When the group had finally gotten back to the Naturia Forest, the first ones to be surprised were the Nekroz, or more specifically, Avance and Emilia, as they saw Issei coming back with Ariel.
After explaining to them the situation, the remaining Satellarknights arrived a few minutes later, it was then when Sombre had ordered them to start preparing for battle, as there would be a battle starting at the doors of the territory.
Issei then explained a way to see if the Shaddolls were copies or the originals, based on whether they had strings attached to them or not. At the same time, Exa finally arrived there. The formerly small lizard had become a humanoid creature, a hulking warrior similar to the Gishki, but with hints of Dragunity.
That was because he had come to learn of the Dragunity through the many years, he had become quite the fan, and so, in honor of their sacrifice during the Sophia Incident, had progressively assimilated the traits of the Dragunity.
Then, each tribe prepared for the incoming battle. The elders alongside the strategists and a few others were present in a meeting, they had finished planning their counterattack. "We should concentrate our main forces on the front, given the very simple minded nature of the Shaddolls, it is more than likely that they will not try any sort of strategic flank." Said Shurit."
"That being said, I'd still recommend a few officers to patrol the surroundings, Lara, the Satellars that haven't transformed and I will be taking care of the points of interest that are more than likely going to be infiltrated, we cannot do much in the face of the incoming Shaddoll waves, and by extension, we'll be dead weight. As for everyone else, they will be in the front ready to clash against the Shaddolls and Yang Zing." Finished Shurit.
"If no one has anything else to object or point out, then we will be starting with our preparations." Said Avance. The Nekroz left the place as they were ready to use their newly created mirrors, ones that used the powers of the past to strengthen themselves.
"We should as well, as for everyone else, please go to your posts as soon as possible, we do not know how much time left we have." Added Kamui. He alongside Lara and Wen started to leave the room, Pilica then followed suit, however, was stopped by Kamui.
"Pilica... I can't have you aiding us, it is far too dangerous." Said the elder of the Ritual Beast Tamers. "But I still want to help!" Argued the daughter. Kamui sighed, she was quite stubborn, it somewhat reminded him of him, but right now wasn't the time, unlike him in the past, Pilica wasn't trained extensively, she didn't have much thought on becoming the next chieftess, that was going to be Lara.
"Listen here sweetie, I understand that you want to help us as much as possible, but sometimes it is better to not act selflessly, if you do so, it may end up doing more damage than good, I know you don't want to do anything bad, but you're my daughter, and you're not prepared for war yet, so please, stay here please." Explained Kamui, he ruffled her hair, Pilica puffed her cheeks in annoyance, she truly wanted to help. Rampengu, her bird companion, gave her pats on the back to comfort her.
As they all left, Issei got up and left the tent, he noticed Ariel's still body as he frowned, it was weird to see her in such a state after so many years, in fact, it made him feel uncomfortable as to why Yaldabaoth would use her.
Was he expecting him to not be able to attack her? If so, it didn't work, but perhaps it was simply coincidental, as instead he wanted to make sure the tribes wouldn't be able to counteract his plans. He still wondered, what did Yaldabaoth want?
He decided to go to the frontlines, he saw the Tellarknights Triverr and Delteros alongside Sombre casting the barrier, he saw Kamui and Avance supporting them. He however, was confused over a specific thing he saw.
Why was Avance so young again? He looked like back when he first met him, but this time instead of a sword, he had a trident. Alongside him was his son Shurit, who didn't seem to have changed in appearance much, in his case, he had traits of a bird, and then there was Exa, who simply had two white gauntlets with razor sharp golden claws.
As for the Ritual Beast Tamers, each one was accompanied by their Spiritual Beast, Kamui had a hawk, Lara a lion and Wen a dolphin. From what they had explained, they connected with their Spiritual Beast, which led them to strengthen the animal they had and also make the tamers gain characteristics of said animal.
"Alright, that should do it." Said Sombre. "Now, we should go to our posts. I don't see any Shaddolls near, but we should be cautious just in case."
Everyone had gone into position, as they finally saw the Shaddolls, the populace of the Naturia, alongside those tribes that weren't able to fight, took cover on the depths of the forests. Issei stood at the front, alongside the Tellarknights, Avance and Exa, awaiting for the clash to finally come.
Kamui and her daughter, Wen, started to fly as they started to fly with the help of their Ritual Beasts
"Stay put everyone, we must make sure we don't push too much, or else they could surround us." Warned Avance, he prepared himself as he raised his trident, Exa alongside Delteros prepared themselves for the clash by putting their weapons in front of themselves. Meanwhile Triverr, Kamui, Wen and Issei casted spells to start attacking from the distance, Triverr casted a snowstorm, while Issei created spears of light which he threw, Kamui started to create clouds of thunder while Wen casted whirlwinds of water.
Little by little, the Shaddolls got closer as everyone finally went on the offensive. Various of the Shaddolls came from the sky, as they descended to try and attack Avance and Exa, but that was a mistake, as both of them completely shredded them as they cut the ropes with no difficulties.
Triverr took out the bulk of the various Shaddoll that had grouped up, meanwhile Sombre and Issei battled with the Yang Zings present, on the side, Kamui and Wen continued to support each one of them as they defended their backs at a distance. Delteros on the other hand made sure that the shadows stayed away from them.
The dark Yang Zings and their shadows started to blast elemental attacks, however, they were blocked thanks to the barrier they had prepared beforehand. While they all were too preoccupied with the barrier, Issei took the chance as he flew towards them, cutting the strings of the Shaddolls on the way.
He casted fireballs and thunder as they struck each single dragon, Sombre came after as she then used her sword made of holy magic to try and damage them, the attacks however were blocked by the Shaddolls that got in the way, blocking the attack. Avance jumped high thanks to the powers of the Fabled, he got in front of Issei and Sombre to then slash through the group of Shaddolls, Kamui came to the help as he caught Avance on top of his Spiritual Beast.
Exa then burrowed the claws onto the ground as he then ripped a chunk of the ground off, he then used it to throw it towards the Yang Zings, which hit one directly, he tried once again, however, this time the Yang Zings dodged the attack.
While they were distracted dodging the projectiles, Sombre then proceeded to close the gap as she then attacked one of them, the attack completely went through as the Yang Zing went down.
Given the fact that the pyroxenes that each of the Yang Zings had were on the converted form of Cairngorgon, she knew that it wouldn't matter, as she could revive them back later so long as she could them back.
Issei followed thereafter as he decapitated one of the dragons, the lion like head was cut clean as it went flying, and then he proceeded to hack his guandao onto the head of another, this one however only chipped the head of the dragon, as it was made out of a harder material.
