Serene stood defeated.
She panted heavily while looking at the greatsword in her hands.
Silence hit the battlefield as the town had become triumphant but not without immense loss.
Rolland fell to his knees at Aeliza's body.
Serene said nothing, her expression unseen.
Rolland looked at Aeliza's body softly, slightly smiling.
"You know serene, I am happy."
She turned her head slightly, her face still hidden.
"I am happy that she got to meet you, her whole life she strived to be like you ever since you saved her during the war, when she was 7 years old. "
His smile widened gently while reminiscing
"and… the funny part is that's how I met her. She wanted to be like you so bad, She intentionally broke the law so she given the option to spend the time in our order"
He scoffed.
She did all that.
Just to be in the same order as you.
"I usually go to recruit criminals personally, and whenever ignorant kids show up thinking it's all a game, I'd normally scold them, lecture them, and send them home free. But there was something different about her - so much stubbornness and tenacity in her eyes that I could practically feel it. Even though I knew it was stupid, between that look she gave me and her constant nagging, I figured it would be easier to just let her in than keep refusing her. I remember thinking she could just do some chores for however long she stayed and then she'd be out of my hair…."
He sighed
"...But I was mistaken."
"I mean she did her chores but along with that she would train all day by herself and watch our guilds training sessions for guidance."
"I even tried to scare her by making the drill's harder but she never seemed to give up. Oh, when i tell you, she was a persistent little brat you don't even know the half of it!...."
He yelled sharply
Then calming himself he said,
"...But it intrigued me."
"So, I made an entry exam. Told her if you could pass this, you would be accepted, into guid as a soldier"
"Other soldiers laughed and joked. She didn't hesitate she had goal and she was going for it"
"She aced it for the first time and as said due to her victory I let her in. Also to add she dyed parts of her hair silver like yours, Serene. Once she got access to all the resources within the guild; you could guess she trained even harder as if we were about to enter another war!"
He chuckled
"Since there is not much way to get real battle experience nowadays, she would go ahead to spar everyone in the aegis guild and she whooped their butts! She whooped their butts so hard that they all started to got slightly scared of her hahah!"
"Then after that she tried me but I made sure to put her in her place!" he said proudly.
"We would fight for months and every month she would lose, but she always found a way to get better. She made me feel like a proud father.
"She ended up rising quickly to become my top sergeant; she was the strongest peak E rank in the aegis guild. Naturally this would usually make her my liatuntaunt. But I had to tell her every time being a lieutenant wasn't just about strength, it was about leadership too. I was still helping her develop at that time."
"Because of all her success I bought her a great sword during the month of concord as we used to always go to the markets together, when Julie wasn't around."
"One of things she could never stop talking about even with all success was you Serene."
"She admired you serene, when you were still a part of the order, she would always come to any event or demonstrations you would do…So when you suddenly resigned, she cried so much."
"In the end her last wish was to meet you serene and she did…so thank you"
A single tear dropped from Serene's, unseen expression.
… Rolland's head remained low looking off to the side.
"Holger and altos"
"You know serene, you would have loved those two, if you had gotten to know them properly… can you believe they used to be known as feather fist and hammer hand!?"
He laughed "Ha-ha that sounds like something we would say back then huh…They truly made me feel like a father too."
His eyes looked up to Serene. Her face still turned away.
"You're probably thinking that you should've protected them more" his tone was serious.
"Even though it's true, even though it's sad. The reality of this is that we couldn't keep up with that undead."
"It was playing around with us, tiring us out and once it did that it started to slowly pick us off one by one, I don't know how it was able to survive my solar shaft or.. Be able to keep up with someone like you even if you didn't have your artifact."
"We see undead like this before, you remember? But this one: was like a mix of strength and raw power of the skeletal giants we were in the war. but took away the weaknesses and gave it the intelligence and refined control of an undead champion.
"You and I both know if this thing is this strong then—the necromancer this time around is no joke…"
—But at least we won. So we can rest for now, knowing for certain: we brought peace through penance. That was always the serenity way.
He took a deep breath in
"Oh well" he said as he looked up to sky—"HUH"
A skeletal silhouette was covered by the rays of the sun.
A single purple sigil shown on its lower back
Serene was in deep thought before rolland interrupted it—
"Serene look up now!"
Before she could even look
It appeared in the middle of them.
They couldn't even fully comprehend what they saw because their senses reacted first: by instinctively causing them to back away.
Making distance.
Rolland summoned his spectral hands.
Having them at the ready.
Serene at a stance next to rolland.
Both their faces were full of bewilderment.
As silence filled the space between.
The back of its slender form faced them.
The single sigil upon a segment of its spine glowed brightly and spread across the whole spine making a full rune.
Crown?..what is that supposed to mean,
Rolland thought.
