Chapter 5: Dark Tsunami

Lilly's carriage rolled into Ravenwallow. They retained the guise of traveling merchants, so the skeleton guards at the village gates paid them no real mind. When they stopped, Enide stepped out first, then Lilly followed. "Sanya, Nisha, stay with the carriage. Eleena, come along."

"Yes, ma'am."

There weren't as many people walking about as with in Dryrock, and certainly not as many as Forstford City. What few people there were seemed to be quite gloomy.

Sibyl came out of a building to meet with them. "Welcome, but we shouldn't stay outside. Come in." She led them to a building and opened the door. "Chief, we need to talk."

Lilly followed behind Sibyl, as did most of her slaves.

A man with a full beard walked into the front room, his hair brown with touches of gray. "Hello, Mistress Lilly. I did not think you would be paying us a visit directly."

"It's nice to see you again. There is something I wish to confirm before I set out." Lilly had met with all the village chiefs in Forstford City for final negotiations and signing the all the paper work.

"Still, I had hoped we could see you after the battle. The people of this village have rather mixed feelings about this... request. We have had a bad history with the necromancer."

"So I've heard. She turned a particularly large number of your people to stone in retaliation for your pre-emptive attack."

The chief sighed. "That's right. She came down harder on us than our neighbors. Some of our buildings still aren't fixed, and over a third of us are stone. Some of us are worried about more retribution, and others are wishing for revenge."

"That's why I wanted to come here. In addition to being the last village on the way to the castle, you also have a rather large number of statues. I wish to inspect two of them." Lilly smiled and batted her eyes.

He raised an eyebrow. "Inspect?"

"There are different tiers of petrification magic. I wanted to confirm if I could restore them with my powers, and if so, how hard it would be. Free of charge, of course."

His eyes lit up. "Certainly. We have placed most of the statues into storehouses, but a few of them are in the adjacent residences. We... ran out of room."

"Take us to one of the storehouses. It would be best if we could take two from a large group."

"Yes, thank you so much." He walked with renewed vigor, at least for a while. Sibyl followed as well.

The storehouse was only a few houses away. The chief unlocked the door. Inside were over a dozen stone statues, still dressed in cloth. Some held tools and weapons.

Lilly looked around. "Did any of these fight Juana herself?"

"Yes, a few of them." Sibyl pointed them out to her.

Lilly walked over to one of them. She raised her hand and her palm glowed. The color returned to his face, his body softening. After a moment, he fell to the ground.

"What?" He dropped his polearm and got back up. "Where am I?"

Sibyl put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm afraid you've been petrified for nearly a year."

"A year! I've lost a year?" He grabbed his weapon and got back up. "I'll make her pay!"

"That is no longer your concern. Juana is mine to deal with." Lilly glanced at Eleena. "Your turn. Pick one."

"What is going on here?" The man started to get irritated.

"We hired this woman to fight the necromancer." Sibyl padded his shoulder.

Eleena pointed her staff at another statue. As she spoke the words, the gem at the end started to glow. Its light shined on the stone figure and she too returned to the flesh.

"You won't get..." The woman blinked and looked around. "What am I doing here?"

"Long story short, you've been a statue since Juana took the village. I came by to check some things before I went to face her myself. Part of that was to restore some of you."

"My thanks." She looked at the other statues. "I am thankful you came to render us aid."

"You're welcome." Lilly looked at Eleena. "Did you have any trouble?"

Eleena shook her head. "No, Mistress. It was easy enough."

"Good."

The man spoke next. "We have to bring the fight to her. Hurry up and restore the rest of us."

Lilly shook her head. "Sorry, but that would take too much mana. I must save it for my battle."

He slammed the pole to the floor. "But you can't just leave us like this!"

"I will return once my battle is finished. We can talk about your fellow villagers then. In the meantime, I have a favor to ask of you."

"What?"

"I need to view your memories of your battle with Juana. I need to know what she is capable of. I already looked through Jamini’s memories, but she didn't see much."

"Jamini? Kiran's girl?"

Sibyl sighed. "Jamini has... entered this woman's employ."

"And what does Kiran think about this?"

Sibyl had a look of sorrow in her eyes. "I'm afraid Kiran is no longer with us."

"What happened to him?"

"After Juana's first... visit, he lead an uprising against her. She made an example out of him." Sibyl turned pale. "She... she broke him."

