Guns and crossbows alike all aimed straight ahead. A wall of boat to one side, and half of a circular wall of men and women to the other, armed to the teeth with either ranged or melee combat in mind. At the epicenter, a fair enough gap between the latter, were both Elise and Dante. Twenty-eight guardsmen had the duo held up, both with their own weapons partially drawn.
Dante twirled his broadsword though did not make any moves, thrusting it into the ground. Elise on the other hand released hold of her own katana without a change of stance. Two shrouded phantoms of the night with only face and hands visible. Dante cast his grumpy sight around in a bid of rage from soul to soul, whilst Elise herself looked only ahead.
Light lit up the area, a brilliant pumpkin orange cascading through the trees. Several of the ambushers set forth their lights in effort to illuminate the soon-to-be battlefield.
“Pft- just a buncha schmucks prodding with their damn brights.”
“Yeah, damn brights and weapons trained. The hell do we do Dante?”
“Quit muttering amongst yourselves and surrender, now! I will not say it again!”
The melee weapons stretched ahead, their wielders lining up alongside their ranged brethren. The half-circle was tightened immediately, drawing ever so closer. A gap of only ten or so meters remained wide open between the two sides.
“Do it,” called a voice.
She glared ahead, hand placed back upon the grip of her katana, gazing out as a form rose up right beside her. Sephiroth walked just beyond her side and out towards the open, stopping front and center with a chuckle.
“Oi ‘lise, what’re you thinkin’ in that head of yours?” Dante hissed.
Sephiroth turned his head to the right, his right eye casting madness right back at her. A chilling stare, those deep blue eyes emitting a red glow around them like a ring. The pupils, dancing mad upon the stage, that ear to ear grin that practically peeled back his face and exposed what lay beneath.
“We are not going to ask again, this is your last chance! Stand down now or die!!”
Her emerald glow locked, that blue with the red aura radiating back upon her own flesh, “You’ve got to do it Elise. You have no choice. They are going to kill your friend here, unless you kill them first. Will you allow for another of your friends to die?”
The handle clacked as she took firm hold, her teeth gritted together.
“Oi… ‘lise? What’re you-”
“READY AND F-”
CRACKLE CRACK
“RRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- HA HA HA HAAAAAA-”
All eyes spun around and watched the tree bark shatter from the surrounding trees- an exposure of hollowed out mass with decomposing bodies spilling out with a waterfall of blood. As the corpses tumbled out and onto the ground, they lay in the pooled up large puddles of blood. Several trees, and dozens of bodies.
The looks of shock, enough to drop an elephant if they were poison. Bodies, wearing the very same uniforms as those guardsmen all ratted and torn.
WOOSH
Ruptures of dark green flames blew out from the ground beneath the corpses and quickly traveled along the length of the bodies- climbing off of the ground and engulfing them.
Rattle rattle rattle CRACK!!
The bodies shook and crackled, arms bending and crunching, bones adjusting themselves, eyes aglow with the dark green flames. Bunch by bunch the corpses were rising from the ground, risen by the dark magic. Roars and howls left them, jaws breaking open and drool splashing out onto the ground with a dash of vomit. Up they rose, some armed and others not, their bodies continuing to jolt and partially regenerate.
As the saliva left some, eruptions of blood came as well- sent cascading out of the mouths as the moans and groans let loose. Half rotted faces, half eaten and torn faces in fact! Flesh hanging off exposing the bone beneath the face, the glow of those eyes. In almost unison they began to stumble ahead, their skin darkening with a very evident shading.
“Oh fuck me.”
“Nah- fuck them!”
“Fuck whatever, open fire!”
BANG BANG BANG
Shots rang out instantly, shots from the rifles- bullets slamming through the torsos and some of the heads. Arrows flew and slammed true; however so very few of the undead dropped, rather many were still more than alright and stumbling forward.
“Shit-”
“WEAPONS READY!”
Elise glanced to Dante, who in turn looked back to her, the latter nodding. Before them were the guardsmen with their melee weapons drawn, the combatants moving forward whilst those with their ranged attire began to reload and prepare. Her katana came loose instantaneously as Dante ripped his own blade from the ground. Both shot ahead, with Elise herself leaping up and over the line of guardsmen, whilst Dante slammed right through them.
