Stephanie continued marching towards the battlefield, holding no weapons in her arms or anything to protect herself.
Her long hair and wires up in a bun held with the same hairpin that the two ladies placed in.
Once she had reached the part of the battlefield, Stephanie stopped and waited patiently for the corrupted general to appear.
It took about a minute or two to pass for the general to appear until he finally came.
He looked almost like Hades himself, except that helmet's gem was glowing a dangerous red color.
The corrupted general made the first move, lifting his right hand up and saying something in Greek.
Stephanie translated what he said in Greek, before feeling the ground quivering from underneath her feet.
Glancing down, Stephanie watched as the green grass turned black and lifeless, as Stephanie took a step back, watching life disappearing at a rapid pace.
Then, a boney and undead hand forced itself out from the ground, causing Stephanie to flinch slightly from the appearance of it.
Slowly, undead Roman and Viking soldiers came out from the ground, showing flesh, green or pale skin, pale eyes, and holding damaged or smashed weaponry in their arms.
Stephanie looked surprised as she watched each undead soldier positioned themselves for attacking.
The corrupted general grinned and pointed at Stephanie with a clawed finger, saying, "Kill."
Immediately, all the undead soldiers charged at Stephanie, roaring and baring their rotted, crooked, yellow teeth.
Stephanie was about to use one of her spells to slow down the undead for the moment when she heard something.
It sounded like a speeding car that was heading around 80 or 70 miles per hour.
She yelped slightly as a metallic bang came from the front, as the sound of bodies landed on the ground.
Glancing over, Stephanie was surprised to see it was Asterix, holding a Roman shield in his hands.
"Asterix, you came!" Stephanie grinned. "Weirdly at the right timing too!"
Asterix glanced over his shoulder to Stephanie, looking confused before Stephanie exclaimed, "Look out!" and quickly grabbed the back of his shirt.
After Stephanie grabbed Asterix by the back of his shirt, she yanked him back quickly before one of the undead soldiers grabbed him.
The soldier instead grabbed Stephanie's left leg and was about to bite when Stephanie kicked her leg up as fast as she could, knocking the head off with one clean kick.
Once the head was off, Stephanie jumped back before another could grab, landing in the distance.
"Okay," Stephanie sighed as she placed down a surprised Asterix down on the ground. "I just saw that general," she pointed at the general in the background, wearing a helmet. "Just used an incantation that can raise the dead."
Asterix listened to Stephanie's plan, although not too sure of how he is going to follow this.
"If we can stall the undead, we might get to that general before he summons more and takes off that helmet," Stephanie turned to Asterix and placed her hands on his shoulders as he glanced up at her. "I'm counting on you, Asterix."
"What about us?" Stephanie glanced over her shoulder and noticed the villagers, holding weapons in their hands, and shields.
The Roman army was behind them too, although shaking, they looked determined to fight against the undead.
Stephanie smiled gently and nodded her head.
"Yes," Stephanie smiled. "I'm counting on all of you."
Then, she glanced over at the undead army, before back at them.
"Good luck," and she moved her hand from Asterix's shoulder and headed into the battlefield.
Vitalstatistix climbed onto his shield that is held up by two of the villagers, took his sword out of his sheath, and declared, "Attack!"
Everyone charged along with Stephanie at an astounding speed, sounding like a bunch of motorcycles.
It surprised Stephanie when she glanced over her shoulder for a moment to see what was going on.
She avoided each undead soldier and noticed the archers, deciding to take them out before they could hurt anyone.
Taking a tight u-turn, Stephanie headed towards the archer towers, running and avoiding as fast as she could.
While heading towards the towers, Stephanie summoned a hammer out of thin air.
She rounded up her hammer and swung, smashing the side of one of the towers, before moving onto the next.
After the last tower was smashed, and the archers were not firing anymore, Stephanie turned her attention back towards the general, heading towards him.
He angrily snarled when he noticed Stephanie was heading towards him and lifted his right hand up, saying something else in Greek, surprising Stephanie.
The ground turned blacker, and Stephanie dodged, as spikes appeared from the ground, missing Stephanie by an inch.
