*Insert excuse here*

NOT GIVING UP IS MY MAGIC!

Sans: ... someone's found their new favorite anime...

Alphys: I approve!

Undyne: Totally!

Chapter Start!

(?)

Sans was on one knee, with his clothes being tattered, with the scarf around his neck the only thing left completely undamaged. He sighed as the cyan glow was just barely being lit in his eye sockets, as he surveyed the battlefield around him, taking in the aftermath.

The familiar green and yellow sweater wearing boy was lying on top of the now giant blank screen, both of them having been defeated, surrounded in a massive field of bones, with several of them having impaled the boy and even more massive ones having broken the large screen.

Sans slowly stood up, swaying to and from before steadying himself and wiping his jawbone with the back of his head.

ten thousand, thirty one battles...i'm not gonna ask the obvious question, since that's gonna get me jinxed.

He's been fighting for a while now, seemingly without end. Despite that daunting feeling, he never allowed himself to just lay down and die. He fought his absolute hardest every time they came back. Every time they returned with their smug, malicious grins. Every time the entire area around them just returns to normal and all three combatants were as good as new as if a battle didn't just happen before. Everything wiped away and almost not being able to have a recollection of it all.

Like a RESET.

Despite that seemingly normal word being an absolute terror before in Sans' life, he refused to bow to it here. Every time they returned, he'd beat them down. It was unfortunate for them. Their level of strength as exactly as it was when they were back in the Underground, where Sans remembered them at their worst. He's gotten motivated to become significantly stronger since then. What have been absolute terrors before have been reduced to being significantly more surmountable. It didn't matter how powerful they were, he knew these past versions' weaknesses inside and out. Granted, he could overpower them anyway at this point, but being stronger and more skilled is always a plus.

In any case, he was exhausted, mentally. His body doesn't feel particularly tired, but he was beginning to feel his focus fade. He truly didn't want to know the result of allowing his mental walls to collapse completely while under a hallucination.

He needed to keep fighting. Despite the strong desire to just fall asleep and forget everything continued to consume him, he stayed awake. He kept vigilant and wary for yet another battle. Despite the mental exhaustion, he was ready to fight again if need be.

"I'm actually impressed. Of all the test subjects I've subjected to this kind of experiment over the years, you've lasted the longest out of them all. I really have to commend your mental fortitude."

Sans heard Toxin's taunting voice all around him, echoing throughout the empty space he was in. He turned his skull around. "am I makin' ya rethink things?"

"Perhaps. Though with all of your fighting within a hallucination, you're tired beyond belief, and your mental walls have all but dissolved into nothing. You're mentally at your most vulnerable right now, while your soul is not strong enough to rebuilt those walls quickly enough. Which means..."

Sans felt the poisonous claws beginning to dig deep into his subconscious. The pain was agonizing and unrelenting. He swiftly held his hands to his skull and fell to his knees, his pained smile growing more strained by the moment. Behind him, a wraith of the one tormenting him slowly rose up from the ground, his clawed hands gently hovering around both sides of his skull, his tail swaying gently too and from. Capping it off, Toxin sported a twisted smile.

"...your mind...is mine!"

Sans once again found himself screaming miserably, awaiting relief that was not set to come.

(Outer Gustus)

Undyne had to admit, as much as she could kind of seen this kind of encounter coming, she didn't expect it to happen so soon after everything that just happened. If anyone ever asked Undyne what was on her agenda, she wouldn't immediately answer with fighting off one of the seven people responsible for the imprisonment of Ebott's monsters. She wouldn't have imagined to be standing in front of one of them this very moment after being challenged to a duel.

But here she was, she couldn't deny that it was happening. Her spear and Adira's sword crossed one another and they were both prepared for the battle to ensue. Undyne had little idea how this was going to go. On one hand, she was actually quite eager to fight someone like Adira and to see if she'll be stronger from it. On the other, they were on a strict timetable, thus she can't afford to take too long. Plus, Gerson and Alphys were watching, and they'd stress the importance of getting to Gustus quickly, which would keep her focused.

Adira wouldn't let a single one of them pass until Undyne complied, and is clearly capable to enforce that condition without breaking a sweat. With that in mind, Undyne found it best to go all-out from the start and try to keep things as short as possible. Her inner warrior whined at the thought, but her inner knight kept her focused on her mission. She gripped her spear in her self-reminder of this, and focused her attention on Adira, who was smiling pleasantly at her.

"The atmosphere between us is truly something, isn't it? Truly makes you want to just jump in and get to it, doesn't it?" Adira declared with a slightly tilted head.

Undyne scoffed as she lowered her stance, a second hand gripping her water spear, her left eye blazing with power. "Yeah, it does."

With that, Undyne pounced.

Sparks flew as sword and spear connected, with sparks flying off one another in a seamless spray falling to the ground around them. Undyne gritted her teeth and pushed forward with her pointed spear having impacted the flat side of Adira's blade. The woman smiled at her accurate parry, and swung her sword hard enough to push Undyne back a few feet. Her eye widened as Adira slashed at her before she landed on her feet, forcing her to careen to the right and have it barely miss her. The boulder they saw earlier was effortlessly sliced in half, the two halves falling away from each other and causing dirt to shoot up from the impact.

