Here's another chapter for ya'll. And as you'll soon see, things haven't exactly gotten easier for everyone. Meant to update this sooner, but ya know how it is...probably not. Whatever works, I suppose. Works positively, I mean. With all of the creative powers and respective characters and all.
Also, I dunno what it was about a certain reviewer-Wingzero512-but it really made me happy and proud of what I managed so far. The world I'm slowly but surely creating in this specific world of Undertale is something I'm very dedicated and invested in indeed. Though I'm not so proud as to say it deserves to be a comic/video like those AU's ya mentioned. They're amongst the best Undertale AU's, I can't really compare to them. Besides, I don't have the talent/skill to do either. XD
Still, very nice of you to say.~
Not really much else here, except that things might be getting more oainful for some than others, before we see any signs of improvement. Maybe it'll work out for some...not so much for others.
Chapter Start!
Asgore once again parried his trident with Scythe's dual blades. It has become very clear that Scythe wouldn't be backing down from this battle. And while Asgore clearly isn't pleased about this realization, he knew that he had to really exert some effort in order to end this as quickly as possible. Though while Scythe was being rather playful about it, that definitely didn't make the battle any easier. Scythe was incredibly powerful there was no degree of doubt over that...but so was he. And he demonstrated this by briefly ducking under Scythe's slash and punching forward into his chest, flames bursting into him from the blow and sending the lizard flying. He recovered easily enough, forming an ice wall behind him to stop his momentum, despite denting it slightly. The wall vanishes, as Scythe smirked while standing back up and rubbing his burned chest.
At this point, Asgore grunted. His eagerness was rather intriguing, to say the least. Not much unlike Undyne or Lunar. But even with that on his mind...something felt incredibly different. Asgore was missing something vital, he was sure of it. And he was also quite sure that he was getting closer to that truth. Though in order to push that out of him, he would really have to invest himself into giving the lizard what he wanted, and that was a worthwhile battle. Thus, Asgore resolved to release a bit more of his restraint.
Asgore took a deep breath flames rising around him at the gesture; he then sighed, and the flames relaxed as well, still bright and crackling. After this, Asgore lowered his head, his golden mane shadowing his eyes quite a bit. "If that is what you insist...very well."
Asgore raised his head again, his eyes briefly flashing orange and blue simultaneously. Then he swiftly threw the trident towards Scythe. The latter raised an eyebrow at this, as he was able to dodge it easily. "Seriously? You don't honestly think th-"
Scythe was immediately cut off by the trident stopping mid-flight and swiftly slashing Scythe across his side, leaving three deep gashes. He almost roared from the pain, but he suppressed it and immediately jumped back while dodging the trident's next swipe. He looked up to see the trident return to Asgore's side and levitating, while the Boss Monster folded his arms, looking more serious about this than before. Should have figured that he could use his most treasured weapon telekinetically. His eyes widened as he witnessed the trident slashing multiple times, crescent shaped flames shooting towards him. Scythe narrowed his eyes as he countered with his dark ice, slashing apart each flame with his own ice-coated katanas. Though when the last attack was dispersed, he was surprised to see Asgore pulling his fist back, and then shooting forward a larger column of flames. He raised a dark ice wall, but was briefly surprised when the flames managed to overpower the wall almost effortlessly, followed by a large explosion that sent him flying with multiple burns across his scales.
Despite this, Scythe smiled, as he recovered on his feet, ice beginning to form on his body, healing his more severe wounds. Asgore Dreemurr's flames...definitely not something to be underestimated...overwhelmingly powerful...almost got fried for sure!~
Toriel in the meantime, kept her distance for the most part. Akai's giant magic extended not just his power, but his reach as well. He swiftly extended/expanding his fist in an attempt to punch her; she would disperse in a flurry of flames, before reforming a few feet away from the enlarged paw. She would them shoot multiple fireballs towards Akai, who raised his tail in front of him and enlarged it to block the fireballs, the burning sensation being reduced to mere itching. He shrunk the tail back and gazed at the Boss Monster, her eyes looking fiery and resolute.
Akai sighed. He wished he could possess such determined eyes. But alas, here he was, whether he wanted to be or not. Could be worse...oh wait, no it can't...
He regained focus as he pulled back and clapped his paws, generating a powerful shockwave that send Toriel flying back, landing on her back. A slight groan later, she slowly got back on her feet, rubbing her back with a repressed wince. Nonetheless, she continued on. She raised her paw with one paw, while she raised simply one finger with the other. She sent a stream of flames towards Akai, in which he enlarged his paw to block, his scales once again becoming more durable because of it; however, Toriel's finger on her other paw took advantage of this. While he was busy blocking her fire stream, a single bullet of fire shot forward and pierced his exposed side. Akai's eyes widened and briefly roared as the fire bullet pierced his skin and them bursts slightly, internally burning him. His giant magic immediately wore out for the moment due to this, falling on his knees while holding his burned side.
Toriel lowered her paws due to this, as well as her eyes. "You are very hesitant throughout this confrontation. You do not want to fight me, and vice versa. And yet you do so regardless, because the choice has seemingly been taken from you...are you trapped...?"
Akai almost chuckled at this. "Wow...you're really trying hard not kill me..." Toriel caught his tone while he was saying this, and immediately grew concerned. It sounded like he was...gravely disappointed by her lack of killing intent. "Heh...guess I should have expected that to some degree. Doesn't mean I can stop though..." Akai stands up as he raised his fist, quickly enlarging them, and smashed them into the ground. Toriel was prepared for the shockwave this time, a thin layer of flames protecting her; the shockwave only pushed her back slightly because of this. Akai sighed as his paws shrunk back to normal, panting softly and shaking his head. "After so many times of our hopes were raised only to be crushed...this is all we've got left as an escape. If we succeed, we'll be hating ourselves more than we already do. If we lose...well...hopefully we'll get the ending we wanted for so long..."