Lilly blinked. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

"I... I left that up to Jamini." Sibyl pulled an old blanket away. There were a pile of stone body parts.

Lilly walked over to look. "I'm assuming Jamini didn't witness this herself."

The chief sighed. "No, I think he told her to hide during this. Now that he's dead, we weren't sure what to do with him. Juana outlawed burials... but we can't just hand him over to her."

Lilly waved her hand over the pieces. "Well he's not dead, not exactly. He is just as alive as the other statues. He would die if we restore him like this." She looked closer. "Still, this type of enchanted stone is quite durable. It's good to know what kind of power she is capable of."

"That's not going to do him any good,” the restored man grunted.

"No, that won't." Lilly sighed. "I don't have time for this now, but gather up every piece of him, and I do mean every piece. It's a tedious task, but I will put him back together."

"What!? You can really do that?"

"It's an advanced restoration, but yes, I can. Now let's get back on task. I need to see those memories."

"Anything."



Arjean Lumiere stood in the forest just outside of the castle's clearing. She surveyed the necropolis. She liked to talk a big game, but she was a bit afraid of battling the necromancer herself. She had gotten cocky in the past and it cost her dearly. While it seemed unlikely, they couldn't rule out the possibility Juana would join the fight.

She wore sacred silver armor, which clad her entirely. The only visible part of her not made out of silver were the pair of glowing blue eyes in her head. In her hand was a sacred silver spear. With it, she was the natural enemy of demons and the undead.

She turned to look at team Alpha. "I have confirmation from the other teams. They are all in position. Is everyone ready?"

There were seven humans and demihumans before her. They all got up and checked their weapons. Some brandished swords and axes Arjean had crafted herself, others staffs. They each held a thick metal rod that Arjean had not seen before entering Mistress' service. One by one, they confirmed with a "Yes, ma'am."

Arjean pushed on the communications crystal hidden with in her armor. "This is Team Alpha, commencing Operation Dark Tsunami, Phase 1." She got four pings as replies. She then turned to the others. "Activate the shikigamis and move out."

"Yes, ma'am." One of the girls opened a wooden chest. Inside were a number of paper dolls. She tossed them out and each burst into a puff of white smoke. When that cleared, 20 armed women stood alongside them.

Arjean turned and led the charge. She crossed the forest's threshold and into skeleton-infested territory, spear in hand. Her spear morphed into a club and struck the first skeleton she came across, sending its head flying.

The woman and shikigamis followed suit. The shikigamis took the lead, attacking the skeletons and breaking them apart. As more foes took notice of them, the women lined up and got on one knee. They mounted their iron rods on their shoulders and checked behind them.

Arjean thrust her weapon into the air and shouted "Fire!"

There were several bangs as streams of smoke followed balls of light that arched over head until they returned to the ground and exploded about 40 to 50 feet away. This broke apart many skeletons and enraged many more.

"Reload!' Arjean returned her weapon to a spear and swept it across, knocking down several advancing skeletons.

"Ready!"

"Fire!"

Another volley of lights soared overhead, this time going farther. One flew not in an arc, but in a straight line. It moved over the heads of the undead minions and struck the castle walls. Where the others exploded, it just left a metal shaft lodged in the stone.

"Change position!"

The women rose to their feet and strapped the iron rods to their backs. They then drew wooden clubs. As the minions attacked, they joined the shikigami in fighting off the skeletons. They had better skills and could block and evade the attacks. Once a foe was down, they kicked away the skulls to delay their revival.

Soon, it seemed like every skeleton in the ruins of the fallen city were on them, drawing closer with each passing second. Before long, they would be overwhelmed.

"Fall back!"

The women finished off their current foes before turning to run. One woman chucked her club at a skeleton, breaking it to pieces. They all ran back to the woods.

Arjean jumped back. She pulled out three paper dolls and threw them into the air. They turned into harpies and flew over head, attacking more skeletons further away. She then retreated slowly, as did half of the remaining shikigami.

They started losing forces. A skeleton impaled a shikigami soldier. It burst into white smoke, leaving behind a paper doll cut in two. Three more soon fell before they could reach the woods. The skeletons even managed to grab a harpy, an ogre grabbing one by the leg and ripping it down. It burst into smoke like the others. The other two continued to harass the skeletons.

