Shadowbane

I dropped the artifact sword in the pond next to Lunaria who was still resting inside it.

"I didn't expect to see you again for a while... I was surprised when I saw you heading back this way." Lunaria pointed at the sword, "You returned to give this to me...?"

I shrugged, "It felt like a waste to leave it out there. Surely you know someone who can put this to use? I slightly messed up one of my parries and the damned thing chunked my mana down by a quarter. And all it did was hit the side of my hand."

Plus, I really need to rest right now. I had the halo out for way too long during that battle. Merely walking back here was a struggle...

I sat in the pool next to Lunaria as she inspected the greatsword. It wasn't very aesthetically pleasing, but the little green lights going up and down the blade were a nice touch.

As I watched Lunaria test the blade out, I saw the green lights flare up to triple their original luminosity. Lunaria's eyes lit up when she saw that. "Ooh! The ether in the blade is exiting through those holes and wrapping around the blade. What a waste for this sword to have been held by a Vanguard... He couldn't even utilize it properly."

And yet, he still would have killed me with ease if one of his blows had hit me directly. Err, maybe not killed, but it would have been close.

"So I can have this... Right?" Lunaria asked as she leaned up against me with a smirk.

"That was the plan... Originally."

Lunaria narrowed her eyes at me, "Originally? Please tell me you didn't change your mind. I know someone who'd be a perfect fit for this sword."

"Well let me tell you what I have in mind, and then you decide, okay?"

"Fine... That's fair."

"I have that Crotian's soul, so I was thinking we'd watch his memories together. You'd like to know what kind of information he has, yeah?"

"Y-YES! Aresa told me about your---" Lunaria was about to excitedly hug me but she pulled back at the last second, "... What's this have to do with the sword?"

"Well..." I looked at the sword that was now resting inside the pond, "I think I want to try and resurrect that Crotian and have him use this sword."

"Um... I've also heard about your 'Summons', but doesn't that make you personally weak? And why would a single skeleton matter?"

"This one would be quite different from the skeletons Aresa saw. I'd use the Crotian's soul as a base for the skeleton. I've only done it one other time, and my unit was attacked after that so I didn't get to test it much, but I assume it's only good with combatants. Because the guy I used it on was a regular bandit who was a little more skilled than the rest of his companions, and the skeleton performed almost exactly at the same level he did."

I could see from her expression that Lunaria understood where I was going with this, but she took on a complicated expression in the end as she looked back at the sword.

"I don't know... I still feel it'd be best if one of my greatest warriors had this sword. We might even be able to kill the Nei'lah God with it." She went silent as she continued to stare at the sword for a while before finally looking at me and sighing, "In fact, I'm almost positive we could kill it if he was able to land a few... Dozen fully charged blows with this." I couldn't help but laugh when Lunaria whispered the word 'Dozen'.

"I know he's your enemy, but aren't the Crotians mostly killing the Xerath anyway? Can't you deal with their God later?"

"Oh the irony... Remind me, Rei. How'd your search for the Xerathian God or main hive go? You didn't happen to attack a random Crotian instead, did you? Although I am happy that you acquired this artifact weapon."

"... Fair point, but I saw the sword and the fact that he was alone, so I figured 'Why not?' I had a feeling he'd be strong because he was all alone out there, but he was much more powerful than I had expected. All I could do was parry, there was no time for me to attack him past my initial blow to his snout. He pulled out all the stops after that."

I thought back to the fight and chuckled sardonically, "When I turned invisible I was actually planning on fleeing, but then I saw that gun up the stairs behind me, and, well... You know the rest. You were watching through your fairy, right? The spy you sent with me."

"Spy is a little harsh... Your past doesn't bother me in the least, Rei. So please don't misunderstand. Aresa may have been naive, but I trust her judgment. Plus, Cera of all people said that we could trust you. If you showed up in Termia I mean."

Cera did??? I thought she hated my guts... Did something happen between us when we were in Aresa's chateau before the invasion? I don't remember anything like that though...

"So..." Lunaria motioned toward the sword. "What are you going to do? I can understand why such a powerful Crotian may serve as an amazing servant for you, but can you even handle the mana drain? Aresa said she felt like she was dying when she helped you out in that Tengu battle. Although, you seemed to have no problems forming a massive army when you attacked Viktor. I think I know why you were able to pull that off though... His videos of your attack did focus on the part where your army was suspiciously invested in killing civilians above all else."

