Chapter 15 – Realization
"Alister!" Galen yelled as he ran to the downed warrior. Reina pulled back her spirit, grabbing Galen with it in the process. He narrowly avoided a slash of wind that continued past before dissipating.
"Wind Cutter. That's what he said when he cast that." Reina thought as the forged spirit set Galen down next to her.
"You would have been safer in Keston, Spirit Forger. Heh, heh, heh." Karth looked more amused than anything, despite his attack not reaching Galen.
"Healing Hands!" Crescent floated down to Alister, applying her magic to his wound.
"Hm?" Karth tilted his head, looking at the pair, then looking at his bloody claw. "Damn. I was sure I hit an artery. No matter."
Healing Hands was one of the weaker healing spells that spirits would grant. It varied slightly from spirit to spirit, according to Maria, but it roughly did the same thing: either an instance of healing, or prolonged healing for better efficiency and results.
Reina wished she had time to unlock Healing Aura, but the weapon form was taking longer than she thought it would. It was the only Forge ability she didn't have unlocked. Not that it mattered at the moment. She wouldn't have applied it to her spirit, given that they had so many healers in the group. As it was, she didn't have Healing Touch selected either, and she wasn't about to switch to either of the necessary weapon forms to use them.
"You came here to kill me, didn't you?" Reina asked, stalling for time. "That's what the last Demon Lord tried."
"You are an important figure, Spirit Forger, but killing you is just a bonus." Karth reached behind him and presented something in his claw. It seemed to be an amulet or talisman of some kind. "I came here for the Wave, or what's left of it."
Before she could ask further, he raised the talisman above his head. It shined brightly in a crimson light, washing over the area and much farther beyond.
"Minions! Obey my command and kill the ones before me!" He called out jovially.
Off in the distance, multiple roars sounded at once. The corpse chasers that were simply walking about turned their attention to their group and started running.
"That's not good." Maria commented, turning to view the approaching zombies.
"What do we do?" Molly asked with her staff raised.
"Can you and Galen hold back the corpse chasers?" Reina didn't turn her head away from the new Demon Lord.
"We will!" Galen shouted, his staff gripped tightly in his hands.
"Then Maria, Vyrdrun and I will kill the Demon Lord." Reina said resolutely.
"Do you really think we can?" Maria asked her, worry present on her face.
"We have to." Reina said determinedly.
Once he was dead, they'd be able to fight off the remaining monsters. He took out Alister quickly, but that was by surprise. Now that they knew he could teleport like that, they stood a better chance. Demon Lords seemed to show a great deal of pride, but this one might not be able to back it all up.
"You think you can fight me? Me?" Karth laughed loudly. "Go ahead and try! Let's see what the Spirit Forger is capable of!"
"Fireball!" The spell was cast in triplicate. Two went from the witch siblings to the approaching Wave monsters, while the third came from Maria.
"Shield!" Karth erected a translucent barrier about as tall as him, intercepting the fire spell. Whether from arrogance or lack of effort, the Shield spell broke apart.
"Web!" Reina launched her skill at the same time she sent forward her forged spirit. The magical webbing was faster, wrapping around Karth, but the Demon Lord was able to swiftly cut through it.
"Jaunt!" He teleported up a few feet away from where he stood, avoiding a Spider Bite empowered by Charge.
Not bound to land, the spirit gave chase, igniting its arms and proceeding to throw punches at him. The Static Field was going off with each blocked strike, though that didn't seem to faze him at all.
"Not bad for someone summoned less than a month ago." Karth commented. "But that's hardly enough to beat me!"
He continued to deflect blows as his wings took him farther and farther back. The forged spirit stopped pursuing, having reached the edge of its range. He brought his claw up and swung down, calling out another Wind Cutter spell.
Reina moved her spirit out of its path, but could do little else with it. Separating from Maria wasn't a good idea, and neither was leaving Galen and Molly. Vyrdrun still stood near Alister and Crescent with his lance, though the distance between the two groups wasn't vast.
"Force Darts!" Maria let loose a spell, conjuring up half a dozen arrow-like lights that zipped off.