After smacking one of the undead soldiers away with one swift punch of his fist, Asterix glanced over to see if Stephanie was okay, only to see the spikes appearing from the ground.
Stephanie manages to avoid the spikes for a while, until he stopped, as he grabbed a stray arrow that was about to pierce him.
She took this chance.
Being as quick as she could, Stephanie ran behind him and grabbed him, struggling to get the helmet off from him.
But the corrupted general had his hands on it, using his strength to keep it on him.
Asterix noticed the struggle and ran over to help, as Obelix and his friends continued stalling the undead.
Meanwhile, Stephanie continued trying to get the helmet off from the general, trying to use her weight to get back on the ground.
But the general was struggling too much and trying to keep the helmet back on his head.
Stephanie finally was able to get her feet on the ground and was about to get the helmet off.
Suddenly, he grabbed the back of her sweater and flung her off his back.
She landed on her side after she was flung off of him as he lifted his right hand up.
He was about to use the spikes again to attack her.
But, Asterix then landed on his back, grabbing the helmet with his hands as the general growled.
Stephanie quickly flipped over to her front as she watched the struggle, as Asterix was trying to get the helmet off from him.
Soon, the helmet was only an inch from being off, when Asterix's right hand was scratched by the general's claws, causing him to cry out in pain.
Stephanie gasped as the general roughly grabbed Asterix by the arm and tossed him away.
After Asterix was tossed away from him, he was about to adjust his helmet, when Obelix shoulder-rammed into him.
The force from Obelix caused him to drop his helmet to the ground, almost close to Stephanie.
Stephanie quickly stood up to her feet after Obelix shoulder-rammed the general, as Obelix went over to check on his injured friend.
She picked the helmet up from the ground as the glowing from the gem stopped, meaning that no one else was in control.
But, Stephanie was stuck in a dilemma.
If she wears the helmet, she could get out of control like the general and could cause more damage to everyone else than before.
Or worse, Stephanie could be even more powerful and could destroy anything in her path with the help of the helmet in her hands.
But, she needed to wear the helmet to stop the undead from hurting everyone else and give it back to Hades.
So, Stephanie took the hard choice of the path.
Stephanie placed the helmet on top of her head.
"Stephanie!" Asterix tried to scramble up to his feet to stop Stephanie from wearing the helmet, but Obelix held him, trying to mend his scratch.
The scratch was like any animal's scratches, except this scratch was turning black and started infecting his hand.
Stephanie's eyes were glazed over and turned pure black, as she limped.
"🎵Wither and decay," Stephanie began singing, her voice sounding beautiful, but at the same time, deadly.
Asterix and his friends watched with shock as Stephanie's transformation started again, but this time, in a horrifying change.
From underneath the helmet, her hair and wires turned jet-black.
The hairpin, including the rubber band that kept her hair up, dropped out from inside, landing in the dead grass.
"🎵End this destiny," Stephanie continued singing, as the undead zombies stopped attacking and started disappearing into thin air.
As Stephanie sang, black veins started going through her body, coming from her right metal hand, and the bottom of her eyes.
Her clothes turned black too, and her hair dropped out from the helmet.
It was waving around as if it was acting on its own.
"🎵Break these earthly chains," Stephanie sang, before glancing up at the full moon. "🎵And set the spirit free, set the spirit free~."
After singing the song, the undead was gone, but Stephanie was now out of control, and the general who was the first one to be uncontrolled was gone.
But, Stephanie stopped before continuing with the song, shook her head while closing her eyes, gritting her teeth, revealing her canines.
After shaking her head, Stephanie opened her eyes again and showed her eyes were not glazed over, except her scleras are black, and her eye color is red.
But then her eyes were glazed over again, and Stephanie groaned, reaching up and placed her hands on her temples.
Asterix realized what was going on with Stephanie and squirmed out of Obelix's arms, running over to her.
"ASTERIX!" Obelix exclaimed. "COME BACK HERE!"
Asterix ignored Obelix's cry and ran up to Stephanie, as she knelt down onto one knee, groaning as she held her head with her hands.
