Chapter 15

Krankpus

"Does it ever stop snowing here?" Susie complained.

"It's only a few snowflakes," Ralsei pointed out.

"Yeah, but they keep coming!"

Kris pointed out that at least thanks to Jolly, they didn't need to shovel any of it.

"You're right, Kris. And the road hasn't been sticky at all!" But still, Susie frowned and grumbled, "If he keeps snowing, then my hair just stays wet. It's been a real pain in the ass! Sure, my hands, neck, and feet are all mice and warm, but if this keeps up, I'll just have a headache from all my body heat escaping."

To their horror, Kris realized that they should have bought their girlfriend a beanie or something to keep her head warm. They had been too focused on the adventure and being cheesy romantic to worry about anything practical.

Ralsei came to the rescue, offering his hat. "Here, Susie! You can use this! Next time we find a place to stop, we should all think about taking a hot steamy bath! To wash off all the grime of the day and warm up."

The way he said that made Kris wonder. Narrowing their crimson eyes, Kris tried to perceive what Ralsei might have been insinuating. As their embarrassment began to rise, Susie swiped up the hat and shoved it onto her head. It was way to small for her, but she kept it balanced.

"Good thing it's not windy right now," Ralsei said. "Things have been looking way more cheery recently!"

"Festive indeed," Susie mused. "And what about that sword? Feeling any stronger?"

He shrugged and replied, "Not really. It's just interesting that I cannot pass it along to either of you. I guess Asriel really meant for just me to use it. Though I can't figure out why."

Kris eyed the sword. Its description indeed stated that it could not be equipped to anyone else in the party. At least Susie and they had their empowering hugs from Asriel. Anything that would give them an edge against the Krankpus. The battle that was surely just ahead.

The trio continued climbing up the Lantern Road. The soft Christmas lights surrounding them gave off warm glows that did not blind them. The beautiful vista was clear before their eyes. With the darkness largely removed from the gigantic grove, they could appreciate the Christmassy wonder and awe surrounding them. It also gave Kris a little vertigo to consider how high up they were. With the tree's slope angling towards its peak, they could no longer see Gift Town or the village's bright aura below them. There was only an incline of snow, stubbornly resilient, green pine needles, and countless glittering ornaments and lights.

Susie tracked their gaze and said, "You know, it is really beautiful. But I… I think that the decorating with did with your mom and Ralsei were far prettier."

"Ah, Susie! That's lovely! Thank you," the Dark Prince gushed.

She took Kri's hand and squeezed it. They returned the gesture, smiling. They agreed; it was far more fun to decorate with their friends and family. Both trees looked even better because it was their work. And it was work they had done together with Susie, which made it even more precious. Kris whispered their thoughts to Susie, making her blush a little.

"Careful with what you say, Kris," she said, grinning peevishly through her own flustered feelings. "I might just shove you off and let you fall back down to the bottom."

"Or I could do that for you!"

An unnatural cold ripped through the three of them, slicing their good feelings down to size and burying them under ice. The Krankpus stood a few short boughs above them, spreading his wide arms and claws out to both sides. He laughed cruelly, mockingly.

"Have you not noticed? There are no decorations up here, but the roads paved with lights and garlands! There is no Christmas up here, only your doom and despair!" He threw his reptilian head back and laughed. "No friends here to save you! No Christmas to draw upon! Just you three and me, in a battle to the death!"

He snapped back and glared at Kris, pointing at them. "Your fears are true, Kris Dreemurr. I am your ornament! The one you have betrayed by pretending to be a hero! The representation of who you really are deep down!"

"Kris isn't like that anymore," Susie snapped.

"They've done a lot to become better," Ralsei added sternly. "They cam to terms with their destiny, embraced it, befriended those from beyond our world, saved all of our worlds, made friends, and even fell in love!"

"Okay, Ralsei… That last part might bave been a little too much," Susie whispered out of the corner of her mouth, as she readied her axe. "She then stared hard at the Krankpus and snarled, "Besides, you have to deal with me! You're my demon as well! Not just because Kris and I share our problems, but because I need to kick your ass! I've had enough of Krankpus messing up my Christmases!"

"Ah, yes, Susie… I am indeed your nightmare, too," the winter demon taunted. "Your fear that everything with Kris will fall apart. That this is just a spat of goodness before your life goes back to the nightmare and pathetic, dreary existence that it has always been. But, it's not just a fear, Susie… It's an inevitability!"

Kris drew their sword and readied themselves. What he had just said was not okay. Glaring angrily at the Krankpus, Kris swore that they would defeat him. The Krankpus clacked his claws together and screeched an unpleasant laugh. He threw himself off the upper branches, showering the heroes with frigid snow. He slammed heavily into the road ahead of them, making the top of the tree shake.