Karth simply hovered in the air with his wings, letting the darts hit him. The way they moved, the darts reminded Reina of Magic Missile from her games. If that was the case, she could see why they did next to nothing, and why he didn't bother trying to dodge.
"Heh, heh, heh. Is that all?" Karth taunted. "I wanted something more."
"Twin Fireball!" Two beads of red fire flew from Maria's staff, racing past the forged spirit.
"Jaunt!" Just before they exploded next to him, Karth disappeared again. He reappeared in the center of their little group.
"Forge Spirit!" Reina let her spirit dissipate before quickly summoning it again, having it take a hit from the Demon Lord's claw.
"Clever, little girl." Karth flapped his wings to make some distance, taking a few hits from the flaming hands of the spirit. "That won't be enough to—geh!"
A metal point protruded from the side of his gut. Vyrdrun had leapt away from the downed Alister to deliver a thrust, and the first real damage to their opponent.
"Damn shaman." Karth's claw neatly cut the lance's tip before he tore the shaft from his stomach. He flew farther back as Vyrdrun took up a position in front of the two women, Reina's spirit hovering next to him. "Why are you even fighting for her, giant? Don't you know what the last Totem Hero did? She killed your Great Unifier!"
Reina didn't know what that was about, but Vyrdrun stood steadfast.
"That wasn't Reina." He said simply.
"Of course not, moron!" Karth held his claw against his wound, something that didn't go unnoticed by Reina. Whatever powers he had, instant regeneration wasn't among them. "But when have the heroes ever cared for your kind? Every Cleaver Hero has only ever seen Gromnar as opponents to do battle with, and shamans and druids are the natural enemies of the Chisel Hero's constructs. When has the Totem Hero ever been any different? I'm the one you should be fighting for, not some child pretending to be a hero! You should join me! Together, we'll be more than strong enough to kill all the other Demon Lords, especially that arrogant—"
His tirade was cut short as he howled in pain. Karth fell to the ground, barely remaining standing through his cries. Two thumps behind him signaled the loss of an advantage he held over them.
"You talk…too much." Alister said with disdain, panting with his arm extended and his hand bare of any weapon.
The greatsword he used was now far out of reach, having been thrown to relieve Karth of his wings. Blood spurted from the Demon Lord's back, but that was soon cauterized by Maria's Fireball going off behind him, making him stumble.
"You little…Jaunt!" Karth teleported right in front of Alister and Crescent, his claw raised. "Cutting Edge!"
Alister quickly hooked Crescent in his other arm and threw her toward Reina's group. There wasn't time to do anything else. Vyrdrun was too far away from him, and Reina's spirit couldn't rematerialize that far away. Karth's glowing claw sunk into Alister's chest, easily piercing the plate mail covering it.
When he pulled it back out, Alister fell to the side, completely still.
"I'd love to see you come back from that, human." Karth spat.
"FIREBALL!" Galen aimed his staff at Karth, unleashing his spell.
The Demon Lord held up his arms defensively as the spell exploded, wrapping him in flames. As much as Reina wished otherwise, he remained mostly intact with only the most minor of burns evident on his fur-covered arms.
"Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!" Galen continued to cast at him, only for Karth to use his Jaunt spell to slip further away.
"Galen! Stop!" Molly called out, firing a spell of her own at the encroaching hoard. "I need help here!"
Reina watched as the running zombies were almost upon them. She sent her forged spirit to intercept the closest group, which lunged through the air at it. Arms wrapped around it and began to tear it apart…
"Huh?" Reina's eyes widened in shock. Her spirit was unharmed.
One got close to Molly, but she swiftly brought up her staff and slammed it against the corpse chaser's chest. It caved in immediately, falling to the ground and granting XP.
"They're so weak." Molly noted aloud.
"What the hell?" The assessment wasn't missed by Karth. "How come your spirit is holding up so well? This is the second Wave. Is your spirit really defensive? No, that can't be right." He stroked his chin, presumably in thought.
For whatever reason, these monsters weren't as threatening as before. If that was the case…
"Go!" Reina pulled her spirit back from the hoard and sent it after the Demon Lord again, herself chasing after it. Vyrdrun moved with her, charging at the Demon Lord.
"Fine, whatever." Karth said, grumbling. "I can figure out the problem later. The ones killing my new minions go first." He raised a claw in the air.
