THE LAST HOPE
Gerson was sending everyone to their posts and archers were lining the walls. The human army was closing in so they had little time. The orange light from their torches let the Monsters know how close they were getting. As Gerson shouted orders to the guards, he saw Undyne and Alphys arrive, the latter running off with the rest of the civilians.
The humans on their side were going into the halls, hiding behind various pillars near the courtyard. They would be ready to spring the trap to contain all but one.
Asgore was standing on the far side of the hole in the wall, where the humans were most likely to enter. Once he was seen by the enemy, he would run to the throne room, where the trap for Volos lay. Frisk and MK were already in position, waiting in the room.
Undyne took up station with the humans, being one of the few Monsters chosen to fight with them, as she could withstand their strikes, alongside Papyrus. Sans, however, was with the archers, as he wouldn't be able to survive even a single hit.
Haward ran up to Gerson. "Everyone's in place. We'll try to keep our spells to non-lethal ones."
"Good. Our archers are under the same orders," Gerson said. "Crippling shots, nothing fatal."
"Can they do that in the heat of battle?" Haward asked.
"We'll give it a try if nothing else."
The two looked out towards the advancing wall of orange light. They didn't plan to take out the entire army, just one person needed to die. Haward still felt bad that they had to kill his father, but he understood the necessity of it.
Volos stood at the head of the army. He could see the Monsters were ready, archers on the walls, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"This will be over swiftly," he said.
Dobromil came up. "I'm just asking, one last time, does it have to be this way? The Monsters could just surrender to us. We have them outnumbered."
"After what that traitor did to me?" Volos hissed, pointing to his scarred face. "Never. I don't care what the king wants. He's weak."
Dobromil remained silent. He had been hoping the Monsters would have fled rather than stand their ground.
The purple wizard came up. "The army is ready," he said.
"Good," Volos purred. "Let's send these freaks back to where they came from." He pulled out his sword and pointed it at the castle. With that, the humans charged, letting out war cries.
Gerson saw the advancing battalion. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some of his archers had pulled their arrows back. "Hold," he said.
"But… sir…"
"They'll have a protective spell while charging. Let's not waste shots," Gerson advised. "Once in the castle walls, we'll begin."
The humans charged through the gap in the castle's defenses and were caught off guard by the lack of immediate resistance. Many stopped when they saw the courtyard was empty and the archers hadn't fired off a single shot yet.
"Where are they?" one of the soldiers asked.
Just then, a few wizards stepped out from hidden pathways, went over to the hole in the wall, and erected a barrier to seal the breach. The humans saw it go up and Volos realized it had been a ploy. "It's a trap!"
The rest of the wizards came into the courtyard, engaging their counterparts. As they did, the archers up above began firing into the humans ranks, the arrows enchanted so they didn't go too deep as well as aiming at arms or legs.
The invading army was so caught off guard by the attack that they didn't respond to the fight right away. Eventually though, Volos managed to rally the troops to fight the opposition. The wizards on his side did their best to counter the archers up above as well as contending with those on the Monster's side. They were reluctant to kill their brothers, which prevented any fatalities.
Undyne charged through the combatants, her spear turning green as she swung it, locking many humans in place which allowed the archers to disable them. Some of the soldiers tried to strike her but she used her arms to deflect their strikes; her metallic limbs easily turned aside the blades. She held back from actually killing anyone, though she did manage to leave a few marks that wouldn't disappear quickly.
Volos was dual wielding two swords; one his black blade, the other an ordinary weapon. Unlike his fellows, he didn't hold back in the battle. He slashed with lethal intent and deflected many spells sent his way. Amidst the battle, he caught sight of a large, white shape in one of the tunnels. He knew what that was. He kicked off the wizards holding him back and ran after Asgore, who turned and ran as soon as Volos saw him.
Undyne caught sight of the red-and-black robes breaking off from the fight and knew it was Volos. She ran in his direction, just to make sure no one tried to follow him. A few soldiers and wizards tried to go with him, but a wall of spears discouraged them. "You're not going anywhere," she menaced, brandishing two spears, one in each hand.
