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Year 16 AL, Overstimuli
Faint rays of the approaching sun barely peeked from behind the horizon, but these beams of light did not travel far, as an encroaching ceiling of dark clouds covered most of the sky. Beneath this growing development, in the forest bordering San Ilia, was Luka. He sat cross-legged by the nearby riverbed, already wearing his day clothes.
The young Hero had remained awake since Ilias sent him back to Earth, as his mind was still reeling from everything that had occurred in Heaven. With nothing else to do, Luka had gotten a head-start on preparations for the day ahead. Anything to get his mind off of the phantom feeling of Ilias's lips touching his own.
Now that all of his things were packed, the troubled boy was left with little else to do but wait until Alice woke up. The only issue with this, however, was that his mind did not hesitate to start reflecting on the events of the night before.
There were many conflicting things bouncing around in Luka's heart after his most recent trip to Heaven. The purple-haired boy had greatly enjoyed spending time with Eden and the Angels, even with how overwhelming it could be, especially with how interested they were with him. Nevertheless, Luka had felt a genuine sense of belonging when he was around them.
Which was a profoundly alien sensation.
Despite having been born and raised in Ilias Village, Luka never truly felt comfortable there. He was content once he was able to find a place of sorts in the town, but anything outside his own home just didn't click with him. But in Heaven, amongst the Angels, the purple-haired boy felt at ease.
As nice as this was though, the part of the night that had given him the most joy was reuniting with his Father.
Even if it was short, it had been a reconciliation that Luka had only allowed himself to dream about. Having the ability to see his Father again was something Luka could never be thankful enough for. However, there was an issue. An issue that had to do with who he was thankful towards: Ilias.
Luka would like nothing more than to explain away what had occurred between him and the Goddess as some sort of lapse in judgement, or even a miscalculation of some sort. But it couldn't be that, he was sure of that now. Last night, Ilias had purposely leaned down to kiss him in a manner that was not platonic. Sure, the contact had been brief, but it had occurred all the same.
The major problem that Luka had now - the one that was currently causing him to feel so shaken - was the fact that he knew well that there were only two reasons why a person would kiss another in that way: Either out of love or lust, and more often than not, it was a mix of both. But to affiliate these emotions with Ilias, to even think for a moment that she would hold those types of feelings, it sounded absolutely insane.
There could not be any possible way that Ilias felt that way for him, could there? Luka was simply unable to wrap his mind around the concept. Ilias was a Goddess, so she shouldn't even entertain such thoughts in his mind. So, desiring any type of intimacy from him shouldn't be something she even entertained...
...But even so, Luka felt just a shred of doubt bled into his mind.
Rustle Rustle Rustle
The uncomfortable line of thought in his mind was broken as Luka heard movement from a tree nearby. Sure enough, when he glanced over to a nearby tree, the young Hero spied his traveling partner stirring from her slumber. He watched as Alice groaned and stretched on the tree limb she had slept on last night, before her golden eyes opened to glance around.
A perturbed look came to Alice's face when she found Luka sitting there, but it wasn't just because he was seemingly already prepared to head out.
The purple-haired boy was notable paler than usual, and his troubled pale-blue eyes had a faint shadow around their edges. The lavender-skinned Lamia snaked out of the tree, staying silent all the way until she reached the bottom. "You look like Hell." Alice noted bluntly.
The edge of Luka's mouth curled down and he glanced over to the calm water next to him. Indeed, his reflection showed how disheveled Luka appeared. His frown grew deeper and he glanced away from the water, "I didn't have very good sleep last night." Luka offered, which wasn't entirely untrue. After all, with all his time spent in Heaven, he hadn't actually slept for that long.
To his surprise, Alice prodded further, "Another nightmare?"
Luka blinked, "Eh, yeah..." He reached up and tugged at a stray lock of hair, failing to hide his nervousness. The young Hero felt a twinge of guilt at having to lie, but he couldn't imagine trying to explain to his traveling partner about his trips to Heaven. Heck, she'd probably think he was a liar if Luka told her even a fraction of what he did at night. No, it was better left unsaid...