Undyne gritted her teeth as Adira was upon her again, preparing for an overhand swing of her blade. Undyne quickly parried the slash, though still had to jump back from her before she could follow up. Adira smiles as she slashes at Undyne multiple times, each sending a blade beam shining brightly with mixed black surges. She managed to dodge them all through multiple desperate rolls and flips out of the way, but one of the beams managed to graze her cheek as it rends the ground next to her apart.

"First blood!" Adira called out jovially, a hand over her smirking mouth. "I do apologize, Undyne. Did I come on too strongly? I meant to build things up more between us, but I got too excited too quickly."

"Tch." Undyne clicked her tongue and stood on her feet, and channeled water through her spear, and slashed it horizontally towards Adira. The wave briefly curled around Adira when she attempted to slice it in half, and it managed to cut her cheek as well. "There, one for each of us."

"Oh you." Adira chuckled as she lightly wiped the blood from her cut. The sword in her hand slowly flew out of her hand, as another sword entered her hand, and shifted form. To Undyne's surprise, it went from looking like the other swords to a slightly larger sword, which she gripped the hilt with two hands.

Alphys blinked and adjusted her glasses, narrowing her eyes. "Wait a second, isn't that kind of like the Buster Sw-"

Adira swung her newly formed sword true. The beam that followed was much larger than the others, and Undyne once again barely dodged out of the way due to how large it was. It rends the earth, tearing a trench into it and devastating a bit of the forest behind them. Undyne looked behind her and smirked, though was quite surprised.

"Come now. Sword Magic is my specialty, so of course I'm going to know more than one type of swordsmanship, and use more than one type of sword." Adira smiled as she hefted the huge sword on her shoulder as if it weighed nothing. "Are you surprised someone as dainty looking as me can swing this huge sword?"

"Fuhuhu. I'd be more surprised if you couldn't, considering who you are." Undyne

"All too true." Adira grinned excitedly as she swung the sword once again, sending yet another slash towards Undyne, with another for good measure, then three more. Each of the slashes rends the earth and sending entire boulders up from the ground and into the air.

"Okay, too much! Too much!" Alphys shrieked as she placed down and strengthened a shield around herself and Gerson so they wouldn't get caught up in the wreckage from the battle. I probably should have expected as much, but things kind of escalated incredibly quickly!

Undyne manifested dozens of spears around herself to counter the various slashes attempting to cut her, while nimbly dodging several that managed to get through. A trio of spears shot towards Adira in the midst of the chaos as she attempted to defend herself. Adira didn't have too much issue deflected all three of them without paying them any heed, though was briefly surprised when they didn't dissipate, and instead honed back towards her from three different angles. She scoffed and sliced all three of them apart without breaking much of a sweat.

Undyne lunged towards her in that moment, spear first and aiming for her eye. Adira briefly whistled at this, before a sword manifested and blocked the strike, stopping it in place and parrying the barrage of spears that tried to take advantage of the brief opening. It happened quickly enough for Adira to slash upwards across Undyne's torso. She gritted her teeth from the wound that ensued, beginning to fall backwards a bit as Adira's swords vanished. The woman pouted slightly.

"Oh. Done already? I thought for sure that you'd last a bit longer tha-" Adira's eyes widened as Undyne took hold of her shoulders. Undyne grinned as she proceeded to bash her skull against hers as hard as she could. She was surprised by both the action itself and the severe headache that ensued due to it. Adira actually clutched her head as blood began running down her face. She was more surprised than upset, as she looked up towards the wildly grinning Undyne. "Alright, I'll admit to not expecting that."

"I fight rough, ya know. Figured you'd know about that." Undyne stated even as blood ran down her face as well.

Adira blinked softly, before she smiled and adjusted her hair, pushing it out of the wat of her eyes. "Fair enough."

Undyne slashed her spear upwards, with Adira mirroring the action, the slashes they made continuously slicing up the ground they were standing on, resulting in many more sliced pieces of the ground rising up and flying in different directions. Alphys occasionally shrieked whenever the occasional debris bashed against her shield, but it managed to hold true despite the force behind it. And every time, she'd sigh somewhat in relief. Gerson, on the other hand, would mostly remain cautious to Adira's every move, as well as the intent behind her actions.

She's very clearly enjoying herself, as her wide smile and feminine, energetic laughter would indicate, clashing slightly with Undyne's maddened grin and cackle. They seem to have fully absorbed themselves into the duel in such a short amount of time. Though the more he observed, the more he figured that Undyne allowed herself to enjoy this because she knew that they couldn't get past Adira unless the sword mage allowed it. Undyne might have a point about indulging her being the fastest way of getting past her, as she might not see herself actually defeating her. She sees the massive gap, and is using this battle as a step towards closing it as much as she could, for the future.