Toriel's concern for him only grew further because of this. She needed to end this as soon as she could, if she was to find out what was going on with him and his comrades. But right now, she needed to focus. And if there's one thing she could tell from his somber tone, was that Aindreas was certainly not Akai's comrade, nor Scythe's.
Aindreas grunted in aggravation as another blast of green energy manages to hit Temmie, harshly throwing her across the ground. Though given her elasticity magic, she bounced back surprisingly quickly, landing on all fours before pouncing and stretching her clenched paw for a strong stretched punch. Aindreas narrowed his eyes and refused to fall for it once again. He moved out of the way of the stretched punch and throws a green fireball towards Temmie. She quickly retracted her paw and swiftly dodged under the flames, feeling it barely graze her hair and smash into the wall behind her. She narrowed her eyes a bit while he sighed and stood up.
"Are you alright, Temmie?" Alvina asked from behind the shield Adam set, anxiety for Temmie continuing to grow within her.
"Fine, Ma'am. Just fine." Temmie shook her head and remained focused. "Alex. Are you alright too?" The feline next to her growled lowly in agreement.
Aindreas turned towards Adam, who was keeping Alvina protected. "Adam. Surely you realize that I'm doing these people a favor?"
"Yeah. Keep on going with that. It doesn't really make our current standings any better." Adam stated seriously. From his barrier, multiple green blasts shot out towards Aindreas, who's own barrier defends against them rather easily. "You can keep telling yourself that you're the good guy, we're going to keep calling you out on it, because we all know that it's a lie." Adam knows, no matter how Aindreas dresses his words, knows what's really on his mind and what he truly intends. It comes with knowing him for many years. Many unfortunate years. However, Adam would no longer use the circumstances around him as excuses for his past actions, forced or not. Aindreas isn't so kind.
"You all are far too comfortable with how things are. It appears I'm the only one who sees how all of this ends. With all of you destroyed, either sooner or later. It matters not which comes first. I've only trying to proceed with the former. Don't you think it'd be better for them not to endure what's to come...?" Adam obviously didn't listen to him, keeping his glare trained on him. "Their side isn't worth taking. Are you truly going to side with a faction that's doomed to be destroyed? Be it from their complacency, their hubris, or complete corruption. It's happened to many lands for years on end."
"Be that as it may, I'm choosing to take my chances with this one." Adam replied. "I'm not abandoning my sister again so selfishly."
"Not even for your own life...?"
"She's more worthy to live than I am, yet she wants me to stick around. So neither of us are dying today."
Adam ducked from Alvina's shout, as Temmie once again pounced forward, using her stretchy body to launch herself even further towards Aindreas. What caused his eyes to widen was that Alex breathed a ball of fire around her turning her into a living rubber fireball. He didn't have time to think over the absurdity of it, as Temmie hits him dead in the chest, flames and all, then he was sent flying with a boom, crashing straight through the building behind him. Good thing this entire area is evacuated... Alvina muttered softly. She looked towards the debris rather cautiously.
The entire building in front of them was destroyed with a magic shockwave. The debris crumbled around them, with Alex and Temmie shielding Adam and Alvina respectively. Aindreas was left standing in the center, mostly ignoring the debris falling around him, sighing. A few moments later, Adam saw a gathering of magic within Aindreas' hands. The glowing green energy within formed into a sword. Right when he swung down with it, Adam's eyes widened as he immediately pushes Alvina down and out of the way, while Alex grabbed Temmie with his mouth and did the same. The resulting green wave it form soared right past them due to the dodge, and it increased in size and power as it progressed, until nothing remained of it. Adam looked behind him and could see that the blast obliterated everything in it's path, leaving nothing behind except for a deeply large fissure in the ground.
"There's no reasoning with you, I suppose...very well."
Aindreas released a magic pulse; the powerful shockwave was strong enough to knock everyone back. Alvina, Alex, and Temmie completely lost their footing, so they hit the walls around them hard. Temmie absorbed a majority of the impact, but then Alex landed on her by accident, pinning her down. Alvina being the least durable, the impact knocked her unconscious as she laid on the ground, blood pouring slightly from her skull. Adam wasn't given time to process, as Aindreas slashed his sword towards him, emitting a wave of green lighting. Adam feebly tried defending with his own, but the blast easily overtakes his own resulting in small explosion that forced him onto the ground as well. Aindreas immediately appeared above him and stabbed his blade downwards. Adam shifted in a panic, at the last moment before the blade impaled him, instead non-lethally stabbing him in the side...though the restrained pained grunt made the pain clear.
Adam was painfully reminded of the massive gap between their skills and power in a few moments, having been almost completely defeated. Aindreas simply gazed at Adam, with disappointment very clear in his eyes at having to disconnect with him in such a matter, and this leaving it permanent. He wouldn't be missing a second time. He swiftly pulled the sword out and fully intended to impale Adam straight through his heart. He struck-
He pulled away from Adam after just barely dodging a wave of flames, quickly seeing that Toriel was the owner. Her eyes were blazing a bit, but the message was more than clear to him; she hasn't forgotten his presence and she wouldn't allow him to kill Adam while she and the others were around. Adam grunted as he pulled himself up, trying to regain his focus and his momentum. And his focus shifted to the unconscious Alvina. He then saw- with his eyes wide, his left twitching in complete and utter bafflement-Temmie freed herself from Alex's weight by briefly deflating flat as paper, sliding out from under him, inflating herself to regain her original form and then running towards Alvina in concern with Alex right behind her, all in the span of a few seconds.
...
Adam really can't comprehend Temmies.
He shook his head and quickly regained focus, turning towards Aindreas, who seemed more than irritated at being interrupted, especially by outside forces. But he didn't dwell on that, instead, he prepared himself to attack again.
"...Ah. There you are. Good on Tori for buying me a few extra seconds to get here..."