Volos pursued Asgore through the halls of the castle, disappointed that no one was following him. No matter. He would enjoy executing the king of Monsters. If he killed him, the fighting outside would fall apart as the Monsters lost spirit.
Eventually, the large king ran through a set of double doors. Volos followed a few moments later. He kicked the doors open to see Asgore standing in the middle of the room. Volos glanced around and realized this was the throne room. It also didn't escape his notice that there were no other doors here. "Looks like you've trapped yourself," he taunted. "A pity. I was hoping for a challenge."
"I am only going to ask this of you once," Asgore said, unafraid. "Stand down. There is no need for this. Whatever you hope to gain out of this fight, it's not worth it."
"That's what you think," Volos retorted. "I actually have everything to gain."
"Why are you doing this?" Asgore asked. "Have we done something to offend you? Have we wronged you in some way? Tell me, and I will try to make it right."
Volos cackled. "Oh please. I'm not doing this out of vengeance or justice, old man. I'm doing this because I enjoy it. I kill your kind because it's easy and I take great pleasure in seeing you suffer."
Asgore bowed his head. "I see. It's a shame. I had hoped I could convince you not to do this."
"Is that why you led me here? To appeal to my humanity?"
"No. I just hoped I could prevent something regrettable."
"What? Like killing me? What could you do to me?"
"Not me. Them."
Volos turned around just in time to block a red trident and blue spear from slicing through him.
"Remember me?" Frisk taunted, swinging their trident back before lunging again while MK mirrored their movements. Volos deflected them both, but then turned around to see Asgore swinging his own trident at him. He turned and saw Frisk and MK standing at the ready.
"Three on one? That hardly seems fair," Volos stated.
"We're not interested in fairness, dude," MK said.
"Just making sure you're ended," Frisk added.
"Well then, brave children, come and prove it!"
The three aggressors charged Volos with their weapons, who managed to deflect the tridents and dodge the spear. Though the fight was three on one, Volos had two weapons, and the three fighters had to be careful of the black blade, as it could kill them with a scratch.
Volos fired a blast of lightening from his regular sword at Asgore, but it looped around to Frisk's weapon, which absorbed it. They charged alongside MK. Volos kicked the yellow lizard back and parried Frisk's strike with his plain sword, but the lightening crackling on the red weapon traveled up the blade and into Volos, briefly shocking him.
Asgore conjured a barrage of fireballs and sent them at Volos, who deflected a majority of them. The rest went past him. But then he was struck from behind by Frisk's own barrage. He swung his black blade at them, only for a wall of bones to take the blow instead, curtesy of MK. Volos sent a wave of fire at the lizard, surprised he was still up, but the reptile avoided the fire with ease, chucking a spear at Volos in the process.
Frisk charged, swinging their trident and Volos parrying with his swords. Asgore joined the fight forcing Volos to parry both their weapons. As they fought, Asgore noticed that Frisk's trident was essentially a smaller version of his own.
Volos tried to stab Asgore with his black blade but Asgore jumped back to avoid it. Frisk took advantage of the opening to try and get him in the gut. Volos just barely parried it with the regular blade, but a chunk of it was taken out in the process. MK joined in, swinging his spear at Volos, who tried to parry him, but MK was duel wielding his spears, making it a challenge to block blows from three weapons with only two swords.
Strike after strike, his regular sword lost its edge, until a powerful swing from Frisk sliced it in two, the top half clanging on the ground. Volos broke from the fight to inspect the damage and almost all of the weapon was gone. He was now down to his black blade. Frisk, MK, and Asgore were all primed to continue the fight, a fight Volos knew he wouldn't win like this. He turned and ran for the windows, firing a fireball at it to destroy it before leaping out the window.
Frisk, MK and Asgore followed to see Volos land on the roof of an adjacent building near the wall.
"He'll try and regroup with the humans," Frisk realized.
"Well, we can't let that happen," MK said. He leapt out the window, landing on the same roof, running after Volos.
"He'll get himself killed," Asgore fretted.