"Twin Fireball!" The spheres of fire shot out from Maria's staff and exploded where Karth was a moment ago, the Demon Lord having quickly cast his spell again to evade.
"This is getting annoying." He let out, claws at the ready.
"Vyrdrun, go from the side." Reina instructed. "I'll give you an opening to strike. You'll know it."
"Got it." Vyrdrun nodded, veering off.
Reina knew how to end this quickly. She didn't want to risk it before with all the corpse chasers still running about. Now that she knew she could afford to weaken herself, she had no problem using this gambit.
She just had to stick the landing.
"Give me your best shot, Spirit Forger!" Karth yelled with excitement, arms wide open.
Reina gave the mental command. Her forged spirit Charged at him, Spider Bite ready strike. She was trailing behind it, her weapon ready to use. Inwardly, she began to focus.
Karth stopped the spirit before it could properly attack, sliding back on his haunched feet. His claws were imbedded in the spirit's spider-like face. With a crazed grin, he tore into the spirit, slashing it up and down.
Its HP was quickly dropping in her status, but she kept it in place. Vyrdrun was getting closer from the side, as was she from the front. It was almost time.
With a laughing roar, Karth finally tore the spirit in half. Reina felt the pain, but continued on. Karth's eyes shifted to Vyrdrun, likely seeing him as a bigger threat. With a claw raised above his head, he opened his mouth. "Wind Cu—"
Blood spurted from his chest in a wide arc. He stumbled back, coughing up blood as well.
"To me!" Reina called out.
Vyrdrun was upon him, broken lance at the ready. Seeing her intent, he swung the lance from the side, slamming into the Demon Lord and sending him flying to her.
Reina stopped, bracing herself with one leg planted behind her. The arm with her weapon was pulled back. With her spell ready, she launched it forward in a thrust.
"Cutting Edge!"
Her athame plunged itself deep into Karth's chest, right where his heart was. Reina skid back a few feet from the impact, but she kept herself standing.
The Demon Lord's eyes bulged out. He let out a grunt as the air left his lungs. Reina ripped the blade from his chest in an arc, cutting it open further.
With his feet back on the ground, Karth slowly moved his claw up to cover the hole in his chest. It barely made it there before he dropped to his knees, falling forward and hitting the ground.
XP in Reina's vision confirmed he was dead.
Reina let out a breath as she looked at her blood-soaked weapon. While the Caskalt Athame wasn't as strong as some of her other weapon forms, it had this single use. The krindar tokens likewise were well suited to it, since they increased her attack and not her spirit's attack.
What's more, she learned a quirk about the world with regards to HP and such. It was back when those bandits ambushed them outside the forest with the giant insects. Stats were important, but they weren't everything. No matter how strong you were, no one was going to live long with a hole in their throat.
Or, of course, a hole in their heart. Aside from being the right material, her Caskalt Athame had something her Thunderstruck Doll Totem didn't: a sharp edge.
As for what led to their victory, credit went to the Voodoo Doll form. Death Pact. A Forge ability Reina was nervous to test out, but was ultimately glad she did. It took a bit doing to get it working, but she figured it out.
"I honestly thought I'd be using this ability on the Wave boss." Reina thought as she recalled her experiments.
When equipped on her spirit, there was no notable difference. The ability only came into effect when her forged spirit was destroyed. The creature that landed the killing blow on it would receive a massive amount of damage, much more than what Reina took when it was destroyed normally. For weak monsters like the dolls and krindar she tested it on, it was instant death. For stronger opponents, well, the results spoke for themselves.
"They're thinning out!" Reina heard Maria call out. True enough, only the closest corpse chasers continued to attack. The ones farther away seemed to stop, not caring as nothing was in their immediate area.
Reina looked back at the dead Demon Lord, and at the bloody athame in her grip. She wasn't shaken from it. People have tried to kill her before, and she was sad to say she was getting used to it. It was clearly either him or them. Instead, she felt a sense of relief. Demon Lords weren't invincible, nor were they necessarily powerful. It felt like one was, though.