Delteros saw this as his chance as he turned around to then cut through the Yang Zing that Issei had attempted to kill, this time going through. Kamui then pushed forward with Avance on his back, this time he got close to another Yang Zing.
Avance jumped once again, this time thrusting the trident towards the Yang Zing, it impaled it as it then stopped moving, he attempted to retrieve his trident, however it was too stuck. While he attempted to remove it again, Shaddolls swarmed towards them, but Wen and Triverr fortunately took care of them as they casted different spells to push them away.
Exa then grabbed one of the trees near him, he used it as a bat which sent the Shaddolls coming after him flying, those Shadolls then hit ones that were behind them, which allowed Issei to cut the strings of those.
A few Shaddolls lurked as they then went to attack Issei. He turned around in time to then swing his guandao at them, this time he didn't cut the strings though, instead he accidentally hit their body, only to then realize that he had cut them all off in half.
At this revelation, he then looked at Avance and yelled. "Avance! Try using your trident to impale one of the puppets!" Avance looked in confusion, however, when a Shaddolls rushed towards him, he decided to do what he was instructed, surprisingly, the trident was able to go through the tough material of the marionette, which then made Issei smile as it confirmed his hypothesis. "Hey! Tell everyone that physical attacks work! They are only resistant against magical attacks!"
Due to the fact that Sombre always used a sword made of holy magic alongside the Satellars, it meant that none of them could figure this out, the same went for Kamui and Wen, as they were only specialized in spells and magic, however, for Exa, Avance and him, they could easily take care of the enemy with their own weapons.
Exa, listening to Issei's claim, then took one of the Shaddolls, a falco copy to be specific, and then put pressure on his palm, the doll then exploded as Exa's fist closed. He smiled, he started to grapple any Shaddoll he could find, using the claws he had, he slashed and cut them into pieces.
Everything seemed to go fine for now, but they didn't know for how long they could hold, in fact, they didn't know if they had any way to truly defeat the waves of Shaddoll, all they could do was make sure that the other tribes wouldn't end up in the crossfire in the march of the Shaddolls towards the Sacred Naturia Tree.
Wen knew this, even if his father didn't say this, nor any of the other ones present, and yet, they continued to fight, as they hoped for a chance to survive to exist. She kept her eyes closed, still being able to see thanks to the spirits, as if she were to open them, she would end up showing her true powers, the powers that made her original parents scared of her.
But then she felt someone else there, it was her sister, Pilica.
Hadn't their father told her to stay inside the Naturia? What was she doing here? She gritted her teeth in frustration as she went after her, this wasn't the time for her to be outside. No one noticed as they were too busy defending. She rode her Spiritual Beast as she could sense Pilica, running and passing unnoticed as she hid herself under the bushy leafs of the trees.
Pilica had trained using the old ways of the Gusto Tribe, by connecting with the animals around the Great Marshlands. Their father had forbidden Pilica of using her companion to go to battle, and yet, it seemed as this didn't stop her from attempting to run into battle.
She finally caught up, she used her free hand to grasp her by the hood that she wore, she then brought her to the back of her Spiritual Beast, Pettlephin. "Pilica! What are you doing here?!" She asked.
Her sister looked at her, with a bit of fright. "S-sister! I came here because I saw someone also coming this way!" She explained.
What? Who else could have come? Wen decided to interrogate her sister even more. "What do you mean by that?"
"I saw a girl riding some sort of dragon coming this way! I didn't know who they were and it seemed like they were going towards one of the points of interest Shurit had talked about!"
A dragon? Dragons had gone extinct since the Sophia Incident, if what her sister had seen truly was a dragon, then that meant it was a Yang Zing. All Yang Zings had been turned into shadow versions of themselves, which meant that Pilica had been following an enemy that could have possibly already infiltrated.
If that was the case, she needed to tell this to her father and the others.
But she was unable, as she noticed that there was a Yang Zing, one that was the definition of Evil, stalking her, as it got close, she knew that there was nothing she could do to defend herself and her sister.
Fortunately, Lara had come in time as she came dashing on top of her Spiritual Beast, Apelio. "Stay away from Wen and Pilica foul beast!" She yelled as she continued to cast fire spells towards the Yang Zing.
Wen looked around, noticing that they seem to have been caught in an ambush, as many more shadows of Yang Zings appeared, she stood behind Lara, who was making sure that the enemy wouldn't come after Wen or Pilica.
The representation of Evil of the Yang Zing lunged itself towards Lara, the tamer then blocked the attack with her staff, her spiritual beast breathed fire as it covered the dragon completely, however, it did no effect as it continued to push the staff with its various hands.
Wen decided to help as she casted various tornados that caught the Shaddolls coming at them, she then directed the tornado towards the dragon as the various puppets collided with it. She made sure that Pilica wouldn't be attack in the process as she held her close by grabbing her sleeve with her other hand.
With Wen's assistance, the dragon was then pushed back, which allowed Lara to then rush in and use her Spiritual Beast to bite the Yang Zing's neck, as the sharp fangs of the beast burrowed themselves into the flesh of the dragon, Lara aimed her staff at the face of her opponent, to then blast a fire spell with all of her power.
The dragon cried out loud as it tried to get the beast off its neck. The other Yang Zings went in to assist as they then surrounded Lara. However, Wen casted powerful gusts which made the dragons unable to attack Lara. Unfortunately, her actions made it so that the attention of the dragons went towards her, this then made the dragons lunge themselves at her.
Lara upon noticing this, stepped back as she ordered her Spiritual Beast to fall back and help Wen, the Evil of the Yang Zing, was unable to recover in time as it cried out in pain when the beast took out its fangs out of its neck while trying to untangle and even cut down the strings of the Shaddolls.
The Beast Tamer Tamer rushed to help the sisters. But she was too late as she noticed various shadows creeping behind the pair. Wen noticed this as one of the shadows grabbed her foot and her Spiritual Beast.
Lara cursed as she attempted to go as fast as she could to help Wen, however, the Yang Zings turned around to then attack her. She put her staff in front of her as she took the blow of the attack.
She recoiled as her Spiritual Beast used its claws to make sure the dragons stood back. The Evil of the Yang Zings then attacked from behind, as Lara was forced to battle against the dragon once again, leaving Wen and Pilica to their luck.
Seeing as there was no way for her to escape, Wen decided to take drastic measures. She put her hand on the back of her sister to then push her off Pettlephin, this action prompted her sister to look back as she started to fall onto the bushy top of the trees.
Only to then be caught by Issei in the air.
"I've got you kid!" He said as he tried to hold her more comfortably. He then saw Shurit and Emilia come and cover for them as he tried to take out his guandao to try and save Wen, however, it was too late.
Pilica screamed out as she saw her sister being taken by the hands of the shadows, completely engulfing her as slowly, her hand started to be taken in by the amalgamation of dark creatures.