Arjean was the last one into the woods. They took a dirt road, the widest path that would suit their needs. It looked to have been cleared recently, but there were still plenty of weeds here and there. She followed the rest of Team Alpha as they moved down the path.

After a few minutes, Arjean stopped. She aimed her spear at a rope hidden in the woods. Its tip shot off on a chain, cutting the rope. This caused a log to swing through the path, bashing dozens of skeletons and breaking them apart. "Shikigami, hold the line!"

While the lead group of skeletons were recovering, more charged in over them, some tripping on their fallen comrades. They attacked the shikigami and soon started to swarm them, going through the trees to do so.

Having delayed them enough, Arjean ran again. She counted the members of Team Alpha as they moved. All of them were there. After another 20 minutes, they reached the river. It was empty, but the soil was still damp with puddles everywhere, so they ran across the wooden boards that had been laid out. Arjean went last. She was particularly heavy and the boards creaked under her weight.

The team retreated to the wooden blockades about 40 feet beyond the river. They had spent the last few days building them and filling bags with dirt and rocks to pile up.

The skeletons didn't care about the mud. They just trudged through it, sometimes losing their feet and stumbling. More of them exited the forest into the clearing and soon they numbered over 100. While they were mostly bottlenecked through the woods, they were starting to spread out.

The team hid behind the cover while Arjean stood out and watched their quarry approach. She glanced up to see a few ravens fly overhead. She then turned her attention back to the advancing army. The skeleton ogres were close to the front, the zombie bears farther back. The rest were a mix of humanoid and wolf skeletons, with no formation to speak of. "Alpha, Bravo, Charley, hold the line! Golf, activate the field!"

Teams Bravo and Charley tossed off their camouflage and joined the battle. They hacked away at the skeletons as they reached the blockades. A few armored dwarves bashed them with their blessed war hammers, breaking their bones and causing green smoke to seep from them. Others used their silver-tipped spears to jab at the enemy from between the wooden posts.

Team Golf was the support team. They chanted the activation spell, turning on a number of mini-generators that had been buried on both sides of the river. They created a blessed energy field which slowed the skeleton's movements, but wouldn't stop them.

Arjean split her spear into a pair of short swords and slashed through the skeletons. She had to aim carefully at the ones in armor, as the silver had no special effect on steel and iron. She made her way to the closest ogre and threw her swords at its legs. They morphed again as they struck him, forming stakes to try and anchor him to the ground. She formed a new spear from her armor, shooting it out of her arm, and struck its chest with it. Green smoke seeped from its chest, but it didn't fall yet. "You're a tough one, alright."

It grabbed her and rammed her into the ground, green steam coming off its hand. She got back up and cut its arm off. She glanced at the empty river for a moment. "Fire the shikigami!"

As she continued to battle it out with the ogre, the archers readied their arrows and fired. Each carried a paper doll. When they landed in the river bed they burst into white smoke, forming fresh warriors. Short lived as they would be, the skeletons started to swarm them as they drug themselves through the mud.

Arjean activated the communication crystal again. "Sarila, break the dam!"

"Roger that."

Arjean moved back to the troops as the ground shook. A massive amount of water rushed downstream, engulfing many of the skeletons as they battled the shikigami. While most of it stuck to the river, some of it got past the bank. Wooden debris crashed into several of them. Streams of water also jumped out of the river, grabbing many of the skeletons and pulling them in. The raging water carried the bones away.

Arjean watched the show. "That should thin the herd." Calling upon the crystal again, she once more spoke. "Phase 1 is complete. Moving onto Phase 2." There was another ping. She sliced through two more skeletons, green smoke seeping from their bones. "Alpha, fall back. Delta, attack!"

The first team retreated past the barrier. Team Delta took their place. The well-rested women attacked with their blessed weapons. Those that lacked them broke apart the enemies, knocking away their skulls and allowing their teammates to finish them off. Team Golf then started to heal team Alpha's wounds.

Arjean didn't tire and stayed on the front of the battle. Her silver formed a whip as she cleared the way. The other ogre moved to the barrier, so she ran after it. A number of skeletons blocked her path.

Three metal balls the size of apples were thrown over the line. Soon after they hit the ground, there was a big flash of light. A number of skeletons fell to the ground, green smoke coming from their bodies. However, the ogre was still standing.

