Night of the Living Dead

Demona

"I'm going to die, Demona."

I step back, completely shocked. "Baal, you can't say that! We're on the cusp of victory!"

"It is the fate of the Demon King." He looks down. "But...I've had a premonition...from a god I'd never heard of before... Our dream will have a second chance..." He takes my hand, looking me in the eye. "Of all my wives, you have the best chance of seeing this through."

Tears begin to form in my eyes. "Baal..."

His own eyes are cold, accepting of his fate. "Demona, whatever you do: survive. Find the one who rules both light and dark."

The door bursts open, and the young heroine strikes a dramatic pose with her party. "Demon King Adalbaal! Your reign of tyranny ends today!"

My husband steps forward, arm outstretched to shield me. "Find him, Demona. He's our only hope."

I feel my skin crack, the rocky exterior giving way. Groggily, I step forward, speeding my shedding as I open the door, greeted by an army of undead and a starry night sky. As one approaches, I grab its skull and squeeze, feeling the bone crack and crumble underneath. Baal...I think I found him... Wait for me.

Dusk Blackwing

I stare up at the sky, the column of darkness hitting some sort of 'ceiling' and spreading from there. Within seconds, most of the blues have faded into black, and only a few more later, it's as black as night, to the point we can even see stars. That can't be good...

Steering Kara back into the church, we turn to the populace, a couple taking out candles and lighting them. "Stay calm, everyone. The soldiers and monsters are doing everything they can to defend you." I take a shaky breath. "First things first, is anyone missing?"

I can see an older woman go to speak up, but Miki quickly interrupts her, and they talk a bit more quietly. Other than them, no one bothers speaking up more than to their neighbor.

Another breath, butterflies in my stomach. "Alright. What we need is to make sure the undead can't get in. Some stronger men, start barricading the door with pews, but not too high. We'll still need the injured to be able to come back here." Then, I turn to Gilford. "Try to save up your mana. You might be our best weapon against them."

The priest nods. "Stay safe, Dusk."

"Doing what we can, Gilford." I rub Kara behind the ear. "Ready?" The fox nods, turning back to the entrance, and we walk past the group of guards that arrived around the same time we did. It takes but a moment for me to conjure another light blade, this one a glaive, and cut into a zombie. We gotta find whoever's controlling them...wait... "Where's the captain?"

Susan speaks up, her voice not quite drowned out by the undead. "She ran off. Went to fight one of the stronger ones."

Cap, what're you thinking? I don't even have to tell Kara what to do, as she leaps forward. It takes a moment for me to react, but my blade quickly finds its way through the walking corpses. We've got to get there fast...

Of course, what I think is a gap in the enemy forces is simply a ring surrounding their own cavalry: a fully-armored knight on a skeletal horse, wielding its own large spear. The shield is dirt-y, but I could swear it has a sun on it, the same kind of sun I saw on the soldiers' shields, but...different, in design.

The knight readies his spear, his voice raspy, but still powerful. "You are the commander of this ****? Be purged by the light of Rai!"

He charges.

Essraya [Demonic]

"What do you mean, she stabbed you?!" One of my vines pierces a zombie, before using it to bludgeon another.

Xerxes chucks another spine into the river. "That's what she did! I lost her in the horde."

"Why the hell would she do that?!" Another vine swipes several more undead. "Is the mist affecting her?"

"I don't think so." He pounds his fist down, bones clattering against each other. "Remember when she first met me? She flinched."

"It was a flinch! She did it with all of us!"

"She was scared of a minotaur." Another chucked zombie, this one towards a larger, bovine undead, to prove his point. The one in question cleaves the thrown in twain with its blade.

"You think a minotaur killed her?"

"Bel said she died in the fighting around Recuan."

I pause, remembering how Bel took a while to warm up to Xerxes, even after he proved 'tame'. It's too long actually, as a zombie gets close enough to bite into my shoulder. My boyfriend rips it away, tearing it in two before chucking it back into the horde. "Shit."