"It does sound horrible when you lay it out like that, but I don't care in the least. Especially after..." A certain red-haired kitsune flashed through my mind, "... Something happened that wasn't directly Viktor's fault, but he would have killed her in the end anyways."

Lunaria quirked an eyebrow as I went silent. I sat there struggling to get the words out for god knows how long before I felt the little fairy in my soul casting something to calm me down. You're good for that too huh...

"I... I wasn't going to ask you about this. Because frankly, I don't want to think about it right now, but I feel like I shouldn't put this off any longer... How much do you know about Seifer?"

"Seifer?" Lunaria tilted her head and looked up as she ruminated over the name.

"You don't know who he is? He's the steward for Euphemia. Tall blonde guy with glasses. Fuck, what is it with tall blonde men with glasses destroying the things that I love... I've never even seen anyone else wear glasses outside of those two!"

"Whoa whoa, calm down sweetie! I remember who he is now that you told me more about him, but what could he have possibly done to hurt you? He was just a logistics officer or something, wasn't he? 'Steward' could mean anything."

"So you don't know anything about him... Shit. So I will have to ask Euphemia." I thought back to the scene in the hotel, "He killed Shana... And he was acting all weird before that too. Hell, he looked like a fucking zombie. Oh, hang on... I think Viktor said something about him too?"

What was it? I was entirely focused on Shana's arm and the blood pooling out from it, so I wasn't really listening to him. Something about Seifer having a long rap sheet... I think?

"Was Seifer a criminal?"

Lunaria shrugged, "I don't know? Euphemia is not the type to have criminals working that close with her though. So if he was one, then she was clueless about it."

I'm getting nowhere with this, and the more I think about Seifer, the angrier I'm getting. That fucking piece of shit took Shana from me... I loved that girl. I really did...

The reality that I'd never see her or Ishar again was finally sinking in, and I felt the same soul-crushing sadness that hit me when most of my friends in Xelba were sacrificed. I buried my face in my knees as Lunaria began to pat my back.

"I... I need to kill him. I just need to kill him... Where is he? You must know, Lunaria. Please tell me you know..."

"I don't... I'm sorry sweetie. I'd help you if I could, but I didn't remember his name at first because I hadn't seen him nor heard his name in over twenty years. He went missing before your attack on Viktor was broadcast to all of Aetheria. I can tell Euphemia what happened to him now, but it sounds like you should be the one to tell her, and hopefully you'll find some more answers that way..."

I opened my eyes and found myself underwater. This is bringing back memories...

I stayed like that for a few minutes, just letting the pond's pristine waters wash over me. I had put myself to sleep after Lunaria told me she didn't know where Seifer was. My mind and soul needed the respite, and this pond was the perfect place for it. I could tell that the resentment and sadness in my soul had been replaced with conviction. Both of them... I will kill both of them, and then I'll figure out a way to join Shana and the others in the great beyond. If it's inside of Meiza'thul then so be it.

I lifted myself out of the water. As the water dripped off of me into the pond I saw Lunaria exit her soul realm and look right at me. "Feeling better?"

"Yes. And I've decided to raise the Crotian. He'll be useful with his gravity ability alone, but I'd still prefer he had the sword. I'm sorry Lunaria."

"Heh, I already knew you'd say that so it's fine. And if you can't handle the mana load then I'll get the sword anyways. Or when the skeleton dies? Assuming you don't lose the sword... Please don't lose the sword."

I smiled at her and stood up with the sword in my right hand, "I'll do my best." And with that I walked back into the tunnel, exiting the cavern soon after that, and headed straight for the Crotian's corpse I left back in that outpost.

I watched as his flesh melted away, slowly absorbed by the core for sustenance. Little by little the black tendons and muscles formed throughout his skeletal frame. After the core was mostly formed the skeleton awoke and began to climb to its feet, forcing me to command it to remain dormant. It fell to the ground and went silent as I slowed down the speed at which its armor was forming. Even while dormant it was draining way too much to create a full suit of armor.