Then bone pieces start to fall down on the ground coming from its head.
Shortly after the breaking stopped, its rune flared even brighter as a different rune started to spread all around its body on every single bone and around it as it turned around to face them.
To show, two gaping holes on its forehead both with runes leading into them like a spiral and its sockets.
From both holes on its forehead: shoot out long half curved horns. The rune also curled around them till it covered the tip.
Runes now branded its whole skeletal form like tattoos.
The skeleton stood at 7ft, its rib cage was wide but it still kept an elegant posture and thin look.
Queen? Rolland read the runes on its body again.
It didn't touch the ground, it just floated.
Sockets then flared up with purple light immediately.
A deep chilling laugh ran through the atmosphere
"Hohohoho~"
Now that I am in full possession of this body, it's time to have some fun..
Flashback—
A soon as Serene destroyed the spinal cord
"Skull lord!" Alana shouted
But a segment of the spine got flung somewhere far away, No one noticed it due to the other bigger pieces and it being delayed But Alana did.
It landed on some rumble; nestled between rocks.
Alana appeared shortly
A single segment of the spine was left with sigil glowed upon it.
"mmmh?"
As she got closer it glowed brighter and brighter, until she was sucked in.
Without a word.
She appeared in a dark, vast space
"What is this place?"
Her voice echoed
Three black and round souls showed up each with a, skull face
They huddled in front of her
Void entities?
They conversed in an unknown tongue.
"Hi…?"
They kept talking to each other
"HEY!"
They stopped talking and turned to look at her slightly then went back to talking.
Alana took a moment to understand her situation
So I got sucked into this unknown space… and who are these entities though?
She remembered Zero putting one soul into each head after improving skull lord duringthe preparation phase, and during the fight when skull lord let Altos and Holger smash his heads. Leading to the two souls without a head to burrow into the main one.
This must be skull lord's three souls.
An idea came to her head
"your master would be veryyy disappointed if you failed."
They all turned to face Alana, their attention now caught.
The left head spoke "what…have.. done"
The right head spoke after "yes..we .. are.. at.. a losing"
The middle head spoke "but.. there is… a wake."
"uh .. you mean a way??" Alana corrected
"the King told us..leave it to you.."
"King?"
The space itself slowly faded around them.
"... No. time.. noe…we must commence!" " the middle soul continued
Alana floated back slowly.
"Yes we must" the other two followed in unison
As they pressed up against her soul.
"What! whats goin—"
They quickly rushed into her soul forcibly making her absorb them.
The room stopped fading.
Her body now true violet colour vibrating with great mana..
As she opened her eye a white slit against the black background and a wave of mana is sent throughout the space.
Causing the room to expand in an instant.
A curved horn now on her wisp body.
Outside
The single piece of bone began to levitate, rising slowly into the air as an invisible force pulled it upward. Like a magnet drawn to metal, it started attracting every scattered bone from across the battlefield—femurs, ribs, skulls, fragments both large and small—all of them lifting from the blood-soaked earth and drifting through the air toward the hovering focal point.
As the bones collided and fused together, purple-violet mana crackled softly around them, weaving between the assembling skeletal mass like living lightning. The air hummed with arcane power as the bones clicked and ground against each other, forming something more powerful, something more terrifying, more privileged.
"If Zero is the King and I am now donning this crown, then I must be the Queen!"
She cackled loudly while skull lord's body was no more.
A new skull queen was born, more elegant, more refined.
Then the skull lord ever was.
As soon as her body was complete.
She disappeared and appeared on top of the two survivors.
Basking in the sun, arms out slightly and waiting to be noticed before acting.
Finally a proper body!
She thought excitedly
Present
Serene and Rolland stood exhausted. confused.
Alana stood in perfect composure.
The mere pressure of this different skull lord was making them hesitate to even a subtle movement.
Alana didn't hesitate; she manifested tones of piercing bones from thin air behind her and sent it toward them.
Serene didn't talk, just jumped in front of Rolland, slashing rows away.
Each time, Alana kept firing them.
Until Serene spotted something… in the rhythm.
An opening!
Imbuing herself with mana, she lunged forward, closing the distance to Alana in an instant. Alana didn't flinch—instead, she drove her horns straight toward Serene's chest, but Serene managed to deflect the strike at the last second.
Alana seized this opening, her fist connecting solidly with Serene's jaw and launching her skyward. Serene's face winced in pain. Alana materialized directly in front of her mid-air.
With fluid grace, Alana shifted into a wide, elegant stance and delivered a devastating backhanded blow that sent Serene hurtling toward the left side of town. In the same breath, she vanished and reappeared behind Rolland.
Rolland didn't realise at first but soon he felt a cold and gentle skeletal touch grab his shoulder.