"Stephanie!" Asterix reached over to her with both of his hands. "Here, let me-"
Before he could help Stephanie, Stephanie grabbed his chest and snarled, baring her sharp teeth for a moment at her.
Asterix looked surprised and startled from it before Stephanie closed her eyes, shaking her head.
"A-Asterix?" Stephanie stammered. "I-I need you t-to do me a favor!"
Asterix nodded and listened to Stephanie's orders, ignoring the fact that his scratch turned his hand black and was spreading to his wrist.
"T-The gem on the helmet," Stephanie continued, pointing at it with a clawed finger. "It's the reason why it's out of control. Someone cast a spell on it before the general wore it. Hurry! Take it off!"
She paused for a moment as she groaned, releasing his shirt and digging her nails into the dirt ground.
Asterix did as Stephanie commanded him, grabbing the gem with his free hand as the other was starting to hurt more.
After getting the gem was pulled off the helmet, Asterix smashed it with the bottom of the hilt of his sword.
Once the gem was destroyed, both Asterix and Stephanie disappeared into thin air but left behind the smell of smoke.
Stephanie blinked her eyes and noticed they were inside a much darker temple, but could not see anything inside.
"Asterix?" Stephanie spoke, waiting for a few minutes for her night vision to kick in. "Where are you?"
"I'm right by you," Asterix answered, before wincing in pain.
"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked, hearing his wince.
"It's my right hand," Asterix answered, as Stephanie's vision changed to night vision, seeing Asterix holding his hand. "Since that scratch, it has been hurting recently."
Stephanie looked confused and concerned about what Asterix said, kneeling down to his height.
"Let me have a look at it," Stephanie asked, holding her right hand out.
Asterix hesitated for a moment after Stephanie asked, before allowing her to look at what happened.
Stephanie noticed the black scratch marks, and it is now reaching to his elbow.
"Eesh," Stephanie winced. "It looks like that general gave you a slow poison."
"'Slow poison?'" Asterix repeated in confusion. "What does that do?"
"It means it slowly kills you," Stephanie answered. "There's a way to heal this, but I can't in this form."
Asterix nodded his head, and Stephanie released his hand, standing back up to her feet.
"But the weirdest part is where we are," Stephanie mumbled to herself loudly. "There are skulls around here too."
Asterix flinched when Stephanie mentioned the word 'skulls.'
"You can see in the dark?" he asked.
Stephanie nodded her head quietly before noticing the stairs that lead down into the dark.
Usually, the stairs from the previous temples she had been in lead up.
But this change of direction is different.
Taking Asterix by the left hand, Stephanie carefully guided him down the stairs, heading deeper and deeper into the pitch-black darkness.
Once they reached the end of the stairs, the room was lit up with flames, revealing more undead armies surrounding them.
Stephanie flinched and was about to attack along with Asterix, when a voice bellowed out, "LEAVE THEM!"
Immediately, the undead army parted away from them, revealing Hades sitting in his chair in the back of the room, without his helmet.
Bravely, Stephanie walked up in front of Hades, as Asterix followed behind her.
The poison on his arm was reaching up to his shoulder.
She reached up to the helmet with both of her hands and took it off, as her original color returned to normal.
Stephanie placed Hades' helmet on the altar in front of him before stepping back.
Hades lifted his hand up, and the helmet raised up into the air by magic before growing to his head size.
After it had grown to his size, Hades took the helmet out of the air and placed it back on his head.
"Thank you," he thanked, bowing slightly to Stephanie. "I'm surprised you managed to keep yourself in control."
"Without the help of Asterix," Stephanie mentioned over to him. "I would've finished the entire incantation and could hurt more people."
Hades looked surprised from the mention Stephanie made to Asterix, as Asterix bowed slightly, before wincing.
Confused, he got up from his chair and walked over to Asterix, kneeling down.
"Let me see your arm," Hades asked, holding his hand out.
Asterix lifted his arm up, and Hades looked at it, thinking to himself.
"What could have made this?" Hades asked, glancing over at Stephanie.