Pride seemed to be a common trait, though it was more arrogance in Karth's case. He barely saw them as a threat, little more than something to step over, and it was almost like he was just messing around until his wings were cut. Even then, his mannerism made it sound like he was in control of the situation. Reina wondered what level he was, but decided it didn't matter. Instead, she did to him what she planned on doing to the other monsters from this Wave.
Tainted Chimera Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: forge efficiency 1
"Chimera? Well, he was a human mixed with…I don't know the monsters. Something like a wolf and an eagle? Maybe a krindar and a roc? If they have those giant birds here, that is."
That equip bonus was worth looking into later. Reina switched her weapon back to the Thunderstruck Doll Totem and turned to the others.
"Is everyone okay?" She asked, though she knew the answer.
Galen was already kneeling next to Alister, tears fresh on his face. With the rest of the monsters leaving them alone, Molly walked over to stand behind him, with Crescent floating over as well.
"I'm…sorry about your friend." Reina said quietly. She didn't have any words of comfort to offer the siblings.
"It's fine." Molly said evenly. Reina looked her over, surprised. Her tone wasn't of shock or mourning, much less her appearance. She did look angry, but not to the extent Reina thought she'd be.
"I understand if you want to…tend to his body. We can handle the rest of the monsters." Reina told them.
"Ara~." The perky sound from Crescent unsettled her. "That's kind of you, but it'll only be a moment."
Reina used her free hand to grip her other arm. She looked up at Vyrdrun. "Are they…?"
"They're too calm." He answered, watching the display.
Maria joined the pair as they watched the witches work. Crescent floated down and settled on the ground above Alister's head with her legs to the side. Molly and Galen knelt across from each other at his torso, all their staves next to them on the ground and having already moved Alister onto his back. Reina was more than close enough to see his eyes, unblinking and staring up at the sky.
"Ready?" Crescent asked, looking at both of her siblings. They gave her a short nod before each taking one of her hands, then reached across Alister and took the other's.
The three witches closed their eyes. Then, they began to hum.
"Magic." Vyrdrun whispered to the two with him.
"They're casting it together?" Reina asked in kind. "I didn't know you could do that." She didn't recall Maria mentioning anything about doing that.
"Communal magic." The wizard whispered. "Difficult to do and requires a spirit to give one of them the spell. The only one I know of prohibits using magic by yourself, which all three of them were able to do. Either there's a spirit with a different restriction, one of them is more like a wizard than a witch, or being witches has more benefits than I realized."
The difference in spellcasters was something Reina couldn't quite remember at the moment, and asking now would certainly be a lengthy discussion. Instead, she focused on what the siblings were doing.
Their casting went on for about a minute before the hum was replaced.
"Form of body, rejuvenate." Crescent spoke first.
"Form of mind, awaken." Next came Molly.
"Form of soul, return." Last was Galen.
"Resurgence!" At once, the three witches completed their spell.
A burning red light engulfed Alister's body. Reina had to shield her eyes from the brightness, though it disappeared as quickly as it came.
"What the…" Vyrdrun let his mouth hang open. Reina and Maria were right there with him.
Alister shot up with an ear-piercing howl. He panted heavily, resting an arm on the ground to keep himself steady.
"Welcome back, Alister~." Crescent reached up and ran her hand through his short hair. "How do you feel?"
The man—who was very clearly dead not a moment ago—took in a few more breaths before they evened out. Then, he turned his head to look at her, a wide smile on his face.
"Oh, Mistress Crescent! I just had the strangest dream! Some mutt of a human got a cheap shot on me and slashed my throat."
"Ara~! How frightening!" Crescent lifted herself off the ground with her magic.
"Indeed!" Alister stood on steady legs, patting his plate mail that covered his heart. The metal was still missing, but the wound was completely gone, not even a scar. Only a bit of blood near the edges of the pierced armor remained.
"Alister!" Galen hugged the larger man's side, earning a soft pat on his back from the man.
"Haha! I take a short nap and you get all worried?" Alister boasted.
Molly placed her hand on Alister's back. "We always do."
Crescent joined her siblings in the skinship, resting on Alister's broad shoulder.
Alister simply gave his moustache a twirl. "Nothing can keep me down for long! You three see to that! Now then, where is that little punk?"