Issei looked at Lara, awaiting her decision as he didn't want to risk putting Pilica in danger, she yelled. "Retreat back! Take Pilica back near the Sacred Naturia Tree and make sure Leodrake protects her until you get to the shelter with the survivors!" Issei then replied. "Are you sure you're going to hold on with the amount of enemies you've got?!"
Said question was answered as various Satellars came in as reinforcements. They noticed the commotion, which led them to leave their positions, as no other positions were being attacked. Lara smiled upon seeing the reinforcements. "I'd say so, yes!"
Issei held Pilica while hugging her, she cried to go back and save Wen, he however, decided to retreat back into the Naturia Forest to bring her to safety.
He looked back, only to notice the giant Shaddoll version of Crystal, hovering in front of the whole forest, yet despite that, it didn't attack. Issei theorized that this Shaddolls specifically wasn't meant for attacking, but rather to intimidate and lower morale as, if it were to attack, it would damage the Sacred Naturia Beast, which needed to stay alive so that they could revive Yaldabaoth.
As he attempted to find out what Yaldabaoth was thinking, a Yang Zing found its way towards him, lunging at Issei. Issei however was unable to block or dodge, as he was currently holding Pilica.
Fortunately, he saw Shurit alongside Emilia coming to their rescue as they had changed their target. Shurit used his sword to hold back the Yang Zing while her mother started chanting, summoning various icicles over her which shot towards the Yang Zing, one of them, who had a long neck was hit by various of the ice spells, while another one, with two arms and four legs, was able to break them with ease. Another one with a long face came and attempted to catch up to them, however, this time, Rigel intervened, holding it by its long neck as he crashed down on the dragon.
Issei was able to flee the battlefield as he went towards the Sacred Naturia Tree, searching for Lord Leodrake and Exciton Knight to protect Pilica so he could go back to battle as quickly as possible.
Unbeknown to them, there was a reason as to why Wen was captured by the Shaddolls.
Far from the Naturia Forest floated the puppet of Lapis, she weaved various threads as many more Shaddolls rushed into action. And within her was a factory that continued to create even more copies of the Shaddolls.
Tangled between threads was Caduceus, he twirled his strings around his fingers as he pulled a few of them. The color of said threads turned from purple to blue. Slowly but surely he was starting to gain control from within.
However, something interesting that he noticed was the fact that inside of her were the originals of certain individuals, some he did recognize, such as the Yang Zings that Sombre talked so much about alongside his son, Unukalhai and the armor of Sirius.
He tried to move a bit as he tried to move a bit towards the eye socket of the Shaddoll, he noticed Cairngorgon's body turned into a giant Shaddoll, which in this case was the actual Crystal rather than a carbon copy, just like with Ariel, it seemed as certain individuals weren't turned into creatures that had more than a single copy made of them.
Something that did catch Caduceus' attention was the fact that, as of now, only those close to Issei and Sombre haven't been used to create copies of them, Crystal, Ariel, Lapis and so on weren't copies, but rather originals that had been turned into Shaddolls.
That did bring up the question. What had created the Shaddolls in the first place? The answer was more than likely, Sophia, as with her disappearance, the cycle of rebirth had been altered, only Sombre and him were able to stabilize it at that point, yet it seemed as Sophia wanted to regain back control of the system.
He looked at the shadows coming in, it seemed as if they had captured someone else, Caduceus then tried to get a closer look as to who had been captured, only to see Wen's dead body.
This was bad.
Wen had enough power to break the barrier they had created. He saw as the shadows started to make preparations to turn her into a Shaddoll. Various threads burrowed themselves into Wen's skin as she was then dangled in the air.
They then ripped her extremities, her legs, her arms were now gone, yet she sustained herself in the air thanks to the strings.
Caduceus saw as parts of her body were then replaced with the joints of a marionette, which seemed to be the common transformation most Shaddolls went through. Her Spiritual Beast also got the same treatment.
He then looked up, just to see where the strings were coming from, he saw as Lapis had created new ones, just so she could control Wen. The strings glowed for a moment, and Wen opened her eyes.
The Constellar looked on as the newly created Shaddoll went towards the battlefield, he could only hope that his allies would still be alive by the time he finally took over control.
Avance screamed as he lunged his trident against a Shaddoll, breaking the strings attached to it. Avance looked at Kamui, who was currently taking care of the various Shaddolls that were towards them, the Nekroz leader was currently taking care of the stragglers that got close to them.
He looked at Exa to see how he was doing, only to see the lizard smashing two puppets together as he grabbed the strings just to use them as a sling, throwing them towards a grouped up bunch of Shaddolls.
However, he found it strange that every single Yang Zing had fled from there, suspicious of what was going on he sent his son to scout the perimeter alongside Emilia and Issei.
Given the fact all three of them had yet to come back to report, it seemed as if the enemy had attacked from the flank.
But that was currently the least of their worries, especially when everyone present watched the giant doll of Crystal towering over them. Anxiously, Avance looked up, expecting it to attack at any time, yet it never did, it only got closer slowly as the fights went on, he didn't know what its plan was, but it was being an obstacle that made it impossible for them to get rid of the Shaddolls efficiently. Glancing at Kamui, he knew they were thinking of the same thing. They needed to defeat it.
"Kamui, could you bring me towards Exa for a moment?" Asked Avance. Kamui looked at him and nodded, as his Spiritual Beast, Cannahawk descended, he hopped down to the ground, letting Kamui rise up into the air once again without wasting another minute.
Avance went towards the Nekroz Enforcer. Exa then said, knowing exactly why he would go talk to him. "What may be our course of actions sir?" He asked. Avance responded by pulling a few Nekroz Mirrors. "Exactly as you'd expect, we are going to take down the titan." The Nekroz Elder then tossed the mirror to the lizard, once he finally caught it, they both started to cast and activate their mirrors to call upon the power of the past.
Both Avance and Exa started to recall the past, or more specifically, a certain tribe's past that they felt interested in.
For Avance, it was The Fabled.
The power of The Fabled, a tribe consisting of creatures from the underworld. They dwelled in the deepest pits of the underworld, wreaking havoc, all to follow their philosophy, to be faithful to their desires.
They were also wardens, they contained the Steelswarm from the inside as they were the ones to control the gates between the surface and the underworld. Leviathan, their god, was betrayed by the kings of the Fabled.
Unicore, The Fabled mount of the Second King, Ragin, the powers that Avance currently was using weren't good enough to take down his enemies. He had no power to be faithful to what he desired.
From the mistakes of The Fabled, Avance learned and understood the importance of sacrificing personal happiness to make others happy. To suppress one's desire, as there is need for logic and heart for the general benefit of the future.