Aindreas and Adam blinked as they turned towards the sound of an elderly voice. Aindreas narrowed his own eyes as he recognized the owner quite clearly, due to the stories he's heard about him. And it was quite obvious that he wasn't exactly expecting him, but he also looked like it didn't matter.
Gerson.
"Adam. I have some monster food for you and your sister, dear boy. I suggest you take a bit and get yourselves healed." Gerson says while gently placing a bag of monster food before Adam, stopping and gazing at Aindreas with one open eye. "So I'm guessin' I'll be protectin' these children from you now. Consider me their temporary Guardian."
Aindreas didn't respond immediately. He understood clearly: As much as he wanted to kill Adam, Gerson was clearly the bigger threat to him, allowing Asgore and Toriel to focus on fighting Scythe and Akai. As a result, his own focus shifted more towards fighting him.
Gerson acknowledged this, glad to have grabbed a majority of his attention. He then held his hand to the side, his hammer manifesting in seconds. He gripped it tightly while gazing towards Aindreas. "Any chance we can peacefully resolve this?"
"I have my commands from my masters. My loyalty is absolute. And deserters must be annihilated." Aindreas replied strongly, narrowing his eyes towards Gerson, though he briefly looked towards Adam. The man visibly flinched from his former master's glare. He discarded his loyalty towards those that gave him and his family to survive, and Aindreas considers this sinful enough to warrant death. He wouldn't accept anything less...mow if only those tools didn't come with the grave cost of his family being broken so far beyond repair that four of them needed to be put down. From where Gerson was standing, Adam owed them nothing.
As he was thinking about this, Aindreas attempted taking advantage of his silence by immediately teleporting in front of him and slashing down at him. Gerson effortlessly parries the blow, causing a swirl of magic to surround them for several moments...the monster didn't budge an inch. Gerson follows up the parry by swinging at his side, which was dodged via teleporting backwards.
"...Very well." Gerson said resolutely. There was no way that he could sway this mage, even if he did somehow come up with acceptable reasons for Aindreas to stop his twisted actions. The ones that came before Aindreas were significantly less mentally stable, and thus were much easier to defeat due to that very weakness costing them their competence. Aindreas was much more dangerous because he was much more stable, and he at least has his set priorities in order. But he was also using those attributes to excuse massacring innocents, just for seemingly offending his superiors fundamental views of the world.
Gerson will not allow that. As the newly reinvigorated Hammer of Justice, he will smite Aindreas where he stands.
The blinding light finally dissipated as Sans and Parvos once again jumped away from one another. Parvos still didn't look any worse for wear, while Sans was looking rather exhausted. In all honesty, he was just a little bit frustrated with his lack of progress in damaging the feline as much as he'd want to. There Parvos was, smiling the whole thing off. To be honest, Sans wasn't much different, but he was having a significantly less pleasant time fighting him. How he wished he had higher levels of magic than what he really has. Unfortunately his stamina remains the lowest. So he did one of the things he does best in these situations.
He took a chance to improvise.
"welp...this is a bit of an unfair fight, don't you think...?" Sans muttered while trying to stay on his own two feet while his gaster blaster stayed manifested over his head, at the ready. "you've got a human soul inside of ya...and you seem to have fully mastered using the power it's provided ya. while little ol' midget me is stuck with my own thing..."
"C'mon, Sans. This ain't a time for moping. I know you can do better than that." Parvos remarked with a paw on his hip and tail swaying confidently. "How else are you gonna protect your home? Certainly not by complaining about how hard these battles are."
"just tryin'...ta have a slight sense of humor...few actually have a genuine appreciation for it...ya know..." Sans said slowly while his eye sockets drooped a bit. "sure there ain't any way for this to end quietly...?"
"Sans, I think we both know by now that taking the quiet way out of this conflict is all but impossible."
Sans sighed, conceding to his point. alright, sansy. it's time to put some actual spine into this. you ain't gonna get anywhere by half-assing it. "righto...well then, if that's gonna be the case..." Sans slowly takes one hand out of his pocket and raised it towards Parvos, glowing cyan for a moment, the same color flashing in his eye sockets. "Guess I should fight back then, huh...?"
Parvos was very briefly puzzled by this, until he felt himself being pushed a great distance via telekinetic force powerful enough to ripple the ground they were standing on. He managed to land on his feet as many a feline would, but was immediately thrown off by a storm of bones rising from the ground beneath him and very nearly impaling him. He jumped upwards, only to feel a brief pat on his shoulder. He turned around, surprised to see Sans waving quite cheerfully...before he pushed his hand onto his back, generating enough telekinetic force to brutally smash Parvos into the ground, making a much larger crater. Sans waved his hand as ten Gaster Blasters manifested around him and simultaneously fired right into the crater, expanding it via blue explosions. Sans landed on a Gaster Blaster that suddenly manifests below him, his hood now over his head and his eye sockets flashing cyan, his jacket flapping slightly.
He wasn't fooled for a moment. The smoke clears after some time, Parvos manages to climb his way out of the crater. He had surrounded himself in an armor of black lightning, managing to reduce a majority of the damage. Though he'd be having a much worse time if he didn't put it up in time. He looked up towards Sans while rubbing his neck, cracking it slightly while swishing his tail in brief acknowledgement. He had to admit that Sans was truly making an effort this time, and it truly showed, his killing intent having been raised rather dramatically. Sans didn't give him more time for recollection, as he teleported right in front of him and once again sent Parvos flying with pure telekinetic force, crashing against the nearest building. Sans used the same force to bind him in place as five more Gaster Blasters took more time to charge more powerful blasts, then they simultaneously fired at him, completely devastating the structure as well as Parvos attached to it.