"Good enough, I'll take it." Arjean broke through the remaining skeletons as she reached the ogre. Her silver whip wrapped around its neck and she pulled it back. She was met with the clanging of the metal as a few rude skeletons bashed their dirty swords against her well-polished armor. Still, she didn't give up and yanked her foe down.

The ogre shifted and struck Arjean, but she got back up. She deployed another spear, ramming it into its kneecap. She then started to slice him up.

With the river calming down, the skeletons marched through it. Some were lost in the water, but many still made it through, albeit slowly. Not needing to breathe had its benefits.

After a few more minutes, a water spout formed in the middle of the river as Sarila returned. She laughed, her body hidden in the water from the waist down. Rather, she was water from the waist down, as she stretched out her arms, turning them into tentacles of water. She attacked the skeletons on the far side of river, breaking them apart. While their revival took longer, they were still able to pull themselves together.

The zombie bears attacked, with one still on the far side of the river, the other two roaring and charging on all fours, too far apart for Arjean to get them both at once.

A stone golem attacked, coming out and striking one of the zombies. It was a nine-foot tall knight, punching the foe with its disproportionately large arms. Regrettably, it couldn't purify the undead, but it could take the hits and keep them busy. Quickly, it turned into a slugfest as they hit each other.

Arjean then turned her attention to the other zombie. "Looks like I'm going to have to get my blade dirty." She purified a few skeletons that got in her way as she moved to the purple bear. It knocked over a dwarf before spotting her. It lunged at her, but she blocked its claw with an arm before slashing it with her silver claymore. The rotting flesh got in the way, making it harder to cut down than the others. So she went for the joints, relieving it of its arm. An armored lizard-kin attacked its other side.

"Ahhhh!" Sarila let out a scream, followed by a loud splash.

Ajread looked over. "That was Sarila! Her water body makes her all but immune to physical blows. What out here could hurt her?" She gazed over and saw the third bear trying to make its way across, as were other skeletons. However, standing just outside of the blessed field was a lich, a dozen skeletons surrounding it.

The lich raised its wand, a dark piece of wood with a purple crystal at the end, and shot off a large fire ball across the river. It landed a few feet from the golem, knocking away a few members of Team Bravo.

"A lich!? There wasn't anything in the report about a lich! Dammit, this messes up our end game. I have to take it out." Arjean backed away from the bear. "Throw some grenades!"

Team Charlie threw more spell grenades, one landing at Arjean's feet. Each burst into light and a number of skeletons fell, green mist seeping from their bones. Green mist also seeped from the bear, but it remained on its feet until the lizard-kin lopped off its head.

"Bravo, take the wounded and fall back! Echo, cover them and advance to the front! Golf, arm green and yellow mines!" Arjean focused on Sarila's crystal. "Sarila, can you hear me? Report!"

"Ahh… I'm alive. It struck me with lightning. I lost control for a bit. Just give me a moment," Sarila panted.

"I'm coming in a minute. Hide in the river until I get there." Arjean formed a shield as she blocked another fire ball. "It just had to be lightning."

There were a number of explosions. As the skeletons walked on the other side of the river, the force of blast sent them into the air as they were covered in black goo. As they reformed, they got stuck together, unable to put their pieces into place, becoming latex-covered messes.

"Summon the wind spirits! I'm advancing." Arjean moved to the left to reflect another fire ball to the side. She couldn't be sure what the lich was aiming for, or even how accurate it was at this range. "Mistress, a lesser lich has entered the battlefield. The line is holding for now. I'm going to try and slay it."

Spirits of wind taking on the vague image of women attacked the horde, blasting them to pieces.

Arjean ran to the river, avoiding what skeletons she could and cutting down those she couldn't. She kept blocking the spells as it fired. "Sarila, open a path for me!"

"Sure thing. It's not like I didn't just get zapped to hell and back." The water shifted, rising up and flowing in the sky as Arjean approached.

She ran under it and to the opposite river bank. "Golf, detonate yellow mines!"

There were several simultaneous bursts of latex as the yellow group went off. They sprayed across the skeletons, some of them getting stuck and others continued.

Arjean blocked another fire ball. "You will fail here and now."