That is, if Adira was true to her word, and didn't attempt to backstab them. Quite literally.

Although, that said...

"You have such a beautiful wife, Undyne." Adira hummed as sword clashed with spear once again. "I'm admittedly quite envious of your wonderful marriage. It's such a shame that I can't manage the same thing."

"Hah?" Alphys blinked, wide-eyed and jaw-slacked. She almost dropped the shield in surprise at the subject.

"What, ya want me to feel sorry about your love life?" Undyne scoffed as she lunged forward with her spear, thrown off when Adira easily sidesteps it then kicks her in the back of the head.

"Not at all. Once again, I feel like it's something I'd share, to try and bring myself down to earth alongside you." Adira waved her hand as a dozen blades manifested and swarmed Undyne from all sides. She parried all of them, before Adira herself sent a single, much larger sword was tossed towards her. Undyne just barely manages to parry it with two spears with gritted teeth, before she slashed the blade apart after managing to reduce the momentum that was further sending her back. "Ohohoho! I'm having fun, Undyne! Are you?"

"Little bit, not gonna lie." Undyne took a moment to breath as she rolled her shoulder a bit. "Still, I'm able to tell you're not really fighting to kill me, I honestly don't know how to feel about that. Appreciative? Insulted? Not sure, since I don't really intend on dying before helping my friends."

"Relax. I'm not like my psychotic lightning fiend, Revan. I'd rather not go killing whenever something doesn't go my way." Adira hummed, lightly rubbing her chin. "Still, you have a point about one thing, we should be past the introduction stage by now. So from me to you, I'll show you something special. To officially commemorate your status as a worthy opponent for me."

"What do you mean by that?"

Adira smiled, lightly pointing a finger upwards. Undyne looked upwards, only for her eye to widen and her fins to lower slightly.

Alphys also saw what was up in the sky, her pupils shrinking to their smallest in disbelief. "H-How...?!"

"Aye. This is the power of one of the Seven." Gerson grimaced as he stepped closer to Alphys.

What lies within the sky was a sword that has just finished manifesting. And it was not just any sword. It was a blade the size of a skyscraper, just sitting idly in the sky, slightly parting the clouds menacingly pointing downwards towards where the party currently was. Undyne could only balk at the enormous weapon, while Adira simply smiles as the twelve swords behind her danced with delight.

"This is one of my more grand sword magics. This is bound to draw a bit of attention. In fact, I sure hope it does." Adira smiled slightly. "It's with this that back in the day, I was given the moniker, 'Queen of Swords.'" She tilted her head curiously. "I wonder if you'll be able to deal with this?" Adira playfully asks, as she gently waved her hand downwards.

The sword began to descend, sending the clouds even further apart.

Undyne regained her composure, calmly gazing at the giant sword as she manifested a sear in her hand. "Alphys, Gerson. I'm gonna need you two to really power up that shield of yours. I don't think it's going to cut it with something like that."

"It's coming down on this location with the velocity of a meteor...!" Alphys analyzed with wide eyes of panic.

"Which is why I need you to clear the space and up your shield as high as you possibly can. Basically, take cover." Undyne said as more power bursts from her eye, and her Undying armor slowly manifested all over her body, from her feet to up to her neck. "Please, Alphys. I need to be able to focus, and I can't do that when you're so close to ground zero."

"But-"

"Trust in yer wife, Alphys." Gerson gently touched her shoulder. Alphys Undyne worryingly. Sensing those Undyne turned to her and flashed her signature smile.

"I'll be fine. I'm gonna surpass my limits and kick this thing's ass."

Alphys swallowed down her fear, as she turned from Undyne with a nod, keeping her shield up and further empowering it as she and Gerson got away from the area as quickly as they could. Adira allowed it, standing back with a palm holding up her chin.

Undyne took a deep breath, and finally donned her helmet around her head. She raised her spear and released it, allowing it to float over her head, and shoot towards the incoming sword projectile.

"Hoh? Just one tiny spear?" Adira wondered with a chuckle.

"Nah." Undyne shrugged it off as she closed her hand.

On her cue, hundreds of spears manifested into existence, and also began shooting upwards towards the sky. They followed the path of the first spear, and when they caught up, began meeting with it, one at a time, at an incredibly fast rate. With each spear added, the primary one began to grow larger and larger, with it's glow becoming brighter. In about several seconds, it quickly began to match the size of the sword meteor coming down on her. The two giant weapons were shooting towards one another. Adira looked incredibly pleased, leaning back to look up and clapping her hands.

"Ohohohoho! THAT'S more like it! Splendid, Undyne! Simply splendid!"

"This Spear of Justice is gonna pierce right through the unbreakable wall that you and your allies held up so many years ago." Undyne muttered, with her eye blazing with power. "I'm gonna close the gap between us, right here, right now!"

The spear clashed right into the giant sword, the impact causing the clouds around them to disperse entirely. Immediately, Undyne felt the force behind the blade, gritting her teeth as she was being pushed back slightly.

