The area that would've been for Nevermore/Lilith was very rocky in terrain, almost like we were inside of Mount Arreat itself, which also included some pits of actual lava, which Bubblegum tested out with her body and regretted immediately, as part of her actually burnt to a bubble before she then put it out by slamming her slime against a wall.
"I-I thought it was soup, not lava," she said with her lower half being bubbly and some of it being left behind from melting off.
"New rule, don't poke into anything that's around here for food purposes. Stick to the juice pouches, the gummies, and the jerky that I have packed, okay?" I said, them nodding.
"Yeah, got it," Bella frowned as we then managed to reach the next elevator, us now being at floor 550, which I knew was quite an accomplishment to have made it over halfway through the main mansion... but then I had to remind myself that one of our most deadly opponents was only a few rooms ahead of us.
"When we encounter Chara, they will immediately look for which of us is the strongest, much like Delirium did. But for Chara, they'll see if we killed anyone before... it all depends on our Level of Violence, as they describe it as. If it's even so much as 6, then that person is dead immediately. Even killing something as small as an ant or a bee will get your LV up if you did it enough," Bella said.
"Good thing that I never hurt anything willingly... the most I did was accidentally eating some bugs when they flew in my mouth, or the one bug that I accidentally stepped on. Bad move, as it was a scorpion. I'm lucky I still have my foot after that day," I admitted.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, we're in New Mexico, aren't we?" Cynthia asked, me nodding at her. "It's been so long in this mansion, I almost forgot where I even lived... I miss my family," she said with a sigh.
"I promise, we will reunite you with your family, Cynthia. And they will be so overjoyed to see you again," I smiled at her as we then reached Room 560, which I immediately recognized. It was the Hall of Judgement from Undertale, the entire place looking almost exactly like the pixelated graphics, despite it still being realistic.
"Uh-oh... Chara's from Undertale, aren't they?" Cynthia asked, me nodding.
"Do you know of any other Chara's out there?" I asked, her speaking the obvious.
"This isn't the time to make jokes, especially if this Chara has a LV 20 soul!" she said, me nodding at her as we then reached the very end of the room and, after doing so, right before we went into the door, a note suddenly popped onto the door from a version of Specimen 1 in the form of a skull. I then read it.
"I can see through your disguise...
I will eradicate you, if you lift it...
I will do the same if you hide it...
Just enter the door and face the judgement.
If you have killed anything equivalent to a human soul, I will know...
AND YOU WILL PERISH :)" the note read, me shuddering at that as I then knocked on the door instead before going in. It was in the tune of a certain song that I knew that Chara had to know. Memory, from Undertale. After doing it twice over, I heard a voice on the other side.
"If you're trying to weasle out of this, it won't work. If anything, it makes me angrier," they said, me hearing that it sounded like a kid, but as expected, I couldn't discern if it were female or male. "I hear your thoughts just as well. Don't even think of assigning a gender to a hermaphrodite," they said... wait... what? "JUST ENTER ALREADY!" I immediately opened the door quietly and carefully, me seeing that Chara was in the next room, it being a dimly lit throne room with her sitting on the throne that belonged to Asgore... and that there was a pile of dust that coated the throne of Toriel.
"Before you attack, I just w-want to say one thing, Chara," I said, the kid looking at me with a frown.
"Really? One thing? Speak it, then," they said, me hearing the heartbeat soundtrack all around us as the room became darker.
"I only killed one human before... but it was only because he was going to kill my parents. If I wouldn't have killed him, he would've murdered my two most favorite people in the world... and that includes my sister, as my mom was pregnant at the time," I said, Chara then frowning at that.
"Hmph, I see. You say you killed in self-defense. Lucky you, self-defense doesn't count on the LV chart.. or at least, it doesn't in this world. But what of the others that you've slain? Let me see," they said, me then gasping as I saw a small heart emerge from my chest, and I was shocked at what it was. And so was Chara. "A... Determination soul?... And it's the brightest red that it can get?... Wait..." they said before then checking the stats, me literally seeing the words appear in front of us.
