Chapter 390: The final stand
"Are you fucking insane, why did you do that for?" Firsjen said as he grabbed kath's hand and pulled her back, "We just had to stay in the arena, wait for backup while dwindling their numbers in regular fights."
"You know damn well we could've last another 2 days with our current pace."
"And then what?" Katherine pulled her hand back and asked coldly.
"What?"
"Even if we manage to kill everyone in the audience stands, we'll be too tired to face against Tauba and that Godmother these guys are speaking about. We'll have no mana or any energy left for any further fight. And by luck even if some backup arrives at that point, we'll be killed before anyone reaches us."
"That still doesn't explain why you just called the mad king here, we could've still lived 2 days, but now…" Firsjen said and stopped talking as he stared at Tauba simply walking towards them and causing tremors in the ground.
Tauba's power seemed to be something that land into mud, the solid ground would turn and twist like liquid at his command. His each steps causing waves in this 'sea' grounds, sending shockeaves to spread far and wide.
(Remember animation from one piece when luffy unlocks gear 5, yeah something like that.)
The question that the noble vampire asked, was something lingering in everyone's mind. If this city was normal they could even guess that maybe killing the king can stop his army, but these people were just animals. Even if they managed to kill Tauba somehow, these monsters would still slaughter them nonetheless.
But Katherine was in no mood to explain anything, while they were talking 2 of the students had already been killed by the crazy crowd and one had committed suicide in front of them. The sight did send a shock to her heart, but now wasn't the time.
"Ice prison"
Katherine said as she thrusted her sword into the ground, watching as a square prison rose up, separating the students and the mob, who just kept banging the ice pillars which refused to budge. The monsters which were too close to be forced out, were soon killed by everyone else, giving the surviving students a rare moment of rest.
"Damon spread out all the poison you can muster up. Elroy, I need illusions as realistic as you can. I don't care what kind. Firsjen, call for the bats and crows you control, and cause as much a distracting havoc as you can. Takashi, start chanting prayers that can affect their brains and souls. Morphius, start howling, bring out their inner animals to extremes."
"Don't tell me what to do, you lowly bloodbank?" Firsjen refused immediately.
"Yeah, we're not following your orders, right after you got us in this mess, so you better shut up." Morphius shouted in anger, "And you, emo fucker, don't you know some better poison that doesn't stink like you shat yourself and didn't wash for ages."
"S_sss sorry. I'll_ tta… try. " Damon said, stuttering in his words as he saw the glaring eyes. The guy had suffered so much bullying in the past months, that he had lost all the confidence and courage he held close. He even forgot how to speak properly without apologizing to anyone every two words. And then following their commands on third.
"Useless bitch." Firsjen said as he kicked him away.
"If you want to survive and get out of here alive, you'll do as I say." Ignoring the glaring eyes and distrust of others, Katherine spoke and without explaining more, turned to look at the other three remaining students.
"Rubina, Alaric, Lucille - you three, stop anyone from interfering as I kill their king."
"No way, I'm gonna fight that king guy first." Rubina immediately refused before running towards Tauba. Her eyes shining in the battlehungry glint, pumping her body with adrenaline.
Katherine looked at Rubina, who touched the ice prison before phasing through it directly, ignoring any blockade and charging in the monster mob headfirst, and remembered their training sessions together. "Fool." She muttered, what Rio used to call her.
"You two, protect them." Katherine said, as cracks began to form on her ice prison.
"No one's doing anything, so stop shouting, once this prison breaks, I'll just go, talk to the king and ask for the previous settlement again. Maybe we can still set the arena battles… ."
Firsjen was speaking when he got interrupted by Lucille, who pushed him aside and stood in front of Katherine.
"Are you sure about what you're doing? Can you guarantee our survival?" she said, staring at her face.
"I can't." Katherine said honestly, causing Firsjen and Morphius to sneer at her response, "But I can tell you that this is our best bet. God's swear."
"... Good. I'll hold off these idiots, while you do you." Lucille said and turned around to stare at everyone. Showing them her stance.
Firsjen sneered in response as his eyes started glowing red and two pairs of teeths grew in sizes as vampiric fangs, ready to drain her blood, when Alaric stood between them and pressed his hand on the vampire's chest, his nails growing in a wolves claws as they scratched over his bloody armor.
"Katherine says she can save us, and I trust her, so you better not try and do anything to mess this up, or I really might act on my instincts and rip you to pieces."
The vampire noble and the half breed both glared at each other, their eyes sparking with hatred flowing in their blood, but before the duo could really duke it out, Katherine's prison shattered and monsters swarmed in, attacking them from all sides.
"Now." Katherine said as she swung her sword, a wave of chilly air flashing in the space as monsters started freezing and falling to pieces at the slightest touch..
As her words finished, Lucille grabbed Damon with his collar, jolting him awake from the shock, "Do what she said or die." she said, increasing his grip until she literally pulled him up from the ground and the bullied boy had to step on his toes to stay on ground.
Damon nodded his head in a hurry as he waved his hand in the air, taking out small balls from his storage rings, before clapping them together and crushing them. In an instant a five colored poison gas spread in the air. Rising up slowly under Damon's control.
Lucille instantly let go of her hand and stepped back with her nose frowning, "It's really disgusting." She muttered while slicing her sword in a 360 manner, cutting anyone who came within attacking range.
As for what would've happened if her teammates didn't back out first, what does her yandere hot ass have to do with it? Their fault for being a bitch who didn't know how to fight.