He tried to turn around but then a sharp pain hit him as Alana sank her skeletal finger tips deep into his shoulder.
"ARG!" He shouted out
Immense pain flashed through his body for only an instant before extending her arm flinging him sideways. Blood dripped from each of her fingertips as she held the pose, her arm still outstretched from the strike.
1…
She disappeared again.
2..
Rolland crashed into a large pile of debris.
3.
As she appeared up in the air waiting stoically elegant…
And…
Serene charged back, mana surging around her, but before she could unleash a single attack, Alana was already in position. Her right hand extended outward, blood dripped steadily from her slick fingertips.
With a casual swipe through the air, Alana watched as the blood slowly dissolved into nothingness. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Serene began channeling her attack, confident—until four deep gashes suddenly tore across her stomach.
I didn't see or sense anything, and it bypassed my imbuement? she thought in bewilderment, staring down at the wounds.
Alana materialized beside her, raising her fist level with Serene's face. Pathetic...
She lifted her thumb—the only finger still glistening with blood—and flicked it with deliberate precision. The gesture sent a crushing burst of pressure into Serene's face, sending her tumbling through the air before she crashed down into the right side of town with bone-jarring force.
SOLAR DROP!
A fire ball drops from the sun in the sky hitting Alana.
It exploded on her, burning her up.
Rolland, clutching his shoulder in pain, jumped onto the building to be level with her.
i am tired and exhausted dammit…how did it get this strong and why does it keep coming back! I have never fought an undead like this before—No matter, I can't give up.
His spectral hands starting to waver but still up his gauntlets partially charged, sigils still sparking.
The fire that was on Alana shifted colour to purple.
Rolland was horrified "Can't be…"
Her silhouette unmoved, still in her elegant pose
The flame got sucked into her eye sockets, which made them burn brighter.
Her voice cuts through the atmosphere brimming with power.
"You know.."
She lifted one arm up slightly to the sky.
"I always hated the sun"
She clicked her fingers.
In that instant it extinguished.
She then closed her palm with that same hand bringing it down. She opened her palm, Rolland was stunned as the fire itself was in her hand.
How could it take control of my totem so effortlessly?
Alana lifted her other arm, as she stretched her palm out toward Rolland.
Rolland snapped train of thought and raised his guard instinctively, his spectral hands following suit.
"Hoho~! You are truly pathetic" her voice boomed
Two large skeletal arms materialised mid-air on each side of her, grabbed on to each spectral hand and pulled them apart this also pulled his gauntlets apart and restricted him.
Causing him to be left wide open.
"ROLLAND RUN!"
Serene launched herself into the air, blood streaming from her mouth and spilling from the deep gashes.
Alana had carved into her side. Even as she ascended, Alana casually sent a barrage of piercing bone shards her way, but Serene deflected each one with desperate precision.
White mana erupted around her like a raging storm, swirling violently as she climbed higher.
"STAY IN YOUR GRAVE UNDEAD!"
She unleashed a massive white crescent slash that tore through the air toward Alana. Without missing a beat, Alana countered with her own attack—imbuing just her skeletal pinky tip with mana, she traced a crescent line through empty air. Her dark line of mana met Serene's brilliant white slash head-on.
The two crescents collided with tremendous force, power vibrating through the atmosphere. But Alana's attack was overwhelming, breaking through Serene's desperate strike.
In a last-ditch effort, Serene, still imbued, swerved behind Alana by skipping through air, sword raised to strike her down. But Alana had already seen through the feint.
She swayed gracefully to one side as Serene's blade whistled past. In the same fluid motion, Alana turned and dragged her skeletal pinky deep across Serene's cheek, drawing a fresh crimson line as her opponent's attack missed entirely.
The blood coating Alana's pinky suddenly ignited with purple flames. For a brief moment, her entire body glowed with ethereal light—even the darkened runes etched into her bones blazed with power.
Alana's erries sockets shifted to glance at her opponent on her side almost mockingly. Instantly, purple flames erupted from Serene's eyes and mouth like hellfire consuming her from within. Her body went completely limp, and she began her final descent toward the earth below.
"HOHO~ " her laugh echoed within the atmosphere.
Alana covered her maw with her hand cackling.
"HOHHOHO~HOHOHOHO~HOHOHOHO~!!"
Clearly she was just getting started.
Alana swiped her hand to the left side of the town, Serene body not imbued, moved on command, crashed through many structures until hitting the ground with a big crash.
Alana looked over to the status of the battlefield
I TAKE MY EYES OF THEM FOR ONE MINUTE AND THEY LOSE? Her thoughts raged, as she palmed her skeletal face in annoyance.