"Amazing! Show me, Undyne! Let me experience the power of the conviction that lies within your spear!" Adira cackled gleefully as she raised her arm and pushed father. The sword pushed farther against the spear, the grinding causing sparks volatile enough to burn the ground where they landed.

Undyne gritted her teeth, with her mouth slightly bleeding, before she planted her feet and stood her ground. Figures, the power of one of the Seven is more menacing from experience. To think that Gerson had faced such terrifying power a long time ago from the war. And it likely wasn't even everything she had. She had a painful demonstration that the gap between them is as wide as a canyon.

But right here, right now, she was going to close the gap. Enough where she can compete with her. If she can at least compete with her, then she can protect her side and friends from the others who wouldn't be nearly as friendly o honorable as Adira. She knew she wasn't going to win this battle.

At the very least, she'd use her mighty spear to pierce through the insurmountable wall that was between her and the Seven. That would pave the way to greater strength that she would use to further fulfill her duty as a knight, a warrior, and a friend. The others would definitely be a threat to her loved ones, she can't count on the rest being as affable as Adira. Revan was a clear example, having nearly killed Toriel's group outright.

She needed to be ready, and this is her first test to see if she could stand up to them.

"This is tough..." Undyne grunted, as her armor began falling apart at the seems. Regardless, she stood her ground and tried her hardest to push back against the overwhelming force. "But if I wasn't willing to deal with tough situations, I wouldn't have gotten this far!"

"Magnificent!" She could hear Adira's excited cheers over their clash, which only annoyed her a little bit. She wouldn't let it get ti her, even as more of her armor was slowly being peeled away from the stress of countering the sword.

Gritting her teeth once more, she pushed forward as far and as much as she possibly could, taking a forceful step forward and narrowing her eye, with the shockwaves growing even more powerful, tearing up the earth around her. Her eye blazed with even greater power as she forced herself to manage one last push forward.

"NnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!"

The high point of the collision reached it's limit, as both objects dispersed into a blinding burst of light. The resulting shockwave boomed outwards and tore up the earth from underneath them, devastating it as minified glowing spears and swords rained down harmlessly as small magic particles.

Alphys and Gerson were hiding beneath the corner's shield, hiding and protecting them both from the destruction around them, watching the area around them getting torn apart from the shockwaves caused by the clash. It was hard for them to stay centered when it really like the ground beneath them was going to give out from underneath them at any moment.

Through it all, Alphys was mainly worried about Undyne's current condition, even as everything began to quiet down. When she felt that it was safe enough to look, she turned around from her cover, and her eyes widened as she saw the result of the clash.

Undyne was lying flat on her back, her hair having returned to normal, one open eye being blank and the other being closed and bleeding. Her head was turned to the side with her jaw just slightly open. There was a large sword impaled in her side into the ground, with other, much smaller swords embedded in we body all over, aside from her head.

Adira, on the other hand, was still standing, and not in nearly as bad a state. She was scuffled, having some dirt and grime all around her, and even had a spear lodged into her right shoulder and left leg, each. Aside from all of that and messy hair, she didn't appear that winded.

The winner was obvious.

"Undyne!"

Alphys and Gerson rushed to Undyne's side, with Adira sighing as she pulled the spears out of her body, undeterred by the resulting bleeding. "Oh my...how wonderful. I haven't enjoyed such a battle in a long time." Adira hummed as she lightly caressed her chin. "It's too bad your stamina couldn't hold up, but your durability is outstanding."

Alphys was in her knees as she was lightly cradling Undyne's unconscious body. Gerson hummed as he kept a cautious eye on Adira. Though after several moments, Undyne's eye regained it's pupil as she forced herself to sit up. Her hair was incredibly messy, being all over the place, with some of it hiding her closed left eye. Her remaining one glared at Adira, who for the first time in their encounter, looked truly and genuinely shocked.

"Oh my. You're conscious already? I think your willpower is scarier than your durability and endurance. And those are ridiculous enough as it is."

For a moment, Alphys and Gerson thought that Undyne would push herself up to keep fighting. But instead, Undyne lowered her head with an irritable growl.

"Dammit...I lost."

"U-Undyne?" Alphys turned towards her.

"Oho? You're admitting defeat?"

"Course I am. Part of me knew I wasn't going to stand a chance in the long run. But I had to at least try. If I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to pierce through the wall."

"Wall?"

"I've pierced the wall that separates us in terms of sheer power, and broke through. Now a new path is open to me." Undyne lightly sighed to herself. "But I can't focus on that right now. Because right now, I'm a knight before I'm a warrior. And as a knight, I need to go help my queen, cause she needs my help. And right now, that takes a much higher priority." She spits into the ground, lightly coughing. "So, if you don't mind, and you're not intending to kill us, we gotta get moving again."

Adira hummed as Undyne looked up towards her. After some contemplation, she closed her eyes and smiled. "Not only did I get an admirable battle out of you, I've gotten a sense of your true character. If there's one thing that's certainly 'undying' about you, it's your intense loyalty. And I suppose that's one thing that absolutely cannot be defeated." She turned around and began walking away. "I'll leave you to your objective, now. I'd like to see your potential further expand, in the future. You have all the motivation you need, already."