"If we want Bel back, we need to get rid of that thing."

A roar from above draws my attention, Markonath about to fly in for more lightning breath. "Throw me up. Markonath and I should be able to handle it."

The same bit shoulder gets grabbed without warning, and with a spin, Xerxes hurls me up in the air. It takes a moment for me to right myself, but the dragon grabs onto my outstretched vine with practiced ease. Alright, time to rain hell.

Dusk Blackwing

I grip my shoulder, a nasty gash freshly cut into it. My weapon flickers as I heal just enough to stop the bleeding. We dodged enough to avoid anything major, but still. We turn around, only to see the knight starting to charge again.

We dip down, my glaive rising to try to parry his spear, only for him to pull it back at the last second, thrusting again and into my side, tearing away as we part. I clutch my side, almost collapsing into Kara's fur from the pain. Blood gushes through my hand, the stinging of the chilly air making the pain that much worse. Without being able to keep myself up though, I still end up falling flat against my mount. Shit! I don't have the mana for this!

My weapon disappears as I focus all my mana into healing. By the time I push myself up, Kara's jumping back, barely dodging another spear strike. She stumbles, not quite able to jump aside the follow-through as the blade scrapes her thigh, making her stumble even more. This is bad... Kara steps back, favoring her hind leg, as she tries to face our foe properly. We can't win like this...

As if sensing my thoughts, the knight swings his spear dramatically. "Do not prolong your suffering, demon. I will make your **** swift, if you let me."

I cough. "Already died once... Not a fan of it." But we definitely need to get out of here. Maybe we can regroup with Cap and take this one down together... Another cough, as more blood pours out of me. ...probably should...head back to heal, though...

"Unfortunate." He charges again, Kara leaping to the side. Unfortunately, he was ready for that, raising his spear in a way where...it'd pierce right into Kara's chest.

I don't know how I react so quickly, time seemingly slowing to a crawl, but with my bloodied hands, I grab the spearhead, putting all my effort into pushing it away...

We tumble, and I fall flat onto the ground. "Kara!" My view is obstructed with smoke, and it hurts to push myself up to see, dirt mixing into my cut hands, and my gut stretching in a painful way.

"It ends here, demon." I can barely see the spear rise above my head...

Camilla

"[D] You...reek of ****." The skeletal mage steps back as I swing at him. "[D] Though...it may not be too late for him."

I freeze. 'Don't listen!' Shaking my head, I make eye contact with him. "[D] ...what do you mean?"

"[D] Hehe...I am experienced with the deceased..." He raises his hand, the undead around us parting. "[D] All you need to do...is take my hand..."

Bel(inda)

I'm suddenly yanked off the ground by small hands, seeing the sea of undead speed by... I can feel myself being hugged close to the chest, and I finally realize I'm above the undead, my savior flying us higher and higher. As much as I'd move my head to try to get a better angle of who they are...I'm just a head, right now.

The battlefield -if one could call it that- is littered with walking corpses, and it'll only get worse the longer the fight goes on...just like before...

I shake the thought away. No. It's different now.

We land on a rooftop, and the flyer finally turns me around, revealing. "Daisy, where's your father?"

She catches her breath, lifting me up and turning us both so we can see just above the crest of the roof. With a point of her hand, I can see the nephilim jousting an armored knight. "He's hurt."

He should be fine. We need to focus on finding the necromancer. Once the necromancer is dead, we should be able to handle the rest...

"Daisy!" A somewhat familiar voice pierces my ears. Daisy turns -which means turning me as well- to see her mother land next to us. "[D] Follow me." My devilish is mediocre at best, but my time with Monsquad led to learning a passing amount.

"[D] But-"

"[D] Do. Not. Disobey me." The empress glares, before her eyes turn to me with disgust. "[D] Leave the head."

I feel Daisy's hands flex a bit, gripping me tighter. "Sorry..." She sets me down, her hands hovering to make sure I don't fall off, before I see her fly off with her mother.