"Hmmm," Alice hummed, seeming to accept Luka's reserved explanation. She slithered up to the boy and asked, "So, where exactly are we going first, then?"
The young Hero bit his lip in thought; he did want to start seeking out the closest of the Four Spirits, but Amira had made mention of a Haunted Mansion close to San Ilia as well. If there was anything to what Amira was talking about, he would need to look into it. Luka glanced up at Alice, remembering how upset the mere mention of the place had been.
With a nervous smile, Luka replied, "Well, there is something I need to check up on before we go to the Forest of Spirits."
Needless to say, Alice did not look happy as Luka continued...
Craaa-aack
A distant and low rumble of thunder came from above, lightly shaking the air. The gray overcast that had begun to form early that morning had grown darker overhead, the clouds making it to where it almost looked like nighttime once more. The closer they got to the gates, the more dismal the atmosphere seemed to turn.
Crunch Crunch Crunch
Crunch Crunch Crunch
Alice angrily devoured the crackers Luka had given her as they approached the desolate-looking mansion outside San Ilia. Suffice to say, Luka's traveling partner was quite upset with this - in her mind - unnecessary deviation and decided to take her frustrations out on his saltine snacks. The Lamia had refused to say anything other than quick mutters in between her cracker-eating on the entire way over, as well, which did little to improve the mood.
"I just need to see if there's anything actually going on in this place, okay?" Luka offered, hoping to quell her ire some. "Then we're right back on track after that, I promise." Alice didn't seem to feel much better at his words, choosing to eat more instead of replying.
Even when being several meters away, it was easy to see why the Haunted Mansion held its moniker. Its dreary dark-brown facade looked as though it hadn't received any care in a decade, and any window that wasn't boarded up was smashed. All in all, the mansion looked exactly like how one would picture a ghost-filled house.
'It looks as if people came by and just started pelting the sides with rocks.' Luka thought with a frown as he scanned the beaten and scratched walls. 'That's such a shame, I'm sure this place looked absolutely beautiful when it was being taken care of.' Unfortunately, the mansion looked to be far past its prime now, and would probably take a lot of work to fix up, if such a thing was possible.
Luka glanced about the large gated courtyard, which looked just as hospitable as the house itself. The tiles of stone that once served as a walkway were broken up and overcome with weeds, making each step uneven beneath his feet. The shrubbery, too, were just as uncared for; their limbs were skewed and unequal, which was something that upset the young Hero greatly.
Everything about it felt so abused and forgotten.
As Luka and Alice came closer to the mansion, they spotted a small gated-off section of land within the courtyard that was sitting just off to the side of the home's facade. To the purple-haired boy's surprise, it appeared to be a graveyard. 'That's odd, why would this be so close to the house?' Luka wondered, 'Unless it was a family cemetery?'
CRAAACK
Another, louder and closer, rumble of thunder struck as Luka strode up to the aged metal gates of the cemetery. Tentatively, he grasped the bars and lightly pushed against them; however, the heavy doors seemed to be rusted shut.
Alice, who hadn't moved even a centimeter towards the grave site, voiced her displeasure from behind him. "There's no reason to go over there, you know! There wouldn't be anything a Hero would need to look into!" Luka made a questioning face at the comment but get staring ahead either way as he tried to get a feel for the place.
The cemetery seemed normal enough, if a bit small and bedraggled. The grass was horrendously overgrown, making it where only the very tops of the gravestones were visible, and there was no clear pathway between said graves. The trees inside hung low, making the already treacherous area even more difficult to navigate.
Luka scanned the entire patch of land, until he noticed something very odd. At the back of the cemetery, there was what looked to be a spot devoid of any grass at all. Instead, there was just a long spot of disturbed dirt. The young Hero furrowed his brows as a distinctly dreadful feeling building inside.
It had been a long time since he had seen a graveyard, but he knew what a freshly dug grave looked like.
The only question in his mind now, was why an abandoned mansion would have a freshly dug grave. The feeling of dread Luka felt only got worse as something else alarming yanked him from his thoughts.
" ...-elp..."
