Shadowbane

"So this is it..." Markus said as the prison finally came into view.

The Demon promptly turned left and walked alongside the prison until he was fully obscured by the fog.

Lindon put his arms out to his sides, "Where the hell is he going...? I was hoping he'd help with the spider."

"Remember the side entrance I told you about? It's guarded by a bunch of zombified Demons. From what I saw in the Xerath's realm, Demons hate it when anyone else takes their corpses. I don't know why it bothers them so much, but I imagine that's a major reason why Eremnon is so enraged at what is happening here. All of the dead Demons are being used as puppets after all."

"Uh, guys? I have some bad news." Albel whispered, low enough that I barely heard it.

Markus looked back at him, "What's wrong?"

"... I'm out of mana, and I kind of damaged my soul using that spell. I've only used it one other time, but it worked out fine back then. This time though, I was in a panic, and not properly focused on the spell, so..."

Markus sighed, "So it almost backfired... You could have killed all four of us. We currently have the reset, but we aren't in a good enough position to completely rely on it. I understand that having such an omnipotent spell backing you up makes you think that taking risks is okay, but please don't do that again. We really don't know how long we'll be on Veca, and if we end up accidentally killing the moon because we drained too much of its life force, then we'll all be fucked."

"That can happen...?"

"Yes. My Lord told me of a time long ago in the past when someone had completely killed one of Mother's moons, and for whatever reason, that led to it losing its gravitational pull completely." Markus continued, "Well, now that I know Mother is an Eldritch, it probably means that she purposely disposed of her child since it was no longer alive. After it died, the moon promptly disappeared into the sea of clouds below us, which is what will happen to us if we kill Veca. Not that I know how many resets it would take for that to happen, but My Lord said the Demons are currently draining the moon of its lifeblood, so Veca is already on borrowed time as it is."

"Oh that's just fucking fantastic... Do we really not know how much, uh, life, Veca has left?" Lindon asked.

Markus shook his head, "There will be signs, like the forest dying and the number of natural disasters skyrocketing, but until it reaches that point, we really just don't know."

"All that aside, I don't care for our odds versus the spider right now. We really need Keith... Is he on his way here?"

"Hang on," Albel said as he closed his eyes. He reopened them about a minute later, "My sister said he tried to rejoin us, but there was a problem. The monsters battling the Tengu had sensed him coming this way, and apparently, there is a shocking amount of monsters over there right now, so the Tengu has been doing a hit-and-run strategy to fight them all off, but that kind of strategy won't keep them away from Keith, so he had no choice but to return to the temple."

God damnit...

Markus rubbed his chin, "You do have a point, Rei. This is going to be a hard battle, and magic damage is usually how you kill ethereal monsters, but our caster is currently out of commission."

"Not entirely! I'm just having trouble channeling mana right now, and it's regaining much slower than it should... Can we find a place to hide so I can try and meditate?"

"Hide?" Lindon looked around, "Where exactly? The spider is just past this entrance, and we can't stay out here with that bronze monster still hunting us. The Demon only destroyed one of its... Hands? I don't even fucking know."

"Let's just go inside and have Albel hide behind the desk on the right side. And we'll need to be swift in killing the guard who patrols the area, otherwise, the spider will definitely hear us." I continued, "You're right Lindon, it probably won't work, but we really need Albel or Keith for this battle."

"Should we try the side entrance instead?" Markus asked.

"Hmm... I suppose it would be empty if the Demon successfully killed all of his zombified brethren."

Taking that as affirmation, Markus turned and followed the same path the Demon took. The other two sidled up to him while I walked behind them, keeping my eyes behind and above me the entire time.

"Just a warning, it smells really bad down there. To the point that I'm not even sure you guys can handle it."

"... We've been around plenty of bodies in our time. We'll be fine." Markus said.

Heh, we'll see about that.

As we rounded the corner the sounds of battle reached our ears, but no Demons could be seen anywhere as the court came into view. Well, alive ones anyway. There are several sliced-up zombie corpses here and there.

Markus pointed toward the fog opposite the court, "Looks like he pulled them away in that direction. I thought we'd have to fight our way through here, but looks like luck is on our side for a change."

Albel sidles up to me, "Rei, you said that Minotaur Demon 'Had no soul to begin with'... Right?"

I nodded.

"I wonder how it's controlling them then... All summons require a connection through the soul, otherwise, how would you retain control of the summon? And not only that, but how would you maintain them without a connection? I've never heard of a summon that can self-sustain before now..."

"Except I already prove that last part wrong. I can create ether carriers who generate enough ether to keep themselves and a few other skeletons alive indefinitely."

"Indefinitely?! I don't remember seeing anything like that during the Tengu battle."

"Because I had them hiding inside the village cellars behind us. They're very weak and slow after all. But they do need a connection to the other skeletons to supply them with ether... Plus, the zombies are weaker, but I don't see any of the other signs that suggest they are generating ether, like a mana signature. I can't sense any of these zombies, so... Yeah, I really don't know the answer either."

We entered the side entrance and walked down the steps. We got about halfway down when I saw both Albel and Lindon covering their faces from the nose down with their shirts.

