Chapter 35: A Sonata in the Dungeon

"Haahhhh…. Hahhh… Hahhh…." I walked while breathing heavily. My body grows weaker and weaker from lack of nutrition, wounds and the Possession slowly consuming me. How long has it been? I can't tell after spending so much time in darkness.

Did I make the right choice back then? I can't stop myself from attacking Perv after seeing my father's condition and Perv's evil smirk. To think that all the aristocrats and guards present immediately called me crazy after I did that… And he even threatened to have my father assassinate Midgar aristocrats or even the king of Midgar himself if I don't surrender myself to him. He's insane… That would trigger a war! And… why me…?

"Ughh…" I fell to the floor… struggling to stand up, I end up leaning against the wall of the tunnel. Behind me are corpses… not the corpses of my pursuers but corpses of people who are long dead… who are supposed to be long since dead. The undead minions of Necromancer.

If Cid hadn't discovered their weakness back then… I wouldn't be able to defeat that much of them on my own. But I suppose it didn't matter now…

"Cid…" I took the burger wrapper out of my pocket… the burger that he gave me… It was delicious. And the words of encouragement he gave me….

"Oh… Cid… Why did I have to fall in love with you now… when I know I no longer have any future…? I'm sorry Cid… At this rate… I won't be able to… reciprocate your love…" I muttered with tears running down my cheeks.

I'm sorry… father…

*Tap tap tap*

The sound of approaching footsteps…. Who is it…? I asked as my consciousness fades away.

I made a huge mistake. I should've done more research before allowing them to enter this wicked place. Mr. Claude and the bi—Alexia are competent fighters but Necromancer's undead minions are stronger the deeper we went into the tombs! They will be worn out and I couldn't assist them without revealing my true identity!

"Hyaaaahh!" Shouted Alexia as she decapitated a skeleton soldier.

"Hm!" Shouted Mr. Claude as he decapitated three zombies with one swing.

"Is there no end of them!?" Shouted Alexia.

"Princess Alexia! Watch your steps!" I shouted as she stepped into a pressure plate that triggered a trap.

"Oopsie?" She said. And she had the gall to be cute at a time like this! Agh!

A huge boulder appeared on the other side of the tunnel crushing the undead and heading straight to us.

"Ruuuun!" I shouted while panicking. All three of us ran as fast as we can… well they ran as fast as they can while I have to match my pace with them. Eventually we evaded the boulder by running through a branching path in the hallway. And the bitch almost fell down a hole with spikes on the bottom. Luckily for her, Mr. Claude was there to save her by dragging her back before she plunged herself down the hole while running.

"Ahhhh! Why are there so many traps too!?" She complained.

"That's why I said this is such a bad idea!" I complained too.

"We need to keep moving. If we, who are perfectly healthy, were having trouble, Rose would have more trouble considering she probably hasn't eaten in days!" Exclaimed Mr. Claude, clearly worried about Rose, especially since he knew she was afflicted with Possession.

"Ughh… You're right. Let's keep going." Alexia said as we went back to the path that the boulder passed through in order to proceed further. At least it's not gonna get harder now that the reinforcements are here.

"Who's there!?" Mr. Claude shouted to the dark and 3 cloaked figures emerged.

"Fear not. We are Shadow Garden." One of the Numbers said.

"Shadow Garden. Why are you here?" Alexia asked distrustfully.

"We are here to escort you out. You're not meant to be here."

"I refuse! My friend is still in there somewhere! She needs our help!" Alexia shouted.

"Fear not. Lord Shadow has made his move."

Lord Shadow!? So he foresaw all this mess and decided to move. As expected of our lord.

"Graaahhhh….!" We heard more growls of the zombies from the direction we came from. A horde of them approaching. This is probably a bit much even for the Numbers.

"Looks like we need to keep moving." Alexia muttered.

"Agreed." Mr. Claude said. This is such a disaster. But babysitting is work too, Beta.

I regained consciousness to the sound of piano… It's a miracle that I'm still alive. But who… where…?

As I opened my eyes, I saw the interior of an old underground Cathedral and… a figure clad in black playing the most beautiful rendition of the Moonlight Sonata I've ever heard on a grand piano at the center of the Cathedral. The Cathedral was illuminated by blue lights coming from the stained glass windows resembling moonlight and white feathers fly around the room, creating a beautiful atmosphere.

