Apologies for the long wait, readers. Real Life has dealt me several bad hands at once, and it's gonna take me some time to get things back on track.
At the very least, I can get this chapter out. Longer than expected, so the next one wiol definitely be a bit shorter.
It means a lot to two of our fluffy male Dreemurrs, who are being challenged by their enemies.
Chapter Start!
Asgore currently faces down a water golem set in his path, as he was quickly thinking through the current predicament he found himself in.
From what he could tell, Meadow Magic was not just one specific elemental magic, it was one environmental magic. And when it came to the environment of meadows, the most prominent elements were wind, plants, earth, and water. That was definitely no easy feat, and most likely the result of a Magic Awakening. It was a very versatile arsenal Zola had, and she has the ideal environment to use those elements to their fullest extent. She had plenty of magic stamina to manifest multiple golems; the wind golem was greatly unexpected.
The only weakness he could see in her from simple observation is how distant she was. She was possibly a long-distance fighter, sending the elements to fight for her while she sits back and keeps physically safe. If they could close the distance...it was a guess of course, but one worth investing in.
First things first, he needed much hotter fire. It was obvious that from the first clash that her water was much stronger and heavier than it looks. He twirled his trident as the orange flames around him slowly turned dark blue, as the heat around him slowly intensified. He slashes diagonally towards the water golem, briefly slashing it's form and causing steam to emit from it for several seconds, before slowly regenerating.
Progress. But still, I didn't expect it to be quite so easy...
"Aha. So that's the so-called ability of your Rainbow Flames. Any kind of flame at your disposal, any at all." Zola snickered. "Impressive to see up-close.~"
"Thank you." Asgore said politely.
"Dagnabbit Fluffubuns, don't accept compliments from an enemy so easily!" Gerson shouted over to him as he jumped away from a wind blast at his feet, almost blowing him away completely. The wind golem's intensity flared and nearly sent him flying again. What a gosh darn mess! I can't hit it due to intangibility, and shockwaves/vibrations won't do much either... He narrowed his eye and briefly turned to Tamotsu, then Asgore. These two have a better chance at fighting it than I do due to their fire and the former's lightning...but she must know that, hence why she's keeping us apart. Gerson smirked while shaking his head; he definitely ended up with the shortest straw.
Tamotsu snarled viciously as the rock golem shifted around him and smashed into his face. The fox monster eventually opened an eye as he stopped another punch from connecting. Like I'll let a mere earth golem humiliate me like this. Tamotsu thought as his jaws parted for a powerful blast of purple lighting to shoot right through the golem, knocking it back and very nearly shattering it. He pushed forward and grabbed it by the head, before smashing it into the ground, reducing it to rubble. He 'tsked' as the earth golem slowly began putting itself back together. He glared towards Zola, who simply looked amused. There's no way these golems will stay down so long as she's focusing magic to them. Troublesome.
His eyes focused as the earth golem fully regenerated, it's arm forming a large blade as it attempted to slash at his shoulder. Three of his tails grabbed onto it and stopped it in it's tracks, though not without slight shaking. The rest of his tails eventually restrained the rest of it's limbs, keeping it mostly immobile. He took the short reprieve to think through how they were going to do this. Asgore was having a tough time, with fire evened out with water golem. Tamotsu was having issues himself with the sturdiness and toughness of the rock golem. The wind golem is outright outmatching Gerson, with it being mostly intangible and constantly blasting him with bullets of wind he could only deflect and/or dodge. And for as long as Zola was watching them, it would stay that way. He narrowed his eyes towards her. They needed to break her focus so they could take the golems down. And there was still the grass golem that was protecting her.
He began planning out their advance...
In the meantime, Parvos and Shamir were sticking close to Eloise, cautiously looking around to try and gain sight of their hidden enemy. "Three different variations of magic involving earth, and there's possibly a dozen human mages at the very least." Shamir said sternly.
"Well ain't that good to know." Parvos rolled his eyes. "How do we get em' out of hiding...?"
"As I said, they're essentially using the element of earth in three different variations. And last time I checked, aside from possibly sand, earth isn't very stealthy." Shamir narrowed his eyes. "They'll attack again. Just wait for that opportunity...then counter."
"...Eh, why not?" Parvos shrugged as his senses sharpened and he clutched his daggers.
"Be careful, you two..." Eloise said quietly.
"Relax, Auntie. We've got this." Parvos smirked as one dagger was ignited with black flames, and the other with black lightning. He was going to remark that his aunt's incredibly high luck due to her magic would help them immensely, but he wisely held off. She might not have taken it very well.
As Shamir predicted, the shift in the ground managed to give away the direction of the attack. A sudden plethora of sand spikes rose from the ground; Shamir swiftly slashes them all apart with his lightning-infused sabers, the particles falling to the ground. He eyed them carefully, which he would see returning in a certain direction, the west. Shamir immediately went after the trail, tenacity making sure he'd not lose sight of it.
Meanwhile, Parvos nodded, seeing what Shamir was playing at, even if it was a bit reckless. Shamir was actively going to engage the enemies in that direction. Which would make yet another third of the group pretty confident in their chances to attack him in the back...too bad Parvos was much better at it. He vanished in a flash of black lightning, then reappeared in front of the understandably surprised mages of sand. They instinctively tried to strike down upon him with several blocks of rock. His lightning-infused daggers were sharp enough to slice through all of them before they even reached the ground. He reached one of them, leaning up to their face with a tilted head and twisted smile.
"Hey.~"
A short slash across their chest took them down. He grinned as there was an attempt to slash at them with a rock axe, which he easily avoided by jumping upwards, then swiftly avoided multiple rock shards that shot towards him. Black flames gathered in his paw, and he punched forward. Despite the tough rock shield they summoned in front of then seven seconds before, the flames were still destructive enough to blast it to pieces and send them flying back, each being badly burned.
One of them recovered fast enough to stand and glare at the black leopard monster. "Parvos...you were Ratoveros son, one of his most integral weapons and a very vital subordinate. And now you're actively going against what he would have wanted, what he would have done! Why would you, his son, go against that?! Why side with the ones responsible for his death?!"
