Queen's note: second attempt at this chapter, much happier with what it is now n.n oh, because someone pointed out the confusion, 'Ari'zel' is the name of the Corpse Lord/Lich. Now, time for the first big Bossfight to start D

[reuploading this chapter in order hopefully it makes sense]

Garnets

Chapter Ninety Four:

Nightmares to the Nights

The blue glow from the drones currently lighting up the courtyard was not the best thing to tell details of the Corpse Lord and her summoned demons. It was definitely better than fighting its current body in the complete dark though.

The Slayer tried only once to circle over to where his scout was crumpled in the wall debris. The Corpse Lord was too focused on him to safely get to the woman. Let alone get his Sentinel somewhere out of the way. So he changed tactics to purposefully draw the attention of the lich. Let another of the Sentinels grab and drag the scout into a better covered area. His aim with a plasma rifle was to annoy and hurt the current monster, the other fighting Argenta were quick to pick up the idea to draw her away from their fallen sister.

Except for one that slipped behind everyone to get to the scout and start pulling her out of the way and into a defendable area. One carrier falling back to take up a shadowed guard position. The Slayer could sense their souls, and a flair of a wraith gift as the injured scout was brought up a flight of stairs to a windowless room. They would be safe for now with the now quiet guard, but that brought the fighting first to

Something was off about this Corpse Lord, it was something the Slayer was noticing only now after a good ten minutes. Her current body was not reacting to the pain of burning flesh from both the plasma rifles and ballista charges. Not the hell growth that wrapped around it, or to a full blasista shot to the neck. The Corpse Lord did not fully seem aware of near misses.

It (she? It?) did not have a sense of touch in this body, as well as not being able to tell pain.

That was as much as an annoyance to fight it, as the likely reason the Slayer could win. Either on his own or with the Sentinels, this was likely going to take a chunk of the night. Early morning.

As much as the Slayer relayed so heavily on his (impressive) healing ability, he still felt pain. Could handle it to the point well enough that most times for minor things, the Slayer did not seem like he could feel pain. He could just tolerate it much better than others.

Realistically so much better then others.

The new god snapped out the blade on his left hand, cutting through a thinner spot on the Corpse Lord's left calf. She was focused on Haco, who had the most similar armor to the Slayer, being in a prototype Praetor armor. With the blue light only, and Haco using a sword that reflected that same light. It was enough that the Argenta man could fool the Lich.

The Slayer grabbed the leg, peeling back the pulsing, twitching hell growth to reach in and grab an exposed bone. Something that was taken from a Tyrant or Baron judging by the size. It started to break in his hand, but the creature's roar was, again not pain induced but frustration as Haco slipped out of her reach. The Slayer got knocked off his own feet and dragged with each step of her right leg, not braced to keep it from moving. As well as being too stubborn to let go.

Zanin whistled sharply for the Slayer's attention while pulling something pale and stone-like out of subspace. Almost like a brick but looked like a strange caulky texture that was almost familiar. The other man threw it and Slayer let go of the bone to catch it.

Once it was in hand Slayer recognized it, but by feel as it looked blue in the current light. It was a 'stone' from the petrified Dreadnought's corpse.

Without thinking much about it, Slayer shoved the chunk of Dreadnought inside the break he had made. Letting go of the bone to do so, but before the new god could get his grip back on the fractured bone Slayer was noticed again.

"Monster!" The Corpse Lord screeched from the maw at her upper chest, as she saw what was holding onto her leg. Reflexively kicking the leg and catching the altered man's legs with her hoof. Kicking again with a flare of hell fire as the growth covering her leg was stitching itself back together. Then took a swipe with boney claws, scraping over the back of the Praetor suit. Driving Slayer away from her body before pausing as if realizing for the first time that she might not get an easy chance again.

The Corpse Lord lunged at the armored form, making used of her longer arms to grab and squeeze-

A roar of a voice sounded before a ballista hit the creature in the side of the neck.

