The battle was well underway when Brann came to the Old Tower outskirts. Balista and rocket launcher platforms fired away at the Old Tower, but a magical shield covered it.
"Will, what the hell is this shit?"
"Well, my Lord. These fucking things seem to have salvaged all of our mana collectors, converted the Tower into one giant mana collecter, and are channeling that energy into a massive fuck off magic shield." Will then turned to Brann, looking a bit sower. "I have many zombies throwing themselves at every possible way to sneak in."
"Don't worry, man; Gnarl decided to be helpful for a change. Those magic crystals from the shrines are being converted into cannons; all I have to do is get into the proper position and-" All of a sudden, a large siege platform burst out of the ground, firing a beam of magic at the shield. "That, Grubby needs me to find the right spots."
"You best be off then." He turned away, but Brann could sense that something was wrong. And he damn sure knew what it was.
"Hey, we can talk after we take the Tower."
"I don't have anything to say to you, prick!" Brann was taken aback by Will's outburst. He knew where it came from, but he couldn't allow it.
"If anyone else dared talk to me like that, they would wish they were dead." He said coldly before letting out a deep sigh. "Look, I am hurting too. But we need to deal with this first."
"We wouldn't be needing to deal with this if you had a fucking dick, Brann!"
"Oh, so we're blaming me for this!?"
"You have no idea how right you are." Will then stepped up to Brann in a threatening enough way that the Minions stood at the ready. "Do you have any idea how many of the Knights and Minions died in the attack on our home!?"
"I didn't have time to caun-"
"Forty thousand form each Minion tribe! And three hundred of our Knights, people we grew up with! Three hundred of our brothers and sisters, DEAD! And I'm not the only one who puts that at your feet, brother!"
"Feel better that you got that out?" Brann tried to stay calm, but he gripped his axe hard. "What, prey tell, should I have done to prevent this?"
"ANYTHING, YOU ASS!" Will was fuming with rage as the spirits of the fallen began to manifest as a mist around them. "We all knew Fay was a threat! We knew she was going to make a move eventually! But you just sat on your ass and did nothing!"
"We were fighting the Empi-"
"They were fooled into thinking you were dead! We could have taken care of Fay then!"
"Not without compromising our alliance with Luna."
"Fuck the Elf bitch! You could have beaten her into submission, used Evil Presence to make her compliant, and she would have told you where Fay was!" Will then slumped, and the mist of dead souls faded. "You chose to maintain a pointless alliance over our mother. I know you couldn't have known, but your mercy killed her."
"Will..." Brann took off his helmet, showing his glowing eyes filled with pain and tears rolling down his dark blue cheeks. "You think I don't feel your pain? Do you think I'm not suffering? All I want is to be back home, crying like a child with you and Bill in my arms. And blaming me will do nothing but hurt our family more. Fay did this, not me."
"I'm not the only one who blames you, my Lord." Will turned away. "We are not the only ones to lose family. Remember that." Brann wanted to say something, anything. But he knew the conversation was over, and he turned around and got back to the fight.
...
Sindra watched on from the safety of the Tower. She could see and hear everything Brann was doing, but she kicked herself for not being there. But like she told Brann, it was clear that the Netherworld Tower was not as secure as they all thought it was, so someone had to man the fort as it goes.
"Good, the shield is down!" Gnarl said in his shrill voice; Sindra had almost forgotten he was there. "We have more good news, Master! We can connect the Old Tower portal to the Netherworld gate network. Step onto the Gate, and you'll be squashing rats in no time!"
"Make them hurt, Brann," Sindra said, her voice sounding more somber than she meant. "Make them hurt like they hurt us!" She hissed, taking on the more angry tone she originally intended for.
She watched as Brann butchered Spell-Born left and right; it was indeed an epic battle. But she couldn't find any joy in the mayhem, no satisfaction in the enemy body count. All she felt was, well, nothing. Sindra had never thought the absence of feeling would be worse than feeling bad, but here she was.
"I'll be in the Privet Quarters; do not disturb me." Sindra walked a little faster than she meant to, quickly finding herself alone. Well, aside from Juno, but she was more of a decoration than anything else. She got out of her armor, moved to the balcony, and just looked out into the swirling chaos.