"Well for one, Pops was a terrible Papa with even worse people skills and didn't bat an eye in raising me to be a child soldier, so I'm not exactly gonna miss him. I'm glad that the Warden offed him." The mages were briefly confused by Parvos 'affectionate' nickname for Undyne, not that he cared. "And two...well, it's much more simple." He continued with a nonchalant shrug. "I changed career paths.~"
"Unbelievable...you're a traitor!"
"Ah ah ah, that logic doesn't fly. To truly betray someone, you actually have to have been genuinely loyal to them in the first place. He didn't have mine, much less my love via father and son, so turning my back on him ain't exactly treachery, is it?" He grinned. "And besides...how can I betray someone who's already dead?~"
He didn't let them answer. A black bolt of lightning struck each of their chests, each resukting in an explosion that sent them flying back with badly scorched chests.
Eloise was watching the two felines fight against the mages with and understandably worried expression. The two of them were dealing with multiple mages. While they weren't particularly powerful, they were still a threat, especially with superior numbers like theirs. Parvos dealt with the rock, Shamir clashed with the sand. That means...
A golden dome of magic surrounded her, and protected her from a heavy amount of mud suddenly crashing against her from the. She wasn't moved at all by it. The shield humorously took the shape of a ball of yarn, with the image of a giant shining golden cat holding it in it's paws. She slowly turned towards the source of the attack, her eyes narrowed.
"I took what my dear nephew said to heart about me being an easy target because he was concerned for me...but this is a tad embarrassing, isn't it...?" Eloise shook her head. "I'm perfectly aware that my beloved sister Elvira is moderately more powerful than me, and more skilled in a combative sense. However...her being stronger doesn't make me any weaker." The light pulse expanded, pushing them away for a bit, before the golden cat swung her paw, her feline avatar copying her motions and slapping the mages away with much more brutal force.
She did give them credit for tenacity, as they, while definitely injured, stood back up to attack her some more. How each used a variation of earth was somewhat interesting, it would be more so if the attacks weren't towards her. But even so, her Luck Magic kicked in, and each of their swift attacks missed her, even though she hardly moved much. And even if they would have hit her straight on, her light would shield her from any actual damage. Spikes of mud, and hardened balls of mud, would continually try to impale her; her good fortune prevented that and allowed her to defend via shield as well as making them miss if they somehow got past that defense.
At one given point, they pooled their magic together and sent it towards the ground, making for a wide shockwave of mud to loom threateningly towards her. She was undeterred, her feline avatar pulling it's arm back, before punching forward. The mud shockwave dispersed, and the golden shockwave it fell to pushed them back and onto the ground. That seemed to have done it, for while they were alive, they didn't rise again. Eloise sighed as her luck avatar dispersed, placing a paw on her chest.
Used to battle? Not really. Can I manage it? Well enough...
Parvos, content knowing his aunt was alright, turned to Shamir, who was occupied with the sand mages...and how thoroughly they were losing. He definitely would give them points for effort, but not much else. Multiple blades of sand would attempt to slash at Shamir, though he would resist with his sabers parrying them as they were coated with lightning. Parvos noticed he wasn't using his wind...that was probably for the best. Against sand, that would be slightly more trouble than it's worth.
Shamir's blades clashed against the hardened sand, in which they were beginning to push against them. He gritted his teeth, refusing to give in. The trouble began when the others began acting separately. Shamir noticed sand to his side, already beginning to form spikes. He was already prepared to counter them, but was struck by something piercing his ankle and his side, causing him to wince and nearly collapse on the side. The sand spikes sped up after that, intending to impale him.
Black flames cut off the sand in an instant, intense enough to melt them away, leaving only shining glass.
"Hey, hey...you guys are seriously contrasting the theme of this environment." Parvos chuckled as dark purple flames licked off his arms. "This place is beautiful, green, vibrant, and just really nice to look at...you're mucking it up with all of your stupid sand magic. You tryin' to suck the life outta the meadows or somethin'? Low blow."
"Says the leopard monster wielding flames...and you're not exactly the most fancy when using them." Shamir deadpanned.
"That's slightly irrelevant right now, so I'm gonna ignore it entirely.'
"Wow...you didn't even bother being subtle..."
"I know, I'm kinda off my game...I need a catnap...or some catnip."
"Definitely not the latter."
More sand waves pushed towards them from combined efforts, prompting them to jump upwards and avoiding them. "Geez, these guys are really pushing it, aren't they? You'd think that they would be glad that we've moved on to bigger and better careers.~"
Shamir didn't say more, simply raising his paw in the air and gathering lightning within his paw, with Parvos doing the same thing. Their lightning magic merged together, and in several moments, several powerful lightning bolts shot out and striking down the remaining mages that stood. The blasts were strong enough to create craters. They were each collapsed in said craters, covered in smoke, dirt, and heavy burns. Shamir sighs while lowering his paw.
"To them, we are the traitors, while they're still highly loyal towards a leader who's long gone. Of course happiness for us is the last thing they'll feel..."
In the meantime, Tamotsu has already thought of a plan to overwhelm Zola, though she would have to be distracted first. Luckily for them, she seemed to do that herself, with her attention being on Asgore. That suited Tamotsu fine, he could use preparation time.
"Asgore Dreemurr, King of Monsters." Zola says in a curious tone while sitting upon her makeshift grass tower. "It's so strange to see a King like you just waltzing around locations like this. Usually King types are not active enough to actually be going out and doing what you're currently trying to do."
"I'm not sure what you mean by that." Asgore said honestly, his trident slashing diagonally upwards through the water golem when it neared for an attack. It disoriented the golem for several moments, before it slowly but surely reformed, and attempted to attack again with a blast of water. Asgore twirled his trident, which was currently coated in intense blue flames, sending a blue fiery spiral towards the blast to counter it. A very brief collision of elements later, followed by an explosion of steam, which was quickly blown away by a gust of wind, and Asgore was still standing, albeit his fur was slightly ruffled.
"It's just thought-inducing. Most Kings wouldn't even bother to reach out and willingly help other Kingdoms. It's a very high risk with a high chance of terrible backfire." A gust of wind with a harsh wave of her hand; he counters with a strong swing of his trident, sending yet another torrent of flames that exploded against the wind current. "It's especially surprising, considering you're in of a world in which the name 'Dreemurr' has been forsaken to hell and back, not just around Scelus. It struck me as a surprise that you actually wanted to come out of hiding despite that."