"You seem to be a handful. I will roast you in that fancy armor of yours." The lich cackled and summoned a wave of fire. It engulfed Arjean and she felt a little warm.

"You will find that easier said than done." Arjean's spear turned into a club and bashed one of the armored skeletons guarding the lich.





Lilly and Team Hotel waited in the brush. They had put up camouflage and hidden themselves away. She watched Team Alpha launch their bombardment with a pair of binoculars. The skeletons soon rallied against them and started to leave their posts as they counter attacked. Soon, Team Alpha fell back into the woods and the skeletons followed.

She then picked up a wand. It was linked to another device that Alpha had just attached to the wall. She used it to start unraveling the detection barrier around the castle's outer walls.

Soon after, a new group of armored skeletons surrounding a hooded figure departed the castle.

Sanya held up a hand mirror. "Mistress, I have Juana's location. It seems she is in the throne room."

"Hmm… It look like she isn't bothered by recent events, at least not enough to handle them herself. Proceed with the operation as planned. Get ready to move out and wait for the order."

After a while, they received another open message on the communication crystals. "Phase 1 is complete. Moving onto Phase 2."

Lilly got up and dropped her brown and green cloak, revealing her red battle armor. It was light weight, but enchanted to mitigate spell damage, as well as to disperse kinetic energy. As always, her golden bracer was on her arm. "All right. You have your orders, now move out!" She sent Arjean a ping.

Aki and Nisha lead the charge and Lilly followed. Sayna and Enide brought up the rear.

Shadow and Team India followed behind. Each of them wore skull masks. While there weren't enough of them for all the teams, they would make them appear to be skeletons to the simple-minded undead.

They met with little resistance, only a few skeletons remaining in the courtyard. With a wave of Lilly's hand, the front door opened. From there, Hotel and India split up, one heading upstairs and the other down.

Sure enough, there were a few skeletons wandering the halls, seemingly unaware of the battle going on outside. Gweyr shot a few with silver arrows, purifying them.

They switched formation as Enide chanted. She summoned lesser wind spirits to her boots and lesser light spirits to her sword. The blade glowed and she cut down the remaining foes, green smoke seeping from their bones.

They encountered a red-haired wolf woman standing in the hallway eating a drumstick. She looked at them with a mild shock as she left her mouth hanging open. "Oh, I guess we're being attacked again. Hello. You must be here for the queen."

A man in armor was walking by the door to the throne room, five skeletons following him. He drew his sword. "I don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to."

"I'm afraid I must enter." Lilly moved forward, Aki taking point. Nisha kept an eye on the werewolf. The skeletons charged Lilly's team. Lilly blasted one and it fell while Enide slashed one with her blessed sword. "I guess we are doing this the hard way."

Sanya clutched the amulet around her neck. "Yakor." A magic circle appeared in front of her. A stone knight rose out of it. It stood over 7 feet tall and its arms were reinforced with tempered steel. "Mad Jack." Another circle appeared behind it as her pumpkin ring glowed, a 4 foot tall figure in a dark cloak with a pair of combat knives. It had a jack-o-lantern for a head. It cackled maniacally, its eyes glowing from behind the pumpkin.

The magic puppets were smarter then the typical golem, but their range of movement was limited to the area around the user. They were often used as support for casters. Sanya was rather talented, able to use a few at a time.

She drew her rifle, which resembled a Winchester with a magic rod replacing the barrel. She then fired it at the man, who blocked it with his shield.

"A little help here!" he called out.

The redhead shrugged. "Hey, don't look at me. I was only told to watch the door. She didn't say anything about fighting or stopping intruders." She took a bite of her drumstick. "I don't want to be here, by the way. Don't mind me."

The man blocked Jack's attacks as he jumped at him. "Enough with your protests!"

"Hey, I'm the one who’s stuck here. Just run. There are too many of them anyway."

He grunted. Then he fled through the door.

"Hmmm, I guess he had to go that way." The werewolf turned to Lilly. "Don't hold it against him, he doesn't want to be here any more than I do. The collars make us obey every command that woman gives us, but if you could remove it, I could get out of here. I'm pretty sure."

"I'm afraid I don't have time to figure out what ever enchantment it has for a lock. I will wake you up after." Lilly raised her hand and fires a spell at the woman.

"Wait, what?" Her body started to stiffen as her skin turned white. "Not again..." Soon she turned into a white marble statue.