"You doing ok, Pinky?" Sindra turned to see Kelda looking sympathetic, making the Hell-Spawn snarle.
"I don't need your pity."
"I don't pity you; I just saw you were having trouble, is all."
"Whatever." She tried to ignore the redhead, but Kelda walked over to stand next to her.
"Did you lose someone in the attack?"
"No, Brann and Will are my only friends." Sindra then took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "But there was this girl. I can't remember her name. She would always follow me around when we were growing up and try to copy everything I did. She was so annoying."
"Sounds like you had an admirer."
"Well, she's dead now, so who cares?"
"Kinda sounds like you do."
"It's not that it's..." Sindra could feel tears forming in her eyes involuntarily. "I just wonder if things could have been different if I had given her the time of day. If I had trained with her more than I had to, if I took an interest in her, learned her fucking name. Would she have survived? Or would I feel worse because a friend died?" Kelda placed a hand on Sindra's shoulder, and despite her first instinct to shrug her off, she let her keep her hand there. "Fuck, I sound ridiculous!"
"Not at all. We all deal with things like this in our own way. But just letting you know, I'm here for you."
"Thanks, red. Kinda glad I didn't shove you off the balcony when I had the chance."
"And I'm glad I didn't plant that explosive in your armor rack when I could have." The two women just looked at each other and burst into hysterical laughter.
...
"This is, like, totally unfair!"
"Considering that we tried to destroy them all, being imprisoned for the rest of our lives is relatively merciful." Lilly Bloom said to the former High Spreaker. But Sylacar crossed his arms and pouted like a petulant child.
"Like, we're the good guys, right!? The good guys always win in the end! This is totally bogus!" Lilly just rolled her eyes. The Elves of Everlight had a somewhat childlike view of morality, as did Queen Fay. But Lilly was a Dryaid; she knew the true morality of mother nature was a far harsher and crueler reality.
"And who says this is the end?" Both turned to see the owner of the nasally voice at the end of the hall. And trotting in was a familiar face.
"Sparkle? Your father spoke poorly of you." The unicorn in question gave a dismissive huff.
"Yes, Father might not have approved of my scholarly pursuits. But it will be by my mind that good will know victory!"
"And what do you mean by that ma-" Sylacar was then cut off by the loudest, most inane, and nausea-inducing bowel movement the unicorn could have possibly made. But what came out of the mystical beast's hind end was not the usual items of disgust, but the Golden key to goods ultimate victory.
...
Meranda huffed in frustration, glaring at the apple that was right in front of her.
"I said, turn into gold!" She screamed at the inanimate friute. Blasting it with magical energy, mutating and evolving the apple into something with tentacles and fangs coming out of odd places.
"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" She then kicked the apple, sending it flying. "I'll never be good at this like mother or father!"
"All you need is a teacher." Meranda nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to see the ghostly woman floating behind her. "Be not afraid, child. I am here to help you."
"W-What are you!? Magical creatures can't get into the city through the shield!"
"I am your guardian angel, dear Meranda. And I am here to teach you how to use your power properly for the good of the world."
"R-Really?" Meranda was more confused than anything, but if this stranger could teach her magic, what harm was there in listening? "Ok, what do I have to do?"
"Take me to the magic chamber, and I will help you use its power to mold you into the perfect sorceress."
"Um, ok. Right this way, Ms angel."
"Fay, you can call me Fay."
((Greetings, my little goblins! This is your one true king, MrGoblinKing7! Sorry for the slow updates; my life has been a never-ending nightmare from which I cannot wake... But I'm back in the swing of it! As you can see, I've decided to incorporate some Fellowship of Evil characters into the story. Seeing as Overlord 2 never had a good DLC like Raising Hell, I am going to be incorporating bits of that games lore, and some plot lines I've set up in this story to make a continuation that is meant to feel like it was based on DLC that never got made. We need to give our boy Brann a proper send-off, and I intend to make his end just as epic as Zephyrs's. As always, feel free to make suggestions on where you want the story to go, and the most popular opinions, or the ones I like, will be incorporated into the narrative. Have a wonderful life, my little goblins!))