"...Golly. It's really true, isn't it?" Asgore sighed with a sad smile.
"Asgore!" Gerson shouted at him, only to be cut off when he planted his feet from yet anther forceful gale from the wind golem. "Confound this blasted wind golem...!"
"Leaving the Underground was a risk, but a worthy one. Coming out to see the world beyond our home...? Now I'm certain we made the right decision. We may not have the full situation, but consequences will worsen if we stand by." Asgore narrowed his eyes.
Zola swung her arm again, which was followed by a powerful blast of wind. "So that's seriously what you're going for? As honorable as that sounds, it still seems pretty high-risk to have the King and Queen participate in things such as this."
Asgore twirled his trident upwards and the wind was vertically slashed in half, two separate gales flowing by him, ruffling his mane slightly for several moments until it eventually died down. He stood up and planted the butt of his trident in the ground. "If we do not take risks such as this, if we simply stand by and remain complacent, then nothing will ever change...!"
Tamotsu was gathering his magic, though he was catching bits of Asgore's words in the meantime. He was doing well in keeping Zola's attention on him, it would do their next actions fairly well, s long as it goes off without a hitch.
"Seriously...?" Zola wondered aloud as more wind blasts came Asgore's way, and the water golem swept it's arm towards him while not being close. It did however result in a water typhoon heading his way, rending through the fields and tearing the ground asunder with the amount of force behind it.
Asgore took a deep breath, with his paw coated in hot blue flames once again. His eyes sharply opened as he swung his paw. A swift vortex of blue fire eventually grew and collided against the water vortex, with neither of then giving an inch and violently grinding against one another. The result was an enormous burst of steam once their momentum ran out, which was again swiftly blown away by a gust of wind from Zola. She could see Asgore amidst the remaining steam, staring up at her while she stood on her grass tower.
"What kind of King expects his people to follow, when he does not lead? Why should they risk their own lives for him if he can't do the same for them?" Asgore said solemnly. "What about you? How many times was Ratoveros willing to risk the lives of you and your comrades...but never his own? How little did he truly cherish you?"
Zola's arm twitched after trying another spell, her eyes looked slightly shaken, and very unsure...there's the opening.
The tips of Tamotsu's tails ignited with purple flames, and a swift swing of all of them formed several waves towards Zola, who-currently out of focus-hurriedly attempted to push them back with gusts of wind once again. The trio immediately took advantage of the diversion.
Gerson clutched his hammer tightly as he moved towards the rock golem. He jumped up, twirling it above his head for momentum, and smashed it against it's center; the shattered pieces scattered across the landscape from the resulting shockwave of the blow. Gerson landed firmly on his feet, and looked confident in his accomplishment.
Tamotsu took his opportunity as well, towards the wind and grass golems. With their master currently distracted, they charged towards Tamotsu while sending waves of wind and grass towards him. His response was to jump upwards, flip once, and slam his paw onto the grass golem, firmly planting it's head in the dirt. The wind golem attempted to engulf him in it's own typhoon for a chance at quickly suffocating him. He didn't let it overwhelm though, with his purple flames beginning to intensify within the swirling gale; the strength was eventually sapped away due to empowering the flames instead of blowing them away. It soon completely faded, with Tamotsu only slightly ruffled.
Zola seemed to realize what happened the moment Asgore leapt towards her. The large caprine monster was much faster than he looked, already closing the distance between them in a matter of moments. Surprise briefly overtaking her, she attempted to defend with a wall of water with a storm of magically sharp grass blades shooting at him. Those were easily burned away by the intensity of his blue flames. Quickly running low on defenses, another, stronger whirlpool of water surrounded her form. Asgore clenched his fist, also coated in flames, then fiercely punches at the water whirlpool. More steam resulted from the clash, with Zola doing whatever she could to hold her ground. It eventually proved fruitless; Asgore's punch pierced the whirlpool and soared towards her again. Split-second reaction had her raise a rock shield. It shattered upon impact, knocking her from her footing and causing her to crash into the ground, picking up dirt and grass. Her remaining control over her elements vanished, and she groaned while sitting up.
She was met with Asgore's trident right beside her head. He gazed right into her eyes, as her breath was caught in her throat. For a brief moment, she wondered if he would go through with actually killing her. But all she saw was his features briefly relaxing, and pulling his trident back. Blinking, she closed her eyes and chuckled while fully standing up and brushing herself off.
"Figured I never stood a chance..."
"And yet, you needed to try." Asgore hummed. Gerson and Tamotsu eventually caught up, with Zola nodding in confirmation.
"Of course I didn't expect to win if Ratoveros couldn't. But...I had to try." Zola opened her eyes and looked towards the three monsters. "So...what happens to me now? You've made it clear in your eyes that you don't intend to kill me."
"Yeah, Fluffybuns tends to be soft like that. It helps that yer true loyalty to Ratoveros has long-since evaporated. I suppose this little battle had you burn the rest of it off?" Gerson hummed quietly while rubbing his chin. "It was all take and very minimal give. It's only natural that loyalty eventually fades away. Unless indoctrination was involved...that's a bit harder to crack."
"...We can discuss this in deeper deal later." Tamotsu pipes up with a sigh, his tails waving majestically. "At the very least, we should have her restrained. I'd rather not take any chances."
"I...suppose that's fair..." Zola sighed, Asgore muttering an apology as he moved behind her. A brief snap of his fingers resulted in fire binds around her wrists, holding them together. She blinked at the lack of burning. The flames almost seemed...gentle.
With this, they chose to regroup with the others so they could share their experiences and wait for the other group. As they did, Tamotsu recalls Asgore's words from earlier.
'What kind of King expects his people to follow, when he does not lead? Why should they risk their lives for him if he can't do the same for them?'
'If we do not take risks such as this, if we simply stand by and remain complacent, then nothing will ever change...!'
The latter seemed to really reach into his heart for some reason...
The two groups opposing one another were at a definite impasse. The enemy mages and monsters that Frisk, Faryn, and Nikon were currently standing across seemed highly intent on destroying the town they were currently protecting. Faryn has already made her mind on the matter, and didn't seem willing to change it. The elder mage known as Silas was the same, his eyes deadly focused on his goal. Frisk briefly wondered despite this, if there was some way of convincing them to completely stop...
