. "I also have one more thing to tell you...it's about your son. The eldest one. Chara."
"What about him?" Asgore asked curiously.
"Are you aware of him having the magic of a Fallen Angel?" Both parents shook their heads a bit nervously, and he rubbed his neck. "Thought so. You see, I don't know much about it myself. But the little things I do know that those that possess a similar feeling and power to a Fallen Angel...it's highly likely that they've committed sins that make even the most vile of normal humans seem tame. The chances of them ever appearing to be good, especially when they've been rejected-or have rejected-all things good and have become irrevocably corrupted. But that boy is the very first instance I've heard of that's possibly possessing the hidden power of a Fallen Angel and being somewhat of a decent person at best." He sighed. "Again, I don't know too much about it. I could be totally wrong or spot-on. I'm just describing what I hard and what I sensed."
"...Chara...has done many things that he isn't proud of, and simply wishes to be a better person. We of course support that mindset absolutely." Asgore stated as he caressed Toriel's paw, in which she responds by holding and squeezing his. "Still, that is rather curious information to have, Adam. We shall keep it in mind."
"Alright." Adam nodded as he soon turned towards Alvina, who had her arms folded. "So...you kicked me pretty hard earlier...care to explain why you'd...nevermind. I just remembered. That was for leaving you alone for so long."
"...Yeah. it really sucked that you just...left with the rest of them without even trying to resist. That really hurt, and I was more disappointed with you than anything else...but...you also came back. And by the look of things, you're also here to stay. And that...makes me feel really glad. So...what I'm trying to say is...good on you for making your way back into my life...in a good way, even when it took so long." Alvina stated as she calmly pulls her brother into a hug, closing her eyes. He smiles and returns the hug, and the two embraced one another for the first time in years. The scene made Asgore and Toriel smile fondly.
While deep within Adam's mind, he was awfully glad that he took this out when it was presented to him. Because the Dreemurr Faction has been irritated once again. once they helped the city greatly recover, they would immediately go after the ones that directly sent him and his family to Ebott in order to do their terrible deeds. Because what they've tried to pull-especially since it was for curiosity, amusement, or mere spite-was completely unacceptable.
There were some good magic guilds out there. And some tended to get into major battles with the much less noble magic cabals for many reasons. Today, he found out that the Dreemurr Faction doesn't give a damn; they just want to enjoy their peace and be left completely alone. At best, they were curious to see more surviving monsters out there in the world. But the complete lack of disrespect towards their desire to simply enjoy their new lives was beginning to aggravate even the more passive members of the group. Especially when innocents started getting purposefully placed in the crossfire for very spiteful reasons.
It was only a matter of time before he'd officially see their fury truly put to action. Because what happened today was surely the last straw for them, their patience has been pushed quite far. Once Ebott has properly recovered and things were mostly back in working order, they would seek out the ones who sent him and his family there. And they would make sure they could never try something like that ever again.
It would be FAR too late for apologies by the time they actually get there. Then the other cabals will see for themselves if it was really smart of them to constantly provoke the Dreemurr Faction. By what Adam has seen from them so far...that would definitely be an experience.
After this dark and intense series of events, instead of being disheartened, all it did was make our heroes angry. Some more than others. After Ebott takes it's dear time to lick their wounds and ease their minds and hearts...the ones responsible for ordering this are not going to be forgotten. Oh no. What they did can't be brushed aside like nothing happened.
Our heroes would prefer not get too involved in the outside world's noise. They're heroes mainly because the villains parading outside Ebott are constantly aggravating them, and they can't really ignore pleas for help, or their loved ones being endangered. Their good natures can be very annoying compromises sometimes. I'd say our gang are neutral good guys at best.
Asgore: We can't turn back from this...this can't happen again. We can't allow it to.
Toriel: The protection of this land falls to us. And we will see to protect it's progressive growth.
Now, until that action comes...there's to be a very long breather period. The heroes will relax for a little while, and get their peace of mind stitched back together. To make up for all of that gloom, I'll be doing a ton of fluff and more light-hearted events to try and balance all of that out. Honestly, a breather would probably be extremely welcome at this point. Very welcome.
Until next time, dear readers.