Her head swung around and faltered at seeing a similar armor to she held. "What trickery is this? Two monsters?!"

Slayer got one arm free and took full advantage of the distraction to grab and twist, breaking the joint and then freeing his other arm to grab and flex. Audibly

breaking a massive wrist bone- the Slayer recognizing the feel of them before it broke as Tyrant like.

Considering the tyrant's skull on the featureless face, he guessed this body was at its core one, but for the longer limbs. Slayer was lifted off the ground and bodily thrown, taking chunks of the wrist with him. The death god colliding with an armored form and running them into and then through the wall. The night flashing with energy weapons suddenly, blinding and confusing in the lighting behind them.

Slayer twisted, feeling the soul under him and the pain by way of his new awareness of his mark on them. Getting up, the altered man was lifting the Sentinel up, recognizing her by the armor and wincing. Slayer realized his own bulk had impacted Captain Mila hard enough that her chest armor was dented in. Likely a near perfect match to fit against the armor on his back.

The god heard the rattling breath, felt his Captain gripping his arm and felt not pain from him but through the new connection. Slayer was all but ripping off Mila's chest plate, stooping over her to use his own matte armor to hide the Sentinel's still glossy one from the Corpse Lord in the darkness they were in. Not daring to turn on the light attached to his armor or helmet, he could see in the dark well enough as it was.

More so right now.

He was so used to feeling and getting used to pain for himself, feeling someone connected to him in the familiar rattling, lung collapsing pain instead of him was… disorientating. Not enough to distract him from finding the injury and followed his first instinct. The new god pulled off Mila's helmet as he spread a hand over the injury on her undersuit. It seemed to glow in the dark to him, Slayer could almost see her broken ribs from the impact as orange energy crackled visibly over his hands.

Not a wraith gift, not a healer's talent through a wraith gift that numbed. His energy, his power was what the Slayer pushed into the Sentinel. His way of healing rapidly by forcing the body to remember. To burn through the energy Mila had to do so, both in her own wraith gift as well as pulling on his power. Slayer saw the pain on the woman's face, not knowing how to numb it as he rumbled a low note in primordial.

Reassurance.

He heard it, felt it really when Mila's ribs were being forced back into place. His new Mark burned from her back to the front as the woman's eyes reflected a burnt gold energy as she bared teeth. A whine of pain started as she looked up at the new god, yet clenched her teeth and refused to let out a scream. Mila wanted to, so badly but held it in as she shook, looking up at the Slayer's helmet in the mostly darkness.

Only after the muscles were knitting back together did the Sentinel Captain growl. Holding tight to her god-king's arms as he was lifting and forcing Mila to roll to her side and then all the way over, supporting her.

Slayer knew what was coming, it had happened countless times to him in his long, long life. The byproduct that would come from this healing, the not quite man reached over in case he needed to force Mila to open her mouth. Thankfully when the heaving started, the Sentinel was able to unlock her jaw and started regurgitating the bloody mucus that came from the lungs being forced to heal his body's way… 'style' so to say.

Courage.

Mila gasped as she was finally able to breath, her chest expanding with only the memory of pain from a collapsing chest. There was still a dull burning as she cleared the last sticking feeling out of her airway. The woman looked up in the still darkness of their area, her own eyes back to the normal copper but could see the not so faintly glowing green of her king.

Slayer offered his hand to her, and the Captain took it and the help up right. The not quite man looking out through the hole in the wall they, mostly he, caused. Able to see Haco taking up the roll of harassing and distracting the Lich, more than happy to further confuse her with his armor that was almost like the Praetor suit.

"Lord Slayer?" Mila's voice drew his attention back fully to her.

"Hm?" Slayer tilted his head, shifted to get closer and bump his helmet against Mila's head carefully. Still a bit more like a shove, but he was trying to restrain his strength.