The structure was nonexistent at this point. Most of the evacuation beforehand went without a hitch, so Sans didn't hold himself back too much. He glared down at the newest crater with cold patience, waiting for Parvos to re-emerge. The feline wasn't done. Not by a long-shot. And he was right to believe so, witnessing Parvos take his time climbing out of the wreckage this time. A few coarse wheezes forced from his lungs and hurting his throat quite a bit. But for the most part, from a mental and emotional standpoint, he wasn't that shaken. Once again, he seemed much more amused than anything else. Indeed, all he did was brush himself off and stretch a bit with an almost relieved sigh.
"There we go. There's the ruthless Sans I've been eager to meet again. Can we have a little more of that action, please?~"
i remember chara's term, p is for pain...and apparently, parvos can take a lot of it. Sans thought irritably while resisting any signs of looking tired. He just needed a moment to catch his breath; shooting so many blasters without rest definitely wasn't good for his stamina.
"sheesh, this is such a drag..."
"Don't be like that, pal. We're having such a great time bonding with one another through this fighting experience. I think it deserves a little bit more credit than that." Parvos said almost playfully. He immediately avoids yet another storm of bones from the ground, landing atop a nearby lamppost. Sans used his blaster to meet his eyes, glaring irritably.
"We ain't pals, hellcat."
With Red and Muffet, they were having a difficult time with the likes of will, who seems to fight with a tricky combination of psychosomatic illusions and swordplay. He did freely admit that he can't conjure incredibly powerful illusions, but he's still skilled enough to make very effective use of it anyway. Though it was somewhat countered with the assistance of Red's Soul of Intuition and Muffet's reflexes, they avoided taking any severe damage so far. But they could change at any time, and thus they were on the most focused of guards...well, at least Red was. Muffet still seemed to be having much more fun than she was supposed to be.
Will sighed while scratching the back of his head. "Sheesh, you two are incredibly persistent, I'll give you that."
"Thank you, Dearie!~" Muffet chirped with a smile and wave, earning an irritated glare and a low growl. Muffet blissfully ignored it.
"As well as incredibly wacky...I like that." Will laughed a bit while shaking his head. "Sheesh, look at what you're making me do. I'm conversing with my enemies so freely. You make it so easy for me that I almost wish to stop." Red swiftly appeared in front of him and slashed downwards diagonally. He fell back, but soon disappeared. She looked up to see him standing a few feet away waving playfully. Red's silver eyes flashed again, as she instinctively raised her sword and parried an overhead swipe from another illusion copy. She gritted her teeth while pushing back and slashing at it's neck, immediately dissipating it. Will flinched while unknowingly rubbing his throat. "Ooookay...you seem like such a nice pup, yet you're that ruthless..."
Muffet clapped. "Ooh Ooh! Red the Ruthless! That can be a nickname for too!"
"WILL YOU PLEASE STOP FOOLING AROUND FOR FIVE SECONDS!?" Red snapped at her with her teeth sharp and eyes blank white.
Muffet looked surprised by the request, as she crosses her middle arms while cupping her chin with her upper arms, tilting her head curiously. "Hmmm...I dunno. Five seconds is a pretty long time..."
"Muffet, oh my god, can you just NOT..."
Definitely an interesting dynamic...but not one I'm not familiar with. Will smiled while scratching his ear.
"Ahuhuhu.~" Muffet giggled as she lightly covers her mouth for a bit. She then shakes her head and stretches a bit. "Fine fine, I'll participate and take it a bit more seriously. Will that make my Rude Baby Red happy wappy?~"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, it just might." The wolf grumbled irritably.
"Very well, very well.~" Muffet waved her hands as she stood next to Red, lightly stretching her legs out a bit as well. Will shrugged and took the some to manifest two more illusions. One was large with a mace in hand, while the other had no arms yet was levitating and wielding two magic orbs: Knight Knight and Madjick. They were also accompanied by the likes of Astigmatism, Final Froggit, and Whimsalot. Muffet almost gasped in amusement at the memories that briefly passed through her mind. After a brief moment of indecision, without needing to say another word, the two of them have already sprung forward.
Illusion Madjick-Muffet snickered-was quick to conjure his namesake as the two orbs charged and fired multiple crosses towards Muffet. She simply smiled as she dodged each of them with ladylike grace, almost sliding around most of the crosses in a brief blur. Once she managed to jump over a few of the cross that came from both orbs at once, she shot a trio of purple webs towards the illusion. Two for the orbs, and one for the face, making it fall and collapse onto the ground, with Red jumping down to stab it through the chest, the illusion dissipating after that. She had to admit, if it wasn't for the fact that she knew that these were illusions, she would have been a lot more hesitant. They seemed so real. Luckily Muffet could tell the difference much easier than she could.
Red's silver eyes flashed once again, as she turned to deflect several orbs coming her way from the likes of the Astigmatism illusion. There was a rather large plethora of them coming her way, though her superior swordplay made that a surprisingly minor issue. After immediately slashing apart a few smaller orbs, she pressed her paw forward as a magic bomb spreads throughout and detonates; the rest of the orbs were destroyed as a result, as well as the poor Whimsalot illusion in the crossfire.
Her eyes flashed once more, and she turns in an attempt to parry a heavy strike from the Knight Knight illusion's mace, but it managed to break through that defense and force her on her back. Said illusion proceed to try and crush her head with the mace; Muffet attached multiple webs to her and pulled her out of danger and back onto her feet. Muffet immediately spins up a dome of webs around herself and Red after illusion Knight Knight began shooting both meteors and solar flares from both her artificial mini-moon and mini-sun.
"On your feet, bestie! This dome won't be lasting long!~"
"Knight Knight, even as an illusion, is so incredibly tough..." Red muttered while scratching her head. "Man. Psysomame...psysomama..." Red struggled to get a hang on the word, prompting an amused giggle from Muffet.
"Psychosomatic Illusions, sweetie."
"Yeah, those. We know they're not real yet they STILL hurt us. That sucks."