She regained her composure with her tone smug,
I guess it's time to clean this up
Alana's own mana covered Serene's body
Alana swiped her hand to the battlefield and she used Serene's half-conscious battered and bloodied body to blow through every soldier left of the battlefield.
She continued to sway her hand in the air.
Soldiers screamed as their bodies got torn in half as the Serene body flew straight through many of them.
Even though she had a stoic exterior she was really enjoying this.
After all 100 that were left had been killed, she whisked Serene all the way up high in the sky.
Rolland just shrank at this display of power, his heart sank at his own men being slaughtered now his eyes lay on his own general he had known for years and seen achieve amazing things being dealt with in such a brutal manner….
Leaving battle heavily soaked in blood and littered with body parts.
Serene body soaked in blood.
Serene, barely opening her eyes looked down as she lifted higher and higher into the air.
A thin layer of her own mana now coated her body as Alana's mana left.
I am sorry Alcon I couldn't protect viscura, after everything you did for me I couldn't even repay you. flygeld. Goodbye. Sorry I couldn't get back to you. Amanda, it would've been great to see you again.
As she said all this while being raised higher and higher into the air her eyes started to swell up with tears falling down.
This should be enough to finally deal with her. Alana thought as she pulled her hand down causing Serene plummet at extreme speeds towards the centre of the battlefield.
Rolland watched in horror as Serene plummeted toward the earth like a shimmering white fallen star. She struck the ground with devastating force, the impact alone carving out a massive crater in the heart of the battlefield. The collision triggered a colossal explosion that sent a towering pillar of dust and debris erupting skyward.
The shockwave spread outward in all directions, a violent wall of force that swept across the entire battlefield. Bodies, weapons, broken armor, and scattered remnants of war were hurled away like leaves in a hurricane, leaving only barren, scarred earth in the wake of the destruction.
Rolland saw the opportunity as Alana's back was turned, slipping his gauntlets off.
He turned around immediately and started to.
Run
"I have no chance, I need to flee!*
"and where are you going"
Alana said as she turned around….
She finally closed her palm on the ball of fire that had been sitting in her palm the whole time.
She opened it, revealing a large purple flame crackling with power.
Then a skull face appeared on it, she then unbrotherly tossed it toward him.
As he ran it opened its mouth to engulf him but Rolland dodged the first one by jumping off the building but as he jumped his foot got caught at the roof edge.
And fell to the ground face first.
The spell quickly got to him and engulfed him.
His whole body was burned as he was covered in this purple flame.
He screamed at the top of his lungs as the fire scorched him inside and out.
"I can't give up, endure ROLLAND PUSH!
So he tried to overcome it with all his might, and he did.
"ugh… I forgot how resilient and strong battle mages are!."
"That spell was supposed to burn his body and his soul!"
She said annoyed
Crossing her arms.
Rolland lay on the ground on his stomach smiling grimly.
His whole body burnt.
"I think this it for me"
Life was good!
but i was a horrible captain, I will tell you that though! hah…
Even more of a horrible commander. I let all the infantry I spent so long building and captains I trained personally die, even my own general and now am facing death, at the hands of a mere skeleton…
How dishonourable of me. Rolland the solar vanguard, dead at the hands of a mere skeleton…"
He chuffed, spitting some blood, "Gimme a break! I had killed so many during the war, but none of those mindless monsters were like this one. What are the chances I met one this strong?!" he gave a bitter laugh and then his mouth straightened.
But damn. Even after all that I still had fun and…
Damn it felt good to finally find meaning in something, especially in a world I thought had abandoned me long ago…and to achieve this in the process. Finally, finally….
Purpose.
A single tear slid down his cheek as his eyes closed with a hollow acceptance....
A memory of someone rippled through his mind as a pale skeletal pike erupted from the ground piercing straight through his stomach.
"Oh..." he said, blood pouring from his mouth.... "..Julie," he said, his breath leaving him.
Many long sharpened bones materialized in the air above him like spears awaiting their target.
Alana's voice carried no emotion. "It's too bad. You're only a fodder battle mage. You probably would have given me more trouble if you were stronger."
"Our promis—"
The bone spears fired in unison, driving deep into his body and pinning him to the earth.
Five minutes later, the commander's form was barely recognizable—so many bones had pierced through him that flesh was scarcely visible beneath the forest of pale spikes. Long bones jutted out at grotesque angles, creating a horrific display that the entire town could witness. His body had been mounted directly in front of the seemingly untouched chairman's mansion, positioned as a grim warning of the evil to come.
"Pathetic..." Alana muttered as she floated down to survey her work.
"Hehe... finally, I have a body. I am now all-powerful—"
Her soul was instantly ripped from her vessel. "No, you don't."
Zero appeared, holding her ethereal form in his palm, a knowing smile on his face.
"What?!"