Yet this time, desire was what he needed to follow, for his desire was to protect his family, to protect his friends.
Valkyrus, the first king of The Fabled, the man who lead the first assault against the surface, he's make for the perfect example of the mistakes of The Fabled, as his desire would lead to the downfall of his tribe, his actions would become the first step to the extinction of The Fabled.
And Avance would use his powers.
On the other hand, Exa remembered the Ally of Justice.
The main opposition to both The Fabled and the Worms were the coalition between the main four powerful tribes, The Ally of Justice. Where each of the tribes would try to create weaponry and machinery to fight against the Worms.
Catastor, the first perfect creation of the Ally of Justice, was the symbol of union as every single one of them had worked together to create it, it meant the cooperation and bonds each tribe had developed through the war.
And yet, it was also the start of the suffering for bystanders.
The Genex, peaceful creatures which simply wished for the health of the environment, were turned into deadly weapons by the Ally of Justice. Turned into killing machines, those who couldn't keep up were forsaken, left to rust as vines and flowers proceeded to take over their bodies, while those who continued lost what their original purpose was.
The Decisive Armor was not the one to finish the Worms, no, it was the power of their love and their sacrifice, Return Zero, that led the tribes to victory against the Worms. And yet, Exa wished to not use Return Zero.
Because Return Zero symbolized the unsung story of two Genex that loved each other, where they saw each other be torn apart, abandoned and reused by the tribes, only to finally merge together to finally put an end to their suffering alongside the Worms. It symbolized their last sacrifice of their humanity.
Even when they were used as fodder, they still saw the good in humanity. They reminded him of how, despite the Gishki annihilating his unborn brothers, a Laval, the exact opposite of them, had taken him in.
For this reason, he'd use Decisive Armor instead.
The mistakes of the Ally of Justice was the disregard of its allies, having mercy on the Worms yet ignoring the Genex's suffering lead to the extinction of said creatures. They needed to keep allies close, despite the saying of keeping your enemies closer than your allies, you'd be pushing those close to you further away, and in the end, they wouldn't realize what they had done before it was too late.
Because of this, Exa would use its powers Decisive Armor
Both of them finally opened their eyes after contemplating the mistakes of the past tribes. Avance now looked far older than before, a full grown adult with long gray hair and beard. He looked at the new trident he held, this one had the colors of Valkyrus.
Exa on the other hand, was wearing Decisive Armor, instead of the Ally Mind device being embedded into the artifact itself, Exa replaced it with his own body, he had two cannons on both of his sides, they were bigger than him, and yet, he lifted them without any issue.
They both immediately went to battle the giant Shaddoll as Exa charged up Decisive Armor to then shoot a powerful blue blast, the powerful attack had enough power to blow back the trees around him, additionally, the attack continued on even after hitting its wanted target, surprisingly, it was able to damage Crystal as one of his horns was now gone. "I can't believe I've missed such a huge target!" Said Exa with frustration.
The Nekroz leader however put his hand on Exa's shoulder. "It's your first time firing the cannon, so don't expect it to go as you wanted." He said to try and calm his subordinate down.
Avance started to levitate as he then started to fly towards the Tellarknights Triverr and Delteros alongside Sombre. Standing in front of them, he then said. "We need to take out Crystal, he is blocking us from attacking the Shaddolls effectively." After he finished his sentence, he turned around just to cut a Shaddoll in half.
Sombre looked a bit conflicted with this decision, while it was necessary for them to defeat the Shaddolls, the giant doll of Crystal hadn't done any true damage to them, additionally, it meant killing her former influence to become a warrior, the worst fear she had with this decision was the possibility of losing the pyroxenes in battle. However, she didn't say anything, as this was needed for the survival of those still alive.
Delteros and Triverr nodded. Their plan was simple, Triverr and Delteros, being the largest fighters, would work as bait for the Shaddolls, while Exa would stealthily recharge and shoot down Crystal little by little, all while Avance would go straight towards Crystal and cut its joints. Meanwhile Kamui and Sombre would support Avance and Exa if any Shaddoll came to overpower them by swarming.
The plan was set in motion as Delteros and Triverr started to cast as many spells as possible to catch the attention of every single Shaddoll, fortunately, their spells were still able to cut down the strings of the dolls. Avance saw this as his signal to start rushing towards Crystal, he continued to float as he slowly got closer to the giant puppet.
He slowly made his way up as he proceeded to cut certain parts of the dolls without it noticing. He first cut out the Achilles tendon. Once he finished cutting both of them, he used his trident to stab into the tough exterior of Crystal, only to then use it to boost himself up even faster by using it as some sort of slingshot.
By doing so, he got towards the knee of Crystal, in one fell swoop, he took all of his might to swing his trident, it created a great wave which cut through both of the tendons of the puppet's knees.
Oddly enough, while the structure of the Shaddoll had noticeable damages made to it, the pyroxenes it had weren't damaged at all. He used the still rising momentum from before to then stab onto the waist of the giant. As he hung onto Crystal, he attempted to levitate once again, but it seemed as he had gotten tired with that little stunt he pulled. Various Shaddolls also noticed his attack, which led to the enemy putting their focus onto him.
Sombre however created a bow made out of light to then shoot holy arrows with great accuracy to cut the strings of the puppets. Seeing as the coast was clear once again, Avance started to activate his levitation once again after he took that short breather.
This time, he silently cut the tendons of the hips, he then started to sprint to the chest of Crystal to then jump onto the palm of the former Gem-Knight. He quickly got up to then dodge the grip of the hand that was closing. Crystal had finally noticed that he was being damaged by Avance, which forced him to then start using his hand to squash the Nekroz Elder.
Avance started to run on Crystal's arm, dodging the deadly hand of the giant, he quickly cut the tendon on the elbow to then try and get to the shoulder. However, he was too slow, the hand started to close onto him once again, however, Crystal stopped as a cannon from Decisive Armor had been fired, which prompted the Shaddoll to dodge out of the way.
Exa cursed loudly as he couldn't believe he had missed yet again. Avance gained his composure as he then went to cut the tendon in the shoulder. Once he finished, he then looked at the other arm, he saw as the giant hand started to close onto him, and this time, he started to run through the collarbone of Crystal. He tried to run as fast as he could, yet shadows and puppets got on his way.
Kamui casted thunder which shocked and burned the strings of the Shaddolls, while Sombre then focused on the shadows, she switched her arrows for ones made of light, she drew her bow to then attempt to hit her target.
Avance felt his foot being grabbed by the hand of the shadow, he tried to use his trident to cut the shadow's arm, however, it did no effect as it didn't even hit it, it seemed it had become immune by turning into a literal shadow. Another hand started to creep towards Avance, knowing that he couldn't do anything against it, he debated on whether to cut his foot off or not.