Awooooooooooo
A shadow of the moon seemed to appear visibly even in the peak daylight, as Morphius transformed into a werewolf and howled while looking at the clouds.
The horde of monsters around him seemed to have lost their sanity, their eyes filled with a clouded sense of animalistic nature.
On the other side, clouds above a nearby forest seemed to turn dark for a second, before the fog seems to be lifted off and the clouds spread thin showing their real form, a swarm of bloodthirsty bats, who literally turned burly monsters into pile of wet bones, and cowing crows whose beaks could break the skulls of monsters they attacked.
A long neck cloak appeared behind Firsjen's shoulder, as he rushed into the horde. As the monster's claws and swords attacked him, before they could touch him, his body turned into bats and disappeared from his place. While on the previous place a magical circle lit up on the ground, trapping everyone in place.
Flying bats would rush straight down entering the eyes, mouths and ears of monsters trapped there, controlling their brains and turning them into vampires for the next five minutes.
The monsters suddenly turned around and started attacking their partners, sucking their blood and turning others too. Increasing their numbers slowly and steadily.
A little far from Firsjen and Morphius was Takashi, sitting with his legs crossed. His body floating in the air like an enlightened monk. Three beads of light floated behind his back like an angel's halo.
"Why are you fighting? Why do you hold so much anger, so much hatred? Life is given to spread love and light of Lord, so stop this barbaric battle and join me in his praise, let us sing his prayers and cherish this blessing." Takashi said and thumped his staff on the ground, setting a shockwave of sound causing shockwaves on ground. Forming a circle of ahimsa in the middle of this battleground.
All monsters within 5 meters of him stopped their actions and stood still like statues.
For those monsters who had higher mental intelligence and some soul protection skills, Takashi just shook his head and chanted his next prayer (skill).
"May the Lord have mercy on you, may the gods absolve your sins and accept your soul into eternal heaven. As the great God's prophet, the pope Narrator has said, drop thou weapons and welcome peace_ in death."
As his words reached their ears, their souls seemed to have been pulled out from their bodies, before being attracted to those light beads and merging into them.
Lucille looked at this method of soul sucking, and stepped further away. 'Fucking followers.' she cursed in her mind and became even more violent in her attacks. Wherever she passed, pieces of monster body parts would fly in the air, leaving wailing crippled corpses in her wake.
Elroy took out his wand and pointed it in the sky, complex magic circles lit up at its tip in line, before he released them. The clear clouds turned in rainbow colors as flying birds changed into unicorns and started neighing and running amok in the battlegrounds.
His illusions were so detailed and clear that monsters couldn't even distinguish them from reality. Friends turned into foes, as monsters started seeing everyone around them as the students. Attacking these 'ghosts' and ended up killing their own teammates.
Elroy was sort of providing backup for everyone, protecting them from any mishaps and sneak attacks.
As for his own safety, it was left to Alaric. The vamp-wolf hybrid was truly showing why he's considered the anomaly, a true horror of nature, as he seamlessly started using spells and bloodline abilities of both apex predator clans.
He held a red dagger in his hands that seemed to shine brighter the more enemies it slayed.
'No matter how many times I use it, it always feels weird.' Alaric thought as the dagger cut through a hard shelled kraken monster like cutting through butter. Not just the extreme sharpness, the dagger also had the effect of sucking the slayed creature's health and mana, healing his own injuries in return.
The only drawback of it was the increased bloodlust it brought in the user's mind, but that didn't affect his senses much, as his vampire traits complimented the same.
(The dagger was a gift he received from Rio, when he accepted the hybrid as his follower.)
On the other hand, away from this hellish battleground, in the center an open space was formed, where no one dared to enter. Or better could not enter. A place where Katherine stood in front of The tribal chief, Tauba.
"You are smart enough to realize that you would have never survived if you kept the arena battles open. Even if you killed everyone in my city, I would've still sacrificed you before the war starts." Tauba said as he looked at Katherine, while he held Rubina by her throat and lifted her up from the ground.
Her dominant hand was twisted with elbow bone sticking out from her skin, her face swelled from one side as she kept coughing blood. "But you were foolish enough to challenge me."
"The only ending that awaited you and your friends from the moment you entered this dungeon, was just death."
"We'll see." Katherine said as she swiped her hand over her sword, turning its metallic luster to be covered by a dark frost.
Crackkkk
The cracking sound rang in the air as the shadow behind Tauba turned into a spear and rose up to stab him, but was grabbed by the monster king at the last moment. "Shadow magic," Tauba said as he broke the black spear with his brute force, only to be shocked as he felt a sensation of danger in his heart.
Turning his head, only to be surprised as Rubina in his grip was replaced by Katherine, who slashed her frosty sword at his neck.
"Nice trick." Tauba said, instantly backing away, dodging the hit by a hair's margin. He looked back and noticed Rubina panting heavily where Katherine was standing previously.
Tauba stared at Katherine, his eyes shifting towards her left hand where he noticed a crystal crumbling in powder, "What a waste of such a gem." He said, before raising his hand as the ground turned muddy beneath their feet, swallowing them till waist down.
Unfazed by the trap, Katherine just channeled her mana and used all the skills in her arsenal. From the main blessings to experimented thoughts, honed techniques to spells with massive backlash.. She was ready to show her final stand, her final struggle.
"Realm of ice"
"Frost floor"
"Transformation magic - Nevermore"
"Heartless reign of a killer"
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