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Elayne stood and fought, screaming in agony. Mustering all her strength, she absorbed the nether and demonic energy, combining and compressing it.
"A portal...! At least...! T-The children have to live...!"
"What do you think you’re doing?!"
The Demon King of Death stomped the ground angrily, his claws rushing toward her.
However, a flame flickered and barely stopped him.
BOOOM!
"E-Elayne...! Ack...! Run...! Elayne run...!"
It was Mark, somehow maintaining a fiery form, shifting back to normal constantly, burning through his lifeforce to sustain his power for a mere second or two.
"Elena...! ELENA WAKE UP!"
"M-Mom?!"
Elena, in tears, saw her mother crawling toward her.
Elayne pointed her finger at her daughter, opening a portal between them.
Small roots sprouted around Elena, grabbing her and her friend and dragging them into the portal.
"W-Wait! No! Mom!"
Elena screamed in horror as she saw her mother piercing her stomach, pulling out a small sphere made of wooden roots.
Inside, a tiny life pulsed with a beating heart...
The sphere reached Elena’s hand a second before bony claws pierced Elayne’s body, dragging her into the abyss.
"Please... protect... your... brother..."
"Mom! MOM! NOOOO!!!"
Elena screamed, crying as she and her friends fell through the portal. It was meant to lead to Earth, but it distorted and glitched, transporting them to another location entirely.
"Nnnggh...! Aaaagh...!"
Elayne cried but managed a faint smile, as the Demon King of Death noticed what she had done.
Yet he didn’t seem to care much.
"Hah, so that was it? You sacrificed your last chance to escape to let others live... Truly, you’re the noblest, Yggdrasil..."
"That girl will one day... come after you and kill you... I can assure you of that..."
"Hoh, is that so? Well, I’m glad to know that one day, another great Death Apostle will join me. Now, Yggdrasil, you and your friends are mine."
Powerless, Elayne could only watch as she, Mark, her familiars, and her friends were dragged into the depths of the Netherworld.
Nether embraced their bodies, searing through their life.
"A-Ah... so this is... what it feels like to die..."
Elayne felt the last warmth of her body fade, replaced by an overwhelming cold.
The shivering chill was so intense it filled her with terror, and she screamed in horror.
The Demon King of Death laughed, hurling Elayne, her friends, and her familiars into an abyssal pit.
Elayne’s senses flickered, returning briefly before fading again.
She saw Mark beside her, his red flames flickering and then vanishing.
Rita, Jenny, Lily, Belle, and Silver fell with her.
Katherine was nowhere to be seen, nor was Goldie.
She hoped they were safe, wherever they were.
THUD!
Then she heard a loud thud, followed by a sharp crack.
Her entire body was crushed into pieces.
Nether consumed her lifeforce.
Slowly, as she drifted into the darkness of death...
Elayne fell asleep, unable to bear the horrors any longer.
But deep down, she felt a faint relief.
At the very least, the children... were safe.
.
.
.
An indescribable amount of time passed.
Elayne didn’t know if she was awake or still trapped in a dream, endlessly drifting through darkness.
Eventually, when she regained her faint senses...
She found herself bound by ghostly chains, wrapped around her body and soul.
A sharp, unrelenting pain overwhelmed her soul.
"A-Ah... Aaahh..."
As she tried to speak, she couldn’t. She had no tongue.
Her face... she couldn’t feel it.
The only sensation was a deep, unending cold.
When her vision fully returned, she saw where she was.
She was among thousands of others, bound by chains, marching endlessly across the Netherworld.
Bbzzttt...! Bbzzttt!
Something strange floated before her weary eyes.
"S-System?"
It was a system window, glitched, displaying corrupted numbers, skills, and data.
It was... her Avatar’s System Window.
Because she had fallen into the Netherworld, connected to Arcadia, her System Window was trying to reconnect with her soul but was unable to stabilize, growing increasingly corrupted.
"Ugh... Where is this... What... happened to me?"
She looked around, realizing these people weren’t alive. They were skeletons, zombies, or ghosts.
And she? What was she?
With horror, Elayne approached a nearby river of nether.