I had told it to create a full heavy armor set of blackened blood, which meant we needed somewhere to hide while it worked. We were currently inside the cavern that he was hiding in before. Everything inside had been burned to a crisp thanks to me, but I didn't even know what was originally in here, so it was hard to care about what I may have destroyed. Aside from that melted radio, everything else is indiscernible.

I dug into the Crotian's pack to see what he had in it. After carrying his skeleton into this cave I grabbed his pack as well. The inside only had two things in it. A dozen or so grilled cheese sandwiches and one massive bottle of water. He must have really loved grilled cheese... I haven't had one of these since Xelba.

I chomped down on all of the grilled cheese while waiting for the skeleton's armor to form. From the looks of things it was going to take about a day, so after I was done eating I entered my soul realm and did something I hadn't done in ages. I watched TV. Mana regen skyrockets inside your soul realm, as it's the same as meditation, so I decided to just relax while mindlessly watching the programs I remembered from my childhood.

Out of curiosity, I put on the cartoons I used to watch that had fairies in them. Luna appeared on the couch next to me and watched them as well. She didn't say anything, but she seemed to find the cartoon's interpretations of her to be quite fascinating.

"... Not bad. Not bad at all."

The Crotian's armor had finished about twelve hours ahead of time thanks to me being able to rest in my soul realm. He's draining me quite a bit, so definitely no halo until I can collect enough souls to feed him for those moments when I'll need the halo.

I placed my hand on the Crotian's chest. Okay, now for the real test... I focused on my veil and forced half of it over to his core. Once that was done I told him to turn invisible, and surprisingly, he did. I really didn't think this would work... It feels like there is enough leeway for another skeleton too. Anything past two and there wouldn't be enough veil to hide everyone. And the only thing I need to worry about is those moments when I'll need to retrieve the veil in combat for my halo. Aside from that, my core is a little more susceptible now. But in the end, this should be more than worth those small negatives.

I looked at the Crotian. "We need a name for you... How about Petey? I named one of the seagulls back in Xelba that." The Crotian just stood there lifelessly. "Yeah... You're Petey from now on."

With that done, I turned around and walked through the tunnel until I reached the boulder. I then shimmied alongside it until I was outside. As Petey did the same I looked up at the sky, finding a lot of dark gray clouds. Not too bright. Not too dark. This is the perfect chance to test it out.

Once Petey was outside I turned us both invisible. The drain was almost three times the size I was used to, which is about what I had expected. He's twice as big as me after all, so it all works out. I just need to be much more careful around light from here on out. Or...

.......

After thinking on it for a bit I removed Petey's invisibility but left mine up. Luna, where's the closest Crotian outpost? I need some souls before we approach one of the Xerath's hives.

A little white light appeared far off to the right. So the same direction as the hive you were directing me toward? I doubt they purposely built it next to a hive, so it must have sprung up without them realizing it. Some of them spread fast after all.

Petey picked me up and ran toward the direction Luna was aiming us. The direct light was hitting his back so only the ambient lighting was damaging me. Oh yeah, this is much better.

Petey and I were both invisible under a large tree giving us lots of shade. In the not-so-far distance, I watched as a large convoy of Crotians filled up one truck after another with boxes. It went on for so long that my initial suspicions regarding their activities had quickly turned into conviction. They're abandoning this outpost... Is the nearby hive really that bad?

We watched for another four hours as trucks came and left until there were only a few remaining. The last remaining soldiers had apparently drawn the short straw and were forced to check the entire outpost, making sure nothing was left behind.

Petey and I snuck past the vehicles and into the long hallway that was fortunately filled with dull lighting. We went by several rooms until we found our first targets. Two Crotians were smoking from a giant pipe in an empty storage room while talking about a female they were both interested in.

We sidled up behind them and immediately removed our veils. One of the Crotians turned around and stared at us agape with his eyes nearly bulging out of his head, while the other had leaped forward from his sitting position as he yelled for help. Holy shit! That was the fastest response I've ever seen from someone after I removed my veil.

I sprinted for the Crotian that was running for the exit as I heard Petey eviscerate the other Crotian who was still completely frozen in fear. I reached the one fleeing just as he neared the door. I grabbed his right foot as it extended back and whipped him backward in Petey's direction. The Crotian barely moved ten feet through the air before stomping his foot down hard and launching himself right into me, which made me fly backwards through the door. Overenhanced! Tch, the missing halo is already a problem.