"Matthias
LV: 0.777
HP: 777
ATK: 3
DEF: 333
A half angel that will protect even a villain if need be. Warning, has an dangerous, angelic katana," the text said, me being surprised at the list of things before Chara spoke.
"I uh... your stats are very reminiscent of being an angel, that's for sure... and that low an LV proves you aren't a killer... but what of the o-" Chara was about to finish before I then held my katana out. "Oh, right. You protect villains as well... including murderers such as Spooky and Alma," they said, me then nodding. "Oh well, I understand your motives. I have others I wished to protect as well... before they were lost..." Chara said with a sigh, me seeing a bit of black blood go down their cheek. "You may think me a dangerous monster, but I miss my family just as well. Not my human one, but my adopted family. I'm sure you understand," they said, me nodding at them.
"Yeah, I do. I know you aren't the villain of your series. It all depended on Frisk's actions, as determined by the player. And so you know, I always went for true pacifist. And I have a single version of the game that stays as true pacifist on my PS4," I explained.
"Mmhmm, I sense the truth behind it... so what do you suggest I do, then? I am still a dangerous wraith from a world filled with dangerous souls... and the only soul I have on hand is a soul of genocide. What do you suggest I do?" they asked, me then speaking after.
"Maybe try seeing what happens if you were to touch the katana? Not to cut, but to just touch?" I asked, Chara then simply moving forward, me feeling pure strength in the air with every step they took, until they then touched their finger to the sword... and after that, they gasped at something.
"I sense... numerous souls trapped within this sword... almost 30 thousand, some from killers, some from innocent children, and even some that are middle of the road... I think I know what to do..." they said before then actually taking out a soul from it, which was a blue soul of Integrity, before then absorbing it into their body and then, after, sending a soul of dark red and black into the sword, me then seeing the sword become coated in darkness before then returning to its normal purple hue.
"I feel... I feel so much better now..." Chara said, me seeing that they were no longer filled with the terrifying power they once had, and that their eyes were now green instead.
"Good to know. Now we need to make sure you stay safe, because you're now just as vulnerable as Bella and Cynthia are," I said, her then looking at Bella and moving past me, her then doing something that made me smile. She didn't do anything dangerous with the knife still in hand. She just yanked on Spooky's lengthy hair instead.
"OW! What the hell was that for?!" She asked angrily.
"You know very well, Spooky, what it was for. You being assisted murderer to almost a thousand different people over the years," Chara frowned.
"Um... not asking because of criminal background, but how many did each of you kill before I came here?" I asked, Spooky then simply doing something as we went through the next door... and it was another Cat-Dos room. I then went to the Cat-Dos and, after Bella entered the password, we then saw the list of kills each specimen had done. The one with the least amount was 3, as they were the most recent, followed in order of least to most was, in numbers, 2, 11, 12, 13, UN1, 7, 8, 6, UN5, 5, 4, UN3, UN4, 9, and 10, meaning that Chara and Nevermore had the most kills under their belts, with Chara having 200 while Nevermore's was 172. As for Specimen 3, it was responsible for only 22 deaths. And I was really surprised that the Unknown Specimens were some of the more dangerous ones, especially Tirsiak, Samson and Filia, Lisa, and of the ones in my current group, I never expected Ringu to have such a high number at 99 people consumed.
"You were quite the big eater, weren't you, Mitsuri?" I asked, her then frowning at that.
"Yeah, sometimes I ate two or three at a time... they never lasted too long, even less time if it were multiple people," she sighed.
"No worries, because we need to keep going in order to meet the most important of the specimens... and hope that he's in a right sense of mind right now. Because, otherwise, we'll have no chance of defeating the ghost cow," I said, which Bella spoke to me after.
"Just make sure that, when you meet with Huggles, that you don't get too close. His mode of killing is the same as Mitsuri's, consumption. And he prefers eating feet-first," she said, me gulping at that.
"Yep, that checks out..." I sighed as we then moved forward once more and, after going through some more annoying rooms in the form of the long hallways and the annoying puzzle room...
"Ding, Ding... Badunk...
Ding, Ding, Ding... Badunk..."
"I hate these. Note to self, once out of this place, never place these guess which door puzzles anywhere anymore. Worst puzzles in existence. Not even Pa-" Chara was about to say before then sighing after.