"H-Holy hell, you weren't kidding, Rei..." Lindon said weakly.

Upon reaching the holding cells Markus immediately looked at me. "Alright, I admit you were right. There's no way in hell Albel can relax and meditate in here."

"It's brutal, isn't it? But don't worry, I know where we can go."

I led them toward the hallway but I felt all three of them stop behind me. Turning around, I see them looking at a certain someone.

"So that's her?" Markus asked.

Lindon walked up to her and immediately I could see her lips shaking again.

"Whoa... She really is saying 'Ring'... This is so creepy, and it's made even worse by how ungodly beautiful this woman's face is. I'm sure her body was the same way, but, uh..."

Yeah, it's hard to tell when most of her torso is ripped open... It was only a slight curiosity at first, but when I think back to what the Demons did to me, I feel a much stronger urge to help this girl.

Albel sighed, "The ring aside, let's bring her back with the others. That way her reset point is the temple and not this hellhole."

"I planned on doing that from the start. Now let's go." I said, walking to the door and pressing my ear against it. I can hear the sound of footsteps going up the steps on the right.

I waited a few moments to make sure the guard was completely out of ear sight before opening the door. I walk out into the hallway and lead the others to the office I was in before. Once inside, Albel immediately sits in a back corner and begins meditating. I go through the desk and hand the diary to Markus.

"Here, this is the diary I was talking about."

Markus grabbed it and sat down in the chair behind the desk. Lindon stood behind the chair and read along with him. For my part, I sat with my back to the wall, thinking about nothing in particular. Merely resting, while waiting for the inevitable battle to come.

Albel stood up, "Sorry guys, that took longer than I had expected, but I'm ready."

Markus, who was lying down in the chair with the diary over his face sat up and put the diary on the desk. "About time... I even fell asleep a few times."

I pointed toward Lindon, "He is asleep."

Markus sighed and stood up. He walked over to Lindon and shook him awake. While the three of them prepared themselves for the battle ahead, I ran it through my mind several times. Kill the guard, then go upstairs, and then ambush the spider while it's busy eating someone else.

"I really have a bad feeling about this. If we don't kill it right away..."

Markus looked at me, "I know, Rei. This is going to be an impossibly difficult battle if we don't finish it right away. We might even have to figure out how to escape with everyone while it hunts us. The only blessing is that ethereal creatures can't go through the ground. So long as we get everyone outside, it'll have no choice but to come at us head-on. There's also the chance that it believes it can beat us without doing any of that, so it will hold its ground and fight us right there in that room."

"Putting aside that convenient last scenario, that means it would be for the best if we found the keys to this place first. If the guard who patrols this area doesn't have them, should I go look for them first? So long as that dumb fucking ninja doesn't see me, he won't call out for the guards, which means it should be okay for me to snoop around."

Markus went silent, thinking it over for a bit. "... We've already taken too long, but that is the best course of action. We'll go with that plan."

We waited until we heard the guard pass by this room. Markus opened the door and ran out first, but immediately I saw him duck as a backhanded fist smashed through the stone wall near the door frame, just barely missing Markus's head. I over-enhanced my whole body and grabbed the guard's fist, putting my feet up against the wall to use it as leverage as I held the guard in place.

Markus slashed at the guard, but despite the amount of power I was using to keep the guard in place, it still managed to pull away enough so his arm was cut off instead of his torso getting slashed. Lindon applied his barrier just before the guard's blood hit Markus, and immediately I could see it sizzling again. Greyson and the others said the guards were changed, and while they are obviously fucked up looking, this is proof right here that they have been altered in some way. They're just like all the zombies now.

All I saw next was the guard's other fist smashing into Lindon's barrier, sending Markus flying backward. I ran out the door and threw the guard's dismembered arm at his face, he batted it away as I kicked hard at his right ankle. He buckled a little, but quickly threw a high-speed punch at my face. I bent to the left and weaved below it, kicking his right ankle again, causing him to buckle a little more.

The guard continued to try and punch me, but I kept dodging out of the way while kicking his ankle as hard as I could. Eventually, the simple-minded guard figured out that this wasn't going to work and attempted to charge me, but he took one step forward and fell toward the ground, just barely catching himself with his knees and right hand. Markus, now ready to attack again, used this opportunity to cut the man in two, quite literally.

"... Good job killing him, but I'm not excited at the prospect of looking for keys in this mess now."

Markus chuckled, "Apologies my dear, I'll help you look. Lindon, keep your barrier on me."

We bent down and scoured the guard's pockets, and much to my shock, we actually found the keys.

"I'm not sure whether to be annoyed or satisfied. I might have been able to kill this guard alone, but... Yeah never mind, no point in going down that line of thought."

"Best to just be happy with what we got so far! Hell, I'm ecstatic, that means we're finally ready to do this." Lindon said, pumping his fists.

Markus nodded, "I'm ready. How about you lot?"

"Personally I can't wait to burn this spider... I haven't met it yet, but the very idea that this monster even exists is grating on me." Albel said.

"Heh, well said. You're going to hate it even more after you've met it."