Frisk froze up as the memories briefly flashed by, how badly he's been hurt when he hesitated, didn't act fast enough, when he wasn't strong or smart enough...he immediately shook his head.
No! I don't have the luxury to keep worrying about my enemies! They've made their choice very clear, there's no need to ponder what I need to do...I just have to do it. I'm strong enough to manage.
Frisk gradually opened his eyes, his shining gold and crystal blue eyes glowing.
I won't cause any more trouble for my friends and family.
"Ya know, you still have a chance to back off. Aside from razing an innocent village to the ground just to prove a pointless point, you don't really have a good reason for this. Especially since there's a pretty good chance you'll fail." Faryn said simply with a tilted head, her ears twitching. Frisk could tell from the tone of her voice that she clearly didn't expect Silas to take the offer, but she was at least willing to try.
"That's a rather cute proclamation, Princess. But it doesn't mean much in the long-term." Silas said decidedly. "You seem rather confident in yourselves, despite being quite outnumbered."
"I'm fairly certain that these young'ns and I are more than enough to take care of all of you...but why take the chance?" Nikon began calmly, which slowly took a turn for the sly as she raised her head with an almost melodic whistle that echoed throughout the forest. Soon afterwards, there was surprise amongst most of the enemy's expressions as numerous monsters and humans cloaked in scarves and/or hoods suddenly crawled out of the woodwork, either prowling from the ground or hiding within the trees.
"Wow..." Frisk blinked in awe at the sudden reinforcement, since he couldn't sense a single one of them the entire time.
"Well, apparently your dear friend Nikon was prepared. She brought quite a bit of reinforcements with her." Faryn said while looking around slightly. She then turned back towards Frisk. "...Your eyes are shiny. And pretty."
"Thank you.~"
"My tribe was nearly annihilated, and our home has been obliterated. Of course we would want to grow stronger after such events." Nikon said cryptically while something appeared in her paws with a poof of smoke. What appeared was a slightly different cane, a crescent-hooked cane with the hook itself being golden. "We'll never allow something like that to happen again. Not to ourselves, or anyone else. Besides...a chance to repay the Dreemurr Faction for their compassion has fallen into our laps...of course we're going to take it."
"And on that note...!~" Faryn smiled, before her soul briefly flashed green; multiple vines and streaks of wood rose from the ground and broke up the opposite forces, scattering them in different directions. Following this, Nikon and her tribe scattered in a more balanced manner and took to combat. One group led by a crow monster, another lead by a rabbit monster, with Nikon, Will, and Faryn leading groups of their own.
Given the Kingdom's main combat gimmick is trickery, it seems a fitting yet amusing combination.
Silas grunted as he landed on his feet, looking around at the now expanded forest, one that served to split up his forces so they could be taken down in smaller groups. Not a bad method, but he was fairly sure he would-
He was interrupted from his thoughts as Frisk landed several feet in front of him. He was tucking his Golden Heart Locket behind his jacket, zipping it up before fixing Silas with a stern glare.
"...You're facing me alone, boy? That doesn't seem to be one of your wiser decisions." Silas said. "Don't think I don't know who you are, and what has happened to you. It's quite clear that among all the Dreemurrs...you are the weakest, both in power and will. What hopes could you possibly have against me?"
Frisk was silent at first. Then he closed his eyes while shaking his head. "Throughout the past year, through all the pain I endured, seeing the pain of my friends and family, you've all made yourselves perfectly clear...no matter what we do, try, say, or change, people like you will NEVER leave me or my friends alone. You'll hurt us just to see us hurt, just because we're standing up to you...just because we're in your way. For some bizarre reason, our very existence offends you, so you try to stamp us out..."
Frisk raised his hand, and his soul changed to light blue-Patience-with a 'ping'. His glare became much more potent afterwards, and his statement afterwards makes the Soul Mode switch rather ironic:
"To be perfectly honest...I'm getting sick of it."
Multiple cyan knives shot towards Silas, who swiped his hand upwards as an earth wall effortlessly defended against the barrage. Frisk's soul then switched to Integrity, pushing against the wall with a brief burst of gravity that collapsed the earth wall, crumbling it to the ground. Silas stayed on his feet through the attacks, while Frisk readjusted to the situation and switched to Perseverance, and analyzed the simple details.
Silas.
User of Forest Magic, consisting of elements earth, water, and wood.
Loyal to Ratoveros even beyond his death. Seeks to destroy Mire Town to fulfill his master's petty ambition. Refuses to back down.
Neither will you.
Frisk's soul flashes to green for Kindness as a green shield formed around him, the mounds of earth crashing against his green shield. It cracked and splintered several times, but it didn't give in. It lasted long enough for him to catch up to Silas, reaching equal height with him; he proceeded to gather flames in his hands and throws a fireball towards Silas. The elder mage defends easily as he surrounded himself in a dome of water to dispel it. Frisk switched back to Integrity to use gravity to shoot towards him, then back to Patience to manifest a blade in his hand, then slash downwards at Silas. Another wall of earth separated them, though it did crack slightly from the impact.
Frisk's soul switched to Bravery; he pulled his fist back as it ignites with white fire. Silas' eyes widened as he jumped back when Frisk punched through the earth shield; it shattered upon impact, smaller rocks scattering about and falling to the forest floor. Silas was slightly unbalanced, but he managed to summon a wooden platform to regain said balance on.
Silas looked right into Frisk's gold and blue heterochromatic eyes. They were sparkling, they were intense, and completely directed towards him in anger, as well as most that worked with him. He also sensed how immense Frisk's magic was. He wouldn't run out of magic anytime soon, and he's determined.
Meanwhile on the forest floor, Faryn, Will, and Nikon were a bit surrounded. The ones that surrounded them were three monsters and two human mages. Most of the others involved were being driven off by Nikon's tribe. Rabbit monsters snuck around in the dirt, then actually kicked some dirt into their enemies eyes, before leaping forward and kicking them hard in the chest. Crows stuck to the shadows, taking several seconds to swoop in and nearly claw someone's eyes out, before disappearing into the shadows again. They had their way of fighting.
And they're not fighting fair.
"You guys are wasting your time, you know that." Faryn stated bluntly with a tilted head as she and the others were slightly surrounded.