Undyne grunted as Gerson and Alphys gently helped her stand up, with Gerson looking after Adira. "Sure yer acquaintances are gonna appreciate the fact that you had the chance to kill us and let it pass by?"

"I had no intention of killing any of you when I came here. I got what I came for, and I was pleased. If they expected something else, they can file a complaint. Adira chuckled. "You've taken your first swim outside of your small pond, young piscine. Now your infinite potential lies within the ocean, and I have a feeling you'll become one of the biggest fish of all in no time. I look forward to our next duel, when you've closed the gap between us a little bit more."

"Wait, you seriously want to fight her again?!" Alphys gasped in slight panic.

"After all that, there's no way I would restraint myself to just one battle. Oh no, we shall meet again, when Undyne is stronger. I certainly look forward to it, especially if she comes out of the next events better than before." Adira stopped her pace for a bit, and tilted her head. "My my, I almost forgot."

Undyne and Alphys felt their souls jump as Adira closed the distance between them instantly, thinking she was going for another attack. But it wasn't so, as she stood in front of Gerson. Before he could react, she took off the hat he was wearing and sweetly kissed the top of his head. The other two women froze at the scene while Gerson looked like he wasn't expecting it at all. Adira placed the hat back on his head.

"It was good to see you again, Gerson. Do try not to strain yourself too much. Your loyalty is impressive as well, but you've earned your right to rest a bit more often." Adira nods, as she stands upwards and finding a slight laugh out of Undyne and Alphys' faces. "All right, I'm truly leaving this time. Ta-Ta, for now!" With this, Adira vanishes in a bright beam of light. Following that, the swords stabbing into Undyne's body vanished.

Undyne and Alphys were still stunned with what they just witnessed, and Gerson was trying his best to hide his face. The latter was about to ask what the heck just happened, but Undyne stopped her via placing a hand atop her paw.

"Save it. We can question this later. Right now, we need to keep going with our actual objective, which is get to Gustus and find Toriel and the others." Undyne grunted as she stood up, accessing her phone's Dimensional Box to pull out some magic food. "I wouldn't be surprised if she considers delaying us a bit of a bonus. Stalling us for time as some sort of side-quest to her personal mission."

"Probably. Despite terrifying me and making me worried she'd kill us, she didn't seem like that bad a person. She just happens to work with several bad people. She did bad things too, but she doesn't seem to approve of it. I didn't sense any true malice from her the whole time." Alphys gazed at the ground, seeking genuinely troubled by the encounter. Undyne seemed slightly more contemplative, her fins lowering a bit and her eye gazed at the sky that was slowly returning to normal.

"Well, we ain't gonna accomplish nothin' by standing around. C'mon, ladies. Let's get movin' again." Gerson brought them both out of their stupors.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go, Al." Undyne nodded as Alphys helped her walk, her wounds slowly healing yet the lingering pain hindering her enough to limp, now that the adrenaline has work off.

You've taken your first swim outside of your small pond, young piscine.

Undyne had a feeling that there was more than one meaning to that, and it didn't directly relate to combat strength.

Frisk and the others have exited the Tree Palace for the time being, as the adults around them were planning on what they were going to do once Behemoth arrives. It was not a question of if he would do some serious damage, but how much they could prevent and/or reduce. It worried him that he was that incredibly dangerous, and was currently an enemy of theirs despite having not met him yet.

Frisk wanted to believe they could be friends. But given that Behemoth killed Galen's parents, and Frisk's befriending isn't nearly as reliable as it used to be, he knew he couldn't afford to let that mindset hinder him. He didn't like it in the slightest bit, but after the intense damage Toriel suffered to shield him from harm, Frisk has begun honing a much more refined sense of caution when it came to enemies.

Revan's brutal, painful, tormenting presence still flashed in his mind; the sizzling of his own skin from the black lightning, the intense malice fuming within within his eyes, the immense difficulty to breathe when he began choking him while simultaneously shocking him, Toriel draping herself over his body and enduring literally getting ruthlessly stabbed in the back multiple times because she didn't have the strength to do anything else by that point.

All of it...it was...

I'm going to obliterate you all. Starting with you two.

He didn't realize his cold sweating and heavy breathing until Faryn roughly shook him with her extending tails. "Frisk! Frisk!"

"H-Huh?!"

"Oh gosh, Frisk! What were you thinking about? You were spacing out and everything. Don't get your head lost in space, Frisk! Bring it back down to earth super fast!"

"F-F-Faryn?!" Frisk gasped, his eyes squinted shut, though not in their usual manner. His heart was beating rapidly, and his soul was shouting at him that he was in danger.

Even though he knew that he wasn't. He knew in his mind, so he's utterly confused as to why he's panicking in just about everywhere else. No, actually, he knew exactly why, but couldn't manage to clarify it aloud due to the sheer panic keeping him from speaking properly.