Luka tensed up as he heard the faintest of whispers speak to him. It was weak, but distinctly female. The young Hero quickly turned towards the mansion, his pale-blue eyes searching the home's facade. "A-Alice, did you hear that voice?" He asked before glancing over to his traveling partner.
Alice jerked, her tail shaking beneath her. "N-No! I didn't hear any voice!" Her golden eyes glared down at him, but her shivering tail didn't quite help dignify her anger. "You better not be trying to play some sort of prank on me, or you'll regret it!" The Lamia yelled, raising a shaking fist at the purple-haired boy. "H-Hey, Hey! I'm not kidding, I really heard something, I swear!"
"...Me..."
Luka felt cold as the whisper filled his head again, this time much clearer than before. The tone was weak, but he could hear a desperation in it. The young Hero frantically glanced around, until he looked up to the top floor of the mansion. His pale-blue eyes widened once he saw a small figure behind the dirtied glass windows, the only clear detail he could make out being a pair of bright purple eyes.
"Look," Luka called out while stepping towards the mansion, "There's a girl in there!" Alice staunchly refused to look at the dilapidated home, her eyes still peering at the graveyard, "You know, it's not really a Hero's business to go looking through these places! We should just go now!"
CRAAA-AACK
"EEIHHH!" Alice's embarrassing scream resounded through the courtyard as a considerable loud crash of thunder erupted overhead, and Luka felt the Lamia nearly slam into him not even a second later. "Wh-Whoa!" The purple-haired boy shouted, having to plant a boot into the ground to keep himself from falling flat on his face.
Luka turned his head to glance over his shoulder, coming nearly face-to-face with an absolutely terrified Alice. Luka eyed the Lamia carefully, his mind beginning to piece things together. "Erm, Alice?" He started, her wild eyes quickly focusing in on him now. "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
Alice blinked, and her expression briefly became incredulous. "Of course not! Why would I fear something that doesn't exist!?" In spite of how strongly Alice proclaimed this, her ever-still shivering tail said otherwise. Gradually, Luka was starting to piece things together. "Okaaay..." Luka began innocently enough while walking closer to the mansion, "...Then let's just go inside and-"
"-NO!" Alice shouted, slamming the ground with her tail. Luka went quiet, unable to believe how his traveling partner was acting. 'She keeps saying she doesn't believe in ghosts, but she acts so afraid of the mere mention of them.' He thought, watching as the lavender-skinned Lamia shook. Luka felt as the air started to become misty, and he glanced up to see the sky grow darker.
"If you want," Luka offered while looking back down to Alice, "You can just stay out here, and I'll go in by myself." Evidentially, this option wasn't very appealing, as the Lamia slithered up to the young Hero in a hurry, "A-Are you kidding? Then I'd have to suffer in boredom out here in this depressing courtyard while you waste time playing around in there! No, I might as well go in with you." Alice proclaimed.
"Hmmm..." Luka hummed, not really believing the Lamia, but not wanting to further aggravate her. "...Okay, sounds good. Let's go inside, then." Alice's momentary boastfulness vanished as she watched the purple-haired boy turn away from her and paced up to the mansion's dismal portico, but she slowly began following him to the house.
Luka took off his traveling bag and placed it to the side as he arrived at the front door, which loosely hung from its shingles in a worrying manner. He reached forward and grasped the doorknob, but it snapped off before he could even turn it. The young Hero grimaced at the metal knob in his hand before gently laying it to the side, silently apologizing to the door as he then pushed it open.
The inside of the mansion, somehow, was even worse than the outside. Everything was a horrid dirt-brown from the ceiling to the floor, it was almost as if the house itself was sick. The musty smell that permeated the inside only helped to accentuate the awful aura radiating within the mansion. Luka stole a glance at Alice out of the corner of his eye and saw the Lamia appraising the inside with about the same amount of revulsion.
'This place is on its last legs...' Luka thought, eyeing the scattered holes in the floor with a grimace. '...I'd better watch my step in here.'