"You're a cocky one aren't you...don't think that we haven't seen and heard of your kind before. Monster-Human hybrids aren't that rare anymore, nuisance!" One of the mages scowled.
"Though one being of royalty is definitely something much more rare..." The other contemplated.
"It's not because of me being capable of beating you. It's because what you're trying to accomplish is petty and empty. Ever thought of what you might do afterwards, even if you succeed?" Faryn said curiously. "Are you truly willing to spiral further into darkness for your deceased leader, who couldn't care less about you when he as alive? Seems pretty pointless."
"True loyalty means not qu-"
SMACK!
A kick straight to a mage's chin silenced his upcoming rant as Faryn sent him flying backwards, her head tilted curiously. "Oh, sorry about that. You were wide open, so I took advantage."
"As did I!" Nikon shouted as she came down with her cane, smashing it into the mages torso, causing him to crash straight into the ground. Her ear twitched as she heard one of the other mages preparing a spell, she quickly scooped up the fallen mage with the hook and after spinning twice, tossed him towards he offending mage, crashing him against his comrade. Not missing a beat, she closed the distance between them within moments and smashed her cane into them both, sending them crashing through several trees behind them.
Don't give them a chance to regroup. Don't give them time to recover. Strike fast, strike hard, strike mercilessly...!
Faryn hummed as she swiftly jumped up to avoid a large splash of water from one of the monsters that tried to corner her. She jumped from multiple wooden platforms that she would manifest to better dodge several bullets of water, rushing boulders of earth, and wooden spikes that barely nicked her legs. She would occasionally strike back with both fire magic and lighting magic. The flames would occasionally cancel out the water attacks and burn away the wooden spikes, and the lighting would jump from the pointed wooden spikes upward that would bounce from several wooden 'rods' and strike at standing by monsters and mages that thought about interfering.
"Oh?" Faryn blinked as she tripped over a spare wooden branch and fell forward, skipping several times before regaining her balance. She noticed three other monsters attempting to strike her with the respective elements simultaneously. "Huh. That doesn't look too good for me." Her soul flashed green as multiple thick wooden trunks surrounded her and shielded her from any serious damage. "Then again, I can just do that..."
"Dammit, stop it with that cocky a-" One of the monsters attempted to say, before she flashed towards them in a flash of purple lightning and stomped them into the ground, causing purple lightning to shoot outwards through the cracks.
"Oh, I took advantage again. Sorry." Faryn blinked as her fox-ears twitched and she dodged out of the way of a flurry of water bullets destroying a wooden stump behind her. She landed on her feet as several wooden blocks would shoot out and smash into some of their faces, knocking them unconscious.
"I'm getting the feeling you're not sorry at all..." Will muttered. He grunted while deflecting several wooden shards with his swords, and using illusion magic to misdirect them into non-lethally hitting their own teammates, and again misdirecting them into sending heavy rocks and high pressured water into each other, very much putting them out of the fight.
They would have pressed on, but they were stumped slightly as more wood vines rose from the ground and from already existing trees, reaching out and holding several of them in place. Faryn had them restrained, while Nikon would rush forward and heavily smack several of the upside the head, and hooked one of them, swung them upwards, and smashed them into the ground, indenting it slightly.
Faryn clapped her hands twice as the now unconscious monsters and mages were restrained with more wooded restraints, and purple lightning for good measure. "There we go. Can't take too many chances."
"That'll show those hooligans. Hmph!" Nikon huffed, her nose up in the air. Though on the inside, she was very proud of herself.
Back with Frisk and Silas, he switched to the yellow ping of Justice as he shot multiple magic bullets towards Silas, all non-lethal but still rather heavy-hitting. Silas rose another rock wall that effectively defended against them. He pushed it towards Frisk, forcing him to jump over it, though he was caught off-guard when a heavy wooden truck slammed downwards from above, with him barely able to catch himself on another wooden platform after quickly switching to Integrity and pushing himself from falling completely to the forest floor.
"I'm not sensing any killing intent behind any of your attacks thus far, Frisk." Silas noted. "You won't succeed like that. Don't you want to wi-"
He was cut off. His eyes widened, once he was looking into Frisk's. They were staring light into his, despite the blood running down from his head from the last blow. They were even more intense than before. Flames of white, blue, and gold coated his fist, before he struck Silas' torso, punching him through the platform he was currently on, and needing an earth platform to catch himself. Frisk refused to give him time to recover; he throws another ball of fire towards Silas, with the elder mages manifesting another water dome around himself to once again defend against it. He breathed hoarsely while falling to his knees.
Frisk was already jumping towards him, another cyan blade in his hands via Patience Soul Mode as he slashed vertically downwards, creating a brief opening; he took advantage and leaped once again, his fist again coated in flames. Silas acted quickly as multiple wood spikes arose from the platform and towards Frisk. He jumped back at the same time as Frisk, who had eventually stopped bleeding after a slight green glow surrounded him after his soul briefly flashed to Kindness, healing his head wound.
"...Please surrender." Frisk said two simple words, his eyes softening slightly. And by the tone of his voice, Silas could tell he was being genuine. It was gentle, it was caring...
He dropped his guard.
Spears of wood, water, and earth shot towards Frisk all at once. Silas had thrusted his hand forward quickly, in hopes to kill the boy before he could recover. He was...
...Gone?
"Remember...I gave you a chance." Frisk reappeared at his side. Silas tried to attack jim in a panic, but Frisk swiftly kicked him in the side, downwards into the forest floor. A hard crash was heard afterwards. Frisk briefly sensed for him. He was hurt, but alive...and unconsciousness.
He sigh with brief relief. It was true, he couldn't really gather killing intent...but that didn't mean he couldn't be forceful.
"Oh! It looks like you won." Faryn hopped beside Frisk while looking towards where he sent Silas flying, her tail waving a bit from the sight. "Was he strong?"
"A little bit...but I was able to handle it on my own." Frisk sighed. "How about you?"
"We managed to beat them all and restrain them. Nikon's tribe is actually pretty strong too." Faryn paused. "...Wonder if they were really into what they were doing, and not just doing so because they no longer have any true direction?"
"...That is a pretty fair question...and a bit of a sad one..." Though an even better question popped up in Frisk's mind: How are Asriel and Chara? Were they okay?
