A broad room.
Dark, shrouded in knee-high fog. Ashes scattered across the floor.
Clang...
Clang...
Clang...
The tallic sound of iron boots cut the silence like a funeral bell.
The four skeletons, spread across the hall, turned their empty skulls toward the door.
The green flas in their eye sockets flickered, reflecting the shadow that erged through the mist.
A warrior.
Fully covered in silver armor, he walked with firm, heavy steps.
No sword. No shield.
Just a presence, one even they could sense, exuding an absurd confidence, the kind of certainty that knows it will win.
The skeletons watched him, motionless as statues.
In their minds, wherever they keep whatever passes for mory, broken images resurfaced. Images marked by the pain and suffering the "Blue" had brought them.
And standing before them now was that sa intruder.
The sa one who had walked out of those pure blue flas, untouched, as if he owned them.
Even without elaborate thought, even with minds reduced to pure rage, the conclusion was simple.
Simple and absolute.
Him.
He was the one who made them suffer.
And so there was only one response left:
Kill him.
Tear him apart.
OFFER HIS REMAINS TO THE MOTHER OF THE DEPTHS WHILE HE FALLS APART IN PAIN AND SUFFERING JUST LIKE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— HHHSSSSHHH!!!
— SHRRRKKK!!!
— ZZZSSHHH!!!
— SSAAAAHHHH!!!
The screams echoed through the hall, distorted hiss, like the static of a cursed radio.
A sound that could only be born of pure hatred.
And then, they all moved at once.
The floor trembled slightly under the tread of bony feet, leaving marks in the dust from the force and hate that drove them toward a single objective.
Kill the intruder.
Then, as if he had been waiting for this, the knight also began to run.
The tallic sound rang through the corridors clang! clang! clang! as the armor shook with each step, reverberating like an empty bell in the void.
On one side, undead consud by fury.
On the other, a lone adventurer, silent, advancing as if hell itself were watching him.
— HHHSSSSHHHH!!!
— SHRRRHHHHK!!!
— ZZZSSSHHHAAAH!!!
The skeletons' shrill cries rose as they closed in, the hiss mixing with the sound of boots and tal scraping krshhh… clang! tnnng! clang!
It was as if the very air vibrated with hatred.
When the two forces were about to collide...
In an instant, the knight dodged.
He leapt to the right, performing a full sorsault in the air and landed heavily, rolling across the floor.
CLANG! THUD! KRRNNCH!
The plates of the armor creaked with the impact, sparks flying as tal scraped stone.
anwhile, the skeletons passed through, unable to stop.
CRASH! CLACK! CRRRNNN!
They fell over one another, tumbling into a tangle of bones, screams and dry snaps.
Without looking back, the knight simply kept moving forward, once again in slow strides.
Slow, steady steps, as if he had everything under control.
Behind him, the skeletons began to move again.
Skulls turned in different directions, bones scraping one another krkk... clack... shrrrk... as they rose in a disordered heap.
But, little by little, they ran again.
clack! clack! clack!
The first of them, quicker than the rest, caught up to the knight.
It raised its skeletal arm, curled its gaunt fingers into a closed fist and aid for the back of the helt.
WHSSHHH!
The knight tilted his body to the side, letting the blow pass over his shoulder.
— Uhm??? — The confusion on the skull's face was so palpable that for a mont it almost seed to be questioning what had happened.
But the monster barely had ti to process before feeling its feet leave the ground.
The knight grabbed its arm with force and, in a single motion, spun his body to execute a shoulder throw.
But the knight didn't stop; he rotated his hips, redirecting the body as if it were a light weight, and hurled it backward.
The bony body flew through the air and slamd violently into the others.
CRRRAASHHH!
CLACK! CLACK! KRRNNNK!
The sound of colliding bones spread, echoing off the walls.
Another pile ford on the floor, this ti even harder to get free from as so skeletons' limbs beca lodged in the hollow cavities of others.
The one responsible for it watched the scene in silence.
Behind the visor, Luki's eyes moved calmly, attentive to every detail.