"What else is new?" Frisk snarked before leaping out the same window, following their friend.
Asgore stared at the sight. The distance was by no means small and required a bit of magic to be survivable. He briefly considered following the same way, but the roof wouldn't take his weight. Instead, he chose to find a window that was closer and pursue that way.
Dobromil saw Volos run off and was able to guess where he was going. He tried to follow, but the Monsters weren't making that easy. It was clear they had time to plan all this. Time that he had given them. He also noticed that none of the arrows that were being fired were killing anyone. Legs were impaled and arms were disabled, but nothing fatal.
He ducked before the flat end of a spear could whack him in the face. He turned to face the fish lady that was facing him.
"I know you," she said. "You were there to greet us at the meeting."
Dobromil took in the sight of her. She was clearly ready for battle, decked out in armor, stance sturdy with a spear in hand, her hair pulled back to keep it out of her eyes, one of which was different than the other. He recognized her from that meeting.
He pointed his staff at her to keep her at a distance. "What do you want?" he asked.
"What do I want? What do you want? What are you after?" she retorted. "Why are you following that crazy man."
"He is our leader," Dobromil said. "He has the backing of the king." He knew it wasn't true. He had been the recipient of the letter he showed to Volos.
"News flash, he doesn't. Not anymore," the Monster said. "The king ordered you all to stand down so he could talk to us. Volos is doing this because he doesn't want peace."
Dobromil knew that, but Volos had ordered him to not say anything. "I still have to follow him."
"Why?"
"I have my orders and he's our leader."
"Bullshit," the Monster said. "He's no leader of yours. He's disobeying orders for his own benefit. And you need to call him out on that."
"But he's still our leader. It would be dishonorable to betray him."
"And which is the greater dishonor?" she pressed. "Disobeying your insubordinate commander or disobeying your king?"
Dobromil lowered his staff, unable to retort.
The fish woman ran off to another part of the battle, knocking out anyone that wasn't on her side, leaving the green-clad wizard with his thoughts.
Volos ran across the tops of the castles trying to find a safe way down. He needed to get back to his army so he could take those people on with all of them as backup.
A bone shot up in front of him and he turned around to see the lizard standing there.
"Running away?" MK taunted.
"You must have a death wish if you think you can take me on," Volos taunted.
"You think you're so powerful but I haven't seen much from you, dude," MK said. "Why don't you prove it?"
Volos charged with his black blade at the ready. MK blocked the swing with a spear. He then conjured another one, attacking Volos with both of his weapons, agilely avoiding his retaliation and attacking from every angle he could.
Volos struggled to get the upper hand, unable to understand how this child was matching him. Eventually, he managed to stab MK in the arm, thinking that was it, but little sparks danced along his weapon when he stabbed the appendage. In addition, MK seemed startled but not in any pain. He smirked when Volos tried to pull the weapon back, but he twisted his arm to lock it in place.
"What's the matter?" MK asked tauntingly. "Death Touch unable to kill inorganic limbs?"
It was then Volos realized that under the metal gauntlet was more metal, along with other bits he wasn't able to identify, but it all looked to be made of metal. There wasn't any flesh in those arms!
MK jabbed with his spear and Volos just barely avoided the strike. He tried to shock MK with a blast of lightening but he placed his arm in the way, which seemed to absorb the shock. MK then conjured a bone and smacked Volos with it. MK yanked his arm back trying to pull Volos' sword from his grasp but the red-black wizard held fast.
He conjured a fireball and struck MK with it, but the lizard barely looked bothered by it. So, he tried punching MK in the face, but he didn't seem to feel it very much. MK retaliated with a punch of his own right into Volos' gut, causing him to topple over in pain. Fed up, he grabbed his sword with both hands and pulled with all his might, freeing his sword after a couple of tugs.
Once the blade was free, MK's arm went limp for a moment. Volos tried swinging his blade again, only for Frisk to arrive and parry with their trident. Then they sent a blast of lightening at Volos, who managed to deflect it with his sword sending the strikes to shock many down below.