Their fight was, during the entirety of Frisk and his group's, happening simultaneously. Asriel and Chara were currently staring down Elbio's portion of his force, as well as the large mammoth monster himself, who seemed to tower above him with his waving trunk and menacingly sharp tusks. Asriel couldn't really get a proper reading on his current mindset or emotions, only that he seemed set on killing Asriel and Chara, then destroying Mire Town. That seems to be his goal, at least his men shared it.
...So...why did something feel off about him? Not the 'disturbing' kind of off, but the kind where nothing was as it seems. There was something deeper.
"That hide of his looks really tough...half-assed attacks aren't going to cut it, Asriel." Chara informed.
"I realize that..." Asriel said quietly. "Though of course we have to worry about his subordinates as well...they're going to seriously interfere if left alone...not to mention we can't afford to let them get past us."
"That's why we're working as a team. We cover those bases together." Chara narrowed his eyes as his black flames licked at his arms. "Can't talk anymore, here they come."
Elbio could be seen stomping the ground with jagged ice suddenly rising up from the ground and shooting towards the duo. Asriel and Chara jumped away from the ice, it was only a moment after that they noticed the purpose of this; he was separating them. Chara ended up jumping on the side of the mages and monsters, while Asriel ended up on Elbio's side.
Chara landed roughly as he sees the ice wall rise and thicken. He was about to try and immediately melt it down, though he was stopped by multiple shards of ice, raising a wall of black flames to defend against it. He looked towards the wall while narrowing his crimson eyes.
I can't help Asriel like this. These guys don't seem like pushovers, and Asriel ended up with the big scary mammoth...damn it!
Asriel was on the other side of the ice wall, trapped with Elbio. He looked up towards said wall, his eyes narrowed. A quick observation with his senses pointed out that a little fire wouldn't be enough to melt this wall quickly enough. And besides...it's unlikely that Elbio would give him that kind of time, and the same went for Chara's enemies on the other side.
Okay...from what it seems, he can use ice magic on a truly impressive scale...I almost can't see the top of this wall. Asriel thought while not taking his eyes off Elbio. It was strange though, he hasn't attacked yet...was he sizing him up as well? That'd be ridiculous, the monster was massive compared to Asriel. And yet-
"Apologies. I couldn't exactly have my subordinates interfere." Elbio finally spoke with a gruff, booming voice, snapping Asriel from his thoughts. "With this thick ice wall in-between us and them, things should be a bit more private. First thing's first." He hummed. "You're a lot smaller than I thought you'd be."
"...I'm the tallest of my brothers." Asriel defended weakly, then shook his head. "W-Wait a minute! Why are you talking to me so casually? Don't you hate me for being a Dreemurr?"
"Pah. I never bought into that propaganda. Unfortunately for you, most others don't share the open mind like I do. People expect the big strong guy to be slow-witted, to be the dumb muscle. That doesn't apply to me." Elbio shook his head. "You were probably thinking that I'm here to avenge my fallen comrade, Ratoveros...you would only be half-right about that, Prince."
"Huh...?"
"I couldn't have cared less about Ratoveros or his petty ambitions, nor did I care about his death. I never liked him nearly enough to be emotionally invested in him."
"So, wait...if you couldn't care less about Ratoveros in any way...then why are you doing this? Why do you intend to fight despite your indifference?"
"My compatriots, Zola and Silas, have different motivations. Zola because she does not have any initiative to forge her own path, lacking a leader she depended on. Silas is still blindly devoted to Ratoveros despite his death, the old fool. But as for me...?" Elbio held his hand out, and summoned what appeared to be his personal weapon, a guan dao. He gripped it tightly as the blade was slowly empowered by ice. "Damned principles."
Asriel understood instantly, even as the large mammoth monster rushed towards him and slashed down with his guan dao. Asriel caught the blade with both of his heated paws, his heels digging into the ground as waves of icy mist passed by him. In response, the heat from his flames would pass by Elbio, giving him brief breaks of sweat before a bit more icy mist cooled him somewhat. The ground was slightly cracked, but Asriel held his ground, narrowing his eyes.
"I knew most of those rumors were exaggerated. The Prince of Monsters is not weak." Elbio hummed while pressing his ice guan dao heavily on Asriel's paws. The pressure gradually builds, but despite his gritting teeth, Asriel didn't buckle. "Surely a young Prince like yourself won't lose to a old lieutenant mammoth like myself."
"I'd rather we both win via not fighting at all." Asriel muttered.
"Alas, our positions prevent such an easy conclusion. It truly is troublesome...but it's the way it is." Elbio hummed. He pulled back while twirling his polearm, then attempting to swing at Asriel from the side. Asriel swiftly summoned a Chaos Saber coated with red fire and parried the ice coated blade, brief bits of ember and mist flowing from the clash, the opposite elements passing by their faces.
"It's because of responses like that to situations like this that leads me to believe that things need to change." Asriel said strongly.
Hmmm...? Elbio wondered curiously, not even upset that Asriel had summoned a second flaming Chaos Saber in his other paw and slashed diagonally upwards, leaving a burning mark on the mammoth monster's chest. It made him stumble backwards, while Asriel jumped in the opposite direction to gain distance.
As I thought, and Chara said, half-hearted attacks aren't going to work. Asriel thought as his blades vanished, but not the flames. Pulling my punches will get me nowhere, and he's not reluctant enough to share that slight hesitation.
Interesting response...alright. Elbio hummed as he stood up straight as the ice melted off his guan dao...while it was now becoming coated in rock, to Asriel's surprise. He swung the blade horizontally despite not being near Asriel...only to surprise him again as numerous rock spikes began emerging from the ground and attempting to impale him from below. Asriel instinctively coated himself in fire, enhancing his speed to quickly dodge most of the spikes heading his way. He jumped over one, only for another in front of him to briefly graze his side. He winced. If he had been a few seconds slower...
Surprise greeted him once more when the rock on Elbio's guan dao fell away, and turned into something more glittery and soft...snow. He swings it again and a large wave of snow pushes towards Asriel, attempting to bury him. Asriel felt more confident countering this, as a swing of his paw resulted in an opposing wave of flames that briefly clashed against the snow, before quickly melting away mentioned snow and continuing their path towards Elbio. He huffed softly and swung his guan dao vertically downwards, dissipating the wave in two halves.