"Not to worry! We'll catch her off-guard with a little bit of improvising!" Muffet beamed as she felt the ground for several moments. The rumbling being caused by the meteors and flares gradually died down, and her webs surprisingly held up. Red could also hear the attack letting up, and both of them took it as a signal to strike. "Go!~" Both of them burst from the web dome as Muffet's shoots webs in the eyes, stopping her outright as she tried pulling them off. Red had two Delta Guardians manifested on either side, both of them firing two large purple blasts that crashed down on the illusion and exploded in a bright purple light.
Didn't stand a chance.
Both girls landed on their feet, Muffet nonchalantly patting down her skirt with a smile and slight 'whew', and Red pointing her sword towards Will with a serious gaze. The feline was blinking in utter surprise. They're in better sync than I thought...plus I think the way they landed summarizes their dynamic in these kinds of situations rather tellingly...how about that.
"Powerful illusions indeed. But they're still just illusions.~"
"Which means we don't have to pull our punches!"
In the meantime, Papyrus and Ice Wolf were currently busy with fighting the likes of Dynamo, who has now coated himself in a metal exoskeleton. Needless to say that doing meaningful damage towards Dynamo got significantly more difficult, as he Papyrus has already sent a stream of bone shards towards the large alligator monster, and the beast barely flinched from it. Ice Wolf stayed on the sidelines for the time being, but was more than prepared to give his support if need be.
Papyrus adjusted his scarf a bit as he stared at the metal-clad Dynamo curiously, his scarf flowing slightly. "THIS IS A REALLY DIFFICULT IMPASSE WE'VE FOUND OURSELVES IN...YOUR METAL EXOSKELETON IS CERTAINLY SOMETHING TO BEWARE."
Dynamo shook his head politely. "That might be, but I still cab't get too technical with it. I sorta lack the imagination to do anything super fancy with them outside of hitting things REALLY hard..."
"IT'S STILL IMPRESSIVE NONETHELESS. NOW I MUST FIND A PROPER WAY TO COUNTER." Papyrus crossed off lifting Dynamo up by the soul and tossing him around. His skin scales were super hardened at the moment, so he'll just be tiring himself out while Dynamo remains relatively fine. So he needed to find a way to wear down that armor of his until it dissipates.
"Not feeling up to attacking? Fine. I'll come to you." Dynamo stated with a shrug as he suddenly charged towards Papyrus, who briefly forgot that despite being so large he was still incredibly fast. It was rather roughly proven by Dynamo swiftly moving towards him and swiping at him with his arm. While Papyrus swiftly hardened his bones in order to defend against it, he was too slow to see his paw shape-shift into a mace and completely smash into his side, launching him across the roads before landing on his side. He manifested bones from the ground to quickly roll him along to dodge Dynamo stomping the ground where he lay, which resulted in a rough shockwave that managed to send the skeleton upwards anyway. Though he regained his bearings at this point, a bone appearing beneath him and catching his fall. He didn't realize Dynamo would become so rough so quickly.
He really needed to find a way to get past the metal armor. With some careful consideration, he may have come up with a way to make it work. Risky it will be, but it sounds like something Undyne might consider. Papyrus held his hand to the side and manifested a bone lance, gripping it tightly. He closed his eye sockets for a few brief moments. He hardened the bone lance, while briefly allowing his body to hollow and feel much lighter. Dynamo narrowed his eyes and began charging again, only for his eyes to widen as Papyrus briefly vanished, only to appear right before him.
"THRUST!"
Papyrus struck Dynamo in the center of his chest, having built up speed as well as putting power behind his lance, managed to not only critically crack his armor, it was also powerful enough to send him off his feet and a few yards away, crashing into the ground with a loud thud, a crater once again forming from impact. Papyrus sighed a bit as his lance dissipated while standing up straight again. "THAT WAS QUITE AN ATTACK, NYEH. THOUGH I WONDER IF I WENT OVERBOARD." Though to his surprise, it didn't take long for Dynamo to recover from the blow, managing to get up and brush himself off from the remainder of his shattered metal exoskeleton. "OKAY...I SUPPOSE NOT. THAT'S GREAT! I WAS AFRAID THAT I HURT YOU A BIT TOO MUCH THERE."
"Hmph...what a guy." Dynamo chuckled while rolling his arm a bit. "Alright, let's try something a bit different."
WAIT...THERE'S MORE? Papyrus thought, slightly dumbfounded. As soon as he thought this, his jaw dropped as Dynamo was slowly coated in glowing magma. His tail smashed into the ground slightly while he gradually stands tall as if the fact that he's coated in magma didn't faze him at all. "A MAGMA EXOSKELETON?! NOW THIS IS JUST GETTING RIDICULOUS!"
"Magma, molten rock. Still counts as earth. Magma Exoskeleton.~" Dynamo responded cheekily. He then raised his now magma-coated arm, and it expands a few times to a larger size, before he pulled it back and throws it towards him. Papyrus immediately raised several thick walls of bones to defend. Though it took at most ten full seconds, even if he was pushing extra magic for it to hold, the magma fist completely smashes through the walls, resulting in a blast of lava throwing Papyrus back and greatly burning his arms, sending him crashing onto his back. His gloves have been burned to cinders and his wrists and skull being cracked. Dynamo looked regretful about this, shaking his head.
papyrus...! Sans thought briefly, turning towards his scorched brother.
The brief loss of focus cost him dearly.
Parvos was immediately behind him, attacking him in the side of his skull with a black-lighting infused kick that not only sent Sans flying, but scorched his jacket and a bit of his shirt underneath. In moments, Sans was rolling until he was collapsed near Papyrus the briefest of blood spatter leaving his teeth. Parvos landed on his feet with a rather wistful smirk. Sans grunted as he tried to push himself up, only to briefly collapse again. He was struggling to recover, pushing himself up and turning his head towards the feline, who was playfully tapping his forehead.