Luka stopped in the middle of the room, appraising his options for a moment. There were two sets of rickety stairs leading up towards the second floor, but there was also a very large door right in front of him that led to the rest of the first floor. 'I probably should start on the ground floor before going up, but then again, I saw those eyes on the next floor up. Maybe I should check there first to see if I can find whoever that was?'
Just as he was about to make his decision, something began to emerge from the center of the floor. A head of slick black hair somehow phased through the wooden floor before Luka and Alice, rising up until the sickly-pale face of a girl was revealed!
"-GHOST! EEEIIIHHH!" Alice shrieked, before barreling forward pass the ghost and smashing into the door at the opposite end of the room! Luka jumped as the Lamia violently smashed into the door at the other side of the room, sending shards of wood flying in random directions.
"ALICE!" Luka called out in alarm while raising up a hand, but the head - and the rest of the head's body - suddenly shot up and cut him off, forcing his attention away from his fleeing traveling partner.
The Monster was very similar to the Mimic he had seen in the Cave of Treasures, as her appearance was almost entirely monochromatic aside from her red eyes. Except this Monster's black dress was parted far too deep down the middle, leaving her breasts fully exposed for him to see.
'Why even wear the dress if you're going to expose yourself in such a lewd way?' Luka thought in dismay.
The Ghost girl hovered to full height, her long jet-black hair waving around hypnotically while one section of her bangs stood out at an odd angle. "A Human?" She mused with a smile, "Very good, I'd love to suck out your energy." Suddenly, the room became alit with an eerie blue light, courtesy of the now lit candelabras scattered across the foyer.
Luka didn't even have a moment to reason with the Ghost, as four hands manifested out of thin air in front of him and shot right towards him!
"GAH!" The yell left the young Hero's mouth as he reached back and retrieved Angel Halo, flailing around the keep the hands at bay. Luka was able to fight away the first onslaught, Angel Halo being able to successfully cut into the palm of one of the outreaching hands. The Ghost girl seemed perplexed herself, bringing the injured hand back to inspect it.
Luka looked down to Angel Halo at the same time, 'So I guess this sword can work on ghosts, too?' The purple-haired boy thought, looking down at Angel Halo with a bit of awe. 'It's still creepy, but I think it's starting to grow on me.'
"Thank you, Master~"
"...Eh?" Was all Luka could manage to say before his attention was ripped away from his sword - which had just read his mind!? - and back to the Ghost hovering before him. "It seems that you'll be harder to capture than the average man." The Ghost pondered out loud, before raising one of her many hands and snapping her fingers.
"Will O' The Wisp!"
Suddenly, the blue flames coming from the surrounding candelabras intensified and flew up right for the Monster. She caught the balls of fire in both her floating hands and her regular ones, cupping the flame between her fingers. Then, the Ghost girl's disembodied hands all spun around each other, turning into a swirling inferno while they flew towards Luka!
The purple-haired boy nearly tripped on the wrinkled carpet when sidestepping the fiery attack, but he was able to cut around and return the favor.
"Thunder Thrust!"
The rotted floor made an awful cavalcade of creaks as Luka sprinted across the room, stabbing Angel Halo straight at the Ghost girl. The Monster audibly gasped, not having expected to feel such a visceral attack. With a grunt, she swiped at Luka but he was quick enough to evade this as well. The young Hero backed away, watching with a curious eye as the Ghost's entire body seemed to flicker before his eyes.
Before he could ponder this further, the Ghost's fists returned to her sides. The flames erupted from her hands again, threatening another attack. Luka, aiming to finish this fight quickly, did not hesitate to attack before the Monster could retaliate.
"Demon Decapitation!"
Luka sprung forward and jumped through the air, slicing through the air with a swipe of his sword. Angel Halo cut the Ghost's throat, swiftly ending the fight. The young Hero made an unsteady landing, nearly colliding with the back wall of the mansion as he heard an odd hum fill the air.
Upon turning towards the Ghost, he saw her form begin to shrink in on itself. As this happened, her body started to glow a dull yellow. Eventually, the Monster's body vanished entirely, leaving behind a peculiar orb of light behind. Then suddenly, the orb of light began to float up, until it disappeared into the ceiling.