"The general that was wearing that helmet before you or me," Stephanie explained. "He scratched Asterix while we were trying to get the helmet off."
Hades thought to himself for a moment after Stephanie explained what had happened to Asterix's hand, before asking, turning to Stephanie, "Do you remember the Healing Incantation?"
Confused, Stephanie nodded her head and said, "Yes, I remember it. Why?"
Hades stood up from the ground to see Asterix's injury, and answered, pointing to the ceiling, "When you get back up to the surface, sing that song, and you will heal anyone who has been infected with it. Not only that, even the decaying."
Stephanie nodded her head and lifted her hand up that has her bracelet on.
Hades tapped the bracelet with his clawed finger, and a ruby gemstone was placed on the skull-shaped gem slot.
"There is one more Roman campground you need to demolish," Hades spoke before they disappeared. "That one has Artemis' bow and quiver."
Stephanie nodded her head and bowed to Hades, along with Asterix.
"Thank you," Stephanie thanked, before they both disappeared into thin air, leaving behind the smell of soot.
Meanwhile, Vitalstatistix was looking at the damage that had been done to half of the battlefield.
He was also looking at the decaying grass in his hands.
"How long does this last?" he asked, glancing over at Getafix.
Getafix thought to himself after Vitalstatistix asked him, gently stroking his beard with his hand.
"Taking on how long the potion for this will take," Getafix finally spoke. "It will take about 4 or 5 weeks for it to either grow by naturally or magically."
"'4 or 5 weeks?!'" exclaimed Unhygienix. "We can't last that long without vegetation! The boars won't find any food like this either!"
In the background, the boars that were watching the aftermath of the battle nodded silently in agreement.
"Unless someone knows how to regrow everything!" Everyone glanced over to see Stephanie, with Asterix by her side.
The scratch on the back of his hand was still there but spreading to the bottom of his neck.
"How are you going to do all of this?" Fulliautomatix asked, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "It's going to take 4 or 5 weeks for Getafix to make something powerful!"
Stephanie chuckled and said, showing them her left hand, "Watch."
She placed her left hand on Asterix's shoulder and started singing, but it was a different song, "🎵Flower gleam and glow~, let your power shine~.🎵"
As Stephanie sang, her hair started turning blonde, glowing with magic.
It started from the roots of her head and down to the ends of her hair.
Asterix and the others watched with surprise written on their face, as Stephanie continued singing.
"🎵Make the clock reverse,🎵" Stephanie continued singing, as the magic went through Stephanie's left hand and to Asterix's injured arm. "🎵Bring back what once was mine~.🎵"
Surrounding where Stephanie touches, the grass started growing back magically, as the darkness and decay were replaced with life.
"🎵Heal what has been hurt~,🎵" Stephanie continued singing, still holding Asterix's arm with her hand. "🎵Change the fates design~, save what has been lost~, bring back what once was mine~, what once was mine~.🎵"
After the song was finished, Stephanie's original hair color turned back to normal, as Stephanie opened her eyes, seeing that Asterix's arm had healed.
She removed her hand from his arm, as Asterix looked at his arm with an astonished expression on his face, as Stephanie stood up from kneeling to his height.
"H-How did you do this?!" Obelix asked as some villagers looked at her hair.
Stephanie turned to his attention and answered, "If you learn a few magic spells from some friends, it might come in… handy."
She started collapsing on the ground, before being caught by Obelix with one arm.'
Asterix immediately bolted up from the ground and held onto Stephanie's leg.
"What happened?!" he asked.
Stephanie groaned and answered, pushing back a strand of hair, "I think I might have overdone my powers. When it comes to using a lot of powers, it comes with either me, passing out and sleeping, or just fainting on the spot."
She groaned again as Obelix picked her up from the ground, heaving her over his shoulder.
"Right now," Stephanie spoke while sounding a little dizzy, watching as the Roman army that ran into the village started heading off towards the distance. "I think a nice nap should work before moving onto the next camp."
Asterix looked slightly confused from Stephanie's Roman camp hunting spree, but shrugged his shoulders and followed after Obelix.
Right now, he has second thoughts about what Stephanie could be doing.
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