"Ya see, Sans? This is what happens when you worry about others ahead of yourself. Now you're in a sorry state because your concern for your brother threw you off. And you're not someone who can tank multiple critical hits.~" Parvos chuckled as he raised his paw towards him, more black flames and lightning gathering within it. Before he could fire it, he swiftly takes one of his daggers and block a sudden sword swipe from Red, sparks resulting from the clash. "Oh? Little Red Slicing Hood's come out to play...?"
"Leave them alone!" Red shouted as she pulled back and rushed forward again, slashing at Parvos with blurring speeds. Parvos simply smirked as he deflected most of the slashes with his two daggers charged with black flame-lightning. Red snarls as she goes for a slash at his chest. Parvos promptly vanishes in shadows and appears at her side, pulling his fist back and punching her away, hard enough to dent the wall she crashed against. Right next to Sans and Papyrus. She groaned from the slight headache, standing back up while shakily holding her sword.
"You all have to realize a certain something. In the grand scheme of things, you all are on the weaker spectrum. My highest superiors have a pretty tight grip on this world, you see. And it's been like that for years. You can't defeat them. I definitely can't defeat them. And you know the old saying. If you can't beat 'em..." His eyes widen as he jumped back, just in time to barely avoid Red slicing his throat open.
"All I hear is stupidness from you! I'm more focused on cutting you down!" Red glared, as she brandished her sword and points it towards Parvos. "Leave my home alone you crazy cat, and quit picking on my friends!"
Parvos chuckled darkly. "Alright, pup. You've got pluck, I'll give you that." As he says this, both his and Red's magic auras flared wildly. Silver Wolf and Black Leopard respectively. Both were now constantly pushing against one another. "Too bad pluck like yours, especially when the odds are heavily stacked against you, is only good for getting you into hopeless battles. It doesn't get you out of them."
Alphys and Geno Alphys were standing before the likes of Dyra and Warkie. The former seemed really annoyed with Alphys being there, while the latter looked like he simply wanted this entire nightmare to be over. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. They were far too deep into this ludicrously suicidal operation to stop now, and they didn't have the right nor willpower to try and deny that very fact. There's no running away from this. They either succeed or face the consequences.
Warkie sighed. There's consequences that hurt us no matter what, so what's the point in choosing...?
Alphys, trying to stay focused on their task, stepped towards Dyra with placating paws. "Listen...I don't think that you want to fight. To be quite honest, I don't really believe you want to fight at all..."
"You'd be terribly wrong." Dyra replied coldly, which stopped Alphys in her tricks. "What we wish to accomplish will be quite impossible and insensible for us to ever attempt getting along. So the effort of trying would be completely worthless." She replied while folding her arms. "Besides, why in the world would you even attempt getting along with us despite knowing who we are and what we're trying to do to you all? For such an esteemed genius, you don't seem to be thinking very logically right now."
"Now that's not very nice of you to say. My sister is trying so hard to be nice to you, and that's how you act?" Geno Alphys playfully pouted.
Dyra scoffed. "Don't try to pull that facade. I know you're from an alternate timeline." The playfulness on Geno Alphys vanished instantly, now replaced with a frown of curiosity. "The Prophet knows the truth about you. All of you. Save your deception for someone who's dumb enough to fall for it. I do NOT fit in that category."
The Prophet? Bit of a strange name, but if he somehow knows about something like that... Geno Alphys thought. "Well, we'll just cut to the chase then. Please move out of our way, we have a city to save, and something equally important to achieve."
"That's not going to happen. Whatever you're up to, you won't succeed. You're not allowed."
"That's rather cheeky of you to say..." Geno Alphys says once again, as she looks around for several moments, throughout the seemingly endless darkness that is the Void. This is an unexpected opportunity, but one I'm willing to take without hesitation. We won't get another one like this. Need to make it count. "Alphys. Keep these two busy for as long as you're able. I need the time to focus."
"...Are...are you absolutely sure about this...? I know we discussed it beforehand, but..."
"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't." Geno Alphys said solemnly as she stood on the center of the roof and takes something out of her pocket. She placed her paws on the ground and closed her eyes. Her magic began to charge, into three large circles, which donned the Delta Rune.
"H-Hey! What is she doing?!" Warkie wondered in surprise as he and Dyra felt the ever-growing presence of magic within her.
"She's gathering all the magic within her...every single bit of it...as well as her soul...?" Dyra wondered, before she turned towards Alphys.
"She's none of your concern." Alphys said while standing in front of Geno Alphys, her glasses flashing a bit. "You should focus your attention on me." She didn't give them a chance to protest, she pushed her paw forward as digital magic gathered; two large yellow paws of digital energy pushed forward and slammed into the both of them, knocking them off the roof. Alphys took one last look at Geno Alphys. She's made her choice. She took a deep breath, and jumped off the roof after them, landed a few feet before, glaring strongly. Dyra returned said glare.
"Tch, if that's what you want, then fine." Dyra grunted angrily as she raised her paws. "Enough information's been gathered on you by now. They've said that you've acquired techno-magic. I must say...I envy you quite greatly. That's considered one of the more considerably versatile magics, given it's putting magic and technology together. At least, I have something somewhat similar. As she said this, bluish-green energy emitted from her paws, crackling more and more.
Alphys took a few moments to analyze it from afar, adjusting her glasses. Her eyes narrowed. "Psionic Magic...you're a monster esper...?"
"Psychic Power and Magic Power. Now what possibilities can THAT bring?" Dyra wondered. She then grinned madly, a mad scientist of sorts. "I know...how about Psychic Elements? This one's a favorite of mine.~" As she said this, her two raised paws gathered ice in one hand, and lightning in the other. The slowly gathered together, and she slams both her paws on the ground. Pillars of ice began erupting from the ground, each being charged with electricity.