"Huh..." Luka said as he placed Angel Halo on his back, "...I wonder what will become of her now?"
If she was a Ghost Monster, did that mean he just exorcized her? Luka wasn't really sure how sealing a Monster such as her would work; he'd normally ask Alice about that, but she wasn't quite available at the moment. 'Now that I think about it, I should really go find her now. I have a bad feeling that she's freaking out right now.' Luka thought while striding over to the leftmost staircase.
CRAAA-CRAAACCKK
Luka couldn't help but jolt as an exceptionally loud lighting-strike resounded outside, the impact being strong enough to rumble the very floor beneath his feet! Not only that, but the distinct pitter-patter of rain started to come from above, signifying the storm's strength intensifying.
With no small amount of worry, Luka began to scale the steps in search of his traveling partner and figure out just what was going on in this mansion. However, he only reached the halfway point before noticing something odd.
Laying sprawled across the steps, was what looked to be a child-sized doll of a girl. Its prominent joints led Luka to believe that the doll was made of wood, and it was wearing a very pale purple kimono that hung just a bit too much off her shoulders for his liking. 'Who would make a toy that has breasts on it like that? Isn't dolls like these supposed to be for kids?' Luka thought, lamenting the doll's lewder features.
The young Hero stepped closer, inspecting the bright blue flowers in the doll's dark purple hair. 'It is a shame that someone just left this here though, it does look like whoever made it took their time creating it.' Luka gazed into the doll's purple eyes, which stared dully back at him. With a shake of his head, Luka continued up the stairs, unaware of how the childlike doll started to stir as soon as he turned away from it.
Another, more distant, rumble of thunder brought Luka's gaze to the window. A brief but bright flash of white illuminated the window as a bolt of lightning scattered across the sky and Luka had to feel thankful that the windows on this side were mostly intact, for the rain began to pick up even worse now.
"I don't like the idea, but we might even have to stay here for a while until that rain dies down." Luka said with a growing frown. Just then, a very young and girlish voice spoke from just behind his shoulder.
"That just gives plenty of more time for us to play together, big bro~"
Luka hurriedly jumped away and faced the offending voice which, to his shock, belonged to the doll he had found lying on the stair just seconds prior. Now, the once dull purple eyes were glowing bright, bathing the stairs in an eerie violet aura. The Doll herself was half-sitting/half-reclining on the staircase's railing, in what was probably supposed to be a seductive pose.
"Um, I don't really have time for playing right now," Luka replied, attempting to slowly climb the stairs as he did. "How about a raincheck?" He suggested.
The Doll quickly hovered up to stand on the railing, her purple eyes flaring. "Good brothers should always make time to play~" She said while shrugging her shoulder, causing her kimono to fall even farther off her shoulder. Luka cringed, "Y-Yeah, but I'm not even your brother, so..."
CRRAAA-CRRAAAA-CRAAAAACCKKK
A multitude of thunder crashes echoed loudly outside, catching Luka off-guard long enough for the doll to attack! She leapt from the guardrail with a yell, crashing chest-first into Luka's waist and immediately began trying to yank his pants down. "Hey, HEY!" The young Hero yelled out while gripping at the doll's invasive arms.
"I just wanna see how big my big brother really is! C'mon, why don't you just relax and play fun games with your cute little sister?~" The Doll asked while giggling.
Luka furiously shook his head, "Not a game like that!" He exclaimed before pushing the Doll away with a foot, sending her tumbling down the stairs. The purple-haired boy grimaced while watching the Doll flail and yelp down to the ground floor, her fall ending with a harsh thud at the bottom of the staircase.
"S-Sorry, but I really must be going now!" Luka yelled before whirling around and running up the stairs, reaching the halfway point before the Doll was able to retaliate.
"Expanding Hair!"
Luka felt something thin and taut wrap around his left leg, and looked over his shoulder to see that the Doll's hair had grown to a ridiculous length to grab him.