As the shadows were about to catch up to Avance, the arrows flew in between the arm and Avance, intimidating the shadow to fall back. The Nekroz leader sighed in relief as he then looked back at the arm of Crystal that he needed to go towards.
He saw that it was raised as the hand was about to fall on top of him. Avance calmly dodge by stabbing the spear onto the giant's neck and holding himself onto it. Once the blow had landed, he then boosted himself towards the shoulder, cutting it, he then stabbed said shoulder to stop his movement from flinging him off.
Now that Crystal finally lowered his hand back down, Avance pulled the trident of the shoulder to plummet down onto the elbow of the giant, he swiftly cut it, only to fall onto the bushy trees down below.
Crystal looked at Avance, ready to plant down his hand onto the Nekroz elder. However, Exa shot another blast of Decisive Armor, this time, hitting it on the side of the head, where its horn had previously been destroyed. Delteros and Triverr saw this as their opportunity to try and deal the final blow as they both bashed their shields onto both sides of Crystal's head.
A large crack went down his body as his body started to crumble down. The Pyroxenes laid on the ground as a group of Shaddolls on the back could finally be seen. Avance sighed as he was exhausted. "Argh... I'm too old for this." He lamented as he tried to get up again. However, he looked at the giant wave of Shaddolls, only to notice a certain someone.
He saw Wen flying towards them with hostile intent. He grasped his trident with strength. "Kamui... I am sorry for your loss." He thought as he knew what Kamui was thinking right now.
The Ritual Beast Tamer leader stared at her daughter, or what was supposed to be her daughter. He dropped his staff, shocked to see her daughter on the other side of the battlefield. He didn't fear her, how could he fear her? Especially when everyone around her abandoned her because of fear?! No... right now...what he felt was anger, he felt anger towards the Shaddolls, for what they have done to her daughter.
And yet, he had no time to react as, once Wen opened her eyes, he knew exactly what was going to happen.
The barrier they had put so much magic into had completely been broken in a blink of an eye. The power Wen held was far superior to any tribe, and now it was being used against them.
Kamui knew he needed to act quickly, and so, he yelled out. "Everyone! Fall back! We need to make sure none of the Shaddolls attack the civilians! Tell Lord Leodrake about this development!" Despite his orders, despite the fact everyone else went back to the Naturia Forest, he stood there, waiting for everyone to retreat first.
"Pilica... I hope you're safe." Muttered the Gusto elder.
Issei landed on the soil below, allowing Pilica to finally get down. He looked at Lord Leodrake, who was currently guarding the Sacred Naturia Tree alongside Exciton Knight, they were the last line of defense if anything were to happen.
Before either of them could start asking, Issei began by explaining why he was there. "Lara asked me to escort Pilica back into the Naturia Forest, so that you could protect her while I go back to the battlefield."
He got a nod of understanding, he turned around to begin taking flight once again towards where the barrier was, however, he saw the aforementioned defense missing, at the same time, he saw that Crystal's giant puppet form was no longer hovering over them. It seemed as if the others were able to take care of him.
But that still brought on the incognita of why the barrier was now down. With their main line of defense down, Issei could only stay near the other three there to defend their last line of defense.
Surprisingly, the first few to come back were the Satellars alongside Lara, Shurit and Emilia. Their first course of action was to prepare for the incoming wave of Shaddolls that they knew would come. To make sure that they had enough power, Shurit and Emilia decided to use the Nekroz Mirrors to call upon the powers of the past.
However, they decided that the best course of action would be to call upon the Ice Barrier dragons once again. Before they could put the plan into action, Lara first asked. "Are you sure this is safe? The last few times the Ice Barrier dragons were used, they all went berserk."
Shurit then reassured. "Don't worry, we will only be using Brionac and Gungnir, just using them shouldn't be enough for either me or my mom to go out of control." Lara looked a bit skeptical, but in the end, she didn't try to argue back.
Emilia then gave a mirror to her son, they both closed their eyes to then recall the past of the Ice Barrier Tribe.
Ice Barrier, a tribe protected by the Ice Barrier dragons alongside the sacred beasts of the cold territory, they worshiped each and every single one of them, as tribute for their protection for generations.
The conflict with the Worms and Fabled was where the tribe needed the help of these creatures once again, to do so, they would need to call upon them by unsealing them from their slumber, such slumber was deserved for the previous feats for the ice Barrier.
Even so, the Ice Barrier became split, as a faction wished to not call upon them, to not abuse that trust they have built upon years of coexisting. And yet, the other faction, driven by the foolish idea of the three dragons only existing to serve and defend them wished to unseal them, all because they believed they would always be there to fix the problems of the present.
This faction became the disease of the tribe that would lead to its demise, the actions of ignoring all other sacred beasts and only seeing the dragons as the only solution would lead to the end of an era.
And yet... Noellia and Natalia wished to find an alternative, one where they didn't need to call upon them once again. Both of them came from opposing factions when it came to the topic of releasing the Ice Barrier dragons. They both worked together to try and find a solution where both sides would be happy.
They wished to call upon a dragon older than their tribe, the dragon that originated all the beasts that they worshiped and the one who would later lend its help to create the foundation of the Ice Barrier Tribe.
Lancea, Dragonic Ancestor of the Ice Spirit Mountain, that was who they wished to call upon... but alas it failed as Natalia lost her life and Noellia became driven by grief.
The conflict grew and both sides entered a civil war, in the end, the death of the tribe wasn't the dragons themselves, but the villagers inside. To learn of the past mistakes of their ancestors, Emilia and Shurit would not call upon Trishula nor Lancea, they would use their powers with responsibility.
Shurit, knowing he was still a weak boy, called upon Brionac, the weakest of the three, while his mother, Emilia, would dance just like Gungnir on the battlefield.
Finally, they opened their eyes, covered in cyan armor that represented both of the dragons, Shurit had become a bit older, at least near the age of when Issei met Avance the first time, while his mother didn't have a change in her age.
They both started to cast ice spells around the place, barricades and traps to make sure the Shaddolls wouldn't get close to them, at the same time, Lara alongside the Satellarknights divided themselves around the Naturia Forest to defend those who needed help.
Shortly after Avance and Exa, alongside the Tellarknights arrived, only to leave once again after careful planning on their positioning around the Naturia Forest. This left Leodrake, Exciton Knight, Pilica and Issei alone defending the Sacred Naturia Tree.
Issei sat down, noticing that there were no Shaddolls in sight, it would take a bit until they finally broke through the defense set by Shurit and Emilia. He looked at Pilica, who was still shaking and crying for what happened to her sister, it didn't help that she had also turned into a Shaddoll, which made her feel even guiltier of what had happened.