Electro-Cryokinesis?! Alphys thought frantically as she jumped upwards, a digital platform forming beneath her feet to help her stay above the lightning-infused pillars. And that was from Dyra's Psionic Magic, it wasn't that she was naturally attuned to those elements. Alphys, if she wasn't fighting for her life right now, would be VERY impressed by how much this monster practiced her PSI Magic. Her eyes widened as she could see Dyra forming a much large block of ice charged with electricity, before launching it at Alphys. Crap! A digital wall formed around Alphys, and the lightning-charged ice-block crashed into it. It was strong enough to hold out, but the momentum still knocked Alphys off and made her crash into the ground, rolling a bit on her side. Ouch...
"Warkie. You stay back." Dyra said seriously as she lightly brushed off her coat and began moving towards where Alphys crashed. "Find some cover and stay hidden. I don't want you getting needlessly hurt."
"But Dyra-
"No buts. Stay here, and let me handle this." Dyra emphasized, patting Warkie on the head before she continued moving towards Alphys with a glare. The horned lizard monster sighed and quietly obeyed, hoping that she would be alright as well.
Dyra...the overwhelming stress/guilt you're feeling from all of this...she's not the person to take it out on. Despite his hopes, he knew his friend wouldn't heed that advice, which is why he reluctantly kept it to himself...
CLASH!
Undyne and Ratoveros jumped away from one another, landing on their feet while sliding slightly. They glared at each other with such intensity that the air around them was thick with hostile magic. the former's hair and the latter's robe fluttering slightly throughout it all. Undyne had previously removed her eye-patch already and was fully within her Undying state. Though even with this, Ratoveros was hardly phased by her so far. It was a tiny bit frustrating on her end, but she didn't allow that to impede her.
She leapt forth with vigor, spear in hand, and went for a jab to his chest. The larger feline effortlessly parries it while his free paw attempted to shock her with lightning magic. She ducks under the paw and attempts to uppercut him, only to pull and jump back when his entire body became coated in lightning. She landed on her feet once again, glaring at the still reserved Ratoveros. She snarled quietly as a dozen spears manifested around her and shot towards her opponent. The feline huffed as a bow and arrow manifest in his paws. He pulls back and fires two dozen black flame-lightning arrows that clashed with her spears. The ones that remained managed to cut her a few times while shooting past her. Undyne grunted at this, though her eyes widened as Ratoveros was suddenly in front of her in a flash, and kicked her in the chest with a black-lightning infused kick that sent her sprawling along the ground. She recovers quickly enough, once again being up on her feet.
She huffed as she wiped a bit of blood from her mouth, while Ratoveros gazed at her in disinterest. "It seems that you gain an immense amount of power whenever you remove that eyepatch of yours and release the power stored up within said eye. And your summoned weapons shift color from blue to back and white. The output certainly isn't miniscule, I'll certainly give you that." Ratoveros huffed as he drew his jagged blade once again, holding it out towards her. "But it's nowhere near enough to even come close to matching me. Also, 'Undyne the Undying?' What a laughably pretentious title."
"Oh no, my feelings are hurt." Undyne grunted sarcastically, not really minding his comment as she gets back on her feet and reviewed what she knew so far. Speed Archery by using magic to shoot multiple arrows at once, master swordsmanship, and black fire-lightning magic. All are definitely being played up for it's destructive potential. This guy means business. "Next I suppose you're gonna say that challenging you is a hopeless case. Not gonna work, dipshit."
"Very well. I'll simply communicate that through demonstration."
"Just try it!"
Dozens of spears manifested and shot towards Ratoveros, while she charged towards him with a white glowing sword in hand. Ratoveros huffed as he once again shot dozens of arrows that effectively countered many of her spears. A few of their attacks nicked one another, but neither of them flinched, and Undyne didn't stop. She leapt upwards and slashed down on Ratoveros, who parried with his own blade. Sparks of black and white resulted between said clash, each of them aiming to take advantage over the other. Three spears manifested above Rateveros and shot downwards towards him. They were all once again countered by his black flame-lightning, which Undyne once again jumped away from to avoid being shocked. She didn't fall for the same trick twice though; when Ratoveros once again begin charging towards her while she was still airborne, a spear shoots out from the ground. She lands on it, causing it to bend backwards, until she was shot forward and licked the large feline in the chest. A surprised cough resulted from the blow as he stumbled back, with Undyne landing on her feet.
Ratoveros didn't respond with words. He simply wiped his muzzle while glaring at the young warrior in front of him. His response was for his shadow to separate from him, then proceed to multiply into three, before reforming to shape exactly like him. Undyne's eyes widened as each of them pulled back their bows and fired two dozen arrows each. She reacted by having a protective shield around her that managed to defend against the arrow storm. Though she was being pushed back as the arrows continued increasing by the number, cracking her shield. But she didn't give in, she tried holding out as long as she could despite her weakening defense. The real Ratoveros capitalizes on this, holding his paw outwards at it charged a large black flame-lightning fireball. He wasted no time in launching it towards Undyne. The attack exploded and shattered her shield upon impact, also blasting her back and badly burning/shocking her. She rag-dolled across the ground a bit before she landed on her front. Her hair was messy, there were scorch marks on her skin, and small sparks emitted from her body every few seconds. But despite this, she struggled to stand back up, holding her arm as her left eye closed a bit.
"N...Not done yet..."
"Parvos did comment on your persistence. You've definitely got more pluck than most female warriors I've seen and slain."
"Parvos...?"
"My moronic, unfathomably annoying, yet overall significantly useful offspring."
Undyne grinned through the blood on her teeth. "Heh...I shoulda known...shitty son...shittier dad..."