Asriel sighed as he took several brief moments to collect himself. What kind of magic is he using? First ice, then earth, then snow. While ice and snow are highlt similar, earth isn't much like them at all. Which begs to question, what do the three of them have in common...or what environment do they most likely share!
"Your magic...you experienced a Magic Awakening, and it evolved to have something to do with an environment, an entire territory. Ice, snow, and rock...found mostly on mountains. Mountain Magic!" Asriel declared.
"...Very good." Was all Elbio said to him on the matter, along with a small smile. The mammoth monster stomped the ground heavily. Asriel bleated in surprise as the entire ground shook from the impact. It caused a distraction just brief enough to disrupt his focus, as a blunt pillar shot out and harshly struck Asriel in the abdomen, further stunning him and sending him flying upwards. The flight didn't last, as Elbio formed a large block of ice over Asriel while he flew, and swiftly brought it down.
SLAM!
The harsh impact again caused the ground to rumble, even more than before, as Asriel was currently pinned under a giant block of ice. Elbio hummed quietly as he waited for Asriel to recover, if he could in a certain amount of time. Surely the Prince of Monsters had more to him than that...
In the meantime, Chara narrowed his eyes as black emitted from his body, still glaring at the ice wall. He couldn't help Asriel with that stupid wall in the way, and his enemies would not give him the opportunity to try and blast it away. And even then, it most likely won't happen in one shot.
This is a bigger pain than I was expecting...these assholes need to get out of my way! Chara mentally hissed as they began to attack again, working together to push a large wave of ice and snow towards him.
A wall of magma rose several feet in front of him and effectively blocked the wave of cold, briefly surprising Chara. Ribras and Rasha eventually joined the fray, landing on their feet next to jim like the felines they were. Both lion and lioness monsters chose to support.
"Chara, are you alright?" Ribras asked worriedly.
"I'm fine. But what about the town...?"
"Not a single one made it past us, we wouldn't allow it." Rasha said strongly. The lioness' halberd was heating strongly with hardened magma coating it. "In other news, Frisk's group was successful in stopping the enemy on the other side."
"That's...that's good." That was more than good, it was great. It means Frisk is alright.
"Eyes forward, cats!" They were cut off as they were now the target of several ice lances heading their way. Ribras and Rasha both acted swiftly, with their heated halberds slashing apart the cold lances before they could reach Chara. The mist and steam emitting from those exchanges began to become more noticeable.
"I do believe we're being underestimated, my dear." Ribras noted.
"I agree, and it's rather insulting." Rasha growled as her halberd heated even more. "Let's correct that..."
They did indeed prove it, with both of them gathering magma magic in their paws, and pushing forward. Slowly, and somewhat scarily, a large pool of magma took the shape of two large felines-lion and lioness-with piercing yellow eyes. With a roar, both of them leaned down, them pounced towards their prey. Mages and Monsters alike panicked as their spell consisted of rasing a ice wall big and durable enough to endure two large blasts of lava the shape of lions/lioness pouncing at them. Together, a large ice pillar did indeed block the incoming blast to protect themselves, which resulted in a huge cloud of steam rising upwards and spreading in the process.
The steam took away their vision, their ability to accurately aim their attacks. Precision would be briefly interrupted.
Unfortunately for them, Chara didn't need too much precision for this.
They were unprepared as a sudden, swirling blast of dark fire suddenly clouded their vision, and the intense burning sensation was felt soon afterwards.
The steam cleared with time, the area spotted with dark flames and unconscious bodies of mages and monsters heavily burned, but alive. His hand outstretched, Chara sighed as he pulled it back while returning his attention to the much larger and tougher ice wall that separated him from his brother.
"Chara, would you like us to bring down this wall as well?" Rasha requested, her halberd heating up once again. She could see how tough it was as well, but never gave the impression that she and Ribras couldn't do it.
"As soon as you can, then sooner than that." Chara nodded strongly.
"Looks like this one will require much more power..." Rasha agreed.
Back with Elbio, he was still waiting for Asriel to recover. He turned towards his ice wall as he sensed most of his subordinates falling unconscious. He hummed again. It appears I'm the last one standing...I'm grateful that they didn't choose to kill them, at least.
He was pulled from his thoughts as the ice block that buried Asriel suddenly shattered, with an immense wave of heat shooting upwards and outwards, melting away the remaining pieces of ice. Ahh...there he is. Elbio thought. Asriel soon rose from the rubble with his heavy breathing, the blood running down his right eye, with his left one closed, holding his abdomen with his right arm. Despite this, he didn't look remotely close to done.
"...Okay. I think I've got it now." Asriel said slowly. Elbio raised an eyebrow at this, as Asriel coated himself in an aura of flames. He soon raised his fist and punched forward, a strong blast of flames surging towards the mammoth. He huffed slightly, before a large wall of ice rose up and blocked the flames with ease.
"I would have figured you'd at least try something a bit more crea-" Elbio's eyes widened as seconds after the flames dispersed, he was suddenly coated in a surges of powerful lightning that stilled him and paralyzed his movements. A lightning after-effect?! Electric Flames! I was focused on the flames themselves, not counting on the former!
"You're a mammoth with Mountain Magic. So you're large, you tank a lot of damage, and you hit really hard. However, I made a big connection...they both tend to be pretty slow." Asriel deduced. "And now that lightning is coursing through you...your reaction time is even slower...!" Asriel jumped towards him with a fist coated in fire. Elbio grunted as he managed to position his guan dao enough to block the punch, then roughly push him back. He flinched as another surge of electricity surged through him, nearly forcing him to his knees.
He's not wrong. This electric surges remain, and my reaction time is getting sluggish...what ingenuity. Elbio silently praised as he jammed the butt of his guan dao into the ground, a pillar of rock rising upwards. He then clenched his fist and punched the pillar multiple times, sending several blocks of rock towards Asriel. Chaos Sabers appeared in his paws, then coated with lightning to greatly enhance their sharpness, as he charges forward, slicing several blocks into halves already.
That's not gonna work anymore! Asriel mentally chanted as he diagonally slashed another block in half, then jumping up and kicking a block back at him with a fire-coated foot, also setting the block on fire. Elbio easily sliced it in half with his guan dao, but grunted as another surge of electricity caused him to flinch.