Lilly was sorry she had to do that. It would have been nice if she could count on the woman for support in this fight, but she was too much of a wild card. Slave collars such as the one she spoke of typically had some enchantment or lock to prevent their removal. As Juana had no doubt become aware of them by now, they ran the risk of her attacking while she tried to remove it. She also couldn't know for sure the werewolf wasn't under some order to attack, should anyone try.

"Sanya, have Yakor open the door and lead the way. Everyone, get ready to defend yourselves."

"Yes, Mistress." Sanya turned to face the door to the throne room. Her defender opened it up. It was then met with a fire ball, but it didn't seem to mind.

"That was rather rude. You didn't give us time to say anything." Lilly followed behind Yakor and Aki, Sanya and Gweyr by her side. Nisha and Eleena brought up the rear.

Before them was the throne room, a wide hall with two rows of pillars. At the end sat a woman in blue on a wooden throne, a staff in one hand. On either side of her were a number of nude, stone statues. In front of her were four living people, their weapons drawn, and about two dozen skeletons. A neko in a maid uniform ducked behind a pillar.

"You dare to call me rude when you trespass in my castle!?" Juana stood up and banged her staff on the ground.

"My apologies, but I had to get your attention. I'm afraid I must remove you from the region. Surrender now and I will be merciful."

"Surrender!? This is my castle, my kingdom! You are outnumbered. Soon you will fall like the others. You should be the one surrendering!"

"You had a right to this castle, it was long since abandoned, but you never had a right to the surrounding villages." Lilly summoned her mana to her hand.

"Enough of this. Gavin, Silvius, Thalia, attack them! Sahar, back us up! Camilla, get in here!" Juana started chanting a spell.

Lilly fired first, and her blast connected with Juana's. "I would be lying if I said that was unexpected." She pulled out an engraved rod from her hammerspace and threw it, embedding it in a pillar.

The adventurers ran forward, as did the skeletons. The woman with twin blades clashed with Jack. The knight, the only man in the group, moved around Yakor, going after Sanya, but Aki bashed his sword. He blocked her follow up strike with his shield. Gweyr and their elf opened fire on each other, trying to evade each others shots.

The skeletons started to swarm them. Enide struck two of them before propelling herself backwards with a gust of wind, evading the counter attack as three more lunged at her.

Lilly waved her left hand, conjuring an energy barrier to block Juana's fire ball, and firing her own with her right. A wall of bones rose up and the spell exploded on contact, knocking over the skeleton next to her but doing no damage otherwise.

Lilly heard Arjean's voice in her ear. " Mistress, a lesser lich has entered the battlefield. The line is holding for now. I'm going to try and slay it."

"That doesn't sound good. Any kind of lich would disrupt the plan." Lilly moved behind Yakor as it swept its arm, knocking over a few skeletons. "I will have to count on Arjean to handle it now. I won't be able to reach there now, and Juliett is too far away. Besides, I could need them for backup." She grabbed her ear as she hid behind a pillar next. "Juliett, a lich has been spotted at Point 2. Be on the look out for others." She charged a few holly arrows. "Maybe I should have questioned the werewolf. Eahh, so little time..."

Maritza replied, "Yes, Mistress."

Lilly squeezed the ball of light now floating in her hand. It fired off a dozen arrows of light, leaving behind a long trail as they ripped through a number of skeletons and forced Juana to summon the bone wall again.

An arrow flew at Lilly, only for it to stop in midair, inches away from her. She had wards to stop physical attacks from reaching her, namely blades and arrows, but they could only block so many before failing.

The elf charged her next shot, the mana giving it a faint glow. She let it fly but it struck a skeleton who moved into its path while trying to reach Sanya. Sanya then fired at the elf, striking her with thunder shot. She fell to her knees and the orange-scaled lizard-kin rushed to her side, screaming. "Thalia!" She chanted a spell and the mana matrix at the end of her quarterstaff glowed. Its light washed over the elf.

Juana fired a green blast from her ring. It struck Gweyr just after she let loose an arrow that struck two skeletons. She gasped as she locked up, turning to gray marble.