"It's okay, Chara. You don't need to repress it. Just think of the good memories you shared in the happy runs, right?" I smiled.
"Y-Yeah... when Papyrus was the goofiest skeleton in the world, Sans being the best bed who always drank ketchup, Undyne's brashness, Mettaton's pompousness, Blooky's chill vibes, Alphys and her awkwardness, and... my family... memories I'd never give up," they sighed with tears welling up in their eyes.
"And just know this, Chara. A good number of Undertale universes have yet to experience genocide, much like the ones at my house," I smiled.
"Good point... let's just keep going," they smirked as we then moved through to the next elevator and we went down it, where Cynthia held onto me and Chara decided to do the same with Mitsuri and Alma... as for Isaac and Bella, they held tight on Bubblegum, her making sure the areas they latched on were more solid than the rest of her body, so as not to accidentally ingest them.
"It's so weird, your body is almost like jello... I like jello..." Isaac said with a small smile.
"We'll have plenty of jello when we get out of this nuthouse," I smiled, Isaac smirking at that happily, which was much better than seeing him cry. We then moved through to room 610, and when we did, I saw that we were in a mall-like setting, which I saw looked almost exactly like Level 7 of Monster Madness. The only thing that wasn't around were the monsters, us moving through the place and seeing that the way to the toy room was blocked by fire. In order to get through, I decided to get the key from a leprechaun statue, taking it to a door to lead to the control room, where we then got jump-scared by a poster of the xenomorph specimen 1, followed by a small camera flash, me being surprised how accurate it was to the actual game.
"Yep, this is accurate so far, and I don't like how accurate it is being," I said, us then turning the switch to turn on the sprinklers, which I then heard in the distance. And when we turned around, we were then jumpscared by three different horror-faced Specimen 1s, me growling at how each was a different color, to match the different demons that appeared shortly after the switch flipped in the actual game.
"Methinks that Mr Huggles is more sane of mind than I thought, especially if he recalls this much about the past," I shuddered as we then exited the room and we then went to the toy section of the store, where we were the spooked by an animatronic of Jack-O, me frowning at that and seeing that, after the animatronic spooked us, a small explosion happened from behind that caused the path behind us to ignite again!
"Yeesh, even the Jack-O refernece holds true to my own experience. Forgot Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion. Some of the most stressful moments for me was from Monster Madness, specifically from these stupid pumpkin head-ed jackasses," I frowned.
"I played it once, never managed to get past level 3... which level was this in the game?" Cynthia asked.
"Level 7, it being in a mall where the characters need to find supplies at to survive," I said.
"Got it," Cynthia smiled as we then went into the toy store of doom and, when we did, we saw that Mister Huggles was currently in here and, when he noticed us, he then spoke.
"What naughty children," he said before then going to the piano floor and playing it for a bit. "I love you, you love me, I will eat you horribly!" he sung creepily, me then holding my katana out in between him and my group, which, before he could come and attack, he screeched to a halt mere inches away from the katana's tip! And when he was next to it, he started to actually shiver as the exterior part of the costume came off and it revealed his Jabba the Huggle form, him then speaking to me.
"You aren't like the others, big man. Who are you?" he asked.
"Someone who wants to escape this mansion with all of my partners... but in order to do that, I have a cow to kill. Hint hint," I said, him then gawking at that.
"I know the cow you speak of... you will find it in the basement of the entire mansion, only accessible from the elevator at Room 990. But before that, allow me to touch this sword. I need a spare soul in order to keep my sane mind... and not consume your kids," he said, the kids then huddling close to each other behind me as I then poked the sword's side to his bald head and, afterwards, a soul of Patience came out, it being cyan in color. He then ate it whole and, afterwards, he then backed up to about 50 feet away from me in the toy room.
"I'm back to my old self again! Now I can be Mister Huggles for the rest of my life! I'll follow from afar, friends, just don't forget to have me join you in the elevator at Room 990. I have a piece of mind to give to that stupid cow, myself! Without my soul, my Monster Token, I was just another pawn for that stupid bovine! Now I can get my soul back and some cow for dessert!" he said, me frowning at that.