Molly smiled and pointed at Reina, who still stood shocked at the whole display.
"She killed him. Stabbed him in the heart. She used Cutting Edge no less." She said.
"Ironic!" Alister chuckled. "Did you gain a level from him?"
Reina continued to stare. She did in fact gain a level after killing him, but she couldn't vocalize that piece of information.
"You're…How…" She wasn't even sure how to ask the question she wanted answered.
"A golem." Crescent answered anyway, flicking Alister's hair. "A very special one, too~."
"Haha! You'll make me blush, Mistress! 'Twas you three who did all the work!" The supposed golem responded.
Maria was the first to snap out of her stupor. "That's…He's not a golem. I have no idea what he is…"
"Maybe that's not the best word." Molly said, stepping away from him. "He's not particularly resistant to magic, and he still eats and sleeps, but he's not quite human anymore."
"Vyrdrun, did you know?" Reina looked up to the Gromnar, but his expression told her before his words could.
"I…did not." He confirmed.
Molly beamed. "If a shaman says that, it's high praise! That means our transfigurations melded really well with him. Mother would be proud."
"She taught us everything she knew, and she was the best at seamless and subtle transmutations." Galen finally released Alister, clearing off his face with his robe's sleeve. "Uncle Derdir always said so, and you know how he looks."
"Hmph!" Alister turned his nose up. "He shouldn't have sent you three here to deal with a Demon Lord in the first place."
"Against someone this weak?" Molly asked with a laugh.
"Weak?" Reina was about to retort, but she had a point. If someone's going to call themselves a Demon Lord, they probably shouldn't get killed by someone with their level in the 30s, hero or not. More importantly, what Alister said caught her attention. "Your uncle asked you to fight a Demon Lord?"
"Oh, haha!" Molly gave her long hair a flourish. "Yeah. But, I mean, it wasn't going to be dangerous. I mean, not incredibly. He wouldn't have asked us if he thought we couldn't handle it."
"Well, I guess that's fair…" Reina reluctantly conceded. They did win, after all. "Still, this could have ended badly. I mean," she made a quick gesture to Alister, "even if he's fine, it was pretty irresponsible to send you out here for that."
Molly simply shrugged, still smiling. "Against someone who did a transformation that shoddy? Please. What I want to know is, why are all these Demon Lords splicing themselves with monsters? The first one didn't, and it took all three heroes to beat him, two of them dying for it. Maybe two others after him stayed human, and they weren't nearly as destructive. Besides the first Demon Lord, not even half of them needed one hero, and never the Spirit Forger."
That was a relief to hear, in a sense. While the Demon Lord in Savia was incredibly strong, not to mention his children, it was nice to hear how they didn't have a good track record against heroes.
Still, something tickled the back of Reina's brain.
"You said your mother could use transmutation on people, like you did with Alister. Is that common?" She asked.
"Oh no, not at all." Crescent leaned down from her vantage point slightly. "It's something that takes quite a few spirit contracts to do, and even then it's still incredibly difficult to keep together once the magic's gone."
"Mother and Uncle learned from the same teacher." Galen added. "They were the best at it out of all his apprentices. While Mother made subtle changes, Uncle was the best at bigger transfigurations. He only used a single monster instead of multiple, so his body didn't break down from the strain. I think most of the others went crazy, since Mother said most of them are dead…"
The tickle in her brain felt more like an itch. "He sounds like a pretty strong wizard."
"He is!" Molly placed her hands on her hips, grinning from ear to ear. "You should meet him sometime! He's pretty interested in you. That's why he asked us to watch over you during the Wave—"
Molly's speaking halted instantly. Her smile stayed in place but her eyes widened.
"He…knew I was going to be here?" The itch in Reina's brain started to burn.
"Sister, you weren't supposed to tell her that." Galen softly chastised.
"Ah, well, it's fine." Molly scratched the back of her head under her hat. "He didn't make it sound that important."
Reina started to connect the dots from everything she knew. It couldn't be what she was thinking. It felt so out there. Nevertheless, she asked.
"Your uncle, what does he look like?" She almost didn't want to know.