Volos fled a separate direction, unwilling to take his chance against the both of them.
"You okay?" Frisk asked MK.
"Yeah, he just got my arm," MK assured, grabbing his semi-limp arm. "Seems Death Touch has a weakness."
"It kinda makes sense. In a way, your arms are your weapons, and the magic doesn't travel up weapons," Frisk said. MK swung his arm around, reengaging it.
"We need to stop him from regrouping with the other humans," MK said, running after the wizard with Frisk following.
Volos tried to leap off the edge of the roof but MK conjured a wall of bones to stop that. Thwarted, Volos instead ran for one of the windows near the roof. But the closest one was shattered by Asgore, who leapt the two feet onto the roof, trident in hand.
Volos came to a halt when he realized he was surrounded. As the three combatants closed in on him, he got an idea. He focused on his blade, fire appearing on the edges. He swung his sword in a pattern, the fire forming a shape. MK, Frisk, and Asgore backed up at the sight as whatever it was grew larger, bathed in flame. Volos then thrust his sword into the air and a massive serpent made of fire appeared.
The serpent attacked Asgore first, who swung his trident to knock it aside. Volos then turned to Frisk and MK, charging with his black blade. Both dodged his swing and Frisk conjured a fireball to strike Volos with, getting him in the back. The older wizard turned on them, swinging his blade at the smaller combatants but they avoided the swings with ease.
Frisk leapt into the air with trident poised to strike him but Volos kicked MK back before swinging his sword at Frisk, who just barely got their trident around in time to stop it. The parrying blow sent Frisk flying.
"Frisk!" MK shouted, running after them. Volos pursued, deciding to let his serpent take care of Asgore while he finished off the child.
Asgore quickly realized that the roof was growing unstable because the fire serpent set it aflame wherever it slithered. Realizing that staying up here was folly as the roof grew weaker with each second he returned to the castle halls. The roof gave out just after he got off and the serpent fell with it. Having lost its quarry, the serpent decided to turn to the battle, perhaps picking up its master's desire to kill Monsters. Asgore had to stop it.
Frisk managed to soften their landing before they hit the stone floor of the wall walks where the archers were stationed. They briefly moaned in pain. The landing had been anything but gentle.
"kid, that you?"
Frisk looked up to see Sans standing there.
"thought you were fighting volos," the skeleton continued.
"I was," Frisk admitted, sitting up. "He sort of whacked me away."
"i take it the fight against him isn't going well, then?" Sans asked.
"He's a lot stronger than we originally thought," Frisk said. "And he knows more spells, too."
"well, things aren't going too well on this front," Sans informed. "the humans outnumber us three-to-one, though being up here means we're out of range of their attacks."
Frisk managed to get to their feet, though they were unsteady and used their trident for support.
"you okay?" Sans asked, concerned.
"Not entirely," Frisk confessed. "On the plus side, my heart hasn't acted up, yet."
"Look out!"
Frisk and Sans turned to see Volos marching along the wall walks, easily slicing through any Monster that got in his way, each one screaming as they turned to dust in an instant. Frisk felt a brief flash of fear at the sight. Each Monster that died could be hundreds, if not thousands, of future Monsters dead. Those could be friends vanishing before they have a chance to even exist.
"I'm not finished with you, kid," Volos menaced.
Frisk stumbled away, Sans helping support them. "you'll have to catch them, first," Sans said before vanishing.
He reappeared on the opposite side of the castle, laying Frisk against a wall. "maybe you should take a break," Sans suggested. "get your breath back."
"You're not seriously telling me to 'take it easy' now, are you?" Frisk asked. "This is the wrong time for that."
"kid, i don't know how much longer you can…"
"It doesn't matter how much longer I can go for," Frisk insisted. "I'm already dead."
"not yet," Sans retorted. "you still have some time."
Frisk groaned. "Sans, I've heard that from MK and I've heard it from Undyne. I'm sick of hearing it. I know I might have an extra day, but I might not. Now I respect that you care about me and want to keep me around, but DEAR GOD ABOVE, it's my life and I'll decide how it ends! Not you! Not anyone! So let me do this. Let me go out on a high note rather than just passing out in my sleep. If I die, I want it to be a death worth remembering."