"Not that it should matter to you." Ratoveros drops the insignificant subject as he pulled back his bow and fired another barrage of arrows towards Undyne, which she barely avoids by rolling out of the way. Not willing to give up, Undyne throws her hand upwards. Ratoveros grunted as he felt two spears pierce right through his feet, and two more were pierced through his arms. Three more spears shot through his shadow duplicates and dissipated them, leaving him wide open.
"I GOTCHA NOW!" Undyne roared as she launched herself with her spear, another in her hand as she goes for impaling him though his soul. For the most part, Ratoveros was mostly unresponsive towards this. Though for the briefest of moments, she could see him move his muzzle a bit but didn't hear what he was saying. Then the following happened in rapid succession: One feline shielded Ratoveros from the spear, another sliced him her side and left a deep gash, and the third blasted her away with lightning. She crashed once again along the ground, a pained groan escaping her as she tried to get back up again and confused on what happened.
The answer was right in front of her.
"Very good. Lesser Cat, Greater Cat...and Shamir." Ratoveros said slowly. Undyne pushed herself up as she tiredly tried to stand on her own two feet. Indeed, Lesser Cat and Greater Cat looked much like their canine counterparts, only feline. And Shamir was right in front of them with his lightning charged paws. And right by his sides, were Ribras and Rasha, with their halberds generating lava magic. "This is how authority works, young one. It doesn't matter how far away they stray...they will always come back to their master. They may have bitten my paw several times, but I'm a forgiving feline. Which is why I shall welcome them back in my ranks...and have them destroy their corrupter...you."
Undyne grunted painfully as she stood up with great difficulty. As she does, the Pack gathered all around her, their weapons brandished. They were greatly injured, while the felines seemed relatively unharmed. Undyne feels great frustration at this, along with what Geno Alphys was planning to do, as she summons another spear in her hand and points it towards Ratoveros. "There's only one corrupter here..and it ain't me!"
Farther away, Asriel jumped as he throws multiple fireballs towards Photoshop Flowey's face, who easily defended with his large, hardened vines. In retaliation, the abomination raised arm shot multiple thorns that would explode upon impact. He managed to avoid a few of them, to dodge a few of them with brief ease, though two of them managed to explode right in front of him while he was jumping, and it sent him crashing against the ground, until he rolled and recovered on his feet, paws blazing with intense flames.
Chara and Frisk were working in unison. Frisk placed his hand on Chara's back and increased his defense and strength twofold via support magic. Chara nods at this as he gathers black flames in his hand and throws it towards Photoshop Flowey once again. A bomb was immediately dropped in front of it for a counter. Then afterwards, the second head opens its jaws and fired a blue beam towards the duo. Frisk once again doubles Chara's defense and strength, noticably looking a bit tired while doing so. Though Chara used this chance to enlarged his black arm and block the beam as best as he could. Though even with frisk's enhancement, Chara found himself struggling to hold himself in place. Though eventually the onslaught ended, and he could rest if only for a moment.
"He wasn't joking about being significantly stronger than ever..." Frisk said tiredly , though also still standing strong. It could have been a lot worse, and it can still get a lot worse. But for the time being, they were doing relatively well.
"Stupid Flowey. Who do you think you are, attacking us like this...?" Chara muttered in annoyance as his arm vanished again.
"You're being awfully cheeky, for someone with pink cheeks!" Photoshop Flowey huffed while lifting his arms slightly, his face scrunched in aggravation. "You three just believe that you're SO cute and powerful, but you're NOT! One of you used to be me, the other is too gentle to bring out his inner power even if his friends lives depended on it, and the last was too spiteful to enjoy what he had going for him the first time and had it control him relentlessly.! All of you are pretty idiotic in your own lame ways!"
"Flowey, stop saying things you don't mean!" Frisk said while shaking his head. "You know that we're all still friends! This isn't enough to destroy all of that, and you know it!"
"What right do you have to tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about? You have none, Frisk! Absolutely none! You think this entire thing is in you three's favor, but it's not! You have no advantage here except numbers, and even that is inferior to someone powerful enough to crush those very numbers! You three are outta your depth, and outta your league!"
"Flowey..." Asriel lowered his eyes slightly in slight sadness. It was unfortunate. He could sense it in Flowey's booming voice; no amount of talking was going to snap him out of this as he was now. Insanity was leaking off him in droves. Whoever or whatever caused this, it was unbelievably difficult to reverse without force. It's almost as if this was an expected outcome.
"Hmph! Whatever! Your end is sure to come. But for now, let's play another game. Stop me if you've heard this one before.~" Upon his wording, three glitches manifested right in front of the three. A few moments later, three figures stood in front of each of them. After a few moments, the Dreemurr Trio looked on cautiously as they were standing in front of copies of themselves that completely lacked color that wasn't black, white, or gray.
"They're made of Void..." Asriel said cautiously as he stared down his own copy. He remembered the last time this happened via Chara. But they were of their friends only...this time it was the Dreemurr Trio themselves.
"...And they're likely just as strong as we are..." Frisk mumbled softly, stepping back a bit from his own copy. Even his copy has his eyes perpetually closed.
"...Yeah, they might very well be." Chara said in a tone that said it didn't matter, while his shadow arm extended in front of him.
At least like this, with him focused on us, we're buying Geno Alphys time to do what she needs to. Hopefully it works out...after all, this is our only chance...it has to work. Even though she'll...
Chara didn't dare finish the thought...he simply focused on the incoming battle.
Gonna stop here, the word count is already a pretty big jump from last chapter. Don't wanna go overboard so soon. Then again, I've gone overboard before...meh. Bleh. Keh. Other struggling sounds and the like. Things like that.
Hopefully you enjoyed, because the battles are far from over, and more things are soon to be revealed the more our heroes are struggling to get through this. Through enemy mages, through enemy monsters, through Photoshop Flowey. Then again...
Actually, I'll save that for next time. And it's very obvious know who's gonna say it, rather resolutely.
Laters!~