"Hmmm." Molly stepped to the side, sizing up Alister. "Well, he's about as tall as Alister. Long black hair past his shoulders, about how long ours is—we really like the look of it. He's pretty toned for a wizard. Golden eyes on a face that never smiles, always in an almost-scowl. I guess he's always wearing that long, black coat-thing. What else…"
Every word made Reina's blood run colder. She could see the features matching up. All that was missing was—
"You're forgetting something important, Mistress." Alister commented. "And please don't compare me to him.
"Hm? Oh, right!" Molly plopped her fist in her palm. "I'm just so used to seeing it. He used a black dragon for his transformation. Black scales running down his arms, ending in claws. A pair of wings on his back and upturned horns on his head."
Reina felt her legs buckle. She took a step back from the people she just fought a Wave with.
"Boss, you okay?" Maria asked her.
"He's…" Reina's mouth quivered, forcing out the quiet words. "Your uncle is the Demon Lord. The one that attacked Savia."
"What?" Molly kept up her smile, waving her hand in front of her face. "No, no, don't be silly."
"No, I'm sure of it." Reina barely whispered, body shaking. "And he sent you to spy on me."
"Really now, there's no way he's a Demon Lord." Molly placed her hands on her hips, still sounding aloof.
"Kids!" Reina nearly shouted. "Does your uncle have kids?"
Molly held her hands of softly. "Well, a few. I haven't met most of them, but Lola sometimes comes with him when he visits."
"What does she look like!?" Reina was practically screaming at this point.
"Um." Molly looked at Galen and Crescent, who looked equally confused. "About as tall as you. Cute face, long light brown hair down to her hips? Why?"
"She tried to kill me!" If it wasn't for Maria, Reina would have fallen back.
"What? No way Uncle transformed a child." Molly protested sternly. "And there's no way he's a Demon Lord."
"Well, it's possible he is." Alister commented.
"Alister! That's mean." Galen shouted up at him.
"Sorry, Master, but it's true. He's an archmage, and archmages are crazy." Alister countered.
"That's not…well, I mean, I guess archmages are a little eccentric…" Galen admitted.
"That's putting it mildly, Master." Alister said with a sigh.
"Why did he send you!?" Reina roared, finding her footing.
"It's as Molly said, Miss Reina." Crescent floated off of Alister's shoulder and approached in the air.
Reina held up her totem, though she couldn't do as much with her spirit destroyed. She knew she wouldn't have enough time to forge it. Vyrdrun, however, stepped in front of her and held his lance ready, but not threatening. Crescent held her hands up, empty, her staff still on the ground.
Alister, however, extended his arm to the side. After a few seconds, his greatsword flew through the air and landed in his hand. He gripped it tightly and took a step forward, only to halt when Crescent waved him back.
"We weren't sent to spy on you." Crescent made easing motions with her hands, her smile gone from her face. "Uncle knew that a Demon Lord might try something, so he asked us to come along. He wanted to make sure you weren't killed in the Wave."
"Why?" Reina demanded, not dropping her guard for a second.
"We don't know." Crescent said as she floated a foot off the ground. "He just said it was important. So important that Alister should throw himself at anything that was about to kill you."
"Annoying, but reasonable." Alister didn't remove his eyes from Vyrdrun. "Demon Lord or not, he's apparently invested in your survival. If he wanted you dead, you'd be dead."
"Alister." Crescent sighed but refocused her gaze on Reina. "We aren't here to fight you or trap you or anything else you might be thinking. We don't even need a reward. If you want, we can leave you now and go back home."
Silence reigned on the field they stood on. Not even wind was present. Reina just watched the woman hang in the air, barely moving outside of her levitation.
She didn't know what to make of any of this. That demon girl chased her throughout the castle's underground labyrinth and practically forced her to jump to the river hundreds of feet below. That could have killed her.
But…she didn't die. Instead, she woke up on a floating log, having apparently spent the night like that. Really, there was no way she could have managed that, let alone not get hypothermia or something from the cold.
A memory resurfaced. Something was attached to her when she made it back onto dry land. Some clay thing that broke before she knew she had it. Was that something magical? Did it keep her warm during the cold night in the river? Spells could be held in some objects, though usually not given to other people. But armor and weapons had enchantments on them. They were similar, but different. Were there other objects like that? Maria mentioned the chains put on slaves were enchanted in some way, but Reina didn't ask for specifics.