Sans sighed, realizing he wasn't talking Frisk out of this. Reluctantly, he nodded.
Frisk managed to stand up on their legs. "Now get me back there. Every Monster Volos kills could mean hundreds of friends die."
Sans took their hand before teleporting back to where they were. Though the first thing both noticed was the amount of dust and the fewer archers present.
"There you are."
Both turned to see Volos standing there.
"You're not escaping this time," the wizard threatened.
"Sans, go. I'll handle this," Frisk said. The skeleton tried to retort, but Frisk beat him to it. "You need to cover the fight below otherwise it could all go pear shaped."
Sans nodded in understanding and limped away from Frisk and Volos.
"Taking me on all by yourself?" Volos taunted. "You're either arrogant or delusional."
"Maybe I just think I'm better than you."
"Or perhaps you've forgotten how our last encounter ended." Volos pointed his sword at the stones, which began to heat up before he conjured a wave of lava. He then sent it at Frisk.
Frisk just smirked. "A lot's changed since then." They thrust their own trident at the lava, which halted in its tracks, before Frisk sent it back at Volos. The older wizard just barely got out of the way in time, shocked beyond words at the feat.
"That's impossible," he breathed. "It took me years to figure out how to heat up rock to that point. How could you have done it in two days?"
Frisk raised their trident in challenge. "Maybe I'm just better than you at magic. After all, I've had great teachers."
"Well then, let's see what you've got." Volos continued to liquify the stone bricks of the walls, sending them at Frisk, who was able to send it back and retaliate with a few lava balls of their own. The fight was now an even match.
Asgore ran down to the courtyard where the battle between two armies was taking place. That fire serpent Volos conjured was heading there and he had to stop it. He ran out into the area to find the battle was still in full swing. It was human versus human. Soldiers reluctantly fighting wizards, who were casting spells designed to knock out, rather than kill. Amidst the fighting, he saw Undyne and Papyrus, both fighting humans while doing their best to not kill anyone though Undyne looked like she was holding back more than the skeleton.
He ran to the two of them, knocking out a few humans in the process.
"Asgore? What are you doing here?" Undyne asked. "You're supposed to be fighting Volos."
"We weren't able to contain him to the throne room," Asgore revealed. "But we have a new problem. Volos has conjured a fire elemental."
"WHAT'S A FIRE ELEMENTAL?"
Just then, one of the nearby buildings exploded and the serpent roared into the sky.
"That's a fire elemental," Asgore answered.
"WOWIE!"
"What the heck is that?" Undyne asked. Many fighters stopped to gawk at the sight.
"A creature made purely out of an element, bound to its caster's will," Asgore explained. "It is difficult to contend with and I fear it will try to destroy us."
Sure enough, the massive creature glared at the fighters below and breathed a jet of orange fire at a particularly large cluster, flaming humans on both sides of the conflict.
Laser blasts and magical arrows struck the beast but it barely noticed them. It continued to attack and many wizards conjured a barrier to block the flame as best they could, but the serpent bashed it with its tail, cracking it.
"We're gonna need help," Undyne realized.
"FRISK MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING," Papyrus suggested.
"Then we need to get them," she decided. "But where are they."
An orange glow caught their attention and streams of lava were visible up on one of the wall walks.
"PERHAPS THAT WAY," Papyrus said. "LET'S GO!"
"Wait, Papyrus," Undyne urged. "They're fighting Volos. They can't be pulled away from that."
"FRISK MIGHT BE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DEFEAT THIS THING," Papyrus insisted. "IF WE DON'T DEFEAT THIS CREATURE, IT WON'T MATTER IF FRISK WINS. THERE WON'T BE ANYONE LEFT."
Undyne sighed. "You're right. Let's go."
"I'll come with," Asgore suggested.