But Issei put a hand on her head to comfort her, he ruffled it as he then took her closer to hug her, Pilica accepted the hug as she continued to cry. Truthfully, it did make Issei nostalgic. He missed the children he met inside the Church of Sophia.
Just then, Pilica's bird companion also joined their hug, once he finally got in between them, Pilica then hugged Rampengu, allowing Issei to finally let go as he then got up to stand alongside the other two.
"You reckon we'll be able to defeat the enemy?" Asked Issei. Exciton Knight responded first with a sigh. "I cannot say really, the only way to defeat the waves of Shaddolls is to take out the main source, but we don't have enough power to do so."
Leodrake then added. "Fret not, so long as the Naturia Sacred Tree lives, the next generation should still live on, that is our mission, we must make sure life continues to go on."
Exciton Knight frowned a bit, not because he didn't agree, but because he couldn't really be moved by those words, the Steelswarm only lived for themselves, to make sure they selfishly survived and became stronger. However, he was able to survive and learn about mercy, the different philosophies of the tribes, and what it was to have trust.
He had pretty much been able to learn what it was to be human, but his Steelswarm blood was telling him to flee from the place and survive.
Their conversation was cut short as Shaddolls started to appear, the first one to move was Exciton Knight, he cut through the bodies of the dolls swiftly while making sure he didn't stray too far from the tree.
Leodrake on the other hand casted spells, despite the Shaddolls immunity to magic, Leodrake's was special, after all, it was originally from Trishula's corrupted form, Ouroboros.
Issei didn't move however, taking her eye near Pilica, as she was the one that needed defending aside from the Naturia Tree. He believed in the two defenders to be able to protect the tree. Just then a Shaddoll tried to tackle him, however, he easily cut the marionette in half before it could even get close to him.
However, they saw a certain Shaddoll finally come towards them, it was Wen. They all tensed up, wary of her magical powers, as said strength was able to break through the barrier. Issei carefully glanced at Leodrake to then say. "I want you to protect Pilica, I think I have the best chance to defeat Wen."
The Naturia lion nodded as it then quickly rushed towards Pilica, the sudden movement alarmed Wen, which made her aim her staff towards Leodrake, however, Exciton Knight and Issei then rushed towards her at the same time, while Exciton Knight attacked from below, Issei went overhead to try and cut her strings.
Wen then moved her staff to block the slash from the former Steelswarm insect, Issei tried to cut the strings that the Shaddoll had, but realized that there were none, he quickly improvised as he then decided to try and strike one of her arms instead.
Issei knew well that killing Wen right now would be too much for Pilica to see, henceforth, the best course of action would be to immobilize her just like with Ariel. Perhaps Caduceus knows already and is trying to remove the control on the Ritual Beast Tamer.
The blade however, didn't connect as Wen proceeded to cast a wind blast with her hand, sending Issei flying back towards the tree. He crashed onto the bark of the Sacred Tree, revealing the bright interior occupied by a blue pulsating matter.
Exciton Knight took this as a chance as he proceeded to push with all of his might, blowing back the staff to then attempt to stab Wen, unfortunately he was unable to do so, as more Shaddolls intervene, putting themselves in front of Wen and the former Steelswarm.
This forced him to step back as the Shaddolls attempted to attack him, Exciton Knight successfully dodged each and every attack that came his way, even being able to cut the strings of a few of the enemies, but even so, he was still being pushed back.
Issei had already recovered by then, and so, raised his guandao to strike the opponent. He was able to cut through the Shaddolls to then push forwards, bypassing the already cut puppets while charging towards Wen.
The tamer raised her hand once again, however, this time, her Spiritual Beast opened its mouth to also blast a water attack against Issei. He was then forced to block the blast with his wings as the beam continued to strike him, the pressurized water started to damage the wings of Issei, which prompted Exciton Knight to jump over him, the knight then was able to land onto Wen, who he was able to detain her by grabbing both of her hands with a lot of strength.
Issei was able to stop blocking as he then looked at the situation, now that Wen was finally detained, he called towards Leodrake to come and help them since the current situation had been solved.
But as he looked back he saw a familiar figure standing in front of the exposed insides of the Sacred Naturia Beast.
The only words that escaped Issei's mouth were a whisper that could be heard, as the only sound that came from the place was the constant ringing of the Sacred Tree.
"Winda?"
A new image has been added to the Gallery
Electric Sheep
It was her, it really was the same girl from before, but alas, she had changed, she had been transformed into a Shaddoll, Issei could see that. He continued to admire the slim body of the one that had expressed her love to him, the body that had torn limbs was now whole again, however, it had the extremities of a doll.
She was a puppet of Yaldabaoth, Issei knew that his god had purposely revived her. And yet, Issei stood there, mesmerized by the face of the one who he found out too late that he loved not caring about this sick joke that the False God had created. All he could do was watch as she activated the system within the Sacred Naturia Tree, all thanks to the powers she gained after she had been attacked by the powers of Sophia.
The earth below started to shake, trees started to rustle as bird took flight, fleeing from what was about to happen, everyone else looked back at the tree, knowing full well that they had lost.
They weren't able to protect the Naturia Forest.
The land crumbled as roots could be seen surfacing, the tree itself starting to become even more visible than before, as it went up in the sky, becoming engulfed by the clouds about, only for the only part visible being the roots.
And yet, that wasn't what was surprising to them, no, it was the giant white wall that was burrowed into the roots of the tree.
That, was the Sephirot system, Sombre and Caduceus could sense it, before anyone could react, the corpse of the giant Crystal started to vibrate, however, it didn't revive, but instead, the orbs themselves started to move towards the tree, just like how the orbs of Sophia went towards the heroine of light and the hero of darkness.
The system booted up, opening themselves up only for ships to emerge from it, the ships had different forms, one had the form of a shell, another one had the form of a disk, but the one that seemed the most important was one that looked like a castle with four towers.
Before anyone could react, said ship then started to shoot out various projectiles, which, upon making contact with the Shaddolls, destroyed them. Seeing this, many of the warriors present thought of the same thing.
They needed to protect those turned into Shaddolls.
Just as that thought registered into all of them, a purple beam went right towards Winda. Issei was able to react in time, putting himself in front of the attack to then slice it into two, the purple stream divided into two as it passed by the former Gusto Chieftress.
Issei then looked back at Winda, however, she was nowhere to be seen, it seemed as if she had fled the scene now that she had finished her mission. He was about to go around to look for her, but then he remembered something.
Ariel was currently indefensive and alone, unable to move. He hastily started running, he then spread his wings as he started to fly towards the last place he remembered Ariel staying.
As he left, another beam shot towards Wen, Issei unfortunately was unable to get there in time, he was too far to block the attack, the attack quickly got closer to Wen, who was currently being held down by Exciton Knight.