"Would you keep your mind in check when we find the ghost cow's haunting grounds? Or would you be back to your old habits when he tries to get into your mind?" I asked.
"Hehehe, he can't hurt another monster. He can only turn humans into monsters, not monsters themselves! I can defeat him with ease and get the keys as well!" he smirked.
"Okay then, good to know," I smiled as we then simply bid him farewell, but not before he gave me something. It was a party horn.
"Simply blow into that, and I'll be there faster than a tail can shake!" he smirked, me nodding as I then went forward again through the next parts of the mansion.
"Mister Huggles was controlled by that cow this whole time? I never expected that," Bella admitted.
"Not just you. I didn't expect that either," Isaac said.
"I think all of us are surprised by this turn of events... but it kind of makes sense, since his soul was used to contain the cow demon," Alma said with a frown. "And now I can hear that stupid bovine in my head," she said, me then frowning at that.
"Tell him that I'm coming for him, and he's going to be someone's next burger," I frowned. Alma then thought for a bit more as we reached the elevator room and she then gasped.
"He just said something else... he's holding Bella's mother's soul hostage down there..." she said, which made Bella gasp.
"My... My mother?... What is her name?" she asked.
"He's saying her name is... Jillian," Alma said.
"He's lying," Bella frowned. "My mother's name is not Jillian. And unless he tells me her full fucking name and gets it fucking right, he's not going to trick any of us," Bella growled angrily. And then, I gasped as I suddenly... I felt something... WRONG. I felt like my mind were in the middle of a migraine... I was getting affected by the cow, that much was a fact.
"You will forget everything, and you will be my new vessel," he said, me frowning at him and pushing by with some thoughts in my mind, that being the thoughts of something I knew he'd hate. Bible verses. "What are you... MOOOOOO! Do NOT think those horrid thoughts! MOOOOOVE IT!" he mooed in disgust, me frowning at him.
"I am not going to let you hurt any of us with your mind control powers. I have no idea how you are doing this when stuck in isolation, but know this. You will be killed and you will not like how you get killed," I said, him growling as he tried to get to how I planned his demise, me then shutting that thought off and then, I literally booted him from my mind. How did I do this? I placed the blade of my sword against my frontal lobe, which made the bovine force itself out of my mind, lest he get absorbed by the sword! And after that, I finally felt nothing wrong with my mind.
"If you contact us again, Mad Cow, then I will know which mind you go inside, and I will put the katana on that person's head next. I'm learning more and more of my angel powers by the minute, and I now know how to focus on your soul from your contacts. And that goes for the other specimens, too. If I find out you went for any of them and tried to get in their minds, you're burger meat, got it?" I growled. And after, the others then looked at me with surprise. And Isaac started to cry before he rushed over and gave my legs a hug.
"He was about to go into my head next... before you said that... I didn't want to become Delirium again... t-thanks..." he sniffed through the tears, me smiling and hugging him as best I could, us then simply taking a break to get some juice drinks and some food from the snack packs I had on hand... oh, and a few bits of food I found around Huggles's room, which were in the form of cakes and cookies.
"Hold it, before I eat these... are they safe to eat?" I asked.
"Yes, they are. But I don't know if they're expired or not," Bella said, me then doing the daring and eating it, me then being surprised at how... fresh it tasted. I then gave some to the others in the group after. And we then, after being filled, we then hit the elevator once more... the next stop would be the bowels of Bugsnax kind... and I had to hope that they wouldn't attack us if they saw we had Specimens on our side.
"They won't attack me, Mitsuri, Isaac, Bubblegum, or Alma... but they will attack the rest of you," Chara said, me nodding at that. "And yes, I can still read your mind. It's something that I'm able to do, even before I died... I knew exactly what to say so I wouldn't get no for an answer," Chara admitted.
"It's sure to have quite a few good memories with the Dreemurrs, right?" I smiled.
"Yeah... especially with Azzie... oh, how I wish I could turn back time... the good old days..." they sighed. We then proceeded to use the elevator... we still had a total of 6 Specimens to get through, each one more dangerous than the last... especially the Unknown Specimens.