"Fat chance," Undyne said. "Volos wants to kill you very badly and a single punch from him could do you in. And besides, you got fire as well. Keep the serpent busy while we get Frisk." She and Papyrus ran off while Asgore turned to face this massive threat to both humans and Monsters. He had to buy them time and he would do whatever it would take.
Frisk fired a blast of lightning from their hands at Volos, who deflected it with his sword. He conjured a barrage of fireballs at Frisk, who tossed them aside with their trident. It was clear by now they were pretty even in terms of skill and they were struggling to land a blow. The lava had been discarded in favor of other spells, however, they were both trying to kill the other.
Frisk heard an explosion down below and glanced to see the fire serpent rampaging across the battle, indiscriminately attacking all in its way.
"Volos, stop this!" Frisk demanded. "Your creation is running amok, killing your army along with mine."
"Who cares," Volos hissed. "If they fall in the battle, so be it. That's their purpose."
"You're insane!" Frisk shouted. "That's your people down there and they're dying to your own spell!"
"So what?" he snapped, firing another blast of lightning, which Frisk deflected.
"You really don't care about anyone," Frisk realized. "Heh. You're just like them."
Volos prepared another lightning strike, only for a barrage of bones to nearly get him. Frisk turned to see MK running up to them with a spear in hand.
"Did I miss anything?" MK asked.
"Nothing important."
Volos growled before looking down at the battle. MK seemed to read his mind for he conjured a wall of bones to block him. "Nuh uh. You're not going to them for help."
"Then I'll go through you," Volos menaced, black blade at the ready.
He charged and Frisk and MK took up defensive stances. But before he could swing, another wall of bones, some of which were blue, appeared between the two sides. Frisk and MK turned to see Papyrus there, standing on a big bone, level with the walk.
"What are you doing here?" Frisk asked.
"FRISK, WE NEED YOU TO GET THE FIRE SERPENT," Papyrus said. "IT'LL KILL ALL OF US IF YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING."
"I can't let Volos regroup with his fellows," Frisk retorted.
"I KNOW. THAT'S WHY I'LL KEEP HIM HERE WHILE YOU GO FIGHT THAT THING," Papyrus informed.
Frisk knew what he meant and realized Papyrus could die. "He's too powerful, Papyrus. He'll kill you."
"MAYBE, BUT I'LL TAKE THAT RISK," Papyrus said sadly. "JUST MAKE SURE THAT SERPENT DOESN'T HURT ANYONE ELSE."
Meanwhile, said wizard was chopping his way through Papyrus' barrier, slowly making progress.
Papyrus hopped onto the walk way in front of the kids. "GO. I'LL HOLD HIM OFF. AND DON'T WORRY, UNDYNE WILL BE HERE SOON."
Frisk wanted to retort, to ask Papyrus to not do this, but knew they didn't have time. They leapt onto the big bone with MK behind them. With a wave of his hand, Papyrus had the bone sink back into the ground. He faced Volos just as the wizard broke through.
"Taking me on all by yourself? You're a bigger fool than you look," Volos taunted.
Papyrus sighed. "NORMALLY I'D TRY AND ASK YOU TO STOP. I'D TRY AND REACH WHAT GOOD THERE IS IN YOU. BUT… LET'S BE HONEST. THERE IS NONE. YOU'VE CROSSED THAT LINE A LONG TIME AGO. SO EVEN THOUGH I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GONNA DO TO ME, I HAVE TO STAND MY GROUND." He conjured a pair of bone staffs, one in each hand.
"You must be an idiot if you think you have a chance," Volos said.
"SOME WOULD SAY I'M BRAVE. I KNOW I'M FACING MY DOOM, BUT I DON'T CARE. I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO KILL YOU, BUT I WILL TRY, EVEN THOUGH I WON'T LIKE IT. FOR EVERYONE'S SAKE, BOTH NOW AND FUTURE, YOU MUST BE STOPPED. AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STAND MY GROUND AGAINST THE LIKES OF YOU, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!"
Volos charged, blade at the ready, Papyrus standing with his bones raised. He was going to give this fight his all.
End of Chapter 15