"Fine words, but they have no meaning. No weight behind them," Krankpus purred.

Susie took off Ralsei's hat and stuck it firmly back on his head. "Here, you don't want to lose this, and I don't want to ruin it beating the shit out of this guy."

"Krankpus!" Ralsei squeaked. "What is going on here? What did you do with the Angel?"

"If you can beat, and if you're all smart enough to piece it together, and that is a lot of Ifs, then you might just figure it out! Now, enough of this chatter!" The Krankpus scrapped his claws together, generating a cascade of ugly sparks. "Let's get this battle over with! Teasing you three is only so much fun. Destroying you, body and soul, will truly make my Christmas!"

The demon charged just like he had before, His claws reached out ahead of him to scoop them up and hurl them off the tree. Kris called out to Ralsei to strike. They swept to the left and Susie struck to the right, beating back the Krankpus' claws with their sword and axe. Flashes of light and brilliant sparks blinded all of them. Ralsei screamed incoherently, striking and smacking wildly with his sword.

"Gah!" Krankpus hissed, slithering backwards. A glowing, shallow cut was visible across his chest. He glanced down at it and became enraged.

BOOM!

He sank his claws into the tree. From his inflicted wound, the bark buckled and erupted. A wave of spikes and jagged blades washed towards the heroes. With a snarl, Susie scooped up Kris and Ralsei and leaped for the low-hanging boughs just above.

"No running," Krankpus growled, ripping out his claws. He leaped after them and slashed with one hand, summoning a tremendous storm.

"Ha! We were ready for that!" Susie shouted, throwing their free snow globe to absorb the storm.

Krankpus blinked, as if he was genuinely surprised for a change. Kris and Ralsei charged, attacking with their blades. Once again, there were flashes of incredible light and showers of sparks as the demon warded them off. Kris could feel the boss shake beneath their sword. He was not used to fighting like this. The Krankpus had always beaten others through intimidation and sheer force of strength. The moment anyone could actually fight back, the Krankpus was unsure of how to act.

Crossing his claws, the demon gurgled, "Pine needles!"

The pine needles all around them became actual needles and stabbed at the heroes. Snow erupted around them as the needles attacked, blinding the friends. They were unable to adequately defend themselves as the needles stabbed deep into the exposed flesh.

"Arg! Damn! That hurts!" Susie cursed, swinging her axe to ward off the attack.

The loss of HP was not worth the accumulation of TP. Kris commanded Ralsei to cast a healing spell on them while they and Susie kept up the pressure. Sword and axe once more rattled and rang across the Krankpus' claws. Susie put her hip into each swing, throwing the demon off balance.

With a tremendous spring, he flew back up the branch and landed with a hollow thunk. He once again plunged his hands into the wood and ripped up a wave of blades and thorns. Susie once more scooped up Kris and raced after Ralsei. She caught him just in the nick of time, throwing herself back down to the road, and in the direction of where the Krankpus had first blocked their way.

"You are exposed!" Krankpus roared, leaping down on top of them.

Ralsei squealed and held up his blade. Krankpus crashed into them, crushing Susie against the road. Ralsei' blade went through his gut, impaling him. Both Kris and the Dark Prince were blasted apart by the force of the collision. Kris rolled into the first wave of serrated blades and thorns, taking tremendous damage.

The Krankpus tore into Susie, slashing deep into her flesh and wasting away the rest of her HP. Kris took out a revive mint and shakily got up. They needed to save her right then. The sword gifted from Asriel burned in the demon's stomach, catching his cloak on fire in the process. Seething, he reached down to wrench it free.

Kris shared a look with Ralsei, who was struggling to get back to his feet. The Dark Prince gave him a nod and stumbled forward in a sloppy charge.

"Susie!" Kris screamed, running at the Krankpus.

"Your girlfriend is down, Kris. And she's going to stay down while I take her head!"

The demon leered gleefully, raising his claws to behead Susie while his other hand remained outstretched to impale Kris on his long claws. With an echoing crack, Ralsei caught the demon's blow with his scarf and held him back. The monster shot a murderous glare at him. Kris kept running, the revive mint ready to cram into Susie's mouth.

"You both die here," Krankpus growled, yanking Ralsei right to him.

Kris threw the mint at Ralsei.

"Got it, Kris!"

Schwing!

Kris spun and slashed with their sword, slicing right through Krankpus' claws. Using up the team's accumulated TP, they used Asriel's blessing to unleash all the holy power in their blade. It snapped the claws cleanly.

Ralsei caught the revive mint. The demon was so caught off guard that he could not respond in time. The Dark prince zipped right past his guard and tackled into Susie. He rammed the revive mint into Susie's jaws.