"Frisk?" Faryn blinked, her cheery tone immediately becoming serious.

"What's g-going on? What's happening? I can't breathe, what's what!? Everything is spinningandidontknowwhatimdoingwhatisthisicanticanticanti-"

Faryn didn't hesitate. She placed herself in front of Frisk and kept her gaze solely on him. "Frisk. I'm going to hug you. Is it okay for me to hug you?"

"H-H-Hug...?" Frisk lightly shivered a bit, inching his way towards her and doing his best to nod an answer yes. Content he accepted, Faryn moved upon him and wrapped him in a very loose hug. Loose enough in which he can freely back out if he truly feels uncomfortable with it.

"It's okay. I'm right here." Faryn cooed. Her tails gently wrapped around him as she lightly pets the top of his head. "Focus on my voice and heartbeat, and the beating of my soul. Listen only to those things. Breathe with me, Frisk. Breathe in, breathe out." Faryn quietly held Frisk as his intense shaking began to die down, albeit slowly as he began taking breaths. "That's it, you're doing great. Remember, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. So you can take your time, Frisk. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out." She gently tightened her hug once she was sure he wouldn't mind it, gently cuddling him as his shaking slowly dies down and his breathing grows slower and more comfortably paced. "Do you want me to get Ms. Toriel?"

"M-Mom...where's Mom...? I-I need..."

"I'm already on it." One of her tails gently generated a small ball of fire. She sent it to contact her and bring to Frisk as soon as possible. Meanwhile, she focused on calming him. "Frisk, I still can't get over how yummy Ms. Toriel's Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie is. Like, the yummy levels are off the charts!"

"Y-Yeah...they are..."

"I'd like to eat one with you again, when we have the time to rest for the long-term. And I'd like to share more quiches with you, too. We keep sharing our favorite foods, we're bound to understand each other a bit better, right? Would you like that?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Also, you're very much welcome to come to my Palace whenever you like. And also explore more of Astus with me. There's plenty of things I wanna show you about it, and there's also more I still wanna see from Ebott. We can better understand each other's homes and see how we can improve each other and connect better. Does that sound nice?"

Frisk paused for a moment, as one of Faryn's tails lightly brushed against his cheek. Looking at it idly, Frisk gently grabbed the tail and hugged it, allowing it's fuzziness to further soothe him. "Very n-nice...

Faryn smiled and nodded. "Sweetness."

It didn't take long for the ball of flames to come back, with Toriel right on it's tail. "Frisk?! Frisk, my child?!" Toriel sensed the utter distress Frisk was currently trapped in even without sensing his soul. It all spoke from how badly he shook and how quick his breathing was.

"M-M-Mom!" Frisk lightly turned his head towards her. Toriel was quick to softly take Frisk into her arms, where he quickly secured himself in a hug.

"You do not have to say anything right now, my child. I am here. Mommy is here." Toriel cooed as she snuggled Frisk and repeatedly, softly kissed the top of his head while rubbing his back in gentle circles. Faryn shifted closer to them and placed a hand on his shoulder to let him know she was still there as well. Head nestled in Toriel's bosom, he closed his eyes and kept silent. They didn't interrupt it, choosing to let him calm at his own pace.

The trio stayed like this for a while, ten minutes at most, as they waited for Frisk to calm down enough that his trembling mostly stops, and he was able to speak more clearly. They didn't rush him, they didn't even ask why this even happened. They just had him close and waited for him to calm down enough that he can talk to them properly.

Though eventually, he did indeed manage to recover once his mind, heart, soul, and body all confirmed that he was in no danger. His breathing remained steady, he was no longer feeling cold sweat, his intense shaking stopped, he no longer felt like he was choking

And that feeling of dread. The feeling of sheer terror that froze his body, threatening to crush his heart and rend his soul. While that remained somewhat, it was the back of his mind, where it couldn't bother him right now.

After letting Frisk collect himself, Toriel soon turned to Faryn, her eyes softening immensely. "Thank you, Faryn. You knew what to do. Can I ask how?"

Faryn lightly scratched her cheek, looking away. "When Mama died, Daddy tended to panic sometimes whenever I wasn't within his sight for very long. Many of our aides would try and calm him down, but nothing would work until I was actually there in his presence. He'd shake a whole bunch, he'd feel like he was dizzy, almost nauseous. These attacks would happen often for a long while, and I managed to calm him down every time. I would then sleep next to him for the night so that his nightmares wouldn't be as bad." Faryn smiled sadly. "I didn't mind sleeping next to Daddy, but we all knew it was more for his sake than it was for mine. Daddy really hated to sleep by himself, so I was always there to be with him." Her fox ears folded against her head as she sighed. "I hope Daddy's doing okay. I'm worried about him."

Toriel almost retorted that he'd probably be worried more about her than vice versa, but kept that to herself. It was clear the two cared immensely for each other, and that was that. One thing's for sure, Tamotsu wouldn't be the Fox King he was today if he didn't have his daughter. Toriel would keep her resolve to bring her back to him safe and sound.