Eleena and Nisha were still in the back of the room, the door now closed and locked from the inside. While Nisha held off the two skeletons that made their way to them, slashing her sword and the shadows rising out of the ground to bind them, Eleena started chanting, the mana matrix on her staff glowing, as did one of the smaller crystals. There was a small glow from beneath Gweyr's body armor. Dim light rippled through her stone form and in a moment, she returned to the flesh.

Each member of Team Alpha wore a special amulet, aside from Eleena. Each was linked to her staff, allowing her to cast spells on them from a distance. However, she still needed to know what spells to cast on them, otherwise she would have found a place to hide outside of the throne room. Additionally, the wand was tuned to her magic so that only she could use it.

Eleena's next spell was an energy boost to all members, allowing them to move faster.

Aki forced back the knight. He was barely able to evade Yakor's slam.

Enide struck down four more skeletons, green smoke seeping from their bones. While getting ready to fight another, Juana's green blast struck her.

"I can't have you doing that." Juana smirked, however briefly has she had to defend from Lilly's spiral energy shot.

The skeletons knocked around Enide's stone form, but a glow appeared from beneath her armor. Soon, the ripples of dim light washed over her and she returned to normal. Lilly blasted the skeletons around her with a gust of air, giving her time to get back on her feet. She then ran behind a pillar and started chanting. The petrification broke her connection with the spirits and she had to summon them again.

Lilly conjured a flurry of orange and yellow butterflies, shooting them from her hand. They flew past the skeletons and to Juana. She raised her bone wall, but let out a scream of shock as they passed through her defenses. The lizard-kin and the elf Thalia tried to swat them away.

Juana chanted, casting a lightning spell. However, it redirected to the pillar-embedded rod, adsorbing it.

Sanya lifted up her hand. "Kumo Striker." Her spider ring glowed and a magic circle appear on the ground, a 4 foot tall spider emerging from it. It then jumped away, landing on another pillar. It fired a web line, grabbing a pair of skeletons and sticking them together before jumping again to avoid a fire ball.

Sanya counted by shooting Juana, landing a hit while her gaze was elsewhere. She let out cry. "Sahar, heal me!"

The lizard-kin, apparently Sahar, ran back to Juana and the bone wall rose up around them. She ran when it lowered a few moments later, Juana back on her feet.

The knight pulled back. The number of skeletons was dwindling. "We can't keep this up."

"Give me a minute. Hold them off." Juana pulled out a spell book. She flipped to a page and started reading a spell aloud. The adventurers started to glow. They then started to move faster. "Attack them!"

"Ahhh! Juana!" The blue haired neko ran out from behind the pillar. "Careful with your words."

"What? Oh, right. Ness, fall back." Juana waved her off.

Ness quickly turned and fled behind a pillar.

The others advanced. The knight was then able to push Aki back. He seemed to be stronger now as well. Just then, Enide kicked him in the head.

Eleena cast another boost spell following a general heal.

The double blade wielder leaped forward. She slashed at Jack, taking one of his arms, a dark mist leaking from the stub. He inhaled before spraying a stream of flames from his mouth. She cried out and fell back to Sahar for healing. Jack, on the other hand, burst into black and silver mist, pulling back into Sanya's ring.

"Kageko!" Sanya summoned a new puppet, this one resembling a purple-skinned woman in black garb, a mouth corset covering half of her face. She pulled out a katana and got ready to fight. It moved in the blink of an eye to strike the woman just after the healing was finished. Sanya then hid behind Yakor and took a mana potion.

Enide finished off the last of the skeletons. She dispelled the blessing and released a flame spirit. Swinging her sword, she let out a crest of flames. The knight was able to block most of it, but it seemed he felt it.

"Ahhh!" Thalia let out a scream as she was yanked up into the air, dropping her bow. Kumo Striker held her against the wall, wrapping her in its webbing.

"Thalia!" Sahar ran, trying to reach the elf, but she was too high up.

Juana tried to get off a spell, but was too busy defending herself to aim at the giant spider. While she could raise her bone wall at the drop of a hat, Lilly's shorter cast time gave her the upper hand. She tried her ring, activating it without a word, but Yakor got in the way. Being already made of stone, it had no effect on it.

Lilly conjured another swarm of butterflies to blind her foes. A quick magical boost to her feet, and she rushed to the side, firing off a number of shots.

Suddenly, Shadow's voice sounded in her ear. "Mistress, secondary target has been neutralized."