"Is that… is this what it's always like for you to heal on your own?" the Sentinel asked in a low voice.

There was a pause before Slayer nodded against Mila's head. It was not exactly the same… he was used to it after all. Maybe, just maybe it was not a good thing to be used to the pain of forced healing, but he was. Slayer felt Mila take a breath, then another that was deeper, and finally a deep, steading one.

"Help me back on my feet, my King. I'm not done fighting." The Sentinel said firmly, still feeling Slayer against her side. She heard him chuckle before hands grasped her shoulder and side. Mila was bodily lifted back to her feet, Slayer holding still but only for helping balance. Making sure the Sentinel had her feet back firmly under her.

The once king bent, grabbing the chestplate where he had tossed it. After checking that it was clear, turned on his helmet light for them to assess the damage.

It…

It definitely had the imprint of his back firmly dented in. Slayer tried to bend the dent out, wincing as he just made it worse. The inner workings were definitely broken and useless, Vega likely would not be able to use her armor and helmet.

"It needs to be reforged." the Captain said, turning the chest plate over. Mila frowned a moment and then snorted. "Not the first time I've had to fight the beasts of hell missing armor."

"Hmm."Slayer really did it like that.

Mila snorted, grabbing her helmet to put on, then took it off to hook on her hip. The two paused, hearing the Corpse Lord scream in frustration. After a beat there was a pulse of a hell portal forming. "There's enough dead in the city, I'll get a replacement, my Lord. But for now we have more important things at hand."

The new war god turned, then nodded. He had to think a moment before signing in the light of his helmet. Take Sentinels. The openings on either side, defend the yard from hordes.

"I was thinking about that," Captain Mila nodded as the light turned off again. "We'll cover you to focus on that walking corpse."

Slayer reached out, grasping Mila on the shoulder and then pulled her down to press his head to hers and hummed. Now that the Argenta woman was back on her feet she was taller than him again.

Rude.

Slayer snorted, and then turned off his light as he faced the hole that was made. His hand moved and fingers twitched, brushing against the crucible hilt. Feeling the hunger from the Last Gift, as well as the reforged bond of Sunwalker on his back. It was tempting to use either one of the Crucibles right now, but as Slayer got out and looked over, he saw something in the pale blue light that made him grin. Paler, chalky streaks starting to show through the leg. Going up that same leg he had wedged the piece of the Dreadnought into.

Slayer grinned as he saw that, moving his hand away from the crucible at his hip. For now at least. He was back in the mix of sentinels, spotting one of the Shadowed that had a launcher they were setting up in the shadows. Recognizing it only after a harpoon connected to a cable was loaded up into it. Not like the one that had hit Viola, it was smaller and hand held for Argenta.

Another Shadowed was anchoring the cable as the Slayer moved away from them. Just spotting another two on the other side of the large yard doing the same. He took in how the lich was going after Haco. Forcing Slayer's look alike in the dark to keep moving between each charged shot from his ballista. The sword from before was missing, or perhaps returned to Zanin.

"Hold still Monster, I will break all your selves in this city." the Corpse Lord hissed. Striking out not just with a long arm but a pulse and wave of hell magic and raw energy. It left a burn trail in the stone ground about a body's length wide, and the Sentinels had to dodge or dive out of the way. Haco was caught in the edge, the man twisting to use the ballista itself to block the worst of the blast.

The weapon was melting and then humming as it started to over charge. What stabilized it was damaged, if not gone, and Haco staggered back upright. Looked at the weapon and then up.

Haco took two steps forward and threw his damaged weapon with all his strength as it kept overheating. The Corpse Lord reflexively caught what had been thrown at her, but before she was able to toss it away the creature staggered as something hit her in the middle of her back.

The Corpse Lord screamed, frustrated but not feeling the blade tearing into her back. One long arm reaching back and finding the smaller one there and grabbed. Pulling them off her back, as well as a few strips of hell growth. Screaming in anger at the audacity, slamming down the figure. Trying to grind the body head and chest first into the now broken pavers. "Filthy beast."