She didn't have the answers to questions she didn't really think to ask before.
Reluctantly, Reina jerked her head to the side.
Crescent frowned. "Okay." She floated back over to Alister, who slowly began to sheathe his sword on his back. The two siblings on the ground picked up their staves, Molly grabbing Crescent's as well. Once situated back on Alister's shoulder, Crescent spoke again.
"Stay safe, Miss Reina. You two as well, Maria and Vyrdrun."
The three of them watched as the witches and their guardian walked off. It wasn't toward the town they saw at the start of the Wave, likely in the direction of their home.
"Boss?" Maria stepped around Reina to look her over. "Are you okay?"
Reina fell back, sitting on the ground and letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
"I…don't know." She answered honestly.
~Forging Legends~
The queen of Savia panted, her form held up thanks to her sword embedded in the ground.
She did it. Her army was successful in taking back her capital. The shambling corpses of her countrymen were no match for the soldiers under her, despite their vastly superior numbers. Steel, magic, tactics, and raw grit won them that battle.
Next came the intangible undead surrounding the castle. Those, too, fell to her and the elite knights of her retinue, plus a few Gold Hammer templars from the church. Whatever foul magic turned her knights into those shades, it wasn't exceedingly powerful.
But, if she had the choice of going through all that again or the battle she just faced, she knew which one she'd pick in a heartbeat.
"Well done, dear wife. I knew you could do it."
The queen grit her teeth. Her arms shook as she lifted her head slightly. There, just above where her sword was plunged, was the face of the man she loved.
The moment her knights threw open the doors to the throne room, she knew what had become of her husband and son. Undead abominations, but far from the ones strewn about her capital. No, these ones had precious little decay on them. Their skin was pale, lacking any blood flow. Instead, unholy magic powered and controlled their bodies, and it made them move and talk as if they were alive.
Her son was the first to be cut down after her initial shock. He wasn't a fighter, unlike her. But not her husband. Every move he made, every thrust of the sword in his hand, it all reminded her of the man she fell in love with. The man who was killed once by the Demon Lord, and now again by her hand.
She refused to let anyone else enter this room. It was her family. She had to be the one to release them from their forced servitude, and she did just that.
"I will kill him." The queen promised her husband as his body began to crumble, much like her son did earlier. "I will avenge you both."
Weakly, the dead king shook his head, dull red locks of hair falling from his head. "No, dear wife. Don't throw your life away on revenge. He's too powerful, and you aren't a target of his."
She held back the tears, even though only one person would have seen them. "He's taken two precious people from me. I won't rest until his head is on a spike."
The king grunted, his limbs having already broken apart and the deterioration continuing onto his torso. "You're a stubborn woman who always did as she pleased."
The queen stood tall, looking into the eyes of her husband.
With a small laugh, the king smiled. "That's why I fell in love with you, so I suppose I can't complain." His eyes softened, and she knew she'd never see those wonderful orbs again. "Please, live."
With his parting words, his face collapsed and turned to ash.
The queen stood there, staring at what little remained of her husband. She turned to see her son in a similar state.
With the hilt of the sword still gripped in her hand, she pulled it free of the floor. Slowly, she walked toward the open doors of the throne room. Two knights stood at attention in the hallway, one at either side of the door. The rest had already left to secure the rest of the castle.
"Come." She commanded as she walked past one. "There's still much to do."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The knights yelled as they took their place behind her.
Once the rest of the undead were removed, the queen would scour the castle for anything that could tell her more about the thing she planned to kill.
Author's Notes:
Well, some cards just got put on the table. Too bad one's actually a coaster and another is a pokemon card. Now Reina knows more of what you know, how the Demon Lord sort of let her escape. And it seems he knows a thing or two about the Waves.
Originally, I was going to extend the last scene with the queen to include the fighting, but the word count was getting there and it didn't feel necessary.
I haven't really said this before, but I appreciate any comments you leave on these chapters. Moreover, since FF isn't working properly, faves and follows help me know how many people are enjoying my work. Views haven't been visible for almost 2 months now, as well as the slew of problems FF is having, so I really do appreciate it.