The former Steelswarm raised his sword, attempting to block the attack, but he saw a man get in front of him, who used thunder to mitigate the attack. It was Kamui, who had finally come back after trying to escape the Shaddolls.
"Stand up Exciton Knight, we must group up with the others, I've gotten instructions from Caduceus." He said as his staff started to break. He then looked at his daughters, and Pilica went running towards her father, hugging him tightly.
While she hugged him, the Great Elder looked at her restrained daughter, saddened by this turn of events he then casted vines which completely detained her daughter, Leodrake picked her up by biting into the vines and carrying her like a cat would with its children.
Meanwhile Avance looked at the new entities with nostalgia, it seemed as if they had obtained a new ally, however, this ally was currently exterminating every single Shaddoll. But no matter, right now wasn't the best time to remember the past, this was their opportunity to fight back and defeat the giant Shaddoll of Lapis.
Yet before he could say anything, he saw Kamui coming towards him riding on Cannahawk. "Kamui! It is good to see you're still alive." Said Avance.
"You sure had faith on me there old friend." Chuckled sarcastically Kamui. "I want you to bring your son and wife here, I've gotten information from Caduceus and has devised a plan to take care of the Shaddolls."
This information took Avance's interest, immediately after, he went and called for his wife and son. Shortly after, both of them arrived, and so, Kamui started explaining the plan. "Caduceus knows about the ships that have come to exterminate the Shaddolls, they are called the Qliphort that Leodrake had talked about. From what Caduceus has explained, only Towers is the one who destroys the puppets, therefore, he has instructed Shurit to call upon the powers of Trishula while also lending the powers towards Towers, by doing so, Shurit should be able to control the powers of Trishula, and Towers should then be able to lock down the giant Shaddoll of Lapis to take care of the creation of more Shaddolls."
Once he finished,he lent a paper to each one of them so that they could read the plan if they didn't get anything. In the case of Shurit, he felt a bit unsure about this plan, mostly due to the fact that he would be calling upon Trishula with the Nekroz Mirror, it would be risky if he were to fail, as the Shaddolls could easily take control of Trishula and change the tides of battle once again.
Emilia however put her hand on Shurit, she smiled to reassure him that everything would be fine so long as they followed the plans. Avance however, asked a question. "Then, what about the other Qliphorts? Since Towers is the only one that truly destroys Shaddolls, what do the other ones do specifically?"
"They capture the Shaddolls into pods." Explained Kamui. "Well, they are more like vacuum tubes which should be able to grant life to the Shaddolls and bring them back to normal."
This gave hope to the Nekroz family as it meant that they would be able to bring back their friends much sooner than expected.
Suddenly a loud boom was heard as they could see Issei fleeing from a smoke cloud that seemed to have been created from the blasts of Towers, Issei was currently carrying Ariel on his shoulder, the motionless body swaying around as Issei took a couple of tight turns to escape from the attack.
They sensed that they didn't have much time as they immediately went into action, the Nekroz quickly went towards Towers, Exa joined them after seeing as they were going towards the giant ship.
On the way however, they saw many ships coming their way, one of them blocked their path towards their objective. The Qliphort looked like a skybase that floated, too big for them to go around, but at the top they could notice what looked like a bear trap.
Cautious of this ship, Avance decided to make the first move, he flew towards it, standing on tip of one of the sharp edges of what looked like the trap. He slowly lowered his trident inside of it, there was no reaction whatsoever, but then, he noticed various shadows coming towards him. The skybase immediately closed itself from the top, taking Avance alongside with it as he fell inside of it.
His family screamed out in horror, only to hear his voice inside of the Skybase. "I am fine, this Qliphort seems to be only taking out the shadows only, continue onward, the Qliphort won't be a problem, but watch out for any of the Shaddolls!"
Leaving behind Avance. His family and Exa proceeded onward to the Apoqliphort Towers, before they continued they stopped to see Exciton Knight calling for them. "Watch out for the Qliphort up ahead! It cuts everything it touches when it moves!"
They looked around, only to notice there was nothing in front of them, that was until they saw a tree being cut in half, then another one, and yet another one. The alarming part was the fact that the cutting was getting closer to them, slowly but surely they started noticing a Qliphort that was invisible coming towards them. Each one of them dodged by ducking, the Stealth Qliphort passed over them as it continued to cut anything on its path, while shooting vacuum tubes around capturing Shaddolls.
They then saw two Qliphorts with the shape of a Shell and a Disk going after two Shaddoll Yang Zings. The Yang Zing with a long neck attempted to blast an attack from its mouth towards the Shell shaped Qliphort, however, the attack did no damage as it was deflected away from it.
The Disk shaped Qliphort on the other hand shot beams that paralyzed a Yang Zing that looked like it was made out of a tough material, shortly after, they were both taken by vacuum tubes, leaving an open path of the three of the Nekroz Tribe.
A Cephalopod like Qliphort passed by, they noticed Sombre following it alongside Chiwen. The heroine of light upon noticing them then asked. "Where are you guys going?" Upon hearing this question, Shurit responded with his own question. "We're fulfilling Caduceus' plan, but what are YOU doing following the Qliphort?"
"I'm going back to regroup the Satellar and Tellarknight, additionally I will be going to the Yang Zing Prana to regain power and then call upon reinforcements." Explained Sombre. With that explanation, Sombre then went her way as the Cephalopod Qliphort went its own way.
They continued their way to then see Pilica on top of Leodrake alongside Lara defending Wen from a Carrier Qliphort, which had deployed small ships, which rushed towards them in an attempt to take Wen from them. They then saw as a vacuum tube snatched Wen from behind, seeing a Qliphort that went around the Naturia Territory scouting. Wen looked like she was struggling as she had become adhered to the tube rather than being inside of it.
The Scout Qliphort was then chased by the trio, wanting to take back Wen. Quickly, Lara took a leap on top of her Spiritual Beast mount and smacked the tube, shattering it to then take Wen in her arms, just in time to dodge a blast from the Apoqliphort. The Scout Qliphort didn't seem to notice, as it then went after a Yang Zing with two arms and four legs. Wen however, broke out of Lara's grip, using her Spiritual Beast to flee from there
Shurit and Emilia saw that they were getting closer to the Qliphort, they had gone from the edge of the Naturia Forest to almost the center. But before they could get any closer, they saw a field of electricity. They stopped moving as they saw it was covering the place completely, Exa on the other hand did not stop, not noticing the electricity, to then get shocked by it.
"Aw! Fuck!" Screamed the lizard in pain, however, it was not enough to kill him. Exa then looked around to see who was emitting this amount of electricity. Noticing a Helix like ship, he lunged himself towards the Qliphort, only to then start blasting with Decisive Armor. Shurit decided to not stop Exa as he continued forwards with his mother.