Smaller hands grabbed at the fingers and started to twist them, Slayer hearing something starting to break above him. To get pressure off his back and wedge an arm under himself to start lifting up. Slayer felt another massive hand gripping at his legs as hell magic was starting to burn against his armor. Hot enough it was seeping down.

Then the pulling started after the Lich got a grip on his legs. Slayer tried to kick as he recognized the feeling, and the stress starting on his body.

He did not want to have to go through being ripped apart, again, no matter that he would come back. The new god roared in anger, trying to turn but his head was being shoved into the breaking pavers and the stone under.

"I had to die over a thousand ways to become as powerful of a Corpse Lord as I am, beast." the lich, Ari'zel bared her fangs in her chest, the head of her current body emotionless. "I will be happy to show you them, as you seem to have a few bodies as well, beast."

Slayer flexed, trying to get his knee to bend in the hold. Breaking one of the digits pressing on his back. He did not want to go through the eternal, and then through hell again. Not with his daughter trapped on Argent D'nur, almost alone. It would take too long, and if Slayer fell into a different world, it could take longer to get back-

The Corpse Lord howled, Ari'zel looking down at the solid, metal harpoon that broke through the right shoulder. Almost through the corner of the maw on the chest, though one of the flared out barbs did get in it. The hit was hard enough that the Corpse Lord jerked and flinched in surprise. Then again at a second harpoon spear sank into her left side the barbs extending inside the body, hooking against bones.

Enough pressure was pulled off Slayer's back. Just enough distraction as the lich screamed at the Sentinels.

"Betrayers! How dare you help this beast, you are nothing but shadows of real Sentinels!" The Corpse Lord let go of the legs and lunged for those to her left. Stopping short from the line now connected to her right shoulder. Though Ari'zel's long arm came close, bone claws skimmed close to one of the silver armored figures.

That had Ari'zel pausing, recognizing the older armor. Not having the changes the Order of Deag had been putting in place. Nor what the Holy Maykr Angles added. Not even the heavily altered armor for those blessed with what was left in the Divinity Machine, like her now late husband.

Even though the lights made everything shine in blue, Ari'zel recognized the older, old armor. The armor style before the holy wars, then civil war.

Old, original Night Sentinels had been found by these Shadowed things? Or just the armor?

The sound of breaking bones had the Corpse Lord turning back, seeing the beast sitting up. Her grip had slipped or he had broken it, not facing Ari'zel as she watched him flexed- and the hand was being split into half down the middle. She hissed, the barbs catching and pulling on her maw and in the body cavity. The Corpse Lord tried to grab but the joints were not working right.

So she stood up, Slayer grunting as he was picked up from his own grip on the now broken hand. Shaking started and the smaller green armored form dropped back to the ground. Just starting to get up before a cloven hoof aimed at his middle again, Slayer tried to move, to make the hit get absorbed by his armor mostly, but once more he was not able to hold up fully against physics.

There was just a moment though, before Slayer when flying that he got a good look at the leg. Not the one with the part of the Dreadnought in it. Just a moment for Slayer to get a look, see that it was not a solid leg. Definitely more like a baron- and a big on, bigger than the behemoth had to have been.

The Corpse Lord had meshed to different lower legs together, in different ways for each leg. Using the hell growth to bind the pieces instead of fully fusing the different sets of demon bones together.

She did not know how to properly fight, compared to the last one he had fought.

It still hurt having that much mass impact Slayer on the chest. At least this time the not quite man did not run over and into one of his Argenta. Rolling through the debris, Slayer got himself back up to his feet, turning to see the wall of hell magic coming up around the lich. Flaring up her frame as Ari'zel started to pull on energy connected to her real body.

The Corpse Lord was healing, jerking as her body was being forced to heal. Meding and stitching itself back together, though also longer streaks were climbing up her hip and side after it was done.