I stood up, ignoring the pain and fatigue to listen to the man… Shadow… as he played the piano skilfully, perhaps more skilful than Lady Silon did. Ahh… It's so beautiful.

Eventually he finished the song and bowed before the audience, namely me.

I clapped, fully in awe of his performance.

"That was… the most beautiful rendition of Moonlight Sonata I've ever heard."

"Now… What are you going to do?" He asked and I stop clapping.

"I… I wish to protect everyone… and to achieve happiness. But…"

"Is it over then? Is your fight over?" He asked again.

"No! I don't want it to end! I wanted a better future! But I have no power!"

"If it's power you want…" He raised his hand to eye level and a purple flame ignited on his palm.

"I can give it to you."

I gave Rose-senpai a portion of my magic and cured her Possession symptom while I'm at it. My magic also rejuvenates her body and healed her wounds. Now she can fight the horde of undead on her own so I left her. I hope you can achieve your dreams.

But anyway, that was hella dope! It was worth it to steal that piano and bringing it down here. The undead and traps were annoying. They almost damaged my piano so I had to ward them off with my slimes. But it was worth it. Rose-senpai was from a kingdom of arts so she definitely appreciated my performance. The atmosphere and lighting… my favourite song, Moonlight Sonata… It was perfection.

On my way out I met Epsilon.

"Lord Shadow!"

"Epsilon."

"What happened? Was I too late?"

"It is done. Don't worry about it."

"I see. I was called by Beta in order to cure Princess Rose's Possession but it seems you beat me to it. As expected of Lord Shadow!" She said with a smile.

"So what now, my lord?"

"Her battle starts here. Your task now is to explore this labyrinth and find anything valuable." I hope there's anything worthwhile down here. But if I see another Mimic I'm so gonna punch that Necromancer in the face again.

"Very well, my lord!" Epsilon said as she left.

Now then. There seems to be some commotion around this direction.

Well. It's been fun watching the reactions of Alexia, Natsume and the Shadow Garden members to this labyrinth which has become my dungeon. But the true fun starts now. We are approaching the boss room instead of going out thanks to the traps being deliberately designed to force intruders to go deeper, one of which was the boulder trap from earlier. How many will die today? I can't wait.

The Shadow Garden members are more competent than I thought. They looked like they are experienced in fighting my undead minions. I also noticed how much hatred they have for my undead servants. How much emotion they showed when they decapitate every zombie and skeletons. Oh this is so precious.

We eventually entered the boss room, which is a throne room filled with many human skeletons with a robed skeletal figure sitting on the throne. A Lich.

"N-Necromancer!?" Alexia exclaimed.

"No. That's just another one of his undead minions. Though from its attire it looks like it fights the same way as Necromancer." Natsume said and as if to confirm her theory, the Lich stood up and brandishes his staff and starts raising the skeletons surrounding the room and send them to attack us.

"Incoming!" Shouted one of the Shadow Garden members as they brandished their slime swords to fight back against the incoming horde of skeletons.

The fight was going well, until the Lich starts casting lightning bolts towards them.

"Hyaaahhh!" Screamed one of them who were hit by the lightning.

"626!" Shouted her comrade.

"I'm okay!" The injured Shadow Garden member said as she stood back up. Hm. She's pretty durable. And… her wounds heal on their own? Impressive. She has long silver hair and is carrying a dagger on her hips. A side weapon perhaps? Also, where have I seen her before? Pretty sure I saw her in one of the dossier of Compatibles and pretty sure she was some guy's daughter.

"Claude! We have to help them!" Alexia exclaimed.

"Agreed! Hyaaah!" I shouted as I charged in together with Alexia to fight the skeletons.

"Willkommen." Welcome.The Lich said.

Author's Note:

The number 626 was taken from Lilo and Stitch, 626 being Stitch's number.

ACogintheSystem: If you ever do Kaiju battles, have Necromancer turn into King Ghidorah and Shadow turn into Godzilla.

Also, an idea for the investigation would be Claude "showing" Alexia and Natsume a tapestry showing the "origins" of Necromancer. According to the lore, he came from the stars and started spreading death and destruction in his wake.

Answer: Perhaps. Funny that I discussed Cid turning to Godzilla some time ago in TEiS discord.

Zero: It be epic that necromancer revive Olivia in her full strength.

Answer: If he can find a corpse that survived that long that is. His necromancy hasn't reached the realm of souls so far and the ones in Sanctuary are just clones.

primenidus: The plot thickens

Answer: THICC