The mist clung to them like a second skin, heavy and wet, muffling even the sound of their own footsteps. Every breath carried the taste of soil and mildew, as though the island itself was rotting from the inside out.
Rows upon rows of gravestones stretched endlessly in crooked lines. Some leaned forward, others cracked down the middle, and more than a few still bore names etched in half-worn letters.
Between them lay coffins splintered and broken, some wide open, their interiors hollow as if something had crawled out long ago.
Kael dragged his fingers along the haft of his spear as his eyes swept the shadows between the graves.
"This is not a battlefield," he said quietly. "It is a mausoleum."
Gryphon let out a low rumble, sniffing the air as though the stench itself might speak to him."These graves are not silent. I hear them shifting."
Bullet only laughed, a sound far too loud for the stillness around them. He kicked at a coffin lid, snapping it in half with his boot.
"Let them come crawling, then. Corpses are good for only one thing which is breaking apart."
Magnus walked ahead of them all, his stride steady, cloak dragging faintly against the damp stones. Shusui hung loosely at his side, though the faint crackle of energy along the blade betrayed his readiness. His eyes lingered on the castle in the distance, its silhouette looming like a predator crouched in wait.
"Moria thinks himself untouchable here," he said, his voice calm yet edged with iron. "But the arrogance of a man who hides among corpses is no shield."
They pressed deeper into the graveyard. With each step, the fog thickened, curling around their ankles and swallowing sound.
The silence was oppressive, so complete that even the smallest noise seemed to echo unnaturally.
Then a faint scratching broke it.
Kael froze, his spear snapping to readiness.
"There," he whispered, pointing to the nearest grave.
The soil trembled, bulging upward. A skeletal hand clawed its way free, nails sharp and cracked.
Another grave stirred beside it, then another, until the earth shuddered with the weight of countless dead waking from their sleep.
One by one, corpses pulled themselves from the soil. Some were little more than skeletons with scraps of flesh hanging loose.
Others were stitched together mockeries of life, sewn at the seams like discarded dolls. Their eyes glowed faintly, empty of soul yet bound by unseen strings.
Perona's voice floated faintly across the fog, carried by an echo that did not belong.
"You shouldn't have come here. This graveyard belongs to Master Moria."
Dozens of hollow faces turned toward the intruders. Then, as if answering some silent command, they lunged forward.
Bullet roared with laughter and surged into the fray, his iron fists shattering skulls like brittle porcelain.
Gryphon swung his arm, the backhand alone flattening a cluster of corpses, bones scattering like driftwood.
Kael moved with precision, his spear flashing as he pierced skull after skull, each strike quick and deliberate.
Magnus did not move at first. He watched silently as his crew tore through the tide of corpses. Only when a towering abomination stitched from multiple bodies lurched toward him did he raise Shusui. The blade sang with a low hum, arcs of dark lightning dancing along its edge.
With a single step and a single strike, Magnus split the creature cleanly in half. Its body fell in silence, the cut so smooth that even the mist seemed to pause.
He exhaled softly, his words steady and cold."These are no more than shadows in chains and chains are meant to be broken."
The graveyard shuddered again.
More hands pushed through the soil. More hollow eyes opened.
The army of the dead was only beginning.