Kris' momentum carried them right in front of Krankpus. The demon brought down his other claws on the hero. They raised their sword and held it in a guarding position. The blow was incredible, driving Kris right into the tree's bark.

"I'm up and ANGRY!" Susie roared, swinging her axe right into the Krankpus' chest. Her blade bit deep into his corrupted flesh.

He staggered back, gurgling. Ralsei reluctantly took hold of his sword and swung, ripping it right out of the monster's gut. He reversed his slash, cutting through the demon's claws still connecting with Kris' sword. With one more blast, Krankpus was shot backwards and into the snow, thoroughly declawed.

"Kris!" Susie shouted worriedly, checking them. They were so low on HP. She shakily stuffed some chocolate into their mouth to help heal them.

"You're right… We've been eating too much chocolate and mint," Kris laughed weakly.

"Haha! Shut up, dude, and just heal up," Susie said, tears in her eyes. She wiped them away, taking up a defensive position. "The guy's down but not dead, yet. Watch out, he could still come from anywhere."

"HOW RIGHT YOU ARE, SUSIE!" the Krankpus bellowed, his voice assailing them from every direction. Another snowstorm suddenly picked up, immediately freezing the heroes to the bones. "What, did you think I could only cast one storm?"

Visibility became nearly impossible with all of the snow falling in prickly, blinding sheets. The friends got back-to-back, holding out their weapons to ward off any attack. Kris kept looking around, trying to figure out where Krankpus would come from next. There was a horrible cracking sound and Kris twisted to face just down the Lantern Road.

Krankpus came out of the storm, wielding a crude weapon made of the blades and thorns he had conjured earlier. Kris was barely able to hold back the blow and still took damage. The demon laughed and he crushed the weapon down, biting deep into Kris' shoulder.

With his free hand, he spun a length of chain like a whip. He cracked it again the side of Ralsei's head, sending him down without a word. The Dark prince had taken too much damage already and had spent all his attention trying to keep the other two alive.

"Down without a healer," Krankpus cackled.

Susie lashed out, trying to cleave his head from his shoulders. The Krankpus leaped back and once more vanished into the storm.

Kris retreated and took out another revive mint and slipped it to Ralsei. At this rate, they were going to run out of crucial resources. There was a whooshing sound from above. The demon plummeted out of the gloom and struck at Kris. Susie intercepted and parried the grizzly thrust. Krankpus pummeled her with his chains, knocking her down to her knees.

Ralsei popped up and stabbed again into the Krankpus. His cloak was no longer on fire, but smoldering. However, another direct attack from such an angelic weapon did plenty of damage to him. He cursed and rolled away. Susie roared and pressed the attack, using up all their TP to unleash her own blessing from Asriel.

The demon raised his improvised blade to block the swing. Susie broke right through it and carved deeply into the beast's chest and shoulder, crippling him. The Krankpus howled and spat, barfing up venom into Susie's face. She went rigid and collapsed.

Krankpus whirled his chains but was forced to retreat back into the storm when Kris and Ralsei charged. Kris whipped out the apple cider that Gerson had gifted them and poured it down Susie's gullet. It washed away all the negative effects and granted Susie a little more HP.

There was another how, of wind and the storm grew even greater. The heroes felt themselves seizing up from the tremendous cold. This magical blizzard was designed to not only blind them but immobilize their muscles with the plunging temperature.

"We can't see or do anything in this weather!" Susie called out.

"We could try using our other snow globes. I'll off up mine first," Ralsei said.

"Aww… I'd hate to waste such wonderful presents," Susie complained.

"I don't see what else we could do to stop this!" Ralsei shouted back. "And I don't think this is impeding the Krankpus at all."

Kris agreed. They could feel the demon slinging about in the storm. He had been grievously injured, meaning that he could not attack as haphazardly and chaotically as before. The heroes were not backing down from his ferocity and strength, which meant that he needed to attack carefully and strategically.

Kris also reckoned that it would take two snow globes to absorb the two summoned storms. If Krankpus created another, they would be out of snow globes. The Krankpus could probably afford to wait them out storm after storm until they were too weak to fight back.

Susie agreed, prompting her to respond with, "Kris, Ralsei, please cover me. I'm about to do something incredibly stupid."

"Why?" Ralsei gasped.

"Because my logic tells me that if we unleash a storm of our own, we might be able to disrupt the Krankpus' spells."

"That makes no sense!"

"Which is why I said it was stupid!" she snarled back. "But it's the only thing I can think of!"

She hefted her axe and brought her arm back, getting ready to hurl her weapon. Her yellow eyes glinted with determination and the desire to beat her demon. Susie launched her axe into the storm. A small tinkle magically made itself known through the blizzard.