"You aren't going anywheeere~" The Doll cooed with a cunning smirk, "Not when you have a needy little sister to please!" Just as the two were stuck in their tug of war, two very loud noises interrupted their scuffle.
CRASH
"AAAAHHHHH!"
"A-Alice!?" Luka said in alarm, feeling as the frame of the whole house seemed to rumble. A wave of sudden panic overcame the young Hero, spurring him to swiftly grab Angel Halo and cut the offending hair from his leg. Once he was free, Luka grabbed the Doll's hair before she could retract it and moved towards one of the guardrails.
The Doll quickly became frantic, "Wh-What are you doing, big bro!?" The Doll asked, trying to pull back while Luka tied her hair around one of the wooden columns.
"Putting you in time out!" Luka replied while tightening the Monster's hair around the wooden post, "I'm sorry about your hair, but I need to hurry!" He finished, turning away once again to sprint up the rest of the steps. Luka was able to reach the top of the stairs in no time, making it to the door before the Doll could even react.
"You big meanie! What a TERRIBLE big brother you are!" The Doll yelled as Luka pushed through the second-floor door, not wasting a moment to leave the odd Doll Monster behind.
The next room, however, made him pause.
It had the same awful brown hue as the foyer, but the walls and floors were made of uneven stone. At the other end of the room sat a fireplace, in which a good amount of ash still laid at the bottom of the blackened hearth. Sitting besides the fireplace, was a reclined chair and small reading table. In addition to this, there was a rather large desk and bookcase laying overturned near the middle of the floor. Although the most alarming aspect of the room was the giant gaping hole laying right in the center of the room.
"What happened here?" Luka wondered out loud as he walked up to the breach in the ground. From what he had heard, there had been a large crash followed by Alice yelling. But did that mean that his traveling partner had actually fallen through the floor? If so, why and how in the heck did that happen?
As the young Hero ponded this, his pale-blue eyes fell upon something small and rectangular lying in the floor beside the hole. Luka bent over and picked up the object, recognizing it to be a photograph. The aged picture had clearly seen better days, but it had held up enough to this point to where it could still show the image of a very well-dressed young woman holding a parasol. Her soft pale eyes looked off to the side as she smiled, only helping to add to her graceful air.
All in all, she was quite lovely looking.
"...Help...Me..."
The distant voice that Luka had heard outside the house spoke into his mind once more, this time with a much clearer message. The purple-haired boy shuddered and jerked, as the pleading tone of the voice struck him quite powerfully.
Scraaape
The sound of metal dragging across the stone floor made Luka snap to attention, and he quickly whirled around to see the arched opening of a dark hallway that he hadn't noticed quite yet. Immediately, his attention was drawn to a set of eerie red eyes staring at him through the darkness. He couldn't see any further detail, but he could tell that they were moving towards him.
"Hey, whoever you are, I'm not wanting any trouble!" Luka said while raising Angel Halo up in front of himself. No reply came, but the sound of staggered steps suddenly became more audible. Alongside this, came more odd scraping noises. The young Hero's confidence wavered as the pair of glowing red eyes grew closer, and he began to notice something off about them. The pupils seemed unfocused, almost as if they were staring right through him.
Scraaaape
"I-I mean it!" Luka proclaimed, but his voice began to waver as his nervousness began to rise. "I-If you try anything bad, I'll have to fight-" The purple-haired boy's words died on his lips as he became aware of a very peculiar combination of scents hit his nose.
The first, was one that he - regrettably - had a bit of experience with. It was a sweet floral aroma, one that he had only ever smelled from Monstsrs when they were aroused. Naturally, this helped him to deduce that the unseen figure in the hallway was a Monster. However, it was the second smell that confused him the most. The easiest way to describe it was sickly, almost like the sour smell that bad meat would give off when it had lying around for far too long.
"Waa... Warm."
For reasons Luka wasn't yet aware of, the low and droning voice that just spoke instantly put him on edge. The young Hero instinctively gripped his sword tighter, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand to attention. He opened his mouth to give out one final warning, but once the figure emerged from the shadows, Luka was shocked into silence.