Even the fire on the block...?! Elbio wondered in surprise. When he saw Asriel having closed the distance between them, he tried raise a wall of snow to at least slow him down, but the wall was easily melted away from the immense heat that Asriel was emitting from his intensifying flames. Said flames were soon accompanied with lightning. That's how it is, huh? I can barely move reliably anymore, so I suppose this is it...! Elbio glared fiercely as rock soon coated his fist, then a layer of ice to accompany it.
Asriel struck forcefully, and Elbio returned the strike midway.
From afar, one could see a large burst of ice and rock from one side, clashing against fire and lightning on the other. Both rose up in the middle, nearly touching the sky. The ice mountain Elbio had formed has shattered from the amount of force behind the clash. The heat from Asriel's fire and lightning would melt a majority of it. The sparks from the lightning would also shoot up to the sky as well, lighting it up slightly.
The smoke clears slowly, icy mist and embers rise up slightly from bits of ice and fire spotting the area. Sparks of electricity also decorated the area, occasionally appearing for several moments before vanishing.
Asriel breathed heavily, in slightly worse shape than before. More blood covered his fur, he was holding his left arm, and there were small yet jagged pieces of sharp ice and rock sticking in his body, specifically his legs and arms, with one sharp piece of ice gone straight through his right side. The heat was slowly melting it, though his grimace was evidence enough of how much pain he was in. Regardless, he gritted his teeth and beared it.
Elbio was not much better. Numerous burns covered his fur, and lightning surges covered him even more than before. There were even small embers on his body that haven't completely gone out yet, though his ice cooling him down seemed to help a bit. The arm that he struck with was terribly burned more than any other part of his body, his cape had disappeared in embers, and his trunk appeared to be broken, appearing limp. If he was in any pain, it was impressive how well he hid it.
They didn't bother wondering who won. Both of them knew.
"...Asriel Dreemurr. Tell me something." Elbio quietly requested. "You are currently living within a twisted world that has greatly darkened, one that has forsaken your name for years. It puzzles me...why do you choose to fight for a world that has forsaken you?"
Asriel almost didn't know how to answer. But then he found something within his heart, and answered.
"My mother...my father...my elder brother...the three of us have forsaken ourselves for the longest time, in different, tragic ways. But eventually...my younger brother brought us out of the dark, and our recovery began there." Asriel said softly. "It's a bit annoying, sure. But the fact that a majority of the world forsaking our name hardly matters, for two reasons."
"Oh?"
"We have already spent a lot of time forsaking ourselves, having lost our way. Now that we found it again, the fact that most others are doing it only amounts to a slight annoyance that will eventually fade the more we take action." A brief image of Undyne appears in his head. "Lamenting our situation will change nothing...action will."
"Is that so...?"
"The other reason...a majority of the world chose to forsake our name? Fine. We'll remake it into something new, something better. We do the right thing mostly because it's good in and of itself. But if it must become a factor, we'll rebuild our reputation from the ground up. Because by the sound of it, we're at the very bottom, and the good thing about that is that we can't go anywhere else but upwards.
Elbio hummed at nod to the classic saying as he fell back on his rear, slightly vibrating the ground. "I see. There are many out there who will oppose you all, sometimes for no other reason than because they can. Go on this current path, you will be risking yourselves every step of the way."
"That's alright." Asriel said while raising his head. "We...what we want is really hard to obtain...we can't reach that goal if we play it safe. We had to accept that things are much more dangerous in this world than we ever realized...that's why we have to fight to protect ourselves, to protect our friends, our family, and the future we want to see fulfilled. That's why the obstacles of type, size, or variety doesn't matter in the slightest. We'll overcome them all one at a time, and reach our final goal...acceptance and peace between Monsterkind and Humanity."
Elbio blinked slowly as he gently looked Asriel in the eye. "Interesting...and this is how you'll restore honor to your family name, a name of royalty, right? Many might not completely agree with your ways."
Asriel sighed softly while looking towards Elbio with fire in his eyes. "We can't truly call ourselves royalty if we don't put the Kingdom first. The Kingdom should always come before the throne. And sometimes the only way for a Kingdom in a world like this to better themselves and truly thrive...is for multiple Kingdoms to come to an understanding and work together. They don't have to be best friends or anything...but working in unison should certainly be better than being at each others throats, right? If we come to an understanding, we can work together and help each other protect everything we cherish."
Elbio slowly took in Asriel's words...then his eyes widened at the deeper implications of what Asriel was saying, even if the boy himself didn't see it completely at the moment. After processing this, he chuckled deeply. "Boy...what you and your family and friends are setting out to do is indeed extremely reckless. A very dangerous and unsure venture."
"Yeah...my Master, Undyne, believes that we won't gain anything if we don't venture out and take it." Asriel said, then he began to sigh with a brief wobble. "Then again...Undyne is...one of the most reckless people...that I know...she really rubbed off on me...urahaha..." Asriel closed his eyes and fell over...
Chara gently catches him with his one arm.
"I got you, brother." Chara said quietly. Asriel slowly opened his eyes and looked at Chara with a small smile.
"Oh...hey Chara. Great timing...and thanks for the catch..."
"Yeah well, you seemed to be having such a meaningful conversation with Mr. Mountain Mammoth over here, I didn't wanna disrupt the flow. Don't worry about your brothers or anything, or yourself with ice and rock stuck in your body." Chara rolled his eyes. "Nah. Naaaaah. Just keep casually talking with the guy who's ass you just kicked while BOTH of you are seriously injured, like dumbasses."
Asriel chuckled softly. "I'm glad you're alright, Chara...how's Frisk...?"
"He's fine. We're all gonna regroup in the town so we can recuperate. At this point, we're waiting on word from Mom and her own group."
"Right..." Asriel nodded slowly.
"C'mon, let's get you a place to lie down." Chara said softly. As he began to move, he briefly looked back at Elbio, who looked back briefly before closing his eyes and nodding in quiet surrender. Chara still caught the emotion behind the look though, and softly smiled.
The look in his eyes spoke volumes: His loyalty was won.
...Geez.
It took me so long to get this out, might not be the best, but it's here. Quite a bit of things have been done. Our male Dreemurrs have demonstrated their growing strength, and the ideals/goals of Asgore and Asriel. It's a very rough path ahead.
Not gonna stop them though.
Until the next chapter!