In the reflection of the green, ghostly liquid, she saw her face...
Still somewhat recognizable, but pale, covered with wounds.
Her hair had turned completely white.
She examined her hands. One was intact, the other just bones.
Her legs were also mere bones.
Something had gnawed at her flesh while she slept, leaving her face mostly intact for some reason.
"Ahh... maybe to recognize me?"
Elayne didn’t want to dwell on it.
A powerful urge to simply "give up" consumed her entire being.
Any fighting spirit she could muster was quickly extinguished, replaced by eternal subjugation.
She wanted nothing more than to lie down and die.
"I want to die... let me die... let me rest in peace..."
As she muttered to herself, the other undead beside her groaned loudly. She could faintly hear their inner voices.
They were all saying the same.
"I want to die..."
"It’s so tiresome..."
"I need to rest..."
"Everything hurts..."
"It’s so cold..."
"Where... where are we going...?"
Elayne pitied them. She glanced at the skeleton behind her and noticed something.
His gray hair was mixed with dark brown...
And that ring on his right hand.
"M-Mark...?"
She could hear his voice.
"Elayne... Elayne... Elayne... Elayne..."
He kept muttering her name repeatedly. Did he even recognize her? His eyeless face seemed to stare at nothing.
He was just... a skeleton.
"Aahhh... Aahhhh! Ma... rk... Maak...! Aaahhh!"
Elayne cried miasma from her eyes, halting her march and startling the skeleton behind her. She hugged him tightly.
"A-Ah... Aaah... A-Ahh..."
The skeleton kept groaning, but his empty eyes flickered with faint red flames.
He slightly regained his senses...
"E-Ela... la... la... layn..."
"Ma... rk...!"
They embraced, refusing to let go, as the march of undead halted. The others stared at the couple absentmindedly.
As they wept together, a figure approached.
A tall black skeleton in dark blue armor, its ghostly face showing displeasure, carried a long whip made of snake bones.
"Who do you think you are to interrupt the march?! You lowly creatures! Move! Move now!"
With a furious, ghostly voice, the armored skeleton roared, swinging his whip and striking both the zombie woman and the skeleton.
"Aaahh..."
"Uugh..."
Yet they remained, clinging to each other, enduring the pain searing their souls together.
"Tch! So damn annoying! Another damn pair of lovers! Ugh... disgusting."
The skeleton sighed as his bracelet glowed.
"Move."
TRUUUM!
"Nngaaaah!"
"Aaahhh!"
The ghostly chains around their souls inflicted endless agony, forcing them to march again, moving like automatons.
"We were supposed to reach the barracks a day ago! God damn it! MOVE FASTER!"
The furious undead kept whipping them.
For an unknown duration.
The undead marched endlessly.
Elayne felt her mind decaying, much like her body.
Eventually, in the dark caves of the Netherworld, they reached a vast area surrounded by a forest of black wood and white bones.
Flowers with glowing eyes stared at them.
A massive fortress, built from black wood and bone, loomed ahead.
There, countless undead soldiers were forced to swing swords and spears, inscribed with cursed runes to enhance their strength.
"Here we are, young recruits! Gehehehe! Prepare yourselves. True hell is about to begin! We will shape you into proper soldiers for the great Demon King of Death! Together, we shall conquer Earth and Arcadia! Those who don’t make it will be ground to dust and turned into Yin Ghost Pills, so you’d better work hard if you don’t want to be eaten!"
The "general," as Elayne assumed, laughed maniacally as he entered the fortress. The gates opened, and the undead marched into the immense city surrounding it.
"A necropolis..."
As Elayne walked inside, she saw undead everywhere. Most were soldiers, marked by ghostly chains, but some were unchained, likely "citizens" or something similar.
With a weary expression, Elayne observed the somber, dark necropolis. Ghosts flitted about, zombies traded rotten meat or organs, and skeletons purchased beast bones to augment their bodies.
"Ahh..."
Elayne could hardly think. The more she tried, the more pain she felt. She relinquished her thoughts and obeyed orders.
But deep within, a small, dormant spark of Will lingered, waiting to awaken.
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