"Mom?"

"Hm?" Toriel heard Frisk's muffled voice within her bosom, as he raised his head to meet her eyes. "My child, what is it?"

"What kind of person is Revan, to you?"

Toriel blinked at the question as it hung in the air, with Faryn also looking rather curious about the subject. "Yeah, it seemed like you two really hated each other. Like, a lot."

Seeing that she wasn't going to be able to dissuade them from the subject, Toriel gave in. Besides, with how seriously Revan was singling out Frisk for death, it would help if he knew more about him. It was no longer something she could keep to herself, as he was involved either way.

"Children. Me and Revan, have a very conflicting history. We were never friends, but out of the Seven, he was certainly the most hostile and hateful towards Monsterkind. He sees us as the inferior species, and is utterly repulsed at the idea that we would dare consider wanting to be seen as equals by humanity." Toriel shook her head. "He and I were especially at odds, as Asgore tried his best to avoid conflict entirely on his preparations to be King. Revan's attitude did indeed bother me, but I've tried time and time again to not actively take part in escalating our feud."

"Really?"

"Truly. Even if I stood no real chance of defeating him, I still didn't want to fight him, because I felt like either way, it wouldn't have solved anything." Toriel lowered her head, and would have tightened her fists if she wasn't still hugging Frisk. "Then the war happened. A completely one sided battle in the humans favor. We were gathering as many of our people as we could in order to complete our surrender. And then..."

Toriel was in a hurry. A desperate hurry, given her rapid heart beat and quickly moving feet across the dirt, lifting the hem of her dress so it didn't get in the way.

It's been too long, far too long. The call for surrender has been sent, yet seven villages have not responded to it, which left her gravely worried, as everyone else has been accounted for. Enough that she chose to check the situation herself with the closest village to her position, despite her husband's concern.

Her fears weren't assuaged in the slightest when she started happening upon piles of monster dust, with a crater around each if them crackling with lightning. The implications heavy, she pushed herself onward, hoping that what she was thinking was just her being paranoid.

Unfortunately, the world decided to justify her concerns, in one of the few times she's absolutely hate it.

The village she reached has been completely destroyed by the time she got there. Not only that's she didn't sense any signs of life anywhere. Only heaps upon heaps of dust. And crackles of lightning all over the place, mostly around the craters within her sight. The settlement has been decimated, the homes destroyed, the people dead...

Toriel dropped to her hands and knees, eyes staring hard at the ground, as if it would give her an answer. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to fully comprehend the reality she was just hit with.

"...Why...?"

Despite whispering, she wasn't speaking aloud to no one. No, she felt the presence of one of the Great Mages, Revan, standing behind her in a flash of lightning.

"This is their penalty for disobedience. They attempted to resist their fate, and thus, were punished severely."

Toriel lightly looked upwards to the side, where she could see the signal at the highest part of the village. A waving flag signifying peaceful surrender, having been torched and tattered. It didn't take much for her to piece together what happened here. Still, she also recognized that she couldn't do anything about it.

"It was a trap. They set up their signal for surrender in order to lure me into a trap. They attacked, and I defended my self appropriately. So did the other six. They just couldn't accept the fact that they lost this so-called 'war'." Revan continued. Though Toriel knew from his uncaring, disdainful, condescending tone what had really happened.

All the words he uttered were nothing but lies.

"How could you?"

"How could I not? They were taking too much time to leave their dens, so I simply cleared them out."

"They surrendered! They knew we lost, we all did! They were of no threat to you!"

"Perhaps. But why take the chance, right? Besides, you can't go to anyone about this, can you? Who are they going to believe? Someone who has actively served humanity for as long as he lived?" Revan leaned over Toriel's shoulder and held up her left ear, whispering: "Or dens of monsters who have been lurking around longer than they deserve?" He mockingly lets the ear drop while turning on her. "Besides, monsters are the things our children fear when they sleep. If a few less monsters are in the world, they can rest much more soundly, don't you agree? I've been told you love children, so surely you'd agree that this is for the best? After all, they enjoy tales of heroes slaying the evil monsters that threaten their peace. Unfortune for you all that you've been born on the losing side of that story. As your miserable fate decreed."

Toriel gritted her teeth, her paws digging into the ground as they began steaming from the generated heat of her fire magic, but restrained herself from actually lashing out. That would have gotten her killed, instantly.

"All that aside, my business is done here. Hurry up and crawl into your cave in the mountain, your new home. Sealed away in the darkness, unseen and forgotten."

Toriel was left trembling in fury after she head him leave in a flash of lightning. Her fangs were bared, her tears fell quietly onto the ground, and the heat around her slowly cooled as she realized there was nothing she could do. Any resistance would result in more needless death like what happened here. Seven villages have been wiped out and there was nothing she could have done except see the aftermath and watch the man responsible walk away, knowing that the circumstances would shift things in his favor.

The most she could do is silently snarl in frustration and grief, before she eventually composed herself enough to return to Mt. Ebott, silent the entire time.