This just got a lot more complicated... She thankfully angled me so I could at least see the fighting. Dusk isn't doing well against the knight, even getting knocked off Kara. He disappears into the mist, the knight trotting over and raising his spear. Oh no...

Dusk Blackwing

My head shoots up, only to see the knight get crashed into by none other than Demona, shoving him with such **** his head is ripped away. "Looks like I got here just in time." She reaches down, and I eagerly grab her hand before she pulls me up on her back.

"You-nh could say that." I grunt in pain, still trying to heal my side. "We have to-ah-"

"Get the necromancer, I know." She steps over to Kara, hefting her up on top of me. "But you two need some rest, first."

Kara shifts on my back, uncomfortably pinning me to Demona's stone. "But what about-"

"But nothing. Dusk's hurt bad, which means you're even worse off." She turns, and crouches down a bit.

I grimace. "Demona, we need, to help Camilla."

"You can help her by staying safe." The gargoyle burst forth, barreling through the horde on our way back to the church. Despite Kara's struggling, we're both pinned by just one of her arms.

Cap...stay strong.

(Be)Linda

No, no, no...where is it...where's my head...

I grab another head off the ground, lifting it onto my head. Nothing happens, and I chuck it away.

Where is it...where is it...

Another head, and I don't even pause to notice to cold metal surrounding it before putting it on my stump of a neck. Suddenly, I can see, and hear, both somewhat obstructed by the helmet my head is wearing...

...but I don't wear a helmet.

I try to move, to take off the head I've put on, but it's like I've been tied up. I feel my hands move, and I look at them, flexing each.

"What have they done to my body?" A gruff, masculine voice leaves my mouth. My head, no, his head shakes. "I'll figure that out later. We have a battle to win, now."

His hands reach down to unsheathe two daggers, and his legs take steps forward...back into the fray.

Xerxes

I knock the axe upward with my bare hand, the blade chipping one of my horns. Even with Ess on the undead's back, using her vines to restrain him, he's strong. The vines rip and tear with each of his movements, but if she wasn't there, I'd have already gotten my head cut off. It's been too long since I've had a good fight...

I punch the bonehead in the face, keeping up my **** the best I can with all the other grunts wailing against me. This'd be a lot easier if Bel or Demona were here...

Another swing of the axe, and Ess slows it down enough for me to step closer in, wrapping my arms around its spine and shoving it down onto the ground. From there, Ess wraps more and more of herself around it, binding it to -and even into- the earth.

I go to work ripping it apart bone by bone. The magic is strong, but with some effort, I take out the flank, then the forearms, then any bone I can get my hands on.

At least, until I feel two stabs in my rear. I lurch back, throwing my assailant off, before turning around to see... "Bel?" She's wearing a helmet, but that's definitely her, her armor still smelling like the cow it came from. "What the fuck are you doing?"

She doesn't respond, dipping down to charge at me. Her hands are quick, cutting into my legs as she slides between my legs.

"Gah, Bel! This isn't funny!" I turn, swinging my arm wide, but Bel's always been faster than me. She crouches down under my arm, only to jump up and swipe at my face.

Dusk Blackwing

"What are you talking about?"

Demona leans me against the rail of the balcony, across from Violet and Daisy. "You can fix this, Dusk. I know you can." She looks down, out on the village. "This mist, this darkness. It should be easy to get rid of it with a bit of light magic."

I cough, still trying to recover from the knight's attacks. "In case you, nh, haven't noticed, I don't have a lot of that."

"You're half-angel, Dusk. All angels have at least some light magic. We just need to get you enough mana."

My head hangs. "Demona, the only source of mana, agh, dammit!" I readjust my hand. "The only one I can even think of is half a mile away!"

As my head rises again, she looks to be in deep thought. "No...that's not it... It can't be it...unless... Dusk, where's that slime friend of yours?"