The figure had stringy pale-red hair that hung down to her pointed shoulders, clashing heavily with her grossly miscolored skin, which appeared to be an abnormal gray-blue. The woman was dressed in a dirtied tan tunic, and her legs were covered in a set of ripped black stockings. From her shoulders hung a long tan cape, which flopped over to cover her left arm...
...Which held a long, rusted sword.
"Baauu... Boy..." She muttered.
The conflicting smells that the woman was giving off grew stronger as she staggered forward, her blank red eyes staying on him all the while. Her sword kept grazing the ground, its scratching filling the otherwise empty room. Luka himself was frozen in place as an appalling realization began to dawn on him. From the way the woman was acting, to her nauseating appearance and conflicting smell, he could only come to one conclusion:
The woman standing before him was a Zombie.
Luka felt bile rising at the back of his throat, for he noticed that there was an eerily familiar liquid rolling down the inside of her thighs. As soon as his mind connected the dots, he shoved the offending thought away. "S-S-Stay back!" The purple-haired boy hissed, backing away from the Zombie while doing so.
"Breed, need to... Breed..." The Zombie Girl said in between breaths, her arousal now undeniable.
Luka shook terribly, fighting just to keep his breathing under control. This was wrong, more wrong than anything else he had faced on his journey so far. The concept alone of having intercourse with something that wasn't even truly alive made Luka feel physically ill. But unfortunately for him, it was far from over, as three more Zombies started to emerge from the shadows.
The first Zombie had gray skin, which was almost completely uncovered as only the tattered remains of black lingerie and underwear covered her lower half while her upper half was bare of any clothing. Her milky eyes struggled to aim in the same direction, the pupils crossing over and back again. She approached unevenly, her legs wobbling as though she was about to fall over.
The second Zombie was disgustingly discolored, the ends of her arms and legs in particular being an ugly dark red. Whatever clothing she had been wearing was nearly all gone, and so her large breasts waved without much resistance.
The third Zombie was the only one out of the trio to have any decent amount of clothes on, as she wore a black turtlenecked dress. However, one of the Zombie's massive breasts hung out of the dress either way. Her mouth hung open limply, her jaw audibly cracking with each bounce.
"Noo-ooo..." Luka cried weakly, his fear getting more and more worse by the second. "St-Stay back, STAY BACK!" He yelled, waving Angel Halo at the group of four Zombies. None of them were deterred, and they continued moving to corner the young Hero. Suddenly, the sword-carrying Zombie shot forward while wildly swinging her sword towards Luka!
Luka lifted up Angel Halo with a yell, parrying the swipe with ease. The swordswoman fumbled after being deflected, tripping over her own feet and falling towards one of the walls of the room. She crashed arm-first into the bricks and sank down to the ground with a groan.
Just as he started to turn, Luka felt a hand grab his shoulder. The young Hero felt himself get turned around and he was suddenly face-to-face with the second Zombie, her bloodstained skin now taking up his entire vision. Before he could react, Luka felt an ice-cold hand cup his cheek. He felt his head get jerked up and out of nowhere, he felt a pair of lifeless lips hungrily envelope his own.
A powerful revulsion struck Luka to his very core, and he threw out his free hand to push the Zombie off of him! He pulled back, holding both hands tightly on Angel Halo as he prepared to strike.
"Thunder Thrust!"
Luka shot forward towards the stumbling Zombie, his sword stabbing deep into her torso...
...And he couldn't contain the scream that came from his mouth, as dark red blood flew out of her wound and splattered all over his face.
As you can see, this portion is going to be much different than the game. Expect for this next chapter to start focusing more on the horror aspects on top of the depravity. It may not be for the faint of heart, so readers beware.
F14M3RZ: Unfortunately, that was just a mistake. I had meant to put five-hundred instead of one-hundred. I need to work on my proofreading, I'll admit to that. So to clarify, Heinrich's rebellion here was still 500 years ago. Apologies for that, again.
omegaqilin: Ariel isn't involved with Wormiel, as she is still devoted to Ilias. That being said, expect me to be using her much more prominently as things go on, as I plan to get a lot of milage out of her.