The swordman jumped out of range, escaping Dell's blind swing.
You fuck.
Dell was blind. How long would this last?
The swordsman shouted, "Cathera!"
Dell's slowly began to regain his sight, just in time to catch the potentially lethal shot.
Dell grabbed the arrow, inches away from his eye.
He spotted the archer stood behind the swordsman, standing atop the leviathan's corpse.
"Too slow, wit-"
The arrowhead blew up in his face.
Dell was thrown back onto the floor, the right side of his face shredded, along with its eye.
Shit. He had gotten too cocky.
Dazed, he began to stand up, but the swordsman flashed him once more.
Another arrow hit him, this time targeting his left patella, incapacitating his knee.
This archer was different to the others, so was the swordsman.
Whilst this was happening, unbeknownst to Dell, the corpse of the captain had risen and began to walk towards him.
As arrow after arrow landed into Dell, crippling him further and further, the captain's voice boomed across the remnants of the courtyard.
"Ahh, that gave me quite the sting. And I do not appreciate what you've done with this place."
While summoning his scimitar memory, his face healed of the damage Dell gave him. An ability of his aspect.
"Who are you?"
It was clear now that Dell was no government awakened, at least not one right now.
A Valor spy? Was his original intention to assassinate Princess Seishan before her army reached the Black Skull Citadel.
A deserter perhaps? Still that didn't explain his motives.
What would drive an ascended to slaughter half a dozen awakened. Of a Great Clam nonetheless.
His guardsman had relayed that he was from the First Evacuation Army. The horrors of the Antarctic Centre had been unmatched.
Was this Ascended simply mad?
Captain Reyvan signalled Cathera to stop firing, the intruder, Dell's body, already mangled.
His other lieutenant, Blard, held his shining sword at Dell's throat.
Reyvan awaited an answer.
Dell was rasping heavily, several of his limbs had his bones bare.
Burnt and broken, Dell let out a weak chuckle.
Ah, perhaps he was mad.
Reyvan nodded to Cathera who mocked another arrow.
Dell whispered something.
Reyvan held his hand to his lieutenant.
"What?"
Blard moved closer to hear him.
Dell with half his face burnt with bone exposed, grinned softly. "You… you fell for it again."
Blard's face shot up with panic.
The sky began to blot out with shadows again.
Awakened Blard scammed the skies, hurriedly.
What now, what now?
But nothing blotted out the sun as it did before.
If anything, it's glare stopped him from noticing anything.
Then he heard it land.
The human body landed just a few steps from Blard.
What in hell?
Then he saw the next.
And the next.
Then the next.
Slowly but surely, half a dozen corpses fell from the sky and landed next to the trio, landing with wet crunches.
One rolled to stare Blard in the face.
Cathera murmured something, then began to grow increasingly despaired.
"Rom-Romeo!" She jumped from the leviathan's body and rushed to one of the fresh bodies.
"Romeo", she sobbed.
Reyvan slowly studied each body with his gaze, dumbfounded.
Blard edged his sword closer to their intruder's throat, fury burning in his soul.
"You killed them."
All Dell could offer him, with his maimed jaw, was a twisted smile.
He whispered once more.
"You're wrong."
Blard raised his sword, ready to plunge.
"Shut up!"
"I saved them."
A hand grabbed Blard's leg jerking him.
He hacked at Dell's arm… only it wasn't the intruder's arm.
It was the corpse. Just that it wasn't a corpse anymore.
The man who had once served with Blard, began to stand to his feet.
Only this time, his eyes were glowing a deep maroon.
And he seemed unfazed that his right hand was now gone.
Blard stared at the undead man, as the rest of the missing cohort of the Song outpost began to rise from the ground with him.
Cathera lunged back as Romeo too, began to animate.
Eerily the undead warriors all locked their heads on the trio at the same time.
Cathera begged "no."
The undead rushed them.
Each undead warrior had sharp fangs and lethal claws.
Of which they now used relentlessly pursue the trio.
Reyvan and Blard were forced to manoeuvre, unable to quell the frightening speed and fury of these reanimated creatures.
Cathera, weakly defended against a lone corpse, begging it to stop.
She would be finished by the creature soon.
Blard activated his aspect once more.
The courtyard flashed with white…
But the three creatures pursuing him did not stop.
He deflected one strike, but another clawed at his sword hand forcing him to loosen his grip. He was on the back foot.
Reyvan on the other hand, was not having it.
A mad fury threatened to envelop the man as he roared in anguish.
An undead had bitten through his chest plate and was now sucking his blood.
Reyvan grabbed the creatures skull and pierced his scimitar through its gut.
Seeing that it didn't stop, he tore its middle apart, and swung the corpse to the side.
Funnelling a mad fury, he brought his hands together and formed a triangle with his fingers.
The world began to turn red and he aimed it at where Dell battered body lay…
Or where it had been.
As Cathera was torn apart by creature she begged to return into Romeo, Dell stepped out of the shadows of the Levaiathan's corpse.
Right behind the captain.
He was still damaged, bones just as prevalent as skin,
But this time the gem on his crown glowed a deep maroon.
He grabbed the captain by his shoulders and but into his neck.
The captain roared, and swung his scimitar around, but Dell had turned into the darkness again.
A series of bats flew out of the darkness past the captain, forcing him to cover himself and flew towards Blard.
The swordsman, who had been the pride of the company, had been quickly reduced to a sorry state by his former companions.
There was a deep gash in his sword arm, forcing him to use his left.
As he limped against his attackers, the swarm of bats enveloped him.
He was given a momentary respite as the undead backed off.
But soon, the bats took form, and Dell appeared in front of Blard, bathed in the shadows
"You got me good before". Dell grinned.
Dell stepped out of the shadows, his matron gemstone glowing.
His claws outstretched and he swung.