Markus turned around and walked up the steps. Once we were on the ground level, he led us to the cells, where everyone looked at us in shock. And of course the sounds of screaming could be heard from the room in the back.

I went over to the cage on this side and whispered, "Ishar, Greyson, we're here to kill the spider. Also..." I showed them the keys and continued, "Want to help?"

Ishar's eyes went wide. Soon after that he looked down and chuckled, "... I haven't seen you in ages, Rei, and this is the first thing you do..."

For his part, Greyson wasn't moving. Just like before, he was trying to figure out who I was again. Ishar walked to the entrance of the cage and stood tall with his back straight, looking just like he did when I first met him. "Open it up. I'm ready.

Now that's more like it... It was killing me seeing the hunched-over gaunt version of Ishar. I'm sure he has his own internal demons to deal with now, but hopefully we can help him get over them. Starting with him assisting us in murdering this spider.

I walked over to the cell and unlocked it. After that, I walked over to the other cell. "Well? What do you lot want to do? Your Tengu asked us to save you, so whether you help or not, I'll be letting you out of here."

The ninja who previously ratted me out looked at me with a stunned expression. "Our Lord sent you here...?"

"No. He asked us to save you as a reciprocation for assisting us. One of the Tengu's Lords is out there fighting monsters for us right now."

The ninjas all glanced at each other, but they didn't waste any time debating whether the information was true or not. They immediately agreed to help us.

"We have our own little quarrel with the spider..." The first ninja said as he exited the cage.

All of a sudden the screaming stopped. I looked back and was met with a horrific version of Dejavu. A ghastly palm was sticking through the wall with a large eyeball on it staring down at us. The speed at which the spider entered the room and grabbed a dozen people was almost impossible to track. It immediately whipped them into the wall with enough strength that I saw blood splattering everywhere. It reached for another group just as I hit it with the sonar ball of light, causing it to stop in its tracks for a moment as it gauged what I had just hit it with.

The spider's whole body lit up through the wall. It was gripping multiple points in the previous room to hold itself up as its torso hung low near the floor. Markus, Ishar, Albel, and a group of ninjas ran into the room in the back. The spider kept attacking the people out here, but its attention was obviously focused on the group trying to attack him directly. I could hear explosions of fire as I dodged the two hands currently trying to grab me. Oh my god, why is this thing so fucking fast?!

I turned ethereal for a split second as its fingers repeatedly grazed me. With every attempt it came closer and closer to grabbing me. This isn't going to work, and I'm not helping anyone by doing this. Deciding to just risk everything, I grab one of its hands as it passes by me and pull myself up onto it, and that's when I realize how I can actually damage this thing.

It should have been obvious in hindsight... It turns you ethereal so it can touch you, so clearly that means you can touch it as well.

I punch the arm in front of me with all my strength, causing my fist to go all the way through the spider's arm. The arm wrung in pain as the other hand grabbed for me. Several of the ninjas clung onto the arm and began to rip into it with their fingers, tearing bits of the arm out until it hung there limply. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Greyson rolling dice on a blue ethereal board. What the fuck is he doing?! Is that his ability...?

Now that I wasn't under attack, I dashed toward the room in the back. Inside, I could see Markus doing his best to parry multiple attacks coming at him as he guarded Albel. For his part, Albel was attempting to breathe fire onto the spider's torso, but it was currently creating webs at a much faster rate than he could burn through them.

On both sides I could see Ishar and several groups of ninjas battling the spiders arms while killing them one by one. At first glance it looks like we're doing great, but all of its hands are slowly regenerating, and even now I can see it growing new arms from the top of its torso...

"WHAT A PERFECT ROLL FOR THIS SITUATION HAHAHAHA!!" Greyson laughed wildly as he entered the room. "Now watch this bitch burn!"

He walked to our right and aimed a long metal hose at the webbing in front of us. This is obviously a gun, but I've never seen one like this before? He has a large metal backpack strapped to him that's connected to a long hose... And is that a small blue flame at the end of the hose?

Greyson pulled the trigger and immediately the area in front of him was covered in liquid flame. Albel's ability is amazing, it really is, but it's nothing compared to what I'm looking at right now. The spider also realized it was fucked if it didn't stop him. Its webbing was disappearing at an alarming rate with both Albel and Greyson torching it. Whatever hands it had left descended onto Greyson as Lindon's barrier flared to life around him.

I, Markus, Ishar, and even the ninjas ran to his side and attempted to keep any hands we could off of him. Two still managed to grab him and under the might of their grip I could see Lindon's barrier cracking all over. Greyson just kept laughing maniacally as he burned the webbing.

"MARKUS!" I yelled and pointed toward the webbing. He knew what I was saying without even confirming it, as he enhanced his feet and blitzed forward with his sword shining a bright white. He cut straight through the last vestiges that remained of the webbing and the torso behind them as well. His sword flared as he was halfway through the torso, causing it to burst into a ball of white flames. He rolled out of the way as Greyson continued to pour flames onto the torso, but it was already over. The hands of the spider lost their grip on the ceiling, all falling to the ground one by one.