Captain Mila was there then, snapping out orders in the lul of activity, calling two of the Shadowed to here. Then sending another two with Zanin to the entrance they had all come through. It would only leave eight fighters with Slayer in the courtyard, but just past the two doors to this courtyard there were portals to hell forming. They needed to be across the line before any barriers were put in place to trap them all inside the yard.

Mila was moving a little faster with some weight gone, but also from the mark that burned on her back. She heard the mass of the Corpse Lord starting to take a step after her own group. Then the impact of someone hitting flesh with an echo of primordial. Milla crossed the threshold of the door just as a hell made barrier was coming down. She turned, making sure Zanin and his group got through as well. It seemed like they had, if not Zanin yanking through a shorter Sentinel.

At least her King had Haco and Asin with him to help organize the others. If the attached lines to the bedrock held the Corpse Lord was stuck in the middle center of the yard.

"Captain!" a voice yelled from behind and Mila froze as she swung around to see what was coming.

The hell portal solidified and a corrupted being Mila had not had to fight in a realistically long time stepped through. For her memory it had only been several months, and the tall woman bared her teeth in a snarl as Milla met the surprised, glowing yellow eyes. No reflection of silver in the eyes, there was no more of his wraith gift, if anything there was a haze of red around his tall form.

"Sister?" The Marauder paused, startled as he recognized Captain Mila without her armor and helmet to blend her into the ranks. As big as Malum at a good eleven, or twelve feet tall, he was not as broad as the Commander. The altered voice was deeper, with an "Sister! You have returned to Argent D'nur as well, I'm so pleased to see you again!"

Mila almost took a step back, into the barrier at the voice she heard. The Marauder recognized her, but there was no way to tell what… who this brother used to be. The woman stepped forward as she realized she only could recognize the rasping words because it was mixed. Demonic and Argenta used interchangeably. If she had not been forced like so many to learn demonic words, written and spoken she might not have understood anything.

The static of forced power in the Marauder alone, mixed with the deeper voice of a larger frame was hard enough to barely tell he was exited at seeing her. A shimmering, green, sea glass like chest plate covering his torso. Not exactly like the plated armor on the barons, and something that did not.

Captain Mila was aware of the two Shadowed Sentinels moving. The Slayer loyal argenta moved back to take up side guard positions beside her. The woman walked forward to meet this self imposed task. As she shifted her new, metal battle axe to her left hand, activating the energy blade fully and pulsing her reinforced Wraith gift into to make sure it could hold up for the fight that was about to come.

Lesser demons were all but falling ungracefully out of the portal around the Marauder, who looked startled at the darkening look on his once sister in the Sentinels.

Captain Mila bared her teeth and growled herself, meeting the taller Marauder's confused gaze. She made sure to speak clear argenta, the dialect she grew up in, not the accented one Mila had gotten used to the humans speaking. "I don't know who's body you took. But no brothers of mine would ever let their souls rot and corrupt like this."

The Marauder looked taken aback at that, visibly confused as imps rolled up around his legs. Hellfire crackled to life as they hissed excitedly. The confusion only grew with the next words, though he understood them perfectly, it was so strange to hear spoken Argenta.

"Sentinels! Hold this line, guard your King and and sides while he deals with the Corps Lord." Captain Mila kept her grip on her axes, feeling the Slayer's mark burning hot on her back, and on her forearms.

The Marauder stood, lifting his head to look over them, through the barrier, and sucked in his breath at seeing the figure moving in the blue and hell magic lights. Almost unheard, Castiel spoke to himself, as the demons lunged around him at the fresh blood and bodies in the way. "The Lord Slayer… lives again? Unbinded from the blood priests…"

Well, his first trip 'home' just got a lot more complicated. He had only just gotten through the portal by chance to find the Lady's child… and there was his king…and a shadow form of his king?

Wait…

What?