Toriel honestly felt better after sharing her experience with the two children, who were gazing at her in utter disbelief. It was a suitable reaction, for Toriel had witnessed something terrible and unjust, and there was nothing she could have done about it without terrible consequences, except to quietly accept it. She had buried that memory away to focus on other things, in which years later things would take a long time before they actually get better.

But now? Seeing Revan after all of these years, the memories came burning through the walls she set up like wildfire. Her fury towards him multiplied a hundredfold, and reinforced with the fact that she now had the power to reasonably stand up to him, as opposed to being forced to do nothing as anything else would have resulted in death. She wasn't helpless anymore, she could fight him on equal footing, and was actively trying to kill him.

Although having tunnel vision on that objective nearly got her and Frisk killed, so she's reined in that desire for the time being.

"That's awful, Miss Toriel." Faryn frowned, her fox ears flat against her head.

"He really got away with doing that?" Frisk clenched his fists. There was no way that he couldn't feel the slightest bit enraged by such a thing happening and nothing being done about it.

"There was nothing that could be done. We were the side that lost the war, so anything their strongest and most influential mages said would hold a lot more weight than anything we ever could at the time. They were the heroes. We were the monsters they were sent to slay and imprison." Toriel lightly massaged her temples while shaking her head. "We have our part in escalating the conflict between us, but the very fact that I knew that Revan doing this would not be seen as vile because we were the defeated side presented as evil...I hated it with all of my heart and soul. I was powerless to do or change anything about it."

Frisk lightly reached out to hold her paw. "That must have been terrible. No wonder you hate him. Actually hate him."

"With a burning passion. Now that we have crossed paths again, and he has put you in the crossfire, I cannot allow him to continue on as he was. He has not changed in the slightest. If anything, he has gotten worse." Toriel narrowed her eyes. "This may bring you distaste like it brings me, my child, but the only way our conflict will end is if one of us dies."

She didn't need to remind him. Revan's merciless attack has left it crystal, painfully clear that they would never, ever be friends. The act of trying was hopeless. Frisk didn't think he'd ever meet such a scenario, but he's finally run into one, despite not wanting to believe it in the slightest. But seeing Toriel's closest brush with death yet, as well as the tragic take he's just been told, has convinced him that Revan is truly and deeply malevolent, inside and out.

It truly shocked him to his core to see someone surpass the malice of Chara at his absolute worst.

He wanted to say more, but stopped short as he sees something strange. A brief flow of stand gently brushed by the trio, to their confusion.

"Sand? Is there a sandbox somewhere around here that we just haven't seen yet?" Faryn asked as she stood up and gazed in the direction of the source. "Gustus isn't, a sandy Kingdom, so where's all this send coming from.

"...Children, I suggest you prepare yourselves." Toriel declared as she gently sets Frisk down and stands up, also looking in the same direction, the flow and feel of sand growing stronger and faster.

"H-He's here!" Galen gasped as he waved his arms wildly out from his Tree Palace to his subjects close by. "I-I-I can sense him approaching! B-B-B-Behemoth!"

"Everyone! Likes get the civilians outta the way and towards safety! This ain't a drill, this is the real deal!" Danielle shouted with authority, her voice being carried out to her fellow plant guards through numerous Echo Flowers. Echo Flowers that were green instead of blue like they were back in the Underground in Waterfall. And they seemed to cover a much wider range of sound, and overall seemed a lot more dynamic and powerful. Frisk noted that down for later.

For he and the others needed to face down their next battle, which had come sooner than they liked. The feeling of sand in the kingdom of plants, the feeling of something large heading towards them in heavy, resounding stomps, the earth itself being shifted around those steps. Toriel clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes.

This feeling was much like how she felt when she truly saw Levi in action. The sheer power of water he had mastered so casually, like he was one with the sea. A mastery he was teaching his daughter Valerie. Only this time, this one had the very land on their side.

All they could see from where they were was a huge figure surrounded in a large sand cloud heading towards the Kingdom, and a large set of horns coming from what appears to be the head. The horns were large enough to pierce through the cloud, and they were sharp, jagged, and long.

"...Here...I remember this place. I came here a long time ago...and ate something. Or someone? Two strong people who tried to kill me. They were tasty. What was this place called again...?" The hulking, booming voice sounded out, and Galen's heart froze at the familiar voice. "Well, uh, I don't think it really matters. That poison dragon guy said I could go nuts here..."

Poison dragon? Toriel narrowed her eyes. She made sure to keep a mental note of that.

After briefly stopping, the figure kept going, this time Inna much faster pace, sending the citizens into further panic, especially with what he said next.

"I, uh, think I'll...eat everything this time..."

The walking desert looms over the Kingdom of Gustus, prepared to consume everything...he might also be an idiot. A very scary idiot that killed Gustus's previous King and Queen, but still idiotic.

A monster than can rival Levi's mastery of the sea with sheer earthly power.

That...is Behemoth.

...seriously, he's not much when it comes to intelligence.

Until next time!