"Good to hear." Lilly hid behind a pillar to avoid a spell. She then let off a few more shots.

The twin-blader was able to push Kageko back, but was shot by Sanya. Sahar responded by knocking back Kageko and casting a heal on her fallen ally.

Aki ran past them, charging at Juana herself. She was blocked by the bone wall. When it dropped, she was pushed back by a mini twister. A blast from her ring turned her to stone. However, it didn't last long as Eleena started chanting, the amulet under Aki's armor glowing.

Lilly took that time to blast Juana. Vines started growing and wrapped around her body. Before they could cover her mouth, she uttered a spell and burned away the vines, letting out a scream. "Sahar, heal me! Ness, attack her!"

As Sahar ran back to Juana, Ness stepped out from behind the pillar. "I'm not a fighter!" There was strong sense of panic in her voice.

"Just keep her off of me!'

"This isn't going to end well… Ahhh!" Ness cried out as a ribbon shot from Lilly's open palm. It wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her side. It moved down her body and bound her legs. She then fell to the floor. "Well that went better than I expected…" She lightly struggled against her bindings.

During that time, Sahar had reached Juana and the bone wall went up, giving them time to recover.

When the wall fell, Juana shot off a large fire ball straight at Lilly. She, in turn, put up both hands and conjured an energy shield at an angle. It pushed her back while she redirected it upward.

Sahar fled from Juana's side as she got the next spell ready. However, she was soon bombarded with more butterflies and her follow-up fire ball missed. As Lilly moved behind the pillars, Juana moved forward and fired her ring.

Lilly could barely see that, but she could feel her gathering the magic. The shot was fired, but missed her. Then, Juana went silent.

Lilly rushed around the pillars, charging another spell in her hand. However, she stopped when she stopped when she saw Juana's still figure.

She had her arm up, her ring pointed at a mirror on one of the pillars. She was now made of gray marble, a look of shock on her face.


"So she wasn't warded against her own ring?" Lilly raised an eyebrow. She then shifted her gaze to Sahar.

Sahar blinked. "Don't look at me." She backed away quickly, and then giggled. "Come to think of it I can't heal her anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"When she collared me, she ordered me not to restore any of the statues she petrified. I'm not able to disobey her orders." Then, she muttered under her breath. "Not that I would restore her if I could help it."

The knight shouted. "Everyone stand down. We surrender. We can't win this one. Besides, we don't have anything to fight for."

"I'm up for calling this off," the twin sword woman said as she was pinned to the ground under Yakor.

"Let Thalia go and I'm good. The only reason we do what she tells us is because these collars make us obey. It's not like she can give us orders like this." Sahar poked Juana in the head.

"Disarm and we will sort this out." Lilly had the four of them gather in the middle of the room, with Thalia taken down from the ceiling, but left bound in webbing. Sahar tried to free her, but without a blade, it was hard.

"My name is Gavin. We were hired to defeat Juana, but lost. That's when she forced us to work for her."

Lilly looked at the neko. "And you?"

"That bitch found me gathering herbs in the woods and grabbed me out of the blue. I've been stuck with her for four years." Ness wiggled. "Can I get up now?"

Lilly snapped her fingers and the ribbon dissipated.

Ness got to her feet. "Thanks. My apologies in advance." She threw a punch at Lilly, only to be pushed to the side and pinned to the floor. "I have to get one hit in. That last command is still in effect."

Gavin looked up. "That's going to be an issue. She ordered us not to retreat. While we could likely move about the castle once you leave, I'm not sure if we could escape here. I have a favor to ask of you. Please remove our collars. We have been unable to do that ourselves."

Lilly hogtied Ness with another conjured ribbon. "Give me a moment." She scanned the collar with her bracer. She unraveled the spell and slid it off her neck.

Ness blinked. "Oh, finally! It's been so long since my neck was bare. Hey, wait, aren't you going to untie me?" She flailed about on the floor as Lilly walked away.

"You can stay put for a while." Lilly stopped in front of the adventurers. One by one, she removed their collars. She hesitated with their healer, but she freed her as well. "Oh, before I forget, Hotel checking in. Primary target naturalized. What is the status of the lich?"

"The lich? I thought you took him out before coming here." Gavin blinked.

Arjean replied. "I've sealed up the lich. The remaining army is ruin."

"Very good. Move onto Phase 3."