On their way, they saw a Monolith hovering around, not truly doing anything, then they saw Issei still dodging the blasts of Towers. Shurit then tried to call for him, but to no avail.
Issei then heard Caduceus' voice behind his back, knowing full well it was coming from the staff that Ariel was currently holding. He listened closely to see what he was going to say. Caduceus proceeded to say. "Issei, I want you to put Ariel inside one of the vacuum tubes, they should be able to bring her back by purifying her!"
At the prospect of having Ariel revived, he immediately did what he was instructed to do. He swiftly made his way towards the Qliphort Monolith, there, he saw vacuum tubes being shot from the back of it, he dodged a few so that he wouldn't be captured by accident, followed suit he then threw Ariel towards one that was coming their way, the tube opened up to capture Ariel, instantly, Issei could notice that her skin was starting to revert into a warmer tone.
However, before he could do anything else, the Monolith started levitating at high altitudes to the point that Issei couldn't catch up, at the very least Ariel should be safe for now.
The blasts from Towers stopped coming towards them as there was no longer a Shaddoll in sight. Issei then looked at Shurit and Emilia, just to follow them after as they explained their plan.
And so, they finally made their way towards Apoqliphort Towers, the intimidating stature of the castle like ship made them unintentionally tremble as the attacks it shot out were becoming too much for them. Issei then proceeded to comment. "Alright, I think I should get this done quickly."
Shurit then pulled out a Nekroz Mirror, he held his mother's hand so that she could assist him in this ritual. Issei then decided to look around while they continued with their plan. He then saw Winda flying around on top of a Yang Zing with a manic look on their face.
Towers upon detecting a Shaddoll, proceeded to shoot once again, Winda the started maneuvering on top of the dragon to dodge the attacks, this put Issei on edge, as he didn't want to see her getting blown to smithereens. He couldn't take it anymore as he felt his legs starting to run towards her as fast as he could, even starting to fly off once again.
He couldn't watch her die in front of him again, he was way too emotional, he hadn't been able to respond to her declaration of love, and right now, he wanted to make sure he could let her know how he felt, so that he could see her happy, just this one time, if he made sure that she could be revived, once everything is dealt with Yaldabaoth, he could finally move on, just like how Natsuki wanted.
One of the blasts was able to hit her mount, making Issei shout out her name as he tried to get closer to her. Winda started to fall, only to be caught by one of the vacuum tubes, however, she was outside instead of the inside. Issei saw her look of agony as she attempted to escape from her situation.
As Towers then started to charge another attack, Issei gripped his guandao with all of his might and threw it as if it were a spear, the force he used to throw the weapon made it shoot out like a torpedo.
The blade hit near Winda, breaking the tube, making her fall to then be caught by Issei. She looked at him in confusion, but Issei looked at her with a gentle but melancholic smile, knowing full well that she didn't recognize or didn't feel anything about him.
The guandao didn't stop there as it then hit three other canisters, with the Yang Zings that were being transported in them were broken, allowing the now purified three of them to fly around, looking for their mother.
The Blade Forged From Souls then started falling, diving into the forest below. Before he went to go pick his weapon, he gently put Winda into one of the tubes, to then see her being carried away by the Qliphort Scout.
As he then went to go find his blade, he stopped in his tracks, realizing the way he previously treated Ariel when he was going to put her inside one of the tubes. He started to sweat as he felt bad about the way he treated his former friend.
Back with Shurit and Emilia, they had finally completed the preparations, in Shurit's case, he had grown up after taking in Trishula's power, he was now a young adult, which made him feel a bit weird, just a few seconds ago he was simply a teenager.
The powers of Trishula, now inside of Towers, allowed it to start moving towards the giant Shaddoll. They would be able to seal away the Shaddoll thanks to the fact that Caduceus had finally taken over from the inside.
As Towers and Lapis slowly approached each other, short strings from Lapis started going towards Towers, but instead of attempting to control it, it simply wrapped around them. Towers then proceeded to close itself onto Lapis, making sure she couldn't move or try anything aggressive.
Shortly after, Caduceus got out of the inside of Lapis's Shaddoll body, to tell Shurit and Emilia to create a seal, the same seal that was used to imprison the Ice Barrier dragons. Since Towers had the essence of Trishula, this would allow the usage of the seal.
Caduceus had a changed physique, he had been turned into a Shaddoll after all, and yet he was powerful enough to not be controlled by it. He didn't enter one of the tubes, as he had a lot of work to do before he could finally do that.
With the main threat neutralized, they now have gained enough time to take a breather and prepare themselves for the next step.
Meanwhile Avance finally got out of Skybase after it had finished the shadows from the inside, Exa had given up on the Qliphort Helix as he wondered were the other were. Meanwhile Issei had finally gotten his weapon back from the ground of the were it landed. Sombre however, still hadn't come back, while Exciton Knight reunited himself with the others.
Unbeknownst to them, Winda, who was still inside of one of the vacuum tubes, started the next step of Saklas' plan. Given the fact she had been attacked and killed by the powers of Sophia, remnants of said power continued to flow through her. And so, she obtained access to the system inside the Sacred Naturia Tree.
It was now time to unseal the creations of Saklas.
Before any of them could notice, the Qliphort started to get agitated, the giant pyroxenes they had opened up to reveal mechanical creatures which immediately ripped off the vacuum tubes of the Qliphorts. Additionally, the Qliphort had then turned against the beings of this world, just like the Vylons.
The Infernoids had been released, and so the fire flood had started.
(A/N)
Wow this chapter took a lot of time to finish, it got to the point I don't remember how I did author notes lmao. But anyways I think this leaves two more chapters to go (might end up being one in the end), and at least for the last two, it should be much easier for me to write.
If it does end up being one single chapter, there is going to be a lot of songs and images being used as I was planning to span them through two chapters instead of one single chapter. But alas, at the very least it will feel like there's a Ost always playing while you're reading lol.
I know there are a lot of characters missing through the various acts of the chapter, but think of it this way, they were simply fighting, and I don't really think describing their fight would be interesting.
Just like the Yang Zing, I think the Qliphort got the short end of the stick, as they literally don't have much going on in the Duel Terminal Lore.
The image used is from a card in Yugioh, El Shaddoll Fusion iirc, and if it isn't that one removes the El.
Archetypes that appear in this chapter are the Qliphorts.
And with that, let's get to the scrapped content.
Surprisingly, there wasn't anything that I scrapped from the original plan that I had, that's because I literally had no idea as to what I would do for the previous chapter, that being said, I think this also goes for this one, unless I can't remember it rn, either way, I'll comment it in the next chapter.
And that is all for today, I'll see y'all next update.