'Is it just ... or are they more fragile?'
The skirmish had been brief, a simple exchange of moves, but enough for him to notice sothing off.
When the skeletons fell, or when he threw one into the others, the sound was different.
Before, impacts were muffled, like blows against solid stone.
Now, it was the dry snap of sothing breaking.
Luki narrowed his gaze behind the helm, until it made them gleam faintly even with no light to reflect.
Recent cracks.
No burn marks, no soot, they weren't caused by the blue flas.
'I think I get it...'
'That Holy Water did more than just burn them. But it must have weakened them as well.'
'Perfect. Finally my strikes will begin to have effect.'
While still subrged in his own thoughts, sothing in his peripheral vision caught his attention.
A low, nimble silhouette moving through the fog.
Luki turned his head discreetly.
The shadow of a small Pallum crept among the ashes, trying to blend with the scene, each step asured and silent.
She was only a few ters from the bag on the ground, the sa one that held the key to victory.
'That's right... stay quiet...'
He took a deep breath. 'I need to distract them a little longer.'
A faint smile ford behind the helm. 'And I know exactly how to do that.'
Without hesitation, Luki launched into a sprint, his armor clanging with each step.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The skeletons, still struggling amid the tangle of bones, snapped their heads to the sound.
The green flas in their eye sockets flickered, reacting to the tallic noise.
One of them twisted hard, trying to free itself CRACK! ripping its own arm from between several ribs.
But sohow that motion was enough.
The pile of bones began to shift, each creature freeing another, until, in a single instant, they all rose together.
SHRRRRRK! CLACK! SHHHHHH!
They charged, a clumsy sprint, advancing with pure hatred and instinct.
Luki, for his part, did not slow.
The faster skeletons caught up to him, closing in and surrounding him within seconds.
This ti, they attacked as one, four shadows of bone and green fire lunging at once.
Luki spun his body and presented his armored shoulder.
CLANG!
The impact vibrated through the entire armor, his boots sliding a few inches over the ash-covered floor.
Another ca from the side; Luki blocked with his forearm, feeling the blow reverberate.
The third tried to strike from above, and the elf lowered himself in a crisp movent, rolling his weight to the opposite leg.
VUSH!
The enemy's fist sliced the air, hitting nothing.
Luki drove forward, twisted his torso and struck the nearest skeleton with his elbow.
CRACK!
A small fissure opened at the point of impact, but it remained standing.
'It's so much easier to control the flow of the fight when I'm not surrounded by a dozen at once.' he thought, unconcerned.
Another attack ca from behind; Luki raised his arm and deflected, twisting his body with precision.
The armor tinkled with the movent CHNK! CLANG! and he used the montum to deliver a side kick.
The blow pushed the enemy two steps back, bones trembling but not breaking.
The fourth ca head-on, trying to hit him with both fists.
Luki raised his arms in a cross, blocking the assault, the sound reverberating like a tallic thunder.
THOOM!
For a mont, the elf stood at the center of the four, pressed by strikes from all directions.
Each impact sounded like hamrs on steel, sparks rising and reflecting off the tal of the armor.
'Can I kill one of them without the sword? No... better not risk it and just buy my ti,'
He pivoted on his heel, dropped his weight and used his shoulder to shove one skeleton aside, creating space.
With the sa motion, he grabbed another's forearm and pulled it forward, making it collide with the companion who was coming to attack.
CLACK! CLANG!
The two lost balance, and Luki took advantage.
He dropped, swung his leg in a sweep SWOOSH! and knocked the third down.
Before it fell completely, he grabbed its torso and hurled it into the fourth enemy, just enough to unbalance them.
The group scattered for a few seconds and Luki stepped back two paces, adjusting his guard.
His breath stead inside the helm, heavy and rhythmic.
The tallic sound of the armor filled the air.
'I think I'm getting good at this kind of thing, later I have to thank Master Takemikazuchi for the free lessons.'
The skeletons rose again, the green flas flickering as if stung.
Luki bent his knees, readying himself.
The first blow ca head-on, a punch straight to the chest.