WHOOOOSH!

A third storm, the first actually, erupted from the busted snow globe and cascaded across the battlefield. It blasted away the falling snow, and in a sudden moment of clarity and visibility, Kris found the Krankpus lurking nearby. The demon roared and charged at unarmed Susie.

His chains wrapped painfully around her. The monster reeled the teenage dragon towards himself, eager saliva dripping down his fangs. "Come here, girly!"

"Kris!" Susie screamed as they sliced through the chains with an almighty heave. It exposed their side.

The demon charged and bit into Kris, injecting the debilitating venom into the teen. Kris crumpled and was knocked out cold. Half screaming, half crying, Ralsei plunged his sword once more into the Krankpus. The demon brought his claws together in two great fists, before bringing them down on the Dark Prince.

Susie charged, taking the blow on the head. She was knocked silly and nearly knocked out, but she pushed Ralsei ahead. The shove also drove the holy, angelic sword deeper into the demon. White flames ripped their way through the Krankpus as he let out an unholy screech. The terrible, deafening sound ran down the entire length of the Angel's Tree, making every Darkner stop in their steps and shudder.

"This is for Kris! For Ralsei! And for me!" Susie bellowed, taking hold of Ralsei's hands. She heaved upwards, pulling him along with her.

"Woah!" Ralsei shouted as the Krankpus howled in agony.

The holy sword of light ripped up through his chest and severed part of his collarbone as it exited out of his uninjured shoulder. Susie lost her balance, still woozy from the blow. She toppled backwards, taking Ralsei with her.

The Krankpus gasped, trying to clutch at his mortal wound. But he was too injured and weak to do anything. His eyes grew wide with fright. Venom frothed in his mouth as he stumbled backwards. He slipped on the snow and fell back.

Rasping, he managed to say, "Well damn… What a Christmas… This has been…"

Susie clawed her way to Kris and popped their last revive mint into their mouth. Kris woke up, feeling sore and groggy. They pulled her into a hug. Susie couldn't restrain herself and began frantically kissing the top of her head.

"Yuck! Hair! At least it tastes like apples," she said in a muffled voice.

Ralsei laughed weakly and used their TP to cast healing spells and get everyone back onto their feet. Susie kept hugging Kris close to her chest. Theu surrendered to the warm, soft sensation and relished the feeling of being at least a foot of the ground while in her valley of soft pillows.

"I think we all did some stupid stuff back there," Susie said, trying to joke. "Damn, it's still snowing."

"At least we're not freezing to death," Ralsei pointed out.

"I'm going to get my axe. And I'm taking Kris with me."

"What about all those swords and thorns?" Ralsei asked.

"Eh, I've been impaled enough by now that I'm immune to it!"

It was then that Kris noticed that the Krankpus was still alive. He was expiring, but not through death's door just yet. This provided an opportunity to ACT. They asked Susie to put them down. She compromised by carrying Kris over to the fallen demon.

"Come… To gloat?" Krankpus asked weakly.

Kris shook their head. They came to forgive. That was the key to finally winning, to finally moving on. Forgiving themselves for their foolishness, teasing, mean-spirited pranks, and actions. Forgiving Susie for being a bully. Forgiving their families for screwing up Christmases in the past. And finally forgiving the Krankpus and letting him go on. It was time for him to take his rightful place in Christmas traditions. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with him; he served a purpose in keeping naughty children on the straight and narrow. But he was not needed here, tormenting Kris and Susie.

"It's not… That easy…"

Kris agreed. No Christmas is easy. No good relationship is easy. The future is uncertain. But one thing is certain: letting the past torment them would ruin everything they had fought so hard to achieve. What good was saving the world and everyone if you allowed your past to devour you?

"Huh… Can't… Argue with that," Krankpus sighed, finally passing away in a burst of sparkles and becoming a demon ornament.

Ralsei tramped through the snow and picked it up, finding a place to hang Kris' special ornament on the tree. Doing so caused all of the damaged parts of the Angel's Tree to heal. The road was restored, and the pine needles reverted to their normal selves. The storm lessened to a pleasant snowfall. Jolly's magic did its work and melted the way forward.

Susie finally put down Kris and said, "Did you mean all of that? What you said back there about moving on and forgiving me and yourself?"

Kris nodded.

Susie smiled and bent down, kissing them on the lips. "Idiot. I put it behind me long ago." She kissed them again.

Ralsei had the good grace to look away.

"Now, how about we go and stock up on more items to help us out in the final fight and get me a damn beanie or something!"

Kris took her hand and led the trio back down the tree. However, they didn't get far…