“OUTTA THE WAY!” he barked, pulling three vials of blue liquid from his pocket.
“ROOOAAAAAA!”
Elise took the center, charging head first as the undead took aim with their many rifles. Shots banged out, shots all aimed right at her.
Blip blip BLING- PFT TSSS
Shots sped off straight into the ground, ricocheting right off of both her clothes and her skin. With a few more groans there came the next wave, again- to no avail as the shots reflected right off of her body. The gaggle of undead moved in as Elise stepped down, her sword poised.
SWING
With just the single swing of her katana, bodies quite literally exploded. Split in half at the waist or higher, as if being hit by a truck despite her failing to make physical contact. Blood scrambled into the air like steam from water poured upon the rocks. Their groans echoed out, their limbs and bones and guts flopping to the ground.
“HYAH!”
Another swing and another batch exploded from lack of contact, visually or physically. Behind her ran Dante who had begun to toss the vials at a few more undead. Upon impact said vials shattered, the blue vaporizing instantaneously and engulfing multiple undead in clouds of blue. The effects became readily visible, flesh and muscle vaporized in an instant leaving behind quickly dissolving bones collapsing down to the ground.
One good stomp and one downward swing, yet another undead split in half down the middle right then and there. Dante stepped ahead through the halves as they fell away, swinging his sword round and straight through three more undead. Two fell, their heads taken right off, the third stumbling back with its head barely still attached. He next pulled beside Elise and ripped forth another vial, hurling it.
As the vial shattered open, dark blue flames erupted around the undead. Their shrieks and howls reached out as they burned out, slumping over as more stumbled forward. One more slash from Elise and another batch fell, a great hole wrenched right open inside the crowd. Behind them the guardsmen stood frozen, focused on the bloodshed before them.
Another set of bodies sloshed unto the ground like a mixed berry smoothie before the duo. Both twirled their swords in hand, their heads spinning around. More and more trees were birthing out the undead with seemingly no end. One dozen here, and another dozen there, slapping down and rising up groaning. Both stood back to back, Dante facing the left and Elise facing the right.
“Heh heh, lot of the lil’ bastards now ain’t there?” Dante huffed.
“Certainly a lot of them. There’s no questioning it, these guys were made with Black Magic alright; but the spell is completely different from the one Arkaza uses,” Elise replied, holding her katana out before her.
“Yeah I know, it’s the Infernal Resurrection technique, flames were a dead giveaway. It also means that the caster is nearby!”
“Heh. Give the lad a prize, he knows his stuff,” a voice echoed out.
Among the risen rose a solid shadow, an inflated fellow, both buff and round. The figure leaned ahead with a large ax, swinging it downward at Dante. The clang of ax on sword rang out, Dante blocking the weapon with a hold of his sword both on the flat and on the handle. Dante stumbled back, his eyes big, the tall looming figure before him pressing down with their weapon with a wide spread grin.
“Dante!” Elise called out with a twirl on her left foot, swinging out with her katana at the newcomer.
The blade clanged against more metal, a figure falling down right before Elise with an even wider grin. Both shot away from one another, Elise barreling down and left while the new figure galloped backwards and took stance. At the same time both the ax wielder and Dante broke off their engagement, both leaping apart.
Both now became visible. The large man, certainly a length and a half over an average man with dark red hair barreling down to their lower back all jagged and rough, a pair of yellow eyes shimmering. And the other, certainly shorter though still above average, a shaven head and only one eye protruding as a brown orb- the other lost. With their appearance the movements of the undead ground to a halt, followed right thereafter by a round of chuckling.
One sharp look to the East and there came more into focus. Three figures, high up in the trees. A man with wires wrapped around his fingers bound with a wicked grin and fire dancing in his eyes, a woman with an old fashion crossbow with a scope atop set stone cold with a glare able to pierce an animal’s hide, and then one other man stood with his arms crossed and a grin open for all to read. Both Elise and Dante turned their bodies, their sights locked full ahead to what stood before them.
“Welcome to the show, and oh what a performance we are about to give you lot at long last,” chuckled the man with his arms crossed, his amber gaze set down upon both Dante and Elise.