I jumped to my feet and leaped onto the Crotian as he entered the hallway. Between me biting onto his neck while continuously punching him in his side, he quickly realized he needed to get rid of me or his mana would run out long before he reached the outside. He stopped and slammed his back into the wall, crushing me and my mana as a result, but it gave Petey enough time to catch up. The Crotian turned to run again but both of his legs were lopped off before he exited Petey's range. Right through his overenhanced legs... Even as a skeleton he's doing an insane amount of damage.

The Crotian tried to scream again but now that he was out of mana, I clamped down hard onto his snout before crushing his throat. Silencing him forever. At that moment, I felt the Crotian's soul suck out of his body and fly straight into Petey's core. Why the hell are my skeletons able to collect souls by merely being near anything that dies, while I have to draw them out by hand? That has to be an ability I can unlock... It'd save me a lot of time.

"INTRUDERS! THERE ARE TWO OF THEM---"

I looked back the way we came and saw a Crotian yelling into his radio. As I was turning my head, Petey had already thrown his sword in that direction. It went through the Crotian's chest and pinned him to the wall. He clutched at his chest as blood began to pour out of his mouth. Upon reaching him, Petey grabbed the Crotian's head with his right hand and pulled the sword out with his left. I saw the Crotian's head explode as I ran past him. Petey, let's go. It's time to bail. Three should be enough for now.

We both turned invisible and ran out of the outpost just before all of the Crotians who were relaxing outside ran into the same hallway we had just exited.

I watched and waited just to make sure, but sadly several trucks full of Crotians who were armed with much bigger guns and armor showed up about ten minutes later.

Yeah, this place is a wash... Oh well, it's not a huge deal. Souls of all kinds serve as much better fuel for the skeletons than they do me. So those three should give him plenty of autonomous time, which in turn will allow me to use my halo.

Luna, the hive please. And why aren't you supporting me in combat? You could have been a big help when that Crotian barreled me over.

A small white light appeared off in the distance, but in response to my question I only felt fear emanate from the fairy.

... I don't mind, but I think your, uh, mother? She isn't going to be very happy when she finds out that you're too scared to help me in battle.

{Already... Yelling...} The fairy meekly said.

Ahh, right. She's watching through the fairy's eyes. I'll let Lunaria kick her into shape then.

I still hate the Demons the most, but there is just something so vile about the Xerath. It's kind of annoying how at home I feel in their corrupted lands, but I'm relieved to see that I'm still creeped out by looking at their hives.

The hive is a writhing light purple mess of flesh covering the ruins of a city. The hive has turned the city into a cavern of sorts, and the ground itself is pitch black. It's not taking on the light purple hue the rest of the hive is covered in.

Petey, go throw a rock onto that pitch-black ooze.

Petey walked forward until he found a sizable rock. He then tossed it forward, landing it perfectly near the edge of the goo. Perfect. I made the order vague to see if he'd throw it far into the hive, making the whole thing pointless. A regular skeleton would do that, but not a unique one huh...

The ooze suddenly sprang to life. First, a hand formed out of it and reached toward the sky before slamming down onto the ooze. Then another hand, and a head, until a fully formed Xerath stood tall on top of the ooze. It looked down at the rock, tiling its head back and forth as if studying it. It looks human in design... I haven't seen too many who were like this.

The Xerath eventually stopped looking at the rock and walked out of the hive. It then flipped over a few large rocks nearby and looked underneath them.

I watched the Xerath for a little while as its body slowly went from pure black to taking on randomly colored hues before settling on light purple. But I didn't get to see its new colors for long, as it eventually gave up and slowly melted back into goo, re-adding its own mass into the hive.

Hmm... Walking over that ooze is a death sentence, even for me. I'm very light, but they're still going to feel my weight press down onto the ooze. That just leaves the walls, but even that looks dangerous... I still need to try though.

Wait here Petey.

I ran up to the edge of the ooze and jumped onto the walls. I thought they'd be fleshy like the outside, but the inside was covered in a hard secretion of some sort. It reminds me of the room with that Ghorak and poisonous flower I had to go through to reach Jericho. It had the same type of hard substance covering the walls. I've been inside a few Xerath hives before in their realm, but they never looked like this.