He dodged with minimal movent, the fist grazing the armor.
Luki used the montum to land a solid punch to the middle of it's face.
THUD!
Without giving space, he spun on his supporting foot and landed a side kick on the second enemy.
CLANG!
The blow shoved the creature aside, making it collide with the third.
The fourth tried to take advantage, attacking from above with a bone blade it had pulled from sowhere.
'Another bone weapon, seriously? I thought all of them were destroyed by the fire, where the hell did you pull that from?'
Luki raised his left arm and blocked; the strike was strong and his arm buckled, bracing against his chest.
KSHH!
With his other hand, he grabbed the enemy's forearm and twisted, forcing it to kneel.
Two approached simultaneously from both sides.
Luki released the first and dropped at the sa instant; the blows crossed over his head and struck one another.
CRACK!
Seizing the mont, he rotated his body and shoved both with a circular push, opening space once more.
'Lili, if you could pick up the pace a little I'd appreciate it...'
One of them attacked with a punch. Luki caught the arm mid-swing and pulled it close as he slipped past its side.
The move put him facing another enemy; the elf raised his leg and struck its chest with a Spartan kick.
This ti the blow was strong enough to make a small crater in the monster's ribcage, but nothing more.
THUMP!
Both were flung away,
Another ca from below, trying to grab his legs.
Luki stepped back and dropped his bodyweight with a direct kick to its face.
DUNK!
The impact cracked the creature's skull, but it still tried to rise.
For a few seconds, it seed the elf had everything under control, dodging, shoving, redirecting. Almost a dance, in the loosest sense of the word.
But then…
A small slip.
While evading another attack, one of the skeletons rose behind him, silent.
The green flas flickered weaker than ever in its sockets, but the creature was determined to fulfill its mission.
Before Luki could react, he felt sothing cold wrap around him from behind.
Bony arms closed around his body, pinning him by the waist and elbows.
CLACK! CLACK!
The embrace was firm; the monster used its supernatural strength to restrict Luki's movents, locking his arms rigidly.
'What?! How?!! Damn... not again...!' he complained inwardly, forcing his muscles against the grip.
The other three advanced at the sa ti, shadows wavering in the fog, the sound of bones echoing down the corridor.
'If you think I'm going to fall for this crap again... even if it just happened... you're very mistaken.'
Struggling, Luki struck the skeleton behind him with elbows and headbutts, each impact reverberating with CLANG! tallic, each hit leaving visible cracks in the creature's bones, but it didn't give.
That's what made undead so dangerous.
Unstoppable aberrations, without pain, without fatigue... without even understanding the concept of giving up.
The skeletons closed in, ready to strike, but Luki was faster.
Using the monster behind him as leverage, he thrust his legs up and delivered a powerful animal kick that hit two enemies at once, one for each leg. Without losing rhythm, he twisted his hips and followed with an upward kick that hit the third in the jaw.
When his feet hit the ground again, he leapt back with force, falling together with the skeleton that still gripped him. The impact made the creature's bones creak; the hold loosened.
Luki seized the opening, an elbow to the ribs to make sure it wouldn't close its arms again. Then he spun, unleashing a brutal sequence of punches, one after another, until the hollow sound of bones began to give way.
Finally, he rose in one motion and crushed the enemy's skull with a firm stomp, reducing it to crumbs.
Wasting no ti, he retreated a few steps, his chest heaving inside the armor. He knew that wouldn't be enough to put these aberrations down for long.
'Damn Lili! My breath's running out, where are you?!' he grumbled, noticing the absence of the planned help.
CLANG!
The tallic clink echoed down the corridor. Luki lowered his gaze and there, by his foot, lay his sword.
Unnoticed... or perhaps intentionally, the very dance of combat had led him to his objective.
A wide grin appeared behind the helm. Luki crouched, picked up the blade. The micro-runes etched along the steel shimred in recognition, as if greeting him, before slowly fading.
Luki spun the weapon in his hands a few tis before gripping the hilt with both hands and holding it in front of him.
— All right, lads... who's ready for another?
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