I clung to the wall, watching the ooze for any sort of movement. Nothing, huh? Good, that means they can't feel this. I crawled along the wall until I reached the first part of the city. It was a large thoroughfare with a bunch of abandoned cars that were now covered in god-knows-what. The whole area was lit up in the same light-purple hue, but it wasn't hurting me at all. Possibly because of how dim it was or something to do with its nature.

Upon reaching the thoroughfare, the walls opened up and went super high above the tallest buildings inside the city. I climbed up them until I was high enough that I was certain I could make the jump to the nearby building. I leaped off the wall and rolled once I hit the roof of the building to break my fall. Almost immediately I could hear several Xerath howl from below me as the building began to rumble. I jumped onto the ledge and watched the door leading to the roof. It didn't take long for two Xerath to come running through it. A human-shaped one and another with six arms that it was using to crawl around.

They scoured the roof for a bit before returning to wherever the hell they were before. With them gone, I turned around and scanned what I could see of the city. For the most part there was nothing to see. Just a bunch of buildings partly covered in purple flesh while the ground was completely engulfed in the black ooze. There were a few Xerath I could see but they were clearly dormant.

Damnit, I need a bird. We couldn't find any on the way here though, which is why I'm scouting this out personally, but this is going to take forever. And I don't even know what the fuck I'm looking for. Lunaria said there weren't any Lords guarding these hives, so... Wait.

Luna, what is creating these hives? Normally it's the Lords who leave the main nest and go to create their own, all so they can continue to spread their corruption far and wide.

{Nobody knows. They say just burn it all. Hive go away.}

Great, thanks...

I scoured the hive for another half a day before I said fuck it and began to make my way back toward Petey. I was about a third of the way there when suddenly hundreds, maybe even thousands of Xerath began to spawn out of the ooze. I saw even higher numbers of them run out of the buildings, all heading in the opposite direction I was moving. They're either attacking their next target, or they're defending against something...

I waited on the wall, listening as best I could to see if the sounds of combat would start up, and not long after that I heard a wide array of explosions and other sounds echo out from the direction the Xerath were all running toward.

Luna, can you sense far enough out to know what is attacking this place?

{Eldritch souls.}

Eldritch? Does your mother know which ones?

{Don't know, lost connection. Hive interfering.}

Was worried about that. I lost my connection to Petey a while ago as well. He'll be fine since he knows to go dormant when our connection is cut, but I'd still prefer to not leave him out there unattended.

As the battle in the distance raged on, I began to notice that the ooze was thinning out. Which made sense when I considered that the Xerath were spawning out of it. Except there was a problem. The ooze was growing back to its initial depth between the waves of Xerath it was spawning.

Lunaria has the right idea, just burn it all to death. Still though, it would be nice to know what is creating this ooze... It's obviously the core of these hives, but the only idea I have for locating it is tp scout the center of the city.

However, that is not an option. The buildings start to change the closer you get to the city's center, which obviously makes it more suspicious, but there's still no way to get there by myself. The buildings have far more of the fleshy purple mass covering them near the center, and the furthest buildings I can see look like they have a bunch of that ooze covering them as well. There's also the fact that I can see a few large purple mounds that look like they're pulsing. And that's just what I can see. Who the hell knows what else is in that direction.

A massive part of the hive's walls exploded inwards, letting a bunch of sunlight into the city. Soon after that a ten-story tall carapaced insectoid crawled into the city. It was moving on eight feet and almost everything I saw was armored. That is, until it sat down and opened up its 'wings'. Bipedal mantis-like creatures flooded out of it and began to attack the encroaching Xerath.

Alright, it's time to leave. That thing busted through the wall only a hundred yards from me. If another one of them busts through the wall next to me that would be disastrous. I could use this as an opportunity to see what happens in the city center if these insect-like Eldritch are able to breach that far, but it's far too much of a gamble. I'm finally in Termia, I'd really prefer to not die in a highly risky situation like this when there are a multitude of other ways to scout out the center of a different hive.

I turned around and jumped from one roof to another, making my way toward the area where I entered the hive.

I think it's about time I went to see Aresa and the others... Lunaria's mission will have to wait a little while. They've been at war with these things for years. I'm sure another couple of weeks won't be a big deal.